News Story not available

This story has been published on: 2022-11-03. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.

This story is no longer available on our site.
Why court docs for Delphi murder suspect Richard Allen are sealed

Court records in the case of a man charged in the killings of Abigail Williams and Liberty German have been sealed. Experts explain why.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

This just in...
Phasing out coal, a feverish pursuit of green energy, new tax regimes  where have we heard all this before?It is uncontroversial to call Ontario's energy situation a disaster. As Premier Kathleen Wynne has herself conceded: Ontarians are now having to "choose between paying the electricity bill and buying food or paying rent."Wynne's polling numbers suggest that most Ontarians know where to square the blame, with a pitiful 15 per cent approval rating and 58 per cent of the electorate believing she should resign.However, Wynne alone shouldn't bear the burden for the fact that hydro bills for the average consumer have skyrocketed over recent years; it was former premier Dalton McGuinty and his Liberal team from 2003 to 2012  including his former principal secretary and "policy guru" Gerald Butts  who set Ontario on this financially bleak, dead-end road. And now, Butts is headed on the same path, leading not the premier, but the prime minister, on the way down.mo
Cambodian villagers are worried that the few remaining Irrawaddy dolphins in a pool in the Mekong River could die off as they are forced to migrate upstream into Laos to escape disturbances caused by the construction of a massive hydropower dam project, local residents and activists said Thursday.

Only three endangered Irrawaddy dolphins, also known as Mekong River dolphins, are now left in the Cheuteal transboundary pool between southern Laos and northern Cambodias Stung Treng province, whereas eight were in the area in 2010.

Members of the Preah Rumkel ecotourism community in the provinces Thalaborivat district said Irrawaddy dolphins have been moving two miles upstream into Laotian waters because of noise from explosions at the construction of the 260-megawatt Don Sahong Dam along the Mekong River in southern Laos, less than a mile from the Cambodian border.

The small Mekong River village of Preah Rumkel was set up in 2007 with assistance from an environmental NGO as a community-based ecotourism site to support the local community and improve residents livelihoods. Community members manage the tourism site themselves. The half-completed dam lies about one kilometer (0.6 mile) away from the community.

Besides the noise from the dam construction site, the chemicals discarded into the river by construction workers have also forced the dolphins upstream, said Phay Vanna, a member of the Preah Rumkel ecotourism community.

He said he wants the Cambodian government to hold Laos, which is building the dam, accountable.

I would like the prime minister and civil society organizations to send some experts to conduct additional feasibility studies to hold Laos accountable for the impact caused by the dams construction, he said. I am a community member. I have witnessed the real impact.

Gone for good?

Residents are also concerned that their incomes will fall as fewer tourists visit the area when the dolphins are gone for good.

Once in Laotian waters, the Irrawaddy dolphins may succumb to gill netsvertical panels of nets lined up across a river to catch fishwhose use is not prohibited in Laotian waters as it is in Cambodian ones.

Switzerland-based World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says use of the nets is one of the main reasons for the decline in the population of Irrawaddy dolphins, which become entangled in the nets and drown.

The organization wants gill nets banned from a two-kilometer (1.2-mile) radius around the Cheuteal Pool, where they are currently in use, and increased enforcement against fisherman who violate the ban.

Huoth Seng, a Preah Rumkel villager, said he is not happy with recent remarks by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen regarding his approval of the Don Sahong Dam.

On Nov 23, during a meeting in Siem Reap with leaders from Laos and Vietnam about development in the Golden Triangle area, Hun Sen said feasibility studies had been conducted and that the dam project would have no impact in terms of lack of water or fish migrations.

But the dam construction is affecting several thousand families who rely on selling souvenirs, accessories, and food to tourists who come to see the dolphins, he said.

I didnt see any transnational studies or research on the impact of the dam project, he told RFAs Khmer Service. What I have seen is that the project is implemented. Now that the communities have been impacted, I wonder who will be held accountable.

We dont agree with him

Civil society groups also accuse the prime minister of turning a blind eye to other issues related to the dam's construction that are affecting thousands of people in the area.

Ek Chamroeun, coordinator of the Fisheries Action Coalition Team (FACT), a group of NGOs that advocate for fisheries issues and monitor policy reforms, said the dam project has also been a disaster for food security.

Though Hun Sen said there is no impact, we dont agree with him, he said. We are concerned because we see the real impact on the communities regarding the dam project.

According to WWF, the Irrawaddy dolphin population has dropped by 50 percent this year in Cambodia, and the large aquatic mammals are functionally extinct in Laos with too few potential breeding pairs available to ensure the populations survival.

About 80 Irrawaddy dolphins remain in the Mekong River in Cambodia.

Reported by Sothy Men for RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Nareth Muong. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Cambodia National Rescue Party Commune Chief Seang Chet shows seven fingers to signify the CNRP as he was walks out of Prey Sar prison, Dec. 8, 2016.

An opposition commune chief held in the Cambodian governments wide-ranging investigation of Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) leader Kem Sokha was released early Thursday, raising hopes that more jailed government critics will also go free.

Discussions are under way to find a solution to release the remaining jailed activists, CNRP lawmaker Ou Chanrith told RFAs Khmer Service.

Commune Chief Seang Chets release on a royal pardon came after a meeting with Kem Sokha and another 15 jailed CNRPs activists. Kem Sokha also received a pardon from King Norodom Sihamoni that absolved the CNRPs acting president of failing to appear in one of the cases related to the governments probe into his alleged affair with a young hair dresser.

Both pardons came at the request of Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has run Cambodias government for more than three decades and leads the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP).

Ou Chanrith told RFA that talks are also underway to free land-rights advocate Tep Vanny, who was convicted on Sept. 19 of insulting and obstructing public officials and was sentenced to six months in prison in relation to a protest in November 2011 near Hun Sens residence.

A solution to Tep Vannys case will be dealt with also, Ou Chanrith said.

Tep Vanny gained prominence as an activist fighting the Boeung Kak Lake land grab, when some 3,500 families were evicted from the neighborhood surrounding the urban lake in Phnom Penh.

The lake was filled with sand to make way for a development project with close ties to Hun Sen and the CPP.

Seizure of land for developmentoften without due process or fair compensation for displaced residents is a major cause of protests in Cambodia and other authoritarian Asian countries, including China and Laos.

Hun Sens warning

Its unclear exactly what is motivating Hun Sen to seek the pardons, but he denied that the change of heart is coming because of international pressure.

This sends a message out that Cambodians can solve our problems ourselves, he said during a ceremony marking the fifth anniversary of Japanese Company Minebea's presence in the country.

Dont ever try to put pressure on me. Its useless to put pressure on me, he said. Hun Sen has the most peculiar attitude: The more you pressure me, the more I dont care.

Lest anyone think that the new-found cooperation is coming from a kinder and gentler Hun Sen, he underscored the tenuous nature of his tolerance of critics.

If you take it easy with me and continue to keep calm, there might be more releases, he said. That is how peculiar my attitude is.

Lets be unequivocal about that, he added. Again, dont ever think about putting pressure on me. If you want the rest of those jailed people to remain locked up, you may challenge me with that.

The U.N., the E.U. and some in the U.S. have criticized Hun Sen and Cambodias human rights record and a political situation that has seen government critics hauled into court and tossed in jail for what many consider politically-motivated cases.

I want nothing but to be able to register to vote

Seang Chet was sentenced to five years in prison on Dec. 5 for giving $500 to the mother of hairdresser Khom Chandaraty, in what the government said was an attempt to keep the woman quiet about her alleged affair with CNRP leader Kem Sokha.

He said that the money actually was given to Khom Chandaratys mother as an act of charity.

While he was adamant about his innocence, Seang Chet said that his biggest disappointment about his time in jail is that he missed voter registration.

I want nothing but to be able to register to vote, he said. Thats the only wish I have. I would like the [National Election Commission] to add me into the voter registration list.

Despite Hun Sens warning, activists found hope in the pardons.

Ou Virak, who heads the think tank Future Forum, said Seang Chets release is a positive sign, but he is not very optimistic about the love-hate relationship between the two parties.

Though I see that there are some positive signs at the national level, Im afraid that at the grassroots level there are still obstacles in the competition between the two parties, he said.

While the relations between the CPP and the CNRP may be warming, the governments relationship with dissent remains frosty. The government prevented demonstrators celebrating the 68th International Human Rights Day from marching in downtown Phnom Penh.

Lonh Sochea, the president of the Independent Monk Network in Battambang, chaffed at the restrictions.

Our rights to march are restricted. I dont see why the authorities dont allow us to express ourselves, he said. We are doing this not for us but for everyone in Cambodia and in the world.

Reported by Moniroth Morm and Sokheng Saut for RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Nareth Muong. Written in English by Brooks Boliek.
Authorities across China are deploying giant mist-cannons in a bid to reduce air pollution, as dangerous levels of smog once more engulf northern cities.



The mist cannons, a large machine mounted on a truck that sprays nebulized water droplets, are aimed at trapping and sinking dust particles in the air of Beijing and other worst-affected cities, official media reported.



"Mist cannon trucks are being used to spray in the mornings ... during smoggy days," the Global Times newspaper reported.



However, it also quoted experts as saying that the effectiveness on cities engulfed with smog was doubtful, while the impact on the most-hazardous form of microscopic dust pollution, PM2.5, is still unknown.



Wuxi-based environmental activist Wu Lihong told RFA that the mist cannons are unlikely to have much impact on a city-wide smog.



"I can't see much impact from these mist-cannons at all, personally," Wu said. "They are just there for show, but they're not much use at cleaning up smog."



"They have a range of about 200 meters, and they're used to clear dust out of the air near construction sites," Wu said. "But smog extends upwards into the atmosphere by 2,000-3,000 meters, so how can they possibly clear the dust up to that height?"



"This is a cosmetic measure that does nothing to address the root causes of pollution," he said.



Fake statistics



Wu said many local governments routinely fake pollution statistics in a bid to meet environmental clean-up targets, making existing laws difficult to enforce.



"Local officials protect [polluting industries] because they derive benefits from it themselves," he said. "When there's an inspection from higher up, they switch on the environmental protection equipment, and then they shut it down again after they've gone."



"They don't care about the planet; they are just concerned with doing well for themselves. For them, whether China is polluted or not has nothing to do with them."



Meanwhile, Zhengzhou-based environmentalist Cui Sheng said the mist cannons are only effective when used for temporary alleviation of dust and smog, and are being used to mask the seriousness of air pollution by local governments.



"These misting sprays produce a slight, temporary alleviation of particulate pollution, and they are often placed in the vicinity of air pollution monitoring stations," Cui said.



"They interfere with the readings and the data produced from monitoring," he said.



'Stricter than ever'



China's cabinet, the State Council, on Monday released details of its five-year plan to address widespread pollution of the country's air, soil and water, launching a campaign to reduce PM2.5 concentrations by 18 percent in the worst-polluted cities by 2020.



Vice minister of environmental protection Zhao Yingmin vowed a "stricter-than-ever" approach to tackling pollution, including eight obligatory targets.



But Beijing-based activist Chen Liwen said the government needs to target pollution before it is produced for the plans to work.



"Most of their efforts are directed at cleaning up existing pollution, and power is only passed to the environmental protection agencies after it has been produced," Chen said.



She said too many departments are involved in setting and enforcing environmental policy at present.



"The most progressive way of dealing with it is through prevention, and the environmental protection agencies have very little power to speak up at this stage," she said.



Many thousands die



Experts estimate that some 350,000 to 500,000 people die prematurely per year from air pollution in China alone.



Wu cited a recent report blaming falling male fertility in China on pollution.



"Pollution has already started to affect people's health ... with figures showing an increase in malignant tumors, leukemia, and lung and liver cancer," he said.



"It also affects people's ability to reproduce."



Red smog alerts were issued last week for Linfen city in Shanxi province and Hebei's Shijiazhuang, Baoding, Langfang, Xingtai, and Handan cities in the northern province of Hebei.



Beijing also issued an orange-alert smog warning, effectively ordering schools to cancel outdoor activities and suspending construction projects until last weekend.



Beijing residents woke up to thick smog last weekend, with visibility of just 500 meters in some areas, and pollution readings climbing over the 500 mark, the most hazardous to human health.



Reported by Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Goh Fung and Wong Lok-to for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.




A human rights and pro-democracy campaigner who took selfies wearing a T-shirt merging the name of President Xi Jinping with Hitler's is being held in a police-run detention center in the northeastern province of Jilin, RFA has learned.

Ethnic Korean Quan Ping, whose name is also spelled in its Korean form, Kwon Pyong, has been incommunicado since his disappearance on Sept. 30.

An employee who answered the phone at the Yanji Detention Center in Jilin's Yanji city confirmed he was an inmate there on Thursday.

"Yes, Kwon Pyong is here at our detention center, the Yanji Detention Center," the employee said, but declined to give further details.

"You should get in touch with his parents and other relatives," the employee said.

Kwon Pyong's detention came after he posted a selfie outside a government building while wearing a T-shirt with banned keywords linked to President Xi, including the word "Xitler."

He had also told a friend he planned to walk around wearing it on Oct.1, the anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Since his disappearance, former classmates at the University of Queensland in Australia, and overseas Chinese students' associations have repeatedly called on the government to release him immediately.

A statement issued on Thursday by his U.S.-based friend Gu Yi, currently studying at the University of Georgia, and his Queensland classmates Zhang Shuren and Yi Songnan said they were speaking out on Kwon's behalf because their own freedoms are also at stake.

"The human rights situation in China continues to get worse and worse, with increased oppression of dissidents under the administration of President Xi Jinping," Zhang told RFA in an interview on Thursday.

"Xi is trying to extend his power overseas now, by kidnapping dissidents and bringing them back to China," he said. "But he is trying to turn back the progress of history."

"We call on Xi Jinping to release Kwon Pyong immediately, and to end all political persecution," he said.

Gu Yi (R), a student at the University of Georgia in the United States, holds a poster reading, 'You can't kill us all,' in response to China's increased oppression of dissidents, in an undated photo. Photo courtesy of Gu Yi Young people must wake up

Yi Songnan, who co-signed the statement along with 38 other overseas Chinese students, said it is important for young people to "wake up" and stand up to an authoritarian government.

"I would like to say to Xi Jinping that public opinion among overseas Chinese students is a growing force, because more and more of us are starting to be concerned about human rights in China," Yi said.

Yi said the trio's statement had garnered unprecedented support among Chinese students overseas.

"We have seen this from the number of people who spontaneously signed this statement," Yi said.

Gu Yi, meanwhile, said China is already stepping up political pressure on its hundreds of thousands of students studying in universities outside the country, which means that signing such statements openly carries its own risks.

"Anything we say while we're out of the country or any political activities we get involved in could be used as evidence for criminal charges against us [when we return]," Gu said.

"We're not safe, even if we are living in a free, democratic country," he said.

He said Kwon's case had brought it home to Chinese students that human rights abuses don't just happen to other people.

"It's not just something you read about in the newspapers; it's happening in front of our noses," Gu said. "So we have to stand up and do something to support our classmate."

Brave Johnny

A vociferous next-generation rights activist and graduate of Iowa State University, Kwon, now 28, also traveled to take part in the 2014 Occupy movement for fully democratic elections in Hong Kong.

He was also active on Twitter, which is blocked in China, and used social media to publicly criticize the "tyranny" of the Communist Party and express solidarity with causes like Free Tibet and the commemoration of those who died in the crackdown on the 1989 democracy movement on Tiananmen Square.

Fellow activists have described Kwon, who went by the Twitter handle @BraveJohnny, as showing a level dedication to his activism that is unusual among young people in today's China.

Kwon had also used his social media accounts to commemorate the June 4, 1989, massacre, and had repeatedly expressed his support for arrested lawyers in the form of postcards sent to them in jail or detention.



Reported by Ng Yik-tung and Lee Lai for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
Rohingya refugees residing in Malaysia wait near the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Kuala Lumpur, hoping to receive refugee status cards, Aug. 11, 2015.

A day after Myanmars government announced it would no longer send workers to Malaysia, a migrant-group leader said about 90,000 Rohingya Muslims already in the country were willing to take jobs.

Faisal Islam Muhammad Kassim, president of the Rohingya Society in Malaysia (RSM), told BenarNews on Thursday that allowing members of his group to get jobs and seek education in Malaysia would help many who live in shared flats and houses have better lives.

We would like to work and earn our income, said Faisal, a statistics graduate from a Myanmar university who earns his keep in Malaysia through translation work for media outlets and other odd jobs.

We then can have access to health insurance if we are able to work legally here. Our children can also receive proper education, said Faisal, who has been in Malaysia for three years without a full-time job.

In response, Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) Executive Director Shamsuddin Bardan supported the idea following Myanmars move on Wednesday.

I personally believe when the Myanmar government decided to stop sending workers, the government should allow Rohingya refugees who are currently in Malaysia to work.

But the policy must be firm. No refugees who come after a certain date should be allowed to work so that the country wont be overrun by Rohingya refugees, Shamsuddin told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Ministry of Human Resources has not received official notification from Myanmar about its prohibition on migrant workers heading to Malaysia. Human Resources Minister Richard Riot said such a move would not change the number of foreign workers in the country.

About 100,000 Myanmar workers are working in Malaysia with most of them in the manufacturing sector, he said, adding the nation had enough foreign workers with most coming from Bangladesh.

In addition, Malaysia recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Cambodia to bring in workers, he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

UNHCR

About 56,000 Rohingya in Malaysia have received refugee status cards from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Kuala Lumpur. Faisal said another 35,000 were not recognized by UNHCR, which protects refugees but does not allow them to work legally.

Shamsuddin said the number of refugees was much higher, claiming that 150,000 Rohingya were in Malaysia and had no legal access to jobs.

In November, UNHCR told the Reuters news service that it was working with Malaysian officials on a pilot program to allow a few Rohingya  300 over three years  to work in Malaysias plantation and manufacturing sectors.

Political fallout

Myanmar on Wednesday said it had temporarily stopped sending workers to Malaysia over the current situation in Malaysia, but without elaboration and apparently in response to bilateral tensions over a military crackdown in Rakhine state.

Myanmars army has conducted security sweeps in the northern part of the state that borders Bangladesh following deadly attacks on Burmese border guard posts in early October. Authorities have blamed Rohingya militants for those attacks.

Soldiers have been accused of committing extrajudicial killings, rape and arson in Rohingya communities. The military has denied committing any atrocities and has blamed the arson that reportedly destroyed hundreds of homes on Rohingya. More than 20,000 Rohingya have crossed into southeastern Bangladesh in recent weeks as they have fled from the violence in Rakhine, the International Organization for Migration said this week.

On Friday, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak led a rally in Kuala Lumpur where he condemned violence against Rohingya Muslims as genocide and urged other Asian nations to increase pressure on Myanmar to stop the bloodletting.

The move prompted Myanmars Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Kyaw Tin to summon Malaysian Ambassador Mohd Haniff Bin Abd Rahman to express dismay over Najibs remarks and reject accusations of genocide and ethnic cleansing.

Educational opportunities

Faisal said large populations of Rohingya were in Kuala Lumpur Selangor, and the northern state of Penang. Their children attend schools run by non-governmental organizations.

We expect that there are more than what weve recorded. UNHCR is giving cards to those who really need it like the sickly and those who had been detained by the authorities and kept at the immigration depot, said Faisal, 34, the father of a 5-month-old.

Lydia Amira, a teacher at a Rohingya NGO school in Kuala Lumpur supported calls for educational rights for Rohingya.

These students have potential. We want them to have language and knowledge so that they can survive the outside world. Its no different from normal, non-refugee kids.

From just teaching them language, basic English, a number of our students were accepted for relocation efforts into the United States, perhaps with what we are teaching here, one day they can go back to their country and rebuild it with what they learned, she told BenarNews.

Reported by Muzliza Mustafa, A. Ariffin and Hadi Azmi for BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.
A Tibetan living in northwestern Chinas Gansu province self-immolated on Thursday in the first such protest in Tibetan areas of China since May, Tibetan sources say.



The protest took place at about 7:00 p.m. local time on a main road leading from the Machu (in Chinese, Maqu) county center to the Machu Bridge, a local source told RFAs Tibetan Service.



Many who saw the protest said the self-immolator was praying to [exiled spiritual leader] the Dalai Lama, RFAs source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.



Not long after, Chinese police arrived and took the self-immolator away, the source said.



No details on the protesters identity or condition were immediately available.



The protest brings to 146 the number of self-immolations by Tibetans living in China since the wave of fiery protests began in 2009.



Most protests feature demands for Tibetan freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama from India, where he has lived since escaping Tibet during a failed national uprising in 1959.



Reported by RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney.




A woman collects dead clams on a beach at Ky Anh district, in the central Vietnamese coastal province of Ha Tinh, April 27, 2016.

Vietnams environment minister promised representatives of the fisherman hard-hit by the Formosa chemical spill that the government is toughening safeguards to prevent another disaster and will pay out more money to compensate the victims, RFAs Vietnamese Service has learned.

Environment and Natural Resources Minister Tran Hong Ha met with pair of attorneys and a half-dozen fishermen from Ky Anh district of Ha Tinh province on Wednesday in an attempt to address their concerns about the April spill that devastated Vietnams central coast.

During the four-hour meeting the attorneys and the fisherman questioned the licensing process that allowed the Formosa plant to operate and the compensation regime agree to by Hanoi and Formosa Plastics Group, the Taiwanese company that owns the steel mill, Tran Vu Hai, an attorney representing the victims told RFA.

There were two issues discussed in the meeting, the first one covered the license issued by the ministry of natural resources and environment to Formosa on Dec. 11, 2015 that allowed this company to release its waste, Tran Vi Hai told RFA. The second issue covered anything related to Formosa under the ministrys watch, such as compensation, the soil and sea environment.

Tran Vi Hai told RFA that the minister assured them that the Formosas operations were up to international standards including those set out by the World Bank.

Im impressed that Tran Hong Ha promised to the fishermen that Formosas operation has to meet international standards, more specifically standards set out by the World Bank, Tran Vi Hai said.

Earlier this year the World Bank toughened its environmental safeguards, but critics contend that they include a loophole that allows countries to use their own accountability mechanisms to enforce the standards.

In 2011 Vietnam lowered its environmental standards for steelmakers including the rules regulating cyanide, according to VietnamBreakingNews.com.

Cyanide was one of the chemicals that comprised a toxic cocktail that the company dumped into the sea, killing an estimated 115 tons of fish and leaving fishermen and tourism industry workers jobless in four central provinces.

Even with Vietnams lower standard for steel mills, Formosa committed more than 50 violatoins, including the unauthorized use of a dirtier production process, led to Vietnam's worst environmental disaster, according to a November Reuters article quoting an internal government report.

More Compensation to Come

While Tran Hong Ha told lawyers that the licensing granted Formosa complied with the law, he also promised to that more money would be released at a later stage to pay for vocational training and low-interest loans so fishermen can buy bigger boats allowing them to range further out to sea.

The compensation issue has been pushed to the forefront by demonstrators who have mounted protests seeking larger and faster payments.

In June, the Formosa Plastics Group acknowledged that it was responsible for the release of toxic chemicals from its $110 million steel plant located at the deep-water port in the Ha Tinh Province.

The company pledged $500 million to clean it up and compensate people affected by the spill, but the government has faced protests over the amount of the settlement and the slow pace of the payouts.

Tran Vu Hai questioned the compensation regime that is supposed to cover six months, saying that is too little time is because the pollution will linger longer than and many fishing boats will have stay idle for many more months.

Le Xuan Vuong, chairman of Ky Anh districts Ky Loi village, who attended the meeting, blamed some of the delay on disagreements between the victims and the government over the funds.

Our village has 10 hamlets, and six of them have finished filing and are announcing the rates for people so they know and respond, he said. We are still in the process of appraising losses in the other four hamlets. The reason for this delay is that fishermen did not agree with the rates proposed by the government.

Reported by RFA's Vietnamese Service. Translated by Viet Ha. Written in English by Brooks Boliek.
BAKU -- A court in Azerbaijan has convicted opposition activist Bayram Mammadov of drug trafficking and sentenced him to 10 years in prison despite his claim that he was tortured into confessing.

Mammadov, 21, was arrested with fellow activist Qiyas Ibrahimov after they painted graffiti that read: "Happy Slaves' Day!" on a monument to late former President Heydar Aliyev in Baku on May 9.

Azerbaijan marks Aliyev's birthday every year on May 10, with celebrations and flowers placed at the monument. The event is called the "Day of Flowers" and commemorations last for several days.

Amnesty International condemned the sentence issued on December 8 as a "shameless attempt by the Azerbaijani authorities to crush dissent out of existence."

"The charges against him were clearly fabricated with the sole purpose of punishing him for his activism," said Denis Krivosheev, Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International.

"This outrageously long sentence following already prolonged, unnecessary and arbitrary detention is a blow to all peaceful activists in Azerbaijan," he added.

Both Mammadov and Ibrahimov are members of the NIDA opposition group.

Mammadov denies guilt and retracted his confession at trial, saying it was extracted "under torture."

His lawyer, Elcin Sadiqov, called his client's trial politically motivated.

Ibrahimov, also 21, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in October.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on Baku to "immediately free" the activists and investigate allegations that they were mistreated in police custody.

President Ilham Aliyev, who has ruled the oil-producing ex-Soviet republic since shortly before his father's death in 2003, has shrugged off frequent criticism from rights groups and Western governments that say he has jailed foes and critics on false pretenses and abused power to crush dissent.

With reporting by AFP
Two years after he was first arrested, the prosecution has demanded a 12-year prison term for respected Azerbaijani Shi'ite theologian Elsan Mustafaoglu on a charge of spying for Iran that he says was falsified and to which he pleads not guilty.

Mustafaoglu, 41, was sent by Azerbaijan's Education Ministry to study in Iran, and defended his dissertation in 2007. In 2001, he founded the public organization Spiritual Purity, and in 2005 a research center. He also anchored a series of religious programs on various Azerbaijani TV channels. After two years studying in Norway, he returned to Baku in early 2014 and worked with the Spiritual Board of Muslims of the Caucasus. Fellow theologian Ilqar Ibrahimoglu, who heads the Center for the Defense of Freedom of Conscience and Belief, characterized him as "a very worthy and decent human being."

Mustafaoglu was arrested in December 2014 and remanded in pretrial custody. His lawyer, Afqan Mamedov, said when the trial opened in July 2016 that his client was accused of having been recruited by Iranian intelligence in Iran in 1992. At that time, Mustafaoglu would have been just 17. Mamedov said Mustafaoglu did not travel to Iran that year, and the prosecution had not produced any evidence that he had. Mustafaoglu was subsequently said to have received unspecified instructions from Iranian citizens who travelled to Azerbaijan for that purpose. The prosecution's case, Mamedov said, was based on vague statements by eight people who had not witnessed any crime committed by Mustafaoglu.

Both Mamedov and human rights campaigner Oqtai Gyulaliyev make the point that Mustafaoglu was detained, and the charges against him formulated, by Azerbaijan's powerful National Security Ministry. Mamedov suggests that the ministry's staffers must have been supremely confident that the prosecution would not question the details of the case, knowing the origins of the charges. Mamedov and Gyulaliyev each allege that the motivation of the ministry personnel in question was to earn a promotion by virtue of having unmasked an Iranian spy.

Serious doubts about the competence and objectivity of the National Security Ministry surfaced in the fall of 2015, when Minister Eldar Mahmudov was fired, followed by some 20 other senior personnel, on suspicion of abuse of their official positions, illegal pressure on businessmen, and other crimes. Since then, the entire ministry and its operations have been subjected to intense scrutiny, and some 50 people identified as victims of wrongdoing on the part of its staff.

Elsan Hasanov, who heads the Center for Monitoring Political Prisoners, notes that Mustafaoglu would not be the first person to face apparently fabricated and unsubstantiated charges of spying for Iran. He recalled the trial in 2007 of 15 members of a group headed by Said Dadashbeyli who were found guilty of plotting a coup d'etat at the behest of Tehran, and jailed for up to 14 years.

The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL
An amateur video that has emerged on social media appears to show Iranian police officers beating a man, running over him with a motorcycle, and then firing at him.

Police said they will investigate the video posted online on November 1. It is not known when the video was recorded.

Some reports suggested that the footage was recorded in the southern Tehran neighborhood of Naziabad, which has been the scene of anti-regime protests triggered by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained in mid-September by Iran's notorious morality police for "improperly wearing" her hijab.

RFE/RL could not independently verify the video.

"A special order has been immediately issued to investigate the exact time and place of the incident and identify the offenders," the police said in a statement published by Iranian media.

"The police absolutely do not approve of violent and unconventional behavior and will deal with the offenders according to the rules," the statement added.

The video recorded at night in an alley shows about a dozen purported police officers beating a man who is lying on the ground. A person who is recording the scene from a building across the street is heard cursing the aggressors.

Damn you, damn you," a male voice says in the video.

At one point, a man in police uniform riding a motorcycle appears to run over the man. Shortly after, another uniformed man beats the victim with a baton, then another one shoots him at close range.

The man initially tries to cover his head with his hands. Later, his legs appear to be motionless.

The man recording the scene is heard saying, "He died, he died."

The video comes amid a brutal state crackdown on nearly seven weeks of antiestablishment protests that erupted following the September 16 death of Amini.

Women have removed and burned their hijabs, the mandatory Islamic headscarves, while many of the protesters have called for an end to the Islamic republic. "Woman, life, freedom" and "Death to the dictator" have been among the main chants of the protesters.

The authorities have claimed that Iran's enemies are behind the unrest.

More than 250 people have been killed in the crackdown, according to rights groups. Several thousand more have been arrested, including many protesters as well as journalists, lawyers, activists, digital rights defenders, and others.

Without providing any evidence, Iran's police chief, General Hossein Ashtari, claimed last month that "counterrevolutionary groups abroad" wore police uniforms and fired into the crowds. He claimed some of the alleged fake police officers had been arrested.

Amnesty International said on Twitter that that the video was "another horrific reminder that the cruelty of Iran's security forces knows no bounds."

"Amid a crisis of impunity, they're given free rein to brutally beat and shoot protesters," the London-based rights watchdog added while calling on the UN Human Rights Council to "urgently investigate the crimes."

The shocking scenes have caused outrage among Iranians on social media with many condemning the violence.

"These brutal conditions are a sign that the establishment is on the verge of collapse," Abdollah Momeni, a prominent activist and former political prisoner, said on Twitter, adding that the violence reflected the regime's "fear of the people."

Shadi Sadr, a human rights lawyer and the co-founder of the rights group Justice for Iran, told RFE/RL that the international community needed to do more to pressure the Islamic republic to stop its crackdown on protesters.

"The actions taken by the international community so far have not deterred the Islamic republic from stopping the bloodshed," Sadr said.
uh ohFormer and current black employees on Tuesday filed a class action lawsuit against Atlanta-based CNN, Turner Broadcasting and New York based parent company Time Warner for racial discrimination.As a result of the current discrimination lawsuit filed on behalf of DeWayne Walker vs. CNN, Time Warner & Turner, we have uncovered stories involving abuse of power, nepotism, revenge, retaliation and discrimination, said Daniel Meachum said in a press release.The press release provided a photo of, a CNN producer who sued CNN individually in January for $50 million for racial discrimination and retaliation for filing a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He accused CNN of not promoting him over 13 years because he is black, skipped over frequently for promotions in favor of white employees.mo
United Nations prosecutors have demanded a life sentence for former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic for orchestrating atrocities during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.

Prosecutor Alan Tieger told judges at The Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on December 7 that it would be "an insult to the victims, living and dead, and an affront to justice to impose any sentence other than the most severe available under law: A life sentence."

Tieger said there was no doubt Mladic was guilty. "No-one can fathom the extent of the suffering for which Ratko Mladic is responsible," he said.

Tieger was speaking at the end of prosecutors' closing statements at the conclusion of Mladic's trial.

The 74-year-old Mladic is facing 11 charges, including two charges of genocide as well as war crimes and crimes against humanity. He has denied all the charges.

Mladic is accused of helping orchestrate the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys from Srebrenica.



Mladic is also accused of being the architect of the 44-month siege of Sarajevo, where an estimated 10,000 people were killed by shelling and snipers.

Mladic's defense attorneys will deliver their closing statements before the three-judge panel retires to consider verdicts, which are expected late next year.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP
The U.S. Congress has backed legislation giving the president new, broader authority to impose sanctions on human rights abusers worldwide, building on an earlier law that has infuriated the Kremlin.



The measure, formally known as the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, passed the Senate in a 92-7 vote on December 8 as part of a larger bill that sets guidance for U.S. defense priorities for the coming year.



The new measure is modeled after the Magnitsky Act, a law passed in 2012 that punishes Russians deemed by Washington to be rights violators by barring them from the United States and freezing any assets they hold there.



That law is named for Sergei Magnitsky, a whistle-blowing Russian lawyer who helped uncover evidence of a massive tax fraud. He was jailed and later died in a notorious Moscow jail. His supporters, Western governments, and international rights groups say he was tortured and denied medical treatment.



Most of the 39 Russians hit by the 2012 law were accused of being connected either to Magnitsky's death in 2009, or the $230 million tax scam that he identified while working with the investment firm Hermitage Capital Management.



Incensed by the U.S. law, the Kremlin retaliated in 2012 by banning the adoption of Russian children by U.S. citizens and barring some Americans from entering Russia.

'Gross Rights Violators'



he new legislation authorizes the president to impose visa bans, to freeze financial assets, or other punitive measures against anyone who targets whistle-blowers exposing corruption or citizens exercising basic rights like freedom of speech, religion, or assembly.



It also targets foreign government officials engaged in "significant corruption," such as illegally acquiring state assets or hiding ill-gotten gains offshore.

The Senate had passed a stand-alone version of the amendment last year, but its fate in the House was uncertain. So its backers, led by Senator Ben Cardin (Democrat-Maryland), attached it to the defense bill as a backup, according to one congressional official familiar with the procedure.



Because the larger defense policy bill, formally known as the National Defense Authorization Act, is a must-pass piece of legislation -- since it affects U.S. military operations worldwide -- outgoing President Barack Obama is expected to sign it into law. The House passed the bill earlier this month.



"Gross violators of human rights and those who engage in serious acts of corruption cannot escape the consequences of their actions even when their home country fails to act," Cardin said in a statement. "Visiting the United States and using our financial institutions are privileges that should not be extended to the worst actors in the international system."

Vigorous Lobbying



The new measure does not single out Russians for special scrutiny, but as it made its way through congressional committees, it faced what Magnitsky's family and allies said was a vigorous lobbying campaign, quietly backed by the Kremlin, to undermine the widely accepted narrative surrounding the tax fraud and Magnitsky's death.



The legislation, either as a stand-alone bill or as amendment to the defense bill, encountered little opposition.

The most prominent skeptic in Congress has been Representative Dana Rohrabacher (Republican-California), who has traveled to Moscow and reportedly met with representatives of the Russian prosecutor-general's office, and with a close ally of President Vladimir Putin.



At a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing held a day before the vote, Rohrabacher repeated his argument that such human rights legislation should not bear Magnitsky's name, suggesting that might needlessly offend or provoke Russia.



"I think the Russians were mistreated in the Magnitsky case because that title of that bill is maybe suggesting that something was done that has not been proven yet," he told the subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats, of which he is the chairman.



If the measure does make it into law, it is also unclear whether Obama's successor, Donald Trump, will use the authority once he assumes office on January 20.



Trump has signaled he wants a more conciliatory approach toward Russia, and has shown little interest publicly in global human rights issues.

Ukraine Military Assistance

The defense bill contains other provisions likely to irritate the Kremlin, including a ban on funds for military-to-military contact between the Pentagon and the Russian Defense Ministry -- a response to Russia's annexation of Crimea and its involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.



A related spending measure earmarks $350 million in military and security assistance for Ukraine, but half of those funds are contingent on Ukraine doing more to clean up corruption and waste in its armed forces. The measure also authorizes the supply of lethal weaponry, which Ukraine has demanded for months to help its forces battling Russia-backed fighters in eastern regions.

The Obama administration has repeatedly rebuffed calls in Congress, and elsewhere, to supply lethal weaponry, which would include antitank missile systems, fearing that it would provoke Russia and escalate the fighting in eastern Ukraine further.



The legislation also withholds funding from the Defense Department for matters related to Russian surveillance flights over the United States. Those flights are authorized under a 2002 agreement known as the Open Skies Treaty, but some officials in Washington voiced fear that the Russian flights were using a high-tech camera with sensors to significantly boost surveillance capabilities.



The bill requires defense officials to report to Congress that the Russian flights wouldn't violate the treaty before funding is released.




German intelligence says Russia is trying to destabilize German society with an intensifying campaign of propaganda, disinformation, and cyberattacks ahead of federal elections next year.

"We see aggressive and increased cyberspying and cyberoperations that could potentially endanger German government officials, members of parliament, and employees of democratic parties," Hans-Georg Maassen, head of the domestic BfV intelligence agency, said in a December 8 statement.

The warning came two months after U.S. intelligence publicly accused Russia of directing cyberattacks against American political figures and organizations in order to interfere with the U.S. electoral process ahead of the November 8 presidential election.

Russia has repeatedly rejected accusations that it was behind those attacks. There was no immediate official response from Moscow to Maassen's statement on December 8.

Maassen cited "increasingly aggressive cyberespionage" against German political entities as part of a mounting body of evidence "of attempts to influence the federal election next year."

The BfV noted a "striking increase" in the number of attacks attributed to a hacking group known as Fancy Bear, which security experts have linked to Russian intelligence. The group has been blamed for the hacks of the U.S. National Democratic Committee this year and the German parliament in 2015.

'Enormous' Spending

The BfV also said it had observed a broad array of Russian propaganda instruments and "enormous use of financial resources" to target Russian speakers, policymakers, and political groups in Germany with "disinformation" campaigns.

Russian state media have repeatedly seized on stories about crimes committed by migrants in Germany, tying them to Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to allow hundreds of thousands of immigrants fleeing violence in the Middle East into the country.

Maassen last month cited a case in which a Kremlin-controlled television network reported that a teenage Russian girl in Berlin was abducted and raped by migrants, fueling outrage in Russia and among Russian-speakers in Germany.

German authorities later concluded that the account of the alleged crime had been fabricated.

In his December 8 statement, Maassen added that recent cyberattacks targeting German politicians could have been aimed at collecting compromising information about them.

He said his agency expects a further increase in cyberattacks ahead of next year's elections, which have not yet been set but are expected to be held in September.

With reporting by AP and Reuters


The people of Kyrgyzstan go to the polls on December 11 to vote on amendments to the country's constitution. They are familiar with constitutional referendums; this is the seventh in 25 years of Kyrgyz independence. Another, in 1994, was on the presidency.

As has been true in each of the previous referendums, it's a yes-or-no option. Voters cannot cherry-pick individual amendments from among the more-than-two-dozen proposed changes, some slight, some large.

The changes receiving the most attention deal with shifting power from the president and the parliament to the prime minister and the government. But there are other very important changes included in this package.

First, some background.

Kyrgyzstan's current constitution was approved in the country's last referendum, in June 2010, right after President Kurmanbek Bakiev was ousted from power. That basic law changed Kyrgyzstan's form of government from presidential to parliamentary. It was the first time any country in Central Asia had adopted a parliamentary system. That constitution also included a clause that no changes would be made until 2020.

Now, even some of the architects of that constitution admit the need for some changes. But critics of this referendum argue that the timing is bad, since a presidential election is tentatively scheduled for October 2017, so they say amendments would be more wisely made after that date. In any case, this package of amendments was rushed through; a case in point is the approval of the date of this referendum before parliament had even formally approved the holding of such a referendum.

The changes at the top are what most people are looking at, but actually they are not the most dramatic changes being proposed.

Article 36, Paragraph 5, currently reads, "Persons reaching the age of consent shall have the right to marry and create a family." That would be changed to "a man and a woman reaching the age of consent shall have the right to marry and create a family."

The implications for Kyrgyzstan's beleaguered lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community are clear. They can have no recognized, formal bond and some of the more conservative elements in Kyrgyzstan will likely see this clarification as legitimizing their campaigns against what they consider "nontraditional" relationships.

Article 41, Paragraph 2, says, "Everyone shall have the right to apply in accordance with international treaties to international human rights bodies seeking protection of violated rights and freedoms." The amendment would remove the next sentence, which currently reads, "In the event that these bodies confirm the violation of human rights and freedoms, the Kyrgyz Republic shall take measures to their restoration and/or compensation of damage"

Those familiar with the case of Azimjon Askarov, an ethnic Uzbek rights activist convicted of participating in the June 2010 violence in southern Kyrgyzstan, will see the reason for the change. In April, the UN Human Rights Committee called on Kyrgyzstan to immediately release Askarov and annul his conviction.

Article 26 of the constitution deals with a defendant's rights -- presumption of innocence, right to a trial, and so on. An addition to Article 26 would tighten laws on statutes of limitation but make clear there is no statute of limitation for the "crimes of genocide and ecocide." The Kyrgyz public is environmentally conscious, which has presented problems for mining companies, particularly foreign mining companies working in Kyrgyzstan, who have been accused of damaging local ecosystems.

Under the proposed changes, the constitution's preamble would include language likely to appeal to Kyrgyz nationalists. Added to the "unwavering conviction and firm will to develop and enhance the Kyrgyz statehood, protect state sovereignty and unity of the people," are the words "[and] to develop its language" -- note the singular -- "and culture."

Article 50, Paragraph 2, guarantees that no one can deprive Kyrgyzstan's citizens of their citizenship. But the amended constitution would allow authorities to revoke citizenship in certain cases, the most likely being if a citizen has left to join Islamic militant groups in the Middle East or Afghanistan or Pakistan.

And now for the proposed changes in the government.

The prime minister currently may "appoint and dismiss the heads of local public administrations upon proposals of local "keneshes" in accordance with the procedures of the law (Article 89, Paragraph 7)." The amended version is shortened, and the prime minister may simply "appoint and dismiss the heads of local public administrations."

Changes to Article 87 would allow the prime minister, with parliament's approval, to appoint and dismiss ministers.

Under the amendments, the prime minister must be a parliamentary deputy, something not required under the current constitution. Further, the prime minister and first deputy prime minister would keep their deputy mandates and be able to vote in plenary sessions. In the event that either of these two officials resigns, is dismissed, or for whatever reason ceases to carry out the duties of their posts, "their deputy powers are restored in full (Article 73, addendum)."

Under the amendments, Kyrgyzstan's president would no longer chair the Council of Defense, essentially head of the military and law enforcement organizations, but would become chair of Security Council (Article 64, Section 9, Paragraph 1). The responsibilities of the Security Council are not clear.

There are many changes to the vetting or dismissal processes for judges at various levels all the way to the Supreme Court. The president would have the right to change judges in regional and city courts. People with a tarnished reputation would be excluded from holding state posts.

There are also new rules for parliamentary factions to withdraw from a ruling coalition, and an extension from 15 to 25 days for a coalition to nominate a candidate for prime minister.

An interesting addition to Article 68, Paragraph 2, which currently reads, "Officials exercising the powers of the president shall not have the right to call early elections of the Jogorku Kenesh or dismiss the government," would include "or be a candidate for the post of president in early elections for president."

The history of Kyrgyzstan's suggests this referendum should pass by an overwhelming majority. Whether most voters are familiar with all the changes they are approving is another question, of course.

RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, known locally as Azattyk, contributed to this report. The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL
Lawyers for Mykola Semena, a Crimean journalist and contributor to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), say their client has received the final written charges from the Russian-imposed authorities in Crimea.

Semena is charged with spreading "calls for undermining Russian territorial integrity via mass media."

Lawyers Emil Kuberdinov and Andrei Sabinin wrote on Facebook that they have begun to study the nearly six volumes of case materials after their client received the final official charges on December 7.

In Russia's judicial system, delivery of the final charges is often followed within weeks by a trial.

He could be sentenced to five years in prison if convicted.

Semena, who contributes to RFE/RLs Crimea Realities website, was initially charged in May by the Russian-imposed authorities after he wrote an article expressing the view that Crimea should be returned to Ukraine.

Russia seized control of the peninsula in March 2014, after sending in troops and staging a referendum considered illegitimate by Ukraine, the United States, and at least 100 nations.

Semena is currently under a court order barring him from leaving Crimea and must seek prior permission to travel outside the regional capital, Simferopol.

The United States, European Union, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and international media-freedom organizations have expressed concern over Semena's case, which activists say is part of a Russian clampdown on independent media and dissent in Crimea.

After Moscow seized control of Crimea, the Russian parliament passed a law making it a criminal offense to question Russia's territorial integrity within what the government considers its borders.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the Syrian army has suspended combat operations in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, Russian media reported.

Lavrov, speaking on the sidelines of an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) meeting in the German city of Hamburg on December 8, said the move would allow the evacuation of some 8,000 civilians trapped in the battle zone.

"I can tell you that today, combat operations by the Syrian army have been halted in eastern Aleppo because there is a large operation underway to evacuate civilians," he said.

Residents of Aleppo reported little let-up in the government's bombing and shelling campaign, however. Residents reported warplanes firing from machine guns at rebel positions and artillery shells falling on remaining rebel-controlled districts in what one rebel group described as an "intense battle."

The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights monitoring group also reported sporadic clashes with new raids and artillery fire late on December 8. Washington said it had no confirmation that the army had ceased fire in Aleppo.

Lavrov said after talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Hamburg that they had agreed Russian and U.S. military experts would meet in Geneva on December 10 to define "ways and means for a final solution of the problem of eastern Aleppo according to which all the militants leave it as well as those civilians who want to do so."

In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Lavrov's announcement was "an indication that something positive could happen."

The U.S. State Department said Kerry and Lavrov spoke by phone on December 8 and agreed to continue discussing a cease-fire to allow aid delivery and the departure of civilians.

"They agreed to continue discussions about establishing a framework for a cease-fire that will allow the delivery of aid, desperately needed humanitarian aid, as well as the safe departure of those who wish to leave the city," State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told a press briefing.

She said the specific nature of the talks in Geneva on December 10 were still being worked out.

Kerry said after meeting Lavrov that he was not confident but "hopeful" about reaching a deal, and was still waiting for "certain feedback and input" from Moscow.

"We are close to reaching an understanding, but I want to warn against high expectations," The Russian Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying.

U.S., Russia 'Poles Apart'

Earlier, UN Humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland said the United States and Russia were "poles apart" in trying to agree on terms for evacuations from rebel-held areas of Aleppo.

Egeland told reporters in Geneva on December 8 that months of negotiations over aid plans had produced "nothing," and that it was up to the United States and Russia to pull together to agree an evacuation of besieged eastern Aleppo.

Syrian and Russian leaders have previously rejected pleas from rebel forces and Western powers for a cease-fire in Aleppo and pressed their campaign to retake the city in its entirety.

In an interview published on December 8, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said victory in the battle for Aleppo would be a "big gain" for his government but that it will not be the end of the war in Syria.

Syrian government forces have recaptured around 75 percent of eastern Aleppo in recent weeks.

Rebels had controlled the area since 2012.

Intense Bombings

Hundreds of people have been reported killed and tens of thousands displaced by the fighting in the past few weeks.

The UN has said the remaining rebel-held areas, where food supplies are exhausted and there are no functioning hospitals, may hold 8,000 fighters among more than 100,000 civilians.

Syria opposition activists reported on December 8 that intense government bombings of a number of neighborhoods that remain under rebel control.

Also on December 8, Turkey's presidential spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said there was "intense diplomatic activity" in order to bring about a cease-fire in Aleppo and the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Kalin said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is personally engaged in the effort and had spoken three times with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

In London, Britains foreign intelligence chief accused Russia and the Syrian government of blocking efforts to end the war in Syria and defeat the extremist group Islamic State (IS) by treating all opponents of Assad as terrorists.

"Russia and the Syrian regime seek to make a desert and call it peace. The human tragedy is heart-breaking," Secret Intelligence Service head Alex Younger said on December 8. "We cannot be safe from the threats that emanate from that land unless the civil war is brought to an end."

Western governments say a campaign of air strikes that Russia launched in September 2015 has mainly targeted rebels rather than IS militants.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and BBC
WASHINGTON -- The White House says U.S. authorities will examine the around $11 billion privatization of a stake in Russian state oil giant Rosneft to determine how U.S. sanctions may impact the deal.

The deal announced this week would give a 19.5 percent stake in Rosneft to a consortium of Swiss commodities giant Glencore and the Qatari sovereign wealth fund.

Washington hit Rosneft with sanctions in response to Russia's annexation of Ukraines Crimea Peninsula in 2014 and its backing of armed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

The sanctions place restrictions on long-term lending and the transfer of some U.S. drilling and exploration technology to Rosneft but do not bar trading in its equity.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in Washington on December 8 that experts from the U.S. Treasury Department who are "responsible for constructing and enforcing the sanctions regime [against Russia] will carefully look at a transaction like this."

"They'll look at the terms of the deal and evaluate what impact sanctions would have on it," Earnest said.
Iran and Shell signed a deal on December 7 to explore the development of three of Iran's biggest oil and gas fields, undeterred by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's vow to undo last year's nuclear deal that enabled Western companies to resume business with Iran.

Anglo-Dutch Shell is the largest oil company to wade back into Iran since the nuclear deal was signed. It follows France's Total, which last month signed a $4.8 billion deal to explore developing a large offshore gas field.

The latest deal opens the way for Shell to assess the production potential of the South Azadegan and Yadavaran oil fields, both in southwestern Iran near the Iraqi border, as well as an offshore gas field near Kish Island in the Gulf.

The two oil fields are among the largest oil discoveries of the past 20 years. Iran estimates the South Azadegan field could become its biggest producer and by itself is worth about $10 billion.

Shell faces stiff competition. China's Sinopec oil firm already is drilling in the Yadavaran field and Total has shown an interest in developing the Azadegan field.

Were happy to resume working in Iran, said Shell Vice President Hans Nijkamp. He said the deal "opens a new chapter" for Iran and Shell, which halted most of its activities in Iran in 2010 under an international sanctions regime that was lifted in January under the nuclear deal.

"International [oil] markets remain under pressure, but the Islamic republic's return brings stability for the world's energy provision as well as the country's economic health," he said at the signing ceremony.

Shell, Total, and other Western oil companies face risks in Iran if Trump makes good on his vows to renegotiate or pull out of the nuclear deal, which provided sanctions relief in exchange for Iran curbing its nuclear activities.

Trump has not been shy about publicly confronting corporations that make moves he disagrees with, having taken to task just this week U.S. aircraft giant Boeing and Carrier, a major U.S. air-conditioner manufacturer.

Shell has said it would proceed with caution as it mulls reentering Iran under the preliminary agreement it signed with the National Iranian Oil Co.

While the recruitment of Shell to help develop Iran's vast energy resources represents a victory for Iranian President Hassan Rohani in his standoff with Trump, his efforts to attract foreign firms for major energy projects has caused some controversy at home in Iran, as well.

When the tenders were first announced in October, a senior commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which has extensive economic interests in the energy sector, said it was a "disgrace" for Iranian firms to be subordinated to foreigners in the proposed contracts.

But the Iranian Oil Ministry has insisted that foreign capital and know-how will be needed to expand the country's energy sector after decades of underinvestment due to sanctions.

With reporting by AFP, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, and Bloomberg


Syrian and Russian leaders on December 7 rejected pleas from rebel forces and Western powers for a cease-fire and pressed their campaign to retake Aleppo, aiming for a victory they said would "change the course" of the six-year war.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in media interviews echoed reports from independent monitors and news media saying government forces appear on the verge of taking full control of the city, Syria's most populous before the war, after years of rebel control in the east.

Rebels are estimated to have lost 75 percent to 80 percent of the territory they once controlled since mid-November, including most recently the Old City. Recapturing Aleppo would represent Assad's most important stride to date toward ending their long-running rebellion.

"Aleppo will completely change the course of the battle in all of Syria," Assad told the Al-Watan newspaper in an interview due to be published on December 8, according to excerpts released to the media.

"It won't mean the end of the war in Syria," he added, "but it will be a huge step toward this end."

Assad said the chances of a cease-fire are "practically nonexistent" at this point.

"The Americans in particular are insisting on demanding a truce, because their terrorist agents are now in a difficult situation," Assad told the newspaper.

Assad described Aleppo as the "last hope" of rebels and their backers "after their failure in the battles of Damascus and Homs," pro-Damascus television Al-Mayadeen reported on December 7.

Rebel groups and six Western powers repeated calls for a cease-fire in the city on December 7, warning of a humanitarian disaster there.

In a joint statement, the United States, Britain, Germany, Italy, France, and Canada also denounced Assad's government and its ally Russia for "their obstruction of humanitarian aid."

Damascus and Moscow have insisted that rebels must agree to leave Aleppo before they will consider a cease-fire.

Tens of thousands of civilians are still trapped in the remaining rebel-held areas of Aleppo.

"The artillery shelling is nonstop," a resident told the AP news agency by messaging service, describing the humanitarian situation as "really tough."

But Assad told Al-Mayadeen that "the decision to liberate all of Syria is taken and Aleppo is part of it."

Assad said he consulted with Russia about his decision to press ahead with the campaign.

"No decision is issued without discussions between the two countries" on a daily basis, he said.

Russia has given Assad crucial military and diplomatic backing throughout the conflict, which began with a forceful government crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 2011 and erupted into a civil war that has killed more than 250,000 people.

Moscow helped turn the tide of the war in the government's favor with a major campaign of air strikes that began in September 2015 and that Western governments say has mainly targeted rebels rather than Islamic State militants.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who accused the United States this week of backing out of a commitment to help arrange an orderly withdrawal of rebel forces from Aleppo, met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on December 7 in Hamburg, Germany.

No breakthrough was announced after the meeting. Kerry said he and Lavrov discussed "the extraordinarily dire situation in Aleppo" and they would "connect" again on December 8.

Lavrov said he affirmed his support for a proposal he said the United States made last week that involved a complete rebel withdrawal from eastern Aleppo -- a plan from which he said the United States has since backed off.

Meanwhile, a top lawmaker in Moscow said the odds are Aleppo will be "fully liberated" by the end of the year.

"I believe Aleppo will be fully liberated in the immediate future, maybe even before the end of the year," Frants Klintsevich, first deputy chairman of Russia's Federation Council Defense and Security Committee, told TASS.

"This will happen regardless of whether an agreement is reached between Russia and the U.S. on letting militants leave the eastern part of the city," he said.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and TASS


America now looks like Rome before the fall of the RepublicFrom the early Middle Ages until just a few decades ago, every educated person had to study the history of Greece and Rome. There's a reason for that, and there's a reason why it's a shame we no longer do so.It's not just that history holds important lessons. It's that we live in a time built by dead men who preceded us. America is a constitutional republic. Its governing institutions were imagined and bequeathed to us by a number of men, and all those men studied the history of Greece and Rome, as did the philosophers and writers and statesmen they took inspiration from, and those that these men took inspiration from. This democracy we live in is like a piece of foreign machinery we are supposed to operate. If you're not a mechanic, you wouldn't try to fix your car without first trying to read some sort of instructions. In order to understand how our republic works, we need to understand the thoughts of the people who built it. We have to understand where they were coming from.The Founding Fathers of the United States, and the Enlightenment philosophers they learned from  again, the people whose machine we are supposed to keep running  were obsessed with Greece and Rome. The reason why speeches from politicians keep referring to America as an "experiment" in democracy, why there is this sense that they were trying something daring and precarious, is because they lived under the shadow of Rome.The common belief until the American founding was that democracy was destined to fail. A political system that promises formal equality can't bear the strain of a system that will always have inequalities of status, however you try to legitimize them. In a true democracy, demagogues will win over the people with fatuous promises and showy acrobatics, and accrue enough power to destroy the very democracy that is the source of their power. (Stop me if that sounds familiar.) The reason why they believed this was because that's exactly what happened with Rome. Hence the saying "A Republic, if you can keep it."If we know something about the fall of the Roman Republic, we know vaguely about Julius Caesar, about how he was a popular general who used his support within the military to effect a coup. The coup then led to a civil war in which the strongman who prevailed, Augustus, thought he would do very well with the powers Caesar had claimed for himself.If we know a little more, we know that Caesar was not just a successful general, but a canny politician, who used his political victories not just to command the personal allegiance of the legions, but to build a populist political power base at home. We might also be faintly aware that by the time Caesar could attempt his coup, the Roman Republic was already exhausted, with a complacent elite fattened by centuries of military victory and the attendant spoils.But what historians now refer to as the crisis of the Roman Republic had a deeper, class-based component. Like all republics, Rome understood itself through the prism of the myth of its own overthrow of tyrannic rulers and the establishment of a, ahem, more perfect union. Like all national myths, this was only partly true.In reality, Roman society was divided into two classes, the patricians and the plebeians (words that still carry meaning today, although more faintly so); three if you count slaves, which you obviously should, although they were less active politically than the other two classes.The patricians were the aristocracy. They were large landowners, in an era where the source of economic power was land. What's more, while much of Italy was in theory public land, in practice patricians could farm those lands and keep the proceeds as if it was their own property. The fact that the patricians could rely on slave labor to farm this land made it even more profitable for them, even as it squeezed the plebeians out of the jobs they might have had farming. This fundamental equality between a landowning patrician class and the economically insecure plebeians is the most important thing to keep in mind about the history of the late Roman Republic.What about the political system? Well, as is well known, Rome was run by a Senate, but the Senate was actually made up of patricians. To oversimplify, the Senate was like a legislative branch, which nominated the consuls who ran the executive. Did the plebeians not have a voice? The plebeians were represented by elected officials called tribunes, whose main power was the ability to propose legislation and to veto the Senate. The plebeians were most often wealthy patricians themselves, since it was the only way to be active in politics, but they were patricians with the common touch, and good tribunes, like good politicians, knew how to appeal to their constituencies.In the late second century BC  decades before Caesar actually rolled around  this crushing inequality gave birth to a political crisis. Two brothers, Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, tried to implement various reforms to rebalance the inequality, including redistributing land and distributing grain to the Roman poor. How did it go? Well, to put a long story short, Gracchus eventually committed suicide rather than fall prey to lynching by a mob raised up by a patrician consul to stomp him down by force.The failure of the Gracchi (plural of Gracchus) did two things: The first was to re-establish the precedent of using force to settle political disputes. And the second was to entrench the class divisions at the heart of Roman society, since Rome's complex system of checks and balances (plus the sheer obdurateness of the aristocratic class) couldn't fix the problem. Of course, Rome's aristocrats did not believe themselves to simply be defending their pocketbooks. Rome, after all, was one of the world's most sophisticated civilizations, and its aristocracy was highly educated. It believed that in defending its privileges, it was defending itself from a, well, plebe, that was without a doubt uneducated and coarse, and held beliefs contrary to what it believed to be the values of Rome. In this background, Rome's government, increasingly implicated in foreign wars and maintaining an empire, had to become more and more militarized and to raise taxes to keep up its expenses.Because those conflicts were so deeply entrenched, Rome kept lurching from social to political to constitutional crisis year after year, decade after decade, so that by the time a popular strongman came along, the Republic was like a ripe fruit waiting to be plucked.
The United States and Russia are "poles apart" in trying to agree on terms for evacuations from rebel-held areas of Aleppo, UN humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland says.

Egeland told reporters in Geneva on December 8 that months of negotiations over aid plans had produced "nothing," and that it was up to the United States and Russia to pull together to agree an evacuation of besieged eastern Aleppo.

Syrian and Russian leaders have rejected pleas from rebel forces and Western powers for a cease-fire in Aleppo and pressed their campaign to retake the city in its entirety.

In an interview published on December 8, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said victory in the battle for Aleppo would be a "big gain" for his government but that it will not be the end of the war in Syria.

Rebels are estimated to have lost 75-80 percent of the territory they once controlled in Aleppo since mid-November.

Hundreds of people have been reported killed and tens of thousands displaced by the fighting in the past few weeks.

The UN has said the remaining rebel-held areas, where food supplies are exhausted and there are no functioning hospitals, may hold 8,000 fighters among more than 100,000 civilians.

Syria opposition activists on December 8 reported intense government bombings of a number of neighborhoods that remain under rebel control.

Aleppo Truce Talks Continue

On the sidelines of a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Hamburg, Germany, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he was "hopeful" about reaching an agreement with Russia over Aleppo but that he was still waiting for "certain feedback and input."

He spoke to reporters after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov twice on December 7-8.

Also on December 8, Turkey's presidential spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said there was "intense diplomatic activity" in order to bring about a cease-fire in Aleppo and the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Kalin said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was personally engaged in the effort and had spoken three times with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

In London, Britain's foreign intelligence chief accused Russia and the Syrian government of blocking efforts to end the war in Syria and defeat the extremist group Islamic State (IS) by treating all opponents of Assad as terrorists.

"Russia and the Syrian regime seek to make a desert and call it peace. The human tragedy is heart-breaking," Secret Intelligence Service head Alex Younger said on December 8. "We cannot be safe from the threats that emanate from that land unless the civil war is brought to an end."

Younger suggested that Russia's involvement in Syria, where it has backed Assad's government throughout the more than five-year civil war, is undermining efforts to eliminate that threat.

"As I speak, the highly organized external-attack-planning structures within [IS], even as they face military threat, are plotting ways to project violence against the UK and our allies without ever having to leave Syria," he said at the MI6 headquarters in London.

Western governments say a campaign of air strikes that Russia launched in September 2015 has mainly targeted rebels rather than IS militants.

Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross says nearly 150 civilians were evacuated from a hospital in an area of Aleppo recently recaptured by the Syrian Army.

The evacuation took place late on December 7 in the Old City's Meshatyeh district, a statement said. https://www.icrc.org/en/document/sarc-and-icrc-evacuate-150-civilians-aleppo-frontline

Most of the civilians were "disabled or in urgent need of care."

They were trapped inside the former old people's home because of heavy fighting nearby.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP
Welcome back to The Farda Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that tracks the key issues in Iran and explains why they matter. To subscribe, click here.

I'm RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari. Here's what Ive been following during the past week and what Im watching for in the days ahead.

The Big Issue

Iran has accused two female journalists who covered the hospitalization and funeral of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini -- whose death in the custody of Tehran's morality police triggered protests across the country -- of being U.S. spies and the "primary sources of news for foreign media."

The accusations came in a joint statement by the feared intelligence branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and the Intelligence Ministry, which identified the two journalists, Nilufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, who are being held in Tehran's Evin prison, by their initials. The statement claims the journalists were trained abroad. It also says the protests that have shaken Iran were planned by the CIA along with other foreign intelligence services, including the British and Saudi spy agencies as well as Israel's Mossad.

The statement was met with fear and anger by Iranian journalists and their colleagues, who pushed back against the accusations. Senior editors of Hamedi's Sharq daily and Mohammadi's Hammihan dismissed the charges and said the journalists were only doing their jobs. "Our journalist and our newspaper.....acted within the framework of the journalistic mission," said Mehdi Rahmanian, editor of the reformist Sharq, while Gholamhossein Karbaschi, the editor of Hammihan, said the IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency and other news agencies had similar reports that included more details. More than 500 journalists, photographers, and other media workers demanded the release of their colleagues while calling on officials to allow the free flow of information.

Separately, Tehran's Journalist Association said that based on the statement by the Iranian intelligence agencies, journalism should be banned because "the normal activity of journalists has been cited as evidence of a crime." For its part, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists dismissed the charges against the two journalists as "conspiracy theories," adding that it will hold Iranian leaders accountable for any harm done to the journalists.

Why It Matters: The spying accusations against Hamedi and Mohammadi are a major escalation of state pressure on the media, which is already facing a severe crackdown and tough censorship. The spying charges leveled against the two carries the death penalty. According to the CPJ, more than 45 journalists and columnists have been arrested in the current crackdown. The French media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said Iran has become the world's biggest jailer of female journalists in the course of the current crackdown.

Meanwhile, reports have emerged that France-based Iranian journalist Vahid Shamsoddinnezhad, who had traveled to Saghez to cover the aftermath of Amini's death for the European TV channel Arte, has been in jail since September 28.

What's Next: The judiciary has not officially charged the two journalists with spying. The pushback from the Iranian press and journalists and international pressure could be instrumental in clearing the two journalists of the accusations.

Stories You Might Have Missed

Iranian authorities secretly buried the body of RFE/RL's Radio Farda broadcaster Reza Haghighatnejad at a location near Shiraz after seizing his body upon repatriation to Iran for burial. Haghighatnejad, 45, died of cancer in Berlin on October 17. His body was flown to Iran on October 25. His family was not allowed to see the body or participate in his burial. Radio Farda obtained a video of Haghighatnejad's gravesite , where the anthem of the current mass protests in Iran, Shervin Hajipur's Baraye, was heard in the background. The U.S. State Department has called on Iran to release Haghighatnejad's body and said the episode showed the extent the Iranian government will go to intimidate the press.

at a location near Shiraz after seizing his body upon repatriation to Iran for burial. Haghighatnejad, 45, died of cancer in Berlin on October 17. His body was flown to Iran on October 25. His family was not allowed to see the body or participate in his burial. Radio Farda obtained , where the anthem of the current mass protests in Iran, Shervin Hajipur's Baraye, was heard in the background. The U.S. State Department has called on Iran to release Haghighatnejad's body and said the episode showed the extent the Iranian government will go to intimidate the press. Iran has arrested rapper Toomaj Salehi, who had expressed support for the anti-govenment protests in Iran. Security authorities announced that the rapper was arrested on October 30 while attempting to flee the country. Salehi's uncle denied the claim, saying his nephew was arrested in the southwestern province of Chaharmahal Bakhtiari. Salehi was also detained last year over lyrics he wrote that condemn state repression, the killings of protesters, poverty, and injustice.

What We're Watching

Iran saw a surge in protests last week when thousands of people marked 40 days since the death of Mahsa Amini in state custody. In Amini's hometown of Saghez, a massive crowd gathered at the cemetery where the young woman is buried. Many walked to the cemetery amid reports that authorities had blocked the roads leading to Amini's resting place. Mourners also gathered last week at the grave of 16-year-old Nika Shahkarami near the western city of Khorramabad, 40 days after she was killed in the brutal state crackdown amid reports that security forces had opened fire to disperse mourners while also making arrests.

Why It Matters: The memorial ceremonies for those killed by security forces have energized the protest movement by fueling more anger with state repression. The establishment has responded with force. More protests could erupt as Iranians mourn those killed by security forces.

Thats all from me for now. Dont forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have.



Until next time,



Golnaz Esfandiari



If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Wednesday.
ON MY MIND

The European Union's move today to unblock visa-free travel for Georgians and Ukrainians, which had been held up due to an internal EU dispute, is a welcome move. Pro-Western officials in Tbilisi and Kyiv have long been citing visa-free travel as one of the benefits of enacting painful -- and often unpopular -- reforms.

Visa-free travel is also a powerful symbol. It is a signal that while Ukraine and Georgia are not EU members -- and probably won't be for the foreseeable future -- they are nevertheless seen as part of the broader European family. This is important.

By delaying visa-free travel, Brussels risked alienating two countries where pro-Western sentiments are high. It also risked being seen as a tacit rejection of two countries that have long been trying desperately and against the odds to escape from Moscow's orbit.

Continuing to hold up visa-free travel would have been a major victory for Vladimir Putin. And finally unblocking it gives a glimmer of hope to 50 million Georgians and Ukrainians in what has otherwise been a deeply discouraging year.

IN THE NEWS

European Union member states and the European Parliament have struck a deal to end a dispute that had been holding up a decision to allow Ukrainians and Georgians to visit the bloc without needing a visa.

The Kremlin says Russia has finalized an agreement to privatize 19.5 percent of state-owned oil company Rosneft in a deal worth around $11 billion with a consortium of Swiss commodities giant Glencore and the Qatari sovereign wealth fund.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has demanded that Russia help to defuse tensions in Europe ahead of a gathering of representatives from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Hamburg.

State Duma Deputy Vitaly Milonov had urged Russia's prosecutor-general to investigate the Riga-based Russian news website Meduza on charges of "promoting extremism and terrorism."

Russia said on December 7 it would restrict the ability of U.S. diplomats based in Moscow to travel if a pending U.S. bill that would do the same to Russian diplomats in the United States entered into force.

A court in Ireland has released assets belonging to exiled Kremlin critic and former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky that are worth around $100 million.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has called for continued diplomatic pressure and sanctions on Russia until Moscow respects a February 2015 agreement aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Mikhail Gorbachev has blamed the late Russian President Boris Yeltsin and other politicians for the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, saying that their hunger for power destroyed the country.

Russian human rights campaigners draped a huge banner from a St. Petersburg bridge calling for the release of jailed activist Ildar Dadin, who says he has been tortured in prison.

WHAT I'M READING

Putin's Gulag

In a piece in Politico, Marc Bennets, author of the book Im Going To Ruin Their Lives: Inside Putins War On Russias Opposition, argues that "torture and solitary confinement are regular features of Russias prison system, and its set to get worse."

Fortress Kaliningrad

Alexander Clarkson has a piece on his blog looking at Russia's military buildup in Kaliningrad

The Balkan Front

Belgrade-based journalist Harriet Salem has a piece on the Atlantic Council's website on why we should "beware the Russian bear in the Balkans."

UNIAN, meanwhile, reports that Montenegro has put two Russian citizens suspected of plotting a coup in Montenegro on an international wanted list.

The Looking Glass War

In The New York Review Of Books, Robert Cottrell, editor of The Browser and former Moscow bureau chief for The Economist and the Financial Times, looks at several new books about the intelligence war between Russia and the West.

Putin's Nationalities Policy

Paul Goble argues in a piece for the Jamestown Foundation that Putin's new nationalities policy "is set to fail spectacularly."

California H!

Leonid Ragozin has a piece in BloombergBusiness profiling the leader of Calexit, the California independence movement, and his Russian connections.

The Oilman Diplomat?

The Wall Street Journal has a piece examining Exxon Mobil CEO and Secretary of State candidate Rex Tillerson's ties to Putin.

Russia Flexes Its Missiles

In a piece in The National Interest, Nikolas Gvosdev, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, notes that in Russia's new national-security doctrine, the possibility of using nuclear weapons has been changed from "unthinkable" to "unlikely."

The Baltic Minutemen

In Politico, Jonathan Brown looks at the paramilitary groups emerging in the Baltic states to take on the threat from the east.

The Former Ambassador Speaks

Meduza has published an interview with former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul.
HAMBURG, Germany -- A top U.S. State Department official has decried the treatment of RFE/RL journalists in Turkmenistan, where one contributor faces a potential prison sentence for possessing chewing tobacco.

In the latest in a string of cases involving journalists in the authoritarian former Soviet republic, RFE/RL contributor Khudayberdy Allashov was apprehended in Turkmenistan's northern Dashoguz Province on December 3, when police officers entered his house, beat him, and rounded up his family.

"I think that the treatment that a number of RFE[/RL] journalists [have encountered] in the past couple of years -- whether through harassment, or detention and harassment, or mistreatment while under detention -- is absolutely unacceptable," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal told RFE/RL on December 8.

Allashov, along with his mother, was charged with possessing chewing tobacco, which, while illegal in Turkmenistan, is commonly consumed and not known to have led to arrests in the past.

Allashov's wife was told that he had confessed to possessing 11 kilograms of the product and could expect to be sentenced to seven years in prison. She believes that, if he confessed, it was under duress.

"Turkmenistan has an obligation to meet the obligations under international law, under the international declaration of human rights, and under their own constitution to protect and safeguard the human rights of all and to ensure that due process is followed," Biswal told RFE/RL in the interview in Hamburg, Germany, where officials from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) were meeting.

The OSCE on December 6 called on the authorities in Turkmenistan to "immediately" release Allashov.

Allashov's arrest follows several cases involving RFE/RL journalists in recent months, which Dunja Mijatovic, the OSCE's media freedom representative, has previously raised with the Turkmen authorities.

In October Soltan Achilova, an RFE/RL correspondent, was physically attacked, while threats to enforce a suspended jail sentence against another RFE/RL correspondent, Rovshan Yazmukhamedov, were made in November.

Last year, another RFE/RL contributor, Saparmamed Nepeskuliev, was sentenced to three years in prison for illegal drug possession.

Turkmenistan is one of the most isolated countries in the world, ruled by a repressive government that tolerates no dissent, routinely jails government critics or puts them in psychiatric hospitals, and allows no independent media.
WASHINGTON -- More than two dozen U.S. senators have urged U.S. President-elect Donald Trump not to weaken sanctions targeting Russia for its actions in Crimea and elsewhere in Ukraine.



In a December 8 letter signed by 27 Democrats and Republicans, the senators also called on Trump to authorize the supply of lethal weaponry to Ukraine, something that outgoing President Barack Obama's administration has refused to do.

"In light of Russia's continued aggression and repeated refusal to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereign right to choose its own destiny, we also renew our call for the United States to increase political, economic, and military support for Ukraine," they wrote.

The letter was issued hours after Congress finalized a massive defense bill that includes millions of dollars in military assistance and support for Ukraine.



Trump, who takes office on January 20, has signaled he wants a more conciliatory approach toward Russia and cast doubt on the necessity of NATO.



Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in March 2014 after mass demonstrations forced Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to flee.

Moscow later backed separatists in eastern Ukraine with support that Kyiv and the West say includes heavy weaponry and military personnel.

At least 9,700 people have been killed the conflict between Kyiv's forces and the separatists since April 2014, according to the UN.
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Matthew Thayer, a 16-year old sophomore at Chariho High School, has helped organize a toy drive through the Rhode Island Center Assisting Those in Need (RICAN) in Carolina.
THE WALL OF SHAME

"The only thing [Trump's] mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin's c--k holster."

--STEPHEN COLBERT

"[Ivanka Trump] Your father is a racist birther. Steve Bannon an anti-Semitic opportunist. You and your husband are enabling hatred. F--- your shoes."

--BRADLEY WHITFORD

"Melania [Trump] is a hooker."

--JACOB BERNSTEIN

"And my job is to shut other white people down when they want to interrupt."

"We have to, at the DNC, provide training. We have to teach them how to communicate, how to be sensitive, and how to shut their mouths if they're white."

--SALLY BOYNTON BROWN

"And to our detractors that insist that this march will never add up to anything: F--- you! F---you!

"Yes, I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House."

--MADONNA

"Barron Trump looks like a very handsome date-rapist-to-be."

--STEPHEN SPINOLA

"Barron [Trump] will be this country's first homeschool shooter."

--KATIE RICH

"Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners, and if we kick 'em all out, you'll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts."

--MERYL STREEP

"There's a billion to one chance we're living in base reality."

[That means we're almost positively living in a simulation, like a video game.]

--ELON MUSK

"When I would deny that there was a significant racist component in some of the politics on our side, it was because the people I hung out with were certainly not. When suddenly, this rock is turned over, there is this'Oh shit, did I not see that?'"

----------------------------

"In any other scenario, Hillary Clinton's lying about her emails, and her pay-for-play relationship with the Clinton Foundation would be disqualifying issues. The only reason they're not disqualifying is because Donald Trump is a fundamentally more repellent, dishonest figure."

--CHARLIE SYKES

"I made a mistake in recalling the events of twelve years ago... I said I was traveling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG fire. I was instead in a following aircraft."

--BRIAN WILLIAMS

"I'm here to tell you if you elect me governor of this state, I will end the civil war."

--TOM BARRETT

"I would not look to the U.S. Constitution, if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012. I might look at the constitution of South Africa. That was a deliberate attempt to have a fundamental instrument of government that embraced basic human rights, had an independent judiciary. It really is, I think, a great piece of work that was done."

--RUTH BADER GINSBURG

"Callista Gingrich. Karen Santorum. Ann Romney. Now, do you really think our country is ready for a white first lady?"

--ROBERT DE NIRO

"The death of Andrew Breitbart disproves the adage that only the good die young."

--JULIAN BOND

"The National Institute of Health has said that it is a danger to women's health and safety of their families that for 30 years to be exposed to the prospects of pregnancy."

--GWEN MOORE

"[Tea Party Republicans] have acted like terrorists."

--JOE BIDEN

"Why did- Couldn't the President have said at that moment, way back in December of last year, 'no game playing. No hostage-taking. No terrorizing this country with the debt ceiling. I'm not going to negotiate with you guys. You can't play it that way.' Could he have done that?"

--CHRIS MATTHEWS

"[T]he tea-party Hobbits could return to Middle Earth having defeated Mordor."

--WALL STREET JOURNAL EDITORIAL

"I remember distinctly an image of--we were sitting on his couches, and I was looking at [Obama's] pant leg and his perfectly creased pant, and I'm thinking, a) he's going to be president and b) he'll be a very good president."

--DAVID BROOKS

"I feel like calling her back and smackin' her around."

--FRED CLARK, DEMOCRAT

"The picture was of me, and I sent it."

--ANTHONY WEINER

"[I]f you go back to the year 2000, when we had an obvious disaster and - and saw that our voting process needed refinement, and we did that in the America Votes Act and made sure that we could iron out those kinks, now you have the Republicans, who want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws and literally - and very transparently - block access to the polls to voters who are more likely to vote Democratic candidates than Republican candidates. And it's nothing short of that blatant."

--DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ

"This is probably one of the worst times we've seen because the numbers of people elected to Congress. I went through this as co-chair of the arts caucus. In '94 people were elected simply to come here to kill the National Endowment for the Arts. Now theyre here to kill women."

--LOUISE SLAUGHTER

"The protesters have proven today that theyre not going away. It was a pretty rough night last night. You can imagine if people said, well, we just cant fight the power. Instead, this morning, they came by tens, by hundreds, by thousands. By midday today, it was easily more than 10,000, perhaps as many as 15,000 people on the square here in Madison. Not organized by anyone, just grassroots citizens who came out just like the Minutemen in 1776."

--JOHN NICHOLS

"They're sitting on the money, they're using it for their own -- they're putting it someplace else with no interest in helping you with your life, with that money. We've allowed them to take that. That's not theirs, that's a national resource, that's ours. We all have this -- we all benefit from this or we all suffer as a result of not having it. I think we need to go back to taxing these people at the proper rates."

--MICHAEL MOORE

"Why don't we just raise the taxes and let these folks have their collective bargaining, have their union representation and go back to their jobs? Raise the taxes on the wealthy."

--DAVID LETTERMAN

"In 1933, [Hitler] abolished unions and that's what our Governor [Scott Walker] is doing today."

--LENA TAYLOR, Democrat State Senator

"So I would urge my Republican colleagues, no matter how strongly they feel -- you know, we have three branches of government. We have a House. We have a Senate. We have a president. And all three of us are going to have to come together and give some, but it is playing with fire to risk the shutting down of the government."

--CHUCK SCHUMER

"Well, when you start off with the Preamble of the Constitution, you talk about the pursuit of happiness."

--JOHN LEWIS

"I'm Rebecca Kleefisch. I performed fellatio on all the talk show hosts in Milwaukee. And they endorsed me and that's how I became lieutenant governor."

--SLY SYLVESTER

"Do you think this Constitution-loving is getting out of hand? I mean, is it a nod to the Tea Party?"

--JOY BEHAR

"We cant just leave it up to the parents."

"[Military leaders] tell us that childhood obesity isnt just a public health issue; they tell us that it is not just an economic threat -- it is a national security threat as well."

--MICHELLE OBAMA

"Actually, I did not take part in [the assassination of Sarah Palin]. I led it."

--KATHLEEN PARKER

"[The repeal of ObamaCare is] a kind of creeping genocide."

--JESSE JACKSON

"[Obama] has to realize that Mitch McConnell has virtually said so that politically he wants to cut out his heart and throw his liver to the dogs."

--DAN RATHER

"And the instructions are not to improvise a comedy sketch, but to elect a group of unqualified, unstable individuals who will do what they are told, in exchange for money and power, and march this nation as far backward as they can get, backward to Jim Crow, or backward to the breadlines of the '30s, or backward to hanging union organizers, or backward to the trusts and the robber barons.

"Result: the Tea Party. Vote backward, vote Tea Party. And if you are somehow indifferent to what is planned for next Tuesday, it is nothing short of an attempted use of democracy to end this democracy."

--KEITH "Reagan's dead and he was a lousy President" OLBERMANN

"I gotta wonder when people are gonna start wearing uniforms. I mean they've got an army out there in Alaska of militia people. You've got these guys going around acting like street thugs. I mean it isn't far from what we saw in the thirties, where all of a sudden, political parties started showing up in uniform."

--CHRIS MATTHEWS

"[Sharron Angle] is a moron on top of being evil... I'd like to see her do this ad in the South Bronx. Come here, bitch. Come to New York and do it. I'm not praying for her. She's going to hell. She's going to hell, this bitch."

--JOY BEHAR

"So people have been hurting and I understand that. And it doesn't give them comfort or solace for me to tell them, you know, but for me, we'd be in a worldwide depression."

--HARRY REID

"And to play Dick Cheney, all I had to do was find my Dick Cheney. And you can find all the villainy in the world in your own heart, and that's what an actor's job is. I always say to kids, inside you is Hitler and Jesus. And you got to find the appropriate person and bring them out."

--RICHARD DREYFUSS

"Because I live in the District of Columbia which is so predominantly Democratic, I am a registered Democrat. But I am an avowed neutral. And to put that into practice, I take my young daughter into the voting booth and she votes for me. She's now 14. We've been doing this since she was about age 4. She's now quite informed."

--BOB WOODWARD

"Sarah Palin's an idiot. Come on. This is a remarkably, stunningly, jaw-droppingly incompetent and mean woman."

"The Democrats may have moved into the center, but the Republicans have moved into a mental institution."

--AARON SORKIN

"Perhaps the greatest threat of all is the undermining of our Constitution and the systematic attack against the inalienable rights of the citizens of this nation, rights that are guaranteed by our Constitution. At the vanguard of this insidious attack is the Tea Party. This band of misguided citizens is moving perilously close to achieving villainous ends."

--HARRY BELAFONTE

"[Christine O'Donnell is] a witch who doesn't masturbate."

--JOY BEHAR

"Ah, the Tea Party, the nativist bed-wetters who somehow control our national dialogue. Yes, I call them the Pee Party, Jay, because they're always peeing in their pants about something. They're just, they're afraid of a mosque being built in New York. They're afraid of guns. You know, they think Obama, who like every other pussy Democrat has never said a single word about gun control, but they are very sure that he and his Negro army are coming after their guns. You know what? If you think that he's coming after your guns, you need to get out of your chat room and have your house tested for lead. He's not coming after your guns or your Bible or your fishing pole or your chewing tobacco."

--BILL MAHER

"That's a trade-off society is making because of very, very high medical costs, and a lack of willingness to say, you know, is spending a million dollars on that last three months of life for that patient, would it be better not to lay off those ten teachers and to make that trade-off in medical costs. But that;s called the 'Death Panel' and you're not supposed to have that discussion."

--BILL GATES

"NOT the 'whiteman's bitch'"

--IESHUH GRIFFIN

"[If Rush Limbaugh suffered a heart attack in my presence, I would] laugh loudly like a maniac and watch his eyes bug out. I never knew I had this much hate in me. But he deserves it."

--SARAH SPITZ

"You want freedom, you going to have to kill some crackers. You going to have to kill some of their babies."

--KING SAMIR SHABAZZ

"If this was Texas, which is the state that, that is directly on the border with Mexico, and they were calling for a measure like this, saying that they had a major issue with, you know, with undocumented people flooding their borders, I would say I would have to look twice at this. "But this is a state that is a ways removed from the border. And, um, it just, it doesn't make sense to me that when you google this subject, if you put in 'Arizona S.B. 1070,' that you see a picture of the governor of Arizona meeting with President Obama in May of 2010. If you have direct linkage to the president, there are already National Guard troops on the border in Arizona."

--PEGGY WEST

"Tell [the Jews] to get the hell out of Palestine. Remember, these people are occupied and it's their land. It's not German. It's not Poland. [The Jews] can go home. Poland. Germany."

--HELEN THOMAS

"After the last eight years, it's good to have a president that knows what a library is."

--PAUL McCARTNEY

"By the way, I just want to point out I'm wearing my splash shield because I was told I was going to be in the splash zone (during Harry Smith's colonoscopy on live TV)."

--KATIE COURIC

"And that Word is, we have to give voice to what that means in terms of public policy that would be in keeping with the values of the Word."

----------------------------

"Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance or that people could start a business and be entrepreneurial and take risk, but not job loss because of a child with asthma or someone in the family is bipolaryou name it, any condition  is job-locking."

--NANCY PELOSI

"Back in World War II, we viewed the Japanese as 'yellow, slant-eyed dogs' that believed in different gods. They were out to kill us because our way of living was different. We, in turn, wanted to annihilate them because they were different. Does that sound familiar, by any chance, to what's going on today?"

--TOM HANKS

"The 'White Right' is trying to set Barack up to be assassinated.... Here are Christians praying for God to kill Barack Obama."

--LOUIS FARRAKHAN

"I refuse to accept the notion that the United States of America is not going to lead the world economically throughout the 20th Century."

--JOE BIDEN

"Obama's critics keep blasting him for Chicago-style politics. So, fine. Channel your inner Al Capone and go gangsta against your foes. Let 'em know that if they aren't with you, they are against you, and will pay the price."

--ROLAND MARTIN

"Martha Coakley is running to fill the rest of Ted Kennedy's term, and her opponent is a far-right tea-bagger Republican."

--CHUCK SCHUMER

"I tell you what, if I lived in Massachusetts, I'd try to vote ten times. I don't know if they'd let me or not, but I'd try to. Yeah, that's right, I'd cheat to keep these bastards out. I would. 'Cause that's exactly what they are."

--ED SCHULTZ

"We also see how revved up the tea baggers are at the thought of hijacking health care reform and every chance we have at making progress in Washington."

--JOHN KERRY

"A few years ago, this guy (Obama) would have been getting us coffee."

--BILL CLINTON

"I didn't realize I had written a column defending Roman Polanski and minimized his crime - are you sure it was me? I mean, I? There is, apparently, more to this crime than it would seem, and it may sound like a hollow defense, but in Hollywood I am not sure a 13-year-old is really a 13-year-old."

--TOM SHALES

"Joe Wilson yelled 'You lie!' at a president who didn't. But, fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!"

--MAUREEN DOWD

"One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game... During the 7th inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez."

--DAVID LETTERMAN

"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasnt lived that life."

--SONIA SOTOMAYOR

"We all considered sexual abuse of minors as a moral evil, but had no understanding of its criminal nature."

--REMBERT WEAKLAND, Archbishop of Milwaukee 1977- 2002

"You know, you might want to look into this, [President Obama], because I think maybe Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker, but he was so strung out on Oxycontin he missed his flight."

"Rush Limbaugh -- 'I hope the country fails.' I hope his kidneys fail."

----------------------------

"[Obama] told me I did a great job. The first lady said the same thing. I got a 'well done' from the president, I'm on cloud nine."

--WANDA SYKES

"Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less."

--COLIN POWELL

"[Tea Party goers are] just a bunch of wimpy, whiny, weasels who don't love their country."

--PAUL BEGALA

"I wouldn't want [gay marriage] to go to the United States Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia has too many votes on this current court."

--BARNEY FRANK

"Going forward, my mind will be open to every solution -- except one. We should not -- we must not -- and I will not -- raise taxes."

--JIM DOYLE, Liar

"He's a terrorist. Rush Limbaugh is a terrorist."

--JOY BEHAR

"You know, I just want to say to her (Sarah Palin), just very quickly...F--- you."

--JON STEWART

"Should I be worried about being a slave and being returned to slavery?"

--WHOOPI GOLDBERG

"I also believe that America is the greatest sin against God."

--FR. MICHAEL PFLEGER

"Those who think they can revive the stinking corpse of the usurping and fake Israeli regime by throwing a birthday party are seriously mistaken. Today the reason for the Zionist regime's existence is questioned, and this regime is on its way to annihilation."

--MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD

"We'll be eight degrees hotter in ten, not ten but 30 or 40 years and basically none of the crops will grow. Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals."

--TED TURNER

"Look, [Mitt] Romney comes from a religion founded by a criminal who was anti-American, pro-slavery, and a rapist. And he comes from that lineage and says, 'I respect this religion fully.'"

--LAWRENCE O'DONNELL

"Mexico does not end at its borders... Where there is a Mexican, there is Mexico."

--FELIPE CALDERON

"The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to intervene here, you don't say, 'Well, I read a science fiction novel that told me it's not a problem.' If the crib's on fire, you don't speculate that the baby is flame retardant."

--AL GORE

"Don't fear the terrorists. They're mothers and fathers."

--ROSIE O'DONNELL

"Is America ready for a black president? Well, I say we just had a retarded one. When did being black become a bigger deterrent than being retarded?"

--CHRIS ROCK

"Shut the f--- up! Shut up if you can't take a joke [about President Bush]!"

--BARBRA STREISAND

"Right, oh, yeah, Happy 9/11! Celebrate the day, right?"

--JAMES BROLIN, Mr. Barbra Streisand

"I think President Bush very well may have signed an authorization for the 9/11 attacks."

--KEVIN BARRETT, UW-MADISON Lecturer

"I said what I said. I am not guilty."

--SADDAM HUSSEIN

"Terri will not be starved to death. Her nutrition and hydration will be taken away."

--MICHAEL SCHIAVO

"On the eve of the election last month my wife Judith and I were driving home late in the afternoon and turned on the radio for the traffic and weather. What we instantly got was a freak show of political pornography: lies, distortions, and half-truths -- half-truths being perhaps the blackest of all lies. "

--BILL MOYERS

"I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for."

--HOWARD DEAN

"The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not 'insurgents' or 'terrorists' or 'The Enemy.' They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win."

--MICHAEL MOORE

"And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the--of--the historical customs, religious customs."

--JOHN KERRY

"F---ing retarded."

"[Republicans] can go f--- themselves!"

--RAHM EMANUEL

"I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president."

--HILLARY CLINTON

"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."

--BILL CLINTON

"And let me tell you something -- for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment."

--MICHELLE OBAMA

"If asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a Jew, uh, as a janitor, makes me a warrior for the working class, I wear that with a badge of honor."

----------------------------

"If you love me, you got to help me pass this bill."

----------------------------

"[F]or most of my lifetime, the United States was such a dominant economic power, we were such a large market, our industry, our technology, our manufacturing was so significant that we always met the rest of the world economically on our terms. And now, because of the incredible rise of India and China and Brazil and other countries, the United States remains the largest economic and the largest market but theres real competition out there. And that's potentially healthy. It makes -- Michelle was saying earlier I like tough questions because it keeps me on my toes. Well, this will keep America on its toes."

----------------------------

"If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, 'We're gonna PUNISH OUR ENEMIES and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us,' if they don't see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it's gonna be harder and that's why I think it's so important that people focus on voting on November 2."

----------------------------

"We don't mind the Republicans joining us. They can come for the ride, but THEY GOTTA SIT IN BACK."

----------------------------

"We can absorb a terrorist attack. We'll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever... we absorbed it and we are stronger."

----------------------------

"We're buying shrimp, guys."

----------------------------

"We are the ones we've been waiting for."

----------------------------

"We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers so I know whose ass to kick."

----------------------------

"We're not trying to push financial reform because we begrudge success that's fairly earned. I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money. But, you know, part of the American way is, you know, you can just keep on making it if youre providing a good product or you're providing good service. We don't want people to stop fulfilling the core responsibilities of the financial system to help grow the economy."

----------------------------

"If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen."

----------------------------

"It is a vital national security interest of the United States to reduce these conflicts because whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower, and when conflicts break out, one way or another we get pulled into them. And that ends up costing us significantly in terms of both blood and treasure."

----------------------------

"But I -- I think that the most important thing for the public to understand is, we're not handling any of these cases any different than the Bush administration handled them all through 9/11."

----------------------------

"One such translator was an American of Haitian descent, representative of the extraordinary work that our men and women in uniform do all around the world -- Navy CORPSE-MAN Christian [sic] Brossard. And lying on a gurney aboard the USNS Comfort, a woman asked Christopher: 'Where do you come from? What country? After my operation,' she said, 'I will pray for that country.' And in Creole, CORPSE-MAN Brossard responded, 'Etazini.' The United States of America."

----------------------------

"I hear that Dr. Joe Medicine Crow was around, and so I want to give a shout-out to that Congressional Medal of Honor winner. It's good to see you."

----------------------------

"We are God's partners in matters of life and death."

----------------------------

"[T]he Cambridge police acted stupidly."

----------------------------

"I am going to teach [my daughters] first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."

----------------------------

"The reforms we seek would bring greater competition, choice, savings, and INEFFICIENCIES to our health care system."

----------------------------

"Over the last 15 months, weve traveled to every corner of the United States. Ive now been in 57 states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it."

--BARACK OBAMA
We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message.
Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading.
Kristie Webb hopes area residents will make a trip to Bethlehem.

Not the real city south of Jerusalem, but a recreation of what the town might have been like on the night Jesus was born.

Again this year, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church will host Back to Bethlehem. The public is invited to the free event on Sunday at the corner of Military and Lincoln avenues in Fremont.

The North Bend Community Band will launch the activities with a concert from 4-5 p.m. in the worship center (church sanctuary).

Then from 5-7:30 p.m., area residents of all ages may walk through a recreation of ancient-day Bethlehem in the Community Life Center on the church grounds.

Here, costumed characters portray townspeople and other characters from that time.

Visitors come and sign a guest book, called a census in reference to the decree by Caesar that brought Jesus parents, Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem.

They then can meander past various displays that help recreate the feeling of being in ancient Bethlehem. Costumed church members will play various roles. There also usually are a couple of live animals.

More storefronts and other features will be part of the event this year.

We have added a new experience for the kids. They will receive gold coins as they register at the census to be able to buy goods from some of the store fronts, such as an angel ornament, a cross made from nails, candles and more, said Kristi Webb, event coordinator.

Also new this year is a Christmas Prayer Tree in the chapel in between the sanctuary and Community Life Center.

We ask everyone to stop, add their prayer to an ornament provided and hang it on the Christmas Prayer Tree, Webb said.

As in past years, children and members of the congregation will provide music in the chapel.

Our JAM (Jesus and Me) children have put together a wonderful program and we also have a congregation bell choir playing this year, Webb said.

Between 50 and 75 members take part in the event. Some portray characters. Others work behind the scenes with music or technology. Others are parking lot attendants or sew new character outfits or make props.

Cookies, coffee and hot chocolate will be served. Children in fifth through eighth graders have recorded a narration of the Christmas story on CD. There also are some previously recorded CDs of the Christmas story in Spanish. All CDs are free and will be available that night for attendees.

Between 300 and 400 people the annual, indoor event.

The live nativity began years ago as an outdoor event, but had to be canceled sometimes due to inclement weather, so organizers arranged for it to take place inside.

Webb encourages area residents to attend.

Youll be able to find us by looking for the light in the sky, she added.

Webb likes the event.

I enjoy watching the kids go through it and then seeing how they love to experience the night, she said. Its fun night for families.

Its a wonderful experience, Webb added. Its touching and it gives you time to focus on what the true meaning of Christmas is ... Even if we can reach one new person for Christ our job is done.
The idea of Virginia Military Institute cadets coloring pictures is a head-scratcher for some alumni, but VMIs superintendent is defending the stress-busters program amid an assault on social media.

Superintendent J.H. Binford Peay III said the behavioral health program that has been in place for several years now is being inaccurately portrayed.

Only a sheet of geometric designs, rather than coloring books, is made available as part of activities designed to relieve stress before exams, Peay said in a statement on VMIs website.

There is a one-sheet handout with an intricate design that may be used to color, within discreet, small lines as part of the information packet along with other modalities that are recognized as ways to reduce stress, the retired general said.

Peay was responding to reaction after a Washington Free Beacon story this week said the famed military academy is providing coloring books to cadets  thrusting VMI into a cultural skirmish over whether college campuses are coddling students with safe places and trigger warnings.

No one should assume that VMI coddles its cadets or has become soft, Peay said.

The public military institute in Lexington removed a posting about the program on its website because it had become a lightning rod that was attracting more attention than was necessary, VMI spokesman Stewart MacInnis said.

MacInnis said the event will go on as planned Dec. 14 as part of Reading Day, a study day between the end of classes and the start of exams. The event represents just three hours out of the semester, he said, and has not been a big deal for anybody in past years.

The optional event is sponsored by the student-run Cadet Equity Association, he said, and includes activities common on all campuses and considered best practices by counseling professionals.

Other activities include yoga, weightlifting, running and petting a certified service dog.

For Samuel B. LaNeave, a 2001 graduate who is president of the VMI Club of Richmond, the idea of cadets coloring or petting therapy dogs is definitely a little head scratching, Ill say that.

But not knowing all the details of the program, I dont want to say its completely outrageous. However, that was more my initial reaction, he said.

My reaction was kind of like everybody elses  Is this true? This cant be right.

But he said hes met Peay and knows him to be a pretty no-nonsense guy who wouldnt put a program in place thats unnecessary.

In his statement, Peay said VMI has one of the nations hardest four-year academic, physical and discipline experiences.

The reality is that suicide rates and mental health issues continue to be on the rise, particularly for young adults, he said.

Though the number has been low at the institute, VMI has not been exempt from these tragedies.

MacInnis said the most recent suicide by a cadet was in April 2014, and there was another case that occurred when school wasnt in session a few years ago.

Also, a staff member committed suicide in 2008 and a faculty member in 2009.

Despite full reviews of applicants during our admissions process and in hiring practices, we face mental health issues daily, Peay said. VMI several years ago implemented a series of optional activities that have been proven to successfully treat the members of our armed services suffering from similar conditions.

The institute has a responsibility to expose cadets to life skills to deal with stress and anxiety, particularly at this time of year with added stressors brought on by the holidays and exam periods, Peay said.

LaNeave said that while he was at VMI, he helped out in a peer counseling group that was a good way for cadets at wits end to talk it out with somebody who had been through it. That to him seems like the right approach.
The evening will begin with the North Bend Community Band performing from 4-5 p.m. in the worship center. The building will be transformed into the village of Bethlehem from 5-7:30 p.m.

Everyone is welcome to walk through the indoor village and experience the night that Jesus was born. The public will have the opportunity to visit with the shopkeepers and townspeople, listen to music from the children and members of Good Shepherd, add Christmas prayers to the Prayer Tree and enjoy cookies and fellowship.
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
Rail officials have chosen Faulconer Construction Co. to build the future Amtrak boarding platform in downtown Roanoke, according to Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation spokesman Chris Smith.

The agency erroneously said earlier this week that a contractor had yet to be chosen.

Faulconer, a Charlottesville-based contractor, has assigned the project to the companys Elliston area office.

Crews will begin early next year to build a raised waiting and boarding area near Norfolk Avenue for a contracted price of $10.9 million.

An artists concept drawing released by Roanoke officials Thursday depicts a pitched roof canopy with room underneath for people to stand. City officials said the finished platform may differ slightly from the rendering.

Amtrak will operate the train on Norfolk Southern tracks. Its Northeast Regional train service, which connects Lynchburg to a variety of Mid-Atlantic and New England destinations, will be extended to Roanoke by late 2017, under current plans.

The state has agreed to furnish $101.6 million to Norfolk Southern for capital projects necessary for Roanoke to join Amtraks network.

Earlier this year, neither of two bidders for the platform job said they could finish in time for a late 2017 launch, at which point Norfolk Southern repeated the call for bids.

In the subsequent round, Faulconer said it could meet the late 2017 goal and was chosen by the railroad to build the platform, Smith said. He offered the information when asked why platform construction had not started this fall as the agency had predicted more than six months ago.

Faulconer will draw on 70 years of contracting experience that has produced roads, rail lines, schools, housing, commercial structures and other facilities, according to information on its website. A project official at the company could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Faulconer was a subcontractor on the project that added a third southbound lane and expanded shoulders along 5 miles of Interstate 81 between Christiansburg and Roanoke in 2013. It participated in the widening of the Elm Avenue interchange on Interstate 581, its site says.

Staff writer Matt Chittum contributed to this report.
Bear Hunting is part of the Botetourt culture, especially in the more rural areas of the county. On Dec. 5, Botetourt bear hunters gathered with two members of the Virginia Deer Hunters from Richmond who had won an auctioned bear hunt on the property of Jerry Fraley in north Botetourt County. Over the years, a scholarship has received thousands of dollars from the bear hunt auction. The Sheets Mountain Bear Hunting Club of Botetourt brought along their dogs. Joe and Josh Orcutt were the winners of the auction. Josh killed a bear the morning of the hunt.

The hunt is in honor of Albert Clark who died in January. He taught several generations of hunters how to bear hunt in the area and many of them are in the Sheets Mountain Bear Club. The money from auction goes to a wildlife scholarship at Virginia Tech. From now on, the annual event will be called the Albert Clark Commemorative Bear Hunt.

Clark's brother Junior recited the following:

The old Bear Hunter climbed the mountain for the last time on Jan. 14, 2016. He crossed the Great Divide. His eyes are closed, his lips are sealed. He crossed that silent river; no more will he hear the bay of the hound or stand under a tree. He has gone to the Great Hunting Ground over yonder.

Junior Clark continued his elegy.

Born Albert Louis Clark on April 12, 1923, he was raised in the foothills of the upper James River, gateway to the Shenandoah Valley. He became a marksman with his .22 rifle at an early age. He could hit a squirrel jumping tree to tree. I once saw him shoot a wild turkey on the wing A few years later he made an incredible shot on a bear that earned him his title of Long Shot. When he was 16, he went on his first bear hunt with a preacher who killed a bear that day, and ol Al was hooked. He went every chance he got until the start of World War II. He served in the U.S. Navy. At wars end, he came home and became a bear hunter again as well as a dog breeder, raising his beloved Plott hounds.

"He is somewhat of a legend in these parts. When bear tales are told around the campfire or watering hole, his name is sure to come up. Albert will be long remembered by those who knew him. Rest in peace, old friend. May God be gracious unto you.

Albert Clark was credited for teaching several generations of bear hunters and several spoke about his importance to teaching younger generations, including John Mays of Eagle Rock.
RICHMOND  U.S. Rep. Robert Wittman announced Thursday that he will not seek the Republican nomination for governor next year, a move that reduces the GOP gubernatorial field from four to three.

Wittman, R-Westmoreland, said in a prepared statement that he will remain in Congress, where he has the prospect of taking a bigger role overseeing Navy programs if he is named the new chairman of the Seapower subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee.

As a public servant, I believe its my job to be where I can do the most good for Virginia. I cant predict where that will be in the future, but right now, its here in Congress, Wittman said.

Wittmans withdrawal leaves former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie, Prince William County Supervisor Corey Stewart and state Sen. Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, as the three gubernatorial hopefuls heading into the Republican primary next June.

The smaller field likely benefits Gillespie, an early front-runner who now has one fewer mainstream Republican in the race. Stewart, the former chairman of president-elect Donald Trumps campaign in Virginia, is attempting to run as a grass-roots powered outsider and has painted Gillespie as part of the Washington establishment Trump ran against.

Wittmans announcement comes days before Republicans from across the state are scheduled to gather in downtown Richmond for their annual conference, the Republican Advance. Wittman announced he planned to run for governor at last years Advance.

Wittman was mentioned as a possible Republican candidate for a speculative special election to replace U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., if he became vice president. Trumps victory nullified that option.
Just before 11 a.m. Wednesday when Judge Geoffrey Hall was set to reveal his decision in Dodge County District Court as to what the fate of convicted felon Edward A. Varejcka would be, the defendant was seemingly cool, calm and collected.

The evidence presented by Dodge County Deputy Attorney Erica Carr appeared damning, but nobody would have guessed that by watching Varejcka. He sat in his chair at the defendant table alone, casually conversing with an officer in the courtroom about Hawaii. How he visited Pearl Harbor with a friend years ago and how the weather on the islands is always so ideal and beautiful.

It was peculiar banter coming from the mouth of a man with habitual criminal status likely facing a minimum of 10 years in the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. But in a surprising turn of events, it appears that the 33-year-old Fremont native had a hunch that others in the court room did not.

That he was about to be acquitted.

On Wednesday, the second day of his bench trial, Varejcka was cleared of all charges by Judge Hall. In a criminal proceeding, it is the states burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime was committed, and in this instance, that burden was not met, Hall said.

Varejcka was arrested March 26 for allegedly violently attacking his then girlfriend, 20-year-old Brittney Hampton of Tekamah, outside of his mothers residence; followed by allegedly choking her as she attempted to drive her vehicle south down Laverna Street toward 23rd Street.

On Tuesday, two witnesses testified under oath that they witnessed Hampton attempting to get out of her vehicle, and that a man  allegedly the defendant  pulled her back in. One witness said she saw the man put his hands up in the neck area grabbing Hampton.

Varejcka was arrested and charged with two counts of strangulation, Class IIIA felonies; domestic assault, first-degree false imprisonment, a Class IIIA felony, and tampering with physical evidence, a Class IV felony.

Following amended information Nov. 17, the defendants charges were reduced to two counts of strangulation, first-degree false imprisonment and tampering with a witness. Had the state attempted to pursue the domestic assault charge, it likely would have stuck.

After reviewing all the evidence in this matter and applying it to the law of the state, its clear to me that there is evidence of domestic assault beyond a reasonable doubt under 28.3231A (statute), but that was not charged by the state, Hall said.

And I find that it is not a lesser included offense of the crimes as charged. Based on the evidence as presented I find that the state has failed to meet its burden of proof as to each and every element of the crimes charged in information brought before this court in the amended information filed on or about Nov. 17 of 2016. The state failed to prove these beyond a reasonable doubt.

At the beginning of the second day of trial  around 9:30 a.m.  the state presented arguably its most compelling evidence, an audio recording of Varejcka speaking with Hampton while incarcerated. On Tuesday, the state spent well over half an hour laying out foundation for why the recording should be viable court evidence.

Defense attorney Michael Wiseman argued that the recording, acquired through the prison technology company Securus, was actually a recording of a recording, and that it could have been tampered with, spliced or had information omitted.

The recording, Exhibit 2 of case evidence, was acquired by Sgt. Brad Hansen of the Fremont Police Department. Hansen was trained on how to property use the software by a colleague, and downloaded nine recordings of Varejcka and Hampton conversing. Seven of the conversations were then transferred onto a digital video disk.

After much deliberation, Hall determined Tuesday that the state met its burden of laying foundation and the case evidence was accepted.

The recording, running just over 15 minutes, was played for the court. Midway through the recording, Varejcka began listing off his charges to the alleged victim. He soon became distraught and apologetic. Although he knew he was being recorded, he said the following.

Now I am guilty, Im (expletive) guilty as sin, and they (expletive) know it, he said during the recording.

He added: I want to go to prison already, Im like ready to go. I need to go somewhere where I have an outlet to funnel my (expletive) anger and rage and depression, otherwise Im going to (expletive) snap.

During other parts of the recording, Varejcka and Hampton talked civilly, even endearingly. The told each other they loved each other, missed each other and wished circumstances were different. He told her hed written her tons of letters and inquired why she hadnt written back. She promised she would write.

During his verdict, Hall said that the recording was not sufficient in regard to proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

The recording  exhibit 2  is not compelling to this court  It does not rise to the level of an admission, Hall said. I find that it is more akin to a conversation of two star-crossed lovers in a low-budget Romeo and Juliet scenario. It is not an admission sufficient under the law based on my judgement in this matter. It clearly does not rise to that level.

Prior to sentencing, Wiseman argued that the states evidence didnt prove beyond a reasonable doubt that his client had done wrong doing. In addition to his points of contention with the recording entered into evidence, he said that there was an overall lack of credible, viable evidence from the state.

In particular, he said that the state couldnt prove that strangulation actually occurred. Although photos submitted into evidence displayed red marks on the victims neck, Wiseman argued that it couldnt be proved that she was actually strangled.

Theres no independent testimony medical or otherwise  that the appearance of the marks on her neck were the result of strangulation to meet the statutory definition of strangulation  they were marks! Wiseman exasperatedly said.

Carr argued that the statutory definition of strangulation was met.

It states that a person commits the offense of strangulation when a person knowingly or intentionally impedes the normal breathing or circulation of the blood of another person by apply pressure on the neck or the throat of another person, she said. Thats it. It doesnt say you have to prove with medical evidence that this has occurred, it doesnt say there has to be a diagnosis offered into evidence, it just says that the statutory definition requires the impeding of normal breathing or circulation. And frankly, your honor, if you were to have received medical evidence into the record it wouldnt give a legal conclusion, thats not what medical testimony does, thats for the court to decide.

Ultimately, though, the state was unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the strangulation or any other offenses took place. Hall announced that Varejcka was to be released from jail after processing.

I find that the habitual-criminal designation as defined by Nebraska defined statue does not apply to this action based on the findings of not guilty as to felonies brought here before the court in this trial, Hall said. This criminal action is hereby dismissed, any bond posted is hereby exonerated and the defendant shall be processed and released in accordance with the decision of this court.
Debswana boosts diamond sales Debswana, a 50/50 joint venture between De Beers and the Botswana government, recorded a 37.5% growth in rough diamond sales in the first nine months of 2022, statistics released by the Bank of Botswana showed Tuesday, driven by steady demand for...

AGC signs declaration of responsibility and sustainability principles with gold industry leaders Artisanal Gold Council Executive Director Dr. Kevin Telmer signed a Declaration of Responsibility and Sustainability Principles along with other gold industry leaders at the LBMA/LPPM Global Precious Metals Conference in Lisbon on Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022...

Zijn Platinum appoints former SA finance minister as deputy chair Nkwe Platinum and South Africa Zijin Platinum, both wholly-owned subsidiaries of Zijin Mining, have appointed former South African Finance Minister Tito Mboweni as a non-executive director and deputy chairperson of South Africa Zijin Platinum.

Saudi Arabia seeks support from Australian miners to diversify its oil-dependent economy Saudi Arabia is seeking support from Australian miners to support its $170 bn plan to build a mining industry, and diversify its oil-dependent economy this decade. Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar bin Ibrahim Al-Khorayef is in...
Debswana, a joint venture company between De Beers and the Botswana government, has made significant progress in the implementation of the Letlhakane mine tailings resource treatment project (LMTRTP).

The project, which was expected to be commissioned during the third quarter of 2017, would extend the lifespan of the mine by 25 years.

The LMTRTP is currently at 80 percent of overall completion, while structural and electrical installations remain on course, African News Agency quoted Debswana corporate affairs manager Matshidiso Kamona as saying.

Debswana stopped all opencast mining operations at Letlhakane mid-November saying the mine had reached the end of its economic lifespan.

Debswana has also engaged experts to examine the possibility of extending the lifespans of its Damtshaa and Orapa mines beyond their projected exhaustion date of 2050, African News Centre reports.

Damtshaa was placed on care and maintenance last January.



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished




Eqstra Botswana said it will seek to recoup damages from Lucara Diamond over the premature termination of an opencast mining contract at Karowe mine.

The contract was due to end in December 2020, but Lucara told Eqstra that it would be now terminated on December 13, 2016.

Mmegi reports that the termination was prompted by differences over volumes of ore mined by the contractor.

It also cited Eqstra as saying that Lucara intends to withhold payment due for work performed in October and November as a result of irreconcilable differences with regard to volumes mined. The company categorically denies and refutes any allegations of improper conduct relating to the performance of its contractual obligations, it said.

The company can assure its shareholders that it made all reasonable efforts to resolve the issue in order to progress the partnership in a mutually beneficial way.

Eqstra Botswana will seek to recoup its damages, in terms of the contract, which was to endure to December 2020.

Lucara recently said that the change in mining contractor was not expected to have any material impact on production.

The company was targeting to produce more than 350,000 carats from Karowe this year.



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished




ALROSA, having embarked on an environmental protection program for 2011-2018, will invest more than RUB 16 billion in environmental safety. Andrey Zharkov, President of ALROSA speaking about the implementation of this program in an interview with the Yakutia Daily, said that ALROSA had already spent more than RUB 12.4 billion for the environmental safety during the first five years of this program, thus having used up 75% of the allotted amount.

"Most of the funds were invested in the construction and reconstruction of environmental protection facilities. The program also provides scientific and technical support for environmental activities - this includes design and development, as well as research works, pilot testing and introducing new technologies," Andrey Zharkov said, adding that on top of this the company had performed a large amount of work to restore damaged land and replenish flora and fauna resources.

According to him, ALROSA put into operation highly ecological mining machinery and increased the number of dust and gas catching plants, which helped to reduce emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere, while the companys transition to underground mining reduced areas of disturbed land.

The company intends to transfer all its vehicles from liquid fuel to gas and thus reduce greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 to 0.50 million tons, which is one half of the current rates.

Andrey Zharkov also said that ALROSA is proactively investing in safety, reducing the risk of accidents. "The statistics is as follows: in the past five years, the number of accidents at our operations has decreased by half, he said. The company is employing 250 people who have a rescuer status with the right to conduct rescue works."

"In 2015-2016, the company successfully passed inspections for compliance with the requirements of the ISO 14001:2004 international standard and those of the GOST R ISO 14001-2007 national standard," the president of ALROSA said in conclusion.

Theodor Lisovoy, Rough&Polished, Moscow






Andrey Zharkov, the President of PJSC ALROSA, the world leader in diamond mining, participated in the Annual business meeting with the Companys long-term clients.

Participants of the meeting from more than 70 companies from around the world had a chance to discuss with ALROSAs management diamond market trends, the Companys sales structure, and assess ALROSAs steps on developing its sales methods and geography.

The Company reported preparing to a new contract period that is to start in 2018. The participants studied the trading sessions schedule for 2017.

ALROSA announced that in 2017 all competitive bidding will be held online on a platform for electronic tenders developed by the Company. Test sales on the new platform were held in 2016 and received a positive feedback from the participants.

Since 2017, ALROSA will start regular special-size diamond auctions in Vladivostok and is planning to resume special-size diamond auctions in New York, USA. The Company also reported its plans to open a representative office in Mumbai, India.

To maintain the demand in the domestic market against the background of the abolition of export duty on export of rough diamonds, ALROSA decided to grant a payment grace period up to 180 days to buyers in the domestic market for up to 50% of the contract value (including VAT) secured with a bank guarantee.

The annual business meeting with the Companys long-term clients was held in the scope of the ALROSA ALLIANCE program development.

ALROSA ALLIANCE unites ALROSAs loyal clients who meet high standards of business conduct and possess a keen insight in the diamond market. All ALROSAs clients who signed long-term agreements for the supply of gem-quality rough diamonds are granted the right to use the ALROSA ALLIANCE logo. The logo was designed to identify a customer who makes part of the range of loyal buyers of rough diamonds.




HART

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has granted the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) until April 30, 2017, to submit a recovery plan for the project.

In a letter to Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell from FTA Regional Administrator Leslie T. Rogers, FTA denies the original requested extension of July 30, 2017, but said the administration appreciates the many challenges HART has faced in design and construction of the project.

In December 2012, the FTA and the city signed a Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) committing the federal governments $1.55 billion for Honolulu to build a 20-mile elevated rail system with 21 stations. However, cost estimates put the price tag of the project at $8.6 billion to $9.5 billion. HART has $6.8 billion in confirmed funding and FTA has denied a request to increase its funding commitment to the project.

The interim recovery plan HART outlined for FTA includes two options: Securing additional funding commitments during the 2017 city and state legislative process, which would allow the original scope of the project to be met or build to budget.

HART recently hired Krishniah N. Murthy as the authoritys interim executive director and CEO. Murthy is an award-winning engineer and the former executive director for Transit Project Delivery at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Swiss Travel System

The worlds longest rail tunnel, Switzerlands Gotthard Base Tunnel, will launch service Dec. 11. The milestone project will transport passengers through the tunnel running below the Alps in less than 20 minutes, representatives say.

The tunnel is dual-tracked and will better connect northern and southern Switzerland, decreasing travel times by 3040 minutes from the German-language to Italian-language areas of Switzerland.

Representatives say the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) has officially completed necessary safety and technical tests on the tunnel, and it is expected to bring passengers easier, faster and more comfortable service.

The new tunnel is also set to use new, modernized rolling stock, officials say.

The country currently offers the densest public transportation system worldwide, and celebrated the inauguration of the Gotthard Base Tunnel in June 2016, honoring the culmination of 17 years of project work. The tunnel spans 57 kilometers (35.4 miles) down to a maximum depth of 2,300 meters (1.4 miles) under the Gotthard massif.
Alaska Airlines has agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by private plaintiffs opposing the planned merger of Alaska and Virgin America (VA).

Alaska Airlines said, "We are pleased to confirm that we have agreed to settle the lawsuit filed by private plaintiffs in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Terms of the settlement are confidential. We look forward to closing the transaction in the very near future."

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Ericsson (ERIC) said the workforce reductions in Sweden, which was announced on October 4, 2016, are progressing ahead of plan, resulting in an increase in estimated restructuring costs for 2016 of 5.5-6.5 billion Swedish kronor, compared to the previously communicated estimate of 4-5 billion kronor. The company expects restructuring charges for 2017 to somewhat decrease as a consequence of faster implementation of the Swedish reduction activities.

Ericsson noted that, currently, no further forced staff reductions are planned in Sweden beyond what has already been announced relating to production sites.

Ericsson said the global cost and efficiency program is tracking towards the previously communicated target to: reduce the annual run rate of operating expenses, excluding restructuring charges, to 53 billion kronor in the second half of 2017; make cost of sales reductions visible in the gross margin in the second half of 2017, compared to full year 2016.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Croatia's producer prices declined at a faster pace in November, figures from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics showed Thursday.

The industrial producer prices fell 2.9 percent year-over-year in November, which was worse than the 2.3 percent drop in the previous month. The measure has been falling since March 2013.

Domestic market producer prices dipped 3.1 percent annually in November and foreign market prices slid by 2.6 percent.

Month-on-month, producer prices decreased 1.0 percent from October, when it rose by 1.1 percent. It was the first decline in three months.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Economic News

What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
Canadian stocks look to carry positive momentum from the previous session Thursday, with Toronto's main index touching a 19-month high on gains among banks and resource producers.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index jumped near 15,100 on Wednesday, despite signs the rally in crude oil prices was petering out.

Earlier today, the European Central Bank said it will extend QE but taper asset purchases.

In corporate news, Bombardier Inc.(BBD_A.TO) has finalized a deal with Philippines Airlines for 12 Q400 planes.

Cenovus Energy Inc. (CVE.TO, CVE) announced the company plans to invest between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion in 2017, a 24% increase compared with the forecast capital spending for 2016.

Premium Brands Holdings (PBH.TO) has acquired Diana's Seafood.

Brookfield Real Estate Services Inc.(BRE_UN.TO) has acquired franchise agreements representing 43 real estate operations and 569 realtors across Canada for approximately $8.2 million.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market Analysis
A McDonald's employee in Kansas has been fired and is facing criminal charges after the worker put mustard in an official's beverage.

Two officers with the Topeka Police Department said that on Friday, they bought a Dr. Pepper at a McDonald's drive-thru in the city and found that the drink tasted strange. The opened the lid and found mustard mixed in the soft-drink.

A picture of the tainted drink was posted by Kansas Going Blue, a police support organization, on its official Facebook page.

The Topeka Police Department said it has decided to open a criminal investigation into the case and added that the restaurant is cooperating with them.

Tom Dobski, the franchisee owner of the north Topeka McDonald's, said he was shocked by the isolated actions of a single employee and added that the employee no longer worked for the organization.

Dobski also said that the company launched an internal investigation after it learned of the complaint.

Just two weeks earlier, a Kansas Highway patrol officer reported a similar incident involving mustard in his soda.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
ATLANTIC SKIES: Stellar asterisms  eye-catching pretenders to the constellation throne and just part of the bigger picture

Most everyone, or at least most amateur astronomers, are familiar with the constellations in the night sky to some degree. Many, however, may not be familiar with the numerous asterisms in the night sky. What is the difference between a constellation ...
Around 22 per cent polling was registered in the first four hours on Thursday in the high stake Adampur Assembly bypoll in Haryana, poll officials sai ...


In true Catch-22 fashion, they need money to fund this enterprise. Wesley has borrowed much of what he needs from his wontok (literally, one talk: clansmen, the people who share his dialect), but its not enough. I hope to raise, and loan, the balance he needsand I hope youll contribute. Their goal is $5,000 Kina, which is approximately US$1,600.

A few notes on the loan:

First, why do they need help ? Because they cant get loans from a local bank without identification (another complication of life in remote PNG, but remember, were talking about islands without roads or electricity or fresh water or sewage: really, who ID?). Also, honestly? Its just as well the banks are out, since what we heard about their practices during our stay sounded predatory for families like this.

Second, what about microfinance lending, like Kiva? (LOVE KIVA!) I did research microfinance organizations , but have not found a program thats accessible to them. Mostly, they dont exist in PNG. But the research process and the time a few people took to refer me to contacts and resources (thank you Elizabeth at Grameen, and Joe at ONE, your support means more than you know) opened my eyes to the value of direct loans, and the tremendous success they have in changing lives.

Finally: whatever amount I can raise is, as stated, a LOAN and not a gift. This includes risks. I anticipate Mollina and Wesley will pay it back, and in turn I can repay donors, but there's no guarantee. PayPal makes repaying donors easy. As there isnt a bank that weve found which can manage it, this part goes on faith. We (Totem) are a conduit only and take no money, only share goodness. We wish the best for Mollina and Wesley, for opportunities that so many of us take for granted. I cannot guarantee this loan: I can only say know them as incredibly hardworking, honest people.

LOAN GOAL REACHED!

Despite never getting this button to work, enough of y'all read the comments (and Dartanyon's helpful link) or found the blog's working PayPal donate button on the right margin. Blown away by the generosity: thank you!

Updates to follow via Totem's Facebook page...contact me directly with any questions.

For more beautiful pictures and stories from Carina's visit to Ninigo this year, see their blog posts here, here, and here.

For more about our unforgettable time in Ninigo, see these posts on SailingTotem.com.
Amid treasurer race, where Kansas puts its money is increasing an issue

As the race for state treasurer heats up, debate about how Kansas is investing its KPERS portfolio and state funds has increased.
Dear Editor,

Superintendent Leiataua Luatimu Samau of the Police Department made two points in your cover story as reported in the Samoa Observer of 6 November 2016 edition.

A non-commission officer could only be suspended by the Commissioner of Police and the latter is not above the law.

Topical comments from a ranking Police officer and I submit these comments would illustrate the sub-standard performance due to under-achieved education in this workplace.

Yes, Leiataua Luatimu Samau, but let me say only Commissioner Fuavailili could suspend you under the Law but you and the others took the Law into your hands and smashed figuratively speaking the position of the Commissioner of Police.

Your actions are tantamount to a coup. In failed States like Iraq, Syria, Bosnia etc - what you ,Superintendent Leiataua and your gang did are done there. These failed states host dysfunctional Police Departments.

We dont expect that here in Samoa because this is not a failed state. You see the military and the terrorists in those failed states are doing what you and your coward police officers carried out against your Boss. Your actions are tantamount to those acts of terrorism.

When Assistant Commissioner Samoa Mulinuu etc ordered you as you said to carry out their evil instructions on the Commissioner, you should have said just what you said to the reporter of the Samoa Observer to Samoa and his gang -under the Law, only the Commissioner could suspend a non-Commissioned Officer and therefore I cannot go against the Commissioner.

He was indeed the Commissioner cleared by the Court of all charges and had started work as it is the norm in our public service. That is how a civilised Christian democratic Police Department operates.

What you said publicly makes a lot of us suspicious about the motives that you, the corporal and the other two harbour against the Commissioner. By the way, is this the officer, Corporal that was sacked by the Commissioner?

I am now of the firm view there was a conspiracy to harm the position of the Commissioner of Police by his sub ordinates.

Now listen to this fact Superintendent. The legitimacy of employment for the Assistant Commissioners and yours as well, Superintendent in the Police Department rest on the fundamental principle that there is a position of Commissioner and Fuiavailili E. Keil is the legally appointed Commissioner and is in charge of the dept.

Commissioner Fuavailili is the legally appointed Head of the Police Department in Samoa. Not Minister Sala Pinati. He is the Politician. Not Samoa Mulinuu, or Afamasaga Michael or ... either. These Police Officers attract the charge of usurpers of power for what they did to Commissioner Fuavailili.

Your other point about the Commissioner being subjected to the Law is well understood but where you failed, Superintendent is when you, the Corporal and the other two took the Law into your hands based on the instructions from the Assistant Commissioners and Minister Sala Pinati who asked you lot to arrest the Commissioner.

Again based on the principle of legitimacy as mentioned earlier in this letter, the Commissioner was your Boss under the Law when he and you turned up to work on that fateful Monday, you under no condition should obey your leader, Commissioner Fuiavailili E Keil.

You all had no legitimate platform to arrest him. For your education, the conventional behaviour and normal culture for personnel in a paramilitary organisation and in a governmental Ministry are well defined in conventional codes of police work, Law and Regulations.

In this instance, the Commissioner back at work should have a meeting with his Minister for Briefing and De-briefing of the Departments activities in his absence. Then, the Minister could have raised the charges against the Commissioner and asked for a response in writing. That is the proper way in dealing with this matter.

After that the Minister and the Police Management should have handled the situation in a responsible rational manner in the interest of the government and people of Samoa.

Instead, the actions taken by Minister Sala Pinati, Assistant Commissioners Samoa Mulinuu Samoa and the other A.C.S, the Superintendent, the Corporal and the other two prove to me beyond doubt that the Police Dept of Samoa and the decision makers at the AC level were involved in acts of terror.

You cant say these men in uniform were wet behind the ears in the discharge of their duties otherwise this government has been sleeping walking in this area of national security for many years.

The likely reasons point to the low standard of educated culture among men in ranks and the pervasive spread of violence and hatred in the department.

That explains why you lot concoct 200 charges with this ridiculous charge of murder in this sorry development. Murder?

The charge of murder against the Commissioner of Police is a worrying one, not in itself per se, but as a growing sign of depravity in the thinking department in connection with the sponsors of this charge. Murder? How?

Impossible.

F.F.S

Tuiumi of Le Pisi na ea ai Samoa.
Hard work has paid off for Naoupu Soo, of Savaia, Lefaga and Palisi.

The 18-year-old was declared the Dux of Avele College this year on Wednesday when the school held its prize giving.

Naoupu was the Top Science student and his goal is to become a doctor.

It is a dream for me because I want to help the people of Samoa, Naoupu said with a smile.

He said his success would not have been possible without Gods help and his familys support. He also thanked the teachers for putting up with him.

Asked about his future plans, Naoupu said he has a few things in mind.

But his journey will have to depend on where God leads him.

I just pray to God to show the way and guide me into the right path so that I will reach my dream of becoming a Doctor, said Naoupu.

Looking back to this year, Naoupu said the closure of Avele College affected him and his fellow students. But from those sad days, he said school has never been better and the students are more determined than ever to prove that Avele deserves to remain open forever.

Naoupus father Lotolagi Soo was naturally a proud man.

I was confident that my son will do well because I have seen how hard he works at home on his studies, said Lotolagi. And because he worked so hard, thats why I support him all the way.

Naoupu topped Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Computer studies. He also topped Year 13 Science. He is the third son of seven children of Lotolagi and Telesia Soo.
Improved quality of life for all.

Thats the goal of the Strategy for the Development of Samoa (S.D.S) over the next four years, 2016  2020, launched at the Maota o Pulenuu, Eleele fou, yesterday.

We do not want anyone left behind, the government promises in the Strategy. As we progress, we need to ensure vulnerable groups can equally share in our progress.

Accordingly, the focus of the plan is to accelerate sustainable development and broadening opportunities for all.

Its a vision Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, holds dear to his heart. Speaking during the launch, he said key to progress is generating employment opportunities for Samoans.

The S.D.S, formulated by the Ministry of Finance, following wide-ranging consultations with the public and private sector, sets out a path for the government to follow in the next four years. It identifies the priority goals and highlights the actions needed to achieve them.

With a target such as an improved life for all, the Minister of Finance, Sili Epa Tuioti, confirmed this involved dealing with the issue of child vendors.

It is referred to in the plan, he told the Samoa Observer.

Sili said there are legislations and policies in place to deal with the problem and there is a need to crackdown on it. He also wondered if enough is being done to get these children off the streets.

Or do we need to go after the parents and merchants who are on selling these merchandise? There needs to be partnership between the government and stakeholders.

The government can only do so much. Its really up to parents, village councils and families to be able to take the responsibility.

Sili reiterated that even if the government does implement laws the solution depends on the willingness from the people who are directly involved.

Its going to be difficult but for me we need to be tougher than what weve been, he said.

I think weve been too soft. We talk to people they say they need resources and are poor but I would really like the Ministry of Women to look closely at the data and information and maybe need to deal with it.

Sili said the government wants to help everyone improve their lot in life.

The Minister was also asked about claims children become street vendors as a result of hardship, struggles and poverty.

Sili disagreed.

He referred to the Samoa Observers Village Voice Section through which people in villages say they are coping despite the struggles.

I read the Village Voice and to me people who are saying they are poor should be reading that, he said.

There is nothing wrong with living in your own village, developing your own land and creating your own business. We need to take that information from the newspaper with people who are positive young youths that do not go to school but are doing extremely well out there.

We need to use that to mentor and talk to families whose are children are running around and pestering people. There are a lot of lessons we can learn from our people to deal with our own social problems we are facing.
A former banker with the ANZ Bank has pleaded guilty to theft in relation to the taking of more than $100,000 from an ATM machine.

Mathew Iakopo, of Malololelei, entered the plea when he appeared before District Court Judge Fepuleai Ameperosa Roma.

The 28-year-old was responsible for filling up the A.T.M machines for the bank.

The matter was first mentioned in the Supreme Court on Monday when it was revealed that Iakopo was facing three charges.

The other two charges were not disclosed in Court.

However representing the National Prosecution Office, lawyer Lucy Sio, later asked the Court for the two charges to be withdrawn.

This left the lone charge of theft.

Ms. Sio also asked the Court for the matter to be transferred to the District Court. Her application was granted.

The incident occurred on 5 November 2016 when money from the ATM machine at the Samoa National Provident Fund Plaza went missing.

According to the Police Media Officer, Sua Muliaga Tiumalu, only $65,100 has been recovered and a brand new vehicle that had been found.

The matter has been adjourned for sentence on 25 January 2017.
While many people are complaining about the high cost of living, Tui Toa, from the village of Tulaele, has a different take on the situation.

He says that it is very simple; if you are lazy and you dont want to earn any money then you wont be able to afford anything. He says thats why people keep saying that life is expensive.

Aged 56, Tui is a taxi driver and says that life in general for him is great. He is adamant that the cost of living is getting lower over time.

Life in general is great and there arent many issues we currently face, he told the Village Voice.

People say that the cost of living is very high but the way I see it, there are many large stores opening up and it has resulted in prices dropping.

Yes there are goods that are very expensive but there are also alternatives that are more affordable. Suffering from the cost of living depends on your preference.

I feel that the cost of living is beginning to be a little lighter.

He says that if you dont want to suffer in this world then you must work hard to earn enough money to afford what you want and need.

There is a big difference between suffering from things being expensive and suffering because you have no money, Tui said.

If you sit around and not work hard to earn a living then of course things will look expensive because you cant afford anything without having money in the first place.

I feel that the cost of living is decent compared to past years and thats the truth I know.

On another note, Tui says that being a taxi driver is great. Even though the money isnt as good as past years, its still a pretty good way to make a living.

Life as a taxi driver is not that bad, he said.

The money we make depends a lot on the day but just like everything, if you work hard then you will earn more.

Its true that back in the days there were a lot less people taking taxis but the payment system was different; we earned a lot more because taxi vehicles were scarce.

These days, we dont make as much but we still work hard to make it work.

Tui says that you can make up to $300 a day as a taxi driver and he is fine with that.

I became a taxi driver not too long ago, he said.

On a very good day, I can make about $160. But keep in mind that that money isnt all profit; I have to take some of that money to fill up petrol and to maintain the car.

Whatever I have left over is used to take care of my family and the rest is saved just in case of emergency.

There are days where I can make up to $300 but thats a rare case and it takes a lot of driving. Thats how it is for us and we are doing well as taxi drivers in Samoa.
Talaitau Filipo Aunai, from the village of Faleula, believes if the Samoan culture is to survive, everyone has a role to play.

The parents and the elders have a responsibility to teach the young people.

Aged 65, Talaitau was spotted in his small Samoan hut making roof thatching for parts of his damaged fale.

Talaitau says that the small Samoan cultural tasks might seem like normal chores but this is the way Samoans have lived their lives for a very long time and it is important to sustain it.

And with it being part of our culture, Samoans need to live less like westerners and learn more about what makes us who we are.

Maintaining our culture is very important and its not just the task of one person to sustain it, he told the Village Voice.

Weaving mats, making palm roof thatches or even just making handicrafts; it doesnt matter if you are a mum, dad, boy or girl, you must know how to do all of these things.

These are Samoan type of jobs and we are losing this part of our culture. People are becoming so accustomed to living a western lifestyle in western type houses and we forget these important skills.

Talaitau says that on the bright side, there are still people who take these cultural practices seriously.

On the other hand, there are still some people who hold these skills dear to them, he said.

Although many Samoans are becoming more western, we still have many living in Samoan houses and live with the Samoan skills they know.

I grew up in Samoan houses like this and I learned both skills for female and male tasks so that when I entered adulthood, I dont have to rely on women to weave or to do female chores; I am able to do everything on my own.

To tell you the truth, I dont categorize these skills with gender; I prefer to see them as just Samoan type work.

For Talaitau, he believes that every Samoan should already have different Samoan skills at hand for whenever they need it.

I believe that there should not be any Samoan who doesnt know how to do these cultural practices, he said.

By the time you turn five you should already be learning the simple skills and then grow up learning more difficult ones.

All the youth of today should already have these skill sets in their minds.

And with our culture dying out slowly, Talaitau says it is up to the parents to bring it all back by teaching the skills to their children.

If you are a Samoan parent, you should teach your children how to do this work, he said.

Dont just teach them, you have to show them how it is done which means that you should already know how to do it yourself.

When I look at the youth these days, I feel so sorry for them. They rely on the western style of living while losing an important part of their heritage.

People might see these things as just chores or tasks but they are much more than that.
Wilson Simeti is ready to serve the Catholic Church in whatever way God wants him to.

Mr. Simeti was among the students and supporters of Moamoas Theological College who celebrated the successful end of the 2016 academic year on Wednesday.

Songs and laughter echoed across the church hall as they rejoiced in their hard-earned achievements.

Fr. James Skelton said the celebration was the commissioning of the dedicated group who stuck by the five-year curriculum. The students graduated with a Diploma in Ministry.

For Mr. Simeti, he said the programme was the culmination of a very challenging task. So how did he do it?

Well, he said the key to true success was through determination and hard work. He dedicated his everything towards his goal and didnt let any form of negativity derail him from his path.

He said he went through a total of five years of ministry work; four years of academic work, ending the final year with Pastoral practices.

However, coming to the end of his academic journey, Mr. Simeti could only reveal happiness and joy.

I thank God for his loving help to all of us who received our diplomas today; you have helped me overcome many trials as I perused my Diploma, he said.

Coming to the conclusion of my academic life, I can only feel happiness and joy for myself and everyone who made it with me. We are so joyful to have a diploma in Ministry.

Mr. Semeti also had a message to the future graduates of the Theological College.

I know the curriculum will seem hard at first, but trust in the Lord to give you the strength to pursue your dreams, he said. Good luck future students and remember to never give up.

Fr. Skelton told the Samoa Observer these graduates will now embark on their own journey in ministry, doing their very best to bring praise to the Lord.

Today is the commissioning of those who are going to become Catholic leaders in various villages around Samoa, he said.

Six of the graduates already have a village lined up for them.

When they get to their designated village, the graduates will be assigned a Priest for further guidance and spiritual help. They will be dedicating most of their time to the villages spiritual problems as well as tend to the wellbeing of their Priest.

They have their own village to take care of; however there will be a Priest for them to depend on if they run into any trouble, Mr. Skelton said.

They will be working under a priest as well as look after them, like how a son would look after his own father. Together they will work on spreading the word of Ministry as well as tend to spiritual problems of the local people
Think a minuteHenri Latour was the greatest detective in France during the 19th century. He was a mastermind at finding evidence and clues, then fitting it all together to find the criminal and bring him to justice. But mysteriously, this living legends career ended suddenly.

Detective Henri Latour was called to the scene of a horrific, violent crime. An elderly couple had been robbed and brutally murdered. The police had already arrested a suspect, but shortly after studying the crime scene and evidence, Latours instincts convinced him that the police had arrested the wrong man. Latour promised the heartbroken, grieving family that he would find the missing pieces of the puzzle and the vicious murderer.

So began what many have called the most brilliant tracking of a criminal in Frances history. Henri Latour carefully gathered all the evidence, one piece at a time, until he finally found his man and criminal. The newspapers praised Latours brilliant detective work and spread the news of his fame across France. But after solving this case, Latour suddenly retired and moved away. In fact, he lived alone for the remaining 25 years of his life. It was only after he died that the true identity of the last criminal whom Latour had tracked down was made known to the public. In his last case, Latour had refused to back down from the truth, even when his investigation revealed that the murderer was none other than Latours own son!

Sometimes the truth can be extremely painful. But sooner or later we each must face it, hopefully sooner rather than when it is too late. It is a fact of life that we each have done many wrong things: wrong thoughts, wrong words, wrong attitudes, wrong relationships, wrong behavior and habits. So we have separated ourselves from our Maker, God, Who is pure and perfect goodness. Until we truly feel the shame and guilt of our pride and sins against Him, and confess it to Him, our heart is not truly humble and open to receive His forgiveness and new life. Never forget, the price we pay of hurting our pride is nothing compared to losing our relationship and everlasting life with our loving Creator.

God Himself paid the penalty for all our sins with His death and resurrection, so we must sincerely and wholeheartedly ask Jesus to forgive us and change our heart and way of life. The truth of our sins hurts, but it also heals and restores usif we repent and confess it to our only Rescuer and Lord, Jesus. That is the only way we can start changing to become the person He created each of us to be. Just think a minute
People get their microbiome -- the unique set of microbes that live in and on us -- at birth. But newborns delivered through cesarean section get a much different set of microbes than those born through normal vaginal delivery.

On Monday, a team of scientists, including UC San Diego microbiome expert Rob Knight, report that some of the microbes present in vaginal birth can be transferred to C-section babies immediately after delivery.

If the research is confirmed, this treatment could provide important health benefits to those delivered by C-section. The issue has become increasingly important as more babies are delivered by C-section, now amounting to one third of American births.

Advertisement

Among other functions, the microbiome helps train the immune system, inhibits harmful microbes and makes essential nutrients. So researchers worry that establishment of an abnormal microbiome could have possibly harmful effects.

Epidemiological studies report associations between C-section delivery and obesity, asthma, allergies and immune deficiencies, although these dont establish cause. Theoretically, the new procedure could reduce the risk of such illnesses associated with abnormal microbiomes.

The study was published in the journal Nature Medicine. It can be found at j.mp/vmicrobiome.

UCSDs Knight led the study along with first author Maria Dominguez-Bello of New York University and senior author Jose Clemente of Mount Sinai in New York. Dominguez-Bello began work on the study while a postdoctoral fellow in Knights lab.

The authors, have taken an important first step toward developing active interventions that may someday enhance the introduction of the newborn to microbial partners and facilitate a lifelong healthy symbiotic relationship, stated an accompanying perspective article in Nature Medicine. The article was written by Dr. Alexander Khoruts, a gastroenterologist at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis. He was not involved in the study.

The study examined C-section infants who were given microbes from their mothers vagina in a procedure called vaginal microbial transfer. The microbes were collected on gauze that had been placed in the vagina before birth for one hour. The gauze was then swabbed onto the newborns mouth, face and body.

Follow-up testing showed that after 30 days, the C-section babies developed microbiomes more characteristic of vaginally delivered babies than C-section babies who didnt get the treatment. But the transfer was incomplete, and some of the microbes acquired through C-section remained. And the long-term durability of the transfer is unknown.

In total, the study examined 18 babies and their mothers, seven with vaginal births and 11 with C-sections. Of the C-sections babies, four were treated with their mothers vaginal microbes, with 11 untreated.

The study was foreshadowed by the experience Knight and his wife, Amanda Birmingham, had in 2011 with the birth of their daughter. It was an unplanned C-section.

Not so much as scientists but as parents, we took matters into our own hands, and gave her the microbes she would have naturally been born with had everything gone according to plan, Knight said.

Now 4 years old, their daughter is healthy. But one instance isnt scientific evidence, Knight said.

Its unknown whether the transferred microbes have persisted in the girl over the years, Knight said. The intrusive sampling needed hasnt been repeated, out of respect for her wishes.

Knight said the experience caused him to shift his interest from basic science toward doing more clinically oriented research. So when Knight found out about the study, he gladly joined.

As a scientifically designed project, the study has generated a great amount of data, he said. Many of the microbial samples have yet to be analyzed, he said, and the researchers are seeking funding to complete that work.

More than 1,500 infant and maternal samples were taken and sequenced, Mount Sinais Clemente said in a telephone interview with reporters. Microbial samples were taken from the mouth, anus and skin.

Lactobacillus and Bacteriodes species were found to proliferate in anal samples taken from treated and vaginally delivered infants, he said. That pattern wasnt seen in untreated infants. Lactobacillus is a genus of well-known friendly bacteria that assists in digestion and is used to treat intolerance of lactose, a sugar found in milk.

Delivery of course is a very complex process that involves much more than the mere transfer of microbes, Clemente said. And this cannot be fully recaptured by our procedure. But we would like to emphasize that our results establish feasibility, but not health outcomes. We will need larger studies in populations at risk to determine if transferring vaginal microbes to the newborn can be translated into reducing disease risks associated with C-section birthing.

Research funders include the National Institutes of Health, C&D Research Fund, Crohns and Colitis Foundation of America, Sinai Ulcerative Colitis: a Clinical, Experimental & Systems Studies Philanthropic Grant and the Department of Scientific Computing at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
San Diego cybersecurity startup Fhoosh said Thursday it has raised $2 million in venture funding led by Volta Global, a Miami-based investment group.

Fhoosh is building an encryption platform to scramble data faster than current technologies. It will use the money to hire engineers and fund pilot projects to get its software to market.

Founded in 2012 by Eric Tobias and Linda Eigner, the company has 17 patents and 10 employees. Its technology aims to make data encryption mainstream so that, if network defenses are breached, the cyber attackers will uncover unusable data.

Advertisement

Tobias called it finding data dust instead of data diamonds.

In an interview in August, Tobias said the companys new way of doing encryption doesnt bog down network performance, which is increasingly important as more data is stored in the internet cloud.

The companys name was inspired by the sound of fast moving objects.

Tobias added, however, that Fhooshs software isnt solely designed to enable fast encryption in the datacenter. It also protects data stored on consumer devices such as smartphones and laptops.

We are not focused on doing what a lot of other (cybersecurity) companies are focused on, which is perimeter protection, said Tobias in August. We are focused on protecting data at the core.

Fhoosh uses the same encryption techniques to scramble the software keys needed to unlock encrypted data  providing an extra layer of security.

Until now, Fhoosh has been largely self-funded, though it did raise an undisclosed amount of money from angel investors. The company said demand from investors was strong and the recent funding round was oversubscribed.

Data has never been more valuable, and simultaneously as vulnerable, to an organization as it is today, said Jeff Evans, managing director of Volta, in a statement. Fhoosh has developed a novel, proprietary solution to enable enhanced safety, security and speed all at once.

Volta Global is a multi-pronged investment firm that puts money into venture capital, private equity, real estate and public markets.

mike.freeman@sduniontribune.com;

Twitter:@TechDiego

760-529-4973
Qualcomm is taking the wraps off its two-year effort to build computer server chips, challenging Intels stronghold in the fast growing datacenter market.

The smartphone semiconductor giant said Wednesday that its new server chip, called Centriq 2400, is now being tested with key customers and is expected to be commercially available in the second half of 2017.

Qualcomms foray into server chips is a potential threat to Intels most profitable business, highlighting how the two rivals are increasingly squaring off in the core markets that each dominate.

Advertisement

This fall, Intel won a cellular modem slot in some Apple iPhone 7 models, displacing Qualcomm on AT&Ts and T-Mobiles networks.

It was Intels first significant win in mobile, lending credibility to its long-sought smartphone ambitions. Qualcomm retained Apples cellular business on Verizon and Sprint in the U.S., as well as in China.

Meanwhile, Qualcomm announced two years ago that it had started work on chips for the datacenter  office buildings full of connected computer servers that power the Internet cloud, big data analytics and other things. Qualcomm tapped its expertise in low-power, system-on-a-chip designs from mobile to give server makers an alternative to Intel.

Qualcomm said Wednesday that its new server chip  based on architecture licensed from ARM Holdings -- has multiple processing cores. Its being manufactured using the most advanced semiconductor process technology.

Qualcomm is really going to set the bar for ARM server chips, said Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research. It is a huge company. You know they are going to stay in it. You know they have the resources to compete.

Qualcomm declined to name customers or what semiconductor maker would build the chips using 10 nanometer process technology.

That means it is a leading edge chip, which is significant said McGregor. Typically server chips are one or two generations behind in process technology because they are so large and so complex.

Intel is currently in volume production at 14 nanometers for server products, said William Moss, a company spokesman. It expects to launch its first 10 nanometer product in the second half of 2017.

We operate in a highly competitive market and take all competitors seriously, said Moss in an email. There has been a lot of hype about ARM in the datacenter for several years, but very few deployments.

Incompatible software has been part of the problem for ARM-based semiconductors, according to analysts. But increasingly todays top datacenter software will work on Intels architecture as well as ARM designs.

Qualcomm said it has demonstrated its Centriq 2400 processor running Apache Spark and Hadoop software on Linux and Java platforms.

Cavium, Advanced Micro Devices and a handful of other semiconductor firms make ARM-based server chips for the datacenter. Intel builds datacenter chips based on a different, PC-based architecture.

Qualcomm didnt disclose power/performance benchmarks for Centriq 2400. A spokeswoman said the metrics would be available later. Although it used ARMs instruction set, Qualcomm said it custom designed the CPU and other features in the new chip.

We believe our Qualcomm Centriq family of server processors will bring the right differentiated value to customers, said Anand Chandrasekher, senior vice president of Qualcomm Datacenter Technologies, in a statement.

Business

mike.freeman@sduniontribune.com;

Twitter:@TechDiego

760-529-4973
BONSALL

Annual Jingle Rock Holiday Festival coming Saturday

Advertisement

The Bonsall Education Foundations annual Jingle Rock Holiday Festival will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Pala Mesa Resort, with music and dance performances by students. Concert admission is free. Enjoy activities and attractions such as photos with Santa, laser tag, holiday crafts and raffles. USB recordings of performances will be available; prepaid $15 each or $20 at the event. Preorder at bonsallschools.org. The resort is at 2001 Old Highway 395 in Fallbrook.

CARLSBAD

Two-day biking event to raise scholarship funds

The Army and Navy Academy community will ride stationary bikes Friday and Saturday to raise scholarship funds for cadets. Biking for Brotherhood will have nearly 30 stationary bikes outside the academys Davis Hall for anyone to join in. From 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Friday, cadets will compete in teams; from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, teams of cadets, parents, alumni, faculty, staff and the community will take part. Proceeds benefit the academys Warrior Financial Aid fund. Call (760) 547-5274 or email events@armyandnavyacademy.org.

DEL MAR

See Screenagers film at Del Mar Hills Academy

The Del Mar Hills Academy PTA will host a free screening of Screenagers: Growing Up in the Digital Age, at 6 p.m. Dec. 15 at its Performing Arts Center. The film explores how tech time can affect kids development, and offers solutions to help kids to better navigate the digital world. Students (suggested for grades 5 and up) and parents are encouraged to attend together. The school is at 14085 Mango Drive. Email PTA President Jeannie Thomas at president@delmarhillspta.org.

ENCINITAS

Ocean Knoll Elementary toy drive ends Friday

Ocean Knoll Elementary School is finishing up its toy drive for school families on Friday. The school is collecting gift cards and money donations; unwrapped new toys; unused regifts; and other items. Bring items to the classroom or the multipurpose room. The school is at 910 Melba Road. Call (760) 944-4351.

ESCONDIDO

Parents invited to class on digital reputation

Protecting Your Digital Reputation will be presented by Cyber Education Consulting from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Rincon Middle School, 925 Lehner Ave. The presentation is for parents, but kids are welcome. Learn about the latest phone apps that could put you and your child at risk; tricks and scams, and how to respond; and Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat. In English and Spanish. Call (760) 432-2491.

SAN MARCOS

Schools collecting clothing, blankets for district families

San Marcos schools are drop-off sites through Friday for donations of new jackets, coats, socks or blankets for needy families in the district. Drop-off sites are Discovery, San Elijo and Richland elementary schools, San Marcos Middle School, Mission Hills and San Marcos high schools, and the district office.

SAN PASQUAL

Holiday boutique, Breakfast With Santa

The San Pasqual Union School District PTO is sponsoring a holiday boutique from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. today, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday and from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday. The public can shop today and Friday after signing in at the main office. Items include fresh wreaths, bath products, fairy items, holiday decor and candy. Kids can come in their pajamas for Breakfast With Santa from 8 to 11 a.m. Saturday. Tickets cost $10. The school is at 15305 Rockwood Road, Escondido. Call (760) 745-4931.

VALLEY CENTER

Free Christmas concert Monday at Maxine Theater

Valley Center Middle and High School offer their fourth annual free Community Christmas Concert at 6 p.m. Monday at the Maxine Theater, featuring choirs and bands. The Boosters will sell food starting at 5 p.m. at the theater, 31322 Cole Grade Road. Also, the middle school bands will perform at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, and VC Elementary and Lilac bands will perform at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, both at the middle school, 28102 N. Lake Wohlford Road. The high school band will be in the Escondido Christmas parade, which starts at 9:30 a.m. Saturday. Call (858) 527-5500 or email vcmusicboosters@gmail.com.

VISTA

Bella Mente students hold Boosterthon Fun Run

Bella Mente Montessori Academy hosted a Boosterthon Fun Run event recently, culminating a nine-day program that raised funds for the school. More than 600 students ran an average of 35 laps together to music. During the program, students learned ways to make a difference in their community. Bella Mente Montessori Academy is projected to profit more than $18,900 from the Boosterthon Fun Run. These funds will go toward classroom aids at the school, which is at 1737 W. Vista Way. Call (760) 621-8948.

Please send notices at least 10 days in advance of events to laura.groch@sduniontribune.com.

laura.groch@sduniontribune.com
San Diego Habitat for Humanity has sent a letter to the Poway City Council asking to be reimbursed $553,000  money the nonprofit says it has spent developing a veterans-only housing project that the council denied last month.

The letter is viewed by many as a sign that Habitat could file a lawsuit asserting the councils 3-2 decision to deny the 22-unit development wasnt based on solid-land use criteria, but was intended to appease hundreds of residents who opposed the project, primarily because of traffic concerns.

The group appears to be arguing the city failed to negotiate in good faith, despite having signed an exclusive agreement two years ago promising to do so.

Advertisement

.. It has now become clear the city never intended to vote for this project to move forward, the letter states.

Habit President and CEO Lori Holt Pfeiler said Wednesday the nonprofits board of directors is still weighing whether to take legal action. She said suing a city would be a first for the organization.

Pfieler said Habitat has a reputation for working well with many cities throughout the region, and feels a responsibility to elected officials who courageously support low-incoming housing, even when its unpopular with constituents.

.. There could be some frustration by cities if we dont hold Poway accountable, she said.

Meanwhile, Poway Mayor Steve Vaus said he met Monday with another affordable housing developer who has experience dealing with a veterans organization and that they toured a potential site in Poway for a new project.

I fully expect at our January meeting Ill be able to bring forward an opportunity .. to direct staff to negotiate an exclusive negotiating rights agreement with this organization and we will get a veterans housing project done, Vaus said.

His announcement came Tuesday night during a council meeting at the end of what had been an hour-long public comment period during which Deputy Mayor Jim Cunningham was lambasted by numerous speakers, who said his comments and actions toward those who opposed the project were disgusting and horrible.

Cunningham and Councilman John Mullin voted Nov. 15 to support the housing project, which has been in the planning process for more than two years. It would have been built on a 2-acre piece of property owned by the city and ear-marked for affordable housing on the south side of Twin Peaks Road a few hundred feet west of Espola Road.

Cunningham implied during the November meeting that those opposed to the project were anti-veteran and heartless. He staged a Nov. 26 rally at Old Poway Park where he and other politicians, including Rep. Scott Peters, D-San Diego, urged the council to rescind its vote and do the right thing for the veteran community.

At Tuesdays council meeting, residents angrily scolded Cunningham for calling Poway anti-veteran, when if fact they said nothing could be further from the truth.

To say we are against veterans in Poway is an inaccurate statement, said Michelle Bru. In fact, its a downright lie.

For us to have been bashed as far as our not respecting veterans, thats just terrible, said Megan King. How dare you bash us? Its not fair.

Cunningham said his message has been misinterpreted by people and that his frustration and anger was based on the decision by the council majority  not toward residents who opposed the project. He said he never meant to suggest Powegians were anti-veteran and in fact believes nothing could be further from the truth.

My concern was with my council. My concern was with the excuses that were used, and the rationale that was used to deny this project, Cunningham said.

I will tell you now and Ill tell the media and Ill tell everybody, theres not one person in here, and I know many of you, that is anti-veteran, he said. This community is incredibly supportive of veterans.Im distressed that I wasnt able to fully communicate the facts clear enough to dispel some of your concerns.

The majority of the council defended their votes last month, saying they were uncomfortable with the project for several reasons including traffic, Habitats involvement, the cost to the city  which would have included the donation of the land and an additional $800,000  and the lack of assurances that the housing could be legally limited to veterans.

jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjones
If youre a local fan of a certain Broadway musical about an unstoppable founding father, get ready to tell yourself (in the words of one of its songs) how lucky you are to be alive right now.

Thats right: Hamilton is coming to San Diego.

The one catch: Youre going to have to wait for it.

The touring-show presenter Broadway/San Diego and lead producer Jeffrey Seller are announcing this morning that the massively popular musical, which is up for a record 16 Tony Awards this Sunday, will hit town sometime in the 2017-18 season.

Downtowns Civic Theatre will (presumably) be the room where it happens, although exactly when that might be has not yet been specified.

Lin-Manuel Miranda attends the 2016 Tony Awards Meet the Nominees press junket at the Paramount Hotel on Wednesday, May 4, 2016, in New York. Miranda is nominated for several awards including, best original score, best book of a musical and best performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical for, Hamilton. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP) The Associated Press (The Associated Press)

The only thing thats really certain at this point is that subscribers to the current Broadway/San Diego season will be able to guarantee Hamilton seats if they then renew for 2017-2018. (Subscriptions to the 2016-17 season are still available; call (888) 937-8995 or go to broadwaysd.com.)

Buying a subscription probably wont be the only way to see the show, though.

Broadway/San Diego, part of the New York-based Nederlander Organization, had no further information on ticketing. But Sam Rudy, a spokesman for the Broadway production of Hamilton, told USA Today this week: "Single tickets will be available in every market where Hamilton plays.

The timing is more tricky, but the show almost certainly wont arrive here before 2018.

The first North American tour of Hamilton launches in San Francisco in March 2017, and then heads to Los Angeles that August for a four-month run. (Costa Mesa in Orange County is also among the cities listed for that tour, although no dates have been set yet.)

A separate sit-down production opens in Chicago this September for an open-ended run.

Even if the San Diego run came immediately after the L.A. tour stop, that would mean Hamilton would arrive here in January 2018 at the earliest.

The New York Times says a second North American touring production will launch in Seattle in 2018, so its also possible San Diego would be part of that tours swing.

In any case, says Joe Kobryner, locally based vice president of Nederlander: Were thrilled San Diego will be one of the first cities in North America to see Hamilton outside of Broadway.

The tour announcement comes as Hamilton heads into this Sundays Tony Awards with a good chance at double-digit wins in the annual Broadway theater honors.

Hamilton chronicles the life and times of Alexander Hamilton, the Revolutionary War hero, founding father and onetime secretary of the treasury who helped create the American financial system. (His face is featured on the $10 bill.)

Hamilton was famously killed in an 1804 duel with his longtime colleague and rival, Aaron Burr, who is likewise a major character in the musical.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, whose first big Broadway splash was the musical In the Heights, conceived of Hamilton, wrote all its music and lyrics and adapted its story from Ron Chernows biography.

He also stars on Broadway as Hamilton, opposite Leslie Odom Jr. as Burr.

The show has set new standards on Broadway for the diversity of its cast and the adventurousness of its music, which is driven by hip-hop but also takes in jazz, blues and even Britpop.

Demand for tickets is so massive that the show is sold out into next year, and top ticket prices were just raised to more than $800 in a bid to reduce reselling, where seats can fetch $1,000 or more.
Oakland officials revealed Thursday that no building code enforcement inspector has been inside the warehouse where 36 people died in at least 30 years, raising new questions about government oversight of the property.

The interim director of the citys planning and building department said the agency only goes into buildings when the owner seeks a permit or if officials receive a complaint.

At the time of the fire, the city was investigating complaints of safety problems at the warehouse. But for reasons that are not entirely clear, an inspector had not yet actually entered the building to examine it.

Advertisement

It remains unclear, however, whether a fire inspector  who works for a separate city agency  had been inside the building. The city has yet to release any fire inspection reports regarding the warehouse.

1 / 24 The ruins of the Ghost Ship warehouse in Oakland, the site of a fire that killed at least 36 people, are seen from above on Dec. 5. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 24 Debris litters the inside of a warehouse where a fire killed 36 people during a club-style party. (David Butow / For The Times) 3 / 24 A firefighter walks through the burned-out Oakland warehouse on Saturday. (David Butow / For The Times) 4 / 24 Firefighters walk through a debris-strewn warehouse where a fire killed at least nine people in Oakland. (David Butow / For The Times) 5 / 24 A drone flies over investigators outside Oaklands Ghost Ship warehouse, where 36 people died this month in one of the worst fires in modern California history. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 24 Titus Cromwell, 4, places a flower from his familys garden near the scene of the Ghost Ship warehouse fire in Oakland. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 24 In the days after the Ghost Ship fire in Oakland, hearts dedicated to victims were hung from a nearby tree. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 24 Daryl Norman, 63, of Oakland stops by the scene of the fire on his way to church in Oakland. I had to come see for myself, he said of the 36 victims. God bless them. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 24 People stand at the perimeter holding flowers while watching crews remove material from what remains of the Ghostship warehouse fire, that burned and killed at least 36 people in the Oakland neighborhood of Fruitvale. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 24 An art installation near the scene of the Ghost Ship fire. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 24 People pay their respects Dec. 11 near the scene of the warehouse fire. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 24 Mourners observe a moment of silence for the lives lost in the Ghost Ship warehouse fire at the Oakland Museum of California on Friday evening. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles TImes) 13 / 24 ATF agents map the scene of the fire investigation Friday at the Ghost Ship warehouse in Oakland. (Francine Orr/ Los Angeles Times) (Francine Orr / Los Angeles TImes) 14 / 24 Rain falls on the memorial for victims of the Oakland warehouse fire. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles TImes) 15 / 24 Hillary Morse, 22, of Oakland mourns the loss of two of her close friends in the warehouse fire in Oakland. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 24 Jacob Ramirez, 4, left, looks on while his grandmother Eva Ramirez, 52, consoles Hillary Morse, 22, right, of Oakland near the site of the warehouse fire in Oakland. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 24 Flowers, candles and notes, memorializing those killed and injured in the Ghostship warehouse fire that burned and killed at least 36 people in the Oakland neighborhood of Fruitvale. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 24 A makeshift memorial of flowers and candles stands Dec. 4 near the site of the Oakland warehouse fire. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 24 A man who identified himself as Ben P. reads cards on Sunday at a memorial near the site of the blaze. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 24 Kristen Grzeca, a music teacher at Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, hugs Monina Sen Cervone, director of world music and dance at the school, on Sunday at a makeshift memorial for victims of the warehouse fire. A 17-year-old victim was one of Grzecas students. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 24 After attending church, Teionna Cunningham of Oakland leaves flowers near the site of the fire. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 24 A Seventh Day Adventist group prays on Sunday near the scene of the fire on 31st Avenue in Oakland. (David Butow / For The Times) 23 / 24 Flowers are left near an Oakland warehouse where a fire broke out during a concert, killing 36 people. (David Butow / For The Times) 24 / 24 Dino Graniello, left, and Jessie Xenakis light candles near the scene of a warehouse fire in Oakland that killed at least two dozen partygoers. (David Butow / For The Times)

The Oakland warehouse, where a catastrophic fire broke out during a concert Friday night, was the focus of nearly two dozen building code complaints or other city actions over the past 30 years, documents released Wednesday showed.

At least three of the complaints appeared to assert that structures had been built inside the warehouse without permits or that the property was being used as a residence. Others cited illegal parking and mounds of debris piled up on the sidewalk and in an adjoining vacant lot.

An inspector who visited the warehouse 15 days before the fire to investigate a possible illegal interior building structure was unable to get inside.

According to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, the city followed up by sending a request to the warehouse owner to gain entry. Planning and building department reports released Wednesday, however, indicate only that the city sent a violation notice demanding debris outside the building be cleaned up.

Schaaf said the city eventually would release records of all violations and other actions related to the warehouse, documents requested by numerous news outlets under Californias public records laws.

No one wants to ever see a tragedy like this in their community, Schaaf told reporters at a news conference outside the charred and gutted warehouse Tuesday evening. But when one strikes, it is our responsibility to take aggressive and quick action to avoid any future tragedies.

As part of that effort, the mayor said she planned to form a task force to review and improve enforcement of city building and fire codes.

The Ghost Ship warehouse, owned by Oakland resident Chor N. Ng, was zoned exclusively for commercial use. It housed an artists collective and, according to former residents and those who frequented the building, had unpermitted living quarters inside and hosted numerous concerts and other events.

In October 2014, the city investigated a report of constructing house/structure without permits at the warehouse address. During the visit, an inspector found no violation, according to city records.

On site inspection, structure was removed before inspection. No violations, the report stated.

According to building department records, a city inspector went to the warehouse on Nov. 17 to investigate another possible illegal interior structure but was unable to gain access the property.

Complainant needs to provide access, cannot see if there is an illegal building from the sidewalk (property has a chain link fence in front), the inspector wrote in a report.

During the same visit, the inspector apparently looked into a separate complaint by a neighbor who reported a ton of garbage piling up on the property. The complaint alleged that the main building was remodel[ed] for residential and said the situation causes our neighborhood looks very bad and creates health issue.

According to city records, a violation was verified and a notice was sent to Ng. However, that notice addressed only the debris and construction material piled outside the warehouse.

Schaaf said the city building inspector had followed correct procedures during that visit. In the records made public Wednesday, the city redacted the names of inspectors who had been to the warehouse, as well as the resident who filed a complaint. Officials did not explain why that information was withheld.

Schaaf said Wednesday that the National Fire Protection Association was assisting the city in a review of building and event safety as well as improvements to the building complaint system.

Officials plan to assemble a fire safety task force, and Schaaf said experts would examine existing regulations for fire inspections, smoke alarms, carbon monoxide monitors, event permitting and emergency exit requirements.

The city was also examining how city officials can report potentially dangerous living conditions or illegal events.

I want to be clear we will not scapegoat city employees in the wake of this disaster, Schaaf said. Rather, we will provide them the guidance, clarity and support they need and deserve to do their jobs.

Schaaf also said her office would reconvene the citys Artist Housing and Workspace Task Force as a way to promote safe, affordable homes and workspaces in the Bay Area city.

phil.willon@latimes.com

Twitter: @philwillon

Click here for a Spanish version of this story

ALSO

Emergency declaration sought in Oakland after deadly warehouse fire

How to help Oakland warehouse survivors and the families of those killed

A narcissist or an eccentric? Derick Almena, the man behind the Ghost Ship, left conflicting impressions

Oakland fire: How civil and criminal cases might play out

UPDATES:

7 p.m.: This article was updated with additional information.

6:15 p.m.: This article was updated with more information about inspections and more comments from Oaklands mayor.

This article was originally posted at 12:20 p.m.
Led by members of the California delegation, dozens of House Democrats are again pleading with President Obama to pardon hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children to whom he granted temporary deportation deferrals.

Last month, several members of Congress asked Obama to use his pardon authority to forgive the past and future civil immigration offenses of the nearly 750,000 people granted deportation deferrals under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.

The lawmakers say that even though the so-called Dreamers would be left in legal limbo without work permits or visas, they could more easily apply for legal status from within the U.S. without immigration offenses on their records.

Advertisement

A White House official immediately batted down the idea, saying a pardon wouldnt give them legal status.

In a news conference Wednesday, the lawmakers disputed that position, emotion filling their voices.

Our request is very narrow in scope; we are simply asking him to protect these young DACA individuals who have committed no crime and who through no fault of their own were brought to the United States with their families in search of a better life, Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Downey) said. Their immigration status under DACA must be protected, and a presidential pardon would do just that.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose), a former immigration attorney, dismissed the White Houses unofficial position that the president cannot grant the pardons. She noted that past presidents have issued blanket pardons to people in certain groups, and said that the Constitution says the president can issue a pardon for offenses and doesnt stipulate which crimes. She said the only part of their plan that hasnt been done before is forgiving future immigration offenses.

We know that there is no case law on the idea of giving a prospective pardon for a civil offense, but these kids took a risk and we ask President Obama to take a risk as well. These kids deserve everything we can do to keep them safe from deportation, she said.

A letter to the White House signed by more than 60 members of Congress reiterated the sentiment.

The Constitution specifically does not limit the pardon power to criminal offenses. We ask for the narrow reprieve of a retroactive and prospective pardon of categorical civil immigration violations for a unique group of young immigrants who have placed their trust in both you as their president and us as their lawmakers, the letter states. To be clear, we are not asking you to create legal status. 

Asked about the renewed pardon request, a White House official responded, The president takes the executive clemency power seriously. As a general matter, we do not comment on the likelihood of whether a specific pardon may be granted, should one be requested. We note that the clemency power could not give legal status to any undocumented individual. As we have repeatedly said for years, only Congress can create legal status for undocumented individuals.

Dreamers gave the Department of Homeland Security their fingerprints, home addresses and other information to undergo background checks that allowed them to defer deportation under DACA.

At the time, immigration advocates and the administration said providing the information would protect the Dreamers and was worth the risk. But with President-elect Donald Trump vowing to deport millions of people who are in the country illegally and many fearing he may let the DACA program expire, Dreamers are worried that the information they provided will be used to deport them.

Were going to work something out thats going to make people happy and proud, Trump told Time magazine in an interview published Wednesday, but he provided no details on how hed accommodate the Dreamers.

What will happen to the estimated 750,000 program participants  one in three of whom are thought to live in California  has been a growing concern in recent weeks. At least two senators are talking about addressing the issue in 2017, and on Wednesday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel brought the topic directly to Trump with a letter asking him not to deport the Dreamers.

The White House hasnt directly addressed the pardon request, but Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Wednesday that the fate of the Dreamers has come up with incoming Trump officials.

Weve taken quite seriously the transition process to ensure the incoming administration understands what policies weve pursued and why weve pursued them, and what impact theyve had across the country. But ultimately the next president will take office on Jan. 20, and its his policies that will be implemented, Earnest said.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) made her own appeal in a statement asking Obama to protect the personal information the young immigrants provided from being used to deport them. That approach has been pushed by Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) and more than 100 members.

Dreamers who came forward to enroll in President Obamas DACA initiative could have their addresses and personal data handed to an incoming administration that made intimidation and hateful statements against immigrants a hallmark of the campaign, Pelosi said. President Obama should use every possible measure to protect our Dreamers and their data.

sarah.wire@latimes.com

Follow @sarahdwire on Twitter

Read more about the 55 members of Californias delegation at latimes.com/politics

ALSO

California Democrats ask Obama to pardon nearly 750,000 Dreamers, but White House says it wouldnt work

In diverse California, a young white supremacist seeks to convert fellow college students

Updates on California politics
The applause went on and on  15 seconds, 30 seconds, then 45. A full minute. In Pearl Harbor Wednesday morning, on a Navy pier, some 4,000 people stood up and clapped to say thank you.

They thanked the survivors of the surprise Japanese aerial bombardment that pushed the United States into World War II and changed the global order. Wednesday marked the 75th anniversary of the attack.

We will never forget your courage under considerable fire and seemingly insurmountable odds, said Navy Adm. Harry Harris Jr., commander of the U.S. Pacific Command. We owe you an immeasurable debt.

Advertisement

About 50,000 service members were on Oahu on Dec, 7, 1941, and no one knows how many are left. Wednesday, a couple dozen  including six from San Diego County  made their way to a covered pier that overlooks the most famous of the harbors memorials, the sunken battleship Arizona, where more than 1,000 sailors and Marines remain entombed.

From the pier, the crowd could also see the battleship Missouri, on which Japan formally surrendered in August 1945  a panorama of where the war started and where it ended, an opportunity for remembrance of both tragedy and triumph.

The stagecraft was in marked contrast to the chaos that followed the attack itself. Hundreds of Japanese planes launched from aircraft carriers decimated the Pacific Fleet, hammering island airfields before ravaging Battleship Row. More than 2,400 Americans were killed and 1,200 wounded.

I can still remember what it felt like that day, said Adam Romero, a Lakeside resident who was on the destroyer tender Dobbin. Three of his crew mates were killed by bomb shrapnel, and the ship was lifted up and slammed back down by waves when the Arizona exploded. They spent the rest of the day ferrying ammunition to other ships in frantic anticipation of another Japanese assault that never came.

Romero and the others are in their mid-90s or older so this years ceremony  the high point of a 10-day commemoration all around Oahu  carried a bittersweet poignancy. This is expected to be the last major anniversary featuring first-hand accounts of what happened and what it meant.

Everywhere the survivors go they are treated like celebrities, and Wednesdays ceremony was no exception. They were seated front and center, and before the festivities began, people crowded around, asking for handshakes and autographs and posing for selfies with cellphones.

Ray Chavez, a Poway resident who at age 104 is believed to be the oldest survivor  he was a quartermaster on the Condor, a minesweeper  was particularly popular.

1 / 25 Many of the Pearl Harbor survivors rode in the Greatest Generations Foundation Remember Pearl Harbor bus during the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade inHonolulu, Hawaii. The parade was one of the many commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941, which caused The United States to enter World War II. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 2 / 25 Pearl Harbor survivors rode in the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade. The parade was one of the many commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941, which caused The United States to enter World War II. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 3 / 25 Some of the Pearl Harbor survivors waved American flags during the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade. The parade was one of the many commemorations in Hawaii of the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941, which caused The United States to enter World War II. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 4 / 25 Girl Scouts and Brownies carry a large American flag along the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade route in Honolulu, Hawaii. The parade was one of the many commemorations in Hawaii of the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, which caused The United States to enter World War II. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 5 / 25 At 104, Poway resident and the oldest known living Pearl Harbor survivor, Ray Chavez rode in the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade. The parade was one of the many commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941, which caused The United States to enter World War II. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 6 / 25 Members of the Valhalla High School marching band color guard perform during the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade in Honolulu, Hawaii, part of the commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, which caused The United States to enter World War II. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 7 / 25 Members of the Valhalla High School marching band perform during the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade in Honolulu, Hawaii, part of the commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, which caused The United States to enter World War II. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 8 / 25 Ray Chavez, 104, of Poway, and the oldest living Pearl Harbor survivor is greeted by Marine Corps World War ll veteran Donald Barnhart of San Antonio, Texas, before the ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the December 7, 1941 attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, began a short distance from the USS Arizona memorial at Joint Base Pearl Harbor. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 9 / 25 Kathleen Chavez, left, the daughter of Ray Chavez, center, 104, of Poway, the oldest known living Pearl Harbor survivor wait for the ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the December 7, 1941 attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii to began, a short distance from the USS Arizona memorial at Joint Base Pearl Harbor. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 10 / 25 Some of the Pearl Harbor survivors were pushed by escorts during the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade. The parade was one of the many commemorations in Hawaii of the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941, which caused The United States to enter World War II. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 11 / 25 95-year-old San Diego resident and Pearl Harbor survivor Stu Hedley rode in the back of a jeep during the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade through the streets of Honolulu, Hawaii. The parade was one of the many commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941, which caused The United States to enter World War II. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 12 / 25 Sisters, Betty Lou Stanley-Young, of San Diego, second from left, and Martha Sue Stanley-Cvijanovich, of Oxnard, second from right, who were young girls living in Navy housing near Hickam Field when the area was attacked on December 7, 1941, by the Japanese wait for the ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor to begin at Joint Base Pearl Harbor, a short distance from the USS Arizona memorial. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 13 / 25 Pearl Harbor survivor Nelson Mitchell was one of the Pearl Harbor survivors who rode in the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade. The parade was one of the many commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941, which caused The United States to enter World War II. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 14 / 25 Members of the Valhalla High School marching band perform during the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade in Honolulu, Hawaii, part of the commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, which caused The United States to enter World War II. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 15 / 25 Stu Hedley along with others salutes during the Walk of Honor, at the end of the ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the December 7, 1941, attack at Pearl Harbor. The ceremony was held at Kilo Pier, a short distance from the USS Arizona memorial, at Joint Base Pearl Harbor. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 16 / 25 Pearl Harbor survivors and World War II veterans rode in the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade. The parade was one of the many commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941, which caused The United States to enter World War II. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 17 / 25 Pearl Harbor survivor Adam Romero of Lakeside arrives at the ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the December 7, 1941 attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii which was held a short distance from the USS Arizona memorial at Joint Base Pearl Harbor. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 18 / 25 Valhalla High School marching band mellophone players Leela Whatley,left, and Allison Stanke, right, warm up before the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade in Honolulu, Hawaii, part of the commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, which caused The United States to enter World War II. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 19 / 25 Members of the Valhalla High School marching band perform during the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade in Honolulu, Hawaii, part of the commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, which caused The United States to enter World War II. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 20 / 25 The ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the December 7, 1941 attack at Pearl Harbor began was held at Joint Base Pearl Harbor at Kilo Pier. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 21 / 25 The USS Arizona memorial is a short distance from Kilo Pier at Joint Base Pearl Harbor where the ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the December 7, 1941 attack at Pearl Harbor was held. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 22 / 25 Actor Gary Sinise, Grand Marshall of the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade in Honolulu, Hawaii, salutes the crowd. The parade was one of the many commemorations in Hawaii of the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, which caused The United States to enter World War II. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 23 / 25 Members of the Valhalla High School marching band perform during the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade in Honolulu, Hawaii, part of the commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, which caused The United States to enter World War II. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 24 / 25 Valhalla High School marching band tuba player Matt Rosas warms up before the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade in Honolulu, Hawaii, part of the commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, which caused The United States to enter World War II. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune) 25 / 25 95-year-old Pearl Harbor survivor Stu Hedley is escorted by Terry Ulmer, also from San Diego, to the ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the December 7, 1941 attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune)

It feels good to be here again, he said, honored to be able to pay his respects to those he considers the real heroes  the service members who were killed.

The ceremony opened with a moment of silence at 7:55 a.m., the time the attack started. It was followed by the destroyer Halsey passing in review. Crew members stood along one side, saluting the Pearl Harbor survivors. Donald Stratton, one of five veterans left from the Arizona, saluted back.

F-22 Raptors flew over in a missing-man formation. They were heard before they were seen, an eerie reminder of what it might have felt like in that place on that morning 75 years ago.

In his keynote address, Adm. Harris called the attack catastrophic by any standard, and said, Those scars remind us of our history and how America responded with conspicuous valor.

What Pat Thompson was reminded of was how quickly her world changed. One minute she was a 10-year-old girl, still aglow from a jitterbug dance contest shed won the night before, waving at planes she thought were American. The next minute she was running for her life.

I can see it in my mind, even today, said Thompson, who lives now in San Diego and has been to more than a half-dozen Pearl Harbor anniversaries. All that smoke. The billowing went on for days.

Like some of the other civilian and military survivors, she spent time this week visiting old haunts. She went to the elementary school she attended as a child and showed the principal some of her old class work. They dont teach cursive any more, the principal told her.

Two sisters, Betty Lou Stanley Young and Martha Sue Stanley Cvijanovich, made plans to return to where they were living on Dec. 7, 1941. Young, who now resides in San Diego, was 9. Cvijanovich, of Oxnard, was 12. Theyd been told their Navy housing near Hickam Field is no longer there, but they were going to drive by any way, to get as close as they could.

First they attended Wednesdays ceremony, where they wore pins that had photos of their late father, Bill Stanley, a Navy civilian planner and estimator. He had helped build the California, one of the battleships damaged in the attack, and later came up with the plans to repair it.

Cvijanovich also had her identification cards, complete with fingerprints, that all children were required to carry in the weeks and months after the bombardment. She and her sister recalled the air raid drills at school and the trenches outside where they went for cover. The blackout paint and cloths that had to go up on all the windows

It was all so scary, Cvijanovich said.

But in the retelling, it was also funny, and revealing about how life goes on. Young had a birthday just two days before the attack and received a toy silver cap gun. When the family was ordered up into the mountains for safety, she rushed back to the house and got the gun. I hadnt even played with it yet, she said Wednesday, still a little indignant.

For all of the days remembrances, there was also reconciliation: a prayer for peace from a Japanese minister, the 35th straight year the Japan Religious Committee for World Federation has participated.

Enough of wars, the Rev. Tsunekiyo Tanaka said.

He noted that the U.S. and Japan are allies now, living proof that time heals.

In the audience, Stu Hedley, 95, nodded. The Clairemont resident was on board the battleship West Virginia when it was bombed during the attack and had to swim to safety through burning oil. More than 100 of his shipmates died.

People ask me all the time if I hate the Japanese, he said. I dont. They were following orders, just like we were following ours.

He was 20 that day. I grew up in a hurry, he said. We all did.

Related:

 4 Pearl Harbor veterans honored at 75th anniversary ceremony aboard USS Midway

 North County veterans remember Pearl Harbor attack

 A week on the edge: San Diego after Pearl Harbor

 San Diego headlines in the week after the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor

 Pearl Harbor: In a stunned heartbeat, my family moved to San Diego

 75 years later, keeping Pearl Harbor memories alive

 Pacific Beach mans Pearl Harbor mission of reconciliation

 Oldest Pearl Harbor vet still pumping iron at 104

Pearl Harbor 75th anniversary  On Now Pearl Harbor survivors relive the infamous day 12:34 On Now Pearl Harbor Veterans visit Hawaii elementary school 0:43 On Now 104 years young On Now Aircraft Warning Service Volunteer recounts her experience in after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor 2:40 On Now Returning WWII relics to Japan 3:10 On Now USS Pearl Harbor 3:11 On Now Video: Remembering Pearl Harbor: Mary Lou Mawhiney 3:14

UPDATES:

7 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details.

This article was originally published at 3:15 p.m.
The search for a Marine jet pilot who ejected off the coast of southern Japan has expanded.

The unnamed aviator ejected from the F/A-18 C+ Hornet strike fighter around 6:40 p.m. on Wednesday about 120 miles southeast of the Iwakuni Marine Corps air station during what Pentagon officials say was regularly scheduled training.

Clocks in Japan are a day ahead of those in America.

Advertisement

Rescue crews from the American military and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and Coast Guard combed the Pacific Ocean throughout the night. They expanded their efforts to a wider area after the sun rose on Thursday morning.

The pilot is assigned to the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing based on the island of Okinawa.

The Japan Broadcasting Corp. has reported that Tokyos Ministry of Defense requested American military officials probe the cause of the mishap, which occurred within Japanese airspace. The Japanese report also pointed to the Sept. 22 crash of a Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier Jump Jet off the coast of Okinawa. That pilot was rescued.

Military Videos  On Now D-Day paratrooper from Coronado jumps again in France  at age 96 On Now Remembering war's fallen, one name at a time On Now In Ramona, an airplane and an aviator provide living lessons on World War II 1:43 On Now Video: Navy's newest vessel sails into San Diego and a new future in surface warfare On Now Video: U.S. Navy files homicide charges over warship collisions On Now Stopping Marine hazing On Now Video: U.S. Navy Air Crew Grounded After Creating Vulgar Sky Drawing On Now Navy says Asia Pacific ship collisions were avoidable On Now Hundreds of recruits get sick at Marine boot camp On Now Cutler Dawson Talks Navy Federal

cprine@sduniontribune.com
All 36 victims of Fridays Ghost Ship warehouse fire in Oakland have been identified, officials announced Thursday.

Authorities, who concluded their search for bodies the day before, used DNA analysis to ID the last set of remains, according to Sgt. Ray Kelly, a spokesman for the Alameda County Sheriffs Office.

The victims name will be released after family members are notified.

Advertisement

Officials now are creating a 3-D model of the warehouse to show where each victim was found, Kelly said.

Did you know one of the victims of the Oakland fire? Share your memories 

Also on Thursday, authorities began to remove the cordon of metal railings, police tape and squad cars that surrounded the warehouse. At the same time, residents, mourners and the curious returned to the neighborhood.

Teacher Adrianna Alvarez and her students crowded a sidewalk at the makeshift vigil outside the building on Thursday morning. They hung messages for victims on a fence at the site.

She explained to the group of 60 fifth- and sixth-graders from nearby St. Elizabeth Elementary the important role police and firefighters have in the community. Alvarez, who is also an artist, said she knew people who lost friends in the fire.

Alvarez said the trip was necessary for the students so they could understand the devastation of the deadly blaze and the importance of artists needing a safe space to express themselves and do their work

Theres not enough space for young people, Alvarez said. We need to invest in that.

Outside the gutted warehouse, a team of fire inspectors and electrical engineers with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives continued their investigate what sparked the blaze during the concert Friday night.

The faint smell of burnt wood lingered in the air as investigators carefully scoured the site.

On Wednesday, officials said no building code enforcement inspector had been inside the warehouse in at least 30 years. At least three complaints filed with the city about the warehouse appeared to indicate that structures had been built inside without permits or that the property was being used as a residence.

Investigators also have determined the warehouse was not equipped with fire alarms or a fire-suppression system. But they still need to determine the layout of the scorched building.

Jill A. Snyder, special agent in charge of the ATF bureau in San Francisco, said the fire appears to have started on the first floor. The victims were trapped and overtaken by smoke that traveled up internal stairwells.

The inside of the building had two staircases connecting the top and bottom floors but no fire exits to the outside from the second floor.

The fire was well-developed by the time second-floor occupants realized there was a fire going on the first floor, she said.

Investigators have yet to determine a cause for the fire, but they are looking at all possible sources of ignition, Snyder said.

Like the rest of the Bay Area, resident Nancy Lopez said shes been paying attention every day to the latest news about the fire.

When the 40-year-old Oakland resident learned on Wednesday that no fire inspector had been in the building in three decades, her eyes widened with surprise.

I know theyre understaffed, I know theyre under-budgeted, Lopez said, but you have to have priorities.

She said she understands why the people who lived in the warehouse decided to stay there.

Rent here is really high, she said. People are not making enough to live. ... I saw online rent there was 400 or 500. I would take that too.

veronica.rocha@latimes.com

joseph.serna@latimes.com

ALSO

Did Oakland do enough to address the many warehouse danger complaints?

A narcissist or an eccentric? Derick Almena, the man behind the Ghost Ship, left conflicting impressions

Its excruciating: Inside the heartbreaking recovery of 36 bodies in Oakland warehouse
With the search for victims of the Oakland warehouse fire complete, investigators are looking at several key questions:

What caused the fire that killed 36 people during an unpermitted concert?

Is there criminal liability?

Did the city do an adequate job of inspecting the building, which had been the subject of numerous complaints over the years about health and safety problems?

Alameda County District Attorney investigators are investigating the blaze. Investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are examining the cause. An early review pointed to some kitchen appliances possibly being an ignition point, but that report is still in its early stages.

What is the latest?

Officials said no building code enforcement inspector had been inside the warehouse in at least 30 years.

Advertisement

It remains unclear, however, whether a fire inspector  who works for a separate city agency  had been inside the building. The city has yet to release any fire inspection reports regarding the warehouse.

Full Coverage: Deadly Oakland warehouse fire 

What do we know about the inspection history of Ghost Ship?

The Oakland warehouse known as Ghost Ship, where the catastrophic fire broke out during a concert Friday night, was the focus of nearly two dozen building code complaints or other city actions over the past 30 years, documents released Wednesday showed.

At least three of the complaints appeared to assert that structures had been built inside the warehouse without permits or that the property was being used as a residence. Others cited illegal parking and mounds of debris piled up on the sidewalk and in an adjoining vacant lot.

An inspector who visited the warehouse 15 days before the fire to investigate a possible illegal interior building structure was unable to get inside.

According to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, the city followed up by sending a request to the warehouse owner to gain entry. Planning and building department reports released Wednesday, however, indicate only that the city sent a violation notice demanding debris outside the building be cleaned up.

Firefighters on scene of the Oakland warehouse fire. (David Butow / For The Times )

What about the records that have not yet been released?

Schaaf said the city eventually would release records of all violations and other actions related to the warehouse, documents requested by numerous news outlets under Californias public records laws.

Some city officials said its important to understand why the city didnt do more about the warehouses conditions.

I think we have to take responsibility, and certainly our staff members that had that task were not as responsive or assertive as necessary, Oakland City Councilman Noel Gallo said Monday.

Were there fears from people who lived there?

Former residents have described dangerous conditions inside the building, and some said they complained to the city.

People who previously lived there recalled a building that lacked fire sprinklers and had a staircase partly made of wooden pallets. Partygoers described a rabbit warren of rooms crammed with belongings  pianos, organs, antique furniture, doors and half-finished sculptures.

It was a tinderbox, said Brooke Rollo, 30, who lives less than a mile from the scene and had gone to parties there.

Police were called repeatedly to the warehouse to address complaints, according to one former resident. Those reports could not be confirmed to The Times on Sunday by Oakland police.

After a December 2014 party, one partygoer notified the city Fire Department of unsafe conditions, and it was inspected, said Danielle Boudreaux, who spent time at the warehouse. She did not know the result.

Victims of the Oakland warehouse fire: Who they were 

Have some questioned whether there could have been better inspections?

Zac Unger, vice president of the local Oakland Firefighter Union, said the fire marshals inspection unit has been understaffed for years.

Were way short, especially in an aging city with a huge amount of building going on, Unger said.

Unger said a more aggressive fire marshals office would scour the city looking for buildings that avoided scrutiny in the past, or had other city code violations, and might be hazardous. Such tactics could have possibly prevented the tragedy at the warehouse, he said.

Had a fire inspector walked into that building and seen the conditions in there, they would have shut the place down, Unger said.

What do we know about the cause of the blaze?

The fire appears to have started on the first floor, said Jill A. Snyder, special agent in charge of the ATF bureau in San Francisco. The victims were trapped and overtaken by smoke that traveled up internal stairwells.

The fire was well-developed by the time second-floor occupants realized there was a fire going on the first floor, she said. The building had two internal staircases connecting the top and bottom floors, but no fire exits to the outside from the second floor.

Investigators determined the warehouse was not equipped with fire alarms or a fire-suppression system, Snyder said. They also still need to determine the layout of the gutted building.

Jean M. Daly, a former arson prosecutor in Los Angeles and San Francisco who specializes in fire cases, said fire investigators study a flames burn patterns and intensity.

The heavier the damage, the longer the burn, the more likely it is the area of origin, Daly said. She added that wiring and appliances believed to be involved would undergo microscopic lab examinations.

The age of the warehouses wiring also will be an issue, said Robert Rowe, a former Downey Fire Department marshal.

Back when this was a warehouse, its electrical system was designed for a particular purpose, he said. But modern equipment, laptops, chargers, sound systems, air conditioners and fridges place a very different burden on the system.

MORE ON OAKLAND FIRE

Its excruciating: Inside the heartbreaking recovery of 36 bodies in Oakland warehouse

Suspects in catastrophic Oakland fire: Refrigerators, old wiring, overtaxed electrical system

A narcissist or an eccentric? Derick Almena, the man behind the Ghost Ship, left conflicting impressions
On the infamous date, 75 years ago, life changed, changed utterly.

After the first dots and dashes  Pearl Harbor attacked  hit the Chollas Heights radio tower, a terrible beauty, stealing from the great Yeats poem, was born.

I missed the combat, the rationing, the blackouts, but during the Cold War in this Navy town no kid could grow up ignorant of what was birthed that winter day in 1941. The trajectories of millions of families changed direction. Children then unborn would feel the convulsion of Pearl Harbor deep in their bones.

Advertisement

You have your own precious Pearl story, of that Im sure. This happens to be mine:

On Dec. 6, my father was the 31-year-old editor of the Imperial Valley Post-Press, married with an infant daughter. His mother-in-law, recently widowed, was nearly paralyzed with grief on the family ranch near El Centro.

Within days of the attack, thanks to a friendship with an admiral, my father was a commissioned officer in the Office of Naval Intelligence hunting Japanese saboteurs in San Diego. (He didnt find any.) My mother and infant sister soon followed him from the desert to the coastal city 100 miles to the west.

Later in the war, my father would serve in the South Pacific on Adm. William Bull Halseys staff, working with a team of officers hed call the smartest men hed ever known. (Byron Whizzer White, the future Supreme Court justice, was among them.)

After V-J Day, my dad drew upon his war experience to cover the waterfront for the San Diego Daily Journal. In 1947, as my mother was in labor at the Coronado Hospital, the old man was banging out a front-page story for the afternoon edition. My arrival in the world wasnt news, but Navy Day was. In a wild flight of fancy, he led his story with a genetic link between Glenn Curtiss pioneering hydroplane, which flew into history on San Diego Bay in 1911, and its Navy offspring  planes such as the Hellcat, the Corsair and the Skystreak, which had recently clocked the world speed record.

When the Journal foundered in the early 50s, my dad jumped ship to Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corp. (Convair), a super-powerful player in what President Dwight D. Eisenhower would call the military-industrial complex. My fathers job for the next 20 years was to edit Convairiety, the colossal defense contractors glossy newsletter.

For years, he hung his leather sap, a memento of his short tour as a Navy gumshoe, on the inside door handle of his bedroom.

Every time we drove onto North Island  as a retired lieutenant commander, he enjoyed base privileges  his curt salute to the sentries reminded me that he had been in the Pacific like almost every Coronado man I knew.

My parents first San Diego address was a houseboat in Point Loma. My grandmother, alone in the Valley, soon sold her ranch and drove Highway 80 to be with my mother and sister. Needing more space, they took the ferry to Coronado and found an apartment for the duration of the war.

My mother had worked at the Imperial Valley courthouse, but in Coronado she did her bit for the war effort by volunteering at hospitals. She found her calling in life, later becoming the Coronado Hospitals medical records librarian, the keeper of the most intimate secrets of just about everyone on the Island.

During the war, my grandmother took the ferry to work at a Convair assembly plant, a far cry from the life her parents had pioneered in 1901 when they walked from Julian down the Banner Grade to the desert floor where the Colorado River had just been harnessed for irrigation.

Growing up in the long shadow of the war, how could I not be aware that Pearl was the galvanizing event in my familys history, the sole catalyst for our migration to San Diego and the reinvention of our lives?

Of course, its fitting that on Dec. 7 we focus on those who were there, their bravery and suffering and endurance. San Diego Union-Tribune reporters John Wilkens and Peter Rowe have gone many extra miles to perform the essential duty of remembering the sacrifice.

Worth highlighting, however, is Pearl Harbors reshaping not only of families but of the way Americans think about war.

To a critical mass of Americans, Vietnam was optional, arguably strategic but not absolutely necessary. There was no Pearl Harbor to rally the nation, no call to arms that spoke to every man, woman and child. The stark contrast with Pearl Harbor rubbed salt in the national division of opinion.

Only 9/11, that other infamous date, could compare with Pearl Harbor as an inarguable casus belli.

My Canadian wife, content for more than 20 years to float along with her green card, stared at the destroyed Twin Towers and vowed then and there to become a citizen.

Im an American now, she said to the TV.

She took her second-grade class to watch her take the oath of citizenship a couple of months later.

That was something, a family heirloom forged in a traumatic sneak attack.

But to be honest, the arc of our lives has remained largely unchanged by the amorphous War on Terror.

I kept working as a newspaperman, she as a teacher. We stayed in our house. Our undrafted son stayed on his career track. The war remains over there somewhere.

Seventy-five years ago Wednesday, on the other hand, millions of American families, seemingly the whole country, suddenly went into overdrive. Everyone was moving. And San Diego, which would grow exponentially during the war, was the California city where duty called most powerfully.

We were the steely eye of the storm, the staging ground for the making and wielding of terrible swift swords.

Never to be rivaled, one prays, a life-changing beauty was born that bloody winter day, 75 years ago.

No wonder that, for those of a certain age, Dec. 7 is San Diegos most deeply moving, most personally consequential, day of remembrance.

Pearl Harbor 75th anniversary  On Now Pearl Harbor survivors relive the infamous day 12:34 On Now Pearl Harbor Veterans visit Hawaii elementary school 0:43 On Now 104 years young On Now Aircraft Warning Service Volunteer recounts her experience in after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor 2:40 On Now Returning WWII relics to Japan 3:10 On Now USS Pearl Harbor 3:11 On Now Video: Remembering Pearl Harbor: Mary Lou Mawhiney 3:14

Related:

 75 years later, keeping Pearl Harbor memories alive

 Pacific Beach mans Pearl Harbor mission of reconciliation

 Oldest Pearl Harbor vet still pumping iron at 104

 Internee has different memories of war

logan.jenkins@sduniontribune.com
San Diegos streetlights arent getting fixed on time, and the citys information used to evaluate performance on the task is unreliable, according to a new city audit.

City Auditor Eduardo Luna found that the Street Division of the Transportation and Storm Water Department has not met its goal of repairing street lights within 12 days on average for the past two years.

The report, delivered Wednesday to the City Councils Audit Committee, said the average street light repair in San Diego took about 17 days in 2015 and 16 days in 2016.

Advertisement

Individual wait times varied. A street light getting knocked over or damaged took an average of 205 days to repair, while repairing one light fixture  called spot lamping  took about 50 days, according to the report.

Street Division has only one metric for measuring street light repair time  the average number of days required to complete a repair, the report said. Using one metric to describeperformance does not accurately reflect the complexity of the street light crews repair responsibilities.

Auditors also found that the performance data on San Diegos 60,000 street lights was difficult to analyze and unreliable due to delays in data entry, and vehicles used to repair the lights were sometimes unavailable.

Street light repair can be a significant safety issue. City collision data show 270 pedestrians were killed and more than 8,000 were injured from 2001 to 2015.

Street light repair is a small but important function that helps provide visibility and improve traffic and pedestrian safety, Luna said.

During the audit, the Street Division had open service notifications for almost 3 percent of city street lights.

Auditors found that the division has no written repair process, no policies or procedures for prioritizing fixes or retaining records and no inventory for parts. The report said employees have trouble finding needed bulbs, fixtures and poles.

Management agreed to implement all seven of reports recommendations, which included an update of city data on the conditions of street lights and its repair process, as well as the development of more appropriate performance metrics.

Data Watch Videos On Now Data Point: Media Mergers 2:58 On Now Jaywalking infractions in San Diego 1:24 On Now Video: Finding the recipe for the perfect burrito 2:09 On Now Video: Where marijuana is legal in the United States 0:53 On Now Report: Correctional system fails women 1:22 On Now San Diego students have larger classes On Now Hierarchy of cuisine prices On Now Pay phones: Is that still a thing? On Now 2016 border apprehensions On Now STD trends, San Diego County

Contact Lauryn Schroeder via Twitter or Email.
President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday picked Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad as the next ambassador to China, tapping a Republican with long ties to Beijing less than a week after Trumps controversial phone conversation with the president of Taiwan.

The Republican governor was chosen because he was Iowas longest-serving governor who had a tremendous understanding of China and the Chinese people, said Jason Miller, a spokesman for Trumps transition team.

It is clear that Gov. Branstad will represent our country well on the world stage, Miller said.

Advertisement

The signals that Trump has sent in the last few days over future China policy have been decidedly mixed.

The naming of Branstad, 70, an early and fierce loyalist to Trump, indicated interest in keeping good relations with China. Branstad has had ties to Beijing through numerous agricultural trade deals, and he has known Chinese President Xi Jinping for years.

Not a week earlier, however, Trump raised concerns when he became the first U.S. president or president-elect in a generation believed to have spoken directly with a Taiwanese president.

The move was a reversal of decades of the one China policy, whereby the United States recognizes only one Chinese government, that of the mainland. It angered Beijing, which views the self-governing island as a breakaway province, even though Trump tried to portray the call as merely a congratulatory chat.

Although many in the foreign policy establishment regarded the call Friday with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen as a major diplomatic faux pas that reflected significant gaps in Trumps understanding of world affairs, it now seems clear that the decision was deliberate. Former Sen. Bob Dole, the only former Republican presidential nominee to endorse Trump and now a lobbyist in Washington, says he helped broker the contact with Taiwan in a bid to improve ties with the island.

Dole is a registered lobbyist working on behalf of Taiwan, according to disclosure documents filed with the Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

According to the filings, Dole helped include language favorable to Taiwan in the GOP presidential platform and arranged numerous contacts between Taiwanese officials and Trumps staff members and advisors. Over the last six months, he also worked with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington, which serves Taiwan in lieu of an embassy because of the lack of diplomatic ties.

For the work, Dole or his firm, Alston & Bird, was paid $140,000, according to the documentation.

Also in the last week, Trump revived threats of huge tariffs that some experts say would probably trigger a trade war with China, Americas largest commercial partner.

If his intention was to thumb his nose at Beijing, Trump succeeded. He won praise in some quarters for the unorthodox approach, especially among supporters in his base who want the United States to have a less friendly relationship with powers such as China and who are more isolationist.

John R. Bolton, the former United Nations ambassador under President George W. Bush, is one of Trumps top foreign policy advisors and is on the shortlist to be named Trumps secretary of State.

Writing in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece this year, Bolton chastised a weak President Obama who he said has allowed China to get away with broad territorial ambitions in the South China Sea. China has seized disputed territory and built military installations.

Bolton advocated that a new administration play the Taiwan card.

For a new U.S. president willing to act boldly, there are opportunities to halt and then reverse Chinas seemingly inexorable march toward dominating East Asia, he wrote.

But then came Wednesdays appointment of Branstad, which would suggest a less combative posture in dealing with Beijing.

In 1985, Branstad, during his first stint as Iowa governor, met with a mid-level Chinese bureaucrat on an agricultural trade mission who spoke little English and had barely traveled outside China.

The next time that Chinese official visited Iowa was 2012, and he was about to become Chinas president and general secretary of its Communist Party. Xi hadnt forgotten the warm reception he received during the two-week trip 27 years earlier.

That early encounter between the governor and the future leader of China paved the way for Branstads appointment as the U.S. ambassador to China.

Xi Jinping was so touched by the kindness and warmth of the people of Iowa and the way he was treated by the governor when he was just a low-ranking Communist Party official, said Tim Albrecht, a former aide to the governor. This is a positive thing, naming a diplomat who is so beloved in China.

Branstad holds the unofficial position of what the Chinese call lao pengyou, or old friend. Since the 1980s, he has met four times with Xi  during trade missions to China in 2011 and 2013, during Xis visit to Iowa and most recently in September last year when Xi was visiting Seattle.

Elizabeth Economy, a China expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the Chinese are fond of this idea of old friend of China.

There is a possibility that President-elect Trump undoes some of the harm that has been done over the past week or so, in terms of the phone call with Tsai Ing-wen and the negative tweets about China, by appointing somebody who has for years had nothing but positive things to say about China, she said.

Orville Schell, director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society in New York, said there is value in Branstads relationship with Xi that predates his ascendancy as Chinas leader.

I think it is a pretty sage and stabilizing decision, Schell said.

Although an ambassador rarely sets policy, Schell said, Branstad will have access to Xi as well as access to Trump, having been an early supporter. He will have good bona fides on both sides of the ledger.

Other foreign policy experts cautioned that jettisoning the finely balanced arrangement governing relations with China and Taiwan could be perilous.

China, with Russia, potentially poses the greatest threat to the United States and must be handled carefully and strategically, said Robert Kagan, a board member at the Foreign Policy Initiative and well-known conservative who did not support Trump.

The unmistakable hegemonic ambitions of China and Russia threaten the stability and security of the worlds two most important regions, East Asia and Europe  [which] are vital to the United States economically and strategically, Kagan said Tuesday in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

For China that means dominance of East Asia, with nations like Japan, South Korea and the nations of Southeast Asia both acknowledging Chinese hegemony and acting in conformity with Chinas strategic, economic and political preferences, he said.

Times staff writers Wilkinson reported from Washington and Demick from New York.

ALSO

Trump is said to choose strident fossil fuel ally Scott Pruitt to head EPA

Trump is close to picking retired Marine general to head Homeland Security, source says

Trump chooses former World Wrestling Entertainment executive Linda McMahon to head Small Business Administration
A 17-year-old girl is accused of shooting a family member Tuesday morning in La Mesa, police said.

The victim, 59-year-old Susan Pierce, is expected to survive the wound to her back, La Mesa police Capt. Matt Nicholass said Wednesday.

He did not reveal the relationship between Pierce and the teenager.

Advertisement

Pierce called 911 about 11:40 a.m. from her home on Keeney Street and said she thought shed been shot, Nicholass said. Officers found her lying just inside a door to the residence.

Her Chevrolet Silverado pickup was missing.

Investigators working with the United States Marshals Service found the teen on 50th Street off Euclid Avenue in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of San Diego about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday night.

She may have used the missing truck to flee the residence after the shooting, Nicholass said. The vehicle was later found, but the captain wouldnt said where.

The teen was booked into Juvenile Hall on suspicion of attempted murder, Nicholass said.
A 22-year-old motorist was arrested at a San Clemente freeway checkpoint Wednesday with 73 pounds of meth and 4 pounds of hashish hidden in his truck, federal officials said.

The drugs were worth an estimated $473,000 on the street, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Agents at the Interstate 5 checkpoint stopped the driver of a Nissan Frontier pickup about 7 p.m. He was directed into a secondary inspection area and a drug-sniffing dog reacted to the trucks front doors, Border Patrol officials said.

Advertisement

Agents pulled three duffel bags out of the door interiors. Inside were 59 bundles of methamphetamine and two bundles of hashish, officials said.

The driver, a Mexican national living in the United States illegally, was arrested on suspicion of narcotics smuggling and turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration, along with the drugs. The Border Patrol confiscated the pickup.
Days after the San Diego Bayfest hip-hop concert at Petco Park was postponed to an uncertain future date, ticket buyer Rick Pinchback contacted the promoter to request a refund of his $300.

There was something fishy about it, the prison guard from Bakersfield said.

Almost three months later, Pinchback says he has yet to receive his money, even though promoter David Payne of RTE Productions pledged to provide refunds to any ticket buyer who asked.

Advertisement

I havent heard from them, I havent spoken to them, theres been no email, Pinchback said. I checked my bank and nothing.

Payne, who announced the postponement of the three-day festival two weeks before its scheduled dates in September, said the problem lies with Pinchbacks bank.

We processed Mr. Pinchbacks refund nearly two months ago, Payne said by email. At no time have we refused Mr. Pinchbacks refund or any other customers refund request. Mr. Pinchback was asked to contact his card issuer because they are the final company in the process of crediting his account.

Payne said refunds are processed as soon as a buyer files a request.

If the cardholder contacts the card issuing bank directly and requests a refund or chargeback it is up to the card issuing bank to either accept the refund request or reject it, he wrote. The merchant has no authority to refuse or reject a refund if the cardholder contacts their issuing bank directly.

San Diego Bayfest was supposed to be held at Petco Park in mid-September. The concert was supposed to feature Academy Award-winning rapper Common, Morris Day and the Time, Cameo and other artists.

The event was postponed after The San Diego Union-Tribune raised questions with the San Diego Padres, who hold the Petco Park lease, about Paynes record. He received a four-year prison term for a fraud-related conviction in 2004.

San Diego Bayfest has been rescheduled to March 24-26, though no venue is listed on the event website. A note says tickets to the September event will be honored in March.

Watchdog Videos On Now Sexual misconduct accusers worry deputy is being protected 6:16 On Now City funded $2-million waterfront bathroom 1:26 On Now Public water district charges customer for legal work, response to records request On Now Video: Tiny homes won't be reused amid housing, homeless crisis On Now Attorney General seeks documentation for Miss Middle East On Now Rep. Hunter probe covers possible fraud On Now Video: SDG&E delaying solar credit for some low-income housing tenants On Now Video: Former San Diego Junior Theatre teacher sentenced for sex with teen girl 0:24 On Now Video: Shelter volunteers believe they were fired for finding a dog a home 0:49 On Now McKamey Manor is leaving San Diego 3:35

jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald
Sick  a punch in the stomach.Thats how public retirees in Loyalton, California, are taking news that their town defaulted on its pension payments, resulting in the possibility of their retirement benefits being cut by as much as 60 percent, the majority of their hard-earned livelihood.

Pension debt is not a new story  in fact, most of the countrys public pensions are significantly underfunded (state and local pensions across the U.S. have an estimated $5 trillion less than needed to cover promised benefits). But this time the largest pension plan in the nation, the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), has thrown public employees overboard. And that has government workers and retirees across the country asking, could this happen to me? The answer is yes! If your city runs out of money and your pension plan is not fully funded, you will lose. The only question is how much.

Loyalton withdrew from CalPERS in 2013, upon the retirement of its last guaranteed pensioner. For council members, it just made sense  after all, the town had been fully paying its required annual contributions all along. But what it didnt count on was the $1.6 million termination fee demanded by CalPERS to cover unfunded liabilities which CalPERS has allowed to grow for the last 17 years. The fee amounts to a whopping $320,000 per each of Loyaltons five retirees, an amount that is impossible for the town to pay. And now CalPERS has put the retirees on notice that their monthly checks will be cut.

Advertisement

This is what happens when cities run out of money and their pension plans are underfunded. Municipalities in fiscal distress with huge pension debt are spread throughout the country, and, sadly, California is leading the charge. Stockton, San Bernardino and Vallejo were just the beginning  all forced into bankruptcy with massive pension obligations, causing retirees to lose their health care benefits. In Detroit, Michigan; Central Falls, Rhode Island, and Pritchard, Alabama, retirees took hits to their health care and pension benefits.

State and local government retirement programs are trillions of dollars in debt, resulting in tremendous budget challenges for states and municipalities and its only getting worse. There is no doubt that spiraling pension debt is at crisis-level proportions and is the most significant financial issue facing state and local governments.

So how did we get here and what steps can policymakers take to clean up the mess?

As retirement costs go up, and in most states theyve doubled or tripled in the last decade, government leaders are simply not keeping up with the rising costs. Instead, they are creating enormous pension debt, which threatens not just taxpayers but also retirees.

In California weve seen many years of systemic failure to properly fund the states public pension systems. CalPERS pension debt now totals around $170 billion. As a result, between 2003 and 2013, annual pension costs for California governments jumped from $6.4 billion to $17.5 billion, and are still rising. Because of the debt, Californians face a future of higher taxes and lower services, and retirees face insecurity and possible loss of their pension benefits.

The story is similar in many other states as well. Some local governments already face service delivery insolvency and bankruptcy. More will join them in the next recession, and public employees, retirees and residents will suffer unless there is significant and meaningful pension reform.

Government leaders can start by fully funding their pensions. State and local governments have an obligation to ensure that their retirement plans are sustainable, fiscally sound and responsibly managed so that all retirees and employees get paid what they have earned. All workers deserve safe and secure futures and shouldnt be held responsible for poor decision-making by policy leaders.

Failure to fund pension obligations as they are incurred makes retirement security impossible. The widespread use of overly optimistic assumptions, like high rates of return on investments means that plans are systematically underfunding their obligations every year.

Let Loyalton be a wake-up call. Neither public employees nor taxpayers created the current pension crisis, and neither should be left holding the bag when the politicians who created the problem dont make good on their promises.

Reed, former mayor of San Jose, is a board member of the Retirement Security Initiative, a national, bipartisan advocacy organization focused on protecting and ensuring the fairness and solvency of public sector retirement plans.
The 2016 presidential election is not over yet. In fact the only vote that determines the next president will not be held until Dec. 19 when the Electoral College meets. We have more than a week to change the outcome.

There is much discussion of the Electoral College now that the winners of the popular vote (both Democrats) have lost the presidency in two of the last five elections  two of three when a president was not on the ballot seeking re-election. I have long favored making the national popular vote the metric that determines the presidential race. But reforming the electoral process is a discussion for another day  soon I hope.

RELATED: Rogue electors wont stop last-ditch Electoral College fight

Advertisement

The issue at hand is more urgent: How the anachronistic Electoral College could derail the Trump presidency that looms like a dark shadow over the land.

Its simple: If 38 of the 306 Trump electors voted for Hillary Clinton, she would be president and Trump would be stopped. Put differently, if one in eight Trump electors switched their votes, Hillary would be elected.

There is precedent for voting ones conscience and not supporting the candidate you were sent to the Electoral College to support. Granted, it would be unprecedented for one-eighth of such partisan electors to switch sides  but this election is unprecedented in many other ways as well.

So I know this is a long shot. The Trump electors are Republicans after all. So why might 38 of them peel away and award the presidency to hated Hillary? Let me suggest several reasons.

First and foremost, through a long campaign Trump has shown himself to be temperamentally unfit to be president. Its not just his racism, misogyny and xenophobia, which trouble the left more than the right. Its his bombast, his volatility, his crude rudeness, his duplicity, his short attention span, the routine demeaning of his opponents, his celebration of his willful ignorance of world affairs, his hypersensitivity to criticism.

Are there a few Republican electors who share my concern about this unstable man holding the nuclear codes and the fate of our children and grandchildren  and the world  in his pocket?

Second, Hillary won the popular vote by more than 2 million votes. Given the widespread belief that Trump is unfit to be president, why not give the job to the candidate who got the votes of more Americans?

Remember, Republican electors, that most of you expected Trump to lose. Many Republican leaders wanted him to lose and planned on his losing. The Republicans would still hold the House and the Senate and could block almost any Clinton initiative.

Third, many Republicans are concerned that Trump, in the long run, will damage their brand and bring the GOP to ruin. Some Trump voters, like some pro-Brexit voters in the (once) United Kingdom, are experiencing buyers remorse.

Finally, dear electors, what if Trump does something really horrible, something that puts the nation at risk or puts world peace (however fragile) in jeopardy? Electors who voted for Trump will be held to account. It would be you, not the people, who elected him. You would be held in perpetual scorn, shunned by your own children.

So be a patriot, Republican elector. Defy tradition in this nontraditional election year. Do the right thing for your country. Vote for the candidate who is not crazy. Vote for the candidate who got the most votes. Hold your nose and vote for Hillary because, with all her flaws and limitations, she is the only person in the world who can prevent Donald Trump from becoming the most powerful person in the world. Save us from Donald Trump. And let other electors know that you will be voting for Hillary so they will be encouraged to do the same.

Fellow citizens: Please join me in lobbying the Trump electors to break ranks and support Hillary. This is a long shot, but right now it is the only shot we have. Talk and tweet with your friends. Write a letter to the editor. Let your voice be heard in the Electoral College.

For more on the Electoral College strategy, visit change.org, where nearly 5 million people have signed a petition urging Trump electors to vote for Hillary.

Clanton teaches sociology at San Diego State University and writes a column for the Del Mar Times and other suburban weeklies. He welcomes comments at gclanton@mail.sdsu.edu.
Arnold Schwarzeneggers final years as governor were so dominated by interminable, aggravating budget fights that it often obscures his much more admirable early years, when he was easily the most ardent reform advocate atop state government in modern California history. In 2004, he released the mammoth California Performance Review, a 2,500-page analysis with 1,200 recommendations on how to better run the Golden State that won praise from the Legislative Analysts Office and many newspaper editorial boards. Some of the proposals were obscure. But some were absolutely obvious, such as scrapping 117 state boards, commissions and task forces whose main function often appeared to be offering well-paid sinecures with few responsibilities to the politically well-connected.

Unfortunately, Schwarzeneggers reforms went nowhere, and some of the appalling traditions he targeted remain in place  to the benefit of newly former state Sen. Marty Block, D-San Diego. This week, it was announced that Gov. Jerry Brown had given Block a $146,609-a-year job as chair of the state Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board. Block and others on the board may contend that theyre working hard to bring justice to the jobless claims front, but the panel has a long history of rubber-stamping staff recommendations based on decades of precedents. The pay should be minimum wage, not $12,217 a month.

Block has a background in higher education, which was his focus as a lawmaker. So what is his qualification to judge unemployment benefit appeals? Its that he got out of the way and didnt seek re-election Nov. 8 when former Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, a more popular and admired Democrat, wanted his state Senate seat. The Sacramento establishment rewards those who do its bidding. This is democracy at its shabbiest.

Advertisement

Twitter: @sdutIdeas

Facebook: UTOpinion
This week, President Barack Obama gave a speech at a Florida military base in which he touted his administrations openness on matters of national security and implicitly urged his successor to embrace how essential it was for government to be transparent. Providing information about the intricacies of government decision-making allows for a more informed public debate and it provides a potential check on unfettered executive power, Obama said.

The president is exactly right  and exactly the wrong messenger. Breaking promises repeatedly made during his 2008 presidential campaign, his administration has the worst record when it comes to stonewalling or rejecting Freedom of Information Act requests. Its prosecuted more government officials for leaks to the press than any previous administration. It repeatedly frustrated journalism and open government groups. And a 2016 Associated Press analysis noted that the administration, in response to lawsuits, released records on several occasions that it previously had said it didnt have.

In a discouraging trend, Donald Trumps refusal to disclose his taxes and his frequent criticism of the media suggest that he too will be hostile to transparency. If the 45th president faces criticism as a result, hell have an easy out: He can cite Obamas behavior.

Advertisement

The 44th president will leave behind a complex legacy that will be argued over for decades. But the most common defense of President Obamas record  that he got as much done as he could in the face of unyielding Republican opposition  doesnt work with the issue of transparency. On openness, he has been an immense disappointment.

Twitter: @sdutIdeas

Facebook: UTOpinion
Donald Trumps election should bode well for San Diegos defense industry, but other repercussions are still too early to predict, said two local experts.

Erik Bruvold, president of the National University System Institute of Policy Research, and John M. Dadian, founder of Dadian & Associates, shared their views on the 2016 elections impact during the North San Diego Business Chambers Nov. 30 Insights forum in Poway.

Bruvold has been involved with San Diego politics and policy making for two decades. Dadian has worked for the past three decades in the public sector, private sector and campaigns.

Rarely have we had, in our countrys history, a unified government ... we are in unchartered territory, with not a lot of historical precedence, Bruvold said, in reference to Republicans controlling the presidency, House and Senate simultaneously. The last time it occurred for the GOP was 2002-06, but he said since party split was so close in the Senate many of its party-line decisions went to the vice president for a tie-breaker. After that, one must look back to the 1920s, he said.

Bruvold said there will likely be significant increases in defense spending. This bodes well for San Diego, where $1 of every $10 is tied to the defense industry, a significant part of San Diegos economy, he said. In terms of metropolitans, we have more military spending than any other, with 100,000 directly employed by the Department of Defense and more by San Diego defense contractors, many located in the North (County) region.

With Trump getting more support from ages 45 to 65-plus, while Clinton was more popular with the 18-44 age group, Bruvold said he is doubtful radical changes will be made to Social Security or Medicare.

He also predicts tax cuts for those with higher personal incomes, a simplified tax code and no major changes in deductions. Because Trump got more support from rural America, Bruvold said federal government discretion spending could favor it over urban areas like San Diego. This would be detrimental to California since were one of the most urban states in the country, he said.

I do believe (Trumps) changes overall will help the economy, help California, even as blue as it is, Dadian said.

Dadian said he does not see a need for all the hubbub the incoming Trump administration has been getting so far, calling what is happening very predictable.

Dadian said Americans said they do not like politicians lying to them, and many liked Trump because hes a guy who tells (us) what he thinks. Nobody said he is not being himself. Everything he is doing is very predictable.

He also said Trumps business philosophy since the 80s has been to come out big and negotiate down to get what you really want, so that is what Trump is also likely to do as president.

Dadian added that he has been impressed with the communication between Trump and President Barack Obama.

Regarding Trumps cabinet picks, Dadian said selecting retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis is positive since he has been a friend of the San Diego region.

Trump can be successful and a disaster, Dadian said. (Former President) Reagan said he appointed those smarter than (himself), and Trump is doing that. But you got to listen to them. (If Trump) doesnt, that could be a disaster.

He also said San Diego has a good Washington delegation split that is pretty powerful and he could see Trump tapping a couple for administrative posts.

As for California and San Diego races, Bruvold said at the state level there is a pretty strong liberal intent and willingness to take on additional taxation and debt. As proof he pointed to the statewide plastic grocery bag ban and voter approval of revenue bonds through Proposition 53. In addition, the Democrats have a super majority in the state Senate and Assembly, plus the governorship.

While at the federal level the Affordable Care Act might be repealed and replaced with a plan Trump has yet to reveal, Bruvold said California will likely enact its own version of the ACA since there has been an expansion of health insurance coverage over the last eight years.

The state legislature will try to put something in place with many provisions of the ACA, he said.

There is no such thing as a campaign season, Dadian said, adding many state legislators have opened campaign committees for the 2018, 2020 and 2022 races. Its just a constant we are going to see from now on.

He said the Democrats super majority hurts the governor most because the legislature can push through items Gov. Jerry Brown vetoes if its members choose.

Politically, (California) is as deep blue as it can get and it is not turning purple in the near future, Dadian said, referring to Republicans not likely gaining seats.

As for local government, Bruvold predicted San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer will be the last Republican to hold the office for the foreseeable future now that city voters approved mandatory November run-off elections even when a candidate receives more than 50 percent support in the June primary. Republicans tend to vote more in June, while Democrats have larger turnouts in November, based on the 2012 and 2016 mayoral races that coincided with presidential elections.

It is structurally set up (to favor) Democratic mayors and councils, he said.

Im adamantly against (that assessment), Dadian said. I think there is a chance for a Republican mayor under that system.

As for other local cities, Bruvold said there will likely be a push for district elections on city councils, though whether that will happen in Poway is unclear.

The legal framework makes it hard for at-large (elections) to continue due to legal challenges, he said. There has been changes to the composition to a lot of city councils around the region.

Dadian said all five county supervisor seats returning to Republicans is not likely to have much impact since the board members over the last four years, when it had four Republicans, one Democrat, splits were based on issues not party.

Email: rbnews@pomeradonews.com
Im sure those citizens who lined the aisles of the Poway City Council chambers protesting the proposed Twin Peaks Road affordable housing project for veterans sincerely believe that if it went forward their quality of life would be significantly impaired. I do empathize with them, but please allow me to put sacrifice into context as it relates to the subject matter.

A real sacrifice occurs when a mother and father support their sons or daughters decision to go to war to protect our liberty and freedom. A real sacrifice occurs when many of them are killed and buried in grave sites throughout the world or are brought home in body bags. A real sacrifice occurs when they leave their arms, legs and other body parts on the battlefield and have to live out their life being handicapped, some having to depend on others to exist. A real sacrifice occurs when they come home after experiencing the ravages of war with those experiences permanently chiseled into their brain to the extent they cant function normally. Real sacrifices occur when thousands of them commit suicide every year to get relief.

I ask, is it truly a significant sacrifice to tolerate a small, 22-unit housing development that honors our veterans?

After a discussion with a council member, I understand he had three basic reasons to veto the proposal. First, some funding was lost when CalVet and San Diego Habitat for Humanity could not agree or compromise on the details. CalVet decided not to be a partner and pulled out, leaving Poway with extra cost. The shortfall appears to be $800,000 of which $250,000 has since been pledged to reduce the cost. I ask whether this remaining cost, spread across 50,000 citizens over a number of years, is excessive to honor our veterans and give them a chance to fulfill the American dream of owning a home in a decent community.

The second reason concerns the allocation of four homes to handicapped veterans who would have difficulty living in a two-story townhouse. That is a valid point, but Ill bet there are many handicapped who would jump at the opportunity to have one of these homes. There are ways to accommodate this shortfall.

The third reason was a concern that without CalVet there could be no assurance the buyers were veterans. Habitat officials do not agree.

With three council members standing firm against the project, it appears the only option available to activate the proposal is to go the referendum route which is expensive, time consuming and unnecessary. However, I would be honored to sit in front of Walmart, gathering signatures until there are enough to put it on the ballot.

If you support this project, please call or email Mayor Steve Vaus and Councilmen Dave Grosch and Barry Leonard. They are all approachable and good listeners.

Yarnall is a Poway resident and a Navy veteran of the Korean War.
French forces, including contingents with troops in Afghanistan and warplanes over Libya, celebrated Bastille Day on Thursday with the traditional military parade down Paris famed Champs-Elysees Avenue, and for the first time with song.

But the singing troops, and French Polynesian soldiers dancing the Haka in front of President Nicolas Sarkozy, were up against a note of gloom that accompanied this years parade because of French military casualties. On Thursday, a French soldier was killed in Afghanistan, a day after a suicide attack killed five others there.

Sarkozy, who heads Frances armed forces, held a crisis meeting immediately after the parade to plan for new security measures as the nation begins a staggered withdrawal this year of most of its 4,000 troops in Afghanistan.

Advertisement

We are confronted with terrorist actions which are extremely brutal and those who carry them out will have to answer for them, Sarkozy said after the parade. In the face of this new context, we need new security measures.

This years military parade was dedicated to forces in Frances far-flung regions and those posted in foreign countries such as Afghanistan. But Sarkozy, who made a surprise visit to French troops in Afghanistan on Tuesday, said he wants this Bastille Day to be dedicated to all the soldiers killed in operations.

No new security measures to accompany the transition period of staggered withdrawal were immediately announced.

In Paris, crowds of thousands reveled in Thursdays pomp, fanfare and precision marches of the parade from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde.

The Bastille Day holiday marks the July 14, 1789, storming of the Bastille prison in Paris by angry crowds, which helped spark the French Revolution.

Numerous contingents sang as they marched, a first in a Bastille Day parade.

A contingent back from the Ivory Coast was among those in the limelight, as well as contingents whose members served in Afghanistan. Overhead, pilots from the ongoing NATO-led air campaign streaked their jet fighters above the avenue, and helicopters - missile-firing Gazelles and rocket-firing Tigers used in Afghanistan - chopped their way through the air.

On the ground, rarely seen camouflaged parachutists, their faces painted like their camouflage uniforms, marched, as did the Foreign Legion, decked out in their traditional orange aprons. Members of the Republican Guard, wearing shiny helmets with horsehair ponytails, pranced their horses before the crowd to the roll of drums.

The display gives the French a birds-eye view of their armed forces and what they do. Tanks and armored vehicles rumbled before them, as did an anti-air surveillance squadron equipped with radar and missiles, and massive trucks equipped to make water potable.

----

Associated Press Television News contributed to this report.
SAN DIEGO -- A hunter was indicted Wednesday on federal chargesthat he started a blaze that grew into the Cedar fire, the largestwildfire in California history, and later lied about it.

Sergio Martinez, 34, is accused of sparking the Oct. 25, 2003wildfire when he became lost on a hunting trip in the ClevelandNational Forest and started a blaze to signal for help, accordingto the county Sheriffs Department. The fire eventually consumed270,000 acres and killed 14 people.

Martinez, of West Covina, is scheduled to be arraigned today ontwo charges that a federal grand jury handed down Wednesdayafternoon, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Lasater said.

Advertisement

Martinezs attorney, Jose Martinez, was told of the grand juryindictment by a reporter and declined immediate comment. SergioMartinez could not be reached for comment.

The four-page indictment charges that Martinez willfully set afire without authority in the Cleveland National Forest adjacent toEagle Peak Road in the Kessler Flat area and that he knowingly andwillfully made false statements to officials by denying that hestarted a fire there.

The indictment also includes 16 special allegations that thefire created a substantial risk of death or bodily injury toothers, that the Cedar fire resulted in 14 deaths, and that theblaze caused more than $400 million in damage. The Cedar firedestroyed 2,200 homes.

If convicted of the two charges in the indictment, Martinezfaces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine,federal prosecutors said in a news release. The special allegationsare factors that, if proved to a jury, can be considered by a judgein deciding what sentence to impose, Lasater said.

The deadly Cedar fire scorched more than 270,000 acres in a hugeswath through eastern North County to Interstate 8. It was one ofthree wildfires countywide last October, and one of two thatravaged North County areas.

In the days after the fire started, San Diego County SheriffsDeputy Dave Weldon, a helicopter pilot, said he believed Martinezstarted the fire to signal Weldons helicopter because Martinez hadbecome separated from his hunting partner.

Weldon said last year that he received a dispatchers callaround 5:30 p.m. Oct. 25, 2003, that said a man was stranded in theforest. A hunter had called 911 to report that he lost his partneraround 10 a.m. while the two men were hunting deer.

Weldon and Deputy Rocky Laws saw a plume of black smokesurrounded by 10-foot-high sage and a few oak trees. As their MD-50helicopter landed on a hillside, they saw Martinez seated on a pileof rocks, waving his hands.

Weldon said it took him about 10 minutes to walk through 50yards of brush. He carried two quarts of water, which Martinezquickly gulped. Martinez was severely dehydrated and borderlinedelirious, Weldon said.

Weldon said Martinez initially denied setting the fire, but thenlowered his head and said, Im sorry about all this.

Martinez is not in custody. Conditions with which he must complyto remain free while the case is pending likely will be set at hisarraignment, Lasater said.

Some Ramona residents whose homes were destroyed by the fireMartinez is alleged to have set said Tuesday they didnt totallyblame him.

I feel bad for the guy, said Bob Shepherd, who lost his homeon Ziegler Court in the San Diego Country Estates area of Ramona."I think he just made a stupid mistake. Gosh, I have conflictingemotions  people lost their lives because of it, and I guessyoure going to have to pay the consequences. But I could have donesomething stupid like that and hurt somebody.

Kevin Kelley, who lost his 18-month-old home on Cerro Vista inRamonas San Diego Country Estates, said he didnt think Martinezshould get 10 years, but that he should be fined heavily.

You know, if he is guilty, hes probably already paying apretty good price (because) of the lives that were lost, andbecause of the mental anguish that other fire victims havesuffered, Kelley said.

Kelley and others said they were more angry with the CaliforniaDepartment of Forestry and Fire Protection for how they fought thefire than they are with Martinez. Some residents said local unitsfrom the states fire agency did not attack and stop the fire whenit was small.

Forestry department officials and U.S. Forest officials havesaid they immediately sent a large force including 10 fire enginesto fight the fire within minutes of its being reported around 5:45p.m. Oct. 25, 2003. But they said crews couldnt reach the areathrough flammable brush and timber.

Many fire victims, however, have been more critical of thedepartments decision not to use firefighting helicopters to attackthe fire because it was close to sunset. Several hours later, whenSanta Ana winds kicked up in Ramona, the once-small blaze grewuncontrollably.

The Associated Press contributed to this story. Contact staffwriter Scott Marshall at (760) 631-6623 orsmarshall@nctimes.com.
Drug smuggling was a family affair for the Navarretes, and at the head of the operation was Chula Vista matriarch Enriqueta.

From at least as early as 2013 until her arrest in February, the organization smuggled cocaine aboard numerous vehicles on car carriers to the East Coast, then received those same cars back loaded with cash, according to plea agreements filed in San Diego federal court.

During the investigation  aided by wiretaps, surveillance and GPS trackers  law enforcement officials seized more than $4.5 million in cash in suspected drug proceeds and 75 kilograms of cocaine, according to a search warrant affidavit filed by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in December. The cash was often found hidden in special compartments in the cars.

Advertisement

Enriqueta Navarrete Zavala, 55, has pleaded guilty to conspiracies to distribute cocaine and to launder money, as has one of her daughters. Plea agreements have also been made by another daughter and son and their aunt.

Also charged is a woman whose father at one time was romantically involved with Enriqueta. That womans husband is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer, working at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. There is no indication in court records that he was involved in the trafficking.

In a document prepared for her upcoming sentencing, Elva Espinoza says it was largely family loyalty that drove her to help in the scheme, saying she felt she owed Enriqueta Navarrete for how well she treated her as a child. Espinoza has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money.

Police throughout the country began to take note of the cars laden with drugs or money.

In 2013, Arkansas state police stopped a car carrier and found nearly $600,000 in a Nissan, hidden in a false compartment in the roof. Paperwork on the vehicle used fake names, but addresses led back to the Navarrete operation, according to a search warrant affidavit.

Later that year, a car carrier inspection in Flagstaff, Ariz., turned up 33 kilograms of cocaine in a roof compartment. The cops removed the drugs but allowed the Toyota Sienna to continue on its way. They followed the minivan to Manville, N.J., where men were waiting for it. One of them was the boyfriend of one of Enriquetas daughters, according to the affidavit.

In 2014, that boyfriend was observed traveling to New York to coordinate another suspected delivery. Authorities found a Mercedes that they believe had transported 17 kilograms of cocaine and was set to return to San Diego with $700,000 in cash hidden in the rear bumper.

During an attempt to deliver cash to Arizona, California Highway Patrol officers at a weigh station found $553,000 in a false compartment in the dash  along with a hard-wired GPS system that the traffickers apparently used to track their own loads, according to court records.

In January, after other busts on the highways, the scheme shifted to the railroad and mail, authorities said.

The traffickers flew in two men to help expertly package cocaine to mail via UPS. The men bought speaker cabinets and then stuffed them full of cocaine before mailing them. In one, authorities found 3.8 kilograms of the drug.

At an apartment on Calle Atria in Chula Vista used as a stash house to do the packaging, agents found what appeared to be drug ledgers tossed in a trash bin outside, the affidavit said.

The investigation is still continuing into the Navarretes Mexican source of cocaine.

According to a recent search warrant affidavit, Ivan Lopez Menchaca is suspected of being a courier who drove drugs across the border and sometimes delivered to the Navarretes. During one of those suspected runs, a Dodge Ram he drove into the U.S. from Mexico was then loaded onto a car carrier headed to the Bronx, N.Y. The shipper was the boyfriend used in other Navarrete business, authorities allege.

Lopez was arrested months later at the port of entry at Nogales, Ariz., where border authorities seized from his vehicle 2.4 kilograms of cocaine, 2.4 kilograms of methamphetamine, 9.45 kilograms of white heroin and 9.2 kilograms of brown heroin.
When should a police officer use deadly force?

Thats the question at the center of the controversy over the shooting death of a teenager by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo., which sparked nearly two weeks of unrest.

Michael Brown, 18, was unarmed when he was shot to death by Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson in the St. Louis suburb Aug. 9.

Advertisement

Police said Brown assaulted Wilson. Yet by some accounts, the teen had his hands up and was surrendering when he was shot. Others have said Brown rushed the officer.

Exactly what happened is not exactly clear.

Whats not ambiguous are the standards needed to use deadly force, as set forth by the Constitution and the U.S. Supreme Court: An officer must reasonably believe it is necessary to shoot to kill to defend him or herself or someone else from imminent death.

At the San Diego Regiional Law Enforcement Training Center at Mira Mar College, recruits learn how to handle split second, real world, life or death, shoot, dont shoot situations, using the force option simulator.

Its a call made in the blink of an eye, in tense and uncertain circumstances, sometimes limited by distance, distractions or darkness. And it brings to bear all of the officers experience, awareness and, perhaps most important, training.

Its probably the most critical decision an officer will ever make, and its also the hardest, said Georgia attorney Lance LoRusso, a former police officer and author of the book When Cops Kill.

Deadly force is one of the most restricted, scrutinized and severe actions a police officer can take.

Yet the need for it could arise at any moment.

Theres a potential with everybody I talk to that this could turn into a lethal force situation, and I have to be ready every single time, said San Diego police Officer Ken Kries, a use-of-force expert and defensive tactics trainer at the San Diego Regional Public Safety Training Institute, the academy that trains local police officers and sheriffs deputies.

Thats why for law enforcement officials, the underlying question is how to prepare officers for the unpredictable.

Clock vs. cop

Half a second.

According to experts, thats how much time an officer has to pull a weapon when confronted with someone perceived as dangerous and about to inflict harm.

At the academy, current and future officers undergo extensive training in how to react to a deadly threat.

Their split-second decisions can mean the difference between their own life and death, or that of an innocent bystander.

It happens so quick, Kries said.

Though officers are trained to respond rapidly and appropriately, action beats reaction every time. Simply put, time is against them.

Studies show that it takes a quarter of a second for an officer to recognize a threat, such as when a person is reaching for a gun, and another quarter-second for that officer to draw his gun. It takes another .06 seconds to pull the trigger, Kries said.

The officer is always going to react to the suspects threat, which will always put him behind, no matter what, Kries said.

Thats why recruits are trained to recognize and react to a movement that looks like a gun being drawn. Theyre taught from Day One the hands are whats going to kill you, the hands are whats going to hurt you, said San Diego police Officer Rich Hinzo, another use-of-force trainer at the police academy.

A lot of the training is focused on hints and cues. Officers must evaluate a persons behavior, his body language, what hes saying and doing, said academy supervisor and San Diego police Sgt. Ron Philhower.

Officers also learn to constantly scan their surroundings and process all that data as they approach. They are taking in a lot of information in a short period of time and have to formulate a plan just like that, said Kries, snapping his fingers.

Police say that ultimately, it is the suspect who dictates what happens, whether he or she follows the officers commands or actively resists. If you comply with an officers orders, the chance of being involved in a shooting is minimal to none, Kries said.

However, said Kries, If I tell you, Dont move and you move, I would have to react at the moment or possibly be killed.

If a noncompliant person makes a quick move, the officer does not know if he is going for a phone, a knife, a replica gun or a lethal firearm.

I dont know a gun is fake until I hold it in my hand, Kries said.

That was the case last year in a shooting involving a Sonoma County sheriffs deputy that left a 13-year-old boy dead. The teen was carrying an Airsoft BB gun that resembled an AK-47, authorities said. A deputy ordered him to drop the weapon, but the boy turned and pointed it toward the deputy, who responded by opening fire.

The countys district attorney ruled that while the shooting was a tragedy, the use of lethal force was a reasonable response under the circumstances, and no charges would be brought against the deputy.

Local examples

San Diego police have been involved in eight shootings this year, including four that resulted in fatalities. One of those also involved a realistic-looking, but fake, gun. In February, a 62-year-old Vietnam veteran brandishing what appeared to be an AR-15 was shot and killed after the man pointed the gun at police officers.

The weapon turned out to be a pellet gun designed to look like the military-style, semi-automatic rifle, police said.

In a second incident, a double-shooting suspect leading authorities on a chase was fatally wounded in a barrage of bullets after he aimed a pistol at officers.

The third fatality involved a passenger in a truck who claimed to have a gun and explosives and threatened to kill the woman he was with. He had one arm around her head, the other near her rib cage and was ignoring officers orders when he was felled with a single shot. A search of the truck turned up no weapons. An outraged family member said officers were wrong to shoot the man, a felon who had just gotten out of jail and was supposed to check into a drug program.

The fourth fatality by San Diego police was in July. Officers were called by family members to a home where they encountered an agitated man swinging a machete and threatening to kill them. He was shot and killed after stabbing a police dog, then swinging the large knife at officers.

Criticism and questions from the public routinely follow almost all police shootings.

What they forget is the number of times everyday in this country that officers could be lawfully authorized to use deadly force and they dont, said attorney LoRusso.

LoRusso said some of those cases are fatal mistakes.

There are situations Ive analyzed where I believe an officer has hesitated and they are no longer here.

Fighting stress within

At the police academy, officers train for use-of-force incidents and hone their marksmanship and judgment with a $180,000, room-sized, video-game-like computer system called a force option simulator.

The virtual firearms training device, which replicates situations officers face in real life, allows instructors to change the course of a variety of scenarios  from routine to risky to suddenly life-threatening  depending on how an officer reacts.

In one scenario, officers face a gunman whos shot two people at a clinic. In one run-through, the suspect is shot and killed. In another, however, the gunman is not felled right away, runs into another room, takes cover and starts firing at officers.

In a third, trainees confront a young man holding students in a library at knife point. (Make the wrong decision, he kills a student.) In yet another, a drunk yells that he has a gun and then points at officers  with his finger. The tests teach officers how to understand and manage the way their bodies react when faced with a life-or-death situation.

Such stress, even in such a simulation, triggers an involuntary physiological response of increased heart rate, a temporary loss of hearing called auditory exclusion and the dangerous effect of tunnel vision.

If someone was holding a gun pointed at you, your eyes focus on the gun itself and, as the stress increases, your peripheral vision is taken away essentially, Kries said. Your degree of field can literally narrow down to almost 3 degrees at 10 feet. Its like looking through a straw.

With that narrow focus, officers may not see other threats, Kries said. The simulator exercises help create a memory databank for officers, so they learn how to perform even while their mind and bodys survival mechanisms work against them.

If you are unprepared for an emergency and have no trained response, it will take at least eight to 10 seconds under optimal circumstances and much longer during high stress to assess the situation and come up with a plan, Kries said. Training, planning and mental rehearsal can reduce the time sequence to one to two seconds.

Law enforcers may be justified in using lethal force in response to potential weapons aside from just guns.

A person with a knife, for instance, who is less than 21 feet away from an officer, can be just as deadly as someone with a firearm. A man can cover that distance and be on top of the officer before he gets his gun out and fires a round. Kries said. Even if an officer does have time to fire, the person may not be incapacitated. And now were having a knife fight at close range.

Hinzo said officers most often use less lethal weapons, including batons, Tasers, pepper spray and bean bag guns. We use those tools on a daily basis but, because theres no shooting involved, you dont hear about it.

Trigger-happy?

One common criticism is that police didnt aim to just wound a person. Another is that an officer should simply shoot a weapon out of a persons hand.

Experienced officers will tell you such shots are fiction, unlikely bits in a Hollywood movie.

Officers are taught to shoot for the torso because its the largest target, and to continue to shoot until the threat is no more. Kries said there have been cases of mortally wounded suspects continuing to advance on officers.

Kries said that being involved in a shooting is horrible and frightening for officers, with repercussions that last a lifetime. If you take a life, you have to live with that, he said.

And a high percentage of officers leave the profession within five years after a shooting, even when it was justified, according to LoRusso, who added, Ive never met or spoken with an officer who felt good about having to use deadly force.















Country

United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/08/2016 -- The global corrugated packaging market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.0% during 2014 to 2020, to reach an estimated USD 173.6 million by 2020.



Request to view Sample Report @ http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/4433



Emerging markets offer tremendous growth opportunities for the corrugated packaging market due to increasing population and growing demand for consumer products in these regions. The e-commerce industry has emerged as one of the key drivers for the global corrugated packaging market. This is primarily because corrugated packaging is the most reliable form of packaging products in this industry.



However, certain restraints such as low endurance of corrugated packaging and stalled growth across certain end-user industries are affecting market growth. The market, in terms of competitive structure, is consolidated through large numbers of mergers and acquisitions. This indicates tough sustainability in this market.



The corrugated packaging market is thriving mainly due to growing end-user industries, including food, medicine, consumer durables, rubber, and petroleum. Benefits associated with corrugated packaging such as sustainability and low cost makes it one of the preferred modes of packaging across various industries.



Increasing population coupled with rising per capita income is encouraging industrial production worldwide, which, consequently, is increasing the number of shipments. Owing to low costs and easy handling, corrugated packaging is considered as ideal for shipments across several industries. Based on the application, corrugated packaging is used in different shapes such as sheets, liner board, boxes, and containerboards. Based on dimensions of the packaging medium, corrugated packaging is classified as A-flute, B-flute, C-flute, E-flute, and F-flute.



The various application industries that use corrugated packaging include processed food, fresh food and produce, beverages, personal and household care, chemicals, paper products, electrical and electronic goods, glassware and ceramics, and tobacco.



Rising population and growing demand for food, medicine, and consumer durable goods in developing countries are driving the demand for packaging products in these regions. Low costs and high benefits of corrugated packaging have made them one of the most preferred packaging solutions across an array of industries in these regions. Food and healthcare are among the fastest growing industries in China that use corrugated packaging. The processed food sector in China is growing at a rate of over 10%. Electrical equipment and machinery (a key end-user for the corrugated packaging market) market in China is growing at over 11%. Indonesia is another emerging economy with a large number of food processing companies. This, in turn, is driving the corrugated packaging market.



China, Japan, India, and Indonesia are the major corrugated packaging material producers in Asia Pacific. The U.S. leads the corrugated packaging material production in North America while the European market is dominated by Italy, France, Germany, Spain, the U.K., and Poland. Brazil and Turkey feature among the leading corrugated packaging material producers in Rest of the World (RoW).



Request to view Table of Content @ http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/corrugated-packaging-market/toc



Major companies in the corrugated packaging market include International Paper Company, Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) Limited, Rock-Tenn Company, Smurfit Kappa Group, Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing Ltd., Georgia-Pacific Equity Holdings LLC, Oji Holdings Corporation, Mondi Group, Packaging Corporation of America, and DS Smith Plc.



Below is the segmentation carried out by Persistence Market Research for global market study on corrugated packaging:



Market Size and Forecast by Application



-Processed Food

-Fresh Food Produce

-Personal Care and Household Goods

-Chemicals

-Paper Products

-Electrical and Electronic Goods

-Tobacco

-Others



Market Size and Forecast by Region



-North America

North America Market Size and Forecast, by application

North America Market Size and Forecast, by country



-Europe

Europe Market Size and Forecast, by application

Europe Market Size and Forecast, by country



-Asia Pacific

Asia Pacific Market Size and Forecast, by application

Asia Pacific Market Size and Forecast, by country



-Rest of the World (RoW)

RoW Market Size and Forecast, by application

RoW Market Size and Forecast, by country



About Persistence Market Research

Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated research, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Consumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients' business needs.



PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients' business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMR's engagement models are highly flexible without compromising on its deep-seated research values.
Seattle, WA -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/08/2016 -- The report "Marine Fuel Injection System Market by Application (Inland Waterways, Commercial Vessels and Offshore Support Vessels), by Component (Fuel Injector, Fuel Valves, Fuel Pump and Others), by HP Range and by Region - Trend and Forecasts to 2021", The marine fuel injection market is expected to grow from an estimated USD 4.30 Billion in 2016 to USD 5.20 Billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 3.9% from the 2016 to 2021. Growth of the shipbuilding industry, increase in international sea trade, and stringent marine emission would drive the market for marine fuel injection.



Browse 74 market data tables with 56 figures spread through 148 pages and in-depth TOC on "Marine Fuel Injection System Market - Trend and Forecasts to 2021"



Speak to Analyst: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/speaktoanalyst.asp?id=78212165



Commercial vessel application to dominate the marine fuel injection market during the forecast period



Marine fuel injection systems have been categorized into three applications, namely, commercial vessels, inland waterways, and offshore support vessels. Commercial vessel application held around more than half of the marine fuel injection market share in 2015. Commercial vessels include containership, cargo vessel, tanker, and bulker among others. Growth in sea borne trade would eventually increase the number of vessels used for trading goods across countries. This drives the market for marine fuel injection for commercial applications. Majority of commercial vessels are built in China, South Korea, and Japan; thus the demand for marine fuel injection systems will be high in these countries.



Fuel injector component to hold the major share of the marine fuel injection market during the forecast period



On the basis of component, the marine fuel injection market has been segmented into fuel injector, fuel pump, fuel valves, Electronic Control Unit (ECU), and others. The fuel injector segment dominated the market, followed by ECU and other components. Fuel injectors undergo high amount of wear tear, due to which they have limited life. They have to be replaced in order to maintain the required injection pressure in the engine. Therefore, the market for marine fuel injector components is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.



Asia-Pacific would see the highest growth for the marine fuel injection market



The report covers five regions, namely, Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East & Africa, North America, and South America. The Asia-Pacific region is expected to witness high growth to demand marine fuel injection from 2016 to 2021. Moreover, increase in the commercial vessel and inland waterways vessel order book would drive the marine fuel injection market.



The report also provides an in-depth understanding of the competitive landscape, along with profiles of the leading marine fuel injection market players such as Cummins Inc. (U.S.), Liebherr International AG (Switzerland), Robert Bosch GmbH (Germany), Rolls-Royce Holding PLC. (U.K.), and Caterpillar Inc. (U.S.) Dominant players are trying to penetrate the emerging economies and are adopting various methods, such as signing contracts and agreements, expansions, mergers and acquisitions, and new product launches, to increase their market share.



Request for Sample: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsample.asp?id=78212165



About MarketsandMarkets

MarketsandMarkets is the world's No. 2 firm in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model  GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors.



M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers.



We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository.



Contact:

Mr. Rohan

MarketsandMarkets INC.

701 Pike Street

Suite 2175, Seattle,

WA 98101, United States

1-888-600-6441

Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com

Website: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/08/2016 -- Pyrite also known as iron pyrite or fool's gold is an iron sulfide mineral. Pyrite is pale brass yellow colored and has metallic luster thus having resemblance with gold. Pyrite is found with other oxides and sulfide in rocks and coal beds. Some of the countries such as Peru, the U.S., Russia, Spain and South Africa have commercially important deposits of pyrite. The flat radial disks of pyrites are also known as dollars or sun. Pyrite is used in various applications such as production of sulfur compounds such as sulfur dioxide and sulfuric acid, cathode material, semiconductor material and marcasite jewelry items. In addition, pyrite is used as filler in wheels and brake pads. Moreover, the pyrites are used as an ore for gold, as both forms under similar conditions and are available in same rocks. Pyrite is also used as gemstone and is considered as a stone of warmth and power.



The market for pyrite was mainly driven by jewelry and sulfur compounds market. Huge demand of pyrite for manufacturing of sulfuric acid and sulfur dioxide has been driving the market in past few years. Pyrite is used in jewelry items such as necklace with beads and cabochons. In grinding industry, pyrite is used as filler in grinding wheels and brake linings. Pyrite is also used in friction markets to increase the thermal conductivity. Pyrite also helps in adjusting the friction coefficient in brake pads. In electronics industry, pyrite is used as a semiconductor material and as an electrode in lithium ion batteries. In paper and pulp industry, pyrite is used in manufacturing of paper. Pyrite as an iron ore is one of the biggest opportunity for the market if the current iron ore becomes scarce. Moreover, pyrite is also considered as probable substitute in photovoltaic solar panels as it is inexpensive and abundant in nature. However, health and environmental hazards associated with pyrite are anticipated to hider the growth of the market in next few years to come.



In terms of demand, North America was the leading region for pyrite market in 2013. Increasing demand from sulfur compounds, electronics and jewelry has been major drivers for the market in past few years. The U.S. had the largest demand for pyrite owing to huge demand from sulfur compounds and grinding industry. However, Mexico is considered to be the fastest growing country in this region owing to increasing demand for pyrite in jewelry. Europe had the second-largest demand for pyrite market in 2013. Increasing demand for pyrite from sulfur compounds and in paper industry has been driving the market for pyrite in Europe. Germany is one of the largest consumers of pyrite in this region owing to the huge demand from grinding and electronics industry. Other countries such as Spain, Italy, and the U.K. are likely to show stable demand in next few years to come. Asia Pacific was the fastest growing region in pyrite market in 2013. The demand is huge owing to rise in markets such as gemstones, fabricated jewelry and grinding industry. India, China and Japan are anticipated to be the fastest growing markets for pyrite in this region. Rest of the World market is anticipated to be potential market for the pyrite in near future.



Request for Sample Report and Table of content @ http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/4525



Some of the key manufacturers in the pyrite market are Hickman, Williams & Company, Iron Duke Pyrites, Turkish Minerals and Washington Mills among others.
New research suggests that smallpox may not be an ancient disease but a much more modern killer that went on to become the first human disease eradicated by vaccination. The findings appear today in the journal Current Biology.

The results raise new questions about the role smallpox may have played in human history and fuels a longstanding debate over when the virus that causes smallpox, variola, first emerged and later evolved in response to inoculation and vaccination.

Scientists dont yet fully comprehend where smallpox came from and when it jumped into humans. This research raises some interesting possibilities about our perception and age of the disease, said co-lead author Dr. Hendrik Poinar, from McMaster University and Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.

Smallpox, one of the most devastating viral diseases ever to strike humankind, holds a unique position in the history of medicine.

It was the first disease for which a vaccine was developed and remains the only human disease eradicated by vaccination.

The last naturally occurring case of smallpox was reported in 1977. In 1980, the World Health Organization declared that smallpox had been eradicated.

Smallpox had long been thought to have appeared in human populations thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt, India and China, with some historical accounts suggesting that the pharaoh Ramses V  who died in 1145 BC  suffered from smallpox.

In an attempt to better understand its evolutionary history, Dr. Poinar and co-authors extracted the heavily fragmented DNA, from the partial mummified remains of a Lithuanian child believed to have died between 1643 and 1665, a period in which several smallpox outbreaks were documented throughout Europe with increasing levels of mortality.

The smallpox DNA was captured, sequenced and the ancient genome, one of the oldest viral genomes to date, was completely reconstructed. There was no indication of live virus in the sample and so the mummies are not infectious.

The team compared and contrasted the 17th century strain to those from a modern databank of samples dating from 1940 up to its eradication in 1977.

Strikingly, the work shows that the evolution of smallpox virus occurred far more recently than previously thought, with all the available strains of the virus having an ancestor no older than 1580.

This study sets the clock of smallpox evolution to a much more recent time-scale. Although it is still unclear what animal is the true reservoir of smallpox virus and when the virus first jumped into humans, said co-lead author Prof. Eddie Holmes, from the University of Sydney, Australia.

The pox viral strains that represent the true reservoir for human smallpox remains currently unsampled.

Both the closest gerbil and camel pox are very distantly related and consequently are not the likely ancestors to smallpox, suggesting that the real reservoir remains at large or has gone extinct.

The scientists also discovered that smallpox virus evolved into two circulating strains, variola major and minor, after English physician Edward Jenner famously developed a vaccine in 1796.

However, the two forms experienced a major population bottleneck with the rise of global immunization efforts.

The date of the ancestor of the minor strain corresponds well with the Atlantic Slave trade which was likely responsible for partial worldwide dissemination.

This raises important questions about how a pathogen diversifies in the face of vaccination, said first author Dr. Ana Duggan, from McMaster University.

While smallpox was eradicated in human populations, we cant become lazy or apathetic about its evolution  and possible reemergence  until we fully understand its origins.

Whether the date of the ancestor, approximately 1580, precludes the massive destruction of aboriginal populations in central America by smallpox, introduced by the Spanish, remains questionable.

This work blurs the line between ancient diseases and emerging infections, said co-author Dr. Margaret Humphreys, of Duke University.

Much of smallpox evolution apparently happened in historic time.

_____

Ana T. Duggan et al. 17th Century Variola Virus Reveals the Recent History of Smallpox. Current Biology, published online December 8, 2016; doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.10.061

This article is based on a press-release from McMaster University.
New data from NASAs Cassini spacecraft reveal that Saturns moons may be younger than previously thought.

All of these Cassini mission measurements are changing our view of the Saturnian system, as it turns our old theories upside down, said Dr. Radwan Tajeddine, a researcher at Cornell University and the Observatory of Paris, France, and co-author of the paper reporting the results in the journal Icarus.

Dr. Tajeddine and his colleagues provided two key measurements: (i) the rigidity of the tidal bulge, or the Love number  named for Augustus E.H. Love, a famed British mathematician who worked on elasticity and wave theories; and (ii) the dissipation factor, which controls the speed at which moons move away.

While Saturn is mostly a gigantic shroud of liquid hydrogen and liquid helium, it contains a rocky core  about 18 times the size of Earth, which responds to tidal forces from all of Saturns major moons by bulging. The forces of the bulging core, in turn, push the moons slightly away.

Those two parameters are difficult to separate, Dr. Tajeddine said.

So the authors detected and examined the orbits of four tiny Saturnian moons associated with the larger moons Tethys (Telesto and Calypso) and Dione (Helene and Polydeuces).

While these small moons do not affect the tidal forces on Saturn, their orbits are disturbed by Saturns core tidal bulges.

By monitoring these disturbances, we managed to obtain the first measurement of Saturns Love number and distinguish it from the gas giants dissipation factor. The moons are migrating away much faster than expected, Dr. Tajeddine said.

According to the team, if Saturns moons actually formed 4.5 billion years ago, their current distances from the parent planet should be greater. Thus, the moons are younger than 4.5 billion years, favoring a theory that they formed from Saturns rings.

The researchers also found that Rhea, the second largest moon of Saturn, is moving away 10 times faster than the other moons, which is the first evidence that a planets dissipation factor can vary with its distance in relation to the moon. The scientists said that they have no definitive explanation.

What we believe about Saturns moons history might still change in the coming years with the finale of the Cassini mission, said lead author Dr. Valery Lainey, from the Observatory of Paris.

The more we learn about Saturn, the more we learn about exoplanets.

_____

Valery Lainey et al. 2017. New constraints on Saturns interior from Cassini astrometric data. Icarus 281: 286-296; doi: 10.1016/j.icarus.2016.07.014

This article is based on a press-release from Cornell University.
Researchers from Egypt and Saudi Arabia have developed a simple way to manufacture an eco-friendly and affordable membrane that can efficiently adsorb oils spills from sea or waste water

The membrane can recover quickly and easily for reuse  it can be applied at least 10 times with the same efficiency, according to a study published in Marine Pollution Bulletin.

Leakage of petroleum pollutants into water can be catastrophic to the environment and aquatic life systems. The methods used to remove these pollutants are complex and very expensive; some require use over a long period and involve many workers, while others have a harmful effect on marine and aquatic organisms.

These methods include using chemical dispersants to penetrate the oil and break it up into small pools, setting the oil ablaze at the spill site, or gathering oil from the water surface by mechanical means.

The method that has proved most efficient, in terms of cost and ease of extracting oil, is the use of cheap and eco-friendly adsorbing materials which turn the oil layer to solid or semi-solid particles that can be easily removed.

However, these materials have shortcomings such as instability or a declining capacity to function during the adsorption process. In addition, they cant be used for all spills.

More recently, the application of nanoscale polymeric adsorbents proved effective in removing oil spills on a large scale. And there is a trend towards using polymer blends for this purpose.

The new element in this study is the use of natural substances, which are not harmful to the environment or aquatic organisms, interacting to create the nanostructure. Kamel Shueir, Mansoura University

Following this trend, the study published last September tested blends of nanoscale polyvinyl alcohol polymers, considered to be among the most dissolvable and non-toxic biopolymers. They can also be manufactured relatively cheaply from biodegradable and biocompatible polymers.

Kamel Shueir, a researcher involved in the study, explains that these characteristics made the compound a good candidate for testing on environmental applications. It was tested on its own and in a mix with other natural substances  such as starch and chitosan (derived from chitin, a fibrous substance that makes up the structure of insects and arthropods)  to produce three nano-membranes capable of removing oil spills from water.

The new element in this study is the use of natural substances, which are not harmful to the environment or aquatic organisms, interacting to create the nanostructure, Shueir, a professor at the chemistry department of Mansoura University in Egypt, tells SciDev.Net.

Shueir points out that the primary factor in the reaction that enables removal of the oil is the use of a dimethyl sulfoxide solvent mixed with water.

The study tested the mechanical properties of the three membranes, including their ability to hold back water and adsorb three kinds of petroleum substances of different densities: toluene, kerosene and hydraulic fluids.

The comparison between the three membranes was made by immersing the membranes in oils and monitoring their capacity to adsorb, reflected in the membranes increasing weight over a period of time. The oils were then recovered by simply applying mechanical pressure: twisting the membrane and squeezing it.

The polymer mixture with starch showed the highest adsorption capacity: 2.77 times more than that of the polymer alone; the adsorption capacity of the polymer mixture with chitosan was 1.25 times higher than that of the polymer alone. The adsorption rate was fast  under 10 minutes  and the recovery rate was 96.3 per cent.

Ayman Atta, a professor in chemistry department of King Saud University in Saudi Arabia, says it is necessary to [repeat the calculation of] adsorption capacity and recovery rate several times to ensure the accuracy of the results. He added that other low-cost materials other than starch and chitosan can be efficiently used for this purpose as well.

Atta flags up the need to test the mixtures on a large scale, with large oil spills, and to evaluate the feasibility of their manufacture. Doing this may reveal constraints and challenges that require more research before the membranes can be developed for commercial use, he said.

Shueir says the research team has not yet tested the membrane on water and on a large scale, but this is a step it aims to take in the near future, perhaps in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where the problem of spills exists on a large scale.

He stresses that the research team is studying the applicability and cost-efficiency of the method.

The membrane also has other uses, most notably as an anti-corrosion material.

This story was produced by the Middle East and North Africa edition.
The smallest near-Earth object (NEO) in space was discovered by a team of Arizona astronomers in 2015. The near-Earth object named 2015 TC25 is the first one to be fully studied by astronomers using Earth-based telescopes.

The 2015 TC25 NEO is only six-feet in diameter. It is not only the smallest but also the brightest. The asteroid is observed to reflect 60 percent of the light from the Sun that fell on it. The 2015 TC25 NEO was first discovered by the research team during the NASA-funded University of Arizona Catalina Sky Survey in 2015.

Arizona astronomers along with their colleagues from Lowell Observatory and North Arizona University, was able to fully study the near-Earth object 2015 TC15 when it made a flyby 126,000 kilometers from the Earth. The researchers used four Earth-based telescopes for the paper that was published in Astronomical Journal.

The researchers found out that the 2015 TC25 NEO, an asteroid of irregular shape, has a similar surface to a rare highly reflective meteorite called aubrites. Aubrites are made up of bright minerals mostly silicates that are formed in an oxygen-free basaltic environment at very high temperatures. This is quite unique for 2015 TC25 as only one out of a thousand meteorites that fall on Earth belong to the class of aubrites.

According to Audrey Thirouin from Lowell Observatory, "2015 TC25 is one of the five smallest observed NEOs ever observed to measure rotation rate." The NEO is a fast rotator completing one rotation every 2.23 minutes. It is also discovered that the smallest asteroid fully studied is to lack a dust blanket called a regolith and is itself characterized as a monolithic or solid rock.

The near-Earth object 2015 TC25 is a chip off of parent 22-Nysa. 22-Nysa is an asteroid belt that has a diameter of 44 miles. An asteroid belt the size of 22-Nysa can cover a city as large as Los Angeles.

Near-Earth objects like 2015 TC25 is needed to be studied in order to know more about their much larger parent asteroid. Professor Stephen Tegler, the co-author of the paper, says that it is also important to study the physical properties of these NEOs to prepare for threats these objects pose to the planet.
Thousands of migrating snow geese died after landing in contaminated pit mine waters in Montana.

On Nov. 28, a snowstorm forced the geese to take refuge in the Berkeley Pit, a 900-foot-deep pit water of heavy metals and other toxic chemicals. For years, there had been instances that birds float dead on the waters, but not this much.

Mine workers tried to prevent the birds from landing on the open pit copper mine waste water but were overwhelmed by their number. An estimated 25,000 birds were killed by the toxic and acidic water, The Guardian reports.

The employees of the mining company, Montana Resources, and Atlantic Richfield, who are responsible for the Berkeley Pit in Butte, tried to ward off the birds through spotlights, noise makers and other means.

"I can't underscore enough how many birds were in the Butte area that night," Mark Thompson, an environmental affairs manager for Montana Resources, said as reported by BBC News.

"Numbers beyond anything we've ever experienced in our 21 years of monitoring by several orders of magnitude," he said, adding that they only see between 2,000 and 5,000 birds each year during summer and winter migrations.

In fact, between 2010 and 2013, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reported only 14 snow goose deaths in the said pit.

This is not the first time that this incident happened. In 1995, 342 geese landed on the pit and suffered fatal burns to their trachea and other internal organs after drinking the toxic water.

Researchers believe that the birds were forced to land on the contaminated pit because of an incoming storm. They also went through a late-season migration due to the warming temperatures in their northern Arctic habitat. The open pit is the only open area containing water, so the birds were forced to land in their search for water.

The companies plan to investigate to determine the circumstances that had led to this incident, leaving thousands of birds dead.
Scientists examined how some huge objects referred to as supergalaxies form in the universe. They have observed a massive galaxy cluster called the Spiderweb Galaxy.

The Spiderweb Galaxy is also known as MRC 1138-262 that is about 10.6 billion lightyears away from the planet Earth. It is an irregular galaxy with a redshift of 2.156. In the study, the researchers discovered that it was formed in a different way than they previously thought.

They found that Spiderweb Galaxy was growing by slurping a cold molecular gas. Bjorn Emonts from the Centre for Astrobiology in Spain and the lead author of the study said that this galaxy is different from what they see in the nearby universe, where galaxies in clusters grow by cannibalizing other galaxies. He further explained that in this cluster, a giant galaxy is growing by feeding on the soup of cold gas in which it is submerged.

Nina Hatch, an astronomer from the University of Nottingham in the U.K. and was not involved in the study, said that extremely massive galaxies are seen in the young universe. However, their presence is puzzling because people do not yet understand how they became so massive quickly. She asked, "How do they get enough fuel to form stars so rapidly?"

Naturally, supergalaxies or huge galaxies shaped from smaller galaxies that moved closer together until they merged due to gravitational attraction. On the other hand, in the earliest days of the universe, this might not be wherein there were not enough stars and baby galaxies around.

Meanwhile, in the recent study, the researchers discovered that the massive Spiderweb Galaxy condensed directly from the cloud of gas. The team identified the visibility of carbon monoxide (CO) gas in the distant galaxy, which suggests the presence of hydrogen. They also found that the hydrogen cloud was huge, and the gas was unexpectedly cold about 200 degrees Celsius, according to Science Alert.

Matthew Lehnert, one of researchers from the Astrophysics Institute of Paris, described the find as surprising. He said that they would have expected a lot of collapsing galaxies, which would have heated the gas. For that reason, they thought that the carbon monoxide would be much more difficult to detect.

The new study is significant in understanding how supergalaxies are born. They also aid the scientists in comprehending why the universe looks the way it does.
The melting of sea ice in the Arctic affects the population of polar bears. A study reveals that there is about 70 percent chance the polar bear numbers could drop by over 30 percent by mid-century.

The world's largest bear known as polar bear has a population of about 26,000. This could decline by more than 30 percent over the next 35 years. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) categorized the polar bear as "vulnerable" or at high risk of extinction in the wild.

The findings of the study were printed in the Royal Society's Biology Letters. It was led by Eric Regehr from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage in Alaska and other colleagues, according to Phys.org.

The study suggests that polar bears depend on sea ice for most aspects of their life history. They use the sea ice as a floating platform to hunt seals, which can outswim them in open water. On the other hand, the Arctic sea ice is now melting with a record low of 3.41 million square kilometers in 2012. This was about 44 percent below the 1981 to 2010 average.

Currently, it is reported in the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center that the sea ice extent in October and November was the lowest ever registered for both months. The global warming is to be blamed for this phenomenon. The warming has increased the area's surface temperatures by over than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) compared to the pre-industrial era level, twice the global average.

The study concluded that there is a probability that polar bear numbers would decline by a third in 35 to 41 years with more than 70 percent. The polar bears also face other threats besides the warming of temperatures in area's surface. There are other manmade chemicals that are also endocrine disruptors in the Arctic, according to Bangkok Post.
Google launched an awesome Google Doodle yesterday as homage to Danish astronomer Ole Rmer, who was the first person to successfully calculate the speed of light. The Google Doodle marked the 340th anniversary of successful calculation of speed of light and its profound effects on all the subsequent astronomical and space research explorations.

How Ole Rmer Determined the Speed of Light

Ole Rmer and Galileo Galilei were two of the few scientific researchers who refused to believe that the speed of light is infinite. In 1675-1676, Danish astronomer Ole Rmer was busy studying the time variations between the eclipses of "Lo," Jupiter's moon. He found that the time was actually dependent on the relative position and distance between Earth and Jupiter, which varies while the Earth revolves in its orbit, reports Tech2.

Using the diameter of the Earth, Ole Rmer calculated the speed of light. The calculation was further refined by many astronomers and the exact value of the speed of light, as people know it now, was calculated.

Google Doodle Represented Ole Rmer's Experiment

Google tried to depict the experiment of Ole Rmer in the Google Doodle launched yesterday. The Google Doodle represented the Sun, Earth and Jupiter with its two "Os" and Ole Rmer is shown to be looking at the sky and calculating the speed of light. The Google Doodle commemorated 340 years of the publication of original findings of Ole Rmer, as per The Independent.

This Google Doodle can also be considered as a sign of relentless scientific research, which may or may not turn out to be rewarding for the researchers. This is said so, because when Ole Rmer published his findings in the Journal des scavans scientific journal, it faced criticism and rejection from the Royal Academy of Sciences in Paris and the church. After two decades of his death, scientific researchers started accepting his theories and he was given the credit of the first person in the world to successfully calculate the speed of light.
To add to its list of the seemingly erratic ventures and acts, North Korea has allegedly hacked the cyber command of South Korea. North Korea and its leaders are quite (in)famous globally for their tactics and policies. And it seems like there is no stopping as North Korea has done it again! It so appears that North Korea has recently leveled a cyber-attack against Seoul. This news has been reported by the Seoul military on December 6 and 7.

"It seems the intranet server of the cyber command has been contaminated with malware. We found that some military documents, including confidential information, have been hacked," stated an official at the Ministry of National Defence to Yonhap News Agency.

The authorities in South Korea suspect that North Korea is behind this online infiltration. To do damage control, the Seoul cyber command has currently removed the tainted server from the entire network. This is an attempt to prevent the spread of virus to other databases in the network.

However, some data was leaked to the hackers. And the authorities are still not sure as to what kind of data this was. Although there have been several attempts in the past times to hack the information of South Korea, this is possibly the first time that the cyber repository of the nation has been properly compromised. The cyber command was first set up in January 2010. Its aim was to not allow hacking attempts on military information to be successful. They were to thwart every such attempt made in bad faith.

This is not the first time that North Korea has attacked South Korea in the digital space. Only this year they alleged that North Korea had stolen valuable information from about 10 South Korean officials by hacking into their phones! North Korea has consistently denied all such allegations.

However, it is unprecedented news that North Korea has been accused of stealing military information. Earlier, it was only related to media news or banks information. It is believed that thousands of individuals in North Korea are involved in such digital warfare wreaked on different nations, including its neighbor.

Keep watching this space for more updates about the North Korean cyber-attack.
Cassini recently beamed back its first close-up images of Saturn from the planet's northern hemisphere. It is set in a spectacular detail, providing several views of the large, hexagonal storm brewing in the north pole.

The photos, which were captured on Friday and Saturday, came from the spacecraft plunging past the iconic rings -- the first in 20 scheduled dives throughout April 2017. According to NASA, Carolyn Proco, Cassini's imaging team leader at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, said in a statement that this is the beginning of the exploration of Saturn. The historic images, and all those that will follow, will serve as a reminder of the bold and daring adventure that the human race has embarked on the giant planet.

During the passes in ring grazing, the Cassini spacecraft is expected to come within 1,012 miles of the clouds and will shoot through the gaps between the rings and the planet, allowing scientists to calculate the mass of the structures separately.

Space.com noted that the Cassini-Huygens mission, which was launched in October 1997, is a $3.2 billion missions that arrived in the Saturn system by July 2004. The Cassini's mothership, Huygens, then touched down on Titan's surface in January 2005 as the orbiter continued to circle Saturn to study the planet itself, its rings and its moons.

Today, with less than a year left before the end of its mission, Cassini presented new maneuvers that could offer fresh insights for the scientific community regarding its evolution, the planets and even the iconic rings.

Still, among the strangest things about Saturn was the hexagonal storm that has been around for decades. The Los Angeles Times noted that NASA's Voyager Mission saw it first in the 1980s. Linda Spilker, Cassini's project scientist, shared, "It's still an interesting puzzle. How could this jet stream keep this six-sided shape and rotate as a unit for such a long time?"
The humble Google, Bing search boxes will disappear by 2027, according to a team of Microsoft researchers. The research team, comprising of all women were asked about technological advances they expect to see in 2017 and 2027. Along with predicting the disappearance of the traditional search box, the team also predicted that farmers will start using AI for predicting crop yields.

Susan Dumais, one of the researchers, believes that deep learning will continue to help with improved search results in the coming years. She is also of the opinion that the search box will be no longer required by the time 2027 arrives. According to her it will be replaced by something more "ubiquitous, embedded, and contextually sensitive". She elaborated further on her prediction, "We are already seeing the increased use of voice search with the help of vocal commands, both in cases of home computers and smart-phones. This trend will only increase in the coming years and there will come a time when we will be able to search using images, videos and sound."

It is worth noting here that such a prediction from Microsoft isn't surprising. The company has been losing the search engine battle to Google for decades now. One of the reasons Microsoft used an all-women team of researchers is because there are always complaints about "lack of women in tech fields". All of the other predictions can be checked out here.

Coming to the prediction of farmers using AI for growing crops, Asta Rosway, principal research designer, said that farmers will not only use it for growing crops, but also for tracking "disaster, drought and climate change". Another researcher of the team, Xiaoyan Sun is of the opinion that deep learning and imaging devices will improve so much that "artificial eyes" could be created from them.
It has been around 44 years since people have been on the Moon. And many are wondering why humans have not been back on the Moon. Now conspiracy theorists are saying that the hidden message in the Apollo 17 Mission badges is the key!

According to NASA, the Apollo 17 mission is the last mission of NASA's Apollo program. The 12-day mission to the Moon broke several records including the longest Moon landing, longest time in orbit, longest extravehicular activities (moonwalks) and the largest lunar. Commander Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Harrison "Jack" Schmitt rounded up the crew of Apollo 17.

For such a successful mission, many are wondering why NASA has stopped space programs from returning to the Moon. The Moon is the closest celestial body to Earth, and most of its regions are still not explored. The potential of the Moon has been overshadowed by the lofty aspirations of reaching and exploring Mars. Now, conspiracy theorists are saying that the hidden message on the Apollo 17 mission badge could be the answer as to why NASA really stopped the Moon missions.

The official Apollo 17 mission badge was designed by space artist Robert McCall. The Apollo 17 mission badge is dominated by the profile of Greek god Apollo. Behind Apollo is the contemporary rendering of the American eagle with the red bars on its wings, representing the United States of America.

The three white stars on the Apollo 17 mission badge represent the three crew members of Apollo 17. Both Apollo and the eagle look to the right where the Moon, Saturn and a spiral galaxy are embedded on a dark blue background.

The wing of the eagle is partially on top of the Moon to represent that Man has conquered the Moon. The symbolism behind Apollo and the eagle looking to the right is meant to imply future space explorations beyond the Moon.

However, there are two Apollo 17 mission badges designed by Apollo 17 crew member Jack Schmitt that were rejected by NASA because it contained highly suggestive graphic images. The Apollo 17 mission badges designed by Jack Schmitt both contain a representation of the Earth structure, The Stonehenge.

But conspiracy theorists are saying that what Jack Schmitt put on his design was not really the Earth's Stonehenge but a representation of a similar structure on the Moon. This could mean that the astronauts know about the alien life present on the Moon and NASA is making them silent about it.

So why is NASA pushing for missions to Mars that are still uncertain to happen when people can fully explore the closest celestial body to the planet?
During the campaign period, President-elect Donald Trump wanted to give back the jobs that are stolen from the Americans. One of the successful entrepreneurs would be Elon Musk as he has proven himself to many and he had given jobs to thousands of people.

The New York Times reported that during the campaign, President-elect Donald Trump repetitively talking about his plans to restore the manufacturing sector. He said that, "We are going to bring back jobs that have been stolen from you."

Donald Trump mentioned the business giants to advise him on the job creation. The names such as Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, General Motors' Mary Barra and Robert Iger of Disney. Yet, the President-elect miss a key name. It is the real-life Iron Man, Elon Musk -- the name behind the electric car company Tesla, solar power provider SolarCity and the famous rocket company SpaceX.

Elon Musk is one of the nation's best, especially for the vision of the manufacturing industry in the United States. As he owns the biggest names in the manufacturing industry, he employs thousands of people.

In the past decade, Elon Musk had employed nearly 35,000 jobs among his different enterprises, mostly from the manufacturing ones. The upcoming Tesla Gigafactory that is 5.5 million square foot battery factory is expected to employ 6,500 people in 2020, according to CNBC.

Despite his achievements, conservative groups and individuals are storming real and fake stories on the Internet. These were mostly with regard to Elon Musks' government subsidies for Tesla and his vocal warning on climate change.

In line with this, it is the chief executive of Murray Energy Corporation, Robert E. Murray. It is the largest privately owned coal company. He said that Musk is a fraud for accepting $2 billion from the government as a subsidy for Tesla.

As follows, Robert Murray is a republican who does not believe that human activity is affecting the climate. Elon Musk tweeted in response to the accusations of Murray, "Real fraud going on is the denial of climate science. As for 'subsidies', Tesla gets pennies on dollar vs. coal. How about we both go to zero?"

Real fraud going on is denial of climate science. As for "subsidies", Tesla gets pennies on dollar vs coal. How about we both go to zero?  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 10, 2016

Moreover, Andrew Ross Sorkin from The New York Times e-mailed Elon Musk. The real-life Iron Man replied to him that Musk is heartened by Donald Trump's recent acknowledgment that human-driven global warming may be real.

Furthermore, when Mr. Sorkin asked Elon Musk if he wants to engage with the president-elect, Musk wrote: "I'd be happy to talk to Trump."
Ever noticed that the days seem longer lately?

The Independent reported that a new study explains why the days seem to take longer than before, and researchers say it is because of the slowing down of the Earth's orbit. This may leave people wondering as to how would another 60 minutes be added to a 24-hour day. But this study says that it would still take another 6.7 million years for a day to gain another whole minute.

According to researchers Catherine Hohenkerk, Leslie Morrison and FR Stephenson, the average time of one whole day has increased by about 1.8 milliseconds every century over the last 27,000 years.

"It's a very slow process," said one of the study's authors, retired Royal Greenwich Observatory astronomer Leslie Morrison. "These estimates are approximate, because the geophysical forces operating on the Earth's rotation will not necessarily be constant over such a long period of time."

In fact, this 1.8-millisecond increase is even "significantly less" than the previous 2.3-millisecond estimate. Scientists have previously estimated the 2.3-miillisecond increase based on their observations and calculations on the ability of the moon to trigger ocean tides, thus influencing the Earth's orbit.

But for this recent study, the team focused on the gravitational theories of the Earth's movement around the Sun and the Moon's rotation around the planet to figure out the time pattern of eclipses.

They then compared their observations to ancient Babylonian, Chinese, Greek, Arabic and medieval European astronomic records through an "exhaustive search of historical records," noted the Irish Times.

According to their study, the Moon's power to affect the waves triggers a brake on the Earth's rotation. Furthermore, the planet's change in shape due to the effects of the last Ice Age also disturbed electro-magnetic interactions between the Earth's mantle and core -- prompting changes in the main sea level.

This study was published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society.
FLORENCE, S.C.  Organizers of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Freedom March said Wednesday that one city council member is trying to divide the black community by creating a competing march on the same day.

The MLK Day march was led by late City Councilman Ed Robinson for 17 years before his death in March, but organizers say Robinsons replacement on city council  Pat Gibson-Hye Moore, a black woman  has organized a separate march to undermine Robinsons legacy.

All were trying to do preserve Dr. Kings day and Ed Robinsons legacy in Florence, not come against another group, said Billy D. Williams, a founding member of the march. Theres no need for two marches. We extended an olive branch to the other group, but they refuse to meet, so we will continue as we have for the past 18 years. Why re-invent something that already works?

Moore declined to comment on the issue Wednesday, instead saying more information on her side of the story can be expected in the near future.

Were not giving a statement on this right now, she said. You will hear from us in due time.

Robinsons widow, Erica Robinson, said she contacted Moore to express the desire to continue the march as usual, but Moore was set on starting another march.

I feel that its a dishonor to my husbands legacy and memory to have a second march, Erica Robinson said. It creates division in the community, and thats not what the march is about. The march was growing, gaining more people each year, but this could reverse that.

Some people speculated that Moore wants to organize a march in East Florence that will meet with this march in downtown Florence.

LaShonda NeSmith, a march organizer who ran against Moore in June primaries, said if thats the case there needs to be better communication.

Our march will happen regardless of what the city does, she said. If anyone wants to give input or guidance on the march, were always willing to work together. The problem here is you cant just insert yourself without talking to us. We have a committee, we have rules, we have a board that votes. We welcome any help and inclusion, so therere no need to create another committee and another march. Join with us, not plan behind our back.

The group plans to protest at the December meeting of the Florence City Council.
FLORENCE, S.C.  Over coffee and donuts, a small crowd of folks from the public and private sector heard about start-ups Wednesday morning on the Florence-Darlington Technical College campus.

Using the Gould Business Incubator adjacent to the Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing and Technology Center's as the setting  with subsequent tours of the businesses therein and the 3-D printing mecca known as Makerspace  Bob Quinn gave an overview of the S.C. Research Authority, which he took over in August.

Though chartered by the Legislature, the SCRA receives no direct funding from the state, he explained, but it works in tandem with industry. Able to donate up to $6 million, industries get 100 percent tax credits for donations, although Quinn said upcoming legislation looks to double that figure. The three primary focus areas of the SCRA are supporting entrepreneurs, enabling research at academic institutions and commercializing that research by connecting innovators with industry, he said.

We think we have the greatest impact in the intersection of those client communities, he said.

There are several types of grants the SCRA awards as well as mentoring from staff members or from partners at reduced rates, and the agency also funds relocation support in some instances, he said. Ten years ago S.C. Launch was established to provide direct investments in the form of a loan to start-ups, which the agency itself it not allowed to do. There are 153 current client companies on the SCRA roster, he said, and over the lifespan of S.C. Launch, a total of 351 companies received grant funding or investments with SCRAs help.

Quinn said hes most proud of the $498 million in follow-on funding that companies have received in the past decade after receiving some form of SCRA investment. The agency is working to solidify a network of venture capitalists, angel and seed investors and to introduce companies into a broad ecosystem, he said.

Under a recent reorganization of SCRA, and with the idea that institutions of higher education might collectively lose out in competing for federal grants, SCRA now manages EPSCOR, he said, referring to the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. Once formal agreements are put in place, this is really going to be the core of SCRAs engagement throughout the state, he said, noting that Francis Marion University will be represented on the steering committee.

What this is all about is matchmaking, he said, and facilitating partnerships. And thats what were all about.

Ultimately, SCRA looks to be at the intersection of life sciences, information technology (IT) and the manufacturing of advanced materials, he said. Quinn also explained that the agencys Applied Technologies Center (ATI) was spun off with a separate board of directors and management team while still remaining under contract with the SCRA. As it was established to sustain long-term sustainability of the SCRA, the vast majority of their net income flows back to SCRA, he said, pegging revenue this year for the ATI at $450 million. The perception of some was that the ATI somewhat overshadowed the core mission of the SCRA, he said.

Acting as host for the event was Ashley Dingle, director of the SiMTs business incubator.

I think this is so important for businesses in the area to know theyre a valuable resource in the state of South Carolina, she said.
FLORENCE, S.C. -- The South Carolina Virtual College of Florence-Darlington Technical College (SCVC) launches a new website just in time for the New Year along with its rebranding. The website, scvc.fdtc.edu was launched just prior to the Thanksgiving holiday with the goal to better assist FDTC students with their online needs. During any given semester, 35-40% of the student population at the college is taking online courses.

The main reason why we developed the SC Virtual College of FDTC website, was to support student success here at the college, said Derk Riechers, director of the SC Virtual College of FDTC. This website has a student-center design which allows for easy navigation to different links and pages. For instance, under the Apply Link, there are many great resources to help a student get started with their educational journey at FDTC!

FDTC was the first college in the state of South Carolina to offer complete programs online. The program was originally launched in the mid-90s. The Online College successfully rebranded itself to SCVC during the summer of 2016. Students choose the SCVC for their educational needs because its affordable, it can fit into nearly any schedule and theres always student support.

Spring registration is currently underway at FDTC. SCVC offers a wide variety of online classes for its students. Visit Admissions in Room 100 in the 100 Building or call 843-661-8324.SCVC is located in Room 5217 of the main campus 5000 Building. For more information on the SCVC, contact Riechers at 843-661-8061 or Derk.Riechers@fdtc.edu or Lamar Younginer at 843-661-8117 or Lamar.Younginer@fdtc.edu.
DES MOINES | Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad's nomination to be the new ambassador to China will scramble Iowa's 2018 political picture.

First, Democrats now know they won't have to face the man they have never been able to beat.

Meanwhile, Republicans who may have been considering a run for the office in the event the governor didn't seek a seventh term now will have to deal with the fact that Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds will ascend to the job a full two years before any 2018 contest could take place.

Reynolds, who has been at Branstad's side in Des Moines and in their travels across the state since he re-emerged to win a fifth term in 2010, has long been seen as his heir apparent.

In a statement Wednesday, Reynolds praised Branstad and said "the experience Ive gained over the last six years has prepared me well for this next chapter of service to all Iowans."

Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff Kaufmann made clear Wednesday that, when Reynolds succeeds Branstad, she will have full GOP support.

"As far as the Republican Party goes, the minute Kim Reynolds takes the oath of office, we will be behind her 100 percent," he said.

Branstad has long praised Reynolds, frequently calling her his equal in terms of energy and commitment. Still, a clear path to the nomination for her hasn't been a certainty.

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey has been mentioned as a possible 2018 candidate. Also, Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett has been traveling the state in what has been widely taken as a testing phase for a 2018 gubernatorial candidacy.

In a statement Wednesday afternoon reacting to Branstad's appointment, Northey made it clear that he won't run. He said he had begun to explore a bid, but he urged Republicans to "unite behind Lt. Governor Reynolds, help ensure her election in 2018 and join me in working to keep Iowa red for the next generation.

Corbett declined to address his own ambitions but said Wednesdays developments dont necessarily close the door to somebody challenging Reynolds in a primary.

I dont know that it does, he said.

Corbett said that this should be considered an open seat. He added that this will speed up the decision-making process for those considering running.

The mayor said there had been the thought that a decision on running could be made toward the end of 2017. Now, he said, decisions will have to be made early in the year.

U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, also had people guessing. He said early Wednesday he was considering his options, according to The Hill, a Washington, D.C.-based publication that asked him whether he might run.

"The thought is in my mind. Immediately, it locks in there," King said Wednesday morning, according to the Hill. "But I don't want to send any message that I'm making plans actively."

Kaufmann downplayed the idea that King would run for the nomination, calling it natural for somebody in his position to think about the prospect.

Meanwhile, a former state party chair, Matt Strawn, said a challenger would not only face difficulty with the party but the incoming Trump administration.

"I have every anticipation that Iowa Republicans are going to rally around governor Kim Reynolds," he said. "And I hope they do."

As for Democrats, Branstad's new job may be an opportunity.

Norm Sterzenbach, a former executive director of the state Democratic Party, said the governor's exit from Iowa will surely spur conversations among people who were thinking of a 2018 bid.

A succession of Democrats have sought to oust Branstad but have failed. If he were to have sought a seventh term, that may well have narrowed the field of Democrats running for the job. With Branstad leaving, however, and that it's happening early in the campaign cycle, could speed up some of the discussions, Sterzenbach said.

He added the news also could provide a psychological lift to Democrats who took it on the chin a month ago, losing not only the presidential contest in Iowa but control of the state Senate.

"Were on the mat. Were down, he said. "Democrats need to believe that they can win, and Terry Branstad moving on provides that opportunity for Democrats to get excited about 2018. That more than anything is what Democrats need right now."

Kaufmann, however, was bullish on a Reynolds candidacy in 2018.

"I think we get a breath of fresh air that has the confidence and the time worn stability of Terry Branstad," he said.
CLEAR LAKE | Police in Clear Lake arrested a man accused of punching his girlfriend, assaulting her teen son and kicking the family dog last week in Fort Dodge.

Jamin Pierce, 42, of Fort Dodge, was arrested about 5 p.m. Wednesday in Clear Lake on warrants for one count of felony willful injury, two misdemeanor counts of obstruction of an emergency communication and one misdemeanor count each of domestic abuse assault, operating a vehicle without the owner's consent, fourth-degree criminal mischief and animal abuse.

The warrants were all issued from Webster County. Acting on information from Fort Dodge police, officers in Clear Lake found Pierce working at a job in city.

The charges stem from an alleged incident involving his girlfriend, her 17-year-old son and the family's dog on Dec. 1 at a Fort Dodge residence.

He's accused of kicking the dog during an argument with the woman, which prompted the teen to punch him.

Pierce then allegedly punched the teen back, and then assaulted the woman several times -- punching her in the face, pushing her to the ground and repeatedly kicking her in the face, arm and back -- when she tried to stop him from taking a vehicle, according to a Fort Dodge Police Department report.

School officials contacted police the next day after noticing injuries to the boy's face.

Clear Lake Police Chief Pete Roth said officers found "two rolled joints" and a glass pipe that "appeared to have burnt marijuana inside of it" in Pierce's possession.

He was charged with misdemeanor possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia in addition to the warrants.
MASON CITY | The Rev. Andrew Awotwe-Mensah from Ghana has been in Mason City for the past several months on temporary assignment as a priest at Epiphany Parish.

He said he is enjoying it so much he's hoping to extend his stay a little longer.

"I like Mason City so much," said Awote-Mensah, 42. "The people are very warm and welcoming."

He said there's a "communal spirit."

Awotwe-Mensah says Mass, makes hospital and nursing home visits, and spends time at Newman Catholic schools.

Awotwe-Mensah is from Cape Coast in Ghana. When he was 10, he became part of a group trained in ministry in song formed by a priest in the town.

When he was 13, the priest told Awotwe-Mensah he thought he had a vocation for the priesthood.

"I didn't know what steps to take," Awotwe-Mensah said.

However, the priest helped him along in his journey.

A year or two before ordination, the local bishop had Awotwe-Nensah and the other seminarians go out and "live like a regular person" and get a job to make sure they were truly called to the priesthood, he said.

He went to Accra, the capital of Ghana, rented and apartment and worked as a teacher. At the end of the year, he still wanted to be a priest and was ordained in 2004.

He taught at a minor seminary (high school) in Ghana for eight years. In 2012, he was sent to the United States because the archbishop wanted him to be able to teach others wanting to enter the priesthood.

He was to stay for five years, learn about church organization in America, and build on his education before returning to Ghana.

Awotwe-Mensah initially was sent to New York City, but he wanted to see what other parts of the United States are like.

He said he was interested in going to the Midwest because, like Ghana, it has a lot of agriculture.

That's how he ended up in Mason City. It was supposed to be a four-month assignment, but he is hoping he will get permission to stay longer.

"I like this area," he said.

He also wants to experience what a North Iowa winter is like, noting although New York does get a lot of snow sometimes he understand it doesn't get nearly as cold.

He said he enjoys his visits to Newman because "I've always liked being around kids."

He said it's nice to know "they have confidence in you."

"I look forward to being around them and encouraging them," he said.
CLEAR LAKE | Former U.S. Sen. John Glenn, who died Thursday, made several appearances in North Iowa more than 30 years ago when he was an aspiring Democratic presidential candidate.

One of them was on July 4, 1983, when he was a guest at a luncheon hosted by Mike and Mary Grandon.

"He was in the Fourth of July parade and then came to the house afterward," Grandon said Thursday. "He visited with people in our backyard and was also in our home.

"He was the last of the original seven Mercury astronauts," he said. "I supported him. He was a delightful man who led an amazing life.

Glenn, 95, the last survivor of the Mercury 7 astronauts, died Thursday at the James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, where he had been hospitalized for more than a week.

As for other memories about that day, Grandon said, "I remember how hard Mary worked to get the house and the yard ready."

Grandon said Glenn's Iowa campaign manager called and asked if the Grandons would play host to Glenn after the parade.

Glenn first ran for U.S. Senate in 1964. He tried again in 1970 but was defeated in the primary. His third Senate attempt  this time in 1974  was a success.

Glenn's Senate career would run until 1997 when he announced that he would retire at the end of his current term.

The senator and former astronaut was considered an American hero but he was not a dynamic speaker, something that hurt him as a presidential candidate.

At the Grandon event, Bill Schickel, then a young television reporter, asked Glenn about his reputation of not having much charisma.

"Not much charisma?" Glenn said with a grin and then proceeded to do a little soft-shoe dance, to the delight of everyone around.

"I remember it very well," Schickel said Thursday. "It was a great honor to meet John Glenn. He was a great man and a pioneer in so many areas.

"And he handled a young an impertinent reporter very well."

Prior to the July 4th event, Mary Grandon was on the receiving end of a phone call that epitomizes the attitude of Iowa voters prior to the caucuses.

A pollster asked her if she was supporting Sen. Glenn.

"I don't know," she answered. "I haven't met him yet."
ALGONA | Gerald Jerry Thilges, 75, of Algona, died Monday, Dec. 5, 2016, at Mercy Medical Center  North Iowa in Mason City. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9, 2016, with a vigil service at 7 p.m. at Oakcrest Funeral Services in Algona.
Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading.

Obituaries Newsletter Sign up to get the most recent local obituaries delivered to your inbox. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy
The brand, a sister company of American Cruise Lines, will deploy its 210-passenger Pearl Mist from Fort Lauderdale's Port Everglades.

The 10-night cruise will circumnavigate the island, visiting Havana and ports on the southern coast including Cienfuegos, Trinidad and Santiago de Cuba.

Pearl Seas Cruises has a cultural focus and said its people-to-people programs will be more personalized than those of larger ships.

'There is significant demand to visit Cuba on a smaller ship and we are honored to be among the first cruise lines to have access to the country,' Pearl Seas vp Timothy Beebe said.

The company plans 11 cruises from January through May. Each stretches 10 nights and sails round-trip Port Everglades.
Monarch had been scheduled for Montego Bay but all berths were filled.

In fact, all three of Jamaica's main cruise portsMontego Bay, Ocho Rios and Falmouthwere at capacity. Rather than lose Monarch's call, and noting that it was arriving from Cartagena, a cultural capital much like Kingston, 'we saw this as a great opportunity,' said William Tatham, vp, cruise and marina operations, Port Authority of Jamaica.

'The Pullmantur team was very positive about redirecting the ship here and by all accounts the passengers themselves were pleased with the experience,' Tatham added.

Monarch's visit also meant that all four of Jamaicas major cruise ports handled ships on the same day. (Port Antonio is also an occasional cruise stop.)

The Pullmantur passengers took excursions to Dunns River Falls, Devon House, Bob Marley Museum, Kingston Craft Market, Fort Clarence, Tuff Gong Studios and the National Gallery.

'Kingston already has an interesting range of activities for the cruise ship passenger. The feedback well receive from this Monarch visit will go a far way in helping us to refine our strategy for cruise possibilities in the future,' Tatham said.

Jamaica anticipates another record year for cruise arrivals. The January to October period chalked up 1,313,841 passenger arrivals at the three major ports, an increase of 109,609 passengers or 9.1%.
Mermaids subsidiary Mermaid Offshore Services had booked the newbuild DP1 dive support and construction vessel, Mermaid Ausana, with CMIH back in January 2014.

In light of the challenging global oil and gas market situation and the cooperative relationship between the company and the builder (CMIH), the parties have mutually entered into a settlement agreement to terminate the construction contract for the vessel effective 6 December 2016, Mermaid announced.

CMIH will retain a sum of $20.4m already paid by Mermaid, out of a total contract price of $145.2m.

In return, Mermaid has also received from CMIH a sum of $1m for expenses incurred by Mermaid in relation to the construction contract and the settlement.

In a move to mitigate financial exposure, the company had already recorded an asset impairment on the entire pre-paid sum and associated costs related to the vessel in its 2015 financial statements, Mermaid said.
MASON CITY | Osage high schoolers won first place for the second year in a design contest to create a model for a community hub Thursday.

Waggoner & Wineinger Architects of Mason City started the Student Collaborative Design Contest where high school students use design skills to fill a public need in their communities. The competition is similar to the type of assignments a design college student would face.

This is the second year for the contest. Austin Pehl, a business development associate for WWA, said the students really stepped-up their game this year.

Its very rewarding for the school and for us to see the talent these young kids have, Pehl said. To think of the issues in your community and how to come up with a solution.

Because five groups a participated, WWA reduced the number of awards from top three to top two.

The Osage team received $1,000 for their school and a specialized trophy designed and produced by North Iowa Area Community College Tool and Die department.

This design was the most well-rounded, Pehl said. It showed the biggest community impact.

Seniors Emma Williams and Julia Ringhofer designed their community hub building with junior Justin Marcy.

It really taps into our passions, Williams said. Its exciting.

Marcy hopes to come back next year and lead the next team for Osage.

Second place and $500 went to Garner-Hayfield-Ventura, who won third prize last year.

Pehl said Garner-Hayfield-Ventura showed great attention to detail and did a thorough job analyzing from a design standpoint.

Senior Andrew Dornbier, junior Ethan Nelson and sophomore Stephen Phillips of GHV designed a tech-oriented hub for their community.

It was a fun opportunity to test our skills, Dornbier said.

Pehl said a lot of thought and creativity goes into each project. After being assigned the projects in October, the groups wrote a proposal, made site/floor plans and built models for their projects.

Each group then presented to a panel of industry professionals at the Mason City Chamber Thursday.

They really thought of ways to problem solve and created hubs to best serve their communities, Pehl said.

Other participating schools included Clear Lake, Mason City and Charles City.

The projects will be on display in the store windows on the plaza downtown, Pehl said. People are interested to see what these local students can do.
In Metro Detroit, African fabrics are everywhere.

Detroit writer and culture maven

And the annual African World Festival, hosted by the

Culturally, Burkina Faso is a polygamist society, and women from family groups will sometimes celebrate special events by commissioning a special fabric to be transformed into garments for all the women of a given family unit.

Bennett-Carpenter traveled with Lavoie, and Margaret and Peter Charney from Brookside to Namtenga for the 2007 opening of the studio, which has been going strong ever since.

The tour of the Kingswood Weaving Studio sparked an idea, and Sandouidi worked with Lavoie, Bennett-Carpenter, and Cranbrook to set up a sister weaving studio in her village of Namtenga. Using funding from Cranbrook,

Where do these fabrics come from? How do they make their way into our lives? And what are they trying to tell us?

But as is often the case with long-distance cultural exchange, there is the chance of messages being lost in translation. Fabrics from Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, and other countries are designed and executed with many layers of meaning, sometimes obscured by the beauty and aesthetic value of these fabrics as objects.

This direct international exchange has fostered ongoing communication between Cranbrook Schools and Namtenga, and despite the very recent passing of Mike Lavoie, there is much hope that these institutions will remain bound together.

A more typical route for fabrics is through retail importers, such as Yemisi Bamisaye, owner of

Though these mostly mass-manufactured fabrics are associated with African nations, they are in fact part of a

Some fabrics have general meanings, associated with specific rituals or social occasions.





Lets say youre single, says Bamisaye, and you are at the age of marriage and suitors are supposed to be comingthere are fabrics with designs on it that are made for that purpose, such that when you tie your wrap on, the men know that youre available.

Theres a tribe in Nigeria called Ibo [also sometimes Igbo], she continues, Their fabrics that look like a fan of peacock feathersthey wear that fabric when everything is ripe on the farm, and they have a celebration like a festival. They make it into two wrappers and tie it on top of each otherone long and one short oneand then wear the blouse, and thats what they wear for the celebration of the harvest, in Ibo land.

Other types of fabric have an even more codified vocabulary, such as Kente cloth from Ghana, any piece of which employs a combination of

This is the symbol of learning from the past, said Bamisaye, pointing out one of the designs. Return and get it means the ability for you to learn something today and remember it in future. So that would be appropriate to put on clothing for kids that are going to school or people that are learning some kind of tradethat would be perfect for them.

There is a sense that the use of these symbols calls a particular energy to the wearer of the fabric, to support activities like learning, seeking love, or becoming pregnant.

Of course, many of these specifics may be lost when it comes to the people who purchase these fabrics for their own projectsbut sometimes the assignment of ones own meaning is as significant as the original intentions.

Ypsilanti-based master quilter





It was hard for me to cut up the [African] fabrics, says Fleming, "partly because I found the designs so characteristic of the cultureand because the colors are hard to match. Its definitely more clothing material than quilting, because you lose a lot of those vivid designs when you start cutting it up.

Nonetheless, among Flemings many exquisite finished pieces and works in progress are at least a few that use African fabrics, as well as those that directly reference a more localized history of African Americans in our country.

In my library there, theres a picture of a quilt believed to be made by an enslaved young girl, she says, unfolding a flowery composition in purples and magenta, so this honors her work. The picture was there, so I managed to replicate her pattern.

Its clear that Fleming regards certain pieces of fabrics nearly as complete works in their own rightshe recognizes the craft in mudcloth, one artist to anotherand others more as the raw materials to be transformed into her own compositions.

There are two women that work in Ghana, says Fleming, showing a bright quilt thats a series of concentric squares. Their organization is called Ghanathey learned a traditional dyeing technique, and what they do is bring it back and sell it here, and the money goes back into furthering their endeavors. Theyve built small schools, they provide nets for the women, small animals for their farm. So this honors what theyre doing.



Photos of Namtenga courtesy of Cranbrook. All other photos by Sarah Rose Sharp.
MASON CITY | The Mason City School Board has selected Dave Versteeg as the district's superintendent.

Versteeg, who has 30 years of experience in education, has been superintendent of Montezuma Schools since 2007. The 500-student district is located in southeastern Iowa.

The School Board during a 6:45 a.m. open meeting Thursday approved his appointment and contract for the 2017-18 academic year.

"I'm tremendously honored and humbled this board has given me the opportunity to lead Mason City Schools, which is an excellent school district," Versteeg said Thursday morning.

Versteeg will receive a salary of $172,500 his first year of employment, according to his contract, which begins July 1, 2017. The contract states the salary for his second year will be "mutually agreed upon."

His contract  two years, non-rolling  is typical of that offered to superintendents new to a district.

Versteeg's appointment and contract was approved 5-2, with board members Paul DeRoy and Scott Warren voting against the motions.

After the meeting, Warren said he voted the way he did because he was pleased with Interim Superintendent Mike Penca's performance.

"I thought Mike was a known commodity and felt very comfortable with him," Warren said. "I thought his performance was good enough."

DeRoy did not respond to two phone messages left by the Globe Gazette Thursday.

Board member Brent Seaton, who voted to approve Versteeg's appointment, said during the meeting he thought Penca's performance had been exemplary.

"Mr. Penca has done an excellent job through his time serving as superintendent," he said.

Other board members said during the meeting choosing between Versteeg and Penca was a difficult decision.

"This was not an easy thing for any of us," Board Vice President Lorrie Lala said, noting she based her decision on what she thought was best for Mason City Schools.

"In the end, I liked the experience Mr. Versteeg would bring to the district," she said.

Board President Janna Arndt said she was impressed with Versteeg turning around a district that was struggling financially and academically, while board member Jodi Draper said input from community stakeholder groups was her deciding factor.

Both candidates interviewed with two groups of community members, students, staff and administrators on Monday, who filled out evaluation forms.

"Versteeg seems like a very solid candidate," Arndt said after the meeting. "He's proven he can change things around at a school, and we're excited to work with him."

Penca will continue his position through June 30, 2017. It is unclear if his employment with Mason City Schools will continue after that date, as Arndt had no comment regarding his future with the district.

His previous position, executive director of learning supports and elementary programs, was filled after Penca became the district's interim leader in June 2016.

He has been with the district since 1995, working as a teacher, principal and district administrator. His wife, Kristine, is a longtime district educator who currently teaches fifth grade at Lincoln Intermediate.

In remarks he shared with district staff members later Thursday, Penca said he was "surprised and disappointed" by the Board's decision, that he would assist with the transition over the next six months, and that he'd be looking for another opportunity outside of Mason City Schools.

"When I review the qualities the Board, staff and community desired in a superintendent ... and when I reflect about the feedback I have received from the Board, staff and community during my six months as superintendent , it is challenging to accept the explanation of the decision coming down to responses to interview questions and years of experience as a superintendent," he said.

"I wish more focus had been given to how I have demonstrated those desired qualities and my leadership experience for many years right here in Mason City. I respect the Boards decision, understand it was not an easy one to make, and know they have the best interests of our students and community in mind."
Thirty University of Michigan-Dearborn students, all residents of the Union at Dearborn, were selected to take part in a research study conducted by automotive supplier DENSO International America, Inc. in partnership with the Detroit-based advanced energy and mobility technologies accelerator NextEnergy.The study will analyze the car sharing habits of people who live, work, and frequent the same location. Students will be given near free reign over three Ford Focus electric vehicles, requiring only that they reserve the vehicles through a custom third-party reservation app. They're permitted to take the cars wherever they please, from dinner dates with friends to concerts downtown, from grocery stores to trips back home.Students are even allowed to leave the state with the cars, but they're not allowed to leave the continental United States with the vehicles."MDrive is a great opportunity for University of Michigan-Dearborn students to participate in an eco-friendly, alternative transportation option on campus," Chancellor Daniel Little says in a statement. "Our students will be one of the few who have the potential to influence the new technology decision-making process for vehicle sharing products, services, and business models."On-board diagnostics equipment and cameras have been installed in the cars, enabling DENSO to collect real-time data and record user experiences. DENSO also installed three charging stations at three parking spaces for the electric vehicles.In return for the use of the cars, students are required to answer short surveys after each trip. A weekly discussion board will also be held.According to Michael Bima, a lead engineer in the North American Research and Engineering Center at DENSO International America, "Our goal is to learn more about what technologies are most needed in car share vehicles of the future. And this will help us collect user feedback to design products for the car sharing market."Got a development news story to share? Email MJ Galbraith here or send him a tweet @mikegalbraith
Former astronaut and U.S. Sen. John Glenn, 95, has died in his home state of Ohio after being hospitalized more than a week.

"John Glenn is the last of the original seven American astronauts who truly had the 'right stuff.' On top of paving the way for the rest of us, he was also a first-class gentleman and an unabashed patriot," U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, said in a statement.

The first American to orbit Earth "died peacefully," a statement from his family and Ohio State University said. "He left this Earth for the third time as a happy and fulfilled person," the statement said.

Glenn's 4-hour, 55-minute spaceflight on Feb. 20, 1962 marked a turning point in the tense race with the Soviet Union to develop missiles capable of precision strikes across the continents. Space was where the technology was showcased and until Glenn's flight, America was behind.

The Soviets had launched the first satellite, Sputnik, on Oct. 4, 1957, the first animal (a dog named Laika) on Nov. 3, 1957, and then the first person, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, on April 12, 1961.

RELATED: How John Glenn Drew the First Orbital Flight

"Sputnik was totally unexpected," historian Alan Marcus, now with Mississippi State University, said in an interview marking the 40th anniversary of Glenn's flight.

"Here were what we thought were these backward Russians putting up a satellite. Then came the Cuban missile crisis and we had this incredible tension between the Soviet Union and us. All these problems made Glenn's flight rewarding, but it was not the end-all be-all ... It was a step on the way to winning the Cold War," he said.
The enduring children's toy known as Silly Putty has long amazed kids and scientists alike with its strange properties. Also known as polysilicone, the putty acts like a liquid over long periods of time, but behaves like a solid otherwise. Depending on the force applied, it might bend, or bounce or break.

Researchers in Ireland announced this week that they've discovered still more profound weirdness in polysilicone putty. When infused with graphene - a form of carbon with some very strange qualities of its own - the putty conducted electricity and transformed into a super-sensitive sensing device.

In fact, according to the research team, polysilicone could potentially power whole new categories of medical sensors that monitor vital signs.

The researchers found that electrical resistance in the graphene-infused putty, dubbed G-putty for now, is extremely sensitive to the slightest physical pressure, deformation or impact. When applied to skin on the head or neck, the G-putty can be used to measure breathing, pulse and even blood pressure at levels "hundreds of times more sensitive" than traditional medical sensors, according to the research team.

Lead researcher Jonathan Coleman, professor in the School of Physics at Trinity College Dublin, said that the main applications for the technology will be in health monitoring and diagnostics. For instance, a permanent G-putty sensor on the skin could continuously monitor blood pressure and trigger early warnings for patients and doctors.

RELATED: Graphene-Laced Worm Food Produces Stronger Silk

"There is no current tech to do this. G-putty is the only mechanical sensor sensitive enough," Coleman said. "Basically, the electrical resistance of G-putty changes measurably in response to even the slightest pressure. Pressing against the skin at an artery, the pulsing of the blood can be turned into electrical signals."

Those signals could be fed into a lightweight device worn on the wrist, Coleman said, which would then translate the electrical resistance changes into diagnostic information, instantly and continuously. The key to the technology is the putty's high sensitivity, which can detect blood pressure levels without the squeezing of a traditional blood pressure monitor cuff.

"[The device] would send the data by Bluetooth to a smart phone where an app would do data processing, outputting heart rate and importantly blood pressure," Coleman said. "Current sensors can measure pulse but not blood pressure, at least not continuously. It takes a doctor or nurse a minute or two to do it."

In other tests unrelated to medical applications, the G-putty was found to be sensitive enough to register the individual footfall of a spider. All eight of them, presumably. This suggests that G-putty could have potential applications in other fields as well, although Coleman and the research team haven't mapped out any specific scenarios as of yet.

"The behavior we found with G-putty has not been found in any other composite material," Coleman said. "This unique discovery will open up major possibilities in sensor manufacturing worldwide."

RELATED: Battery-Free Graphene Devices Could Be Printed onto the Skin

The discovery of G-putty's electrical properties came after a postdoctoral researcher suggested mixing graphene and Silly Putty. It was essentially an accident, Coleman said, albeit the kinda-sorta deliberate accident that scientists like to encourage when mucking about in the lab.

"The inspiration was a playful one, as part of our 'kitchen physics' approach," Coleman said. "The student, Conor Boland, thought it might be fun and I agreed, thinking it might be useful for outreach. However, it quickly became clear that the composites had very interesting properties of their own."

That's Coleman in the image up top, along with his son Oisin.

"We do this stuff a lot for fun and to show that science doesn't always have to be complicated," he said.

Coleman's research, published in collaboration with Robert Young of the University of Manchester, appears this week in the journal Science.

WATCH VIDEO: Super-thin Graphene Means Super Power
Paris' famed "love locks"  padlocks attached to bridge rails by people in love, the keys thrown away to symbolize their enduring bond  are set to become a charitable commodity of sorts.

Officials in the city have announced they will sell tons of the locks and use the proceeds from the sales to help fund refugee groups, according to The Local.

The city will be able to draw on a vast store of merchandise for the effort, thanks to its removal in 2015 of more than 70 tons worth of locks from Paris bridges.

Though details of the process, expected to commence sometime in 2017, remain scant, the central idea is that citizens will be able to buy the locks in small groups or in bulk. The city hopes to raise about 100,000 (US$107,619) from the sale. Any locks that go unsold will be melted down and sold for scrap.

"All of the proceeds will be given to to those who work in support and in solidarity of the refugees in Paris," Paris City Hall Environment Chief Bruno Julliard told The Local.

RELATED: Germs, Not True Love, Make Humans Mate for Life

Paris isn't the only city that's experienced the love locks tradition. The practice, which often includes inscriptions written on the locks themselves, has spread to cities worldwide, including New York, Toronto and Vancouver, among many others.
As described in research published in the journal Geology , the duo identified 500 particles of dust that originate from asteroids and comets. But finding these cosmic artifacts in the dirt was just the beginning; their research has revealed some profound science about the space dust that is falling onto our heads right at this moment and could add another layer to our understanding about the building blocks of planets.

"Imagine somebody who has been sending you pictures every other week of something, and every time you look at them, you're like 'no, no, no, that's not it' and then after 5 years they send you a picture and it actually is the thing that you're looking for... that was the moment I went 'oh, my God! I should pay more attention to this guy!'" Genge added.

Now, with Genge's assistance, the pair have identified hundreds of particles that fell from space and have origins dating back to the birth of the solar system. Larsen documents his micrometeorite discoveries as part of Project Stardust .

"It was an amateur scientist, a chap called Jon Larsen who's actually quite a well-known jazz musician in Norway, who got interested in this and started collecting all the debris that ends up in the gutter," Genge told Seeker. After going through the debris found in the roof guttering from buildings in Oslo, Paris and Berlin, Larsen would send photos of interesting particles he'd find to Genge and, despite his pessimism that Larsen would ever uncover this unlikely quarry, he eventually struck gold.

In 2011, Larsen reached out to Matthew Genge, of Imperial College London , with his plan to find dust particles in this seemingly unlikely place. Though distinguishing space particles from the zoo of man-made dust particles in a city environment was considered too difficult, the hurdle didn't deter Larsen.

Through dogged determination, Jon Larsen has become driven to find space particles, which date back to when our sun was a baby, in the urban sediment that collects in the guttering of building rooftops. And, after he convinced a British planetary scientist to study his findings, years of work have finally paid off.

Our solar system is filled with dust from collisions between asteroids and venting from comets. The most visible sign of this dust encountering Earth are the meteor showers that light up the upper atmosphere as Earth orbits though one of the many dusty trails left behind these interplanetary vagabonds. However, the tiny particles that rain through the atmosphere as "shooting stars" burn up completely, leaving only a bright flash in their wake. Their journey comes to an abrupt end as a blaze of super-heated glory.

"These particles [in gutter sediment] are almost definitely not coming from meteor showers as that dust comes in too fast - it comes in at maybe 30 kilometers per second [67,000 miles per hour] - and it completely evaporates in the Earth's atmosphere," said Genges.

RELATED: Interstellar Dust Discovered Inside NASA Spacecraft

The gutter particles are thought to enter the atmosphere at a speed of around 12 kilometers per second (27,000 miles per hour) where atmospheric heating does inevitably heat up the particles, but the dust survives the fall. Judging by their size of around 0.3 millimeters, these are likely the fastest dust particles to survive the hot atmospheric entry, noted Genges. Through analysis of the 500 specimens, the researchers found there to be a mix of particles that originate from asteroids and others that originate from comets.

"We have found dust particles that we think come from comets and they are subtly different from those that come from asteroids ... they are carbon rich. Whereas the ones from asteroids look similar to the material from meteorites, that are also from asteroids," he added.

Separating the cosmic particles from plain old gutter dirt is no easy task, but the researchers used an important trait found in these space particles to their advantage - they contain minerals that make them magnetic. So, by magnetically separating the dirt under the microscope, these particles could be found.

"These [particles] are very similar to the cosmic dust from deep sea sediments," said Genges. "The main difference is that these are very young. Because they've been largely collected from roofs on commercial buildings, those buildings have their gutters cleaned at least every 3-5 years, so we know these [particles] have landed on Earth at least in the last 5 years. Whereas the particles found on the seabed are up to 50,000 years old. These are a sample of what's landing on Earth, practically today."

RELATED: Meteorites Peppered With Ancient Supernova Star Dust

As this dust has fallen to Earth within the last 5 years, the researchers could even deduce how the solar system dust falling on Earth has changed over the last million years. The dust found in city gutters contains fewer crystals than the dust that has been found in million-year-old ice Antarctica, for example, but the particles are remarkably similar to cosmic dust that fell onto Earth in medieval times.

According to an Imperial College London press release, the researchers think that the changes in dust particle structure could be down to very small orbital changes in the solar system's planets over millions of years. The slight gravitational disturbances likely change the trajectory of the interplanetary dust, causing it to hit the Earth's atmosphere at different speeds and angles. These slight changes can therefore influence how much heating is caused by atmospheric entry which, in turn, influences the size of the particles that make it to the ground and influence the shape of the crystals inside the microscopic grains.

In short, these tiny cosmic grains of dust hold an incredible amount of information about the state of the planets' orbits when they hit Earth, but they are also the very tiny fossilized remains of our solar system, emerging directly from the material in the nebula that went on to form our sun and the planets.

"The actual materials of comets and asteroids have a very long history; they date back to the birth of our solar system four and a half billion years ago," said Genges.

When Oscar Wilde composed his famous quote, "we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars," little did he know that, one day, a Norwegian amateur scientist would be looking for star dust in the gutter.

WATCH VIDEO: What Are Meteoroids?
HELENA - A new grant from Montanas Forests in Focus program will make homes safer, create well-paying jobs and improve forest health  all at the same time.

The $249,534 grant will be used to thin out dense forest to reduce the hazards posed by wildfire. Besides reducing the fuel load for any potential wildfire, the work will open up the forest, allowing more light and moisture in to nurture the trees that are left.

The work will create 17 jobs between this December and November of next year and will supply 3,166 tons of materials to local mills. The operation will take place on The Nature Conservancys Clearwater-Blackfoot Project and two neighboring properties located in the lower Blackfoot Valley, eight miles east of Bonner.

Jeff Holliday, the owner of Timber Trail and Spur, who will perform the thinning, took the initiative to connect the landowners and put together the successful proposal.

In the highly contentious world of logging and litigation this is a real gem that should be a model for states around the country. In the end, we are utilizing excess wildfire suppression money to improve Montana forests to the benefit of everyone and everything involved, said Holliday.

The Forests in Focus program is an initiative created by Governor Steve Bullock and is aimed at promoting sustainable forest management across the state. The program is funded by the Department of Natural Resources fire suppression fund.

In 2013, the Montana legislature passed a bill that allows some of these funds to be spent on fuels reduction and forest restoration. Key strategies of Forests in Focus are targeted at increasing the scale and pace of restoration on forests in Montana.

The states Forests in Focus Program is a wonderful way to bring together multiple landowners to reduce the fuels that feed wildfires that put homes, lives and habitat at risk, says landowner Dave Atkins, whose land will be part of the thinning operation under the grant. The governor and legislature are to be commended for working together to make this possible.

Thats a sentiment echoed by Chris Bryant, Western Montana Land Protection Director for The Nature Conservancy.

Governor Bullock has continued to demonstrate his commitment to sound forest management and rural economies through the Forest in Focus grant awards, said Bryant. The Conservancy is happy to have partnered with neighboring landowners and a local forester with the initiative to put this project together.

The ultimate goal of the operation is to restore the open, park-like condition of the fire-dependent ponderosa forests common before a century of fire suppression allowed them to become crowded with young and unhealthy Douglas firs.
Press Release

December 8, 2016 SEN. LEILA M. DE LIMA'S STATEMENT ON PRESIDENT DUTERTE'S ADMISSION TO ORDER THE MURDER OF ALBUERA MAYOR ROLANDO ESPINOSA SR. The President, in a speech yesterday, said: "Hindi ko pababayaan ang mga pulis na ito dahil ako ang may utos," referring to the CIDG team who, according to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), summarily executed Mayor Rolando Espinosa. That is an admission that he is the mastermind of such extra-judicial killing (EJK). That says it all about the EJK phenomenon. Together with Edgar Matobato's testimony on the Davao Death Squad (DDS), Duterte's admission seals his fate as the Father of all EJKs, first in Davao City, now throughout the entire Philippines, with the number of his victims now beyond the five thousand mark, and still rising. This also means that P/Supt. Marvin Marcos et al. comprise part of the expanded DDS, which is now national in scope and operation. Nothing can be clearer than that. What we now have is a Presidential Death Squad. The changes in Sen. Richard Gordon's EJK Report which I was not allowed to read and sign before it was released yesterday are now in order. There is no more basis to dismiss Matobato's testimony or to clear the President of his role in the EJKs. I think this also puts to a close the Senate investigation on who ordered the killing of Mayor Espinosa. Now we all know that the order and command to murder Espinosa in cold blood came from none other than the President himself. People of the Philippines, your President is a murderer. God bless us all in this season of Jesus Christ's birth, to remind us of our humanity as a religious and God-fearing people, whether as Christians or Muslims. Let us pray that our President finally sees the light and puts a stop to all the killings in time for Christmas. Let us pray that our President starts fearing God and respecting the gift of life in this season of love and hope.
Press Release

December 8, 2016 Opening Statement of Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon On behalf of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes and the Committee on Electoral Reforms and Peoples' Participation, the meeting is hereby called to order. Ladies and gentlemen: Today we shall discuss the four resolutions pertaining to the efforts to amend the Constitution: 1. Resolution of Both Houses No. 1, introduced by this representation, calls for a constitutional convention; 2. Resolution of Both Houses No. 2, introduced by Minority Leader Sen. Ralph Recto, asks Congress, as a constituent assembly, to amend certain economic provisions of the Constitution; 3. Joint Resolution No. 1, introduced by Sen. Richard Gordon, proposes that Congress amend the restrictive and anti-competitive economic provisions of the Constitution; and 4. Senate Bill No. 128 introduced by Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri calls for a constitutional convention Apart from this hearing, this Committee intends to conduct hearings in Baguio, Cebu and Cagayan de Oro, to get as wide a spectrum as possible of our people's views. In these hearings, your committee will determine first, whether or not we need to amend the Constitution; second, if there is such a need, what is the best mode of amending the charter: by calling for a constitutional convention, or a constituent assembly; and third, in a constituent assembly, how will the two houses of Congress vote, jointly or separately; and, can Congress, as a legislative body, limit the powers of a constituent assembly. These are the principal issues which this Committee will seek the counsel of its resource persons. Let me just state into the record some of the proposed amendments, which from media reports, would have interest in some quarters of our population . First, on the form of government. As we are all aware, there is a push to shift from a unitary to a federal form of government. Proponents argue that a federal system will build a just and enduring framework for peace, inclusive development and good governance, since it requires a great deal of cooperation, mutual support, and adjustments in the relation between the federal government and the states. Those who are opposed to the idea of federalism, on the other hand, argue that the federal structure will only serve to strengthen the power and political hold of local political dynasties and warlords. They also fear that a federal system will only pave the way for the fragmentation of an increasingly divided nation. Another proposal is to shift from the presidential system of government, which sometimes results in a gridlock between the legislative and the Executive branches, especially when the leadership of these two departments belong to different political parties. Advocates for a shift to the parliamentary system tell us that these gridlocks prejudice the common good and bring about bad governance, or politics of compromise. There are also those who would call to amend the economic provisions of our Constitution. Those who clamor for liberalization of our economy believe that easing economic restrictions will encourage more investors and further fuel economic growth. Among others, they seek to review the nationality requirements in the: (a) exploration, development, and utilization of natural resources; (b) transfer and conveyance of alienable land; (c) operation of public utilities; and (d) ownership of educational institutions and mass media. If your Committee is convinced that a constitutional amendment or revision is justified, it shall also propose the best mode to be adopted to carry out the changes - whether by Congress sitting as a Constituent Assembly, or in a Constitutional Convention to be called for the purpose. Those in favor of a Constituent Assembly prefer this mode because it is a faster, and less expensive process. Those who support calling for a Constitutional Convention, on the other hand, argue that cost should not be a factor when it comes to overhauling our Constitution. A Constitutional Convention will allow wider participation since delegates can come from various sectors. This lessens the likelihood of control by any ruling party, since the delegates will be elected in a non-partisan election. Finally, this Committee must determine the manner of voting of the two houses. Copied from the amendatory provision of the Batasang Pambansa, a unicameral body, the present Constitutional provision raises the question relevant to our current bicameral system: whether the Senate and House of Representatives must vote jointly or separately. For the record, President Rodrigo Duterte during the National Security Council meeting on July 27, 2016, expressed his preference for a Constituent Assembly, and agreed to a separate voting by the Senate and the House. It must be emphasized that amendments to the Constitution is a constituent function granted by the Constitution itself only to Congress, which amendments will become effective only upon ratification by the people in a plebiscite. Can Congress, as a legislative body, limit the powers of a constituent assembly by specifying which provisions can be amended? Or, are the powers of the constituent assembly plenary? To ensure that we engage the direct and active participation of Filipinos and cover the entire spectrum, we have invited representatives from the academe, business community, local government officials, civil society organizations, sectoral groups, and constitutional experts. Ladies and gentlemen, we live in very interesting times. I am sure all of us here are more than eager to step up to the plate. With that said, let us roll up our sleeves and get started.
Press Release

December 8, 2016 Transcript of Interview with Senate President Pro-Tempore Franklin M. Drilon Q: On the alleged plot against the president SFMD: The Liberal Party denies as totally unfounded the allegations that we are planning to oust the President. Wala pong katotohanan iyan. We respect the mandate of our people. But certainly we would state our positions on various positions na baka naman hindi sang-ayon doon sa position ng pangulo. Halimbawa po doon sa paglibing kay dating pangulong Marcos na hindi dapat ilibing sa Libingan ng mga Bayani, ganundin po ang posisyon ng pangulo ng Senado. So these are views that we expressed as a party and they have nothing to do with any plan allegedly to oust the president. We deny that categorically. Q: Even with that, you stay in the majority? SFMD: In the Senate, we voted for Pimentel. As the PDP laban, there is no formal coalition in the Senate. In fact, in the Senate, what has evolved is we decide on an issue-to-issue basis. For example, yung issue on Marcos' burial, the LP and its allies took the position that Marcos should not be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani, and the President of the Senate joined us there. Sa ibang issues, hindi po kami magkasalama ng pangulo ng senado. Ganon po ang dynamics sa senado. Because of the weakness of our political system, there's no party stand taken and the senators decide on their own. But there are no formal alliances in the Senate. Q: After hearing the inputs, sure na ba kung Con-con o Con-ass? SFMD: That is just the initial hearing. Mayroon pong apat na issue kaming iniharap sa ating mga resource persons. Unang-una, kailangan bang baguhin ang ating Saligang Batas at ano ang dapat baguhin? Ano ang pamamaraan - Constitutional convention o Constitutional assembly. Kung con-ass, dapat ba ang pagboto ng kongreso ay hiwalay? These are some of the issues that we have raised. The discussions on the substance of the amendments were only brought up to emphasize the need to amend the constitution. More detailed discussion will be held once we decided to amend the constitution. We will have more hearings, in Manila sometime in January, and at least three hearings outside of Metro Manila - Baguio, Cebu and Cagayan de Oro. But the committee is open to conduct more hearings outside of Manila. Q: Doon sa EO, hihintayin ba ng Senate yung review ng constitutional consultative... SFMD: Sa pagkakaintindi ko, ang gagawin doon ay pag-aaralan ang mga provisions sa Saligang Batas na kailangan baguhin...We do not have to wait and I don't think Malacanang expects us to wait for it which will be on the substances of the amendments. The position of Malacanang is that there is a need to amend the Constitution, and that is the first step to pass a resolution of both houses either calling for a con-con, or a con-ass. Q: Generally, ang opinion ng resource persons is kung con-ass, dapat voting separately? SFMD: Yes. If it is a constituent assembly as a mode, the Congress should vote separately. That's the consensus. And the President during the last National Security Council meeting also agreed with the proposition that the Congress should vote separately. Q: On the death penalty SFMD: I have not seen the House version. Q: Iba-block din ba ng LP yun? SFMD: The LPs' in the Senate will not vote in favor of the re-imposition of death penalty. We are against the re-imposition of death penalty. Q: Bukod sa LP, may iba pa bang sumasama sa inyo? SFMD: Meron pa but I'm not at the liberty to tell. Q: On why LP is against the re-imposition of death penalty? SFMD: Our less than ideal justice system can result in someone being executed when he was in fact innocent. The judicial process is something that is argued against the re-imposition of death penalty. Kapag nagkamali ka, hindi mo na pwedeng bawiin. Pangalawa, we are not convinced the re-imposition of death penalty is a deterrence to crime, especially that a punishment is effective is if the punishment can be said that dahilan sa may ginawa kang kasalanan ay kailangan kang parusahan. Subalit sa ating nakikita ngayon, taon ang lumalagpas bago makasuhan o mahatulan ang isang nasampahan ng kaso. By that time the people have already forgotten that the crime was committed and therefore, the desire deterrence when you impose a penalty becomes no longer effective. That goes back to our position that there must be reforms in our justice system before we even consider the re-imposition of death penalty because of the possibility of errors being committed, and you cannot correct the error once it is committed. Q: Yung tanong na may need bang baguhin ang Constitution, nasagot ba iyon kanina or may opposition? SFMD: I think the consensus is there is a need, after 30 years, to review the Constitution. Some quarters are saying we should review its provisions; others are saying we should review the form of government; and others are on the economic provision. Q: On President Duterte's statement on the NBI findings SFMD: As a former prosecutor, he knows that when a case is before a prosecutor, the prosecutor exercises quasi-judicial powers. Therefore, the prosecutor will decide the case without anyone controlling him. If a party is not satisfied with the prosecutor's decision, he should appeal with the Secretary of Justice. We therefore appeal to the President being a former prosecutor to allow the process to proceed. Ibig sabihin, hayaan mo na ang fiscal na suriin ang ebidensiya na ihaharap ng NBI. If the prosecutor, if the fiscal, decides, that decision is always appealable to the Justice Secretary. Therefor, we appeal to the president to allow the process to proceed. If after the trial in court, the police officers are found guilty, and the President is not satisfied with that finding, he can always pardon the accused. That is the process. But at this stage, I would appeal to the president to let the process proceed. And we do recall that his secretary of justice expressed the view that the killing of Mayor Espinosa is premeditated. Hindi ko ngayon alam ang gagawin ni Sec. Aguirre dahilan po na sinabi niya na premeditated ang pagpatay kay Mayor Espinosa. I would want to seek a clarification kung ano ba ang ibig sabihin ng pangulo. Q: Sir, sinabi naman ng pangulo na hindi siya mag-intervene sa process, pero itong statements na seemingly absolving the police is considered an intervention na rin? SFMD: I would limit my statement to let the process take its course. That is the best way to determine is guilty of the crime charged. Kaya may proseso tayo para malaman kung dapat parusahan o hindi. Dahilan sa ganitong proseso, lalabas ang katotohanan.
Press Release

December 8, 2016 Hontiveros: Death penalty and lowering age of criminal liability will create "death row kids" A progressive senator strongly opposed to the government's plan to reimpose the death penalty and lower the age of criminal liability expressed alarm that the simultaneous efforts to reinstate the death penalty and lower the age of criminal liability will result in minors landing on death row. In a press conference organized by Amnesty International-Philippines, Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros said that the death penalty and the age of criminal liability lowered from 15 to 9 is a "deadly combination that will condemn Filipino children to a dark and sinister future in which they will become death row kids." Hontiveros also expressed serious concerns that the consolidated death penalty bill contradicts the government's supposed rehabilitation and reformation programs for convicted drug users and criminals. "The broad scope of crimes punishable by death, including the mere possession of illegal drugs, is extremely bothering. What is therefore the point of building a mega-drug rehabilitation center in Nueva Ecija if the government wants all the drug addicts killed anyway?" the senator asked. It was reported that the death penalty bill is now slated for plenary debates after the House justice committee on Wednesday approved the consolidated bill. It enumerated the following crimes punishable by death, namely: treason; piracy in general and mutiny on the high seas or in Philippine water; qualified piracy; qualified bribery; parricide; murder; infanticide; rape; kidnapping and serious illegal detention; robbery with violence against or intimidation of persons; destructive arson; plunder; possession of dangerous drugs; Carnapping, among others. The mode of capital punishment could either be through hanging, by firing squad or lethal injection. Hontiveros said that there are no empirical proof that shows that death penalty is an effective deterrent against crime. She also said that the death penalty is a cruel, inhumane and degrading punishment, which has a disproportionate impact on the poor and little guarantee that innocent people would not be sentenced to death. "Who could forget Flor Contemplacion and the ongoing case of Mary Jane Veloso? In fact, some of our national heroes were victims of the death penalty themselves. Dr. Jose Rizal and the Gomburza priests were executed by firing squad and garrote respectively simply for standing up for equal rights, freedom and democracy," Hontiveros said. The senator also drew attention to reports that the House Committee on Justice Subcommittee on Correctional Reforms has already conducted hearings on the bills seeking to lower the age of criminal liability. She said that this is against the country's international treaty obligations and will only push children already in conflict with the law to a life of hard crime. "Putting children aged 9, who are not psychologically developed enough to understand the nature of crimes, in prison will merely turn them into hardened criminals. It will only stigmatize them and trigger repeat offense. What they need is to recover their sense of dignity and self-worth through rehabilitation and education programs under a fully-implemented Juvenile Justice Law," Hontiveros said.
POE PITCHES FOI IN OPEN GOV'T PARTNERSHIP GLOBAL SUMMIT

Sen. Grace Poe has vowed to push for the approval of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill in an effort to promote good governance in the bureaucracy.

Poe, as delegate of the Philippine Senate in the fourth Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Summit in Paris, France from Dec. 7-9, has committed to push for the FOI to institutionalize the people's right to information on matters of public concern.

"This landmark legislation is important in ensuring a transparent government that involves citizens towards a corruption-free bureaucracy. We remain committed to empowering people and mainstreaming transparency across government and society," said Poe, champion of FOI in the Senate and principal author of the measure.

The Poe-sponsored Senate Bill No. 1208 is already up for plenary debates and expected to be passed early next year.

The measure also provides for mandatory disclosure of statements of assets, liabilities and net worth of public officials. Exempted from disclosure, however, are those that will compromise national security, defense, law enforcement operations, foreign relations, trade and economic secrets and the constitutional right to privacy and safety.

Under the legislation, jail time and fines will be imposed upon individuals who acted in bad faith over non-disclosure or those who wilfully destroy requested documents.

Launched in 2011, the OGP is a forum for sharing best practices which currently brings together 70 participating countries, NGOs and representatives from civil society in a collegial governance. Since then, participating countries made over 2,500 commitments to make their governments more open and accountable.

Budget Sec. Benjamin Diokno heads the Philippine delegation to the OGP summit, along with Presidential Communications Operations Office Sec. Martin Andanar, Cabinet Undersecretary Gloria Jumamil-Mercado and representatives from non-government organizations Budget Advocacy Group, Web Foundation, Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in East Asia and the Pacific, and Bantay Kita.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

When the second alarm buzzed his cell phone at 11:31 p.m. Friday, the Rev. Jayson Landeza got out of his bedclothes and into his turnout in the rectory of St. Benedict in East Oakland.

By the time hed driven his black Crown Victoria 10 minutes to the Ghost Ship fire, hed transformed himself from Catholic priest to minister of presence.

Thats his own patented job description where no sermonizing or administering of last rites is required. What he does is stand there with his coat open so his clerical collar is visible, with an open expression on his face to show that hes approachable.

We dont do the Catholic thing, he said in an interview Wednesday at the nearby Wendys which has served as his temporary sanctuary during the five days and nights he has been at the scene of the tragedy that claimed the lives of 36 people.

Im just here to listen to folks and attend to their basic needs, Landeza said.

When he was not at the scene of the fire, among first responders, onlookers and media from all over the world, he was back at the rectory in quiet prayer and reflection over what he had seen and heard and felt. Then hed go back and do it all over again, always maintaining an upbeat demeanor.

Im a happy person who likes to see the good in others, he said. And being able to express that provides a sense of care and compassion of something sacred to people in trauma.

Officially, Landeza is a volunteer chaplain for the Oakland Fire Department, Oakland Police Department and Alameda County Sheriffs Office, which also houses the county coroner. Unofficially, Landeza is the volunteer chaplain for anybody who needs him.

He brings a certain calm to situations, where families show up that are grieving, and its invaluable said J.D. Nelson, public information officer for the Sheriffs Office. As first responders, we dont always know what to say to somebody whos had this terrible situation. Some are better than others, but Father Landeza is as good as they get.

Among the first responders, the firefighters at Station 13, which is right behind the warehouse, rotated out after working on the fire and have not been back on duty. The coroners office has also worked in shifts.

But there has been no shift change for Landeza. He got there Friday night thinking it was just a warehouse fire and found an unexpected number of young people milling about outside. One of them said, Some of our friends are still inside that building, he said, and thats when he had a hunch he would be there all night.

He left Saturday morning to fulfill a prior commitment to officiate at a funeral in Hayward. But he came back Saturday afternoon and stayed through the evening. Another clergyman filled in for him at St. Benedicts so he could be at the Ghost Ship all day Sunday. And Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Police officers and firefighters will come up to me and say Jeez, you know, Ive got a kid the same age, and thats all they have to say.

In the first days after the fire, survivors had their own chaplains on duty in a Family Assistance Center across the street. But those chaplains dont have the access that Landeza has.

Aside from his official capacity, he grew up in Berkeley and attended St. Marys College High School there. Hes lived and served up and down the Interstate 880 corridor ever since, and seems to know everybody. Strangers would approach him to go take a photo of the fire scene, or ask him to place a flower at the door, just so they would have a sense of closure about the place where their loved one passed away.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Even after the coroners office had removed all the victims, the fire department and demolition crews had pulled out, and the family members were gone, there was Landeza, in his white helmet and turnout with the word chaplain in yellow letters on the back.

Just stand there and listen to people talk about whats going on, he says. Ministry of presence. Im not out here pushing anything.

On the afternoon of his fifth day, rain started to fall, and Landezas upbeat demeanor started to leak out.

Im exhausted, Im sad. Im tired, he said. No sleep. Too much caffeine.

So he left the site and drove his cop-style Crown Vic to visit his mother at a rest home four blocks away.

He told her that he loved her and continued on to his psychotherapists office.

I just needed to go work through my own grief, he said.

Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com Instagram: @sfchronicle_art
An early morning canoe ride Wednesday went horribly wrong when an Oakland man fell into the water and drowned near Calistoga while he was on a leadership retreat, officials said.

Lamerle Johnson, 45, drowned about 7:30 a.m. at a private lake on the 4000 block of Mountain Home Ranch Road, according to the Sonoma County Sheriffs Office.
Time has run out on Pebble Technology.

The Redwood City startup, a smartwatch pioneer that struggled against competition from Apple and Samsung, announced Wednesday that it is shutting down. Pebble will sell key assets to Fitbit, the San Francisco maker of health and fitness tracking wristbands.

Financial details were not announced, although Bloomberg News reported the purchase price was worth less than $40 million. Fitbit said it is only acquiring key employees, mainly software engineers, and Pebbles intellectual property, but not the companys lineup of watches.

The deal means the 2 million Pebble watches sold since 2013 could eventually stop working, although they will continue to function for the time being, the company said in a blog post.

Thank you all for being such loyal supporters and champions of the Pebble community and brand, the post said. However  due to various factors  Pebble is no longer able to operate as an independent entity. We have made the tough decision to shut down the company and no longer manufacture Pebble devices.

Pebble gained a following of technology enthusiasts with a record-setting Kickstarter fundraising campaign in 2012, three years before Apple attempted to make smartwatches fashionable to a wider audience with its Watch.

But Pebble was never able to expand beyond its base of early adopters, especially as Apple and Samsung put marketing muscle behind their products, and the popularity of specialty fitness trackers like Fitbit grew.

Research firm IDC said this week that Fitbit topped the overall smart wearables market in the third quarter, with a 23 percent share. But the company is struggling. Last month, it slashed its sales forecast for the crucial holiday period. Shares in Fitbit have fallen 73 percent this year.

The smartwatch market has also slumped. Apple Watch sales are down this year, and Lenovos Motorola brand has dropped out of the market. Most people simply arent finding reasons to buy them: Smartwatches are expensive, and they generally dont provide functions other than those already available in a cell phone.

The market slowdown particularly hurt Pebble, which did not have the resources to wait for things to pick up. That might not happen until 2019 or 2020, when other functions touted by smartwatch makers, such as controlling smart home devices and paying without a debit or credit card, become more readily available, said analyst Harry Wang, digital health research director for Parks Associates.

Its a sad story for such a pioneer in the wearables space, Wang said.

In March, Pebble laid off about 25 percent of its employees. But in May, the company introduced new models designed to emphasize fitness tracking in an attempt to lure some of Fitbits audience.

Part of the value of being in this crowded space is actually using other peoples research and development efforts and experimenting with them, CEO Eric Migicovsky said at the time. And weve had the chance to try all of them and see what works. What weve incorporated ... are some of the best elements of what smartwatches are today.

Migicovsky did not return an email message Wednesday.

Fitbit will now take over Pebbles research and development and use it for its own products, although the exact plans were not immediately clear. A Fitbit spokeswoman said most of Pebbles software engineers would be joining Fitbit.

Analysts said Fitbit made the deal to better compete with the Apple Watch.

The acquisition gives Fitbit an opportunity to expand outside the simple fitness band market, Jitesh Ubrani, IDCs senior research analyst for mobile device trackers, said in an email. They clearly have a strong presence in that space, but long-term growth within that segment is limited, as many watches are also incorporating similar technology and as adoption reaches saturation.

But Fitbit still faces the challenge that many other vendors are experiencing, and itll be important for them to separate the smartwatch from the smartphone as well as create useful experiences for the consumer, Ubrani said.

Pebble immediately stopped making and selling watches, and said warranty support for existing models is no longer available. Advance orders of its Pebble 2 model will not be charged to the buyers accounts and will not be shipped.

The company said Pebble devices will continue to work normally because no immediate changes to the Pebble user experience will happen at this time. However, it also warned that Pebble functionality or service quality may be reduced in the future.

A loyal community of third-party software developers helped Pebble build apps that ran on its operating system and could help Fitbit do the same with its future smartwatches. But now that Pebble is a failed brand, Wang said, he is skeptical that Fitbit can gain the trust of those developers.

It is imperative for Fitbit to restore confidence and trust among Pebbles developers by articulating a well-laid software strategy, Wang wrote in a research note.

Disappointment reigned on an online forum for Pebble developers. Meanwhile, some customers were sad but understanding.

Chris Porfido, 25, of West Chester, Pa., had paid $169 in a Kickstarter deal to buy the Pebble Time 2, which he expected to arrive in late November. He said he didnt like other smartwatches on the market, but that the Time 2 had the features and aesthetics he wanted. Im pretty disappointed, but I understand, they needed the money. They were having developmental issues, he said Wednesday. But theyre refunding my money. I wish them all the best.

Bloomberg reported that Migicovsky will join startup incubator Y Combinator as a partner. Kat Manalac of Y Combinator declined to comment.

San Francisco Chronicle

staff writer Trisha Thadani contributed to this report.

Benny Evangelista is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: bevangelista@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ChronicleBenny
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

It comes as no surprise when a request comes in from Joel McHale to bump up an interview after an abrupt change in his schedule. The 45-year-old comedian is a busy man.

McHale released a book last month titled Thanks for the Money, is the star of the new CBS sitcom The Great Indoors and is in the midst of a stand-up tour, which brings him back to Northern California for his last 2016 stop in the state on Saturday, Dec. 10, at Cache Creek Casinos Club 88.

This all comes after the father of two wrapped up the final season as longtime host of Es pop culture satire show, The Soup, last year.

But it seems the funnyman, who always manages to slip in a quick quip, has been going at this pace for years. Before his claim to mainstream fame as Jeff Winger on the NBC series Community, McHale had been appearing on comedy stages for years.

Ive been doing improv since the late 80s, McHale says. I dabbled in (stand-up) a little bit in the early 2000s. Then, once The Soup kicked in, I basically toured every weekend that I could.

His stand-up now is still informed by his time as Es snarky satirist, where the approach was to make fun of everything, including the networks own programming. In fact, that comedic bite helped land him the glitzy gig as host of the 2014 White House Correspondents Dinner, which he refers to as a testament to Americas greatness  where else can you tell a drone joke to your presidents face and walk off scot-free, with a laughing Obama, no less?

It was an amazing thing that they did not check my jokes beforehand, he says. They never have, which is really extraordinary. The only person that I know thats been asked to do a certain thing, or not to do a certain thing, is Wanda Sykes. She was handed a note right before she got up, literally. It said, Please dont say the n-word, and that was it.

McHale acknowledges, however, that the rules might change under a Trump administration. Well see, he says. It will be really interesting.

Indeed, what 2017 holds will be interesting.

The Great Indoors, in which McHale plays a Generation X globe-trotting reporter forced to take an office job with a team of Millennials, was recently picked up for a full season  despite experiencing some backlash (a Variety reporter confronted the shows creator and cast during a question-and-answer session in early August over its perceived vendetta against Millennials).

For it to go from pilot to getting half a season order to a full season  its always surprising to me, because its such a competitive game, McHale says.

So hell keep grinding, which for McHale is nothing new.

Brandon Yu is a freelance writer.

Joel McHale: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10. $45-$65. Club 88, Cache Creek Casino Resort, 14455 Highway 16, Brooks, Yolo County. www.cachecreek.com
It takes precision to brew the perfect cup of tea. But to grow the leaves for that tea, especially in this country, requires exceedingly more: patience, copious money and a certain level of bullheadedness.

So Roy Fong has found out the hard way.

The founder of Imperial Tea Court, the venerated Chinese teahouse in San Franciscos Ferry Building and Berkeleys Gourmet Ghetto, Fong is on a remarkable journey to create what he hopes will one day be the highest-production tea farm in the United States.

In the spring, on his 23-acre farm in Esparto (Yolo County), he plans to nestle into the ground 2,000 plants of 20 different tea varietals, which he has carefully nurtured every step of the way. It would mark the beginning of what is believed to be only the second tea farm in California.

Getting to this point has taken three fitful years and $1.7 million of his own money. Along the way, Fong, 60, has weathered the death of thousands of tea plants as hes struggled to get them to grow, as they tend to do best in tropical regions with ample rainfall. Over the past year and a half, hes also endured his own personal struggles  heart ailments and a beating by robbers at gunpoint, all of which necessitated several surgeries and weeks of hospitalization.

Despite all that, Fong has no intention of pulling back on a dream thats been steeping ever since he opened his original Imperial Tea Court in San Franciscos Chinatown in 1993. Billed as the first traditional Chinese teahouse in the United States, it helped usher in a thirst for top-grade Chinese tea at a time when people were content drinking the lackluster free pots offered at restaurants.

Its been a lot of trial and error. Actually, more error than trial, Fong says about his tea farm. I just have a need at this point in my life. I need to be where the tea is in order to learn more about it. Its now or never.

Michael Short/Special To The Chronicle

In his grand plans, the farm would not only harvest, roll and dry the leaves, but also sell cuttings to people who want to grow their own tea plants. It would be a place where people could learn everything about tea  from its history to its soil specifications. The centerpiece would be a traditional teahouse, with a bridge arching over a koi pond, where tea would be served in the customary ceremony.

An ordained Daoist priest, Fong has faith it will all come to fruition, that he will be able to grow 10,000 plants per acre that could yield half a ton of tea per acre. If he succeeds, he would leave a major imprint on the tea industry in the United States, which remains modest. Most American tea farms are concentrated in the South and Hawaii, all of which are small producers, according to Tygh Walters, president of the U.S. League of Tea Growers.

The only other known California farm, Golden Feather Tea, was established six years ago by horticulturist Michael Fritts. With 500 plants on a half acre in the Sierra Foothills, the farm harvested its first tea this year, yielding just 6 pounds of oolong, which was sold to San Franciscos Lazy Bear restaurant.

The terroir of the Sierras is evident as soon as you smell it, says Joachim Hansen, Lazy Bears barista. Its earthy, with a sweet squash note that I find fascinating.

Unlike Fong, though, Fritts has had an easier time, opting to take a shortcut by buying from a nursery 3-year-old tea plants that grow well at higher elevations.

A purist at heart, Fong didnt want to pay upwards of $50 for a tea plant from online nurseries, especially when its genesis often was unclear.

He tried growing from seed to no avail. He brought seedlings back from China. Most died. Others survived, but didnt grow.

I called China for help and they just laughed at me. I even met with medicinal marijuana growers for help, Fong says. With our last batch of cuttings, I told myself if they dont grow, thats it.

But thats the batch that grew.

Fong gives much of the credit to his unlikely assistant  Robert Best, 76, a wise-cracking retired engineer and defense contractor whose beverage of choice is actually coffee. After learning that nobody in this country was growing tea on a mass scale, the engineer in him couldnt resist trying to figure out a way to do that.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

Roy said, I have a little project for you. It will take you only three months. Here I am, three years later! Best says. I know nothing about plants. So I look at it mechanically. What can I build to make the plant grow?

That includes a greenhouse, where the plants, sourced originally from cuttings from Hawaii and Asia, get their starts in hydroponic tanks designed by Best. After finding the water had too high of a pH level, Best installed a reverse osmosis filtering system and a swamp cooler, along with lights and fans to stimulate cultivation. Its all run by a computer system he rigged up.

Michael Short/Special To The Chronicle

Ponds, irrigation pipes, and solar panels also were installed. An 18,000-square-foot warehouse was built, replacing the Oakland one where Fong and his workers were held up last year by robbers who wrongly surmised it was full of marijuana.

It has not been an easy road. But in a year or so, Fong hopes to savor the rewards when he sips his first home-grown cup of a beverage that has captured his fancy ever since he was a boy in Hong Kong.

People say Im intense about tea, Fong says. But I didnt choose tea; it chose me.

Carolyn Jung is a Bay Area freelance writer. She blogs at FoodGal.com and is the author of the San Francisco Chefs Table. Email: food@sfchronicle.com
Jessica Chastains career so far has been a mix of mild successes and flat-out triumphs, but her performance in Miss Sloane stands as a particular highlight. The film calls for Chastain to enter into her fierce, hard-charging, single-minded mode, an aspect of her screen persona that weve seen recently in some of her supporting roles (Crimson Peak, A Most Violent Year). Here we get it full blast, in a movie in which her character is the star or subject of every scene.

She plays a Washington lobbyist in Miss Sloane, a workaholic who barely sleeps and eats only out of necessity, a strategic thinker who is always two or three moves ahead of her competitors. She is ruthless and secretive, ready to do anything to win. And she is rather amoral, but not completely. There are lines she wont cross and lines she will, and, for the audience, trying to figure out which lines are which is part of the fun.

It must be said: There is just something satisfying in watching an actress tear into a role like this. Its like a lioness chomping on a zebra. In Miss Sloane, Chastains lipstick is the color of fresh blood, and her skin is as pale as a vampires. Sometimes shes hard, sometimes shes soft, but she is always focused, in a performance thats more than a portrayal of female strength. Its a demonstration of it.

Shes great. The movie is merely good. Still, good is good, especially when it provides this kind of showcase. Miss Sloane (Chastain) is the leading talent in a lobbying firm that seems to have no fixed principles, though its ideology leans toward the conservative. In an early scene, a senator comes to her with a proposition. He wants her to work on a campaign to turn women against gun control. He gives her his reasoning, and she listens patiently, then laughs in his face. So thats one moral line she wont cross.

The story shakes down as a contest over some impending legislation surrounding the gun issue. A bill imposing mandatory wait times is about to go to the Senate, and two lobbying firms are doing battle to sway senators to their side. Miss Sloane, switching teams, leads the pro-gun-control forces, while her old firm  led by Sam Waterston at his coldest and Michael Stuhlbarg at his sleaziest  advocates for the gun lobby.

Two assumptions are implicit in Jonathan Pereras script, so understood by everyone in this world that they never need to be stated. The first is that whichever side has the most money is almost always going to win. And the second is that senators arent senators for the sake of doing anything. Theyre senators for the sake of keeping their jobs as senators. Theres not a principled politician in the entire film, and if this is anything like a real portrait of Washington life, things are even sadder than you think.

Perera is a first-time screenwriter, and director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) does his best to paper over weaknesses in the script. For example, though the movie is profoundly cynical about politics, theres a weird naivete in its presentation of personal relationships.

In one instance, Miss Sloane develops a cordial connection with one of her staffers (Gugu Mbatha-Raw)  a young woman who survived a high school massacre in the 1990s. Theres only the most casual kind of closeness between them, but the movie leans heavily on that relationship, assuming emotional depths that arent there, and assuming we care more than we do.

Also, despite the evocative brilliance of Chastains portrait, Miss Sloane remains a rather shadowy figure. We want to know more about her  not more details or history, necessarily, but more insight, more sides to her. With some movies, you get the feeling that the screenwriter told you all he knows, and he only knew just enough to get by. Miss Sloane gives you a little bit of that feeling.

All the same, Miss Sloane is one of the years handful of great actress vehicles, and Chastain takes this role by the throat, smashes it against the wall about 10 times and then devours it while its still quivering. You want to see star acting on a grand scale? Miss Sloane is the movie to see.

Mick LaSalle is The San Francisco Chronicles movie critic. Email: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MickLaSalle

Miss Sloane

Drama. Starring Jessica Chastain, Sam Waterston and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Directed by John Madden. (R. 132 minutes.)

To see a trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMUkfmUu44k
Photographer Amanda Kershaw liked to tell her friends after taking their pictures at underground concerts, Fridays are for dancing!

She was fond of photography, of walking around town, of insects and of fighting for the environment. She liked loud music in close quarters. And her black Canon Rebel camera always seemed to be strapped around her neck.

Kershaw, one of 36 people killed in Friday nights warehouse fire in Oakland, had a freelance photography business called Panda Snaps. Her pictures skillfully captured the essence of her subjects  a bridegroom nervously straightening his tie, a ballet dancer in mid-leap with legs horizontal, a DJ hovering above a turntable, a sweaty boxer preparing to launch a punch, a closeup of a frosted brown cupcake on a porcelain pedestal.

Photography was her passion, said her husband, Andrew Kershaw. She loved it. And she fell in love with San Francisco.

Amanda Kershaw, who was 34, grew up and attended high school in Chelmsford, Mass., northwest of Boston, and graduated from Bridgewater (Mass.) State University in 2004 with a degree in sociology. She came to San Francisco with her husband on Dec. 2, 2008  exactly eight years before the fire that took her life.

She soon found work at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, as an administrator in the entomology department. Before arriving at the museum, she had no particular passion for insects, but she learned to appreciate them, her husband said, and would invite friends on personal tours of the academys world-renown insect collection.

Shed show us all the specimens, and she had a good time doing it, he said.

Wandering around San Francisco ignited her passion for photography. Her husband bought her a professional camera.

She never had an interest before that, he said. She had no formal training. She was entirely self-taught. But she was able to capture people as their authentic selves. Thats what they always told her, anyway. Then theyd use her pictures on their profiles.

Her pictures often focused on music and dance shows. Her portfolio included a series of pictures of the hands of DJs floating above enormous control panels full of buttons and switches. She called those shots gear porn.

Ive always been fascinated by DJ hands, Amanda Kershaw wrote. The flick of a fader, the twirl of a knob, the mood of the dance floor at the will of twists and presses. Mixers and turntables are some of the instruments of choice for these nightlife heroes, conjuring beats in the midnight hours and beyond.

After leaving the museum in 2011, she worked for five years as a manager at the Trust for Conservation Innovation, an Oakland foundation that provided support and nonprofit status for small environmental groups.

She is survived by her parents, Linda Regan and Paul Allen, her twin brother, Patrick, and two other brothers, Christopher and Brandon, all of Massachusetts.

She was always the first one to show up on the dance floor, said her husband. Even if she was the only one. Shed always be there.

Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com
WILMINGTON, Del., Dec. 07, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rigrodsky & Long, P.A. announces that it has filed a class action complaint in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on behalf of holders of Chemtura Corporation (Chemtura) (NYSE:CHMT) common stock in connection with the proposed acquisition of Chemtura by Lanxess Deutschland GmbH (Lanxess) announced on September 26, 2016 (the Complaint). The Complaint, which alleges violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 against Chemtura, its Board of Directors (the Board), and Lanxess, is captioned Scarantino v. Chemtura Corporation, Case No. 2:16-cv-06051-ER.



If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiffs counsel, Seth D. Rigrodsky or Gina M. Serra, at Rigrodsky & Long, P.A., 2 Righter Parkway, Suite 120, Wilmington, DE 19803, by telephone at (888) 969-4242; by e-mail at info@rl-legal.com; or at: http://rigrodskylong.com/investigations/chemtura-corporation-chmt/.

On September 25, 2016, Chemtura entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the Merger Agreement) with Lanxess. Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, Lanxess will acquire Chemtura, and Chemtura shareholders will receive $33.50 per share in cash for each share of Chemtura that they own (the Proposed Transaction).

The Complaint alleges that, in an attempt to secure shareholder support for the Proposed Transaction, on November 4, 2016, defendants issued materially incomplete disclosures in a Proxy Statement (the Proxy Statement) filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The Proxy Statement, which recommends that Chemtura stockholders vote in favor of the Proposed Transaction, omits material information necessary to enable shareholders to make an informed decision as to how to vote on the Proposed Transaction, including material information with respect to the process and events leading up to the Proposed Transaction and the opinions and analyses of Chemturas financial advisor.

Plaintiff seeks injunctive and equitable relief and damages on behalf of holders of Chemtura common stock.

If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than February 5, 2017. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Any member of the proposed class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member.

Rigrodsky & Long, P.A., with offices in Wilmington, Delaware and Garden City, New York, regularly prosecutes securities class, derivative and direct actions, shareholder rights litigation, and corporate governance litigation, on behalf of shareholders in states and federal courts throughout the United States.

Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
In 1941, a surprise attack pulled the U.S. into the bloodiest war in the history of mankind.

The Chronicles front page from Dec. 8, 1941, covers the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, an act that brought the United States into the Second World War.

War struck suddenly and without warning from the sky and sea today at the Hawaiian Islands, and Japanese bombs took a heavy toll in American lives, the story read. Wave after wave of planes streamed over Oahu in an attack which the Army said started at 8:10 a.m. Honolulu time, and which ended around 9:25, an hour and 15 minutes later.

In that short time, the Japanese laid waste to the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor. More than 2,400 U.S. personnel were killed and nearly 1,200 were wounded. Four of the eight battleships there were sunk, one forever  the USS Arizona. Nearly 200 aircraft were destroyed and an additional 160 aircraft and nine ships were damaged.

The attack on Hawaii heightened fears up and down the West Coast.

The West Coast, from San Diego to the Canadian line, and the entire Western Continental United States were swinging to a wartime basis within a few hours of the air attack on Hawaii by Japan, another story on the page read.

Air raid listening devices went into action. The fastest pursuit ships and bombers of the Army Air Corps were poised for any sign of raid by land, sea or air.

Leaves and furloughs of all officers and enlisted men of the 11th, 12th and 13th naval districts were canceled and the men ordered back to their ships.

While the nation awaited President Franklin D. Roosevelts address a few hours after this edition hit newsstands, The Chronicles editors had their own message for readers. Here is the front-page editorial in its entirety:

By the act of Japan, America is at war. The time for debate has passed and the time for action has come. That action must be united and unanimous. Politics is adjourned, whether between partisan factions or economic groups. From now on America is an army with every man, woman and child a soldier in it, all joined to the one end of victory.

If war had come, it is perhaps well that it came this way, wanton, unwarned, in fraud and bad faith, virtually under a flag of truce. For in war there can be only one side in action, and now there is only one side in thought or feeling. Its slogan is, Americans unite, for victory and freedom.

We can not know how long this war will last, how wide it will range, nor what it will cost us, in toil, in sacrifice and in treasure. We do know that whatever the cost, we will pay it, and that our reward will be to hand down to our children the free America which our fathers bequeathed to us.

Americans, unite!

More from the Archive The Vault Home of the San Francisco Chronicle's archive and more than 150 years of journalism covering the Bay Area and beyond.

See more front pages: Go to SFChronicle.com/covers to search a database of hundreds of Chronicle Covers articles that showcase the newspapers history.

Chronicle Covers highlights one classic Chronicle newspaper page from our archive every day for 366 days. Library director Bill Van Niekerken and producers Kimberly Chua, Alexandra Irving and Jillian Sullivan contributed to the project. Tim ORourke is the executive producer and editor of SFChronicle.com. Email: torourke@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TimothyORourke

(Click to enlarge)




What was supposed to be a Wednesday news conference drawing attention to an allegedly unsafe warehouse similar to the one that burned down Friday night erupted into a shouting match between members of a longtime Oakland family business and artists who accused them of capitalizing on a tragedy to draw media attention to a dispute between neighbors.

The scene that unfolded inside Everett & Jones Barbeque in Jack London Square highlighted the clashing fears among community members, city officials and some business owners in the wake of the deadliest California fire in more than a century. While some fear the city fails to regulate unsafe warehouses used for public gatherings, others fear a crackdown could leave marginalized artists and musicians on the street.

Restaurant owner Dorothy King said the warehouse next door, the Salt Lick collective, hosts parties without proper licenses, allows people to live inside and has only one way in and one way out. She said she has complained about the place to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and other Oakland officials but has not filed a formal complaint  and that officials have done nothing.

Her comments, made in front of local and national TV cameras, drew objections from artists who attended the news conference. They disputed her allegations, saying there is a fire escape in addition to multiple entrance points. They questioned why King didnt meet with the group before airing her concerns publicly.

In a statement, Salt Lick members said Kings accusations were the wrong response to this tragedy, which killed 36 people during an electronic music party Friday night.

Kings suggestion that were indifferent or ignorant to the sort of conditions that contributed to our friends deaths is incredibly insensitive, especially when were grieving, the statement said.

But King, her daughter Nina Moore and their relatives said their goal was to push the city for more affordable housing and cooperative homes, not evictions.

My friends died, musician B. G. Anaraki said to King as TV cameras closed in on their face-to-face argument. You are hurting us You shouldve waited longer. Its too fresh.

Another artist, 20-year-old Carl Patrick, blamed the media, shouting at reporters, You should be ashamed of yourselves. Go home, put your cameras down, and join us in grieving or shut your mouths. You dont know anything youre talking about.

Outside, though, in a bizarre end to the emotional news conference, Patrick and Moore embraced, agreeing on the need to counteract the forces of gentrification and for artists to remain in Oakland. We are here because theyre pushing us out  you guys who make Oakland beautiful, Moore said. Without art, there is no Oakland.

Kimberley Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email kveklerov@sfchronicle.com @kveklerov
Denisse Rojas arrived in the United States when she was just 10 months old, brought here from Mexico as an undocumented immigrant to find a better life.

This young woman is the human face of a federal program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. This program temporarily halts the threat of deportation for young people who arrived before their 16th birthday and provides them with a work permit and documents needed to enroll in college.

Rojas family is similar to many undocumented families. After they arrived in Fremont, her father worked full-time in a restaurant while pursuing his high-school diploma at night. Her mother attended community college part-time for seven years to earn her nursing degree.

Rojas excelled in high school and attended UC Berkeley to study biology. She worked as a waitress and commuted an hour each way to classes because she couldnt afford to live near campus. After graduation, she volunteered at San Francisco General Hospital.

Rojas dreamed of going to medical school, driven in part by a family members early death from cancer. The disease was diagnosed at a late stage because the familys immigration status made it impossible to afford health insurance.

Today, Rojas is enrolled at the New Yorks Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai where shes on track to earn her degree in 2019. She intends to specialize in emergency medicine and work in low-income communities to provide health care to families like her own that would otherwise go without necessary treatment.

The deferred action program offers opportunities to many thousands of students like Rojas, young people who have only known the United States as their home. These young people are fiercely patriotic. They are undocumented through no choice of their own. They were educated here, they work here and they contribute to communities across America. They want to feel accepted and integrated into American society.

Around 750,000 young people nationwide have been admitted to the program and 359,000 of these so-called Dreamers  nearly half  live, work and are educated in California. Each participant in the program had to submit an application to the Department of Homeland Security and undergo a vetting process to ensure they were qualified.

But during his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump threatened to immediately rescind the deferred action program. That threat is compounded by the fact that registering for the program meant millions of Dreamers trusted the government with their addresses, family details and other personal information.

The fear that Dreamers and their families can be targeted for deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement is real.

My office has received more than 33,000 calls and emails from Californians afraid of how minorities, including Dreamers and undocumented immigrants, will be treated under a Trump administration.

A professor from the University of San Francisco shared that after election day a student sobbed in her arms. A father from Pasadena expressed his fear that his two adoptive sons would be deported. A wife from Forest Lake (Orange County) feared that her husbands temporary status would be revoked and their family separated.

This is unacceptable and not the America I know.

Upon his election, President-elect Trump said he wants to be the president for all Americans. Unequivocally stating that he will not overturn the deferred action program and target Dreamers like Rojas for deportation would send a strong message that hes serious about turning the page from the toxic campaign rhetoric to governing the nation.

In the event that President-elect Trump does not change course, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has committed to introducing legislation with Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., to extend deferred action status.

I intend to join that effort to protect the more than 350,000 law-abiding young people who are living, working and being educated in the state of California. We have a moral obligation to do all we can to shield them from deportation and keep their families together.

Dianne Feinstein represents California in the U.S. Senate.
Donald J. Trump did America a huge favor by winning the White House in November. If Hillary Clinton had won, there would have been little stopping America from turning into a one-party country, a national political equivalent of California. As it is, California is turning into San Francisco, where outsiders stand zero chance of penetrating the liberal-only wall that surrounds City Hall.

What does it mean to live in a one-party state? Donors and insiders decide elections and stack the decks.

Consider the only statewide office for which Californians voted this year  the U.S. Senate seat won by state Attorney General Kamala Harris. That race was decided in January 2015 when Sen. Barbara Boxer announced her retirement and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom phoned Harris to inform her he would not run for Boxers seat because he plans to run for governor in 2018. Harris enlisted a crack team of political consultants (who also have worked for Newsom and Gov. Jerry Brown) and she owned the field.

Harris now likely owns that seat for life. Many tried to unseat Boxer and Sen. Dianne Feinstein since they first won their seats in 1992, but no rival came close.

In a one-party ,state elections are boring and fewer people vote. In 2014, with Democrats only running for top state offices, California saw a record low electorate turnout of 42 percent. Mindy Romero, director of the California Civic Engagement Project at UC Davis, crunched the numbers and found that only 8.2 percent of Californians age 18 to 24 cast a ballot in November 2014.

In a one-party state, there is no such thing as a temporary tax hike. In 2012, Brown brought before voters a ballot measure to raise income and sales taxes designed to balance a state budget burdened with a $25 billion shortfall. He promised the measure would not be permanent. This year the usual big government groups put Proposition 55 on the ballot to extend the 2012 tax hike for the states 1.5 percent highest income earners. Because only a sliver of Californians make enough to feel that squeeze, it was no surprise that 63 percent of voters approved the measure.

In a one-party state, the party in power stacks the deck in its favor. In 2011, the Legislature and the governor determined that ballot measures would no longer go before voters in June, but in November only. Voters have to wade through the ballot measures all at once because crammed voting benefits Democrats in the Capitol.

The air of unaccountability permeates everything. For example, this year Brown signed a bill that allowed felons to vote from jail while serving their felony sentence. Hmmm. I wonder which party expects to benefit.

On paper, a Trump presidency with a GOP Senate and House may look like one-party rule  except that Trump has no problem messing with his partys leaders or cozying up across the aisle. He has written checks for the campaigns of Harris, Newsom and Brown. Before he is a Republican, you see, the showman is a party of one. And thats not all bad.

Debra J. Saunders is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dsaunders@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DebraJSaunders
James Tensuan/The Chronicle

Craig Slaight, who as director of American Conservatory Theaters Young Conservatory can name such stars as Beth Behrs, Darren Criss, Brie Larson, Winona Ryder and Zendaya as students, will step down from his position in May 2017.

When Slaight took over the Young Conservatory in 1988, he had a hands-on approach, teaching in all the programs and becoming a resident director on the mainstage. He also started the Young Conservatorys New Plays Program in 1989, in which professional playwrights worked with the students to develop new works.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

The fear felt in San Francisco after Pearl Harbor is often forgotten.

When the Japanese attacked Hawaii, many people thought the Bay Area would be the next target. The Chronicle has been writing stories about this time to mark the 75th anniversary of the event, and while helping with the research Ive found dozens of great photos and articles from the time that havent been seen in decades. Many are included here.

In December 1941, thousands of men flooded local recruitment offices to join the military, and thousands more San Franciscans rushed to volunteer for the Civil Defense department. Residents across San Francisco and surrounding areas prepared for a surprise Japanese attack and were ready for war.

On the night of Dec. 8, air-raid sirens went off four times, with unidentified aircraft reported over the city. San Francisco blacked out all lighting, businesses, homes, streetlights and cars throughout the city.

While Mayor Angelo Rossi congratulated city residents on their first attempt at a blackout, it was blasted as a flop by Lt. Gen. John DeWitt, commander of the Fourth Army. DeWitt said, You people do not seem to realize we are at war.

So get this: Last night, there were planes over this community, he said. They were enemy planes. Why bombs were not dropped, I dont know.

San Francisco and the Bay Area would pull together. The Chronicle reported Dec. 14 that both DeWitt and Police Chief Charles Dullea were pleased by the citys response to the successive blackout calls. An evacuation plan, should San Francisco have needed it, was prepared as well.

By Jan. 1, 1942, more than 50,000 civilian volunteers were registered, with men and women being fed rapidly into various raid services. Dullea, then head of Civilian Defense, said, Were in better shape than most people realize.

The American Womens Voluntary Service would do its part, too. In the first year after Pearl Harbor, the San Francisco faction sold $8 million worth of war bonds, trained more than 3,600 air-raid wardens, placed almost 10,000 women in civil defense, and sent over a thousand women to farms to help harvest crops.

Air-raid wardens, police officers, firefighters and the American Womens Voluntary Service would help lead San Francisco and the Bay Area through four years of difficult wartime existence, and an all-out surprise enemy attack would never come.

Bill Van Niekerken is the library director of The San Francisco Chronicle, where he has worked since 1985. In his weekly column, From the Archive, he explores the depths of The Chronicles vast photography archive in search of interesting historical tales related to the city by the bay.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Los Cabos recovery from the ravages of Hurricane Odile in September 2014 has a familiar ring: a history-making storm, abject hardship, obstinate resilience and a lightning-quick rebound.

Like Cancun in the wake of Hurricane Wilma in 2005, Los Cabos has seized the opportunity to temper its renowned party-hearty madness by up-scaling. Not only has it undertaken renovations, it is adding such icons of luxury as Vievage Los Cabos from Auberge resorts, the stylish JW Marriott, Ritz-Carlton Reserve and Starwoods Solaz.

But travelers worried that Los Cabos is becoming even more like Cancun and less like Mexico actually have ample opportunity to experience the countrys true spirit, nature and culture. A break from the manufactured fun is easiest in quieter, more traditional San Jose del Cabo, but also possible in Cabo San Lucas.

 Christine Delsol, travel@sfchronicle.com

Morning

Early in the morning, start on the west side of San Jose at the Mercado Municipal, a classic market where locals snag well-priced fresh meats and produce, clothing and sundries. Fortify yourself for the day at the bank of inexpensive loncherias.

Follow up with a walk along Estero San Jose, where the freshwater Rio San Jose meets the Pacific. The Paseo del Estero footpath will take you south to a peaceful, palm-fringed lagoon at the mouth of the river that hosts hundreds of species of birds.

When you return, linger for a while in Plaza Mijares, a plaza shaded by ancient trees that exude colonial atmosphere and relaxed attitude. Behind the church on the square, most of the galleries in the burgeoning arts district, largely responsible for the towns reputation as the cultural heart of Los Cabos, should be open.

Midday

Its time to get out on the water, and December through March is prime time for spotting Cabos cavorting humpback whales. Cabo Adventures offers two-hour photo safari tours. If you can clear most of the day, theyll also take you on a whale shark excursion during the same seasons, allowing passengers to snorkel with the oceans largest fish.

At any time of year, various types of vessels take passengers to one of the Wests genuinely iconic landmarks, El Arco. The most popular conveyance to the arch carved into stone currently is glass-bottom boats, which depart on one-hour tours from Cabo San Lucas marina throughout the day. The sight is grand enough to transcend the touristy nature of the flotilla of tourist-laden boats.

Afternoon

Among Los Cabos famous beaches, Zippers, at mile 17 in the Cabo Corridor between San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas, is the one most favored by surfers, and therefore by spectators. But for sheer romance, the aptly named Playa Amor, or Lovers Beach, cant be beat.

Except at very low tide, its accessible only by water taxi. The wide, immaculate sands spread across the cape behind El Arco and become Divorce Beach on the Pacific side. Despite its depressing name, it presents some of the best sunsets youll ever see.

Just keep your wits about you to be sure you meet your boatman at the right time and place for the return trip.

Evening

Depending on your mood, dinner might be in one of the temples to Cabos growing culinary prowess or just a simple little place that serves delicious, authentic Mexican fare. Afterward, in lieu of mixing it up with the determined drinkers at Cabo Wabo or joining a conga line at Squid Roe, there are more sedate and, well, adult nightlife options, even in Cabo San Lucas.

J&J La Casa del Habano is Cabos best, if not only, purveyor of authentic Cuban cigars, and it also sells a dizzying array of artisan Tequilas. Sip a specialty mojito with (or without) your cigar, or ask for a tasting  seven half-ounce shots. Baja Brewing, the peninsulas first microbrewery, has two cantinas in Cabo San Lucas, as well as its brewery and restaurant in San Jose del Cabos arts district. Either one will send you to bed happy.

If you go

Where to stay

Casa Natalia: San Jose del Cabo; www.casanatalia.com

Where to eat

Las Guacamayas: Paseo de Los Marinos s/n, Mauricio Castro, San Jose del Cabo. Original in San Jose del Cabo, but there are two more in Cabo San Lucas.

What to do

San Jose del Cabo Gallery District: www.artcabo.com

Cabo Adventures: www.cabo-adventures.com

J&J La Casa de Habano: Cabo San Lucas; www.jnjcabo.com

Baja Brewery: www.bajabrewingcompany.com
Ultibro  Breezhaler  improved lung function and breathlessness after direct switch from long-acting bronchodilators or steroid-containing combination therapies



Results further support the 2017 GOLD recommendations that dual bronchodilation should be the foundation treatment for the majority of symptomatic COPD patients



Data from the pragmatic CRYSTAL study showcased for the first time at the 2016 British Thoracic Society Winter Meeting in London, UK

Basel, December 8, 2016 - Novartis today announced positive results from the first large-scale study exploring the effects of directly switching symptomatic, non-frequently exacerbating patients with moderate COPD from their current treatments, including steroid-containing combinations and long-acting bronchodilators, to the dual bronchodilator Ultibro Breezhaler (indacaterol/glycopyrronium) 110/50 mcg.

In the CRYSTAL study, patients with moderate COPD who were switched to Ultibro Breezhaler from their previous therapy (LABA+ICS* or LABA or LAMA***) experienced superior improvements in lung function (trough FEV 1 ) and breathlessness**** at week 12 (p<0.0001). Significantly, CRYSTAL is the first LABA/LAMA pragmatic trial, designed to mimic clinical practice, so treatment switching occurred without a washout period[1].

"Today's results are significant as they show for the first time the positive effect of directly switching to Ultibro Breezhaler from other COPD treatments, such as inhaled steroid-containing combination therapies," said Vasant Narasimhan, Global Head Drug Development and Chief Medical Officer for Novartis. "By showing that improved symptom control can be achieved through using Ultibro Breezhaler, the CRYSTAL study provides further support to limit the use of inhaled steroid-containing therapies to specific patient types that really need it."

Ultibro Breezhaler was also well tolerated in the CRYSTAL study[1].

About CRYSTAL

CRYSTAL was a prospective, multicenter, 12-week, randomized, pragmatic, open-label trial. Patients were recruited into four groups according to previous medication and symptoms, and randomized to a direct switch to Seebri Breezhaler (glycopyrronium) 50 mcg or Ultibro Breezhaler (indacaterol/glycopyrronium)110/50 mcg once daily vs. continuation of previous treatment. The study enrolled a total of 4,389 symptomatic, non-frequently exacerbating (up to one exacerbation in the previous year) patients with moderate COPD and 2,159 patients received Ultibro Breezhaler or continued their baseline therapy. The Seebri Breezhaler treatment arms of the study were underpowered due to sample size.

Co-primary objectives of the study were:

Superiority of Ultibro Breezhaler vs. LABA, LAMA and LABA+ICS in terms of improvement of lung function (trough FEV 1 ) and breathlessness (transition dyspnoea index) at week 12.

Superiority of Seebri Breezhaler vs. previous SABA and/or SAMA  treatment in terms of improvement of lung function (trough FEV 1 ) and breathlessness (transition dyspnoea index) at week 12

Non-inferiority of Seebri Breezhaler vs. previous LABA or LAMA treatment in terms of improvement of lung function (trough FEV 1 ) and breathlessness (transition dyspnoea index) at week 12.



About Ultibro Breezhaler

Ultibro Breezhaler (indacaterol/glycopyrronium) 110/50 mcg is a once-daily LABA/LAMA dual bronchodilator approved in the European Union (EU) as a maintenance bronchodilator treatment to relieve symptoms in adult patients with COPD[2]. Clinical trials have shown that it offers statistically significant improvements in bronchodilation compared to treatments widely used as current standards of care, including SFC 50/500 mcg[3]-[5] and open-label tiotropium (18 mcg). Ultibro Breezhaler is also currently the only steroid-free treatment to offer prescribers clinically proven superiority over the most prescribed ICS/LABA combination** in preventing COPD exacerbations[6]. Ultibro Breezhaler is currently approved for use in over 90 countries worldwide, including countries within the EU and Latin America, Japan, Canada, Switzerland and Australia.

About Seebri Breezhaler

Seebri Breezhaler (glycopyrronium) 50 mcg is a once-daily LAMA bronchodilator approved in the European Union (EU) as a maintenance bronchodilator treatment to relieve symptoms in adult patients with COPD[7]. Seebri Breezhaler is approved for use in over 90 countries, including countries within the EU and Latin America, Japan, Canada, Switzerland and Australia.

Glycopyrronium and certain use and formulation intellectual property were exclusively licensed to Novartis in April 2005 by Sosei and Vectura.

About the Novartis COPD portfolio

Novartis is committed to addressing the unmet medical needs of COPD patients and improving their quality of life by providing innovative medicines and devices. The Novartis COPD portfolio includes Ultibro Breezhaler (indacaterol/glycopyrronium), Seebri Breezhaler (glycopyrronium) and Onbrez Breezhaler/Arcapta Neohaler (indacaterol), which are all indicated as maintenance treatments for COPD patients.

Novartis continues development of respiratory products for delivery via the low resistance Breezhaler inhalation device, which makes it suitable for patients with different severities of airflow limitation[8]. The Breezhaler device allows patients to hear, feel and see that they have taken the full dose correctly[2],[8].

About COPD

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects an estimated 210 million people worldwide[9] and is the third leading cause of death[10]. It is progressive (usually gets worse over time), and can be a life-threatening disease[9],[11]. COPD makes it difficult to breathe, with symptoms that have a destructive impact on patients' function (i.e. activity limitation, decreased mobility) and quality of life[9],[11].

Disclaimer

The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by words such as "support," "recommendations," "should," "can," "committed," "continues," or similar terms, or by express or implied discussions regarding potential new indications or labeling for Ultibro Breezhaler and the other products in the Novartis COPD portfolio, or regarding potential future revenues from Ultibro Breezhaler and the other products in the Novartis COPD portfolio. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on the current beliefs and expectations of management regarding future events, and are subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. There can be no guarantee that Ultibro Breezhaler or the other products in the Novartis COPD portfolio will be submitted or approved for any additional indications or labeling in any market, or at any particular time. Nor can there be any guarantee that Ultibro Breezhaler or the other products in the Novartis COPD portfolio will be commercially successful in the future. In particular, management's expectations regarding Ultibro Breezhaler and the other products in the Novartis COPD portfolio could be affected by, among other things, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, including unexpected clinical trial results and additional analysis of existing clinical data; unexpected regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; the company's ability to obtain or maintain proprietary intellectual property protection; general economic and industry conditions; global trends toward health care cost containment, including ongoing pricing pressures; unexpected safety, quality or manufacturing issues, and other risks and factors referred to in Novartis AG's current Form 20-F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Novartis is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Novartis

Novartis provides innovative healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of patients and societies. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis offers a diversified portfolio to best meet these needs: innovative medicines, eye care and cost-saving generic pharmaceuticals. Novartis is the only global company with leading positions in these areas. In 2015, the Group achieved net sales of USD 49.4 billion, while R&D throughout the Group amounted to approximately USD 8.9 billion (USD 8.7 billion excluding impairment and amortization charges). Novartis Group companies employ approximately 118,000 full-time-equivalent associates. Novartis products are available in approximately 180 countries around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.novartis.com.

Novartis is on Twitter. Sign up to follow @Novartis at http://twitter.com/novartis

For Novartis multimedia content, please visit www.novartis.com/news/media-library

For questions about the site or required registration, please contact media.relations@novartis.com

Notes

* Long-acting beta 2 -adrenergic agonist + inhaled corticosteroid (free or fixed-dose combinations)

*** Long-acting muscarinic antagonist

**** Transition dyspnea index (TDI)

 Short-acting beta agonist and/or short-acting muscarinic antagonist

** Seretide Accuhaler (salmeterol/fluticasone) 50 microgram /500 microgram /dose inhalation powder. Seretide and Accuhaler are registered trademarks of the GlaxoSmithKline group of companies

References

[1] Vogelmeier C, Aalamian-Mattheis M, Greulich T, et al. Efficacy and safety of the direct switch from various previous treatments to glycopyrronium or indacaterol/glycopyrronium in patients with moderate COPD: The CRYSTAL Study. Abstract presented at the British Thoracic Society Winter Meeting: 6 December 2016

[2] Ultibro Breezhaler EU Summary of Product Characteristics. Available at: http://www.ema.europa.eu/docs/en_GB/document_library/EPAR_-_Product_Information/human/002679/WC500151255.pdf [Accessed 21 November 2016].

[3] Vogelmeier C, et al. Once-daily QVA149 provides clinically meaningful improvements in lung function and clinical outcomes versus placebo, indacaterol, glycopyrronium, tiotropium and salmeterol/fluticasone in patients with COPD. [ATS abstract 40759; Session C45; Date: May 21, 2013 Time: 8:15 -10:45].

[4] Vogelmeier C, et al. Once-daily QVA149 provides clinically meaningful improvements in lung function and clinical outcomes. [ERS 2013 abstract 851178; Session 82; Date: September 8, 2013 Time: 12:50-14:40].

[5] Banerji D, et al. Dual bronchodilation with once-daily QVA149 improves dyspnea and health status and reduces symptoms and rescue medication use in patients with COPD: the IGNITE trials. [ERS 2013 abstract 851388; Session 346; Date: September 10, 2013 Time: 8:30-10:30].

[6] Wedzicha JA, Banerji D, Chapman KR, et al. Indacaterol-Glycopyrronium versus Salmeterol-Fluticasone for COPD. New England Journal of Medicine. 2016. Available at: www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1516385 [Accessed 21 November 2016].

[7] Seebri Breezhaler EU Summary of Product Characteristics. [Online] Revised 19-Oct-2016. Available at: http://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/medicine/27138/SPC/Seebri+Breezhaler+Inhalation

+Powder,+Hard+Capsules+44mcg/ [Accessed 21 November 2016].

[8] Pavkov R, Mueller S, Fiebich K, et al. Characteristics of a capsule based dry powder inhaler for the delivery of indacaterol. CMRO. 2010;26; 11:2527-2533.

[9] Global Alliance Against Chronic Respiratory Diseases (GARD). Global surveillance, prevention and control of chronic respiratory diseases: a comprehensive approach. Available at: http://www.who.int/gard/publications/GARD_Manual/en/ [Accessed 21 November 2016].

[10] World Health Organization: The top 10 causes of death fact sheet No 310. Available at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs310/en/ [Accessed 21 November 2016].

[11] Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD). Global strategy for the diagnosis, management, and prevention of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Updated 2016. Available at: http://goldcopd.org/ [Accessed 21 November 2016].

# # #

Novartis Media Relations

Central media line: +41 61 324 2200

E-mail: media.relations@novartis.com

Eric Althoff

Novartis Global Media Relations

+41 61 324 7999 (direct)

+41 79 593 4202 (mobile)

eric.althoff@novartis.com Claudia Paproth

Novartis Pharma Communications

+41 61 696 5556 (direct)

+41 79 560 4713 (mobile)

claudia.paproth@novartis.com

Novartis Investor Relations

Central investor relations line: +41 61 324 7944

E-mail: mailto:investor.relations@novartis.com
MEUREUDU, Indonesia  Thousands of people in the Indonesian province of Aceh took refuge for the night in mosques and temporary shelters after a strong earthquake Wednesday killed nearly 100 people and destroyed dozens of buildings.

Some were homeless after the quake made their houses unsafe and others were too scared to return home. Killer quakes occur regularly in the region, where many live with the terrifying memory of a giant Dec. 26, 2004, earthquake that struck off Sumatra. The magnitude 9.1 quake triggered a devastating tsunami that killed more than 100,000 Acehnese.

Maj. Gen. Tatang Sulaiman, chief of the army in Aceh province, said at least 97 died in the magnitude 6.5 quake that hit before dawn Wednesday, while four people had been pulled from the rubble alive. The Indonesian government declared a two-week emergency period in Aceh and some aid was already reaching hard-hit areas.

The rescue effort involving thousands of search officials, villagers, soldiers and police is concentrated on Meureudu, a severely affected town in Pidie Jaya district near the epicenter. Excavators and rescue teams removed debris from shop houses and other buildings where people were believed buried.

TV footage showed rescuers in orange uniforms shining flashlights into the interiors of broken buildings as they searched for signs of life. The pace of the search slowed after night fall, hampered by rain and blackouts.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was centered about 12 miles southeast of Sigli, a town near the northern tip of Sumatra, at a depth of 11 miles. The agency had initially placed the epicenter undersea. It did not generate a tsunami.

Siti Rukiah, 51, a mother of four, was among the many people taking refuge in local mosques. She and about 100 other people from Pante Raja, a seaside village in Pidie Jaya district, fled to Nur Abdullah mosque located on higher ground in a nearby hamlet.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

She said the quake was shallow and felt so powerful she had to grab onto a table to keep from falling down. She was sure a tsunami was coming.

Im really scared about a tsunami, said Rukiah, whose brother and neighbors died in the 2004 disaster. I dont want to return home tonight, not only because my house is damaged, but I am still afraid an aftershock could cause a tsunami.

Acehs disaster mitigation agency said more than 600 people were injured. The national disaster agency said about 245 buildings were seriously damaged or destroyed in Pidie Jaya and neighboring Bireuen district, including 14 mosques. The rest were mainly dwellings and shop houses. Roads also cracked and power poles toppled over.

The worlds largest archipelago, Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. The 2004 quake and tsunami killed a total of 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Aceh.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Multicolored umbrellas and yellow slickers brightened an otherwise gray and cloudy Bay Area on Thursday as residents tried to seek cover from the rain that was heavy enough at times to flood some roadways, cause a rash of car crashes and trigger flight delays.

Joel Gonzales was one of the few San Franciscans who seemed to be enjoying dodging all the water puddles.

I love it, Gonzales said, laughing. I love the fact that its gotten pretty cold. The idea of it being really hot on Thanksgiving and Christmas is really depressing to me.

The storm blew into the Bay Area on Wednesday afternoon, and rain remained steady overnight. By Thursday afternoon, downtown San Francisco had gotten a little over an inch of rain while the Santa Cruz mountains got slightly more than 2 inches. Parts of the North Bay mountains in Sonoma County received a total of 1.8 inches.

Communities in the East Bay and South Bay got about half an inch of rain from the storm.

And theres more wet weather on the way, with on-and-off showers expected through the weekend, said Steve Anderson, a forecaster with the National Weather Service.

Itll keep adding up all the way through Sunday, Anderson said of the rain totals. We dont expect significant amounts of additional rainfall through Sunday. The heaviest rain has already passed.

Vasken Farajian, owner of the Cantata Coffee Shop on Haight and Cole streets in San Francisco, said when he looked out his window Thursday morning, he knew it was going to be a slow day at the cafe.

Theres not too many tourists around, not too many people around, Farajian said, adding that his business drops off by about 50 percent on rainy days.

The lack of tourists on Haight Street might not be just because theyre trying to seek shelter from the rain. Airlines bringing visitors to the Bay Area experienced flight delays due to the showers, said Charles Navigante, a duty manager at San Francisco International Airport.

As the day goes on its going to get worse, Navigante said, encouraging travelers to check with their airlines through the weekend.

San Francisco resident Ricardo Navarro said the rain just made it that much harder Thursday to wake up in the morning, knowing that the looming traffic would make his commute to work a little more stressful.

The Lyft line is 30 bucks and Uber is 50 bucks, the 26-year-old Navarro said Thursday. I kind of want to work from home, but Im already dressed.

Officer Sean Wilkenfeld, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol, said his office receives twice as many calls about flooding, traffic and solo vehicle spinouts on rainy days.

The most common places to flood (on freeways) are the fast lanes, slow lanes and transition ramps, Wilkenfeld said.

Eastbound Interstate 980 to the eastbound Interstate 580 connector, and the westbound Highway 24 to eastbound I-580 experienced flooding during Thursday mornings commute, Wilkenfeld added.

He advised drivers to remember to turn on their headlights, slow down, check their tires and give themselves extra time to get to their destinations.

If you do experience hydroplaning, the first thing is, dont freak out, Wilkenfeld said. Just let your vehicle coast until you regain traction.

The weather warmed up slightly Thursday from the previous day, when the high in San Francisco barely reached 50 degrees. Temperatures are expected to stay in the mid 50s to low 60s throughout the Bay Area for the next few days, Anderson said.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Jennifer Mendiola could dance like no one else. She had a little goth flair.

And next year, she would have been Dr. Mendiola when she received her doctorate in health psychology from UC Merced.

The Sacramento natives family confirmed Wednesday that Mendiola, 35, died in the fire that ravaged a warehouse in Oakland during an electronic music show Friday night. She was one of 36 people to perish.

Until Wednesday, Mendiola was considered missing. That was torture for her husband, Jean-Thierry Mendiola.

Its agony to watch him suffer, said his sister, Anna Mendiola. Hes so desperate.

The couple had been married for eight years. They separated a few months ago, but were in marriage counseling in hopes of reconciliation. During the separation, she dated Micah Danemayer, a 28-year-old electronic musician who also died in the fire.

When they were together, she and her husband loved to go to 80s-themed venues to dance. She was the star.

Whenever she danced, everyone in the room would stop what they were doing and look at her, because she was the most beautiful thing in the room, Anna Mendiola said.

For the past few years, Jennifer Mendiola had split time between the couples Oakland home and UC Merced, where she was on the verge of completing her studies.

Its just horrifying. She was almost finished. She had all her coursework done, Anna Mendiola said. You cant even imagine how tirelessly she worked.

She hoped to become a professor in health psychology, said a colleague at Merced, Ruben Castaneda. She did her undergraduate studies at San Francisco State University and earned her masters in psychology at California State University Sacramento.

She was always happy, smiling, bright, Castaneda said. She was a great academic, always working really hard on getting research done. She had a very clear path and focus on what she wanted to do.

He recalled their first year in the graduate program, when they were among a dozen students who had to present a research project to a faculty panel. The intimidation factor was off the charts.

We were all extremely nervous, but she was kind of the one who kept us together, Castaneda said. We held practice sessions with each other. She was kind of there for us and really helped us through that first year.

We did great. Thanks to her, we had plenty of practice before we actually had to stand there and give it.

As she worked on her doctorate, Mendiola gave talks and wrote papers on topics ranging from social relationships and loneliness to emotion regulation during chemotherapy for breast cancer. She also co-authored an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times on risks faced by Latinos who resist getting flu shots.

In between all that, she found time to travel overseas. This year, she visited Thailand and Istanbul.

She was fearless, Anna Mendiola said. But she didnt view it that way. She just viewed herself as living life.

And she had an amazing sense of style, her sister-in-law said. She could go into any thrift store and in minutes find the coolest and most amazing thing to wear there. ... She had that little goth flair, you know?

A memorial page on Facebook is filled with tributes and photos  showing Jennifer smiling, at parties, decorating a Christmas tree. And theres a message from a friend: Dont ever stop dancing!

Jenna Lyons and Sarah Ravani are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com, sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno, @SarRavani
When the second alarm buzzed his cell phone at 11:31 p.m. Friday, the Rev. Jayson Landeza got out of his bedclothes and into his turnout in the rectory of St. Benedict in East Oakland.

By the time hed driven his black Crown Victoria 10 minutes to the Ghost Ship fire, hed transformed himself from Catholic priest to minister of presence.

Thats his own patented job description where no sermonizing or administering of last rites is required. What he does is stand there with his coat open so his clerical collar is visible, with an open expression on his face to show that hes approachable.

We dont do the Catholic thing, he said in an interview Wednesday at the nearby Wendys which has served as his temporary sanctuary during the five days and nights he has been at the scene of the tragedy that claimed the lives of 36 people.

Im just here to listen to folks and attend to their basic needs, Landeza said.

When he was not at the scene of the fire, among first responders, onlookers and media from all over the world, he was back at the rectory in quiet prayer and reflection over what he had seen and heard and felt. Then hed go back and do it all over again, always maintaining an upbeat demeanor.

Im a happy person who likes to see the good in others, he said. And being able to express that provides a sense of care and compassion of something sacred to people in trauma.

Officially, Landeza is a volunteer chaplain for the Oakland Fire Department, Oakland Police Department and Alameda County Sheriffs Office, which also houses the county coroner. Unofficially, Landeza is the volunteer chaplain for anybody who needs him.

He brings a certain calm to situations, where families show up that are grieving, and its invaluable said J.D. Nelson, public information officer for the Sheriffs Office. As first responders, we dont always know what to say to somebody whos had this terrible situation. Some are better than others, but Father Landeza is as good as they get.

Among the first responders, the firefighters at Station 13, which is right behind the warehouse, rotated out after working on the fire and have not been back on duty. The coroners office has also worked in shifts.

But there has been no shift change for Landeza. He got there Friday night thinking it was just a warehouse fire and found an unexpected number of young people milling about outside. One of them said, Some of our friends are still inside that building, he said, and thats when he had a hunch he would be there all night.

He left Saturday morning to fulfill a prior commitment to officiate at a funeral in Hayward. But he came back Saturday afternoon and stayed through the evening. Another clergyman filled in for him at St. Benedicts so he could be at the Ghost Ship all day Sunday. And Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Police officers and firefighters will come up to me and say Jeez, you know, Ive got a kid the same age, and thats all they have to say.

In the first days after the fire, survivors had their own chaplains on duty in a Family Assistance Center across the street. But those chaplains dont have the access that Landeza has.

Aside from his official capacity, he grew up in Berkeley and attended St. Marys College High School there. Hes lived and served up and down the Interstate 880 corridor ever since, and seems to know everybody. Strangers would approach him to go take a photo of the fire scene, or ask him to place a flower at the door, just so they would have a sense of closure about the place where their loved one passed away.

Even after the coroners office had removed all the victims, the fire department and demolition crews had pulled out, and the family members were gone, there was Landeza, in his white helmet and turnout with the word chaplain in yellow letters on the back.

Just stand there and listen to people talk about whats going on, he says. Ministry of presence. Im not out here pushing anything.

On the afternoon of his fifth day, rain started to fall, and Landezas upbeat demeanor started to leak out.

Im exhausted, Im sad. Im tired, he said. No sleep. Too much caffeine.

So he left the site and drove his cop-style Crown Vic to visit his mother at a rest home four blocks away.

He told her that he loved her and continued on to his psychotherapists office.

I just needed to go work through my own grief, he said.

Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com Instagram: @sfchronicle_art
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Oakland's heart is hurting.

A fire engulfed a Fruitvale District warehouse known as the Ghost Ship in flames last Friday, destroying an artist's colony that served as a refuge from the area's sky-rocketing rents and a performance space for local artists.

The tragedy left 36 dead. "They were students, artists and musicians," SFGATE reported. "One was the teenage son of an Alameda County sheriff's deputy, one a poet, another a teacher."

Relatives, friends, classmates, co-workers and people all over the Bay Area and beyond are devastated and people are looking for ways to help and show support. Above, we highlight a wide array of fund-raisers donating proceeds to fire victims and their families.

We've also included a smattering of upcoming musical and art shows by artists with Oakland tiesas one thing that has come out of all of this is an awareness of how much we all cherish this community of artists and we need to find ways to appreciate and support them. Viewing their work is a great place to start.

Oakland musician Cody Blanchard of Shannon and the Clams makes this point in a heartfelt message on his band's website, calling on the community to embrace the arts.

"These people have a totally vital role in the life of a city and if you don't care for them, your city will dry up and become hollow and become a husk of a real city, and the vacuum left behind in that husk will be filled with soulless condos and chain retail and bars and phony boutiques, and there will be no real culture left at all and you won't realize it until it's too late to change it," Blanchard writes. "Please please please be careful with your people, cities, find a way to support them,"

Editor's note: the donation information provided in this photo gallery was provided by organizers and has not been verified by SFGATE.
SunPower Corp. is following through with a planned restructuring effort that will reduce its workforce by 25 percent to cut costs after solar prices plunged in an oversupplied market.

The San Jose panel maker will cut 2,500 employees to reduce operating expenses next year to less than $350 million, it said Wednesday. Its closing a factory in the Philippines that can produce about 700 megawatts a year.

The restructuring comes as increased panel production worldwide floods the industry, driving down prices 31 percent this year. With demand expected to decline in 2017 in China, the worlds biggest solar market, global installations are expected to increase at their slowest pace in at least a decade. That prompted CEO Tom Werner to close SunPowers high-cost Fab 2 facility in the Philippines.

It was our first large-scale cell processing facility, Werner said on a conference call. It was older equipment and higher-cost.

The company said last month that it was developing a restructuring plan, after reporting its fifth consecutive quarterly loss. The moves will result in restructuring charges of at least $150 million this quarter, and $75 million to $125 million next year. The effort is expected to leave the company with about $300 million in cash at the end of next year.

SunPower isnt the only manufacturer to idle factories after module prices sank. First Solar Inc., the largest U.S. panel maker, said last month that it will eliminate 1,600 jobs and that shipments will shrink to as little as 2.4 gigawatts of panels next year, down from its forecast of up to 2.9 gigawatts this year.

Werner said some Chinese manufacturers are shutting older factories and shifting to higher-efficiency products that use mono-crystalline polysilicon, instead of multi-crystalline products that are cheaper and less efficient. That may help balance supply with demand as early as the second half of next year, Werner said.

Nevada

Slow hiring

at Tesla site

The number of workers at Teslas giant battery factory in northern Nevada has reached only about one-fifth the level that the Palo Alto company had projected would be in place by the end of this year.

An analysis presented to state lawmakers before they approved a $1.3 billion tax inventive to lure Tesla to Nevada in September 2014 projected that employment would reach 1,700 at the plant by the end of 2016.

But an independent audit conducted by Grant Thornton released this week shows that only 331 jobs have materialized.

Jennifer Cooper, spokeswoman for the Governors Office of Economic Development, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal theyre not concerned. She says Tesla decided to adopt more of a phased-build approach so the plant could operate at the same time its being built.

Seafood

Guilty plea

in price fixing

A senior executive with Bumble Bee Foods has agreed to plead guilty in a price-fixing scheme, federal prosecutors said Wednesday as they announced a continuing investigation into the packaged seafood industry.

The criminal charge against Walter Scott Cameron is the first in what the Justice Department says is a wider probe of anticompetitive practices among companies that sell packaged seafood.

Prosecutors accuse Cameron, a senior vice president of sales, of agreeing with co-conspirators at other companies to fix, raise and maintain the prices.

Bumble Bee said the company and Cameron are cooperating with the investigation.

The Justice Department is filing a one-count criminal information in federal court in San Francisco, signaling Camerons intent to plead guilty.

Retail

Bankruptcy

auction set

American Apparel set the date for the bankruptcy auction of its manufacturing, retail and wholesale business, probably delaying layoffs that would affect as many as 3,457 employees in Southern California.

The clothier, which in November filed for bankruptcy for the second time, told workers Tuesday that the auction has been scheduled for Jan. 9 and 12. It does not anticipate layoffs on Jan. 7  the initial date when cuts were scheduled to occur.

Chronicle News Services
Two of four men suspected in a highway shooting that killed a San Francisco woman and injured her passenger as they drove in the East Bay in May have been charged with murder, prosecutors said Thursday.

The Contra Costa County district attorneys office charged 26-year-old Marcus Gaines and 22-year-old Kevin Carter with murder, attempted murder and conspiracy, along with gang and street terrorism enhancements, among other special allegations. They were arrested Wednesday at an Antioch home on Johnson Drive.

The two outstanding suspects, 21-year-old Damario Pitteard and 25-year-old Corey McCroey, face the same charges in addition to illegal possession of firearms because of prior felony convictions. Warrants have been issued for their arrests.

The slaying in Pittsburg came amid a rash of highway shootings in the East Bay that authorities believed to be part of larger street gang battles.

The shooting was as a result of an ongoing gang-related dispute with subjects from the San Francisco area, Pittsburg police said in a statement.

Capt. Ron Raman, a police spokesman, said the investigation was challenging and required persistence by detectives who didnt let any leads go unturned.

In a case like this, cars are speeding. Evidence can be lost. ... Ive got to stress the fact that not a lot of people were cooperating, he said.

On May 11, police officers were called to a rollover crash on Highway 4 just before 11 a.m. and didnt realize it was a shooting until they arrived at the scene.

When they got to the westbound lanes near the Railroad Avenue overpass they found the wrecked car, with the woman partially ejected from the drivers seat, suffering from gunshot wounds to the rear torso, and the man standing outside the car with a gunshot wound to his left hand.

The woman was later identified as Shanique Marie, a 25-year-old San Francisco resident and mother of several young children. She died at a nearby hospital.

Police havent said who among the four suspects was the shooter, but the district attorneys office intends to prosecute all of them for murder. All were believed to have been following the victims before the shooting.

Pitteard and McCroey should be considered armed and dangerous, said police, who asked anyone with information on their whereabouts to call (925) 646-2441.

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov
A Marin County man was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to seven years in prison for having sexually explicit images of children on his cell phone, including pornography involving minors as young as 12.

Patrick Harvey, 30, of Novato, pleaded guilty in September to charges that he received visual depictions of children engaging in sexual conduct. He was sentenced in San Francisco Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney.
English Latvian

Riga, 2016-12-08 07:45 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On December 7, 2016 AS Latvenergo organized its Investor Conference Webinar. During the webinar Guntars Balcuns, AS Latvenergo Chief Financial Officer, analyzed Latvenergo Group financial results of 9 months 2016, informed about Groups latest activities and provided answers to webinar participants questions.

The recorded AS Latvenergo webinar is available online: http://ej.uz/Latvenergo_Q32016_rec, and the presentation, demonstrated during the webinar, can be found in the previously published AS Latvenergo announcement: http://ej.uz/Latvenergo_Q3_2016_prez.

Latvenergo thanks all participants, who joined the webinar, and encourages everybody to follow companys announcements to get information about the next webinar!

Additional information:

Janis Irbe

Group Treasurer

Phone: +371 67 728 239

E-mail: investor.relations@latvenergo.lv

www.latvenergo.lv

About Latvenergo

Latvenergo Group is a pan-Baltic energy company, engaging in electricity and thermal energy generation and supply, electricity distribution services and management of transmission system assets. Latvenergo Group holds one-third of the entire Baltic electricity market, thus ensuring its leadership in the Baltic electricity supply. Latvenergo AS has been acknowledged as the most valuable company in Latvia for several years in a row. International credit rating agency Moodys has assigned Latvenergo AS an investment-grade credit rating of Baa2/stable.

Latvenergo Group includes the parent company Latvenergo AS (electricity and thermal energy generation and supply) and its subsidiaries Latvijas elektriskie tikli AS (management of transmission system assets), Sadales tikls AS (electricity distribution), Elektrum Eesti OU (electricity supply in Estonia), Elektrum Lietuva UAB (electricity supply in Lithuania), Energijas publiskais tirgotajs AS (administration of electricity mandatory procurement process) and Liepajas energija SIA (electricity and thermal energy generation and supply), as well as Elektrum Latvija SIA (electricity supply), a subsidiary of Elektrum Eesti OU.
DETROIT  A federal judge who ordered Michigan to begin its recount effectively ended it on Wednesday, tying his decision to a state court ruling that found Green Party candidate Jill Stein had no legal standing to request another look at ballots.

The ruling seals Republican Donald Trumps narrow electoral victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton in Michigan.

U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith agreed with Republicans who argued that the three-day recount must end a day after the state appeals court dealt a blow to the effort. Stein, who finished fourth in Michigan on Nov. 8, didnt have a chance of winning even after a recount and therefore isnt an aggrieved candidate, the appeals court said.

Because there is no basis for this court to ignore the Michigan courts ruling and make an independent judgment regarding what the Michigan Legislature intended by the term aggrieved, plaintiffs have not shown an entitlement to a recount, Goldsmith said of Stein and allies.

It was Goldsmiths midnight ruling Monday that started the recount in Michigan. But his order dealt with timing  not whether a recount was appropriate. More than 20 counties so far are recounting ballots, and some are finished.

Earlier Wednesday, the Michigan elections board said the recount would end if Goldsmith extinguished his earlier order.

State Republican Party Chairman Ronna Romney McDaniel and Attorney General Bill Schuette said its a victory for voters and taxpayers. Stein now is left with asking the Michigan Supreme Court to intervene, which is a long shot.

Jill Stein, who received only 1.07 percent of the vote in Michigan, is not legally entitled to hijack the will of voters and drag them into an arduous and expensive publicity stunt, McDaniel said.

Stein got about 1 percent of the vote in three states where shes pushed for recounts  Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Trump narrowly won all three.

Stein insists shes more concerned about the accuracy of the election. She alleges, without evidence, that the elections may have been susceptible to hacking.

They present speculative claims going to the vulnerability of the voting machinery  but not actual injury, Goldsmith said.

A court hearing will be held Friday on a possible recount in Pennsylvania. Wisconsins recount, which started last week, has increased Trumps margin of victory over Clinton thus far.

Clinton needed all three states to flip in order to take enough electoral votes to win the election.
WASHINGTON  A day ahead of a government shutdown deadline, the House easily passed a stopgap spending bill to keep federal agencies running through the end of April. The legislations fate in the Senate remained uncertain because of strident opposition from coal-state Democrats.

The Republican-led House voted Thursday to approve the spending bill, 326-96.

Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Sherrod Brown of Ohio argued that a provision in the bill to temporarily extend health benefits for 16,500 retired union coal miners facing the loss of coverage on Dec. 31 is insufficient. The measure does not protect pension benefits despite President Harry Trumans 1946 guarantee to miners of lifetime health and retirement benefits.

Republicans insisted the deal was the best they could get, heightening the possibility the government could close at midnight Friday.

Theyre not going to get what they want. They ought to actually be grateful for what they got, said Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican.

The standoff raised the possibility of a weekend Senate session.

Earlier Thursday, the Senate voted 92-7 for the annual defense policy bill, a week after the House overwhelmingly backed the measure, 375-34, giving Congress veto-proof majorities in both chambers. The bill now goes to President Obama for his signature.

The defense bill rebuffs Obamas quest to shutter the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, while also denying his bid to reduce the size of the armed forces and granting the troops a pay raise larger than the one their commander in chief recommended.

The spending bill passed by the House would keep the government running through April 28 and provide with $10 billion in supplemental war funding and $4 billion more for disaster relief for Louisiana and other states.

The hard-fought legislation also includes provisions to help Flint, Mich., fix its lead-tainted water system and speed up next years confirmation for retired Gen. James Mattis as President-elect Donald Trumps defense secretary.
Lithuanian English

AUGA group has sold investment units of investment fund Fixed Yield Invest Fund controlled by the fund management company Synergy Finance to selected financial institutional investor.

Value of transaction . EUR 7.2 million. The disposal of long term investment asset allows Company to attract new funds and finally divest of such investment asset .

Funds from transaction will be used for development of newly acquired business (formerly agricultural subsidiaries of KTG AGRAR) and for development of other ongoing projects, related to introduction of sustainable organic farming technologies in existing agricultural locations and farms.

Company has transferred shares of the companies which controlled land operating subsidiaries (managing around 6.4 thousand hectares of land) in December 2015.

By selling investment units of investment fund the consolidated long term assets decrease by EUR 24.8 million and consolidated liabilities also decrease by EUR 17.6 million (amongst it - financial liabilities of EUR 14 million).

This transaction will not affect Companys net result and EBITDA of year 2016.

This transaction does not change anything in the daily business of AUGA group as the group continues to rent the land owned by the transferred companies and will carry out its agricultural activities there while paying the market rent price. The term of land rent reaches 10 years (with prolongation rights).
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Jason McCarty, a 36-year-old Iowa native, began creating art before most children can spell their names.

His father, Gene McCarty, said his interest developed around the age of 3 and never faded, always growing and expanding into new mediums  illustration, design, photography, painting, music.

Hes done artwork, comics, wrote and illustrated books, Gene McCarty said by phone Wednesday. Hes ventured into sound and music  a little bit of everything.

McCarty, who was identified Wednesday as one of 36 people who died in Friday nights warehouse fire in Oakland, moved to California roughly a decade ago, when he started his masters coursework at the San Francisco Art Institute.

He was one of the hungry ones, a former teacher, Andrew Benson, wrote on Facebook. By the time he was my student, he was already deep into it, making noise, and all I could do is point him in one direction or another.

After graduation, McCarty worked for an audio-visual company and was a sound artist for several bands, including Coral Remains, said his girlfriend, Grace Lovio. He lived in Oakland.

Among his many stage names was Dilatedears. The last song he posted to his blog was named after his girlfriend: Graces Anti-Gravity Glance.

He said he wanted to make something that I would like, Lovio said.

The Bay Area art community has had a great loss, Gene McCarty said. Everybody was important to this art community, and he was part of that.

Gene McCarty said his son had a big soul and would give everything he had to help somebody else  a quality that continued to be apparent after his death, when dozens of friends and strangers McCarty impacted in the art community sent messages to Lovio and the family.

McCarty is survived by his father; his mother, Colleen; and his younger brother, Matthew.

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov
SUCCESS FOR MYRING EUROPEAN CLINICAL TRIAL

Myring demonstrates bioequivalence to European version of NuvaRing 

 Mithra preparing to file for regulatory approval in Europe and the U.S. in Q2 2017



Liege, Belgium, 8 December 2016 - Mithra Pharmaceuticals (Euronext Brussels: MITRA), a company focused on women's health, today announces the results of the first of two bioequivalence studies, which demonstrate that its combined hormonal contraceptive vaginal ring, Myring, is bioequivalent to the branded European version of NuvaRing.



Mithra plans to file for marketing approval for Myring in both Europe and the United States in Q2 2017.



Valerie Gordenne, CSO of Mithra Pharmaceuticals, said: "Myring has the potential to be an important additional contraceptive option for women. The results announced today confirm its bioequivalence to the current market leader and will be an important part of the regulatory filing for Myring in Europe as well as other markets. They will also support our ongoing negotiations with potential European and international commercialization partners. We are on track to submit Myring for regulatory approval in both Europe and the U.S. in the second quarter of 2017."



Mithra has conducted two studies of bioequivalence involving 42 subjects. The studies are required to confirm the effectiveness and the safety of the product with a view to completion of the marketing authorization applications in Europe and the U.S.



About Myring



Myring is developed to be similar to Nuvaring vaginal ring, still under patent protection up to april 2018 both is US and in EU.



Myring (etonogestrel/ethinyl estradiol vaginal ring) is a non-biodegradable, flexible, transparent, combination contraceptive vaginal ring, with an outer diameter of 54 mm and a cross-sectional diameter of 4 mm. It is made of ethylene vinylacetate copolymers, and contains 11.7 mg etonogestrel and 2.7 mg ethinyl estradiol. When placed in the vagina, each ring releases in line with the originator (Nuvaring) on average 0.120 mg/day of etonogestrel and 0.015 mg/day of ethinyl estradiol over a three-week period of use.

Pictures



For pictures of Francois Fornieri, please click here on the following link:

http://www.mithra.com/en/logo/



For more information, please contact:



Press

Julie Dessart

Chief Communication Officer

+32 4 349 28 22 / +32 475 86 41 75

press@mithra.com

Investor Relations

Francois Fornieri, CEO

+32 4 349 28 22

investorrelations@mithra.com

Consilium Strategic Communications

Jonathan Birt, Sue Stuart, Hendrik Thys

mithra@consilium-comms.com

+44 2 037 095 700



About Mithra



Mithra Pharmaceuticals SA, founded in 1999 as a spin-off of the University of Liege by Mr. Francois Fornieri and Prof. Dr. Jean-Michel Foidart, is a Euronext listed pharmaceutical company (MITRA) focused on Women's Health. Mithra's mission is to improve every stage of women's life with innovative and accessible pharmaceutical solutions. As such the Company aims to become a worldwide leader in women's health by developing, manufacturing and commercialising proprietary, innovative and differentiated drugs and complex therapeutical solutions in four therapeutic fields of women's health: fertility and contraception, menopause and osteoporosis, gynecological infections and female cancers.



Mithra has an approximate headcount of 141 staff members and is headquartered in Liege, Belgium. Further information can be found at: www.mithra.com



Important information



The contents of this announcement include statements that are, or may be deemed to be, "forward-looking statements". These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the words "believes", "estimates," "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "may", "will", "plans", "continue", "ongoing", "potential", "predict", "project", "target", "seek" or "should", and include statements the Company makes concerning the intended results of its strategy. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. The Company's actual results may differ materially from those predicted by the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law.

To subscribe to Mithra's newsletter, visit investors.mithra.com

Attachments:

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f28a6d13-ef47-46b7-a71e-fff54b29d756
Chicago, IL, Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CHICAGO, Nov. 30, 2016  The eCitation Coalition is announced that SceneDoc has joined the Coalition as a new member. SceneDoc is a mobile first data collection platform for law enforcement. The company recently launched an autonomous module for eCitations that is gaining significant attention in the market.

"SceneDoc is excited to be partnering with the eCitation Coalition to help increase adoption of this vital technology," said SceneDoc CEO Alex Kottoor. "We look forward to working with the Coalition to help educate public officials about the benefits of going mobile with eCitations."

"The Coalition is pleased to welcome SceneDoc as our newest member," said Coalition Executive Director Steve Rauschenberger. "SceneDocs mission of improving the role of mobile technology in public safety will be a great asset to the Coalitions ongoing efforts.

Rauschenberger added that SceneDoc will join the formidable group of companies already active in the coalition, including: Advanced Public Safety (an Aptean Company), BlueStar, Inc., Brother Mobile Solutions, Cardinal Tracking, L-Tron Corporation, Lowry Solutions, Quicket Solutions, Saltus Technologies, ScanSource, Inc., Thin Blue Line Reporting, Tyler Public Safety, and Zebra Technologies Corporation.

Membership in the coalition is open to any company involved in the eCitation industry. To learn more about electronic citation technology, visit www.ecitationcoalition.com.

About the eCitation Coalition. The eCitation Coalition represents leading companies involved in the electronic citation industry. Its members span the entire industrial channel, including manufacturers and distributers as well as value-added resellers and independent software vendors. The Coalitions mission is to educate policymakers, law enforcement and judicial officials, and the public and the media on the multiple benefits of this exciting technology.



About SceneDoc. SceneDoc is public safetys first all-in-one mobile software for data collection and retrieval. SceneDoc Collect, the overarching platform, provides public safety professionals with an ability to securely collect eNotes, eForms, create sketches and reports, and capture audio, video, and photos. SceneDoc is saving officers an hour of paperwork per shift on average, resulting in less time reporting and more time keeping the communities they serve safe. SceneDoc recently released an autonomous module for eCitations, building on an ongoing strategy to becoming the de facto standard in how data is being collected in public safety. With SceneDoc eCitations agencies are not only saving time, but turning citation data into real-time actionable intelligence. Through automation, SceneDoc is giving law enforcement back precious time to rebuild and serve communities across the globe. See why 90% of our customers are advocates at http://www.scenedoc.com.
Oslo 8 December, 2016. An extraordinary general meeting (the "EGM") of the shareholders of PCI Biotech Holding ASA ("PCI Biotech") was held today, 8 December 2016 at 09:00 CET. 8,527,123 shares were represented at the meeting, corresponding to 57.2 percent of the share capital.

The EGM approved the Board of Directors' proposed resolutions as set forth in the notice of the EGM issued on 17 November 2016. Compared to the notice of the extraordinary general meeting, the Board of Directors proposed at the general meeting to revise the payment date in the rights issue from 12 to 16 January 2017, which amended proposal was resolved by the general meeting.

The PCI Biotech share will, for trades subject to the ordinary T+2 settlement in the Norwegian Central Securities Depository (VPS), consequently trade exclusive of the right to receive subscription rights in the rights issue from and including tomorrow, 9 December 2016. Detailed terms of the rights issue will be included in the prospectus, expected to be published on or about 14 December 2016.

The minutes of the EGM are attached, and are also available on www.pcibiotech.com.

In PCI Biotech's stock exchange announcement dated 17 November 2016, the Company communicated certain expected dates relative to the completion of the guaranteed rights issue, of which some dates, upon further assessment, must be extended in time. Given the current timetable, as will be communicated by the Company in detail in the prospectus, the Company expects that the allocation date, whereby allocations in the rights issue will be made and notified to the subscribers, will be on or about 10 January 2017, payment date for the subscription amounts will be on 16 January 2017 (as referenced above) and the registration of the share capital increase in the Norwegian Register of Business Enterprises will be completed on or about 20 January 2017.

Contact information:

Ronny Skuggedal, CFO, rs@pcibiotech.no, Mobile: +47 9400 5757

For more information visit: www.pcibiotech.com

Contact information: PCI Biotech Holding ASA, Ullernchausseen 64, N-0379 Oslo



Important Notice

The contents of this announcement have been prepared by, and are the sole responsibility of, the Company. The Company's financial advisors are acting exclusively for the Company and no one else, and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to their respective clients, or for advice in relation to the Rights Issue, the contents of this announcement or any of the matters referred to herein. The Rights Issue and the distribution of this announcement and other information in connection with the Rights Issue may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions. The Company assumes no responsibility in the event there is a violation by any person of such restrictions. Persons into whose possession this announcement or such other information should come are required to inform themselves about, and to observe, any such restrictions.

The Rights Issue will not be made in any jurisdiction or in any circumstances in which such offer or solicitation would be unlawful. This announcement is not for distribution, directly or indirectly in or into any jurisdiction in which it is unlawful to make any such offer or solicitation to such person or where prior registration or approval is required for that purpose. No steps have been taken or will be taken relating to the Rights Issue in any jurisdiction outside of Norway in which such steps would be required. Neither the publication and/or delivery of this announcement shall under any circumstances imply that there has been no change in the affairs of the Company or that the information contained herein is correct as of any date subsequent to the earlier of the date hereof and any earlier specified date with respect to such information.

This publication is not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States, nor is it an offer for sale of or the solicitation of an offer to purchase securities in the United States. Any securities referred to herein have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or pursuant to an exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act. Copies of this publication are not being, and may not be, distributed or sent into the United States.
BEDMINSTER, N.J., Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Matinas BioPharma Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB:MTNB), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on identifying and developing safe and effective broad spectrum therapeutics for the treatment of serious and life-threatening infections, announced today that it has received a research contract award from Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics Inc. (CFFT), the non-profit drug discovery and development affiliate of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, to study its lead antibiotic product candidate MAT2501, for the treatment of pre-clinical nontuberculous mycobacterium infection (NTM) in models of cystic fibrosis (CF). The award provided by CFFT will support a collaborative research program between Matinas BioPharma and Colorado State University (CSU) to study the efficacy of MAT2501 in the treatment of NTM infection by a range of mycobacterium species, including mycobacterium abscessus, in a CF lung infection model developed by CSU.



NTM infections have emerged in recent years as an increasing problem to individuals with cystic fibrosis and other lung diseases. NTM infections are or have become increasingly resistant to most available antibiotics, making them extremely difficult to treat. Currently available treatments have limited efficacy for treating these life-threatening infections in people with CF and have also been shown to be highly toxic to patients.

MAT2501 is Matinas BioPharmas orally-administered, encochleated formulation of the broad spectrum IV-only aminoglycoside antibiotic agent amikacin, which utilizes the Companys proprietary lipid-crystal nano-particle delivery technology. Amikacin is currently used to treat different types of chronic and acute bacterial infections, including NTM infections and various multidrug-resistant gram negative bacterial infections. IV-administered amikacin is associated with major side effects including nephrotoxicity and ototoxicity (permanent loss of hearing) with long-term use.

We are honored to receive the support of Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics for this important research program, and our hope is that this is the beginning of what promises to be a long-term relationship as we advance the clinical development of MAT2501. Mycobacterium infections in people with cystic fibrosis are very difficult to treat, to a significant degree, because of the unique complications associated with CF. In earlier pre-clinical work, we demonstrated the efficacy of MAT2501 against several mycobacterium species. Anti-infectives formulated in our cochleate technology are uniquely targeted toward the site of infection while significantly reducing toxicities. We are looking forward to working with CFFT and CSU with the goal to expand the treatment options for CF patients battling these multi-drug resistant mycobacterium infections, said Raphael Mannino, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Matinas BioPharma and Principal Investigator of the CF research program.

MAT2501 is specifically designed to provide targeted delivery of the potent antibiotic amikacin while providing a significantly improved safety and tolerability profile, in order to allow for chronic dosing of this potent antibiotic agent. In preclinical studies MAT2501 demonstrated oral bioavailability and targeted delivery of amikacin directly to the site of infection in both pulmonary (lung) and disseminated NTM infections. American Thoracic Society (ATS)/Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) guidance for the treatment of patients with NTM infections refractory to guideline therapy includes a treatment duration of 12 months or longer. The profile of MAT2501 was designed to allow for safe and tolerable use of amikacin during such long-term treatment.

MAT2501 is designated as a Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) and as an Orphan Drug for the treatment of NTM by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Orphan Drug designation of MAT2501 provides for a seven-year marketing exclusivity period against competition in the United States upon FDA approval, as well as other incentives and exemptions, including waiver of Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) filing fees and tax credits for the cost of the clinical research. If MAT2501 is ultimately approved by the FDA, the seven-year period of marketing exclusivity from orphan designation combined with the additional five years of marketing exclusivity provided by the QIDP designation, provides for a potential total of 12 years of marketing exclusivity.

The Company also intends to explore the development of MAT2501 for the treatment of a variety of multi-drug resistant, gram negative bacterial infections.

About Nontuberculous Mycobacteria

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are naturally occurring organisms found in water, soil, plants and animals. NTM causes many serious and life-threatening diseases, including pulmonary disease, skin and soft tissue disease, joint infections and, in immunocompromised individuals, disseminated infection. The most common clinical manifestation of NTM disease is pulmonary, or lung, disease. NTM lung infection occurs when a person inhales the organism from their environment. While most people do not become ill, some individuals develop a slow, progressive and destructive disease when NTM infects the airways and lung tissue leading to inflammation in the respiratory system. Individuals susceptible to the infection often have an unknown defect in their lung structure or immune system, lung damage from a pre-existing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), such as emphysema and bronchiectasis, cystic fibrosis, or an immune deficiency disorder, such as HIV or AIDS.

There are about 50,000 to 90,000 people with NTM pulmonary disease in the United States, with a much higher frequency in older adults, and these numbers appear to be increasing. However, NTM can affect any age group. Without treatment, the progressive lung infection caused by NTM results in severe cough, fatigue, and often weight loss. In some people NTM infections can become chronic and require ongoing treatment. Treatment may be difficult because NTM bacteria may be resistant to many common types of antibiotics. Severe NTM lung disease can have a significant impact on quality of life and can be life-threatening.

About MAT2501

MAT2501 is an orally-administered, encochleated formulation of the broad spectrum IV-only aminoglycoside antibiotic agent amikacin, which utilizes the Companys proprietary, lipid-crystal, nanoparticle delivery technology. Amikacin is currently used to treat different types of chronic and acute bacterial infections, including NTM infections and various multidrug-resistant gram negative bacterial infections. IV-administered amikacin is associated with major side effects including nephrotoxicity and ototoxicity (permanent loss of hearing) with long-term use. MAT2501 is specifically designed to provide targeted delivery of the potent antibiotic amikacin while providing a significantly improved safety and tolerability profile. In preclinical studies MAT2501 demonstrated oral bioavailability and targeted delivery of amikacin directly to the site of infection in both pulmonary (lung) and disseminated NTM infections. Matinas recently received FDA clearance to initiate a Phase 1 clinical study of MAT2501 under the open IND for the treatment of non-tuberculous mycobacterium infections. The FDA has also designated MAT2501 as a QIDP and an Orphan Drug for the treatment of NTM infections. The Company intends to initially develop MAT2501 for the treatment of NTM infections and will also explore the development of MAT2501 for the treatment of a variety of multi-drug resistant, gram negative bacterial infections. If approved, we believe MAT2501 would become the first orally bioavailable aminoglycoside and represent a significant improvement over existing therapies from a treatment and health economic perspective.

About Matinas BioPharma

Matinas BioPharma is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on identifying and developing safe and effective broad spectrum therapeutics for the treatment of serious and life-threatening infections. The Company's proprietary, disruptive technology utilizes lipid-crystal nano-particle cochleates to nano-encapsulate existing drugs, making them safer, more tolerable, less toxic and orally bioavailable. The Company's lead drug candidate is MAT2203, an orally-administered, encochleated formulation of amphotericin B (a broad spectrum fungicidal agent). The Company has an open Investigational New Drug (IND) application for MAT2501, which is an orally-administered, encochleated formulation of amikacin (a broad spectrum aminoglycoside antibiotic agent) for acute bacterial infections, including non-tuberculous mycobacterium (NTM) and multi-drug resistant gram negative bacterial infections.

The Company's lead anti-infective product candidates, MAT2203 and MAT2501, position Matinas BioPharma to become a leader in the safe and effective delivery of anti-infective therapies utilizing its proprietary lipid-crystal nano-particle cochleate formulation technology. For more information, please visit www.matinasbiopharma.com and connect with the Company on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+.

Forward Looking Statements: This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including those relating to the Company's strategic focus and the future development of its product candidates, including MAT2203 and MAT2501, the anticipated timing of regulatory submissions, the anticipated timing of clinical studies, the Companys ability to identify and pursue development and partnership opportunities for its products or platform delivery technology on favorable terms, if at all, and the ability to obtain required regulatory approval and other statements that are predictive in nature, that depend upon or refer to future events or conditions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "could," "believes," "estimates" and similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, our ability to obtain additional capital to meet our liquidity needs on acceptable terms, or at all, including the additional capital which will be necessary to complete the clinical trials of our product candidates; our ability to successfully complete research and further development and commercialization of our product candidates; the uncertainties inherent in clinical testing; the timing, cost and uncertainty of obtaining regulatory approvals; our ability to maintain and derive benefit from the Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP), Orphan and/or Fast Track designations for MAT2203 and MAT2501, which does not change the standards for regulatory approval or guarantee regulatory approval on an expedited basis, or at all; our ability to protect the Company's intellectual property; the loss of any executive officers or key personnel or consultants; competition; changes in the regulatory landscape or the imposition of regulations that affect the Company's products; and the other factors listed under "Risk Factors" in our filings with the SEC, including Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. Except as may be required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to such forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Matinas BioPharma's product candidates are all in a development stage and are not available for sale or use.
Bend, Oregon, Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Signal Bay, Inc. (OTCQB: SGBY) the market leader in cannabis quality control testing and laboratory services announced today that the company achieved record sales growth for the second month in a row. The November 2016 revenues exceeded the record setting cash flow announced last month by over 50%.



CEO William Waldrop stated, "In conjunction with the new Oregon regulatory environment and the fall cannabis harvest, we are continuing to see increased testing revenues for our EVIO Labs Division. For the month of November, the company set another record month generating over $345,000 in revenue. These revenue numbers are preliminary and have not yet been audited or reported in accordance with GAAP standards.



Signal Bay operates state-of-the-art testing facilities and offers accredited testing methodologies that ensure the safety and potency of the nation's cannabis supply through its EVIO Labs division. As the legalization of medical and recreational marijuana sweeps across the country, demand for reliable, independent cannabis quality control testing facilities is increasing dramatically nationwide.



Mr. Waldrop added, The Company is continuing to acquire equipment and expand our hub & spoke service offerings to meet the needs of the growing Oregon Market. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) distributed a letter last week stating they are working on over 900 pending applications for producers, processors and dispensaries. The Company is motivated by the recent rule changes impacting testing requirements in Oregon. The new Oregon Health Authority temporary testing rules allow for smaller cultivators and processors to now economically participate in the marketplace whereas two months ago, the cost of testing was a barrier to entry.



About Signal Bay, Inc.: Signal Bay, Inc. is an Oregon-based Life Sciences company. Through its three subsidiaries: EVIO Labs, Signal Bay Research and Signal Bay Services; the Company provides research, consulting services, and analytical testing services to the legal cannabis industry. The Company's EVIO Labs division operates state-of-the-art testing facilities and offers accredited testing methodologies performed by a qualified team of scientists to ensure the safety and quality of the nation's cannabis supply. Learn more at http://SignalBay.com or the company can be reached directly @ 1-888-544-EVIO.



This news release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in Section 27(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Statements may contain certain forward-looking statements pertaining to future anticipated or projected plans, performance and developments, as well as other statements relating to future operations and results. Any statements in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be considered to be forward-looking statements. Words such as "may," "will," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "estimate," "intends," "goal," "objective," "seek," "attempt," or variations of these or similar words, identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements by their nature are estimates of future results only and involve substantial risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to risks associated with the uncertainty of future financial results, additional financing requirements, development of new products, our ability to complete our product testing and launch our product commercially, the acceptance of our product in the marketplace, the uncertainty of the laws and regulations relating to cannabis, the impact of competitive products or pricing, technological changes, the effect of economic conditions and other uncertainties detailed from time to time in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, available at www.sec.gov or https://signalbay.com/investors.






Russian Latvian English

Having actively embarked on the implementation of its operational strategy geared towards sustainable investment, Baltic International Bank has signed the agreement with Green Gateway Fund. Under the agreement, Bank will invest EUR 5 million in the fund. Founded in Germany, the fund is aiming at investments in sustainable projects and companies.

Green Gateway Fund was established by German Wermuth Asset Management (WAM). The purpose of the fund is to invest its own and externally attracted financial resources in the most valuable global companies pursuing a sustainable and eco-friendly approach and focused on the effective use of energy resources. Green Gateway Fund enhances the growth of its portfolio companies by introducing them in the rapidly growing markets where energy consumption is considerably higher than in European countries on average. Being guided by global trends, Green Gateway Fund combines attractive financial returns provided to the investors with a positive impact on the environment.

Our new operational strategy is aimed at investing responsibly. Our goal is to make investments and to enable our customers to pass their wealth to the next generations in an environmentally friendly manner. That implies investing in the promising production of renewable energy in Europe and investing in other projects ensuring the entry of new generation technologies into our daily life. Im proud that Banks investments in Green Gateway Fund will enable any robust European company to evolve and hence ensure financial returns to the investors and improve the quality of life for the entire society!, the Chairperson of Banks Management Board Ilona Gulchak emphasises.

Wermuth Asset Management was founded in 1999. In 2003, WAM decided to establish the fund which would allow international investors to contribute towards environmentally friendly businesses and gain income stemming therefrom. Green Gateway Fund 1 was founded in 2011. As a result of its successful activities, Green Gateway Fund 2 was established in 2016. All investments of the both funds (Green Gateway Fund 1 and Green Gateway Fund 2) resonate with the ESG concept (Environment, Social, Governance) and the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).
NEW YORK, Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among men, and it is estimated that nearly three million men are living with the disease in the United States. Thankfully, many prostate cancers can be caught early on and either successfully treated or diagnosed as indolent (non-aggressive).



A video accompanying this release is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/571434b2-7e90-4637-8cd0-39c880def041

Early detection of prostate cancer begins with screening the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) to assess the health of the prostate. All men should get a PSA test, and know their PSA number and what it means. If a PSA test result is high, often times a doctor may recommend a biopsy. However, because the PSA test cannot distinguish between aggressive prostate cancer and other less serious conditions, many men with a high PSA may be subjected to unnecessary prostate biopsies.

The 4Kscore is a simple blood test that bridges the gap between PSA and biopsy, and can help reduce the need for unnecessary biopsies. The 4Kscore combines four prostate-specific proteins results, including PSA, with clinical information in an algorithm that calculates the mans percent risk for developing aggressive prostate cancer. In some cases, the 4Kscore will show that the patient is at low risk of aggressive disease and does not need a biopsy. In other cases, the 4Kscore will indicate if the patient is at high risk of aggressive disease and provide additional information that can be used in the shared decision between a patient and his physician about whether to proceed with a biopsy.

The 4Kscore is available at BioReference Laboratories and GenPath Diagnostics, OPKO Health Companies, and is utilized by primary care physicians and urologists across the country.

For more information, visit 4Kscore.com.

Kyle Evans

Rosica Communications

201.843.5600

kyle@rosica.com



BioReference Laboratories

BioReference Laboratories, an OPKO Health company, is the third largest full service clinical laboratory in the U.S. providing testing and related services to physician offices, clinics, hospitals, long term care facilities, employers, governmental units and correctional institutions. Our expert division, GenPath Diagnostics, specializes in cancer diagnostics offering a comprehensive cancer patient workup in one laboratory. From special coagulation testing to complex genomic testing for tumor sequencing and hereditary cancer syndromes, the full spectrum of a cancer patient work-up is covered.




FALLS CHURCH, Va., Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) announced it has elected Gen. Mark A. Welsh, III (USAF ret.), Dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University to its board of directors. The addition of Welsh increases Northrop Grumman's board of directors to 14 members, 13 of whom are independent directors.



A photo accompanying this release is available at: http://news.northropgrumman.com/news/releases/northrop-grumman-elects-mark-a-welsh-iii-to-its-board-of-directors

"We are delighted that Mark Welsh has joined our board of directors," said Wes Bush, chairman, chief executive officer and president, Northrop Grumman Corporation. "His extensive leadership experience and deep understanding of global security are a great fit to our board, and we are excited about the contributions he will make as Northrop Grumman employees around the globe work to create value for our customers and shareholders."

Prior to his current position as Dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, Welsh served as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force, the senior uniformed Air Force officer responsible for the organization, training and equipping of active-duty, Guard, Reserve and civilian forces serving in the United States and overseas. During his long career, Welsh also served as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Commander of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Commander of NATOs Air Command, Associate Director for Military Affairs at the Central Intelligence Agency and Commandant of the United States Air Force Academy.

Welsh earned a bachelors degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy, a masters degree in computer resource management from Webster University, and graduated from the Army Command and General Staff College, the Air War College and the National War College.

Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in autonomous systems, cyber, C4ISR, strike, and logistics and modernization to customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.




David Plouffe, political insider and former key adviser to President Barack Obama, has paid $7,625,000 for a 6,000-square-foot house in San Francisco, where he now works as Ubers strategic adviser.

Constructed in 1903, the recently renovated home has seven bedrooms and 5.5 baths on four levels. Its nestled right between two of the most expensive neighborhoods in the city: Pacific Heights and the Presidio.
Irvine, CA, Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IRVINE, Calif., Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global Future City Holding Inc. (OTCQB:FTCY) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary, GX-Life Global, Inc. ("GX-Life"), has entered into a Client Agreement (the Agreement) with Digital Market Labs LLC (DML). DML is a full service digital marketing and advertising agency that combines creative ideas with vast experience in search technologies to deliver measurable results to its clients.

Under the Agreement, which has an initial term of three (3) months, DML will design and assist GX-Life in the implementation of Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) sales strategies and programs such as email marketing, affiliate marketing, and per click advertising. The Company believes that the D2C programs, which establish additional avenues for the sale of GX-Lifes extensive line of products, can generate high retail sales volume within a short time frame. GX-Life currently has approximately $14 million in existing inventory to support the retail sales. The Company further believes that an additional benefit of this approach is that it will create customer acceptance for GX-Lifes products and allow for an easier transition of its direct selling program. GX-Life will continue developing D2C sales strategies that conform with recent regulatory compliance overviews relating to Direct Sales Programs.

GX-Life has agreed to pay DML a monthly fee of $10,000.00 for its services under the Agreement. In addition, GX-Life will be responsible for any costs which result from its implementation of any new program including costs for search engines, social media platforms, click-throughs, etc.

Mr. Michael Dunn, the Company's CEO stated, "We're very excited about the future of our Company and the partnership between GX-Life and Digital Market Labs. We believe that this affiliation will increase GX-Lifes sales and help our Company grow into a major competitor in the Direct Sales and D2C industries."

About Global Future City Holding Inc.

Global Future City Holding Inc. is a holding company that's engaged in consumer product sales through the GX-Life Direct Selling Program offered by its wholly-owned subsidiary, GX-Life Global, Inc. Additional information on the Company may be viewed at http://www.gf.city

About GX-Life Global, Inc.

GX-Life Global, Inc. sells high quality consumer products such as personal care, wellness, and quality-of-life products under the brand, "GX-Life" via direct sales to consumers and e-commerce channels on an international basis. GX-Life utilizes "GX-Coins", which is a cryptocurrency that functions as a store of value and a medium of exchange, in its Direct Selling Program where GX-Life Members are able to redeem their commissions into GX-Coins. Additional information on GX-Life may be viewed at http://www.gx-life.com/.

Information about Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains "forward-looking statements" that include information relating to future events and future financial and operating performance. The words "may," "would," "will," "expect," "estimate," "can," "believe," "potential" and similar expressions and variations thereof are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times at, or by, which that performance or those results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time they are made and/or management's good faith belief as of that time with respect to future events, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in or suggested by the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to: the Company utilizing cryptocurrency, which could have fluctuations in demand and pricing, the introduction and impact of new competitive products or cryptocurrency, the Company's ability to acquire and maintain customer strategic business relationships, growth in targeted markets, the demand for GX-Lifes products, and other information that may be detailed from time-to-time in the Company's filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. For a more detailed description of the risk factors and uncertainties affecting the Company, please refer to the Company's recent Securities and Exchange Commission filings, which are available at www.sec.gov. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.








MEUREUDU, Indonesia  Humanitarian organizations descended on Indonesias Aceh province Thursday as the local disaster agency called for urgent food supplies and officials raced to assess the full extent of damage from an earthquake that killed more than 100 people.

Volunteers and almost 1,500 rescue personnel concentrated their search on the hard-hit town of Meureudu in Pidie Jaya district near the epicenter of the 6.5-magnitude quake that hit before dawn Wednesday. But the small number of heavy excavators on the scene meant progress was slow. Humanitarian assessment teams fanned out to other areas of the district.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the death toll had risen to 102 and warned it could increase. Search teams were using devices that detect mobile phone signals within a 100-yard radius to help guide their efforts as they scoured the rubble. The disaster agency said more than 750 people were injured.

We have to move faster to search and rescue possible survivors, said Iskander Ali, a Pidie Jaya official.

Those killed included very young children and the elderly. Mohammad Jafar, 60, said his daughter, granddaughter and grandson died in the quake, but he was resigned to it as Gods will.

He was getting ready for morning prayers when the earthquake hit. He said he and his wife managed to push their way out through the debris. Another man said he found his 9-year-old daughter alive beneath a broken wall at his neighbors house.

Thousands of people are homeless or afraid to return to their houses. Nugroho said more than 11,000 people have been displaced and are staying at shelters and mosques or with relatives. About 10,500 homes were damaged and dozens of mosques and shop houses collapsed.

Killer quakes occur regularly in the region, where many live with the terrifying memory of a giant Dec. 26, 2004, earthquake that struck off Sumatra. The 9.1-magnitude quake caused a devastating tsunami that killed more than 100,000 Acehnese.

Sulaiman, a Disaster Mitigation Agency official in Aceh, said staple foods for women and babies are most urgently needed. He said medicines are sufficient because assistance is coming from the army, police, state-run companies and local governments.

Whats badly needed now are staple foods such as rice, cooking oil, salted fish and other foods, said Sulaiman. He said people had complained about a lack of clean water, but the problem has been tackled, and electricity supply is returning to normal in many areas.

The Indonesian government sent 50 tons of urgent aid to Aceh, including 10 generators, tents, folding beds, baby supplies and body bags.

Every aid and civil society organization is piling into the area with as many boxes of rice, instant noodles, blankets and other aid as they can shift, said Paul Dillon, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, which has an assessment team in northern Aceh.
BAGHDAD  Iraqs parliament speaker says an air strike targeting the Islamic State-held town of Qaim near the Syrian border killed and wounded dozens of civilians and that he is holding the Iraqi government responsible.

The air strike hit unarmed civilians in shopping centers in Qaim and caused the killing and wounding of dozens of them, speaker Salim al-Jabouri said in a statement late Wednesday, calling the incident a crime and saying the perpetrators should be punished.

He did not provide a specific casualty figure or say where he got his information. He demanded an immediate investigation.

The government said fighter jets targeted Islamic State militants in two houses in Qaim but denied civilians were present. Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition battling the Islamic State, said on Twitter that it did not conduct any strikes in the area at the time.

Another Sunni lawmaker, Mohammed al-Karboli, said the fighter jets targeted three markets in Qaim during rush hour, killing and wounding 80 people. He did not cite his sources.

The Islamic State-linked Aamaq news agency released a nearly two-minute-long video late Wednesday purporting to show the aftermath of the air strike.

The footage shows several men rushing toward a scene where dozens of cars were on fire and some buildings appeared damaged. Several bodies of children and adults, some burned, can be seen lying on the ground.

The Associated Press could not immediately verify the authenticity of the video. The Iraqi government called it a fabrication.

The Defense Ministrys media office said jets carried out separate strikes on two homes where up to 65 Islamic State fighters had gathered, based on accurate intelligence from our sources in the region.

Qaim, located about 200 miles west of Baghdad, is among a number of small towns in the western Anbar province still ruled by the extremists.

Meanwhile, the Islamic State issued a call to its followers to launch attacks in Bahrain and to target American military personnel stationed on the tiny island ahead of a visit by this weekend by U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter.

The appeal came in a video that also urges militants to attack the Sunni-ruled islands Shiite majority.

Islamic State propaganda has waned as the extremists continue to lose territory in Iraq and Syria under the onslaught of a U.S.-led campaign. Bahrain is part of the anti-Islamic State coalition.
BEIRUT  Russia said the Syrian army was suspending combat operations in Aleppo late Thursday to allow for the evacuation of civilians from besieged rebel-held neighborhoods, but residents and fighters reported no let-up in the bombing and shelling campaign on the oppositions ever-shrinking enclave.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking in Germany after talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, said military experts and diplomats will meet Saturday in Geneva to work out details of the rebels exit from Aleppos eastern neighborhoods, along with civilians who were willing to leave the city.

Lavrov said the Syrian army suspended combat action late Thursday to allow 8,000 civilians to leave the city in a convoy spreading across a three-mile route. However, opposition activists said there was no halt to the government offensive.

Battles are intense, said a message from a rebel operation room shared with the Associated Press. Other residents reported warplanes firing machine guns at rebel positions and artillery shells falling in the remaining rebel-controlled districts.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said the U.S. was focused on de-escalating the violence in Aleppo to allow aid into the city and enable people wishing to stay in their homes to do so.

She said Kerry and Lavrov continued talks Thursday with the goal of securing a cease-fire and the safe departure of those who wish to leave the city.

Earlier, in Geneva, U.N. special adviser Jan Egeland said efforts to evacuate hundreds of wounded people from eastern Aleppo had stalled after a deadly attack this week on a Russian military hospital in government-controlled western Aleppo that left two Russian nurses dead and a doctor seriously wounded.

It is with bitterness and frustration that we have to report that we have not been able even to evacuate the wounded, Egeland said. The member states that are supposed to help us get access to civilians in the cross-fire are poles apart in how they regard what is happening in Syria.

Syrian President Bashar Assads government had authorized U.N.-organized aid shipments into eastern Aleppo for the first time, Egeland said. However, he provided no details about how the aid might get in or where it would go, and past agreements have fallen through before any aid could be delivered.

Medical officials in the enclave issued a passionate plea for a cease-fire.

The Syrian government has dismissed a proposal for a cease-fire put forward by the rebels Wednesday.
Feds Won't Clear WIPP Reopening Until Improvements Made

Officials at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant want to re-open the facility by the end of the month, but the feds say

before they give the go-ahead. 

Santa Fe Schools Need Improvement

Speaking of needed improvements, Santa Fe Public Schools Superintendent Veronica Garcia says even the districts world-class schools

, especially boosting math proficiencies, which are below 10 percent.

Student Sanctuary Approved

Meanwhile, school board members in Santa Fe

The move comes as cities, colleges and universities around the nation are contemplating similar, largely symbolic, actions showing support for undocumented immigrants following Donald Trumps victory last month in the presidential election. Trump has proposed several policies to crack down on immigrants living in the country illegally, and many communities have seen an increase in anti-immigrant sentiment since the election. Trumps Time

Speaking of Trump, Time magazine picked him to be their Man of the Year after he disrupted the political establishment to claim the White House.



Udall a No-Go for Governor

With Trump gearing up to run the country for the next four years, US Sen. Tom Udall, D-NM, says he can be more effective in Washington and the senior senator has opted not to run for governor in 2018. The decision by one of the states most powerful politicians creates a wide open field in the 2018 Democratic primary race to replace Gov. Susana Martinez, who is term-limited from running again. U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, NM Attorney General Hector Balderas, and Alan Webber  who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2014 and today runs the think tank One New Mexico  are among the Democrats considering running for governor. State Economy Tanks

While the stock market is booming and investors seems confident Trump will be good for business and the nations economy, New Mexico's own economy is still tanking, dragged down by the depressed oil and gas industry. The states gross domestic product fell by 0.2 percent during the second quarter, making it one of eight states that saw GDP decreases, according to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis. It was the third consecutive quarter in which New Mexico had negative GDP growth. PNM Wants More Moola

The Public Service Company of New Mexico is headed back to the Public Regulation Commission to request another double-digit rate hike just two months after the investor-owned utility boosted everyones electric bills.



Pearce Disappointed by VA Medical Centers' Ratings

The El Paso and Albuquerque Veterans Affairs medical centers only scored one of five stars and are two of the lowest-ranked systems in the country as of June 30. Unfortunately this is what we, in New Mexico, have come to expect from the VA. Since entering Congress in 2003, I have fought to bring to light the substandard quality of care and to improve service for all veterans. I look forward to working with the Trump administration so that our nations veterans are provided the benefits they were promised and deserve, Congressman Steve Pearce, R-Hobbs, said in a statement.

Santa Fe Reporter
Fairfax Media, which plans to merge its New Zealand media business with rival NZME, confirmed speculation it had been approached by a third party about the acquisition of its New Zealand unit, but said it's not in talks with the potential buyer.

Sydney-based Fairfax and Auckland-based NZME want to merge their media businesses, a move the anti-trust Commerce Commission rejected in a draft determination last month, fearing loss of media plurality. The National Business Review today reported Fairfax had been offered between $100 million and $120 million by an unidentified buyer for its New Zealand business if the proposed merger with NZME fell through, which represented a multiple of about two times Fairfax NZs annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

"Following media speculation today, Fairfax confirms that it has recently received a letter from a third party claiming that it has a client that would be interested in considering the acquisition of the Fairfax New Zealand business," Fairfax said in a statement to the ASX. "The name of the client is not disclosed. The letter contains no offer capable of acceptance and Fairfax is not engaged in any discussions in relation to the letter."

Fairfax said it had a binding merger agreement with NZME, which included exclusivity provisions preventing either party from entertaining any offer from a third party in relation to the business and assets.

"Consistent with its exclusivity obligations under the MIA, Fairfax is continuing to work with NZME to satisfy the conditions under the MIA and is not engaged with any third party," the company said.

Shares in Fairfax last traded at 86.5 Australian cents on the ASX, and have shed 6 percent this year. NZME shares last traded at 55 cents on the NZX, and have dropped 31 percent this year.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:

Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process.

Related News:

FPH to announce half year results on 29 November 2022

ATM - FDA approval to supply infant milk formula to United States

Steel & Tube - Adopts ESG World Platform

BGP - 3rd Quarter Sales to 30 October 2022

GEO - Quarterly Operating Update

SUM - Andrea Scown to join Summerset as Future Director

CCC - Admission to Trading on Aquis Stock Exchange

November 3rd Morning Report

Air New Zealand issues Performance Rights

Heartland announces new Director of Heartland Bank


Fonterra Cooperative Group has told shareholders at its annual meeting in Darfield today that the indicative payout level to its 10,500 farmer suppliers this season will be $6.40 per kilogram of milk solids.

The cooperative boosted its forecast farmgate milkprice for the current season to $6/kgMS last month after rising global dairy prices, adding an estimated $3.8 billion to New Zealand's economy.

It previously stated the additional dividend would be based on an earnings per share forecast of 50 to 60 cents. Fonterras policy is to pay out 65 to 75 percent of adjusted net profit after tax over time and today chairman John Wilson indicated this years dividend would be 40 cents per share once retentions are taken out.

That compares to the $4.30/kg MS paid out in the 2015/2016 season which included a farmgate milk price of $3.90 and a 40 cent dividend.

Analysts have been predicting Fonterra would hike its milk price payout even further after gains this week in global dairy auction prices. Analysts are now expecting the final payout to be between $6 and $6.50/kgMS.

Wilson told the meeting that the milk price model put in place in 2009 had added 36 cents to the farmgate milk price  under the old model, the 2016 farmgate milk price would have been $3.54/kgMS rather than $3.90.

Fonterra also used the annual meeting to announce the launch of a new range of premium Anchor products in China, featuring two UHT products. The Upline range includes LiveUp, a high protein milk with 50 percent more protein than standard UHT, and NaturalUP, which is made from certified fresh organic New Zealand milk.

Fonterra Greater China president Christina Zhu said the products are in response to changing consumption patterns with Chinese consumers seeking out more premium and healthy options.

Research from the Boston Consulting Group has shown Chinese consumers are now the worlds most health conscious with 73 percent willing to pay more for items that are healthier.

Units in Fonterra Shareholder Fund are unchanged today at $5.93, up 10 percent over the past year.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:

Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process.

Related News:

FPH to announce half year results on 29 November 2022

ATM - FDA approval to supply infant milk formula to United States

Steel & Tube - Adopts ESG World Platform

BGP - 3rd Quarter Sales to 30 October 2022

GEO - Quarterly Operating Update

SUM - Andrea Scown to join Summerset as Future Director

CCC - Admission to Trading on Aquis Stock Exchange

November 3rd Morning Report

Air New Zealand issues Performance Rights

Heartland announces new Director of Heartland Bank


Income tax cuts are on hold as the government says responding to the earthquakes and reducing debt are currently of higher priority, although election year tax sweeteners remain possible.

Todays Budget Policy Statement shows a government sensitive to polling that suggests public appetite for spending increases on public services and debt reduction is preferred over tax cuts as the best way to use the massive budget surpluses that are forecast over the next four years.

The Half Year Update does not make an explicit provision for tax reductions, but the government will continue to consider options for lower rates or thresholds, either in Budget 2017 or after, as the fiscal situation continues to improve, Finance Minister Bill English said in the BPS.

The text was finalised last Friday, before Prime Minister John Key announced his unexpected resignation on Monday, and reflects late redrafting to deal with the $1 billion estimated net impact of last months Kaikoura earthquakes on the Crowns accounts.

The largest single change from the 2016 Budget is a more than tripling in provision for new capital spending.

The capital allocation for Budget 2016 has been increased from $900 million to $3 billion in Budget 2017 and to $2 billion in future budgets to provide for a number of high quality infrastructure and investment projects.

Of that $3 billion for next year, only $1.7 billion has been allocated so far and neither the BPS nor the Treasurys Half Year Fiscal and Economic Update document give precise detail about the new public assets those funds will be help build, beyond the $1.4 billion to cover the cost of the Auckland central rail loop project.

Net investments of $11.1 billion are forecast, and largely represent capital injections to Crown entities to maintain and expand their asset bases, the HYEFU says, at a rate of $1.9 billion to $2.8 billion annually.

The largest capital injections across the forecast period are to the New Zealand Transport Agency for state highways ($7 billion). Capital injections to district health boards, Crown Fibre Holdings, Southern Response and Otakaro (the latter two relating to the Canterbury rebuild) are also included.

A special note on the impact of high immigration identifies pressure as greatest on education, health, and transport infrastructure from adding an estimated 371,000 new citizens over the nine years from 2012 to 2021.

While inward migration is, however, seen moderating over the next five years, it falls more slowly than presumed in the May budget, with some 66,000 more people expected over the next five years than the earlier forecast.

The reduction is driven by a combination of fewer international students arriving because of closer visa policing, more departures for jobs in a recovering Australian economy, and higher hurdles recently introduced for new migrants.

The HYEFU capital expenditure forecasts show the largest single area of new capital spending through the next five years is a cumulative forecast $9.5 billion on education assets, followed by the $7 billion for NZTA, $3.1 billion for the New Zealand Superannuation Fund when contributions resume in 2020/21, and $2.5 billion on defence spending.

A further $6.2 billion of capital expenditure is unallocated.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:

Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process.

Related News:

FPH to announce half year results on 29 November 2022

ATM - FDA approval to supply infant milk formula to United States

Steel & Tube - Adopts ESG World Platform

BGP - 3rd Quarter Sales to 30 October 2022

GEO - Quarterly Operating Update

SUM - Andrea Scown to join Summerset as Future Director

CCC - Admission to Trading on Aquis Stock Exchange

November 3rd Morning Report

Air New Zealand issues Performance Rights

Heartland announces new Director of Heartland Bank


David Clark, Labour's spokesperson for economic development, says he's "very concerned" about the performance of the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment after an audit, with the holiday payroll issue still hanging over the super ministry's head.

"The audit we received as part of our briefing is probably the most damning I've seen for your agency," Clark told MBIE's chief executive David Smol at the agency's annual review at the commerce select committee this morning. "Why is this happening? Your merger was in 2012, and if I can just go through an overview: management control environment, needs improvement, and the description is "we've recommended major improvements be made at the earliest reasonable opportunity." Legislative compliance: needs improvement, human resources: good. You get the picture, "needs improvement" seems to be the general message right through the audit opinion we've had of the agency."

There was some discussion about whether members of the committee are able to refer to the audits they had received or whether that is confidential under Parliament's Standing Orders, with the conclusion being that they can, but the report shouldn't be attributed.

"Let me rephrase that - I am very concerned that your agency needs improvement in a way that it hasn't for some time," Clark said. "I'm wanting to hear about how we've come to this position, from what was previously a healthy position, and what's going wrong with the agency."

Smol said MBIE had had "needs improvement" ratings since it was founded, had improved on non-financial performance measures, and he was very pleased with the progress it had made on financial controls, though he aspired to improve the ratings and was disappointed they had not improved yet.

"The area where we're clearly well short of where we need to be is payroll, it's my understanding that's the main reason for the rating we've received," Smol said. "They're not raising fundamental concerns about how we package and control the money over which we have stewardship, but there will always be scope for improvement."

The MBIE payroll issue came to light in March this year, when apparent significant underpayments of MBIE staff dating back to a 2004 change in the Holidays Act were discovered.

As at July 31, 34 other companies and agencies were under investigation by the agency's labour inspectorate, including ANZ Bank New Zealand, Bank of New Zealand, Fonterra Cooperative Group, Restaurant Brands, Countdown supermarket owner Progressive Enterprises, Ryman Healthcare, and The Warehouse. Completed investigations of 25 employers led to $35 million in arrears paid to 26,000 staff, according to a document released by the Council of Trade Unions in September.

Smol said he was very optimistic MBIE would have sorted its own payroll issue by this time next year, though couldn't guarantee it. Stewart McRobbie, MBIE's chief financial officer, said the agency wanted to have all remediation calculations finished by the end of this financial year, which is June 2017, or earlier, with payments to current and former staff after that.

MBIE doesn't have a current estimate of its liability from the issue, McRobbie said, but expects to be able to pay out from within its existing funding.

Smol said it was impossible to estimate the length of time it will take to fix inaccurate payments made to employees in the wider New Zealand population. The agency's labour inspectorate is carrying out an audit program, Smol said, working with businesses to resolve issues it unearths, and MBIE is working with payroll providers and partners like the CTU and Business New Zealand to strengthen its systems.

"You will be aware this is not the cleanest piece of legislation, and circumstances vary enormously from one place of employment to another," Smol said. "It's the responsibility of each employer, as and when they become aware of errors in their payroll system. We have significantly increased our resource on this."

BusinessDesk.co.nz

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:

Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process.

Related News:

FPH to announce half year results on 29 November 2022

ATM - FDA approval to supply infant milk formula to United States

Steel & Tube - Adopts ESG World Platform

BGP - 3rd Quarter Sales to 30 October 2022

GEO - Quarterly Operating Update

SUM - Andrea Scown to join Summerset as Future Director

CCC - Admission to Trading on Aquis Stock Exchange

November 3rd Morning Report

Air New Zealand issues Performance Rights

Heartland announces new Director of Heartland Bank


Finance Minister Bill English says he is "finding strong support in the caucus for his bid to replace John Key as Prime Minister next Monday after Key unexpectedly announced his resignation and departure from politics on Monday.

He would not discuss who he would back for deputy from the two declared candidates  Bridges and the Climate Change and Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett  saying that was a matter for the caucus.

English announced he would appoint Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce to replace him in the finance role if he becomes Prime Minister.

Speaking at the release of the Budget Policy Statement and updated fiscal and economic forecasts, English made the announcement to pre-empt questions, effectively making the first appointment in a Cabinet reshuffle he would expect to oversee, should his candidacy succeed.

Englishs chances appear to be firming, with influential backbencher Todd Muller coming out this morning in support of English as leader, backed by the Transport and Energy Minister Simon Bridges, as his deputy.

Asked how Joyces appointment would square with an emerging desire from Nationals backbenchers for Cabinet rejuvenation, English smiled and said: Well, hell be a new Finance Minister.

He would opt for Joyce because they had worked well together for eight years and he has a fantastic set of skills.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:

Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process.

Related News:

FPH to announce half year results on 29 November 2022

ATM - FDA approval to supply infant milk formula to United States

Steel & Tube - Adopts ESG World Platform

BGP - 3rd Quarter Sales to 30 October 2022

GEO - Quarterly Operating Update

SUM - Andrea Scown to join Summerset as Future Director

CCC - Admission to Trading on Aquis Stock Exchange

November 3rd Morning Report

Air New Zealand issues Performance Rights

Heartland announces new Director of Heartland Bank


Boston , Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Boston, MA. December 8, 2016) Today Dalbar announced the winner of its annual Insurance Service Award. For the second consecutive year The Guardian Life Insurance Company of Americas (Guardian) Individual Disability Income Insurance topped the insurance contact center rankings and earned the Insurance Service Award. Guardian was the only insurance provider to earn this distinction for 2016.

For the last thirty years Dalbar has conducted rigorous testing of service delivery within the financial services and insurance industries via its Service Quality Measurement programs. Each year Dalbar identifies those firms that stand out from their peers in the level of service being provided to their customers. The Insurance Service Award is bestowed upon those providers that consistently deliver a superior standard of care in their interactions with policyholders. Award recipients are determined by the comprehensive evaluation of all aspects of their telephone interactions over the course of the year.

Dalbar Director Brendan Yeager elaborated, Where Guardian really set themselves apart from their competitors is in their ability to connect with the policyholder on a personal level. Many of the policyholders calling Guardian on their disability policies have experienced some sort of misfortune. Having someone on the other end of the line who takes the time to get to know them and who can empathize with their situation goes a long way.

Dalbar, Inc. is the financial communitys leading independent expert for evaluating, auditing and rating business practices, customer performance, product quality and service. Launched in 1976, Dalbar has earned the recognition for consistent and unbiased evaluations of insurance companies, investment companies, registered investment advisers, broker/dealers, retirement plan providers and financial professionals. Dalbar awards are recognized as the marks of excellence in the financial community.
Companys AXINON  system and diagnostic tests enable laboratories to perform precision diagnostics using metabolomics

system and diagnostic tests enable laboratories to perform precision diagnostics using metabolomics Richard Yap, experienced medical technology executive in Asian markets, will head the office, numares Singapore Pte. Ltd., as managing director.

REGENSBURG, Germany, Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- numares AG, a fast growing, innovative diagnostics company focused on the development and use of metabolomics networks in high-throughput test systems for clinical diagnostics and life science research, today announced its expansion into the Asian diagnostic market with the opening of its Asian subsidiary in Singapore. Richard Yap, a medical technology marketing executive with extensive experience in Asia, will head the Singapore office.

From its regional base in Singapore, numares targets the growing demand for innovative diagnostic solutions in the emerging Asian countries. Specifically, numares plans to introduce to the Asian market, AXINON lipoFIT, the Companys first commercialized in vitro diagnostic test system, which analyzes lipoprotein particles that are important risk factors for atherosclerotic disease. The lipoFIT test helps physicians initiate measures to reduce the risk of stroke and myocardial infarction.

numares next-generation of diagnostic test systems, which evaluate metabolomics networks, are designed to be easy-to-use, high-throughput and cost-efficient. The numares AXINON system and specific testing software decipher metabolic networks by evaluating NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectra rather than identify the presence or specific amount of a single biomarker. This will support physicians to initiate earlier medical interventions, more efficient determination of appropriate drug therapies and better diagnoses based on the patients current metabolic status. The tests are software-based rather than chemistry-based (i.e. no specialized reagents to process antibodies, proteins or nucleic acids) so are affordable for laboratories and patients.

Richard Yap, recently appointed as a managing director, will be responsible for the development of the Asian market. The 52-year-old engineer has more than 25 years of experience in the distribution of medical products in the Asian Pacific region. He was the regional managing director for OrbusNeich, a leading provider of treatment solutions for coronary heart diseases, and most recently advised medical technology companies on entering the Asian market.

"Our new office in Singapore will enable us to strategically position ourselves in the Asian diagnostic market so that we meet its growing demand for innovative diagnostic solutions, said Titus Kaletta, chief operating officer of numares AG. The Asia Pacific region is the fastest growing diagnostic market in the world. Richard, with his extensive experience launching and marketing technologically advanced medical products in this region, will be an invaluable part of our commercial team. We are delighted that he has joined numares.

Mr. Yap added, I am looking forward to this new assignment. Exploiting metabolomic networks for diagnostics with software-based affordable technology has enormous potential, not least when it comes to providing increasing value while confronting cost pressures in health care worldwide. Together with numares international team, I would like to support the company in developing an important future market and thus to continue the international growth course of numares."

A photo of Richard Yap is available upon request.

About numares

numares AG is a fast-growing innovative diagnostics company developing and marketing software-based test systems for high-throughput use in clinical diagnostics and life science research. The AXINON IVD system and its diagnostic tests employ nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy creating a numeric spectrum to evaluate metabolomic networks. The output from these analyses provide physicians valuable information on the disease status of patients. numares developed its proprietary Magnetic Group Signaling (MGS) technology to enable NMR for highly standardized and rapid throughput testing forming a cost-efficient new solution for diagnostic purposes. The metabolomics tests address unmet medical needs in the indication fields of cardiovascular diseases, nephrology, oncology and neurology, shaping another important pillar in precision medicine.

More information can be found at www.numares.com.
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Investors Business Daily (IBD), a leading financial news and research organization, today shared additional analysis from its monthly IBD/TIPP poll. In its first poll since successfully predicting the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, IBD/TIPP asked 902 respondents a set of additional questions regarding President-elect Trump, which issues he should prioritize upon taking office, and how they feel about the direction of the country.



As part of the poll, participants were asked to rank their first, second, and third-highest priorities for the new administration from a choice of seven agenda items, which included: funding for improving infrastructure, 'drain the swamp'/enact measures to reduce government corruption, repeal/replace ObamaCare, build a wall/deport illegals who committed crimes, U.S. withdrawal from Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, cancel Iran nuclear deal, and defeat ISIS.

Fifty-four percent of participants named defeating ISIS as one of their top three priorities. Coming in second was lowering taxes and simplifying the tax code (49%), with improving infrastructure such as roads and bridges trailing just behind at 48%. When dissected across gender, 59% of women placed ISIS as their number one priority, while infrastructure spending came in first for men at 51%.

Weve conducted and refined our monthly Economic Optimism Index over a number of years, but coming off of the heels of a historically contentious election, we saw an opportunity to probe further in order to uncover how people are feeling as President-elect Trump prepares to take office, said Terry Jones, Commentary Editor of Investors Business Daily. While there are a number of interesting takeaways, we found it particularly surprising that defeating ISIS ultimately tipped the scales as the issue concerning most Americans, particularly women, because it was not one of the biggest issues of the respective campaigns.

Along Party Lines

While some poll categories elicited similar responses between political parties, notably prioritizing the defeat of ISIS and the need for infrastructure investments, the chasm between democrats and republicans ran exceptionally deep, with independents falling squarely in the middle. Poll results added valuable perspective on just how sharply divided the country has become. For example:

 53% of Republicans put repealing ObamaCare on their top-three priority list, with ObamaCare also claiming the number one spot. Conversely, only 11% of Democrats included ObamaCare anywhere in their top-three.

 Republicans were optimistic across the board about the future under a Trump presidency, with 92% believing Trump will change government for the better, while Democrats have become deeply depressed (89% dont believe the president-elect will have a positive impact). Additionally:

75% of Democrats had been satisfied with the direction of the country prior to the election while only 27% are satisfied today.



When asked about the countrys standing in the world six months from now, 74% of Democrats believe it will be worse compared to just 10% who said so before the election.



Related to the economy, 52% of Democrats think it will get worse over the next six months vs only 8% reflecting this sentiment prior to Trumps victory.



Democrats satisfaction on morals and ethics also plummeted from 61% in late October to 21% after Trump was named president.



President Obamas approval ratings have gone up among Democrats -- today 90% say he is doing an excellent or good job overall, compared with 81% just before the election.



What People Dont Care About

Interestingly, the poll also revealed that voters across the political spectrum care little about three of Trumps cornerstone issues  immigration, canceling the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal and canceling the Iran nuclear arms deal.

Despite chants of Build that wall! only 21% of respondents placed it and deporting illegals on their list of must-dos. Canceling TPP got only 15% support, and getting out the Iran deal came in last at 14%.

Also worth noting is where people stand on Hillary Clinton. Despite some of the more extreme sentiments reported on by the media, the public by and large does not want Trump to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate her emails (68% are opposed) or the Clinton Foundation (62% are opposed). This indicates that Trumps backpedaling on wanting to send Clinton to jail is alright with voters on both sides of the aisle, triggering minimal backlash.

At the same time, voters are against a Clinton pardon from President Obama. Seventy percent of all respondents, including 52% of democrats, were against a blanket pardon.

Methodology

IBD/TIPP conducted the national telephone poll of 902 adults from November 28 to December 4 using live interviewers and both cellphone and landlines. The margin of error is +/-3.3 percentage points. Additional information on the poll can be found at: www.investors.com/presidentialpoll

ABOUT THE IBD/TIPP POLL

The IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index is the earliest take on consumer confidence each month and predicts with good reliability monthly changes in sentiment in well-known polls by The Conference Board and the University of Michigan. The IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index is based on a survey of 900-plus adults chosen at random nationwide. The national poll is generally conducted in the first week of the month by live interviewers and both cell phone and landlines.

For more information, go to www.tipponline.com. To license the IBD/TIPP Poll, please contact: IBDlicensing@investors.com.

ABOUT INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY (IBD)

Investor's Business Daily is a leading financial news and research organization recognized for proprietary stock screens, comparative performance ratings and a record of identifying stock leaders as they emerge. The company takes a data-first approach to investing, educating investors based on what sound, thorough research yields. IBD has honed its approach over the last 50 years in order to help investors make smarter decisions. Its stock lists have outperformed the S&P, and its recent presidential poll, the most accurate over the past four election cycles, was one of only two national polls to accurately predict the outcome of the 2016 Presidential Election. IBD offers a number of interactive stock research tools and research for investors of every level.

 2016 Investor's Business Daily, Inc. All rights reserved. Investor's Business Daily, IBD, CAN SLIM and their corresponding logos are registered trademarks of Investor's Business Daily, Inc.
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Barings Global Short Duration High Yield Fund (the Fund) (NYSE:BGH) announced its monthly dividend for December 2016 of $0.1534 per share, payable on January 3, 2017. Based on the Funds November 30, 2016 share price of $18.46 per share, the distribution represents an annualized yield of 9.97% per share. Based on current projections through the payable date, the Fund expects that this distribution may include a return of capital.

Additionally, the Fund announced estimated monthly distributions of $0.1534 per share for January 2017 and February 2017. The distribution schedule appears below:

Month Ex-Date Record Date Payable Date Amount 1 December 12/19/2016 12/21/2016 01/03/2017 $ 0.1534 January 01/19/2017 01/23/2017 02/01/2017 $ 0.1534 February 02/15/2017 02/17/2017 03/01/2017 $ 0.1534

The Fund seeks to pay a distribution at a rate that reflects net investment income actually earned. A portion of each distribution may be treated as paid from sources other than net investment income, including but not limited to short-term capital gain, long-term capital gain or return of capital. The final determination of the source and tax characteristics of these distributions will depend upon the Funds investment experience during its fiscal year and will be made after the Funds year end. The Fund will send to investors a Form 1099-DIV for the calendar year that will define how to report these distributions for federal income tax purposes.

The Fund is a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company that is managed by Barings LLC. The Fund invests primarily in short-duration, global high yield bonds with the objective of seeking as high a level of current income as Barings determines is consistent with capital preservation, with a secondary objective of capital appreciation. The Fund expects to maintain a weighted average portfolio duration, including the effects of leverage, of 3 years or less.

_____________________________

1 Amounts represent estimates for January and February.

Cautionary Notice: Certain statements contained in this press release may be "forward looking" statements. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date in which they are made and which reflect managements current estimates, projections, expectations or beliefs, and which are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. These statements are subject to change at any time based upon economic, market or other conditions and may not be relied upon as investment advice or an indication of the fund's trading intent. References to specific securities are not recommendations of such securities, and may not be representative of the fund's current or future investments. We undertake no obligation to publicly update forward looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Because the Fund is newly organized, its shares have a limited history of public trading. Investors should read the Funds prospectus and consider carefully the risks, investment objectives, charges and expenses associated with an investment in the Funds common shares. For a copy of the prospectus, please contact your securities representative.

About Barings

Barings is a $284 billion*global asset management firm dedicated to meeting the evolving investment and capital needs of our clients. We build lasting partnerships that leverage our distinctive expertise across traditional and alternative asset classes to deliver innovative solutions and exceptional service. A member of the MassMutual Financial Group, Barings maintains a strong global presence with over 600 investment professionals and offices in 17 countries. Learn more, at www.barings.com.

*As of September 30, 2016.

16/2565
NEW DELHI: Leading web hosting firm GoDaddy on Thursday launched WordPress websites for the Indian market to help small business owners, individuals and web professionals to easily convert their ideas online into a professional website.

The offer features WordPress Quick Start Wizard that simplifies the website creation process.

"Getting a website up-and-running is a crucial task for a small business owner and we are focused on helping small business owners and those who support them, with flexible and affordable solutions," said Andrew Low Ah Kee, Executive Vice President, GoDaddy International.

WordPress websites are available in three different pricing options ranging from 99 to 549 per month, depending up on the features chosen.

"GoDaddy WordPress Websites is designed to be an affordable and an easy way to create a powerful, scalable WordPress website" added Kee.

Read Also:

European Union Clears $26 Bn Linkedin Acquisition By Microsoft

Patanjali Targets Reaching One Lakh Crore Production By 2020

Autodesk Announces E-Store In India For Designers
NEW YORK, Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Scott+Scott, Attorneys at Law, LLP (Scott+Scott), a national investor rights law firm, reminds investors that January 5, 2017 is the last day to file lead plaintiff papers in the securities lawsuit against Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (Teva or the Company) (NYSE:TEVA). The class action is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons who purchased Teva American Depositary Shares (ADSs) between February 10, 2015 and November 3, 2016, both dates inclusive (the Class Period). Teva investors are encouraged to go to: http://www.scott-scott.com/cases/new/securities-fraud-litigation-3027-teva-pharmaceutical-industries-limited-teva.html.



Teva primarily develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes generic medicines and a portfolio of specialty medicines. Teva ADSs are traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol TEVA.

The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Teva was involved in and/or had been involved in conduct that would result in an antitrust investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and the State of Connecticut Office of the Attorney General; (2) the DOJ investigation and the misconduct may instigate U.S. prosecutors to file criminal charges against Teva for alleged price manipulation; (3) as a result, Teva lacked effective internal controls; and (4) consequently, Teva's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

What You Can Do

If you purchased Teva ADSs, you may have legal claims against the Company. If you want to discuss filing lead plaintiff papers, or have questions about your legal rights, please contact attorney Joseph Pettigrew at (619) 517-1129, or at jpettigrew@scott-scott.com.

About Scott + Scott, Attorneys at Law, LLP

Scott+Scott has significant experience prosecuting major securities, antitrust, and employee retirement plan actions throughout the United States. The firm has offices in New York, London, Connecticut, California, and Ohio. Please visit www.scott-scott.com for more information about the firm.
NEW DELHI: Government today gave ex-post facto approval to an MoU between India and the United Kingdom to support ease of doing business in India.



The decision was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here.

The MoU which was signed earlier this month shall enable exchange of officials from both the Governments to facilitate sharing of best practises, offering technical assistance and enhanced implementation of reforms. The collaboration shall also cover state governments in its ambit.



"The MoU shall facilitate various agencies of the UKgovernment to offer professional courses on better regulation drafting for officials, capacity-building of frontline inspectors, sharing of best practises, etc.



"The collaboration is expected to expedite adoption of innovative practises by the Government of India, State Governments and their agencies leading to easing of regulatory environment in the country and fostering of conducive business climate in India," an official statement said.



The UK government has shown interest to offer expertise in areas like support to small businesses and start ups, starting a business and registration, paying taxes and tax administration, insolvency, construction permits, getting electricity, risk based framework for inspection and regulatory regimes, trading across borders, competition economics, getting credit, drafting of laws and regulations, reducing stock and flow of regulation and impact assessment of regulations.



Currently, India is ranked 130th out of 190 economies (as per Doing Business Report, 2017). The UK Government has achieved phenomenal improvement in Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) rankings in recent years.



The beneficiaries include the officials from Central Government Ministries/Departments and state governments through sharing of best practises, capacity building etc. Each side shall bear the cost of travel and logistics for its officials as well as for co-hosting trainings, seminars and conferences.

Read Also:

Aiming to Overpower China, Trump is Likely to Build Strong Relations with India

Quick Facts About the New Successor of the Throne: Paneerselvam
NEW DELHI: State-run oil marketers Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp on Wednesday signed an agreement to build India's biggest oil refinery at a cost of $30 billion.

The project for the 60-million tonne per annum (MTPA) refinery in Maharashtra has Indian Oil as the consortium leader, officials here said.

Indian Oil will have a 50 pct stake in the project, while Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum will have 25 pct each.

The consortium agreement was signed on the sidelines of the Petrotech 2016 hydrocarbons conference here in the presence of Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal and Anil Dave.

Two to three sites on the Maharashtra coast are being explored for the refinery and mega petrochemical complex that will be set up in two phases, officials said.

The Phase-1 capacity will be 40 million tonnes (MT) together with an aromatic complex, naphtha cracker unit and a polymer complex. This will cost between 1.2-1.5 lakh crore and will come up in 5-6 years from the date of land acquisition.

The second phase, involving a 20 MT refinery, will cost 50,000-60,000 crore.

The Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries currently operates India's biggest refinery in Jamnagar in Gujarat, which has a capacity of 33 MT.

Read Also:

Microsoft Launches Solutions For Small & Medium Businesses

Some Unknown Facts about Late Jayalalithaa
BENGALURU: Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa, the mother of all comebacks finally lost her battle and passed away on Monday, leaving behind millions of well-wishers and supporters in grief. She had been undergoing treatment at Chennais Apollo hospital since September 22 and finally succumbed to her illness on Monday. She was basically a survivor and it was never ever a good thing to call her down and out, as her rivals would admit.

There have been many instances in the past when she rose from oblivion like a phoenix and surprised everyone by her perseverance and fighting capabilities. The Economic Times has compiled a list of such instances when she rose from the ashes and reached the top.

The actor turned politician started her political journey in 1982, when she joined All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam under the leadership of the charismatic MG Ramachandran. In 1984, she was elected as a member of the Rajya Sabha. In the same year MG Ramachandran feel ill and was undergoing treatment in the US. In his absence, she was stripped of all party posts and activities. But to the surprise of many, she won two crucial electionsthe Lok Sabha and Legislative assembly elections. This marked the beginning of a long and successful stint as a politician.

After MGRs death there was a rift in AIADMK, which split the party in halves. One section was with MGRs wife Janaki Ramachandran, while the other was with Jayalalithaa. Janaki Ramachandran became the CM of the state with the support of 97 out of 132 MLAs. But the dream lasted only 21 days, as Rajiv Gandhi dismissed the incumbent government and imposed Presidents rule in the state.

J Jayalalithaa overcame this setback by winning 27 seats in the assembly and became the first woman leader of the opposition. Janaki quit the party having won only two seats. It was followed by the incident of March 25, 1989, which marked a new low for J Jayalaithaa, as DMK MLAs tried to disrobe her when she was trying to exit the assembly. She vowed to come back to the assembly, but only as the Chief Minister of the state.

Then with a sweeping victory in the 1991 elections, she became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for the first time. Soon after that she got embroiled in a controversy after spending a lavish amount of money on the wedding of her adopted son, Sudhakaran. The opposition was in no mood to let it go, and all the corruption charges led to her biggest defeat in the 1996 elections, which saw her win only 4 seats.

Jayalalithaa was arrested in December, when Dr Subramanian Swamy filed a case against her of having disproportionate assets. In 2001 she again came back to power with a landslide victory, but she was barred by the Supreme Court to become the CM of the state. In 2003, Madras High Court absolved her any wrongdoing and she became the Chief Minister for the second time.

Jayalalithaa once again had to go to jail in 2014, after Supreme Court convicted her to four years in prison. She spent one month in prison, after which the Karnataka High Court absolved her of any wrong doing. She became the first leader in 32 years to win two consecutive elections, when she was elected for the second consecutive term in 2016. All these instances throughout her life brought out the inherent fighting spirit in her.

Read Also:

India To Be Less Affected By U.S. Policy Change Under Donald Trump

Google Hits Renewable Energy Goal In Quest To Pare Pollution
Hanks.jpg

Kamillah Hanks, founder and president of Historic Tappen Park Community Partnership, gives then-mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis a tour of the Stapleton business district in 2013. (Staten Island Advance/Anthony DePrimo)

Democrat Kamillah Hanks is a Stapleton advocate.(Staten Island Advance/Irving Silverstein)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Following months of speculation of a possible campaign, North Shore activist Kamillah Hanks has created an election committee to run against Councilwoman Debi Rose in next year's citywide races.

She has not announced her candidacy, denying the filing means she has decided to run.

"I'm actively exploring my options," she told the Advance Wednesday.

She would face Rose, who was elected in 2009, in a primary next fall.

Hanks has not yet filed with the city Campaign Finance Board for the 2017 election, insisting she is not running yet.

She is an independent-turned-Democrat and a mother of four with a background in marketing and public relations.

She is the founder and president of Historic Tappen Park Community Partnership, boosting cultural and economic development in the area.

She is a former president of the Van Duzer Street Civic Association in Stapleton and remains active in the background.

Hanks is a lifelong Staten Islander living in Stapleton.

She is the former executive director of the Downtown Staten Island Council and served on the City Council Districting Commission in 2012.

Borough President James Oddo appointed her in 2014 to be Staten Island's representative to the New York City Panel for Education Policy.

Hanks has worked in public relations at the Staten Island Museum, the Staten Island Economic Development Corporation and Stanton Crenshaw Communications.

But since last year, she has spent much of her time getting a new program for high school dropouts off the ground.

With a $325,000 grant from the city -- payable to the organization by way of reimbursement after they raise the funds first -- Hanks runs B.U.I.L.D. Staten Island, an affiliate of Youth Build USA.

The program teaches young adults ages 18 to 24 life skills, leadership and workplace preparedness.

"It has changed my life," she said.

Meeting inside the recently-opened Duzer's Local Cafe and Market on Van Duzer Street in Stapleton, Hanks spoke very little of her desire to run for public office and much about her civic roles. She marveled at the modern and warm cafe, comparing it to quaint shops in Syracuse. That's the sort of shot in the arm Stapleton needs, she said, waxing poetic about her underrated neighborhood.

Kevin Elkins, Staten Island borough director for Comptroller Scott Stringer, has also been rumored to be considering a run, as has Dominick DeRubbio, who runs a risk management company in Manhattan and is president of Young Democrats of Richmond County.

Elkins declined to comment and DeRubbio said, "Right now I'm focused on improving Silver Lake Park and addressing the issues thousands of Staten Islanders face on the ferry. As of today, I haven't decided if I'll work in a different capacity in improving the lives of North Shore residents."

Only Rose and Hanks have created election committees for the council district, according to the state Board of Elections.

Rose said in a statement, "Having worked closely with North Shore residents to make government more responsive to the people, I will be vigorously campaigning for re-election in 2017. We have made much progress in education, jobs, transportation and public safety, and much work remains to be done, as this is one of the fastest-growing City Council districts in the city."

"The opportunities and challenges that will come our way in the next four years are immense. As a second generation Staten Islander, I know the needs of this diverse district well, and I will work tirelessly to represent the voices of all North Shore residents in City Hall."

This story was updated to include a comment from Councilwoman Debi Rose.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A knock on the door in broad daylight became a living nightmare for a Great Kills family.

A home invasion reported at about 12:45 Wednesday on the 3000 block of Amboy Road remains under investigation by police, who said money and $3,000 worth of jewelry were taken; but reported no injuries.

Two male suspects entered the home and held the three family members at gunpoint, demanding to know where the money was, police said. They then forced the family in to a downstairs room, according to an NYPD spokesman.

They bound two of the family members with zip ties and put a gun to the mother's head, according to police and a source with knowledge of the incident.

At least four NYPD patrol and undercover cars were on scene, as neighbors and business owners in the area looked on. Neighbors described the father as a doctor; the mother as the woman who feeds the ducks by the pond, and the daughter as about 30 years old.

After police left, a family member said over the phone they were shaken by the incident and had a lot of cleaning up to do, but declined to comment further.

A business owner nearby said she's spooked by a string of recent incidents on the block, which also included a bank robbery across the street in September.

"Our families all work in these offices. So it's a little scary to have this happen right here."

Beside the house is a vacant property with shuttered windows and doors, which according to local business owners, has been frequented by squatters and those they speculated to be drug users.

"That's the first thing we thought when we saw the police cars, was that the squatters were back," said another business owner, who declined to give his name.

Managers of the bank across the street said they turned surveillance footage from outside the building over to police.
Immigrant Database

A sample ID card issued by the city's IDNYC municipal identification card program.

(AP file)

CITY HALL -- The city's municipal ID program geared toward undocumented immigrants will stop retaining personal background records of cardholders next year.

Officials said the IDNYC policy shift will come before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to deport up to 3 million undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes.

Under the program, some 850,000 New Yorkers obtained a free official ID card using limited paperwork. There are 23,866 Staten Island cardholders.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito (D-Manhattan/Bronx) have previously pledged to keep the documents away from any deportation efforts by the Trump administration.

"The IDNYC program will be transitioning to a policy that does not involve the retention of cardholders' personal background documents," de Blasio spokeswoman Rosemary Boeglin and Mark-Viverito spokeswoman Robin Levine said in a joint statement on Wednesday.

"During this transition, New Yorkers are encouraged to continue to call 311 and make an appointment to begin the pre-application process that remains in place. We expect to begin processing complete applications under the new policy in January."

The 2014 legislation creating IDNYC stipulates that before Dec. 31, 2016, the city can determine whether there is a need to retain records in order to effectively administer the program. Current law also allows the city to change the program's policies on documentation retention.

But existing IDNYC records cannot be destroyed until at least Dec. 21 after a lawsuit filed by Assembly members Nicole Malliotakis and Ron Castorina on Monday.

A Staten Island Supreme court judge issued a temporary restraining order with a return date of Jan. 26. That return was moved to Dec. 21 by a Brooklyn appellate court judge on Wednesday.

"The Mayor is absolutely committed to protecting the security of our data," Boeglin said. "As we continue to review all of our options, we are confident that we can keep IDNYC data private."

The city said the new policy can still be implemented while the temporary restraining order is in effect.

"It's unconscionable that the de Blasio administration would choose not to retain documents or data applicants provided in exchange for a government identification card," Malliotakis said on Wednesday. "I don't know of any other government entity, including the DMV, which the city claims to model its process after, that would do something like this."

Castorina said he is "feeling quite confident they won't be able to destroy this documentation."

"We've got the city scurrying and they are changing a policy, which by the way they have written into law," Castorina said. "Is this a banana republic?"

(Advance reporter Rachel Shapiro contributed to this report.)
dogcage.jpg

Hofstra University's campus newspaper, The Hofstra Chronicle, published photos Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016, of an alleged hazing ritual by Sigma Pi, including a photo of an apparent pledge confined to what appears to be a small dog crate

(The Hofstra Chronicle/Twitter)

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- Hofstra University on Long Island says it has asked police to investigate a student newspaper's report of possible hazing by a former fraternity that involved a Nazi symbol, hot sauce and possible confinement of a pledge in a small dog crate.

The allegations that Sigma Pi hazed its pledges were first reported in a story published on Tuesday. The fraternity had its charter revoked and had been suspended by the university earlier this year.

The Hofstra Chronicle report included pictures of a blindfolded male kneeling with a swastika behind him. Other photos showed an apparent pledge confined to what appears to be a small dog crate and three others lying on a floor covered in flour.

Photos and videos also show pledging members made to chug milk and to vomit on one another, and to kneel in blindfolds while their bodies were covered in hot sauce at an off-campus residence, the newspaper reported.

"The university condemns the incidents depicted in the photos and reported in the story and has commenced an immediate investigation," a Hofstra statement said Wednesday. "In addition, the university has also reached out to the Nassau County Police Department for their support and investigation of any potentially criminal behavior."

The statement was sent to the university community and was signed by Hofstra's vice president for student affairs, W. Houston Dougharty.

Det. Lt. Richard LeBrun, a Nassau police spokesman, said Wednesday night that no alleged victim has come forward. "At this point, there is no active investigation because there is no complainant," he said in a statement. "If one does come forward to report this incident, we will commence an investigation."

Hofstra said hazing is a violation of the law and university regulations.

"The safety and health of Hofstra students is our highest priority and in recent years we have redoubled our efforts to educate all members of student organizations about the zero-tolerance stance that Hofstra has for any mistreatment of or harm to students, including any acts that could be considered hazing," the university said.

The Chronicle quoted Syed Ali John Mehdi, a former student and member of Sigma Pi's spring 2015 Beta-Alpha class, as a whistleblower who said students were subjected to abuse in the fall 2014, spring 2015 and fall 2015 pledge processes.

Mehdi could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

In the statement, Hofstra officials said that in March, the university received notice that the Grand Council of Sigma Pi Fraternity International had revoked the charter of the Eta-Gamma Chapter at Hofstra University for unspecified violations. The university suspended the chapter and requested more information from the Grand Council, which declined to provide it.

The university said that Student Affairs had investigated the allegations and had questioned several members of the chapter, who denied any wrongdoing.

Before the suspension, there had been no complaints of hazing against the organization in recent years, the university said.

Sigma Pi Fraternity International's executive director Jason Walker, in a statement emailed Wednesday, said: "We are appalled by the abhorrent behavior concerning our former chapter at Hofstra University. Upon receiving information from a person who asked to remain anonymous, Sigma Pi Fraternity International immediately revoked the chapter's charter.

"Through a combination of education, policy, and accountability at all levels, Sigma Pi remains committed to eliminating hazing and discrimination."

-- Joie Tyrrell, Newsday, and The Associated Press
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A motorist has been caught on camera, slamming into a parked vehicle -- pushing it into another parked car -- before taking off.

Police are investigating the hit-and-run incident, which took place around 3:30 a.m. Saturday on Rossville Avenue.

Surveillance video shows a light-colored car hitting the rear of a parked Dodge Durango. The impact forced the Durango into a Mercedes Benz, which was parked in front of it.

The video shows the motorist getting out of the vehicle to inspect the damage before getting back into the car and driving off.

"They could've left a note," the Durango's owner told the Advance. "It's not right. It's the holiday season and it's stressful."

The Durango's owner, who asked to remain anonymous, said it will cost approximately $1,500 to repair her vehicle. The rear was damaged and the lift is broken, making it inoperable, she added.

The cost to repair the Mercedes, which is owned by a neighbor, was not immediately known.

No arrests have been made, police said.

"I'm hoping someone comes forward or someone who knows something [will contact the police]," the Durango's owner said.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Stapleton man who last year admitted to a hate crime stemming from a bias attack on a white victim in his community, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a weapon-possession charge in an unrelated case.

Devon Fischer, 21, and a co-defendant, Darrell Heath, 28, were busted Nov. 4 during a raid of a Warren Street apartment by the Police Department's Staten Island Gang Squad, according to a criminal complaint.

Fischer, who goes by the moniker "Chatter," had a loaded .22-caliber revolver in his possession, while Heath had a loaded .38-caliber handgun in his possession, the complaint said.

Heath also had crack cocaine and various pills in his bedroom, alleges the complaint.

Cops allege both defendants are gang members.

Fischer pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree criminal weapon possession.

In exchange for his plea, he'll be sentenced Dec. 22 in state Supreme Court, St. George, to three years in prison and five years' post-release supervision.

Fischer, who was on five years' probation in the hate-crime case when arrested on the gun charge, also pleaded guilty to violating probation.

He'll be sentenced to a year behind bars to run concurrent to the gun case.

Meanwhile, Heath pleaded not guilty Wednesday in state Supreme Court to gun and drug charges. His case was adjourned to Jan. 25.

Fischer's prior conviction stemming from an incident on June 19, 2015, when he was 19.

The defendant was part of a group that attacked a 28-year-old man on Targee Street between Laurel and Vanderbilt avenues at about 3 p.m., said authorities.

"You white piece of [expletive]! You white cracker! You're in the wrong neighborhood!" the group yelled as they beat the man, then threw a garbage can, a fluorescent light tube and a milk crate at him, said a criminal complaint.

Police released surveillance images to the public in July of last year.

Cops subsequently arrested Fischer and Raymond (Storm) Banks, 24, of Port Richmond, and charged them with assault as a hate crime and gang assault.

According to a criminal complaint, Banks told police, "On June 19th, an incident happened. An older man hit on my friend so I just threw him one punch and missed and then threw a plastic garbage can."

Banks is an alleged member of the Tombstone Gangstas, which is a sect of the Bloods, said a law enforcement source with knowledge of the case.

Fischer and Banks ultimately pleaded guilty to third-degree assault as a hate crime.

Fischer was sentenced to five months in jail and five years' probation, while Banks was sentenced to 18 months to three years in prison.

In entering his plea, Banks admitted the victim's race and color factored into the attack.
NEW YORK, Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Greystone, a leading real estate lending, investment and advisory firm, announced today that it ranked #1 in multifamily loan commitments issued by the U.S. office of Housing and Urban Development at the conclusion of the agencys 2016 fiscal year. In addition to achieving the top notch in multifamily lender status for 2016, Greystone also closed and funded approximately $300 million in HUD-insured loans in November of this year.



With over $1 billion in firm commitment issuance, Greystone tallied nearly 10% of total FHA multifamily lending volume from October 1, 2015 through September 30, 2016, HUDs most recent fiscal year. More than half (37) of Greystones 72 loan commitments were 223(f) acquisition/refinance transactions, with the remaining deals including new construction and 223(a)(7) refinances for market rate multifamily and affordable housing properties nationwide.

The achievement of being the #1 multifamily FHA lender is really a testament to the stellar service that our team delivers to our clients and I am so proud of them, said Mordecai Rosenberg, head of Greystones FHA lending group. Every team member is constantly focused on seeking out every opportunity to streamline our underwriting and provide the highest level of certainty of execution. This is only the tip of the iceberg.

About Greystone

Greystone is a real estate lending, investment and advisory company which consistently ranks as a top commercial lender. Our range of services includes commercial lending across a variety of platforms such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, CMBS, FHA, USDA, bridge and proprietary loan products. Loans are offered through Greystone Servicing Corporation, Inc., Greystone Funding Corporation and/or other Greystone affiliates. For more information, visit www.greyco.com.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Again, first responders come to the rescue and two more gut-wrenching funerals are averted -- or perhaps just postponed.

By the time 2017 arrives, we will be looking back at the most devastating year for a drug crisis that has likely killed many more than the official 84 reported so far, and left literally thousands of family members and friends who will ring in the New Year with an emotional hole in their souls.

Recently, we've seem them again. Obituaries for young people from good families who "died at home." I know of at least two in the past month that were not reported and the families chose not to publish obituaries. A co-worker knows of another.

It was just days ago when two people suffered suspected drug overdoses at the St. George Ferry Terminal in a span of only 80 minutes.

The NYPD's Ferry Unit administered the Naloxone anti-overdose nasal spray to each, and both were apparently saved.

It's sad to say that these cases are becoming so common, that some in the community are wondering if these "low-life" addicts are worth the trouble, and the cost.

When Island pharmacies, along with elected officials, announced expanded availability of the life-saving drug, there was a growing sense of sympathy waning, with more and more commenters basically saying, "just left them die."

I would ask any with that attitude a simple question: Would that be their reaction if the person turning blue, gasping for their last breath, was their son or daughter, wife or husband, relative or friend?

Because, in the end, that's the face of addiction today on Staten Island.

This raging epidemic continues to take its tragic toll on every segment of this borough's population -- from Todt Hill to Park Hill -- because addiction does not discriminate.

Just check out the map below provided by the district attorney's office that shows deaths and near-deaths are fairly evenly spread from shore to shore.

It pinpoints 56 Naloxone saves and 81 overdoses as of late November that have been reported to his office.

A SHIFT TO NEW SOLUTIONS

But rather than give up, it's time for a renewed commitment to facing the problem and focusing on solutions.

It was very encouraging to report that one of Staten Island's most respected, long-term drug treatment facilities is incorporating a new service to help addicts get into the recovery process.

Camelot of Staten Island, the residential drug treatment program based in counseling, has started an ancillary withdrawal service, executive director Luke Nasta announced.

Patients with moderate or mild withdrawal will be part of a three- to six-week intensive counseling program where doctors administer Suboxone, a prescription medicine that contains buprenorphine and naloxone, to ease withdrawal symptoms while blocking the effects of opiates.

There continues to be some debate about the use of "drugs" to treat addiction, and prior to the added service, Camelot only treated patients after they completed detox.

"There's been an emphasis on using medication to treat addiction, but we don't submit to that," Nasta said. "We wanted to make a distinction. We put the emphasis on counseling."

This a heartening example of a program adding a crucial service while not abandoning its core mission and approach.

TIME TO SURRENDER

But a key issue still remains: What will it take to turn the tide on this deadly scourge so that this time next year, we hopefully will be reporting a sharp drop in both overdoses and saves?

So I went right to someone who knows, firsthand.

"The addict has to wake up, realize they are not immortal, admit that they have a problem that they cannot solve without help, and ask for it," said Frank, a 28-year-old recovering addict who now works as a teacher.

Frank's a fairly typical Staten Island addict -- went to parochial schools, played sports, his parents both work for the city. But one night at a party he was offered a painkiller and he liked the way it felt.

"I didn't think about it the next day or the day after that, but the next weekend, I was looking for more," Frank said. "Within a year, I dropped out of college, my parents threw me out for stealing jewelry and I was a full-blown addict."

EMTs revived Frank twice.

The first time was two years ago on a bench at the Great Kills train station. After he got to the hospital, there were offers of help, but "I had it under control," he said. "I knew what I was doing."

The next was just over a year ago -- yes -- at the ferry terminal.

"This one scared me," he said. "But I wasn't having fun anymore anyway. Every day was the same. I just did what I had to do not to be dope sick. So this time I went from the ER to detox and then to a 90-day rehab on Long Island."

"But they did not OK my return to Staten Island until I had a support network in place, with meetings, a sponsor, counseling and out-patient," he said.

"I never intended to be an addict, or steal from from my family and friends," he said. "But once the drug takes over, you can't fix it yourself. You keep telling yourself that you can, but it's a lie."

"It's the drug doing the talking and the decision-making,'' he added.

So what will it take?

A naloxone save or two or three? An arrest? An intervention? Being cut off by your friends and family? Or, it just might be the one moment of clarity when you look in the mirror and realize a ruthless, self-centered, cruelly selfish addict is looking back.

"I love my life now," said Frank. "I'm happy, productive and do what I can to help other addicts."

If he hadn't finally thrown in the towel and asked for help, chances are good he would now would be one of the death dots on the map below.

The map shows the locations where overdoses occurred as well as locations where Naloxone saves were made. According to the map, there were 56 Naloxone saves, 69 overdoses after District Attorney McMahon's Overdose Initiative began and 12 overdoses pre-initiative. (Image courtesy/District Attorney's office)
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Popular for being an inexpensive alternative to high-end make-up and other beauty products, e.l.f Cosmetics has expanded its operations by opening a new store in the Staten Island Mall, New Springville.

From blush and pressed power to hydrating masks and lotions, e.l.f. is a makeup brand popular with women of all ages who desire quality products for a reasonable price.

"Building on the longstanding dialog we have had with our community of consumers on elfcosmetics.com, our stores allow us to engage directly with makeup enthusiasts in an experiential, physical environment, where we can drive increased awareness of the brand and get direct feedback," said Mara McCune, vice president, brand, for e.l.f. Cosmetics.

"We are delighted with the interest we are experiencing at our Staten Island location, and are very excited to be a part of this community," she added.



James Easley, general manager of the Mall, said the store is an appealing addition.

"They built a good-looking store," he said, noting customers have been flocking to the new store since it opened two weeks ago.

ABOUT E.L.F BEAUTY INC



Established in 2004 as an e-commerce business, e.l.f. brands itself as a "multi-channel brand" sold in its own stores, as well as in Target, Walmart, CVS, Old Navy and other leading retailers.

ONE MORE MALL RETAILER OPEN

In addition to e.l.f., another new retailer to the mall is MetroPCS, which opened a kiosk outside of Kay Jewelers on the upper level of the shopping center, said Easley.

FOLLOW TRACEY PORPORA ON FACEBOOK
A recent Scientific Reports article co-authored by Amy Frappier of Skidmore's geosciences faculty suggests that the northeastern U.S. could be struck by more and stronger hurricanes in the future. The study, led by scientists at England's Durham University, shows that Caribbean hurricanes have been gradually moving northward in recent centuries and argues that New York and other major eastern-corridor cities need to be better prepared for such storms.



Prof. Amy Frappier finds traces of chemical

isotopes that reveal past storms or other

environmental events. Prof. Amy Frappier finds traces of chemicalisotopes that reveal past storms or otherenvironmental events.

The researchers charted hurricane rainfall in the western Caribbean over the past 450 years by studying layers of a stalagmite that had developed gradually in a cave in Belize. Frappier's specialty in paleoclimate analysis focuses on measuring chemical isotopes in fossils and rocks. Particular isotopes correlate with the prevailing environmental conditionsfor example, rainwater from tropical cyclones contains traces of the oxygen-18 isotope, which is still traceable in the stalagmite that formed under those conditions.

The researchers' analysis revealed a marked drop in hurricane activity coinciding with the late 19th century, when rapid industrialization began releasing large amounts of carbon dioxide and air pollutants into the atmosphere. The evidence of fewer hurricanes at the Belize site "at first sounded like good news," Frappier says. "But after we compared hurricane records from places such as Bermuda and Florida, we found that hurricanes have been moving north rather than decreasing in number."

An interesting complication is that soot and other particulate pollution promotes cooling of the Northern Hemisphere regionally, while carbon dioxide pollution promotes warming of the climate globally. Frappier explains that the cooling effect of volcanic ash and industrial particulates in the Northeast "tends to shift moisture belts and hurricane tracks southward. On the other hand, the warming from more atmospheric carbon dioxide tends to expand the Earth's tropical belt, pushing hurricane tracks further north." She and her collaborators concluded that "the tracks of Atlantic hurricanes have responded more to the warming than to regional cooling." They warn that this trend exacerbates the risk of disasters such as 2012's Hurricane Sandy, whose destruction stretched from the Caribbean up the eastern seaboard to Canada, devastating coastal New Jersey and New York on the way.



Hurricane Irene hits New England hard in 2011. Hurricane Irene hits New England hard in 2011.

Lead author Lisa Baldini of Durham University says the tropical expansion has been "largely driven by man-made emissions," and if they continue unabated, hurricane tracks will likely keep shifting northbut without easing the risks in the tropics. That's because rising sea-surface temperatures not only promote hurricane development but "also provide extra energy, potentially fueling larger storms," according to co-author James Baldini, also of Durham. He says, "We therefore need to prepare for the effects of more frequent landfalls of larger storms along the Northeast coast of the United States and stronger storms impacting the Caribbean."

The article is titled "Persistent northward North Atlantic tropical cyclone track migration over the past five centuries," and its research was funded by the European Research Council, the National Science Foundation in the U.S., Chicago's Alphawood Foundation, the Swiss-based Schweizer National Fund and Sinergia, and the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research.
Raleigh, NC, Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RegEd, the leading provider of enterprise Compliance Management, Licensing and Registration and Compliance Education solutions, has announced a partnership with 1st Global, an independent wealth management partner to exceptional CPA firms, to be a part of the companys Enterprise Empowerment Initiative (EEI). 1st Global recently announced a firm-wide overhaul of its technology infrastructure and RegEd solutions will serve as a key component for the initiative and drive efficiency across a range of critical business processes.

After an extensive due diligence process, 1st Global selected RegEd to manage advertising compliance, registration renewal, firm element training, outside business activities reconciliation, personal securities account management and new advisor licensing as part of the new platform. 1st Global will also utilize RegEd SCORE Risk Control Center, which delivers a comprehensive view into the status of compliance requirements at the company level or specific to the individual.

1st Globals empowerment initiative demonstrates the firms ongoing commitment to compliance excellence in enabling employees and partners to adapt to a changing business landscape, commented John M. Schobel, Chief Executive Officer at RegEd. The role that integrated technology and effective data management play in an undertaking like this cannot be overstated. Were pleased that RegEd was selected for the breadth of our solution suite and an unmatched ability to holistically address 1st Globals rigorous requirements.

The EEI began to take form more than two years ago when 1st Globals senior executive team identified the firms need to enable its affiliated firms and the people in its own organization to better serve their clients. Over time, the initiative has evolved into the largest investment in internal infrastructure in the companys 24-year history.

We are incredibly excited about the launch of the Enterprise Empowerment Initiative, which will deliver the resources and capabilities to enable the continued success of our business, said Adam Schaub, Chief Compliance Officer for 1st Global Capital Corp. and leader of the new compliance system. Our affiliated advisors and home office employees benefit greatly from partnering with leading providers like RegEd to ensure that 1st Globals technology resources represent the gold standard of our industry and enable compliance and operational excellence across the organization.

About RegEd

RegEd, Inc. is a leading provider of compliance technology solutions with relationships with more than 400 enterprise clients, including 80% of the top 25 broker-dealers and top 25 insurance companies. Established in 1994 by former regulators, the company is a recognized industry authority and has created the standard of excellence for rule-based and content-driven compliance automation for insurance companies, investment advisors and broker-dealers. RegEd solutions drive new levels of operational efficiency and enable firms to cost-effectively comply with regulations and mitigate risk. For more information, please visit www.reged.com.

About 1st Global

1st Global was founded in 1992 by CPAs who believe that accounting, tax and estate planning firms are uniquely qualified to provide comprehensive wealth management services to their clients. 1st Global is a research and consulting partner that provides CPA, tax and estate planning firms with the education, technology, business-building framework and client solutions that make these firms leaders in their professions through dedicated professional client relationships built around wealth management. Around 400 firms have chosen to affiliate with 1st Global, making it one of the largest financial services partners for the tax, accounting and legal professions.

Securities are offered through 1st Global Capital Corp., which is a Member of FINRA and SIPC and is headquartered at 12750 Merit Dr., Ste. 1200 in Dallas, Texas, 214-294-5000. Investment advisory services are offered through 1st Global Advisors, Inc. Additional information about 1st Global is available at www.1stGlobal.com.
By clicking Agree, you consent to Slates Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and the use of technologies such as cookies by Slate and our partners to deliver relevant advertising on our iOS app to personalize content and perform site analytics. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about our use of data, your rights, and how to withdraw consent.

Agree
NEW YORK, Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Julie Hammon, Oncology Nurse Navigator at Oaklawn Hospital in Michigan, has been selected to join the Nursing Board at the American Health Council. She will be sharing her knowledge and expertise in Hematology, Oncology, Education, Leadership, Clinical Research, Nursing, Patient Care, and Healthcare Finance.



A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7a711427-e8e0-41b4-bc81-12bc7e1d6a34.

Ms. Hammon has been a practicing registered nurse for the past 25 years. Her nursing career started with an associates degree in 1991, a bachelor's from Michigan State in 2000 and her master's from the University of Michigan in 2008. Her first nursing venture was as a Medical Surgical Nurse. In 1994, her supervisor at the time approached her about venturing into the field of chemotherapy. Today she is one of four Oncology Certified Nurses at Oaklawn.

Oaklawn Hospital is an independently owned non-profit hospital with a reputation for providing compassionate, personal care. It has been a Magnet hospital for the last 8 years.

Ms. Hammon is committed to providing her patients the best evidence-based care available. Her day-to-day responsibilities as Oncology Nurse Navigator include educating patients and families about Oncology. This consists of teaching them about survivorship, drug side effects, and reoccurrence. She is also responsible for signing patients up for various foundations and low-cost drug programs and keeping her staff up-to-date on best practices in the field of Oncology.

Ms. Hammon attributes her strong work ethic to being positive about what she does and always exchanging her information to others. No matter what, she always keeps trying and makes sure to have a plan A, B, and C.

Of all her accomplishments, Ms. Hammon is most proud of being able to make a difference in the lives of her patients and having patients who say thank you for always helping them in their time of need. She was awarded an Oncology Nursing Society scholarship to attend the ONS Research Conference in 2013. Her long-term goals include continuing to grow the Oncology Clinic and always having the best resources available to help her patients.

Ms. Hammon is affiliated with the Oncology Nursing Society, Michigan Cancer Consortium, and 5Cs (Calhoun County Cancer Control Coalition). She is an Adjunct Professor for Baker College of Jackson, MI, and contributes to the American Cancer Society.

Ms. Hammon is a proud mother of three and grandmother of six. She enjoys quilting and scrapbooking in her free time.
LAS VEGAS, Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Topolewski America is pleased to announce that the Company's Environmental/Government Group has been awarded a response action contract (RAC) for the Region 8 of the EPA. Under the contract Topolewski will provide clean up and infrastructure services in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Idaho. The contract is for $330 million over a five year period and includes an additional five year option.



Topolewski will provide engineering, clean up, grading, technical and management services to support the remedial work and removal activities at the EPA Superfund sites in Region 8. "Topolewski appreciates this opportunity to provide our remedial services to the EPA as we have performed similar work for them in California, Arizona, Nevada and Oregon," said Vice President of Government Services Tom Newman. "We also look forward to helping the agency achieve its goal of effectively implementing the Superfund Accelerated Cleanup Program which speeds up the process of cleaning up these critical sites." The project will be administered through Topolewski's Utah office.

Topolewski America Inc. performs work in the western US, Alaska and Canada serving the environmental, heavy civil construction, industrial, mining, power and transportation markets.




This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948

/var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f03892e8)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f03608d0)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f03892e8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f03608d0)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f036eb58)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f03608d0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f03608d0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612eabdbd18)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f03749b0)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f03749b0)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
The ACT's economy slid significantly in the most recent quarter, in a performance worse than any other state or territory except Western Australia.

The ACT's state final demand fell 1.3 per cent, compared with the federal fall of 0.5 per cent in gross domestic product. Tasmania and Victoria both fell slightly, down 0.3 and 0.4 per cent.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr: Trend figures in the ACT economy remain strong, despite September fall. Credit:Rohan Thomson

The slide came after strong growth earlier in the year, with Canberra's state final demand rising 1.3 per cent in the March quarter and 4.2 per cent in the June quarter (the figures are seasonally adjusted).

University of Canberra professor of economics Phil Lewis said the slump was surprising. A contraction in the economy didn't match other economic data, with the ACT having the lowest unemployment rate and strong construction spending, with approvals for new apartments at an all-time high. There were no signs of declining income or a worsening employment picture.
The kids will soon be jumping off the Bawley Point gantry again - but don't tell anyone.

The South Coast landmark was washed away in a storm in June.

Jumping off the old Bawley Point gantry was not encouraged but it seemed everyone did it. This photo was taken before a storm destroyed the platform in June. Credit:Aletheia Minassian.

The gantry was one of the last remnants of the local timber mill which burnt down in 1922.

Canberra businessman Terry Snow is pretty much a Bawley Point local these days, building the magnificent Willinga Park stockhorse stud and equestrian centre there and coming back to the national capital for airport business.
If a retired aircraft could sigh with content then hurrying customers of the Canberra Airport may hear sighs coming from the Lockheed Hudson Mark IV Bomber installed there on Thursday.

While a warplane may be a little chilling and anomalous at a civilian airport in peaceful times the Hudson turns out to have a thorough airliner pedigree. No wonder then, a bit portly and amiable-looking for a weapon of death, it even looks like an airliner.

Australian War Memorial conservator Jamie Croker (front) and colleagues reassemble a World War II bomber at Canberra Airport. Credit:Niree Creed

As his team put the finishings touches to Thursday's reassembly and installation the Australian War Memorial's Jamie Croker (he is a conservator of large technology objects) explained the Hudson's pedigree and looks.

"This Hudson was one of 240 built at Burbank in California, brought over by boat [during WWII] and then finally assembled in Australia. This one arrived in December 1941. The whole aircraft design is based on an airliner. Lockheed adapted an existing airliner design to fit the wartime military contract. So that's why it's got all those windows."
She is a stalwart of her community so it was fitting that Viola Kalokerinos was crowned the Queen of Curtin on Thursday.

Her coronation included song from "the Queen's subjects", students from the local Holy Trinity School.

Viola Kalokerinos is crowned the Queen of Curtin on Thursday. Credit:Rohan Thomson

The occasion was the launch of the fantastic, anecdote-and-photos-packed book, Curtin Turns 50, The Story of a Canberra Suburb 1964-2014.

Editors Carolyn Brody, Peter Forster and Margitta Acker, have created one of those really great history books that is full of facts but also humour and humanity, the work part of the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the suburb in 2014.
A quarter of Canberra children are overweight or obese, and only one in five do the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity a day, a snapshot of the state of the ACT's children reports.

Only five per cent are eating the recommended five serves of vegetables a day.

ACT children are getting plenty of fruit but falling down in the vegetable department. Credit:iStock

The snapshot shows improvement over most areas in recent years, but no significant change in vegetable eating, physical exercise or the proportion of children who are overweight. The ACT's rates of overweight and obese children are slightly lower than the national figures, with 20.2 per cent of children overweight nationally (18.9 per cent in the ACT) and 7.4 per cent obese (5.5 per cent in the ACT).
TRENTON, N.J., Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In response to the proposed surgical declawing ban now before the New Jersey Assembly (A3899) and the Senate (S2410), the New Jersey Veterinary Medical Association (NJVMA) launched a public campaign at LoveYourCats.org opposing the increased euthanasia that would certainly result from a surgical declawing ban.

Surgical declawing with advanced pain control methods is recommended by doctors as a last resort, as an alternative to euthanasia or abandonment.

We want to see cats in loving, caring households, says Dr. Michael Yurkus of the NJVMA. We know that 72% of all cats sent to shelters will be euthanized, and this is a 100% preventable tragedy. As the leading advocates for saving the lives of unwanted or discarded animals, were laying out the vital facts and calling on concerned citizens to oppose this legislation at LoveYourCats.org.

While veterinarians have reduced declawing through better education regarding the alternatives, the NJVMA is especially concerned for cats living with people taking immunity suppressing medication or blood thinners, or people with blood disorders, where an animal scratch would pose a health risk. Also of concern are the cats living with the elderly in facilities that require cats to be declawed.

About the New Jersey Veterinary Medical Association (NJVMA)

Founded in 1884 as a professional association representing the states 1,600 licensed veterinarians, the NJVMA is dedicated to advancing the veterinary profession in New Jersey, protecting the health of animals and extending progressive leadership in the research, care, treatment, and welfare of animals. The NJVMA encourages high ethical standards and competence in the treatment of animals and promotes excellence in the professional training and continuing education of doctors of veterinary medicine. The association is a nexus point for all the issues, factors, and organizations that will have an impact on New Jerseys veterinarians. For more information, go to www.njvma.org
As banks battle Apple for greater access to the iPhone's hardware, new figures suggest there is a long way to go before smart phones rival credit or debit cards as a means of making tap-and-go payments.

In a potential sign banks may not be in a hurry to reach a deal with Apple, the country's biggest lender says that currently only a small number of customers use their iPhone to make tap and go payments.

Matt Comyn, head of CBA's retail bank, said a low number of customers were frequently using their smart phones to make payments. Credit:Louie Douvis

About 400,000 CBA customers have set up their iPhone to make payments by attaching a sticker to the back of the phone, a work-around the bank offers because it has not reached a deal with Apple.

The bank on Thursday said there were about 600,000 tap and go payments made a month on the iPhone. That is an average of 1.5 payments per month for every person who has equipped their phone with a sticker.
Former Treasury Secretary Ken Henry has taken a swipe at both major parties' approach to restoring the budget's health, backing greater bipartisanship in a wide-ranging critique of political leadership around the world.

After the economy's shock contraction during the September quarter this week, Dr Henry also joined business calls for more public investment in infrastructure, which he described as the "elephant in the room."

Speaking in Sydney on Thursday night, Dr Henry, chairman of National Australia Bank, said his big hope for the next year was that the Coalition and Labor could figure out a way to deal with the country's "fiscal mess."

"My hope, and this is the most immediate challenge I can think for our political leaders, is that they can find a bi-partisan way of dealing with the fiscal mess that we've got," Dr Henry said at an Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce event.
German construction company Hochtief, the controlling shareholder in engineering contractor CIMIC Group, has been fined $400,000 after being found to have engaged in insider trading.

The Federal Court handed down the fine following a civil case brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission against Hochtief. Hochtief has also been ordered to pay ASIC's costs.

CIMIC CEO Marcelino Fernandez Verdes is also on the board of Hochtief. Credit:Rob Homer

Hochtief has also entered into an enforceable undertaking with ASIC that will see it make voluntary contributions of $103,400 each to the Australian Shareholders Association, the representative body for retail shareholders, and First Nations Foundation for its adult financial literacy program.

The court found Hochtief had purchased shares in CIMIC, which was then known as Leighton Holdings, ahead of the completion of its $1.15 billion hostile takeover of Leighton while it was in receipt of inside information.
If you thought that the European Union coming down hard on tech-giant Apple was the end of secret tax deals, you're wrong.

New research from the European Network on Debt and Development, a network of 47 civil society organisations from 20 European countries, shows that since the LuxLeaks scandal, the amount of secret deals  what it calls "sweetheart deals"  between multinational corporations and European governments has increased by almost 50 per cent.



In August Apple was ordered to pay up to 13 billion ($19 billion) in back taxes, plus interest, to Ireland after the European Commission found the software giant had received "illegal state aid" and avoided paying almost all tax on profits in Europe over the past decade.

But the report, Survival of the Richest, said that it's "as if the LuxLeaks never happened".

The November 2014 leaked PwC papers, which came to be known as the LuxLeaks scandal, had revealed that Luxembourg had signed off secret deals with some 340 corporations from 2002 until 2010.
A new breed of nuclear reactor designed by engineers from the millennial generation has gained the support of both billionaires and the United Nations agency overseeing the industry.

The International Atomic Energy Agency is opening an exchange for countries to trade information on a technology that uses molten salt to moderate the atomic reaction of liquid fuels, rather than water and solid fuel. The exchange offers backing to investors ranging from Bill Gates to Peter Thiel, who have supported the new-model reactors as both safer and cheaper.

The Plant Vogtle nuclear facility in Waynesboro, Georgia. The US is accelerating the retirement of its aging fleet of nuclear plants. Credit:Mary Ann Chastain

The push comes as the US accelerates retirement of its aging fleet of nuclear plants, and utilities tilt toward cheaper natural gas and renewables. Eighteen US reactors are now being decommissioned, and a half-dozen more face closure for economic reasons. A wave of retirements around 2030 will further diminish the nation's biggest source of low-emissions power, threatening the fight against global warming.

"The technology used in today's reactors is never going to be economical," said Rory O'Sullivan, the 30-year-old chief operating officer at Moltex Energy in London. The new molten salt design "has the potential to disrupt the entire energy system," he said.
There is probably no other issue in Australian public life that can claim such increasing levels of support over the past decade. On the most recent polls, 84 per cent of ALP voters and 82 per cent of Coalition voters support it. Even 77 per cent of Catholics and 88 per cent of Anglicans want to see reform of the laws around it. These levels of support are also recorded in many modern European and Scandinavian democracies.

What we are talking about is dying with dignity, or voluntary euthanasia.

MPs Nina Springle (Greens) and Fiona Patten (Australian Sex Party) listen to delegates as they investigate end-of-life choices. Credit:Rob Gunstone

With such overwhelming levels of support, how come the matter is not being embraced by most state or federal politicians? One has to wonder why, because the subject is not one that will go away soon. The increasing number of baby boomers who are entering the latter phases of life will ensure that.

This is a generation that will not lie down and die an undignified death in the face of a religious argument or any other form of moral blackmail and persuasion. They will face suffering in a politically committed way. Remember that it was this generation that stopped the Vietnam War and, as a consequence, the suffering of a nation of peasant farmers.
To be honest, I can't really be bothered getting breathless about what the Coalition did on climate change this week. Sure, it should be remarkable that members of the Turnbull government variously said they would consider an "emissions intensity scheme", that such a scheme was a "stupid" idea, and then ultimately that it wouldn't be considered at all. In a saner world, this would inflict some kind of whiplash. But in this world, it just seems predictable. Probably the least predictable aspect was that the Turnbull government even suggested it might be open to some version of carbon pricing in the first place.

Because we've known for years now  at least seven of them  that the Coalition can never offer a policy like that. Not even if its leader wants to. Not even when this would unite environmentalist and business groups (as it presently does). And not even when the most obvious, low-cost policy is the one that most closely matches the Liberal Party's ideological convictions: market-based responses. Indeed, the greatest hallmark of the Coalition's baked-in streak of climate denialism is the extent to which it will contort itself not to have a credible policy.

That's why it feels perfectly comfortable railing against the evils of government spending, then deciding to pursue only the very most expensive climate change policies it can muster. It will quibble over subsidising the renewable energy sector, then countenance loaning Adani $1 billion to help build a coal mine. There's no serious guiding principle here, except perhaps in the case of Cory Bernardi who says we should just withdraw from international efforts to respond to climate change altogether. At least this has the virtue of honesty. Right now, he feels like the only person who believes what he's saying.

So, yes this is a story of a Prime Minister imprisoned by the obsessions of his own party, unable even to consider the most basic recommendations of his own government's policy review. But we're looking at a bigger story than that: the failure of climate change policy in Australia. And it would be nice if that were simply a matter of Turnbull's timid leadership, or the Coalition's internal dysfunction. But this paralysis is a bipartisan creation.
Washington: Donald Trump will pick an ardent opponent of President Barack Obama's measures to curb climate change as head of the Environmental Protection Agency - a choice that enraged green activists and cheered the oil industry.

Trump's choice, Oklahoma Attorney-General Scott Pruitt, fits neatly with the Republican President-elect's promise to cut back the EPA and free up drilling and coal mining, and signals the likely roll back of much of Obama's environmental agenda.

Oklahoma Attorney-General Scott Pruitt is Donald Trump's choice as head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Credit:AP

Since becoming the top prosecutor for the major oil and gas producing state in 2011, Pruitt has launched multiple lawsuits against regulations put forward by the agency he is now poised to lead, suing to block federal measures to reduce smog and curb toxic emissions from power plants.

He is also a leading figure in a legal effort by several states to throw out the EPA's Clean Power Plan, the centrepiece of Obama's climate change strategy that requires states to curb carbon output.
The Turnbull government has been sitting on advice that an emissions intensity scheme - the carbon policy it put on the table only to rule out just 36 hours later - would save households and businesses up to $15 billion in electricity bills over a decade.

While Malcolm Turnbull has rejected this sort of scheme by claiming it would push up prices, analysis in an Australian Electricity Market Commission report handed to the government months ago finds it would actually cost consumers far less than other approaches, including doing nothing.

It finds that would still be the case even if the government boosted its climate target to a 50 per cent cut in emissions by 2030.

Depending on the level of electricity use and the target adopted, modelling by Danny Price of Frontier Economics found costs would be between $3.4 billion and $15 billion lower over the decade to 2030. Costs would be $11.2 billion lower over this time assuming average electricity use and the existing climate target.
RALEIGH, N.C., Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Donations from Hurricane Matthew Relief efforts organized by State Employees Credit Union (SECU) have delivered an extra dose of help to agencies assisting North Carolinians in need. During the weeks following the October storm, Credit Union members and employees from across the state raised more than $21,600 over a three-week period. These funds were provided to the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina for distribution in the flood impacted areas. The monies will be used to provide food, clothing, shelter and cleaning supplies to families and communities that need the help.



The donations raised by SECU members and employees respond to the needs of eastern and southeastern North Carolina residents hit hard by flooding and wind damage. The funds are in addition to the October assistance of the member-funded SECU Foundation, which provided a $500,000 grant to the North Carolina Association of Feeding America Food Banks to support the purchase and distribution of food, water, cleaning supplies and essential items to those affected by Hurricane Matthew. In addition, the employees of many SECU branches across the state held local food and supply drives and partnered with community organizations that transported and delivered goods to hard-hit areas.

We are very proud of the efforts of our members, employees and the SECU Foundation for providing funds and supplies to North Carolina citizens in their time of need, remarked Mike Lord, SECU President. The credit union philosophy of People Helping People is an integral part of the culture of SECU. We are glad to pitch in and help others get back on their feet.

About SECU

A not-for-profit financial cooperative owned by its members, SECU has been providing employees of the State of North Carolina and their families with consumer financial services for over 79 years. The Credit Union also offers a diversified line of financial advisory services including retirement and education planning, tax preparation, insurance, trust and estate planning services, and investments through its partners and affiliated entities. SECU serves over 2 million members through 257 branch offices, nearly 1,100 ATMs, 24/7 Member Services via phone and an interactive website, www.ncsecu.org.
While hitting animals in the lab with drugs could dull the effects, that hardly offered the answer. "Is that really the only prospect we have for intervening in these things," Cole asks. "To drug everybody and put beta blockers in the water?" So, for 10 years, Cole and his team worked with behavioural and social researchers to try to understand how we can live our lives "in a way that favourably and meaningfully impacts these kinds of molecular processes". "That's the most exciting part of this research  that we're beginning to have answers," Cole says. "They're provisional, early stage answers but we're beginning to have leads about what actually works." When they began to see a "very similar kind of biological fingerprint" or "threat signature"  from various kinds of adversity including bereavement, poverty and PTSD  they initially, intuitively, looked to happiness as a potential remedy to "threat and unhappiness making its way into the body".

Happiness, however, didn't offer the health benefit or physiological antidote to stress and sorrow that they were expecting. "It wasn't awesome," Cole says. "These hysterically euphoric people didn't seem to be as much better as we might expect." Accidentally, they made a more interesting discovery. "Pursuing some kind of really significant project in your life  pursuing some kind of goal outside your immediate sense of self-gratification ... turned out to be associated with favourable gene expression profiles, reduced expression of that threat signature that's characterised by inflammation and poor antiviral responses," Cole explains. After comparing their findings with numerous other studies they found a "reasonably consistent" pattern emerging among those who had a sense of purpose in their lives, whether it was caring for their family, engagement in work or community, the environment or even politics.

"There are a wide variety of ways to provide a sense of purpose or meaning in your life," Cole says. "So far they all look like they're similarly good ways to live at least in the sense of being associated with these favourable gene profiles. "So what we can say is that merely being happy alone isn't enough, but being happy because you're pursuing something noble, something purposeful, something helpful to humanity, to people, to culture, to the progress of civilisation, that seems to be the core of a well led life." Although, for some years researchers have appreciated that meaning is a better kind of happiness, leading to a longer, healthier life, the effect on our genes was lesser known as was its ability to counter loneliness. Cole and his colleagues wanted to understand whether the hard times in our lives overshadowed the good  at least on a molecular level. "If you've got a person who's got good stuff going on  they're leading a really purposeful life  and bad stuff going on  they feel lonely and disconnected from the rest of humanity  which one wins? I think a lot of us would have expected the negative side to win," Cole says.

"But what we found was that if people had lonely, challenging life circumstances, as long as they had some significant sense of meaning and purpose in what they were doing, they actually looked pretty good. The good stuff seems if anything to be more powerful." What that means, Cole suggests, is that instead of attempting to fix feelings like loneliness or grief or stress, "focusing people on purpose and meaning can help people move through that". Significantly, this approach is more powerful than simply trying to thrust someone who feels lonely, for instance, into a social setting. "In fact, that's often the worst thing you can do," Cole says. "One of the things we learned about loneliness was all of us are lonely temporarily as a result of life circumstances  you move to a new city or the loss of a significant relationship, that kind of loneliness comes and goes but there's another version of loneliness where you're just lonely all the time  year after year after year you feel like you just don't fit in with the rest of the world you're not that close to people "That's the kind of loneliness that matters for your biology  a few months of loneliness, it turns out our systems are pretty hardy and resilient to transient adversity. It's when loneliness becomes a lifestyle  a way of being that you start to see the most toxic effects in the biology and the most risk at the level of the epidemiology of disease and lifespan."
With little notice and stunning quickness, anti-abortion legislators in Ohio stand one signature away from enacting the nation's most stringent abortion law in the hopes of sparking a nationwide reversal of the legal right of women to terminate their pregnancies.

With a day left in their annual session, lawmakers Wednesday delivered to Governor John Kasich a revived "heartbeat bill," a ban on abortions from the moment a fetus' heartbeat can be detected, which can be as early as five or six weeks from conception. They left no exemptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, but abortions would be permitted to save the life of a pregnant woman.

Women participate in a rally in New York to condemn Donald Trump's remarks about women and abortion. Credit:AP

"No person shall knowingly and purposefully perform or induce an abortion on a pregnant woman," the bill reads, "with the specific intent of causing or abetting the termination of the life of the unborn human individual the pregnant woman is carrying and whose fetal heartbeat has been detected."

The legislation has already drawn promises of legal challenges from the American Civil Liberties Union, even before Kasich decides whether to cast a veto.
"Being a woman in the world is not easy. In Nigeria..." Isabelle Mouniaman, Medecins Sans Frontieres Deputy Operational Director, shakes her head, "I think there is no word to describe what has been going on there for years."

The Parisian has just visited Borno State, where she witnessed Nigeria's civil war-induced humanitarian crisis up close. From the comfort of a Glebe cafe, she lists the horrors faced by women in the Boko Haram-ravaged northeast corner of the African country, where the jihadist group has been fighting the Nigerian government since 2009.

Eleven-month-old Abdul has been admitted to Gwange's therapeutic feeding centre. His family fled to Mafa. He is looked after by "host" parents in Maiduguri. Credit:Aurelie Baumel/MSF

"You've been displaced, you've lost your husband, your brother, your cousin; you ended up with four, five, six kids, probably none of them are yours because you lost them on the journey," says MSF's head of operations in Nigeria, "you're living under a tent in high temperatures with nothing to eat or you have to share everything. Then your kids are not vaccinated so they are dying of measles, then there is the malaria outbreak coming, pneumonia, diarrhoea, and they are weakened by malnutrition. And they are traumatised."

On a rare visit to Sydney, she paints a sad, quietly disintegrating image of Borno.
Doctors worked long hours without taking adequate leave, emergency departments could not meet their targets and in one year 20 patients had surgical equipment left inside their bodies.

This was the NSW health system - stretched sometimes to the point of catastrophe but mostly performing better than it did in previous years, according to the 2016 Auditor-General's annual report.

A report has revealed that surgical equipment was left in 20 patients in one year in NSW.

The Auditor-General singled out excess annual leave, overtime payments and timesheet approvals as shortcomings in the state's financial controls, and ambulance response times, unplanned readmissions and emergency department performance in service delivery.

The report also reported for the first time on "sentinel events", which result in very serious harm or death to patients, counting 47 such incidents in 2014-2015.
A Sydney GP accused of injecting his wife in the buttock with a lethal dose of insulin in order to be with his lover has been found guilty of murder.

Brian Crickitt, 63, hugged and kissed his new wife, Julie, and tearful daughter before he was led away in handcuffs by correctional officers on Thursday morning.

After a more than two week trial in the NSW Supreme Court, Justice Clifton Hoeben found that Crickitt injected his wife Christine Crickitt, 61, with the fatal dose of insulin in their home, in Woodbine, in Sydney's south-west, between December 31, 2009, and January 1, 2010.

The Crown's case was that Crickitt drew on his skills as a doctor to kill his wife, knowing that insulin cannot be detected in the body more than 24 hours later and that it would be highly unlikely that an autopsy would be carried out on New Year's Day.
The top five Artarmon on Sydney's north shore scraped into the $2 million dollar club this year but one in 10 houses still sold for less than $990,000, or 49 per cent of the median. Similarly, in Strathfield in the inner west, which boasts a median price of $2.1 million, the cheapest houses sold for $1.1 million, or 54 per cent of the median. The cheapest houses also went for about half the median in Rose Bay and Woollahra in Sydney's east, and Mosman on the lower north shore. With median prices between $2.7 and $3.8 million, however, the cheapest houses were still priced up to $1.9 million in Rose Bay, $1.7 million in Mosman and $1.4 million in Woollahra.

Suburbs with a median below $2 million In each of the top 20 suburbs, one in 10 buyers paid less than 65 per cent of the suburb-wide median, the analysis shows. Ashfield and Matraville were among the most affordable suburbs with median prices around the $1.5 million mark, with the cheapest houses going for less than $890,000, or 61 per cent of the median price. In Sans Souci and Asquith, which both have median prices around $1.2 million, the cheapest houses sold for less than $766,000 or 63 per cent of the median.

Among the suburbs with a median price of $1.1 million, Campsie and Lidcombe were among the most affordable, with the cheapest houses selling for less than $675,000 or about 60 per cent of the median price. "House price diversity is a good measure for social diversity within a locality," said UNSW professor of housing research and policy Hal Pawson. "Local price disparity can increase when a new development brings higher value properties into the market. But a single big development can make a big difference to a local property price profile in the year the new homes are sold." How Sydney prices have changed

Between 2012 and 2016, the price rise among Sydney's cheapest houses closely followed the median price rise. The median for suburbs within 30km of the CBD rose by 73 per cent to $1.2 million, while the cheapest houses rose by 71 per cent to about $700,000. But in some suburbs the price of the cheapest houses increased far more quickly than the median, putting these suburbs even further beyond the reach of the average income-earner. For example, in Kensington in Sydney's east, the price of the cheapest houses rose 1.5 times faster than the median price, surging 209 per cent, from $750,000 to $1.6 million.

Similarly, in Fairlight near Manly, and South Coogee, in Sydney's east, the cheapest houses increased 1.3 times faster than the median price: from $700,000 in Fairlight and $970,000 in South Coogee to $1.6 million. By contrast, in other parts of Sydney, the change in median price outpaced the change among the cheapest houses, making these suburbs more affordable than the median price suggests. In Artarmon, for example, the median price rose 1.6 times faster than the price of the cheapest houses, while in Campsie it rose 1.3 times faster. The cheapest way into a million-dollar neighbourhood Buying a unit is the cheapest way into the million-dollar club of suburbs.
A cyber attack causing disruption in energy, public transport or water treatment could hit Queensland in 10 years. Credit:Michelle Smith

The warning comes from the university's Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland, which studied "distracted walkers" at CBD intersections in February.

Pedestrians under 30 were so distracted by mobile phones they regularly became accident risks at some Brisbane intersections, new Queensland University of Technology research has shown.

Senior research fellow Mark King said the results, published by Austroads earlier this year, suggested more and more young people were simply crossing intersections in crowds on their mobile phones assuming there was "safety in numbers".

Where the accidents happened between 2005 and 2014

"The amount of crossing that is done by people who are distracted by their mobile phones, particularly between 18 and 30, is really very high," Mr King said on Thursday.

"They could could taking a call, they could be texting or even searching the internet."

Mr King said this meant a lot of "new dynamics" for road safety researchers.
A nine-year-old girl could lose the ligaments in her foot after being hit by a bus outside her central Queensland school. The Agnes Water State School student was airlifted to Brisbane on Thursday afternoon with serious leg and foot injuries and underwent surgery overnight, her school announced. A girl is airlifted to hospital after being hit by a bus at Agnes Water, near Bundaberg. Credit:RACQ LifeFlight In a Facebook post on Friday, the school said the girl's family had been warned to expect a "lengthy recovery" and multiple surgeries. Paramedics rushed to the Donohue Drive facility about 3.10pm after a school bus hit the girl as she tried to cross the road.

Her school said she had stepped out from in front of a parked vehicle during the afternoon pickup. The RACQ LifeFlight Rescue Helicopter was quickly called to transport the girl and her mother to the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital, where she was in a stable condition. "This is a sad event for all involved and my thoughts go out to the family of the child, the driver of the bus, staff of Scifleet buses and staff and parents of our school that were involved in assisting with this accident," the school said. "This accident reinforces the importance of how quickly events can happen and the need to be ever cautious around school zones when collecting children or crossing the road." Students would be warned about road safety and given the chance to speak to guidance officers as part of a school parade on Friday morning.
A man has handed himself in to police following the violent death of a woman in Townsville.

Police said the 19-year-old man is now assisting police with their enquiries.

EARLIER

Police said they are "leaving no stone unturned" in the hunt for a suspect, following a grisly killing in Townsville overnight.
A 99-million-year-old dinosaur tail has been found trapped in a piece of amber at a market in northern Myanmar, near the Chinese border.

Chinese palaeontologist Lida Xing bought the apricot-sized nugget from an unsuspecting trader in 2015.

He told CNN that he realised immediately that he was looking at a vertebrate, rather than a fossilised plant.

"I was not sure that [the trader] really understood how important this specimen was, but he did not raise the price," Dr Xing, who is a palaeontologist at China University of Geosciences in Beijing, said.
TREVOSE, Pa., Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a release issued under the same headline earlier today by StoneMor Partners L.P. (NYSE:STON), please note that in the two figures given for the Partnership's salesforce, "As of October 31, 2015" and "Month of October, 2015" refer to the respective periods of 2016, not 2015 as previously stated. The corrected release follows:

StoneMor Partners L.P. (NYSE:STON) (StoneMor or the Partnership) today provided additional data on the ongoing restructuring of its sales force.



Larry Miller, StoneMor President and CEO, commented, We continue to make progress with the rebuilding of our sales force. As of November 30, 2016, we employed a total of 768 salespeople including those in training. That number is up from 704 last year and up from the 764 we reported in October. The number of salespeople who made a sale during the month of November, 2016 was 661 compared to 668 in November, 2015. The number is down from last year, but up from the 632 we reported in October, so we are moving in the right direction.

In addition, with respect to recent announcements of securities class action litigation lawsuits involving the company, we intend to defend vigorously against these claims to prove they are without merit. As outlined in our recent conference call to discuss third quarter financial results, we are taking the necessary steps to position the business for future success and have full confidence in the companys fundamentals.

Salespeople within total salesforce : As of November 30, 2016 768 As of November 30, 2015 704 Increase/(decrease) 64 As of October 31, 2016 764 Increase/(decrease) 4 Salespeople that made a sale: Month of November, 2016 661 Month of November, 2015 668 Increase/(decrease) (7 ) Month of October, 2016 632 Increase/(decrease) 29

About StoneMor Partners L.P.

StoneMor Partners L.P., headquartered in Trevose, Pennsylvania, is an owner and operator of cemeteries and funeral homes in the United States, with 317 cemeteries and 105 funeral homes in 28 states and Puerto Rico.

StoneMor is the only publicly traded death care company structured as a partnership. StoneMors cemetery products and services, which are sold on both a pre-need (before death) and at-need (at death) basis, include: burial lots, lawn and mausoleum crypts, burial vaults, caskets, memorials, and all services which provide for the installation of this merchandise. For additional information about StoneMor Partners L.P., please visit StoneMors website, and the investors section, at http://www.stonemor.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release, including, but not limited to, information regarding the restatement of StoneMors consolidated financial statements, status and progress of StoneMors operating activities, the plans and objectives of StoneMors management, assumptions regarding StoneMors future performance and plans, and any financial guidance provided or guidance related to StoneMors future distributions, as well as certain information in StoneMors other filings with the SEC and elsewhere, are forward-looking statements. Generally, the words believe, may, will, estimate, continue, anticipate, intend (including, but not limited to StoneMors intent to maintain or increase its distributions), project, expect, predict and similar expressions identify these forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements are based on managements expectations and estimates. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees and are made subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results stated or implied in this press release. StoneMors major risks are related to uncertainties associated with the cash flow from pre-need and at-need sales, trusts and financings, which may impact StoneMors ability to meet its financial projections, service its debt, pay distributions, and increase its distributions, as well as with StoneMors ability to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures.

StoneMors additional risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following: uncertainties associated with future revenue and revenue growth; uncertainties associated with the integration or anticipated benefits of recent acquisitions or any future acquisitions; StoneMors ability to complete and fund additional acquisitions; the effect of economic downturns; the impact of StoneMors significant leverage on its operating plans; the decline in the fair value of certain equity and debt securities held in StoneMors trusts; StoneMors ability to attract, train and retain an adequate number of sales people; uncertainties associated with the volume and timing of pre-need sales of cemetery services and products; increased use of cremation; changes in the death rate; changes in the political or regulatory environments, including potential changes in tax accounting and trusting policies; StoneMors ability to successfully implement a strategic plan relating to achieving operating improvements, including improving sales productivity and reversing negative trends in costs of goods sold, certain expenses, cemetery billings and investment income from trusts, strong cash flows, further deleveraging and liquidity enhancement; StoneMors ability to successfully compete in the cemetery and funeral home industry; litigation or legal proceedings that could expose StoneMor to significant liabilities and damage StoneMors reputation; the effects of cyber security attacks due to StoneMors significant reliance on information technology; uncertainties relating to the financial condition of third-party insurance companies that fund StoneMors pre-need funeral contracts; and various other uncertainties associated with the death care industry and StoneMors operations in particular.

When considering forward-looking statements, you should keep in mind the risk factors and other cautionary statements set forth in StoneMors Annual Report on Form 10-K and the other reports that StoneMor files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, from time to time. Except as required under applicable law, StoneMor assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements made herein or any other forward-looking statements made by it, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Julie Morgan is exactly the sort of person likely to qualify should Victoria's proposed assisted dying laws pass next year. And she doesn't want them.

When her time comes, Ms Morgan does not want to feel as though she is being rushed out the door. Nor does she want other vulnerable Australians, particularly older women, to feel any pressure or obligation to "step out of the way".

Dying is something that Ms Morgan, a lecturer in ethical leadership and organisational development at the Australian Catholic University, has thought about a lot.
In 2013, a paraglider carrying two men flew off a cliff near Warrnambool and disappeared.

The body of 52-year-old Robert Lithgow, known as the "flying pastor" from Torquay, was found the next day tangled in parachute strings.

Robert Lithgow was killed in a paragliding accident along with Bruce Ottoway in 2013. Credit:Facebook

Bruce Ottoway, however, was never seen again.

In the years that followed, there were claims and counterclaims of pilot error and an extraordinary allegation - found to be false - that one of the men faked their own death.
The council that installed CCTV cameras in Brunswick amid public anguish over the rape and murder of Jill Meagher may abandon the project because it has not reduced crime.

The cameras have been expensive, regularly malfunction and have not achieved their intention to force down the crime rate, an independent review has found.

The $375,000 system of nine closed-circuit television cameras was funded by the state government and Moreland Council after Ms Meagher was attacked by Adrian Bayley as she walked home on Sydney Road in 2012.

Footage of Bayley stalking Ms Meagher, taken from a private business, was seen as integral to solving the murder, and appeared to vindicate the need for more CCTV in the area.
A major organised crime kingpin who continued to wield power from behind bars has been released from prison, amid a tit-for-tat feud between drug gangs and an unprecedented wave of shootings in his former stomping ground.

Mohammed Oueida, who was described in court as "the new Tony Mokbel" and was one of Australia's most significant organised crime figures at the time he was jailed, was released last Thursday.

The Greenvale home that belonged to Mohammed Oueida before he was jailed. Police claimed he was living in a $2.8 million mansion with an eight-hole golf course, a swimming pool, tennis court and wine cellar. Credit:Google Earth

When Oueida was arrested in April 2011, police alleged he had $6 million in a Swiss bank account, a light plane, a $2.8 million mansion, a Ferrari, and suspected property and business interests in Lebanon, the Solomon Islands, Abu Dhabi and Pakistan.

The 40-year-old was raised in Fawkner, and his powerbase extended across the north-west, which has become the volatile epicentre of gun crime in Melbourne.
Train services between Elsternwick and Sandringham have resumed after they were suspended earlier due to vandalism.

A Metro spokesman said vandals had caused damage to "overhead equipment" on the train line between Brighton Beach and Hampton, and a team needed to urgently repair it.

Parts of the Sandringham train line have been suspended until further notice. Credit:Alice Archer

He said buses would replace trains outbound and inbound on the train line, between Elsternwick and Sandringham.

"Please consider alternative travel options where possible," the Metro announcement said.
The patriarch of the Melbourne crime family was at his Brooklyn home doing brick work when a man got out of a silver car and shot the 63-year-old through a gap in the fence on August 13, 2010. Chaouk's wife later reported to police that her husband had several times that he had been shot by Ahmad Haddara, Ms Burns told the court.

Judge Hinchey also closed the court's files on two other murders with links to organised crime, although they are unrelated to the gangland war. Macchour Chaouk

The court heard the man police believe who shot Radev, 44, died in 2004. It has been reported Carl Williams' right-hand man, Andrew Veniamin, was considered a suspect of killing Radev. Veniamin died in 2004 when shot by Gatto, who was charged with murder but later acquitted on the grounds of self-defence.

The friend told police of hearing one gunshot, a pause and then three more shots. Condello was shot between four and six times, Ms Burns said, after getting out of the car in his garage. His wife and sons arrived home soon after, having attended a meeting at the boys' school. Nik Radev

Police interviewed Ahmed Haddara, the patriarch of the rival Haddara family, but he denied any involvement. He died of natural causes in 2012.

Macchour Chaouk's death came the year after Mohammed Haddara, one of Ahmed's sons, was shot dead. Police this year charged a member of the Chaouk family with murdering Mohammed Haddara. In 2011 police offered a $100,000 reward for information over Macchour Chaouk's murder.



Charbel Atallah

The 56-year-old former restaurant owner and nightclub operator was charged with drug trafficking and was awaiting a committal hearing when he was shot dead through an open bedroom window at his Thomastown home about 4am on April 13, 2007. Atallah's partner had heard a noise moments before and thought it was a knock at the door. She woke Atallah, who looked through the curtains of his bedroom window. When Atallah called "Who's there?", the woman heard a voice from outside say "It's me, man." The court heard Atallah slid open the window and said "I'm

here", and was then shot dead from outside. Atallah had had two men attend his home the night before he was shot, and one of them faced the same drug trafficking charges.



Also in the Coroners Court on Thursday, Judge Hinchey closed the file of David Lay, a young East Timorese man who was fatally stabbed at the notorious Salt nightclub in South Yarra. His murder was unrelated to organised crime, but remains an unsolved homicide.

Mr Lay was on the dance floor when an altercation occurred and he was stabbed, and then while on the floor was kicked by two men about 3.45am on July 21, 2001. He died in hospital.

Mr Lay's death came two days after his 22nd birthday and two days before he was set to be married.
Assisted dying laws will be introduced to the Victorian parliament next year.

If passed, they could be the first laws in Australia to legalise euthanasia since the Northern Territory's laws were quashed by the Federal Government.

In a statement on Thursday, the Andrews Government said the bill would allow adults with decision making capacitywho are at the end of their lives and suffering from a terminal illness to be provided with assistance to die.

There is support within government for assisted dying laws; a formal parliamentary response to a landmark inquiry shows the government wants more work to be carried out on how assisted dying would work in Victoria.
Former AFL star Ben Cousins has been released from custody after pleading guilty to breaching a violence restraining order taken out on him by his former partner, Maylea Tinecheff.

The 38-year-old was fined $600 at Armadale Magistrates Court on Thursday after spending two nights in police custody.

Ben Cousins has been released from custody after pleading guilty to breaching a VRO.

During his first court appearance for the charge on Wednesday, representing himself, Cousins argued he had done nothing wrong when he was arrested by police in Canning Vale the day prior.

Nine News Perth reporter Renae Henry told Radio 6PR the former West Coast Eagles captain said he was dropping a vehicle at Ms Tinecheff's home for the family to use when the children ran out to see him.
The Turnbull government has banned the City of Fremantle from holding citizenship ceremonies "under any circumstances" at its "culturally-inclusive alternative event" on January 28.

The office of the Assistant Immigration Minister Alex Hawke and Fremantle council having been warring for days after the federal government last week warned the city it must move its Australia Day celebrations back to January 26, or risk being prevented from hosting citizenship celebrations.

The federal government was locked in a stoush with the City of Fremantle.

Mr Hawke claimed the council couldn't hold citizen ceremonies because it breached the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 by "politicising" its fireworks ban, but the city fired back saying it wouldn't be bullied because it had not breached any code.

In the latest twist, Mr Hawke sent the council a blunt letter on Wednesday night claiming council could not hold citizenship ceremonies on its One Day in Fremantle event on January 28.
The high price for a person working in regional WA to fly home for Christmas has prompted renewed calls for a Parliamentary Inquiry to look into the cost of regional flights, particularly in mining towns.

The calls from Pilbara Regional Council chief executive Tony Friday came after it was revealed some flights from the Pilbara to the eastern states during the Christmas period topped $2500 return.

Workers in regional WA are paying up to $2500 to fly home for Christmas. Credit:Pau Barrena

"Fly-in, fly-out workers are just like the rest of the community, they want to be home with loved ones for Christmas," he said.

"That generates a peak period of demand, anytime you've got a peak period of demand obviously profit taking occurs and that's when you get airlines maximising profits on what are already very profitable lines."
CHICAGO, Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), www.ncsbn.org, NCSBN-002-2016 Reporting of Disciplinary Actions by Boards of Nursing (new standard) and NCSBN-003-2016 Primary Source Verification of Licensure by Endorsement (new standard) were accepted by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Board of Standards Review. NCSBN received the designation of ANSI Accredited Standards Developer Organization (SDO) in 2013.

The purpose of the Reporting of Disciplinary Actions by Boards of Nursing Standard is to provide for reporting of disciplinary actions by a board of nursing (BON) to a coordinated licensure information system in order to inform other BONs of the adverse action. NCSBN maintains the nursys.org coordinated licensure information system and reports required actions to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB). While the NPDB policies and guidelines are used to determine what constitutes final disciplinary action for purposes of reporting, the NPDB is not a coordinated licensure information system as defined by this standard. The requirement to report to the NPDB is independent of this standard.

The Primary Source Verification of Licensure by Endorsement Standards purpose is to describe a mechanism to obtain primary source verification of a license from one BON for the purpose of endorsement into another BON. Electronic transmission will accomplish verification efficiently and securely to decrease potential for fraud.

About NCSBN

Founded March 15, 1978, as an independent not-for-profit organization, NCSBN was created to lessen the burdens of state governments and bring together boards of nursing (BONs) to act and counsel together on matters of common interest. NCSBNs membership is comprised of the BONs in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and four U.S. territories  American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and the Virgin Islands. There are also 27 associate members that are either nursing regulatory bodies or empowered regulatory authorities from other countries or territories.

NCSBN Member Boards protect the public by ensuring that safe and competent nursing care is provided by licensed nurses. These BONs regulate more than 4.5 million licensed nurses.

Mission: NCSBN provides education, service and research through collaborative leadership to promote evidence-based regulatory excellence for patient safety and public protection.

The statements and opinions expressed are those of NCSBN and not the individual member state or territorial boards of nursing.

About ANSI

ANSI is a private, non-profit organization that administers and coordinates the U.S. voluntary standards and conformity assessment system. Founded in 1918, the Institute works in close collaboration with stakeholders from industry and government to identify and develop standards and conformance-based solutions to national and global priorities. ANSI empowers its members and constituents to strengthen the U.S. marketplace position in the global economy, while helping to assure the safety and health of consumers and the protection of the environment.
The days of paying a yearly roadside assistance fee could be numbered, thanks to a new app recently launched in Perth.

Stuck is a free to download on-demand app based on a similar model to Uber.

Australians annually spend in excess of $700 million on roadside assistance and Stuck's developers believe there is a lot of room to reduce that cost.

Motorists are charged each time they use the service rather than paying an annual fee for assistance they might not use.
They are so in demand that even Arnold Schwarzenegger in Jingle All The Way would struggle to snatch one at a toy store in Perth.

But there's plenty available online ... for a price.

Canberra's Maisy Ellis with her Hatchimal. Credit:Melissa Ellis

Hatchimals are one of the 'must have' Christmas toys this holiday season - an egg that hatches an interactive electronic creature after kids rub the shell.

Once they're hatched, children can raise them through three life stages and teach them to walk, play games and even dance.
A Perth vet hospital has set out to run its first feline Red Cross blood drive - encouraging WA cat owners to volunteer their own pets in order to make life saving donations.

The Animal Hospital at Murdoch University has set up the new Community Blood Donor Program in response to a rising number of felines requiring blood transfusions.

Murdoch University veterinary science senior lecturer Dr Claire Sharpe said it was not uncommon for sick cats to be susceptible to anaemia and it was important to have blood transfusions on standby.

"Having some additional cat blood donors in our pool of cats owned by staff, students and the public will help to ensure we always have blood available when our patients need it," she said.
A Perth woman accused of murdering a man at a Maddington home in April has pleaded not guilty, with her lawyer indicating she will argue self defence.

Vainerii Taungaroa Emile-Bruning, 40, wiped away tears while in the dock at the Supreme Court of Western Australia on Thursday as she pleaded not guilty to the murder of a 41-year-old man.

A Perth woman will fight a murder charge against her and argue self-defence.

The relationship between the pair was not mentioned during the court appearance, but they share the same surname.

She is accused of murdering the man at a house on Cedar Way, Maddington on April 10 2016.
The case has erupted on social media following graphic videos leaked online of Makeen's gruesomely mutilated body in the morgue showing signs of sustained torture. "What happened to Magdy Makeen was a horrible crime and what's even more horrible is that no one will be held accountable as usual. It's happened before, is happening now and will happen again" (Translated tweet) "I never expected to see him like that with massive injuries on his back, his legs, his face, his head split open and his ears bleeding," Makeen added. In the wake of the video, the public prosecutor's office released a statement saying that Makeen's death was because his fish cart tipped over him while police were chasing him.

An Interior Ministry spokesperson subsequently claimed he had died because of a drop in his blood pressure and was arrested along with two other men in possession of 2000 pills of tramadol, a commonly abused painkiller in Egypt. In the same month as Magdy Makeen's death, sixteen other Egyptians were reported to have died in police stations across the country. Police brutality was one of the main reasons that triggered Egypt's revolution in 2011, with the case of Khaled Said, who died at the hands of police in Alexandria in June 2010, as a pivotal symbol in the protests that ended three decades of autocratic rule by president Hosni Mubarak. The death of Makeen, a Coptic Christian, has transcended religious divides to trigger a public uproar about deaths in custody, echoing Said's case. The Makeens belong to Egypt's Coptic Christian minority. Magdy Makeen's death in custody has caused a nationwide uproar. Credit:Abdel Rahman Mohammed

The Interior Ministry has since relented under public pressure to open an investigation. In late November, nine policemen were questioned but all later released. Egyptians have been dealing with a notoriously violent police force that has been bolstered in the wake of president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's ascent to power with the appointment of Magdy Abdel Ghaffar in March 2015. Egyptian Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar has promised to act against police abuses but cases of officers being held to account remain rare. Credit:AP Rights groups have reported that Egypt's culture of police impunity has worsened in the past five years, despite the uprising against Mubarak's rule. Abdel Ghaffar, who served in the State Security Investigations body under Mubarak, had been emboldened in his crackdown on dissent as Egypt battles the militant insurgent group Sinai Province, which is linked to Islamic State. However he apologised for excessive police abuses in February, promising greater accountability.

However, the political will to reform the notorious extrajudicial tactics of the Mubarak era and Mubarak's last interior minister Habib al-Adly, who was acquitted on charges of killing demonstrators in January 2011, seems sorely lacking. The Interior Ministry has responded that abuses are isolated incidents. Ali al-Halwany, a human rights lawyer representing the Makeen family, expressed discontent with the initial delay in the autopsy, which took more than three weeks to produce. "We want a country that upholds the rule of law. We want the institutions to help us get to the truth", he told Fairfax Media. "It defies logic that a citizen goes into the police station at night and then comes out dead in the morning. We are waiting for the autopsy to reveal the whole story," he added.

"The two people who were arrested with my father even told me that my father begged the policeman to stop torturing him, saying 'Spare me, I am dying' and he continued beating him saying 'Die, go to hell'," Malak Makeen said. "The policeman was taking revenge on him." A judicial source corroborated Malak Makeen's account to state-run newspaper al-Ahram in a report it published on November 24. Malak remember his father as a gentle and hard-working man who he used to accompany roaming the streets of Cairo to earn a meagre living. "He would counsel me to forgive people when we were harassed. He would tell me that God will give us our rights - and I believe that now, too." Days after Magdy Makeen's death, a policeman in a rare verdict was sentenced to life in prison for killing a tea-seller after arguing over the price of a cup of tea earlier this year.
Ottawa: The Canadian official who oversees the country's spies says Ottawa may have to rethink how it provides intelligence to the United States, given incoming President Donald Trump's views on torture, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

Canada is a member of the so-called Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network, including the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

Michael Doucet, executive director of the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC), said Canada did not want information derived from torture.

"They may have a new administration that thinks torture is a good thing," he told a private Toronto audience last week, according to The Globe and Mail, which cited a recording of the remarks. "It's going to be an interesting and challenging time, and we've got to think about what defines us as Canadians."
Phnom Penh: Rohingyas who have fled Myanmar have given graphic descriptions of killings, rapes and burning of homes by soldiers, as concerns grow that ethnic cleansing is unfolding in the country's western Rakhine state.

"They came and killed mercilessly. They burned our homes. No one was there to save us," Osman Gani, an Arabic teacher, told Associated Press after swimming across a river to enter Bangladesh near the port of Cox's Bazar.

Osman Gani, a Rohingya man from Myanmar, shows a video clip that he shot on his mobile phone as he describes the recent violence standing on the bank of the Naf River, near a camp for Rohingyas near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Credit:AP

"They [Myanmar's military] oppressed us and fired at us from aircraft," Mr Gani said.

"People were killed in front of my house. They chased the girls and gunned them down. And they burned many people. They burned them in front of my house," he said.
London: Online propaganda, hacking and cyber-attacks from states with 'hostile intent' pose a "fundamental threat" to the sovereignty of democratic countries including Britain, the head of MI6 says.

And Alex Younger says Russia's actions in Syria is creating a breeding ground for terrorists.

Alex Younger has warned of the threat of 'hybrid warfare'.

In a wide-ranging and rare speech at MI6's new headquarters in central London, Mr Younger, or "C" as he is referred to, said the internet had opened up a new frontier he called "the increasingly dangerous phenomenon of hybrid warfare."

"The connectivity that is at the heart of globalisation can be exploited by states with hostile intent to further their aims deniably," Mr Younger said.
John Glenn, who became one of the 20th century's greatest heroes as the first American to orbit Earth and later as the world's oldest astronaut, in addition to a long career as a US senator, died on Thursday at age of 95, Ohio's governor said.

Glenn was the last surviving member of the original seven "Right Stuff" Mercury astronauts.

John Glenn talks with astronauts on the International Space Station via satellite. Credit:AP

"John Glenn is, and always will be, Ohio's ultimate hometown hero, and his passing today is an occasion for all of us to grieve," Ohio Governor John Kasich said in a statement.

Glenn was credited with reviving US pride after the Soviet Union's early domination of manned space exploration. His three laps around the world in the Friendship 7 capsule on February 20, 1962, forged a powerful link between the former fighter pilot and the Kennedy-era quest to explore outer space as a "New Frontier".
TORONTO and NEW YORK, Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Micromem Technologies Inc. (Micromem) (the Company) (CSE:MRM) (OTCQX:MMTIF) through its wholly owned subsidiary Micromem Applied Sensor Technologies Inc. (MAST), is pleased to announce that Castrol Innoventures (Castrol) has issued a US $100,000 purchase order for 10 evaluation units. The Company has received payment. This initial commercial order for the evaluation units will be used for field deployment, additional orders to follow.



Our partnership with Castrol began September 3rd, 2014 to jointly develop technology that will improve client experience with Castrol. This is the beginning of the commercial phase for this project and as such will be reported as revenue.

Micromem is in discussions with other corporations as adopters for this technology in market verticals other than those Castrol are focusing on.

About Micromem and MASTInc

MASTInc is a wholly owned U.S.-based subsidiary of Micromem Technologies Inc., a publicly traded (OTCQX:MMTIF) (CSE:MRM) company. MASTInc analyzes specific industry sectors to create intelligent game-changing applications that address unmet market needs. By leveraging its expertise and experience with sophisticated magnetic sensor applications, MASTInc successfully powers the development and implementation of innovative solutions for oil & gas, utilities, automotive, healthcare, government, information technology, manufacturing, and other industries. Visit www.micromeminc.com www.mastinc.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause the Companys actual results to differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. In particular, factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include: our inability to obtain additional financing on acceptable terms; risk that our products and services will not gain widespread market acceptance; continued consumer adoption of digital technology; inability to compete with others who provide comparable products; the failure of our technology; the infringement of our technology with proprietary rights of third parties; inability to respond to consumer and technological demands; inability to replace significant customers; seasonal nature of our business; and other risks detailed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made and are not guarantees of future performance. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. When used in this document, the words believe, expect, anticipate, estimate, project, plan, should, intend, may, will, would, potential, and similar expressions may be used to identify forward-looking statements.

The CSE or any other securities regulatory authority has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release that has been prepared by management.

Listing: NASD OTC-QX - Symbol: MMTIF

CSE - Symbol: MRM

Shares issued: 203,802,378

SEC File No: 0-26005
The U.S. Consulate General Curacao is pleased to announce that a Consular Officer will visit Sint Maarten on January 12, 2016. Appointments will be held at Parliament Building Office in Frontstreet, Philipsburg. The officer will provide U.S. Citizens Services and accept applications for U.S. passports, Consular Reports of Birth Abroad (CRBA), and Social Security cards. Unfortunately, we are not able to discuss visa cases during these outreach trips.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Applicants must bring all necessary documents for the service requested. The list of documents needed for each service is published on our website: curacao.usconsulate.gov. To avoid delays, please read the instructions carefully.

Bring originals and copies of all supporting documents.

You must make an appointment to meet with the Consular Officer. To schedule an appointment, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 5999-461-3066 Ext. 2225.

Payment must be made by cashier's check. The cashier's check must be in U.S. dollars, negotiable in the U.S., and made out to "U.S. Disbursing Officer." Cash and personal checks cannot be accepted.
Claim: The nationality of Kato, the Green Hornet's valet, was abruptly changed after the beginning of World War II. Rating: About this rating Mixture

Advertisment:

That the Green Hornet, who battled crime on the radio airwaves from 1936 to 1952, bore many resemblances to a modern day Lone Ranger was no coincidence. Both programs were created under the aegis of George W. Trendle at WXYZ in Detroit; thus both had similar three-word titles consisting of "The" followed by a monosyllabic adjective and a two-syllable noun, and both featured main characters who fought crime while remaining outside the realm of official law enforcement (and were often mistaken for outlaws themselves), had faithful sidekicks (both of whom were men of different ethnicities with two-syllable names ending in 'o'), employed masks in their crime-fighting guises to create secret identities, and always refrained from killing or maiming the foes with whom they tangled.

And although the metropolitan Green Hornet could hardly be expected to pursue lawbreakers mounted on horseback as his western precursor did (on his faithful steed Silver), the similarity between the two heroes was reinforced by the Green Hornet's automotive conveyance possessing a name ("Black Beauty") that was both equine and formed from a color word. The link between these two unconventional lawmen was made more explicit by a background history that made the Lone Ranger the great-uncle of Britt Reid, the "daring young publisher" who matched "wits with the underworld, risking his life that criminals and racketeers" might feel "the sting of the Green Hornet!"

Unlike the previous century's Lone Ranger, however, the Green Hornet had a crime-fighting companion whose heritage became potentially troublesome in light of current events. Kato, Britt Reid's valet, was an Asian of Japanese descent, a distinction of some consequence when events in the Pacific in the late 1930s and early 1940s, capped by a surprise Japanese attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, inexorably drew Japan and the United States into war with each other. Against this background (and the resultant anti-Japanese backlash in America) arose the legend that the character of Kato was originally identified as being Japanese, but after Pearl Harbor his nationality was abruptly changed.

Several different explanations have been offered about exactly what took place regarding Kato's nationality after the beginning of World War II, including claims that:

Kato had always been described as Japanese, but immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor he was suddenly referred to as Filipino instead.

Kato had previously been referred to only as an "oriental" (i.e., an Asian of unspecified nationality), but after Pearl Harbor he was specifically identified as Filipino.

Kato had been explicitly described as Filipino all along, and no change in his nationality took place at all after the outbreak of war in the Pacific.

The real answer is a somewhat confusing mixture of elements from all of these explanations.

Although print ads run before the premiere airing of the Green Hornet on radio described Kato as "the Jap butler," the first two broadcasts simply referred to him as an "oriental"; not until the third episode was he characterized as Japanese (a nationality which matched that of the actor who portrayed him, Tokutaro Hayashi). Kato's nationality became problematic after Japanese military incursions into China escalated into war between those two countries in mid-1937 (with American political sentiment decidedly on the side of the Chinese), so beginning in January 1938 (nearly four full years before the attack on Pearl Harbor) Kato reverted to being an "oriental" who served as Britt Reid's "faithful valet" (rather than his "Japanese valet"). As noted in Grams and Salomonson's history of the The Green Hornet, as early as 18 July 1939, more than two years before the Pearl Harbor attack and American entry into World War II, a Green Hornet radio script referred to Kato as Reid's "Filipino valet" (although the word "Filipino" was later scratched out and replaced with "faithful"), as writer Fran Striker wrestled with how to introduce an unexplained change in Kato's nationality to the radio audience.

The change in nationality was eventually implemented, and starting with the broadcast of 21 June 1941, Kato was specifically referred to as Filipino. However, after July 1941 several months passed with no subsequent reference to Kato's Filipino nationality, and (due in part to the time lag between the completion of scripts and the production of episodes) the next mention of Kato's Filipino background didn't take place until the broadcast of 10 January 1942, a month after the Pearl Harbor attack. Since just a few sparse references to Kato as a Filipino had been made several months prior to Pearl Harbor, and those references resumed shortly after Pearl Harbor, many listeners naturally remembered the attack on Pearl Harbor as the dividing line between Kato's shifting Japanese/Filipino background.

So, to sum up:

Kato was indeed portrayed as being of Japanese descent during the first two years of the Green Hornet radio program.

Two years later (long before the attack on Pearl Harbor), due to Japan's political situation, reference to Kato's Japanese background was eliminated, and he became an Asian of unspecified nationality.

Several months before U.S. entry into World War II, Kato was initially described as being of Filipino background.

Kato's national origins became even more confused by productions of The Green Hornet in other media. The 1940 Universal Pictures Green Hornet film serial portrayed Kato as Korean, and press material for the short-lived mid-1960s Green Hornet television series indirectly referred to Kato (played by martial arts star Bruce Lee) as Chinese.

A similar type of sudden character change took place forty years later, with the 1981 debut of the television series The Greatest American Hero, a superhero parody show featuring a caped, crime-fighting high school teacher named Ralph Hinkley. Just a few weeks later, President Ronald Reagan was the target of an assassination attempt by a man named John Hinckley, and the show's main character was thereafter referred to simply as "Mr. H" (and occasionally "Mr. Hanley"), although his original name of "Hinkley" was eventually restored later in the series' run.
MOBI724 Global Solutions Inc.s (CSE: MOS) subsidiary, Mobi724 S.R.L. signs a commercial agreement with Banco Macro to provide its oneSwipe Card-Linked-Offers Solution

MONTREAL, CANADA  (Marketwired)  12/07/16  MOBI724 Global Solutions Inc. (MOBI724 or the Company) (CSE: MOS) (CSE: MOS.CN), a Fintech leader offering all in one fully integrated EMV payment, card link couponing and digital marketing  MOBI724 S.R.L. an Argentine corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of MOBI724 Global Solutions Inc., has signed a commercial agreement with Banco Macro to implement, integrate, maintain and support MOBI724s oneSwipe Card-Linked-Offers solution for Banco Macros card holder base.

MOBI724s innovative oneSwipe Card-Linked-Offers patent pending solution will allow Banco Macros cardholders, to redeem their offers directly at the Point of Sale of participating retailers, in a seamless customer experience.

Banco Macro will also benefit from MOBI724s other solutions and services such as Data Analytics & Business Intelligence.

Marcel Vienneau CEO of MOBI724 stated We are thrilled to be able to provide one of the largest and fastest growing top 5 banks in the country, with our state of the art card-linked-offers & BI platform, and we are looking forward to working with the bank so they can truly leverage the full potential of our solution for the benefits of their card holders.

About Banco Macro

Macro is the only Bank that can show 58 consecutive quarters with profit. It is the first Bank in domestic private capitals. The Banks net income totaled Ps.1.8 billion in the second quarter of 2016. This result was 28% higher than the Ps.1.4 billion posted in the first quarter of 2016 and 119% higher than the Ps.824.2 million reported in the second quarter of 2015. In the second quarter of 2016, Banco Macros financing to the private sector grew 13% quarter over quarter and increased 37% year over year.

About Mobi724 Global Solutions

MOBI724 Global Solutions Inc. (CSE: MOS), a leader in the Fintech industry based in Montreal (Canada), offers a unique and fully integrated suite of Payment & Digital Marketing solutions.

We are innovating in our market with a combined EMV Payment, Card Linked Offers, and Digital Marketing platform that works on any card and any mobile device. We pioneered in adding intelligence to all types of transactions benefiting banks, retailers and cardholders. We succeed in leveraging all available user and purchasing data to increase transaction volumes and spend.

MOBI724 provides a turnkey solution to its clients to capture card transactions on any mobile device, at any point of sale or from any payment card. Our easy-to-adapt gateway Switch is designed for easy integration with all payment protocols in our target markets.

Within the same solution suite we combined our Card Linked Offers solution, and provided financial institutions payment card portfolios and retailers the ability to add offers and/or coupons which can be redeemed directly at the Point of Sale, in a seamless user experience for all the parties in the eco-system.

MOBI724 Global Solutions unleashes the true potential of both payment and card-linked couponing/rewards transactions for both online and offline points of sale (POS).

The Corporation provides its customers with full and comprehensive traceability and enriched consumer data through its offering. Its solutions enables card associations, retailers, manufacturers, offer providers, mobile operators and card issuers to create, manage, deliver and track and measure incentive campaigns worldwide to ANY mobile device and allow its redemption at ANY point of sales.

Our credit and debit EMV payment solutions will allow banks to process end to end EMV transactions, focusing on authentication, approved security and quick merchant adoption which allows the users to process payments with a wide range of devices over a secure and seamless transaction.

MOBI724s PCI and EMV cloud-based switch, with their device agnostic connectivity, simplifies deployment and integration, and introduces new payment and digital incentives solutions to the market enabling multi layered intelligent transactions therefore SMART TRANSACTIONS.

Certain statements in this document, including those which express managements expectations or estimations with regard to the Companys future performance, constitute forward-looking statements as understood by applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are, of necessity, based on a certain number of estimates and hypotheses; while management considers these to be accurate at the time they are expressed, they are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and risks on the commercial, economic and competitive levels. We advise readers that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other known and unknown factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements. Investors are advised to not rely unduly on the forward-looking statements. This advisory applies to all forward-looking statements, whether expressed orally or in writing, attributed to the Company or to any individual expressing them in the name of the Company. Unless required by law, the Company is under no obligation to publicly update these forward-looking statements, whether to reflect new information, future events, or other circumstances.

The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) has not reviewed this news release and does not accept responsibility for its adequacy or accuracy. This news release does not constitute a solicitation to buy or sell any securities in the United States.

Contacts:

MOBI724 Global Solutions

Mr. Marcel Vienneau

1-514-394-5200 Ext 413
Raumfeld Introduces Google Cast for Audio to its Speakers, Linking Unmatched Sound, Style and Streaming

BERLIN, GERMANY  (Marketwired)  12/08/16  announces today the release of its . The free update is compatible with all current Raumfeld speakers, giving customers access to more than 100+ new music apps including Google Play Music, Spotify, Deezer, TIDAL, Pandora, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, SoundCloud, Qobuz and Juke.*

Music is a constant companion for many people and we are always looking for innovative ways to enhance our customers listening experience, said Pablo La Rosa, General Manager Music Streaming at Raumfeld. Adding Google Cast to our products takes immersion to the next level and provides new opportunities for music lovers to discover new songs, find old favorites, create their own playlists or try out the playlists others have shared.

More than 100+ music apps currently support Google Cast for audio and the list continues to grow. Big names like Google Play Music, Spotify, Deezer, TuneIn, Qobuz, SoundCloud, Juke and TIDAL already support the streaming technology. From today onwards, a free firmware update will allow all Raumfeld multiroom WiFi speakers to play audio from Google Cast-enabled apps.

It couldnt be easier: Raumfeld users simply open their favorite Google Cast-enabled app and tap on the Cast icon. From there its possible to select one or more Raumfeld speakers for playback. Once playback starts, it can be controlled from the same app.

To manage the speakers or organize them into groups, use the Google Home App provided by Google. Note that a single device can be made part of different speaker groupings. Its even possible to combine Raumfeld speakers with other cast-enabled speakers.

For many people, music is a constant companion. Streaming services make it possible to listen to the perfect soundtracks for each location and mood. They also provide a way for music lovers to discover new songs and find old favorites, create their own playlists or try out the playlists other users have made public. All personal settings, titles, playlists and music downloads are always available  on the go or at home. With Google Cast for audio, an album enjoyed on headphones during a commute can be effortlessly transferred to a pair of hi-fi speakers at home.

Starting today, Raumfeld users can stream over 100+ music services with Google Cast for audio

Made available via free firmware update for all current model Raumfeld speakers

Over 100+ music services have Google Cast for audio integrated in their apps

Cast-enabled apps work on iOS and Android

Stream from PCs, Macs and Linux-operated systems via the Chrome browser

Experience seamless transitions between listening on headphones and speakers

Group your cast-enabled speakers to play the same song in every room

For more information about Raumfeld and its line of premium speakers, please visit .

*Selection may vary by region

Raumfeld was founded in 2008 on the belief that streaming is the future of music listening. In 2010, Raumfeld was acquired by Berlin audio manufacturer, Lautsprecher Teufel, to form The Berlin Acoustics Group. Teufels more than 35 years experience creating quality loudspeakers is expressed in Raumfelds premium audio hardware. Raumfeld is known for its multi-room WiFi audio systems that now feature Google Cast, allowing for access and enjoyment of 100+music services along with private collections and the cloud. The German-engineered speakers support digital files and play them back in true high fidelity, and all system functionality can be intuitively controlled via a free app for iOS and Android smart devices.

For more information about Raumfeld, please visit and follow us on Facebook at .

Founded in 1979 in Berlin, Teufel Audio has grown into one of the largest German audio manufacturers and Europes #1 direct seller of loudspeaker systems. The Teufel product portfolio includes stereo, home cinema, gaming sound, headphones, WiFi streaming and Bluetooth speakers. In addition, Teufel offers the largest selection of THX certified speakers in the world. The proud Berliners always strive to provide the very best sound at the fairest prices. Countless awards and commendations attest to the companys high standards and winning product designs. Teufel Audio products are exclusively available via direct sale.

For more information about Teufel, please visit .

Florian Weidhase

Raumfeld Press & PR

+49 911 66442552

Kelly Kaufman

Praytell

773.531.7737
BOSTON, Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wellist, a patient experience solutions provider, is among a select group of individuals and organizations receiving awards from Rock Healths Top 50 in Digital Health for making exceptional progress in driving resources, attention, and innovation toward a massively better healthcare system. Wellist received the Diversity Leadership Award: Startup for demonstrating leadership in diversity, having continually shown their commitment to hiring, supporting, and building diverse teams to tackle the most pressing problems facing healthcare today.



"When the best hospitals in the country hire Wellist to address their patient's actual human needs, having a team that reflects the diverse patient populations we serve is simply good business," said Ashley Reid, Founder and CEO. Were especially proud of winning the Diversity Leadership Award because it is a wonderful reflection of how we live our values of diversity, empathy and inclusion at Wellist and in the community. Our organization represents a wide range of age, race and gender, but at our core we all share a deep, personal passion for working together to improve the lives of patients and their families."

Wellists Integrated Patient Experience Solutions includes patient experience assessment and analytics, in-hospital concierges, call center navigators, and digital solutions for non-clinical needs. Wellists offerings are powered by a proprietary directory of vetted patient support services in categories ranging from transportation and meal delivery to support groups and financial assistance.

In September 2016, Wellist received the award for the most Innovative Tech of the YearHealthcare Tech from the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council (MassTLC). The award cited Wellists meaningful achievements in the area of patient data and healthcare insights.

About Wellist

At the intersection of data-driven insights and human compassion, Wellist helps healthcare leaders meaningfully improve patient satisfaction, outcomes and loyalty. Wellists Integrated Patient Experience Solutions provide the tools to address actual human needs across the care continuum, combining proprietary technology, human services and unique data. Wellist clients include Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
CINCINNATI, Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On December 2, 2016, Strauss Troy filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of all purchasers of Tyson Foods, Inc. (Tyson or the Company) (NYSE:TSN). The Complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio on behalf of investors who purchased shares in Tyson during the period from November 23, 2015 through October 7, 2016 (the Class Period).



Investors who purchased shares of Tyson during the Class Period are encouraged to contact Strauss Troy in advance of the December 16, 2016 lead plaintiff motion deadline.

The Complaint alleges that during the Class Period, Tyson made false and misleading statements and failed to disclose material information. On September 2, 2016, there were reports published about the filing of an antitrust class action lawsuit against Tyson and other poultry producers conspiring to manipulate the price of broiler-chickens. The antitrust lawsuit alleges that since about 2008 Tyson and several other companies conspired by sharing proprietary data and reducing production to support prices. On October 7, 2016, Pivotal Research downgraded Tyson Foods from buy to sell, due to fears over the class action against the Company, which it called powerfully convincing. When this news was announced, shares of Tyson fell in value.

Plaintiffs seek to recover damages on behalf of themselves and all other investors who purchased Tyson common stock during the Class Period, excluding Defendants and their affiliates. Plaintiffs are represented by Strauss Troy, a law firm with extensive experience prosecuting class actions for violations of the federal securities laws. If you are interested in becoming a lead plaintiff, you may file a motion with the court no later than December 16, 2016, and request that the court appoint you as lead plaintiff. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of class members. If you would like more information about the Tyson shareholder lawsuit, or have any questions concerning your rights or interests, please contact:



Strauss Troy

Richard S. Wayne, Esq., rswayne@strausstroy.com

Robert R. Sparks, Esq., rrsparks@strausstroy.com

Annie C. Jansen, acjansen@strausstroy.com

150 E. Fourth Street

Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

Phone: (513) 621-2120

www.StraussTroy.com
Free family fun was on the agenda Tuesday night in Clinton Township, as the popular Sledding Hill was the place to be on a splendid fall evening.
A guide to voter rights in Indiana. What you need to know before you cast a ballot

elections
Company signs follow-on contract with CDC valued at up to $911 million to supply to the SNS approximately 29.4 million doses of BioThrax through September 2021



BARDA issues notice of intent to separately procure approximately $100 million of BioThrax for the SNS over 24 months from contract award, which is expected in 1H 2017

These actions, together with the recently awarded BARDA contract for NuThrax, reflect the U.S. governments intention to transition the stockpile of anthrax vaccines from BioThrax to NuThrax

Company re-establishes 2016 financial guidance

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) today announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is advancing its anthrax preparedness strategy with multiple contract actions for the companys anthrax vaccines.

Today, Emergent signed a follow-on contract with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), under Solicitation No. 2016-N-17905, valued at up to $911 million to supply approximately 29.4 million doses of BioThrax  (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed) to the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) through September 2021. BioThrax is the only anthrax vaccine licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is indicated for both pre-exposure prophylaxis and post-exposure prophylaxis of anthrax disease.



(Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed) to the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) through September 2021. BioThrax is the only anthrax vaccine licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is indicated for both pre-exposure prophylaxis and post-exposure prophylaxis of anthrax disease. Also today, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a division within the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response at HHS, issued a notice of intent to procure approximately $100 million of BioThrax for delivery into the SNS within 24 months from the date of contract award, which the company anticipates will be in the first half of 2017. This contract will be separate from and in addition to the follow-on procurement contract with CDC.



On September 30, BARDA awarded Emergent a contract valued at up to $1.6 billion for the development and procurement of NuThraxTM (anthrax vaccine adsorbed with CPG 7909 adjuvant), the companys next generation anthrax vaccine candidate. The initial procurement of NuThrax for inclusion in the SNS could be initiated in 2019 following Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) pre-approval by FDA, which based on the current plan, is anticipated at the end of 2018. The contract also includes procurement options for the delivery of an additional 7.5 million to 50 million doses of NuThrax to the SNS. The company anticipates amending this contract simultaneously with the execution of the BARDA BioThrax procurement contract, which will result in a revised total contract value of up to $1.5 billion.

Taken together, the company believes that the CDC and BARDA contract actions reflect the governments intention to transition the stockpile of anthrax vaccines from BioThrax to NuThrax beginning in 2019.

Emergent believes these actions reflect the U.S. governments continued assessment of anthrax as a high-priority threat and its firm commitment to protect the nation against bioterrorism, said Daniel J. Abdun-Nabi, president and chief executive officer of Emergent BioSolutions. We are pleased to be able to make meaningful contributions to helping the government execute its strategy to achieve its preparedness goals.

Deliveries and Pricing

Under these contract actions, the company plans to deliver approximately nine million doses of BioThrax in each of 2017 and 2018. In 2019, the company anticipates delivering approximately 10 million doses comprised of a combination of both BioThrax and NuThrax. BioThrax pricing in 2017 under the CDC follow-on contract is 2% higher than current levels and is subject to a 3% annual price escalation over the duration of the contract. Deliveries are scheduled to continue, subject to availability of funding, through September 2021.

The company expects that the BARDA procurement contract, which will be separate from and in addition to the follow-on procurement contract with CDC, will require the company to complete delivery of all BioThrax doses covered by that contract within 24 months from the date that the contract is awarded. BioThrax pricing under the BARDA procurement contract is anticipated to be the same as BioThrax pricing in 2017 under the CDC follow-on contract.

Financial Outlook

(I) 2016 Forecast

The table below presents the companys guidance on a combined basis and on a continuing operations basis. The combined basis reflects the companys operations including the operations of the former biosciences business that was spun-off as Aptevo Therapeutics in August 2016. The continuing operations basis excludes Aptevo operations.

On a Combined Basis On a Continuing

Operations Basis Total Revenue $485M to $505M $465M to $485M BioThrax Sales $220M to $235M $220M to $235M Net Income $35M to $45M $50M to $60M Adjusted Net Income $55M to $65M $65M to $75M EBITDA $90M to $100M $120M to $130M

(II) 2017 Forecast

The company anticipates providing 2017 financial guidance in early January 2017, as part of its presentation at the JP Morgan Annual Healthcare Conference. The 2017 guidance will take into account the BioThrax revenues anticipated under the newly executed follow-on CDC contract and the expected BioThrax procurement contract with BARDA, as well as the companys plan to address its operational and administrative costs to ensure they are sized and aligned to support the companys growth.

(III) 2020 Financial Goals

The company anticipates updating its 2016-2020 Growth Plan financial goals later in 2017.

Conference Call and Webcast Information

Company management will host a conference call at 5:30 pm (Eastern Time) today, December 8, 2016, to discuss this announcement. This conference call can be accessed live by telephone or through Emergents website: Live Teleconference Information: Dial in number: (855) 766-6521 International dial in: (262) 912-6157 Passcode: 36049167 Webcast Information: Live webcast feed can be accessed using this link: http://edge.media-server.com/m/p/suuod2ad. A replay of the call can be accessed on Emergents website www.emergentbiosolutions.com under Investors.

RECONCILIATION OF GAAP NET INCOME TO ADJUSTED NET INCOME AND EBITDA ALL RELATED TO CONTINUING OPERATIONS

This press release contains two financial measures (Adjusted Net Income, and EBITDA) that are considered non-GAAP financial measures under applicable Securities and Exchange Commission rules and regulations. These non-GAAP financial measures should be considered supplemental to and not a substitute for financial information prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. The companys definition of these non-GAAP measures may differ from similarly titled measures used by others. Adjusted Net Income adjusts for specified items that can be highly variable or difficult to predict, or reflect the non-cash impact of charges resulting from purchase accounting. EBITDA reflects net income excluding the impact of depreciation, amortization, interest expense and provision for income taxes. The company views these non-GAAP financial measures as a means to facilitate managements financial and operational decision-making, including evaluation of the companys historical operating results and comparison to competitors operating results. These non-GAAP financial measures reflect an additional way of viewing aspects of the companys operations that, when viewed with GAAP results may provide a more complete understanding of factors and trends affecting the companys business.

The determination of the amounts that are excluded from these non-GAAP financial measures is a matter of management judgment and depends upon, among other factors, the nature of the underlying expense or income amounts. Because non-GAAP financial measures exclude the effect of items that will increase or decrease the companys reported results of operations, management strongly encourages investors to review the companys consolidated financial statements and publicly-filed reports in their entirety.

About Emergent BioSolutions

Emergent BioSolutions is a global specialty biopharmaceutical company dedicated to one simple missionto protect and enhance life. We develop, manufacture, and deliver a portfolio of medical countermeasures for biological and chemical threats as well as emerging infectious diseases. Through our work, we envision protecting and enhancing 50 million lives with our products by 2025. Additional information about the company may be found at www.emergentbiosolutions.com. Follow us @emergentbiosolu.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements, other than statements of historical fact, including, without limitation, our financial guidance and any statements containing the words believes, expects, anticipates, intends, plans, targets, forecasts, estimates and similar expressions in conjunction with, among other things, obtaining a BioThrax procurement contract from BARDA under the notice of intent, discussions of the companys outlook, financial performance or financial condition, growth strategy, product development, product sales, government development or procurement contracts or awards, government appropriations, manufacturing capabilities, Emergency Use Authorization or other regulatory approvals and plans to increase our operational efficiencies and cost structure are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on our current intentions, beliefs and expectations regarding future events. We cannot guarantee that any forward-looking statement will be accurate. Investors should realize that if underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results could differ materially from our expectations. Investors are, therefore, cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statement. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this press release, and, except as required by law, we do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement to reflect new information, events or circumstances.

There are a number of important factors that could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements, including our ability to obtain a BioThrax procurement contract from BARDA under the notice of intent; availability of funding and the exercise of options under our BioThrax contract with CDC and our NuThrax contract with BARDA, appropriations for procurement of BioThrax and NuThrax; our ability to secure EUA pre-authorization approval and licensure of NuThrax by FDA within the anticipated timeframe, if at all; our ability to achieve our planned operational efficiencies and targeted levels of cost savings; availability of funding for our U.S. government grants and contracts; whether the operational, marketing and strategic benefits of the spin-off of our biosciences business can be achieved; our ability to identify and acquire or in-license products or late-stage product candidates that satisfy our selection criteria; whether anticipated synergies and benefits from an acquisition or in-license are realized within expected time periods, if at all; our ability to expand our manufacturing facilities and capabilities; our ability and the ability of our contractors and suppliers to maintain compliance with cGMP and other regulatory obligations; the results of regulatory inspections; the outcome of the class action lawsuit filed against us and possible other future material legal proceedings; our ability to meet operating and financial restrictions placed on us and our subsidiaries that are contained in our senior credit facility; the rate and degree of market acceptance and clinical utility of our products; the success of our ongoing and planned development programs; the timing of and our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approvals for our product candidates; and our commercialization, marketing and manufacturing capabilities and strategy. The foregoing sets forth many, but not all, of the factors that could cause actual results to differ from our expectations in any forward-looking statement. Investors should consider this cautionary statement, as well as the risk factors identified in our periodic reports filed with the SEC, when evaluating our forward-looking statements.




Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.
DARIEN, Conn., Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VelocityShares, a Janus Capital Group, Inc. (NYSE:JNS) brand, today announced the launch of two new Oil Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs)  the VelocitySharesTM 3x Long Crude Oil ETN (NYSE:UWT) and VelocitySharesTM 3x Inverse Crude Oil ETN (NYSE:DWT), both of which are linked to the S&P GSCI Crude Oil Index ER (the Index). The ETNs are issued by Citigroup Global Markets Holdings Inc. and guaranteed by Citigroup Inc.



The new ETNs are being launched in order to provide investors with alternative securities to the VelocityShares ETNs UWTI and DWTI, which are being delisted from trading on a public stock exchange, effective this Friday, December 9th.

For years we have worked with sophisticated investors who want to utilize daily trading tools to manage their oil exposure, and we are pleased to be launching these new ETNs to continue to service our clients, said Nick Cherney, Senior Vice President, Head of Exchange Products for Janus Capital Group.

The new ETNs are linked to the same Index and each has a similar investment structure as UWTI and DWTI, respectively, both of which are issued by Credit Suisse AG and marketed under the VelocityShares brand. However, the new ETNs (UWT and DWT) differ in important ways from UWTI and DWTI, including the fact that they have a different issuer (Citigroup Global Markets Holdings Inc. with a Citigroup Inc. guarantee). Any investor who has invested previously in UWTI/DWTI and is considering an investment in UWT/DWT should carefully review the pricing supplement for the new ETNs (available at the hyperlink below) and the accompanying prospectus supplement and prospectus to understand the terms of the ETNs. Credit Suisse AG is not involved in any way in the offering of UWT or DWT.

The new ETNs are the first VelocityShares ETNs issued by Citigroup Global Markets Holdings Inc. VelocityShares ETNs are now offered by three different issuance partners. Janus exchange traded products business represents approximately $3.8 billion in assets across more than 25 investment products as of September 30, 2016.

Exchangetraded notes are senior, unsecured debt securities issued by financial institutions that provide knowledgeable investors with sophisticated tools for executing their trading strategies. There are restrictions on the minimum number of ETNs investors may redeem pursuant to the ETNs early redemption right. There may not be an active trading market in ETNs. The ETNs are subject to significant risks, as described in the pricing supplement for the ETNs.

About Janus Capital Group Inc.



Janus Capital Group Inc. (JCG) is a global investment firm dedicated to delivering better outcomes for clients through a broad range of investment solutions, including fixed income, equity, alternative and multi-asset class strategies. It does so through a number of distinct asset management platforms, including investment teams within Janus Capital Management LLC (Janus), as well as INTECH Investment Management LLC (INTECH), Perkins Investment Management LLC (Perkins) and Kapstream Capital Pty Limited (Kapstream), in addition to a suite of exchange-traded products. Each team brings distinct asset class expertise, perspective, style-specific experience and a disciplined approach to risk. Investment strategies are offered through open-end funds domiciled in both the U.S. and offshore, as well as through separately managed accounts, collective investment trusts and exchange-traded products. Based in Denver, JCG has offices located in 12 countries throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. The firm had complex-wide assets under management and Exchange Traded Note assets totaling $198.9 billion as of September 30, 2016.

An investment in the ETNs involves significant risks. Please read the more detailed explanation of risks relating to an investment in the ETNs in Risk Factors in the applicable pricing supplement (available at the hyperlink below).

The ETNs are intended to be daily trading tools for sophisticated investors to manage daily trading risks. They are designed to achieve their stated investment objectives on a daily basis, but their performance over different periods of time can differ significantly from their stated daily objectives. The ETNs are riskier than securities that have intermediate- or long-term investment objectives, and may not be suitable for investors who plan to hold them for a period other than one day. Any decision to hold the ETNs for more than one day should be made with great care and only as the result of a series of daily (or more frequent) investment decisions to remain invested in the ETNs for the next one-day period. Accordingly, the ETNs should be purchased only by knowledgeable investors who understand the potential consequences of an investment linked to the Index and of seeking daily compounding leveraged long or leveraged inverse investment results, as applicable. Investors should actively and frequently monitor their investments in the ETNs, even intra-day. If an investor holds the ETNs for more than one day, it is possible that the investor will suffer significant losses in the ETNs even if the performance of the Index over the time the investor holds them is positive, in the case of the 3x Long Crude Oil ETNs, or negative, in the case of the 3x Inverse Crude Oil ETNs.

The ETNs are subject to a daily investor fee accruing at a rate of 1.50% per annum. In addition, ETNs purchased from Citigroup Global Markets Inc., the agent for the offering of the ETNs, will be subject to a creation fee, and any ETNs redeemed at the option of the holder will be subject to an early redemption fee. Such fees, charges and transaction costs may materially increase the costs of investing in the ETNs. In addition, because of daily compounding, the actual investor fee realized may exceed the stated amount. Please see the pricing supplement for the ETNs for disclosure of fees or charges relating to the ETNs.

The term of the ETNs is 15 years. The ETN issuer has the right to accelerate all outstanding ETNs at any time as described in the pricing supplement. In addition, the ETNs will be subject to automatic acceleration if their intraday indicative value falls below a specified percentage of the prior days closing indicative value, as described in the pricing supplement. If the ETNs are automatically accelerated, investors are likely to suffer a significant loss.

The ETNs do not pay any interest and do not guarantee any payment at maturity or upon acceleration or early redemption. The crude oil futures underlying the Index have historically been highly volatile. The ETNs are fully exposed on a 3x leveraged basis, compounded daily, to a decline in the level of the Index (in the case of the 3x Long Crude Oil ETNs) or to an increase in the level of the Index (in the case of the 3x Inverse Crude Oil ETNs). An investor may lose all or a significant portion of its investment in the ETNs. An investor will have 3x leverage only if the ETNs are purchased at the most recent closing indicative value; ETNs purchased for more or less than the most recent closing indicative value will have effective leverage on that day that is less or more, respectively, than 3x.

The ETNs are senior unsecured debt obligations of the issuer, Citigroup Global Markets Holdings Inc., and are guaranteed by Citigroup Inc. The ETNs are not, either directly or indirectly, an obligation of or guaranteed by any other party and do not provide an investor with any entitlement to crude oil or crude oil futures contracts. Any payment to be made on the ETNs, including any payment at maturity, or upon acceleration or early redemption, depends on the ability of Citigroup Global Markets Holdings Inc. to satisfy its obligations as they come due, and upon the ability of Citigroup Inc. to satisfy any obligations under its guarantee. As a result, the actual and perceived creditworthiness of Citigroup Global Markets Holdings Inc. and Citigroup Inc. will affect the market value, if any, of the ETNs prior to maturity, acceleration or early redemption. In addition, in the event Citigroup Global Markets Holdings Inc. and Citigroup Inc. were to default on their obligations, an investor may not receive any amounts owed under the terms of the ETNs.

The daily resetting of each ETNs leveraged exposure to the Index is likely to cause each ETN to experience a decay effect, which is likely to worsen over time and will be greater the more volatile the Index. The decay effect refers to a likely tendency of the ETNs to lose value over time independent of the performance of the Index. Accordingly, the ETNs are not suitable for intermediate- or long-term investment, as any intermediate- or long-term investment is very likely to sustain significant losses, even if the Index appreciates (in the case of the 3x Long Crude Oil ETNs) or depreciates (in the case of the 3x Inverse Crude Oil ETNs) over the relevant time period. Although the decay effect is more likely to manifest itself the longer the ETNs are held, the decay effect can have a significant impact on ETN performance even over a period as short as two days.

The ETNs require an understanding of futures contracts and path dependence of investment results and are intended for sophisticated investors to use as part of an overall diversified portfolio, and should not be used as a buy and hold investment. The ETNs are risky and may not be suitable for investors who plan to hold them for more than one day.

There may not be an active trading market in the ETNs; sales in the secondary market may result in significant losses. The issuer is not obligated to maintain the listing of the ETNs on any exchange and may delist the ETNs from any exchange for any reason at any time. Any such delisting may adversely affect the liquidity and trading price of the ETNs.

The issuer is not obligated to issue any particular amount of the ETNs and may suspend further issuances at any time. If the issuer suspends further issuances of the ETNs, it is possible that the ETNs could begin to trade at a premium to the indicative value. Any premium that develops may be reduced or eliminated at any time, including as a result of an announcement that the issuer will restart issuances or an announcement that the issuer will exercise its right to accelerate the ETNs for an amount based on the indicative value. Paying a premium purchase price over the indicative value of the ETNs could lead to significant losses in the event the investor sells the ETNs at a time when such premium is no longer present in the marketplace or the ETNs are accelerated at the issuers option.

Investors should exercise caution in trading the ETNs between 2:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., New York City time. During this time period, due to delays in the publication of the closing level of the Index (which is based on futures trading as of 2:30 p.m. but is not published until after 4:00 p.m.), there is expected to be uncertainty about the intrinsic value of the ETNs. The published intraday indicative value will not be based on fully up-to-date information (which will not be available) during this time period, and trading prices during this time period are likely to diverge from the published intraday indicative value. For more information, please refer to the pricing supplement for the ETNs.

VelocityShares is a trade name used by Janus Distributors LLC, in connection with the marketing services it provides for the VelocityShares-branded ETNs. Janus Distributors LLC, a registered broker-dealer, does not offer or sell the ETNs, and will only conduct business in states in which it is registered, unless it is otherwise excluded or exempted from being registered in each state.

Citigroup Global Markets Holdings Inc. and Citigroup Inc. have filed a registration statement (including a pricing supplement, prospectus supplement and prospectus) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the ETNs. Before you invest, you should read the pricing supplement dated December 8, 2016, the accompanying prospectus supplement and prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference into the registration statement to understand fully the terms of the ETNs and other considerations that are important in making a decision about investing in the ETNs. The pricing supplement for the ETNs may be obtained by clicking here: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/200245/000095010316018586/dp70998_424b2-vsl.htm. You may also get these documents without cost by visiting EDGAR on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Alternatively, you can request these documents without cost by calling toll-free 1-877-5-VELOCITY or 1-203-992-4301.
You have permission to edit this article.

Edit Close
Welcome to SwanseaOnline - your home for the best news, sports and what's on coverage of the city.

Never miss a Swansea story with our daily newsletter Sign up to comment on our stories here

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter | Swansea City news | Ospreys news | InYourArea
John Glenn: A Monumental Career

NASA

John H. Glenn was an American astronaut, Marine Corps Colonel, and U.S. Senator. A member of NASA's very first astronaut class (known as the Mercury 7), Glenn's first space mission was in 1962, when he became the first American to orbit the Earth. Glenn also holds the record for being the oldest person ever to go to space, having participated in space shuttle mission STS-95 at the age of 77 in 1998. Glenn is shown here during his career at NASA (image not dated).

Glenn passed away on Dec. 8, 2016, at the age of 95. Here are some of the highlights of his incredible career.

The Magnificent 7

NASA

On April 9, 1959, John H. Glenn was one of seven men selected for NASA's first-ever astronaut class. Those astronauts, who became known as the Mercury 7, are pictured here: (Front row, left to right) Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Donald K. "Deke" Slayton, John H. Glenn, Jr., and M. Scott Carpenter; (Back row) Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, and L. Gordon Cooper, Jr.

On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American to go to space. Glenn served as backup for Shepard, as well as Grissom, who became the second American in space.

A plan to orbit

NASA

In November 1961, a NASA representative announced to the press that John Glenn had been chosen to make the first manned orbital flight for NASA. In this photo (undated) Glenn speaks to reporters prior to launch. The map on the wall shows the orbital flight path. The launch was originally set for Jan. 16, 1962, but was delayed for over a month due to various problems.

Up, up and away

NASA

On Feb. 20, 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. As the only crewmember on the Mercury-Atlas 6 (MA-6) mission, Glenn was launched into space by an Atlas LV-3B launch vehicle, inside the Friendship 7 space capsule. The spacecraft made three complete loops around the planet, with Glenn piloting parts of the last two orbits manually because of an autopilot failure. This photo of Glenn was taken with the onboard camera during the mission.

A hero, back on Earth

NASA

Upon his return to Earth, Glenn was treated as a national hero. Here, he is shown speaking with President John F. Kennedy (Glenn's wife, Annie, stands to his left). President Kennedy later presented Glenn with the NASA Distinguished Service Award. Glenn also addressed a joint session of Congress and participated in several ticker-tape parades around the country.

Up in the air

NASA

In addition to his accomplishments as an astronaut, Glenn had a prestigious military and flying career. During his World War II service, he flew 59 combat missions. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on six occasions, and holds the Air Medal with 18 Clusters for his service during World War II and the Korean War, among other military and government honors. He retired from the Marine Corps in January 1965 with the rank of Colonel.

"In July 1957, while project officer of the F8U Crusader, [Glenn] set a transcontinental speed record from Los Angeles to New York, spanning the country in 3 hours and 23 minutes. This was the first transcontinental flight to average supersonic speed," according to a biography of Glenn on NASA's website. "Glenn has nearly 9,000 hours of flying time, with approximately 3,000 hours in jet aircraft."

This image (undated) shows Glenn "in the cockpit of a T-106 preparing for training exercises in flight proficiency," according to NASA.

A life beyond NASA

Public Domain

Glenn resigned from his job at NASA's Manned Spaceflight Center in January 1964. He worked in private business until 1974, when he was elected to the United States Senate, in his home state of Ohio. During his Senate career, Glenn campaigned for funding for science, education, and space exploration. In 1984, he made a failed bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. He retired from the U.S. Senate in January 1999.

Once more into the fray

NASA

On Oct. 29, 1998, 36 years after his first historic flight, Glenn returned to space as a member of mission STS-95, aboard the space shuttle Discovery. He spent 9 days in orbit, and at the age of 77, became the oldest person ever to fly in space (a record that has yet to be broken). One of the science experiments carried out during the mission used Glenn as a subject: it looked at the effects of spaceflight on older humans. Glenn and the rest of the crew returned to Earth on Nov. 7, after 213 hours and 44 minutes in space.

A NASA legacy

NASA

In May 1999, NASA's Lewis Space Research Center in Ohio was renamed The John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field. To celebrate the occasion, the NASA center held a parade and a full day of activities. Shown here are John H. Glenn and his wife, Annie, during the parade to celebrate the renaming.
WASHINGTON  As the 114th Congress winds to a close, several space-related bills seeking passage, including a NASA authorization bill, are in danger of running out of time.

The top priority for Congress is passage of a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government. The CR currently funding government agencies at fiscal year 2016 levels expires Dec. 9.

Appropriators are expected to introduce a new CR Dec. 6 that would continue funding the government into 2017. Originally, the new CR would extend through March, but congressional leaders said Monday it would likely run through April, giving Congress more time to finalize revised spending bills that take into account priorities of the incoming Trump administration.

The new CR, while not surprising, is a setback to some in Congress who had hoped to finalize fiscal year 2017 spending bills during the post-election lame duck session. "I am disappointed. It didn't have to be this way," said Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, in a Nov. 29 speech on the Senate floor. Mikulski, who also is the top Democrat on the appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA, is retiring this year.

Congress is expected to adjourn after passage of the CR, the last "must pass" bill of this Congress, at the end of this week. That gives proponents of several space-related bills still pending approval little time to win passage, or else be forced to start over when the new Congress convenes in January.

Among them is a long-awaited NASA authorization bill. Negotiations have been in process for weeks on a revised version of an authorization bill, the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2016, that the Senate Commerce Committee approved Sept. 21. That bill authorizes funding for NASA in fiscal year 2017 and includes a wide range of policy provisions.

For the bill to be enacted this year, the Senate would need to pass the modified bill under a process known as unanimous consent, which allows for expedited passage of bills provided no member is opposed. The bill would then go to the House, which has passed its own versions of NASA authorization bills with little trouble in the past.

Two other minor space-related bills are seeking passage this week. On Dec. 5, the House approved by a voice vote H.R. 2726, a bill that authorizes the United States Mint to create a series of coins commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing. Proceeds of the coins would go to the National Air and Space Museum for an upcoming "Destination Moon" exhibit, the Astronaut Memorial Foundation and the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.

House members are also seeking support for H.R. 6147, a bill that would establish a memorial at Arlington National Cemetery for the three astronauts killed in the January 1967 Apollo 1 accident. A "Dear Colleague" letter circulated in the House by Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), ranking member of the House Science Committee, and Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Nov. 30 sought co-sponsors for the bill in a bid to build support for consideration by the full House this week.

Those other space bills, like the NASA authorization bill, would require passage in the Senate by unanimous consent. However, on Dec. 5 four senators said they would block passage of any bill requiring unanimous consent until the Senate takes up legislation to preserve health care benefits for retired coal miners.

There have been some victories for bills with space-related provisions, however. On Dec. 1, the Senate passed a version of H.R. 1561, the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2016, that the House passed in May 2015. Among the bill's provisions is a call for a study on future weather satellite systems, as well as authorization for a commercial weather data pilot program that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had already undertaken using funding appropriated for fiscal year 2016.

The Senate passed the bill at the same time that one of the bill's House co-sponsors, Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.), spoke at an event here held by the American Astronautical Society and the American Meteorological Society. "I am very pleased with the progress that NOAA has made on this program so far," he said of the commercial weather data pilot program, noting two contracts NOAA awarded to companies in September.

One commercial space bill also recently became law. President Obama signed into law Nov. 28 H.R. 6007, a bill that requires the Federal Aviation Administration to take into account space transportation issues when studying the potential impact of structures built near airports. Currently, the FAA is limited to considering only air transportation impacts in those studies, even for airports that are also licensed as spaceports.

The bill, introduced by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) Sept. 13, took an unusually expedited route to passage. The House passed the bill on a unanimous vote Sept. 21, and the Senate approved the bill by unanimous consent Nov. 16. McCarthy's district includes the Mojave Air and Space Port, an airport and FAA-licensed spaceport where officials had raised concerns about the effects of nearby development on spaceflight operations.

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.
ST. LOUIS, Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Post Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:POST), a consumer packaged goods holding company, today announced that it has reached an agreement to settle all class claims (asserted by direct purchasers of shell eggs) against Michael Foods, Inc. in In re Processed Egg Products Antitrust Litigation, a class action lawsuit filed in 2008 in federal court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Michael Foods will settle all class claims with a $75 million payment. This litigation pertains to a timeframe that predates Posts acquisition of Michael Foods, which was completed in June 2014.



While we remain confident that our conduct has at all times been lawful and entirely appropriate, we believe this settlement is in the best interest of our shareholders, employees, customers and consumers because it effectively eliminates the distraction, expense, and exposure of this complex litigation, said Rob Vitale, President and Chief Executive Officer.

Post expects to record a pre-tax charge in the first quarter of its fiscal year 2017 for the settlement of this matter, which will be treated as an adjustment for purposes of calculating Adjusted EBITDA and other non-GAAP measures. Under current law, the settlement is deductible for federal income tax purposes.

The terms of the settlement must be formally documented and are subject to approval by the court following notice to all class members. While Post expects the settlement will receive the needed approval, there can be no assurance that the court will approve the agreement as proposed by the parties. This settlement does not affect the action filed on behalf of indirect purchasers of shell eggs (who were unsuccessful in class certification), or dismissed claims by direct purchasers of egg products (which dismissal is being appealed).

Use of Non-GAAP Measure

Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure. Management uses Adjusted EBITDA as a key metric in the evaluation of underlying Company performance, in making financial, operating and planning decisions, and, in part, in the determination of cash bonuses for its executive officers and employees. Management believes the use of this non-GAAP measure provides increased transparency and assists investors in understanding the underlying operating performance of the Company and in the analysis of ongoing operating trends. Non-GAAP measures are not prepared in accordance with GAAP, as they exclude certain items, and may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including the amount and timing of the expected charges associated with the settlement. These forward-looking statements are based on the current expectations of Post and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Such statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements made herein. These risks and uncertainties include risks and uncertainties associated with formally documenting the terms of the settlement, whether the court will approve the terms of the settlement and settlement agreement or delay in granting such approval, the ultimate impact these litigation matters, the action filed on behalf of indirect purchasers of shell eggs, the dismissed claims by direct purchasers of egg products (which dismissal is being appealed) and other litigation may have on the Company, and other risks and uncertainties described in the Companys filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016. These forward-looking statements represent the Companys judgment as of the date of this press release. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims, however, any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

About Post Holdings, Inc.

Post Holdings, Inc., headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, is a consumer packaged goods holding company operating in the center-of-the-store, foodservice, food ingredient, private label, refrigerated and active nutrition food categories. Through its Post Consumer Brands business, Post is a leader in the ready-to-eat cereal category and offers a broad portfolio that includes recognized brands such as Honey Bunches of Oats, Pebbles, Great Grains, Grape-Nuts, Honeycomb, Frosted Mini Spooners, Golden Puffs, Cinnamon Toasters, Fruity Dyno-Bites, Cocoa Dyno-Bites, Berry Colossal Crunch and Malt-O-Meal hot wheat cereal. Posts Michael Foods Group supplies value-added egg products, refrigerated potato products, cheese and other dairy case products and dry pasta products to the foodservice, food ingredient and private label retail channels and markets retail brands including All Whites, Bettern Eggs, Simply Potatoes and Crystal Farms. Posts Active Nutrition platform aids consumers in adopting healthier lifestyles through brands such as PowerBar, Premier Protein and Dymatize. Posts Private Brands Group manufactures private label peanut butter and other nut butters, dried fruits, baking and snacking nuts, cereal and granola. For more information, visit www.postholdings.com.
Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos announced yesterday (Dec. 6) that construction is underway on a new rocket manufacturing facility in Florida for the private spaceflight company Blue Origin.

In an email message to subscribers, Bezos shared a picture of the site, where the bones of a building appear to be coming together. According to the email, construction is set to be completed by the end of 2017. Blue Origin will use the facility to manufacture its reusable, heavy-lift orbital rocket, New Glenn. The giant rocket will come in two forms: a towering 270-foot-tall (82 meters) version and an even larger 313-foot (95 m) variant.

"Just a very short note to update you on the 750,000 square-foot New Glenn rocket factory were building in Florida," Bezos wrote. "The team has made extraordinary progress  as you can see here, the first steel is now going up." [Photos: Blue Origin's Private Rockets & Spaceships]

The facility is located in Exploration Park, a 299-acre facility positioned next door to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), about 50 miles east of Orlando. Exploration Park was developed by Space Florida, the state's aerospace economic development agency, in partnership with KSC. Bezos, who is both founder and CEO of Blue Origin, has said that the company plans to launch New Glenn from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, located next to KSC. According to a statement from 2015 posted on the company website, the reusable rocket boosters will also be sent back to the facility after use, and prepared for additional flights.

"Locating vehicle assembly near our launch site eases the challenge of processing and transporting really big rockets," according to the statement.

A digital representation of what the completed New Glenn facility will look like. (Image credit: Blue Origin)

In his email message sent out yesterday, Bezos included a digital image showing what the facility will look like when construction is complete.

Blue Origin has made a name for itself through its reusable, suborbital launch vehicle called New Shepard. The company says it has launched and landed one of the New Shepard rockets five consecutive times. Many industry leaders claim that reusable rocket technology will drastically reduce the cost of spaceflight, because most modern rocket designs discard their first-stage boosters after one use.

Blue Origin plans to sell tickets to average citizens so they can take short trips aboard the suborbital vehicle for recreational purposes. The flight could also be used by scientists to conduct microgravity experiments, potentially for a much lower cost than sending an experiment into orbit.

Follow Calla Cofield @callacofield. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
More than two years after its pioneering Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) reached the red planet, the Indian Space Research Organization has yet to release highly anticipated measurements of atmospheric methane, a gas which on Earth is strongly tied to life.

Seeker has learned that the data will never come, due to a flaw in the sensor design.

"They did not design this properly for the detection of methane on Mars," Michael Mumma, senior scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, told Seeker.

In 2003, Mumma led a team that made the first definitive measurements of methane on Mars using an infrared telescope in Hawaii. The methane, which appeared in plumes over specific regions of Mars, reached a maximum density of about 60 parts per billion.

"The (MOM) instrument is beautifully engineered, but not for the methane task. It has other value, but unfortunately they will not be able to provide measurements of methane at the levels needed to sample even the plumes we saw," Mumma said.

RELATED: Indian Mars Mission Beams Back First Photographs

The problem has to do with how the instrument collects and processes detections of methane in the atmosphere, a technique known as spectroscopy.

"Imagine that you hold your hand in front of you and extend your four fingers  Suppose that each (finger) represents a methane line. What they have is a spectrometer that can be shifted to  sample each one of the four fingers and then they have a second one that samples the region between the fingers.

"The trouble is they don't actually send back the spectra. What they send back is the two numbers  the sum of the fingers measured by the first channel and the sum of gaps measured by the second channel  and then they take a difference of those two numbers and they think that that's going to be the methane signal," Mumma said.

"The problem, of course, is that when you have other spectral lines  like carbon dioxide lines which vary widely with temperature in terms of their intensity, then those two numbers  don't represent methane alone. The net effect is that there is no way that one can back out those two signals in order to retrieve a methane signal," he said.

"It's really unfortunate because they succeeded so spectacularly well in placing the spacecraft into orbit at all, which was the major achievement for the first try," he added. "But the reality is we won't seeing any detections of methane from the Mars methane sensor on MOM."

RELATED: Dusty Days: India Mission Photographs Stormy Mars Globe

Mumma and colleague Geronimo Villanueva, also at Goddard, analyzed the MOM methane instrument design as part of NASA's widening partnership with ISRO.

Their findings were presented to the Indian space agency ISRO in February.

"I believe the resolution is that the Indians now agree that their methane sensor is better used for other purposes, so they are now calling this an albedo mapper and measuring reflected sunlight. It does that, and it does that well," Mumma said.

"The engineers know how to build a good instrument. That's not the issue. The problem is they didn't have the scientific guidance needed to tell them exactly what they needed to do," he said.

Seetha Somasundaram, with ISRO's Satellite Center which designed the instrument, declined to comment and referred Seeker to ISRO spokesman Deviprasad Karnik. Karnik did not responded to requests for comment.

Mumma and other scientists are now pinning their hopes on getting Mars methane measurements from Europe's newly arrived Trace Gas Orbiter.

Update (2 p.m. ET): ISRO spokesman Deviprasad Karnik emailed the following statement to Seeker: "The Methane sensor onboard MOM has been sending data about atmospheric Methane of planet MARS and the data received is under analysis." Karnik did not address questions about scientists' ability to ferret out methane signals from the data.

Originally published on Seeker.
The U.S. Air Force has launched the newest member of the military's core communications-satellite constellation.

The Wideband Global SATCOM-8 spacecraft, or WGS-8, lifted off atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Medium rocket today (Dec. 7) at 6:53 p.m. EST (2353 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Delta IV deployed the satellite as planned at 7:35 p.m. EST (0035 GMT on Dec. 8), as the duo were flying over Madagascar, ULA representatives said. You can see more launch photos for WGS-8 here.

As its name suggests, the $425 million WGS-8 satellite is the eighth member of the WGS constellation to reach orbit. The network, which will eventually consist of 10 spacecraft, is "the backbone of the U.S. military's global satellite communications," Air Force officials have said.

"WGS provides flexible, high-capacity communications for the nation's warfighters through procurement and operation of the satellite constellation and the associated control systems," Air Force officials wrote in a WGS fact sheet. "WGS provides worldwide flexible, high data rate and long haul communications for marines, soldiers, sailors, airmen, the White House Communication Agency, the US State Department, international partners, and other special users."

Those international partners are Australia, Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and New Zealand.

A United Launch Alliance Delta IV Medium rocket blazes a light trail through the sky on Dec. 7, 2016. (Image credit: ULA)

The WGS satellites, built by Boeing, set up shop in geostationary orbit about 22,300 miles (35,890 kilometers) above Earth's surface, where their orbital velocity matches the planet's rotational speed. The spacecraft therefore hover over the same patch of the planet 24 hours a day  a favored orbit for communications satellites, because it allows them to stay in constant contact with equipment on the ground below.

The currently operating WGS satellites can support data-transmission rates up to 8 gigabits per second, ULA representatives said. The more-advanced WGS-8, which weighs about 6.5 tons (5.9 metric tons), may be able to top 11 gigabits per second, they added.

The previous seven WGS satellites launched in October 2007, April 2009, December 2009, January 2012, May 2013, August 2013 and July 2015. All 10 satellites in the constellation, which launch atop ULA Atlas V or Delta IV rockets, should be aloft by 2018, Air Force officials have said.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
John Glenn, seen sitting beside his Friendship 7 Mercury capsule before his historic flight in 1962, died on Dec. 8, 2016.

John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, died today (Dec. 8). He was 95.

The former astronaut and U.S. senator was being hospitalized at the Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State University in Columbus when he died. In 2014, Glenn suffered a minor stroke, affecting his vision, after undergoing heart-valve replacement surgery.

"We are saddened by the loss of Sen. John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth. A true American hero. Godspeed, John Glenn. Ad astra," NASA wrote on Twitter. [John Glenn: An American Hero's Greatest Moments]

The last of NASA's original seven astronauts to die, Glenn circled the world three times on board the Mercury capsule "Friendship 7" before splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean on Feb. 20, 1962.

"Zero-g and I feel fine," Glenn reported to the ground five minutes into the flight. "Oh, that view is tremendous."

Thirty-six years later, at the age of 77, he returned to orbit aboard the space shuttle Discovery, becoming the oldest person, worldwide, to fly into space.

A colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps who flew combat flights during World War II and the Korean War, Glenn served for 25 years as a U.S. senator representing his home state of Ohio. He was honored with the Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honors awarded by the United States.

Glenn was named an astronaut in April 1959, two years after he set a transcontinental speed record flying a jet from California to New York in three hours and 23 minutes. On his historic flight in 1962, Glenn made three revolutions of the Earth on board the Mercury-Atlas 6 orbital mission in just four hours and 55 minutes.

"During my [three-orbit] flight, I was able to perform basic research experiments, which helped contribute to what we know about humans in space," Glenn told me in November 1996. "The primary scientific objective of my [Mercury flight] was to determine the reaction of the body's senses to weightlessness."

The historic mission, which came after orbital missions by two Russian cosmonauts and sub-orbital launches by two of Glenn's fellow Mercury astronauts, also established the United States as a contender for the first time in the space race with the Soviet Union. [In Photos: John Glenn, First American in Orbit]

"There was a strong feeling in this country that we needed to surpass the Soviet's advances and regain our position at the top," Glenn told me. "It is hard to imagine the strength of those convictions today  especially with the collapse of the Soviet Union  but you can bet they were a strong motivator for America."

The successful flight made Glenn an instant hero. Deemed too valuable to the country to risk flying on another rocket, Glenn served as an advisor to NASA until 1964.

"Since I was not going to be on active flight status, I stayed on with NASA for a couple of years to plow my experience back into the program and then went on to other pursuits," Glenn said.

He retired from the Marine Corps the following year to run for the Senate.

Winning his third campaign in 1974, Glenn served for four terms, becoming chief author of the 1978 Nonproliferation Act, chairing the Government Affairs Committee from 1978 until 1995, and sitting on the Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees and the Special Committee on Aging.

In 1984, he ran and lost in the Democratic primary to be a candidate for the President of the United States.

On Feb. 20, 1997, 35 years to the day after he first orbited the Earth, Glenn announced that he would retire from the Senate. Eleven months later, NASA confirmed his return to space to study how microgravity affects aging.

"I'm proud to have been part of the beginning of America's space program, and needless to say I'm excited to be back and I am honored and privileged," said Glenn at a Jan. 16, 1998 press conference announcing his second flight. "The important thing is the opportunity that this gives to take us in some new directions with research. I think that is really what we are kicking off."

For almost nine days, from Oct. 29 through Nov. 7, 1998, Glenn and his six STS-95 crew mates on board Discovery completed 134 orbits, conducting 80 medical and material research experiments, and deploying and retrieving a free-flying science platform.

John Glenn works with an experiment inside the Spacehab module aboard space shuttle Discovery in November 1998. (Image credit: NASA)

On his touch down, Glenn had logged a total of nine days, two hours and 39 minutes off the planet on his two history-making spaceflights.

"I took a little lapel pin that I had on my first flight  took it up again on [the space shuttle] flight  and that has been one of my prized possessions because it has been on both flights along with me," Glenn told me in 1998.

John Herschel Glenn, Jr., was born in Cambridge, Ohio on July 18, 1921. He attended Muskingum College and began flying lessons, earning his pilot's license in 1941. Glenn left college before earning his degree (though he was awarded a Bachelor of Science in engineering from Muskingum in 1962) and enlisted in the Naval Aviation Cadet Program. He was commissioned in the Marine Corps in 1943.

Bestowed with the Distinguished Flying Cross and NASA Distinguished Service Medal, among many other awards, Glenn was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1976, the International Space Hall of Fame in 1977 and the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1990.

The NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field in Cleveland, Ohio was renamed in his honor in 1999. Two Ohio roadways bear his name, as do at least eight grade schools located across the country.

In 2014, the U.S. Navy christened the USNS John Glenn, a mobile landing platform, for his service as an aviator and astronaut. In 2006, Ohio State University founded the John Glenn College of Public Affairs. In May 2016, the country's second international airport was renamed for John Glenn in Columbus, Ohio.

Blue Origin, a commercial spaceflight company founded by Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos, named its orbital-class launch vehicle the "New Glenn" in September 2016.

In 1999, Glenn collaborated with Nick Taylor to author his biography, "John Glenn: A Memoir" (Bantam Books). He was portrayed in the 1983 feature film "The Right Stuff" by actor Ed Harris, in the 2016 ABC limited event series "The Astronaut Wives Club" by Sam Reid, and in the upcoming Fox feature film "Hidden Figures" by Glen Powell.

In March 2001, Glenn took a turn playing himself, making a cameo appearance on the NBC TV sitcom "Frasier."

In 1943, Glenn married the former Annie Margaret Castor of New Concord, Ohio. Together they had a son, Dave and daughter, Lyn and two grandchildren.

[Editor's Note: This article has been corrected to state that the Friendship 7 capsule splashed down into the Atlantic Ocean, not the Pacific.]

Follow collectSPACE.comon Facebook and on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Copyright 2016 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.
The answer is straightforward C.



WRONG:- Irrelevant. We are concerned with number of people moving to florida. Distance has nothing to do with the argument.

WRONG:- Clever trap. "Likely to retire" is not equal to "definitely retired" ... I am likely to be a movie star does not translate to I am a movie star. Likely introduces a concept of uncertainty and thus cannot be taken as a proper answer.

(C)The total number of people who retired and moved to another state for their retirement has increased significantly over the past ten years.

CORRECT:- Earlier in US there were 1000 people who moved from one state of another after retirement. Out of these 50 % came to florida (meaning 500 people came to florida) Now there were 10,000 people move from one state to another and only 10 % comes to florida (meaning 10 % of 10,000=1000 people) that came to florida.

As you can see the % is decreasing but the actual number has gone up (from 500 people to 1000 people ; there is an increase of 500). This weaken the argument. Infant it kills and buries the argument 6 feet deep in the ground.



WRONG:- At best This tells one side of a story. It tells us nothing about the number of people coming to florida. At worst this option is just out of scope because our argument is concerned with retired people coming to florida and not about people leaving florida.



WRONG:- Reverse answer. This strengthen the argument



heygirl wrote:

In the United States, of the people who moved from one state to another when they retired, the percentage

who retired to Florida has decreased by three percentage points over the past ten years. Since many local

businesses in Florida cater to retirees, these declines are likely to have a noticeably negative economic effect

on these businesses and therefore on the economy of Florida.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument given?

(A) People who moved from one state to another when they retired moved a greater distance, on average,

last year than such people did ten years ago.

(B) People were more likely to retire to North Carolina from another state last year than people were

ten years ago.

(C) The number of people who moved from one state to another when they retired has increased signifi cantly

over the past ten years.

(D) The number of people who left Florida when they retired to live in another state was greater last year than

it was ten years ago.

(E) Florida attracts more people who move from one state to another when they retire than does any other state

Posting an answer without an explanation is "GOD COMPLEX". The world doesn't need any more gods. Please explain you answers properly .

FINAL GOODBYE :- 17th SEPTEMBER 2016. .. 16 March 2017 - I am back but for all purposes please consider me semi-retired. Signature Read More

In the United States, of the people who moved from one state to another when they retired, the percentage who retired to Florida has decreased by three percentage points over the past ten years. Since many local businesses in Florida cater to retirees, this decline is likely to have a noticeably negative economic effect on these businesses.Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?(A) People who moved from one state to another when they retired moved a greater distance, on average,last year than such people did ten years ago.(B) People were more likely to retire to North Carolina from another state last year than people were ten years ago.(D) The number of people who left Florida when they retired to live in another state was greater last year than it was ten years ago.(E) Florida attracts more people who move from one state to another when they retire than does any other state[/quote]_________________
An important factor in Fillon's success thus far is that conservative voters don't see him as someone who will engage in such antics.

Fillon, who went to a Jesuit high school and was once, at 27, the country's youngest member of parliament, has been married to the same woman for more than 30 years and has never kept silent about his Catholic roots. In his book "Faire," which can be loosely translated as "action," Fillon emphasizes his religious upbringing: "I am Catholic. I was raised in this tradition and I have maintained this faith."

Historian Denis Pelletier agrees that conservative Catholics have played a significant role in Fillon's rise. Speaking with the French daily Le Monde, Pelletier defined this non-homogenous group as being efficient, extremely active on social media and quick to mobilize. He says one reason they are particularly active is that they feel as though they are a minority in the ongoing debate over the allegedly increasing Islamization of France. Of particular importance to these Fillon supporters, Pelletier says, is their feeling that they must defend themselves and their values.

Just a few weeks ago, this conservative bloc demonstrated the power it can exert on short notice. In mid-October, several thousand people took to the streets of Paris waving banners reading "I'm Voting Family in 2017." At the concluding address in the Trocadero neighborhood, participants -- including numerous families with small children -- waved pink and light-blue flags. It was a warning to the political class currently in office -- or, one could almost say -- a public threat.

Storm of Protest

The demonstration was organized by "Manif pour tous" ("Demonstration for all"), a movement that began in 2012 as a reaction to the planned introduction of gay marriage, a proposal known as "mariage pour tous." It has since become a registered political party. Some 65 percent of the French support marriage between same-sex couples, but when the law -- known as "Loi Taubira" after the justice minister responsible -- came up for a vote, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to voice their disapproval.

The result was a storm of protest in the country against non-traditional families and gender theories, with a particular focus on the adoption rights of same-sex couples. The television images of these largely young demonstrators didn't correspond to the public image that many have of the Fifth Republic, despite the fact that their election slogan includes the word "Egalite," or "equality."

Even then, the Catholic Church played an important role in mobilizing the masses. One of the primary issues that drove protesters into the streets was the concern that the ban on artificial insemination for same-sex couples would be lifted. The protest march a few weeks ago also targeted the issue. But until October, not a single leading candidate from the center-right had taken these concerns seriously. Except for one: Francois Fillon.

To be sure, the father of five didn't take part in the demonstration himself, but he did send one of his most important supporters from the primary election campaign. He also sent a message to the agitated marchers: "I support everyone who supports the family." Subsequently, he emphasized in every televised debate that he would not allow further lines to be crossed.

Insiders have reported that the ultra-conservatives from Manif pour tous have repeatedly provided Fillon's team with logistical support during the election campaign. Such support was apparently provided ahead of Fillon's last large rally, held on November 18 inside the Palais des Condgres, ahead of the second round of voting. "Shortly before the event, Fillon's team called movement leaders, asking them to come and lend their support," a Manif pour tous member told the French magazine L'Obs.

'Faith a la Carte'

"The Christian tradition is an important part of French history and culture," says Francois Foret, political scientist at the Free University of Brussels. "When Fillon emphasizes his faith, he does so out of this traditionalism."

Foret has examined the role of religion in European politics and sees similarities to what is happening in France elsewhere in Europe, such as in Italy and Poland. Particularly in France, though, Foret believes there is a kind of "faith a la carte." "Religion is only one part of people's identity. They pick out certain aspects that conform to their own lifestyle."

Those who accuse Francois Fillon of being too close to Manif pour tous and other Catholic groups overlook the fact that they make up a significant portion of France's conservative camp -- and that their values are shared by a majority in this traditionally minded country.

For such voters, one Fillon gesture following his victory was particularly symbolic. "I extend my hand to all who would like to rebuild our country," Fillon said to the television cameras. "I invite all who carry in their hearts the pride in being French." He then put his right hand over his heart and kept it there.

"La fierte d'etre francais" -- "the pride of being French" -- is perhaps Fillon's most important message of this campaign. And it has proven attractive in a country where increasing numbers of young men and women are applying for jobs with the police and military to serve their country in the wake of the 2015 terrorist attacks -- in a land engaged in a debate over burkinis and the serving of pork in school cafeterias. Fillon remains rooted in France's secular tradition and has called for school uniforms and a more state-centered history curriculum as a way of promoting integration. He has presented himself as a man of convictions, but not in an aggressive way. Much of what he embodies is so old fashioned that it has almost become trendy again.

His liberal economic program, on the other hand, contains elements that would be enough to topple 10 successive French presidents. Adopting the same sober tone he uses when talking about the pope, Fillon has announced his intention to cut half-a-million civil servant jobs, to eliminate the 35-hour work week and to raise the retirement age. He refers to his program as a "revolution of common sense," though were he to push it through, it would be a rude awakening for most French to the economic realities of the 21st century.

In a Canoe, on a Tractor

"He has always stuck to his line," says Marine, a Catholic woman from the 15th arrondissement. "The changes are necessary. And at least with him, I don't have the impression that he will surprise us by suddenly throwing his convictions overboard."

Even the often-derisive accusation that Fillon is provincial is something of a political boomerang in France. It is, after all, still true what Friedrich Sieburg, a German Francophone, wrote in his 1929 book "God in France?" The surface of political life as viewed from Paris, he wrote, cannot hide a different reality. "The countryside, which nobody truly knows and whose sleepiness remains opaque to all, holds all the power."

In the countryside, there are further political groups that candidates for political office must pay close attention to if they want to rise to power in Paris. That includes hunters, whose rights no French president has ever dared curtail. That includes farmers, of whom there are twice as many as there are in Germany and who still stand by the old myths of agro-romanticism. That includes the fishermen, who are also half-mythical figures that a conservative candidate needs to win.

Thus far, Fillon has managed to bridge the gap between the countryside and the capital. He is respected by the middle class in his voting district of Saint-Germain-des-Pres just as he is in Sarthe, the conservative agricultural region in northwestern France where his is from.

In Sarthe, Fillon owns a manor house, complete with a tower from the 14th century. The glossy photos of him and his family taken three years in front of the castle-like estate that were printed in the magazine Paris Match last year would have been enough to end the careers of some politicians. But Fillon didn't just pose in the photos as lord of the manor. He was also photographed sitting in a canoe, in the paddock and on a red tractor.

In France, it all goes together.
From Sullen Minority to Angry Majority

Kaczynski has skillfully leveraged such cliches to assemble a heterogeneous movement of outrage. But what really motivates Kaczynski and his PiS supporters? Why is Poland, a country that has benefited from globalization and EU membership to a greater degree than most, listening.

The economy has grown by almost 27 percent in the last nine years, partly as a result of the estimated 60 billion ($64 billion) Poland has received in structural aid from Brussels since it joined the EU in 2004. But many people in the country have not benefited from those blessings, and today almost one in eight Poles of working age still earns only about 1300 zloty a month, or roughly 290. Over the years, a sullen minority has turned into an angry majority.

Yet the success of the PiS is actually a middle-class phenomenon, say election researchers and sociologists. They note that the PiS can count on the votes of the disadvantaged, such as those from impoverished industrial regions. But these people were ultimately not the key to the PiS majority. The middle class helped put Kaczynski in power - people like white-collar workers, store owners and craftsmen, especially those living far from major cities.

To understand the PiS phenomenon, it is worth taking a trip to provincial Poland, to a small city called Nowy Scz, where the PiS achieved its largest urban result in the 2015 election, receiving 60.5 percent of votes cast.

Nowy Sacz, with a population of 82,000, is part of a self-sufficient world, a model for the new Poland of Jaroslaw Kaczynski. The city's median strips are mowed and the facades of prewar buildings in the pedestrian zone are freshly painted.

It isn't difficult for Nowy Sacz to appear well-tended and charming, because it's an affluent city. There are probably more millionaires per capita here than anywhere else in the country. There are many rags-to-riches accounts of millionaires who started out in their garages and now run large companies. One of them is Ryszard Florek, who founded Europe's largest window manufacturer. And there are Marian and Jozef Koral, whose company makes ice cream. Unemployment is at 6 percent in Nowy Sacz, economic growth is robust and Patryk Wicher couldn't be happier.

More Polish

Wicher teaches marketing at the university in Nowy Sacz, is a member of the city council and has been a PiS supporter right from the start. As he takes us on a tour of the neo-Baroque city hall, he says that he is very satisfied with the new direction in Warsaw.

Wicher agrees with the PiS that the EU should stay out of Polish politics. He says that Brussels should relinquish rights and that national competencies should be expanded. Poland does not want to become more European -- in fact, he says, Europe should become more Polish.

Kaczynski's administration is also unwilling to honor a commitment by the previous government to accept at least a few thousand refugees. And Wicher agrees with that, too. Migrants should be helped, says Wicher, just not in Poland. "The objective of aid should be to stabilize their countries of origin. Refugees should be housed in transit centers in countries that are linguistically and culturally similar to their own."

He goes on to provide further insight into his worldview, his belief, for instance, that the EU should not stick its nose into everything. Repeating a PiS campaign slogan, he adds that Poles should stop crawling around on their knees in front of others.

Nowy Sacz is a model of the small, manageable world many Poles yearn for: Polish nationalist and safe from the impositions of globalization, but otherwise Western and deeply subsidized by the EU.

PiS promised its voters something of a sociopolitical filter, saying that it wants to preserve Poland as an intact and uncomplicated Eden. At the same time, however, Poles should be able to travel abroad, and the country should, of course, continue to receive subsidies. Kaczynski promised all of that.

Wicher joined the PiS because he admired its founders, twin brothers Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski. The Kaczynskis were involved in the Solidarnosc movement, but only on the fringes. They were too radical with their repeated and angry demands for a harsh reckoning with the communists.

A Russian Conspiracy

The fight against the old communist insiders remained their primary thrust, but they were motivated by personal affronts as well. From the very beginning, the Kaczynskis portrayed themselves as the downtrodden, and as fighters for the rights of devout, ordinary citizens. They also attacked the intellectuals in big cities, who they accused of sacrificing Poland's values to please the West.

Wicher now takes us into the town hall's plenary chamber, where a bust of Lech Kaczynski stands at the front of the room. Many Poles practically worship Jaroslaw's deceased twin brother as a saint. In 2010, the then president died in a plane crash in Smolensk as he was traveling to a commemorative event near Katyn, where Stalin's secret police shot and killed some 22,000 Poles in 1940.

Two investigative panels concluded that Kaczynski's presidential plane brushed against treetops as it approached Smolensk in foggy weather, causing it to crash and the Russian tower and the Polish crew were blamed for the accident. But many Poles believe it was a Russian conspiracy. After all the wars of the past and the years under the heel of Russian or Soviet imperialism, there is still deep-seated mistrust and hatred of the powerful country.

Smolensk was more than a national trauma. It also cast the PiS in a new, saintly light, given the presumed possibility that one of the party's founders may have been shot down by Poland's arch-enemy Russia. The exhumation of those who died in the Smolensk plane crash began two weeks ago. There is almost no chance that an investigation taking place six years after the accident will bring anything to light, such as traces of explosives. But Kaczynski's team uses such political maneuvers, instinctively staged by the PiS, to prevent people from forgetting.

Wicher suggests we go to the cinema to watch an important, patriotic film: "Smolensk." The evening show is almost sold out.

A Deep Truth

The film is part-documentary, part fictional account. Its underlying message is that the Russians planted a bomb on the plane to kill the president, because he had sharply criticized their imperialist machinations. The liberal government in Poland at the time did nothing.

The film promotes the unifying notion of a Poland that is always the victim, that the country cannot depend on European solidarity, because the hodgepodge of nations is too disunited and weak.

Towards the end, the film becomes ludicrous. The closing scene depicts the ghosts of the murdered soldiers, wearing uniforms and sporting proud mustaches, standing in front of the open graves of Katyn in 1940. Suddenly Lech Kaczynski emerges from the fog. The dead soldiers of the past and the dead president embrace. The film couldn't be more melodramatic.

When the film is over, the audience members stumble into the street. A light rain is falling on glistening cobblestones. Some moviegoers talk about the film in hushed voices, while others are silent, as if they had just experienced a deep truth.

A man many Poles also see as a hero is from Nowy Sacz, although he prefers to keep a low profile. He is one of the most important PiS supporters, and perhaps the most influential economic adviser to PiS President Andrzej Duda. His name is Roman Kluska, a former IT entrepreneur worth hundreds of millions, and an acquaintance of Bill Gates.

In his first life, in the 1990s, Kluska set out to make his fortune. He refuted Poland's eternal inferiority complex and proved that "Polak potrafi," the Pole can do it.

And then, in his second life, after he had sold his empire at a large profit, Kluska set out to save Poland - by recommending that the PiS pursue a different policy, one which would lead Poland away from Europe.

'Wrong and Dangerous'

Kluska receives us in his villa, which he had built on a mountainside at an altitude of about 700 meters (2,297 feet). In his company's heyday, Kluska repeatedly tangled with bureaucrats and government officials and he was even sent to prison. But all the allegations made against him turned out to be fictitious. His story apparently proves what the Kaczynskis have always said - that the old post-communist alliances were still at work. To this day, says Kluska, he hates the bureaucrats, who constantly dream up new rules and laws and are then given the responsibility of enforcing them.

"We have the same system today, except that the rules are coming from Brussels," says Kluska. He leans back and talks about how complicated it has become, for example, when a lamb is born on a farm. According to Kluska, the farmer is required to fill out an unimaginable number of forms, and small businesses are inundated with regulations upon regulations. Leaning forward, he says: "The system has distanced itself from ordinary farmers and ordinary people. This is wrong and dangerous!"

And the subsidies?

"Well, then Poland will simply have to make do without the subsidies. It's better than a society where inequality keeps growing."

Kluska and Wicher are not resolute haters of Europe. They know that Poland needs the economic and, more importantly, military ties. But their words reveal a sense of disillusionment, as well as the political will to oppose what they see as a heavy-handed Brussels. This, in a nutshell, is the Polish reaction to the European crisis.

The series of tremors that have rocked Europe in recent years - the financial crisis, the refugee crisis and Brexit - have left their mark on Poland. Europe looked weak, helpless and divided. And it seemed that globalization was apparently not a friendly fairytale after all, but rather an erratic process, unclear and unpredictable.

"This process of globalization has magnified inequality," says Mateusz Kijowski, the opposition leader. "Even though it is mainly a perceived sense of inequality. The majority of Poles are not worse off than they were before the fall of communism. But they see the glittering downtown areas, the elegant office towers and the shopping malls, and yet they are still living in apartments in prefabricated buildings. They are looking for someone to blame."

Picking Up the Porcelain

In the eyes of many Poles, the blame rests squarely with Brussels technocrats and liberals like Kijowski. His movement can call for demonstrations, but it doesn't stand a chance against the PiS. Kaczynski, after all, relies on emotions, which are stronger than arguments. Take, for example, the mistrust of any form of centralism, a skepticism that was acquired under socialism. Centralism, in this case, is European hegemony.

So what is the remedy? For the PiS, it's very simple. Bring out the old values: family, nation and religion.

Does that mean withdrawing from the EU?

"Absolutely not," says Konrad Szymanski with a smile. "Poland is one of the few countries where that is not even up for debate! The European Union is very useful for all its members, including Poland."

Szymanski, a state secretary in the Polish foreign ministry, plays the role of a minister for Europe. As such, his job is to continually pick up the porcelain that Kaczynski occasionally sweeps off the table.

Unfortunately, says Szymanski, Poland is not treated very well in the European committees. Poland, he explains, is the eternal supplicant. "Western politicians criticize us in a tone of voice they would never use with one another."

Martin Schulz, for instance, the German president of the European Parliament, warned against a "Putin-style controlled democracy" in Poland. "This choice of words poisons the mood, which makes communication more challenging," says Szymanski.

But where exactly is Poland headed? What will the country look like when the next election rolls around?

Poland will probably be a country in which the government is able to rule without checks and balances. The legal system and the security apparatus have already been brought into line, down to the last provincial judge. Poland's eternal complex of feeling short-changed is also likely to shape its relationship with the EU. In other words, Poland will be a difficult partner. Warsaw will not want the euro, and it will treat foreign investors with suspicion.

The Bulwark

It is also very likely that the PiS will retain a tight hold over the country, given the way it buys its supporters. The government already pays families a child subsidy of 500 zloty for their second and subsequent children, and housing construction programs are in the works. Two weeks ago, the PiS majority decided to lower the retirement age from 67 to 65 for men and to 60 for women, even though the government actually lacks the money to pay for the change. It is also very likely that Kaczynski's acolytes will continue to foment nationalism, pitting Warsaw against Brussels, and even more so against Poland's archenemy to the east, Russia.

A group of young men are lying in the grass in a forest southeast of Nowy Sacz. They have taken cover. It's cold outside, but the uniformed men, armed with pistols, Kalashnikovs and knives, have been guarding the banks of the Krynica River against the enemy to the east for hours.

One of the men is Jerzy, 17, a blonde, thin student at High School No. 3. He rubs his shoulders -- today, it is his turn to carry the machine gun. He can't fire the weapon; the barrel has been filled with lead and the trigger is locked with a screw. But that could soon change.

Jerzy is a member of a paramilitary force of about 60,000 Poles who spend their free time training to defend their country. The government wants to integrate these volunteers into the army. Jerzy believes in his mission. "Poland needs us. After all, we don't live embedded in the middle of the continent. We are the bulwark."
Brussels, December 08, 2016 (SPS) - Vice-Chair of the European Parliament's Delegation for relations with Maghreb countries, Maria Teresa Gimenez Barbat, said that the duty of the European Union should be to share Algeria's position on the Western Sahara, and underlined its crucial role in the stabilization of North Africa and the fight against terrorism.

"The EU's duty should be to share the same position as Algeria and defend Sahrawi people's right to decide their future," wrote recently Gimenez Barbat in the European Parliament Magazine, Opinion.

In this regard, the MEP said that "Algeria has always expressed its unconditional support to the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination and the independence of Western Sahara, which has been occupied by Morocco since 1975."

She also recalled the long-awaited referendum called for by the UN for over 25 years for the resolution of the conflict.

"Algeria is playing a key role in the stabilization of North Africa and the fight against terrorism," she said, adding that "it is a strategic partner" for the EU in various areas, including the security field.

In view of the outbreak of conflicts and changes shaking the international scene along the EU's southern borders, Gimenez Barbat underlined the need to "strengthen relations with Algeria," adding that this latter "could play a key role in the regional stability and counterterrorism cooperation."SPS

125/090/700
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

NORWALK  The publisher of a fourth-grade social studies textbook being pulled from elementary schools in Norwalk due to its alleged insensitive and inaccurate depiction of slavery in Connecticut has revised the questionable content in updated copies of the book.

Brad Farmer, chief executive officer at Gibbs Smith Education, the publisher of the 250-page book The Connecticut Adventure, said the publishing company fell short of its objectives in the iteration of the book used by Norwalk schools, which he said contained a paternalistic view of slavery.

We identified this problem earlier when we began revising the program in the last several years, Farmer said in an emailed statement. Our new section discussing slavery is designed to provide the teacher opportunities to discuss the practice in Connecticut and how it impacted people's lives in the state.

The hundreds of copies of the 250-page book used in 10 out of 12 Norwalk public elementary schools were published in 2001 by Gibbs Smith Publishing and written by author John W. Ifkovic.

In a chapter discussing the history of slaves in Connecticut, the book states, Compared to other colonies, Connecticut did not have many slaves. Some people owned one or two slaves. They often cared for and protected them like members of the family. They taught them to be Christian, and sometimes to read and write.

The revised section on slavery is part of the companys updated program, Connecticut Stories, which has removed any mention of Connecticut slaves being cared for like family.

It was unclear if books including those revisions are already in circulation or exactly when those revisions were made.

At Gibbs Smith Education, our focus is creating state-specific social studies curriculum that reflects the most current scholarship, accurately portrays the multiple groups that have influenced the state, uses the latest pedagogy, and meets Connecticut's social studies framework, Farmer said.

Concern with the book was raised to district officials Nov. 29 after a mother took issue with it teaching her fourth-grade daughter that slaves in Connecticut were cared for like family members.

That prompted an immediate internal review of the books use, school officials said. By Dec. 5, officials announced they would cease use of the book in classrooms by Jan. 3 2017.

The portion of the textbook minimizes the impact and implications of slavery from the perspective of many constituents in the Norwalk community, said Michael T. Conner, chief academic officer for Norwalk Public Schools, in a letter addressed to parents and guardians of the districts fourth-grade students.

Darnell Crosland, president of Norwalks NAACP, supported the removal of the book not because it talks about a sad time in American history, but because the account of that time is categorically wrong."

My view, he said, is that books and movies alike that discuss slavery are important and applauded. They, however, must be accurate. If they are not accurate then both white and black kids suffer because they will grow up with a skewed perspective on historical events. Here, the author floats the notion that there was civility in slavery. This is offensive to me and many other conscious people black and white (people). We are all aware of the brutality of slavery and how it tore black families apart.

Brenda Wilcox Williams, a school district spokeswoman, said the book has been used dating back to at least 2007.

Michelle Zacks, on behalf of her role as associate director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University, which seeks to bridge the divide between scholarship and public knowledge of slavery, expressed support for the school districts actions.

She called the districts decision a positive step toward helping Connecticut students and all of us understand the dehumanizing nature of slavery as well as the ways that African Americans resisted this treatment.

The history of Connecticut, including information about the states treatment of slaves, has historically been introduced to students at the fourth-grade level. The book is used at districts throughout the state of Connecticut.

A committee composed of central office administrators and curriculum directors will work through December to identify other resources to teach the social studies curriculum in lieu of the textbooks. They will also determine whether the students who were already exposed to the books content will be retaught.

Officials will also work to meet their long-term goal of updating the fourth-grade social studies curriculum to align with the new College, Career, and Civic Life Social Studies Framework adopted by the state in 2015.

An ad-hoc committee will be formed to make a recommendation for an official program adoption by May 2017. At that time a book that aligns with the new program may be selected.
A xa has launched a new family-friendly policy in the latest sign that large employers increasingly think that pay rises arent the only way to retain top staff.

The insurer, which employs 10,000 in the UK, says all staff across the globe will get at least 16 weeks paid maternity leave and four weeks paid paternity leave from the start of next year.

In the UK, thats up from 15 weeks and one week respectively  policies that were already much more generous than the legal minimum requirement.

The move will be a particular boon to staff in the US, where there is no legal requirement that staff get any time off when they have a baby.

Axa chief executive Thomas Buberl said: This global policy gives all Axa employees the same rights and opportunities when expanding their family.

"I am convinced that a good balance between professional and private life is absolutely necessary to the performance and professional fulfilment of our employees.

Staff who take advantage of the scheme will return to work to an equivalent role on the same pay.

Axas human resources chief Rino Piazzolla says the deal will be a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining the best talent.
K etchup and Salad Cream-maker Kraft Heinz is poised to relocate from Middlesex and open a new European headquarters in The Shard.

The food company, formed by the merger of HJ Heinz and Kraft in 2015, is understood to be taking 38,000 square feet on levels 20 and 21 of the London Bridge skyscraper, which is western Europes tallest building.

Around 100 employees will start relocating from Hayes next year.

Advised by CBRE, Kraft Heinz is thought to have been tempted by strong transport connections at the location, and the open-office layout.

The Shard is owned by property tycoon Irvine Sellar and the Qataris, and managed by REM.

The latest deal means the tower  let by agents JLL and Knight Frank  is now 96% let to 32 businesses. Other companies based there include Matchesfashion.com and publishing group Dods.

Sellar has previously assured that demand for space at the building has been undeterred by Britains decision to leave the EU.

Kraft Heinz has not yet responded to requests for comment.
M illions of households could get money off their energy bills after National Grid sold off most of its gas pipelines today in a deal valuing the network at 13.8 billion.

The utility firm kicked off the auction of the 130,000km gas distribution network, which has 5700 staff, over a year ago.

Today it sold a 61% equity stake to an international consortium led by Australian financial giant Macquarie.

Most of the proceeds will be returned to shareholders through 4 billion in special dividends and share buybacks, but it has also pencilled in a 150 million return to households.

Chief executive John Pettigrew said: We want to make sure that all our stakeholders get the benefit. We are going to work with [energy regulator] Ofgem on how best to make sure that 150 million has an impact on energy consumers in the UK.

Because of the role that we play we havent got the direct links to the final consumer in the same way as suppliers have, so we need Ofgems help effectively to ensure the impact of that is felt across the energy sector. What that looks like is yet to be determined.

Pettigrew said the windfall could be felt in bills reductions, adding: It might be spread across all consumers or it might be something that focuses on a subset of them.

The network is the biggest distributor of gas in Britain, serving nearly 11 million households and businesses across eastern England, north London, the North-West and the West Midlands, with major cities including London.

The Macquarie consortium also features Germanys Allianz, investment manager Hermes, sovereign wealth funds from Qatar and China, and infrastructure investors Dalmore Capital and Amber Infrastructure.

At a time of heightened security concerns over Chinese investment in UK infrastructure assets, the winning consortium is understood to have overcome opposition from rival teams led by Chinese conglomerate Fosun and Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing.

Bankers from Morgan Stanley, Robey Warshaw and Barclays advised National Grid on the deal.
B rits are already rushing to book their summer holidays for next year despite the threat of higher prices, helping tours operator Tui Group give an upbeat profit outlook.

UK revenues for summer 2017 bookings at the Anglo-German group are up 16%, with booking numbers rising 9%.

Thats despite UK holidaymakers facing more expensive prices on things like foods and drinks overseas because of the drop in the pound. Tui makes most of its money from summer bookings.

If you think about Brexit, I dont see a negative impact, which is good, chief executive Friedrich Joussen said.

The feelgood factor helped the group extend profit forecast growth of 10% a year up to 2019.

Core earnings for the full year were 12.5% higher, despite challenges to key holiday markets, including a failed coup in Turkey and fears around terrorism in places like Egypt.

Turnover on a fixed currency basis rose by 1.4% to 17.1 billion (14.6 billion), and core earnings just tipped over the 1 billion mark for the year ending September.
T he head of MI6, Alex Younger, makes his first public speech in the job today  a tradition of relative openness initiated by his immediate predecessors. He is clear that we remain very much under threat, especially from Islamist extremists, but that our intelligence services are doing a remarkable job. British spies are, he says, risking their lives to take the counter-terror fight to Islamic State in its heartland, Iraq and Syria. Britain, like other European states, faces threats from jihadists returning from the region but he declares that the way to counter IS is to operate upstream to stop the threat getting here.

Mr Younger is clear that we owe the intelligence services an enormous debt: they share a fierce determination to protect the country. But in order to be as effective as possible, they must recruit widely, not least Muslims, in order to avoid groupthink. The threat to our security must be matched by our flexibility in dealing with it. What that means is maintaining areas of expertise, including linguistic skills, across the board. Once it seemed the old guard, with their knowledge of China and Russia, were redundant in the face of new global realities; it is clear that this isnt the case now. But perhaps most importantly, we have to recruit the brightest young talent to deal with the threats to our cyber security: he is clear that the internet is both a threat and a golden opportunity.

Mr Younger warns that unnamed powerful states  presumably Russia and China  are trying to subvert democracy via hybrid warfare. We can acknowledge that industrial and commercial espionage by China may be a problem, while at the same time promoting a positive trade relationship with the country.

There are reasons to feel positive, if not complacent, about our security operations. There is good co-operation between British intelligence and its counterparts in the US and Europe in the Brexit and Trump era, which is crucial. We are grateful to our spies; they know who they are.

Sadiq and the unions

Regressive union militancy has once again blighted journeys for passengers across the Southern network today. The RMTs position on the introduction of driver-operated doors is untenable, its stoppages outrageous.

Key union figures have visited City Hall for cups of tea with the Mayor to discuss concerns about the Tube. Mr Khan stood up to them last week; he must continue to stand firm in the face of a work-to-rule protest by ticket staff. And while he is right to do everything he can to get to grips with the dispute, it is vital that he does not give the impression of being too close to the unions  nor forgets that while strikes might be called off on the Tube, it is the same union bosses who are wreaking havoc on Southern services.

The Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling, says it isnt his job to negotiate with union bosses and Southerns management. True, but since he told the Standard on Monday that his top priority is to sort out the railways, commuters would actually welcome his intervention in the Southern fiasco. They just want the trains to run.

Lighting up London

The winners of a competition to light up Londons bridges have been announced: US artist Leo Villareal, who lit up San Franciscos Bay Bridge, and British architect Alex Lifschutz. They propose a current of light that will flow over most of central Londons bridges. It sounds splendid. Its just a shame we wont have the lights in time for Christmas.
A short walk from where I live stands a small Islamic centre, snug between the cafes and shops on the high street. It has two entrances, clearly marked and distinguished: one for men, the other for women.

Each time I see these signs they unsettle me. Yes, there are other examples of gender segregation in our society: changing rooms, single-sex schools, some therapy groups. But this is a communal space for collective activity in which  unashamedly  women are herded away from men. How would it be if the nearby Costa or Tesco introduced separate entrances of this sort?

For many years I have been arguing strongly for pluralism, for social diversity and (unfashionably) for immigration, not only as an economic necessity but as a cultural good. But the flipside of such advocacy has to be a readiness to confront its implications, and what political philosophers call incommensurable values.

This is the terrain of Dame Louise Caseys newly published review of integration in modern Britain. To take the example I have cited: does religious freedom trump gender equality? And are the women segregated from the moment they step into the centre free in any meaningful sense?

The objective in a multi-ethnic, multi-faith society is not to enforce absolute uniformity: that would be morally indefensible as well as extremely dull. It is to identify that core of legal duties, cultural norms and social responsibilities to which all citizens must sign up, whatever their private opinions. This Dame Louise sets out to do, with a generosity of spirit and a fearless candour that do her great credit.

From the coverage of her 200-page report you may have formed the impression that her critique is aimed solely at British Muslims. This is not so. Casey is as exercised by white extremism as she is by the Islamist variety. She is as troubled by the social exclusion of the Roma community as she is by the forces that segregate many Muslims.

To this end, she is withering in her attack upon local authorities that do not pull their weight on behalf of ethnic and religious minorities. Indeed, her whole point is that, for the Islamic community as for everyone else, integration is an opportunity, not a penance. It is defined in the report as the extent to which people from all backgrounds can get on  with each other, and in enjoying and respecting the benefits that the United Kingdom has to offer.

That said, Casey recognises that there is no point addressing such questions if your primary objective is not to give offence. Indeed, it is impossible to say anything meaningful about integration without upsetting someone. The whole debate has been stultified by the resentment of many white Britons and the prickly defensiveness of some minority groups.

To take one example: British Muslims often complain that they are enjoined to denounce acts of Islamist terrorism, whereas their Christian neighbours face no corresponding expectation. But this is nonsense. Throughout the Troubles in Northern Ireland, Protestants and Catholics faced routine demands to condemn acts of sectarian violence.

Casey is clear that religious doctrine is no excuse for regressive teaching on gender equality, LGBT rights and free speech. There can be no justification, she says, for female genital mutilation, forced marriages or honour-based crimes under the guise of cultural and religious values.

Yet any fair reading of the review will yield the conclusion that her priority is not to besiege or to embarrass Muslims but to give them (and others) access to the full fruits of citizenship. Hence, her uncompromising emphasis upon English and the absolute duty of the state to ensure that, where necessary, all newcomers (and their descendants) have access to properly-resourced language classes.

She has no time for those using the right to home education and its relatively lax regulation to place their children in unregistered and illegal schools. Instead, she identifies education as the frontline in the campaign for integration: where pupils from different backgrounds mix in the classroom and the playground, the consequences are invariably benign. All the better if they are given lessons in British values, laws and history  an initiative pioneered, as it happens, by Gordon Brown.

The problem, says Casey, is that too many political leaders are focusing on what they think their communities want to hear, rather than what they believe is right

In fact, the true villains of this report are not Muslims or any other minority but the politicians, civic leaders and bureaucrats who have allowed diversity and difference to become separatism and segregation that has divided communities. The consequence is worthy but ineffectual stunts that were memorably described to the review as saris, samosas and steel drums for the already well-intentioned. The problem, as Casey concludes, is that too many political leaders are focusing on what they think their communities want to hear, rather than what they believe is right, for fear of losing the support of a particular community. That is an approach that lacks the courage and integrity people want from their representatives.

Where next? In No 10 the report has been welcomed  on the understanding that there is no silver bullet policy that will spawn an integrated society by ministerial fiat. To be fair, Caseys recommendations are not underpinned by any such expectation. She is evidently aware that progress will be hard-won, incremental and achieved in decades, rather than years.

Where Dame Louise and the PMs allies agree absolutely is that nothing will be achieved without robust leadership and implacable political will. As one senior Tory source puts it: I imagine that almost every member of the Cabinet would agree with this report. But how many of them are prepared to really do something about it?

That is the question that hovers over every page of Caseys review. Those in power, from Whitehall to town halls, now have a blueprint for change. Will they also have the courage to act?
I now have a puppy. There cant be a happier sentence than that. On Sunday morning, my boyfriend and I drove up to the Dogs Trust centre in Merseyside, where an 11-week-old whippet-cross was waiting. Shes black with a white streak down her nose, white socks and a tail that looks like its been dipped in paint. When the staff brought her to meet us, she wagged so hard that her whole body shook. I was in love.

Dorrit, as we named her, has turned our lives upside down. Puppies are like nappy-less babies with razor-blade teeth. Twice a night I get up to let her out. All conversations with my boyfriend now revolve around her bowel movements. And our flat is bedecked with strategically placed sheets of newspaper; we chose carefully which columnists Dorrit should pee on.

Shes clever. On day two she determined that the fridge is a conjurers box that can magic up boiled chicken, and she now looks at its door longingly. Baths seem to puzzle her, as does the fact that we put her excrement in bags before posting them in special bins (Ive told her theyre a sacred offering to our gods).

Around 95 per cent of the time, Dorrit is a dream. The other five per cent shes a beautiful, bitey nightmare. Our noses, ears and hands bear the brunt. She doesnt care if I have a column to write when she wants to gnaw. In fact, my fingers seem particularly tempting to her teeth when theyre typing.

All we know of her history is that she had been passed around a few times before she was handed in to the Dogs Trust last week. Nonetheless, she is a great ad for dog adoption.

Second chance: Dorrit, pictured with Rosamund, is now transformed through affection

Shes actually my fifth rescue hound. The happiest day of my childhood was when our first arrived. Bubbles, a blond foundling who illustrates why you shouldnt let your children name your pets, had been abandoned in a plastic bag with half a can of dog food.

Jessie, our next, was a Battersea girl, complete with kennel cough. Then we moved on to ex-racing greyhounds. My beloved Wilbur was 11 when he came to us. He had been a champ but his next owners never walked him so his back legs were stiff and he had the gait of John Wayne. He hadnt mastered the mechanics of climbing steps so I tried to teach him. I got him up but he wouldnt go down. My father ended up lugging this 38-kilo greyhound downstairs.

Now theres Pip, who lives with my parents. He had broken his hock in a race and would have been put down if a charity hadnt intervened. At first he didnt quite know how to be a dog, and had to learn through copying his friends in the park. He was also painfully shy. Now hes confident, a dog transformed through affection. Nothing makes me prouder.

Bath time: Dorrit is Rosamund's fifth rescue dog

Which is why I struggle to understand why self-avowed mutt-lovers are so often averse to adoption. Theyll acknowledge the horrors of puppy farms where mothers are forced to churn out litter after litter but they wont admit that even the best breeders are adding new pups to a world when there are thousands waiting for homes in shelters.

It could be snobbery, a belief that second-homed is somehow second-rate. The minority who consider the grim spectacle of Crufts as an Elysium would probably rather an inbred, anaemic pedigree over a handsome, healthy mongrel. Others perhaps see adopting a dog as a lottery. Well, if it were, Id bet everything I have on it, because my family has hit the jackpot five times out of five.

Since shelters are one-in, one-out, adopting a dog may save the life of one of the thousands put down each year. Its why, as the slogan goes, we should all adopt, not shop. The next Dorrit or Pip will thank us for it.

Sweet Christmas has come early

A pure Marvel: Mike Colter stars as Luke Cage in the Netflix series Jessica Jones (Netflix ) / Netflix

The list of good things that happened in 2016 is short. Sadiq Khan became Mayor. The capital gained a 24-hour doughnut delivery service. Austria rejected a gun-toting, migrant-bashing potential president in favour of the 72-year-old son of refugees who wants to save the planet. Justin Trudeau hugged pandas. And now theres another star for 2016s chart: Netflix has renewed Luke Cage for a second series.

After Cage (Mike Colter) popped up in Jessica Jones, I thought an unbreakable hero might be a tad dull. But theres actually an excess of charisma in the series: Mahershala Ali (the villain) is always a scene-stealer but faces competition from brooding Colter and the electrifying Alfre Woodard. Luke Cage looks exquisite, has a dream soundtrack and is a white supremacists nightmare. Well played, 2016.

Male violence, a grim pattern

Karen Ingala Smith does a job our Government should. On Twitter and her Counting Dead Women blog she tallies all the women who are killed in the UK due to male violence, attaching a story to a statistic.

The Government publishes a breakdown of domestic violence homicides. It shows categories of perpetrator  partner, child. It tells you the victims sex. But it doesnt disclose the sex of the perpetrators.

This is one change called for in a femicide census by Womens Aid that uses Ingala Smiths data. Between 2009 and 2015, 936 women were murdered by men. Similar threads run through many stories: the settings, the weapons and the relationships between victim and perpetrator.

Ingala Smith, who is also CEO of the charity NIA, says she has often heard a man justify a murder because the woman was leaving him, as though she was a possession he was entitled to destroy. More than three-quarters of women killed by an ex were attacked within the first year of the relationship ending. Collecting the data, of course, is only the start. Government then needs to confront the causes.

* A retailer whose PR team really wants me to name it here claims drone sales have shot up thanks to Planet Earth II. So humanity has marvelled at the wonders of nature, and thought: I must find a new way to ruin it.

I once went on a press trip to Tanzania with a photographer who brought a drone to capture the wildebeest migration. The animals are used to cars. They are not used to a drones assault on the ear drums. They scattered, terrified.
I write with relief upon hearing that Transport for London will be not taking over the management of the railway lines in London after all [Sadiqs railway takeover axed by minister, December 6]. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has taken a wise decision in refusing such a move.

TfLs tenure in charge of various rail franchises has not been as successful as some would suggest. Despite claims to the contrary, TfLs rail contracts suffer from signal, points and train failures  as well as overcrowding  as much as any other franchise in and around London.

Equally, its claims to offer cheaper fares are flawed given that Oyster and contactless pay-as-you-go fares are often cheaper on the services of other train companies.

It simply does not offer the quality of service that it has consistently claimed and it is high time that Mr Grayling looked at removing TfL from the rail franchises that it holds at present.

Ian Robert

In taking over lines that are barely surviving, TfL has had mixed success. That said, if the Government had ordered companies such as Silverlink to deliver new trains and better frequencies, we would be singing the praises of the private sector.

The much lauded London Overground has reached saturation point in east London while in west London the service is often dangerously overcrowded at peak times.

Sadiq Khan, as well as previous Mayors Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson, believes painting trains white and orange leads to magical improvements but if it werent for the work of Network Rail to re-model and enhance the infrastructure, their trains would run in the same shoddy way as before.

Nicholas Hair

I was full of hope when the appointment of Chris Grayling as Transport Secretary was announced. He was saying all the right things and really seemed to have the commuters needs in mind. However, this latest news shows Grayling appears to be just as out of touch with the London commuter as his predecessor was.

His blocking of TfLs takeover of suburban rail services is undeniable proof that the Government only wants to keep one group happy  the privatised rail companies.

Oliver Green

It was a forlorn hope to think that Chris Grayling would say anything worthwhile about the Southern dispute in his Evening Standard interview [I use a phone to buy lunch, so why do we still queue for train tickets?, December 6]. Instead, he was in union-bashing mode.

Commuters need answers. Thousands of us have to buy annual season tickets over the coming weeks and, as it stands, we face an expensive punt into the dark.

Mr Grayling is failing.

Alastair Noble

Cube will boost the Paddington area

When I first heard about the Paddington Cube proposal, I was concerned about the implications it would have on the local community. One of the main issues I had was the blocked route to St Marys Hospital, so it is pleasing to hear that developer Irvine Sellar has agreed to build a new road for ambulances [Developer strikes deal on A&E ambulance route to win consent for the Cube, December 6].

Having looked carefully at the proposals I think this building will bring some much-needed life to the Paddington area. But for Westminster council deputy leader Robert Davis to compare it to The Shard is rather misleading. The Shard is in an area filled each day by tourists, while the Cube will be based in a more residential district.

It is hard to paint the development as a bad move for London, especially if the scheme does, as promised, bring with it 4,000 jobs and improvements to the Bakerloo line station. We have certainly had uglier buildings grace the capitals skyline  lets hope the Cube lives up to its billing as another Renzo Piano masterpiece.

Gill Hughes

Help doctors cope with dying patients

Doctors must be given more support by their employers when caring for dying patients, as a BMA survey reveals that fewer than one in five feel they get sufficient help.

Although doctors are professionally trained to deal with death, the emotional toll of caring for patients who are at the end of their life should not be underestimated. The BMA wants the use of support services to be normal practice across the NHS to ensure doctors, nurses and other NHS staff are able to cope emotionally and provide the best care.

As doctors, we know that a patients last moments can stay with their loved ones for the rest of their lives, so it is vital we have the support, time and necessary training to get it right.

Dr John Chisholm, London GP and chair of the British Medical Association Medical Ethics Committee

Encourage Chinese to spend cash here

I do not understand why the Home Office is being so obdurate over visas for Chinese visitors [BA boss slams delay in introducing cheaper visas for Chinese tourists, December 6]. They come here with lots of cash and leave with empty pockets. Whats wrong with that? The Home Office says it will consider a 10-year multiple-entry visa once the benefits of the two-year visa have been assessed but this sounds like a delaying tactic.

In a post-Brexit era we must be able to trade more easily with the worlds second largest economy.

John Pickup

Compensation on Southern rail

In response to Kelly-Marie Blundell [Letters, December 6], we appreciate that passengers havent been getting the service they deserve and for this we apologise.

Contrary to Ms Blundells claim, however, customers with quarterly, monthly and weekly tickets who have bought travel for at least 12 weeks between April 24 and December 31 this year will also be able to claim compensation. In January we will contact eligible customers and those not contacted can apply online if they are eligible.

Kerri Ricketts, head of customer experience, Southern Railway
T he Royal Albert Hall today released its festive video that reimagines the first commercial Christmas card but gives it a contemporary twist.

The so-called Hall Stars film sees a group of London school children getting dressed as figures including Sir Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, Luciano Pavarotti, Emmeline Pankhurst and Jimi Hendrix  all of whom have some sort of link to the venue.

At the end, the group pose in a recreation of the first card, created by Sir Henry Cole in 1843, which depicts a group of people sat around a sign that reads: A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You.

The Royal Albert Hall has a host of Christmas events throughout the festive season, including a concert with the King's College Choir, as well as carol services, contemporary concerts and a ballroom show from Anton du Beke and Erin Boag.

Kids can join in with the festive excitement with a trail of puzzles and clues that will lead to Santa's grotto.

Visit standard.co.uk/arts for the latest news and reviews from Londons arts scene

Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout
O ne of classical musics youngest talents has been reunited with the antique instrument that helped to propel him to fame  thanks to the generosity of a secret benefactor.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason, 17, first played the rare Amati cello, manufactured in 1610 by the famed Italian instrument makers, at this years BBC Young Musician of the Year final, which he won.

He played it again, on loan from north London instrument dealer Florian Leonhard, during his appearance at the Royal Festival Hall. An anonymous benefactor is thought to have paid a six-figure sum for the instrument  and lent it through Mr Leonhards firm to the schoolboy permanently.

The Amati family are renowned for the quality of their work and recently a violin made in 1648 changed hands for about 500,000 at auction. Sheku, described by conductor Julian Lloyd Webber as the best young cellist in the world, said it was a dream come true to get the instrument back.

Arts picks of the week: 5th - 11th December 1 /9 Arts picks of the week: 5th - 11th December Fleabag Phoebe Waller-Bridges hilarious one woman show was made into a TV series this year, so when Soho Theatre announced the show would be briefly returning to the stage, tickets were snapped up in ten minutes. Those lucky enough to have nabbed one are in for a massive treat.



December 5-16, Soho Theatre; sohotheatre.com The winner of the Turner Prize will be announced Tonight is the night that a new Turner Prize winner is awarded. Will the giant bum triumph? All will be revealed from 9.30pm on Monday evening (December 5). Check out our coverage of the Turner Prize, including a profile on each artist on the shortlist.



December 5; exhibition is at Tate Britain until January 2; tate.org.uk The Red Shoes A dance blockbuster for the festive season, Matthew Bournes version of classic The Red Shoes has been many years in the making. The story of Victoria Pages battle to be the greatest dancer in the world, it will be set to a score of Hollywood music and is bound to be unmissable.



December 6 - January 29, Sadler's Wells; sadlerswells.com Hedda Gabbler This new production of Ibsens classic has quite a roll call: starring Ruth Wilson and Rafe Spall, directed by the acclaimed Ivo van Hove, and adapted with a new version by Patrick Marber. It will be the show to see if youre looking for some intense and brilliant theatre this winter.



December 5 - March 21, 2017, National Theatre; nationaltheatre.org.uk Zaha Hadid Renowned architect Zaha Hadid passed away this year, and the Serpentine Gallery joins a number of institutions across the world in paying tribute to her. Early Paintings and Drawings shows how drawing is at the heart of her work.



December 8 - February 12, 2017; Serpentine Sackler Gallery; serpentinegalleries.org Up and Down This is the UK premiere of a new ballet based on F Scott Fitzgeralds Tender is the Night, including the music of George Gershwin, Franz Schubert and Alban Berg. Its already been performed in St Petersburg, Monte Carlo and Israel and now it comes to Londons Coliseum.



December 6-10, London Coliseum; eno.org DIY Art Market The DIY Art Market is heaven on earth for those who want to support independent artists and get unique, eclectic and affordable art. The fair will be selling art prints, ceramics, zines, jewellery and books amongst other things.



December 10-11, Oval Space; diyartmarket.com Scenes from the End What does an opera performed by only one person sound like? You can find out with Heloise Werners acclaimed one woman opera at the Tristan Bates Theatre.



December 6-10, Tristan Bates Theatre; tristanbatestheatre.co.uk 2 Become 1 Kerrie Thomason and Natasha Granger were inspired by the 90s music they grew up with to make this musical about the impact of the sexual revolution on girl power. It tells the story of one woman getting over heartbreak by going speed dating and promises to be a fun night out for the festive season.



December 6 - January 7, 2017, King's Head Theatre; kingsheadtheatre.com

He said: I immediately fell in love with it when I first played it and now this wonderful fine old Italian instrument, made by Antonius and Hieronymous Amati in the early 17th century, has been secured for my use by the tireless efforts of Florian Leonhard.

I am thrilled that I can continue to develop my relationship with this cello, making the sound more completely my own over time. This rare instrument will grow with me and respond to what I need to express and I could not be more happy and excited.

Mr Leonhard, world leading expert on fine stringed instruments, said Sheku was one of the most exciting young stars weve come across, adding: To be in the audience when he plays is a truly special experience  pure musicality.

Visit standard.co.uk/arts for the latest news and reviews from Londons arts scene

Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout
A comedy club that helped to launch the careers of Jimmy Carr, Eddie Izzard, Simon Amstell and Jo Brand has been forced out of business because of rising rents.

The Comedy Cafe in Rivington Street, Shoreditch, will close its doors to the public after 26 years following a party on New Years Eve.

Owner Noel Faulkner said a near- doubling of rent from 120,000 to 230,000 a year had made it impossible to continue in the present location. He told the Standard: Its devastating. Its like your girlfriend has left you and you see her walking around town with another guy.

When we opened here people thought we were insane. There was nothing but printing presses and prostitutes. Shoreditch became an area for artists and rents went up. Then the IT crowd came in and rents skyrocketed.

Now itll become just another overpriced bar for Shoreditch twats with their big beards and skinny jeans who think theyre too cool for comedy.

Mr Faulkner, who employs 14 staff, is seeking new premises  but is not optimistic of finding somewhere nearby, because of the rapid gentrification of Shoreditch.

He also faces a huge rise in business rates next April, with his borough Hackney set to see the largest increase in London. Mr Faulkner said: We were a stepping stone for a lot of comedians who are big names on TV now but without comedy clubs the next generation of comics wont have anywhere to learn their craft.

London is going to become a soulless city like Singapore where people will pay seven quid for a cup of coffee and a brownie but we cant afford laughter. Who wants to live in a city like that?

The Standards comedy critic Bruce Dessau said the closure was a huge loss and he feared for other venues in the capital facing the joint challenge of rising rents and more comedy on TV.

Jeremy Tarn, a director of Bishopsgate Managements, which owns the property, said it had bent over backwards to negotiate a new rent.

Visit standard.co.uk/arts for the latest news and reviews from Londons arts scene

Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout
T he Standard's Young and Homeless Helpline Appeal received a huge boost on Wednesday as Airbnb, the online holiday rental giant, became the latest firm to throw its weight behind the cause.

The company is to donate 30k to appeal, with 40p for every London rental throughout December going to the campaign.

It will also match any donations to Centrepoint made by UK Airbnb hosts during this period.

The announcement came as the company hosted a cookery class and lunch for Centrepoint young people at its London headquarters.

Cookery class: (L to R) Shineze Henry-Wallace and Felicia Samugana from Centrepoint with two helpers from AirBNB / JEREMY SELWYN

The event saw the company's Clerkenwell office transformed into a dining room as Airbnb "trip host" Alissa Timoshkina helped four former Centrepoint residents concoct a Middle-Eastern feast of humous, tabouleh, fennel salad and lamb kofte.

It's a nice way to meet people, said Tori, who left Centrepoint seven years ago and now volunteers for the charity.

It's easier to talk to people when you're doing something  when everyone is doing the same thing it creates a relaxed atmosphere.

Last month Airbnb announced it would begin selling experiences and tours as well as rooms, allowing hosts to commodotise skills and local knowledge.

Interview with Ellie Goulding for Evening Standard Centrepoint campaign

Dubbed trips, experiences include things like truffle hunting, sumo wrestling and surfing, and are already available in 12 cities across the world.

Speaking at the lunch, James McClure, Airbnb's Northern Europe GM, said: Moving into trips allows people to monetise skills, but it also opens up another way for people to have a good time, show what they're passionate about and give a good experience to people coming to London from either outside the UK or outside the capital.

Russia-born Timoshkina was recruited as a trip host after an Airbnb employee attended her film-themed supper club.

Her three day Cinema Banquet trip includes a film screening, dinners, a private cookery class and an events styling lesson. Lots of eating and drinking, she says.

It's been lovely, an amazing way to meet new people. When you're bonding over something so specific, you're unlikely to get people who are bored or unengaged.

Charity pledge: Airbnb's James McClure / Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images

"The people I've done it with so far have had great stories to tell and I've found we have so much in common. And drinking wine always helps break the ice.

At the Centrepoint lunch she was joined by three other trip hosts: Dom Daniel, a music industry insider, and Luke and Josh, two skateboarders offering the chance to sample London's skate scene.

I started skating two years ago, said Centrepoint's Tori, so I'm looking forward to speaking to the Luke over lunch.

"I'll also speak to Dom as I take photographs at gigs, and he may have some advice with that.

Centrepoint helpline pkg

Speaking at Airbnb's conference last month, global CEO Brian Chesky announced plans to have trips operating 50 cities by next year and all cities not long after that.

At the lunch McClure added that Airbnb trips would help tourists discover parts of London beyond the reach of most tourists.

He said: You often think of London as just the central bit. But our hosts and our trips encourage people to visit the outer boroughs. It's a kind of tourism where the proceeds are shared much more evenly than just in Zone 1."

Airbnb's backing of the campaign follows endorsements from Sajid Javid, Kate Moss and Ellie Goulding, and comes a week after BT announced it would fund the phoneline.

How does Airbnb work?

Mr McClure said: "Homes and housing is what we're all about. The idea that you can belong anywhere.

"Especially at this time of year these things - and the issue of homelessness - are particularly important. So this is something we're very happy to be a part of."

The Evening Standard's Homeless Helpline appeal is raising money for the Centrepoint Helpline, a brand new support service that will save young people from ending up on the streets.

To donate please visit our Just Giving page.
W ere stuck with Christmas and were going to have to make the best of it. To really extract every possible ounce of fun from the day theres only one sensible way to plan your festivities: using mathematics.

How else could you work out the cooking time for your turkey? Or determine the best way to wrap your presents? We believe mathematics is so powerful that it has the potential to offer a new way of looking at anything  even something as warm and wonderful as Christmas.

Maths can uncover hidden patterns behind the familiar festivities and give unique insights into how to get the most out of our traditional celebrations. All of which, we think, adds up to make this time of year more magical.

And now the Science Museum has finally thrown open the doors on its highly-anticipated 5 million, Zaha Hadid-designed Winton Gallery  dedicated to exploring how maths shapes the world  its time to enjoy the merriest mathematics of Christmas.

Secret Santa solutions

All that business of picking names is just a fancy way of creating a permutation of the participants. A rule that uniquely associates every buyer with a buyee. Indeed what you actually need is a derangement, a special kind of permutation where self-matching doesnt happen.

The more gift-buyers, the smaller the chance of the last person picking their own name. But what if the second-to-last person picks their own name? If they put it back and choose again, theyll know for sure that the last person is their Secret Santa.

More generally, anyone who has to return their name to the hat has gained some information about their Secret Santa, since they know it cant be anyone who has already drawn, and the last person to choose is always more likely to end up Secret Santa-ing for the second-to-last person than for the first.

So, make a set of cards, one for each participant. Write You are number X at the top of each and Buy a gift for number X at the bottom. The number on the top and bottom parts of the card should be the same. Shuffle the cards and lay them in a row in front of you, face down. Now cut along the folds, keeping all the cards face down and in place. Move the top part of every card one place to the right and move the top of the last card back to the start. Clip them together and put in your sorting hat.

Now hand the hat round for people to pick a card, then stick up a numbered list where everyone can write their name next to their number, and look up the name of the person theyre buying for.

New book: The Indisputable Existence of Santa Claus by Dr Hannah Fry & Dr Thomas Oleron Evans

All wrapped up

To understand the mathematics of gift buying we need to weigh the costs against the benefits. The cost of a gift is easy to quantify. The benefits are more tricky. People offer presents because it makes them feel good and because it makes people they care about feel good too, but how do you put a value on that warm fuzzy feeling?

Comparing outcomes that offer different types of benefit comes up in decision theory. Mathematicians judge the value of a benefit using something called utility, a sort of general feel-good factor.

The strength of your warm fuzzy feeling is actually related to the cost of the gift  the more valuable the present the better youll feel about offering it  but there are diminishing returns. At low prices spending a bit more could make a big difference to your utility, but this extra benefit drops off for more expensive gifts. If youre buying your dad a watch you might be able to get a much nicer one for 40 than 20, but if youre torn between a gold Rolex for 20,000 and a platinum one for 40,000, youve clearly gone mad and are unlikely to feel much better whichever one you go for.

Plotting utility versus cost of present on a graph allows you to work this out: to maximise your utility you should find the cost at which the line showing warm fuzzy feeling is furthest above that showing money spent and spend the corresponding amount.

Christmas gifts for tech lovers - in pictures 1 /14 Christmas gifts for tech lovers - in pictures Scroll to see our favourite Christmas gifts for tech lovers... Shutterstock / Roman Samborskyi PS4 Pro Currently the most powerful console on the market, the latest version of the PS4 will set you up for future game releases. It's a faster and more capable console than the regular PS4 and supports 4K resolution and HDR, which are gorgeous if your TV can handle them. If it can't, then 1080p looks just as good with higher and more stable frame rates. It also has a faster download speed and comes with a huge 1TB of storage. 349, Amazon, Buy it now Sennheiser Urbanite XL Solidly built as you would expect from Sennheiser, the Urbanite XLs have bigger drive units and earpads which help tremendously with sound insulation. Most importantly, the sound quality is very good and they are comfortable due to them being over-ears. 106.24, Amazon, Buy it now Samsung R1 There's no shortage of multiroom portable speakers, but the Samsung R1  which is cheaper than others in Samsungs 'R' range  doesn't sacrifice on features. With more than one of these, you can create your set up through the Multiroom App 2.0, which allows you to stream music via your smartphone from a wide range of online services such as Spotify or Deezer. 116.47, Amazon, Buy it now Nextbase 312GW Dashcams have gained a massive popularity as of late. Just one look at YouTube will show you how many accidents or near misses have been recorded by one of these devices, saving careful motorists thousands  some insurers will even give you a discount if you have one installed. The Nextbase 312GW comes with GPS, built in Wi-Fi, a clear 2.7inch screen showing 140-degrees of view at 1080p/30fps and supports SDHC and SDXC Micro SD cards up to 32GB. 82.95, Amazon, Buy it now Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8 Sitting at the top of the pile when it comes to tablets, the successor to the superb Tab S range the S2 8 is the smaller of the two available. With a solid build quality that shows off how well Samsung have pushed their design, its thinner and lighter than the iPad mini 4, with an impressive 320ppi pixel density Super AMOLED screen powered by an Octa-core processor and 3GB RAM. It makes app switching and gaming an absolute pleasure. 298.99, Amazon, Buy it now Amazon Fire TV with 4K Ideal for any Amazon Prime user. Unlike its predecessor, it delivers content at the highest resolution available. With the membership programme's sheer amount of content, its a no-brainer if you have a 4K-capable TV with HDMI 2.0 HDCP2.2 connection and don't already have the brilliant Fire TV Stick. 75, Amazon, Buy it now Sphero Force Band & BB-8 App Enabled Droid Who wouldn't want to control the Star Wars BB-8 unit with a wave of their hand? Master your Force powers by using gestures to control the BB-8 unit and take advantage of the additional capabilities of the band as you complete combat training for Blasters, Lightsabers and the force itself. 229, Amazon, Buy it now Fisher Price Code-a-pillar A fantastic introduction to coding and logic for young children. Easy to use with plenty of possibilities, it comes with modules that snap together, each one having a different function such as turn left or dance. 44.99, Amazon, Buy it now Amazon Echo The Amazon Echo is essentially multiple devices in one. It offers a voice controlled speaker that can play your music via Spotify, Amazon music or other connected devices such as tablets, a voice activated assistant that can answer queries  such as finding the latest news or weather  and finally a home-controller that can control lights and devices. The more you use it, the more efficient it becomes. 49.99, Amazon, Buy it now Nintendo Classic Mini NES A must-have for any gamer. It brings back the amazing feeling that the NES created back to our front rooms. Plug it into your TV and you can blissfully play from amongst 30 pre-installed classic NES games the way they were meant to be played on a reproduction of the original controller. You can even save your progress, with 4 'Suspend Point' slots for each of the available games. You'll have to try incredibly hard to mirror this experience with anything but the original console. From 111, Amazon, Buy it now

Who ate all the pies?

Assume one mince pie (250 calories) and one 50ml glass of sherry (50) per household. If there are 1.9 billion children in the world and 31.4 per cent are Christian, Santa has to visit 600 million. The average woman has 2.4 children, so assume 300 million households. That means Santas total calorific intake is 90 billion. Only someone who may well spend much of the year in hibernation could lose weight on that.

The Indisputable Existence of Santa Claus by Dr Hannah Fry and Dr Thomas Oleron Evans is published by Doubleday

How does your December add up?

Number of times you will hear Mariah Careys All I Want for Christmas: Assuming each day between now and the 25th you hear it twice on the radio (17 x 2) , once in a shop (17) and once hummed under your colleagues breath (12 working days), 63.

Most expensive mince pie: 3,500, created by Ben Tish in 2012 (includes gold leaf, truffle, foie gras and 800-a-measure cognac).

Tallest Christmas tree in the world: The 46m (fake) fir stands in Dortmund in Germany.

Average spend on a Christmas present: 36.

Most calorific high-street Christmas sandwich: Asdas Triple Sandwich Feast comes in at a whopping 657kcal.

Number of times Love Actually will be watched in London:

Assume 80 per cent of Londoners (8.7 million) watch it once

(6.96 million) plus 20 per cent of those who watch it twice

(1.392 million) = 8.352 million.

Number of Pickled Chestnut Manhattans you can drink at

Duck & Waffle in the Heron Tower before your legs turn to jelly in the lift down:

Based on a BMI of 24 and a drinking rate of oh sod it, Ill have three.
F riends, I have something to ask you. Apologies for raining on your ho-ho-ho parade, but is there anything more ghastly than Christmas? The tackiness and tinsel, the binge-eating and boredom, tempered only by internecine family rows? Christmukkahkwanzaa  as I like to refer to it, all religious bases covered  is that annual moment when we are expected to lose all verve and individuality in favour of 10 days of unmitigated banality. And this year, after Brexit, Trump, the murder of Jo Cox, Syria, Zika, terrorism, and all the cool people dying  arent we due a break?

Due it or not, many of us appear to be taking one. At a recent dinner party, the usual question went round as to what people were doing for it. Where once replies would have constituted a litany of hosting friends in town or heading off to relatives around the country, this year everyone was going away  and away away at that.

I have friends travelling to the West Indies, Italy, New York, Greece, Uganda, Tanzania, Bavaria, New Dehli, Stockholm, Malta, Morocco and Dubai. These arent especially loaded individuals, merely people who have officially had enough. Londoners, in particular, are slinging their collective hook  tending to be younger, single and sans nipper, and/or richer and more Brexit-angst-ridden than the rest of the county. The result: 25 December 2016 will be less Christmas than Chrexit.

As a lawyer of my acquaintance puts it: Im horrified by Brit Christmas, with its constituent parts of high-street tat, Quality Street diabetes tubs, and calcifying in front of the TV. Ive done Yules in Prague, Latvia and Denmark, seen art, wandered snowy streets, sat in saunas, eaten pastries and watched Flashdance. Chrexit isnt a trend  its a movement. And this year, the need feels greater than ever. I want to be somewhere European that Trump would never have heard of.

My beloved mucker Eliza Poklewski Koziell, owner of Chelsea jewellery emporium Felt London, tells me: I hate Christmas. If you dont have small children, then get out, I say. Im going to cycle from Angkor Wat to Saigon with my boys, meaning husband/architect Philip Gumuchdjian and their 12-year-old son Oscar.

Having had the worst couple of years of my life by way of death and disaster, I will be spending the period Airbnb-ing in Gay Paree. My beloved and I will be opting out of Yule via museums and hanging out with pals. Last year, we ran away to Sicily and spent the day itself reading on our roof terrace, then headed out for pasta and a stroll. This year, we will be going to the opera to see the resolutely unfestive Iphigenie en Tauride. If I had my way, Id never have a conventional Christmas again.

A gallery owner living in the Barbican agrees: Im off to Zanzibar. I have a fantasy that Donald Trump cannot haunt me there and Im hoping my smartphone wont work. I cannot bear any more news and am so glad to be getting out of the Western world. Meanwhile more than one fellow Yuletide vacationer has expressed the sentiment: Anywhere but here.

Winter Sun Destinations 1 /26 Winter Sun Destinations Thailand From temples and street food to picture-perfect beaches, there are few more reliable destinations for a winter break than Thailand, as its dry season runs from December through to April. AFP/Getty Images Cape Verde The sun rarely stops shining in Cape Verde, ten unique islands lying off the west coast of Africa. So lovely are they, theyve been dubbed the African Caribbean with their foamy surf, tropical birds and powdery beaches. Flickr/Beatrice Tiberi Bali This Indonesian paradise has an average high of around 29C in January, meaning you can enjoy scorching temperatures as you explore the islands lush green rice paddies, volcanic peaks and tranquil temples. Shutterstock / umike Malta Malta gets more than 300 sunny days per year, and is surrounded by some of the cleanest waters in the Mediterranean. Its selling point, however, it its 7,000 year history, which offers the chance to explore prehistoric temples, Roman catacombs, medieval towns and some of the oldest buildings in the world. Shutterstock / Gaborturcsi Morocco Storied Morocco is home to ancient medinas, epic mountain ranges, historic cities, sweeping deserts and year-round sun. Weather is never predictable but the chances are that you will mostly get sunny days through winter, chilly perhaps in early morning and late evening but warm and balmy in the middle of the day. Shutterstock / Zenobillis Sri Lanka It has a tropical climate, golden beaches, tea plantations and wildlife-packed national parks - theres a reason why everyone is flocking to buzzy Sri Lanka. Its touted as a year-round destination, but January - April is the best time to visit to avoid monsoon season. Shutterstock / Irina N Antigua Prince Harry may have put the Caribbean back on the map, but winter travellers have long known about the spoils of the islands during the winter months. Antigua has often been touted as the Caribbean's ultimate beach destination, with average temperatures of 29C through winter. Dubai Glamourous Dubai is set upon miles of glorious golden sand, with scorching average temperatures of up to 31C during the winter months. 7-star hotels, a foodie scene and one of the worlds most amazing skylines are just the cherry on the top of the brilliant weather. Shutterstock / Yana Vasileva Fraser Island Nestled off Australias eastern Queensland coast, the worlds largest sand island is an ideal destination for the cool, rainy months of the year. Its subtropical climate means that youre never far from a rare or endangered species, and its also the only place in the world where tall rainforests grown on sand dunes. Shutterstock / Benedikt Juerges Algarve Beautiful sandy beaches, pretty fishing villages, breathtaking cliffs and some of the best golf courses in Europe make the Algarve an attractive prospect for holidaying families. f. ermert/Flickr Fuerteventura The second largest of Spains Canary Islands boasts year-round warmth on its white-sand beaches. Its particularly popular with those who like water sports, especially surfing, windsurfing and waterskiing. Shutterstock Mexicos Yucatan Peninsula Mexico boasts some of the most beautiful stretches of coastline youll ever see - and no more so than at the Yucatan Peninsula. Temperatures in January average at around 24C, making it the perfect destination for a sunny New Years Eve getaway. Shawn Harquail/Flickr Cyprus The beach resorts of Cyprus are much less popular in the winter months, making it a great choice for those who want to soak up the sun without the crowds. Lefteris Katsouromallis/Flickr Dominican Republic Why walk through a drizzly Oxford Circus when you could lie on the coast of the Dominican Republic with a glass of local rum in 29C heat? Enough said. Shutterstock / gala_had Mozambique Mozambiques wild coastline with its swaying palms are a lure for sun bunnies who want to alternate lapping up the rays on dune-fringed beaches and cooling off in its brilliantly turquoise waters. Gavin Fordham/Flickr Bahamas With daytime temperatures reaching 26C over the winter months, theres never a better time to visit the Bahamas. The archipelago of 700 islands offers unspoilt white sand beaches, snorkelling and diving, and a mixture of luxury resorts and boutique stays. Dave Johnson/Flickr Myanmar Until fairly recently, Myanmar was off limits to wanderlust Westerners, but now tourists are flocking to the Asian country in droves, curious to explore its majestic temples, primeval jungle and unspoilt beaches. Joe Connor Maldives This glittering archipelago on the Indian Ocean boasts some of the worlds finest luxury hotels and white sand beaches, lapped by turquoise waters, huge coral reefs and exotic marine life of every colour and description. Mauritius In Mauritius, as with all other islands in the Indian Ocean, the seasons are reversed when compared to the northern hemisphere. When it's winter in the UK, it's summer in Mauritius - meaning youre guaranteed a winter tan, and the sea temperature warms to a very pleasant 26C. Shutterstock Oman With new direct flights with BA to Omans capital Muscat, theres never been a better time to explore this sunny Arabian country - with its mountains, rolling sand dunes and a coastline thats dubbed the Middle Eastern Riviera. omantourism.gov.om

And why not? When else in the year does one enjoy so much potential to go AWOL: be it holidays proper, or time when nothing much goes on and no one notices whether one is at work anyway? London, especially, appears to grind to a halt from about the 20th, then goes all Day of the Triffids-deserted during Christmas week itself, and doesnt shudder back into gear again until about 6 January. Once we come to terms with the fact that we can do anything we want during this time, then the world is our oyster.

The travel industry has been amassing statistics to suggest that our upcoming Chrexit should be rebilled the great escape. Airbnb reports that outbound bookings for December have increased 100 per cent since this time last year, while data from Booking.com reveals that the top-five destinations currently being arranged between 20 December and 2 January are Amsterdam, Dublin, Paris, New York and Berlin.

Laura Jeffrey, owner of the luxury travel company Passepartout, observes: There has been a trend towards taking private villas in places like Bali and Sri Lanka, from those wanting to celebrate in style but not break the bank, as well as clients looking for a more exclusive atmosphere within a hotel complex somewhere like Phuket.

Flying on Christmas morning and New Years Day always saves a few pennies and clients are taking advantage of last-minute deals. The Maldives, for example, has a huge array of luxurious properties, very few full over the peak period. The other trend is for twin-centre holidays, which provide for a cold Christmas and a hot New Year. Weve arranged incredible ski and beach trips to Switzerland and Oman, Beijing in the Summer Palace and Southern Vietnam, and even Bhutan and Cambodia.

Meanwhile, JetSmarter, the worlds leading private-jet charter company, has seen a significant spike in Yuletide bookings. A spokesperson reveals: Clients want longer, multi-destination trips: say, combining city sophistication in Dubai with a tour of the green-tea hills in Sri Lanka.

Millennial travellers are choosing less-commonly visited destinations such as Indonesia, the Maldives and Vietnam. And, for us, its a case of sun over ski. A few colder climates such as New York and Vail in Colorado remain popular. However, our top destinations so far are Miami, the Bahamas and Dubai.

If sun is the goal  and who doesnt feel the need for a bit of light amid the actual and metaphorical darkness?  then veteran escapees recommend India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Thailand, Mozambique, Morocco, Egypt, the Caribbean, Puglia, Greece or southern Spain. For snow, take your pick.

A stress-free Chrexit will take a little plotting, even if one is planning on doing very little. Have a vague idea of what youll be doing on the day itself, or it can feel a little weird. When going beyond big cities in Christian countries, check that the places youll be staying in will still be providing food. Keep an eye on baggage handler-type disputes, unlike the friend who spent the festive period stuck in Cairo Airport. And pick your travelling companions with even more care than usual  youre going to avoid arguments, not bitch over beach towels.

But, mainly, just relax and enjoy. As our aforementioned Europe-roving lawyer remarks: Its a happy fact that almost every other European country seems less inclined to turn Christmas into a gaudy, tat-filled, consumer-fest. Italy at Christmas is divine, Copenhagen, likewise (snow, cardamom buns, glogg). Riga is very pretty, Tallinn absolutely beautiful  small, sane, picture-perfect. You wont find supermarkets stacked with Prosecco-flavoured crisps or nuclear bath salts.

Christmas abroad can serve as a reminder that its a wonderful life without having to weep over the movie for the thousandth time. And  should you find yourself in Paris  look out for me not eating turkey, not sporting a novelty sweater, and taking a break from fretting about the fate of humankind.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter: @EsMagOfficial
H earing the glad tidings that Christmas Is A Time For Giving invariably irritates me. Its ALWAYS a Time For Giving for me  I will happily buy anything from fags to cars for mates the whole year round. Even at my most Scrooge-like, I spend like a sailor on shore leave. This is because the older I get, the more I believe that people can be divided into two types  the generous and the stingy.

If someone is ready and willing to put their hand in their pocket for the benefit of others, chances are Ill like them; if theyre only prepared to do it in pursuit of their own pleasure, theres probably more chance of me seeking out Sandi Toksvig and Dawn French to form a girl group with than wanting to be their friend. In my experience, tight people also tend to be less amusing and less adventurous  less fun all round  than the generous, so for once Im left thinking: Whats in this for me?

Of course we spendthrifts are not saints. Yes, were in it partly for the cheap thrills  the Givers Glow, as some scientists call the lighting up of that part of the brain which rewards the giving of time and/or money for the benefit of others and slips us a hit of dopamine, oxytocin, endorphins and all that other stuff usually accessed horizontally. When whoever said it was better to give than to receive did so, they werent being prissy and self-denying but rather sassy and self-knowing; this glow is why ceaseless psychologists have found that those who give money away are happier than those who use it to acquire possessions, and why those who talk the most about the joy of  shudder!  retail therapy often seem the most hollow and hopeless of our acquaintance.

But my cheap thrills can be someone elses difference between eating and not eating  making giving the exact opposite of virtue signalling, which is all about saying something righteous and doing zero to back it up.

The Independe/REX/Shutterstock

Ive always been generous  theres a school of thought that says generosity is often inherited, and my working-class parents lavished their only child with all the attention and toys my friends often went without. Thanks to my excessive extravagance, I spent my early adult life always in the red, then a decade back I sold my house in Brighton to a property developer for a huge profit  and it was like giving a family-size tin of Quality Street to a stoner. I parted with a quarter of a million in the first year alone, shelling out for friends, strangers and charities with promiscuous glee. It started when I paid for a dog called Stella to be released from quarantine in Iran to be reunited with her pining young owner after I saw their tale of woe in a local newspaper, peaked when I intervened to fast-track my best friends aggressive cancer into the private healthcare system, thus saving her months of waiting and worry, and ended up two years ago with me having to be bailed out by a really rich mate because Id gone through the entire lot. (Of course, I paid back my friend and regained my financial equilibrium  or I certainly wouldnt be boasting here about my inability to keep it in my pocket.)

Best luxury silk pyjamas- in pictures 1 /13 Best luxury silk pyjamas- in pictures Snuggle into a pair of luxury silk pyjamas this winter... Yolke Marble Stretch Silk Pyjama Set This artful marble print from Yolke will bring back memories of a summer spent languishing in pools under palm trees. With pockets, silk ties and an elastic waistband they are the height of comfort. Who says you have to suffer if you want to look beautiful? 290, Yolke, Buy it now Asceno Arctic Crescent Modern Pyjamas Slouchy and loose fitting, this Asceno pair is made from 100 per cent sandwashed silk (which means its been treated to make it even softer) and features an abstract design of blue, black and gold crescents. Each piece is sold separately, so you can always team the trousers with a long sleeved t shirt. 280, Asceno, Buy it now Phoebe-Grace Hettie Pyjama Set Although sold as pyjamas, this set is much too pretty to be only worn for sleeping- team the top with jeans for a casual look or whip out the trousers in the summer for a laid back boho vibe. Made from 100 per cent silk, it is designed, printed and made in the UK, so is great for those who like to support home-grown fashion. 475, Phoebe-Grace, Buy it now Olivia von Halle Coco Raspberry Silk Pyjamas Go festive with this raspberry red set from Olivia von Halle. Dubbed the Coco, this design was inspired by the time Coco Chanel donned her lovers silk pyjamas back in the 1920s. As far as loungewear goes, this is the very best. Extravagant? Yes. Worth it? Absolutely. After all, as the legend herself once said; a girl should be two things: classy and fabulous. 350, Olivia Von Halle, Buy it now Derek Rose Esme 13 Silk Pyjamas More a work of art than a piece of clothing, this exquisite silk set is handmade, featuring a completely hand-drawn design of some of the wildlife seen during a Swiss summer. Every element has been meticulously put together and the exotic colours and intricate detail make this a truly special set. 355, Derek Rose,Buy it now PJ Pan Silk Tree Time Pyjamas Liberty of London prints are always delightful to look at and this autumnal tree design is no exception. The ivory silk piping and buttons made from real shell add an elegant touch. 195, PJ Pan, Buy it now Jigsaw Paige Pyjama Set As a slightly more budget friendly option, this Jigsaw pyjama set is a great choice. The shirt features half-length sleeves, silk covered buttons and a patch pocket. This set is still made from 100 per cent silk so is great value for money. 169, Jigsaw, Buy it now Somerset by Alice Temperley Rose Pyjama Set The Somerset collection by Alice Temperley is inspired by her childhood, which was spent frolicking around the southern county, famous for its rolling valleys and lush greenery. These pyjamas feature large rose blooms against a midnight blue backdrop, perfectly capturing the wild beauty of this classic English flower. 149, John Lewis, Buy it now Hush Piped Silk Pyjamas When you wish upon a star, what you get is this pretty set of PJs from Hush. The white piping really pops against the black and the star print is cute without being babyish. Perfect for winter nights spent by the fire. 150, John Lewis, Buy it now

By then my brain was lit up like a Trump rally on the Fourth of July and even now giving remains the only thing Ive been truly addicted to, to the point of sacrificing my extraordinarily excessive 20-year cocaine habit in order to maintain it when I realised I could do one but not both if I wanted to swerve joining my homeless homies any time soon. The usual suspects have suggested that it appeals to the ceaseless vista of my vanity to be seen as a dark angel of open-handedness dispensing tenners (if Im not carrying anything bigger, as Id rather go to the ATM than give coins to a beggar  how disrespectful) like a jumped-up Johnny Appleseed. Theyve said snarky stuff like Ooo, youre only THROWING MONEY at the unfortunate, rather than Giving Of Yourself! But Ive had volunteer jobs for more than a decade, currently putting in around eight hours a week at one, so that wont wash.

With Tony Parsons in 1977

It would be a fair criticism to point out, however, that in this, as in most areas of life, I find it hard to know when to stop. Apart from the bailout, Ive also had my credit cards physically removed from me and kept till I sobered up by a mate who was understandably concerned that I was apparently withdrawing money and giving it away infinitely one drunken day, and this year in Barcelona I had to be physically removed from a pavement cafe by my husband because what started out as alms to the passing poor become a free-for-all resembling somewhat the finale of The Day Of The Locust. (Even the cafes owner was queueing up.)

If there are no beggars around, Ill invent them in order to satisfy my own dubious desire to be made use of; I recently received a mouthful of finest excuse-my-French in Paris from a rather scruffy man I refused to believe wasnt a tramp and repeatedly tried to donate to. Ive even had real beggars chase me down the street pointing out that Ive given them too much  the ultimate accolade for my kind. Off the street, Im the best tipper Ive ever met  excellent for good service, and even better for bad, as I always feel sorry for people who are rubbish at their jobs. And while Ive never actually given anyone the shirt off my back, I once gave the waitress the skirt off my hips when I overheard her envying it to a friend.

This isnt to say that I am self-denying  rather, I balance out extreme self-indulgence with the same amount of self-sacrifice. The Christmas after I came into possession of my ill-gotten gains, I was shocked to find myself buying one each of every fragrance of Diptyque candle at my local Space NK, just because I could. Coming out of my fugue state as I saw the harsh reality of setting fire to thousands of pounds pop up on the credit card machine, I said without thinking to the lovely young man who was serving me, Excuse me, but whats your favourite charity? He looked surprised. Its called Whizz-Kidz  my little brother cant walk and theyve helped him so much. Writing an equivalent cheque for the astonished young salesperson completely cancelled out any subsequent self-loathing which might have marred the festive season, leaving him in tears and me on a cloud of seasonal self-love.

In the end, as much as being the right thing to do morally, I love to give so much because its such a good look. Giving something away  especially money  makes people look tough and optimistic, whereas holding on to it looks scared and unsexy. Essentially, stinginess is the halitosis of the soul; if youve got it, get it out, for as a very wise and wealthy man, Andrew Carnegie, once said: He who dies rich dies shamed.

The writers fee for this article has been donated to Crisis at Christmas (crisis.org.uk).
D espite showing up a few minutes early to the Cafe de la Nouvelle Mairie, I notice Caroline de Maigrets tousled hair in the window of the Parisian bistro. As we exchange the requisite double-cheek bise, I clock an almost-finished plate of apple crumble in front of her. Those familiar with her crowd-pleasing book, How to be a Parisian Wherever You Are: Love, Style and Bad Habits  co-authored with three friends and filled with pearls such as Wear a black bra under a white blouse, like two notes on a sheet of music and always be f***able  will no doubt delight that the model, author and style icon likes a pudding as much as the rest of us (no dainty French patisserie, this).

But then, De Maigret has never conformed to expectations. At 41, her maturity makes her a different kind of model from most  or from the one she was when she began her career in the early 1990s, having abandoned her French literature studies at the Sorbonne to live a more free-spirited life in New York. When shes not on duty as a Chanel ambassador, she mostly dresses in a way that registers as a chic afterthought  today, in a black turtleneck sweater, black jeans, Adidas trainers and a nautical-style Chanel jacket. Her fingers are sans rings and the dark polish on her nails is clearly a few days old.

Its a cool, insouciant mix that readers of her new online platform will likely attempt to emulate. The bilingual CdMdiary by Caroline de Maigret soft-launched two weeks ago and will continue to expand in the new year. Featuring a mix of restaurant recommendations, street-style pictures and music tips, it could be passed off as just another lifestyle blog except that it boasts In partnership with Chanel under the title. Coco Chanel, she points out, had the personality to want to change womens movements, haircuts, ways of being. She was an entrepreneur. The project is a joint initiative between the two parties, prompted largely by the fact that De Maigret has long been part of Chanels inner circle. It was very important to me that the platform shows that style comes from everything that builds you  thats why I could not talk about fashion only, says De Maigret. What makes your style is your personality, the books you read, the music you listen to, the movies you watch.

De Maigret with Karl Lagerfeld earlier this year / GoffPhotos.com

Less than 24 hours before our meeting, the former French Prime Minister Francois Fillon  a fan of Margaret Thatcher  beat the Bordeaux Mayor and another former Prime Minister, Alain Juppe, in the countrys centre-right primaries to become the favourite for President. With the spectre of far-right Marine Le Pen as a rival candidate, France arguably faces as critical a moment as the United States did leading up to Donald Trumps victory. Thats why I went to vote  because of Trump, De Maigret says before a prolonged pause (this year, for the first time anyone on a national register could vote in the Parti Republicain primary as long as they paid 2). I dont really want to talk about politics. Ive always talked about anything that touches on humanism  which is feminism or racial issues. So Im allowed to say Im unhappy with Trump. Regarding the French so far, well see what happens.

De Maigrets father, Betrand de Maigret, happens to be a distinguished politician and businessman who worked for 17 years beginning under President Giscard dEstaing and German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt to set the euro into motion through his seat on the French finance commission. The De Maigret name can be traced back to the mid-14th century. Her mother, meanwhile, is Isabelle Poniatowski, a champion swimmer whose father, Michel Poniatowski, was also an illustrious French politician descending from Polish nobility. As one of four siblings, her decision to go live in New York in 1994 was partly to gain independence from her established Parisian way of life. She walked for everyone from Chanel (Lagerfeld first cast her in 1998) to Louis Vuitton and Alexander McQueen, shooting with the likes of Mario Testino, Peter Lindbergh, Steven Meisel and Patrick Demarchelier.

At Fashion Week in Paris last year / Getty Images

In 2002, however, she quit, returning to Paris and launching rock label Bonus Track Records in 2006 with her partner, musician Yarol Poupaud, who is also father of her 10-year-old son. The pair met one year earlier and never married but live together in Pigalle. Their work on Bus Palladium earned a Cesar nomination (the French equivalent of an Academy Award) in 2011.

Lagerfeld re-entered the picture that year, too, when the French magazine Jalouse proposed that De Maigret host an interview programme from a truck stationed outside the fashion shows. She was told she had 15 minutes with him; he ended up staying for 40. The interview acted as the catalyst to a revived modelling career  a few days later, Lagerfeld nudged her to reconsider the runway, inviting her to walk the Chanel 2011 Resort collection in St-Tropez. After that everyone started to invite me to their shows and they wanted to shoot me again, which was strange because I had not planned to come back to fashion. And they started to shoot me in the streets with my looks. I didnt know about that phenomenon, and within two or three months I ended up in every single magazine.

At Fashion Week this year / Getty Images

Why are Brits so fascinated with Parisian style? Either its about having lots of make-up and looking too perfect, or having that nonchalance that shows you have a life. That freedom is exciting to a lot of people. While her work brings her to London regularly she confesses the visits are usually in-and-out affairs  although she always tries to make time to hang out with close friend Alexa Chung. She takes me around and we drink and then I forget [where weve been]. The British are the best in the whole world to party with.

Despite her seemingly charmed life, there are signs of vulnerability. She works out regularly with a personal trainer, not for vanity but to maintain peace of mind. I had a lot of anxiety so I tried everything  from therapy, which was great, to yoga and running. And then I understood at 40 years old, exercising [my] body and making it sweat allowed my brain to burn [energy] because it was thinking all the time. And, despite her success, she says it took her a very long time to tell her son, Anton, that she was a model. He knows Im a music producer. He knows I work in fashion. He knows I wrote a book. He never knew I was a model but my therapist asked me to tell him. He was like, You have to admit that job, because its fine, she says with a laugh. What held her back? Its just there are so many other things I do, and when you say youre a model, people think that you cant do the other things properly, you know what I mean?

Shes certainly disproving such perceptions. In addition to CdMdiary by Caroline de Maigret, her book, Bonus Track Records and her work in the fashion industry, she has begun working with the French arm of the United Nations. Im so privileged in every way, from when I was born to now, and the chances Ive had and my success. I owe the planet even more involvement. Indeed, on her Instagram she frequently posts about human rights: Thats what I love as well about social media  it gave me a voice that I didnt have before because I was just a pretty face.

Unsurprisingly, she has several more projects in the works, including her second book, which she claims will be a departure from the first, aside from her irreverent, sincere voice. The only similarity would be the way I write  I need to make fun of myself. But its mainly about my neuroses and how I just live with them

Whatever they are, she wears them well.
T hose enormous almond eyes; that pout to rival Angelina Jolies  Taylor Hill has the improbably perfect face of a fantasy Disney princess. In a Manhattan photo studio, all eyes are riveted on the 20-year-old supermodel as she struts off the ES Magazine shoot in a pair of red leather trousers and a matching bralette. The effect of the Victorias Secrets Angel on the room is hypnotic.

But when we sit down to chat, Hill, back in her civvies, opens her mouth and... Aghhhh, shoot! she booms as a stream of milky iced coffee (her third today) hits the jeans she has paired with a midriff-baring cropped white T-shirt. She rolls her eyes, mopping at the puddle with a wad of napkins. Im so clumsy. Every day, guaranteed, something will spill on me.

Not such an ethereal creature after all then  more like the goofy girl next door. But then, thats part of Hills appeal. Models these days need to have a personality big enough to secure a global online following. And Taylor, in all her goofy, self-deprecating glory, certainly has that. As well as walking for all the greats (Chanel, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana), and appearing in ad campaigns for Miu Miu, Jimmy Choo, Michael Kors, Versus and Armani Prive, she has racked up more than 5.6 million followers on Instagram, where comments include things like I love you, Why am I not you?, and Will you marry me?

Last week, millions around the world tuned in to watch Hill sashay through Pariss Grand Palais in Victorias Secrets latest multi-million-dollar extravaganza. Being a VS squad member is widely regarded as a marker of supermodel success, and Hill is the youngest member of the Amazonian troupe. You may also recognise her from the AW16 Topshop campaign. Following in the footsteps of fellow Angel Bella Hadid, she stars with her miniature labradoodle, Tate (her mothers maiden name).

HILLIER BARTLEY jacket and trousers, 1,500 each (hillierbartley.com).VICTORIAS SECRET bra, 18.18 (victoriassecret.com). BALENCIAGA heels, 495 (balenciaga.com)

We meet in New York in the weeks running up to the Paris show. In the corner of the Chelsea Village studio, Hill nestles into a black leather sofa, her feet up on a glass coffee table. She officially earned her spot  widely considered to be one of the most coveted jobs in the industry, with contracts starting at around $100,000  when she auditioned at age 18 and six months, as she puts it, still young enough to count the years in halves. I was just winging it. I didnt train or do any prep, because youre always being told Dont get your hopes up, VS is a tricky client. When her agent called to tell her shed got the gig I thought they were going to say Id messed up and said the F-word too much. Sometimes when Im nervous it just comes out! Instead, she learned that simply showing up and being yourself but on steroids is enough when you look like her.

Taylor Hill: in pictures 1 /8 Taylor Hill: in pictures VICTORIAS SECRET body, 61.82 (victoriassecret.com). DIOR trousers, POA (dior.com) HILLIER BARTLEY jacket and trousers, 1,500 each (hillierbartley.com). VICTORIAS SECRET bra, 18.18 (victoriassecret.com). BALENCIAGA heels, 495 (balenciaga.com) VICTORIAS SECRET bra, 18.18 (victoriassecret.com).WOLFORD tights, 55 (wolfordshop.co.uk). BALENCIAGA heels, 495 (balenciaga.com) BALENCIAGA body,  595; heels, 495; and bracelet, 445 (balenciaga.com) GUCCI coat, 2,200 (gucci.com). CECILIA DE RAFAEL tights, 7.99, at uktights.com VICTORIAS SECRET bra, 31.74 {victoriassecret.com). JOSEPH skirt, 215 (joseph-fashion.com). MARNI earrings, 230 (marni.com)

Hill, from Arvada, Colorado, is the daughter of a natural gas engineer and a stay-at-home mum of four. She was scouted at 14, while hanging out with her sisters at a dude ranch. A what? A dude ranch is where you can go and stay to kind of own a horse for the weekend, she explains patiently.

It turns out this particular dude ranch was also a popular location for fashion shoots. In a vaguely creepy-sounding scenario (her sisters were younger), This guy who said hes a photographer came over and asked if we were models, she recalls. We were like, What the f***? No! But her mother got on board (He was like: Oh my God, your daughter should be a model. She should be travelling the world.) and the family were pointed in the direction of IMG, the agency that reps Gisele Bundchen and Gigi Hadid. After ascertaining that the VS girls were the ones making it big and making money, I was like: I really like Gisele, and I want to be a Victorias Secret Angel. I was very driven.

VICTORIAS SECRET bralette, 18.18 (victoriassecret.com).A.W.A.K.E trousers, 459, at ln-cc.com (Credit: Ed Singleton)

She spent the next few years going from casting to casting, book and mom in tow, gradually winning bigger and bigger gigs. She helped me learn how to manage at airports and get from the car to the hotel, she remembers. There was a stint in Paris (The best shopping is Saint Hon-or-aye Oh my gosh, I sound so American I cant listen to myself.) and a few rainy months in London. I mainly remember going on the Tube and trying to cross the street without dying.

Now a sister, Mackinley, 19, and brother, Chase, 17, have followed her to IMG. Perhaps the Hills will be the next Hadids or Kardashians. Does she feel pressured to keep all her Instagram followers entertained? Its more fun to do it when life just happens. Thats my strategy. I dont want it to become what I think about all the time. As well as snaps with her fellow model faves  Californian Jasmine Tookes, Dutch Romee Strijd and Portuguese Sara Sam Sampaio ( like my sister so squeezable!)  there are regular posts documenting life, and PDAs aplenty with her current beau, fellow model and actor Michael Stephen Shank.

GUCCI coat, 2,200 (gucci.com). CECILIA DE RAFAEL tights, 7.99, at uktights.com(Credit: Ed Singleton)

Having met in the industry they have been together just over a year and share an apartment in New York  even if busy schedules mean theyre often apart. He comes back and forth from LA, but then I go off on location and stuff. But its okay. Sometimes absence makes the heart grow fonder. As for rumours that his previous dalliance with Gigi Hadid has led to bad blood between the pair, recent snaps of Hill and Hadid out on the town together in New York would suggest otherwise. Of the more seasoned girls, shes closest to Behati Prinsloo. Shes a weirdo. I love her. What does she mean? Shes just loud and clumsy and she laughs a lot. The first time we met, she was touching my face and being like, Youre so cute. And Im just like, I love you!

From the outside, VS appear to be forever on a mission to curate the ultimate girl gang, but Hill insists shes more of a loser tomboy type. Im very nerdy, I love to read  Im not necessarily a girls girl. In fact this dichotomy is why she loves being part of the troupe. It really challenges who I am as a person. Im standing there in underwear, but Im just like  she puts on a booming macho voice  Hey guys!

Victoria's Secret 2016 Fashion Show - In pictures 1 /62 Victoria's Secret 2016 Fashion Show - In pictures Victoria's Secret fashion show Gigi Hadid walks the finale Victoria's Secret fashion show Kendall Jenner Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Adriana Lima, Lily Donaldson, Alessandra Ambrosio, Taylor Hill and Martha Hunt Victoria's Secret fashion show Gigi Hadid Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Adriana Lima and Elsa Hosk lead the finale David Fisher/Rex/Shutterstock Victoria's Secret fashion show Models celebrate on the finale runway Charles Platiau/Reuters Victoria's Secret fashion show Bella Hadid Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Lady Gaga and Lily Donaldson Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Bella Hadid Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Lily Aldridge Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Alessandra Ambrosio Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Lady Gaga performs while Gigi Hadid WALKS THE RUNWAY AFP/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Jasmine Tookes Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Joan Smalls Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Kendall Jenner Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Lily Donaldson Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Irina Shayk Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Rachel Hilbert Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Grace Elizabeth Francois Mori/AP Victoria's Secret fashion show Lady Gaga performs during the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Adriana Lima Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Adriana Lima and Elsa Hosk Getty Images for Victoria's SecretDimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show A model walks the runway Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Gigi Hadid Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Sanne Vloet Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Maria Borges Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Jourdana Phillips Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Josephine Skriver Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Sara Sampaio Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Bridget Malcolm Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Devon Windsor Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Martha Hunt Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Lais Oliveira Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Leomie Anderson Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Maria Borges Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Stella Maxwell Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Taylor Hill Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, The Weeknd and Victoria's Secret Models walk the runway Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Cindy Bruna Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Lily Donaldson Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Josephine Skriver Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Valerie Kaufman Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Zuri Tibby Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Ming Xi Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Bruno Mars sings on the runway Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show The Weeknd Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Victoria's Secret fashion show Models pose at the end of the finale runway AFP/Getty Images

She describes herself as having a love-hate relationship with New York. Im from nature and the mountains and the clear blue sky. She heads home to Colorado at every opportunity for snowboarding and all that shebang. Her best friend is from back home, an old neighbour from when she was five. He moved to San Diego to be in real estate but we talk on the phone all the time. Hell be like: I took my realtor exam today. It sucked. And Im like: Well Im getting on another plane, and that sucks too!

She realises the travel is part of what will no doubt be a highly lucrative career. How does she plan to spend her millions, further down the line? Id like to start some kind of charity. I dont know what I would do yet, but I think with all the influence we gain, its important to give back. She pauses for a moment: For sure, because I definitely did not expect to end up here.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter: @EsMagOfficial
N estled above Browns on Mayfairs South Molton Street is Eugenie Niarchos otherworldly Venyx treasure trove. Having founded the business in 2013, she opened the salon space three years ago and injected her eclectic personal style into the showroom.

Im inspired by the stars, planets, the moon, life in outer space, says Niarchos, 30, motioning towards a framed poster that declares, The aliens are coming. I love 1950s comic books and science-fiction movies fused with a touch of quirky. The concept of merging something that doesnt exist in nature is an ongoing theme. Her debut Reptilia collection united the unique patterns of reptile skins and shells and counts Lily James and Gemma Arterton as fans. People dont really expect to see glow-in-the-dark in fine jewellery, she says of her Tiger Ray ring.

Ive always loved dressing up and costume, she says of her natural gravitation towards fashion. But after a few internships, I was turned off by the pace. As soon as its in, its out, she laughs. The granddaughter of shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos, the Londoner grew up in Paris, which is also where her passion for jewellery was ignited, helping friend Gaia Repossi design a couple of extremely successful collections for her familys maison. Venyx is a mix of Venus and onyx  a planet and a stone, she explains.

Oseanyx Rainbow Tiger Ray glow-in-the-dark ring, 3,200

As for the impetus behind opening a salon so early on, she says: You really understand my jewellery when you see it together. Its great to work with stores, but I think that luxury has become so available that people now want to meet the designer and have something thats more tailor-made. She offers her bespoke astrological coin necklaces as an example. Well meet and go over your star sign and birthstone. Its a dialogue. Appointments are made via her website and begin with a call to her sales director, Elina, who discusses pieces that appeal, whether its a gift or self-purchase, as well as budget. Not surprisingly, the trunk show model (where potential clients are invited to meet the designer) has been key for business. Shes just returned from a Moda Operandi event with clients in New York and LA, and is going to Dubai before Christmas. Her pieces (from 1,050 to 16,950), are inspired by stones picked up on her travels. Favourites include lava bead, meteorite, and new discovery, African aquaprase. Not surprisingly, she also relishes an excursion to Londons Planetarium and Aquarium. I love all of these quirky things, she reiterates, straightening her Barbarella-silver Chanel leather skirt.

Venyxworld.com

Credit: Louise Haywood-Schiefer

Charlotte Dauphin de la Rochefoucauld of Dauphin

Visitors to Charlotte Dauphin de la Rochefoucaulds Pont Street salon are greeted by her maiden name elegantly clad in gold letters on an imposing high-gloss door. As the only granddaughter of French advertising legend, Jacques Dauphin (creator of the modern-day billboard), you could say that branding is in the 29-year-olds DNA. So much so that she designed her first collection along with the brands visual identity, while finishing her MA in art history at Londons Courtauld Institute of Art. I always knew exactly what I wanted, so I think thats something from my grandfathers legacy, she says of the man who helped raise her.

Just a year after her launch in 2014, De la Rochefoucauld, who counts Karlie Kloss and Susan Sarandon as fans, opened her first showroom on the fine-jewellery mecca of Pariss Place Vendome, raising a few eyebrows. We just got very, very lucky, she says of the coveted address that she enlisted friend Felix de Montesquiou of DAS Studio to transform using concrete. The idea was laying the foundation of this new house, she explains. The pair applied the same avant-garde directive to her new Knightsbridge salon that is clad in brushed stainless steel tiles, which today mirror the restrained lines of her Dior tailoring.

Serpentine pink gold with diamond cuff, 27,920

London has been De la Rochefoucaulds base for the past five years and she lives nearby on Cadogan Square with her husband Charles-Henri. The by appointment space was a natural extension of her Paris showroom. We do sell a lot of engagement rings online, she says. I think men are more inclined to buy online, but when it reaches a certain budget (her pieces range from 500-33,500) then people prefer to come and try on. People really are looking for this salon concept where the experience is much more intimate.

De la Rochefoucaulds latest collection, Serpentine, falls under the Dauphin Special Projects initiative that she set up in 2015, following in the footsteps of her familys sponsorship of FIAC and the Cannes Film Festival. It will also eventually allow her to indulge her love of the arts and film (which she also studied at the University of Southern California)  youll find her at Notting Hills Electric Cinema in her downtime. Half of this collections proceeds will go to support the Serpentine Galleries exhibition and education programmes.

The design is related to the neighbouring river, which was very coherent with my blue gold, she adds, of her signature inky rhodium, the Dauphin family colour. One continuous thread referencing eternity, she smiles, slipping the black diamond ring on and off her wedding finger.

Maisondauphin.com

Credit: Louise Haywood-Schiefer / Louise Haywood-Schiefer

Anna Jewsbury of Completed Works

Barbara Hepworth went to my school, says Anna Jewsbury, 30, one half of Completed Works, founded with brother Mark in 2013. It was amazing having these sculptures in your surroundings and thinking its normal, she adds of her early years in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. This also goes a long way to explain the brands strong sculptural semblance. The pairs debut collection, Pillar, is a riff on ancient Doric columns that are painstakingly hand-carved into marble cocktail rings. I studied maths and philosophy and my brother studied history, she explains of their Oxford University education that theyve since used in their theoretical approach to contemporary jewellery. Their designs have caught the attention of Dover Street Market and Alex Eagle (pieces range from 290 to 12,000), as well as fans Naomie Harris and Alexa Chung.

Incomplete Column ring, 5,550

Craftsmanship is at the centre of their operation, and clients now enter their Regents Park showroom via the workshop. The showroom definitely helps in developing the formal vocabulary of the brand; a quiet moment in an uncluttered space is a good reflection of our methods. And just like her grey Celine dress, the space is minimalist: save for ceramic vases designed by friend Ekaterina Bazhenova-Yamasaki that commandeer the Victorian buildings mantelpiece.

When shes not in the studio, the Marylebone resident can be found at The Conran Shop cafe with new husband Hassan Al-Damluji, who heads up Middle East relations at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The pair tied the knot in Ireland in September (the bride wore Balenciaga). I got a coupon for a Completed Works ring, she says of the proposal. The resulting commission features a brilliant-cut diamond floating on coils of yellow gold. I should have invoiced him for it, she winks.

Completedworks.com

Credit: Louise Haywood-Schiefer / Louise Haywood-Schiefer

Sabine Getty of Sabine Getty

Im giving birth twice, laughs Sabine Getty, sitting on a dust-pink Kartell by Ettore Sottsass stool in her Fisher Price-hued salon accessed through a series of doors off Berkeley Square. The 32-year-old is referring to the March due date of her first child with husband Joseph (great-grandson of oil tycoon Jean Paul Getty, whom she married in Rome last year in Schiaparelli couture), and the launch of her new diffusion jewellery line.

I guess because Im having a baby, I had no other idea than to call it Baby Memphis, she says of the more moderately priced collection (from 200 to 2,500) of scaled-down versions of the topaz-studded Memphis mainline (1,500 to 24,000) that she launched in January. Rihanna, Catherine Deneuve and Celine Dion are among her admirers. Its all very much still Memphis, very happy, colourful and graphic, but you can wear them every day, she says of the pave sapphire, emerald and diamond pieces.

This year, Getty has taken stock of her four-year-old business, opening the Mayfair salon in July to directly welcome clients into her primary-coloured world. In the first two years, I was in a lot of stores. Then as I pulled back over time, I wanted to have my own physical space where I could get to know my customers, she explains, her 1920s emerald engagement ring gleaming. Jewellery is something you have to try on, see once and come back to again. Its important to experience the spirit of the brand. That spirit is for now built around the Memphis Postmodern design movement  founded by Sottsass in 1981 and renowned for hyper hues, bulbous curves and asymmetrical shapes.

The daughter of Lebanese financier Charbel Ghanem and Egyptian designer Karine Ratl, the concept for both collections and the salon space was originally inspired by Gettys childhood bedroom. This was my lamp when I was eight, she says, pointing at a 1981 Memphis Tahiti duck light that she recently fished out of storage. That was my bedside table, she adds of a Memphis Kristall side table, so its really a memory, something that has always been in my life. The movements bold waves and zig-zag lines have been distilled into sinuous chokers, curved cuffs and star-shaped earrings. Memphis is like not grown-up design for grown-ups, she smiles.

The showrooms bold palette was derived from Wes Andersons The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, which Getty has also used to enliven her Pimlico home. With the impending birth curbing her jet-setting, she says weekends will now be spent browsing antique shops or lunching at Daylesford.

Sabinegetty.com

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter: @EsMagOfficial
T he sharp-suited employees of the Citys banks are about to get a new neighbour, a takeaway delivery app HQ. Deliveroo is the latest tech company to move into what used to be strictly City boy-only turf, and its part of a shift changing the face of the Square Mile. Amazon has offices near the Barbican and WeWork has set up a large co-working space in Moorgate.

Theres been a push to boost digital connectivity in the City with faster broadband speeds to entice tech firms, and rent is lower than in nearby Shoreditch. Proximity to the City is still a draw; many of these start-ups are fintech-based so they need strong relationships with banks.

But as the geeks open offices in among the banks, bright graduates who would have traditionally been attracted to careers in finance are being lured into tech, leaving the City having to rethink its policy if it wants to continue to attract the best staff.

Deliveroos new home in Cannon Bridge House used to be the trading floor of the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (which has moved to Basildon, in Essex). The 50,000 sq ft space has had a makeover, with bright break-out areas where there were once endless rows of grey desks.

Theres been a massive exodus from banking, says Hazel Mulhare, who works in recruitment. A couple of years ago people looking for jobs wanted training, a brand name, a stable career trajectory, impressive senior colleagues. Now there has been a generational shift and people want the autonomy of a start-up. They like small teams, innovation, casual clothes and flexible working hours. In future it will be hard to hire if there is a tussle between tech and banks for a limited pool of candidates.

Konstantin Oelfke left a job at a private investment fund and is now COO at fashion website Grabble. He had been in banking since taking a graduate job at UBS and says leaving a well-paid, secure job was scary but worth it: My learning curve was flattening, my curiosity was not nurtured. I was told that I was completing tasks above my job description but bureaucracy meant they couldnt promote me above others who had been there longer.

Drhuv Ghulati, who left his position at a bank to work at a start-up and then in AI, says: Banking felt staid, in a defensive state. I noticed every single division of the bank having to fire people. I wanted to work in a growing sector. If youve spent your career in an area that hasnt innovated, and cant, you might find yourself further down the line unable to work anywhere else.

Christmas gifts for tech lovers - in pictures 1 /14 Christmas gifts for tech lovers - in pictures Scroll to see our favourite Christmas gifts for tech lovers... Shutterstock / Roman Samborskyi PS4 Pro Currently the most powerful console on the market, the latest version of the PS4 will set you up for future game releases. It's a faster and more capable console than the regular PS4 and supports 4K resolution and HDR, which are gorgeous if your TV can handle them. If it can't, then 1080p looks just as good with higher and more stable frame rates. It also has a faster download speed and comes with a huge 1TB of storage. 349, Amazon, Buy it now Sennheiser Urbanite XL Solidly built as you would expect from Sennheiser, the Urbanite XLs have bigger drive units and earpads which help tremendously with sound insulation. Most importantly, the sound quality is very good and they are comfortable due to them being over-ears. 106.24, Amazon, Buy it now Samsung R1 There's no shortage of multiroom portable speakers, but the Samsung R1  which is cheaper than others in Samsungs 'R' range  doesn't sacrifice on features. With more than one of these, you can create your set up through the Multiroom App 2.0, which allows you to stream music via your smartphone from a wide range of online services such as Spotify or Deezer. 116.47, Amazon, Buy it now Nextbase 312GW Dashcams have gained a massive popularity as of late. Just one look at YouTube will show you how many accidents or near misses have been recorded by one of these devices, saving careful motorists thousands  some insurers will even give you a discount if you have one installed. The Nextbase 312GW comes with GPS, built in Wi-Fi, a clear 2.7inch screen showing 140-degrees of view at 1080p/30fps and supports SDHC and SDXC Micro SD cards up to 32GB. 82.95, Amazon, Buy it now Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8 Sitting at the top of the pile when it comes to tablets, the successor to the superb Tab S range the S2 8 is the smaller of the two available. With a solid build quality that shows off how well Samsung have pushed their design, its thinner and lighter than the iPad mini 4, with an impressive 320ppi pixel density Super AMOLED screen powered by an Octa-core processor and 3GB RAM. It makes app switching and gaming an absolute pleasure. 298.99, Amazon, Buy it now Amazon Fire TV with 4K Ideal for any Amazon Prime user. Unlike its predecessor, it delivers content at the highest resolution available. With the membership programme's sheer amount of content, its a no-brainer if you have a 4K-capable TV with HDMI 2.0 HDCP2.2 connection and don't already have the brilliant Fire TV Stick. 75, Amazon, Buy it now Sphero Force Band & BB-8 App Enabled Droid Who wouldn't want to control the Star Wars BB-8 unit with a wave of their hand? Master your Force powers by using gestures to control the BB-8 unit and take advantage of the additional capabilities of the band as you complete combat training for Blasters, Lightsabers and the force itself. 229, Amazon, Buy it now Fisher Price Code-a-pillar A fantastic introduction to coding and logic for young children. Easy to use with plenty of possibilities, it comes with modules that snap together, each one having a different function such as turn left or dance. 44.99, Amazon, Buy it now Amazon Echo The Amazon Echo is essentially multiple devices in one. It offers a voice controlled speaker that can play your music via Spotify, Amazon music or other connected devices such as tablets, a voice activated assistant that can answer queries  such as finding the latest news or weather  and finally a home-controller that can control lights and devices. The more you use it, the more efficient it becomes. 49.99, Amazon, Buy it now Nintendo Classic Mini NES A must-have for any gamer. It brings back the amazing feeling that the NES created back to our front rooms. Plug it into your TV and you can blissfully play from amongst 30 pre-installed classic NES games the way they were meant to be played on a reproduction of the original controller. You can even save your progress, with 4 'Suspend Point' slots for each of the available games. You'll have to try incredibly hard to mirror this experience with anything but the original console. From 111, Amazon, Buy it now

Banks are upping their recruitment game in response to the tech-xodus, going to university careers fairs earlier and adjusting salaries. Some banks have had millennial training. Mulhare says: If you are a 40-year-old man you learn how the new generation is different, working on things such as not giving negative feedback. They are also looking at work/life balance.

Both Oelfke and Ghulati recognise that start-ups are, as Ghulati says, scrappy and less organised  there isnt the cushiness or protection, and the money in the City brings security. My mid-level job at a start-up paid more than three times less than my entry level job in banking. But its worth the trade-off, he adds.

Many prefer to go it alone. Daniel Waterhouse, General Partner of technology investment firm Balderton Capital, says that entrepreneurship has become accepted as a career path, with increasing success stories in the press bolstering the trend. He is seeing more people from financial backgrounds founding technology companies and going to work for them. The technology industry is still growing, and as more businesses are founded, the number of employment opportunities increases too.

These former bankers are far from work-shy. Despite the reputation of ping-pong time and free beer at start-ups, Ghulati says it is actually much harder than working at the bank  sure, your official hours are shorter but the mental energy of thinking about the business all the time even when you sleep is really draining.

Its hard to identify one particular demographic going into the Silicon sector, though, and Mulhare says its still quite difficult to attract women to tech. Companies such as Deliveroo that are more logistics- than coding-based are more popular with women. You are taking a risk with things like maternity leave but younger women arent necessarily thinking about that when looking for jobs.

Ghulati would like more support for start-ups: We need to realise that if we dont have people going away from the norm the economy and society will not advance. After all, Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch were once start-ups with scarce resources or influence.

And now the geeks are moving in on their patch the original start-ups are having to adapt.

Follow Susannah Butter on Twitter: @susannahbutter
A British man who tried to grab a policemans gun in an alleged plot to kill Donald Trump is terrified the President-elect will demand a lengthy prison sentence, his mother said.

Michael Sandford, 20, of Dorking, Surrey, will be sentenced in Las Vegas on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to attempting to snatch the weapon during a rally for Mr Trump in June.

Sandford, who has autism, allegedly told officers after he was arrested his plan was to shoot Mr Trump.

His mother Lynne, who has travelled to Las Vegas for the sentencing, said her son feared the President-elect may "choose to make an example of him".

She said: I'm apprehensive and nervous not knowing what the sentence might be.

Plot: Michael Sandford was accused of a plot to kill Donald Trump after he was arrested at a Las Vegas casino in June / AP Photo/John Locher

"Michael is terrified. He phoned me 15 times through the night with severe anxiety over what the judge is going to say to him and the sentence he will be given.

"Although he signed a plea agreement, which should mean he receives between 18 and 24 months, the judge is able to overrule that.

"Michael is afraid that because Donald Trump is now president-elect, it may have some bearing on the judge's sentencing."

Mrs Sandford has issued a plea to Theresa May and Barack Obama for her son to return to the UK to receive psychiatric care and revealed her son was on suicide watch.

Alleged target: President-elect Donald Trump was speaking at a rally in Las Vegas / AP

She said: If there is anything they can do to help Michael before Donald Trump takes office, I urge them to do so.

"Michael is remorseful over what he did. He fears Donald Trump may intervene and choose to make an example of him.

"Michael has been on suicide watch for a considerable amount of time. His weight fell below 8st, which is very low for his height."

Mrs Sandford has travelled to Las Vegas with her mother Christine and four-year-old daughter Jessica. Sandford's father Paul Davey is also expected to attend.

The family has launched a crowd-funding campaign to raise 10,000 to pay legal costs in their fight to bring Sandford back to the UK to serve his sentence.

Donations can be made at www.crowdjustice.org/michael-sandford.
A n elderly woman said she thought she might die after two men burst into her home, pinned her to her bed and ransacked her apartment.

Margaret Miller, 72, said she was on the verge of falling asleep at her flat in sout-east London when she heard shouting and pounding at her door.

She told the Standard: I heard people shouting open the door, open the door.

I asked who they were but they were already kicking it down.

When they burst through they grabbed hold of me and manhandled me into my bedroom where one pinned me to the bed.

Margaret Miller said she suffered wool burns from the thieves' gloves (Tracy Assuncao) / Margaret Miller

He squeezed my neck with one hand and covered my mouth and nose with the other so I couldnt breathe.

The other one started ransacking the bedroom, going through the drawers and pulling everything out of the cupboards.

They kept shouting where is the money? Where is the money? But I was losing consciousness.

I started bending the mans finger back trying to break it so hed move his hand.

I kept thinking 'I have to stay alive, keep calm and think clearly'.

I pushed his finger back and managed to say that my bag was in the hallway which they seemed to accept.

The apartment block where the robbery took place / Tracy Assuncao

Police said emergency services raced to the address in Chislehurst Road in Sidcup at around 11pm on Tuesday after reports of an aggravated burglary.

They said the suspects were wearing balaclavas and are thought to be white or olive skinned and possibly Eastern European.

One is thought to be around five foot seven inches tall with stocky build, and the other taller and thinner.

Ms Miller, who is a retired teacher, said at one point she thought she might die: He almost killed me, but I dont think he meant to.

I think they were high as kites, they were very aggressive.

Kicked in: Margaret Miller's door was reportedly kicked down by the thieves / Tracy Assuncao

Describing her injuries the 72-year-old said: I have wool burns around my neck from their woollen gloves and bruises on my face, and the inside of my mouth is sore where my teeth bit into my gums but Im okay. Im just very tired.

Ms Miller, who lives alone, said she felt seriously shaken but refused to be a victim.

She said: I may be the subject of an aggravated burglary, but Im not a victim.

Police said ambulance services attended the scene of the attack but Ms Miller didnt need to go to hospital.

Tracy Assuncao, 51, who lives in the flat above, said she was watching television when she heard a loud banging and Ms Miller screaming.

She said: At first I thought it might be my neighbours having a row but it got louder and louder and then I heard the screaming.

My daughter woke up and all we could hear was Tracy, Tracy, help, help.

It was horrible we didnt know what to do.

Ms Assuncao said police had told everyone to barricade the doors to their apartments just in case the burglars came back.

Were absolutely terrified; Ive got two kitchen chairs behind my door.

The men have all her door keys and the police said they might well come back.

It makes me feel sick to think about it - were living in fear. 

Detectives from Bexley CIF said they were investigating the incident and urged any witnesses or anyone with information to come forward.

To give information call Bexley CID via 101 or if you wish to speak anonymously contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or visit www.crimestoppers-uk.org.
A neo-Nazi extremist who subjected MP Luciana Berger to a vitriolic campaign of anti-Semitic abuse online has been jailed.

Joshua Bonehill-Paine, 24, was jailed for a maximum of two years at the Old Bailey on Thursday after being found guilty of harassing the Labour MP for Liverpool Waverley with a string of anti-Jewish rants.

The court heard how he branded her evil and a money grabber, superimposing her head on a rat and suggesting she was responsible for the death of Jesus.

As part of his vile hate campaign Bonehill-Paine, from Yeovil, called the politician a filthy Jew B***h.

Luciana Berger's plea to other victims as racist troll is convicted of harassment

His harassment of Ms Berger came in retaliation for the prosecution of another far-right extremist who had been targeting the MP.

Liverpool-based neo-Nazi Garron Helm was jailed for four weeks in October 2014 for a Twitter attack on Ms Berger, superimposing a Holocaust yellow star on her forehead and using the hashtag Hitler was right.

Though Helm pleaded guilty, Bonehill-Paine believed the conviction was wrong and launched Operation Filthy Jew B***h in retaliation.

"Ms Berger was referred to by Mr Bonehill-Paine as a rodent, evil, a money grabber, a dominatrix, and responsible for the death of Jesus, said prosecutor Philip Stott.

He told jurors Bonehill-Paine has a passionate hatred of the Jewish community, and his articles - posted between October 2014 and January last year - were "littered with hate" directed at Ms Berger.

The MP came to the Old Bailey to give evidence, telling the court she felt under attack and scared for her safety when she saw Bonehill-Paines articles.

Abuse: Labour MP Luciana Berger arriving at the Old Bailey / PA

"I felt sick, really", she said. "It's attacking me for my faith or religion and not something I have said or done for my constituents."

"I have received, as an MP, anti-Semitism since I was elected. The scale and body during this period, combined with articles, I felt very much under attack. It was all-consuming.

Bonehill-Paine posted four of the hate articles on an online newspaper he had set up called The Daily Bale, which boasts of being the Britains Number 1 Nationalist Newspaper.

A fifth, celebrating the work of Operation Filthy Jew Bitch including the fact Ms Berger had been inundated with offensive Tweets, was posted on his personal blog.

While he was posting abusive blogs on Ms Berger, Bonehill-Paine was on bail awaiting sentence for making false claims on Twitter that several people were paedophiles.

And while on police bail over the blogs, he stirred up racial hatred in a flyer for a neo-Nazi rally in Golders Green, north London.

He was jailed for three years and four months last December for the ad illustrated with a picture of Nazi death camp Auschwitz which promised "an absolute gas".

Bonehill-Paine, from Yeovil, denied racially aggravated harassment, but was convicted by the jury on Wednesday.

Sentencing, Mr Justice Spencer told the defendant he had "amassed a formidable record of hate crime" at the age of just 24.

He told Bonehill-Paine he was responsible for a "cruel campaign of vile racist abuse" on his "obnoxious" online newspaper.

The judge described Ms Berger's evidence in court as "restrained" and "dignified".

She told jurors that online abuse does not always stay online - a truth illustrated by the tragic death of her fellow MP Jo Cox, the judge said.

He told Bonehill-Paine: "This was gravely oppressive racially aggravated harassment of the worst kind."

Mr Justice Spencer took into account he was due for release on April 28 2017 but said a consecutive sentence was "fully justified".

He also imposed a criminal behaviour order which carries a penalty of up to five years in jail to curb his internet activities.

Under the order, to be enforced by police upon his release, Bonehill-Paine is barred from contacting directly or indirectly Ms Berger, her former assistant and other named individuals.

The judge said: "It is abundantly clear from all the evidence in the case and the material I have been provided with that he is tenacious in his use of the internet as a retaliatory weapon against anyone with whom he wishes to pick a dispute."

The order gives officers the power to monitor his online activities for the next five years.
A mother whose daughters 16th birthday party ended with a guest being stabbed to death today criticised the sentence handed to his killer, saying teenage knife crime is out of hand.

Che Labastide-Wellington, 17, was knifed through the heart minutes after leaving the party in Kenton at about 12.30am on November 9 last year.

The Old Bailey heard that Che and a friend were set upon by a small army of 17 youths called in to deal with gatecrashers.

Walker Sesay, 19, was cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for 13 years yesterday. Five others were also jailed.

The court heard that the mother could not have taken more care to ensure that the party was safe alcohol, drugs and cigarettes were banned and invited guests were only allowed inside after being searched.

Sesay, of Wembley, had been sent on a knife awareness course a few weeks earlier after being found in possession of a kitchen knife at Notting Hill Carnival.

The mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: Im not happy about the sentencing, but what can I do? He should have got life, he killed someone.

"Teenage knife crime is just out of hand, and obviously Im devastated by what happened.

In the days after Ches death, friends and family paid tribute to the aspiring businessman from Harrow, who was a student at West Herts College in Watford.

In a Facebook post, his grandmother Terri Labastide wrote: Heaven has gained a blessed being whilst down here we have lost a precious gem.

Jailing Sesay, Judge Stephen Kramer said: You yourself led the charge, running at Che, and thrust the knife into his chest.

He added that the intention was to cause some harm, but not really serious harm and the actual knifing was swift and to some extent spontaneous.

Rimmel Williams, 19, of Willesden and Calvin Tudor, 22, of Neasden, and Marlon Tudor, 23, were found guilty of wounding with intent and jailed for nine years after Ches friend, 16, was stabbed repeatedly as he sought refuge in a house.

Omar Afrah, 22, and Olamilekan Onafowokan, 23, both of Wembley, were found guilty of conspiracy to commit violent disorder and sentenced to two years.

Two teenage boys were cleared of all charges.
P olice have launched a manhunt after a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted on a rush-hour train travelling to London.

The 21-year-old said the man sat next to her and touched her inappropriately.

When she confronted the man, he moved to a different seat.

Detectives have released a CCTV image of a man who they want to track down in connection with the attack, which happened on a train from Plymouth to London Paddington at around 9am on Friday, November 11.

DC Andrew Parkinson, from the British Transport Police, said: Unwanted sexual behaviour is totally unacceptable and we are working hard to trace the man responsible.

Tube passenger: The assault happened on a train heading from Plymouth to London Paddington. / British Transport Police

We believe that the man in the CCTV images has vital information that can help us investigate. If you know who he is, please get in touch.

After getting off the train at Paddington station, the man then headed to the Tube.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact BTP by sending a text to 61016 or by calling 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference 164 of 08/12/2016 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
L ondon's progress towards an alfresco cafe society should be halted in areas blighted by high levels of air pollution, a leading campaigner said today.

Simon Birkett, founder of the Clean Air in London group, said drinkers and diners were putting themselves at risk by lingering over coffees on pavement tables next to the most badly-affected streets.

The former investment banker is also chair of the Knightsbridge Neighbourhood Forum, which today demanded that planning applications to put tables and chairs on pavements should be refused if local air quality is below World Health Organisation guideline limits for exposure.

Mr Birkett said: Health must come first. The WHO guidelines state that there should be no human exposure to more than 200 micrograms of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) per cubic metre for longer than an hour.

'Cafe society' in areas of high pollution should be stopped, a campaigner has said. / Alex Lentati

The reality is that you could well be sitting at a cafe for more than an hour and you certainly might visit more than once.

He said that the NO2 hourly limit had been breached 159 times already this year at the monitoring station in Brompton Road near Harrods, compared with a legal limit of 18. The average concentration over the year has been 76 micrograms  almost twice the legal maximum of 40.

There are a number of cafes near the monitoring station with outdoor tables in the warmer months including branches of Caffe Concerto, Caffe Nero, Venice Cafe, Richoux and Pret a Manger as well as the Indian restaurant Chapati & Karak. Todays document includes the proposal that applications to place tables and chairs on the pavement will only be permitted if the World Health Organisations guideline for hourly mean exposure to nitrogen dioxide is unlikely to be exceeded in that location.

Mr Birkett said: We are trying to send a powerful signal to the Mayor, Kensington & Chelsea council, the City of Westminster council and Transport for London that they have got to do something. The current situation is just not good enough.

Brompton Road is a classic street canyon that traps the emissions because of the tall buildings on either side. But it is also one of the busiest streets in London in terms of pedestrian traffic.
W orking into your 70s can help boost life expectancy, the UK's chief doctor has told Brits.

Pensioners should avoid retirement and instead work into their old age to stay fit and healthy, the Governments highest medical adviser claimed in a new report.

Professor Dame Sally Davies new research shatters the notion workers should look forward to retirement with a call urging people to keep working if they can.

The chief medical officer, who turned 67 last month, said she plans to continue working and has urged others to do the same, the Sun reported.

Top advice: Chief Medical Officer for the UK Government Professor Dame Sally Davies. / PA

She said the nature of retirement has changed and is certainly not the start of a slower pace of life it once was.

People are living longer than ever and so retirement presents a real opportunity for baby boomers to be more active than ever before, Prof Dame Davies said.

"For many people it is a chance to take on new challenges.

"Staying in work, volunteering or joining a community group can make sure people stay physically and mentally active for longer.

"The health benefits of this should not be underestimated."

Her annual report was published on Thursday and recommends pensioners should keep busy with work as they grow older.

One in eight people in Britain are currently still working past the pension age.
A female cyclist is fighting for life in hospital after being hit by van in Southwark.

The woman, whose age is not yet known, was rushed to an east London hospital after being struck in Southwark Bridge Road just after 11am on Thursday.

She remains in a critical condition with life-changing injuries, police said.

Images posted on social media showed a police cordon around a white van.

Roads were taped-off for more than three hours following the crash.

A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said: Officers, London Ambulance Service and London Air Ambulance attended the scene.

The female cyclist was taken to an east-London hospital where she remains in a critical condition with injuries believed to be life-changing.

The driver stopped at the scene.

Local roads remain closed to traffic.

Enquiries continue. There have been no arrests.

A spokeswoman for London Ambulance Service added: We were called at 11.11am today to reports of a road traffic collision at Southwark Bridge Road.

We sent an ambulance crew, an incident response officer and a motorcycle paramedic to the scene. We also dispatched Londons Air Ambulance.

We treated a patient at the scene for a pelvic injury and took them as a priority to a major trauma centre."
H ugh Fearnley-Whittingstall today urged Londons antiques dealers and museums to stop buying ivory.

As MPs prepared to debate the issue in Parliament today, the chef-turned-environmental campaigner said the sectors were keeping ivory prices high and maintaining its luxury status.

The legal market has always been used as a cover for illegal poached ivory and thats clear wherever you go in the world, said Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall, 51, who presented the BBC documentary Saving Africas Elephants.

Its been rather complacently claimed and pursued that antique ivory isnt a problem or doesnt cause a problem for Africas elephants, but British ivory is sold in the same market in Asia that we know poached African ivory is being sold. That ivory makes us complicit.

The Government is consulting on banning the trade of post-1947 ivory products, although allowing sales of historical objects to continue.

A global ban on international ivory sales was introduced in the Eighties, but the continuation of domestic market sales has fuelled the trade.

Any moves towards a total ban are vehemently opposed by the capitals antiques dealers, who claim items of cultural and artistic heritage should be exempt from excessive legislation.

Tory MP Victoria Borwick, president of the British Antique Dealers Association, has the Victoria & Albert Museum in her Kensington constituency.

She said: There is absolutely no reason why the trade in genuine pre-1947 objects cannot continue, whilst tougher measures be introduced to remove from sale objects which are little more than tourist trinkets.

In todays Westminster Hall debate on the UK ivory trade, she added: Any ban on antique ivory is cultural vandalism, virtually akin to placing a ban on old books because they may be made from paper that came originally from now endangered trees, or antique furniture made from mahogany. She said the V&A and other museums should be allowed to carry on building their early 20th-century ivory collections.

The V&A denied it was seeking early 20th-century ivory pieces, but might consider acquiring such objects if they are relevant to its existing collection.

However, Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall said: If theyre solid ivory pieces, I dont think they should be paying money.

"They should freeze their collection where it is and if they want to acquire further pieces because they are particularly significant they should acquire them through loans or swaps, but not by paying serious money.

Africas elephants are dying because the price of ivory remains high globally and as long as we continue to buy and sell bits of ivory we are contributing to that.

A Defra spokesman said: The UK has a strong record as a global leader in the fight to end elephant poaching and we now plan to widen the UK ban on ivory sales.
A south London pub has become an internet sensation after offering a full turkey dinner and beer to anyone alone on Christmas Day.

The Alexandras gesture was hailed as fabulous, brilliant and what Christmas is all about by a legion of hugely impressed social media users.

The Wimbledon pub made the offer on Twitter, stating: If you're alone on Crimbo day, don't be. Come to the Alex, we'll give you a FREE turkey roast & buy you a beer. No strings, just come.

In just 24 hours the post has been retweeted over 1,500 times and liked by a similar number of people. The incredible response caused the pub, on Wimbledon Hill Road, to trend on Twitter in the United Kingdom.

One local, Dave Nicholson, wrote: I love my local pub! Well done@thealexsw19  wonderful idea. While Mary Wallace added: How lovely to know that there are some kind things happening.

In one of a mountain of similar comments, Dirk Jansen said: Congratulations, great idea, just the thing to bring people out for a while.

Overwhelmed by the outpouring of support, the pub later tweeted an image of Will Ferrells character Ron Burgundy in the film Anchorman with the words, Wow. That escalated quickly.

It was accompanied by the caption: Flippin eck! Like the man facing a Malcolm Marshall bouncer once said, "it just got a bit big on us!". We might need a bigger pub!

The pub later explained that it is fully booked for Christmas dinner but has two kitchens, so one is spare.

Please no "why doesn't my pub do this?", it's not fair. 2 kitchens, 2 chef teams at the Alex. One is spare, hence we can make the offer, it wrote.

It comes after a Muslim-owned restaurant in Sidcup offered a three-course meal to homeless and elerly people on Christmas Day so that no-one eats alone.
H undreds of thousands of Londoners may be having their immune system slowly aggravated by toxic diesel fumes, a leading expert warned today.

Dr Ian Mudway, of Kings College London, also stressed that young and old - and those with existing lung conditions - are particularly vulnerable to being harmed by filthy air in the capital.

Scientists have made a series of shocking revelations in recent years about the toxic air scandals in London, Paris, Beijing and other capitals, focusing largely on the grim death toll from pollutants which are shortening the lives of millions of people.

But Dr Mudway highlighted at a British Thoracic Societys meeting in Westminster today that pollution in diesel emissions is also suspected to be gradually attacking some peoples immune system, meaning they will be more likely to suffer illnesses.

In individuals with pre-existing lung disease the contaminants within the air we breathe can have immediate tangible effects, such as symptomatic flare-ups during pollution episodes, he said.

Loading....

But for most of us the effects are more insidious, with the impacts only manifesting slowly as we age.

Hundreds of thousands of Londoners will be walking around the city unaware that their lungs are being inflamed by toxic pollution, explained Dr Mudway.

A proportion of these individuals risk having their immune system damaged, he added.

Their genetic make-up is likely to be a key factor to whether they are a victim of toxic fumes, with diesel emissions, including tiny PM2.5 particulates which can get deep into lungs, believed to be particularly harmful.

Some people are almost bullet proof, other people will be very sensitive to it, he added.

Dr Mudway told lung health experts that a review of new clinical evidence showed how diesel exhausts interact with immune cells in the lung in ways that may make the airways more susceptible to infections and allergic reactions.

Much of the work highlighted was carried out in London and aimed to identify the most damaging pollutant sources of toxic air.

The smoking gun points to diesel emissions and further strengthens the arguments to target emissions from these vehicles to improve the respiratory health of Londoners, said Dr Mudway.

His warning is all the more alarming as hundreds of schools in London are near roads with heavy traffic spewing out fumes as pupils walk to school.

Filthy air levels are higher in central London, with three wealthy areas, Westminster, the City, and Kensington and Chelsea, being the worst blackspots for tiny particulate PM2.5 pollution for five years in a row.

Dr Mudway stressed that many of the health impacts of air pollution are sub-clinical, so do not show up immediately with symptoms.

But the death toll from nitrogen dioxide and PM2.5 pollution has been estimated at more than 9,000-a-year in London.

This is not the number of people dying from toxic air but the accumulated total of lost life attributable to it.

Tamzen Isacsson, of the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders, stressed the industry was investing billions to engineer the cleanest vehicles in history.

The latest Euro VI diesel cars are light years away from their older counterparts, with high tech filters capturing 99% of all soot particulates - and the introduction of on road emissions testing from next year will drive even greater advances, she added.

The biggest change to air quality will be achieved by encouraging uptake of the latest, lowest emission technologies, regardless of vehicle or fuel type, and ensuring road transport can move smoothly.
L ondoners feel they are more sleep deprived than anyone else in the country, new research has revealed.

Nearly a third of those living in the capital say they are too busy to get enough shut eye, according to the research carried out for comparethemarket.com.

The survey also reveals Londoners feel time starved as well as sleep deprived, with 40 per cent believing they do not have enough time to clean the house - the highest of any region.

Four in ten in the capital claimed they do not have enough time to do regular exercise, and 32 per cent said they do not even have time to read.

More people in the south west than anywhere else said they felt they had sufficient rest, with only a fifth saying they required more time in bed.

The second most sleep deprived area is Yorkshire and the Humber where 27 per cent feel they dont get enough sleep.

Simon McCulloch, commercial director at comparethemarket.com said: They say that New York is the city that never sleeps, however London could also claim that title. With long hours at busy jobs, lengthy commutes and hectic social lives, it seems the population of our capital is unable to capitalise on sleep.

Indeed Londoners appear to be utterly rushed off their feet. With little time to clean their homes and read for leisure  let alone sort out their finances properly - compared to the rest of the UK, its no wonder that the London lifestyle leaves many gasping for air.

That said the lower levels of home cooking could be down to the great choice of restaurants in London, rather than a lack of time.

The findings are based on a survey conducted by Populus for compare themarket.com of 2000 UK adults.
T he owner of a novelty gift shop in north London says he has been accused of racism for selling British-themed wares.

Shopkeeper Chris Ostwald, 54, said his Really British store on Muswell Hill Broadway has provoked a barrage of complaints from well-heeled locals since it opened on November 26.

He said some angry residents had threatened to stage boycotts and organise protests over his goods, which include nick-nacks painted with Union Jacks, Kinks memorabilia, and socks favoured by Prince Charles.

Mr Ostwald today said it was mad that he was facing such criticism and said the shop is a British-themed shop celebrating British products.

Anger: Mr Ostwald said many complained about the theme of his shop / Chris Ostwald

He also accused critics of reverse racism, arguing complaints had been lodged from foreign customers who he said loved the shop.

Defiant: Chris Ostwald said he would not be making any changes to his store / Chris Ostwald

He told the Standard: I thought Id get a bit of a reaction but nothing like what I have seen.

Yesterday I had three strong complaints which included people telling us they would boycott us and placard us.

Identity: British made products such as Tracklements mustard are on sale / Chris Ostwald

People in Muswell Hill are a bit liberal and they are taking it far too seriously. There is nothing political about this.

I was asked when I opened if it was a Ukip shop or a Brexit shop but we are just a British-themed shop celebrating products made here.

Weve had Greek shoppers and Pakistanis in and they love it. They seem to be more proud of Britain than we are.

British-themed wares: Mr Ostwald said the items celebrated Britain / Chris Ostwald

They are the ones that think its a great idea the only complaints Ive had are from British people. Its almost the reverse of racism.

Opponents said the shop went against Londons international nature and implied other businesses werent British amid the flood of complaints.

Royal favourite: Socks said to be favoured by Prince Charles are also available / Chris Ostwald

One man wrote on Facebook: Chris, while I applaud you setting up a business in Muswell Hill and employing local people Im curious as to why you decided to call your shop Really British (besides the obvious point that you will sell British made goods)?

Like many people I live in London because of its international nature, and for me personally having a big sign on the Broadway saying Really British makes me feel youre implying that other local businesses in the area are therefore somehow not really British.

But Mr Ostwald said he had no plans to make any changes and argued the furore over Brexit had led to anger at his gift shop.

He added: Its about products not politics. Im not particularly interested in politics but this stuff with Brexit has gone too far we should just get on with it.

Its like people want to hide away our identity. For me it would be like banning pizzas in Italy.
A teacher who praised the Charlie Hebdo terror attack in front of pupils has been kicked out of the profession.

Hamza Jalal Tariq, 28, who taught in Tower Hamlets, effectively said during a lesson that the victims should be killed for insulting the prophet, a professional conduct panel ruled.

He made the comment just days after Islamist gunmen murdered 12 people at the French satirical magazine in January last year.

As revealed by the Evening Standard, Tariq had been a teacher at Tower Hamlets PRU, which has four sites across the east London borough, since 2013 but resigned after the accusations surfaced.

He has now been banned from teaching after the National College for Teaching and Leadership found he had made the Charlie Hebdo comments.

Panel chairman Dr Robert Cawley said the teachers behaviour was a manifestation of Mr Tariqs immaturity and desire to be liked by his students.

Dr Cawley added: We have taken account of the uniquely influential role that teachers can hold in pupils lives and that pupils must be able to view teachers as role models in the way they behave.

We find that Mr Tariqs conduct amounts to both unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.

Tariq was banned from teaching indefinitely but can apply to be restored to the register after five years. He was given 28 days to appeal the panels decision.

The panel was told he made the Charlie Hebdo comment in front of a teaching assistant, who informed the head teacher.

Tariq, who taught a class of up to 14 pupils, did not attend the hearing to give evidence.

The panel also found he had engaged in other inappropriate behaviour, including play fighting with students, swearing and smoking in front of them and allowing them to play computer games and watch YouTube videos in his class.

He also spudded pupils  greeting them by forming a fist and tapping knuckles  and covered the pane of glass in his door with paper to stop his colleagues looking in.

Tariq had earlier told the Standard the allegations were a complete fabrication and utter joke from start to beginning.

He said he did jump onto a table on one occasion and sometimes tapped knuckles with students.

But he claimed he did not even know what the name Charlie Hebdo referred to before the allegations were made and did not recall hearing it mentioned in the classroom.
T he parents of a young London graduate killed by a drink-driver have secured a ministers promise to consider automatic jail sentences in such cases.

Mark and Shaena Beresford, from Purley, near Croydon, want every driver who causes a death after drinking to spend at least one night behind bars to reflect on the devastation they have caused.

Their 21-year-old son George was knocked down yards from his familys home in February by a BMW driver who was over the limit.

George died in hospital three days later  but the driver walked free from court with just a fine and a 28-month driving ban.

Whether a driver is jailed for a day or for 100 years is not going to bring back a relative who has died, Mrs Beresford told the Evening Standard.

But what is important to families is that a driver does not simply walk out of court. Even if it is a day or a week, it is time for them to reflect on the devastation they have caused.

The Beresfords have taken their call directly to justice minister Sam Gyimah after local MP Chris Philp set up a meeting in Whitehall.

The Croydon South MP told the minister that a driver can be charged only for being over the limit and not over the death.

New sentencing guidelines or a tougher law was urgently needed, he said.

This has to change, said the MP. We need to close this loophole and make sure that families get the justice for their loved ones that they deserve.

The family is being backed by Detective Constable Ian Payne of Scotland Yards serious collision investigation unit, who said he shared their upset when the driver walked free.

I was left wondering what could be more serious than the fact that a death has occurred, said the officer.

Following the meeting, the minister told the Beresfords he was extremely moved by the case and pledged to consider very seriously their proposals during a review of dangerous driving laws now under way.

George had completed a mathematics degree at Exeter and was said to have started work in the City.


T heresa May slapped down Boris Johnson today for accusing Saudi Arabia of puppeteering and playing proxy wars in the Middle East.

Downing Street said the Foreign Secretarys remarks were his own and did not reflect government policy towards Saudi Arabia, one of Britains most important and sensitive allies in the Middle East.

These are the Foreign Secretarys views, they are not the Governments position on, for example, Saudi and its role in the region, stated the Prime Ministers spokeswoman, who made clear Mr Johnson would be expected to stick to the official line when he visits the region this weekend.

The Foreign Secretary will be in Saudi Arabia on Sunday and has the opportunity to set out the way the UK sees its relationship with Saudi Arabia, she said.

It followed the emergence of a video of Mr Johnson speaking at a conference in Italy last week.

He said the region was harmed by politicians who are twisting and abusing religion and different strains of the same religion in order to further their own political objectives and complained there was not strong enough leadership.

He then told the conference: Thats why youve got the Saudis, Iran, everybody, moving in and puppeteering and playing proxy wars.

Yemen, one of the Arab worlds poorest countries, has been devastated by a war in which more than 6,800 people have been killed and 35,000 injured since March last year, the majority in air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition.

The conflict has triggered a humanitarian disaster, leaving 80 per cent of the population in need of aid.

Mrs Mays spokeswoman said the PM valued Saudi actions in Yemen to back a legitimate government against Houthi rebels. She added that the PM continued to have full confidence in the Foreign Secretary and declined to say he should apologise to the Saudis.

Earlier, Mr Johnsons allies played down his remarks and accused critics of misinterpreting his words.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: As the Foreign Secretary made very clear on Sunday, we are allies with Saudi Arabia and support them in their efforts to secure their borders and protect their people. Any suggestion to the contrary is wrong.

Mr Johnson has been dogged by past remarks about foreign dignitaries and his record as a Brexiteer. Mrs May has joked she could have him put down like a dog if he stopped being useful.
Estimados amigos,

Les doy cordialmente la bienvenida a este Blog informativo con articulos, analisis y comentarios de publicaciones especializadas y especialmente seleccionadas, principalmente sobre temas economicos, financieros y politicos de actualidad, que esperamos y deseamos, sean de su maximo interes, utilidad y conveniencia.

Pensamos que solo comprendiendo cabalmente el presente, es que podemos proyectarnos acertadamente hacia el futuro.

Las convicciones son mas peligrosos enemigos de la verdad que las mentiras.

There are decades when nothing happens and there are weeks when decades happen.

You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.

No soy alguien que sabe, sino alguien que busca.

Only Gold is money. Everything else is debt.

Las grandes almas tienen voluntades; las debiles tan solo deseos.

Quien no lo ha dado todo no ha dado nada.

History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.

If you know the other and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share.This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity.
M ystery surrounds the deaths of four members of British "indie-pop" band Viola Beach who died when a car driven by their manager plunged into a canal, an inquest has heard.

The young four-piece band and their manager Craig Tarry, 32, died in the early hours of February 13 after their car smashed through two crash barriers onto a raised bridge before plunging into a canal in Sweden, Cheshire Coroner's Court heard.

Mr Tarry and Kris Leonard, 19, River Reeves, 19, Tomas Lowe, 27, and Jack Dakin, 19, drove back along a motorway not far from Stockholm when they approached a bridge over a ship canal, Cheshire Coroner's Court in Warrington heard.

However, the moments leading up to the crash remain a mystery.

The inquest was told that a technical examination found there was nothing wrong with the car, the signalling or barrier system, or the procedure for raising the bridge, and the road was wet but not frozen with ice.

No trace alcohol or drugs was found in the blood of Mr Tarry, who was driving the group back to their hotel after playing at a festival for upcoming bands

Despite a series of flashing warning lights he drove the car down a verge, past stationary traffic, and crashed through two sets of barriers before hitting a raised section of the bridge and plunging 30 metres into the water below.

A post-mortem examination found Mr Lowe died from drowning, while his four companions succumbed to head injuries.

Coroner Nicholas Rheinberg, recorded all five died as a result of a road traffic accident, at the end of a day-long inquest, which was attended by more than 20 family members of the men.

He added: "It's not for me to speculate, it is now known, I don't think it ever will be known what happened."

Addressing the families he added: "The events we have been hearing about reveal the most awful tragedy for all of you. I'm very sorry you have suffered this terrible loss."

Following the hearing, Supt Martin Cleworth, of Cheshire Police, told reporters: "Many questions will remain unanswered and may well do so infinitum. It is a truly, truly tragic case.

"Cheshire Police, as in any other UK police force, have no jurisdiction to investigate collisions abroad.

What we have sought to do in consultation with both the coroner and our police colleagues in Sweden is to seek to try and present the findings in a way that provides the best possible answers and the best support to the families.

"But a number of questions remain unanswered. I am sure there will be speculation, inevitably so.

"We don't know the final answer with any definitive logic in terms of what actually happened in those moments just prior to the final collision and tragic descent into the waters.

"We have given a commitment to continue to work with the coroner and the families to try and seek to understand some other issues that came from the inquest.

"Those questions are unlikely to actually ever get to that fundamental fact as to what went on in the seconds leading to the tragic collision."

Additional reporting by Press Association
J unk food advertising will be banned across all childrens media in a bid to tackle childhood obesity, it has been announced.

The landmark decision will see all commercials for food and drink which is high in fat, salt or sugar disappear from all non-broadcast outlets which target under-16s, the Committee of Advertising Practice announced.

The change, which will come into effect in July next year, will see social media fall in line with strict rules banning the advertising of junk food to children on television.

Print, cinema and online adverts will also be affected.

The regulation will ban ads which directly or indirectly promote an HFSS product from appearing in media where children make-up more than 25 per cent of the audience.

The new restrictions also apply to TV-like content online, such as on video-sharing platforms or 'advergames', if they are likely to appeal to children.

A ban on companies using promotions, licensed characters or celebrities popular with children in ads for HFSS food or drink will be partly lifted for the advertising of healthier options.

Shifting media habits among young people and evolving advertising techniques had fundamentally changed children's relationship with media, CAP said.

The "significant" change would help protect the health and wellbeing of children and lead to a major reduction in the number of ads for HFSS food and drinks they see, said the organisation, which is responsible for writing and maintaining the UK advertising codes.

Ofcom's latest figures show that young people aged between five and 15 now spend about 15 hours each week online, overtaking the time they spend in front of the television.

CAP chairman James Best said: "Childhood obesity is a serious and complex issue and one that we're determined to play our part in tackling. These restrictions will significantly reduce the number of ads for high, fat, salt or sugar products seen by children.

"Our tough new rules are a clear demonstration that the ad industry is willing and ready to act on its responsibilities and puts the protection of children at the heart of its work."

Jenny Rosborough, campaign manager at Action on Sugar, called for restrictions to be extended to programmes such as X Factor, which are hugely popular with children but exempt from restrictions because they fall outside children's programming.

She said: "We welcome the news that CAP are banning the advertising of high fat, salt or sugar food or drink products in children's non-broadcast media. We know that advertising influences children's food preferences.

"However, we need to see bans on advertising go further, as they currently do not manage exposure to these adverts during popular family programmes such as the X Factor or Britain's Got Talent.

"Levels of obesity and type 2 diabetes are worryingly high and everyone has a role to play."

Additional reporting by Press Association
A new investigation has been launched into all 302 killings by British troops in Northern Ireland during The Troubles.

Around 1,000 former servicemen, many now in their 60s and 70s, will have their actions brought under scrutiny in the legal inquiry.

The 238 fatal incidents, which involved the deaths of 302 people, are being investigated by the newly-created Legacy Investigations Branch of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

According to The Sun, the investigation is expected to last for many years and will cost tens of millions of pounds.

Conservative MP Johnny Mercer, who served in the British Army, said: This is a brand new witch hunt, as well as total and complete betrayal by the Government of those who have done its bidding.

If we could demonstrate in Government just some of the courage our Armed Forces have displayed over the years in Northern Ireland, the entire historical allegations money machine would end.
A student who was accused of carrying a folded knife near Buckingham Palace has had the case against him discontinued.

Hang Zhang, 25, was arrested for possession of an offensive weapon in a public place after being found at the main gate of the royal grounds on August 12.

The Chinese national, of Hawley Street, Sheffield, was subsequently sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

During a hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday, prosecutors confirmed the charges against him had been dropped.

Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot asked if this was due to his "mental health problems".

Prosecutor Emily Maunders replied: "Yes, I believe that is the case."

Mr Zhang had previously denied the charges against him during a hearing in October.
J ohn Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth, has died aged 95.

The former NASA astronaut, who went on to become the Democratic Senator of Ohio, died at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus.

On February 20, 1972, Mr Glenn flew the NASA mission Friendship 7 around the Earth.

Some 36 years later he became the oldest person to ever travel into space at the age of 77, while still a sitting Senator.

John Glenn performs a test in the telemetry control room aboard the NASA tracking ship, the Coastal Sentry, in 1963 / AP

Ohio governor John Kasich has paid tribute, saying: John Glenn is, and always will be, Ohios ultimate hometown hero, and his passing today is an occasion for all of us to grieve.

"As we bow our heads and share our grief with his beloved wife, Annie, we must also turn to the skies, to salute his remarkable journeys and his long years of service to our state and nation.

"Though he soared deep into space and to the heights of Capitol Hill, his heart never strayed from his steadfast Ohio roots. Godspeed, John Glenn!

The official NASA Twitter account said: We are saddened by the loss of Sen. John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth. A true American hero. Godspeed, John Glenn. Ad astra.
F rench far-right leader Marine Le Pen has said she would end free education for foreign children in France if she becomes president next year.

In a speech in Paris, the National Front candidate for the 2017 presidential election said: I have nothing against foreigners, but I say to them: If you come to our country, dont expect to be taken care of, to be looked after, that your children will be educated for free.

"No more playtime" she added.

Ms Le Pen, who was speaking at an event held by French pollsters BVA, is widely expected to be one of two candidates to reach the second round of voting in next years presidential race.
B rad Pitt is trying to change his custody agreement with Angelina Jolie so he can see more of the couples children.

Jolie received full custody after the couple split, with 52-year-old Pitt allegedly signing a deal that would allow the childrens therapy team to determine how many hours a week he could see them.

According to TMZ, documents from Pitts lawyer Lance Spiegel indicate that the Hollywood star is currently set to have just one visit per week with his children.

But emails from Spiegel indicate Pitt is likely to go back to court to increase the amount of time he can see the six youngsters.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt - In pictures 1 /36 Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt - In pictures Writer-director-producer-actress Angelina Jolie Pitt and actor-producer Brad Pitt attend Audi at the opening night gala premiere of 'By the Sea' during AFI FEST 2015 presented by Audi at TCL Chinese 6 Theatres on 05 November 2015 in Hollywood, California Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt give a press conference on 07 June 2006 at a Swakopmund hotel, Namibia to announce they are proud parents of daughter Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt AFP/Getty Images Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as John and Jane Smith in the movie Mr & Mrs. Smith in 2005 20th Century Fox Brad Pitt,eats pizza, as actress Angelina Jolie looks on in the audience during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on 02 March 2014 Invision/AP Brad Pitt and children Pax Jolie-Pitt (L), Shiloh Jolie-Pitt (C) and Maddox Jolie-Pitt arrive for the U.S. premiere of Universal Pictures "Unbroken," on 15 December2014 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images Brad Pitt and Family arriving at the Los Angeles International Airport on 05 July 2015 Rex rad Pitt and 2015 Entertainment Innovator Angelina Jolie Pitt attend the WSJ. Magazine 2015 Innovator Awards at the Museum of Modern Art on 04 November 2015 in New York City Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt at 'By the Sea' film screening, New York, America -on 03 November 2015 Rex Angelina Jolie hugs Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt (L) and Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt (R) after winning award for Favorite Villain in 'Maleficent' during Nickelodeon's 28th Annual Kids' Choice Awards held at The Forum on 28 March 2015 in Inglewood, California Kevin Winter/Getty Images Brad Pitt and actress Angelina Jolie attend the Oscars held at Hollywood & Highland Center on 02 March 2014 in Hollywood Michael Buckner/Getty Images Benedict Cumberbatch, Angelina Jolie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, actor/producer Brad Pitt, director Steve McQueen, actors Lupita Nyong'o and Michael Fassbender celebrate as "12 Years A Slave" is awarded Best Picture during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on 02 March 2014 in Hollywood Kevin Winter/Getty Images Angelina Jolie (L) and Brad Pitt attend the World Premiere of Disney's "Maleficent" at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood Kevin Winter/Getty Images Angelina Jolie (L) and Brad Pitt attend the EE British Academy Film Awards 2014 at The Royal Opera House on 16 February 2014 Dave Benett Angelina Jolie arrives at the world premiere of Unbroken at the State Theatre on 17 November 2014 in Sydney, Australia Brendon Thorne/Getty Images Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie attending the premiere of Maleficent at Kensington Palace on 08 May 2014 Justin Tallis/PA ngelina Jolie and Brad Pitt arriving for the world premiere of World War Z, at the Empire Leicester Square, London on 02 June 2013 Dominic Lipinski/PA Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt attend 'WORLD WAR Z' Germany Premiere at Sony Centre on 04 June 2013 in Berlin, Germany. Sean Gallup/Getty Images Angelina Jolie arrives at the 84th Annual Academy Awards held at the Hollywood & Highland Center on 26 February 2012 Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt attend the Cinema for Peace Gala ceremony at the Konzerthaus Am Gendarmenmarkt during day five of the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival on 13 February 2012 in Berlin, Germany. Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt arrive at the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on 15 January 2012 in Beverly Hills Jason Merritt/Getty Images Angelina Jolie (L) and Brad Pitt attend the premiere of DreamWorks Animation's "Kung Fu Panda 2" at Mann's Chinese Theatre on 22 May 2011 in Hollywood David Livingston/Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt attend "The Tree Of Life" premiere during the 64th Annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on 16 May 2011 in Cannes, France Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images Hollywood movie stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie ride on a motorcycle on a busy street in downtown Ho Chi Minh on 23 November 2006. Jolie and Pitt are expected to adopt a three-year-old Vietnamese boy AFP/Getty Images Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as John and Jane Smith in the movie Mr & Mrs. Smith in 2005 20th Century Fox Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as John and Jane Smith in the movie Mr & Mrs. Smith in 2005 20th Century Fox Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie with children Zahara, Knox, Maddox, Shiloh, Pax and Vivienne at at Haneda International airport in Tokyo, Japan on 08 November 2011 Masatoshi Okauchi/Rex Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie (C) with children (L-R) Pax Jolie-Pitt, Zahara Jolie-Pitt, Knox Jolie-Pitt, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt and Maddox Jolie-Pitt attend the World Premiere of Disney's "Maleficent", starring Angelina Jolie, at the El Capitan Theatre on May 28, 2014 in Hollywood Charley Gallay/Getty Images

Pitt and Spiegel proposed a schedule requesting a variety of monitored weekly sessions with different combinations of the children, each lasting 30-60 minutes in length.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie figures separated at Madame Tussauds London

Jolies lawyer Laura Wasser turned down the offer, saying its up to the child therapy team to tell us how the kids are feeling.

The pair have six children together  15 year-old Maddox, 13 year-old Pax, 11 year-old Zahara, 10 year-old Shiloh, and eight year-old twins Knox and Vivienne.

Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt in September after 11 years together. They met on the set of 2005 film Mr and Mrs Smith, and were married in 2014.
O n this occasion, when Sadiq Khan says hes a big fan of The Police, he isnt talking about a new crime initiative.

The Mayor of London follows a long tradition of politicians revealing their musical taste and getting stick for it by sharing his favourite songs on the Rough Trade podcast.

Though his six song choices are blindingly obvious, at least hes avoided cosy Desert Island Discs and spoken about them somewhere cool: in the radio booth at the Rough Trade East record store.

Rough Trades shops are marking 40 years since the first one opened in Ladbroke Grove in 1976. Back then Khan was a six-year-old living in Tooting.

Loading....

The current shop off Brick Lane is a rare success story while independent record stores generally struggle  a large, bustling space that incorporates a live music area. The Mayor wants to encourage this kind of creative business with his London is Open campaign.

The songs he picked all have a personal connection. It might look like he spent three nanoseconds coming up with London Calling by The Clash (come on, Sadiq! Even Boris dug deep for The Clashs Pressure Drop on Desert Island Discs!), but its on the list because it was played on the night he celebrated winning the election.

Sadiq Khan's first official day as London Mayor 1 /17 Sadiq Khan's first official day as London Mayor Mayor of London Sadiq Khan makes his way to City Hall from London Bridge Station in London Jeremy Selwyn London Mayor Sadiq Khan boards a bus stop after leaving his home in Tooting Jack Taylor/Getty Images London's newly elected mayor Sadiq Khan speaks to supporters as he arrives for his first day at work at City Hall Hannah McKay/EPA Sadiq Khan is embraced by a supporter as he arrives at City Hall Hannah McKay/EPA Mayor of London Sadiq Khan waves as he arrives at City Hall Jonathan Brady/PA Sadiq Khan won support with his 'common touch' Jeremy Selwyn Sadiq Khan is mobbed by supporters at City Hall Jeremy Selwyn Mayor of London Sadiq Khan arrives at City Hall Jeremy Selwyn Mayor of London Sadiq Khan arrives at City Hall in London Jeremy Selwyn Mayor of London Sadiq Khan at City Hall Jeremy Selwyn On the Tube: Sadiq Khan Stefan Rousseau/PA Sadiq Khan on a sunny morning at City Hall Stefan Rousseau/PA Breakfast time: Sadiq Khan is offered croissants Hannah McKay/Reuters

Our House by Madness reminds him of, yes, his house, and Florence + the Machine is there because he took his daughters to see her in Hyde Park this summer.

Its unlikely that any musicians will speak out to forbid the Mayor from liking them, as Johnny Marr did to David Cameron in 2010. But hopefully his time at Rough Trade will have helped him to make some more interesting choices the next time hes asked.
A Los Angeles lawyer is suing the Justice Department to obtain the documents supporting FBI director James Comey's late-October investigation into Hillary Clinton, which Comey publicized in a dramatic breach of protocol 11 days before the presidential election. The lawsuit, filed today in New York federal court, follows up on a November 12th Freedom of Information Act request by E. Randol Schoenberg, an attorney who specializes in the recovery of property looted by the Nazis. The records request and lawsuit seek the search warrant and supporting documents that the FBI and Justice Department used to review the Clinton-related emails of Huma Abedin that were found on Anthony Weiner's computer, during a separate investigation into his reported sexual online messages to a teenage girl in North Carolina.

"The American public has a strong interest in the disclosure of the search warrant and related application, affidavits, and receipts," the lawsuit reads. "The FBI is the nation's premier law enforcement agency. Access to the records that underlie criminal investigations is crucial to ensuring that the FBI is accountable for following the legal standards it is required to uphold."

On October 28th, Comey sent a letter to Congress explaining that he was revisiting the investigation into Clinton's use of a secret, insecure email server while secretary of state, because of new emails discovered in an unrelated investigation, which turned out to be the Weiner probe. Two days later, the New York Times reported that the FBI had obtained the search warrant it needed to proceed.

Over the summer, Comey had announced he was essentially closing the investigation into Clinton despite his misgivings over Clinton's behavior, also a breach of federal protocol regarding the discussion of investigations. His announcement that he was again investigating emails related to Clinton dominated headlines for nine of the 11 days leading up to the electionthe fervor subsided when he announced, on November 6th, that the FBI would stand by its original determination on Clinton. Following her stunning upset loss by what now looks like about 80,000 votes in three key states, Clinton herself blamed Comey for the outcome, and Democratic Senator Harry Reid and others suggested that Comey may have violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits certain federal employees from engaging in political activity.



E. Randol Schoenberg's legal fight with the Austrian government on behalf of a Jewish refugee from the Nazis, seeking the return of paintings by Gustav Kilmt, was the basis of the 2015 movie Woman in Gold. (Tommaso Boddi/Getty)

The crux of the issue, according to Schoenberg, is contained in documents showing how the FBI got the warrant signed off on by a judge. To do so, law enforcement agents need to show the judge that there is probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed. Schoenberg speculates that either conservative-leaning federal officials made a case as if Clinton was an organized crime boss, i.e. "She's always up to no good, we're just not sure what she's doing," which wouldn't meet the bar of probable cause and could get the judge in trouble. On the flip-side, he said, it's possible that someone acting as an informant or witness provided false information to the FBI, possibly for political purposes, which should prompt its own investigation, given that lying to federal agents is a crime.

"How did that [warrant] get issued, and did someone do something wrong in getting that issued?" Schoenberg said. "Especially given the fact that many people believe, including me, that it changed the outcome of the election."

Ahead of Comey's October announcement, Donald Trump surrogates including Rudy Giuliani boasted of their ties to the FBI, claiming insider knowledge of a revolt against Comey's decision not to prosecute Clinton, and of coming revelations. Schoenberg said that he did not have any specific evidence to support the hypothesis that Trump allies planted the investigation, but that he has personal experience lobbying federal law enforcement via his work on returning Nazi-stolen art, and that it's very possible someone did something similar to make this happen.

Pressuring the authorities to look into something can be legitimate, he said. The difference, he said, is "Here there was never going to be any crime...especially after they had already investigated it, so why was a warrant issued?"

Schoenberg's lawsuit demands an injunction requiring the feds to depart from their usual timetable and process the FOIA request immediately. This, he said, is because in his experience FOIA requests can take years. He hopes that the documents enter the public record before Trump takes office in January.

"I think this one is a little bit more urgent," he said. "Ifand this is obviously a huge leapif there was some illegal activity that led to this failed search warrant and that traces back to the Trump campaign, that could have huge ramifications with Congress and the electoral college."

There is also, he acknowledged, the possibility that the basis of the warrant could point to some malfeasance by the Clinton camp, which he said would also be in the public interest to know about.

Schoenberg is best known for his long-shot legal victory in recovering five famous paintings by Gustav Klimt, stolen by the Nazis in Austria, for Maria Altmann, a Jewish refugee who resettled in the U.S. The battle over the paintings inspired the 2015 movie Woman in Gold. Ryan Reynolds starred as Schoenberg.

Schoenberg noted that he would rather prominent, well-resourced publications such as the New York Times and Washington Post had tackled the search warrant issue. However, he said he is happy to take it on, and that the task has some connection, however tenuous, with his work chasing Nazi bounty.

"I like tilting at windmills, and sometimes it turns out not to be as crazy as everybody thinks," he said. "[Maybe] Im right that theres some big story behind this, maybe im wrong...Sticking to your convictions, trying to think differently from everyone else is what I like to do."

The Justice Department has 30 days to formally respond, according to Schoenberg's attorney, David Rankin.
We rely on your support to make local news available to all

Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2022. Donate today
The sea levels surrounding the New York metropolitan area have risen a foot since 1900and, due to our rapidly changing climate, could rise another foot in less than 15 years, according to a new report by the Regional Plan Association.

According to the RPA, the tri-state area could see at least one foot of sea level rise as soon as 2030 (or, in a best-case scenario, by 2050). Some of the city's shoreline is relatively protected against flooding, but neighborhoods around Jamaica Bay, Flushing Bay, and along Staten Island's eastern shore will be seriously impacted.

Overall, a foot of flooding would affect 60 square miles of the tri-state area, where 19,000 people live and 10,000 work. By 2080, the RPA expects sea levels to have risen by three feet and periodically-flooded areas will become permanently inundated, including the runways and some terminals at LaGuardia. Flooding will begin to affect subway service and portions of the Metro North Hudson line. Parts of Bridgeport and New Haven in Connecticut will also be permanently submerged, and up to 40,000 Long Island residents could be permanently displaced by flooding.



LaGuardia Airport could be almost entirely inundated by 2100 (Regional Plan Association)

In less than a century, sea levels could rise by six feet and completely transform the coastline. A huge swath of Brooklyn and Queensincluding Coney Island, Brighton Beach, and the Rockawayswould be completely submerged. In Manhattan, Harlem, Battery Park City, Chelsea, Hudson Yards and the Lower East Side will be permanently flooded, and parts of the Bronx including Throggs Neck, University Heights, and Edgewater Park will see periodic flooding.

Up to 15,000 Staten Island residents could be displaced as a result of permanent flooding, which would affect more than 200,000 New Yorkers overall, according to the report. Both runways and terminals at LaGuardia would likely be completely flooded, and parts of Newark Liberty Airport would be affected as well. JFK will likely be unaffected by rising sea levels, but the report says it, too will have to be safeguarded against future storms.



JFK and the surrounding areas (Regional Plan Association)

"By 2100, the entire coastline of the United States will need funding every year," in order to protect residents from Hurricane Sandy-levels of flooding, oceanography researcher Philip Orton told Gothamist.

A similar map released earlier this year suggested that sea levels could rise up to three feet by 2100 due to melting ice caps and an additional foot each decade by 2150another map shows the entire city being inundated as sea levels rise 250 feet over the next thousand years, eventually drowning us all. And even if we slash global carbon emissions by 2050, we could still lose Coney Island to the rising tides.

The RPA has outlined three broad solutions to prepare for the rising sea levels: pumping sand onto beaches and building higher sea walls, creating more elevated buildings and other infrastructure that will adapt to rising sea levels, and abandoning coastal development altogether. All of these solutions, they point out, require a great deal of funding and planning.

In order to ward off the most catastrophic effects of climate change, the RPA warns, the U.S. must implement the 2015 international Paris Agreement limiting greenhouse gas emissions. Unfortunately, our President-elect has claimed that climate change is a hoax made up by the Chinese. Scott Pruitt, Trump's pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency, is a known climate change denier and has repeatedly sued the EPA over protective policies.

If you find any of this alarming and want to try to do something about it, call your senators and ask them to oppose Trump's appointment of Pruitt for EPA administrator, get involved with a group like 350, and petition companies and universities to divest from fossil fuel investments. In your everyday life, you can recycle, bike or take public transportation whenever possible, and donate to pro-environmental organizations.
This page is archived. Data published after 5 April 2022 can be found on the renewed website. Go to the new statistics page

Published: 8 December 2016

Popularity of open education at universities of applied sciences continued growing in 2015

According to Statistics Finland's education statistics, provision of open education at universities of applied sciences increased further in 2015. When in 2014 over 620,000 teaching hours were given at open universities of applied sciences, the figure was as high as good 1,100,000 hours in 2015. The share was nearly 20 per cent of all teaching hours of adult education not leading to a qualification

Teaching hours in open education at universities of applied sciences in 2010 to 2015

Around six million hours of teaching were given in adult education not leading to a qualification in 2015, which is around three per cent lower than in the year before. There were three per cent fewer participants (gross number of students) than in the year before, good 2.1 million.

Educational institutions' adult education not leading to a qualification by type of education in 2015

Type of education Participants (gross) Women % Teaching hours Further vocational education, not apprenticeship training 68 957 42 278 486 Further vocational education, apprenticeship training 2 799 76 19 944 Employment training for adults 35 869 47 868 761 Courses ordered by the employer 240 951 40 300 861 Education organised as liberal adult education 1 625 648 72 2 854 599 Open university of applied sciences 37 944 60 1 143 304 Open university teaching 1) 39 012 78 65 805 Other education 96 535 53 467 839 Total 2 147 715 66 5 999 599

1) Excl. data on open university teaching implemented by the universities themselves.

The highest number of participants attended education organised as liberal adult education, where the gross number of students was good 1.6 million and their net number was 925,000. The number of teaching hours was also highest in liberal adult education, nearly 2.9 million hours. The highest share (29 per cent) of all the teaching hours given in adult education not leading to a qualification was given in the field of culture, where the most popular subjects were music, and crafts and design.

In 2015, students in basic level education outside comprehensive school in upper secondary general schools, folk high schools, adult education centres and vocational institutes numbered 2,220, of whom 1,724 were in basic education, that is, studying the full comprehensive school curriculum and 496 attended additional education (10th grade)

Source: Education. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Tarja Seppanen 029 551 3220, koulutustilastot@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

Publication in pdf-format (200.0 kB)

Updated 08.12.2016

Referencing instructions: Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Adult education of educational institutions [e-publication].

ISSN=1799-4551. 2015. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 3.11.2022].

Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/oaiop/2015/oaiop_2015_2016-12-08_tie_001_en.html
This page may have been moved, deleted, or is otherwise unavailable. To help you find what you are looking for:

Enter Search Term(s):

Still cant find what youre looking for? Send us a message using our contact us form. To report a broken link or other problems with the website, please include the URL.

Thank you for visiting state.gov.
Countries & Areas

Search for country or area A Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan B Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi C Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Cote dIvoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia D Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic E Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia F Fiji Finland France G Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana H Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary I Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy J Jamaica Japan Jordan K Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan L Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg M Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique N Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Norway O Oman P Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Q Qatar R Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda S Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria T Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu U Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Uzbekistan V Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Y Yemen Z Zambia Zimbabwe
As many as four arrests are likely this week after authorities executed a search warrant Tuesday at a Statesville business suspected of violating state gambling laws, Sheriff Darren Campbell said.

Players Promo Games at 2342 Newton Drive west of Statesville was the focus of a three-month undercover investigation into allegations of illegal sweepstakes.

Campbell said an undercover deputy observed multiple gambling machines at the location during the investigation. Investigators then delivered a letter notifying the business of violation of state statutes, Campbell said. The letter explained that criminal charges could result if the business did not cease its gambling operations.

Weeks later, undercover officers continued to receive payments for playing gambling games at the location, Campbell said, and the search warrant was served. During the search deputies recovered computers, electronic tablets, cash and ledgers showing monies having been paid out.

Many times these types of clandestine sweepstakes businesses attract other criminal behavior to the communities they are operating in, Campbell said.

The investigation is ongoing and multiple charges or indictments are anticipated, the sheriff said.

Deputies are still working to identify the business owner and are talking closely with the district attorneys office to finalize charges.

No one appeared to be at the location on Thursday afternoon and knocks on the door went unanswered.

The sheriff's office is also investigating whether Players Promo Games held a valid state business license, Campbell said.
Longtime county attorney Bill Pope received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine award during the Iredell Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday night.

Former Commissioner Steve Johnson presented the award to Pope, who has served the county for 32 years.

Several former commissioners, family members, friends and co-workers of Popes attended the ceremony.

Audience members shared stories of why Pope was deserving of one of the most prestigious awards the state offers.

Pope thanked the county and state for the award and outlined five of his most memorable moments as the county attorney, which included the creation of the countys emergency management services and stopping the hazardous waste incinerator from being built in Iredell.

Pope is a partner at Pope McMillan Kutteh & Schieck law firm in Statesville.

The Order of the Long Leaf Pine is awarded for exemplary service to the state of North Carolina and the recipients communities that is above and beyond the call of duty and which has made a significant impact and strengthened North Carolina, according to the award website.
By MARK EVANS STE. GENEVIEVE HERALD Scott Schmieder, county road and bridge foreman, reported to the county commission last Thursday that temperatures are getting too cold at night for much more asphalt work to be done. He said potholes had all been patched. His crews were working on Bodine Road and made call-ins to locate
St. Louis aldermen advanced a measure Wednesday to give a property tax break to a developer looking to turn the International Shoe Co. building into a boutique hotel.

The board voted to grant 10 years of full property tax abatement and five years of 50 percent abatement to the property at 1501 Washington Avenue.

Milwaukee developer Fe Equus Development plans to turn the historic property into a hotel with about 140 rooms, a top-floor lounge and a restaurant and bar on the ground floor. It could join as many as three other boutique hotels planned for downtown St. Louis.

The developer is putting in $17 million in equity and $22 million in financing to the $54 million project on Washington Avenue, which it has branded as The Last. The remaining costs would be covered by state and federal historic tax credits and Missouri brownfield tax credits.

Including property tax abatement, city analysts reckon the public is supporting about 34 percent of the project costs.

Still, city staff recommended approval of the project, estimating that even with some revenue displaced from other hotels and restaurants, the project would grow city revenue by about $160,000 per year over the next decade. After the property tax abatement begins wearing off in 10 years, city and school district revenue from the property would be expected to climb sharply.

Not included in the analysis are revenues from a potential Community Improvement District that might be established on the property. A CID can charge up to a 1 percent special sales tax within its boundaries.

Alderman Joe Roddy said the splintering of incentive requests needed to stop and the CID request should have been included in this measure. We need to coordinate these things so theyre all heard at the same time.

The Housing Urban Development and Zoning committee that Roddy chairs still voted to advance the measure to the full board of aldermen. Alderman Lyda Krewson, a candidate for mayor, and Alderman Megan Green were the two votes against the bill.
JS Logistics of St. Louis has been acquired by USPack Logistics, a New York-based courier company.

Founded in 1983, privately held JS Logistics has 75 employees and offices in Washington D.C. and Indianapolis in addition to its headquarters in south St. Louis. Financial terms were not disclosed.

John Cochran, JS Logistics' founder, said all three offices will remain open and the company plans to hire dispatchers, customer service representatives and other employees as it expands its services. "The sale means growth and opportunity," said Cochran, who has been named vice president of operations and special projects at USPack.

JS Logistics' executive vice president and partner Greg Hantak will oversee operations in St. Louis. The company's courier service, which operates as JS Express, will ultimately be rebranded as USPack, Cochran told the Post-Dispatch.

With the acquisition, USPack operates in 27 states and has 1,200 drivers. USPack also announced Thursday that it has acquired Woodridge, Ill.-based Best Courier and Delivery Service.

"These acquisitions mark the next phase in USPack's expansion, both geographically and in vertical expertise," USPack's executive vice president Mark Glazman said in a statement.
Updated at 10:17 p.m.

Chuck Jones uses a flip phone, so he didn't see the tweet. His friend of 36 years called him Wednesday night and said: The president-elect is smearing you on Twitter.

Jones, a union leader in Indianapolis, represents the Carrier workers whose jobs Donald Trump has pledged to save. The sudden attention from the country's next leader didn't feel real.

"My first thought was, 'Well, that's not very nice,'" he told the Washington Post on Wednesday night. "Then, well, I might not sleep much tonight."

Jones, president of the United Steelworkers 1999, told the Post on Tuesday that he believed Trump had lied to the Carrier workers last week when he visited the Indianapolis plant. On a makeshift stage in a conference room, Trump had applauded United Technologies, Carrier's parent company, for cutting a deal with him and agreeing to keep 1,100 jobs that were slated to move to Mexico in America's Heartland.

Jones said Trump got that figure wrong.

Carrier, he said, had agreed to preserve 800 production jobs in Indiana. (Carrier confirmed that number.) The union leader said Trump appeared to be taking credit for rescuing 350 engineering jobs that were never scheduled to leave. Five hundred and fifty of his members, he said, were still losing their jobs. And the company was still collecting millions of dollars in tax breaks.

In return for downsizing its move south of the border, United Technologies would receive $7 million in tax credits from Indiana, to be paid in $700,000 installments each year for ten. Carrier, on top of that, has agreed to invest $16 million in its Indiana operation. United Technologies, meanwhile, still plans to shuttle 700 factory jobs from Huntington, Indiana, to Monterrey, Mexico.

Jones, who said the union wasn't involved in the negotiations, said he's working to lift his members spirits. He said he didn't have time to worry about Trump.

"He needs to worry about getting his cabinet filled," he said, "and leave me the hell alone."

Spokespeople for Trump did not respond to the Post's requests for comment.

Over the last two decades, the United States has lost about 4.5 million manufacturing jobs, a consequence economists ascribe to trade and automation. Jones said he has fought to keep work on American soil, bargaining repeatedly with both Carrier and Rexnord, another Indianapolis plant that plans to relocate jobs to Mexico.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence tweeted his support for Jones earlier this year.

A half hour after Trump tweeted about Jones on Wednesday, the union leader's phone began to ring and kept ringing, he said. One voice asked: What kind of car do you drive? Another said: We're coming for you.

He wasn't sure how these people found his number.

"Nothing that says they're gonna kill me, but, you know, you better keep your eye on your kids," Jones said later on MSNBC. "We know what car you drive. Things along those lines."

"I've been doing this job for 30 years and you know I've heard everything from people who want to burn my house down shoot me," he added. "So I take it with a grain of salt and I don't put a lot of faith in that and I'm not concerned about it and I'm not getting anybody involved. I can deal with people that makes stupid statements and move on."

Brett Voorhies, president of the Indiana State AFL-CIO, called Jones after Trump's tweet caught his eye. He scrambled to call his friend. Jones, he said, had just left his office in Indianapolis, where he manages the needs of about 3,000 union members.

"This guy makes pennies for what he does," Voorhies said. "What he has to put up with is just crazy. Now he's just got president-elect smearing him on Twitter."
The development boom in the central corridor is poised to move east after a key St. Louis Board of Aldermen committee advanced two major proposals Wednesday.

One is a redevelopment plan sponsored by St. Louis University that would give the university authority to grant tax abatement and guide development near a $550 million hospital being developed by its new medical partner, SSM Health.

The other would be one of the first developments to seek the universitys new power to grant tax breaks. Those would be part of a package of incentives to redevelop the former Federal-Mogul site, a prominent example of industrial decay visible from Highway 40 (Interstate 64) at Grand Boulevard.

The Lawrence Group plans to remake the old factory that sits just east of Cortex into a food hall and retail center that it says will draw shoppers from around the metro area. The developer was before the Board of Aldermens Housing Urban Development and Zoning Committee to advance its request for $19.4 million in tax increment financing, which uses future increases in sales and property taxes to finance development.

Including state and federal historic tax credits and special sales tax districts, about 52 percent of the financing for the $134 million project would come from public sources  an amount Alderman Cara Spencer called an astronomical figure.

However, after concerns raised by some members of the TIF Commission last month, Lawrence Group CEO Steve Smith said he is comfortable with scaling back its tax abatement request. Now its seeking only 15 years of property abatement, down from the initial 25 years it pitched.

Spencer also said she was concerned the development was looking to draw smaller retailers from her ward in south St. Louis, which includes the popular Cherokee Street commercial district.

Smith replied that his team had reached out to popular chefs in the region to gauge their interest in opening stalls in the City Foundry food hall. But those would be new concepts for a unique venue; he said the project isnt interested in luring away restaurants. Retailers would be major brands without a local presence that want locations outside of malls or big box developments, Smith said. Were not going to be able to get this thing financed with local retailers.

The committee voted 5-1 to send the City Foundry TIF package to the full board of aldermen. Alderman Megan Green voted against the measure.

SLUs redevelopment plan, meanwhile, won unanimous support from the aldermen. Supporters pointed to other successful redevelopment corporations sponsored by universities, such as the Cortex technology district.

SLU did face questions about plans to tear down the last Pevely Dairy building and the Missouri Belting building at Grand Boulevard and Chouteau Avenue. Some preservationists wanted SLU to restore the old structures.

Its redevelopment powers, if approved, would allow it to tear down those buildings as well as several others outlined in its plan. The university plans to build a new academic building for its health sciences schools next to the new SSM hospital.

The iconic Desloge tower on Grand Boulevard appears safe for now. SSM only plans to tear down the newer hospital buildings behind the structure to make way for a new hospital, set to break ground this fall. But Candace Jennings, the president of SSMs St. Louis hospital operations, stopped short of a long-term commitment.

She said the system planned to keep the tower, used mainly as office space, for at least a year after the new hospital is constructed while SSM makes sure they right-sized the facility. We think we need that building for a period of time.
The St. Louis Art Museum has announced its 2017 exhibition schedule, including ticketed exhibitions and other special offerings. Look for a focus on fashion.

The first big event of the year opens Feb. 12 and runs through May 7. Degas, Impressionism, and the Paris Millinery Trade is a groundbreaking exhibition that reflects the Impressionist painter Edgar Degas fascination with fashionable hats and the Parisian women who crafted them.

Along with paintings by Degas, there will be works by several of his similarly fascinated peers, including Mary Cassatt, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and Edouard Manet  and 40 exquisite high-style hats. There were about a thousand milliners working in Paris, then the worlds fashion capital, from around 1875 to 1914, and they were respected for the artistry they put into their creations.

The exhibition originates in St. Louis, before going to San Franciscos Legion of Honor museum in June. Its curated by Simon Kelly, curator of modern and contemporary art at SLAM, and Esther Bell, curator in charge of European paintings at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Theres more fashion in the years second ticketed exhibition, Reigning Men: Fashion in Menswear, 1715-2015. Opening June 25, it was organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The exhibition takes a close look at stylish mens clothing from the early 18th century through the present, tracing the connections between history and serious fashion. It also makes a case for fashion as a masculine endeavor; padding and cinching the body have never been just a female concern. SLAMs textile conservator, Zoe A. Perkins, and assistant curator Genevieve Cortinovis will curate the St. Louis presentation of the exhibition.

The final major exhibition of 2017 is Thomas Struth: Nature and Politics, opening Oct. 29 and running through Jan. 21, 2018. The German photographer explores what museum director Brent Benjamin calls manmade landscapes, including an aquarium, the shining fantasy of Disneyland and Israels war-tattered West Bank, along with spaces the public doesnt usually get to see, such as robotics laboratories, nuclear fission facilities and aeronautical centers.

The traveling exhibition was organized by Atlantas High Museum of Art, working with the Thomas Struth studio in Berlin. Eric Lutz, associate curator of prints, drawings and photographs curates the St. Louis presentation.

Two significant exhibitions of works on paper are planned for 2017. The first is Learning to See: Renaissance and the Baroque Masterworks from the Phoebe Dent Weil and Mark S. Weil Collection, on view March 3 through July 30.

The Weils are unusually knowledgeable collectors. Their promised gift to SLAM of almost 200 works of art  rare early Italian Renaissance engravings, a marvelous group of prints by Albrecht Durer and an amazing collection of etchings and drypoints by Rembrandt, along with Renaissance bronzes and terra cottas  will enlarge the museums collection of old-master sculptures by one-third, add masterpieces of printmaking and enhance the number of 16th-century Italian drawings and prints.

Because works on paper are sensitive to light, they can only be shown for limited periods. Learning to See is curated by Elizabeth Wyckoff, curator of prints, drawings and photographs, and Judith Mann, curator of European art to 1800.

This falls big exhibit is Conflicts of Interest: Art and War; in autumn 2017, SLAM will return to Japanese prints with Modern and Contemporary Japanese Prints From the Collection. Approximately 60 works printed in different styles will tell the story of the main approaches used in 20th-century Japanese printmaking, showcasing everything from traditional styles to experimental works. Its curated by Rhiannon Paget, the Andrew W. Mellon Fellow for Japanese Art.
An exhibition at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation seeks to shed light on a lesser known but influential Italian sculptor.

On view through May 13, Medardo Rosso: Experiments in Light and Form features works in bronze, plaster and wax that Rosso created beginning in the late 19th century and continuing into the early 20th. In focusing on everyday people rather than more idealized subjects, Rosso  who began his career in Milan but relocated to Paris  went against the grain of the era. And in his use of light and shadow, he would prove to be ahead of his time.

Rosso was considered a lighting virtuoso, says Cara Starke, director of the Pulitzer. He was certainly a part of the French milieu in the late 1800s  along with such well-known artists as Auguste Rodin and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec  but he was also an outsider and so unconventional that he doesnt fall neatly into any singular narrative of art history.

Medardo Rosso is the first comprehensive U.S. museum exhibition of the artists work in more than 50 years. Curated by Sharon Hecker, an expert on Rosso, and Tamara H. Schenkenberg, associate curator of the Pulitzer, the exhibition also includes a selection of his photographs and drawings.

In the accompanying catalog, Hecker notes that after the turn of the century, several French critics suggested that Rosso had been Rodins unacknowledged rival in the birth of modern sculpture.

Those critics cited as evidence Bookmaker (1893-95), which is included in the exhibition and which Hecker describes as a full-bodied male figure slanted backward at an angle. The piece was believed to have been an influence on Rodins famous sculpture, Monument to Balzac (1898).

But theres no shortage of intriguing works to be contemplated in Medardo Rosso. Perhaps the most haunting is Aetas aurea (Golden Age) (late 1885-86), which depicts a woman embracing a child. The effect is at once endearing in light of the womans adoring gaze, and disturbing as the childs response seems to be anything but reciprocal.

Ecce puer (Behold the Child) (1906) is displayed with an interactive element: The lighting may be adjusted to emphasize different aspects of the piece.

In 1907, Rosso described light as the very essence of our existence and concluded that a work of art that is not concerned with light has no right to exist.
Moonlight

At Myrna Loy

(R)

Richard Linklaters Boyhood was beautiful precisely because it was so gloriously patient. The filming was spread over 12 years, allowing the boy to grow up on the screen at the same pace he grew up in life -- unquestionable authenticity.

When Boyhood ended, we felt like we knew Mason as well as if he were our neighbors son.

I wondered, after experiencing that revolutionary approach to a coming of age story, Id be disappointed when I revisited more conventional cinematic portraits of people growing over time.

I wonder no more. Moonlight is a stunning coming-of-age tale covering 20 years that casts its spell the old fashioned way -- through script, camera, score and acting.

Moonlight captures a young black mans life by seamlessly weaving three actors into one stunning portrait of what it might mean to grow up black, gay and poor in America.

We meet Little in grade school, Chiron in high school and Black in his late twenties -- same boy, changing clothes and adding layers, but never disguising his vulnerable core.

That core was injured early in life, and the wounds have never fully healed. Littles mom was an addict and a prostitute.

Dont come home tonight, shed say. I have a friend coming over.

Little was effeminate and was bullied mercilessly at school. He suspected he was gay, but honestly didnt know what that might mean.

His friend Kevin told him to stick up for himself, to fight back -- a lesson he wouldnt absorb or accept until later.

One day, after being chased, young Little is hiding in an abandoned house when hes discovered by Juan, a drug dealer who sees the bullies prowling outside.

Juan sees in Little a bit of himself, years earlier and wants to help him out. He feeds him and offers him a place to sleep. After the boy goes home, Juan stops by every so often to see if hes OK, even teaches him to swim in Miamis ocean one magical afternoon.

Thanks to Juan and Juans girlfriend, Little finds unconditional love that gives him some hope -- a hope thats often shattered when he returns home.

Fast forward to high school, where Little has become Chiron, a black gay in a tough urban high school. Hes bullied, beaten.

When he needs comfort he goes back to the extra bed at Juans place. Chiron has one friend, Kevin, the second angel in his short life -- someone who also sees the sweet soul cowering inside the insecure confused kid.

Finally, a decade later, our soft-spoken young victim cant take the abuse anymore and heeds Kevins advice to defend himself.

The bully falls, but so does Chiron. Hes handcuffed and led to jail where he becomes Black.

His name Black resonates on so many levels. Hes learned black lives dont matter and that gay lives dont matter, and now he seems condemned to assume his expected place in a world he hoped to escape. Hes had only one role model -- a kind drug dealer.

So when it comes time to build a life, he, too, becomes a drug dealer -- a kind and lonely one. He still awakes in his sleep with nightmares from his youth, with no one by his side to share stories.

We grieve for Black. We love him. We long for him to bust out, but we can see the chains holding him in.

When Black visits his mom, now in long-term rehab, she asks forgiveness, and they both cry.

The film ends with a surprising phone call from his old pal Kevin, his one longtime friend. Kevin is now a cook in a small restaurant.

One day Black drives down to have a meal at Kevins diner. Hes only had one close friend, why not reach out?

The ending is sweet, hopeful -- a touch of moonlight shines into Blacks dark life.

Moonlight may sweep the Oscars. The film shares a universal story about race, class and gender, at a crucial time.

Moonlight brings oppressed lives everywhere into sharp focus through one sad, sweet mans journey. Instead of stereotypes, we are treated to a multi-layered portrait of one specific wounded soul who is trying to heal.

We are allowed to see the goodness in places we dont usually look -- down urban streets where patrol cars prowl, amidst drug dealers, addicts and crime.

Black still has a chance because of those Samaritans who believed in him.

That day at the ocean, when he was 6 or so, lingers with him. A gentle man, a stranger really, supported his body in the ocean, teaching Little to float.

OK. Let your head rest in my hand. Relax. I got you. I promise. I won't let you go."

Those hands are still beneath him. Blacks head is still resting in Juans hands, helping him float -- helping him find his way out of darkness, to moonlight.
Elizabeth Sloane (Jessica Chastain) is a Washington lobbyist whos determined to win at any cost. It wouldnt be surprising to find her photo in the dictionary next to the word unscrupulous. But shed probably take it as a compliment.

As an expert at what she does, Sloane tends to be picky about her clients. So when the gun lobby seeks her help in coaxing women to their cause, she decides to pass  much to the consternation of her boss George Dupont (Sam Waterston), whose top priority is his firms bottom line.

Undaunted, Sloane takes most of her young and hungry staff with her to an opposing firm led by the idealistic Rodolfo Schmidt (Mark Strong). Schmidt has a strategy for bringing the gun lobby to its knees, and a cutthroat operator like Sloane is just what hes looking for. Or so he thinks.

Schmidt doesnt count on the fact that Sloane has few, if any, ethical boundaries. Particularly vulnerable to her battle plan is team member Esme Manucharian (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), who harbors a secret that the ruthless lobbyist is more than willing to exploit.

Ultimately, Sloane is forced to face an unavoidable truth: that theres more to life than winning.

Miss Sloane is at once unapologetically melodramatic and surprisingly wonky  similar to, but less elegant than, the legal thriller Michael Clayton. Still, its an entertaining option for grownups looking for something other than comic-book flicks.

Working from a screenplay by newcomer Jonathan Perera, director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) delivers a portrait of systemic corruption thats likely to render moviegoers even more skeptical of Washington politics.

Chastain turns in her best performance since Zero Dark Thirty, getting to the essence of the unlikable but fascinating Sloane. Mbatha-Raw (Belle) is quietly persuasive as a woman who would rather not have her privacy violated. And Strong (The Imitation Game) is impressive as the films moral compass.

If youve been wondering how Washington really works, this film is required viewing.
On the night of Dec. 23, 1888, artist Vincent Van Gogh took a razor and cut off his ear. Then he wrapped it in a handkerchief and delivered it to a prostitute, asking her to take it as a souvenir. She fainted.

Everybody knows that story, but not quite. The details often disagree. Did Van Gogh cut off his whole ear, or just the lobe? Who was the woman to whom he presented his macabre gift? And above all, why did he do it?

Thirty years ago, Bernadette Murphy settled in the south of France in a tiny village near Arles, where Van Gogh spent 14 tumultuous months in 1888 and 1889. He painted prolifically during that time, including some of his famous sunflowers, their sunny yellow disguising his mental torment.

Living near Arles led Murphy, who is British, to become fascinated with Van Gogh and his ear. She set out to learn what really happened, and her seven years of detective work became a book, Van Goghs Ear, and a documentary with the same title, airing next week on PBS Secrets of the Dead.

Everything I thought I knew about Van Gogh, I had to put aside, Murphy said when PBS introduced the documentary to TV critics meeting in Los Angeles last summer. Once you know that a couple of things (in the story) are wrong, then you say, I cant do anything else. I have to be a detective here, ignore everything thats been written, and start all over again.

Her investigation started in Arles, but it took her to Amsterdam, Van Goghs birthplace and home of the museum and archives dedicated to him. She studied records of brothels in the south of France and lists of patients at Louis Pasteurs rabies clinic in Paris. She also flew to San Francisco, where she burst into tears on getting to hold an important piece of evidence.

The documentary follows Van Gogh to Arles and establishes his relationship (you wouldnt call it a friendship) with fellow artist Paul Gauguin, suggesting that the sunflower paintings were intended to attract Gauguin to what Van Gogh hoped would become an artists colony.

But Van Gogh was mentally unstable most of his life, suffering from depression and what today might be diagnosed as bipolar disorder. His madness would make him the center of a mystery, the overly melodramatic Secrets of the Dead narration declares.

Van Gogh was supported almost entirely by his younger brother, Theo, who worked in the family business as an art dealer. Theo even paid Gauguin to be Vincents friend, we learn, but Gauguins patience soon ran thin. Van Gogh was so difficult, his neighbors formally tried to drive him away.

The more you learn, the more Van Gogh becomes a really tragic, painful character, Murphy said.

Still, cutting off ones ear is an extreme response.

Know the details that she learned and he becomes somebody who is really troubled. ... It becomes a real act and a violent act, and a gory act at that.

The scene as previously imagined is shown in the 1956 movie Lust for Life, with Kirk Douglas as the artist. The movie was adapted from a novel by Irving Stone, whose own research turned out to play a key role in Murphys investigation.

At the same time, hes painting these artworks, in spite of having serious mental illness, and so it makes you look at those in a different way as well. Its the greatest period in his art.

Telling much more about what Murphy learned would spoil the documentary, as well as the book into which she poured so much time.

Its a bit scary to spend seven years of your life doing something, she said. It just takes a hugely long time.

Why she became so interested and started such a massive project isnt entirely clear even to Murphy.

I suppose because there were too many holes in the story, she said. When I started reading about it, some stuff didnt make sense. And I suppose I was at a stage when I wanted to see if I could do something with my life, you know. ... I just needed a new challenge.

What Secrets of the Dead: Van Goghs Ear  Three stars out of four  When 9 p.m. Wednesday  Where PBS  More info pbs.org
ST. LOUIS  The front pages of Sunday morning, Dec. 7, 1941, announced the death of Mussie, a gorilla at the Zoo. A photo feature on social life at Fort Leonard Wood described the soldiers as "all dressed up with no place to go."

War news concerned far-away battlefields and the ominous "Japan crisis." Nothing pointed to Pearl Harbor, America's big, peaceful Navy base in Hawaii.

At 1:31 p.m. local time, radio broadcasters breathlessly reported the sneak Japanese attack on Pearl. Newspaper offices were swamped with calls from people begging to be told the bulletins weren't true.

At midtown theaters, moviegoers sat in stunned silence while projectionists interrupted matinees to spread the news. (Marquees listed "Navy Blues," a comedy with footage from Pearl Harbor.) Patrons booed when an already dated newsreel showed Japanese diplomats in Washington.

That evening, movie attendance plunged. People stayed near their radios.

Military personnel on leave headed for Union Station. Army private Robert Heitz, studying mechanical courses at Ranken Trade School on Finney Avenue, said, "I'd rather go and get it over with."

Next morning, hundreds of like-minded civilians mobbed recruiting stations downtown. More than 400 applied for the Navy, 40 times the daily average. Outside the federal Custom House (Old Post Office), crowds gathered around a loudspeaker at Eighth and Olive streets to hear President Franklin D. Roosevelt's war speech to Congress.

The White House, while admitting to heavy losses at Pearl, withheld many details. (It wouldn't confirm the USS Arizona's destruction until Dec. 15, or release photos from Pearl Harbor until Feb. 2.) Here and elsewhere, Americans were outraged  and rattled by some unfounded fears.

FBI agents tracked down the roughly 50 Japanese nationals in St. Louis. The first arrest was of Tetsu Uyeda, manager of the Bridlespur Hunt Club and a local resident for 21 years. Howard Ito, an American-born Illinois state employee of Japanese descent, was nabbed while boarding a bus in East St. Louis. Police said Ito looked suspicious.

National Guard soldiers, shouldering rifles with bayonets, were posted at bridges, power plants and airfields. Maj. William Robertson, aviation hero and co-founder of Lambert Field, led a new civilian organization to keep watch for enemy bombers over the city.

At Jefferson Barracks, a jumpy sentry fired upon an approaching dairy truck. He missed the driver.

Three days later came the first confirmed death of a St. Louisan: Robert H. Westbrook, 24, formerly of 3457 Shenandoah Avenue, killed at Hickam Field, an air base near Pearl Harbor. At least eight metro-area men were killed at Pearl.

For many years after the war, Dec. 7 was commemorated with solemn remembrances. Passage of seven decades and most of the Pearl Harbor veterans have reduced the scope of annual local events.
A $23 million bill owed by the state of Missouri got me thinking about the homeless.

The hefty payout is due to thousands of blind people in the state who had been shorted by the Department of Social Services blind pension fund. After a decade-long legal battle, Cole County Circuit Court Judge Patricia Joyce in effect handed the bill to the state on Dec. 1. If the bill isnt paid this fiscal year, the 9 percent interest will really start adding up.

The genesis of the blind pension fund goes back to Missouris constitution of 1875, which called for a tax levy of up to three cents per $100 of state property tax to be collected to serve the blind. In the late 1800s, many blind people were destitute and could be found on the streets of American cities begging for alms for the poor.

States started passing blind pension funds to provide a safety net. In fact, many of the laws  Missouris included  actually have provisions that a person is not eligible to receive money from the blind pension fund while publicly soliciting alms in any manner.

In other words, no panhandling.

It seems crass, but that was the deal made so Missouri would take care of its blind.

And since 1921, when the statute was passed to implement the fund established in the constitution, it has. Today, there are about 3,000 blind Missourians paid about $728 a month. To qualify they cant have more than $20,000 in assets or be beneficiaries of certain other safety-net programs. The formula in state law calls for the funds payouts to rise as state property tax revenues increase.

In 2006, the Missouri Council of the Blind noticed that rather than pass on such increases to blind citizens, the Department of Social Services was spending the increase on various government costs. After failing for a couple of years to get the state to acknowledge and recognize its error, the council sued. The lawsuit was filed by attorneys in the St. Louis University law school Legal Clinic, including professor John Ammann.

We only asked them to fix the formula, said Chris Gray, executive director of the Missouri Council of the Blind. Had they agreed to do it right from then on, we never would have litigated this. They have dragged this on for years because they didnt want to admit they were wrong.

The $23 million comes due at a time in which Gov. Jay Nixon just withheld an additional $51 million from the states budget because of lagging revenue. Its likely to end up in the laps of Gov.-elect Eric Greitens and the Missouri Legislature, who will have to find the money from somewhere.

Eventually, court decree in hand, Missouris blind pensioners will get their money.

But what about todays alms-seeking poor people?

Nearly every day in downtown St. Louis, somebody living in poverty, often homeless, asks me for money. They want change for a cup of coffee or the bus. A sandwich. Something. Sometimes I help. More often than not, I politely decline. But the asking never bothers me. Its a daily reminder that but for the grace of God, there go I.

Lately, though, the crescendo to do something about the downtown homeless, particularly those who congregate around the Rev. Larry Rices New Life Evangelistic Center, has been building. Dozens of the homeless have been literally collapsing in the streets after smoking K2 or some version of synthetic marijuana, often laced with unpredictable toxic substances.

An increasing population of downtown loft dwellers  a positive sign of economic momentum for St. Louis  is raising their voices asking the city to do something about the long-standing problems around New Life, located just south of the retail, restaurants and residences of Washington Avenue.

So what to do?

If past is prologue  in St. Louis and elsewhere  well just move the problem. Many of the citys chronic homeless used to live in the cavernous space under Tucker Avenue, directly below the path I walk while crossing the street to the office. A federally funded road project pushed them out. A riverfront tent city was next. Then a south side encampment. Biddle House was supposed to ease the load, but as winter slips in, there seem to be as many homeless wandering the northern reaches of downtown streets as ever.

Thomas Harvey, the chairman of the Continuum of Care umbrella organization that helps guide homeless services in St. Louis, says the solution is easier than cities make it out to be. The housing exists. But we  taxpayers, citizens, businesses  have to commit the funds to connect those who need a roof with the spaces available all over our city.

Thats what happened to my homeless friend Eddie earlier this year. With the help of nonprofit Places for People, he moved into a south side apartment. Hes thriving, says a mutual friend. Eddie pays part of his rent from disability, and the nonprofit kicks in the difference.

It costs less than the $728 per month paid to blind pensioners and saves taxpayers in countless other areas. Not to mention it takes one more man off the street asking strangers for alms.

In 1875, Missouri made a promise to help the blind. Give or take $23 million, its a deal thats been kept for more than 140 years.

I wonder: When will we give todays alms-seeking homeless the same opportunity?
FRONTENAC  A federal grand jury returned indictments Wednesday against eight Chicago residents already named on state charges in connection with a smash-and-grab theft of almost $60,000 worth of handbags from Plaza Frontenac.

The defendants, captured after a 60-mile police chase into Illinois that sometimes topped 100 mph, were charged in federal court with interstate transportation of stolen property. They are Dejuan Wingard, 21; Mario Washington, 24; Jacob Lee, 27; Derrick Crowder, 24; Darius Bowdry, 21; Terrence Bell, 25; Julian Campbell, 22, and Keyshyala Thomas, 22.

They could face 10-year prison terms and $250,000 fines if convicted on the federal charge.

Police have said the seven men and one woman are suspected of being part of a ring that stole $1.9 million worth of merchandise in Missouri, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan.

The theft of 30 high-end handbags happened Nov. 26 at the Saks Fifth Avenue store. Police recovered 16 handbags in the arrest. Four other suspects escaped with some of the loot in another vehicle.

The eight in custody already were charged in Illinois with theft, and all but Washington  who police said did not enter the store  were charged in St. Louis County with receiving stolen property and property damage.
A St. Louis man has been charged in the slaying of a cabdriver found dead in his taxi in the Central West End in September.

Shakur Ellis, 18, was charged Thursday with second-degree murder, robbery and armed criminal action. He was ordered held with bail set at $250,000, cash-only. Ellis lives in the 4700 block of Vernon Avenue, police said.

The cabdriver, Timothy Grice, was killed between 2 and 3 a.m. on Sept. 14 in the 4900 block of Laclede Avenue near Forest Park. His body was discovered in the taxi seven or eight hours after he was shot when someone reported to police that the vehicle had been parked there for a long time.

Court documents say Ellis was not the gunman in the crime, but was with someone when they saw Grice and decided to rob him. The other person shot Grice in the neck during the robbery, and took his iPhone and other belongings.

Search warrants say detectives found DNA evidence at the crime scene along with a .380-caliber shell casing. A .380 bullet was recovered from Grices body during his autopsy.

Surveillance cameras in the Central West End recorded video of a silver Chevrolet Impala with an Illinois temporary license plate that approached Grice before the shooting, search warrants say. Video obtained by police shows several people running from Grices cab to the Impala.

Two men were arrested in that Impala on Sept. 18, according to police. Officers seized a .380-caliber handgun found hidden under a rear seat, a search warrant says.

The men in the car, Savion Smith and Jerry Reese, both 19, denied involvement in Grices death, but they have been charged with receiving stolen property in another case that allegedly involves Ellis. Police say those three and a fourth young man were seen in gas station surveillance video using a credit card taken in a robbery two days before Grices death.

Police are still seeking the publics help identifying the fourth man seen with Ellis, Reese and Smith at the gas station.

Authorities asked anyone with information in the case to call CrimeStoppers at 1-866-371-8477.
FENTON  Rebecca Now gasped Wednesday upon learning that her friend Michael Oppermann died from stab wounds  not his Parkinsons disease, as she presumed  and that his wife was stabbed to death, too.

Police called the couples deaths from multiple wounds in their locked home in Fenton an apparent murder-suicide. But investigators provided no new details Wednesday and no suggestion of who killed whom.

Friends and associates recalled Michael Oppermans life as retired head of the Webster Groves Parks and Recreation Department and past president of the Webster Groves, Shrewsbury, Rock Hill Area Chamber of Commerce.

They found it difficult to imagine the violence.

He was just such a positive force in the community, said Now, the chambers executive director. Regardless of the means of his death, he was a very decent human being.

Relatives who could not reach the couple Monday notified St. Louis County police. Officers arrived at the home in the 800 block of San Sebastian Drive about 7 p.m. and found the bodies of Michael Oppermann, 65, and his wife, Denise Oppermann, 64.

Associates said they had not noticed any turmoil in the couples life together.

If there was turmoil, Michael Oppermann wouldnt show it, said Jim Kent, who knew him for more than 20 years. He said Oppermann never even complained about his battle with Parkinsons.

Kent said the couple frequently went on adventures, including a helicopter ride to the bottom of the Grand Canyon earlier this year for a champagne toast to celebrate their anniversary.

Kent said that Michael Oppermann always joked that his wifes retirement date was the day they got married, so Kent does not know if she had a job. But he said Oppermann adored her. He said the couple had one daughter, who lives in the Kansas City area.

Theyre calling it a murder-suicide, and that assumes two roles, but I just cant imagine either one of those people being an aggressor, Kent said.

Michael Oppermann retired from the Webster Groves post in 2014, after 32 years, said Miki McKee Koelsch, the recreation superintendent, who worked for him for 25 years. She called the Oppermanns deaths unfathomable.

He was so much more than a supervisor, he was a friend, a mentor, a coach and a supporter in all respects, a real part of the fabric of the community, she said.

Tracie Quackenbush, executive director of House Springs-based Open Door Animal Sanctuary, said Michael Oppermann had volunteered there for at least six years and attended events with his wife. Quackenbush struggled Wednesday to accept what the police were saying.

Im not saying theyre not doing their job; its just unbelievable, she said. She saw Michael Oppermann two weeks before and sensed nothing amiss.

The Open Space Council noted on its website in March 2015 that Michael Oppermann began the boom of recreation complexes and water parks in the St. Louis area in 1994 and helped secure $2 million in grants for the Shady Creek Greenway Project.

He was highly regarded by the Missouri Park and Recreation Association, said Jan Neitzert, the executive director. He cared about others success more than his own, she said. Neitzert said she never sensed problems in his personal life.

Kent, the friend, said the Oppermanns recently accepted an invitation to a Christmas party at his home in Manchester.

Its happening next week.
ST. LOUIS  A St. Louis County man admitted in federal court here Wednesday that he took part in tax fraud and money laundering, prosecutors said.

Precious Agobe, 32, pleaded guilty to three counts of theft of government property and two counts of money laundering. He will be sentenced March 26.

Agobe admitted to withdrawing nearly $8,800 from a Bank of America account that held fraudulently obtained federal income tax money in February 2015, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri said. The parties agreed that the loss from the income tax fraud was between $250,000 and $550,000.

In December of that year, Agobe withdrew $3,000 after a portion of money fraudulently transferred by a Kelso, Wash., business from its bank wound up in the Bank of America account.

Last February, Agobe retrieved $1,900 from a Bank of America account after 21 counterfeit checks totaling $99,055 from a business account in Mustang, Okla., were deposited.

The loss from Agobes money laundering activity was put at $68,968, prosecutors said.

Agobe could face up to 10 years in prison and fines up to $250,000 for stealing government funds and up to 20 years in prison and $500,000 in fines for money laundering.
Reflecting on his two decades with the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office, Undersheriff Dave Rau reminisces about all the calls varying from standoffs to wildfires to civil disturbances.

"I remember my first day like it was yesterday, and now here we are at my retirement like a blink of the eye," he said.

Ever humble, when asked about his profession, Rau speaks of the people who have helped him along the way -- not of his varied accomplishments.

"I've been so lucky in my career. I am thankful," he said, sitting behind his desk the day after handing in his letter of resignation.

"I'm fortunate to have made a career in something I loved," Rau added.

Sheriff Leo Dutton chose Rau as his undersheriff in 2008. Prior to that, Rau served as a captain and administrator of the county detention center. He also has been a hostage and crisis negotiator with the SWAT team and leader of the Civil Disobedience Team.

"There will never be another Dave Rau," Dutton said.

"It's been a great ride."

Dutton will chose Rau's replacement in the coming weeks. Rau's last official day on the job is Dec. 30.

In addition to Rau's sense of humor and personable demeanor, Dutton said he will also miss his trustworthy and loyal nature. The sheriff said Rau served in the position with the whole department and the community in mind. He also didn't bite his tongue when in a disagreement, Dutton said.

"He never hesitates to tell me I'm wrong. He doesn't," Dutton said.

Dutton said that as undersheriff, Rau, 52, helped to balance the leadership in the office.

"There's things I'm good at. I'm an extrovert. He is detail-oriented. He supplemented me in things, like he's great with plans and paperwork," Dutton said.

"He filled in for my weaknesses, and that's what made us a good team."

The decision to leave the force was a weighty one. While it's difficult for him to retire after such a fulfilling career, Rau is confident in his decision.

"It's a tough job," Rau said.

"We've had some good years," he said. "I've worked with great, great employees."

Rau's law enforcement and corrections positions began in 1985 when he took a job as a prison guard in Texas. Fast forward seven years and Rau was hired on by the East Helena police chief at the time, Ron McGinnis. In 1997, he signed on with the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office under then-Sheriff Chuck O'Reilly. Rau thanks those like McGinnis and O'Reilly, who he says believed in him enough to give him a chance, but officials say they are the blessed ones to have been able to work with him.

"He'll be missed by a lot of folks that he's worked with, including me," said Paul Spengler, Lewis and Clark County disaster and emergency service coordinator. "As the undersheriff, he's done a wonderful job."

"He's been a rock for the sheriff," he said.

Rau thanked the community for its backing as well as that of other law enforcement agencies and county officials. His appreciation goes out to everyone from the members of the media he has worked with over the years to the crew at Real Food Market & Deli where he likes to get lunch.

"Thank you. Thank you, everyone," Rau said.

He said he is especially indebted to his family -- his wife Tammy and their children Aaron and Whitney -- for their support.

Cohorts describe Rau as solid, cool, collected and a pleasure to work with.

Lewis and Clark County Commissioner Andy Hunthausen said Rau is simply "a great guy."

"He's been excellent -- a true public servant," he said. "Dave's just a really good person who has dedicated his life to law enforcement. He's been excellent for our county."

Rau said he's not sure of his next step, but he plans on staying local.

"We wish him the best in his next adventure," Hunthausen said.
Charter school parents are trying again to have a say in a lawsuit that they say could shut down some of their schools.

Parents Ken Ross, Jr. and LeDiva Pierce filed an appeal in federal court Tuesday to have a say in an ongoing desegregation lawsuit. St. Louis Public Schools is attempting to recover about $50 million that has gone to charter schools through the city's desegregation tax, which the district argues was started to fund district school programs, not charter schools.

Charter school advocates have said the lawsuit, if successful, could force the closure of several charter schools who are unable to return the money in the course of one year.

The parents' first attempt to join the legal battle was struck down in July by U.S. District Court Judge Henry Edward Autrey. Parents were denied a part in the legal battle because charter schools are not named as a party in the lawsuit, because they did not exist in St. Louis yet when the desegregation tax began.

Charter schools currently educate about one-third of public school students in the city.
WASHINGTON  There are so many parallels between the incoming Gov.-elect Eric Greitens and President-elect Donald Trump that Missourians might take some clues from Trump about the makeup of Greitens administration in Jefferson City.

Both men are Republican outsiders elected with broad-stroke pronouncements to change the status quo. Both left wriggle room in how they will do that in specific policies and everyday decisions.

Both ran law-and-order campaigns.

Both will be working with legislative bodies controlled by their parties, but in which neither has many real friends or natural allies.

And finally, both men are social media savvy but traditional media unfriendly. They have perfected the art of direct social media while making detours around traditional media.

Part of their messages promises to be new and unorthodox. Whether both will apply those methods as much to governing remains to be seen. But both recently have given broad hints that theyll govern with the same social media-first style.

For Trump, that latter point has been driven home in transition tweet streams on everything from Boeings construction of a new Air Force One to prospective appointments to his Cabinet.

Trumps tweet criticizing Boeing for alleged cost overrun projections  which critics, such as Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said came from fuzzy fact claims  set off several days of debate over whether the next president of the United States should be speculatively tweeting in this way, and what effect the tweets will have on the financial markets and foreign relations if he continues after becoming president on Jan. 20.

Similarly, Greitens this week went to Facebook to announce the shocking news that his wife, Sheena, had been robbed at gunpoint in St. Louis Central West End. She was unharmed in the episode, and three suspects were caught.

The next day, Greitens went on camera to thank law enforcement and assure Missourians that his wife was fine. He quickly segued into policy, saying that the episode had strengthened his belief that law and order must prevail.

Greitens took no questions after the short statement, sending out 21-year-old aide Austin Chambers to address questions off-camera, continuing a trend of ignoring reporters who cover him.

Trump reacted similarly a week before the election, when two Iowa police officers were killed in the line of duty. He first thanked police, saying they were the line separating civilization from total chaos.

Like Greitens, Trump quickly pivoted to his broad policy promise, saying: Were going to restore law, order and justice in America.

That pronouncement came amidst a more than four-month stretch, that continues today, during which Trump has not held a press conference.

Whats been learned of Trumps presidential nominations so far that provide insight into where Greitens may go on his?

Trumps appointments have not gone down a singular theme or party line.

He has appointed bomb-throwing insiders, such as the controversial Gen. Michael Flynn as national security adviser. He has buried hatchets and nominated onetime bitter political foes, such as Housing and Urban Development nominee Ben Carson, whom Trump once said had a pathological temper he equated with child molesting.

Trump has tapped legislative insiders, such as Rep. Tom Price, D-Ga., the Health and Human Services nominee. And he has gone with Republican Party stalwarts, such as the wealthy Betsy DeVos as Department of Education secretary nominee. He has run contrary to the populist economic themes of his campaign by naming Steven Mnuchin, a former Goldman-Sachs banker, as Treasury secretary nominee.

Trump has left open the possibility of naming Democrats to his Cabinet.

Trump also has ignored advice to give up Twitter, to acknowledge that there are some things he cant change in 140 characters, and that carping about Alec Baldwins depiction of Trump on Saturday Night Live is beneath a president with so many bigger things being dumped on his plate.

Instead, Trump has transitioned to the presidency in the same voice and through the same media tools that got him elected. Trump may not think Baldwins depiction of him is fair or that good  an opinion held by some Americans, not others  but the bully pulpit is rarely used for such exchanges.

Whether Tweeting Trump continues after the Jan. 20 inauguration is unclear. Those predicting that he either continues with micro-engagements or abandons them do so without any real knowledge. The one consistency about Trump has been how so many have been so wrong, for so long, about him.

Greitens, too, has been a defeater of expectation and conventional wisdom. But both men are about to run up against institutions made up of many people who dont always agree with them, who have the power to thwart and delay, some who have aspirations for the jobs the two leaders hold. The parallels of these two 2016 roads to electoral success are about to meet the legislative realities of 2017.
JEFFERSON CITY  Donors poured more than $5.3 million into their chosen candidates and causes this week, getting large contributions in before a voter-approved cap on campaign donations took effect Thursday.

The money largely went to successful Republican candidates, with Gov.-elect Eric Greitens, for example, adding at least $2.4 million to his coffers before the deadline hit.

Political megadonor David Humphreys and his family gave $1 million to Greitens on Wednesday, and $1 million more to a handful of other conservative politicians.

Wednesday marked the last chance  for now  to contribute more than $2,600 to a political candidate. Voters overwhelmingly approved a limit on donations in November, capping total contributions to any one political party at $25,000.

But the initiative is already being challenged in U.S. District Court in St. Louis, with opponents requesting it remain unenforced until legal issues are settled.

We are likely to seek some sort of quick temporary restraining order or injunction prohibiting enforcement while we figure this out, said Jefferson City attorney Chuck Hatfield, who is representing the opposition. I will be talking to the state about moving this fast.

The change approved by 70 percent of voters would keep foreign corporations, some classifications of banks and organizations like the Association of Missouri Electrical Cooperatives from contributing to their own political action committees, something the association says violates free speech rights.

Thats been a continual theme in the debate on the merits of campaign contribution caps. Those who disavow them say that donating to a political campaign is a form of free speech and expression.

But those who favor them argue that limits would allow average citizens to have an influence on elections, with candidates unable to rely on the six- and seven-figure donations from select megadonors, such as Humphreys, a Joplin roofing magnate, and retired St. Louis financier Rex Sinquefield.

They have to actually come to the voters that put them in office to get their support, instead of sitting in their office, making a few phone calls, and fully funding their campaigns, said Todd Jones, a spokesman for the Missouri Campaign Finance Reform Initiative.

He said the idea of limiting contributions from groups like the electrical cooperatives stems from the fact that they are governed and overseen by a state body.

So the idea that they can donate to the very people that are in fact overseeing them and their operations can, at the very least, give a whiff of impropriety and corruption, Jones said.

Jones said he expected a resounding victory  an important step for voters, he said, because state legislators have been so unsuccessful in passing ethics reform.

It almost always gets watered down, and voters see that, Jones said. This is a way to restore some integrity to the process, make voters feel like they have some control.

Still, lawmakers have already filed reform bills for the 2017 session, including a ban on lobbyist gifts.

Sen. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, has also introduced legislation that he says would resolve the problems outlined in the lawsuit.

The proposal, Senate Joint Resolution 1, would ask voters to approve changes to the constitution that would allow groups like the electrical cooperative association to contribute money to campaigns. He said if the Senate and House approve the resolution, Greitens could schedule a special election to close what he calls the loopholes.
JEFFERSON CITY  When it comes to putting together a team to run state government, Republican Eric Greitens has offered virtually no hints about his progress since winning the Nov. 8 race for governor.

Hes met with Gov. Jay Nixon, the Democrat he will replace on Jan. 9. He also has met with top GOP leaders in the Missouri Legislature.

But, beyond issuing a call for job applicants, the former Navy SEAL and political newcomer has made no announcements about Cabinet picks, other than naming campaign manager Austin Chambers as his senior adviser.

On Monday, however, Republican operative Nick Ayers said he had met with Greitens in St. Louis.

After that pow-wow, Ayers traveled to New York, where he spent time at Trump Tower in his role as a member of Donald Trumps transition team. The New York Times reported that Ayers may be in line to run the Republican National Committee after serving as top campaign adviser to vice president-elect Mike Pence, who campaigned in Missouri on behalf of Greitens during the election.

Ayers is a partner in Target Enterprises, a California company that provides campaign consulting services to Republican candidates. Greitens paid the firm more than $17 million in 2016 as part of his successful run as an outsider candidate for governor.

Ayers did not return messages seeking comment.

But, he did reveal he and Chambers put politics aside during a trip to Georgia last weekend when he tweeted a picture of a group of people hunting quail. Chambers is seen astride a white horse.

The duo knew each other before Greitens launched his bid for governor, having teamed up to help elect U.S. Sen. David Perdue in Georgia in 2014.

Greitens, meanwhile, did announce a team of people who are heading up his inauguration festivities.

Co-chairing the planning are: Mark Bobak, an attorney and former Anheuser-Busch legal officer; Jeff Layman of Springfield, who was finance chairman of Greitens' campaign; and, Jeff Stuerman, campaign treasurer.
JEFFERSON CITY  Gov. Jay Nixon on Thursday praised Missouris system for selecting judges, but his successor could very well change that process when he assumes office in January.

Speaking to the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, Nixon said the states nonpartisan court plan was key to ensuring diversity on the bench, and warned that efforts will likely ramp up to change it.

"Of the millions of dollars that poured into elections this past year, a good portion of that came from people who want to dismantle the court plan," Nixon said. "And theyre eyeing a constitutional amendment that would do just that. This is wrong, and we need to be prepared to fight this effort on every front."

The plan has received added attention in recent weeks, after the death of Missouri Supreme Court Judge Richard Teitelman on Nov. 29 left an unfilled vacancy on the court. He was 69.

Despite speculation that an expedited process could give the departing Democrat Nixon a shot at selecting Teitelmans replacement, its far more likely to be an item on Governor-elect Eric Greitens agenda when he takes the helm.

Under the nonpartisan court plan  designed to pick judges based on merit rather than political affiliation  a commission headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Patricia Breckenridge receives applications and interviews potential candidates.

Also on the commission are three lawyers elected by the Missouri Bar, the organization of all lawyers licensed to practice in the state, and three citizens picked by the governor.

The commission then submits three of the most qualified applicants to the governor, who has 60 days to appoint one of them. If the governor doesnt do so in that time frame, the selection goes back to the commission.

That process hasn't begun yet, said a spokeswoman for the Supreme Court.

Beyond highlighting the merits of the court plan, Nixon does have one chance to participate in it before his term ends. With the term of one of the citizen members ending Dec. 31, Nixon can appoint a new member to the panel.

On the campaign trail, Greitens called for a process that would give the governor and Legislature more say in the selection, contending that the current system gives trial lawyers too much influence in choosing judges they argue their cases in front of.

Asked if overhauling the plan was still a priority as Greitens prepares to take office, spokesmen for the incoming governor didnt immediately respond to requests for comment.

The plan was first approved by voters in November of 1940, who were frustrated with the abuse of the judicial system by ward bosses in St. Louis and political boss Tom Pendergast in Kansas City.

Efforts to push for a new plan in the legislature or to put a new plan before voters have been unsuccessful in recent years  but a new chief executive could spur change.

Sen. Dan Hegeman, R-Cosby, introduced legislation Thursday that would give a governor more choices when it comes to filling vacancies.

Under the current system, a panel of the chief justice of the Missouri Supreme Court, three lawyers and three citizens forwards a list of three applicants to the governor. Hegeman wants to remove that cap so that a governor will have a wider pool to choose from.

Were trying to open up the process and give the governor more choices, Hegeman said.

He said the inspiration for his proposed constitutional amendment came during former Gov. Matt Blunts tenure, when the governor signaled he wasnt satisfied with the trio of candidates he was given during one of his appointments.

Hegeman said his proposal is a modest change in a system that has been duplicated throughout the United States.

There are a lot of other folks who want to go a lot further with this, he said.

The proposal would be placed on the November 2018 general election ballot if approved.

The legislation is Senate Joint Resolution 11.

In the meantime, Judge Teitelman's chair on the court remains empty. The day after his death, it was draped in black cloth to pay homage, and Breckenridge gave an emotional tribute to her colleague and friend before the court heard oral arguments.

Judge Teitelman considered virtually everyone he met a friend. His relationships crossed political, age and social lines, Breckenridge said through tears. He was a fierce advocate for those with physical mental social and economic challenges and did much to promote equal justice and access to justice.

Nixon also praised Teitelman in his remarks on Thursday, and wondered if he would have ever had the chance to be on the Supreme Court under a different system.
WASHINGTON  President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday he would nominate St. Louis lawyer Andrew Andy Puzder, the current CEO of the fast-food chain CKE Restaurants, to be the next labor secretary.

Trump told the Associated Press that Puzder will fight to make American workers safer and more prosperous by enforcing fair occupational safety standards and ensuring workers receive the benefits they deserve, and he will save small businesses from the crushing burdens of unnecessary regulations.

Puzder said in a statement that he was honored to help President-elect Trump restore Americas global economic leadership.

Puzders nomination will require Senate confirmation, and he is already drawing opposition from Democrats and labor groups who favor higher minimum wages and who defend the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

In that way, Puzders nomination hearings could become a proxy battle for many of the early policy debates in the Trump administration.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has said repealing and replacing Obamacare  President Barack Obamas signature domestic legislative accomplishment  will be among the first priorities of a new Congress in January.

Puzder has been an outspoken critic of Obamacares impact on businesses. He is also a frequent critic of what he calls excessive federal regulations on business, and he opposes raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Citing his view on those issues, labor representatives reacted negatively.

Communications Workers of America President Chris Shelton said that Puzder would be a fine choice to head a government agency responsible for looking out for millionaires.

But those who know Puzder say the attacks misstate his position and underestimate his ability to listen, and to bring people of different ideologies together.

Nancy Staudt, dean of the Washington University law school, where Puzder serves on an advisory council, calls him an interesting and thoughtful man who frequently mentions his working-class upbringing in Cleveland.

He talks a lot about this whole idea of hard work and opportunity, and thinks they are linked and that everybody needs a chance to succeed, Staudt told the Post-Dispatch.

She said the attacks on Puzders positions do not reflect their nuance, and she predicted that Puzders critics will see a far more complex person than has been portrayed. On the minimum wage, for instance, Staudt said Puzder has time and again said he favors gradual raises to benefit workers, but opposes abrupt and dramatic raises proposed by some labor advocates because they would hurt businesses enough to cost jobs.

Puzder is a 1978 Washington University law school graduate and served as a trial lawyer in St. Louis through 1991. He practiced commercial law in the St. Louis law offices of Morris A. Shenker, a lawyer for teamsters union boss Jimmy Hoffa, through 1984. Puzder then moved to the Stolar Partnership law practice.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, Puzder was considered the top anti-abortion lawyers in Missouri. He helped write and get passed a state law declaring life begins at conception and prohibiting state money being used in abortions. He often represented, pro bono, anti-abortion protestors, one activist said.

Bill Hannegan, a St. Louis painter and activist, said he was one of the protesters, although he doesnt think Puzder ever represented him.

Andy was friendly, Hannegan said. A regular guy who worked cutting trees to pay his way through school. When he found out that I was painting as a sole proprietor he offered to incorporate me for free. Worried that I would be sued, as most people eventually are. Class.

Puzder was known as a fierce opponent of abortion, but he also helped lead an effort to find common ground with those favoring abortion rights. Starting in the early 1990s, they focused on helping women and children and trying to find ways to avoid unintended pregnancies.

If you have a poor woman who cant support another baby, and she goes to an abortion clinic, you dont have a woman whos exercising her constitutional right, you have a woman who has a problem, Puzder said at the time.

He is proud of his work in this context, Staudt, the Washington University dean said, and used it as an example of Puzders ability to listen to different opinions.

But Puzder was not without controversy while in St. Louis.

In 1989, it was widely reported that Puzders ex-wife, Lisa, alleged in legal divorce filings that she had been abused by her ex-husband. Puzder, who headed then-Gov. John Ashcrofts abortion task force, denied the allegations.

A spokesman for Puzder late Thursday issued a copy of an email sent by Puzders ex-wife on Nov. 30 in which she recanted those allegations.

I impulsively filed for a divorce without your knowledge and was counseled then to file an allegation of abuse, the email says. I regretted and still regret that decision and I withdrew those allegations over thirty years ago. You were not abusive. I will most definitely confirm to anyone who may ask that in no way was there abuse.

Attempts to reach Puzders ex-wife Thursday were not successful.

But Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump transition office, issued a statement he said came from Lisa Fierstein, Puzders ex-wife, that repeated part of the email, and added: Andy is one of the finest men I have ever known.  Andy is a wonderful father, a great person, and was a good husband.

In 1991, Puzder met Carl Karcher, founder of Carls Jr., who was embroiled in serious financial difficulties, according to the CKE website. Puzder helped resolve Karchers financial problems, and he now heads CKE.

Puzder was an economic adviser and donor to Trumps presidential campaign.

Puzder has been a prolific donor to Republican politicians and committees, according to Federal Election Commission records. Locally, he has donated to the Missouri Republican Party; Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-St. Elizabeth; and Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis.

The Carls Jr. and Hardees chains, which are part of CKE, run racy ads of supermodels eating burgers that have drawn criticism in some quarters. Puzder defended them in an interview with Entrepreneur magazine last year, saying they were, in part, an extension of his personality. He said the ads were aimed at hungry guys ages 18-34.

I like beautiful women eating burgers in bikinis. I think its very American, he told Entrepreneur. I used to hear brands take on the personality of the CEO. And I rarely thought that was true, but I think this one, in this case, it kind of did take on my personality.

In March, Hardees said it would move its headquarters and about 75 jobs from downtown St. Louis to Nashville.

Liberal groups and organized labor have been critical of Puzders push to replace some workers in his chain with automated kiosks, and to Puzders opposition to Obama doubling, to more than $47,000, the annual salary of workers who would be eligible for overtime.

The labor secretary is supposed to be the advocate-in-chief for Americas working men and women, Brad Woodhouse, president of the liberal activist group Americans United for Change, said. Instead, this is a guy who cant wait to make workers obsolete in his own restaurants by replacing them with robots.

Clay said he would keep an open mind on the nomination, even though the two disagree on Obamacare and other issues.

We dont agree on a lot of things when it comes to labor-management relations, but he is approachable and he keeps an open mind, Clay said.

Blunt called Puzder a good friend and forward thinker. The Department of Labor will benefit from his dynamic leadership, he said.
BUTTE -- The biggest die-off of migrating snow geese in the history of the toxic Berkeley Pit gained worldwide attention, with the story trending at the top of Facebook as of Wednesday morning.

The social media site showed 3,000 people were talking about this issue, according to Facebook Wednesday.

Both the United Kingdoms BBC News and Londons The Guardian newspaper posted stories Wednesday. National Public Radio also relayed the story.

The Washington Post in Washington, D.C., smaller media outlets and bird organizations around the country are also reporting the story. The Los Angeles Times is planning its own story, according to a photographer who contacted The Standard Wednesday morning seeking a photo of the pit.

Montana Resources manager of environmental affairs Mark Thompson said the Butte mining company has been inundated with phone calls from media outlets as far away as Norway starting Tuesday evening. The calls were nonstop Wednesday from radio, magazines and newspaper journalists.

We cant come close to answering everything we got today, Thompson said Wednesday.

MR officials reported this week that thousands of snow geese perished in the pit after landing there Nov. 28 during a snow storm. The deaths occurred despite hazing efforts by mine workers. The pit is a former open pit copper mine that is filled with water contaminated with sulfuric acid and heavy metals.

Comments have escalated on Facebook and on The Montana Standards website. One reader wrote on Facebook, Is there any way to fix this so it doesnt happen again?

Another Facebook commenter said, Oh boy, here we go again. Everyone in the world who Googles Butte will essentialize us as the place where beautiful wild creatures die from mine waste pollution.

Local officials, however, have a different take.

Pam Haxby-Cote, head of the Butte Local Development Corp., said that couldnt be further from the truth.

Haxby-Cote said she is not worried the story of the geese die-off will negatively impact Butte. She said she has the ability to live anywhere, but that she lives in Butte because this is a great place to be.

We have beautiful mountains, the cleanest drinking water in the state; fly fishing; miles of local trails. Our thing is, were affordable. We have amazing talent here in Butte, she said in an interview with The Standard.

Maria Pochervina, director of Butte convention and visitors' bureau, said she would be surprised to see this tragic event negatively affect tourism this summer.

People are fascinated by the pit, Pochervina said. When we tell the story of the value of minerals extracted, how its made our lives better, people are fascinated by that.

But Dave Palmer, who takes office in January as the newly elected county chief executive and a longtime commissioner, said the die-off is not good news on the economic development front.

It does make national news and that is unfortunate because that is what people look at  bad things, Palmer said. We could be doing a thousand good things in Montana and Butte itself and you never hear about them rise to the national level.

But the geese  that goes national and people say, Oh man, you dont want to go around there, or There is really a problem in Butte-Silver Bow, why would we ever want to relocate a business there? That is something you definitely have to be on top of and you have to try to counter that.

As many as 28 comments have been made on The Standards website in response to The Standard reporting several thousands of birds died. The commentary ranges from this is so heart-breaking, to stating that wind turbines kill more migratory birds than the thousands reported dead by MR.

Comments on The Standards website also display anger towards MR and Atlantic Richfield Company  the parties responsible for the pit  as well as calls to put the die-off into perspective. MR and ARCO need to remedy the situation, said one commenter. Another said, Buttes relationship to mining needs to be love-hate, not just hate.

Palmer said hed like to see more attention and research paid to addressing the pit.

Reporter Mike Smith contributed to this story.
TOBYHANNA, Pa.  An 18-year-old girl was live-streaming herself as she drove along a Pennsylvania highway in the moments before the crash that killed her and a passenger.

State police say Brooke Miranda Hughes was broadcasting live video on Facebook while driving very slowly in the right lane of Interstate 380 near Tobyhanna.

The Times-Tribune reports the passenger, 19-year-old Chaniya Morrison-Toomey, can be heard asking, "Are you going live?"

Before Hughes can answer, lights flash inside the car, followed by the sound of screeching tires.

Both teens died after a tractor-trailer plowed into the back of their car just after midnight Tuesday.

The driver of the truck was unhurt.

The video has been taken off Hughes' Facebook page. State police say they'll use it in their investigation.
There is no silver bullet for invasive aquatic mussels.

That was the message from experts around the country dealing with impacts from zebra and quagga mussels. Infestations of the mollusks plague waterways in the Midwest, throughout the Great Lakes and the lower Colorado River, clogging infrastructure and negatively altering aquatic ecosystems.

Until recently, exotic mussels had never been detected in the Northwest, but the announcement of Montanas first positive test for mussel larvae shook water users and managers looking for answers and developing a response.

All these municipal water structures, intakes, boat ramps, these are all hospitable habitats for these mussels, said Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman Greg Lemon. Its not that other invasive species arent concerning, but the potential economic and ecological impacts from mussels are very serious.

HISTORY AND IMPACT

Invasive mussels came to North America from Eurasia in the ballast water of ships. First discovered in 1988, within a year they infested western Lake Erie and have since spread to all the Great Lakes, hundreds of inland lakes and rivers.

Zebra and quagga mussels are both about the size of a thumbnail and notorious for colonizing on hard rocks and structures, reproducing unabatedly until covering virtually all available surfaces. Exotic mussels are even known to latch onto native mussels, with the USGS documenting a native mussel with nearly 10,000 zebra mussels attached.

Once infested, invasive mussels can foul boat props, clog hydropower and irrigation infrastructure and line recreational swimming areas with sharp shells.

There are a lot of things you have to think about once you have these mussels because they can go wherever the water goes, said Bob Wakeman, Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinator for Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Wisconsin has documented exotic mussels in nearly 300 water bodies, first appearing in the Great Lakes and transported inland attached to recreational boats. Calcium is important for mussels to grow shells, and fortunately for Wisconsin, experts believe a large portion of the state is not calcium-rich enough to support mussel infestations, Wakeman said.

Wisconsin has never done a comprehensive analysis of exotic mussels for inland lakes, he said, putting efforts toward stopping their spread.

Wisconsin has a very active aquatic invasive species program mostly focused on prevention and containment, he said. Were really focused on the pathways with the message for boaters to inspect equipment, remove plants and animals and dont move any live fish.

The Bureau of Reclamation operates four hydropower dams on the Lower Colorado River. In 2007, quagga mussels were discovered in Nevadas Lake Mead. Due to their small size, officials estimate they went undetected for three to five years until water samples found larvae. By then, the infestation was established.

Mussels are now present in multiple reservoirs, typically establishing populations within five years of introduction.

It really goes back to their high reproductive rate, said Denise Hosler, team leader at Reclamations Detection Laboratory for Invasive and Native Species. Each female can release 30,000 eggs per breeding cycle, and on the lower Colorado, we dont have those hard winters so there are 11 breeding cycles. Do the math and there are a huge amount of eggs being released.

The initial concern for dam operators are large concentrations of mussels clogging pipes and shell debris filtering into other dam workings. That leads to increased workloads and maintenance, but as mitigation measures continue to evolve, officials do not believe the mussels ultimately threaten the ability to provide hydropower, Hosler said.

A 2016 Great Lakes states economic analysis by Michigan based Anderson Economic Group LLC sought to quantify the impacts of aquatic invasive species. The study estimates the cost of monitoring and controlling zebra mussels at one hydroelectric dam at $1.2 million annually. Costs for mussel controls at water treatment plants ranged from $480,000 to $540,000.

But the bigger concern may be the impacts of invasive mussels to the ecosystem, Hosler said.

Zebra and quagga mussels function similarly in the environment and unlike any other creature.

This organism fills a unique niche as a freshwater bivalve filtering nutrients from the water, she said. This one doesnt have any natural competition.

As plankton feeders, exotic mussels filter about a liter of water per day. The feeding process sends ripple effects through the aquatic ecosystem in two main ways.

First, the removal of plankton decreases food supplies for smaller fish, Hosler said. A lack of nutrients works its way up the food chain, with smaller or fewer bait fish available to larger fish.

Second, water clears as mussels filter. While that might initially seem like a positive impact, increasing light penetration encourages the growth of aquatic plants, altering the underwater environment.

The exact impacts of invasives versus weather on plant growth are difficult to quantify and are the subject of current research, Hosler said.

Effects from mussels vary depending on the environment and other conditions, with calcium and dissolved oxygen being the primary factors, she said. Colder climates no doubt slow the rate of infestations as water bodies freeze, she added.

The state of Michigan has seen rapid infestations in shallower and species-rich portions of the Great Lakes, and slower progressions in deeper colder waters, said Sarah LeSage, AIS coordinator with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. The state runs educational campaigns targeting recreational boats, but still hundreds of inland lakes have been infested, she said.

Zebra mussels are the poster child for the National Invasive Species Act, she said. They have a profound impact and its widely accepted that we need to work hard to address them.

RESEARCH OFFERS DIRECTION

A number of studies and pilot projects have looked at ways to control exotic mussels.

Water testing methodology and DNA analysis has improved significantly in the past decade, allowing water managers to discover mussel presence earlier in an infestation.

In closed hydropower or irrigation systems, chemicals can be used to clean pipes. Reclamation is also researching other controls in its dams, testing different coatings and using ultraviolet light to discourage mussels from attaching.

Weve seen some really positive effects keeping pipes clean and flowing, Hosler said of Reclamations dams, adding that open water controls are much more challenging.

There is no silver bullet  you can reduce populations but there is no eradication method.

LeSage agreed, noting that new collaborations between state and federal agencies are only looking at ways to restore portions of fish habitat using commercial chemical mussel controls.

Once theyre in an inland lake, theres not a lot we can do, she said. Lakewide treatments are not on the table right now.

Minnesota has seen the same impacts to aquatic life, recreation and water users, and launched a number of projects aimed at mussel controls. About 5 percent of Minnesotas 11,000 lakes have confirmed invasive mussel infestations.

In 2000, the state drew down Lake Zumbro in an attempt to leave mussels dry. The invasives survived in the remaining water and reestablished post drawdown.

From 2011 to 2014, Minnesota officials used commercial mussel controls consisting of copper sulfate on three lakes. Mussels were later found in two of the lakes.

A biocontrol called Zequanox uses the dead cells of bacteria deadly to invasive mussels. The product is being touted as an alternative to chemicals, and Minnesota used it in Lake Christmas in 2014. The state also used copper products and potassium chloride, and will monitor to judge efficacy, said Heidi Wolf, invasive species unit coordinator for Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

So far were focused on new infestations and are not trying to go in and eradicate them where theyre infested, she said. Nobody has found that silver bullet, a reliable and effective zebra mussel control, but were definitely trying.

MONTANA'S MUSSELS

By all accounts, any potential infestation in Montana is in its infancy with only a handful of larvae confirmed in Tiber Reservoir and suspected positive samples in Canyon Ferry Reservoir, upstream in the Missouri River, and the Milk River below Nelson Reservoir. The state has expedited testing to determine species and confirm suspected samples following initial positive tests in October.

Searches by detection dogs and divers have not discovered a breeding population, but state officials are operating under the assumption that adult mussels are present in the waters.

Were trying to take the necessary actions to keep it contained and controlled, Lemon said. Even if we do find adult mussels we have no idea the extent theyre established  its just too early to tell.

Gov. Steve Bullock issued an executive order late last month, declaring a natural resource emergency and formulating an invasive mussel rapid response team. The move allows state officials to tap $750,000 in special funding as it investigates and responds.

Since forming, the team closed boating and dock removal on Canyon Ferry and Tiber and reached out to water users and other interested groups.

U.S. Sens. Steve Daines and Jon Tester have worked on the federal end, asking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to expedite funding for invasive species check stations.

Inspecting boats for invasive plants and animals and education with the Clean, Drain, Dry campaign has been the primary means of prevention. Now that exotic mussels have been detected in the state, officials in Montana and throughout the Northwest are considering the options.

Winter temperatures provide a reprieve from mussel reproduction as the team prepares its response. Officials plan to continue to search for adults but have not determined if the reservoirs will reopen when the ice breaks up this spring.

One proposal calls for drawing down Tiber and Canyon Ferry in an attempt to leave mussels dry, potentially killing them and aiding in detection. Lemon emphasized that those discussions are in early stages and officials are a long way from any action. Discussions with water users about downstream impacts are also ongoing but preliminary.

Its impossible to say at this point what (draw down) impacts might be, but we understand the broad range of stakeholders this could impact, Lemon said. Any sort of solution we have to contain and control, well certainly involve all those key stakeholders in that discussion.
A Helena city commissioner hopes to eliminate the citys gender restrictions in public accommodations where people ordinarily appear in the nude.

Commissioner Rob Farris-Olsen, with the support of commissioners Andres Haladay and Ed Noonan, wants to strike the last two sentences of the city's nondiscrimination ordinance, which read: However, in any place of public accommodation where users ordinarily appear in the nude, users may be required to use the facilities designated for their anatomical sex, regardless of their gender identity. Such requirement does not constitute unlawful discrimination for purposes of this section.

The three commissioners wanted the proposed change in the ordinances language to be on the commissions Dec. 19 agenda for initial consideration. A public hearing could occur in January that would precede a final vote on adoption of the change.

The ordinance was unanimously approved roughly four years ago before an overflow crowd in the city commission chambers.

According to the Independent Record story from Dec. 17, 2012, eight of the 14 people speaking against the measure mentioned what some called the bathroom or locker room issue  the concern voyeurs or pedophiles would exploit the protections for transgender people to gain access to womens restrooms or similar areas demanding privacy, or that transgender people themselves would cause alarm in such situations.

An amendment by then-Commissioner Dick Thweatt passed by the commission Dec. 4, 2012, addressed that concern by mandating that in any place where people ordinarily appear in the nude, users may be required to use the facilities designated for their anatomical sex, regardless of their gender identity.

Removal of the language would remove the only exception to the ordinance, City Attorney Thomas Jodoin said.

If the change is enacted, the ordinance would read It shall be unlawful for a place of public accommodation to deny, directly or indirectly, any person full and equal access or enjoyment of the goods, services, activities, facilities, privileges, advantages and accommodations for a discriminatory reason.

Farris-Olsen said he heard complaints and that prompted him to propose changing the ordinance.

The city has an ordinance that allows discrimination and the commission can correct that, he said.

It just cleans up some language that allowed discrimination based in public accommodations so no longer will that discrimination be allowed, he said.

We have language that specifically allows discrimination in public accommodations and thats not appropriate, he explained.

While he said he hadnt heard of specific acts of discrimination in public accommodations, he has seen the issue raised in two proposals on the construction of gender-neutral bathrooms.

Haladay wrote City Manager Ron Alles in late November to say he had received two inquiry/complaints regarding bathroom requirements in commercial establishments when they are for single occupancy.

His email to Alles asked why they cannot be gender neutral and why urinals are required when a bathroom is for single occupancy.

Commissioner Dan Ellison, who was acting mayor at the citys administrative meeting Monday, expressed concern on the timing of the change and explained that he said he had seen it only a few minutes prior to the meeting.

The suddenness of the change also prompted Ellison to note Montanas open meeting law and to question how someone who opposed the proposal would have had the opportunity to learn the commission planned to discuss it.

The commission is not yet discussing the proposed change in the ordinances language, Haladay said, noting that there would be a public hearing on it where people can comment.

Individuals and representatives of groups in support of changing the ordinances language were at the administrative meeting where Farris-Olsen announced his interest to revise the ordinance.
Tom Georgeson and TJ Jones, who play Leon and Mickey

THERES something hugely refreshing about The Seven Acts of Mercy by Anders Lustgarten.

On the one hand its foul-mouthed kitchen sink realism would hardly endear it to your maiden aunt. But on the other, its blazing anger and searing humanity  brilliantly intercut between early 17th century Naples and 21st century Merseyside  turn what could have been a predictable left-wing polemic into a drama of classic dimensions.

First, there is the conception of the play, which is original to say the least. The idea of intermingling a great work of art and its creator, Caravaggio, with the social strains and political tensions of a working class community in modern day Bootle is not the most obvious storyline. But in the hands of Lustgarten this unlikely scenario is crafted with such masterly skill  and audacity  that it sticks in the mind for quite a while afterwards.

Yet however good the script, which was specially commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company, this would be no use without great acting. And the acting in this play is magnificent. In fact, it falls into that category of acting that is so good you dont actually notice that theyre acting.

And for this the plays director, Erica Whyman, the RSCs deputy artistic director, can take huge credit. (One of the actors told me she was the best director he had ever worked with.)

There is good cause for trepidation about a political play that is partly set on Merseyside and in which even Caravaggio himself, in the Naples of four centuries ago, has a Scouse accent. After all, Liverpool is still remembered as the demesne once ruled over by Derek Hatton and the Militant Tendency. And there is something oh-so familiar about left-wing rhetoric uttered with a Liverpudlian twang.

Any such concerns swiftly evaporated as the full sweep of the play became apparent. It opens in Naples in the year 1606 with Caravaggio, superbly acted by Patrick OKane, in a makeshift studio within the walls of a church following his flight from Rome after killing a man in a duel. He is hot-tempered and quickly prone to violence  and very, very angry indeed. He is working on his latest commission, a painting that illustrates the seven acts of mercy  a work of art that speaks to, and for, the dispossessed. Meanwhile he is constantly on the lookout against powerful people in Rome who want to see him punished.

The scene switches to Bootle in 2016 where a terminally ill tenant, Leon Carragher (brilliantly played by the 79-year-old Tom Georgeson), is fighting to keep possession of his house as the money men try to force him out and into a care home. It shows Leon instructing his teenage grandson Mickey (played by the immensely talented 16-year-old TJ Jones) in the value of art, especially Caravaggios The Seven Acts of Mercy.

Meanwhile Mickey is trying to prove to his grandfather that true compassion can be found in people and not just in art.

There are some spellbinding performances in this production, arguably from every single member of the 17-strong cast. Special mention should be made of Allison McKenzie, who plays the part of the prostitute Lavinia, a friend of Caravaggio, in the Naples scenes. (Her Scottish accent sometimes comes as a welcome relief from the almost constant stream of Liverpudliana)

She has the rather risque duty of bearing her naked breasts early on in the play, strictly for the purposes of verisimilitude, of course. But her overwhelming impact on the audience was one of tremendously powerful acting. She would make a wonderfully feisty Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing.

The Seven Acts of Mercy was an interesting commission from the RSC, and it has proved thoroughly justified, especially given the rapturous applause it received on its first night.

The Seven Acts of Mercy runs until 10th February. Book tickets here
HELENA  A judge on Wednesday cleared the way for Montana's medical marijuana dispensaries to reopen after a three-month hiatus by ruling that a drafting error in a voter-approved ballot initiative should not delay the measure's implementation.

District Judge James Reynolds of Helena ruled the error that pushed back the effective date of a key portion of the initiative until July 1 should not keep very ill patients from accessing the drug immediately.

"The folks that are maybe the most in need are the least able to provide, to grow their own," Reynolds said in making his ruling. "I think speed is more important than niceties."

The initiative approved by voters last month struck down a law passed by the Montana Legislature in 2011 that limited medical marijuana providers to three patients each. The three-patient limit took effect Aug. 31 after a five-year court battle, forcing the closure of medical marijuana dispensaries across the state and leaving thousands of registered users without providers.

The authors of the ballot measure, the Montana Cannabis Industry Association, had intended for the three-patient limit to be struck down immediately upon passage of the initiative.

But a last-minute flurry of activity between initiative sponsors and state officials resulted in two new sections being added to the measure, changing the numbering of the sections in the initiative, according to the group's lobbyist, Kate Cholewa. The part of the initiative that laid out the effective dates of the various sections of the measure was not updated to reflect the final changes, she said.

The advocacy group took their case to Reynolds, who had twice ruled to block the three-patient limit while the challenge to the 2011 state law was making its way through the courts. Reynolds said the effective date issue was clearly an error, that the advocacy group had meant for the measure to take effect immediately and that the group had publicly campaigned that it would upon passage.

The judge, in an aside, noted that federal and state laws regarding marijuana remain in conflict while the number of states legalizing recreational and pot is growing.

"We're in a morass here," he said of the disparity between federal and state laws. "Folks are speaking with their votes."

Cholewa said it was not clear how much time providers would need to get their operations up and running. She acknowledged that shortages in marijuana supplies, a rush to physicians who refer patients and how the state Department of Public Health and Human Services administers the changes could cause delays.

"The people who work providing marijuana in Montana were, let's face it, they were jerked around quite a bit," Cholewa said. "They are somewhat used to it and very good at coming back. "

One dispensary, The Marijuana Company, posted on Facebook "WE ARE OPEN!!! We are accepting new patients!!!" Its owner, J.J. Thomas, said his company served about 100 patients in Butte and Helena before it shut down in August.

"It's been brutal," Thomas said. "We were forced out of business, and we were trying to hang on until we could re-open. If we had to wait until June, we probably would have had to throw in the towel."

The Marijuana Company will accept the paperwork of any patient who wants to list the dispensary as his designated provider, but it will have to offer marijuana on a first-come, first-served basis until its supplies are replenished, he said.

The state health department did not oppose the advocacy group's effort to change the effective date through the courts, attorney Nicholas Domitrovich said.

"We have the program in place. We have the staff in place," Domitrovich said before the ruling. "We are prepared to act, but we feel we don't have the proper legal cover right now."

The health department immediately saw an increase in applications after the judge's ruling. The department received 70 medical marijuana cardholder and provider applications on Wednesday, spokesman Jon Ebelt said.

Another provision of the initiative, allowing people diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder to use medical marijuana, has already gone into effect and was not affected by Wednesday's ruling.

There were 7,558 enrolled medical marijuana patients in Montana in November, and 6,557 without a designated provider, according to health department statistics. There were more than 30,000 people enrolled before state lawmakers in 2011 passed the restrictive law, citing the need to close loopholes that allowed the medical marijuana law approved by voters in 2004 to be abused.
Frontline Ltd. (NYSE: FRO) has mandated Arctic Securities AS and Arctic Securities LLC (the "Manager"), to assist the Company in a contemplated offering (the "Offering") for issue of 13,422,819 new shares (the "New Shares") for gross proceeds of USD 100 million. The Offering is directed towards certain Norwegian and international institutional investors subject to applicable exemptions from European prospectus requirements. The minimum application and allocation amount has been set to the USD equivalent of EUR 100,000, provided that the Company reserves the right to, at its sole discretion, allocate lower amounts to investors that qualify as "professional investors" pursuant to the Norwegian Securities Trading Act and ancillary regulations.

The subscription price in the Offering will be USD 7.45 per New Share (equalling NOK 62.80 at a USD/NOK exchange rate of 8.43), equivalent to a 2.1 % discount to the closing price of the Company's shares on the New York Stock Exchange on December 8, 2016 adjusted for the USD 0.10 dividend declared by the Company on 28 November 2016. The application period for the Offering will start December 8, 2016 at 22:00 hours (CET) and will close on December 9, 2016 at 08:00 hours (CET). The Company reserves the right to close or extend the application period at any time at their sole discretion, at short notice.

Our largest shareholder, Hemen Holding Ltd., ("Hemen"), a Cyprus holding company, indirectly controlled by trusts established by the Company's Chairman and President, Mr. John Fredriksen, for the benefit of his immediate family, which owns approximately 52% of the Company's ordinary shares, has guaranteed the Offering. If the Offering is oversubscribed, the allocation to Hemen may be reduced below its pro rata share in order to improve the free float.

The allocation will be made at the discretion of the Company in consultation with the Manager, on or about December 9, 2016, subject to any shortening or extension of the application period.

The New Shares will not give right to receive the USD 0.10 dividend declared by the Company on 28 November 2016 with ex-date 13 December 2016 on the New Your Stock Exchange and 14 December 2016 on the Oslo Stock Exchange and payment date on or about 22 December 2016.

The net proceeds from the Offering will be used to opportunistically fund growth opportunities through vessel acquisitions and for general corporate purposes.

Subject to full payment of the New Shares, the New Shares allocated in the Offering are expected to be delivered to the subscribers in the Offering on or about December 16, 2016 and to be registered in the Norwegian Central Securities Depository (VPS) with the Company's ISIN BMG3682E1921 and commence to trade under the Company's ordinary trading symbol "FRO" and become tradable on the Oslo Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange on or about December 16, 2016.
By Stefano Bernabei and Giuseppe Fonte

ROME (Reuters) - Italy is preparing to take a 2 billion euros controlling stake in Monte dei Paschi di Siena as the bank's hopes of a private funding rescue fade following Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's decision to quit, two sources close to the matter said on Tuesday.

The government is already the ailing bank's single largest shareholder with a four percent share, but is planning to buy junior bonds held by ordinary Italians to take the stake up to 40 percent, the sources said.

This would make it by far the biggest shareholder, meaning the Treasury would be able to control Italy's third biggest bank and its shareholder meetings.

The sources said a government decree authorizing the deal, which would see the state buy the subordinated bonds from retail investors and convert them into shares, could be rushed through as early as this weekend.

Monte dei Paschi must raise 5 billion euros ($5.4 billion) by the end of this month to avoid being wound down, but private investors are reluctant to provide cash after Renzi lost a referendum on Sunday and announced plans to resign.

The bank is set to raise 1 billion euros from a bond swap with institutional investors and Rome is hoping the 2 billion euros participation from the government could help persuade private investors to fill the 2 billion euros gap.

"It's a de-facto nationalization with a strong presence by the state that can attract other investors and allow the transaction to be completed," said one of the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Treasury and Monte dei Paschi declined to comment.

Renzi is expected to leave office in days and could be replaced by his economy minister or another leading politician. But an early election might be held next year, raising investor fears that a maverick, anti-euro party could take power.

Italy's treasury would buy the bonds held by around 40,000 retail investors at face value, the sources said.

That way, the government would ensure retail investors do not suffer any losses in the bank's bailout, making it politically more palatable and staving off the risk of a run on deposits that could trigger a wider banking crisis.

The European Commission would need to assess whether the government's intervention is taking place at market prices or if it constitutes state aid, another source said.

Monte dei Paschi, rated the weakest lender in European stress tests this summer, had planned to arrange a private rescue, starting with a firm commitment from one or more anchor investors and then launching a share sale this week.

However, investment banks lined up to underwrite that plan, led by JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) and Mediobanca , have in effect put the deal on hold due to political uncertainty.

One source said they would make a decision by Friday but that the chances of the privately backed deal going ahead as planned were now slim.

A source close to Qatar's cash-rich sovereign wealth fund said it could inject 1.4 billion euros in the bank but wanted to wait to see what kind of government would succeed Renzi. Other sources were more cautious on Qatar's willingness to back the deal.

Italy's head of state on Monday asked Renzi to put his resignation on hold until the 2017 budget is approved by parliament, which is expected to happen on Wednesday.

The bank's chief executive, Marco Morelli, held talks with European Central Bank officials in Frankfurt on Tuesday to review its options. A meeting of the bank's board is likely to take place on Wednesday.

(1 euro = $1.0700)

(additional reporting by Paola Arosio in Milan and Tom Finnes in Doha, writing by Silvia Aloisi; editing by Anna Willard)
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Apollo Global Management, LLC (NYSE: APO) (together with its consolidated subsidiaries, "Apollo") today announced the appointment of Gary W. Parr as a Senior Managing Director and Co-Chairman of the firms Management Operating Committee, reporting to Joshua Harris, Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of the Management Operating Committee.

The other members of the Management Operating Committee include: Lisa Bernstein, Global Head of Human Capital; Anthony Civale, Lead Partner and Chief Operating Officer - Credit; Stephanie Drescher, Global Head of Business Development and Investor Relationship Management; Martin Kelly, Chief Financial Officer; Scott Kleinman, Lead Partner - Private Equity; Sanjay Patel, Head of Europe; Imran Siddiqui, Senior Partner - Private Equity; John Suydam, Chief Legal Officer; and James Zelter, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer - Credit. In addition, Michael Jupiter, Partner, serves as Chief of Staff to the Management Operating Committee.

We are thrilled to welcome Gary to Apollo, and we believe he will be an outstanding addition to our senior leadership team, said Mr. Harris. He is one of the most respected executives in the financial services industry, and we expect to benefit from his deep expertise and relationships in the sector as Apollo continues to grow its business.

Mr. Parr said, Over the course of my career I have grown to know and respect the professionals at Apollo, who have built one of the most successful and innovative alternative investment management firms in the industry, and I am very excited to join the leadership team."

About Gary Parr

Prior to joining Apollo, Mr. Parr was a Vice Chairman at Lazard. He has provided strategic advice to financial institutions worldwide for over 30 years. During the financial crisis, he advised on the restructuring of Lehman Brothers, the sale of Bear Stearns to JPMorgan, the U.S. Treasury led restructuring of Fannie Mae and Mitsubishi UFJs investment in Morgan Stanley.

Prior to joining Lazard, Mr. Parr was with Morgan Stanley in numerous capacities. He was Chairman and Head of Global Financial Institutions, and earlier was Co-Head of the Global Mergers and Acquisitions Department. Prior to Morgan Stanley, Mr. Parr was Co-President of Wasserstein Perella.

Mr. Parr has been active in many philanthropic organizations in the Arts and Social Responsibility areas. He was Chairman of the New York Philharmonic from 2009 to 2015 and now serves as Chairman Emeritus. Mr. Parr also founded and is the Chairman of the Parr Center for Ethics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is on the Board of The Morgan Library & Museum.

Mr. Parr graduated with honors, Phi Beta Kappa and Beta Gamma Sigma, from the University of North Carolina and received his M.B.A. from Northwestern University. He was awarded the Outstanding Alumni Award from the University of North Carolina in 2013.

About Apollo Global Management

Apollo is a leading global alternative investment manager with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Bethesda, Toronto, London, Frankfurt, Madrid, Luxembourg, Singapore, Mumbai, Delhi, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Apollo had assets under management of approximately $189 billion as of September 30, 2016, in private equity, credit and real estate funds invested across a core group of nine industries where Apollo has considerable knowledge and resources. For more information about Apollo, please visit www.agm.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward looking statements that are within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements include, but are not limited to, discussions related to Apollos expectations regarding the performance of its business, its liquidity and capital resources and the other non-historical statements in the discussion and analysis. These forward-looking statements are based on management's beliefs, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management. When used in this press release, the words believe, anticipate, estimate, expect, intend and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in these forward looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct. These statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including risks relating to our dependence on certain key personnel, our ability to raise new private equity, credit or real estate funds, market conditions, generally, our ability to manage our growth, fund performance, changes in our regulatory environment and tax status, the variability of our revenues, net income and cash flow, our use of leverage to finance our businesses and investments by our funds and litigation risks, among others. We believe these factors include but are not limited to those described under the section entitled Risk Factors in Apollos annual report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) on February 29, 2016, as such factors may be updated from time to time in our periodic filings with the SEC, which are accessible on the SECs website at www.sec.gov. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this press release and in other filings. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. This press release does not constitute an offer of any Apollo fund.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208006285/en/

For investor inquiries regarding Apollo:

Apollo Global Management, LLC

Gary M. Stein, 212-822-0467

Head of Corporate Communications

[email protected]

or

Apollo Global Management, LLC

Noah Gunn, 212-822-0540

Investor Relations Manager

[email protected]

or

For media inquiries regarding Apollo:

Rubenstein Associates, Inc. for Apollo Global Management, LLC

Charles Zehren, 212-843-8590

[email protected]

Source: Apollo Global Management, LLC
ATLANTA, GA -- (Marketwired) -- 12/08/16 -- Denise Hines, DHA, PMP, FHIMSS, CEO of eHealth Services Group and Executive Director of Georgia Health Information Network (GaHIN), received the Phoenix Community Leader of the Year Award at the 2016 Health IT Leadership Summit. Dr. Hines was recognized for her instrumental role in advancing healthcare connectivity in Georgia to ensure physicians have the information they need to deliver quality care.

The Phoenix award represents the iconic "rising from the ashes" of the Phoenix -- a symbol of strength, tenacity and leadership. Each year, four awards are presented by the Metro Atlanta Chamber in the following categories: Start-up Company of the Year, Emerging Company of the Year, Hospital of the Year and Community Leader of the Year. In 2016, the Community Leader Award was renamed for Pat Williams, long-time advocate and supporter of the HIT community in Georgia.

"The Metro Atlanta Chamber Bioscience-Health IT Leadership Council is pleased to recognize Dr. Denise W. Hines and her accomplishments in the health information technology sector," said Robert Hendricks, SVP and CIO/CTO of McKesson Technology Solutions and chair of MAC's Bioscience-Health IT Leadership Council. "As a national leader in health information exchanges, Dr. Hines is the model recipient for the inaugural Pat Williams' Community Leader of the Year Award. She has demonstrated an ongoing dedication to advocate for technology innovation in health and healthcare delivery. We're proud to have her representing Georgia as part of the National HIMSS Board of Directors and National HIMSS Public Policy Committee."

"I am honored to receive this recognition from the Metro Atlanta Chamber," said Dr. Hines. "I am both thrilled and humbled to be the inaugural recipient of an award named for Pat Williams, who shows selfless dedication to advancing health IT in Georgia. I credit my terrific team, my friends and mentors, and my family with the support and insights to continue the push to bring better healthcare to Georgia and our country."

Dr. Hines heads eHealth Services Group and also serves as the Executive Director of Georgia Health Information Network (GaHIN). GaHIN is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a healthier Georgia by facilitating the use and secure exchange of electronic health information so providers have the information they need at the point of care. The result is improved quality of care, better health outcomes and reductions in cost.

As Executive Director of GaHIN, Dr. Hines has led the initiative to connect the state health information exchange (HIE) to two national networks for information exchange, made Georgia one of the first state HIEs to connect directly to other states, created connections with five state agencies and spurred participation in the HIE by Grady, CHOA, Emory and numerous other state hospitals and healthcare providers.

Dr. Hines is Chair Elect of the North America Board of the Health Information & Management Systems Society (HIMSS). She is the past president of the Georgia Chapter of HIMSS and was recognized as the 2012 HIMSS Chapter Leader of the Year, with GA HIMSS recognized as the 2012 Chapter of the Year. She was also an honoree as the 2012 Woman of the Year in Technology.

Dr. Hines has more than two decades of healthcare experience in a variety of settings, including health systems, physician offices, home health, technology vendors, consulting, state government and revenue management. She is renowned for building service and results-oriented organizations and she possesses a passion for the widespread integration of technology and healthcare.

Nationally recognized as an expert in state government in health information exchanges (HIE), Dr. Hines has participated in hundreds of public speaking events locally and nationally, educating providers on the benefits of electronic health record (EHR) systems, health information technology adoption, and the overall national vision for an interconnected health system.

Dr. Hines was responsible for overseeing and managing the marketing and outreach recruitment of more than 5,200 healthcare providers and 56 critical access and rural hospitals, assisting these providers in meeting meaningful use requirements and qualifying for the CMS EHR incentive program. She participated on Georgia's HIE Strategic and Operational Plan writing team and served as the co-chair of the HIE Governance Committee. She successfully launched Georgia's first comprehensive health information transparency and HIE website. She served as the first Executive Director for the GA Health Information Technology Advisory Board and created Georgia's two-, five-, and 10-year strategic plans for health information technology. She also created and implemented the Georgia HIE Grants Awards Program that awarded $1,800,000 in grants in the first and second years.

Dr. Hines holds her doctorate in healthcare administration where she focused her studies on the use of electronic personal health records and the impact on patient health. She also maintains certifications in project management, software development, and healthcare law.

About Georgia Health Information Network Georgia Health Information Network (GaHIN) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a healthier Georgia by facilitating the use and secure exchange of electronic health information so providers have the information they need at the point of care. The result is improved quality of care, better health outcomes and reductions in cost. GaHIN's two products, GeorgiaDirect (powered by Medicity) and Georgia ConnectedCare (powered by Truven Health Analytics) connect providers statewide and nationally and are free for credentialed, authorized Georgia users. www.gahin.org

About the Health IT Leadership Summit Now in its 7th year, the Health IT Leadership Summit brings together leaders from across the healthcare continuum to discuss how the industry can drive innovation to enable better healthcare delivery at lower costs to more people. Supported by a founding partnership that includes the Georgia Department of Economic Development, the Metro Atlanta Chamber, and the Technology Association of Georgia's Health Society, the event offers attendees a full day of informational sessions, innovative exhibits, and networking opportunities. Key presentation topics focus on interoperability, IT security, clinical applications, and funding. www.HealthITLeadershipSummit.com

GaHIN media contact: Lynn Hood [email protected] 678-427-5040

Source: GaHIN
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Fitch Ratings expects to assign a 'BBB+(exp)' long-term rating to Petroleos Mexicanos' (Pemex) USD5.5 billion sr. unsecured debt issuance composed of:

--USD1.5 billion due 2022;

--USD1 billion floating rate issuance due 2022;

--USD3 billion due 2027.

The company expects to use the proceeds from the issuances to finance its capital investments, pay upcoming maturities and for general corporate purposes. The debt issuances are guaranteed by Pemex Exploracion y Produccion; Pemex Cogeneracion y Servicios; Pemex Perforacion y Servicios; Pemex Logistica; Pemex Transformacion Industrial and their respective successors.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

Pemex's ratings reflect its close linkage to the government of Mexico and the company's fiscal importance to the sovereign and strategic importance to the country. Pemex's ratings also reflect the company's competitive pre-tax cost structure, national and export-oriented profile, sizable hydrocarbon reserves and its strong domestic market position. The ratings are constrained by Pemex's substantial tax burden, significant unfunded pension liabilities, large capital investment requirements, negative equity and exposure to political interference risk.

Strong Linkage to the Government

Pemex is the nation's largest company and one of the Mexican central government's major sources of funds. During the past five years, Pemex's transfers to the government have averaged 49% of sales, or 126% of operating income. These contributions, through royalties, exploration taxes and production duties have averaged between 27% and 37% of government revenues. As a result, Pemex's balance sheet has weakened, which is illustrated by its significant increase in debt and negative equity balance sheet account since the end of 2009. Pemex's debt lacks an explicit guarantee from the government.

Strategically Importance for Energy Security

Pemex's linkage to the sovereign also arises from the company's strategic importance for the supply of liquid fuels to Mexico. A financial distress situation at Pemex holds the potential to disrupt the supply of liquid fuels in the entire country, which could have material social and economic consequences for Mexico, as it is a fundamental input into the production of almost all goods, as well as the mobility of goods and labor. Although Mexico is a net exporter of crude oil, the company relies on the import of basic oil products, including dry gas, petroleum products and petrochemicals, in order to supply local demand.

Historically, the company was the only entity allowed by the constitution to explore and produce crude. The industry was open to private participation at the end of 2013 and so far there has been modest interest in upstream investments. Interest in Pemex's downstream businesses does not appear imminent, and over the short- to medium-term the country will continue to rely on Pemex's operations for its domestic liquid fuel supply. Mexico could see an increase of private participation in the supply and distribution of liquid fuels after price regulations decrease materially or disappear and fuel prices are determined by a competitive market, which might happen in the short term.

Symbolic Government Support

Mexico's support of Pemex has been evidenced in recent months by the Ministry of Finance's public statements of support, as well as announced modest capital injections and marginal tax reductions. This support has been so far more symbolic than material, and Fitch expects the Mexican government to execute more meaningful support actions when the company needs them. In April of 2016, the Mexican government injected approximately USD1.5 billion of new capital into Pemex. Pemex also received capital to fund pension liabilities and credit lines for an aggregate amount of MXN15 billion from the country's development banks: Banco Nacional de Obras y Servicios Publicos, S.N.C. (Banobras), Nacional Financiera, S.N.C. (Nafinsa) and Banco Nacional de Comercio Exterior, S.N.C. (Bancomext).

Weak Stand-Alone Credit Quality

Pemex's stand-alone credit quality would be in line with a 'B-' long-term rating if the company was not owned by the state and if the government did not provide financial support should Pemex require it. This stand-alone view also assumes that the Mexican government continues to extract a large amount of funds from Pemex in the form of taxes and duties, resulting in weak funds from operations (FFO). Pemex's stand-alone credit profile has been weakened in recent years by the significant increase in debt the company has issued primarily in order to cover its large transfers to Mexico in the form of taxes, duties and royalties. Pemex's debt trajectory could continue to pressure the company's stand-alone credit quality, which could reach an unsustainable level, should the Mexican government continue issuing debt at Pemex's level to transfer funds to the central government. Pemex made transfer payments in the form of taxes and royalties to the government equal to 1.3x its EBITDA during 2015. The company covered its 2015 negative FCF of USD13.8 billion mostly with debt issuances.

As of the last 12 months ended Sept. 30, 2016, Fitch calculated Pemex's EBITDA (operating income plus depreciation plus other income) was approximately USD12.8 billion after adjusting for asset impairments and pension liabilities associated gains while cash flow from operations was negative for the same period. The significant difference results from the considerable transfers to the government. Pemex cash flow metrics are weak due to the company's high cash transfers to the government in the form of taxes and production duties. Leverage as measured by total debt-to-EBITDA was approximately 7.8x in USD terms. As of Sept. 30, 2016, total debt was approximately USD99 billion. Pemex's total debt-to-proved reserves have grown to approximately USD10/boe from USD6.3/boe as of year-end 2014. Pemex's leverage could reach an unsustainable level over the next two to three years absent further changes to reduce its tax burden.

Capex Cuts to Reduce Production

Fitch expects Pemex's production to continue declining over the next few years as a result of the significant capex cuts in exploration and development in order to counter the decline in oil prices while maintaining relatively high transfers to Mexico. The diversification of the oil production asset base, with Cantarell representing less than 15% of oil production, reduces the risk of large production declines in the future. The company's previous goal was to increase total crude production to three million barrels per day (bpd) in the medium- to long-term, which in Fitch's view, has proven challenging. Pemex's current goal for 2016 is to have a crude production of approximately 2.1 million bpd.

Currently at approximately 2.2 million bbd, crude oil production has continued to decline marginally in recent years. Natural gas production excluding nitrogen has been relatively stable during recent years at approximately 5.5 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d). Pemex was able to stem the steep production decline through more intensive use of technology, improvements in operations, and increased production from a diversified number of fields. Pemex's recent success with its deep-water farm-out is very long-term positive for the company, as it may see incremental production come on line in approximately seven years with lower government take and little cash outflows.

KEY ASSUMPTIONS

Fitch's key assumptions within our ratings case for the issuer include:

--WTI crude prices average USD42 per bbl in 2016, increasing to USD65 per bbl by 2020;

--The company continues to face difficulties increasing its production over the next four years;

--Pemex will receive support from the sovereign.

RATING SENSITIVITIES

Although not expected in the short term, an upgrade of Pemex could result from an upgrade of the sovereign coupled with a strong operating and financial performance and/or a material reduction in Pemex's tax burden. Negative rating action could be triggered by a downgrade of the sovereign's rating, the perception of a lower degree of linkage between Pemex and the sovereign, and/or a substantial deterioration in Pemex's credit metrics.

LIQUIDITY

Pemex liquidity is supported by the company's cash on hand of approximately USD10.7 billion as of Sept. 30, 2016. The company had available committed revolving credit lines of USD1.25 billion and MXN23.5 billion; as of Oct. 28, 2016. The company's debt amortization schedule is well balanced, with somewhat manageable short-term debt maturities. Its liquidity is further bolstered by pre-tax cash flow generation supported by its competitive operational cost structure. Fitch estimates Pemex's operating cash cost to be less than USD24 per barrel of oil equivalent, including interest costs and full allocation of administrative expenses to the upstream business.

FULL LIST OF RATING ACTIONS

Fitch currently rates Pemex as follows:

--Long-Term IDR 'BBB+'; Outlook Stable;

--Long-Term Local-Currency IDR 'BBB+'; Outlook Stable;

--National long-term rating 'AAA(mex)'; Outlook Stable;

--National Short-Term Rating 'F1+(mex)';

--Notes outstanding in foreign currency 'BBB+';

--Notes outstanding in local currency 'BBB+';

--National scale debt issuances 'AAA(mex)';

--Short-Term Certificados Bursatiles Program 'F1+(mex)'.

Date of Relevant Rating Committee: June 30, 2016

Additional information is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'.

Applicable Criteria

Corporate Rating Methodology - Including Short-Term Ratings and Parent and Subsidiary Linkage - Effective from 17 August 2015 to 27 September 2016 (pub. 17 Aug 2015)https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/869362

Additional Disclosures

Solicitation Statushttps://www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/disclosure/solicitation?pr_id=1016160

Endorsement Policyhttps://www.fitchratings.com/regulatory

ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTPS://WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEB SITE AT WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA, AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE, AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE CODE OF CONDUCT SECTION OF THIS SITE. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF THIS SERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN EU-REGISTERED ENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCH WEBSITE.

Copyright  2016 by Fitch Ratings, Inc., Fitch Ratings Ltd. and its subsidiaries. 33 Whitehall Street, NY, NY 10004. Telephone: 1-800-753-4824, (212) 908-0500. Fax: (212) 480-4435. Reproduction or retransmission in whole or in part is prohibited except by permission. All rights reserved. In issuing and maintaining its ratings and in making other reports (including forecast information), Fitch relies on factual information it receives from issuers and underwriters and from other sources Fitch believes to be credible. Fitch conducts a reasonable investigation of the factual information relied upon by it in accordance with its ratings methodology, and obtains reasonable verification of that information from independent sources, to the extent such sources are available for a given security or in a given jurisdiction. The manner of Fitch's factual investigation and the scope of the third-party verification it obtains will vary depending on the nature of the rated security and its issuer, the requirements and practices in the jurisdiction in which the rated security is offered and sold and/or the issuer is located, the availability and nature of relevant public information, access to the management of the issuer and its advisers, the availability of pre-existing third-party verifications such as audit reports, agreed-upon procedures letters, appraisals, actuarial reports, engineering reports, legal opinions and other reports provided by third parties, the availability of independent and competent third-party verification sources with respect to the particular security or in the particular jurisdiction of the issuer, and a variety of other factors. Users of Fitch's ratings and reports should understand that neither an enhanced factual investigation nor any third-party verification can ensure that all of the information Fitch relies on in connection with a rating or a report will be accurate and complete. Ultimately, the issuer and its advisers are responsible for the accuracy of the information they provide to Fitch and to the market in offering documents and other reports. In issuing its ratings and its reports, Fitch must rely on the work of experts, including independent auditors with respect to financial statements and attorneys with respect to legal and tax matters. Further, ratings and forecasts of financial and other information are inherently forward-looking and embody assumptions and predictions about future events that by their nature cannot be verified as facts. As a result, despite any verification of current facts, ratings and forecasts can be affected by future events or conditions that were not anticipated at the time a rating or forecast was issued or affirmed.

The information in this report is provided "as is" without any representation or warranty of any kind, and Fitch does not represent or warrant that the report or any of its contents will meet any of the requirements of a recipient of the report. A Fitch rating is an opinion as to the creditworthiness of a security. This opinion and reports made by Fitch are based on established criteria and methodologies that Fitch is continuously evaluating and updating. Therefore, ratings and reports are the collective work product of Fitch and no individual, or group of individuals, is solely responsible for a rating or a report. The rating does not address the risk of loss due to risks other than credit risk, unless such risk is specifically mentioned. Fitch is not engaged in the offer or sale of any security. All Fitch reports have shared authorship. Individuals identified in a Fitch report were involved in, but are not solely responsible for, the opinions stated therein. The individuals are named for contact purposes only. A report providing a Fitch rating is neither a prospectus nor a substitute for the information assembled, verified and presented to investors by the issuer and its agents in connection with the sale of the securities. Ratings may be changed or withdrawn at any time for any reason in the sole discretion of Fitch. Fitch does not provide investment advice of any sort. Ratings are not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. Ratings do not comment on the adequacy of market price, the suitability of any security for a particular investor, or the tax-exempt nature or taxability of payments made in respect to any security. Fitch receives fees from issuers, insurers, guarantors, other obligors, and underwriters for rating securities. Such fees generally vary from US$1,000 to US$750,000 (or the applicable currency equivalent) per issue. In certain cases, Fitch will rate all or a number of issues issued by a particular issuer, or insured or guaranteed by a particular insurer or guarantor, for a single annual fee. Such fees are expected to vary from US$10,000 to US$1,500,000 (or the applicable currency equivalent). The assignment, publication, or dissemination of a rating by Fitch shall not constitute a consent by Fitch to use its name as an expert in connection with any registration statement filed under the United States securities laws, the Financial Services and Markets Act of 2000 of the United Kingdom, or the securities laws of any particular jurisdiction. Due to the relative efficiency of electronic publishing and distribution, Fitch research may be available to electronic subscribers up to three days earlier than to print subscribers.

For Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and South Korea only: Fitch Australia Pty Ltd holds an Australian financial services license (AFS license no. 337123) which authorizes it to provide credit ratings to wholesale clients only. Credit ratings information published by Fitch is not intended to be used by persons who are retail clients within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208006148/en/

Fitch Ratings

Primary Analyst:

Lucas Aristizabal, +1-312-368-3260

Senior Director

Fitch Ratings, Inc.

70 W. Madison Street

Chicago, IL 60602

or

Secondary Analyst:

Alberto De Los Santos, +52 81 8399 9100

Associate Director

or

Committee Chairperson:

Joe Bormann, CFA, +1-312-368-3349

Managing Director

or

Media Relations:

Elizabeth Fogerty, +1-212-908-0526

New York

[email protected]

Source: Fitch Ratings
HOUSTON, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Cameron International Corp. dropped a non-compete agreement lawsuit against oilfield services company FMC Technologies Singapore Pte Ltd and one of its employees after losing key motions in court.

U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas in Houston granted a joint motion to dismiss the case with prejudice. She previously found that Cameron's non-compete contract was overly broad and rejected the company's motion for an injunction to prevent former employee Steven Abbiss from working in the Middle East.

FMC and Mr. Abbiss are represented by Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C. (or AZA) partner Todd Mensing and associates Sammy Ford IV and Doug Salisbury. For more on the firm, please see http://www.azalaw.com/.

Judge Atlas rejected Cameron's argument that Mr. Abbiss, who was responsible solely for Oman and Yemen operations, heard confidential information related to the company's operations throughout the Middle East. The judge determined that what Mr. Abbiss heard was generic discussion and did not bar him from working for FMC in markets outside Oman and Yemen.

"We consider this a great victory for Mr. Abbiss. He has been vindicated," said Mr. Mensing, noting that Mr. Abbiss was able to continue working for FMC through the litigation. "Cameron was overreaching and using this lawsuit to try to kill competition. We are happy to see it did not work."

The online legal news service Law360 detailed the dispute in articles headlined "Cameron Drops Noncompete Suit Against Former Exec" and "Cameron Can't Block Former Exec From All Middle East Work."

The case is Cameron International Corporation v. Abbiss et al., case number 4:16-cv-02117, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C. (or AZA) is a Houston-based law firm that is home to true courtroom lawyers with a formidable track record in complex commercial litigation, including energy, intellectual property, and business dispute cases. AZA is recognized in Chambers USA 2016 among the best in Texas commercial law; U.S. News & World Report and The Best Lawyers in America as one of the country's best commercial litigation firms for 2017; and Law360 as one of only 13 Texas Powerhouse law firms. National corporate counsel named AZA one of the country's best in client service among law firms serving the Fortune 1000. Read more at http://www.azalaw.com.

For more information, please contact Mary Flood at 800-559-4534 or [email protected].

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fmc-technologies-employee-force-cameron-to-drop-non-compete-suit-in-texas-300375598.html

SOURCE Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C. (or AZA)
TAMPA, Fla., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Adding to what's already been an award-winning year, Leverage Digital was honored with three Awards of Excellence from the Tampa Bay Builders Association. The Tampa digital marketing agency received awards for "Best Website," "Best Mobile Website," and "Best Billboard" for its work with a multi-family developer, in branding their newest luxury apartment community, [email protected] in St. Petersburg, FL.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161208/447275

The Awards of Excellence are presented by the Sales and Marketing Council of the Tampa Bay Builders Association, and honor the best work of marketing, design and sales professionals in Tampa Bay's building industry. Awards were given at a stunning and festive ceremony in front of an audience of over 360 guests, held at the Renaissance Tampa International Plaza Hotel.

"We are very proud of the work that we've done for [email protected], and are honored to receive these awards from the Tampa Bay Builders Association," said Jay Taylor, Managing Director at Leverage Digital. "Our team works tirelessly on every project and campaign to ensure that we exceed our clients' expectations, and it's wonderful when great organizations like the Tampa Bay Builders Association recognize our efforts."

About the Tampa Bay Builders Association

The Tampa Bay Builders Association is a trade organization affiliated with the Florida Home Builders Association and the National Association of Home Builders, which works diligently to fulfill its mission by providing important services to enhance the building industry in Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties. The TBBA is comprised of volunteers from a number of professions, including builders, developers, trade contractors, suppliers, lending institutions, title companies, engineers, attorneys and other types of businesses that have a relationship to the building industry.

For more information, please visit http://www.tbba.net/.

About Leverage Digital

Leverage Digital is an award-winning branding and digital marketing agency that partners with brands to successfully engage their audiences and achieve measurable results. Its team of digital marketing experts, UI/UX designers, developers and content specialists, create intelligent campaigns that capture the minds of consumers. The agency is a Certified Google Partner, and its work has garnered numerous industry accolades over the years, receiving honors from the International Davey Awards, Hermes Awards, W3 Awards, and Communicator Awards. In 2016, Leverage Digital was named the 14th fastest growing company owned or led by a University of South Florida alumnus. To learn more about Leverage Digital, please visit http://www.leveragedigital.com/.

Contact

Johnny CrosskeyLeverage Digital813-489-4494[email protected]

Related Images

image1.jpg

image2.jpg

image3.jpg

Related Links

Leverage Digital

Leverage Digital Facebook

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

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/leverage-digital-wins-three-awards-of-excellence-from-the-tampa-bay-builders-association-300375657.html

SOURCE Leverage Digital
FOSTER CITY, Calif., Dec. 8, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The $93 billion credit card market is booming, but a recent survey commissioned by Cardratings.com and conducted online by Harris Poll among over 2,000 US adults ages 18+ shows some American millennials just aren't having it.

The survey results show that 29 percent of adults ages 18 -34 don't have a personal credit card. Fourteen percent of millennials would describe their current credit score as limited/no credit history/score, compared to only two percent of adults ages 35+ who did the same.

Cardratings.com would like to point out the absence of a credit card could be detrimental and increase difficulties for consumers looking to make big purchases like a house or a car.

Having a so-called "thin" or non-existent credit history can affect financial transactions for years to come:

Homebuying. A thin credit file makes mortgages harder to get and monthly payments more expensive. In April, credit scoring company TransUnion reported that 40 percent of millennials who want to purchase a home "may not have the credit to do so."

A thin credit file makes mortgages harder to get and monthly payments more expensive. In April, credit scoring company TransUnion reported that 40 percent of millennials who want to purchase a home "may not have the credit to do so." Being the boss. Financing a small business often involves using credit, even if it's just a small business credit card to keep expenses separate. While poor credit doesn't automatically preclude a consumer from gaining business credit, the U.S. Small Business Administration says those with spotty credit will have fewer choices among lenders or face not being able to borrow money at all.

Financing a small business often involves using credit, even if it's just a small business credit card to keep expenses separate. While poor credit doesn't automatically preclude a consumer from gaining business credit, the U.S. Small Business Administration says those with spotty credit will have fewer choices among lenders or face not being able to borrow money at all. Savings. There is a small loss of potential income based on foregoing the free rewards (cash back, travel miles) that come by using cards for everyday spending and avoiding interest charges by paying in full each month.

There is a small loss of potential income based on foregoing the free rewards (cash back, travel miles) that come by using cards for everyday spending and avoiding interest charges by paying in full each month. Cars. Solid credit is a must in order to finance a car at the best rates. Considering that a vehicle is the classic "depreciating asset" (worth less after purchase) any rise in the cost of financing matters to the bottom line.

Among millennials ages 18  34 that do have credit cards, 28 percent of them do not have a rewards credit card and could be leaving money on the table.

What is it with credit cards that have millennials avoiding them left and right?

Maria Kagianas, a 20-year-old college student from Homer Glen, Ill., explains, "I have a debit card that is satisfying my current needs as a college student. While living a more hectic college lifestyle than most students my age might, keeping track of additional credit card payments is another potential deadline to miss. Although I would like to start building my credit, I do not want to start hurting it either." The CardRatings survey found that compared to older generations millennials:

Are less likely to have a personal credit cards. The millennial generation is less likely to have a personal credit card when compared to the older adult population. While 14 percent of adults ages 35+ don't have credit cards, that number rises to 29 percent when zeroing in on those who are 18-34 years old.

The millennial generation is less likely to have a personal credit card when compared to the older adult population. While 14 percent of adults ages 35+ don't have credit cards, that number rises to 29 percent when zeroing in on those who are 18-34 years old. Have thinner credit profiles. Millennials are more likely to describe their credit score as "limited/no credit history/score" compared to their older counterparts. The survey shows 14 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds describe their credit profile this way, while just 2 percent of adults 35+ say the same.

Here's what we learned about millennials and credit:

37 percent perceive their current credit score to be "excellent," in comparison to 61 percent of adults ages 45+.

10 percent of millennials are "not at all sure" of their current credit score.

75 percent of millennials who have a personal credit card carry over a balance from month-to-month.

See the full dataset, analysis and methodology at: http://www.cardratings.com/insights/millennials-wary-of-credit-cards-but-keen-on-potential-benefits-new-survey-finds.html.

Survey Methodology This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll on behalf of CardRatings from Sept. 21-23, 2016 among 2,008 U.S. adults ages 18 and older among whom 1,555 have personal credit card(s). This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact Diana Dang at mailto:[email protected].

Source: QuinStreet
TUCKER, Ga., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Oglethorpe Power Corporation today announced the following officer promotions and appointments:

Annalisa M. Bloodworth was promoted to Senior Vice President and General Counsel. She succeeds Chuck Whitney, who is retiring at the end of the year.

Her responsibilities will include oversight and management of the corporation's legal services and strategy. She will also serve as a member of the corporation's executive leadership team. Ms. Bloodworth previously served as Deputy General Counsel at Oglethorpe Power and, before that, was in private practice with the Sutherland law firm in Atlanta. She holds a BA degree in economics, with honors, from Trinity University, and a JD degree from Emory University, where she was named to Order of the Coif.

Lori K. Holt was promoted to Senior Vice President, Fuels & Co-owned Assets. She previously served as Vice President, Fuels & Energy, at Oglethorpe Power.

In her new role, she will provide overall management of the fuel procurement business functions for the corporation's diverse power supply resources, as well as fuel and energy optimization functions. She is also assuming the responsibility of managing the contracts associated with the co-owned coal and nuclear assets. That function was among those previously managed by Clarence D. Mitchell, Senior Vice President of Regulatory and Contract Operations, who is retiring at the end of the year.

Prior to joining Oglethorpe Power, Ms. Holt was Managing Director of Business Development for ACES Power Marketing in Carmel, Indiana. She graduated with honors from the University of Louisville, where she earned a BS degree in business administration.

Toni M. Presnell was appointed as Vice President, Environmental Affairs, succeeding Doug Fulle, who is retiring at the end of the year.

Her responsibilities will include leading a highly skilled group of environmental professionals responsible for environmental compliance at Oglethorpe Power's generating facilities. She will also be responsible for corporate strategy to ensure continued compliance with all existing and future state and federal regulations.

Ms. Presnell joined Oglethorpe Power from Hoosier Energy in Bloomington, Indiana where she served as Manager of the Environmental Services Department. She holds a BS degree in civil engineering from Purdue University and is currently pursuing an MBA and a master's degree in strategic management from Indiana University.

Heather H. Teilhet will be joining Oglethorpe Power on January 1, 2017 as Vice President, Governmental Affairs. She will be working closely with W. Clay Robbins, Senior Vice President, Governmental Affairs, and will assume his responsibilities upon his retirement at the end of the first quarter of 2017.

Ms. Teilhet will manage government relations for Oglethorpe Power, representing the company before the executive, legislative and regulatory bodies of state and federal government. She will educate and advocate on behalf of Oglethorpe Power to lawmakers and public servants in the Georgia General Assembly, the U.S. Congress, the Georgia Public Service Commission and other state and federal agencies to ensure public policies that benefit Georgia energy consumers.

Ms. Teilhet currently serves as Vice President, Government Affairs, at Georgia EMC, the statewide trade association for Georgia's 41 Electric Membership Corporations. Before joining Georgia EMC, she served on the staff of former Governor Sonny Perdue as Press Secretary and Director of Communications. She also served on the staff of former Governor Roy Barnes.

Ms. Teilhet earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and political science from the University of Georgia and a master's degree in public administration from Georgia State University.

"We congratulate this outstanding group as they take on new responsibilities even as we say goodbye to several of our very talented officers as they retire in the coming weeks," said Mike Smith, President & CEO.

About Oglethorpe Power

Oglethorpe Power is one of the nation's largest power supply cooperatives with more than $10 billion in assets serving 38 Electric Membership Corporations which, collectively, provide electricity to more than 4.2 million Georgia residents. A proponent of conscientious energy development and use, Oglethorpe Power balances reliable and affordable energy with environmental responsibility and has an outstanding record of regulatory compliance. Its diverse energy portfolio includes natural gas, hydroelectric, coal and nuclear generating plants with a combined capacity of approximately 7,800 megawatts. Oglethorpe Power was established in 1974 and is owned by its 38 Member Systems. Its headquarters are in Tucker, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/oglethorpe-power-announces-officer-promotions-and-appointments-300375464.html

SOURCE Oglethorpe Power Corporation
KANSAS CITY, Mo., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Seven Pillars Institute for Global Finance and Ethics (SPI) was on the shortlist of winners for the prestigious Prospect Think Tank Awards 2016. The judges cited SPI's work on financing climate change mitigation through eco-tourism. Prospect Magazine made the announcement of winners and finalists in the Speaker's rooms inside the British House of Commons noting, "The Seven Pillars Institute was cited for its deft work on eco-tourism."

The Prospect Think Tank Awards stretches back to 2001. They are an annual recognition of influential work by think tanks across the globe. The competition is intensely competitive with submissions from top-level think tanks in the US, UK and EU. SPI was competing with major names such as the Peterson Institute, Rand Corporation, Third Way and Freedom House, all based in Washington D.C. SPI is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri and attracts researchers from across the world.

SPI published the cited research "Financing Ecotourism Ventures to Support Climate Change Mitigation. What Should the Financial Sector Be Doing in Regards to Climate Change?" in its biannual journal Moral Cents. The article prescribes how the finance sector can contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation through eco-tourism schemes.

The President of SPI, Dr. Kara Tan Bhala, said, "I wish to thank Prospect Magazine for recognizing our work. We extend our gratitude to supporters and the researchers who contribute their time and energy with a shared heartfelt belief in the mission of Seven Pillars Institute."

Media Contact: Dr. Kara Tan Bhala [email protected]

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/seven-pillars-institute-shortlisted-for-prestigious-think-tank-awards-300374849.html

SOURCE Seven Pillars Institute for Global Finance and Ethics
BILLINGS - State prosecutors filed to revoke the suspended sentence of Barry Beach on Thursday, after his arrest in early November for allegedly violating a protection order in Billings.

The revocation petition was filed in the 15th District Court, which includes Roosevelt County, where Beach was sentenced for deliberate homicide in 1979 for the 1979 beating death of 17-year-old Kim Nees.

Gov. Steve Bullock granted Beach clemency in November 2015 after he had served more than 30 years in prison for the murder.

Beach had long maintained his innocence in Nees's death and a campaign to release him attracted widespread support from elected officials in Montana. In his clemency order, Bullock cited Beach's good behavior while in prison and the fact that he was 17 at the time of the murder.

Since November 2015, Beach has been serving a 10-year suspended sentence. A revocation could send him back to prison.

The petition was filed by Brant Light and Ole Olson, assistant Montana attorneys general who are assisting in the case. It draws upon an alleged violation of a protection order this fall, for which Beach faces a misdemeanor charge in Billings Municipal Court.

Prosecutors asked that Beach be able to admit or deny the allegations during hearings on the misdemeanor charge in Billings.

"If the defendant denies, the state requests that an evidentiary hearing be stayed until after that offense has been resolved in Billings Municipal Court," the petition states.

A woman filed for a protection order against Beach on Oct. 28, saying that she was the mother of a child she had with Beach during his brief release from prison in 2011. In filing for the protection order, she said Beach had repeatedly contacted her to have a relationship, which the woman did not want.

The protection order was granted. The woman later told police that on Nov. 5, Beach had parked outside of her home and followed them to other locations. A GPS monitoring unit attached to Beach as part of his probation backed up those claims, according to court documents.

Beach attorney Timothy Baldwin said he expects his client to be exonerated of the stalking claim based on the records of a GPS device he was wearing at the time of the alleged violation.

The woman also said she recognized Beach's truck because the license plate reads, "BBFREE," court documents state.

This served as the basis for prosecutors' petition for revocation.

"Based upon the attached report of violation, the state asserts that there is probable cause that the defendant has violated the terms of this court's sentence," the document states.

A court hearing has not yet been set in Roosevelt County, according to the clerk of court's office.

If the suspended sentence ultimately is revoked, the state is "recommending that he be sent back to prison," said Justice Department spokesman Eric Sell. That recommendation is in line with a probation officer's referral that he be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.

A return to prison would not be automatic, Sell and Baldwin both said.

A judge could instead impose additional conditions on his release, Baldwin said. But the defense attorney added that there were questions about the credibility of Beach's accuser, which Baldwin said could help exonerate him.

"If we can get a not guilty verdict or dismissal in the city (municipal court) case then we'll reach the same result in the revocation" of his probation, he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
By Igor Ilic

ZAGREB (Reuters) - Public sector trade unions on Wednesday rejected a wage bill increase proposed by the Croatian government and invited the country's conservative prime minister to join the negotiations in person.

The government agreed in early 2009, at the beginning of the global financial crisis, that it would increase the wages of public sector workers 6 percent a year once the economy grew on average 2 percent in two consecutive quarters.

That condition was met last year but the government, led by the HDZ party which was also in power in 2009, now says the salary increases are unsustainable given the country's fragile budget.

The government proposes a small compensation payment for 2016 before a two percent wage rise in January and an additional two percent increase next December, union leaders said.

"We do not accept the government's proposal. We invite Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic to join the talks which are set to continue on Friday," Branimir Mihalinec, one of the union leaders, told a news conference.

The Unions want the full six percent increase in 2017 which they say could be done in phases and a solution for the raise they say they were due this year.

The annual cost of the salary increase promised in 2009 would be an estimated 1.5 to 2.0 billion kuna ($284.64 million), or some 0.5 percent of gross domestic product, according to the government and unions.

The government says it wants to resolve the deadlock but that any solution must not undermine its fiscal consolidation efforts.

Croatia is under pressure from Brussels to reduce its budget gap and tame the public debt. Public debt currently stands at about 85 percent of GDP.

For years Croatia has run a budget gap of more than three percent of GDP for years. The government targets a gap of 1.7 percent this year and 1.6 percent in 2017. It expects its 2017 budget proposal to be adopted on Thursday.

The unions have threatened legal action if no solution is found.

(Reporting by Igor Ilic; editing by Richard Lough)
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's cabinet on Wednesday approved an amendment to a law that bans protests, making it more difficult for the Interior Ministry to disperse them, but lawyers said it would not expand people's freedom to demonstrate.

Protests have become a sensitive issue since Egyptians took to the streets in huge numbers to oust Hosni Mubarak in 2011, and the army toppled freely elected President Mohamed Mursi after mass demonstrations against him in 2013. Protests have resulted in hundreds of people being jailed or shot dead.

The law on protests passed in 2013 says the Interior Ministry must be notified of any public gathering of more than 10 people at least three days in advance.

It also imposes jail sentences of up to five years for those who violate a broad list of restrictions and allows security forces to disperse illegal demonstrations with water cannon, tear gas and birdshot.

The cabinet amended a controversial article of the protest law which allowed the Interior Ministry to cancel or change the location of any protest deemed a threat to security.

The amendment requires the ministry to ask permission from a court, based on evidence or information that the protest poses a security threat, before it can disperse or change its location, Justice Minister Mohamed Hossam Abdelrehim told a news conference.

Protesters are still banned from gathering in public without prior approval.

"This development looks better on paper but in the end it is same, same," said Abdel Hakim al-Kordy, a lawyer who defends activists and non-governmental organizations.

"It will not make it more difficult for the Interior Ministry to disperse protests because we can see a marriage between the judiciary and the Interior Ministry," he said referring to cases in which protesters were given hefty sentences for protesting.

Officials from the Interior Ministry were not reachable for comment.

In May, a court sentenced 152 protesters to between two and five years in prison after they demonstrated against a decision to transfer two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.

In similar protests, on April 15, thousands of people demanded "the fall of the regime", a slogan from the uprisings which ended Mubarak's 30 years in power.

More than 100 people were detained at those protests, security officials said at the time. Most were later freed without charge, judicial sources said.

"We want the right to protest to be given to us without any restrictions or conditions," Kordy said.

(Reporting by Asma Alsharif)
A general view of an office of Swedish telecom giant Ericsson is seen in Lund, Sweden, September 18, 2014. REUTERS/Stig-Ake Jonsson/TT News Agency/File Photo

By Helena Soderpalm and Olof Swahnberg

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Struggling telecom equipment maker Ericsson said on Thursday sweeping staff cuts in its Swedish home market were running ahead of schedule, resulting in higher restructuring costs this year.

The company said in October it was cutting about a fifth of its Swedish workforce and hundreds of consultants as it grappled with shrinking markets and competition from China's Huawei [HWT.UL] and Finland's Nokia .

There has been speculation among analysts and staff at Ericsson about whether the company might need further cost savings to deal with tough market conditions and one analyst said it looked like more jobs could go be lost globally.

The company said it expected restructuring costs this year of 5.5-6.5 billion Swedish crowns ($606-717 million), higher than a previous estimate of 4-5 billion.

"Restructuring charges for 2017 are expected to somewhat decrease as a consequence of faster implementation of the Swedish reduction activities," the company said.

A precise estimate will be announced in January.

The company announced a plan in October to shed 3,000 jobs in production, research and development and sales in Sweden and cut 900 consultancy positions.

Around 820 jobs are to go at Swedish plants in Kumla and Boras, while 1,600 employees had taken voluntary redundancy, helping the company towards its targets. No further forced staff cuts were planned in Sweden.

Redeye analyst Greger Johansson said the firm will probably need to look overseas for further reductions.

"There may be more staff cuts abroad even if there will be no more in Sweden in the short term," he said.

Per Norlander, a union representative for the Swedish Association of Graduate Engineers, said Swedish operations could not take any more job losses without losing critical mass.

"Whether management wants to save more is anyone's guess, and will most likely be decided based on the Q4 report," he said.

Founded in 1876 as a maker of telegraph equipment, Ericsson is one of Sweden's biggest employers with a global staff of 115,000 in 180 countries.

Ericsson said it had reduced staff in several countries this year as part of ongoing cost cuts, including Britain, Spain and the Unites States, but declined to comment further.

"If we should have a need to reduce in some countries, we will inform affected employees first," a spokeswoman told Reuters.

Ericsson shares have slumped 40 percent year-to-date. The company is wrestling with a drop in spending by telecoms firms, with demand for next-generation, 5G technology still years away, and weak emerging markets.

Veteran board member Borje Ekholm is due to take over as CEO in January after Hans Vestberg was ousted in July due to the company's poor performance. Most analysts say he faces an uphill task to steer Ericsson through its worst crisis in a decade.

(Writing by Mia Shanley,; editing by Alistair Scrutton/Keith Weir)
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union must improve information-sharing internally and with the United States and Turkey to better track Europeans returning from fighting with Islamic State, the EU's counter-terrorism official will tell interior ministers.

EU home affairs chiefs will discuss in Brussels on Friday how to increase their ability to intercept such returnees after Islamic State sent back radicalised Europeans to carry out attacks on targets in their home countries.

Gilles de Kerchove, the EU's Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, estimates there are some 2,000-2,500 European "foreign terrorist fighters" still in Syria and Iraq.

Between 600 and 1,000 such people have been killed in the conflicts there and another 1,200-1,750 have already returned to Europe, according to a document de Kerchove will present to the ministers and which was seen by Reuters in advance.

"It is important to share information on returnees who are already back in Europe, those that are in transit and ... (those) still in the conflict zone," it says.

"There are largely two categories of returnees: those in the majority who will drift back and those who will be sent back on specific missions, which are of most concern."

He did not expect a mass wave of returnees but has previously warned that Islamic State will attack Europe again.

De Kerchove said the EU should seek to have more information collected on the frontlines in Syria and Iraq by the United States and also urged member states to update their joint data bases more regularly, including with biometric data.

The EU could also step up cooperation with Turkey, the main route to Europe for returning fighters, and should upgrade rehabilitation and reintegration programs "both inside and outside of prison" for those who do return.

In his report to the ministers, de Kerchove singled out Telegram - an encrypted messaging application set up by a Russian - for the EU's poor response to radical content, saying it allowed "the abuse of its platform by terrorists and ... sympathizers".

Other proposals to consider include offering repentant returnees a more lenient treatment if they provide information to law enforcers.

(Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska and Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Gareth Jones)
Veterans join activists in a march to Backwater Bridge just outside of the Oceti Sakowin camp during a snow fall as "water protectors" continue to demonstrate against plans to pass the Dakota Access pipeline adjacent to the Standing Rock Indian Reservatio

By Ernest Scheyder and Terray Sylvester

CANNON BALL/FORT YATES, N.D. (Reuters) - U.S. veterans, thousands of whom last week helped stop a contested oil pipeline running through North Dakota, could become important partners of activists on the environment, the economy, race and other issues that divide Americans.

Several academics said the effort to support the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and others opposed to the pipeline project was likely the biggest gathering of its kind of former military personnel since the early 1970s when U.S. veterans marched against the Vietnam War.

That so many veterans mobilized in less than two weeks to rural North Dakota speaks to the power they may have on public opinion, because of their status as having put their lives on the line for their country, veterans and academics said.

"The sense that vets are distinctively American figures, regardless of political beliefs, always seems to have currency, even when they are working on different sides of an issue," said Stephen Ortiz, a history professor at the State University of Binghamton in New York.

Many veterans who went to Cannon Ball, North Dakota, to join the months-long protests by Native Americans and environmentalists against the 1,172-mile (1,885-km) Dakota Access Pipeline, said they were already looking for their next issue to support.

"Militarily-trained soldiers have now discerned, on their own, a genuine, just cause for which to promote and defend, and this time without being under orders to do so," said Brian Willson, whose 2011 memoir "Blood on the Tracks: The Life and Times of S. Brian Willson", described how after serving in the Vietnam War, he became a non-violent protester for social change in the United States.

Law enforcement tactics, particularly the use of water cannons, against the protesters had been considered extreme by some. Veterans said in interviews they felt galvanized to act as a human shield, providing a respite for those who had been at the protest camp for months.

The pipeline owned by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners LP, is routed adjacent to the Standing Rock Sioux's reservation. Protesters have said the $3.8 billion project could contaminate the water supply and damage sacred tribal lands.

The veterans at Standing Rock were led by former Marine Michael Wood Jr and Army veteran Wes Clark Jr, son of retired U.S. general Wesley Clark, former commander of NATO. The group raised $1.1 million through online crowdfunding to help transport, house and feed veterans at the camp.

BATTLE RESUMES WITH TRUMP PRESIDENCY

On Sunday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it turned down a permit for the pipeline's completion, handing a victory to the protesters.

But the saga will not end there. Republican President-elect Donald Trump has said he wants the pipeline built; his team said he would review the decision when he takes office.

Even though the fight is not over in North Dakota, some see this as a way forward on other issues.

"There's a lot of these pipelines being built around the county. Flint (Michigan) has a water crisis. So we're going to see if we can keep this movement going and really change some things in America," said Matthew Crane, 32, from Buffalo, New York, who served in the U.S. Navy from 2002 to 2006.

Clark's group, called Veterans Stand With Standing Rock (VSSR), asked for 2,000 volunteers but said twice as many arrived. Comments on the VSSR Facebook page criticized Clark for a lack of planning and for not having contingencies in place for North Dakota's harsh winters.

As a blizzard blew in on Monday, many hunkered down at the main protest camp. Hundreds more slept in the pavilion of the Prairie Knights Casino in Fort Yates, roughly 10 miles away on the Standing Rock reservation.

Clark, who himself was snowed-in at the casino, said in a Facebook video posted Wednesday night that the response meant "a huge tax on the supply chain and on accommodations."

ASKING FORGIVENESS

As part of their journey to North Dakota, many veterans asked forgiveness in two ceremonies for what they considered crimes and mistreatment of Native Americans by the U.S. government and military over the past 150 years.

One ceremony took place Monday on Backwater Bridge near the camp, the site of two heated confrontations with law enforcement earlier this fall. Thousands of veterans and tribal members prayed, emoting war cries on the bridge's southern cusp.

One veteran, wearing a flak jacket and a Veterans for Peace flag, yelled to the crowd from atop a horse.

"We didn't serve this country to see our brothers and sisters here persecuted," said the man, whose name was inaudible in the fury of the arriving blizzard. "Are we not all human?"

Some veterans said they planned to remain in North Dakota, unwilling to trust that Energy Transfer Partners would abide by the federal government's decision. Most had left by Wednesday, however, said Heather O'Malley, a U.S. Army veteran who monitored news for the group. She said it was unclear if they would return to the area in January if needed.

Clark and others said this was a way for veterans to address other efforts around the country.

"This is a small battleground in a larger war that is developing in our country that has to do with race, the economy and the powers that be taking advantage of those who really don't have a voice," said Anthony Murtha, 29, from Detroit, who served in the U.S. Navy from 2009 to 2013.

(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder and Terray Sylvester in Cannon Ball and Fort Yates, N.D.; additional reporting by Tim Mclaughlin and Andrew Cullen; writing by David Gaffen; editing by Grant McCool)
President-elect Donald Trump was 60 when his son Barron was born. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

By Neil Jerome Morales and Karen Lema

MANILA (Reuters) - When Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, the man dubbed "Trump of the East", told U.S. businesses to pack their bags if they didn't like his anti-American rhetoric, the huge and growing outsourcing industry got a little nervous.

It's now the real Donald Trump who has businesses worried here, after the U.S. president-elect vowed to bring offshored jobs home from places such as the Philippines, a big provider of back-office services for corporate America.

The Southeast Asian country accounts for 12.6 percent of the global market for business-process outsourcing (BPO), which has been growing 10 percent a year for the past decade, according to the IT & Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP).

The industry body predicts the BPO industry could be adding 100,000 jobs annually with earning revenues of $38.9 billion by 2022, although global outsourcing consultants believe that could even reach $48 billion within four years.

Three-quarters of the $23 billion sector services U.S. firms.

"It's a U.S.-centric business," said Manuel Pangilinan, president of PLDT (NYSE: TEL), which provides telecoms for the sector. "To the extent that Trump compels, persuades or incentivises the BPO businesses to return ... it will impact our business or the industry as a whole.

"It's going to be a tough one, not only for us, but for the economy as a whole."

TRUMP TWEETS

In a string of tweets on Sunday, Trump threatened "retribution or consequences" for companies that move operations out of the country, as well as a 35 percent tariff on their goods sold back to the United States.

That could leave the Philippines exposed, with companies such as Citibank, JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM), Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Convergys (NYSE: CVG), Genpact (NYSE: G) and Sutherland Global Services key to jobs that were forecast to increase to 1.8 million full-time Filipinos by 2022.

It's not just companies in the Philippines that are worried.

Anticipating a more protectionist U.S. technology visa program under a Donald Trump administration, India's $150 billion IT services sector will speed up acquisitions in the United States, industry sources there say. Companies also plan to recruit more heavily from college campuses, expecting the Trump administration to tighten up on temporary visas for India's high-tech workers.

WAIT AND SEE

Philippine businesses and BPO firms that spoke to Reuters said some trade delegations had deferred visits and potential foreign investors in the industry were taking longer with their due-diligence procedures.

And they were doing so even before Trump won the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 9.

Duterte's volatility has drawn comparisons to Trump and his hostility towards Manila's long-time ally the United States has shocked investors and even his own cabinet.

He told President Barack Obama to "go to hell" over the U.S. president's concern about Duterte's war on drugs, threatened to scrap U.S.-Philippines defense pacts, and in October announced before China's political elite his "separation" from the United States.

That remark rattled some U.S. firms, said Juan Victor Hernandez, an IBPAP trustee, who told Reuters that four companies put their decisions on hold immediately. He declined to name them.

Hernandez said uncertainties over Trump's policies affected potential investors rather than existing ones, such as JP Morgan, which is staying put.

"So far, they are still hell-bent on the Philippines, number one," he added.

'PACK YOUR BAGS'

Philip Goldberg, who until recently was the U.S. ambassador in Manila, said he took more calls from investors in his last three months than during his whole tenure. All were about Duterte's anti-American vitriol.

"They are very nervous," Goldberg told news channel ANC. "They don't know what it means."

While aware of those concerns about him, Duterte was defiant: "Go ahead. Pack your bags," he told reporters before flying to Japan in October. "We will sacrifice. We will recover."

Julius Guevara, head of research at Colliers Philippines, said while U.S. investors were concerned about Duterte and Trump, firms that are already in the Philippines are unlikely to leave.

"If it's more profitable for them to continue having operations here in the Philippines, I don't think Trump can do anything about it," he said.

Charito Plaza, an ally of the president and director general of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, said Duterte would ask Trump to be kind to U.S. firms looking at the Philippines.

But it wasn't clear if Duterte did that when the two spoke last Friday. Duterte said he felt a rapport with Trump and "assured him of our ties".

But the only policy issue Duterte mentioned afterwards was his drugs crackdown, which he said Trump understood.

GROWTH DRIVER

Policy makers have been banking on BPO overtaking remittances as the mainstay of one of the world's fastest-growing economies.

The BPO sector's recent growth plan said it wasn't Trump or Duterte that posed the biggest challenge to the industry but automation.

The plan aims to boost mid- to high-skilled labor from 53 percent of the workforce to 73 percent by 2022 to meet that challenge. That would push annual incomes from $19,100 to $21,600 with jobs that diversify beyond voice services and

focus on higher-value IT support.

Economic planning minister, Ernesto Pernia, told Reuters he was optimistic the Philippines' competitive costs and services would insulate its BPO sector from Trump, and the BPO jobs that Filipinos do might not appeal to Americans.

Duterte's talk shouldn't be taken too seriously, either, Pernia said.

"I think investors should listen to the economic planners and not the president," he said.

(Writing and additional reporting by Martin Petty; Editing by Bill Tarrant)
President of Turkmenistan Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov walks past an honour guard before a ceremony to welcome Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in the capital Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, October 29, 2015. REUTERS/Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Mykola

GENEVA (Reuters) - Turkmenistan must renounce torture, a U.N. body said on Wednesday, accusing the country of systematic abuse, including rape and beating in jail, and political disappearances.

"The Committee (against Torture) is seriously concerned at consistent allegations of widespread torture and ill-treatment, including severe beatings, of persons deprived of their liberty, especially at the moment of apprehension and during pretrial detention, mainly in order to extract confessions," it said.

The body called on President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov to make "a public statement affirming unambiguously that torture will not be tolerated", adding that nobody had been prosecuted for torture, despite widely publicized cases.

Turkmenistan's Foreign Ministry and its diplomats in Geneva could not be reached for comment.

Earlier on Wednesday, the ministry said the government was working closely with international human rights bodies and was improving its legal framework, including the prison system.

Turkmenistan reportedly holds 90 people in long-term detention, amounting to enforced disappearance, the panel of 10 independent rights experts said. They were particularly concerned about the whereabouts of people convicted in relation to an assassination attempt on a former president in 2002.

A former foreign minister, Boris Shikhmuradov, and a former ambassador, Batyr Berdiev, disappeared in 2002, committee member Felice Gaer told a news conference and there had been no information about what happened to them.

Turkmenistan has failed to investigate the abduction of Atymurad Annamuradov, who was beaten to death in retaliation for the work of his brother, Chary Annamuradov, a journalist. Three other brothers also died in suspicious circumstances, the committee said.

Many prisoners had reportedly died because of conditions at Ovadan-Depe jail, and inmates with infectious diseases were held with healthy prisoners, only getting hospitalized "when they are close to death or through bribing the relevant officials", the committee said.

Political prisoners were detained in psychiatric hospitals, and there were reports of abuse including sexual violence and rape by prison staff, resulting in several suicides, it said.

Turkmenistan does not allow independent organizations such as the Red Cross to monitor detention facilities, nor does it allow U.N. rights experts to investigate in the country.

The Foreign Ministry said diplomats from Europe, the United States, the OSCE and the United Nations visited a juvenile correctional facility on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Tom Miles, Stephanie Nebehay and Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
By Kieran Guilbert

DAKAR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Poverty, conflict and climate change will leave 15 million people across Africa's Sahel belt in need of life-saving aid next year, the United Nations said on Wednesday as it launched a record $2.7 billion humanitarian appeal for the region in 2017.

Around 40 percent of the money will be used to help some seven million people in Nigeria affected by the jihadist group Boko Haram's seven-year insurgency, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

OCHA has increased its appeal for eight countries in the semi-arid band stretching from Senegal to Chad more than tenfold in as many years, but each year funding has fallen short. This year's $2 billion appeal has been less than half-funded to date.

"The lack of funding this year has worsened the humanitarian needs of 11 million people in the Lake Chad Basin, where the crisis is most acute," the U.N.'s regional humanitarian coordinator, Toby Lanzer, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

One in six people across the Sahel are hungry, while in many communities throughout the region, a fifth of children under the age of five are malnourished, according to figures from OCHA.

In addition to violence involving militant groups, climate change is a major factor behind the growing number of vulnerable people across the region, as increasingly unpredictable rainfall patterns disrupt local food production, aid workers say.

"We are adapting by equipping farmers and policymakers with climate information and early warning forecasts, and being prepared not just weeks, but months and years ahead," said Arame Tall, Africa regional coordinator of the U.N.-led Global Framework for Climate Services.

The vast number of vulnerable people, and those forced from their homes by violence across the Sahel, some 4.5 million, is fuelling migration to Europe and driving more young men to join militant groups, according to the United Nations.

Nigeria is the main country of origin for migrants arriving in Italy by sea this year, says the International Organization for Migration (IOM). At least 34,000 Nigerians have crossed from Libya so far in 2016, up from 22,200 last year, IOM data shows.

"Families and communities are separated and split, education is disrupted, and dreams of success dashed," said Anne Moltes, regional director of the peacebuilding group Interpeace.

"If there is no structure, young men leave to find figures of authority elsewhere," she said at the launch of the appeal.

Africa's booming population - estimated by the United Nations to double to 2.4 billion by 2050 - will only exacerbate the situation and leave more people in need of aid, Lanzer said.

The Sahel appeal was launched days after OCHA asked for a record $22.2 billion in 2017 to help almost 93 million people worldwide hit by conflicts and natural disasters.

(Reporting By Kieran Guilbert, Editing by Katie Nguyen. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)
Austrian presidential candidate Alexander Van der Bellen, who is supported by the Greens, reacts at an election party in Vienna, Austria, December 4, 2016. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

VIENNA (Reuters) - The victory of former Greens party leader Alexander Van der Bellen over far-right rival Norbert Hofer in Sunday's presidential election was confirmed by provisional final results released on Tuesday.

A count of postal ballots after Sunday's vote gave Van der Bellen 53.8 percent of all valid votes cast and Freedom Party candidate Hofer 46.2 percent, the Interior Ministry said.

The most closely watched projection, by pollster SORA, had put Hofer on 46.7 percent and Van der Bellen on 53.3 percent.

Hofer conceded defeat on Sunday evening after voters roundly rejected his bid to become the first freely elected far-right head of state in Europe since World War Two.

(Reporting by Michael Shields; editing by Francois Murphy)
1. Name and Address of Reporting Person * Delek US Holdings, Inc. (Last) (First) (Middle) 7102 COMMERCE WAY (Street) BRENTWOOD TN 37027 (City) (State) (Zip)

2. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol

Delek Logistics Partners, LP [ DKL ]
This Form 4 is being filed in two parts due to the large number of reporting persons. This filing is being filed by Oaktree Principal Fund V (Delaware), L.P., Oaktree FF Investment Fund AIF (Delaware), L.P., Oaktree Fund AIF Series, L.P. - Series I, Oaktree Fund GP AIF, LLC, Oaktree Fund GP III, L.P., Oaktree AIF Holdings, Inc., OCM and Holdings. An accompanying filing is being filed on the date hereof by Oaktree Capital Group Holdings GP, LLC, Oaktree Capital Group Holdings, L.P., Oaktree Capital Group, LLC, Oaktree Holdings, LLC, OCM Holdings I, LLC, Oaktree Capital I, L.P., Oaktree Fund GP I, L.P., Oaktree Fund GP, LLC and FIE. All filings relate to the same holdings described above.
(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)

GLOBAL HEALTHCARE REIT, INC. (Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)

Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934



















ITEM 5.02

RESIGNATION AND APPOINTMENT OF OFFICERS





Resignation





Effective December 8, 2016, Clifford L. Neuman resigned as Secretary of Global Healthcare REIT, Inc., a Utah corporation (the Company).





Appointment





Effective December 8, 2016 , Jacob Taylor will serve as the Companys Secretary until his successor has been duly appointed.





The following is biographical information on Mr. Taylor:





Jacob Taylor, age 31, has been the Controller of Global Healthcare REIT, Inc. since June of 2016. Prior to joining Global Healthcare REIT, Inc. he was employed as the Controller and Strategic Projects Developer for Shambhala Mountain Center for six years where he was a member of the Executive Council and jointly responsible for overall strategy, policy and management. He personally established the first integrated budgeting process, developed a new financial model, projected annual and daily revenue and cash flow and performed long term financial planning for capital projects. Mr. Taylor is currently enrolled in the Bachelor of Science Economics program with a Finance Minor at Pennsylvania State University.





As Controller of the Company Mr. Taylor is paid a base salary of $55,000 per year and will receive no additional compensation as Secretary.





SIGNATURES





Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.





Global Healthcare REIT, Inc.

(Registrant) Dated: December 8, 2016 /s/ Lance Baller

Lance Baller, Interim CEO











2




India resorted to negativity during the Heart of Asia Conference in Amritsar to hide atrocities in held Kashmir, Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said on Thursday.

On December 4, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made thinly-veiled references to Islamabad saying inaction against terrorism in the region would encourage terrorists and their facilitators. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said, We need to identify cross-border terrorism and a fund to combat terrorism.

During the weekly briefing, the spokesperson said Indias stance also exposed its claims of being committed to peace in Afghanistan. The country misused a platform for promoting peace and stability in the war-torn country, he added.

Read more: Pakistan will continue to play its role for the lasting peace in Afghanistan: Fatemi

Regarding Ashraf Ghanis comments at the conference, Zakaria said Pakistan had been taking indiscriminate action against all terrorist groups. To substantiate his point, he highlighted the presence of various terrorist groups in Afghanistan in addition to the use of Afghan soil by Indian intelligence agency RAW for anti-Pakistan activities.

The spokesperson went on to add that eight senior commanders and leaders of the Haqqani Network, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Afghanistan, theTehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and the Jamatul Ahrar had been killed in Afghanistan since July this year.

Also read: Sartaj Aziz urges Afghanistan to avoid mudslinging at Pakistan

Hours after attending the Heart of Asia conference in Amritsar, Adviser to the prime minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that Indias efforts to divide Afghanistan and Pakistan would not go far as we are next-door neighbours.

Aziz had also said that Afghanistans comments against Pakistan were regrettable but understandable because of the intensity of the insurgency in the war-torn country. There is certain amount of anxiety which tells us why such comments came about, he said.

Pakistan cannot control terrorists without proper border management as there is always unchecked movement across the border, he added. Afghanistan will have to do on their side as well as we cannot control people from operating inside Afghanistan, the PMs adviser said.

Read more: Pakistan must contain terrorism instead of helping Afghanistan: Ashraf Ghani

Aziz was barred from speaking to media at his Amritsar hotel over security reasons. The adviser then decided to hold a press conference in another hotel but was denied permission. Pakistans High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit was also not allowed to speak to media and security officials tried to stop some Pakistani journalists from approaching the diplomat.
An academic conference about Israel banned in the UK two years in a row, will go ahead at a new venue in Ireland, organizers announced this week. International Law and the State of Israel: Legitimacy, Responsibility and Exceptionalism had been due to take place at the University of Southampton in April 2015. But it was cancelled at short notice after the university came under intense pressure from UK government ministers and Israel lobby groups.

Southampton academic and organizer Oren Ben-Dor told The Electronic Intifada on Wednesday that University College Cork would instead host the conference in the spring of 2017. We had to move a country to do it, Ben-Dor said, arguing that administrators at Southampton are on the wrong side of history for suppressing freedom of speech on Israel.

He said the conference organizers legal case was still ongoing and they are in the process of appealing earlier rulings that favored the university.

Bullying and threats

Meanwhile, the list of academic participants in the Cork conference includes prominent Palestinian and Israeli figures, such as historian Ilan Pappe; Palestinian academic and former member of Israels parliament Azmi Bishara and authors and academics Ghada Karmi and Victor Kattan.

Those calling for the controversial conference to be shut down had claimed it was one-sided. Pro-Israel organization the Board of Deputies of British Jews led the charge to have it cancelled, saying it was an international gathering of anti-Zionists who were using the cover of a distinguished university.

The director of research at the universitys school of law wrote at the time that the cancellation occurred because of the bullying and threats of the Israeli lobby and that the universitys capitulation was outrageous.

Israel lobbyists claimed responsibility for having the original conference cancelled, with one openly telling The Jewish Chronicle that the reasons given for the cancellation were a pretext.

Ben-Dor emphasized that pro-Israel academics are also scheduled to take part in the conference  as they had been in the original event.

These include the hard-right Zionist historian Geoffrey Alderman and Alan Johnson of Israel lobby public relations firm the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre.

Legal route

In April 2015, organizers took the University of Southampton to the High Court in London arguing that the cancellation of the event was a violation of free speech.

The university claimed the conference was not banned but only postponed. The judge sided with the university.

But in March this year, the university cancelled the conference once again. This time they cited risk to participants due to potential pro-Israel or other protests  despite the fact that organizers undertook to hold no counter-protest.

Lawyers acting for the organizers argued that the university had imposed onerous conditions including almost $30,000 in security costs which the university was refusing to cover.

The High Court in April again sided with the university.

Ben-Dor said on Wednesday that if upheld, this precedent would mean only rich people can run controversial conferences and that any thug out there can silence them simply by threatening to hold a demonstration.

The University of Southampton has refused to release correspondence with pro-Israel groups and others regarding the conference requested under the Freedom of Information Act by The Electronic Intifada. The university claimed that releasing documents, even redacted, to a publication based in the United States would breach data protection provisions in UK law.
In response to Al Rennert's letter that the education system is failing students, I have to agree with his premise but not his conclusion that its the fault of common core.

To start, the common core standards were only released in 2010. It is important to understand that to judge the effectiveness of the standards completely we will need to see how those students beginning school in 2010 fare as they complete school. His examples of poor knowledge better fit the No Child Left Behind program executed under President Bush. It did exactly that and left no child behind, no matter how poorly they were educated. When individual school districts are left to draw their own standards the students suffer. National standards are a good thing.
DECATUR  The importance of shopping locally was emphasized during a marketing campaign both nationally and in Decatur to promote Small Business Saturday.

Part of this year's local marketing efforts were developed through a Decatur Leadership Institute project, the results of which were discussed Wednesday during the Greater Decatur Chamber of Commerce Business Breakfast held at the Decatur Club.

Businesses such as Spin City Cycles participating in the event, which was held Nov. 26, reported increases in sales, attorney Thomas Bowman said.

We call that a win, Bowman said. It's about shopping locally, not about the discounts. It's about keeping sales revenue in Decatur.

The group made suggestions about how to build on the marketing efforts next year. Small Business Saturday continues to gain momentum after American Express started it in 2010 as a response to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which focus on large retailers and online sales, said Alyse Knust with Millikin University.

The Small Business Saturday Coalition national grassroots initiative reported Wednesday the highest level of engagement in the campaign since its founding. It said 6,700 events and activities marking Small Business Saturday this year were held nationwide.

It's really a campaign gaining momentum nationally, Knust said. It makes a huge impact on our community.

The push to shop locally continues throughout the holiday season and rest of the year as the Chamber promotes events such as the annual Downtown Decatur Christmas Walk, which was held Wednesday evening as a way to encourage shoppers to visit local businesses.

Other DLI projects were intended to benefit businesses in the area. One group worked on building a website with resources for businesses while another expanded on a project from last year by designing a mobile app to provide information about local restaurants and things to do in Decatur.

The app could be useful not only for those who visit the area but residents who already live here, said Jonathan Downing, Parsons Elementary School principal.

We've kept a vision to connect people with Decatur, said Jessica Younghouse with Decatur Earthmover Credit Union. The focus on consumers is part of a greater business retention effort.

A fourth group focused on the importance of businesses developing emergency preparedness plans.

It becomes overwhelming quickly, said Dan Reece with HSHS Medical Group.

A brochure was developed in consultation with Macon County Emergency Management Agency Director Lt. Jim Root and business owners including Kemper Wilcutt II, owner of Del's Popcorn Shop in downtown Decatur which was closed for more than a year following a fire. He said there are different types of disasters, but the aftermath is the same, which shows why having an idea of what to do is important and helped the business be able to reopen.
DECATUR  Two Decatur men who were wanted by police in connection with a previous armed robbery are facing additional charges, after a police K-9 unit found them hiding in a West End dumpster while their vehicle contained stolen goods.

Police were sent to Woodlawn Avenue, just north of West Main Street, on the report of two males in a backyard, who might have forced open a door at about 8:45 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 15. Officers who arrived on the scene saw a Chevy Impala exiting the alley to the east of the house.

A short vehicle pursuit ensued in the immediate area, and the vehicle crashed in the 1500 block of West Main, and three black males ran from the vehicle, said a probable cause affidavit by Decatur patrol officer Cory Barrows.

When the K-9 unit arrived on the scene, two of the men, Lorenzo D. Davis, 25, and Michael D. Davis, 30, were tracked to a construction dumpster in the 1500 block of West Decatur Street.

A witness identified them as those who were seen running from the vehicle through yards, Barrows wrote in his statement.

The Impala contained items that were reportedly stolen from the house in the 100 block of North Westlawn, where the suspects were spotted by the witness who called the police. The items recovered included laptop computers, video game system and a change jar.

Officers observed that the house's rear entryway was damaged, as burglars had forced open the door, breaking the moldings near the lock and doorknob.

Michael and Lorenzo refused to make any statements to officers, Barrows wrote, adding that the third male who fled from police was not identified.

At the time of their arrest, the Davises were wanted by police in connection with an armed robbery that occurred three days earlier in the 1500 block of North Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

The victim, a 37-year-old man, told police that when he returned to his residence at 2:05 a.m. Nov. 12, his roommate's boyfriend pointed a handgun at his face, said an affidavit by Decatur patrol officer Kara Flannery. Two other males were present during the robbery, the victim told police.

The victim said he was robbed of his wallet and $110. He was struck on his head by the gun, resulting in a laceration. Witnesses identified two of the males as Michael Davis and Lorenzo Davis. Michael Davis is a former parolee and member of Gangster Disciples street gang, a police affidavit said.

Both men were arraigned on felony counts of armed robbery, residential burglary and possession of weapons by a felon. Michael Davis is being held on $105,000 bond; Lorenzo on $100,000 bond, pending their preliminary hearings Wedensday.
Astro-photographer Amit Kamble has once again captured the majesty of McLaren Falls glow worms in another enchanting photograph.

The Tauranga photographer and several of his friends took to the waters of Lake McLaren in kayaks, where Amit shot his latest photograph.

I had to step out of the kayak and jump on a rock to setup my gear, thanks Tor for helping out and Anna for guiding through the lake, he says in a post to Facebook.

McLaren Lake has these beautiful rock walls that are crowded by glow worms and kayaking among them is an experience you should not miss.

Its the latest in a massive body of work focusing on the glow worms, and given the volume of photographs hes captured out at McLaren Falls Amits is happy to admit, Yes I am obsessed with glow worms now.

Ive seen a lot of movies that show enchanted forest with glowing/magical creatures and wondered if they do exist in real life. Well that thought turned to reality when I went to this enchanted location to see the beautiful glow worms, he posts.

Speaking to SunLive about a time-lapse he created back in November, Amit explains that as an astro-photographer he is fascinated by stars and natural lights.

The first time I went to McLaren Falls the weather was terrible so I couldnt take any shots. But when the worms started to glow, it was so stunning. You couldnt see the stars but these tiny little glow worms looked similar to them, except they were much closer.

Their natural light, it looks magical, it looks dreamy, it is what draws me to this place.

A time-lapse of the McLaren Falls glow worms captured by Amit Kamble back in November. Video: Amit Kamble Photography.
He was a larger than life force on the rugby field, and now Papamoa-based All Black great Sir Colin Meads will have a permanent, larger than life presence in his hometown of Te Kuiti.

A group of volunteers are currently working on a 2.9 metre bronze statue depicting Pinetree at the pinnacle of his All Black career which will stand in Te Kuitis main street from next year.

Renowned for his humble, no fuss, no bother attitude, Sir Colin is reported to have asked why people would want to see it when first told of the statue.

But New Zealand Rugby chairman Brent Impey says the NZRUs view is quite the opposite.

This project is a fantastic idea and a great way for Te Kuiti to celebrate one of their own. It goes without saying that Sir Colin is one of New Zealands special treasures  both as an All Black, but also as a great example of what it means to be a New Zealander.

What we love about Sir Colin is that despite the international recognition and praise heaped on him, he just considers himself to be a guy from Te Kuiti.

The statue, which will weigh close to a tonne, will be sculpted by Auckland artist Natalie Stamilla who also created the bronze statue of fellow All Black great Michael Jones which was erected at Eden Park back in 2011.

Waitomo District mayor Brian Hanna is thrilled the man known the world over as Pinetree will soon be immortalised and believes a statue of Sir Colin in Te Kuiti is well overdue.

This will be a fantastic tribute to our most famous legend. It is great New Zealand Rugby is right behind this opportunity to pay homage to Sir Colin, in the rightful place  his hometown.

The project is being led by the towns development committee Legendary Te Kuiti whose which is now seeking additional funding for the statue.

LTK project manager Yvette Ronaldson say the statue is costing a significant amount and they are appealing to the New Zealand public to help them fund it.

Its the Kiwi way for communities to get behind these types of projects and this is certainly one of the special ones, significant for many New Zealanders.

Not only is Sir Colin iconic in terms of rugby, he has given so much to the Te Kuiti community and the country for many years. His support of a huge variety of charities alone is immeasurable.

We believe it is now time for us as a town and a country, to pay homage to him, to thank him.

The plan is to unveil the statue to coincide with the British and Irish Lions tour in June, and an exhibition of memorabilia from the Meads brothers  Sir Colin and Stan  will also be opened to the public at the same time.

For more information visit: www.facebook.com/tekuitilegends
The Kiwi property for sale market is on the rise again, with the average asking price for a typical property lifting 2.9 per cent in October to a record high of $618,000, according to the latest Trade Me Property Price Index.

Head of Trade Me Property Nigel Jeffries says the market had spluttered back to life during spring.

The last 30 days has seen over $17,000 added to the average asking price of property for sale in New Zealand.

Its been a familiar story recently, with new price records being broken almost every month and over $46,000 added to sellers expectations over the last year.

Sellers in the City of Sails sent average asking prices to a new high of $897,300 in the three months to October, up 2.9 per cent since September. In the last year, the average asking price of a typical Auckland property has risen 13.2 per cent, or $104,850.

The unrelenting march of the Auckland property market over the last five years has seen average asking prices for a typical Auckland property explode from $515,600 in October 2011 to todays record peak of $897,300. Thats more than $380,000 extra that buyers are being asked to cough up.

Nigel says that $380,000 jump in Auckland eclipses the current median expected selling price in five regions around the country - Gisborne, Manawatu, Southland, Taranaki and the West Coast.

POWERHOUSE PROVINCIAL REGIONS KEEP RISING

Six regions hit record highs in October, with the Auckland effect  a term describing the citys surging property market  responsible for the rise, says Nigel.

The ripples from the Auckland effect saw six regions feeling the direct result, and the Waikato experienced the biggest leap, landing at $485,600.

Thats a four per cent lift in the last month and a 25 per cent boost over the past 12 months. In dollar terms, thats almost $100,000 added to the bottom line in only a year.

New highs in average asking price were recorded in the Bay of Plenty, Canterbury, Marlborough, Nelson, Waikato and Wellington.

AROUND THE REGIONS

All but two regions saw a lift in average asking price, with six regions posting double-digit rises.

The Hawkes Bay and the West Coast struggled this month, dipping six per cent and 11 per cent respectively when compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, the rest of the country saw pretty strong activity, driving an overall increase of 8 per cent year-on-year.

URBAN PROPERTIES FACING HEADWINDS

Nigel says average asking prices for urban properties  apartments, townhouses and units  were struggling to keep pace with traditional houses.

In the urban property market, units are the only property type keeping up with the traditional housing market with strong lifts in average asking price in both Auckland and Wellington.

Units in Auckland have strengthened significantly throughout 2016 with a $60,000 increase in average asking price over the past year, to $612,550. This figure is double what we saw in 2009, when the average asking price was $304,600.
Bill English is New Zealands presumptive Prime Minister after rival Jonathan Coleman pulled out of the race for the top job.

Bill was the last MP standing in what started out as a three-horse race for the National leadership, with Jonathan conceding late this afternoon and Judith Collins pulling out of the race earlier today.

But it looks like Bill wont be counting any of his chickens until theyve hatched as the National caucus still has to vote him into the role on Monday.

While it appears I have the support of caucus on Monday, that hasnt happened, so Im not going to be making pronouncements as an assumed leader of the party.

I do want to acknowledge the contributions of my fellow candidates for the leadership, but also the responsible, civil and constructive way that our caucus has debated a whole lot of issues.

Its going to allow us to reset, look forward and continue to provide New Zealand with good Government after John Key.

Jonathan says hell back Bill 100 per cent and wants the Government to win a fourth term but wont be putting his name forward to be deputy. While he would have loved to be PM, he is not disappointed by the outcome and says the party is totally unified,reports Fairfax.

With the race for National leader and PM now over, the attention now shifts to the battle for the deputy leadership between Transport Minister and Tauranga MP Simon Bridges and Upper Harbour MP Paula Bennett.

-Additional reporting: Stuff.co.nz
New Zealand Film Commission Talent Development team leader Dale Corlett met with members of the BOP Film collective plus other local directors and writers during visits to Tauranga and Rotorua on Wednesday.

I go out and meet people and find out whats going on, says Dale. Ultimately I see my job as trying to minimise barriers and help evaluate who we can support.

The commission is running a Locations Manager workshop in Auckland this coming weekend, so it seemed a good opportunity to take up BOP Films Anton Steels invitation to come a few days early, divert to the Bay of Plenty, and meet the local talent.

Dale has been in the film industry for about 20 years and and joked that he was deported from New Zealand to Scotland for his own bad acting. His OE resulted in spending nearly 17 years away in the UK where it seems he lived and breathed film.

In Scotland he was making films, helping others make films, working for a film collective, and giving out grants to make short films. Dale worked for the collective for 11 years.

When it came time to make the return to his homeland he found out first-hand one of the biggest problems faced by those in the industry  the people you work with become the closest close-knit family and the strong emotional ties makes it very hard to leave.

But return he did and Dale now works with a small talent development team in Wellington whose main goal is to connect and help progress talent. Their four-fold focus is finding, fostering, connecting and progressing the film making talent in New Zealand.

Through the financing and administration of incentive schemes, the commission has been involved in more than 300 feature films including Boy, Goodbye Pork Pie, Heavenly Creatures, The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Avatar, Whale Rider and Mr Pip.

So where is the money and how do interested film makers apply for it?

The NZ Film Commission Talent Development department has recently reviewed its funding and simplified the funding categories. Its now been honed down into three grants.

In terms of talent development, diversity and equality are essential," says Dale. "The talent pool that were developing in New Zealand reflects the communities that were from.

The commission core-funds established industry organisations such as the writing, producing and directing guilds in New Zealand. Also Script to Screen, and Tangata whenua and Pasifika organisations.

We support these organisations to help with the sustainability of the industry," says Dale. "Were very keen for them to widen their activities outside of the main centres and extend their reach into the regions to work with organisations like the BOP Film collective."

The NZ Film Commission also supports the Big Screen Symposium which is a coming together of the NZ film industry over two days.

This year Dale and his Talent Development team are running location scouts and management workshops, including Saturdays Auckland workshop.

The NZ Film are very keen to hear from film makers, because they are passionate about helping them on their pathway.
DECATUR  The 83rd annual Cookie Party Wednesday at Millikin's Richards Treat University Center featured a fairly standard assortment of fudge, macaroons, lemon bars, shortbread and so on.

Yet it also had an extra international flavor.

That's because the university's International Student Organization set up a Christmas tree by the punch bowl and invited students to decorate it with miniature flags from a variety of countries before they sat down to enjoy their cookies.

Kaitlyn Jardine of Pembroke Pines, Fla., broke the ice by adding one for Spain in honor of her friend Raisa Zamacona. Both are sophomores majoring in biology/pre-med. We wanted to be first, Zamacona said.

Samiha Thapa, a sophomore nursing major from Nepal and president of the student organization, said the purpose was to plant the idea in the minds of other students to take advantage of international study opportunities and exchange programs.

After the party, the tree will go upstairs to the Wornick Dining Room for the rest of the semester, she said.

Not that the semester will last much longer. Winter commencement is Sunday, and the cookie party is intended to be a morale booster for students preparing to take finals.

That's why Paul Lidy, director of residence life, donned deer antlers to bring out cookie trays and President Pat White and his wife, Chris, wore Santa hats to greet students as they came in.

You can take a break from studying, Pat White said and joked, Nobody who has ever had these cookies has ever failed an exam.

Wearing a Cookie Wookie apron, Molly Berry, director of Inclusion and Student Engagement, said she had 450 dozen cookies on hand for the occasion.

Taylor Campbell, a freshman nursing major from Illiopolis, added a flag for the Bahamas to the Christmas tree.

This is great, I like it, Campbell said. There are lots of different cookies.

First in line for the party, however, was Jahaan Randolph, a senior human services major from Chicago.

She said by the time she's arrived for previous cookie parties, the line stretched all the way from the lower level of Richards Treat to the top of the stairs.

This has been a dream of mine to be first, Randolph said. It's a great way to celebrate my last cookie party.
Cuomo 2.JPG

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announces the 2016 Regional Economic Development Council awards at the Egg Center for Performing Arts in Albany on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016.

(Provided photo)

Albany, N.Y.  Central New York will get $62.2 million in aid from the state to support 77 projects in the latest round of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's regional economic development council initiative.

The aid package was announced during a ceremony with the governor in Albany this afternoon. Central New York is one of 10 regions that will receive a total of $717 million from the state under the initiative.

Details of how the money will be spent are expected to be released later today. The $62.2 million that Central New York will receive is separate from the $500 million in aid that the region will receive over five years under Cuomo's Upstate Revitalization Initiative.

Here is what the other nine regions will receive:

Western New York: $62 million for 105 projects

Finger Lakes: $80.5 million for 97 projects

Southern Tier: $60.4 million for 63 projects

Mohawk Valley: $81.9 million for 88 projects

North Country: $61.4 million for 77 projects

Capital Region: $83.1 million for 116 projects

Mid-Hudson: $83.3 million for 105 projects

New York City: $80.2 million for 121 projects

Long Island: $62 million for 101 projects

Update: The document below contains the complete list of development projects to be funded in each region with the state aid.

2016 REDC Awards by rickmoriarty on Scribd

Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148
AUBURN, N.Y. - An Auburn man has pleaded guilty to assault after he attacked a Vietnam veteran who volunteers with veterans in prison, a Cayuga County prosecutor attorney said.

Darius E. Brown, 26, whose last known address was 7 North Lewis St., pleaded guilty in Cayuga County Court on Monday that just before 2 a.m. on May 22 he attacked the 68-year-old veteran in his Auburn home, District Attorney Jon Budelmann said in a news release. The man had offered shelter to Brown's sister after Brown had chased her out of his car during a domestic dispute, the district attorney said.

The man attacked is a former member of the U.S. Marine Corps who had served two tours in Vietnam. He volunteers in prison helping other veterans, said Chief Assistant District Attorney Christopher Valdina. The veteran was taken to the hospital, the prosecutor said.

"The victim in this case served his country, served his community, and saved this defendant's sister from the defendant violently attacking her," Budelmann said. "Essentially, this heroic victim took the blows the defendant had intended for his own sister. "

Here's what prosecutors said happened.

In the early morning of May 22, Brown and his sister got into an argument at a bar on Chapman Avenue, Valdina said. Surveillance tapes show the siblings leaving the bar, getting into Brown's car and driving away, he said.

Shortly after another driver called 911 to report Brown's car driving erratically on city streets, the prosecutor said. Brown parked on Chapman Avenue and chased his sister out of the car, he said.

The veteran let the young woman into his home to escape Brown. The veteran did not know the young woman to whom he offered shelter, prosecutors said.

"He saw a young woman in distress and tried to help her," Valdina said.

Brown yanked the victim's door open, forcing his way into the home. He punched the victim in the face, knocking him to the floor and kicked him multiple times while he lay on the floor.

Brown then ran away. His sister identified him to responding officers. He was detained on a parole violation the next day before being charged in the assault.

Judge Thomas Leone has agreed to sentence Brown to a six-year determinate term, followed by five years of post-release supervision when he is sentenced on Jan. 26. He was ordered to pay for the victim's medical bills and adhere to orders of protection.

Brown was convicted under a 2008 law that makes it a felony to assault anyone older than 65, the district attorney said.

At the time he assaulted the veteran, Brown was on parole for convictions attempted robbery, assault, attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance, escape and attempting to promote prison contraband. Those convictions were out of courts in Wayne and Seneca counties.
DECATUR  James T. Slade, who served aboard a ship that was torpedoed at Pearl Harbor by a Japanese plane, survived to witness the ceremony that formalized the surrender of the Japanese less than four years later.

Seventy-five years after the surprise attack that catapulted the United States into the most destructive war in history, Dave Slade honored the memory of his late uncle during a remembrance ceremony on the shore of Lake Decatur.

About 8 a.m. on Dec. 7, 1941, James Slade, then 18, was below the deck of the light cruiser USS Raleigh, when he felt something strike the ship. At first he thought it was a garbage scow making its rounds to collect the leavings of the ship's mess.

But when he ran onto the deck he saw the smoke rising from nearby ships in the harbor, which had been strafed or bombed, Dave Slade told the crowd gathered near the Lake Decatur docks outside the Beach House.

Co-host of an interview show on WDCR Catholic Radio, Slade was the main speaker at the ceremony, a well-attended gathering that included veterans and community leaders.

The Macon County Honor Guard presented the colors and fired a salute in honor of the World War II veterans.

Navy veteran Pete Frank, 91, who served as a radioman aboard the USS Rocky Mount command ship during several key battles in that war, played the mournful notes of taps on his bugle.

Frank, the oldest member of the Honor Guard, said the day that Americans suffered the devastating attack was not only a day of infamy.

It was also a day of incredible bravery and sacrifice, Frank said. It began four years of incredible courage and commitment.

The morning of Dec. 7, James Slade found his way to his battle station, blasting away on an antiaircraft gun as the gunners aboard the Raleigh shot down five enemy aircraft. But after the power went out aboard the ship, preventing ammunition from ascending to the deck, the order was given to abandon ship.

My uncle jumped into the murky waters of Pearl Harbor, Slade said.

He swam toward the ship's bow, as the entire dock area endured heavy strafing. When he emerged on land near a group of Marines, one of them gave him dry clothing.

His next duty was aboard a boat, as he and other service members pulled survivors from the water. When no more could be found, they began loading up the boat with those who didn't survive.

The death toll from that attack, which lasted one hour and 50 minutes, was 2,335 U.S. service members and 68 civilians. About 1,150 people were wounded.

James Slade, who served seven years in the Navy, followed by a stint as an Army officer during the Korean War, was aboard the USS Pasadena in Tokyo Bay on Sept. 2, 1945. It was anchored next to the USS Missouri, as the Japanese signed the Instrument of Surrender, officially ending the war.

He had a front row seat to history once again, another morning aboard a cruiser, but this was a day of peace and solemnity.

It is 0920, and the small boats have been arriving, bringing aboard the Missouri the many famous dignitaries who shall have a part in the signing of the treaty, Slade wrote in his Pacific War Diary, subtitled Prelude to Victory.

I can see the crowded decks of the flagship through these binoculars and believe me there are many colorful uniforms over there, khaki, navy blue, sky-blue trimmed in scarlet, olive drab-green, tans and browns, Slade read aloud from his uncle's pages. When you realize what hell it has taken to bring them all together under the flag of red, white and blue, it gives you quite a big lump in your throat.
Blog_20161207_Walmart_scene_17.JPG

Police investigate a fatal shooting in the parking lot of Ithaca's Wal-Mart early Thursday morning. (Photo courtesy of Kelsey O'Connor/Ithaca Voice)

(Courtesy of Kelsey O'Connor)

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Authorities have identified a man accused of killing a UPS driver outside a Wal-Mart Thursday before getting into a seven-hour standoff with authorities.

Justin Barkley

Justin Barkley, 38, of Dryden, has been identified as the man responsible for the shooting.

Just before 1 a.m. Thursday, the Ithaca Police Department received a call that someone had been shot in a Wal-Mart parking lot at 135 Fairgrounds Memorial Parkway, said Officer Jamie Williamson, a spokesman for the Ithaca police.

Authorities found William Schumacher, 52, of Candor, Tioga County, dead at the scene, police said. Schumacher was working as a UPS driver.

Barkley shot Schumacher and then ran over him with his vehicle, police said.

Investigators do not know why Barkley shot Schumacher, but said the two didn't know each other, police said.

Officials began an investigation after receiving a description of Barkley's vehicle, police said. It was spotted heading north on Route 13 before pulling into a residential driveway near the intersection of Route 366 in the Dryden area.

Barkley, brandishing a long gun, got out of the vehicle and fired at officers before retreating into what authorities believed was his home, police said.

Barkley stayed inside the house for more than seven hours in a stand-off with authorities, police said. A SWAT team evacuated neighbors, and eventually police negotiators were able to contact him, Ithaca Police Chief John Barber said during a news conference.

Barkley surrendered and was charged with second-degree murder, a felony. He was arraigned in Ithaca City Court and is being held in the Tompkins County Jail without bail. He will return to court Dec. 14.

Reporter Kira Maddox covers crime and safety for Syracuse.com. She can be reached anytime: Email | Facebook | Twitter
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A man found with stab wounds told authorities it happened under a railroad bridge in Syracuse on South Clinton Street, according to the Syracuse Police Department.

Authorities received a stabbing complaint at approximately 5:30 p.m. Wednesday near King and Temple streets on the city's South Side.

Officers found a 37-year-old man who had been stabbed in his left leg near his knee, police said. An American Medical Response ambulance took the man to Upstate University Hospital; his injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

The man said he had been stabbed around the 900 block of South Clinton Street under a railroad bridge, a few blocks from where police found him, but gave no other details about who stabbed him, police said.

The Syracuse police ask anyone with information to call (315) 442-5222, or submit a tip using the "SPD Tips" app.

Reporter Kira Maddox covers crime and safety for Syracuse.com. She can be reached anytime: Email | Facebook | Twitter
DECATUR  Howard Buffett isn't done investing in Decatur.

His foundation is funding 2-1-1 telephone information and referral service for Macon, DeWitt and Moultrie counties and also a new headquarters downtown for the United Way of Decatur and Mid-Illinois.

Both will happen in the first days of 2017 and were announced Wednesday during a Greater Decatur Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours event at Neuhoff Media.

Prior to this, Buffett's most recently announced gift to Decatur is $15 million for a new police training center under construction on the city's south side.

I hope we never take this for granted, said Brian Byers, vice president of development for Neuhoff Media and chairman of the United Way board. There are not a lot of communities that have this type of resource right smack dab in the middle of their town.

United Way Executive Director Debbie Bogle said she is excited and very thankful for Buffett's generous investments in the community.

She added in an interview that the Howard G. Buffett Foundation has pledged $289,856 to add the three counties to the service area of the United Way's call center in Bloomington for the next 10 years, beginning Jan. 3.

Buffett is also donating the $208,798 needed so the United Way can renovate and purchase a former thrift shop at 201 W. Eldorado St., a move that should save the United Way $25,000 annually in rent on its current space. The agency has shared 202 E. Eldorado St. with building owner Youth Advocate since 2002.

Bogle said the United Way hopes to complete the move by the second week in January.

These news developments joined more good news at Wednesday's event, namely that the United Way has reached the $761,000 mark toward achieving its $1.6 million campaign goal.

Other campaign highlights shared by Bogle included $12,864 from BKD accountants, $10,320 from Busey Bank employees, $40,679 from Tate & Lyle, $1,246 from the Decatur Housing Authority, $33,636 from Soy Capital Bank and J.L. Hubbard and $26,500 from HSHS St. Mary's Hospital employees.

In an interview, Bogle said the Decatur area is one of the last in the United States to get 211 service, with the United Way already providing it to 92 percent of the nation and half of Illinois, including neighboring Champaign, McLean and Sangamon counties.

She said insufficient funds led the local United Way to put off joining the network, much as it caused the agency to end its previous First Call for Help service in Macon County five years ago.

We didn't feel we were in a position to fund a program like this from the campaign, Bogle said.

The 211 service is a toll-free, easy-to-remember telephone number that gives people access 24 hours a day to a trained volunteer who uses a database of thousands of health and human services to refer callers to the best source of the help they need.

They can get get assistance with rent and utility bills, substance abuse problems, child care, family counseling and much more.

Bogle said 211 will also be a good resource for social service agencies trying to help clients with complex problems and let the United Way identify gaps in services. Byers also predicted the new system would reduce the number of 911 calls for emergency help from police, firefighters and other first responders.

As for the United Way's new home about two blocks west of its current location, Bogle said it offers a bit more room, with 3,680 square feet on the main floor compared to 2,970 square feet in the current space.

The West Eldorado Street building was most recently occupied by the Teen Challenge Resale Shop, which closed in April 2015.
WASHINGTON -- Is America becoming a rogue state?

The State Department stopped using the term years ago to describe the likes of Iran and North Korea, figuring it was needlessly provocative. But it would seem the incoming Trump administration plans to handle its affairs -- domestic and foreign -- in a manner that meets the dictionary definition of a "rogue state" as one "that conducts its policy in a dangerously unpredictable way."

Even before Donald Trump threw Sino-American relations into a new round of turmoil by speaking with the Taiwanese leader and by trolling a nation of 1.4 billion people on Twitter, Trump and his team set off new chaos between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, with Trump praising the repressive regime of the latter and pledging to visit.

Trump snubbed our closest ally, Britain, by having post-election calls with nine foreign leaders before granting British Prime Minister Theresa May the honor. He shattered protocol by suggesting Britain name Nigel Farage, the Brexit leader, ambassador to the United States. Meanwhile, NATO leaders meeting in Brussels this week were on edge about Trump's coziness with Russia and his dismissive words about the alliance.

According to foreign government accounts, Trump praised Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's campaign against drug users and dealers, which has killed at least 4,500 people in five months. And he hailed Kazakhstan dictator Nursultan Nazarbayev for his "fantastic success" that can be called a "miracle."

The domestic picture is no less chaotic. Trump is now open to keeping the Paris climate pact, after calling climate change a hoax. He campaigned against Goldman Sachs as a symbol of corruption and is now stocking his administration with Goldman bankers. He pledged to reinstate waterboarding and to repeal Obamacare but is rethinking both. He riled supporters with a pledge to prosecute and imprison Hillary Clinton but has reconsidered. He dropped his pledge to ban Muslims or those from terrorism-prone countries from entering America in favor of better vetting of all immigrants. He now says his border wall may be a fence in parts, and he dropped his talk of mass deportation of illegal immigrants.

His nominee to be commerce secretary assures Americans that "tariffs are the last thing" to which the Trump administration would resort -- only to be contradicted by Trump himself, who tweeted Sunday that here will "soon" be a 35 percent tariff on imports from companies that offshore jobs.

But for all the promises Trump is breaking, there is one he has kept without wavering: his vow to be unpredictable. "We must as a nation be more unpredictable," he said this year. "We have to be unpredictable, and we have to be unpredictable starting now."

Some suggest that there is a method to Trump's madness, that he is trying to make would-be adversaries think he is irrational and capricious, thereby making foes and rivals wary of pushing him too far. This is why North Korea's Kim Jong Un gets a wide berth. On a lesser scale, this also underpinned Richard Nixon's "Madman Theory" during the Vietnam War: If he appeared to be crazy enough to use nuclear weapons, the theory went, North Vietnam and the Soviet Union might back down.

But in Trump's application of the Madman Theory there seems to be less theory than madman. There may be advantages to keeping foes and opponents off guard, but Trump is baffling friends and allies, too. In foreign affairs, unpredictability spooks allies and spreads instability. And unpredictable policy at home has long been seen as toxic for business.

For these reasons, George W. Bush made predictable leadership a matter of pride. When I covered his White House 16 years ago, I found that the best way to predict Bush's actions was to listen to his words: He did exactly what he said he would do. Many didn't like the result, but Bush made it easy for Republicans in Congress to follow his lead.

Now, Trump's uncertain trumpet is having the opposite effect. The corporate welfare offered to Carrier's parent company to keep jobs in the United States has some previously supportive conservatives complaining about crony capitalism. His revived talk of high tariffs on imports has GOP congressional leaders worried about a trade war. On his decision to speak with the Taiwanese leader, Trump's would-be defenders were split: Was it a meaningless courtesy, as some Trump advisers said? Or a well-thought-out shift in U.S. policy, as others claimed?

The widespread chaos suggests Trump isn't signaling new policies as much as he's winging it. His unpredictability is not a theory. It's the absence of one.


     - 

      1  2022    2  290,9  ,   18%     2021    36,6%       .
New Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

Mostly cloudy. Slight chance of a rain shower. High near 85F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy in the evening followed by scattered thunderstorms after midnight. Low 71F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Thank you for reading!

Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue.
Apple drew some pointed questions this week following CEO Tim Cooks vague response to reports suggesting Apple Watch demand has plummeted.

The Apple Watch is on track to set a holiday sales record and post its best quarter ever, Cook told Reuters.

Sell-through of the watch  that is, units sold to consumers and not just stocked on retailers shelves  also is on track to reach a new high, he said.

Cooks comments appeared to counter IDCs latest figures, which indicate that Apple sold just 1.1 million units of the smartwatch during the third-quarter 2016, a 71 percent drop from a year earlier.

However, Cook declined to provide specific numbers to back up his assertions when asked.

The Apple Watch Series 2 made its debut in September, positioned as a sophisticated smartwatch with strong fitness capabilities. It includes a dual-core processor, a brighter display, and a built-in GPS that can operate independent of a phone. It has a 50-meter rating for water resistance.

Reporting Methodology

Cook apparently was relying on completely different numbers than those IDC used in its report, said Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst for worldwide mobile device trackers at IDC.

The firm stands by the figures in its report, he told the E-Commerce Times, noting that theres a clear difference in methodology.

The overall wearables market grew 3 percent during the third-quarter to reach 23 million shipments, according to the report. Basic wearables  that is, fitness bands  experienced double-digit growth, accounting for 85 percent of sales in the category.

Apples decision to launch its new smartwatch in September contributed to the overall decline in Apple Watch sales, the report notes. The main issues affecting the drop were an aging lineup and unintuitive user interface.

Apples success will likely be muted as the smartwatch category continues to be challenged, the report states.

Apple ranked fourth in the overall category, behind Fitbit, Xiaomi and Garmin.

The dispute comes at a sensitive time for the overall wearables market, with Fitbit having just agreed to acquire struggling smartwatch maker Pebble, reportedly for US$40 million.

Were seeing a lot of companies face issues in this market for various reasons, Ubrani said.

Need for Transparency

Many customers held off on making an Apple Watch purchase in anticipation of the holiday season, as the product didnt hit stores until October, said Kevin Krewell, principal analyst at Tirias Research.

Further, due to the lack of clear guidance from Apple, IDC has to rely a great deal on other factors in making its calculations, he told the E-Commerce Times.

The problem with the IDC report is that it attributed the slow Apple Watch sales to a systemic shift in the market to cheaper fitness products, and not a product cycle, Krewell said. Because Apple is not transparent on Watch sales in its financial reporting, IDC has to make estimates based on models, channel checks and other retail partner sales.

Without direct input from Apple, there can be a lot of error in the IDC figures, he said.

On the other hand, uncertainty about the viability of the smartwatch form factor persists.

Smartwatches will see limited success within the overall wearables category, said Eric Schiffer, CEO of The Patriarch Organization.

Apple is trying to divert attention from the failure of its own product to find an audience, he told the E-Commerce Times.

Apple is trying to run a classic Vegas magicians misdirect trick by attacking IDC and by inferring they have stronger demand, Schiffer said. The Apple Watch has been a terrible failure and still has Steve Jobs spinning in his grave.

Show Me the Data

The controversy appears to be over little more than an outside firms independent research failing to cater to corporate interests, observed Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.

IDC is often vilified when the results of its research run counter to a companys marketing strategy or preferred narrative, he told the E-Commerce Times. Tim Cooks comments simply make him one of a legion of similarly disappointed CEOs, but the stark reality of IDCs findings are particularly troubling, given the newness of the smartwatch category.

IDC does a service to the industry and consumers by putting out its findings for all to see, King said, adding that he has a great deal of respect for the firms analysts.

If Cook disagrees, he has the power to shut up IDC by meticulously detailing the Apple Watchs market and sales performance, he pointed out. If he fails to do so, it will say as much about Apple as it does about IDCs market research.

Apple did not respond to our request to comment for this story.
Students and staff members at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) have teamed up with NASA to build a new space suit design that can easily be adjusted to fit the bodies of future Mars explorers.

With NASA planning to send people to the Red Planet in the next few decades, researchers now have to come up with better gear to handle the environment of deep space. However, designing new space suits that would work in zero gravity can be a challenge.

Those used for Mars simulation missions in Hawaii are smaller than typical zero gravity suits and have poor ventilation, making them quite an uncomfortable thing to wear for astronauts. The materials used for the simulated space suits also wear out easily.

To solve this problem, NASA collaborated with the RISD to develop a new and better space suit specially designed for the Red Planet mission. Both parties unveiled the breakthrough Mars suit on Monday, Dec. 5, and are now getting ready to have it tested during the next mission tests in Hawaii in 2017.

Adjustable Mars Space Suit

Aside from making the new space suit more durable during testing, the designers also had to make sure that it fits the bodies of wearers properly without sacrificing mobility.

Andrzej Stewart, one of the engineers involved in NASA's Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) program, said he had to wear a hazmat suit during the tests because he was too tall for the simulation suit he was given.

While this may have worked during the simulations in Hawaii, it wouldn't be realistic as astronauts cannot wear hazmat suits in space.

Sheyna Gifford, the space doctor for the Mars simulation mission, pointed out that crew members need to have realistic space suits to find out what experiments they can do and what specific tools they can use while wearing them.

She said that the suits will also play an important role in determining the appropriate design for the crew members' habitats.

"What we're aiming for is the best possible simulation, to inform NASA about what we learned on that simulation so they can succeed in the real thing," Gifford explained.

During Monday's presentation, Stewart wore the new suit made by the RISD designers to find out how it will fit him and how he'll be able to move while wearing it.

Not only did the suit fit Stewart's 6-foot and 2-inch frame, but it also allowed him to move around without restricting motion. He said that its ventilation also helped keep him cool throughout the test.

According to the designers, the new suit was made from heavy-duty nylon fabric as well as carbon fiber that has a hard shell for its upper torso portion. It also has a type of foam that recreates the pressurization often seen in actual space suits.

The RISD suit comes in 16 different pieces, with each one easily replaced or resized in order to fit any body size. It also weighs only about 50 pounds.

Michael Lye, one of the RISD faculty members working on the project, said that the new space suit costs about $10,000 to make. The one that Stewart wore on Monday will now be shipped to Hawaii for next year's HI-SEAS testing.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Careful analysis of hundreds of accounts and measurements belonging to various ancient cultures going back 2,700 years ago have revealed the fact that Earth's spin is slowing down at a rate of 1.8 milliseconds per century. Although it may not seem significant, the time discrepancy between the time of the oldest accounts and present times would amount to seven hours.

Earth's Spin And Time's Fascinating Complexities

Both time and Earth's rotation seem to be quite stable and well-measured concepts. However, there are numerous complexities that need to be taken into account. With the help of highly precise atomic clocks, humanity has managed to measure a day (86,400 seconds) as well as a second (exactly 9,192,631,770 oscillations of a cesium-133 atom). These measurements define the Terrestrial Time.

But this is not the only time that exists. Universal Time is defined and measured based on the dynamic gravitational movements of the moon, sun and Earth. The two times do not synchronize perfectly due to the fluctuations detected in Earth's spin, which influence the latter. As a result, leap seconds are added on June 30 or Dec. 31 whenever the two times are not perfectly coordinated.

Earth's spin itself is influenced by many factors. Very powerful winds, volcanic activity or earthquakes can all slow down or speed up the spin. The amount of polar ice is also a significant factor in this regard, so it is very likely that the changes registered in recent years will not have gone unnoticed.

Ancient Eclipses And Modern Answers

A small team of scientists from Great Britain decided to measure precisely the changes related to Earth's spin. The task proved to be quite challenging, as the only evidence to help the scientists was found in ancient accounts from around the world.

The team was most interested in eclipses and their exact dates, which could then be compared with modern data. Besides the need to learn over 1,500 Chinese characters to decipher the ancient writings, the scientists were also faced with other challenges, such as missing accounts or faulty measurements.

European accounts proved to be disappointing at times, but Arab observations, such as those of Ibn Yunus, al-Battani and al-Biruni proved to be of great help. After 1600, when telescopes became better, modern scientists could also rely on lunar occultations (observations of the moon covering certain stars at certain moments).

"People recording these things never had the slightest notion that what they were doing would lead to people in our generation actually studying changes in the Earth spin. We are very much at the mercy of these ancient chroniclers and astronomers," noted Richard Stephenson, an astronomer that has worked on this project for 40 years.

Although the progress made by researchers is quite impressive, the work is not done yet. The scientists are still looking for missing accounts that would help refine the calculations even more.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Slack Technologies declared Dec. 7 that it is partnering with Google Cloud in order to provide a wider range of services. The budding partnership will particularly benefit its collaboration solution for individuals and organizations alike.

It will also leverage the respective parties' positions against rival solutions offered by Microsoft Teams and Facebook's Workplace.

What Is Slack?

If you are wondering what Slack Technologies exactly is, it is a startup that has developed a popular collaboration tool with the same name. The app claims that it is not a mere chat app but a destination for a team's entire communication.

"A new way to get more done, spend less time in meetings, and reduce email," Slack's description read at the App Store.

To gain more insights, one can simply turn to Slack's main features. For example, it is  first and foremost  a messaging app. Users can send messages and files, features that one will be able to find in other platforms such as WhatsApp and Viber.

What sets Slack apart is the capability to integrate third-party apps and solutions such as Dropbox, Asana and Google Drive. Now, this is where Google Cloud comes in.

According to Slack Technologies, customers like using Slack and Google together, especially with the way millions of Google Drive files gets shared in Slack on a monthly basis.

The company touts that its partnership with Google will mean more powerful tools for its users.

Slack And Drive Bot

It appears that in the partnership, Google's part includes the development of a dedicated bot. It will push notifications, which contain comments and requests for access, inside the Slack app itself. Up to this point, these notifications are merely forwarded to emails where they tend to languish unnoticed.

"The bot will use message buttons to enable you to approve, reject and settle comments from Slack, or you can open up Google Docs to resolve them there," Slack Technologies said in a press statement.

Other Features

Slack Technologies and Google are also working to provide other features that address security and interoperability. For example, Slack is automating permission-checking for files being shared. Senders will get notified to update sharing settings if the file is not going to be accessible to the members of a channel it is being forwarded to.

In terms of interoperability, the partnership will now permit the syncing of contents and conversations at Slack and Google Drive. Once a file is shared in Slack, it will automatically get a Google Drive backup.

Other notable features include Google Doc previews and the ability to provision Slack for an organization from the G Suite panel.

Observers believe that the partnership is beneficial for both parties. On one hand, Slack becomes even more indispensable for users that are also dependent on G Suite. It also allows the app to address Microsoft Teams' advantage of being tied to Microsoft's suite of services.

On the other hand, Google can expand its G Suite user base through companies that currently prefer Slack.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Those who own a Motorola device will welcome the news that Moto Deutschland has confirmed that several smartphones will get a taste of Android 7.0 Nougat in December.

On Tuesday, Dec. 6, Motorola's German operations took to its official Twitter page to affirm the dates of the Android 7.0 Nougat software update being rolled out to select devices from the company.

The tweet from Moto Deutschland shares that the much-awaited Android 7.0 Nougat update will make its way to Moto G and Moto Play before Christmas. The Moto Z Play will benefit from the update a month later in January 2017, followed by the Moto X line up and Nexus 6.

Vor Weihnachten: #Android7 fur Moto G/Play erhaltlich. Im Januar Moto Z Play. Dann: Moto X Pure Edition (3. Gen)/Force/Style/Play, Nexus 6  Moto Deutschland (@Moto_GER) December 6, 2016

Earlier in October, Motorola confirmed via an official blog post that 15 smartphones from the company would be updated to the new Google OS. It had disclosed at the time that Android 7.0 Nougat would be rolled out in Q4 2016 with the Moto Z and the Moto G4 series being the first in line.

Moto Z Play

True to its promise, Motorola pushed out the Android update for the Verizon-exclusive Moto Z Droid and Moto Z Force Droid in November. The rollout of the update for Moto Z started on Dec. 6.

Now the next handsets to receive the Android 7.0 Nougat update in the Moto Z series are the Moto Z Play and its Verizon-variant Moto Z Play Droid. According to a PhoneArena report, the Moto Z series will benefit from the software update on Dec. 16. However, the Moto Z Play is slated to get the update in January based on Moto Germany's tweet.

Moto G4 Series

The Moto G4 series or the fourth gen Moto G phones  composed of the Moto G4, Moto G4 Plus and Moto G4 Play  are slated to get the Android 7.0 Nougat updated before Christmas, which is Dec. 25.

Moto X Series

The Moto Germany tweet does not give an exact date for the Android 7.0 Nougat update's rollout for the Moto X Series  namely the Moto X Style, Moto X Play, Moto X Force and Moto X Pure Edition (3rd Gen). However, the lineup is anticipated to get a taste of Android 7.0 Nougat in early 2017.

Nexus 6

The Nexus 6 is also slated to get the software update in early 2017, alongside the Moto X lineup.

The Android 7.0 Nougat update brings with it an enhanced Doze mode, multi-screen support that enables users to run two apps simultaneously and more. With the much-awaited OS finally making its way to Motorola devices, consumers will soon be able to take advantage of Android Nougat's new features.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Officials said that several students attending Naperville North High School in Illinois got ill on Tuesday, Dec. 6 after eating gummy bears that were laced with a still unknown substance.

Naperville District 203 Superintendent Dan Bridges said that they called the police and the fire departments to come to the school after more than a dozen students reported feeling sick on Tuesday morning.

Dizziness, Fast Heart Rate And Other Symptoms After Eating Gummy Bears

Officials of the school said that after ingesting the gummies, the students felt uncomfortable and experienced dizziness, dry mouth and fast heart rate, prompting the school to send them to Edward Hospital.

"For safety precautions, they were transported to Edward to receive medical attention. Each student had varying degrees of discomfort and subsequent treatment was needed," Bridges said.

Eleven students were still at the hospital on Tuesday afternoon but they were already in a stable condition. Two were already released from the hospital.

Gummy Bear Laced With Still Unknown Substance

Jennifer McNulty, the medical director for the Pediatric Emergency Department and Pediatrics at Edward Hospital, said on Wednesday, Dec. 7 that based on her observations and conversations with the students and given her medical expertise and other factors, she believed that the gummy bears were produced or laced with marijuana or marijuana oil and not alcohol or other foreign substances.

She noted that in recent years, local residents had to deal with the increasing use of heroin and other narcotics.

The police think that the students ingested the candies voluntarily but they are not sure if they were aware of about the presence of the substance in the gummy bears. The students also said that the gummy bears were eaten between periods.

How To Tell If Candies Are Laced With Drugs

Ingesting drug-laced candies can be dangerous, particularly if they get eaten by very young kids. Unfortunately, it is not easy to spot gummy bears or candies tainted with foreign substances. It may help though to check the packaging of candies and other edible items. Make sure that the packaging of the candies has not been opened or tampered with before eating them.

The candy's packaging may also indicate it contains marijuana. In October earlier this year, when kids went around the neighborhood asking for candies and treats, a parent became suspicious after finding a candy bar that had pictures of cannabis leaves on the wrapper. The candy bar eventually tested positive for marijuana.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 is reportedly in for a major design change with an all-screen, nearly bezel-free display, but no dual rear camera setup, Bloomberg reports.

One of the most hotly anticipated smartphones of 2017 is the Galaxy S8, partly because Samsung needs to come up with something big to recover from this year's Galaxy Note 7 fiasco. At the same time, the Galaxy S8 will not only have to counter the iPhone, but will also have some serious competition on the Android side of things as the Google Pixel rapidly gaining ground.

The company's solution to these woes seems to once again push the boundaries in terms of design. It did it with its first Galaxy Note a few years ago, considered insanely huge at the time, and it will apparently do it again with a futuristic design for the Galaxy S8.

All-Screen Design, Bezel-Free

According to Bloomberg, the next-generation Samsung Galaxy S8 will have an all-screen front and will ditch the physical home button, opting instead for a virtual home button "buried in the glass in the lower section."

Bloomberg cites unnamed sources with "direct knowledge of the matter" and says the new Galaxy S8 smartphones will feature only wraparound OLED displays.

Samsung Galaxy S8 Delay

Samsung was recently sued over FinFET technology patent infringement, which prompted rumors that the Galaxy S8 might see a delayed release.

Bloomberg now mentions that the Galaxy S8 might indeed hit the market later than originally planned, but the delay would be tied to a more rigorous testing process. After the whole Galaxy Note 7 mess with two recalls over exploding batteries, it would make sense for Samsung to place safety first.

"While Samsung is targeting a March release of the S8, that could be delayed until April," Bloomberg reports, citing its sources. "Samsung is adopting tougher testing procedures in the wake of the Note 7 debacle that could push back the launch by about a month, one of the people said."

Samsung Galaxy S8 Rumored Specs

Aside from the all-screen, bezel-free display and the purported virtual home button, the Samsung Galaxy S8 is also expected to come with a smart virtual assistant powered by artificial intelligence, with both male and female voices called Bixby and Kestra, respectively.

The galaxy S8 will pack the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor in some markets, while other markets will get an in-house Samsung Exynos processor. Recent rumors also pointed at a version with 6 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal storage, superior audio with Harman stereo speakers, and other high-end specs.

However, Bloomberg echoes previous reports that Samsung might ditch plans for a dual camera setup because it would amount to higher manufacturing costs.

Lastly, recent rumors also suggested that Samsung will launch the Galaxy S8 with no headphone jack, which would mimic Apple's move to drop the headphone jack from the iPhone 7.

Samsung has yet to confirm any of the purported specs, so it all remains in the rumor state at this point. As always in such cases, take all leaks and reports with a grain of salt. For now, Samsung fans can get the current Galaxy S7 flagship smartphone.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Vulnerabilities Discovered In Sonys IP Cameras

Researchers from IT security services and consulting company, SEC Consult have discovered backdoors in Sony IPELA Engine IP cameras that could affect as many as 80 Sony SNC series IP cameras models. Sonys website shows that the cameras range in price from under $500 to over $6,000 and are mostly used by professionals and authorities.

The researchers state that they discovered two different vulnerabilities, one of which affects the web interface that allows an attacker to connect to a camera with a Telnet service.

The second flaw makes it possible to compromise the root account, which allows the attacker to take complete control of vulnerable devices and use them to spy, or to disrupt camera functionality, or to launch attacks on other enterprise systems, or to make the devices part of a Mirai-like botnet.

According to SEC Consult, the two previously undocumented user accounts  named primana and debug  could be used by remote attackers to commandeer the Web server built into these devices, and then to enable telnet on them.

Telnet  a protocol that allows remote logons over the Internet  is the very same communications method abused by Mirai, which constantly searches the Web for IoT (Internet of Things) devices with telnet enabled and protected by factory-default passwords.

We believe that this backdoor was introduced by Sony developers on purpose (maybe as a way to debug the device during development or factory functional testing) and not an unauthorized third party like in other cases (e.g. the Juniper ScreenOS Backdoor, CVE-2015-7755), SEC Consult wrote.

The affected cameras can be attacked over the internet or over the local network, if their Web interfaces are publicly accessible. An online search via the Censys.io search engine revealed that roughly 4,000 Sony security cameras are accessible from the Internet, including many from the United States and Germany, but experts believe the actual number is likely much higher. However, these are likely not all of them and its unclear how many are actually vulnerable.

Those Sony IPELA ENGINE IP camera devices are definitely reachable on the Internet and a potential target for Mirai-like botnets, but of course it depends on the network/firewall configuration, said Johannes Greil, head of SEC Consult Vulnerability Lab. From our point of view, this is only the tip of the iceberg because its only one search string from the device we have.

Brian NeSmith, the founder and CEO of Arctic Wolf Networks, said, Enterprises need to view this as the canary in the coal mine for IoT security. He cautions, Hacking consumer video cameras dont pose a huge risk, but as more enterprises try to leverage IoT technology and put more devices online, they need to understand they are significantly increasing the attack surface for cyberattacks.

Sony has updated its firmware on November 28 to address the issue after SEC Consult informed the company of its discovery. Sony has also published an advisory to its customers detailing the vulnerable models and recommending them that latest firmware version should be installed.

In a separate research, the team from Cybereason also discovered zero-day vulnerabilities in cameras which are based on old Linux software. The bugs have been found in at least 10 different camera models from 10 different vendors including VStarcam, which are sold through Amazon and eBay.

Unfortunately, even though weve responsibly disclosed the flaws, this may not lead to the vulnerabilities getting fixed, Cybereason says. The cameras arent designed to receive software updates so the zero-day exploits cant be patched.

Source: ZDNet
Watch how a prankster hacked McDonalds drive-thru to deliver an f-bomb prank

On a hungry afternoon, you want to eat a nice Mac Burger and decide to visit a McDonalds drive-thru for a takeaway. Imagine your fright and anger when the drive-thru speaker tells you to [email protected]@k Off.

This is what happened to a drive-thru customer at a McDonalds in North Carolina. He got a Big Mac shock when the voice from the order kiosk started belting out profanities instead of the normal politically correct Hello, how may I help you! greeting.

The first response the customer heard was a mans voice saying: You know, Im actually on the toilet right now and Im just going to serve you your food. Im not even going to wash my hands. Im trying to get some special sauce out right now.

After a brief pause, the speaker added, You know what just pull forward because Im going to give you whatever the f*** I feel like giving you.

After the video was posted on Facebook and YouTube, many other McDonalds customers also noted their similar experience while many thought it was a joke. Posting the footage on Facebook after the incident, Dylan wrote: So this happened today at the McDonalds in New Bern, North Carolina. Apparently someone hacked the headset of the poor girl working the window of McDonalds.

The most plausible explanation for the profanities came from another commentator who said that a hacker may have hacked the McDonalds speaker system to hijack the radio frequency. He added that the hacker may be sitting just metres away to belt out the vulgarities as soon as somebody drove through.

Franchise owner Bill Purcell is not taking the hack lightly. He has approached the New Bern Police Department to investigate the hack. He said, We are investigating this matter with the help of the New Bern Police Department. In addition, we are taking steps to prevent this isolated incident from happening again.

As local owners, our biggest priority is our customers and community and we want to ensure that every experience at our restaurant is a positive one.

At first, some thought it was a joke.

But the owner of the McDonalds doesnt.

We are investigating this matter with the help of the new Bern Police Department.
The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro Moros, received with honors his peer from Guinea Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas, on... | Read More
The following is a statement released by the Pan Armenian Environmental Front (PAEF)

Business and Human Rights Resource Center turned to Lydian International, a company that intends to exploit a gold mine in Amulsar, a mountain near Jermuk, Armenia for a response to the petition initiated by Pan Armenian Environmental Front (PAEF) civil initiative and 27 other organizations. Lydian published its response, the first few lines of which declare that our petition contains disinformation. Although this offshore company tries to substantiate its statement, we consider this an attempt to mislead the Armenian public and the international community by vilifying the arguments and activities of Armenias environmentalists and ecologists.

This is not the first attempt of Lydian to discredit us: three months ago the company reported to the police of Armenia accusing some of PAEFs members for threatening the company, its employees and their families in Facebook. The police investigated this call and did not find any criminal offense. We would like to emphasize that PAEF is not responsible for the opinions expressed by other users in FB or other social platforms, and that PAEF is created as a rights-based initiative and acts within the frames of international human rights and national law. We will continue our activities against permissions to exploit Amulsar gold mine and any other new metal mine in Armenia together with other interested organizations, experts and individuals.

Now let us briefly comment on Lydians response.

There is no need to prove that any mining activity, especially metal mining and processing, irreversibly damages nature and human health, and this makes mining industries substantially different from the other economic activities of the humans. For many years mining companies were trying to insist that the so-called sustainable mining can avoid damaging the nature. Now that it is difficult to justify this argument any longer, new terminology is incorporated - responsible mining. This phrase is paired with attractive terms such as economic growth, paid taxes, creation of jobs, corporate profit and social projects and is used as a blatant cover-up of the real threats and public criticism. It is particularly dangerous for countries like Armenia with small area, impoverished population and authoritarian or corrupt government.

By declaring itself a pioneer in responsible mining, Lydian uses international soft terminology, writes volumous reports, funds some projects to buy the consent of the immediately impacted communities, and all of this is done to divert peoples attention from what is important.

The important point is that any mining activity has numerous risks. Some of these risks can be managed. But other risks are not manageable despite all the beautiful statements made in the environmental and social impact analysis reports. Moreover, these risks have nothing to do with standards promulgated by international investing institutions and organizations to which companies like to refer when they prepare reports (to save space here, we will cover the issue of EBRD and IFC standards separately; because practically, they are not exploitation standards but are rather blanket and ambiguous internal investment regulations).

Together with independent specialists, scientists, experts, environmentalists and locals, we are convinced that Amulsar gold mine project contains unmanageable risks which directly threaten Armenias ecological and national security (some of the experts opinions, analysis and articles can be found here in English).

Now let us eloborate on the serious unmanageable risks;

1. Lake Sevan and Vorotan-Arpa-Sevan water tunnel will be at stake, since the open mine area will be exposed to snow, rain and artificial watering, the streams from which will penetrate deep into the ground. Amulsar mountain is formed of cracked volcanic rocks and there is no method or technology to stop the water from penetrating into these rocks and thus flowing further into the ground. It is a sulphide mine, therefore the water flowing through sulphide rocks will turn into reactive acid water. The latter will not only erode the iron concrete construction of the Vorotan-Arpa water tunnel that is located next to the mining area, but will also mix with the water flowing through the tunnel into Lake Sevan and will ultimately alter the lakes chemical composition. This risk is also confirmed by a fact that not far from the mining site, right on Amulsars slope there is a small natural pond of diluted acid. Doctor in Geological Sciences professor Armen Saghatelyan presents these unmanageable risks in details (here).

2. Dust, filled with heavy and dangerous metals, will spread around with the wind to the neighboring areas and will pollute the air, soil, surface waters, meadows, high quality pastures (by the way, the Armenian government received a loan from the World Bank for developing those pastures and thus Armenias population has to return the loan for already non-existing pastures), agricultural crops and wild plants. Lydian states that 95% of the dust will not move further than adistance of 1000 meters; however international and local experiences prove the opposite. For example Masrik river bottom substrate is already polluted with the dust emitted from Sotk open mine which is situated 30kms away from the river. Therefore Arpa, Vorotan and Darb rivers, as well as Spandaryan and Kechut water reservoirs which feed Vayots Dzor and Syunik regions will be at risk.

3. Another risk is associated with Jermuk, a health resort town famous for its healing mineral waters. Lydian excludes any negative impact of the mining activities on the mineral waters and insists that an isotope analysis confirmed that these waters have no physical connection to Amulsars water systems. However, scientific data says the opposite: in relatively recent geological past, this area was the paleochannel of the Arpa-Vorotan river basin. Vorotan river was connected to the Arpa river basin, they were one river. Vorotan rivers upper basin and Arpa river were separated after Amulsars lateral raise. This means that deep mineral and underground waters are still connected. Mining explosions in this area expose highly probable risks which have been analyzed by geologist Ruben Yadoyan (see here).

Lydian also mentions in its response that Jermuk resort-town is located 14 km away from the mine, although in various official documents it mentions a 7-8 km distance. The company compares Amulsar with Criple Creek and Victor mine in the USA which is only one kilometer far from the neighboring town. However, this comparison is misleading; Lydian either seems to forget or does not know that Criple Creek mine has been exploited since 1890 and the town was established to serve the mine (see details here), while Jermuk was built as a resort town and was granted a status of health resort throughout Armenia and the entire Soviet Union. Sadly, Armenian public officials, too support projects of suspicious offshore mining companies instead of promoting opportunities of harmonious coexistence with the nature. If Amulsar mine is exploited, Jermuk can no longer be a health and family resort. The locals as well as many independent experts share this opinion.

4. And finally, regarding the usage of sodium cyanide for heap leaching. This method contains primary and secondary risks, which are often unmanageable and uncontrollable. Primary risks include fires in cyanide storehouses, accidents in technical structures, leaks of highly hazardous substances, natural disasters, terrorist and military actions, and other similar accidents with grave effects on people, as well as nature (read more on these specific risks here). Secondary risks have even more complex origins and their impacts may last forever. Ore containing gold and silver is crushed as a result of which all elements (or metal and non metal compounds) in the ore are separated. This substance is processed with water and cyanide mixture, and as a result of chemical reaction the gold is separated. However the reaction takes place not only between cyanide and gold but also between cyanide and other elements in the ore, including heavy metals, as a result of which nitrates and other chemical compounds are formed. There are many more heavy metals in the ore in Amulsar than gold, including cobalt, copper, iron, nickel, mercury, zinc, wolfram, bismuth, chromium, lead, as well as poisonous substances such as arsenic, selenium, tellurium, beryllium, cadmium, which will seriously pollute and threaten nature, ecosystem and humans health if they remain in the waste (see more on the volume of other heavy metals here).

This method is used not because it is safe or innovative, but because only through cyanide heap leaching can gold be extracted in ores with little composition of gold, such as Amulsar (about 0.7 gram/tone), also because it is the most profitable method. Meanwhile, the exploitation of Bellavista mine next to Costa Ricas Miramar residence and the accident that happened there 10 years ago show some of the technical problems and leaks that may also occur in the heap leach facility that will be located on the shores of Apra river and some 1000 meters away from Gndevaz village. Risks are even higher and pollution will be even larger in the case of Amulsar, because its territory is larger and it is located in a seismic area, in a tectonically active and landslide zone. Even a few millimeters of ground movement annually will be enough to destabilize the protective layers and structures and to cause an ecological disaster in Vayots Dzor region.

On our website we have numerously alerted of environmental as well as social risks of the Amulsar gold mining project. It does not comply with the standards of the very financial institutions who are giving the loan to this project (WB International Finance Corporaiton, EBRD), and it is a pending question why our complaints regarding this matter are not properly investigated by these institutions. Lydian and its partners continue referring to these financial institutions and their  standards in order to cover-up for the risks of such projects, although we can clearly witness negative environmental and social impacts of similar projects in various parts of the world; some of such hazardous projects have been supported by EBRD and IFC (here is an example).

Therefore, trendy terminology, names and standards of international financial institutions cannot be a safeguard against the abovementioned unmanageable risks of Amulsar project. Lydian itself avoids speaking about the serious shortcomings of its project and tries to shift the conversation towards other less significant points.
Freelancers working behind the camera in news and current affairs were honoured last night at the 2016 Rory Peck Awards, sponsored by Sony Professional.

The Rory Peck Award for News was presented to Greek video journalist Will Vassilopoulos for Fear and Desperation: Refugees and Migrants Pour into Greece, commissioned by Agence France Presse (AFP). Vassilopoulos footage, shot between October 2015 and March 2016, shows desperate migrants and refugees arriving on the island of Lesbos in overcrowded boats and rubber dinghies and their rescue from open water in the middle of the night. He also covered events at the makeshift Idomeni camp on Greeces northern border with Macedonia. The Judges said Images from the Med have become so familiar theres a danger of image fatigue, but these stood out. Will held his shots, let them breathe and evolve, leaving his sequences long so you really got the arc of the story. He received his award from James Mates, Europe Editor for ITV News and Chair of the News jury.

The Rory Peck Award for News Features was won by Italian freelancer Marco Salustro for Libyas Migrant Trade: Europe or Die, commissioned and broadcast by VICE News. Shot in June 2015, his film reveals the sub-human conditions inside unofficial detention camps run by local militia in Tripoli, and the abuse and mistreatment of migrants. The judges said of Salustros film: You got a real sense of the fear, insecurity and lack of hope these migrants have. Theres no UN agency to save or support them. No government really to help them either. They are trapped in this limbo. You dont just walk away from this film and forget it instantly, it really stays with you. He collected his award from filmmaker Brian Woods of True Vision Productions, who chaired the News Features jury.

The Sony Impact Award for Current Affairs was collected by German freelance filmmaker Marcel Mettelsiefen for Children on the Frontline: the Escape, his second film about the family of a leading rebel commander in Aleppo. The film follows the fortunes of the three young sisters, their brother and mother after the capture of their father by ISIS, as they leave their war ravaged home to embark on new lives as refugees in Goslar, Germany. Judges said: The way this film draws you into the complex, quite desperate and also quite hopeful inner life of this one family is breath-taking. Its honest, emotional, intimate and poetic. This is a touching documentary from a mature and responsible filmmaker who has made a film that we all need to see at this time. The film was part self-funded. It was produced by ITN productions for Channel 4 in association with ZDF and PBS Frontline. The award was presented by Michael Harrit, Marketing Director Media Solutions, Sony Professional Solutions, Europe, who was also on the jury.

Freelance fixer Angel Istek Alcu was presented with the Martin Adler Prize, which honours the outstanding contributions made by local freelance journalists. Angel, who lives and works in Diyarbikar in the Kurdish, south-east area of Turkey, is regarded as one of the most brave, trusted and knowledgeable fixers in region.

Tina Carr, Director of the Rory Peck Trust, said Tonights winners and finalists clearly show that some of the very best work in todays news and current affairs is being produced by freelancers from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. This evening is a chance to celebrate such diversity and talent. It is also a reminder that freelancers are at the heart of independent journalism. With journalism increasingly under attack all over the world we need to support and protect these brave, talented and diverse freelancers for the benefit of us all.

Pictured: Libyas Migrant Trade: Europe or Die

Share this story
HAMBURG, 8 December 2016 - We, the Heads of Delegation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries  Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov, Secretary of State of the United States John Kerry, and Foreign Minister of France Jean-Marc Ayrault - remain fully committed to a negotiated settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

In light of the dramatic escalation in violence along the Line of Contact in April, we express concern over continuing armed incidents, including reports on the use of heavy weapons, and strongly condemn the use of force or the threat of the use of force. There is no military solution to this conflict and no justification for the death and injury of civilians. We are also aware of allegations of atrocities committed on the field of battle in April, which we condemn in the strongest terms. We appeal to the sides to confirm their commitment to the peaceful resolution of the conflict as the only way to bring real reconciliation to the peoples of the region. We also urge them to adhere strictly to the 1994/95 ceasefire agreements that make up the foundation of the cessation of hostilities in the conflict zone.

We call on Baku and Yerevan to honor the agreements reflected in the Joint Statements of the 16 May Summit in Vienna and the 20 June Summit in St. Petersburg. We welcome the sides progress in implementing the exchange of data on missing persons under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross. We urge the parties to remove all remaining obstacles to expanding the mission of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and to make progress on a proposal to establish an OSCE investigative mechanism. The proposals should be implemented together with the immediate resumption of negotiations on a settlement. We would like to reiterate our call to the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to demonstrate flexibility and to return to the negotiation table with the firm aim of moving toward a sustainable peace on the basis of the current working proposals. Unless progress can be made on negotiations, the prospects for renewed violence will only increase, and the parties will bear full responsibility.

We remind the sides that the settlement must be based on the core principles of the Helsinki Final Act, namely: non-use of force, territorial integrity, and the equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and additional elements as proposed by the Presidents of the Co-Chair countries, including return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control; an interim status for Nagorno-Karabakh providing guarantees for security and self-governance; a corridor linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh; future determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh through a legally binding expression of will; the right of all internally displaced persons and refugees to return to their former places of residence; and international security guarantees that would include a peacekeeping operation. Our countries will continue to work closely with the sides, and we call upon them to make full use of the assistance of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs as mediators.

The Co-Chair countries are prepared to host a meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan when they are ready. We firmly believe that the Presidents need to engage in negotiations in good faith at the earliest opportunity. Continuous and direct dialogue between the Presidents, conducted under the auspices of the Co-Chairs, remains an essential element in building confidence and moving the peace process forward.
I want aggressive eaters. This phrase earned me some questionable looks as I explained to fellow students what I looked for while feeding calves.

Nothing makes me happier in the morning than seeing aggressive calves. No, not the feisty calves with the less than ideal personalities. I am talking about the ones that are eager to drink their milk and eat their grain. These calves are easy to deal with and are more likely to get a good start at a young age.

Like all farmers, I want to see my calves healthy and ready to eat. Studies show taking the time to make sure a calf is off to the right start can be beneficial in the long run. It can also be a time saver during feedings, as healthy calves are easier to manage than sick ones.

As a full-time college student, I only have a set amount of time in the morning to properly feed calves and grain heifers, pack my backpack, and maybe eat breakfast before running out the door for my 7:30 a.m. lecture. This can prove to be a challenge when calves are slow drinkers or unwilling to eat.

Often, a not-so-hungry calf can be a sign of a larger dilemma. If I discover a calf that is unwilling to eat, I quickly run a health check to see if there is an illness that needs to be treated. If the illness is serious enough, I may even need to call a vet.

A calf that eats a little slower than usual, but still finishes her food, can also be an early suspect for a health issue. These calves can sometimes be overlooked if feeders are in a rush, but this small detail can signal a problem. If I notice a calf with this problem, I make sure to monitor that individual more closely during the next few feedings to see if a course of action needs to be taken.

Though the phrase may sound odd, I still stand firm when I say I want aggressive eaters. During the early morning hours, efficient calves that are ready start their day are my favorite. Not only are they easier to manage, but they also help me get out the door a little quicker before morning lecture.

Taylor Leach grew up on her familys dairy farm in Linwood, Kansas. Leach graduated with an associates degree from Kansas City Kansas Community College and now attends Oklahoma State University, majoring in animal science and agriculture communications. On campus, she is a member of the dairy club and also works on the university's dairy farm. Leach was the 2016 Hoards Dairyman summer editorial intern.





THE UPCOMING WEBINAR

December 12, 2016:

Exploring how this years forages will feed"

by John Goeser, Rock River Laboratory

Brought to you by QLF (www.qlf.com)
Heads up to prevent injury from falls Morning walks in my neighborhood are one of the most enjoyable parts of my day. I love the coolness of daybreak and the special sightings of the stag and two does that frequent our open space. I also enjoy my walk because each day at...

Signs that point to the best time for retirement Ive been thinking a lot about retirement lately. One of our amazing staff members, who has been with Senior Concerns for the last 13 years, retired last month. It just doesnt seem real. I always thought of Dana as young. Certainly not the person to...

Rethinking the mandatory retirement age How old is too old for working at a job? Last week a news story hit my inbox and it really got me to thinking about age and retirement. The article noted that Target Corp. abandoned its mandatory retirement age of 65 for its CEO,...

Tips to promoting a healthy nights sleep for children Question: Help, please. My daughter is almost 2 years old and has been an easy child to put into her own bed. Yet in the past few weeks she is purposefully stretching out the bedtime routine longer and longer. She wants more: more stories, more...
Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!

Your notification has been saved.

There was a problem saving your notification.

{{description}}

Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
The man shot and injured Tuesday afternoon by an East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff's deputy has now been booked into Parish Prison.

George Michael Pikes, 23, of Baton Rouge, was booked early Wednesday morning by Louisiana State Police on counts of aggravated assault, aggravated flight from an officer and two counts aggravated criminal damage to property.

The Sheriff's Office said they will also book Pikes on at least three counts of distribution of heroin.

According to the State Police arrest report, deputies fired at Pikes during a drug stop in order to stop him from driving into a bystander in the Mr. Po-Boy parking lot at 6888 Airline Highway.

A sheriff's deputy had earlier made a purchase from Pikes of an illegal controlled dangerous substance in a buy-bust operation in the Airline Highway and Prescott Road area, according to the report. Deputies then followed Pikes into the Mr. Po-Boy parking lot and turned on their emergency lights.

Deputies attempted to block Pikes' maroon sedan in the parking lot, but he accelerated his car around the officers, heading toward the bystander, the report says. Then, a deputy fired his weapon at Pikes' car to prevent any harm for the bystander, the report says. Pikes, apparently injured at that point, continued to drive out of the parking lot northbound on Airline Highway and hit a police car. He continued to flee until stopped by police at 6321 Briarwood Drive, where he was taken into custody.
An attorney representing the East Baton Rouge Council on Aging acknowledged Wednesday that agency officials erred in recent controversies under investigation by the state Legislative Auditor's Office, but said the mistakes were not such that could lead to civil or criminal action.

The Council on Aging has been the subject of some calls for investigation and oversight in recent months after the nonprofit agency secured a dedicated tax expected to more than double the size of its budget.

Two particular campaign practices raised eyebrows  when a political action committee supporting the tax listed contributions from the Council on Aging on its campaign finance report, and when an email surfaced that showed a Council on Aging employee soliciting money from political candidates to be featured on the PAC's ballot.

+3 Conservative East Baton Rouge Chamber calls for investigations into Council on Aging Calls for oversight and investigation into the East Baton Rouge Council on Aging erupted Tue

Louisiana Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera said Wednesday he has asked his investigative audit unit to examine whether the Council on Aging improperly used public funds. The Louisiana Constitution prohibits using public money to sway voters for or against candidates or propositions, and agencies that receive tax dollars cannot give money to political action committees.

Attorney Chris Alexander, who previously outlined accusations about the Council on Aging, said he met with the legislative auditor's office at their request earlier this week.

At a Metro Council budget hearing Wednesday, Metro Councilman Buddy Amoroso grilled Council on Aging Chief Executive Officer Tasha Clark-Amar about the agency's practices. City Hall budgeted to give the Council on Aging $877,440 in 2017, before the agency starts collecting its own tax in 2018.

Metro Councilman John Delgado said in an interview prior to Wednesday's budget meeting he is even considering cutting the Council on Aging's hundreds of thousands of dollars out of the 2017 budget because he has "serious concerns about the organization's policies and ethics."

At the meeting, Amoroso asked Clark-Amar why the Council on Aging made donations to the Support Our Seniors PAC that was promoting the tax.

He also accused the agency of a "pay for play" in which Director of Development Corey Williams asked political candidates for money in exchange for being featured on the Support Our Seniors PAC's ballot, which endorsed candidates from U.S. President down to Metro Council members.

Audit reveals East Baton Rouge Council on Aging ended last fiscal year with a deficit The East Baton Rouge Council on Aging ended the last fiscal year with a $202,000 deficit, ac

Amar and Council on Aging Chief Financial Officer Eva Pratt said the donations the PAC listed as coming from the Council on Agency  totaling $700 between July and October  came from payroll deductions, not directly from taxpayer money.

"Did you talk to your attorneys and people in ethics to see if that was legal?" Amoroso asked.

Amar said agency executives consulted with attorneys who told them it was legal, but did not say who gave them that advice. She mentioned that the Council on Aging's attorney was Murphy Foster III, but the Council on Aging only hired Foster recently, after allegations started being made against the agency.

"We did not know it was ethically incorrect for them to choose to make a payroll deduction to go to the PAC," Pratt said.

Amoroso also asked about a discount the PAC received on postage for an October mailer supporting the tax.

PAC Chairman Rick Caballero has said in the past the discount on the postage was a mistake, as the political action committee did not qualify for the reduced postage rate that applies to nonprofit groups.

Amar said the PAC paid back the money that it owed after paying 9.6 cents apiece for the mailers when they should have paid 12 cents apiece.

+2 Senior group misused Council on Aging nonprofit status to send mailer, officials say A recent mailer in support of a dedicated tax for the East Baton Rouge Parish Council on Agi

"Once it was brought up in the press?" Amoroso asked.

"No, before then," Amar said.

However, Caballero told The Advocate in October he was still calculating how much money needed to be paid back and had not paid it yet when The Advocate first reported on it.

Amar refused to answer questions about the d "pay for play" allegation, telling council members to talk to Foster about it.

Reached by phone after the meeting, Foster said the email soliciting money for the PAC "was a mistake." He said Williams, the employee who sent the email, was reprimanded but that the Council on Aging never violated the law.

"I'm not aware of any civil or criminal claim that could possibly be made under the facts of which I am aware," Foster said. "The suggestion that there was something criminal or that there was a criminal act involved is not only false, it's irresponsible."

Foster said his own examination of the Council on Aging's books showed that the money given to the PAC came from payroll deductions. Still, he said the Council on Aging's cutting of checks to the Support Our Seniors PAC was "technically inappropriate."

Council on Aging employees are paid from the agency's general fund, some of which comes from tax dollars given to them by the city-parish. Foster said the agency never should have created a payroll deduction for employees to give money to the PAC. Instead, employees should have donated in their own names after receiving their paychecks, he said.

Foster called the donations an "accounting mistake."

"I can find no place where any Council on Aging money went to the PAC, or went to the ballot," Foster said. "That allegation is not true."

Metro Councilman Scott Wilson told the Council on Aging executives he was concerned about their lack of accountability. Councilwoman Donna Collins-Lewis asked if they would keep reporting annually to the Metro Council about the state of their budget once they no longer needed city-parish general fund money in 2018, and Amar agreed.
In the final mayor-president debate before Saturday's election, Republican Bodi White and Democrat Sharon Weston Broome turned toward each other and asked each other one question they had been working on for days.

White asked Broome about crime; Broome asked White about leadership.

Those questions summed up the focus of their campaigns over the past few days, and the messages they've been trying to hit home to voters before Saturday's runoff. Both are vying to replace term-limited Mayor-President Kip Holden, who has been in office for 12 years.

State Sen. White told Broome he recently met with high school senior Daniel Wesley, who is recovering in the hospital after being shot and run over in late November while trying to save a woman fatally shot on Essen Lane. White asked how people could feel safe with Broome as mayor-president when "you're coddling violent criminals who are tearing our community apart."

The apparent reference was to a 2014 bill that then-state Sen. Broome supported that would have made some criminals eligible to file parole applications after serving 75 percent of their sentence instead of 85 percent. Broome said she voted for the bill because it had support from district attorneys and sheriffs and because Louisiana already has harsh penalties for criminals.

"You are certainly distorting the legislation in a very big way," Broome said.

Former Gov. Bobby Jindal vetoed the 2014 bill, but White said it never should have been passed through the Legislature.

Broome's question to White was to name the most transformative leadership book that has instructed him as a public servant, aside from the Bible. He did not name a book, instead saying leadership is an innate ability he's cultivated from education, life experience and family members full of wisdom.

"I've read lots of books," White said. "The Bible is a great book to learn from, leadership. I mean, God and Jesus, they led the world. They created the world. But I've learned through experience and failures. Failures are the best lesson you can have."

Broome capitalized when WAFB anchor Greg Meriwether and Baton Rouge Business Report editor Stephanie Riegel pressed White on the failed St. George breakaway effort. Meriwether and Riegel tried four times to box White into a yes or no answer on whether he would support it if residents revived the movement to create the new, separate city in the southeastern part of the parish.

White would not answer, saying it is not a yes-or-no issue, and that he would fix the underlying problems with bad schools that led to the desire for a separate city of St. George  a prerequisite to forming a separate school district.

"I'm not for making any new cities in this parish right now," he finally said.

Broome countered: "It's very interesting that my opponent hesitates to answer unequivocally if he is for or not for the breakaway."

Neither Broome nor White gave a firm answer on whether they would support a fairness or tolerance ordinance banning local businesses from discriminating against the LGBT community.

Both said they abhor discrimination, and they would leave in place anti-discrimination measures the city-parish currently has. But neither said outright they would try to pass a tolerance ordinance.

Meriwether and WAFB anchor Matt Williams also questioned Broome for not supporting school vouchers when she was in the legislature. They asked her three times to explain how she could tell families they should not be able to use vouchers to put their kids in better schools than those in their neighborhoods.

She said she supports better schools, but vouchers are only one avenue for students to go to good schools. She also said vouchers are a state government issue, not a local one.

Throughout the debate, White and Broome emphasized their differences on policing. Both were asked what went wrong the night a Baton Rouge police officer shot and killed Alton Sterling, which led to protests after cell phone videos of the shooting went viral.

White said he could not judge what went wrong, the outside investigation from the U.S. Department of Justice should answer that question and its results have not been released yet. He said Sterling's death was unfortunate, especially for Sterling's children.

Broome, on the other hand, said a lack of training and understanding of de-escalation techniques were the problems, and they highlighted the need for police reform. She said she would replace BRPD Chief Carl Dabadie.

White said he has not made any decisions yet about whom he would replace should he be elected mayor-president.

Radio personality Jim Engster, also on the panel, also asked Broome and White to name their closest friend of another race. White named Robert Williams, who was a coach at Central High School whom he talks to regularly about race. Broome named Sally Koch, who started a prayer group with her called Women Praying for Women.

Next BR mayor faces huge decisions on flood aid, rebuilding; candidates offer few specifics It will take years to recover from the August flood, and the next mayor of Baton Rouge will 
NEW ORLEANS (AP)  A Louisiana criminal defense attorney has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for failing to pay approximately $1 million
It will take years to recover from the August flood, and the next mayor of Baton Rouge will likely oversee the disbursement of millions in federal recovery dollars and potentially be a critical voice in determining any restrictions on how people rebuild.

Bodi White and Sharon Weston Broome both say they want to get flooded residents back in their houses as quickly as possible. Both candidates emphasized the money should be distributed equitably -- across economic levels for Broome and geographic areas for White.

But neither candidate for the job has said much about how they would specifically like to spend the money or provided extensive details on their priorities. Those specifics will depend on how much money Congress sets aside, as well as any possible restrictions and whether the state or local leaders will hold the purse strings, both candidates said.

Louisiana has already received about $438 million in federal funding, and U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy recently said the state stands to collect another $1.2 billion in a budget bill currently under consideration. Exactly how that money can be used likely won't be known until after this Saturday's runoff election.

Louisiana in line for $1B-plus more in federal flood relief funding Louisiana is in line to get more than $1 billion in additional aid for recovery from histori

Broome, a Democrat from north Baton Rouge, has argued that Baton Rouge should look to other flooded communities, such as New Orleans and Columbia, South Carolina, to inform the local response. They appear to emphasize residential rebuilding.

"I want people back in their homes. ... I don't want empty houses in our community," Broome said, adding that effort should include rental properties.

White agreed that local leaders must prioritize housing first, especially because so many of the affected homeowners did not carry flood insurance.

Generally, mortgage holders in high-risk zones are required to have a plan, while it's optional for those in low-risk areas, but White said the government shouldn't treat the two types of property differently. Doing so would amount to "punishing" people who live in the high-risk areas, which wouldn't be fair if the government let them build there in the first place, he said.

White, a Republican from Central, commended the city-parish's existing building codes, calling them "a very good standard."

He also emphasized that people in Baton Rouge, Baker, Zachary, Central and unincorporated areas of the parish should each have an equal shot at federal money.

White was especially concerned that the state will wind up directing the money, and he worried that they would take a sizable administrative cut.

For her part, Broome was frustrated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Shelter at Home Project, which provides up to $15,000 to homeowners to make minimal fixes to allow families to stay in their houses while they pursue more complete repairs. These repairs can include work like replacing exterior doors and providing a basic sink, toilet and mini-fridge, but Broome said the money could have been better invested.

She has also advocated for the appointment of a city-parish resiliency officer, who would be specifically tasked with overseeing disaster recovery and preparedness.

Both candidates have also called for better infrastructure, especially the completion of the Comite River Diversion Canal. White is also interested in forming a strategy for Bayou Manchac and revisiting plans for the Darlington Reservoir, an old and sometimes contentious proposal that was shelved years ago but has gained renewed traction after the August flood. Broome suggested the city-parish talk to groups like the Center for Planning Excellence to come up with future infrastructure plans.

Controversial, long-abandoned Darlington Reservoir gets renewed interest after historic flooding Scientists and engineers packed an LSU conference hall Wednesday for a post-mortem on the Au

However, both candidates noted that infrastructure is largely a secondary concern and that they are principally interested in rebuilding housing.

Planning experts are sympathetic with the politicians' lack of detailed proposals so soon after the floods, noting that large-scale disaster recovery is a confusing and complicated process. However, they also hope that in the fervor to fix people's houses, authorities encourage responsible rebuilding and take steps to ensure the long-term resiliency of the river basin. That could mean pumping some money into infrastructure projects.

EBR mayoral candidates confront unknowns as they propose flood recovery, prevention plans Even as the people of East Baton Rouge Parish focus on rebuilding what was destroyed by the 

While White and Broome have both advocated for investing in the Comite diversion, and White especially has spoken of dredging parish waterways, there are also hyper-local ways to combat flooding, pointed out LSU Prof. Traci Birch, a planner who worked in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

For example, an older neighborhood may have been protected from floods several decades ago, but if new parking lots and shopping centers have gone up nearby since then, it may be at greater risk. Now, rain can't seep into the paved-over ground and has to run off somewhere, perhaps into their homes. It might make sense to protect those residents with some sort of neighborhood-level stormwater project, Birch said.

It's also worth considering whether some land should be off-limits for future development, the professor continued.

Among experts, Louisiana has a reputation for short-sightedness, said University of New Orleans Prof. Marla Nelson. She specifically pointed to efforts in Central to redraw flood maps so fewer people would be in high-risk zones.

There's no rubric or guiding principal for leaders to follow when they decide whether to put recovery money toward rebuilding a city block or digging a new canal, though.

Elected officials are under a "tremendous amount of pressure" to fix people's houses as quickly as possible, and infrastructure projects are "wildly expensive," Nelson said.

Leaders have to look to the future to encourage growth, but make sure new development makes sense.

"(The mayoral candidates) need to understand the complexity," she said.
A panel named by Gov. John Bel Edwards recommended major changes in public school policies Thursday, including an overhaul in annual teacher evaluations, less science testing and a reversal in a state plan to raise academic standards.

In addition, the group plans to hold another meeting that includes a discussion of public school letter grades amid criticism of their value.

"The letter grade system is very simplistic," said Debbie Meaux, a member of the committee and president of the Louisiana Association of Educators. "But it does not tell the whole story."

The recommendations, which are subject to revisions, could put the governor on a collision course with state Superintendent of Education John White, who unveiled a much different draft plan earlier this year.

Both reviews stem from a 2015 federal law called the Every Student Succeeds Act, ESSA, and changes are expected to be in place for the 2017-18 school year.

Edwards' group is called the Governor's ESSA Advisory Council.

Debra Schum, a member of the council, headed the subcommittee that recommended major changes in teacher evaluations, which are in state law.

One provision would require that teacher job reviews be based 80 percent on observations by principals and 20 percent on student test scores.

Under current rules, test results count for 50 percent of the score.

Backers say the evaluations ensure quality teachers, and improved student achievement.

Critics argue that the current reviews are unfair, and put too much emphasis on exam results shaped by a variety of factors.

Schum said the rules in place today rely on only five of 22 factors in a widely respected rubric.

"It misses out on a lot of components that are necessary," she said.

Schum said the state needs a system that is not punitive and does not complicate the ability of educators to do their jobs.

"There are a number of concerns with the teacher evaluation system that keeps it from being as useful as it could," she said.

Schum is executive director of the Louisiana Association of Principals.

On another issue, the council recommended reductions in annual science tests.

Gubernatorial panel weighing fewer student tests Public school students would take fewer tests under a plan being reviewed by a panel to stud

The plan would trim those exams to grades 5 and 8 only.

They are now given annually in grades 3-8.

"One of the goals is to reduce testing," said Scott Richard, a member the council and executive director of the Louisiana School Boards Association.

Others questioned whether the reduction would lessen the importance of science, especially at a time when the subject is being promoted as a key skill needed for meaningful jobs.

Cathi Cox-Boniol, who chairs the state's review of science standards, criticized the council's recommendation.

"I think it is a real tragedy because it sends a message that science is not valued," Cox-Boniol said. "And sadly what is valued is what is assessed and what is assessed is what is taught."

Cox-Boniol is an administrator in the Lincoln Parish school system and taught science for nearly 17 years.

Annual exams in math and English for grades for grades 3-8 would continue, as required by federal law.

End of course high school exams would be limited to Algebra I and English II under the council's proposal.

White's draft calls for exams in math and English to be limited to one per year in grades nine, 10 and 11.

In another area, the panel approved a recommendation that says Edwards "should not agree with the movement toward mastery as the criterion for an "A" school."

Mastery, which is the second of five achievement letters, is the state's long-range goal for what students need to average for a school to attain an "A" rating.

The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education approved the target in 2013.

Backers say the academic bar needs to be raised for student to leave high school ready for college and careers, and to put Louisiana on a par with standards across the U.S.

Opponents on the council said the goal is unrealistic, and reinforces a bias against struggling students.

The issue of letter grades sparked enough comment for Thomas Spencer, chairman of the panel, to say another meeting is needed to pursue that and other topics.

How to revamp public school letter grades under renewed scrutiny A key state panel Tuesday grappled with how to revamp the way often-controversial letter gra

Richard noted that the grades, which are required by state law, is not a federal requirement under ESSA.

The initial recommendations are due to Edwards by Dec. 31, and could be part of the state's ESSA compliance plan submitted to the federal government.

The governor could also make some of the recommendations part of his 2017 legislative package.

"We are not making policy here," Donald Songy, education policy adviser for the governor, told the council, "All we are doing is making recommendations to the governor."
Days before Saturdays balloting, the ex-wife of Clay Higgins released tape recordings in which the Republican candidate suggests winning the election for the congressional seat representing Acadiana is the best route for her to receive the more than $100,000 he admits owing in unpaid child support.

It is a risk, Higgins is heard telling his ex-wife Rosemary Stormy Rothkamm-Hambrice about his congressional bid, but everything is structured in our favor and ours includes you.

Higgins said he wasnt working now, just campaigning, but alluded to being able to cover the back child support once he won the election. Congressmen are paid $174,000 annually.

I was trying to structure something more sort of solid and legal, you know in a document you had drawn up based on very likely potential future earnings, Higgins said.

Ted Anthony, Higgins lawyer in the action, said in an interview Thursday night that the tapes were made after he attempted to find a way to resolve the issue. But Rothkamm-Hambrice didnt return Anthony's calls, he said. So, Higgins got on the phone and tried to find a way to settle the back child support.

Anthony said he thought Higgins was trying to tell Rothkamm-Hambrice that if he were to win, it would give him the resources to resolve this matter ... I think Clay is genuine in his desire to take care of this.

But she tapes him, which is weird, and now they (the Angelle campaign) are trying to make this an issue, Anthony said.

[Audio below; click here if unable to view.]

Higgins, of Port Barre, faces fellow Republican Scott Angelle, the Public Service Commission chairman from Breaux Bridge. During a televised debate Thursday night Higgins said he had not heard the tapes.

This is not a campaign issue for us. It's a campaign issue for Angelle, Chris Comeaux, Higgins campaign manager, said in a text when asked for comment.

In a news release Thursday, the Angelle campaign included copies of the undated tape recordings that Rothkamm-Hambrice posted on her Facebook page.

Rothkamm-Hambrice, Angelle and many of the candidates closest advisers worked for Bobby Jindal when he was governor. Higgins is making his first bid for elective office.

On the tape recording, Higgins asked Rothkamm-Hambrice, who now lives in Mississippi, not to file a lawsuit seeking the unpaid child support, saying it would disrupt a campaign that he said he has all but won. Saturdays race is too close to call and will depend on who gets their supporters to the polls, most political professionals say. But many pols have been surprised how well Higgins, known for his tough-talking CrimeStoppers segments on local news, seems to be faring against Angelle, who has been a mainstay in Louisiana politics for years.

The only way that can, really, sort of, alter this path to victory and success for all of us would be for you to file a new case against me right now, Higgins told Rothkamm-Hambrice.

His ex-wife replies, Maybe you should figure out how to make it right before that.

On the day after the Nov. 8 primary, Rothkamm-Hambrice sued in district court in Opelousas. She claims Higgins stopped paying court-ordered child support in March 2005 and now owes $140,826 in neglected back payments, additional interest and penalties.

Higgins and Rothkamm-Hambrice were divorced in 1999. A Texas judge ordered Higgins to pay $1,289 per month.

All three of the children are now adults, with the youngest child turning 18 and graduating from high school in May 2013, and no longer receive child support. But Rothkamm-Hambrice claims she had to cover the childrens expenses for years, despite the 1999 court order.

Higgins made six-figure earnings selling cars while married to Rothkamm-Hambrice and for a few years after their divorce. But he left that work to follow a career in law enforcement He kept the children on his health insurance but made far less money and could not afford the child support payments. He said he helped his children wherever possible and visited them regularly. Two attended his party on the night of the primary election.

He went to court in St. Landry Parish to try to officially adjust the amount, but that case transferred in 2005 to the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge, where Rothkamm had moved, but no hearing was ever set.

"I could easily owe between a hundred and hundred fifty thousand dollars," Higgins was recorded as telling his ex-wife.

Anthony said Higgins was speaking from a personal level, a feeling that he owes something. But legally Higgins may not. There are questions of whether the Texas judgment is enforceable and whether the case filed in East Baton Rouge Parish years ago should be heard first, he said.

He voluntarily underemployed himself, was fired from and/or quit many jobs in the car business both during our marriage and after divorce, Rothkamm-Hambrice wrote on her Facebook page. He was always chasing his next big dream, the one that would make him rich and would help me support the kids. That never happened.

Rothkamm-Hambrice, a paralegal, worked as an executive assistant in Jindals office, where she made about $65,000 annually, according to state records. Her attorney, Brooke Villa, works in the law firm in which Jindals executive counsel, Jimmy Faircloth, is a name partner.

The 10 parishes of the 3rd Congressional District straddle Interstate 10 from the Atchafalaya to the Texas border and include Lafayette, Morgan City and Lake Charles.
The ACT government is calling on all Canberrans to become backyard lifeguards this summer in a campaign aimed at decreasing drowning deaths in the ACT.

The campaign addresses a recommendation from a coronial inquest following the death of 21-month-old River Arama Parry, who died after he was pulled from an unfenced pool in Fisher on December 30, 2015.

ACT Minister for Planning and Land Management Mick Gentleman with mascots from the Royal Life Saving Society and Kids Alive promote a new campaign to raise pool safety awareness. Credit:Karen Hardy

In November, Coroner Beth Campbell found a lack of supervision was a key factor in the boy's drowning, but said the tragedy highlighted broader public safety concerns stemming from the ACT's pool fencing laws, which she described as inadequate and confusing.

Her findings also included a recommendation for a public awareness campaign on the importance of supervising children near backyard pools, and to highlight the importance of life-saving skills, in the lead-up to summer.
The ECB's actions on the face of it initially looked to the market that they were signalling a tapering of its bond buying program, but once everyone had a chance to really sink their teeth into the proposals they found this to be far from true and that the ECB were actually pushing the program out  QEinfinty if you will. Granted, when we get to March 2017 we will see the pace of bond buying drop from 80 billion to 60 billion, but this will go on for a further nine months, not six, as the market expected, so the ECB is now fully focused on the longevity of the program. This means the net effect is 60 billion more bonds purchased than we had expected yesterday.

1. QE: While investors are focused on fiscal stimulus in the US and how the suite of proposed fiscal measures can complement already accommodative monetary policy, in Europe we are far from having any sort of fiscal response. This means Mario Draghi and the European Central Bank (ECB) still have a job to do and once again we have seen the central bank change the perimeters accordingly.

2. Banks: We have seen a number of the key technicalities (around its program) removed, including the range of bonds they can buy and this will give them greater control of the yield curve. This is very important for European banks, hence European banks flew last night and with talk of late that Italian banks may gain access to the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) I wouldn't be surprised if Italian banks pushed even higher from here.

The ASX is set to break through 5900 today. Credit:Peter Braig

3. Currencies: We can look at European assets and see a sizeable 15 basis point (bp) increase in the Italian yield curve, with a more modest rise in the German curve (+10bp). EUR/USD initially popped as the algo's reacted to the slower pace of purchases (but the ECB are not tapering), but the pair is back testing the $1.06 level and the ECB, along with the Bank of Japan have pushed EUR as the key funding currency for FX traders (in the carry trade). All European equity bourses have rallied strongly, and one can look at the Italian MIB as a picture of beauty. I am happy to be long this index and accumulate on a pullback, despite genuine solvency, political and credit-rating concerns in Italy.

4. Wall Street: US markets have pushed modestly higher, but US financials have once again been the place to be. Being long US financials has been such a great trade and everyone has filled their boots on "Trumponomics" inspired reflation.

5. ASX: The Australian equity market also looks to be feeding off some of the ECB-inspired inspiration, with an open into 5560 (+0.3%). I am not so sure our domestic banks will be treated in such the same positive way European or US banks were, and a flat open is likely here. BHP should open around 0.5% to 0.7% higher (based on its ADR), but this looks to be supported by higher oil prices, with US crude 2% higher from yesterday's ASX 200 close. We have seen commodity futures under some pressure, with iron ore, steel and coking coal futures down 6.2%, 2.1% and 4.7% respectively. This may take some of the heat out of the materials space.
Above, one of one of the newer buildings on Epic System's campus. The Verona-based company currently faces three federal lawsuits over its overtime pay practices.
Misplacing $27 million? Anyone can do that...What about $50 million?

Melbourne businessman Bill Lewski can't recall where $27 million of investors' money paid to him by way of a listing fee for the since-collapsed Prime Trust have ended up, a court has heard.

Melbourne businessman Bill Lewski just can't recall where the investor money has gone, the court has heard.

The Prime Trust's founder's memory was also hazy when it came to the whereabouts of a further $50 million that was at one point held by family company Retirement Guide.

Mr Lewski made the admission during a public examination into the affairs of the responsible entity for Prime Trust, Australian Property Custodian Holdings at the Supreme Court of Victoria on Thursday.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims warned grocery suppliers that its failed unconscionable conduct case against Woolworths left them in an "unfortunate position" amid calls for law reform and greater protections for small businesses.

The Federal Court ruled Woolworths' attempt to systematically squeeze as much as $60 million out of suppliers through Mind the Gap scheme to plug a profit shortfall in late 2014 was not unconscionable and did not target vulnerable suppliers who were "ripe for exploitation".

Mr Sims said it was unfortunate that Woolworths had successfully argued this was "absolutely standard behaviour" and that there was nothing unusual about Mind the Gap.

"We took this case on because we were concerned that seeking money from supermarket suppliers to fill a profit gap went beyond commercial hard bargaining and we were concerned that small businesses were subject to these arbitrary demands," Mr Sims said.
There's a big difference between something being legal and being morally right. That's demonstrated by Woolworths' win in the Federal Court against the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission over the retail giant retrospectively squeezing suppliers to make up for its profit shortfall.

It turns out that, under existing Australian competition law, Woolworths did nothing illegal by telling suppliers to cough up extra cash because, in Woolworths' opinion, the suppliers had been doing all right and Woolies needed the money to meet its failing profit forecasts.

Despite Thursday's legal win, Woolworths as good as admitted the difference between legal and moral at its annual general meeting last month. Chairman Gordon Cairns defended his company's decision to fight the ACCC while effectively acknowledging its treatment of suppliers had not been right.

"We defended it because our view was we were not guilty of unconscionable conduct but we'll hold ourselves going forward to higher standards," he said.
1. That assisted dying is "state sanctioned killing". This phrase will be hammered again and again and it will dishonestly avoid the central fact that the law is to help those already being killed by an incurable disease. Being voluntary, it is entirely up to the patient whether or not they choose to end the suffering caused by that disease.

2. The slippery slope. That passing a conservative law will inevitably lead to wider ones over time. This argument says yes, we know that real people in our community are dying in agony or suiciding to avoid it, but we refuse to do anything about it for fear that, somewhere in the future, a parliament may decide to help hypothetical other people.

It is also contradicted by North American laws, on which the committee have largely modelled theirs, that have been unchanged since their introduction 20 years ago.

3. More resources for palliative care will solve all suffering at the end of life. While the inquiry, quite rightly, recommends greater resourcing for palliative care, it is clear that this alone won't fix the problem. In Palliative Care Australia 's own words, "even with optimal care we cannot relieve all pain and suffering". Their statistics, collected every year from 106 palliative care units around Australia, prove it. The Victorian inquiry found the same.

This is not a criticism. Australia has one of the best palliative care systems in the world. It simply reflects the reality of modern medicine, which can keep us alive longer but can't always treat what comes with that.
In news that should give everyone who uses the world's biggest search engine pause for thought, Google has been forced to change an algorithm that suggested racist and sexist questions via its autocomplete function, and directed users towards ideologically skewed results.

While there's a lot to like about the company's swift response, the issues at stake here are significant and not readily addressed by the quick-fix patch it has offered. And for those of us who have come to believe that Dr Google is a values-free neutral dispenser of information, the lesson is clear. You shouldn't, at least not entirely.

The issue was exposed by UK journalist Carole Cadwalladr, who last week asked Google to explain why search queries such as "are Jews" and "are women" were being automatically completed with some rather problematic suggestions.

"It offered me a choice of potential questions it thought I might want to ask: 'are Jews a race?', 'are Jews white?', 'are Jews Christians?', and finally, 'are Jews evil?'," Cadwalladr wrote.
I was asked this week why the right/centre right/conservatives in the Turnbull government, as they are variously called, don't believe in climate change, and/or don't accept the need for urgent and decisive action.

Is it ideological (that is, anti-government; anti-regulation; a view that if it mattered the private sector would have addressed it, and so on); or is it merely politically opportunistic, an effective issue on which to score short-term political points on opponents, mostly the Opposition and the Greens; or is it because they assume that any transition from fossil fuels to renewables will cost jobs and growth; or is there a genuine denial of the science; or some awkward combination of all these?

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is beholden to the right. Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg was rolled by the right and the Nationals. Credit:Andrew Meares

John Howard, widely lauded by these "conservatives" as a "conviction politician", has answered this question from his personal perspective. Speaking at a climate deniers' meeting organised by the ex-British Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson, in late 2013, while admitting that he had consciously played short-term politics on the issue, Howard stated that he was an "agnostic" on climate, and preferred to rely on his "instincts".

This, of course, ignores the fact that none of us non-climate scientists would even know that there was an issue except that some 97 per cent of peer-assessed climate scientists (now joined by a host of non-climate scientists) have, atypically, agreed on the magnitude and the urgency of the challenge. I say "atypical" because it is the very essence of scientific endeavour that they disagree, that they contest each other's hypotheses and research conclusions.
The struggling gas industry in NSW has suffered another blow with the owner of the only prospective coal seam gas operation signalling a possible exit from the sector.

Santos said in a statement to the stock exchange on Thursday that it had relegated its billion-dollar Narrabri gas project in the state's north west to a "non-core asset", stoking speculation it would sell the venture.

It left out Narrabri from its five "core" projects, which include its Queensland liquefied gas projects, placing it instead in a sixth group, along with assets in Gippsland and overseas operations in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Malaysia.

These secondary assets would have to operate under a "sweat or exit" strategy to "maximise value", although Santos insisted it was premature to view the move as a plan to ditch the controversial Narrabri project.
Senator Pauline Hanson, Senator Eric Abetz and Senator Cory Bernardi. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Which brings us to one conclusion at the end of this week. When Malcolm Turnbull was given advice by experts and advice by his right-wing, who did he follow? Telling and damming. Final word goes to Michelle Grattan. She writes that this has been one of Turnbull's worst weeks as PM and rightly points out the difference between being a political pragmatist and buckling. Grattan doubts Turnbull can improve in 2017. [The Conversation] 2. Aus politics - the rest of Kristina Photios at Rose Bay in Sydney. Credit:Kate Geraghty

The wife of the New South Wales Liberal party powerbroker Kristina Photios has quit the party and delivered an almighty spray on the way out. She says it's madness the government is being run by hard-right conservatives like Cory Bernardi and Tony Abbott. Tony Abbott attending the NSW Liberal Party council meeting, Four Seasons Hotel 22nd October 2016. Credit:Louise Kennerley Abbott is Photios' state factional rival and the recent reforms he was trying to get through to change the way candidates are preselected was about reducing Photios' internal power. A great story by Heath Aston. [The Sydney Morning Herald] Labor Leader Bill Shorten wants to continue the protectionist policy that makes books in Australia so much more expensive. [Fergus Hunter/Fairfax] Ken Henry, the former Treasury boss who helped craft Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan's stimulus package has blasted Australia's political class for talking cheap on fixing the "fiscal mess." Really worth reading. [Clancy Yeates/Fairfax]

Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, with Labor MP Wayne Swan, former Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese in 2008. Credit:Andrew Meares That stimulus package was a "misconceived" waste of money, a review commissioned by the current Treasury boss John Fraser (an Abbott appointee) has found. [Simon Benson/The Australian] The government will announce $117 million in funding to reduce homelessness. [Stephanie Peatling/Fairfax] The former CEO of the Commonwealth Bank David Murray says Australia's property market is overvalued and has likened the bubble to the Dutch tulips. Economic speak for "speculative insanity." [Jackson Stiles/The New Daily] Cory Bernardi and George Christensen are attending a fundraising dinner for an anti-Islam organisation. [Chip le Grand/The Australian]

3. Solomons quake A massive earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale has been recorded 70 kilometres off the Solomon Islands. A tsunami warning has been issued. [Fairfax] ACEH, INDONESIA - DECEMBER 8: People walk on the debris of a collapsed building as the search and rescue works continue after a strong earthquake shook the north of Indonesia's Sumatra island Wednesday morning, killing at least 92 people and causing dozens of buildings to collapse, at Merdu village, Pidie Jaya, Indonesia, on December 8, 2016 Photo Jefri Tarigan. Credit:JEFRI TARIGAN In Indonesia, the death toll from the tremor that struck Aceh on Wednesday has killed more than 100 people. [Jewel Topsfield/Fairfax] 4. NSW test case

There's a really interesting court case taking place in New South Wales, where the wife of a convicted Islamic State recruiter could be the first person to be charged for refusing to stand in court. The state Attorney-General Gabrielle Upton has written to the Solicitor-General urging a decision on whether Moutia Elzahed should be charged. Elzahed has already refused to remove her face veil and is refusing to stand for anyone but Allah, Sarah Crawford reports. [The Daily Telegraph] 5. "Hybrid warfare" Alex Younger has warned of the threat of 'hybrid warfare'. A rare speech from Britain's top spy Alex Younger. [Full speech] The MI6 boss has identified the spread of fake news and cyber-attacks, including hacking, as the a "dangerous new phenomenon" threatening British sovereignty. [My report/Fairfax]

Although he did not name Russia, it comes after the White House accused Moscow of interfering in the recent US elections by spreading fake news stories about Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and hacking the emails of her campaign chairman John Podesta. Also a funny line about James Bond having to change his ways if he were to try and join the spy agency today. Facebook doesn't think fake news swayed the US election. [Politico] 6. Gaffe or truth Boris Johnson. Credit:Peter Nicholls / Reuters

Boris Johnson has done an extremely undiplomatic thing and identified Saudi Arabia's "abuse" of Islam and role as a "puppeteer" in proxy wars in the Middle East in public. [The Guardian] Saudi Arabia is an ally of Britain, so even though Johnson's observation is a little closer to the truth than some might want to admit, it's a problem that as Britain's chief diplomat that he's saying it aloud. At least, 10 Downing thinks so. Prime Minister Theresa May often pokes fun at Boris in public to the point where it verges on open ridicule, but today's response was a straight out slap down. FILE - This is a Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016 file photo of Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May speaks during a press statement with Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos at 10 Downing Street in London. Britain?s High Court brought government plans for leaving the European Union screeching to a halt Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016 ruling that the prime minister can?t trigger the U.K.'s exit from the bloc without approval from Parliament. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, pool, File) Credit:AP The Foreign Secretary's views are not those of the government, the Prime Minister's office said. [BBC]

But Melanie McDonagh says on this one Boris is right and May is wrong. [The Spectator] The Supreme Court Brexit case hearing the Government's appeal against the High Court's decision that MPs must approve the triggering of Article 50 finished today. A decision is expected in the new year. [BBC] And that's it from me today, you can follow me on Facebook for more. Have a great weekend.
New York: Her character in the US comedy show Modern Family is familiar with negotiating domestic crises and rows over children.

And Sofia Vergara, having been locked in a year-long battle over custody of her fertilised eggs, is herself no stranger to family drama. But the legal saga took an extraordinary turn this week as it emerged that the actress is now being sued by her frozen embryos for the right to life.

Emma and Isabella, the names given to the embryos by Vergara's ex-partner Nick Loeb, are named as plaintiffs in a lawsuit which claims that they have a right to live, access to a trust fund and asks that they be raised by Mr Loeb.

The potentially landmark case has been filed in Louisiana because the state legally recognises an in vitro fertilised egg as a "juridical person" until it is implanted in the womb.
Two people have smashed a car through the glass entrance of a shopping centre on Sydney's lower North Shore in a ram-raid attempt on an ATM.

Police were called to Northbridge Plaza on Sailors Bay Road just before 2.20am on Thursday, after reports that the car had been driven through the glass front doors and into the centre.

The car, a red Subaru Liberty wagon, drove a number of metres into the centre and attempted to ram an NAB ATM, Seven News reported.

When it missed, the pair escaped on foot empty-handed, smashing through the centre's rear doors to get out.
Luis Yudice, coordinator of school safety and security for the Madison School District, (right) speaks during a panel discussion on police in Madison schools at the Goodman Community Center in Madison, on Tuesday, December 6, 2016. PHOTO BY MICHELLE STOCKER
Jordan Duffy's night on June 4 started as casually as any other.

He enjoyed a long-neck of Coopers Red beer and pizza with his girlfriend of three years, Janie Panton Roberts, at their Marrickville unit in Sydney's inner-west.

Jordan Duffy, 19, (right) leaves Newtown Local Court with barrister Arjun Chhabra on Thursday. Credit:Peter Rae

A colleague at Duffy's work, where he was employed as a kitchen hand, had invited him to a DJ party at the Petersham Inn later that evening.

That colleague had also arranged to sell the 19-year-old the drug MDMA for the occasion.
Victoria's rail union has amplified its call for Melbourne's train and tram systems to be taken away from Metro and Yarra Trams and returned to public ownership, following the release of a report that identifies major deficiencies in how the government handles the contracts.

The union launched a campaign on Thursday, "Public Transport, Public Hands", calling on the Andrews government to walk away from any plan to extend the two franchise agreements for another seven years when they expire in November 2017.

The operators have been paid a combined $7.6 billion for operating the public transport system since 2009  $5.4 billion to Metro Trains and $2.2 billion to Yarra Trams  and are expected to meet contractual performance targets set by government. However, Auditor-General Andrew Greaves found the state did not know if the operators were meeting all of the targets.

The Auditor-General's report, released on Wednesday, said: "Weaknesses in the design of the performance regimes and in PTV's contract management mean that it is not extracting maximum value for money from its franchise agreements."
A stranger has grabbed a five-year-old girl's dress as she rode on her bike in Melbourne's outer east.

Knox sexual offences and child abuse investigation team are investigating after the girl was approached in Kilsyth about 6.30pm on Wednesday.

Police are investigating after a man grabbed a five-year-old girl on Wednesday. Credit:Cathryn Tremain

The girl was on a bike ride around the block with her mother and two siblings when she went ahead of them and was riding on Church Street alone.

She turned around when she saw the man on the footpath and he grabbed hold of her dress.


It's a liberated love story for the ages.

A couple prosecuted for trafficking drugs in Wodonga have celebrated their freedom with a marriage proposal outside court, the Border Mail reports.

Mahmoud El-Zayat proposed to his sweetheart, Claudette Tannous, outside Wodonga Magistrates Court after he was released on a 12-month community corrections order on Monday. The pair were arrested in a Wodonga motel in July.

A bystander who captured the proposal on video could be heard asking "What the f--- is going on right now?" when El-Zayat dropped down on one knee.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews changed his mind to supporting assisted dying after his father passed away earlier this year. Credit:Justin McManus "My opposition to these laws for me was wrong," Mr Andrews said. "There is no reason for this to be anything other than a civil, serious, perhaps at times an intense debate, but it should be a respectful one." Mr Andrews said his father "withered away in great pain" before he died in April. "He was not the person that I knew and loved at the end of his cancer journey," he told the ABC's 7.30 on Thursday.

"I know my view has changed based on my own personal experiences." Opposition Leader Matthew Guy feared laws for assisted dying were a "political distraction" at a time when there was a "law and order crisis". "I worry that this issue is now going to occupy a lot of the parliament's time in the new year for an outcome that will not help the day-to-day lives of every Victorian," Mr Guy said. The Andrews Government said it would allow adults with decision-making capacity who are at the end of their lives and suffering from a terminal illness to be helped to die. The laws are likely to require two doctors to sign off on any plan that would involve the prescription of a lethal tablet.

Those who are physically unable to take a tablet would be assisted by a doctor. It will be consistent with the assisted dying regulations recommended in June by a cross-party committee following the inquiry into end of life choices. A ministerial advisory panel made up of clinical, legal, consumer, health administrator and palliative care experts will help draft the laws. Crown counsel Melinda Richards SC will also advise. The challenge for the external panel is to work out who qualifies, what support and tools clinicians needed, how drugs are prescribed and how doctors would qualify for practising assisted death. Health Minister Jill Hennessy and Attorney-General Martin Pakula will oversee the bill's preparation.

"It is time for us to put forward a proposition that gives people a choice about how they die when they face unbearable and unspeakable suffering," Ms Hennessy said. The laws' fate is likely to rest on the multi-party upper house, with many MPs expecting the proposal to pass the lower house. The announcement comes after the government's formal response to the end of life choices recommendations was tabled on Thursday morning, which had not backed the scheme outright, instead saying more work still needed to be done. Across the parliament, MPs have indicated support for some type of scheme, with many saying they would support a law that had strict rules about who qualified for assistance in ending their life, and assurance that there was strict oversight of the laws, to ensure that the vulnerable were not pressured into making such a final choice. The formal response stated the plans outlined for assisted dying laws needed more work.

"Consistent with the introduction of any new medical intervention or procedure, rigorous review of the assisted dying framework should be undertaken, including safety and quality considerations and the impact on wider health care delivery, including resource implication for palliative and end of life care," it read. The government has backed most of the report's 46 recommendations, including calls to bolster palliative care services across the state and enable more Victorians to die at home. Some of these were addressed by the state's ambitious end-of-life framework, released in July, with a $7.2 million commitment to expand specialist palliative care services, and support GPs to assist people at home. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told radio station 3AW he did not support voluntary euthanasia. "If I was voting in a state parliament, which obviously I wouldn't be, as a matter of conscience I would not vote for euthanasia but it is very much a conscience issue," he said.

The plan to take the legislation to parliament next year came as a disappointment for Professor Peter Hudson, director at the Centre for Palliative Care at St Vincent's Health, who has been outspoken against rushing into voluntary euthanasia laws. "The government appears to be predetermining any further examination of the impact of euthanasia, which is a serious disappointment," he said. "I appreciated the examination of safeguards, however, rushing this deliberation through in such a short period of time is not an appropriate mechanism for such a landmark impact on public health in Victoria." For social historian and voluntary euthanasia advocate Deb Campbell, the proposed framework doesn't go far enough. Dr Campbell believes the proposed framework would "merely replace one set of gatekeepers with another, requiring people to get "permission to die from the medical profession".

"No permission should be necessary, and this issue is one of civil rights for Victorians, not health care," she said. Dying with Dignity Victoria's Dr Rodney Syme, a Melbourne doctor who has helped scores of people end their lives willingly, welcomed the announcement. He supports the model proposed by the committee except that he believes it should not be confined to people with weeks or months left to live. "I'm very pleased with the announcement. It indicates that they will proceed legislation and that they are proceeding very carefully canvassing opinions from knowledgeable people as to what the nature of the legislation will be, that is appropriate and the success of an legislation depends on how careful and accurately it is written," he said. Loading "I can understand from a political point of view confining it to terminal illness might be easier for the gov and parliament to accept the legislation but I think they need to understand that wouldn't lead to a bill that would completely resolve the problem.
A young female police officer from Perth has received the state's top police excellence award for helping to battle crime in the southern suburbs.

Constable Courtney Roberts from the Murdoch Police station won the top gong at the WA Police Excellence Awards ceremony on Thursday morning at the Crown Casino in Perth for having the highest arrest rate in her district and helping to reduce crime in Coolbellup by 36 per cent.

Constable Courtney Roberts.

Murdoch Police Station officer-in-charge senior sergeant Glenn Swannell said constable Roberts was the best officer he had seen in more than 30 years in the force.

"Constable Roberts works towards excellent outcomes in every case she is involved with," he said.
Wellington: New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bill English has secured enough caucus votes to become the country's new prime minister, after John Key announced his resignation.

Mr English went past the threshold he needed after a flurry of Nationals caucus members expressed their support for him. A formal appointment will take place during a party room meeting on Monday.

He had earlier emerged as the likely next leader after his closest competitor for the prime ministership dropped out of the race on Thursday.

Police Minister Judith Collins said it had become clear that English had the support of half the 59-member caucus.
Mazda Names Hill+Knowlton Strategies Alum, Corporate Communications Specialist







LEARN MORE: Mazda Research and Buyers Guide

IRVINE, Calif. (December 7, 2016)  Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) today announced the addition of Carley Hummel to its public relations team as specialist, corporate communications.

In her new position, Hummel is responsible for managing all aspects of Mazdas external corporate communications, including outreach focused on corporate news, marketing initiatives and sponsorships. Hummel will report directly to Eric Booth, senior manager, public relations, and will be based in MNAOs corporate headquarters in Irvine, California.

Hummel joins MNAO after four years at Hill+Knowlton Strategies, where she served as a senior account executive supporting external product and corporate communications for MNAO. Prior to her role on the Mazda account, Hummel worked cross-practice in the marketing communications and digital groups, gaining experience in automotive, technology, financial services, nonprofit, healthcare, hospitality and infrastructure.

Mazda North American Operations is headquartered in Irvine, California, and oversees the sales, marketing, parts and customer service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States and Mexico through nearly 700 dealers. Operations in Mexico are managed by Mazda Motor de Mexico in Mexico City.
Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less.
Monday 05 September, 2016 Reliable information reaching Biafra writers desk has it that the life of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indi...
For Dogs, its Trick and Treat Its almost Halloween, a great time to teach your dog a trick and give him a treat. Most trainers are fans of trick training. Its not as silly as it...

Muzzle is not a bad word If you see a dog in a muzzle, you immediately think the dog is aggressive. Right? Well, this is not always true. Unfortunately, seeing a dog in a muzzle carries...
Donald Trump is now for amnestymaybe, sort of, at least for a little bit.

In his interview with Time magazine for his Person of the Year award, the mogul discussed the plight of undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children who have otherwise followed the law and pursued jobs and education. In 2012, President Obama unilaterally created a program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, that let these people apply for temporary work permits and protection from deportation. In the years since then about 730,000 people have received DACA status.

The program drew scorching, unremitting, intense criticism from many Republicans on the Hill, as well as Tea Party activists and party leaders (including Reince Priebus). Opponents called it executive amnesty, and Priebus promised that if Republicans won the Senate in the 2014 midterm elections, they would do everything possible to stop DACA. Rep. Steve King, an immigration hawk from Iowa, even suggested that the program might protect drug traffickers.

For every one whos a valedictorian, theres another 100 out there who weigh 130 pounds and theyve got calves the size of cantaloupes because theyre hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert, he told Newsmax. Those people would be legalized with the same act.

People with criminal records are ineligible for DACA status, and Kings statement drew criticism for its absurdity (then-Majority Leader Eric Cantor called it inexcusable, and former Speaker of the House John Boehner described as hateful).

So Republicans invested significant political capital in criticizing the program, suggesting it was undermining the Constitution and rule of law, and that DACA recipients would steal American jobs and weaken the economy. Trump also promised on the campaign trail, repeatedly, that he would undo Obamas move if electedwhich he now will have the power to do.

But the prospect of deporting hundreds of thousands of otherwise law-abiding people who have jobs and educations may have lost its shine for Trump. So hes now suggesting what his top supporters have spent years opposing: amnesty.

Were going to work something out thats going to make people happy and proud, he told Time. They got brought here at a very young age, theyve worked here, theyve gone to school here. Some were good students. Some have wonderful jobs. And theyre in never-never land because they dont know whats going to happen.

Its unclear what exactly that something is that Trump will work out. And parsing his words is often an exercise in silliness and futility. But the comment is the kind of thing that sites like Breitbart despise. One Breitbart article, published April 20, 2015, grilled a Marco Rubio spokesman over the issue, suggesting that any legal amnesty for DACA recipients that came before the border was secured would be unacceptable.

That said, other immigration hardliners were unperturbed by Trumps statement. Dan Stein, who heads the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said Trumps comment may just be a trial balloon.

You cant take anything Trump says at face value, he said. This may be a negotiating tool designed to determine the good faith of people that claim they want to see real reform.

But he added that his group doesnt support any legal protection for current DACA beneficiaries.

We dont support letting DACA beneficiaries stay here, because we as a nation dont owe them any priority because they simply broke the law, he said.

And Center for Immigration Studies head Mark Krikorianwho pushes for more restrictive immigration policy and stricter enforcement of immigration lawssaid Trumps statement means he wants amnesty, and that thats OK. Republicans should use legal amnesty for DACA recipients as a bargaining chip, he arguesoffering it in exchange for their own top priorities, like legislation that would make it harder for businesses to hire undocumented workers or stricter rules about which immigrants can get visas.

Amnesty means illegal aliens get to stay, he said. Thats all it means. Anything and everything that allows illegal aliens to stay legally is an amnesty. That doesnt mean its a bad thing. We have tax amnesties, we have parking amnesties.

By that definition, Trumps proposal to Time was undisputably for amnesty.
The battle for the North Carolina governors mansion finally ended this week, but the war over who can and cannot vote in the Tar Heel state is just getting started thanks to a federal lawsuit challenging the states same-day voter registration law, a 2008 measure that allows eligible voters to register to vote and cast their votes on the same day in the states 17-day early voting period.

The group behind the lawsuit challenging same-day registration is the Civitas Institute, a 501  (3) that calls itself North Carolinas Conservative voice. Civitas has supported an array of the states highest profile conservative measures since it was founded in 2005, including its restrictive voter ID laws and HB-2, better known as the bathroom bill.

But it is same-day registration that Civitas identified in the days after 2016 elections as so problematic and potentially fraudulent that they filed an injunction to stop the vote count in North Carolina before Republican Gov. Pat McCrory finally conceded Monday. Civitas dropped the injunction, but they did not drop their lawsuit challenging the State Board of Elections process for verifying same-day registrants.

Somebody who cannot make the effort to register to vote prior to the start of voting probably isnt giving the election a lot of thought, said Civitas president Francis De Luca, explaining the groups objections to same-day registration. That doesnt mean youre not eligible to vote, but it makes the administration of elections much more difficult and it allows for possible shenanigans where people who arent eligible to vote during same-day registration actually vote in local elections that they arent eligible to vote in.

De Luca argued that the State Board of Elections has created two classes of voters by allowing voters to register and vote on the same day, while other voters choose to register in advance and cast their votes after the state has confirmed their address and eligibility to vote.

The process has come and gone in the state since 2008, when it first passed. A controversial package of voting measures in 2013 eliminated same-day registration. But the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reinstated it in a blistering 2016 decision that accused GOP lawmakers of targeting African American voters with almost surgical precision. On same-day registration specifically, which African Americans in the state had used disproportionately since the law was originally passed, the court said that verifying the registrations may be more difficult for counties, but that nixing the process all together was unacceptable.

Critics have called the current Civitas lawsuit an effort at voter suppression in a state with a dark history of it, an accusation De Luca rejected.

The only discrimination here is against procrastinators, he said. Were just saying the people who dont register in the more-than-adequate time before elections dont get to vote in that election.

But Irving Joyner, counsel to the NAACP of North Carolina, said the effort to target same-day registration is exactly thatdiscrimination directed at minority voters.

Every citizen has a constitutional right to vote. Once they register, no matter when that is, they have a right to cast their ballot, Joyner said. (Civitas) is trying to promote this notion that certain people should not vote and those certain people mainly are racial minorities, particularly African Americans, who have increased tremendously their political participation in the state.

Just as Civitas has become a mainstay on the conservative side of the fight over the states election laws, the NAACP of North Carolina has become a lead advocate to expand voting there. In response to the Civitas suit over same-day registration, the NAACPNC has filed a motion to dismiss it.

Its called beating a dead horsethey beat this horse to death under the assumption that the more they repeat it, the more truthful it will be, Joyner said. They are beating the drum with the hope that somewhere along the way some judicial official will agree with their lawsuit, contrary to what the law is and contrary to every legal opinion that any court has entered about same-day registration.

A key argument in the case is likely to be whether same-day registration has been exploited for voter fraud. Although Civitas has said they had heard of some ineligible voters being able to same-day register and vote illegally, it has yet to provide any proof or details of when and where the fraud happened.

Joyner predicted the proof will never come.

Our feeling has been that all of this was a ploy, that there was never any factual evidence that voter fraud had occurred anywhere in North Carolina, he said. Rather that it was a narrative that Republicans were trying to put together to challenge votes that had been legally cast around the state.

He also accused Civitas of being an offshoot of the Republican Party financed by Art Pope, a former Republican state legislator and state conservative philanthropist who was appointed to the McCory administration. The tax-exempt Civitas was founded with seed money from the Pope family foundation, and continues to receive funding from it. There is a circle of partisans connected together seeking the same goal, Joyner said.

DeLuca said Pope was unaware of the suit and is not involved in the groups day-to-day activities.

The next move in the fight belongs to the federal court hearing both the Civitas lawsuit and the NAACPNCs motion to dismiss it. Neither side has any plans to back down.
Police handcuffed Ben Anthony C de Baca, threw him on his stomach, pulled a mask over his face, and planted their knees in his back. While he cried that he couldnt breathe, the officers were busy laughing at a joke. They stopped laughing when they realized hed gone limp.

Anthony, one officer said, wiggling the dead mans arm. Anthony.

Fuck, another one said.

He was dead.

Twelve minutes after that, two officers fist-bumped.

Medical examiners ruled C de Bacas Sept. 6, 2015 death a homicide from excited delirium (cocaine intoxication) complicated by means of physical restraint. An investigation by New Mexicos Rio Rancho Police Department found no criminal intent by any of the three police agencies involved in the arrest. But C de Bacas family says his death was a senseless act of police brutality and incompetence.

The family is planning a wrongful death suit against the three law enforcement agencies involved in his arrest, family attorney Ahmad Assed told The Daily Beast. Meanwhile, Sandoval County District Attorneys Office prosecutor told The Daily Beast it is investigating C de Bacas death for potential criminal charges.

C de Baca had a history of mental illness, his wife said, according to a police report. Doctors had recently changed his medication, and he had been acting very paranoid all week, she said. On the day of his death, his wife said he had experienced schizophrenic episodes, which came to a head at a McDonalds.

While waiting in the drive-through line, C de Baca began acting irrationally, telling his wife that there were people in the trunk. She humored him, promising to check the trunk, at which point he flung his legs into the drivers side of the car and slammed on the gas, sending the car speeding into another vehicle.

C de Baca then fled on foot to a nearby Wal-Mart, where he began throwing soda and smashing televisions. He shouted, You are all murderers, you killed my kid and other things that didnt make sense, a Wal-Mart employee told police.

Workers called 911. Officers from three departments arrived on the scene, due to the Wal-Marts location near the intersection of three jurisdictions. An officer from the Rio Rancho Police Department responded to a report about C de Bacas car crash outside the nearby McDonalds, while officers from the neighboring Bernalillo and Santa Ana police departments responded to the call from inside the Wal-Mart. (The Rio Rancho Police Department decline to comment on this story. The Santa Ana and Bernalillo police departments did not return The Daily Beasts requests for comment.) Bernalillo and Santa Ana officers found C de Baca in the store, where they cuffed him on the floor, body camera footage shows.

Stand up or were going to drag you out, one way or another, an officer is seen telling the restrained man. But C de Baca continued to struggle, allegedly biting one officer on the leg.

A fucking bite mark, dude, the officer is heard telling another on camera. This cunt fuck bit the fuck out of me, dude. I had to punch his ass off of me.

Officers pulled C de Baca outside, where they placed him on his stomach in the parking lot, shackled his legs, and placed hands and knees on his back. They placed a spit sock over his head to prevent him from biting again, the police report says. An officer began questioning him, presumably for an incident report. C de Baca initially cooperated, giving his name. Then he cried for help.

I cant breathe, he said.

Anthony, whats your date of birth? the officer taking the report called.

I cant breathe, C de Baca repeated.

Whats your date of birth? the officer asked again. His colleagues continued placing pressure on C de Bacas back, pinning his cuffed hands behind him.

Im dying, C de Baca pleads. No one appears to listen. The conversation returns to the bite mark on one of the officers pant legs.

He hit bone? an officer asked, alluding to the other cops penis.

Always with the jokes, the bitten officer said, confirming that the bite didnt break the skin.

The officers were still laughing when they realized C de Baca had gone limp under their hands and knees. An officer shook his arm, then his shirt, attempting to rouse him. The spit sock was still over his face.

As police watched the paramedics attempt to revive him, one officers body camera showed two officers fist-bumping near the body, apparently in greeting. It was one of several casual gestures that may appear insensitive in the immediate aftermath of C de Bacas death. Later, two different officers are seen discussing the mans death.

You alright? one officer asked another several minutes after C de Bacas pulse stopped.

Yeah, Im good, dude, the second answered. I fucking hate when people put us in a position like that.

No, Im asking are you OK, the first asked. I dont care about that, he said in apparent reference to C de Bacas death. Are you OK?

Assed, a lawyer for C de Bacas family, said conversations suggest a fundamental lack of concern for C de Bacas life.

Hes telling him essentially that Mr. C de Baca has passed, and hes like I dont care, Im asking how youre doing, Assed told The Daily Beast. Its really telling if you look at that particular part of the video.

Assed said C de Bacas family is preparing a civil suit against the three police departments involved in the arrest. But Assed said his primary concern is not the officers attitude on camera, but their treatment of C de Baca during what should have been a routine arrest.

Im really more concerned about why they hogtied him, dragged him out, placed him face down with three guys kneeing him in the back, Assed said. A guy is screaming for his life saying he cant breathe and that hes hurting, and then they claimed to put a spit sock on him for what reason I have no idea, because it doesnt prevent anything.

The use of the spit sock in C de Bacas death is central to claims that the officers mishandled his arrest.

Spit socks are intended to prevent individuals from spitting at officers, but are not meant to prevent the person from biting, or to impair their breathing. But C de Bacas case was unusual. Police placed the sock over his head after he allegedly bit an officer.

The spit sock was mesh, with a thick cotton portion, a sergeant reported during an investigation into C de Bacas death. During C de Bacas arrest, the spit socks cotton had covered C de Bacas face, nose, and mouth, while the mesh bunched up around his forehead, the sergeant told investigators, adding that he had not seen a spit sock used in that fashion before.

An independent report by the New Mexico Medical Examiners Office confirmed that an improperly placed spit sock has the potential to suffocate a person. The examiner wrote that they could not rule out suffocation as a contributing cause in C de Bacas death.

They used it in a different fashion than in the training I hope they received, Assed said. I doubt they received any training. If there was training, it certainly wasnt consistent with how they used it.

The Bernalillo Police Department, which placed the spit sock on C de Bacas head, did not return a request for comment. The Bernalillo County Sheriffs Office, a separate entity from the Bernalillo Police Department, outlines a standard spit hood policy in their officer manual.

When Deputies are faced with prisoners who spit, have spat, or indicate they are likely to spit, the following procedures will be followed, the document reads (PDF). No other methods will be utilized to control or prevent this action. The Transportation Hood will only be used to deter spitting and will NOT be used for any other purpose.

The Bernalillo County Sheriffs officer manual also outlines policies that could have saved C de Bacas life. Police are required to pay special attention to individuals displaying signs of cocaine psychosis, which medical examiners identified as a contributor in C de Bacas death.

Deputies will seek immediate medical attention for the prisoner if signs or symptoms of cocaine psychosis, excited delirium or positional asphyxia are observed, the manual reads.

The manual also warns against placing a handcuffed person on their stomach.

Deputies must guard against leaving the individual or allowing the individual to go to the chest down position as this could cause Positional Asphyxia, the manual says. The police sergeant who told investigators that the spit sock had been misapplied also said that he instructed officers to not to place C de Baca on his stomach, a suggestion that went ignored.

While law enforcements internal investigation into C de Bacas death found no criminal intent by the officers involved, charges might still come from a district attorney in New Mexicos Sandoval County.

David Foster, an attorney with New Mexicos 13th Judicial District told The Daily Beast that the incident was under investigation, but could not comment on the nature of the ongoing probe.

But Assed said the family planned to sue all three police departments for wrongful death. The pending lawsuit will likely address the officers apparent lack of training about the spit sock, in addition to their overall conduct during the arrest.

They placed it in a way that I believe wholeheartedly contributed to Mr. C de Bacas death, Assed said. To place him on his face and place that spit sock on him, with three people on him, its ridiculous. Its crazy.
The year-long fight between Sofia Vergara and her ex-fiance Nick Loeb concerning the fate of two frozen embryos seemed all but over this week. Now a surprise and bizarre lawsuit filed in Louisiana on behalf of the embryos themselves by a mysterious cast of characters has breathed new life into the dispute and is poised to challenge a never-before-tested decades-old statute that gives embryos in one of the countys most pro-life states, rights as people.

While it may seem like a longshot, legal experts reached by The Daily Beast say the plaintiffs have got a small, but very real chance at some kind of success.

The petition, filed in Jefferson Parish on Wednesday afternoon and reviewed by The Daily Beast, lists three plaintiffs: two embryos named Isabella and Emma, and James Charbonnet, a New Orleans resident with no clear ties to Vergara, Loeb, or the product of the pairs IVF efforts other than as the trustee of a fund meant to provide for their health, education, maintenance, and support.

The Louisiana lawsuit falls on the heels of a Monday request by Loeb to drop his 2015 California case which seeks to bring to term the embryos he and the Modern Family actress created during happier times in 2013. According to the new petition, Loeb is giving up because the California judge ordered, and he refused, to submit the names of former girlfriends who allegedly had abortions over the course of the relationships as part of discovery. The judge in that case was already set to rule on a motion for dismissal of the case filed by Vergara.

There is no request for financial award, because, the petition states, there is no adequate amount of money that could remedy the loss of life of Emma and Isabella, two unique human beings. Instead representatives for the embryoswhich remain frozen in Californiaare asking the court order their immediate transfer to a uterus so that they can develop and be born. This can be accomplished, the suit argues, if a court will declare the California fertility contract signed by Loeb and Vergara void, since it didnt include a provision concerning the fate of the embryos should the couple break up. Further theyre asking the court to terminate Vergaras parental rights and reclassify her as an egg donor. Citing child neglect laws, the complaint claims By leaving Emma and Isabella in a tank in a medical clinic for more than three years and refusing to consent to their development or care, Vegara has effectively abandoned and chronically neglected and Emma and Isabella.

Vergara, now married to Magic Mike actor Joe Manganiello, has said she wants to keep the embryos frozen indefinitely. Loeb responded in a New York Times op-ed that such cryogenic limbo would be tantamount to killing them.

It is unclear whether this new suit actually involves Loeb, but its safe to assume hed be sympathetic to the cause. The 46-page petition does not include the 41-year-old businessman as a party and never explains who actually started the trust, yet it includes several private texts between the former couple documenting the IVF process (You cant keep 4 frozen lives forever or kill them, we will go to hell, Loeb allegedly sent in one) as well as the fallout from their breakup (We still have those 2 frozen babys, he wrote in another).

Vergara, Loeb, and their respective lawyers could not be reached for comment.

Lingering questions aside, legal experts reached by The Daily Beast agreed the suit was extraordinary.

I have never heard of this. Never, said Monica Hof Wallace, a professor at Loyola Universitys New Orleans College of Law. Wallace said although the plaintiffs face an uphill battle, she doesnt expect the case to be dismissednot outright, at least.

Wallace, who teaches courses in Louisianas civil law of persons, said she and her students discuss what the states one-of-a-kind human embryo statute really means, as well as its potential real-world implications, but says to her knowledge, there has never been a case which cited the statute.

The very beginning of Louisiana's civil code designates two types of persons: natural persons and juridical persons. A natural person is a human being, Wallace explained. A juridical person is an entity to which the law attributes personality, such as a partnership or corporation, or in this case, in vitro fertilized human ovums.

Passed in 1986, the Louisiana law conferring personhood on embryos was the first and remains the only law of its kind. As part of their special status, the state grants embryos the explicit right to sue and be sued, prohibits their ownership or destruction, and requires any dispute to their futures be resolved in their best interests.

We have a very favorable human embryo statue where we really do give rights as a juridical person, Wallace said. And it appears the attorneys did their due diligence. Louisiana has a trust code, and they named the trustee as a plaintiff, so it seems to give him jurisdiction to sue.

As juridical persons, the Vergara embryos have all these rights and more, the plaintiffs claim, particularly the right to life itself, as well as access to the inheritance of the James Charbonnet-administered trust, which contains an undisclosed inheritance.

Its tenuous, but the fact that they have a trust here adds another layer. From a legal standpoint, it was well thought out. Im not sure weve ever thought of doing that, Wallace said.

The masterminds behind the operation are a pair of lawyers, James Arruebarrena and Catherine Glenn Foster. Arruebarrena, who did not return a request for comment, is an employment and personal injury attorney who doesnt seem to have experience in family law. According to his website, he is known as The Equalizer for his ability to level the playing field.

Fosters interest in the case is more transparent. Currently admitted to practice law in Virginia, Foster, 35, has dedicated her career thus far to working for firms with a pro-life agenda and appears often in the press to comment on the issue. In August, she colorfully responded to a hidden camera video showing a plumber contracted by Planned Parenthood telling protesters he was here for the work and would install toilets for the KKK if they wanted them: Given Planned Parenthoods 100-year history of racism and misogyny, we should not be surprised that a supporter of an organization that would flush human rights down the toilet would be in league with the organization that will be washing babies blood down the sink, Foster said on the anti-abortion website, Life Site News.

Foster also writes about controversial conservative causes for several right-wing publications. In a 2012 post typical of her style at American Thinker, Foster railed against the Girl Scouts, writing that since the group omitted the word God from their oath in 1993 there has been a slow but steady slide that has landed the organization in the not-so-loving arms of Planned Parenthood, and the feminists and hard-left politicians whom Planned Parenthood attracts.

According to her biography in a fundraiser for a Maryland Pregnancy Clinic, Foster engages judges, legislators, and the public with Sound Legal Group, her mission-driven law firm which advocates for life and supports pro-life organizations. News articles over the last year have similarly named Sound Legal Group as Fosters firm, though according to Virginias State Corporation Commission, she just formed the company on Friday.

When reached by email, Foster declined to answer questions about the petition but promised to be in touch when I do have a comment.

Health law and bioethics expert Seema Mohapatra noticed the anti-abortion language sprinkled throughout Fosters complaint and described her impression of the lawsuit as frivolous, though she too, wouldnt rule out a possible favorable outcome.

In terms of public policy this would open the floodgates, Mohapatra, a law professor at Barry University in Orlando, Florida, told The Daily Beast. Assigning legal rights to some cells in a petri dish that might have some potential to become a person if several steps are successfully completed?

Crazier things have happened, but I would be shocked, Mohapatra said, explaining that in disputes over custody of embryos, courts tend to almost exclusively favor the party who desires not to be a parent.

An exception occurred in 2015 in Illinois, when a court decided Karla Dunston, 43, had a greater interest in and would retain custody of three frozen embryos she and her ex-boyfriend Jacob Szafranski had created in 2010 as she prepared for a cancer treatment that would leave her infertile.

It's a small world: Dunston's attorney, Abram Moore, represented Nick Loeb in his unsuccessful California case.

Jeffrey Parness, professor emeritus at Northern Illinois University and the author of a forthcoming book on federal and state parentage laws, described their search for a hospitable court as forum shopping.

This is the way it works with Assisted Reproductive Technology. We have a hodgepodge of very state specific laws. So [the lawsuits backers] looked for the most pro-life personhood friendly state they could find and then set up a trust so they would have standing.

Ironically, while filing the case in Jefferson Parish gives it the greatest chance of success because of its unique human embryo law, the location is also likely to become its greatest hurdle.

Should Louisiana law apply to embryos who arent situated there? Who werent established, created, or stored in Louisiana? Parness asked.

Parness said the cases other challenge will be one of jurisdiction. In other words, he says, The court will have to ask What does Vergara do in Louisiana that makes it fair to drag her back here?

In an attempt to settle the jurisdiction question, the lawsuit mentions several additional ties to the state beyond it being the site of embryos trust. Vergara spent months filming there while Loeb is a graduate of Tulane University and has based a businesses in Louisiana, according to the petition. The suit also claims Vergara and Loeb discussed and made decisions about IVF, and broke up while in The Pelican State.

And heartbreakingly, if not so lawyerly, Louisiana was also the setting of Loebs most cherished hopes and dreams, which, the suit claims Vergara stole when she abandoned Isabella and Emma after their split.
Two buildings in Turkey may have more potential to upend American national security than any of president-elect Donald Trumps other foreign business dealings.

Trumps business ties in the country center around two massive buildings mixing residential and office known as the Trump Towers Istanbul. Trump does not own the towers, but instead licenses his name to the developers, receiving between $1 million and $5 million since the beginning of 2015, financial disclosure documents show.

I have a little conflict of interest cause I have a major, major building in Istanbul, Trump said last year. Its a tremendously successful job. Its called Trump Towerstwo towers, instead of one, not the usual one, its two.

Watchdogs that focus on ethics in government say that these business deals are especially sensitive due to the importance of Turkey to American intereststhe county is a NATO member and a part of the coalition to fight ISIS.

In terms of potential conflicts, Trumps business in Turkey is certainly one of the biggest, said Jordan Libowitz, spokesman for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Government. With all the focus on ISIS and the Middle East, Turkey is a country that gets a lot of attention in the war on terror. And thats not something you want to hear at the same time as conflict of interest.

Even before the president-elect has entered office, his projects in Turkey have been the subject of serious controversy, and illustrated how his business ties abroad could be affected by foreign actors.

During the presidential campaign, Trumps proposal for a Muslim ban led Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to call in June for the businessmans name to be removed from the towersin essence, threatening the revenue source Trump gets from licensing his name there.

But Trump defended Erdogan a month later, saying the U.S. shouldnt criticize the Turkish strongman for his crackdown after a failed coupand there has been no mention of taking Trumps name off the tower since.

Erdogan has demonstrated again and again that he knows no limit in using business deals to reward or punish his counterparts, said Aykan Erdemir, a former member of the Turkish Parliament who is now a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

Trumps licensing agreement in Turkey also puts the president-elects imprimatur on the towers, whether Trump happens to agree with a tenant or not. For example, Reza Zarrab, an Iranian businessman who allegedly helped Iranians dodge Western sanctions, ran his business out of Trump Towers in Istanbul. If Zarrab had run the operation during Trumps time in office, would actors in the region presume it had the American presidents tacit blessing?

Since Election Day, the president-elect has done little to separate his business and his new powers. In a call with Erdogan one day after he was elected, Trump praised a Turkish business partner who had worked on Trump Towers Istanbul as a close friend. Not long after the election, Trumps son Eric Trump spent three days hunting deer in southern Turkey, at the invitation of an unnamed Turkish businessman.

The conflicts of interest, especially in Turkey, have drawn the suspicion of Rep. Adam Schiff, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

If you look at the history, in Turkey alone, of the Trump businesses, the Trump Towers there The fact of the matter is we shouldnt be having these questions these are not questions the American people should be asking of a new president once he takes office, Schiff said, at a breakfast roundtable with reporters. There shouldnt be any doubt that the president is acting in only one interest: the national interest.

Schiff openly questioned whether Trumps team had a financial relationship with the Turkish government, pointing to an op-ed written on Election Day by Michael Flynn, urging closer relations with Erdogan and suggesting that the United States no longer host Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric living in Pennsylvania who Turkey has demanded extradited. Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general who was pushed out as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency by President Obama, was a vocal Trump supporter during the campaign who was named days after the election as Trumps White House national security adviser.

Some of the things that the president-elects team has done and said are hard to explain in the absence of an economic motivation, Schiff said. It causes me profound questions about whats really motivating this. Is it policy? It certainly cant be the intelligence. Is it economic interest? Is it [a] consultant relationship with his firm?

Trumps business dealings in Turkey may also be more vulnerable to blackmail and foreign influence, principally due to the power held by Erdogan. For example, Trumps business interests in Canada would be protected by a robust judiciary and the rule of law, and less subject to the whims of a powerful and illiberal head of state.

Rule of law and checks and balances have eroded in Turkey. There is extreme centralization of power in the hands of President Erdogan, Erdemir argued. He can singlehandedly decide on the fate of investments, choosing to reward or punish businesses. Thus, President-elect Donald Trumps business interests in Turkey would be solely at the mercy of Erdogan.

Ultimately, the extent of Trumps conflicts of interests are not clear because the president-elect has declined to release his tax returns, bucking decades of bipartisan political convention.

The most thorough information available to the public is in the financial disclosures Trump filled in 2015, which provided a few pieces of information about his Turkish projects but not the full picture watchdogs believe is necessary to provide accountability, especially given the country involved.

We have locations, we have some general descriptions but its hard to discern whether theres profit-sharing, whether performance of some of these buildings, like the rent, then translates into money for the Trump organization, said Project on Government Oversight spokesman Sean Moulton. [With] our ongoing international relationship issues in the Middle East being of such high importance, it is particularly concerning.
Next month, President-elect Donald Trump will be handed the keys to the NSAs vast spying apparatus. As a candidate, he supported mass surveillance of Americans phone calls, called for expanded spying on American Muslims, and even invited Russia to hack the emails of his political opponent. With these threats to privacy and liberty on the horizon, our courts will likely be more important than ever as a bulwark against unlawful spying.

One of the courtroom battles that will shape Trumps spying powers is already under way.

On Thursday, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in Wikimedia v. NSA, our case challenging Upstream surveillance. First revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden in June 2013, Upstream surveillance involves the NSAs bulk searching of Americans international internet communications with the assistance of companies like AT&T and Verizon. If you email friends abroad, chat with family members overseas, or browse websites hosted outside the United States, the NSA almost certainly has searched through the contents of your communicationsand it has done so without a warrant.

Upstream surveillance takes place in the internet backbonethe network of high-capacity cables, switches, and routers that carries Americans domestic and international internet communications. The NSA has installed surveillance equipment at dozens of points along the internet backbone, allowing the government to copy and then search the contents of vast quantities of internet traffic as it flows past.

The government claims that Upstream surveillance is authorized by Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. That law allows the NSA to engage in warrantless surveillance of Americans when they are communicating with so-called targets abroad. But these targets can be virtually any foreigner overseasincluding people who are not accused of any wrongdoing whatsoever, like journalists, lawyers, and human rights researchers. No judge signs off on the governments individual targets. Instead, the NSA secretly vacuums up millions of communications under a single court order each year.

One of the most glaring problems with Upstream surveillance is that it is not targeted at allat least not in any ordinary sense of the word. Instead, the government is systematically examining online communications in bulk, scanning their full contents to see which ones merely mention its targets.

Because of how it operates, Upstream surveillance represents a new surveillance paradigm, one in which computers constantly scan our communications for information of interest to the government. To use a non-digital analogy: Its as if the NSA sent agents to the U.S. Postal Services major processing centers to conduct continuous searches of everyones international mail. The agents would open, copy, and read each letter, and would keep a copy of any letter that mentioned specific items of interestdespite the fact that the government had no reason to suspect the letters sender or recipient beforehand.

The ACLU brought this lawsuit on behalf of a coalition of legal, media, educational, and human rights organizations, including the Wikimedia Foundation (which runs Wikipedia), Amnesty International USA, The Nation magazine, PEN American Center, Human Rights Watch, the Rutherford Institute, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Global Fund for Women, and the Washington Office on Latin America.

Each of these nine plaintiffs has been deeply affected by U.S. government spying. The confidentiality of plaintiffs international communications is essential to their work, and Upstream surveillance undermines their ability to ensure that these communicationswith colleagues, journalists, witnesses, foreign government officials, victims of human rights abuses, and the tens of millions of people who read and edit Wikipediaare indeed private. This spying violates our clients constitutional rights to privacy, freedom of expression, and freedom of association.

Last year, a federal district court in Maryland dismissed our suit (PDF), wrongly concluding that our clients lack standing to challenge Upstream surveillance because they had not plausibly alleged that their communications are intercepted. Without standing, our plaintiffs cant have their day in court to challenge this spying on the merits.

However, as we explained in our appeal briefs (PDF, PDF), its more than plausible that our clients communications are intercepted: The governments own disclosures about Upstream surveillance, along with media reports, show that the NSA is vacuuming up and reviewing almost all text-based communications that enter and leave the country.

Wikimedia alone engages in over a trillion internet communications each year, with individuals located in virtually every country on earth. Given the volume and geographic distribution of these communications, its indisputable that plaintiffs communications are ensnared by the NSA.

We hope that the Fourth Circuit agrees. With Trump about to take over, theres simply too much at stake for the judiciary to close the courthouse doors on those harmed by mass surveillance.

Ashley Gorski is a staff attorney in the ACLUs National Security Project.
In the words of Kylie Jenner, 2016 really was the year of realizing stuff. Of course, Jenner was probably just talking about learning basic facts. As one of two recent graduates of a Kris Jenner-orchestrated home school experience, Kylies education was likely limited to exactly what dosage of Xanax to slip into an anxious client/sisters Smartwater. But Kylies apparent cry for a GED crash course became more and more prescient, with 2016 actually proving itself to be the year of realizing stuffstuff like hope is dead, racism is alive and well, and none of this matters because were all going to be under water soon anyway. While Calabasass own Cassandra didnt exactly predict political Armageddon, shes still been vindicated. Meanwhile for 21 Savage, the Atlanta-based Drake protege, this years revelation came when he realized that he is in love with Kylie Jenner.

21 Savage has been steadily coming for his crush throughout the month of November. While the rest of us were still emerging from our tryptophan comas, the rapper was weeks deep in a traditional courtship ritual, which includes posting about the object of your affection on Instagram, and also telling a TMZ cameraman about your plans to tear that ass up. Ah, young love. Unfortunately, the object of 21 Savages affection already has a rapper boyfriend: Tyga, the artist behind such hits as well actually just Rack City. Like the rest of the world, 21 Savage has picked up on the fact that Tyga is mooching off his far more financially solvent girlfriend. Savage continued his offensive on Saturday, posting a picture of Kylie Jenner posing with a car on Instagram captioned Shoutout to my boss bitches wifing niggas. Anyone whos familiar with Kyga knows all about Kylies penchant for buying luxury cars for her bankrupt boo. Of course, the comparison to Nicki Minaj is extremely flattering to Kylieand less flattering to Tyga.

Tyga naturally responded with his own Instagram of him and Kylie in a Ferrari, accompanied by the Jay Z lyric: Selling records being you, but still you want to be me. As recently as Tuesday night, 21 Savage upped the ante by changing his Instagram avatar to a picture of Kylie Jenner, with his trademark dagger tattoo etched on her forehead. Because if theres one way to impress a girl, its fluency in Adobe Photoshop.

But the best part of this feud by far was when Kylie decided to take a page from her older sister Kims playbook. Understandably skeeved out by a near-stranger talking about her ass on TMZ, Kylie settled things once and for all on the Kardashians favorite social media battleground: Snapchat. The youngest Jenner snapped a clip of Tyga freestyling over Savages No Heart, with the rapper going after 21 Savage with some real savagery, accusing him of Sucking dick for a Ferrari. Not one to be called a kept man, Tyga is clearly trying to flip that roast back on 21 Savage, who received a Ferrari from Drake for his 24th birthday.

At the end of the day, 21 Savage and Tyga have a lot in commontheyve both been gifted cars by someone more talented and famous than they are, and theyre both in love with Kylie Jenner. And can you really blame them? In addition to predicting the general vibe of 2016, Jenner has also made this year her bitch. At 19 years old, she owns three houses, is the seventh most-followed person on Instagram, and has started a makeup empire. She also has the Kardashian gift for converting criticism and public shaming into piles of cold hard cash. Kim famously did this way back in 2007, riding a sex tape all the way to a full blown career. When social media savages mocked Kylies lip injections with the Kylie Jenner lip challenge, Jenner didnt go on the defensiveor, god forbid, minimize her pout. Instead, she profited from her most polarizing feature with a line of wildly popular lip kits. It might just be drugstore lip liner at luxury brand prices, but the marketing was on point. Numerous magazine covers and photoshoots later, Jenner still has plenty to look forward to in 2016. Shes debuting a California pop-up shop on Dec. 9, with promises of brand new, exclusive Kylie Jenner merchandise. All in all, Kriss youngest daughter is attacking life with the enthusiasm of someone who knows shell be suffocated to death by her own waist trainer before she turns 30.

Snapchat savvy aside, its become increasingly clear that Kylie Jenner is the heir to Kim Kardashians Perspex throne. With Kim opting for a quieter life post-Paris heist, its up to Kylie to ensure that young women across the world have a near-impossible hip-to-waist ratio to aspire to. The similarities between Kim and Kylie are endless. Like Kim, Kylie knows how to use the gifts that puberty/plastic surgery have given her. Shes also a tech-savvy entrepreneur with a rapper boyfriend, a killer social media following, and a passion for Yeezy Season. Kylie seems to have a sixth sense about what to sell her fans, and knows exactly what they want before they want it: whether thats a lip kit that makes your mouth look as matte black as her Hummer or a looks-for-less PacSun line. This year, Kylies boyfriends baby mama gave birth to her half-brothers babya fairly debilitating personal setback for any other 19-year-oldand Kylie still had her best year ever. Its that same kind of tenacity and fortitude that made Kim Kardashian such an unlikely feminist hero.

Even more impressively, Kylie actually had to fight for her spot in the familys fame rankings. As a legitimate supermodel, Kendall Jenner ought to have been a shoo-in for most influential Jenner sister. Luckily for Kylie, Kendall is less exciting than a kale salad from Calabasass Health Nut. Kylies fun personality and actually real-seeming relationships made her an instant hit on KUWTK, in contrast to the comparatively reserved Kendall. While Kendall toils away on her various campaigns, runways, and photoshoots, Kylie is left to do the real work of being a Kardashianpreserving her brand, boosting her social media following, and making tons of money.

Of course, youre not a real Kardashian until youve turned off about half your fan base. Kylie Jenner has made some controversial decisions, from dating Tyga when she was still a minor to engaging in some pretty consistent cultural appropriation. Unfortunately, Kylie seems just as likely to quit Tyga as she is to quit her cornrows. Whether or not you endorse Kylie Jenner, her influence is undeniable. From head-to-toe latex to PartyNextDoor to $2.99-a-month subscription apps, she was ahead of almost every trend in 2016. But of all the things Kylie realized this year, the most important one was that she can doand selljust about anything she puts her mind to.
Are you ready for another royal wedding?

No, not Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (at least not yet) but speculation that Princess Eugeniethe younger daughter of Sarah Fergie Ferguson and Prince Andrew, the Duke of Yorkmay be engaged was fuelled on Thursday morning after she was photographed leaving a London nightclub with a ring on her engagement finger.

A spokesperson for Prince Andrew told the Daily Beast this morning that they would be making no comment on Eugenies private life.

However the 26-year-old royal clearly appeared to be wearing a ring on her engagement finger as she left private members' club LouLou's with boyfriend Jack Brooksbank, 30, late last night.

The Princess grinned broadly as she left the club, hand-in-hand with her boyfriend of six years.

Both Eugenie and Jack have denied rumours that they're getting set to wed after the rumour mill went into overdrive when Eugenie took nightclub manager Mr Brooksbank to Balmoral to meet her grandmother.

Eugenie is shortly due to move to Kensington Palaceshe is taking over Ivy Cottage, a substantial three-bedroom home adjacent to Harrys house, Nottingham Cottage.

Harry (plus, hopefully, a spouse) will be first in line to get a proper apartment in the building, but the York girls clearly have support from the Cambridges.

Jack Brooksbank is universally loved by the family, unlike Beas ex, Dave Clark.

The photos emerged following reports that Prince Andrew is seeking to improve the official status of his daughters over fears any children they have would be 'commoners'.

Prince Andrew wants the Queen to guarantee that their future husbands will be made Earls, Otherwise his daughters' children will be commoners, defined as one of the ordinary or common people, as opposed to the aristocracy or to royalty, a source told the Mail.
Senior Department of Homeland Security officials, current and former, are reacting with optimism to word that retired Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly is President-elect Donald Trumps choice to lead their agency, including some of Trumps fiercest critics.

When you have 4-stars who have been combatant commanders, they are generally the most broadly experienced people in government, said Michael Chertoff, who served as the departments second-ever secretary in the Bush administration. Youre kind of a warrior-diplomat, not just a warrior.

Chertoff was one of more than 70 national security veterans of the Bush administration who called Trump unfit to lead, in an open letter in March, but has taken heart over the nominations of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn to be National Security Adviser, Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis to lead the Pentagon, and the reported choice of Kelly to DHS.

I have to say these national security appointments are positive and give me a much bigger feeling of encouragement about the direction of the administration, he said in an interview.

Im positive about it, said former Congresswoman Jane Harman who now directs the Woodrow Wilson Center. Hes highly regarded in the military and worked his way up. He has a close personal relationships with [Homeland Security Secretary] Jeh Johnson.

All this helps build a national security team, said the former California Democrat, who has championed DHS reform, in an interview Thursday.

Adding a third general to the Trump cabinet may soothe an American public distrustful of politicians and fearful of terrorists. But Homeland Security veterans say even a storied, retired four-star general will struggle to manage legal and illegal traffic at the Mexican border, spot would-be terrorists in American communities, and most of all, deal with Congress.

Known as a blunt-speaking strategic thinker, Kelly served more than 40 years in the Marines including commanding in Iraq. He carries the heart-breaking distinction of being a Gold Star father, after losing his son, Marine 1st Lt. Robert Kelly, in Afghanistan in 2010.

Kelly has experience helping police the southern seas and border, as he retired from running U.S. Southern Command earlier this year, after butting heads with the Obama administration over issues like closing the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, which he opposed.

In his SouthCom role, Kelly decried the crime and instability south of the border that was driving people north  and repeatedly warned that terrorists could use that flow to attack the U.S. homeland.

The relative ease with which human smugglers moved tens of thousands of people to our nations doorstep also serves as another warning sign: these smuggling routes are a potential vulnerability to our homeland, he said, testifying before Congress. Terrorist organizations could seek to leverage those same smuggling routes to move operatives with intent to cause grave harm to our citizens or even bring weapons of mass destruction into the United States.

That kind of testimony grated on the Obama administration but tracks nicely with Trumps build a wall mantra, though Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson points out that 700 miles of the 2000-mile border already have some sort of fence or wall, and the rest is fairly mountainous or has some other sort of natural barrier that makes it hard to cross.

A former senior DHS official said Kellys role commanding a Florida-based interagency task force that blends the efforts of the military, Coast Guard, and law enforcement will be great training for the jobbut the former official said that hes going to have to get used to playing alongside other agencies rather than being in charge, which in the past has stymied solutions at the border with Mexico.

When you try to replicate that on the border, you end up with FBI, Justice, DHS and DoD and everyone wants to be in charge, the official said of previous efforts. Nobody owns the problem so nobody takes charge of solving it.

Harman thought Kelly would have the charisma to solve that.

I think who is in charge will be clarified, she said. I think this guy has enormous credibility that he will get the lead assignment on the border.

Kelly is also taking charge of a department where morale is notoriously low, partly because it loses people who get frustrated with their inability to bring good ideas to fruition  often because they cant get the funding or legislation needed to carry out those ideas through Congress.

When the Department of Homeland Security was established in 2002 after the attacks of 9/11 on New York and Washington, D.C., it was supposed to break down the stovepipes between 22 federal agencies and streamline the U.S. national security apparatus.

Im a godmother of DHS, which is an overweight child greatly in need of going to the gym, said Harman, who served on the House homeland security committee, armed services and intelligence committees, overseeing post-9/11 reform of DHS. Employee morale has always been low, because 22 agencies is a lot to put in one box.

And the one 9/11 Commission reform that hasnt been carried out in the wake of the attacks, Harman said, is streamlining who has jurisdiction over DHS.

Its a complete nightmare, she said.

More than 90 committees and subcommittees can claim the right to question DHS officials and look over legislation.

That means the DHS chiefs often feel like they spend as much time testifying and preparing to testify as getting things done. The agency has never had a budget passed by Congress since it was created, which means it lives on year-to-year funding that frustrates projects that require multiple years of funding to complete.

Since January 2015, our people in DHS have testified in 208 hearings of committees and subcommittees, (providing) 299 witnesses, current DHS Secretary Johnson told an audience at the Washington, D.C.-based Bipartisan Policy Center, which is dedicated to post-9/11 reform. We've had 4,010 non-hearing Congressional engagements, with Johnson himself testifying 26 times in three years.

When you're constantly testifying on the Hill before multiple committees and subcommittees, it's kind of hard to do your job, said House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul at the Bipartisan Policy Forum in Washington, D.C., last week in answer to a Daily Beast question. It was a rare moment of agreement for a Republican with an Obama administration official. I think it paralyzes the Department from its core mission of protecting the American people.

McCaul also interviewed with President-elect Trump in a bid to lead the department. He confirmed to The Daily Beast that he hoped to take up the post, but his staff offered no comment to the news Kelly would instead get the nod.

As for fixing the border, DHS officials current and former say the real problem is not the illegal immigration, which actually dropped in numbers in recent years, largely due to an ailing economy  but to the continuing surge of would-be immigrants who arrive at a U.S. border checkpoint with no identity papers, and demand asylum.

Detention centers for full and the process for adjudicating these claims takes forever, the former DHS official said. Thats his job to figure out together with Congress. Johnson said there are 41,000 people in immigration detention facilities. There are also roughly half-a-million cases already pending in immigration court.

Johnson said the DHS arm devoted to deporting aliens (a deportation force that Trump has called for, which already exists) has been focusing on kicking out convicted criminals first.

The numbers of deportations have gone down over the last four years, but the percentage of those deported who are convicted criminals has gone up to something over 60 percent, Johnson said. In immigration detention today, something like 90 percent fit one of our removal priorities.

More than 408,000 people were detained at the border with Mexico in (Fiscal Year) 2016 by the U.S. Border Patrol. From years 2000-2008 under the Bush administration, yearly detentions ranged from three-quarters of a million people to more than a million, which Obama administration officials say shows theyve been tough on illegal immigration.

But hundreds keep arriving at U.S. border checkpoints each day.

Another tough task ahead  countering what the Obama administration calls violent extremism (or Islamic militancy, as Trump officials call it) in American communities. Thats a task made tougher by Trumps campaign language and that of his prospective National Security Adviser Flynn, who has equated Islam with cancer and tweeted that Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL.

Trump has since tempered his call for a ban on Muslims entering the country to what he calls extreme vetting. McCaul, who has been in discussions with the Trump transition team, described that as more thorough checks and restrictive procedures applied to people in countries where terrorism has taken root.

You can't condemn Islam in general, McCaul said. But what we do target is radical Islamists.It's important that we identify that and not be so politically correct that we can't identify the threat for what it is, and then target that in your vetting process.

But the original more imprecise language that targeted all of Islam has been seized by the so-called Islamic State and other fringe militant groups as a rallying cry to recruit Muslims in the west to attack at home.

Such shoot-from-the-hip rhetoric may eventually drive Trumps generals out.

I think theyre all gonna say What the hell did Donald trump tweet last night? the senior DHS official said. Theyre not going to put up with that. Theyre not going to be jerked around for too long.
John Herschel Glenn Jr., the first American to orbit the Earth and the last surviving of member of the nations original astronaut corps, died Thursday at age 95.

In 1962, Glenn blasted 162 miles into space atop a volatile Atlas rocket and was launched into the pantheon of American 20th century explorers including Charles Lindbergh and later Neil Armstrong. It was Glenns risky flight that paved the way for the subsequent Apollo missions that put a man on the moon seven years later.

Glenn was also a wartime hero and public servant, serving with as a Marine aviator in World War II and the Korean War and later a United States Senator.

Born in Cambridge, Ohio in 1921 to a working-class family, Glenn was an engineering student at Muskingum College when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, drawing the United States into World War II.

Glenn joined the Marines and, in 1943, became a fighter pilot. At the controls of powerful Corsair piston-engine fighters over the Pacific, Glenn earned a reputation for precision flying and coolness under pressure.

He could fly alongside you and tap a wing tip gently against yours, one of Glenns fellow pilots reportedly said.

He fought in Korea, too, piloting F-86 fighter jets -- and famously downed three North Korean MiGs during the last nine days of fighting of the war.

He was also lucky. More than once, Glenn returned to base unharmed, but with scores of bullet holes peppering his plane. In the course of two wars, Glenn completed 149 combat missions and racked up some 9,000 total flight hours  thousands more than most military pilots achieve.

Glenn earned two Distinguished Flying Crosses and 10 Air Medals.

After Korea, he became a test pilot and, in 1957, set a speed record by flying more than 700 miles per hour across the United States in his F-8 fighter, refueling twice in mid-air.

That same year, the Soviet Union launched the worlds first artificial satellite, Sputnik, and ignited the Space Race. President Eisenhower responded by creating National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in October 1958 and, in April 1959, the infant space agency tapped Glenn, 37, to be part of Project Mercury  America's effort to put a man in orbit. The Mercury Seven as they came to be known were Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton.

Early space travel was dangerous, to say the least. Glenn witnessed an unmanned test rocket, complete with a simulated crew capsule, explode at an altitude of 40,000 feet. Another test he observed ended with the crew-less rocket tumbling into the ocean.

Two American astronauts preceded Glenn into space  nearly. In fact, neither Shepard nor Grissom actually escaped Earth's atmosphere. That distinction would fall to Glenn's Mercury-6 mission. Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space in April 1961, beating the Americans by six months and injecting urgency into Glenns own mission.

"At the time, doctors were concerned about whether humans could even swallow in space, and would the human respiratory system even work in zero-G," recalls Joan Johnson-Freese, a space expert at the U.S. Naval War College. "Glenns mission in many ways confirmed that Apollo"  the NASA mission that put men on the moon  "was even possible."

On Feb. 20, 1962, Glenn climbed into a capsule perched 95 feet above the ground atop an Atlas rocket at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

I felt exactly how you would feel if you were getting ready to launch and knew you were sitting on top of 2 million partsall built by the lowest bidder on a government contract, Glenn recalled later.

Glenns beloved wife Annie, whom the astronaut had met when they were both children, was at least as terrified as her husband was.

"I was scared," she told The Washington Post decades later. "I lost weight."

The rocket functioned. So did Glenn's heart and lungs. Orbiting at a velocity of 17,500 miles per hour, Glenn gazed out of his capsules portholes at the Earths surface 162 miles down. He snapped photos and tested communication equipment. Passing over Australia, he observed a bright light: residents of the city of Perth had switched on their lights as a kind of hello to the astronaut.

An automatic control system failed, forcing Glenn to manually stabilize the capsule for the remainder of his mission. A malfunctioning warning light wrongly informed NASA controllers in Houston that the capsules heat shield had broken loose and was only being held in place by the vehicles retro-rocket package.

Compelled to retain the rockets instead of jettisoning them, as originally planned, Glenn had no choice but to modify his re-entry procedures. The first American in space orbited for four hours and 56 minutes before splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean.

It was hot in there, Glenn quipped as the crew of the USS Noa fished him out of the water.

President John F. Kennedy rode alongside Glenn at the astronauts homecoming parade in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Subsequent parades in Washington, D.C. and New York City drew crowds of hundreds of thousands of people.

The plaudits were well deserved.

It was Glenn's first orbital flight that, perhaps more than Shepard and Grissom before him, seemed to mark the beginning of NASA's ascendancy in the space race against the Soviets, historian Rowland White, author of Into the Black, told The Daily Beast.

Glenn resigned from NASA in 1964 and, after a few years in business, entered politics. Inspired by his close friends the Kennedys, Glenn ran as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate in Ohio. He lost in 1970 but won in 1974. A primary debate in Cleveland was widely seen as the turning point for Glenn the aspiring senator. Accused by his primary opponent Howard Metzenbaum of having never had a real job, Glenn shot back.

"I ask you to go with me, as I went the other day to a Veterans Hospital, and look those men with their mangled bodies in the eye and tell them they didn't hold a job.

"You go with me to any Gold Star mother, and you look her in the eye and tell her that her son did not hold a job.

Glenn served for 25 years in the Senate. Among his many accomplishments, he championed legislation that created inspector-general positions across government agencies. Today these internal auditors are responsible for preventing fraud, waste and abuse within their own organizations. He also helped shepherd the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act of 1978, which required the federal government to limit the spread of weapons-grade nuclear technology.

Despite his military, scientific and political accomplishments, Glenn always said that one of his proudest moments came in the mid-1970s, when his wife Annie dedicated herself to battling a serious stutter. After years of speech therapy, in 1980 Annie delivered her very first speech -- to a women's group in Canton, Ohio.

I have met a lot of brave people in my life, Glenn said. But none have been more brave than Annie.

After being passed over to be Jimmy Carter's vice president in 1976, Glenn ran for president in 1984 but lost the Democratic primary to Walter Mondale.

Glenn retired from the U.S. Senate in January 1999, but not before pulling off one more epic feat. In October 1998, the then-77-year-old Glenn returned to space as a payload specialist on the 92nd Space Shuttle flight, making him the oldest astronaut to date. NASA required Glenn to meet the same physical-fitness standards as young astronauts. He did so handily, crediting a lifetime of jogging and weightlifting.

The old astronaut wasn't just past of the Shuttle crew, he was also an experiment.

"Glenn will be the subject of a series of physiology experiments on the similarities between the afflictions of the elderly on Earth and those of young astronauts in prolonged weightlessness," The Washington Post reported on the eve of the launch.

The launch was a media event. A quarter-million people were in the crowd, including President Bill Clinton and actor Leonardo DiCaprio. Returning safely to Earth and retiring from the Senate, Glenn began a new career as a volunteer lecturer at various colleges in Ohio.

"I think, at his core, hes really a frustrated professor," family friend Bob McAlister told the Columbus Monthly.

Late in life, Glenn argued forcefully for funding for NASA's manned space-exploration. He liked to quote his friend and fellow astronaut Grissom. No bucks, no Buck Rogers.

Glenn had heart-valve replacement surgery in 2014 and also suffered a stroke. His eyesight faded. He was hospitalized in Ohio at the beginning of December.

"John Glenn is a man for the record books," Johnson-Freese said.

Glenn is survived by his wife Annie and two children, John and Carolyn.
By Jay Hancock, Kaiser Health News and Beth Schwartzapfel, The Marshall Project

INDIANAPOLISBefore he went to prison, Ernest killed his 2-year-old daughter in the grip of a psychotic delusion. When the Indiana Department of Correction released him in 2015, he was terrified something awful might happen again.

He had to see a doctor. He had only a months worth of pills to control his delusions and mania. He was desperate for insurance coverage.

But the state failed to enroll him in Medicaid, although under the Affordable Care Act in Indiana had expanded the health insurance program, making most ex-inmates eligible. Left to navigate an unwieldy bureaucracy on his own, he came within days of running out of the pills that ground him in reality.

I have a serious mental disorder, which is what caused me to commit my crime in the first place, said Ernest, who asked reporters to use only his middle name to protect his privacy. Somebody should have been pretty concerned.

The health law was expected to connect Ernest and almost all other ex-prisoners for the first time to Medicaid coverage for the poor, cutting expensive visits to the emergency room, improving their prospects of rejoining society, and reducing the risk of spreading communicable diseases that flourish in prisons.

But Ernests experience is repeated millions of times across the country, an examination by The Marshall Project and Kaiser Health News shows.

Most of the state prison systems in the 31 states that expanded Medicaid have either not created large-scale enrollment programs or operate spotty programs that leave large numbers of exiting inmatesmany of whom are chronically illwithout insurance.

Local jails processing millions of prisoners a year, many severely mentally ill, are doing an even poorer job of getting health coverage for ex-inmates, by many accounts. Jail enrollment is especially challenging because the average stay is less than a month and prisoners are often released unexpectedly.

Ex-inmates with the worst chances of getting insurance and care are in 19 states that did not expand Medicaid. Only a small number qualify for coverage. Enrollment efforts by prisons and jails are almost nonexistent.

Nationwide, 16 state prison systems have no formal procedure to enroll prisoners in Medicaid as they reenter the community, according to a survey by The Marshall Project. Nine states have only small programs in select facilities or for limited groups of prisoners, like those with disabilities. These 25 states collectively release some 375,000 inmates each year.

Failure to link emerging inmates to health insurance is a missed opportunity to improve health and save money by cutting recidivism as well as visits to the hospital emergency room, advocates say. Studies have showed Medicaid access in Florida and Washington cut return trips to jail among the mentally ill by 16 percent.

I hate to say itits a captive audience. You have somebody there! You know theyre going to be released in a few weeks, said Monica McCurdy, who as head of a clinic for Project HOME in Philadelphia constantly sees homeless, recently released prisoners without Medicaid coverage. Why not do the handoff thats needed to prevent this person winding up in the ER? It defies common sense.

Health Risks Soar After Prison Release

Before the Affordable Care Act, state Medicaid programs covered mainly children, pregnant women, and disabled adults, which included only a small number of ex-offenders. Thats still generally the case in the 19 states that didnt expand Medicaid.

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to repeal the health act and replace it with something else, leaving the laws Medicaid expansion and eligibility for ex-prisoners in doubt. Rep. Tom Price, Trumps pick to head the Health and Human Services Departmentwhich oversees Medicaidhas been one of Obamacares most vociferous critics in Congress.

But some analysts expect parts of the law to survive, perhaps including Medicaid expansion managed more directly by states than by Washington.

Even some Republicans have supported the idea, suggesting that revoking Medicaid coverage from millions of new recipients would be difficult. Republican Gov. John Kasich expanded Medicaid in Ohio in part for ex-inmates, he has said, to get them their medication so they could lead a decent life.

Other parts of the health law received more attention, but advocates saw giving Medicaid coverage to ex-inmates as one of its most transformative aspects. Illness for illness, inmates are the sickest people in the country.

They have far higher rates of HIV, hepatitis, and tuberculosis than the general population. Theyre also more likely to have high blood pressure, diabetes, and asthma. More than half are mentally ill, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, with up to a quarter meeting criteria for psychosis. Between half and three-quarters have an addiction problem.

Prisons and jails have their own doctors, but their responsibility to provide care stops upon an inmates departure. Inmates generally arent eligible for Medicaid while imprisoned.

No time is more critical than the days immediately after release. One study showed that in the first two weeks, ex-prisoners die at a dozen times the rate of the general population. Heart disease, drug overdose, homicide, and suicide are the main causes.

But even in states that expanded Medicaid, the most vulnerable and sometimes dangerous ex-inmates are often left on their own.

Ernest went to prison for shooting and killing his daughter amid a psychotic religious delusion. Re-enacting the biblical story of the sacrifice of Isaac, he thought God would intervene to save the girl. News reports from the time say police found him naked, carrying the childs lifeless body through the streets of an Indianapolis suburb.

Indiana expanded Medicaid under the health law in February 2015 and set up a system to enroll all eligible prisoners upon release. Yet when Ernest got out in August 2015, he was not enrolled in Medicaid, let alone connected to doctors.

Prison officials say they applied for Medicaid on Ernests behalf, but Medicaid records show he applied when he got home. Its not clear where the system failed.

It is important that the offenders have some accountability in the process, said Douglas Garrison, a spokesperson for the Indiana Department of Correction. The IDOC has worked diligently to ensure released offenders are receiving coverage.

Ernests letters to Medicaid and a clinic before he got out didnt help. He had to start the application process from scratch after he got home, making increasingly frantic calls and scrambling to find his birth certificate and other paperwork as his supply of lithium and perphenazine, an antipsychotic, dwindled.

Somebody whos committed a violent felony because of a mental illness is getting out of prison, and we dont have anything set up yet? he said.

Failure to sign up ex-inmates for health care is a common occurrence in states that expanded Medicaid under the health law, even in places such as Indiana where agencies have provided enrollment assistance.

No Enrollment for Thousands of Chronically Ill

Two-thirds of the 9,000 chronically ill prisoners released each year by Philadelphias jails arent getting enrolled as they leave, said Bruce Herdman, medical director for the jails. The city lacks even the $2 million necessary to supply a months worth of medication for released inmates with prescriptions, he said.

They give you like two weeks supply of medication, said Ricky Platt, 49, who left the Philadelphia jail in 2015, quickly ran out of Zoloft antidepressants, and became homeless. They dont give you any resource of where to go or get a doctor and get your prescription filled or anything.

Emergency doctors at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia often see released inmates with kidney failure who are at risk of dying if they dont receive dialysis almost immediately, said Dr. Priya Mammen, one of the hospitals emergency physicians.

Were kind of the go-to spot for many people, but particularly for people who have been released from prison, she said. Either in the first week we see them or when their prescriptions run out.

Kara Salim, 26, got out of the Marion County, Indiana, jail in 2015 with a history of domestic-violence charges, bipolar disorder, and alcoholismand without Medicaid coverage. As a result, she couldnt afford the fees for court-ordered therapy.

Without therapy she wasnt allowed to see a psychiatrist for her medications. Without medication she spiraled downward, eventually threatening suicide at a court hearing. When court officers tried to bring her to a psychiatric hospital, she erupted, kicking and scratching them and landing back in jail, with new felony charges: battery against a public safety officer.

I wish I could tell you shes the exception, said Sarah Barham, an addiction counselor with Centerstone, an Indiana nonprofit.

Medicaid enrollment requires resources that many prison systems and local jailsoften overcrowded and operating in crisis mode for yearslack or have been reluctant to commit.

Most of the county sheriffs dont have the proper staff they need to even run the jails, said Bill Wilson of the Indiana Sheriffs Association. Many jails are making an effort, but in some places pulling the resources out to enroll an inmate in Medicaid is not something the sheriffs able to do.

In Minnesota, only those eligible for special release planning programs are offered assistance in applying; as a result, fewer than 1,000 of the 6,800 prisoners the state released last year applied for Medicaid, according to corrections officials there. Minnesota is one of seven statesAlaska, Hawaii, Arizona, Montana, Louisiana, and Illinois are the othersthat expanded Medicaid but have not implemented a large-scale enrollment program.

In many states, even pre-release registration requires a follow-up visit to a local Medicaid or welfare office to activate the coverage on release. Obtaining a phone, paying for minutes, and navigating bus lines to state offices can be daunting for newly released inmates who often struggle with basic needs such as food and shelter.

Indiana officials applied for Medicaid on behalf of more than 7,000 state prisoners from March through Septembernearly 90 percent of those released. (Many of the others were released to other states or deported, officials said.) Yet only a little more than half called to activate their coverage when they got home, according to state data. The state said in recent weeks it eliminated the requirement to activate coverage with a call.

Released prisoners also often need to reestablish identification by applying for Social Security cards and birth certificates. That can take weeks or months. Sometimes theres another step: enrolling in one of the private, managed care networks that many states hire to administer Medicaid benefits.

In the chaotic days and weeks after release, red tape can mean the difference between joining Medicaid or remaining cut off from community caregivers.

William Santee, 46, released from Pennsylvania state prison this year, has diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. He learned about Medicaid enrollment requirements and the need to visit a welfare office from workers at a homeless shelter.

The prison didnt tell me about where to go or anything like that, he said. They dont consider that their responsibility. Waiting in line and completing the welfare-office paperwork took five hours.

Getting the Details Right

Almost as critical as successful enrollment is choosing a Medicaid plan that covers medicines and services ex-inmates need. Jail and prison workers are rarely equipped to wade through such details.

Thats a huge issue for us, said Susan Jo Thomas of Covering Kids and Families, a nonprofit that helps enroll people in Medicaid in Indiana. You finally get a person to the place where they are ready to go into detox, but if they have aligned with an insurance company that doesnt cover the medicine that program uses, then you have a problem.

In some extreme cases bureaucratic rules clash, leaving ex-prisoners stranded between agencies. In Indiana and several other states, corrections departments consider prisoners in work release programs, who report to jobs during the day, to be free. That means theyre not eligible for care from the prison system.

Medicaid, on the other hand considers them still incarcerated. So they cant enroll in community health coverage, either.

We got all excited when Obamacare came out, because everybodys going to be covered, said Peggy Urtz, who runs an Iowa work release facility for women. Instead, she said, the women are going to ERs when theyre ill and racking up medical bills. We have good providers, well experienced in working with women, and they cant go to them because they dont have insurance.

A few states and localities reap praise for innovative and comprehensive attempts to enroll emerging prisoners in Medicaid.

Ohio recently finished phasing in Medicaid registration at all state prisons and is one of the few states giving inmates a managed-care insurance card as they leave, said John McCarthy, that states Medicaid director. Chicagos huge Cook County jail puts prisoners on the Medicaid books as they enter, rather than before they leave, to sidestep the common problem in jails of unpredictable release dates.

More often the process looks like what was happening one recent Friday in Indianas Marion County jail, where Lt. Debbie Sullivan was trying to rouse sleepy women to sign up for health insurance.

The document she distributed was three pages long, authorizing a Medicaid application on inmates behalf. It asked for names, addresses, birth dates, and Social Security numbers. The handwritten information would later be entered into computersa recipe for transposed digits and misspelled names.

The program remains a work in progress, said Katie Carlson, a spokeswoman for the Marion County Sheriffs Office, which runs the jail. It has proven a daunting task to enroll, track, and provide meaningful information on both Medicaid and health care.

Experts say such sessions require a half-hour or more to get the details right and answer questions about picking the right plan and following up with doctors and insurance officials after release.

Sullivans knowledge of the womens next steps was minimal. In response to questions, she simply told them to contact their local social service office when they get out. She walked out of the block with about 30 signed applications. It was over in 15 minutes.

Thank you, ladies! she called on her way out, as the heavy steel door slammed behind her.

This article is published in partnership with The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system, NPR, and Side Effects Public Media, a news collaborative covering public health.

Marshall Project interns Deonna Anderson, Josiah Bates, Jonathan Gomez and Rachel Siegel contributed research.

*** . *******
Every scientist not on the corporate dole is upset about Scott Pruitt, Donald Trumps pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

Like Betsy DeVos, who wants to destroy public education, and Jeff Sessions, who wants to destroy the Voting Rights Act, Pruitt is against the very laws he will soon be in charge of enforcing.

And the more you know about environmental law, the more you know that the Oklahoma attorney general and his minions could be way, way, way worse at the EPA than pundits and scientists have said. Yes, hes a climate denier. Yes, hes sued the EPA five times to prevent regulations (and lost every time). And yes, he has openly defied court orders on same-sex marriage and abortion, investigated the Humane Society for daring to back an animal welfare law, and opined that public schools should distribute religious materials to children. But hes about to enjoy free rein to gut environmental regulations, without Congress or the courts to stop him.

Thats because environmental laws are deliberately broad, delegating massive authority to the EPA, which then has broad discretion to determine how to implement them. If you think about it, this makes sense. Congress isnt populated by scientists but by politicians. So they set policy goalsclean air, clean water, toxin-free environmentsand leave it up to the experts to determine how to meet them.

Most of the nuts and bolts of environmental law have thus been created not by Congress but by generations of EPA regulations and implementations. Clean air standards for factories, thresholds for pesticides in fuels or toxic chemicals in detergents and fuels, pollution levels for riversall of these, and many more, exist in regulations contained in the Code of Federal Regulations.

Usually, its conservatives who have complained about this. First, of course, they tend not to like anything that restricts unfettered capitalism, and environmental law certainly does that. Second, they tend not to like big government and unaccountable bureaucracy, and reams of agency-generated regulations are exactly that. And they tend to be wary of executive power in general.

Thus, for the last 40 years, corporations, industry groups, conservative think tanks, and Republican lawmakers have sued the bejeezus out of the EPA (and other agencies), challenging just about every regulation the agency puts out.

And usually, they have lost. Over several decades, the Supreme Court has tended to side more with the EPA than with its challengers. There have been exceptionsone of Justice Antonin Scalias last opinions required the EPA to limit mercury emissions only when it is cost-effective for corporations to do so. But in general, the court has observed that the enabling statutes passed by Congress deliberately cede authority to the EPA. Without congressional authority, the EPA couldnt make up regulations and decide how to enforce them. But with it, the agency can.

Now the shoe is on the other foot. Now its arch-conservatives who will be controlling the EPA, with exactly the same level of authority as the environmentalists who preceded them.

And make no mistake: Pruitts nomination is historic. No one has ever headed the EPA with his level of anti-science, anti-environmental record, which includes multiple lawsuits against the EPA intended to prevent the EPA from doing its job. Which is now supposed to be his job. He is also a state attorney general with no experience managing an organization like the EPA (budget: $7.7 billion), no scientific background, and close ties to the very industries he is supposed to be regulating.

By way of comparison, George W. Bushs EPA directors, Christine Todd Whitman, Mike Leavitt, and Stephen L. Johnson, were no dark greens, but they were reasonable figures. Whitman was an environmental moderate, Leavitt was a former governor who as EPA director pushed through good pollution restrictions, and Johnson was a scientist.

Youd have to go back to Anne Gorsuch, Reagans first EPA chief, to find an ideologue like Pruittand she was cited for contempt of Congress after failing to clean up Superfund sites, starving the EPA, and refusing to turn over critical documents to legislators. She ultimately resigned in disgrace.

So what are some examples of how Pruitt and his team could put this agency discretion into practice? Here, grouped into five categories, are 20 immediate steps they can take on their own, without congressional action, and with virtually no possibility of being stopped by the courts:

1. Cripple Enforcement. The main thing the EPA can do is simply fail to enforce all environmental laws by firing people and cutting enforcement budgets. This is what Gorsuch did in the 80s: fire people, shrink the agency, and sabotage it entirely. Without adequate enforcement, no lawthe Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, whateverhas any meaning. This will likely happen immediately. In addition, the EPA can adopt new standards that lower the value of a human life (usually around $1 million) when being factored into cost-benefit analysis. That could prohibit regulation entirely if it costs companies more than a few thousand dollars in profits for each life saved. It will take a bit longer, but will happen in 2017.

2. Climate Change. Pruitt can decide not to regulate carbon dioxide emissions at all, derailing most climate change-prevention efforts in one quick stroke. Adopt junk science that defies the 100 percent scientific consensus (that is not an exaggeration; over a five-year period, 928 peer-reviewed articles endorsed climate change, zero opposed it) about climate change, putting EPA on record that it simply doesnt exist. Concurrently, he can stop the EPA from collecting any data on climate change, ending the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program immediately. Pull out of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Eliminate the Social Cost of Carbon metric. Hire frauds like Willie Soon to government positions. Prohibit the EPA itself from saying the words climate change or taking it into account at any time. (That has already happened in Florida.)

3. Air Pollution. Allow power plants to emit way more sulfur dioxide, causing acid rain (and increasing profits). Loosen the NAAQS, the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, to allow far more smog, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter into the air. Change automobile emission standards to allow dirtier cars and dirtier fuels. Loosen the NESHAPs, the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants, allowing asbestos to be reintroduced, factories to emit more air pollutants, etc.

4. Toxic Substances. Change standards for pesticides, raising amounts of pesticides deemed acceptable for agriculture, food, landscaping, etc. Lift ceilings on industrial pollutants, endangering workers but increasing profits. De-list Superfund sites and redirect Superfund money away from communities of color and others affected by environmental racism. De-list various chemicals from regulations under toxic substances control statutes.

5. Water Pollution. Publish new studies saying that fracking and mountaintop removal mining are perfectly safe and may be implemented anywhere in the country. Allow nuclear plants to release more radioactive material into rivers and ground water. Allow industrial and agricultural activities to release far more waste into water sources.

Chances are, unless youre a huge environmental nerd, you havent even heard of most of these. (I ran the environmental law clinic at Yale Law School, and I worked for a former EPA deputy administrator.) And thats the point. Big-ticket issues like climate change have grabbed the headlines, and they are important. But in terms of impact, the items on this list will be far more significant. And again, they will happen without congressional action, and with limited judicial oversight.

Dont believe the hype about Scott Pruitt. He is far, far more dangerous than you think.
Stephen K. Bannon, the incoming White House chief strategist, has built up a unique roster of fans over the years: rabid white supremacists, Breitbart commenters, Matt Boyle, and Hollywood actor Jim Caviezel.

Yes, Mel Gibsons Jesus was tight with the propagandist decades before he made it to Trump Tower to give interviews admiring Dick Cheney. Darth Vader. Satan.

Before becoming the head of Breitbart News and then Donald Trumps top guy, Bannon tried to make it big in Hollywood as a conservative filmmaker and documentarian, one openly influenced by Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl. When he wasnt developing hagiographical docs about Ronald Reagan or Sarah Palin, he was drafting wild script ideasincluding a Shakespearean rap musical set during the 1992 L.A. riots, and an adaptation of Shakespeares blood-splattered tragedy Titus Andronicus but with space-monsters and ectoplamsic sex.

His time as a right-wing filmmaker, operating in the Democratic stronghold of liberal Hollywood, kept Bannon in good company with many of the elite members of Hollywood Republican cliques, including those in the secretive GOP group Friends of Abe. One of the conservative-Hollywood heavy hitters who became an ally of Bannons was Caviezel, star of the CBS drama Person of Interest and most famously Mel Gibsons The Passion of the Christ.

Ive gotten to know Jim Caviezel, and I consider Jim a buddy, Bannon offhandedly mentioned to RedStates Ben Howe during a podcast taping in late 2010.

Bannons friendship with Caviezel was struck up in the early aughts, when Bannon was still working with his longtime Hollywood writing partner Julia Jones (who now describes herself as a Bernie Sanders liberal who is so disgusted at what Bannon has become). According to Jones, the pair had been tapped by producer Stephen McEveety, who worked on The Passion of the Christ, to write a screenplay about the Rwandan genocide.

McEveety, who knew Caviezel from the small Christian-conservative crowd working in Hollywood, introduced the actor to Bannon, then a rising star and professional schmoozer in the right-wing, activist corners of Los Angeles.

As their friendship grew, Caviezel started checking out Bannons filmography, and was particularly taken by Bannons 2004 directorial debut, In the Face of Evil: Reagans War in Word and Deed. The documentary is a Rush-Limbaugh-endorsed film that tells the story of good versus evil in this epic tale which chronicles Ronald Reagans crusade to destroy the most tyrannical and depraved political systems the world has ever known.

Caviezels publicist did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did Bannon. But according to those close to Bannon at the time, this piece of Reagan propaganda became essential viewing to Caviezel, who would host exclusive parties promoting the film.

Caviezel, it seemed, had also managed to memorize the movie.

One time in 2005, I was talking to him and he just started reciting the script, Tim Watkins, an In the Face of Evil producer, told The Daily Beast. [Caviezel] said hed seen it many, many times.

Jones, who (despite her personal politics) co-wrote the enthusiastically pro-Reagan doc with Bannon, recalls that Caviezel became one of her partners most high-profile fans in Hollywood.

Jim Caviezel would throw parties at this house and host screenings, and invite Steve [Bannon] to come often, sometimes as a filmmaker to speak, Jones said. These were [gatherings] thrown for Hollywood conservatives, and [Jim] would screen it for people he wanted to see it, people he knew. Steve told me that Jim loved the movie and was having all these screenings up at his mansion in Santa Barbara in 2005.

Jim was very friendly with Steve in part because he thought our Reagan film was the greatest thing ever made, Jones continued, chuckling.

Aside from his Reagan worship, Caviezels politics are firmly rooted in his Christian faith. He is anti-abortion and against embryonic stem-cell research, for instance. In his Hollywood days, Bannon was closer to your run-of-the-mill Reaganite conservativealbeit a militant one, according to Jones. This was years before he grew into the full-blown nationalist and anti-globalist who became a ringleader for the racist alt-right.

And as their friendship carried on, some of Bannons Hollywood contemporaries recall him aggressively name-dropping Caviezel, his new, famous, Christian-right buddy.

I had a [film] project I was involved with at one time in which Steve leveraged the idea of bringing Jim Caviezel to the picture as a means of involving himself, one Hollywood Republican, who asked not to be named while discussing Bannon, told The Daily Beast. It ended up not getting produced and he didnt bring Jim in.

Bannons relationship with Caviezel, a right-wing celebrity with a distinctly higher profile, perhaps foreshadows his current relationship with the incoming leader of the free world.

Bannon is a smarter version of Trump: hes an aggressive self-promoter who name-drops to heighten his profile and woo bigger names, and then uses those bigger names as stepping stools to his next destination, Ben Shapiro, a former Breitbart employee who worked under Bannon, wrote in August.

Trump may be his final destination. Or it may not. He will attempt to ruin anyone who impedes his unending ambition, and he will use anyone bigger than he isfor example, Donald Trumpto get where he wants to go.
ROME  Popular Pope Francis will turn 80 on December 18, and he seems to be getting feistier with age.

Although the pope has never been one to mince words, condemning idle gossip, shaming fundamentalism as idolatry, and even questioning president-elect Donald Trumps claims to be a Christian, he has now taken his rhetoric to a new level.

On Wednesday, the Vatican released the transcript of an interview with the Belgian Catholic paper Tertio in which Francis accused the faction of the media intent on spreading fake news of coprophilia, defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary as marked interest in excrement; especially the use of feces or filth for sexual excitement. He also accused consumers of such fake news of coprophagia or, essentially, feeding on dung.

I believe that the media should be very clear, very transparent, and not fall prey without offense, pleaseto the sickness of coprophilia, which is always wanting to communicate scandal, to communicate ugly things, even though they may be true, he said. And as people tend to suffer from coprophagia, it can be very harmful.

To be fair, Francis was asked specifically about the media at the end of a wide-ranging interview that touched on the separation of religion from politics, interreligious dialogue and war. As a penultimate question, the interviewer asked, Holy Father, regarding the media: a consideration regarding the means of communication to which he piled praise on the press, calling them builders of opinion who can do immense good, immense.

Nowadays they have in their hands the possibility and the capacity to form opinion, he said. They can form a good or a bad opinion. The means of communication are the builders of a society.

Then he let the interviewer know what he really thinks. And the communications media have their temptations.

They can be tempted by calumny, and therefore used to slander, to sully people, especially in the world of politics, he said. They can be used as a means of defamation: every person has the right to a good reputation, but perhaps in their previous life, or ten years ago, they had a problem with justice, or a problem in their family life, and bringing this to light is serious and harmful; it can annul a person.

He also went on to condemn what has come to be known as fake news: A thing that can do great damage to the information media is disinformation: that is, faced with any situation, saying only a part of the truth, and not the rest. This is disinformation. Because you, to the listener or the observer, give only half the truth, and therefore it is not possible to make a serious judgment, he said. Disinformation is probably the greatest damage that the media can do, as opinion is guided in one direction, neglecting the other part of the truth.

Perhaps his comments particularly fitting given harsh criticism recently poured on the pontiff by a faction of ultra-conservative Cardinals who want him to be more clear on where he stands on such issues as same sex unions and divorced and remarried Catholics or face the consequences.

He is also under scrutiny by the LGBT community after signing off on a document called The Gift of the Priestly Vocation which offers guidance to seminaries not to accept priest candidates who are gay. If a candidate practices homosexuality or presents deep-seated homosexual tendencies, his spiritual director as well as his confessor have the duty to dissuade him in conscience from proceeding towards ordination, says the document, which was originally written in 2005.

Scorn has never bothered Francis in the past, and it likely wont bother him now. In an interview with the Catholic newspaper Avvenire about his critics, he said, quite simply, I dont lose sleep over it.
Inside Sources Say Twitter Changes Coming Next Week: Report

AS SOON AS MONDAY

Elon Musk, keen to make changes after his purchase of the platform, is set to change up the way verification works as soon as possible.
Matthew Rothschild: Green Bay mayor got off too easy on campaign finance
QuHarrison Terry, marketing director at the health care IT company Redox, is calling on all entreprenurs to give back to their communities in 2017. And he's leading the way. PHOTO BY SAIYNA BASHIR
Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading.

Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy
Lawyers for a suspended UW-Madison student accused of sexual assaults of five women are asking a judge to release him from jail on a signature bond, arguing that the $200,000 bail keeping him in jail is not necessary.

Alec Cook, 20, of Edina, Minnesota, who has been in jail since October on 15 criminal charges, 11 of them sexual assault charges of various degrees, should be released because prosecutors havent shown that bail is required to assure that Cook will appear in court, his lawyers said.

District Attorney Ismael Ozanne did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Attorneys Chris Van Wagner and Jessa Nicholson wrote in a bail motion filed Thursday that the prosecutors cited the seriousness of the charges against Cook as a reason for setting a high amount of cash bail.

Cook asserts that the state cannot meet its burden of demonstrating that the seriousness of the charges in this case means that cash bail is necessary to assure his appearance in court, the lawyers wrote. There is a variety of social science data which concludes that cash bail is not necessary to assure compliance with pre-trial conditions

Cook was arrested on Oct. 17, as police investigated allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman at his apartment. Cook maintained that sex with the woman was consensual. He was released on a signature bond on Oct. 19, then went home to Minnesota with his parents.

Cook quickly learned, his lawyers wrote, that he was wanted by police for another sexual assault allegation, so he went back to Madison to surrender himself on Oct. 20. He waited in jail as charges were drawn up and appeared again in court on Oct. 27.

Van Wagner and Nicholson wrote that local and national media, seizing on comments made by prosecutors at a brief court appearance for Cook on Oct. 24 that referred to dozens of potential victims and stalking notebooks, came to the Oct. 27 hearing. Because prosecutors indicated at the time that they planned to file several more charges soon, the lawyers wrote, they stipulated to $200,000 cash bail to avoid back-and-forth trips for Cook between Edina and Madison as potential new arrests became necessary.

The hope was to let the dust settle, in effect, to allow the state to file any more charges, at which time the parties could make a full argument regarding an appropriate bond amount, they wrote.

More than a month later, they wrote, no additional charges have been filed. Most of the stalking notebooks have also been returned to Cooks lawyers, they wrote.

A preliminary hearing for Cook was set for Dec. 27, but Assistant District Attorney Colette Sampson requested that itbe pushed back because detectives would not be available. Van Wagner and Nicholson agreed to the delay, Sampson wrote.
What a great day it was at Texas A&M when thousands of Aggies and community residents gathered together to celebrate the university's great diversity at the same time a white nationalist was speaking nearby on campus.

It was also a great day for America and for Americans.

A&M proved that by protecting free speech even for those who spew hate we deplore, we promote free speech for the rest of us. It is an important message we need to learn over and over again.

When it was learned last month that national "alt-right" leader Richard Spencer had been invited by a local resident to speak on campus, many Aggies reacted with outrage. They were horrified that a race-baiter would be allowed to speak at their beloved university.

A&M leaders quickly pointed out that Spencer had not been invited by anyone connected to the school and his beliefs certainly are counter to everything A&M stands for. Under the law, however, anyone willing to pay the cost of facility rental, must be allowed to speak on campus. There was nothing A&M could do to stop Spencer's speech.

But A&M President Michael K. Young wasn't about to let Spencer's hateful remarks go unanswered. He announced Aggies United, an alternate event held at the same time as Spencer's talk. It was a celebration of unity, a perfect rebuttal to Spencer's message of hate, division and disunity.

Aggie mean and women, straight and gay, of different faiths, or different colors, of different philosophies and persuasions, joined in to say loudly and clearly, "We are the Aggies and the Aggies are we." The differences don't matter, are to be celebrated and embraced.

Speaker after speaker at the Kyle Field event talked of our commonality, of our need to move forward together, hand in hand, toward a better America.

The positive energy from Aggies United was in stark contrast to Spencer's combative talk in which he ridiculed members of the audience -- the few who were there -- and defended his beliefs that white men own the country.

Saying white men "conquered the continent," Spencer said, "Whether it's nice to say that or not, we won, and we got to define what America means.

"America, at the end of the day, belongs to white men."

Spencer and his increasingly smaller band of frightened supporters couldn't be more wrong. The days of white men rule are fading ever faster into distant memory. Talent and energy and intelligence have become the coin of the realm, not skin color and gender. There is a ways to go, but Spencer is the ever-tinier voice of the past and Aggies United is the voices of the future.

In a way, though, Spencer got exactly what he wanted: notoriety. Calling Aggies United a "terrible failure," Spencer said, "The more energy they direct towards us, the more powerful we become."

He couldn't be more wrong. Every time he opens his mouth, the hundreds of millions of good, decent Americans are repulsed and eagerly renew their hopes and goals for a better, united America.

Tuesday's A*M appearance by Richard Spencer served a useful purpose: It reminded Aggies, it reminded all of us, that together we are stronger than our differences. It is an important reminded.

Chinese Gen. Sun Tzu, more than 500 years before the birth of Jesus, said, "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles."

On Tuesday, we all got to know ourselves a lot better.
On the day we left, we completed a fingertip-search of the field, filmed this and our departure and delivered a note to the land owner explaining we were gone and all was tidy. We informed the press and police as well. Cuadrilla (through the landowner) 'evicted' the clean, empty field on 27th August 2016. We found ourselves in court on the 28th."

Tina Rothery then volunteered to be the 'named defendant' in the action and is now being pursued by Cuadrilla in person. She in turn has stated that she is completely unable to pay the sum claimed, and even if she could pay it, she would refuse on principle:

"I will not pay any amount. More than the simple fact of not being able to pay, this is about reaching my own line-in-the-sand point in this long struggle. I believe our law courts should be about seeing true justice, not as a weapon against opposition. Our law courts and legal system are a costly indulgence that eats time and money that activists just don't have."

Former conservative cabinet minister John Gummer, now Lord Deben has now joined the call for the case to be dropped, tweeting:

Don't oppose fracking in principle. However, Cuadrilla should take advice of long time politician deal gently with opponents or you'll fail  John Deben (@lorddeben) December 8, 2016

Why not green gas?

Green energy firm Ecotricity has also challenged Cuadrilla and the wider the shale gas industry today by submitting planning applications for rival 'green gas' mills on proposed fracking sites in Lancashire including the Preston New Road site where Tina's occupation took place, and nearby Roseacre Wood.

In a new report released last month, Green Gas: The Opportunity for Britain, Ecotricity unveiled a national plan for Britain to get its gas through a new and sustainable method, using species-rich grass grown on farmland.

The report found that there is enough grassland to provide almost all of Britain's household gas demand by 2035 - in the process creating a new industry supporting 150,000 jobs and pumping 7.5 billion into the economy every year.

"Green gas will make big cuts to carbon emissions, create wildlife habitats on an unprecedented scale, support food production by improving soils, and provide support for farmers who are set to lose EU subsidies following Brexit", the company claims.

Ecotricity recently won planning permission to build its first Green Gas Mill in Hampshire - one of six sites in development. The company says its latest applications at potential fracking sites in Lancashire "are part of a wider strategic campaign to prevent shale gas exploitation, highlight the lack of democracy in the planning process and illustrate there is an alternative way to make our gas."

Letter text in full: drop Tina's case!



Dear Mr Egan,

We are writing to urge you to end Cuadrilla's legal action against Tina Rothery, a peaceful anti-fracking campaigner facing over 55,000 legal costs and a possible two-week jail sentence following the supposed eviction of campaigners on 27th August 2014 from a site you hope to frack.

The bailiffs in fact 'evicted' an empty field. As Cuadrilla, the landowner and the public were made aware, the protesters were always going to leave on 26th August. They did this, having fully cleaned the site after their three-week stay and caused no damage.

In the light of this, the decision to incur large legal costs for eviction and to pursue one individual for these looks like a deliberate strategy to deter other protesters. Tina now faces a potential two-week jail sentence for refusing to comply with the Court Order, which she did because she considers Cuadrilla's case against her to be unjust, bullying and an abuse of perfectly legitimate campaigners to deter protest. The intention to vacate the site was communicated to Cuadrilla and so there was no need for the action you took.

Tina has shown extraordinary bravery. When this legal action was brought and a named defendant was needed, she volunteered to prevent one of her fellow Lancashire Nanas, perhaps someone caring for children or elderly parents, being victimised.

Tina is an ordinary citizen seeking to exercise her right of protest against an industry which, according to Government opinion polls, is more unpopular than ever because of the risks it poses to our health, to our local and global environment and to our communities.

Lancashire County Council supported local people's objections and refused Cuadrilla's application to test-drill, frack and flow-test shale gas wells at two sites. Following an appeal, the Government has decided to overturn one refusal and probably both.

You may have won a legal argument, but, as far as we the undersigned and the people of Lancashire are concerned, you have not won a democratic or moral argument. You may have the permission of the Government to frack in Lancashire, but you do not have the permission of the people of Lancashire. Fracking is being imposed on Lancashire against its will.

You have described the fracking opportunities in the UK as 'an absolute game-changer'. We agree: fracking could be a game changer - for the climate. According to Oil Change International, potential carbon emissions from oil, gas, and coal in the world's currently operating fields (without new fracking) and mines would take us beyond 2C of warming, let alone the 1.5C which the Paris climate agreement requires us to pursue efforts towards. If we cannot afford to burn the gas we currently have, what is the point of looking for more?

We urge you to drop Tina's case, allow peaceful protest and halt the drilling - for all our futures.

Yours sincerely,

Emma Thompson

Vivienne Westwood

Josh Fox, Filmmaker

Raoul Martinez, Artist, writer, filmmaker

Francesca Martinez, Comedian

Anthony Tombling, Filmmaker

Suzanne Jeffery, Campaign against Climate Change

Donna Hume, Friends of the Earth

John Sauven, Greenpeace

Ellie Groves, Reclaim the Power

Danielle Paffard, 350.org

Nick Dearden, Global Justice Now

Caroline Lucas, Green Party

Jonathan Bartley, Green Party

Natalie Bennett, Green Party

Manuel Cortes, TSSA

Chris Baugh, PCS

Matt Wrack, FBU

Tony Kearns, Communication Workers Union

Ian Hodson, Bakers, Food & Allied Workers union

Graham Petersen, Greener Jobs Alliance.

Action: Facebook event for the #IamTinaToo protest.

Twitter: #IAmTinaToo

Petition: Ecotricity has launched a petition urging the Government to reconsider where Britain will get its gas from in future: Green Gas or Fracking - Let the People choose.

Main source: campaigncc.org/iamtinatoo

Oliver Tickell is contributing editor at The Ecologist.
In the latest show of discord between statehouse Republicans, three of the state Assemblys most conservative members have publicly upbraided their leader, Speaker Robin Vos, for snubbing them for committee leadership posts in 2017.

Rep. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere, was the most prominent of those snubs. The fourth-term Jacque told the Wisconsin State Journal the appointments are a warning from Vos, R-Rochester, to GOP members that conservative dissent will not be tolerated and is likely to be dealt with harshly and swiftly.

I am proud to continue fighting for Wisconsin taxpayers and the pro-life cause, Jacque said in a statement. To the extent I have been and will be punished for my efforts on their behalf, I will wear it as a badge of honor.

Vos did not immediately respond to the criticism Thursday. Earlier in the week, top Republicans, including Vos and two GOP senators, Duey Stroebel and Chris Kapenga, clashed on whether lawmakers should consider increasing gas taxes or vehicle registration fees in the next legislative session.

Republicans enter the 2017-18 legislative session with a 64-35 edge in the Assembly, their biggest majority there in five decades. On Wednesday, Vos announced which of them will lead the Assemblys 37 standing committees and 10 of its joint Assembly-Senate committees.

Jacque, who last session was chairman of the Assembly Labor committee, was notably absent from the list.

Also excluded were second-term Reps. Jesse Kremer, R-Kewaskum, and Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, both of whom told the State Journal they sought committee chairmanships. Such assignments typically are doled out on the basis of seniority and knowledge of a particular issue.

Brandtjen said she saw common threads between herself, Kremer and Jacque. All three of us are conservative and all three of us are pro-life, Brandtjen said.

On Wednesday, Vos suggested the leadership appointments are simply a function of the historically large Republican majority in the Assembly. He acknowledged in a statement announcing the appointments that theyre a break from a long-standing Assembly practice of giving every returning majority member a chairmanship, excluding the members of the Joint Finance Committee.

Due to the historic GOP majority, that would mean a significantly larger number of committees than any session in the last 20 years, Vos said.

Also left off the list were Reps. James Edming, R-Glen Flora, and David Steffen, R-Green Bay.

Steffen told the State Journal he wasnt surprised because he volunteered to forgo a chairmanship. Steffen said he agrees with Vos decision not to simply create unnecessary committees for the purpose of, in Steffens words, serving egos and aspirations.

Jacque told the conservative website Media Trackers that he believed the snub was punishment for holding a hearing in 2015 on a proposed repeal of the states prevailing wage, a minimum wage for workers on public construction projects. Lawmakers and Gov. Scott Walker ultimately enacted a partial repeal of prevailing wage for projects funded by local units of government; it does not apply to state-funded projects.

Vos criticized Jacque at the time for calling the hearing, panning it as a stunt.

In 2015, Jacque sponsored a controversial bill that would have banned the use of fetal tissue. UW-Madison leaders and science and technology groups fought the bill, which did not pass, saying such tissue is vital for certain types of medical research.

Kremer earned a reputation in his first term as an unapologetically conservative lawmaker willing to go it alone  particularly on highly charged social issues such as concealed firearms and transgender bathrooms.

Kremer told the State Journal he was surprised and disappointed by the committee chairmanship snub. But he said it may have some upside in demonstrating his independence.

Im part of a team, but Im not beholden to anyone in Madison, Kremer said. The speaker actually helped me out in that regard.
Millennial Moms Review: 2022 Acura MDX is pretty close to the perfect family car

I dont know if perfect is attainable, especially considering weve got the world of options when it comes to modern vehicles. Were spoiled and, as such, we have very specific needs and wants. Driving-wise, the 2022 Acura MDX is one of my favourite ...
Enjoy music, art and more this weekend in Southeast Iowa

Your guide to getting off the couch and out the door this weekend in Southeast Iowa.
A jury on Thursday awarded $100,000 to the parents of Dr. Stanley Phillips III, who died after a Meriter Hospital ambulance carrying him crashed in 2013, but gave no award for pain and suffering he may have experienced.

The verdict wont give Phillips parents more money than they have already received.

UnityPoint Health-Meriters main insurance company, Sentry, paid a $1 million settlement in the case, its total potential liability. Sentry and Meriters other insurer, Medical Protective Co., agreed before the trial to cover $504,000 for medical bills, funeral costs and loss of companionship, which comes out of the $1 million.

In the trial, held this week before Dane County Circuit Court Judge Richard Niess, the doctors parents, Connie and Stanley Phillips Jr., 58, of California, asked Medical Protective for $3 million for pain and suffering and at least $3 million for loss of support.

Medical Protective had to pay only if the jury awarded more than $496,000, which would have raised the total to more than $1 million. Because that didnt happen, the total award, from Sentry, will remain $1 million.

The parents attorney, Jeffrey Zirgibel, of Brookdale, said Phillips had been planning to support them in their retirement. An economist hired by them said the doctor would have earned $12 million to $16 million during his parents lifetimes and could have spent 20 percent of that on them.

But Barrett Corneille, of Madison, an attorney for Medical Protective, said it wasnt clear Phillips was going to help his parents and he might have earned less  by joining Doctors without Borders, for example.

Phillips, 32, a UW-Madison newborn care fellow, was on Meriters mobile newborn intensive care unit, heading to Appleton to bring a baby to Meriter for surgery by a UW specialist, about 12:35 p.m. July 10, 2013, when the ambulance crashed on Highway 26 about 10 miles south of Rosendale.

Ross Fleming, a Meriter employee who was driving, was fined $213 for failure to keep the vehicle under control. He told investigators he accidentally drove off the road as it curved and couldnt get back before the vehicle hit a culvert and flipped on its side.

Three other medical workers in the ambulance were injured.

State Journal reporter Ed Treleven contributed to this report.
An international firm that books events into Chicagos Soldier Field and New Orleans Superdome has been selected to do the same for the Dane County Coliseum, the county announced Thursday.

SMG, a company based in suburban Philadelphia that specializes in managing public venues, won a request for proposal to be the dedicated sales team for the county-owned facility on the Alliant Energy Center grounds.

This partnership will bring more events and concerts to the Coliseum and result in more top-level shows for Dane County, County Executive Joe Parisi said in a statement. We look forward to working with SMG to make the Coliseum more active than ever before.

The agreement, the first of its kind for Dane County, brings the Coliseum into the SMG network of bookings and client base, joining over 200 other public facilities around the world served by the company.

Together with Dane County and Coliseum staff, SMG will stimulate more event activity and attendance for the Coliseum, Jim McCue of SMG said in a statement.

As the finances of the Coliseum, built in 1967, have degraded in recent years, Parisi and the Dane County Board have battled over the future of the venue and the larger Alliant Energy Center campus. The County Board has favored exploring more comprehensive redevelopment, including the possibility of replacing the Coliseum, while Parisi has urged a limited approach focusing on upgrades to existing facilities.

Over the past few years, the countys upgrades at the Coliseum have included new loading docks, carpeting and Wi-Fi. Its bathrooms and interior are expected to be renovated in 2017.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

It may have been one of the least effective, most mysterious attacks ever launched against the U.S, but caused the only known combat deaths in the 48 states.

It was 1944, and Japanese scientists had discovered that a powerful air current flowed generally east across the Pacific Ocean at about 30,000 feet.

Though they had found the air current through unrelated research, they saw a way to use it to attack U.S. targets without ever setting foot on American soil.

Or at least they hoped.

Knowing the currents existed, the Japanese took large paper balloons, filled them with buoyant hydrogen, and attached incendiary devices -- crude bombs intended to start forest fires in the Pacific Northwest.

The program was called Fu-go.

And while many landed along the Pacific Coast, the damage they did was negligible.

The balloons were launched into the jetstream with no certain way of controlling them, but their Japanese creators did fashion a rather elaborate yet simple system to be sure they made it as far as possible.

This system used a battery and very basic altimeter devices to release sand-filled ballast bags if the balloon dropped below a preset altitude. Once all the ballast bags were dropped, the altimeter device would ignite the long fuse for the bomb when the device sunk to its preset altitude, with the idea being that the charge would go off somewhere near the ground.

But the balloons did little damage, aside from killing a pregnant woman and five children in Oregon who had found the balloon and were playing with it.

More than 9,000 such balloon bombs were launched, but little more than 280 have been sighted or found, according to an NPR report. Most of those sighted landed along the Pacific coast in Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California. Some drifted as far inland as Michigan and as far south as Texas, according to a National Geographic map of recorded landings.

Between late 1944 and April 1945, the balloons floated across the ocean, but because Japan had no idea whether the balloons were working and due to a lack of hydrogen, they ultimately canned the program.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

NORWALK  Army Air Forces Lt. Warren E. Semple had just strafed an enemy airfield in Nazi-occupied southern France when his P-38 Lightning fighter plane was hit.

During this attack, the Lieutenant SEMPLE was hunting (sic) by an ace of Luftwaffe aviation equipped with a Messerschmitt bf109, which left him no chance, Nicolas Nico Courtine, a French police officer and historian, wrote in a recent letter to Norwalk Mayor Harry W. Rilling. Lieutenant SEMPLE has (sic) used all its resources and relief to escape the pursuer, but reached by a shot, he was forced to attempt an emergency landing. Again (hit) Lieutenant Warren E. SEMPLE was killed in the explosion of his plane.

Semple was killed in action June 15, 1944, near the city of Orange in southern France. Courtine said his grandmother witnessed the dogfight.

Seventy-two years later, Courtine continued, the young American soldier who came to France to fight for giving freedom to people and a country that he didnt know has been honored by the residents of Orange through the placement of a plaque.

The residents, according to Courtine, have Semple and other Americans who fought in World War II to thank for 72 years of Peace and Liberty!

The plaque carries a photograph of Semple, smiling in his aviator cap and uniform, flanked by the American and French flags, the coat of arms of Ville dOrange, the emblem of the 49th Fighter Squadron of the U.S. Army Air Forces and the words Mort Pour La France. At the bottom is a photograph of a twin-engined P-38.

Rilling read Courtines letter, which he received in October, at Norwalks Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day in the Community Room of City Hall on Wednesday morning. He described Semples sacrifice as exemplary of military men and women who have defended the Unites States going back to the Revolutionary War.

That was the beginning of the American freedoms that we so enjoy now, Rilling said. And it is because of the continuing heroes that are willing to lay their lives on the line, for people around the world that theyve never met, in the interest of freedom in liberty, that we have become the guardians of the world.

The plaque honoring Semple was placed Aug. 26 at the entrance to the city of Orange, only 300 yards from the location where his plane crashed, according to Silver Wings, the weekly newspaper of Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi.

The 49th Fighter Squadron Association, which has been in contact with Courtine since September 2015, thanked the city of Orange for honoring the memory of Semple in a letter that was read at the dedication ceremony in August, according to the newsletter.

It was Lt. Semple who made the ultimate sacrifice in the combat against a common enemy, here in Orange, just a short distance from where we stand, reads the squadron associations letter, which also was forwarded to Rilling. Although this happened more than 73 years ago, this time diminishes little due to the unique relationship that the people of France and the United States have shared for more than 240 years.

According to Courtine, Semple destroyed several targets and materials at the air base, thus depriving the German war effort.

This destruction has reduced the German fleet to help the Allied troops in Normandy, Courtine wrote.

Semple may have been hit by antiaircraft fire rather than a German fighter plane, according to the 49th Fighter Squadron and Silver Wings. Thats based upon a now-declassified U.S. Army Air Corps letter from Semples wingman and dated June 18, 1944.

Lt. Semple and I were last to cross the target, Lt. Semple flying on my Wing, wrote 2nd Lt. Donald A. Luttrell in the letter provided to Rilling by Courtine. As I pulled away from the target Lt. Temple was nowhere to be seen, it is my belief that Lt. Semple was hit by Enemy Anti-Aircraft.

Semples name can be found on the plaque outside Norwalk City Hall, honoring the citys war victims. He was one of more than 200 Norwalkers to die in the war.

Semple was born July 16, 2016, in Norwalk. The 1945 Norwalk Directory shows John and Caroline living at 12 North France St. He was listed a machinist at the Norwalk Company.

Since his original letter, Courtine has emailed Rilling additional information about the plaque dedication in August and the history of the Semple family.

The airmans younger sister, Virginia Semple Kane, died Sept. 24, 2006, in Portland, Maine. She was predeceased by her husband, Russell F. Kane, and two brothers, Lt. Col. Wesley A. Semple, and Lt. Warren E. Semple; and a sister, Sgt. Marion A. Johnson, according to the obituary.

rkoch@hearstmediact.com
News of the death of famed American astronaut John Glenn has brought back a flood of nostalgia for the early days of NASA manned spaceflight.

The 95-year-old ex-astronaut and U.S. senator was the last living member of the original Mercury Seven crew of test pilots turned astronauts.

On Feb. 20, 1962, Glenn became the third American in space, following colleagues Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom who went to space on separate but brief missions in 1961.

Glenns trip into low-earth orbit inside the Friendship 7 space capsule, though, would make him the first American to actually orbit our planet for an extended period of time.

WRITE-OFF: Buzz Aldrin tweets travel voucher for trip to moon claiming $33.31

If you have seen the 1983 space race epic The Right Stuff you might remember the scene with Mercury Seven astronaut John Glenn (played by Ed Harris) seeing fireflies outside of the Friendship 7 as he made three passes around the big blue marble.

That film, directed by Phillip Kaufman, depicted the fireflies as a mystical almost alien presence surrounding Glenn's tiny tin can.

In real life as Glenn stared in awe at the glowing bits, mission control was worried that it was pieces of the capsules heat shield disintegrating, possibly dooming the Marine to be the first man to die in space. After all he was reaching speeds of nearly 17,000 miles per hour.

From the radio transcript of Glenns Friendship 7 mission:

John Glenn: "This is Friendship Seven. Ill try to describe what Im in here. I am in a big mass of some very small particles that are brilliantly lit up like theyre luminescent. I never saw anything like it. They round a little; theyre coming by the capsule, and they look like little stars. A whole shower of them coming by.

They swirl around the capsule and go in front of the window and theyre all brilliantly lighted. They probably average maybe 7 or 8 feet apart, but I can see them all down below me, also."

CAPCOM: "Roger, Friendship Seven. Can you hear any impact with the capsule? Over."

John Glenn: "Negative, negative. Theyre very slow; theyre not going away from me more than maybe 3 or 4 miles per hour. Theyre going at the same speed I am approximately. Theyre only very slightly under my speed. Over. They do, they do have a different motion, though, from me because they swirl around the capsule and then depart back the way I am looking."

It took Glenn nearly five hours to circle the globe three times, splashing down safely into the Atlantic Ocean near Bermuda.

MERCURY HEROES: Scott Carpenter, 2nd U.S. astronaut in orbit, dies

Later that year when Glenns colleague Scott Carpenter made the same trip on the Aurora 7 capsule he also saw the fireflies.

NASA scientists deduced they were really just illuminated frost flakes that had accumulated on the outside of the capsule as it burst out of the earths grasp and began to fall away, looking like what could be fireflies to the untrained human eye. Carpenter was able to tap the walls of the capsule and make the flakes float off.

The Friendship 7 capsule is currently on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Its incredibly small, showing just how cramped Glenn was during his ride around the Earth.

Glenn holds the distinct honor of being the first Marine in space.

Later in Oct. 1998 at the age of 77 he became the oldest man to fly in space when he served as a payload specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. He was also the first man to drink Tang in space during the 1962 mission, setting sales off of the powdered drink for years to come.

When Carpenter died in 2013 Glenn became the last surviving member of the original Mercury Seven crew.
FITCHBURG  Ive read and heard a lot of criticism about President-elect Donald Trumps effort to keep up to 1,000 good-paying manufacturing jobs at Carrier in Indiana.

The Carrier deal has been called corporate welfare, crony capitalism, bribery, a shakedown and needless stupidity. All the criticism is misguided as the incentive package makes sense on both policy and political grounds.

As former Commerce secretary in Wisconsin, I can tell you that states compete for jobs every day. The primary duties of state economic development agencies are to retain existing jobs, encourage expansion of existing businesses, encourage startups and recruit new businesses.

Each state has a variety of tools in their toolbox to fulfill their economic development duties. My most effective tool was always to have Gov. Tommy Thompson close the deal. Nobody was better at convincing CEOs that Wisconsin was the right place for their business.

Critics correctly point out this is government picking winners and losers. I agree its not the best strategy for job growth and retention.

A smart economic development strategy requires state and national policymakers to focus on macroeconomic issues such as tax and regulatory reform, health care reform and workforce training that affect most businesses rather than a few. And the president-elect is using the Carrier deal to begin that conversation.

The entire Carrier incentive package consists of Indiana tax credits. Carrier will receive $7 million in tax credits over a 10-year period. Carrier must earn those tax credits by maintaining certain job levels and by investing at least $16 million of its own capital in the Indiana plant.

Reports suggest Carrier will retain between 800 and 1,000 hourly manufacturing jobs in Indiana. The Carrier workers make $31.50 per hour, which is $65,520 per year in total compensation. These are not low-paying jobs, as suggested in a Wall Street Journal editorial. They are great family supporting jobs here in the Midwest.

The three key criteria used to judge economic development incentive packages are: 1. What is the cost per job? What is the payback period? Would this deal happen without the incentive? (This is commonly referred to as the but for clause.)

Lets explore all three as it relates to Carrier. The cost per job retained, using 800 jobs retained as the baseline for a $7 million incentive, is $8,750 per job. This is an extremely low number when you consider the quality of the jobs retained.

The payroll for these 800 jobs is $4.4 million per month, which is $52.4 million per year. The payback on the retained jobs is 1.6 months. That doesnt include the additional $16 million investment Carrier will make in their facility. T

Thats exceptional.

Finally, the jobs clearly were headed to Mexico but for this incentive package. Any state-run economic development agency in America would do this deal in a heartbeat. The Carrier deal clearly makes sense for Indiana taxpayers.

President-elect Trump recently said, The era of economic surrender is over. We are going to fight for every American job! That powerful message resonates with people who carry their lunch to work. The president-elect won states such as Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania because many working people were deeply concerned about the direction of the nation and were concerned nobody was listening to them.

Trump said back in July he would work to save the Carrier jobs. President Barack Obama mocked Trumps promise stating, How exactly are you gonna do that?

President-elect Trump often called working men and women the forgotten man along the campaign trail. Hillary Clinton called them deplorable and irredeemable. President-elect Trump has an opportunity to convert working folks to the Republican fold for a generation. The Carrier deal is a great start.

Polls show strong public support for the Carrier deal, so clearly it is a winner politically.

The President-elect can do tremendous good for our economy by using his bully pulpit to encourage businesses to stay and grow, improving the economic climate for all U.S. businesses and not meddling in the free market.

His words and actions can set the tone for massive reinvestment by American companies. But any notion of new tariffs on U.S. companies is counterproductive.
Education ranking and review website Niche recently released its 2017 list of the safest school districts in the country.

Click through to see the 10 safest school districts in Connecticut. Visit Niche for the full report.

The ranking assessed 8,211 U.S. public school districts using data from the Civil Rights Data Collection, National Center for Education Statistics and a parent/student survey. Niche gave the most weight to results from the survey and combined that with other stats including school-related arrests, law enforcement referrals, expulsions, out-of-school and in-school suspensions.

On a state-wide level, six southwestern Connecticut schools landed in the list of top 10 safest school districts. Six Connecticut districts made the top 100 nation-wide.

Glastonbury was named Connecticut's safest district and the 19th safest district in the country. New Canaan came in at number two in the state number 24 nation-wide.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

WILTON  The Wilton Playshop is performing a holiday favorite this weekend from Dec. 9-11.

A Charlie Brown Christmas is based on the television special of Charles Schulzs long-running comic strip, Peanuts, and follows Charlie Brown on his quest to restore the holiday spirit. But when his attempt fails, he learns the true meaning of Christmas with the help of his friends.

The Playshop invited John Atkin, of Norwalk, to direct the 40-minute show. He currently serves on the board of directors at Curtain Call in Stamford, where hes directed most of his shows for adult audiences.

They asked me last spring to do it this season and I readily agreed because its such a fun little show, Atkin said. Its for kids, so you have to sort of get the actors to be big and be cartoonish so the kids can react.

Atkin said his vision for the show was to find actors who could embody the personalities of the iconic Peanuts characters and for the actors to develop those characters with their own idiosyncrasies.

After several months of practice, pulling inspiration from the comic strips and television specials, Atkin said the audience will be sure to recognize signature trademarks of the Peanuts characters  such as Lucys bossiness and wide-mouthed whining, Schroeders skill at playing his toy piano, Snoopys larger-than-life personality, and, of course, Charlie Browns well-known catch phrase, Good grief!

And at the end of the show, the audience is invited to join Charlie Brown and his friends in merrymaking and caroling to get into the holiday spirit, too.

I think the audience will get a kick out of it, Atkin said. Its been a real pleasure to work with this cast.

The cast includes local talent from Wilton, Norwalk, Stamford, Greenwich and Shelton, with Bobby Pavia as Charlie Brown; Rachel Lewis as Snoopy; Emily Vrissis as Lucy; Daniel Mann as Linus; Tommy DeSalvo as Schroeder; Connie Sinnaeve as Frieda; Jeff Freidag as Pig Pen; Carin Freidag as Violet; Beth Jackson as Sally; Mark Jackson as Shermy; and Kasey Luce as Patty.

Its a perfect holiday show, said Luce, who is the only Wilton cast member and serves on the Playshops board of committees. I hope that the audience has a really fun time, and I hope it will put Wilton Playshop on more peoples radars and theyll come back and see some more shows.

Musical direction is by Ben McCormack, with choreography by Chris Titus, owner of Wiltons Conservatory of Dance.

The show will open on Dec. 9 at 7:30 p.m., with additional performances on Saturday, Dec. 10, and Sunday, Dec. 11, at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for children ages 10 and under, and can be purchased online.

The Wilton Playshop is at 15 Lovers Lane. For more information, visit www.wiltonplayshop.org.

SKim@hearstmediact.com; 203-354-1044; @stephaniehnkim
The big fake news stories of 2016 were the polls. Most showed Donald Trump losing big in November, thus cable news ran countless renditions of the many ways Trump could not possibly win the necessary Electoral College vote. Getting the story utterly wrong should result in hand-wringing, hair-pulling and painful introspection in my profession; instead many in the news business have turned their hungry eyes on fake news disseminated on Facebook and Google.

Thats right. After a year of getting the story consistently wrong, journalism gurus are pointing to phony stories not produced by the mainstream media. After the election, The New York Times ran a piece about Election Day titled The Hoaxes, Fake News and Misinformation We Saw on Election Day. An example from the piece: A GOP mayor in Georgia tweeted that Republicans vote on Tuesday, 11/8, but Democrats vote on Wednesday, 11/9. Hello, Gray Lady; it was a joke. How desperate do you have to be to include that tweet as an example of misinformation?

Fake stories and memes that crop up during live news events have been a problem on social media for years, but a wild election season has highlighted the news medias slow response to them, the Times story began. Slow response? Au contraire, the media have been too quick to seize upon every little speck of dirt one can find surfing social media. Back in the day, TV news looked to newspapers for good stories; now producers troll Twitter for what they call content.

Trump could spin out days worth of free TV time from a single tweet  two days on the tweet itself followed by two days on Trumps failure to react appropriately. (We wouldnt even be discussing this, some droll expert would assert, if Trump had walked back his original offense.) Journalists always have been overly concerned with what people say as opposed to what they do. Trump understood how to exploit that preoccupation by mining the publics contempt for the media.

Yes, I know that there are real fake news stories  such as the one about the armed man, who fired off a round or two before he was arrested, who went to a D.C. pizzeria to investigate a bogus story about Hillary Clinton. Kudos to the good reporting that took apart the bogus pizzagate story. Thing is, for days before that incident, cable news was buzzing about fake news and the election  as if hard-to-swallow conspiracy theories swayed those voters who had not decided between Clinton and Trump.

Methinks fake news would not be a ubiquitous story if Clinton had won the White House. It certainly wasnt news when Donald Trump won the GOP primary. Fake news got big when voters acted in a way that did not confirm the mainstream medias preconceptions.

There seems to be a cautionary tale in these fake news stories, as in: If only voters had heeded real news, then Trump would not be president-elect. But really, journalists have only themselves to blame for handing the reins of reportage to amateurs. If a candidates remarks on social media confirmed the biases of most of the journalism class, then it was a cable news story. 2016 was the year of empty-calorie reportage. Fake news, bad. Junk news, our bad.
Excessive government regulations are frequent targets of those who worry about the nations ability to prosper in a highly competitive world. The complaint isnt that all regulations are bad  we need food safety rules, medical standards and thousands of other public protections that encourage happy and productive lives.

The rapid growth of new federal regulations during President Obamas time in office, however, has many experts complaining about their costs and practicality, as well as their legality. They say that excessive regulations are hindering efforts to grow the nations economy.

It is a fact that the nations recovery from a deep recession has been surprisingly sluggish, with far-reaching social consequences. Critics say that regulations are partly to blame, with a consequence that many of the new jobs created since the recession ended are low-wage or part-time. Benefits are scarce, too, so that many breadwinners who hope to support a family are having an especially tough time.

The effects of excessive regulations are widespread. For example, local bankers say that many recent regulations are making it more difficult to help worthy borrowers. In fact, just about any business that normally seeks workers for good jobs can tell stories about how hard it is to deal with government rules that are roadblocks to sensible decisions.

Congress is partially to blame, for it has become accustomed to passing broad legislation and leaving to bureaucrats the power to set forth specific policies on implementation. This task has been embraced with enthusiasm by those who believe they should determine what is best for the public.

Added to this has been the Obama administrations creation of hundreds of regulations and executive orders covering the environment, immigration, health care, agriculture and general commerce. Courts have struck down many of these actions, saying that they went far beyond the letter of the laws passed by Congress. Many others are in place, however, and dealing with them is a burden for many employers.

Our nation and economy cannot function without sensible rules and regulations. But the power to tell others how to live their lives is irresistible for many in government, and it should be supervised with great care.

The new Trump administration has promised to carefully examine regulations and executive orders, weeding out those that dont fit their views on the role of government. We wish it well.
World Series no-hitter! Astros combine for Fall Classic's first no-no since 1956

Cristian Javier and three relievers combined to no-hit the Phillies in a 5-0 win, evening the World Series at 2-2.
Americans spent nearly $19 billion in Valentines Day gifts last year, according to the National Retail Federation. Much of this money went for gifts with short shelf lives, such as candy, flowers and restaurant meals (and about $700 million was spent on gifts for pets). Theres certainly nothing wrong with giving chocolates or roses. But this year, think about going beyond the classic gifts. Instead, use Valentines Day as an opportunity to determine how you can make gifts with long-lasting impact to your circle of loved ones.

Here are some suggestions:

For your spouse or significant other  As long as your spouse or significant other has earned income, he or she may be able to contribute to a traditional or Roth IRA. So, consider giving a check to be used for that purpose. A traditional IRA can grow tax deferred, while contributions are usually tax-deductible. (Taxes are due upon withdrawal, and withdrawals prior to 59 may be subject to a 10% IRS penalty.) While Roth IRA contributions are not deductible, any earnings growth can be distributed tax free, provided the account owner doesnt take withdrawals until age 59 and has had the account at least five years. For 2015 and 2016, the IRA contribution limit is $5,500, or $6,500 for those 50 or older.

For your children  You dont have to be rich to give your children a gift worth $1 million - you just have to help them through school. College graduates earn about $1 million more over their lifetimes than those without a degree, according to research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Still, college isnt cheap: The average annual cost - tuition, fees, room and board - for a private four-year college is more than $42,000, according to the College Board, while the comparable figure for a public four-year school is about $19,000. Of course, if financial aid is available, you could get some help. Nonetheless, you may want to start putting away money for college. One popular college savings vehicle is a 529 plan. Your 529 plan contributions may be deductible from your state taxes, and any earnings growth can be withdrawn tax-free, provided it is used for qualified higher education expenses. (However, if you take withdrawals from your 529 plan, and you dont use the money for these higher education expenses, you may be subject to both income tax and a 10% penalty on the earnings.)

For your parents  If you have elderly parents, you may want to find out if theyve got their retirement and estate plans in place. If theyve already taken care of everything, you may not need to get involved - but if theyve left some loose ends, your help could be a valuable gift. So, ask them if they have drawn up the necessary legal documents. Do they each have a will? Have they created a durable power of attorney, which allows them to name someone to make financial and health care decisions on their behalf if they become incapacitated? If it appears they have much work to do in these areas, you may want to offer to arrange a consultation for them with a legal advisor and a financial professional.

None of these ideas are traditional Valentines Day gifts - but all of them can prove of great value to your loved ones.

This article was written by Edward Jones for use by Matthew Johnson, Financial Advisor, Edward Jones, 4219 State Route 159, Suite 3, Glen Carbon, 288-0074.
The issue of race in higher education has once again become a topic of public discussion, this time provoked by a statement made by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia during the hearing over a case on affirmative action at the University of Texas early last December.

During the hearing Scalia asked whether it might be better for black students to go to a slower-track school where they do well than to go to a highly selective college like The University of Texas with the help of affirmative action.

The argument is based on an educational idea known as the mismatch theory of college admissions.

According to this theory beneficiaries of affirmative action who are admitted to very competitive colleges may do worse academically and socially than if they enrolled at less selective colleges that wouldn't have considered their race or ethnicity.

In other words, affirmative action can be bad for minorities. S

upporters of this theory also claim that allowing certain minorities into selective schools will damage the quality of the education in general for those institutions.

This topic is the kind that generates a lot of discussion and debate, one in which facts oftentimes get lost in the fog of politics.

So lets take a look at what we know.

To begin with, there is a vast body of research showing that minority students who benefit from affirmative action get higher grades at the institutions they attend, leave school at lower rates than others and are generally more satisfied in higher education.

Attendance at a selective institution is also associated with higher earnings and higher college completion rates.

This contradicts the tenets of the mismatch theory.

For example, according to researchers at the University of Michigan when one looks at graduation rates or future earnings, minorities who are admitted via affirmative action to more selective schools do at least as well as - and often better - than they could have been expected to do had they gone to less selective institutions.

These researchers conducted a thorough study that examined nearly three decades of data on how affirmative action polices had worked at their university and found that minority students who entered the university through the affirmative action policy earned as much over their careers as white students.

In another study conducted by researchers from the University of California and the University of Wisconsin, minority students were found to be less likely to drop out of an academically challenging school than a less demanding institution.

And these are just two examples of this kind of research.

According to the Century Foundation, a progressive think tank, roughly half of government leaders and half of corporate leaders are graduates of just 12 selective colleges, providing them a network of contacts and career opportunities.

More minorities attending these selective colleges would result in them also having this kind of access to professional connections.

In the case involving The University of Texas, the lawyers arguing in favor of maintaining some sort of affirmative action at that institution presented data showing that students admitted using race as one of many criteria fare better academically over time than those admitted from the top 10 percent of their high school class, without regard to race.

If the Supreme Court strikes down any type of affirmative action, the consequences can be dire for the future of this country because it could lead us back to a form of the separate but equal doctrine of education.

It will also fail to prepare all students, regardless of race, to succeed in a world that is more and more diverse.

This argument also resurrects the old and discredited idea that there is a correlation between race and IQ.

Studies conducted since World War I among Army recruits have shown that the differences in IQ performance observed among different ethnic groups are due to environmental factors such as socio-economic and educational disparities and not inherent to race.

That is why the U.S. Army became the first public institution in this country to eliminate discrimination based on ethnicity.

Also, despite numerous studies, no genetic factor has been found to have a causal relation with group difference in intelligence test scores.

Also, lets remember that elite schools that admit minorities do not do it blindly, but use a number of criteria to accept those students most likely to succeed.

It is interesting that these doubts about affirmative action are taking place in the Supreme Court.

Among the beneficiaries of this policy is one of Scalias fellow justices, Sonia Sotomayor, whose admission through affirmative action to Princeton opened doors that ultimately led to the nations highest court.

Dr. Aldemaro Romero Jr. is a writer and college professor with leadership experience in higher education.

He can be contacted through his website at: http://www.aromerojr.net.
222 Artisan Bakery is kneading out new breads after sending two of their bakers, Trevor Taynor and Dustin Sheets, to the San Francisco Baking Institute Oct. 2 through Oct. 20.

After learning how to bake baguettes, ciabatta, challah, ryes, and various others, both bakers have brought back the recipes and knowledge to the kitchen where it all started.

Taynor said the institute was unforgettable and worth attending.

It was a beautiful experience. You worked in groups, so whatever table you were at, you worked with them all week long. From meeting people from Brazil and Spain and all over the U.S., even in Australia, you get to meet a lot of people there for the same reason, from different backgrounds. The instructor was fantastic too; everything was really helpful. They were there to help you out and it was just to learn, Taynor said.

(We did) everything between doing straight breads without any pre-fermented dough or levain cultures or anything like that to all that through different sweet breads, rye breads, all the different sourdoughs. How to treat different inclusions because you mix those in differently.

Both bakers learned the details of mixing, fermenting, shaping and baking breads, as well as delving into various innovative baking techniques for each different kind of bread. Taynor said after purchasing the building for 222 Artisan Bakery, they also inherited the recipes that went along with it, which inspired their recent trip.

It was a conscious decision because whenever we took this place over, we learned from somebody that learned from somebody else. So instead of playing that game of telephone and just assuming different things and not really knowing why bread would turn out certain ways. Like what little ingredient does what; its kind of just like the knowledge of all the little things that go into it, he said.

The bakerys bread menu includes baguettes, sourdough, French farm haus, rye, 9-grain, country white, whole wheat, ciabatta, and seasonal breads. The new breads are in the process of being added.

Taynor said after completing the institute courses, the most rewarding aspect was learning more about the craft.

So youre in a classroom and you go into the baking lab. For the first week, its like 50/50 and by the end of it its 90 baking and 10 percent in the classroom. So you have all of this knowledge that theyll teach you and you see the different ways of mixing  not even just including different flours but its how you mix all of the flours. Then you will take one recipe and do it five different ways and seeing all of the results you can getThe rewarding part is knowing that you can specifically do one type of bread any way that you want to and make it your own, he said.

After bringing the recipes and the knowledge back to Edwardsville, Taynor said it has been an adjustment making the new recipes in a different environment.

Baking things in San Francisco and doing it here is a little different. There are different climate factors, like humidity and everything like that that really goes into it. So you meticulously take notes on what the temperature is in the kitchen, the humidity thats in the air, what the temperature of the flour is, baking times, because all ovens are different. Their equipment is different than what we have. So I just brought that back so we could figure out whats the best way of doing it here, he said.

(So far) weve done some Challah bread, some Finnish rye; we actually get some barley from Recess Brewing. We had a barley rye, we did a multigrain; anything between super fluffy and sweet to really dense and hearty. Ive tried to do that spectrum and try to figure out which ones I like the most and go from there.

Before starting the courses, Taynor said ultimately he and Sheets wanted to learn how to improve the bakerys products.

(It) really was to see how we can make our bread better. Not that our bread was bad to begin with; the process was. It was to learn why we are doing it the way that we are doing it; to see if there was a more efficient way or any little thing to do to just improve on what we have already, he said.

The institute will be having other courses relating to pizza in February of next year and Taynor said he hopes he can attend, especially given the growing popularity of the bakerys Artisan pizzas as well.

For more information on the bakery or upcoming breads, visit the 222 Artisan Bakery website at www.222bakery.com or visit their Facebook page by searching 222 Artisan Bakery.
The Saint Louis Art Museum will present Degas, Impressionism, and the Paris Millinery Trade, February 12-May 7, 2017, in the Main Exhibition Galleries, East Building.

Admission is free.

Edgar Degas's fascination with high-fashion hats and the young women who made them is the inspiration for this groundbreaking exploration of the Paris millinery trade from about 1875 to 1914. Degas, Impressionism, and the Paris Millinery Trade will feature 60 paintings and pastels, including key works by Degas that have never been exhibited in the United States, as well as an array of period hats.

Organized by the Saint Louis Art Museum and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the exhibition is the first to examine a crucial and little-known area of Degas's decades-long study of Parisian modern life. The exhibition situates Degas's output within the context of the work of his fellow Impressionists who were also fascinated by hats, including Edouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Mary Cassatt, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The exhibition relates these artists to the enormous industry of hat production and consumption in Paris in the late-19th and early-20th century.

Edgar Degas, French, 1834-1917; The Millinery Shop, 1885; oil on canvas; 39 3/8 x 49 9/16 inches; The Art Institute of Chicago DM003Degas, Impressionism, and the Paris Millinery Trade is curated by Simon Kelly, the Museum's curator of modern and contemporary art, and Esther Bell, curator-in-charge of European painting at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Tickets for the exhibition go on sale November 22.

For more information, visit slam.org.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

After a glutinous vacation in Las Vegas, it was good to be home. I decided to stay in my own backyard for my latest You Gotta Eat, hitting up an Edwardsville classic  Sgt. Pepper's Cafe.

This Beatle-themed cafe, named for the British band's 1967 release Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, is located at 218 N. Main St. in downtown Edwardsville. The first Sgt. Pepper's actually opened in Springfield in 1999 and remains open today. The original Edwardsville location opened its doors in 2005 at University Pointe before moving to its current downtown locale in December of 2011. There was also a short-lived location in Wood River.

Wherever the location, Sgt. Pepper's offers some great eats. Their specialty is a Springfield staple, the horseshoe, and they have lots of different ones to choose from. Horseshoes and The Beatles, how can you go wrong?

My buddy Joe and I visited during lunchtime on a Friday afternoon. I hadn't had a good horseshoe in awhile and more importantly, I had never tried a breakfast horseshoe, which is available at Sgt. Pepper's.

The breakfast edition comes in either a smaller pony shoe, or the larger horseshoe. It begins with bread and is then topped two eggs, your choice of sausage, bacon or ham, golden crisp hash browns or country potatoes and covered with your choice of gravy or cheese sauce.

I went with the horseshoe, because after all, I'm a growing boy with a growing appetite. My choice of meat was of course bacon and I went with hash browns and half golden cheese and half white cheese all served over white toast.

Joe went with the same, only smothered his in disgusting white gravy, which sat on a base of two buttermilk biscuits. If I haven't noted before, I have a strong disdain for gravy.

When it arrived it was monstrous in size and oozing with cheese. Our neighbors in the diner-style restaurant ogled at our orders, which were a sight to behold. Looks weren't deceiving either.

Once I delved in I wasn't disappointed. It was extremely heavy and very filling, including all those great breakfast flavors swirling around in my palate. The cheese sauce was the thick and rich finishing touch that put it over the top.

From the crunch of the hash browns, to the saltiness of the bacon and sweetness of the cheese, it had it all. I finished every last bite of my entree as did Joe with his order.

The breakfast horseshoe was a wonderful twist on the classic horseshoe, which Sgt. Pepper's offers plenty of options.

There are a slew of horseshoe choices, from the steak or chicken fajita, to the pork tenderloin, the buffalo chicken, the chicken or steak philly, the barbecue chicken and the reuben to name a few.

If horseshoes aren't your thing, there are plenty of other choices, too. They offer a burger portion of the menu, sandwiches, tex-mex specialties, salads, wraps and platters. On top of that, breakfast is served all day at Sgt. Pepper's, which includes omelets, waffles and pancakes, breakfast wraps, breakfast deluxe specials and breakfast classics.

Check out the breakfast quesadilla or nachos, which include three scrambled eggs with cheese, tomatoes and your choice of one meat: steak, chicken, bacon, ham, beef or sausage. It's all served on a 12-inch tortilla with sour cream and salsa.

The waffles and pancakes options are pretty intriguing with toppings including: granola, peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, pecans, blueberries and strawberries. They also come with powdered sugar and whipped cream.

If you're more in the mood for lunch, the chili cheese jalapeno burger caught my eye. It's served on a kaiser bun with a thick burger, chili, shredded cheese, onions, jalapenos and sour cream and a side order of fries.

The barbecue chicken nachos sounded pretty good. They were comprised of tortilla chips on a bed of shredded lettuce, topped with chicken, sauteed onions, barbecue sauce and a choice between spicy white, or golden cheese sauce and sour cream.

Enjoy looking at all of the Beatles' memorabilia inside the quaint restaurant, too. Sgt. Pepper's loves their Beatles and loves their food and you know what the Beatles say, All You Need Is Love. Well, maybe that and some good grub and Sgt. Pepper's Cafe definitely has that when you gotta eat.
When Melodie Brankov began the Madison County Drug Court program in February of 2015, it never dawned on her that the only way she would make it through would be if she changed her attitude.

But she did both, and she realizes now that without drug court she never would have kicked an addiction to methamphetamines and been able to stay clean, as she has, for the past year.

What started the 35-year-old Granite City woman down the path to drug court  formally called the Assessment and Treatment Alternative Court  was an arrest by Illinois State Police in March of 2011. Prosecutors charged her with participating in the manufacturing of more than 100 grams but less than 400 grams of meth. She later pled to a lesser charge of possession of less than 15 grams, for which she was given probation.

But her terms of probation required that, among other conditions, she pay fines and perform community service, and she did neither. That led prosecutors to seek to revoke her probation.

Even after she was given the opportunity to enter the drug court program, Brankov says she chafed at the requirements: attend drug treatment, submit to curfew checks, attend weekly meetings with a probation officer.

They had to come here to court every other week to see me and to answer for how theyre doing and the choices they made, said Circuit Judge Kyle Napp, who oversees drug court. Brankov was one of 11 graduates who graduated from the program.

Each of the graduates, Napp said, is a fighter. They have been to the bottom, she said. They have fought their way up through everything. They could have given up and they didnt.

Drug court, she noted, is all about watching people soar.

And its also cost effective. Keeping someone in prison for a year costs $38,000, she said. Having someone spend a year with drug court costs $2,500.

Napps courtroom was filled with probation officers, judges, counselors and others whose responsibility had been to help see them through to the end. There was also a good smattering of police officers, many of whom had arrested a graduate years before.

Said Napp: Since you saw them at their worst, we thought you should see them now at their best.

The grads were introduced one after another. Each had a unique story. A young man who entered the program as an inveterate liar wrote Napp a great story about why he lies, Napp said. A quiet young woman, now 33, lost custody of her son and then won him back; now she plans to pursue a degree in criminal justice. Another, whom Napp said had developed into a good dad and a responsible person, told the gathering: Before drug court, I couldnt stop myself. Now I dont have to wake up and look for my next fix.

Then Brankov stepped to the podium. She was willing to give drug court a shot, she began, but she really didnt like it. I fought it for a long, long time, she said.

There were times when she felt like throwing in the towel, but Probation Officer Todd Hansel never did give up on her. But she was also stubborn. I didnt think I needed a sponsor, I didnt think I needed all that because I could do this myself. And then one day I just had to make a decision to turn my attitude around and accept the fact that I needed people, places and things to change. Today Im a different person.

Today she holds down two jobs. And today she has a bank account, something she never had before. Its because of drug court that she can say she lives a life thats worth living.

After the ceremony, Brankov mixed with friends, family and fellow grads in the hallway outside the courtroom. There was soda and cake and a few balloons. What was it about drug court that helped her embark on a better life?

It boils down to me having to change my attitude, she said. I just had a bad attitude when I first got into the program and I had to change that. But Ive been clean a year this Friday. And its only because of this program that I decided to do something different with my life. Whats the most important advice she learned about how to quit meth? Changing all my people, places and things. Thats what I had to do.
Change is coming to Madison County government and yet another sign of that came Monday morning with the swearing in of Kurt Prenzler as chairman of the Madison County Board.

Last months election not only ushered in Prenzler as County Board chairman but it tipped the traditionally Democratic County Board in favor of Republicans, by a 15 to 13 margin with one independent.

Prenzler was elected Madison County Treasurer in 2010 and again four years later when he defeated Democrat Marleen Suarez.

Last week he submitted resolutions that would replace several county department heads with picks of his own.

The election victory also gave Prenzler an opportunity to overturn a decision by former County Board Chairman Alan Dunstan and County Administrator Joe Parente to ban Veterans Assistance Commission Superintendent Brad Lavite from entering the Madison County Administration Building.

The action on Monday was Prenzlers first act as chairman.

It became an issue in the spring of 2015 when Lavite had an alleged mental breakdown. Wood River police were called to his home over a domestic dispute. At the time, he was charged with disorderly conduct for kicking out the window of the police car, though it was later reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor.

His attorney attributed the outburst to post-traumatic stress disorder associated with his 20 years of Army service. County Administrator Joe Parente has said that the county was looking out for the safety of county employees and for people visiting the Administration Building.

In a news release issued on Monday morning, Prenzler said, Its time we let him back into the building.

Mondays swearing in ceremony began at 9 a.m. with remarks by Prenzlers close friend, Danny Holliday. Holliday, the pastor at Victory Baptist Church in Alton, spoke for 13 minutes on several themes, including that people are given their basic rights not by the government but by God. God, Holliday told a standing-room only crowd at the County Board Room, is the ultimate official.

Afterward, Prenzler was sworn in by Associate Judge Luther Simmons. Prenzler graduated from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and Simmons, Prenzler said, remembers when he was a freshman and Donald Trump was a junior there.

Prenzler spoke for only a couple of minutes, thanking friends, family members, and supporters. And I want to thank God for the opportunity and I would appreciate your prayers. Thats what First Timothy talks about. That we should pray for those in government. And we all need it.

Elections are long, and this last one was no exception. We have learned to appreciate all the communities in Madison County by walking in parades and attending homecomings.

After the ceremony, Prenzler was asked when he would name his replacement as County Treasurer. At a later point, he said. Right now were really focused on the appointments. Its just a lot to do on the transition.

The appointments involve the firing of several department heads and replacing them with picks of his own. County Administrator Joe Parente will be replaced by Prenzlers deputy treasurer, Doug Hulme; Director of Administrative Services Barry Harris will be replaced by Steve Adler, a former County Board member who would also advise Hulme on the day-to-day operations of the county.

In addition, Mike Firsching will replace Dr. David Hall as Director of Animal Control, and Chris Doucleff will take over from Kurt Geschwend as Director of Facilities Management.

Other nominees include:

 Rob Dorman as Director of Information Technology, replacing Timothy Renick;

 Kristen Poshard as Community Development Director, replacing Frank Miles;

 Harold Wathan as Director of Employment and Training, replacing David Stoecklin.

Toni Corona, Larry Ringering, and Annette Schoeberle will continue in their current positions. Corona is Director of Health, Ringering is Director of Emergency Management, and Schoeberle is Director of Safety and Risk Management.

Prenzler has yet to announce which County Board members will serve on the various county committees or who will head them.
Learning to embrace ones beauty  inside and out  is something Markia Ivy has believed in as long as she can remember. On Friday, Nov. 11, Ivy put her passion into action and opened Euphoric Beauty, a unique accessories and hair care product boutique in downtown Edwardsville, armed with expertise from the Illinois Metro East Small Business Development Center.

I want people of all ethnicities and from all walks of life to experience euphoric beauty, a beauty that transcends them, said Ivy, an Edwardsville native. My goal is to create a store where anyone can tap into the beauty that lies within them. Euphoric Beauty will help them do just that.

Ivy first contacted the SBDC two years ago when she began to put data and details to her goal of being a successful local entrepreneur. Shortly after that, former SBDC Director Patrick McKeehan began meeting with Ivy one-on-one, often on a weekly basis, to talk through next steps.

Within a few months, McKeehan brought SBDC graduate assistant Kaitlin Beasley into the conversations to add another valuable perspective. The three also recruited local banker Rob Pickerell, vice president of commercial lending at Midwest Regional Bank, for expertise in navigating through a 27-page application for a Small Business Association loan. Ivy successfully closed on her loan in October.

Ivy credits the SBDC at SIUE for steadily and faithfully supplying her with information, structure and support as she worked her way through the process of successfully opening her small business.

Im grateful to Patrick McKeehan and Kaitlin Beasley for the hours they spent with me over the past two years, and for guiding me through each step of the process so I was not overwhelmed by it, said Ivy. Patrick, Kaitlin and I were a phenomenal team. We became more like family than anything else. The same is true of Rob Pickerell.

Perfecting the art of customer service from careers in healthcare and hospitality prepared Ivy for the relationship building she is doing through her new company. Helping clients problem solve, serving them and earning their trust is essential, she said. Im thankful for the professional experience Ive gained that has led me to this point.

Beasley said Ivy has been an excellent SBDC client because she works hard and has clear objectives.

Markias personality and passion have driven her success, Beasley said. It has been extremely rewarding to see her vision unfold and to have witnessed the milestones along the way.

Euphoric Beauty is located at 503 St. Louis St. in Edwardsville and is open from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

For more information about Euphoric Beauty, call the shop at (618) 307-9838.

The Illinois SBDC at SIUE assists new businesses like Euphoric Beauty and existing businesses headquartered in the nine-county Metro East region of Calhoun, Jersey, Madison, Bond, Clinton, St. Clair, Washington, Monroe and Randolph. It is a no-cost service to the community supported by the U.S. Small Business Administration, Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity, and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

By aiding entrepreneurs and companies in defining their path to success, the SBDC network positively impacts the Metro East by strengthening the business community, creating and retaining jobs and encouraging capital investment. It enhances the regions economic interests by providing one-stop assistance to individuals by means of counseling, training, research and advocacy for new ventures and existing small businesses. When appropriate, the SBDC strives to affiliate its ties to the region to support the goals and objectives of both the SIUE School of Business and the University at large. To learn how the SBDC can help your small business, contact the Metro East SBDC at (618) 650-2929 or sbdcedw@gmail.com.
Dec. 7, 1941 went down as a date "which will live in infamy," as President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously said, after the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces. As information poured from our most western state, newspapers across the mainland reacted. Here's a look at how our front and inside newspaper pages reacted to the event.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Kyunghoon Kim (The Jakarta Post) London  Thu, December 8, 2016

Indonesia has avoided the wave of hyperglobalization over the past two decades and remains relatively closed off from the world economy.

Indonesia is ranked 108th out of 140 countries in the DHL Global Connectedness Index 2016, which measures a countrys level of integration with the global economy through the flow of trade, capital, information and people. Indonesias rank has stayed more or less the same over the last decade and is currently far below that of its neighbors, such as Singapore (2nd) and Malaysia (19th), and of other major developing countries such as Brazil (57th), China (68th) and India (78th).

Yougov recently announced the result of a survey on peoples attitudes toward globalization across 19 countries. Surprisingly, 72 percent of Indonesians answered that globalization is a force for good in the world. This figure was among the highest in all the countries surveyed and aligned with the responses of more open economies in the region, such as Malaysia (73 percent) and Singapore (71 percent).

However, the survey results for Indonesians were confusing. Despite their strong support of globalization, a staggering 78 percent of Indonesians agreed with the statement My country should be able to meet all of its own needs without needing to rely on imports from other countries. This figure was the highest in the sample and twice the average. The third highest percentage across countries, 42 percent answered it was unacceptable for foreign investors to buy domestic companies. Just 12 percent, the lowest in the sample, agreed that immigration had a positive impact on their country.

Facing this mixed situation, the Indonesian government under President Joko Jokowi Widodo is juggling globalism and nationalism in economic policymaking.

On the one hand, Jokowi is greeting foreign companies with open arms, at least in rhetoric and on paper. He has been enthusiastically marketing the countrys growth potential and investment opportunities in the global business sphere and has promised to improve the regulatory environment.

The government has announced 14 economic stimulus packages since September 2015, with policies to cut red tape and to deregulate. These policies have helped Indonesia move up fifteen places from last year in the World Bank 2017 Doing Business Index.

The 10th economic stimulus package in February 2016 caught the eyes of international investors in particular. The government removed 35 sectors from the Negative Investment List, allowing 100 percent foreign ownership in these sectors. Other liberalizing measures included the governments attempt to break the monopoly of Pertamina in oil refining and PLN in electricity distribution.

On the international stage, the government has emphasized its commitment to global integration and has shown interest in regional trade agreements. Indonesia reactivated free trade talks with Australia in March and officially launched free trade talks with the European Union in July. In November, Indonesia proposed the idea of setting up a new trade bloc between ASEAN and the Pacific Alliance at the APEC meeting.

On the other hand, Jokowi has adopted nationalistic economic policies that fall under the following three categories. First, Jokowi is emphasizing the importance of self-sufficiency. More precisely, the government wants to reduce import dependency and increase domestic production in a range of products, from beef to smartphones. This has resulted in adopting numerous non-tariff measures, such as local content requirements.

Second, Jokowis economic development strategy contains many characteristics of state capitalism that are found in other major emerging economies. The administration has put state-owned enterprises in charge of leading infrastructure development and reviving industrialization. It recognizes state firms as agents of development and is providing strong support for their business expansion.

Third, Jokowi is strengthening sovereignty over Indonesias economic resources. The administration has taken a tough stance against foreign vessels accused of illegally fishing in Indonesias seas. Since the end of 2014, the government has destroyed more than 220 boats, an act that other Asian countries have hesitated to take for fear of damaging their relationship with China.

The government is flexing its muscles in the energy industry and its strategy in this sector includes nationalistic economic policies from all three categories. The contract for East Ambalats oil and gas block, which is located on the border of Indonesia and Malaysia, has been transferred to Pertamina, Indonesias state energy company, after Chevron relinquished the contract due to increased tension between the two countries. Pertamina has also raised the possibility of exploring the areas close to Indonesias border in the South China Sea, with the support of the military. The Indonesian government has also given the operation rights of the Mahakam block, which is Indonesias largest source of natural gas, to Pertamina. The previous contract, which will expire at the end of 2017, was held by international energy companies that had repeatedly requested a contract extension.

Back in 2012, the United Nations recognized that a new generation of investment policies was emerging in some of the countries that were pursuing sustainable development and inclusive growth. It found that these countries were liberalizing investment regimes to attract foreign investment and regulating investment to pursue public policy objectives simultaneously. The current policy stance of the Jokowi administration reflects some aspects of this strategy.

Indonesias gradual, or contained, globalization may seem sensible at a time when hyperglobalization has been blamed for rising inequality and the spread of populism in advanced economies. The Yougov survey found that the Wests support of globalization was weak, with less than half of respondents in France, the United States and Britain believing that globalization is a force for good.

At the same time, the Indonesian government needs to keep in mind that the success of its development strategy depends on striking a balance between globalism and nationalism. There are benefits to taking a cautious approach when opening up borders, but Indonesia should not underestimate the benefits of globalization. The government should also bear in mind that hybridizing seemingly dichotomous sets of policies will require strong institutional and administrative capacity.

***

The writer is a PhD candidate with the Department of International Development, Kings College, London.

---------------

We are looking for information, opinions, and in-depth analysis from experts or scholars in a variety of fields. We choose articles based on facts or opinions about general news, as well as quality analysis and commentary about Indonesia or international events. Send your piece to community@jakpost.com. For more information click here.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Johanna Brismar Skoog (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, December 8, 2016

On Dec. 2, Sweden celebrated 250 years of freedom of the press. On that date in 1766, the Swedish Riksdag adopted the worlds first Freedom of the Press Act, which meant that censorship of printed publications was abolished and the right of the public to access public documents and take part in political debates was secured. The Freedom of the Press Act has been instrumental in the development of our modern welfare state.

The Swedish Act was unique for its time. The text, which was drafted by member of the Riksdag Anders Chydenius from Karleby, came before the American Constitution, which protects the right to freedom of expression for all its citizens.

Freedom of expression has served Sweden well. Freedom of speech is not only a prerequisite for democracy; it is also the guarantor of societys development.

The free flow of ideas and opinions, as well as debate and critical examination, creates a wealth of ideas and drives innovation.

Thanks to the Swedish principle of public access to official documents, citizens have the right of scrutiny and access to information held by public authorities. In this way, private individuals and journalists can scrutinise power structures and popularly elected politicians. For us, this principle  central to our legal system  has contributed to a low level of corruption and a high level of confidence in our democratic institutions.

There is no doubt that our open society has laid the foundation for our countrys economic growth and prosperity.

But while we celebrate freedom of expression, we are unfortunately seeing how fundamental rights and freedoms are coming increasingly under threat around the world. In many places, we are seeing the democratic space shrinking. People are being silenced and civic information is being restricted. Repressive legislation is targeting journalists and human rights defenders.

Threats and harassment are becoming increasingly common and worrying statistics from UNESCO show that 800 journalists have been killed in the last 10 years.

Unfortunately, only a handful of the perpetrators have been brought to justice. The security of journalists is a prerequisite for free debate. Because what happens to a society that does not have access to free and independent media? What happens to knowledge when information is subject to certain conditions? What are the consequences of an uninformed public?

We must now intensify efforts to promote freedom of expression and of the media. Free speech is an important principle that we are proud of and want to protect. It is a tradition that deserves to be defended.

The UNs Global Goals for Sustainable Development and the 2030 Agenda are a positive societal development. One of the targets, 16.10, urges countries to: Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements. We consider this to be a very important target to achieve in efforts for global sustainable development.

The 250th anniversary of the Freedom of the Press Act in Sweden reminds us of the long road we have travelled to promote freedom of expression. Free speech is a principle that must never be taken for granted. It must always be defended.

We hope that this month of December represents the starting point of renewed engagement. We hope that more people will stand up for free debate and continue to discuss, scrutinize and criticize.

---------------

We are looking for information, opinions, and in-depth analysis from experts or scholars in a variety of fields. We choose articles based on facts or opinions about general news, as well as quality analysis and commentary about Indonesia or international events. Send your piece to community@jakpost.com. For more information click here.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Masajeng Rahmiasri (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, December 8, 2016

Works by Indonesian artists are set to be presented at Art Stage Singapore running from Jan. 12 to 15, 2017.

The works include Motorcyle Diaries by Jim Allen Abel, an installation named Waterkasteel: Canto by Eldwin Pradipta, a miniature model dubbed Warfare by Yudi Sulistyo and a sound installation titled Untold Movements Act 1: Neitherland, Whitherland, Hitherland by Tintin Wulia.

The seventh installment of Art Stage Singapore will be held at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Center in Singapore and aims to explore regional bonds and capitalism in Southeast Asia.

(Read also: In bid to fight art fraud, Sotheby's acquires forensic lab)

I think we have to understand and see more that Southeast Asia is not only an accumulation of different countries, but there are also a lot of cultural relations, said the event's founder and president Lorenzo Rudolf on Tuesday. Only if we match-make all these scenes, artists, collectors [and] bring them into a dialogue then you can really position this region in a strong way."

In general, the art fair will be divided into three large sections, namely marketplace, the Southeast Asian Forum and the Collectors Show.

The marketplace is [a place where] you can shop for expensive as well as affordable arts, Rudolf said, highlighting that the section has been designed to be a market for everybody. He added that it would also feature artworks by young artists that were affordable yet high in quality.

(Read also: KPK, musical theater promote anticorruption efforts)

Visitors of the upcoming event can also expect to see exhibition and lectures as part of the Southeast Asia Forum, which will highlight the theme of capitalism. This second edition of the Southeast Asia Forum seeks to explore the values of art, imagination and progress, and the price of doing business as usual in the global capitalist system, Art Stage Singapore said in an official statement.

Aside from the exhibition, the event also plans to deliver the Joseph Balestier Award for the Freedom of Art in collaboration with the US Embassy in Singapore. The award, along with the prize of US$15,000, will be given to a Southeast Asian artist or curator who has actively committed to the ideals of liberty and freedom of expression, and through his or her work, continually seeks to express these ideals. (kes)

(Read also: Rookie artists question Indonesia's maritime identity)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, December 8, 2016

Kasepuhan Palace in Cirebon, West Java, have begun celebrating maulid (birthday of the Prophet Muhammad) through the siraman panjang (long wash) traditional ceremony, in which they took out and washed nine relic plates owned by Cirebon founder and Islam propagator Sunan Gunungjati, who was one of the Wali Songo (Nine Holy Preachers).

The peak of this years maulid of the Prophet Muhammad is on Dec. 12. On that night, the plates will be used to bring the rice and side dishes of the preachers, said the palace's Sultan XIV PRA Arief Natadiningrat on Tuesday as quoted by Antara news agency.

(Read also: Citizen journalism: Celebrating 'maulid' in Pesantren)

The Sultan further explained that this annual 700-year-old dish washing procession was performed by Islamic teaching propagators when conducting community discussions in Cirebon.

The washing of such plates utilizes the water from the well that was used in the past by Sunan Gunungjati on a daily basis.

The Sultan said the ceremony was held every 5th maulid. The plates that were wrapped in white cloth and stored in a warehouse of relics were taken into a water-filled wooden tub, in which kraton (royal) families and relatives sat encircling it. One by one the plates were washed and followed with a prayer. (mra/kes)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Seth Borenstein (Associated Press) Washington  Thu, December 8, 2016

The giraffe, the tallest land animal, is now at risk of extinction, biologists say.

Because the giraffe population has shrunk nearly 40 percent in just 30 years, scientists put it on the official watch list of threatened and endangered species worldwide, calling it "vulnerable." That's two steps up the danger ladder from its previous designation of being a species of least concern. In 1985, there were between 151,000 and 163,000 giraffes but in 2015 the number was down to 97,562, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

At a biodiversity meeting Wednesday in Mexico, the IUCN increased the threat level for 35 species and lowered the threat level for seven species on its "Red List" of threatened species, considered by scientists the official list of what animals and plants are in danger of disappearing.

The giraffe is the only mammal whose status changed on the list this year. Scientists blame habitat loss.

While everyone worries about elephants, Earth has four times as many pachyderms as giraffes, said Julian Fennessy and Noelle Kumpel, co-chairs of the specialty group of biologists that put the giraffe on the IUCN Red List. They both called what's happening to giraffes a "silent extinction."

"Everyone assumes giraffes are everywhere," said Fennessy, co-director of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation.

But they're not, Fennessy said. Until recently, biologists hadn't done a good job assessing giraffes' numbers and where they can be found, and they have been lumped into one broad species instead of nine separate subspecies.

(Read also: Conservation group: Bornean orangutan critically endangered)

"There's a strong tendency to think that familiar species (such as giraffes, chimps, etc.) must be OK because they are familiar and we see them in zoos," said Duke University conservation biologist Stuart Pimm, who wasn't part of the work and has criticized the IUCN for not putting enough species on the threat list. "This is dangerous."

Fennessy blamed shrinking living space as the main culprit in the declining giraffe population, worsened by poaching and disease. People are moving into giraffe areas especially in central and eastern Africa. Giraffe numbers are plunging most in central and eastern Africa and are being offset by increases in southern Africa, he said.

This has fragmented giraffe populations, making them shrink in size with wild giraffes gone from seven countries  Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Guinea, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria and Senegal, said Kumpel of the Zoological Society of London.

The IUCN says 860 plant and animal species are extinct, and another 68 are extinct in the wild. Nearly 13,000 are endangered or critically endangered. The next level is vulnerable, where giraffes were placed, followed by near threatened and least concerned.

The status of two snake species worsened. The ornate ground snake, which lives on the tiny island of Saint Lucia, deteriorated from endangered to critically endangered. The Lacepede's ground snake of Martinique, which was already critically endangered, is now considered possibly extinct, pending confirmation, as is the trondo mainty, a river fish in Madagascar.

But there is also good news for some species. The Victoria stonebasher, a freshwater fish in Africa, went from being considered endangered to least concerned with a stable population. And an African plant, the acmadenia candida, which was declared extinct, has been rediscovered and is now considered endangered. Another freshwater fish, ptychochromoides itasy, which hadn't been seen since the 1960s, has been rediscovered in small numbers in Africa's Sakay River and is now considered critically endangered.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Michael Liedtke (Associated Press) San Francisco, United States  Thu, December 8, 2016

Google is crossing a milestone in its quest to reduce pollution caused by its digital services that devour massive amounts of electricity.

The internet company believes that beginning next year, it will have amassed enough renewable energy to meet all of its electricity needs throughout the world.

That's significant, given Google's ravenous appetite for electricity to power its offices and the huge data centers that process requests on its dominant search engine, store Gmail, YouTube video clips and photos for more than a billion people.

Google says its 13 data centers and offices consume about 5.7 terawatt hours of electricity annually  nearly the same amount as San Francisco, where more than 800,000 people live and tens of thousands of others come to work and visit.

The accomplishment announced Tuesday doesn't mean Google will be able to power its operations solely on wind and solar power. That's not possible because of the complicated way that power grids and regulations are set up around the U.S. and the rest of the world.

Google instead believes it is now in a position to offset every megawatt hour of electricity supplied by a power plant running on fossil fuels with renewable energy that the Mountain View, California, company has purchased through a variety of contracts. About 95 percent of Google's renewable energy deals come from wind power farms, with the remainder from solar power.

Nearly 20 other technology companies also have pledged to secure enough renewable energy to power their worldwide operations, said Gary Cook, senior energy campaigner for the environmental group Greenpeace.

Google made its commitment four years ago and appears to be the first big company to have fulfilled the promise.

(Read also: An uphill struggle to subsidize renewable energy)

Apple is getting close to matching its rival. The iPhone maker says it has secured enough renewable energy to power about 93 percent of its worldwide operations. Apple is also trying to convert more of the overseas suppliers that manufacture the iPhone and other devices to renewable energy sources, but that goal is expected take years to reach.

Cook said the symbolic message sent by Google's achievement is important to environmental experts who believe electricity generated with coal and natural gas is causing damage that is contributing to extreme swings in the climate.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump dismissed the need for climate control during his campaign for office, and he has pledged to undo a number of regulations to protect the environment.

"More than ever, companies must show this sort of leadership on renewable energy," Cook said Tuesday. "Now is not the time to be silent."

Google still hopes to work with power utilities and regulators around the world to make it possible for all of its renewable energy to be directly piped into its offices and data centers around the clock.

For now, Google sells its supply of renewable energy to other electricity grids whenever it isn't possible for its own operations to use the power.

Google Inc. declined to disclose how much it has spent on its stockpile of renewable energy or the size of its annual electricity bill.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Daryl Goh (The Star/Asia News Network) Kuala Lumpur  Thu, December 8, 2016

How far is Malaysia from hosting an event like the CTM Festival in Berlin, which is one of the worlds most cutting-edge, multi-disciplinary festivals? It may take some years yet, but the KL arrival of the Asian Meeting Festival (AMF), a project by acclaimed Japanese musician and composer Otomo Yoshihide, in collaboration with Asian Music Network (AMN), is a sign of bigger things to come in the experimental arts arena here.

The AMF takes place at Live Fact in Kuala Lumpur on Dec 10. It is presented by Live Fact and the Kuala Lumpur Experimental Film, Video & Music Festival (KLEX). The AMF in KL, which is themed Crossing Over, boasts a line-up of 16 musicians from Japan and South-East Asia playing in ever-shifting constellations of solos, duos and ensembles.

The line-up is sparked up by Indonesian duo Senyawa, featuring Rully Shabara and Wukir Suryadi. Both have had a busy year, appearing at CTM Festival and taking on shows in Europe and New York. Senyawa, steeped in improvisational techniques and known for its visceral live performances, is a name to watch at AMF with its music that combines Javanese folk/ritual tradition with metal and psychedelic influences.

Other names include Japanese experimental artistes like Otomo Yoshihide, Atsusi Arakawa, Junji Hirose, Jojo Hiroshige, Takashi Makino and An Murazato, while the Malaysian cast features Sudarshan Chandra Kumar, Yong Yandsen and Kok Siew Wai. Singaporean artistes on board are Dharma Shan, Vivian Wang and Yuen Chee Wai. The list is completed by Tara Transitory (Thailand) and C. Spencer Yeh (United States).

Is this AMF festival a sign that KL has a larger part to play in the experimental music community in Asia?

(Read also: Senyawas plan for world domination)

Definitely! AMFs main focus is on building an experimental/improvised music scene in Asia. It is led by Otomo (Yoshihide) and his curatorial AMN team, together with Yuen Chee Wai (Singapore) and DJ Sniff (aka Takuro Mizuta Lippit, Japan), says Kok Siew Wai, who is also KLEX co-curator.

The AMF bandwagon, in collaboration with the creative platform Playfreely, will first be in Singapore on Dec 8-9.

In essence, KL will get a no lesser version of the AMF line-up  despite the festival being a one-day affair here.

Azzief Khaliq, editor of online portal The Wknd Sessions and musician, agrees that the experimental scene in KL will be encouraged by AMF.

Its probably the best line-up of experimental and fringe musicians to ever hit KL. Hopefully, this bodes well for the future, and it means that KL will be a more regular stopping-over point for experimental musicians touring the region, says Azzief.

(Read also: Annual shopping festival to lure more foreign tourists)

For music fans, some of the names at AMF will not be too unfamiliar.

Last year, Otomo and Sachiko M came to Malaysia to check out the scene. Sachiko M curated a multi-disciplinary exhibition called Open Gate featuring Japanese and local artists/musicians at Hin Bus Art Depot in Penang. In KL, KLEX hosted both Otomo and Sachiko M as they performed in our Serious Play Improv Lab series. So our relationship started from there, and were very honoured to host the Malaysia leg of AMF this year, says Kok.

In the last two years, AMF has also presented numerous collaborations between Asian musicians in many cities in Japan. With the support of The Japan Foundations Asia Centre, the AMF is now actively pursuing a new collaborative network  among musicians and organizers  in this region.

To some musicians in this years fest, the AMF is a rare opportunity to play in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur this time. For Junji Hirose, a unique Japanese saxophonist, who has started to play improvised music since 1980s, this is his first time playing outside Japan in close to a decade. Jojo Hiroshige, An Murazato, C. Spencer Yeh, Arakawa Atsugi all play in South-East Asia for the very first time, too. And for Indonesian duo Senyawa, this marks its first appearance in Kuala Lumpur, concludes Kok.

This article appeared on The Star newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.

Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, December 8, 2016

Jakarta gubernatorial candidate Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono has promised to humanely relocate residents from densely populated villages near riverbanks and help them adapt to "vertical housing", in a bid to mitigate flooding in the city.

Agus said he realized that residents who would be relocated needed an adaption process to living in low-cost rental apartments (rusunawa).

"We will educate and help them adapt to the vertical housing concept. We will communicate the program with the residents from the beginning of the process," Agus told reporters at Tegal Parang, Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta, on Wednesday.

Many evictees relocated to rusunawa have complained of lower income and higher expenses.

The eldest son of former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he would provide social workers to explain to the residents what life would be like living in the apartments.

With the proper communication and preparation, the residents would not find any aspect of the relocation program surprising, he said.

Previously, Agus said he wanted to construct 300,000 apartment units in 700 towers.

The apartments would be integrated with social, public, and health facilities so that residents would find it convenient living there, he said. (evi)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, December 8, 2016

Four airlines have expressed their commitment to help distribute humanitarian assistance to victims of a 6.5 magnitude earthquake that rocked Pidie Jaya regency, Aceh, on Wednesday, said a ministry official.

Air Asia is ready to help while Lion Air has flown personnel to Aceh. Tri MG is set to provide cargo aircraft and Sriwijaya Air is ready to help as well, the Transportation Ministrys director general for air transportation Suprasetyo said in Jakarta on Thursday.

He further said once humanitarian aid was collected in Jakarta, the airlines would carry it, including volunteers, medical officials, Indonesian Military (TNI) and National Police officers, to Aceh.

Suprasetyo said the airlines were ready to deliver any logistics that needed to be distributed to quake victims in Aceh, and they would take turns carrying out the humanitarian mission every day.

The massive earthquake occurred at around 5:03 a.m. local time on Wednesday. It was felt in several areas, including Banda Aceh, Bener Meriah regency, Central Aceh regency and other areas in North Sumatra. The disaster caused devastating damages in Bireun, Pidie and Pidie Jaya. As of Thursday, 102 people have been reported dead. (wnd/ebf)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, December 8, 2016

The Jakarta Police arrested politician M. Hatta Taliwang on Thursday morning for allegedly being involved in a treason plot along with other individuals previously arrested. The former National Mandate Party (PAN) politician was also charged with disseminating hate speech for allegedly exploiting the ethnic, religious, racial and social group (SARA) sentiments.

"We arrested him today at 1:30 a.m. at the Benhil [Bendungan Hilir] low-cost apartments in Central Jakarta," Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Raden Prabowo Argo Yuwono said at Jakarta Police headquarters on Thursday.

Argo said Hatta, who had been named a suspect, posted provocative messages on his Facebook account.

Hatta, who was interrogated at police headquarters, was charged under Article 28(2) of the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law concerning the dissemination of information to incite hatred based on SARA, which carried a maximum sentence of six years in prison.

Earlier, Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Mochammad Iriawan said Hatta had attended meetings initiated by the daughter of first president Sukarno, Rachmawati Soekarnoputri, for the alleged agenda of committing treason.

On Friday morning, activist Ratna Sarumpaet; former anti-Soeharto activist Sri Bintang Pamungkas; Rachmawati; the secretary general of Rachmawati's Pioneers' Party, Eko Suryo Santjojo; activist Firza Husain; retired Army generals Kivlan Zen and Adityawarman Thaha; and Alvin Indra were named as treason suspects and detained by the police. (evi)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Bambang Muryanto (The Jakarta Post) Yogyakarta  Thu, December 8, 2016

Sanata Dharma Catholic University in Yogyakarta would refuse to take down billboards depicting a female student wearing a hijab if the Muslim Peoples Forum (FUI) asked it to, an official said on Thursday.

If they [the FUI] come, we will not take down [the billboards] immediately, university lecturer Father G. Budi Subanar told The Jakarta Post.

(Read also: FUI forces Christian university to drop billboard with hijab-clad student)

Speculation emerged on the issue after the FUI recently forced Duta Wacana Christian University to take down its billboards, which also depicted a female student wearing a hijab.

The university leadership has said that any objections should be based on the existing regulations and conveyed through formal channels, through the local [Sleman regency] administration, which permitted the billboards. It could become a lesson for all of us, Budi said.

Besides the one on the campus, he said the university had also installed billboards with the same image on Jl. Magelang and Jl. Urip Sumohardjo, two main roads that lead toward the campus.

The one [billboard] within the campus, its like inside a house, it cannot be taken down, Budi said.

He said the 61-year-old university taught students without discrimination. Sanata Dharma accepts students with diverse ethnicities and religions. We have students from 33 provinces, he added.

Separately, Sanata Dharma student Ardiya Dewi Nurahma, who wears a hijab, said she had not experienced discrimination on the campus, adding that the university provided a prayer room for Muslim students.

Its not true that there is Christianization at the university, Ardiya said. (jun)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, December 8 2016

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) interrogated on Wednesday Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Ganjar Pranowo as a witness in a case of alleged corruption involving electronic ID (e-KTP).

The e-KTP scam allegedly involved inflating the value of the Rp 6 trillion (US$450 million) procurement project, resulting in Rp 2 trillion in state losses.

The PDI-P politician who is currently serving as Central Java governor was questioned after the antigraft body received information from a suspect, Sugiharto, former civil registry information management director at the Home Ministry, who had named him as having been among the lawmakers who were involved in the budget deliberations for the project in 2011.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Moses Ompusunggu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, December 8 2016

Two government-sanctioned election watchdogs have broached the idea of revamping the prevailing election dispute-settlement system with the House of Representatives, which is currently deliberating a bill for the countrys first-ever concurrent elections slated for 2019.

In a hearing with the House special committee on the election bill on Wednesday, the Election Organization Ethics Council (DKPP) and the Jakarta Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) claimed that the current mechanism stipulated in a number of election-related regulations was ineffective in resolving election-related crimes, as well as disputes and ethics violations taking place prior to the election.

DKPP chairman Jimly Asshidiqie said the House should consider creating a legal basis for the establishment of a special electoral court in the election bill, taking into account a 2013 Constitutional Court ruling on the matter and the need to make the countrys judicial system more effective.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Viriya P. Singgih (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, December 8 2016

Gold and copper mining giant Freeport Indonesia has yet to realize its commitment to build a smelter in Indonesia in support of the governments downstream industry push, triggering lawmakers to demand the government cancel the companys export permit.



Freeport Indonesia, a subsidiary of United States giant Freeport McMoRan Inc., said Wednesday that it would only build a new smelter if the government could grant an early extension of the companys contract, which is due to expire in 2021. The earliest miners can renegotiate contracts is two years before they expire, according to a local regulation.



The smelter development is compliant with a local mining law that bans raw mineral exports, slated to take full effect on Jan. 12, 2017, to encourage smelter development in the country and strengthen the processing sector.



The point is, Freeport Indonesia is committed to building the new smelter. Nonetheless, there are some considerations that need to be addressed first, including the assurance of our contract extension, said the newly appointed Freeport Indonesia president director Chappy Hakim during a hearing with the House of Representatives on Wednesday.



We need funds to build the smelter and such funds can be secured if we have extended our contract, said Chappy, a retired Indonesian Air Force chief of staff.



Lawmakers of Commission VII overseeing energy affairs bombarded the company with criticism, saying it was just buying time until it gets clearance to extend its contract in 2019.



We have talked about this over and over again, but it seems like theres no progress at all with Freeports new smelter development. So it looks like such a commitment is only the companys trick to extend its export permit, said Endre Saifoel of the NasDem Party.



The progress of the new smelter development is crucial for Freeport Indonesia, as it is currently seeking a recommendation from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministrys mineral and coal directorate general for an extension of its export permit for copper concentrate, which will expire on January 12, 2017.



Its been around 40 years since Freeport first operated here, and considering the profit you guys have made since then, the development of new smelter should not be a problem at all. Its not like you want to build a whole new country. Its only a smelter, said Mat Nasir from the Democratic Party.



Hence, House Commission VII concluded the hearing by urging the ministrys mineral and coal directorate general not to give a recommendation for Freeport Indonesias export permit extension as long as the company was yet to show real commitment to the new smelter development.



Whatever decision made by the government later is to ensure the smelter development in Indonesia, the ministrys mineral and coal director general Bambang Gatot Ariyono said in response to lawmakers calls for export permit stoppage.



At present, Freeport Indonesia sells most of the copper concentrate produced from its Grasberg operation overseas and sends roughly 40 percent of its production to PT Smelting Gresik, which operates the only copper smelter in the country. Freeport Indonesia has a 25-percent stake in Smelting Gresik.



On the other hand, it has allocated US$2.2 billion in capital expenditure for the new smelter development, even though only $212.9 million of it has been disbursed, including $115 million as collateral to the government and $50 million for preparing the smelters environmental impact analysis (Amdal) document, early works and basic engineering.



Even so, the company is yet to decide where the new smelter will be located, mulling a land plot owned by state-owned fertilizer maker Petrokimia Gresik and the industrial estate Java Integrated Industrial and Port Estate (JIIPE) operated by Berkah Kawasan Manyar Sejahtera. Both are located in Gresik, East Java.

---------------------

To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Bambang Muryanto (The Jakarta Post) Yogyakarta  Thu, December 8, 2016

The Muslim People Forum (FUI) of Yogyakarta has coerced Duta Wacana Christian University into taking down advertising billboards depicting a student wearing a hijab.

The woman on the enrolment ad is shown in a group of students, with other women not wearing a hijab.

I have decided to take down the billboard. The billboard has been up for more than three months, the universitys rector, Henry Feriady, told reporters in Yogyakarta on Thursday.

(Read also: Christmas service in Bandung canceled due to protest)

Henry said that besides taking down the billboard on its campus, the university would also take down five more of the same billboards in separate places of the city.

They [FUI] objected to it, since the hijab is a symbol of Islam, he added.

Henry said members of the FUI had come to the campus on Wednesday, demanding the university take down the billboards or they would.

Henry said about seven percent of the universitys 3,800 students were Muslims.

Separately, FUI Yogyakarta field commander M. Fuad Adreago said his organization objected to the picture of a Muslim woman on the billboards.

We have conveyed our objection. They took down the billboards, Fuad said.

Several plain-clothes police officers were seen safeguarding the campus on Thursday morning. (jun)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, December 8, 2016

Hate speech suspects, Jamran and Rizal, who were arrested along with other treason suspects on Dec. 2, plan to file for a suspension of detention at the Jakarta Police headquarters.

"I will assist the them in filing for suspension of detention. I'm sure both of them will be cooperative and will respect the process of law," Jamran and Rizal's lawyer, Yusril Ihza Mahendra said on Thursday.

(Read also: Activist Sri Bintang Pamungkas detained over alleged treason)

Yusril, who visited them at their detention room at the Jakarta Police headquarters on Thursday afternoon, said he would put his best efforts forward to make sure the law process against the siblings would go fairly and proportionally.

Yusril, who is also a lawyer of treason suspect Rachmawati Soekarnoputri, added that he would be willing to assist activist M. Hatta Taliwang, who was detained on Thursday for hate-speech accusations, if he was asked.

On Friday morning, in addition to Jamran and Rizal, police arrested musician Ahmad Dhani for defamation, activist Ratna Sarumpaet, former anti-Soeharto activist Sri Bintang Pamungkas, secretary general of Rachmawati's Pioneers' Party Rachmawati, Eko Suryo Santjojo, activist Firza Husain, retired Army generals Kivlan Zen and Adityawarman Thaha and Alvin Indra for alleged treason.

On Saturday, police released all suspects except Sri Bintang, Jamran and Rizal.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, Jakarta Police Chief Insp. Gen. Mochammad Iriawan said that police still could not release Sri Bintang despite the demand of his lawyers for the detention suspension because the suspect was not cooperative. (jun)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Rizal Iwan (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, December 8 2016

Man on a mission: Artist Alam Taslim showcases his works at the ArchIGORpelago art exhibition, in which his character creation Igor is a tribute to the diversity of Indonesian culture.

Artist Alam Taslim has created a lovable monster from an unlikely inspiration: a bowl of instant noodles.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Nani Afrida (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, December 8 2016

The Indonesian Army secured first place in an annual regional shooting contest, defeating the Thai Army, last years winner.

The ASEAN army chiefs of staff attended the AARM closing ceremony in the Philippines on Wednesday and Indonesia has won the competition, Army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Sabrar Fadhilah said in Jakarta on Wednesday, referring to the 2016 ASEAN Armies Rifle Meet.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Viriya Paramita Singgih (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, December 8, 2016

The government is delighted with an international tribunals decision to turn down London-listed Churchill Mining Plcs claim for Rp 26 trillion (US$2 billion) in damages in relation to expropriation, and to instead order the company to pay $9.4 million to Indonesia.

We had been worried but we kept fighting over and over again because we were sure that we had a solid argument to win this case. Now, Im proud to say that we did it, Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly told journalists on Thursday.

The International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), an affiliate of the World Bank, concluded the prolonged dispute between Indonesia and Churchill on Wednesday.

Churchill and its subsidiary Planet Mining Pty Ltd took Indonesia to the ICSID in 2012 after the East Kutai administration in East Kalimantan revoked the companys coal mining permits without proper compensation. The company claimed that the actions had resulted in losses worth up to $1.3 billion.

Several foreign investors might want to trick us and take benefits from this kind of dispute. But we wont tolerate that. This should set a good precedent for us in the future, Yasonna said.

Churchill is seeking a way to annul the decision and is currently working with law firm Clifford Chance to determine which grounds may be best to pursue. (ebf)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Tama Salim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, December 8, 2016

Indonesia remains one of the few actors able to speak frankly to Myanmar about the escalation of violence in Rakhine state, amid the latter nations souring relations with another regional neighbor.

Once again I conveyed Indonesias concerns to State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi regarding the situation in Rakhine state, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said after her meeting with Myanmars de facto leader in Naypyidaw, late on Tuesday.

Suu Kyi hosted a dinner and talked with Retno at her residence in the Myanmar capital after extending an invitation to Indonesia to openly discuss the situation in Rakhine state, the region where the persecuted Muslim Rohingya mostly reside.

Myanmar has been on the defense ever since the outbreak of violence in northern Rakhine.

Turmoil erupted following a spate of attacks on police posts near the frontier with Bangladesh on Oct. 9 by Rohingya militants, which left nine officers dead. Myanmar authorities hit back with a crackdown placing Rakhine under military lockdown and displacing thousands of people.

One report by London-based Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) states that at least 30,000 people in Rakhine have been internally displaced, while ongoing violence has led to shortages of food and aid for more than 70,000 people in the area.

ASEAN remains tight-lipped on the situation, even though delegates are expected to meet for a round of informal talks over recent developments on regional peace, security and stability, a diplomatic source said.

Indonesias measured advances and disdain for megaphone diplomacy has apparently won the confidence of the Myanmar government.

Retno and Suu Kyi openly discussed the developments in Rakhine state, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir.

The Indonesian Foreign Minister emphasized how important it was for security and stability to be swiftly achieved so that efforts in inclusive development can continue in Rakhine state, he said in a statement.

Retno also conveyed her hopes that the Myanmar government would continue to uphold human rights for all the people of Rakhine, including the Muslim minority, as well as the importance of allowing access to humanitarian aid.

While Myanmar authorities could not be reached for comment, Arrmanatha claimed that Suu Kyi responded positively to the ministers comments.

He also said that the former rights activist conveyed her utmost appreciation for Indonesias support for her country, including humanitarian aid sent into the troubled state following the Oct. 9 incident.

Jakartas continued support has been instrumental in bringing Myanmar closer to becoming a democracy, with the ASEAN chairmanship in 2013 underpinning Naypyidaws ongoing transition.

Indonesia has also provided other forms of support, including the building of two schools and a medical facility in Rakhine state.

Leveraging their similarly heterogeneous cultural make-up, Indonesia and Myanmar have also agreed to increase cooperation in interfaith dialogue, as well as capacity building in good governance, democracy and human rights.

Suu Kyi also met with former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan and his commission to investigate the conflict in Rakhine state on Wednesday.

Suu Kyi said the international community should give Myanmar enough time to deal with its decades-long problems and advised that they try to better understand Myanmars situation, Myanmar Eleven reported.

Annan presented his findings during his week-long inspection tour of Rakhine state, the Myanmar Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Pressure has also mounted on Suu Kyi to respond to pressures from Malaysia and other critics further afield, with Naypyidaw being swift to differentiate between perceived friends and foes.

Myanmar banned workers from going to Malaysia late on Tuesday when the immigration ministry announced it had ceased to issue new licenses for its citizens to work in Malaysia  for years a top destination for migrant labor.

The ban came after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak lashed out at Suu Kyi for allowing genocide on her watch during a rally in Kuala Lumpur.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, December 8, 2016

As Indonesia accelerates talks with 15 Asia-Pacific nations, it is prioritizing the conclusion of five trade deals next year to open access to foreign markets and lure inflows of investment.

The biggest one is the intensively discussed Regional Comprehensive Economic Agreement (RCEP), which will create a market of 3.4 billion people involving ASEAN and its six major trading partners  Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.

The rest are two comprehensive economic partnership agreements (CEPA) with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and Australia and two free trade agreements (FTA) with Peru and Chile.

Trade Ministry director general for international trade negotiation Iman Pambagyo said that the deals are expected to strengthen Indonesias grips on regional and international markets, as well as integrate its industries more deeply with global supply chains amid a worldwide economic slowdown that has sapped trade growth in recent years.

Global trade fell to a low cycle in the past four years of 2.8 percent in 2012 and 3.5 percent last year.

Before commodity prices plunged and the United States experienced a budget crisis, international trade grew at 11.71 percent in 2010, World Bank data shows.

Indonesias exports have gradually shrunk since 2011, after they hit an all-time high of US$203.4 billion, to $150.2 billion last year, according to data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).

Once completed, the RCEP will help more goods, services and investment flow into the biggest regional trade bloc ever, one that would represent 30 percent of the global economy.

ASEAN has already sealed an FTA, known as ASEAN+1, with the trading partners. However, its six partners have yet to ink similar deals among themselves.

Now we want to combine all these [agreements] to become one, so that all 16 countries can develop, deepen and widen the regional supply chain, Iman recently told The Jakarta Post.

Talks on the RCEP have just entered their 16th round and they are taking place in Indonesia this week. For the first time, the discussions will touch on issues like the free movement of workers and intellectual property rights, while also trying to finish a chapter on small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

A CEPA with the EFTA, meanwhile, is expected to be completed in the first half of 2017. With the agreement, Indonesia would prioritize attracting investments from Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, a combined market of only 14 million people.

The Indonesia-Australia (IA) CEPA, which has been discussed since 2010, has a deadline of late next year.

Traditionally, the two countries produce complementing products and services, except for cattle and horticulture.

Indonesia ships mostly automotive parts and paper to its neighbor, which has a population of 23 million, and also hopes for more investment from there.

At least 250 Australian firms already have a presence in Southeast Asias biggest economy.

As export growth has slowed in recent years, Indonesia is trying to reach out to two non-traditional markets, Peru and Chile, which have populations of 30.7 million and 17.6 million respectively. Household spending accounts for more than 60 percent of the gross domestic products (GDP) of both countries.

Apart from the five aforementioned deals, Indonesia is also preparing for other potential agreements. It is currently carrying out a joint feasibility study with the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), a bloc that includes Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and comprises 183 million people.

It is also considering starting talks on a trade deal with either Egypt or Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and is reconsidering one with Turkey.

In the planned deals, Indonesia will seek to lure investors into priority industries and export more of its champion manufactured goods.

In the National Industry Development Masterplan (RIPIN) for 2019 to 2035, the Industry Ministry has set 10 priority industries to develop and defend amidst tighter global competition, including food, textiles, footwear, automotive, basic metals and minerals and electronics.

In line with the goal, economic policies to grab investment in those areas have been put into place and are partly aimed at reducing dependence on imported goods.

However, questions linger over whether Indonesia would benefit from the trade agreements it is seeking. Business players have long voiced such concerns, saying that it is necessary for the country as well as its industries to boost their own competitive edges.

Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) deputy chairwoman for international relations Shinta W. Kamdani highlighted the lack of labor productivity and poor coordination between the central and regional administrations as some main stumbling blocks to provide a more conducive investment climate and lower production costs to compete with foreign products.

Theres much homework for us, ranging from regulations and productivity to labor issues. If we dont settle them, we can lose out in the global market, she told the Post.

The business group has already signed a memorandum of understanding with the Manpower Ministry, the Industry Ministry and Germany to create more internship areas and do talent matching with vocational schools across the country. It is scheduled to start next year.

Sharing a similar concern with Shinta, Indonesian Textile Association (API) chairman Ade Sudrajat said the most daunting task would be to improve the ease of doing business, which helps lure investment.

Our policies must also be consistent and it requires regulatory impact studies. However, the reality at present speaks differently, he told the Post, referring to an antidumping duty that Indonesia applies on imported yarn from Taiwan, China and South Korea, which makes its textile products more expensive.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Novan Iman Santosa (The Jakarta Post) Manila  Thu, December 8, 2016

Indonesia will hold a trilateral military exercise in Kalimantan early next year, Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu has said.

"The combined exercise will involve small units from Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia at the company level," he said after meeting his Philippine counterpart, National Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, in Manila on Thursday.

"We will focus on basic skills, such as anti-guerilla warfare, urban warfare and patrol duties."

Ryamizard said the joint exercise would be held in Kalimantan in early 2017, before the launch of a joint operation.

"We will exchange knowledge and experiences on how to conduct anti-guerilla operations," said Ryamizard.

"Based on our own experiences, it is important to win the people's hearts and minds."

In the field, he added, the military had to separate the population from hostile forces to win guerilla warfare.

Ryamizard said the combined exercise was important to prevent further abductions by Abu Sayyaf militants and to forestall any attempts by the Islamic State group to establish a strong base in the region. (dmr)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Medan  Thu, December 8 2016

Police have uncovered a syndicate that allegedly trades babies from desperate parents who cannot afford to pay hospital bills in Medan, North Sumatra.

The two suspects are reported to have sold five babies to buyers in Jakarta while keeping another four under their care at the time of their arrest. Both were arrested separately.

Belawan Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Tri Setiadi Artono said the two had allegedly been involved in the criminal activity for a year and a half.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Manado  Thu, December 8 2016

Residents have complained about fuel shortages in various regions of North Sulawesi as the Christmas and New Year holiday season approaches.

Ronly Egeten, a farmer in Amurang, South Minahasa, said he had trouble getting gasoline for his woodcutter machine. He had to pay higher prices for the fuel stock.

The scarcity usually occurs as the holiday season nears because more people travel to the province.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jayapura  Thu, December 8 2016

Nabire regency administration has barred Wings Air, a subsidiary of the countrys largest private carrier, the Lion Group, from flying to the region after receiving complaints from passengers.

Nabire Regent Isiais Douw notified the air carriers management in Jakarta about the requested ban in a letter sent on Dec. 6.

Related to the inconvenience caused by Wings Air, we order Wings Air to discontinue flight services in Nabire starting Dec. 10, he said in the letter.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Desy Nurhayati (The Jakarta Post) Nusa Dua, Bali  Thu, December 8, 2016

President Joko Jokowi Widodo held a meeting with former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Thursday to discuss humanitarian aid for the Rohingya people in Rakhine state, Myanmar.

The 30-minute bilateral meeting took place before the President officially opened the ninth Bali Democracy Forum, in which Annan, who served as UN secretary-general from 1997 to 2006, became the keynote speaker.

Annan, who founded the Kofi Annan Foundation, is now the head of the Advisory Committee for Rakhine State. During the meeting, he explained to Jokowi his findings during his visit to the conflict area and advised countries to take urgent steps to help victims of the humanitarian crisis.

"Indonesia will soon dispatch humanitarian aid for the Rohingya people. I have ordered the relevant ministers to prepare the necessary logistics, especially food and blankets," Jokowi said after the meeting.

Accompanying the President at the meeting, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said Annan appreciated the Indonesian government for taking prompt action to provide humanitarian assistance for victims in the troubled state.

"In the longer term, we will also support Myanmar in terms of providing capacity building in the field of good governance, democracy and human rights. We have started these programs and will continue to do that, because it is very important," she explained, citing results of her recent discussion with Myanmars de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Delegations from 94 countries and observers from several organizations are attending the two-day conference to discuss democracy, religious tolerance and pluralism and strengthen global cooperation. (ebf)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Bali  Thu, December 8, 2016

President Joko Jokowi Widodo has said there will be no repeat of the tax amnesty, therefore taxpayers must use this one-time opportunity now.

The President was on his tax amnesty campaign tour in Bali, the third province visited after he had toured South Sulawesi and East Kalimantan.

In front of some 2,000 businessmen in Bali and Nusa Tenggara in the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center, Jokowi said the amnesty would be the last before the era of financial openness would start in 2018.

Read also: Jokowi to 2,000 mining businesspeople: Evade tax? We'll catch you

Jokowi said he found it necessary to directly address businesspeople to join the amnesty because of its low participation rate thus far. The repatriated funds declared have reached Rp 3.98 trillion (US$298.9 billion) with the redemption total at Rp 143 trillion.

Thats why I myself am meeting you here in person to raise awareness how important the money is for the country. Thats why I have come here, wearing a suit above all else, he said. I wear a white shirt when I visit kampung or villages. But the tax amnesty is special, so I wear a suit, to appeal to all [eligible] to participate, the President said as quoted by kompas.com.

In total we have 20 million taxpayers, but only 480,000 have applied for tax amnesty. Only 2.5 percent. Only 2.5 percent. Thats very small. Imagine, if half of the taxpayers participated in the tax amnesty, we dont have to borrow foreign funds, we dont have to beg for [foreign] investment, he said. (evi)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Geir Moulson (Associated Press) Berlin  Thu, December 8, 2016

US Secretary of State John Kerry warned countries from Europe and beyond on Thursday to beware of an increasing "danger of authoritarian populism.

Kerry spoke at a meeting in Hamburg of foreign ministers from the 57-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The group, chaired by Germany this year, includes European Union countries, the US, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Central Asian nations and others.

In "too many places" in the OSCE region, he said, there has been "a rise of authoritarian thinking, accompanied by backsliding on human rights, restrictions on independent media, a spike in acts of intolerance and hate crimes," Kerry said.

"Bigotry, repression and the silencing of dissent cannot become the new normal for any of us," he added. "Every chip away at the fundamentals of freedom is actually an ugly building block in the road to tyranny. And the fact is that we all need to be aware of the danger of authoritarian populism."

(Read also: Germany hosts foreign ministers from 57-nation OSCE)

Kerry didn't single out any country or person for specific criticism. However, he cited "growing corruption in too many countries, the increasing authoritarianism, moves by certain leaders to change constitutions in an effort to consolidate power, false news being spread through new platforms of the media, torture being actually advocated in certain quarters."

The two-day OSCE meeting isn't expected to produce concrete decisions.

But German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that "the OSCE has become even more important in these times of crisis as an organization to preserve peace and security in Europe." The group has deployed monitors to oversee peace efforts in Ukraine.

Steinmeier and Kerry both met separately with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday evening to discuss Syria, among other issues.

In comments to the conference, none of them mentioned Syria. Kerry, however, said that "it is in the interests of all concerned to end the suffering and the stalemate" in Ukraine.

Ongoing violence, he added, must not be allowed to obscure Ukraine's longer-term challenge of building a healthy democracy and fighting corruption.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Ina Parlina and Moses Ompusunggu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, December 8, 2016

President Joko Jokowi Widodo told Education and Culture Minister Muhadjir Effendy on Wednesday to think twice before moving ahead with his plan to scrap the national exams.

This was the first time the controversial issue of national exams was discussed by the Cabinet, following Muhadjirs public announcement that the exams burden students and the state budget.

While opening the plenary Cabinet meeting, Jokowi did not mention the exams. He only said that Muhadjir would present his findings. Muhadjir, a senior member of the countrys second-largest Muslim organization Muhammadiyah, joined the Cabinet in July.

Presidential spokesman Johan Budi said, after listening to the ministers arguments, that the President concluded more thorough evaluation should be conducted. Muhadjir should take into account input and suggestions from other ministers and Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who had openly opposed the plan.

No decision has been made to scrap the national exams, said Johan, a former commissioner of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Jokowi will hold another Cabinet meeting to give the minister a chance to present his position on the national exam issue, said Johan.

Many teachers, academics and education activists have long been pushing to abolish the national exams, arguing that they are ineffective in measuring the national education system, as the quality of education varies wildly from one region to another. The supporters of the exams argue national standarization is needed to ensure quality of national education.

The Constitution requires the government to allocate at least 20 percent of its annual budget for the education sector, however, this obligation has never been met.

Asked about whether he accepted the Presidents decision on the suspension plan, Muhadjir responded, All I can say is that I have explained the ministrys considerations [to scrap the national exams] to the Cabinet members.

Kalla said last week that national exams were still relevant as an evaluation of education.

Later on Wednesday, Kalla said the reason to run a further review was because a type of national exam was still needed as a benchmark to boost education in the country.

Without national exams, how can we improve education and determine a benchmark [to portray achievement] between regions? Jusuf said as quoted by Antara News Agency.

Education expert Doni Koesoema criticized Jokowis hesitation over the plan, saying that it was a move that could worsen the countrys education.

Since being implemented 13 years ago, the national exams have failed to improve our education system. The national exams have forced teachers to only teach their students how to prepare for the tests, while, at the same time, students have grown accustomed to studying only for the exams, Doni said.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Haeril Halim and Arya Dipa (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta/Bandung  Thu, December 8 2016

The countrys largest Muslim organizations have vowed to help protect Christians across the country ahead of Christmas, in the wake of the latest intolerant act by hardliners against a Christian community in West Javas provincial capital of Bandung.

The Reformed Injili Indonesia Church was forced to cancel a Christmas service at the Sasana Budaya Ganesha (Sabuga), a popular auditorium in Bandung, on Tuesday after a number of people calling themselves the Ahlu Sunnah Defenders (PAS) stormed into the building and broke up the service.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Haeril Halim and Arya Dipa (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta/Bandung  Thu, December 8, 2016

The countrys largest Muslim organizations have vowed to help protect Christians across the country ahead of Christmas, in the wake of the latest intolerant act by hardliners against a Christian community in West Javas provincial capital of Bandung.

The Reformed Injili Indonesia Church was forced to cancel a Christmas service at the Sasana Budaya Ganesha (Sabuga), a popular auditorium in Bandung, on Tuesday after a number of people calling themselves the Ahlu Sunnah Defenders (PAS) stormed into the building and broke up the service.

The protestors claimed the event to be illegal because it was held at a public facility.

The incident took place amid widespread religious tension centering on the blasphemy case levelled against Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahja Purnama.

The countrys largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) lashed out at PAS for its brutal action and asked the government to dissolve such an anti-pluralist organization.

NU said its youth wing Barisan Ansor Serbaguna (Banser) across the country would help ensure Christians could peacefully prepare for and celebrate Christmas.

Banser members will be at the forefront of protecting Christian fellow citizens while conducting prayers and activities ahead of Christmas. This is in the name of tolerance, NU deputy secretary-general Imam Pituduh told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Imam called on the government to investigate the motivation behind PAS disruption of the Christmas service in order to ensure the protection of minority groups.

Similarly, Muhammadiyah, the countrys second-largest Islamic organization, said it would intensify interfaith dialogue.

Muhammadiyah Youth chairman Dahnil Simanjuntak said hard-line groups were also encouraged to participate in the discussions.

They are just a few [groups]. There are a lot more Muslims who are more tolerant out there, he told the Post.

Muhammadiyah has an interfaith program called Clean, Pray and Love (CPL) which encourages young people to engage in interfaith activities such as cleaning houses of worship, including churches and mosques.

The National Police said they would deploy a total of 155,000 personnel across the country from Dec. 23 to Jan. 2, 2017.

Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil said that the disrupted Christmas service was legal.

We deplore the intimidation by the organization, which is inappropriate and disrespectful to the spirit of Bhineka Tunggal Ika [unity in diversity, the National Philosophy], Ridwan said, adding that he was on a visit to Jakarta when the incident took place.

West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan, however, said the intolerant act was something that people should not be worried about.

Its just a minor incident, said the Islam-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician.

Setara Institute chairman Hendardi said the recent large-scale anti-Ahok rallies could have emboldened intolerant groups.

Hendardi urged the authorities to bring the perpetrators of the Bandung incident to justice. Otherwise, similar incidents could happen ahead of Christmas, he said.

The Religious Affairs Ministry said the Bandung incident had inspired it to draft an article in the protection of religious followers bill, still being drawn up by the ministry, which will stipulate criminal charges for individuals and organizations that disrupt public religious activities.

The committee of the canceled Christmas service said in a statement that it had acquired all necessary permits.

We regret the disruption by a number of people who represented an organization, and that the police failed to protect the dignity of the state and the constitution, the statement said.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Apriadi Gunawan (The Jakarta Post) Medan, North Sumatra  Thu, December 8, 2016

Societal elements, including the Indonesian Military (TNI) and National Police, across North Sumatra commenced on Thursday the distribution of humanitarian assistance, which includes basic necessities, medicines, baby supplies, tents and kitchen utensils, for victims of a massive earthquake in Pidie Jaya regency, Aceh.

Some of the humanitarian aid has been distributed directly to the victims, but others were delivered through Aceh representatives in Medan.

First Combat Engineer Battalion/Dira Dharma (Zipur I/DD) at the Bukit Barisan Military Command (Kodam) handed over on Thursday assistance comprising basic necessities and baby supplies through Aceh Sepakat, a Medan-based association dominated by Aceh businesspeople.

We hope this assistance can ease the burdens of our brothers and sisters who have become the victims of the earthquake in Aceh, said Zipur I/DD commander Maj.Rielman Yudha during the aid handover ceremony on Thursday.

Aceh Sepakat humanitarian post head Muntadar said the assistance from the Zipur I/DD would be transported to Aceh on Thursday evening. [...] We dont want to wait any longer because it is badly needed by earthquake victims in Aceh.

Fauzi Hasballah of Aceh Sepakat said shortly after the earthquake occurred on Wednesday, Aceh businesspeople in Medan had started to collect assistance for the disasters victims. The association has collected more than Rp 120 million (US$ 9,005.63).

Medical supplies are among urgent needs for earthquake victims in Aceh as many of them are suffering from injuries."

More than 100 people were killed and thousands evacuated as an earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Ritcher scale rocked Pidie Jaya regency, Aceh, on Wednesday. (ebf)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin (The Jakarta Post)  Thu, December 8 2016

The biggest question looming over all the laws and regulations the government has enacted so far to protect the environment and reduce carbon emissions is how strong and consistent their enforcement will be.

Likewise, the effectiveness of the latest regulation on peatland ecosystem management and protection will rest on the governments ability to enforce all the elaborate provisions, which in effect impose a permanent moratorium on the conversion of peatland into plantations.

Under the new regulation, any conversion of peatland into plantations such as palm oil is prohibited, until a zoning system for the protection and cultivation of the peatland ecosystem is in place.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, December 8, 2016

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS), in collaboration with the Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf), has launched a new set of statistics to track progress in the countrys creative economy.

The statistics consist of specific macro economic data on the industry and the results of a creative economy survey.

Bekraf head Triawan Munaf suggested the data would help Bekraf be more efficient in its financial planning, which was needed given that the government cut the institution's budget by Rp 100 billion (US$75.3 million) to Rp 900 billion for next year.

"The statistics are good, so we can track the effectiveness of the budget [spending]," he said during the launch event in Jakarta on Thursday.

According to the data, the creative economy contributes Rp 852.24 trillion (US$64.17 billion) to the countrys gross domestic product (GDP), employs 15.9 million people and exports goods and services valued at US$19.36 billion. Triawan said Bekraf was targeting to increase the workforce to 17 million people and exports to $21.5 billion by 2019.

BPS creative economy research and development director Wawan Rusiawan said the statistics would be improved in the future by adding more details, such as royalty income and loans obtained by the industry. BPS would issue the statistics every year.

"The creative economy research department is relatively new and still has a limited number of people; our capacity is currently one publication per year, but later we want to make it twice a year," he told The Jakarta Post. (evi)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, December 8, 2016

Jakarta Police and the North Jakarta District Court are still coordinating on the venue where Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama will be tried for alleged blasphemy.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Raden Prabowo Argo Yuwono said that North Jakarta District Court had the authority to determine the place of the trial.

However, police were providing the court with recommendations concerning security, Argo added.

"We are not prohibited from issuing recommendations to courts on trial locations [...]. We are taking into consideration the potential for disturbances, so that the trial can proceed smoothly without disturbing public activities," Argo said at the Jakarta Police headquarters on Thursday.

(Read also: Safer place for Ahok trial wanted: Police)

Argo added that the polices intelligence division was still in the process of gathering information regarding the possible number of visitors in the trial.

Police would then deploy adequate personnel, he said.

"We will deploy enough personnel to secure the trial, taking into consideration the situation in the public," he said, adding that the police were to deploy security personnel to wherever the court decided to hold the trial.

The Attorney Generals Office said earlier that the trial, which is slated to begin on Tuesday, would take place in the former building of the Central Jakarta District Court on Jl. Gajah Mada, since the North Jakarta District Court was under renovation. (jun)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, December 8, 2016

Jakarta Police have enlisted the help of the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) in their investigating of funds for alleged subversive activities following multiple arrests and the naming of eight suspects last Friday.

"We have engaged the PPATK to investigate the flow of funds in this case," Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Raden Prabowo Argo Yuwono said at the Jakarta Police headquarters on Thursday.

(Read also: Rachmawati says meetings, cash transfer not evidence of treason)

Argo added that police had obtained strong evidence regarding funds connected to treason.

However, police needed time to study the evidence before revealing the parties who had funded the treasonous activity as well as those who had received the money, he said.

Argo added that the persons who had orchestrated the treason had not transferred the funds to the recipients in one go.

The transfer had been carried out gradually, so police needed to investigate it carefully, he said, adding that police could not yet specify the amount of funds involved.

"There are a lot of fund transactions. This is not like an accounting balance sheet, where you can directly get the amount of the money," he said.

Police arrested 11 political activists, including Rachmawati Soekarnoputri, the daughter of the countrys first president Sukarno, senior politician Sri Bintang, artist Ratna Sarumpaet and musician-turned-politician Ahmad Dhani early on Friday morning, hours before hundreds of thousands of people staged a rally against Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama. (jun)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Liza Yosephine (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, December 8, 2016

The amplification of negative news regarding the Jakarta gubernatorial candidate pairs on social media may compromise voters ability to make informed decisions when electing the next governor.

A recent survey by Indonesia Indicator reveals that negative news articles are easily amplified online, especially via social media, with incumbent candidate pair Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama and Djarot Saiful Hidayat receiving the largest amount of negative sentiments.

The public is more receptive to negative issues. Furthermore, they would retweet a post without checking and rechecking facts, fueling a state of post-truth politics, especially via social media, Indonesia Indicator communications director Rustika Herlambang told The Jakarta Post over the phone recently.

With post-truth politics, Rustika was referring to the sharing of information on social media platform Twitter, where objective facts are less influential while false claims tend to spread rapidly.

The survey, which looked at data throughout November, has found that 36 percent of a total of 67,385 online news articles about Ahok and Djarot contained negative sentiments directly aimed at the pair, including in the titles.

Meanwhile, of the 6,729 articles about the Anies Baswedan-Sandiaga Uno candidate pair only 4 percent were negative and of the 6,089 articles about Agus Harimurti Yudhoyno and Sylviana Murni only 2 percent were.

Throughout the month, Ahok-Djarot was tweeted 2,181,184 times, far more than Agus-Sylvi with 293,727 and Anies-Sandi with 64,168. Ahok and Djarot were mentioned by 694,967 Twitter users, Agus-Sylvi by 94,085 and Anies-Sandi by 38,158.

What we found is that negative issues easily gained traction and thus amplified rapidly, Rustika said. Clarification of stories that were found to be false would get far less attention in comparison, she added.

Yose Rizal, director of PoliticaWave, one of the nations first social media-monitoring sites, said the same thing.

People have the tendency to read and spread online what supports their own beliefs, at times even without minding the credibility of the media from which they share the news, Yose told the Post.

He also noted that conversations surrounding the elections have not yet focused on the programs promised by the candidate pairs, but instead have been dominated by ethnic, religious or racial sentiments, as well as talk about blasphemy.

Various recent polls have shown incumbent candidate Ahok struggling to regain the majority support he held before being named a suspect in a case of alleged blasphemy.

Some Muslims in Indonesia and abroad grew angry after an edited recording of Ahok, a Christian of Chinese descent, telling residents in the Thousand Islands regency last September that a verse of the Quran had been used for political purposes went viral.

The embattled governor is set to stand trial on Dec. 13 following several large protests by conservative Muslim groups.

Meanwhile, former military officer Agus appears to be a potential dark horse after at least three recent surveys by notable pollsters placed him as the frontrunner.

A political observer and the executive director of Charta Politika, Yunarto Wijaya, said misleading headlines and readership ignorance can deceive the public by creating a false impression about the quality of a candidate.

The risk is that its not unlikely that the election of a candidate would not be based on facts, but on the formation of opinions often not based on correct data, which is dangerous, Yunarto said.

Todays social media usage and online news are not exclusive of each other, Yunarto said, adding that the unverified nature of identities on social media accounts makes it difficult to trust the credibility of any information.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, December 8, 2016

Treason suspect Rachmawati Soekarnoputri, the daughter of the countrys first president Sukarno, has denied the polices accusation that she had organized meetings in her house with the agenda of committing treason on Dec. 2.

Rachmawati, the founder of the Soekarno Education Foundation (YPS) and organizer of Bung Karno University, said that she held various meetings in her home. She added that lately she often had meetings in her home regarding the plan to develop Bung Karno University.

Why have the police become suspicious about my meetings? Im not an unemployed person. I have an education institution that Im going to develop, Rachmawati said at her house on Jl. Jati Padang Raya, Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, on Wednesday.

Rachmawati, who initially planned to hold a protest in front of the House of Representatives on Dec. 2, also denied the rumor that she had transferred money to some people to commit treasonous activities.

My question is, what money transfer? If people plan to hold a demonstration, it is normal to provide them with [payment for] logistics. Im not conglomerate. If people wanted to commit treason, their money wouldnt be as limited as mine is, she said, adding that she had never tried to find a sponsor to fund a treason plot.

Previously, National Police deputy spokesman Sr. Comr. Martinus Sitompul said police investigators had found new evidence of a cash transfer that corroborated their treason allegations against several recently arrested figures.

Police were still investigating aspects of the transaction, including the source of funds and recipients, Martinus said. (dmr)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, December 8 2016

As Indonesia accelerates talks with 15 Asia-Pacific nations, it is prioritizing the conclusion of five trade deals next year to open access to foreign markets and lure inflows of investment.



The biggest one is the intensively discussed Regional Comprehensive Economic Agreement (RCEP), which will create a market of 3.4 billion people involving ASEAN and its six major trading partners  Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.



The rest are two comprehensive economic partnership agreements (CEPA) with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and Australia and two free trade agreements (FTA) with Peru and Chile.



Trade Ministry director general for international trade negotiation Iman Pambagyo said that the deals are expected to strengthen Indonesias grips on regional and international markets, as well as integrate its industries more deeply with global supply chains amid a worldwide economic slowdown that has sapped trade growth in recent years.



Global trade fell to a low cycle in the past four years of 2.8 percent in 2012 and 3.5 percent last year.



Before commodity prices plunged and the United States experienced a budget crisis, international trade grew at 11.71 percent in 2010, World Bank data shows.



Indonesias exports have gradually shrunk since 2011, after they hit an all-time high of US$203.4 billion, to $150.2 billion last year, according to data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).



Once completed, the RCEP will help more goods, services and investment flow into the biggest regional trade bloc ever, one that would represent 30 percent of the global economy.



ASEAN has already sealed an FTA, known as ASEAN+1, with the trading partners. However, its six partners have yet to ink similar deals among themselves.



Now we want to combine all these [agreements] to become one, so that all 16 countries can develop, deepen and widen the regional supply chain, Iman recently told The Jakarta Post.



Talks on the RCEP have just entered their 16th round and they are taking place in Indonesia this week. For the first time, the discussions will touch on issues like the free movement of workers and intellectual property rights, while also trying to finish a chapter on small and medium enterprises (SMEs).



A CEPA with the EFTA, meanwhile, is expected to be completed in the first half of 2017. With the agreement, Indonesia would prioritize attracting investments from Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, a combined market of only 14 million people.



The Indonesia-Australia (IA) CEPA, which has been discussed since 2010, has a deadline of late next year.



Traditionally, the two countries produce complementing products and services, except for cattle and horticulture.



Indonesia ships mostly automotive parts and paper to its neighbor, which has a population of 23 million, and also hopes for more investment from there.



At least 250 Australian firms already have a presence in Southeast Asias biggest economy.



As export growth has slowed in recent years, Indonesia is trying to reach out to two non-traditional markets, Peru and Chile, which have populations of 30.7 million and 17.6 million respectively. Household spending accounts for more than 60 percent of the gross domestic products (GDP) of both countries.



Apart from the five aforementioned deals, Indonesia is also preparing for other potential agreements. It is currently carrying out a joint feasibility study with the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), a bloc that includes Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and comprises 183 million people.



It is also considering starting talks on a trade deal with either Egypt or Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and is reconsidering one with Turkey.



In the planned deals, Indonesia will seek to lure investors into priority industries and export more of its champion manufactured goods.



In the National Industry Development Masterplan (RIPIN) for 2019 to 2035, the Industry Ministry has set 10 priority industries to develop and defend amidst tighter global competition, including food, textiles, footwear, automotive, basic metals and minerals and electronics.



In line with the goal, economic policies to grab investment in those areas have been put into place and are partly aimed at reducing dependence on imported goods.



However, questions linger over whether Indonesia would benefit from the trade agreements it is seeking. Business players have long voiced such concerns, saying that it is necessary for the country as well as its industries to boost their own competitive edges.



Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) deputy chairwoman for international relations Shinta W. Kamdani highlighted the lack of labor productivity and poor coordination between the central and regional administrations as some main stumbling blocks to provide a more conducive investment climate and lower production costs to compete with foreign products.



Theres much homework for us, ranging from regulations and productivity to labor issues. If we dont settle them, we can lose out in the global market, she told the Post.



The business group has already signed a memorandum of understanding with the Manpower Ministry, the Industry Ministry and Germany to create more internship areas and do talent matching with vocational schools across the country. It is scheduled to start next year.



Sharing a similar concern with Shinta, Indonesian Textile Association (API) chairman Ade Sudrajat said the most daunting task would be to improve the ease of doing business, which helps lure investment.



Our policies must also be consistent and it requires regulatory impact studies. However, the reality at present speaks differently, he told the Post, referring to an antidumping duty that Indonesia applies on imported yarn from Taiwan, China and South Korea, which makes its textile products more expensive.

---------------------

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin (Associated Press) Moscow  Thu, December 8, 2016

A Russian deputy foreign minister says Russia is close to reaching a deal with the United States on a cease-fire for the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo.

The Syrian government and its ally Russia have rejected previous calls for truce for the war-torn city, keeping up the military offensive that has squeezed and forced rebels to retreat in several areas.

Russian news agencies on Thursday quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying that Moscow and Washington are "close to reaching an understanding" on Aleppo but warned against "high expectations."

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met on Wednesday in Germany but didn't release any statements.

Ryabkov said the Kerry-Lavrov talks were extensive but said a final deal has not been worked out yet.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Novan Iman Santosa (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, December 8, 2016

Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu would hold talks with his Philippine counterpart Secretary of National Defense Delfin Lorenzana on Thursday in Manila.

Ryamizard said the talks would discuss the Indonesian nationals still being held hostage by militants and fighters of the Islamic State (IS) radical group returning to the region.

"They [the hostages] are being moved around and used as human shields," he said onboard a Manila-bound aircraft.

"The hostages are also being used for ransom."

Ryamizard also said he was monitoring 23 IS fighters who had retreated from the Middle East and had entered Indonesia.

"I have warned six months ago the possibility of IS fighters retreating to Southeast Asia," he said.

Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo had said earlier that IS had been losing ground in Iraq and Syria to internationally backed forces and had started building a base in Mindanao, which shared a border with Kalimantan and Sulawesi. (yan)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Novan Iman Santosa (The Jakarta Post) Manila  Thu, December 8, 2016

The use of physical weaponry will not win the war against extremists and terrorists, because that war can only be won by changing people's mindset through a soft approach known as bela negara, a minister has said.

"Bela negara focuses on fostering a love of the country among all citizens," Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said in Manila after meeting his Philippine counterpart, National Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, on Thursday.

"Bela negara is not about arming the population, but developing their sense of patriotism."

Ryamizard said bela negara was becoming more important to counter the influence of the so-called Islamic State (IS) in Indonesia.

"We are monitoring 23 IS fighters who returned from the Middle East to Indonesia three months ago.

"They include 20 Indonesians and three Arabs," he added, without elaborating on the nationalities of the three.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, December 8, 2016

After a lengthy decline, the property market in Greater Jakarta is expected to shine next year as the governments flagship tax amnesty and extensive infrastructure development stoke property demand.

The tax amnesty will provide a stimulus as around 60 percent of funds repatriated via the program are expected to be invested in the property sector, Indonesian Property Watch (IPW) chief executive officer Ali Tranghanda said on Thursday.

The demand for property will skyrocket in the second half of 2017 after the gubernatorial election and tax amnesty are over, he said at the Rumah.com Indonesia Real Estate Summit 2016 event in Jakarta.

(Read also: Urban middle class struggle to afford housing)

Ali said landed houses in East Bekasi, West Java, priced between Rp 500 million (US$37,582) and Rp 1 billion would become attractive as infrastructure projects such as the Bekasi-Cawang-Kampung Melayu toll road and light rail transit (LRT) are expected to be completed in 2017.

Meanwhile, Wasudewan, country manager of online property website rumah.com, said the property market in East Jakarta had good prospects because the area still had an adequate supply of land with relatively low prices.

We have observed that the number of housing advertisements in East Jakarta [placed on rumah.com] has increased, and so have page views and customers inquiries for properties in this area, he said. (win/jun)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Lydia Lam (The Straits Times) Singapore  Thu, December 8, 2016

The Singapore Red Cross (SRC) has pledged to donate US$50,000 worth of relief items to Indonesia, after a 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck its Aceh province on Wednesday morning.

The funds go towards the search, rescue and retrieval efforts by the Indonesian Red Cross, Palang Merah Indonesia (PMI), SRC said in a statement on Thursday.

PMI is working with Indonesian government agencies to provide aid to those affected.

The quake in the Pidie Jaya regency left at least 102 dead, with more than 3,200 abandoning their homes for fear houses may collapse from aftershocks.

SRC secretary-general and chief executive Benjamin William said the SRC is "deeply saddened to see the devastation caused by the disaster".

He added that the SRC's priority is "to support our Indonesian colleagues in having sufficient funds and resources to rescue, evacuate and care for as many people as possible".

SRC and PMI have collaborated in disaster response and recovery efforts since the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004.

SRC is not currently launching a public fundraising appeal, but donations can be made during office hours at the Red Cross House at 15 Penang Lane

This article appeared on The Straits Times newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin (Associated Press) Meureudu, Aceh  Thu, December 8, 2016

The Australian government, which has a sometimes testy relationship with its northern neighbor Indonesia, says it's ready to help with the response to Wednesday's strong earthquake.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told reporters Thursday the government hopes Indonesia will be able to quickly ascertain the numbers of people affected.

"The search and rescue operations are still underway, but we have offered the technical assistance and the ability to assess damage," she said.

Japan, a major investor in Indonesia, has said it's ready to provide assistance if requested.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Nestor Corrales (Inquirer.net/ANN)  Thu, December 8, 2016

President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday assured Vice President Ma. Leonor Leni Robredo that she will retain her post until the last day of her term.

Duterte made the statement when asked about a supposed plot to steal the vice presidency from Robredo.

I will assure Leni and the rest of the Bicol region that you will have her until the very end of her term. There is no such thing as removing a vice president, he said in an ambush interview during the groundbreaking ceremony of the Bicol International Airport in Legazpi City.

Robredo earlier said that an alleged conspiracy to take the vice presidency from her is being set into motion.

I will not allow the Vice Presidency to be stolen, she said after stepping down as the chair of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC).

In an event in October with the Filipino community in China, Duterte suggested that the late dictators son and namesake, former Sen. Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr., could be the new vice president if he wins his electoral protest against Robredo.

Asked about his irreconcilable differences with Robredo, Duterte clarified that he doesnt have a fight with her.

Wala kaming away ni Leni ngayon [We have no quarrel] but you know she has always been consistent about the US interests na gusto niya magbalik kasi you will lose the aid, and the protestations of State Department and Obama, he said.

Robredo has been barred from attending all Cabinet meetings, which prompted her to resign as HUDCC chair and the Duterte Cabinet.

Malacanang said the desist order for Robredo was due to her irreconcilable differences with the President.

This article appeared on the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin (The Straits Times)  Thu, December 8, 2016

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has been snubbed by the country's Malay Rulers in the upcoming inauguration of the new King, amid his increasingly bitter feud with incumbent PM Najib Razak.

The invitation from the Conference of Rulers to Mahathir Mohamad to attend the installation of the 15th Yang di-Pertuan Agong on Dec 13 at the Istana Negara in Kuala Lumpur has been withdrawn, Malaysiakini reported on Thursday, citing Mahathir's aide.

The aide, who was not named, said a letter on the revocation dated Dec 5 was hand-delivered to Mahathir's office at the Perdana Leadership Foundation in Putrajaya on Wednesday.

Marked "sulit" (confidential) and bearing the signature of the Keeper of the Ruler's Seal Syed Danial Syed Ahmad, the letter says that no seat for Mahathir would be provided at the event and that the former premier was being informed of this beforehand to spare him any embarrassment.

The letter has been circulated on social media, Malaysiakini reported. Mahathir's daughter Marina also posted the letter on her Facebook page.

Mahathir confirmed in a post on his blog on Thursday that he had received a letter saying he's been "uninvited".

"Turns out that a national event is part of a party's politics," he said. "I apologize for making the wrong assumption. I will bear in mind that the national palace belongs to Najib and the Barisan Nasional party."

An official with the palace, Istana Negara, declined to comment on the matter or confirm the letter when contacted by Malaysiakini.

No senior officers were available for comment at the office of the Keeper of the Ruler's Seal.

Much attention has been given to the appointment of the next king, following Mahathir's meeting with the current king on September to submit a petition signed by 1.4 million Malaysians calling for the removal of Najib from office over corruption allegations.

Mahathir had said he hoped the rulers will hear the people's voices.

Under Malaysia's unique monarchy system, the hereditary rulers from the nine states on the peninsula take turns to be the country's head of state, or Yang di-Pertuan Agong, for a five-year term.

The Conference of Rulers decided in October that Kelantan's Sultan Muhammad V, 47, will be the next Yang di-Pertuan Agong effective from Dec 13, a day after the incumbent, the 88-year-old Sultan of Kedah, ends his tenure.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Jim Gomez (Associated Press) Manila  Thu, December 8, 2016

The Philippine defense secretary said Thursday it's highly unlikely his country will allow the US military to use it as a springboard for freedom of navigation patrols in the disputed South China Sea to avoid antagonizing China.

Delfin Lorenzana said US ships and aircraft could use bases in Guam, Okinawa or fly from aircraft carriers to patrol the disputed waters.

Under President Rodrigo Duterte's predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, some US aircraft and ships stopped in the Philippines on the way to patrolling the disputed waters to challenge China's territorial claims.

Duterte, who took office in June, has taken steps to mend ties with China and became hostile toward the Obama administration, after it raised concerns over Duterte's deadly crackdown on illegal drugs.

Asked if the Philippines will continue to host US ships and aircraft patrolling the disputed waters, Lorenzana said that Duterte will not likely allow that to happen "to avoid any provocative actions that can escalate tensions in the South China Sea. It's unlikely."

"We'll avoid that for the meantime," Lorenzana said. "Anyway, the US can fly over there coming from other bases."

US officials did not comment immediately. The commander of US forces in the Pacific, Adm. Harry Harris, said last month that despite Duterte's rhetoric, military cooperation with Manila has not changed.

Duterte has publicly threatened to scale back the Philippines' military engagements with the US, including scuttling a plan to carry out joint patrols with the US Navy in the disputed waters, which he said China opposes.

US-Philippine annual combat exercises have been reduced and will be redesigned to focus on disaster-response and humanitarian missions. Among the maneuvers to be dropped starting next year are amphibious landing exercises and beach raids, aimed at enhancing the country's territorial defense.

Duterte's actions have become a hindrance to US efforts to reassert its presence in Asia, although the US military has vowed to continue patrolling one of the world's busiest commercial waterways.

After Duterte met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in October, China allowed Filipinos to fish at the disputed Scarborough Shoal. China took control of the rich fishing area in 2012 after a tense standoff with Philippine government ships.

Philippine coast guard ships have also resumed patrols at the shoal.

Aside from the easing of tensions at Scarborough, Chinese coast guard ships are no longer blocking Philippine resupply ships from Second Thomas Shoal, farther south in the Spratlys, Lorenzana said.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Charissa Yong (Associated Press) Singapore  Thu, December 8, 2016

Most Singaporeans are in favor of the death penalty, but the support wavered when faced with different scenarios , a new survey has found.

Fewer people back the mandatory death penalty, and this support is weaker for drug trafficking and firearms offences where no death or injury has happened.

The findings of the study come four years after Singapore removed the mandatory penalty for some crimes, and amid a recent global debate on abolishing the death penalty.

In Singapore, the death penalty remains mandatory if someone is convicted of certain crimes, such as firearms offences and drug-trafficking offences where the person is not a courier.

"It's important for us to continue to review the use of the death penalty because it's such a serious, harsh penalty, and one that is irreversible," said National University of Singapore (NUS) associate law professor Chan Wing Cheong at a media briefing on Thursday.

He and three other researchers - NUS sociologist Tan Ern Ser, Singapore Management University law don Jack Lee and human rights group Maruah's president Braema Mathi - helmed the survey of 1,500 Singapore citizens aged 18 to 74.

It was conducted between April and May this year.

Seven in 10 people were in favor of the death penalty, a level of support similar to what an October survey of 1,160 people by government feedback arm Reach found.

But when researchers drilled down to the specifics of the punishment or each case, this support declined, noted Prof Tan Ern Ser.

For instance, 92 percent said they are in favor of the death penalty for intentional murder, 86 percent for drug trafficking, and 88 percent for discharging a firearm.

But when people were asked if they favored the mandatory death penalty for the same offences, the level of support was lower: 47 percent for intentional murder, 32 percent for drug trafficking, and 36 percent for firearms offences.

Most supported the mandatory death penalty as they believe that it acts as a deterrent. As for those who support the discretionary death penalty, most believe that circumstances differ and not every offender deserves to die.

Respondents were also asked to judge 12 specific scenario cases ranging from intentional murder to drug trafficking and firearms offences, with mitigating or aggravating factors such as like a prior criminal record or fatalities.

Researchers found that when faced with the reality of these scenarios, support for the mandatory death penalty dropped.

Older Singaporeans and those who are more highly-educated are more likely to support the death penalty in general.

The support also varied across religions, with Chinese Taoists and Buddhists twice as likely to support the death penalty as Protestant Christians, and Protestant Christians twice as likely to support the death penalty as Catholics.

This article appeared on The Straits Times newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Wasamon Audjarint (The Nation)  Thu, December 8, 2016

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Wednesday warned all media outlets operating in Thailand that they would be prosecuted, without exception, if they were found to be violating Thai laws.

He was speaking in response to a report on the monarchy published last week by BBC Thai. The report had been translated from an original English-language report produced by BBC News Asia.

Prayuth said any foreign media outlet, with a branch in Thailand and with Thai employees, would be punished if it were found to be breaking Thai laws. He did not mention any outlet by name.

It doesnt matter whether you are part of the media or not. If you break this countrys laws, you will be punished, he said. [Their action] may not be considered wrong in foreign countries, I dont know. But it is unlawful in Thailand and theres no exception.

The premier also called on the public to be aware of the Criminal Codes Article 116 on sedition and the 2007 Computer Crime Act, which prohibits online content deemed seditious or one that damages the Kingdoms authority.

These two laws, coupled with the Criminal Codes Article 112 or the lese majeste law, are being strongly enforced to block the distribution of online content that could be deemed critical of the sovereign state and the monarchy.

Be careful with what you do. Dont infringe on the rights of others, the premier warned. Im not threatening you. Weve just got to help each other if we want peace in our country.

Deputy PM and Defense Minister General Prawit Wong-suwan also insisted that the authorities would proceed with taking action against wrongdoings without any exception. However, he would not elaborate on whether any action would be taken against BBC Thai.

Meanwhile, DPA has reported that authorities are seeking to prosecute the local BBC team.

BBC Thai is the first [target] because it has an office in Thailand, and their content is in Thai language, a junta spokesperson who asked not to be named told DPA.

The next step is to issue a letter to the British embassy in Thailand as the [BBC] Thai branch belongs to the agency based in the UK, the source added.

The Digital Economy and Society Ministry has blocked a link to the article on BBCs Thai website on Tuesday and replaced it with a message saying inappropriate content.

While Web pages to both translated and original reports have been made inaccessible from Thailand, Thai local media reported that some local police officers also paid visits to BBC Thai office at Maneeya Building on Ploenchit Road on Tuesday to find it closed.

However, Pol Maj-General Chayapon Chatchaidej, acting chief of the Special Branch Police Division4, denied the report.

He said the Technology Crime Suppression Division and police from Lumpini Police Station would investigate BBC Thais website and consider summoning the sites administrator, translator, editor as well as those involved in publishing the article.

The article is deemed to have violated the lese majeste law. He said police would look into other websites that may be violating the law.

The move came after a student activist was arrested in Khon Kaen province for sharing the BBC article and charged with violating Article 112 and the Computer Crime Act. He was later released on bail.

This article appeared on The Nation newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
Read the digital edition 2020-09-25 E-Edition

The Jewish Advocate is a not-for-profit reader-supported 501(c)3 organization. We rely on your donations which are tax-deductible.
[EXCLUSIVE SPECIAL BELOW] Rabbi Paysach Krohn talks with ArtScroll about modern life, his travels, and his newly released book, Illuminations of the Maggid.

This is your 9th book in the Maggid series and, as noted in the Preface, the letter tes, with its numerical value of 9, also begins the word tov, good. How do we find goodness in an increasingly edgy world?

While it is true that we live in a stressful world, there are so many wonderful people in it. In this book I focused particularly on common people who do extraordinary things. The martyred young girl Sulika in Morocco, the dancer who chose to follow his ancestors instead of his own dreams, the cyclist who created a huge kiddush Hashem in out-of-the-way Montana: these are good people befitting the word Tov  good  with a capital T.

Youve traveled the world and brought us true stories of Jewish greatness throughout the globe. What would you say is the most unusual, exotic locale that youve visited?

Baruch Hashem, I am blessed in that I enjoy every place I go. Gibraltar is fascinating; they close the highway when a plane lands there because it literally crosses the landing strip. I love the South African accent  and the people there. To be at The Point at the lower end of Cape Town where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean is to witness Hashems wonder of creation. But its not really about the location, its the people: The gathering in the Kinloss shul of close to a thousand people in London is thrilling; to speak for the thousand people who come to the Kirzner Lecture in Toronto is as awesome as seeing the Jewish Quarter of Prague. The people Ive met in all these places are wonderful. (And the people in Yerushalayim, Antwerp, Zurich, Monsey, Manchester, Flatbush, and Boca, etc. are just as wonderful.)

As the American Maggid, youve become a master of inspiration. Could you share with our readers a few inspirational words?

Go to a brightly lit Judaica bookstore and let your eyes feast on the abundance of sefarim and books that are available on any topic, for any age, for any level. Listen to the young children in yeshivos or Bais Yaakovs singing the songs of Chumash, the songs of the Geulah on the way. See the rebbeim and the moros, so capable, so dedicated to the children of Klal Yisrael. We have a future  and it is good.

TODAY AND TOMOROW ONLY, AT JUDAICA PLAZA!

Pick up a the new book for only $16.99, instead of $25.99 (list)! (Ends 2PM tomorrow, Friday.)
Former UN Ambassador John Bolton, a leading contender for Secretary of State in the Trump administration, will headline a special news conference on Sunday, December 11th, 12:45 pm, at the United Nationss Isaiah Wall, hosted by the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce (OJC), to urge the Obama administration to support Israel at the historically hostile body.

Ambassador Bolton will be joined by Morton Klein of the Zionist Organization of America, and OJC Public Policy Committee members Dr. Joseph Frager, Odeleya Jacobs, Dr.Paul Brody and Duvi Honig; among other leading public officials and activists. The event is sponsored by the Zionist Organization of America and National Council of Young Israel.

Specifically, these officials and activists will urge President Barack Obama to have the U.S. veto any UN resolution that would unilaterally declare Palestinian statehood. It has been longstanding bipartisan U.S. policy  including of the Obama administration  to veto such unilateral moves, in recognition that a lasting peace can only be reached through negotiation between both sides of the conflict. However, there is increasing pressure on President Obama from figures such as former President Jimmy Carter and The New York Times not to veto an expected UN move towards unilateral Palestinian statehood in the coming weeks, the final ones of the Obama presidency.

This news conference is yet the latest facet of the OJCs efforts to support Jewish community businesses in the U.S., Israel and around the globe. We represent a growing network of community members and entrepreneurs who work to benefit each other in any way we can, says Duvi Honig, Founder and Director of the OJC. Understandably, protecting Israel at the UN is crucial for the Israeli business environment and U.S.-Israel economic ties.

In addition to stressing the danger of unilateral Palestinian statehood, the news conference will serve as the official launch of a trailblazing OJC U.S.-Israel Business Alliance mission to Israel, which will take place on January 3rd and 4th, 2017. The mission will be led by OJC Public Policy Committee members and other prestigious businesspeople and government officials looking to strengthen economic ties between the two countries. There will be a range of high profile events in Israel during those two days, including a special Knesset session and dinner with President Ruvi Rivlin and leading Israeli cabinet members. Mission participants will network with some of the most influential players in the business and political spheres on behalf of the public.

Those looking to harm Israel and its businesses keep on doubling down on their efforts, says Mr. Honig. We are working around the clock to harness the strength of our businesses and networking capabilities on behalf of U.S.-Israel economic strength.

Additional details about mission schedule and participants will be released in the weeks ahead. For more information www.ojchamber.com To participate in or sponsor the mission, please call 212-659-5270 Ext. 114 or email [email protected] Space is limited.

[TLS  Press Conference]
Next Saturday, December 17, the Chatham Square Library will screen a 16mm print of the film Who Killed Vincent Chin? with a special guest, associate producer Nancy Tong, in attendance for a Q&A. The film was nominated for Best Documentary Feature, at the 1989 Academy Awards.

The screening is part of the librarys ongoing Chinese in America Film Series.

They write:

Vincent Chin, a successful engineer living out his dream of designing automobiles in Detroit, meets an unexpected and violent end when he is assaulted and killed by two men in the summer of 1982, following an altercation at a bar. Despite their bloody crime, the assailants initially receive lenient sentences due to a plea bargain. The troubling outcome of the case outrages civil rights advocates, who fight for justice and struggle to prove that Chins attackers had racist motivations. This documentary is just as important in 2016 as it was when initially released. The themes of economic strife, crumbling blue collar industries, and the racial tensions that result from these struggles are all issues America is still dealing with to this day.

You can read The NY Times review from one of its early screenings in 1988 here.

A trailer is available on PBS here.

The screening is first come, first served. This is not a ticketed event. All NYPL programs are free of charge.

Saturday, December 17 // 2:00 p.m. //Chatham Square Library, 33 E Broadway (between Catherine and Market Streets), 3rd floor Community Room

Save
Armed men burst into the apartment of a 67-year-old resident of the Lillian Wald Houses. [Daily News]

A student was arrested for harassing a transgender teacher at Murry Bergtraum High School. [Daily News]

The city administration has announced that it wont keep records of future IDNYC applicants. Theres concern that municipal ID information could be used against card-holders by the Trump administration. A court order has prevented the city from destroying current records. [Channel 7]

Protesters staged another rally against the de Blasios administrations decision to reject the full Chinatown Working Group plan. Local elected officials are declining to say whether they support the administrations more limited neighborhood zoning approach. [City Limits]

The next phase of the citys coastal resiliency planning kicks off in Lower Manhattan. [Architects Newspaper]

The Lower East Side/Chinatown actually lost a few chain stores in the past year. [Center For An Urban Future Report]

A couple of East Village bars will be playing host to SantaCon revelers. [EV Grieve]

Throngs of beer-swilling millennials flock to the new gussied up Irish bar, The Gray Mare, on 2nd Avenue for a curated experience. [New York Times]

Lower East Side vintage shop Procell is reminiscent of the downtown specialty shops that were common before rents went through the roof and the internet took shoppers away from the brick-and-mortar experience. [New York Times]
Chris Kennedy

Before he can announce a run for governor, Chris Kennedy knew he first had to kiss the ring of Mike Madigan. Thats why Kennedy secretly met with Madigan, but so far hes refused to talk about it.

In fact, instead of discussing his meeting with Madigan, his thoughts on the income tax or his opinion on reforms for state government, Kennedy lashed out at reporters. Learn more by watching this video.



Fred Crespo

Fred Crespos taken nearly $1 million in political funds from Mike Madigan and voted 5 times to make Madigan the Speaker of the House. While Madigan and Crespo look out for each other, theyve also teamed on a phony budget that would have increased state debt by $8 billion or forced a massive tax hike on Illinois families. Worst of all, Crespo voted to make sure he gets paid even while he refuses to pass a balanced budget.



Deb Conroy

Mike Madigan funneled over $1.2 million into Deb Conroys campaign accounts, and she voted to make him Speaker every time she had the opportunity. Thats not all. Madigan and Conroy both voted to make sure they get paid even without a state budget.



Its no wonder Madigan and Conroy are refusing to pass a balanced budget alongside good government reforms. They already made sure they get paid even if schools and social services suffer. Time for Conroy to break away from Madigan.



Jay Hoffman

Jay Hoffman is one of Mike Madigans most loyal lieutenants. Hoffman voted 11 times to make Mike Madigan the Speaker. He voted in favor of Madigans 67% income tax hike with no reforms. He voted for the Madigan-Blagojevich pension scheme that increased debt by up to $22 billion. He voted with Madigan to make sure politicians get paid before schools and social service providers. Last, but not least, Hoffman voted for Madigans $8 billion out-of-balance budget.



Jay Hoffman is the poster-child for what happens when politicians follow Mike Madigans commands. Its time for Hoffman to finally show some independence and oppose Madigans next bid for Speaker.
(Emily Zauzmer)

(Emily Zauzmer)

(Emily Zauzmer)

(Emily Zauzmer)

(Emily Zauzmer)
Im honored to receive this award, said Modder, and humbled to stand in the company of those to whom it has previously been given. Im fortunate to have been able to serve my God and my country at the same time and minister to courageous young men and women who wear our nations uniform.

We are pleased to recognize Chaplain Modder for his distinguished military career as well as his ministry to combat warriors and those who serve our country, said Freedom Alliance President Tom Kilgannon. Chaplains are crucial to the emotional and spiritual well-being of our fighting force and Wes Modder was among the best in the militarys ranks. His courage in defeating politically motivated attacks on him and his faith ensure the ability of other chaplains to minister according to their beliefs.

A recently retired Navy chaplain, Pastor Modder ministered to some of Americas most elite warriors, including U.S. Navy SEALs. He also became an example to other military chaplains facing increased bureaucratic hostility in the nation's Armed Forces.

Stone Church in Orland Park's Lead Pastor Wes Modder is being recognized for "his faithful service to our nation and unwavering commitment to protect religious freedom," Freedom Alliance says in a press release. Modder starting serving the local congregation in October.

ORLAND PARK - A southwest suburban church's new pastor will uniquely be honored Thursday night with the D.C.-based Freedom Alliance's "Defender of Freedom" Award for 2016.

On September 6, 2016, after 21 years of distinguished service, Modder retired from the Navy with an honorable discharge and was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal.

But before he retired, Modder was forced to fight what the Freedom Alliance law firm calls "unjust and politically motivated" charges brought against him by several junior sailors, supervisors, fellow senior Navy chaplains, the Navy Chief of Chaplains notwithstanding and Commanding Officers.

All took issue with the Biblical teachings Modder shared in private counseling sessions the sailors requested.

The Navy threatened Modder with charges that could have ended his career. After a complete investigation and a long legal fight  in which Modder attracted support from numerous military and religious organizations, as well as elected officials  the Navy fully exonerated him. All charges were dropped and Chaplain Modder was allowed to continue his ministry. However, extenuating circumstances led him to retire and accept the position of Lead Pastor at Stone Church in Orland Park.

As Chaplain Modder challenged the charges against him, he was represented by First Liberty Institute, the largest nonprofit legal organization in the nation dedicated to defending religious liberty in America.

Mike Berry, Senior Counsel and Director of Military Affairs, said of Modders recognition, Wes Modder represents all that is good in our nations military. His unwavering commitment to serve and care for his fellow service members, and to take such a bold stand for religious freedom, is an inspiration. First Liberty Institute is honored to stand behind Chaplain Modder.

Prior to becoming a Navy Chaplain in 2000, Modder was a U.S. Marine and served in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm and would deploy many more times in his career. For a two-year period beginning in 2008, Modder deployed multiple times in support of the Navys elite SEALs, tending to their spiritual counseling during difficult assignments.

His excellence did not go unnoticed. In 2014, he was hand-picked to perform his duties at the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command. That same year, his commander called Modder The Best of the Best.

The Defender of Freedom Award is named in memory of the late LtGen Edward J. Bronars, USMC, who served as the first chairman of Freedom Alliance and gave a lifetime of service to our country. He was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and his 32-year career with the Marine Corps included distinguished service in the Korean War and Vietnam War.
(Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

"For president. And also, you know so, what the hell man, anyway."  @JoeBiden on what he's running for in 2020. My idol. pic.twitter.com/8HCFGJay5x  Victoria (@vikushiaaa) December 6, 2016

I love Joe Biden so much. When asked if he will run in 2020:

"Yeah, what the hell man?" pic.twitter.com/ShFJgu2eFR  ryancarnated (@ryfarr) December 6, 2016

Who needs James Bond when you can have Joe Biden pic.twitter.com/IY285m8jYy  Rebecca (@mystery_life_23) December 6, 2016

Here's what the Electoral Map will look like in 2020 when Joe Biden runs against Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/twjJ7IkUQ1  Josh Billinson (@jbillinson) December 6, 2016

Joe Biden woke up this morning like #2020 #Biden2020 pic.twitter.com/4f4pRGFbQl  Young Pablito (@LondonTrades) December 6, 2016

No America, it's not a hallucination brought on by day-drinking and Xanax, Joe Biden may really run for POTUS in 2020. #Biden2020 pic.twitter.com/VRyAHB5fbk  Christie Mayer (@IDzine01) December 6, 2016

J: I SAID I'm going to take it back.

B: Joe.

J: He can't stay in the White House forever.

B: Joe. #Biden2020 pic.twitter.com/bkId8qR75f  Butterfly Whisperer (@DavidDRWA) December 6, 2016

Biden: Psst, Im thinking of running for pres in 2020

Obama: Joe

Biden: Could you ask Michelle if shed consider being my running mate? pic.twitter.com/42rYHbTClw  Michael E. Smith (@ProfMESmith) December 6, 2016

Biden: Wanna hear a joke?

Obama: Sure

Biden: Donald tru- pic.twitter.com/5wShu9KlPS  Joe Biden (@SavageJoeBiden) December 6, 2016

Speaking to reporters on Monday, he told them with a smile: Im going to run in 2020. For president. So, uh, what the hell, man.And the result is memes, and lots of them.This old favourite is back.But before you get ordering your Joe Biden campaign merch, its not exactly certain yet whether he meant it or not  asked if he was joking, Biden said: Im not committing not to run. Im not committing to anything. I learned a long time ago, fate has a strange way of intervening. One things for sure  2020 cant come quick enough.
(Rui Vieira/PA)

(David Jones/PA)

(Matthew Ashton/EMPICS Sport/PA)

Police, ambulance and A&E personnel face a risk of violence and verbal abuse as they attend drink-fuelled incidents, the inquiry found. It heard evidence of female police officers being subjected to sexual assault  while in one case a consultant told how he was kicked in the face.The report from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Alcohol Harm painted a stark picture of the scale of resources devoted to dealing with alcohol misuse. It called for a number of steps including lowering the drink drive alcohol limit  from 80mg alcohol/100ml blood to 50mg/100ml in England and Wales  and introducing a minimum unit price for alcohol to reduce the affordability of cheap and high-strength alcohol. Conservative MP Fiona Bruce, chair of the group, said: Alcohol-fuelled behaviour resulting in criminality, fires or accidents is adding intolerable  yet often unnecessary  pressure on vital resources, and to the work of our emergency services personnel.MPs and peers took evidence from police officers, fire crew and paramedics. In one area, 86% of police officers surveyed had been assaulted by people who had been drinking. Evidence submitted also highlighted the issue of sexual assault. One statement said: I can take my team through a licensed premise, and by the time I take them out the other end, they will have been felt up several times.Joanna Simons, chief executive of Alcohol Concern, said: The costs of alcohol harm to the UK are huge, not only in terms of lives lost but also through the significant impact on society and our emergency services. Alcohol costs us all, even when were not buying alcohol ourselves. What this report highlights is the enormous pressure our emergency service staff face every day. A Government spokesman said: Assaulting any member of the emergency services or NHS staff as they go about their work protecting and caring for the public is totally unacceptable  those found guilty can expect to face the full force of the law. The Government is working with industry, police, local authorities and other partners to make our streets safer. Our Modern Crime Prevention Strategy, published in March, announced new measures to prevent alcohol-related crime by improving local intelligence, establishing effective partnerships and equipping the police and local authorities with the right powers.
Tentang Situs Slot Online Resmi MGS88 Nama Situs  MGS88 Minimal Deposit  Rp. 10.000,- (Sepuluh Ribu Rupiah) Proses Deposit   2 Menit Metode Deposit  Bank Transfer,  Pulsa,  E-Wallet Judi Online Terbaik  Slot Online,  Judi Bola,  Casino Online,  Togel Online,  Tembak Ikan Provider Slot Gacor Mudah Maxwin  Pragmatic Play,  PGSoft,  MicroGaming,  Habanero Slot Gacor Gampang Menang  Gates of Olympus,  Sweet Bonanza,  Wild West Gold,  Starlight Princess Win Rate 98%

RTP Live Slot Gacor Tertinggi Hari Ini Terbaru Terlengkap

Selamat datang di halaman RTP live dan informasi soal slot gacor hari ini dari situs MGS88 yang setiap hari selalu update. Berdasarkan RTP Live MGS88, Anda bisa mendapatkan informasi tentang slot online yang saat ini yang sedang Gacor atau onfire dengan persentase yang terbukti akurat, ini bisa menjadi rekomendasi anda sebelum memilih permainan slot online di situs MGS88. Cek RTP Slot sekarang juga bosku

Klik Provider Slot Untuk Mengetahui RTP Slot Secara Real Time

Selamat datang bagi kalian yang sedang mencari situs RTP Live terlengkap dan terkini hari ini. Sangat sesuai jika Anda mengunjungi website MGS88 RTP live untuk informasi tentang permainan slot yang lagi gacor dengan slot RTP yang terupdate. Persentase kemenangan yang kami berikan tentunya diambil dengan data yang sangat valid dan hanya untuk permainan slot yang tersedia di situs MGS88. RTP yang tersedia juga akan selalu diperbarui setiap hari berdasarkan level kemenangan yang diberikan kepada member kami.

Memang sih untuk bermain slot itu tergantung hoki dari setiap pemain, Namun RTP live atau bocoran slot dari yang kami sediakan ini adalah data autentik dari banyaknya pemain yang telah bermain dan mencapai kemenangan tinggi. Sederhananya, kalau banyak pemain yang menang di dalam 1 permainan slot, karena itu permainan slot tersebut akan mempunyai persentase RTP yang sangat tinggi.

Namun kami tegaskan sekali lagi, ini bukan sebuah paksaan kami situs MGS88 untuk anda bermain di game slot yang mana. Ini bisa dijadikan sebagai referensi atau tolok ukur, boleh dicoba kalau anda mempunyai feel yang kuat dalam memainkan permainan game slot. Anda dapat mengakses kapan saja dan di mana saja selama anda siap bermain. Jangan ragu untuk bertanya ya seputar pola putaran terhadap kami, sebab kami juga menyediakannya loh.

Apa itu RTP Live?

RTP Live ialah informasi mengenai persentase tertinggi saat ini dari hasil RTP Live dengan bocoran kemenangan pemain saat ini. RTP Live merupakan singkatan dari Return To Play atau bisa juga diartikan sebagai Return to Player. Karena itu, para pemain slot sekarang jika ingin mengetahui seberapa besar kemenangannya, bisa dengan memainkan permainan yang akan dimainkannya dan bisa untung dengan mudah dan tentunya maksimal.

Apa itu RTP Slot?

RTP Slot juga dikenal sebagai return to player atau pengembalian ke Pemain. RTP slot ialah persentase dari nilai pengembalian semua uang yang dipertaruhkan pemain dari waktu ke waktu. Dengan kata lain, RTP juga dianggap sebagai salah satu fitur slot yang mengembalikan uang pemain saat pemain kalah.

Persentase digunakan untuk menghitung RTP dalam permainan slot. Misalnya, jika slot memiliki RTP 97%, itu berarti untuk setiap 100.000 koin yang hilang di slot, slot dapat mengembalikan 97.000. Jika Anda mengetahui RTP sebuah permainan slot, Anda dapat memutuskan permainan slot mana yang akan dimainkan tanpa kerugian besar.

Apakah Angka Persentase RTP Slot Itu Penting?

Biasanya pemain slot itu tidak memperhatikan RTP dalam permainan yang akan dimainkan, biasanya setelah anda mengisi saldo utama anda akan langsung buru-buru memainkannya. Yang terakhir 90-96% mempengaruhi jumlah kemenangan. Semakin tinggi jumlah RTP yang digunakan, semakin luas peluang untuk mendapatkan keuntungan.

Akan namun itu segala tak secara 100% menjamin kemenangan kau dalam bermain, RTP itu cuma sebagai kalkulasi pengeluaran anda saja selama bermain slot.Dengan adanya RTP, kau dapat mengerjakan pengaturan atas uang yang akan kau pertaruhkan nanti pada ketika bermain.Untuk itu pada ketika kau bermain slot dan telah mengalami banyak kekalahan di satu permainan, direkomendasikan kau pindah ke permainan slot lainnya yang RTP nya lebih tinggi dari permainan yang tadi kau mainkan.

Keuntungan Menggunakan Bocoran RTP Slot Hari Ini

Situs MGS88 Akan dengan senang hati akan beberapa keuntungan yang didapatkan jika anda bermain slot dengan menggunakan RTP Live yang telah disediakan. Berikut Keuntungannya :

Peluang Kemenangan Meningkat Tentu saja, saat bermain slot online, menang adalah hal yang paling penting. Di sinilah RTP berperan sebagai metode atau metode baru yang akan membantu Anda memilih permainan slot persentase tinggi. Mendapat variasi dalam Memainkan Game Slot Pastinya banyak pemain slot online yang hanya memainkan 3-5 permainan slot saja. Namun dengan RTP Live slot akan memberikan banyak game slot lain yang bisa anda coba. Tentunya semua permainan slot memiliki potensi kemenangan yang besar, jadi jangan hanya mengandalkan beberapa permainan saja. Menambah Pengalaman Dalam Bermain Slot Keuntungan terakhir adalah Anda tentu saja menambah pengalaman dan keahlian dalam permainan slot online. Dengan berbagai macam permainan slot yang dimainkan, Anda pasti mengetahui karakteristik dari setiap permainan slot yang Anda mainkan. Akibatnya, Anda pasti bisa dianggap sebagai pemain slot yang andal, yang pasti akan meningkatkan peluang Anda untuk menang besar menggunakan RTP.

Daftar 8 Situs Dengan RTP Slot Live Tertinggi Hari Ini

Ada banyak penyedia mesin slot online di internet. Tetapi tidak semuanya memiliki peluang tinggi atau RTP Live Slot yang sangat tinggi. Tapi jangan khawatir, berikut ini adalah situs slot gacor yang akan memberikan bocoran slot dengan RTP Live Tertinggi:

RTP Live Slot Pragmatic Play (RTP Slot 97.85%) RTP Live Slot PG Soft (RTP Live 96.15%) RTP Live Slot Habanero (RTP Slot 95.89%) RTP Live Slot CQ9 (RTP Live 98.83%) RTP Live Slot Spade Gaming (RTP Live 94.99%) RTP Live Slot Micro Gaming (RTP Slot 95.39%) RTP Slot Live Top Trend Gaming (RTP Live 96.14%) RTP Slot Live JOKER123 (RTP Live 97.45%)

Itulah Daftar 8 Provider Slot Gacor dengan RTP Live teratas diatas tentunya kami analisa terlebih dahulu. Anda bisa membuktikannya langsung dengan mengklik banner atau meprovider game slot yang sudah tersedia di atas. Saran kami yaitu Anda harus memainkan semua penyedia slot di atas untuk mencapai peluang kemenangan terbaik.

Daftar Slot RTP Live Tertinggi Sering Kasih Jackpot

Selain mempertimbangkan RTP Slot Gacor yang ada, sebenarnya ada banyak faktor penting untuk menang dalam permainan judi online. Sebab ada banyak game yang memiliki fitur dan mekanisme unik dan bisa membantu anda meraih Jackpot yang sangat besar.

Berikut ini akan kami ulas daftar 5 game slot paling populer karena sering memberikan jackpot:

RTP Live Gates of Olympus Gates of Olympus adalah game slot teraneh dan terbaik di Indonesia. Karena permainan mesin slot ini paling populer karena kakek Zeus dapat mengizinkan pengganda x500. Selain itu, fitur dan mekanik Gates of Olympus juga sangat menguntungkan untuk memenangkan Grand Jackpot. Secara teoritis, RTP slot langsung Gates of Olympus bernilai 96,50%, yang berarti peluang Anda untuk memenangkan MaxWin cukup tinggi. RTP live Sweet Bonanza Sweet Bonanza adalah permainan slot terpopuler kedua. Game slot bertema buah dan permen yang lezat ini sepertinya akan menarik banyak perhatian karena tergolong slot gacor yang mudah menang. Secara teoritis, slot Sweet Bonanza RTP bernilai 96,48%, yang berarti peluang Anda cukup tinggi untuk memenangkan jackpot. RTP Live Wild West Gold Wild West Gold adalah permainan slot bertema koboi yang juga populer di kalangan penggemar konspirasi. Permainan slot Wild West Gold sendiri kerap menawarkan kejutan jackpot bagi para pemainnya. Selain itu, nilai RTP Live Slot menunjukkan indeks tertinggi hari ini, yang berarti sangat layak dan sangat direkomendasikan. RTP Live Starlight Princess Slot Starlight Princess ini memiliki gaya dan fitur yang mirip dengan Gates of Olympus. Perbedaannya hanya pada desain dan karakter gamenya saja, karena memiliki fitur dan mekanik yang sama tentunya RTP slot teoritis pada game slot ini sama yaitu 96,50%. RTP Live Cash Elevator Mungkin sebagian dari Anda baru mengenal slot Cash Elevator. Namun dari data benchmark yang diungkap, ternyata banyak sekali yang menikmati permainan slot ini. Dengan fitur dan mekanisme unik seperti Lift up and down asli, slot ini juga memiliki slot RTP Live dasar 96,64% yang juga memiliki mekanisme yang sangat menguntungkan untuk memperlancar tingkat kemenangan besar.

Bocoran Jam Main Slot Gacor Hari Ini

Dalam bermain permainan slot online itu tidak bisa dilakukan dengan sembarangan yah. Jadi, Jika anda bermain pada waktu tertentu seperti yang akan kita bahas sesaat lagi, ada kemungkinan anda untuk mendapatkan kemenangan lebih tinggi. Jam RTP Slot Gacor merupakan bocoran jam main slot yang akan memberikan anda kapan waktu yang pas dalam bermain game slot.

Tentu saja seluruh provider slot online memiliki jam tertentu dalam memberikan peluang kepada para pemainnya untuk mendapatkan kemenangan. Disini kami akan memberikan anda Bocoran Jam Slot Gacor yang Paling Akurat Hari ini:

Jam Slot Gacor Pragmatic Play 02:30 WIB - Jam 05:25 WIB Jam Slot Gacor Habanero 14:26 WIB - Jam 17:38 WIB Jam Slot Gacor CQ9 00:45 WIB - Jam 05:53 WIB Jam Slot Gacor PG SOFT 14:25 WIB - Jam 17:35 WIB Jam Slot Gacor Joker123 17:41 WIB - Jam 20:42 WIB Jam Slot Gacor Microgaming 22:30 WIB - Jam 00:35 WIB

MGS88: Situs Judi Slot Online Gacor Pay4D Resmi dan Terpercaya

MGS88 adalah situs game slot online Gacor terbaru yang bermitra dengan Pay4D, Pay4D sendiri merupakan daftar situs game slot online terpercaya dengan berbagai macam permainan judi yang mudah dimenangkan seperti Game Bola, Casino Online, Slot Pay4D, Tembak Ikan dan Pay4D Online Permainan togel seperti Singapura, Hongkong, Sydney dan lain-lain. Tujuan utama kami adalah menjadi situs judi online Pay4D yang menyediakan layanan judi online terbaik di Indonesia.

Kami juga salah satu situs resmi PAY4D di Indonesia yang pasti akan membayarkan semua kemenangan kepada semua member kami, karena kepercayaan dari semua member kami adalah prioritas utama kami sebagai mesin slot 4d Asia terbaik di Asia, khususnya di Indonesia.

Dalam melakukan sistem transaksi sistem simpanan dapat dilakukan dengan mudah melalui mobile banking dan electronic banking berupa bank BCA, BSI, BRI, BNI, Cimb Niaga, Permata dan Mandiri. Selain itu, transaksi e-wallet juga tersedia melalui Dana, Gopay, LinkAja dan Ovo serta dapat digunakan untuk pulsa tanpa dipotong.

Untuk mempermudah dan kenyamanan dalam melakukan registrasi atau melakukan setiap transaksi, MGS88 menyediakan layanan live chat dan Whatsapp terhubung langsung dengan customer service online 24 jam.

Mengenal Istilah Dalam RTP SLOT

Di slot RTP Live Anda akan melihat berbagai fitur yang mungkin tidak Anda pahami masing-masing. Namun jangan khawatir, disini sebagai situs slot gacor MGS88 kami akan memberikan penjelasan lengkap mengenai tentang istilah yang ada di RTP SLOT dibawah ini.
Governor Branstads decades of experience in public service and long-time relationship with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders make him the ideal choice to serve as Americas Ambassador to China, said President-elect Trump in a press release.

Gov. Branstad's relationship with President Xi Jinping dates back to the mid-1980s, when President Xi was a young county official seeking a closer relationship with Iowa's robust agriculture sector.

NEW YORK - President-elect Donald J. Trump announced Wednesday his intent to nominate Governor Terry Branstad of Iowa, the longest-serving governor in American history, to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to China.

He successfully developed close trade ties with China while serving as chief executive of the Hawkeye State. That experience will serve him well as he represents Americas interests and further develops a mutually beneficial relationship with Chinese leadership.

The Iowa governor said he was honored to be extended the ambassadorship.

"After long discussions with my family, I am honored and humbled to accept President-elect Trumps nomination to represent our great country as Ambassador to China," said Gov. Branstad. "I have known President Xi Jinping for many years and consider him an old friend. I look forward to building on our long friendship to cultivate and strengthen the relationship between our two countries and to benefit our economy. I am grateful for the opportunity I had to serve as Governor of Iowa and I look forward to serving in this extraordinary new role. Chris and I will always keep Iowa close to our hearts."

Gov. Branstad is the longest-serving governor in American history, having served from 1983 to 1999 and again from 2011 until the present. Since leading his first delegation to Hebei Province in 1984, the Governor has led six trade missions to China meeting with numerous provincial governors, ministerial leaders and local officials.

Gov. Branstad is considered an old friend, a culturally significant title, by President Xi and has a long-standing relationship with the Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai.

Gov. Branstad collaborated with the Ministry of Agriculture for China, including meetings with Minister Han Changfu and has worked closely with Madam Li Xiaolin of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries to further relationships between states in America and Chinese provinces.

Gov. Branstad was born, raised and educated in Iowa. A native of Leland, Branstad was elected to the Iowa House in 1972, 74 and 76, and elected as Iowas lieutenant governor in 1978. Following his four terms as governor, Branstad went on to serve as president of Des Moines University from 2003-2009. On November 2, 2010 he was again elected governor where, under his leadership, the state of Iowa's unemployment has fallen to 4.1 percent, well below the national average.

Gov. Branstad supports President-elect Trumps mission to negotiate trade deals that put Americas interests first, the press release said. He will work with President-elect Trumps economic team to negotiate fair trade deals that create American jobs, increase American wages, and reduce America's trade deficit. He will also work with President-elect Trumps national security team to implement an America First foreign policy that will advance Americas core national interests and promote regional stability.
Long weekend ahead as Thais celebrate Constitution Day

PHUKET: People around the country will get to enjoy another long weekend again this weekend as the nation observes Constitution Day on Saturday (Dec 10).

Thursday 8 December 2016, 02:44PM

Monday (Dec 12) will be a public holiday as the country celebrates Constitution Day this Saturday (Dec 10).

This year, as Constitution Day falls on a Saturday, the following Monday (Dec 12) is a substitution day public holiday for Constitution Day, so many people will be off from work while government offices and businesses will be closed to the public.

On Monday, most government offices on the island will be closed including the Phuket Immigration Office, Employment Office, Land Transport Office and the islands three District Offices.

All main bank branches will be closed, except branches in shopping centres, which will remain open as normal.

Police stations across the island will remain open for the public and some local consulates will also be open to serve their respective citizens on this national holiday.

Constitution Day is held annually on December 10 to commemorate the passage of Thailand into a regime of constitutional monarchy in 1932.

Since 1932, Thailand has seen numerous coups and political changes which has resulted in new charters and constitutions. Nevertheless, every charter and constitution has recognised the special role of the monarchy in which the king is recognised as the Head of State.
Phuket to launch Drink Dont Drive campaign

PHUKET: Phuket is to launch an anti-drink-drive campaign in an attempt to reduce the number of deaths caused by accidents on the roads. The campaign comes after it was recently revealed that there have already been more than 100 deaths on the islands roads this year.

accidentsdeathpolicetransport

By The Phuket News

Thursday 8 December 2016, 03:00PM

The campaign comes after it was revealed that there were 144 deaths on the roads between Jan 1-Oct 31.

The campaign was announced by Phuket Governor Chockchai Dejamornthan during a meeting held with relevant officials at Provincial Hall yesterday (Dec 7) where strategies were brainstormed as to how to reduce the number of deaths caused by accidents on Phuket roads to less than 50 deaths per year by 2017.

Officials gave the campaign the official title of P3D Phuket Drink Dont Drive.

Among those in attendance at yesterdays meeting were Phuket Provincial Police Commander Maj Gen Teeraphol Thipjaroen, Phuket Provincial Chief Administrative Officer (Palad) Thawornwat Khongkaew, Mr Udomporn Kanjana from the Provincial Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office and Dr Wiwat Seetamanotch, southern region consultant for the Thai Health Promotion Foundation.

During the meeting, Dr Wiwat revealed that the number of accidents resulting in death on the islands roads numbered 144 from January 1-October 31.

Phuket has had 144 death within ten months, about 84 per cent of those were males. Around 80% of vehicle accidents involved motorbikes, and around 80% of motorcyclist killed were not wearing a helmet.

The main age group involved in fatal accidents was between 21-25 followed by those aged 16-20. Most accidents happened between midnight and 3am, and then between 3am and 6am, Dr Wiwat said.

Most of these fatal accidents took place in Phuket Town, while Kamala had the lowest record, two. The Thai Health Promotion Foundation believes that by enforcing traffic laws and also promoting road safety is the best way to help reduce the number of deaths on Phuket roads, he added.

Gov Chockchai stated that in an attempt to reduce road fatalities officials will strictly enforce the law, cultivate traffic discipline among target groups including government officials and big businesses such as hotels and students, and lastly by promoting the P3D: Phuket Drink Dont Drive campaign.

After seeing the stats for deaths caused by drunk driving, which is very high, we need to have this Phuket Drink Dont Drive campaign.

The most important thing is to have people join this campaign. We may need to have street parade or sound trucks close to Christmas or New Year promoting the campaign to bring accident prevention and accident reduction awareness to the public. However, we have to discuss further details in a follow-up meeting, Gov Chockchai said.

It is our target to reduce the number of deaths on Phuket roads to less than 50 per year. The number of accidents may not actually reduce, but the number of deaths must be reduced as at present our records show we have more than 100 deaths per year.

Our goal is certainly a challenging one, but it will be a good thing if we accomplish this challenge. I believe if we all support this campaign we will be able to achieve our goal, he added.

Maj Gen Teeraphol added, From accident stats we can see that accidents often occur after midnight so we will set up more police checkpoints during this time. We will need support from volunteers to help out at each checkpoint location.

We will also add more speed detectors and vehicle weighing stations in high-risk areas, he said.
Regulator takes temple TV off air

BANGKOK: The national telecom regulator has ordered Wat Phra Dhammakayas satellite TV station off the air for 15 days following a request by the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), which plans to raid the temple to arrest embattled former abbot Phra Dhammajayo.

crimecorruptionreligionpolice

By Bangkok Post

Thursday 8 December 2016, 09:25AM

Dhammakaya Media Channel (DMC) broadcasts two channels over cable, satellite and the internet. Photo: Screengrab via dmc.tv via Bangkok Post

The move could indicate that an operation to arrest the abbot is about to kick off.

The decision was made at a meeting of a broadcasting committee of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) yesterday (Dec 7).

Committee member Tawatchai Jittapanan said the panel agreed the temples 24-hour satellite TV channel, DMC, must temporarily cease broadcasts, acting on a request filed by the DSI.

NBTC Secretary-General Takorn Tantasith endorsed the order suspending DMCs broadcasting but declined to comment, saying the matter was sensitive.

Dhammakaya Media Channel (DMC) broadcasts two channels over cable, satellite and the internet.

Despite the order, the station was still offering full-service broadcasts on its internet servers. The NBTC attempt to censor and DMC TVs standard cable and satellite formats could focus even more attention on the internet broadcasts.

According to the request letter signed by DSI director-general Paisit Wongmuang on Tuesday (Dec 6) and sent to the NBTC, the ban on the temples satellite TV broadcast is to prevent the temple from using the TV channel to mobilise its supporters to block the authorities operation to raid the temple.

The DSI said the agency is in the process of laying out plans to search Wat Phra Dhammakaya in a bid to arrest Phra Dhammajayo.

In the first attempt to arrest Phra Dhammajayo at the temple on June 16, it was found that the DMC channel had persuaded the followers of the temple and the then abbot to gather for religious activities, though its real purpose was to prevent officials from arresting the suspect, the letter says.

If the TV channel is allowed to incite people to violate laws, there could be a risk of clashes between people and law enforcement officials, which could lead to violence and endanger national security, it says.

According to the letter, the DSI requested the NBTC to temporarily suspend the DMC broadcasts while the DSI is formulating plans to search and arrest the suspect.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday insisted Phra Dhammajayo must be arrested.

The police will be very careful to raid the temple in order to prevent a clash with the temples devotees, but the abbot must be arrested, Gen Prayut said.

This case is no different to other cases in which offenders must face punishment, he added.

All are subject to the same law, he stressed.

Gen Prayut has urged the former abbot to turn himself in if the monk believes himself innocent.

If the monk thinks he is innocent, he should come forward and explain himself to the authorities, the premier said.

Phra Dhammajayo has been indicted for allegedly laundering money and receiving stolen property in connection with the multi-billion-baht Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative (KCUC) embezzlement scandal.

The case was investigated by the DSI.

The deadline for the former abbot to report to the DSI expired at the end of last month.

In a fresh accusation, the DSI revealed earlier that its investigation found the money allegedly siphoned from KCUC to the temple, its monks and related individuals were used to buy shares of some listed companies which have close relationships with the temple.

The amount could be worth more than one billion baht.

However, Wat Phra Dhammakaya denies the allegation. According to a press release issued by the temple yesterday, Wat Phra Dhammakaya receives donations honestly and transparently and the donated money is used in line with the donors wishes.

It also urged the DSI to show evidence backing up its claims.

The temple insisted that DMC TV played no role in inciting unrest or disturbances as claimed by the DSI.

It also plans to petition against the channel being taken off air, saying the DSIs move infringes on the publics right to access news and information.

Phra Dhammajayo is also facing charges in connection with alleged forest encroachment in Nakhon Ratchasima and Loei. These two cases are being investigated by the police.

Meanwhile, Lt Col Wichien Muangsuwan, chief investigator at Klong Luang Police Station in Pathum Thani sought a warrant yesterday for the arrest of Phra Thammasuthi Suthammo, the temples acting abbot, on charges of providing shelter to Phra Dhammajayo, but the court instructed investigators to send a summons to him first.

According to the summons, which has been sent to the temple, the acting abbot must report to police by Tuesday (Dec 13).

Read original story here.
Rescuers scrabble for survivors as Aceh quake kills 97

INDONESIA: Rescuers pushed aside rubble of shattered homes, shops and mosques this morning (Dec 8) in search of survivors of yesterdays (Dec 7) earthquake that struck Aceh province and killed at least 97 people.

constructiondisastersdeathhealth

By AFP

Thursday 8 December 2016, 08:39AM

A 6.5-magnitude quake hits Aceh, Indonesia. Photo: Zian Muttaqien/AFP

Aceh suffered the brunt of the 2004 killer quake and tsunami that killed 270,000, including 10,000 in Thailand.

Yesterdays 6.5-magnitude quake struck Pidie Jaya district in Aceh province at dawn as many in the mainly Muslim region on Sumatra island were preparing for morning prayers.

So far 97 people have been killed and the number keeps growing, Aceh military chief Tatang Sulaiman said, after the army took over responsibility for the search and rescue.

When we retrieve bodies sometimes theres five, sometimes 10 corpses.

More than 1,000 soldiers and about 900 police have been deployed to the worst-hit areas to set up shelters and evacuation points, he added.

The quake struck on the north side of Sumatra, and was felt in Phuket.

It was the second time in just over a decade that tragedy had struck the provinces east coast, following the 2004 tsunami disaster.

Hundreds of houses and shops were levelled by the quake, leaving countless people homeless and in need of basic supplies like food and water, officials said.

The electricity is still off. Some places have generators, but there are not many, said local disaster agency head Puteh Manaf.

If it rains there will be disease.

The sole hospital in Pidie Jaya was quickly overwhelmed, with patients treated on the grass out front or sent to neighbouring districts with better facilities.

The district health office chief Said Abdullah said nearly 200 injured had arrived since the quake, but many would not enter the hospital for fear of aftershocks.

We are treating people outside. We took the beds out because nobody is daring to enter the hospital, he said.

Another regional hospital had suffered serious damage in the quake, along with schools and other key infrastructure, a a national disaster agency spokesman said.

In the hard-hit town of Meureudu, terrified residents rushed outside as their homes buckled and crumbled.

Everything was destroyed, said Hasbi Jaya, who pulled his two children unconscious from the rubble of their home.

It was pitch black because the electricity was out. I looked around and all my neighbours homes were completely flattened.

A newsman reported that dazed residents were wandering debris-strewn streets, unable to return to their damaged homes in fear of aftershocks.

Some fled to higher ground for fear of a tsunami although no alert was issued.

A huge undersea earthquake in 2004 triggered a tsunami that engulfed parts of Aceh and other countries around the Indian Ocean, killing more than 170,000 people in Indonesia alone.

Indonesian seismologists said the latest earthquake was felt across much of Aceh province, with many aftershocks following the initial tremor.

The US Geological Survey upgraded the magnitude to 6.5 from an initial reading of 6.4 and issued a yellow alert for expected fatalities and damage.

Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where tectonic plates collide.

Aceh lies on the upper tip of Sumatra island, which is particularly prone to quakes.

In June a 6.5-magnitude quake struck off the west of Sumatra, damaging scores of buildings and injuring eight people.
How to watch, what to know about South Dakota State at Northern Iowa
SS Khaplang, who headed a faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, and whose death was announced on 10 June, was a man of principle.

For one, he never changed his stand that unless New Delhi discussed sovereignty he would never come to the negotiating table.

A close associate of Isak Swu, who expired in August last year and Th Muivah, they broke away in 1980 from the Naga National Council headed by Angami Zapu Phizo.

The break-up was over the interpretation of the 1975 Shillong Accord signed by some moderate Naga leaders with the Indira Gandhi government by accepting the Constitution, and they formed the National Socialist Council of Nagaland in 1980.

A split in 1988 saw Khaplang leading his own faction as he was against suing for peace. While Swu belonged to the Sema tribe of Nagaland, Muivah is a Tangkhul from Manipurs Ukhrul district and Khaplang was a Hemi Naga from Myanmar, that has a large Naga population. Khaplang feared that being from Myanmar he would be left in the lurch once Swu and Muivah came to terms with New Delhi.

The BJP government at the Centre signed a ceasefire accord with Khaplang in 2001, three years after Swu and Muivah did. But the Centre did not have the courage to invite him for formal talks because NSCN-IM leaders had said in no uncertain terms that if Khaplang was involved they would pull out of talks.

In March 2015 Khaplang unilaterally abrogated the truce, his parting shot being the 14-year time was only a psychological ploy to undermine the democratic and patriotic spirit of the Nagas.

Khaplang always remained incommunicado. He once headed the Indo-Burma Revolutionary Front, comprising the Ulfa and Manipurs oldest outfit, the United National Liberation Front.

Despite suffering two splits in his organisation, Khaplang did not lose his charisma nor his ability to attract smaller groups as partners. He amptly displayed this in 2015 by forming the United Liberation Front of Western, South-east Asia which include six Meitei rebel groups, Ulfa(Independent) headed by self- styled commander-in-chief Paresh Barua and also Bodo rebels.

All this came about after signing a unilateral ceasefire with the Myanmarese government in 2012. Following the ambush and killing of 16 Indian soldiers in 2015 in Manipurs Chandel district, the Centre declared the grouping as a terrorist outfit. Khaplang claimed influence among Nagas in Arunachal Pradesh and some parts of Northern Nagaland.

It will be idle to think that whoever succeeds Khaplang will seek peace. This calls for stricter vigilance along the Indo-Myanmar border.
Rescuers use heavy machinery to search for victims in the rubble of a market that collapsed during Wednesday's earthquake in Meureudu, Aceh province, Indonesia, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016. Rescue workers, soldiers and police combed through the rubble of a devastated town in Indonesia's Aceh province early Thursday, resuming a search for earthquake survivors that was halted at night by rain and blackouts. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)
But the tribe has a long way to go
Dean of diplomatic corps, Dominican Republic ambassador Frank Hans Dannenberg Castellanos, met foreign secretary S.Jaishankar on Thursday to express the difficulties that diplomatic missions were facing with the demonetisation rules in place. The corps represents around 157 missions. Castellanos invoked the Vienna Convention, one of whose clauses is that foreign missions should be allowed to conduct their business freely.

"The finance ministry, as a consequence, is being asked to issue directives to banks to allow embassy officials with identity cards to withdraw money on a priority basis,'' said Ministry of external affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup, adding that they discussed how best to tackle the issues. Swarup further said, We appreciate learning from the dean that a vast majority of foreign missions understand that the demonetisation exercise is being conducted to combat the menace of black money and tax avoidance. We are confident that the missions would bear with the temporary difficulties that arise in the process, even as we seek to address their concerns.

Russia was among the first countries to raise the issue with the MEA that the ceiling of withdrawal, Rs 50,000 per week, was becoming a problem. Subsequently, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Ethiopia and Sudan, too, wrote to the Centre on the same issue. Pakistan had also alleged that its officials were not allowed to withdraw money from a bank. India then said that it was a matter between the bank and the High Commission. Swarup, on Thursday, added that "we have not received a complaint from Pakistan''.
On Thursday, when the demonetisation process completed a month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared to lift the spirits of those bearing the brunt of this financial rigmarole.

With three weeks to go and no signs of lengthy queues outside the banks abating, PM equated the peoples effort with performing Yagna (holy ritual). I salute the people of India for wholeheartedly participating in this ongoing Yagna against corruption, terrorism and black money, Modi said in a series of tweets.

My young friends, you are agents of change who will make India corruption free & ensure more cashless transactions. https://t.co/47rdrig0em  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 8, 2016 No longer will the progress & prosperity of rural India be curtailed by corruption & black money. Our villages must get their due.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 8, 2016 The Government's decision has several gains for farmers, traders, labourers, who are the economic backbone of our nation.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 8, 2016 I salute the people of India for wholeheartedly participating in this ongoing Yagna against corruption, terrorism & black money.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 8, 2016

Prime Minister also urged the people to embrace increased cashless payments and integrate latest technology in their economic transactions.

Opposition has been rallying against Modi for not speaking inside the Parliament during the ongoing Winter session. The logjam over the demonetisation had continued in both the houses of the parliament since the session commenced on November 16. Now, as a week if left for the session to get over, no business is likely to transacted --particularly the passing of GST Bills, as the opposition parties seem to be in no mood to relent.

Even though reports are pouring in from different parts of the country about distress being felt in the economy, PM said, The Government's decision has several gains for farmers, traders, labourers, who are the economic backbone of our nation.

I always said that the Government's measure will bring a degree of inconvenience but this short term pain will pave way for long term gainsNo longer will the progress and prosperity of rural India be curtailed by corruption and black money. Our villages must get their due, Modi tweeted.

Modi in particular appealed to the youngsters to embrace his move with enthusiasm: My young friends, you are agents of change who will make India corruption free and ensure more cashless transactions.

Together, we must ensure #IndiaDefeatsBlackMoney. This will empower the poor, neo-middle class, middle class & benefit future generations, the Prime Minister added.
In a landmark ruling, the Allahabad High Court on Thursday termed the practice of triple talaq as unconstitutional as it violated the fundamental rights of Muslim women.

No personal law board was above the Constitution, the court said, in an apparent reference to the All India Muslim Personal Law Board that favours triple talaq. It also noted that the Quran didn't consider triple talaq as a good practice.

The single judge bench's order came on a petition filed by a Muslim woman from Bulandshahr, who was divorced by her husband as per triple talaq provisions.

AIMPLB criticised the court order saying it was against Shariyat, and added that it would challenge the ruling in the Supreme Court.

The court order is expected to renew the debate on triple talaq which was set off after the Narendra Modi government proposed a ban on the practice.

Triple talaq is interpreted as the Islamic practice of divorcing a woman by uttering the word talaq thrice. Most Muslim countries do not approve of it.
In a symbolic victory, British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday won a vote in Parliament backing her timetable for negotiating Britain's exit from the European Union (EU).

MPs voted in the House of Commons 461 to 89 in favour of May triggering Article 50 by the end of March 2017, which will begin the formal process of exit negotiations from the 28-member economic bloc.

The win followed a compromise between Opposition Labour and the ruling Conservatives, which saw May committing to revealing the official plan for Brexit before the actual process begins, without committing to any detailed account.

The vote also supported a Labour motion calling for Parliament to "properly scrutinise" the government in its proposals for leaving the EU by 448 votes to 75 - a margin of 373.

Labour's Brexit spokesman, Sir Keir Starmer, has said his party would continue to challenge the government if its plan was "not detailed enough".

He said: "I think it's got to be pretty detailed, they've got to set out what those objectives are. I don't think it needs to be in a particular form, but if it's not detailed enough they can expect further challenge."

Brexit Secretary David Davis responded: "The simple fact is that the mandate (in June's referendum) was to leave the European Union - full stop. We need to keep that in mind when we are going through that process.

"This is a negotiation; it's not a policy statement. And, therefore, where you are aiming for may not be the exact place you end up."

The debate today came after a procedural battle between the parties over the wording of the motion to be put to MPs. Mrs May had been refusing to provide a "running commentary" on Brexit after the UK voted to leave the EU in a referendum in June.

As the Supreme Court in London continues to hear a case to establish the extent of British PMs power in launching into a Brexit without parliamentary approval, Downing Street put forward an amendment agreeing to publish a plan before triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

Starmer described it as "a welcome and hugely significant climbdown", while the government believes receiving this parliamentary backing for the timetable would avoid delays to the Brexit process.

The government's amendment was opposed by 23 Labour MPs and one Conservative - former chancellor Ken Clarke. Five Liberal Democrat MPs, three Welsh Plaid Cymru MPs and 51 SNP MPs also voted against it.
The video was unambiguous: A white police officer fatally shot an unarmed black man in the back as the man ran away. In April 2015, An unarmed African-American Walter Scott was shot five times from behind by police officer Michael Slager. The incident had been recorded on a cell phone.

But a South Carolina jury was unable to agree on a verdict in one of the nation's ghastliest police shootings, with a lone holdout forcing a mistrial. The outcome stung many African-Americans and others. If that kind of evidence can't produce a conviction, they asked, what can?

"There's a jury full of people and they cannot decide if it's illegal to shoot someone who is running away from you?" said activist Johnetta Elzie. "What do you say about a country that feels this way about black people? If you can't see the humanity in that, I don't know what we're talking about anymore."

Prosecutors plan to retry former officer Michael Slager, who is scheduled to be tried separately next year on federal charges that he violated Walter Scott's civil rights.

North Charleston city officials approved a USD 6.5 million civil settlement for Scott's family earlier this year. Slager remains free on bail.

South Carolina's Indian-American Republican Gov Nikki Haley voiced her support for Scott's family, saying in a statement that justice "is not always immediate, but we must all have faith that it will be served."

Scott, 50, was killed in April 2015 after he was shot five times. A barber on his way to work recorded the shooting on his cellphone.

The panel of 11 white jurors and one black juror deliberated for 22 hours. At one point, a juror sent a letter directly to the judge saying he could not "with good conscience approve a guilty verdict" and that he was unlikely to change his mind. As they weighed their decision, jurors also asked the judge to explain the legal difference between fear and passion and inquired whether the self-defense standard was the same for officers as ordinary citizens.

NAACP President Cornell Brooks called the jury's decision "a disappointing delay in the delivery of justice." Hours after the mistrial, a tweet from three Black Lives Matter co-founders said, "Some days the hashtag is too painful to participate in."

Elzie, one of the first protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, after the fatal 2014 shooting of Michael Brown by a white officer, said word of the hung jury left her numb.

"When it comes to justice and black people in America, I don't expect it," she sighed.
Police on Tuesday night 6 Kislev arrested Halal Azaiza, 26, from Dabburiya Village in the Lower Galil for allegedly posing as a doctor and performing surgical procedures on over 300 patients to came to the Tel Hashomer emergency room.

Investigators learned that in the past, the suspect worked as a nursing student in a hospital and he was dismissed a few months ago. He returned and entered the emergency room and began treating patients, presenting himself as a doctor under an alias.

From a police perspective, he impersonated a public employee, fraud, forgery, and deliberately impersonating a physician. Police received statements from many patients as well as members of the hospital staff.

It remains unclear at this time if the allegations are correct and if so, how he managed to treat so many patients without the hospital noticing someone who is not a member of the staff making rounds and treating so many patients.

The Tel Aviv Magistrate Court has extended his detention until Sunday, 11 Kislev. The suspects attorney explains he is a young man without a criminal record. Attorney Merav Ben-Shabbat of the Public Defenders Office added He was a student in a hospital and never received a letter dismissal him. He did not claim to be an employee, but one who came on a volunteer basis, has spoken to medical officials and everything was done with appropriate medical supervision.

He did not perform surgical procedures but rather simple procedures including taking blood from patients.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid sent a letter to Peace Now requesting the organization approve delaying the destruction of the memorial to two IDF fallen heroes, located in the community of Elazar. Lapid calls on the radical left-wing organization to have a minimum of respect for the dead.

The memorial is for Lt.-Colonel Emanuel Moreno HYD and Lt. Asher Ezra HYD. located in the Netiv HaAvot neighborhood of Yishuv Elazar. The High Court of Justice heard a Peace Now petition and a number of months ago, ruled the memorial was indeed built on private Arab land and therefore, it must be destroyed along with illegal buildings in the same area. the building destruction deadline is in 2018. Israel is asking to extend the deadline for the memorial to 2018 as well, to permit moving the memorial rather than destroying it. Peace Now to date has refused to the requested extension.

Lapid questions what is the burning issue that compels the destruction immediately when it can wait and spare the pain to the families and show a minimum of respect for the nations fallen heroes. Both officers were killed in the line of duty.

Lapid questions how persons who do not cease to speak about human rights close their eyes and hearts in the face of this emotional humanistic issue to delay carrying out the destruction.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
British Prime Minister Theresa May and leaders from six Gulf Arab countries agreed Wednesday to counter Irans destabilizing activities, a pledge meant to calm nerves following the nuclear deal with world powers.

The decision came at the end of a two-day summit in Bahrain of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a regional bloc of Western-allied countries including the tiny island nation, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Those Gulf nations, especially the Sunni-ruled kingdom of Saudi Arabia, have watched with concern as Iran backed Shiite rebels in Yemen and supported embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad.

A Saudi-led war in Yemen against the rebels continues, while a communique issued at the end of the meeting called for an enduring political settlement based on transition away from the Assad regime in Syria.

There is no military solution to the regions armed civil conflicts, the communique read.

Concern over Iran remains for the GCC, whose member nations have bulked up their own militaries as a deterrent. For her part, May said that all parties must work together to push back against Irans aggressive regional actions, whether in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Syria or in the Gulf itself.

Her comments come after Britain was a party to the nuclear agreement that limited Irans ability to enrich uranium in exchange for the lifting of some economic sanctions.

Britain and Iran also have reopened their embassies in each others countries and exchanged ambassadors. Direct British Airways flights between London and Tehran also have resumed after the nuclear accord.

Mays participation in the meeting drew criticism from human rights groups as Bahrain is in the midst of a crackdown on dissent at a level unseen since its 2011 Arab Spring protests. The United Kingdom is building a new naval base in Bahrain.

(AP)
The seabed search for the missing Malaysian airliner has been left to a single ship, with a Chinese vessel heading home to Shanghai, officials said on Wednesday.

A Dutch survey ship Fugro Equator will finish the search of the southern Indian Ocean for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 alone after resupplying at the southwest Australian port of Fremantle, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which coordinates the search, said in a statement.

The Chinese ship Dong Hai Jiu 101 had finished searching the 120,000-square-kilometer (46,000-square-mile) expanse last weekend and was headed back to Fremantle to drop off equipment before returning to its home port of Shanghai, the statement said.

The Chinese ship in February joined three search vessels operated by the Dutch underwater survey company Fugro in the hunt for the Boeing 777 that authorities say crashed with 239 people aboard far off the southwest coast of Australia on March 8, 2014.

Fugro Equator is expected to finish the search by February, the statement said. The ship is using a highly maneuverable drone known as an autonomous underwater vehicle to get sonar images of difficult terrain.

A group of victims relatives traveled to the island nation of Madagascar off the southeast coast of Africa and this week offered locals possible financial rewards to search for debris from the plane.

A Malaysian official investigating the disappearance visited Madagascars capital, Antananarivo, to pick up debris that has already been found and will be analyzed to see if it came from the aircraft.

Confirmation that the plane crashed came last year when a wing part washed ashore on Reunion Island in the western Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar. Authorities have offered no explanation of why the plane flew off course during a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing.

(AP)
[COMMUNICATED CONTENT]

By Dovid Grossman

Rabbi Tzion Menachem, a world renowned Mekubal from Eretz Yisroel, will be arriving in New York to meet with people who are seeking guidance and assistance in numerous matters. He meets people facing all sorts of difficulties and gives them chizuk, strengthening them and thus enabling them to face challenges. Whether it is children who are off-the-derech, issues of marriage or parnassa, Rav Menachem seems to give consistent and solid direction and advice that many people understand as truly miraculous.

Aside from being a Mekubal, Rav Menachem is a Rav in Elad where he has a shul and a Kollel Choshain Mishpat where his students study to be dayanim. Rav Menachem is an extraordinary Talmic Chachom as well as a great Mekubal and Tzaddik.

Rav Menachem has also authored a commentary on shaar ruach hakodesh of Rav Chaim Vitals classic Kabbalistic work entitled Etz Chaim. Rav Menachem had studied under the great Kabbalistic luminaries of our generation, HaRav Yoseph Dayan ztl and HaRav Mordechai Sharabi ztl.

It is said that virtually everyone who merits to see him and receives his advice, whether it has to do with medical issues, business issues, family matters or anything else  is so impressed that they recommend Rav Menachem to ten friends.

The following is a typical letter and experience. It was written by the son of a very famous Askan:

Around two years ago my bas yechidah began experiencing discomfort with her legs. I wont go into detail but we constantly visited doctors to no avail. As time went on her condition worsened. At the end of last year her legs began buckling. This became a regular occurrence and she got used to it happening.

This is when my story begins; In mid May 2015 on a Sunday when my daughter stumbled into our house crying. A heaviness had crept into her legs and by the time she got home she lost sensation in some parts and had little in the rest. I hurriedly took her to the doctor. After countless hours we knew she needed the hospital.

She spent 15 hours undergoing tests with no results. There was nothing visibly wrong with her and the doctors said it was probably a one time thing.

Fast forward. The next day my daughter buckled and she fell down a large ight of stairs. I knew she couldnt go on like this and hurried to another hospital. We spent a week there. In the beginning it was nerve racking knowing that my daughter might have a serious illness. But I knew that it wasnt in my hands.

After the rst few days we all breathed a sigh of relief when all serious issues were ruled out, however we were still anxious about the fact that her legs were still numb and developed a numbness in her arm. At the end of a long week with no answers, we had only one more test which would be done as an outpatient.

My daughter left the hospital in a wheelchair. Thats when my father-in-law called me to ask for my daughters full name. About a half hour after we came home my father-in-law called me again. He had spoken to Rav Tzion Menachem shlita, a Rav and Rosh Kollel from Elad, a city in Eretz Yisroel.

He told us that we had closed a window in our home 2 years ago and that is what caused all the problems. With shock we recalled that most certainly we had left a hole in the wall but we had stuccoed on our home two years ago and sure enough the hole which once was, was no longer.

With bated breath I quickly called someone down to drill a hole in my wall. Unbelievably very soon after the hole was drilled my daughter started gasping and crying as the sensation began returning to her legs. With tears streaming down our faces I together with my family watched her stand up and walk on her own.

The gratitude and feelings of shevach vhodaah to Hakadosh Baruch Hu for sending us such a shaliach are indescribable.

Rabbi Tzion Menachem Shlita will be available in New York between December 4th and December 14th. For an appointment please call: 929-214-8984.
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, the incoming Trump administrations pick for ambassador to China, has long promoted his states abundant agricultural products to China, but he would be thrust into the middle of increasing talk of a trade war with the United States largest trading partner.

Branstad, in his sixth term, is the longest serving governor in U.S. history and has known Chinese President Xi Jinping for more than 30 years.

The choice of Branstad, which President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday at a Manhattan fundraiser, was greeted warmly by the Chinese government.

Gov. Branstad is an old friend of the Chinese people, Chinas foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang commented on this today at a regular briefing. We welcome him to play a great role in promoting the development of China-U.S. relations.

In 1985, the first-term Republican governor welcomed Xi to Iowa, then a regional governmental official on an economic trip. Xi visited Iowa 30 years later, then as president.

Branstad, 70, would assume the diplomatic role at a time of increasing tension over trade. But aside from trade missions to China, the courtly Midwesterner has little experience in foreign diplomacy.

He has been a tireless advocate for trade, we all know that, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, a former Iowa governor, said. He obviously has relations with Chinese officials which are important. Hes tenacious and, trust me, with the Chinese youve got to be tenacious.

Branstad was a loyal supporter of Trump once the billionaire was the presumptive Republican Party nominee, and Branstads elder son, Eric, was chairman of Trumps winning campaign for Iowas six Electoral College votes.

Trump made closing the U.S. trade gap with China a top priority during the just-finished presidential election campaign. He has threatened to slap 45 percent tariffs on Chinese products and to label China a currency manipulator. Chinese officials warned that Trump is bound by World Trade Organization rules, which restrain countries from imposing sanctions without making a persuasive case for them.

Through the first 10 months of the year, government figures show the United States is running a $288.8 billion deficit with China on the trade of goods. That is a significant 6.2 percent decline from the same period in 2015.

During the general election campaign, Branstad expressed support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, saying the trade deal would benefit Iowas agricultural industry. Trump railed against the deal throughout his campaign as bad for American workers. Branstad aides did not respond Wednesday to requests to confirm the governors position.

During the month since the presidential election, Trump has targeted specific companies for criticism and praise, displaying an eagerness to assert himself in corporate matters.

The president-elect complained Tuesday about the costs of replacing the aging Air Force One fleet, causing Boeing stock to temporarily tumble. He proudly took credit for a pledged $50 billion investment by the Japanese mogul Masayoshi Son, even though the fund that would likely provide that investment was announced in October.

Last week, the president-elect boasted of saving 800 jobs at the Carrier furnace plant in Indianapolis, even though the parent company is still moving more than 1,000 jobs from that factory and another Indiana plant to Mexico. Along those same lines, Trump also tweeted that he had stopped Ford Motor Co. from relocating a Kentucky factory to Mexico. He took the credit, even though Ford had no plans to close the factory and, instead, backed away from a plan to shift the manufacturing of the Lincoln MKC, a small SUV, to Mexico.

Branstad was elected governor in 1982 and served four consecutive terms, notably during a devastating farm crisis that forced thousands of farmers into bankruptcy. After retiring in 1999, Branstad waged a comeback in 2010, defeating first-term incumbent Democratic Gov. Chet Culver. Branstad was re-elected to a sixth term in 2014.

Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds would succeed Branstad and become Iowas first female governor.

Trump and Branstad are expected to be in Iowa on Thursday. They met in New York at Trump Tower on Tuesday.

(AP)
President-elect Donald Trump lavished praise on his predecessor Wednesday, saying he is taking President Obamas advice on appointments, a stark contrast to the rancor and political divisions of the campaign  divisions that live on after the election, but which Trump denies having any responsibility for.

I have now gotten to know President Obama. I really like him  we have a really good chemistry together, Trump said in an interview with NBCs Today show that focused on his selection as Time magazines Person of the Year. He said he has solicited Obamas input on personnel during his transition to power and that I take his recommendations very seriously. And there are some people that I will be appointing  and in one case have appointed  where he thought very highly of that person, yes.

Yet while Trump struck a note of reconciliation with the president who he repeatedly blasted during the campaign, he took aim at Time for also labeling him President of the Divided States of America. He told Lauer that the term was snarky and that his campaign, often criticized for its heated and highly partisan tone, was not responsible. When you say divided states of America, I didnt divide them. Theyre divided now, Trump said. Im not president yet. So I didnt do anything to divide.

In a comment sure to raise eyebrows among the many people he has battled with on Twitter, Trump said he is very restrained on the microblogging site  and then took aim at the media, a frequent target of his tweets. Frankly, its a modern-day form of communication, Trump said. I get it out much faster than a press release. I get it out much more honestly than dealing with these dishonest reporters.

The president-elects comments came as the transition to his administration picked up speed. A transition official confirmed Wednesday that Trump had selected Terry Branstad, the long-serving Republican governor of Iowa, as ambassador to China. Branstad has extensive ties to China and a personal friendship with Chinese President Xi Jinping that dates back decades.

The move could help assuage concerns raised by Trumps phone call on Friday with Tsai Inq-wen, the president of Taiwan, which China considers a rogue province. Yet in the NBC interview, Trump also raised his recent Twitter outburst, in which he continued a long-standing habit of attacking China, this time over its trade and currency policies and its territorial claims in the South China Sea.

I talk about important things on Twitter, he told NBC.  I talked about, you know, as you know, recently with China.

Trump also tried to clarify Tuesdays surprising news that he had sold all his shares in companies in June, a move that could have created a cash windfall as he ramped up to begin a costly general election presidential campaign. Experts had said the sell-off could help address conflict-of-interest worries about his stock portfolio, a sizable part of Trumps financial life, and Trump said that indeed was his primary consideration.

I was never a big stockholder, but I bought a lot of different stocks, Trump told NBC. I dont think its appropriate for me to be owning stocks when Im making deals for this country that maybe will affect one company positively and one company negatively. So, I just felt it was a conflict.

As he is prone to do, Trump also teased the possibility of other major transition developments in the coming days. I have some other big announcements coming up today and actually tomorrow, he told NBC, adding that he is closing in on perhaps his biggest selection of all: Who will represent the United States overseas as secretary of state?

The prestigious post has been the subject of an extraordinary battle, with some Trump advisers publicly bashing one of the leading candidates, 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, and urging Trump to instead select former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. Other candidates include retired Army general and former CIA director David Petraeus; Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn; and an unorthodox possibility cited by Trump in the NBC interview: ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson.

We have a great, great gentleman, the head, the boss over at Exxon, and, you know, hes built a tremendous company over 30 years with great style, said Trump, who said he is likely to announce his nominee next week.

Asked if he is publicly dangling Romney as revenge for the former Massachusetts governors stark criticism of Trump during the campaign, Trump said Romney remains under consideration.

Ive spoken to him a lot, and weve come a long way together. We had some tremendous difficulty together, and now I think weve come a long way, Trump said.  Its not about revenge, its about whats good for the country. And Im able to put this stuff behind us.

Trump called his selection by Time as its Person of the Year a very very great honor. In an interview with the magazine for its cover story, he reprised his controversial remarks from his campaign announcement speech from June 2015 in which he said some Mexican immigrants are criminals and rapists.

Speaking about crimes committed by foreign-born assailants, Trump told the magazine: They come from Central America. Theyre tougher than any people youve ever met. Theyre killing and raping everybody out there. Theyre illegal. He also seemed to preview the proposed crackdown on illegal immigrants that was a central part of his campaign, saying that those who commit crimes are finished.

Trump did not back off on his promise to revoke Obamas Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, a 2012 initiative has given temporary protection from deportation to hundreds of thousands of people who arrived in the United States as children.

Yet he expressed sympathy for the so-called Dreamers. Were going to work something out thats going to make people happy and proud, he said, without providing details. They got brought here at a very young age, theyve worked here, theyve gone to school here. Some were good students. Some have wonderful jobs. And theyre in never-never land because they dont know whats going to happen.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  Jerry Markon, Jenna Johnson, Elise Viebeck
Search and rescue efforts are underway for a Marine pilot who ejected about 120 miles off the coast of Japan on Wednesday.

The pilot ditched his F/A-18 at approximately 6:40 p.m. local time southeast of Iwakuni, Japan, the Marine Corps said in a statement. The aircraft was assigned to 1st Marine Aircraft Wing based out of Okinawa.

The cause of the incident is under investigation.

It is the fourth Marine Corps F/A-18 to crash since July. In August, because of an increasing number of training mishaps, the Marines temporarily grounded their entire fleet of F/A-18s.

First debuted in the 1980s, the F/A-18 is a multi-role fighter and is primarily used by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. It comes in a number of variants with both single- and two-seat configurations and has been exported to a handful of U.S. allies, including Canada and Kuwait.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  Thomas Gibbons-Neff
[COMMUNICATED CONTENT]

Update: BH  one child is back in school. The negative tuition balance & this entire year is payed up in full. Each one of these situations is associated with severe poverty, RL.

There are 2 more children that still need our help. Each one goes to non main-stream schools. The school administration is standing firm on their strict tuition policy, like a brick wall. We are asking everyone, to please put all their hard feelings on the side & realize that everyday that goes by & these young children are not in school, is very serious. Your most generous contribution is critical to get 2 more kids back into class.

Acheinu Bnei Yisrael

It is with a heavy heart that I write to you about three beautiful children that have been forced out of their school. These children, despite being from both wonderful and chashuva families, were sent home from school over the past three and four weeks because their parents could unfortunately not meet their tuition payments. Nothing could be more detrimental to the educational success, self-confidence and self-esteem of these three children than to be removed from school when they were learning and behaving well. I personally know these families well, and am fully aware of each of their respective situations, circumstances, and the unfortunate cause of their financial distress. While not making light of the families dire financial situation, I must now focus exclusively on the plight of these three innocent children that are each day being emotionally traumatized and subjected to severe spiritual damage by the events and circumstances they find themselves. At this very moment, each of the three children are sitting in their respective homes twenty-four hours a day  a condition that is terribly unhealthy for any child, especially when together with financially stressed parents. These children desperately need our help. This is truly an emergency situation, and time is of the essence.

CLICK HERE to help these children

The Skvere Dayan, HaRav Yechiel Mechel Steinmetz, stands together with me in assisting these children and to raise the funds needed to return them immediately to a classroom setting and for them to remain as such for the remainder of the school year.

Rav Steinmetz and I are asking you to contribute now and spare these children further suffering, damage, and embarrassment. Please donate now and you will have a hand in a tremendous mitzvah and be a part of all the spiritual and material successes these three children will have throughout their lives, and for their generations to follow.

May Hashem bless you and continue to bless you and your dear family with health, long life and Kol Tuv.

The Poverty & Tuition Relief Vaad,

Rabbi Moshe Wolfson,

Mashgiach of Yeshiva Torah Vodaas & Rav of Khal Emunas Yisroel.

Rabbi Yechiel Mechel Steinmetz,

Skvere Dayan of Boro Park and Rav of the Bonei Olam Organization.
Federal officials investigating a fire that killed 36 people during a party at an Oakland warehouse plan to bring in engineers to examine the buildings electrical system, as they try to pinpoint the cause of a blaze that has cast a spotlight on similar artists colonies around the country that offer cheap housing but unsafe living conditions.

Federal investigators said Wednesday the fire started on the ground floor of the Oakland warehouse and quickly raged, with smoke billowing into the second level and trapping victims whose only escape route was through the flames.

The occupants were consumed by smoke before they could get out of the building, said Jill Snyder, special agent in charge of the San Francisco office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

She also confirmed there were no sprinklers or fire alarm system in the building.

Officials previously said recovery efforts at the site had ended with the death toll remaining at 36.

Snyder reiterated that investigators were examining a refrigerator and other possibilities as a potential source of the fire but had not reached any conclusions. She said the electrical system would be examined. Investigators have not found evidence of arson, but she said they have also not ruled it out.

Snyder indicated it would be at least several weeks before the investigation was completed.

Officials hope to create a virtual, 3D reconstruction of the building for criminal and civil investigations and to provide answers to family members about their loved ones last moments, Alameda County sheriffs Sgt. Ray Kelly said.

Where was my son or daughter? Where were they standing? How come they didnt get out? he said. Families want answers. They need answers.

The fire broke out during a dance party Friday night in the cluttered warehouse.

The structure had been converted to artists studios and illegal living spaces, and former denizens said it was a death trap of piled wood, furniture, snaking electrical cords and only two exits.

Danielle Boudreaux, a 40-year-old hairdresser who was close with Derick Ion Almena, the founder of the artists colony, and his partner, Micah Allison, said it was full of extension cords plugged into each other that helped supply power to music equipment, microwaves and hot plates.

There were also RVs inside, she said.

Almena has not responded to emails or calls by The Associated Press to phone numbers associated with him. He has said he didnt attend the event Friday night, and he is sorry.

City and state officials fielded complaints for years about dangerous conditions, drugs, neglected children, trash, thefts and squabbles at the warehouse, raising questions about why it wasnt shut down. The district attorney has warned of possible murder charges as she determines whether there were any crimes linked to the blaze.

The fire has cast a spotlight on similar artists colonies around the country that offer cheap housing but have raised safety concerns among neighbors and city officials.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said the city will look to strengthen regulations for smoke alarms and exits and clarify city employees responsibilities to monitor unsafe structures.

She said the city wants to engage the arts community in the review to ensure any changes dont jeopardize their access to affordable housing and work space.

On Wednesday, an Oakland restaurant owner, Dorothy King, called a news conference to say she was concerned the artists warehouse next to her business could pose a safety hazard.

Several artists tried to shout her down, accusing her of launching a witch hunt that could result in artists collectives being shut down.

King said that wasnt her intention.

Im concerned about my business burning down. Im concerned about a tragedy that could happen, she said. The city should come in and help, not shut it down.

In Baltimore, officials shut down an arts building for safety violations and evicted dozens of tenants three days after the fatal fire in Oakland.

Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer told the Los Angeles Times that he will meet next week with the fire chief and the head of the building and safety department to discuss what he calls an aggressive response to illegal apartment and loft conversions in commercial buildings.

(AP)
The rav of the community of Amona, Rabbi Yair Frank explain I am not a leader of the tzibur. I am a rav of forty families and therefore, I can only say how I would act. If I was a soldier, and I hope others will act this way too, or if I was a policeman, I would understand this is something that should not be done and it is not just and it is simply a crime. Justice should guide us and this is not justice.

The rav added this is not a case of    or simple enforcement of the building code but a decision that is based on an initiative of the radical left-wing and its political agenda which is to harm the settlement movement and this is contrary to the Torah. This is not about maintaining a system of law and order but a process intended to harm the Jewish settlement of Eretz Yisrael accompanied by a blind vision that Jews living in Yehuda and Shomron must be treated inferiorly as compared to Arabs as they are not viewed as permanent residents [of the area]. We believe this is our land and we are the permanent residents. If they really want to carry out justice, a fair and just process, they would not call for the destruction of a community simply for the sake of its destruction, a community that has been standing for twenty years but they instead seek and find a way to make it work, perhaps monetary compensation [for the land] and this is what I am expecting of decision-makers today.

In line with the High Court of Justices decision, the expulsion is to be carried out no later than 25 December 2016, a Sunday, erev first night of Chanukah.

Rabbi Frank stresses he does not view himself as a public leader who instructs others as how to act, adding if this however were on his shoulders, he would not carry out the orders. He hopes and expects that this too will be the path chosen by soldiers and policemen given the order to evict others from their homes.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
[PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]

The Shin Bet on Thursday afternoon 8 Kislev announced the arrests of a number of terrorist suspects affiliated with Hamas. The terror cell planned numerous acts of terror against Israeli security forces and civilians. The operation was carried out in cooperation with IDF units operating in the Gush Etzion district. the cell planned shooting attacks as well as kidnappings in the hope of using hostages as negotiating pawns towards gaining the release of terrorists imprisoned in Israel.

In the framework of a combined Shin Bet, IDF and Border Police operation, a Hamas infrastructure was uncovered. Members of the infrastructure  Hamas activists from Tzurif and Hebron  planned various terrorist attacks including shooting attacks and abduction in order to bargain for the release of prisoners.

They also carried out observations, in preparation for the aforesaid attacks, of IDF forces in the Tzurif area. Investigation of the infrastructure members by the ISA led to the discovery of considerable war materiel.

Among the main persons involved is security prisoner (terrorist) Ibrahim Abdallah Ghneimat, born in 1958, a resident of Tzurif, who is serving a life sentence for his involvement in a series of deadly terrorist attacks in the 1990s including the abduction and murder of IDF soldier Sharon Edri HYD.

In the framework of the investigation, the following Hamas activists were also arrested:

* Fadi Ibrahim Ghneimat, resident of Tzurif, the son of Ibrahim Ghneimat;

* Shadi Ibrahim Ghneimat, resident of Tzurif, the son of Ibrahim Ghneimat, served as head of the cell;

* Mahmoud Mahmoud Ghneimat, resident of Tzurif, son-in-law of Ibrahim Ghneimat;

* Kheitam Naim Hamidan  resident of Jeba, assisted in hiding war materiel;

* Jad Sultan  resident of Hebron, weapons trafficker who supplied the infrastructure with some of its weaponry;

* Rami Rajoub  resident of Dura, who, together with Ibrahim Ghneimat, while they were in prison, planned an abduction.

During the investigation considerable materials and weapons were confiscated including two AK-47s (Kalashnikov assault rifles), three pistols, a hunting rifle, a long-barreled M-16, a short-barreled M-16, clips and ammunition.

The investigations of the detainees have concluded. The IDF prosecutor in Judea and Samaria is due to file indictments against the suspects in the coming days.

The uncovering of the infrastructure reveals the high motivation of Hamas militants, both in the field and in prison, to carry out severe attacks including shootings and abductions.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Selling: Joules' woolly jumpers and warm coats

Families splashing out on winter warmers have helped sales at fashion brand Joules leap more than 16 per cent as it continues its charge into the US.

Joules, known for its striped tops and printed wellies, is among a host of premium UK retailers which have exploited the American appetite for British lifestyle brands.

In a trading update, Joules said sales rose 16.2 per cent to 81.4million for the six months to November 27, thanks to strong demand for its range of woolly jumpers and warm coats.

The brand also opened ten new stores, bringing its total to 107 in the UK and Ireland.

Joules, which is stocked in US department stores Nordstrom and Dillard's, is now launching its childrenswear range in another US chain store, but remained tight-lipped on which outlet it was.

Marc Dench, chief finance officer, said emphasising the brand's 'Britishness' had proved successful.

Colin Porter, chief executive, added: 'This reflects the strong appeal and quality of our products as well as the appeal of the Joules brand.'
Craft beer maker Camden Town Brewery is taking its flagship Hells lager to New York this month.

Offering the tipple to American drinkers is part of a major expansion funded by parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev, which brews Budweiser.

The drinks giant snapped up Camden in late 2015 for 85million after it became one of the frontrunners in Britain's craft beer movement.

Now it is spending 25million on a new brewery in Enfield, which represents the largest investment into London's brewing industry for 30 years.

Founder Jasper Cuppaidge, who set up the business from the cellar of a Hampstead pub in 2007, said: 'We've always been inspired by New York.

'It's a buzzing city filled with incredible places to eat and drink, so it felt like the right place to launch Camden into the US.

'Hells is a killer British lager we think drinkers across the world will love.'

The company has grown on the back of a craft beer movement which has driven an explosion of small breweries across the UK, rising by 8 per cent over the past year to 1,700.
National Grid has agreed to sell a majority stake in its gas pipe network to a consortium of global investors - making it the latest piece of British infrastructure to be sold to foreign ownership.

The 61 per cent stake will be sold for 13.8billion to a team that includes Australian investment bank Macquarie as well as Chinese and Qatari buyers.

Today's deal will see the international consortium take control of the gas network which serves 11 million UK homes and businesses and is made up of 82,000 miles of pipeline.

In the pipeline: Chinas sovereign wealth fund and Australian investment bank Macquarie Group have agreed to buy a 61 per cent stake in the gas distribution business of the UKs National Grid in a deal that will plug the 11m homes the network serves

National Grid chief executive John Pettigrew sought to allay fears over security of supply and said the Government and energy regulator Ofgem had been closely involved in the sale process.

He said: 'The consortium will have exactly the same obligations going forward in terms of security, reliability and safety as National Grid has had.

'It involves a group of investors who have a long track record of investing in critical infrastructure in the UK.'

But trade union Unison claimed Macquarie was an 'unsuitable' owner given its track record with Thames Water - which it is currently looking to offload.

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: 'Macquarie has poor form already - in building up huge company debt, repatriating massive dividends to the southern hemisphere and charging customers more for a much poorer service.

'The company has already proved it can't be trusted with the nation's water supply, but now it is to be in charge of gas pipes to millions of homes and businesses.'

Inconsistent: May wants to stop British businesses being sold off but so far there has been no clear stance from the PM's office

The deal raises questions about Prime Minister Theresa May's plans to allow government to intervene in purchases in sectors that are important to Britain.

Back in July May said she wanted to make government intervention in foreign takeovers easier.

Shortly after she became Prime Minister, tech giant ARM was sold to Japan's SoftBank, while the London Stock Exchange still looks set to be snapped up by German rival for 21billion.

She did, however, step in to review whether Chinese investors should be allowed take a 6billion stake in a planned new nuclear plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset - citing security fears.

Pettigrew said the gas network management team will remain in place, while staff will see their terms, conditions and pension rights remain the same.

National Grid has also pledged to appease investors by returning 4billion to shareholders after the deal and will hand out a 150million payment to benefit British energy customers.

It will receive 3.6billion cash for the stake in its gas arm, as well as a further 1.8billion in debt financing.

National Grid will retain a 39 per cent stake in the business, but said it was also in talks with the consortium over the sale of a potential further 14 per cent shareholding.

Following the deal, National Grid plans to return most of the 4billion to shareholders through a special dividend in the second quarter of 2017.

It will also work with Ofgem to decide how best to use the 150million payout to benefit energy customers.

One source said the money could be used to make energy bills cheaper or by helping the 'fuel poor'.

The auction for the gas network has been running for just over a year and saw the Macquarie consortium fight off a raft of competitors, including a team led by Chinese investors.

For the bid, Macquarie teamed up with China Investment Corporation - a subsidiary of China's sovereign wealth fund - as well as the Qatar Investment Authority, financial services giant Allianz Capital Partners, UK-based Hermes Investment Management and British fund managers Dalmore Capital and Amber Infrastructure Limited/International Public Partnerships.

Macquarie and China Investment Corporation will hold the two largest stakes, at 14.5 per cent and 10.5 per cent respectively, followed by Allianz with a 10.2 per cent stake. The Qataris will hold an 8.5 per cent stake.
Italy's struggling banks were granted a reprieve last night as hopes grew of a government rescue.

Sources said Italian ministers were in contact with Brussels about how to give the sector, which is weighed down by 300billion of bad debt, the multi-billion-pound injection it needs.

The nations third-largest lender, Monte dei Pashi di Siena, has been battling to secure a 4.2billion investment from the private sector.

Arrivederci: Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announces his resignation after losing a referendum on constitutional reform

But appetite for action has disappeared since prime minister Matteo Renzi lost a referendum on constitutional reform and resigned this week.

It is feared this could lead to instability, fresh elections and possibly even an exit from the euro.

Monte dei Paschi is now expected to end up in the hands of the state, with seven other banks potentially doing the same.

Authorities are struggling to work out how they can intervene without falling foul of European Union rules which mean millions of elderly bondholders must lose their savings first.

One option would be to apply for a 12.7billion loan from an emergency European fund to be shared out between several banks.
Starbucks plans to open another 12,000 coffee shops by 2021, marking a major expansion of its global network.

The move means it will have 37,000 outlets across the world in five years time.

The company, which has 900 shops in the UK, did not give a regional breakdown or outline where new ones would be opening.

Coffee giant: The newly announced expansion move means there will be 37,000 Starbucks stores across the world in five years time

The coffee giant released the news ahead of its investor conference in New York, just days after chief executive Howard Schultz said he would be stepping down in April.

After more than 30 years at the company, he will take up a position as executive chairman, and leave the chief executive role to Starbucks president and chief operating officer Kevin Johnson.

Moving up: After more than 30 years at Satrbucks, chief executive Howard Schultz will take up a position as executive chairman

Change of pace: Starbucks President and COO Kevin Johnson delivers remarks at the Starbucks 2016 Investor Day in Manhattan - he is set to take on the role of chief executive

The expansion is part of a five-year plan to boost revenue by 10per cent and earnings per share by 15-20per cent.

In November, the Seattle coffee brewer reported that consolidated full-year net revenues grew 11per cent to 16.9billion.
Sir Philip Green said he is not in the mood to announce Arcadia results before Christmas

Sir Philip Green said he is not in the mood to announce Arcadia results before Christmas  breaking with years of tradition.

The billionaire tycoon usually posts annual results in November, revealing sales figures in his High Street chains, which include Topshop, Wallis and Burton.

But Green  dubbed Sir Shifty by his critics  has decided against the update this year, telling Bloomberg he had no plans to discuss Arcadia or its results.

Arcadia has been hit by a loss of selling space for its brands that had concessions in BHS stores, but Green said it was doing well and picking up.

Greens decision follows months of criticism over his actions leading up to the sale of collapsed retailer BHS.

The 64-year-old has also faced calls to be stripped of his knighthood for failing to strike a deal to sort the 571million BHS pension black hole, threatening the futures of 22,000 people.

He sold the business to thrice-bankrupt businessman Dominic Chappell  who had no experience in retail  for 1 in March 2015.

It collapsed less than a year later, causing 11,000 people to lose their jobs and ending an 88-year run on the High Street.

It has since emerged that Green had withdrawn 400million in dividends over the 15 years he owned BHS, leading to criticism he had stripped it of its assets before the sell-off.

Green's decision to withhold Arcadia results follows months of criticism over his actions leading up to the sale of collapsed retailer BHS

Its demise is likely to hit Arcadia sales when it does report them, as BHS sold other brands through concessions.

Retail analyst Richard Hyman said it could knock as much as 100m off sales of 2billion.

As a private company he has no need to publish figures this early, but the fact he has done for many years makes his decision not to do so now that much more conspicuous, he added.

If they were really good then one might assume that he would be keen to share them.

It is understood that the results will be released at some point before May, but there is no set time.
London-listed commodities trader Glencore is among investors to have paid 9billion for a 20per cent stake in Russian state oil firm Rosneft.

Glencore was joined by Qatar in putting money into Russias largest oil company, where BP already has a 19.75per cent stake.

It is the largest privatisation deal, the largest sale and acquisition in the global oil and gas sector in 2016, Russian president Vladimir Putin said last night.

London-listed commodities trader Glencore is among investors to have paid 9billion for a 20per cent stake in Russian state oil firm Rosneft

The Kremlin still has a controlling stake in Rosneft but the sale of part of the company comes as Moscow sells assets to raise funds to fill a hole in its budget left by low oil prices.

The deal suggests the lure of taking a share in one of the worlds biggest oil companies outweighs the risks that come with Western sanctions imposed on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.
Addressing fire safety Living in San Diego County, the threat of fires is constant, that is why I have made fire safety one...

Supporting animals As a trained Project Wildlife Native Songbird Rehabilitator, my experience raising orphaned and injured songbirds and returning them to the...
MANZINI  The three men who are alleged to have terrorised and shot at passengers inside a bus were wanted for an attempted murder charge.



They are alleged to have shot a Pakistan national three times last Saturday.



The trio is said to have used a gun they had stolen from a businessman of Ngculwini.

Two of the suspects were arrested by the police on Monday and Tuesday respectively after the incident which occurred inside the bus which was from Gundvwini headed for Manzini.



Before the drama in the bus, on a Saturday, the two suspects; Sifiso Muzi Shongwe (22) of Hlane and Mduduzi Comfort Dlamini (24) of Gundvwini are said to have allegedly attempted to kill one Imran Naseeb, a Pakistan national by shooting him three times with a Protector shotgun.

The Asian national was later ferried to hospital where he was admitted.

However, it could not be immediately ascertained in court why the suspects allegedly shot the Asian as there were no items stolen after the shooting at his place.



When both suspects were arrested on Tuesday, they were eventually charged with attempted murder.

In August this year, they allegedly broke into the house of businessman Musa Manyatsi of Khuphuka, who owns a fleet of public transport vehicles and stole three guns from his home.



The stolen guns are the 12 Bore Protector shotgun (E9 000), 22 rifle (E4 000) and a 9mm pistol (E8 000). They allegedly further stole an Andriod tablet (E3 000), six 2-in-one blankets (E3 000), a massaging machine (E1 500), a brushcutter (E4 000) and a hair clipper, among other items valued at E40 620.



Two days after attempting to murder the Pakistan national, they allegedly attempted to rob the moving bus, where one of them shot at the roof, scaring passengers.

The bus driver, who was allegedly the one the suspects were after, is said to have disarmed the suspect and he was tied and ferried to the bus rank, in a vehicle, belonging to one of the community members in the area.
MBABANE  It seems a day does not go by without the Swazi Med and Medscheme case taking a new twist.



Swazi Med has now filed an application for the recusal of Judge Jacobus Annandale, who is presiding over the matter. This latest application is preceded by applications to stop a meeting and arbitration. In its application for the recusal of the judge, Swazi Med alleged that the judges partiality was now in doubt.



This comes after the judge allegedly issued a mysterious and/or secret order in the matter. It was also the companys submission that Judge Annandale was disqualified by his actions.



Swazi Med Principal Officer Peter Simelane stated that during the argument of the main matter (application to stop the shareholders meeting), the parties ventilated all issues including the dispute over what was resolved by the Board in its meeting of September 8, 2016. He pointed out that the parties argued fully, comprehensively and referred the court to legal authorities on how these issues were to be decided by the court. He alleged that after hearing full arguments His Lordship postponed the matter to December 1, 2016 for purposes of delivering an ex tempore judgment at 2pm.



Simelane submitted that on December 1, 2016 at about 9:45am, he received a call from Swazi Meds Attorney, Mangaliso Magagula, who informed him that he had received a call from the clerk of Judge Annandale informing him that he (judge) had issued an order in the matter for the production of the original book of minutes in which he (Simelane) recorded the Board meeting minutes of September 28, 2016.

According to Simelane, Magagula told him that he had been informed by the judges clerk that the order required him to appear before the judge at 11am on the same day with the applicants (Medscheme).



He said he was informed that this was for the purposes of inspecting the original book of the meeting in which he recorded the minutes.

Simelane alleged that Magagula informed him that he could not get much detail as he took the call from the judges clerk while he was in a meeting. Magagula is said to have promised to get back to the judges clerk to get more information about the Court Order.
EZULWINI  Yet another Ezulwini Town Board councillor has come out to allege that the ongoing commission of inquiry has been instituted to protect corruption from the office of the CEO.



The suspended Gwen Hadfield, during her appearance yesterday, made it known that she was disappointed because the inquiry was undermining their integrity as councillors.



Halfway through her submission, she shocked the commissioners when she requested to give them an assignment, which she said would summarise her submission.



The assignment was that they should bring all the councillors and ask them if they had ever used the municipality vehicles for their personal errands and if they had ever been spotted hanging out with company directors who had tenders hanging.

If the answer to the questions is no, then I can safely say that we do not need this commission of inquiry. Otherwise if you look at the calendar, you can see that it is a case of out with the old and in with the new.



This is sad because our reputation has been tarnished, she submitted.

These are allegations made during the commission of inquiry and their veracity is yet to be determined by the commissioners.

According to Hadfield, Minister of Housing and Urban Development Phiwayinkhosi Mabuza had decided to wield his power and side with corruption instead of assisting in getting rid of it.
Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams

By Bill Parry

A New York state court blocked the city from destroying personal records of 900,000 IDNYC cardholders after two Republican lawmakers from Staten Island filed a lawsuit Monday. City officials had been considering destroying copies of passports, birth certificates, educational records and other documents submitted by applicants for the municipal identification cards if President-elect Donald Trump moves forward with plans to deport illegal immigrants.

The court has temporarily barred the city from doing away with records associated with the IDNYC program, City Hall spokeswoman Rosemary Boeglin said. The mayor is absolutely committed to protecting the security of our data. As we continue to review all of our options, we are confident that we can keep the IDNYC data private.

The city will no longer require such personal information from those who apply for IDNYC. A state judge will decide whether to extend the stay after both sides file additional court papers by Dec. 21.

The intrigue began Monday when Republican Assembly members Nicole Malliotakis and Ron Castorina filed the lawsuit in Staten Island Supreme Court citing state public-records laws.

When IDNYC was introduced in 2015, the New York Civil Liberties Union warned the city to retain as little information as possible. It is believed nearly half of the cardholders are undocumented immigrants.

If you look at the original legislation, which is the law of this city, it was quite clear we were not going to be  we were not going to allow ourselves to be in a situation where those records would be turned over to the federal government, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday. The whole idea of IDNYC was to give people an opportunity in this city to live a better life for themselves and their families, to have a deeper connection with the city and city government. And it has been successful, but the reason people were willing to trust us is we made very clear that there would never be a situation where it would lead to their deportation, and were going to keep that pledge, and its part of our law.

Castonia and Malliotakis, citing public-records law, said in their lawsuit that destroying government records due to the results of a federal election is against the ideals of the United States and has no basis in law.

One Queens lawmaker took umbrage with his fellow members of the Assembly.

When we should be reinforcing the trust between our immigrant communities and the agencies that serve them, my colleagues have instead opted to further erode that trust, Assemblyman Francisco Moya (D-East Elmhurst) said. When IDNYC launched, we asked people to put their trust in this city, our city. This lawsuit only betrays them and scares them back into the shadows. The election has given undocumented immigrants in my district and throughout New York a lot to be concerned about, but getting an identification card should not be one of them. It hurts our ability to provide them services; it hurts families by making their lives more difficult.

By not standing by the thousands of families which also call New York home, Assembly members Malliotakis and Castorina share in the blame for creating a climate in which immigrants feel targeted and threatened.
Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams

By Patrick Donachie

New Yorkers at or below the poverty line would be unduly burdened by proposed subway and bus fare hikes, according to members of the public who spoke at an MTA hearing at York College in Jamaica Monday evening.

Elected officials and community members alike railed against the lack of commuter options in southeast Queens, questioning where they could find a return on their investment into the public transit system.

The service we receive is unacceptable, South Jamaica resident Michelle Hall said. You start saying, do I buy this food for my family or do I pay for the Metrocard so I can get to the job and I can pay for my maintenance and my rent?

Many MTA board members were on hand for the event, including Chairman Thomas Prendergast and Vice Chairman Fernando Ferrer. The MTA is considering two options for increases to fares and tolls over the next two years, which the agency said would be the lowest projected increase since 2009.

The first plan would maintain the base fare at $2.75, with a 5 percent round-trip bonus. With Plan B, the base fare would increase to $3 with a 16 percent round-trip bonus. Monthly Metrocards would reflect a fare increase in both plans. The increases will be voted on in January and could be enacted in March.

City Councilman I. Daneek Miller (D-St. Albans) criticized the state of public transit for southeast Queens residents when he welcomed the board members.

I hope you took public transportation, he said. I just came from City Hall and it was a two-hour ride, to let you know what were dealing with out here.

Samuel Santaella, a member of Riders Alliance from St. Albans, spoke about his support for half-price fares for poor New Yorkers, hoping to see the MTA improve economic opportunity for riders.

Im fighting for fair fares for myself and my community, he said. Lets make our turnstile an entryway, not a barrier.

An MTA spokeswoman said fares from customers only accounted for about half of the MTAs annual budget.

The MTA always tries to keep fares as low as possible and still provide safe, reliable service, she said. The MTA already makes a substantial commitment to low-income city riders, including $625 million annually MTA spends to subsidize services primarily available for NYC-only residents (such as elderly, paratransit and schoolchildren).

The Riders Alliance partners with the Community Service Society of New York, which released a report in April about the detrimental effect fare increases are having on low-income New Yorkers. The study suggested the reduced fare be open to city residents between the ages of 18 to 64 in families with incomes below the federal poverty level. The study estimated about 800,000 New Yorkers could qualify.

According to the analysis, 25 percent of the citys near-poor, defined as households with a total income between poverty and twice the poverty level, reported frequently being unable to afford bus and subway fares, with 28 percent of those living below the poverty line reporting they could not do so.

Nancy Rankin, the agencys vice president of policy research and advocacy, said she thought momentum was growing in the push to assist New Yorkers at or below the poverty line. She said Mayor Bill de Blasio had the legal authority to ask the MTA to consider reduced fares for a category of riders provided the city made up the lost revenue in its budget. Rankin said CSSNY estimated a need of about $200 million per year if the reduced fare option was fully phased in.

Thats consistent with what he rode into office on, which was ending the tale of two cities, Rankin said.
Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams

By Gina Martinez

Several families have been left homeless after a two-alarm fire in Flushing.

According to fire officials, a call came in at 4:40 a.m. Thursday morning for a two-alarm fire at a six-story apartment complex on Sanford Avenue near 157th Street in Murray Hill. The fire began on the fourth floor and extended to the fifth and sixth floors, FDNY said. A total of 10 people were injured and seven were taken to the hospital, officials said.

The fire started from a space heater plugged into a power strip in a fourth-floor apartment, which then spread into the victims apartments on the floors above, FDNY said. Smoke detectors were working in both apartments.

The fire was under control by 6 a.m., FDNY said.

The American Red Cross has already helped several families. Seven apartments in the building were damaged in the fire. The Red Cross has helped with emergency housing for four families, while the remaining households had their own relocation spots. Emergency funds for basic necessities like food and clothing have been provided and the affected families are meeting with Red Cross caseworkers for additional assistance.
Syria\s army on Thursday halted its attacks in Aleppo to allow for trapped civilians to be evacuated, Russia\s foreign minister announced, after advancing regime forces cornered rebels in the city.

"I can tell you that today combat operations by the Syrian army have been halted in eastern Aleppo because there is a large operation underway to evacuate civilians," said Sergei Lavrov.

"There is going to be to a column of 8,000 evacuees" travelling five kilometres (three miles), Lavrov said after talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry in the German city of Hamburg.

In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Lavrov\s announcement was "an indication that something positive could happen".

A senior State Department official said Lavrov and Kerry spoke again by phone late Thursday and "agreed to continuing having discussions about establishing a framework for a ceasefire".

There was no immediate reaction from Damascus, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the fighting had eased.

Air strikes ceased and artillery fire was far less intense, according to an AFP correspondent in east Aleppo.

Moscow is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and launched an air war in support of his forces last year, while Washington and other Western nations have supported rebel forces.

Russia this week suggested a deal was in the works for rebels to be allowed to withdraw from Aleppo to other opposition-held territory.

On the strength of his army\s latest gains in territory of east Aleppo held by the rebels, Assad said in a newspaper interview Thursday that victory for his troops would be a turning point in Syria\s five-year war.

Three weeks into a major offensive to retake all of Aleppo, government troops have captured about 85 percent of territory rebels controlled in the city\s east.

AFP correspondents in the city said rebel areas faced intense bombardment on Thursday before Lavrov\s announcement.

Cornered in a shrinking enclave in Aleppo\s southeast, the rebels have asked for a five-day ceasefire.

Western countries have backed the call, and Kerry and Lavrov held talks on Thursday for a second straight day in an effort to halt the bloodshed.

The UN renewed its call for an immediate ceasefire in Aleppo, warning that as many as 500 sick and injured children desperately needed to be evacuated.

"There has to be a pause," said Jan Egeland, head of the UN-backed humanitarian taskforce for Syria.

"At the moment, those who try to escape are caught in crossfire, they are caught in shelling, (and) risk being hit by snipers."

In his interview with Syrian daily Al-Watan, Assad predicted victory for his forces in Aleppo, though he admitted that would not end the country\s conflict entirely.

"It\s true that Aleppo will be a win for us," Assad said.

"Let\s be realistic  it won\t mean the end of the war in Syria," he said. "But it will be a huge step towards this end."

Rebels seized control of large parts of Aleppo in 2012, dividing Syria\s former commercial hub into an opposition-held east and government-controlled west.

For years Aleppo was a key battleground and important rebel stronghold, but Assad\s forces have recently made a concerted push to retake the city.

In the last week government forces steadily gained ground until on Wednesday  after a highly symbolic retreat from the Old City  the rebels called for the ceasefire to allow thousands of civilians to evacuate.

Assad\s government has said a truce is only possible after a full rebel withdrawal, and opposition fighters have rejected any talk of abandoning Aleppo.

On Thursday the army, backed by fighters from Iran and Lebanon\s Hezbollah movement, continued to advance, said the Observatory.

The monitor had reported heavy clashes in several rebel neighbourhoods, including Bustan al-Qasr, Saif al-Dawla, Zibdiya, Sukkari and Kallaseh.

All rebel areas had been under heavy bombardment, it said, with opposition forces returning fire with rockets into government-controlled west Aleppo.

At least 384 civilians have been killed in east Aleppo during the offensive, while rebel fire into the west has killed at least 105 people, the Observatory says.

The assault has prompted a mass exodus from east Aleppo where at least 80,000 people have fled their homes, according to the monitor.

On Thursday, hundreds of families, most of them from the Salhine district, arrived in Aziza, a southeastern suburb of Aleppo, after the latest rebel defeats.

"I feel reborn," said Yasser, a 40-year-old father of four as he tugged at a cart stacked with luggage atop of which sat his ailing mother.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it carried out an operation on Wednesday night with Syria\s Red Crescent to evacuate 150 civilians, many disabled or sick, from a health facility in the Old City.

It was unclear how many civilians remained in rebel territory, but there were an estimated 250,000 in east Aleppo prior to the latest offensive.

An appeal also came from the White Helmets rescue group for international organisations to protect its members in rebel-held parts of east Aleppo.

"If we are not evacuated, our volunteers face torture and execution in the regime\s detention centres," they said in a statement.

SOURCE. AFP
Times' Game of the Week Preview: No. 7 Beaver Area vs. No. 10 Deer Lakes

Beaver enters the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs riding high after closing the regular season strong. Up next: Deer Lakes for had coach Cort Rowse's Bobcats.
ITHACA -- Police say a suspect who allegedly killed a man in the Walmart parking lot early Thursday and fired at police officers was taken into custody after a five hour standoff at a local residence, the Cornell Daily Sun reported.

The victim was fatally shot by a man in a black truck at 12:52 a.m., who then ran over the victim and peeled out of the parking lot, witnesses told the Sun.
Two months ago, Alain Kaloyeros resigned as president of SUNY Polytechnic Institute following his Sept. 22 arrest on state and federal corruption charges.

Despite the criminal case against him, Kaloyeros told SUNY officials he planned to immediately resume his faculty post at SUNY Poly as a professor of nanoscale science and engineering after taking a leave of absence in 2014.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Rome

Italian Premier Matteo Renzi resigned Wednesday evening, his self-inflicted penalty for staking his job on constitutional changes voters resoundingly rejected earlier in the week. He will stay in a caretaker's role at the request of Italy's president until a new government can be formed.

Renzi had first offered his resignation on Monday, shortly after voters rejected the constitutional reforms his center-left government had championed. President Sergio Mattarella, Italy's head of state, told him to stay in office until Parliament completed approval of the 2017 national budget.

A few hours after the budget was passed on Wednesday, Renzi returned to the Quirinal presidential palace. This time, Mattarella accepted the resignation of the man who in February 2014 became Italy's youngest premier at age 39.

A presidential palace official, Ugo Zampetti, told reporters that Mattarella would begin consultations Thursday with the heads of Parliament's two chambers, as well as with former President Giorgio Napolitano.

After hearing out minor parties on Friday, Mattarella on Saturday plans to take proposals from the major players, including the Democratic Party that Renzi leads and the populist 5-Star Movement, Parliament's No. 1 and No. 2 parties respectively.

It could be clear whom Mattarella might tap to be the next premier once those meetings are done. One strong possibility is a government that would rule until Parliament hashes out a new election law in a bid to bring political stability to Italy.

The talks are aimed at sounding out party leaders to determine the configuration of a new government that would have enough support in Parliament to win both the required confirmation vote and to lead the country until elections are next held.

Elections are scheduled for spring 2018, but Renzi's humiliating defeat in the referendum will likely hasten that date considerably, possibly bringing a vote in spring 2017. Opposition parties, including the anti-euro 5-Star Movement, are pressing for the elections to be held soon.

"We want to go to the ballot box soon," said Roberto Fico, a 5-Star lawmaker. But Fico, as have both other opposition leaders and leaders from Renzi's Democrats, also cited the need for Parliament to approve a new election law before the national contests are called.
Proctors is many things to many people. For Broadway fanatics, it's the place to catch the latest touring iterations of hits from the Great White Way. For comedy fans, it's a venue for stand-up.

For sugar-plum fairies and their parents in tow, it's home to "The Nutcracker." For film buffs, it means screenings and Q&As. For classical music enthusiasts, it's orchestral performances. For kids and teens interested in the arts, it's after-school programs and summer camp.

"I really think of it as the community's creative gathering place  that's the role they play," said Jim Salengo, executive director of the Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corp. "I mean, honestly, it's always there. It's always open and accessible."

Diners meet at Apostrophe Cafe. Revelers gather at wedding receptions at Key Hall. Parents watch their offspring graduate. Folk devotees hear Eighth Step concerts in the 450-seat GE Theatre and 120-seat Underground Theatre.

Networkers show up for meetings. Shoppers visit the arcade. The list goes on.

"Really, it is quite a remarkably diverse destination," Salengo said. "And even outside their walls, I'm always just blown away at how they really are a creative force for change in the community over all."

In the nine decades since Proctor's Theatre (it lost the apostrophe in 2007) opened as a grande dame of the vaudeville circuit, the State Street performance complex has weathered its ups, downs, periods of decline and spasms of development. It's nearing the end of one such spasm now, as the Schenectady arts mecca embarks on its final push in a four-year fund-raising campaign that has raised more than $13 million toward renovating, modernizing, expanding its reach and enlarging its impact.

But its reach is already huge. Its impact is already heavy, having grown since the arrival of Philip Morris as CEO in 2012.

"I think it's a beacon of light in the community, frankly  that's how I would characterize it. And I think it has been for many years," said Darlene Myers, artistic director of Northeast Ballet. In the 1970s, when Myers returned to the region from a stint with the Pennsylvania Ballet, the space was a "shell" of its former self. No longer.

"I have seen the growth of Proctors, really, from a seedy vaudeville house  which it was back then  to a shining star of the Northeast. ... I mean, it's not only a theater of great renown, but it's also a gathering place for artists and musicians and performing artists and also, I think, community groups. And it serves many purposes in the community."

In residence at Proctors since 1991, the Northeast Ballet is one of many arts organizations  some sizable and established, others small and scrappy  that have made their homes there or otherwise found support under its roof. The Mop & Bucket improv company just moved into separate digs on North Jay after years as a resident. Proctors participates in the monthly Art Night Schenectady, in the yearly Summer Night community event, and it's involved with plans for a New York State Arboretum at Mohawk Harbor. Beyond Schenectady, in Albany and Saratoga Springs, it provides administrative underpinnings for Capital Repertory Theatre and Universal Preservation Hall.

"They have their hands in everything," said Prince Sprauve, who founded and runs the Told By Us youth-filmmaking program now housed at Proctors. "I mean, from the suburban community to the urban community, they've kind of embraced everybody  and I think that's huge."

TBU's Proctors occupancy is an in-kind donation; in return, the group works closely with its education department. They also participated along with Proctors in the "Breathing Lights" arts installation that illuminated empty buildings in Schenectady, Albany and Troy, shooting film and telling stories of the houses and lives that surround them.

Too often, Sprauve said, agencies and institutions scrimp when they serve the urban community. "Most of the time, let's just be honest, they give us the leftovers. But Proctors has chosen to give us their best, and I applaud Philip for that. ... They've been the greatest. They've embraced us, they've covered us, they've, you know, provided stability  and I think that's just really huge for us, because it gives us an opportunity to serve the community."

In Salengo's view, Proctors' "big-picture thinking" deepens its role in the community and takes it beyond the performing arts. "I don't think it's an exaggeration to say they're really a creative force in the community," he said. "Philip would be the first one to tell you that he always says 'yes' first, and then figures out how to do it afterward."

Proctors "has clearly been the anchor for a renaissance of the arts scene and the economic development that we're seeing downtown. It has clearly been the anchor and the spur," said Jim Lommel, treasurer for the Schenectady Symphony.

"It's exciting to see. There's a lot of energy, there's a lot of creativity that's in there," he added, crediting Morris. For a long time, he said, Schenectady endured a reputation as a less-than-thrilling place to live and work. "There was a lot of activity in the capital district with summer theater, but come Labor Day, everyone went back to New York City  and there certainly wasn't that much activity then. Proctors has certainly turned that around."

It's turned itself around, too. In the 1950s and '60s, Proctors was suffering the same fate as other urban performance venues in the age of television and gradual suburban sprawl. By the late 1970s, the hall that had once hosted Duke Ellington was decaying and in danger of getting razed.

Sign up for The Knick  Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter.

Lommel was among the community members who rallied around the sagging old theater, founding the Friends of Proctor's "to decide if Proctor's was worth saving and not turning into a parking lot." They decided it was.

On Jan. 3, 1979, the venue reopened with a full house. "The opening night, it was magical," said Mardy Moore, a former town supervisor for Niskayuna and one of the community activists who saved Proctors, incorporated it and assembled a board. "We had (Harry) Blackstone the magician play"  the son of a vaudevillian who'd appeared there in the early days  "and it was such a fantastic night. Here was this decrepit old building, and plaster was falling off the walls, and we couldn't get it renovated completely by opening night."

They just dusted the plaster off people's backs. "And as the evening wore on, the plumbing gave out  and not one person complained or left. ... There was water flowing down the aisle, and nobody paid attention to it," she said. "We just mopped it up, and everybody kept going."

In the ensuing decades, the venue pressed on. It underwent a second period of renovation and a major growth spurt in the mid-2000s, replacing the roof, adding a $1 million sound system and constructing the 450-seat GE Theatre. The work temporarily displaced the Schenectady Symphony, bouncing it into other venues. "We called it 'the local tour,'" said Christine Mason, executive director of the orchestra.

"It's a wonderful theater to perform in," she said of the mainstage. "I only wish we were better able to fill the seats, as it's a large theater"  the seating capacity is more than 2,600. "But it is  it's glorious."

Back in the late 1970s, when Lommel and his compatriots first considered the theater's fate, "We did a lot of soul-searching and market surveys to decide if Proctor's could continue as a business  as a viable business operation. ... It has eminently indicated that it has worked. And certainly, when one looks at downtown or State Street in Schenectady, to see how lovely it is now, I think Proctors  its renovation  has had a big factor in making all that possible."

Recalling that plaster-dusted grand reopening back in 1979, Moore said: "There was such a spirit. It was sort of like the end of a war, when people celebrate and they can see a bright future. That's the way this was. Everybody was celebrating. We could see that here was a jewel for the community that was gonna make everybody proud and everybody happy," she said.

"And it did. That's what it's done ever since."

abiancolli@timesunion.com  518-454-5439  @AmyBiancolli
Albany

New York's medical marijuana companies will be allowed to sell their products wholesale to each other, in the state's latest effort to increase the likelihood of the program's success as companies finish their first year selling medicines to the public with operating losses.

In a list of efforts to expand the market for medical marijuana, the state Health Department Thursday said it is also lifting its restriction on the number of medical marijuana formulations a company can sell. It defined "chronic pain" as a condition for obtaining marijuana, after announcing earlier this month that chronic pain would become the 11th condition qualifying a New Yorker to buy cannabis. And it made moves to add physician assistants to the list of medical providers who can certify patients to receive medical marijuana, after recently authorizing nurse practitioners to do so.

"All of these regulations are regulations that we strongly support as common-sense, patient-friendly regulations," said Ari Hoffnung, chief executive of Vireo Health, which has a growing facility in Fulton County and a retail outlet in Albany.

Michael Chrzanowski, a 42-year-old East Greenbush resident who uses medical marijuana to deal with a spinal cord injury from a car accident, said he hopes the changes will result in more competition for more patients, which will drive the prices down. He now pays $220 for a weekly supply of medical marijuana, but cannot afford it on a regular basis so he uses it as a supplement to other treatment.

The state is still considering another change that the current five companies do not like, however  the possibility of doubling the number of companies from five to 10. According to the Health Department, it would use a phased-in approach to ensure a smooth integration of the new companies into the industry. The timing of new entries into the market, as well as the locations of their retail outlets, would be carefully considered, according to a department statement.

Medical marijuana companies already in operation would rather see the Health Department halt its consideration of registering more companies until the market grows enough to justify letting them in, Hoffnung said.

"We are currently operating in a micro market," Hoffnung said. "The current size of the markets is not sufficient to sustain even one registered organization."

Patients may not obtain the drug without certification from a doctor. About 750 doctors have registered for the medical marijuana program, certifying more than 11,000 patients.

Lots of patients still have trouble getting certified, however, due to a lack of participation from doctors, Hoffnung said. The number registered represent about 1 percent of physicians statewide.

The state's medical marijuana program was launched with legislation signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in mid-2014. In a program considered one of the most restrictive in the country, five companies were chosen in a competitive process to grow the plants, extract the oils, make the medicines and sell them. The state initially designated 10 conditions for which New Yorkers could use medical marijuana.

Sign up for The Knick  Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter.

Following a two-year report of the program issued this summer, as well as complaints about the program's sluggish launch, the state has made a number of modifications, including those announced Thursday.

The state's definition of "chronic pain" as a qualifying condition is expected to be published Dec. 21 in the State Register. It will be limited to severe, debilitating pain that has lasted or is expected to last at least three months and has been deemed by a medical professional to degrade patients' health or reduce their ability to function and has not been successfully treated with other remedies. The rule will be subject to a 45-day public comment period once published.

Last week, the Health Department also proposed that hospitals be allowed to create policies that permit patients to self-administer medical marijuana while hospitalized or have registered caregivers administer it.

chughes@timesunion.com  518-454-5417  @hughesclaire
[December 08, 2016] CenturyLink, RAD, Ciena, and Cienas Blue Planet Division Earn Proof of Concept Excellence Award at MEF 16

MONROE, Louisiana, December 8, 2016  CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL), RAD, Ciena, and Cienas Blue Planet division recently won the Third Network Proof of Concept Excellence Award at the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) 2016 Global Networking event.







The Proof of Concept (PoC), titled Multi-Vendor Service Orchestration Using Open APIs for Service Activation, Performance Monitoring and NFV, was built on CenturyLinks network and demonstrated the tangible benefits associated with multi-vendor automation using open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), Software Defined Networking (SDN), and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV)-based value-added services.



CenturyLinks initiative to build open APIs under the MEF Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO) framework was a key component of this PoC. Those open APIs were developed, in collaboration with RAD and Ciena, to enable automated provisioning and the delivery of orchestrated services in a multi-vendor environment, providing solutions to many of the challenges IT managers face.





We are honored to have received this award, said Jack Pugaczewski, CenturyLink Distinguished Network Architect. This PoC ran on CenturyLinks real-world network environment, bringing this solution several steps closer to deployment and demonstrating to customers that if they need multi-vendor orchestration within their environment, we can build it. The judging panel for the MEF 2016 Excellence Awards was comprised of global and regional senior analysts from ATLANTIC-ACM, Current Analysis, Frost & Sullivan, IHS Markit, Metanoia, Ovum, SDxCentral, and Vertical Systems, in addition to independent judges.



MEF 2016 is the global gathering of networking professionals enabling the future of agile, assured and orchestrated services. The MEF 2016 Excellence Awards program is the largest in the world focused on advanced Carrier Ethernet services and emerging Third Network services powered by CE 2.0, LSO, NFV and SDN networking technologies.



About CenturyLink CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) is a global communications, hosting, cloud and IT services company enabling millions of customers to transform their businesses and their lives through innovative technology solutions. CenturyLink offers network and data systems management, Big Data analytics and IT consulting, and operates more than 55 data centers in North America, Europe and Asia. The company provides broadband, voice, video, data and managed services over a robust 250,000-route-mile U.S. fiber network and a 300,000-route-mile international transport network. Visit CenturyLink for more information.



About RAD RAD is a global telecom access solutions and products vendor. Our Service Assured Access solutions for mobile, business and wholesale service providers are designed to improve the way they compete: service agility to minimize time to revenue, complete visibility of network performance for greater operational efficiency, and better QoE to reduce churn. We are at the forefront of pioneering technologies, such as: Distributed NFV, MEF Carrier Ethernet 2.0, Layer 2 and Layer 3 performance monitoring, hardware miniaturization, and synchronization over packet. Founded in 1981, RAD has an installed base of more than 15 million units, and works closely with Tier 1 operators and service providers around the globe. RAD is a member of the $1.25 billion RAD Group of companies, a world leader in communications solutions. For more information about RAD visit www.rad.com, follow us on Twitter @RADdatacomms, or check us out on LinkedIn and Facebook.



About Ciena Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) is a network strategy and technology company. We translate best-in-class technology into value through a high-touch, consultative business model  with a relentless drive to create exceptional experiences measured by outcomes. For updates on Ciena, follow us on Twitter @Ciena, LinkedIn, the Ciena Insights blog, or visit www.ciena.com. As a community-building service, TMCnet allows user submitted content which is not always proofed by TMCnet editors. If you feel this entry is of inferior quality or wish to report it for some reason, please forward the URL to "webedit [AT] tmcnet [DOT] com" with your comments.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 08, 2016] ClimateMaster Invests in HVAC Education and Research

ClimateMaster, based in Oklahoma City, OK, has donated water source heat pumps and other equipment to several universities in the United States. Oklahoma State University (OSU), in Stillwater, was one of the universities that received a total of 21 units. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208005230/en/ Pictured are Michael Taras, VP of Engineering for ClimateMaster (right), and Dr. Daniel E. Fisher, Head of the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at the Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, O, with the donated ClimateMaster units. (Photo: Business Wire)



According to ClimateMaster and OSU's Building and Environmental Research Group, the larger units will be used as dedicated conditioning equipment for a brand-new heat exchanger test facility and to upgrade the capacity of the school's psychrometric chambers. "The smaller units will be converted into demonstration units in a new undergraduate laboratory utilizing ground source loop technology and used for research projects," remarked Dr. Craig Bradshaw of OSU.

Units were also donated to Purdue University's (News - Alert) Center for High Performance Buildings. According to Dr. Jim Braun at Purdue, these units would be used to provide heat input and heat rejection for experimental setups at the Center's Thermal Systems Laboratory. ClimateMaster also donated units to Auburn University, University of Maryland and University of Central Oklahoma. ClimateMaster's role as a domestic energy and geothermal heating and cooling leader extends back to the late 1950s when the company was first founded in Florida. For more than 50 years, the company has been developing and producing the industry's most innovative and energy efficient heating and cooling systems. Today, the company remains committed to its American roots by operating a 510,000-square-foot cutting-edge plant in Oklahoma City, sustaining over 600 American jobs and supporting over 1,200 independent dealers. If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Nicole Workman at 405-745-6000 or email at [email protected]. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208005230/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 08, 2016] CompuCom Establishes New Global Headquarters in Lancaster County, South Carolina

CompuCom Systems, Inc. (CompuCom), a leading technology infrastructure services company, today announced the company is locating its new global headquarters operations in Lancaster County. Working jointly with the South Carolina Department of Commerce, the new development is projected to bring $41 million in new capital investment to the County with the potential to create 1,500 new jobs over the next five to seven years, making this the largest single job announcement in Lancaster County history. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208005756/en/ Leveraging CompuCom's Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, the new headquarters office is being designed as a leading "smart building" in South Carolina, using IoT to connect, automate and control all electronic systems and devices within the building. (Photo: Business Wire) Located in the Bailes Ridge Business Park in Lancaster County, South Carolina, CompuCom will lease the 150,000 square-foot building to serve as its new global headquarters. The newly constructed building will house corporate offices and global contact center operations. Leveraging CompuCom's Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, the office is being designed as a leading "smart building" in South Carolina, using IoT to connect, automate and control all electronic systems and devices within the building - including HVAC, lighting, meters/sensors, fitness equipment, kitchen electronics, elevators, water, power, communications, TVs and security. The workspace design promotes a collaborative, dynamic environment to meet the needs of a modern workforce. Foundry Commercial is CompuCom's tenant representative, Womble Carlyle served as the incentive consultant, and a joint venture of The Keith Corporation and MPV Properties serves as the developer. Work on the site is under way now. Noted South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, "When a company like CompuCom decides to build its global headquarters and create 1,500 new jobs here, it sends a message to the entire world that South Carolina is open for business. The commitment that this $41 million investment represent is extremely important to our state, and we could not be more excited to welcome this fantastic company to the South Carolina family."



"Our state excels, not only in manufacturing and agribusiness, but also it is increasingly a top choice for corporate headquarters and the technology sector," said South Carolina Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt. "CompuCom joins an ever-growing community of tech businesses that call South Carolina home, and we look forward to watching them grow in Lancaster County for years to come." South Carolina encourages entrepreneurship and many well-known companies are headquartered in the state, including Hitachi (News - Alert) Electronic Devices, Michelin North America, ScanSource and Sonoco.

"This is an exciting new chapter in CompuCom's journey," said CompuCom CEO Dan Stone. "As we develop innovative, next-generation services and solutions, this location will bring together our product and service development teams in one site, enabling them to closely partner with our senior leadership team - ultimately, to enhance the end-user experience for our clients." "Our focus is on harnessing emerging technology to deliver best-in-class IT service support to our clients," continued Stone. "We will build a state-of-the-art Command Center in the South Carolina office to serve as the hub of our Service Experience Management global contact center operations and corporate operations. The new office will also serve as headquarters for our innovative Tech-Zone Service Centers for franchises, small- and medium-sized businesses, and companies with distributed workforces - enabling them to get convenient, walk-up IT services. In addition, CompuCom's new headquarters places us closer to many of our clients, as well as near an expanding network of IT professionals, startups and high-tech businesses in North and South Carolina." The Coordinating Council for Economic Development has approved job development credits related to this project. "Lancaster County is ecstatic that CompuCom has selected this location for its new global headquarters," said Lancaster County Council Chairman Bob Bundy. "This is very exciting news for the county, region and state as we are getting one of the world's leading IT and network solutions providers, and over a thousand new jobs. The project is the largest job announcement in Lancaster County history and reinforces the strength of our community as a premier location for corporate facilities. I applaud the efforts of our county and state economic development teams in the successful recruitment of CompuCom, and we look forward to working with the company as they establish and grow their operations in the county." About CompuCom CompuCom Systems, Inc., a global company currently headquartered in Plano, Texas, provides IT managed services, infrastructure solutions, consulting and products to Fortune 1000 companies committed to enhancing their end users' experience. Founded in 1987, privately held CompuCom employs approximately 11,500 associates. CompuCom manages and supports more than 4.4 million end users and is a partner to six of the top 10 Fortune 500 companies. For more information, visit www.compucom.com. About S.C. Department of Commerce As South Carolina's leading economic development agency, the Department of Commerce works to recruit new businesses and help existing business grow. Commerce has recruited world-class companies to South Carolina such as BMW, Boeing (News - Alert), Continental, Giti Tire, LPL Financial Holdings, Mercedes-Benz Vans, Toray and Volvo Cars and also supports startups, small and existing business, innovation and rural development initiatives. Commerce partners with the S.C. Technical College System via readySC to support workforce training and recruiting, and with the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce, which provides worker training and employment opportunities within the state. In three of the last five years, IBM (News - Alert)-Plant Location International reports ranked South Carolina first in the nation for attracting jobs through foreign investment, per capita. The state won the Gold Shovel Award and the Project of the Year Award from Area Development magazine in 2012, 2014 and 2015. For more information, visit www.SCcommerce.com.  2016 CompuCom Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. CompuCom is a registered trademark of CompuCom Systems, Inc. All other trademarks used in the article are the property of their owners and are used with permission. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208005756/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 08, 2016] Kaplan Bar Review Survey: 91 Percent of Law School Graduates Favor Adoption of Uniform Bar Examination, Citing Increased Employment Opportunities

A new Kaplan Bar Review survey of 1,000 law school graduates from the class of 2016 finds a nearly unanimous judgment: 91 percent want every state to adopt the Uniform Bar Examination to license new attorneys.* This percentage represents a significant jump from when Kaplan first surveyed law school graduates on this issue in 2013, when 80 percent supported UBE adoption across the country. Kaplan's findings come as three additional states -- Illinois, Maine, and North Carolina -- consider joining the 26 other jurisdictions that have adopted the UBE. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208005662/en/ When asked why they support the adoption of the UBE, which is essentially a national licensing exam for would be practicing attorneys to practice law across multiple states without having to take multiple state-specific bar exams, 89% say because it provides more job portability; 38 percent say because the exam is easier to study for; but just 16 percent say because the exam's content is easier. "While the job market for new attorneys has improved significantly in recent years, it remains tight, and law school graduates recognize that the UBE offers greater portability and flexibility in terms of career opportunities. The UBE is not necessarily an easier exam than state-specific bar eams, but it may make the job search a bit easier," said Tammi Rice, vice president and general manager, Kaplan Bar Review. "It's important to note, however, that although more than 90 percent of recent graduates prefer universal adoption the UBE, half of the U.S. jurisdictions still don't use this, including four of the five biggest states: California, Texas, Florida and Illinois. This may change, but given unique issues that states face, we believe many will hold onto their state-specific bar exams."



Rice points out that adopting the Uniform Bar Examination has led to a boost in the overall exam passage rate for some states, but not others. Since adopting the UBE, the passage rate in both New York and DC jumped. In New Mexico however, the bar passage rate dropped. "There are a lot of variables for why a state's bar passage rate may rise or fall after the UBE is adopted. In some states, the UBE is actually harder than the state-specific bar exam was, but in some states it's not as challenging. Law schools realize how important it is for their students to pass and many have made it a priority to make sure their students get the preparation they need to succeed, as many aspiring law students look at this statistic when deciding where to enroll. A school's bar passage rate also weighs heavily into the rankings." The 26 U.S. jurisdictions that have adopted the UBE are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

To schedule an interview with a legal education expert at Kaplan, please contact Russell Schaffer at [email protected] or 212.453.7538. *Kaplan Bar Review conducted the survey via email in August 2016. It includes responses from 1,000 law school graduates from the class of 2016. About Kaplan Bar Review Kaplan Bar Review (www.kaplanbarreview.com) provides full-service bar review programs in 51 jurisdictions (all 50 states and Washington, DC). Additionally, Kaplan Bar Review offers supplemental preparation for the Multistate Bar Exam (MBE). Note to editors: Kaplan is a subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company (NYSE: GHC) View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208005662/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 08, 2016] MILITARY AIRCRAFT - Canada Selects Airbus C295W for Fixed-Wing Search and Rescue

Canada's Department of National Defence orders 16 aircraft TRENTON, ON, Dec. 8, 2016 /CNW/ - Today, the Government of Canada announced that it had selected the Airbus C295W aircraft for its Fixed-Wing Search and Rescue Program. As part of the FWSAR program, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) will receive 16 C295Ws modified for Search and Rescue (SAR). The contract will also include in service support, provided through a joint venture between Airbus Defence and Space and PAL Aerospace. Simon Jacques, Head of Airbus Defence and Space in Canada said: "We are acutely conscious of the importance of search and rescue in Canada's vast and challenging territory and we are honoured to have been selected to provide the aircraft and service to ensure that the role is carried out effectively." The C295W features substantial anadian content. Every C295 is powered by Pratt & Whitney Canada engines, pilots and technicians will be trained at a new facility developed by CAE in Comox, BC, and the electro-optical systems for FWSAR will be provided by L3 Wescam of Burlington, ON. In-service support for the life of the program will be provided by AirPro, a joint venture between Airbus Defence and Space and PAL Aerospace of St John's, Newfoundland. In-service support will be conducted by Canadians in Canada.



Jacques added: "About 20 percent of the aircraft is already Canadian, meaning that it already serves as a global ambassador for the skills, innovation and expertise of Canadians. Now it will get to serve them directly." Canada's C295Ws will be delivered starting three years after contract award. In service, they will join five Airbus CC-150 aircraft used in the air-to-air refueling, transport, and VIP travel roles.

When the contract is finalized, 185 C295s will have been ordered by 25 countries. About Airbus Defence and Space Airbus Defence and Space, a division of Airbus Group, is Europe's number one defence and space enterprise and the second largest space business worldwide. Its activities include space, military aircraft and related systems and services. It employs more than 38,000 people and in 2015 generated revenues of over 13 billion Euros. For more information visit www.C295W.ca. SOURCE Airbus Defence and Space

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 08, 2016] PADF Launches STEM Program in the Americas

In honor of Computer Science and Education Week, the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) and partners announce a new educational initiative in Latin America and the Caribbean called STEM in the Americas: Inspiring the next Generation of Science and Technology Students. The project seeks to promote science, engineering, technology and mathematics (STEM) to young students in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Chile. PADF and partners including The Boeing (News - Alert) Company and the Dart Foundation in Mexico will launch innovative STEM education initiatives that aim to inspire young students. While school enrollment rates have vastly improved in recent years, Latin American students continue to rank in the bottom third worldwide in math, reading and science, according to the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey. One of the barriers to success is unequal access to education. The region's poorest students are more than two years behind their wealthier counterparts, according to the Inter-American Development Bank, which predicts it would take decades for the region to catch up with higher performing countries. "Science and technology education is fundamental to building a highly-skilled, professional work force in Latin America and for driving economic growth," says Marcos Jimenez, CEO of Softtek USA and a board member for PADF. "When taught well, these subjects can inspire a sense of curiosity-which is tied to educational achievement-in even the youngest students." PADF is committed to furthering the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This rogram aims to address income inequality, provide quality education and promote gender equality. Whether it's a science fair in Mexico, a nature-based science curriculum in Brazil, supplying books to schools in Argentina or providing educational support to teachers in Chile, PADF and partners are working to bridge the digital divide.



These STEM initiatives aim to engage young children from disadvantaged economic backgrounds who many not otherwise have the opportunity to learn about the field. The programs are designed to promote greater student engagement in science and technology, particularly among communities that are disproportionately underrepresented in these fields, including girls and indigenous youth. STEM in the Americas recognizes the critical role that teachers play in promoting science and technology and will create custom curricula based on each country's needs.

STEM in the Americas is a member of the Latin American and Caribbean Network for the Popularization of Science and Technology (RedPOP), an interactive network, which promotes regional cooperation to further education in science and technology. "Improving the scientific and analytical skills of students can solve a range of socioeconomic problems and help Latin American countries take a leading role in finding solutions to the region's most challenging issues," says Luisa Villegas, Deputy Senior Programs Director for PADF. Often, teachers are not well-equipped to promote STEM education. The STEM in the Americas project will address the need for increased educational opportunities for vulnerable youth both inside and outside of the classroom. In all countries, the project will build teacher capacity as well as that of students. For more information, or to participate, visit www.padf.org/stem. About PADF PADF operates throughout Latin America and the Caribbean to generate economic opportunities, advance social progress, strengthen civil society, and prepare for and respond to natural disasters and humanitarian crises. In 2016, the Foundation reached more than 41 million people in 14 countries. Headquartered in Washington D.C., PADF has field offices and projects throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. www.padf.org View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208006120/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Panasonic Healthcare to Sponsor Panel on Cell Expansion Considerations at 2016 World Stem Cell Summit

Panasonic (News - Alert) Healthcare will sponsor a panel on Cell Expansion Considerations - Science, Regulatory and Equipment SOP Considerations at the 2016 World Stem Cell Summit, Palm Beach, FL, December 6-9, 2016. The one-hour discussion is scheduled for Thursday, December 8 at 1:30 p.m., Ballroom C, Palm Beach Convention Center.

Moderated by Panasonic Healthcare Corporation of North America Senior Vice President Steven Lynum, the panel will feature William Miller, Ph.D.; Ram Bedi, Ph.D; and Carl Radosevich, M.S. covering science, regulatory and equipment standards associated with stem cell growth and best practices.

Dr. Miller will focus on the influence of the cell culture environment on hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell expansion and megakaryocytic differentiation. Dr. edi will discuss regulatory implications and controls needed for commercialization. Mr. Radosevich will review proper equipment for physiological oxygen experiments and decontamination protocols for commercialization.







About Panasonic Healthcare Co., Ltd.

Incorporated in 1969, Panasonic Healthcare is a global company that develops, manufactures, sells and services medical equipment and solutions. Through its three core businesses for InVitro Diagnostics devices, Medical IT, and Laboratory and Medical Support devices, the company contributes to the wellbeing of society by creating new value propositions for all people who wish for better health. For further information on Panasonic Healthcare, please visit http://www.panasonic-healthcare.com/global/.

About Panasonic Healthcare Corporation of North America

Panasonic Healthcare Corporation of North America is a subsidiary of Panasonic Healthcare Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, and offers laboratory equipment and services to biopharmaceutical, life sciences, academic, healthcare and government markets. For information call Panasonic Healthcare Corporation of North America at 800-858-8442 or visit http://www.panasonic-healthcare.com/us/biomedical/

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161207006348/en/
[December 07, 2016] Fitch Affirms Reading Hospital (PA) Revs at 'A+'; Outlook Stable

Fitch Ratings has affirmed the 'A+' rating on the following bonds issued by the Berks County Municipal Authority on behalf of the Reading Hospital and Medical Center Project (RHMC): --$160,065,000 series A of 2012 fixed rate bonds; --$91,775,000 series B of 2012 floating rating bonds; --$107,610,000 series 2009A-3 fixed rate bonds. The Rating Outlook is Stable. RHMC also has outstanding approximately $44.7 million in 2012 series C and approximately $175.1 million in 2016 series A-D variable rate revenue bonds, which are privately placed with commercial banks and not rated by Fitch. SECURITY Bondholders have a lien on and a security interest in the gross revenues of the obligated group, which includes Reading Health System (RHS; parent) and Reading Hospital. KEY RATING DRIVERS IMPROVED PERFORMANCE IN FISCAL YEAR (FY) 2016: Growth in RHS' volumes and rates, as well as ongoing implementation of its Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) in FY 2016 has reversed a three-year trend of very weak profitability. For fiscal 2016, RHS exceeded its targeted PIP improvements by more than $5 million and achieved a 1.2% operating margin, compared to -5.3% in fiscal 2015 and -3.4% in fiscal 2014. RHS is targeting a 1.1% operating margin for fiscal 2017. STABLE CORE OPERATIONS: RHS' underlying operations remain sound despite the financial volatility of the past few years, which had been driven by persistent revenue cycle issues from its IT conversion launched in February 2013. Core operations are supported by a solid employed physician base, steady growth in utilization across clinical lines and a primary service area (PSA) market share that has been steady at around 62% for several years. JOINT VENTURE WITH UPMC HEALTH PLAN: RHS has entered into a joint venture with the UPMC Health Plan to form a provider-payor insurance plan, effective in 2017. Fitch generally views this alliance with a strategic regional partner, as well as the added benefits of revenue diversification, brand connectivity and further build-out of its integrated delivery model, as credit positive for RHS. SOLID LIQUIDITY: RHS' liquidity position remains robust for the rating despite some recent declines from weak cash flows and heightened capital spending. Liquidity is expected to weaken further in 2017 as a period of heavy capital spending comes to a close. Fitch believes there is sufficient room to absorb planned capital demands at the 'A+' rating. LARGE CAPITAL PROJECT NEARING COMPLETION: Capital projects are proceeding as planned, with $125 million of expenditures budgeted for fiscal 2017 primarily to complete construction of a new surgical tower, which is expected to be fully operational by January 2017. RHS expects to fund the entire project using internal equity. RATING SENSITIVITIES CONTINUED RECOVERY: Fitch expects Reading Health System (RHS) to sustain its operational improvement and meet its budgeted profitability of 1.1% operating margin in fiscal 2017. PROJECT EXECUTION: Fitch expects RHS to meet its current budget and timeline for its new surgical tower. Material cost overruns or operational delays could lead to negative rating pressure; however, this is unlikely, as construction is very nearly complete and the tower is expected to be fully operational by January 2017. CREDIT PROFILE Reading Health System comprises the parent organization and various subsidiaries including Reading Hospital (713 operated-bed acute care hospital located in Reading, PA, Reading Health Partners, The Highlands at Wyomissing (a continuing care retirement community), Reading Health Physician Network (a physician group with 357 employed physicians), and RHS Foundation. Total operating revenue was $978.5 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2016. The obligated group comprised 89% of the consolidated entity's total revenue in 2016. Fitch's analysis is based on the consolidated entity, RHS. IMPROVED FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE Volume and rate growth, as well as RHS' ongoing implementation of its PIP in FY 2016 has reversed a three-year trend of very weak profitability (after write-downs), which had been driven by persistent revenue cycle issues from the Epic conversion launched in February 2013. In FY 2016, RHS achieved PIP improvements of $47.4 million, exceeding targeted improvements of $42.3 million by more than $5 million. Operating margin has improved to 1.2% in FY 2016 from -5.3% in FY 2015 and -3.4% in FY 2014. Affirmation of the 'A+' rating reflects Fitch's expectation that RHS will sustain its operational improvements and meet or exceed its FY 2017 budget. For fiscal 2017, RHS is targeting an additional $32.3 million in PIP improvements and is budgeting a 1.1% operating margin. Through the first quarter of 2017 (quarter ended Sept. 30), RHS is on budget. Over the longer term, upward rating movement would be contingent on achieving sustained operating EBITDA margins consistent with the higher rating category and further strengthening of balance sheet liquidity from higher cash flow and moderating capital spending. OPERATING PLATFORM AND MARKET POSITION REMAIN STABLE RHS' operating platform includes an extensive delivery network that has remained solid through the recent period of financial volatility. RHS experienced modest growth in its utilization trends for 2016 and inpatient market share has been stable at around 62% in the PSA and 8% in the secondary service area for several years. A large part of RHS' market strength is supported by Reading Health Physician Network, an extensive employed physician network that has grown to 357 physicians from 329 in 2015. Further, RHS created Reading Health Partners, a joint venture with the medical staff aimed to create a clinically integrated network among both employed and non-employed physicians at RHS. Management is in the process of updating its three-year strategic plan, which is expected to be implemented by March 2017. Generally, RHS' operational strategies continue to include pursuing partnerships to expand its market and diversify lines of business; growing clinical service lines to mitigate outmigration; further collaboration with its network of physicians; capital investments; maintaining excellence in quality outcomes; and improving operating performance. JOINT VENTURE WITH UPMC HEALTH PLAN In November 2016, RHS announced that it has finalized an agreement with UPMC Health Plan to form a provider-payor joint venture. The new health plan will commence operations in January 2017, beginning with providing Third Party Administrator (TPA) and FSA Spending Account (FSA) administrative services to employees of RHS and expanding throughout the year to include a full suite of health insurance plans, including Medicare Advantage and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Health plan operations are expected to have a neutral effect on RHS' overall profitability; however, RHS' operating profile and market footprint should benefit from this alliance with a strategi regional partner. Additionally, the JV structure of the health plan is expected to offer RHS the strategic benefits of provider-payor insurance plans, such as revenue diversification, brand connectivity and build-out of its integrated delivery network, while mitigating some of their operational and financial risks, such as scalability and the need to fund risk-based capital requirements. Fitch generally views this alliance with the UPMC Health Plan as a credit positive for RHS.



OPENING OF NEW SURGICAL TOWER In September 2013, RHS broke ground on a new surgical tower that will house 24 surgical suites with updated technological capabilities, expanded emergency rooms, and 150 private beds. Construction and operation of the new surgical tower continues as planned. The tower commenced surgical services in October 2016 and is expected to begin inpatient services in January 2017.

The project is expected to cost approximately $343 million, with $246.2 million already spent. RHS has budgeted to spend the remaining $99.8 million in FY 2017. Combined with other routine and project spending, total capital expenditure is estimated at $125 million for FY 2017, which is approximately 163% of depreciation. All of the capital spending is expected to be funded from cash flow and equity. As a result, liquidity decline is inevitable in the near term. However, Fitch believes projected capital demands are manageable at the 'A+' rating and expects RHS' balance sheet to recover as profitability stabilizes. HEALTHY LIQUIDITY Fitch calculates unrestricted cash and investments totaling $885.1 million as of Sept. 30, 2016, compared to a level that had been above $1 billion as recently as 2014. The decline was partly attributable to weaker cash flows, but was more heavily affected by heightened capital spending that has averaged 171.8% of depreciation since fiscal 2014. Nevertheless, days cash on hand of 345.9, 25.6x cushion ratio and 151.4% cash-to-debt compare favorably against the respective 'A' category medians of 215.5 days, 19.4x and 148.6%. DEBT PROFILE At FYE 2016, long-term debt totaled $580.9 million with 46% underlying fixed rate and 54% underlying variable rate. Underlying variable-rate bonds consist of $91.8 million in publicly traded FRNs and $220 million in privately placed indexed loans all with initial terms in 2022 and 2023. Debt service is relatively level at around $25 million to $27 million through 2022, then increases to over $34 million with maximum annual debt service (MADS) of $34.6 million. During FY 2016, RHS refinanced $174.2 million of its 2012 series D bonds, originally a direct placement with RBC, as 2016 series A-D with four other banks (Santander, J.P. Morgan, Northern Trust, and Barclays). The refinancing is expected to generate $0.9 million in annual interest expense savings and mitigated the risk of a 30-day redemption event by lowering the event ratings trigger to below either 'BBB' or 'BBB-' from below 'A' previously. Although the total amount of debt has declined consistently, debt ratios are weak for the rating category due to the financial deterioration experienced in recent years. MADS equated to 3.5% of 2016 revenues, debt-to-EBITDA was 4.2x and debt-to-capitalization was 44.8%, compared to the respective 'A' category medians of 2.7%, 2.9x and 36.0%. MADS coverage improved from 3.0x in FY 2015 to 4.0x in FY 2016, which is more in line with RHS' historic average of 4.0x to 5.0x, but remains unfavorable to Fitch's 'A' category median of 4.5x. RHS has several swaps outstanding, but collateral posting requirements are only triggered if the rating is downgraded below 'A-'. As of June 30, 2016, the mark to market was negative $61.4 million. DISCLOSURE RHS covenants to provide annual (within 150 days of fiscal year end) and quarterly (within 60 days of each quarter end) disclosure, which are posted on the MSRB's EMMA system and DAC. Additional information is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'. Applicable Criteria Revenue-Supported Rating Criteria (pub. 16 Jun 2014) https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/750012 U.S. Nonprofit Hospitals and Health Systems Rating Criteria (pub. 09 Jun 2015) https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/866807 Additional Disclosures Dodd-Frank Rating Information Disclosure Form https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/press_releases/content/ridf_frame.cfm?pr_id=1016063 Solicitation Status https://www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/disclosure/solicitation?pr_id=1016063 Endorsement Policy https://www.fitchratings.com/regulatory ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTPS://WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON (News - Alert) THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEB SITE AT WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA, AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE, AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE CODE OF CONDUCT SECTION OF THIS SITE. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF THIS SERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN EU-REGISTERED ENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCH WEBSITE. Copyright  2016 by Fitch Ratings, Inc., Fitch Ratings Ltd. and its subsidiaries. 33 Whitehall Street, NY, NY 10004. Telephone: 1-800-753-4824, (212) 908-0500. Fax: (212) 480-4435. Reproduction or retransmission in whole or in part is prohibited except by permission. All rights reserved. In issuing and maintaining its ratings and in making other reports (including forecast information), Fitch relies on factual information it receives from issuers and underwriters and from other sources Fitch believes to be credible. Fitch conducts a reasonable investigation of the factual information relied upon by it in accordance with its ratings methodology, and obtains reasonable verification of that information from independent sources, to the extent such sources are available for a given security or in a given jurisdiction. The manner of Fitch's factual investigation and the scope of the third-party verification it obtains will vary depending on the nature of the rated security and its issuer, the requirements and practices in the jurisdiction in which the rated security is offered and sold and/or the issuer is located, the availability and nature of relevant public information, access to the management of the issuer and its advisers, the availability of pre-existing third-party verifications such as audit reports, agreed-upon procedures letters, appraisals, actuarial reports, engineering reports, legal opinions and other reports provided by third parties, the availability of independent and competent third- party verification sources with respect to the particular security or in the particular jurisdiction of the issuer, and a variety of other factors. Users of Fitch's ratings and reports should understand that neither an enhanced factual investigation nor any third-party verification can ensure that all of the information Fitch relies on in connection with a rating or a report will be accurate and complete. Ultimately, the issuer and its advisers are responsible for the accuracy of the information they provide to Fitch and to the market in offering documents and other reports. In issuing its ratings and its reports, Fitch must rely on the work of experts, including independent auditors with respect to financial statements and attorneys with respect to legal and tax matters. Further, ratings and forecasts of financial and other information are inherently forward-looking and embody assumptions and predictions about future events that by their nature cannot be verified as facts. As a result, despite any verification of current facts, ratings and forecasts can be affected by future events or conditions that were not anticipated at the time a rating or forecast was issued or affirmed. The information in this report is provided "as is" without any representation or warranty of any kind, and Fitch does not represent or warrant that the report or any of its contents will meet any of the requirements of a recipient of the report. A Fitch rating is an opinion as to the creditworthiness of a security. This opinion and reports made by Fitch are based on established criteria and methodologies that Fitch is continuously evaluating and updating. Therefore, ratings and reports are the collective work product of Fitch and no individual, or group of individuals, is solely responsible for a rating or a report. The rating does not address the risk of loss due to risks other than credit risk, unless such risk is specifically mentioned. Fitch is not engaged in the offer or sale of any security. All Fitch reports have shared authorship. Individuals identified in a Fitch report were involved in, but are not solely responsible for, the opinions stated therein. The individuals are named for contact purposes only. A report providing a Fitch rating is neither a prospectus nor a substitute for the information assembled, verified and presented to investors by the issuer and its agents in connection with the sale of the securities. Ratings may be changed or withdrawn at any time for any reason in the sole discretion of Fitch. Fitch does not provide investment advice of any sort. Ratings are not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. Ratings do not comment on the adequacy of market price, the suitability of any security for a particular investor, or the tax-exempt nature or taxability of payments made in respect to any security. Fitch receives fees from issuers, insurers, guarantors, other obligors, and underwriters for rating securities. Such fees generally vary from US$1,000 to US$750,000 (or the applicable currency equivalent) per issue. In certain cases, Fitch will rate all or a number of issues issued by a particular issuer, or insured or guaranteed by a particular insurer or guarantor, for a single annual fee. Such fees are expected to vary from US$10,000 to US$1,500,000 (or the applicable currency equivalent). The assignment, publication, or dissemination of a rating by Fitch shall not constitute a consent by Fitch to use its name as an expert in connection with any registration statement filed under the United States securities laws, the Financial Services and Markets Act of 2000 of the United Kingdom, or the securities laws of any particular jurisdiction. Due to the relative efficiency of electronic publishing and distribution, Fitch research may be available to electronic subscribers up to three days earlier than to print subscribers. For Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and South Korea only: Fitch Australia Pty Ltd holds an Australian financial services license (AFS license no. 337123) which authorizes it to provide credit ratings to wholesale clients only. Credit ratings information published by Fitch is not intended to be used by persons who are retail clients within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161207006360/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 07, 2016] Novetta Certifies EyeLock Iris Authentication Performance

NEW YORK, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- EyeLock LLC, a market leader in iris-based identity authentication solutions, today released test results from Novetta, a leader in advanced analytics technology and independent biometric testing. EyeLock engaged Novetta to evaluate EyeLock's EN2 iris authentication module, hardware, and software stack for enrollment rates, enrollment duration, and matching accuracy. The EyeLock iris authentication module is a self-contained iris enrollment and authentication system that is offered as a complete reference design and can be customized for individual applications. The study was conducted to certify EyeLock performance supporting planned global deployments in response to the accelerated growth of biometrics and significant demand for iris technology across IoT market segments. Biometric technology has become the gold standard for identity authentication across critical infrastructure, IoT devices, automotive, border control, healthcare, banking and other market segments. As various biometric methods become more pervasive, there is an increasing need to benchmark performance and accuracy as a measure for establishing trust and long term-value. EyeLock recognizes the trend towards multi-modal utilization of biometrics and continues to architect technology solutions that enable maximum flexibility and rapid implementation in the most secure environments. EyeLock's technology provides an unprecedented level of convenience and security with unmatched biometric accuracy, making it the most proven way to authenticate identity aside from DNA. EyeLock's proprietary iris authentication technology looks at more than 240 unique iris characteristics and provides a fast, user-friendly experience. EyeLock is one of the only biometric companies in the world to own and control the entire software and algorithm stack, providing patented approaches to dual-eye authentication, an unmatched security architecture and anti-spoofing tehnology.



Novetta tested the accuracy, performance and usability of the EyeLock EN2 module with a population of more than 1,200 participants who had no previous experience with iris recognition technology. Key Performance Results:

EyeLock's EN2 module matching results meet or exceed competing iris authentication solutions with similar form factors.

EyeLock algorithm performance for enrollment speed and matching capability compare favorably to other commercially available offerings.

EyeLock's EN2 module surpasses a 1 in 1.5 million transactional False Match Rate for a single iris.

EyeLock's EN2 module achieved less than 1% False Reject Rate for a single iris. "EyeLock has attracted top tier talent and built a team that has established a reputation for delivering unmatched speed, accuracy and ability to authenticate at distances that exceed traditional market standards," said Jim Demitrieus, EyeLock's CEO. "Novetta's test results affirm EyeLock's position as a market leader with strong competitive advantages that enable winning results." "Novetta tested the EyeLock EN2 module utilizing our biometric performance testing methodology to deliver statistical and observational results. Our test concludes that the EyeLock EN2 compares favorably among low cost and/or small form factor iris recognition solutions in terms of accuracy and usability," said Michael Thieme, VP of Identity Intelligence, Novetta. "We view this as a significant technological breakthrough. The biometric sector is at an inflection point and we see a dramatic increase in utilization of biometric technologies, including iris authentication, in the near term. EyeLock's test results are indicative of the level of technical innovation taking place in the industry at large, driving biometric adoption across applications, devices and infrastructure." For more information, please visit www.eyelock.com. About EyeLock EyeLock LLC, a majority owned subsidiary of Voxx International Corporation, is an acknowledged leader in advanced iris authentication for the Internet of Things (IoT), providing the highest level of security with EyeLock ID technology. Iris authentication is highly secure because no two irises are alike and the iris is the most accurate human identifier other than DNA. The company's significant IP portfolio, including more than 75 patents and patents pending, and proprietary technology enables the convenient and secure authentication of individuals across physical and logical environments. EyeLock's solutions have been integrated and embedded across consumer and enterprise products and platforms, eliminating the need for PINs and passwords. Corporations across the Fortune 500 recognize the level of security EyeLock provides due in part to its extremely low false acceptance rate, ease of use, and scalability. As a sponsor member of the FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to creating a safer and more secure digital presence for consumers, EyeLock is dedicated to advancing digital privacy and next generation security. Contact: Anthony Antolino

P: 914-619-5548

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

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 07, 2016] Puma Biotechnology Presents Interim Results of Phase II Trial of PB272 for ERBB2 (HER2) Mutant, HER2 Non-Amplified, Metastatic Breast Cancer at the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium

Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (NYSE: PBYI), a biopharmaceutical company, announced that updated interim results from an ongoing Phase II clinical trial of Puma's investigational drug PB272 (neratinib), given as monotherapy and in combination with the anticancer drug fulvestrant, were presented at the 2016 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) that is currently taking place in San Antonio, Texas. The presentation entitled "Neratinib plus fulvestrant for ERBB2 mutant, HER2 non-amplified, estrogen receptor-positive, metastatic breast cancer: Preliminary analysis from the Phase II SUMMIT trial" was presented as a poster discussion by Dr. David Hyman, Director, Developmental Therapeutics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Interim results from this trial were previously presented at the 2015 SABCS and included patients who were treated with neratinib monotherapy for metastatic breast cancer and whose tumors have a HER2 mutation. The presentation also discussed that a bidirectional cross-talk between hormone receptor and HER2 signaling pathways could lead to endocrine resistance due to activated HER2 signaling and ER-mediated tumor proliferation as a potential resistance mechanism to sustained HER2 inhibition. Preclinical xenograft data has demonstrated that the combination of an anti-estrogen with neratinib results in enhanced anti-tumor activity in preclinical models of estrogen receptor positive/HER2-positive breast tumors. Based on this, the SUMMIT study was amended to allow for the combination of neratinib plus fulvestrant in eligible postmenopausal hormone receptor-positive breast cancer patients. The presentation at SABCS included an update on both the neratinib monotherapy cohort and the neratinib plus fulvestrant cohort. In the study, patients with HER2 mutant metastatic breast cancer were enrolled and received 240 mg of neratinib daily either as monotherapy or in combination with fulvestrant. All patients received loperamide (16 mg per day initially) prophylactically for the first cycle of treatment in order to reduce the neratinib-related diarrhea. For the 25 patients in the group who received neratinib monotherapy, 23 patients (92%) had HER2-negative disease, 19 patients (76%) were hormone receptor positive (estrogen receptor or progesterone receptor positive), and patients had received a median of 4 prior lines of therapy in the metastatic setting (range 0-8 prior regimens) before entering the trial. For the 17 patients in the trial who received neratinib plus fulvestrant, 15 patients (88%) had HER2-negative disease, 17 patients (100%) were hormone receptor positive (estrogen receptor or progesterone receptor positive), and patients had received a median of 4 prior lines of therapy in the metastatic setting (range 1-7 prior regimens) before entering the trial. The interim efficacy results from the trial showed that for the 24 efficacy evaluable patients in the neratinib monotherapy cohort, 8 patients (33.3%) experienced an objective response, which included 3 patients with a complete response and 5 patients with partial responses. At week 8, 8 patients (33.3%) achieved an objective response, with 2 patients achieving a complete response and 6 patients achieving a partial response The secondary endpoints of the trial included confirmed objective response (complete response or partial response), clinical benefit rate and progression fee survival (PFS). The results of the trial showed that 6 patients (25%) had a confirmed objective response, 10 patients (41.7%) demonstrated clinical benefit and the median progression free survival was 3.5 months.



For the 12 efficacy evaluable patients in the neratinib plus fulvestrant cohort, 7 patients (58.3%) experienced an objective response, which included 2 patients with a complete response and 5 patients with partial responses. At week 8, 5 patients (41.7%) achieved an objective response, with 2 patients achieving a complete response and 3 patients achieving a partial response. The secondary endpoints of the trial included confirmed objective response (complete response or partial response), clinical benefit rate and progression free survival (PFS). The results of the trial showed that 3 patients (25%) had a confirmed objective response, 7 patients (58.3%) demonstrated clinical benefit and the median progression free survival was 3.7 months. The progression free survival data may not be mature in the neratinib plus fulvestrant cohort as 4 of the 12 efficacy evaluable patients are continuing to receive study treatment without disease progression and an additional 5 patients have not yet had an assessment for efficacy. The interim safety results of the study showed that the most frequently observed adverse event was diarrhea. For the 25 patients enrolled in the neratinib monotherapy arm, 6 patients (24%) reported grade 3 diarrhea. The median duration of grade 3 diarrhea for the patients in the neratinib monotherapy cohort was 1 day. No patient in the neratinib monotherapy cohort has permanently discontinued neratinib due to diarrhea and 5 patients (20%) have temporarily discontinued neratinib due to diarrhea and then restarted after the diarrhea subsided. For the 17 patients enrolled in the neratinib plus fulvestrant cohort, 2 of 17 patients (12%) experienced grade 3 diarrhea. The median duration of grade 3 diarrhea was 1 day and typically occurred during the first cycle of treatment. No patient (0%) in the neratinib plus fulvestrant cohort permanently discontinued neratinib due to diarrhea and 2 patients (12%) temporarily discontinued neratinib due to diarrhea and then restarted after the diarrhea subsided.

Dr. David Hyman, Director, Developmental Therapeutics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and principal investigator of the trial, stated, "Neratinib showed promising signs of clinical activity both as a single agent and in the patients treated with the combination of neratinib plus fulvestrant in this preliminary analysis of pre-treated HER2 mutant breast cancer patients. The safety profile of the drug was manageable and the diarrhea was not treatment-limiting with appropriate prophylaxis and management. We look forward to completing the ongoing neratinib plus fulvestrant cohort and moving this combination forward into future clinical development." Alan H. Auerbach, Chief Executive Officer and President of Puma Biotechnology, said, "We are very pleased with the preliminary activity seen with neratinib, both alone and in combination with fulvestrant in this cohort of patients with HER2 mutated breast cancer. We look forward to the completion of the trial and further development of the combination of neratinib and fulvestrant." About Puma Biotechnology Puma Biotechnology, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company with a focus on the development and commercialization of innovative products to enhance cancer care. The Company in-licenses the global development and commercialization rights to three drug candidates-PB272 (neratinib (oral)), PB272 (neratinib (intravenous)) and PB357. Neratinib is a potent irreversible tyrosine kinase inhibitor that blocks signal transduction through the epidermal growth factor receptors, HER1, HER2 and HER4. Currently, the Company is primarily focused on the development of the oral version of neratinib, and its most advanced drug candidates are directed at the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer. The Company believes that neratinib has clinical application in the treatment of several other cancers as well, including non-small cell lung cancer and other tumor types that over-express or have a mutation in HER2. Further information about Puma Biotechnology can be found at www.pumabiotechnology.com. Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding development of the Company's drug candidates. All forward-looking statements included in this press release involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results and expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions, and actual outcomes and results could differ materially from these statements due to a number of factors, which include, but are not limited to, the fact that the Company has no product revenue and no products approved for marketing, the Company's dependence on PB272, which is still under development and may never receive regulatory approval, the challenges associated with conducting and enrolling clinical trials, the risk that the results of clinical trials may not support the Company's drug candidate claims, even if approved, the risk that physicians and patients may not accept or use the Company's products, the Company's reliance on third parties to conduct its clinical trials and to formulate and manufacture its drug candidates, the Company's dependence on licensed intellectual property, and the other risk factors disclosed in the periodic and current reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161207006370/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 07, 2016] Fitch Assigns First-Time 'BB-' to VTR Finance; Outlook Stable

Fitch Ratings has assigned VTR Finance B.V. (VTR) Long-Term Foreign Currency and Local Currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) of 'BB-'. The Rating Outlook is Stable. Fitch has also assigned a 'BB-' to the company's USD1.4 billion senior secured notes due 2024 and revolving credit facility. KEY RATING DRIVERS VTR's ratings reflect its strong market position in the Chilean telecom industry in Chile, primarily Pay TV and Internet services. VTR's ratings are supported by its competitive network quality, brand recognition, and successful commercial strategy for its bundled services offerings. The company's cash flow generation is relatively stable, despite a highly competitive environment, and it boasts strong financial flexibility underpinned by its long dated debt maturity profile and committed credit facility. The ratings are tempered by its moderately high leverage for the rating level, pressured free cash flow (FCF) generation in the short to medium term due to high capex, a mature and highly competitive industry backdrop, and a lack of service diversification compared to the other integrated telecom operators in the country. VTR is a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Global (News - Alert) plc (LG), and is a part of the LiLAC Group (LiLAC), which represents LG's Latin America and Caribbean operations. The company benefits from the strategic oversight by LG and its management expertise, as well as procurement and operating synergies. LiLAC operating entities are separately capitalized and operations are managed independently. LG maintains the common group leverage target of 4.0x-5.0x for its subsidiaries, which is slightly higher than the company's current leverage. Fitch believes that any material improvement in the company's financial profile from the current level would be difficult as any significant deviation from the group's financial target could be limited. Strong Market Position: VTR is the leading provider of pay TV and broadband services in Chile, with subscriber market shares of 35% and 37% on a national basis, respectively, followed closely by its main incumbent competitor, Telefonica (News - Alert) Chile S.A., as of June 30, 2016. VTR is also the second largest fixed-line telephony service provider, with a 20% of subscriber market share during the same period. The company has consistently increased its overall revenue generating units (RGU) in recent years, backed by its effective bundled product strategy based on network and service competitiveness. In the mobile service, the company operates as a virtual network operator (MVNO) with a low market share of just 1%. Fitch does not expect any material cash flow contribution from this segment in the short to medium term. Stable Operating Performance: VTR's performance has remained solid through the combination of continued ARPU growth and subscriber expansion. The company's revenue growth averaged 6% during 2013-2015 with solid EBITDA margin improvement to 39% from 36% during the period, and the trend has continued during the first nine months of 2016. This solid performance has been entirely achieved by growth in its Internet and pay TV services, which have fully offset reductions in fixed-line telephony services revenues due to the ongoing mobile-fixed substitution trend. Fitch expects the company's revenue growth to continue over the medium term, with relatively stable EBITDA margins of 37%-38% over the medium term. High Capex: Fitch does not expect any meaningful FCF generation over the medium term due to high capex requirements. While Fitch believes that VTR should continue to enjoy strong growth of data and pay TV services in the Chilean market, given its attractive range of services and its solid market position, the competitive pressures could increase for subscriber acquisition amid increasing market maturity. To ensure its service quality and to increase coverage, Fitch expects the company to increase its capital investment, measured by capex to sales, to about 22% during 2016-2018, compared to 19% in 2015. Stable Leverage: VTR's financial leverage is deemed moderately high for the rating level. The company's debt is mostly comprised of its USD1.4 billion senior secured notes due 2024, which were issued in 2014. The proceeds were used to pay off debt at UPC Holding B.V., which is LG's European subsidiary and credit pool. The company's adjusted debt to EBITDAR was 3.8x, including the net fair value of hedge derivatives, as of Sept. 30, 2016, which was a modest improvement from 4.2x at end-2014 due to EBITDA improvement. Fitch expects the company's leverage to remain stable during 2016-2018, barring any material amounts of cash paid to the parent, as its suppressed FCF generation to be offset to a degree by continued modest growth in EBITDA. DERIVATION SUMMARY VTR's lack of service diversification amid the mature market conditions in Chile, and its moderately high leverage compared to the more diversified competitors in Chile and the regional peers in the 'BB' rating category are credit negatives. Also, LG's group financial policy is a constraint on VTR's ratings. These weaknesses are mitigated to a degree by its leading market positions and solid network competitiveness, and financial flexibility, all of which are deemed solid for the rating level. No country ceiling, parent-subsidiary linkage, or operating environment aspects impact. KEY ASSUMPTIONS --Mid-single digits revenue growth over the medium term, with strong growth in Internet services and Pay TV; --Capex-to-sales ratio to remain at around 22% ; --No meaningful FCF generation in 2017-2018; --EBITDA margin in the range of 37%-38% during 2016-2018; --Adjusted net debt to EBITDAR ratio to remain below 4.0x over the mediu term.



RATING SENSITIVITIES Future Developments that May, Individually or Collectively, Lead to Negative Rating Action

--Deterioration in operating performance leading to muted revenue growth amid margin erosion; --Sustained negative FCF generation amid higher-than-expected capex requirement; --Any material cash flow upstream to LG; --Its adjusted net leverage increasing toward 4.5x on a sustained basis. Future Developments That May, Individually or Collectively, Lead to Positive Rating Action --Continued solid top-line growth along with margin expansion, and positive FCF generation; --Clear commitment for deleveraging in the absence of any material cash flow upstream to LG, resulting in its adjusted net leverage falling well below 3.5x on a sustained basis. LIQUIDITY VTR's liquidity profile is sound as the company does not face any debt maturity until 2024 when its senior secured notes become due. The company's cash balance amounted to CLP75.7 billion (USD114 million) by end-September 2016, and its operational cash flow generation is relatively stable. In line with other LG operating subsidiaries, the Chilean operating subsidiaries of VTR has a senior secured credit facility of USD160 million and CLP22 billion in place, which remains undrawn and supports its financial flexibility, if necessary. FULL LIST OF RATING ACTIONS Fitch has assigned the following ratings. VTR Finance B.V -- Long-Term Foreign Currency and Local Currency IDRs 'BB-'/Outlook Stable; -- USD1.4 billion senior secured notes 'BB-'. -- Secured revolving credit facility 'BB-'. Additional information is available on www.fitchratings.com. Applicable Criteria Criteria for Rating Non-Financial Corporates (pub. 27 Sep 2016) https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/885629 Additional Disclosures Dodd-Frank Rating Information Disclosure Form https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/press_releases/content/ridf_frame.cfm?pr_id=1016076 Solicitation Status https://www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/disclosure/solicitation?pr_id=1016076 Endorsement Policy https://www.fitchratings.com/regulatory ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTPS://WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON (News - Alert) THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEB SITE AT WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA, AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE, AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE CODE OF CONDUCT SECTION OF THIS SITE. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF THIS SERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN EU-REGISTERED ENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCH WEBSITE. Copyright  2016 by Fitch Ratings, Inc., Fitch Ratings Ltd. and its subsidiaries. 33 Whitehall Street, NY, NY 10004. Telephone: 1-800-753-4824, (212) 908-0500. Fax: (212) 480-4435. Reproduction or retransmission in whole or in part is prohibited except by permission. All rights reserved. In issuing and maintaining its ratings and in making other reports (including forecast information), Fitch relies on factual information it receives from issuers and underwriters and from other sources Fitch believes to be credible. Fitch conducts a reasonable investigation of the factual information relied upon by it in accordance with its ratings methodology, and obtains reasonable verification of that information from independent sources, to the extent such sources are available for a given security or in a given jurisdiction. The manner of Fitch's factual investigation and the scope of the third-party verification it obtains will vary depending on the nature of the rated security and its issuer, the requirements and practices in the jurisdiction in which the rated security is offered and sold and/or the issuer is located, the availability and nature of relevant public information, access to the management of the issuer and its advisers, the availability of pre-existing third-party verifications such as audit reports, agreed-upon procedures letters, appraisals, actuarial reports, engineering reports, legal opinions and other reports provided by third parties, the availability of independent and competent third- party verification sources with respect to the particular security or in the particular jurisdiction of the issuer, and a variety of other factors. Users of Fitch's ratings and reports should understand that neither an enhanced factual investigation nor any third-party verification can ensure that all of the information Fitch relies on in connection with a rating or a report will be accurate and complete. Ultimately, the issuer and its advisers are responsible for the accuracy of the information they provide to Fitch and to the market in offering documents and other reports. In issuing its ratings and its reports, Fitch must rely on the work of experts, including independent auditors with respect to financial statements and attorneys with respect to legal and tax matters. Further, ratings and forecasts of financial and other information are inherently forward-looking and embody assumptions and predictions about future events that by their nature cannot be verified as facts. As a result, despite any verification of current facts, ratings and forecasts can be affected by future events or conditions that were not anticipated at the time a rating or forecast was issued or affirmed. The information in this report is provided "as is" without any representation or warranty of any kind, and Fitch does not represent or warrant that the report or any of its contents will meet any of the requirements of a recipient of the report. A Fitch rating is an opinion as to the creditworthiness of a security. This opinion and reports made by Fitch are based on established criteria and methodologies that Fitch is continuously evaluating and updating. Therefore, ratings and reports are the collective work product of Fitch and no individual, or group of individuals, is solely responsible for a rating or a report. The rating does not address the risk of loss due to risks other than credit risk, unless such risk is specifically mentioned. Fitch is not engaged in the offer or sale of any security. All Fitch reports have shared authorship. Individuals identified in a Fitch report were involved in, but are not solely responsible for, the opinions stated therein. The individuals are named for contact purposes only. A report providing a Fitch rating is neither a prospectus nor a substitute for the information assembled, verified and presented to investors by the issuer and its agents in connection with the sale of the securities. Ratings may be changed or withdrawn at any time for any reason in the sole discretion of Fitch. Fitch does not provide investment advice of any sort. Ratings are not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. Ratings do not comment on the adequacy of market price, the suitability of any security for a particular investor, or the tax-exempt nature or taxability of payments made in respect to any security. Fitch receives fees from issuers, insurers, guarantors, other obligors, and underwriters for rating securities. Such fees generally vary from US$1,000 to US$750,000 (or the applicable currency equivalent) per issue. In certain cases, Fitch will rate all or a number of issues issued by a particular issuer, or insured or guaranteed by a particular insurer or guarantor, for a single annual fee. Such fees are expected to vary from US$10,000 to US$1,500,000 (or the applicable currency equivalent). The assignment, publication, or dissemination of a rating by Fitch shall not constitute a consent by Fitch to use its name as an expert in connection with any registration statement filed under the United States securities laws, the Financial Services and Markets Act of 2000 of the United Kingdom, or the securities laws of any particular jurisdiction. Due to the relative efficiency of electronic publishing and distribution, Fitch research may be available to electronic subscribers up to three days earlier than to print subscribers. For Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and South Korea only: Fitch Australia Pty Ltd holds an Australian financial services license (AFS license no. 337123) which authorizes it to provide credit ratings to wholesale clients only. Credit ratings information published by Fitch is not intended to be used by persons who are retail clients within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001 View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161207006391/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 07, 2016] Puma Biotechnology Presents Results of Biomarker Analysis of Phase II Trial of PB272 in Neoadjuvant Treatment of HER2-Positive Locally Advanced Breast Cancer at the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium

Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (NYSE: PBYI), a biopharmaceutical company, announced that a biomarker analysis of the NSABP FB-7 Phase II clinical trial of Puma's investigational drug PB272 (neratinib) was presented at the 2016 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) that is currently taking place in San Antonio, Texas. The presentation entitled "An exploratory correlative biomarker analysis of NSABP FB-7, a phase II randomized trial evaluating neoadjuvant therapy with weekly paclitaxel (P) plus neratinib (N) or trastuzumab (T) or neratinib and trastuzumab (N+T) followed by doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (AC) with postoperative T in women with locally advanced HER2-positive breast cancer" was presented as a poster presentation. This trial was sponsored by the NSABP Foundation, Inc. The FB-7 trial is a randomized Phase II clinical trial for women with HER2-positive locally advanced stage IIB-IIIC invasive breast cancer. Patients were randomly assigned to receive trastuzumab (T) or neratinib (N) or the combination (T+N) with weekly paclitaxel (P) followed by standard doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide chemotherapy (AC) administered prior to surgery. 126 U.S., Canadian, and European patients were randomly assigned to Arm 1 (T+P followed by AC), Arm 2 (N+P followed by AC) or Arm 3 (T+N+P followed by AC). The primary endpoint of the trial was pathological complete response rate (pCR) in the breast and lymph nodes. The clinical safety and efficacy data from this trial was presented at the 2015 SABCS. A key secondary endpoint of the FB-7 trial was to evaluate molecular and genetic markers for correlation with response. Pre-treatment core biopsy samples (n=59) and post treatment surgical samples (n=17) were obtained from a subset of patients treated in the FB-7 trial. pCR data were available for 51 patients from the biomarker cohort. After excluding low tumor content non-evaluable samples, correlative biomarker analysis was performed in 42 patients. Expression levels and the activation status of EGFR/HER2 signaling proteins were investigated. The results of the phosphorylated HER2 (phosphoHER2) showed that median levels of phosphoHER2 were higher in the patients who achieved a pCR with neratinib (n=7) than in the patients who did not achieve a pCR who received either trastuzumab (n=8, p=0.07) or the combination of trastuzumab plus neratinib (n=4, p=0.035). There was not a significant difference in the median levels of phosphoHER2 in the patients who achieved a pCR with neratinib (n=7), trastuzumab (n=8, p=0.16) or the combination of trastuzumab plus neratinib (n=4, p=0.10). The truncated form of HER2 known as p95HER2 was measured by the proprietary assay of Pierian Bioscience. p95HER2 represnts a truncated form of the HER2 receptor that lacks the extracellular trastuzumab binding domain. It is believed to represent a mechanism of trastuzumab resistance. Median p95HER2 levels were higher in samples from patients who achieved a pCR with neratinib than in the patients who did not achieve a pCR who received either trastuzumab (p=0.027) or the combination of trastuzumab plus neratinib (p=0.009). There was not a significant difference in the median levels of p95HER2 in the patients who achieved a pCR with neratinib (n=7), trastuzumab (n=8, p=0.16) or the combination of trastuzumab plus neratinib (n=4, p=0.35).



The MammaPrint assay was performed on 59 samples to determine if there was any imbalance between arms. This assay is a genomic test that analyzes the activity of 70 genes and then calculates a recurrence score that is either low risk or high risk. The results of the MammaPrint showed that the patients in all three arms of the FB-7 trial were balanced with the median MammaPrint risk score being similar across arms. There were only three patients with a MammaPrint low score. Dr. Samuel Jacobs, Emeritus Clinical Professor in the Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and the Director of Medical Affairs for the NSABP Foundation, Inc., said, "We are pleased to see the results of this exploratory biomarker analysis which suggests that activation of the HER pathway based on p95HER2 and phosphoHER2 may correlate with pCR to neratinib. Further biomarker analysis in additional datasets will be needed to determine which patients may derive the greatest benefit from neratinib."

Alan H. Auerbach, Chief Executive Officer and President of Puma Biotechnology, said, "We are pleased to complete this biomarker analysis of neratinib. Further results of the biomarker analysis should help us to determine the best path forward for neratinib in the neoadjuvant treatment of HER2-positive early stage breast cancer." About Puma Biotechnology Puma Biotechnology, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company with a focus on the development and commercialization of innovative products to enhance cancer care. The Company in-licenses the global development and commercialization rights to three drug candidates-PB272 (neratinib (oral)), PB272 (neratinib (intravenous)) and PB357. Neratinib is a potent irreversible tyrosine kinase inhibitor that blocks signal transduction through the epidermal growth factor receptors, HER1, HER2 and HER4. Currently, the Company is primarily focused on the development of the oral version of neratinib, and its most advanced drug candidates are directed at the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer. The Company believes that neratinib has clinical application in the treatment of several other cancers as well, including non-small cell lung cancer and other tumor types that over-express or have a mutation in HER2. Further information about Puma Biotechnology can be found at www.pumabiotechnology.com. Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the development of the Company's drug candidates. All forward-looking statements included in this press release involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results and expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions, and actual outcomes and results could differ materially from these statements due to a number of factors, which include, but are not limited to, the fact that the Company has no product revenue and no products approved for marketing, the Company's dependence on PB272, which is still under development and may never receive regulatory approval, the challenges associated with conducting and enrolling clinical trials, the risk that the results of clinical trials may not support the Company's drug candidate claims, even if approved, the risk that physicians and patients may not accept or use the Company's products, the Company's reliance on third parties to conduct its clinical trials and to formulate and manufacture its drug candidates, the Company's dependence on licensed intellectual property, and the other risk factors disclosed in the periodic and current reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161207006393/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 07, 2016] Senjo Group Invests in Singapore-based Start-up Tjaara

SINGAPORE, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Senjo Group, a global payments operator and FinTech investment firm, announced today its partnership and funding of Tjaara Pte. Ltd, a Singapore-based B2B service. Tjaara, or "Marketplace" in Arabic, uses a group buy concept to aggregate demand from customers to present a large consolidated order to pre-qualified manufacturers. Tjaara essentially acts as a global purchaser to numerous unaligned wholesalers and businesses in the market, and aids the process on their behalf; Tjaara negotiates, does quality control checks from factory to port and even acts as an escrow service to manage the complicated buying process between Chinese manufacturers and foreign companies. Tjaara's customers, or Channel Partners as they are known within the company, are businesses or individuals who want to monetize their relationships with end-users. These end-users are small to medium-sized wholesalers who previously could not obtain the lower prices unlocked by economies-of-scale due to their small order volumes. Current Channel Partners have mostly been unable to communicate in Mandarin, and thus found it challenging to negotiate effectively with Chinese manufacturers. "Tjaara is a B2B service that offers product search, language translation support, ordering, logistics and finance management," said Fred Then, Co-Founder of Tjaara. "We realized that a lot of smaller and medium-sized retailers were unable to navigate Mandarin-only manufacturer listings or access factory-direct prices. Tjaara was built to help our end-users unlock a larger variety of products and larger profit margins through economies-of-scale. Unlike typical agents, Tjaara is also able to assist with product evaluation by obtaining samples for end-users; this is possible because of our close relationship with manufacturers." Mr. Then went on to explain, "It is known that Chinese wholesale e-commerce platforms like Alibaba offer lower prices for local purchases, and when non-Chinese IP addresses are detected, the price is typically inflated. This is why Tjaara will always get better pricing as all buying is done locally through our China operations. And by consolidating the orders of small wholesalers, we'll get more bulk discounts." The platform is currently invite-only and only vetted Channel Partners can log in to use Tjaar services. Channel Partners can view translated listings or request for a search for products; every Partner is allocated 50 complimentary translation requests per month. A mobile app is also in the works to create an even easier access.



"Tjaara is well-placed as a business to make it through less-than-ideal economic times, for instance when global demands are falling. More than ever, SMEs will need means of cost savings, and wouldn't it be even better if these don't impact product quality? It was in this that we saw great potential in Tjaara, and realised that they were aligned with our core business objective of addressing market inefficiencies," commented Sam Evans, Vice President of Business Development and Head of Ventures, Senjo Group. Senjo Group is comprised of five business units: Senjo Payments, Senjo Commerce, Senjo Ventures, Senjo Trading, and Senjo Finance; Senjo Ventures has committed US$1.2 million to the start-up, and extended an additional US$20 million in trade finance.

"We are extremely excited by the generous support offered by Senjo, and their faith in us," said Mr. Then. "The biggest plus of working with an experienced partner like Senjo is definitely their expertise in payment systems and existing global footprint and connections. This will make our lives a lot easier. We are looking forward to scaling to greater heights with their support." Tjaara has been secretly researched for almost 2 years and was recently incorporated in August 2016. The soft launch will happen sometime in Q1 2017, and it plans to launch fully in Q3 2017. The business will initially focus on the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and North Africa. About Senjo Group Senjo Group is a leading privately-held investment company, specialising in providing innovative and disruptive solutions in global electronic payments, trade finance and e-commerce. Established by experienced payments and corporate finance experts, they are redefining investment in financial technology by combining financial capability with operational experience. Overseen by an international advisory board, their strategy is to build a world class portfolio of high-growth, cutting-edge companies that profit from the convergence of technology and global payments. Their proposition is further strengthened by an emphasis on intra-group collaboration and innovation. Headquartered in Singapore, Senjo has a network of regional offices in Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Luxembourg and the UK, and operations in most major markets across Asia, Europe, North America and Africa. To learn more about Senjo Group, please visit: www.senjogroup.com. About Tjaara Tjaara, or "Marketplace" in Arabic, is a Singapore-based B2B service that helps you monetize your relationships by connecting small to medium-sized wholesalers to Tjaara's network of Mandarin-speaking manufacturers in order to access factory-direct prices. For more information about Tjaara, please visit https://www.linkedin.com/company/13228735?. Contact Information : Senjo Contact:

[email protected] Tjaara Contact:

Fred Then

[email protected] For Media Enquiries: Ena Yow

Cognito APAC

[email protected]/ [email protected]

Tel: +65 6221 7310 Logo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20161207/8521608016

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 07, 2016] Mobify and Sony Music release 'RingMyTune' App on Google Play Store

MUMBAI, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- 'RingMyTune', a ringtone app developed jointly by Sony Music India and Mobify, allows consumers to set ringtones and choose from Sony Music's rich catalogue of over 2 million songs across multiple genres including pop, rock, reggae, hip hop, country, classical, dance, Indian regional, Bollywood and more. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446449LOGO )

Currently, the app is free to download and use while the future release will see a paid version. The app can be downloaded at http://bit.ly/2dCSXfh. Commenting on this release, Mobify Business Head, Mr. Rohit Kulkarni said, "We are proud to be associated with Sony Music on the development of mobile applications. Consumers can set their favorite song as teir ringtone using this app. Songs you love can be set and heard again. We have done 50+ apps for Sony Music in the past one year and achieved over a million downloads for their new movie soundtrack releases, right from musical hits like Hamari Adhuri Kahani and Dilwale to the latest ones like Ae Dil Hai Muskil and Dear Zindagi."



Hari Nair, Digital Business Head, Sony Music India said, "Ringtones as a format has done extremely well for us in the pre-smartphone era. We believe that there are many consumers who still love this product but are not able to find a convenient and easy way to select the ringtones they want. We will keep investing to build new digital assets and are happy to partner with Mobify for this digital strategy." About Mobify

Mobify focuses on two core areas of technology - mobile-apps development and data-analytics. Mobility solutions include Content Management System (CMS), Loyalty & Redemption store, mobile-internet (WAP) based content delivery destinations, which telecom operators brand as D2C business. Media moguls, Sony Music and Times Music are currently using the Mobify app development platform. They have implemented MIS & Analytics with the giant conglomerate Aditya Birla Group's retail division branded as 'More'. Visit the website - http://www.mobify.bz For enquiries, the Mobify team can be reached at [email protected] Media Contact:

Rohit Kulkarni

Business Head

Mobify Technology Solutions Private Ltd

[email protected]

+91-9689898075





[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 07, 2016] Hubli-based Aissel Technologies Wins Startup Karnataka Top Tech 25 Awards 2016

BANGALORE, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hubli-based Aissel Technologies Pvt. Ltd. has been chosen as a winner in Startup Karnataka Top Tech 25 Awards 2016. At the BengaluruITE.Biz event on 30th November, the award was presented to Aissel by IT Minister Priyank Kharge, former Infosys CEO Kris Gopalkrishnan, Principal Secretary of ITBT V. Manjula and Director of ITBT Tanushree Dev. Co founders Suraj Prabhu and Mahesh Grampurohit received the award. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446494 ) Aissel Technologies is an enterprise cloud software company based in Hubli. Their medical thought leader management solutions are deployed at leading global life sciences companies. Aissel's solutions help their life sciences customers understand the landscape of key opinion leaders in any disease area and create targeted communications strategies thereby achieving stronger professional relationships between industry and healthcare providers. CEO of Aissel, Prasad Patil said, "This is a very proud moment for every employe of Aissel. Being awarded as one of the top 25 tech startups in Karnataka is a great motivation for not just employees of Aissel but to all aspiring entrepreneurs in the region. We should aim high to service global markets and create products that cater to the needs of wider markets. We have shown to everyone that you can service global companies by operating from Hubli. I hope that it will encourage more startups in this region." Co founder Suraj Prabhu worked with a large beverage company in Atlanta in the US and Mahesh Grampurohit worked as the Chief Architect at Cybage Software in Pune. They moved to Hubli and started Aissel along with Prasad Patil. Amit Vikram who heads the global sales at Aissel said that finding right customers who believe in your capabilities is key to success. He adds, "We focus on building long term relationships with our customers. There is no alternative to commitment to customers. It is our core value. That's why our customers believe in our capabilities despite never having seen our office."



Startup Karnataka Top Tech 25 is an initiative by KBITS, Karnataka Biotechnology and Information Technology Service, Department of IT & BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka. Through a tough selection process, 25 companies were selected as the winners of the award. About Aissel Technologies:

Aissel Technologies is a software technology solutions and business research company specializing in healthcare thought leader analytics. Our enterprise-class software solutions cater to the business intelligence needs of industry leading global pharmaceutical, biotech and medical devices companies. KOL Management Suite is our flagship product that enables our customers to integrate, manage and monitor their KOL development and engagement initiatives. For more information, please visit: http://www.aissel.com. Media Contact:

Preeta Nayak

[email protected]

+91-(836)-235-1011

Marketing Lead

Aissel Technologies Pvt. Ltd.



[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 07, 2016] Intelsat Announces Exchange Offers for Certain Notes of Intelsat (Luxembourg) S.A.

Intelsat (News - Alert) S.A. (NYSE:I), operator of the world's first Globalized Network, powered by its leading satellite backbone, today announced that its newly-formed wholly-owned subsidiary, Intelsat Connect Finance S.A. ("ICF"), has commenced, subject to the terms and conditions set forth in a confidential offering memorandum (the "Offering Memorandum"), two private offers to exchange (the "Exchange Offers") certain outstanding notes issued by Intelsat (Luxembourg) S.A. ("Intelsat Luxembourg") for (1) up to $421 million aggregate principal amount of new 12.50% Senior Notes due 2022 issued by ICF (the "ICF Notes") and (2) up to $150 million aggregate in cash. ICF is making the following Exchange Offers: (1) an offer to exchange (the "2018 Lux Notes Exchange Offer") 6.75% Senior Notes due 2018 issued by Intelsat Luxembourg (CUSIP No. 458204 AN4) (the "2018 Lux Notes") held by Eligible Holders (as defined below) for (i) up to an aggregate principal amount of $77 million of ICF Notes and (ii) up to $131 million aggregate in cash; and (2) an offer to exchange (the "2021 Lux Notes Exchange Offer") 7.75% Senior Notes due 2021 issued by Intelsat Luxembourg (CUSIP No. 458204 AP9) (the "2021 Lux Notes" and together with the 2018 Lux Notes, the "Lux Notes") held by Eligible Holders for (i) up to an aggregate principal amount of $344 million of ICF Notes and (ii) up to $19 million aggregate in cash. For each $1,000 principal amount of 2018 Lux Notes and 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, validly tendered at or before the Early Delivery Time (as defined below) and not validly withdrawn, Eligible Holders of 2018 Lux Notes and 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, will be eligible to receive the applicable Total Offer Consideration set out in the table below, which includes the applicable early tender premium. For each $1,000 principal amount of 2018 Lux Notes and 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, validly tendered after the Early Delivery Time and prior to the Expiration Time, Eligible Holders of 2018 Lux Notes and 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, will be eligible to receive only the applicable Exchange Offer Consideration set out in the table below.







For each $1,000 Principal Amount of 2018 Lux Notes or

2021 Notes Validly Tendered and Not Withdrawn(1) Total Offer Consideration if at or Prior to the Early Delivery Time Exchange Offer Consideration if After the Early Delivery Time(2) Security CUSIP Outstanding Principal Amount Cash Principal

Amount of

ICF Notes Cash Principal Amount of

ICF Notes 2018 Lux Notes 458204 AN4 $475,000,000(3) $600 $350 $575 $350 2021 Lux Notes 458204 AP9 $2,000,000,000 $30 $550 $5 $550

(1) Eligible Holders whose Lux Notes are accepted in the Exchange Offers will also receive a cash payment equal to the accrued and unpaid interest in respect of such Lux Notes from December 1, 2016, which is the most recent interest payment date, to, but excluding, the Early Settlement Date or Final Settlement Date, as applicable. (2) Aggregate cash payments to Eligible Holders who tender their Lux Notes after the Early Delivery Time and who in exchange receive ICF Notes on the Final Settlement Date, will be reduced by the amount of interest accrued on the ICF Notes received by them from the Early Settlement Date to, but not including, the Final Settlement Date. (3) Excludes $25 million principal amount of 2018 Lux Notes held by Intelsat Luxembourg. The maximum principal amount of 2018 Lux Notes that will be accepted for exchange in the 2018 Lux Notes Exchange Offer will be $217 million (the "Maximum 2018 Exchange Amount"). The maximum principal amount of 2021 Lux Notes that will be accepted for exchange in the 2021 Lux Notes Exchange Offer will be $624 million (the "Maximum 2021 Exchange Amount"). Tenders of 2018 Lux Notes and 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, received at or before the Early Delivery Time will receive priority for application against the Maximum 2018 Exchange Amount and Maximum 2021 Exchange Amount relative to tenders received thereafter. If the aggregate principal amount of 2018 Lux Notes and/or 2021 Lux Notes tendered and not validly withdrawn in an Exchange Offer at or before the Early Delivery Time exceeds the Maximum 2018 Exchange Amount or the Maximum 2021 Exchange Amount, as applicable, then ICF will accept the 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, so tendered on a pro rata basis, regardless of whether ICF chooses to have an Early Settlement Date. In such case, no tenders of the 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, following the Early Delivery Time will be accepted in the applicable Exchange Offers. If the aggregate principal amount of 2018 Lux Notes and/or 2021 Lux Notes tendered and not validly withdrawn in an Exchange Offer at or before the Early Delivery Time does not exceed the Maximum 2018 Exchange Amount or the Maximum 2021 Exchange Amount, as applicable, but the total 2018 Lux Notes and/or 2021 Lux Notes tendered and not validly withdrawn in an Exchange Offer at or before the Expiration Time does exceed the Maximum 2018 Exchange Amount or the Maximum 2021 Exchange Amount, as applicable, then ICF will accept all of the 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, tendered at or before the Early Delivery Time and will accept the 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, tendered after the Early Delivery Time on a pro rata basis, regardless of whether ICF chooses to have an Early Settlement Date. The ICF Notes will mature on April 1, 2022. Interest on the ICF Notes will accrue at the rate of 12.50% per annum and be payable semi-annually in arrears on December 15 and June 15, commencing on June 15, 2017. On or after June 1, 2018, ICF may redeem all or a portion of the ICF Notes at any time at a price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the ICF Notes redeemed, together with accrued and unpaid interest to but excluding the redemption date. In addition, prior to June 1, 2018, ICF may redeem all or a portion of the ICF Notes at any time at a price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the ICF Notes redeemed plus a customary make-whole premium as of, and accrued and unpaid interest to but excluding, the redemption date. ICF was formed by Intelsat Luxembourg in connection with the Exchange Offers. As a condition precedent to consummation of the Exchange Offers, ICF is required to be capitalized with 100% of the equity interests currently held by Intelsat Luxembourg in Intelsat Jackson Holdings S.A. ("Intelsat Jackson"), $25 million principal amount of 2018 Lux Notes presently held by Intelsat Luxembourg in treasury, and approximately $300 million in cash, such that less than approximately $50 million will be retained by Intelsat Luxembourg. In the near term, ICF expects to hold the Lux Notes obtained by it in the Exchange Offers and to use the income received on such notes to finance interest payments on the ICF 2022 Notes. The ICF Notes will be ICF's senior unsecured obligations, ranking equally in right of payment with all of its existing and future senior indebtedness and senior to its existing and future subordinated indebtedness. The ICF Notes will be effectively subordinated to ICF's existing and future secured indebtedness to the extent of the assets securing such secured debt. The ICF Notes will also be structurally subordinated to all of the existing and future liabilities of ICF's subsidiaries, including the liabilities of Intelsat Jackson under Intelsat Jackson's Secured Credit Agreement and existing notes, and structurally senior to all indebtedness of Intelsat Luxembourg, including Lux Notes not accepted in the Exchange Offers. On the issue date, Intelsat Luxembourg, the direct parent of ICF, will irrevocably and unconditionally guarantee the ICF Notes on an unsecured senior basis. The Exchange Offers will expire at 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on January 5, 2017, unless they are extended or earlier terminated by ICF. In order to be eligible to receive the Total Offer Consideration, Eligible Holders must validly tender their 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, at or prior to 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on December 20, 2016, unless extended by ICF (such date and time, as the same may be extended, the "Early Delivery Time"). The following table sets forth certain key dates of the Exchange Offers. Further information may be found in the Offering Memorandum: Key Date Calendar Date Launch Date December 7, 2016 Early Delivery Time 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on December 20, 2016, unless extended or earlier terminated by ICF. Early Settlement Date Promptly after the Early Delivery Time, and expected to be the third business day after the Early Delivery Time. The Early Settlement Date is currently expected to be December 23, 2016. ICF reserves the right but is under no obligation to elect to have an Early Settlement Date. Withdrawal Deadline 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on the date of the Early Delivery Time, unless extended or earlier terminated by ICF. Exchange Offers Expiration Time 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on January 5, 2017, unless extended or earlier terminated by ICF. Final Settlement Date The final settlement date is currently expected to be January 10, 2017. ICF reserves the right, but is under no obligation, to elect an Early Settlement Date. However, if so elected, "Early Settlement Date" refers to the date on which ICF Notes will be issued and the applicable cash payment will be paid to holders in exchange for 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, accepted in the Exchange Offers that are validly tendered and not validly withdrawn prior to the Early Delivery Time. The "Final Settlement Date" refers to the date on which ICF Notes will be issued and the applicable cash payment will be paid to holders in exchange for 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, accepted in the Exchange Offers and not settled on the Early Settlement Date. Subject to applicable law and the terms set forth in the Offering Memorandum, ICF reserves the right to waive any and all conditions to the Exchange Offers, in whole or in part, and may do so, subject to applicable law, without reinstating withdrawal rights. In addition, ICF expressly reserves the right to extend or terminate the Exchange Offers and to otherwise amend or modify the Exchange Offers in any respect. Each of the Exchange Offers is independent of and not conditioned on the other, and ICF may waive conditions to, extend, terminate or otherwise amend or modify, or make determinations under (including, without limitation, electing an Early Settlement Date), one Exchange Offer without taking the same action with respect to the other. On December 2, 2016 (and thereafter by joinder on December 5, 2016), certain holders of 2018 Lux Notes (the "2018 Supporting Holders") entered into a support and exchange agreement (the "2018 Support Agreement") with Intelsat S.A., Intelsat Luxembourg and ICF, whereby such 2018 Supporting Holders agreed to exchange with ICF, separate from the 2018 Lux Notes Exchange Offer, their 2018 Lux Notes for $600 in cash and $350 in principal amount of ICF Notes per $1,000 principal amount of 2018 Lux Notes substantially simultaneously with the Early Settlement Date of the 2018 Lux Notes Exchange Offer. The 2018 Supporting Holders collectively held, as of December 2, 2016 (and as of December 5, 2016 for the joining holder), approximately $144 million aggregate principal amount of 2018 Lux Notes (approximately 30% of the aggregate principal amount outstanding). On December 5, 2016, certain holders of 2018 Lux Notes, 8.125% Senior Notes due 2023 issued by Intelsat Luxembourg (the "2023 Lux Notes") and 2021 Lux Notes (such holders, the "2021/2023 Supporting Holders", and together with the 2018 Supporting Holders, the "Supporting Holders") entered into a support and exchange agreement (the "2021/2023 Support Agreement", and together with the 2018 Support Agreement, the "Support Agreements") with Intelsat S.A., Intelsat Luxembourg and ICF. Pursuant to the 2021/2023 Support Agreement, the 2021/2023 Supporting Holders agreed to exchange with ICF, separate from the 2021 Lux Notes Exchange Offer, their 2018 Lux Notes for the same consideration that will be received by the 2018 Supporting Holders pursuant to the 2018 Support Agreement and their 2021 Lux Notes and 2023 Lux Notes for $30 in cash and $550 in principal amount of ICF Notes per $1,000 principal amount of 2021 Lux Notes or 2023 Lux Notes, as the case may be, substantially simultaneously with the Early Settlement Date of the 2021 Lux Notes Exchange Offer. The 2021/2023 Supporting Holders collectively held, as of December 5, 2016, approximately $355 million aggregate principal amount of 2021 Lux Notes (approximately 18% of the aggregate principal amount outstanding), approximately $112 million aggregate principal amount of 2023 Lux Notes (approximately 11% of the aggregate principal amount outstanding) and approximately $67 million aggregate principal amount of 2018 Lux Notes (approximately 14% of the aggregate principal amount outstanding). The Maximum 2018 Exchange Amount and the Maximum 2021 Exchange Amount were determined in light of the obligations of ICF under each of the Support Agreements, and the exchange by the Supporting Holders of their 2018 Lux Notes and 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, pursuant to the applicable Support Agreement will not be subject to pro-ration whether or not the 2018 Lux Notes Exchange Offer or the 2021 Lux Notes Exchange Offer, as applicable, is over-subscribed. Shortly after the launch of the Exchange Offers, Intelsat Luxembourg intends to commence an exchange offer for the 2018 Lux Notes pursuant to which participating holders will be entitled to receive an equal principal amount of new 12.50% Senior Notes of Intelsat Luxembourg due 2024 (the "2024 Lux Exchange Offer"). Tendering notes in the 2018 Lux Notes Exchange Offer will preclude tendering those notes in the 2024 Lux Exchange Offer unless they are validly withdrawn from the 2018 Lux Notes Exchange Offer. ICF intends to tender the 2018 Lux Notes acquired by it in the 2018 Lux Notes Exchange Offer into the 2024 Lux Exchange Offer and thereby acquire, in exchange for 2018 Lux Notes, a like principal amount of new 12.50% Senior Notes due 2024 of Intelsat Luxembourg. Following such exchange, it is anticipated that the Lux 2018 Notes so acquired by Intelsat Luxembourg will be cancelled. The ICF Notes have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or any other applicable securities laws and, unless so registered, the ICF Notes may not be offered, sold, pledged or otherwise transferred in the United States or to or for the account or benefit of any U.S. person, except pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act. ICF does not intend to register the ICF Notes under the Securities Act or the securities laws of any other jurisdiction. The ICF Notes are not transferable except in accordance with the restrictions described more fully in the Offering Memorandum. The Exchange Offers are being made, and the ICF Notes to be issued pursuant to the Exchange Offers are being offered and issued, only (a) in the United States to holders of 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, who are "qualified institutional buyers" (as defined in Rule 144A under the Securities Act), (b) in the United States to holders of 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, not resident in Arkansas who are institutional "accredited investors" (within the meaning of Rule 501(a)(1), (2), (3) or (7) of Regulation D under the Securities Act) and (c) outside the United States to holders of 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, who are persons other than U.S. persons in reliance upon Regulation S under the Securities Act. The holders of 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, who have certified to ICF that they are eligible to participate in the Exchange Offers pursuant to at least one of the foregoing conditions are referred to as "Eligible Holders." Only Eligible Holders are authorized to receive or review the Offering Memorandum or participate in the Exchange Offers. The Exchange Offers are being conducted pursuant to the Offering Memorandum, this press release and Intelsat S.A.'s or ICF's other press releases related to the Exchange Offer (collectively, the "Exchange Offer Materials"). Guggenheim Securities acted as Intelsat's financial advisor for these transactions and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz served as legal advisor. Questions regarding the Exchange Offers may be directed to ICF at the following email address: Attn: Investor Relations, Email: [email protected]. The complete terms and conditions of the Exchange Offers, as well as the terms of the ICF Notes, are set forth in the Offering Memorandum. The Offering Memorandum will only be made available to holders who complete an eligibility letter confirming their status as Eligible Holders. Holders of 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes who wish to receive a copy of the eligibility letter for the Exchange Offers may contact Global Bondholder Services Corporation (the "Information and Exchange Agent") at 65 Broadway - Suite 404, New York, New York 10006, Attn: Corporate Actions, (212) 430-3774 (for banks and brokers) or (866) 470-4200 (for all others). Holders may also obtain and complete an electronic copy of the eligibility letter on the following website maintained by Global Bondholder Services: http://gbsc-usa.com/eligibility/intelsat. ICF is making the Exchange Offers only by, and pursuant to, the terms of the Exchange Offer Materials. None of ICF, the Information and Exchange Agent, nor their respective affiliates makes any recommendation as to whether Eligible Holders should tender or refrain from tendering their 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable. Eligible Holders must make their own decision as to whether or not to tender their 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, as well as with respect to the principal amount of the 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, to tender. The Exchange Offers are not being made to any holders of 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, in any jurisdiction in which the making or acceptance thereof would not be in compliance with the securities, blue sky or other laws of such jurisdiction. This press release does not constitute an offer to purchase securities or a solicitation of an offer to sell any securities or an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase any new securities, nor does it constitute an offer or solicitation in any jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation is unlawful. About Intelsat Intelsat S.A. (NYSE: I) operates the world's first Globalized Network, powered by its leading satellite backbone, delivering high-quality, cost-effective video and broadband services anywhere in the world. Intelsat's Globalized Network combines the world's largest satellite backbone with terrestrial infrastructure, managed services and an open, interoperable architecture to enable customers to drive revenue and reach through a new generation of network services. Thousands of organizations serving billions of people worldwide rely on Intelsat to provide ubiquitous broadband connectivity, multi-format video broadcasting, secure satellite communications and seamless mobility services. The end result is an entirely new world, one that allows us to envision the impossible, connect without boundaries and transform the ways in which we live. Intelsat Safe Harbor Statement Statements in this news release, including statements regarding the Exchange Offers, constitute "forward-looking statements" that do not directly or exclusively relate to historical facts. When used in this release, the words "may," "will," "might," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "project," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "intend," "potential," "outlook," and "continue," and the negative of these terms, and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements and information. The forward-looking statements reflect Intelsat's intentions, plans, expectations, anticipations, projections, estimations, predictions, assumptions and beliefs about future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside of Intelsat's control. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements include known and unknown risks. Known risks include, among others, market conditions and the risks described in Intelsat's annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2015, quarterly report on Form 6-K for the quarters ended June 30, 2016 and September 30, 2016, and its other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and risks and uncertainties related to our ability to consummate the Exchange Offers. Because actual results could differ materially from Intelsat's intentions, plans, expectations, anticipations, projections, estimations, predictions, assumptions and beliefs about the future, you are urged to view all forward-looking statements with caution. Intelsat does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161207006438/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 08, 2016] Study Finds Local News Websites as Much as 500% More Likely to Engage Retail, Auto, Real Estate and Travel Customers

SARASOTA, Fla., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Local Media Consortium (LMC), a strategic partnership of leading local media companies, today released results of a comprehensive analysis of consumer behavior on its member websites. Conducted by marketing analytics company Jumpshot, the study found that visitors to the LMCmember websites, which include 1,600 local media websites across the U.S.  from Lee Enterprises' Santa Maria Times to Cox Media Group's WFXT-TV in Boston  are as much as six times more likely than the general web population to reach engaged consumers in the retail, automotive, real estate and travel spaces. The LMC audience footprint currently spans 155 million unique monthly visitors and its member companies serve more than four billion page views to readers. Jumpshot analyzed touchpoints related to key words, visits and engaged sessions from a sampling of 3.6 million unique visitors to LMC member sites from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016 and indexed the results against Jumpshot's U.S. panel. "This study sheds light on valuable consumer behavior as it relates to local media company members of the LMC and how consumers turn to local media provider websites at a much higher rate than average for content in key consumer verticals," said Rusty Coats, Executive Director of the LMC. "We are pleased to see how well our member websites reach mobile-and PC-based retail consumers searching for popular keywords and domains from automotive brands to homebuilders to pet products and travel." The following are some of the findings from the Jumpshot analysis: Local media companies index well among mobile consumers in retail and travel, affirming the value of the commitment by local media companies make their sites more responsive, quicker to load and easier to view ads on mobile devices. For instance, LMC mobile visitors are 506 percent more likely to have searched for bodybuilding.com, petsmart.com and zappos.com than the Jumpshot U.S. panel Local media site visitors are also nearly 5 times more likely to have searched for jetblue.com , hilton.com or d elta .com on their mobile devices than the general U.S. panel of web surfers.



travel, affirming the value of the commitment by local media companies make their sites more responsive, quicker to load and easier to view ads on mobile devices. Automotive shoppers or intenders are as much as 400 percent more likely to visit an automotive origial equipment manufacturer (OEM) website as the general population. Volvo is the automotive brand that indexed highest with LMC website visitors on mobile devices in that LMC member mobile website readers were 3.4 times more likely to land on Volvo.com than the Jumpshot US population People who shopped for Buick vehicles on their PCs were 4.5 times more likely to have visited a local media website than the general online population Local media sites index well against the US online population when it comes to engaged shoppers who visited three or more pages on popular automotive marketplace sites such as carsdirect.com (3.5 times better), edmunds.com (3.4 times better) and enterprisecarsales.com (3.3 times better).







The Jumpshot analysis also found that local media sites index well with certain touchpoints on mobile versus PC, and vice-versa. For instance, mobile LMC visitors are 5 times more likely to have searched for airline site Spirit.com on a mobile device, but only 2.5 times more likely to have done so with a PC. "These findings showcase the value local news and information providers create and deliver to the advertising community each and every day," said Christian A. Hendricks, vice president for products, marketing and innovation at McClatchy, and LMC board chair. "It's now proven the collective and scaled strength of the LMC's high-quality digital properties provide advertisers with an efficient and cost-effective path to customers," adds Hendricks. "Publishers are the lifeblood of the web and the Local Media Consortium represents the best of what the web has to offer," said Laurent Cordier, Global Managing Director of News Partnerships at Google. "The local media sources represented by the LMC attract fiercely loyal and engaged audiences because they connect us to our communities and to information that closely impacts our daily lives. This research is further validation that high quality, local and relevant journalism drives unique opportunities for advertisers."

Google partners with the LMC and their member companies to bring local news content to Google Play Newsstand and drive traffic from search results to media websites. Google also provides LMC members with ad serving technology and access to Google's DoubleClick Ad Exchange to create a private, premium marketplace of LMC members. Methodology The study analyzed overlap in touchpoints performed by Local Media Consortium (LMC) US Member Panelists versus the Jumpshot US Panel from July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2016. The LMC panel was comprised of 3,604,329 unique visitors with 151,774,909 page views. The Jumpshot US Panel was comprised of 20+ million unique visitors with 117+ billion page views who opted into sharing their browsing activity from their PCs, Android Smartphones and tablets. Jumpshot's data is based on actual click, browsing and purchase behavior. Jumpshot uses a proprietary algorithm to identify and remove Personally Identifiable Information (PII). The data is cleaned and calculated to make it representative of the Internet. It is then aggregated and extrapolated to online population (3 billion) using algorithms that calibrate by location, socio-demographics, device, etc. LMC Index numbers were calculated by dividing the LMC data points by the Jumpshot US Panel data points. "Local media outlets are clearly indexing above the norm in reaching engaged consumers in key verticals such as automotive, retail, real estate and travel," said Randy Antin, VP Marketing for Jumpshot, which tracks more than 160 billion monthly clicks from its 100-million global user panel. "When you couple LMC's impressive index numbers with its wide and eclectic reach in terms of sheer unique visitors per month, these local media site members become an even more attractive medium for web advertisers." About the Local Media Consortium: The Local Media Consortium is a strategic partnership of leading local media companies focused on increasing member companies' share of digital revenue and audience by pursuing new relationships with a variety of technology companies and service providers. The LMC was founded in 2013 to address the needs of advertisers seeking to reach high-quality audiences on brand safe local digital properties at scale. In addition, the LMC provides members with access to leading technology and content solutions by fostering key partnerships with companies including Google, Monster, Yahoo and others. LMC membership spans more than 75 local media companies in top markets across the United States and Puerto Rico, and includes more than 1,600 publications. More information is available at www.localmediaconsortium.com. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/study-finds-local-news-websites-as-much-as-500-more-likely-to-engage-retail-auto-real-estate-and-travel-customers-300374952.html SOURCE Local Media Consortium

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 08, 2016] Frost & Sullivan Recognises Top Australian Companies at Annual Excellence Awards in Sydney

SYDNEY, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan today honoured best companies in Australia at the 2016 Frost & Sullivan Australia Excellence Awards banquet, held at the Hilton Sydney. Companies recognised include Stellar, Interactive Intelligence, Cyara and ipSCAPE. Telstra walked away with triple awards at the banquet, the Customer Contact Service Provider of the Year, Enterprise Mobility Service Provider of the Year and Enterprise Collaboration Service Provider of the Year. Mr. Mark Dougan, Managing Director, Australia at Frost & Sullivan said that Frost & Sullivan is excited to host the excellence awards in Australia, which is in its 11th year now, to recognise and celebrate best-in-class companies in the country. "Frost & Sullivan hopes that the recognition will serve as a source of encouragement and inspiration for the Australian recipients. We congratulate all the Australian award recipients," he added. He also said that the recipients of the 2016 Frost & Sullivan Australia Excellence Awards were identified based on an in-depth research conducted by Frost & Sullivan's analysts. The award categories offered each year are carefully reviewed and evaluated to reflect the current market landscape and include new emerging trends. The short-listed companies were evaluated on a variety of actual market performance indicators which include revenue growth; market share and growth in market share; leadership in product innovation; marketing strategy and business development strategy. For more details on the 2016 Australia Excellence Awards log-in http://frost-apac.com/ausawards/. You can also connect with Frost & Sullivan on social media, including Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin for the latest news and updates. We also invite you to join the conversation using #FrostAwards or #FrostAUAwards Frost & Sullivan congratulates all the 2016 Australia Excellence Awards recipients:







Award Title Recipient Automation & Electronics

Australia Pressurised Irrigation Controls Market Leadership Award WiSA Australia Emerging Company of the Year in Advanced Manufacturing AMAERO ENGINEERING Energy & Environment

Australian Waste Management Company of the Year TOXFREE Australia Smart Lighting Solutions Growth Excellence Award VIVID INDUSTRIAL Australia UPS Vendor of the Year SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC Australia UPS Service Provider of the Year SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC Australia Water Treatment Technology Competitive Strategy Innovation Leadership Award BIOGILL Australia Facilities Management Growth Excellence Leadership Award CBRE Australia Facilities Management Software Company of the Year SERRAVIEW Australia Facilities Management Competitive Strategy Innovation and Leadership Award JLL Healthcare

Australia Healthcare IT Company of the Year FUJITSU AUSTRALIA LIMITED Australia CRO Growth Excellence Leadership Award NOVOTECH ICT

Global Construction Collaboration Solutions Company of the Year ACONEX Global Wearable Technology Vendor of the Year (Professional Sports) CATAPULT Australia Customer Interaction Management Platform Testing Vendor of the Year CYARA Australia FinTech Vendor of the Year in Digital Payments TYRO PAYMENTS LIMITED Australia FinTech Vendor of the Year in Lending PROSPA Australia Cloud Contact Centre Vendor of the Year ipSCAPE Australia Conferencing Services Growth Excellence Leadership Award REDBACK CONFERENCING Australia Data Centre Services Market Leadership Award EQUINIX Australia Data Centre Services Growth Excellence Leadership Award NEXTDC Australia Hosted Customer Contact Service Provider of the Year TELSTRA Australia Enterprise Mobility Service Provider of the Year TELSTRA Australia Enterprise Collaboration Service Provider of the Year TELSTRA Australia Customer Contact Optimisation Solution Vendor of the Year VERINT Australia Customer Interaction Management Solutions Vendor of the Year INTERACTIVE INTELLIGENCE Australia Customer Contact Outsourcing Service Provider of the Year STELLAR Australia Next Generation Radio Solutions Growth Excellence Leadership Award MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS AUSTRALIA Australia Biometrics Vendor of the Year NEC AUSTRALIA Australia Enterprise Mobility Management Vendor of the Year AIRWATCH BY VMWARE

About Frost & Sullivan Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Is your organisation prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics and emerging economies? Contact Us: Start the discussion Media Contact: Carrie Low

Corporate Communications  Asia Pacific

Email: [email protected] Alice Chia

Corporate Communications  Asia Pacific

Email: [email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/frost--sullivan-recognises-top-australian-companies-at-annual-excellence-awards-in-sydney-300375160.html SOURCE Frost & Sullivan

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 08, 2016] Thales Releases Advanced Encryption Solutions for Secure Docker Containers, Simplified Deployment and Zero Downtime

SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Thales, a leader in critical information systems, cybersecurity and data security, today announced the release of new capabilities for its leading Vormetric Data Security Platform. These advances extend data-at-rest security capabilities with deeply integrated Docker encryption and access controls, the ability to encrypt and rekey data without having to take applications offline, FIPS certified remote administration and management of data security policies and protections, and the ability to accelerate the deployment of tokenization, static data masking and application encryption. Announced today by Thales: General availability of Vormetric Transparent Encryption Live Data Transformation Extension : A patented solution that enables organizations to deploy and maintain encryption with minimal downtime. Enables initial encryption and rekeying of previously encrypted data while in use. Available previously as a pilot  now generally available.

A patented solution that enables organizations to deploy and maintain encryption with minimal downtime. Enables initial encryption and rekeying of previously encrypted data while in use. Available previously as a pilot  now generally available. Vormetric Transparent Encryption Docker Extension : Extends Vormetric Transparent Encryption's OS-level policy-based encryption, data access controls and data access logging capabilities to internal Docker container users, processes and resource sets. Deploys and protects without the need to alter containers or applications. Enables compliance and best practices for encryption, control of data access and data access auditing for container accessible information. Find additional information here.

Extends Vormetric Transparent Encryption's OS-level policy-based encryption, data access controls and data access logging capabilities to internal Docker container users, processes and resource sets. Deploys and protects without the need to alter containers or applications. Enables compliance and best practices for encryption, control of data access and data access auditing for container accessible information. Find additional information here. FIPS 140-2 level 3 certified remote data security management and policy control for Vormetric Data Security Manager V6100 appliance : This innovation enables organizations with the most stringent compliance and best practice requirements to easily manage the full Thales line of Vormetric data security platform solutions without physical visits to data centers.

This innovation enables organizations with the most stringent compliance and best practice requirements to easily manage the full Thales line of Vormetric data security platform solutions without physical visits to data centers. Batch Data Transformation: Eases initial encryption or tokenization of sensitive database columns in environments that are protected with Vormetric Application Encryption or Vormetric Tokenization. Also supports Static Data Masking requirements.



Click to Tweet: Take Control of Critical Data in #Docker with New Advancements from Thales bit.ly/2gZWJBi pic.twitter.com/EsHCjqJFvx "IT system downtime is costly for any business, even when it is planned," said Bob Tarzey of U.K.-based Quocirca. "The financial consequences of IT disruptions arise from lost sales and productivity; in addition, consequent reputational damage can have a longer term knock-on effect," he added. "Downtime need not be caused by system outage, it can be due to data processing, which includes encryption. The idea behind Vormetric's Live Data Transformation is to solve this problem, even for large databases with high transaction volumes. Any organization which needs to ensure both constant data security and availability should take a look at such technology."

Compliance requirements and best practices increasingly call for organizations to encrypt and control access to sensitive data, while also logging and auditing information about sensitive data access. The company's recent 2016 Vormetric Data Threat Report revealed that perceived "complexity" is the No. 1 reason that enterprises do not adopt data security tools and techniques that support these capabilities more widely. These advanced data security controls directly address this problem by enabling enterprises to confidently support their digital transformation more easily, simply and in more environments than ever before. "Thales continues to innovate by providing advanced data security solutions and services that delivers trust wherever information is created, shared or stored," said Vice President of Product Management for Thales e-Security, Derek Tumulak. "No other organization offers the depth and breadth of integrated data security solutions, or enables enterprises to confidently accelerate their digital transformation, like Thales." Availability: All new offerings are planned to be available in Q1 2017. About Thales e-Security Thales e-Security + Vormetric have combined to form the leading global data protection and digital trust management company. Together, we enable companies to compete confidently and quickly by securing data at-rest, in-motion and in-use to effectively deliver secure and compliant solutions with the highest levels of management, speed and trust across physical, virtual and cloud environments. By deploying our leading solutions and services, targeted attacks are thwarted and sensitive data risk exposure is reduced with the least business disruption and at the lowest life cycle cost. Thales e-Security and Vormetric are part of Thales Group. www.thales-esecurity.com About Thales

Thales is a global technology leader for the Aerospace, Transport, Defence and Security markets. With 62,000 employees in 56 countries, Thales reported sales of 14 billion in 2015. With over 22,000 engineers and researchers, Thales has a unique capability to design and deploy equipment, systems and services to meet the most complex security requirements. Its exceptional international footprint allows it to work closely with its customers all over the world. Positioned as a value-added systems integrator, equipment supplier and service provider, Thales is one of Europe's leading players in the security market. The Group's security teams work with government agencies, local authorities and enterprise customers to develop and deploy integrated, resilient solutions to protect citizens, sensitive data and critical infrastructure. Thales offers world-class cryptographic capabilities and is a global leader in cybersecurity solutions for defence, government, critical infrastructure providers, telecom companies, industry and the financial services sector. With a value proposition addressing the entire data security chain, Thales offers a comprehensive range of services and solutions from security consulting, data protection, digital trust management and design, development, integration, certification and security maintenance of cybersecured systems to cyberthreat management, intrusion detection and security supervision through Cyber Security Operation Centres in France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and soon to be in Hong Kong. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150929/271846LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/thales-releases-advanced-encryption-solutions-for-secure-docker-containers-simplified-deployment-and-zero-downtime-300375087.html SOURCE Thales

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 08, 2016] Leading Lights in Real Estate Dominate the 2016 China Property Awards

HONG KONG, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Wednesday night's JW Marriott Hong Kong was home to China's premier real estate event of the year, the third annual China Property Awards, organised by PropertyGuru, Asia's leading online property group. The evening celebrated 2016's most outstanding developers and real estate developments from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, with 22 awards presented in front of nearly 200 VIPs and senior industry figures. Excitement ensued when last year's top winner, Sino-Ocean Group, won its back-to-back title for Best Developer, further cementing its leading position in China's property sector. "Time and time again, Sino-Ocean Group has demonstrated over the last 20 years its ability to create landmark projects in key locations. It continues to push the boundaries in real estate development across China," noted the judging panel led by chairman Paul Tse, president of the board of the Macao Association of Building Contractors and Developers. "Sino-Ocean Group has consistently been a standard-bearer whose name is commensurate with high quality standards and cutting-edge conceptualisation in its projects. With numerous high-profile projects not only in major and secondary cities in China, it has also expanded into other countries in Southeast Asia and beyond," the judges noted. "The Sino-Ocean brand has been successfully nurtured over the years, and is now well-recognised and pursued by partners and consumers alike." Aside from the highest accolade of the year, Sino-Ocean Group also picked up the Best Residential Development (China) trophy for its Beijing-based, multi-phase project Ocean Epoch. Independently managed private equity real estate firm Phoenix Property Investors, which led the nominations with a total of five nods, collected three awards for its ultra luxury condo project, The Morgan, located in Hong Kong's Mid-Levels West district. The firm's other nominated project, 3 Julia Avenue, was named Highly Commended in two categories by the judging panel. Meanwhile, Wynn Palace Cotai by Wynn Resorts dominated the hotel subcategories, taking home two design awards plus the Best Luxury Hotel Development accolade. Wheelock Properties' acclaimed One HarbourGate project, one of the year's top finalists, won two awards, namely Best Green Development and Best Office Development (Hong Kong & Macau), plus a Highly Commended citation. Last year's Real Estate Personality of the Year winner, Dr Allan Zeman's Lan Kwai Fong Group, clinched two top categories: Best Boutique Development and Best Mixed-Use Development (China)for Shanghai DreamCenter, sharing the latter honour with partners China Media Capital, DreamWorks Animation, and China Development Bank. The editors of Asia's industry-leading Property Report magazine chose one of the most prominent names today in Hong Kong real estate, Adrian Cheng Chi-Kong, executive vice-chairman and joint general manager at New World Development Company Limited, as the 2016 Real Estate Personality of the Year. Under Adrian Cheng Chi-Kong's leadership, New World Development today remains one of the most active and innovative retail developers in Greater China, producing world-class projects such as art and eco-malls that cater to today's and future generations. The company is also known for promoting various corporate social responsibility initiatives, as well as making globalisation a priority. As global economic and domestic financial uncertainties preclude the possibility of dramatic rise in capital value, judging panel chairman Tse noted that stability will be the keyword for China real estate in the coming year. On selecting the country's best developers and properties, he commented: "It was important for the judging panel as a whole to set criteria in a professional, transparent and forthright manner, to encourage as many of the potential participants as possible to come forward, and to adjudicate in a way that brought out the best projects in the best light possible. "A successful adjudication adds to the already widely acknowledged credibility of the China Property Awards and provides a strong foundation for further growth ahead." All entries in the China Property Awards and the site visits were fully supervised by BDO, one of the world's largest accountancy and auditing firms. The third annual China Property Awards is the final event of the 2016 Asia Property Awards series, which held its South East Asia Property Awards grand finale in Singapore last month. "2016 has been a momentous year for the Asia Property Awards. Since starting 11 years ago the Awards have always endeavoured to reward the best in local real estate and produce credible winners with a transparent entry and judging system. We have achieved this goal by developing the most detailed and comprehensive entry system of any property awards in the world," said Terry Blackburn, founder and managing director of the Asia Property Awards. "Over the past decade since the beginning of our awards series, China's property sector has shown remarkable growth and today has become one of the world's most active markets," he added. "We offer our warmest congratulations to all the Winners and Highly Commended companies and developments in this year's China Property Awards." The China Property Awards 2016 was supported by official newspaper China Daily, media partners Property Report, Leisure Insight, Keypad, Landscope Realty (an exclusive member of Christie's International Real Estate), the Royal Institute of British Architects Hong Kong Chapter, and the Macao Association of Building Contractors and Developers. As a precursor to the annual gala dinner, the Property Report Congress China was held in Hong Kong for the first time in the morning of the awards ceremony and gala dinner, which began with a two-hour international networking cocktail reception. Conference speakers and delegates included Mark Clifford, a Property Report Congress 2015 alumnus, who gave the opening keynote address entitled "Greening Asia: New Thinking in China's Property Sector," plus roundtable moderator Vincent Cheung, executive director for Asia at Colliers International, and member of the China Property Awards judging panel. For more information, contact [email protected] or visit the official website: AsiaPropertyAwards.com/china-property-awards/ The complete list of Winners and Highly Commended at the China Property Awards 2016: DEVELOPER AWARDS Best Developer Sino-Ocean Group Holding Limited -- WINNER Best Boutique Developer Lan Kwai Fong Group -- WINNER BEST OF THE BEST Best Green Development One HarbourGate by Wheelock Properties -- WINNER

SuperD Technology Centre, Shenzhen, China by Ho & Partners Architects Engineers & Development Consultants Limited -- HIGHLY COMMENDED SPECIAL AWARDS Special Recognition in CSR New World China Land Limited -- WINNER Special Recognition in Sustainable Development Lan Kwai Fong Group -- WINNER DEVELOPMENT AWARDS Best Residential Development (China) Ocean Epoch by Sino-Ocean Group Holding Limited -- WINNER Best Mixed-Use Development (China) Shanghai DreamCenter by Lan Kwai Fong Group, China Media Capital, DreamWorks Animation, China Development Bank -- WINNER Best Retail Development (China) Parc Central by Guangzhou Hong Cheng Plaza Real Estate Properties Ltd. -- WINNER Best Ultra Luxury Condo Development (Hong Kong & Macau) Kau to HIGHLAND by Couture Homes Limited -- WINNER

The Morgan by Phoenix Property Investors -- HIGHLY COMMENDED Best Luxury Condo Development (Hong Kong & Macau) The Peak by Cheong Kong Construction Co., Ltd -- WINNER

by Cheong Kong Construction Co., Ltd -- WINNER 3 Julia Avenue by Phoenix Property Investors -- HIGHLY COMMENDED Best Retail Development (Hong Kong & Macau) Temple Mall North by Link Asset Management Limited -- WINNER Best Mixed-Use Development (Hong Kong & Macau) H CODE - 45 Pottinger Street, Hong Kong by Henderson Land Development Co. Ltd. & Hip Shing Hong (Holdings) Co. Ltd. -- WINNER Best Office Development (Hong Kong & Macau) One HarbourGate by Wheelock Properties -- WINNER Best Hotel Development The Parisian Macao by Sands China Ltd -- WINNER Best Luxury Hotel Development Wynn Palace Cotai by Wynn Resorts, Limited -- WINNER DESIGN AWARDS Best Residential Architectural Design The Morgan by Phoenix Property Investors -- WINNER

3 Julia Avenue by Phoenix Property Investors -- HIGHLY COMMENDED Best Residential Interior Design The Morgan by Phoenix Property Investors -- WINNER Best Hotel Architectural Design Wynn Palace Cotai by Wynn Resorts, Limited -- WINNER Best Hotel Interior Design Wynn Palace Cotai by Wynn Resorts, Limited -- WINNER Best Retail Architectural Design Parc Central by Guangzhou Hong Cheng Plaza Real Estate Properties Ltd. -- WINNER Best Office Architectural Design SuperD Technology Centre, Shenzhen, China by Ho & Partners Architects Engineers & Development Consultants Limited -- WINNER

by Ho & Partners Architects Engineers & Development Consultants Limited -- WINNER One HarbourGate by Wheelock Properties -- HIGHLY COMMENDED Best Landscape Architectural Design The Morgan by Phoenix Property Investors -- WINNER PUBLISHER'S CHOICE Real Estate Personality of the Year Adrian Cheng Chi-Kong

Executive Vice-Chairman and Joint General Manager, New World Development Company Limited Note to editors: Use of the official China Property Awards logo is limited to the publication of this article only.







Partnerships: Tanattha Saengmorakot Media Relations Manager Tel: +66 982 515 224 Email: [email protected] Sales & Sponsorships: Pui Wa Ng (Connie) Solutions Executive, China Tel: +852 6445 8825 Email: [email protected] Press Enquiries: Richard Allan Aquino Corporate Communications Manager Tel: +66 929 544 154 Email: [email protected] Tickets: Kaoru Kawahara Ticketing Executive Tel: +66 2 204 9599 Email: [email protected]

About China Property Awards: Returning for a third successful year in 2016, the China Property Awards is part of the regional Asia Property Awards programme. The China Property Awards is the most credible and prestigious industry awards in Greater China, with the top and emerging names in real estate celebrating the best developers and projects of Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. About Asia Property Awards: The Asia Property Awards are the largest real estate event in Asia, playing host to annual gala dinners for up to 600 C-level executives and leading industry figures in Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Jakarta, Yangon, Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City. The Awards programme has an unparalleled reputation for being credible, fair and transparent, with an independent panel of judges and trusted awards supervisor. Originally launched by Ensign Media in Thailand in 2005 at the height of Asia's property boom, the Asia Property Awards in 2016 became part of PropertyGuru, Asia's leading online property group. About PropertyGuru Group: Founded in 2006, PropertyGuru Group is Asia's leading property media group used by more than 23 million property buyers, viewing over 130 million property pages and generating over 500,000 enquiries for real estate developer and agent advertisers every month across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. The Group has a full suite of integrated property media capability, from its original core business in online, mobile and events, to television broadcast (in Indonesia, via an investment and partnership with EMTEK), and a recent acquisition of print and events businesses, under the brand names of "Property Report" and "Asia Property Awards". Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20161208/8521608039

Logo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20161208/8521608039LOGO

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 08, 2016] The Hand Clinic in Amsterdam is Installing Europe's First Point-of-Care WristViewTM Compact MRI to Treat Hand and Wrist Injuries

The Hand Clinic in Amsterdam will start operating the very first WristViewTM Hand and Wrist MRI system in Europe by the end of this year. The clinic, which specializes in hand and wrist complaints, has purchased the WristView system from Israel-based life science company, Aspect (News - Alert) Imaging (www.aspectimaging.com), the manufacturer of WristView. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208005086/en/ The WristView Hand and Wrist MRI System (Photo: Business Wire) With the WristView, a powerful and compact MRI, patients with hand and wrist complaints can be quickly diagnosed in a patient-friendly and comfortable manner. The advantages include:







1. The patient is seated while being examined and only the affected hand or wrist is placed in the MRI system. This offers a more comfortable, non-claustrophobic scanning experience, as opposed to a full-body MRI system scan. While the scan takes place, the patient can chat, make a phone call, or watch television, for example. Metallic objects in close proximity to the device no longer present a problem. 2. Waiting times are much shorter. Conventional, full-body MRI facilities often have overloaded schedules. The WristView, in contrast, is readily available at the point of care, and specifically intended for patients with hand and wrist complaints. 3. The medical treatment time is shorter. The preliminary screening for imaging requires only five minutes. 4. The WristView is much quieter than a conventional MRI, producing less than 75 decibels. 5. The required infrastructure is minimal. The WristView, a high-field, 1 Tesla, non-cryogen MRI system, fits in a regular doctor's office and does not require complicated helium refrigeration or a specially-shielded RF facility.

Annually, approximately 2 million Dutch citizens suffer from injuries to their hand or wrist. On average, people experience injuries to their hand or wrist twice in their lifetime, and a non-traumatic disorder at least once in their lifetime. These injuries can lead to absenteeism and thus represent a considerable cost to society. The direct and indirect costs due to hand and wrist complications are estimated at 600 million annually in the Netherlands alone. Costs of osteoarthritis and other degenerative diseases add to this tremendous sum. The WristView MRI system is a game changer in healthcare management, enabling the transition from "fee for service" models of healthcare delivery, to "value added" care models, such as enhanced patient monitoring and rehabilitation practices. Commenting on the purchase of Europe's first WristView system, Dr. Monika Ritt-Fischer, director of The Hand Clinic says: "The placement of this compact MRI is a logical step in our long term goal of remaining a leader in the field of hand and wrist treatment. In collaboration with Aspect Imaging, in the short term, we're aiming to also offer MRI for pediatric patients where claustrophobia is a concern. Up until now this couldn't be done. With specialists from Amsterdam-based university medical centers, we're teaming-up to explore the full potential of this new technology, enabling us to offer optimal treatment for our patients with hand and wrist complaints." About The Hand Clinic in Amsterdam Founded in 2007, The Hand Clinic in Amsterdam has become one of the largest Dutch clinics for the treatment of hand and wrist complaints. Over 3,500 patients annually are treated by a team of over 10 highly qualified hand therapists and surgeons. All treatments are reimbursed by health insurers. About Aspect Imaging Aspect Imaging is part of Aspect Intl. LLC, a Singapore based company, the world's leader in the design and development of compact MR imaging and NMR systems for medical, advanced industrial and preclinical applications. Incorporated in 2014, the company is headed by Uri Rapoport, who has founded and led several Israeli and US companies in the fields of NMR and MRI. Mr. Rapoport holds multiple worldwide and US patents in the fields of NMR, MRI, and GPS. For more information, for journalists only: The Hand Clinic in Amsterdam:

Dr. Monika Ritt-Fischer

[email protected] Aspect Imaging:

Dr. Andrew Lonergan

[email protected] View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208005086/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 08, 2016] Energy Company Offers Free Charging for Electric Vehicles

DALLAS, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Clearview Energy, a leading residential supplier of 100% renewable energy, now offers free home Electric Vehicle (EV) charging for all of its customers. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446735LOGO Transportation accounted for 34% of all carbon emissions in 2015. While transportation is crucial to our economy and our personal lives, as a sector it is also a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. Further, a fundamental change in consumer purchasing and mobility behavior is crucial to any effort to reverse the global warming epidemic. The average across 2017 model EV's is projected to be 114 Miles Per Gallon(equivalent) MPG(e) in comparison to their non-EV counterparts at 40mpg. "It's time to embrace electric vehicles as the future, and to enjoy the benefits of a more stable, sustainable and less expensive mode of transportation," said Frank McGovern, president of Clearview Energy. "We cannot leave the health of our planet and our communities to chance. It's time to charge ahead, reduce our carbon footprint, and protect our planet." The partnership between Clearview Energy and ChargePoint, the world's largest EV charging network, is available to residential eletricity consumers in select markets across the US. Under the new partnership, which is the first of its kind, EV owners with a ChargePoint Home station will enjoy free vehicle charging. Charging costs are refunded to the consumer in the form of a reimbursement.



Clear Charge 12EV or Clear Charge 24EV program and enrollment details can be found at https://www.clearviewenergy.com About Clearview Energy

Clearview Energy is a leading retailer of 100% green energy, serving consumers across the United States. We offer consumers energy choice without compromise - helping them reduce their carbon footprint while protecting the environment. The company has been on the Dallas Business Journal's 100 fastest growing companies list for the past 5 years, ranking as high as #3. Since inception, Clearview Energy has received an "A" rating with the Better Business Bureau for superior customer service. It is certified as a Diverse Business Enterprise with over 600 employees and sub-contractors across the US. For more information, visit www.clearviewenergy.com.

About ChargePoint

ChargePoint operates the world's largest electric vehicle (EV) charging network, with more than 20,000 spots to plug in and charge. We are transforming the transportation industry by providing the charging stations, mobile apps, analytics and the charging network that allow property owners and drivers to benefit from EV charging. We are also transforming the energy industry by providing intelligent solutions to help people and businesses shift away from fossil fuels and use electricity more efficiently. Our mission is to get all drivers behind the wheel of an EV and provide them a place to charge, whether at home, at work, around town or out-of-town. Press Contact:

Kai Stansberry

213.761.0159

[email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/energy-company-offers-free-charging-for-electric-vehicles-300375191.html SOURCE Clearview Energy

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 08, 2016]

KWizCom Announces v.13.3.50 Release for KWizCom Forms

TORONTO, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- KWizCom, a leading developer of SharePoint Forms & Mobile Solution, as well as multiple other powerful SharePoint web parts, add-ons and apps for Office 365 (SharePoint Online) announced a new version release of KWizCom Forms. This new major release of the add-on is now equipped with additional enhancement allowing customers to easily implement "live", read-only calculated fields that are displayed in the New and Edit forms.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446796

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446795LOGO

It's also great to see the company has setup a video to demonstrate in action how one can configure a R/O calculated field that equals [Price]X[Quantity] and reloads automatically when changing one of the fields.

KWizCom Forms is specifically designed for non-technical business users. It is a SharePoint add-on that turns exising SharePoint list forms into rich, enhanced web & mobile forms. With KWizCom Forms users can easily create custom forms by rapidly enhancing existing list forms. KWizCom Forms is 100% SharePoint-Native which means there is no need to deploy and learn new, external form tools.







For more information on KWizCom Forms and to get familiarized with its complete list of key features and benefits, please visit the product's webpage. If you are interested in finding out first-hand what the software is like, KWizCom Corporation offers a no-cost 30-day trial version of KWizCom Forms.

Follow KWizCom on Twitter https://www.twitter.com/KWizCom

Become a fan of KWizCom on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KWizCom

Join KWizCom on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/KWizCom

Contact a KWizCom Account Specialist at +1-905-370-0333/+1-855-KWIZCOM or [email protected]

About KWizCom Corporation

Since 2005, KWizCom has provided innovative solutions and services to make SharePoint even better for over 7,000 companies worldwide. KWizCom's solutions and services expand Microsoft SharePoint out-of-the-box capabilities, streamline workflow, maximize efficiency and enhance over-all productivity for hundreds of thousands of users. KWizCom, a Gold Certified Microsoft Partner, is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Please visit www.kwizcom.com to find out more about KWizCom's clients, people, partners and solutions.

PR Contact:

Sara Jhangiryan

tel.: +1-905-370-0333 / +1-855-KWIZCOM (594 9266)

Fax: +1-905-784-1153

[email protected]

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kwizcom-announces-v13350-release-for-kwizcom-forms-300375182.html

SOURCE KWizCom
[December 08, 2016] Lintec Acquires MACtac Americas, LLC

LINTEC Corporation (hereinafter "LINTEC") (TOKYO:7966)(ISIN:JP3977200009) has been in discussion with Evergreen Holdings IV, LLC (hereinafter "Evergreen"), a wholly owning investor of MACtac Americas Holdings, LLC, regarding the Acquisition of all the membership interests of MACtac Americas, LLC (head office: Ohio, the United States, hereinafter "MACtac"), a wholly owned subsidiary of MACtac Americas Holdings, LLC and a manufacturer and distributor of adhesive papers and films for printing in the United States. At a meeting held on October 24, 2016, the Board of Directors of LINTEC resolved to acquire all membership interests of MACtac through its wholly owned holding company in the United States, LINTEC USA Holding, Inc. (head office: Massachusetts, the United States), and concluded a purchase agreement with Evergreen. LINTEC completed procedures for the acquisition on December 1, 2016. Details are as follows: This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208005479/en/ LINTEC Corporation, Executive Officer, Sumio Morimoto, General Manager, Printing & Variable Information Products Operations, Business Administration Div. (Photo: Business Wire) Background on the Acquisition LINTEC and its consolidated subsidiaries (hereinafter "the Group") adopted a "return to a growth path through active management and continuous innovation" as their basic policy in LINTEC INNOVATION PLAN 2016 (LIP-2016), a three-year medium-term business plan launched in April 2014. Based on that policy, the Group has worked on key initiatives, such as "further promotion of global development" for expanding operations in countries and regions expected to achieve economic development and "promotion of strategic M&A" for rapidly executing business strategies. MACtac will maintain its manufacturing bases in the United States and Mexico and continue to develop adhesive papers and films for printing, mainly in North America. It has built a solid position in the U.S. market by developing products using its unique excellent adhesion formula and high-speed coating technology. MACtac also deals with graphic sheets and various kinds of industrial and medical tapes. LINTEC is convinced that full-scale entry into the North American market for adhesive papers and films for printing and proactive development of its original products using its own technological development capabilities through MACtac will contribute significantly to the acceleration of the global development of Printing and Variable Information Products Operations, the core business of the Group. LINTEC also plans to link MACtac's acquisition to business enhancement and expansion not only in the North American market, but also Japan and other regions, by utilizing MACtac's unique technical capabilities and brand equity and maximizing synergy with LINTEC's technologies. Overview of MACtac Americas, LLC







- Company name MACtac Americas, LLC - Head office Stow, Ohio, the United States - Establishment 1959 - Business description Manufacture and sales of label materials for printing, VIP label materials, graphic sheets, industrial and medical tapes, etc. - Net sales / Operating income Net sales US$ 304 million (Fiscal year ended December 31, 2015) Operating income US$ 26 million - Share of net sales Materials for printing, VIP label materials 79% Graphic sheets 12% Industrial and medical tapes, etc. 9%

We will provide customer companies in North America with high-quality products by maximizing synergy effects.

LINTEC Corporation, Executive Officer, Sumio Morimoto

General Manager, Printing & Variable Information Products Operations, Business Administration Div. Entering the North American market in earnest through the acquisition of a leading company In recent years, the Group has been strengthening its local manufacturing and sales bases mainly in Asia where the market continues to grow rapidly, developing sales channels and expanding the brand recognition in Europe by making its first full presentation in LABELEXPO EUROPE 2015. In November 2016, the Group made LINTEC Graphic Films Ltd. in the United Kingdom, which was a partner company in sales, a subsidiary to further strengthen the network in Europe, including LINTEC Europe B.V., a sales subsidiary in the Netherlands.

Subsequently, the Group has decided to acquire MACtac, a manufacturer of adhesive papers and films for printing, aiming to quickly build a sales channel that will cover the boundless market in North America that accounts for approximately 30% of the global adhesive label materials market and continues to grow stably at an annual rate of 2 to 3%. Vigorously pushing forward with efforts to improve customer satisfaction by integrating with MACtac The primary reason for choosing MACtac is that it has a long-standing delivery record, strong brand power as well as excellent relations and an impressive sales network with more than 1,000 quality customer companies in the North American market. It is also a manufacturer that has already established a firm footing as a peer of LINTEC. While LINTEC has strength in film-based products, the main products of MACtac are paper-based. In addition, MACtac has unique technology for formulating hot-melt adhesives, which LINTEC does not have, as well as high-speed coating facilities. Given these features, we believe that future synergies are very promising.

We will provide customer companies mainly in North America with better quality products and services by developing and proposing new products through the integration of MACtac's own technologies and LINTEC's material development technologies, while proactively developing LINTEC's original products in the North American market, harnessing brand power and the sales network of MACtac. ABOUT LINTEC LINTEC is a leading company in the field of adhesive materials. The product lineup covers many diversified fields including not only adhesive papers and films for seals and labels, but also shatter-proof window films, adhesive sheets for outdoor signs, interior finishing mounting sheets, automobile-use adhesive products, semiconductor-related tape, and LCD-related adhesive products.

LINTEC also develops and markets a diverse range of specialty paper products including color papers for envelopes, as well as release papers and films, and casting papers. The base paper, release liners used with adhesives are supplied internally and products using this process technology are widely available on the market. *Photographic data used in this news release can be downloaded from

http://www.lintec-global.com/pub/photo_201612_1.zip View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208005479/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 08, 2016] Aetna Foundation and the National Center for Complex Health and Social Needs Team up to Improve Community Health

Nearly 23 percent of overall health care spending in the United States comes from just one percent of the population, with five percent of the population responsible for 50 percent of spending.1 To help improve the health of the people who use health care services most frequently, the Aetna Foundation today announced the "Neighborhood Health Compass (News - Alert)" collaboration with the National Center for Complex Health and Social Needs, a new initiative of the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers. The two organizations will work together to help expand the use of integrated, cross-sector data among health care providers to improve health outcomes for individuals with complex health and social needs. Analyzing a wide range of data from both clinical and non-clinical sources was part of the "hot-spotting" technique used by Jeffery Brenner, MD, the executive director of the Camden Coalition. With this approach, Dr. Brenner was able to identify the heaviest users of health care in Camden, New Jersey and improve their care. He was honored with the MacArthur "Genius (News - Alert)" Fellowship for his work in 2013. "We know that cities and counties have the power to create a long-term positive health impact throughout their communities by addressing social determinants of health," said Garth Graham, MD, MPH, president of the Aetna Foundation. "Dr. Brenner's approach has improved the health of the residents of Camden, and we will work collaboratively with the National Center for Complex Health and Social Needs to expand this model for improving care for patients with significant health care needs."



"Our vision is to make Camden the first city in the country to 'bend the cost curve' while improving quality," said Brenner. "Using this grant, we can not only expand our ability to share our learnings among health care providers, but also support the development of similar models that will truly improve the health of communities and neighborhoods across the country."

Building Health through the Community

The Aetna Foundation collaboration with the National Center for Complex Health and Social Needs is part of the Aetna Foundation's broader effort to influence and improve the health of local communities. Since 2014, the Aetna Foundation has awarded more than $18 million in grants and sponsorships that support the Foundation's overall commitment to building a healthier world, community by community. The Healthiest Cities & Counties Challenge, a partnership between The Aetna Foundation, the American Public Health Association (APHA) and the National Association of Counties (NACo), in collaboration with CEOs for Cities, is designed to create economically competitive, inclusive and equitable communities. Launched in 2016, the Challenge will award $1.5 million in prizes to small and mid-sized cities and counties that are able to show measurable improvements in health outcomes over the course of several years through cross-sector partnerships. The HealthyCommunity50 - organizations from across the country competing for the grand prize in the Challenge - was announced in September. The Aetna Foundation also awarded community grants to 23 nonprofit organizations in September as part of its Cultivating Healthy Communities initiative. This program is designed to promote healthy eating and active living, strengthen health equity and advance innovations that make it possible for people to have more healthy days. The projects will benefit communities by improving health indicators such as access to healthy foods, increased physical activity, reduced incidences of bullying, more spaces for walking and biking safely and more. About the Aetna Foundation

The Aetna Foundation is the independent charitable and philanthropic arm of Aetna (NYSE: AET). Since 1980, Aetna and the Aetna Foundation have contributed more than $465 million in grants and sponsorships. As a national health foundation, we promote wellness, health, and access to high-quality health care for everyone. This work is enhanced by the time and commitment of Aetna employees, who have volunteered 3.8 million hours since 2003. For more information, visit www.aetnafoundation.org. 1 The National Institute for Healthcare Management, November 2014 - http://www.nihcm.org/concentration-of-health-care-spending-chart-story View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208005641/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 08, 2016] EverFi Named to Glassdoor's Best Places to Work in 2017 List

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- EverFi, the Washington, D.C.-based critical skills software leader, has been awarded Glassdoor's Best Places to Work recognition for 2017. Glassdoor released its ninth annual Employees Choice Great Places to Work, this year recognizing the best companies to work for across North America. Among the small and medium size companies recognized in the U.S., EverFi ranked 13th overall and averaged an impressive 4.8 rank based on the anonymous and voluntary reviews EverFi employees shared on Glassdoor throughout the past year. EverFi is the only company in the top 20 headquartered in the Washington, D.C. Metro area. This recognition comes on the heels of EverFi's CEO, Tom Davidson, being recognized as one of Glassdoor's Highest Rated CEOs in June 2016. Davidson's impressive 99% approval rating earned him the 4th best rank overall among CEOs recognizd in the U.S. at SMB companies.



"It is an incredible honor to be recognized again by Glassdoor because they truly represent the voice of the employee," said EverFi CEO Tom Davidson. "Ensuring adults and students have the critical skills needed for life is hard work and requires a passionate and mission-driven team. It is heartening to be recognized for creating a great environment that allows for this important work to get done." About EverFi, Inc.

EverFi, Inc. is the education technology innovator that empowers K-12, higher education, and adult learners with the skills needed to be successful in life and work. With backing from some of technology's most innovative leaders including Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, and Twitter founder Evan Williams, EverFi has built a network that is powered by over 3,300 partner organizations and annually reaches over 6 million learners. Learn more at everfi.com. About Glassdoor Glassdoor is the most transparent jobs and recruiting marketplace that is changing how people search for jobs and how companies recruit top talent. The 2017 Glassdoor Employees' Choice Awards for the Best Places to Work rely solely on input from employees who elected to anonymously submit a company review on Glassdoor. When providing a company review, employees are asked to share their opinion on some of the best reasons to work for their employer (pros), any downsides (cons), and are encouraged to provide advice to management. In addition, employees are asked to rate how satisfied they are with their employer overall, rate their CEO, as well as rate key workplace attributes like career opportunities, compensation & benefits, culture & values, senior management and work-life balance. Employees are also asked whether they would recommend their employer to a friend and whether they believe their employer's business will perform better, worse or remain the same in the next six months. See the complete list of the Employees' Choice Awards for the Best Places to Work EverFi Media Contact:

Monique Waters

[email protected]

202-625-0011 x373 Glassdoor Media Contact:

Marc Cowlin and Lisa Holden

[email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161208/447139 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/everfi-named-to-glassdoors-best-places-to-work-in-2017-list-300375433.html SOURCE EverFi, Inc.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 08, 2016] Milliman named "Best Tech Vendor for Actuarial Modelling" by Risk.net

SEATTLE, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Milliman, Inc., a premier global consulting and actuarial firm, today announced that it has been selected by Risk.net as the best tech vendor for actuarial modelling. For the second time in three years, Milliman is being recognized for its software solution Integrate, which provides an innovative approach to support fully automated, end-to-end financial and risk modelling. Integrate, which runs on the Microsoft Azure cloud, provides clients with best-in-class software for managing data input and complex modelling flows on the front-end, as well as robust business intelligence analytics and reporting capabilities of output with the recent addition of Microsoft Power BI Embedded. Additionally, Integrate provides a collaborative and governed process to support the model change process. Pat Renzi, principal at Milliman, says, "We are honored to have received this award as a recognition of Milliman's innovative approach to client work, one that focuses on collaboration between experts in technology, actuarial, and risk solutions, and that drives value for not only the organization, but the policyholders, shareholders, and employees s well. "



For more information on this year's award, go to http://www.risk.net/risk/analysis/2478741/best-tech-vendor-for-actuarial-modelling-milliman. Integrate is a trademark of Milliman, Inc., registered in the U.S., U.K. and France. For more information about Integrate, go to http://www.integrate-solutions.com/. About Integrate

Integrate is a single technology platform that enables a holistic approach to the actuarial modeling and financial reporting process  offering a streamlined solution in one actuarial system that balances flexibility and control. Leveraging a fundamentally different approach to people, process, and technology, Integrate frees actuaries' time to focus on strategic, high value problem solving. About Milliman Milliman is among the world's largest providers of actuarial and related products and services. The firm has consulting practices in healthcare, property & casualty insurance, life insurance and financial services, and employee benefits. Milliman is a global firm of more than 3,200 employees, with over 60 total offices operating in all major markets across Africa, Asia, Australia, the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East. For more than 60 years, an attention to rigorous standards of professional excellence, peer review, and objectivity has made Milliman the leading independent actuarial firm. For further information, visit www.milliman.com. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/milliman-named-best-tech-vendor-for-actuarial-modelling-by-risknet-300375429.html SOURCE Milliman, Inc.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Specialty Program Group Acquires Michigan-Based Global Marine

Specialty Program Group, a leading holding company for specialty insurance brokers and underwriting facilities, announced today that it has acquired the assets of Global Marine Insurance Agency. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Based in Traverse City, Michigan, Global Marine is a ational brokerage firm specializing in providing insurance solutions to the boating community including boats, yachts, mega yachts, personal watercrafts, marinas, boat dealers and commercial marine vessels.







"We are thrilled to be partnering with Global Marine and its management team," said Chris Treanor, President and CEO of Specialty Program Group. "They have a strong team and a great national reputation. They are leaders in the marine insurance field and together we can continue to help them grow and serve their clients."

"This partnership is very exciting, it will allow us to take our business to the next level," said Global CEO Matt Anderson. "SPG has the resources, capital and expertise we need so we can continue to provide our customers with best in class solutions."

About Specialty Program Group

Headquartered in Summit, NJ, Specialty Program Group focuses on expanding program underwriting and specialty businesses. For more information, please visit specialtyprogramgroup.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208005887/en/
[December 08, 2016] Imafidon featured in the world's first permanent exhibition of Mathematics

KENSINGTON, U.K., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon, a graduate of the www.ExcellenceinEducation.org.uk program is featured in the world's first permanent public exhibition of mathematical exhibition which opens today in the Science museum. Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon, the eldest child of the world's smartest family, will be seen by visitors to the famous British museum explaining the mathematical principles behind computer security, and Archivists and Historians expect it to be around for 4,000 years. According to Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon, who founded stemettes.org, "Britain is a country that has produced more Nobel scientists than any other country per population, therefore, the new spectacular mathematics gallery will entice the next generation of boys and particularly girls, into scientific exploration." Anne-Marie's father, a world renowned expert and government adviser, Professor Chris Imafidon, said, "When it comes to Mathematics, every child is a genius, if the subject and indeed every other subject is learned with the appropriate tools, techniques and technology. My children and students' achievements in learning come from nurturing their passion, and pure gamification of every concept. The British Museum deserves real congratulations for this historic progress in stimulating the interest of the next generation." Professor Imafidon, who now chairs the ExcellenceinEducation.org.uk programmes, which are known for supporting inner-city pupils, was one of the VIP guests at a pre-opening reception of the Mathematical spectacular display. Adding that, "Mathematicsis too important to be left to Mathematicians alone - so it's apt that the museum is playing a vital role."



The Imafidon family became Britain's Brainiest family in 2007 after all five children set various world records in intellectual and scientific achievements. The Mathematics gallery was designed by Dame Zaha Hadid, a mathematics graduate and Architect. Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon who was recently rated by the Guardian as one of the top 10 women in technology, will speak at a forthcoming conference for Universities leaders co-hosted by Oxford and Cambridge Universities (https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/success-in-research-education-conference-series-tickets-29337140176?aff=erelexpmlt). NOTES TO EDITORS

The Excellence in Education programme (http://www.excellenceineducation.org.uk/) publishes links, tweets and full details on various educational activities. It also runs seminars, webinars and workshop sessions for parents, schools, and other institutions interested in the educational advancements of learners particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. IMAFIDON FAMILY & ASSOCIATED FOUNDATIONS The family website of the Imafidons (http://www.imafidons.com/) gives free information and resources to encourage learning, teaching and research into science and learning. Professor Chris Imafidon and the family are available for keynote speaking, teaching and media interviews during some months of the year. STEMETTES Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon, founder & CEO of Stemettes.org, which is an award-winning social enterprise working across the UK & Ireland and the world. It inspires and supports young women into Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths careers (STEM). Full details available at http://stemettes.org/. Media Contact:

Hannah Rivers MA(Oxon)

[email protected] Photos:

https://www.prlog.org/12606678 Press release distributed by PRLog To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/imafidon-featured-in-the-worlds-first-permanent-exhibition-of-mathematics-300375583.html SOURCE www.ExcellenceinEducation.org.uk

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 08, 2016] Keystone Insurers Group's fourth partner in Michigan is Mason-McBride

Mason-McBride Inc. of Troy has affiliated with Keystone Insurers Group, as Keystone expands its presence in Michigan. "When our plans became public to expand into Michigan, Mason-McBride was recommended by many," said Elizabeth Schenk, Keystone's vice president of sales and geographic expansion. "They are esteemed by their peers, entrenched in their industry associations and actively involved in their communities. Mike and Scott McBride along with Jamie Parry will provide tremendous intellectual capital to the Keystone partners." "We are excited by the opportunity to expand the resource base we can bring our clients," said Mason-McBride President Mike McBride. "As an independently owned and operated professional insurance advisory firm, we sought out a resource affiliation that complements our culture and innovation efforts as we adapt to a dynamic marketplace. Keystone met and exceeded our needs and expectations." About Mason McBride - Mason-McBride Insurance Inc. was established in 1916. President W. Michael McBride joined the agency in 1984. His brother, Scott P. McBride, joined in 1988 and is the current chief operating officer. Jaie Parry, executive vice president, joined as a principal as part of the integration of Summit Risk Management in 2006. Agency principals and staff are active members of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (Big "I"). Four past and current presidents of the state association are from Mason-McBride. Mike McBride currently serves on the Big "I" national board representing the state of Michigan, and he serves as chairman for the Trusted Choice board. The agency writes business in many states across the country and boasts a staff of more than 30 employees. For more, visit www.mason-mcbride.com.



About Keystone Insurers Group (Keystone) - Keystone started in 1983 when four independent insurance agencies teamed up to pool their experience and expertise. Determined and scrappy in the face of a difficult market, this small group believed that agencies could be stronger and more successful if they linked arms. Today, that passion and spirit that started Keystone continues. Growing to almost 300 independent agency partners in 11 states, Keystone provides its agents with a community of like-minded agencies, industry expertise, and access to specialized products for their clients. Keystone is ranked number two on Insurance Journal's 2016 list of Top 20 Privately-Held Property/Casualty Agency Partnerships. For more information, go to www.keystoneinsgrp.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208006078/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 08, 2016] NCSBN Receives Board of Standards Review Approval for New Standards

CHICAGO, Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), www.ncsbn.org, NCSBN-002-2016 Reporting of Disciplinary Actions by Boards of Nursing (new standard) and NCSBN-003-2016 Primary Source Verification of Licensure by Endorsement (new standard) were accepted by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Board of Standards Review. NCSBN received the designation of ANSI Accredited Standards Developer Organization (SDO) in 2013. The purpose of the Reporting of Disciplinary Actions by Boards of Nursing Standard is to provide for reporting of disciplinary actions by a board of nursing (BON) to a coordinated licensure information system in order to inform other BONs of the adverse action. NCSBN maintains the nursys.org coordinated licensure information system and reports required actions to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB). While the NPDB policies and guidelines are used to determine what constitutes final disciplinary action for purposes f reporting, the NPDB is not a coordinated licensure information system as defined by this standard. The requirement to report to the NPDB is independent of this standard.



The Primary Source Verification of Licensure by Endorsement Standards purpose is to describe a mechanism to obtain primary source verification of a license from one BON for the purpose of endorsement into another BON. Electronic transmission will accomplish verification efficiently and securely to decrease potential for fraud. About NCSBN

Founded March 15, 1978, as an independent not-for-profit organization, NCSBN was created to lessen the burdens of state governments and bring together boards of nursing (BONs) to act and counsel together on matters of common interest. NCSBNs membership is comprised of the BONs in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and four U.S. territories  American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and the Virgin Islands. There are also 27 associate members that are either nursing regulatory bodies or empowered regulatory authorities from other countries or territories.

NCSBN Member Boards protect the public by ensuring that safe and competent nursing care is provided by licensed nurses. These BONs regulate more than 4.5 million licensed nurses. Mission: NCSBN provides education, service and research through collaborative leadership to promote evidence-based regulatory excellence for patient safety and public protection.

The statements and opinions expressed are those of NCSBN and not the individual member state or territorial boards of nursing. About ANSI

ANSI is a private, non-profit organization that administers and coordinates the U.S. voluntary standards and conformity assessment system. Founded in 1918, the Institute works in close collaboration with stakeholders from industry and government to identify and develop standards and conformance-based solutions to national and global priorities. ANSI empowers its members and constituents to strengthen the U.S. marketplace position in the global economy, while helping to assure the safety and health of consumers and the protection of the environment. Contact: Dawn M. Kappel Director, Marketing and Communications 312.525.3667 direct 312.279.1034 fax [email protected]

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 08, 2016] Cyberimpact invests $1M in innovative solutions to the largest marketing challenge faced by Canadian SMEs

TERREBONNE, QC, Dec. 8, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - Today, Cyberimpact announced that it is strategically shifting its focus to address the specific needs of Canadian SMEs. A survey of 200 small businesses revealed that the main obstacle to digital marketing use is lack of expertise. "The industry primarily focuses on marketing professionals, which leaves out two-thirds of SMEs," said Jean-Francis Lalonde, partner at Cyberimpact. "We decided to invest in innovation to help these companies boost their marketing efficiency and results, despite their limited expertise in this field." Cyberimpact's new strategy includes an investment of more than $1 million in R&D to integrate artificial intelligence and big data into its solution, which is already used by several thousand Canadian SMEs. The company's strategy includes crating new online support and training services, as well as several R&D and digital marketing specialist positions.



Email marketing is affordable and offers the best return on investment, making it an indispensable tool for small business growth. This is why Cyberimpact conducted a study among 200 Canadian small businesses who use email marketing, hoping to identify the biggest challenges they face. The results showed that lack of time and marketing knowledge is the main barrier for 60% of them. The study also found that Canadian SMEs mainly use email marketing to:

Generate new sales (69%),

Strengthen customer relationship (57%),

Attract new customers (50%). However, these companies are often lacking resources, meaning that nearly two-thirds of these SMEs entrust marketing tasks to employees with little to no knowledge in the field. Cyberimpact will gradually introduce its technological innovations. Until then, Canadian small businesses can visit its new website, www.cyberimpact.com, for tools to improve their marketing skills, such as: A library containing case studies on Canadian small business;

Training webinars;

A free lifetime package;

New prices, making it the cheapest solution on the market. Cyberimpact is an email marketing platform dedicated to helping Canada's small businesses. It is renowned for its ease of use, bilingual interface, streamlined management of Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation and unparalleled customer service. SOURCE Cyberimpact

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[December 08, 2016] W. R. Berkley Corporation Names Miklos F. Kallo President of Berkley Regional Specialty

W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) today announced the appointment of Miklos F. Kallo as president of Berkley Regional Specialty. He succeeds Paul S. McAuliffe, who will retire at the end of the year after 15 years of service with W. R. Berkley Corporation. The appointment is effective immediately. Mr. Kallo has served in senior executive positions at two operating units of W. R. Berkley Corporation since joining the organization in 1999. He has extensive experience in the insurance industry and holds a bachelor of science in accounting from Arizona State University. W. Robert Berkley, Jr., president and chief executive officer of W. R. Berkley Corporation, said: "Mick has a wealth of knowledge regarding the specialty insurance business and is an outstanding leader. Our agents and customers will benefit from this expertise as well as hisexperience at W. R. Berkley. Paul has done an excellent job in building Berkley Regional Specialty's presence as an important excess and surplus lines provider for W. R. Berkley agents over the past 7 years and we are pleased that he will continue during the transition."



Berkley Regional Specialty provides excess and surplus lines coverage on a national basis to small to medium-sized insureds with low to moderate insurance risk. Its product lines include general liability, liquor liability and some property and inland marine coverage. It serves a limited distribution channel consisting of select agents for W. R. Berkley Insurance Group member companies. For further information about the products and services available through Berkley Regional Specialty, please visit www.brsic.com. Founded in 1967, W. R. Berkley Corporation is an insurance holding company that is among the largest commercial lines writers in the United States and operates worldwide in two segments of the property casualty business: Insurance and Reinsurance.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208006212/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Saddling up to help children What gave rise to the Ventura County Sheriffs Posses latest initiative to help kids with disabilities? Just a man and his horse. Somis resident Russell...

CRPD to dedicate latest neighborhood park near Janss/23 The newest installation in the Conejo Rec and Park District system is now open to the public. On Oct. 21, CRPD crews took down the...

The best birthday gift ever As Kerri Braemer-Castro looked down at the mountains and valleys of Camarillo from the cockpit of a World War II B-25 bomber earlier this month,...

Break out the costumes HISTORIC FUNTop, Layla Sayegh, 8, of West Hills tries her hand at roping on Oct. 22 during Leonis Adobe Museums annual Pumpkin Party. Above, Lisa...
When Microsoft took the wraps off the Windows 10 Creators Update in October, the company stressed that mixed reality  a platform that blends virtual reality with the physical world  would be a big part of Windows going forward. In China today (Dec. 8), Microsoft showed just how big, announcing specs for Windows 10 headsets that don't make the kind of hardware demands you've come to expect from VR gear.





(Image credit: Microsoft)

Of course, that's been the point ever since Microsoft said it was working with the likes of HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus and Acer to create $299 VR headsets, which cost a sliver what you spend on an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. And based on the specs Microsoft unveiled during its Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in Shenzen, China, the PC requirements for Windows 10 VR headsets won't be nearly as lofty either.

MORE: Best VR Headsets

Specifically, you'll need at least an Intel Mobile Core i5 CPU that's dual-core hyperthreading. The GPU will need to be DirectX 12-capable and equivalent to an integrated Intel HD Graphics 620. Other requirements include 8GB of RAM in dual-channel mode, 100GB of disk space (with SSD preferred), a USB 3.0 Type-A or USB 3.1 Type-C port and Bluetooth 4.0. HDMI requirements are either HDMI 1.4 with 2880 x 1440@60Hz or HDMI 2.0 or DP 1.3+ with 2880 x 1440 @90Hz.



In other words, you won't necessarily need a high-end PC to take advantage of the VR headsets Microsoft is developing with its hardware partners.



Add another of those partners to the mix. Microsoft says China-based 3Glasses is going to add Windows 10 support to one of its head-mounted devices sometime in the first half of 2017. (In fact, Microsoft is making quite the mixed reality push in China, as it's submitted its HoloLens augmented reality headset for government approval in that country. It expects that HoloLens will be available to Chinese developers and consumers during the first half of next year.)



In just a few months, we'll get an even clearer look at Microsoft's VR plans. It's going to make developer kits for head-mounted displays available at the upcoming Game Developers Conference. That event kicks off February 27, 2017, in San Francisco.





(Image credit: Intel)

Microsoft developed the VR headset specs with the help of Intel as part of a joint effort to push PCs forward. Dubbed Project Evo, the Microsoft-Intel partnership looks to push the companies' hardware and software innovations into new devices. That includes improving mixed reality experiences, but Microsoft and Intel are also promising far-field speech communications that will let you talk to Cortana from across a room, improved security capabilities such as biometric authentication with Windows Hello, and innovations like 4K displays with HDR and wide color gamut that should appeal to the gaming world.
Boogie Festival is set to return in the new year and its got an absolute ripper of a lineup for what will be its 11th instalment, including appearances from Cosmic Psychos, Strand of Oaks, Tyrannamen, and more.

As always Boogie Festival will be bringing you one of the most unique boutique festival experiences you can hope to enjoy in this fine country of ours, all taking place in the beautiful surrounds of Bruzzys Farm.

As you enjoy the scenic surrounds of Tallarook, youll be partying with the likes of one of Australias most respected and influential punk rock bands, the one and only Cosmic Psychos.

But make no mistake, Boogie 2017 is pulling out all the stops, with plenty of international muscle too, with appearances from Philadelphias Strand of Oaks, as well as Sonny & the Sunsets, Endless Boogie, Jonny Fritz, the legendary Tony Joe White, and more.

Boogie Festival 2017

Cosmic Psychos

Strand Of Oaks (USA)

Tyrannamen

Sonny & The Sunsets (USA)

Endless Boogie (USA)

Jen Cloher

Jonny Fritz (USA)

Lost Animal

The Sugarcanes

Tony Joe White (USA)

Scott & Charlenes Wedding

The Ruminaters

Flowertruck

Suss Cunts

Joshua Hedley (USA)

Krakatua

Freya Josephine Hollick

Crop Top

RVG

Gregor

A. Swayze & The Ghosts

Friday, 14th April  Sunday, 16th April 2017

Bruzzys Farm, Tallarook VIC

Tickets: Boogie Festival
Review: Ryan Adams at The Enmore Theatre, December 6 2016

Whatever the decision Ryan Adams made to take his news songs and new band to only two public concerts, one in Sydney and the other in Tokyo, the fans of his music in those two locales consider themselves blessed. The new band may have been christened The Nuts on Instagram in the last two days, but whatever they end up being called, they truly ignited the sold out Enmore Theatre on Tuesday night.

The buzz of anticipation is always present when Adams comes to town and tonight was no exception. After doing a surprise invite only gig for a few hundred the previous night at The Factory, tonight was the first paid public performance by this new collective. The crowd was wondering what the band would deliver from Adams catalogue and the band were eager to get out in front of a crowd and get some feedback and to show off their licks.

Magnolia Mountain, the song he recorded with The Cardinals, was the starting point tonight. We got our Jerry (Garcia) moment early with this track, the solos and the weary lyrical take very reminiscent of that famous band Garcia fronted. Although this was a track that could be slotted into the Americana genre, this concert was not going to head down that path.

With Ben Alleman on keys, long term producer and bassist Charle Stavish, Nate Lotz on drum and Benny Yurco (from Grace Potter and The Nocturnals) joining in on lead guitars, this was a rock and roll show. The lyrical content of the new songs are raw emotions. As Adams said, these songs are so raw, that if you were to eat them you would get worms. Raw they may be, but they do rock and roll and not wither in melancholia.

Dirty Rain, from Ashes and Fire, was delivered with a punch and Do You Still Love Me? from the new album Prisoner churned with powerful chords and aching lyrics. With 7 of the 21 songs being brand new to the audience, there was a chance of there being some disappointment in not hearing old favourites. Adams jokingly advised the crowd not to be scared of the new songs, but there was no fear at all, as the crowd truly engaged with the new numbers and the new band.

Prisoner appears to be an album of songs that dont linger long on the jam, but come out with six strings on fire. Alleman played some beautiful keyboard solos through the set, and Yurco and Adams connected perfectly in guitar synchronicity. Even when the amplifiers lost power for a bit and the band waited patiently, Adams was so keen to get going and hoped they would fix them soon because he stated we just want to rock.

Kim, Gimme Something Good and I just Might were a trio of songs off his eponymous 2014 record that fit into the attitude of the set list tonight. There was to be no acoustic guitars and harmonica, this was a rock concert simple and beautiful. Cold Roses bookended the set with some more meandering gorgeous guitar jams and truly a magical moment on the night.

The band seemed like they wanted to play for hours more but they closed it down by getting to a couple of classics.

Shakedown On 9th Street from Heartbreaker had the room vibrating one more time with everyone joining in on the chorus. For the fans who wanted something from Gold, they were left wanting more, after a splendid closing version of When the Stars Go Blue.

Ryan Adams And The Nuts truly demonstrated a pulsating delivery of the new songs from Prisoner and this will truly be one of his best records based on the first instalment of them done live. I do believe this band will morph into something very special once the tour proper kicks off next year his fans hope they come back to show us what they have achieved a year from now.
Congressman Cleaver joins Representatives in Charge to Protect Pensions

An update on an ongoing struggle to preserve pensions for Kansas City workers and those across the Midwest. . . Here's the word . . .WASHINGTON D.C.  Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, II joined 40 other U.S. Representatives in a letter to House leaders regarding future pensions. The charge led by U.S. Reps. Marcy Kaptur, Rick Nolan and Cheri Bustos urged House Leadership to reject any proposal attacking the hard-earned pension benefits of retirees and workers added as a rider to any end-of-year legislation. Congressman Cleaver is pleased to announce that the effort was successful in keeping harmful provisions out of appropriations legislation.When I spoke with and listened to hundreds of retirees earlier this year in a town hall meeting, who were in fear of facing dramatic cuts to their pensions, the only thing I could think of was how did this happen. I believe one of the problems involved last minute budget moves. We cant let that happen again, said Congressman Cleaver.The lawmakers urged House Leadership to reject House Education and Workforce Chairman John Klines draft composite pension proposal, because the proposal has not been fully debated in Congress. House leaders responded and the proposal failed.Congressman Cleaver has been working on behalf of retirees, and specifically those with the Central States Pension Fund, since 2015. Hundreds of retirees have written to his office regarding the future stability of the Fund. This February Congressman Cleaver held a town hall meeting in his district in Kansas City, Missouri and invited U.S. Department of Treasurys Special Executive to Compensation, Ken Feinberg to listen to the retirees concerns. He also sent a letter to the Department of Justice requesting a formal investigation into the management of the Central States Pension Fund to determine if there was any fraudulent or mishandling of funds. At least 32,000 retirees would be affected in Missouri by any cuts to the Central States Pension Fund. December 5, 2016The Honorable Paul D. RyanSpeakerU.S. House of RepresentativesWashington, DC 20515The Honorable Kevin McCarthyMajority LeaderU.S. House of RepresentativesWashington, DC 20515The Honorable Nancy PelosiMinority LeaderU.S. House of RepresentativesWashington, DC 20515The Honorable Steny HoyerMinority WhipU.S. House of RepresentativesWashington, DC 20515Dear Speaker Ryan, Majority Leader McCarthy, Minority Leader Pelosi, and Minority Whip Hoyer,We write to express grave concern over the possible inclusion of pension reform legislation to modernize multiemployer pensions in any must-pass, end-of-year legislative vehicle, particularly a budgetary continuing resolution. Just two years ago, at the last minute and behind closed doors, a similar negotiation unfolded and resulted in the inclusion of the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act (MPRA) in the 2014 Cromnibus. We are deeply troubled to hear this may happen again with pension legislation that would have significant consequences to American workers and retirees.In September 2016, House Education & Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline revealed a discussion draft and held one hearing on a Discussion Draft to Modernize Multiemployer Pensions, which would change funding rules for pension plans to allow the creation of composite multiemployer plans. The composite plans would combine elements of defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans.Although we commend Chairman Kline for his commitment and desire to address the looming challenges of retirement security in America, to include this proposal in must-pass legislation without a formal introduction, in addition to no Committee markup, floor debate, or independent floor vote, is unacceptable. On such critical life issues as retirement and financial security, we seek to be involved in the creation of the legislative proposal and engage in a transparent debate through regular process.We are in full agreement that Congress must address the multiemployer retirement savings crisis and that tough choices will likely be required. However, we cannot blindly accept a proposal that has been through almost zero regular order and which permits employers and pension funds to transition to new plans that may put existing legacy plans that already face funding challenges at greater risk.Although Chairman Kline assures his proposal is good for employers, workers, retirees, and taxpayers, the current circumstances multiemployer pension funds in America face is a zero-sum situation and a result of circumstances beyond the control of workers and retirees. Again, as we saw with MPRA, retirees are asked to bear the brunt of this policys proposals, with almost no input. Concerns[1] have already arisen that his new proposal provides inadequate funding for new composite plans and will weaken the funding base for existing plans. The proposal will not only put retirees pensions at risk, but will reduce premium payments and add significant new liabilities to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporations already underfunded multiemployer insurance program.Following the unacceptable inclusion of MPRA in the 2014 Cromnibus deal, we continue to hear extensively from constituent retirees whose retirement security is at stake. These hardworking Americans deserve a fair, thorough and open legislative process where their interests are weighed and heard. Given the limited time since Chairman Kline unveiled his proposal and its subsequent limited review and process, we firmly assert that its inclusion in any must-pass legislation is intolerable.Thank you for your consideration of our request.###############Developing . . .
Greeks spend more than 750 euros per year on undeclared products and services, while self-employed and freelance professionals tend to spend more than that

On average, Greeks spend more than 750 euros per year on undeclared products and services, while self-employed and freelance professionals tend to spend more than that. The result is that even though Greece has been in recession for six years, the underground economy accounts for around 40 billion euros a year, depriving the state coffers of 16 billion euros in taxes and social security contributions.

However, studies have also found that the recession in the real economy is also reflected in the shadow economy. In 2010, the shadow economy represented 25.4 percent of gross domestic product, slipping to 23.6 percent of GDP four years later. In absolute numbers, this means that it has shrunk by at least 20 billion euros since the start of the crisis, as in 2010 it was estimated at 56-60 billion euros while today its around 40 billion euros. Experts attribute this drop to the difficulty in getting hold of large amounts of cash, the shadow economys lifeline.

While there are no estimates based on 2015 data, it is thought that the underground economy has continued contracting. Sure, tax hikes, unemployment and the huge (for a European country) number of self-employed professionals have contributed to widespread tax evasion and boosted the shadow economy, but the capital controls imposed in the summer of 2015 and the shortage of cash have crimped business in the parallel economy.

So what is that 23-25 percent of GDP the experts believe the underground economy represents spent on? Researchers focus on illegal purchases of legal goods and services rather than illegal ones, meaning that the illegal trade in tobacco products, fuel, alcohol and knock-offs, for example, is part of the shadow economy, whereas illegal narcotics are not.

Underground economy

What having such a big underground economy means can be seen from a simple calculation: Total taxation comes to 40 percent of GDP. Therefore, if the shadow economy comes to roughly 24-25 percent of GDP per year, the state is missing out on revenues of around 9-10 percent of GDP, or some 16 billion euros a year.

This rate of 24-25 percent is among the highest in Europe, topped only by Bulgaria (31 percent), Croatia, Romania, Lithuania and Estonia (28 percent), Turkey (27 percent) and Latvia (26 percent).

The reasons why it is so high are analytically recorded in a study on the Greek underground economy conducted as part of the Thales interdisciplinary research program, co-financed by the European Union and the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF or ESPA).

The study, which was supervised by Macedonia University assistant professor Aristidis Bitzenis, lists the following as the key causes:

1. The huge spike in direct and indirect taxes and in the ratio by which social security contributions are calculated. The value-added tax of 24 percent is among the three highest in Europe. At 45,000 euros, Greece has the lowest income level carrying the highest rate of tax (up to 55 percent when including the Solidarity Tax), while the percentage paid in employers and workers social security payments is among the three highest in Europe.

2. Unemployment. Numerous studies show a direct correlation between joblessness and the growth of the shadow economy, and Greece tops Europes unemployment charts right now. According to data drawn from the Eurobarometer, unemployed Greeks spend 789 euros on average on undeclared goods and services, compared with 439 euros among salaried workers.

3. The percentage of the entire work force made up of self-employed professionals. Companies employing up to nine people represent 96 percent of the total number of registered businesses in Greece and 55 percent of all employees, while in Europe this average comes to below 30 percent. Self-employed professionals make up 32 percent of the work force, compared to the European Union average of 14 percent. Self-employed professionals, meanwhile, are estimated to spend 950 euros per year in the shadow economy, far above the national average of 750 euros.

4. Red tape.

5. The tax ethic, described by Vasileios Vlachos of Macedonia Universitys Observatory of the Shadow Economy as the inclination of citizens to make good on their tax obligations through a combination of different factors, such as personal gains arising from tax and contribution evasion and peer pressure.

Practices

The Macedonia University study, which was submitted to Giorgos Katrougalos before he was removed from the Labor Ministry during a recent cabinet reshuffle, also lists everyday practices that affect public revenues. Undeclared income, for example, comes to 1,268 euros on average per Greek, with men collecting 1,941 euros per year and women 778 euros. Undeclared income among the self-employed is estimated at 5,000 euros per year, much higher than the 1,000 average for salaried workers. Greeks over the age of 55 are more inclined not to declare income (at an average of 2,909 euros), while young people under the age of 24 get away with 754 euros per year.

The report calls for immediate measures to restrict the shadow economy. It calls for a stable tax regime, fairer laws regarding tax evasion so that dodgers are not treated equally to debtors, and an increase in audits and inspections. It also recommends prohibiting individuals and businesses convicted of tax fraud from participating in state contract tenders and subsidy programs.

Read more here.

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
A joint statement by the three leaders and an agreement in research and technology are expected

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has traveled to Jerusalem for a summit meeting between Greece, Cyprus and Israel, the second after January this year. The Greek PM will meet with Cypriot President Nikos Anastasiades and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, with a joint statement and agreement in research and technology expected.

Among other issues, the three leaders will discuss cooperation in energy, environment, healthcare, tourism and developments in the broader region, in light of Turkeys recent stance and the change of power in the USA. Prior to the trilateral meeting there will be bilateral meetings between Greece-Israel and Cyprus-Israel. The Greek and Israeli sides will focus on cooperation in the farming sector, research and technology, tourism, trade and energy.

On his trip to Israel, the Greek PM is accompanied by the Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Giorgos Katrougalos and the General Secretary of International Economic Relations Giorgos Tsipras.

Read more here.

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
"When they try to threaten our home, we will not back down, in the name of diplomacy he added

The Greek Minister of National Defense Panos Kammenos called the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan a brutal dictator in a radio interview on Thursday.

We cannot leave extremism go unanswered, as in the case of Erdogan, who has turned into a brutal dictator at the moment and is threatening our home. When they try to threaten our home, they will hear the response and know that we are not willing to back down on our national sovereignty, in the name of diplomacy the Minister argued on RealFM 97.8

Regarding the latest provocations from Turkey, the National Defense Minister noted that we can all sleep peacefully at night, because the Hellenic Armed Forces have a high morale and level of professionalism. Mr. Kammenos added that while the provocations at present are verbal, any violation of Greek territory will be addressed "immediately".

Read more here.

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
Tourexpi, turizm haberleri, Reiseburos, tourism news, noticias de turismo, Tourismus Nachrichten,  , travel tourism news, international tourism news, Urlaub, urlaub in der turkei,  , holidays in Turkey,   , global tourism news, dunya turizm, dunya turizm haberleri, Seyahat Acentas,

This site is best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0+, at a minimum screen resolution of 1024 x 768.
More than 100 experts and executives representing prominent local, regional and international companies and organisations yesterday (December 7) took part in a major industry conference held in Abu Dhabi.



The annual International Port Community Systems Association (IPCSA) conference was hosted by Maqta Gateway, a unit of Abu Dhabi Ports, the master developer, operator and manager of the Emirate's commercial and community ports as well as Khalifa Industrial Zone.



Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, CEO of Abu Dhabi Ports, and Dr Noura Al Dhaheri, general manager of Maqta Gateway, opened the one-day event which was held under the theme Digitalising Trade.



It was followed by a keynote address given by Alan Long, chairman of IPCSA.



The conference featured 12 speakers and kicked-off with a panel discussion titled: Strategic Direction of the Global Supply Chain, during which David Kerr, senior vice president of Cargo at Etihad Airways; and Shadi Malak, CEO of Etihad Rail DB, shared their insights and best practices.



Delegates and speakers at the session discussed their digital transformation plans in providing services while benefiting from the strategic location and world-class infrastructure of the UAE which connects them to the most prominent regional and international markets, said a statement from the organisers.



Moreover, they also unanimously agreed on the value of adopting technology and digital systems and the role they play in ensuring business transactions are made faster, easier, more secure, transparent, and of higher quality, it said.



The second panel discussed the topic of Facilitating Global Trade. Ahmed Bin Lahej, executive director of customs affairs sector at the UAE Federal Customs Authority; Virginia Cram-Martos, director economic cooperation, trade at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE); and Frank Janssens, head of unit at the European Commission - DG TAXUD, were the sessions key panellists.



The third and final panel discussion of the day addressed the events theme and highlighted local, regional, and international models presented by Al Dhaheri; Dr Phanthian Zuesongdham, head of smart port programme of Hamburg Port Authority; and Hans Rook, senior business development consultant at Portbase Rotterdam.



During the conference, Rook was appointed as the new chairman of IPCSA. He will be taking up his new role from January, said a statement.



Al Shamisi said: The UAE has embraced technology and knowledge as a means to create innovative solutions and has become a pioneering country in developing smart cities.



We have adopted a similar model in order to realise our vision to become the preferred provider of world-class integrated ports and industrial zone services, he said.



In her address, Al Dhaheri said: "Digital transformation accelerates our business activities and processes through providing services in an innovative way that boosts competencies."



We have utilised the most developed technologies to keep up with the requests of our customers in a digital era but technology alone is not enough; it is imperative that we involve young talent in order to revamp the traditional business model and ensure customer satisfaction. With that, we have realised that the future is not only tied to infrastructure development but also smarter approaches and seamless integration of the port community, she added. TradeArabia News Service
The seventh annual Sial Middle East exhibition, the fastest growing event for the regions food, drink and hospitality sectors, concluded in Abu Dhabi, UAE with a record number of visitors and deals worth Dh3.8 billion ($1 billion).



Major-General Staff Pilot Ishaq Al Balushi, head of the Supply Department of the General Command of the Armed Forces signed contracts worth Dh763 million ($207 million)with the Army Officers Club, Abu Dhabi National Hotel Company Middle East, Al Wasita for Catering, Emirates Hospitality Centre, Kelvin catering services, Army Forces Coop Association and FOODCO.



Jennan Investments signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Sudanese Finance Ministry to establish the biggest date palm farm in the world, with a total of 221 million trees to be planted in Sudan over a 13 year period.



Abu Dhabi Health Authority signed a contract with Etihad to introduce healthier, Weqaya-approved meal options to its staff restaurants. The Weqaya logo is the official mark of healthy eating in Abu Dhabi and is only permitted on foods and in food outlets that meet strict requirements on preparation and ingredients.



Sial 2016 is organised in strategic partnership with the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA). Thamer Al Qasemi, chairman of the organising committee for Sial 2016 said: Sial has witnessed unprecedented growth during the last seven years, in 2010 we had eight national pavilions, 7,200 visitors and floor space of 4426 sq m. Now, visitors have grown to over 22,000, we have 30 national pavilions and floor space has more than trebled to 14,220 sq m, underscoring the appetite and strategic importance of the event. Show content is evolving to provide a broad overview of food trends and innovation and further highlighting the importance of the event.



The success of this event, now one of the biggest food and beverage showcases in the region, is attributed to the support of the Abu Dhabi Government and the patronage of HH Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, which has been instrumental in developing the show to the record numbers we have seen this year.



Out of over 150 entries, the Sial Innovation World Champions awards showcase was won by Northern Irish food producer Mash Direct for its Crispy Vegetable Bakes. The Silver Award was presented to Al Ain Diary for their Breakfast Milk while Icelandic food company, Complete Global International Apoly Trade., was awarded the Bronze prize for their Vikingur food supplement.



Rounding out the show floor events, and organised by the Emirates Culinary Guild of Abu Dhabi, in collaboration with the World Association of Chefs' Societies, La Cuisine featured over 1000 professional chefs competing in a variety of culinary competitions, including the Alen Thong Golden Coffee Pot, Young Chefs Challenge, launched in memory of one of the Emirates Culinary Guilds founding fathers.



Fadi Saad, Sial managing director, Sial Middle East, said: Innovation in the food industry is not only trending around the globe, it is accelerating thanks to the digital environment we all live in and it is an aspect that we have been keen to showcase.  TradeArabia News Service
Smart grids can help lay the foundations for energy and cost-saving applications and renewable energy development in the Mena region, a Booz Allen Hamilton report said.



The utilities sector has historically under-invested in IT, but an increasing number of utility companies in the Mena region are waking up to the benefits of smart technology  particularly smart grids, it added.



According to Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi, smart grids offer enabling technology to achieve the objectives spelt out in Abu Dhabis 2030 Economic Vision and indeed the other emirates.



In Dubai, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) is employing Smart Meters and Grids to provide various benefits and new applications to its customers, including automatic and detailed readings. Both of these are a sign of growing reliance on smart technologies to increase business efficiency in the UAE.



In its latest report, Switched On: How Mena Can Build Smart Grid Success, Booz Allen states that customizing smart grid strategies to suit an organizations objectives and mitigate challenges, while focusing on business transformation will determine the successful adoption of smart grids in the UAE.



Smart grids are a convergence of the electric power, communications and IT industries, built on the foundations of advanced metering infrastructure, or AMIan integrated system that enables two-way communication between utilities and their customers.



Using a blend of classic electric grid with information, communication and control technologies, smart grids help utilities companies overcome many of the operating and customer service obstacles that stand in their way, thus delivering results for both companies and consumers.



The result is greater control over the production, transmission, distribution and retail of electricity, as well as increased efficiency along with the reduced consumption and cost of energy.



Dr Walid Fayad, executive vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton Mena, said: Utilities have traditionally been slow to adopt digital technologies, focusing instead on the operations technologies that enable their core business of generating, transmitting and distributing power. In doing so, they have typically taken a reluctant approach to IT, viewing it as a necessary evil for customer management and revenue collection.



Increasingly, however, we are seeing that Mena utility companies are becoming open to employing smart grid technologies to manage their operations more efficiently. Smart grids provide an opportunity for the region to modernize its infrastructure and lay the foundations for renewable energy development which can help economic diversification.



The way forward



The benefits of a smart grid are manifold, including opening up new opportunities for renewable energy production and storage. They also help cost-cutting, system upgrading and maintenance, and improve customer service to end-consumers.



Furthermore, smart grids introduce new metering, billing and payment methods, as well as greater access to, and accuracy of, data and information for customers and utilities alike.



Several developed countries are already leveraging the smart grid to fulfil a number of key priorities, which relate primarily to energy efficiency and reliability. Utilities in North America, for example, have focused on distribution automation and transmission modernization to fulfil their goals.



But alongside any digital innovation come challenges and it is imperative that utilities companies fully understand these before they develop their smart grid strategies.



Dr Adham Sleiman, vice president, Booz Allen Hamilton Mena, said: Utility companies must remember that smart grid is not a one-size-fits-all solution. To optimize the investment that utilities make, the smart grid must be tailored to address the specific goals and challenges faced by each organization.



For the regions utilities to be successful in their smart grid strategies, they must take a more effective approach to technology selection, proofing and piloting, and focus efforts on developing solid strategies that take smart grid ambitions beyond the pilot, making tangible and lasting impact on the ground, Dr Sleiman concluded.  TradeArabia News Service
Hospitality giant Marriott International is looking to further expand its global luxury hotels portfolio, with plans to open 30 new properties in 2017.



Providing the latest updates of its high-end brands at the International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM) in Cannes, Marriott revealed that its portfolio has doubled following its merger with Starwood Hotels & Resorts, and that the group was looking to widen its global footprint with a number of new hotels around the world.



New properties scheduled to launch next year will include Ritz-Carltons in Langkawi and Astana, St Regis hotels in Shanghai and Cairo, W Hotels in Panama City and Tel Aviv, Southeast Asias first Edition hotel in Bangkok, a Luxury Collection property in Californias Napa Valley, and JW Marriott resorts on the Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc and in Vancouver, Canada.



Spanning the world from the most iconic hot spots to the ultimate undiscovered gems, the unmatched breadth and depth of our luxury portfolio uniquely positions us to cater to the increased demand of the rapidly-expanding cadre of affluent travelers, said Tina Edmundson, Global Brand Officer, Marriott International. With luxury travel up nearly 50 per cent over the past five years, we see a long runway for growth at the high-end and have a world-class, dedicated luxury structure in place to nurture and strengthen this coveted portfolio of eight diverse luxury brands. - TradeArabia News Service




Europeans often enjoy traveling to different countries on the weekends, with the EU consisting of smaller countries freely opening its borders to each other. Although Mexico and the United States don't necessarily have such a free flow of travelers, Mexico is still a favorite road trip destination of many Americans, because of the country's amazing mix of food, history, music and culture. Here are some helpful tips if you're planning to cross the border on nothing but a car and a wild thirst for adventure.

1. Travel Safely - Don't be deterred by the Mexico travel warning issued by the US Department of State warning American travelers of organized crime threats in Mexico. Although they announced that the Mexican government is raising its efforts in dealing with criminal groups in the country, they are simply warning citizens to be more aware of their surroundings while enjoying border crossing to Mexico. BootsnAll suggests to travel during daylight hours and to stick to the main roads or "cuota" roads, which can also speed up travel time.

2. Get ready for inspections - Expect to be stopped several times during your road trip especially in the north. Armed guards will likely search your car for drugs, weapons or fugitives, but if you aren't harboring any of those, there's no need to worry. (READ: Five Things You Didn't Know About Mexico's "Day of the Dead")

3. Take Ruta 1 or the Pacific Coast Highway Drive - From LA to San Francisco, this beautiful ocean road goes right down to San Diego's border crossing and into Tijuana. According to GQ, stop by Tijuana's Plaza Monumental to witness a bullfight, and the Sierra de San Pedro Martir National Park, featuring peaks of up to 9,000 feet, home of the California Condor. For a more historical scene, check out Baja's Sierra de San Francisco's cave paintings, 5,000 years old and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the cave features paintings of deer, rabbits, sheep and turtles. Lastly, enjoy the sunset at La Paz by the bayside boardwalk. (READ: Mexico's Most Expensive Hotel Suite On Secret Cuixmala Island)

4. Fly to Mexico City and rent a car - The country's bustling capital is much safer than most of its northern states and features amazing history, culture and food. Enjoy some of Mexico's city's best at Teotihuacan, the Zocalo and Presidential Palace, and Diego Rivera's famous murals. Take a road trip south to Oaxaca and then to the amazing aquarium in Veracruz. (READ: A Guide to Mexico City's Best Museums, Streetwalks and Food Markets)

5. Take the Northern Loop - Travelers can cross into Mexico via Brownsville Texas and arrive at Matemoros and drive to Ciudad Victoria, a nice city bound by the majestic Sierra Madre. Drive through Gogorron National Park and take a dip at Laguna Media Luna's warm springs then head to the bustling city of Guadalajara. From there, go to the famous Puerto Vallarta and then possibly head back to the US border via Nogales to Tucson, Arizona, which is a safer border crossing than Ciudad Juarez to El Paso, Texas. Do take note that Northern Mexico is a bit more dangerous than the rest of the country, with rampant extortion and paramilitary presence, so telling the embassy about your plans is a great way to ensure safety.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Many people get stressed over the holidays going Christmas Shopping. Insider Tip: do your shopping at an amazing holiday destination with great shopping deals and exclusives like Paris. Here are some of the top shopping spots in Paris to get your Christmas shopping fix.

1. Famous Shopping Streets - A Paris shopping vacation is not complete without visiting the Champs Elysees, which features all the top designer brands. The Rue de Rivoli is another option for more affordable international chain stores like the Body Shop, Mango, H&M, Gap and Zara. Watch out for Boulevard Haussmann, according to Habitat New York, which houses the Galeries Lafayette and Au Printemps, prime store fronts for trendy French boutiques and stores. (READ: Christmas Shopping Tips - The Best Beauty Products For Travelers)

2. Department Stores - Le Bon Marche and Bazar de l'Hotel de Ville are some of the more popular department stores for tourists. Le Bon Marche is one of the oldest department stores in the world and features a great selection of wines and cheeses. BHV or Bazar de l'Hotel de Ville, on the other hand, features more economical prices and is usually crowded. (READ: The Best Travel Destinations In 2017 According To A-List Celebrities)

3. Officine Universelle Buly 1803 - Conde Nast Traveler suggests this charming haunt. Stacked with organic beauty and apothecary items, this is a specialty store for a unique Parisienne gift to only your dearest friends. Supposedly, a bar of soap can be in-laid with a chic personalized monogram. (READ: How To Quit Your Job And Travel The World For A Living)

4. Passages - These are pedestrian walkways all around the cities covered and featuring smaller traditional shops. Some of the best include Passage Jouffroy, adjacent to the Musee Grevin, a great place to visit after a busy day of shopping. Other options include Galerie Vivienne, Passage du Grand Cerf, Galerie Vero-Dodat, Passage du Havre and Passage Choiseul. If the variety of shopping choices doesn't amaze you, the historical, narrow corridors, marble floors and glass shopfronts will. (READ: New York City Christmas Shopping - The Best Holiday Deals In The Big Apple)

5. Flea Markets - For some of the most bargain-friendly shopping you'll ever do, paris has a wide assortment of flea markets and thrift alleys. St-Ouen Flea Market is the largest in the world, while the Monteruil Flea Market sells mostly antiques at prices you can haggle for. Ile-de-la-Cite is a great place to visit but will have higher prices due to its central location. Same goes for the Quai de la Megisserie, which is beautifully set adjacent to the River Seine.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
North Korea's "hotel of doom" is rumored to be opening as the hotel celebrates its 30th year next year. Hearsays about Kim Jong-Un, North Korea's leader, and his plans on opening the largest hotel of the world which may be the first after many years ago.

The Ryugyong Hotel or better known as North Korea's "of doom" is a very large hotel shaped like a pyramid. The hotel is said to have 105 floors and 3,000 rooms available. History shows that the hotel was built way back 1987 headed by North Korea's leader during that time, Kim Il-sung, in order to elevate the country's tourism. However, due to the debacle of the country's main benefactor, the Soviet Union, building operations of the Ryugyong Hotel came to a pause.

Couple of descriptions about the hotels disaster and bad infrastructure also arose. According to the European Union Chamber of Commerce the hotel was irreparable and fit to dismantle. By 2011, the hotel was enhanced by adding and putting telecommunication masts and glass planes.

According to report by Daily Mail and Telegraph, Orascom's CEO, Naguib Sawiris was reported to have flown to North Korea for a meeting. A source of a certain website said that the reason for Sawiris' visit was: "to see about working on that again." Orascom was the developer who made a $400 million agreement with North Korea to bring about a mobile telecommunication network for the country last 2008.

The Ryugyong Hotel was said to have amounted to two percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product of about $470 million back in the late 1980s. As these rumors of the opening of the North Korean "hotel of doom" arise, it is said to be quite a grand event as the lights of the largest hotel in the world is turned on.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Thailand's tourist visits are increasing and the country's tourism is indeed flourishing. Many people around the world are longing to visit Thailand and experience their culture and tradition. Being one of the major provider of affordable clothing, the country is also a popular shopping district among tourists.

Known as the "Land of Smiles", Thailand is truly an amazing country. Filled with wonderful people and places, there are many reasons to visit the country. Here are some of the reasons shared by Huffington Post and Telegraph on why tourists love Thailand.

1. Thai Street Food- Thai food is quite popular. It is filled with spices that bring out a great blend of flavors every tourist appreciates. From affordable soups to spicy crabmeats and rice, Thai street food is one of the best reasons to visit Thailand.

2. Luxury Hotels- Enjoy a breath-taking vacation by staying at Thailand's luxury hotels. There are many luxury hotels in the country that bring about its culture and at the same time provide comfort for its guests. Not only does the country have luxury hotels, but it also has available budget hotel accommodations.

3. Beaches and Islands- Thailand is surrounded by many islands and bodies of water. These islands and beautiful beaches enchants many tourists. Fun activities by the ocean awaits every tourist along with opportunities of stopping by the different islands of Thailand through riding a boat.

4. Wildlife- The country, Thailand, is also known for its animals. With awesome elephants, whale sharks, monkeys and bats, experiencing a close encounter with animals is possible in Thailand. Activities along with the animals such as riding the elephants and snorkeling with whale sharks are available in the country.

5. Budget rail trips- Explore the wonders of Thailand by riding a train at a very affordable price. See the natural settings of the country that are pleasing and blissful all throughout the train ride without spending too much on the transportation cost.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Harish Khare

It was a razaiwalla who last Sunday made me start thinking about the importance of a gentleman named Mahesh Shah. This roadside petty businessman was full of praise for Modi Sahebs notebandi. The razaiwalla in Chandigarh, who in the best of circumstances has had to negotiate regularly with a host of small-time municipal tyrannies, gave vent to a tremendous sense of satisfaction because notebandi had ensured that this man in Ahmedabad  a reference to Mahesh Shah  had been arrested. Millions and millions of Indians, in small towns and villages, have explained the notebandi to themselves as a cleansing act, a kind of mahayagya that would purify us all of our collective sins.

On the other hand, there are very many respected and knowledgeable economists who have failed to endorse the demonetisation. Bankers, businessmen, investors and others, whose opinion till the other day was deemed to be the most sacrosanct, have voiced concern at the very whimsicality of Modi Sahebs supposed masterstroke. And, then, there are populist leaders like Mamata Banerjee, no less committed to the peoples welfare than anyone else, who have violently expressed themselves against this initiative, which they are inclined to see as a politically-driven imposition and inherently anti-poor. Still, all these protestations have not yet been able to inflict on the Prime Minister any significant, debilitating trust deficit.

On the contrary, on Wednesday, the Prime Minister, at the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting, took the ultra-populist argument to the next level  and, a dangerous level  when he argued that janshakti (peoples power) had to have a claim higher than rajya shakti (state authority). Whatever be its meretricious appeal, this is demagoguery at its very best. Nor is it a new argument. This precisely was also the thrust of the Anna Hazare movement. A few decades back, it was Jayaprakash Narayan who thought that state power should defer to lok shakti. Both these prophets had claimed for themselves a bit of a saintly halo. Both had insisted that those who gathered at the Ramlila Ground constituted a more authentic and more representative voice of the people than those who had been elected to Parliament. The only difference was that while both Anna Hazare and Jayaprakash Narayan were inciting the crowds  or, mobs, if you will  against the entrenched Prime Minister of the day, here, it is an entrenched Prime Minister who is invoking janshakti against the established order, which gives him the very power to play havoc with everyones money.

More disturbingly, important functionaries of the government have taken it upon themselves to declare that the PM-induced dislocation and disorder is the new normal and that it is time that the country adjusted itself to this new abnormal normalcy. Those who otherwise marketed themselves as custodians of conservative virtues and values are now suddenly speaking the radicals anarchist lingo.

It is time, therefore, to come back to Mahesh Shah, whose arrest had so excited and animated the razaiwallas throughout the land. This Mahesh Shah had to be from Gujarat; specifically from Ahmedabad, the very civic site that represents the Gujarati spirit in all its roughness and brashness. In fact, Mahesh Shah can almost be called the poster boy of the vibrant Gujarat. It becomes necessary to delineate the political context. The last time when Gujarat had voted for a Congress government was in 1985. It means that for nearly three decades, Gujarat has remained beyond the reach of the presumably corrupt and corrupting Congress regimes. It also means that all these years, the BJP/VHP/RSS had all the time and the elbow room to rearrange comprehensively the state  its politics, economics, society, and culture. In these three decades, for 12 years, the state was blessed with Narendra Modis unchallenged stewardship. Yet it would produce a Mahesh Shah  the man who would declare a mindboggling income of Rs 13,860 crore of undisclosed wealth under Finance Minister Arun Jaitleys Income Declaration Scheme.

The Mahesh Shahs of Gujarat represent that wonderful convergence  a nexus, in fact  of a certain kind of business ethics, political disposition and social prejudice. It is this nexus that first begot and then sustained the Narendra Modi political project. Yet, the multitude applauds when one product (Modi) throws the book at another product (Shah). Maybe it is our civilisational gift for duality. But, it can only be injurious to the long-term health of the democratic polity.

A Mahesh Shah would have been invented, if he did not exist. After all, every village needs a witch, who can be burnt at the stake, who can be held accountable for an illness, for a dried-up well, a failed crop and other misfortunes. If the witch is at loose, there has to be a shaman and his assistants who would help the villagers ward off the evil eye. A nation is a grand village. And nations, too, need symbols and totems, around which collective passions can be incited. Nations also need villains against whom the leaders can rail. The demagogues have the skill and the cunning to be able to tap a populaces vulnerabilities and anxieties and then offer simplistic solutions. Pakistan has long served that purpose for us.

Now, we have turned on ourselves. And, there is a new streak. What began as a fashionable rant against Nehruvian elites has now got translated into a kind of defiant we-are-in-power-and-therefore-we-are-right assertion. The other day, a Central minister told off a Nobel laureate (also, a distinguished economist) who had declared himself unconvinced of the soundness of the demonetisation. With all the arrogance of a Central minister, the Nobel laureate was told that just because he had won a prize did not make his views right. At other times, this arrogance would have been laughed off as a boorishness of a regional mind, but today we have persuaded ourselves to see virtue and wisdom in doing away with any nicety, convention or institutional norm in the name of slaying the black money dragon.

Consequently, the polity has become dangerously imbalanced. The ruling clique seeks reaffirmation in the intrinsic merit of notebandi and the presumed popular acceptance of the surgical strike against black money. But the country finds itself in a bind. The demonetisation cannot be rolled back as easily as it was thrust upon the nation. But, nor can the cost of dislocation in the economy  and, society  be wished away. The government  and its accomplices in the corporate world  manufactured a narrative of short-term pain and long-term gain. The mood can turn sour and then we all may be saddled with ugly consequences. The democratic forces and voices have an obligation to reassure the nation that the common man is not at the mercy of one man.
Owen Bennet-Jones

A CENTURY ago, in British-ruled Multan, the Punjab authorities detained a messenger by the name of Abdul Haq. He had travelled from Kabul with three yellow silk letters sewn into the lining of his coat.

At first the British authorities did not know what to make of them. Written in neat, almost flawless Urdu, the letters revealed details of a worldwide plot to overthrow the British. The commissioner of Multan dismissed them as childish rot. But some of his colleagues took a different view, and over the next months and years British colonial officials produced thousands of pages of analysis of the letters as they tried to understand their significance for the future of British rule on the subcontinent.

Two of the letters had been written by a Sikh convert to Islam and Deoband graduate, Obedullah Sindhi, who had gone to Kabul in the hope of gathering international support for what he envisaged as a concerted effort by Muslim forces around the world to overthrow British rule. After a disappointing response from the Afghans, he put pen to silk in the hope of encouraging the then principal of the Deoband madressah, Mahmud Hassan, to travel to Istanbul to see if he could do any better.

The precise relationship between the two men remains unclear. By some accounts, Hassan was the plot leader bending Sindhi to his will. Others see Sindhi as the more determined man, who had to persuade a reluctant Hassan to go along with his schemes. Whatever the truth of that issue, everyone can agree that the two men's plans were grandiose.

The silk letters spoke of an alliance amongst Islamic Kings This is the only way of inflicting an effective blow against the infidels of India. The idea was to send emissaries not only to all the major centres of Muslim power but also to Britain's World War I enemies such as Germany. Then, when arms supplies were secured, the rebellion in India could begin.

Under the general command of Mahmud Hassan there were to be commands in Constantinople, Tehran and Kabul and then, in India itself, 11 field marshals and many colonels to lead the effort to kick the British out. But the plot, as British officials put it, was "nipped in the bud". Having intercepted the letters, the British moved fast and arrested many of the key plotters.

In a fascinating parallel with the post 9/11 rendition programmes, Mahmud Hassan was moved from Makkah to Cairo and after interrogation there, sent to the island of Malta until the World War was over. Officials did not want him to be imprisoned in India itself for fear of arousing Muslim anti-British feeling.

A hundred years on, those looking back on the affair have very different interpretations of what happened. British literature to this day talks about a Silk Letters Conspiracy. Those more hostile to British rule prefer to discuss the Silk Letter Movement. Many in the West who worry about radical Islamism see a common thread between Deobandis advocating violent jihad in 1916 and those doing the same today.

The Indian state, however, has a different take, seeing the affair as evidence of how Muslims were part of a unified independence struggle. In January 2013, the Indian authorities issued a postage stamp celebrating the Silk Letter Movement as a nationalist contribution to Indian Independence.

For their part, Indian Deobandis are happy enough to bask in that reflected glory. Their historians tend to play up the willingness of their Deobandi predecessors to support the use of force to overthrow the British. But their books about the affair also draw another lesson with contemporary echoes: that then, as now, Islamic movements are undermined by a lack of Muslim solidarity.

But perhaps the most striking aspect of how the silk letters were viewed then and now lies in a comparison of the language used by the British colonial officials a century ago and Pakistani ones today. The archives show that, in page after page of official commentary on the letters, the British colonialists expressed their fear of clerics using religion to rouse the emotions of the people. As one official wrote, It is possible, if not probable, that the time might come when persistent preachers of jihad would affect large numbers in India and across the border in the same way as they have already affected individuals.

The British Criminal Investigations Department concluded that the plan had been to overthrow the British: "by exciting religious fanaticism... by perverted teaching  and in other ways by stirring up hatred against the British Government among the frontier tribes in Afghanistan. Replace the words fanaticism with extremism and British with Pakistani and you could be listening to a Western politician today, or even an ISPR statement in support of the National Action Plan.

The writer is a British journalist and author of Pakistan: Eye of the Storm.

By arrangement with the Dawn
Praveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, December 8

Three persons were killed while two injured on Thursday after some miscreants opened fire on a Fortuner car near Doon Valley College.

The miscreants came on an Innova car and motorbikes and managed to escape from the crime scene.

The deceased have been identified as Naresh of Bhambarehri village, Rajesh of Jani village and Gulab of Bastali village.

The injured were identified as Chand and Rajesh of Bastali village.

Naresh was a gym owner while Rajesh was a liquor trader and Gulab, a kabbadi player.
Tribune Reporters

Chandigarh, December 8

Cash-starved public, endless queues, dry ATMs and rationed bank withdrawalsthats Haryanas painful saga of one month of demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.

From Panchkula to Mewat and Sirsa to Sonepat, the same story continues to play out in all 22 districts day after day and no respite from long queues seems likely in the weeks ahead.

While the state government is seeking daily reports from districts about the cash availability as also the status of ATMs, the government, too, finds itself in a helpless situation as it looks to the Centre to come to its rescue.

Sources say that Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has already written a letter to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley seeking greater availability of cash and has even suggested that the cash being provided to the states by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) be made proportional to the deposits coming in. Similar letters, seeking more cash, are learnt to have been written by the Chief Secretary office.

However, this continual correspondence does not seem to have cut any ice with the Centre since neither the cash flow has increased nor is the RBI ready to part with information of the cash being made available to other states as compared to Haryana.

While most ATMs in the districts remain empty, cash in banks, too, gets exhausted within a couple of hours, resulting in protests and heated exchanges between public and bank staff. Ground reports indicate that the cash made available to the banks, too, is being rationed to cater to the maximum number of people.

Yamunanagar: The banking services continued to be crippled in the district as long queues, now a permanent feature, were witnessed outside banks. According to information, only 54 ATMs were functional in the district today as 143 ATMs out of 197 were without cash. Several people complained that they were offered only Rs 2,000 to Rs 4,000 by bank officials.

Jhajjar: Of the 139 ATM booths, around 100 remained non-functional for the past one month. Most of them were shut while those opened provided cash only for one-two hours in a day compelling people to line-up outside banks to withdraw money.

On an average, Rs 10 crore is reaching the banks on daily basis, which is 25 per cent of the total demand. The situation still remains critical in urban as well as rural areas due to cash crunch. However, the banks are trying to satisfy maximum customers by distributing equal cash available among them, said LD Sharma, Lead Bank Manager in Jhajjar.

Kaithal: No relief seems in sight for people who stand in long queues outside banks and ATMs to withdraw cash to meet their daily needs early morning.

As compared to nationalised banks, the situation in private banks seemed better. TK Rana, Lead Bank Manager, said, The district has been receiving Rs 8-10 crore on daily basis against the demand of Rs 40-45 crore. He said out of 127 ATMs in the districts, about 12 were functional and delivering cash.

Gurugram: The millennium city was reeling under the impact of demonetisation with trade, industry, transport, realty market and home economics taking a beating. According to official data, 650 ATMs out of 2,900 had no cash yesterday. According to trader association, business dropped by 60 per cent. The real estate market too has been badly hit with property registration down by almost 25 per cent. According to the Labour Department, over 10,000 workers primarily involved in construction have started to leave the city.

Kurukshetra: Long queues at ATMs continued to be in place and residents grumbled about limited availability of cash. According to information, there are 175 ATMs in the district and nearly 50 per cent lack cash.

PS Chauhan, Deputy General Manager, Punjab National Bank, said the banking sector was getting almost one-fourth cash of the daily requirement, adding cash stocks in ATMs were suspended to check swiping cards for multiple withdrawals. "Kurukshetra's daily cash requirement by various banks on a normal day was Rs 50 crore, whereas we have a supply of Rs 15 crore in a day," said Chauhan.

Rohtak: While a majority of ATMs remained cashless most of the time, long queues were witnessed at those dispensing money. Residents of Bohar and Bhalauth villages even blocked road and staged demonstrations against non-availability of sufficient cash.

Rajender and Dilbagh of Madina village in the district lamented that they had to take loans for the marriages of their daughters and son as they were not able to withdraw sufficient money from their bank accounts due to acute shortage of cash in the banks.

On the other hand, some old-age pensioners at Bhaini Chanderpal village in Meham subdivision complained of being given demonetised notes as part of their pension by a bank agent.

In Panipat, the cash in all bank chests put together was not more than Rs 3 crore while 90 per cent of the ATMs were dry today while similar reports were received from Karnal, Ambala, Rohtak, Faridabad, Bhiwani and Sonepat.
Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, December 8

Senior BJP leaders have descended on the town to oversee preparations for partys first Tridev Sammelan which will be addressed by the national party president Amit Shah at Thodo Ground here on December 11. National organisational secretary Ramlal is also slated to address the party workers on the occasion.

While elaborate arrangements to accommodate 6,000 booth level workers were being given the final touches, senior leaders, including partys general secretary Chander Mohan Thakur, partys chief spokesman Dr Rajiv Bindal and organisational secretary Pawan Rana were camping in the town to oversee the arrangements. Other senior leaders, including state president Satpal Satti and state in-charge Shrikant Sharma, were likely to arrive in the next two days.

BJP sources informed that three-tier booth-level office-bearers comprising booth palaks, booth president and booth agents from 1940 booths of 17 Vidhan Sabha constituencies in the Shimla parliamentary segment comprising Solan, Shimla and Sirmaur districts would assemble for the Tridev Sammelan. About 100 other booth-level representatives from Rampur, which was part of the Mandi Parliamentary segment, were also expected to join this congregation where the senior leaders would give tips to the party workers on how to galvanize the masses ahead of the next years Vidhan Sabha elections.

This was the first such parliamentary level congregation of booth level party leaders while three more such programmes would be held in the other parliamentary segments of the state. The tridev sammelan will help activate the BJPs grassroot level worker to gear up for next years the elections next year.

Former chief ministers PK Dhumal, Shanta Kumar, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare JP Nadda, MPs and office-bearers would also be present. The partys core committee comprising senior leaders will also meet later in the day and discuss various crucial agendas, including poll preparedness and strategy to attack the Congress government. Since this meeting was now being held every month it will take stock of the programmes decided earlier and decide the future course of the partys programmes.

The charge-sheet committee headed by MLA Suresh Bhardwaj is also slated to meet the same evening and discuss the information gathered on the acts of omission and commission pertaining to the state governments four-year rule as the charge-sheet has to be finalised before December 25.
Our Correspondent

KULLU, DECEMBER 8

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said stringent action would be taken against those found guilty of racial discrimination.

Presiding over the 11th annual convention of Koli Kalyan Board here today, he stated that anyone found showing indifference towards the children of low caste, particularly in schools and other institutions of learning, would lose his job.

The Chief Minister stated that all children would sit, study and eat together and anyone found discriminating on the basis of caste, colour, region or religion would be fired from the job. He issued directions to all the Deputy Commissioner to ensure that any such incident does not take place in their respective districts. He said that if anyone reports any such incident, strict action would be taken against the defaulters.

He stated that earlier people belonging to low caste were not allowed to enter religious places and participate in the religious ceremonies of the upper caste people but today the scenario was quite different. He added that temples were open to all and people of any region or religion can pay their obeisance at any temple owned and controlled by the government.

He stated that the government would construct Raghunath Temple in Kullu, which would be open to all and it will not be a private temple as being claimed by a royal scion of Kullu.

Taking a jibe at sitting Kullu MLA Maheshwar Singh, the Chief Minister said, Bhagwan sabke hain, kisi ek vyakati ki sampati nahin (God is of everyone and not a private property of an individual).

Virbhadra Singh said that Koli Samaj should provide a suitable piece of land for construction of Ambedkar Bhawan in Kullu and the government would provide adequate assistance.

Later, Chief Minister inaugurated Darka bridge on the Kullu-Karon road in Lug valley and a Primary Health Centre at Bhutti.

Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Dhani Ram Shandil said that 56 sub castes of Koli Samaj had been incorporated in the list of Scheduled Castes. Ayurveda Minister Karan Singh announced a sum of Rs 1 lakh to Koli Kalyan Board from his discretionary fund.
Srinagar, December 8

A gunfight started early on Thursday between holed-up militants and security forces in south Kashmirs Anantnag district.

Police said troops of counter-insurgency Rashtriya Rifles (RR), special operations group of state police and CRPF surrounded Arwani village late on Wednesday after receiving information about the presence of militants.

As the security forces tightened the cordon, some gunshots were heard, but after that there was no exchange of fire; with the first light today (Thursday) hiding militants started firing at the surrounding security forces.

The fire was returned and the encounter was still going on, a senior police officer told IANS.

Asked to confirm if the Lashkar-e-Taiba divisional commander Abu Dujana was among the holed-up militants, the officer said, We can confirm nothing until the encounter is over. IANS
Suhail A Shah

Bijbehara, December 8

A civilian was killed and several others were injured in clashes with security personnel near an encounter site in south Kashmirs Anantnag district, where security forces have been battling a group of Lashkar-e-Toiba militants for the last 24 hours.

While the United Jihad Council (UJC), a Muzaffarabad-based conglomerate of Kashmiri militant outfits, said three local militants were killed in the gunfight, the police here are yet to confirm the same.

The operation is still underway, Special Director General of Police, Coordintination, Law and Order, SP Vaid told The Tribune.

The encounter, which started late Wednesday evening in Hassanpora village near Bijbehara town in Anantnag district and was suspended for the night, is yet to be declared officially over as gunfire could be heard from the site intermittently.

The slain civilian has been identified as Arif Ahmad Shah, a resident of the Sangam area in Anantnag district. A police statement confirming Shahs killing maintained that he was hit by a stray bullet. The statement also advised people to stay away from encounter sites.

According to local sources, however, Shah was part of the protesters clashing with security forces near the encounter site to try and provide a safe passage to the trapped militants.

Shah succumbed to his injuries on the way to a hospital while another injured person, who is being treated at a Srinagar hospital, is in a critical condition. More than 30 people were injured in the clashes with the security men.

Two persons with pellet injuries were treated and then referred to Srinagar from here, said a doctor at Anantnag district hospital.

Hassanpora was cordoned off late Wednesday evening following inputs of militants in the area. The security forces after getting no response to a few warning shots suspended the operation for some time.

Later in the night, the gunfight resumed and heavy mortar shells could be heard going off in the area. The operation resumed officially in the morning, when hundreds of people from south Kashmir tried to reach the encounter site. The clashes intensified as the day wore on with the security forces having a tough time fighting the militants as well as the civilians.

Clashes spread to other areas in south Kashmir, including Kulgam, Qaimoh, Khodweni, Bijbehara, Anantnag town, Sangam and several parts in Pulwama district.
Arteev Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 8

Days after the Centre downplayed the differences with Jammu and Kashmir over contentious issues in the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, the state government has formed a high-level panel for drafting the legislation with regard to joining GST in India and its extension to J&K.

The move is aimed at protecting the special constitution position and taxation powers of the state being enjoyed by it.

According to the official notification, the four-member high powered committee included financial commissioner of the Planning, Development and Monitoring Department as its chairman, commissioner-secretary of the Finance Department, secretary of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and commissioner of the Commercial Taxes Department as members.

The order also said, The committee shall invite Advocate General, J&K, as a special invitee, as and when, required. The committee may co-opt any other officer as member as it may deem, fit.

The committee shall draft the legislation with regard to proposed GST in the state while including the measures which can protect the special constitution position and taxation powers of the state being enjoyed by it, the order said.

The committee will be serviced by the Finance Department and will submit its report within a period of three months.

The proposed GST Bill will come into force across the country from April 1 next year.

On December 3, the Union Finance Ministry had sought to downplay its differences with the J&K and Tamil Nadu governments over the GST implementation, saying that the consensus would be evolved over contentious issues during the next GST Council meeting.

It is not only J&K opposing it (GST in present form), but the Tamil Nadu government, too, has expressed certain reservations. We will definitely make a consensus and that is our resolve, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Union Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs had said in Jammu.

Pertinently, the state government had made it clear that it would come out with a separate proposal on how to participate in the GST framework without compromising its constitutional position on taxing services.

It had argued that the GST Council would become more powerful than state legislatures once the new tax takes off. The state had made a case before the Empowered Committee of state finance ministers that J&Ks special taxation powers have to be protected while rolling out GST.
Nonika Singh

It could well be one of her well-presented BBC shows. As Anita Anand a political journalist, TV presenter and author, delivers a talk on her first book Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary, she doesnt falter for a minute. Not a word is out of place, not a single reference redundant. Like a seasoned raconteur she holds her listeners at the British Council, Chandigarh, in a vice-like grip. She may claim she is a journalist first and not a historian, but she seems to know this chapter of Sikh history like the back of her hand. Facts, nay stories, unfurl one after another.

She takes the select audience into the days of Maharaja Duleep Singh, heir to the kingdom of the Sikhs, one of the greatest empires of the Indian subcontinent. She talks of his conversion; his relationship with Queen Victoria, which she unlike others feels was marked by a great degree of affection. His philandering ways and finally his tragic end too are referred to.

And his mother Rani Zinda is spoken about with great degree of passion. In short, she builds the perfect background before she introduces her main protagonist, Sophia. Youngest daughter of Maharaja Duleep Singh, god-daughter of Queen Victoria, here was a pretty silly princess who transformed into a fighter. Anita can go on and on about Sophias conflicted personality, her growing up years in England, her ascent as a fashion icon, her Indianness that she wore almost like a fancy dress and finally the dramatic influence of Lala Lajpat Rai, and India, on her. Anita peppers up her fight in the Suffragette movement (of British women) with more than one interesting incident. She offers a snapshot and ends up almost completing the picture. The book, contains far more.

Come to think of it, till Anita stumbled upon Sophias photograph per chance she herself had no idea who she was. The obvious dichotomy a brown woman in Victorian clothes hit her. She laughs, We Punjabis can discover a Punjabi wherever they might be. Her quest ended up in a five year obsession, which involved painstaking research and took her from well-stocked libraries to personal archives and of course to secrets department of British. British might be sneaky, but they also meticulously keep records.

However, facts are only details. She says, A person comes alive only when you learn how they lived, what they ate. You start with bones, get some flesh and if you are lucky, there is some blood too.

Luckily for her, she was able to pump in blood and make this extraordinary princess come alive for she managed to find real beings who had known the princess. As to why the current generation should know her, what is the relevance in todays time? She quips, Whenever I am in India, I see the divide between haves and have nots. It is very rare that someone from a privileged background decides to take up cudgels on behalf of others.

To voice the concerns of the weak, she feels, is the message not only of her book but also of Sikhism, a faith into which she has married.

Hindu Sikh who lives in London, Sophia resonates in her background too. Yes, like Sophia, Anita could well be too English to be Indian and vice-versa. But comfortable in her skin, she identifies herself as a British-Asian belonging to both. But to whom does the magnificent Kohinoor diamond dripped in blood and the subject of her second book, belong, she would not commit. Owing to its complex history, there are many claimants to it. But one thing she wants to put on record was that this was never ever given as a gift to the British.

A stickler for truth, she abhors those who try to bury it. These very principles she applies to journalism. Noncommittal of the noise that is made on Indian television in the name of news, her golden rule is simple  uncover and abide by the truth.

Honest to the core

So thorough had been Anita Anands research for Sophia that perhaps another book was a foregone conclusion. But why co-author it? Kohinoor, which she has written along with noted author and historian William Dalrymple, she states, grew organically. She recalls how she met Navtej Sarna and William Dalrymple at a function. They exchanged notes and also discovered how the other knew better and more. A book was proposed. Sarna became an ambassador, and Dalrymple and she went ahead. As the book is being hailed among other things for similarity in narrative styles, she takes it as a huge compliment for, I think William is a great writer. And she an equally adept story-teller.
New Delhi, December 8

Expressing strong displeasure over the continued logjam in Parliament, President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday said "disruption in Parliament is totally unacceptable".

Delivering the Defence Estate Day Lecture 2016 here on 'Reforms for a stronger democracy', the President said people sent their representatives to Parliament to work for the country and not to agitate. He expressed concern that disruption of parliamentary work had become a practice.

Do your job, he told the MPs. Dharnas can be organised anywhere else, he said, asking all concerned to debate and discuss issues of public importance in the House.

He said he was not criticising any particular party but all concerned must work together to ensure smooth functioning of Parliament. He said only a minority disrupted parliamentary proceedings by entering the well of the House and raising slogans, when the majority was ready for a debate.

The President also favoured simultaneous polls to Lok Sabha and state assemblies, and said India needed electoral reforms. "I am convinced that the country needs electoral reforms. We should (first) have a public debate and thereafter make the reforms," he said.  IANS
New Delhi, December 8

Striking a conciliatory note amid rising tension in ties, Pakistan on Thursday said it does not want to live in "perpetual hostility" with India, noting time has come for the two neighbours to decide whether status quo should continue or a new beginning be made.

Calling for an "uninterrupted and uninterruptable" bilateral engagement, Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit said the two countries must overcome the differences in order to embark on an "irreversible trajectory" of cooperative relationship.

Maintaining that Pakistan was ready for comprehensive talks with India, Basit, however, said the desire for engagement was missing from the Indian side, adding his government has patience and was ready to wait for resumption of dialogue.

I think we have wasted 70 years of our existence. Time has now come to make up our mind on what do we want. Whether we would like to continue with the status quo or we want to make a new beginning in our ties," Basit said.

His comments at a discussion on Indo-Pak relations came amid escalating tension between the two countries over a number of cross-border terror attacks, including at army establishments in Uri and Nagrota, and India's surgical strikes across the LoC in September.

It takes two to tango

"Pakistan does not wish to live in perpetual hostility with India. We remain positive and constructive but it takes two to tango. There are serious problems between the two countries. We cannot shy away from them but at the end of the day we can engage in purposeful diplomacy, we can realise results for mutual satisfaction and make a good beginning," he said.

At the same time, he said, for Pakistan Jammu and Kashmir was the core issue between the two countries and finding a solution to it could bridge the trust deficit them.

"We need to move from conflict management to conflict resolution and that obviously cannot happen unless we talk to each other with sincereity and seriousness of purpose," Basit said.

Holding that talks may bring down tension, Basit said Islamabad was "positive and constructive" in its attitude, adding the engagement should be meaningful and address the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir.

"Whenever there is any desire in New Delhi to engage with us, Pakistan would respond positively and constructively provided the engagement is meaningful and does address the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir," he said, pitching for diplomacy to be given a "fair chance" to deliver.

At the same time he said," At present, unfortunately we do not see much desire in New Delhi to engage with us in a comprehensive manner. We are ready to wait, we have patience.

We will wait and see how things unfold in months and years ahead."

The Pakistan envoy said it was essential for the two countries to overcome the differences in order to embark on an "irreversible trajectory of cooperative relationship.

Holding that SAARC summit in Islamabad could not be held due to differences between India and Pakistan, he said good relations and peace between the two sides will benefit the entire region.

"The developments since July in Jammu and Kashmir yet again very clearly show that Jammu and Kashmir is the main issue. Islamabad's feeling is that unless we move towards finding a just and fair solution to this problem, it will continue to be very difficult to bridge the trust deficit between the two countries.

"It is in our mutual interest to have peace and also in the interest of the region. We have seen what happened to SAARC summit. It could not take place primarily because of the differences between the two countries," he said.

In this context, he said Pakistan was ready to move towards projects relating to regional connectivity and integration.

Basit also rejected observations at the deliberations, attended by top diplomats, representatives from Jammu and Kashmir and foreign policy experts, that Pakistan may be "balkanised".

"I think Pakistan has a very, very bright future. It is a very confident country. We are moving ahead. People of Pakistan are very confident. We are destined to become a regional economic hub. We do not have any doubt about our future. Pakistan is not going to be balkanised," he said.

Aiyar slams govts Pak policy

Speaking at the event, Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar slammed government's Pakistan policy, saying engagement with Islamabad is the only way to stop terror.

It should be left to Pakistan to solve its internal problems, he said apparently referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reference to trouble in Balochistan. Aiyar also said no country was isolating Pakistan as claimed by New Delhi.

He questioned the efficacy of the surgical strikes launched by the Indian army in PoK in containing terror.

India must accept the significance of Pakistani army's role in that country, he said, adding Pakistan has also suffered a lot due to terrorism.  PTI
New Delhi, December 8

A bed-ridden Egyptian woman weighing 500kg has been granted visa by Indian Embassy in Cairo following intervention by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

Eman Ahmed, 36, a resident of port city of Alexandria, was issued the medical visa hours after a Mumbai- based bariatric surgeon requested Swaraj to help the woman travel to India for her treatment.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

"Thanks for bringing this to my notice. We will definitely help her," Swaraj tweeted in response to the request on December 5.

Hours later, Dr Muffi Lakdawala, who as per his twitter profile is also a philanthropist, tweeted that Indian Embassy in Cairo granted visa to Eman, a resident of Alexandria.

"Embassy in Cairo called Visa granted. Thank you so much for this prompt response, impressed Appreciate the help @SushmaSwaraj," Lakdawala said.

Earlier, seeking Swaraj's intervention, he had said Eman weighs 500 kg and has been refused the visa.

Thanks for bringing this to my notice. We will definitely help her. pic.twitter.com/l6RfC5bWE4 https://t.co/fWBYilbPIY  Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) December 6, 2016

"Ma'am, Eman Ahmed (Egypt) 500kgs requested me 2 save her pls help me get her a medical visa as refused thru normal process @SushmaSwaraj," he had tweeted.

Embassy in Cairo called Visa granted.Thank you so much for this prompt response,impressed Appreciate the help @SushmaSwaraj @CODSIndia01  Dr Muffi Lakdawala (@DrMuffi) December 6, 2016

Eman's weight prevented her from pursuing her studies as she dropped out of school due to weight gain.  PTI
New Delhi, December 8

In a communication to Congress Lok Sabha leader Mallikarjun Kharge, the Department of Personnel and Training today asked him to suggest a date after December 16 for a possible meeting to select the next CBI Director.

Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh, who is also in-charge of the Department of Personnel, wrote to Kharge in response to his letter sent yesterday in which he had raised concerns over the appointment of Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Rakesh Asthana as interim Director of the CBI, alleging that the selection process had been vitiated.

Kharge is a member of the committee which comprises the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of the Opposition or that of the largest party in Opposition in the LS.  TNS
Sanjeev Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 8

With cash crunch persisting even a month after the November 8 demonetisation decision, the government today announced a slew of measures to incentivise cashless payments.

The 11 measures listed include discounts on purchase of fuel, insurance policies and free railway accidental insurance cover for payments made using digital mode, including debit and credit cards, mobile phone applications and e-wallets.

Announcing the package, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said following the cancellation of the legal tender character of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, there had been a surge in digital transactions and the measures announced today would further accelerate the process.

We were using excessive amount of cash and very limited amount of digital transactions till November 8, Jaitley said, adding the cost of transacting in cash had to be borne by the economy.

Jaitley said public sector oil marketing companies would offer a discount at the rate of 0.75 per cent of the sale price on purchase of petrol and diesel if payment was made through digital means. The incentive scheme had the potential to shift at least 30 per cent more customers to digital means, which would further reduce the cash requirement of Rs 2 lakh crore per year at petrol stations, he said.

Nearly 4.5 crore customers buy petrol and diesel at fuel stations every day, resulting in estimated daily sale of Rs 1,800 crore. Nearly 20 per cent of the payments are made through digital means.

After demonetisation, digital payments have jumped to 40 per cent and cash transactions of Rs 360 crore per day have got shifted to cashless transaction methods.

For insurance policies, a discount of 10 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively, will be offered in case of general and life insurance for buying new policies or paying premium online through the customer portals of PSU insurance companies.

All railway passengers buying online ticket will get free accidental insurance cover of up to Rs 10 lakh. In addition, passengers using digital mode to pay for railway catering, accommodation, retiring room will get 5 per cent discount.

Nearly 14 lakh railway passengers buy tickets every day, out of which 58 per cent are bought online. It is expected another 20 per cent passengers may shift to digital payment methods of buying railway tickets. Nearly 11 lakh passengers per day will be covered under the accidental insurance scheme.

For payment at toll plazas on national highways using RFID card/Fast Tags, a discount of 10 per cent will be available to users in 2016-17.

To expand digital payment infrastructure in the rural areas, the Centre through NABARD will extend financial support to eligible banks for deployment of 2 point of sales (POS) devices each in 1 lakh villages with population of less than 10,000.

Jaitley said it would benefit farmers of one lakh villages covering nearly 75 crore people. The government will also support rural regional banks and cooperative banks to issue Rupay Kisan Cards.
Islamabad, December 8

Pakistan has accused India of being "defiant " to resuming peace talks over the Kashmir dispute.

Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said on Thursday that peace talks should be result-oriented and sustainable. The official claimed India remained defiant and intransigent over resuming dialogue despite several gestures by Pakistan, a report on Radio Pakistan said.

US vice president-elect Mike Pence told an American network that president-elect Donald Trump could use his "extraordinary deal-making skills" to lessen tensions between the two countries, when he was asked if Trump would mediate a solution to the dispute.

Zakaria claimed India had refused to allow fact-finding missions to Kashmir, but warned that the international community would make New Delhi accept the demand.

The Foreign Office spokesperson also accused India security forces of flagrant rights abuses in Kashmir.

When asked about India's focus on purchasing arms, he said the "consequent conventional asymmetry" would pose a threat to regional peace and stability, but claimed Pakistan did not want to indulge in arms race.

He also accused India of using negativity to hide its crimes in Kashmir during the recently held Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process summit in Amritsar.

Pakistan Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs, Zakaria, had attended the meeting last week.

"This also exposed India's claims of commitment to the prospects of peace in Afghanistan as it misused a platform meant for promoting peace and stability in the war torn country," he said.

Pakistan has accused India of mistreatment to its National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz, who also attended the summit.

A recent unrest in Kashmir that killed more than 80 people and left several thousands injured, subsequent terrorist attacks in the state from militants across the border and heavy cross border shelling have led to ties between the two countries turn frigid lately.

India accuses Pakistan of stoking the Kashmir fire and also accuses it of not having done enough to contain terrorists on soil, even on occasion claiming the neighbour had sponsored terrorism.  Agencies
Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 8

Indias diplomatic dexterity of having separate-yet-equal military relations with the US and Russia showed up again today. New Delhi engaged with Washington on the outcomes of getting Major Defence Partner status, besides increased military-to-military exercises and counter-terrorism.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar met his US counterpart Ashton Carter in New Delhi along with delegations of both the countries. The meeting comes just weeks after Parrikar had met his Russian counterpart General Sergey Shoigu in New Delhi and proposed India-Russia joint ventures in producing spares for military equipment and to make military contact the guiding force in the ties.

Parrikar-Carter meeting today was the seventh in the past year-and-a-half. Parrikar said at the meeting: It is not an exaggeration that our defence engagements are a major driver in our bilateral relations. He also pointed out how discussions had concluded to have a major defence partnership.

Carter, who is on his way out with the end of President Barack Obamas term, told the delegates: Today, our defence partnership takes a major step as we designate India as Major Defence Partner (MDP).

A joint statement issued later tonight said: Today, we finalised Indias designation as a Major Defence Partner of the United States. The designation as a MDP is a status unique to India and institutionalises the progress made to facilitate defence trade and technology sharing with India to a level on a par with that of the United States closest allies and partners.

It permits us to do things with India that have never been possible before. And it creates a presumption of approval for transactions with India, Carter was quoted by the official US website as having said.
Islamabad, December 8

The pilot of the Pakistan International Airlines plane that crashed into a mountain on Wednesday killing everyone on board reportedly lost control of one of the engines, the airline said.

Azam Sehgal, PIAs chairman, told reporters that the pilot for flight PK661 told the control tower at 4.09 pm local time that an engine had developed a technical fault and moments later made a mayday call shortly before the plane disappeared, Dawn reported.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

We were confident that the plane could land with one working engine, he said, adding, I think there was no technical error or human error...obviously there will be a proper investigation.

The small twin-propeller aircraft was en route from Chitral to the capital when it crashed near the town of Havelian, about 45 miles northwest of Islamabad. The airline said there were 48 people aboard the plane-42 passengers, five crew and a ground engineer.

Emergency was declared at the airport soon after receiving the phone call.

The call about the plane crash was made by a resident of Batolni village who had witnessed the tragedy, the official said.

He called the Benazir Bhutto International Airport at around 4.35 pm and was asked to contact the airport manager as he was the relevant person, he said.

Aviation Division Secretary Irfan Elahi told Dawn that an investigation team, led by Air Commodore Munir Ahmed, had been formed to find out why the ATR-42 had crashed. At the moment, there is no other reason for the plane crash other than the failure of the left engine, he said, adding that the investigators would also search for the plane;s flight data recorders. IANS
Kolkata, December 8

Sharpening her attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over demonetisation, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said he must resign because the move has led to economic disaster in the country and he has no moral right to continue.

Alleging the countrys growth and business have been hit due to demonetisation, she said the Prime Minister doesnt trust anyone and he doesnt understand what is good for the country.

There is no teamwork. He did not consult experts. It is a one-man dictatorship. It is a one-man made disaster. It is a dangerous tendency, she told a press conference at the state secretariat.

After committing mistakes, he (PM) is showing chest and shoulder. What is this? Such figure is required in films.

Ravana too had broad shoulder, she said.

She said if she were the PM, she would apologise to the people and talked about rectifying myself.

He must step down. He has no moral right to continue, she said.

I am sorry to say that the (Central) government got derailed totally under the present PM. He is not saying what will happen tomorrow and the day after. He must clarify, she remarked.

Describing her campaign against demonetisation a fight between Modi and the people, she said the people wanted to know why he did it.

Who got the benefit of demonetisation. The PM and his associates are the beneficiary. The PM is protecting black money, she said.

Only the PM who stays at 7 RCR, will eat, others will not, she said.

She said her party has been raising the issue on all platforms.

We have met the President, raised the issue in Parliament, Assembly and in public meetings. All opposition parties are fighting together. I am in touch wit other opposition parties as well. I will fight even if I am alone, she said.

Banerjee said, If people raised voice, they will be dubbed as bad and holder of black money. On the land purchase by the BJP, she said, They have amassed huge wealth. How did the fakir get so much money?  PTI
TNS & PTI

Lucknow/Allahabad, December 8

In a significant judgment, the Allahabad High Court has called the practice of divorcing a Muslim woman by triple talaq in a single sitting as cruel, unconstitutional and amounting to violation of victims rights.

A single-Judge Bench of Justice Suneet Kumar observed: Triple talaq is unconstitutional; it violates the rights of Muslim women. No Personal Law Board is above the Constitution.

Coming down heavily on the practice, the court has held that this form of instant divorce is most demeaning, which impedes and drags India" from becoming a nation.

The question which disturbs the court is  should Muslim wives suffer this tyranny for all times? Should their personal law remain so cruel towards these unfortunate wives? Whether the personal law can be amended suitably to alleviate their sufferings? The judicial conscience is disturbed at this monstrosity.

In its order dated November 5, the court observed that divorce is permissible in Islam only in case of extreme emergency when all efforts for effecting a reconciliation have failed.

The view that the Muslim husband enjoys an arbitrary, unilateral power to inflict instant divorce does not accord with Islamic injunctions... The Quran expressly forbids a man to seek pretexts for divorcing his wife, so long as she remains faithful and obedient to him.

The court made the observations while dismissing the petition of 23-year-old Hina, whose 53-year-old husband had married her after effecting triple talaq to his wife.

The couple from Bulandshahr district had sought directions to the police and Hina's mother that they stopped harassing them.

The court made it clear that it was not disputing the contention of the petitioners counsel that the couple are adults and are at liberty to choose their partner and they cannot be deprived of their right to life and personal liberty as per the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution.

Nor difference in age is an issue, the court said, adding, What is disturbing is that the instrument of instant divorce (triple talaq) has been used for ulterior purpose (by the man) for divorcing his wife... Justice Kumar said.

The purpose of law in a modern, secular state... is to bring about social change.

The Muslim community comprises a large percentage of the Indian population. Therefore, a large section of citizens, in particular women, cannot be left to be governed by archaic customs and social practices under the garb of personal law purportedly having divine sanction, the order observed.

All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) member Maulana Khalid Rasheed said they would be challenging the verdict in the apex court. The Supreme Court is already hearing another plea filed by Saira Bano, challenging three rules related to nikah  talaq-e-biddat, nikah halala and a mans right to have four wives.
Varinder Singh & Bharat Khanna

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, December 8

The Sarbat Khalsa-appointed jathedars today ex-communicated Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Badal.

Parallel jathedars Dhian Singh Mand, Amrik Singh Ajnala and Baljit Singh Daduwal and SAD (A) chief Simranjit Singh Maan announced their decision on the social media after they were detained by the police at Singhpura village (Haryana) and Peonan Pujarian villages (Punjab) at around 12 noon. They were not allowed to proceed to the Sarbat Khalsa venue  Natt road in Talwandi Sabo.

Sikh activists organised a protest at Khanda Chowk in Talwandi Sabo seeking their release. The police were forced to bring the leaders to Khanda Chowk and release them there. Mand and Daduwal again announced their decision to ex-communicate the Badals.

They exhorted the Sikhs not to have any roti, beti ki saanjh (relations of food and daughters) with Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal.

They held the duo responsible for 85 cases of desecration of Guru Granth Sahib apart from being accused in the killing of two innocent Sikh youths in the Behbal Kalan police firing.

SAD (Amritsar) general secretary Kushal Pal Singh Mann claimed that in violation of human rights and Article 19 and 21 of the Constitution, the Punjab Police had arrested more than 4,000 Sikhs.

He alleged that Akali goons in connivance with the Punjab Police had brutally beaten up three innocent aged Sikhs at Bhagi Vandar village near Maur Mandi today.

The police conducted raids on the houses of Sikhs across the state. There was an imposition of an undeclared emergency, especially in Mansa and Bathinda districts, said Mann.

Inspector General SK Asthana denied the allegations of police high-handedness and said all preventive measures were taken only to ensure peace.

Mand said, There have been over 85 cases of desecration of Guru Granth Sahib and the killing of two Sikh protesters at Behbal Kalan.
Sarbjit Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 8

There is a lot of hue and cry in the countryside as even the Cooperative Milk Producer Societies are not getting their due payment against the milk supplied to the milk plants of the Punjab State Cooperative Milk Producers Federation (Milkfed).

Even after 30 days of demonetisation, people continue to face a lot of problems due to cash crunch in banks.

Besides the cash crunch, the restrictions imposed on the banks for payment by the Reserve Bank of India has become a stumbling block in the payment to the cooperative milk producer societies.

There are about 2 lakh members of these societies which supply about 15 lakh litres of milk daily to various milk plants working under the overall management of the Milkfed. The Milkfed deposits the money in various branches of the cooperative banks for further payment to milk producer societies.

We are depositing about Rs 47 crore after every 10 days with the cooperative banks for payment to milk producer societies supplying milk to various plants. At our level, there is no delay in the payment, said Amarjit Singh, Chairman of Milkfed.

On being asked in this connection, Jasbir Singh of the Batlana milk producer society said, There are problems as each society has single account in the cooperative banks, which cannot pay more than Rs 24,000 to a society per week because of the restriction imposed by the RBI. There are two societies in our village with a total member more than 50. Members supply milk worth Rs 3 lakh in 10 days but they get about Rs 48,000 per week from the bank due to controlled payment of cash by the banks.

Now, we are opening the accounts of all members separately and then a resolution will be given to the bank to put the payment into the account of each milk supplier separately, he added.

Narrating a similar story, Bikram Singh of the Gige Majra society said, We should get about Rs 1.2 lakh after 10 days as payment of the milk from the bank. But we get just Rs 90,000.

Jasbir Kaur of the Dharmgarh Society said milk producers were facing problems due to inadequate flow of cash.

Former chairman of the Mohali milk plant Parminder Singh Chalaki said, The milk sector is in trouble due to cash crunch. Milk producers have to spend a lot of money to procure cattle feed, but due to inadequate payment they are unable to give proper feed to their livestock.

The state government should take up this issue with the RBI. All restrictions imposed on cooperative sector banks should be removed because these have put the rural economy in doldrums, he said.
Kulwinder Sandhu

Tribune News Service

Moga, December 8

Eying the Assembly elections, SAD and BJP leaders spoke in one voice over the riverwaters issue at the mega rally here today. Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today lashed out at the Gandhi family, blaming it for the 1984 attack on the Golden Temple, probably to woo back the traditional Sikh vote bank.

Asking PPCC chief Capt Amarinder Singh to stop day-dreaming, he claimed, The coming elections will prove to be Congress Waterloo in Punjab. We are confident of forming the next government and ruling the state for another 15 years.

Local Akali stalwart and Agriculture Minister Jathedar Tota Singh said Punjabs underground water table was falling. With 14 lakh tubewells, the farmers of Punjab are feeding the nation, making the maximum contribution to the central pool. We fear the states land may turn unproductive in years to come if more water is given to other states, he said.

State BJP president and Union Minister Vijay Sampla said: Punjab provides food to the whole nation. Protecting the states riverwaters is therefore in the interest of the country. Health Minister Surjit Kumar Jyani (BJP) lashed out at the previous governments for giving away states waters to Rajasthan and Haryana.

Despite having given water to Rajasthan, Punjabis do not have the right to purchase land there. Had the Punjabis been allowed to do so, our hard-working farmers would have turned the barren land fertile, he said.

Moga rally: Akalis paint the town blue

On the sidelines
Neha Saini

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 8

SAARC countries are keen to strengthen trade with India by overcoming their internal challenges, said delegates at PITEX, organised by PHDCCI, today. SAARC members were of the opinion that the South East Asia was a consumer market with India a major player in it.

The five-day trade expo attempts to bring biggest buyers and sellers from across the countries on a single platform for direct trade collaboration.

Being at the confluence of trade routes connecting SAARC members, India is a natural trading partner for the South Asian countries. Despite this, our trade is remarkably low with them, said RS Sachdeva, co-chairman, Punjab committee, PHDCCI.

According to the South Asia Monitor, Indias trade with the SAARC members was three per cent of the countrys total trade with the rest of the world. Therefore, with a view to boost the intra-regional trade, we organised the Reverse Buyer Seller Meet (RBSM) supported by the Union Ministry of Commerce, Sachdeva added.

Speaking on increasing cooperation, Asela Livera, deputy president of National Chamber of Sri Lanka, said, There is a big potential for high quality and high-end products from Sri Lanka while we look for the ayurveda and its learning from our Indian counterparts.

According to Hassib Rahimi, CEO, Kabul Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Afghanistan expects expertise and technology from India. Also, the recent change in the government policy has made Afghanistan more centred towards the economy. Kabul is looking to ink agreements with Indian companies in the field of agro-industries and food processing.

Similarly, Kesang Wangi, deputy secretary general, Bhutan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said Bhutans import of edible products to heavy machinery from India in lieu of hydel power could open more trade avenues.

With its open door policy for promoting direct foreign investment, Bangladesh is looking forward to enhance collaboration, partnership and cooperation for trade and investment.

We want to establish 100 special economic zones where investors can target both domestic and export markets, said Mohd Abu Naser, director, Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Kulwinder Sandhu/ Varinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Moga, December 8

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday launched Pani Bachao, Punjab Bachao rally, on the SYL Canal issue, on Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badals 90th birthday at Kili Chahal village in Moga district.

Seeking a referendum of people of Punjab on the contentious river waters issue, the top SAD leadership vowed to go to the extent of sacrificing their lives to save Punjab waters.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

The SAD has also made it clear that Punjabs river waters would be its biggest poll plank in the 2017 Assembly elections.

The party projected itself as the biggest saviour of Punjabs interests particularly, the river waters.

Interestingly, the BJPs Punjab unit stood rock sold behind the SAD on river water issue notwithstanding, the different tunes being sung by the partys Haryana unit.

The rally, however, did not see any participation of the central leadership of the BJP.

The participation of the BJP workers was minimal and there were no banners of the BJP inside the rally venue.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said protecting Punjabs water was one of the biggest issues facing them. The economy of Punjab is dependent on agriculture and agriculture is dependent on water, which is very essential to be protected at any cost, he said.

Referring to the riparian laws, he said that Punjab had the sole right on its river waters.

Rajasthan and Haryana must be thankful to Punjab for the water being given to them already rather than demanding more water, Badal said.

He also lashed out at Capt Amarinder for giving resignation from Lok Sabha on the SYL issue, claiming that he resigned because he was likely to contest the Assembly elections.

He said it was a historic decision of his government to hand over the SYL land back to its owners.

We will not allow the digging of the SYL Canal. We are ready for any sacrifice, he said.

He cautioned the people not to go by the words of AAP and Congress leaders.

They will force you to pay more taxes. They will snatch free power supply to agriculture, therefore you must be cautious, Badal said.

Terming it a historic day, SAD president and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal said Punjab will not share even a single drop of water with other states.

He lashed out at the previous Congress governments for the injustice done to Punjab by snatching its waters. Lakhs of people have signed a petition against SYL and we will soon meet the President in this regard to save Punjab, he said.

He also lambasted the Gandhi family for attacking the Golden Temple and demanded an apology from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi for terming the youth drug addicts

The gathering, which was 40,0000 to 45,000 at the start of the rally, rose to almost 85,000 near the end.

Sukhbir also asked Capt Amarinder Singh to stop day dreaming and said: We will again form the government and rule the state for 25 years.

Sukhbir forgot to congratulate his father on his birthday while all other party leaders congratulated him.

Bikram Majithia was not given time to address the rally.
Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 8

A 48-year-old woman died after she was allegedly pushed by a bank guard outside the Punjab National Bank on Shingar cinema road on Thursday.

The deceased has been identified as Asha Rani, a resident of Charan Nagar on Tibba road. She had come to withdraw cash from the bank.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Her son Parvinder said her mother had been visiting the bank from the past four days but due to the rush or lack of cash was not able to withdraw money.

Read more: Currency ban takes toll: 11 dead in 28 days

Today she was standing in the queue since morning. There was a huge rush outside the bank. The bank guard allegedly pushed her when she tried to enter the bank. She fell down near the main door of the bank and fell unconscious, Parvinder said.

He said that all family members immediately reached the spot and rushed her to a nearby private hospital where doctors refused to admit her, citing her serious condition. She was later rushed to the CMC Hospital where doctors declared her brought dead.

Following her death, her kin brought her body back outside the bank and blocked the Shingar cinema road.

Protest was on outside the bank for over two hours.

Shutter of the bank was closed. Some bank staff is also reportedly inside the bank.

Sources said the bank manager also came out to pacify the crowd but he also faced the wrath of the public.

Family members said they would not take the body for post mortem examination till the police took action against the guilty bank guard.

Till the filing of this report, the road is still blocked.

Sources said the marriage of the womans daughter was due on February 28.
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, December 8

Matra Sadan founder Swami Shivanand Saraswati today accused Chief Minister Harish Rawat of turning a blind eye to the quarrying mafia. The Chief Minister appears to be least bothered about the holy Ganga, as he has not taken steps to rein in illegal quarrying, he said.

Shivanand, while addressing mediapersons at the ashram at Jagjeetpur village here, said the state government was not following the order of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) that had prohibited quarrying on the Ganga riverbed and directed stone crushers to settle at a distance of at least 5 km from the Ganga.

He flayed Harish Rawats statement wherein he maintained that quarrying had been going on since the tenure of the previous BJP government led by Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank. Rawat, instead of indulging in the blame game, should follow the CPCB directives, he said.

The district administration gave quarrying permits recently, though for a brief period, but that cant be done without the permission of the state government. Chief Minister Harish Rawat should look into the matter. Illegal quarrying on a large scale has been going on in the district, said Shivanand.

He said Section 5 of the Environment Protection Act that came into effect during the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre under Rajiv Gandhi. He asked Harish Rawat to follow the norms religiously that were introduced by his party.

Meanwhile, the Stone Crushers Association has opposed prohibition on quarrying on the Ganga riverbed and also the CPCB directive that forces them to relocate at a place 5 km from the holy river.

Association president Nishant Bhairav said they had been following rules but Matra Sadan was misleading the administration and the media. Thousands of people will get affected if total prohibition on quarrying is imposed. Uttarakhand will also suffer as illegal quarrying will mushroom through the mafia based in Uttar Pradesh, which want a ban on quarrying in Uttarakhand so that they can supply construction material at a higher price, he maintained.
New Delhi, December 8

A special court today directed Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat to vacate his government bungalow at 9 Teen Murti Lane here by December 27.

District judge Amar Nath did not accept Rawats plea seeking a stay on an eviction order passed by the Centre, asking him to vacate his type-VII bungalow where he was staying before becoming the Chief Minister.

He approached the court after he was given an alternative accommodation at Rouse Avenue, saying it was not fit for residing as it was in a dilapidated condition.

However, when the matter came up for hearing, the Centre said since Rawat was not willing to shift to Rouse Avenue, he has been given another option at Purana Quila Road under the state quota which was not opposed by him.

Taking note of the Centres submission, the court said, The appellant (Rawat) shall vacate the subject premises (Teen Murti Marg residence) on or before December 27 positively subject to satisfying the conditions with regard to the newly-allotted bungalow at Purana Quila Road such as the newly-allotted accommodation under the state quota. Noting Rawats earlier submission that the guesthouse available with the state government at Uttarakhand Niwas has been declared abandoned and was under the demolition scheme, the court said he may retain the new accommodation till the time he is the Chief Minister or the construction of Uttarakhand Bhawan, whichever is earlier.

... In any case of failure to hand over the actual physical possession of the subject premises by December 27, the respondent (Union Government) shall be entitled to get possession by use of force as may be necessary, it said.

Rawat had approached the court seeking stay on the governments order directing him to the vacate type-VII bungalow at Teen Murti Marg, which was allotted to him in the capacity of Union minister in 2009.

However, after the 15th Lok Sabha dissolved, he was allowed to retain the residence for two years under the state quota till June 1, 2016.

Later, he was asked to vacate that bungalow as it was cancelled due to expiry of the retention period. To replace that, he was given a residence at Rouse Avenue, which was not fit for residing as it was in a dilapidated condition, the petitioner said.

During the hearing, the resident commissioner informed the court that Rawat has been allotted a new accommodation on the Purana Quila Road under the state quota. PTI
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, December 8

Chief Minister Harish Rawat today said it was difficult to do analysis of the history of Tehri, which on one hand has an aspect of royal family, while on other the contribution of the people of this region towards Independence movement is immense.

The Chief Minister was addressing the gathering after releasing Tehri Katora Bhar Yaad Aur Uday book authored by Sheeshpal Gusain. Harish Rawat said the famous Prajamandal that raised the concerns of ordinary Tehri inhabitants was another key factor linked to Tehri. He said the sacrifice of Sridev Suman for the betterment of common people can never be forgotten. Recalling his early association with personalities of Tehri, the Chief Minister said he used to attentively listen to the speeches of Govind Singh Negi in the Lucknow state Assembly.

The Chief Minister also honoured eight personalities of Tehri, five of them posthumously. Among those honoured freedom fighter Paripurnanand Painuily, Kamla Rangad and Radha Ratudi.

Among those honoured posthumously included Capt Shooveer Singh Panwar, Trepan Singh Negi, Govind Singh Negi, Khushal Singh Rangad and Acharya Gopeshwar Kothiyal. The scroll of honour was received by family members of these personalities.

Freedom fighter and former MP Paripurnanand Painuily recalled Tehri uprising against the feudal kingship. Author of the book Sheeshpal Singh Gusain present that intiatlly he wanted to release the book on December 29, the day Tehri got founded but had to pre- pone his plans as elections notification could take place by then.

Former IAS officer Chandra Singh, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Gambhir Singh, historian and writer Jay Singh Rawat, Vinod Uniyal, Ravindra Jugran and large number of personalities were present on the occasion.
Wellington, December 8

New Zealand Finance Minister Bill English is set to be confirmed as the countrys next leader after both his competitors for the prime ministership dropped out of the race on Thursday.

Health Minister Jonathan Coleman and Police Minister Judith Collins both conceded the race as it became clear that English had the support of the 59-member caucus.

English said the swift agreement within the ruling centre-right National Party on a new leader would help the government ensure a smooth transition following John Keys surprise resignation earlier this week.

Its going to allow us as a government to re-set, look forward and provide New Zealand with good government after John Key, English said in New Zealands distinctive Beehive Parliament building in the capital, Wellington.

English, who thirteen years ago oversaw a disastrous election loss for the National Party to the centre-left Labour Party, takes the reins of a country in good economic shape compared to much of the developed world.

He will be formally named the PM at a caucus meeting on Monday.  Reuters
Jerusalem, December 8

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday talked over the phone with France's President Francois Hollande, declining his invitation to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris in December.

A statement released by the Prime Minister's Office said Netanyahu agrees to meet Abbas but not in the framework of the international peace conference that France tries to advance, Xinhua news agency reported.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

"Netanyahu told Hollande that if there was no international conference in Paris, he would meet Abbas for direct talks without preconditions," the statement read.

"Israel will not participate in the international conference, which would not contribute to achieving peace," the statement added.

Israel has repeatedly rejected the French initiative, calling instead for direct talks.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Palestinian presidency announced that it has not received an official invitation for a trilateral meeting.

IANS
Oslo, December 8

A Norwegian court sentenced a 66-year-old man to eight years in prison on Thursday for inciting dozens of children in Norway and the Philippines to commit sex acts on Skype, media reports said.

The man was found guilty of having sent money to a family in the Philippines in exchange for organising sex acts between children, some of whom were under the age of 14. The scenes were filmed live on Skype.

He knew that the underage victims and their families were poor, and as such dependent on the money he paid for these sex acts, a court in the western town of Bergen found, Norwegian public broadcaster NRK reported.

The man, who lives off of disability benefits in Bergen, also passed himself off as a teenager on various internet communications services, in order to trick young Norwegians and win their trust so they would undress in front of a webcam.

The man partially confessed to the crimes.

The prosecution, which claimed there were a total of 20 victims in the Philippines and 42 in Norway, had called for a prison sentence of eight years, which the court handed down.  AFP
Washington, December 8

In a sharp attack on Pakistan, the US today asserted that the country needs to make a "historic shift" to stop providing safe havens to terrorists who destabilise Afghanistan, threaten American soldiers and target India.

US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said it is important that Pakistan does not continue to offer or provide a place for those who destabilise Afghanistan, those who threaten American service members in Afghanistan and other coalition service members or those who support terrorist groups, including those that target India.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

"It is important that Pakistan recognises, as we've all said to them -- I have said to their leaders for some time now that kind of terrorism poses a principal strategic danger to the Pakistani state," Carter told reporters travelling with him to New Delhi from Japan.

"That's an historic shift. It would require a historic shift in their focus. I hope they're making that focus over time," he said.

Striking a similar tone, the US State Department said it has voiced concern to the Pakistani leadership over the country's tolerance of terror safe havens for Afghan Taliban groups like the dreaded Haqqani Network.

"We have consistently expressed our concerns to the highest levels of Government of Pakistan about their continued tolerance for Afghan Taliban groups such as the Haqqani Network operating from Pakistan soil," State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner told reporters.

"We continue to encourage the Government of Pakistan and Afghanistan, rather -- both governments to cooperate in their counter-terrorism operations and efforts because that's only going to contribute to regional stability," Toner said in response to a question.

Toner's remarks came days after India and Afghanistan hit out at an isolated Pakistan at the Heart of Asia conference for sponsoring and supporting terrorism and called for "resolute action" against terrorists as well as their masters.

Short of naming Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his inaugural address at the Heart of Asia meet had said, "The growing arc of terrorist violence endangers our entire region. As such, support for voices of peace in Afghanistan alone is not enough."

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had accused Pakistan of launching an "undeclared war" against his country by covertly supporting terror networks including the Taliban. PTI
Washington, December 8

The US on Wednesday marked the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii that claimed more than 2,400 American lives.

As many as 2,403 Americans were killed and about 20 US vessels were sunk or damaged and over 300 US aircrafts were damaged or destroyed when over 350 Japanese warplanes launched attacks stealthily, Xinhua reported.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

The attack came as a shock to the Americans and directly led to US entry into World War II.

On August 6, 1945, the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Another US nuclear strike was launched on the Japanese city of Nagasaki three days later. Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945.

As the Americans were mourning the colossal loss inflicted by the Japanese, the news came that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would visit the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor at the end of December.

However, observers said that Abe was not expected to apologise for the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Abe's decision to visit Pearl Harbor came about six months after Obama visited Japan's Hiroshima early this year.

Apart from reciprocating Obama's visit to Hiroshima, Abe's upcoming trip to Pearl Harbor was believed to be the latest step by the Japanese government to strengthen the Japan-US alliance before US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration next January.

IANS
Image: Haldex

UPDATE: On Thursday, Dec. 8, the House passed the Continuing Resolution that contains the hours-of-service fix sought by trucking interests, according to Politico.com. The stopgap spending bill passed 326-96. When it will be passed by the Senate is uncertain because Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) are fighting for Republican assent to a longer extension of expiring benefits for coal miners. If the Senate falls to act by the end of Dec.9, there could be a brief shutdown of the federal government that would last over the weekend.

Special legislation, in the form of a Continuing Resolution, introduced in Congress in hopes of averting a year-end government shutdown contains language that would permanently fix the glitch in previous legislation that threatened the use of a 34-hour restart as part of the hours-of-service rule for truck drivers.

The specific provision within the Continuing Resolution (H.R. 2028) requires that DOT follow the existing 34-hour restart Hours of Service rule for truck drivers to ensure continuity in federal rest regulations, should the report on the rule (mandated in prior Acts) not meet the criteria set by Congress.

The problem stemmed from a policy rider attached to a bill last year that was so poorly written it inadvertently added requirements to a Department of Transportation study on the effectiveness of the restart provisions. That study had been mandated earlier by Congress. The problematic legislation excised language on which HOS rule would apply if the goals to be weighed by the study were not met.

Because of the legislative glitch, if the DOT study which is still underway-- finds that some restrictions on the restart imposed by DOT in 2013 do not provide specific health and safety benefits to drivers, the entire restart, not just the restrictions, could be eliminated. Those restrictions were suspended while the DOT performs the study.

Earlier this year, trucking advocates had pushed for Congress to simply restore the 2005 restart rules, which allow unlimited use of the restart provision and do not require two 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. periods in any restart, as was called for in the 2011 rule.

The American Trucking Associations welcomed word of the new measure. ATA thanks Congress for including what should be a permanent fix to the hours-of-service restart in this Continuing Resolution, and we look forward to its final passage into law to resolve this issue, said ATA President and CEO Chris Spear.

Reverting back to the pre-July 2013 restart shifts the emphasis back to safety by removing flawed data from the rulemaking process, he added. The entire industry will now be able to comply with this rule thanks to a common sense approach championed by a bipartisan group of legislators.

House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) said he introduced the Continuing Resolution to prevent a government shutdown and continue funding for federal programs and services until April 28, 2017. This legislation is just a band aid, but a critical one, Rogers said in a Dec. statement. It will give the next Congress the time to complete the annual Appropriations process, and in the meantime, take care of immediate national funding needs.

It is expected that the House will try to pass the measure on Dec. 8 and the Senate will act on it the next day.
Santas Law Suits are finding homes as the holiday season nears.

The law suits are clothing items donated by the legal community and others to support people interviewing for jobs and often their first days on the job.

The 2016 drive ends Dec. 16. The Tulsa County Bar Association, 1446 S. Boston Ave., is a designated drop-off site.

The first batch of clothing was distributed Monday. A second is scheduled in two weeks.

Ashley R. Webb with the Riggs Abney Law Firm and chair of the Tulsa County Bar Foundation Community Action Committee said the 2016 drive is receiving a lot of support.

Clean, used clothing items are taken to various groups for distribution, he said. The Women In Recovery program has embraced the committees support and appreciates the opportunity to help those needing help with business clothing.

Mens professional clothing items are taken to the John 3:16 Mission and the Phoenix Rising Alternative School, which was added this year.

We had tuxedos donated and set them aside for the school, Webb said.

Students need the items to participate in more formal functions available through the school. Tulsa Public Schools and Office of Juvenile Affairs work together to help students, who need slacks to wear to school and other functions.

Administrator Lindsay Goldfarb and the staff are thrilled with the foundations support. Sometimes the parents receive clothing so they can attend their childrens school activities.

Phoenix Cleaners has donated clothing that has been unclaimed for a year, Webb said, and refers people wanting to donate clothing to the foundation. Many people call during the year about donations.

Park Plaza Church of Christ has an outreach ministry that distributes professional mens clothing, utilizing some of the clothing donated to that organization by the foundation.
Oklahoma is almost certain to have at least one damaging earthquake in the next five years, with heightened risks of a large quake probable to endure for a decade even with declining the frequency, according to an author of research modeling the states man-made quakes.

Stanford geophysicist Cornelius Langenbruch points out his and a colleagues recent study also further solidifies the clear relation between wastewater injection volumes and earthquake rates.

For example, the study highlights that the seismic energy released in the past eight years of record saltwater disposal volumes from oil and natural gas production is equivalent to more than 1,900 years of naturally occurring energy.

In another finding, the number of quakes outside two large areas of interest that feature the high disposal volumes is generally consistent with tectonic background activity Oklahoma historically experiences. Combined, the study says, those two areas of interest contain almost all recent earthquakes.

The peer-reviewed study published online recently in Science Advances offers welcome news: The states seismicity should return to its typical background levels with the regulatory cap on injection volumes. But effects from years of putting so much saltwater into deep disposal wells will be felt by Oklahomans for several more years.

Langenbruch, who authored the research paper with fellow Stanford geophysicist Mark Zoback, spoke with the Tulsa World by telephone. He said elevated risks will remain in the earthquake zone in the next five to 10 years for a quake capable of inflicting damage to buildings, not ruling out the possibility for multiple large temblors.

The states 180-day moving average of magnitude-2.8 or greater quakes peaked at approximately 4.5 per day in summer 2015, tailing off to about 2.3 a day this fall.

It is very important to note that the earthquake rates are not low, they are really high compared to what has been observed prior to 2009, Langenbruch said. So it means that the probability of potentially damaging earthquakes in the next five to 10 years is still high compared to what has been observed in the past.

Notably, Langenbruch said the studys parameters allow for the prediction or quantification of earthquake probabilities based on planned injection volumes. Or in other words, the study offers a model to regulate injection levels based on whatever is deemed to be an acceptable level of induced-seismicity risk.

The model predicts a 37 percent chance in 2017 for Oklahoma to experience a quake that exceeds magnitude-5.0. The Pawnee area is at a much higher risk after a state-record 5.8 in September, with a 58 percent probability to exceed a 5.0 and 7 percent chance to surpass a 5.8.

Wastewater regulatory cap should be enough

Two Oklahoma Corporation Commission directives in the spring imposed a cap on injection volumes in a 15,000-square-mile region of interest at 40 percent below 2014s output. A combination of the depressed energy market and the regulatory restrictions have achieved that reduction.

The mandated disposal rate in the region of interest after May remains almost twice as high as 2009 levels, which the study pegged as the start of the sequence of induced seismicity. But because those volumes now are spread throughout a region twice as large as in 2009, the average injection volume per unit area is similar to that of 2009.

On a large scale, we think this 40 percent reduction should be enough, Langenbruch said. But on a local scale, things might look different.

He explained that the pressure increase in the underground from years of disposing vast saltwater volumes into deep wells is slowing but remains high. On a local level, fluid injection especially close to a critically stressed and optimally aligned fault might present a greater risk than the quake zone as a whole.

For that reason, Langenbruch said, its key to gather better data on underground pressures to begin effectively addressing seismicity from a localized standpoint  perhaps even by individual well. The states crystalline basement is laced with pre-existing faults poised to slip when pressures generated by the wastewater touch them. The majority are small but some are quite large, he said, and many are unknown or havent been mapped.

Maybe these faults can be mapped, but right now were not sure, Langenbruch said. These faults could be everywhere.

A prime example is demonstrated by the record Pawnee quake on Sept. 3. The magnitude-5.8s aftershocks revealed an unknown fault and prompted amended disposal well restrictions in the area.

Langenbruch said he believes the pressure is still spreading outward. However, the pressure far away from the disposal wells is very low, meaning its not as likely to trigger fault slips, he said.

I dont think (the earthquake zone) will get significantly bigger unless there are other places in Oklahoma where the injection rates are now significantly increased, Langenbruch said.

The study notes that before 2009 the state averaged about one magnitude-3.0 or greater quake each year. In 2015 there were about 900 of those size quakes  by far Oklahomas record.

The authors offered a caveat that forecasting the earthquake hazard is difficult, and their study isnt a final and reliable seismic hazard model for the state. But the model yields promise as a scientifically valid tool to manage man-made quakes.

The good thing is that I think finally everybody understands that seismic hazards have to be mitigated in Oklahoma, and everyone is working together, Langenbruch said.
Trial proceedings for the second man charged in a 2013 quadruple homicide will be shortened Friday so both sides can discuss the admissibility of information from a jailhouse informant who said the defendant admitted to being involved in the killings.

Two witnesses testified for the state Thursday in the case against 43-year-old Cedric Poore, who is accused in the Jan. 7, 2013, shooting deaths of twin sisters Rebeika Powell and Kayetie Powell Melchor; Misty Nunley, 33; and Julie Jackson, 55, at Powells home at the Fairmont Terrace apartments at 61st Street and Peoria Avenue.

About five witnesses are expected to take the stand on Friday before District Judge Kurt Glassco presides over arguments during the afternoon about statements Poore made to police and about a jail inmate who says Poore talked about his role in the killings.

According to District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler, the informant had a recent interview with a detective during which he discussed Poore, whom he apparently called CDP, and Poores involvement in the case.

Defense attorney Mike Manning disputed the allegations in court Thursday evening, asserting that the informant is not credible. John David Echols, another of Poores attorneys, previously told the Tulsa World his client was never inside the apartment where the women were killed.

Kunzweiler said after the hearing that although he generally discourages the use of jailhouse informants, he wants to find out more about the claims.

Theres a lot of information about this case thats already in the public square, and it wouldnt be too difficult for somebody to read a paper or watch TV and claim they had a conversation with the defendant, he said.

He added, however, that he wants to perform due diligence to determine the informants credibility.

Crime scene testimony: Retired Tulsa Police Department crime scene Detective Mark Robinson spent several hours on the stand Thursday, describing the crime as it appeared in crime scene photographs.

Robinson also testified for the prosecution in the March trial of Poores brother, James Poore, who was charged as a co-defendant in the slayings and was convicted by a jury March 14.

James Poore was sentenced May 2 to life without parole in prison on each of four murder counts and life in custody on two counts of robbery with a firearm, charges that Cedric Poore also faces.

Robinson said Thursday that the womens bodies were found on a bed, against the bed or, in Powells case, partially underneath it.

He said the women had their hands tied behind their backs with materials apparently obtained from the bedroom of Powells son, and they had been shot in the backs of their heads. He noted that each of the womens pockets was turned inside out and that multiple dresser drawers were empty or mostly empty.

He said a red purse and a pink makeup bag had been emptied of their contents in the bedroom.

Joshua Lanter, the medical examiner who performed the womens autopsies, also testified Thursday about the gunshot wounds on each woman.

Mother cant watch trial: Before Robinson began his testimony, Glassco decided to sequester Charon Powell  the mother of Rebeika Powell and Kayetie Powell Melchor  after he learned Wednesday afternoon that she had interacted with a juror. As a result, Charon Powell cannot observe the trial or spend time on the same floor as Glasscos courtroom while the trial is being held.

On Wednesday, Glassco said his bailiff had informed him that Charon Powell had asked a juror if she could borrow a cellphone. Defense attorney Kirsten Bernhardt reported to the court that she saw Charon Powell apologize to the juror after seeing the jurors badge and that a victim advocate quickly separated her from the juror.

Glassco opted not to excuse the juror from the panel on Thursday, but on Wednesday he said future such errors could result in a mistrial that would be logged against the state. Kunzweiler asked Glassco on Wednesday evening to invoke the rule of sequestration on Charon Powell, citing the importance of not having his case compromised in any way.

Echols opposed the request, saying he believes that Charon Powell  who watched James Poores trial  has a right to watch the proceedings involving Cedric Poore.
Months ago, when Salvation Army Capt. Ken Chapman was planning a 66-mile walk up and down Route 66 to raise funds and awareness for homelessness, he had no idea an arctic front would be blowing through the area.

Though, on Wednesday, about six hours into his three-day trek, the leader of the Salvation Armys Tulsa Area Command said the cold hadnt been too bad so far.

We pretty much work up a sweat while were walking, and when we stop for a little break and start over is when we feel the cold, Chapman said.

Chapman and two Salvation Army associates, Luke Swain and Isaiah Stegall, plan to walk 66 miles along Route 66 from Claremore, to Tulsa, to Sapulpa and back to Tulsa by Friday evening, Chapman said. Along the way, he hopes to raise awareness for Tulsas homeless population, as well as $66,000 to provide them services.

As of Wednesday afternoon, they had raised $11,000, spokeswoman DJ Morrow Ingram said.

The three began the walk at 8 a.m. at the Rogers County Courthouse in Claremore and stopped for lunch at the Blue Whale roadside attraction in Catoosa.

The goal was make it to the Salvation Army headquarters near 11th Street and Hudson Avenue, where they will sleep in refrigerator boxes before resuming the journey Thursday morning.

Swain and Stegall, who both previously have been homeless, said they joined Chapman to give him encouragement.

By 3 p.m. Wednesday, the trio had made it to east Tulsa near South 161st East Avenue.

Temperatures hung in the mid-30s and nearly frozen precipitation was falling in a light mist as they trudged along the two-lane highway. There were no sidewalks in sight.

The mission is to bring awareness that while everybody else is in their warm beds and (has) nice food, there are people that really struggle and have to walk the streets like this, Chapman said as he trekked along the road

Chapman is no stranger to doing stunts to raise awareness. When he served the Salvation Army in Jackson, Mississppi, he broke a Guinness World Record for constant-bell ringing when he surpassed 30 hours behind the red kettle.

He said he once stood on a three-story-high billboard and rang a Salvation Army bell for 36 hours in sub-freezing temperatures.

Despite those feats, Chapman believes the 66-mile walk will be tougher.

However, early on in his trek, he seemed to embrace the challenge, remarking the colder the better before he, Swain and Stegall continued the march, Salvation Army flag in hand.
OKLAHOMA CITY  Rep. Kevin Calvey on Thursday called for state Superintendent Joy Hofmeister to resign because she is facing criminal charges.

Calvey said Hofmeister admits in her own emails that she and others planned a massive, illegal dark money campaign against her 2014 Republican primary opponent, Janet Barresi, who was the incumbent in the states top education post.

Ms. Hofmeister is certainly entitled to the presumption of innocence in the criminal case against her, said Calvey, R-Oklahoma City. It is a firm principle of the American justice system that felony defendants be presumed innocent of the criminal charges against them.

But surely the standard for holding public office is higher than merely avoiding prison. Even if she is acquitted of the criminal charges, the indisputable evidence clearly shows Ms. Hofmeister, CCOSA (Cooperative Council for Oklahoma School Administration), and OEA (Oklahoma Education Association) conspired to violate campaign laws to get her elected. The citizens of Oklahoma and the children Ms. Hofmeister was elected to serve deserve better.

Calvey questioned whether legislators would trust Hofmeister to lead the states largest agency with the cloud of criminal charges looming.

The chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party called for Hofmeister to resign in November. She declined.

Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater has filed four charges against her stemming from her 2014 campaign. The public education leader is accused of violating campaign fundraising laws and conspiracy. Others were also charged.

Hofmeister has vowed to fight the charges.

She believes that she acted within the law during her campaign and as state superintendent, said Gary Wood, her attorney.

She is determined not to let political maneuvering distract her from her commitment to serve the children of Oklahoma, he said. She will not resign. She will continue to serve with integrity and dedication. She will respond to the charges in court, which is the appropriate place for her to fight these charges and defend her reputation.
One former PNM stalwart says there is only one fit to head the political entity and it's not
The acclaimed Pamela Rabe (Wentworth) will head the cast of a new comedy drama coming to iview in 2017.

F*cking Adelaide is a 6 part series about three close but disparate siblings who reunite in Adelaide. But when they discover their mother is selling their childhood home, their middle class freedoms and sense of security is rocked and they are forced to confront a past that none of them can let go of.

It also stars Tilda Cobham-Hervey (52 Tuesdays, Barracuda, The Kettering Incident, Hotel Mumbai), Kate Box (Rake, The Little Death), and Brendan Maclean (The Great Gatsby, Tracks). Each 12 minute episode is told through the point of view of one of the characters.

The project is written by Matthew Cormack and Matt Vesely and commissioned by the ABC and Screen Australia through their Long Story Short initiative, with additional funding from the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC).

The project from Closer Productions (52 Tuesdays, Life in Movement and Hannah Gadsbys Oz) is directed by Sophie Hyde, produced by Rebecca Summerton and Sophie Hyde.

Sophie Hyde said Its a total delight for me to work with this stunning ensemble cast and to be creating this funny, and at times heartbreaking series in our home-town and alongside the crew we know and trust. Its refreshing to reclaim the jokes about Adelaide and laugh at ourselves while utilising all the things we relish about this city and speaking to the experience of family and home. We are also thrilled to partnering with our investors to create work for ABCs ever more exciting digital platform ABC iview, which gives us the opportunity to be playful with the episodic form and allows audiences to watch whenever they want.

Said ABC Head of Comedy Rick Kalowski, F*cking Adelaide is one of the most innovative, sophisticated scripted shows ABC iview has yet commissioned, from one of the most talented production teams in the country. Were thrilled to continue our collaboration with Screen Australia Multiplatform, and to renew ours with The South Australian Film Corporation, with whom we hope to work frequently in the next few years.

The series is now shooting to mid-January on location in Adelaide and South Australia. All key creatives and Heads of Department are South Australian.

It will premiere on iview in 2017.
TEN yesterday made a rare statement about the proliferation about fake news that has become prevalent online, describing it as lies and deception.

At TENs Annual General Meeting yesterday, Chairman David Gordon said businesses should be held to account for the accuracy of the news they report.

His comments follow recent criticism of womens magazines by Nines Director of News, Darren Wick.

While it is true that much of our programming focusses on entertaining our audiences, we also have a public duty that comes with our role as a public broadcaster in a democratic state, Gordon said.

We have a duty in our news and current affairs programming to shine a light on the words and actions of our public figures and ensure that our community gets to hear and see the truth. Only armed with the truth can we all make informed decisions as to how we wish to exercise our most important choice of all: our democratic right to vote.

There have been times in world history when lies and propaganda have cast a shadow over the truth, and where good and decent citizens have been deluded into believing those lies and supporting regimes that then committed terrible acts of violence and evil, often against minorities or the disadvantaged.

As a modern, peace-loving society, we respect the human rights of all members of our community, we look after those less fortunate than ourselves, and we reject violence and oppression. And we have a right to expect to be told the truth, or if not that offenders will be held to the truth.

I believe that reputable media organisations such as ours have a fundamental duty to help deliver that outcome for our community.

The news and current affairs teams at TEN, and at other reputable media businesses throughout Australia, are professionals who work to an ethical standard that is founded on investigating and uncovering lies and deception.

We are there to hold our public figures to account and to provide context and clarity where there may be obfuscation, subjective omission or attempts to divert attention from the true issue (such as with an outrageous tweet), so that our community can form views and make decisions on an informed basis.

The work is neither simple nor obvious and relies on the professional skill and judgement of the journalist. We are not perfect, and occasionally we might err, but where we do we are held accountable by the regulator.

Fake news is just lies and deception by another name.

I believe that it is not acceptable that social media and other online businesses, some of the largest companies in the world with enormous resources, employing thousands of the smartest people, and accessing billions of citizens on this planet, can claim to be unable to monitor and ensure that the truth is delivered on their sites.

In my opinion, fake news is just lies and deception by another name.

In my opinion, our leaders are entitled to have a view on policy, but whether something is factually accurate or not should not be a matter of personal interpretation.

For those businesses, as for ours, nothing less than the truth should be acceptable. Moreso, given the size of their audiences, their global impact and the fact that they are almost entirely unregulated, we should hold them to an even higher standard.

If they choose to be media businesses, as they have, then they have a responsibility to their stockholders, to their employees, to their advertisers and to all of us  and we should all hold them accountable.

He also reiterated TENs push for lower licence fees from the government, as part of a broader industry campaign.

Australian television networks pay far more than any other free-to-air broadcasters in the world, despite having the heaviest local content obligations, he said.

We pay 115 times more than in the US, where broadcasters pay 0.06% of revenue. In the UK, broadcasters pay 0.18% of revenue, which covers spectrum access and a licence fee.

We should be paying no more than 0.18% of gross revenue

Given the similarities that exist between the market here and the UK, particularly in relation to the level of local content obligation, we strongly believe that the UK is the single best and most fitting model for us to adopt in Australia. On that basis, we should be paying no more than 0.18% of gross revenue. Our current rate is almost 20 times higher.

In all comparable markets around the world, governments proactively reduced or abolished television licence fees years ago because they recognised that the competitive environment for broadcasting has changed completely with the rise of alternative delivery platforms for video content. They recognised that unless they acted, free broadcasting services, and the volume of local production they generated, would be threatened.

When Australias licence fee regime was introduced in the 1950s, free-to-air spectrum granted exclusive access to television sets in lounge rooms across the country.

Clearly, that is no longer the case. Our television sets and other devices are crowded with content and services from many different players including the global powerhouses such as Netflix and Apple.
Militants launched 20 attacks on positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in ATO area in Donbas over the past day.

This is reported by the ATO press center.

As noted, in Mariupol direction, the enemy used 120mm mortars to fire at Shyrokyne (20km east of Mariupol) and 82mm mortars to fire at Krasnohorivka (29 km west of Donetsk). Ukrainian positions in Slavne (25km south-west of Donetsk) and Pavlopol (30 km northeast of Mariupol) came under grenade launcher and small arms fire.

In Donetsk direction, the terrorists used 152mm and 122mm artillery to shell Vodiane (16km north-west of Donetsk), while 120mm and 82mm mortars were used to launch attacks on Verkhniotoretske (22km north-east of Donetsk).

ol
Ivano-Frankivsk mayor Ruslan Martsynkiv signed a cooperation agreement with Portuguese city of Braga.

He posted this on his Facebook page.

"We signed a cooperation agreement with Portuguese city of Braga," he wrote.

The agreement was signed by Ivano-Frankivsk mayor and president of the municipality Rio Ricardo. The official ceremony of signing took place in the City Hall of Braga during the Ukrainian Week. Negotiations on cooperation lasted long enough. Both sides are interested in the development of economic cooperation and tourism. The Portuguese side believes that Ivano-Frankivsk is attractive enough for foreign investment.

ol
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2016 has doubled the budget of technical assistance to Ukraine for the reform of financial sector within the financial sector transformation program.

This is reported by the press service of the National Bank of Ukraine following the results of meeting of NBU governor Valeria Gontareva with USAID Mission Director to Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova Susan Fritz. The parties discussed the current projects of technical assistance.

According to Fritz, USAID has doubled the budget of technical assistance to Ukraine within the financial sector transformation program compared with the previous year. The total budget of the program now is $23.2 million until 2020.

ol
Canada will insist in the OSCE that settlement of the conflict in Ukraine is possible only with respect for its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

This was reported by the press service of the Foreign Ministry of Canada on the eve of the Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Minister Dion will reaffirm Canadas continued support for Ukraine and press for a resolution to the conflict that fully respects Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity, including Crimea," the statement reads.

The Foreign Ministry added that "resolving the Ukraine crisis remains a matter of central importance to the OSCEs discussions and work."

ol
President Petro Poroshenko had a phone conversation with President-elect of Austria Alexander Van der Bellen and congratulated him on winning the presidential elections of December 4.

This has been reported by the press service of the Head of State.

Petro Poroshenko noted that he shared the position of the President-elect regarding the importance of maintaining strong European Union for the sake of peace and stability of Europe in general and Ukraine in particular.

The President urged Alexander Van der Bellen to continue the EUs consolidated policy regarding Russian aggression against territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine.

The President expressed hope for constructive cooperation in the framework of the OSCE in the course of Austrias presidency in 2017.

ish
The renewed membership of both houses of the U.S. Congress will retain strong bipartisan support for Ukraine.

Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsyntsadze said this in a commentary to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"I have no reason to believe that any change can occur in strong bipartisan support for Ukraine, which we have enjoyed over 2.5 years," she said.

Given the results of the already held meetings with US lawmakers in Washington, the Ukrainian official expressed confidence that "the support for Ukraine remains pressing issue for both old and new members of the Congress."

ol
Sanctions against Russia should not be lifted until it fulfills its obligations, and the conflict will not be solved until the Russian Federation withdraws its troops from the territory of our country.

Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin said this at the 23d session of the Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Hamburg on December 8, an Ukrinform correspondent reported from Germany.

"The conflict, which was provoked by Russia, will not be solved until Russia leaves not only Donbas but also the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, which remain an integral part of Ukraine," Klimkin said.

"The sanctions in response to the aggression should remain in force until Russia withdraws its troops from the Ukrainian land," the diplomat said.

ish
Delta IV WGS-8 Mission Overview



Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., (Dec. 7, 2016)  A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV rocket carrying the eighth installment of the Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) satellite for the United States Air Force lifted off from Space Launch Complex-37 Dec. 7 at 6:53 p.m. EDT. This is ULAs 11th launch in 2016 and the 114th successful launch since the company was formed in December 2006.



Thank you to the U.S. Air Force and industry team whose flawless execution enabled todays successful launch of the WGS-8 mission, said Laura Maginnis, ULA vice president of Custom Services. Last week ULA celebrated our anniversary and 10 years of 100% mission success. This evenings launch epitomizes why our customers continue to entrust ULA to deliver our nations most crucial space capabilities.



This mission was launched aboard a Delta IV Medium+ (5, 4) configuration Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) powered by one common booster core and four solid rocket motors built by Orbital ATK. The common booster core was powered by an RS-68A liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen engine producing 705,250 pounds of thrust at sea level. A single RL10B-2 liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen engine powered the second stage. The booster and upper stage engines are both built by Aerojet Rocketdyne. ULA constructed the Delta IV Medium+ (5,4) launch vehicle in Decatur, Alabama.



WGS-8, the second Block II Follow-on satellite, supports communications links in the X-band and Ka-band spectra. The WGS-8 satellite will be able filter and downlink up to 8.088 GHz of bandwidth. WGS satellites are an important element of a new high-capacity satellite communications system providing enhanced communications capability to our troops in the field.



The EELV program was established by the U.S. Air Force to provide assured access to space for Department of Defense and other government payloads. The commercially developed EELV program supports the full range of government mission requirements, while delivering on schedule and providing significant cost savings over the heritage launch systems.



With more than a century of combined heritage, United Launch Alliance is the nations most experienced and reliable launch service provider. ULA has successfully delivered more than 110 satellites to orbit that provide critical capabilities for troops in the field, aid meteorologists in tracking severe weather, enable personal device-based GPS navigation and unlock the mysteries of our solar system.



For more information on ULA, visit the ULA website at www.ulalaunch.com, or call the ULA Launch Hotline at 1-877-ULA-4321 (852-4321). Join the conversation at www.facebook.com/ulalaunch, twitter.com/ulalaunchand instagram.com/ulalaunch.
In a small remote village known as Las Salinas in the Dominican Republic, a number of children are born with a peculiar condition, and what makes it more peculiar is its high incidence. These children from this isolated village are born female but their sex changes as they grow up. They grow penises at puberty when they start to become boys. The village has attracted the attention of endocrinologist Dr. Julianne Imperato-McGinley who went there to investigate the case during the 1970s. These children are called guevedoces and their transformation is celebrated among the locals.

The word guevedoce is derived from a slang Spanish phrase huevo/guevo a los doce and literally translates to balls/penis at twelve, twelve being the age at which these children transform into males.

During the first few weeks of the fetus development, a baby is neither male nor female. But after eight weeks, the sex hormones come into play and if the baby carries XY chromosomes, the gonads become testicles and testosterone is released into a structure known as tubercle. The testosterone is then transformed into dihydro-testosterone, which in turn transforms the tubercle into a penis. And, if the baby carries XX chromosomes, then no dihydro-testosterone is created and so the tubercle becomes a clitoris. However, in the case of guevedoces, though the children posses Y-chromosome and have male internal organs, they appear female externally at birth and are raised as girls.

Advertisements

Dr. Julianne Imperato-McGinley, who was researching guevedoces, discovered that the reason these children were born female despite having XY chromosome was because they are deficient in an enzyme known as 5-alpha-reductase.

The aforementioned conversion of testosterone to dihydro-testosterone is done by an enzyme known as 5-alpha-reductase, which is absent among the guevedoces. The genetic mutation that causes the deficiency was passed down through generations and among themselves. 12 families out of 13 have at least one or more male who carries the mutation. However, being carriers doesnt necessarily mean all of them are affected. On an average, 1 out of 90 males is an affected carrier, and the rest are either not carriers or not affected.

When puberty sets in, the children get a second surge of testosterone to which the body responds and it changes their external anatomy into male.

Considering the number of children who are guevedoces, their transformation is seen as a common occurrence and is not seen as a cause for concern among villagers. They even celebrate the natural transformation of the child who was believed to be a girl into a boy and the child assumes a male role in the society. In many cases, though the child is brought up as a girl, the gender identity has always been male.

Advertisements

The high prevalence of 5-alpha-reductase deficiency in Las Salinas is thought to be because of founder effect or bottleneck effect, with the villagers being interrelated because they are geographically isolated and descending from an individual who carried the genetic mutation.

The founder effect is the lack of genetic variation among the population of a newly established, isolated or closed human settlement or community because of inbreeding. The bottleneck effect is the lack of genetic variation because of a sudden decrease in population due to natural disasters or genocide, leaving only the survivors to continue through next generations. The comparatively large number of people with 5-alpha-reductase deficiency could have been because of either of these two reasons along with their isolation geographically.

In 1974, Dr. Imperato-McGinley made an observation that guevedoces have small prostates, which led to the development of finasteride, a drug prescribed for benign enlargement of prostate and pattern baldness among men.

The observation was picked up by Roy Vagelos, the head of research at a multinational pharmaceutical giant, Merck. He began the research which led to the development of finasteride, a drug that can mimic the 5-alpha-reductase deficiency seen in guevedoces. The drug is prescribed to old men who suffer from benign enlargement of prostates.



[sources: bbc.com, wikipedia]
A group of refugee siblings, aged between six and 16, pose for a picture in Dungu, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in this February 2016 file photo. They had previously fled their home in South Sudan unaccompanied.  UNHCR/Colin Delfosse

GENEVA  Millions of girls and boys are among the unprecedented numbers of people being driven from their homes by wars, conflict and persecution globally. Protecting them and finding solutions to the enormous risks they face is the theme of a two-day forum that opened in Geneva today.

"Children on the move are exposed to grave risks, especially if they are unaccompanied or separated," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in opening remarks to the ninth annual High Commissioner's Dialogue on Protection Challenges.

A growing number of children, many separated from family and parents, are now daily exposed to smugglers and traffickers. Their education is disrupted, and they are often in danger, Grandi told the gathering on the theme of "Children on the Move."

"They are exposed to criminal smugglers and traffickers. The fact that they often have no protection  even from people traveling with them  exposes them of course to all types of exploitation. We cannot accept this. We need to fight back, we need to find ways to address this situation," he said.

Voices in the Dark: Hear from children forced to flee

Grandi said children make up more than half  51 per cent  of the 21.3 million refugees worldwide. Many children on the move end up in detention facilities, which can have a serious negative impact on their physical and mental health and life-long development.

They are also vulnerable to sexual and gender-based violence, exploitation and the risk of statelessness. Their futures are uncertain and many have missed out on years of schooling as a result of displacement.

Grandi highlighted several significant commitments adopted by states in the New York Declaration at the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants in September, to find "practical ways forward in order to address some of the issues and problems" faced by children on the move.

He stressed pledges to end the practice of detaining children to determine their migration status, and to ensure that states document the births of all children born on their territory to prevent and reduce the risk of statelessness.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, opens the High Commissioner's Dialogue on Protection Challenges. The theme of this year's meeting is 'Children on the Move."  UNHCR/Jean-Marc Ferre

Laura Elizabeth Valencia Restreppo, a Colombian refugee living in Ecuador, and Joseph Munyambanza, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo living in Uganda, at UNHCR headquarters.  UNHCR/Susan Hopper

A young Afghan refugee prepares dinner in a makeshift kitchen in Calais, France, October 12, 2016.  UNHCR/Joel van Houdt

Grandi also mentioned pledges to find timely solutions for refugee children and youth  including expanding "legal pathways" such as resettlement opportunities and increased family reunion, as well as quick access to quality education. These steps were welcomed by refugee youth delegates who took part in the forum.

"Empowering young people so that, when they go back, they have the skills, the abilities to rebuild their countries, I think that's very important," said Joseph Munyambanza, 26, who fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo at age six, accompanied by an older brother.

"If you don't act now, you risk a lost generation."

Laura Valencia, a 19-year-old who fled her native Colombia for Ecuador at the age of 11, also stressed the need for swift action: "If you don't act now, you risk a lost generation."

"For us it is really important that decisions, good practices and commitments are real, but implemented now," she added, speaking on the sidelines of the event.

Read about gang threats driving children and youth to flee the northern triangle region of Central America, and the grave dangers young people face at the hands of smugglers in Europe and Southeast Asia.
UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees Kelly T. Clements (seated, left); Minna Aila, Nokia's Vice President for Marketing and Corporate Affairs (centre) and Omar (right) inside the virtual reality 'igloo' at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.  UNHCR/Jean-Marc Ferre

GENEVA  It is called the igloo, conjuring up the frozen Arctic wastes. This one, however, is not a place in which to live but a space in which to watch, learn and experience.

Inside this igloo, there is a video which does tell a story of travel to the North, a story of a small Syrian refugee boy, Omar, and his resettlement in Finland.

It is called Life in the Time of Refuge, and is a 360-degree virtual reality projection on the walls of the structure rented from the British company Igloo, and using a new, prototype camera developed by Nokia.

This first showing helped launch the UN High Commissioners Dialogue on Protection Challenges. This year it is devoted to the theme of "Children on the Move."

Making the 360-degree video for the 'igloo'

Omar is nine years old. He was born with a hormone deficiency and needs daily injections if he is to grow. When his family fled Syria to Lebanon, his parents could no longer afford the injections. He stopped growing.

In 2015 his family was resettled in Finland. Omar is now in school, he is getting daily injections, and he is growing again. There is a scene of excitement in the video when the nurse tells him he now weighs more than 20 kilograms. But it is still not fast enough for him.

I have the smallest desk in the class, he says in the film. At the swimming pool my feet dont touch the bottom. The other kids tease me. But I swim faster than all of them.

Omar watched himself along with his father, UNHCR Deputy High Commissioner Kelly Clements and executives from Nokia, which provided the camera and underwrote much of the cost of the project.

A story like this one makes the two days of the conference more real, Clements said. It shows people the positive impact of refugee resettlement.

The UN Refugee Agency is already talking to Nokia about further videos, not just to be shown to policy makers but also to people in communities, to bring home the impact of displacement.

It was an emotional moment for me, said Minna Aila, Nokias Vice President for Marketing and Corporate Affairs. Its a happy story among so many sad ones. If we can bring a feeling of empathy to the forefront to people, its a good investment for us.

After the video, Aila chatted to Omar in Finnish. His Finnish is good. Hes a smart boy.

For director David Gough and cameraperson Thomas Maddens, the video was both a first and a challenge.

Because of the nature of the cam, each shot took an average of an hour to set up. One took four hours.

Its an exciting way to tell a story, Gough said.

And Omar? He particularly liked a scene where he threw stones in a lake. It made me laugh.
Camps to Champs: The Power of Sport for the Displaced. New series on the Olympic channel focuses on the positive impact sport is having on the lives of refugees.  Olympic Channel

A new documentary series is highlighting the positive impact that sport has on the lives of displaced people across the globe. Camps to Champs: The Power of Sport for the Displaced, which premieres tonight on the Olympic Channel, follows Olympic athletes as they meet displaced people living in Jordan, Kenya, Greece, and Colombia and explores how sport is changing their lives for the better.

Camps to Champs: The Power of Sport for the Displaced

Earlier this year, the first ever Refugee Olympic Team competed in the Olympic games in Rio, serving as a beacon of hope to displaced people and as a symbol of the power of sport to unite and inspire. Following the success of Team Refugees, the Olympic channel is putting the spotlight on other ambitious sportsmen and women who were forced to flee their home.



The first episode of Camps to Champs airs on the Olympic Channel tonight at 7.30pm and follows Team GB Silver Medalist Samantha Murray as she visits refugees in Za'atari refugee camp, Jordan.



Tune in tonight from 7.30pm!
UNHCR staff organizing the relocation of a large Yazidi population of around 1100 people  UNHCR/Christos Tolis

ATHENS, Greece  Iraq refugee Kheri Mando Sliman, relieved to have left a freezing cold tent in a mountainside camp, seems pleased with the new accommodation provided for himself and his family in a temporary apartment in Volvi, northern Greece.

It is a very nice, pleasant place here, not like the cold camp on Mount Olympus, the 34-year-old, from the mountainous Sinjar region in northern Iraq, said with a smile.

He is among more than 1,100 asylum-seekers whom UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, moved last week from the Petra Olympou camp to buildings throughout Greece.

Since the spring, they had been living in tents at Petra Olympou on a slope more than 500 metres above sea level at the foot of Mount Olympus. In late November, temperatures fell below freezing. The last bus left the government-run site as the first snow fell on the tents.

My four-year-old daughter could not cope any more, said Kheri, whose family had fled violence in Iraq. His daughter was among the 54 per cent of the camps population who are children.

UNHCR found small, temporary apartments and hotel rooms at special rates for the asylum-seekers in Volvi, Katerini and Chalkidona. Some due to be relocated in other European countries have been accommodated in Athens to make the preparation easier.

My four-year-old daughter could not cope any more.

UNHCR, with funding from the European Union, has arranged 19,500 places in apartments, hotels and with host families throughout Greece for relocation candidates and vulnerable asylum-seekers.

Petra Olympou is not the only camp that UNHCR is helping the Greek authorities to close for the cold season. Kipselochori in central Greece was also deemed unsuitable for winter conditions and its former residents were moved to more appropriate accommodation. Cherso, an official refugee site in the north of the country, has been partially evacuated under the governments direction, too.

Yazidi families packing all their belongings as UNHCR relocates them from tented site to apartments.  UNHCR/Christos Tolis

About 2,600 refugees and migrants are living in prefabricated houses provided by UNHCR in eight of more than 40 government-run sites. The UNHCR partner organization Samaritans Purse has been distributing winter clothes such as jackets and boots in government-run sites, about 200,000 items in total.

Kheri has been getting to know his new surroundings in Volvi. His war-torn home region of Sinjar is close to the Syrian border. A far cry from the quiet, flat landscape and lake where he now lives. Kheri is from the Yazidi religious community, which is persecuted for its faith.

We are all right here now. We are no longer afraid.

Daily life was never easy for his family. He earned his living by hard manual labour. Even when visiting the nearby city of Mosul, the most important urban centre in the area, at the time, he did not feel safe.

In August 2014, time ran out for Kheri and the other Yazidis in the area. With ISIS pounding the region, they fled their homes, leaving everything but their clothes behind. With his family he fled to Syria. From there they crossed into Turkey and made their way to the Greek island of Lesvos.

Yazid families waiting their turn to board a bus transferring them from tented site to apartments.  UNHCR/Christos Tolis

By then, we had been travelling for about 14 months, he said. In July, they arrived at Petra Olympou where they suffered from the cold climate. With a roof over his head in Volvi, he faces one less uncertainty about the future.

For some, it was a bitter-sweet goodbye on the mountain. Happy to be moving to better living conditions, nonetheless they found it a wrench to be separated from people with whom they had shared a life for many months.

Like Kheri, many had spent months on the move. With the help of the Greek authorities they were persuaded to move on to various locations rather than wait for the arrangement of one single location big enough for the entire group. UNHCR helped us very much, said Kheri, stressing that the Greek Government had treated him and his family well.

We are all right here now, he added. We are no longer afraid."

UNHCRs Winter Assistance Plan remains US$68 million underfunded. You can help those in need here.
If you thought you could lie to your toddler, you thought wrong.

According to psychologists who are working with young toddlers say that these kids actually have the ability to recognize when someone is lying, pretending or cheating. They found that kids as young as 2 and a half years old are aware of others' false beliefs.

The researchers have used a test called "false belief" task to measure and check whether another person's belief is different from their own. They conducted this study among 140 toddlers in the United States.

False beliefs incorrect perceptions that result from incorrect reasoning. When the researchers conducted the experiment, the found that toddlers's bias is built right in and that they were able to understand the questions which enabled them to articulate a response. This is in contrary to our belief that these kids do not understand what adults think and believe.

"When children around the world are asked what someone with a false belief will do next, it is usually not until age four or five that they answer correctly," said Renee Baillargeon, a psychology professor at the University of Illinois.

"Our study shows that when the task is made simpler, even two-and-a-half year olds succeed. So the ability to answer questions about persons with false beliefs is present very early in development, contrary to what was traditionally thought."

According to the researchers, even if these kids are able to recognize false beliefs, they may not necessarily be able to demonstrate understanding.

'Having the ability to represent false beliefs means recognising that others can have different thoughts from us,' said Assistant Professor Setoh Pei Pei, of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore,

'This ability enables children to recognise when others are lying, cheating, or pretending.

'If parents believe that children do not understand complicated matters, they may tell simpler versions of the truth and 'dumb down' what they view as complicated content for kids.

'Our findings suggest that children may be able to spot when parents are doing this from as early as two-and-a-half years old.

'Parents of young children and early childhood educators should be aware that children's early cognitive abilities may be more advanced than previously thought.'
Rumors are rife on the web that Samsung's newest handset, the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, will be launched this coming week. The rumored high-end Samsung smartphone, which said to come in glossy Pearl Black color, will be launched by Samsung in South Korea this coming Friday, Dec. 9.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is the latest entry in the Samsung Galaxy S7 series, which is a successor to the previous 2015 Samsung Galaxy models, the S6, S6 Edge and S6 Edge+. The high-end smartphones are produced in a standard model with a display size of 5.1 inches for the Galaxy S7 and a 5.5-inch display for the Galaxy S7 Edge variant.

According to GSMArena, the new Pearl black Samsung Galaxy S7 edge will be launched this week. It will be unveiled first by the company on South Korea on Dec. 9, Friday. Some analyst said that Samsung is aiming to take on Apple's Jet Black shade for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus with this new glossy Pearl Black variant.

As mentioned earlier by Android Authority, the new variant will also offer more additional space, about 128 GB of internal memory. That's much bigger than the previous Galaxy S7 Edge which comes only in 32GB and 64GB of internal storage. As for the other hardware specifications, the new variant will remain the same with the original version of the high-end smartphone

The high-end Galaxy S7 Edge smartphone was originally released in four colors, namely: the White Pearl color, the Black Onyx, the Silver Titanium, and the Gold Platinum. Since then, Samsung has been using different colors and has released its flagship smartphone in Blue Coral and Pink Gold color options.

However, there are some rumors that the new Pearl Black Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge might not come as widely available as the previous Blue Coral shade variant of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. In fact, there some possibility that the upcoming Pearl Black Galaxy S7 Edge might remain exclusive to Samsung's home country, the South Korea market.

If this happens, many Samsung fans will get upset and might get mad at Samsung, as a lot of these Samsung fans are said to like a glossy black finish. Just like the previous Blue Coral shade variant, which received a strong response from consumers, the Pearl Black variant will likely to spark similar interest and draw lots attention.

No words on pricing and release date yet, not even hint about its availability, whether the device will only available in South Korea or if will be released in other markets.

For now, this is only speculation and rumors, as Samsung made no comment about the story. The crowd will know more about this glossy Pear Black Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge variant after the official announcement of the new high-end Samsung smartphone this coming Friday, Dec. 9.
Thirteen students from a Naperville North High School in Chicago were sent to the hospital on Tuesday after eating gummy bears that were said to be "laced" with another substance.

It was not clear whether they were aware that the gummies were laced but some students informed the police that they contained marijuana, although this information was not confirmed yet according to CBS. The police confiscated the samples of the gummies for investigation and testing.

Two students were already released from the hospital while 11 of them were reported to be in a stable condition. A 17-year old student was taken into custody and was questioned but they were all released from Edward Hospital later that day.

According to Dr. Daryl Wilson, director of EMS at the hospital, the students were said to have the symptoms of having ingested a "non-toxic intoxicant."

Each of those teens only consumed just one gummy bear which made Wilson wondered and questioned the awareness of the students about the content of the candies.

"You eat gummy bears, those are pretty tasty. Why would you want to have just one - unless you know there's something else in the gummy bear?" Wilson said.

Naperville High School officials said that because the candies might have contained another substance, the students who had them felt both uncomfortable and sick. While 14 students initially were taken to the nurse's office, only 13 were later on sent to the hospital.

"Each student had varying degrees of discomfort and subsequent treatment," school officials said. "We continue to review the specifics of the situation and will address it appropriately."

"Anytime we have students who are put in a situation where their health is at risk, their health is questioned, I am disappointed," Naperville School District 203 Supt. Dan Bridges said.
Hillary Clinton is also getting a course of her own. Donald Trump has a course of his own at University of Akron. The course is called "Trump's Triumph" and it is going to focus on how he won in the recent 2016 presidential race.

While Hillary Clinton's course is going to be titled "Hillary Clinton Case Study: Perspectives on Gender and Power." The course is going to explore the cultural perception of Clinton.

The course is being offered by the Women's Studies Program and the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality. It is through the College of Arts and Sciences at Kent State University. The Hillary Clinton course will be offered in the spring of 2017.

The reason why Kent is going to put Hillary Clinton up as a subject in their school is because of her lengthy career. She has also been voted as one of the most admired women in the world. Because of her experience and profile, Kent State can use her career as a source material for analysis. Which also includes her campaign for president of the United States of America.

The professor who approved the course is Molly Merryman, Ph.D. She is the director of Kent State's Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality. According to the university, Merryman sees this as an opportunity to explore important issues which is the center's goal. Merryman's aim for the Hillary Clinton course is to help student's understand the events that unfolded.

Merryman counts the social situations that plagued the race which included trustworthiness, misogyny and sexual assault. These subjects are happening to women and Merryman wants to initiate an intellectual inquiry through public consciousness.

Leading the course itself will be Suzanne Holt, Ph.D. She is the director of the Women's Studies program and is also the professor in the Center for Comparative and Integrative Programs at the university.
The Programme for International Student Assessment (or Pisa) is an entity that provides education rankings based on tests that are taken by 15 year old students through the subjects of science, reading and math.

The tests are organized by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development group (OECD). The OECD and Pisa conduct this program every three years and it has proven to be quite influential in the global school rankings. According to BBC, even politicians see this as an influential factor especially for those who see their policies and countries being measured against other global schools.

Singapore is rated as the best, according to Pisa. It has replaced Shanghai (which is a combined entry for China). This means that Singapore takes the number one spot ahead of other countries in Asia, Europe, Australasia, North America and South America.

According to reports, Singapore has the highest achieving students. Their 15 year old students are showing great competency in math, science and reading. They have garnered the top scores. Non-Asian countries like the United Kingdom earned the middle-ranks and lags behind countries such as Estonia, Finland, Japan and Vietnam. Vietnam's performance indicates a strong jump which gained entry ahead of Germany and Switzerland when it comes to science. It even ranked higher than the United States when it comes to science and mathematics.

Andreas Schleicher, the OECD education director, expressed her sentiments regarding Singapore. She explained that the country is not only doing well in the Pisa but is also surpassing. Aside from Singapore, Hong Kong and Macao also scores as one of the high-achieving schools.

Unfortunately, the reports indicate the United States of America did not earn a high rank. The US did not progress further in this year's results. According to US Education Secretary John King, the country is losing ground. With Donald Trump taking his seat at the Oval Office looming closer, it is not yet clear if his changes in the education system will improve the Pisa scores.
The United States education system is waiting in the wind as President-elect Donald Trump continues to meet with different authorities to decide on his potential policies. He already has Betsy DeVos in mind to become the next education secretary.

Betsy DeVos is going to replace current US education secretary John King. Aside from this assignment, the Trump administration is reportedly going to prioritize school choice and will weaken the subjects of evolution and climate change.

Recalling Donald Trump's presidential campaign, education oftentimes took a back seat. If answers were offered, they were vague and unclear, cites the Scientific American. Although Trump indicated he has plans but he focused on business, trade and immigration more during his campaign.

According to reports, the academic world is now worried about the future of liberal arts and STEM education because of his dislike for some of the subjects in science - particularly the teachings of evolution and global warming or climate change. This is the sentiments expressed by Laurence Tribe, a professor of constitutional law at Harvard Law.

With his pick for education secretary, Betsy DeVos, Douglas Harris, a professor of economics at Tulane University said that her preference when it comes to the educational system will involve little government as possible.

Having Vice President-elect Mike Pence by his side, Donald Trump is assured that school choice will be championed. Reports are showing that Trump has officially pledged $20 billion in federal funding to support school choice for students and families of low-income categories. But it is still not yet certain where this fund will come from. According to his official website, Trump may ask all the states to contribute an additional $110 billion.

But one thing is clear, the administration, according to the publication, will not have any official say over what is being taught inside the classrooms. Regardless of Trump's anti-science sentiment and goal to end Common Core, the United States does not give the president authority to set education standards.
The US Supreme Court announcement on Tuesday temporarily settles the long-battle between Samsung and Apple. According to the justices, Samsung does not owe $399 for patent infringement. The case is now sent back to the lower court.

Samsung vs Apple Company Lawsuit: The Patent Infringement Fight

Originally, the case became a lawsuit in 2011 when Apple accused Samsung for copying the grid in iPhone app icons along with many other designs. Previously, the lower courts were in Apple's favor - agreeing that Samsung has copied the patents. The fed ordered Samsung to pay what is liable to the extent of total profit, News18 reported.

At the time, Samsung has to pay $548 million to Apple for the infringement out of the full fine $930. The Galaxy Note maker refused to pay the rest $399 as it argued that there are only a few components infringed.

Samsung vs Apple Company Lawsuit: The Supreme Court Sides with Samsung

Samsung does not feel responsible of the total profits to the Cupertino tech as not the whole aspects of a device should be considered infringement.

In October, Chief Justice John Roberts, said that the design is meant for an outward appearance but not in the wires and chips. With that being said, the profits awarded does not necessarily based on the pricetag of the smartphone, ValueWalk reported.

For the record, the lawsuit recorded 11 of Samsung handsets including three patents copying iPhone's design. The highest court sides with Samsung this time by stating that the Android-phone manufacturer should pay only for the copied components instead of the entire profit of a phone. In addition to the 8-0 rulling, the Supreme Court tosses back the documents to lower court for 'analyzing the law incorrectly'.

As for now, the battle between Samsung and Apple will continue in the US Court of Appeals for Federal Circuit Washington.

Check out Samsung vs Apple patent infringement timeline in the video below!
There are two very popular words in science and technology nowadays - artificial intelligence and machine learning. For a lot of people who might not be aware of the difference, they are just the same. It might come, therefore, as a surprise that these two are different.

In a nutshell, artificial intelligence is the general word or category that is given to describe the idea of machines being able to perform tasks that we label as smart. Machine learning, on the other hand, is a new concept within the big idea of artificial intelligence which maintains that machines can be given data to learn by themselves.

The concept of artificial intelligence existed even before the Industrial Revolution or even before the Enlightenment. The Greeks have already explored the idea in their myths. The most popular of them was about Talos, a giant bronze man forged by Hephaestus, who guard Europa and Crete against pirates. Furthermore, European philosophers during the Middle Ages tried to create analog computer devices they labeled as "logical machines."

As technology progresses, the concept of AI becomes broader and more sophisticate. Now, it is divided into two groups: applied AI and general AI. Applied AI is normally used in automation, like trading stocks and autonomous vehicles. General AI consists of systems that can do almost any task intelligently. This is where machine learning falls.

The idea of machine learning started when Arthur Samuel suggested that instead of teaching machines everything they need to learn, why not teach them to learn for themselves. This became possible with the development of neural networks. Nowadays, some of the most common usage of machine learning is in the use of marketing, Google searches, and natural language processing.

Machine learning has certainly become the buzzword nowadays as a lot of marketers consider AI "old hat" having been around the block for a long time. So, they are repackaging it focusing on machine learning to make it sound fresh and new.
In an effort to help law students make it through the finals, a law school offered several de-stressing activities aimed at lowering student stress, new reports say.

About 100 students at the University of St. Thomas School of Law participated in the "Flight of the Paper Airplanes," reports the National Law Journal. The activity, which was just one of the several de-stressing activities offered, had students writing the causes of their stress on a piece of paper, folding them into small paper airplanes, and thrown from the fourth floor of the school's glass atrium.

As an added bonus, if the paper planes hit specific targets on the first floor, students who threw the planes will receive prizes.

First-year St. Thomas student Kirsten Bolanos, who has two young children, said the launching of the paper planes was indeed helpful.

"As law students, we don't have a lot of time to spend together outside of the classroom to talk to each other," Bolanos said. "It was nice to have something so goofy and elementary - to make paper airplanes and throw them together. It was 20 minutes to forget all about law school."

Getting a law degree is much harder than an undergraduate degree. One final exam in law school can account for most, if not all, first-year grades. And if a student doesn't perform well during his first year, the effects can be felt very strongly.

"A student's first-year grades make a big difference for certain types of job offers, such as clerkships and Big Law," Susan Brooks, assistant dean for experiential learning at Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law, said.

Law schools, in order to help students fight the stress brought by the final exams, conduct various de-stressing programs. These include yoga, meditation sessions, massages, therapy animals, round-the-clock coffee bars, midnight pancake binges, and even Zumba classes.

Law students usually feel much stress going to the finals. In fact, the stress is so high, one nasty incident is blamed for it. According to Above the Law, a student at an unnamed law school even defecated on the toilet floor, missing the toilet itself.

"It was wrapped in a paper towel. It was not in a toilet," wrote the person who discovered the "poop perpetrator's" unpleasant deed.

Well, it would always be better for law schools to give students prizes for de-stressing, compared to spending more school funds on maintaining a fresh and clean toilet.
"Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked." These lines from President Franklin Roosevelt's speech before the joint session of Congress and the nation have been immortalized. Now, 75 years later, the country remembers the 2,403 American soldiers who perished in the brutal attack on Pearl Harbor.

The world was already in the middle of the World War II and Congress and the American people are split right in the middle about joining it but the brutal bombing of Pearl Harbor, which left 1,178 US personnel injured, made it clear: America was joining the war.

That speech was delivered by Pres. Roosevelt the day following the attack, December 8, when the US declared war on the Empire of Japan. The following days saw thousands of men signing up to join the armed forces.

Fifty million lives were lost in the only War that saw wartime nuclear attack. The United States bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 where 125,000 people were killed.

The fallen heroes and veterans of Pearl Harbor are remembered across the continental United States where flags flew at half-staff and the armed forces held a moment of silence.

In Hawaii, thousands gathered at Kilo Pier overlooking Pearl Harbor yesterday morning and bowed their heads to offer a moment of silence at 7:55 a.m. It was about this time that Japanese planes started bombing.

The USS Halsey also carried sailors, dignitaries, veterans and ordinary citizens around the bay to pay their respects through a pass-in-review which took them around the harbor including the USS Arizona Memorial.

Now, 7 decades later, the world has felt the guilt and reflected on its actions and the shadows cast by the World War has been replaced by nationalist resurgence. There has also been time to heal and mend wounds.

President Obama has been the first sitting American president to visit the memorial of the bombing in Hiroshima last May and later this month, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit Pearl Harbor. PM Abe will be the first Japanese leader to travel to the site of the attack.
Kelsea Webster, 15, Essa Ricker, 15, and Savannah Webster, 13, did not hear the horn blasting as the approaching train's headlights created a halo in their final selfie.

Essa Ricker and Kelsea Webster, both 15, and Kelseas little sister, Savannah, waved at a westbound train crew and squeezed in for a selfie as it rolled through Utahs scenic Spanish Fork Canyon October 2011.

"Standing right by a train ahaha this is awesome!!!!" posted Savannah on Facebook as the train's steel wheels banged along the track's steel rail.

The excitement in the trio's eyes matched their big smiles as the train fanned their blonde hair in the wind while they posed for the selfiecompletely unaware of the approaching train coming from the other direction. The train's headlights were visible on the top right side of the photo.

"They were in their own little world," recalled John Anderson, train conductor inside the eastbound Union Pacific train locomotive. Engineer Michael Anderson, no relation to John, blasted the train horn to get the girls' attention. No response. Not even a flinch.

Trains traveling at 55 mph can take more than a mile to come to a complete stop after the emergency brakes are applied. A rush of panic, confusion and fear filled the locomotive as the train raced toward the girls at approximately 39 miles mph.

We saw them for about 12 seconds until they disappeared from our sight and the train continued moving forward. Conductor John Anderson

"We watched in horror as we got closer," said John, recalling how both he and Michael yelled as if it might stop what they knew was about to happen. "We saw them for about 12 seconds until they disappeared from our sight and the train continued moving forward."

John raced back when the train finally stopped about a quarter mile down the track. The first girl he saw had no pulse and it was clear a second girl was no longer alive. John heard 13-year-old Savannah near the railroad crossing. She was hurt and agitated, but alive.

"I told her everything would be OK and she relaxed a little," said John, who held Savannah's hand until paramedics arrived. "I hoped she would make it and for some reason I really thought she would."

Silent Mourning

John made it home late the night of the accident. His mind would not stop replaying the accident and the devastation he found behind the train. John wanted to get drunk to escape, but fortunately his wife's good judgment convinced him not to. He wouldn't have been the first to find comfort in what could become a bad habit after experiencing a fatal train accident.

Fatal train accidents are devastating for families forced to deal with a sudden, painful loss. News about Essa, Kelsea and Savannah shocked and overwhelmed their families, friends and community.

Train crews also mourn the loss of life, carrying a unique struggle caused by witnessing catastrophic accidents. These employees immediately are put in contact with support programs to help them cope. Many respond well, others struggle for years and a few never return to work.

When train accidents involve children, train crews, dispatchers, managers and everyone in their work units have to catch their breath to process the news. John and Michael had teen daughters themselves, personalizing the tragedy weighing on their shoulders. While both men experienced the same accident, their reactions were very different.

Conductor John Anderson and Engineer Michael Anderson desperately tried to get Kelsea, Essa and Savannahs attention. They were unable to stop the train before hitting the teenagers.

Michael went home without speaking to John and did not say much at home either. His wife took his lead and sat with him in silence, no questions asked. There's an unexplainable heartbreak reserved for locomotive engineers sitting in the driver's seat and at the controls of a train that hits a child who dies. Michael saw blonde hair and jackets blowing in the wind and helplessly watched an unthinkable tragedy unfold. He thought about it all day and experienced vivid and persistent nightmares at night.

"What happened was very intense and I have to carry it the rest of my life," said Michael, who never compared notes with his conductor. "I don't know what John saw that night and I don't want to know what he saw that night."

Doctors in a Salt Lake City-area hospital discovered Savannah had more than a dozen broken bones, internal bleeding, blood clots and a severe brain injury. The 13-year-old's injuries were too great and she died three days after the accident.

Life was never the same again. Not for the parents who buried three girls with big smiles and bright futures. And not for the men who silently mourned the same children.

The crew's railroad family welcomed the men when they returned to work. Co-workers were supportive and stressed the accident was not their fault. John found comfort in talking to co-workers, which slowly released the accident's strong grip inside him. Michael did not talk about the accident, and his fellow railroaders respected his space. The locomotive engineer recently became a peer support volunteer to help train crews who experience traumatic incidents.

Asked what he'd say to teens thinking about taking selfies or any photo near railroad tracks, Michael responded, "I'd tell them to stay away from such a dangerous area. Think about the pain it would inflict on their families if things went wrong. It also hurts the train crew, the first responders and the many people who love you."

No one should have to go through this and I hope people will seriously think about the campaigns rail safety message and share it with their loved ones. Jayna Webster

Union Pacific released two animated YouTube videos urging people to take selfies away from railroad tracks as part of a railroad safety campaign launch in August 2016.

"The accident that took my daughters' lives was preventable and a good illustration of how close a train can be without hearing it," said Kelsea and Savannah's mother, Jayna Webster. "No one should have to go through this and I hope people will seriously think about the campaign's rail safety message and share it with their loved ones."

Union Pacifics railroad safety campaign encourages pedestrians and drivers to use caution near railroad tracks. A series of YouTube, Pandora and Facebook ads address risky behaviors that contribute to accidents, including a second set of videos that ask, What is your life worth? One, titled Curfew, features a teenage boy racing to get his date home before curfew and trying to beat an oncoming train at a railroad crossing. A second ad, titled Interview, depicts a woman contemplating driving around crossing gates so she can arrive on time to her job interview. In each scenario, drivers hit the brakes and stop just before the train continues through the crossing. It is at that moment they realize their life was worth the wait.
By PTI: "Our honourable Chief Minister Selvi J Jayalalithaa was

"Our honourable Chief Minister Selvi J Jayalalithaa was admitted on 22.9.2016 with complaints of fever and dehydration and underlying co-morbidities. The honourable Chief Minister responded well to the multi-disciplinary care in the Critical Care Unit and subsequently recovered substantially to being able to take food orally.

"On this basis, honourable Chief Minister was shifted from the Advanced Critical Care Unit to the High Dependency Unit, where her health and vitals continued to improve under the close monitoring by our expert panel of specialists."

advertisement

Unfortunately, the hospital release said, the Chief Minister suffered a massive cardiac arrest on the evening of December 4 even while the intensivist was in her room. The Chief Minister was immediately administered rescusitation (CPR) and provided ECMO support within the hour.

ECMO is the most advanced treatment currently available internationally. Every possible clinical attempt was made to sustain her revival. However, despite our best efforts, the Chief Ministers underlying conditions rendered her unable to recover and she passed away at 11:30 pm on Monday, the release said. More VIJ SA TVS SK VSC SK

--- ENDS ---
UTSA hosts fourth annual Innovation Awards

UTSA President Ricardo Romo and UTSA's 2016 Innovator of the Year, Banglin Chen

(December 8, 2016)  The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) recognized professor Banglin Chen as its 2016 Innovator of the Year at the fourth annual UTSA Innovation Awards. His selection was based on a number of factors including productivity, new invention disclosures, filed patent applications (three in 2016), and licensing of his technologies.

Chen earned his B.S. and M.S. in Chemistry from Zhejiang University, China and his Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from the National University of Singapore. His research focuses on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which are three-dimensional structures, made up of metals linked to carbon compounds. These MOFS are useful for alternative energy applications, particularly for storage and separation of gases such as acetylene, hydrogen and methane.

Additionally, UTSA recognized 15 other members of its research community. Organized by the UTSA Office of Commercialization and Innovation (OCI), these annual awards are presented in four categories, reflecting UTSA's success at commercializing new knowledge and technologies.

"In our role as a researcher, we can be so involved in the pursuit of discovery that sometimes we don't realize our findings need to resonate and benefit the public in a tangible way. The OCI provides our faculty and students resources and expertise to commercialize their research and inventions. Their innovations add to our reputation as a top-tier research university," said Bernard Arulanandam, interim UTSA vice president for research.

The OCI works with UTSA faculty to facilitate technology transfer and commercialization, and to assist with university-industry partnerships. Through the OCI, the university provides intellectual property management and licensing, proof-of-concept development, new venture incubation, entrepreneurial training, and policies and procedures that accelerate and ease the transition of intellectual property from the university to industry.

"We've built a foundation over the last few years. We now call upon the San Antonio community to engage with our office and our researchers to lend their expertise to convert groundbreaking research into finished products and companies. Organizing these awards not only demonstrates our accomplishments but allows us to find opportunities for collaboration with our community stakeholders, and ultimately drive our economy," said Cory Hallam, UTSA chief commercialization officer.

The following researchers and community leaders were recognized for their advancements in their fields:

Recipients of Issued Patents

Issued patents represent the securing of intellectual property rights for new innovations. This year, UTSA received a record number of issued patents, which grow our licensing portfolio and contribute to UTSA's state, national, and international rankings.

Sos Agaian | 9,299,130 | United States

Methods and Apparatus for Image Processing and Analysis

>> Techniques for digital image enhancement using a single input image.

Mauli Agrawal | 9,259,334 | United States, Australia

Scaffold System for Tissue Repair

>> An expandable scaffold that serves as a temporary template that allows damage tissue to be rebuilt.

Arturo Ayon and Cory Hallam | Australia, Mexico, China

Impact Resistant Surface-Mounted Roof Sensors

>> A roof sensor system to measure and transmit load information to warn of roof collapse.

Rajendra Boppana | 9,128,791 | United States

Generation of Distinct Pseudorandom Number Streams Based on Program Context

>> Method of providing random number streams to a computer useful for simulations and cryptography.

Banglin Chen | 9,127,025 | United States

Robust highly interpenetrated metal-organic framework constructed from pentanuclear clusters for selective sorption of gas molecules

>> Metal-organic frameworks useful for gas storage, gas absorption, gas separation, and gas detection.

9,296,773 | United States

Enantiopure Mixed Metal-Organic Frameworks for Selective Separations and Enatioselective Recognition

>> Metal-organic frameworks useful for gas storage, gas absorption, gas separation, and gas detection.

9,376,641 | United States, Europe, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Ireland

A Metal-Organic Framework with Optimized Open Metal Sites and Pore Spaces for High Methane Storage at Room Temperature

>> Metal-organic frameworks useful for gas storage, gas absorption, gas separation, and gas detection.

Doug Frantz | 9,221,800 | United States

Isoxazole treatments for diabetes

>> Compounds to treat diabetes by inducing synthesis and secretion of insulin from pancreatic beta cells.

Donald Kurtz | 9,346,855 | United States

Protein Scaffolds for Targeted Delivery of Toxic Iron to Cancer Cells

>> New method of cancer treatment using iron-based cancer photodynamic therapy (PDT).

Taeg K Nishimoto | D759,885 | United States

A Hexagonal Translucent Mesh Light Source Container

>> Lighting design using three different kinds of fabric (recycled polyester felt, spandex, and silk).

Dhiraj Sardar | 9,173,562 | United States

Method and Apparatus for Diagnosing Neovascularized Tissues

>> Method for detecting eye diseases such as diabetic retinopathy.

Qi Tian | 9,412,020 | United States

Geometric Coding for Billion-Scale Partial-Duplicate Image Search

>> Image search for use in image/video copyright violation detection, and image tracking.

Bao Liu | 9,181,089 | United States

Carbon Nanotube Crossbar Based Nano-Architecture

>> Design for a carbon nanotube microprocessor that could lead to a new approach for creating CPU's.

Carlos Garcia | 9,134,223 | United States

Modification of A Flow Cell to Measure Adsorption Kinetics Under Stagnation Point Flow and Development of a Setup Correction Procedure for Obtaining Adsorption Kinetics at The Stagnation Point

>> A modified flow cell for a spectroscopic ellipsometry machine used for chemical analysis.

Todd Wolf | 9,177,154 | United States

Remediation of Computer Security Vulnerabilities

>> A computer vulnerability patching system that uses the exploit itself as a tool for applying the patch.

----

Licensing Revenue

Licensing revenue represents income the university receives from intellectual property that has been optioned or licensed. The revenues are shared amongst the university, colleges, departments, and faculty involved in the intellectual property. This year also showcases the first-ever licensing revenue generated upon initiation of a sponsored research agreement as a result of improved intellectual property policies.

Doug Frantz

New Chiral Phosphite Ligands for Asymmetric Catalysis

Ruyan Guo and Amar Bhalla

Accurate and Repeatable Method of Measuring and Profiling Frozen Beverages

Arturo Ayon and Cory Hallam

Surface-mounted monitoring roof sensors system/ Impact-resistant surface-mounted roof sensors

----

I-Corps Recognition

The National Science Foundation awarded $50,000 grants to UTSA investigators and their teams, with the goal to identify valuable product opportunities that can emerge from academic research. This grant also provides entrepreneurship training to the participants by combining experience and guidance from established entrepreneurs through a targeted curriculum. All UTSA I-Corps grantees completed a joint CITE/OCI program to qualify for the national program.

The Agaian Team

Digital Pathologist Platform

Sos Agaian, Cole Wollak, Mike Troy

Sos Agaian's team, which included student Cole Wollak and businessman Mike Troy, explored the needs of pathologists and insurance companies and how their automated cancer detection and grading, with additional analysis of patient medical information and allowing remote analysis for underserved markets, may be able to fulfill market needs.

The Ayon Team

Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Arturo Ayon, Trent Berryman, Joey Oliver

Arturo Ayon's team, consisting of UTSA business major Trent Berryman and San Antonio businessman Joey Oliver, interviewed people who suffer from sleep apnea and the medical professionals who treat them, to explore and understand the market requirements for their discreet and portable EPAP nasal masks, an alternative to CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) therapy.

The Chen Team

Gas cylinder for high-purity acetylene storage

Banglin Chen, Huimin Wen, Jeff Xu

Chen's team, which included postdoctoral fellow Huimin Wen and entrepreneur in residence Jeff Xu, investigated the needs of gas storage and separation companies and the fit of their porous materials that can efficiently store high-purity acetylene, or separate acetylene from ethylene and has potential applications in gas storage, separations, sensors, catalysis and electronics.

UTSA is ranked among the top 400 universities in the world and among the top 100 in the nation, according to Times Higher Education.

- Sarah Hada

-------------------------------

Learn more about the UTSA Innovation Awards.

Learn more about commercialization of intellectual property and technology transfer at UTSA.

Connect with UTSA online at Facebook YouTube and Instagram
UTSAs Mission

The University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.

UTSAs Vision

To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.

UTSAs Core Values

We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.

UTSAS Destinations

UTSA is a proud Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as designated by the U.S. Department of Education.

Our Commitment to Inclusivity

The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to ending generations of discrimination and inequity. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.
Church News  October 20, 2022 LIGHT OF THE VALLEY LUTHERAN CHURCH Needing Answers We want God to be like FedEx and deliver overnight. Things dont happen that way, but in...

Church News  October 13, 2022 LIGHT OF THE VALLEY LUTHERAN CHURCH Natures Therapy The pine tree with its solemn dignity lifts its branches to the sky as if to give...
By PTI: Dhaka, Dec 8 (PTI) Five members of a banned Islamist extremist group were today nabbed in Bangladesh as they were regrouping in a bid to free their arrested leaders, a day after the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of the outfits chief.

The five were members of Harkatul Jihad al Islami (HuJI) and were arrested in separate operations, police said.

advertisement

The elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) found bomb-making materials from their three-storey hideout in Chittagong. Three militants were arrested in the operation carried out on the lead provided by two militants arrested from another area in the southern port city.

"The five arrested in separate incidents are HuJI members," RAB media wing director Mufti Mahmud Khan told reporters. "They were trying to regroup after a long period of inactivity," Khan was quoted as saying by bdnews24 online.

He said the militants were planning attacks to free their arrested leaders.

The two suspects caught earlier - Tajul Islam and Nazimuddin - had pistols in their possession, Khan said adding that seven gun magazines, 12 IEDs and bomb-making materials were found in the hideout from the three were arrested later.

"Tajul Islam is HuJIs chief coordinator in Dhaka. His name came up after the arrest of HuJI leader Mufti Mainul Islam. Tajul has been central to their organisation attempts in Chittagong."

"Nazimuddin has close ties to HuJI leaders Mufti Hannan and Rouf who are in prison," he said.

Mufti Abdul Hannan is the chief of HuJI in Bangladesh and his death sentence in a terror case for attacking the British envoy in Bangladesh in 2004 that left three policemen dead was upheld yesterday by the Supreme Court.

The ruling cleared the way for Hannans execution and the regrouping of the militants could be a desperate attempt by the outfit to free the militant leader.

HuJI is accused of launching a series of deadly blasts targeting a Christian church, an Ahmadi Muslim mosque, and rallies of secular activists. The US several years ago designated HuJi as a foreign terrorist organisation and "specially designated global terrorist." Its involvement is also suspected in several bomb blasts in India.

The militant hideout was seen littered with jihadi books, ball bearings, wires and knives, the report said. PTI ABH AKJ ABH

--- ENDS ---
Famous coffee company Starbucks stated that it expects the fast-growing business in China to overtake its U.S. market one day.

The company shared its plans to open 12,000 additional stores globally in the next five years, half of which will be located in the U.S. and in China.

Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz said that the China market remains particularly attractive for the retailer.

Starbucks entered the mainland China market when it opened its first store in Beijing in 1999. Currently, there are more than 2,100 stores in more than 100 cities.

"Not only will China one day be bigger than the U.S., but our business in China will demonstrate that we will be one of the...most significant winners in terms of a Western consumer brand," he said.

The China business is the company's fastest-growing market, with its revenues and operating income seen to triple over the next five years. With new Starbucks store opening in China about every 15 hours, the country is expected to have 2,500 stores in 118 cities soon.

"Despite our early success, we are only in the beginning chapters of our growth story," Starbucks China CEO Belinda Wong told analysts Wednesday.

"In the next five years, we're well positioned to double our scale to 5,000 stores in over 200 cities," she said.

Wong also noted that the rapid expansion of the brand in China will be driven by urbanization and the emerging middle class in the country. She added that the nation's booming economy have lifted more than 230 million people into the middle class in the past decade. And over the coming six years, roughly 300 million people are also expected to attain middle-class status.

The company also provided for an easier purchase in China, with just a scan on the customer's phone. Starbucks announced Thursday that it will accept WeChat payments system at its cafes in China.

The company also sees its future growth to be fueled by food innovation and its cold coffee beverages.

Aside from coffee, the management also sees the potential of the company's tea brand, Teavana, in the China market.
Contestants will take their rivalry outside home and say not-so-political things about each other in the first BB 10 press conference, organised outside the house.

By India Today Web Desk: Bani Judge will once again stage a walkout, this time from the first BB 10 press conference, organised outside the house, after Lopa's constant interruption. She will break down later in the house and criticise Lopa for telling lies about her in front of media. Gaurav will refuse to answer a question about Bani and Priyanka will accept that she's using Om Swami for her survival in the house.

advertisement

Here are 5 things that contestants will say about each other in the press conference.

1. Manveer on Rohan: We used to get along well initially but since the time I nominated him once saying that I was getting negative vibes from him, he took it to heart and all is not well between us from that time.

Also read: BB10: Woah! Bani Judge shows middle finger to Lopamudra at a press conference

2. Gaurav on Bani: When Gaurav was asked if his wajood in the Bigg Boss depends on Bani. He answered saying that though he had accepted the question and knows what it means, he doesn't feel the need to answer it.

3. Priyanka on Om Swami: Bani was asked whether she's using Baba or Baba is using her in the house. She responded saying even if they both are making use of each other, it didn't matter, and it's fair.

Also read: Bigg Boss 10 Day 52: Bani, Gaurav have an ugly fight; Priyanka targets Rohan, Lopa

4. Lopa on Bani: When Lopa was asked if Bani is insecure, she would reply saying: Yes, I think she is insecure. It might be possible that she sees strong competition in me.

5. Lopa on Bani: She throws tantrums like a kid.

--- ENDS ---
Russia sold its stake in the largest oil producer in the country to commodity trader Glencore Plc and Qatar's sovereign wealth fund. The 19.5% stake was taken by Glencore and Qatar for $11.5 billion. The controlling stake will remain with Moscow.

"It is the largest privatisation deal, the largest sale and acquisition in the global oil and gas sector in 2016," President Vladimir Putin said.

The deal announcement which was just made by President Vladimir Putin pushed through despite the sanctions of U.S. and European Union against Russia. Likewise, it is the biggest foreign investment in the region since the crisis in Ukraine.

More so, in a televised meeting with Rosneft Chief Executive Igor Sechin, President Putin said that the deal follows a rally in global oil prices after Opec's decision to cut production.

Although the government of Russia is not a member of Opec, the president agreed cut its output in line with the cartel.

Furthermore, the deal also marks the return of Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg to deal-making. This comes more than a year after the company was forced to raise cash from shareholders.

The said sale is part of the government's efforts to sell several state assets as it aims to balance the budget amid a two-year recession. The economic issue was the result of the drop in global oil prices and Western sanctions.

There were 30 potential bidders which Roseneft held talks with before striking the deal.

Glencore said that it would finance 300 million euros for the deal, and the rest will be coming from the Qatar Investment Authority.

"The negotiated price is in our view the maximum possible with the minimum discount of five percent to market prices," Sechin exclaimed and said.

The sale is said and already in the final stage of negotiations and is expected to close mid-December.
Vestas has been present in Vietnam since the beginning of the countrys wind journey. The firm has recently taken a new step in development by setting up Vestas Vietnam in Hanoi. The legal entity aims to call for new industry partners to implement wind projects in the country, Chris Beaufait, president of Vestas Asia Pacific and China, said at Vietnam Wind Seminar 2016 last week.

In 2016, the company has supplied 12 Vestas V100-2MW wind turbines for Phu Lac 1 Wind Power Plant in the central province of Binh Thuan. The project is expected to deliver 24 megawatts (MW) of clean and reliable power to Vietnam. Next year, Vestas looks forward to delivering the 30MW Huong Linh 2 project in the central province of Quang Tri. Under an order from Vietnamese company Tan Hoan Cau, Vestas will manufacture 15 V100-2.0MW turbines.

Beaufait stated that the Phu Lac 1 and Huong Linh 2 projects can serve as best practice examples and change the way the government and stakeholders look at wind power development in Vietnam, thereby paving the way for the full realisation of Vietnams wind potential.

Indeed, while Vietnam is blessed with abundant wind resources, only 158MW of wind power have been put into operation to-date. Investors face many challenges due to a number of regulatory and market barriers, such as a low feed-in-tariff (FIT), weak grid and transmission systems, as well as the lack of financing options.

Pham Trong Thuc, head of the New and Renewable Energy Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), said that the current FIT of 7.8 UScent per kWh is not attractive enough for investors, while the proposed 10.4 UScent per kWh is not feasible at the current stage of development.

The MoIT is assessing three large existing wind farms in Bac Lieu and Binh Thuan provinces to establish the real costs of electricity production. We expect a number of wind projects will be implemented when the new FIT is put in place, he added.

In addition, the government also plans to increase the localisation rate in the wind energy sector to lower investment costs. The MoIT and GE have inked a Memorandum of Understanding to develop 1,000MW wind energy in Vietnam by 2025. Under the agreement, we aim to achieve 60 per cent of localisation for the project, he said.

According to Danish Ambassador Charlotte Laursen, Vietnams power development strategy targets 7 per cent renewable energy in the total national electricity production in 2020, increasing to 10 per cent in 2030, excluding hydro-power.

Wind has an important role to play in achieving these targets. Denmark is well prepared to help Vietnam meet, and perhaps, even exceed these targets, she noted.
Under the plan, DAS Capital will buy ITA shares for $20 million, then raise its investment to $150 million over several phases.

DAS Capital, founded in 2011, has expanded its presence all over the world and made a strong foothold in Asia. The Los Angles-based funds portfolio currently stood at $5 billion.

This week, a high-level delegation headed by Nebojsa Micic Micko, executive vice president of DAS Capital in Southeast Asia, paid a visit to Vietnam to explore the opportunity of becoming ITAs strategic partner.

According to Micko, Vietnam is well-known as an emerging market with significant potential. The country already signed a wide range of free trade agreements (FTAs), such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the EU-Vietnam FTA. This is the right time for investors to study the market and make an investment decision.

He highlighted that this is the first time DAS Capital ventures into Vietnam. The fund is looking to cooperate with a prestigious local company who has strong growth, a matching portfolio, and high potential yield.

ITA general director Thai Van Men noted that Tan Tao has a diversified portfolio across many industries, like healthcare, education, real estate, and infrastructure development. In particular, the firm is one of the leading industrial park (IP) developers in Vietnam with many projects nationwide, such as Tan Tao IP in Ho Chi Minh City and Tan Duc IP in the southern province ofLong An.

ITA has seen growing interest from investors due its rapid development in the past few years. The firm welcomes both local and foreign strategic investors to increase investment capital for its upcoming projects, he added.
The Ministry of Public Security will trace the person who spread the rumour that Viet Nam would replace the current banknotes with new ones.-Photo voh.vn

Reaffirming that the spread of the rumour had the wrong intention to cause a negative impact on Viet Nams economy and investment environment, Phuc said this kind of false information strongly affected the nations macro stability.

Previously, Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Viet Nam Dao Minh Tu rejected the news, saying rumours of an upcoming demonetisation process by the Vietnamese central bank are false and groundless.

Tu called on people to be alert against false information as it could affect national monetary security, at a time when the country is enjoying stable economic conditions.

Given our stable and developing economic conditions, this type of information is harmful. I reassert that this information is fabricated, Tu said.

The Government made the decision to trace the person after the local media recently reported that locals were rushing to buy gold and foreign currencies due to fears that Viet Nam would initiate a process to change banknotes.
By PTI: New Delhi, Dec 8 (PTI) India has sent eight note verbales to Pakistan for consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav and 42 such communications in case of Nehal Ansari, External Affairs Ministry said today.

Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup also rejected as "completely baseless" Pakistans allegations against Jadhav, an Indian national and a former Indian Navy officer.

Asked about media reports quoting Pakistan Foreign Advisor Sartaj Aziz as saying there was no "conclusive evidence" against Jadhav which were later denied by the Pakistan Foreign Ministry, Swarup said, "We have seen conflicting media reports about this issue. This is a pattern we have seen in the past as well."

advertisement

Even after more than nine months of keeping him "wrongfully and illegally" in custody, Pakistani authorities have not found a shred of evidence against him, he said.

"We demand immediate consular access to him in accordance with relevant international conventions and his earliest release from wrongful confinement. We have also sent eight Note Verbales to the Pakistan Foreign Office on this issue," Swarup added.

On another Indian national Ansari, who had reportedly crossed over for his lady love, the spokesperson said Indian Mission is closely following up this matter and has issued more than 42 note verbales to the Pakistan Foreign Office.

"In response to our latest Note Verbale dated November 15, Pakistan responded on November 25 stating that concerned authorities in Pakistan are mindful of their responsibilities regarding Ansari who is safe, secure and in good health. However, it must be noted that Pakistan has yet to provide us consular access to Ansari," he said. PTI PYK ZMN

--- ENDS ---
The embassy said there is very few Vietnamese living in the area, and it is coordinating with Indonesian agencies to keep updated on latest information.



As of December 7 afternoon, quake fatalities climbed to almost 100 and more than 600 others were injured.



Search and rescue operation is underway, involving large numbers of military, police and disaster management forces as well as volunteers.



Indonesia often experiences earthquakes and volcanoes because it lies in the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire.



Aceh province was also hit by a 9.2 magnitude quake followed by a tsunami in 2004, which killed 120,000 people and severely devastated the locality.
The travel website wrote that tiny and shabby stores are usually hidden from casual view by the hordes of motorbikes inevitably parked out the front, as a steady stream of locals stops in for some of the best noodle soup in the country.



As long as you're not put off by small plastic chairs and laminate tables that haven't been wiped down in a while, you can enjoy Pho Bo Vien Thap Cam's rich, delicious broth and tender beef or chicken pieces in the company of a friendly crowd, it added.



Meanwhile, Hoi An city was noted as a worthy destination for food lovers.



This website said in this central city of Vietnam, the produce for the street food comes from the surrounding organic farms and markets  not within 100 miles, but 50 miles.



Must-try dishes are cao lau, white rose, mi quang, thit heo nuong cuon, dau pho, fried wonton with crab, and the cheapest fresh beer in Vietnam.
An Indian fisherman walks near boats as waves break on the cost of the Bay of Bengal in Chennai. (Photo: AFP)

Officials from the local Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration said they have asked the Indian navy to help rescue tourists from Havelock, one of the smaller islands most popular with visitors.

"Around 1,000 tourists who had gone to Havelock island have been stuck there since Monday because of heavy rains," T.K.S Ajayan, deputy director at the local disaster management department, told AFP by phone.

The archipelago is one of India's premier domestic tourist destinations thanks to its pristine beaches, marine life and lush-green forests. Ferry services between islands are currently suspended.

"The boats (between Havelock and the main island) haven't operated yesterday or today because of bad weather, which is why we have sought the Navy's help. We know all of them are safe," said Ajayan.

The navy has deployed four ships to the islands but said the sea was still too rough for them to risk moving the stranded travellers.

"We have reached there but the civilian lives can't be risked in these rough seas," said Captain D.K Sharma, a naval spokesman. "We will begin moving them only after the conditions improve."

The meteorological department forecast "heavy to very heavy" rainfall and "rough to very rough" seas around the islands in the next 24 hours.
The Bank of the Year is exclusively awarded to top bank in each country. It is the worlds longest running and most prestigious international banking title.

Each year, The Banker selects one winning bank for each of the countries judged. Over 1,000 applications from 154 countries are collected and judges select winning banks based on evidence provided to determine the Bank in each country which saw the most overall progress in the past 12 months.

Banks failing to satisfy The Bankers judging criteria will not be invited for application.

The judging is carried out by an editorial committee on the basis of submitted entries, data from The Banker's Top 1000 database and their editors' personal knowledge of the market.

The entries are discussed at length and the judging process takes several weeks or more. In cases of doubt, their research team will go back to the bank or banks in contention for further information.

This is the second consecutive year the bank (VIB) has won the award. It is also the first time in Vietnam when a local bank was awarded by The Banker for two consecutive years.

In addition to VIBs efforts in business operations reflected by Tier 1 capital, total assets, net profit, ROE and non-performing loan ratio, The Banker highly praised VIB for its transparent management model, sustainable growth strategy, and efficient support for start-up and SMEs.

Besides, VIBs application of advanced banking technologies, continuous innovation, and efficient and effective marketing activities during the year based on its understanding of market segments were also well recognised by The Banker, which then helps the bank make a difference on the market.

According to the business result achieved by VIB in the first 10 months of 2016, the banks total assets and capital adequacy ratio (CAR) reached VND93,079 billion ($4.23 billion) and 14.46 per cent, the bank's equity reached VND8,381 billion ($381 million), respectively, while its non-performing loan ratio decreased sharply to 1.49 per cent.

VIB is one of few local banks selected by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to pilot Basel II.

Among the banks selected for pilot implementation of the Basel II, VIB is a bank that has the highest readiness level with its CAR of approximately 13 per cent according to Basel II standards.

Specially, VIBs advanced technology platform is also well in place for Basel II.

Previously, VIB was approved by SBV to increase its charter capital to VND5,644 billion ($256.5 million) to help expand the banks business activities.

In the latest report by Moodys, VIB had its credit rating upgraded to B2, making it solidly be among Vietnams top banks with the best credit ratings in the market.


remaining of

Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading.
Khan questioned the very right of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) to represent the Muslim women.

By Kumar Shakti Shekhar: Arif Mohammed Khan, the former Minister of State for Home Affairs in the then Rajiv Gandhi government who had quit the government over the Shah Bano case, has welcomed the Allahabad High Court order holding 'triple talaq' within Muslims as unconstitutional and violative of the fundamental rights of Muslim women.

The court, in its order today, said "no Personal Law Board is above the Constitution".

advertisement

Talking to Indiatoday .in, Khan said the Supreme Court and various high courts, in at least six judgments, have held the view that triple talaq contravenes the Constitutional rights of the Muslim women. Triple talaq has been held to be invalid and irregular method of divorce, he said.

Khan questioned the very right of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) to represent the Muslim women. "As far as AIMPLB is concerned, I have doubts whether it is even a properly registered NGO. And, they do not have any experts of Constitution or law as their members. They cannot be accepted as the sole interpreters or spokespersons of the Muslim laws," he said.

"I feel that this judgment of the Allahabad High Court will pave the way for an environment of gender equality and justice," he said, adding that the people resort to "obnoxious practices". The remedy lies in declaring this method of divorce as a punishable offence and contempt of court.

He further said, "Even the AIMPLB agrees that the second Caliph, who had allowed triple talaq, considered three pronouncements of divorce in one sitting as a crime. He punished such men with 40 lashes."

SHAH BANO CASE

Khan had quit the Rajiv Gandhi government after Parliament enacted the Muslim Women Act in 1986 in the wake of the Supreme Court's judgment in the Shah Bano case. In Mohd Ahmed Khan versus Shah Bano Begum, commonly referred to as the Shah Bano case, the Supreme Court upheld her right to alimony from her husband. However, under pressure from some quarters including AIMPLB, the Rajiv Gandhi government, with its three-fourth majority, passed the Muslim Women Act, 1986 diluting the Supreme Court judgment.

The four-time former MP said Parliament needs to bring all laws in conformity with constitutional requirement as laid out in Art 13. If the law is still violated, it should attract contempt of court, and punished accordingly, he said.

Khan cited two features of the Supreme Court's judgment on the validity of the Muslim Women Act. "Two features of the apex court's order are very prominent. Firstly, the court clarified that the law passed in 1986 does not confine the claim of amount to iddat period. The payment is to be made within the period of iddat. And the amount should be adequate to meet all the future needs of a divorced Muslim woman," he said.

advertisement

Talking about the second prominent feature, Khan said the judgment said the law does not prevent a divorced Muslim woman from going to the court to seek relief under section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which was challenged under the Shah Bano case.

Khan said he felt sorry for the AIMPLB for their lack of understanding of the law. In 1986 they had agreed to a law that overturned everything that they had demanded. "It is clear from the judgment that the Board was more interested in political demagogy. They did not have basic understanding of law," he alleged.

He said the Allahabad High Court's order should be welcomed. "It is the courts of India who are the custodians of constitution. It will create a lot of awareness about gender justice. These practices and customs were adopted and have nothing to do with Islam and the Quran," he said.

--- ENDS ---
As Greece struggles to cope with refugees trapped within its borders, some are going the extra step to help. And for one man who has opened up his house for a Syrian family to live in, the refugee story is one that resonates particularly deeply. John Owens visits a Syrian family and their new host, whose grandparents themselves fled to Athens amid persecution. VOA Khmer's Phy Sopheada narrates.
The long-awaited project to integrate the economies of Aseans 10 member states is seen as moving forward, slowly, while marred by political divisions. Asean nations should revisit their initial commitments and review their plans, regional analysts say.

A lack of supranational authority has added to the slow pace of integration, leaving the Asean Economic Community the same as before, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of Thailands Institute of Strategic and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University, told VOA Khmer.

First, Asean doesnt have any supranational authority. It is, ultimately, a self-help or sovereign system in each country  each economy has its own jurisdiction authority. Its not so easy to promote economic integration when you have no supranationality, he said.

[The AEC] doesnt have momentum, and reality on the ground hasnt really changed. So its kind of the way that Asean works: They always have agreements and implementation is always a challenge, he added.

The AEC, which came into effect at the end of 2015, was the starting point for future Asean integration of the political and security regimes.

Through economic integration, Asean hoped it could create a truly common market, which would raise the global competitiveness of the regional economy.

But at a meeting in Malaysia last year, Asean governments adopted a new plan for economic integration, extending the period of integration until 2025.

The formal integration is not happening, and partly, this is because of the Aseans institutional frameworks, also partly because of the geography. You have land countries and sea countries. And in the sea, the maritime states, you have thousands and thousands of islands, Pongsudhirak said.

Deth Sok Udon of Phnom Penhs Zaman University, said the blurred lines between national sovereignty and communal organizing had been ill-defined.

The real problem of Asean these days is that it is taking too gradual steps. It lacks strength and power as a community standing up as one voice to the superpowers, Deth said.

Though it perhaps cannot tear down the bloc, this demands Asean leaders to question among themselves what kind of community they want: an elevated bloc equivalent to the superpowers, or just appreciating what we have achieved so far.

The dispute over the South China Sea has also marred efforts toward integration in recent years, as four of the claimants are Asean members.

In July, a ruling by the United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration decided against Chinas claim to the so-called nine-dash line.

Failing to get a consensus, an Asean foreign ministerial meeting in Vientiane in July did not issue a joint communique in support of the PCA ruling.

The divide and dispute comes in the midst of competition between a rapidly rising China and the United States, whose President Barack Obamas policy of engagement with Asia was aimed at maintaining U.S. hegemony in the region.

Deth of Zaman University said it was time for Asean leaders to talk openly and directly about the problem.

For my part, I think Asean leaders should implement a policy of having Asean as the main basis [of policy]. Though sometimes, some of them are biased towards a superpower, they should not show off their bias too openly.

Chulalongkorn Universitys Pongsudhirak said the key to restoring Asean unity is to focus on building people-to-people relations as part of an Asean Sociocultural Community which he said can glue Asean countries together.

The future is not bright unless the Asean leaders and Asean people can regroup [and] reunite for a collective cause and collective action, he added.
King Norodom Sihamoni on Wednesday pardoned opposition party member and Kompong Cham Commune Chief Seang Chet, who had been sentenced to five years in prison on Monday, according to a royal decree.

Chets release came only a few hours after a breakthrough in the political stalemate between Cambodias two main parties and the return to the National Assembly of opposition leader Kem Sokha, along with talks on some political issues.

After a parliamentary session in the morning, Interior Minister Sar Kheng also told reporters that four human rights workers with local NGO Adhoc and Ny Chakrya, a senior official with the National Election Committee, could be released later this month.

Todays release includes the case of commune chief Seang Chet. Besides that, I didnt discuss anything. Its all talking between Kem Sokha with Samdech Hun Sen. From what I know, before the end of December, there will be solution for human rights officials and [Chakrya], he said.

Em Kosal, a friend of Chet from the commune, said that villagers there were happy because he was a well-loved official. They love the person, not the party, he said.

Chet was one of several opposition officials swept up in a raft of arrests and legal action prompted by a leaked audio recording that purportedly showed Sokha had engaged in an extra-marital affair.

Ou Virak, founder of the Future Forum, a think tank, said the release was a positive sign, but said he would wait to see if the government would release the rights workers and an election official.

If all of them are pardoned, I think that the political climate will be stable, he said.
Rescue workers in Indonesia searched Thursday for people who might still be trapped a day after an earthquake struck Aceh province, while local officials appealed for medical supplies and other aid to help those left injured or without a home.

The magnitude 6.5 earthquake has killed about 100 people and injured more than 600 others. It hit the northern end of Sumatra island early Wednesday, bringing down dozens of buildings, with the Pidie Jaya district the hardest hit.

Thousands of people spent the night in mosques and other temporary shelters, while others slept outside. The government has declared a two-week state of emergency in Aceh.

Volunteers rush in

The Indonesian Red Cross distributed blankets, hygiene kits and tarps to those affected by the earthquake and called for people to donate blood to help the injured.

Volunteers also made their way to earthquake-hit areas to rush people to hospitals, which are now overloaded with patients.

We are now focusing on searching for victims and possible survivors, said Sutopo Nugroho, a spokesman from Indonesias national disaster management agency.

According to Nugroho, at least 1,000 workers, including officers, military personnel and volunteers, were deployed to help victims.

The International Organization for Migration ((IOM)) said in a statement that it has deployed an assessment team from Banda Aceh to heavily damaged areas.

The IOM said the two staffers have worked closely with the provincial disaster management agency known as BPBD for three years in preparation for an event like this.

Disaster response experience

Paul Dillon, the IOM Indonesia spokesman, told VOA that heavy rain in the affected area is adding to the general misery of the situation.

Dillon said the rescue efforts continue but added that Indonesia has significant experience with natural disaster response.

The areas that were hit have, for the past three years, been part of an IOM [and government] Disaster Risk Reduction project designed to anticipate these sorts of events so theres generally a high level of awareness and ability to manage, he said.

Dillon said the team saw vehicles loaded with supplies making their way to affected regions.

The mosques are full of survivors; people who either cannot or will not return to their homes tonight. There are many small villages in remote areas that have not checked in, so the situation in the back country is a little opaque. Roads are intact in most areas, but theres damage to bridges and other infrastructure thatll take time and money to fix [or] replace, he added.

Area prone to quakes

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered near the town of Reuleut. Indonesias Climate, Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said the quake did not generate a tsunami.

Indonesia is located in an area of the world prone to earthquakes. A 2004 quake off Sumatra island triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 in Indonesia and other countries.
As Donald Trump makes his thank-you tour of states that voted for him, other parts of the country are gearing up to do battle with his administration.

Three of the most populous, urban and ethnically diverse states  California, New York and Illinois  voted heavily for Hillary Clinton and are at odds with the incoming administration on such issues as immigration, health care, climate change, abortion rights and gun control.

In Massachusetts, a state Clinton won by more than 25 percentage points, Democratic Attorney General Maura Healey has threatened to sue if the incoming administration carries out Trump campaign promises she contends are unconstitutional. The incoming top law enforcement official in California has hinted at a similar approach.

"If you want to take on a forward-leaning state that is prepared to defend its rights and interests, then come at us," Representative Xavier Becerra said just hours after he was appointed California's attorney general by Governor Jerry Brown.

Nothing has stirred more anxiety in the states that voted for Clinton than Trump's statements on immigration. During the campaign, he pledged to deport millions of people in the country illegally and bar Muslims from entering. In Ohio last week, on the first stop in his thank-you tour, Trump reiterated his intent to build "a great wall" along the Mexican border.

California resolution

On Monday, the California Legislature returned for the first time since the election and passed a resolution urging the Trump administration not to pursue mass deportations. An estimated 2.4 million Californians are immigrants in the U.S. illegally.

Democrats, who hold supermajorities in both houses in California, also announced legislation that would provide lawyers to those in deportation proceedings and train criminal defense attorneys to advise clients on the immigration consequences of their cases.

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon said the intent is to put a "firewall" around Californians.

"If you want to get to them, you have to go through us," he said.

In New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio is also pushing back. He said he and Trump talked about immigrants in the country illegally and "exclusionary policies" involving Muslims, among other issues.

"I reiterated to the president-elect that I would be open-minded as we continue substantive discussions, but I would also be vigilant," said de Blasio, a Democrat.

Letter from mayors

In Chicago, the nation's third-largest city and a Democratic stronghold, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced $1 million would be made available to help people fight deportation.

On Wednesday, Emanuel emerged from a meeting with Trump saying he had presented the president-elect with a letter from 14 mayors asking him not to scrap an Obama administration policy that protects people who entered the country illegally as children from deportation. Trump's tough talk during the campaign led to concerns that he would end the policy and deport them.

"We are clear as mayors that these are dreamers who are seeking the American Dream, and we should embrace them rather than do a bait-and-switch," Emanuel said after the meeting in New York.

In an interview with Time magazine, which named him its "Person of the Year" this week, Trump appeared to soften his stance. He said he would "work something out" to help those who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, though he offered no details.

In Rhode Island, Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza has pledged to do whatever the city can to protect residents from being deported for civil immigration violations.

Democrats in California, where Clinton defeated Trump by nearly 4.2 million votes, are especially riled by Trump's presidency. Party leaders said many of the state's priorities of recent years, including its pioneering laws to fight global warming and its efforts to greatly expand health care, are threatened.

California was the first state to embrace the Affordable Care Act and has the largest population of beneficiaries. Trump's threats to repeal and replace the federal health care law could strip coverage for hundreds of thousands of people, Rendon warned.

Agreement on infrastructure?

On his "USA Thank You Tour"  a series of rallies in favorable states that presidential historians say is unprecedented for a president-elect  Trump has mentioned one issue on which there might be broad agreement. Political leaders in Democratic-learning states and cities are encouraged by his proposal to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure.

New York, for example, is looking for billions in federal help to rebuild highways, modernize New York City's subways and construct a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River. Democratic Senator Charles Schumer, the incoming Senate minority leader, said the first 100 days of a Trump administration "could provide us with a real shot at fixing New York's aging sewers, roads and bridges."

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti spoke with Trump after the election and described him as "very supportive of our efforts to invest in infrastructure." Downtown Los Angeles is undergoing a building boom, while the region known for gridlocked freeways is expanding rail systems.

Garcetti, a Democrat, said he was not concerned that Trump would favor Republican states with money for building and construction.

"He comes from a blue city in a blue state, and more importantly than politics, he comes from a place where people depend on the subway and depend on public transportation to reduce traffic and pollution. So he gets that," the mayor said.
Brazil's Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned an injunction that ordered the indicted head of the Senate, Renan Calheiros, to step down, voting to allow him to continue in the post but not in the presidential line of succession.

The 6-3 ruling defuses a clash between the top court and the Senate that threatened to derail austerity legislation at the center of President Michel Temer's plan to bring a widening budget deficit under control and end a two-year recession.

The decision removed uncertainty about the final approval next week in the Senate of a constitutional ceiling on federal spending that investors consider a crucial step for Brazil to regain investment status.

The removal of Calheiros, who was indicted last week on embezzlement charges, would have left the Senate leadership in the hands of a leftist senator whose Workers Party opposes the spending cutbacks at the heart of Temer's efforts to restore fiscal discipline.

Calheiros, whose mandate in charge of the chamber expires when Congress goes into its Christmas recess in a few days, refused to step down on Tuesday, heightening the standoff between the legislature and judiciary.

He was second in line to Brazil's presidency after the speaker of the lower house, as the nation currently has no vice president.

Justice Marco Aurelio de Mello defended his injunction issued on Monday based on a majority vote by the court a month ago that no person indicted for a crime could be in the presidential line of succession.

But in Wednesday's ruling, the majority decided that, while no indicted person can be in line for the presidency of the country, that does not mean they have to step down from other positions.
At the local fish market here along the banks of the Tonle Sap, the morning harvest is enormous. Prized catfish, among other species, dominate sales as buyers for restaurants pile in for the biggest and best on offer.

Early business is brisk for the fish farmers who bred and reared their fish securely in ponds. But the afternoons are different, said Man Mat, a 29-year-old fish monger.

That's when local fishermen deliver their daily catch, taken from near here and the nearby Mekong River. Their yields, however, are paltry and Man Mat blames a range of issues for the dwindling fish stocks, including illegal fishing with electric nets, overfishing, climate change and drought.

But he says the greatest problem confronting his business is the multi-billion dollar dam construction program in Laos.

The fish are getting smaller and smaller, said Man Mat, a Muslim Cham and son of a fisherman. My father catches 5-to-15 kilograms a day when before it was 100 to 200 kilograms...in 10 years, there'll be no more fish left.

His sentiments are being echoed across the Mekong Delta, where the damming of the Mekong River and destruction of a natural habitat that allows fish to migrate upstream to spawn has upset those who ply these waters for their livelihoods.

Start of the problem

It began with a decision by Vientiane to press ahead with the $3.8 billion Xayaburi dam in 2012 despite a public outcry from scientists and environmentalists. Authorities then announced they would also proceed with the $300 million Don Sahong Dam at Siphandone, home to the endangered Irrawaddy Dolphin and the famed 4,000 Islands.

But the final straw for many was last month's decision by the government of Lao President Bounnhang Vorachith to proceed with a third $1.88 billion dam across the mainstream at Pak Beng in the country's north, as part of a broader strategy to sell electricity into neighboring countries, especially China, which has built its own dams across the Mekong in its territory.

They keep the fish in the upper reaches of the river and they only release them when the water levels are high, Man Mat said. Now fish numbers are really down.

The total fish harvest from the Mekong River and its lower delta was valued at $11 billion a year in 2015, according to the fisheries research and development newsletter "Catch and Culture."

Major industry

About 70 million people depend on those fish. Their food security has emerged as a major issue confronting the Cambodian and Vietnamese governments.

Over the last two decades, the population living off the Mekong in the downstream delta region has increased by at least 10 million people, upping the demand for fish and leading to a phenomena scientists call fishing down, which results in the depletion of large fish that are then replaced by once discarded smaller fish.

Laos should stop the dams because they are having a big impact on fishing, said Ra Thuy, a 41-year-old fisherman who also plies these waters with a sampan and net. The dams are stopping the fish from traveling upstream to spawn.

He says fishing is currently not good due to lower-than-usual water levels. At the moment I'm not fishing, just fixing the boat, he said.

Fishermen like Ray Thuy and Outh Hien, 69, echoe Man Mats concerns. Both say they used to catch up to 300 kilograms of fish a day, but this had dropped to around 20 kilograms, and that's on a good day.

Five times I flung my net this morning and this is all I got, Outh Hien said, pointing to his grandchildren and holding up his paltry morning catch of little fish, enough perhaps to bait a hook.

I have also heard Laos is building a third dam across the Mekong River, he said. That's it for me  no fish, my grandchildren will do something else as they can only go to school.

'Battery of Asia'

But Vientiane is unmoved. It plans to sell hydro-electricity into neighboring countries through the eventual construction of 11 dams across the Mekong River, and another 123 across the country, in its quest to turn the isolated and impoverished state into the battery of Asia.

Laos has also tried to allay concerns over fish breeding by arguing fish by-passes would be built to enable fish migration patterns to continue upstream for spawning. However, scientists are far from convinced that by-passes will work, citing a lack of evidence.

This is creating a heavier dependence on farmed fish.

According to "Catch and Culture" growth rates, aquaculture growth in the Mekong River Basin is three times faster than the global average. It also valued contributions from fish farms at about $5.8 billion in 2015, up from $4.8 billion in 2010. It was less than $1 billion in 2003.

And that's being reflected here at the local fish market in Chhaing Chomras, where aquaculture is flourishing while traditional fishermen struggle.
Demand for travel to Cuba may be flattening, with soaring hotel prices on the island, American Airlines cutting some flights, and uncertainty over whether new travel restrictions could be imposed when Donald Trump takes office.

Gregory Geronemus, co-CEO of smarTours, a tour company that's taken 3,000 Americans to Cuba, confirms there has been a softening in demand.

In part he blamed hotel prices on the island, which have nearly doubled since 2015 and which are set by the government.

There's still demand but there's only so much people can afford, he said. Cheaper lodging is available through Airbnb and other services, but not all travelers want the hassles and uncertainty of traveling on their own in Cuba.

"Zika has cast a shadow"

Geronemus said Zika has cast a shadow on the region too, despite the Cuban government's assertion that mosquito abatement efforts have been successful. Zika, a mosquito-borne virus, can cause birth defects.

While an increasing number of airlines are offering flights, American Airlines is cutting three of its 13 daily flights to Cuba beginning February 16 and switching to smaller planes on some routes, said spokesman Matt Miller. He added that adjustments are common with new service and that the reduction was made before the presidential election.

ForwardKeys, which compiles data based on global reservations transactions, says it has not detected a drop in bookings for Cuba. And Cuban government statistics show an 80 percent increase in visits by Americans the first six months of this year over the same period in 2015, from 76,183 to 136,913.

U.S. airlines add flights

In the last few weeks, several U.S. airlines started regular commercial flights to Cuba. United Airlines launched Newark-Havana flights November 29 and Saturday service from Houston on December 3.

Spokesman Jonathan Guerin said the airline is prepared to work with the new administration going forward.

JetBlue, which also just launched service, would not provide specifics but said we are pleased with how flights to Cuba are selling.

Tanner Callais of Austin, Texas, who runs a cruise website called Cruzely.com, had hoped to cruise to Cuba in 2017.

But now with some of the things I've heard about tightening up restrictions on travel to Cuba, we're taking a wait and see approach, he said. The last thing we want to do is put a lot of money down for a trip and then have the cruise cancelled due to new restrictions put in place.

Travel ban a concern



Others are booking trips as soon as they can, fearing a Cuba travel ban under Trump.

Ordinarily we book trips three to six months ahead but people are calling this week to register for trips three weeks from now, said Kimberly Haley-Coleman, executive director of GlobeAware, which organizes volunteer trips.



Though Geronemus says the softening started long before Trump was elected, some travelers are asking for reassurance that they'd be covered if travel gets banned between the time they book their tickets and their planned trip. That has smarTours promising a full refund or credit for a discounted trip elsewhere should new rules make it impossible to go ahead with a trip, Geronemus says.

Trump's plan unsure

Erika Richter, spokeswoman for the American Society of Travel Agents, says some people we talk to are convinced that everything will be rolled back on January 21. Others think, as a hospitality industry leader, [Trump] will not follow through. So, I think it's probable but not guaranteed that we see a roll back in early 2017.



But what Trump has in mind for Cuba is unclear. Three days after Fidel Castro's death, the president-elect tweeted: If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the U.S. as a whole, I will terminate deal.



Some critics believe the Obama administration should have held out for democratic and human rights reforms as part of the loosening of travel restrictions. But others think that stimulating Cuba's economy through travel  including inroads by U.S. cruise, hotel and tour companies there  is the best way to bring change.

Cruise lines headed to Cuba

On Wednesday, two U.S. cruise companies, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Royal Caribbean International received permission from the Cuban government to sail from the U.S. to Cuba. In May, Carnival Corp. became the first U.S. company in decades to run cruises to Cuba.



Haley-Coleman thinks the most likely scenario is a return to strict enforcement of rules for permitted types of trips. Even under President Obama, Americans can't go to Cuba as regular tourists. They have to certify that their trip falls into one of 12 permitted categories, including educational, humanitarian or cultural travel.

Right now, though, that certification is done on the honor system.

Haley-Coleman thinks Trump may require itineraries be pre-approved to ensure Americans are not just drinking mojitos on the beach.

Also Wednesday, a group of Cuban entrepreneurs traveled to Washington to deliver a letter asking Trump to support increased U.S. travel, trade and investment with Cuba. As owners of restaurants, bed-and-breakfasts and other businesses, they said that continued engagement with the U.S. is essential for progress and growth on the island.
Even though the weather is comparatively better than Wednesday the winds are blowing at a speed of more than 30kms per hour. Evacuation not possible till winds and waves subside.

The rescue operations have been hampered as the weather is yet to improve. Photo by K. Raja Kumarr

By Manogya Loiwal : More than 1400 tourists are still stranded in Havelock and Neil islands in Andaman and Nicobar Islands due to inclement weather.

The rescue operations have been hampered as the weather is yet to improve.

Even though the weather is comparatively better than Wednesday the winds are blowing at a speed of more than 30kms per hour. Evacuation not possible till winds and waves subside.

advertisement

All tourists have been advised to stay indoors and helpline numbers and a helpdesk has been started.

Andaman has the credit of one of the most state of art disaster management systems post Tsunami.

However, Navy was requested for the evacuation of stranded tourists.

It has been more than 24 hours but the four Naval Ships have not been able to begin the operations despite reaching Havelock Island due to turbulent weather in the island.

Minstry of Home Affairs officials have been instructed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh to keep a close watch on the developments.

Photo by K. Raja Kumarr

Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma has assured security and safety of tourists.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Tourism Minister of West Bengal Gautam Deb are personally monitoring a safe return of more than 800 tourists from Bengal in Andamans.

Photo by K. Raja Kumarr

Deep depression over southeast Bay of Bengal, very heavy rainfall likely over Andaman and Nicobar

Heavy rains in Andaman strands 1400 tourists, Indian Navy dispatches 4 ships for evacuation

--- ENDS ---
Britain and Western nations are facing grave threats to their security and political systems from the hostile propaganda output and cyber attacks by rival states, the head of Britain's espionage service MI6 warned Thursday. Alex Younger, in his first major public speech as "C," the designation given the head of the Secret Intelligence Service, singled out Russia for its high-tech subversion.

Speaking to reporters at MI6's headquarters on the River Thames in central London, Younger warned that the risks at stake are profound and represent a fundamental threat to our sovereignty.

He added, The connectivity that is at the heart of globalization can be exploited by states with hostile intent to further their aims deniably. They do this through means as varied as cyber attacks, propaganda or subversion of democratic process."

Hearings planned on hacking

The MI6 chief's warning comes as pressure mounts on U.S. President Barack Obama from congressional Democrats to disclose more information on Russian hacking activities during the 2016 U.S. elections. The White House has not responded to a letter signed last week by every Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, calling for the declassification of "additional information concerning the Russian government and the U.S. election."

In a rare public statement in October, U.S. intelligence chiefs accused the Kremlin of being behind the hacking of the Democratic National Committee's computer system and of the email's of Hillary Clinton's campaign staff. The computer intrusions were directed by some of "Russia's senior-most officials" in an unprecedented effort to influence the elections, the chiefs said.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers say they plan to hold formal hearings into what they worry was meddling by Russian in the U.S. presidential race. Fears are mounting among Western officials that the Russian intelligence services will target the coming elections in Germany and France.

Complex, risky work

Britain's Alex Younger said in his remarks that high-tech subversion "should be a concern to all those who share democratic values." British spies trying to defeat the threat face complex and risky work. The British intelligence chief also hit out at Russia for its military backing of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, warning that the risks mount of more Syrians being driven toward extremism.

"In defining as a terrorist anyone who opposes a brutal government, they alienate precisely that group that has to be on side if the extremists are to be defeated," he said. Meanwhile, in Aleppo, Russia and the Syrian regime seek to make a desert and call it peace. The human tragedy is heartbreaking," he added.

The terrorist threat to Britain and Europe from militant groups such as Islamic State would continue as long as the Syrian civil war raged, he said.

Russia waging hybrid war

U.S. intelligence analysts say they have been monitoring hundreds of fake news and disinformation sites that can be traced to Russia  all part of a broader effort to interfere with Western democracy and weaken established parties.

In July, a senior European Commission official said that Russian propaganda had deeply penetrated all EU member states, helped by local politicians eager to exploit the confusion sown for their own purposes.

Speaking in Brussels, Jakub Kalenski, a member of the European External Action Service task force assigned with studying Russian propaganda, said Russian-sourced disinformation can be seen across Europe, and he argued Russia is waging a "hybrid war."

According to Kalenski, the Kremlin is matching different tactics and methods depending on the countries being targeted. In the Baltic countries, the target is the Russian-speaking population, via Russian television channels, said Kalenski; but, in Central European states such as Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, the subversion is more disguised, with hundreds of disinformation websites being used. In Scandinavia, propaganda was being put out on social media by state-sponsored internet trolls posting inflammatory comments.





German company targeted

This week, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump questioned claims that Russia interfered in the U.S. elections via cyber warfare. "I don't believe they interfered," Trump said in an interview with Time magazine; but, he did acknowledge they could be included in a list of those possibly responsible for the hacking of Democratic computers.

It could be Russia. And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey. I believe that it could have been Russia and it could have been any one of many other people, sources or even individuals, Trump said.

Meanwhile, in Germany, the steel-making and engineering giant ThyssenKrupp disclosed Thursday that hackers had stolen technical trade secrets earlier this year. ThyssenKrupp has become the target of a massive cyber attack, the corporation said in a statement.

ThyssenKrupp executives said the hackers were located in southeast Asia. The company did not detail what secrets had been stolen. The company's product range includes industrial machines and shipbuilding and it is highly active in defense production, including building submarines for Israel.
Environmental activists and Native Americans are applauding the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' decision to deny an easement for the Dakota Access Pipeline, barring the line from passing under Lake Oahe near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota until there is a full assessment of the project. But some activists worry that President-elect Donald Trump could reverse the pipeline decision after he is inaugurated on January 20.
U.S. lawmakers of both political parties said the American people are owed a thorough accounting of Russias meddling in last months presidential election, with one prominent Republican urging sanctions on Russian hackers.

Its pretty clear that Russia was involved in this past election and collected data from both sides but released data for one side only [to hurt Democrats] in an effort to skew the election, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Dianne Feinstein, told VOA.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham concurred.

Theres a lot of evidence they interfered in our election by hacking into systems and joining forces with others to release information that was favorable to one side versus the other, Graham said. And thats a precedent you cannot allow to go unchecked.

I want to find out what they did, fact versus fiction, and come up with sanctions that really will bite on Russia  on individuals in Russia" responsible for hacking, Graham added.

Such intentions set up a potential confrontation with President-elect Donald Trump, who has asserted that the election was free of Russian involvement.

In a rare public statement in October, U.S. government officials said cyber attacks on Democratic political organizations and the emails of former Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's staff were directed by "Russia's senior-most officials."

Several Democrats from both houses of Congress have written the White House urging the release of more information on the subject.

Feinstein did not add her name to the letter, and said patience is needed for now.

"Certain investigations are still going on. And I think they ought to be completed prior to any release of information," Feinstein said. "One day it will all come out."

Even more probes are possible. Democratic Congressmen Eric Swalwell and Elijah Cummings Wednesday introduced legislation that would create a bipartisan panel to investigate Russian meddling.

Republican Graham said the issue is not partisan. While Democrats were targeted this past year, he said Republicans could be in another nations crosshairs in the next election.

"What if the Iranians do this? Graham said. If Trump is tough on the Iranians, as he says hes going to be, you could see a nation hacking into the Republican side. And that leads to chaos."

Questions remain as to how foreign hackers obtained emails from Clinton's campaign and published them via WikiLeaks in the closing stretch of the presidential campaign.

Democratic Senator Ben Cardin said he expects more information will be forthcoming from the outgoing Obama administration.
Giovanni Guerrero was 7 years old when he arrived in the U.S.

Since then, though, his family has overstayed a visa, meaning Guerrero and his siblings are undocumented.

"I'm a proud Mexican-American, but I've been here since the first grade and being raised here, you get adapted," Guerrero said.

The 20-year-old is also a DACA recipient  the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that could end if President-elect Donald Trump fulfills his promise to cancel all executive actions, memoranda and orders issued by President Barack Obama affecting the protection of immigrants who were brought to the country as children. Trump has labeled them "unconstitutional."

Guerrero is now a third-year aerospace engineering student concentrating in astronautics at California Poly San Luis Obispo.

"[I] know that all my efforts and dreams will be destroyed by not being allowed to enter [this] industry, especially if I am deported," Guerrero said. "Once you're deported, it's kind of over for you."

Stories like Guerrero's prompted a group of 60 Democratic House members to write a letter, urging Obama to pardon DACA recipients who are in the U.S. illegally  the idea being to shield them from prosecution. More than 740,000 people have been approved for deportation relief under the program.

"After decades in this country, young people were educated in our schools, children who have grown up with our children, who know no other country, who have pledged allegiance to our flag. And now we know there are Republicans who want them deported, and their skills and talents taken to some other country," Illinois Democratic Representative Luis Gutierrez said Wednesday at a news conference.

American dream

In the letter, the legislators said that DACA recipients, also known as Dreamers, had trusted the government to protect them. But many Dreamers now fear that addresses and other identifying information they provided to register for DACA can be used by the new administration to target them for deportation.

Democratic members said they know the president's "clemency power" would not give legal status to any undocumented individual, as only Congress can create legal status.

"Never before has an incoming president threatened such a large segment of our population with deportation, but you [President Obama] have the ability to act legally and irreversibly in their defense," said Democratic Rep. Judy Chu of California.

Chu was referring to Trump's promises to reverse current administration immigration executive orders signed in 2012.

It would be one of the easiest promises for Trump to fulfill, as he can undo all executive orders signed by the previous president.

But Trump indicated he was going to work something out for undocumented youth like Guerrero.

In a Time Magazine Person of the Year interview, he promised to do something to make people happy and proud but did not dismiss the idea of getting rid of DACA.

They got brought here at a very young age, theyve worked here, theyve gone to school here. Some were good students. Some have wonderful jobs. And theyre in never-never land because they dont know whats going to happen, Trump said.

A DACA recipient living in California, who asked to remain anonymous, believes Trump's comments show that he does not understand the immigrant community.

I feel like for him to cancel DACA but to bring a different sort of relief is almost--to please everyone-- I feel like it's almost impossible, the social worker student said.

I don't believe he will reach something that will help everybody. I just don't think that's going to happen, she added.

Meanwhile, the president-elect's transition team has not disclosed how or if he will implement his immigration promises.

"The president-elect is very focused on naming his cabinet, building out his administration and preparing to hit the ground running on Inauguration Day.  There will be plenty of time to discuss detailed policy specifics after the swearing-in," Jason Miller, a spokesman for the Trump transition team, told Reuters.

Also Wednesday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel spoke to reporters after meeting with Trump in New York.

The mayor, who was former White House chief of staff to Obama, said they discussed a variety of topics, among them DACA students.

"I delivered to the president-elect, his senior adviser and his chief-of-staff a letter signed by 14 mayors put together from across the country about DACA students  that they were working hard toward the American dream," Emanuel said.

"All of us fundamentally believe that these are students, these are also people who want to join the armed forces, he added. They gave their name, their address, their phone number, where they are. They're trying to achieve the American Dream, it's no fault of their own their parents came here. They are something we should hold up and embrace."

But embracing Dreamers may not include pardoning them.

Power of pardon

Cecilia Munoz, director of the White House's Domestic Policy Council, said she knows people are hoping that a pardon authority is a way to protect people, but "it is not an answer here."

"Pardon authority is generally designed for criminal violations, not civil.  Ultimately, it wouldn't protect a single soul from deportation. It is not an answer here for this population. I know people are hoping for an answer," Munoz said during a podcast interview released by the Center for Migration Studies.

That is why, she added, Obama prefers legislation.

Guerrero still holds on to hope. He believes that receiving a pardon could allow him to stay in the U.S., where he plans to work on rocket and satellite technology.

"I definitely have lots to offer to the U.S., and it's sad and humanly degrading to have education you can't directly apply to the nation you've called home since first grade," Guerrero said.
Egypt's beekeepers say their hives are under threat because of a shortage of sugar, as are the flowers and crops that their bees pollinate.

Sugar became hard to find in recent months after the government took control of stocks. It sought to counter what it said was an epidemic of hoarding by merchants reacting to rising prices as a result of a shortage of foreign currency.

Bees are fed sugar to tide them over the winter and to compensate for honey harvested from their hives.

Beekeeping in Egypt can be traced back to the time of the pharaohs, with the first hieroglyphs of bees dating back thousands of years.

"There is a sugar crisis and the bees have to receive nutrition through their winter hibernation," said commercial beekeeper Saeed Hagras.

With sugar in short supply, beekeepers had to let their bees consume honey instead.

"So now instead of profiting from taking the honey produced and selling it, we are now supplying it for the bees again instead of the sugar," Hagras told Reuters Television at his farm in Shibin El Kom, the capital of the Nile Delta province of Menoufia.

Government assistance

His son Mohamed said the government should step in to help, particularly as there were opportunities to export honey profitably to the United States and Canada.

"We are calling on the government to help the beekeepers to provide support," he said. "This will create employment opportunities to the youth and open up investment."

Mohamed added: "Many will be employed and the country will receive hard currency. We are in dire need of hard currency and investment."

Another beekeeper, Rayhan Meligy, said crops would suffer if bees were allowed to die out.

"The crops are pollinated through bees. There will be no crops and the corn will decline, the harvest will decline and the clover will decline. All the crops will decline," he said.
Homophobic rhetoric is nothing new in Indonesian politics. In recent months, elected officials have labeled gay Indonesians as morally corrupt, inconsistent with national values, and "worse than nuclear warfare."

But the recent arrest of several gay men at a private party in south Jakarta's Kalibata City was a shock for many, both because the raid was led by the right-wing Islamic Defender's Front (FPI) party and because the police actually followed their lead.

FPI has been emboldened in recent months by the success of initiatives like their huge rallies against Jakarta's ethnic Chinese governor, Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama. With little opposition from President Joko Widodo and other mainstream politicians, the group has become brazenly divisive.

Moral decay

"What's happened in 2016 is strange and unprecedented," said Kyle Knight, a Human Rights Watch researcher.

Earlier this year, he said, many prominent officials had a "sort of meltdown" where they goaded each other into making inflammatory statements like that of Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu, who compared homosexuality to nuclear war.

"And what mainstream politicians decided to do was keep quiet, so as not to fan the flames of extremists," Knight said. But silence had the opposite effect, and ultimately let their voices echo unchecked.

The acronym LGBT  lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender  has become so symbolically loaded in Indonesia, Knight said, that politicians use it as shorthand for a whole set of liberal values. "I wouldn't be surprised if some of them didn't even know what it stood for," he said.

The FPI, Knight added, has turned gay rights into a wedge issue to drum up middle-class moral outrage before regional elections in January and February.

"I think the phrase LGBT is a cheap way of appealing to moral voters, and Islamic parties are using this to get votes," said prominent gay rights activist Dede Oetomo.

But this strategy might not have its desired effects. Journalist and Indonesia expert Elizabeth Pisani analyzed hundreds of sharia-inspired bylaws and found that "morality-based" legislation does not translate into popularity with voters.

Although anti-gay and religiously intolerant laws win local politicians the support of hardliners like FPI, she found, the politicians who champion them are less likely to get re-elected than their moderate peers.

The Kalibata City incident

"The fact that FPI could enter private premises is worrying," Oetomo said. "There are now different levels of reality within Indonesia, because the hardliners are so intent on turning their worldview into action."

The FPI has attacked LGBT events since at least 2002, when they disrupted a film festival in Surabaya. But until recently, Oetomo said, their position tended to be perceived as fringe.

In the Kalibata City raid, police confiscated 17 cellphones, two packs of condoms and antiretroviral drugs for HIV/AIDS, according to local newspaper Warta Kota. None of these things, nor the act of homosexual intercourse, are illegal.

"It's this pattern of behavior where the police take militant Islamists tips seriously, which is not at all surprising," Knight said. "But the chilling effect that the police send even just by showing up  is that the social sanction comes from on high and gets interpreted as open season on LGBT people." Plus, he said, the immediacy with which FPI could claim credit for the incident on Twitter and disseminate its message to sympathetic citizens is unprecedented.

If FPI retains popular support for its LGBT stance, it may succeed in passing all or part of a proposed ban on homosexuality. In 2014, the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI), an umbrella Muslim organization that includes FPI, issued a detailed fatwa against LGBT relations. The fatwa's rhetoric has inspired the proposed legislation.

"MUI doesn't have law enforcement capabilities, but we just wanted to remind the government of Indonesia that the LGBT movement endangers Indonesian culture and Indonesia is not the same as Western countries that allow LGBT relations," said Nadjamuddin Ramly, Deputy Secretary-General of MUI.

MUI perceives LGBT visibility as a threat to heterosexual marriage. According to the fatwa, "the institution of marriage is the only legitimate institution in channeling sexual desire and organize the household and the community."

Community watches, waits

"I'm very angry," said Anggun Pradesha, a transwoman activist and filmmaker in Yogyakarta. "FPI's hatred is strange. On the basis of some distaste, they feel so obligated to diminish the rights of other human beings."

Pradesha was rattled by the Kalibata incident. "What those men did was not illegal," she said. "What does that mean for the rest of us?"

She pointed out the slight absurdity of the whole concept of "LGBT" within Indonesia, as it groups together a centuries-old social category of transgender, or third-gender, individuals with homosexuals. But she welcomed the incidental kinship and its strength in numbers: all the better to persevere with.
A Greek court has rejected an extradition request from Turkey for two Turkish soldiers accused by Ankara of involvement in July's failed coup.

The two soldiers were the last to receive rulings in their extradition cases among a group of eight helicopter crewmen who fled to Greece the day after the coup attempt because they said they would not receive a fair trial in Turkey.

The ruling comes just two days after other judges in the same court approved the extradition of three officers.

The extradition requests for the first three soldiers was also denied. All the soldiers claim they are innocent.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cracked down on journalists, academics, the military, and civilian government employees, following the July coup attempt.

More than 100,000 people have been removed from their jobs since government forces blocked the coup attempt. More than 35,000 others, including military officers and opposition politicians, have been arrested for suspected collusion with the coup plotters.

Erdogan has accused U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen of plotting the coup, and vowed to bring Gulen to justice.

Gulen, a former Erdogan ally in self-imposed exile in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania since 1999, has denied involvement in the coup attempt.
International Criminal Court judges asked South Africa on Thursday to send representatives to a hearing next year to determine whether it had breached its obligation to arrest Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir in June.

The public hearing will further strain frayed relations between the war crimes court and African leaders, many of whom accuse the mainly European-backed institution of singling out Africa for prosecution.

The decision of South Africa's President Jacob Zuma to let Bashir depart after an African Union summit unleashed a storm of protest in June, prompting legal challenges against the government and leading indirectly to South Africa's  and later Gambia's  decision to withdraw from the court.

In a ruling issued Thursday, pre-trial judges at the court scheduled a hearing for April 7, at which the court's prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, South Africa's government and the United Nations could discuss the alleged non-compliance.

In 2010, the court charged Bashir with genocide in connection with the conflict in South Sudan. The ICC's arrest warrants are binding on all member states, including South Africa, but in practice Bashir has visited many members, especially in Africa, without being arrested.

South Africa had previously asked the court to suspend its legal action over the visit until all domestic litigation on the matter was complete. The country remains under legal obligation to attend the April hearing despite its planned withdrawal.

More than two-thirds of the court's members are African countries, but a series of politically sensitive cases, particularly those against Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, both since shelved, have severely tested Africa's support for the court.

The court has no enforcement powers and no police force of its own. A finding of non-compliance would likely leave any sanctions against South Africa in the hands of the United Nations Security Council, which originally asked the court to investigate alleged war crimes in Sudan.
Italy is gearing up for possible fresh elections following the resignation of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi after the "no" vote in a referendum on constitutional change. Economic and political factors drove voters to punish Renzi, but analysts say Italys migrant crisis also played a role, and the issue is likely to feature in forthcoming election campaigns.

More than 176,000 migrants are being housed in reception centers spread across Italy, and prior to his loss in a referendum Sunday, outgoing Prime Minister Matteo Renzi threatened to veto the EU budget in a bid to force Europe to share Italys burden.

Renzi said, "The international scene is in chaos and Europe is struggling," adding the countries most recently brought into the European bloc are those that dream of building walls.

The appeal was too little, too late, says Eurasia Group analyst Riccardo Fabiani.

Many people think he was too weak towards Europe and particularly northern Europe. There was a perception in Italy the government should have been harsher with Germany, and with the migrants as well, said Fabiani.

Every day, hundreds, sometimes thousands, more migrants arrive on Italys southern shores. By far, the majority comes from Libya, where the political chaos allows people smugglers to profit from the endless human cargo.

Europe supports the internationally recognized Libyan national unity government; but, that support has failed to stem the flow of migrants, says Fabiani.

Supporting the national unity government, which is weak, divided and has been very ineffective so far, is at odds with the idea of having a deal with a strong authority, a strong government in Libya which is able to stem the flow of migrants, said Fabiani.

Some opposition parties, like the far-right Northern League, say Italy should instead support Libyan strongman General Khalifa Haftar.

Haftar in their minds is the [Egyptian President] 'General Sissi type of leader that they can have a deal on the migrant crisis with, said Fabiani. "So definitely there are some parties that will try to exploit this issue.

The onset of winter is not deterring migrants. Doctors Without Borders field coordinator Ferry Schippers spoke to VOA via Skype from the rescue vessel "Aquarius," which it operates with the charity SOS Mediterranean.

The seas are higher, there is more rain, it is cold, and I am a bit amazed because the people keep on coming," said Schippers. "We are doing a job that we should not be doing. I mean, the solution should come from a different party. And we are there because obviously there is not enough being done.

Doctors Without Borders says nearly 5,000 people have died this year on the crossing, and Italy and Europe have yet to find a solution.
John Glenn, the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the earth, has died at age 95, officials said.

Glenn passed away Thursday, more than a week after being admitted to the Ohio State University's James Cancer Hospital. The John Glenn College of Public Affairs at OSU made the announcement.

U.S. President Barack Obama issued a statement saying that with Glenn's passing, "our nation has lost an icon and Michelle and I have lost a friend." He commended Glenn for a lifetime of breaking barriers, including setting a transcontinental speed record and becoming the oldest man ever to go into space.

Glenn was the last surviving member of a group known as "the Mercury 7" - seven military test pilots selected in 1959 to become America's first astronauts.

"The last of America's first astronauts has left us," Obama said in his statement, "but propelled by their example, we know that our future here on Earth compels us to keep reaching for the heavens."

President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter to react to Glenn's passing. "Today we lost a great pioneer of air and space in John Glenn. He was a hero and inspired generations of future explorers. He will be missed," Trump said.

Ellen Ochoa, the director of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Texas, said Thursday: "Our nation has lost a pioneer who contributed immensely to human space flight and inspired so many around the world. ... While we have lost an American hero, we know Senator Glenn's legacy and pioneering spirit will live on through the work we carry out each day as we continue to advance human space exploration for the benefit of humanity."

After serving as a military pilot in World War II and the Korean conflict, Glenn was a test pilot on U.S. Navy and Marine Corps jet fighters and won a place in the first class of U.S. astronauts assembled by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, in 1958.

Glenn became the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth, flying a ship called the Friendship 7 around the world three times in a nearly five-hour flight on February 20, 1962.

During that flight, Glenn told flight engineers back on Earth a phrase for which he became known: "Zero G, and I feel fine." Glenn meant that he had achieved weightlessness in space, or "zero gravity."

Glenn also had political aspirations. A lifelong Democrat, he ran for a U.S. Senate seat for Ohio in 1964. He was unsuccessful, but won a seat 10 years later, defending attacks on his military record in comments that came to be known as the "Gold Star Mothers" speech.

During the 1974 primaries, opponent Howard Metzenbaum accused Glenn, a career military man, of never holding a real job. Glenn retorted, "You go with me to any Gold Star mother [a mother whose child has died in active U.S. military service] and you look her in the eye and tell her that her son did not hold a job."

Glenn went on to win that election and remained a member of the U.S. Senate until 1999. In the months before his death, he was the oldest living former member of the Senate.

In Pictures:

Glenn made his final trip into space in 1998, at age 77. His participation in the 9-day mission of the space shuttle Discovery was criticized by some as folly. But supporters noted that data on Glenn's physical state during flight could be compared with his records from more than three decades earlier, providing valuable data on how space flight affects the body at different ages.

After leaving the Senate in 1999, Glenn helped to found a public service school at The Ohio State University, which later became the John Glenn College of Public Affairs. He served as an adjunct professor at that school.

Glenn went on to win numerous accolades, including honorary degrees at a number of universities, the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service, a U.S. Senate public service award, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Even though the Navy has been pressed into the service and has sent ships in order to rescue the passengers, it has not been able to rescue all 1400 passengers who are stuck there.

By Manogya Loiwal : The Havelock island in Andaman and Nicobar Islands has been hit the worst by storm Vardah that has developed into a major depression over the Bay of Bengal and the tourists stuck on the island continue to suffer.

Even though the Navy has been pressed into the service and has sent ships in order to rescue the passengers, it has not been able to rescue all 1400 passengers who are stuck there.

advertisement

The Naval ships have been standing at the same place nearly 50kms away from Havelock island due to inclement weather for almost 48 hours.

Sonar Tari Tour and Travel, a travel agency from Burdwa, run by Arindram Saha had sent eleven tourists on a tour to the Andaman and Nicobar islands, on December 1 with all of them on board.

Also read:

"Andaman Islands: Rains continue, wind blowing at 30 km per hour makes evacuation difficult

They reached the Neil island by December 4 and travelled to the Havelock island on the 5th and have been stuck there ever since.

Worried relatives. Photo: Sujata Mehera

Among the 11 tourists, a 79-year-old man, Binoy Kumar Bhattacharya, is suffering in the adverse situations and finding it difficult to survive without his medicine and food.

"My father is the only senior citizen in the group, he has medical issues and he has to take medicines for the same. Food and water is really tough to obtain. My biggest concern is that the Navy is not able to leave Port Blair and seeing the condition, they will be stuck on the island for 2-3 days," said, Sajal Bhattacharya, Binoy Bhattacharya's son.

Also read:

Andaman Islands: With evacuation hit, families of stranded tourists spend sleepless nights

The hotel they are stuck in is close to the sea and is only a floor in height.

The Central government and state government are monitoring the situation but nothing has materialized till now.

Also read:

Deep depression over southeast Bay of Bengal, very heavy rainfall likely over Andaman and Nicobar

--- ENDS ---
John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth and a former U.S. senator and war hero, has been hospitalized for more than a week, an official said on Wednesday.

Glenn, 95, is at the James Cancer Hospital at Ohio State University but does not necessarily have cancer, said Hank Wilson, spokesman at the university's John Glenn College of Public Affairs, which Glenn helped found.

"When you're 95, it's always considered serious," said Wilson, who did not have further details about Glenn's condition or his prognosis.

Glenn, the last surviving member of the original seven "Right Stuff" Mercury astronauts, had a knee replacement operation in 2011 and underwent heart surgery in 2014.

Glenn was credited with reviving U.S. pride after the Soviet Union's early domination of manned space exploration, as he became the first American to orbit the Earth on Feb. 20, 1962.

Reaching speeds of more than 17,000 miles per hour, he circled the globe three times in just under five hours in the Friendship 7 capsule.

Glenn instantly became a hero, receiving a ticker-tape parade in New York City and the Space Congressional Medal of Honor from President John Kennedy.

His experiences as a pioneer astronaut were chronicled in the book and movie "The Right Stuff," along with the other Mercury pilots.

Glenn also became the oldest astronaut ever, returning to space at the age of 77 on Oct. 29, 1998.

Before he went into space, Glenn already had a reputation as one of the best test pilots in the country, setting a transcontinental speed record by flying from Los Angeles to New York in three hours and 23 minutes in July 1957. It was the first transcontinental flight to average supersonic speed.

He also earned six Distinguished Flying Crosses and flew more than 150 missions as a fighter pilot in World War Two and the Korean War.

Born in Cambridge, Ohio, Glenn served in the U.S. Senate as a moderate Democrat from Ohio from 1974 to 1999.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has warned his European counterparts about the threats posed by rising authoritarianism in Europe and around the world.

Speaking Thursday at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Ministerial Council in Hamburg, Kerry said the rising trend in authoritarian thinking is accompanied by backsliding on human rights, restrictions on independent media and a spike in acts of intolerance and hate crimes.

"Bigotry, repression and the silencing of dissent cannot be the new normal for any of us," he said. "Every chip away at the fundamentals of freedom is actually a ugly building block in the road to tyranny."

WATCH: Kerry statement at OSCE



Kerry also said the conflict in eastern Ukraine and the Russian occupation of Crimea has persisted too long and called on the OSCE to continue efforts to negotiate a peaceful settlement of those issues.

He added that ending that short-term violence must not obscure the longer-term needs to Ukraine to build a flourishing democracy.

The two-day OSCE meeting includes foreign ministers from the 57 nations that make up the organization. Germany currently holds the group's rotating chairmanship.
E-cigarettes should not be used by kids, the top U.S. health official says.

The devices, which have become popular among adults looking for a healthier alternative to smoking, not only deliver nicotine but also can emit toxic substances like lead, diacetyl and nickel, according to U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy who released a report on the devices.

"All Americans need to know that e-cigarettes are dangerous to youth and young adults," Murthy said. "Any tobacco use, including e-cigarettes, is a health threat, particularly to young people."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned the sale of the devices to anyone under 18 earlier this year.

Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said makers of e-cigs are directly targeting kids with exotic flavors and hip marketing. They have become the most popular nicotine delivery system among young people.

"The use of products containing nicotine poses dangers to youth, pregnant women and fetuses. The use of products containing nicotine in any form among youth, including e-cigarettes, is unsafe," according to the Surgeon General's report.

Elaborating on the report, Murthy said there is confusion surrounding the safety of e-cigs.

"E-cigarettes went from being rare in 2010 to being the most common tobacco product used among our youth," he said. "It also threatens 50 years of hard-fought progress we made curbing tobacco use."

The U.S. government released a report in 2015 saying that one in six high school students used an e-cig within the last month.

"The report finds that, while nicotine is a highly addictive drug at any age, youth and young adults are uniquely vulnerable to the long-term consequences of exposing the brain to nicotine, and concludes that youth use of nicotine in any form is unsafe," the Health and Human Services Department said.

Those views were echoed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

"Nicotine ... is highly addictive and has clear neurotoxic effects," Dr. Benard Dreyer, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics said at a news conference. "E-cigarettes have the potential to addict the next generation and it's a major public health concern to us."

Murthy added that parents, teachers and healthcare providers need to make sure kids know e-cigarettes are not safe.

"Today's report gives them the facts about how these products can be harmful to young people's health," he said.
Facebook says the most discussed topic in the world for 2016 was the U.S. presidential election. It was the second year in a row the election was the most talked about on the social media platform.

Rounding out the top 10 most talked about subjects were Brazilian politics, Pokemon Go, Black Lives Matter, Rodrigo Duterte & Philippine Presidential Election, Olympics, Brexit, Super Bowl, David Bowie and Muhammad Ali.

The top 10 moments of this years Year in Review were measured by how frequently a topic was mentioned in Facebook posts made between January 1 and November 27, 2016, Facebook wrote in a blog post Thursday. To put this list together, mentions were analyzed in an aggregated, anonymized way and then ranked to create a snapshot of the year on Facebook. The top 10 Live videos were measured by total cumulative views.

Facebook Live, the companys streaming video application, had different leaders.

The most-viewed Facebook Live video was a woman wearing a Chewbacca mask. She became known as Chewbacca Mom.

Given the amount of news Americans get through Facebook, there has been some speculation that the site is flooded by so-called "fake news". Some have gone so far to say fake news influenced the 2016 election.

The companys chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg said she doesnt think fake news influenced the election outcome.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended his company in November, saying the amount of fake news on the site is small. But he said the company is going to take steps to crack down on misinformation.

During the campaign, a former Facebook employee said the company was suppressing news from conservative news outlets. In response, the company fired the Trending Topics staff and automated how Trending Topics are identified.
The U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State extremists in Iraq and Syria intentionally struck a hospital in Mosul Wednesday to protect Iraqi forces from Islamic State fighters inside the building.

The coalition said Iraqi forces requested immediate support after receiving heavy machine gun fire and rocket-propelled grenade fire from IS forces in a building at the Al Salem hospital complex.

It is unclear how many casualties resulted from the strike.

Islamic State had been using the hospital as a command and control headquarters, according to the coalition. The strike was specifically targeted to the location where IS fighters were firing on Iraqi forces.



The coalition said it complies with the Law of Armed Conflict and takes all feasible precautions during the planning and execution of airstrikes to reduce the risk of harm to non-combatants.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that he had told French President Francois Hollande he would not meet Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas if France pushed ahead with an international peace conference in Paris later this month.

France has been trying to convince Netanyahu, who has repeatedly rejected the conference proposal, to meet with Abbas in Paris to try to revive moribund peace talks between the two sides, Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Wednesday.

Netanyahu told Hollande that if there will not be an international conference in Paris, he will come to meet Abu Mazen [Abbas] for direct talks without preconditions," the statement said Netanyahu told Hollande.

Israel will not participate in an international conference that will not contribute to achieving peace," it added.

Hope to involve Obama

Paris has remained determined to stage the conference. It believes that bringing the two leaders to meet with Hollande a day after the conference would be a way of circumventing Israeli accusations that the French initiative aims to impose a multilateral solution.

We have to recreate the conditions for a two-state solution and we are determined more than ever to do everything to implement our initiative. The sooner the better, Ayrault told reporters at a news conference with his Spanish counterpart, Alfonso Dastis.

Ayrault confirmed that invitations had been sent to Netanyahu and Abbas to attend a face-to-face meeting. Diplomats said that Hollande was also planning to call U.S. President Barack Obama to discuss the issue.

French effort welcomed

Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said the Palestinians welcomed any French effort to salvage the faltering political process.

France has repeatedly tried to breathe new life into the peace process this year, holding a preliminary conference in June where the United Nations, European Union, United States and major Arab countries gathered to discuss proposals without the Israelis or Palestinians present.

The plan was to hold a follow-up conference before Christmas with the Israelis and Palestinians involved to see whether the two sides could be brought back to negotiations.

The conference of foreign ministers was aimed at agreeing on a joint statement that would reaffirm the two-state solution on the basis of pre-1967 borders and according to Security Council resolutions, diplomats said.

Last U.S.-backed talks failed in 2014

The last, U.S.-backed talks ended in failure in April 2014 and the outgoing U.S. administration appears unwilling to tackle the issue before President-elect Donald Trump takes over in January.

With Obama wary of being seen picking a fight at a time when he hopes to persuade Trump to preserve parts of his legacy, including the Iran nuclear deal, Obamacare and the opening to Cuba, it is not clear whether the United States will attend a new meeting in Paris.

If they were not to attend the chances of a conference taking place would be slim, a French diplomat said.

New Zealand works on U.N. resolution

In New York, diplomats at the United Nations said Arab state ministers were due to meet next week to discuss a Palestinian push for a U.N. resolution on settlements and were likely to decide the content of a draft text and when it would be circulated to the Security Council.

Diplomats said New Zealand was also working on a draft U.N. resolution on the Middle East peace process that would reaffirm the Security Council's commitment to a two-state solution.
In 2015, Oxford Dictionaries launched a new digital global languages program, with a mission to extend learning and education worldwide. The company launched its first online Swahili dictionary by the Oxford University Press.

The objective of the Oxford Global Languages Initiative is to transform the experience of people worldwide by making content in different languages available in a digital platform, on websites, in apps, and in many different tools and services.

In a video message delivered Wednesday at the launch of its online Swahili dictionary, Oxford Dictionaries director Judy Pearsall said one reason for putting together the Swahili versions is to help connect cultures across Africa.

Swahili is an extremely important language across large parts of southeastern and eastern parts of Africa and spoken by millions of people...both as a mother tongue, but also as a second language, and very much a lingua franca across large parts of the country," Pearsall said. "So it is bridging the smaller languages and connecting cultures.

For the first time, large quantities of quality lexical information from Swahili have been systematically created, collected, and made available in a single linked repository, to speakers, learners, and developers.

Swahili is the fourth African language to be added to the Oxford program, after Zulu, Northern Sotho, and Setswana.

The online dictionary has advantages over the printed Swahili dictionary said Oxford University Press in Kenya General Manager John Mwazemba.

"One of the things we grapple with, with printed books and the printed version of the dictionary, is that you need a few years to get a new edition, but an online dictionary gives us a unique opportunity of updating new words that come after they have been vetted," he said.

"So we have user generated content, so if a user thinks there is a word that needs to be there, a Swahili word that is being used widely by people and it is not there, then it can move from being user generated to the platform after it has been vetted. So it is a quick turnaround. We do not need to prepare for one year to include a word," Mwazemba added.

Digital communication across the globe is dominated by English and other global languages such as Chinese and Spanish.

For Swahili speakers, the new initiative is a step toward developing the language for use across Africa.

The Swahili site may be found at http://sw.oxforddictionaries.com/
Giraffe numbers have declined by as much as 40 percent since the 1980s in a "silent extinction" driven by illegal hunting and an expansion of farmland in Africa, the Red List of endangered species reported Thursday.

Populations of the world's tallest land creature fell to about 98,000 from an estimated 152,000-163,000 in 1985, according to the list compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The Red List rated the giraffe "vulnerable" to extinction on current trends for the first time, against a previous rating of "least concern." It said the plunge in numbers in large parts of sub-Saharan Africa had gone largely unnoticed.

"Whilst giraffes are commonly seen on safari, in the media and in zoos, people  including conservationists  are unaware that these majestic animals are undergoing a silent extinction," Julian Fennessy, an IUCN giraffe specialist, said in a statement.

Giraffes are at risk from the expansion of farmland to feed a rising human population and from killings for their meat, often in areas of conflict such as South Sudan, according to the IUCN.

"People are competing for fewer and fewer resources and the animals are worse off ... especially with civil strife," Craig Hilton-Taylor, head of the Red List, told Reuters. Drought and climate change are aggravating factors, he said.

Among other changes on the list, the African grey parrot  famed for its skill in mimicking human speech  was rated endangered, one step worse than its earlier category as vulnerable. Trapping for the pet trade has driven down numbers.

The list also found that 11 percent of more than 700 other species of bird newly assessed were at risk of extinction, such as the Antioquia wren in Colombia, which is under threat from a hydroelectric dam.

A few were recovering against the trend  conservation efforts had reduced threats for birds including the Azores bullfinch, St. Helena plover and Seychelles white-eye.

The Red List, the main global authority on risks to animals and plants, said 24,307 of 85,604 species assessed in recent decades were in danger of extinction.

U.N. studies say that man-made threats, led by the loss of natural habitats, may herald the worst extinction crisis since the dinosaurs were wiped out 65 million years ago.
The European Union will soon let Ukrainians and Georgians visit the bloc without needing a visa after diplomats and lawmakers struck a deal on Thursday to end an internal EU dispute that had been holding up the promised measures.

Agreement on a mechanism for suspending such visa waivers in emergencies ends mounting embarrassment for some EU leaders who felt the bloc was reneging on pledges to ex-Soviet states it has promised to help as they try to move out from Moscow's shadow.

European Council President warned on Wednesday that the EU was risking its credibility by failing to reward Georgia and Ukraine for painful reforms. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko hailed "encouraging news from Brussels".

The prospect of easier travel to Western Europe has been used by governments in Kiev and Tbilisi to win popular backing for painful, EU-sponsored reforms. But EU leaders got cold feet about opening doors to 45 million Ukrainians after the public backlash which followed last year's refugee crisis in Europe.

Facing strong challenges from anti-immigration parties in elections next year, leading powers France and Germany demanded strong controls before any visa deal. Late-night talks resulted in the European Parliament conceding that governments can reimpose visa requirements quickly, without lawmakers' approval.

"Europe is delivering," the conservative leader in the EU legislature, Manfred Weber, tweeted after the deal. Georgia, with only 5 million citizens, has long been seen as ready for visa liberalization but has seen its hopes held hostage by EU hesitation over Ukraine, which is bigger, closer and currently stuck in conflict with Russia.

Turkish issue

A similar plan to ease travel for Turkey's 75 million mainly Muslim population as part of a deal whereby Ankara has helped the EU shut out Syrians and other people seeking asylum has added to political sensitivities in Brussels about the issue.

Ankara's failure to fulfil all the EU conditions, and now anger in Europe at Turkey's crackdown on opponents following a coup attempt in July, have effectively frozen progress on that.

Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kalinak, who has chaired negotiations for EU member state governments, said: "The fact that we have reached an agreement should open the door to further progress on visa liberalization talks with other countries that meet all the necessary requirements."

The bloc has said any new visa waivers can only come into force after the EU beefed up an emergency brake to suspend any free-travel deals in emergencies. But talks on exactly how that "snap-back" mechanism would work have dragged on for months.

It will now allow the executive European Commission or a majority of EU states to suspend swiftly a country's visa exemption for nine months if there is a sharp rise in its citizens overstaying their permitted time in the EU, making multiple asylum requests or other problems for the Europeans. The EU would be able to extend the suspension period for a further 18 months in some cases, but through a more complex procedure that would also give a say to the European Parliament.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed off on a new information security doctrine, replacing the one he issued in 2000, during the first year of his rule. While experts in Moscow saw no surprises in the new document, they also said it reflects the Kremlin's increasingly repressive policy toward the media and civil society more generally.

The 16-page directive describes itself as a document for strategic planning in the sphere of ensuring national security and the basis for the formulation of state policy and the development of public relations in the field of information security.

The Russian Security Council experts who authored the doctrine describe the informational environment in which Russia exists almost in military style. The document states that foreign states are strengthening their intelligence activities targeting Russia, and that threats are growing involving "the use of information technology for the purpose of causing damage to the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political and social stability of the Russian Federation."

According to the document, the special services of certain states are expanding ways of exerting informational-psychological pressure aimed at destabilizing the internal political and social situation in various regions of the world and leading to the undermining of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other states. These activities involve religious, ethnic, human rights and other organizations, and also particular groups of citizens, in so doing extensively using the capabilities of information technologies.

Media bias



The information security document states that foreign media are increasingly using material that contains a biased assessment of Russian government policy, and that Russian media are frequently the victims of open discrimination abroad, where obstacles are created for Russian journalists trying to do their jobs.

It also says informational pressure on Russians, particularly young people, is increasing, with the aim of diluting traditional Russian spiritual-moral values, and that this must be resisted.

The document calls for the development of a national system of management of the Russian segment of the internet," arguing that the resources necessary to ensure the safe and stable functioning of the internet have not been properly distributed among countries, making it impossible to manage the internet according to joint, equitable principles based on trust.

Commenting on the new information security doctrine, one of the founders of the Russian internet, Anton Nosik, told VOA it is a product of the psychology and ideology of the countrys leadership. Russias leaders, he said, subscribe to a conspiracy theory involving the Dulles Plan  a fictitious plan to destroy the Soviet Union by secretly undermining its cultural heritage and moral values, said to have been hatched by early Cold War-era CIA chief Allen Dulles.

From the point of view of this belief that the Dulles Plan really exists, they describe as their historic mission countering everything which, in their view, the Dulles Plan sets out, said Nosik.

He also said that the information security document reflects the Russian authorities complete distrust of anything foreign.

They have a principle: a foreigner is an enemy, a foreigner is an agent of a foreign government, and any action by a foreign person is being carried out in the interests and at the direct orders of a foreign government, said Nosik. And the single goal of all governments overseas is to harm the interests of Russia.

Still, Nosik predicted the new information security doctrine would have little practical meaning in everyday life.

Repressive trend



Maria Lipman, editor-in-chief of Counterpoint, a Moscow-based journal published by The George Washington University, also said she doubts the new information security doctrine will itself guide the authorities actions. At the same time, she said it reflects the authorities' increasingly repressive approach to the media, and to freedom of expression more generally, since Putin was reelected Russia's president in 2012.

The trends visible in this document reflect the general atmosphere of the last four years, she said. I mean the changes in domestic politics that occurred with the return of Vladimir Putin to the Kremlin. Repressive legislation, actions against those who assert their right to freedom of assembly, toward people who go to rallies or protests, pressure on the independent press, on media that attempt to follow an editorial line not approved by the government and that act on the basis of their professional and ethical standards."

According to Lipman, the government has started intervening in areas that were left alone after the fall of the Soviet Union  the sphere of personal life, the spheres of sexual and religious preferences, and everything involving art and culture.

All of that is becoming the preserve of the state, its prerogative, she said. Given this background, the information security doctrine does not seem surprising or new, and does not imply an even greater crackdown.



Slam on rights activists



The chairman of the board of the Memorial Human Rights Center, Alexander Cherkasov, told VOA he was also not surprised that the information security doctrine views Russian human rights activists as agents of foreign security services.

They believe that any independent action is by definition hostile, he said, adding that this view will ultimately have dire consequences for Russia.

"In today's world, without feedback, policy adjustments, adjustments based on criticism from political parties, independent media and...human rights defenders, the state is doomed to make wrong decisions, promote different kinds of erroneous tendencies and, in the end, collapse, he said.
By Chayyanika Nigam: They call him a "monster". A day after Mail Today reported about Dwarka resident Pramod sawing off a puppy's legs , fellow tea sellers in the area recounted how he caught pigeons in the past and then roasted and ate them.

Neighbours were wary of the 34-year-old because of his violent and cruel behaviour towards animals as well as his wife and six children. "Usually in the afternoon, Pramod would come to the park and catch pigeons. Later in the evening, he would roast them and have them with a few drinks," said Sanjay, a 35-year-old tea vendor.

advertisement

An animal rights activist had told Mail Today that according to Pramod's wife, he had brought home a monkey a few months ago and then chopped it up.

"PLEASE FORGIVE ME"

The accused admitted to this reporter that he had severed the puppy's legs. "I chopped off the legs of the dog because I was drunk. I had beaten my wife that day because she was trying to protect it," he said casually. "Please forgive me." He also confessed that he has been booked in another case after a relative alleged that he had stolen some clothes and utensils from his house in Dwarka. But Pramod is out on bail.

While recalling the December 2 incident when he crippled the puppy, he rushed inside his one bedroom house to find the weapon that he used to cut the legs. He then, displayed a blade that had bloodstains on the edge. Later, he started to chop onions with the same knife to prepare an omelette for a customer. After a few minutes, he said he was unable to find the blade that he initially used to sever the legs and the hacksaw that he utilised to cut through the bones.

"Animal abuse indicates a deep mental disturbance. Research in psychology and criminology shows that people who commit acts of cruelty toward animals often move on to harming humans," said Poorva Joshipura, CEO of PETA India.

Also read | Hyderabad man arrested for raping and killing dog

When asked how he planned to provide for his six children, Pramod blamed his wife for never stopping him in the name of family planning. While the couple's eldest child is nine years old, the youngest is six months old. Sources say Pramod earns Rs 400-500 per day and consumes alcohol daily with the help of some ex-colleagues. He earlier worked as a bus conductor but was dismissed because of violent behaviour.

Then, he took up a job as a labourer, but was forced to leave again for the same reason. He is unemployed right now but sometimes helps his wife at their tea stall inside their rented house. The couple's nine-year-old daughter told Mail Today that every time she wants to play, her father forces her to work and wash utensils.

"If I don't, he threatens to kill me," Nandini said. "When my brother and I asked my father that what had happened to the legs of the puppy, he told us that it was run over by a car." A fresh complaint was given to the station house officer at the local police station asking cops to file an FIR under Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and perhaps also under Section 429 of the Indian Penal Code.

advertisement

Mail Today has a copy of the complaint filed on Wednesday by animal rights activist Gaurav Sharma and the FIR was finally registered at night. "We will take action against the accused," said Surendra Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (south-west).

--- ENDS ---
In October, Russia's controversial minister of culture, Vladimir Medinsky, called a Soviet legend about 28 soldiers who died defending Moscow from invading Nazis in World War II sacred and said anyone who questions it is "scum."

Panfilovs 28," a ministry-supported feature film dramatizing the story, was released to cinemas across Russia in November, despite Soviet archives published in 2015 that prove the legend was propaganda.

The official Soviet story goes like this, 28 Red Army soldiers in World War II, under the leadership of General Ivan Panfilov, bravely sacrificed their lives to fend off Nazi tanks attacking Moscow.

In reality, the story was grossly exaggerated and the details that made the 28 men uniquely heroic were fabricated. Some of the soldiers survived, at least one joined the Nazis, and Panfilov had thousands of men under his command.

But Russias Ministry of Culture backed the film as well as an exhibit in Moscow, belittling those who question Soviet legends.

At the entrance to the exhibit, titled "War and Myths. 1941-1945. There is no going back," guests walk over the names of people who publicly criticize Soviet history. One reads Verkhovna Rada, the name of Ukraines parliament, which last year banned Soviet symbols and criminalized sympathy for communism with up to five years in prison.

Ukraines dramatic effort to break from its Soviet past included the toppling of numerous statues of Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin, and came after Russias 2014 annexation of Crimea and support for rebels in Ukraines east.

The Moscow exhibit included much praise for the legend of Panfilovs 28, a sentiment echoed by volunteers who helped organize it.

Well, Panfilov 28 is not a myth. They were a symbol of the defense of Moscow, says Alexey Kachalov, a guide at the exhibit who quickly contradicts himself.

When new facts appear they must be compared to the existing facts and we must study them as a system and carry out new research. It seems to me the deed remains a deed even if many more people perished then, not just 28 people, but the whole 316th division that fought defending Moscow.

It is not important how true to life they are, says a woman visiting the exhibit who gives only her first name Alyona. At present, it is important to bring up patriotism. Such films are important to my generation so that we don't forget and our children don't forget the war but keep it in memory.

There are always those who defend their heroes and there are always those who are against them, especially those who try to create a greater myth and drag it all through the dirt, says Alexey Nosov, an exhibition volunteer and member of the Russian Military and History Club.

The Soviet Union taught the legend of Panfilovs 28 to every child as a fact of history.

Russian authorities efforts to maintain such legends, to the point of insulting historians, is drawing criticism.

My response is that Im not going to use the same language, but I would say that those people who think that their nation deserves neither historical truth nor the knowledge of how it really was do not respect their people, says history teacher Alexey Kuznetsov.

Russia's aggressive defense of Soviet propaganda exploits a public conditioned to celebrate heroes and dismiss uncomfortable facts, he says.

Many people do not want to know [the] truth. They feel comfortable with those legends they have heard from their childhood. Its some sort of nostalgia.

At a war re-enactment staged for the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Moscow, hundreds of people stand waiting for the fight despite the cold. A tent nearby sells chocolate guns and Russians pose for photos in front of a Nazi swastika flag spread out on the hood of a historic armored vehicle

There is a historical necessity for some legends, says director of the re-enactment Kirill Khairov when asked about Panfilovs 28. People did not go into battle without both legends, myths and ideas.

In modern Russia, the battle is for the minds of the next generation, whether they will be taught factual history or simplified legends of greatness.

The truth will eventually be established, says historian Kuznetsov. He notes it took many years to dispel myths on the French Invasion of Russia in 1812. The same will happen to the World War II stories, he says. But, it will take some time. Probably I will not see it. But, my grandchildren, I am sure, yes.
Russia and the United States are close to reaching an understanding on Syrias Aleppo, the Interfax news agency quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying Thursday.

In the past several days an intensive document exchange on the situation in Aleppo has taken place, Ryabkov was quoted as saying.

We are close to reaching an understanding, but I want to warn against high expectations, Ryabkov added.

The Syrian government and its ally Russia have rejected previous calls for truce for the war-torn city, keeping up the military offensive that has squeezed and forced rebels to retreat in several areas.

The Kremlin said Wednesday that a potential U.S.-Russia deal to allow Syrian rebels to safely leave Aleppo was still on the agenda.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was to meet U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Hamburg later Thursday after the two men held talks Wednesday.

Ryabkov said the Kerry-Lavrov talks were extensive but said a final deal has not been worked out yet.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.


An anti-corruption watchdog says Afghans paid an estimated $3 billion in bribes in the past year, registering an almost 50 percent increase compared to 2014.

The findings are part of a biennial national corruption survey released Thursday by Integrity Watch Afghanistan.

According to the survey, "Respondents who dealt with the courts reported they were asked for bribes an astounding 55 percent of the time." Results were not much better when they dealt with prosecutors or municipal governments.

"The amount of bribes estimated is much higher than the Afghan government revenue estimates for 2016," the report says, describing corruption as the third-biggest problem Afghans face, following insecurity and unemployment.

The survey determined corruption is a major factor in fueling the Taliban insurgency and called for President Asharf Ghanis government to introduce promised reforms.

The devastating level of corruption undermines state legitimacy and erodes public trust, said Sayed Ikram Afzali, the groups executive director, while introducing the survey results in Kabul.

"Institutional capture coupled with petty bribes paid by citizens on a daily basis due to systemic corruption has become so serious that it threatens national security," he warned.

"The early euphoria that accompanied the inauguration of the National Unity Government in October 2014 has largely dissipated, leaving a populace that is disappointed, angry, and fearful about the future," the survey noted.

The government had no immediate reaction to the report's findings.

Foreign Minister Salahuddian Rabbani briefed NATO foreign ministers meeting Wednesday in Brussels on his country's anticorruption measures.

"Our central message remains clear: Afghanistan will spare no efforts to eliminate corruption and ensure accountable and transparent governance across Afghanistan," the minister vowed.

On Wednesday, the San Francisco-based Asia Foundation also released its annual survey of the Afghan people, which cited corruption among major issues facing the war-ravaged country.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the Syrian government has stopped all active military operations in eastern Aleppo in advance of a meeting between U.S. and Russian military experts on the situation in the devastated city.

Earlier Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he was "hopeful" about a potential cease-fire agreement with Russia to end fighting in Aleppo.

After meeting with Lavrov on Thursday in Hamburg, Kerry told reporters he was still waiting for "certain feedback and input," but added, "We're working on something here," without going into further detail.

The Russian foreign minister said, "An agreement has been reached for our military experts and diplomats to meet on Saturday in Geneva to finish the work that was being done on all these days on the document that defines ways and means for a final solution of the problem of eastern Aleppo, according to which all the militants leave it as well as those civilians who want to do so."

In New York, the United Nations Syria envoy, Staffan de Mistura, welcomed the Russian announcement, but told reporters he could not independently verify that fighting had stopped or that civilians have been evacuated. The U.N. also will take part in Saturday's talks in Geneva, he said.

The Russian announcement came during a closed-door meeting of the U.N. Security Council, de Mistura said. The Russian ambassador did not tell the other Council members how long the suspension of combat operations around Aleppo would last, the U.N. official added.

As for evacuations from Aleppo, de Mistura said, "The figure which was being mentioned that could be coming is about 8,000 civilians."

The withdrawal of fighters from eastern Aleppo would include the group formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, de Mistura told reporters, as well as other armed groups.

"The fact that there are discussions about how to address that in a proper way and in a safe way is an important potential development," he added.

However, rebels in Aleppo have called for a five-day cease-fire to ensure the humanitarian evacuation of civilians before any talks on the future of Aleppo.

From Syria, word came Thursday that President Bashar al-Assad says his soldiers will continue fighting until the five-year civil war is over. He did not mention the U.S.-Russian-U.N. talks, but said there could be no expectation of a truce in Aleppo as long as rebels remain in the city.

A victory for his regime in Aleppo would represent a huge step toward ending the prolonged conflict, Assad said in an interview with the state-owned newspaper al-Watan. He discussed the long-running effort to oust him from power one day after his forces gained control over three-quarters of Aleppo's Old City, which had been held by rebel forces since 2012.

Jan Egeland, senior adviser to the U.N. envoy to Syria, said at a press briefing that Syria has given the U.N. permission to enter eastern Aleppo, but the organization is unable to deliver aid to the city if there is no pause in fighting.

"A humanitarian corridor is only a humanitarian corridor if there is cease-fire in and around the corridor," Egeland said. "There has to be a pause. At the moment those who try to go through the crossing point, try to escape, are caught in crossfire, they are caught in shelling, they ... risk being hit by snipers."

The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday that it had evacuated about 150 civilians in need of urgent medical care from a hospital in Aleppo's Old City.

Tens of thousands of civilians are thought to be trapped in eastern Aleppo despite a surge of refugees during the past two weeks, heading for the relative safety of government-controlled western districts. Monitors last week estimated that 18,000 civilians in the east had moved into western neighborhoods, and more than 9,000 others into a Kurdish-controlled district.

De Mistura said he believes fewer than 100,000 people are left in the besieged eastern part of the Aleppo, "not the large number we had envisaged in the past." Recent estimates had listed eastern Aleppo's population at between 250,000 and 275,000 people. Aleppo was Syria's largest city before the civil war, with an estimated population of up to 2.5 million.

At the current rate, the U.N. envoy has estimated the uprising against Assad would lose control of all parts of Aleppo by the end of this month.

On Friday, the U.N. General Assembly will meet to vote on a non-binding resolution calling for an immediate end to sieges and a cessation of hostilities, as well as access for humanitarian aid convoys.

The move comes as the assembly seeks ways to circumvent the divided 15-nation Security Council. In the latest show of disunity, on Monday, Russia and China blocked adoption of a resolution calling for a seven-day cease-fire to get aid in and the sick and wounded out.

"Well, sadly, I suspect it will be too little, too late," British ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters. "But what I hope that it will do is to demonstrate that there is a moral majority here, there are states who are not on the Security Council but have very strong views about peace and security, and who are distressed that through a series of vetoes the Security Council has failed to provide the unity necessary to change the situation in Syria."

A General Assembly resolution cannot force action, but it would send a message of moral outrage from the international community.
Afghanistan's Taliban has demanded official recognition for its political office in Qatar, direct talks with the United States and removal of senior members from a U.N. blacklist, describing these as preliminary steps to peacefully ending its insurgency.

A Qatar-based Taliban spokesman, Sohail Shaheen, has asserted the presence of U.S.-led foreign troops in Afghanistan is the root cause of war and its continuation.

The foreign occupation forces are undermining the countrys sovereignty and freedom of its politics as well as the government, he added.

That is why there is need for America and its allies to come to the table for direct talks with the Islamic Emirate (the Taliban) for negotiating an end to the occupation, Shaheen said.

If peace is the objective of the other side, he asserted, then the Taliban must be allowed to open its Political Office in Qatar and names of its senior members be removed from the U.N. black list.

These obstacles in the way of establishing peace cannot be simply ignored, Shaheen said, warning that mere slogans and statements (by the other side) would further complicate the issue rather than promoting Afghan peace.

The U.S. State Department released a statement Friday that acknowledged American officials have seen the Taliban's statement, and appeared not to explicitly rule out the prospect of talks with the militant group.

"As we have long said, the only way to end the conflict in Afghanistan is through a peace and reconciliation process with the Taliban. We are ready to accept any political resolution of the conflict between the Afghan government and the Taliban so long as the outcome of any process ensures that the Taliban cease violence, break associations with international terrorism, and accept Afghanistan's constitution, including its protections for women and minorities," the statement said.

The Taliban maintains an unofficial political office in Doha, the capital of the Gulf state, for meetings with Afghan and foreign interlocutors.

The controversial facility was formally opened in 2013, but the move outraged the Afghan government, forcing Qatari authorities to stop the Taliban from officially using it. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has also refused to give recognition to the Talibans office.

Instead, he has intensified military operations against insurgents in Afghanistan and has even recently asked for the United Nations to declare Taliban chief Mullah Hibatullah as global terrorist

The stepped up Taliban hostilities this year have allowed the insurgents to inflict heavy casualties on Afghan forces and capture more territory, diminishing hopes for any peace talks between the warring sides. Ghani's move to demand the U.N. blacklist the Taliban leader deals another blow, says Michael Kugelman of the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington.

If Kabul is willing to so bluntly reject the Talibans preconditions for talks, then its effectively sent a signal that talks are off the table for the foreseeable future, Kugelman told VOA.

President Ghani has also been harshly critical of neighboring Pakistan for not uprooting alleged Taliban sanctuaries on its soil he says are prolonging the war and bloodshed in his country.



Islamabad denies the charges.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, however, claims its leaders have been guiding the insurgency from within Afghanistan. Speaking to VOA, he asserted that "any institutions" established to serve Afghan refugees in Pakistan have recently been relocated to mainly southern Afghan provinces, including Helmand, where most districts are controlled by insurgents.

But Afghan officials dismiss the assertions and insist Pakistani authorities continue to harbor Taliban insurgents.

We reject recent claims by the Taliban that the groups leadership council has relocated to southern Helmand province from Pakistan, Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani told NATO foreign ministers meeting Wednesday in Brussels.

Such claims have no merit and are aimed at diverting attention from a lack of sincere effort by some to combat terrorism effectively, and in good faith, Rabanni said in a veiled reference to Pakistan.

Pakistans foreign ministry spokesman, Nafees Zakaria, on Thursday again rejected the Afghan allegations as regrettable.

Pakistan has been doing everything for taking action against terrorist and militant groups for not allowing to use our soil. This is a matter of fact. Afghan government should engage with Pakistan in counterterrorism cooperation and border management instead of blaming Pakistan for all its problems in Afghanistan.

Zakaria went on assert that anti-Pakistan militant groups are using Afghan soil for attacks inside Pakistan and called for Kabul to take action against them.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump went on Twitter Wednesday to criticize the head of the local union that represents workers at the Carrier plant in Indiana where Trump recently touted a deal to keep jobs there from moving to Mexico.

Trump boasted that after negotiations, Carrier had agreed to keep 1,100 jobs in Indiana. He has celebrated the deal, which came with $7 million in tax breaks, while reiterating his campaign pledge to impose 35 percent tariffs on companies that move jobs out of the country.

The real number of jobs staying in Indiana is closer to 800, with Carrier still shifting some of its operations to Mexico.

Chuck Jones, president of United Steelworkers Local 1999, told VOA he was "glad" Trump is fighting to preserve jobs in the U.S. "Nothing was being said or done about these jobs leaving this country. All these people want is an opportunity to have a job."

Jones, however, told multiple media outlets that Trump is being misleading and inflating the number of union jobs saved in Indianapolis, adding that the actual number is 730.

"What nobody's mentioning is 550 people are losing their jobs," Jones told CNN.

Trump wrote on Twitter that Jones "has done a terrible job representing workers."

"If United Steelworkers 1999 was any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana. Spend more time working -- less time talking. Reduce dues," Trump said.

Asked about the tweets, Jones told CNN, "That wasn't very damn nice."

"These people are making a decent wage at Carrier, and I feel like I'm somewhat involved in making that happen, where he does everything he can to keep unions out in his hotels and casinos here in this country, depriving them of making a living wage," Jones said.

WATCH: Union president Chuck Jones



While Jones said he appreciates Trump's efforts to preserve jobs for American workers, he is critical of the $7 million in tax breaks Carrier will receive in exchange for not sending jobs to Mexico. "I'm not in favor of taxpayers having to eat a lion's share of their tax money going to very profitable companies. In the Carrier situation, that's what's transpired. The taxpayers in Indiana are anteing up to a very profitable company to keep 730 jobs," Jones told VOA.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday picked a global warming skeptic and staunch ally of the fossil fuel industry to head the country's Environmental Protection Agency.

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has been a key critic of President Barack Obama's plan to address climate change by slashing carbon emissions from the nation's power plants.

In a statement, Trump said, "For too long, the Environmental Protection Agency has spent taxpayer dollars on an out-of-control anti-energy agenda that has destroyed millions of jobs, while also undermining our incredible farmers and many other businesses and industries at every turn."

Pruitt was one of the officials from 27 states who filed a lawsuit in January seeking to block the Clean Power Plan, under which the EPA called for states to create ways to reduce overall emissions by 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. At the same time, the amount of energy produced using renewable sources would increase.

The Republican Trump said he "will reverse this trend and restore the EPA's essential mission of keeping our air and our water clean and safe."



Sanders reacts



Pruitt's nomination drew immediate opposition from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who lost the race for the Democratic presidential nomination to Hillary Clinton, the former U.S. secretary of state Trump defeated in last month's election.

"If you are interested in the profits of the oil industry, I suppose it's a good thing," Sanders told VOA's Michael Bowman. "If you are interested in preserving the planet for future generations, it's a disastrous pick and has to be opposed."



WATCH: Rep Keith Ellison on Trump's cabinet picks

McMahon to lead Small Business Administration



The president-elect also named former wrestling executive Linda McMahon to lead the government's Small Business Administration. She and her husband Vince McMahon founded and built the popular World Wrestling Entertainment company and were major Trump campaign donors.

Also, Trump chose Andrew Puzder, a vocal critic of a big increase in the country's $7.25 an hour minimum wage and other worker protections, to head the Labor Department. Puzder is the chief executive of a chain of fast-food restaurants, including Carl's Jr. and Hardee's, with more than 3,600 outlets in the U.S. and throughout the world.

Trump continued to weigh his choices for secretary of state, often the face of the country in contentious foreign affairs negotiations. He met in New York with retired Navy Admiral James Stavridis, now a dean at Tufts University in Boston, who is being considered along with 2012 presidential contender Mitt Romney, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Central Intelligence Agency chief David Petraeus and others.

Ohio visit



Trump met with survivors of last week's attack at Ohio State University, in Columbus, where a Somali immigrant who authorities say was inspired by Islamic State rhetoric rammed his car into several students before slashing several with a knife, injuring 11.

Trump made control of the country's borders one of his signature campaign pledges. At a post-election rally last week elsewhere in Ohio, he said that lax immigration policies by "stupid politicians" led to the "violent atrocity" at Ohio State.

"We will do everything in our power to keep the scourge of terrorism out of our country," Trump told the crowd. "People are pouring in from regions of the Middle East. We have no idea who they are, where they are, what they're thinking. And we're going to stop that dead cold flat."

'Thank You' Tour Stop in Iowa

Late Thursday, Trump visited Des Moines, Iowa for another rally with his supporters as part of his "thank you" tour of states he won in the election. He formally introduced former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad as the next U.S. Ambassador to China to the cheering crowds, and promised to cut taxes, create jobs, build a wall at the border with Mexico and strengthen the military.

Meanwhile, the president-elect also plans to continue making hit television. A spokesman for Celebrity Apprentice creator Mark Burnett said that while Trump will no longer appear on the reality show, he will continue on as executive producer.
In the black-and-white photo from 1985, Chinese President Xi Jinping, then a young official from China's northern Hebei province, stood next to Terry Branstad, who was serving his first term as governor of Iowa. The photo was taken during Xi's first visit to the Unites States during a sister-state exchange program.

Three decades later, Branstad has been nominated to be the next American Ambassador to China by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, a choice that Beijing has quickly embraced.

"He successfully developed close trade ties with China while serving as chief executive of the Hawkeye State," Trump praised Branstad in a statement Wednesday. "That experience will serve him well as he represents America's interests and further develops a mutually beneficial relationship with Chinese leadership."

Xi, in a message last year congratulating Branstad on becoming the longest-serving governor in American history, said he was impressed by Branstad's "warmth, hospitality, sincerity and friendliness."

"I have known President Xi Jinping for many years and consider him an old friend," Branstad said Wednesday after accepting the position. "I look forward to building on our long friendship to cultivate and strengthen the relationship between our two countries and to benefit our economy."

Branstad was one of the earliest Republican supporters of Trump's presidential campaign.

Experts said having the ears of top leaders from both the U.S. and China is a plus to effectively manage the critical relations between the two countries.

Personal relationship

"Xi Jinping has a kitchen style cabinet, and it's very difficult to know what's going on in his mind," Bonnie Glaser, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said.

"So if the U.S. ambassador has a personal relationship with Xi Jinping, that can be very, very helpful," Glaser told VOA.

In Washington, the State Department declined direct comment on the selection announced Wednesday by the Trump transition team.

"They are obviously in the process of looking at the relations to some of the key countries and governments around the world," deputy spokesperson Mark Toner said. "As to their intentions, or as to their goals, I'd have to refer you to them."

Branstad is among the first U.S. diplomatic envoys to other nations tapped by Trump.

"It is certainly the counterpoint to the Taiwan phone call," Atlantic Council Senior Fellow Robert Manning told VOA in explaining the timing of the announcement. He was referring to Trump's phone conversation with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen last Friday.

Branstads appointment were well-received by some of the U.S. industrial leaders.

'Leading advocate for trade'

Paul Schickler, president of Dupont Pioneer, said Branstad would bring strong existing relationships with China at multiple levels and experience as a leading advocate for trade.

These strengths will benefit international commerce and help further advance Chinas goal of modernizing its agricultural industry, Schickler said. Dupont Pioneer is a large seed company that develops and produces high-yielding crop.



Neil Dierks, CEO of the National Pork Producers Council, said this nomination is good for our industry, good for agriculture and good for rural America.

But as ambassador, Branstad would also find himself in the middle of an increasingly tense relationship amid U.S.-China trade disputes, and Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea.

Trump has pledged to use tough trade tactics with Beijing and stop China from "stealing American jobs." He also said he would declare China as a currency manipulator and impose heavy duties on Chinese goods to protect American workers.

For manufacturers, China stands as one of our largest trade and investment partners, but it is also a major challenge, imposing a range of market-distorting policies and practices that impact manufacturers in the United States, Jay Timmons, president and CEO of National Association of Manufacturers, said in a statement.

"I think one of the biggest challenges [facing Branstad] is that China's industrial policies and things like the nongovernmental organization law make it very difficult for U.S. firms to operate in China," Manning, a former State Department official, said.

Foreign NGO law

The controversial law managing the operation of foreign nongovernment organizations may also affect American civil society organizations and their Chinese partners to operate in China, according to critics.

"China's assertiveness in the South China Sea will also make it more difficult to establish a relationship that's more cooperative than competitive," Manning added.

Congressional members and human rights advocates called on Branstad to address thorny issues, including promoting fundamental freedom and rights.

Republican Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey told VOA Mandarin there is strong support for a robust and serious human rights engagement with China.

Speaking after a bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) hearing Wednesday that examined the human rights situation in China, Smith said there should be sanctions in place to punish Chinese human rights violations, which include forced abortions and religious prosecution.

Democratic Congressman Tim Walz of Minnesota, Iowas neighboring state, told VOA that in addition to human rights, issues such as genetically modified organisms and trade are deeply concerning to us in the Midwest.

Pastor Bob Fu, founder and president of ChinaAid, a nonprofit Christian human rights organization, said he hoped Branstads appointment could set up a new course in addressing imminent issues, including the protection of rights defenders and labor activists in China, and not kowtow to Chinas economic power.

Iowa farm products

China is a crucial export market for the Midwestern state of Iowa, which is a major producer of pigs, soybeans and corn.

Branstad is no stranger to the U.S.-China Governors Forum, which has gathered regularly for years to promote practical cooperation between American and Chinese leaders from states and provinces.



Since leading his first delegation to Hebei Province in 1984, Branstad has led six trade missions to China as Iowa governor and met with numerous provincial governors, ministerial leaders and local officials.
A rising tide of automation and some trade deals have cost the United States millions of manufacturing jobs in recent years, leaving many people unemployed or in jobs with poor pay, few benefits, and no future.

At the same time, many U.S. companies say they cannot find enough people with technical skills to fill critical jobs that pay well. Many advanced nations, like Germany and Denmark, make wide use of apprenticeships, but U.S. firms have cut back sharply on them.

One major U.S. firm, however, is using old-school techniques that blend classwork and practical experience to build and maintain its high-tech workforce. Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia has been training apprentices for nearly a century in the many skills needed to build the world's most advanced warships. Those skills range from welding to making computer models to old-style drafting.

Apprentice Jordan Lacy is part of a large crew that is building a nuclear-powered attack submarine, the USS New Jersey. He has been busy sorting out complex steel parts, welding them together, and grinding them smooth so they fit just right.

He says his work "starts as a pile of pieces. When it leaves, it is a finished [piece of a ship]."

Lacy, a first-year apprentice, has also worked on a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, and looks forward to switching from paper plans to computer drawings. He works in the shipyard a couple of days a week, and spends the rest of his time in classrooms, studying technical topics. He aspires to learn how to design projects, not just assemble them.

Lacy and more than 700 fellow students at the site's Apprentice School are paid for their work while they learn advanced skills.

Moving up the ladder

Everett Jordan, who graduated from the Apprentice School decades ago, is now the director of education. He says the school's mix of classroom lessons and practical training pays for the company.

"That graduate has been down in the tanks, the bowels of these ships, he said, they know these complex plates and assemblies; they know what it takes to be a test electrician, they've done it and they take that experience with them the rest of their career."

Efforts to boost workforce skills through apprenticeships are more common in Germany, Denmark and other nations than the United States, says Edward Alden, author of Failure to Adjust, a new book about problems in the U.S. workforce.

"Apprenticeships are essentially an investment by companies into their future, and the future of their communities, he said. We saw over the decade of the 2000s a 40 percent decline in apprenticeships being offered by [American] private companies."

As ships become more complex, the kinds of skills needed by builders are also growing. The Apprentice School offers 19 basic programs, and many advanced ones for workers who display strong skills and aptitude.

Range of opportunities

Computer modeling is one example. Recent projects included one that showed workers how to deal with a potentially devastating radiation emergency. Another program helps engineers and officers figure out how to speed refueling and rearming of planes on the crowded deck of an aircraft carrier to get them back into combat.

Apprentice Elise Feldt works on another computer modeling project that helps guide workers in the process of removing worn out nuclear reactors from the USS Enterprise. It was the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and now, after decades of service, is being disassembled. Its eight nuclear reactors weigh tons and could emit dangerous radiation, so figuring out the right sequence for the process of safely handing them is crucial.

Feldt, who earlier trained as a pipefitter, relishes the new challenges.

"I love what I do, she said, and I think the best part about it is the problem solving and having to learn and understand so much of what I'm getting into."

Many apprentices rise to the top of their craft, and a few become top managers. All are informed by practical experience, as well as academic skills.

School director Everett Jordan says this recipe could "absolutely" help many Americans displaced from manufacturing jobs.

The shipyard employs around 20,000 people, 3,000 of them from the Apprentice School.
The incoming Trump administration faced its first test on Capitol Hill Wednesday, as House Republicans, trying to speed up the nomination of the president-elects pick for secretary of defense, called a government funding bill into question just hours before it was to expire.

The debate strikes at the heart of a long-held principle of American government that separates the military from the civilian.

It began when House Republicans added a waiver to the short-term continuing resolution (CR). The waiver would expedite the process of allowing defense nominee retired Gen. James Mattis to bypass a nearly 70-year-old law requiring former members of the military to wait seven years after their military service before serving in a civilian post.

Mattis is ineligible to serve as secretary of defense since he retired from the military in 2013.

The waiver limits debate on the issue in the Senate to 10 hours and would forestall delaying tactics in the chamber thereby speeding up the process.

Cornerstone of democracy

Civilian leadership of the military has been a cornerstone of our democracy since the founders, and for good reason, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement released Tuesday.

The American people are entitled to regular order and thoughtful scrutiny of nominees and any potential waivers. Brushing aside the law that enshrines civilian control of the military without discussion, in a massive must-pass funding bill, would set a terrible precedent, Pelosi said.

Decisions about war and peace have to have a civilian input, Lawrence Korb, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, told VOA. Korb was also an assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration.

We are also very concerned about a separation of powers, he added. Only Congress can declare war, and they raise an Army and Navy, so we are very, very concerned that we would have an over-militarization of our foreign policy.

Our view is it ought not to be in the CR, Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer told reporters in a briefing Tuesday. Some Democrats objected to the insertion of the waiver into the short-term spending bill that funds the government past a December 9 deadline, arguing it does not give lawmakers sufficient time to consider the key appointment.

Process is preserved

Other Democrats, however, welcomed the appointment of Mattis.

I think the process is preserved, Congressman Adam Smith, the ranking Democratic member of the House Armed Services Committee, told VOA. The language just calls for an expedited process, but expedited around here is a relative term. Weve got at least six weeks, that seems like more than enough time for people to become informed on the issue.

President-elect Trump will be inaugurated in six weeks.

In an opinion piece for national newspaper USA Today, Congressman Seth Moulton, who served under Mattis in Kuwait, wrote that the general was one of the most thoughtful strategic thinkers we have.

If all of Trumps appointments are confirmed, retired generals will head the National Security Council, departments of defense and homeland security; with the possible addition of David Petraeus, who is being considered for the secretary of state post.

But Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, who has also been in talks with Trump for the position of secretary of state, said the military presence in the president-elects cabinet could be beneficial.

Generals actually are not just one stereotypical, militaristic people, some of them are intellectual and are very thinking people, Rohrabacher told VOA. A lot of generals have seen blood and are not anxious to have more bloodshed.

Watch: Trump Announces Mattis as Defense Secretary Nominee

Civilian-military separation

While many former generals have gone on to become president, Michael OHanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told VOA the separation between civilian and military dates back to the divisions of power created at the founding of the nation. The need for those separations only increased following the military buildup during the two world wars, he said.

The whole economy and much of the system of governance got focused on winning war, and therefore we got very worried that there might be a difficulty in trying to keep the country independent of these broader purposes of trying to make sure the country could never be fully focused on a military mission, OHanlon said.

Even while the developing Trump administration contains a number of ex-military members, OHanlon said the law isnt the only check and balance separating the military from the civilian.

In todays world, with the kind of generals we produce in our military and with the kind of strong civilian oversight the White House has over the Department of Defense, I actually dont think its a pressing concern, he said.
BB10 contestant Bani Judge stormed out of a recently held press conference, all thanks to Lopamudra Raut.

A still from the show. Picture courtesy: YouTube

By India Today Web Desk: Bigg Boss Season 10 contestant Bani Judge is in the news again. This time for walking out of a press conference.

Yes, it really happened.

Also read: Bani Judge's boyfriend has THIS to say about her bond with BB10 contestant Gaurav Chopra

Breaking from #BB10: @bani_j walks out from the press conference because of @lopa9999. Bigg Boss (@BiggBoss) December 7, 2016

advertisement

The reality TV star stormed out of the said press conference, all thanks to housemate Lopamudra Raut.

A press conference was arranged with the contestants for the first time after they stepped inside the Bigg Boss house. Everything was going fine until Lopa interrupted when Bani was answering a question put to her.

'This' kept happening for some time until Bani was finally responding to a question about her close friend Gauahar Khan, and of course, Lopa intervened again.

Bani finally lost her patience and walked out of the conference, but not before showing her middle finger to Lopa. She then went inside the house and locked herself inside one of the bathrooms, and started crying.

Wow! We wonder what will happen next.

Bigg Boss Season 10 airs every Mon-Fri at 10:30 pm, and every Sat-Sun at 9 pm.

--- ENDS ---
U.S. lawmakers joined more than 100 Cuban entrepreneurs Wednesday to urge President-elect Donald Trump to continue President Barack Obama's engagement with Havana, despite Trump's threat to end detente with the island.

Preparing for what could be a long fight, Democratic and Republican members of Congress held a news conference in Washington with Cuban entrepreneurs whose businesses had grown since the two countries restored relations in July 2015.

"I hope that the next president of the United States, as a businessman, understands our needs," said Yamina Vicente, who owns Decorazon, a party planning and decorating business in Havana.

"A few years ago, a new era of dreams in Cuba began. I hope that my children will be able to dream, too," Vicente said.

More than 100 Cuban small-business owners sent a letter to Trump on Wednesday urging him not to roll back Obama's rules to ease restrictions on travel, trade and investment and toward more normal diplomatic relations.

The appeal to Trump from Cuba's fledgling private sector underscored uncertainty about future relations between the two former Cold War foes, given his vow to halt what he called Obama's "deal" unless Havana agreed to new terms.

Obama administration officials, seeking to further cement changes before Trump takes office Jan. 20, held talks with Cuban counterparts in Havana on Wednesday.

It was the first such meeting since Trump's election and the death of Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.

Appealing to Trump's roots as a real estate developer, the Cuban entrepreneurs wrote, "As a successful businessman, we're confident that you understand the importance of economic engagement between nations."

"Additional measures to increase travel, trade and investment will benefit our companies, the Cuban people and U.S. national interests," they wrote.

Restaurants, hair salons, car repair

The letter was organized by Cuba Educational Travel, a U.S. company that arranges trips to the island, and the Washington lobbying group Engage Cuba. It was signed by startups and small entrepreneurs including family-owned restaurants, technology firms, car services and hair salons.

The Obama administration has pressed for additional business with Cuba in hopes of making detente irreversible. Companies fear reversing Obama's opening could cost them hundreds of millions of dollars.

Several U.S. airlines have begun direct flights to Cuba, a U.S. firm signed a contract to manage a hotel there, and industries from agriculture to technology are looking into opportunities involving the island.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd and Norwegian Cruise Line said on Wednesday they had received approval from Cuba's government to operate cruises to the island.

Cuban officials in Havana said on Wednesday that they are open to continuing to deepen the detente with the Trump administration, but also hope to reach half a dozen more business agreements before Obama leaves office next month.

Obama and President Raul Castro announced a breakthrough in diplomatic relations nearly two years ago. Since then, ties have been restored, and Obama has used executive actions to ease some business and travel restrictions, although the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress has resisted removing the broader U.S. embargo.

Better deal needed

Trump has said Obama should have cut a "better deal," echoing critics who have said Cuba won too many concessions from the United States. At a campaign rally in Miami, Trump said he would seek to reverse the policy unless Cuba allowed greater freedom.

The Cuban government so far has mostly refrained from commenting on Trump's statements.

Obama's opening to Cuba is considered one of his legacy foreign policy achievements. Supporters say the policy is improving Cubans' lives while opening cracks in the socialist system.

Democratic U.S. Representative James McGovern urged businesses that might have Trump's ear to make the case for further opening.

"Make sure that they know that it is important that we not go backward. Call the president-elect, Tweet the president-elect. Whatever works," he said.

Raul Castro started introducing market-style reforms in 2011. Cuban entrepreneurs have complained, however, that more changes are needed. Private businesses still have no access to wholesale stores and can only import or export via government agencies. Internet service on the island is also limited.
A mummys hand disguised as a science fiction movie prop is one of several artifacts that U.S. Customs officials have returned to Egypt as part of a crackdown on illegal smuggling and sales of antiquities, dubbed "Operation Mummy's Curse" by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

While we recognize that cultural property, art and antiquities are assigned a dollar value in the marketplace, the cultural and symbolic worth of these Egyptian treasures far surpasses any monetary value to the people of Egypt, ICE Director Sarah Saldana said during a repatriation ceremony at the Egyptian Embassy in Washington, D.C., on December 1.

Egypts Ambassador Yasser Reda thanked Saldana, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement "for the recovery and repatriation of these priceless artifacts."

The tireless work of these men and women may often go unseen. But it is nothing short of vital for the preservation of ancient cultures from around the world," Reda said.

Egypts Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, in Washington for a series of meetings with government officials, expressed his gratitude in a statement as well.

Each of the artifacts returned today tells a story  a human story, our story, Shoukry said. History comes alive when someone is able to not only read about the past, but is also able to visit the historical sites, watch and enjoy the artifacts, appreciate the images and see the actual writings of our ancestors.

Five recovered artifacts were put on a final display at the embassy before making their journey home. They included a childs sarcophagus, which had been discovered in a garage in Brooklyn, N.Y.; a mummys shroud, and a limestone carving of an Egyptian temple.

ICE said that Operation Mummys Curse has so far resulted in four indictments, two convictions, nearly two dozen search warrants, and 16 seizures worth $3 million. The agency is also seeking an international fugitive involved in the case, a Jordanian man in Dubai.

A day before the artifacts were returned, Shoukry met with Secretary of State John Kerry at the State Department, signing a landmark bilateral cultural agreement that seeks to discourage trafficking in antiquities. The agreement calls for the U.S. to impose import restrictions on Egyptian archaeological material dating from 5200 B.C. through 1517 A.D.

I think its a good moment for Egypt, the United States, for the region, for us to make it clear that these antiquities are priceless treasures that do not belong to traffickers and crooks and should not be sold illegally and bought by wealthy people to hide away somewhere, Kerry said.

Last August, the Live Science news website reported that more than $143 million worth of artifacts had been exported from Egypt to the U.S. since the political chaos of the 2011 Arab Spring revolution.

Most of these ended up in New York City, where trading antiquities is big business and shows no signs of abating: In the first five months of this year alone, $26 million worth of Egyptian antiquities have entered the U.S. illegally, most of them for private use or commercial sale.
Michigan's recount of presidential votes is over after a judge lifted an order that forced a statewide review of millions of ballots.



The recount lasted three days in more than 20 of the state's 83 counties. Some counties hadn't planned to start until later.



Federal Judge Mark Goldsmith said Wednesday he must follow a decision by the Michigan appeals court, which found that Green Party candidate Jill Stein couldn't seek a recount. She got 1 percent of the state vote and presented no evidence of fraud. Republican Donald Trump narrowly won.





The Michigan elections board stopped the recount because of Goldsmith's new ruling and plans to meet again Thursday.



A recount is ongoing in Wisconsin, and Stein is seeking one in Pennsylvania. Trump won those states, too.
The recent conference of the ruling Fatah party sent a disheartening message to young Palestinians: Most of those elected to top positions were in their 60s and 70s, signaling that politics under octogenarian President Mahmoud Abbas is an old man's game and that it is unlikely that fresh ideas on winning statehood will emerge from this group of veteran loyalists.

Apathy seems widespread among educated Palestinians in their 20s and 30s. Many have given up on trying to break into what they see a closed political system, especially at a time when there's no realistic path to ending Israel's half-century-old occupation.



Others are left to choose between potentially career-killing involvement in grassroots opposition movements that could even land them in jail or a years-long slog through the ranks of Fatah.

Abbas an unchallenged leader

The Fatah conference, which ended last weekend, crowned Abbas the unchallenged leader, boosting his ability to deal with the West and Arab states, said pollster Nader Said. For Palestinians, though, it meant prolonging a situation that most people see as ineffective, unable to bring about a political solution, and corrupt to a large extent, he said.

Abbas has led the Palestinians since 2005, but has little to show for his efforts.

An intense round of peace talks with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert failed to yield an agreement, and brief negotiations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the past eight years quickly fizzled due to deep disagreements.

The stagnation comes at a time of mounting Palestinian fears that the incoming U.S. administration of Donald Trump might embrace or at least tolerate Israeli settlement construction on occupied lands sought for a Palestinian state.

Previous U.S. presidents, while unable to stop or significantly slow settlement expansion, routinely branded it an obstacle to a Middle East peace deal.

Younger leadership needed?

Fatah's aging leaders, including some still averse to dealing with computers and social media, may not be equipped to deal with change, said Palestinian analyst Jihad Harb.



The Palestinian leadership lacks initiative and creativity, he said. If we had a younger, well-educated leadership, we would have seen more effectiveness in handling political issues. We would have seen more influence on U.S. decision makers, institutions and lobbies.

Hasan Faraj, head of the Fatah youth wing Shabibeh, lobbied hard before the party convention to ease minimum age requirements for candidates for the decision-making Central Committee and a second-tier group, the Revolutionary Council.

Minimum age lowered

Under the old rules, only those older than 48 could run for the Central Committee and only those over 38 were eligible for the lower body.



Faraj, 36, succeeded in getting the minimum age lowered by 10 and five years, respectively, enabling him and others to compete. As a result, he and another activist of the same age are now the two youngest members of the Revolutionary Council, which has no actual power, but is seen as a stepping stone to positions of influence.

He acknowledged that it's a modest achievement.



His contemporaries in Fatah "don't see us as huge leaders, but they see us as a window of hope ... that this is the beginning of change," he said Tuesday at Shabibeh headquarters, decorated with photos of Fatah's 1960s founding fathers, Yasser Arafat and Khalil al-Wazir.

Fatah has lost ground

Dalal Salameh, 50, the second youngest member in the Central Committee and the only woman, said the election reflects the prevailing norms of patriarchy in Palestinian society and that it's up to the young to push for change.

"I see the system responding, but slowly, slowly," she said.

Fatah once dominated the Palestinian national movement, but has lost ground over the years to the Islamic militant group Hamas. The group has run the Gaza Strip, another territory meant to be part of a future Palestine, since seizing the area from Fatah-led forces nearly a decade ago. A subsequent crackdown by Abbas has forced Hamas underground in the West Bank.

For some, Fatah has become a lost cause, an impression reinforced during the recent party conference, which brought together more than 1,300 delegates at Abbas' government compound in the town of Ramallah.

"Normalization" rejected

Community organizer Hazem Abu Helal, 33, said he lost interest in the convention after he saw the 81-year-old Abbas re-elected Fatah leader by acclamation.

When we see our leaders speaking for hours about the rights of youth, we start laughing [because] youth in Palestine starts from age 66, Abu Helal said sarcastically. These people don't accept a new generation. They don't accept change because they have power, they have money and they have corruption.

Abu Helal is active in various grassroots opposition groups, which he said number hundreds of members who reject normalization of relations with Israel as long as the occupation continues. Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and has said it would negotiate the return of some, but not all of the occupied land.

Activist turns to teaching

Abu Helal has had to pay a price for his activism, including brief detentions after street protests, such as one against a resumption of U.S.-led Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Despite years of failure, Abbas says he remains committed to seeking independence through a negotiated peace deal.

Some former activists said they have given up on political engagement.

Hala Shuaibi said she used to march in support of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, calling for political reform at home, but now seeks change through teaching. Shuaibi, 30, a university law lecturer, said that the political system is not open for young people to participate and create change.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said President Barack Obama cannot use his clemency authority to legalize the immigration status of undocumented students.



Earnest said Thursday that is why the president was such a forceful advocate for legislation that would correct some of the injustices and implement some of the reform that would enhance our national security, improve the country's fiscal situation and obviously ensure that we treat people fairly."



The response came after a group of 60 Democratic House members sent a letter urging Obama to pardon Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients for the offense of being in the United States illegally, the idea being to shield them from prosecution.



The DACA program started by Obama allows certain undocumented immigrants to the United States who entered the country as minors to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and eligibility for a work permit. More than 740,000 people have been approved for deportation relief under the program.



President-elect Donald Trump has promised to cancel all executive actions, memoranda and orders issued by President Barack Obama affecting the protection of immigrants who were brought to the country as children. Trump has labeled them "unconstitutional."





Trying to 'achieve the American dream'



In the letter sent Wednesday, the legislators said DACA recipients, also known as dreamers, had trusted the government to protect them. But many dreamers now fear that addresses and other identifying information they provided to register for DACA can be used by the new administration to target them for deportation.



"After decades in this country young people were educated in our schools, children who have grown up with our children, who know no other country, who have pledged allegiance to our flag and now we know there are Republicans who want them deported.And their skills and talents taken to some other country," Illinois Democratic Representative Luis Gutierrez said Wednesday at a news conference.



People like Giovanni Guerrero arrived in the United States when he was seven, but his family overstayed a visa, making him and his siblings undocumented.

"I'm a proud Mexican-American but I've been here since the first grade and being raised here, you get adapted," Guerrero said.



The 20-year-old is also a DACA recipient who is a third-year aerospace engineering student concentrating in astronautics at California Poly San Luis Obispo.

"[I] know that all my efforts and dreams will be destroyed by not being allowed to enter [this] industry, especially if I am deported," he added.



During a podcast interview released by the Center for Migration Studies, White House Domestic Policy Council Director Cecilia Munoz explained

"Pardon authority is generally designed for criminal violations not civil," she said. "... Ultimately it would not protect a single soul from deportation. It is not an answer here for this population."



Munoz added that is why President Obama prefers legislation, "Because anything he has the capacity to do for people was by definition temporary."



New Policy Not Decided



But Trump has indicated he was "going to work something out" for undocumented youth like Guerrero.



"They got brought here at a very young age, they've worked here, they've gone to school here. Some were good students.Some have wonderful jobs. And they're in never-never land because they don't know what's going to happen," Trump said.



In a Time Magazine "Person of the Year" interview, he promised to do something to make "people happy and proud," but did not dismiss the idea of getting rid of DACA.



Meanwhile, the president-elect's transition team has also not disclosed how or if he will implement his immigration promises.



"The president-elect is very focused on naming his Cabinet, building out his administration and preparing to hit the ground running on Inauguration Day," Jason Miller, a spokesman for the Trump transition team, told Reuters. "... There will be plenty of time to discuss detailed policy specifics after the swearing-in."
Funeral Announcements A daily list of current funeral annoucements as heard on KXRA 1490 AM/100.3 FM

News Updates The daily news, sports, and events delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria.



Sports Update This current sports headlines delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria.

Upcoming Events This email is the events of the area delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria.

Breaking News The big news. Sent only as it happens.
By Rohini Swamy: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) today raided the residence of two senior government engineers in Bengaluru. The Income-Tax department had earlier seized cash and gold worth nearly Rs 8 crore from them last week in possibly the biggest seizure in the country since November 8.

The two accused, Jayachandra and TN Chikkarayappa, were found to be in possession of valid and demonetised currency notes to the tune of several lakhs of rupees.

advertisement

The duo came under the radar after the Investigation Directorate of the Income-Tax department carried out a search operation at their residence and found several property-related documents.

ALSO READ: Janardhan Reddy converted Rs 100 crore into white: Karnataka officer's driver in suicide note

Of the total cash seized in the I-T raid, Rs 5.7 crore were in new Rs 2000 notes. While Jayachandra is Chief Planning Officer of the State Highway Development Project in the Public Works Department, T N Chikkarayappa is the Managing Director of Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Ltd.

During investigation it was found that Jayachandra also owned high-end cars. He had allegedly bought the cars in the name of his son Thrijesh. The I-T sleuths attached Lamborghini and Porsche limousines of Jayachandra, parked in the basement of his multi-storey apartment.

What had surprised the sleuths is the sheer amount of new currency stashed by these individuals at a time when new notes are not available to the common men who are queueing up to withdraw small amounts from their accounts.

ALSO READ: Bengaluru: In India's biggest seizure since Nov 8, Rs 5.7 crore found - all in new Rs 2000 notes

ALSO WATCH

--- ENDS ---
Following [its assault on] Lebanon, at around 3 am this morning, 7 December 2016, the Israeli army has bombed the military airport of Mezzeh (Damascus). The raid has only caused a minor fire.

For around three entire months since the beginning of the attempt to topple the Syrian Arab Republic and destroy the country, Israel has been bombing Syria. Tel-Avivs custom is claiming it is aiming at arm reserves which, it believes, are ready to be delivered to the Lebanese to fight it. However, Israel has failed to provide any justification for its most recent raids.

Generally speaking, the Israeli army has tended to intervene as a pro-Jahadi air support against Syria.

While from the outset, Israel had been penetrating the Syrian air space to strike its targets, today it is satisfied with either firing from its territory, or firing from planes flying illegally over Lebanese territory. Indeed, the Russian Federation has placed the S-300 anti-missile at Lattakia and has offered others to Syria. These missiles have the reputation of being able to destroy any aircraft.
On 5 December, jihadists in Aleppo East fired at a military hospital that Russia had just set up in West Aleppo to respond to the [medical] needs] of children fleeing the dictatorship of Al-Qaida.

The hospital had been launched that very day.

The reflex response of the Russian authorities was to accuse the United States, France and the United Kingdom of providing the jihadists with the whereabouts of the hospital.

Several Nato members responded by accusing Russia of blocking the UN Security Council. [1].

After checking, the following appears to be the case:

 the jihadists directly fired at the hospital without first firing the customary tuning of the artillery;

 the jihadists actually received the whereabouts of the hospital in the form of satellite images;

 these images had been provided by Land Comthe command centre of Nato land forces, situated at Izmir (Turkey).

As in Libya, where some states, in breach of the Nato Constitution, used Nato resources without first obtaining authorization of the Atlantic Council, from day one, the war against Syria has been a war where Nato has assumed the role of lead manager.
Christmas 2016 - Drink/Drug Driving Prevention Campaign

Under the auspices of Operation RoadWatch: DriveSafe 2016 campaign, the Royal Gibraltar Police are launching their annual Drink / Drug Driving prevention campaign in the lead up to Christmas.

This years theme will be: Are You Going Out This Christmas? So Are We! and centres around the fact that RGP officers will also be out and about, actively seeking out intoxicated drivers who pose a risk to themselves, as well as to other road users who are/may be out enjoying the various celebrations in the lead up and during the festive season.

Recent changes to legislation will now enable the RGP to conduct roadside alcohol breath tests, including the ability to conduct similar tests on drivers suspected of driving whilst under the effects of drugs. Training in these methods is in the process of being conducted, and as is already the case throughout the year, motorists found driving whilst intoxicated through drink and/or drugs will be prosecuted.

Seasonal awareness campaigns have in the past contributed positively towards a reduction in recorded instances of drink driving in comparison to previous years, however, we continue to process an average of five intoxicated drivers per month.

The RGP remains committed to eradicating all forms of driving which endanger other road users, and will continue to work with all relevant stakeholders in order to achieve strategic objectives through education, awareness and enforcement. Road Safety should be everyones business, and the RGP encourages anyone witnessing any dangerous/careless driving (including drink/drugs-related) to report this to police directly as soon as possible.
Governments Drink Responsibly Christmas Awareness Campaign

As in previous years, HM Government of Gibraltars Drugs & Alcohol Awareness Services are set to embark on its annual Christmas Awareness Campaign with the view to encouraging the public to adopt safer drinking levels.

Although the campaign will, as in previous years, be launched under the slogan Drink Responsibly, with this campaign it is important to raise awareness not only about the impact on health of excessive drinking but also drug use.

The campaign aims to provide awareness to the public on how alcohol abuse, as with use of drugs, has negative impacts and how it affects as individuals, the community, and also importantly families.

Again, at this time of the year, it a good opportunity to make sure we understand the current guidance around recommended limits of alcohol, which should go some way to preventing harm to ones health and keep safe from accidents or incidents. Remember that when under the influence of substances an individual loses full awareness and control of behaviour.

Binge drinking is defined as the consumption of an excessive amount of alcohol in a short period of time, generally with the intention to get drunk. Guidelines advise that the consumption in excess of 3 to 4 units of alcohol (equivalent to two pints of average strength beer) for men and 2 to 3 units of alcohol (equivalent to 2 to 3 175ml glass of wine) for women, in a day, is above the recommended guideline level.

Binge drinking is especially prevalent during the festive period amongst our youth. Therefore, the Governments Drugs & Alcohol Awareness Services together with the Royal Gibraltar Police, Gibraltar Health Authority and Department of Education will be delivering awareness presentations to pupils at both Westside and Bayside Schools in order to continue to raise awareness on the health implications and risks of alcohol and binge drinking and drug use.

The Governments Drink Responsibly campaign runs parallel with the RGPs Drink Driving campaign.

One important measure that provides the community with a safe way of enjoying the festivities, if drinking is involved, has already been announced through the Royal Gibraltar Police Drink and Driving Campaign.

Furthermore, the Night Bus is still operational on Friday and Saturday nights from 21:00 to 02:00.

The Night Bus will also be available throughout December so members of the public can make use of the service during the festive period to include the 23rd, 24th, 30th and 31st December. This bus service will assist the RGPs drinking and driving awareness campaign and give other transport options to people celebrating on these festive dates.

The Minister with responsibility for drugs and substance misuse and services, the Hon Samantha Sacramento MP stated: The campaign has been co-ordinated by my department and the RGP. Also participating are other essential services such as the Ambulance Service, the Fire Service and Social Services as this is representative of all the agencies who work together to deal with problems caused by drugs use and excessive drinking. Professionals from the Governments Drugs & Alcohol Service, including counsellors from Bruces Farm are also available to offer guidance and advice. It is important that all agencies work together to enhance the efforts of making people aware of the detrimental impacts of abuse generally, even though the focus was on the festive season.

While the majority of the public have already proved that they are able to celebrate and drink in a responsible manner that it was important to keep the message alive and continuous.

I wish to reiterate that the services provided by my team at the Drugs and Alcohol Awareness Services are always at the disposal of any individual who encounters addiction and substance misuse issues.
Photo: John Sciulli/Getty Images for AMC

Walking Dead star and Broadway playwright Danai Gurira has penned a passionate defense of the Hamilton cast and their decision to address Vice-President-elect Mike Pence from the stage. As the Eclipsed writer points out, theater is not historically known for being a safe space. The theater never has been solely a place to be entertained. It also can be dangerous. As a playwright, I only know I am on the right track when I become frightened by what is unfolding on the page, she explains in The Hollywood Reporter. Gurira also connected the casts public statement to the theaters rich history of controversial art. John Kani, an actor and writer who worked in apartheid-era South Africa, said he expected that by the time he was done with a performance, the police would be outside. And they were. He was arrested. Arthur Miller and Clifford Odets used theater as a form of resistance during McCarthyism, she observes.

While some, like President-elect Donald Trump, castigated Hamilton for dragging the story of the Founding Fathers into modern politics, the Tony-nominated writer insists this is only a beginning of a theatrical sea change. It was a war cry, Gurira declares. We must be resilient, tactical and fearless, and make use of every platform we possess to truly become the change we still believe in. The theater is a living, breathing exchange between artist and audience. It is a sacred space  when you walk in, you are in the hands of those who have labored to craft the performance. And it is often a place where societal discomforts are confronted, where disenfranchised voices are heard, where freedoms are expressed and protected. Time to step it up big time, cast of Phantom.
The episode begins with a man doing something clearly illegal in the stall of an office bathroom with files and a laptop and a microchip and a quarter. Then we watch him walk out of that office building, a government building. A few minutes later, we learn of a security breach.

The dude on the toilet just stole a ton of classified files. Thats bad, real bad, Michael Jackson. Back at the FBI, Malik Yobas office is being investigated  you know, since he fake confessed to killing Nassar. One of the investigators takes Maggie Q aside and begins to quasi-interrogate her, but Maggie doesnt talk, preferring to keep trying to solve the puzzle on her own, BECAUSE SHE IS MADE OUT OF THE SAME DNA AS JACK BAUER.

Maggie tells one of the little hacker dudes to get Peter Macleishs file and meet at her house in 20 minutes, which  considering midday traffic  must mean she doesnt live too far. This is a detail that will never actually matter.

Back at the White House, we learn more about the breach. The guy put some information on WikiLeaks about members of the last cabinet, some of whom were involved in white-collar criminal activity, and all of whom died in the Capitol bombing. The wrinkle is that the only living member of that cabinet is POTUS, and information hasnt been released about him yet, which seems clearly purposeful and worrisome.

At Maggies crib, shes talking to hacker boi, telling him about Macleish and that it might get super real, so if he wants to get out, she understands. But hes ride or die, which confirms that Maggie is Bauer and hacker boi is Chloe OBrien.

As this show always does, every scene is another insane plot twist  and the next one is just splendid. Another WikiLeaks dump comes out, and it contains a negative comment about the very powerful guy runs the Senate Appropriations Committee. The comment: Senator Hazelton is a lecherous old man, more accustomed to groping female staff than promoting them.

GUESS WHO SAID IT?

No, its even better.

It doesnt stop there, of course. The guy wants POTUS to fire her, immediately.

Emily apologizes to him, as does the president, but he doesnt budge. He tells the Kirkman how powerful of a man he is and that she needs to be gone. Watching him talk, he gives off strong vibes of locker-room talk, so Emily probably was in the right. But she also doesnt want to hurt the presidents administration and she offers her resignation, which surprises the Kirkman.

POTUS and the FBI investigator watch the video of Yobas prison confession, and it still isnt sitting well with the president. Just then, the meeting is suddenly interrupted for another plot update, this being about the WikiLeaker. These are my favorite twists: When someone tells the president something and he squints and goes, Sorry, I dont understand. Hes not doing it out of incompetence, but because these twists are just batshit insane and perfect.

They found the guy, but hes on foreign soil  across the street from the White House  SEEKING ASYLUM AT THE VENEZUELAN EMBASSY. Look at this reaction when the president asks if they can go get him:

This show was made for me, and perhaps only me.

As with every episode, theres a Parallel Scene of Beef and/or Interrogation (PSOBAOI) moment. While Macleish is asked about his war past during the confirmation hearing, Maggie and the hacker boi are grilling people in his old unit to describe the events of a specific day that Maggie thinks will answer more questions. Every person recounts the same story that Macleish says  but they do it almost too perfectly, almost like it was a script and they were prepped to do this  all ultimately describing him as a hero.

I will give these terrorists some credit: They are one step ahead, every single time. No terror stone unturned.

After that, Emily pressures Aaron to let her resign and he says no because she is too important and because she is too future-bae. Then Aaron runs off because he has a stroke of genius idea involving the WikiLeaker. He goes to the Venezuelan embassy, meets with the guy, and says he knows what he wants  five minutes with the president. The man tells Aaron that hes right; this was the only way he knew how to get their attention. In a classic hacking-for-good tale, it seems as if the WikiLeaker has information that the administration should know for the greater good.

We leave this to find Maggie, who is still snooping around, and just had a major breakthrough. Talking to the wife of one of Macleishs old Army guys she tells Maggie about his stash of things they sent back home after her husband died. Maggie asks if she can look through it and she finds a stack of photos, one of which has the whole Macleish crew  INCLUDING CATALAN, THE GUY WHO KILLED NASSAR.

There it is  proof Macleish and Catalan know each other. Maggie is really good at her job. Unfortunately, in classic 24 fashion, her methods dont always vibe with the rank and file. Also, her Male Chloe hacker boi partner just got locked out of his computer, which means they know something is up.

The WikiLeaker proves to be very helpful. The information he was holding back was on Mister Senate Appropriations Locker-Room Talk, which confirms that everything Emily said about him was true, including inappropriate behavior with an 18-year-old page. The president brings him in and he tries to be all nah and then promptly gets hit with the receipts in a blue folder, all while Emily stands in the room and watches. The president tells him to bounce  both out his office and maybe professionally in the name of retirement. It is wonderfully sassy. The White House inner circle is very ride or die for each other. Im feeling it.

Maggie, being truly legendary this episode, meets back up with her sneaky source from the pinball bar to tells him about Macleish and Catalan. From there it gets even wilder: He found a report that had been purposefully buried by the Pentagon about what really happened with Macleishs unit. They went on a straight-up rampage in a village after some of their men were killed. Awfully far from the Hollywood story they told.

This Aaron Rodgerslooking soon-to-be vice-president wasnt a war hero  he was a war criminal. Wowza.

The WikiLeaker is brought to the White House to have a five-minute meeting with the president before he is escorted to prison. POTUS wants to know why he did it and the man says that hes the only person he could trust, since he looked through all of the presidents emails and texts and saw him to be extremely ethical. He then tells the president that theres a fake coin in his contraband bag thats hiding a chip, which will reveal a lot worse shit thats out there. Like Yoba, this WikiLeaker put his whole life on the line in a way that the president cant figure out. But its clear there is some connection.

Oh, also: Earlier in the episode, Maggie called Lady Hookstraten and told her that she had something on Macleish and that she should postpone the hearings. This interested Hookstraten since she has a beef with Macleish, and when she communicated that wish to postpone, Aaron told the president, and then the president brought in Macleish. The president, still 100 percent on team Macleish, is convinced by his words that theres no dirt on him. As Macleish walks out, however, he tells the president to keep an eye on Hannah Wells.

Allegedly, Hannah Wells is Maggies name on this show. Macleish floats the idea that perhaps Maggie is filling Hookstratens head with wild conspiracies.

Oh no, theyre definitely going to try and kill Maggie now.

We then see Maggie, racing to Hookstraten after she calls Hookstraten to say she found her evidence on Macleish. Looks as if shell be testifying in ten minutes. For some reason, I dont think everything will go according to plan in those ten minutes.

As the episode begins to wrap up, we see Aaron and Emily having another late-night chat, but finally this one acknowledges their crush. It is very sweet  but then disaster strikes. As Emily turns her back to Aaron, smiling from ear to ear, Aaron calls her name.

Emily, when youre finished with work tonight, he says with the tenor of a 50s leading man 

Are you serious, Time Warner Cable? Youre going to freeze right when my man is ABOUT TO SPIT THAT REAL LATE-NIGHT GAME?

I had to shut down everything. Damn near cut the electricity of the entire building. But finally, it returned.

 dinner?

HE ASKED HER TO DINNER AND SHE SAID OKAY. AHH, ITS LIKE DARLA AND ALFALFA FROM LITTLE RASCALS ALL OVER AGAIN.

This is turning into a really beautiful ending of an episode, until a car purposefully plows into Maggies car. Told you she wasnt getting there in ten minutes.

And then the final scene: The president and Secret Service Black Mike are looking at the files on the WikiLeakers microchip. Nothing major  just classified, quadruple-top-secret Capitol renderings from three years ago, filled with building schematics that outline security vulnerabilities (including how the building would crumble WERE IT BOMBED) and files that were given to the terrorists from someone within the government. The attack was an inside job, and it had been planned for years. Thats when POTUS says, Theres a traitor among us.

Not going to lie: If I know theres a traitor among us, Im going to immediately suspect the one person who survived the bombing and is about to rise to the vice presidency, the person who warned POTUS about a woman who was then hit by a car five minutes later.

But thats just me, a descendant of Maggie, who is a descendant of Jack Bauer, who is a descendant of Colombo.
From left: Jonathan Lethem, Jonathan Safran Foer, Colson Whitehead, Michael Chabon. Photo: Getty Images

The turn of the 21st century was a weird time for literary fiction. A wave of critical consensus had finally crashed on the rocks of glib postmodernism, and the literary establishment was anxiously casting about for something else. Enter four dudes with a knack for plot, an appreciation for genre, and ambition in spades. Colson Whitehead, Jonathan Safran Foer, Jonathan Lethem, and Michael Chabon all came to prominence with bold, imaginative novels infused with social commentary. All of them followed similar trajectories  brilliant success in the form of film adaptations, MacArthur grants, and Pulitzer Prizes; the subsequent backlash that inevitably follows such success; some dallying in genre and nonfiction; and now, this fall, a return to their roots. (The last of these four new novels, Chabons faux-memoir Moonglow, is one of our ten best books of the year.) Theyve had varying degrees of success, but Whitehead  now a National Book Award winner and Oprah pick  indisputably leads the pack. Below, a look at each of their careers thus far.

COLSON WHITEHEAD

First big hit: 1999

Whitehead debuts with The Intuitionist, a speculative riff on an extremely racialized, dystopian society literally organized by elevators, and the first black woman to cement the coveted position of elevator inspector. Literary reputations may not always rise and fall as predictably as elevators, writes Gary Krist, but if theres any justice in the world of fiction, Colson Whiteheads should be heading toward the upper floors.

Highest point of celebrity: 2002

The year after his novel John Henry Days is nominated for a Pulitzer, Whitehead is awarded a MacArthur genius grant at age 32.

Greatest backlash: 2003

The Colossus of New York, a nonfiction meditation on that most evergreen subject, leaves critics scratching their heads.

How the next book did

Sag Harbor, 2009s memoiristic story of black boys with beach houses, receives positive reviews but comparatively little attention.

Genre Gambit: 2011

With Zone One, Whitehead tries out a plot-driven zombie story without sacrificing those pages-long digressions. I try to have each book be an antidote to the one before, Whitehead says in an interview. The terror of figuring out a new genre, of telling a new story, is what makes the job exciting, keeps me from getting bored, and I assume it keeps whoever follows my work from getting bored as well.

Nonfiction foray, part two: 2014

Whitehead heads to Vegas with $10,000 of Grantlands money and a spot in the World Series of Poker. So if the ensuing memoir, The Noble Hustle, is a bit of a joke, it only follows that it wont be taken seriously. You can sense that hes half embarrassed to be writing it, says Dwight Garner.

Return: August 2, 2016

The Underground Railroad, Whiteheads mythical rendering of two slaves journey to freedom, wins the National Book Award. Oprah selects the novel for her book club before its release, and Moonlight director Barry Jenkins begins a mini-series adaptation. Michiko Kakutani happily compares it to his earlier novels: This novel jumps around in time and space  reminding the reader of the inventive storytelling in such earlier Whitehead novels as The Intuitionist and John Henry Days.

JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

First big hit: 2002

The 25-year-old Foer publishes Everything Is Illuminated, a hyperactive Holocaust quest narrated in amusingly broken English. Critics respond with feverish praise. Its hard to get through the first chapters, Francine Prose writes in the Times. The problem is, you keep laughing out loud, losing your place, starting again, then stopping because youre tempted to call your friends and read them long sections of Jonathan Safran Foers assured, hilarious prose.

Highest point of celebrity: 2005

He continues his tour of tragedy with the 9/11 novel Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, which nets him a million dollar advance, great sales, and mixed reviews. Six months later, an adaptation of Everything Is Illuminated starring Elijah Wood blows the minds of sensitive young college kids everywhere. Foers agent tells the Times Magazine that everyones envy had me ripping my hair out.

Greatest backlash: 2008

Readers  or at least the literary world  mutiny, and Schadenfoer reaches its peak. This magazine pokes fun at an American writer making a fortune off whimsical novels about Soviet Jews, and a playwright friend of Foers pens a suspiciously plausible story about a successful novelist and his jealous friend (I hope its bigger than The Lion King, Foer says of the play). Even Malcolm Gladwell suggests that the early bloomers star will soon fade.

How the next book did

Now a new father and dog owner, Foer discovers a taste for polemic in 2009s Eating Animals, a screed against animal cruelty, bioengineering, and human hegemony. (As you might guess, he likens factory farming to certain historical atrocities). The same sentimentality that kept his novels burning leaves critics cold.

Genre Gambit: 2010

Riffing off the 1960s classic A Humument, Foer pokes literal holes in his favorite book to create Tree of Codes. His London publisher bills it as a sculptural object, thereby letting us all know we dont actually have to read it. (The book lives on with secondhand sellers, yours for only $120.)

Return: September 6, 2016

Eleven years after his last novel, Foer reemerges with Here I Am, a story about divorce and what happens when an earthquake threatens to destroy Israel. Critics mostly laugh at the sex scenes and wonder what Foer could do if he just got out of the way. As Dwight Garner concluded in the Times, You wanted more sinew and guile from his work, more Saul Bellow and Philip Roth. Instead, he again and again exited at the Glass Family station on the J. D. Salinger commuter line and ended up in some pastel cul-de-sac of his own devising.

JONATHAN LETHEM

First big hit: 1999

Lethem hits critical gold with this fifth novel, Motherless Brooklyn, a hard-boiled crime story blessed with a Tourettes-afflicted detective and some au courant paranoia. A detective story that transcends its pulp roots not by adopting high-art pretensions but by bringing to the genre an originality and an idiosyncratic sympathy that few other writers could muster, writes Gary Krist.

Highest point of celebrity: 2003

The Fortress of Solitude, Lethems bildungsroman of 1970s Brooklyn, weaves in gentrification, race, and musical obsession. Critics fall for its clamor. The Fortress of Solitude is crowded beyond my powers of summary with lessons, insights, facts, dates, song titles and minor characters, writes A.O. Scott. Lethem wins a MacArthur genius grant two years later.

Greatest backlash: 2007

You Dont Love Me Yet, a short novel about a young rock star in L.A., felt like a vacation or a willful act of misdirection, according to one critic, and leaves readers longing for another big book about New York.

How the next book did

2009s Chronic City, a Manhattan-set social novel in the vein of Bonfire of the Vanities, is exactly that big book about New York that readers were missing. In Lethems earliest work the tricks and extravagances and gymnastic prose sometimes seemed arch or mannered  merely clever  but they have grown steadily more confident, and here they serve the higher purpose of flinging Manhattan onto the page in all its manic energy, Gregory Cowles writes in the Times. Lethem moves to L.A. three years later anyway.

Nonfiction foray: 2011

The essay collection The Ecstasy of Influence, Lethems endearing paean to his diverse and dizzying array of influences, is a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Genre Gambit: 2007

Lethem goes full-on fanboy with Omega the Unknown, a ten-issue revamp of the superhero comic he loved as a teenager.

Return: October 18, 2016

Like Motherless Brooklyn, A Gamblers Anatomy pairs grand-scale intrigue with a pitiable hero: Bruno Alexander, a globe-trotting backgammon champ with psychic powers and a brain tumor. But its a fluky novel, not among Mr. Lethems very best,writes Dwight Garner. Its themes are underdeveloped, and it moves in zigs and zags, like a squirrel in headlights.

MICHAEL CHABON

First big hit: 1988

Chabons debut The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, a coming-of-age story pinned to a gangster narrative, is a bestseller. (Like Foer, hes also 25). There is much to admire here, writes Alice McDermott, and what the novel lacks in insight it compensates for in language, wit and ambition, in the sheer exuberance of its voice: the voice of a young writer with tremendous skill as he discovers, joyously, just what his words can do.

Highest point of celebrity: 2000

Chabons third novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, wins the Pulitzer Prize. An ambitious sweep of superhero comics, the American dream, and the devastation of World War II, the 639-page novel is deemed a magnum opus.

Greatest backlash: 2007

Chabon has played around with genre before  illustrated kids books, young adult, and mystery novels  but The Yiddish Policemens Union, a work of noirish speculative fiction and his first serious novel since the Pulitzer, gets mixed reviews. As one critic points out: The book is also about how the grandest fictions raise expectations unreasonably high, paralyze us with anticipation, doom us to the perpetual check of chronic dissatisfaction.

How the next book did

The essay collection Manhood for Amateurs, published in 2009, cements Chabons slide from precocious 20-something to anodyne adult.

Genre gambit: 2011

Chabon continues to flaunt literary convention with an illustrated kids book, The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man, and his wife goes after disappointed Amazon reviewers on Twitter.

Return: November 22, 2016

Inspired by the stories of his dying grandfather, Chabon spins a kernel of autobiography into another sweeping, fantastical mid-century epic in Moonglow. Michiko Kakutani calls him one of contemporary literatures most gifted prose stylists, and the Washington Post praises his newfound restraint: His artistry is all the more remarkable for being essentially invisible.
Photo: Kerry Brown/Paramount Pictures

For 30 years, Martin Scorseses Silence seemed like a myth, a movie always bobbing just out of reach. The project was always next on Martin Scorseses to-do list: Silence would come after Gangs of New York, after The Departed, after Hugo. Now that the epic examination of faith and holiness  based on a book by Shusaku Endo  is due this month, The Hollywood Reporter got to the bottom of the story behind the wait. The short version: legal drama. The long version: lots of legal drama.

Scorsese bought the rights to Endos book in 1989. Back then, an offshoot of Italian production company Cecchi Gori Pictures hired the auteur and his longtime writing partner Jay Cocks to write the script. Both men agreed the first draft needed work, so while Scorsese worked on Casino and Kundun through the 90s, the Italian company brought in other writers. Two of those would-be Silence scribes  Michael Gordon and Nicholas Kazan  complicated the production down the line with chain-of-title issues, according to THR.

Fast forward two decades: Its 2008, and Cecchi Gori has a schism of its own. The two owners parted ways, sued each other, and the company fell into financial ruin when one of them was sentenced to prison. Cecchi Gori might have had the rights, but they no longer had Scorsese, who was distracted by The Departed, and then Shutter Island, and then Hugo. When Cecchi Gori got word that Scorsese was preparing Wolf of Wall Street in 2012, they had had enough and sued him for intentional and negligent misrepresentation. (Although, according to Scorseses lawyers, hed paid over $3.5 million in penalties each time he took on another movie that wasnt Silence.)

In 2014, Cecchi Gori and Scorsese settled out of court. Cecchi Gori had Scorsese, Scorsese had a script, but no one had the money. Theyd come close a few times, but it took Goodfellas producer Irwin Winkler to start making calls to help the team find more cash. Financiers (and a revolving door of A-list talent) fell in and out of the project until early 2015.

The only thing harder than financing a movie about two Jesuit priests in 17th-century Japan is actually filming a movie about two Jesuit priests in 17th-century Japan. The weather on location in Taiwan was erratic, they had to thoroughly research Japanese culture, and the script had to be written in 17th-century Japanese and then rewritten into a version of that dialect that modern audiences could understand.

And then  finally  the movie was finished. In late November, Scorsese met the pope and screened the movie for 400 Jesuit priests. We unordained folk still have to wait two weeks, though: Silence will come to New York and L.A. December 23.
Dont let the accent fool you. Photo: Jonathan Olley/2016 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Theres a new Star Wars movie on the way, which is a phrase well say every year until our planets crust peels off into a billion little meteors that bathe the solar system with flickers of brief light before fading into the void. Its called Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and you may have noticed that its posters have a distinct lack of any actors you remember from the existing flicks in the franchise. Theres a stony-eyed woman who towers above them all, visually declaring her importance in the film. Her name is Jyn Erso, shes played by Felicity Jones, and if youre wondering what her overall deal is, allow us to briefly lay it out for you.

Okay, whats her overall deal?

Shes a good-hearted and flinty outlaw in the Star Wars universe who gets recruited by the Rebel Alliance to steal the plans for the Galactic Empires planet-destroying Death Star.

Is she Rey from The Force Awakens?

No.

Are you sure?

Yes.

I dunno, she looks and sounds a lot like Rey.

True, but thats just a confusing coincidence. Jones and Daisy Ridley (who played Rey) are both slender English brunettes with pale skin, but the characters are not the same person.

Isnt this movie set before The Force Awakens? And wasnt there a whole thing about how Rey didnt know who her mom was? Could Jyn be Reys mom?

There was early speculation that that might be the case, but Ridley has pretty firmly said Jyn is not Reys mom, if for no other reason than that the timing of their ages doesnt make sense. Its possible that theyre genetically related in some way, but we dont have any evidence of that. Look, if you dont believe me about all this Rey/Jyn stuff, just ask Jones, herself:

Is she related to anyone interesting?

If you think Mads Mikkelsen is interesting, then absolutely! The delicious Dane plays Jyns dad, a scientist named Galen Erso. He was taken by the Empire when Jyn was just a wee babe, and now hes being forced to help them build the Death Star. The Rebels seek Jyn out partly because of her connection to him.

Whats Jyns background?

To paraphrase someone who didnt like Star Wars: Shes just a poor girl from a poor family. She was raised on an inhospitable planet and shes been on her own since she was very young. (Yes, just like Rey. Lucasfilm knows what it likes in its heroines.)

What does she do in the movie?

She joins up with a motley group of folks that the Rebels have assembled in order to swipe those Death Star plans we were talking about, so that the Alliance can destroy the superweapon. She also seeks out her dad along the way.

Shes the hero of a Star Wars movie, so that means shes a Jedi, right?

She is not, no. There actually arent any Jedi in this movie, as far as we know.

So is she a Rebel soldier?

Not exactly. The Rebels get her onboard with their last-ditch scheme, but that appears to be the first experience she has with the group.

Is she a Han Soloesque wiseacre?

Nah.

Is she an ingenue?

Lord, no.

Is she a tough-as-nails loner who plays by her own rules?

Now youre getting it.

Why is she wearing Imperial armor in some of the promo images and trailers?

She and a couple of her compatriots infiltrate the Empire in sneaky costumes, of course!

Why do people in space have English accents?

Shhh, too many questions.
Mann will not be able to attend the Lok Sabha proceedings for the remaining period of the ongoing session.

By India Today Web Desk: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Bhagwant Mann has been found guilty over video-recording of Parliament's security structure and has been suspended from the rest of the ongoing Winter Session.

The committee, headed by BJP Lok Sabha MP Kirit Somaiya, probing the incident, found Mann guilty of breaching the security of Parliament. It has suspended the AAP Lok Sabha MP from Punjab for the rest of the session.

advertisement

Mann will not be able to attend the Lok Sabha proceedings for the remaining period of the ongoing session.

The committee was set up after Bhagwant Mann recorded Parliament's security details and procedures for draw of lots of the Lok Sabha questions. After setting up the committee to probe the incident, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Majahan had also debarred Mann from attending the Lok Sabha proceedings till the probe was complete.

Watch the video here:

Also read: Month after demonetisation, PM Modi says short-term pain will have long-term gains

--- ENDS ---
From Tiny Beautiful Things, at the Public. Photo: Joan Marcus

In 2010, two years before she became famous as the author of Wild, Cheryl Strayed took over writing the Dear Sugar advice column from a friend. She had none of the skills that traditionally go with such a position: She was not bossy, she was not snappy, she was not an orderly, lacquer-haired matron. In fact, she was a recovering heroin addict with a messy backstory whod never met a sentence she couldnt embroider ad infinitum. Still, she turned out to be good at the job, as a 2012 collection of her columns, called Tiny Beautiful Things, made clear on every page. The advice was, literally, the least of it. Sometimes she didnt even answer the question at hand, or did so only after constructing a prose poem that was part moral fantasia and part autobiography. She pretended to no special expertise except the radical sympathy that came from surviving crises analogous to the ones her readers were facing. If she could not bring their problems to closure, she could sure write a paragraph.

What that achievement has to do with theater I cannot tell you. Nevertheless, a work called Tiny Beautiful Things, adapted for the stage by the actress Nia Vardalos, opened at the Public Theater tonight, in a production directed by Hamiltons Thomas Kail. (The project was conceived by Vardalos, Kail, and the Wall Street Journal columnist Marshall Heyman.) Their translation amounts to little more than cutting and pasting dozens of questions and answers from the book, with a close focus on 14 of them, into a collage. Other presentational shows  from Love, Loss, and What I Wore to Celebrity Autobiography  have been as faithful to their unlikely sources, but none that I can recall has staked its effects, as Tiny Beautiful Things does, on a premise that basically defies suspense at every turn. Should I tell my friends I stole from them? (No.) Should I maintain my relationship with my abusive father? (No.) If this were drama, the SAT would be Chekhov.

But then drama, at least the traditional kind, does not seem to be what anyone was after. If it had been, the adapters would have had to crack open Strayeds format and jettison her lovely prose, which would be throwing out the baby with the bathwater. (No, dont do that.) Instead, somewhat bravely and somewhat foolishly, they have honored the original genre at the expense of the adopted one. Though three actors perform the roles of the myriad questioners, and continuously haunt a set (by Rachel Hauck) that represents Strayeds toy-strewn living room and kitchen, they are little more than disembodied radio voices. Once theyve said their piece and face-acted a response to the answer, they recede into the shadows; the next time they are heard from, they are someone else. Meanwhile Vardalos, playing Strayed, does nothing but respond  that is, speak her beautiful replies  while occasionally pausing to formulate her approach or fix the next days lunch for her kids. This format ensures that no conflict is enacted; it is merely recalled or implied. Strayeds responses further distance the drama: In the very act of shaping them as art they become modern-day fables (The Empty Bowl, The Baby Bird) with much the same structure whether humorous or tragic. (I feel for you; Ive been there; theres no simple answer; you will survive.) Thus lacking intrinsic momentum, the shows 90 minutes cant help but unreel a bit stuporously, despite Kails typically careful balancing of tempo and tone.

That Tiny Beautiful Things nevertheless keeps your interest is mostly a tribute to the acting. Though the questioners (Phillip James Brannon, Alfredo Narciso, and Natalie Woolams-Torres) sometimes work too hard to sell their brief moments, more often they perform perfect little exercises in sense memory and commitment. (Narciso is especially heartbreaking in the climactic segment about a father whose son was killed by a drunk driver.) Vardalos, better known for the sharp sitcom brightness of her Big Fat Greek Wedding movies, is unexpectedly lovely here in a darker, more thoughtful mode, and does what can be done to bring emotional depth to Strayeds prosy divagations. If this is a classic why? endeavor  the kind of perseverative project Strayed might well advise against  it still has plenty of powerful moments in which you are persuaded why not?

Tiny Beautiful Things is at the Public Theater through December 31.
In 1985, the National Endowment for the Arts granted artist Peter Saul a $25,000 fellowship. Sauls work often satirized government policy and hed recently painted a scathing caricature of President Ronald Reagan invading Grenada, a Caribbean island to which Reagan had sent the Marines in 1983. There was anticipation that NEA chairman Frank Hodsoll, whom Reagan had appointed, might veto Sauls award or reduce its amount, but he did nothing. Hodsoll explained that the NEAs sole criterion was quality, and if artists do things that are political, thats their business. For his part, the president took absolutely no note of Sauls work.

Contrast this to the recent dustup between President-Elect Donald Trump and the cast of Hamilton, about Mike Pence being lectured from the stage after attending a performance. Right now, Trumps position on the NEA is one only of conjecture, but far more worrisome is the capricious way he reacts to perceived slights. Given some kind of provocation by an artist, an angry presidential vendetta against the arts endowment is easy to imagine.

As Trump makes his cabinet selections, an NEA head isnt one of the positions hell immediately be required to fill. Jane Chu, the endowments current chair, is only two years into her four-year term. Largely because of Obamas delay when Chus predecessor Rocco Landesman resigned unexpectedly in December 2012, she didnt take office until July 2014, meaning she could continue to serve well into the Trump administration. Chu, whose parents emigrated from China shortly before she was born, is an Oklahoma native and came to the NEA from being president and CEO of the Kaufman Center for the Arts in Kansas City. Shes done an admirable job at the NEA and has avoided tangling with Congress or insulting Middle America in the way Landesman was known for doing.

In 1968 the NEAs first chairman, Roger Stevens (like Landesman, a prominent Broadway producer) announced that he would not continue his position under President-Elect Richard Nixon and stepped down before his first term expired. The immediate result was the appointment of Nancy Hanks, one of the best leaders in the NEAs history, but the long-term effect was a pattern of new presidents choosing their own NEA chairman and the appearance that the position is similar to a cabinet-level officer. Such an approach is bad for the arts.

An endowment chairman needs to understand the possibilities of what national arts funding can achieve, but also that missteps can be catastrophic for the agency. When Obama nominated Landesman in summer 2009, I supported him because I didnt think hed press to restore the endowments ability to make grants to individual artists, something many in the arts community very much wanted.

Moderate approach

As I expected, he didnt do it and took a generally moderate approach to running the store. What I didnt anticipate was the degree to which he was capable of alienating the agencys supporters in Congress. Now the NEA head may have to worry more about crossing a temperamental and thin-skinned President.

Historically, political success for the endowment has consisted mostly of not making waves that cause skeptical members of Congress to question its legitimacy. Rightly understood, the head of the NEA exercises more salesmanship than policy. It would be to the agencys benefit both now and in the future if Dr. Chu can stay on. I would encourage her to remain at her post, continue to demonstrate that the nations culture  particularly away from the big cities  is greatly helped by the NEAs programs and to offer the endowment her steady hand in what could be rough waters ahead.
Akshay Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and Karan Johar have now become the harbingers of quirk.

By India Today Web Desk: It's not every day that you see A-list celebs have their quirk game on-point. Unless it's Ranveer Singh, of course--that man is the whole damn definition of quirk. But that's for another time.

The men of the hour right now are Akshay Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and Karan Johar, who have stepped beyond the obvious--quite literally--and made a bold statement with their choice of shoes of late.

advertisement

Akshay Kumar

Of all the quirky ones out there, not only is this one the best looking, he's also gone on to prove that he's the wackiest, with these leopard-print shoes.

Not only did Akshay's shoes make a grand entrance at a public event of late, he also struck a pretty pose for the shutterbugs!

Amitabh Bachchan

Age is honestly just a number, as proven right time and again by My Bachchan's style choices. Not too long ago, Amitabh Bachchan was spotted wearing feminine booties for shoes, and now this:

Though the black (seemingly suede) shoes do not match the rest of his outfit at all, the golden tassels on them lend enough of a majestic charm for the actor to pull them off with elan, despite the mismatched attire.

Karan Johar

Honestly, you'd really not expect any less from Karan Johar.

These gold-studded suede slip-ons go perfectly with Karan's glam vibe, with that bowtie adding just an extra dash of quirk.

--- ENDS ---
Barnetts Public House

420 Franklin Ave. / 254-714-1356 / www.barnettspublichouse.com and also on Facebook

Hours: 4-11 p.m. Tuesdays-Wednesdays; 4 p.m.-midnight Thursdays; 10:30 a.m..-1 a.m. Fridays; 10 a.m.-1 a.m. Saturdays; and 10 a.m.- 8 p.m. Sundays. Closed Mondays.

Price: $-$$ (guide below)

Takeout: Yes

Alcohol: Full bar with specialty cocktails, local craft beers. Wassail available through January.

On the menu: Gourmet sausages served with flatbread, shrimp and jalapeno grits, cheese-based appetizers. Soups on Fridays. Weekend brunch features locally sourced specials, three versions of eggs Benedict, artisan breads. New menu debuting January will include street tacos, more vegetable offerings and lighter fare.

Good to know: Four-course, four-cocktail prix fixe specialty dinner at 7 p.m. Fridays; reservations required.

Restaurant origin: Founded in 2010, with new owners February 2015. Current head chef Elizabeth Pannabecker joined the staff in May 2016.

Fuzzys Taco Shop

215 S. University Parks Drive, Suite 107 / 254-732-1818 / www.fuzzystacoshop.com and also on Facebook

Hours: 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 7 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday.

Price: $-$$ (see guide below)

Takeout: Yes

Alcohol: Full bar

On the menu: Baja-style Mexican food including fish tacos, burritos and nachos plus enchiladas and fajitas plates; salads; and all-day breakfast items including migas, huevos rancheros.

Good to know: Indoor and outdoor patio seating with pet-friendly outdoor seating. Specialties include The Big Fuzz breakfast sandwich (two fried eggs, bacon, potatoes and jalepenos on teleras bread) and a Fuzzy Rita (peach margarita)

Restaurant origin: Part of a national chain. Partners Laurentiu and Casie Cernat and Mike and Sandy Sandlin opened the Waco location Nov. 4.

Dunkin Donuts

1200 N. Valley Mills Drive / 254-732-0629 / dunkindonuts.com

Hours: 5:30 a.m.- 10 p.m. daily.

Price: $

Takeout: Yes

On the menu: Doughnuts, muffins, bagels, bakery and breakfast sandwiches, cookies, coffee.

Good to know: Extensive coffee offerings including espresso, cappuchino and latte; blended coffee drinks and cold brew.

Restaurant origin: Dunkin Donuts Waco location opened Oct. 11.

The Mad Hasher

University Parks Drive at Franklin Avenue / 254-299-7971 / madhasherwaco.com / On Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

Hours: 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Tuesdays-Wednesdays, 10 a.m.-midnight Thursdays-Saturdays.

Price: $ (see guide)

Takeout: Yes

Alcohol: No

On the menu: Breakfast hashes (basics of fried potatoes, meat and cheese, topped with fried eggs) with multiple optional toppings; and sandwiches (Cuban, two with breakfast sausage/ground sirloin patties, two jalapeno waffle sandwiches).

Good to know: Vegetarian The Green Thumb hash is locally sourced. Candied bacon featured on some sandwiches. Waffle sandwiches have fillings of fried chicken and maple syrup or brisket with barbecue sauce.

Restaurant origin: Owned by Jonya Williams of Rio Brazos Catering Company and opened by Williams and general manager Dean Covic in early September.

Moroso Wood Fired Pizzeria

4700 Bosque Blvd. / 254-235-6000 / morosopizzeria.com / On Facebook, Instagram

Hours: 11 a.m.- 2 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 5-9 p.m. Tuesdays-Wednesdays, 5-10 p.m. Thursdays and Saturdays, 5-11 p.m. Fridays.

Price: $-$$

Takeout: Yes

Alcohol: Yes

On the menu: 13 types of Neapolitan pizza (dough from 00 flour, fresh yeast, sea salt and purified water; San Marzano tomatoes; cooked at very high temperature); appetizers including aranchini (fried ravioli balls), made-from-scratch meatballs, charcuterie board; salads; desserts including cannoli, risotta cheesecake and torta al cioccolato (flourless chocolate cake).

Good to know: Tomatoes and flour are imported from Italy with Italian sausage custom-made in Texas. Pizza oven, dough mixer designed for neapolitan pizza.
By PTI: New Delhi, Dec 8 (PTI) Indian embassy in Qatar is "closely monitoring" the case of three jailed Indians, two of whom are on death row, External Affairs Ministry said today, noting that the next hearing is on January 2.

Subramanian Alagappa, Chilladurai Perumal and Shivkumar Achunan were sentenced to death by firing squad in December 2014 after they were found guilty of killing an 81-year-old Qatari woman in her home four years ago.

advertisement

While Achunans punishment has been commuted to life sentence, other two are facing death penalty.

Observing that the next hearing was on January 2, 2017, MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the Indian embassy in Qatar mission was in touch with the lawyers and was "closely monitoring" the case.

India had filed an appeal maintaining that the penalty was "too harsh". PTI PYK ZMN

--- ENDS ---
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today announced several incentives to encourage people to go cashless.

By India Today Web Desk: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today announced a slew of incentives to promote digital transactions. The announcement coincides with a month since high-value currency was demonetised by the government.

In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's push for a "less-cash society", the new steps are an effort by the government to encourage people to go cashless.

ALSO WATCH

advertisement

Here are the incentives announced by the Finance Minister today: If you are using FASTAG and RFID TAGS on toll plazas at national highways, you will get 10 per cent discount for digital payments. If you book your railway ticket online through card or e-wallet, you will get Rs 10 lakh accident insurance cover. You get 0.75 per cent discount for buying fuel through digital transactions. You get 5 per cent discount on digital payment for railway facilities like catering, retiring rooms. If you are making digital payment for monthly seasonal tickets in the suburban railway networks, you get 0.5 per cent discount. This is effective from January 1, 2017, starting from the Mumbai Suburban Railway. Service tax waived on debit and credit card transactions of up to Rs 2000. In a relief to farmers, NABARD will give Rupay cards to 4.32 crore farmers who have Kisan Credit Cards. Two swipe machines each for one lakh villages.

ALSO READ: Tiny village in Maharashtra goes cashless

ALSO READ: BJP national headquarters go cashless as e-wallet, Paytm transactions begin

ALSO WATCH

--- ENDS ---
Jermaine Lamar Jones was standing over a sleeping Cedric Jay Robinson when another man said they were there to take care of business seconds before four shots rang out and Robinson was killed, a woman testified Monday.

Jones, charged as a habitual offender, is on trial for murder in Wacos 54th State District Court in the December 2011 shooting death of Robinson at the Estella Maxey Place apartments on Adams Street in Waco.

In opening statements, Assistant District Attorney Amanda Dillon, who is prosecuting the case with Brandon Luce, told jurors that Jones stood over the sleeping Robinson and fired four shots into his chest and stomach at an apartment frequented by drug dealers and addicts.

You might not always agree with the choices the victim made in this case, but he should not have been shot in his sleep by that man over there, Dillon said, pointing to Jones.

Jones attorney, Walter M. Reaves Jr., did not make an opening statement Monday.

Monique Giles, who told jurors she is a daily crack cocaine user, admitted she used drugs the night that she and others were listening to music, singing and hanging out at her friend Freddie Fords apartment on his birthday.

She said Robinson, who was called N.O. because he was from New Orleans, was asleep on a living room love seat with a silver pistol on his chest when three people, including Jones, came in the back door of the apartment.

Ford, who had been in his bedroom, heard the men come in and came out demanding to know who let them in the back door, which Giles said is always locked and not used at night.

She said Jones walked over to where Robinson was sleeping and stood over him. A man with him said they were there to take care of business, Giles said.

Something registered in my brain that I needed to get out of that room, Giles said. I was thinking, How do I get out of this room? 

She said she ran into the bedroom and was a few steps away from the window when she heard four shots in the next room. She jumped out of the window and ran into the parking lot and hid behind a van, she said.

A few seconds later, she saw two men running away behind the apartment.

Prosecution testimony will resume Tuesday morning.
In the midst of the Texas Education Agencys takeover of struggling Marlin ISD, the districts board of trustees Monday decided not to renew Superintendent Michael Seabolts contract for another year.

However, this doesnt mean the district will go without leadership the rest of the school year while the TEA works through the process of selecting a board of managers to take over district operations, including the possible appointment of a new superintendent, Seabolt said via email Wednesday.

Seabolts contract officially expired Nov. 30, but the boards decision to not renew and decline to approve an interim contract prompted the TEA-appointed conservator to overturn the ruling and keep him at least through the end of the school year, he wrote.

Seabolt was brought in over a year ago to turn the foundering district around.

I cant speak to the reasoning (of the boards decision), Seabolt wrote in the email to the Tribune-Herald. I will say the board of trustees in Marlin ISD was never a problem. It has been a great board that supported me and my efforts 100 percent.

Unfortunately, the law requires TEA to remove the board at this time. That is unfortunate since this process has created a problem that Marlin simply did not have. The law needs to be reconsidered.

Gene Acuna, TEA director of communications, confirmed that Seabolt was indeed still the acting superintendent, but he said the TEA was unaware of any motion made by the conservator to overturn the ruling and that if it was done, an announcement would be made publicly.

In September, the TEA announced the state would replace the board of trustees with a board of managers and promote the districts TEA monitor, Rose Cameron, to a conservator who would advise the trustees and oversee day-to-day operations until the board of managers was selected, according to a letter from Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath.

The letter followed an announcement in August that the district failed preliminary academic accountability ratings for a fifth year in a row. Texas law states that school districts with failing financial or academic accountability scores for four straight years can be closed, but Marlin officials signed an agreement last year to give them more time, saying the state could appoint the board of managers if it did not meet academic accountability ratings this year. Septembers announcement is directly related, Seabolt said.

Selection process

Since then, the TEA has hosted a pre-selection board of managers training session in Marlin to explain the selection process and power the board of managers would have on student outcomes, according to a TEA press release.

The release goes on to state that the managers must consist of Marlin ISD residents committed to service on behalf of the students in the district and that the commissioner would appoint an interim superintendent.

Those interested in applying for the board had to do so by Nov. 28, and the TEA is reviewing applicants, Acuna said. Selections are anticipated to be made in January after the holiday break, Acuna said.

TEA officials could not answer whether Seabolt still had some sort of contract and referred the question back to local school officials. This ultimately leaves Seabolt in limbo after Mondays decision, because he does not have an interim contract, he wrote.

Under state law, Cameron has the authority to overturn any action the board of trustees takes, Seabolt wrote, emphasizing that he wasnt fired but his contract simply expired. In fact, he has worked every day since the expiration, he wrote. But he said he knows once the board of managers moves in, his time could be cut short based on its decisions if it doesnt ask him to stay.

Continuity and stability are always important. Marlin has gone through a lot of superintendents over the last 10 years. Certainly, the lack of stability has contributed to the academic problems in Marlin, he wrote. Marlin is on a good path to improvement, and that cannot be stopped or delayed.

Until the change-in-leadership bridge is crossed, Seabolt will continue to serve and wont see any change in his responsibilities, he wrote.

But he said he doesnt know whether he will be paid to finish out the year, because the districts abatement agreement signed by Marlin officials stipulated two things: The board of trustees would be dissolved and a board of managers installed, and the TEA would appoint a superintendent. He said he is relying on the second stipulation because that is what the board of trustees agreed to do.

TEA spokeswoman DeEtta Culbertson confirmed that Seabolt would be paid for his time, and Acuna said the TEA is working closely with the superintendent and board of trustees as it installs the board of managers.

Regular communication between the two entities isnt unusual during this kind of transition, and the TEA is making the transition as smooth as possible, Acuna said.

We are sorting out some governance issues, but that was to be expected since the board is being replaced, Seabolt wrote.

Those issues have not and will not impact operations or learning in the classroom. That simply cant be allowed to happen.
The city of Wacos sales tax rebate for December was smaller than its rebate the same month last year, but it can console itself with news that rebates for the calendar year totaled $37.4 million, 4.1 percent more than the $35.9 million it collected in 2015.

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced Wednesday he would send cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts $627 million in local sales tax allocations for December, an increase of two-tenths of 1 percent from December of last year, according to a news release from the Comptrollers Office.

The cities of Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, El Paso and San Antonio continue to see significant increases in sales tax allocations, Hegar said in a prepared statement. The cities of Houston, Sugar Land and Plano saw noticeable decreases in sales tax allocations.

Rebates in December reflect sales in October reported to the Comptrollers Office in November.

Waco received a monthly rebate totaling $2.75 million, which is a fraction of 1 percent less than the $2.76 million it banked last year.

Communities around Waco received a mixed bag of news about rebates this week. Bellmead, Beverly Hills, Hewitt, Lacy Lakeview, Lorena and West enjoyed increased rebates, while McGregor, Robinson and Woodway joined Waco in suffering a decline.

Hewitt experienced a 16.9 percent increase, as its rebate rose from $131,083 to $153,160.

Maybe the community southwest of Waco is warming up for what should become years of increased rebates with the opening Jan. 25 of a new 160,000-square-foot Wal-Mart supercenter at Sun Valley Boulevard and Interstate 35, in the Commerce Park industrial and commercial center.

Hewitt City Manager Adam Miles confirmed Wednesday that Wal-Mart officials told him to pencil in that date in January as the most likely opening day.

That is the date that also appears on Wal-Marts firearms license for that store, increasing its validity, Miles said.

He and other city officials have predicted the new superstore alone will generate an average of $80,000 monthly in sales tax revenue Hewitt will receive in rebates.

Obviously, good months that involve seasonal fluctuations could see produce numbers closer to $100,000, Miles said.

Miles said Hewitts sales tax revenues go into the citys general fund to cover salaries and ongoing maintenance to the citys infrastructure.

Another Wal-Mart supercenter does business on Hewitt Drive, but it actually lies within the city limits of Waco.

Wal-Mart spent about $4 million to acquire 21 acres in Commerce Park in 2014, and eager Hewitt residents and offficials speculated that work would begin almost immediately. But construction was delayed twice and even caused Hewitt to cancel a bond election on projects to be paid for with new revenue Wal-Mart would generate.

Now, with work on the buildings shell drawing to a close, Miles expressed confidence that Hewitts new Wal-Mart is on the verge of giving the city an economic boost.

Besides generating sale tax revenues, officials expect the new superstore to generate about $250,000 in property taxes each year.

That figure does not reflect sales and property taxes generated by users of several outparcels Wal-Mart is marketing near its store site.

-----

At a glance

December sales tax rebates, with percentage increase or decrease in parentheses:

Bellmead: $280,870 (3.3)

Beverly Hills: $39,750 (1.8)

Hewitt: $153,160 (16.84)

Lacy Lakeview: $83,945 (1.71)

Lorena: $22,898 (5.46)

McGregor: $76,381 (-12.7)

Robinson: $111,924 (-0.80)

Waco: $2.75 million (-0.15)

West: $42,762 (4.65)

Woodway: $199,661 (-0.75)

Source: Texas Comptrollers Office
So, this is the new conservatisms recipe for restored greatness: Political coercion shall supplant economic calculation in shaping decisions by companies in what is called the private sector. This will be done partly as conservatisms challenge to liberalisms supremacy in the victimhood sweepstakes, telling aggrieved groups that they are helpless victims of vast, impersonal forces, against which they can be protected only by government interventions.

Responding to political threats larded with the money of other people, Carrier has somewhat modified its planned transfers of some manufacturing to Mexico. This represents the dawn of bipartisanship: The Republican Party now shares one of progressivisms defining aspirations  government industrial policy, with the political class picking winners and losers within, and between, economic sectors. This always involves the essence of socialism  capital allocation, whereby government overrides market signals about the efficient allocation of scarce resources. Therefore it inevitably subtracts from economic vitality and job creation.

Although the president-elect has yet to dip a toe into the swamp, he practices the calculus by which Washington reasons, the political asymmetry between dispersed costs and concentrated benefits. The damages from government interventions are cumulatively large but, individually, are largely invisible. The beneficiaries are few but identifiable and their gratitude is telegenic.

When, speaking at the Carrier plant, Mike Pence said, The free market has been sorting it out and Americas been losing, Trump chimed in, Every time, every time. When Republican leaders denounce the free market as consistently harmful to Americans, they repudiate almost everything conservatism has affirmed: Edmund Burke taught respect for a free societys spontaneous order would immunize politics from ruinous overreaching  from the hubris of believing that we have the information and power to order society by political willfulness.

The Republican Party is saying goodbye to all that.

Indianas involvement in the Carrier drama exemplifies the entrepreneurial federalism  states competing to lure businesses. This is neither new nor necessarily reprehensible. There are, however, distinctions to be drawn between creating a favorable climate for business generally and giving direct subsidies to alter the behavior of businesses already operating in the state. And when ad hoc corporate welfare, including tariffs, becomes national policy, it becomes a new arena of regulation, which inevitably corrupts politics. And by sapping economic dynamism, it injures the working class.

The most widely discussed book germane to todays politics is J.D. Vances Hillbilly Elegy about the sufferings of the white working class, largely of Scots-Irish descent, in Appalachia and the Rust Belt. His book has often been misread as primarily about the toll taken by economic forces  globalization, automation, etc. Actually, Vance casts a cool eye on the theory that if they only had better access to jobs, other parts of their lives would improve as well. His primary concern is with lack of agency and learned helplessness  the passive acceptance of victim status.

One theory of the 2016 election is the white working class rebelled not just against economic disappointments but also against condescension, demanding not just material amelioration but, even more, recognition of its dignity. It is, however, difficult for people to believe in their own dignity when they believe their choices are powerless to alter their lives trajectories. Eventually, they detect the condescension in the governments message that their fortunes are determined not by things done by them but by things done for them.

Such people are susceptible to charismatic presidential leadership, with its promise that executive power without limits can deliver them from unhappiness by delivering to them public goods. In contrast, there was dignity in the Joad family (of John Steinbecks The Grapes of Wrath). When the Dust Bowl smothered Oklahoma, the Joads were not enervated, they moved west in search of work.

What formerly was called conservatism resisted the permeation of society by politics, and particularly by the sort of unconstrained executive power that has been wielded by the 44th president. The man who will be the 45th repudiates the traditional conservative agenda and, in reversing it, embraces his predecessors executive swagger.
Baylor furor

I congratulate Linda Carol Trotter for such a great job of expressing her thoughts to the Baylor Nation [Plenty of shame to go around in Baylor Nation, Sunday]. She covered every base. I agree with everything she wrote. I second the motion that the Baylor University Board of Regents needs to go  the sooner the better. We need a new group that has Baylors original intent in mind.

Thank you, Linda Carol, for your service! Just for the record, Im from a family of 18 Baylor graduates and have two grandsons attending Baylor.

Kitty Swogetinsky Millard, BU class of 57, Houston

n n n

By now, those shameless wretches who purchased season tickets for Baylor home games and didnt attend all of them are feeling sharp pangs of remorse as their dark deeds have been brought to light by Linda Carol Trotter. As recipients of public castigation, they must be wrought with feelings of humiliation and self-abomination. The ensuing mental anguish will compel them to rend their garments and heap sackcloth and ashes upon their heads as acts of contrition.

Its only fitting they be forced to wear a green and gold letter B from their necks should they venture out in public, so others may know of their disreputable deeds and avoid them.

Don Garretson, West

n n n

If Im not mistaken, the Pepper Hamilton law firm, under contract, performed an exhaustive, nine-month investigation of Baylor University. The cost of this investigation, if ever disclosed, would probably boggle the mind of Baylor alumni. Our august regents at Baylor have stonewalled the Baylor Nation, claiming this professional law firm never compiled, transcribed and furnished regents with a concise, complete report of its findings.

Surely, the sterling list of major Baylor contributors, captains of industry, renowned jurists and others has the collective clout to force disclosure of this report. Until regents are forced to release the Pepper Hamilton report, Baylor will continue to struggle under this dark cloud.

Dan Dayton, West

Deplore who?

If I may, let me ask just who is being deplorable now? Freedom of speech is alive and well in America, but when someone is burning our flag on Veterans Day in protest of whatever, deplorable is not the word I have in mind. Meanwhile, we have lost two American soldiers in Afghanistan who died fighting for our country.

These protesters need to go back to work or school and quit lapping up the attention theyre getting from being on television. And shame on them if theyre being encouraged or receiving money to protest. By the way, there is a possibility Hillary Clinton did not capture the popular vote as indicated. Running for president of our country is not a popularity contest. God bless America, love it or leave it!

Bess Tucker, Waco
In its meeting, December 2, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission voted to extend the transition period through 2017 to implement the Columbia River Fisheries Reform aimed at removing gillnetters from the lower Columbia River mainstem.

The extension will allow further consideration by commission members and consultation with management partners. The commission will consider the reform policy again, including actions for 2017 fisheries and beyond, at their Jan. 20 meeting in Salem.

Meanwhile, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission will invite public comments on proposed options for implementing the state's reform policy on Columbia River salmon management during a meeting scheduled this Friday and Saturday in Olympia.

Also known as the Kitzhaber Plan, the Columbia River reform policy, adopted by the commission in 2013, outlines a joint strategy by Washington and Oregon to restructure recreational and commercial salmon fisheries below Bonneville Dam. With the next phase of that plan set to take effect in 2017, state fishery managers will outline possible options for shaping the course of the reform effort in the years ahead.

The harvest reform is in its final year of transition and was to become fully effective January 1, 2017 when all Columbia River mainstem fishing would be allocated to recreational anglers and commercial gillnetters would fish in off-channel select areas, mostly in the lower river and mostly for hatchery chinook and coho salmon.

The extension by the Oregon commission would ensure post-transition rules do not go into effect until potential adaptive management is considered at the January meeting, The change is a result of discussion at the commissions November 9 meeting when it became apparent a deferral was needed to allow more time for additional staff analyses and more time for additional coordination with the State of Washington to provide orderly and concurrent policies according to Oregon Administrative Rules.

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission met in a special teleconference last week to discuss with WDFW staff Washingtons next steps on the reform policies. The staff laid out options for each run of chinook  spring, summer and fall  ultimately getting the commissioners approval to publish the options for public input. The Washington commission has yet to decide when rulemaking would occur.

Although recreational fisheries for spring chinook salmon are open in January downstream of the I-5 bridge as it crosses the Columbia River at Portland, the Oregon commission said that angling effort and catch is so low as to be unaffected by the allocation differences.

One of the sticking points with both the Oregon and Washington commissions and their fish and wildlife staffs is that the reform also promised to keep gillnetters economically whole, but the actual plan implementation is lagging in hatchery production of smolts, identifying additional off-channel areas, and developing alternative gear that would allow commercial fishers to better target hatchery fish, among other issues.

At the Oregon commissions November meeting, with as many as 150 sport and commercial fishers looking on, ODFW staff proposed to rebalance the harvest reform rules by continuing to allow some gillnetting on the mainstem river and by targeting for harvest of more adult hatchery salmon in the lower river below Bonneville Dam, a conservation move to rid the river of more hatchery fall chinook. As a concession, recreational anglers would gain access to Youngs Bay, near Astoria, an area that has been considered off-limits to them and would be allowed to use barbed hooks in the Willamette River.

At the same time, Oregon Governor Kate Brown nominated Jim Biddle, owner of Willie Boats, Inc. in Central Point, Oregon, to the commission. Biddle, a supporter of recreational angling, would replace Commissioner Jason Atkinson of Jacksonville. Atkinsons term on the commission ends in 2019, but he has asked to be replaced.

Last year, Bruce Buckmaster, a commercial fishing proponent from Astoria, was appointed to the commission.

The Oregon Senate will consider Biddles appointment December 12. That appointment could alter the final vote by the commission when it considers adoption of the full fishery reform or a form of rebalance.

The Columbia River Fish Management and Reform was a joint Oregon and Washington policy initially adopted in 2012 and readopted in 2013.

Wahkiakum County Eagle staff also contributed to this report.
WAHOO  The downtown Wahoo holiday tree has a new look this year, thanks to a downtown business.

Hospice and Home Healthcare of Saunders County in Wahoo purchased the streamers and 55 large lighted balls and stars that adorn the tree.

Hospice and Home Healthcare of Saunders County Administrator Bob Parish said his company had not been involved with any of the holiday festivities in the past, but wanted to contribute this year in a special way.

Over all the years weve been providing services, we bought the lights in honor and memory of the people weve served in the county, Parish said.

Parish said hes been involved with other community events in past years, but not with events around the Christmas season.

Parish said his goal was to aid in the communitys overall efforts this season for events and plans to continue next year.

We didnt know the tree was going to be that big. Decorating the tree went pretty smooth with the (Wahoo Parks and Recreation) guys in the bucket, but we will add to it next year, Parish said.

Parishs business was not the only one to get into the pre-holiday mood.

Kathryn Nygren, owner of Found and Flora in Wahoo, said she has put garland on her storefront canopy each of the four years shes been in Wahoo.

But on a whim, she decided to ask a few other businesses this year if they wanted to purchase similar decorations.

We visited door-to-door and had an amazing response, Nygren said.

About 20 businesses signed up for flower pots, wreaths, garland and other decorations she could coordinate.

We wanted to spruce up downtown a little, she said.

The Found and Flora crew worked late after Thanksgiving and late on Nov. 26 to beat the cold weather and get the over 450 feet of garland hung in time for the Hometown Holidays in Wahoo on Nov. 29.

When it was dark, we hung the garland by the light of the street lights to get it done, Nygren said.

Business involvement in downtown Wahoos overall holiday environment is something that is a goal for the Wahoo Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development.

Wed like to see businesses chip in with ideas. Theres only so much the city can do, said Jennifer Woita, administrative assistant with the Wahoo Chamber of Commerce.
Former Maharashtra Home Minister Chaggan Bhujbal had had an extended stay at a private hospital, which according to both ED and intervenor social activist Anjali Damania, was illegal.

By Vidya : Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday submitted a list of 25 politicians, "MPs, MLAs who had been meeting Chaggan Bhujbal between 22nd and 29th of November," said Hiten Venegaonkar, advocate representing the agency told the special PMLA court in Mumbai.

He added that, "There is a violation, there is no doubt on that. He should have been brought back to JJ hospital immediately."

advertisement

Former Maharashtra Home Minister Chaggan Bhujbal had had an extended stay at a private hospital, which according to both ED and intervenor social activist Anjali Damania, was illegal. Damania had intervened saying the court had ordered a few tests but after that he was to be sent back to jail but he was sent to a private hospital.

Neither the jail superintendent bother to find out where the accused was, nor did the dean of hospital communicate to either the jail or private hospital which has allowed Bhujbal to stay outside the jail for over 41 days now. This is the third time that Bhujbal has been outside jail on medical grounds.

Damania told the court that it was only for stress thalium test that he was sent to a private hospital and that was done on him immediately. "The report states that he is as fit as any sportsman like Virat Kohli. Going by that report he should immediately be sent back to jail. They are now saying that an angiography is needed on him. Why did they not do it in all these days?"

Holding the dean of the government hospital TP Lahane responsible for Bhujbal's illegal extended stay in a private hospital, Damania said, "I pray that he should be immediately removed from the management of this accused persons health. This needs to be investigated by principal secretary home and medical department if possible and they could should refer the case to Bombay high court for contempt proceedings against those responsible for this lapse."

Dean lahane who was personally present in court said that there was no lapse on his behalf and that when reports from Bombay hospital came he had forwarded it to the jail superintendent. "The dicision of performing coronary angiography at JJ hospital or Bombay hospital needs to be taken by the Superintendent of jail." He also denied that it was because of him that bhujbal was staying at bombay hospital.

Bhujbals lawyers intervened in the case saying that since there were allegations against Bhujbal he needed to be heard. The court tried to impress upon him that it was a matter between court and the authorities. But on the lawyer insisting that there are allegations against NCP leader as well the case has been kept for hearing Friday.

--- ENDS ---

advertisement
The Maharashtra government today decided to rename the two establishments.

By India Today Web Desk: The Mumbai International Airport will now be called Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport while the iconic CST railway station will now be Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminal.

The Maharashtra government today decided to rename the two establishments. Their rationale? The Maratha warrior king Shivaji deserved more respect.

The renaming has also been done a month before Mumbai votes in its municipal polls.

--- ENDS ---

advertisement
Chinese media today reported that the Xinjiang Military Area Command carried out the drill in a mountainous area over 4,000 meters above sea level conditions that simulate the terrain along the disputed Line of Actual Control.

By Ananth Krishnan: A key People's Liberation Army (PLA) military command that borders India and other countries has carried out a rare massive drill involving over 10,000 soldiers.

Chinese State media today reported that the Xinjiang Military Area Command, which is under the Western Theater Command, carried out the drill in a mountainous area over 4,000 meters above sea level conditions that simulate the terrain along the disputed Line of Actual Control.

advertisement

The command borders several countries along China's western border, and is also in charge of defending the disputed Aksai Chin region along the border with India. While not specifying the exact location in China's vast frontier Xinjiang region where the drill was held, the only disputed border under the command is the one with India.

Also read: China tells India to 'not complicate' border issue after Karmapa visit

"The operation spread across seven hills and included missions relating to camouflage, intelligence, reconnaissance and counterattack," said a brief report on the website of the People's Daily, which did not provide further details. It said over 10,000 soldiers were involved.

This appears to be one of the first major drills of the Xinjiang Military Area Command following this year's huge reorganization of the PLA. In November 2015, President Xi Jinping, who is also Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), announced the reorganization of seven military commands into five expanded theater commands. Xi also announced reducing the size of the PLA by 3 lakh troops.

China (Photo credit: www.81.cn) China (Photo credit: www.81.cn)

The reforms are aimed at making the bloated PLA a more nimble and integrated force with joint commands. This is also aimed at centralizing decision-making into a three tier "CMC- Theater Command-Troops" system.

Also read: Chinese media claims Trump administration could build alliance with India to restrict China

The Western Theater Command is the largest of the five new commands. Speaking to India Today earlier, leading expert on the Chinese military Taylor Fravel, professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), noted that the orientation of the five new theaters are "created to align China's strategic directions with the command of troops".

"So the northern theater will focus on North Korea, the central theater on the defense of Beijing, the eastern theater will focus on Taiwan and to a lesser extent the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands (contested with Japan), the southern theater will focus on the South China Sea, and the western theater on India and border control."

Also read: India-China War of 1962: How it started and what happened later

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: Singh said South Asian countries need support so that

Singh said South Asian countries need support so that climate change doesnt inevitably translate into alarming levels of unsafe migration and conflict over resources.

"Rich nations must also not fail to recognise their role in causing the climate crisis. They must help fight the flames in South Asia and elsewhere that they themselves kindled through carbon emissions in the first place," he said.

advertisement

The report said this year people in South Asia are suffering devastation due to extreme weather and they are on the move "like never before".

In May 2016, Cyclone Roanu ripped through Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh causing widespread damage and leaving in its wake reconstruction costs estimated at USD 1.7 billion.

In April 2016, temperatures reached a record-breaking 51 degrees Celsius at Rajasthan in India. 2015-16 brought with it extended drought and crop failure in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and across India. Around 330 million people were affected in India alone and many more across the region.

The report said while the UNs Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) anticipates climate change impacts will be felt even more severely in future years, political disputes and cross-border fighting often characterise the reaction to migration across the region more than active solutions and problem-solving.

"The governments of South Asia must recognise that climate change knows no borders. They have a responsibility to use our shared mountains, rivers, history and cultures to seek common solutions to the droughts, sea-level rise and water shortages that the region is increasingly experiencing.

"We urgently need more cross-border efforts to help people cope with the new normal of climate disasters and protect those who are forced to migrate," Sanjay Vashist, Climate Action Network South Asias Director, said.

The Global Forum on Migration and Development will take place from December 10 to 12 at Dhaka in Bangladesh, where meetings around the theme of a "transformative migration agenda" will be held.

The meetings will bring together government policymakers, civil society and development representatives, UN bodies and migration experts from around the world to agree upon solutions to migration issues. PTI TDS NSD

--- ENDS ---
She apologised on behalf of the agencies involved, and said: "at the moment our emphasis is on the students who have received their results and their ATAR, if they were eligible for one." She said all schools had been contacted to inform them of the error, and VCAT and the VCAA had been in contact with all students who had received their results and/or their ATAR early, to offer them support. Ms Connelly said it was too early to discuss whether VCAT and the VCAA would pursue penalties against Salmat. Education Minister James Merlino has ordered an urgent investigation into the blunder, which has compromised sensitive results that are normally closely guarded until the official release. He said on Thursday morning that he wanted the investigation completed as quickly as possible.

"This is obviously a serious error that has been made and I can understand that students would be confused and angry and disappointed with what has occurred. "I can assure parents, the students and their schools that there'll be a thorough independent investigation to find out what went wrong, how it happened, and to ensure it doesn't happen again." The saga is a major embarrassment for VTAC, who vowed just weeks ago to crack down on schools that leaked ATARs. It imposed a range of new penalties for schools that broke the rules, including being barred from accessing early results for up to five years. The principals of some students who got early results said the study scores were close to what they would have expected the students to get. Some also pointed out the hypocrisy of VTAC's threats to punish schools for releasing the data early.

While the VCAA calculates study scores for individual subjects based on school assessments and exams, VTAC calculates the ATAR which is used by universities. Disbelief, elation, shock and anger spread through students' online forums as some students expressed devastation at receiving their results early, while others were furious they couldn't access theirs. "ATAR is done and dusted, relieved," one student posted. "I'm actually more nervous about my ATAR now that some people have gotten theirs like, All Hope Is Dead," another wrote. Screen grab of a reported VCAA text received by a year 12 student

Lynda Manley, mother of Princes Hill Secondary College student Ruby, said on Wednesday night she was angry that her daughter received a text at a time when there were no support systems available to help students process the news. "It's 8 o'clock on a Wednesday night and the school support systems are ready to kick in on a Monday morning. I can't raise teachers on a Wednesday night. "We've got no way of confirming whether this is a hack or legitimate." Ruby tried to get her ATAR after reading on the VCE DiscussionSpace Facebook page that others were getting their results. The text she received back "was not the score she was hoping for," said Ms Manley. "Now I've got this upset 18-year-old. I'm thinking this has got to be a prank or a hack."

Toni Buttigieg, who came home from work to find her daughter in tears, said the early unexpected release had caused already-anxious students an enormous amount of stress. "There is enough pressure on VCE students and to have results come early without knowing whether they are real or not has just exacerbated the anxiety. "We've been working towards Monday morning, we've put strategies in place but tonight because of the unexpected, it's just blown up. We have vulnerable young people and they just don't know, they don't know if it's real." However, not everyone was disappointed. Isaac Black, 18, was with a group of friends when they saw a post on a VCE Facebook group by a girl who'd discovered the error.

Soon, all of his friends had their results too, and all were happy with their results. "We all got the scores that we needed to get in to our courses," he said. Keira Schaefer, Isaac Black, and Grace Pear were happy with their VCE results. Credit:Isaac Black The text message sent to Isaac apologising for his results being sent early. Credit:Isaac Black VCE student Paddy received a nice surprise when he registered at 7.45pm - a text message that said he had achieved an impressive ATAR of 99.75. It also included all his study scores for individual subjects.

But he was unsure whether to believe the good news. "No one is sure what is going on," he said on Wednesday. "It's good news, but I don't know if it is real. I don't know whether to celebrate or not." He was considering studying a science degree at university next year, but said if the results were correct he would reconsider his options. "I might take a gap year and have a proper think. It is a lot higher than I thought I would get."
The Victorian Coroner will investigate the extraordinary "thunderstorm asthma" event that claimed the lives of eight people and inundated emergency services in Melbourne and Geelong last month.

Thousands of people fell suddenly and acutely ill on the evening of November 21 when a storm rolled across the state, bringing with it pollen and unusual weather conditions thought to have triggered the health crisis.

Thousands of patients, including Rayann Zamani with mother Palli, inundated hospitals across Melbourne due to the thunderstorm asthma event. Credit:Justin McManus

The demand for medical assistance was so great authorities ran out of ambulances and a number of people died waiting for help to arrive.

On Thursday afternoon State Coroner Sara Hinchey announced the "cluster" of eight deaths would be investigated together, "so that in addition to clarifying the circumstances of each individual's death, any common themes may be identified".
By PTI: India

New Delhi, Dec 8 (PTI) India today said it is "closely working" with the Mongolian government to implement the USD one billion credit line to help it to meet current difficult budgetary situation arising out of various factors including the recent imposition of border tariffs against it by China.

The Chinese action came after Mongolia hosted the Dalai Lama in November following which the Mongolians wanted India to raise the issue publicly.

advertisement

"Insofar as Mongolias relationship with China is concerned, I would not like to comment. However, I can make some observations about our own very strong relationship with Mongolia. We are aware of the difficult budgetary situation that Mongolia is facing due to various factors including high cost of servicing of debt raised by them in the past," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

"As a close friend of Mongolia, which regards India as its third neighbour and spiritual neighbour, we are ready to work with Mongolian people in this time of their difficulty," he said and referred to credit line of USD one billion announced during the visit of the Prime Ministers there in 2015.

"We are closely working with the Mongolian government to implement the credit line in a manner that is deemed beneficial to the friendly people of Mongolia by its leadership," Swarup added.

The Dalai Lamas visit to Mongolia, which is Chinas northern neighbour has riled Beijing as it reportedly put off several meetings and delegation visits, including a trip of Mongolias Deputy Prime Minister.

Asked about the postponement of the meeting and visits, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang had said "the wrong doing by Mongolia on this issue diminished political foundation between the two countries and brought negative impact to bilateral relations".

"We ask the Mongolian side to respect our major concern and take concrete actions to remove the negative impact and bring China-Mongolia relations on to the track of sound development," Geng said. PTI PYK ZMN

--- ENDS ---
As part of the WCO Customs for Relief of Epidemic Diseases (C-RED) Project, financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, the WCO conducted a 4 day regional workshop for the West African countries that were affected by the Ebola virus disease, namely Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Senegal, Nigeria and Mali. The objective of the workshop was to discuss regional and national challenges as well as solutions to facilitate the import and transit of humanitarian relief goods in times of crisis based on national, regional and international best practices.

The workshop, which took place in Freetown, Sierra Leone, from 1-4 November 2016, was jointly planned and conducted in cooperation with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Participants to this workshop included Customs officers from Headquarters and customs front line officers, other border agency officers, representatives from the respective Ministry of Health as well as representatives from ECOWAS Commission responsible for Humanitarian and Social Affairs.

The Commissioner General of the Sierra Leone, Ms. Haja I. Kallah- Kamara, stressed the importance of this project, since even in the time of crisis, not all customs rules can be abandoned. The procedures have to be facilitated without further compromising the security of the country.

During the workshop, participants confirmed the need for regional coordination to guide the customs response to regional epidemic diseases. As a result, the ECOWAS Commission offered to evaluate how this problem can be addressed for all ECOWAS members. At the national level, participants identified lack of or insufficient customs facilitation measures and the lack of communication and cooperation with other government agencies as the main challenges in the priority clearance of relief goods. As a result of the workshop, each country has developed an action plan which outlines the next steps that need to be taken on a national level in order to improve the priority clearance of relief goods in times of crisis. The WCO C-RED project will continue to support the region by assisting a number of selected countries in the drafting of simplified customs procedures and standard operating procedures as well as with the organization of simulation exercises, based on international and regional best practices.

For more information on the workshop or the project, please feel free to contact the WCO C-RED Project manager, Ms. Eve Gerard (eve.gerard@wcoomd.org).

You can also visit the WCO webpage on the C-RED Project: http://www.wcoomd.org/en/topics/facilitation/activities-and-programmes/natural-disaster/wco-c-red-project.aspx
By Indo-Asian News Service: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should clarify his and BJP Chief Amit Shah's relation with Mahesh Shah, who disclosed an unaccounted income of Rs 13,860 crore under the central government's income declaration scheme.

"Former Gujrat Chief Minister Suresh Mehta said that Mahesh Shah was close to Amit Shah and Modi. People want to know what is the relation between them and whose money was it that Shah disclosed," Kejriwal said. He added that Mahesh Shah said on a TV Channel that he wants to name all the people whose money he has disclosed as his own income.

advertisement

Also read: To tackle black money, I would have arrested top corrupt netas: Arvind Kejriwal tells India Today

"It has been one week and Income Tax department has still not questioned Mahesh Shah," Kejriwal said. He also mentioned that people are asking that while Modi has made them all stand in the queues, why is he not questioning those who actually have black money.

Also read: Najeeb Jung acting like Hitler, Modi won't make a Muslim India's Vice-President: Arvind Kejriwal

Also read: Arvind Kejriwal demands rollback of demonetisation; says Modi government leaked information

--- ENDS ---
The World Customs Organizations (WCO) Research Unit participated at the 2016 International Conference on Green Trade in Beijing, China on 6-7 December. The Conference provided a platform for experts to discuss strategies and techniques for balancing economic development and environmental protection.

The Conference was organised and hosted by Beijing Normal University. In addition to the WCO, Conference presenters came from organisations such as the the United Nations (UNESCAP, UNDP, and UNCTAD), the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and the Stockholm Environment Institute.

In his presentation, the Head of the WCOs Research Unit, Mr. Robert Ireland, said that while the threat from global warming was becoming increasingly dire, there was still time to, among other things, strengthen carbon pricing policies such as carbon taxes to accelerate the shift from fossil fuels to low-carbon energies.

Mr. Ireland also described WCO efforts to curtail the illicit trade in wildlife that was threatening extinction for species such as elephants and rhinoceroses. He said that the WCOs work in wildlife protection is focused on awareness raising, capacity building, operational activities, and research. "Combatting crimes against wildlife" said Mr. Ireland "must be a common endeavour where all stakeholders work together to cover the entire supply and value chain, from the point of origin to destination markets."

During their stay in China, the WCO team met with China Customs to discuss common interests and ideas for joint research projects, including on topics such as e-commerce, free trade zones, Customs-tax cooperation, security, and environmental protection.
In a letter to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Dominican Ambassador Frank Castellanos, had claimed the withdrawal ceiling is against the Vienna Convention, which seeks uninterrupted supply of facilities and resources to diplomatic missions.

By Smita Sharma: Amid growing complains from missions and posts in India of inconvenience faced due to demonetisation, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar held a meeting with the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps on Thursday. In his half-an-hour long meeting with the Dominican envoy, who as Dean represents more than 150 missions in India, Jaishankar discussed ways to best address the issue.

advertisement

Since demonetisation of high denomination currency notes of Rs 500 and 1,000 was announced on November 8, a withdrawal cap of Rs 50,000 per week has been placed on business entities and foreign missions. In a letter to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Dominican Ambassador Frank Castellanos, had claimed the withdrawal ceiling was against the Vienna Convention, which seeks uninterrupted supply of facilities and resources to diplomatic missions.

The government has now instructed the finance ministry to address some aspects including enhanced withdrawal limits for diplomats and embassy officials.

"With a view to avoid inconveniencing their operations, the ministry has been in discussion with concerned authorities in the government on this matter. The finance ministry, as a consequence, is being asked to issue directives to banks to allow embassy officials with identity cards to withdraw money on a priority basis," informed Vikas Swarup, Spokesperson MEA.

CASH CRUNCH

Earlier on December 2, the Russian Embassy in New Delhi had written a letter to the Ministry to External Affairs questioning how could a big embassy in Delhi function without sufficient cash. In his letter, Ambassador Kadakin had written that the Russian mission is facing difficulties 'due to the limit of withdrawal of money set by the government which is totally inadequate for operational expenditure requirements.' "In fact the money is not even adequate to pay for a decent dinner," the letter added.

Also read: Demonetisation: A month later, PM Narendra Modi says short-term pain will have long-term gains

According to sources, diplomats from Indonesia, Kazakhastan and Ukraine also complained about the discomfort caused during local payments, organising of functions, short-term official and medical visits due to the restrictions. Some Central Asian and European posts were also contemplating reciprocal steps of withdrawal limits for Indian missions in their countries, if the difficulty is not resolved as per reports.

The MEA has maintained that that by and large the diplomatic community is supportive of PM Narendra Modi's demonetisation drive and most of them use electronic transfers and card payments."We appreciate learning from the dean that the vast majority of foreign missions understand that the demonetisation exercise is being conducted to combat the menace of black money and tax avoidance. We are confident that the missions would bear with the temporary difficulties that arise in that process, even as we seek to address their concerns," said Swarup.

advertisement

Asked recently at an Indo-American Friendship Association address about the issue, American envoy Richard Verma had joked that he had not been able to pay the piano teacher for three weeks now, adding, "We have been affected like everyone else, and I don't think this will have any impact on Indo-US ties. I appreciate what the PM is doing to crack down on corruption and we are trying to comply."

Also read: Demonetisation: New notes worth Rs 70 crore, 100 kg gold seized in Chennai

The Indian foreign ministry is represented by the Joint Secretary Protocol at the Inter-Ministerial Task Force which has formulated a set of recommendations currently under review by the Department of Economic Affairs, to iron out the difficulties being faced by foreign missions and NRIs.

--- ENDS ---
Long queues were still visible outside bank branches and ATMs across Mumbai, after a month of demonetisation.

By Mayuresh Ganapatye: A month has passed since demonetisation was announced by the government but the queues outside the banks and ATMs havn't shortened, neither has the suffering lessened.

The government had claimed that the situation would improve within few weeks but the situation on the ground shows that a common man is still bearing the brunt of demonetisation.

advertisement

India Today visited few banks in Hindmata area of Parel to know the ground situation post demonetisation. We visited ICICI bank where people were standing in queues to withdraw cash. The people waiting said the bank's ATM was closed since the last 4 days. "I am standing in queue since 8 am in the monring. The bank will open at 9:30 am but they only give us Rs 8000 which is less than the limit set by the RBI," said one of the lady in queue.

Next to the ICICI bank lies IDBI bank's ATM that was also not working. People were withdrawing money from the bank with the help of cheques. "This is the third time I am standing in a queue in this week. I don't mind to stand in queue if it is ultimately going to help my country," said Prashant, who was standing in queue since 8:30 am.

Also read: Demonetisation: A month later, PM Narendra Modi says short-term pain will have long-term gains

Then we moved to Axix bank in the same vicinity where the ATM was working but only dispensing only Rs 2000 notes. However, the bank was giving lower denomination notes on cash withdrawal via cheques.

Meanwhile, a delegation led by Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu met the RBI Governor to discuss demonetisation the digitisation of economy.

Also read: Demonetisation completes a tumultuous month: All you need to know in 7 points

--- ENDS ---
Currency switch pushes common man to use electronic transactions and do away with dependence on cash in hand.

Presently digital payments account for 15% of the worth of consumer spending in India that could rise to 60-70 per cent of overall consumer spending in the next 2 years.

By SPS Pannu: The demonetisation drive has forced millions of Indians to not just queue up at ATMs but also fall in line with the Narendra Modi government's digital push , even as online payment services firms are laughing all the way to the bank.

In a nation where most consumers have hitherto been dealing in cash , the currency switch has provided the Centre an opportunity to give a big push to electronic transactions to improve transparency and weed out black money.

advertisement

At present, digital payments account for 15 per cent of the $1.5 trillion worth of consumer spending in this country. This could rise to 60-70 per cent of overall consumer spending in the next two years, said Mrinal Sinha, operations head at e-wallet company MobiKwik. The scope appears to be reflected in the sudden surge in transactions of e-wallet companies such as Paytm , MobiKwik and FreeCharge.

WAKING UP TO GREATER TRANSPARENCY?

The government expects the move to pay off as cash-starved consumers are taking the plunge to cross the psychological barrier of switching to digital transactions with which they were uncomfortable until now.

A senior Finance ministry official told Mail Today that with more transactions coming online there will be greater transparency, which will make it possible to ensure a higher degree of tax compliance. Mobile payments and commerce platform Paytm claimed it crossed seven million transactions worth Rs 120 crore on November 22.

The immediate impact of demonetisation is visible in the national Capital where even small traders took to digital modes of payment including e-wallets. Tea sellers, vegetable vendors and neighbourhood grocery stores started accepting money through e-wallets after the government banned Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, sweeping away 86 per cent of India's total currency in circulation.

Tea and vegetable sellers in most parts of the city began transaction through digital wallets while the parking lot operators particularly in malls too accepted payments through cards of e-wallets. Similarly, patients had the option of paying doctors' fee through e-wallets at many private clinics and hospitals. Even as the ruling AAP in Delhi went all guns blazing against the demonetisation move , auto-rickshaw drivers, a key vote bank of the party, supported the ban. Several auto rickshaw unions in Delhi took out march in support of demonetisation. They said with App-based taxi services going cashless, fewer people opted for auto rickshaws.

The consumer class too appeared happy with the currency ban as they saw prices of commodities like pulses, edible oil, fruits and vegetables coming down in retail market. "The apple which was selling at Rs 180 per kg till the first week of November is easily available at prices as low as Rs 120 per kg. Similarly, cash crunch has resulted in low demand as hence prices of vegetables too have come down," said a trader at Gazipur mandi.

advertisement

DIGITAL TRANSACTIONS WITNESS SURGE LIKE NEVER BEFORE

Paytm with its latest app update on Wednesday announced a feature for small and medium businesses to accept payments from consumers using all bank's debit/credit cards and UPI apps.

This is expected to further accelerate the pace of digital transactions. MobiKwik claims a five-fold growth in downloads of its smartphone app and a 20-time growth in usage of its platform this month.

FreeCharge has seen wallet load transactions grow eight times and a nine-fold growth in consumer transactions. The government, on its part, has asked banks to install 10 lakh additional point of sale (PoS) terminals within four months to give a fillip to digital transactions across the country Banks have placed orders for 6 lakh PoS machines and another 4 lakh are likely to be ordered in the next few days.

There are about 15 lakh PoS terminals currently across different merchants to facilitate card based payments. As part of the plan to expand the digital payments ecosystem and facilitate the move towards cashless transactions, the government has decided that an additional one million new PoS terminals should be installed by March 31.

advertisement

The RBI has made it easier for users to use their credit/debit cards for online transactions below Rs 2000 without second authentication. "This will improve success rate of online transactions, which will grow both online commerce and cashless payments in India," said Govind Rajan, CEO of FreeCharge.

--- ENDS ---
Your Ultimate Investing Toolkit

Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools:

Portfolio Monitoring

Top Stock Lists

Premium Reports

Stock Screeners

Live News Feed

Premium Support

Free for your first month.
Humana Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a health and well-being company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Retail, Group and Specialty, and Healthcare Services. The company offers medical and supplemental benefit plans to individuals. It also has a contract with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to administer the Limited Income Newly Eligible Transition prescription drug plan program; and contracts with various states to provide Medicaid, dual eligible, and long-term support services benefits. In addition, the company provides commercial fully insured medical and specialty health insurance benefits comprising dental, vision, and other supplemental health benefits; and administrative services only products to individuals and employer groups, as well as military services, such as TRICARE T2017 East Region contract. Further, it offers pharmacy solutions, provider services, and home solutions services, such as home health and other services to its health plan members, as well as to third parties. As of December 31, 2021, the company had approximately 17 million members in medical benefit plans, as well as approximately 5 million members in specialty products. Humana Inc. was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.
By PTI: Mumbai, Dec 8 (PTI) Legendary actor Dilip Kumar is recovering well, says his wife Saira Banu.

Kumar, 93, was rushed to the Lilavati hospital in suburban Bandra here, on Tuesday morning, after he complained of swelling in his right leg.

"He is doing much better now. But he will be in hospital today and tomorrow as we want to get his body profile done. The doctors here are taking good care of him," Saira told PTI.

advertisement

"He will get his body spa done and then he will have his tea..He is doing well," she added.

During his six-decade long career the legendary actor, whose real name is Mohammad Yusuf Khan, has acted in many superhit films like "Madhumati", "Devdas", "Mughal-e-Azam", "Ganga Jamuna", "Ram Aur Shyam" and "Karma".

He was last seen on-screen in the film "Qila" in 1998.

Kumar was honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke award in 1994 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2015. PTI KKP NRB SHD

--- ENDS ---
by Richard Coulson

First published in The Tribune

Our Bahamas International Securities Exchange (BISX) recently launched its new and improved, user friendly, website. Just type www.bisxbahamas.com on your computer, and there it is ... unfortunately, a damp squib.

Dont get me wrong. I am all in favour of an active capital market. Every country with a modern economy, even small ones like ours, can benefit from a buoyant stock exchange. We have achieved political democracy, but we are far from financial democracy. Every politician and pundit wants to see our national wealth spread more widely, by having equity shares held by more citizens than just those few at the top of the wealth pyramid.

I am sure that BISX chief executive, Keith Davies, and his team worked hard on the new website. Sometimes, however, hard work does not result in progress; just the opposite. Consider the history of BISX:

Created via a 95-page Private Placement Memorandum issued in September, 1999, it was intended to play a critical role in the development of the Bahamian economy by efficiently channelling capital flows into creative, dynamic and industrious projects. Not only that, it was to have international impact as a major regional and global capital market player. And, of course, BISX itself would be a profitable venture with a stream of ever increasing revenues for the exchange itself.

Enticed by this agenda, 45 individuals and financial firms invested a total of about $5 million initial capital and, by 2000, BISX was off and running with distinguished chairman Ian Fair heading a local Board of Directors, and a chief executive chosen from a London capital markets firm. Over 15 local companies that had been trading over the counter soon shifted their shares to BISX, and ambitious efforts were made to snag international listings.

Unfortunately, these efforts were extravagant and, together with other ill-planned initiatives, within five years brought BISX to the edge of bankruptcy. That was only averted by a recapitalisation financed by the original shareholders plus a substantial infusion from Government, leaving the Treasury as the largest owner holding, to this date, over 40 per cent of BISX.

Bahamian Keith Davies was brought in as the new chief executive with a better defined mission. Despite his exertions, little progress has been made towards getting more companies ordinary capital listed. After the initial group in 2000-2001, only two companies have signed up - Commonwealth Brewery (CBB) in 2011 and Arawak Port Development (APD) in 2012 - and both of these public offerings were launched under compulsion from Government policy. Since then, the equities listed on BISX have been locked at just 20 companies.

So 16 years after its founding, BISX has negligible impact on our economy. In seeking to raise capital, companies do not consider a listing on BISX, and investors with spare funds rarely plan to buy listed shares. No estimate of the total shareholder community has ever been issued, while in the US about 55 per cent of the adult population participates in the stock market, and daily quotation of New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) securities is hot news.

The real problem of BISX is the feebleness of share trading and the resulting lack of liquidity. Many days, there is no trading whatsoever. None of the listed companies trade daily; several are active weekly, while a fair number are rarely seen in the market. Worse, it is scandalous that shares of major companies are frozen into thousands of unfilled buy or sell orders reported on the BISX website. For months on end, shares of Cable Bahamas (CAB), CBB and Bahamas Property Fund (BPF) have been unmarketable because they are swamped exclusively by sell orders; by contrast, Freeport Oil (FCL), AML Foods (AML) and J S Johnson (JSJ) are rarely available because they are overwhelmed by buy orders.

If BISX is unable to provide the basic function of any stock exchange - active trading at varying prices - what is the reason for its existence? Do we need it?

I dispute the oft-repeated proposition that Bahamians do not understand tradeable investments and just buy and hold for their grandchildren. With a new breed of young people, getting constant information via the Internet, that idea can be buried in the past. Like investors everywhere in the modern world, they demand the ability to move in and out.

With our small population, we can never expect to enjoy the immediate liquidity of any share listed on the NYSE ... but surely we can do better than at present. For many years BISX displayed a stodgy and confusing website that was a turn-off for neophyte investors. The new model, just released, tries to offer an appealing soft sell but is actually a step backwards, rejecting much information vital for investment analysis.

Now, on top, we can enjoy a nice colour photograph of a lady and her daughter smiling on the beach over the superimposed word Confidence and, later, a video of Mr Davies expounding his plans for the future - but whats gone missing? We no longer find earnings per share, price/earnings ratio, or dividend yield. There seems no longer any way to jump from a companys name to its historical financial statements or its latest annual report - and believe me, I tried. Many government and corporate bonds and preference shares are listed, but the one crucial item for investors, the percentage interest or dividend pay-out, cannot be found; call your broker, I guess, or look in the newspaper.

Even a better website, of course, will not solve BISXs fundamental problem of low liquidity. One broker told me a change in BISX trading rules would help. On the NYSE, every listed company must appoint a Designated Market Maker (DMM), a securities dealer who commits his capital to buying or selling shares to smooth out pricing imbalances. That system would not work here, with only five dealers licensed by BISX. But all the dealers, plus large investors like pension funds and insurance companies, could contribute pooled equity to create one market-making venture. With the proper capital structure and experienced traders, it could be profitable by stepping in as middle man between buyer and seller, and would be providing a service to all shareholders.

Another step could be taken by Government to encourage companies to list: A concessionary period of three years when listing fees could be credited against Business Licence fees. Finally, following its exhortations about open corporate governance, BISX should open its own books to disclose whether it makes any money for its 45 shareholders.

Mr Davies has mentioned the recently announced relaxation of exchange controls as a potential source of new companies and new investors. The first step will be the Central Banks abandoning the archaic rule that every placement of securities by a Bahamian company must exclude any foreign investor, even for a minority stake. With a free flow of market information, there could be many investors from China or prosperous parts of Latin America with interest in publicly quoted Bahamian investments.

With its major stake in BISX, its surprising that the Government has not taken a more active supporting role. Whats needed is vigorous co-operation in a marketing campaign by BISX, Government, the broker/dealers and the pension fund and insurance company investors. Without that, we might as well close BISX in favour of the peaceful old days of over-the counter trading.

______________________________________________

Mr. Coulson has had a long career in law, investment banking and private banking in New York, London, and Nassau, and now serves as director of several financial concerns and as a corporate financial consultant. He has recently released his autobiography, A Corkscrew Life: Adventures of a Travelling Financier.
Fort Polk, LA (71446)

Today

Sunshine along with some cloudy intervals. High 84F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds overnight. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable.
Paducah Police make an arrest in an attempted arson
Advertisement

By WestKyStar & WKCTC Staff

Dec. 08, 2016 | PADUCAH, KY

By WestKyStar & WKCTC Staff Dec. 08, 2016 | 07:02 AM | PADUCAH, KY

West Kentucky Community and Technical College will honor nearly 800 candidates for graduation during a commencement ceremony December 12 at 7 pm at the Luther F. Carson Four Rivers Center. There will also be a pinning ceremony for nursing students held prior to commencement at 5 pm.



Featured commencement speaker, Dr. Rhonda Tracy, has served as the chancellor of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System since 2015. This followed her term as senior vice president for academic affairs at West Virginia University at Parkersburg, where she also served as interim president prior to her current role at KCTCS.



A former associate dean of education at Winthrop University in South Carolina and assistant vice chancellor at the University of Arkansas, Dr. Tracy taught as an assistant professor of education at Marietta College of Ohio. She also served as a vice president, dean and professor at Midway College. She received a bachelor of arts degree in education from the University of South Carolina and a doctorate in reading education from Ohio University.



WKCTC students Virginia Blanco-Mireles of Graves County and Jearld J.D. Pullen of McCracken County will be the student commencement speakers.



Not everyone gets the chance to be a speaker, so I feel very honored, said Blanco-Mireles. A 2013 Graves County High School graduate and native of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, Blanco-Mireles, 21, strives to always try her hardest to make her parents proud and to motivate her siblings. I feel like I can inspire them to expand themselves and go for opportunities available to them, she said.



Blanco-Mireles praised WKCTCs faculty and staff for helping students succeed and for wanting to see them fulfill their dreams. In all sincerity, WKCTC is a great school, she said. Everyone is willing to help in any way they can, and I think that is the best part about WKCTC and what helps the students the most.



Graduating with an associate in art degree, Blanco-Mireles plans to transfer to Murray State University. I have always tried hard in school, even in elementary school, and here I am with this amazing opportunity, she said. Your opportunities are limitless if you give your 110% on everything.



J.D. Pullen, a 1986 Lone Oak High School graduate, was surprised and hesitant when he was first asked to speak at commencement.



I think a lot of us lack confidence in ourselves or the ability to do something we dont see ourselves capable of doing, said the 48-year-old Pullen. But to know others have taken notice of certain character qualities and believe in our life stories enough to ask us to speak to others is humbling and motivating enough to accept this honor.



Always wanting to be a nurse, Pullen put his dream on hold to serve in the United States Marine Corps from 1987-1991. Following the military, he returned to Paducah and worked several jobs to support his family.



Work and family took priority, said the husband and father of three. I spent 11 and half years at my last job where I assumed Id retire, only to find out at 46 I no longer had a job. After being laid off, Pullen said with the unwavering support of his wife and sons, he knew if was time follow his dream. Pullen is graduating with an associate in applied science degree in nursing, and following his board certification; he will begin work in the emergency room at Baptist Health Paducah in January.



Now almost three years later, I am seeing a dream of becoming a nurse turning into a reality, Pullen said. Its not for me to ask why now, but to simply say Im ready; lets do this. Thank you, God.



Registration for spring classes at WKCTC is currently underway. Call 1-(855) GO-WKCTC or visit westkentucky.kctcs.edu for class offerings. Spring classes begin January 9.


Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required.

Your Full Name: (optional)

Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required.
The coinciding of the exam schedule with election dates in poll-bound states of Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur and Uttar Pradesh will hamper preparations for holding of elections.

By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: If you are a student or parent living in any of the five poll-bound states of India, you need not worry about election dates coinciding with exam schedule.

Anticipating that school children may suffer due to Assembly polls in five key states, the Election Commission (EC) has written to the poll-bound states of Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur and Uttar Pradesh, instructing them to announce examination schedule after consulting the poll panel.

Election Commission notice to poll-bound states.

advertisement

ASSEMBLY TERM OF THESE STATES ENDS IN MARCH

The assembly term of these states comes to an end in March 2017. Although the Election Commission has not yet announced the dates, polling is likely to be held between February and April.

Also read | Election Commission gets Rs 1009 crore for new EVMs

The poll panel is well aware of the fact that exams are to be held in the first half of the year and hence will be careful to release dates that do not clash with exam dates as that would hamper its preparations for holding of elections. The Election Commission relies on school infrastructure such as buildings to double up as polling booths. Teachers too are deployed for election duty.

The move will come as a relief to students and parents alike. EC will announce election dates for the five states shortly.

Also read | West Bengal Board of Secondary Education declares 10th standard examination results

--- ENDS ---
By West Kentucky Star Staff Dec. 07, 2016 | 09:31 PM | MCCRACKEN COUNTY, KY

A Marshall County man was injured in a two-vehicle wreck Wednesday afternoon in McCracken County.

According to the McCracken County Sheriff's Office, the crash happened at around 4:20 pm at the 5100 block of US 62. Deputies said 62-year-old Donald Farmer, of Benton was driving his pickup truck in the right, eastbound lane on US 62 when a vehicle traveling in front of Farmer applied its brakes very abruptly.

Police said Farmer turned his truck in an attempt to avoid a collision, causing it to skid out of control. Farmers truck turned sideways in the roadway and crossed into the left lane of traffic, striking an eastbound vehicle, driven by 47-year-old James Sisco of Paducah, in the left lane. Farmers truck then overturned several times, left the roadway and struck a large tree.

Farmer was transported by Mercy Regional EMS to Baptist Health Paducah for treatment of his injuries. Sisco was not injured

US 62 was restricted to one lane for approximately one hour.
By The Associated Press Dec. 08, 2016 | 11:47 AM | CADIZ, KY

A man charged with orchestrating the killings of his parents, sister and an acquaintance has avoided the death penalty by pleading guilty to four counts of murder.

Ryan Champion also pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of kidnapping. After the slayings in October 2014, Champion portrayed himself as the lone survivor of an attack on his family in Trigg County.

Champion said 22-year-old Vito Riservato had killed the family and he survived by killing Riservato. But prosecutors have said it was a murder-for-hire scheme with a twist that ended with Riservato's slaying.

Commonwealth's Attorney Carrie Ovey-Wiggins says the remaining family members were seeking closure with the plea agreement.



Champion will be sentenced Jan. 27.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Dec. 07, 2016 | 12:56 PM | MAYFIELD, KY

Mayfield Police are investigating a reported robbery that occurred Monday morning.

According to Chief Nathan Kent, a man said he was robbed by force on East South Street, just before 8 am. The victim told police that a man came up from behind him, hit him in the head while he was trying to get into his vehicle and stole his money and a debit card.

Police said the suspect was described as a black male wearing all black clothing with a sock cap, and possibly, a black scarf over his nose and mouth. The suspect was said to be around 5' 7" or 5' 8" with a muscular or stocky build.

Anyone with information on the robbery is asked to contact the Mayfield Police Department. A reward of $2000 is being offered for information leading to the identification and successful prosecution of the offender.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Dec. 07, 2016 | 03:29 PM | GRAVES COUNTY, KY

The Graves County Sheriff's Office is investigating two reports of thefts of packages delivered to homes.

Sheriff Dewayne Redmon says two Graves County residents have reported thefts from their property involving packages that had been delivered to their homes by the United States Postal Service on Monday.



Packages from one home were taken from the front porch. Packages from the second home were taken from in front of the garage door.

One home is in the area of KY 2205 between Mayfield and Farmington. The other home is on KY 80 West, just east of Fancy Farm.

Anyone with information about the thefts is asked to call the sheriffs office at 270-247-4501.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Dec. 05, 2016 | 06:50 PM | TRENTON, KY

Kentucky State Police say a man who escaped from custody in Todd County is back in jail.Police say State Troopers from Post 15 in Columbia arrested Donald J. Murphy, Jr. without incident at 7:39 am Thursday. They had received an anonymous tip on Murphys whereabouts. Murphy was served with a warrant for escape 2nd degree that was issued by Todd County Court.



Original Story:

Kentucky State Police are looking for a man who escaped from custody in Todd County.Troopers from Post 2 in Madisonville say they were contacted about 12:30 pm Monday by Todd County Detention Center because an inmate on work release at the Trenton Community Center walked away.The escapee is 36-year-old Donald Jay Murphy, Jr. He is a white male, 6'4" tall, weighing 180 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing an orange shirt, brown prison jacket and possibly blue jeans.Murphy was jailed on charges of theft and criminal mischief.Anyone with information on Murphy's whereabouts should call Kentucky State Police at 270-676-3313 or call 911.
Security forces have confirmed that most wanted terrorist and Lashkar's divisional commander Abu Dujana along with his associates are trapped in the area.

By Ashraf Wani: Three local militants were killed today in a fierce gunfight in Arwani area of south Kashmir's Anantnag district, top sources said.

Sources said that a gunfight had raged at Hussanpora village of Arwani after security forces launched a search and cordon operation based on information about the presence of militants. Security forces, during the search operation, were fired upon by hiding militants in a residential house at Hussanpora, ensuing encounter between the two sides.

advertisement

Heavy exchange of fire continued between security forces and hold up militants intermittently since last evening and in the ensuing gunbattle, three militants have been killed so far, sources revealed.

Earlier, there were reports that Lashkar-e-Taiba divisional commander and most-wanted militant, Abu Dujana, could be trapped inside the house from where militants were firing but sources said he isn't among slain militants and may have escaped only yesterday.

ALSO READ | Spike in terror incidents in 2016, but more terrorists killed in J-K: MHA

The three militants, who belong to Lashkar-e-Taiba, have been identified as Rahil Amin, Majid Zargar and Waseeem, all residents of south Kashmir areas. Body of one militant, Rahil Amim, has been recovered by the troops.

Meanwhile, authorities in view of the reports that Dujana could be among trapped militants, snapped the mobile services in twin south Kashmir districts including Kulgam and Anantnag.

Sources said it was done to prevent circulation of information regarding the encounter and mobilisation of masses.

However, despite the snapping of mobile services, clashes between locals and government forces erupted at Hussanpora, Bijbehara and Vesoo in south Kashmir.

The clashes were underway when this report was being filed.

Sources said the operation at Hussanpora has not been called off yet and combing operation is going on.

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: Mumbai, Dec 8 (PTI) Exim Bank (Export Import Bank) has extended a line of credit of USD 35 million to Republic of Guinea for construction and upgradation of hospitals.

Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) has entered into an agreement with the Government of Guinea for a line of credit of USD 35 million for construction and up gradation of regional hospitals at Kankan and Nzerekore in Guinea, RBI said in a release.

advertisement

The goods, machinery, equipment, and services including consultancy services from India for exports under the agreement are eligible for export under the Foreign Trade Policy of India.

Out of the total credit by Exim Bank under this, goods and services including consultancy services of at least 75 per cent of contract price will be supplied by the seller from India.

The remaining 25 per cent goods and services may be procured by the seller from outside India. PTI KPM MKJ

--- ENDS ---
He said he alone should not be blamed for advocating talks with the Kashmiri separatists. "Why blame me only? Ruling BJP-PDP is talking to everybody. In their agenda they have said that the Hurriyat must be talked to," he said.

By India Today Web Desk: Two days after courting controversy for pledging support to the Hurriyat, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah has defended his stand and refused to apologise.

"Why should I apologise? Have said nothing wrong. Don't you want peace?" he said.

He said he alone should not be blamed for advocating talks with the Kashmiri separatists. "Why blame me only? Ruling BJP-PDP is talking to everybody. In their agenda they have said that the Hurriyat must be talked to," he said.

advertisement

Also read:

Kashmir issue can't be solved unless India and Pakistan talk: Farooq Abdullah

Speaking on the occasion of 111th birth anniversary for his father Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in Srinagar on December 5, the former Jammu and Kashmir CM had triggered a controversy by asking the Hurriyat to unite for the cause of Kashmir. He had also told the separatists that his National Conference party was standing by their side at this hour.

Also read:

Farooq Abdullah courts controversy, pledges support to Hurriyat

He had asked the Hurriyat not to take NC as their adversaries and exhorted them not to stay behind in this struggle of Kashmir. He also told the Hurriyat leadership that as long as their path wasn't "wrong" he was ready to move ahead with them.

Abdullah's remark had irked the mainstream political parties and they had criticised him for it.

Also read:

Farooq Abdullah's 'Kashmir tumhare baap ka hai kya' rant evokes sharp reactions

--- ENDS ---
It has been 340 years since the human race determined the speed of light.

By India Today Web Desk: Today's Google doodle reminds us that it has been 340 years since Danish astronomer Ole Romer determined the speed of light.

Romer, while observing the eclipse on Jupiter's moon 'Io', found a discrepancy in the predicted and actual appearance of the eclipse and then predicted that lo will come out of the shadow of Jupiter ten minutes after it was anticipated, on 16 November 1676.

advertisement

Romer calculated that it would take ten to eleven minutes for light to travel a distance equal to half the diameter of terrestrial orbit. This estimation works out to 2,20,000 kilometers per second. Romer rightly predicted that light had a finite speed which was not yet established in the scientific community.

The discovery was reported on December 7, 1676 by the first scientific journal of Europe 'Journal des scavans'. The journal still operates under the modern name 'Journal des savants'.

Though Google commemorates the 340th anniversary of Romer's determination of speed of light, it is still a matter of debate on who exactly should be credited for the discovery, because many scientists are of the opinion that it is Christiaan Huygens who calculated the approximate speed of light in Earth based units.

--- ENDS ---
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 07/12/2016 (2157 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Hallmark Channel movie shot in Winnipeg proved to be a big ratings winner in the U.S. when it aired Saturday night.

But whats really special about the original TV movie A Dream of Christmas is that, unlike most of the cable movies filmed in the city for American broadcasters, it was written and directed by Winnipeg talent, in addition to featuring wintry Manitoba locales.

A Dream of Christmas, directed by Gary Yates (Seven Times Lucky, High Life) and co-written by Yates and Winnipeg actor Mike Bell, reached more than 5.7 million unduplicated viewers, ranking it the top-rated, ad-supported cable movie of the week, according to industry figures.

The movie, which starred Nikki Deloach and Cindy Williams, was shot in Winnipeg in October with city production company Buffalo Gal Pictures under the title Its a Wonderful Wife.

Im really proud of the movie, its Winnipeg roots, and its success south of the border, says Yates. (It was) so warmly embraced by U.S. viewers.

Yates noted it was a tad ironic that we had to generate so much fake snow along the way, referring to the unseasonably warm autumn in which he shot the film. But no one does snow authenticity better than Winnipeggers.

 Randall King

If you value coverage of Manitobas arts scene, help us do more.

Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow the Free Press to deepen our reporting on theatre, dance, music and galleries while also ensuring the broadest possible audience can access our arts journalism. BECOME AN ARTS JOURNALISM SUPPORTER Click here to learn more about the project.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 08/12/2016 (2156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MEXICO is overtaking Canada as the No. 2 exporter of goods to the United States this year, in a sign of how economic ties have deepened between the two countries even as the relationship is being questioned by president-elect Donald Trump.

Shipments from Mexico totalled US$245 billion in the first 10 months of the year, according to Commerce Department figures released Tuesday, ahead of Canadas US$230 billion. If the trend continues, it would be the first time the U.S. bought more imports from its neighbour to the south. The two countries ended 2015 tied in exports to the U.S.

The trend of catching up to Canada puts China and Mexico as the top two exporters to the U.S. just as Trump prepares to take office in January, reflecting the strong pull of lower-cost jurisdictions for the U.S. economy. Canada, which has one of the highest cost bases in the Americas, has seen its share of U.S. imports fall to about 13 per cent from around 20 per cent two decades ago.

Integration with Mexico has become more solid than with Canada, said Marco Oviedo, chief Mexico economist for Barclays. Manufacturing continues to be very competitive in terms of wages and location to other U.S. producers and suppliers.

The growing links between Mexico and the U.S. hinge on motor vehicles. Mexico has won new factories over the past six years from Toyota, Volkswagens luxury Audi unit, Kia Motors and BMW  up to US$25.9 billion in new auto investments since 2010, reported the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.  fuelling car shipments totalling US$90 billion in the first 10 months. Thats compared with US$54 billion from Canada.

Canadas cost base is also a big part of the story. Canadas labour bill has swelled with unit labour costs in U.S. dollars, a key index of competitiveness, increasing by 64 per cent since 2002 even with Canadas currency weakening in recent years.

Mexicos average salaries meanwhile rose 0.5 per cent a year in the decade through 2014, the least among the 11 largest Latin American nations after Venezuela, International Labor Organization data show.

Our competitiveness hasnt been what it could be, Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz, who grew up in General Motors Canadian production hub of Oshawa east of Toronto, told lawmakers in October. Auto manufacturers can just as easily do it in Mexico and get a fine dedicated workforce, (and) they get the advantage of lower costs.

The problems go well beyond the auto sector for Canada. In a down year for all shipments to the U.S., Canadian exports have fallen 7.7 per cent so far in 2016, versus a 1.6 per cent drop for Mexico.

The twist is, even with Canada suffering from lost trade to Mexico, there is little populist anger. Oshawa Mayor John Henry says Canadians should rise to the challenge of competition and be a good friend in the world.

The world has changed in the auto industry a lot since the 1990s. Automation, more and more countries are making cars, Henry said in an interview. But based on the economics of Canada, given an equal playing field, we can build the best vehicles in the world.

 Bloomberg News
By PTI: New Delhi, Dec 8 (PTI) Hitting out at the Congress led opposition for observing a Black Day against demonetisation decision, government today said they are actually observing a "Black Money Support Day".

Information and Broadcasting Minister Venakaiah Naidu also termed the dharna by opposition leaders near the Gandhi statue in Parliament premises as a big tamasha and an insult to the Father of the Nation.

advertisement

"Our opponents particularly the Congress I am told are observing a Black Day. I say what they are observing is a Black Money Support Day," Naidu said.

Attacking the Congress over the protests near the statue of Gandhi, he said the opposition party was actually moving away from the Gandhian spirit.

"Dharna by opposition parties near Gandhi statute in Parliament premises is a big tamasha and an insult to the Father of Nation," he said.

"By posing for photos in front of Mahatama Gandhi, you cannot claim to be a Gandhian. And you cannot make the people believe that you are believers of Gandhism. Scuttling the debate on demonetisation for than two weeks and not allowing Parliament, staging dharnas, going to the Well of the House, abusing the Prime Minister, raising slogans is in no way going to help democracy," Naidu said.

He added that such an attitude reflected "weakness" of the opposition and "hatred" towards the peoples mandate.

"Thats why I say they are insulting the Mahatama Gandhi. They are insulting the concept of satyagraha. It is time Congress realises its folly," he said.

Not allowing Parliament to function only reflects "contempt" of democracy, he told reporters.

Naidu said that while Gandhi used Satyagraha to ensure victory of truth over evil, Congress was only inflicting "pain" on people.

The minister observed that praise has poured in from abroad as well on the demonetisation decision.PTI ADS MP ARU ENM DV

--- ENDS ---
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 08/12/2016 (2156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A key provincial watchdog is demanding greater independence from the Manitoba government  and the provinces civil service union.

Auditor general Norm Ricard says its untenable that he must go through a provincial government department to hire staff.

And hes deeply concerned more than two dozen of his workers are represented by the Manitoba Government and General Employees Union. So concerned hes hired a lawyer to see how he can have the MGEU decertified as his employees bargaining agent.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Auditor general Norm Ricard says he has no problem with staff being unionized.

Ricard said in an interview he once decided not to fill a position after butting heads with the Manitoba Civil Service Commission, which by law is involved in all hirings by his office.

They had their perspective, and I had mine, and I just said no, Ricard said, recounting the incident.

The Progressive Conservative government has indicated its willingness to address some of the provincial auditors concerns.

Premier Brian Pallister signalled this spring he would allow Ricards office to hire auditors independently, as requested by the auditor general.

Ricard said his offices desire to hire and negotiate contracts with unionized staff independently from government has long been a contentious issue.

Its an issue of independence and conflict of interest. We audit the Civil Service Commission, he said Wednesday after appearing before the legislative assemblys public accounts committee.

Ricards office audits the financial statements of all government departments. It has the final word, for example, on the size of the governments annual operating deficit or surplus, as the case may be.

Meanwhile, about 25 members of Ricards staff are represented by the MGEU. Some of these same employees are involved in conducting government audits.

Ricard said he has no problem with his staff belonging to a union  just not the MGEU.

We have union members auditing management, he said.

Am I the only one who sees the illogic of this?

Michelle Gawronsky, president of the MGEU, which counts 16,000 provincial civil servants among its 40,000 members, said the presence of any union does not affect the auditor generals ability to perform the work it is mandated to do by the legislative assembly.

In any workplace represented by MGEU, our focus is on ensuring the employer treats members fairly  whether that be at the bargaining table and achieving a respectful collective agreement, during a grievance in which a member feels they have been unfairly targeted or by working to ensure health and safety standards are met and followed in all work places, she said in a statement.

We will be writing to the auditor general to request a meeting to discuss this matter.

A spokeswoman for Justice Minister Heather Stefanson confirmed Wednesday legislation to address the auditor generals hiring concerns is in development in consultation with the Office of the Auditor General.

She could not provide an estimate on when a bill might be tabled.

Ricard said legislation may also be the only avenue he has for removing the MGEU as the bargaining agent for his employees. Thats why hes keen on addressing the union representation issue while the government is reviewing the act governing his office.

Meanwhile, Ricards predecessor, Carol Bellringer, said she once compared the hiring, termination and salary-setting practices of all auditor general offices across Canada. What she found was a hodgepodge of rules and procedures.

Its all over the place, she said Wednesday from Victoria, where she now serves as auditor general for British Columbia.

Bellringer said her office in B.C. is guided by legislation similar to the one in Manitoba, but the Public Service Agency (equivalent to Manitobas Civil Service Commission) does not actively participate in her staff hiring process.

They dont sit in on the (job) interviews with us, she said.

Unlike in Manitoba, Bellringers staff is not unionized. The B.C. auditor general also doesnt have to contend with a no-layoff clause enjoyed by civil servants here, including Ricards unionized staff.

If you decide you want to make a (staffing) change, you can make a settlement with an employee, and theyre gone the next day, Bellringer said.

I could never do that in Manitoba.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 08/12/2016 (2156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Heres a question for you.

If the former home of a historic Canadian fell in our city, how many would notice?

Or care?

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Allyson Tessier holds an old roll of wallpaper she found at the lot at 509 Spence St. before this weeks snow fall, this was the site of the first Winnipeg family home of legendary Free Press Editor John W. Dafoe.

The answer, in the case of legendary 20th century Free Press editor-in-chief John Wesley Dafoes first family home in Winnipeg, is one person.

Maybe two, as far as Im aware.

And  when no one else seemed to notice  that one person, Allyson Tessier, emailed current Free Press editor Paul Samyn.

Dear Editor:

I thought the Free Press would have covered the demolition of 509 Spence St. in Winnipeg (in November). As you likely know, it was the first residence of John Wesley Dafoe when he arrived in 1901 to work as the political editor for the (Manitoba) Free Press. I assumed you would have put an article about this in the paper by now. Maybe it was not published to avoid people going to the demolition site. I went for a walk on the lot and found an old roll of unused wallpaper, c. 1901, in the dirt. Real interesting things may have been gathered up There are still some light-coloured bricks about the area. The historical plaque has been removed, but anyone can still Google the address and see a great picture of that house as it looked prior to demolition. I have included a photo of the plaque that was removed

It was the first I, or the Free Press, had heard about the passing, if you will, of the Dafoe home that was located less than a block north of the University of Winnipegs Ellice Avenue entrance.

There is a plaque, situated on a wall in the lobby of the Free Press building, that was created by the government of Canada to designate J.W. Dafoe as a person of National Historic Significance.

In this position, it reads in part, he influenced Canadian opinion and played a major role in the public life of Canada.

The plaque in front of 509 Spence St. Tessier alluded to was the result of a project undertaken by residents of a 25-block area who wanted to identify and, in a sense, honour the homes of prominent citizens who once lived in the neighbourhood bounded by Portage and Notre Dame avenues and Balmoral and Agnes streets.

When I Googled the address, I found something else that included that photo of house, by then sitting boarded up, and a blog from last March with a headline that foreshadowed, if not predicted, the demolition: John W. Dafoe House on Spence Street ready for wrecking ball?

The author of the blog, West End Dumplings: Local history and urban thoughts from a West End Winnipegger, described the home as it was built in a way that suggested it stood out from the rest even before the 35-year-old Dafoe, his wife, Alice, and their six children arrived from Montreal to take possession.

It is set apart by the fact that it was built of brick, a much more expensive material than the timber used for the vast majority of West End homes. The double-sized lot, which gives it a 58-foot frontage, appears to be original as the property immediately to the south is numbered 507.

The family lived there for the first quarter of the 20th century, before the neighbourhood went into a steep decline in the latter part of those 100 years.

Tessier knew of Dafoes significance to history, and  even if the city hadnt designated his first Winnipeg family house historic enough to be protected  she understood its significance even while she walked her dog through the abandoned yard and watched the rabbits scatter.

Then one day, maybe two weeks ago, she saw a piece of machinery at the house, pawing at the back porch.

I thought maybe theyre just going to repair something, she said.

The next day, she arrived to see fencing up and the house all but torn down.

They were smashing down the building, and they were scooping it out and into the dump trucks.

Phil Hossack / Winnipeg Free Press The former home of John Wesley Dafoe had a plaque commemorating the former Free Press editor.

The shame of it, she thought to herself.

Then Tessier came upon the wallpaper in the rubble, and her imagination of what once had been on that property began to run like the rabbits.

As I suggested, there was someone else who noticed the house was gone.

Isabel Jerez is the housing co-ordinator for the Spence Neighbourhood Association. She had to look up 509 Spence St. to match it with its history and her own memory of walking by and seeing it gone.

I noted it was gone, she said when she saw which house I was asking about, because I always kept my eye on it.

But Jerez said the landlord hadnt told her it was going to be demolished.

She noted it, as with so many homes in the area, was a rooming house during its last days. While Jerez allowed the historical homes and buildings of the area are important, she also saw the passing of the 115-year-old house as a loss of current concern and significance.

We have a high concentration of rooming houses, she said of the neighbourhood.

And for a rooming house to be gone, it means people are left without a house.

While John Wesley Dafoe died before I was born, I was privileged to work with and know his late grandson, also named John Wesley Dafoe, who also distinguished himself and the Free Press while he guided our editorial department during the last 15 years of his career.

My sense is while the John I knew loved history and, of course, his family, he would have cared more about the plight of the people who lived there last than he would about honouring the memory of those who lived there first.

Ditto that, Im sure, for Johns legendary grandfather.

A man who showed the way in so many ways to his grandson, his newspaper and his country.

gordon.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 07/12/2016 (2157 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg gang associate has lost his legal bid to dismiss damning drug evidence found hidden inside his rectum while lodged at the Remand Centre.

Lionel Flett claimed his charter rights had been violated by an unlawful search and seizure and that the case against him should go down the drain. And while provincial court Judge Brian Corrin has now found that tactics used by officials at the downtown jail were not proper, they dont prove fatal.

As a prisoner in the Winnipeg Remand Centre (WRC), the accused therefore had a significantly reduced expectation of privacy, Corrin said in a recent written decision obtained by the Free Press.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Winnipeg Remand Centre, in front of the Law Courts.

Flett is no stranger to the justice system and was released on bail in July 2015 on pending charges, court heard. Just days later, a warrant was issued for an alleged breach of an existing probation order. Flett then showed up at a police station and voluntarily turned himself in.

This sequence of events arose suspicion among staff at the WRC. Flett had strong ties to the Indian Posse gang, who are known to deal drugs within the Winnipeg Remand Centre, Corrin wrote. Flett also has a prior conviction for drug trafficking, and there was concern Flett had deliberately got himself into a situation where hed be forced to return to custody so he could smuggle narcotics in.

As a result, officials strip-searched him but came up empty. Flett was then told he was going to be placed in a so-called dry cell, which includes a special toilet than an inmate cant flush.

Chief correctional officer Christine Reimer acknowledged that she had no specific intelligence or informant information actually suggestive of Flett being a drug trafficker in relation to this matter. There is, however, little question that nonetheless she really subjectively suspected that Mr. Flett was a potential drug smuggler. She certainly had a hunch or a suspicion that he was up to no good, Corrin said.

That hunch proved to be correct.

When Mr. Flett was advised that he was going to be placed into a dry cell and how that would work, he informed staff that he had drugs concealed in his rectum. The drugs were then retrieved by him, not staff, and turned over to the WRC officers, Corrin wrote. There is no indication in the written judgment as to the specific quantity or nature of the drugs.

Flett was arrested and charged. Defence lawyer Kris Advent argued Remand officials did not have reasonable grounds in law to essentially go on a fishing expedition against the accused. Corrin agreed, at least in part.

Officer Reimer lacked such sufficient grounds and actually acted somewhat arbitrarily without any objectively premised grounds for such a search, the judge ruled.

However, Corrin said he wasnt dismissing the evidence for one key reason  it wasnt actually obtained by jail staff. He said the fact that Flett voluntarily confessed and later turned over the concealed drugs rather than have them turn up naturally in a dry cell is a major factor.

I do not perceive that such a Charter violation actually led to the discovery of the drugs, as no such search was actually conducted. After all, the accused volunteered the surrender of the drugs before the dry cell procedure was actually implemented, Corrin said.

Flett never testified on the motion to dismiss the evidence, so Corrin said theres no evidence before him that the accused felt threatened or coerced.

As such the court really has no idea why he volunteered the drugs to the officers. One assumes that he did so because he knew that dry cell internment would make their detection virtually a certainty, he said.

Corrin said a full review of this entire case, including extenuating factors involved, requires him to allow it to proceed. No trial date has been set.

In this case it is highly aggravating that the court is looking at a case of institutional trafficking. The Court received what appeared to be reliable testimony that inmate populations are particularly vulnerable to illegal drugs. Drug addiction is what leads many people into the WRC, and providing a black market for these drugs destabilizes the institution and increases the risk of harm to all those within WRC walls, Corrin said.

As well, the evidence seized was non-bodily physical evidence that is highly reliable. Without the evidence, the Crowns case would collapse. The suppression of reliable and essential evidence is contrary to societal truth seeking interests as well as societys interest in having criminal allegations adjudicated on their merits. These factors also strongly favour admission of the evidence.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 08/12/2016 (2156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A law student from Manitoba and a Manitoba-based organization that combats human trafficking and sexual exploitation will be the recipients of the 2016 Manitoba Human Rights Awards later today.

The 2016 Human Rights Commitment Award and the 2016 Sybil Shack Youth Award will be presented at reception in the third-floor lobby of the RBC Convention Centre at 6 p.m.

Presented by the Manitoba Association for Rights and Liberties, the Canadian Human Rights Commission and the Manitoba Human Rights Commission, these awards are given out every year in celebration of International Human Rights Day.

The Tracias Trust-Manitobas Strategy to Combat Sexual Exploitation and Human Trafficking is the 2016 recipient of the Human Rights Commitment Award, which will be accepted by acting executive director Lorna Hanson.

The Human Rights Commitment Award, designed and created by Brandon artist Chris Cooper, recognizes those who have promoted respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and have advanced the rights of Manitobans.

Tracias Trust is named in honour of Tracia Owen who died tragically at the age of 14. The provincially run organization encompasses the co-ordination of services for all ages (children, youth and adults), and considers all forms of sexual exploitation, including prostitution, pornography, sex trafficking, sex tourism and internet luring.

A press release said those involved with Tracias Trust are unsung heroes of this made-in-Manitoba strategy team. The organization works with daily, collaborative determination and dedication to protecting and working with our most vulnerable, the release stated.

The 2016 recipient of the Sybil Shack Human Rights Youth Award is Lauren Milne, a law student from Manitoba who is studying at the University of North Dakota.

The Sybil Shack Human Rights Youth Award recognizes the work of a person or group of people, 25 years old and under, that has had an impact on the advancement of human rights as guaranteed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and human rights legislation in Manitoba.

Milne wrote The Gender Development Index and Gender Empowerment Measure: An Analysis of Strengths and Limitations in the Context of South Africa which was published in 2014 in Undercurrent: a Canadian Journal for International Development Studies.

Milne travelled to The Projects Abroad Human Rights Office in Cape Town, South Africa to further her academic and social awareness studies. She volunteered with the Immigrant Refugee Community of Manitoba, the Institute for International Womens Rights Organization, the Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan and the Legal Help Centre.

The Human Rights Commitment Award honourable mentions include Janet Baldwin and Dr. Joseph Kaufert who are volunteers at Winnipeg Harvest and have demonstrated a lifelong commitment to human rights.

A new human rights award category planned for 2017 will also be announced after the presentations.

Members of the public are invited to attend this event, which is free of charge, must register to attend. To register please visit https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/2016-human-rights-awards-tickets-29629752387 or www.manitobahumanrights.ca.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 08/12/2016 (2156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Hudson Bay Port Company is suing the government of Manitoba for more than $1.7 million, alleging it reneged on a promise by former premier Greg Selinger to cover the losses of the Hudsons Bay Railway and Port of Churchill for the 2015 season.

The company says it is owed $1,732,655 in operating losses, plus damages, interest and costs.

A statement of claim filed Dec.1 at the Court of the Queens Bench states Selinger promised to cover the losses for the year as part of a deal to ensure it would continue to operate the railway and deep-sea Arctic port in northern Manitoba.

ALEX DE VRIES-MAGNIFICO Port of Churchill

A formal agreement on the matter was signed in July, 2015.

One year later, Omnitrax, which owns The Hudson Bay Port Company, announced it was shuttering the Port of Churchill and in direct response, Premier Brian Pallister produced a copy of the agreement, condemning the NDP for the subsidy it had offered to keep the port operational. He warned the company he would not follow suit.

We are not, as a government, interested in the business of subsidizing large corporations by using money taken from small businesses and individuals, he said at a news conference in July.

The statement of claim states an audited financial statement was given to the NDP government in March of this year, prior to the provincial election. It showed the company had lost over $1.7 million during the 2015 operating season. Based on the terms and conditions of the agreement, the government had until April 29 to make a full payment.

On April 19, the NDP was voted out of office and the Progressive Conservatives took over.

The company is now alleging the current government has refused to follow through with the provision in the agreement to cover its 2015 losses.

By the middle of October, the government allegedly told the company there were no outstanding issues with respect to the operating losses of 2015, but no payment was made to the company.

Pallisters communications director, Olivia Baldwin-Valainis, said in a prepared statement that the government is unable to comment on a matter that is subject to legal proceedings, but then added, the previous NDP Government did make a number of deals in the year leading up to the election which are subject to fresh eyes under the new administration.

The statement of claim concludes by charging the government with partaking in a reckless disregard of its legal obligation.

Manitoba is subject to and ought to be considered to be acting in a malicious and/or high-handed manner, such that an aggravated or punitive damages should be awarded to punish the reckless disregard by Manitoba of it legal obligations, it states.

In a prepared statement, Omnitrax Canada president Merv Tweed said the company had no choice but to file a lawsuit after it was given no explanation for why the government was not paying the company.

We have been provided with no explanation despite repeated demands for payment as to why the government has failed to pay the losses for 2015, thereby necessitating the filing of the statement of claim, Tweed said.

Selinger and the NDP refused to comment on a matter that is before the courts.

kristin.annable@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @kristinannable

DOC072816-07282016133154
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 07/12/2016 (2157 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The bad news is Canadas glaciers are melting at an alarming rate due to climate change, making us the third largest contributor to rising sea levels after Greenland and Antarctica.

The good news? The speed at which glaciers are rumbling across Canadas Arctic is slowing down. Glaciers typically speed up in warmer temperatures.

That surprising find was presented at the Arctic Net conference in Winnipeg this week, which is being attended by about 800 scientists involved in Northern studies across Canada.

REUTERS A member of a team of Cambridge scientists trying to find out why Arctic sea ice is melting so fast, walks on some drift ice 500 miles (800 km) from the North Pole September 3, 2011.

The slowing of glaciers is good news, explained head researcher, Luke Copland, because it allows more time to adapt to rising sea levels. Sea levels are forecast to climb 26 to 82 centimetres by the year 2100, according to the International Panel on Climate Change of the United Nations.

The basic story is were seeing very clear and dramatic loss of ice caps in Canada, but losses primarily from melting of surface ice and not from acceleration of glaciers, said Copland, University of Ottawa research chair in glaciology.

Glacier speed is measured with GPS receivers placed atop the flowing ice. Glaciers studied in three separate parts of Canadas Arctic have slowed from 70-100 metres per year 50 years ago, to 35-50 metres per year today.

Copland speculated glaciers in Canadas High Arctic may be slowing down because they are thinning due to global warming and dont have the same weight.

One way glaciers move is their weight causes the bottom of the glacier to deform, and thereby lean the glacier forward.

Another way is by lubrication from meltwater or ocean water, which tends to accelerate glaciers. For example, the Trinity Glacier on Ellesmere Island is traveling at a rate of 1.2 kilometres per year.

Canada contributes about a millimetre to sea level rise every five years from its melting glaciers, compared to a millimetre per year each from Greenland and Antarctica.

The Arctic Net conference, with more than 200 scientific presentations in northern studies, demonstrates how much Arctic research has changed, Copland said.

Two decades ago, few people gave a hoot how fast glaciers were traveling in Canadas Arctic, or about any glaciers for that matter. There were maybe two conferences per year on northern research in the entire world.

Today, the Arctic is recognized as the canary in the coal mine when it comes to climate change, and there are more than two dozen conferences per year around the globe, Copland said.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 07/12/2016 (2157 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dont shutter the Port of Churchill just yet, suggests a new study on Hudson Bays vanishing sea ice to be presented Thursday at the Arctic Net conference in Winnipeg.

Churchills shipping season is lengthening by at least one day per year because of melting sea ice, says Jonathan Andrews, masters student at University of Manitoba.

Between 1980 and 2014, the period of open water via Hudson Strait and Hudson Bay to Churchill has increased by almost 40 days. That adds more than a month to Churchills traditional four-month shipping season.

SUPPLIED PHOTO The port at Churchill.

In some parts of the Hudson Strait, its almost two days per year, said Andrews in an interview. Its quite clear that the ice is declining rapidly.

The future of the Port of Churchill is in doubt following the decision by owner Omnitrax to shut the port last summer. Omnitrax is hoping to sell the port and Hudson Bay Railway that runs overland to the port.

The data suggest a brighter future may lay ahead for northern shipping if the port can hang in there.

The other thing you have to think about is this is a long-term trend, said Andrews, who is with U of Ms Centre for Earth Observation Science. Projections for the future absolutely say this trend will continue.

A lot of scientists argue there will be an ice-free North Pole by 2050, and quite possibly trans-Arctic shipping.

The open-water season has gone from 128 days in 1982, to 165 days in 2014.

In 1982, the ice breakup date in spring for the shipping route to Churchill was July 14, and the ice freeze-up date was Nov. 17. Today, ice breakup is more like June 22, and freeze-up Dec. 4, according to Andrews analysis of sea ice concentration data.

However, U of M research associate Lauren Candlish cautioned break-up and freeze-up dates can be highly variable from year to year. There may be another factor in addition to global warming for melting sea ice. Winter discharges of fresh water out of the Nelson River into Hudson Bay from Manitoba Hydro generating stations could also melt ice faster, Candlish said.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 08/12/2016 (2156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

wfpvideo:COqBWuye:wfpvideo

Premier Brian Pallister chose a large friendly business audience Thursday as the launch pad of a new challenge to organized labour.

Pallister said there are too many union bargaining units in Manitobas health sector  169  and hed like to see the process streamlined to make it more efficient for both government and labour.

Reducing the number of bargaining units would save time and money for both sides, he said.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Premier Brian Pallister gives his State of the Province address at the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce luncheon in the RBC Convention Centre Thursday.

I need our union bosses to understand that this is a positive endeavour that will help their own people.

The premier made the comments in the annual state-of-the-province address hosted by the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce.

His new initiative caught union leaders by surprise. None reached by the Free Press Thursday had heard of Pallisters concern about there being too many health-care contracts.

I think the labour movement as a whole feels that were not being part of a conversation. That were being talked about but not being talked to. And wed like to change that, said Manitoba Federation of Labour president Kevin Rebeck.

Pallisters first state-of-the-province address since being elected April 19 drew a record crowd for the event  from 1,200 to 1,300, organizers said.

The premier, a one-time chamber of commerce president in Portage la Prairie, was in friendly territory, appearing relaxed and at times speaking passionately about the province, its fiscal challenges and his ambitions for it.

We will fix the finances together. We will repair the services together. We will rebuild the economy together. I need you to help  all hands on deck. This is our focus, this is our commitment. This is our responsibility, he told the audience.

In four years, we will be Canadas most improved province, and in eight years, people from all over the world will look at us and say, That was the Manitoba miracle.

Except for his statements about health-care union representation and the announcement of a new panel to advise him on jobs and economic development, Pallister stuck to familiar themes in his 35-minute speech.

He spoke about the need for government to control spending, hold the line on tax increases, enhance services and improve the climate for business. He talked about developing the norths untapped potential and vowed to take steps to address the financial burden on our low-income families and those living in poverty.

He said one of the consequences of having 169 health-care bargaining units is they have produced 47 different bereavement-leave provisions.

Can you imagine trying to administer that? he asked the crowd. Your uncle passes on, and you want to go to the funeral, but your wife cant go. Shes under a different bereavement provision. Surely, we can work together to make these systems simpler and more effective to benefit the people who work on our front lines.

I believe we can and Im asking our union leaders to help me in that endeavour.

The large number of health union contracts in Manitoba is unique to Western Canada, the premier said. In Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia combined there are fewer than 20 bargaining units in the health sector, he said.

While Pallister later suggested he had previously alerted union officials  at least informally  about his desire to streamline union representation in the health field, labour reps said it was news to them.

There are about a half-dozen unions in Manitoba that represent health-care workers, Rebeck said.

He said workers must be allowed to choose which unions they join.

When workers want to organize, the law lets them organize to the union that they wish, he said.

NDP MLA Wab Kinew, who attended the speech, said Canadas constitution protects collective bargaining, and workers should be left to determine for themselves who will represent them.

He said the Progressive Conservative government has been attacking organized labour for months, passing legislation that unions believe will make it more difficult to certify workplaces and serving notice he wants to reduce wages already agreed to in existing collective agreements.

I think what youre seeing is the premier start to lay out the true agenda, which is focused on austerity  on the backs of public-sector employees, Kinew said.

Meanwhile, Pallister said he had no specific number in mind as to how many health-care bargaining units there should be in Manitoba.

Asked what he would do if the unions dont co-operate, the premier said, Thats hypothetical.

Then he added: I dont see that happening.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca
The Trinamool Congress chief also attacked the BJP for buying large swathes of land in Bengal and Bihar before demonetisation came into force.

By Romita Datta: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today called for the ouster of Prime Minister Modi from power.

Speaking from the state secretariat Nabanna, Mamata said Modi had lost credibility to continue in office after the huge inconvenience people had faced in the last one month due to the demonetisation decision.

Mamata had earlier termed this so-called bold move by the government 'draconian'.

advertisement

Also read | Demonetisation: People are being forcefully bulldozed, Mamata tells Bengal assembly

The Trinamool Congress chief's crusade against demonetisation reached a new high with Mamata trying to corner Modi on an alleged scam, concerning the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation, while he was the chief minister.

WHAT DOES CAG REPORT IN GSPC SCAM SAY

Referring to a CAG report, she said that a loan worth Rs 15,576 crore was taken for generating 1.3 trillion cubic feet of gas, but eventually nothing happened. She alleged that the current RBI Governor Urjit Patel was the then member of GPSC.

In the same breath, she attacked the BJP for buying large swathes of land in Bengal and Bihar before demonetisation came into force.

Also read | Mamata slams PM for imposing 'super emergency' in country through demonetisation

"From where has the 'fakir babu' (Modi) accumulated so much wealth," she asked. Only a few weeks ago, Modi had raked up the Saradha chit fund scam and the alleged role of the Trinamool Congress in the same.

DEMONETISATION CRISIS MAN-MADE

Dubbing the ongoing financial crisis as man-made, she said that the country had suffered a loss of Rs 3 lakh crore and about 5 crore people were out of jobs.

Also read | 'Naughty' pilots 'crying wolf' behind Mamata Banerjee flight row: DGCA

Mamata also likened Modi to Ravana, when told that Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that Modi had strong shoulders to take on the responsibility. "Strong and stout shoulders, fair enough, Just as Ravana had," she quipped.

--- ENDS ---
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 08/12/2016 (2156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  Winnipegs aerospace industry is expected to get a boost today as the chosen site for in-service support and maintenance of Canadas new Airbus C-295 search-and-rescue aircraft.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and Public Works Minister Judy Foote will be in Trenton, Ont., to announce Airbus as the winner of the $3-billion contract to replace Canadas aging fleet of search-and-rescue planes.

That contract includes a 20-year in-service and support program, which a source tells the Free Press will be placed in Winnipeg.

JUSTIN TANG / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Delegates pass a model of the Airbus C295 fixed wing search and rescue aircraft at the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries' CANSEC trade show in Ottawa last year.

Airbus Defence and Space has partnered with Newfoundlands Provincial Aerospace to provide the 20-year in-service maintenance for the new planes. Provincial Aerospace is headquartered in Newfoundland but was acquired by Winnipegs Exchange Income Corp. in 2015.

Mike Pyle, the CEO of Exchange Income Corp., wouldnt confirm Airbus as the winner but said if that is the case, We think it is highly likely that we would have some base here (in Winnipeg) to do work on the aircraft.

Pyle noted Provincial Aerospace currently does not have the capacity to do the heavy maintenance work required on the C-295.

Winnipegs central location and cost factors makes it a more attractive location for that work than Provincial Aerospaces Atlantic facilities. Winnipeg is also home to one of Canadas five search-and-rescue bases. The 435 Squadron is based at 17 Wing and is home to one of the C-130 Hercules dedicated for search-and-rescue work.

Pyle refused to speculate on the amount of capital investment that would be required or the size of the workforce necessary to do the work. An industry source very familiar with the maintenance, repair and overhaul industry said a facility set up to do that kind of work on a fleet of 15 to 20 C-295s would likely require a workforce of about 100 people.

Initially, the plan was to buy 17 new fixed-wing search-and-rescue aircraft, but the request for proposals issued in 2015 asked for the bidding companies to suggest how many were needed based on the capabilities of their airplanes.

Exchange Income Corp. owns a 65,000-square-foot hangar at the Richardson International Airport that currently is used for minor line maintenance work for some of its other aviation companies. Whether that is where the C-295 maintenance will be done or whether a new facility will be part of the plan has yet to be announced.

As news broke of the Airbus contract win Wednesday, shares of Exchange Income Corp. shot up $1.97 to $44.42, a new all-time high for the seven-year-old company.

In addition to the Winnipeg maintenance contract, there will also be a training component set up by Provincial Aerospace in Comox, B.C.

The announcement was scheduled to take place in Winnipeg but was moved to Trenton to accommodate the ministers schedules.

Airbus beat out the C-27J from Italys Leonardo and a plane from Brazils Embraer. It was long believed the competition was largely between Airbus and Leonardo.

The decision to buy the Airbus planes brings to an end a 12-year saga to buy new fixed-wing search-and-rescue planes that began when Jean Chretien was still prime minister and outlasted his next two successors. It has been another example of the difficulties Canadas military has procuring new aircraft. Some of the C-130 Hercules have been in service since the 1960s and are so old and out of shape the government raided a museum exhibit to get spare parts to keep them in the air.

Winnipeg is home to the largest aerospace sector in Western Canada and the third-largest in Canada, but the federal government is often accused of ignoring or overlooking Winnipegs aerospace work in favour of Quebec. Transport Minister Marc Garneau, who represents a Montreal riding, was accused of favouring Quebec recently when he agreed to amend a law requiring Air Canada to keep heavy maintenance work in Winnipeg and Montreal in exchange for Air Canada buying new jets from Quebecs Bombardier.

Winnipeg was to get an aerospace maintenance centre of excellence in exchange, but earlier this week the Free Press reported that centre is in jeopardy because the deal with its largest component, Cargojet, is falling through. The other two companies involved are still set to participate but are very small.

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 08/12/2016 (2156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Health care is unmistakably the top priority of Canadians. Yet federal funding to the provinces and territories for health care is at a historic low, accounting for less than the 25 per cent targeted through the 2004 Health Accord.

Ottawa is now preparing to reduce its transfers to the provinces and territories even further, slashing the Canada Health Transfer escalator by half  from six per cent to three per cent.

This unilateral approach will certainly have consequences, with negative impacts for everyone involved in the health-care system. Wait times will rise, and the availability of hospital and medical care will be hampered. These are human costs, borne principally by our most vulnerable populations.

DARRYL DYCK / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Canadian premiers have been pursuing a long-term agreement on health care with the federal government.

Manitoba is battling a massive inherited deficit and has among the worst wait times in the country for emergency departments and other services. Our province has high levels of chronic disease, and our indigenous population  the highest per capita of any province  suffers worst of all, with disproportionately poorer health outcomes and higher health utilization rates than non-indigenous people.

Moreover, the federal government has been increasingly shifting the costs of the delivery of health care to the provincial government, particularly for our indigenous population. In 2009-10, Manitoba contributed more than 50 per cent of all health-care expenditures for on-reserve populations and nearly 72 per cent for our provinces indigenous community living off-reserve.

For Manitoba, the latest federal decision means a $39-million health transfer cut next fiscal year and an accumulated $2.2-billion cut over the next 10 years. For Canada as a whole, the federal cut adds up to $60 billion over 10 years. In its place, the federal government has put $3 billion on the table, targeted solely for home care. This limited and restricted substitute is inadequate and will not address the urgent health-care needs of all Canadians.

Plainly, the unilateral federal approach is not the answer. Canadas first ministers must do better by acting jointly and co-operatively. Faced with Ottawas decision to reduce health-care funding to the provinces and territories through the health transfer, Manitoba and the other provinces have been pursuing a sustainable long-term agreement with the federal government.

Unfortunately, we do not yet have such an agreement, and the federal government has refused to add this issue to the agenda for the upcoming first ministers meeting.

We seek a fresh start on health-care funding that would reverse Ottawas current funding plans, one that would provide provinces with the flexibility to allocate spending and make investments in areas with urgent needs.

Manitobas message to the federal government is clear: to protect health care, the federal government must fund health care.

The reality is the future of the provincial health-care systems and provincial governments abilities to improve the quality and delivery of services to our citizens are dependent on a strong and sustainable funding partnership with the federal government. That is what all Canadians deserve.

As first ministers, we have a chance to further this partnership when we meet in Ottawa. Together, we can bring peace of mind and greater security to Canadians in need of quality, accessible health care. This is the first priority of Canadians. As first ministers, we owe it to our citizens to make it our first priority, too.

Brian Pallister is the premier of Manitoba.
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 08/12/2016 (2156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SOME time ago, I was buying a bottle of vodka at my local Manitoba liquor mart and said to the clerk I found it remarkable the same 1.75-litre bottle of premium Grey Goose vodka I recently purchased at the Costco in Palm Springs, Calif., for about US$40 cost $104.99 in Winnipeg.

She eyed me suspiciously and said: Thats because you dont have to pay for health care here, and the Americans do.

If thats the case, then Manitobans continue to get terrible service for their hard-earned tax dollars. The latest report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information states Winnipeg hospitals continue, year after year, to have the worst emergency wait times in the country (for example, 6.8 hours at Concordia and nearly five hours at Health Sciences Centre). This will come as a surprise to no one who has had the unfortunate experience of enduring a visit to a Winnipeg-area hospital.

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES While wait times in Manitoba hospitals have improved, they are still higher than those in other provinces.

It is a kind of torture  unless, that is, you are having a heart attack or bleeding profusely; then, of course, you are seen by a doctor immediately.

In the past six weeks, I have sat with an elderly family member for a combined 16 hours in three visits: 4.5 hours at Misericordias urgent care centre and 11.5 hours during two visits to the HSC emergency room. The second visit was the worst: the person in question had been brought in by ambulance and was forced to lie on a stretcher in the hallway from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. before being seen by a physician. The paramedics who brought her in were compelled to sit with her for those six hours, another absurd use of health-care resources.

Sitting and watching what goes on in an emergency room is also an instructive lesson in human behaviour. At HSC, because of changes in policy made after the death of Brian Sinclair, the staff is very attentive when you enter and register. There is now a digital sign telling you how many patients are waiting and how long the wait is expected to be, but its accuracy is debatable. The nurses and clerks are all very personable. But they also go about their day, working, socializing, having coffee and are fairly oblivious to the fact so many people are distressed, waiting and waiting for a doctor. To them, a five- or six-hour wait is the norm. They cant do anything about it, so why get upset about it? You really cant blame them for becoming jaded by this broken system.

Why we put up with this is anyones guess. Asked to comment on the report, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA) responded how it usually does, with spin that would make Donald Trump proud. Lori Lamont, vice-president and chief nursing officer of the WRHA, suggests the figures are improving and wait times are expected to go down by as much as 8.5 per cent.

Were pleased with that progress, she told the media.

We recognize that we still have significantly more progress to make.

You think? In 2014, Grace Hospitals emergency wait time was 9.1 hours, the worst in Canada. Now, its 5.1 hours, so that is an improvement. At St. Boniface Hospital, the average remains 6.5 hours, and at Victoria, its 6.7 hours.

At Vancouver hospital emergency rooms, in contrast, waiting longer than three hours to be seen by a physician is rare. It has been this way for several years. In 2010, when six and seven hours was the norm at Winnipeg hospitals (as it was in the late 1990s and earlier), St. Pauls Hospital in downtown Vancouver managed to reduce waiting times to less than two hours, which it still is today. A 2010 report stated St. Pauls had streamlined procedures with a four-bed rapid assessment zone, a special diagnostic and treatment unit, increasing the number of nurses and physicians, and comprehensive, computerized data-collection system.

If the WRHA has not studied this approach, then it should, because hospital administrators in British Columbia have clearly figured something out their Manitoba counterparts have not.

Since governments in Canada have taken responsibility for health care, a process that began with the provinces in the late 1950s and culminated with national medicare in 1968, Canadians have come to believe we have the best health-care system in the world. We dont  not by a long shot. It is better when compared with what goes on in the United States, where money is required and insurance plans are convoluted, but not when compared to western European countries.

I readily admit I dont have the solution, but a solution is required all the same. Tinkering and using duct tape on a defective system as we have done for the past 30 years and continue to do is not going to change this intolerable situation. Manitoba needs health-care administrators who can think outside the box, not hope for the best. Otherwise, why pay $104.99 for a big bottle of Grey Goose?

Allan Levines latest book is The Bootleggers Confession: A Sam Klein Mystery.
The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train plans to roll into Winona at 4 p.m. today at the Amtrak station, featuring live music by featured performers Kelly Prescott and Colin James.

The trains main purpose is to support local food shelves, raise awareness about the hunger and need of many, and  of course  to bring holiday cheer for families to enjoy. The event encourages attendees to bring healthy food as a donation to the cause or to support local food shelves monetarily.

The train also makes a monetary donation to each food shelf along the way; in Winona, that means a donation to Winona Volunteer Services.

Since 1999, the program has raised more than $12 million and 3.9 million pounds of food.

Each Holiday Train is about 1,000 feet in length with 14 rail cars decorated with hundreds of thousands of LED lights, with a modified boxcar that has been turned into a traveling stage for performers.
Avila was given credit for the 302 days he served in the Winona County Jail since he had been charged, and his 36-month prison sentence was stayed for 25 years, while he will be under court supervision. According to the terms set down by the court, Avila may not consume alcohol, use the internet, have any contact with juvenile girls, view or possess pornography or enter places where sexually-oriented materials are sold. He must register as a sex offender, provide DNA samples, submit to searches of his residence, vehicle and person as requested, submit to random drug and alcohol testing, and successfully complete a Minnesota sex offender treatment program. He must report any contact with law enforcement, new criminal charge, or change of address or phone number withing 72 hours.
Professors at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse doesnt earn what their peers at other institutions or many professionals in the private sector do, according to a recent study.

The topic of professor salaries will come before the UW System Board of Regents Thursday, when its members vote on pay raises for employees in the wake of a report showing increased faculty turnover in the system. The issue also was addressed at last weeks higher education forum, during which several UW-L professors asked the panel of legislators and higher education leaders what they would do to dispel the myth that professors earn six-figure salaries.

According to Department of Education and UW-L salary data, the median salary for tenure-track faculty at the university starts at $56,900 for an assistant professor and is $78,529 for a full professor who has achieved both of the available promotions from his or her academic department. Faculty salaries vary widely by department and are influenced by market-based factors such as private-sector wages, UW-L Human Resources Director Madeline Holzem said, with an assistant professor in English being hired at that median salary level of $56,900, while an assistant finance professor earns closer to $105,900.

But compared to 32 similar universities across the country included in College and University Professional Association for Human Resources data, UW-L professors begin earning 92 percent of the salary of their peers. That salary gap widens as professors gain experience and rank, with full professors earning 86 percent of their peers at another college.

This makes it difficult for faculty to hear comments about being overpaid, UW-L Provost Betsy Morgan said, especially for those who have chosen to stay in the state. Winona State University in Minnesota is one of the peer institutions UW-L uses for comparison. With the campus in commuting distance of La Crosse, professors can take a job there without having to uproot their family.

Our employees feel like they are losing ground, she said. They feel like their work isnt valued.

Along with raising tuition for out-of-state and graduate students, the board of regents is expected to vote on a proposal to raise all System employee salaries by 2 percent each year over the next two years. System officials estimate that the raise would cost about $78 million.

In the private sector, professions in La Crosse County requiring a terminal degree see varying salaries based on the sector, but all are higher than the median salary for a university professor. Lawyers earn a median salary of $67,526, according to Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development numbers, while pharmacists earn $131,817 according to the data.

It doesnt bother me if I dont make as much as a doctor, said Morgan, who is also a member of the psychology department on leave during her time serving as UW-Ls provost. But it does bother me if I dont make as much as a professor in another state.

Professors, lawyers, physicians and others with advanced degrees earn a lot more than the average La Crosse County resident. According to census data, annual per-capita income in the county is less than $30,000, and half of the countys households have median incomes less than $50,000.

But that $56,000 median salary doesnt go as far when someone is paying off eight or more years of student loans for their education, Morgan said, or is trying to start a family. And unlike their corporate counterparts, Morgan said, university professors dont generally get to ask for raises, except for the one-time $3,500 and $5,000 bump they receive when increasing in academic rank or in some special cases.

This results in a lot of compression, Morgan said, where faculty members of the same rank arent rewarded with higher compensation for their years of experience, or inversion, where professors hired at the university in previous years earn less than new hires do. Both are a result of the inability to give raises.

The biggest reason for our salary woes is the lack of raises for state employees, Morgan said. Faculty earn less than they did 10 years ago in terms of buying power.

The question is do you want to pay faculty fairly?

Winona State University is one of the peer institutions UW-L uses for comparison.
By PTI: Police

New Delhi, Dec 7 (PTI) The Twitter handles of Rahul Gandhi and the Congress which were recently hacked were operated from five countries including the US, Delhi Police today said.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW), which is probing the matter, received a reply around three-four days ago from Twitter headquarters on the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses used by the hackers to send derogatory tweets from these accounts, a senior police officer said.

advertisement

"We have got to know that the IP addresses from where the accounts were accessed dont fall under our jurisdiction. The Twitter handle logs show both the accounts were operated from five countries - Sweden, Romania, the US, Canada and Thailand. We will write to the Internet service providers of these countries to share details of users with us and that is how the investigation will proceed," the officer said.

Analysis of the data shows that the accounts were accessed from these countries on November 30 from 9.15 PM to 9.30 PM and from 10:30 AM on December 1, the officer added.

In case, police do not get the necessary details, they might have to initiate the process of sending Letters Rogatory to competent courts in these countries for assistance, sources said.

According to the officer, police are yet to get log details of the Congress website from the partys server.

Police had lodged two FIRs in connection with the hacking of the two Twitter accounts, the party website and the email accounts of Congress and Rahul on December 1 following two complaints from Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala to the EOW.

Rahuls Twitter account was hacked on November 30 and some remarks full of expletives were posted.

On December 1, his email account was also hacked, the party had claimed.

Two cases under section 66 of IT Act were registered, police had said. PTI SLB ZMN

--- ENDS ---
The Winona Area Public Schools Facilities Task Force took a pass on recommending a new elementary school as it concluded its deliberations late Tuesday night.

The 30-person citizen committee forwarded two recommendations to the WAPS school board  both of which call for closing district elementary schools and expanding and renovating the remaining elementary school buildings.

At their last meeting, task force members had narrowed the facility options under consideration to four; Tuesday night they reviewed those four options, then took a walking straw poll  each member voting for two.

The results of that poll showed a clear majority  19 our of 28 voting  favoring remodeling and expanding Jefferson and Goodview elementary schools, and closing Madison, Washington-Kosciusko and Rollingstone. The plan is estimated to save the district nearly $1.3 million annually in operating costs.

The option of closing Madison and Rollingstone, keeping Goodview, Jefferson and W-K open  an option that will generate an estimated annual saving of $947,000  was endorsed by 16 members, also a majority.

After a final round of discussion, the task force voted overwhelmingly to recommend the school board choose between the two options.

The task force passed up two options that called for building a new elementary school. One of those options, calling for closing all district elementary buildings except Goodview and building a new elementary school, finished second in a straw vote taken at the previous meeting and would generate the largest annual saving in operational costs  $1.37 million.

However, lack of an identifiable, viable site for a new building gave task force members pause when considering options calling for a new school despite comments that, if land were available, new construction would be the best option both fiscally and educationally.

Paul Aplikowski of Wold Architects and Engineers, facilitator for the task force, said that Winonas lack of readily available land suitable in size and location for a new school site was an issue and could complicate translating a recommendation into reality.

In the case of both recommended options, there is sufficient land available at both Goodview and Jefferson schools to allow for expansion of those buildings without severely encroaching on playground and parking space.

The WAPS Facilities Task force, composed of community members, district staff, school board members and others, has been meeting throughout the fall. The task forces final recommendations are set to be considered by the school board Dec. 15, with a facility bond referendum scheduled for spring 2017.

The board has scheduled a special work session for Tuesday to work through the details of the task force recommendations, prior to the Dec. 15 meeting.

The 30-person citizen committee forwarded two recommendations  both of which call for closing schools and expanding and renovating the remaining buildings.
Adjustments to Sauk Countys election results due to a statewide recount wont have a significant impact on the outcome of the presidential race in Wisconsin.

The countys portion of the recount was completed Monday night and certified Tuesday by the Sauk County Board of Canvassers. It resulted in eight additional votes for Donald Trump and two fewer votes for Hillary Clinton.

The recount added 39 total votes to the presidential vote total in Sauk County, with 29 of those additional votes going to write-in candidates.

Municipal clerks didnt record all registered write-in candidates on reporting documents, Sauk County Clerk Becky Evert said about one of the reasons for the additions.

Other changes were necessary due to clerks counting ballots that should have been rejected for various reasons, and wrongly rejecting some absentee ballots. It was not clear why clerks had rejected some absentee votes.

In our review of the absentee envelopes, we determined they should have been counted, Evert said, adding that she will follow up with municipal clerks to address issues uncovered by the recount.

The final tally shows Trump received more Sauk County support than Clinton by a vote of 14,799 to 14,690. Thats a reversal from election night, when officials say a data transmission problem between Baraboo and Sauk County election workers caused a group of ballots to be counted twice.

Unofficial election night vote tallies released by the clerks office had Clinton with more votes in the county at 16,050 to Trumps 15,871. However, the total tally in the race was higher than the total reported ballots cast, a fact pointed out by social media critics.

The discrepancy even was reported by the New York Times, and used by some to justify the Wisconsin recount requested by Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Recounts in other counties still are underway.

Officials noticed the error and corrected it days later in the countys canvassed results that were certified Nov. 15. And meeting minutes from the countys recount that was certified Tuesday show presidential votes did not exceed the total number of ballots counted.

Machines were 100 percent accurate, Evert said about the recount results. And the errors we found were all human errors.

Independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin of Utah received the largest number of additional votes due to the recount in Sauk County. His total grew from 75 to 111.

Sauk County intends to pay those who assisted with the local recount at the expense of the Stein campaign. Evert, who said the efforts of the workers were much appreciated, does not yet have a cost estimate.

Editor's note: This article was updated Dec. 8 to correct information related to Hillary Clinton's vote total in Sauk County.
FOX LAKE  The Fox Lake City Council unanimously accepted the resignation of city administrator Gary Rogers Wednesday.

While the resignation is effective Dec. 30, the city has Chuck Schranz filling in as an interim administrator. Mayor Tom Bednarek said this is the third time Schranz has served that role for the city, stepping in before the city hired Bill Petracek and again before it hired Rogers.

Bednarek recognized MSA, the state of Wisconsin and everyone involved in helping Fox Lake obtain a $500,000 grant for the Karavan Trailers expansion. He also thanked Dr. Larry Brengle and the Brian Brengle estate for a $20,000 donation to the Fox Lake Library.

Its a very generous offer, Bednarek said. Were using it for new windows in the library.

In other business, the city council authorized the mayor to sign the 2017 senior dining program agreement with the Dodge County Human Services and Health Department.

The city council also approved a bid of $2,000 from Dan Schoemann for a lot with the stipulations that he build a 40 x 60-foot building within 24 months or the property will revert back to Fox Lake with the city retaining the purchase price. City clerk Sue Hollnagel said a map showing an easement on the property was completed and properly registered.

The city council also held a first reading, by reference, of ordinances to revise and consolidate, amend and supplement and codify the general ordinances of the City of Fox Lake.

A public hearing and second reading will be held during a special council meeting on Dec. 21.
FOX LAKE  Sesalie Dixons cause of death was determined to be from a gunshot wound to the head.

An affidavit provided by Dodge County Sheriffs Detective Theodore Sullivan states that a provisional autopsy determined the cause.

Dixons boyfriendLaverne Ware Jr., his motherMarjorie Jones, and her live-in boyfriendVernon Mickey have all been charged in the case. Ware is charged with hiding a corpse while Jones and Mickey are charged with harboring or aiding a felon.

A search warrant was executed Wednesday at 100 We Go Trail where Dixons body was found. The home is owned by Ware. Jones told officers that Ware had purchased the home for her and she moved into the home two months prior to Dixons death with her boyfriend Mickey.

The search of 100 We Go Trail recovered two firearms. A black and tan semi-automatic handgun was recovered from a bedroom that Mickey identified as belonging to Ware. A second gun, a 9mm black handgun with a magazine containing 9mm rounds, was recovered from Wares Dodge Ram 2500 truck where Dixons body was discovered. The truck was parked in the garage at 100 We Go Trail.

Blood was found in the garage beneath the truck, but search warrant documents reveal that reddish-brown stains, suspected to be blood, were found elsewhere in the home including on a bathroom closet door knob and on the underside of an air mattress in a bedroom Mickey identified as belonging to Ware.

A white sheet was also recovered from the vehicle which was underneath Dixons body.

Officers also searched Wares primary address where he lived with Dixon at 401 W. Green St., Fox Lake. That search warrant revealed several spots of suspected dried blood on a pillowcase, mattress and floor below a bed in the residence.

A search warrant has been executed to search Wares cellphone which was recovered from him Dec. 4 when he was taken into custody.

Ware appeared in court Thursday morning after the state filed a motion to modify his bond conditions. According to court documents, officers learned that Ware recently threatened Beaver Dam resident Justin Delvalle with physical harm.

Judge Steven Bauer ordered that Ware have no contact with Delvalle or his immediate family. He also may not have contact with Dixons family. Bauer previously ordered that Ware have no contact with his mother, Marjorie Jones, or her boyfriend, Vernon Mickey.

Bauer also ordered that Ware must submit to electronic monitoring if he should post his $200,000 cash bond. He is also not allowed on the premises of Apache Stainless Equipment Corp., 200 Industrial Drive, the apartment at 225 Seippel Blvd. in Beaver Dam, or the home at 100 We Go Trail in Fox Lake.

Officers learned through a search warrant that Ware has liquid assets in excess of $400,000. Court documents read, Based on the considerable net worth and level of liquid assets, Ware could easily flee the jurisdiction after posting the $200,000.

Jones allegedly told officers that Wares father, Laverne Ware Sr., owned 880 acres of tillable farmland in Jackson County and Ware was the sole beneficiary of the sale of the land after his fathers passing. Jones said that Ware received $1.5 million in inheritance from his father five years ago.

Jones allegedly told officers that Ware had recently made several high dollar purchases including a 2016 Ram 2500 pickup truck, a 2017 Ford Mustang, a fifth-wheel camping trailer and a diamond ring he purchased for Dixon.

The ring was found on the left hand of Dixon at the time her body was discovered.

Jones allegedly told officers that Ware was in a committed relationship with Dixon, who was also Wares first cousin. Jones told officers that Dixon and Ware began their relationship shortly after he received the inheritance.

Jones told officers that she did not approve of Dixons relationship with Ware and said the she believed Dixons father, her brother by blood, intentionally put Dixon up to being in a relationship with Ware to steal his inheritance. Jones also allegedly told officers she was upset that Dixon received the diamond ring that her son had promised to her.
Items are listed under the day of the event only, running as space permits prior to the event. To submit items, call 745-3511, email jcutsforth@capitalnewspapers.com or visit www.portagedailyregister.com. Include name and phone number.

today

Cookie sale: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. front lobby, Divine Savior Healthcare, 2817 New Pinery Road, Portage. On the second Thursday of each month, the Volunteer Partners of Divine Savior bake Smart Cookies. Cookies are 50 cents each or $5.50 per dozen. Cookie selection varies month to month, but chocolate chip is always available. All proceeds benefit scholarships for students educating in healthcare-related fields.

Library event: 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. Toddler Thursday for children ages 18 to 36 months, Portage Public Library, 253 W. Edgewater St., Portage. Toddlers and their favorite adult will be treated to a penguin story time with a story, a finger play, lots of waddling around and a craft. Only new families need to register by calling 742-4949 ext. 211 or online at www.portagelibrary.us.

Museum: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Portage World War II Museum, 119 E. Cook St., Portage. Free tours for veterans every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The tours take 2 1/2 hours. For information, call 608-697-3690.

Open Texas Hold em: 7 p.m. Sport Club 22, Pardeeville. For information, call 566-9655.

Pardeeville Middle/High School band and choir Winter Concert: 6:30 p.m. Pardeeville High School gymnasium. All music ensembles will be featured.

VFW Auxiliary: 6 p.m. meeting, VFW Hall, 215 W. Collins St., Portage. It is important that members attend. All are invited.

FRIDAY, DEC. 9

Free blood pressure screenings: noon to 3 p.m. Divine Savior Healthcare  Crossroads Clinic, N4390 Crossroads Clinic Road, Oxford. No appointment necessary. Call 745-6405 for more information. Do not eat, smoke, drink caffeine or exercise for 30 minutes prior.

Handmade Market: Early Bird sales from 5 to 7 p.m. with a $10 donation to the Portage Food Pantry, historical Epstein Brewery building, 401 E. Edgewater St., Portage. Unique items by local artists and crafters. Sale also runs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.

Play: 7:30 p.m. The Christmas Gift, Portage Center for the Arts, 301 E. Cook St., Portage. Written and directed by Dr. Tom McEvilly. Tickets are $15 for adults, $8 for students and family rate eligible at all performances is $35 for two parents/guardians and up to five of their children. For more information, call the PCA at 742-5655.

Shop with a Cop fundraising event: 5 to 8 p.m. Portage Elks Lodge, 201 W. Conant St., Portage. Due to the amount of children attending this much needed program, donations are needed to help make a memorable Christmas for them. Please join us to raise money for such a great cause.

Unique Singles: 5 p.m. LaTolteca, New Pinery Road, Portage. All single men and women older than age 50 welcome. The group is strictly social with no dues or officers.

SATURDAY, DEC. 10

Author talk and book signing: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Readers Realm Gallery of New and Used Books, Gifts and Whimsy, 147 E. Montello St., Montello. Local author William P. Schwochert will be available to personalize copies of his new book, So Many Mountains and Other Short Stories. Call 608-297-2200 or email readersrealm@outlook.com for more information.

Author talk and book signing: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Readers Realm Gallery of New and Used Books, Gifts and Whimsy, 147 E. Montello St., Montello. Author Kelly M. Condon and artist Pat Dobrinska will be available to personalize copies of their book, Together, We are Family. Call 608-297-2200 or email readersrealm@outlook.com for more information.

Chili Dump: 4 to 6 p.m. on the patio at the Corner Pocket, corner of Cook and DeWitt streets in downtown Portage. The Presbyterian Mission Trippers will hold the chili dump during the annual Living Windows event.

Columbia County Humane Society Bring your Paws to Santa Claus: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Columbia County Humane Society, Industrial Road, Portage. Photographer Shelley Grabow, from Just A Moment Photography, will take pet portraits with Santa. Please call 608-742-3666 for an appointment. The cost is $10. You will receive a free 4 x 6 photo. Other packages will be available for purchase and CCHS will receive 50 percent of those purchases.

Free Christmas Show to benefit Portage Center for the Arts: Shows at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. at the Portage Presbyterian Church. Stop by to visit with Saint Nicholas between shows from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Program will feature local musicians Kaylin Brandsma and Derek Ramnarace, with stories and poetry by Jared Pierson. Free will donations accepted to support arts programming in the greater Portage area.

Free TaijiFit class: 11 a.m. to noon, Portage Public Library, 253 W. Edgewater St., Portage. Taiji Fit is a mind/body exercise that combines traditional Tai Chi with modern Western fitness. The class is appropriate for all levels as there are no routines to learn or choreography to remember. It is a healthy calming exercise led by an instructor.

Handmade Market: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. historical Epstein Brewery building, 401 E. Edgewater St., Portage. Unique items by local artists and crafters.

Historic Living Windows event: 4 to 6 p.m. downtown Portage. Enjoy this historical celebration of Portage by strolling the streets and viewing numerous vignettes of times past. Window scenes will be set up for you to look at. There will be hot beverages and treats on the streets.

Kiddie Christmas at Historic Indian Agency House: Historic Indian Agency House, 1490 Agency House Road, Portage. Free, always popular Kiddie Christmas with crafts and treats. Advance registration required by calling 608-742-6362.

Meat Raffle: 3 to 6 p.m. Jacks Tap, 1207 Dunn St., Portage. All proceeds will be donated to The Caring Tree of Portage. Stop in for a chance to win fresh meat, cheeses, wine and other goodies.

Play: 7:30 p.m. The Christmas Gift, Portage Center for the Arts, 301 E. Cook St., Portage. Written and directed by Dr. Tom McEvilly. Tickets are $15 for adults, $8 for students and family rate eligible at all performances is $35 for two parents/guardians and up to five of their children. For more information, call the PCA at 742-5655.

Portage Shopping Extravanza and Fundraiser: 2 to 6 p.m. The Ball Room, 112 E. Cook St., Portage. More than 35 vendors and crafters, bake sale with proceeds going to The Giving Tree. Bring items for the Portage Food Pantry to receive raffle tickets. The food pantry is in need of tuna/canned meat, Hamburger Helper, spaghetti sauce (no glass jars, please), canned fruit, cereal, oatmeal, soup, crackers, macaroni and cheese, peanut butter, ketchup and mustard, and toiletries. The Portage High School Choir will perform from 3 to 4 p.m.

Religion class: 5 p.m. Deliverance ministry classes with Pastor Dale Smalley, Outreach Bible Church, 235 Northridge Drive, Portage. All welcome.

SUNDAY, DEC. 11

Play: 2 p.m. The Christmas Gift, Portage Center for the Arts, 301 E. Cook St., Portage. Written and directed by Dr. Tom McEvilly. Tickets are $15 for adults, $8 for students and family rate eligible at all performances is $35 for two parents/guardians and up to five of their children. For more information, call the PCA at 742-5655.

Zumba: 5:30 p.m. Rusch Elementary School, Portage. $5 drop in fee. Contact Tami at 608-346-3971 or 4dreamers@frontier.com.

MONDAY, DEC. 12

Clinic: 8 a.m. to noon, Columbia County Public Health Walk-In Clinic, Columbia County Division of Health, 2652 Murphy Road, Portage. Use door No. 4. Bring childs immunization record. Visit www.co.columbia.wi.us for more information. Immunization Clinic from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Euchre card party: 6:30 p.m. Bethlehem Lutheran Church, W8267 Highway 33 East, Portage. Public welcome. Contact: Cloe, 429-2363.

Food pantry: 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Portage Second Harvest mobile food pantry, Building No. 8, Columbia County Fairgrounds, Portage. No need to line up earlier than 10:15 a.m. Pantry will not start early. Plenty of food for everyone. Bring boxes, bags, baskets or wagons to carry food. Volunteers are always welcome.

Ostomy support group: 5 to 6 p.m. Divine Savior Healthcare, 2817 New Pinery Road, Portage. Walk-ins welcome. This support group is intended for those who are living with an ostomy, anticipate ostomy surgery, as well as caregivers and family members. This group allows individuals to make connections with those who have similar experiences, gain knowledge and provide support. The group is led by an experienced Wound Ostomy Continence RN.

Portage American Legion Post 47 and the American Legion Auxiliary: Social time 5 p.m., soup and sandwich meal at 6 p.m., and meetings at 7 p.m., Portage Knights of Columbus Hall, 918 Silver Lake Drive.

Community presentation: 6 to 7:30 p.m. Portage High School auditorium, 301 E. Collins St., Portage. PHS HOSA, WI Music and Memory Program, along with community supporters are holding the presentation The Making of A Dementia Friendly Community with Key Note Speaker Bill Tierney.

Seniors Bowling Social: 2 p.m. Fireball Lanes, 817 E. Wisconsin St., Portage. Cost is $6 and includes three games of bowling and shoe rental.

Zumba/Zumba Toning: 6 p.m. Harrisville. $5 drop in fee. Contact Tami at 608-346-3971 or 4dreamers@frontier.com.

TUESDAY, DEC. 13

Full moon hike: Lodi Valley Chapter of the Ice Age Trail Alliance. Meet at 7 p.m. at the Ferry Landing parking area on the West Point side of the Wisconsin River.Please wear appropriate clothing for the weather and sturdy shoes. This will be a short and child appropriate walk. Leashed dogs are welcome. Due to possible slick conditions walking sticks are recommended. We will have extra available for you to use. For more information, call Bill at 843-3926.

Mystery Lovers book group: 1:30 p.m. Portage Public Library, 253 W. Edgewater St., Portage. The group will discuss Heat Wave by Richard Castle.

Portage Family Skate Park public meeting: 5 to 6:30 p.m. Gerstenkorn Administration Building, 305 E. Slifer St., Portage. All interested people are welcome to attend. If the Portage Schools are closed or released early the PFSP meeting will be canceled and announced on our Facebook page with a new meeting location as soon as possible.

Zumba Toning: 4:30 p.m. Woodridge Primary School, Portage. $5 drop in fee. Contact Tami at 608-346-3971 or 4dreamers@frontier.com.
Montello native Teri Lyon saw a sign for the Pearl Harbor Remembrance ceremony in Portage on Wednesday, and she had to stop. She wanted to honor her late father, Bob Robinson.

He never shared (his experience) with me until after I was married, and then he got all his books out and we knew what he did, said Lyon, now of Westfield.

He did it for my kids. Every Christmas he got out his books and he tried on his old sailor suit.

Robinson, who died only a few years ago, was aboard the USS Maryland at Pearl Harbor on that Day of Infamy  Dec. 7, 1941. The former clerk of court in Marquette County was the oldest son of 11 children, one of seven sons to serve in the U.S. Navy. Robinson often spoke in Montello Schools on Veterans Day, sharing his experiences with students.

He was a chief cook on the Maryland, and he had his menus from the Maryland. The day the attack happened, they were having chicken, Lyon said. When he wasnt a cook, he was in the bottom of the ship, and he loaded ammunition up to the guns. Thats what he did in his battle station.

We cant forget, Lyon said.

Others who attended the ceremony  marking the 75th anniversary of the attack by Japan  at VFW Post 1707 in Portage included Bill Peterson, who served in the U.S. Army from 1963-1965. Just think of the people who gave their lives for it, Peterson said. Thats the biggest thing. And 90 percent of them, at that time, Pearl Harbor, they volunteered. The Greatest Generation, Peterson added, lived in a time when everybody was together.

We had the same common goals, outlooks, no conflicts like with Vietnam  This was it. We had to do it.

Vietnam War veteran Fred Baewer organized the remembrance this year on short notice. He put the local program together quickly despite the fact the Portage VFW Post was later that night attending a ceremony in Poynette.

We have to remember, Baewer said. Even if I get four people (to attend), I dont care. Its about us remembering.

Baewers uncle, Leo Baron, was aboard the USS Helena at Pearl Harbor, parked where the USS Pennsylvania was supposed to be. His ship was torpedoed, (but) he went home for Christmas, said Baewer, a Portage resident originally from the Milwaukee area. When he went home, everybody here was asking him questions, and he went through hell. He really didnt like it. I know it affected him.

Baron was the first relative Baewer saw when he returned from Vietnam. He said a few words to me, but not a lot, because he knew what I went through and I knew what he went through.

Its history, Baewer said. You have to remember the military people who gave their lives  over 2,200 people (died at Pearl Harbor) and you have to remember that.

As time goes on, we forget things, but we cannot forget Pearl Harbor.

As President Roosevelt said, this was a day that would live in infamy, Portage VFW member Dave DuVall said. With all the people who died that day, that horrible, horrible day, and then the war that followed it, I think its also important for the American people to understand how it came about  how it happened and to do all we can to be alert and vigilant and not let it happen again.
By PTI: Srinagar, Dec 8 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir High Court has dismissed a petition seeking directions that schools in unrest-hit Valley not charge tuition fees for the period of turmoil this year.

"Petitioner has failed to make out a case for entertaining the petition on the strength of the pleadings and for the relief claimed. Therefore, the writ petition deserves to be dismissed more particularly in view of the above quoted law," Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey said in his order.

advertisement

Advocate S H Thakur had filed a petition before the court seeking directions that schools should not charge any fees for the period of unrest in the Valley as the schools were closed.

"Since the petitioners personal interest is involved in the writ petition, therefore, he is not competent to even file PIL.

"In the above background the writ petition being meritless, shall stand dismissed along with connected Miscellaneous Petition without any costs," the court said. PTI MIJ RT

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: Mumbai, Dec 7 (PTI) A 27-year-old woman from Hyderabad, out on a solo trek to Prabalgad fort on the outskirts of the city, died apparently after she fell off a cliff, police said today.

Rachita Gupta, a housewife, set out from home on November 25 for the trek and last contacted her family on November 28.

However, there was no contact from Gupta since then, prompting her family to file a missing person complaint with the local police in Hyderabad.

advertisement

According to police, she had informed the family about her location, which was also established by the mobile tower location, following which a joint team from Hyderabad and the local Panvel police station set out on a search.

"We took the help of a local hiking club NisargMitra, Panvel, and their help proved to be crucial in tracing her body after a 12-hour long operation yesterday," Vishwas Pandhare, DCP (Zone II) of Navi Mumbai, told PTI.

Prabalgad is located between Matheran and Panvel, at an elevation of 2300 feet in the Western Ghats.

Expert mountaineers from the club found her body stuck amid karvi bushes at the bottom of the main cliff of Prabalgad fort last afternoon, and it was brought down.

"We had formed seven teams and found the body after locating a shoe after six hours of search. It was a very difficult terrain to reach and we also found her belongings including a backpack containing valuables nearby," Vishwesh Mahajan of NisargMitra said.

He said help from the local villagers made it possible for them to locate the body and get it down safely.

According to police, Gupta had visited the fort on one occasion earlier.

Guptas husband and a friend had already come to the base of the fort and all the legal formalities were completed.

A case of accidental death has been filed. PTI DC AA NSK BSA

--- ENDS ---
The planes for the system are provided by Russia while the radar and other snooping systems were provided and integrated by the Israelis.

By Ajit Kumar Dubey: After a delay, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) would help in enhancing Indian Air Force's capability to snoop and detect activities of Pakistani and Chinese air force as it is planning to induct the indigenously-developed snooping plane later this month.

"The plan is to induct the Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEWC) aircraft on December 23 at our newly developed Chitradurga Aeronautical Range in Karnataka," DRDO officials told Mail Today here. Once inducted, the aircraft would help the Air Force to detect, identify and classify threats present in the area under its surveillance and can send the IAF fighters towards enemy planes and other airborne assets.

advertisement

WHAT IS THE AIRCRAFT CAPABLE OF?

"The plane can act as a command-and-control centre to support air defence operations like the AWACS aircraft India got from Israel and can monitor multiple target aircraft and areas," the officials said. "The AEWC system can support Air Force in offensive strike missions and assist forces in the tactical battle area in case of hostilities with the enemy countries," they said.

READ | DRDO to salvage home-grown aircraft dumped by Indian Navy

Sources said most of the capabilities in the aircraft have already been proven but some of them are still undergoing testing and would continue while the aircraft flies in the Air Force. India had contracted for three AWACS aircraft from Russia and Israel which are already flying for the Air Force and the service is looking for inducting two more in another tripartite deal. The planes for the system are provided by Russia while the radar and other snooping systems were provided and integrated by the Israelis.

The only difference between the Indian and Israeli 'eye in the sky' is that the IL-76 heavylift aircraft-mounted AWACS system can carry out 360 degree surveillance at a time while the AEWC can monitor only 270 degrees due to limitations in the type of radar.

READ | Parliament committee warns MHA, says terrorists may use islands as terror launch pads

--- ENDS ---
United Parcel Service, Inc. provides letter and package delivery, transportation, logistics, and related services. It operates through two segments, U.S. Domestic Package and International Package. The U.S. Domestic Package segment offers time-definite delivery of letters, documents, small packages, and palletized freight through air and ground services in the United States. The International Package segment provides guaranteed day and time-definite international shipping services in Europe, the Asia Pacific, Canada and Latin America, the Indian sub-continent, the Middle East, and Africa. This segment offers guaranteed time-definite express options. The company also provides international air and ocean freight forwarding, customs brokerage, distribution and post-sales, and mail and consulting services in approximately 200 countries and territories. In addition, it offers truckload brokerage services; supply chain solutions to the healthcare and life sciences industry; shipping, visibility, and billing technologies; and financial and insurance services. The company operates a fleet of approximately 121,000 package cars, vans, tractors, and motorcycles; and owns 59,000 containers that are used to transport cargo in its aircraft. United Parcel Service, Inc. was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
MRC Global Inc., through its subsidiaries, distributes pipes, valves, fittings, and other infrastructure products and services to the energy, industrial, and gas utility end-markets in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It offers ball, butterfly, gate, globe, check, diaphragm, needle, and plug valves; and other products, such as lined corrosion resistant piping systems, control valves, valve automation, and top work components, as well as valve modification services; and measurement, steam, and instrumentation products. The company also provides carbon steel fittings and flanges comprising carbon weld fittings, flanges, and piping components; stainless steel, alloy and corrosion resistant pipes, tubing, fittings, and flanges; and carbon line pipes. In addition, it offers natural gas distribution products, including risers, meters, polyethylene pipes and fittings, and various other components and industrial supplies; oilfield and industrial supplies and completion equipment, such as high density polyethylene pipes, fittings, and rods; and specialized production equipment comprising tanks and separators. Further, the company provides various services, such as product testing, manufacturer assessments, multiple daily deliveries, volume purchasing, inventory and zone store management and warehousing, technical support, training, just-in-time delivery, truck stocking, order consolidation, product tagging and system interfaces, and valve inspection and repair services; and various other services under the ValidTorque and FastTrack names. Its products are used in the construction, maintenance, repair, and overhaul of equipment used in extreme operating conditions, including high pressure, high/low temperature, and high corrosive and abrasive environments. The company was formerly known as McJunkin Red Man Holding Corporation and changed its name to MRC Global Inc. in January 2012. MRC Global Inc. was founded in 1921 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
This is a current list of the top 250 companies by market capitalization on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Learn more .

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is one of the largest, and most recognizable, stock exchanges in the world. The NYSE is in New York City, New York at 11 Wall Street. The NYSE has been in existence since the earliest days of the United States becoming a nation, in 1792 and is primarily made up of blue-chip companies with large market capitalizations. In fact, many of the stocks that make up the Dow Jones Composite Index (i.e. The Dow) are listed on the NYSE.

This article gives a brief history of the New York Stock Exchange. In addition, it covers topics such as what kind of stocks trade on the exchange, what are the listing requirements, how trading is performed, and what the daily price movement of the NYSE tells investors about investor sentiment.

What Were the Origins of the NYSE?

Today, the New York Stock Exchange is known as the center of the financial universe. However, the exchanges origin is far more humble. On May 17, 1792, 24 stockbrokers signed the Buttonwood Agreement creating a centralized exchange to help provide order to the securities market in what was still a young nation. The "Buttonwood Agreement comes from the tree of the same name under which the founders signed the agreement.

An initial benefit of the exchange was how it removed the need for auctioneers when trading commodities like wheat and tobacco and to set a commission rate. The exchange initially focused on government bonds.

However, the exchange had no formal home. Business was usually conducted informally in the local coffeehouses. In 1817, the exchange changed its name to the New York Stock & Exchange Board which later became the New York Stock Exchange. At this time, the exchange adopted a constitution that set the rules for trading. A group of stockbrokers met twice a day at 40 Wall Street to trade 30 stocks and bonds.

Over time, the exchange moved became the financial hub of the country and moved to its current location in 1865.

What Kind of Stocks Trade on the NYSE?

As of June 2022, the NYSE includes approximately 2,400 companies with a market capitalization of over $28.2 trillion. Although the NYSE trades stocks of all market capitalizations, its best known for trading the stocks of large cap companies. These have the benefit of being mature companies in mature industries. And many of these companies reward shareholders with dividends.

However, that also means that many of these companies are better suited for value investors as opposed to growth investors. In bear markets this stability can be a benefit for investors as these stocks tend to perform less bad than more volatile stocks. But in a bull market, these stocks are not likely to provide investors with the growth that they look for.

An interesting fact about how the NYSE and NASDAQ operate is that the companies with the five largest market caps on the NYSE are also listed on the NASDAQ exchange.

What Are the Listing Requirements For the NYSE?

The NYSE has strict guidelines that govern the types of companies that can list on the exchange. Here are the major requirements that all companies must meet:

The company must have at least 2,200 shareholders

The company must trade over 100,000 shares per month

The company must have a market valuation of over $100 million

The company must generate more than $75 million in annual revenue

However, there is at least one advantage of having such stringent requirements. That is the companies that meet the requirements generally find it easier to get more investors funds when they hold their initial public offering (IPO).

Once a company begins trading on the NYSE, it must continue to meet these requirements. If it doesnt it can be delisted. In addition to these requirements, the stock must continue to trade above $1. If the price of a stock drops below $1 for more than 29 consecutive trading days, the stock receives an Initial Price Violation Notice.

At that point, the company has 10 days to provide the exchange with a plan for bringing their shares above $1.

How are Trades Executed on the NYSE?

For over a century, the floor of the NYSE was the place for investors to be. This meant trades were conducted by traders who ran buy and sell orders across the trading floor looking to broker a deal for their clients. But with the birth of the NASDAQ exchange in 1971, the New York Stock Exchange began conducting electronic trading.

However, the NYSE continues to conduct trades in an auction style. Brokers purchase stocks on behalf of their clients or firms. Every order features a broker who will enter the order electronically and a specialist who serves as the market maker for that stock. The specialist posts bid and ask prices and manages the actual execution of the trades. And there are still a handful of stockbrokers who still traffic buy and sell orders physically on the floor of the exchange.

How Does the NYSE Signal Investor Sentiment?

Like its counterpart, the NASDAQ, the NYSE measures the risk appetite of investors. When the NYSE is moving higher over a length of time, it signals that a risk on environment. Conversely when the NYSE moves lower over a significant period, it signals that investors are moving to a risk off position.

Some Final Thoughts on the NYSE

Financial news networks plan their programming schedule around the opening and closing bell of the New York Stock Exchange. Its still considered a distinguished honor when individuals or groups are invited to ring the opening bell. In fact, Warren Buffett is attributed with saying that in the short term, the stock market acts like a voting machine. A fact that many U.S. presidents will attest to.

The NYSE is the oldest and most recognizable of all the stock exchanges. It also has the most stringent requirements for inclusion. And those requirements must be maintained even after a stock begins publicly trading on the exchange.

Although the NYSE still has a small in-person Trading Floor, much of the trading is done electronically to provide traders with the speed to execute trades.
AmerisourceBergen Corporation sources and distributes pharmaceutical products in the United States and internationally. Its Pharmaceutical Distribution segment distributes brand-name and generic pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter healthcare products, home healthcare supplies and equipment, and related services to various healthcare providers, including acute care hospitals and health systems, independent and chain retail pharmacies, mail order pharmacies, medical clinics, long-term care and alternate site pharmacies, and other customers. It also provides pharmacy management, staffing, and other consulting services; supply management software to retail and institutional healthcare providers; and packaging solutions to various institutional and retail healthcare providers. In addition, this segment distributes plasma and other blood products, injectable pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and other specialty products; provides other services primarily to physicians who specialize in various disease states, primarily oncology, as well as to other healthcare providers, including hospitals and dialysis clinics; and offers data analytics, outcomes research, and additional services for biotechnology and pharmaceutical manufacturers. The company's Other segment provides integrated manufacturer services, such as clinical trial support, product post-approval, and commercialization support; specialty transportation and logistics services for the biopharmaceutical industry; and sells pharmaceuticals, vaccines, parasiticides, diagnostics, micro feed ingredients, and various other products to customers in the companion animal and production animal markets, as well as demand-creating sales force services to manufacturers. AmerisourceBergen Corporation was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.
By PTI: New Delhi, Dec 8 (PTI) Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said if India cannot achieve the goal of a cashless economy as whole then it should at least try to become a less-cash economy to ensure transparency.

"Some may say that our country can never become a cashless economy. Even if we dont become a cashless economy, then our country can at least become a less-cash economy," Singh said.

advertisement

He was speaking at the inauguration of the 2nd India International Science Festival, backed by the governments Ministry of Science & Technology and RSS-linked Vijnan Bharati.

Appealing to the youths to take the message of cashless transactions to people, Singh said the e-payments, e-wallets, mobile phone banking and various other modes of cashless transactions will not only lead to less-cash transactions but also help realise a corruption-free society. PTI PR TIR

--- ENDS ---
The following companies are subsidiares of Illinois Tool Works: A V Co 1 Limited, A V Co 2 Limited, A V Co 3 Limited, ACCU-LUBE Manufacturing GmbH - Schmiermittel und -gerate -, AIP/BI Holdings Inc., Accessories Marketing Holding Corp., Advanced Molding Company Inc., Allen France SAS, Alpine Engineered Products, Alpine Systems Corporation, Anaerobicos S.r.l., AppliChem GmbH, Avery Berkel France, Avery India Limited, Avery Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avery Weigh Tronix, Avery Weigh-Tronix Finance Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix International Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix LLC, Avery Weigh-Tronix Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Properties Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Suzhou Weighing Technology Co. Ltd., Azon Limited, B.C. Immo, Beijing Miller Electric Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Berkel Ireland Limited, Berrington UK, Brapenta Eletronica Ltda., Brooks Instrument B.V., Brooks Instrument GmbH, Brooks Instrument KFT, Brooks Instrument Korea Ltd., Brooks Instrument LLC, Brooks Instrument Shanghai Co. Ltd, Buell Industries Inc., CCI Realty Company, CFC Europe GmbH, CS Australia Pty Limited, CS Mexico Holding Company S DE RL DE CV, Calvia Spolka z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnosci, Capital Ventures Australasia S.a r.l, Capmax Logistica S.A. de C.V., Celeste Industries Corporation, Coeur, Coeur Asia Limited, Coeur Holding Company, Coeur Inc., Coeur Shanghai Medical Appliance Trading Co. Ltd, Compagnie Hobart, Compagnie de Materiel et d'Equipements Techniques-Comet, Constructions Isothermiques Bontami C.I.B., Crane Carrier Company, Denison Mayes Group Limited, Despatch Industries, Diagraph Corporation Sdn. Bhd, Diagraph ITW Mexico S. de R.L. De C.V., Diagraph Mexico S.A. DE C.V., Dongguan Ark-Les Electric Components Co. Ltd., Dongguan CK Branding Co. Ltd., Duo Fast de Espana S.A.U., Duo-Fast Korea Co. Ltd., Duo-Fast LLC, E.C.S. d.o.o., E2M Production B.V.., E2M Technologies B.V.., E2M Technologies Inc.., ECS Cable Protection Sp. Zoo, ELRO Grosskuchen GmbH, ELRO Holding AG, ELRO-WERKE AG, Elro Group, Eltex-Elektrostatik-Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Envases Multipac S.A. de C.V., Eurotec Srl, Exhibit 21, FEG Investments L.L.C., Filtertek De Mexico Holding Inc., Filtertek De Mexico S.A. de C.V., Filtertek SAS, GC Financement SA, Gamko B.V., Gun Hwa Platech Taicang Co. Ltd., HOBART Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Hartness International, Hobart Andina S.A.S., Hobart Belgium B.V., Hobart Brothers International Chile Limitada, Hobart Brothers LLC, Hobart Dayton Mexicana S. de R.L. de C.V., Hobart Food Equipment Co. Ltd., Hobart International Singapore Pte. Ltd., Hobart Japan K.K., Hobart Korea LLC, Hobart LLC, Hobart Nederland B.V., Hobart Sales & Service Inc., Hobart Scandinavia ApS, Hobart Techniek B.V., Horis, ILC Investments Holdings Inc., ITW AEP LLC, ITW AOC LLC, ITW Aircraft Investments Inc., ITW Ampang Industries Philippines Inc., ITW Appliance Components EOOD, ITW Appliance Components S.A. de C.V., ITW Appliance Components S.r.l.a, ITW Appliance Components d.o.o., ITW Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, ITW Australia Property Holdings Pty Ltd., ITW Australia Pty Ltd, ITW Automotive Components Chongqing Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Components Langfang Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Japan K.K., ITW Automotive Korea LLC, ITW Automotive Parts Shanghai Co. Ltd, ITW Automotive Products GmbH, ITW Automotive Products Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Bailly Comte, ITW Befestigungssysteme GmbH, ITW Belgium B.V., ITW Brazilian Nominee L.L.C., ITW Building Components Group Inc., ITW CER, ITW CP Distribution Center Holland BV, ITW CS UK Ltd., ITW Canada Inc., ITW Celeste Inc., ITW Chemical Products Ltda, ITW Chemical Products Scandinavia ApS, ITW China Investment Company Limited, ITW Colombia S.A.S., ITW Construction Products AB, ITW Construction Products AS, ITW Construction Products ApS, ITW Construction Products CZ s.r.o., ITW Construction Products Italy Srl, ITW Construction Products OU, ITW Construction Products OY, ITW Construction Products Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Construction Products Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW Construction Services Manila Inc., ITW Contamination Control B.V., ITW Contamination Control Wujiang Co. Ltd., ITW Covid Security Group Inc., ITW DS Investments Inc., ITW DelFast do Brasil Ltda., ITW Denmark ApS, ITW Deutschland GmbH, ITW Diagraph GmbH, ITW Dynatec, ITW Dynatec Adhesive Equipment Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Dynatec GmbH, ITW Dynatec Kabushiki Kaisha, ITW EAE B.V., ITW EAE Mexico S de RL de CV, ITW EF&C France SAS, ITW EF&C Selb GmbH, ITW EU Holdings Ltd., ITW Electronic Business Asia Co. Limited, ITW Electronic Components/Products Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Electronics Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Epsilon Sarl, ITW Espana S.L., ITW European Finance Co. Ltd., ITW European Finance II Co. Ltd., ITW European Finance III Co. Ltd., ITW FEG Hong Kong Limited, ITW FEG do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW Fastener Products GmbH, ITW Fluids and Hygiene Solutions Ltda., ITW Food Equipment Group LLC, ITW GH LLC, ITW GSE ApS, ITW GSE Inc., ITW Gamma Sarl, ITW German Management LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings Y Compania Sociedad en Comandita por Acciones, ITW Global Investments Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Europe GmbH, ITW Global Tire Repair Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Japan K.K., ITW Graphics Asia Limited, ITW Graphics Thailand Ltd., ITW Great Britain Investment & Licensing Holding Company, ITW Group France Luxembourg S.ar.l., ITW HLP Thailand Co. Ltd., ITW Holding Quimica B.C. S.L. Sole Shareholder Company, ITW Holdings Australia L.P., ITW Holdings I Limited, ITW Holdings II Limited, ITW Holdings III Limited, ITW Holdings IV Limited, ITW Holdings IX Limited, ITW Holdings Inc., ITW Holdings V Limited, ITW Holdings VI Limited, ITW Holdings VII Limited, ITW Holdings VIII Limited, ITW Holdings X Limited, ITW Holdings XI Limited, ITW ILC Holdings I Inc., ITW IPG Investments LLC, ITW Imaden Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW India Private Limited, ITW International Holdings LLC, ITW Invest Holding GmbH, ITW Ireland Holdings Unlimited Company, ITW Ireland Unlimited Company, ITW Italy Holding Srl, ITW Japan Ltd., ITW Korea LLC, ITW LLC & Co. KG, ITW Limited, ITW Lys Fusion S.r.l., ITW Materials Technology Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Meritex Sdn. Bhd., ITW Metal Fasteners S.L., ITW Mexico Holding Company S. De R.L. de C.V., ITW Mexico Holdings LLC, ITW Morlock GmbH, ITW Mortgage Investments II Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments III Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments IV Inc., ITW Netherlands Administration BV, ITW Netherlands Beta B.V., ITW Netherlands Finance Alpha BV, ITW New Universal LLC, ITW New Zealand, ITW Ningbo Components & Fastenings Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Novadan Sp. Z.o.o., ITW PPF Brasil Adesivos Ltda., ITW Packaging Technology China Co. Ltd., ITW Participations S.a r.l., ITW Pension Funds Trustee Company, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Japan Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Korea Limited, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids OOO, ITW Performance Polymers ApS, ITW Performance Polymers Wujiang Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers and Fluids Group FZE, ITW Peru S.A.C., ITW Poly Mex S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Polymers Sealants North America Inc., ITW Pronovia s.r.o., ITW Pte. Ltd., ITW Qufu Automotive Cooling Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Real Estate Germany GmbH, ITW Residuals III L.L.C., ITW Residuals IV L.L.C., ITW Rivex, ITW SMPI, ITW SPG Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Simco-Ion Shenzhen Co. Ltd., ITW Slovakia s.r.o., ITW Spain Holdings S.L., ITW Specialty Film LLC, ITW Specialty Films France, ITW Specialty Materials Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Sverige AB, ITW Sweden Holding AB, ITW Test & Measurement Equipment Shanghai Co. Ltd, ITW Test & Measurement GmbH, ITW Test and Measurement Italia Srl, ITW Test and Measurement Services Industry and Trade Ltd., ITW Texwipe Philippines Inc., ITW Thermal Films Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW UK, ITW UK Finance Beta Limited, ITW UK Finance Delta Limited, ITW UK Finance Gamma Limited, ITW UK Finance Limited, ITW UK Finance Zeta Ltd., ITW UK II Limited, ITW Universal II LLC, ITW Welding, ITW Welding AB, ITW Welding GmbH, ITW Welding Products B.V., ITW Welding Products Group FZE, ITW Welding Products Group S. DE R.L. De C.V., ITW Welding Products Italy Srl, ITW Welding Products Limited Liability Company, ITW Welding Produtos Para Solgdagem Ltda., ITW Welding Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW de France, ITW do Brasil Industrial e Comercial Ltda., Illinois Tool Works Chile Limitada, Illinois Tool Works ITW Nederland B.V., Illinois Tool Works Inc., Impar Comercio E Representacoes Ltda., Industrie Plastic Elsasser GmbH, Inmobiliaria Cit. S.A. de C.F., Innova Temperlite Servicios S.A. de C.V., Innovacion y Transformacion Automotriz S.A. de C.V., Instron Brasil Equipamentos Cientificos Ltda., Instron Foreign Sales Corp. Limited, Instron France S.A.S., Instron GmbH, Instron Japan Company Ltd., Instron Korea LLC, Instron Shanghai Ltd., Instron Thailand Limited, International Leasing Company LLC, Isolenge - ITW Sistemas de Isolamento Termico Ltda., Itw Spraytec, KCPL Mauritius Holdings, Kester, Kleinmann GmbH, Krafft S.L., Loma Systems, Loma Systems BV, Loma Systems Canada Inc., Loma Systems sro, Lombard Pressings Limited, Lumex Inc., Lys Fusion Poland Sp. z.o.o., M&C Specialties Co., MAGNAFLUX GmbH, MEHB Holdings Limited, MGHG Property LLC, MTS 2 LLC., MTS 3 LLC., MTS China Holdings LLC, MTS Europe Holdings LLC, MTS Holdings France S.a.r.l., MTS Japan Ltd.., MTS Korea Inc.., MTS Systems China Co. Ltd., MTS Systems Corporation, MTS Systems Danmark ApS., MTS Systems Europe B.V., MTS Systems Finance C.V.., MTS Systems Germany GmbH, MTS Systems Holding B.V.., MTS Systems Hong Kong Incorporated, MTS Systems Limited, MTS Systems Norden Aktiebolag, MTS Systems S.r.l, MTS Systems., MTS Systems.., MTS Sytems Do Brazil, MTS Testing Solutions India Private Limited., MTS Testing Systems Canada Ltd., Manufacturing Avancee S.A., Meritex Technology Suzhou Co. Ltd., Meurer Verpackungssysteme GmbH, Miller Electric Mfg. LLC, Miller Insurance Ltd., NDT Holding LLC, NOVADAN APS, North Star Imaging Inc., Nova Chimica S.r.l., Orbitalum Tools GmbH, PENTA-91 OOO, PR. A. I. Srl, PT ITW Construction Products Indonesia, Pacific Concept Industries Limited Enping, Panreac Quimica S.L., Paslode Fasteners Shanghai Co. Ltd., Peerless Machinery Corp., Polyrey, Premark FEG L.L.C., Premark HII Holdings LLC, Premark International, Premark International LLC, Prolex Sociedad Anonima, QSA Global Inc., Quimica Industrial Mediterranea S.L., R&D Engineering A/S., R&D Prague s.r.o., R&D Steel ApS., R&D Test Systems A/S., R&D Tools and Structures A/S., RDGDK Engineering Private Limited, Ramset Fasteners Hong Kong Ltd., Rapid Cook LLC, Refrigeration France, S.E.E. Sistemas Industria E Comercio Ltda., ST Mexico Holdings LLC, Sealant Systems International Inc., Sentinel Asia Yuhan Hoesa, Shanghai ITW Plastic & Metal Co. Ltd, Simco Japan Inc., Simco Nederland B.V., Societe de Prospection et dInventions Techniques  SPIT, Speedline Holdings I Inc., Speedline Holdings I LLC, Speedline Technologies GmbH, Speedline Technologies Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Speedline Technologies Mexico Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Stokvis Celix Portugal Unipessoal LDA, Stokvis Danmark ApS, Stokvis Holdings S.A.R.L., Stokvis Promi s.r.o, Stokvis Prostick Tapes Private Limited, Stokvis Tapes B.V., Stokvis Tapes Benelux B.V., Stokvis Tapes Deutschland GmbH, Stokvis Tapes France, Stokvis Tapes Hong Kong Co. Limited, Stokvis Tapes Italia s.r.l., Stokvis Tapes Limited, Stokvis Tapes Limited Liability Company, Stokvis Tapes Norge AS, Stokvis Tapes Oy, Stokvis Tapes Polska Sp Z.O.O., Stokvis Tapes Shanghai Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes Sverige AB, Stokvis Tapes Taiwan Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes Tianjin Co. Ltd., Stolvis Holdings II S.A.R.L., Subsidiaries, Technopack Industria Comercio Consultoria e Representacoes Ltda., Teknek China Limited, Teknek Japan Limited, Teksaleco Ltd., The Miller Group Ltd, Thirode Grandes Cuisines Poligny, Tien Tai Electrode Co. Ltd., Tien Tai Electrode Kunshan Co. Ltd., Unichemicals Industria e Comercio Ltda., VR-Leasing Sarita GmbH & Co. Immobilien KG, VS European Holdco BV, Valeron Strength Films B.V., Veneta Decalcogomme S.r.l., Versachem Chile S.A., Vesta, Vesta Global Limited, Vesta Guangzhou Catering Equipment Co. Ltd, Viltronics Soltec, Vitronics Soltec B.V., Wachs Canada Ltd., Wachs Subsea LLC, Weigh-Tronix Canada ULC, Weigh-Tronix UK Limited, Wilsonart International Holdings LLC, Wynn Oil South Africa Pty Ltd., Wynn's Automotive France, Wynn's Belgium BVBA, Wynn's Italia Srl, Wynn's Mekuba India Pvt Ltd, and Zip-Pak International B.V..

Read More
During the meeting, Carter said, "Today our defence relationship takes a major step as we designate India as a major defence partner.

By Press Trust of India: India and the United States today vowed to expand the bilateral defence cooperation as outgoing American Defence Secretary Ashton Carter met his counterpart Manohar Parrikar here for the record breaking seventh time and termed New Delhi as a "major defence partner".

"Thank you my friend," Carter told Parrikar as both met at the South Block here.

advertisement

Carter said that this is the seventh meeting that he was having with Parrikar. "He is the defence minister with whom I have met for the maximum number of times," he said emphasising the importance that the US puts on its ties with India.

During the meeting, which was more of a thanksgiving one, Carter said, "Today our defence relationship takes a major step as we designate India as a major defence partner.

AMERICA'S MAJOR DEFENCE PARTNER

A powerful US Congressional conference committee had on November 30 asked Carter and the Secretary of State to take steps necessary to recognise India as America's major defence partner, in a bid to strengthen bilateral security cooperation.

Also read: India, US destined to be strategic partners in future: US Defence Secretary

The provision mentioned in the voluminous Congressional conference report, running into more than 3,000 pages, on USD 618 billion National Defence Authorisation Bill (NDAA), also asked the Defence Secretary and the Secretary of State for an assessment of the extent to which India possesses capabilities to support and carry out military operations of mutual interest of the two countries.

It now needs to be formally passed by the two chambers of the Congress - the House of Representatives and Senate - before US President Barack Obama can sign it into law.

Meanwhile, Parrikar said he appreciated Carter's strong commitment to defence partnership.

Press release

"It is not an exaggeration that our defence relations are a major driver in our bilateral relations," he said, adding Carter's conceptualisation of the Defence Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI) shows his interest in bilateral defence cooperation.

Parrikar said he was happy to see conclusion of discussion on major defence partnership.

Also read: Peace is fine but no compromises due to fear of war, says Manohar Parrikar at Agenda Aaj Tak

"During our meeting over the last few years, we have agreed on practical exchanges such as LMEOA," the defence minister said. He added, "I am confident that the defence cooperation will expand on the foundation you have built."

advertisement

Carter replied saying that both countries have more to do in the years ahead. "I am proud of what we have achieved my friend," he said.

US President-elect Donald Trump has nominated James Mattis, a retired 4-star Marine Corps general, for the post of the US Defence Secretary.

--- ENDS ---
The following companies are subsidiares of Abbott Laboratories: 3A Nutrition (Vietnam) Company Limited, ABON Biopharm (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., AGA Medical Belgium, AGA Medical Corporation, AGA Medical Holdings Inc., ALR Holdings, AML Medical LLC, APK Advanced Medical Technologies LLC, ATS Bermuda Holdings Limited, ATS Laboratories Inc., Abbott, Abbott (Jiaxing) Nutrition Co. Ltd., Abbott (UK) Finance Limited, Abbott (UK) Holdings Limited, Abbott AG, Abbott Asia Holdings Limited, Abbott Asia Investments Limited, Abbott Australasia Holdings Limited, Abbott Australasia Pty Ltd, Abbott B.V., Abbott Bahamas Overseas Businesses Corporation, Abbott Belgian Investments, Abbott Bermuda Holding Ltd., Abbott Biologicals B.V., Abbott Biologicals LLC, Abbott Bulgaria Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Capital India Limited, Abbott Cardiovascular Inc., Abbott Cardiovascular Systems Inc., Abbott Delaware LLC, Abbott Diabetes Care Inc., Abbott Diabetes Care Limited, Abbott Diabetes Care Sales Corporation, Abbott Diagnostics GmbH, Abbott Diagnostics International Ltd., Abbott Diagnostics Technologies AS, Abbott Doral Investments S.L., Abbott Equity Holdings Unlimited, Abbott Equity Investments LLC, Abbott Established Products Holdings (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Finance Company SA, Abbott Financial Holdings SRL, Abbott France S.A.S., Abbott Fund Tanzania Limited, Abbott Gesellschaft m.b.H., Abbott GmbH & Co. KG, Abbott Health Products LLC, Abbott Healthcare (Puerto Rico) Ltd., Abbott Healthcare B.V., Abbott Healthcare Costa Rica S.A., Abbott Healthcare LLC, Abbott Healthcare Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Healthcare Private Limited, Abbott Healthcare Products B.V., Abbott Healthcare Products Ltd, Abbott Holding (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding GmbH, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited Luxembourg S.C.S., Abbott Holdings B.V., Abbott Holdings LLC, Abbott Holdings Limited, Abbott Holdings Poland Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Hungary Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Abbott Iberian Investments (2) Limited, Abbott Iberian Investments Limited, Abbott India Limited, Abbott Informatics Asia Pacific Limited, Abbott Informatics Canada Inc, Abbott Informatics Corporation, Abbott Informatics Europe Limited, Abbott Informatics France, Abbott Informatics Germany GmbH, Abbott Informatics Netherlands B.V., Abbott Informatics Singapore Pte. Limited, Abbott Informatics Spain S.A., Abbott Informatics Technologies Ltd, Abbott International Corporation, Abbott International Enterprises Ltd., Abbott International Holdings Limited, Abbott International LLC, Abbott International Luxembourg S.ar.l., Abbott Investments Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Ireland, Abbott Ireland Financing Designated Activity Company, Abbott Ireland Limited, Abbott Japan Co. Ltd., Abbott Kazakhstan Limited Liability Partnership, Abbott Knoll Investments B.V., Abbott Korea Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Bangladesh) Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco (Dos) SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Abbott Laboratories (Mozambique) Limitada, Abbott Laboratories (Pakistan) Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Philippines), Abbott Laboratories (Puerto Rico) Incorporated, Abbott Laboratories (Singapore) Private Limited, Abbott Laboratories A/S, Abbott Laboratories Argentina Sociedad Anonima, Abbott Laboratories B.V., Abbott Laboratories C.A., Abbott Laboratories Finance B.V., Abbott Laboratories GmbH, Abbott Laboratories Inc., Abbott Laboratories International LLC, Abbott Laboratories Ireland Limited, Abbott Laboratories Limited, Abbott Laboratories Limited - Laboratoires Abbott Limitee, Abbott Laboratories NZ Limited, Abbott Laboratories Pacific Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Poland Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Laboratories Products B.V., Abbott Laboratories Residential Development Fund Inc., Abbott Laboratories S.A., Abbott Laboratories SA, Abbott Laboratories Services Corp., Abbott Laboratories Slovakia s.r.o., Abbott Laboratories South Africa (Pty) Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Trustee Company Limited, Abbott Laboratories Uruguay S.A., Abbott Laboratories Vascular Enterprises, Abbott Laboratories d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories de Chile Limitada, Abbott Laboratories de Colombia S.A., Abbott Laboratories de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Abbott Laboratories druzba za farmacijo in diagnostiko d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories s.r.o., Abbott Laboratories(Hellas) Societe Anonyme, Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios del Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Abbott Laboratuarlari Ithalat Ihracat ve Ticaret Ltd.Sti, Abbott Laboratorios Lda, Abbott Laboratorios do Brasil Ltda., Abbott Limited Egypt LLC, Abbott Logistics B.V., Abbott Management GmbH, Abbott Management LLC, Abbott Manufacturing Singapore Private Limited, Abbott Mature Products International Unlimited Company, Abbott Mature Products Management Limited, Abbott Medical (Hong Kong) Limited, Abbott Medical (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Abbott Medical (Portugal) Distribuicao de Produtos Medicos Lda, Abbott Medical (Schweiz) AG, Abbott Medical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Abbott Medical (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Australia Pty. Ltd., Abbott Medical Austria Ges.m.b.H., Abbott Medical Balkan d.o.o. Beograd (Novi Beograd), Abbott Medical Belgium, Abbott Medical Canada Inc./ Medicale Abbott Canada Inc., Abbott Medical Danmark A/S, Abbott Medical Devices Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Espana S.A., Abbott Medical Estonia OU, Abbott Medical Finland Oy, Abbott Medical France SAS, Abbott Medical GmbH, Abbott Medical Hellas Limited Liability Trading Company, Abbott Medical Ireland Limited, Abbott Medical Italia S.p.A., Abbott Medical Japan Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Korea Limited, Abbott Medical Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Abbott Medical Laboratories LTD, Abbott Medical Nederland B.V., Abbott Medical New Zealand Limited, Abbott Medical Norway AS, Abbott Medical Overseas Cyprus Limited, Abbott Medical Sweden AB, Abbott Medical Taiwan Co., Abbott Medical U.K. Limited, Abbott Medical spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Middle East S.A.R.L., Abbott Molecular Inc., Abbott Morocco SARL, Abbott Nederland C.V., Abbott Nederland Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Netherlands Investments B.V., Abbott Norge AS, Abbott Nutrition Limited, Abbott Nutrition Manufacturing Inc., Abbott Operations Singapore Pte. Ltd., Abbott Operations Uruguay S.R.L., Abbott Overseas Cyprus Limited, Abbott Overseas Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Overseas S.A., Abbott Oy, Abbott Point of Care Canada Limited, Abbott Point of Care Inc., Abbott Poland Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Procurement LLC, Abbott Products (Philippines) Inc., Abbott Products (Spain) S.L., Abbott Products Algerie EURL, Abbott Products B.V., Abbott Products Distribution SAS, Abbott Products Egypt LLC, Abbott Products Limited, Abbott Products Limited Liability Company, Abbott Products Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Products Operations AG, Abbott Products Operations LLC, Abbott Products Romania S.R.L., Abbott Products Tunisie S.A.R.L., Abbott Products Unlimited Company, Abbott Resources Inc., Abbott Resources International Inc., Abbott S.r.l., Abbott Saudi Arabia Trading Company, Abbott Scandinavia Aktiebolag, Abbott Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, Abbott South Africa Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Strategic Opportunities Limited, Abbott Trading Company Inc., Abbott Universal LLC, Abbott Vascular Devices (2) Limited, Abbott Vascular Devices Limited, Abbott Vascular Inc., Abbott Vascular Instruments Deutschland GmbH, Abbott Vascular International, Abbott Vascular Japan Co. Ltd, Abbott Vascular Limitada, Abbott Vascular Netherlands B.V., Abbott Vascular Solutions Inc., Abbott Ventures Inc., Abbott West Indies Limited, Abbott drustvo sa ogranicenom odgovornoscu za trgovinu i usluge, Advanced Neuromodulation Systems Inc., Alere, Alere (Shanghai) Diagnostics Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Healthcare Management Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Medical Sales Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Technology Co. Ltd., Alere A/S, Alere AB, Alere AS, Alere AS Holdings Limited, Alere BBI Holdings Limited, Alere Bangladesh Limited, Alere China Co. Ltd., Alere Colombia S.A., Alere Connect LLC, Alere Connected Health Limited, Alere Connected Health Ltd., Alere Diagnostics GmbH, Alere DoA Holding GmbH, Alere GmbH, Alere GmbH (Austria), Alere GmbH (Germany), Alere HK Holdings Ltd., Alere Health B.V., Alere Health BVBA, Alere Health Corp., Alere Health Sdn Bhd, Alere Health Services B.V., Alere Healthcare (Pty) Limited, Alere Healthcare Connections Limited, Alere Healthcare Inc., Alere Healthcare Nigeria Limited, Alere Healthcare S.L., Alere Holdco Inc., Alere Holding GmbH, Alere Holdings Bermuda Limited, Alere Holdings Pty Limited, Alere Home Monitoring Inc., Alere Inc., Alere Informatics Inc., Alere International Holding Corp., Alere International Limited, Alere Lda, Alere Limited, Alere Limited (New Zealand), Alere Medical BVBA, Alere Medical Co. Ltd., Alere Medical Pakistan (Private) Limited, Alere Medical Private Limited, Alere North America LLC, Alere Oy Ab, Alere Philippines Inc., Alere Phoenix ACQ Inc., Alere Pte Ltd, Alere S.A., Alere S.r.l., Alere S/A, Alere SAS, Alere San Diego Inc., Alere Scarborough Inc., Alere Spain S.L., Alere Switzerland GmbH, Alere Technologies GmbH, Alere Technologies Holdings Limited, Alere Technologies Limited, Alere Toxicology AB, Alere Toxicology Inc., Alere Toxicology S.r.l., Alere Toxicology Services Inc., Alere Toxicology plc, Alere UK Holdings Limited, Alere UK Subco Limited, Alere ULC, Alere US Holdings LLC, Alere s.r.o., Alisoc Investment & Co, Amedica Biotech Inc., Ameditech Inc., American Generics S.A.S., American Medical Supplies Inc., American Pharmacist Inc., Antares S.A., Apica Cardiovascular Limited, Aquagestion Capacitacion S.A., Aquagestion S.A., Arriva Medical LLC, Arriva Medical Philippines Inc., Arvis Investments Limited, Atlas Farmaceutica S.A., Avee Laboratories Inc., Axis-Shield AD III AS, Axis-Shield AD IV AS, Axis-Shield AS, Axis-Shield Diagnostics Limited, Axis-Shield Ltd., BBI Animal Health Limited, BBI Diagnostics Group 2 Public Limited Company, Banco de Vida S.A., Bioabsorbable Vascular Solutions Inc., Bioalgae S.A., Biohealth LLC, Biosite Incorporated, Bosque Bonito S.A., Branan Medical Corporation, Brandex Europe C.V., British Colloids Limited, CFR Chile S.A., CFR Interamericas EL Salvador Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, CFR Interamericas Nicaragua Sociedad Anonima, CFR Interamericas Panama S.A., CFR Pharmaceuticals, California Property Holdings III LLC, CardioMEMS LLC, Caripharm Inc., Cephea Valve Technologies, Cephea Valve Technologies Inc., Colibri Medical Aktiebolag, Comercializadora y Distribuidora CFR Interamericas Honduras S.A., Concateno South Limited, Concateno UK Limited, Consorcio Tecnologico en Biomedicina Clinico-Molecular S.A., Continuum Services LLC, Cozart Limited, Dextech S.A., Diagnostik Nord GmbH, Distribuciones Uquifa S.A.S., Domesco Medical Import-Export Joint-Stock Corporation, Duphar International Research B.V., Endocardial Solutions, Epocal (US) Inc, Esprit de Vie S.A., European Chemicals & Co, European Drug Testing Service EDTS AB, European Services S.A., Evalve Inc., Evalve International Inc., FARMINDUSTRIA S.A., Fada Pharma Paraguay Sociedad Anonima, Fadapharma del Ecuador S.A., Farmaceutica Mont Blanc S.L., Farmacologia Em Aquicultura Veterinaria Ltda., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV Ecuador S.A., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV S.A., Fernwood Investment S.A., First Check Diagnostics LLC, Focus Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Forensics Limited, Forestcreek Overseas S.A., Fournier Pharma Corp., Fournier Pharma GmbH, Fournier Pharmaceuticals Limited, Framed B.V., Gabmed GmbH, Garden Hills LLC, Global Analytical Development LLC, Globapharm & CO LP, Glomed Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Golnorth Investments S.A., Gynocare Limited, Gynopharm Sociedad Anonima, Gynopharm de Centroamerica S.A., Gynopharm de Venezuela C.A., Hi-Tronics Designs Inc., IDEV Technologies Inc., IG Innovations Limited, IMTC Finance B.V., IMTC Holdings B.V., IMTC Technologies Inc., Ibis Biosciences LLC, Igloo Zone Chile S.A., Igloo Zone S.L., Inmobiliaria Naknek S.A.C., Innovacon Inc., Instant Tech Subsidiary Acquisition Inc., Instant Technologies Inc., Instituto de Criopreservacion de Chile S.A., Integrated Vascular Systems Inc., Inverness Canadian Acquisition Corporation, Inverness Medical (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Australia Pty Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Hong Kong Limited, Inverness Medical Innovations SK LLC, Inverness Medical Investments LLC, Inverness Medical LLC, Inverness Medical Shimla Private Limited, Inversiones K2 SpA, Inversiones Komodo S.R.L., Ionian Technologies LLC, Irvine Biomedical Inc., Kalila Medical, Kangshenyunga S.A., Knoll UK Investments Unlimited, LLC VeroInPharm, Laboratoires Fournier S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano Lafrancol S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano del Ecuador S.A., Laboratorio Internacional Argentino S.A., Laboratorio Synthesis S.A.S., Laboratorios Lafi Limitada, Laboratorios Naturmedik S.A.S., Laboratorios Pauly Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Laboratorios Recalcine S.A., Laboratorios Transpharm S.A., Laboratory Specialists of America Inc., Lafrancol Dominicana S.A.S., Lafrancol Guatemala S.A. Sociedad Anonima, Lafrancol Internacional S.A.S, Lafrancol Peru S.R.L, Lake Forest Investments LLC, Lightlab Imaging Inc., Limited Liability Company Abbott Laboratories, Limited Liability Company Abbott Ukraine, Limited Liability Company VEROPHARM, Lung Fung Hong (China) Limited, Mansbridge Pharmaceuticals Limited, MediGuide LLC, MediGuide Ltd., Medscreen Holdings Limited, Metropolitana Farmaceutica S.A., Midwest Properties LLC, Murex Argentina S.A., Murex Biotech Limited, Murex Biotech South Africa, Murex Diagnostics Inc., Murex Diagnostics International Inc., Natural Supplement Association LLC, Negocios Denia Sociedad Anonima, Neosalud S.A.C., Nether Pharma N.P. C.V., NeuroTherm LLC, Normann Pharma-Handels GmbH, North Shore Properties Inc., Novamedi S.A., Novasalud.com S.A., Nutravida S.A., OJSC Voronezhkhimpharm, Omnilab Iberia Sociedad Limitada, OptiMedica, Orgenics France SAS, Orgenics International Holdings B.V., Orgenics Ltd., PBM-Selfcare LLC, PDD II LLC, PDD LLC, PT Alere Health, PT. Abbott Indonesia, PT. Abbott Products Indonesia, Pacesetter Inc., Pantech (RF) (PTY) LTD, Pembrooke Occupational Health Inc., Penagos S.A., Pharma International Sociedad Anonima, Pharmaceutical Technologies (Pharmatech) S.A., Pharmatech Boliviana S.A., Polygon Labs S.A., Quality Assured Services Inc., RF Medical Holdings LLC, RTL Holdings Inc., Ramses Business Corp., Recben Xenerics Farmaceutica Limitada, Redwood Toxicology Laboratory Inc., Rich Horizons International Limited, SC VEROPHARM, SJ Medical Mexico S de R.L. de C.V., SJM International Inc., SJM Thunder Holding Company, SPDH Inc., Saboya Enterprises Corporation, Salviac Limited, Scanax AS, Sealing Solutions Inc., Selfcare Technology Inc., Shandong Abbott Dairy Product Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Medical Devices Science and Technology Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Shanghai Si Fa Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Sinensix & Co., Spinal Modulation LLC, St. Jude Medical, St. Jude Medical AB, St. Jude Medical ATG Inc., St. Jude Medical Argentina S.A., St. Jude Medical Asia Pacific Holdings GK, St. Jude Medical Atrial Fibrillation Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Brasil Ltda., St. Jude Medical Business Services Inc., St. Jude Medical Cardiology Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Colombia Ltda., St. Jude Medical Coordination Center, St. Jude Medical Costa Rica Limitada, St. Jude Medical Europe Inc., St. Jude Medical Export Ges.m.b.H., St. Jude Medical GVA Sarl, St. Jude Medical Holdings B.V., St. Jude Medical India Private Limited, St. Jude Medical International Holding, St. Jude Medical LLC, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings II, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings NT, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings SMI S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings TC S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Mexico Business Services S. de R.L. de C.V., St. Jude Medical Middle East DMCC, St. Jude Medical Operations (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., St. Jude Medical Puerto Rico LLC, St. Jude Medical S.C. Inc., St. Jude Medical Systems AB, St. Jude Medical Turkey Medikal Urunler Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Standard Diagnostics Inc., Standing Stone LLC, Swan-Myers Incorporated, TC1 LLC, Tendyne Holdings Inc., Tendyne Medical Inc., Thoratec Delaware LLC, Thoratec Europe Limited, Thoratec LLC, Thoratec Switzerland GmbH, Tobal Products Incorporated, Topera GmbH in Liquidation, Topera Inc., Tremora S.A., Tuenir S.A., TwistDx, UAB Abbott Laboratories, UAB Abbott Medical Lithuania, Union-Madison Realty Company Inc., Unipath Limited (dba Alere International/aka Cranfield), Unipath Management Limited, Unipath Pension Trustee Limited, Veropharm, Veropharm Limited Liability Partnership, Vida Cell Inversiones S.A., Vida Cell S.A., Vivalsol, W&R Pharma Handels GmbH, Western Pharmaceuticals S.A., X Technologies Inc., Yissum Holding Limited, ZonePerfect Nutrition Company, eScreen Canada ULC, eScreen Inc.,      ( ), and Abbott Laboratories Baltics.

Read More
Tribe scholars win big in 2016

2016 Goldwater recipients: (From left) Melissa Guidry, Lyuba Bolkhovitinov, Jessica Joyce and Bernadette Deschaine, all William & Mary juniors, were each recognized by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship Program this year. Photo by Marisa Spyker Photo - of - Hide Caption

Its no secret that the William & Mary student body is filled with academic all-stars. Some students, in particular, are celebrated for their hard work each year by internationally known organizations with monetary awards, scholarships and fellowships, some of which allow them to travel around the world. Heres a look back at the students who, with help from the Charles Center, took home  and took off with  major nationally and internationally competitive awards in 2016.

Boren Scholarship: Austin Spivey 16, a dual major in international relations and Middle Eastern studies, discovered her love for Arabic language while studying French in Morocco. Following her graduation in May, Spivey jetted off to Oman as a recipient of the Boren Scholarship, an award reserved for students who intend to use their language skills to pursue careers vital to national security. Spivey is one of 165 students (from a pool of more than 800 applicants) nationwide to receive the scholarship. Upon her return, she hopes to eventually pursue a career as an interpreter or translator with a government organization like the CIA or FBI.

Carnegie Junior Fellowship: As a kid, Becca Brown 16 always had big dreams of experiencing the world. That worldly ethos, coupled with a track record of stellar achievements as an international relations and economics double major at William & Mary, is perhaps what attracted the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, an esteemed global affairs think tank, to her resume. Brown is one of just 14 students nationwide (from a pool of almost 200 applicants) in 2016 to have been awarded Carnegies Junior Fellowship, a one-year program in which recent graduates spend a year in Washington, D.C., researching international aid, security and development within a specific region or policy. Browns focus is on security and development in South Asia. She is the fifth W&M student to ever be awarded the opportunity in the programs 25 years of record keeping.

Fulbright Scholarship: Nine recent W&M graduates joined the ranks of Fulbright U.S. student scholars this year, earning the opportunity to spend a year teaching, researching, studying, and working in cities around the world. Sagra Alvarado 15, Shannon Callinan 16, Beatrice Chessman 16, Annie Curran 16, Ryan Feeney 14, Clay Harris 14, Constance Hull 16 and Natasha King 16 each jetted off to countries from Italy to South Africa for the program, which is operated by the U.S. Department of State and is the largest international exchange program open to American students and young professionals. Shaina Salman, J.D. 16 also became the first W&M graduate to be awarded the Fulbright-Clinton Public Policy Fellowship, which sends recipients to serve as special assistants in foreign government ministries while carrying out an academic research project.

Goldwater Scholarship: W&M continued its excellent track record with the Goldwater Scholarship Program this year with three students snagging coveted spots on the list of just over 250 undergraduates nationwide. Lyuba Bolkhovitinov, Bernadette Deschaine, and Melissa Guidry (pictured above), all juniors at W&M, were selected from a pool of 1,150 applicants, and will receive up to $7,500 to cover tuition, fees, books and room and board. The award was established in 1986 to honor the late Sen. Barry Goldwater and is reserved for sophomores and juniors who intend to pursue careers in math, science and engineering. Jessica Joyce 17 received an honorable mention.

Humanity in Action Fellowship: It only took a semester for Alexandra Granato 16 to discover her deep interest in minority rights issues around the world. So the Humanity in Action Fellowship, an educational program that brings students and recent graduates from nine countries together in an international city to learn about the social and political roots of discrimination, was the perfect fit for Granato following graduation. Granato, a self-designed double major in race, gender and cultural studies and film and media studies, spent a month over the summer in Warsaw, Poland, as a recipient of the fellowship, where she learned about human rights issues spanning from the Holocaust to modern-day issues facing minorities, such as racism and xenophobia.

Luce Scholarship: Rebecca Schectman 16, an international relations major, wasnt especially familiar with Asian culture until she became one of 18 students selected nationwide to travel to the continent as part of the Luce Scholars program. Schectmans Luce year, which started in July, is being spent in Kuala Lumpur, where she is working with an organization that protects refugees and assists in welfare needs. Schectman is the second W&M student to be awarded the Luce Scholarship since the programs founding in 1974. The scholarship provides stipends, language training and professional placement in one of 14 Asian countries in an effort to provide young leaders with a deeper understanding of the culture.

Udall Scholarship: Environmental policy is often supported by science, but Rachel Merriman-Goldring 17 believes in also enacting change through public art. Its this unique approach to environmental education that garnered interest from the Udall Foundation, which selected Merriman-Goldring as one of their 2016 scholars (one of 60 out of 482 candidates). As a scholarship recipient, Merriman-Goldring was awarded up to $7,000 and spent a long weekend in Tucson, Arizona, over the summer meeting with other scholars, professionals and Udall alumni. The Udall Scholarship is reserved for sophomores and juniors who intend to pursue careers related to the environment, tribal public policy or American Indian healthcare.
By PTI: From Youssra EL-Sharakawy

Cairo, Dec 8 (PTI) Aiming to boost economic ties between India and Arab countries, the 5th India-Arab Partnership Conference will be held in Muscat and Oman.

The two-day conference, to be held from December 14, will be organised by the Oman Foreign Ministry, Arab League Secretariat in association with the Ministry of External Affairs in India.

advertisement

Other collaboration partners include the Federation of Arab Businessmen (FAB) and the General Union of Arab Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Agriculture (GUCCIA).

"The most important part of the partnership conference is economic cooperation and to build business to business links," Indias Ambassador to Cairo Sanjay Bhattacharyya said.

The theme of the conference this year is Partnership towards innovation and cooperation in Information Technology.

He said the conference will have ministerial representation both from the Indian and Arab side.

About 500 Arab and Indian government officials, academicians, businessmen and investors are expected to take part in the conference, according to the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) is the coordinating chamber of commerce from the Indian side and their partner will be the Oman Chamber of Commerce, Bhattacharyya said.

The nine other chambers from the Arab States will also participate in the conference. PTI YES RSD AYP

--- ENDS ---




China News on Women





Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home page
The miscreants also took away one of the paintings displayed at the high-profile art fair.

By Rohit Parihar, Dev Ankur Wadhawan: A group of miscreants entered the venue of the ongoing Jaipur Art Summit today, vandalised the paintings and beat up one of the painters.

They also took away one of the paintings displayed at the high-profile art fair.

The painting titled ?nubhav, was made by London-based painter Radha Binod Sharma. According to Shailendra Bhatt, Founder Director of the Summit, the painter also got injured in the scuffle.

advertisement

It looks like the miscreants took away the painting to protest against the display of a semi-nude painting at the summit.

The culprits have been identified. A police investigation is on.

WHAT IS LAL SHAKTI

The miscreants are said to be activists of Lal Shakti, a fringe group which claims that 90 per cent of its members are women. They reached Ravindra Manch, where the 4th edition of the high-profile art fair is being held, and had a tiff with the artists.

Also read | Tyeb Mehta's painting sold for Rs 15 crore

"We wanted artists to remove the controversial paintings from there, but they refused to do so. We for some time had a heated argument with the artists present there for depicting women in an indecent way and finally we deposited the paintings at the nearby Lal Kothi police station," said Hemlata Sharma of Lal Shakti.

"It is an attack on freedom of expression. How can anyone become a judge and give orders. You should have knowledge about art before you decide what is right or wrong", Shailendra Bhatt said.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

ACT HAS MALIGNED IMAGE OF SUMMIT

The event's organisers strongly condemned such acts of vandalism on the creative freedom of the artists. "It really is an attack on freedom of expression. The artists from 25 countries who are participating at the Summit were dismayed by today's incident. What impression will foreign artists attending the summit take back from here", Bhatt said.

Bhatt added, "We went to the police station and got the painting back. Since the painting has now been put back where it originally was, the artists are now relieved."

Jaipur Art Summit is being held from December 7-11 and around 500 artists from 25 countries are participating in the summit.

The summit had yesterday kicked up a row by displaying a partly-nude painting. In its previous editions, the summit has triggered similar controversies when Ganesha was painted inside a toilet seat and the sculpture of a cow was shown hanging mid-air with the help of a balloon resulting in detention of 2 artists by the police. The artists were later let off and officials responsible for the detention removed.

advertisement

(WITH INPUTS FROM IANS)

--- ENDS ---
Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt takes the oath of office administered by Chief Magistrate William Guglietta during Inauguration ceremonies at the Stadium Theatre Tuesday night. At left is her husband Ed Hunt.
Illinois energy bill becomes law

08 December 2016

Share

Illinois governor Bruce Rauner yesterday signed energy legislation that will ensure the continued operation of the Clinton and Quad Cities nuclear power plants.

Governor Rauner celebrates signing the Future Energy Jobs bill at Clinton High School (Image: Bruce Rauner)



Senate Bill 2814, the Future Energy Jobs bill, was passed by the state legislature on 1 December, the final day of both houses' 2016 veto sessions. The bill will see Illinois expand clean energy production while protecting jobs and maintaining competitive electricity rates, with caps and protections to limit the impact on consumers and businesses.

It recognises the contribution of nuclear power generation to the state's zero-carbon emission generation and ensures that the Clinton and Quad Cities nuclear power plants can remain open. Without the legislation, both plants had faced closure.

Exelon said it plans to operate the Clinton and Quad Cities plants for at least another ten years as a result of the bill. "This historic legislation will protect the state's primary source of clean energy while saving thousands of good jobs at our plants and providing millions of dollars in low-income assistance, as well as job training in communities that need it most," CEO Chris Crane said.

Rauner thanked those who had negotiated "in good faith" to make the bill a reality. "This bill ensures we don't gamble with thousands of good paying jobs and gamble with our energy diversity," he said.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

Related topics
As per reports, around 4 to 5 gunmen, believed to be militants, barged into the J&K Bank branch and looted around Rs 10 lakh.

By Shuja-ul-Haq , Ashraf Wani: Unidentified gunmen looted a Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Bank branch in Aarihal area of Pulwama in South Kashmir.

As per reports, around 4 to 5 gunmen, believed to be militants, barged into the J&K Bank branch and looted around Rs 10 lakh.

The gunmen also fired in area after looting the bank. Cordon searches have been launched.

Visuals from the site: Bank looted by terrorists in Arihal area of J&K's Pulwama. pic.twitter.com/6X1dlmvd0U ANI (@ANI_news) December 8, 2016

advertisement

According to reports, a similar attempt was foiled when gunmen tried to loot money at the Poshkar branch of Jammu and Kashmir Bank in Budgam district.

Earlier last month, robbers looted over Rs 34 lakh from branch in Sarthal area and also made a vain attempt in another branch of the Bank at Nawapachi area of the district overnight.

In another incident from last month, Rs 12 lakh were looted from the Budgam branch of Jammu and Kashmir Bank. The police later arrested few overground workers of LeT for the crime.

WATCH VIDEO

--- ENDS ---
Barbados is an island nation located in the Northern Atlantic Ocean, just west of the Caribbean Sea. It covers an area of 166 square miles and has a population size of 280,121. The population density of Barbados is 1,704 people per square mile. The racial demographics of these individuals are as follows: Black (92.4%), multiracial (3.1%), White (2.7%), and South Asian (1.3%). The majority of this countrys residents live in urban areas. This article takes a look at the most populated cities in Barbados.

The Biggest Cities In Barbados

Bridgetown

Bridgetown is the most populated city and the capital of Barbados. It has a population of 98,511. The entire metropolitan area, however, has approximately 110,000 residents which is nearly half of the countrys population size. European settlement began here in 1628 when British colonizers established this city. Although uninhabited at the time, settlers discovered signs of previous development. At the site of present-day Bridgetown, for example, Europeans discovered a bridge which is believed to have been built by Arawak indigenous peoples. In 1654, these settlers built a new bridge over the Careenage swamp and named the city The Town of Saint Michael. It was later changed to Bridgetown.

Today, the city is a popular West Indies tourist destination. Tourists can visit the historic area and the garrison which together are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In addition, it is the countrys financial and informational hub. Due to its coastal location, Bridgetown also serves as an important port city, particularly for cruise ships.

Speightstown

Speightstown is the second most populated city in Barbados with a population size of 3,634. This town is located along the coast, 12 miles north of Bridgetown. Speightstown was established in 1630 as the most important port city in the country. The most important export at that time was sugar which left here directly for London. This town was also the site of a large slave trade. The rich history of this city is reflected in its architecture, with many historic, colonial buildings still standing. One example of these colonial buildings is Arlington House. Other important examples of historic architecture can be found along Queen Street, Orange Street, and Church Street.

Currently, this town is the second most popular tourist destination in the country. It is also known as an excellent shopping area. Recently, the city developed a luxury marina which draws the business of yacht and other boat owners who want to dock and enter the country here.

Oistins

Oistins is the third most populated city on the island and has a population of 2,285 residents. It is located in the southern region of the country in the Christ Church parish. The parish church for Christ Church can be found here as well as the former Christ Church hospital and the former Barbados Coast Guard Station. Fossil fuel imports are also delivered to this city. Today, the biggest economic activity here is subsistence fishing. Tourists also visit Oistins to take advantage of the quiet beaches, traditional dancing, and local fish fries.

Other urban areas in Barbados can be found in the chart below.

Environmental Threats Prevalent In The Cities Of Barbados

Barbados is one of the most densely populated islands in the world. This combined with an increasing population has posed a significant environmental issue for this country, specifically in terms of sewage and wastewater treatment. The government has worked to improve access to water and sewage services, particularly in the urban areas. This move has reduced some of the contamination of coral reefs surrounding the island. Another sewage treatment plant is planned for the west coast.
Bhutan is a landlocked sovereign state in the Eastern Himalayas. China and India are the bordering countries of Bhutan. In 2008, the governance of the country transitioned from an absolute to a constitutional monarchy, and the first general elections of the country were held in the same year. Bhutans cities and towns each have their unique characteristics. Thimpu is the nation's biggest and capital city. Paro is the site of the countrys international airport. Bhutan's commercial hub is Phuntsholing and Punakha is the countrys former capital. The administrative headquarters of Tsirang District and the Bumthang District are Damphu and Jakar respectively. Mongar is the nations eastern commercial hub.

The Four Biggest Cities/Towns Of Bhutan

Thimpu

Thimpu is the Kingdom of Bhutans largest and capital city. Thimpu stretches from north to south on the west bank of the Raidak Rivers valley. It is the worlds third highest capital city and lies at an altitude of 2,248 meters to 2,648 meters. Thimpu is the economic and political center of the country and its agriculture and livestock industry contributes to 45% of the Gross National Product. Tourism is also a popular source of income in the city. The National Assembly of Bhutan and the Dechencholing Palace of the King of Bhutan as well as other political buildings of Bhutan. Thimpu has a rich cultural heritage and the art, architecture, and peoples way of life in Thimpu reflects the culture of the country.

Phuntsholing

Phuntsholing, a border town of Bhutan on the India-Bhutan border, is located in southern Bhutan. It is the Chukha Districts administrative seat. The cross-border trade between the Indian town of Jaigaon and Phuntsholing has greatly boosted the economy of this Bhutanese city. Phuntsholing is a major industrial, trading, and financial hub of the country. The town is regarded as the gateway to the trade centers in India. The border is also one of the friendliest ones in the world and tourists and traders from both the countries pass peacefully across the border to visit or conduct trade in the neighboring country.

Punakha

Punakha is Punakha dzongkhags administrative center. Until 1955, the city served as the capital of the country and seat of government. Punakha can be reached by a 3 hours drive from Thimpu that is 72 km away from the city. Punakha is relatively warmer than Thimpu in winter and is at an elevation of 1,200 meters above sea level. Punakha is also home to the Palace of Great Happiness that was constructed in 1637 and is the most beautiful Dzong in the country.

Samdrup Jongkhar

Samdrup Jongkhar is a town located in Bhutans Samdrup Jongkhar District in the south-eastern part of the country. It is the main trading town in eastern Bhutan. Coal mining around this town contributes significantly to the countrys economy.
Wallet with cash in manas back pants pocket (illustration)

By: Tanya Malhotra

A prostitute betrayed her client after having sex with him by stealing his wallet filled with cash, according to police in Zimbabwe.

Bulawayo said that they have arrested Valentine Sibanda, after being accused of stealing the wallet and $450 from 35-year-old Doubt Chindove.

Sibanda has been charged with theft, and she pleaded guilty.

She was sentenced to serve two years in prison. According to the criminal complaint, Chindove and Sibanda met at a bar on Sunday.

They agreed to spend a night together, and they went to his house to have sex. Sibanda woke up around 4:00 a.m. on Monday, while Chindove was still asleep following several hours of sex.

She stole his wallet, which contained a drivers license, defensive driving license, car keys and $450. She also took a Samsung Galaxy Tablet.
The return of Jesus Christ to earth, that is due in three weeks, will mark the end of the world, claims a Christian computer scientist.

By India Today Web Desk: Nora Roth, a Bible student and a computer scientist, closely examined the Book of Daniel and predicted that the world will end before 2017 begins.

Roth wrote about her prediction on her blog The Mark of the Beast Explained. She based her theories on the intense calculations she made and came up with the conclusion that apocalypse is looming.

advertisement

Roth, in her blog, said, ''Are 6,000 years of sin almost over? Will Jesus come in 2016? The Bible presents enlightening, logical and compelling answers to these questions. In short, yes!''

By the way, Did you know RSS founder's book claimed Jesus Christ was a Tamil Hindu? Or that this forensic anthropologist said that Jesus Christ was black?

But despite her prediction, Roth says Bible doesn't provide a clear-cut idea on when the doomsday will actually arrive.

Baptist minister Mark Woods said, in one of his articles, ''This way of reading the Bible is called 'millenarianism', and it tends to be a function of extreme biblical literalism and a lot of social stress-war, poverty, social change etc. There's a lot of that going on at the moment.'' He also says that it would only be ''sheer coincidence'' for someone to predict the end of the world," reports the Express.

Woods also adds that Roth's prediction should not stop anyone from writing their Christmas cards and also warns people to be careful while reading the Books of Daniel and Revelation. "They are difficult books and we should be very cautious while interpreting them," he said.

Is apocalypse around the corner?

You would also be interested in:

Jesus Christ's burial slab uncovered in Jerusalem

The end is nigh: New conspiracy theory involves Putin, aliens and Jesus

--- ENDS ---
Syrian Refugee Families Praise Generous Wrexham  As Second Phase To Get Green Light

This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Dec 7th, 2016

Refugee families from Syria have been welcomed into their new communities in Wrexham saying they have been welcomed by the areas generous spirit and lovely neighbours.

In April this year, Wrexham Councils Executive Board voted resettle up to five Syrian families during the 2016/17 financial year.

The move by Wrexham Council came as part of the Home Office-funded Syrian Relocation Scheme, which provided support to local authorities to find accommodation for refugees fleeing the country, now in its fifth year of civil war.

Currently four families have been identified and allocated to Wrexham totalling 20

people. Two families are in residence as of early November, and two further families are expected to arrive in Wrexham by mid-December. Subject to the securing of a further private sector property a fifth family will be identified.

At its meeting on Tuesday the Executive Board will examine a report reviewing the progress of the scheme to date, and likely agree in principle to accepting a further five refugee families in 2017/18, subject to approval by Council Heads of Department and Public Service Board partner organisations.

Home Office funding for the families support needs includes opportunities to learn English.

The scheme also receives significant local support from the voluntary, community and faith sectors. A welcome meal was provided to refugees by members of Wrexham Mosque, and the Central Methodist Church continues to provide informal classes for English for Speakers of Other Language (ESOL) and also enables further community support for Syrian families. Members of the Wrexham Asylum Seeker and Refugee Support Group have also provided practical support, household goods and clothing where needed.

The scheme is also backed by a multi-agency approach and the Public Service Board.

Refugees are housed in private sector accommodation, and the scheme is supported by private landlords.

Comments from some of the families resettled in the area are included in the report:

We now feel much safer and the kids have stability for the first time in their lives

I have never seen the kids so happy, they are always laughing and playing with their new toys

The children love school, my son even received pupil of the week last week as he is settling in so well, he even wanted to go to school during half term

We cant believe how generous everyone in Wrexham has been, we have lovely neighbours who gave us chocolates and flowers

Cllr Mark Pritchard, Leader of the Council, said: Im incredibly pleased to see that refugee families arriving in Wrexham have already received a warm welcome from their communities  these people will have been fleeing incredible hardship, and the fact theyve been greeted with such compassion and kindness is excellent.

Im also very pleased to note the success of the scheme so far, and welcome the strong multi-agency support for these families from across private, public and third-sector organisations.

The report notes: All 22 Welsh Local Authorities have indicated their support and many have now received Syrian refugees. Across North Wales all six local authority agreed to take five families in the current financial year; all but one have now received one or more families.

It goes on to say Cross department and multi-agency support co-ordinated by the Council has meant that the Scheme has worked well and Feedback from Council Heads of

Department is positive about Scheme so far.

Two elements of concern are stated, with concerns have been raised by Childrens Social Care in relation to the potential impact on stretched services and resources, likewise longer term funding questions are raised While the cost of the Resettlement Scheme is covered by the Home Office in the short-term, the cost of meeting longer-term needs will fall to the local authority and other statutory agencies once government funding ceases which will put additional pressure on restricted budgets.

Two ringing endorsements are mentioned, with the Syrian refugee families themselves being very positive about their experiences and No community tensions associated with the Scheme have been reported.

You can read the reports from earlier this year, here and here.
By PTI: Mumbai, Dec 7 (PTI) Karan Johar may be busy with his talk show right now, but the filmmaker says directing movies has not taken a back seat and he will start working on his new project by the end of next year.

"I have solemnly resolved that I will be back on sets as a director next year, towards the end of the year as a filmmaker. My heart lies in television but my soul lies in films," Karan told reporters at the launch of new singing reality show "Dil Hai Hindustani" here.

advertisement

He has been a judge on television shows like "Jhalak Dikhlaa Jaa" and "Indias Got Talent" and will now be judging "Dil Hai Hindustani".

"I have covered all on television. If there are other ideas then I will see. I think the more reality shows the better. Whatever offer comes my way I will see. I cant say no to television," he said.

The "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" helmer thinks he has become a television personality.

"Now films are seeming to be an incidental part of my personality. People ask me about talk show, talent show and its embarrassing that I have to tell people I direct and produce films as well," Karan said.

"The impact of television is more, three per cent of our country watch films and 25-30 per cent watch television, so its nine times more impactful. So my wish to be on national television has only helped my brand as filmmaker. I am thankful to television for that," he added. PTI KKP GK SHD

--- ENDS ---
Syrian government troops, backed by Russian, Iranian, Iraqi Shiite and Hezbollah forces, continued their advance through areas of Aleppo held by US-backed Islamist opposition militias yesterday, forcing the rebel troops to abandon much of the old city.

Syrian army units have re-taken the al-Shaar area and old city neighborhoods including Agheour, al-Farafrah, and Bab al-Hadeed. Islamist militias reportedly abandoned large networks of tunnels in the old city, which they could have used to carry out hit-and-run attacks to delay the advance of Syrian army forces, without a fight. Only small pockets of the old city are still under opposition control, and the Syrian army now reportedly controls three-quarters of the city.

Russian sources also reported that Syrian army troops had seized a fortified medical facility in the Balalat neighborhood held by the opposition, which used it to shell traffic on nearby highways and residential areas in government-held western Aleppo. They claimed that 85 percent of eastern Aleppo, previously held by the opposition, was now in the Syrian regimes hands.

The opposition forces asked the Syrian army for a five-day cease-fire to transport civilians in east Aleppo to other opposition-held areas. However, the Syrian government stated that it would reject any such request as long as terrorist organizations did not leave the cityreferring to the links between opposition militias and the Al Qaeda-linked Jabhat Fatah al-Sham group, previously known as the Al Nusra Front.

The situation facing the opposition is increasingly desperate, and reports are emerging that the US government and its NATO allies are pressing the opposition militias to evacuate Aleppo to continue the war elsewhere.

The Americans asked us if we wanted to stay or to leave, we told them that this is our city and that we will defend it, Zakaria Malhifji, a leader of the Fastakim militia that is part of the US-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA), told Le Figaro, which commented: The fall of east Aleppo could be a matter of days. Insurgent strongholds are falling the one after the other.

Russian state media reported yesterday that ten opposition fighters had surrendered to the Syrian army in order to benefit from an amnesty offered by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. However, bitter fighting is continuing in Aleppo, as pro-Assad and opposition forces deploy artillery and other heavy weapons inside the city.

Syrian state media reported that at least twelve civilians were killed and 64 wounded in artillery and rocket attacks by opposition forces on regime-held residential neighborhoods. That death toll is expected to rise. Colonel Ruslan Galitsky, a Russian military advisor fighting with Assads forces, and two female Russian medics, Nadezhda Durachenko and Galina Mikhaylova, also died from injuries sustained during opposition mortar attacks.

Fifteen people, including one child, died Tuesday in opposition-held east Aleppo, amid intense bombardments by the Syrian regime and its allies.

Approximately 100,000 civilians are now reportedly trapped in the handful of neighborhoods still under opposition control, after at least 80,000 managed to flee to government-held areas of Aleppo.

We have suffered a lot. Weve been deprived of foodthe amount of bread we were being given wasnt enough to feed my family.  My vision has been affected by the lack of food, a man in his sixties said as he arrived in government-held areas from east Aleppo. In opposition-held areas, he reported, his family received one loaf of bread for every two people every three days.

The leading imperialist powers intervened yesterday, as the situation for their proxies in Aleppo became increasingly desperate, issuing a joint call for an immediate ceasefire. The United States, Germany, Britain, Canada, France, and Italy denounced Russia and Syria, threatening individuals and forces involved in Syrian armys Aleppo offensive with sanctions and war crimes charges. The images of dying children are heartbreaking, they wrote, condemning the actions of the Syrian regime and its foreign backers, especially Russia, for their obstruction of humanitarian aid.

In fact, it is precisely these powers that bear the primary responsibility for the carnage in Aleppo, having overseen the supplying of billions of dollars worth of weapons to their Islamist proxies over five years of war in Syria. The hypocrisy of their threats of war crimes charges is underscored by the fact that they are allied with Iranian and Iraqi Shiite forces in the current bloody offensive against Mosul in nearby Iraq.

Aleppo and its industrial and commercial base was a target of looting by the Islamist opposition starting in the early years of the Syrian war. It since evolved into a strategic center from which the NATO powers re-supplied their opposition proxies across northern Syria. Now NATO is desperate, since the recapture of Aleppo by Assad would deal a major, potentially decisive blow to their logistical support to the Islamist opposition.

They fear that Donald Trumps election and the defeat of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who advanced an aggressively pro-war and anti-Russian stance on Syria, could disrupt the war, by presenting Trump with an opposition defeat as a fait accompli on his inauguration in January.

The rebels foolishly depended on Hillary Clintons assurances to hang on until she came into power. They had no plan B for a Clinton defeat. Conversely, the Russians understand that they have to finish off east Aleppo by the time Donald Trump is inaugurated. With the Old City fallen, the task is almost complete, wrote the pro-opposition Middle East Eye .

In the meantime, there are multiple, competing attempts by NATO powers to negotiate a truce with Russia, the Assad regime, and their allies in Aleppo. US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Hamburg yesterday to discuss the fighting in Aleppo. Initial reports on their meeting suggest that they failed to reach an agreement.

I confirm the support to the US initiative of December 2, Lavrov said in response to a question by an American reporter. However, the Obama administration withdrew the plan it issued on December 2, three days later, and Moscow objects to the proposal Washington issued subsequently, fearing it gives too much freedom of movement to Al Qaeda-linked forces in the opposition.

At the same time, Russian and Turkish officials are also trying to negotiate a ceasefire in Aleppo, according to statements yesterday from Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yldrm, who had traveled to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin the day before.

We are doing everything possible to bring about discussions between opposition representatives and Russia and have achieved success on this topic, Yldrm told Interfax. If any consensus reached is turned into a signed document, then that would be to everyones benefit.  Now is the time when you need to get results.

The Washington Post criticized the Russian-Turkish talks, complaining that Moscow has tried to sideline Washingtons efforts by sending representatives for talks with rebel officials in Turkey.
Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar made a two-day visit to Bangladesh, starting on November 30, to deepen military relations between the two countries. Parrikars Dhaka visit underscores Indias growing effortsbacked by Washingtonto bring Bangladesh into its orbit, undercutting Chinas influence as geo-political tensions sharpen in Asia.

Parrikar is the first Indian minister to visit Bangladesh in the countrys 45-year existence. He met with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her defence advisor Retired Major General Tariq Ahmed and President Abdul Hamid. Accompanied by Indias Coast Guard chief and the vice-chiefs of the army, air force and navy, Parrikar met with military chiefs and visited a military academy in Chittagong.

The Times of India reported that Parrikar would discuss finalisation of a new defence cooperation framework with Bangladesh. Hasina is scheduled to sign the agreement during her visit to India on December 17 and 18 at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In the meeting with Hasina, Parrikar proposed new initiatives to enhance the capacity of the Bangladesh Armed Forces and further strengthen the ties between the two armed forces, according to an Indian High Commission press release. The proposals included enhanced training engagements, joint exercises, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief activities, and blue economy ventures.

Significantly, the Indian media highlighted Parrikars visit as part of the rivalry between India and China. The news reports and articles reflect an aggressive attitude within the Indian ruling elite and government toward China.

When Parrikars tour was announced in mid-November, the Times of India wrote: To counter China, the government is rushing defence minister Manohar Parrikar to Bangladesh. The article noted that Parrikar would seek to chalk out a major upgrade in bilateral defence cooperation in the backdrop of China continuing to expand its strategic footprint in Bangladesh.

Several media outlets noted that Parrikars visit took place soon after China handed over two diesel-electric submarines worth $US203 million to Bangladesh navy chief Admiral Mohammad Nizamuddin Ahmed. The Times of India claimed the submarine handover was a big indicator of the extensive military ties being forged between Dhaka and Beijing.

The US-based security news site Defencenews.com noted: Analysts say the sale of the subs is part of a strategy meant to encircle India. An article titled, Purchase of Chinese subs by Bangladesh, an act of provocation towards India, cited defence analyst Bharat Karnad, who said that while the submarine deal was an economic one, the Modi government will have to ensure it does not fetch Beijing strategic benefits.

During the past several years, the US, India and Japan have increasingly pressed Hasinas government to distance itself from Beijing. Because of these pressures, Dhaka was forced to abandon the Sonadia deep-sea port project near Chittagong, which was to be built by China. Dhaka later agreed to grant another port development project to Japan.

Chinas leadership is vigorously seeking to develop its relations with Bangladesh. In October, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Dhaka, where he signed 27 new agreements worth a massive $27 billion.

Beijing is concerned particularly about US efforts to enlist India as a frontline state in its military encirclement of China. As well as deepening Indias strategic partnership with the US, Modi last month visited Japan.

In Tokyo, Modi signed a defence agreement and declared joint support for freedom of overflight and navigation in the South China Sea. He and his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, echoed Washingtons line, which challenges Chinas territorial claims in the strategic sea. Washington is using Beijings activities in the sea as a pretext for a military build up against China.

On his visit, Parrikar also reportedly discussed with Hasina the threat of ISIL, or Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, activities in Bangladesh. In recent years, Islamic fundamentalists who professed connections to ISIL have killed several foreigners and secular writers in Bangladesh. Some attacks have also targeted Hindu temples.

Hasina denies that foreign Islamic groups have undertaken any of these operations. However, the US and India have expressed concerns about the existence of these groups and urged her government to crack down on them. Their concern is that activities of these groups could destabilise Dhakas relations with India and affect the strategic build up against China. This week, the Indian and Bangladesh foreign secretaries started talks on how to suppress these groups.

Hasina is anxious for support from New Delhi. Her government is discredited among Bangladeshs broad masses because of its attacks on living conditions and collaboration with foreign investors to enforce the countrys super-exploitative cheap labour conditions.

Opposition parties, including the Bangladesh National Party, which boycotted the 2014 national election, are continuously challenging the government. Hasina is increasingly taking anti-democratic measures against opposition groups, including banning their activities.

To bolster her position, Hasina has backed the Modi government diplomatically. When India pulled out of the South Asian Association of Regional Corporation summit in Islamabad last month, Hasina supported it. India accused Pakistan of backing terrorists in an attack on its military camp at Uri in Kashmir. Dhaka also backed the Indian militarys strike inside Pakistan as retaliation.

At the same time, China is Bangladeshs largest trading partner. Hasinas cash-strapped government is looking for investment from China. Under pressure from New Delhi and the US, the ruling elite in Dhaka is performing a precarious balancing act. But this will become increasingly difficult to maintain amid aggressive US military preparations against China, and Indias intensifying partnership with Washington.
"I would like people to remember when (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee went to Lahore, he said that India regards Pakistan as a nation and look forward to living in peace. People fear to visit Kashmir... Why is this fear, this fear should not have been there."

By PTI: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah today stressed on the need for converting Line of Control as a permanent border and initiation of talks with Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue.

"How will you resolve Kashmir issue without talking to Pakistan? The two countries have to talk to each other. Also the Centre needs to initiate talks with the constituents of Jammu, Ladakh and Kashmir to find an amicable solution to the issue," the National Conference (NC) president said during the Agenda Aajtak event here.

advertisement

He warned that if the Centre continued to ignore Kashmir, it will be up in flames once again. "... Fire is there which can be low on intensity for some time but it can again rise. Till when will we sacrifice the lives of our people and soldiers," he asked.

"I know many people will not like it but there is only one solution to the Kashmir issue which is that this part of Kashmir remains part of India and that part of Kashmir remains part of Pakistan," Abdullah said.

He had last year claimed that even former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had offered Pakistan to make LoC permanent border during his Lahore visit in in 1999.

The former chief minister said that the Centre should take precise steps which can solve the Kashmir issue so that people live there peacefully and prosper. "As of now, there is no progress."

"I would like people to remember when (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee went to Lahore, he said that India regards Pakistan as a nation and look forward to living in peace. People fear to visit Kashmir... Why is this fear, this fear should not have been there."

He said that Kashmir joined India because of its secular credentials where people from different religions have equal rights. "But we are hearing voices today that India is a Hindu state and everyone is Hindu. Does this mean that a Muslim, Sikh or a Christan cannot be an Indian," he asked, adding the government should allay these fears by "crushing" such communal voices.

"If you want to save India, then hold on to that thing which is in the Preamble in our Constitution... If you keep the country united, the nation will progress," he said and warned that if these communal forces keep on creating a divide in the society, the nation will not progress and there will be enemies within the country.

"The time has come when we look into the mistakes and try to correct, heal people. Not to kill. Today young children are out on the streets, fighting and your minister announces that because they did the demonetisation, things have stopped.

advertisement

"We will have to see which direction we want to move. We will have to find the ways which will make the nation stronger. Do not relax or rest after witnessing little little things like exams are being conducted, stone-pelting is stopped," Abdullah said.

He warned that the simmering discontent among the people needed to be addressed quickly otherwise the spring next year may again see bloodshed.

"We will have to find the medicine of the pain," he added.

PDP MP from Baramulla Muzaffar Hussain Baig said if the Kashmir issue is not resolved in the tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, then it cannot be solved ever.

"Though Pakistan has been isolated on the international front, Indian government will have to rethink its Kashmir policy. Modi should unite other SAARC nations and confront Pakistan in resolving the persistent issue," Baig said.

--- ENDS ---
Westminster MPs voted 461 to 89 in favour of an amended opposition Labour Party motion Wednesday, calling on the Conservative government to publish its plans for leaving the European Union (EU) before beginning formal negotiations over the UKs exit.

Voting against the motion were 23 Labour MPs, 5 Liberal Democrats, 51 from the Scottish National Party, Green Party leader Caroline Lucas and one Tory, Ken Clarke. Tory whips said that 56 Labour MPs abstained. Their opposition represents the most hard-line stand against leaving the EU.

The motion was signed by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer, deputy leader Tom Watson and Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry. It demanded the prime minister commit to publishing the Governments plan for leaving the EU before Article 50 is invoked, while stating there should be no disclosure of material that could be reasonably judged to damage the UK in any negotiations to depart from the European Union after Article 50 has been triggered.

Prime Minister Theresa May originally opposed the motion but was forced to accept it as between 20 and 40 pro-EU Tory rebels were pledged to back Labourthreatened a deepening crisis and possible fall of her government.

May and senior cabinet ministers added their own amendment to Labours motion as a condition for supporting it. This stated that Labour and other opposition parties accept that Article 50 should be invoked by the end of March, that the result of the referendum should be accepted, and that the publication of the plan should not undermine the governments stance in the negotiations.

The crisis in ruling circles over Europe being debated in Parliament was amplified by the fact that the Supreme Court, located directly opposite the House of Commons, was meeting for the third of a four-day hearing on whether May can trigger Article 50 without allowing a vote in Parliament. This followed a High Court ruling last month, appealed by the government to the Supreme Court, which ruled that only Parliament could trigger Article 50.

In his speech, Starmer called for an end to the uncertainty on issues such as the single market, paying for access to the single market, the customs union and transitional arrangements

This was in reference to recent comments by Tory Brexit Secretary David Davis and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who both stated that the government may consider paying the EU to maintain access to the Single Market. Johnson later backtracked, stating it was pure speculation, before contradicting himself yet again saying that any payments had to be sensible... I see no reason why those payments should be large.

Starmer stated that the governments published plan had to have enough detail to allow the relevant parliamentary bodies and Committees, including the Exiting the European Union Committee to scrutinise the plan effectively...

The parliamentary debate had an element of unreality, a sparring match prior to the main event. The majority of pro-EU MPs are keen, at this juncture, not to be seen to be openly challenging the June 23 vote to leave the EU. But the conflict in ruling circles is set to erupt in more open forms, as it did after the High Court verdict, when the Supreme Court hands down its verdict in January.

Virtually every MP who supported Britain remaining in the EU stated that they did not want to block Article 50 outright, only wanting Parliament to have its say. However, Starmer clarified that the debate would not be the last word as MPs backing the Labour motion are not voting to trigger article 50 or to give authority to the Prime Minister to do so. It is most certainly not a vote for article 50. Unless the Supreme Court overrules the High Court, only legislation can do that. Nor does todays motion preclude Labour or any other party tabling amendments to the article 50 legislation and having them voted on.

The pro-Brexit wing support leaving the EU based on British corporations being able to better exploit vast global markets, including India, China and the Middle East. They insist on ramping up the exploitation of the working class in order to compete internationally. The pro-EU wing are concerned that this will be economically disastrous. The price to be paid is losing access to the EUs single market for UK banks and corporations.

Many Labour MPs accepted the Tory amendment only after stating that the referendum vote did not give a mandate for a hard Brexitone including loss of access to the Single Market and Customs Union membership.

Labour MPs who joined those refusing to support the Labour motion stated that it empowered the Toriesif the Supreme Court backs their legal challengeto trigger Article 50 by the end of March. Heidi Alexander spoke against the government amendment and motion for including an arbitrary timetable set by the Government to placate their own Back Benchers. She insisted, Tariff-free trade with the EU has to be the priority and declared her support for a second referendum on the terms of leaving the EU.

SNP Europe spokesman Steven Gethins said that Labour risk backing a Tory amendment that will see the UK put through a hard right Tory plan to take us out of the EU that will damage jobs, livelihoods, businesses and the economy.

Lib Dems leader Tim Farron said his party would not support the motion as it fails to include any meaningful commitment from the Conservative Brexit government on such fundamental questions as to whether it wants Britain to remain in the Single Market.

The governments crisis was summed up prior to the debate by May, who was forced to comment on discussion on a black Brexit in which the government left article 50 talks without a future deal with the EU, a white Brexit within the UK seeking to remain in the single market and a grey Brexit involving leaving the single market with access to parts of the single market.

May offered an inane response, stating, Im interested in all these terms that have been identifiedhard Brexit, soft Brexit, black Brexit, white Brexit, grey Brexit and actually what we should be looking for is a red, white and blue Brexit.

The pro and anti-EU wings of the ruling elite are equally reactionary. Both put forward a nationalist, anti-working class agenda and are equally supportive of cuts in immigration and restrictions on the freedom of movement.

In his speech, former Labour leader Ed Miliband said he opposed comments made by Mays spokesman on Monday that those calling for the governments plans to be scrutinised were not backing the UK team. Miliband replied, We are not seeking proper scrutiny of the plans for Brexit because of our lack of patriotism; we are doing it out of patriotism, because we believe in the unity of the country.

Labour MP Andy Burnham declared that many lifelong Labour voters voted [in the referendum] for change on immigration. He added, I am clear about that, and it has to be our starting point in this debate. The status quofull free movementwas defeated at the ballot box, so it is not an option. What is to be debated is the precise nature of the changes that replace it, so that we get the balance right between responding properly to the publics legitimate concerns and minimising the impact on our economy.
The Trump transition team confirmed yesterday that Iowas Republican governor Terry Branstad has been selected as the next US ambassador to China. Throughout his election campaign Trump adopted a belligerent anti-China stance. But, in picking Bradstad, he is installing a trusted go-between with top-level connections in Beijing.

Branstad initially met Chinese President Xi Jinping in 1985 during Xis first visit to the United States as a 31-year-old official from Chinas Hebei Province. Xi came to study American agriculture and stayed with a family in the small city of Muscatine. He stayed with Branstad in 2012 at the governors mansion when he revisited Muscatine as Chinese vice-president in the lead-up to his installation as president in 2013.

Chinese foreign affairs ministry spokesman Lu Kang yesterday described Branstad as an old friend of the Chinese people, adding, we would welcome him playing a bigger role in promoting Sino-American relations. Branstad has energetically promoted the export of Iowas agricultural produce, including pork and corn, to China and has visited China seven times, most recently on a trade mission last month.

At the same time, Branstad has close ties to Trump. He was a key Republican Party figure in backing Trump and campaigned for him in Iowa during the election. The governors son Eric was Trumps campaign manager for Iowa. Trump signalled Branstads appointment during a campaign rally in the state in early November, describing him as our prime candidate to take care of China.

Trumps installation of Branstad continues a pattern of choosing close personal acquaintances and cronies for jobs in his administration. Trump transition spokesman Jason Miller effusively told the media yesterday that Branstad was someone with considerable public policy experience... [a] great grasp of trade issues, agricultural issues, [who] has a tremendous understanding of China and Chinese people.

In reality, Branstad is a long-running Iowa politician who has little foreign policy experience and whose knowledge of China stems from his efforts to leverage his acquaintance with top Chinese leaders to press for better trade deals for his state. On trade, he has been a vocal supporter of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), which Trump has pledged to axe on his first day in office.

Branstads difference with Trump over the TPP, as well as his lack of familiarity with key issues such North Korea, rising tensions over the South China Sea and the US military build-up throughout Asia against China, suggests he will not play a significant role in determining policy or strategy toward Beijing.

That conclusion is already being drawn in Beijing. Jie Dalei, an associate professor at Beijing University, told the Washington Post that Branstads appointment could help communication, but is unlikely [to] have too much impact at the decision-making level.

The Chinese government is paying far more attention to Trumps decision last Friday to take a phone call from Taiwans President Tsai Ing-wenthe first conversation between top American and Taiwanese leaders since 1979. The contact called into question US adherence to its One China policy, which recognised Beijing as the sole legitimate government of all of China including Taiwan.

Trump has aggressively defended his breach of decades of diplomatic protocol, with tweets berating China as a currency manipulator and slamming its land reclamation activities in the South China Sea as constructing a massive military complex. During the campaign, he threatened to impose 45 percent tariffs on Chinese importsa step that would provoke trade war between the worlds two largest economies.

Jie told the Post: Compared to that, the appointment of an ambassador to China, though very thoughtful, is unlikely to fix the damage caused by the uncertainty of his tweets and Taiwan call.

The Chinese government has responded to Trumps phone conversation by calling on the United States not to allow Taiwans president to transit through New York in January on her way to visit Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvadorall of which have full diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The US State Department has ruled out blocking Tsais transit through the United States.

Taiwans Liberty Times has reported that Tsais delegation wanted to meet members of Trumps team, including his chief of staff Reince Priebus, who has longstanding connections in Taiwan. Such a move would greatly exacerbate tensions between China and the incoming Trump administration.

Trumps advisers have already signalled an intensification of the US confrontation with China that was initiated by the Obama administrations pivot to Asiawhich has included a massive military build-up and strengthening of alliances throughout the region in preparation for war with China.

Trumps provocative phone call with Taiwan is just an indication of the aggressive methods that the new administration will use to try to extract concessions from Beijing and consolidate American hegemony in Asia. The president-elect has appointed Branstad to ensure he has a reliable communication channel to the top Chinese leadership as he proceeds with his reckless high-stakes gambles.

The author also recommends:

Trumps phone call with Taiwan: A provocation against China

[6 December 2016]
William Sallie, a 50-year-old US army veteran was executed by lethal injection Tuesday night at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison in Jackson.

Just about 10 minutes after the US Supreme Court rejected his plea for a stay of execution, the state led Sallie to the death chamber and strapped him to the gurney at 9:38 p.m. He was pronounced dead at 10:05 p.m.

It was the ninth execution this year by the state of Georgia. The state has now put to death more prisoners this year than Texas, which has executed seven inmates. Texas has put to death 538 prisoners since 1982. Over half, 279, were executed during the 2001-2014 tenure of Republican Governor Rick Perry.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center there have been 19 executions in the US so far in 2016. Currently California has the most inmates on death row, 741, followed by Florida 396 and Texas 254.

Sallie had made multiple appeals to both the state court and federal court systems for a retrial on the grounds that one of the jurors in his second 2001 trial repeatedly lied under oath during jury selection and hence his conviction by that jury was invalid. This elementary plea for due-process rights guaranteed by the US constitution was repeatedly denied by both the state and federal court system.

So egregious were the violations of Sallies constitutional right to a fair trial that even the former chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, Norman Fletcher, in a November 5 column in the New York Times, condemned the states haste in proceeding with the execution.

When Sallie was put to death he had exhausted all of his appeals. On Monday, the Georgia Board of Paroles and Pardons, whose members are appointed by the governor for a seven-year term and nominally confirmed by the Georgia Senate, rejected his clemency plea.

After that the Georgia Supreme court on Tuesday afternoon unanimously denied a stay of execution filed by Sallies lawyers. On November 22, a federal judge in Macon had also refused to reopen Sallies case.

Sallie was convicted of killing his father-in-law, John Lee Moore, aged 41, in 1989. At that time, Sallie was embroiled in a highly contentious custody battle for his two-year old son with his divorced wife Robin and her parents, John and Linda Moore.

According to the record of his court case, Sallie joined the US military at the young age of 19 and moved to Fort Steward in South Georgia. During this time Sallie was undoubtedly exposed to the violence that is part of the basic training of soldiers.

While at the army base, Sallie met and married Robin Moore, who was from the small town of Alma with a population of about 3,500. However, Robin subsequently filed for a divorce alleging physical abuse in December 1989 and then moved, along with her two-year old son Ryan, to live with her parents in rural Bacon County whose seat is in Alma.

Sallie subsequently took his two-year old son with him to his home in Illinois, but Robin was able to obtain temporary custody of Ryan from an Illinois court. The divorced mother then brought her young son back to Georgia in February 1990. The following month Sallie moved to Georgia and rented a mobile home in nearby Liberty County.

According to court records, in the early morning hours of March 29, 1990, Sallie entered the home of his in-laws, John and Linda Moore, where his wife and infant son were staying. He shot John Moore fatally and grievously wounded his wife Linda. He then forcibly took Robin and her sister April, handcuffing them to his trailer, but released them unharmed that night.

Sallie was arraigned and indicted by a Bacon County Grand Jury on July 10, 1990, for murder and various other charges including kidnapping. The case was tried in late March 1991 and the jury, while acquitting him of several other serious charges, found him guilty of murder. He was convicted and sentenced to death.

However, the Georgia Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 1998 on the grounds that Sallies court appointed defense attorney had a conflict of interest and hence could not have represented the accused without prejudice. The attorney, it was discovered, was also a paid law clerk for the judges in the same district where Sallies 1991 trial was held.

Subsequently Sallie obtained a second trial, which was held in 2001. However, one of the female jurors reportedly lied repeatedly under oath during jury selection. She claimed she had never experienced a conflict-ridden custody case despite having gone through several contentious divorces. This fact alone, if known, would have disqualified her as a juror. This same juror also loudly proclaimed that she would follow biblical law rather than Georgia law.

Further, the judge who sentenced Sallie to death in 2001 had himself presided over extremely acrimonious scenes during several divorce and custody cases with this same female juror. Yet the judge did not take the elementary legal step to disqualify the juror, let alone call for a new trial for Sallie.

Not having an attorney in time, Sallie missed a deadline for federal review of his case by eight days. The state of Georgia, shockingly, does not grant prisoners such as Sallie the right to an attorney. As former Georgia Supreme Court chief justice Fletcher, who himself has sanctioned the death penalty, points out in his column:

Fundamental fairness, due process and the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment require the courts to provide an attorney throughout the entire legal process to review a death sentence. Virtually every capital-punishment state has this safeguard. Georgia is an outlier.

According to the Staff Report of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil & Constitutional Rights and the Death Penalty Information Center, there have been more than 150 exonerations of death row inmates based on evidence that demonstrated their innocence since 1973.
Anglo American has been given the green light by the Fair Work Commission (FWC), the federal governments industrial tribunal, to sack 82 workers at its German Creek open cut coal mine in Queenslands Bowen Basin.

The November 27 FWC ruling, which was announced as a strike by 140 workers for a new enterprise agreement (EBA) at the mine entered its fifth month, sets a dangerous precedent.

Under Fair Work laws, workers taking authorised protected industrial action are not supposed to be sacked for striking in enterprise bargaining periods. Thirty-two of the 33 German Creek workers who have been fired were on strike.

While the Construction Forestry Energy Mining Union (CFMEU) condemned the ruling and said it would appeal, the union is directly responsible for the sacked miners being left in the hands of the industrial court. The CFMEU has isolated the striking workers and encouraged the illusion that they would be dealt with fairly in the industrial court.

The German Creek verdict is in line with an increasing employer assault on workers jobs, wages and conditions. It follows an FWC decision last month allowing Essential Energy power company to impose 600 forced redundancies in July 2018 and axe another 1,000 in 2019. The Essential Energy ruling overrode an existing enterprise agreement.

The previous German Creek enterprise agreement expired in April 2014. Anglo American rejected CFMEU calls for an agreement that maintained current rates of pay, and improved accident pay in line with coal industry standards, with no further casualisation of the workforce.

The Australian Financial Review described the CFMEUs claims as historically moderate. Nevertheless, Anglo American deliberately dragged out negotiations to effectively impose a wage freeze for more than two years and radically restructure its operations, including the destruction of full-time jobs and extended casualisation.

Rejecting a CFMEU application to block the sackings, FWC deputy president Ingrid Asbury said Anglo American had not breached the Fair Work laws.

Company restructuring and job losses during protected strike action for enterprise agreements, Asbury declared, does not necessitate a finding that the employer has breached good faith bargaining obligations. Where such review and restructuring is genuine and based on valid business grounds, it will not be capricious or unfair conduct.

Anglo American claimed that the redundancies resulted from changes to its mining operations that it had often considered but never taken until the strike began in August. Last December, the giant corporation announced a major global restructure, including the sell-off of 60 percent of its mining assets and the axing of 85,000 jobs. At least four coal mines in Australia were targeted for closure.

The changes at German Creek feature the use of massive draglines to remove overburden from the coal seams. The company estimates this will permit it to cut $40 million in production costs over the next three years.

CFMEU district vice-president Stephen Smyth told the media that the companys claims were a smokescreen to cover up what it really wanted to do and that this had been aided and abetted by the FWC. From the outset, however, and throughout the 16 negotiating meetings held since 2014, the CFMEU has appealed to the company to work with the union to develop alternative cost-cutting measures.

In line with its hopes of striking a deal, the CFMEU has kept the dispute within the framework of the draconian industrial laws, faithfully policing the provisions that prohibit solidarity industrial action by other workers.

Fair Work Australias extensive anti-strike laws were introduced in 2009 by the Rudd Labor government with the backing of the CFMEU and all the other trade unions.

When Anglo announced its intentions to sack workers and employ more casuals through labour-hire companies, the union opposed any action by workers at other mines. To head off demands for such support, the CFMEU rushed the German Creek sackings into the FWC, hoping to secure a temporary delay and give the union more time to stitch-up a sell-out agreement with Anglo American.

The mining giant is still churning out coal at German Creek using non-striking mine employees and the labour hire company WorkPac, which has a union-endorsed enterprise agreement, while strikers sit on a CFMEU-controlled picket line in Camm Park, well away from the mine. The union has also diverted the strikers into harmless protest stunts, appeals to state and federal MPs and cynical claims that the companys attacks could be defeated through the FWC.

The FWC decision at German Creek will be used by other mining companies and employers to restructure and slash operating costs.

Mining giant BHP Billiton is currently attempting to impose a three-year wage freeze and severe cuts to conditions in EBA negotiations with the CFMEU at the companys Peak Downs, Saraji and Goonyella coal mines. Peabody Energy is planning to close its Moorvale open-cut coking coal mine in Queensland as part of a major restructure.

The mining union has already rubberstamped the destruction of thousands of jobs. Since 2012, over 4,600 coal jobs have been axed in Queenslands Mackay region alone, while in New South Wales more than 5,500 coal jobs have been axed and 22 pits closed in the past two years.

To defeat Anglos job cuts, and the unions isolation of the German Creek strikers, the dispute must be taken out of the hands of the CFMEU. Workers need to establish democratically-elected rank-and-file committees and appeal to fellow workers across the mining industry, in Australia and internationally, to defend all jobs and hard-won conditions in an industrial and political counter-offensive against the mining giants.

Such a fight must be based on the fight for a workers government and a socialist perspective to nationalise the mining companies under workers control and completely reorganise society to provide for basic social needs, not corporate profits.

The author also recommends:

Australia: Fair Work Commission backs mass sackings at Essential Energy

[6 December 2016]

Anglo American sacks workers amid strike at Australian mine

[17 November 2016]

Australia: Strike continues at Anglo Americans German Creek coal mine

[3 October 2016]
President-elect Donald Trumps transition team announced yesterday it will nominate retired Marine General John Kelly to head the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Kelly is the third ex-general slated for a top cabinet position. His nomination follows those of James Mattis for Secretary of Defense and Michael Flynn for National Security Adviser.

The unprecedented prominence of the military in the incoming cabinet is a sign that the American ruling class is preparing for war abroad and domestic repression at home.

Kelly is a 40-year veteran of the Marine Corps whose career and personality embody the brutal and deeply reactionary American political culture in a period of permanent war. In a speech delivered in 2014 on the ongoing wars, Kelly said: If you think this war against our way of life is over because some of the self-appointed opinion-makers and chattering class grow war weary, because they want to be out of Iraq or Afghanistan, you are mistaken. This enemy is dedicated to our destruction. He will fight us for generations, and the conflict will move through various phases as it has since 9/11.

The Department of Homeland Security is a massive bureaucracy of state violence and repression. Its new director will command 240,000 employees comprising an army of border guards, police, detectives, investigators, deportation administrators, trial attorneys and judges who catch, process and deport hundreds of thousands of undocumented workers each year.

Created in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, DHS has served as a Petri dish for a police state. It was founded one year before the Northern Command (NORTHCOM), and the two semi-parallel institutions are aimed at preparing the Armed Forces and police for military activities within the United States.

Kelly will be the first former military officer to lead DHS. With an extensive history leading US military forces in South America, he will combine border security with the expanded involvement of American imperialism throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Kellys speeches are filled with attacks on the chattering class and all those who doubt Americas intentions. He rants against the Washington bureaucracy and materialist youth who cant understand the price paid so they and their families can sleep safe and free at night.

Kelly is an open defender of torture who vocally opposed calls to close Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. He told the US Senate in 2015 that the only people not treated humanely or having their human rights protected [at Guantanamo] are the guards, and that the prisoners have better healthcare down there than probably the veterans in our country have.

Kelly commanded troops during the invasion and occupation of Iraq, in which up to 1 million civilians were killed. He helped lead the brutal offensive against the ancient city of Baghdad and told a reporter: Baghdad aint s**t.

Following Obamas 2012 reelection, Kelly was selected to command US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), the military organization responsible for Central America, South America and the Caribbean.

Kelly is a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers, to use the self-description of General Smedley Butler, who led US military expeditions in the Caribbean and Central America a century ago. In 2015 Senate testimony, he criticized the Obama administration for cutting funding for the military, noting in Senate testimony that SOUTHCOM was just barely able to keep the pilot light of US military engagement on in the border region.

He called for the US to detach fair labor and human rights standards from arms sales in Central and South America and explained that homeland defense does not begin at the one yard line of our Southwest border, but instead extends forward, throughout the hemisphere, to keep threats far from our nations shores.

He praised private-sector economic dynamism as the greatest element of our national power, and said he is hopeful American businesses will help advance our Presidents goal of a stable, prosperous, and secure Central America.

Kelly was selected over Republican Congressman Michael McCaul, who some conservatives found  insufficiently tough on border security, according to the Washington Post. McCaul wrote an op-ed on FoxNews.com last week in which he said, We are going to build the [border] wall. PeriodWe are talking about a historic, multi-layered defense system

That this was the program of the candidate who was passed over for being insufficiently tough on border security shows the urgent danger posed by the incoming administration.

In addition to Kelly, Mattis and Flynn, Trump is reportedly considering retired General David Petraeus as Secretary of State. The prominence of such figures in the government is the product of a long-term process in which the military-intelligence apparatus has exercised an ever more dominant role in the state. After 25 years of unending war, under both Democrats and Republicans, the United States is taking on the character of a garrison state.

The ex-generals in Trumps cabinet will join the corporate executives and extreme right-wing figures who have been selected for every cabinet position. On Monday, the media reported that Trump is selecting Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt, a close ally of the oil industry and a denier of climate change science, has declared war on virtually all environmental regulations.

The extreme character of the incoming administration makes all the more glaring the efforts by the Democratic Party and the Obama administration to minimize and cover up the dangers that it represents.

On Trumps DHS appointment, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said: We hope that General Kelly is willing to stand up for facts, families and the Constitution.

Leon Panetta, Obamas Secretary of Defense from 2011 to 2013, said Kelly was an excellent choice, while the New York Times called him blunt-spoken and popular with military personnel.
Just a few weeks ago, the New York Times called German Chancellor Angela Merkel the last defender of Western freedom. Following the election of Donald Trump, hopes for the defence of democratic principles relied more than ever on Merkel, the Times wrote in early November.

Merkel made clear on Tuesday what this amounts to. At the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party congress in Essen, she delivered an extraordinarily right-wing speech full of xenophobic attacks and demands for the strengthening of the police and military.

Previously, Merkels refusal to impose a firm upper limit for the acceptance of refugees, as the CDUs Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), had urged, was portrayed as a welcoming culture toward refugees. This was always a misinterpretation.

In the interests of German big business, which has profited from the freedom of movement within Europe, Merkel has to date opposed the reinforcement of national borders and worked for a so-called European solution to the refugee crisis. The substance of this solution was the closure of Europes external borders. This was connected to a brutal policy of deterring refugees through the establishment of border protection units and mass deportations. Despite this, right-wing critics accused Merkel of endangering security and national sovereignty by refusing to impose national border controls.

Merkel began her speech Tuesday with a clear concession to her right-wing critics. She noted that Germany would never again accept several hundred thousand refugees in a matter of months, saying, A situation like that in the late summer of 2015 cannot, should not and will not be repeated. That was, and is, my declared political goal.

This was followed by a list of the measures to repulse refugees adopted by the German government over recent months. We have produced a list of safe countries of origin, she stated. It had been correct to categorise the Western Balkan states as safe countries of origin so as to make clear that the vast majority of the thousands of refugees from this region have no prospect of staying with us.

We live in a state under the rule of law, Merkel continued. Every refugee had the right to due process. But this process required that those who had no right to remain had to leave the country.

She then praised Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere (CDU), who had introduced refugee ID cards, restricted family reunifications in Germany and strengthened the deportation process.

Amid jubilation from the close to 1,000 delegates, Merkel hailed the grand coalition governments integration law, designed to prevent the emergence of so-called parallel societies. She declared, Here with us, that means show your face. The full veil is therefore not appropriate. It should be banned wherever this is legally possible.

The CDU intends to ban the burqa wherever the identification of an individual is necessaryin the courts, at police checkpoints and on public transport.

Already in the summer, the interior ministers from the CDU/CSU spoke out in the Berlin declaration in favour of a partial ban on the burqa and niqab. At the time, Interior Minister de Maiziere stated, We reject the burqa. It does not fit in with our cosmopolitan society. Wearing the full veil was an affront to an open society and, in addition, anti-woman. He wanted everybody in our country to show his face.

Merkel and de Maiziere know very well that a ban on the burqa is incompatible with the right to freedom of religion guaranteed in Germanys Basic Law. The state is prohibited from evaluating such religious beliefs of its citizens, let alone describing them as right or wrong, ruled the Constitutional Court in 2015 in its headscarf ruling.

Merkels demand for a burqa ban is part of a shift to the right, including an intensification of anti-refugee policies. The congress included in its main resolution large portions of an anti-refugee motion proposed by Baden-Wurttembergs interior minister, Thomas Strobl.

The resolution called, among other things, for an expansion of the reasons for detention prior to deportation if a danger is posed by the person obliged to leave. It proposed an extension of the period rejected asylum seekers can be held in custody prior to their deportation from the current limit of four days to four weeks. This goes beyond a proposal from de Maiziere to increase the limit on detention to two weeks.

The main resolution also declared its support for so-called transit zones as an appropriate method of management while processing refugees applications. When the far-right Hungarian government of Victor Orban legally sanctioned such camps and set them up on the countrys borders in September 2015, Merkel opposed the action.

The congress also agreed that asylum seekers who had no prospect of staying should have their tolerated status removed if they provided false information or refused to cooperate in the determination of their identification. Welfare benefits would immediately be cut, the asylum process halted, and a document on the obligation to leave, i.e., to be deported, provided. Asylum seekers who spent their holidays in the country they fled in the face of war and persecution would lose their asylum status. Their travel documents would immediately be confiscated.

The right-wing offensive agreed upon at the CDU congress comes in response to the rapidly worsening economic and political crisis in Europe. The Brexit vote in June, the election of Donald Trump as US president and the rejection of the referendum in Italy have shaken official politics in Europe to its foundations.

In response to Trumps nationalist America-first policy, the German chancellor and her party are responding with their own nationalist and racist offensive. On all fundamentals, the CDU is adopting the right-wing, xenophobic agitation of the Alternative for Germany (AfD).

The strengthening of the military and the state is to be intensified. While cuts are being carried out on social spending in all areas, virtually unlimited financial resources are being made available for the strengthening of the military, the militarisation of the police and the expansion of the intelligence agencies. Defence spending is to increase by 130 billion in the coming years.

To finance this vast build-up, the CDU congress agreed on strict budgetary discipline and an adherence to the debt brake.

These policies have produced ever-widening social devastation. In Europe, there are already 23 million people unemployed. Millions more work in low-wage jobs or irregular employment. Poverty is growing dramatically in Germany. Over 12 million people officially live in poverty. Children are affected particularly badly. Eight million people work in precarious conditions. By contrast, a tiny minority lives in the lap of luxury. Conditions have been created by the government for this minority to enrich itself at the expense of the vast majority.

The political establishment is adopting ever more openly racist and dictatorial methods so as to suppress the mounting opposition to its anti-social and militarist policies.

While Merkel warned repeatedly about the danger posed by the growth of the AfD, her xenophobic policies and the reactionary content of the resolution will result in a strengthening of the right-wing radicals. Not for nothing did AfD Deputy Chairman Alexander Gauland remark that the CDU resolution contained many of his partys positions. Prior to his AfD membership, Gauland was a CDU official for 40 years.
Late Tuesday, Ohio lawmakers passed a bill banning abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, as early as six weeks into pregnancy. The legislation is intended to effectively prohibit the majority of abortions, as many women do not learn of their pregnancy until after six weeks.

Ohio Senate President Keith Faber, a Republican, directly attributed the last-minute vote on the bill, which had failed in the State House of Representatives twice previously, to the election of Donald Trump. A new president, new Supreme Court appointees change the dynamic, and there was consensus in our caucus to move forward, Faber said.

During the election campaign Trump promised to appoint a pro-life justice to Supreme Court and called for the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 court ruling which guaranteed women the right to an abortion.

The Ohio legislation would restrict the timeframe for legal abortions to the shortest in the country. It would make it a felony for a doctor to perform an abortion without checking for a fetal heartbeat, or to carry out the procedure if the heartbeat is detectedeven in cases where the pregnancy is due to rape or incest. Physicians violating the law would face up to a year in prison and professional disciplinary action.

Ohio Governor John Kasich, the supposedly moderate presidential candidate in the Republican primaries, has not yet indicated whether he would sign the bill. Although Kasich opposes abortion, he has previously expressed concern that the law would be ruled unconstitutional by federal courts.

A hallmark of lame duck [post-election legislative sessions] is a flood of bills, including bills inside of bills, and we will closely examine everything we receive, said Emmalee Kalmbach, Kasichs press secretary.

If the legislation is signed by the governor, the law is certain to face legal challenge, with the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio already stating it would file a suit against it.

Appeals courts have struck down similar heartbeat laws in Arkansas and North Dakota enacted in recent years. In January, the Supreme Court declined to review those rulings, but abortion opponents are taking the signal from Trumps campaign statements and extreme right-wing cabinet appointees to go on the offensive. Senate President Faber said of the Ohio legislation, I think it has a better chance than it did before.

The abortion ban language was added as a last-minute amendment to a bill concerning the reporting of child abuse. Kasich has 10 days to sign or veto the legislation once it reaches his desk.

Ohio already has among the most restrictive abortion laws in the US. Abortions are banned in the state if the fetus is considered viable. Women seeking an abortion must undergo mandatory counseling, followed by a 24-hour waiting period. Ninety-one percent of counties in Ohio lack an abortion clinic.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, the overwhelming majority of abortion patients in the US are poor or low income. Forty-nine percent live below the federal poverty level, pegged at a yearly income of just $11,880 for an individual.

Ohios heartbeat bill follows a rash of recent state laws restricting the right to abortion, with hundreds of onerous rules across the country enacted over the last few years.

In March, Indiana Governor and current Vice President-elect Mike Pence signed a bill prohibiting women from obtaining abortions because of objections to the fetus race, sex or a disability. The law also placed greater requirements on doctors who perform abortions, with the intent of limiting the number of providers.

In Texas, rules enacted recently require healthcare clinics that provide abortions to either bury or cremate fetal remains, adding thousands of dollars to the cost of the procedure.

The surge in anti-abortion laws has had the predictable result of growing numbers of women seeking to terminate their pregnancies through unsafe means.

In Ohio, another bill banning abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy was also under consideration in the legislature, with a vote expected this week. Some abortion opponents who have remained neutral on the heartbeat bill on tactical grounds favor the 20-week bill.

Ohio Right to Life President Michael Gonidakis stated, Our ultimate goal is to overturn Roe v. Wade and we feel the 20-week ban is the best (legal) strategy.

The author also recommends:

Tennessee woman charged in attempted coat hanger abortion

[5 December 2016]
The Michigan legislature, meeting in lame duck session, has temporarily postponed consideration of a bill closing the Michigan Public School Employee Retirement System (MPSERS), freezing out new employees from receiving pensions. Republican legislators have delayed action but have pledged to pursue the measure during the next legislative session.

Currently, school employees in Michigan are under a so-called hybrid system, where part of their pensions is covered under a traditional defined benefit plan and a portion is in the form of a defined contribution 401(k)-style arrangement. The change to the hybrid plan was enacted in 2012.

The proposal to strip pensions from new school employees comes as MPSERS faces an unfunded pension liability of some $26.7 billion. However, the closing of MPSERS to new employees will have the somewhat paradoxical short-term impact of increasing substantially the financial obligation of the state to the pension system with estimates of an additional cost ranging between $1.6 billion and $3.8 billion over the next five years. A significant portion of that cost, at least $214 million, will be borne by cash-strapped local school districts.

Legislators are also reportedly looking at ways to get existing employees to freeze their pensions and switch over to a 401(k)-style plan.

In another regressive move, the Michigan Legislature is considering an attack on retiree health care for public employees. Under a proposed package of bills, local governments would be barred from paying more than 80 percent of the cost of retiree health care if its program is funded at less than 80 percent of outstanding liabilities. The proposal would apply to current employees and retirees.

New employees could not be offered retiree health care benefits at all. Instead, local governments could contribute an amount up to 2 percent of employees pay to a tax-deferred health savings account that could be used upon retirement.

Republican legislators decided to postpone action on the pension bill and retiree health care changes following demonstrations by police and firefighter unions. In addition, Republican Governor Rick Snyder had indicated that he would veto the pension legislation, citing its short-term costs.

For their part, public employees unions, including the Michigan Education Association (MEA) and the American Federation of Teachers, are saying they are open to so-called reforms, merely opposing hasty action. For the union executives, workers pension funds are a source of income and investment opportunities. They are in favor of measures to preserve these funds, even if it means cuts to retirees. Indeed, at every stage, the unions, in exchange for a seat at the table, have offered their services to both Republican and Democratic administrations to dismantle public education and gut the wages and benefits of teachers.

Indicating his general agreement with the need for pension cuts, Mark Docherty, president of the Michigan Professional Firefighters union, said, The issue of liabilities needs to be dealt with, but in the proper way, and that was not in lame duck, referring to the current session of the legislature.

Tabling this discussion rather than ramming this legislation through is the right decision, said MEA President Steven Cook in a press release Tuesday. In fact, the MEA supported pension reform legislation in 2012 shifting teachers to the hybrid pension scheme, a step toward eliminating defined benefit pension entirely.

The current changes are being backed by extreme right-wing forces around the Michigan Freedom Fund, which is in part financed by the DeVos family based in western Michigan. Amway heiress Betsy DeVos has been picked by President-elect Donald Trump to be education secretary in his administration. DeVos is a bitter opponent of public education and favors the introduction of a voucher system to siphon money out of the public schools into the coffers of for-profit school operators and religious institutions. Amway President Doug DeVos announced to attendees of the West Michigan Policy Forum in September that killing public employee pensions was his top priority.

In a statement published December 1, the Michigan Freedom Fund called the pending pension legislation a tremendous and important move to put Michigans fiscal house in order.

Meanwhile, Americans for Prosperity, another extreme right-wing lobbying group backed by the Koch brothers, is also promoting the pension changes.

The moves by the Michigan Legislature have an inexorable logic. The cutting off of new employees entering and contributing to MSPERS will inevitably starve the system of funds, creating a budgetary crisis that could serve as the impetus to shut down the entire pension system.

Accounting changes pushed through by the Snyder administration now require local school districts to calculate their accrued pension liabilities and place them on their balance sheets. In some cases, these are truly alarming amounts. For example, the newly formed Detroit Community Schools has already accumulated unfunded obligations of more than $100 million. Further, the spread of charter schools means that a declining number of teachers are paying into MSPERS.

Eric Lupher, president of the Citizens Research Council (CRC), spoke to the World Socialist Web Site about the proposed pension changes in Michigan. The CRC is a nonprofit public affairs research organization. Lupher said the proposed changes front load the pension liability. He continued, When you close down a pension system, rather than have a slope that goes up over a long period of time it is spread out on an even basis over a long period of time.

He called the present Michigan pension system significantly underfunded. He said the increased costs incurred by the state in closing down the pension system left very few options. He went on, I dont expect them to seek more taxes, that leaves them with cuts to education or other parts of the state budget.

There is an overall pattern to follow the business model and close down defined benefit plans.

The move to strip pensions from school employees in Michigan is part of an attack nationwide on public worker pensions. Everywhere, Democrats and Republicans alike insist that cuts are needed to save pension plans, even as trillions have been squandered on war, Wall Street bailouts, corporate tax cuts and debt repayments to the banks.

Last week, Illinois Republican Governor Bruce Rauner vetoed a spending bill passed by the state legislature providing $215 million toward a required contribution of $700 million by the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to its pension fund. The money had been added to the budget as part of a supposed deal between the Chicago Teachers Union and the administration of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, which was aimed at blocking a teachers strike. The state funding had already been factored into the CPS budget, and its loss will likely now force the district to impose massive layoffs.

Meanwhile, the California Supreme Court is set to review a ruling giving state and local governments broader authority to cut pensions. The states high court will decide on the merits of a lower-court decision that held that public pensions were not immutable and could be reduced under certain circumstances. The case could open the way for wholesale cuts to pensions across the state.

The California court had ruled that the legislature could change the pension formula for active employees and reduce their anticipated retirement benefits. Previously, the courts had held that pensions could be reduced only if offset by an equivalent benefit.

Over the last two decades, the percentage of private sector workers with defined pension plans has fallen from 35 percent to 18 percent. There is a bipartisan consensus to similarly loot the pension funds of public sector workers in order to funnel money to major bondholders and other investors. A major milestone in this attack was the Obama-backed 2013-2014 Detroit bankruptcy, which overturned the state constitutions prohibition against impairing public sector worker pensions.

With the inauguration of the Trump administration in January, the assault on pensions will escalate. Trump is installing the most right-wing government in US history, pledged to dismantling public education, Medicare and whatever remains of New Deal and Great Society social reforms.
A coronial court in Queensland is conducting an inquest into the death of 24-year-old asylum seeker, Hamid Kehazaei, a prisoner in Australias detention camp on Papua New Guineas Manus Island who died from septicaemia spreading from a cut on his foot in August 2014. The two-week long inquest is scheduled to conclude this week, but enough evidence has already been presented to demonstrate that the anti-refugee policy of successive Australian governments is responsible for his death.

After being discharged from the Iranian military in 2013, Kehazaei fled from Tehran, concerned about the oppressive Iranian regime. He arrived on a boat at Christmas Island, an Australian Indian Ocean outpost, in August 2013, a month after the then Labor government reopened the countrys offshore processing centres on Manus Island and Nauru. Kehazaei was transferred to Manus Island in September 2013, where he was imprisoned until his death in September 2014.

The Labor government declared that asylum seekers detained in these remote camps would never be allowed to live in Australia. Instead, they would be held indefinitely, until they either returned to the country they fled or were resettled in Nauru, Papua New Guinea or a third country. This policy, which violates the basic legal and democratic right to seek asylum, has been maintained by the current Liberal-National government.

In February 2014, a disturbance erupted in the Manus camp. Branded a riot, it bore all the hallmarks of a calculated provocation orchestrated by the Australian government as the WSWS explained at the time, and resulted in the state-sanctioned murder of asylum seeker Reza Barati.

Kehazaeis roommate was so traumatised by the event that, according to their case manager, Kehazaei effectively became his full-time carer. Kehazaei tended for his basic needs such as showering, going to the toilet, eating, shopping. This included washing his friends soiled sheets and clothes.

The disturbed man was ultimately moved to an Australian psychiatric facility. However, on August 23, 2014, Kehazaei complained of fever, chills and an aching body. He presented before International Health and Medical Services (IHMS), a private company contracted by the Australian government to provide medical treatment for those jailed at the camp.

The next day, Kehazaei had abscesses across his left leg and groin and was unable to walk. His condition continued to deteriorate and two days later, on August 25, after one of the abscesses burst, Anthony Renshaw, an IHMS doctor, requested his immediate transfer to Port Moresby, the PNG capital.

By 1:15pm the transfer request was forward to the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP). Moreover, the request was marked urgent as there was a commercial flight at 5:30pm that day and the Manus Island airport does not operate at night.

During the hearing, it became clear that critically-ill asylum seekers could not be evacuated without express permission from the DIBP, that permission was routinely denied and that doctors felt under political pressure from Canberra not to request medical transfers.

No response from DIBP came until 6pm, after the flight had left. Instead of authorising the transfer, the departments director of detention health operations criticised the request. She asked why Kehazaei was not being treated at Lorengau hospital, a poorly-equipped hospital on the other side of Manus Island.

Authorisation for a transfer was not given until 8:41am the next day, by which time the severity of Kehazaeis condition necessitated the use of a medivac air ambulance. Doctors now requested that he be transferred directly to Australia. However, permission was denied and the plane landed in Port Moresby. That night, Kehazaei suffered three heart attacks.

Canberra finally approved his transfer to Australia and he arrived at Brisbanes Mater hospital at 10am on August 27, unconscious and barely alive. He never regained consciousness. On September 5, 2014, his family approved the unplugging of his life support.

Kehazaeis medical reports revealed that he contracted a rare water-borne bacteria known as chromobacterium violaceum. Though life-threatening, if identified early via laboratory testing, it can be treated with the antibiotic Gentamicin. That drug, although effective, is potentially toxic to the kidneys and is only prescribed when patients can be monitored with blood chemical testing.

Australian governments, both Labor and Liberal-National, have claimed that the detainees have access to medical care broadly comparable to that in Australia. But doctors told the inquest that the Manus Island medical clinic lacked the proper equipment necessary to diagnose and treat Kehazaei.

Martin Muis, the senior medical officer on Manus Island, said the facilities were extremely basic and there was no x-ray machine or laboratory to carry out diagnostic facilities. As for Lorengau hospital, Muis said there was no way in hell he would ever transfer patients to Lorengau, where they suffer the same staff and equipment shortages as at the Manus Island Clinic.

If Kehazaei had been transferred on the first day he would have had a very different outcome, Leslie King, the emergency doctor who treated Kehazaei at the Manus Island clinic, testified. I really feel strongly that if he could have left that day, gotten to a place that had a laboratory, that had facilities we didnt have  he would have had much more of a fighting chance.

Yilana Dennett, a co-ordinating doctor with International SOS, which was contracted by IHMS to organise medical transfers from the camps, told the inquest that the doctors normally recommended transfers to Port Moresby, even though the medical care in a Port Moresby is not up to international standards. We knew the prime minister was reluctant to bring patients to Australia, so we knew if we put in a request it would not be approved.

In previous cases, when doctors had recommended Australia as a first or only option, the majority have not been approved, or have not been approved in an adequate timeframe, or have had considerable delay.

Dr Stewart Condon, a coordinating doctor with International SOS who requested Kehazaeis medical evacuation, said the DIBP resisted medical movements for budgetary and political reasons. For people to travel to Australia we knew that there was a political pressure in the department, he testified.

The medical evidence makes clear that the responsibility for Kehazaeis death rests entirely with the Australian political establishment. He died as a direct consequence of the refugee ban and detention regime established by the previous minority Labor government, which was kept in office from 2010 to 2013 by the parliamentary votes of the Greens.

That policy has been enforced and extended by the current Coalition government, which is now seeking to bar detainees from even visiting Australia for the rest of their lives. Not just Kehazaei but thousands of other refugees are victims of a system determined to deter and punish asylum seekers.

The cruel logic of the bipartisan border protection regime is that no asylum seeker can come to Australia, even if they have a life-threatening illness resulting from the squalid surroundings of their forced and indefinite detention.
Seventy five years ago, on December 8, 1941, 18 Trotskyists were sentenced to prison terms for advocating the overthrow of the US government. The following two-part article is based on information gathered from the valuable book Trotskyists on Trial: Free Speech and Political Persecution Since the Age of FDR, by Donna T. Haverty-Stacke. In addition, the articles draw from the World Socialist Web Sites independent investigation of thousands of pages of trial transcripts, SWP archive material, and previously unavailable FBI records brought to light by Haverty-Stacke.

In 1941, the Roosevelt administration launched one of the most important political trials in the history of the United States when it charged 29 members of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) with sedition and conspiracy to overthrow the government. FBI agents raided the partys offices in Minneapolis on June 27 and prosecutors convened a grand jury shortly thereafter. On October 27, the trial began in federal court. Its proceedings lasted more than one month.

The Socialist Workers Party was aligned politically with the Fourth International at the time of the trial. It was singled out for prosecution as the United States prepared to enter the world war in Europe and East Asia.

The defendants used the trial to present the partys socialist principles to a broad audience. They defended the SWPs opposition to imperialist war from the witness stand and refuted the prosecutions attempt to portray socialist revolution as a conspiratorial coup detat. They conducted themselves in a courageous and principled manner, with federal prison sentences hanging over their heads. The SWP published the trial transcript of SWP National Chairman James P. Cannons spirited testimony in the 1942 pamphlet Socialism on Trial.

On December 1, the jury found 18 of the defendants guilty of violating the newly enacted Smith Act, but recommended leniency in sentencing. On December 8, one day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the trial judge read the 18 their sentences, which ranged from 12 to 16 months. On November 22, 1943, the Supreme Court refused to take the appeal lodged by the defendants. The next month, the 18 surrendered themselves to federal authorities and began serving their sentences. Despite a national campaign that generated support from thousands of workers and many prominent intellectuals and attorneys, Roosevelt refused to pardon the defendants. Six of the 18 were released after six months, and the remaining 12 were released in January 1945 after serving one year.

This significant event in the history of the socialist movement is the subject of a new book published 75 years after the trial by Hunter College Professor Donna Haverty-Stacke. The book, titled Trotskyists on Trial: Free Speech and Political Persecution Since the Age of FDR (New York University Press, 2016), is a significant work and its author is to be congratulated on her accomplishment. Haverty-Stacke has not only taken up a subject that has been ignored by academia, she has also brought to light many previously unknown details of the prosecution and its political and legal ramifications.

Haverty-Stacke has undertaken a painstaking review of previously unexamined or unavailable archived material from the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This material has been largely unexplored by academics, who have all but ignored (with the notable exception of Bryan Palmers biography of James P. Cannon and his history of the 1934 Minneapolis General Strike) the significant role of Trotskyism in American political life.

It is a welcome development that Haverty-Stackes book provides a wealth of new information regarding the extent of the penetration of the Trotskyist movement by FBI agents and informants. She presents the discussions taking place within the Roosevelt administration as it prepared the first peacetime sedition prosecution since those following the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. She addresses the legal issues involved in the trial, the appeal before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the cases precedential role in laying the foundation for further anti-communist trials in the 1940s and 1950s. She begins by providing the backdrop to the trial and biographical sketches of the defendants.

The selection of the defendants

The Socialist Workers Party was a major force within the American left. This was the product not only of its leadership of key strikes during the 1930s, but also, and above all, its identification with the political conceptions of Leon Trotsky. His enormous stature as leader, along with Vladimir Lenin, of the 1917 October Revolution; implacable opponent of the Stalinist degeneration of the Soviet Union; and one of the greatest writers of his time made Trotsky, even in exile, a major presence in world politics. Even after his assassination in August 1940, the lasting influence of Trotskys ideas was feared by his enemies among the Stalinists, the fascists and the democratic imperialists. First and foremost among those in the latter category was the US government under the leadership of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

There were two sets of defendants amongst the 29 charged: the partys political leadership based in the SWPs national headquarters in New York City, and the SWPs representatives in Minneapolis, Minnesota who occupied positions of leadership in the regions Teamsters union, Local 544.

The first group of defendants consisted of long-standing leaders of the SWP, professional revolutionaries whose convictions were forged in the class struggles of the early 20th century.

Haverty-Stacke notes that foremost among these defendants was James P. Cannon, the national chairman of the SWP and the founder of Trotskyism in the United States. Born in 1890 in Rosedale, Kansas, Cannon read Trotskys critique of Stalinist policies while attending the Sixth Congress of the Communist International, held in Moscow in 1928. Upon returning to the United States, he declared his agreement with Trotsky. Expelled from the Communist Party, he founded the American section of the Left Opposition and established contact with Trotsky.

Felix Morrow, born in 1906 in New York City, was an SWP political committee member and revolutionary journalist who wrote for the party press. He was respected as the author of the book Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Spain. At trial, the prosecution emphasized Morrows position on the editorial board of Fourth International, the partys theoretical journal.

Albert Goldman, another leading figure in the SWP, migrated to the United States from Belorussia at the age of seven in 1904. Goldman was best known for serving as Leon Trotskys attorney before the Dewey Commission of Inquirys hearings on the Stalinist show trials in 1937. The Roosevelt administration sought the indictment of these three men because their political and, in the case of Cannon and Goldman, personal association, was central to establishing, in accordance with the law, a conspiracy to overthrow the government. One significant omission from the list of defendants was Joseph Hansen, who served as Trotskys secretary for three years. It would seem logical for the government to have considered him the ideal defendant. His absence from the list will be discussed later.

The second group of defendants served in the SWP leadership in Minneapolis, where the partys direction of the Teamsters union had established the Trotskyist movement as a significant political force commanding the respect of thousands of workers. Many of the Trotskyist defendants had personally led the victorious 1934 general truckers strike in the Twin Cities and fought to recruit 200,000 members to the union across the Midwestern states.

Haverty-Stacke describes the history of the Communist movement in the area, noting how Minneapolis became a center of support for the Left Opposition after the Stalinist Communist Party expelled the Trotskyists from the party in 1928: Along with [Cannon] went other future Smith Act defendants in Minneapolis, including Vincent Dunne, Carl Skoglund, and Oscar Coover. [1]

In the years following the general strike, the national Teamsters union under the leadership of close Roosevelt confidant Daniel Tobin unsuccessfully sought to purge Local 544 (and its predecessor, Local 574) of its Trotskyist leadership, employing the most vicious anti-communist propaganda.

In the weeks before the government initiated its prosecution, Local 544 was engaged in a renewed political battle over control of the Minneapolis Teamsters union. When Tobin and the Teamster leadership launched a new attempt to remove the Trotskyists from their positions, in part due to the SWPs opposition to US entry into World War II, thousands of truck drivers voted to abandon the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and re-certify the local with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).

The Minneapolis defendants had played key roles in the decertification efforts. Vincent Dunne was one of them, and he was joined in the defendants dock by his brothers Miles and Grant. All three had led the general strike alongside Skoglund. Grant was unable to bear the immense pressure of the prosecution and took his own life on October 4.

Harry DeBoer, a truck driver, was active during the general strike and was shot by the police. A key member of the SWP in Minneapolis, he visited Trotsky in Mexico City several years later.

Grace Carlson was a social service worker and former professor at the University of Minnesota who ran as the partys candidate for US Senate on an anti-war platform in 1940, garnering over 8,500 votes.

Jake Cooper, also from Minneapolis, served as Trotskys guard at Coyoacan for a four-month period in 1940.

Farrell Dobbs, a former coal yard worker, was appointed national labor secretary of the SWP in 1939 after organizing strikes of hundreds of thousands of truck drivers in the Midwest. Other Minneapolis-based defendants who were ultimately convicted included Max Geldman, Clarence Hamel, Emil Hansen, Carlos Hudson, Karl Kuehn, Edward Palmquist and Oscar Schoenfeld.

The editorial board of the partys Fourth International magazine wrote in July 1941 after the indictment list was published: Yes, there is a profound logic in the fact that these persecutions and prosecutions are instigated by the Gestapo-FBI at this time and in this place and against the specifically-designated victims. [2]

This logic would play out at trial when the prosecution submitted evidence of the close connection several of the defendants had to Leon Trotsky in Mexico. The visits of Cooper, DeBoer, Vincent Dunne, Cannon and Dobbs to Mexico were presented as evidence of an anti-government conspiracy, as was Goldmans close relation to Trotsky in the years preceding the trial. The government selected each specifically-designated victim with an eye to proving that a conspiratorial connection existed between Trotsky and the SWPs alleged preparations for social revolution.

The Smith Act

The defendants were charged with two criminal counts. The first of the two charges against the 29 defendants was unlawful conspiracy from and before July 18, 1938 to date of the indictment [June 23, 1941]  to destroy by force the government of the United States in violation of 18 US Code Section 6, a Civil War-era statute written to suppress the slaveholders rebellion. [3]

The second charge alleged that those indicted advised insubordination in the armed forces with intent and distributed literature to the same effect, and knowingly and willfully would, and they did, advocate, abet, advise and teach the duty, necessity, desirability and propriety of overthrowing and destroying the government of the United States by force and violence in violation of the Alien Registration Act, also known as the Smith Act after the bills congressional sponsor, Howard Smith (Democrat of Virginia). [4]

Haverty-Stacke describes in detail the anti-communist predecessors to the Smith Act, from the criminal syndicate statutes of the Red Scare-era following World War I to the 1938 House Committee Investigating Un-American Activities, established by Texas Democratic Congressman Martin Dies.

The Smith Acts criminal sedition sections made it a crime to advocate, write or organize for the overthrow of the US government, punishable by a jail term of up to 20 years. Its sections relating to immigration required the immediate registration of 5 million immigrants, 900,000 of whom were soon after categorized as enemy aliens subject to internment and/or immediate deportation. This same law used to target socialists and communists was also used to intern 120,000 Japanese-Americans on the West Coast during the war. In contrast to efforts to portray Roosevelt as a defender of democratic rights, he was at the very center of the intensification of repressive police measures.

The Communist Party, which took its political instructions from Moscow and the Soviet secret police, the GPU, wholeheartedly supported the Smith Act prosecution of the Trotskyists (as it later supported the internment of Japanese-Americans). CP leader Milton Howard supported the prosecution of the fascist fifth column on the grounds that the defendants deserve no more support from labor and friends of national security than do the Nazis. [5] Speaking in Minneapolis, Stalinist functionary Robert Minor said the Roosevelt administration should follow the example set by Moscow during the Great Terror of 1936-39 in dealing with the American Trotskyists. [6]

The passage of the Smith Act marked a drastic expansion of the surveillance powers of the state, aimed at socialist groups operating in the United States. Haverty-Stacke points out that in 1939, three days before the House sent H.R. 5138, now known as the Alien Registration Bill, to the Senate, President Roosevelt issued a secret order placing all domestic investigations [of espionage, counterespionage, and sabotage] under the FBI, Military Intelligence Division, and Office of Naval Intelligence, with the FBI as the central coordinating agency. [7]

As early as 1936, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was sending Roosevelt reports on domestic subversives, which included the Trotskyist leadership. [8] Hoover continued to pressure the president for the authority to intensify his surveillance, and Roosevelt signed the bill into law on June 29, 1940. Haverty-Stacke writes that by the time the bill became law, the FBIs infiltration of the SWP was already well underway: By late 1939, both Teamsters Local 544 in Minneapolis and the Socialist Workers Party headquartered in New York became targets of the bureaus investigations. [9]

The decision to prosecute

As the US prepared actively for entry into the war, Roosevelt faced the challenge of imposing the type of class discipline needed for the war effort. For the previous 22 months, the Stalinist Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) had opposed US involvement in the war in Europe, in keeping with the August 1939 Stalin-Hitler pact. But with the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, the CPUSA pivoted from opposition to US intervention in the war to full support for the Roosevelt administrations war drive. The Stalinists immediately began transforming their apparatus into a mechanism to police the working class and enforce a nationwide no strike policy.

The Roosevelt administration decided to prosecute the Trotskyists on June 23, 1941, the day after the German invasion of the Soviet Union. With the CPUSA reversing its previous stance to become a pro-war party, the SWP became the most significant socialist anti-war party in the United States. The Roosevelt administration was concerned that the movements principled opposition to imperialist war would make it a pole of attraction for anti-war sentiment in the American working class.

The decision to prosecute followed months of intense discussion at the highest levels of the Department of Justice and the FBI. Haverty-Stacke examines the contentious legal and political problems that confronted the government.

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover

Hoover was an early advocate of prosecution. But for the Department of Justice and Roosevelt himself, prosecution entailed a series of risks. Leading administration officials such as Department of Justice lawyer Francis Biddle were concerned that the prosecution could generate broad opposition, galvanizing the SWP and alienating the Roosevelt administrations liberal base.

In June 1941, Hoover attempted to pressure Roosevelt, claiming that should the US enter the war, the Socialist Workers Party could cause a tie-up of materials flowing to and from plants in that vicinity having National Defense contracts. [10] That same month, US Attorneys Victor Anderson and Wendell Berge indicated their support for prosecution. [11] On June 12, Teamsters President Tobin sent Roosevelt a telegram requesting prosecution. Haverty-Stacke writes: Tobin argued that the Trotskyists, who had succeeded in organizing drivers across the central states, were in a position to disrupt the nations commercial transportation networks, and, if they took advantage of the war crisis, could overthrow the government and set up a socialist state. [12]

The SWP claimed during the trial and in its aftermath that Roosevelt decided to prosecute the SWP as a result of Tobins June 12 telegram. But this was only partially true. Haverty-Stacke explains:

Because of this telegram, Tobin has been accused of setting in motion the chain of events that led to the arrest of twenty-nine members of the SWP and Local 544. At the time of those arrests and during the trial, the defense argued that Tobin called in a political favor from Roosevelt and that the president intervened in an internal union dispute, launching the first Smith Act prosecution. This political debt argument has survived in varying degrees in the limited scholarly literature on the case and has informed the popular memory of the prosecution within the SWP. The Department of Justice, however, had already been seriously considering such prosecution as early as April 1941, based on the independent investigation of the FBI dating back to the fall of 1940. [13] (Emphasis added)

Ultimately, according to Haverty-Stacke, Francis Biddle made the move in this case largely because of the intelligence he received from the FBI. [14]

The centrality of Leon Trotsky to the prosecutions case

Though Haverty-Stacke does not focus on this issue in her book, the WSWS investigation of the trial record makes clear that the prosecutions theory of the case is centered on establishing the connection between the SWP defendants and Leon Trotsky. This became the crucial legal issue around which the entire case revolved. Under this theory, Trotsky was the architect, instructor and director of the SWPs activities in Minneapolis and across the country. So central was Trotsky to the prosecutions case that he was listed as a co-conspirator at the grand jury phase, despite the fact that he had been killed the prior August.

The experienced US attorneys from the Department of Justice, aware that a verdict of not guilty on both counts would be an immense embarrassment for the administration, laid out a strategy aimed at securing convictions. Their theory of the case revolved around showing the connection between Trotsky and the SWP defendants.

The prosecutors searched for any evidence that tended to show the defendants had met or corresponded with Trotsky or traveled to Mexico City. They submitted evidence of even the slightest connections between the SWP and Trotsky to advance their theory.

In the prosecutions opening argument, the US attorneys claimed that the SWP:

 was an instrumentality framed by a man who departed this life in August 1940, by the name of Leon Trotsky, who at the time of his departure, I believe, was in exile in the Republic of Mexico, and that this party was the Trotsky Party, or the party was dedicated to carry into effect the ideas and the plans and the views of Leon Trotsky with respect to the establishment of a government here on earth, and particularly as this refers to the United States of America, and that the program of this party, or the ideas that were basic in this party, represented the views of Leon Trotsky, and those of his contemporary, the first executive head of the Soviet Union, V.I. Lenin, and that their philosophy was that they could reach a solution of all their problems by the establishment of a workers state and that the defendants, or a large number of them, with the knowledge of all these defendants here on trial, made trips to Leon Trotsky in Mexico for the purpose of receiving his counsel and guidance and direction from time to time, not only in furnishing a personal bodyguard and in furnishing protection to Leon Trotsky, for his personal safety, but otherwise contributing to Leon Trotsky and his activities while he was at the outskirts of Mexico City, in Mexico, until the time of his assassination, and that these ideas of Leon Trotskys are the ideas of the Socialist Workers Party, and so far as the evidence in this case will show, the affirmative and positive ideas of all the defendants upon trial. [15]

Even a single visit to Trotsky in Coyoacan was flaunted by the prosecutors as proof of conspiracy. So brazen were the state prosecutors that SWP attorney and defendant Albert Goldman raised legal objections to the prosecutions excessive reliance on evidence of SWP visits to Mexico. The government, Goldman claimed, made it seem that visiting Trotsky was itself a conspiratorial act. US Attorney Schweinhaut replied:

The law, I am certain, as counsel knows, with respect to a conspiracy, is that a conspiracy can be accomplished not alone by doing an illegal act but by the doing of, for example, legal acts for an unlawful purpose. The testimony here has already shown and it will be shown again that these men held out Trotsky as their leader. It becomes an important matter to show the association of the defendants personally with Trotsky and in doing so it can be shown what the nature of the association was. [16]

In particular, the prosecution sought to show that Trotsky elaborated two of the SWPs conspiratorial policiesthe SWPs proletarian military policy and the Union Defense Guard.

The proletarian military policy was developed by Trotsky and communicated to the SWP leadership through personal meetings and extensive correspondence in the years that preceded Trotskys assassination in August 1940. [17] The proposal for a Union Defense Guard was initiated by Trotsky for the purposes of defending workers and socialists from attacks by fascist paramilitary organizations, which had established a presence in Minneapolis.

The prosecutions theory of the case relied on showing (a) that such programs existed and were being implemented by the SWP in Minneapolis, (b) that they were conceived of by Trotsky, and (c) that Trotskys suggestions were conveyed to the SWP via personal communication with several of the defendants. The US attorneys spent five weeks at trial using evidence gathered through months of investigation to prove each link.

The previously unknown extent of government infiltration of the SWP

Haverty-Stackes book reveals that by late 1940, the FBI had acquired extensive knowledge of the SWPs activities and had access to high-level informants within the partys New York headquarters.

The surveillance of the Trotskyist movement had begun in the mid-1930s, when the FBI began placing certain party leaders under surveillance. Haverty-Stacke notes: The Trotskyists found themselves targets of both the SDUs [Special Defense Units] recommendations and the FBIs Custodial Detention list. A few of the 18 had already been categorized by Hoover in the most dangerous groupingA1before their prosecution. [18]

By late 1939, as Haverty-Stacke notes, the FBI had already targeted the SWP in Minneapolis and New York. But even the following year the infiltration was still somewhat primitive. In April 1940, the FBI resorted to paying a janitor at a Chicago event center to retrieve information from trashcans regarding delegates to the SWP congress.

In this period, Haverty-Stacke explains, there were two essential elements to the government infiltration. First, the government obtained informants from a minority faction of Local 544 that was opposed to the Trotskyist leadership on an anti-communist basis. James Bartlett, the governments star witness at trial, represented this reactionary element. Second, the government based its infiltration program on the acquisition of informants from within the SWP.

According to Haverty-Stacke, the FBI sought to recruit agents from within the SWP leadership. They attempted to contact and recruit SWP leaders in the months before the Roosevelt administration made the decision to prosecute.

According to the testimony of FBI informant Henry Harris, FBI Agent Perrin asked Harris to convey an offer to SWP defendant Carl Skoglund in early 1941. [19] Skoglund, a Swedish-born socialist, was living in the US without proper immigration papers. The FBI offer was for Skoglund to provide information to the FBI in return for impunity and a permanent resolution of his immigration problems. Skoglund refused the offer. A central element of the FBIs infiltration was offering key figures an impunity incentive to become informants and aid the prosecution. [20]

FBI Agent Roy Noonan testified that the FBI obtained a major new source of information in the autumn of 1940. Noonan played the role of lead investigator, tasked with overseeing the evidence-gathering operation against the SWP in Minnesota.

US Attorney Henry Albert Schweinhaut and SWP Attorney Albert Goldman questioned Agent Noonan. Noonan noted that by 1941, the FBI had several investigations of the Socialist Workers Party in their files for the past years. [21]

Schweinhaut asked Noonan when the FBI began its investigation into the SWP defendants and Noonan replied: [W]e have had several of them in our files in past years, but in the latter part of 1940, two or three specifically. [22] (Emphasis added)

On cross-examination, Goldman and Noonan had the following exchange:

Goldman: And how long before that did the investigation start, as far as you know? Noonan: I know that the investigation was being conducted in February and March [1941], and I know that we have had information regarding some of the defendants long before that. G: How long before that? N: I know we had it in November, 1940. [23]

The November 1940 date corresponds with Haverty-Stackes finding that the decision to prosecute was based on the independent investigation of the FBI dating back to the fall of 1940. [24]

After the FBI obtained a higher degree of information regarding the defendants in November 1940, the FBI was able to oversee a vast expansion of its infiltration network. Noonan testified at trial that the surveillance was intensified in February and March of this year [1941]. [25]

Recently declassified FBI communications show a qualitative development in the FBIs infiltration network from November 1940 to mid-1941. The FBI files include dozens of reports by agents located in Omaha, Kansas City, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Seattle, Los Angeles, Mississippi, New York, New Jersey and elsewhere, quoting from confidential informants. The FBI files from the year 1941 include transcripts of branch meetings and full subscription lists to the party press. The FBI knew how much money each branch was raising and when it was holding meetings. The FBI had full schedules of the national speaking tours before they were publicly announced, as well as minutes from Political Committee meetings. It was aware of who was elected to serve on what national board, including the Control Commission. The FBI had also acquired substantial information about foreign affiliates to the Fourth International, indicating a high degree of infiltration of the New York headquarters.

By the spring of 1941, Haverty-Stacke writes, the investigation thus had broadened out beyond the Teamsters in Minneapolis to mesh with the existing investigations of national SWP leaders in New York. By that time, the partys two most active branches [Minneapolis and New York] remained under heavy FBI surveillance, riddled with well-placed informants. [26] (Emphasis added). According to Haverty-Stacke, The FBI watched the SWPs national headquarters in New York in particular very closely. [27]

Hoovers priority at trial: Preventing the exposure of the SWP informant network

Internal government documents uncovered by Haverty-Stacke also shed light on the qualities Hoover was looking for in an informant. Haverty-Stacke points to a June 1941 conversation between Hoover, leading Department of Justice lawyer Francis Biddle and US Attorneys Schweinhaut and Berge. In the course of this discussion, the Department of Justice lawyers suggested the FBI place its own agents in SWP headquarters in New York to gather evidence in preparation for trial.

Schweinhaut was first to propose this plan of action to Hoover. Berge seconded Schweinhaut, writing Hoover in mid-June 1941: If you think there is information which, from the investigative standpoint, can be best secured by the method you discussed with me on the telephone, you are authorized to order such an investigation, noting that the administration attorneys agree that it would not amount to entrapment so long as the government agents do not inspire the doing of illegal acts merely for the purpose of getting evidence. [28]

Hoovers response revealingly sheds light on his strategy for infiltrating the SWP. His concerns were two-fold.

Replying to the Justice Department attorneys, he first expressed a fear that FBI agents placed in headquarters for the purpose of gathering evidence for trial could pose a serious possibility of embarrassment to the Bureau  if the agent were later used as a witness and required to testify in open court. [29]

In an additional section of his response letter (a section to which Haverty-Stacke does not make reference), Hoover explains that not only was the Justice Department suggestion risky, it would also be ineffective from an information gathering standpoint.

Hoover wrote: The possibilities of obtaining important evidence in the immediate future through such an arrangement are very doubtful, inasmuch as a new member of the Party would necessarily have to establish himself and satisfy the Party leaders as to his reliability prior to being the recipient of confidential information, and that this would take a considerable amount of time, probably months. [30]

From these quotations, the following conclusion can be inferred. To Hoover, an informant was valuable insofar as he (a) could be protected from being exposed publicly by testifying at trial, (b) was already operating at the highest levels of the SWP and with the confidence of the SWP leadership, and (c) could provide the FBI with information immediately without the risks and delays associated with an outside agent ingratiating himself into the party leadership.

This discussion took place in mid-June 1941. Eight months earlier, Hoover had begun personally monitoring discussions between B.E. Sackett, the FBIs chief agent in New York City, and Joseph Hansen, a key leader of the SWP who had served as Trotskys secretary in Mexico City.

Hansen met all of Hoovers criteria. He had already won the confidence of the party leadership and was in a position to provide important evidence to the FBI without delay and with minimal risk of exposure. As the prosecution unfolded over the following months, Hansens name was almost inexplicably absent from the list of SWP defendants.

Seventy-five years ago, on December 8, 1941, 18 Trotskyists were sentenced to prison for advocating the overthrow of the US government. Below is the second part of a two-part article based on information gathered from the valuable book Trotskyists on Trial: Free Speech and Political Persecution Since the Age of FDR, by Donna T. Haverty-Stacke. In addition, the article draws from the World Socialist Web Sites independent investigation of thousands of pages of trial transcripts, SWP archive material, and previously unavailable FBI records brought to light by Haverty-Stacke.

In her recently published book Trotskyists on Trial, Professor Donna Haverty-Stacke makes use of trial records and newly available FBI records to investigate how the FBI prepared for the prosecution of 29 members of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in the Smith Act trial of 1941.

The material presented by Haverty-Stacke provides a much clearer picture of this key period in the history of the socialist movement. It lends enormous weight to documents uncovered by the International Committee of the Fourth International in 1975 as part of its Security and the Fourth International investigation, which revealed that the State Department and FBI held meetings, beginning in September 1940, with a leading figure in the SWP, Joseph Hansen. In the context of the new material published by Haverty-Stacke, one central question arises: Why was Joseph Hansen absent from the list of defendants in the Smith Act trial?

Joseph Hansens secret meetings with the US government

The documents published in the initial Security and the Fourth International investigation show that Joseph Hansen established communication with the US government after Trotskys assassination. Between 1975 and 1978, the investigation raised the question: why would Hansen have been interested in contacting the government, and why did he do so without notifying the SWP leadership? Hansen claimed in Healys Big Lie that he met with the FBI just once. [31] This was proven to be untrue.

Hansen had spent three years as Trotskys personal assistant in Coyoacan, Mexico. Of the small handful of Americans residing at Trotskys compound, Hansen was the most politically involved and had the closest connections with the leadership of the SWP in the US. Ten days after Trotskys death on August 21, 1940, Hansen contacted the US Embassy in Mexico City with the hope of opening up a confidential relationship with the US government.

Hansens meetings were carefully followed by the highest levels of the American government. Figures such as George P. Shaw, Robert McGregor and B.E. Sackett were assigned to lead and follow the investigation. Shaw, a high-ranking State Department diplomat, had worked at the US consulate in Tegucigalpa, Honduras; San Luis Potosi, Mexico; and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico and was later to serve as ambassador to Nicaragua, El Salvador and Paraguay. [32] McGregor served as secretary of the US consulate in Mexico, and Sackett was the special agent in charge of the New York division of the FBI. Within weeks of Hansens first contact, J. Edgar Hoover was personally monitoring the meetings between Hansen and government officials.

Other officials following Hansens case included Raymond E. Murphy of the State Department and H.H. Clegg of the FBI. Murphy was a well-connected State Department officer who was later to champion prosecution of suspected spy J. Alger Hiss. Murphy was the State Department official who first made information about Whittaker Chambers available to Congressman Richard M. Nixon of the House Un-American Activities Committee. [33] Clegg was a veteran FBI agent who later served as assistant director of the FBI. [34] Government officials handled the matter with great delicacy and interest.

A September 1, 1940 letter from US Embassy official George P. Shaw to the State Department includes a memorandum of a conversation which took place on August 31, 1940, between Consul [Robert G.] McGregor of this office and Mr. Joseph Hansen, secretary to the late Mr. Leon Trotsky. [35]

The memorandum reads: Mr. Joseph Hansen, secretary to the late Mr. Trotsky, came in on Saturday morning in order to discuss matters connected with the assassination of Mr. Trotsky. [36]

During this first meeting, Hansen provided the government with information surrounding the assassination. At this time, Hansen communicated to the US government that he had met for three months in 1938 with agents of Stalins secret police, the GPU. McGregors report from the August 31 meeting notes that Hansen said he was himself approached by an agent of the GPU and asked to desert the Fourth International and join the Third. The report states that Hansen met with a GPU handler named John for three months. [37] Hansens astonishing admission brought heightened attention to these meetings.

Several days later, on September 4, Hansen returned to the US Embassy and provided the government with a memorandum of conversation. A second report from George P. Shaw to the US secretary of state was labeled Strictly Confidential and dated September 4. It reads: I have the honor to enclose as of particular interest to the Department a copy of a memorandum of conversation handed in at this office by Mr. Joseph Hansen, secretary to the late Mr. Trotsky, on September 4, 1940. [38]

The September 4 report notes that Mr. Hansen informed a member of my staff regarding details behind the August 20 attack on Trotsky. A memorandum attached to the report notes that Hansen said he would be very glad to have a copy [of unpublished writings by Trotsky] furnished to the Consulate General. [39]

On September 14, embassy official McGregor sent another strictly confidential letter to the State Department noting that Hansen had returned to the consulate that day to turn over confidential information to the US government. The report begins: Mr. Joseph Hansen, Secretary to the late Leon Trotsky, called this morning and exhibited a memorandum, a photo stat of which is attached. [40] This was the W Memoranduma list of names of GPU agents the SWP had received from Whittaker Chambers, a former member of the Communist Party who later aided the US government in the anti-communist witch-hunt of the late 1940s and early 1950s.

The September 14 report also notes that Hansen provided the government with information regarding Albert Goldman, who was later to become a defendant in the Smith Act trial. The report notes: Hansen said that Albert Goldman, lawyer for the late Leon Trotsky, questioned Jacson yesterday [Jacson was an alias of Ramon Mercader, Trotskys assassin]. Jacson told him that he had forwarded a suitcase on June 13, 1940 in bond via Railway Express to the Customshouse in New York in his own name [41]

On September 25, 1940, another letter from the US Embassy in Mexico to the State Department informed Washington that Mr. Joseph Hansen, Secretary to the late Mr. Trotsky, called at this office yesterday Hansen then provided information which he obtained as a result of questioning individuals connected to Ramon Mercader, including Sylvia Ageloff, a young SWP member whom Mercader had seduced in an attempt to gain access to Trotskys home in Coyoacan. [42]

Another letter dated September 25, sent by George P. Shaw to Raymond E. Murphy of the US State Department, includes the following passages: I am resorting again to a personal letter in order to acquaint you with a desire of Mr. Joseph Hansen, secretary to the late Mr. Trotsky, to establish confidential means by which he may be able to communicate with you and through you to this office from New York City. [43]

George P. Shaw further notes that Hansen believes it possible that certain information may become available to him in which the Department will be interested  For this reason he wishes to be put in touch with someone in your confidence located in New York to whom confidential information could be imparted with impunity. [44]

In response to Shaws letter conveying Hansens request to impart confidential information in return for impunity, Raymond E. Murphy phoned J.B. Little of the FBI on September 28. In a follow-up letter dated that same day, Murphy wrote to his FBI contact: It is further understood that Hansen is desirous of ascertaining the name of some person with whom he may communicate in the event he develops any information. Consequently, it would be appreciated if your New York office would send an agent to interview him in about ten days by which time he should be located in New York. [45]

Also on September 28, Raymond Murphy of the State Department wrote to George P. Shaw of the US Embassy regarding the desire of Mr. Joseph Hansen to establish means by which he may communicate with me and through me to your office  I would suggest that Mr. Hansen be informed that he get in touch with Mr. B.E. Sackett, Room 607, United States Court House, Foley Square, New York City, and use that office as a liaison. Mr. Sackett, agent in charge of the New York District of the Federal Bureau of Investigation through its office in Washington, is developing the investigation of the Trotsky case in the United States. The Department much prefers that these channels be employed as, strictly speaking, it has no means of its own to go into the extensive investigation needed for a case of this character The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been appraised of Mr. Hansens departure and will undoubtedly contact him in New York. [46]

On September 30, George P. Shaw wrote to Hansen in answer to the inquiry you made here [in Mexico City] prior to leaving for the United States. Shaw informed Hansen that B.E. Sackett was to be his intermediary. In a handwritten note, McGregor said: Dear Joe: Please acknowledge receipt of this and indicate condition received in, so as to ensure that nobody, SWP member or otherwise, had opened the letter intended for Joe. [47]

News that Hansen sought to impart information with impunity soon made its way to J. Edgar Hoover, who became personally involved in overseeing the governments meetings with Hansen and the management of his status as an informant.

In an October 1, 1940 letter to B.E. Sackett, J. Edgar Hoover acknowledged that Joseph Hansen, Secretary to the late Leon Trotsky, is leaving Mexico City shortly for New York City where he intends to conduct some independent investigation into the assassination of Trotsky. He has requested advice from the state Department as to whom he can contact to furnish any information that he may develop. [48]

Hoover ordered the FBI to accept Hansens offer to impart information with impunity: Should Hansen call at the New York Office, he should be handled tactfully and all information which he can supply and his assistance in this investigation should be obtained. No information, of course, should be furnished him concerning the progress of the investigation by the Bureau. [49]

On October 23, Hansen replied to George P. Shaw. I received your letter concerning Mr. Sackett in good condition and shall visit him shortly, Hansen wrote in response to Shaws September 30 letter. [50] Hansen was notifying the government that no members of the SWP had intercepted the letter.

The SWP leaderships testimony regarding Hansens communications

Hansen carried out his meetings with the US government behind the backs of the leadership of the SWP. Several leading figures of the SWP denied having any knowledge of Hansens communications with the government and insisted that the leadership did not consider approaching the FBI after Trotskys death.

On June 2, 1977, David North, the national secretary of the Workers League, the predecessor of the Socialist Equality Party, interviewed Felix Morrow, a Smith Act defendant who served on the SWP Political Committee in 1940.

Q: I was wondering whether or not you had any recollection about the steps taken by the Socialist Workers Party at the time to learn more about the assassination, how it was carried out. Particularly whether it received any assistance from the American government in any way. Morrow: None. Q: None whatsoever? Morrow: None. Q: Well, what was the attitude of the FBI, in your opinion, toward the assassination? Morrow: They werent involved in any way. Q: Well, did the SWP to your knowledge have any policy of trying to obtain the assistance of the FBI? Morrow: There would be no reason. It was an open and shut case. Jacson had done it. The only problem was to establish that Jacson was a GPU agent. Q: I see. Then to your knowledge the SWP made no initiative at any time toward establishing contact with the FBI? Morrow: None. None. Q: Nothing at all? Morrow: Im sure of that. Q: Youre sure of that? Morrow: Yes. Q: Let me ask you something. Who was more or less in charge in the party with investigating the death of Trotsky? I know that Goldman wrote a book on the assassination. Morrow: Well, all involvedyou know, the whole Pol-Com (Political Committee). Q: I see. How about Joseph Hansen? Morrow: He was down in Mexico. Q: And when he came back in late September 1940? Morrow: He was not a member of the Pol-Com. Q: And therefore he would not have been given a special responsibility? Morrow: No. Q: Does the name Sackett mean anything to you? Morrow: No. Q: It means nothing to you? Morrow: Nothing. Q: Politically speaking, in that period of time, as I recall there was some serious problem in terms of repression against the SWP and the labor movement by the FBI. This was before the war. Morrow: Uh-huh. Q: In 1940, around the period of August, had the repression already started, building up toward the Minneapolis case? Morrow: I would say so. Q: In what particular way? Morrow: I couldnt really remember the details, but you know Q: The heat was on? Morrow: Yes, the heat was on. Q: And by the beginning of 1941, it probably became quite serious? Morrow: Yes. Q: In light of that, how would the party have looked upon an attitudegiven Trotskys political positions on defense of the workers state, his attitude toward imperialism and Stalinhow would the SWP leadership at that point, the Political Committee, have looked upon reliance on the FBI in terms of Morrow: There was no reliance on the FBI. Q: I see. Morrow: It just didnt exist. Q: But politically speaking, it would have been considered out of the ordinary Morrow: Of course! Q:  for someone to suggest that be done? Morrow: Yes. Q: Im asking this because the question has come up in documentation, but to you that would be complete news. Morrow: Thats right. Q: I see, and youre quite sure that there was never any authorization. Morrow: None. [51]

Morrows statements were supported by the depositions taken of SWP Political Committee members Farrell Dobbs and Morris Lewit, and of Morrow, during the Gelfand Case. [52] Each of these leading SWP officials testified that he had no knowledge of Hansens secret meetings with the FBI.

On April 11, 1982, Dobbs was questioned by Gelfands attorney, John Burton:

Burton: Did you know that in 1940 Mr. Hansen had face-to-face meetings with the FBI in New York City? Dobbs: I did not Q: Did you ever talk to Mr. Hansen about his meetings with the FBI? A: I told you I know nothing about it. [53]

Morris Lewit led the SWP while Cannon, Morrow, Dobbs and others were imprisoned. He was deposed on April 13, 1982 and gave similar testimony.

Burton: At that time did you know whether or not Hansen had met with the FBI in New York City following Trotskys assassination? Lewit: I might have known it from the Healyites statements, the documents. I dont know. Q: Did you consider at that time that allegation to be a lie? A: Not a lie, but ifI knew if anything Joe did was done with the knowledge of the party leaders and under their direction. He was that type of person. [54]

Hansen did not inform the leadership of the SWP about his meetings with the FBI. A December 9, 1940 report by FBI Special Agent M.R. Griffin details the agents visit to SWP headquarters:

The writer interviewed James P. Cannon and Joseph Hansen regarding the Trotsky affair and was advised by them that they had no information to offer. They appeared very reluctant to discuss the matter and gave very brief answers to questions put to them by the reporting agent.

The internal US government reports indicate that Hansen evinced no reluctance to talk to government officials in private. It was only when confronted by the FBI in the presence of James P. Cannon that Hansen kept silent.

The timing of Hansens meetings with the US government

In Trotskyists on Trial, Donna Haverty-Stacke lays out evidence that the FBIs infiltration of the SWP underwent a fundamental change in the autumn of 1940, at precisely the time Hansen established contact with the FBI. FBI Agent Roy T. Noonan testified at trial that the agency developed specific files on key SWP leaders in the latter part of 1940. [55] (Emphasis added).

On cross-examination, SWP attorney Goldman and Noonan had the following exchange:

Goldman: And how long before that did the investigation start, as far as you know? Noonan: I know that the investigation was being conducted in February and March [1941], and I know that we have had information regarding some of the defendants long before that. G: How long before that? N: I know we had it in November, 1940. [56]

The November 1940 date corresponds with Haverty-Stackes finding that the decision to prosecute was based on the independent investigation of the FBI dating back to the fall of 1940. [57]

Haverty-Stacke notes that this infiltration was intensified in the spring of 1941, at which time the SWPs New York headquarters was riddled with well-placed informants. [58] The FBI watched the SWPs national headquarters in New York in particular very closely. [59]

Hansen wrote to George P. Shaw on October 23, 1940 that he shall visit [FBI Agent B.E. Sackett] shortly at his office in New York. Hansen had requested the meeting earlier for the express purpose of imparting information with impunity to the government.

Hansen returned to New York City in the fall of 1940, and Agent Noonan placed emphasis on November 1940 as the date the infiltration reached a higher stage. Such a date strongly correlates with Hansens return to the US and the fact that he promised on October 23 that he would visit with B.E. Sackett shortly, i.e., at the end of October or early November 1940.

The public record of the communications between Hansen and the FBI stops after the October 23, 1940 note. This indicates that after Hansen returned to New York, the relationship took on a higher level of confidentiality and was subject to more stringent classification rules, which have hidden the communications from public view.

Joseph Hansens request for impunity

Haverty-Stackes book provides a context for the peculiar language included in the agreement Hansen sought, in which he would receive impunity in return for sharing information with the government. According to Blacks Law Dictionary, impunity means: Exemption from punishment; immunity from the detrimental effects of ones actions. Cf. Immunity. [60] Hansens request for personal legal protection had a purely individual character. He would not have made such a request if he had been contacting the FBI with the approval of the SWP.

There are two likely reasons why Hansen would have sought exemption from punishment by the government.

The first related to the disappearance of George Mink. J. Edgar Hoover stated specifically that Hansen was to be questioned concerning the disappearance of Mink, a Stalinist agent who vanished in the early part of 1940 and was presumed murdered. Hansens admitted ties to the GPU gave the FBI reason to believe he was linked to Minks disappearance.

In his October 1, 1940 letter to B.E. Sackett, J. Edgar Hoover provided his agent with background information surrounding Hansens ties to the GPU and his possible knowledge of Minks disappearance.

Hoover wrote: Information has further been supplied by the State Department to the effect that Hansen and his associates liquidated George Mink six months ago, shortly before the first attack on Trotsky in May of 1940, by tying Mink up and throwing him into a crater some thirty miles from Mexico City he should be handled tactfully and all information which he can supply and his assistance in this investigation should be obtained. No information, of course, should be furnished him concerning the progress of the investigation by the Bureau. However, every attempt should be made to determine the truth of the report concerning George Mink. [61]

The FBI was interested in Mink because he was a well known GPU agent and a US citizen. Mink, a former Philadelphia taxi driver, had traveled back and forth to Moscow and throughout Europe, where he was imprisoned in Denmark in 1935 as a Stalinist spy. Upon his release, Mink worked for the GPU in Spain during the Civil War. The Anarchist Carlo Tresca accused Mink of murdering the anarchist professor Camillo Berneri on behalf of the GPU in Barcelona. [62] His whereabouts and disappearance were of high importance to the FBI.

There is nothing to suggest that Hoover thought the Trotskyists were responsible for Minks death. Hoovers use of the term Hansen and his associates is a reference to the GPU, which Hoover suspected of killing Mink. The Trotskyists did not engage in assassination of opponents as a matter of political principle and could not have been responsible. Moreover, they had neither the manpower nor the skill to carry out the assassination of a skilled GPU killer. The breach of Trotskys residence in Coyoacan by the Stalinist assassination team in May 1940 and the failure of the guards to return fire give an indication of the inexperienced character of Trotskys defense guard.

A second reason for Hansen to seek exemption from punishment stemmed from the possibility that the government would prosecute the SWP. Hansen used Trotskys assassination as a pretext to establish ties with the government. At this point, the FBI was already active in monitoring the SWP and was considering the possibility of prosecution. By requesting legal impunity, Hansen sought to ensure that neither his past actions nor the information he provided would be used against him as grounds for indictment or prosecution. The fact that he did not appear as a defendant or even as a witness in the trial indicates that he did, in fact, receive impunity.

Joseph Hansens absence from the Smith Act trial

During the trial of the 29 members of the Socialist Workers Party, the prosecutions theory of the case was based on showing a connection between the chief conspirator, Leon Trotsky, and the Socialist Workers Party. This required a detailed showing of each and every connection between Trotsky, who was living in exile in Mexico City, and the Socialist Workers Party.

The prosecution spent days at trial attempting to show the connection between the defendants and Trotsky in Coyoacan. They brought forward the entire weight of evidence collected after months of investigation involving hundreds of witnesses and countless undercover agents to establish the connection between Trotsky in Mexico City and the SWP defendants. Beyond the hundreds of pages of documents showing the SWPs political support for Trotskys program, the evidence included:

A March 1939 photograph showing James Bartlett, defendant Harry DeBoer and their wives posing with Trotsky in Mexico

Testimony that defendant Emil Hansen had traveled to Mexico City to receive advice from Trotsky about establishing union defense guards

Testimony that defendants Vincent R. Dunne and James Cannon had visited Trotsky in early 1939, along with Max Shachtman, also for the purpose of discussing union defense guards

Testimony that defendant Jake Cooper served as a guard for Trotsky in Coyoacan

Evidence that defendant Carl Skoglund drove to Texas in early 1938 with a group of SWP leaders who then visited Trotsky

Records from a Texas auto body shop showing that a Pontiac car owned by Local 544 and driven by Vincent R. Dunne broke down in January 1938 en route to Mexico from Minneapolis

Testimony that defendant Farrell Dobbs told Minneapolis SWP members in early 1938 that guards were needed to defend Trotsky in Mexico City

Testimony that Dobbs himself visited Trotsky in Mexico City

A photograph of Trotsky from August 1, 1938, signed by Trotsky and addressed to Vincent R. Dunne

Testimony that defendant Albert Russell had a photograph of Trotsky in his work office

A reference in Cannons memorial address after Trotskys assassination in which he notes visiting Mexico to help strengthen Trotskys guard.

One name emerges as an obvious evidentiary keystone to the prosecutions case: Joseph Hansen. Hansen lived with Trotsky in the latters compound in Coyoacan and served as his political secretary from 1937 until Trotskys assassination by a Stalinist agent on August 20, 1940. He participated in daily political discussions with Trotsky and was chiefly responsible for overseeing communication between the SWP and Coyoacan. Many of Trotskys communications to the SWP dating from this period were signed J. Hansen for security purposes.

Hansen personified the connection between the SWP and Trotsky, the precise legal issue the prosecution sought to prove. He was intimately familiar with the discussions between the SWP leadership and Trotsky regarding the split with the Burnham-Shachtman faction of the SWP in 1939-40, the development of the partys policy toward conscription in World War Two, and the development of the policy for the establishment of union defense guards. Each of these issues, and, in particular, the latter two, were repeatedly used by the prosecution to show that the SWP and Trotsky were engaging in a conspiratorial plan to overthrow the US government.

The US attorneys were aware of Hansens position as Trotskys secretary and Hansens name is referenced multiple times in the course of the trial. From a prosecutorial standpoint, the fact that Hansen was not even subpoenaed to testify defies explanation.

Had the SWP leadership known of Hansens visits with the FBI, the SWPs defense attorneys would have made heavy use of this key fact at trial.

First, it would have been a major political embarrassment for the Roosevelt administration if it became known that it had held secret meetings with a group it was now prosecuting for conspiracy to overthrow the government.

Second, the fact that the FBI had infiltrated the SWP leadership in advance of the trial would have served as evidence of the anti-democratic, frame-up character of the trial. The defense attorneys could have moved for a mistrial on the grounds that the secret meetings made it impossible to differentiate between the genuine plans of the SWP and suggestions made by government agents and FBI officials. Proof of Hansens meetings could have been used to show that the FBI sought to entrap the SWP into advancing conspiratorial demands, rendering the whole trial illegitimate.

Third, the SWP could have used the meetings to expose the FBIs infiltration network by calling government witnesses and asking them, under oath, about any agents and informants operating within the party. The SWP could have turned the trial into an exposure of state surveillance. The issue of government infiltration of the labor movement was a major one in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The question occupied thousands of pages of testimony before the subcommittee on civil liberties of the Senate Committee on Education and Labor. The subcommittee was led by Wisconsin Senator Robert LaFollette. [63]

The prosecutions definition of a conspirator

In the course of his argument, US Attorney Anderson asserted defendant Albert Goldmans guilt on the grounds that he was a member of the Editorial Board of the Fourth International [Magazine], with James P. Cannon, with Felix Morrow, with Joe HansenSecretary for Leon Trotskyand others [64]

Given that the prosecution claimed Goldman was implicated in the alleged conspiracy against the government by virtue of his serving on an editorial board with Hansen, Secretary for Leon Trotsky, it follows legally that Hansen himself met the prosecutions definition of a conspirator. In addition, the prosecution introduced into evidence an article penned by Hansen and titled Wall Streets War, Not Ours. [65] In other words, the prosecution felt that the writings of Hansen advanced the criminal conspiracy to overthrow the government. Whats more, the prosecution referred to Hansen by the familiar name Joe, despite the fact that he was listed as Joseph Hansen in the party press. Albert Goldman, James Cannon and Felix Morrow were not referred to as Al, Jim, or Fritz, yet the government called Joseph Hansen Joe.

In criminal law, those engaged in a conspiracy are responsible for all acts of the other conspirators in furtherance of that conspiracy, with one exception. As the prosecution noted in its argument at trial, a conspirator can absolve himself of complicity only by taking some affirmative and effective act to disassociate himself from that criminal group. [66]

The most common form of such an affirmative act in American criminal law is to inform on other members of the conspiracy.

The post-war FBI infiltration of the SWP

Even with the SWPs main leadership in jail, the FBI remained concerned that the party was a significant revolutionary force. The infiltration that began with the preparation for the 1941 prosecution was greatly expanded. Based on the acquisition of new information in the autumn of 1940, the FBI began to lay the foundation for a network of informants that gave the government a clear view into the inner workings of the SWP and the Fourth International.

During the Second World War, Hoover believed the SWP remained a significant political force. His nervousness is exemplified by a letter he sent to Assistant Attorney General Wendell Berge in May 1943 in which he notes that the SWP picketed a showing of the pro-Stalinist propaganda film Mission to Moscow.

Information has been received that on the evening of April 30, 1943, members of the subject organization [the SWP] picketed the opening of the film Mission to Moscow playing at the Hollywood Theater, Times Square, New York City, the memo reads.

Hoover reports the exact wording of the SWPs slogans and cites a pamphlet distributed at the picket. James P. Cannon, National Secretary of the Socialist Workers Party, and approximately twenty other members of the Party were present at the picketing but did not participate. Many of the pamphlets mentioned above were distributed to members of the Armed Forces.

In 1945, Hoover disobeyed a Justice Department order that no further investigations of the SWP be carried out. It appears that the sources gained in November 1940 through the spring of 1941 stayed on as long-term assets of the FBI. Hoover successfully shielded his assets from being exposed at trial.

In July 1945, the FBI went after the SWP with a vengeance, Haverty-Stacke explains. [Hoover] continued to gather reports on the party from agents stationed around the country, who worked closely with well-placed informants. [67] In the late 1940s, Hoover maintained the steady flow of memos to the attorney general highlighting the possible dangers and alleged criminal activity of the party and of individual members, like Cannon and Carlson, found in the agents reports that he also forwarded to the Justice Department on a regular basis. [68]

The well-placed informants within the leadership of the SWP remained in their positions and were not exposed by giving testimony during the trial.

Informants in the SWPs New York City headquarters and elsewhere seemingly had access to all correspondence that passed through the headquarters and branch leaderships. FBI reports include detailed descriptions of every major party plenum and conference as well as the positions that were taken by individual comrades. Informants provided the government with a laundry list of the work of Trotskyists internationally, including in the Eastern bloc and in countries run by military dictatorships. [69]

Reports composed by agents in 1946-48 on branches of the SWP in the US were sometimes 60 to 80 pages long. These reports included detailed, multi-paragraph reports on individual party members, their home addresses, the ages of their children, their places of employment, their places of birth, their citizenship status and details regarding personal relationships and affairs.

Throughout this period, FBI agents prepared detailed reports on the activities of key members. There were long reports regarding Cannon, Vincent Dunne, Grace Carlson and Farrell Dobbs, just some of those who remained subject to close monitoring after their release from prison.

The degree to which the FBI was able to intensify its infiltration of the SWP is exemplified by a June 12, 1948 letter from J. Edgar Hoover to the attorney general. Hoover writes: At the present time an extensive investigation is being conducted of the Socialist Workers Party and the coverage of this National Convention is believed desirable. It is requested, therefore, that you authorize the use of technical equipment in connection with our surveillance work of the national Convention of the Socialist Workers Party at the Irving Plaza Hotel, New York City, from July 1 through 5, 1948. [70]

The structure of the FBIs post-war infiltration was as follows: The highest-level information came from at least 20 Confidential Informants who were in personal communication with FBI officials on a regular basis. FBI records indicate that these informants provided information about political meetings, disagreements and the state of the movement internationally. Certain agents, code-named T-1 through T-4, T-14, T-19 and ND 452, had intimate knowledge of the leadership of all branches and clearly occupied key roles in the SWP leadership.

So valuable were a certain number of these agents that the FBI notes they were not in a position to testify in case the government decided to bring further prosecution. The fact that the FBI received full reports of Political Committee meetings and party plenums from different confidential informant sources shows that the highest levels of leadership were compromised by agents of the state.

A rung below the confidential informants was a network of lower-level sources and agents who were members of the SWP in local areas and reported to their specified handlers on local party activities, political disagreements, and the lives of individual members. The FBI had a ring of agents in place in all areas where the party had a presence.

Haverty-Stacke notes that the infiltration of the SWP during 1938-41 laid the foundation for a decades-long infiltration program. Hoovers requests for surveillance were granted by the Justice Department through 1948 and beyond. Further, as the Cold War heated up, Hoovers pursuit of the SWP took on added intensity. The investigation of the party expanded with the growth of anti-communist sentiment and the new mechanisms created to facilitate such sentiment during the early 1950s that became hallmarks of the Second Red Scare. [71]

Haverty-Stacke makes reference to the Socialist Workers Partys 1973 lawsuit against the FBIs launching of COINTELPRO operations against the SWP in 1961. She notes that the FBI used 1,300 agents against the SWP between 1961 and 1976, stealing over 20,000 SWP documents and conducting over 200 illegal break-ins. In 1986, a federal judge ruled that the FBI was guilty of violations of the constitutional rights of the SWP and of its members, and granted the SWP a judgment of $264,000. [72] Haverty-Stacke writes that with access to the FBIs files, [District Court Judge Thomas Griesa] substantiated the SWPs contention that the bureaus investigations of its activities and members began in 1940. [73]

Yet even as the SWPs lawsuit dragged on, the party expelled one of its own members, Alan Gelfand, because he asked the SWP to explain the communications between Hansen and the FBI in 1940. The SWP denounced Gelfand, called the Security and the Fourth International investigation a big lie, and collaborated with the government to protect known agents of the Soviet secret policethe GPUfrom testifying as to the Stalinists role in infiltrating the SWP. Hansen himself died in the weeks before the Gelfand Case began.

There is an overwhelming body of circumstantial and direct evidence pointing to the role of Joseph Hansen as a government informant. During the Gelfand trial, Gelfands lawyer gave the following description of the evidence against Hansen:

The proof depends on an intricate web of circumstantial evidence which leads inexorably to the nexus between the infiltration of the SWP by agents of the federal government and the expulsion of plaintiff. The facts of this case are embedded in great historical events. Their ever-widening spiral sweeps back into the past, embracing within its bounds an increasing number of individuals, including Trotsky himself and those closest to him during his last heroic exile. If a more direct and less arduous road to truth were available, plaintiff gladly would have taken it. Nonetheless, when fact is added to fact, and each is evaluated in its proper relationship to the other, the conclusion becomes inescapable that something is very, very wrong with the leadership of the Socialist Workers Party.

While documentary records exist proving the beginning of Hansens confidential relationship with the FBI, no documents have yet surfaced showing that this relationship ended.

None of this evidence has been answered by Hansens defenders.

Notes:

[1] Haverty-Stacke, Donna T. Trotskyists on Trial: Free Speech and Political Persecution since the Age of FDR. (New York, New York: New York UP, 2016), Print. p. 77. FDR. (New York, New York: New York UP, 2016), Print. p. 11.

[2] The Editors, ed. The FBI-Gestapo Attack on the Socialist Workers Party, Fourth International 2.6 (1941): 163-66. Marxists.org.

[3] Haverty-Stacke at 77.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Id. at 79.

[6] Id. at 108.

[7] Id. at 34. (Citing Confidential Memo for the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of War, the Attorney General, the Postmaster General, the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of Commerce from President Roosevelt, June 26, 1939, OF 10b, box10, FDRPL).

[8] Id. at 41.

[9] Id. at 30.

[10] Id. at 62.

[11] Id. at 61.

[12] Id. at 60.

[13] Id. at 61.

[14] Id. at 73.

[15] Prosecutions Opening Statement, US v. Dunne et al., 26-27.

[16] Testimony of James Bartlett, US v. Dunne et al., 130.

[17] For a detailed explanation of the character of the proletarian military policy, see The Heritage We Defend, Ch. 6: Trotskys Proletarian Military Policy, accessible here. Also available at Mehring Books.

[18] Haverty-Stacke at 153. (Citing J. Edgar Hoover to Special Agent in Charge, New York, June 16, 1942, re. Farrell Dobbs, Internal Security, in Farrell Dobbss FBI file 100-21226, FOIA, in the authors possession; Joseph Prendergast, Acting Chief SDU, to Wendell Berge, January 31, 1942, and Wendell Berge to J. Edgar Hoover, April 25, 1942 in Farrell Dobbss FBI file 146-7-1355, FOIA, in the authors possession; Chief of SDU to J. Edgar Hoover, February 26, 1942, in Dunnes FBI file 100-18341, and Edward Palmquists Custodial Detention Card, in Palmquists FBI file 146-7-1213; J. Edgar Hoover to Chief of SDU, March 31, 1941, in Dunnes FBI file 100-18341).

[19] Testimony of Henry Harris, US v. Dunne et al., 507.

[20] Id. at 78.

[21] Cross Examination of Agent Roy T. Noonan, US v. Dunne et al., 371.

[22] Id. at 372.

[23] Id. at 371.

[24] Haverty-Stacke at 61.

[25] Id. at 371-372.

[26] Haverty-Stacke at 155.

[27] Id. at 154. (Citing FBI report 100-413, NYC 10/20/42 and 12/3/42, f. 7, box 108, SWP 146-1-10).

[28] Id. at 63. (Citing J. Edgar Hoover to Matthew McGuire, June 25, 1941, f. 2, box 108, SWP 146-1-10; Wendell Burge to Henry Schweinhaut, June 25, 1941, f. 2, box 108, SWP 146-1-10; J. Edgar Hoover to Matthew McGuire, June 25, 1941, f. 2, box 108, SWP 146-1-10).

[29] Ibid.

[30] J. Edgar Hoover to Matthew McGuire, June 25, 1941, f. 2, box 108, SWP 146-1-10.

[31] Hansen, Joseph, Healys Big Lie: The Slander Campaign Against Joseph Hansen, George Novack, and the Fourth International: Statements and Articles, (New York: National Education Dept., Socialist Workers Party, 1976), Print, p. 14.

[32] Political Graveyard Entry for George Price Shaw, accessible at http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/shaw.html; US State Department History Office of the Historian Entry for George Price Shaw, accessible at https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/shaw-george-price?

[33] Morgan, Ted. A Covert Life: Jay Lovestone: Communist, Anti-Communist, and Spymaster, (New York, New York: Random House, 1999), Print, p. 149.

[34] Historical G-Men: 1930s FBI Biographies and More. Entry for H. H. Clegg, accessible at http://historicalgmen.squarespace.com/agents-of-the-30s-biographie/.

[35] Letter from George P. Shaw to US Secretary of State Enclosing Memorandum of Conversation Between Robert G. McGregor and Hansen, September 1, 1940. (Cited in The Gelfand Case: A Legal History of the Exposure of U.S. Government Agents in the Leadership of the Socialist Workers Party. Vol. 1. Detroit, MI: Labor Publications, 1985. Print, p. 7).

[36] Id. (The Gelfand Case at 8).

[37] Ibid.

[38] Letter from George P. Shaw to US Secretary of State Enclosing Memorandum for File of Robert G. McGregor, September 4, 1940 (The Gelfand Case at 10).

[39] Ibid.

[40] Memorandum of Robert G. McGregor of Conversation with Joseph Hansen, September 14, 1940 (The Gelfand Case at 13).

[41] Id. (The Gelfand Case at 14).

[42] Letter from George P. Shaw to US Secretary of State, September 25, 1940 (The Gelfand Case at 19).

[43] Letter from George P. Shaw to Raymond Murphy, US State Department, September 25, 1940 (The Gelfand Case at 21).

[44] Ibid.

[45] Letter from Raymond E. Murphy to Mr. J.B. Little, Federal Bureau of Investigation, September 28, 1940 (The Gelfand Case at 23).

[46] Letter from Raymond E. Murphy to George P. Shaw, September 28, 1940 (The Gelfand Case at 24-25).

[47] Letter from George P. Shaw to Joseph Hansen, September 30, 1940 (The Gelfand Case at 26).

[48] Letter from J. Edgar Hoover to B.E. Sackett, Special Agent in Charge, October 1, 1949 (The Gelfand Case at 29).

[49] Id. (The Gelfand Case at 29-30).

[50] Letter from Joseph Hansen to George P. Shaw, October 23, 1949 (The Gelfan d Case at 31).

[51] Interview by David North of Felix Morrow, June 2, 1977.

[52] The Gelfand case was a civil lawsuit brought by Alan Gelfand, a member of the SWP who was expelled for raising questions about Hansens communications with the FBI and GPU. Gelfand sued alleging that the US government was violating his First Amendment rights by using its agents in the SWP to expel him from a political organization.

[53] Deposition of Farrell Dobbs, Gelfand v. Smith et al., 178, 182.

[54] Deposition of Morris Lewit, Gelfand v. Smith et al., 144.

[55] Cross Examination of Agent Roy T. Noonan, US v. Dunne et al., 372.

[56] Cross Examination of Agent Roy T. Noonan, US v. Dunne et al., 371-372.

[57] Haverty-Stacke at 61.

[58] Id. at 155.

[59] Id. at 154.

[60] Blacks Law Dictionary (9th ed.) at 826.

[61] Letter from J. Edgar Hoover to B.E. Sackett, Special Agent in Charge, October 1, 1940 (The Gelfand Case at 29-30).

[62] Dewar, Hugo. Chapter 7: The Lady Vanishes. Assassins at Large, Being a Fully Documented and Hitherto Unpublished Account of the Executions Outside Russia Ordered by the GPU, (Boston: Beacon, 1952), Print.

[63] For further details, see The Labor Spy Racket, by Leo Huberman, U.S. Congress Senate Committee on Education and Labor, Modern Age Books, NY, NY, 1937.

[64] Closing argument of US Attorney Anderson, US v. Dunne et al., 2492.

[65] Testimony of James Bartlett, US v. Dunne et al., 228.

[66] Closing Argument of US Attorney Anderson, US v. Dunne et al., 2457.

[67] Haverty-Stacke at 204.

[68] Ibid.

[69] See Boxes 109 and 110, SWP 146-1-10, including, for example, FBI Report 100-4013, New York.

[70] June 12, 1948 Memorandum For the Attorney General, RE: Socialist Workers PartyInternal SecuritySWP, Box 110 SWP 146-1-10.

[71] Haverty-Stacke at 204.

[72] Id. at 220.

[73] Ibid.
BJP's Ram Madhav and former Jammu and Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah have sharp exchanges on Twitter over separatists' protests in the Valley and continuance of UN office in Srinagar.

By India Today Web Desk: BJP general secretary Ram Madhav may have just unveiled another goal-post of the BJP and the Modi government vis--vis Jammu and Kashmir. Ram Madhav has questioned the existence of the office of UN Military Observer Group in Srinagar.

Ram Madhav's comments came in the wake of separatists led by the Hurriyat Conference giving a call to march to the UN office on December 10 while extending the general strike in the Valley till 15th of this month.

advertisement

The separatists have urged the people to come out in large number and take part in the march towards the UN office and hand over a memorandum to the military observers. The Hurriyat has been accusing the Indian government of denying the people of Kashmir the political right to self-determination.

READ| Omar Abdullah says Pakistan didn't initiate Kashmir unrest, Modi government mishandled it

According to Ram Madhav, the UN office gives another alibi to the separatists to disrupt normalcy in the Valley.

Ram Madhav suggested shifting the office to some other part of the country saying, "Pakistan has it in Rawalpindi. Why do we have it in Srinagar?"

UN office at Srinagar is an unnecessary provocation 4 separatists 2 organize marches. Pak has it in Rawalpindi.Why do we have it in Srinagar Ram Madhav (@rammadhavbjp) December 8, 2016

Prompt came a response from former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, who dared Ram Madhav to try shifting the UN office from Srinagar. Omar Abdullah tweeted, "Jenab, not to put too fine a point on it but please correct what we failed to do in that case as you are in power in Centre and in the state."

Jenab, not to put too fine a point on it but please correct what we failed to do in that case as you are in power in Centre & in the state. https://t.co/b8ZNZ4szfK Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) December 8, 2016

It was now Ram Madhav's turn to respond to Omar Abdullah reminding him that the National Conference was an alliance partner of the BJP the last time the party was in power at the Centre.

We didn't do it when 'WE' were in power some 15 years ago either. ?? https://t.co/MZeEuJTdQ3 Ram Madhav (@rammadhavbjp) December 8, 2016

Omar Abdullah is not the one to shy from a twitter battle. Calling Ram Madhav touchy, this was the reply of the NC leader: "touch' but in "our" defence I don't recall anyone in a position of authority calling for UNMOGIP removal from Srinagar."

@rammadhavbjp touche' but in "our" defence I don't recall anyone in a position of authority calling for UNMOGIP removal from Srinagar :-) Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) December 8, 2016

advertisement

The Valley has been on the edge since July 9, a day after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter with the security forces.

WATCH:

The separatists have launched a massive campaign in the Valley with the help from Pakistan. Nearly 100 people have lost their lives in clashes with the security forces in Kashmir.

The state government and the Centre have found it tough to maintain peace and normalcy in the Valley for past four months.

ALSO READ:

Encounter underway in J-K's Anantnag, wanted LeT commander Abu Dujana holed up

--- ENDS ---
On November 30, Padmanabhaswamay temple permitted the devotees to wear traditional Indian salwar kameez and churidar while worshipping at the shrine.

By India Today Web Desk: Days after Padmanabhaswamy temple relaxed dress code for women, the Kerala High Court has struck down at what was seen as a 'reform'.

On November 30, Padmanabhaswamay temple permitted the devotees to wear traditional Indian salwar kameez and churidar while worshipping at the shrine.

However, a group of religious activists and temple's senior Tantri (priest) voiced opposition to the decision.

advertisement

Now, the Kerala High Court ruled that women should not be allowed to wear salwar kameez and churidar inside the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple.

Earlier, women devotees had to wear a 'mundu' (dhoti) over their waist if they visited the temple wearing salwar kameez and churidar.

The temple executive committee took the decision despite the high court disposing of a petition seeking permission to allow women to wear salwar and churidar inside the temple.

The high court had then directed the temple management to take a decision on the matter within 30 days.

According to Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple customs, women should wear sarees, 'mundu and neriyathu' (set mundu) and not cover their face while offering prayer.

Men are required to wear mundu and be bare-chested.

The temple management's decision was in consonance with the Guruvayoor Sri Krishna temple, which amended its strict dress code for women devotees.

In 2007, the Guruvayoor Sri Krishna temple of Kerala allowed women deovtees to enter the temple wearing salwar and churidars.

Earlier, only those in sarees and traditional full skirts were allowed inside.

Sri Padmanabha Swamy temple has Lord Vishnu as its presiding deity in yogic sleep posture- the Anantha Shayanam- on the serpent Adisheshan.

--- ENDS ---
AMERICUS, Ga. (AP) - Another $10,000 has been added to a reward for information leading to the arrest of man who shot and killed an officer in south Georgia and critically injured another as they responded to a domestic violence call.

The Peach County Sheriff's Office, Byron Police Department and Fort Valley Police Department are contributing the extra money, bringing the total reward to $30,000.

Americus Police Chief Mark Scott said Americus police Officer Nicholas Smarr died Wednesday and Georgia Southwestern State University Officer Jodi Smith was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition. Both had been officers since 2012.

Scott says the suspect, 32-year-old Minguell Kennedy Lembrick, was still at large and local, state and federal law enforcement officers were searching for him.

___
You don't have to live in Flint, Michigan, to worry about your family's water supply. Concern about Flint's continuing battle with lead contamination has people across the country paying closer attention to what is flowing out of their taps.

In Maine, residents in seven towns voted Nov. 8 to remove fluoride from the water supply, following voters in Newport, Oregon, and Patton, Pennsylvania,who did the same earlier this year.

A Harvard study published in August warned that tap water in 33 states has industrial chemical levels that exceed the minimum standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency, which has monitored the nation's water since passage of the Safe Water Drinking Act in 1974.

An investigation by The Associated Press found traces of prescription drugs in water supplies that serve 46 million Americans, and a new study out of the United Kingdom calls such contamination there "widespread" and "routine."

Nitrates leaching into water in rural areas are a danger to pregnant and nursing women and their babies.

And people protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline fear its construction could poison the water supply of Native Americans in North Dakota and South Dakota.

For all the myriad concerns, it's two chemicals  hydrofluorosilicic acid and lead  that are most in the news right now, and both have ties to Michigan.

There are also three simple ways to make your drinking water safer. Here's what every family should know.

The fuss over fluoride

Grand Rapids, Michigan, was the first city in the world to fluoridate its water supply, in an experiment begun in 1954. Within 11 years, tooth decay in children had dropped by 60 percent, according to the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, and the rush to fluoridate the nation was on.

Now, nearly three-quarters of Americans are connected to community water supplies treated with fluoride. But there are disparities. In Utah, one of the last states to add fluoride to water, the figure is just 51.7 percent, and in Idaho and Montana, it's even lower: 31.9 percent and 33.7 percent, respectively.

The practice was adopted after decades of research into what was causing permanent brown stains on children's teeth in Colorado at the start of the 20th century. The phenomenon, which came to be known as Colorado Brown Stain, was ultimately linked to regular exposure to highly fluoridated water while teeth are developing under the gums. But the investigation also revealed something else: The mottled teeth of the Colorado children appeared resistant to decay.

Researchers then looked for the sweet spot of fluoridation  the amount of fluoride that would protect against decay without leading to the discoloration of teeth, a condition that is tellingly called fluorosis.

This led to the Grand Rapids trial and a blooming acceptance of fluoride as an essential part of dental health despite isolated pockets of resistance. The 1964 movie "Dr. Strangelove" helped fuel the latter by suggesting that fluoridated water was a Communist plot: "Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous plot we've ever had to face?" one character says.

In recent years, however, the drumbeat of dissent has edged closer to the mainstream, nudged by groups like the Fluoride Action Network and natural-health proponents like Dr. Joseph Marcola. Among other things, the anti-fluoride movement points out that the U.S. is alone in its obsessive fluoridation. Only about 3 percent of Western Europeans drink water with added fluoride. Worldwide, the figure is about 5 percent, with Americans accounting for half, according to The Washington Post.

Moreover, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last year lowered the amount of fluoride it recommends, this coming on the heels of a 2014 report showing that 41 percent of American children between the ages of 12 and 15 have varying degrees of fluorosis.

While fluoride has been shown to prevent tooth decay, it works when it's applied to the teeth, not swallowed, which is one reason the water department in Kennebunkport, Maine, was one of the leading proponents of ending fluoridation there.

The measure passed, 13,385 to 6,918, but not without complaints from some local dentists, one of whom said the vote pushes children's dental health back to the 19th century.

Getting the lead out

Despite the ongoing fuss over fluoride, it's the presence of lead in drinking water that is the most urgent concern in most communities. The revelation that children of Flint were being slowly poisoned by water with dangerously high levels of lead, iron and bacteria has prompted municipalities across the country to examine their water supplies and delivery systems.

Flint's crisis was the result of a catastrophe of errors: the decision to draw water from the polluted Flint River instead of Lake Huron; the failure of the city to treat the water in accordance with federal law; and the slow response to citizen complaints about discolored water.

It wasn't until a local pediatrician found that lead levels in toddlers were doubling and tripling that the city acknowledged the problem. By then, the river water was corroding the water mains and pipes, causing even more lead to seep into the supply.

But most water that contains too much lead became contaminated simply because it travels through old pipes, whether under city streets or in your home.

"Lead found in tap water usually comes from the corrosion of older fixtures or from the solder that connects pipes. When water sits in leaded pipes for several hours, lead can leach into the water supply," the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

According to the EPA, the ingestion of lead can damage the brain, kidneys, nervous system and blood cells. The risk is greatest for young children and pregnant women.

An investigation by USA Today found excessive lead in 2,000 water systems across 50 states, and many of the systems served schools and day cares.

In Massachusetts, investigators tested water at 300 public schools this year and found that more than half had at least one sample with high levels, leading some schools to shut off drinking fountains and taps this month, according to The Boston Globe.

The Northeast and South have the greatest risk of lead contamination, according to an analysis conducted by Vox.

In its report, Vox said the risk is greatest in America's oldest and biggest cities, such as New York and Chicago.

Although it's difficult to compare risk levels because each state has its own standards for testing, western states such as Nevada, Arizona and Utah have some of the lowest risks, the Vox report said.

Summit County, Utah, for example, had a lead risk of 1, on a scalein which 10 was the highest. Salt Lake County's risk was 4.

Municipalities are required to file annual reports on the safety of their water. They're called Consumer Confidence Reports, and some are available online. If your water comes from a private well, it's up to you to monitor its quality.

Regardless of what you find out, there are two easy ways to cut down on any potential lead exposure for your family, according to the EPA. First, let the water run briefly before filling your glass or pot.

"The more time water has been sitting in your home's pipes, the more lead it may contain. Anytime the water in a particular faucet has not been used for six hours or longer, flush your cold-water pipes by running the water until it becomes as cold as it will get. This could take as little as 5-30 seconds if there has been recent heavy water use such as showering or toilet flushing. Otherwise, it could take two minutes or longer," the EPA advises.

Second, use the coldest possible water for drinking, cooking and making baby formula. Hot water has higher concentrations of lead. You don't have to worry about bathing  lead doesn't enter through the skin, but don't open your mouth in the shower.

The EPA also advises people to get their home water tested, particularly if your home was built before 1986, when stricter rules about pipes were implemented. Although municipalities file water safety reports, these don't necessarily reflect the quality of the water coming out of your tap, since old pipes in your house could be the cause of contamination.

If you're on public water, first contact your local water department because some may provide testing for you. Otherwise, send a sample to a company that provides testing for a fee, or buy a do-it-yourself kit, although investigative reporter Alison Young of USA Today found that a difficult task.

Unlike when filling a glass for drinking, when collecting water for testing, you should take a sample when water has been sitting in the pipes for six hours or more. If lead or other contaminants turn out to be present, you may need to install a filtering system, or, in the worst-case scenario, resort to bottled water. Or move.

The catastrophe in Flint notwithstanding, the CDC still assures people that America is among the countries with the safest drinking water overall in the world. In an infographic it released in 2014 on global water safety, the United States' drinking water was overall deemed safe, unlike much of Russia, Africa, Asia and South America.
MEIGS, GA (WTXL) -- The police chief in Meigs has stepped down from his position.

A city spokesperson confirmed Gary Price turned in his resignation letter Monday to accept the position of interim police chief in Sylvester, Georgia.

This is not the first time Meigs has seen a lapse in law enforcement leadership.

During the month of September, the police department was shut down by the city council.

A few days after the department was closed, Cheryl Walters was sworn in as mayor.

At the time, residents told WTXL they were concerned about the political shift in town and complained that they were not given enough of a reason for the police office to close.

Walters reopened the department, saying it was never technically closed, because city council lacked the required vote to pass the motion.

Walters said Price's leadership was critical during a period of turmoil among city leaders.

"He's been an absolute God-send -- I would say, in the past two years -- gluing the city together," she said. "He will be greatly missed."

Walters has named an interim chief for the department. She said she will search for another interim officer and for a permanent police chief, calling the situation "an emergency."

Walters will formally present her choice at the next city council meeting on December 19.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL)  Officials said that they have arrested a Tallahassee man after discovering that he was downloading child pornography files.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement reported that they arrested Shawn Patrick Fair, 48, Wednesday morning on 10 counts of possession of child pornography.

They along with the Leon County Sheriffs Office deputies searched Fairs home on Portland Avenue Wednesday after agents found that a computer at the home was downloading files containing child pornography.

Fair was booked into the Leon County Jail. Officials said that this case will be prosecuted by the Office of the State Attorney, Second Judicial Circuit.

Any person with information about this case is urged to call FDLE Special Agent Clint Beam at 850-410-7475.
Bigg Boss 9 couple Kishwer Merchantt and Suyyash Rai are all set to get married on December 16 this year.

By Indo-Asian News Service: Actress Kishwer Merchantt, who is all set to marry actor Suyyash Rai on December 16, says she is "nervous and excited" about their wedding.

Kishwer, who is currently seen playing the negative role of Apu in Zee TV's thriller series Brahmarkashas, met Suyyash six years ago while shooting for another show.

Also read: Wedding blues: Suyyash Rai and Kishwer Merchantt's pre-wedding shoot is just awesome!

advertisement

"I am very nervous and excited about the wedding. The D-Day is just round the corner. I must say I am lucky to have Suyyash in my life. Need blessings from everyone," Kishwer said in a statement.

The wedding will be a private affair. Also read: Bride-to-be Kishwer Merchantt and girlfriend Asha Negi are slaying it with their perfect beach bodies

Kishwer and Suyyash got close to each other on reality show Bigg Boss 9.

--- ENDS ---
The Quantico star was asked if she would appear on the show this season, and this is what she had to say

By India Today Web Desk: Popular chat show Koffee with Karan recently made a return to our TV screens, and how!

From Shah Rukh Khan to Akshay Kumar, the show has already had some of the major superstars of the Hindi film industry on host Karan's couch.

Also read: Koffee with Karan Season 5: Aamir Khan will soon sip 'koffee' with KJo

advertisement

And soon, we might get to see Quantico star Priyanka Chopra on the hit chat show. At least that is what we are hoping.

But wait, the stunning actress herself dropped a hint on social media site Twitter recently. Well, sort of.

Yes looks like I will...not sure. You should ask @karanjohar !! Lol https://t.co/w8l3D6olRE PRIYANKA (@priyankachopra) December 6, 2016

A fan asked the talented lady about whether she would make an appearance on Koffee with Karan Season 5, and this is what she tweeted:

"Yes looks like I will...not sure. You should ask @karanjohar !! Lol."

Don't play with our hearts, Priyanka!

The actress had previously appeared on the show with Deepika Padukone in Season 4 of the talk show.

--- ENDS ---
Virginia Mason Memorial hospitals emergency department pushing to look for alternative treatments for pain whenever possible.
You are the owner of this article.
By India Today Web Desk: Four girls, one road trip, aaaaaaall the way to Thailand. Clearly, when two forces like Mallika Dua and Lisa Hayden join hands, they obviously don't do something so obvious as Goa!

Catch these two, Shweta Tripathi and Sapna Pabbi on an epic journey to Thailand, which is set to be a bachelorette party, so to say, and ends up being much more. The story of Bindass' new web series is that of your girl friends going on a road trip that leads to stronger bonds, spilling of secrets, insecurities, and a whole lot of screw-ups--139 to be precise.

advertisement

Lisa Haydon in particular is super excited to be part of a web-series. Playing a bad*ss musician in the show, Lisa had told the Indian Express last month that she's "very excited to be a part of The Trip. It's my first fiction series on the web with Bindass. Love the story. Looking forward to shooting."

Without much further ado, here's the trailer of The Trip:

--- ENDS ---
Four years after 2nd Lt Hila Bezaleli.was killed after being hit by a windblown lighting fixture during rehearsals for the Independence Day ceremony on Mount Herzl, a plea deal has been reached with Design Group (Itzuv Bama), the company that erected the lighting fixture.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



Design Group CEO Doron Lavi, CFO Elad Lavi and production manager Taimuraz (Tomer) Laonidzeh were all accused of being responsible for the negligence that caused Bezaleli's death.

The plea completely acquits Doron Lavi of any wrongdoing, while Elad Lavi and Laonidzeh will admit to causing death and injury out of negligence. Laonidzeh will be sentenced to seven months in prison while Elad Lavi will receive six months. The plea does not specify whether the Bezaleli family will be granted damages for their loss, or whether the company itself would also be criminally convicted.

Sigalit Bezaleli with her daughter, Hila

The trial of the two main defendants in the case, engineer Oren Varshavsky and safety consultant Yitzhak Zucker, is still ongoing.

Following the plea, Varshavsky's legal team issued a statement that said, "Now that those who were truly at fault and who had recklessly decided to keep information from Varshavsky have taken responsibility, the engineer will be able to truly claim his innocence. The plaintiffs have finally admitted their guilt and said that they had kept Varshavsky away from the premise, where he could have acted as an engineer."

Sigalit Bezaleli (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)

The indictment states that the stage structure used during the ceremony was erected by Group Design despite the company's employees lacking the necessary professional skills and a lack of any engineering planning or engineetring oversight. In addition, it was found that the structure was built using inappropriate and incompatible equipment. Described as improvisational, the structure's anchoring mechanism was built without foresight and was found to be unstable and inefficient.

On top of all this, it was discovered that the day prior to the structure's collapse, Lavi received a call from the ceremony's producer, Alex Sela, who warned him that the structure was unusually wobbly. Sela claimed that Lavi then sent a worker lacking experience, knowledge or professional training to check it out. Sela himself was not indicted due to lack of evidence.

Sigalit Bezaleli cried during the court proceedings and spoke of the tremendous loss she has suffered. "Hila's death got to everyone, it's hard to calm down from this."

The lighting fixture that killed Hila Bezaleli (Photo: Jerusalem Fire and Rescue Unit)

Referring to the plaintiffs, Bezaleli said, "This is the norm in Israel  the mediocrity, the cutting of corners. 'I just want to put a little more money in my pocket.' We've heard the testimonies here, about how they were warned the evening before. If these people would have stood up and said, 'Guys, we're dealing with human lives here, this is beyond money,' this wouldn't have happened." She added that "This was a disaster caused by people who were negligent and not good."

"I want Group Design to take on the challenge to build something and name it after Hila, make it a home for at-risk girls, at-risk boys," Bezaleli added. "She so deserves that, after losing her own life at 20, having it cut short. That's the compensation I want, something for the community and for society, so that I could feel that my daughter died knowing we're better people. I'm fighting and will continue to fight, in the name of my daughter and so everyone who is guilty will accept their punishment and say, 'I'm sorry, I was wrong'. People need to see that and fear (such a consequence)."

Turning to the defendants, she said, "I implore you, be better, so such incidents will never happen again. I manage Mount Herzl to this day with strength. I am telling you, this is the face of our country and our people."
The Regulation Bill passed its first Knesset reading on Wednesday evening with 58 MKs voting in favor and 51 voting against, just two days after passing its preliminary reading.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



Speaking at the Knesset plenum, Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett praised the bills passage.

This is a day of extreme pride. It is a day on which half a million resident of Judea and Samaria and all Israeli citizens can raise their heads in the knowledge that not only are we truly the people of this land, but we are also the people according to the law of the State of Israel, he rejoiced.

Naftali Bennett: 'This is a proud day' (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)

The next step is to impose Israeli sovereignty on Maale Adumim, and the step after that is to apply the law. I will impose it when I have 30 mandates. You said that this wasnt possible, and yet here it is happening, he said.

I want to say thank you to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Over the the past few days we have worked extremely hard to provide an answer to a matter which is far from simple. Everything is under control in the armored vehicle, Bennett said in reference to recent charges levelled against him that his behavior was causing destruction within the coalition.

Echoing statements made in the Knesset the previous day by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Bayit Yehudi) Bennett sardonically said, I would like to thank Peace Now. Peace Now sent small mosquitos in our directionHigh Court and more High Courtand today, thanks to the best people in Peace Now, we are not fighting these mosquitos but rather draining the swamp.

Turning to the residents of Amona, who are still set to be evacuated by the years end and have already indicated their willingness to employ force to resist their removal, Bennett beseeched them to refrain from resorting to violence. In no situation, under no circumstances, and on no issue can a hand be raised against a brother, he said.

Israeli officials are concerned that the bill could provide grounds for prosecution by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. It prompted particularly strong criticism from Germany. Netanyahu himself cited possible court action when he initially opposed the legislation promoted by Bennett's party, which stands to the right of Likud. Palestinians condemned the bill as a land grab in territory they seek for a state.

But while Netanyahu voiced concern over the bill, a failure to support it could have ceded ground to Bennett in his pursuit of conservative voters that form the power base of both Bayit Yehudi and Netanyahu's Likud.

Remaining faithful to his opposition to the bill, Benny Begin (Likud) broke protocol by voting for a third consecutive time against the proposed legislation.

Having voted against the unrevised bill in its preliminary reading in mid-November and then once again during Mondays preliminary reading of a revised version without the controversial Clause 7, which demanded that a retroactive solution be found on the issue of Amona despite the fact that the courts had already ruled on the matter, Begin was temporarily suspended from the Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee.
The report on Syrian television on Wednesday morning that Israel attacked a military air base in western Damascus was unusual. The actual report of an Israeli strike is exceptional, but even more exceptional is the claim that Israel launched surface-to-surface missiles rather than air-to-surface missiles like in most cases reported by the Syrian media in the past.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



The strike was likely the result of an Iranian attempt to transfer rockets or accurate surface-to-surface missiles to Hezbollah, as Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman implied as well in his meeting with European Union ambassadors Wednesday. The report suggests that the targets were attacked in an air base to which the Iranians routinely send the high-quality arms shipments to be transferred to Hezbollah in Lebanon through Syria.

Fire at the Mezzeh Air Base in western Damascus

There is of course a possibility that Israel attacked something else other than arms shipments to Hezbollah, but that it highly unlikely. Israel is not intervening in the civil war in Syria, and if it does interveneit's only in response to a violation of its sovereignty by Syria or by one of the organizations operating from Syrian territory. In this case, it was likely another attempt to transfer weapons to Hezbollah, like the one that was thwarted last week, according to foreign reports.

In the past, there were claims made that Israel occasionally uses guided surface-to-surface Tammuz missiles when the Syrian army or the rebels in Syria fire shells on Israeli territory in the Golan Heights, whether intentionally or erroneously (which known as a "spillover"). These missiles have usually been fired at relatively short ranges.

But the military air base in Damascus is located at least 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Israeli border, which means that Israel would have to use accurate rockets or missiles of a larger range to accurately hit targets there.

According to foreign reports, Israel has a wide variety of missiles produced by the Military Industries which are suitable for an extremely accurate hit at a target located dozens and even hundreds of kilometers from its territory.

Accurately dropping bombs is usually cheaper than firing surface missiles. The cost of one accurate rocket is higher than the cost of accurate aerial munition, even when taking into account the cost of operating the plane and the pilot.

Its reasonable to assume, therefore, that if Israel did in fact use surface-to-surface missiles, as the Syrian media claimed, it had a good reason to do so. The reason was likely a desire to surprise the Syrians and Hezbollah in the area of the attacked target.

Had Israel launched planes to carry out the mission, they would not have had to enter Syrian territory to hit the air base and could have simply flown over the sea or over Lebanese territory. But the sensitive and long-range radars, which the Russians brought to Syria when they entered the fray, would have been able to detect the presence of Israel Air Force planes in the area. Its even possible that the Russians would have warned the Syrian antiaircraft batteries which, according to reports, have already tried to hit Israeli planes as they embarked on missions to stop Hezbollah from arming itself.

Assad and Putin. The Syrian leader is gaining confidence thanks to the Russian backing (Photos: EPA, AFP)

So if Israel did use surface-to-surface missiles rather than aerial munition, it may have been done to prevent the Russians from being able to warn the Syrians of the Israeli strike.

Another possibility is that Israel is afraid that the Russians will try to intercept its planes with SA-300 and SA-400 missile batteries. This option is not as likely as the first option, but it should be taken into account.

In any event, if we rely on the reports from Syria, the desire to surprise Hezbollah and the Syrians even before the weapons start making their way to the Lebanon border, as well as the desire to avoid friction with the Russians, led to the use of surface-to-surface missiles which are as accurate and destructive as aerial munition.

While Israel is adapting to the conditions on Syrian territory, Syria is gaining confidence in the light of Russian involvement and the backing it receives from Moscow. Today, there is a higher chance than before that Syrian President Bashar Assad will clash with Israel and threaten its Air Force planes.

We should pay attention, therefore, not just to the claim that Israel used surface-to-surface missiles, but also to the fact that the official Syrian news agency and Syrian television provided details on the recent attacks and did not conceal them as the Syrian regime has done in the past.

Assad decided not to use the denial options provided by Israel when it avoided announcing the strike or confirming that it happened. In previous cases, the Syrians preferred to ignore the Israeli strikes, and only admitted that they happened when they had no other choice. This time, they initiated the announcement.

This may have been aimed at creating the justification and background story in the global public opinion for a Syrian-Hezbollah act of retaliation against Israel, which may already be in its planning and preparation stages. Israel should be prepared for the possibility of such an act being carried out in the near future, perhaps even with Russian assistance and backing.
The kippah on his head jumps out at me, every time I read an update on the case.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



Whether in uniform, or just shirtsleeves, the photo of Ofek Buchris , a recently retired brigadier-general charged with rape (later dropped) and other sex crimes, always shows him wearing a kippah.

Ofek Buchris. Religious sex offenders are driven by the same motivation that drives most sex crimes  power and entitlement (Photo: Gil Nehushtan)

Religion has a great deal of interest in sex. Sexual morality is preached, and family purity practiced. Nevertheless, anyone who has been awake in the 21st century knows that religion doesnt prevent sex crimes. In fact, religious institutions can be particularly comfortable places for a sexual predator. Religious sex offenders are everywhere:

In America, a prominent Orthodox rabbi is serving a sentence in a Washington, DC jail for voyeurism at the mikveh. In Australia, the Orthodox and Chabad communities in Melbourne and Sydney were torn apart by child molestation in schools and efforts to cover up those crimes. Here in Israel, an aged Breslov Hasidic leader is serving a prison sentence in Jerusalem for assault and indecent acts. And a Gush Etzion leader recently resigned under pressure from the sexual harassment charges against him.

Religious practice involves a great deal of self-discipline and setting of boundaries. Impulse-control and restraint are religious values. So shouldnt we expect religious people to behave better when it comes to sexual offenses? Is no one immune?

The answer is no, no one is immune, because sexual offenses are not about sex. They are about power. Religious sex offenders are driven by the same motivation that drives most sex crimes. Power. And entitlement.

US President-elect Donald Trump famously expressed the sex offenders point of view when he said, I just start kissing them. . I dont even wait. And when youre a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.

There you have it: Power, control and entitlement.

Rapist or sexual harasser, the sex offender wants to control and manipulate his (and more rarely, her) victim. Religion offers no protection from the desire to dominate or from the sense of entitlement to act on that desire. In fact, some characteristics of the religious community facilitate those desires. Like the military, the religious community is hierarchical and authority-based. The overvaluing of respect for authority enables the abuse of that authority.

A sex offender teacher in a yeshiva, officer in the military, or rabbi in a community wears a mantle of authority and influence, and good will that deceives victims and bystanders alike. He is a leader, the rest of us are followers who depend on his success. We are not naturally inclined to be suspicious of his actions. We trust him, and thus are easily deceived. His victims are not of equal status. The predator perceives the victim as vulnerable, and therefore easily intimidated or coerced.

A powerful part of the sex offender dynamic is his confidence that he wont suffer consequences.

Until very recently, in the religious community that was true. But that is changing.

I applaud the religious community for their efforts to overcome the shroud of shame that surrounds these crimes and replace it with justice. A variety of different approaches have begun, and no doubt more will follow.

Manny Waks turned the trauma of his own childhood sex abuse in Melbourne into Kol VOz, an umbrella organization for institutions worldwide dealing child sexual abuse in the Jewish community. On a local level, the Israeli Takana forum works to remove sexual harassers from their position, providing an important service to the victim who would not take her (or his) complaint to the police.

Working both locally and internationally, Tahel The Crisis Center for Religious Women and Children  made public the issue of abuse in the religious community by spearheading the first international conference on domestic and sexual abuse. That 2014 conference gathered people from all parts of the Orthodox and Haredi communities to bring the issue out in the open. It was a breakthrough.

Every time a powerful person is publicly tried and sent to jail for a sex offense, a victim is empowered. Every religious sexual predator removed from our midst is a blessing.

A sex offender should find no refuge in his kippah.
David Harrison, a former rabbi at a religious girls' high school, was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of raping one of his students when she was 14-years old.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



The student, who is 20 today, arrived at a police station in Jerusalem a few days ago and filed a complaint against the educator.

Harrison, aged 58 from Jerusalem, worked at Ulpanat Beit Shlomit between the years 2007-2010. He is suspected of committing serious sexual offenses against the teenage girlincluding rapewhile he was working at the school that the girl attended.

Rabbi David Harrison (Photo: Eli Mendelbaum)

Upon receiving the complaint, police launched an investigation, gathering testimonies from Harrison's family members and officials at the school, among others. The police said the testimonies support the girl's version.

According to a police official, the alleged offenses were committed both inside and outside the school. Harrison allegedly raped the girl several times, and allegedly hit her when she tried to resist him.

Harrison was fired from the school a year after the alleged offenses were committed, but school officials said the dismissal was unrelated to the suspicions, which they were not aware of at the time.

Harrison denied the allegations, saying "When I was arrested, I was told I'm suspected of rape. I went into questioning smug and didn't ask for a lawyer because I was sure this was a complete mistake. There isn't even a hint of an offense. I didn't touch (her). I ask to be allowed to undergo a polygraph test and to be confronted with the girl ... The school was full of people; I didn't even have a private office there."

During his remand extension hearing, Harrison's lawyer, Yehuda Shoshan, caused outrage when he asked the police representative whether the complainant was a virgin at the time and whether others have had sex with her then.

The police representative refused to respond, saying the law prohibits addressing such issues concerning sexual offenses.

Lawyer Yehuda Shoshan (Photo: Eli Mendelbaum)

Later, Shoshan pressed the matter, saying "It's well known that religious women who marry at such a young age find a way to excuse their loss of virginity. (Otherwise) they'll be considered flawed in the ultra-Orthodox or Orthodox circles."

Judge David Shaul Gabai Richter, who decided to extend Harrison's remand by a week, noted that "The girl's mental state deteriorated at the time. In later years, she grew up and got married, but because she still had problems she sought mental treatment. It was then that the reason arose for the crisis that befell her."

The judge also noted that statements from the girl's family regarding her behavior six years ago, when the offenses were allegedly committed, also support her version.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Miriam Naor warned of the tyranny of the majority on Thursday, hinting at the controversial Regulation Bill , which seeks to retroactively legalize Jewish outposts in the West Bank that were built on privately-owned Palestinian land with government help.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



"There are those who identify democracy with majority rule," she said during a swearing-in ceremony for new judges held at the Presidents Residence in Jerusalem.

"Some would claim that if a decision was adopted by a majority, then by definition it represents a democratic decision. This is a mistake," she said. "Majority rule is a necessary condition for democracy, but it is an insufficient one. Without curbing the power of the majority, the system may become a tyranny. Such things have happened. A majority that denies individuals their rights, a majority that oppresses the minority living in its midstis not a democratic administration."

Supreme Court Chief Justice Miriam Naor (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

Naor went on to say that "Protecting basic principles and human rights cannot, therefore, be considered an undemocratic actbut the very embodiment of democracy. Consequently, the majority and the stateany democratic statemust respect the rights of all and protect these rights. That is the duty of all government authorities. And when it comes to checks and balance, which is also one of the vital principles of democracy, the responsibility in practice to ensure these rights are kept belongs to the courts system, and primarily to the Supreme Court."

Among the judges sworn in on Thusday was Miriam (Mika) Banki, whose daughter Shira Banki was murdered by an ultra-Orthodox man during the Pride Parade in Jerusalem in 2015.

President Rivlin with Miriam Banki (Photo: GPO)

President Reuven Rivlin opened the ceremony by mentioning Banki's appointment. "When I meet with bereaved families, a moment before the door closes behind them I pray we'll meet again at a happy occasion. I'm glad to share this moment with you and your family," he told her.
FRANKFURT - Technical trade secrets were stolen from the steel production and manufacturing plant design divisions of ThyssenKrupp AG in cyber attacks earlier this year, the German company, which is contracted to build three submarines and four warships for the Israeli Navy, said on Thursday.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



"ThyssenKrupp has become the target of a massive cyber attack," the industrial conglomerate said in a statement.

Despite that, the company said no breaches were found at its marine systems unit, which produces military submarines and warships.

Photo: Reuters

In breaches discovered by the company's internal security team in April and traced back to February, hackers stole project data from ThyssenKrupp's plant engineering division and from other areas yet to be determined, the company said.

ThyssenKrupp, one of the world's largest steel makers, attributed the breaches to unnamed attackers located in southeast Asia engaged in what it said were "organized, highly professional hacker activities."

Globally, cyber attacks on banks, retailers and other businesses have led to widespread consumer data breaches and mounting financial losses in recent years, but revelations of industrial espionage are rare.

ThyssenKrupp's belated disclosure came a week after an attack on nearly 1 million routers caused outages for Deutsche Telekom customers.

German business magazine Wirtschafts Woche reported the attacks hit sites in Europe, India, Argentina and the United States run by the Industrial Solutions division, which builds large production plants. The Hagen Hohenlimburg speciality steel mill in western Germany was also targeted, the report added.

The company declined to identify specific locations which were infected or why it had not previously disclosed the attack. It said it could not estimate the scale of the intellectual property losses.

INS Tanin submarine (Photo: IDF Spokesman)

A criminal complaint was filed with police in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and an investigation is ongoing, it said. State and federal cyber security and data protection authorities have been kept informed, as well as Thyssen's board.

Secured systems operating steel blast furnaces and power plants in Duisburg, in Germany's industrial heartland in the Ruhr Valley, were unaffected, the company said.

The infected computer systems have been cleansed and are now subject to constant monitoring against further cyber attacks.

A previous cyber attack caused physical damage to an unidentified German steel plant and prevented the mill's blast furnace from shutting down properly.

The country's Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) revealed two years ago that the attack caused "massive damage", but gave no further technical details and the location of the plant has remained shrouded in mystery.

Subsequent media reports identified the target as a ThyssenKrupp facility, but the company has denied it was hit.

The company, a major supplier of steel to Germany's automotive sector and other manufacturers, is looking to merge its European steel operations with Indian-owned Tata Steel to combat over-capacity in the sector.
ANKARA - Turkey is conducting intense talks with Russia for a ceasefire in Syria's Aleppo and to allow humanitarian aid into the war-ravaged city, President Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman said on Thursday.

Ibrahim Kalin also told a news conference in Ankara that Syrian government forces were carrying out crimes against humanity and war crimes in the city.
A 7-man Hamas terror cell planning to carry out a shooting and kidnapping attack in Israel has been arrested in a joint operation between the Shin Bet, the IDF and the Israel Border Police, it was cleared for publication on Thursday afternoon.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



The members of the cell from Tzurif and Hebron, set about planning an attack of various kinds, most of which included shootings and kidnappings of people who would then be used in negotiations to secure the release of prisoners.

Weapons belonging to the Hamas cell (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

In preparation for the attack, the militants set about creating observation posts which they used to watch IDF forces in the Tzurif area.

One of the main conspirators in the cell is a prisoner named Ibrahim Abdullah Ranimat. Born in 1958, Ranimat was behind the abduction and murder of Israel Defense Forces soldier Sharon Edri in 1996 and the bombing attack on a Tel Aviv cafe in 1997, in which three Israeli women lost their lives.

Police arrested Ranimat in the village of Tzurif, southwest of Bethlehem.

Ranimat was also involved in a couple of shooting and suicide bombing attacks in which at least three Israelis were killed.

, a resident of Tzurif, is serving a life sentence for his involvement in a string of deadly terror attacks in the 90s, including the kidnapping and execution of IDF soldier Sharon Edri.

Ibrahim Abdullah Ranimat (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

The investigation against the cell led to the discovery of large quantities od weapons in their possession, including two Kalashnikov rifles, three handguns, a hunting rifle, an M16 machine gun, magazines and ammunition. All the weaponry was located and confiscated by security forces.

As part of the investigation six other Hamas terrorists were also arrested. Their investigation has concluded and over the coming days, indictments are expected to be issued against them by a military prosecutor.

Two of those arrested in the plot were Ranimats sons Fadi and Shadi Ranimat. Muhammad Ranimat, Ibrahims son-in-law, who directed the operatives of the cell, was also arrested.

Haitham Hamidan, who hid weapons for the Ranimats family, and J'ad Sultan, who delivered arms to the cell, were also arrested. Rami Rajoub from Dura was also nabbed in the operation conspiring to carry out an attack with Ibrahim Ranimat while in prison.
By PTI: Kathmandu, Dec 8 (PTI) Madhesi activists today held demonstration outside British Embassy here on the bicentennial of the 1816 British-Nepal treaty under which land of Madheshis in Terai region was handed over by the British Government to the King of Nepal.

The protesters were holding banners with slogans like "Void the Treaty - Free Our Land", "Madheshis Want Their Land Back", "200 Years of Slavery - Now Free Madhesh".

advertisement

Under the British-Nepal treaty of December 8, 1816, the land of Madheshis was handed over by the British Government to the King of Nepal in lieu of paying Rs two lakhs per annum.

The Alliance for Independent Madhesh (AIM) led by C K Raut marked the "day as a black day in the history of Madhesh, when Nepali colonisation and enslavement started."

The alliance further demanded entry of Madhesh into the Commonwealth of Nations, as it was once ruled by the British and the British officials used to collect taxes and revenues from Madhesh/Terai directly.

AIM subcoordinator Kailash Mahato said the British Government through the treaty handed over the eastern part of Madhesh/Terai, between the Koshi and the Rapti rivers, to the King of Nepal instead of paying Rs two lakhs per year.

While doing so, the British Government put a condition explicitly in the treaty stating "the Rajah of Nipal agrees to refrain from prosecuting any inhabitants of the Terai, after its revertance to his rule, on account of having favoured the cause of the British Government during the war."

But the condition, Mahato said, was never complied by the Government of Nepal, and the Madheshis became victims of "Nepali colonisation, discrimination, racism and slavery" from the very first days Madhesh was annexed to Nepal by the British Government.

Therefore, the alliance argued that, as the condition infixed in the treaty has never been complied by the Government of Nepal, the treaty should be void by itself and Madhesh should be independent. PTI SBP PMS

--- ENDS ---
The Israel Air Force's first F-35s are en route to the country to be greeted in an elaborate ceremony, and one was filmed refueling mid-flight on Thursday.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



The first two planes departed from Texas this week and had their first stopover on Tuesday in Portugal's Azores Islands. Over the weekend, the two Americans piloting the planes and their refueling tanker will make a further stop in Italy before arriving on Monday in Israel. Israel is set to receive 19 such planes in the near future.

F-35 refuels (: ")

X

The two F-35s are to be greeted, according to the IDF, by a ceremony the likes of which the country has not seen since the IAF received F-15s 40 years ago. Held at Tel Nof, the ceremony is to include the F-35s flying over the crowds before landing on the runway. There, senior IDF officers will affix the IAF insignia on the planes as a symbolic act of the aircraft joining the Jewish state's air force.

The F-35 refuels (Photo: IDF Spokesperson)

The F-35s have been subject to considerable disparagement . Its price ($80 to $90 million per plane) relative to the advanced F-16 warplanes, its flight range and its limited ability to fly undetected by enemy radar were all criticized.

The aircrafts were officially received at a ceremony in Dallas, Texas, in June. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman participated in the ceremony, where he addressed around 400 guests.

(Photo: Lockheed Martin)

The State of Israel is proud to be the first in our region to receive and operate the plane, said Lieberman. This is the most advanced plane in the world and the best decision of the security apparatus is to preserve air supremacy. It is obvious and well-known to us that the F-35 will serve as deterrence and increase our military abilities for a long time to come.
Palestinian residents in Hebron claim that IDF soldiers who arrived at their homes while taking up positions used facilities in the homes for personal use, contrary to military procedure.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



Following complaints that the soldiers used beds, kitchens and bathroom, the IDF said that it was looking into the veracity of the claims.

In one such claim, Anwar al-Muati, from the neighborhood of Jabal Al-Rahma in Hebron, said woke up the household and the officer leading the force informed Anwar that he had a military warrant requiring temporary use of the property.

Upon asking to see a copy of the order, Al-Muati noticed that it only specified the roof and not the house itself. According to Al-Muati, the officer checked with superiors who confirmed that the force was only allowed to operate from the roof. However, the officer still demanded that Al-Muati leave a bathroom door open so that the soldiers could use the toilet.

Al-Muati went on to say that soldiers came in and out all night and that a soldier even used his kitchen to prepare coffee for himself and his comrades. Furthermore, he claimed that the same group of soldiers came back the next night and the scene repeated itself once more.

In another similar claim, Samih Da'ana, from Jabal Johar near Hebron, claimed that a group of IDF soldiers entered his home with a military warrant that allowed them to sleep overnight inside the house.

B'Tselem footage of the soldiers

At first, Da'ana refused and said he wasn't prepared to allow military personnel to sleep in the same home as him and his wife. Despite his protestations, Da'ana claims the IDF soldiers chose his 17-year-old daughter's bedroom and informed him that they would also be using the kitchen and the bathroom.

According to Da'ana, the soldiers slept in his daughter's bed, used the bathroom throughout the night, used the kitchen to make coffee and eat, and even requested an electric heater, which Da'ana provided them. He did point out that the soldiers did not behave aggressively towards him or his family and even cleaned up after themselves, he still felt "disgusted that they slept in my daughter's bed."

B'Tselem, which collected evidence from the scenes, said, "Puzzling that the defense budget, which manages to pay the 600 soldiers guarding the 800 settlers in Hebron, could not find the money to buy the soldiers soap. The IDF treats the homes of Palestinians in Hebron like hotels which they have free access to. This is routine in the occupation, which has been going on for nearly 50 years. The entry of the army into a private home is a violent and humiliating act that terrifies the residents, invades their privacy and harms their ability to lead a normal life."

An IDF Spokesman said in response that the decision to commandeer homes was made out of operational considerations and that they emphasize "before every operation, soldiers are briefed by their commanders on ethical behavior." Furthermore, the IDF will investigate the claims the B'Tselem report made.
The parole board is to meet on Sunday to debate yet another application from convicted rapist and former president Moshe Katsav for early reason from prison, and the State Attorney's office is expected to again oppose the request.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



The office doesn't believe there to be new data to justify a change in previous decisions and that the treatment that Katsav underwentwhich was not significantwas insufficient to render him suitable for early release. In addition, sources in the office said, serious weight must be given to the damage to Katsav's victims suffered due, inter alia, to his public denials of guilt.

However, sources in the State Attorney's office did note, "So long as Katsav is in serious treatment, we'll reconsider our position."

Moshe Katsav on furlough from prison for Rosh Hashana with his wife Gila (Photo: Avi Moalem)

The felon was placed in treatment for those who deny their crimes the last time that his application for parole was rejected, but to no avail: Katsav has continually refused to admit to his crimes and has never expressed regret to those he raped and sexually molested.

As Katsav has already served more than two thirds of his seven-year sentence , if his application for parole is granted, he will be immediately released from prison.

The parole board on Sunday will be presented with the recommendation of the Prison Rehabilitation Authority, which has already recommended the convict's early release due to his planned rehabilitation program for his return to civilian life. They will also consider a recommendation from the Prisons Service stating that the potential parolee has behaved in prison and a recommendation from the crime-deniers' treatment that he underwent.

Katsav underwent this treatment privately over the past half year, and officials there have declared that a positive change has taken place in his attitude.
With the evacuation of Amona scheduled to take place by December 25, tensions among current residents of Amona and surrounding communities are running high.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



On Wednesday night, Channel 10 released footage of a series of intense arguments between Amona residents and Yesha Council members during a meeting in Ofra, which is expected to receive evacuated families.

Amona protestors in Ofra (Photo: Channel 10)

Amona residents arrived at the meeting in the hopes of finding a solution to their community, but the scene quickly descended into arguing after Amona residents discovered the meeting started without them. Residents accused the Yesha Council of working out a deal at their expense. One Amona resident commented, "I found out they are planning on building me a home next to a cemetery; it's aburd."

In addition to heated arguments with the Yesha Council, hundreds of young people from neighboring communities have come to Amona in recent days in preparation for the evacuation. Some even spray painted "there will be war over Amona" on a nearby greenhouse.

There will be a war over Amona

Police practicing Amona evacuation ( )

X

Additionally, a message from residents has circulated urging people to come to Amona to protest the planned evacuation. People are even encouraged to arrive this weekend out of fear that roads will be blocked by police and security forces in preparation for the evacuation.

The message read: "The evacuation of Amona is underway. Everyone come now to Amona. According to all estimates, the evacuation will occur this weekend. Everyone is encouraged to come to Amona and stay here on Shabbat. The roads will be blockedget here early. Bring warm clothes and come. Participate. Because we do not destroy Jewish settlements."

Police officers training for the evacuation

In preparation for protests, police and security forces are holding drills to practice the evacuation. Police forces are expected to make up the inner circle of security that will be responsible for the actual evacuation of residents, while IDF soldiers will be responsible for securing the outer perimeter near Ramallah.

The exact date of the evacuation is being kept secret in order to prevent protestors from causing a disturbance during the evacuation. Similarly, the area of Amona itself will be become a closed military zone in order to isolate the settlement in an attempt to keep out right-wing protestors.
At the break of dawn on September 22, 1979, an American VELA spy satellite detected a double flash of light over the South Atlantic Ocean. The mysterious flash caused panic in the White House and President Jimmy Carter was immediately briefed on it.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



The American administration was concerned that this flash could be a secret nuclear test that someone was trying to hide. The three immediate suspects were: the Soviet Union, South Africa and Israel. More specifically, the Americans suspected possible cooperation between the latter two.

Since then, various contradictory and inconclusive claims arose every few years in an effort to explain that flash of light. At first, the Americans thought it was a nuclear test, but then went back on their initial assumption and claimed it was the result of a technical malfunction in the satellite.

Now, for the first time since that dramatic morning, the answer to the mystery is officially revealed: The CIA had evidence that this was a joint nuclear test conducted by Israel and the Apartheid regime in South Africa.

A collection of newly declassified top secret documents and testimonies, published on Thursday by Georgetown University's National Security Archive, indicates that most in the American intelligence community believe that this was a first test to demonstrate that Israel's nuclear "insurance police"meant to ensure there will never be another Holocaustis in fact operational.

The collection of documents is released alongside analysis written by Prof. Avner Cohen of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and Dr. William Burr, a senior analyst at the National Security Archive and a nuclear historian.

The newly declassified documents also include surprising information regarding the source of the leak that confirmed the test: two senior Israeli officials.

Shortly after the detection of the mysterious flash, the US was quick to believe it was a test. The CIA sponsored a panel of three outside scientists who looked into the matter, and they determined that "signals were consistent with detection of a nuclear explosion in the atmosphere."

Their conclusions were based on a plethora of intelligence gathered at the time, including signals measured in Australia and one dead cow in the country whose blood contained a large amount of radioactive material which is characteristic of a nuclear explosion.

While this evidence remains classified to this very day, Cohen quotes an interview he conducted in the 1990s on the topic with Adm. Stansfield Turner, the CIA director at the time, who said he believed Israel and South Africa were behind the explosion.

President Carter was also convinced of that, at least at first. There was indication of a nuclear explosion in the region of South Africaeither South Africa, Israel using a ship at sea, or nothing," he wrote in his diary on the day of the explosion.

Carter suspected Israel and South Africa's nuclear cooperation even before the explosion, and sought clarification on the matter from Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin several years prior.

Begin gave him an evasive answer, claiming that Israel was not helping South Africa develop nuclear weapons. But Begin never quite answered whether Israel was cooperating with the Apartheid regime in the nuclear field.

In November 1979, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, part of the Executive Office of the President, established a panel of eight external experts to investigate the matter. The panel "was unable to determine whether the light signal recorded by the satellite was generated by a nuclear explosion or some other phenomenon," suggesting the flash might have been the result of "the possible reflection of sunlight from a small meteoroid or a piece of space debris passing near the satellite."

Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter in 1979 (Photo: Yaakov Saar/GPO)

Declaring that Israel conducted a nuclear experiment only six months after the signing of the Camp David Accordsconsidered a significant achievement of the Carter administrationwould leave the United States with no choice but to impose sanctions on the State of Israel.

"For Carter, saying that Israel conducted a nuclear experiment was no less than a terrible nightmare," Cohen notes.

The panel therefore reached the conclusions that were more convenient to all involved. A classified memo by a senior official at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) from June 1980 dubbed that the White House panels report a "whitewash, due to political considerations," and argued the flash was the result of a nuclear test.

A decade later, Wolfgang Panofsky, one of the most respected physicists on the panel, said in an interview, "We made a 'Scotch Verdict.' There wasnt enough evidence to decide either way."

In 1980, the panel's chair, Prof. Jack Ruina, learned the details of what happened that day in the South Atlantic from one of his Israeli visiting fellows at MIT. According to the documents and other MIT information, that Israeli "source" was Dr. Anselm Yaron, a senior missile engineer who had been the head of the Israeli Jericho missile program during the 1970s.

Brig. Gen. (res.) Uzi Eilam, the director-general of the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission at the time, said regarding the leak, "I knew Dr. Yaron well, and he was a special and talented man and a very independent and colorful character. He was the head of the missile project and had no connection to nuclear issues. That is why the story alleging he gave out some information seems strange to me. To the pointthe double flash was likely a technical malfunction in the American satellite, and neither I nor Israel were involved in it in any way."

Shortly after the experiment, CBS's Israel correspondent Dan Raviv released a story revealing that Israel and South Africa were behind it. He went abroad to broadcast the story to evade the Israeli Military Censor.

Raviv's source, which was unknown until now, is also revealed in the National Security Archives Electronic Briefing Book : Former MK Eliyahu Speiser, a senior Labor party member and a close associate of Shimon Peres.

Raviv declined to comment on the matter on Wednesday, while Ora Speiser, the former MK's widow, said in response, "From what I know of my husband, he wasn't a man who leaks information."

Even though the newly declassified documents don't serve as a "smoking gun" that would determine with certainty that the mysterious flash was indeed the result of a joint Israeli-South African nuclear test, they still serve as another foreign testimony that Israel has nuclear weapons and that it cooperated with the Apartheid regime to achieve it.

If Israel did seek to carry out nuclear experiments, as foreign reports claim, it needed a suitable geographic location for such tests and South Africa was the perfect partner to that end. The nation, which was isolated because of the racist Apartheid regime, was desperate for military aid and modern technology. And Israel, the declassified documents indicate, did not hesitate to provide South Africa with what it sought.
Citizen Airmen embrace, extend Old Glory

At a solemn commemoration ceremony this morning marking the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, an American flag flew over the battleship USS Arizona Memorial, where 1,177 Sailors lost their lives Dec. 7, 1941.



With 50 stars and 13 stripes, the flag appears no different than those seen on front porches and military bases all over the United States, but this particular flag journeyed far and wide, courtesy of Citizen Airmen, before arriving at todays ceremony.



Named Old Glory, the flags journey started in June 1999 when Air Force veteran, Dave Pawlewicz, decided to make a grand expression of patriotism; a tour of the Stars and Stripes to honor all veterans, commemorate important historical events, and salute members of the Armed Forces and emergency responders.



According to Pawlewicz, Old Glory was first raised at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, launching Century Link Americas world flag tour, Old Glory Travels Americas Freedom Road. Since then, the flag has flown over hallowed ground across the United States and well beyond. From Normandy France, to Midway, Saipan, Iraq, Afghanistan and Ground Zero in New York City, the flags significance has steadily grown for those who have stood in its shadow, but especially those who have been responsible for its care.



As special mission superintendent for Reserve KC-10 off-station missions, Senior Master Sgt. Tim Stepp, has helped coordinate a lot interesting requests during his career with the 349th Air Mobility Wing at Travis Air Force Base, California. Yet when he learned Old Glory would be delivered to his base by an aircrew from the 514th AMW at Joint Base McGuire-Dix Lakehurst, New Jersey, but needed to reach Hawaii in time for the anniversary less than a week later, he says he felt an extra sense of personal responsibility to help. He soon found a scheduled Air Force Reserve Command training mission to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, and reached out to a squadron he knew well and trusted.



We were being entrusted to care for and respect this special flag and bring it safely home, said Stepp. Thats a huge honor, and I knew the 312th Airlift Squadron would take good care of it.



When Master Sgt. Steve Burke, 312th AS loadmaster, received word that he would take the lead and hand-deliver the flag, he immediately embraced it.



I had never heard of it before, said Burke, but as I thumbed through the book that travels with it and saw everywhere it had been; submarines, ships, airplanes, elementary schools, it really had a noble appeal.



Prior to departing Travis in a C-5M Super Galaxy loaded with general cargo for Airmen in Hawaii and Alaska, Burke briefed his fellow aircrew about the one item that would be kept on the flight deck.

Everyone ate it up, and was happy to be part of getting the flag to such an important event, said Burke.



Even after 27 years as a loadmaster with the 349th Air Mobility Wing, Burke says being part of Old Glorys journey will be amongst his most memorable experiences.



When I load something, it becomes partly mine, Burke said proudly. So when Ill see it later, wherever it goes, Ill say, thats my flag.



As it turns out, Airmen in the business of providing rapid global mobility are the perfect keepers for Old Glory. Stepp is currently coordinating the flags return to Travis with another reserve C-5M aircrew early next week, and then it will likely head to Southwest Asia aboard a KC-10, with stops in Iraq and Afghanistan.



According to Pawlewicz, Old Glorys tour was due to end in 2004, but the response has been so positive and has generated so much good will, he sees no end in sight. When the tour does end, he hopes Old Glory, along with all the pictures, letters, certificates and other memorabilia will be given to an appropriate museum.
The controversial observation was welcomed by most political parties and slammed by orthodox Muslim men and organisations.

By India Today Web Desk: The Allahabad High Court today said the Islamic practice of triple talaq is unconstitutional and against women's rights.

The controversial observation was welcomed by most political parties and slammed by orthodox Muslim men and organisations.

Here are some of the reactions so far:

Kamal Faruqui, Member, All India Muslim Personal Law Board

Islam is one of the most progressive religions on women's rights. Talaq is a part of the Sharia law, so no interference should be there. The Constitution gives me the right to follow my religion. It's only an observation by the court, not a decision.

advertisement

Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahali, Muslim cleric

I respect the High Court's verdict, but we have constitutional rights to appeal against the verdict if not satisfied. The AIMPLB's legal committee will study the verdict and the observation, and then it will file its appeal against the said verdict. I don't think it (triple talaq) is unconstitutional. If few people misuse the laws, you can take action against them and not remove the law.

Zakiya Soman, Gender Rights Activist & PetitionerI welcome the verdict of the Allahabad High Court. It's true that triple talaq is not constitutional and it must be abolished.

Renuka Chowdhury, Congress MP

This should have happened long ago. I am happy that my Muslim sisters will have more rights, more security and dignity in their lives. It's an idea that has come of age.

Meenakshi Lekhi, BJP MP

It is a progressive decision by the court. It should be welcomed by all, regardless of political affiliations. There is no Sharia law in the country. If there was, then people's head or hand would be cut off. The decision will benefit the Muslim community.

RK Singh, BJP MP

It is a progressive move by the court. Only some orthodox people are objecting to it.

Allahabad HC calls triple talaq unconstitutional, says no personal law board is above Constitution

--- ENDS ---
This has been a long time in the making, but in our continuing pursuit to bring only the best of firearms, 2nd Amendment and defence related news to our readers, we are very excited to announce the next step in our evolution as a company.

As of 2020, Minuteman Review is now the proud owner and operator of Your Defence News, a website with a long history of breaking huge news stories and investigative journalism.

We hope you are equally as excited as us.

This means that now the teams of Minuteman can combine with the firepower of Your Defence News to stay at the absolute forefront for our readers.

Keep an eye. Big things are coming soon. We couldn't be more excited.

In the meanwhile, here are some of our most popular posts and categories to keep you busy.

Happy shootin' my friends!

Buying Guides:

Firearms

Firearm Accessories

Ammunition

Gun Safes

Scopes & Optics

Hunting

Air Rifles

Best AR-15

Best AR 15 Scope

Best Hunting Rifle

Best Gun Safe

Best AK 47

Best AR 10

Best Glock Triggers

Best Glock

Best Home Defense Shotgun
Dobra, k. Szczecina 900 m2

40 miejsc parkingowych



Atut: Dodatkowe dochody z paczkomatow InPostu, a juz niedugo i z myjni samoobsugowej.



Tradycyjny zakup nieruchomosci, mozliwosc wykupienia uzytkowania wieczystego.
The Allahabad High Court has rejected the argument that a practice, howsoever discriminatory, should be allowed to continue in the name of custom.

By Anusha Soni: Expressing concerns as to how instant triple talaq was being misused, Allahabad High Court noted obiter dicta that the present customs in Muslim Personal Law of triple talaq continues to alleviate the 'suffering' of Muslim Women.

"The question which disturbs the Court is should Muslim wives suffer this tyranny for all times? Should their personal law remain so cruel towards these unfortunate wives," the court noted.

advertisement

These comments merely form the obiter part of the order and have no binding legal force. The court was hearing a matter pertaining to a Muslim man who divorced his first wife through triple talaq to marry a girl half of his age.

READ| Allahabad High Court calls triple talaq unconstitutional

WHAT DID COURT SAY

The High Court further said, "The judicial conscience is disturbed at this monstrosity. The first wife has to live life for no fault of her but for the reason that her husband got attracted to a lady half of her age which is the reason for being divorced. The view that the Muslim husband enjoys an arbitrary, unilateral power to inflict instant divorce does not accord with Islamic injunctions."

WATCH:

READ| Triple talaq: What is behind Allahabad High Court judgement

The order also details out an understanding of the Islamic law arguing that "it is a popular fallacy that a Muslim male enjoys unbridled authority to liquidate the marriage." The order states that Quran has forbidden a man to divorce an 'obedient and faithful' wife, unless the wife by her indocility or her bad character, renders the married life unhappy'.

The court said the correct law of talaq as ordained by the holy Quran is that talaq must be for a reasonable cause and be preceded by attempts at reconciliation between the husband and the wife by two arbiters- one from the wife's family and the other from the husband's if the first attempt fails.

READ| Allahabad HC's order will help divorced Muslim women, says Arif Mohammed Khan

THE LARGER DEBATE

At a time when the Law Commission is taking public opinion on the uniform civil code, the court made strong comments arguing that the purpose of law in a modern secular State based upon the Constitution is to bring about social change. The court called triple talaq 'a cruel and the most demeaning form of divorce practised by the Muslim community at large'.

Refusing to go into the legality of triple talaq as the matter is pending before the Supreme Court, the court strongly favoured constitutional principles of gender equality.

advertisement

"Women cannot remain at the mercy of the patriarchal setup held under the clutches of sundry clerics having their own interpretation of the holy Quran. Personal laws, of any community, cannot claim supremacy over the rights granted to the individuals by the Constitution,' the court argued.

ALSO READ:

Muslim Personal Law Board slams Allahabad High Court's statement on triple talaq

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: From Anisur Rahman

Dhaka, Dec 8 (PTI) Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said that military operations by Myanmar cannot solve the problems involving the minority Rohingya Muslims, who have been fleeing to Bangladesh to avoid the crackdown by Myanmarese security forces.

"The Rohingya issue is a political problem and it cannot be resolved militarily," Hasinas press secretary Ihsanul Karim quoted her as saying when the newly-appointed Danish Ambassador in Dhaka Mikael Hemnid Winther called on her.

advertisement

Her comments came as international rights groups including the UN refugee agency UNHCR accused Myanmar of using military force against Rohingyas, forcing them to flee to Bangladesh.

Millions of Rohingyas have been living in Bangladesh for decades after they escaped the alleged atrocities in Myanmar. Dhaka sees the refugees as an economic burden and the presence of the refugees have raised security fears in Bangladesh over Rohingya groups suspected links with Islamist extremists.

Bangladesh is reeling from a wave of attacks claimed by terrorist outfits such as Islamic State and Al Qaeda on foreigners, rights activists and secular bloggers.

Hasina told the envoy "I understand the problems of refugees very well", according to Karim, as she herself was in exile for six years after the assassination of her father and Bangladeshs founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in a 1975 coup.

Hasina referred to the example of settling Bangladeshs Chittagong Hill Tracts insurgency in 1997 through peaceful internal negotiations, Karim said.

UNHCR chief John McKissick last week said the Myanmarese troops were "killing men, shooting them, slaughtering children, raping women, burning and looting houses, forcing these people to cross the river" into Bangladesh.

Bangladesh had sealed its borders with Myanmar with its paramilitary border guards and coastguards intensifying vigil on the frontiers but officials said several thousand Rohingyas took refuge in the bordering villages despite the vigil. PTI AR ABH AKJ ABH

--- ENDS ---
News

Washington, DC - The United States and Cuba will hold the fifth Bilateral Commission meeting in Havana, Cuba on Wednesday, December 7. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Mari Carmen Aponte will lead the U.S. delegation. Embassy Havana Charge dAffaires Jeffrey DeLaurentis and Deputy Assistant Secretary John Creamer will also attend for the United States. The Cuban delegation will be led by Josefina Vidal, the Foreign Ministrys Director General for U.S. Affairs.

The meeting will provide an opportunity to review progress and engagement on a number of priorities since the last Bilateral Commission meeting in September 2016, including human rights, civil aviation, health, law enforcement, economic issues, claims, environmental protection, agriculture, migration, educational and cultural exchanges, and trafficking in persons.
Yuma News

On December 6, at approximately 10:20 p.m. the Yuma Police Department responded to a 911 open line call in the 900 block of West Holly Drive. While officers were responding to the call, dispatch stated they could hear someone say I just got shot.

Initial investigation revealed that two male roommates were in a physical altercation inside the residence. During the fight, one roommate attempted to barricade himself in his bedroom while the other tried to force open the door. An unknown Hispanic male, that was also inside the residence, left the residence and returned with a gun. A single gunshot was fired inside the residence and the fight broke up. One of the roommates fled to his bedroom with his girlfriend and locked the door. The unknown Hispanic male exited the residence and another shot was heard from outside the residence a few moments later. The unknown subject then left the area in an unknown direction.

One male resident was taken to Yuma Regional Medical Center for an injury to his hand. It is unknown at this time if the injury is from a gunshot or being crushed in the bedroom door. He was later flown to a Phoenix hospital to see a specialist.

The suspect is only identified as a Hispanic male, no further.

This case is still under investigation.

The Yuma Police Department encourages anyone with any information about this case to please call the Yuma Police Department at 928-373-4700 or 78-Crime at (928) 782-7463 to remain anonymous.
DGCA had ordered an inquiry to find out how three flights, including the IndiGo aircraft which had West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on-board along with other passengers, could fly low on fuel into Kolkata at the same time.

By Press Trust of India: Cockpit crew of the three aircraft reporting short on fuel over Kolkata recently was "crying wolf" and played "naughty" to seek early landing to show good on-time performance, a top Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) official said today and justified the action of de-rostering them.

All the three aircraft had, in fact, "enough" fuel and the pilots wanted "early" landing to show "good on-time performance", the official said, requesting anonymity.

advertisement

DGCA had ordered an inquiry to find out how three flights, including the IndiGo aircraft which had West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee onboard along with other passengers, could fly low on fuel into Kolkata at the same time. Subsequently, it directed the three airlines- IndiGo, Air India and SpiceJet to take off duty the entire cockpit crew of the three aircraft.

Also read: Mamata Banerjee flight row: IndiGo airlines takes off duty pilots of operation CM's flight

A row had erupted after the Trinamool Congress (TMC) alleged that the IndiGo aircraft carrying its chief Banerjee was not accorded priority in landing despite fuel shortage.

All three aircraft had enough fuel, enough not only for holding pattern but also to land twice at the diversionary airport, which in this case was Bhubaneswar. In the landing sequence, Air India was on sixth position while IndiGo flight was on eighth slot. SpiceJet aircraft was on the last position of the three.

"However, despite, this IndiGo pilot sought early landing from the Air traffic control (ATC) saying it was short on fuel. Before giving it clearance, the ATC asked Air India pilot since it was ahead in slot, but he also reported low on fuel. Just then, SpiceJet pilot also jumped in and reported short fuel. But none of them sought priority landing as that would have put them under scrutiny," the official said. "These pilots actually played naughty. It was like cry wolf," he said.

Also read: Plot to kill Mamata Banerjee? TMC alleges her plane was running low on fuel, ATC kept it on hold

Norms mandate an aircraft to carry enough fuel to enable hovering for 30-40 minutes as well as to carry it to the nearest diversion airport, which in this case was Bhubaneshwar. As a fallout of the entire row, all the six pilots were taken off duty for one week while the air traffic controller, who handled these flights was directed to undergo "corrective training". "The ATC was instructed to undergo corrective training as he should have taken a decision on his own," the official said.

IndiGo on its part had said that its November 30 flight carrying the TMC supremo was delayed due to congestion over Kolkata before making a normal landing and had adequate fuel. In a statement, IndiGo had said the flight made a "normal landing" at Kolkata airport and that its captain did not declare a fuel priority or an emergency, though there was some misunderstanding between ATC and the pilot.

advertisement

Also read: Mamata flight incident: IndiGo says plane had adequate fuel

--- ENDS ---
Beijing: China should spend its money on building more nuclear arms as a response to US President-elect Donald Trump, an editorial in the nationalistic Global Times newspaper said on Thursday.

The editorial advocated for a "significant" increase in military spending.

China "won't pay into Trump's protection racket. It should use the money to build more strategic nuclear arms and accelerate the deployment of the DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missile. China's military spending in 2017 should be augmented significantly," it added in the print article run in both English and Chinese.

The "protection racket" the editorial is referring to is Trump's earlier statement that he would make the US' allies pay Washington for helping defend them.

Notably, the paper is not part of the official state media, but has close ties to the ruling Communist Party.

Chinese officials are sometimes thought to use it as a rhetorical hammer, but have also admonished it for its often bombastic language.

The president-elect frequently savaged China on the campaign trail, even calling it America`s "enemy" and pledging to stand up to a country he says views the US as a pushover.

But he has also indicated he is not interested in projecting US power away from home, saying America is sick of paying to defend allies like Japan and South Korea -- even suggesting they should develop their own nuclear weapons.

The editorial follows a Twitter tirade by Trump earlier in the week blasting China`s trade and foreign policies, as well as a protocol-shattering decision to accept a congratulatory phone call from Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen.

Beijing regards Taiwan as a rogue province awaiting unification.

In the editorial, the Global Times said: "We need to get better prepared militarily regarding the Taiwan question to ensure that those who advocate Taiwan`s independence will be punished, and take precautions in case of US provocations in the South China Sea."

On Wednesday, Trump selected Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, who has close ties to Chinese President Xi Jinping dating back to the mid-1980s, as ambassador to China -- potentially welcome news for Beijing, which called him an "old friend" upon receiving reports of his nomination.

Nevertheless, the state-owned China Daily newspaper remained pessimistic about the future of relations with the US.

A Thursday editorial said that though the Asian giant had thus far responded to Trump with "laudable" prudence, further provocations from the unpredictable politician would jeopardize Sino-US ties.

"China has to prepare for the worst," it said. "What has happened over the past weeks tends to suggest that Sino-US relations are facing uncertainty as never before, as Trump`s words are not necessarily more bark than bite."

"Trump obviously considers China a cash cow. There have been voices in the West that want China to do more since the US deemed that China took a free ride on US efforts to maintain world order. But does China need to make deals with Trump that only benefit the US for making peace with him? Apparently not," says the editorial.

(With Agency inputs)
Patna: In a stepped-up campaign in favour of prohibition, the Patna Police nabbed 14 persons including a big liquor suppliers last night, a police statement said on Thursday.

Acting on a tip-off provided to Senior Superintendent of Police Manu Maharaj that a few people were enjoying a booze party in a roadside hotel near Eco Park, a team of Sachivalaya police station reached the spot and nabbed 10 persons, a statement from SSP office said.

The booze party was organised by supplier Santosh Kumar, who was earlier held in Gaya with 640 bottles of foreign brand liquor, the statement said.

The police seized two bottles of Indian Made Foreign Liquor and two empty bottles from the spot, it added.

In another incident, four persons were arrested for consuming alcohol near a petrol pump around Gandhi setu area.

Following directions of the SSP, a team of Agamkuan police station reached the spot and nabbed four persons red-handed.

In the past two weeks, the Patna police as part of stepped up operation has arrested 123 people under liquor law from different parts of the district.

During the period, the police seized 34 bottles of IMFL, 3096 litres of spiced liquor and 156 kg of contraband ganja, the statement said.

The operation was initiated in the wake of SSP warning that action would be taken against Officer in-charge from whose area any information about liquor trade and consumption would come to him (the SSP).
New Delhi: The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Thursday decided to appeal against the Allahabad High Court ruling terming the practice of 'triple talaq' among Muslims as 'unconstitutional'.

"It is an observation by the court and I don't know in what context it has been made. Even it is a judgment, it is of no significance because the entire matter is before the Supreme Court," AIMPLB member Kamal Faruqi was quoted as saying.

"We have filed affidavits before the Supreme Court and given our detailed view about Triple Talaq,'' he added.

"It is not a question of Muslims alone but about all religious entities who have been given the guarantee under the Constitution to follow their faith and religion. Therefore, only the Supreme Court verdict matters," said Faruqi.

Faruqi also recated strongly to the High Court observation that personal law of a community cannot be placed above the Constitution.

"With due respect to the judge, it is the same Constitution that gives the me the protection and freedom to follow my religion. Talaq is part of Sharia law."

Another AIMPLB member, Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahali, too defended Triple Talaq and said the Board was mulling filing an appeal against the high court ruling.

"Triple Talaq is an integral part of our religion and the Muslim Personal Law Board.

"If 8-10 cases of Triple Talaq are reported across the country when the Muslim population is 20 core, it doesn't mean the law should be abolished or changed," said Mahali, the Naib Imam of Lucknow's Aishbagh Eidgah.

"The Personal Law Board works within the parameters of the Constitution and it not right to suggest we are above the Constitution.

"Our legal committee is studying the verdict and we will move in appeal against it," he added.

In its ruling today, the Allahabad High Court said, ''No personal law board is above the Constitution, and the triple talaq violates the fundamental rights of Muslim women.''

"The instant divorce (triple talaq) though has been deprecated and not followed by all sects of Muslim community in the country, however, is a cruel and the most demeaning form of divorce practised by the Muslim community at large. Women cannot remain at the mercy of the patriarchal setup held under the clutches of sundry clerics having their own interpretation of the holy Quoran," the court said in its observation.
New Delhi: India on Thursday rejected as "completely baseless" Pakistan's allegations against Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian national and a former Indian Navy officer.

Addressing the press, Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup also said that India had sent eight note verbales to Pakistan for consular access to Jadhav.

Asked about media reports quoting Pakistan Foreign Advisor Sartaj Aziz as saying there was no "conclusive evidence" against Jadhav which were later denied by the Pakistan Foreign Ministry, Swarup said, "We have seen conflicting media reports about this issue. This is a pattern we have seen in the past as well."

Even after more than nine months of keeping him "wrongfully and illegally" in custody, Pakistani authorities have not found a shred of evidence against him, he said.

"We demand immediate consular access to him in accordance with relevant international conventions and his earliest release from wrongful confinement. We have also sent eight Note Verbales to the Pakistan Foreign Office on this issue," Swarup added.

Yesterday, addressing a full Senate chamber, Aziz reportedly admitted that the dossier on Jadhav contained mere statements.

"It did not have any conclusive evidence," he was quoted as saying by Geo TV.

"What the dossier contained was not enough. Now it is up to the concerned authorities how long they take to give us more matter on the agent," Aziz supposedly said.

However, later, Pakistan released a statement saying that statement attributed to Aziz on alleged 'Indian spy' was 'absolutely incorrect'.

"There is irrefutable proof against Kulbhushan Yadav who had also made a public confession in March this year, Pakistan's statement said, as per ANI.

Jadhav, who was reportedly arrested in Balochistan after he entered from Iran, has been accused by Pakistan of planning "subversive activities" in the country.

Pakistan Army had also released a "confessional video" of Jadhav, who said he was the serving Indian Navy officer.

In March this year, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had said that the External Affairs Ministry had been asked to extend all possible help to Jadhav.

It is said that he often carried cargo to and from Iranian ports bordering Pakistan and has nothing to do with India's external intelligence agency, RAW.

PTI had quoted sources saying at that time that there was no proof that Jadhav, who owns a cargo business in Iran, was arrested in Balochistan.

Jadhav could have been arrested after he strayed into Pakistani waters and was being wrongly charged, sources had said.

(With Agency inputs)
New Delhi: The Ministry of Women and Child Development has released Standard Operating Procedures or SOPs for missing children, three years after the Supreme Court directed the Centre to develop them.

These SOPs are meant for various agencies like Child Welfare Committees, Juvenile Justice Boards, ChildLine as well as local police authorities and details how one should proceed in cases involving missing children.

"Often when a child is recovered from somewhere, the authorities do not know what to do with him or her, what is the process, who will accompany the child, how do you contact other CWCs.

As a result, restoration of the child becomes a problem. So, we have prepared a list of steps that can be followed," said a senior official of the ministry.

It lists the various ways in which a report on a missing child can be filed, who can file this report, the responsibilities of the different agencies involved, among others.

Bachpan Bachao Aandolan (BBA), on whose PIL the SC ordered the formulation of a Standard Operating Procedure for cases of missing children in 2013, has welcomed these guidelines.

"The SOP is an excellent first beginning but it needs to be translated into action on the ground by the police and other enforcement agencies.

"The number of missing children has started to decline (1,00,000 in 2008 to 67,000 in 2016) since the SC order of 2013 mandating that a missing child case has to be necessarily investigated as a case of trafficking or abduction, which means deterrent through law is possible.

"If these SOPs are followed properly we believe that the organised crime of trafficking can be combated," said Bhuvan Ribhu, National Secretary, BBA.
By PTI: Kathmandu, Dec 8 (PTI) Nepalese Supreme Court today summoned Prime Minister Prachanda and Speaker Onsari Gharti Magar and asked them to furnish written clarifications within a week informing the rationale behind the registration of Constitution amendment bill to adress Madhesis deamands.

A single bench of Justice Jagadish Sharma Paudel ordered the two leaders to furnish written clarifications within a week and set December 20 as the date for next hearing on the case filed against the government move, the Himalayan Times reported.

advertisement

The ruling Nepali Congress-Maoist coalition government on November 29 had registered the amendment bill at the Parliament Secretariat in order to address demands put forth by the agitating Madhesi parties.

Following the registration, the Ex-lawmakers Forum challenged the Constitution Amendment Bill in the court, seeking a stay on the amendment process.

The amendment bill is aimed at carving out a new province to meet the demands of agitating Madhesis and other ethnic groups whose protests last year left more than 50 people dead.

The bill proposes to address three other key issues -- citizenship, representation in the Upper House and recognition of languages spoken in various parts of the country.

Madhesis, mostly Indian-origin, launched a six-month-long agitation from September last year to February this year in which more than 50 people were killed.

The agitation had also crippled the landlocked countrys economy as supplies from India were blocked.

The bill proposes to list all the mother tongues of Nepal in the schedule of the constitution on the recommendation of the Language Commission. It also states that all languages recommended to be official languages by the Language Commission will be listed in the constitution?s schedule.

On citizenship, the bill proposes that foreign women married to Nepali men can obtain naturalised citizenship after initiating the process to renounce their citizenship.

The bill does not say anything about the rights of the naturalised citizens and citizens by birth. PTI ZH AKJNepalese SC summons PM Prachanda, Speaker over amendment bill

Kathmandu, Dec 8 (PTI) Nepalese Supreme Court today summoned Prime Minister Prachanda and Speaker Onsari Gharti Magar and asked them to furnish written clarifications within a week informing the rationale behind the registration of Constitution amendment bill to address Madhesis demands.

A single bench of Justice Jagadish Sharma Paudel ordered the two leaders to furnish written clarifications within a week and set December 20 as the date for next hearing on the case filed against the government move, the Himalayn Times reported.

advertisement

The ruling Nepali Congress-Maoist coalition government on November 29 had registered the amendment bill at the Parliament Secretariat in order to address demands put forth by the agitating Madhesi parties.

Following the registration, the Ex-lawmakers Forum challenged the Constitution Amendment Bill in the court, seeking a stay on the amendment process.

The amendment bill is aimed at carving out a new province to meet the demands of agitating Madhesis and other ethnic groups whose protests last year left more than 50 people dead.

The bill proposes to address three other key issues -- citizenship, representation in the Upper House and recognition of languages spoken in various parts of the country.

Madhesis, mostly Indian-origin, launched a six-month-long agitation from September last year to February this year in which more than 50 people were killed.

The agitation had also crippled the landlocked countrys economy as supplies from India were blocked.

The bill proposes to list all the mother tongues of Nepal in the schedule of the constitution on the recommendation of the Language Commission. It also states that all languages recommended to be official languages by the Language Commission will be listed in the constitution?s schedule.

advertisement

On citizenship, the bill proposes that foreign women married to Nepali men can obtain naturalised citizenship after initiating the process to renounce their citizenship.

The bill does not say anything about the rights of the naturalised citizens and citizens by birth. PTI ZH AKJ ZH

--- ENDS ---
New Delhi: Expressing strong displeasure over the ongoing parliamentary logjam, President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday said that disruption of Parliament is totally unacceptable.

The President spoke on elections too.

"Frequent elections are a costly affair and (the practice) should be done away with," the President said.

He was delivering the Defence Estate Day Lecture 2016 here on 'Reforms for a stronger democracy'.

The President said he favoured simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

"I am convinced the country needs electoral reforms. We should (first) have a public debate and thereafter make the reforms," he said.

"We are ready to pay the price for democracy but it should not be at the cost of development," he said, adding that the country should find a way out to hold simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies.

The President said people send their representatives to Parliament to work for the country and not to agitate.

He expressed concern that disruption of parliamentary work has become a practice.

"Do your job," he told the MPs.

"Dharnas can be organised elsewhere," he said asking all concerned to debate and discuss issues of public importance in the house.

Mukherjee said he was not criticising any particular political party but all concerned must work together to ensure the smooth functioning of Parliament.

Mukherjee shared his own experience when he urged countrymen to vote decisively as frequent elections, because of hung Parliament, were causing lots of problems to the country.

"I had urged the nation to vote diligently and I was criticised in some political quarters," he said.

The President urged all political parties to give adequate representation to women in their organisations.

"Political parties are not doing enough to give adequate representation to women," he said, adding that this should be explored.

(With agency inputs)
New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) member Bhagwant Mann was on Thursday barred from attending the remaining Winter Session.

The current Session ends on December 16, 2016.

Mann, the Aam Aadmi Party MP from Sangrur, had triggered a controversy in July by live-streaming on social media the security arrangements at the Parliament House complex.

On December 02, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had given another extension to the Parliamentary Committee formed to probe the alleged breach of Parliament security by Bhagwant Mann.

The nine-member committee is headed by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Kirit Somaiya.

Mahajan had set up a panel on July 25 to probe the alleged breach of Parliament security by the AAP leader, who on July 21 posted on Facebook his route from home to Parliament House.
New Delhi: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday described Prime Minister Narendra Modi's demonetisation move as a foolish decision.

Opposition leaders today observed a 'Black Day' in Parliament premises to mark one month of the announcement of demonetisation.

Leading the protest, Gandhi said the demonetisation decision was taken without much deliberation.

The PM's so-called bold demonetisation move is a foolish decision which has devastated the country, said Gandhi.

Gandhi further said that the Opposition wanted discussion and voting on the topic, but accused the government of shying away from the same.

Lashing out at Rahul Gandhi, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said those observing a 'Black Day' are actually observing "Black Money Support Day".

"Our opponents particularly the Congress I am told are observing a Black Day. I say what they are observing is a 'Black Money Support Day'.

"Dharna by opposition parties near Gandhi statute in Parliament premises is a big 'tamasha' and an insult to the Father of Nation," Naidu said.

As part of the protests, the opposition leaders held a dharna at Gandhi statue in Parliament premises.

While Congress leaders are gathering near the Gandhi statue in Parliament, the party was "moving away" from the spirit of the Mahatma, he said.

Not allowing Parliament to function only reflects "contempt" of democracy, he told reporters at a photo exhibition organised by photojournalists.
Anantnag: In a major development, security forces on Thursday gunned down three Lashkar terrorists.

The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists were killed in a fierce enounter that took place in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag.

Precisely, the encounter took place in Anantnag's Arwani.

Earlier, on Thursday, it was reported that a gunfight is underway between security forces and militants in south Kashmir's Anantnag district.

Unconfirmed reports had suggested that Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Abu Dujana was among the three-four militants holed up in a house in Arwani village.

A report in Daily Excelsior confirmed the presence of Dujana, adding that he was accompanied by Abdul Majeed Gania, a LeT operative.

The newspaper adds that residents of the area pelted stones at the security forces during the cordon.

Acting on a tip-off, troops of counter insurgency Rashtriya Rifles (RR), special operations group of Jammu and Kashmir Police and CRPF had surrounded the village late on Wednesday.

Gunshots were heard when the forces tried to tighten the cordon but guns fell silent in the night.

With the first ray of light on Thursday, the militants started firing at the security forces.

Combing operations are underway.

Bank loot foiled

Also, taking a swift and timely action, security forces foiled an attempt by terrorists to loot a bank in Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam.

Attempts were made by terrorists to loot a J&K bank on Thursday morning.
Srinagar: A gunfight is underway between security forces and militants in south Kashmir's Anantnag district. Unconfirmed reports have suggested that Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Abu Dujana is among the three-four militants holed up in a house in Arwani village.

Acting on a tip-off, troops of counter insurgency Rashtriya Rifles (RR), special operations group of Jammu and Kashmir Police and CRPF had surrounded the village late on Wednesday.

Gunshots were heard when the forces tried to tighten the cordon but guns fell silent in the night. With the first ray of light on Thursday, the militants started firing at the security forces.

However, officials have refused to confirm the presence of Dujana. Quoting an official, IANS said, We can confirm nothing until the encounter was over.

A report in Daily Excelsior confirmed the presence of Dujana, adding that he was accompanied by Abdul Majeed Gania, a LeT operative.

The newspaper adds that residents of the area pelted stones at the security forces during the cordon.

If the forces manage to neutralise Dujana, it will be the second big victory against militancy this year after the killing of Burhan Wani. He had also reportedly inspired Wani and is close to Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed.

Dujana is involved in several attacks in South Kashmir and has a bounty of Rs 8 lakhs on his head.

He had reportedly made an appearance in the funeral of Burhan Wani in south Kashmir.
Allahabad: In a significant ruling, Allahabad High Court has termed triple talaq as unconstitutional.

Coming down heavily on the practice of "triple talaq", the Allahabad HC said the triple talaq system practiced in the Muslim community violates the rights of Muslim women.

The court slammed All India Muslim Personal Law Board's stand of supporting triple talaq saying, "No Personal Law Board is above the Constitution."

The High Court held that this form of "instant divorce" is "cruel" and "most demeaning" which "impedes and drags India from becoming a nation".

"Muslim law, as applied in India, has taken a course contrary to the spirit of what the Prophet or the Holy Quran laid down and the same misconception vitiates the law dealing with the wife's right to divorce", a single judge bench of Justice Suneet Kumar said in its judgement passed last month.

The single bench judge also said that holy book Quran doesn't consider triple talaq as good.

The court observed that "divorce is permissible in Islam only in case of extreme emergency. When all efforts for effecting a reconciliation have failed, the parties may proceed to a dissolution of marriage by Talaq or by Khola".

The court's order comes on a petition filed by a Muslim woman from Bulandshahr, who was divorced by her husband as per triple talaq provisions.

Triple talaq is interpreted as the Islamic practice of divorcing a woman by uttering the word talaq thrice. Most Muslim countries do not approve of it.

The Supreme Court is also hearing a petitions challenging triple talaq. The Modi government has proposed for banning the divorce practice.

The AIMPLB has opposed the Centre's move against the triple talaq.

A debate has emerged over the government's stand opposing the practice of triple talaq with some leading women politicians seeking its abolition, even as some Muslim bodies have accused the ruling dispensation of waging a "war" on their personal law.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had criticised political leaders and people on the TV debates saying such discussions on triple talaq would keep women "deprived of their rights".

"I request people who participate in TV debates to not make women rights a Hindu-Muslim issue. It is a development issue. The debate should be between the Muslims who are pro and anti-reforms," he had said.

He also said that justice would be given to Muslim women under the Constitution.
Delhi: US Defence Secretary Ashton on Thursday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Tweeting about it the MEA wrote - "Strengthening an important partnership."

Strengthening an important partnership. US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter calls on PM @narendramodi in Delhi pic.twitter.com/vOHVD7vhMq  Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) December 8, 2016

On the other hand, PM Modi tweeted - "Had a very good meeting with US Secretary of Defence, Mr Ashton Carter."

Had a very good meeting with US Secretary of Defence, Mr. Ashton Carter. pic.twitter.com/VtSmnnhq2z  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 8, 2016

Earlier, terming India a "rising military power", Carter had said, "I believe India and the United States are destined to be strategic partners in the future. It is a large country, it's a rising military power, it is a democracy with which we share many common values and approaches to the world."

Carter had also told reporters travelling with him to New Delhi from Japan yesterday, "The concourse between our peoples is very strong. We're both multicultural societies, but nevertheless, hold together extremely well. So we have a lot in common, both strategically and in terms of who we are."

Carter described India a "major defence partner" and the relationship between the two countries in recent years as strategic handshakes.

"This is a relationship that we've all watched for a long time, but it has grown by leaps and bounds just in the last few years, as measured by - I'm speaking now of the defence relationship - the pace of joint activities that we do between our two militaries, including exercises, which one of our largest programmes of exercises, their extension in scope, including two trilateral exercises as well as bilateral exercises," he had said.

(With PTI inputs)
Srinagar: A 24-year-old civilian was on Thursday killed by a stray bullet near the site of an encounter between militants and security forces which has been going on since early morning in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir.

As per the report, a gunbattle took place between security forces and militants, believed to be two, who are hiding in a house in Bijbehara area, a police official said.

One of them is suspected to have been killed in the encounter but it can be confirmed only when the bodies are retrieved, the official said.

The civilian casualty took place when security personnel were dealing with a mob of stone-pelters, who were targeting the forces near the encounter site to distract them from the operation to flush out the hiding militants.

Arif Shah, a resident of Sangam area of Anantnag district, was hit by a stray bullet, the official said but did not give any further details.

Local residents alleged that Shah was killed in action by security forces action against the protestors.

Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in the area last night following information about presence of at least two militants in the area, the police official said.

He said an encounter broke out between the security forces and militants in the early hours today, which was continuing till last reports came in.
Srinagar: A 24-year-old youth was on Thursday killed by a "stray bullet" near the site of an encounter between militants and security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district.

The state police said Arif Amin Shah of Sangam village in south Kashmir was killed after a mob threw stones at security forces in a neighbourhood, some distance away from a village where three Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants were killed in a six-hour gunfight.

An officer told IANS that the slain militants were all Kashmiris and apparently belonged to southern Kashmir where widespread clashes erupted between security forces and civilians after news spread about the militants' deaths.

Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in the area last night following information about presence of at least two militants in the area, the police official said.

He said an encounter broke out between the security forces and militants in the early hours today, which was continuing till last reports came in.

"The security forces tried to enter the house where the militants are hiding several times during the day but each time had to retreat in view of firing from the ultras," he said, as per PTI.

Some villagers tried to march towards the shootout site in Arwani village, some 40 km from here, in Kulgam district. They threw stones at police contingents and paramilitary troopers.

The police said Shah was hit by a stray bullet but residents alleged he was killed in firing by the security forces. At least a dozen civilians were also injured. One of them was critical, the locals said.

Clashes also erupted at a dozen places in Anantnag and Kulgam -- the worst hit south Kashmir districts in the unrest triggered by the July 8 killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.

In the wake of the unrest since then, some 100 persons died in the months of daily protests and shutdown, which was spearheaded by separatist leaders.

The situation in the valley had just started easing. Separatists on Wednesday relaxed for three days -- Saturday, Sunday and Monday -- their weekly protest calendar.

(With Agency inputs)


By PTI: Melbourne, Dec 7 (PTI) Scientists have developed a new telescope chip that allows astronomers to have a clear view of alien planets that may support life, by cancelling out excess light from the Sun and other host stars.

Seeing a planet outside the solar system which is close to its host sun is very difficult with todays standard astronomical instruments due to the brightness of the Sun.

advertisement

The new chip removes light from the host sun, allowing astronomers for the first time to take a clear image of the planet, according to Steve Madden, associate professor from The Australian National University (ANU).

"The ultimate aim of our work with astronomers is to be able to find a planet like Earth that could support life," said Madden from the ANU.

"To do this we need to understand how and where planets form inside dust clouds, and then use this experience to search for planets with an atmosphere containing ozone, which is a strong indicator of life," he said.

Madden said the optical chip worked in a similar way to noise cancelling headphones.

"This chip is an interferometer that adds equal but opposite light waves from a host sun which cancels out the light from the Sun, allowing the much weaker planet light to be seen," he said.

PhD student Harry-Dean Kenchington Goldsmith, who built the chip, said the technology works like thermal imaging that fire fighters rely on to see through smoke.

"The chip uses the heat emitted from the planet to peer through dust clouds and see planets forming," said Kenchington Goldsmith.

"Ultimately the same technology will allow us to detect ozone on alien planets that could support life," he added. PTI MHN SAR MHN

--- ENDS ---
Chennai: Who will head AIADMK next and whether it could be her close aide Sasikala? This question might have striked almost everyone's mind since the news of ill-health and later death of Tamil Nadu's most charismatic leader J Jayalalithaa came in.

J Jayalalithaa was one of the most popular and powerful politicians of the country, who served six times as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister for over 14 years and remained as AIADMK general secretary since 1989.

Filling her void in the party may not be quite easy given the absence of a second line of leadership and moreover absence of successor identified by the late leader.

An indication of things to come may be had from the fact that Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on Thursday held a two-hour long discussion with Sasikala Natrajan, who is widely perceived to be a power centre in the party, more so after Jayalalithaa's death.

Sasikala's supporters in the party claim that she should be a natural choice for the post of General Secretary held by Jayalalithaa, not all others are willing to agree with it.

Sasikala's supporters say that she had been Amma's aide, sister, friend and confidante, for 30 years through Jayalalithaa's ups and downs. And With O Panneerselvam taking over as Chief Minister, Sasikala should be the ideal choice as the general secretary of the party, they say.

A senior party functionary says that Jayalalithaa had ousted Sasikala twice from the party, once in 1996 after the AIADMK's electoral drubbing and in 2011 months after the party wrested power again from DMK. Such factors had cast a shadow on her as a potential choice to lead the party.

He said Amma herself had announced in 1996 that she was distancing herself from Sasikala and her family to respect the wishes of partymen.

Sasikala's expulsion came against the background of allegations of corruption during the 1991-96 AIADMK regime. The DMK government had arrested Jayalalitha and Sasikala and filed cases against them.

It was also in deference to a public perception that AIADMK was routed in the 1996 Assembly polls only because of Jayalalithaa's close association with Sasikala and her kin that also led to 'Amma' facing jail term.

In particular, the extravagant wedding of Jayalalithaa's foster son VN Sudhakaran, since disowned, in 1995 as among the reasons for Sasikala's expulsion.

On December 19, 2011, Sasikala, her husband M Natarajan, and 12 others who were their close relatives were expelled from the primary membership of the party.

Bharatiya Janata Party Subramanian Swamy believes that the AIADMK will rather explode after Amma's death. O Panneerselvam, who was sworned-in as the Chief Minister overnight, hours after Jayalalithaa's demise, will be unable to run the government as Sasikala won't let anyone grow.

Swamy also added that only 30% MLA of AIADMK are of the Thevar community, a group that Paneerselvam and Sasikala belong to. Whereas remaining 70% MLAs belong to non-Thevar community and therefore, they won't back Thevar hegemony. In the coming time, Paneerselvam will go through some hard time, the BJP leader said.
Beijing: China should build more nuclear weapons to thwart any threat in the future from a Donald Trump-led dispensation in the United States, China's Global Times newspaper has said in an editorial.

Beijing should also quickly deploy its intercontinental ballistic missiles to defend its interests if Trump tries to corner the country, AFP quoted the editorial as saying.

The article called for significantly augmenting China's military spending in 2017.

Trump had frequently slammed China on the campaign trail and called it America's "enemy".

The president-elect had also criticised China over its trade and foreign policies, and provoked Beijing by accepting a call from Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen.

"We need to get better prepared militarily regarding the Taiwan question to ensure that those who advocate Taiwan's independence will be punished, and take precautions in case of US provocations in the South China Sea," the editorial said.

"China has to prepare for the worst," it said. "What has happened over the past weeks tends to suggest that Sino-US relations are facing uncertainty as never before, as Trump's words are not necessarily more bark than bite," it added.
Yangon: At least 11 people were killed in fresh clashes between security forces and armed insurgents in northern Myanmar, a media report said.

The region has been tense since violence erupted in northern Shan state in late November. Thousands of people have already fled their homes.

On December 2, at least nine policemen were killed by the rebels. Two civilians were also reportedly killed in that incident, AFP reported.

The clashes have dealt a major blow to Suu Kyi's hopes of forging a peace agreement with insurgent groups to end the country's long-drawn violence.
London: Britain's outspoken foreign secretary has claimed that UK ally Saudi Arabia was engaging in "proxy wars" in the Middle East, comments that Prime Minister Theresa May said do not represent Britain's position.

The Guardian newspaper today published footage of Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson saying there was no strong leadership in the Middle East willing to reach out beyond the Sunni-Shia divide, and "that's why you've got the Saudis, Iran, everybody, moving in and puppeteering and playing proxy wars." Johnson made the comments during a conference in Rome last week.

Downing Street was quick to distance itself from his remarks, which were awkward for the government because officials rarely, if ever, criticize allies in public. May spokeswoman Helen Bower said they were Johnson's own views and do not reflect Britain's policy on Saudi Arabia or the Middle East kingdom's role in the region.

Johnson is scheduled to be in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, when he could set out how Britain wants to boost its relationship with the Saudis and work with regional allies to tackle the conflict in Yemen, Bower added.

Britain backs a Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen, which has been in the midst of a civil war since Shiite Houthi rebels overthrew the government in September 2014.

Johnson had earlier defended UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia for potential use in Yemen, amid calls to stop the sales from British lawmakers who said the weapons were likely used to violate human rights laws.
Geneva: The United States and Russia must broker an evacuation from east Aleppo, UN Syria humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland said on Thursday.

Five months of negotiations over aid plans have produced "nothing", Egeland said, and it was up to the United States and Russia to try to coordinate a deal.

"The member states that are supposed to help us get access to civilians in the crossfire are poles apart in how they regard what is happening in Syria," he told reporters after a weekly Syria humanitarian meeting led by the United States and Russia.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said after talks in Hamburg with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov he was "hopeful" about reaching an agreement but he was awaiting "certain feedback and input".

Opposition groups in eastern Aleppo are simply asking for a pause in the fighting to allow people to leave, with no strings attached, Egeland said.

Russia wants eastern Aleppo`s citizens to leave via four humanitarian corridors, although it will not let food go in to supply the hungry population.

"Russia said they will definitely be discussing with us how to organise the evacuations, but they are not any more promising any pause (in fighting)," Egeland said.

More than 800 people have been killed and 3,000-3,500 wounded in the past 26 days, while those still trapped await an effective death sentence and needed safe passage, Aleppo`s council president Brita Haji Hassan said.

A UNICEF volunteer was shot dead in a "child-friendly space" and a mortar hit another U.N. location, with no casualties, but both sites temporarily suspended work, the UN said.

Nearly 150 sick and disabled civilians were evacuated overnight from a hospital in Aleppo`s Old City, the first major medical evacuation, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

The UN described east Aleppo`s health situation as "catastrophic".

Some 1,500 people need medical evacuation, including 500 "seriously wounded", said Tawfik Chamaa of the Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organisations, as per Reuters.

The UN estimates about 33,000 people have been displaced in the past 10 days, including about 20,000 going into government-held areas. But Syria`s government says 30,000 have been registered in government-held zones alone.

Russia wants rebels and their families to be evacuated to the rebel-held town of Idlib, but the rebels want evacuees to go to northern Aleppo province.

Egeland said the local council in Idlib had informed the United Nations the town could not receive any more people because it was already too full of displaced people.

Syria army advances

Meanwhile, the Syrian army`s advanced in Aleppo slowed on Thursday but a victory was still firmly in sight after President Bashar al-Assad vowed that retaking the nation`s second city would change the course of the six-year civil war in his favour.

Lightning gains in recent days in which government forces and their allies recaptured Aleppo`s historic Old City lost some momentum in the face of stiff rebel resistance but the Syrian leadership was confident.

Assad has long sought to seize divided Aleppo which would put him in control of Syria`s major cities, the south, central spine and western flank bordering the Mediterranean, dealing a devastating blow to rebels who have fought to unseat him.

Outside of Aleppo, the government and its allies are also putting severe pressure on remaining rebel redoubts. Assad said in an interview with a Syrian newspaper that victory in Aleppo would be a landmark, but not the end of the war.

(With Reuters inputs)
By PTI: Washington, Dec 8 (PTI) Pakistan and the US have discussed the regional situation, including Kashmir and the escalation of tensions at the Indo-Pak border, with Washington calling for a dialogue to resolve issues.

The issues were discussed during a meeting between Special Assistant to Pakistan Prime Minister (SAPM) Syed Tariq Fatemi and Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken here, a Pakistan Embassy statement said.

advertisement

"The regional situation including the escalation across the Line of Control and the Working Boundary were discussed during the meeting. The SAPM briefed the Deputy Secretary on the frequency of ceasefire violations by India in recent weeks with particular reference to targeting of civilians across the LoC," the statement said.

Fatemi also accused India of "human rights violations" in Kashmir which he claimed had resulted in "hundreds of casualties and debilitating injuries to the civilians including women and children".

"While expressing concern on the increasing escalation at the LoC, Deputy Secretary Blinken reiterated the US position on the need for reducing tension in South Asia and promoting closer cooperation and dialogue between the two largest countries of the region," the statement said.

During the meeting, Fatemi asserted that Pakistan would be forthcoming in cooperating with new Donald Trump administration, in achieving peace in Afghanistan and improving Indo-Pak relationship for the sake of peace in the region, it said.

Fatemi expressed hope that after the completion of ongoing transition process, the two sides would resume their regular engagement on the bilateral track.

"The two sides expressed satisfaction on several achievements in areas of peace and security, counter terrorism, defence and economic cooperation. It was agreed that Pakistan-US relationship was important to regional as well as global peace and security and should continue to be strengthened under the next Administration," the statement said.

Meanwhile, talking about the meeting, State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner, said, "They discussed a range of bilateral and regional issues, including regional stability and counter-terrorism cooperation."

Fatemi, who is on a US visit, also interacted with mainstream US print and electronic media at the Pakistan Embassy on Monday.

Fatemi apprised the media that he is currently visiting US to have interaction with the current US Administration and to reach out to the officials likely to join the new administration following the recent US Presidential election.

Fatemi stated that Pakistan was looking forward to working closely with the new US Administration and wanted the bilateral relations to be further strengthened in future. PTI ASK AKJ ASK

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: "In many cases, the post of Chief Justice are not filled-

"In many cases, the post of Chief Justice are not filled- up simultaneously and acting Chief Justice, appointed as a stop-gap arrangement, does not often take decision about names to be recommended to the Union Government/Supreme Court collegium for filling-up of vacancies in that High Court," the panel said taking a grim view.

advertisement

It said that ensuring a minimum tenure may resolve the issue and asked the Law Ministry "to consider ways so that a Chief Justice in the High Courts and in the Supreme Court remains in position for a certain minimum tenure".

It also said that instead of five, a minimum of 11 judges of the Supreme Court should hear cases involving the validity of a Constitutional amendment.

It also recommended the cases involving the interpretation of Constitution should not be heard by a Bench of less than 7 judges. PTI NAB TIR

--- ENDS ---
Badal was elected as a sarpanch in 1947 and stepped into politics the year India won its independence.

By India Today Web Desk: This Thursday, Parkash Singh Badal turned 89 making him the country's oldest serving Chief Minister.

Badal who always makes us believe that age is just a number, accepted greetings from his friends and family. Later in the day, he addressed a big rally of the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Punjab government in the district Moga.

advertisement

Hailing from a simple agricultural background, Badal forayed into politics by getting elected as a sarpanch in 1947, the year the country won its Independence.

He was born on December 8, 1927, at Abul Khurana village near Malout in southwest Punjab.

POLITICAL CAREER

He was first elected to the Punjab assembly in 1957 on a Congress party ticket. After leaving the Congress, Badal ended up opposing the Congress policiec.

Badal has become Punjab's chief minister five times.

From 1970-71, Badal became the youngest chief minister of an Indian state. He first became chief minister of Punjab in March 1970 and headed a coalition government of Akali Dal (Sant) and Jana Sangh.

For his second time he was the chief minister from 1977-1980. And the third term soon followed from 1997-2002.

Punjab state election Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition government won 67 out of 117 seats and Parkash Singh Badal was sworn in as Chief Minister for the fourth time from 2007-2012, and onwards.

He has been in power in Punjab continuously since March 2007. He was briefly a Union minister in 1977 in the Morarji Desai government.

Well-known for his witty one-liners and memory of people and events, Badal, who was conferred the Padma Vibhushan -- the country's second-highest civilian honour -- in 2015 by the Modi government, has dominated Punjab's political and Sikh religious affairs in nearly 70 years of public life.

With assembly elections in Punjab to be held early next year, Badal is now in election mode and is even telling the electorate that their votes "will give him another 10 years of life".

--- ENDS ---
Stefano Rellandini | Reuters. Credit Suisse reported a strong rise in net income for its second quarter on Friday, adding that assets under management had hit new highs for the bank.

European stocks were higher on Wednesday as investors shifted their focus to an upcoming meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB), where they expect further monetary stimulus to be announced.





The Stoxx 600 (STOXX: .STOXX)was higher with all major bourses and most sectors trading in the green. Autos was outperforming other sectors in late morning trade, climbing more than 2.5 percent.

Basic resources (STOXX: .SXPP) and banking stocks (STOXX: .SX7P-CH) were also gaining with a rise in iron prices helping the mining firms. Banks were up by 1.8 percent - reaching new record levels.. Recent reassurances on the Italian banking system seem to be calming contagion fears across the euro area.

In Italy, shares of the troubled Monte Dei Paschi (Milan Stock Exchange: BMPS-IT) were at the top of the index, jumping more than 8 percent on reports that the government is preparing to inject money and take a controlling stake in the bank. Both the Italian Treasury and the bank itself have declined to comment on this report, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, economists and traders were gearing up for the ECB's rate announcement on Thursday. "European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi is set to announce an extension of his quantitative easing (QE) program after the bank's Governing Council meeting in Frankfurt on 8 December. The base case is an extension by six months, prolonging QE from its currently envisaged end date in March through September 201," Carsten Nickel, deputy director of research at Teneo Intelligence, said in a note this week.





Credit Suisse (Swiss Exchange: CSGN-CH) lowered its 2018 pre-tax income targets for its Asia Pacific and international wealth management divisions. It also reported on Wednesday more than 1 billion Swiss francs ($0.99 billion) in extra cost cuts, according to Reuters. Its shares were up by 6 percent on the news.

Post Nl (Euronext Amsterdam: PNL-NL) was at the bottom of the pan-European benchmark, falling more than 11 percent, after rejecting a bid by BPost. (Euronext Brussels: BPOST-BE)

Story continues

Data released in Germany showed the country's industrial production recovering only marginally in October, increasing by 0.3 percent on the month. It was up by 1.2 percent on the year.

Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook.







More From CNBC


Former French budget minister Jerome Cahuzac (centre) leaves the Paris courthouse following his tax fraud trial on December 8, 2016

Former French budget minister Jerome Cahuzac, whose brief in government was to crack down on tax dodgers, was sentenced to three years in prison on Thursday for tax fraud and money laundering.

A court in Paris also gave Cahuzac's ex-wife Patricia Menard a two-year prison sentence for her role in stashing millions of euros from the couple's lucrative hair transplant business in accounts abroad.

The scandal was the first of a series that tarnished Socialist President Francois Hollande's government and prompted him to order his ministers to disclose their personal wealth, breaking a taboo in France, where the assets of public officials had long been considered a private matter.

Cahuzac, a 64-year-old plastic surgeon by training, initially denied the allegations and sued the Mediapart news website that broke the story in 2012.

Footage of the minister lying to parliament was repeated in an endless loop on French TV news channels after he finally confessed in April 2013, "consumed by remorse", to having a Swiss bank account.

By the end of the trial, Cahuzac had repeatedly admitted his "inexcusable wrongdoing".

He remained motionless when the verdict was read out.

Chief judge Peimane Ghaleh-Marzban said Cahuzac, "who embodied France's tax policy", had committed an offence of "exceptional gravity".

His lawyer Jean Veil said Cahuzac would appeal, arguing that a prison term "was not a suitable punishment" for the crime.

Cahuzac said in evidence that he hid funds offshore to maintain his family's standard of living -- which included buying apartments for his children in London and Paris and paying for holidays in Mauritius.

The court also handed down a one-year suspended prison sentence and a 375,000-euro ($405,000) fine to Francois Reyl, a Swiss banker, for assisting the couple.

His bank, Reyl, was fined the maximum 1.875 million euros for money laundering. But it escaped a ban on operating in France that the prosecutor had requested.

Former lawyer Philippe Houman, who advised the couple on their financial affairs, was also fined 375,000 euros and given a one-year suspended sentence.

Story continues

Prosecutor Xavier Normand-Bodard said the ruling "marks an evolution in the crackdown on tax evasion".

- Like a crime novel -

The story of the fraud, which took place between 1992 and 2013, reads like a cross between a cheap airport novel and an international financial crime manual.

In one episode, Cahuzac, using the codename "Birdie", was said to have received two cash payments of 10,000 euros on the streets of Paris.

The couple used a Royal Bank of Scotland account in the Isle of Man, an offshore financial centre in the Irish Sea, to channel cheques from English clients of their business.

As the couple's marriage began to falter, Menard also opened an account in Switzerland.

Menard's lawyer Sebastien Schapira told the trial the money was "that of fraud, but initially it was that of her work, earned day after day, hour after hour, hair by hair".

He described Menard as "naive" and an unwitting accomplice who was "swept up" in the fraud before confessing in December 2013.

She testified that the couple had become locked in a "spiral" of wrongdoing.

"I'm extremely ashamed of having done all that," she said.
Opposition stages symbolic black band protest, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi slams PM Modi and dares him to attend debate in Parliament.

By India Today Web Desk: There is no end to stalemate in parliament over demonetisation even after a month after note ban. The Opposition is adamant on demonetisation debate followed by voting.

Upping the ante against the Modi government, the Opposition parties have unanimously decided to observe Friday as Black Day. The Opposition MPs staged a protest at the Gandhi statue outside the parliament house today.

advertisement

Meanwhile, Congress vice-president today said that note ban is a foolish decision.

Here are the LIVE updates:

Congress was in power from 2004-14, I challenge them to tell about even one step taken to curb black money in the 10 years, says Arun Jaitley in Lok Sabha.

Rajya Sabha adjourned till tomorrow.

"I salute the people of India for wholeheartedly participating in this ongoing Yagna against corruption, terrorism and black money", tweets PM Modi.

PM Modi to be present in Rajya Sabha during Question Hour.

Rajya Sabha adjourned till 12 after ruckus over demonetisation.

This is the reason why Opposition staged protest at Gandhi statue in parliament premises today and paid homage to those people: Ghulam Nabi Azad in Rajya Sabha.

Aaj 30 din ho gaye hain jabse #DeMonetisation decision liya gaya; Hum koi naare nahi rakhenge, black day banayenge, maun hoga: GN Azad, Cong pic.twitter.com/j5W4qTTxPZ&; ANI (@ANI_news) December 8, 2016 The responsibility of running the House is with the government and Speaker not the Opposition: Rahul Gandhi.

For 2 wks you didn't allow debate to take place in Parl, now you're staging dharna in front of statue that's big tamasha done by Cong: Naidu pic.twitter.com/Zee6KA8KlO&; ANI (@ANI_news) December 8, 2016 They (Opposition) are making their accusations, but the moment we stand up to answer, they storm the well of House to protest, says Venkaiah Naidu in Rajya Sabha.

Delhi: Opposition leaders observing black day to mark one month of #demonetisation at Gandhi statue inside Parliament premises. pic.twitter.com/PQI20r1r5G&; ANI (@ANI_news) December 8, 2016 Gandhi ji gave call for Satyagraha to see that victory of truth prevails; what are so-called namesake Gandhis doing? Observing protest: Venkaiah Naidu.

Opposition is staging protest only to garner media space, Govt is ready for discussion in the house: Union Min Ananth Kumar #DeMonetisation pic.twitter.com/BDMgN5Idpo&; ANI (@ANI_news) December 8, 2016

Earlier, PM asked for 5 days, then 5 weeks and now 50 days, this isn't right as not even 50 per cent of the situation got better in 1 month, says Mallikarjun Kharge.

Delhi: Opposition leaders stage protest at Gandhi statue inside Parliament premises over the #demonetisation issue pic.twitter.com/6OlwOENaAj&; ANI (@ANI_news) December 8, 2016

--- ENDS ---
Donald Trump 's actions in the past week suggest he is determined to confront China and not simply follow standard convention and precedent.

He took a congratulatory call on Friday night from Taiwan's leader and followed that a few days later with a couple of tweets aimed at China about its currency devaluation, taxes on imports and maneuvering in the South China Sea.





Rhetoric is perhaps morphing into a new policy towards China.



The concept of free trade assumes that market dynamics dictate prices without intervention; such is not the real world. We all know that free trade is more a goal than reality as there are a myriad of restrictions, tariffs, and side agreements that impact trade around the world. This certainly is the case for Chinese-American trade agreements.

Automatically imposing tariffs is not necessarily the first choice for others in Washington, DC, to address current trade inequities. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said this week he prefers that economic strength come through revisions in the tax code rather than through a trade war or protectionist policies. Trade wars are negative for economic growth and, for that reason, it makes sense to be deliberate and carefully consider the unintended outcomes of accelerating a tariff based policy.





Given that trade will likely be a significant issue going forward in the new administration, it's reasonable to ask what the likely impact will be on U.S. multinational companies doing business with China. Examples of complicated arrangements abound. The entanglements are significant and not a simple as firing a warning shot across the bow of a manufacturer seeking to import/export goods from/to China. There are real jobs at stake here and it's important that one is very careful to avoid the temptation to make blanket assessments of what might be a prudent course of action.

Story continues

Analysts continue to calculate the impact of Apple being compelled to bring manufacturing back to the United States if Chinese outsourcing is punished through tariffs and other restrictions. Will they sell as many phones in China?

Walmart and other distributors of low-cost consumer goods wonder how their profit margins will be impacted if low-cost products begin to be replaced with higher priced goods manufactured in the United States. Already, Carrier parent UTX said it is raising prices for heating and cooling equipment after Trump convinced the company to keep 1,000 jobs in the U.S. To be clear, those jobs were likely headed to Mexico, not China, but the point is the same  prices could very well go up when companies are forced to keep or move operations to the U.S.

A stigma towards trade imbalances with China could very well negatively impact the Chinese economy and that could impact companies selling product into this country with a rapidly emerging middle class and significant population of luxury goods purchasers and this could very well have real impact on corporate earnings.

It's fair to say that other corporations may be resistant to forming new trade relationships with China. Trade policy is now up for debate and the consequences of actions must be measured. The massive interconnectedness that already exists between the United States and China is sure to be a messy fight with many unexpected outcomes. The policy positioning is just beginning.





Commentary by Michael A. Yoshikami, the CEO and founder of Destination Wealth Management in Walnut Creek, California. Follow DWM on Twitter @DestinationWM.



For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.





More From CNBC


By Patrick Rucker WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. bank regulator is ready to fail Wells Fargo on a national scorecard for community lending, sources familiar with the decision said on Wednesday, in a move that could limit near-term expansion for the bank. Wells Fargo is due to be deemed a bank that "needs to improve" under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), a law meant to promote lending to poor neighborhoods. The move is a two-notch downgrade from the "outstanding" tag Wells Fargo has held since 2008 and the change would give regulators a greater say on day-to-day matters like whether they may open new branches. The ruling from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the main regulator for national banks, is due by early January, said the sources with knowledge of the plans. A Wells Fargo spokesperson declined to comment. A spokesman for the OCC also declined to comment. Wells Fargo has struggled since September to overcome its admission that employees wrongly created as many as 2 million accounts without customer authorization. A downgrade on the bank's community service score could further tarnish the reputation of the San Francisco-based lender at a time when it hopes to move beyond the scandal. Wells Fargo may win an appeal to the downgrade through an independent arm of the regulator but no decision has yet been made, said sources familiar with the process. Consumer advocates have faulted the OCC for letting eight years pass between reviewing Wells Fargo's commitment to community development. "Regulators could have downgraded Wells Fargo years ago and maybe that would have stopped some of this wrongdoing," said Paulina Gonzalez, head of the California Reinvestment Coalition. Following the 2008 housing market collapse, the OCC faulted several national banks for their community lending. Bank of America Corp lost its "outstanding" grade in 2011 when the OCC faulted the lender for "discriminatory or other illegal credit practices." JPMorgan Chase & Co also slipped one notch from "outstanding" to "satisfactory" in 2013. But industry and regulatory sources said they knew of no other case where a national bank had slipped two notches in a single review of CRA compliance. (Reporting By Patrick Rucker, additional reporting by Dan Freed in New York; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli, Bernard Orr)
Data Security

3 Universities Recognized for Proposals to Use Blockchain to Secure Digital Voting Systems

Cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab today recognized three universities for their work on using blockchain technology to secure digital voting systems. As part of the 2016 Cybersecurity Case Study Competition, the participants were tasked with designing blockchain-compliant systems to address specific security challenges, such as voter privacy, undecided voters and voter fraud.

A total of 19 teams from universities across the United States and United Kingdom provided written and video submissions detailing their proposals. Entries were judged by a panel of Kaspersky Lab experts. The top three proposals, as described by a company statement:

Grand prize ($10,000) winner: New York University. The university's submission "proposed the usage of a 'permissioned blockchain' configuration, in which a central authority admits voting machines to the network prior to the start of the election, followed by voting machines acting autonomously to build a public, distributed ledger of votes. In addition to addressing threats to the integrity of the system, NYU's plan allows voters to tell if their individual vote was counted." Second place ($5,000) winner: University Of Maryland, College Park's Maryland Cybersecurity Center. The center proposed "a solution rooted in global public keys that encrypt ballots and provide voter receipts using randomly generated numbers. The university's proposal also features cryptographic tree data structures that allow citizens to check if their vote was counted." Third place ($3,000) winner: Newcastle University. The institution proposed "a solution rooted in three protocols: the Open Vote Network, DRE-i and DRE-ip."

"The competition was very interesting and I was very impressed with the submissions," said Eugene Kaspersky, chairman and CEO of Kaspersky Lab, in a press release. "There was a lot of good work there! The challenges of cybersecurity mean the next generation of experts face a changing frontier  there will be plenty of things to work on and securing digital voting systems for national elections is just one example. If cybercriminals exploited one small vulnerability, it could potentially change the course of a nation's history, and these young scholars are bringing us one step closer to making secure digital voting a reality."

Additional information on the competition and winners can be found on The Economist's Which MBA? site.
THURSDAY, Dec. 8, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- The age-old practice of Tai Chi shows promise in treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans, new research shows.

The study was small -- just 17 U.S. veterans -- and involved four introductory sessions of Tai Chi, the Chinese exercise regimen that involves slow, fluid movements.

A team led by Barbara Niles, of Boston University School of Medicine, said the program helped ease the veterans' PTSD symptoms. Those symptoms included intrusive thoughts, difficulty concentrating and physiological arousal.

Most of the veterans involved in the program said they would recommend Tai Chi to a friend, according to the study published Dec. 8 in the journal BMJ Open.

One psychiatrist with experience treating PTSD said the approach might have merit.

"Tai Chi is an ancient exercise developed in China, originally a form of martial arts, which has evolved into a holistic practice that addresses mind, body and spirit," explained Dr. Shawna Newman. She's a psychiatrist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

"The practice of Tai Chi has already shown promising clinical results in research involving a wide spectrum of symptom relief for a variety of patients," Newman noted.

However, she stressed that the small group size in the study limits its impact, and larger trials need to be done.

"Further research may more clearly demonstrate the potential of Tai Chi to positively benefit veterans," Newman said.

Grace Rowan is a nurse and Tai Chi instructor at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, N.Y. She wasn't surprised by the findings, saying that, "those who practice Tai Chi also experience improved psychological well-being and mental calmness."

Tai Chi, "should be considered beneficial for veterans who are struggling with anxiety and other symptoms relating to stress," Rowan believes.

According to background information in the new study, about 23 percent of U.S. veterans seek VA services to help ease PTSD symptoms -- much higher than the 8.7 percent observed in the general population.

"This was a very small study with interesting results that certainly requires further research," said Dr. Jeffrey Borenstein, president of the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation in New York City. "We know that exercise and mindfulness have been found to be useful as a part of treatment for people with PTSD."

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health has more on PTSD.
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 7, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Getting a hearing aid should be less of a hassle -- and eventually less expensive -- under new rules introduced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA said on Wednesday it will no longer enforce a requirement that people aged 18 and older receive a medical evaluation or sign a waiver before buying most hearing aids.

The agency said it will also consider creating a category of over-the-counter hearing aids that could provide innovative and lower-cost devices to millions of Americans.

Currently, a pair of hearing aids typically costs $4,000 or more, putting them out of reach for the majority of older Americans who need them, according to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

"Today's actions are an example of the FDA considering flexible approaches to regulation that encourage innovation in areas of rapid scientific progress," FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said in an agency news release.

The President's advisory council and other critics had argued that existing FDA rules were a potential barrier to people getting hearing aids, and provided little to no benefit to patients.

"Untreated hearing loss, especially in older Americans, is a substantial national problem," the council said in a recent report. Hard-of-hearing seniors face significantly impaired communication, social participation and overall health and quality of life, the report noted.

Changes to the FDA rules, which take effect immediately, could lead to technological breakthroughs that result in less-expensive hearing-aid options, according to the council.

Although some 30 million people in the United States suffer from hearing loss, only about one-fifth who could benefit from a hearing aid seek help.

The FDA said it will continue to enforce the medical evaluation requirement for prospective hearing aid users younger than 18.

The agency will also continue to require that hearing aid labels include information about medical conditions that should be evaluated by a doctor. Also, licensed hearing aid dispensers must still give consumers information and instructions about hearing aids before purchase.

More information

The U.S. National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders has more on hearing aids.
Dana Rohrabacher Yahoo

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher denied that Russia commits human rights abuses while at the same time denouncing China in a testy exchange with a Yahoo News anchor.

Rohrabacher, a California Republican who has been named as a possible candidate for secretary of state in President-elect Donald Trump's administration, accused Yahoo's Bianna Golodryga of bias for pointing out that Russia is accused of human right abuses just like China, calling the assertion "baloney."

Rohrabacher advocates for a closer US relationship with Russia, but also seems unconcerned about the US endangering its relationship with China.

"If its right for us to join in and cooperate and have a better relationship with Russia in order to defeat radical Islam and to pull China back a bit, well, that's a good thing, and that's what this is all about," Rohrabacher said. "Russia is no longer the Soviet Union. There's a bunch of people here who want to treat it like it's still the Soviet Union and get in the Cold War. That's not what Donald Trump wants, it's not good for America."

Rohrabacher had also referred to China as a "vicious dictatorship" and "the world's worst human-rights abuser."

When Golodryga pointed out that Russia has also been accused of human rights abuses, things got testy. Here's the back-and-forth:

Golodryga: When you talk about human rights abusers in China, much can be said about Russia as well in that regard.

Rohrabacher: Oh, baloney. Where do you come from? How can you say that?

Golodryga: I come form the former Soviet Union, that's where I came from. I came here as a political refugee. That's where I came from.

Rohrabacher: Oh, okay. What country did you say you came from?

Golodryga: I come from the former Soviet Union, from Moldova.

Rohrabacher: Oh, well then that's good, the audience knows that you are biased.

Golodryga: I'm biased, because I'm an American citizen who was born in a foreign country?

Weiterlesen

Rohrabacher: Yeah, yeah, when you start saying that Russia, do you know that there have been no political reforms in China? None.

Golodryga: I'm not saying, I'm not advocating that China be our best friend. I'm talking to you about Russia right now.

Rohrabacher: You just said that Russia and China are the same. I'm sorry, they are not.

Golodryga: I said they are both human rights abusers. How am I wrong?

Rohrabacher: How are you wrong? In China they don't have opposition force?

Golodryga: And Russia isn't accused of murdering journalists?

Rohrabacher: Ah, okay, look. I'll let the public decide with that last comment where you are coming from.

Soon after that, Rohrabacher compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to Mikhail Gorbachev, a former communist leader of the Soviet Union.

Watch the full exchange below:





More From Business Insider


The NIA has found only 4 Pakistani terrorists had crossed over to India, so it was decided that there would be no more clarification on this.

By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: Days before National Investigation Agency's (NIA) chargesheet in the Pathankot terror attack, the Ministry of Home affairs (MHA) has said that it will not change its statement given to Parliament that there were 4 Jaish terrorists and not six as was announced by the government, earlier this year.

A top home ministry official told India today that the written question in Lok Sabha on November 29 was related to how many terrorists came from Pakistan. However, the NIA has found only 4 Pakistani terrorists had crossed over to India, so it was decided that there would be no more clarification on this.

advertisement

There have been series of flip-flops by the MHA on the number of terrorists who attacked the Pathankot airbase.

On November 29, Minister of State (MoS) for Home, Hansraj Gangaram Ahir informed Lok Sabha that only 4 militants had entered the air force station to carry out the strike. "Four Pakistan-based terrorists entered Punjab via Janial road, Dhusi turn, near Ravi river bridge, Gulpur Simli village - Akalgarh and attacked the air force station in Pathankot," he said in a written reply to a question by Ravneet Singh.

MHA'S STAND

The Congress MP had asked about the number of terrorists who entered Punjab and carried out the Pathankot attack. The MP had also asked about the route used by them and the weapons recovered from them.

However, Ahir's answer given in Parliament is contrary to his senior and Home Minister Rajnath Singh's March 4 statement where he had said, "Charred remains were found and sent for forensic examination. We are awaiting for reports."

Also read: Nagrota terror attack: MHA hands over probe to NIA

The NSG chief had also mentioned that besides 4 terrorist who were gunned down, there were two additional terrorists. The government had backed the NSG then.

The NIA, which was probing the case, has been maintaining that the investigators had found only four bodies.

In the recent past, the MHA has faced embarrassment over its answers to Parliament questions, one of which is where it informed Parliament that India was not aware of whereabouts of most wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim. Left red faced, the government was forced to retract and clarify that Dawood was in Pakistan.

Also read: Chaggan Bhujbal held political meetings in Bombay hospital: ED

--- ENDS ---
Photo credit: Carsten Koall / Stringerundefined

From Popular Mechanics

Tuesday morning, President-Elect Donald Trump sent out a tweet expressing dismay at the cost of the ongoing process to build a new pair of planes to serve as Air Force One. (Perhaps not coincidentally, this was shortly after Boeing's CEO expressed concerns about Trump's trade policy.)

Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order! - Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2016

Trump spokesman Jason Miller expanded on the statement during a call with reporters. Per the Washington Post:

"I think this really speaks to the president-elect's focus on keeping costs down across the board with regard to government spending. I think people are really frustrated with some of the big price tags that are coming out for programs, even in addition to this one. So we're going to look for areas where we can keep costs down and look for ways where we can save money."

That $4 billion number is fuzzy at best. As Boeing has pointed out in a statement, the company is only under contract for $170 million currently, and the Air Force has earmarked $1.65 billion for the project. The Government Accountability Office, meanwhile, has estimated a total cost of $3.21 billion.

And then set those numbers aside for a second, because here's the other thing: The President's plane does need to be replaced. So halting the current project because it's too expensive really only makes sense if a cheaper, more practical solution exists.

Let's run through the various options.

Option 1: Continue flying the current planes indefinitely

"Air Force One" is merely a callsign for the plane the president is currently on, but two airplanes take on this name most frequently. Both are Boeing VC-25s-a specially outfitted version of the Boeing 747-200B. Both are very old.

Story continues

The 747-200B was launched in 1971, but the pair currently serving the POTUS was first flown in 1987, four years before Boeing stopped production on the model altogether. Over the years, the two planes have been upgraded repeatedly to keep up with the times and to incorporate the latest communication and defense technology. The problem with the aging jets is simpler than that: it's the keeping-them-up-in-the-air technology.

"Spare parts are becoming difficult to obtain"

"Spare parts are becoming difficult to obtain," Joe Hagin, former deputy chief of staff to George W. Bush, told Popular Mechanics back in 2009. "[The] few 747-200s still flying today are in freighter service or operating in small overseas airlines." Parts that are no longer in active production need to be salvaged or custom made, meaning repairs take a long time, are extremely expensive, or both. That problem hasn't gotten any better in the seven years since, and there is no reason to believe the problem won't get worse.

Replacement craft were initially planned for 2017, and there was fear that even that was not soon enough. "There is a concern in some quarters within the Air Force that they really need the replacement much sooner," Hagin said back in '09. Now, the replacement Boeing 747-8s are expected to enter service by 2023 at the earliest. That's already an additional six years of high-expense operation.

It's unlikely this fact is lost on Trump, who said the following at rally in North Carolina this past July:

"Now Air Force One is a very old Boeing 747. It sucks up a lot of gas. A lot of fuel. Boy, the fuel bill. You turn on those engines, I can tell you, it's a lot of money."

The old planes will have to be replaced sooner or later, and "later" offers no practical benefits.

Option 2: Attempt to find a better, cheaper replacement

If Air Force One needs to be replaced-and quickly-is there a better option than the current Boeing project? Not really. When the Air Force chose Boeing to build the replacement planes for Air Force One back in January of 2015, there was no competition. That's because Boeing's 747-8 is effectively the only option that fits the bill. As the Air Force put it, it's the only U.S.-made plane "that when fully missionized meets the necessary critically important capabilities."

The 747-8 is the only plane that "meets the necessary critically important capabilities."

The only other plane that can live up to the Air Force's high requirements-which include a minimum of four engines and capability for in-air refueling, among a litany of other features-is the French-made Airbus A380. Complications of using a foreign-made plane aside, Airbus expressed disinterest in making a bid.

Worse yet, Boeing is scaling down its production of the 747 even with the Air Force One deal in place, and preparing to end production of new 747 jets altogether in the face of declining demand. So, new 747-8s may be a limited-time offer.

And there's not much reason to believe something better will come along. The air travel economy is trending towards nonstop flights and smaller jets. Boeing's future probably looks more like the two-engine 737 MAX than the giant 747-8, and size is crucial for Air Force One, given the number of people it routinely has to carry.

Option 3: Ground expensive older planes in favor of Trump's private jet

Photo credit: Justin Sullivan / Staffundefined

Yes, President-Elect Trump already has a private jet, a Boeing 757. It served him well enough during the 2016 campaign, but as a U.S. official told CNN, it's "nearly functionally impossible" for him to continue using it as the president. "No one tells the President he can't do something," the official said. "Instead, you lay out all the reasons it's functionally impossible."

Missing features on Trump Force One include missile defense systems, nuclear blast shielding, special communication systems for classified information, and the sheer size needed to carry the necessary staff. That's not to mention other unusual effects that result from the use of a private plane. During the 2016 campaign, the Secret Service detail charged with protecting Mr. Trump paid their way on his private plane using taxpayer money. Were he to continue on his private 757, such an arrangement would divert taxpayer money directly into the president's pocket every time he took a trip.

More importantly, this solution would leave the most glaring problems unfixed. Even if the aging VC-25s that serve as Air Force One today were grounded, they would still cost money to maintain in the event that their services were needed. After President Trump's tenure is over, be that in 2020 or 2024, the next president would wind up in the same situation we have now: old, expensive planes with no replacement in sight.

this solution would leave the most glaring problems unfixed.

Lastly, any attempt by President Trump to completely undo the Boeing deal could be thorny, considering a $170 million contract is already in place. However, the bulk of the cost of a new Air Force One is intended to be spread through the federal budget for years to come. Getting new planes to fly the president around is not an easy, cheap, or quick process. In fact, it's lengthy enough that President Trump may not benefit from it directly. It is, however, a problem that needs to be solved before complications can continue to compound. To simply ignore it because its price tag seems high would betray an egregious lack of foresight that could negatively affect U.S. presidents and taxpaying citizens for years to come.

[contentlinks align="center" textonly="false" numbered="false" headline="Related%20Story" customtitles="A%20Visual%20History%20of%20Air%20Force%20One" customimages="116584" content="article.20916"]

You Might Also Like
Press release

Virtual reality film on Syrian refugee crisis will have an advance screening today at UNHCR's annual High Commissioner's Dialogue on Protection Challenges in Geneva, Switzerland

Captured with Nokia OZO, the world's first VR camera purpose-built for professionals, the film immerses the viewer in the life of a Syrian refugee who has been resettled in Finland

Film shows how innovative technologies can enable new ways to raise awareness of humanitarian causes and promote dialogue

8 December 2016

Espoo, Finland - Nokia and The Humanitarian Cooperative (THC) have created a 10-minute, documentary-style virtual reality film to raise awareness of the current refugee crisis and to support the work of The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). The film screens today at a UNHCR event in Geneva, Switzerland.

Around the world, the number of people uprooted by conflict and persecution shows no sign of abating and has worsened in recent years. Today, more than 65 million* people are displaced either inside their own country or as refugees. UNHCR works to protect refugees, the internally displaced and stateless people. To support these efforts, and to promote dialogue on the plight of these people, Nokia collaborated with talented filmmakers to find new ways of raising awareness of these human catastrophes.

Equipped with Nokia's professional virtual reality camera OZO, filmmakers David Gough and Thomas Maddens embarked on a journey to tell the story of Omar, a 9-year-old Syrian boy who had to leave his home just outside Aleppo and spent three years at a refugee camp in Lebanon, before finally being resettled in Finland.

Screening today at the ninth annual UNHCR High Commissioner's Dialogue on Protection Challenges in Geneva, Switzerland, the short film is captured by OZO in premium 3D 360 audio and video, providing the audience with a truly immersive experience of the harrowing life of a refugee. The joint production is an example of how new, innovative technologies are changing the way people communicate and empathize with each other, and shows how technology can be used to support humanitarian causes around the world.

UNHCR's High Commissioner's Dialogue is an annual event that brings together key practitioners and experts on refugee affairs. This year's theme, Children on the Move, recognizes the growing plight of young people who are fleeing violence and war, and struggling to reach safety.

Edith Champagne, Head of Video, UNHCR, said: "This production was a way to tell a very human and touching story with the latest video technology. Omar and his family were resettled in Finland after fleeing Syria, but every day countless families and children fleeing conflict are on the move, in urgent need of safety and protection. The opportunity Nokia offered UNHCR and the Humanitarian Cooperative has resulted in a powerful approach to bringing the courage and resilience of refugees to new audiences."

Filmmaker David Gough said: "It's more important than ever to look for new ways to tell humanitarian stories and none is more pressing right now than the refugee crisis. Working with the Nokia OZO camera and UNHCR on this project has been a huge step forward for us at The Humanitarian Cooperative in the way we can use virtual reality to tell human stories."

Minna Aila, head of Corporate Affairs at Nokia, said: "Our technology helps convey the daily reality of life in a refugee camp, prompting viewers to think about how they would react if it happened to them, and how they would want the world to react. Nokia's ambition is to create technology that serves mankind; it's not only about making tech human, but making it humanitarian as well."

The film will be made available to the public in January 2017. A short trailer that gives a glimpse of the story behind the project can be watched here.



* UNHCR's 2015 Global Trends report found that 65.3 million people were displaced by the end of 2015, including 40.8 million internally displaced, 21.3 million refugees, and 3.2 million asylum seekers. See the Global Trends report http://www.unhcr.org/global-trends-2015.html





About UNHCR

For over 65 years, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has been protecting the rights and well-being of refugees all over the world, providing vital assistance to refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced and stateless people and advocating with governments and others to uphold their rights. www.unhcr.org

About The Humanitarian Cooperative

A group of filmmakers, animators and creatives committed to using their story-telling as a force for change. With over two decades experience crafting stories and communications through all established mediums and throughout the developing world, The Humanitarian Cooperative specialises in building creative partnerships for good.

About Nokia

Nokia is a global leader in creating the technologies at the heart of our connected world. Powered by the research and innovation of Nokia Bell Labs, we serve communications service providers, governments, large enterprises and consumers, with the industry's most complete, end-to-end portfolio of products, services and licensing.

From the enabling infrastructure for 5G and the Internet of Things, to emerging applications in virtual reality and digital health, we are shaping the future of technology to transform the human experience. www.nokia.com

About OZO

OZO is a first-of-its-kind professional VR tool that integrates eight sensors and eight microphones and exports a single file, thus eliminating the need for complicated rigs, wires, long setup times, and synching and swapping of separate memory cards. Designed to remove technical barriers so content creators can focus on being creative, OZO requires just one simple output cable and one single file to store all video and audio data, all in perfect sync. The OZO Software Suite is a complete professional production package that includes OZO Creator, OZO Remote, OZO Preview, OZO Live and OZO Player SDK expanding the human possibilities of the ever-evolving world of technology. With purchase of the camera, professionals get OZO Creator, OZO Remote, and OZO Preview.
Prime Minister Modi appreciated the contribution made by Secretary Carter in strengthening the defence cooperation between India and the United States.

By Brijesh Pandey: US Secretary of Defence, Ashton Carter, called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi today. Prime Minister Modi appreciated the contribution made by Secretary Carter in strengthening the defence cooperation between India and the United States.

The prime minister recalled his successful visit to the United States in June this year. He reaffirmed India's commitment to a robust and strong bilateral strategic partnership with the US.

advertisement

Secretary Carter briefed the prime minister on the progress in taking forward the decisions and understandings reached in June this year. They also exchanged views on regional issues and the developments in the Asia Pacific region.

The US Secretary had made this official visit to India at the invitation of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, which is the seventh interaction between the two leaders. They reviewed the progress made in bilateral defense ties and also discussed the future of India-US security cooperation.

Also read: India, US destined to be strategic partners in future: US Defence Secretary

--- ENDS ---
Spanish English German Italian French

PRESS RELEASE

SYZ Asset Management strengthens its presence in Germany with the opening of a Munich office

Geneva, 8 December 2016 - SYZ Asset Management, the international asset management arm of the SYZ Group, has opened an office in Munich on 1 December 2016, thus strengthening its presence in Germany and its ability to provide services into Austria, whilst availing of the EEA passport to do so under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive ("MIFID"). This development follows on from the opening of the Italian office branch in Milan and several hiring and specific product launches, which confirm SYZ Asset Management's commitment and growing success in Europe.

A branch of the London headquarters of SYZ Asset Management (Europe) Ltd, the Munich office can offer a focused range of funds from the OYSTER Luxembourg SICAV, as well as discretionary mandates for institutional clients seeking active and flexible management. The sales' activity is led by Michael Kenichi Schlieper, as Region Head for Germany and Austria, reporting to Florent Guy-Ducrot, Head of Sales and Business Development.

Germany and Austria represent a very sizeable and important part of the European asset management market. Thus, the opening of the Munich office, which follows the opening of its Milan Branch at the beginning of 2016, fits within the framework of SYZ Asset Management's strategy of expansion in Europe, where a number of priority markets for growth have been identified.

SYZ has developed a recognised expertise in managing high conviction equity portfolios, unconstrained fixed income strategies and Multi-Asset portfolios, with the strengthening of its investment teams over the last three years in these strategies.

Germany and Austria are strategic markets for SYZ Asset Management, therefore opening an office in Munich is an essential step in our development strategy towards clients seeking positive yield. I'm happy to have entrusted in Michael's hands the distribution of our investment solutions and the enhancement of the reputation of our brand at a time of strategic growth of our business, commented Katia Coudray, CEO of SYZ Asset Management.

After spending more than 6 years working out of SYZ Asset Management's Zurich office, I am delighted to be opening our Munich branch and being closer to our clients. Our local presence will allow us to offer a focused range of funds and mandates covering our core expertise of high conviction equities, multi-asset and unconstrained fixed income, explained Michael Kenichi Schlieper.

For further information, please contact:

Moreno Volpi

Tel.: +41 (0)58 799 16 98

E-mail: moreno.volpi@syzgroup.com





Note to the Editor

About OYSTER Funds

OYSTER is a UCITS investment fund range, developed by SYZ Asset Management to address the needs of a diversified client base including professionals. With a strong commitment to performance, this Luxembourg SICAV comprises nearly 27 sub-funds, covering a variety of asset classes, markets and investment styles. OYSTER is currently registered and/or distributed in various European countries through a varied distribution network. To satisfy a discerning and demanding client base, SYZ Asset Management entrusts management of its OYSTER funds to internal and external fund managers. A number of strategies have resulted in certain sub funds being the recipients of internationally recognised awards.

About SYZ Asset Management*

SYZ Asset Management, the institutional asset management entity of the SYZ Group, provides investment solutions to institutional investors and financial intermediaries. Based on a strong conviction approach, SYZ Asset Management strategies are designed to fulfil the portfolio and risk management requirements of demanding investors.

SYZ Asset Management was awarded "Best Swiss Asset Management Company" in the category "26 to 40 rated funds" at the European Funds Trophy 2016.

www.syzassetmanagement.com

*Any reference to SYZ Asset Management in this document should be construed as being a reference to any one or more of the legal entities, listed below, dependent on the particular jurisdiction in which the document is published, subject to the investment products and services referred to herein being available to potential investors or categories of investors in such jurisdictions.

SYZ Asset Management (Luxembourg) SA, SYZ Asset Management (Suisse) SA, SYZ Asset Management (Europe) Limited, SYZ (France) SAS.

About SYZ Group

Founded in Geneva in 1996, SYZ is a fast growing Swiss banking group exclusively dedicated to asset management, through two complementary business lines: high-end private banking and institutional asset management. SYZ offers private and institutional investors comprehensive portfolio management, with an active investment style and a focus on risk reduction that is clearly committed to providing absolute performance through alpha generation.

SYZ is an independent, family-owned company with a global footprint. The Group has approximately CHF 39 billion in assets under management (EUR 36 billion, USD 39 billion), a solid capital base and benefits from being privately held and independent.

www.syzgroup.com

Disclaimer

This document has been issued by OYSTER Sicav (herein referred to as "OYSTER FundS" or "OYSTER" or "Fund") in conjunction with SYZ Asset Management (Europe) Limited. Oyster is an open-ended umbrella investment company established and regulated in Luxembourg. OYSTER is not open to citizens or residents of the USA or to any other party deemed to be a US person. OYSTER's current Prospectus and Key Investor Information Document, by -laws and the Annual and Half Yearly Reports of the Fund can be obtained on the website, www.syzassetmanagement.com or from the OYSTER offices at 11-13 Boulevard de la Foire, L- 1528 Luxembourg or from the Agents and Representatives listed on the website for the specific jurisdictions where the OYSTER Funds are registered. SYZ Asset Management (Europe) Limited has either established a Branch or has a license to provide investment services to Professional Investors in certain EEA jurisdictions. Details of such EEA jurisdictions are available upon request, and SYZ Asset Management (Europe ) Limited, as authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK, with reference number 666766, is responsible for the approval and issuance of promotional material in both the UK and those other EEA jurisdictions in accordance with the relevant regulatory requirements

Furthermore, it is primarily intended for Professional Clients acting for their own account in countries where the OYSTER Funds are registered. It is not to be distributed in anyway to non professional clients. The information or data contained herein does not in any way constitute an offer or a recommendation to buy or sell shares in the Fund's units.

For Switzerland: Details of Representative and Paying Agent

Swiss Representative: SYZ Asset Management (Suisse) SA, 30 rue du Rhone, 1204 Geneva, Switzerland

Swiss Paying agent: Banque SYZ SA, 30 rue du Rhone, 1204 Geneva, Switzerland

Attachments:

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3129d6e6-5f86-4340-83a6-46a0c15ee277

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a72a36af-c1d8-491e-9db9-3c0b906ef49f

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/51e6b918-03e7-4bff-8741-c78e4bcd5441
English Finnish

CapMan Plc Stock Exchange Release 8 December 2016 at 4.15 p.m. EET

This stock exchange release may not be published or distributed, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, in or into or to any person located or a resident of the United States of America, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, or any other country where such publication or distribution would violate applicable regulation or would require additional measures in addition to the requirements under Finnish law.

CapMan Plc has supplemented the offer document and listing prospectus regarding the exchange offer concerning Norvestia Oyj

CapMan Plc ("CapMan") has supplemented the offer document and listing prospectus ("Offer Document") dated 18 November 2016 with respect to CapMan's voluntary exchange offer for all Norvestia Oyj's ("Norvestia") issued shares and special rights entitling to shares. The Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority has on 8 December 2016 approved the supplement to the Offer Document, which relates to the supplement announced by Norvestia on 7 December 2016 of Norvestia's statement on the exchange offer issued 18 November 2016. CapMan announced on 7 December 2016 that Norvestia had supplemented its statement.

The supplement to the Offer Document will be available electronically at CapMan's internet address http://www.capman.com/investors/shares-and-shareholders/exchange-offer/, at the lead manager's internet address www.summa.fi/capman-norvestia-vaihtotarjous and as printed version during standard office hours at CapMan's offices at Korkeavuorenkatu 32, 00130 Helsinki, the lead manager's offices at Salomonkatu 17 B, 8th floor, 00100 Helsinki and at the reception of the Helsinki Stock Exchange at Fabianinkatu 14, 00100 Helsinki, from 8 December 2016 onwards.

CAPMAN PLC

For additional information, please contact:

Pasi Erlin, General Counsel, CapMan Plc, p. +358 20 720 7503

Distribution:

Nasdaq Helsinki

Principal media

www.capman.com

CapMan

www.capman.com

www.capman.com/exchange-offer

CapMan is a leading Nordic investment and asset management company. For more than 25 years, we have been developing companies and real estate and supporting their sustainable growth. We are committed to understanding the needs of our customers in an ever-changing market environment. Our objective is to provide attractive returns and innovative solutions for our investors and value adding services for professional investment partnerships, growth-oriented companies and tenants. Our independent investment partnerships - Buyout, Real Estate, Russia and Nest Capital - as well as our associated company Norvestia are responsible for investment activities and value creation. CapMan's service business offering includes fundraising advisory services, purchasing activities and fund management services to both internal and external customers. CapMan has 100 professionals and assets under management of 2.8 billion.

Important Notice

This release may not be released or otherwise distributed, in whole or in part, in or into or to any person located or a resident of the United States of America, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand or South Africa or any other jurisdiction where prohibited by applicable laws or rules. This release is not a share exchange offer document or a prospectus and as such does not constitute an offer or invitation to make a sales offer. Investors shall accept the exchange offer for the shares only on the basis of the information provided in an exchange offer document and prospectus in respect of the exchange offer. Offers will not be made directly or indirectly in any jurisdiction where either an offer or participation therein is prohibited by applicable law or where any exchange offer document or registration or other requirements would apply in addition to those undertaken in Finland.

The exchange offer document and prospectus in respect of the exchange offer as well as related acceptance forms will not and may not be distributed, forwarded, or transmitted into, in, or from any jurisdiction where prohibited by applicable law. In particular, the exchange offer is not being made, directly or indirectly, in or into, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, or the United States of America. The exchange offer cannot be accepted from within Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, or the United States of America.

CapMan's shares have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or under any of the relevant securities laws of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States of America. CapMan's shares may not be offered or sold in the United States, except pursuant to an exemption from the Securities Act or in a transaction not subject to the registration requirements of the Securities Act.

Certain statements herein which are not historical facts, including, without limitation, those regarding expectations for general economic development and the market situation, expectations for the combined company's development and profitability and the realization of synergy benefits and cost savings, and statements preceded by "expects", "estimates", "forecasts" or similar expressions, are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current decisions and plans and currently known factors. They involve risks and uncertainties which may cause the actual results to materially differ from the results currently expected for the combined company. Such factors include, but are not limited to, general economic conditions, including fluctuations in exchange rates and interest levels which influence the operating environment and profitability of customers and thereby the orders received by the combined company and their margin; the competitive situation; the combined company's own operating conditions, such as the success of production and product development and their continuous development and improvement; and the success of future acquisitions.
LAS VEGAS, Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nevada Gold & Casinos, Inc. (NYSE MKT:UWN) today announced that its financial results for the second quarter ended October 31, 2016 will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 15, 2016 after the close of the U.S. financial markets.



The company will host a conference call at 4:30 PM ET (1:30 PM PT) on December 15, 2016 to discuss the financial results and to provide a corporate update. The call can be accessed live by dialing (888) 282-4019. International callers can access the call by dialing (913) 312-0653. A simultaneous webcast of the call will be available by visiting http://www.nevadagold.com.

A telephone replay of the conference call will be available after 7:30 PM ET and can be accessed by dialing (844) 512-2921. International callers can access the replay by dialing (412) 317-6671; the pin number is 2469123. The replay will be available through December 22, 2016. The archived webcast will also be available on the company's website at http://www.nevadagold.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We use words such as "anticipate," "believe," "expect," "future," "intend," "plan," and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, our ability to increase income streams, to grow revenue and earnings, and to obtain additional gaming and other projects. These statements are only predictions and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, which are identified and described in the Company's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

About Nevada Gold & Casinos

Nevada Gold & Casinos, Inc. (NYSE MKT:UWN) of Las Vegas, Nevada is a developer, owner and operator of 9 gaming operations in Washington (wagoldcasinos.com), a locals casino in Henderson, Nevada (clubfortunecasino.com) and a slot route operation in Deadwood, South Dakota (dakotaplayersclub.com). For more information, visit www.nevadagold.com.
Shah Rukh Khan's knee pain has been acting up again and the Raees actor has been advised to take rest by his orthopedic surgeon.

By India Today Web Desk: Shah Rukh Khan has been suffering from an acute knee problem for quite some time. The Dear Zindagi actor had undergone an arthroscopic surgery on his left knee last year at Breach Candy hospital. Now, his pain is reportedly back again.

Speaking to Mumbai Mirror, orthopedic surgeon Dr Sanjay Desai who operated on Shah Rukh's knee in 2015 said that the 50-year-old actor has been suffering from a serious knee problem for as long as seven years.

advertisement

On Wednesday, while Shah Rukh was shooting for his upcoming film at Madh Island, he began squirming in pain while he grabbed his left leg and adjusted his knee cap.

ALSO READ: Baby AbRam's reaction to papa Shah Rukh's Raees trailer is too adorable!

ALSO READ: Shah Rukh pushes back Raess's release date to clash with Kaabil, Rakesh Roshan furious

ALSO READ: SRK reacts to Rakesh Roshan's angry tirade over date clash

IN-DEPTH: You have seen Shah Rukh as Raees, but do you know who the real Raees, gangster Abdul Latif was?

WATCH Raees trailer: It's gangster Shah Rukh vs cop Nawazuddin Siddiqui

"We had treated him with painkillers and injections five months ago but following repeated injuries, the pain had worsened. The chondral fissure of the patella in Mr Khan's knee has completely worn out and repairing it is difficult and will take a lot of time," said Dr Desai.

Shah Rukh has reportedly been advised to wear his metallic knee cap at all times, which he seldom does. He has also been instructed to avoid doing any action or physically demanding sequences in films.

"Since he will continue to shoot, we will perform another arthroscopic surgery on him to clean up the damaged part after 10 months. I've advised him rest," Dr Desai was quoted as saying.

Shah Rukh Khan has already filmed for three schedules of Imtiaz Ali's film, tentatively titled The Ring's shooting. The actor will next begin shooting for Aanand L Rai's next film, where he is playing a dwarf.

Meanwhile, the trailer of Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Raees which was released yesterday to much fanfare across India has already notched up 3 million views on YouTube. The Rahul Dholakia film, which also stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Pakistani actor Mahira Khan will release in theatres on January 25 next year along with Hrithik Roshan-starrer Kaabil.

WATCH Raees trailer review | Shah Rukh back with a bang, Nawaz in Wasseypur mode

--- ENDS ---
As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ
"If I am allowed to speak in Lok Sabha, I will show to all how Paytm means 'Pay to Modi'," Rahul told reporters outside Parliament

By Brijesh Pandey: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi today called Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to ban old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes "foolish" and asked if the focus now on cashless transactions means "paying to Modi".

"If I am allowed to speak in Lok Sabha, I will show to all how Paytm means 'Pay to Modi'," Rahul told reporters outside Parliament, a jibe on Modi appearing in a front-page Paytm advertisement the day after the Prime Minister announced demonetisation in a televised address on November 8.

advertisement

Rahul called demonetisation a foolish decision. "This is not a bold decision, it is a foolish decision which has been taken without any due consideration. It has devastated the poor, the farmers, the daily wage workers. We want to have a discussion. We want a vote, the government doesn't," Rahul told reporters outside Parliament.

ALSO READ | Modi prisoner of his image, doing TRP politics: Rahul as CPP chair for first time

"Farmers are dying. He is laughing, having a nice time while the people of the country are suffering," he said.

The 46-year-old leader said goalposts are constantly changing. "The Prime Minister's narrative has changed. It started by saying it's against black money, then terrorism, then counterfeit currency and now cashless economy," he said.

"The idea behind cashless economy is that a few people must get maximum benefits from these transactions. This has damaged the nation," he said. Rahul said it is perhaps for this reason that PM Modi is "running away" from the debate. "If he comes to the House for debate, we won't let him run," he quipped.

Black Day

When asked about the disruption in Parliament, Rahul said the responsibility of running the House is with the government and Speaker, not the Opposition.

Parliament's winter session may be headed towards a complete washout over the demonetisation drive with the Opposition today calling for a Black Day and its leaders wearing a black band to the House.

With a week to go for the session to end on November 16, the deadlock over the Opposition's demand that Prime Minister Narendra Modi must make a statement as well as a vote on demonetisation in the House is unlikely to be resolved.

ALSO READ | Demonetisation: PM Modi attacks Opposition for not allowing Parliament debate

Before Parliament meets for another acrimonious day, Opposition leaders marched towards Mahatma Gandhi's statue in the Parliament premises to protest against the note ban.

"It's been 30 days today since demonetisation was announced. We will not make any slogans today, only hold a Black Day. It will be a silent protest," Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said.

"Earlier, the Prime Minister asked for five days, then five weeks and now he wants 50 days. This isn't right as not even 50 per cent of the situation got better in the last one month," Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said.

advertisement

The government has rejected the Opposition protest. "This is not a Black Day. This is their Support to Black Money Day," Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu said.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said the government is ready for a discussion in Parliament. "The Opposition is staging the protest only to garner media space. The government is ready for discussion in the House," he said.

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Dec 8 (PTI) Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon will visit India later this month, during which both sides will look at increasing cooperation in the fields of energy, defence and security besides others.

Rahmon will be on a state visit to India from December 14 to 18 and it will be his sixth trip to the country.

advertisement

During his last visit to India in 2012, the two countries elevated their bilateral relations to the level of a long-term strategic partnership.

Bilateral relations span cooperation in a wide spectrum of areas ? political, economic, health, human resources development, defence, counter-terrorism, science and technology, culture and tourism, a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs said.

The Tajikistan President will arrive in New Delhi on December 16 after visiting Kerala.

His official engagements will be on December 17, during which he will have meetings with the Indian leadership, including President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Tajikistan shares a 1,400 km-long porus border with Afghanistan and has immense geo-strategic significance for India which has been providing military assistance to it, including supply of helicopters as part of counter-terrorism cooperation.

India has also developed the Ayni airbase near the Tajik capital Dushanbe, which provided it a foothold in Central Asia.

India had deployed its Army and Border Roads Organisation personnel to upgrade the airbase by extending its runway, constructing an air-traffic control tower and perimeter fencing around the base. PTI SAP DIP

--- ENDS ---
Here's a list of five most controversial people who featured on the cover of Time Magazine over the years.

By India Today Web Desk: Time magazine is arguably most famous for its cover page and more so when they announce their pick of 'The Person Of The Year'. Each year, this cover is awaited by people all over the world and creates quite a stir of excitement.

The cover usually has influential people on it, people who might not necessarily please those who are patiently awaiting the announcement. Prime Minister Narendra Modi won the popular vote to become the Time Person of the Year, but the new president-elect of the United States of America, or the Divided States of America as Time puts it, Donald Trump was the magazine's choice for the title, and the cover.

advertisement

Here's a list of the five controversial cover images of the Time magazine over the years.

1. DONALD TRUMP

None other than US President-elect Donald Trump is on this year's cover. Yes, the same man who takes women for granted, who acts like he hates Muslims and immigrants and who mocks people with disabilities.

There's a controversial caption next to his image, though. It reads 'President of the divided states of America'.

Photo courtesy: Time Magazine Photo courtesy: Time Magazine

2. ADOLF HITLER

We all know this dictator. He was named Man of the Year in 1938, on the eve of World War II.

Hitler was the dictator of Nazi Germany at the time he won this title. Under his reign in 1938, massive Jewish-owned buildings were destroyed on Kristallnacht and he sent at least 30,000 Jewish Germans to concentration camps.

Photo courtesy: Time Magazine

3. YOU

Yes, YOU appeared on the cover of Time magazine. In 2006, each and every human being was chosen as 'Person of the year'. Time gave this honour to you, for being a part of millions of users who together contributed to user generated content on the web.

Photo courtesy: Time Magazine

4. VLADIMIR PUTIN

Putin was Time's person in 2007, after he finished his first term as Russian president. Putin and his policies have long been criticized and debated internationally till date.

Photo courtesy: Time Magazine

5. THE COMPUTER

In 1982, Time's Man of the Year was a machine, the computer. And at that time, it really was the most influential thing of the year.

The IMB PC had already released, while Apple's Lisa was about to release in 1983.

Technology shaped that year and surely every year after that, till date. However, this got criticism as picking a machine instead of a man was seen quite bizarre and harsh.

Photo courtesy: Time Magazine

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: Kathmandu, Dec 8 (PTI) At least 40 cadres of the main opposition party, The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist?Leninist) (CPN-UML), have been arrested while protesting against the Constitution amendment bill in Nepals Kailali district.

Twenty one party activists were injured allegedly by police while demonstrating against the bill that will address the demands of the agitating Madhesi parties and other ethnic groups.

advertisement

The opposition parties have been opposing the bill registered in the Parliament that aims to divide parts of the Province No 5 and merge them into the Terai region bordering India.

Meanwhile, CPN-UML issued a statement asking the government to immediately release its party workers arrested during the demonstration.

Nepal opposition parties -- UML, CPN-ML, Rastriya Janamorcha and Nepal Workers Peasants Party had also obstructed the parliament proceedings against the constitution amendment proposal.

Speaker Onsari Gharti had then postponed the Parliament meeting until 3 PM today.

Nepal has been facing political crisis since the adoption of a new Constitution in September last year that divides the country into seven provinces.

The agitating Madhesi parties want the hilly districts not to be mixed with the plains while demarcating the provincial boundaries. PTI SPI SBP RSD AYP

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: India

New Delhi, Dec 8 (PTI) In a strong message to Pakistan on SAARC Charter Day, India today said it was up to that country whether it wants to stop cross-border terrorism and allow the SAARC Summit to take place.

Today is 31st Anniversary of South Asian Association of Regional Countries (SAARC) and 32nd SAARC Charter Day.

advertisement

Asserting that the SAARC member countries, while pulling out of the Summit to be held in Pakistan in November, had maintained that the atmosphere was not conducive because one particular country in the region is promoting cross-border terrorism and interfering blatantly, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the conditions remain the same.

"In this case the SAARC Summit cannot happen," he said, adding "it is up to Pakistan to say that it decides not to hold SAARC Summit and is ready to give it up to any country that wants to host it. And the things can go forward."

Amid heightened tension with Pakistan over Uri terror attack in which 18 soldiers were killed, India had announced its decision of pulling out of the Summit in September, citing increased "cross-border" attacks.

Apart from India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan also pulled out of the summit, indirectly blaming Pakistan for creating an environment which is not right for the successful holding of the meet, resulting in its collapse.

However, Swarup reiterated Indias firm commitment to the eight-member regional bloc.

In his message, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said, "While SAARC has, albeit survived, it has not triumphed as had been envisaged, falling behind on the commitments and the promises that we had set out to achieve: progress and prosperity for the common good of our people." PTI PYK ZMN

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: From Lalit K Jha

Washington, Dec 7 (PTI) The US and five other countries, including Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the UK, today called for an immediate ceasefire in Aleppo asserting that a humanitarian disaster is taking place in the Syrian city, and accused Russia of blocking emergency help and efforts to halt the atrocities.

"The urgent need now is for an immediate ceasefire to allow the United Nations to get humanitarian assistance to the people in eastern Aleppo and to provide humanitarian relief to those who have fled eastern Aleppo," leaders of the six countries said in a joint statement issued by the White House.

advertisement

"A humanitarian disaster is taking place before our very eyes. Some 200,000 civilians, including many children, in eastern Aleppo are cut off from food and medicine supplies. Aleppo is being subjected to daily bombings and artillery attacks by the Syrian regime, supported by Russia and Iran," they said.

Noting that the opposition have agreed the UNs four point plan for Aleppo, they said the regime needs to agree to the plan too.

"We call on the Syrian regime to do this urgently to alleviate the dire situation in Aleppo; and call on Russia and Iran to use their influence to help make this happen," the joint statement said.

Russia, they alleged, is blocking the efforts of UN Security Council, which is therefore unable to do its work and put an end to the atrocities.

"The regimes refusal to engage in a serious political process also highlights the unwillingness of both Russia and Iran to work for a political solution despite their assurances to the contrary," the statement said.

The White House Press Secretary, Josh Earnest, told reporters later that the strategy is essentially to apply pressure on Russia because of the tactics that they have been willing to not just condone but in some cases actively support that have resulted in significant innocent loss of life.

"It is continuing. The president does not believe its an effective strategy to gloss over or somehow obscure Russias complicity in this sordid affair in order to reach a solution.

"In fact, we actually believe that Russia bears special responsibility to help bring about a diplomatic solution because of the way they have intervened on behalf of the Assad regime and because of their own stated significant interest and the outcome of the situation inside of Syria," he said.

"So were not gonna advance a diplomatic solution by somehow acting like Russia has been a good actor when they havent or pretending that Russia somehow doesnt have a stake in the outcome. When the truth is, theyve got as big a stake in the outcome as any other country outside of Syria," Earnest said in response to a question.

advertisement

"So its time for them to play a responsible role and thus far they havent and thats isolated them in the international community, its what makes them the object of so much criticism and even scorned from the international community because of their willingness to support, actively, the depraved tactics of the Assad regime to try to bomb innocent civilians into submission," he said. PTI LKJ PMS

--- ENDS ---
BJP legislator Radharani Panda alleged that a woman was asked to remove her black petticoat before she was allowed to enter the venue of chief minister Naveen Patnaik's meeting at Bargarh district on November 25.

By PTI: BJP legislator Radharani Panda today alleged in the Odisha Assembly that a woman was asked to remove her black innerwear before being allowed to enter the venue of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's meeting at Bargarh district.

Panda's allegation created ripples in the House after she was given an opportunity to speak on the issue of security personnel asking girls and women to remove black odhani (stole) before allowing them to attend a government programme attended by the chief minister in Sundergarh district on December 4.

advertisement

"Even a woman was asked to remove her black petticoat to attend the CM's meeting held earlier at Bargarh," Panda alleged adding that she came to know about the incident of November 25 from media reports.

ALSO READ: Odisha shocker: Shunned by community, family drags adivasi woman's body to crematorium

She also alleged that a 5-year-old child died due to suffocation at the chief minister's meeting at Bargarh.

IS THIS RESPECT TOWARDS WOMEN?

Panda, an MLA from Brajrajnagar, further alleged that a policeman forcibly removed her black shawl while she was entering a meeting held by the chief minister in Jharsuguda on November 23.

"Is it the respect that women get under this government," Panda asked adding that she went to the meeting as per the invitation.

ALSO READ: Egg hurled at Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik during public event

"I felt disrespected and humiliated at the meeting held by the chief minister," Panda said as the ruling party members continued to disrupt her speech.

She also alleged that women's dignity was hurt at the chief minister's meetings in Bargarh, Jharsuguda and Sundergarh.

Making an intervention, government chief whip Ananta Das asked why the MLA did not raise the issue earlier as the Winter Session of the assembly began on December 1.

He said the chief minister has already given a statement on the incident that took place at Sundergarh.

ALSO READ: Odisha: Man carries pregnant wife on shoulder to hospital, woman dies

--- ENDS ---
From a former Playboy model to a cracker who can hack your computer in fraction of a second, faster than you finish a cup of coffee.

By India Today Web Desk: Couple of weeks ago, we saw Rahul Gandhi's Twitter handle was compromised. Soon the Indian National Congress' Twitter handle met the same fate. And the very next day, it was Rachit Seth's (Indian National Congress Main Stream Media Communication person) Twitter handle which got hacked.

Hacking has always made headlines as some are of the view that the next world war will be a cyber war altogether.

advertisement

A few women can crack a computer faster than other women tie their hair. A bunch of cover-worthy girls are writing computer codes and working with complex hardware structures, which we seldom see. They are super skilled and their keyboard is their weapon of choice. Who needs a sword when keystrokes can do the trick. It's not just the dark side of the hacking universe but some are really using the technology to solve a lot of world problems, like lending a helping hand to vulnerable women.

This list is lit. Here are five gorgeous, yet fatal female hackers.

KRISTINA SVECHINSKAYA

Screenshot: Youtube - HiHacker

This Russian lady's good looks are as jaw-dropping as the codes she hacks. She, along with many friends, hacked the Bank of America and Wachovia, using a Trojan (a hacking tool), and stole nearly more than three million dollars. She was charged with fraud but later got bail. She later studied at New York University and is pretty active on Twitter. She has even got the title of the 'sexiest girl hacker'.

ANNA CHAPMAN

Screenshot : Youtube - Ale

She worked for the illegal programme under the Russian Federation's External Intelligence Agency for which she was arrested by FBI. And that did not take away her celebrity status, at all.Her sultry videos and photos went viral on the internet and people were swooned in awe by her mesmerizing looks and guess what, she was asked by Edward Snowden to marry. Beat that, the guy who gave a nightmare to NSA, proposing the hacker in question.

ADEANNA COOK

Screenshot : Youtube - John J.

This is a former Playboy model who turned out to be immensely dangerous if given a keyboard and mouse.Her friends once tried to leak and later sell her objectionable pictures on the internet but she was the girl they should not have messed with. So when she stumbled upon the very photos on unauthorised sites, she hacked the platforms and took them down herself.

Not just that, she even helped out her friends who got stuck in similar situations, further strengthening the meaning of 'hacktivism'.

YING CRACKER

Screenshot : Youtube - Top 10 Top

As beautiful as a firecracker, who is called a 'Cracker' in cyberworld.She formed the 'Chinese Hottie Hackers' forum after which she gained popularity. The forum is a perfect place for hackers to have a hack-party altogether, all contributing and writing hack codes, for good and bad.

advertisement

She even charges a smart fee for courses on simple hacking tools and assists people to crack softwares.

KIM VANVAECK

Screenshot : Youtube - Ale

This stunningly smart hacker, popularly known as 'Gigabyte', is a Belgium girl who can create high-end viruses that target hardwares and destroy information. Since she was a 14-year-old, she started hacking and cracking.

She even developed a virus called Sharp,which is considered to be the first virus written in the programming language called C-Sharp.However, in a quest to prove herself dangerous, she was nabbed by the police and is currently facing charges that might lead her to prison.

Hackers are thought to be geeky fellas with glasses which cover their eyes, overdosing on Mountain Dew, eating pizzas and watching Sci-Fi movies, but they can be really handy, when the times beckon.

On the contrary, are these women, dangerous with their looks, and lethal with their tech skills.

--- ENDS ---
SPRING PR founders were awarded the "Global PR Leader of the year"

State Duma member proposes to extend term of military service in Russia

Iranian MPs: Powerful Iran will never tolerate changing of its borders

Newspaper: Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty to be signed in Georgia

US delivers more than 200 artillery systems to Ukraine since February

WSJ: UAE tried to convince Saudi Arabia not to cut oil production

Cavusoglu: Greece must stop arming the demilitarized islands in the Aegean Sea

Moody's downgrades outlook for banks in Germany, Italy, and 4 other countries to negative

About 40 international companies to announce their relocation to UAE by end of year

Israeli Prime Minister cancels participation in climate summit in Egypt

Earthquake strikes in Antalya

Polish manufacturing output falls amid economic uncertainty

IEF: Oil price to exceed $100 due to EU sanctions against Russia

Iranian MFA denies information about country's planned attack on Saudi Arabia

Lebanon: U.S. guarantees will protect maritime border agreement with Israel if Netanyahu wins

Belarusian MFA responds to Armenia after reaction to statements of Alexander Lukashenko

Azerbaijani propaganda machine launches anti-Iranian rumors in social networks

Lavrov and Abdollahian discuss situation in Persian Gulf zone and South Caucasus

Erdogan and Aliyev discuss results of Sochi meeting of Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders

Goldman Sachs predicts that natural gas prices in Europe will fall by about 30%

White House alleges Iran's plans to supply Russia with surface-to-surface missiles

Iran to send delegation to Vienna to strengthen relations with IAEA

Iranian Foreign Minister to discuss state of nuclear deal negotiations with Borrell

Putin: Russia is ready to supply grain to the poorest countries even without participation in the deal

First list of Armenian servicemen killed as result of Azerbaijan's September aggression is published

Pentagon to supply Vampire anti-drone system to AFU

Xi Jinping confirms China's readiness to invest in Pakistan

Kuzmina: I don't agree that Armenia's economy will be swept away if the borders with Turkey are opened

Poland to build wall on border with Kaliningrad

Garo Paylan proposes opening Armenian-Turkish border

Eduard Solovyov: Russia stated extreme undesirability of close contacts between Baku and NATO countries

Zelenskyy: Threat of use of nuclear weapons by Russia exists and it is not related to non-compliance with ultimatums

IRNA: Azerbaijani State Security Service reacted nervously to Pashinyan's visit to Tehran

FLYONE ARMENIA to start operating flights on the route Yerevan - Beirut Yerevan

Moscow to host meeting of Secretaries of CIS Security Councils

Armenian MFA considers it inappropriate to comment on Lukashenko's rambling statements

Dollar rises, euro falls in Armenia

Makredonov: The Sochi summit showed that it is it's too early to write Russia off

Biden's threat to impose profit tax on oil companies is more of boast than threat

Vadim Mukhanov: Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh are one of main points of negotiations

Russia analyst describes Karabakh Armenians fate if Western version of peace treaty is signed

Armenia MFA: Lukashenko statement is disconnected from reality

Russia MFA spox comments on Zangezur corridor prospects

Voytolovsky: Both sides will have weighty reasons to extend Russia peacekeepers mission in Karabakh

Armenia finance minister: Expenditure for PM's office will be reduced next year

Finance minister: Expenses for needs of parliament staff, Armenia President will increase considerably in 2023

Zakharova on meeting of Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani FMs in Sochi

Armenian President congratulates Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

Azerbaijani special forces conduct exercises on border with Iran

Armenia defense minister meets with head of EU monitoring mission

Nikol Pashinyan: It is necessary to continue the work to reduce cash turnover

Russia resumes its participation in grain deal

UK shortage of F-35 fighter pilots

Premier: Ministry of Internal Affairs, Foreign Intelligence Service will be established in Armenia in 2023

Shoigu: The NATO grouping near Russia's borders has grown 2.5 times since February

New Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad hopes to continue talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran

Security Council chief receives head of EU monitoring capacity mission to Armenia

Pashinyan: Armenia-Azerbaijan borders existence was recorded both in Sochi and Prague

Second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan to take part in rally on November 5

Canada to welcome 500,000 immigrants a year by 2025

Armenia PM: Communication difficulties, challenges in relations with Turkey have been overcome

Pashinyan: Armenian side suggests extending mandate of Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh

MFA: Armenia has no misunderstandings with Iran

Russia position on Karabakh status corresponds to Armenia government approach, PM says

Pashinyan: Armenia attaches great importance to further development, deepening of relations with Brazil

Premier: Armenia defense spending will increase by 113% in 2023 compared to 2018

Deputy PM Grigoryan to attend Armenia-Azerbaijan border delimitation, security commissions 3rd meeting

Pashinyan: Armenia has set new record for registered jobs

Israir Airlines launches flights between Tel Aviv, Yerevan

Armenia envoy briefs UK House of Commons defense committee chair on impact of recent Azerbaijan attack

PM: Armenia's economy is booming today

Seoul, Pyongyang launch missiles

Newspaper: Armenia ruling political team is in favor of western version of peace treaty with Azerbaijan

State Department: US will contribute to Armenia-Azerbaijan talks

Turkey parliament approves extending mandate of countrys military in occupied Aghdam of Karabakh

Sweden to reach NATO's defense spending goal of 2% of GDP by 2026

Lebanon raises electricity price for first time since 1990s

Lavrov and Cavusoglu discuss situation over 'grain deal'

Turkey not satisfied with Sweden's promises

Azerbaijan claims to have 'exposed' Azerbaijanis who acted 'under control of Iranian secret service'

Taliban sets up female Interior Ministry unit in Afghanistan to disperse protests

U.S. concerned about Iran's 'threats' against Saudi Arabia

Lebanon is facing a power vacuum, left without a president

Gas exports from Iran to Armenia to double

In first 9 months about $1.7 billion is transferred to Armenia

Baerbock and Scholz disagree on China

Delegations of Ukraine, Turkey and UN temporarily suspend movement of ships in framework of Black Sea grain deal

Qatar Energy Minister calls EU proposal to limit gas prices hypocritical

Jamshidi: Any capturing of further territories is occupation

Putin: Kiev must give real guarantees of strict compliance with the Istanbul agreements

Putin and Erdogan discuss results of meeting of Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders in Sochi

Blinken goes to Germany to meet with G-7 colleagues

Iranist: Cooperation between Yerevan and Tehran will prevent further Turkish activism

U.S. military conducts field weapons inspections in Ukraine

Defense Ministers of Russia and Turkey once again discuss suspension of 'grain deal'

Armenian President and ICRC representatives discuss Armenian captives held in Azerbaijan

Aliyev's aide visits Nakhchivan

Berlin urges Serbia to choose between EU and Russia

Armenian Deputy Prime Minister and USAID representatives discuss bilateral cooperation

Erdogan: Turkey continues to make necessary initiatives on grain deal
STEPANAKERT.  In accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR/Artsakh), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission conducted a planned monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan.

The monitoring was held on Thursday, in the direction of NKR Askeran Region, northeast of Kengerli village, the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

From the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring was conducted by Ghenadie Petrica (Moldova) and Khristo Khristov (Bulgaria), field assistants to the Personal Representative to the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office.

From the opposite side of the Line of Contact, the monitoring was held by Simon Tiller (Great Britain), Personal Assistant to the Personal Representative to the OSCE CiO; Jiri Aberle (Czech Republic), field assistant to the Personal Representative to the OSCE CiO; and Peter Svedberg (Sweden), staff member of the Office of the Personal Representative to the OSCE CiO.

The monitoring passed in accordance with the agreed schedule, and no ceasefire violation was recorded.

The Azerbaijani side, however, did not lead the OSCE mission to its frontlines.

From the Karabakh side, the monitoring mission was accompanied by representatives of the NKR Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense.
The events that occurred at the line of contact in April have shown how perilous the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is.

German Minister for Foreign Affairs and Chairman-in-Office (CiO) of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Frank-Walter Steinmeier, on Thursday stated the aforementioned in his opening remarks at the 23rd OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting in Hamburg, Germany.

Steinmeier stressed that the developments in Karabakh are of concern to them. He said they saw that everything again erupted there, in early April. As per the German FM, this shows how dangerous the Karabakh conflict is, and how indispensable it is to establish ceasefire and make sure that proper negotiations are conducted, and that they have the right decision.

Also, the OSCE CiO informed that this organization will frequently assist in the efforts by its Minsk Group and the latters co-chairs, towards achieving a resolution to this conflict.

As per Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the humanitarian situation needs to be improved in order to build trustworthy relations and achieve security, and more action must be taken to improve this humanitarian situation.
The situation in the east of Ukraine and the escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh demonstrate how vulnerable world architecture of Europe

has become, announced the German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the 23rd Summit of Foreign Ministers of the OSCE member states.

According to him, the dialogue between the East and the West is becoming more urgent. "The principles of the Helsinki Final Act have become as critical as ever. Even if we have no capacity to resolve and overcome all the crises, it is crucial that we all together are making efforts to strengthen the OSCE and its tools for conflict management. We discuss all these issues together, " he said.

As the minister said, the OSCE does a great job in the areas of crisis, which are the eastern Ukraine and Nagorno-Karabakh. "While carrying out this work, the OSCE has prevented the worst situations, sometimes even an open war. On the other hand, if you look at Transnistria, where the OSCE has worked for many years, we can see, that the parties to the conflict returned to the negotiation table thanks to the OSCE. These are important achievements. And the OSCE, I think, plays a significant role in establishing peace in Europe ", concluded Steinmeier.
Just over a year ago, AIPPI hosted a Rapid Response seminar following Mr Justice Arnold finding that the material claims of Warner-Lamberts patent for the use of pregabalin in the treatment of pain were invalid and in any event not infringed by Actavis skinny label pregabalin product Lecaent (Warner-Lambert v Actavis Steven Willis (Bristows) reports: finding that the material claims of Warner-Lamberts patent for the use of pregabalin in the treatment of pain were invalid and in any event not infringed by Actavis skinny label pregabalin product Lecaent ( [2015] EWHC 2548 (Pat) ). At that stage, the panel were also in possession of six other judgments from Arnold J concerning pregabalin and one from the Court of Appeal.reports:





Generics (UK) t/a Mylan v Warner-Lambert ). In addition, last month, the Court of Appeal upheld Arnold Js findings on the validity of the Patent and the amendment/abuse of process issues but disagreed with him, obiter, on issues concerning the construction and infringement of Swiss Type Claims (Warner-Lambert Company LLC v Generics (UK) Ltd (t/a Mylan) & Ors "Since that first rapid response seminar, Arnold J has issued a further judgment concerning Warner-Lamberts right to amend the Patent after the trial and whether that amounted to an abuse of process ( [2015] EWHC 3370 (Pat) ). In addition, last month, the Court of Appeal upheld Arnold Js findings on the validity of the Patent and the amendment/abuse of process issues but disagreed with him,, on issues concerning the construction and infringement of Swiss Type Claims ( [2016] EWCA Civ 1006 ).





The same panel of experts - Claire Baldock ( Boult Wade Tenant ), Brian Cordery ( Bristows ) and Stuart Baran ( 3 New Square ) - that presented at the first seminar reconvened last week to revisit the issues and grapple with new ones raised by the two most recent judgments. Claire covered the plausibility/insufficiency aspects of the Court of Appeal judgment, Brian addressed the amendment and related abuse of process issues and Stuart tackled the thorny area of the construction and infringement of Swiss type claims.





Plausibility/Insufficiency





Claire reminded the audience of the relevant background to the insufficiency issues, some of which are set out below:

The Patent in suit contains Swiss form claims to pregabalin in the treatment of pain (Claim 1) and in the treatment of neuropathic pain (Claim 3).

Pain is difficult to define both clinically and in patent terms. Paragraph [0003] of the Patent states that the invention is directed to chronic pain disorders. It then provides a list of conditions which the invention is said to include but not be limited to. Paragraph [0006] of the Patent then refers to the invention as being the use of pregabalin in "the treatment of pain as listed above".

The Patent refers to neuropathic pain as being that "which is caused by injury or infection of peripheral sensory nerves. The patent does not draw a distinction between peripheral neuropathic pain and central neuropathic pain.

The Patent contained data relating to animal models of inflammatory pain. None of these models were established models of neuropathic pain.

Inflammatory pain contains a central sensitisation component which is present in neuropathic pain but not central neuropathic pain.

Claire went on to summarise some of the parties key submissions on plausibility/insufficiency:

The Defendants argued that Warner-Lambert must rely on the data in the animal models for the purposes of plausibility.

Warner-Lambert responded that central sensitisation component provided the requisite link between the animal models and the claimed forms of pain.

Mylan contended that not all forms of pain which fell within the claims contained a central sensitisation component. Furthermore, it was CGK that neuropathic pain included both peripheral neuropathic pain and that central neuropathic pain did not have a central sensitisation component.

Warner-Lambert argued that the skilled person would in any event have understood claim 3 (i.e. to neuropathic pain) to have been limited to peripheral neuropathic pain.

Claire considered the Court of Appeals construction of the claim and noted the finding that not every use of a term will be understood to be a definition:

although it is often said that a specification can act as its own dictionary, not every use in the specification of a term found in the claim will be understood by the reader to be a definition. On no basis can paragraph [0006] or [0003] or the two paragraphs read together be taken to be a definition of what the patentee means by the term "pain". They are statements exemplifying the broadest statement of invention, namely that pregabalin is suitable for the treatment of pain.

This contributed to the Court's finding that the skilled person would have viewed the claims as being broad claims to efficacy concerning the treatment of all kinds of pain. Although the skilled person would adopt a narrow meaning of a particular claim if there were CGK reasons as to why the wider meaning would cover implausible embodiments, this was not such a case. The Patent taught that pregabalin is likely to treat inflammatory pain. Inflammatory pain has a central sensitisation component. Therefore, the skilled person would know that pregabalin might work for peripheral neuropathic pain but not for central neuropathic pain because of the lack of a central sensitisation component. The claim was therefore not plausible across its scope. Having failed to overcome the plausibility hurdle, the patentee was not entitled to rely on post-published evidence to show sufficiency.





Claire raised some interesting points to consider at the end of her talk:

In light of Kitchen LJs treatment of paragraphs [0003] and [0006], what is/is not to be recognised as a definition in a Patent? Claire considered that in light of this decision, Patent Attorneys must be particularly precise with definitions and the definitions must be reasonable based on the state of the art at the time. At what level of generality should the plausibility test be applied? In the event that certain embodiments of a claim are plausible at the priority date, should it be possible to fill in the gaps with later filed evidence (bearing in mind that pregabalin works in central neuropathic pain). Should evidence of technical effect only be rejected where nothing plausible is covered by the claim? Is it sometimes the case that having no data in your Patent is better than having the wrong data? Claire referred to the HGS v Lilly [2011] UKSC 51 and Actavis v Lilly [2015] EWHC 3294 (Pat) cases as examples of patents which did not have data in them and yet were found to be plausible.

Amendment / Abuse of Process





In light of Arnold Js first instance finding on plausibility/sufficiency, Warner-Lambert sought to amend its claim to neuropathic pain to that which is "caused by injury or infection of peripheral sensory nerves. Arnold J refused the application to amend and considered it an abuse of process. This was upheld by the Court of Appeal.





Henderson v Henderson (1843) 3 Hare 100 and Johnson v Gore Wood res judicata. Brian considered that the same principles apply to applications to adduce new evidence on appeal to that which was considered at first instance (see e.g. Ladd v Marshall [1954 EWCA Civ 1; MMI Research v Cellxion [2012] EWCA Civ 7). Brian Cordery reminded the audience of the general principles relating to amendments set out in(1843) 3 Hare 100 and [2000] UKHL 65 which prevent re-litigation in circumstances not amounting to strict. Brian considered that the same principles apply to applications to adduce new evidence on appeal to that which was considered at first instance (see e.g.[1954 EWCA Civ 1;[2012] EWCA Civ 7).





ikken v Pioneer [2005] EWCA Civ 906: Brian also reminded the audience of the three categories of amendments recognised by Jacob LJ in N

(a) before a trial; (b) after trial, at which certain claims have been held valid but other claims held invalid, the patentee simply wishing to delete the invalid claims (I would include here also the case where the patentee wishes to re-write the claims so as to exclude various dependencies as in Hallen v Brantia [1990] FSR 134. There the patentee is in effect continuing to claim which he had claimed before but in a much smaller way); and (c) after a trial in which all claims have been held invalid but the patentee wishes to insert what he hopes are validating amendments.

Samsung v Apple where the Court of Appeal held that an application to centrally limit a Patent following a first instance finding of invalidity did not amount to an abuse of process per se, although as Brian noted, the Court was careful to point out that asserting such a Patent in the UK could still amount to an abuse: Brian pointed out that categories (a) and (b) are generally considered acceptable whereas category (c) will generally amount to an abuse of process. Brian considered whether this was altered by the Court of Appeal decision in [2014] EWCA Civ 250 where the Court of Appeal held that an application to centrally limit a Patent following a first instance finding of invalidity did not amount to an abuse of process, although as Brian noted, the Court was careful to point out that asserting such a Patent in the UK could still amount to an abuse:

"we believe that whether or not a patentee's attempted reliance before this court upon a patent which has been amended pursuant to a central amendment application made after trial constitutes an abuse of process must depend upon all the circumstances, including whether it would be necessary to remit the case for retrial and, if so, what the consequences of that would be.

Having considered the law, Brian revisited the procedural history of the pregabalin litigation noting that the Defendants had raised the distinction between neuropathic and central neuropathic pain in their reply expert report. They had also referred to it in their skeleton argument. Warner-Lambert did not object to the argument being raised at this stage. Warner-Lambert instead focussed its case on arguing that the skilled person would construe neuropathic pain as being limited to peripheral neuropathic pain, which was ultimately rejected by Arnold J at first instance, a rejection which was upheld on appeal.





Brian set out some of the arguments relied upon by Warner-Lambert as to why it should have been allowed to amend claim 3 post-trial, which include:

that Warner-Lambert had been the victim of procedural unfairness by the Defendants raising the peripheral/central distinction so late in proceedings;

that the proposed amendment should not be considered to fall within Jacob LJs category (c) but instead was more akin to a category (b) amendment as it simply sought to excise invalid matter from an otherwise valid claim; and

the amendments would not in any event require a retrial.

Brian highlighted the Court of Appeals reluctance to interfere with a first instance judgment on this issue. This case ultimately depended on two issues: (i) had the subject matter of the claim as proposed to be amended been the subject of a finding (such that a retrial would not be require)?; and (ii) in light of the procedural history, had Warner-Lambert been hampered from proposing an amendment to Claim 3 at an earlier stage in proceedings? The Court held that notwithstanding the procedural issues, Warner-Lambert could and should have proposed its amendment at the start of trial. Had it done so, Mylan could have run a different attack on the validity of the claim.





Brians take home points included:

Propose amendments at an early stage in proceedings, preferably before trial;

Keep possible amendments in mind as the trial progresses; and

carry out a mock trial with a view to unearthing any unexpected issues.

Actavis v Lilly (pemetrexed) case. Brian concluded by reminding the audience that Warner-Lambert has petitioned the Supreme Court for permission to appeal and that the Supreme Court will be hearing issues relating to the construction of Swiss-type claims next year in the(pemetrexed) case.





Construction/Infringement





IPKat readers will recall that construction and infringement issues first arose in these proceedings within the context of Arnold Js refusal of Warner-Lamberts application for an interim injunction and the Defendants application to strike out Warner-Lamberts case under s60(2). Arnold J held that the claim required subjective intention, on the part of the manufacturer, that pregabalin would be used in the treatment of pain at the point of manufacture and as a result there was no arguable case on infringement. Similarly, the absence of a downstream act of manufacture led Arnold J to strike out the s60(2) infringement claim.





obiter, his test of "reasonable foreseeability. The refusal of the interim injunction was upheld (as the Court was reluctant to interfere with Arnold Js assessment of the balance of convenience but the s60(2) strike out was overturned. Arnold J attempted to grapple with Floyd LJs test in the first instance decision on the merits of the case, but in doing so expressed serious doubts as to its correctness. Due to the uncertainty and notwithstanding the Court of Appeals finding that the patent was invalid, the Court of Appeal sought to clarify the position, albeit that the Courts comments are once again obiter. On appeal, Floyd LJ had disagreed with Arnold Js subjective intention approach and set out,, his test of "reasonable foreseeability. The refusal of the interim injunction was upheld (as the Court was reluctant to interfere with Arnold Js assessment of the balance of convenience but the s60(2) strike out was overturned. Arnold J attempted to grapple with Floyd LJs test in the first instance decision on the merits of the case, but in doing so expressed serious doubts as to its correctness. Due to the uncertainty and notwithstanding the Court of Appeals finding that the patent was invalid, the Court of Appeal sought to clarify the position, albeit that the Courts comments are once again





Stuart Baran reminded the audience that Swiss-Type claims were a fudge designed by the EPO to get around the methods of treatment exclusion from patentability that was present in the EPC at that time. As such, Stuart suggested that the focus should be on providing a logical and fair outcome rather than water-tight reasoning. The latter may not be feasible in light of the legal fiction of Swiss-type claims. Bearing in mind that the novelty in the claim derives from the new use of the known drug and has nothing to do with manufacture or preparation, Stuart emphasised that a fair and logical outcome would result in the patentee being rewarded for its investment in bringing a new treatment to patients and generic pharmaceutical companies being allowed to market the drug in question for the non-patented indications.





obiter comments from the Court of Appeal, the UK appears to be most closely aligned with the French approach. Stuart provided an overview of the approach in some other European jurisdictions to what constitutes an infringement of Swiss-type claims. The German Courts appear to have adopted the only packaging will do approach i.e. there must be some direction to the new use on the SmPC or PiL in order for there to be a finding of infringement. Other forms of encouragement will not suffice. In Spain, the Courts have required some positive encouragement on the part of the generic. Finally, in France the Courts have arguably adopted a more patentee friendly approach and require the Gx to take positive steps to prevent infringement. In light of thecomments from the Court of Appeal, the UK appears to be most closely aligned with the French approach.





some of the drug that it puts on the market will be so administered. The second mental element, i.e. that the drug will be intentionally administered is only intended to exclude accidental treatment i.e. where a patient is administered drug X for disease Y1 and unbeknown to the patient/physician, the patient is suffering from, and is treated for, disease Y2. Stuart then turned his attention to Floyd LJs test for infringement of Swiss-Type claims, that of whether the manufacturer knew or could reasonably foresee that the drug would intentionally be used for treating the new indication. Stuart pointed out that there had been some disagreement following Floyd LJs first articulation of this test, as to whether the manufacturer needed to foresee that a given box of tablets would be intentionally administered for the patented indication. This interpretation of the test had led Arnold J to a finding of non-infringement. However, Floyd LJ has now clarified that it is sufficient that the manufacturer foresees thatof the drug that it puts on the market will be so administered. The second mental element, i.e. that the drug will be intentionally administered is only intended to exclude accidental treatment i.e. where a patient is administered drug X for disease Y1 and unbeknown to the patient/physician, the patient is suffering from, and is treated for, disease Y2.









Alerting doctors/HAs/pharmacists in advance

Avoiding supply through certain channels

Avoiding oversupply vs. old indication market

Steps to update clinical software; and

Co-operating with NHS to issue guidance. Stuart then turned his attention to the question of indirect infringement pursuant to s60(2). As s60(2) requires the supply of means relating to an essential element of the invention , it is necessary to consider what the invention in a Swiss form claim is. Stuart highlighted that s125 of the Patents Act states that an invention shall, unless the context otherwise requires , be taken to be that specified in the claim. As such, notwithstanding the wording of the claim, it is clear that the invention in a Swiss form claim is ascribing the novel therapeutic purpose to the medicament. The invention has nothing to do with manufacture or preparation. This is a case where the context does otherwise require. By adopting this approach, the Court of Appeal were able to reach a finding that there was no requirement for a downstream act of manufacture and as such, the ascribing of purpose by, e.g. the pharmacist in applying a label to the product, was relevant to the question of infringement. Stuart pointed out that the presence of these two mental elements is not the end of the inquiry. The Court appears to have recognised that in circumstances where a generic pharmaceutical company has taken all reasonable steps to ensure that its drug is used only for the non-patented indication(s), it does not seem fair that it should be found to infringe by virtue of it being reasonably foreseeable that some of its drug will be used in the patented indication due to flaws in the regulatory system. As such, a generic can avoid a finding of infringement if it has taken all reasonable steps. Although it is unclear exactly what will constitute all reasonable steps and it is likely to depend in part on the circumstances of each case, Stuart suggested that the following steps should be considered:Stuart then turned his attention to the question of indirect infringement pursuant to s60(2). As s60(2) requires the supply of means relating to an essential element of, it is necessary to consider what the invention in a Swiss form claim is. Stuart highlighted that s125 of the Patents Act states that an invention shall,, be taken to be that specified in the claim. As such, notwithstanding the wording of the claim, it is clear that the invention in a Swiss form claim is ascribing the novel therapeutic purpose to the medicament. The invention has nothing to do with manufacture or preparation. This is a case where the context does otherwise require. By adopting this approach, the Court of Appeal were able to reach a finding that there was no requirement for a downstream act of manufacture and as such, the ascribing of purpose by, e.g. the pharmacist in applying a label to the product, was relevant to the question of infringement.





Stuart concluded by suggesting that relief provides the best opportunity for the Court to take the necessary steps to reach a fair outcome. For example, Stuart suggested that it was perfectly possible to analyse the market share data / % of use for a particular indication and award financial relief accordingly. However, there was some discussion about whether this was possible in light of the different financial models relating to generic and originator pharmaceutical products.





On the question of interim injunctions based on second medical use patents, Stuart suggested that it was difficult to envisage a scenario in which the grant of an interim injunction precluding the generic pharmaceutical company from marketing its product would be appropriate. However, in the event that an interim injunction is awarded, Stuart considered that it would be important for the English Courts to be more prescriptive as to the terms of the injunction than they had arguably been in the past. Stuart noted that other European Courts have adopted this approach to injunctions.





obiter comments in Warner-Lambert. In questions which followed the seminar, the panel considered the difference in the infringement analysis of Swiss type claims and post-EPC 2000 claims in light of Floyd LJs approach to the former. Notwithstanding that it is settled law that the former should be considered purpose-limited process claims and the latter purpose-limited product claims and as a result different sections of the Patents Act will be engaged, it was agreed that the analysis is likely to differ very little in practical terms, as the ascription of purpose will still amount to an infringing act, divided acts of infringement (i.e. where different entities carry out different parts of the claim) will still suffice and the reasonable foreseeability test imparted by the inclusion of the word for in the claim will still apply. It is plain that further case law will be required to crystallise Floyd LJscomments in Warner-Lambert.





The panel also agreed that an ideal solution would include regulatory law reform. However, despite the apparent agreement of the judiciary (see Arnold J at paras 722-726 of Warner-Lambert v Actavis [2015] EWHC 2548 (Pat)), it does not appear that such reform is imminently on the horizon."
The Heads of Delegation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries  Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov, Secretary of State of the United States John Kerry, and Foreign Minister of France Jean-Marc Ayrault - remain fully committed to a negotiated settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, heads of delegation said in a statement.

In light of the dramatic escalation in violence along the Line of Contact in April, we express concern over continuing armed incidents, including reports on the use of heavy weapons, and strongly condemn the use of force or the threat of the use of force. There is no military solution to this conflict and no justification for the death and injury of civilians. We are also aware of allegations of atrocities committed on the field of battle in April, which we condemn in the strongest terms. We appeal to the sides to confirm their commitment to the peaceful resolution of the conflict as the only way to bring real reconciliation to the peoples of the region. We also urge them to adhere strictly to the 1994/95 ceasefire agreements that make up the foundation of the cessation of hostilities in the conflict zone.

We call on Baku and Yerevan to honor the agreements reflected in the Joint Statements of the 16 May Summit in Vienna and the 20 June Summit in St. Petersburg. We welcome the sides progress in implementing the exchange of data on missing persons under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross. We urge the parties to remove all remaining obstacles to expanding the mission of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and to make progress on a proposal to establish an OSCE investigative mechanism. The proposals should be implemented together with the immediate resumption of negotiations on a settlement. We would like to reiterate our call to the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to demonstrate flexibility and to return to the negotiation table with the firm aim of moving toward a sustainable peace on the basis of the current working proposals. Unless progress can be made on negotiations, the prospects for renewed violence will only increase, and the parties will bear full responsibility.

We remind the sides that the settlement must be based on the core principles of the Helsinki Final Act, namely: non-use of force, territorial integrity, and the equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and additional elements as proposed by the Presidents of the Co-Chair countries, including return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control; an interim status for Nagorno-Karabakh providing guarantees for security and self-governance; a corridor linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh; future determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh through a legally binding expression of will; the right of all internally displaced persons and refugees to return to their former places of residence; and international security guarantees that would include a peacekeeping operation. Our countries will continue to work closely with the sides, and we call upon them to make full use of the assistance of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs as mediators.

The Co-Chair countries are prepared to host a meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan when they are ready. We firmly believe that the Presidents need to engage in negotiations in good faith at the earliest opportunity. Continuous and direct dialogue between the Presidents, conducted under the auspices of the Co-Chairs, remains an essential element in building confidence and moving the peace process forward.
STEPANAKERT.  The Ombudsman of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic published the second interim report on atrocities committed by Azerbaijan during the April war.

The Azerbaijani armed forces committed war crimes of torture, execution, and mutilation. The war crimes had a systemic and well-organized nature, as they were committed in all three areas by all the regiments of the Azerbaijani armed forces that established control over the NKR civilians or Nagorno-Karabkah Defense Army (NKDA) servicemen on April 2, 2016.

The report says none of the 3 civilians and, presumably, the 4 combatants hors de combats survived the control of the Azerbaijani armed forces. Their murders seem to be executions merely for being Armenian.

27 out of the 31 NKR civilians and NKDA servicemen (about 90%), who fell under control of the Azerbaijani armed forces as a result of the Azerbaijani military aggression against NKR, were tortured, executed, or mutilated.

All the NKR civilians under Azerbaijani control were executed and mutilated. One of them, a 92 year old woman, was also tortured. Three NKDA servicemen were beheaded. Two of them were beheaded postmortem, and one was executed by ISIS-style decapitation, the report says.

The most widespread war crime was mutilation, including 21 cases of ear cuts-offs. There were 5 cases of torture (including hands cut off, and throats cut). There were 7 cases of execution, mostly by gun-shots. Under the IHL, Azerbaijan bears State Responsibility for the war crimes of its armed forces, and has an obligation to investigate and properly prosecute the perpetrators and others who bear responsibility. The perpetrators and their commanders are also individually responsible.
IS Reports on Clashes in Philippines in Naba 58, Russian Furniture Factory Fire an Act of Arson by One of its Soldiers




1. The basis for stipulating the criteria for determination of a well-known mark is not clear. The Trademarks Registry should have clearly spelled out that criteria laid down in Sections 2 (1) (zg) 11 (6) and (7) and 11(9) of the Act will apply.



2. It is not apparent whether determination by the Registrar is required if the mark has already been recognized as well-known mark by a Court/Intellectual Property Appellate Board/Registrar in a contentious proceeding.



3. As there is already a list of well-known marks published by the Trademarks Registry, it is not clear whether a new list shall be created or the existing list updated.



4. The fees, 100,000 Rupees for e-filing (approximately US$ 1455), and even more for physical filing, are unreasonable and without justification.



5. To safeguard rights of an aggrieved person, a procedure for publication and opposition/intervention against a determination that a trademark as well-known should be provided.

The role of recordation of well-known marks varies across jurisdictions. Against that backdrop, the step about to be taken by the Trade Marks Registry in India in connection with recording well-known marks is especially noteworthy. Kat friend Ranjan Narula, of RNA Intellectual Property Attorneys , describes what can be expected to shortly take place."Indian trademark law recognises well-known marks and it has adopted the criteria set out in Article 6 of the TRIPS agreement to determine if a mark is well-known.However, the Trade Marks Act, 1999, had no specific provision to seek a formal declaration from the Trade Marks Registry regarding the well-known status of a mark. Since 2003, the Indian Trade Marks Registry has produced a list of marks that the courts have considered to be well-known, such as PHILIPS, INTEL, PEPSI, HONDA, OMEGA, MARS, HORLICKS, TATA, WOOLWORTH, TOSHIBA, SONY and CARREFOUR. The list is growing and currently has 81 marks. Brand owners have time and again pointed out that relying solely on a court ruling holding that a mark is well-known is a narrow interpretation of the criteria set out in section 2 (1) (zg) and Sections 11 (6), (7), and (9) of the Trade Marks Act. Thus, many brands may be unable to make it to the coveted list if they do not have a court ruling in their favour, even though the mark may otherwise be well-known. Amazon is one such example that does not appear in this list.To address the concerns of brand owners, the Trade Marks Registry has proposed an amendment to the current Trade Mark Rules, 2002, to provide a specific reference to a declaration to record a mark as well-known. As s result, as per the proposed amendment, a rights holder will be able to make a request to the Registrar of Trade Marks to determine a trade mark to be a well-known mark. Such a request shall be accompanied by a statement of case.In addition, the applicant shall be required to file relevant evidence and documents in support of such a claim, which may include evidence of use and promotional documents. The Registrar may fix criteria in this regard. It is apparent that the proposed amendment confers significant discretionary powers on the Registrar in determining whether a mark is well-known, based on the adduced evidence by the Applicant along with the statement of case. The provision also empowers the Registrar to remove a trademark that has been erroneously or inadvertently included in the list.The trade marks Registry intends to charge hefty fees, as set out below, for an application for requesting inclusion of a mark in the list of well-known trademarks.INR 100,000; USD $1455 (approximate)INR 110,000; USD $1600 (approximate)The new Rules are likely to come into force as early as next week. Still, the new Rules open certain matters, as various practitioners and brand owners have pointed out. Some of the concerns expressed by stakeholders are:However, despite these issues, the Trademarks Registry is likely to proceed with the new Rules as currently set out."A list of the recordals on the Trade Marks Registry, here
An unprecedented number of Electoral College members may break with their states' popular vote results when casting their votes on Dec. 19. Though it's unlikely they will alter the results of the 2016 election, it could have a ripple effect in state and Constitutional law.

Several electors have already indicated they plan to dissent from their states' votes as part of a last-ditch effort to prevent Donald Trump from reaching the 270 electoral votes necessary to claim the presidency.

Texas Republican elector Christopher Suprun in a New York Times op-ed piece declared his intention to cast what is called a "faithless" vote, calling for electors to unify behind a Republican alternative. In Colorado, two Democratic electors filed a lawsuit challenging state laws that require them to vote for the winner of the state's popular vote in hopes of freeing up electors nationwide to become unbound. P. Bret Chiafalo of Washington and Michael Baca of Colorado have launched the "Hamilton Electors," a group inspired by Alexander Hamilton's explanation of the Electoral College, in an effort to stop Trump.

"Donald Trump is unfit for the presidency and that doesn't come just from my personal judgement, it comes from conversations that I've had with Republicans, Independents, Democrats," said Robert Nemanich, one of the Colorado electors suing, in an interview with local Fox 21 News.

To keep Trump from reaching the 270 electoral votes necessary to become president, at least 37 electors would have to defect. That would throw the election to the House of Representatives. While the Republican-controlled body could nonetheless elect Trump, the rogue electors hope they would support another GOP candidate instead -- Ohio Governor John Kasich, Arizona Senator John McCain or former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, for example.

Kasich on Tuesday put out a statement on the push, asking electors not to vote for him.

"The president elect won a pretty decisive victory last month," said Trump spokesman Jason Miller when asked about the potential rogue electors on a call with the press on Thursday, adding that Trump's numbers have "continued to move up" since his election, presumably referring to opinion polls.

He said that regardless of the "side talk," whether Jill Stein's "recount shenanigans" or the electoral college defections, "the voters have spoken, and we think that folks will do what the voters have asked them to do, but it's not something that we're particularly concerned about."

Twenty-nine states have laws that enable state parties to extract oaths from their electors, and a handful of states criminalize faithless electors. There is no federal law requiring electors to vote in accordance with the results of the popular votes in their states.

"That issue remains unsettled as a matter of federal law," said Ned Foley, director of Election Law at Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law.

The 1952 Supreme Court case Ray v. Blair ruled that it is constitutional for states to require pledges from electors, but it did not address whether electors have to actually vote for their pledged candidate. Most legal scholars agree they don't.

"Most constitutional law scholars believe that these laws that forbid faithless electors or criminalize faithless electors are probably not constitutionally permissible or wouldn't pass constitutional muster," said Robert Alexander, a professor of political science at Ohio Northern University and expert in the Electoral College. "An elector is ultimately an officer of the Constitution."

Faithless electors have appeared before. In 2004, for example, an anonymous Minnesota elector cast his or her presidential vote for John Edwards (misspelled as "John Ewards"), Democratic candidate John Kerry's vice-presidential pick, presumably by accident.

Electors voting faithlessly en masse is extremely rare.

The last time it happened was in 1836, when nearly two dozen electors refused to vote for Martin Van Buren's vice presidential running mate, Richard Mentor Johnson, because of his relationship with an African American woman. The maneuver tossed the vice-presidential vote to the Senate, which ultimately elected Johnson anyway.

"We've had faithless electors in nine of the last 17 elections, but the idea of multiple defections, we have not seen that in years," said Alexander.

While 2016's rogue electors are unlikely to be successful in their bid to affect the results of the election, their push could result in more states enacting laws to bind or criminalize faithless votes.

The Uniform Law Commission, a nonprofit association that provides and promotes uniform legislation for states and jurisdictions, has put forth the Uniform Faithful Presidential Electors Act. The act allows for the extraction of a state-administered pledge of faithfulness, and if an elector acts in violation of that pledge, he or she is immediately removed and replaced.

Minnesota, Nebraska, Montana and Nevada have enacted the legislation, and if many electors act faithlessly this year, there could be more.

"I wouldn't be surprised at all if after this year a number of other state legislatures take another look at that uniform law and the problem of faithless electors," said Foley.

More states enacting such laws could potentially push the issue to the courts, which could ultimately lead to a court decision as to whether electors are constitutionally bound to cast their votes a certain way. If the courts were to rule that electors are independent, as most legal scholars expect, it could free up electors permanently to cast votes as they please.

"That's part of what the Colorado electors are doing is they're testing the water on this independence argument," said Alexander.

"My personal belief and judgement is that Donald Trump is so dangerous to the representative form of government, regardless, that him in office is more dangerous than the mechanisms that would be put in play to stop him from office," said Nemanich.

Even if electors are legally independent, political calculation may keep them from breaking with their states' votes anyway. Simply put: they don't want to risk their own political futures by going rogue.

"That's probably more important than any law forbidding a faithless elector, their own standing in the party," said Alexander.
In 2017 Your Business Website Should Wear an S

The number of cyber-attacks organizations come under every day is staggering  and growing every year. Attackers are always evolving and becoming more sophisticated. Yet they still rely on many of the same tactics theyve been using for years to trick people into visiting fake web sites, or slip past companies security systems. The

Certificate Authority Security Council (CASC), an advocacy group committed to the advancement of web security, is leading the effort to protect both your customers and your brand reputation by requiring visitors to your web site to add an s to the http in their browsers address bars. Sounds simple, but behind that letter s are advanced security technologies and best practices that ensure your customers interactions with you are secure.

The Threat Landscape

As we head into the busy holiday shopping and travel season, protecting your customers information has never been more challenging in the face of the sheer number of attacks on organizations of all sizes and across all industries.

Successful attacks against large multinational enterprises and government agencies make news headlines. But small businesses are prime targets too.

71 percent of cyber-attacks are aimed at businesses with fewer than 100 employees, according to a report by the U.S. House Select Committee for Small Businesses. Thats why the Committee recently advanced the Improving Small Business Cyber Security Act of 2016, which now awaits the Senates consideration. The bill amends the Small Business Act to authorize the Small Business Administration (SBA) to make grants to small business development centers (SBDCs) to help businesses harden their security postures.

The SBAs Top 10 Cybersecurity Tips for small businesses includes recommending that businesses protect all pages on their public-facing websites, not just the checkout and sign-up pages. Its great advice for any size organization, and its why CASC advocates for the adoption of digital certificate best practices and the proper issuance and use of digital certificates by Certificate Authorities (CAs), browsers (i.e., Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge), and other interested parties.

Add the S

The four letters, http, are known to technical and non-technical users alike as the beginning of any web address. Thats about to change, and soon you wont be able to go to many popular web sites without using https. This indicates that a web page uses the security protocol known as TLS (formerly known as SSL) to indicate that encryption is in place between the server and the users browser.

The adoption effort is well underway. Some of the biggest names on the Internet have already adopted HTTPS, including Facebook, Twitter and Netflix. Google announced more than a year ago that its adoption of what it calls HTTPS Everywhere will have a positive impact on search rankings. There are other business benefits. Google encourages site owners and their website managers to adopt https to gain a competitive advantage in search engine rankings.

As a small business owner, you and your website manager  whether that person is on-staff or you partner with a third party  should be aware of the six key ways this will affect your customers experiences and interactions with your site:

1. Clear, visible warnings: Web browsers will use visual cues to alert users of non-https connections. For example, Google Chrome will highlight insecure pages with red X in the address bar. They will also warn if an insecure page asks for a password or credit card by showing the words Not Secure. Firefox plans a similar warning for sites requesting passwords. In the future, both will transition from an information warning to a red triangle which is more noticeable.

2. Access to powerful features: Chrome will only be available over https. Services like Geolocation, Device Motion/Orientation, Full screen mode, DRM and more are strictly limited to https connections. Websites that need these features will have to implement SSL/TLS to utilize them.

3. Better, stronger, faster: http2 will replace the long-time standard http. Its much faster, which enables a more enjoyable and efficient user experience, while also strengthening the users and companys security postures. This is supported by Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari and Opera, and http2 will require https. So as websites migrate to the speedier http2, they must use SSL/TLS.

4. Leveraging referrer data: Website managers strive to draw visitors from other sites via referrals. Moving forward, seeking referrer data from other sites will require the use of https. Without https, the destination sites wont know who is coming to their site.

5. New-look Gmail: Users of Googles popular email client will immediately know if a new message is secure or not. If the intermediary email servers do not all use SSL/TLS encryption, that message will include the image of an open padlock. Alternately, a message that does use SSL/TLS will include the details of the types of encryption that all of servers it originated from and passed through use.

6. Everywhere you look: Many sites have already made the transition to https, including Googles BlogSpot and Analytics, Reddit, Flickr, Wikimedia, WordPress, Bitly and Shopify. The U.S. Government requires all sites under the .gov domain must be https by the end of this year.

HTTPS is one of many recent advances in both the strength and adoption of SSL/TLS certificates. The major browsers are also changing their security indicatorsthe colors and symbols used in the address bar to indicate to visitors how safe a site isto make it clear when an SSL/TLS-secured web page includes unsecured content that is vulnerable to man-in-the-middle tampering. In other words, this will make it clearer when a site fails to achieve always-on encryption and the danger this poses. This is just one example of the drive to offer added reassurance to websites visitors and online shoppers.

What Can You Do?

You also play a critical role in thwarting cyber-attacks and protecting your customers sensitive information. Symantec reports that cybercriminals continue to take advantage of vulnerabilities in legitimate websites to infect users, because website administrators fail to secure their websites. More than 75 percent of all legitimate websites have unpatched vulnerabilities. Fifteen percent of legitimate websites have vulnerabilities deemed critical, which means it takes trivial effort for cybercriminals to gain access and manipulate these sites for their own purposes.

You can also work to advance the education on effective website security to all parties involved software vendors, web server administrators, even your customers. They can all contribute by getting developing an understanding of the threats and how to thwart them, and work together to place a high priority on security. Thats why the CASC works actively with browsers, relying parties and other stakeholders to enhance internet security through practical, thoughtful measures and collaborative research.

About the Author

Dean Coclin is Senior Director, Business Development, at Symantec and a member of the CA Security Council.



Other Point of Sale news of interest:

Photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons: https://flic.kr/p/qi1eYu
Thanx Secures $17.1M Series B to Bring Big Data to Retail Merchants

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/  Thanx, which empowers merchants to grow their business through deeper customer loyalty, today announced a $17.1M Series B financing led by Icon Ventures and Series A investor Sequoia Capital, with participation from Javelin Venture Partners. Thanx will use the capital to grow its sales and engineering teams and deliver its personalization and retention tools to national retailers.

Unique in the retail IT market, Thanx eliminates the technical burden of hardware or on-site integrations which have previously made it difficult for brick-and-mortar merchants to access and act on customer purchase data. Through direct data partnerships with Visa, Mastercard and American Express, Thanx delivers world-class retention marketing and engagement campaigns with demonstrable return on investment as high as 4000%. Thanx now also ingests item-level purchase data from almost any point-of-sale. Currently in pilot, the enhancement will be rolled out to enterprise customers throughout 2017.

The top quartile of customers often drive as much as 70 percent of a merchants revenue. Identifying, engaging and retaining these loyalists is fundamental to growth, said Zach Goldstein, Founder and CEO of Thanx. Thanx is, on the one hand, the easiest way to acquire this data. On the other hand, its a robust suite of automated, revenue-generating marketing tools that act on that data.
In that device, Mr Wullems provides, inseparably, the necessary hardware and software which are aimed directly at enabling purchasers to access copyright-protected works on the internet without the consent of right holders. Provision of that immediate access to an unspecified public is part of the added value of the service supplied by Mr Wullems, for which he receives the price paid  or at least a substantial part thereof  in return for the mediaplayer ... [T]here is no significant difference between posting hyperlinks to protected works on a website and, as in the present case, installing hyperlinks in a multimedia device designed specifically for use with the internet (in particular, so that, through it, users are able to access straightforwardly, directly and immediately, digital content made available without the consent of the authors). The provision of links to that protected content, the making available of that content to the public, is a feature common to both types of conduct, and its apparently incidental or ancillary nature cannot conceal the fact that the activities concerned are aimed at ensuring that anyone may, merely by clicking on the hyperlink, enjoy the protected works."

"Marketing of thegoes beyond the mere sale of a technical accessory ...
News

With EU Approval, Path Cleared for Microsoft-LinkedIn Deal

UPDATE, 12/8: Microsoft announced that it has officially closed its acquisition of LinkedIn. The original story follows.

Microsoft's planned $26 billion acquisition of enterprise social networking site LinkedIn has cleared its final regulatory hurdle.

The deal received approval from the European Union on Tuesday, Microsoft announced, clearing the way for it to be finalized in the next few days.

The approval is a blow to the acquisition's objectors, notably Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff, who filed objections with both U.S. and EU regulators. Benioff, whose own attempt to acquire LinkedIn was outbid by Microsoft, raised concerns that Microsoft would lock out rival social networking services using its large Office and Windows market share.

Before clearing the deal, the European Union last month sought some concessions from Microsoft, which had reportedly offered compromises. Microsoft President Brad Smith outlined the key commitments the company will maintain for at least five years, including:

Continuing to make its Office add-in program available to third-party professional social networking providers, which will let developers integrate those services into Outlook, Word, PowerPoint and Excel.





Maintaining programs that allow third-party social networking providers to promote their services in the Office Store.





Allowing IT pros, admins and users to customize their Office configurations by letting them choose whether to display LinkedIn profile and activity information in the user interface when Microsoft provides those future integrations, as is anticipated.





Ensuring that PC manufacturers aren't required to install new LinkedIn apps or tiles in the European Economic Area (EEA). Likewise, Microsoft is promising not to hinder users from uninstalling the apps and tiles. Microsoft also said it won't use Windows itself to prompt users to install a LinkedIn app, though it'll remain in the Windows Store and customers may be prompted in other ways to use it.

In the EEA, Smith also said that Microsoft has agreed not to form agreements with PC makers to preinstall LinkedIn exclusively, thereby blocking competitors.

"We appreciated the opportunity to talk through these and other details in a creative and constructive way with the European Commission," Smith noted in Microsoft's announcement.

With the deal having cleared approval in Europe, Smith said Microsoft is ready to move forward.

"Microsoft and LinkedIn together have a bigger opportunity to help people online to develop and earn credentials for new skills, identify and pursue new jobs and become more creative and productive as they work with their colleagues," Smith noted. "Working together we can do more to serve not only those with college degrees, but the many people pursuing new experiences, skills and credentials related to vocational training and so-called middle skills. Our ambition is to do our part to create more opportunity for people who haven't shared in recent economic growth."
Windows Insider

Why Is Apple Letting Microsoft's Surface Kill the Mac?

More than ever, Microsoft is in a position with its hybrid PC to challenge Apple in the space of innovation.

If you're a professional whose job takes you out of the office frequently, chances are the short list for your next PC will include a MacBook Pro and a Microsoft Surface.

After stumbling badly out of the gate with the original Surface RT in 2012, Microsoft has recovered to win excellent reviews with its Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book. Meanwhile, Apple continues to sell roughly 20 million Macs a year, most of them in the MacBook family. The result is an unlikely head-to-head competition for the only slice of the PC market that is both growing and profitable.

Even more improbably, Microsoft now finds itself being hailed as the innovator in modern PC design, with Apple hearing loud criticism for its outdated devices and timid technology decisions.

Have we fallen through the looking glass? Not exactly. But the tale of these two product lines says a lot about what both companies think of the future of computing, with two very different approaches to the convergence of traditional PCs and mobile devices.

As far as Apple is concerned, the PC of the future will be a descendant of the iPad Pro, with a screen large enough to handle side-by-side documents.

The Mac, on the other hand, is a legacy device, as far as Apple is concerned. The biggest tell? Six years after the debut of the iPad and four years after PCs began shipping with touchscreens, Apple adamantly refuses to add touch capabilities to the MacBook line.

That design decision is not just stubbornness. Rather, it's a deliberate decision that Cupertino made after watching Microsoft's Windows 8 woes. Apple's Phil Schiller admitted as much in an interview with British newspaper The Independent in October: "If you made the Mac a touchscreen you'd have to figure out how to make it a good experience with your finger on a touchscreen. Trust me, we've looked at that -- it's a bad experience. It's not as good or as intuitive as with a mouse and trackpad."

The new MacBook Pros get a second touch surface (the Touchbar), but when it comes to the main display, you can look but not touch.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has gone all in with touchscreens. More important, it has built Windows 10 to support what insiders refer to as One Core. The same core Windows code runs on every version of Windows: desktops, notebooks, ARM-based tablets and phones (yes, Windows phones still exist), the Xbox One console, and an unfathomable number of Internet of Things devices. Those devices have a large number of common APIs, as well, which makes Universal Windows Platform apps possible.

The reengineering work that went into One Core took years, but the first step is now complete. As a result, Microsoft can ship updates to all of those Windows 10 platforms simultaneously and support some decidedly nontraditional form factors.

In short, Microsoft's approach to convergence starts with its classic PC hardware and software, adding new capabilities to the OS to support new devices and services. Apple's approach is to put its version of the classic PC on a glide path to obsolescence and concentrate on beefing up its newest platform, the iPad Pro.

So, where should you place your bets? Well, Apple has done a spectacular job of encouraging developers to write apps for iOS. In fact, one of the most prolific developers of them all is Microsoft, which has dozens of professional apps in the Apple store, including the heavyweights in the Office family -- Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Microsoft has a compelling developer story on paper. Write one app and then make a few small changes to different devices? That approach sounds great, except for the fact that Windows has only a meager share of the market for mobile devices.

Increasingly, I'm convinced that there's room for both iOS and Windows, with devices defined more by screen size and connectivity than by which OS they happen to run. In a world where online services define work, the platform itself is a matter of personal preference. Where that leaves the Mac, however, isn't so clear.
It was the middle of the night when the villagers sounded the alarm: a huge Sumatran elephant was raiding their rice fields, and they needed urgent help to drive it back to the forest. Dodot -- a veteran Indonesian elephant keeper trained to handle such emergencies -- rushed to the scene, fearing villagers would take matters into their own hands if he didn't get there in time. "It was the king," Dodot said of the hungry bull male that had strayed from the forest in southeast Sumatra in search of food. "He's not afraid of humans, or weapons. He owns the territory." It was the third such intrusion in a month. Confrontations between elephants and humans can quickly turn violent in Sumatra, where competition for space has intensified as the islands forests have been rapidly cleared for timber and farming. Nearly 70 percent of the Sumatran elephants habitat has been destroyed in a single generation, says conservation group WWF, driving them into ever-closer contact with humans. Villagers have been trampled and killed by stampeding herds, but it's the elephants that have suffered most as their habitats have shrunk. In 25 years, half of Sumatras wild elephants have been wiped out. The species was upgraded to critically endangered in 2012, with experts blaming the twin drivers of deforestation and conflict with humans. Ivory poachers have long hunted bulls for their tusks but many elephants are killed simply for trespassing on land. This month an elephant was found dead near a palm oil plantation in the island's northeast. Authorities believe it accidentally ingested fertiliser but an investigation is continuing, the local conservation head told AFP. - Elephant patrols - Keeping the peace between elephants and humans is a round-the-clock job for rangers like Dodot, who like many Indonesians goes by just one name. He's assigned to one of three specialist elephant response units strategically located at hotspots around Way Kambas National Park, where human settlements border a tranche of lowland forest home to an estimated 250 wild Sumatran elephants. At the Margahayu station half a dozen rangers man their remote forest camp year round, rotating four days on, two days off. They cook their own food, maintain canals and fences and, most importantly, patrol the borders with a squad of six captive elephants under their command. These elephants are vital to the team's success. Atop patrol elephants, rangers can keep track of the wild, nomadic herds as they roam the 1,300 square kilometres of dense forest. The patrol elephants -- trained by the keepers, or mahouts, who live alongside them -- are skilled at picking up the trail of their wild kin, said Eko Arianto, a forest policeman posted with the Margahayu response unit. "When we spot wild elephants we inform the community, and our teams on the outside, to be on the lookout," he told AFP. "That way they can be ready to turn them back." It doesn't always go to plan. Villagers killed an elephant in 2012, Arianto said, while angry farmers have been known to use fire, poison and beehives to drive away intruders. Dominant males are solitary and harder for the rangers to track, emerging suddenly from the forest to raid fields before "vanishing" for weeks on end, Arianto said. A single incident can strain hard-earned trust between rangers and local communities, who view elephants as a threat to their livelihoods and blame park authorities when they run amok. - Building trust - The response units recruit locals to thaw suspicion and foster a sense of joint responsibility for the future of the iconic species. "We are striving to find ways people can coexist with the elephants," Arianto said. "If the community feels involved, then they will help protect them. These elephants not only belong to us, but to everyone." Their diplomacy has paid off. Rangers estimate the frequency of clashes has dropped up to 80 percent since they began patrolling the area in 2015. Farmers -- once so fearful of rampaging elephants they slept in their fields at night -- were now reporting their first undisturbed harvests in years, Dodot said. "Before we were here they were constantly on guard. Now they stay at home to sleep," he told AFP. The patrols also locate and disable traps laid by poachers, disrupting lucrative criminal networks trading in exotic species. It's a dangerous business. Last year, a beloved patrol elephant from a separate Sumatran unit was found dead at his station, his tusks hacked off. But those on the frontline aren't deterred. There's plans to expand patrols next year to a fourth outpost at a trouble-prone section of Way Kambas, Arianto said, and talk of acquiring a drone for aerial tracking. Junaidi, a 23-year-old trainee ranger, uses GPS technology to map the position of wild herds, but in the jungle relies on traditional skills passed down by experienced mahouts. Following dung trails and crushed vegetation, the young recruit wanders deeper into the forest until spotting three elephants, almost camouflaged in the undergrowth, grazing silently. "If the next generation doesnt care for them, what does their future hold? Junaidi said.
Students in Tabriz gathered in front of the university, while intelligence and plain-clothes agents of the regime made their presence known. They chanted, Our last message to the incompetent regime: the freedom-loving nation is ready to rise up!

Students in Zahedan in a ceremony held on December 5, chanted, Student dies, but does not accept humiliation and political prisoner must be freed. State officials pre-vented free entry of the students in an effort to stop the formation of student protests.

Students of Tehran Tarbiat Modarres University repeatedly interrupted the speech of President Rouhanis head of the Department of Environment, Masoumeh Ebtekar, and chanted, Political prisoner must be freed. In protest at the catastrophic situation of air pollution in various cities, the students presented oxygen cylinder to Masoumeh Ebtekar.

In Tehran, students of Khajeh Nasir University wrote on large banners that were in-stalled on the walls of the amphitheater.
AFP News

Denmark's left-wing Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Wednesday kicked off the process of forming a new, broader government one day after scoring a narrow election victory. The Social Democrats, the largest party in parliament with 50 of 179 seats and accustomed to leading minority governments, now want to govern across the political divide after Frederiksen secured their best election win since 2001. "It will be very, very difficult. We don't know if it will be possible, but we will try our utmost", she told a party debate on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, the prime minister formally presented the resignation of her outgoing government to Queen Margrethe. The leaders of Denmark's 11 other parties in parliament were each meeting the queen individually on Wednesday before the monarch formally tasks Frederiksen with trying to form a new government. Frederiksen will then "enter into negotiations to form a broader government and that will probably take a while," political scientist Rune Stubager, a professor at Aarhus University, told AFP. Her left-wing bloc, which includes five parties plus three seats from the autonomous territories Greenland and the Faroe Islands, won a majority of 90 seats, compared to 73 for the right and far-right, and 16 for the centre. It was the Social Democrats' best election outcome in two decades, gaining two seats and securing over 27 percent of the vote, and allows Frederiksen to enter negotiations from a position of strength. Frederiksen's photo-finish win scuppered hopes of former two-time prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, who founded a new Moderates party just months earlier, of becoming kingmaker in the new administration. - Broken dreams - The Moderates won more than nine percent of votes and Lokke Rasmussen insisted he wanted to be "the bridge" between the left and right, but daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten concluded that "in theory, Mette can do without Lars Lokke". While the Moderates will be part of negotiations, Stubager expressed doubt that they would be willing to "compromise sufficiently" to secure posts in the cabinet. A "more realistic" plan for Frederiksen would be a coalition government with various parties on the left, he said. While Frederiksen's government was largely hailed for handling the Covid-19 pandemic, the election was triggered by the country's so-called mink crisis. The affair erupted after the government decided in November 2020 to cull the country's 15 million minks over fears of a mutated strain of the novel coronavirus. The decision turned out to be illegal, and the Social Liberal party propping up Frederiksen's minority government threatened to topple it unless she called early elections to regain voters' confidence. The Social Liberals paid a price for the gamble, losing nine of their 16 seats and on Wednesday their party leader resigned. - 'Zero refugees' - To rule, the Social Democrats will still need to depend on support from the Social Liberals, which has made clear it will not support another minority one-party government. Broad consensus for Denmark's restrictive migration policy left the issue largely absent from the election campaign, but it could resurge in government negotiations. Advocating a "zero refugee" policy, the outgoing government had worked on setting up a centre to house asylum seekers in Rwanda while their applications are processed. The Social Liberals oppose the plan. "It will be very difficult for the Social Democrats to turn soft or to the left on immigration, because that has been a very pivotal point in their strategy over the past five, six years," Stubager said. "To give up on that would have dramatic consequences for them." The far-right has heavily influenced Danish politics in recent decades, but three populist parties together won just 14.4 percent of votes and are not expected to play a key role in the upcoming negotiations. The anti-immigration Danish People's Party, which hovered above 20 percent a few years ago, fell to 2.6 percent, its worst result since entering parliament in 1998. A new party founded by former immigration minister Inger Stojberg, the Denmark Democrats, instead won 8.1 percent, on a platform of less centralisation, less influence from Europe and fewer immigrants. cbw-jll/po/jm
Check out the trailer below for a taste of Gritty,a Norwich scene video featuring Chris Yeomans, Ross Barber, Rob Salmon, Michael Casey, Rob Dempsey and Ben Rowley which premieres tonight at Alley Cafe Bar/Moosey Art Gallery in Norwich (showing at 7ish).

Proper scene vibes, random lurkers and hidden East Anglian spot gems, exactly what you want from a scene production! Big up Partridge-land shredders, get down from 7pm to see the full length
Robert Gilpin, R.I.P. - The Washington Post : His greatest book was written in 1981, but the main theory in it is perhaps more trenchant now...
Transportation

New Zonar Phone App Allows Arkansas Parents to Track Children on Buses

A new cellphone app allows parents in the Texarkana Arkansas School District to track their children on buses in real time.

Last week, representatives from Velociti, a Missouri-based tech deployment company, installed the Zonar tracking system on 32 Texarkana buses. The devices tell parents when buses pick up and drop off their children, and also allow school officials to set bus routes and monitor them for fuel efficiency.

We will know where every child is thats on our buses, transportation coordinator Larry Anderson told the Texarkana Gazette. We will know when we pick them up, when we let them off, where they got off  just keep everybody safe so we know whos where.

Students will each be issued a key card, which they can scan when getting on the bus. That enters them into the system, which will also track the bus route via GPS.

The district purchased the system in September at a cost of $28,656.31 for the first year, and $20,549.63 annually for the next three years, according to the Texarkana Gazette. It works in coordination with the Transfinder system, which was put in place last year.

Genia Bullock, the districts public relations coordinator, said there are three components to the system: Route Finder, Info Finder and Bus Finder. Route Finder allows the school to set the route and monitor the route for efficiency in fuel and time. Info Finder allows parents and administrators to see via a website where students can catch a bus, and what times the bus will be there. Bus Finder connects directly to the Zonar system, and this is the portion parents can see on the app. Parents will be able to see where their student is and track how far they are from a bus stop. Those using the app will only get information for their student.

The system is expected to fully start in January.
Tutorial

Breaking Your Filter Bubble

When we browse online, we are tracked by a range of companies. Some of this tracking occurs so that site owners understand how users interact with their sites. Other forms of tracking take a closer look at our interactions and online behavior.

With more people accessing their news via social media, the public is starting to understand that filters affect which news they see and the implications tracking has for privacy.

Personalization, Bias and Bubbles

If we have Gmail accounts (personal, work or both) and we use Google for web searches, we usually search while logged into Google. This gives Google a very complete view of what we search for, which allows "personalized" searches of what Google thinks we want to see. (If you want to see a small subset of what Google knows about you, visit https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity when logged into a Google account.)

"Personalization" ensures two people searching for the same topic won't get the same results. However, when results are invisibly tailored "for" us, bias can appear. There have also been substantial charges that Google has abused its position as a search-engine leader.

All social media services, from Facebook to Twitter to Pinterest to LinkedIn, track our online activity. By this point, most of us are blind to the ubiquitous social media buttons that sprout like weeds online. But these sharing icons are a visual indicator that not only can users share their posts on social media sites, these sites are also tracking our paths across the web and recording which sites we visit.

The same mechanisms that target ads to us also target search and news to us, and this can create what some people call a filter bubble. In very general terms, a filter bubble occurs when we are only presented with information, news and perspectives with which we are likely to agree or that confirm our preconceived notions. Filter bubbles ensure that we stay comfortable and have limited opportunities to interact with people and ideas with whom we disagree.

When using social media, taking quizzes can expose huge amounts of personal data to trackers. In some cases, the companies behind the quizzes use the data to compile personality profiles that are used in political campaigns. Even seemingly simple things like hitting a "like" button or responding via emoji can allow for fairly precise tracking. Fortunately, avoiding this form of tracking is simple: Stop taking the quizzes, and stop using emoji-based reactions.

Sites where people create accounts also use and allow a range of third-party trackers that monitor our activity. To get a sense of which trackers are placed on a site, use Lightbeam, a Firefox-only add-on that allows you to create a list and a visualization of trackers that are placed by sites.

How to Minimize Tracking

Third-party tracking is pervasive online. Several thousand tracking companies quietly collect information about users who are never told what information is being gathered and why. Data collected by third-party trackers are often sold to data brokers, who combine data from multiple sources (a process known as "data enhancement" or "data recombination") and then sell access to that data.

Some news sites, like the Huffington Post, place upward of 100 trackers on our computers or smartphones when we visit. Trackers can also get information based on our searches; in some cases, this can lead to sensitive information  like searches for health information  getting shared with data brokers.

Fortunately, we can use tools to help protect us from tracking by advertisers, politicians and other undisclosed parties who use personal information without notification or our informed consent. At the same time, we can disrupt filter bubbles and gain a level of privacy protection.

To block trackers and other services that collect and use our information without notification or consent, use two browser add-ons: Privacy Badger and uBlock Origin. Privacy Badger does a good job of picking up most third-party trackers, while uBlock Origin sometimes catches trackers that Privacy Badger might miss. Both browser extensions have versions for Chrome and Firefox.

When you're finished on a social media site, logout and clear your cookies, cache and browsing history. In fact, clearing your cookies, cache and history regularly minimizes the amount of data available to be used by trackers (see these instructions for Chrome and Firefox).

Firefox also has an add-on named Self-Destructing Cookies that will destroy cookies automatically after a tab is closed or after the browser is closed. This can help prevent tracking and it can also protect against someone accessing your computer and being able to access sites where you're logged in.
In a speech to students at Tehran University, Rouhani said, America is our enemy, we have no doubt about this. The Americans want to put as much pressure on us as they can.

The Iran Sanctions Act passed the US Senate 99-0 last week, after easily clearing the House of Representatives in November.

A White House official said that President Barack Obama is expected to sign the measure into a law, adding that the e the extension does not violate last years nuclear deal between major powers and Iran. But Iran says that, If this is implemented it would be a blatant and clear breach of the JCPOA and would face a very harsh reaction from us.

The language in the agreement may be interpreted in different ways. It calls on the US to cease the application of all nuclear-related sanctions. It does not specify whether Washington can keep them in reserve for possible use in the future.

Conservative parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, said at a press conference on Tuesday, that parts of the deal were rushed.

Some of the sections of the JCPOA should have been written with more precision to stop differing interpretations, Larijani said. I believe Iran should file a complaint in regard of the Americans breach of the JCPOA.

Rouhani and other top officials are due to meet on Wednesday to discuss the issue. Rouhani has faced a barrage of criticism from conservatives who say his team made too many concessions in the nuclear deal for minimal economic gain. In his speech on Tuesday, he stated that his team had not acted alone and that supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was closely involved at every stage of the negotiations. We took no step on the JCPOA issue without consulting the honourable leader, Rouhani said.

Although Because major Western banks remain reluctant to do business for fear of remaining non-nuclear US sanctions, Iran has managed to significantly ramp up its oil exports, however, it has struggled to rejoin the international financial system. Iran has been unable to attract the foreign investment which Rouhani has said is necessary to rekindle the countrys battered economy.

An article in Al-Arabyia also reports on what Irans president said on Tuesday: that his country will not allow incoming US President Donald Trump to tear up Irans landmark nuclear deal with world powers. He also warned that Tehran will react to any extension of American sanctions.

Rouhani was speaking at the University of Tehran commemorating the killings of Iranian students protesting a visit by then-US Vice President Richard Nixon in 1953. His remarks show the high stakes he faces after Trumps inauguration.

The timing, during an annual remembrance of the students killing at the hands of the US-backed Shah Reza Pahlavis security forces, also shows the internal challenges he faces. The US is our enemy, Rowhani said. They want to put pressure on us as much as they can.

Rowhani never mentioned Trump by name in his speech, calling him, some man  elected in the US. Rouhani added, Whatever plans he has, it will be revealed later. He may desire to weaken the nuclear deal. He may desire to rip up the deal. Do you suppose we will allow this? Will our nation allow this?

Trump called the multi-nation deal catastrophic and vowed to renegotiate it.

Rowhani warned Iran will show a reaction if President Barack Obama signs a law extending some of Americas sanctions authority by 10 years, The ISA. The law, first passed by Congress in 1996 and renewed several times since then, allows the US to sanction companies for doing business with Iran.

Rowhani said that extending the sanctions is a violation of the nuclear deal. The White House said that doesnt violate the international accord.
(Picture YouTube)

A huge fireball burned across the sky in Siberia  turning night into day for thousands of locals as whats thought to be a meteor burnt up in Earths atmosphere.

The meteor passed over the southern Siberian republic of Khakassia on Tuesday evening earlier this week.

The meteor is not thought to have hit the surface  and some eyewitness reports suggest it exploded during its descent.

I went for a walk with my friends. We stopped by the shop and my friend screamed when she saw a bright flash, and then there was an explosion, said a local woman in an interview with The Siberian Times.

Residents in the Russian city of Sayanogorsk witnessed a dazzling sight when a meteor streaked through the night sky https://t.co/ZxPP6kdyyV pic.twitter.com/98zHSqTnjT  ABC News (@ABC) December 7, 2016

All the car alarms immediately went off. We were so scared. My father said windows were vibrating.

At 6:50pm in southern districts of Khakassia republic, a shining object was visible in the sky, the Emergencies Ministry said in a statement to media.

Local experts said that the meteorite was significantly smaller than the one which exploded over Chelyabinsk in 2013.

During the 2013 Chelyabinsk event, an asteroid, with a mass of about 12 000 tonnes and a size of 60 feet, hit the upper atmosphere at a about 12 miles per second, exploding with the energy of 480 kilotons of TNT at an altitude of 16 to 18 miles.

More than 1500 people were injured and 7300 buildings damaged by the intense overpressure generated by the shockwave at Earths surface.
Storyful

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday, November 2, asked supporters protesting the outcome of Brazils presidential election run-off to clear highways, urging them to respect peoples right to freedom of movement.After Bolsonaro lost Sundays election to Lula da Silva, supporters of the outgoing president blocked major highways across Brazil causing massive delays, including for the delivery of oxygen to hospitals.The protests, the demonstrations are welcome, they are part of the democratic game, he said, adding that closing highways throughout Brazil harms peoples right to come and go and was unconstitutional. Clear the highways. This is not part of legitimate demonstrations.Freedom of movement is a constitutionally-protected right in Brazil. On Monday, a Supreme Court justice ordered the states military police to clear blockades, but protesters persisted.Bolsonaro delivered remarks on Tuesday acknowledging the election after remaining silent for two days. The president did not directly acknowledge he lost the election or mention his successor, but said he would continue to fulfil all the commandments of our Constitution.Later on Tuesday, the Supreme Federal Court released a statement on Tuesday evening saying Bolsonaro had met with members of the court and officially recognised the outcome of Sundays election, marking the beginning of the transfer of power. Credit: President Jair Bolsonaro via Storyful
Like thousands of other Colombians stricken by war, the indigenous family had fled violence and poverty in their rural province, seeking better opportunities in the countrys capital. They moved to a poor neighborhood north of Bogota, its small tin-roof homes providing a stark contrast to the luxurious apartments just a few blocks away.

It was here, in front of the familys home, where a 7-year-old girl was playing Sunday just before a man allegedly grabbed her by the hands, pulling her into his gray truck. Her 9-year old cousin tried to stop him, and relatives came rushing out of the home when they heard the commotion, but it was too late, the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo reported.

At 7:30 p.m. that night, her body was found in a nearby upscale apartment, where she was sexually abused, tortured and strangled to death, authorities say. Police arrested Rafael Uribe Noguera, a 38-year-old wealthy architect, charging him in connection with the kidnapping and slaying of the girl, Yuliana Andrea Samboni.

The slaying of the 7-year-old rattled the South American nation, sparking angry protests, exposing Colombias troubling rates of violence against women, and uncovering the stark divides between the rich and poor in its capital city.

As the alleged perpetrator, Uribe Noguera, spent Monday receiving treatment for what authorities said was a cocaine overdose, dozens of protesters gathered outside shouting and holding signs with the words murderer and justice for Yuliana. A candlelight vigil was held later in a plaza, where hundreds carried flowers and messages of solidarity, many wearing shirts with the phrase #medueleBogota, or Bogota hurts.

Neighbors gathered outside the familys humble home with its peeling exterior, in a neighborhood where poverty and wealth are separated by an avenue, wrote journalist Vanessa De La Torre Sanclemente in an opinion article in El Pais. To get there you have to enter unpaved streets, climb a mountain and wonder how the misery and wealth can share almost the same blocks in a city.

An array of letters, photos, flowers and posters  including one reading no more violence or abuse of our boys and girls  was on display in front of the familys home.

She is a girl with scarce resources who has been abused and murdered by a person who has studied and has had all the opportunities in the world, one woman told El Espectador as she stood outside the home.

At Yulianas funeral Monday, her father lay his hand on her coffin, bowing his head as rose petals fell from the funeral homes fifth floor, El Tiempo reported. Her parents came to look for a better life here and look what happens to them. For that and more, we demand justice, the familys neighbor, Nexy Sanchez, said at the funeral.

The family fled the countrys southwestern Cauca province, where thousands have been killed or driven from their homes, and the FARC guerrillas in recent years functioned as a shadow state, demanding loyalty by force, The Washington Post reported.

On a national level, the country is finally on the cusp of concluding its 52-year conflict  Latin Americas longest war  which has left at least 220,000 dead and driven 7 million people from their homes. Last week, Colombias congress approved a historic peace deal with the countrys largest rebel group, raising hopes that an end is near.

But beyond the long-awaited peace, Yulianas slaying revealed what one official called one of the greatest ills that the country suffers  sexual violence directed at minors and women. As many as 40 children are raped every day in Colombia, the Associated Press reported.

And in 2016, as of Oct. 31, more than 18,000 cases of sexual violence among boys and girls had been reported nationwide, according to Carlos Valdez, director of the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Science. In an interview with local press, he said a macho and aggressive culture exists in all of Latin America, and is a phenomenon of particular concern in Colombia.

The 7-year-olds death also brought to light the issue of femicide, or the killing of a woman by a man because of her gender. On average, one woman is killed every two days in Colombia, and Latin America overall has the highest femicide rates in the world, Reuters reported last year. A new Colombian law came into effect in July 2015 making femicide a legally defined crime, with jail sentences of 20 to 41 years.

Colombias President Juan Manuel Santos joined a growing movement on Twitter with the hashtag #NiUnaMas, or Not one more, a call to ensure that not one more woman or girl dies as a result of gender-based violence. With profound indignation, he condemned the alleged crime and wrote, Let the full weight of justice fall on those responsible.

Hundreds across Colombia and beyond it also protested the slaying on Twitter, using the additional hashtag #TodosSomosYuliana, or We are all Yuliana.

Uribe Noguera, the man arrested for Yulianas killing, was charged with aggravated femicide, in addition to simple abduction, violent carnal access and torture, the BBC reported.

Authorities say that Uribe Noguera and at least one other person tried to cover up the crime scene in the luxurious apartment where the girls body was found. The apartment, where he occasionally lived, belongs to the suspects family, police said.

In a statement published in several local news outlets, Uribe Nogueras family members expressed their deep regret over the girls death.

Faced with this tragedy that engulfs two families of good, we are aware that Rafael must assume the drastic consequences that come from his inexplicable action, the statement read. We, as a family, can not turn our backs on these moments of anguish, confusion and pain.

colombia
CAIRO  Libyan militias backed by American airstrikes said they have cleared the stronghold of the Islamic State in Libya, a defeat that would set back the groups ambitions in North Africa. The country, however, remains very unstable amid battles between rival militias and the remaining militants could still undermine a fragile U.S.-backed unity government, analysts said.

Libyan fighters erupted in celebration in the coastal city of Sirte on Tuesday after a nearly seven month struggle to oust the Islamic State, as the mostly pro-government forces were searching for any remaining militants.

The Islamic States hopes of extending their self-proclaimed caliphate beyond Syria and Iraq into Libya have been dashed, at least for now. But while their propaganda war and recruiting efforts have also been weakened, analysts said, the group remains active in other parts of the country.

Libya now faces the specter of clandestine cells staging terrorist attacks, much like theyve done recently in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, after battlefield reverses there.

The retaking of Sirte is certainly a negative blow to Islamic State affiliates in Libya because they will no longer have a territorial stronghold in the country, said Claudia Gazzini, senior Libya analyst for the International Crisis Group. This is significant because it no longer gives them the possibility to operate in the open or to recruit and levy taxes directly.

Yet despite its demise, Gazzini said, we cannot rule out that the group will carry out attacks in other parts of the country.

Libya descended into turmoil following the death of dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 in the aftermath of the countrys Arab Spring uprising. The oil-producing nation fractured into fiefdoms controlled by competing groups of former rebels. Rival governments were established in the capital, Tripoli, and in the east, with each claiming authority.

In the vacuum, the Islamic State and other extremist groups emerged in Libya. In early 2015, in alliance with other radical factions, the Islamic States affiliate seized parts of Sirte, situated in the heart of Libyas oil crescent. Within months, the militants had tightened their grip on the city and sought to create their own government.

The militants viewed Sirte as a possible fallback capital if their headquarters in the Syrian city of Raqqa fell. Recruits from other parts of Africa and the Middle East as well within Libya streamed to Sirte, which was where Gaddafi was born.

Operationally, it was an important base and logistics hub for other ISIS fronts in Libya, said Frederic Wehrey, a Middle East analyst with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The fall of Sirte arrives at a tense moment for Libya. Rival militias have been battling for territory and economic gain in recent days in the worst eruption of fighting in the capital in more than a year. Clashes are also underway in Benghazi, Libyas second-largest city, pitting Islamists against forces loyal to Gen. Khalifa Hifter, a powerful commander who recently seized control of key oil terminals, while his rivals were concentrated on besieging Sirte.

The violence has further challenged the authority of the unity government, which has struggled to exert control since it arrived in Tripoli in March. Those challenges are poised to become even more complicated as the Islamic State plots its next moves  and a possible revival.

For it to find a place to govern and rule it would need to find a locale suffering from marginalization and some sort of tribal or social constituency that would welcome it  as well as a pre-existing jihadist infrastructure, Wehrey said.

Today, some ISIS militants are fighting in Benghazi. Analysts say that others who fled Sirte may have relocated to southern Libya, including the city of Sebha. The south offers a safe haven to regroup, but its remoteness makes it more difficult for it to attract recruits and stage attacks.

There have also been reports of Islamic State activity in western Libya, including in the town of Bani Walid, where sympathetic tribes have provided the militants with safe houses, and in the coastal town of Sabratha, where ISIS has strong links to smuggling and other criminal networks.

Its hard to predict whether they still have a leadership capable of thinking up next steps, said Mattia Toaldo, a Libya analyst and senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. The real question is whether the single jihadists will find a new home in other jihadist groups.

Tripoli could become the militants next target. Violence in the capital would further undermine the governments authority and dissuade foreigners from returning. Tensions are also growing between Islamist militias in city, and any eruption of fighting could aid Islamic State cells.

Any outright conflict between these groups would certainly throw in disarray what little security there is in Tripoli, and this could open space for radical groups like IS, said Gazzini, referring to the Islamic State.

Even as the unity government seeks to capitalize on the liberation of Sirte and bolster its international legitimacy, many of its supporters are increasingly dissatisfied. The militias that ousted the Islamic State are mostly from the city of Misuruta. Many Misuratans believe the recent clashes in Tripoli are an attempt by their rivals to claim the capital.

The Misuratans are not happy with this and might try to mobilize forces to Tripoli in the upcoming weeks, Gazzini said.

Or they could end up fighting Hifters forces, Toaldo said.

The more the instability, the greater the possibility that the Islamic State will regroup and that other extremist groups will form in Libya.

The important thing to underscore is that jihadism and the radical threat in Libya is still very much present, especially given the institutional breakdown of the state, the alienation of vast swathes of youths, marginalized towns and tribes, Wehrey said.

libya
NEW YORK  Starbucks, looking to the future as its longtime CEO moves to other projects, plans to open 12,000 new locations within five years to boost its number of coffee shops worldwide by almost 50 percent.

The Seattle-based chain is also adding more food to its menu next year, including organic soups, gluten-free breakfast sandwiches and a wheat-free cooked egg product. And sometime in 2017, customers will be able to talk to the Starbucks app to order a latte or cookie instead of tapping their smartphones.

Starbucks outlined its five-year growth plans to investors on Wednesday, about a week after it announced that Howard Schultz, who has built Starbucks into a global brand with 25,000 locations since first joining the company more than 30 years ago, would step down as CEO in April. Starbucks has been facing increasing competition from Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds as those companies add more specialty coffee drinks to their menus.

About 5,000 of the 12,000 stores Starbucks plans to open by 2021 will be in China. The company said again that it expects China to eventually overtake the U.S. as its largest market, but didnt say when it expects that to happen. Today there are about 2,500 stores in China and more than 13,000 in the U.S.

Starbucks also wants to get more customers to buy lunch at its shops by offering organic soups and adding more sandwiches and wraps. Iced beverages, such as cold brew coffee and iced lattes, are expected to become more popular in the next five years and account for about half of beverage sales, the company said.

An app update next year will use artificial intelligence technology to let customers order by voice and have the app respond immediately with a message. In China, the company said it is teaming up with popular messaging app WeChat to let users buy digital Starbucks gift cards for their friends.

Investors also got to hear from Chief Operating Officer Kevin Johnson, who will replace Schultz as CEO in April. Schultz, who will become executive chairman, stressed again Wednesday that he wasnt leaving the company and will oversee the growth of its high-end Starbucks Reserve Roasteries stores. But he made clear that Johnson will ultimately be in charge.

Hes got the last word, Schultz said.

Since returning as CEO in 2008, Schultz oversaw the expansion of the chains food and beverage offerings and the growth of its popular loyalty program and mobile app. Starbucks has credited the rewards program and app for helping consistently increase sales in the U.S., although growth has slowed more recently and traffic slipped in the latest quarter.

Schultz has said such technology adaptions will become increasingly critical for brick-and-mortar retail businesses to thrive as shopping habits change. Johnson has a technology background, having spent years at companies such as Microsoft and Juniper Networks.

Starbucks Corp. shares, which had been down about 2 percent since the CEO announcement, gained 2.1 percent to $58.66 on Wednesday.

_____

Contact Joseph Pisani at http://twitter.com/josephpisani .
New Mexicos largest electric utility asked state regulators Wednesday for an average system rate increase of 14 percent  two months after the most recent increase showed up on consumer bills.

Following through with plans announced earlier this year, Public Service Company of New Mexico filed an application with the state Public Regulation Commission seeking an increase of $99.2 million and a return on equity of 10.125 percent.

This (rate request) is primarily about decreasing pollution and going forward with our capital investments, PNM Chief Executive Pat Vincent-Collawn told the Journal. Our customers tell us the No. 1 most important thing to them is reliability (of their electricity), and this will allow us to make that possible.

Vincent-Collawn said the overall 14.3 percent rate increase would be spread out over two years to soften the impact for customers: 7.2 percent ($5.82 for the average residential customer) at the beginning of 2018, and 7.1 percent ($4.67 for the average residential customer) in 2019.

The rate increase would mean all classes of customers would see an average 11 percent rise in their monthly bills. Residential customers would see an average increase of 13 percent.

Nearly half the $99.2 million request is for costs associated with a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency and several other parties aimed at reducing air pollution in the Four Corners area.

As part of the settlement, PNM will retire two units at the coal-powered San Juan Generating Station, which it plans to replace with other coal as well as nuclear-generated power at a cost of $35 million. Another $9 million in the request goes toward the $90 million PNM will spend on pollution-reduction equipment at the coal-powered Four Corners Power Plant and other infrastructure projects related to the settlement.

The rest of the $99.2 million request includes $20 million in other ongoing capital investments, $11 million for costs associated with customers using less energy and $9 million in adjustments made as a result of various electric cooperatives ending their contracts with the utility.

The company has not asked regulators to consider any of the items rejected by the commission in the last rate case, one of the most contentious in recent memory.

That includes millions of dollars in investments in the nuclear-powered Palo Verde Generating Station and air pollution controls at San Juan, the two items that accounted for most of the controversy in the previous case.

The previous case lasted 13 months and ended in September, when regulators gave PNM a $65.7 million revenue bump, compared with the $123.5 million it requested. The new rates went into effect in October and resulted in an average customer increase of 7 percent across the system. PNM is appealing the commissions decision to the New Mexico Supreme Court.

Asked what the company would do to address customers most affected by a utility rate increase  New Mexicos poorest residents  Vincent-Collawn said the company will continue to invest in its Good Neighbor Fund, a program aimed at helping low-income customers with their bills.

PNMs announcement that it is seeking another rate increase has sparked public scrutiny of Vincent-Collawns $5.2 million compensation package, most of which is paid for by shareholders. Of her $800,000 salary, $250,000 comes from ratepayers.

Asked about the appropriateness of her compensation, Vincent-Collawn said it is commensurate with that of other chief executives at similar-size utilities.
Questions surrounding President Bob Franks future at the University of New Mexico remained unanswered Wednesday, despite a three and a half hour closed meeting of the Board of Regents.

The board, according to a notice announcing the meeting, were to discuss the possibility of suspending Frank or starting the process to fire him.

The lack of news comes after a weeks worth of ratcheting tensions that saw Frank announce on Tuesday his intent to sue the board in connection to defamatory documents leaked to the news media in late November.

The regents also didnt announce plans for future meetings, though they are scheduled to meet in open and executive session on Tuesday. The agenda for that meeting has yet to be set.

Starting at 1 p.m., reporters, faculty members and staff fiddled on smartphones and chatted in Scholes Hall, home to the office of the president, while awaiting answers. Regents periodically flitted in and out a conference room, while sometimes ducking into the nearby Office of University Counsel.

At the meetings end at about 4:30 p.m., the regents offered no comment other than they had taken no action, and they left before some media outlets could even get into the conference room where they had met.

Frank didnt attend the meeting, though his attorney Jaymeson Pegue was one of those gathered outside the closed session. She said she was aware of the regents lack of action, but didnt have a comment immediately following the meeting.

The president is seeking an independent investigation to find the source of the document leaks to the news media.

Last week, the Journal obtained a copy of attorney Alice Kilborns report, which was ordered by the regents. In it, some employees interviewed said Frank was condescending and rude, while others described him as generally affable and pleasant in most interactions. Frank, whose salary is $362,136, announced in September that he would not seek to renew his contract, which ends May 31. As part of his resignation agreement, regents promised him a tenured faculty position at the schools Health Sciences Center with a $350,000 salary.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) will propose legislation requiring companies with at least 50 employees to provide five days a year of paid sick leave, triggering a likely standoff with Democratic lawmakers who tried to pass a more expansive law this year.

Hogan, who owned a real estate company before taking office, described his bill as a common-sense approach that would cover nearly all working Marylanders without placing an unmanageable burden on job creators.

Businesses with fewer than 50 employees would be eligible for a tax break if they offer paid sick leave.

Hogans proposal would make Maryland just the eighth state, along with the District of Columbia, to require paid sick leave for a significant proportion of employees. Connecticut, California, Massachusetts and Oregon have implemented such rules; Arizona, Vermont and Washington passed mandates this year. Montgomery County, Marylands largest jurisdiction, enacted its own sick-leave requirement this year.

The laws include a wide range of guidelines, but in most cases they apply to employers with fewer than 50 workers and therefore cover a wider swath of businesses than Hogans plan.

In Maryland, where Democrats hold strong majorities in both chambers, advocates have pushed for paid sick leave for years. They had a victory in this years legislative session, when a proposal requiring businesses with at least 15 employees to provide sick leave was approved in the House of Delegates. That bill also covered part-time employees.

But the legislation, which business groups said would place an undue economic burden on employers, did not advance in the Senate.

Hogan announced his proposal at a news conference Wednesday that did not include any lawmakers, advocates or representatives of business groups. Sen. Thomas Middleton, D-Charles, said the governors bill was an attempt to head off legislation that he and other liberal lawmakers are preparing that would extend the sick-leave requirement to smaller businesses.

The governors proposal drew immediate praise from House Minority Whip Kathy Szeliga, R-Baltimore County, who runs a construction business with her husband and said the bill strikes a good balance in protecting employees while not hamstringing new businesses.

The proposal is similar to an amendment that Republicans proposed during the debate on sick leave this year.

Del. Ariana Kelly, D-Montgomery, who co-sponsored the bill that died in the Senate in April, called the governors proposal well-intended but insufficient.

It sounds like a reasonable compromise, but in reality its not providing coverage to the people who need paid sick leave the most  people who dont have it now, and the part-time and low-wage hourly workers, Kelly said.

A bill covering businesses with at least 50 employees would affect about 473,000 workers, advocates said this spring, compared with about 595,000 who would have been entitled to paid sick leave under the 2016 House bill sponsored by Del. Luke Clippinger, D-Baltimore City.

Its great that Governor Hogan is recognizing the importance of this issue, but the proposal as we understand it would cover far too few workers across Maryland, said Elisabeth Sachs, executive director of the Job Opportunities Task Force, one of the states leading proponents of paid sick leave.

Hogans bill would require employers to follow the state law on paid sick leave even in jurisdictions that have enacted more generous policies. Among such jurisdictions is Montgomery County, which requires employers with more than five employees to provide a minimum of one-hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked.

Its critical that this legislation does not preempt local jurisdictions that have stepped up and done the right thing, Montgomery County Council member Thomas Hucker (D) said. Montgomery County families dont need their paid sick leave stripped by the governor. . . . State law should always be a floor, not a ceiling, he said.

With Democratic lawmakers expected to introduce their own sick-leave bills in the House and Senate, advocates and business groups are gearing up for a legislative battle in the three-month session that begins in January.

If the governor is willing to sit down with the various interest groups and forge a compromise, Im all for that, said Middleton, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee. But he has to sit down and work it out.

maryland-leave
The youngest children in Montgomery County, Marylands public schools could soon be allowed to bring cellphones and other electronic devices to campus under newly proposed rules.

Students would not be able to use the devices during the school day in elementary schools unless a teacher permits them as part of classroom instruction, but students could use phones and tablets after dismissal or on school buses if the rules pass.

The reality is, they are in our elementaries now, said Patricia ONeill, a county school board member who noted that cellphones are ubiquitous in middle schools and high schools. She said the proposed change would largely focus on keeping up with the times.

Part of a broader update to the districts regulations on personal mobile devices, the change could take effect as soon as next school year. School board members discussed the change at a recent committee meeting, but it requires Superintendent Jack Smiths approval.

It comes as another sign of technologys advance in the nations K-12 schools, where parents interest is often a driving factor for districts to allow elementary school students to carry cellphones, said Ann Flynn, director of education technology at the National School Boards Association. Many parents want to stay in touch with children for safety or logistical reasons, she said.

Its definitely a trend were seeing at younger levels  being allowed to bring cellphones on campus, she said.

Elementary school students in Loudoun County, Virginia, are allowed to bring cellphones but can use them only in emergencies. In Arlington, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., cellphone policies are up to individual schools; Fairfax County, Virginias rules about cellphone use vary by school, but a spokesman said he was not aware of any ban on having them on school property during the school day. Prince Georges County, Maryland, permits portable electronic devices across grades, with rules about their use.

Discussion about revising the rule in Montgomery  which would end a ban on students taking cellphones to elementary school  has drawn some skepticism.

Lisa Cline, a PTA leader in Gaithersburg, Maryland, said current practices are sufficient, allowing families to seek a waiver if a child needs to bring a cellphone to school. She said she has yet to hear any evidence that would support the change and worries about the effect cellphones could have on elementary school culture.

To expect a child to turn it off  and not touch it when its in his backpack  is a lot to ask for a 7-year-old, said Cline, who wrote a letter to district officials. Her subject line: Cell phones for ES kids? Seriously?

Paul Geller, president of the countywide council of PTAs, said he has heard parents voice concerns that cellphones could be a distraction in the classroom or a burden for teachers. Some also worry that allowing cellphones could intensify the gap between the haves and the have-nots.

Geller said some parents might appreciate their children having cellphones when they walk home alone or take buses long distances. Others say cellphones, when used as part of a teachers lesson plan, might help meet the districts technology needs, he said.

My hope is that theyre going to allow some public comment about it, Geller said.

Schools spokesman Derek Turner said the district does not expect a public-comment process because the matter is considered a regulatory change. The district had meetings with groups of students, teachers, principals and parents as officials developed the changes, he said. We will still connect with a few more groups to make sure there is buy-in, Turner said.

Catherine Carpela, who has taught first-grade and third-grade classes in Silver Spring, Maryland, said she doesnt support the concept, which she believes could add to the many responsibilities teachers already bear.

I dont want to spend my time monitoring inappropriate cellphone usage when I could be using that time for instruction, she said, questioning how devices would be secured, given that young students stow their belongings in cubbies or backpacks, not lockers.

School district administrators presented the change at a board committee meeting just before Thanksgiving as part of proposed revisions to the districts regulation on personal mobile devices, which include phones, tablets and laptops.

The new regulation would include a number of rules about appropriate use and a requirement that students using their own devices at school access the Internet through the districts network, not private cellular providers, to limit exposure to potentially harmful sites.

It would continue to allow high school students to use mobile devices during lunch. School board member Rebecca Smondrowski suggested extending lunchtime use to middle-schoolers, as well.

Smondrowski said in an interview that the regulatory change does not aim to promote cellphones in elementary schools but recognizes their presence and provides guidance for their use. There also could be benefits for instruction at some point, she said.

More and more, as were moving into a digital time and digital instruction is a becoming greater and greater, this allows teachers to take advantage of resources when possible, she said.

Sherwin Collette, the districts chief technology officer, said the update would mesh with a broader goal  allowing students to use their own devices to augment other technology used for classroom instruction. There is a benefit to the district as well, he said at the committee meeting.

Collette said district staff compared Montgomery with other school systems as they considered amending the regulation and underscored that cellphones already are coming into elementary schools.

Schools work with their students and families around the ground rules about that, and they deal with issues of discipline that arise when one is stolen or comes out of the backpack when it shouldnt, he said. Parents understand that the school systems not responsible for any damage to them.

Amanda Lenhart, a researcher who studies teenagers and technology, noted that one recent study found that, on average, U.S. children get their first cellphones when they are about 10, an age when many children are in elementary school.

I think parents wrestle with this a lot: What is the right age to give a child a cellphone? she said.

Sarah Kessler, a mother of two in Boyds, Maryland, said that in her community, students tend to get cellphones just after elementary school. She opposes the idea of using cellphones in class during the school day: I dont see how this policy benefits students as a whole when so few elementary school students own cellphones.

education-phones
Copyright  2016 Albuquerque Journal

George Daniel Wechsler had threatened at least two previous ex-girlfriends.

In 2002, a month after he broke up with his 18-year-old girlfriend, she told police he sent her an email that said he wished she would die. Then she called police when she saw him sitting in a car in front of her work, carrying a gun, a video camera and binoculars.

Wechsler was arrested and charged with misdemeanor stalking, harassment and assault on a household member. The woman wasnt hurt.

Seven years later, another ex-girlfriend reported to police that she feared for her life due to his actions and threats.

Both of those women were afraid, but not hurt.

That pattern changed this week.

On Monday evening, Wechsler, 45, broke into his ex-girlfriends Four Hills home and waited for her to return with her three children, ages 5 to 9, said Police Chief Gorden Eden in a press conference Tuesday. Eden said that, when they arrived home, Wechsler shot them and then himself.

One of the children died at the scene; the other two died at the hospital or in the ambulance. Their mother was still in critical condition Wednesday. Wechsler was unconscious by the time officers arrived and died at the hospital from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

It is unclear exactly what led Wechsler to do what he did, but a police spokesman said the mother had recently ended their brief relationship and told him to stay away from her and her children. She didnt want him to give the children Christmas presents.

Police havent released any of the victims names, but said they plan to do so today.

Series of incidents

Police reports and court documents reveal Wechslers domestic violence issues with women. They also show ongoing depression, medication issues and suicide attempts.

In 1998, he threatened to kill himself after talking to an ex-girlfriend, although its unclear what they were talking about.

Then, in 2002, Wechsler showed up armed at his 18-year-old ex-girlfriends workplace.

The woman told police she felt like her life was in danger. He wrote in the email he wished I would die, and then shows up at my work with a gun, waiting for me, the woman wrote in a statement.

She got a restraining order, but dropped it a couple of months later.

Shortly after he was charged with stalking, Wechsler tried to kill himself on his birthday by inhaling exhaust fumes in his car.

Four and a half months later, his ex-girlfriend had moved in with her new boyfriend, but Wechsler continued to threaten to shoot her, according to another police report. The couple moved to try to remain safe.

In 2003, Wechsler pleaded guilty to stalking and assault, and was sentenced to one year and six months of probation, according to online court records.

In 2009, yet another ex-girlfriend, 21, had a problem with Wechsler. The two had worked together at the Regional Correctional Center on Fourth and Roma NW.

In an interview with the Journal, the woman said that, after she and Wechsler broke up, he told her he could not live without her. Later that day, she almost crashed her car because her brake lines had been cut, she said.

She said he filed for a restraining order against her, but was denied, and then she filed one against him.

On her petition for a restraining order, she wrote that she considered him dangerous, and that he had damaged her car and put her physical safety and life in danger.

Mom fought for kids

Several years later, Wechsler met the woman he would later shoot in Four Hills. The woman had divorced from the childrens father in 2015; the couple had two boys, ages 5 and 9, and a 6-year-old girl. The father appeared to maintain a strong presence in their lives and the former couple kept up a friendly relationship on social media.

The woman broke up with Wechsler recently and, in November, he told friends and officers he was suicidal and was taken to a hospital for an evaluation.

Around 6:30 p.m. Monday, he broke into the womans home, armed with a gun. Eden said the woman did everything she could and fought to save her children, pulling one of them out of the house while she was already critically injured.

She is the only witness to what happened and police say she is still unconscious in the hospital. Police had never been called to her house before.

Wechsler comes from a large family of seven brothers, including Nick Wechsler, a television actor known for roles in Revenge, Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Malcolm in the Middle and other shows. Nick Wechslers agent did not respond to emailed questions.

On Wednesday afternoon, at least one of Wechslers brothers could be seen taking a couple of cats from Wechslers white single-wide trailer in a mobile home park near Menaul and Washington NE.

He declined to comment on the tragedy.

The woman who filed a restraining order against him in 2009 said that, while Wechsler was never abusive to her during their yearlong relationship, after they broke up, he began to scare her.

I had put it all in the past and for the most part forgot about it, she said. Occasionally, I looked over my shoulder if I saw a car that looked like his or if I was in his neighborhood. Seeing this on the news brought back those emotions.
A patch of desert at New Mexicos border has caught the eye of one of Mexicos best-known architects.

At the fenced line that divides Santa Teresa and Mexicos San Jeronimo, Fernando Romero has laid out a utopian vision for a hyperconnected, binational border city whose seamless infrastructure would all but erase the international divide.

He unveiled his concept at the recent London Design Biennale.

This is a long-term vision, a utopian vision, that is not about building walls but about thinking more ambitiously about the mutual relationship and about what borders really mean between countries, Romero told the design magazine Dezeen. With technology, those borders are just becoming symbolic limits. The reality is that there exists a very strong mutual dependency of economies and trades.

Romero, 45, isnt just an architect: He is also the son-in-law of one of the worlds richest men, Mexicos Carlos Slim, who ranked No. 4 this year on Forbes list of global billionaires, with a current net worth of $46.8 billion.

Romero designed Slims gleaming, curvaceous Museo Soumaya in Mexico City, and his firm FR-EE has been tapped to design the capital citys new airport, billed to be the largest in the Western Hemisphere. He is also designing a nearly 270,000-square-foot convention center in Ciudad Juarez.

But his border city design is entirely conceptual. None of the areas three major landowners  who together hold a combined 70,000 acres of mostly undeveloped desert  hired his firm to draw up plans.

The spot offered inspiration enough: a vast undeveloped land mass, concentrated in a few hands, close to the urban centers of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, anchored by a port of entry. Its unique on the Southwestern border, possibly unique in North America, said Chris Lyons, who holds about 17,000 acres in Santa Teresa.

Its the only place on the border where you have concentrated landownership, Lyons said. This is the best place to go if you want to do the concept of a cross-border city.

Romero envisions hexagonal urban centers at Santa Teresa, San Jeronimo and San Jose del Sol linked by roads and industrial, residential and retail zones that match up on both sides of the border  which, incidentally, is already the way that Lyons and Mexicos landowners envision their developments, albeit on a much smaller scale.

In recent years, the state governments of New Mexico and Chihuahua have brought together teams to outline how a binational border city would take shape  an effort to bridge the complexities of developing mirrored infrastructure on both sides of the border.

Very little has come of all the plans just yet, and there is little chance that Romeros geometric border city will rise from the desert anytime soon. Several of the regions visionaries have been working for decades to realize their plans.

There is a new industrial park going up near the border in Santa Teresa, Lyons Westpark, with three new warehousing and logistics businesses. The enormous plant of Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn and a Pemex gas station are the only buildings in San Jeronimo, and San Jose del Sol is still a desert.

But in that desert there is no shortage of inspiration.

UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Lauren Villagran in Las Cruces at lvillagran@abqjournal.com. Go to www.abqjournal.com/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor.
WASHINGTON  Military leaders are trying to fix the lengthy, inconsistent process for investigating senior officers accused of misconduct, The Associated Press has learned. They are seeking to change a hodgepodge system in which investigations can drag on for years while taxpayers pay six-figure salaries to officers relegated to mid-level administrative posts.

Trust in the disciplinary system is strained, the chiefs of the four military services said in a memo to Defense Secretary Ash Carter. The memo was obtained by The Associated Press.

The chiefs said they planned to set up a task force to study the issue. It would be created by the end of the year and likely include former members of the military, lawmakers, and former investigators or inspectors general. The panel would be charged with providing specific proposals within 10 months.

The memo said the service leaders have concerns about our internal processes to respond promptly and equitably when there are accusations of misconduct.

There are no real policy guidelines or regulations that govern where the officers go and what jobs they can hold while they wait for investigations to end. Instead, decisions are made by commanders on a case-by-case basis that provides little guarantee of equal treatment across the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, or even for those within the same service.

We are very frustrated by the amount of time it takes for us to process things, said Lt. Gen. Gary Cheek, director of the Army staff. In many cases this is in fairness to the individual as well as to run the process through the levels of review. But it can take months to adjudicate some of these and we would greatly prefer that to be weeks, not months.

Eugene Fidell, a lawyer who specializes in military cases and teaches at Yale Law School, said the lengthy process wastes money and is particularly damaging for those ultimately found innocent or not charged. And he said it can treat officers differently, even if they committed the same offense.

There are people who are hung out to dry, and its extremely unfair because its virtually impossible to put Humpty back together again, Fidell said.

As an example, for the past year, Army Maj. Gen. Ron Lewis has been poring over older military regulations to see what needs updating. His work, in a small suburban Virginia office as a special assistant to the Armys personnel chief, isnt far from the Pentagon. But its a universe away from his high-powered job as senior military adviser to Carter  a job he lost amid charges of improper behavior and misuse of a government credit card.

He will stay there until the Army decides on his case and determines at what rank he can retire  a decision that could affect his annual income by tens of thousands of dollars.

The Navy, meanwhile, has officers wrapped up in a lengthy, complicated corruption investigation, involving bribes from Malaysian businessman Leonard Glenn Francis, also known as Fat Leonard. A total of 16 people, including nearly a dozen current and former Navy officials, have been charged so far in the scandal, which has dragged on for about three years.

In some cases, such as Lewis, the investigation is done by the Pentagons inspector general. Others are handled by the military services inspectors general, and in cases like Fat Leonard, the Justice Department drives the probe.

There are about a half-dozen active duty senior leaders  mainly two- and three-star officers  who are working in administrative jobs now, waiting for final decisions on misconduct investigations. Over the past five years, there have been nearly 30.

Investigators sometimes have to go back and recreate history, months and years after it occurred and after people and commanders have long moved on. There is concern that stretching out the process makes it difficult to send a clear signal to others that bad behavior wont be tolerated.

Cheek, who is responsible for deciding where Army officers go and what they do while under investigation, said its important to remember that an accused soldier is innocent until proven guilty and he defended the need to handle incidents on a case-by-case basis.

The investigations are largely done the same way, he said, but they all have different issues theyre working through. We have to match it to the individual circumstances.

He said that when we have someone who has mistreated people or done something wrong, we hold them appropriately accountable. We may not advertise that or announce it from the mountain tops but every case has a process it has gone through very deliberately.

He noted that the officers under investigation are usually at the lowest point of their lives.

I am dealing with someone who is enormously distraught, many times incredibly embarrassed by whats happened, Cheek said. Ive got to show frankly some compassion toward them no matter what. Were not going to condone what theyve done, but were going to treat them right.
Saturdays fatal three-car crash at Coors and Montano, which claimed the life of Michael Nwora  reportedly at the hands of 20-year-old Robert Bosanko, who police say was under the influence of LSD  reminds us once again of the dangers of drugged driving, and of the New Mexico Legislatures failure to develop and pass strong standards to strengthen the states vague drugged-driving law.

Bosanko, charged with vehicular homicide, was wearing only a T-shirt and underwear when police arrived, and was walking around on all fours like an animal, according to a Metro Court criminal complaint. Police allege he was driving too fast when he approached a red light at Montano and attempted to drive between two cars that were stopped at the intersection. Nwora, a delivery driver for a pizza chain, died at the scene.

Police claim Bosanko told them he had taken the hallucinogenic LSD and was feeling free like a birdy.

He was so high, police said, he had to be strapped to his hospital bed, preventing any attempts to perform what likely would have been a worthless sobriety test.

Bosanko is being held at the Metro Detention Center on a $35,000 bond.

While Bosanko reflects on the carnage he is accused of causing, legislators should think about tackling the thorny issue of drugged driving.

Impaired driving is fairly straightforward when it comes to DWI; you blow 0.08 or higher on a Breathalyzer and youre charged with DWI. In the alternative, an officer can testify that you were impaired, had slurred speech, bloodshot eyes, reeked of alcohol, etc., and possibly gain a conviction that way.

Its harder to convict when police dont have a way to quantify how high the offender was at the time of the crash, other than testimony on visible levels of impairment.

New Mexico has yet to establish blood testing standards for the amount of drugs in the blood system of an impaired driver  and that goes for illegal drugs, as well as prescriptions. Whether a driver is impaired by drugs is determined case by case at the discretion of the prosecutor, who determines what charges are filed.

In a state that legalized medical marijuana nearly a decade ago  and will likely consider decriminalizing recreational pot soon  its illogical and dangerous not to have drugged-driving standards on the books.

And lets not forget that our state has a shameful rate of opioid abuse.

In Bosankos case, an additional charge that pales in comparison to vehicular homicide might seem like an exercise in futility. But if he is somehow found not guilty on the homicide charge, at this point he would face no additional punishment for allegedly driving while under the influence of a powerful hallucinogen.

At the very least, such a conviction could steer Bosanko toward treatment.

Nwora and his family deserve nothing less.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
Officials with three key state agencies made their case to an influential panel of New Mexico lawmakers on Wednesday as the battle over limited funds begins to shape up ahead of the legislative session.

The Children, Youth and Families Department and the Health and Human Services agencies appeared before the Legislative Finance Committee during the third day of a weeklong hearing in Santa Fe.

Human Services Secretary Brent Earnest told lawmakers his agency now administers services to more than 900,000 low-income New Mexicans and while the goal is to keep improving access, some costs are rising.

Health Secretary Lynn Gallagher said supplemental funds are needed to repair or replace equipment at the state scientific lab thats being held together by masking tape. Otherwise, she said, various testing procedures could be derailed.

She also touted the benefits of programs aimed at curbing drug overdose deaths and said the state needs to be prepared for disease outbreaks.

Child welfare officials are hoping to continue investments in child care initiatives for at-risk families. Funding for training and recruitment of workers to address cultural and morale issues at the department is also on the line.

Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, chairman of the finance committee, told the department heads that the budget gap he had warned state officials about months earlier was only getting worse and that agencies are now in the position of having to make cuts in a condensed time period.

Its not your fault, but you have to carry out the challenge, he told them. The last thing any of us want to do is be put in that position, but now were at a time when we dont even know what our revenues are. Theyre still declining.

Earlier this week, state economists said New Mexico was expected to collect far less revenue this budget year than previously forecast thanks to lagging economic growth, employment and wages.

The sustained slump in the oil and gas industry is also to blame for New Mexicos revenue shortfall.

Gov. Susana Martinez has dug in her heels in opposition to raising taxes that would affect working families in New Mexico, instead calling for agencies to tighten their belts. Critics have said that wont be enough and have called for a review of corporate tax breaks.

The Martinez administration, along with lawmakers in both political parties, has tried to protect education and the funding of programs that benefit children, but Smith said Wednesday that the state has reached a point where there are no more solutions for mitigating the pain of cuts as the state looks to fill the gap.

Every agency is going to have to be on the line, including education, he said.

Officials with the state Public Education Department were scheduled to address the committee today.

New Mexico agencies, lawmakers grapple over limited dollars
[December 07, 2016] Fitch Affirms PerkinElmer's Ratings at 'BBB'; Outlook Stable

Fitch Ratings has affirmed PerkinElmer Inc.'s (PerkinElmer) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'BBB'. The Rating Outlook is Stable. A full list of PerkinElmer's ratings follows the end of this release. KEY RATING DRIVERS --Gross debt leverage has generally remained between 2.0x and 2.5x, and Fitch expects this metric to continue to approximate these levels in most periods. As has been the case historically, Fitch anticipates that gross leverage could temporarily exceed 2.5x if the company issues incremental debt to finance targeted acquisitions. --Adjusted EBITDA margins have stabilized at levels near 20%, which represents a 400 basis points (bps) improvement over levels reported in 2011, benefitting from successful execution of restructuring and a shift in business mix toward higher margin consumables and services businesses. Fitch projects that the company will be able to sustain and likely improve upon these levels going forward. --Fitch anticipates low or mid-single digit organic growth over the forecast period, driven by growing demand in emerging markets supplemented by new products. These growth drivers should more than offset industry headwinds that include softer demand in government and academic end markets. FX headwinds have eased in 2016 after pressuring reported revenue growth by 6% in 2015. --Free cash flow (FCF) generation has been consistently solid and should remain so for the foreseeable future. Fitch projects annual FCF of $250 million or more for the next few years, benefitting from EBITDA growth, minimal required contributions to pension plans and continued manageable CAPEX requirements. --The present top priority for capital usage remains asset purchasing, specifically small opportunities. In the absence of acquisitions, Fitch believes that shareholder returns, especially opportunistic share repurchases, will take precedence over debt reduction. KEY ASSUMPTIONS Fitch's key assumptions within the rating case for PerkinElmer include: --Revenues increase in 2016 to 2019 by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.3%, reflecting slower growth in 2016 due to a shorter fiscal year, modest FX headwinds and a soft near term outlook for instrument sales, followed by stronger growth later in the forecast period. --Fitch models EBITDA growth resulting from growing revenues and moderate margin expansion, derived from cost efficiencies resulting from ongoing Lean operating initiatives. --EBITDA growth backstops stronger cash flow generation. FCF exceeds $250 million in 2016 and builds from there, benefitting from stable capital expenditures, modest pension funding requirements, and long-dated debt maturities. --Incremental debt increases of $50 million from 2017-2019 to help fund acquisitions, resulting in gross leverage approximating 2.3x-2.4x throughout the forecast period. --Potential for increased share repurchasing and/or leveraging transactions; however, Fitch expects that the actions, if realized, would be undertaken in a financially disciplined manner. RATING SENSITIVITIES Maintenance of PerkinElmer's 'BBB' rating would be supported by average gross debt leverage levels between 2.0x-2.5x, EBITDA margins approximating 20%, and U.S.-generated cash flows well in excess of annual debt servicing requirements. Near term upward ratings momentum is unlikely in the near term. Longer term, an upgrade could be considered if PerkinElmer were to achieve the following: --Maintain gross debt leverage below 2.0x for a period of consecutive years accompanied by EBITDA margins approximating 20%; --Continue to generate U.S.-based cash flows well in excess of annual debt servicing requirements; --Significantly increase its scale and further expand the scope of products and services. Downward rating action could result from heavy pressure on operations or leveraging shareholder-friendly actions or acquisitions such that debt leverage was expected to exceed 2.5x for 18-24 months or longer. PerkinElmer's ratings could also be downgraded if the company's U.S.-generated cash flows decreased to a level where the company's ability to internally fund its annual debt servicing requirements came into question. Operational weakness could stem from lower-than-anticipated results due to poorer-than-expected sales performance as the company's diversified portfolio cannot withstand headwinds of capital expenditure constraint in Europe, and tightened global research spending. EMERGING MARKETS DRIVE GROWTH Continued, strong demand in emerging markets has helped to offset softer conditions in developed markets, particularly in PerkinElmer's more capital-intensive businesses. In particular, government and academic end markets have been more challenging, as well as industrial and, more recently, environmental businesses. Importantly, Fitch believes that substantial runway remains for continued robust growth in PerkinElmer's key emerging markets, particularly China and India. This constructive outlook is supported by global population growth and an expanding middle class in emerging markets that will continue to generate demand for high quality health care outside of the U.S. This is particularly true in the area of reproductive health, where PerkinElmer enjoys a strong competitive position globally. PerkinElmer's Environmental Health business should likewise benefit from growing demand for food supply chain security and a world-wide shortage of clean water. These factors are driving increased regulatory scrutiny and spurring demand for increased monitoring of air, food and water quality. Fitch sees the potential for double digit organic growth in emerging markets over the forecast period that will more than offset single digit organic revenue declines in developed markets, where PerkinElmer has recently seen reductions or delays in instrument purchases. The recent softness in demand for equipment bears watching. It could reflect short term delays or reduction in capital outlays due to the uncertain global economic and political environment, including possible concerns about implications of Britain's pending exit from the EU or the outcome of the recent U.S. presidential election. On the other hand, if lower demand for PerkinElmer's instruments persists over a longer time period, it could suggest a weakening in PerkinElmer's competitive position in these areas that could ultimately have negative rating implications. Fitch projects that PerkinElmer could report compound growth in reported revenues of around 2.3% through 2019. Continued demand for PerkinElmer's diversified portfolio should be further bolstered by new offerings across the Human Health an Environmental Health segments. BOLT-ON (News - Alert) ACQUISITIONS REMAIN PRIORITY FOR CAPITAL DEPLOYMENT Although capital used for share repurchases has recently exceeded amounts deployed for acquisitions, Fitch believes that PerkinElmer's highest priority for capital deployment remains asset purchasing. Specifically, Fitch expects that PerkinElmer remains focused on small to moderate-sized opportunities to gain access to technology and broaden the research and product portfolios as well as targets in adjacent markets. For the latest 12 months (LTM) ended Oct. 2, 2016, Fitch calculates that PerkinElmer repurchased $138 million of common equity (net of share issuances), while completing acquisitions of $104 million over the same time period. Fitch attributes this allocation to an absence of attractively priced targets, rather than a shift in financial policy in favour of shareholder returns over business development. While PerkinElmer has occasioally used debt to help fund targeted acquisitions, gross debt leverage has generally remained between 2.0x and 2.5x, and Fitch expects this metric to continue to approximate historical levels in most periods. As has been the case historically, Fitch anticipates that gross leverage could temporarily exceed 2.5x if the company issues incremental debt to finance acquisitions of a slightly larger size.



In the absence of attractive acquisition opportunities, Fitch believes that shareholder returns, especially opportunistic share repurchases, will take precedence over debt reduction. Fitch sees potential for increased share repurchasing over the intermediate term given reasonable debt leverage and solid FCF generation. Fitch anticipates that the actions, if realized, would be undertaken in a financially disciplined manner. PerkinElmer has also publicly guided that it is considering pruning its portfolio in Fitch expects any cash proceeds resulting from these dispositions to be reinvested in PerkinElmer's business or returned to shareholders through share repurchases.

RECENT MARGIN IMPROVEMENT DURABLE, FURTHER IMPROVEMENT POSSIBLE PerkinElmer has successfully executed its strategic focus on margin expansion as evidenced by EBITDA margins stabilizing at current levels around 20%, which represents meaningful improvement from 15.7% margins generated in 2011. The margin expansion reflects benefits of multiple rounds of restructuring initiatives as well as a shift in product mix toward higher margin businesses, including software services (35% of revenues) and consumables (24%). Additional margin expansion appears achievable, as the company is in the process of implementing various Lean initiatives intended to reduce materials spend and realize manufacturing and logistics efficiencies. Margin expansion could also be aided by selective pruning of businesses that are outside of PerkinElmer's four core areas of focus, which include reproductive health, food analysis, emerging diagnostics, and pharmaceutical services. Each of these four areas is averaging double digit organic growth and generating operating margins greater than the company's current consolidated level of around 18.5%. PerkinElmer targets an additional 400bps of margin expansion by 2020 but Fitch conservatively models more moderate margin improvement over forecast period, leading to EBITDA margins of close to 22% by the end of 2019. GROSS DEBT LEVERAGE SUPPORTIVE OF 'BBB' RATING Gross debt leverage has generally been maintained between 2.2x-2.4x for the past several years as occasional, modest increase incremental debt increases to help fund acquisitions have been offset by EBITDA growth. Fitch views gross debt leverage of between 2.0x-2.5x as commensurate with the company's current 'BBB' ratings. Given Fitch's outlook for low to mid-single-digit revenue growth and moderate margin expansion, the company should be able to maintain leverage within this range fairly comfortably if it so chooses. Fitch nevertheless expects that PerkinElmer will occasionally use debt to help fund acquisitions, which could cause PerkinElmer's gross debt leverage to occasionally exceed 2.5x. Fitch believes that PerkinElmer's 'BBB' rating provides flexibility for the company to temporarily exceed 2.5x gross debt leverage if the company were to demonstrate a pathway to reducing leverage closer to 2.5x within 18-24 months. LIQUIDITY PerkinElmer's debt maturity schedule is laddered and fairly simple. The company's capital structure is comprised of two unsecured debt issuances ($500 million of 5% notes due in 2021 and EUR500 million of 1.875% notes due in 2026) and $45 million of bank borrowings under a $1.0 billion revolving credit facility. PerkinElmer has intermittently drawn under its unsecured credit facility to help fund modest sized acquisitions. All debt, including bank facilities, is held and will be issued at PerkinElmer Inc. as there is no finance subsidiary. Fitch's estimates that incrementally improving EBITDA margins, manageable capital spending, a consistent dividend and modest pension contributions will yield annual FCF of $250 million or more annually. Steps taken in recent years to fund the U.S. defined pension benefit plan and improve operational efficiency have materially boosted cash flows versus levels reported in 2012 and 2013. FCF totalled $259.0 million for the LTM as of Oct. 2, 2016, representing a FCF margin of 11.4%. This result continues a trend of steady improvement that PerkinElmer is poised to build upon over the forecast period, assuming stable debt levels. Fitch anticipates that PerkinElmer will continue to generate cash in the U.S. in amounts that are more than sufficient to fund the company's annual interest expense of roughly $37 million, annual dividends of $32 million, and CAPEX requirements that have ranged between $25 million-$40 million. FULL LIST OF RATING ACTIONS Fitch has affirmed PerkinElmer Inc.'s ratings as follows: --Long-Term Issuer Default Rating at 'BBB'; --Senior unsecured credit facility at 'BBB'; --Senior unsecured notes at 'BBB'. The ratings apply to approximately $1.1 billion of consolidated debt outstanding as of Oct. 2, 2016. The Rating Outlook is Stable. Summary of Financial Statement Adjustments - Financial statement adjustments that depart materially from those contained in the published financial statements of the relevant rated entity or obligor are disclosed below: --Historical and projected EBITDA is adjusted to add back non-cash stock based compensation. Additional information is available on www.fitchratings.com. Applicable Criteria Criteria for Rating Non-Financial Corporates (pub. 27 Sep 2016)

https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/885629 Additional Disclosures Dodd-Frank Rating Information Disclosure Form

https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/press_releases/content/ridf_frame.cfm?pr_id=1016039 Solicitation Status

https://www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/disclosure/solicitation?pr_id=1016039 Endorsement Policy

https://www.fitchratings.com/regulatory ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTPS://WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEB SITE AT WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA, AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE, AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE CODE OF CONDUCT SECTION OF THIS SITE. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF THIS SERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN EU-REGISTERED ENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCH WEBSITE. Copyright  2016 by Fitch Ratings, Inc., Fitch Ratings Ltd. and its subsidiaries. 33 Whitehall Street, NY, NY 10004. Telephone: 1-800-753-4824, (212) 908-0500. Fax: (212) 480-4435. Reproduction or retransmission in whole or in part is prohibited except by permission. All rights reserved. In issuing and maintaining its ratings and in making other reports (including forecast information), Fitch relies on factual information it receives from issuers and underwriters and from other sources Fitch believes to be credible. Fitch conducts a reasonable investigation of the factual information relied upon by it in accordance with its ratings methodology, and obtains reasonable verification of that information from independent sources, to the extent such sources are available for a given security or in a given jurisdiction. The manner of Fitch's factual investigation and the scope of the third-party verification it obtains will vary depending on the nature of the rated security and its issuer, the requirements and practices in the jurisdiction in which the rated security is offered and sold and/or the issuer is located, the availability and nature of relevant public information, access to the management of the issuer and its advisers, the availability of pre-existing third-party verifications such as audit reports, agreed-upon procedures letters, appraisals, actuarial reports, engineering reports, legal opinions and other reports provided by third parties, the availability of independent and competent third-party verification sources with respect to the particular security or in the particular jurisdiction of the issuer, and a variety of other factors. Users of Fitch's ratings and reports should understand that neither an enhanced factual investigation nor any third-party verification can ensure that all of the information Fitch relies on in connection with a rating or a report will be accurate and complete. Ultimately, the issuer and its advisers are responsible for the accuracy of the information they provide to Fitch and to the market in offering documents and other reports. In issuing its ratings and its reports, Fitch must rely on the work of experts, including independent auditors with respect to financial statements and attorneys with respect to legal and tax matters. Further, ratings and forecasts of financial and other information are inherently forward-looking and embody assumptions and predictions about future events that by their nature cannot be verified as facts. As a result, despite any verification of current facts, ratings and forecasts can be affected by future events or conditions that were not anticipated at the time a rating or forecast was issued or affirmed. The information in this report is provided "as is" without any representation or warranty of any kind, and Fitch does not represent or warrant that the report or any of its contents will meet any of the requirements of a recipient of the report. A Fitch rating is an opinion as to the creditworthiness of a security. This opinion and reports made by Fitch are based on established criteria and methodologies that Fitch is continuously evaluating and updating. Therefore, ratings and reports are the collective work product of Fitch and no individual, or group of individuals, is solely responsible for a rating or a report. The rating does not address the risk of loss due to risks other than credit risk, unless such risk is specifically mentioned. Fitch is not engaged in the offer or sale of any security. All Fitch reports have shared authorship. Individuals identified in a Fitch report were involved in, but are not solely responsible for, the opinions stated therein. The individuals are named for contact purposes only. A report providing a Fitch rating is neither a prospectus nor a substitute for the information assembled, verified and presented to investors by the issuer and its agents in connection with the sale of the securities. Ratings may be changed or withdrawn at any time for any reason in the sole discretion of Fitch. Fitch does not provide investment advice of any sort. Ratings are not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. Ratings do not comment on the adequacy of market price, the suitability of any security for a particular investor, or the tax-exempt nature or taxability of payments made in respect to any security. Fitch receives fees from issuers, insurers, guarantors, other obligors, and underwriters for rating securities. Such fees generally vary from US$1,000 to US$750,000 (or the applicable currency equivalent) per issue. In certain cases, Fitch will rate all or a number of issues issued by a particular issuer, or insured or guaranteed by a particular insurer or guarantor, for a single annual fee. Such fees are expected to vary from US$10,000 to US$1,500,000 (or the applicable currency equivalent). The assignment, publication, or dissemination of a rating by Fitch shall not constitute a consent by Fitch to use its name as an expert in connection with any registration statement filed under the United States securities laws, the Financial Services and Markets Act of 2000 of the United Kingdom, or the securities laws of any particular jurisdiction. Due to the relative efficiency of electronic publishing and distribution, Fitch research may be available to electronic subscribers up to three days earlier than to print subscribers. For Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and South Korea only: Fitch Australia Pty Ltd holds an Australian financial services license (AFS license no. 337123) which authorizes it to provide credit ratings to wholesale clients only. Credit ratings information published by Fitch is not intended to be used by persons who are retail clients within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161207006025/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
SILVER CITY  An Amber Alert was resolved quickly Tuesday morning by the Grant County Sheriffs Office after a deputy was flagged down by a semi-truck driver. Because of the incident, 35-year-old James Lawerence Halamek of Pima, Ariz., was arrested.

According to a police report, a 12-year old girl was missing from Safford, Ariz., and this driver stated that he saw a male and female walking on the side of Hwy 78 (Mule Creek area) toward the Arizona border. The witness stated that he thought the two matched a description of an Amber Alert that had come from Arizona the day before.

The deputy drove toward the last sighting and made contact with the male and the young girl. After a quick investigation, it was determined that in fact this was the 12-year old girl that was missing from Safford. Halamek was placed under investigative detention and transported to the Grant County Sheriffs Department, while the girl was taken to Gila Regional Medical Center where she was treated and released.

Halamek was then arrested on a warrant out of Graham County Arizona for Custodial Interference which is a Class 3 felony in Arizona. The bond was set at $100,000. He was transported to the Grant County Detention Center where he will remain until he is extradited to Arizona.

The suspects vehicle was located in the area and taken into evidence, Lt. Fermin Lopez of the Grant County Sheriffs Department said. This investigation is ongoing. Our investigators as well as Graham County investigators are working together to determine if any other crimes were committed.

The Amber Alert was issued after the 12-year old girl was reported missing Monday. She was last seen when she left her Arizona home at around 6:30 a.m., headed to a school bus stop.



2016 the Silver City Sun-News (Silver City, N.M.)

Visit the Silver City Sun-News (Silver City, N.M.) at www.scsun-news.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

_____
A 59-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman, both from McKinley County, have confirmed hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, marking the seventh and eighth cases in the state this year.

Both patients are hospitalized, the New Mexico Department of Health said in a news release Thursday.

Hantavirus infection is a deadly disease transmitted by infected rodents through urine, droppings or saliva, health officials said. People contract it often through inhalation when cleaning up rodent droppings and nesting materials. The deer mouse is the main carrier for Sin Nombre virus, the hantavirus strain found in New Mexico.

As it starts to get cold in the fall, deer mice try and enter our homes for both food and shelter, Dr. Paul Ettestad, the departments public health veterinarian, said in a statement. Deer mice can get through a hole the size of a dime, so it is important to look around your home and close up any openings that the mice can use to get inside.

State health officials urge the public and health care workers to know the symptoms. Early symptoms of hantavirus include fever and muscle aches, possibly with chills, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain, and cough, which progresses to respiratory distress, the health department said.

Symptoms develop within one to six weeks after rodent exposure.

There is no specific treatment for HPS, but chances for recovery are better if medical attention is sought early, they said.

Prevention steps include: air out closed-up buildings before entering; trap mice until they are all gone; clean up nests and droppings using a disinfectant; dont sweep up rodent droppings into the air where they can be inhaled; put hay, wood and compost piles as far as possible from your home; get rid of trash and junk piles; and dont leave your pets food and water where mice can get to it.

Of the six previous cases, four people died from the disease.

For more information about Hantavirus, visit http://nmhealth.org/about/erd/ideb/zdp/hps/.
BEIRUT  Russia said the Syrian army was suspending combat operations in Aleppo late Thursday to allow for the evacuation of civilians from besieged rebel-held neighborhoods, but residents and fighters reported no let-up in the bombing and shelling campaign on the oppositions ever-shrinking enclave.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking in Germany after talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, said military experts and diplomats would meet Saturday in Geneva to work out details of the rebels exit from Aleppos eastern neighborhoods, along with civilians who were willing to leave the city.

Lavrov said the Syrian army suspended combat action late Thursday to allow some 8,000 civilians to leave the city in a convoy spreading across a five-kilometer (three-mile) route. However, opposition activists said there was no halt to the government offensive.

Battles are intense, said a message from a rebel operation room shared with The Associated Press. Other residents reported warplanes firing from machine guns at rebel positions and artillery shells falling in the remaining rebel-controlled districts.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said the U.S. was focused on de-escalating the violence in Aleppo to allow aid into the city and enable people wishing to stay in their homes to do so.

She said Kerry and Lavrov continued talks on Thursday with the goal of securing a cease-fire and the safe departure of those who wish to leave the city. She said details of Saturdays U.S.-Russian technical discussions in Geneva were still being worked out.

Earlier, in Geneva, U.N. special adviser Jan Egeland said efforts to evacuate hundreds of wounded people from eastern Aleppo had stalled following a deadly attack this week on a Russian military hospital that left two Russian nurses dead and a doctor seriously wounded.

It is with bitterness and frustration that we have to report that we have not been able even to evacuate the wounded, Egeland said. The member states that are supposed to help us get access to civilians in the cross-fire are poles apart in how they regard what is happening in Syria.

He said Syrian President Bashar Assads government had authorized U.N.-organized aid shipments into eastern Aleppo for the first time. However, he provided no details about how the aid might get in or where it would go, and past agreements have fallen through before any aid could be delivered.

Medical officials in the enclave issued a passionate plea for a cease-fire.

Aleppo is finished. There is nothing left except a few residents and bricks, Mohammed Abu Jaafar, the head of the eastern Aleppo forensic authority, said in a recorded message shared with reporters. This may be my last call.

By early afternoon, Abu Jaafar said 14 bodies had arrived at his facility from all over eastern Aleppo, although a comprehensive death toll for the day was not possible because of the intense fighting. Residents described streets littered with bodies as ambulances and rescue workers struggled to keep up.

The rebel defenses have buckled amid the wide-ranging government offensive, which opened a number of fronts at once and was preceded by an intensive aerial campaign. More than three-quarters of the rebel sector has now fallen, including the symbolically important ancient Aleppo quarters. More than 30,000 of the estimated 275,000 residents of the besieged eastern enclave have fled to western Aleppo.

The Syrian government has dismissed a proposal for a cease-fire put forward by the rebels Wednesday.

In comments published Thursday in the state-owned al-Watan newspaper, Assad in said he would no longer consider truce offers, adding that such proposals, particularly by the Americans, often come when the rebels are in a difficult spot.

That is why we hear wailing and screaming and pleas for truces as the only political discourse now, Assad said.

He said that while a victory by Syrian government forces in the battle for Aleppo would be a big gain, it will not end the countrys civil war.

Liberating Aleppo from the terrorists deals a blow to the whole foundation of this project, he said. But he added, to be realistic, it doesnt mean the end of the war.

On Thursday, opposition activists reported intensive bombing in the al-Sukkari and Kallaseh neighborhoods still under rebel control.

Al-Sukkari is in the southern part of eastern Aleppo, an area that has become home to the majority of the displaced civilians who stayed behind; Kallaseh is near the Old City. Footage by the Syrian military showed intensive shelling of Bustan al-Qasr, a frontline neighborhood that links the rebel-held eastern and government-controlled western parts of the divided city.

The International Committee for the Red Cross said that it had evacuated 148 disabled civilians and others in need of urgent care from a facility in Aleppos Old City after fighting calmed down there.

The evacuation, undertaken jointly with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, was completed late Wednesday, the Red Cross said in a statement. The people had been trapped in a facility that was originally a home for the elderly and included mentally and physically disabled patients, as well as injured civilians who had sought refuge there.

They were forgotten, said Pawel Krzysiek, the agencys communication coordinator in Damascus. The evacuees were taken to a hospital and shelters in the western, government-held part of Aleppo.

___

Isachenkov reported from Moscow. Associated Press writers Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow, Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Bradley Klapper in Washington contributed to this report.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.  The Colorado State Patrol is apologizing after a convoy delivering a flag to the funeral of a trooper hit and killed by a driver reached speeds around 100 mph.

A patrol cruiser escorted a private vehicle holding the flag, which travels to law enforcement funerals around the country, from New Mexico to suburban Denver last week. The driver of that vehicle, Chris Heisler, broadcast video from a dashcam camera and shared GPS information.

The footage shows the cruiser weaving between lanes, with some drivers struggling to get out of its way.

Heisler told KOAA-TV (http://bit.ly/2h9W1kU ) that the flag has to get to funerals as quickly as possible and hes never had an accident escorting the flag.

Patrol Chief Scott Hernandez says the troopers behavior was unacceptable and said an internal investigation is underway.

___

Information from: KOAA-TV, http://www.koaa.com
CORDELL, Okla.  The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation says a Colorado man has been killed in shooting in western Oklahoma.

The OSBI says 78-year-old Roy Lee Weeaks died at a hospital Wednesday where he was taken following the shooting at a home in Cordell.

The agency says Weeaks was apparently arguing with another man when the second man told Weeaks to leave the property. The OSBI says both men produced guns and Weeaks was shot.

The second mans name has not been released and the OSBI says a report will be given to the district attorney, who will decide whether the shooting was justified.
Daniel Sena, a Santa Fe native, was named as executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in Washington on Thursday, marking the first time that a Hispanic has held the job.

Sena was tapped for the influential post by Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, who will serve a second term as chairman of the DCCC in the next Congress. The move puts two New Mexicans in charge of the Democratic strategy to gain U.S. House seats in the 2018 mid-term elections.

Sena, 41, managed Sen. Tom Udalls successful 2014 Senate campaign and was serving as the DCCCs deputy executive director, with a focus on data and analytics, prior to Thursdays announcement. Under Senas leadership, the DCCCs data and analytics team doubled in size from a dozen to 24, making it the second largest department at the political organization. Lujan described his new top lieutenant as aggressive, hardworking and inclusive in a statement released by the DCCC on Thursday.

Dan has a proven record in the toughest of House and statewide races, from West Virginia and Missouri to Nevada and New Mexico, Lujan said. He has modernized our data and voter contact programs, thanks to his unique ability to do a deep dive into district data and demographics, while also being able to translate that into action.

I know he will excel in protecting incumbents, working with members and candidates, and going on offense to hold House Republicans accountable in 2018, Lujan added.

For his part, Sena said it was a great honor and privilege to be asked to lead the DCCC in this exciting and challenging role. In the coming months, Sena will be responsible for helping Lujan devise a strategy to whittle away at what is now a 24-seat GOP majority in the House.

The DCCC is already getting to work, focused on protecting all members of the Democratic Caucus in their reelections, finding new opportunities for gains in our battlefield and taking on House Republicans starting day one, Sena said. We know that the House is where the fight will be this cycle in order to put a check on Republicans, and Im excited to take on this important responsibility.
The wave of populism that fueled Brexit, the rise of Donald Trump and the fall of Italian leader Matteo Renzi has reached South Korea, where street protesters see Fridays parliamentary vote to impeach President Park Geun-hye as a step toward toppling the establishment she symbolizes.

Hundreds of thousands of students and workers, young and old, have filled thoroughfares in Seoul and South Koreas major cities with candlelit protests since an influence-peddling scandal involving the president erupted in October. Slogans and banners demand not only her ouster, but also the breakup of the ruling party and the family-run chaebol conglomerates they call accomplices.

With revelations linking the executive office to the chaebol, South Korean voters have decried the ties that once underpinned the nations rapid growth. Park, whose single, five-year term would end in early 2018, and the wealthy families that dominate the economy have come under fire from opposition lawmakers as income inequality widens, youth unemployment soars and the nations once-mighty steel mills and shipyards languish.

Its our fury against the establishment that burns in those candles, said Lee Hyung-jin, a labor activist leading rallies in the southeastern city of Ulsan, home to a cluster of embattled shipbuilders. If the opposition fails to impeach Park, it will prove they, too, are part of the establishment that betrayed us and served Park. Protests may turn violent.

Sustained public anger among the 50-million population could mean that outsiders rise in the next election. If Park is impeached, and parliaments decision is legalized by the constitutional court, then an election would be held within eight months at most from now. The president said last month she would let parliament decide her fate and is prepared to step down.

The 121 lawmakers of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea pledged Thursday to resign if they fail to pass the bill  heeding a call from Moon Jae-in, the front-runner in presidential polls  according to party chief Choo Mi-ae. The party earlier withdrew a proposal to form a coalition government and hold talks with Park after mass rallies criticized it for being too slow to impeach her.

The impeachment bill requires support from two-thirds of the 300-member parliament. A faction within the ruling party has pledged to support the motion, providing just enough votes to pass it. The passage would suspend Park from power and give interim leadership to Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn until the constitutional court rules within 180 days.

Public support to topple Park was 78 percent, according to a Realmeter survey released a day before the vote. Her approval rating stayed at 4 percent, a Gallup Korea survey last week showed.

On Saturday, for the first time since Park apologized in October for involving her friend, Choi Soon-sil, in state affairs, dozens of protesters in Seoul brought flaming torches instead of candles and carried cutouts of Park wearing blue prisoners garb, her hands tied with ropes.

The protests are the largest in the country since 1987, when South Koreans mobilized against a military junta to achieve direct presidential elections. Last week the rallies drew 320,000 people in Seoul alone, according to police. Organizers put the number at 1.7 million.

Demonstrators have also gathered near the National Assembly, throwing eggs at the ruling Saenuri partys building and ripping apart a giant flag bearing the partys name. On Tuesday, some activists scuffled with bodyguards of chaebol executives as the leaders of business groups including Samsung and Hyundai walked into parliament to face questioning over whether the conglomerates were involved in the corruption scandal.

The chaebol leaders, including Jay Y. Lee of Samsung Electronics Co., denied at Tuesdays parliamentary hearing that they sought political favors in exchange of the tens of millions of dollars they donated to foundations controlled by Parks friend Choi.

Populism feeds into the Korean tradition of political street protests when politicians do stupid things, said Robert Kelly, a political science professor at South Koreas Pusan National University. The chaebol elite and political elite in Korea are much too close. The Park administration has made it very obvious that corruption in Korea is probably the single biggest political issue.

One outsider who has benefited from the turmoil is Lee Jae-myung, a straight-talking 52-year-old city mayor who was one of the first people to call for impeachment. While Park said she regretted hearing young people label their nation hell for economic hardships, Lee has roused crowds at rallies, calling for a revolutionary change to overhaul the economy.

What is the root of all this turmoil? Its chaebol, Lee told a crowd at last weeks rally, after protesters chanted his name until he came out to address them. Chaebol can use their money, which is the One Ring in this capitalist society, to corrupt everyone, he said, alluding to a symbol of power in the popular Lord of the Rings movie series.

A Bloomberg News survey of analysts projects South Koreas economy will expand 2.7 percent this year, marking the first five-year run of sub-3.5 percent growth since the 1950-53 Korean War.

Lee, the only one so far to declare his candidacy for the election, has risen to third place in polls and threatens to overtake United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in second place, who will return home after his term ends this year.

Protests will continue whether the impeachment bill passes or not, organizers said. Even if parliament agrees to sanction Park, demonstrators are unlikely to let up until the court agrees to her impeachment.

Other political neophytes include Park Won-soon, a former civic activist who was elected Seoul mayor in 2011, and Ahn Cheol-soo, a software tycoon-turned-politician whose party was just three months old when it won 38 seats in April elections. Both Ahn and Park have criticized the chaebols dominance in the economy.

Those business groups, which make everything from chewing gum to supertankers, smartphones and SUVs, are the bedrock of Asias fourth-largest economy  monster business empires that were fostered in the 1960s and 1970s by Parks father, the dictator Park Chung-hee.

The political-business ties he forged to build the nations shattered economy made the nation a success story in Asia, spawning global brands in electronics, auto-making and shipping. But as competition from China intensified, the effectiveness of the model and its benefit to ordinary Koreans has come increasingly into question.

Democratic Party heavyweight Moon, who would face Lee in a preliminary if he also announced his candidacy, began a nationwide campaign to oust Park and warned the constitutional court that it would be directly challenging the public if it ruled against impeaching the president.

Parliaments impeachment vote on Friday is a verdict on the nations entrenched elite, said Rhee Cheol-hee, a Democratic Party lawmaker. The protests are an act of popular democracy and this is their fight against an establishment that has neglected them.



Bloombergs Jiyeun Lee contributed.

skorea-populism
New Mexicos first bed and brew moved one step closer to reality on Thursday despite some neighbors objections to the project.

The City of Albuquerques Environmental Planning Commission unanimously approved Jesse Herrons request to rezone his Sawmill residence for use as a boarding or lodging establishment that can sell beer or wine for on-premise consumption. Herron has proposed opening Painted Lady Bed & Brew at his property near Bellamah and 12th, offering two of the triplexs units for guest rental while living in the other. Under a specialized, $100-a-year bed and breakfast liquor license from the state  one that still needs city approval  he could sell each guest up to two servings of beer or wine per day. The idea is to shift the typical bed and breakfast concept; rather than breakfast, Herron would offer an evening session focused on local beer. Herron plans to market the site as a starting point for visitors eager to explore the citys craft beer scene, noting there are six breweries or taprooms within a 15-minute walk. Several brewery owners wrote the city in support of the project, as did Tania Armenta, president and CEO of Visit Albuquerque, and the president of the Wells Park Neighborhood Association.

But four opponents addressed the commission, questioning whether they had been properly notified and expressing concerns about the potential for increased activity and alcohol use. One nearby property owner, Lee Amador said the area is already inundated  with liquor people. Another argued Painted Lady did not jibe with the sector plan and questioned its value.

Theres not anything innovative about this, and Wells Park has more than its fair share of breweries and craft beer, Bianca Encinias said. The new cool in this city right now is taking care of our children, ensuring safety, building community by knowing our neighbors and showing our children healthy lifestyles and how to make healthy choices. Thats the new cool.

But city planning staff testified the notification was proper and that the project met the requirements for a zone change.

Herron also tried to allay some concerns by calling it a boutique operation  the two units have a capacity for six people  and offering to sit down with neighbors to answer their questions.

I dont want them to be stressed about it, I dont want them to be thinking they have to move now; thats not the case, he said. It is so small in nature.

The commission voted unanimously for the zone change and several expressed support of the project.

I appreciate the neighbors keeping a hawkish eye on a beautiful spot in Albuquerque, but revitalization always requires change and change requires vision, and I think this is a great little use for a unique property, said Commissioner Bill McCoy III.
WASHINGTON  Sen. Harry Reid bid farewell to the Senate Thursday after 30 years in the chamber and more than a decade as top Democrat, a remarkable run during which he shepherded key Obama administration legislation including the sweeping health care law.

But Reid leaves with his Democrats stuck in the minority despite his best efforts, and Republicans and President-elect Donald Trump making plans to repeal President Barack Obamas signature law as their first order of business next year.

In an uncharacteristically lengthy and personal farewell speech on the Senate floor, Reid warned of a new gilded age ahead and lamented how the Senate has changed. He cautioned colleagues to temper use of the filibuster, otherwise, it will be gone.

I hope that everyone would do everything they can to protect the Senate as an institution, he said. As part of our Constitution, it should be given the dignity it deserves.

Later, at a ceremony to unveil his portrait, Reid was lauded by Vice President Joe Biden and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, as well as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Reids successor as Senate Minority Leader, New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer. The audience was full of political leaders past and present, from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obamas first chief of staff, to former Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, who retired after criticism for supporting the health care law.

Reid recognized both as he spoke of a high point of his Senate career, that first congressional term under Obama, when Democrats briefly commanded control of the House and a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. That allowed them to push through a raft of legislation including the economic stimulus, the health care bill and a financial overhaul.

Reid declared it the most productive legislative session in history. We worked so hard. We delivered big-time, he recollected.

One by one, Biden, Clinton and the rest paid tribute to the soft-spoken, stoop-shouldered Reid, a taciturn master of the inside game, whose legislative prowess was responsible for all those victories and more.

Thats you, Harry  always, always, there, Biden said.

Clinton, making her first visit to Capitol Hill since losing the presidential race, said of Reids new portrait: The more fitting portrait will be the one that goes in the dictionary next to the word fighter.'

And an emotional Schumer added: I am telling you there is no one, no one, no one, better to have in your corner.

The portrait, painted by a young artist, Gavin Glakas, who once worked on Reids staff, shows the senator in a typical posture: seated at his desk at work.

Earlier, the 77-year-old gold miners son from tiny Searchlight, Nevada, reminisced about rising from a hardscrabble beginning to the heights of Capitol Hill and his dream job serving as Obamas point man in Congress.

Reids mother took in laundry from the towns brothels; his father shot and killed himself. Yet Reid said there was happiness in his childhood, even if he and his siblings games included tossing rocks at the tin siding on the latrine when his mother was inside.

He boasted of graduating in the top third of his elementary school class  of six  and of his proudest moment  buying his mother a new set of teeth.

Reid never mentioned Trump, whom he had railed against endlessly in the run-up to the election. Earlier Thursday, in an interview on NPR, Reid remarked of Trump: I have to say this  hes not as bad as I thought he would be.

Reid brought home major benefits to Nevada, funding countless projects, blocking a nuclear waste dump and helping protect many thousands of acres of wilderness. Thanks to Reid, Nevada was a bright spot in Democrats electoral wipe-out last month. Clinton won the state, and Reid ensured a Democratic successor, Catherine Cortez Masto, who will be the first Latina senator.

Reid talked about doing battle with coal companies trying to expand operations in Nevada, and in a line that could sum up many of his encounters, he said: They tried. I won. They lost.

I love the Senate, I care about it so very, very much, Reid said with his wife, Landra, and many of his five children and 19 grandchildren looking down from the gallery.

Following him on the Senate floor, Reids home-state colleague Republican Dean Heller said: Its been said that its better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both. And as me and my colleagues here today and those in the gallery probably agree with me, no individual in American politics embodies that sentiment today more than my colleague from Nevada, Harry Mason Reid.
The good news for Donald Trump: A lot fewer people think youll be a disaster as president than used to think that!

The bad news: People dont like what theyve seen so far. And even members of your own party continue to harbor major concerns about the man theyve just elected.

A new poll from the Pew Research Center shows sharp drops  across the political spectrum  when it comes to those predicting the worst for Trumps presidency. While in October 9 in 10 Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters said Trump would be a poor or terrible president, just 64 percent say that today. Among Republicans, that number has declined from 30 percent in March to just 10 percent today.

Clearly the doomsday scenarios have faded in peoples minds.

But the same poll suggests Trump isnt getting great reviews so far and still has plenty to prove. It also suggests people still want him to change.

Overall, just 26 percent of Americans say Trump is a good role model, and more than 6 in 10 say hes reckless and has poor judgment. Fully 36 percent of Republicans and GOP-leaning voters continue to describe Trump as reckless, and 34 percent still say he has poor judgment. Only 52 percent say hes a good role model. Those numbers are basically where they were before, if a touch better. And many of these are people who voted for Trump, mind you.

In addition, Trump continues to lag far behind his predecessors on his approval rating and views of his transition process so far.

Pew shows just 40 percent of people say they approve of the choices Trump has to fill out his Cabinet and his administration. That process has featured a number of controversial picks, including Trumps picks to serve as attorney general, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and national security adviser, retired general Michael Flynn, along with his decision to tap other very wealthy people for many posts.

And just 41 percent approve of the job Trump has done explaining his agenda. Both of those are significantly lower than the last four presidents were at this point, none of which fell below a majority on either of those measures. And as recently as 2008, 7 in 10 approved of President-elect Obama on both counts, so its not like this is just a new reality of our partisan era; its apparently specific to Trump.

The data also shows that a majority of Americans  54 percent  still say Trump has done too little to distance himself from white nationalist groups. This number includes 31 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters. This, of course, could owe to the controversy over another Trump pick, chief strategist Stephen Bannon, and Bannons ties to the so-called alt-right.

This number speaks to very real lingering concerns about President-elect Trumps character and ability to be an effective president in spite of it. So does the fact that people have been urging Trump to be more cautious post-election, both on and off Twitter.

Trump has certainly enjoyed a bit of a honeymoon period as president-elect, and his approval rating has risen just as we expected it would. But that measure can also be pretty superficial. Even President Barack Obama has urged us to give Trump a chance, after all. And it seems Americans are heeding that advice.

But as for all the character flaws and liabilities that Trump demonstrated on the campaign trail? To many Americans, theyre all still very much there. And even many Republicans continue to hold on to those reservations. Whats more, little theyve seen Trump produce thus far has truly given them reason to applaud. Trump won 46 percent of the vote, but his favorable rating was generally closer to 40 percent. The numbers suggest hes still stuck around 40 percent, for all intents and purposes.

trump-poll
PHOENIX  A man suspected of assaulting a woman has been arrested after evading Maricopa County Sheriffs deputies in Litchfield Park.

They say 24-year-old Devante Snead has been booked into jail on suspicion of aggravated assault, kidnapping, sexual assault, theft of means of transportation, unlawful flight from law enforcement and criminal damage charges.

A woman says she was in her vehicle Wednesday afternoon with her Snead and was trying to break up with him.

She says Snead became violent and allegedly struck her in the face and held a knife to her throat.

The woman was able to contact the sheriffs office and give authorities a description of Snead and his vehicle.

Deputies located the vehicle in a business parking lot and the pursuit ended when Sneads car crashed into a fence.
WASHINGTON  If President-elect Donald Trump is going to go line by line through the Pentagons budget looking for waste, the first place Rep. Jackie Speier thinks he should examine is the Littoral Combat Ship program.

When the program began some 15 years ago, the Navy planned on purchasing 55 ships for $220 million each. But now with repeated problems, cost overruns and delays, it plans to buy 40 ships, each costing $478 million, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Speier, who called the ship a dud at House Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday, isnt the only one taking aim at the program. Earlier this month, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said it is an unfortunate, yet all too common example of defense acquisition gone awry.

Bashing contractors and service secretaries for cost overruns is a longstanding tradition on Capitol Hill, a rite of passage thats part accountability and part political theater. But Trumps election, and his vows the further scrutinize major defense acquisition programs, have sent shock waves through the industrial base-and the politicians who represent the districts where those programs produce jobs.

Earlier this week, Trump tweeted that the cost of buying a pair of new presidential planes known as Air Force was too high, and that the order with Boeing should be canceled. His spokesman said it was a warning that Trump planned to focus on keeping costs down across the board with regard to government spending.

The Air Force One program has only just begun, and is still in the development stages. So, unlike the Littoral Combat Ship, it hasnt had a chance to have any cost overruns yet, Todd Harrison an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The ship, known as the LCS, could offer an early test of Trumps views. Defense analysts think the program could figure prominently since Trump has said he wants to strengthen the military, and increase the size of the Navys fleet to 350 ships. But it also is the kind of program that could draw scrutiny.

Programs that have had cost problems or performance problems are going to be subject to renegotiation, said Bryan Clark, a defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. The LCS program is tailor-made for the new administration to revisit.

Thats because, like many major Pentagon weapons systems, from aircraft carriers to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, its had all sorts of cost and schedule problems. The ship comes in two variants, one thats more narrow and able to maneuver quickly, another that has a larger deck for manned and unmanned aircraft. The prime contractor on the former is Lockheed Martin, the latter is Austal, which took the program over from General Dynamics.

LCSs failure followed predictably from an inability to define and stabilize requirements, unrealistic initial cost estimates, and unreliable assessments of technical and integration risk made worse by repeatedly buying ships and mission packages before proving they are effective and can be operated together, McCain said.

Speier, D-Calif., pointed to multiple engine failures, cracks in the hull, software malfunctions, and said, we have a ship that the Chinese dont even want to copy.

J. Michael Gilmore, the Pentagons director of operational test and evaluation, said that as part of his offices review of the ship it surveyed many of the sailors charged with testing the ships capabilities. And he read aloud some of those comments Thursday. The tasking would be easier to complete if the equipment didnt constantly break, he read. As equipment breaks we are required to fix without any training.

Then he told the congressional panel, Those are not my words. Those are the words of the sailors who are doing the best they could to accomplish the mission we gave them in the testing.

At the Senate hearing earlier this month, Paul Francis, the managing director of acquisition and sourcing management at the GAO, said that the Pentagon has 26 ships under contract and we still dont know if the LCS can do its job.

Sean Stackley, the Navys assistant secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and acquisition, said the experience of the LCS, it broke the Navy. But he said that in more recent years, the program has stabilized and we retooled the entire way we do business when it comes to acquisition programs. And I think we are trying to pull best practices in.

Program managers are pretty much under a microscope right now and Navy officials have made it clear you dont get to ignore cost while youre chasing a requirement.

Vice Admiral Thomas Rowden told the House committee Thursday that the Navy is already seeing the benefits of our new approach on the waterfront. The ships have spent 500 days at sea, testing with other nations and performing humanitarian and relief operations, he said.

The ship works, Stackley said. We have reliability issues. Well get through those, but the ship works.

Gilmore said he was pleased top Navy officials are taking a more aggressive approach.

Im glad the Navy is now acknowledging many of these problems, he said. But in the past that hasnt always been true.

navy-ship
Erin Darke makes a lasting impression on Good Girls Revolt, the late 60s-era drama that premiered on Amazon in October.

Darke plays Cindy Reston, a researcher at the fictional magazine News of the Week, where women are relegated to assisting their male colleagues and never receive bylines. The show is based on Lynn Povichs book of the same name, which recalled the lawsuit Povich and other women launched against Newsweek in 1970. In the pilot, Cindy wistfully declares that her husband has given her one year to work before they start their family.

Over the course of 10 episodes, she and her peers attend consciousness-raising meetings and become more aware of the repeated slights and sexual harassment they encounter every day. Meanwhile, Cindy discovers a hole in her diaphragm (courtesy of her husband), begins an affair with a male colleague who turns out to be a cad, faces physical violence from her husband and uses alcohol to cope with the turmoil.

Amazon announced last week that it would not be moving forward with a second season  a rather shocking move considering the generally favorable buzz around the show. And since Amazon, like Netflix, doesnt make viewership numbers public, its unclear whether ratings even factored into the decision. (Disclosure: Amazon founder and chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

According to the Hollywood Reporter, several other networks are vying to pick up the drama for a second season. Darke spoke to The Washington Post before Amazons announcement, but has since joined her co-stars in tweeting with the hashtag #SaveGoodGirlsRevolt, and she sent a follow-up statement via email on Amazons decision.

Q: Whats your response to Amazons decision not to move forward with Season 2?

A: I am shocked and saddened by Amazons decision not to renew Good Girls Revolt.I have been deeply affected by living in Cindys skin, telling this story and I am honored to have represented the journey of the real women of Newsweek in 1970. It seems like now, more than ever, we need stories like this. Stories about women finding their strength and community. Stories about standing up for equality. I hope that another network recognizes the desire for these voices and gives the show a new home. Regardless of what happens, it has been my privilege to be a part of this show.

Q: At a recent NPR panel, you recalled having gone in for a particularly demeaning audition (for another project). Do you think being in this feminist-minded series has made you more attuned to sexism in the acting industry?

A: I think I am more attuned. I am (also) just finding myself less able to put up with it. I think there are very few women (in acting) that are not aware of it and that dont have those auditions where you go in and sort of just feel like crap about having even gone in  when you feel like you are having to swallow your pride to audition for something.

Q: You also said that you were planning a consciousness-raising meeting of your own. Did the show inspire that?

A: I was very inspired by the show. It was the day after the election. I was feeling really awful. I had gone to one of the protests and been talking to a few friends of mine. I got home and was like, What can I do to promote community and a sense of community action? And so I just sent out an email to like 25 women I know in the city.

I think its one of the parts of the show that I found myself the most inspired by. We would film those scenes and there was part of me that would be like, Why dont we do this anymore? This is a beautiful thing.

Q: Were you surprised by how heavy Cindys story got?

A: I would say that Jane (Anna Camp) is probably the character that has the farthest to go mentally in her journey, but Cindy was was already in the life that she was realizing that she didnt want. And so to break out of that  even just the logistics of it, the mental journey that you have to go on for that, I think I always knew that it was not going to be an easy one .

Shes also an alcoholic. Shes dealing with these giant life decisions and isnt even always dealing with them in a clear mind, so I wasnt surprised necessarily by the direction that her arc went and how rough it got at periods.

As an actor, I was really excited about it. As a human being, it was hard to watch and play sometimes.

Q: In the last episode, Cindy finally leaves her husband after he slaps her. That must have been a difficult scene to film.

A: That one was rough to film, but Ill be honest  at that point, I was so happy to know that this was the scene where she was finally going to leave him. I was actually so excited about filming that scene. Even though its such a horrible moment that leads to that, I so fell in love with Cindy and spent the whole season just being like, Why doesnt she leave him?

The scenes that were actually the hardest for me were the scene at Pattys birthday party, where (Cindy) gets drunk and announces that Lenny (her husband) put a hole in her diaphragm. No body really stands by her in that moment. And then the scene at the end of that episode where she goes back to him. T hat broke my heart to do. And I had to go to the writers and be like, Please promise me that shes going to leave later.

Q: You said you fell in love with Cindy  do you feel a stronger attachment to this character than you have to others?

A: I absolutely do. This is the first time that Ive done a TV series. So its the first time Ive spent 10 hours worth of material, four months in one persons skin. And that definitely contributed, but I also just think theres something about Cindy  this beautiful, lost girl trying to find her strength, that I just have such empathy for. And shes also kind of little bit of an oddball. I just love her.

Q: If the show is picked up for a second season, where would you like to see Cindys story go?

A: I hope that she deals with her alcohol problem. I also am very interested in seeing  at the end of the first season we saw her make the decision to leave Lenny, but the actual logistics of that in 1970 for a woman were not an easy thing  how a woman actually extricates herself from that and figures out how to live on her own.

The thing about Cindy is shes never even had her own apartment. She went straight from her parents to college to marrying Lenny. Im really interested to see her learn how to take responsiblity for herself completely.

tv-goodgirls-qanda
WASHINGTON  The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly passed the annual defense policy bill, sending the $618.7 billion must-pass measure to the White House for the presidents signature.

The legislation, directing funding toward Pentagon programs and military operations, was approved on a 92 to 7 vote.

House and Senate negotiators locked horns for months over several controversial proposals that stalled the bill, preventing it from being completed before lawmakers headed home in the fall to campaign ahead of the election. But the bulk of those measures  such as a requirement that women register for a potential draft, a waiver allowing federal contractors to make religious-based hiring decisions and a prohibition on listing the sage grouse as an endangered species  were left out of the final legislation.

The defense package, which the House approved by a 375 to 34 vote last week, still contains a few provisions likely to rankle the White House: It shrinks the size of the National Security Council from 400 to 200 staff positions and taps a war funding account to authorize $3.2 billion above the amount lawmakers agreed to last year as part of a two-year budget deal.

The White House has not threatened to veto the legislation.

The defense policy bill directs funding toward improving military readiness, increasing the size of the services and reconfiguring acquisition programs. But it also leaves a great deal of decision-making authority in the hands of the Pentagon, particularly on issues governing where military aid dollars will be spent and how new defense priorities, such as an expanded authority to pursue missile defense, will be implemented.

Many of the provisions in the bill respond to requests made by President Barack Obamas Defense Department  but it will be primarily up to President-elect Donald Trump to decide how to use them. In some instances, Trumps global stance may not line up with authorities granted under the bill. For example, Congress has provided millions in lethal aid to Ukraine to help the government in its war against Russian-backed separatists. The Obama administration never took advantage of that authority and Trumps stated affinity toward Russia may make him loath to act where the Obama did not. The bill also gives Trump the authority to send surface-to-air missiles to help Syrian fighters  but during the campaign, Trump expressed a preference for getting out of Syria, not getting more involved in its ongoing civil war.

Defense hawks on the Hill are also waiting to see if Trumps Pentagon will underwrite many of the defense projects that have eluded them under the Obama administration  or if the concerns of deficit hawks will trump the GOPs affinity for building up defense spending. How that plays out will depend in large part on whether the Trump administration and GOP-led Congress are able to work out a deal to get rid of the budget caps, known as sequestration, that have kept defense spending in check the last few years.

defense
Opioid deaths continued to surge in 2015, surpassing 30,000 for the first time in recent history, according to CDC data released Thursday.

That marks an increase of nearly 5,000 deaths from 2014. Deaths involving powerful synthetic opiates, like fentanyl, rose by nearly 75 percent from 2014 to 2015.

Heroin deaths spiked too, rising by more than 2,000 cases. For the first time since at least the late 1990s, there were more deaths due to heroin than to traditional opioid painkillers, like hydrocodone and oxycodone.

In the CDCs opioid death data, deaths may involve more than one individual drug category. Many opioid fatalities involve a combination of drugs, often multiple types of opioids, or opioids in conjunction with other sedative drugs like alcohol.

In a grim milestone, more people died from heroin-related causes than from gun homicides in 2015. As recently as 2007, gun homicides outnumbered heroin deaths by more than five to one.

These increases come amidst a year-over-year increase in mortality across the board, resulting in the first decline in American life expectancy since 1993.

Congress recently passed a spending bill containing $1 billion to combat the opioid epidemic, including money for addiction treatment and prevention.

Much of the current opioid predicament stems from the explosion of prescription painkiller use in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Widespread painkiller use led to many Americans developing dependencies on the drugs. When various authorities at the state and federal level began issuing tighter restrictions on painkillers in the late 2000s, much of that demand shifted over to the illicit market, feeding the heroin boom of the past several years.

Drug policy reformers say the criminalization of illicit and off-label drug use is a barrier to reversing the growing epidemic.

Criminalization drives people to the margins and dissuades them from getting help, said Grant Smith, deputy director of national affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance. It drives a wedge between people who need help and the services they need. Because of criminalization and stigma, people hide their addictions from others.

heroin
The Angel Capital Association worked over the Thanksgiving holiday to put together its wish list for President-elect Donald Trump.

Its four-page letter was full of regulatory tweaks and legislative items that the niche group of wealthy investors hoped the new administration could deliver. The investor group also urged the nomination of two new Securities and Exchange Commission members, and it had the perfect candidate to suggest: Joe Wallin, a member of its public policy council.

We anticipate that the people on the transition team will be inundated with ideas and proposals as well as names, said Linda Smith, vice president of the Angel Capital Association, whose members help finance fledgling companies. We wanted to get on the radar screen.

The election of Trump has set off a tsunami of lobbying activity by companies eager to cash in on the inauguration of the nations businessman president. For executives who had been bracing for the tough-minded plans of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Trump holds out the promise of stripping away regulations, appointing business-friendly officials and overhauling the tax code in ways that could benefit their enterprises.

I would say that for a majority of the sectors out there, this was a surprise and not the bet they made on the election outcome, said Bob Wood, president of government affairs at the lobbying firm Barbour, Griffith and Rogers. Almost across the board there was a sigh of relief.

That relief has quickly turned to action. Trade groups are revising their priority lists. Republican lobbyists are suddenly in greater demand. And everyone is trying to figure out who will matter most in the emerging Trump administration.

One thing seems certain: With Republicans in charge of the House, the Senate and the executive branch, much of the action will probably move back to Congress after eight years of legislative gridlock. And that holds out potential benefits and dangers as interest groups jockey to insert possibly lucrative items into comprehensive bills on health care, taxes, financial reform and other budget items.

Were trying to figure out how to manage expectations, said John Feehery, director of government affairs at Quinn Gillespie & Associates, a leading lobbying firm. But understand that we are not going to have an administration that has a disgust and dislike for the business community.

The supplicants are many. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which includes a dozen major carmakers, sent a memo to the Trump transition team two days after the election, pressing for a rollback in fuel efficiency standards that President Barack Obama set at the beginning of his term.

The letter said its members wanted the Trump administration to harmonize and adjust the fuel-efficiency standards that it said pose a substantial challenge to the auto sector due to the steeper compliance requirements for model years 2017-2025. The Obama administration has just reaffirmed its mileage targets, saying the industry is ahead of schedule and possesses the technology to go further.

The health-care industry  encompassing doctors, hospitals, health services and pharmaceuticals, which collectively spend about half a billion dollars a year on lobbying  is eager to capitalize on Trumps early vow to abolish Obamas Affordable Care Act and his later pledge to keep parts of it.

The device tax, the health insurance tax, the Cadillac tax  certainly all those are on the chopping blocks, said Wood, the lobbyist. Those items  the tax on medical devices, penalties for not signing up for insurance and a surcharge on especially generous employer plans  were central to Obamas effort to raise revenue to deliver affordable coverage to the millions of uninsured Americans.

The health-care industry, like many others, is not a monolith, though.

The American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals have a separate overriding issue: stopping the deep cuts in Medicare reimbursements that were part of the Obama health-care changes and that will begin to take effect next year. Tens of billions of dollars are at stake for doctors and hospitals. Their slogan is to repeal, restore and replace. Restore means restoring Medicare and Medicaid payments.

Suddenly, the hospitals have reason to hope. The dozens of House bills passed in recent years to end Obamacare kept the Medicare cuts in place so the savings could be used to balance other spending or tax-cut plans. But there was an exception. The one GOP House member who proposed a bill that would have canceled the Medicare cuts was Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga.  Trumps choice for secretary of health and human services and the person who will play a key role in how the Trump administration unravels health-care restructuring.

The oil industry also stands to reap benefits, and not just in the most obvious ways. For example, the selection of a new Securities and Exchange Commission chairman more friendly to banks could help oil and gas firms, which have been pressured to include in their SEC disclosures calculations about climate risk and more information about their political contributions.

Trumps promise of a thaw in relations with Russia could also help oil and gas companies if he lifts economic sanctions imposed after Russia annexed Crimea. Those sanctions targeted banking and energy sectors, and forced ExxonMobil to halt an Arctic exploration project  although it still possesses widespread drilling rights in Russia.

Boeing also would benefit from a lifting of sanctions on Russia because those who might buy its aircraft are blocked from getting financing under the sanctions.

For years, the for-profit education industry has been buffeted by Education Department requirements after scandals about false advertising, poor job placement records and high levels of defaults on federal student loans. The industry expects a softer touch from the Trump administration, because of Trumps views on regulation and because of his ownership of Trump University, which recently paid $25 million to settle charges of wrongdoing.

Shares of leading for-profit education companies have jumped. Apollo Education is up 8 percent, Strayer Education and DeVry Education Group have each climbed 28 percent, and Grand Canyon Education has risen 30 percent over the past month.

The telecommunications industry also is keeping a close eye on developments at the Federal Communications Commission. The Trump transition has announced three people on its FCC landing team, all of whom come from the American Enterprise Institute and all of whom are foes of the agencys net neutrality rules.

Those rules give free, speedy access to the internet. But big communications companies, which own the infrastructure for connecting to the internet, want to give favorable access speeds and prices to their own companies or to special customers. Rolling back those rules would benefit companies such as Comcast, which has been seeking to acquire cable companies and greater control over Web access.

Net neutrality in the U.S. is backfiring, Mark Jamison, one of the landing team members, wrote in a blog post in June 2015. He mentioned a growing miscellany of ex ante regulations that frequently work against the entrepreneurs and consumers the rules are intended to help.

Yet Trump could also pose a danger to companies.

Although Boeing could benefit from a lifting of Russia sanctions, the airline manufacturer could suffer a loss of sales to Iran if Trump tears up the accord limiting Irans nuclear program. And Trump has vowed to cancel Boeings contract to design a new Air Force One.

The president-elects threats about tariffs have sparked talk about a border adjustment tax that would impose a fee on all imported goods. It would raise $1 trillion over five years  and hurt a broad cross-section of corporate America, tripling its tax bills in some cases.

Another key player in the new Trump era is likely to be Congress.

You have one-party control but the activity is not going to be limited to the administration, Wood said. People shouldnt forget about Congress. Congress is going to play a huge role in implementing a majority of these policies.

And once lawmakers roll up their sleeves on a comprehensive health-care, tax or spending bill, anything could happen. As one lobbyist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect his business and lobbying contacts, put it: In budget reconciliation, I have a vehicle. You can hide a lot of things in the budget reconciliation.

trump-lobbying
PARIS  Russia said late Thursday that the Syrian military has suspended its combat operations in eastern Aleppo to allow civilians to leave the city and that it had reached agreement with the United States to negotiate the safe departure of rebel fighters.

A senior U.S. State Department official here traveling with Secretary of State John Kerry said that neither of those assertions could yet be confirmed but that Kerry was in contact with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

There were conflicting reports from inside Aleppo, where some residents reported a sudden quiet, but others said neighborhoods were still under fire. On Wednesday, as many as 150 elderly residents of Aleppos Old City were evacuated by the government in a joint operation with the International Red Cross.

Lavrov, speaking to Russian journalists in Hamburg, said a much bigger evacuation was underway. Yet another and the biggest [operation] so far . . . to evacuate the civilians willing to leave the place is underway there, he said, according to Russias state-owned Tass news agency. There are some 8,000 people in the column. Thats a huge operation, and the withdrawal route is five kilometers long.

Kerry and Lavrov met twice Thursday morning in Hamburg, where both were attending an international conference. Kerry left at midday for Paris, and the two spoke again by telephone during the afternoon, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the diplomatic contacts.

The White House, which has long been skeptical of Moscows sincerity in its discussions on Syria, reacted guardedly. Our approach to this situation from the beginning has been to listen carefully to what the Russians say but scrutinize their actions, press secretary Josh Earnest said.

Last summer, the United States suspended military and diplomatic expert talks with Russia in Geneva over a possible cease-fire in Syria when the government siege of eastern Aleppo began with assistance from Russian air attacks. A ferocious government ground offensive in the last few weeks, with hundreds of reported civilian deaths, has retaken all but about a quarter of the territory the opposition once held in the city. Up to 200,000 civilians, and several thousand rebels, are said to remain there.

Lavrov said that he and Kerry had reached agreement to restart the Geneva talks on Saturday to determine the ways and methods of a final settlement of the eastern Aleppo problem through the departure of all militants and those civilians residents, who will wish to do so, from there, the Russian news agency Interfax reported from Hamburg.

The State Department official said the resumption of expert talks had been discussed but had not yet been finalized as of late Thursday.

The immediate Kerry-Lavrov discussions are about evacuating Aleppo and determining the timing, the safety and where [opposition fighters and civilians] are going to go, the State Department official said. France will host a meeting here Saturday morning of the United States and other governments in Europe and the region to discuss the process.

The hope is that talks in Geneva will move quickly to a Syria-wide cease-fire that will allow humanitarian aid deliveries to hundreds of thousands in besieged communities across the western third of the country, and to restart political talks between the opposition and the government of President Bashar al-Assad over a political transition.

After more than a year of start-and-stop negotiations have failed to halt the carnage in Syria, optimism was tempered. If that occurs, we obviously would welcome that development, Earnest said. It wont be some sort of accident or coincidence . . . it will be the product and the result of skilled, principled, tough, tenacious diplomacy and much of the credit will go to Secretary Kerry.

But well see what happens, he said.



Louisa Loveluck in Beirut contributed to this report.

syria
WASHINGTON  To understand Harry Reid  his soft spoken nature mixed with a brusque demeanor, his early conservative views combined with his modern status as liberal icon  one has to understand Searchlight, Nev.

One has to understand how much the retiring Senate minority leader hated his hometown, a boom-or-bust place that was all bust in his childhood, how much he ran away from that wretched town when he started to make it in Las Vegas as a politically connected lawyer, how ashamed he was of a place that drove his father to kill himself.

But one has to also understand how, once he embraced his roots, literally after hearing a speech from the author of Roots, Alex Haley, Reid set himself on a path to become a historical figure with a long legislative legacy  as he also became one of the most polarizing figures the Senate has ever known.

He said be proud of who you are. You cant escape who you are, Reid recalled Thursday of Haleys talk. And I walked out of that event that night a different person, a new man. From that day forward, I was from Searchlight. . . . I became Harry Reid, the guy from Searchlight.

Usually a man of few words, Reid went on for nearly 80 minutes Thursday in his farewell address to the Senate, trying to explain the origins of that irascible style that defined his 30 years in the Senate.

It comes from a childhood that reads like a Steinbeck-era novel of despair.

The Searchlight of Reids childhood was a town of 250 that had no churches, no indoor plumbing, 13 brothels, almost no active mines, and one teacher in the towns only school, an elementary one, so he hitchhiked 40 miles each way to high school in Henderson. His father, a miner, hardly got paid and his mother helped the family survive by washing bedding and clothes from the local brothels.

The future Senate leaders proudest moment of his teenage years was saving up $250 from his gas station job to buy his mother a new set of teeth.

While his portrait was unveiled, Reid was celebrated late Thursday by Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden who led a cascade of speeches in his honor.

Clinton began her remarks joking about her campaign loss, saying her speech Thursday was not exactly the speech in the Capitol she had hoped to give. She noted that she, Biden and Reid were all leaving electoral politics at the same time and it was up to those still there to defend Reids accomplishments. Were all counting on you, she said.

Earlier in the day, after three decades in the Senate, four years in the House and almost 50 years of political combat in Nevada, the guy from Searchlight basked in the national political glow of a consequential career now passed. His longtime rival, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., praised Reids tenacity.

If theres one thing we know about Harry, he doesnt give up easily, McConnell said, explaining Reids tough-minded style in the Senate and also his pursuit of his high school sweetheart, Landra Reid, whom he married at 19.

Reid explained the personal side of why he used such an iron fist to win approval of the Affordable Care Act, infuriating Republicans as the party-line vote reshaped the health industry: His father, long battling depression without ever getting professional help, killed himself in 1972.

My Dad never had a chance. He was depressed always. He was reclusive, he said, explaining that his father skipped many childhood events. I think everyone can understand a little bit of why I have been such an avid supporter of Obamacare.

Reids final speech had its share of partisan flare. Fewer than ten Republicans attended the morning address, and Reid did not mince words when he condemned Republicans for what he considered the abuse of the filibuster during his eight years as majority leader.

His 2013 move to end filibusters on most presidential appointments still prompts anger among Republicans. Most Republicans complained that the Senate ground to a halt in his later years as majority leader as so many decisions were made inside Reids leadership suite on the second floor of the Capitol.

While he set aside Thursday his many feuds with Reid, McConnells mantra upon becoming majority leader two years ago was an attempt to repudiate his Democratic counterpart by putting the Senate back in business by allowing more votes and amendments from junior senators.

Yet that portrait of Reid neglects the other side of the man who was, when he wanted to be, one of the best bipartisan deal-makers of his generation. On Thursday he recounted two early pieces of legislation that might drive todays liberals crazy: a Taxpayer Bill of Rights that struck at the IRSs power, and the Congressional Review Act, which Republicans have recently been using to attack Obama administration regulations.

It was great when we had Republican presidents, not so great when we had Democratic presidents. But it was fair, Reid said, drawing laughter from his standard dry-wit humor.

Reid served as one of the driving figures, along with McConnell, in securing the $700 billion bailout of big banks during the Wall Street implosion of 2008. And, before he became his partys floor leader in 2005, Reid served on the Appropriations Committee with such Republican legends as Ted Stevens (Alaska), carving up the federal budget to deliver billions of dollars in federal spending to their respective states.

This was the Las Vegas Harry Reid, the backroom negotiator who figured out everyones self interest and got the best deal for his state.

Yet it was the Searchlight Harry Reid that turned him into the brawling figure who would go on to become the third longest serving majority leader in Senate history. Its that spirit he channeled in becoming the intemperate figure who wouldnt hesitate in calling then-Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan a hack and then-President George W. Bush a liar, who used Senate floor speeches to excoriate President-elect Donald Trump as a racist and a con man.

I was ashamed, embarrassed about Searchlight, Reid said. When I went to college, was in high school, law school, I just didnt want to talk about Searchlight. It was kind of embarrassed about it. It was kind of a crummy place.

Once he embraced that side of his life, however, Reid found the passion that turned him into the figure  both revered and jeered at the same time  who he now is.

Hes often asked how he got from Searchlight to the Senate.

And I tell them the same thing about working hard, he said. Of course thats important. Of course its important  but also, stay true to who you are, your roots.

senate-reid-1stld-writethru
A second Georgia police officer died Thursday, a day after being shot alongside a fellow officer who was a lifelong friend, and the hunt for the suspected gunman ended when a SWAT team found the fugitive dead  apparently by his own hand  inside a home where he was hiding.

Officer Jody Smith initially clung to life after being gravely wounded Wednesday when the university officer went to help his friend, Americus Officer Nicholas Smarr, respond to a domestic dispute call at an apartment in rural Americus, about 130 miles south of Atlanta.

Both men were shot. Smarr was killed and Smith was airlifted in critical condition to a hospital in Macon. The university that employed Smith announced Thursday evening that he had died.

Officer Smith showed extreme bravery in the line of duty as he responded to a call for backup, Georgia Southwestern University President Charles Patterson said in a statement.

News of Smiths death came a few hours after the hunt for the suspected gunman ended.

Police offered a $70,000 reward for information leading to the capture of 32-year-old Minquell Lembrick. A telephone tip Thursday morning sent them to a home where the suspect was said to be hiding, Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Nelly Miles said.

SWAT officers emerged from the home shortly after entering. Americus Police Chief Mark Scott told a news conference they found Lembricks body inside. He said the first officers on scene heard a gunshot inside before the SWAT team arrived.

Lembrick died from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Scott said, adding the man was positively identified as Lembrick.

Lembrick had an outstanding arrest warrant charging him with kidnapping and other counts when Smarr and Smith encountered him Wednesday morning at an apartment complex where a domestic dispute had been reported, Scott had said previously. But the officers didnt know whom they were dealing with when they responded to the 911 call.

Smith and Smarr had been friends since grade school and were sharing a home in Sumter County at the time of the shooting, said Lt. Chuck Hanks of the Sumter County Sheriffs Office, where both had worked previously as deputies.

So when Smith heard the domestic violence call and that Smarr was en route, he ran to join him even though other Americus police officers were already on the way, Chief Scott said.

He heard that call over the radio and he took it upon himself to respond and back up his friend, Scott said. I cant say enough about them. They are model officers. Theyre both heroes in my opinion.

Sumter County Sheriff Pete Smith told reporters both officers were engaged to be married to their fiancees in the coming months.

Its tough, Hanks said. Were a small community. You see these people every day. You work with them every day.

Authorities initially gave different spellings for the first names of both Smith and Lembrick, but said Thursday that they had confirmed corrected spellings for each. Lembrick was black and both officers were white, but nothing indicates race was a factor in the shootings, said Miles of the GBI.

Within an hour of the shootings Wednesday, posts on Lembricks Facebook page appeared to indicate he didnt want to be taken alive. One message posted from the account read: other life gone not going to jail.

It was soon followed by a four-second Facebook Live video showing a young man partly concealed by shadows saying, Im gonna miss yall folk, man.

Miles with the GBI confirmed the Facebook page was Lembricks. It was taken down soon after the messages were posted.
We can help you make sense of the agribusiness industry, extending from chemicals and fertilizers used as inputs into agriculture, to the commodities, food and by-products that are an output to farming, with policy and regulation applied at every step of the value chain.
[December 08, 2016] The 10th Edition of IFSEC India Gets Underway in the Capital

NEW DELHI, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- South Asia's Largest Security and Surveillance Congregation by UBM India - 20 participating countries & over 300 brands showcase Smart Security for Emerging India - Launch of the first ever IFSEC India Awards - Two-day high impact conferences focussing on Homeland Security UBM India today launched the 10th edition of International Fire & Security Exhibition and Conference (IFSEC) India, a three-day show between December 8-10, 2016 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. IFSEC 2016 was inaugurated by Chief Guest, Shri Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, Hon'ble Minister of State for Home Affairs, Government of India; Guest of Honour, Shri Ramsewak Paikra, Hon'ble Minister for Home, Government of Chhattisgarh other key dignitaries Shri D. R. Kaarthikeyan, IPS (Retd.), Chairman, ASSOCHAM National Council of Homeland Security; Mr. Maninderjeet Singh Bitta, Chairman, All-India Anti-Terrorist Front; Mr. Shiv Charan Yadav, President, APSA; Dr. Arvind Gupta, Deputy National Security Advisor, Government of India; Shri Anil Dhawan, Co-Chairman, ASSOCHAM National Council of Homeland Security; Mr. Yogesh Mudras, Managing Director, UBM India and Mr. Pankaj Jain, Group Director, UBM India amidst an august industry gathering. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161208/447012 )

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161208/447013 )

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161208/447014 )

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130226/599595-c )

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141104/10110098 )

The show brought together internationally renowned exhibitors, consultants, business experts and key government officials under one common platform, to discuss global best practices and seek solutions to some of the most pressing challenges in the security and fire domain. The show was a convener of internationally renowned exhibitors, consultants, business experts and key government officials that provided informative demos and a wealth of opportunities for the visitors to network and learn about cutting-edge technologies, industry trends, challenges, market insights and discover the best solutions to keep their business and clients secured. IFSEC India in its 10th anniversary saw participation from countries such as Australia, China, Hungary, India, Korea, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan, UAE, UK and USA. It is well-supported in its endeavours by associations such as APSA, ESAI and ESSCI. The expo has over 300 participating brands which includes premier plus partners such as Aditya Infotech, Advik, Dahua, ERD Technologies, ESSL, HI-Focus, Hikvision, HANWHA TECHWIN(formerly SAMSUNG TECHWIN), Secureye, Fortune Marketing, Tech smart, Tenda, Hamsa, Uniview, ZKTeco. The Premier Partners of UBM India for the expo included ACSYS, Axestrack, Face ID, Honeywell, Lilin, Mantra, Panasonic, Road point, Sparsh, Starex, Unicam systems, Unique Electrovision and Zebronics. Speaking at the inauguration of the 10th edition of IFSEC India Expo, Mr. Yogesh Mudras, Managing Dirctor, UBM India said, "Today, cities across the world are evolving faster than at any point in history. They have become more congested, and criminal activities have soared up, leading to the destruction of carefully tended to public assets. Compounding the problems, global terrorism has become a major concern that presents communities and neighbourhoods with dire security problems. Under these circumstances, IFSEC India will act as catalysts to the progress and vision of the security industry, as we provide a platform for industry players to collectively ideate, innovate, spot trends and come up with integrated, high-tech solutions that are at once cost effective and easy to implement."



"This year, we have reached an important milestone and achieved a new momentum with the 10thanniversary of IFSEC and the expo is proud to feature a broader platter of technologies pertaining to biometrics, transport and access control, in addition to surveillance, for the knowledge of end users and providers. The multiple country participation, involvement of industry leaders, top global brands exhibiting their solution offerings, and content-rich conferences considerably augments the value of the expo," he further added. With the increasing focus on Homeland security in India, IFSEC India this year proactively deciphered relevant insights gained in the global security market by conducting a two-day conference with the theme 'Security strategies to counter external and internal threats' and 'Creating a Smarter and Safer World with State-of-the-art Security Technology' alongside the exhibition. Day 1 included technical sessions on Procurement of Security Equipment; Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs; Forensic Sciences Training & Development; Airport Security & UAV/Drones Policy. Day 2 will include sessions on Border Management Strategy; Challenges of Leftist Extremism and its Impact on National Security; Public Transport Security; Securing the Digital Network. The expo is supported by Assocham & PWC as 'Conference' and 'Knowledge Partners', respectively.

IFSEC India also launched the first ever IFSEC India Awards in India, which has been specially crafted to get the minds behind electronic security in various industry verticals in the limelight. The awards (which will be held on 8th Dec ) will recognise the excellence and innovations of CSOs & Security officers who continuously work behind the scenes to ensure robust security. The process advisor for the IFSEC India Awards is Ernst & Young and is supported by ASSOCHAM. The presenting partners for the awards are Dahua Technology & HIK Vision. According to industry reports by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), India, along with Britain, Germany and France is poised to emerge as one of largest players in the global Homeland Security (HLS) market by 2020. The key opportunities of IFSEC India 2016 accordingly lie in the areas of Urban surveillance, critical infrastructure protection, border, port & airport security, transport security, fire safety, cyber security, Home Automation, Safe cities and so on. Industry Speak: Prama Hikvision India Mr. Ashish P. Dhakan M.D. and CEO Prama Hikvision India Pvt. Ltd. said, "The landscape for the security industry in India is quite conducive and congenial. All major sectors in India are expanding obligating security cover. The major initiatives of the Modi Administration such as 'Digital India', 'Make in India', 'City Surveillance', 'Smart Cities' and 'Demonetization' have thrown open a flood gate of opportunities for the security industry in India. India's security market has topped Rs 6800 crore or USD 1 billion this year. The growth is pretty good this year. Increase in militancy, rising crimes, growing economy and falling prices of security devise have accelerated the security industry's growth rate in India. Globally the increase in terrorism has compelled all people and companies to be more security conscious. More and more latest security devices are installed even in public places in Europe to protect people and prevent loss or damage to properties. As such the security spending world-wide has been on the rise and nobody wants to take a chance." "IFSEC India 2016 is showcasing cutting edge products like CCTV and video surveillance, biometrics & RFID, integrated systems, access control, cyber security, integrated systems, physical security, perimeter protection, fire detection systems, intruder alarms and fire alarms. IFSEC India 2016 cements its position within the global security market, he further added. Honeywell Security and Fire India Mr. Sharad Yadav, General Manager, Honeywell Security and Fire India "Honeywell has a strong legacy of eight decades in India and understands deeply the security and safety requirements of the country. We are supporting the 'Make in India' initiative of the government and locally manufacturing the products for them. At IFSEC, Honeywell will be showcasing its 'Integrated Security & Fire Solutions' portfolio that covers a comprehensive range of products and solutions including video surveillance, access control for protection of premises, fire alarm systems for fire detection and burglar alarms for intruder monitoring. Honeywell is well positioned to help local customers in India meet the security and fire requirements across all market segments and verticals are it in enterprise, SMB, banking, hospitality, and retail, residential and industrial among others." This year Honeywell will be showcasing among other new products, eVance Facility Manager, a cloud-based technology that enables greater insight on the health of fire systems and better decision making, MaxPro Cloud Alarm Monitor, a cloud-based platform that enables powerful remote monitoring and real-time response across multiple sites, eQUIP Camera Series, high image quality cameras withstanding varying degrees of lighting and weather conditions suitable for a wide variety of applications, and the Xtralis range of solutions for remote visual verification of fire and intrusion risks, advanced perimeter security technologies, and video analytics software. About UBM India: UBM India is India's leading exhibition organizer that provides the industry with platforms that bring together buyers and sellers from around the world, through a portfolio of exhibitions, content led conferences & seminars. UBM India hosts over 25 large scale exhibitions and 40 conferences across the country every year; thereby enabling trade across multiple industry verticals. A UBM Asia Company, UBM India has offices across Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai. UBM Asia is owned by UBM plc which is listed on the London Stock Exchange. UBM Asia is the leading exhibition organizer in Asia and the biggest commercial organizer in mainland China, India and Malaysia.

For further details, please visit: ubmindia.in.

Media Contact:

Mili Lalwani

[email protected]

91-9833279461

UBM India



Roshni Mitra

[email protected]

+91-22-61727000





[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Modified On Dec 08, 2016 02:01 PM By Raunak for Chevrolet Cruze

It will be paired with the second-gen Cruzes new 1.6-litre diesel

American automaker Chevrolet has revealed its brand-new nine-speed automatic transmission  Hydra-Matic 9T50 nine-speed  which will be available in the new Cruze diesel. It was developed from the ground up by General Motors and it is GMs first nine-speed unit. The automaker highlighted in an official release that the 9T50 is relatively smaller is size (roughly the same size as a six-speed transmission) and is designed to optimise efficiency, performance and refinement.

Dan Nicholson, vice president, global propulsion systems, said, In addition to improved fuel efficiency, the 9T50 offers a strong overall balance of performance and refinement that customers will feel at all driving speeds. By the end of 2017, Chevrolet will offer four models with the new nine-speed.

Steve Majoros, director of Chevrolet marketing, said, Everything about the new nine-speed is designed to maximise benefits for the customer. It helps offer greater fuel efficiency in the city and on the highway, all with the world-class refinement that makes the drive quiet and smooth.

The second-generation Cruze petrol is already on sale in the American market, while the diesel version, which was announced recently, will go on sale in the first half of 2017. Speaking of its Indian launch, we expect Chevrolet to launch the new Cruze later next year in the country. And in all probability, it will come with the new 1.6-litre diesel and this 9T50 nine-speed auto along with the 1.4-litre turbo petrol in the country.

Read More on : Cruze price
Modified On Dec 09, 2016 05:59 PM By Raunak

Honda has announced and teased the NeuV concept, which will be revealed at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show (CES)  the worlds biggest tech show  on January 5th. For the uninitiated, the CES 2017 will run from January 5-8 in Las Vegas, USA. Hondas theme at the CES will be 'cooperative mobility ecosystem'.

Speaking of the NeuV concept, information about it is scarce at this moment, but Honda has highlighted in an official release that the NeuV is an automated electric vehicle (EV) commuter. Honda said that it will be equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) tech, which the automaker is calling emotion engine. This emotion engine is a set of AI technologies developed by Cocoro SB Corp., which enable machines to artificially generate their own emotions. Besides AI, it certainly will also adopt robotics from Hondas much-touted ASIMO (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility). The first ASIMO was revealed nearly a decade and a half ago, and has been showcased at the Indian Auto Expo several times.

The NeuV looks similar to a microvan from Japan. Japanese automakers are famous for making small cars  Kei Cars  in the home country. Looking at the released picture, the top body of the concept vehicle is made up of glass, while metal can be seen on the doors and at the back. The vehicle features a prominent shark fin antenna. Stay tuned to CarDekho for its official reveal at the 2017 CES.

Recommended Read: Scientific Breakthrough Suggests EVs Can Be Charged In Seconds!
[December 08, 2016] National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) Calls 21st Century Cures Act "A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" and Urges Presidential Veto to Protect Public Health

The non-profit National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) says the 21st Century Cures Act (H.R.34), which was pushed through the U.S Congress this week with a 94 to 5 vote in the Senate yesterday, is a threat to public health and should be vetoed by the President. The 996 page Act has been promoted by Congress as a consumer friendly bill to fund medical research and make new prescription drugs and medical devices more quickly available in the U.S., but it also lowers licensing standards used by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to fast track experimental vaccines to market that will be federally recommended and state mandated for use by all children and many adults in America. "Instead of building a firewall between industry and government to protect the public health and safety, Congress has allowed the pharmaceutical industry to further co-opt the federal vaccine licensing and policymaking process," said NVIC co-founder and president Barbara Loe Fisher. "The 21st Century Cures Act is a wolf in sheep's clothing and should be vetoed by the President." The 21st Century Cures Act introduced in 2015 and expanded in 2016 weakens informed consent protections for people participating in experimental vaccine clinical trials. It allows drug companies to use surrogate endpoints to evaluate the effectiveness of vaccines and permits the FDA to accept novel statistical analyses and clinical experience related to a new vaccine's reactivity, instead of requiring drug companies to conduct large randomized clinical trials to demonstrate safety. It prevents vaccine manufacturers from being sued in civil court if an FDA licensed vaccine given to a pregnant woman causes the injury or death of her unborn child in the womb. "There is a difference between prescription drugs and medical devices designed to help sick people get well, which are subject to product liability in civil court, and vaccines given to healthy people that are not," said Fisher. "Congress has handed the liability-free vaccine industry another free pass to make unlimited profits by exploiting Americans legally required to purchase and use inadequately tested vaccines." In 1986, Congress gave the pharmaceutical industry a partial civil liability shield from vaccine injury lawsuits in the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, which created a federal vaccine injury compensation program (VICP) that to date has awarded $3.5 billion for vaccine injuries and deaths. In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court declared FDA licensed vaccines to be "unavoidably unsafe" and effectively removed all product liability from vaccine manufacturers.



The U.S. government recommends that children receive 69 doses of 16 vaccines between day of birth and age 18 and all 50 states have mandated dozens of doses of at least 10 of those vaccines for children to attend school. Since Congress shielded pharmaceutical companies from vaccine injury lawsuits three decades ago, there has been a 2900 to 3700 percent increase in the cost to vaccinate a child with all federally recommended vaccinations. The current per child vaccination cost is about $2,100 per child vaccinated in a public health clinic and $3,000 per child vaccinated in a private pediatrician's office. In 2015 and 2016, more than 200 vaccine bills backed by the pharmaceutical industry and medical trade were introduced in multiple states. Most of those bills mandated the use of more federally recommended vaccines for school attendance and employment, and restricted or eliminated personal belief vaccine exemptions, including those protecting freedom of conscience and religion. All but two state legislatures voted against eliminating vaccine exemptions, but seven vaccine bills have already been filed in the Texas legislature for consideration in 2017 that restrict informed consent rights and threaten vaccine exemptions.

Dawn Richardson (News - Alert), who is NVIC's director of advocacy and co-founder of Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education (PROVE) in Texas, said, "The erosion of vaccine licensing standards in the 21st Century Cures Act makes it even more important for state legislatures to protect flexible medical, conscientious and religious vaccine exemptions. No state should legally require citizens to purchase and use vaccines or face societal sanctions, especially when vaccine manufacturers have no product liability in civil court and are not required to adhere to high licensing standards." The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) was founded in 1982 to prevent vaccine injuries and deaths through public education and advocates for inclusion of informed consent protections in U.S. health policies and laws, including flexible medical, conscientious and religious belief vaccine exemptions. Read a referenced video commentary published by NVIC in 2015 after the 21st Century Cures Act was first introduced into Congress. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208005224/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Modified On Feb 24, 2017 07:19 PM By Rachit Shad for Nissan X-Trail

It will be Indias first fully hybrid SUV

2017 stands to be a promising year for the automotive industry. Almost all carmakers will try and grab the headlines with their products, be it facelifts, new-gen model updates or new models in their Indian portfolio. Amongst a sea of expected launches, lies a Nissan product which, on paper, translates to become an ideal vehicle for India. It is the Nissan X-Trail Hybrid that works well to serve two sides of the same coin - on one side it is an SUV and works well to lure SUV-hungry Indian customers and, on the other side it has a hybrid powertrain, which will help control rising levels of harmful air-pollutants.

Nissan has now revealed details of the India-bound X-Trail Hybrid. Under the hood, it will be powered by a 2.0-litre petrol engine, producing 144PS of power and 200Nm of torque. The engine will be mated to an electric motor, which will draw its juices from a pack of lithium-ion batteries to produce 41PS of power and 160Nm of torque. Power will be transmitted to the wheels through a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) and a torque converter will be in place to minimize the loss of energy while shifting gears.

In terms of dimensions, the Nissan X-Trail Hybrid is 4,650mm in length, 1,820mm in width and 1,710mm in height. With a wheelbase stretching 2,705mm in length, the new X-trail promises to be a roomier wagon than its predecessor. The new-gen X-Trail will get a ground clearance of 210mm, which will be significantly better than its rivals.

As youd expect from a car of this size and segment, the Nissan X-Trail Hybrid will be packed with features. On the outside, it will wear 225/65 R17 tyres, projector headlamps with LED DRLs, rear doors which will open up to 80 degrees for easier ingress and egress and an electrically operated auto tail-gate. Inside the cabin, the car is expected to feature the segment-usual leather upholstery, a Bluetooth enabled infotainment system and, safety features such as ABS+EBD and half-a-dozen airbags. Nissan is also boasting about something called a Around View Monitor, which delivers a birds eye view of the vehicle using four cameras mounted outside. The idea is to help the driver get the car in and out of tight spaces with ease.

Other safety, performance and security related features include Active Engine Braking, Active Trace Control, Active Ride Control, Hill Start Assist, Active Brake Limited Slip and Vehicle Dynamic Control.

Now to the price. Nissan X-Trail will come via CBU route to India. That means it will attract a hefty import tax. With a five-seater configuration, the X-Trail is a direct competition to the Honda CR-V, Hyundai Tucson and Skoda Yeti. But price-wise, it is expected to cost close to Rs 30 lakh, which is Toyota Fortuner money. Even at that price, I believe the Nissan X-Trail Hybrid is a must consider if you are spending anything close to the same price bracket.

Recommended Read:

Quick Spin: Nissan GT-R and X-Trail!

Specs Revealed: India-Bound Nissan X-Trail Hybrid


There are two kinds of people in the world: those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.



There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.



Member 1956108 wrote: XNA, openGl and others.Some of these are also on their was out OpenGL is not on its way out. It has been here for more than 20 years, but that does not make it "obsolete".



If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^] Bastard Programmer from Hell





Easy 2D and 3D programming with WPF



I am in a search for a specific user in the Active Directory, I use this method but I give me a error in the FindAll , that I have not found solve.



This is the mistake: An unhandled exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' occurred in System.DirectoryServices.dll









C# SearchResultCollection sResults = null ; try { string path = "LDAP: DirectoryEntry dEntry = new DirectoryEntry(path); DirectorySearcher dSearcher = new DirectorySearcher(dEntry); dSearcher.Filter = "(&(objectClass=user))"; sResults = dSearcher.FindAll(); foreach (SearchResult searchResult in sResults) { if (searchResult.Properties["CN"][0].ToString() == "Administrator") { ResultPropertyValueCollection valueCollection = searchResult.Properties["manager"]; foreach ( Object propertyValue in valueCollection) { Console.WriteLine("Property Value: " + ( string )propertyValue.ToString()); } Console.WriteLine(" "); } } } catch (InvalidOperationException iOe) { } catch (NotSupportedException nSe) { } finally { if (sResults != null ) sResults.Dispose(); } Console.ReadLine(); }



Member 12893928 wrote: dSearcher.Filter = "(&(objectClass=user))";



So...no, this does not do what you think it does. You're throwing an LDAP query at the DirectorySearcher that is broken; it's looking for all objects with objectClass==user and nothing, which is a syntax error. If you wanted to search based on a username you need to first determine which name is appropriate, which will vary from domain to domain. Do you want the SAM Name, or do you want the UPN? Do you want a list based on last name?



First you need to inject a variable into this whole thing, then you need to modify your filter to specify a username. For instance: C# dSearcher.Filter = string .Format( " (&(objectClass=user)(samaccountname={0}))" ,userNameVariable); "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."

- Benjamin Disraeli



HI Team,



Label text is not updating.Here is the check I am doing.If the label = 1234,i am trying to update the label.It is entering the if condition,but the label is not getting updated with the new one i.e 100.



this .lblPos.Text = " 1234" ; if ( this .lblPos.Text == " 1234" ) { this .lblPos.Text = " 100" ; this .lblPos.Update(); this .lblPos.Refresh(); }





Thanks in Advance





At a guess, I'd say it probably isn't being executed at all for some reason and the debugger will never hit the breakpoint as a result. If that happens, put another breakpoint at the start of the method containing that code and try again.

When you hit a breakpoint the debugger will stop and let you take control, stepping lines of code and looking at variables to see what is going on.

Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...





In this case it won't help anyway: the Text property is just a string, if you look at ethe reference source:

C# [ Editor ( " System.ComponentModel.Design.MultilineStringEditor, " + AssemblyRef.SystemDesign, typeof(UITypeEditor)), SettingsBindable(true) ] public override string Text { get { return base .Text; } set { base .Text = value ; } }

And the base class implementation (Control):

C# [ SRCategory (SR.CatAppearance), Localizable(true), Bindable(true), DispId(NativeMethods.ActiveX.DISPID_TEXT), SRDescription(SR.ControlTextDescr) ] public virtual string Text { get { if (CacheTextInternal) { return (text == null ) ? " " : text; } else { return WindowText; } } set { if ( value == null ) { value = " " ; } if ( value == Text) { return ; } if (CacheTextInternal) { text = value ; } WindowText = value ; OnTextChanged(EventArgs.Empty); if ( this .IsMnemonicsListenerAxSourced ){ for ( Control ctl = this ; ctl != null ; ctl = ctl.ParentInternal ) { ActiveXImpl activeXImpl = (ActiveXImpl)ctl.Properties.GetObject(PropActiveXImpl); if ( activeXImpl != null ) { activeXImpl.UpdateAccelTable(); break ; } } } } } Doesn't do anything exotic with it either, certainly nothing that DoEvents would affect.

Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...



OriginalGriff wrote: nothing that DoEvents would affect

Are you sure about that?



Have a look at the WindowText property setter[^]:

C# if ( value == null ) value = " " ; if (!WindowText.Equals( value )) { if (IsHandleCreated) { UnsafeNativeMethods.SetWindowText( new HandleRef(window, Handle), value ); } else { if ( value .Length == 0 ) { text = null ; } else { text = value ; } } }

That call to UnsafeNativeMethods.SetWindowText will require the message loop to pump events before the control is updated.



Which is exactly what DoEvents was intended for.





"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."

- Homer







text and / or the WindowText are already set by that point, and they are what the getter uses to provide the data. So the display may not be up-to-date yet, but the property return value will be.

Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...







The problem comes in when a message causes another event to be triggered, possibly executing event code out of order of what is expected. For example, you're adding items to a control when the user clicks the application close button. If not written properly, your code will suddenly throw an unhandled IndexOutOfRangeException because the controls will no longer exist and your code is still adding items to it.



While it may be the "easy fix" for the short term, it's a long term pain in the ass when you get to testing the code in UAT.

A guide to posting questions on CodeProject



Click this:

Seriously, do it.



Dave Kreskowiak Click this: Asking questions is a skill Seriously, do it.



I'm trying to overlying a 3d model on a skeleton using kinect v2 and I faced a lot of problem with that specially that I'm totally fresh in this field ,please can you help me in that as soon as possible





Are you self-paced? Get a book, there are multiple articles on CodeProject that can help you get started on this subject  top right corner.



You can also Google for errors, to see if your model had a problem.

The sh*t I complain about

It's like there ain't a cloud in the sky and it's raining out - Eminem

~! Firewall !~



Member 12890172 wrote: in that as soon as possible We're volunteers, and your question is as important as any other.



If you have a specific question on the subject, then yes, we may be able to help. That would still mean that you'd be writing the code though.



If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^] Bastard Programmer from Hell



all the source code that I found is on kinect v1



Hi All,



I am using the following code to display a text file when the application first runs but have a slight issue.



C# private static void CheckFirstRun() { if (Settings.Default.FirstRun) { Process.Start( " notepad.exe" , " release-notes.txt" ); Settings.Default.FirstRun = false ; Settings.Default.Save(); } }





The setting default is set to True. It worked fine the first time I deployed it using ClickOnce and I was expecting FirstRun to default back to True on the next deployment but it's storing the setting as False.



All my google searches point to persisting the setting between deployments but in this instance I want the opposite to happen. I need the setting to default back to True so I can show the release notes.



Can anyone advise on what I am missing?


The following companies are subsidiares of Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft: ABFS I Incorporated, ABS MB Ltd., Alex. Brown Financial Services Incorporated, Alex. Brown Investments Incorporated, Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft mbH, Ambidexter GmbH i.L., Argent Incorporated, BHW - Gesellschaft fur Wohnungswirtschaft mbH, BHW Bausparkasse Aktiengesellschaft, BHW Holding GmbH, BT Globenet Nominees Limited, Bainpro Nominees Pty Ltd, Baldur Mortgages Limited, Bankers Trust Investments Limited, Bayan Delinquent Loan Recovery 1 (SPV-AMC) Inc., Berkshire Mortgage Finance, Betriebs-Center fur Banken AG, Better Financial Services GmbH, Better Payment Germany GmbH, Borfield Sociedad Anonima, Breaking Wave DB Limited, Cardales UK Limited, Cardea Real Estate S.r.l., Cathay Advisory (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Cathay Asset Management Company Limited, Cathay Capital Company (No 2) Limited, Cedar (Luxembourg) S.a. r.l., Chapel Funding, China Recovery Fund LLC, Consumo Srl in Liquidazione, D B Investments (GB) Limited, D&M Turnaround Partners Godo Kaisha, DB (Barbados) SRL, DB (Malaysia) Nominee (Asing) Sdn. Bhd., DB (Malaysia) Nominee (Tempatan) Sendirian Berhad, DB Alex. Brown Holdings Incorporated, DB Aotearoa Investments Limited, DB Beteiligungs-Holding GmbH, DB Boracay LLC, DB Capital Markets (Deutschland) GmbH, DB Cartera de lnmuebles 1 S.A.U., DB Chestnut Holdings Limited, DB Corporate Advisory (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., DB Delaware Holdings (Europe) Limited, DB Direkt GmbH, DB Elara LLC, DB Energy Trading LLC, DB Equipment Leasing Inc., DB Equity Limited, DB Finance (Delaware) LLC, DB Global Technology Inc., DB Global Technology SRL, DB Group Services (UK) Limited, DB HR Solutions GmbH, DB Holdings (New York) Inc., DB IROC Leasing Corp., DB Impact Investment Fund I. LP., DB Industrial Holdings Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, DB Industrial Holdings GmbH, DB Intermezzo LLC, DB International (Asia) Limited, DB International Investments Limited, DB International Trust (Singapore) Limited, DB Investment Managers Inc., DB Investment Partners Inc., DB Investment Partners Limited, DB Investment Resources (US) Corporation, DB Investment Resources Holdings Corp., DB Investment Services GmbH, DB London (Investor Services) Nominees Limited, DB Management Support GmbH, DB Nominees (Hong Kong) Limited, DB Nominees (Jersey) Limited, DB Nominees (Singapore) Pte Ltd, DB Omega BTV S.C.S., DB Omega Holdings LLC, DB Omega Ltd., DB Omega S.C.S., DB Operaciones y Servicios lnteractivos Agrupacicm de lnteres Econemico, DB Overseas Finance Delaware Inc., DB Overseas Holdings Limited, DB Print GmbH, DB Private Clients Corp., DB Private Wealth Mortgage Ltd., DB Re S.A., DB Service Centre Limited, DB Service Uruguay S.A., DB Services (Jersey) Limited, DB Services Americas. Inc., DB Servizi Amministrativi S.r.l., DB Strategic Advisors Inc., DB Structured Derivative Products LLC, DB Structured Products Inc., DB Trustee Services Limited, DB Trustees (Hong Kong) Limited, DB UK Bank Limited, DB UK Holdings Limited, DB UK PCAM Holdings Limited, DB US Financial Markets Holding Corporation, DB USA Core Corporation, DB USA Corporation, DB Valoren S.a. r.l., DB Value S.a.r.l., DB VersicherungsManager GmbH, DB Vita SA., DB lmmobilienfonds 5 Wieland KG i.L., DB lo LP, DBAH Capital. LLC, DBCIBZ1, DBFIC Inc., DBNZ Overseas Investments (No.1) Limited, DBOI Global Services (UK) Limited, DBR Investments Co. Limited, DBRE Global Real Estate Management 18 Ltd., DBRMS4, DBRMSGP1, DBUK PCAM Limited, DBUSBZ1 LLC, DBUSBZ2 S.a. r.l., DBX Advisers LLC, DEBEKO lmmobilien GmbH & Co Grundbesitz OHG, DEE Deutsche Erneuerbare Energien GmbH, DEUKONA Versicherungs-Vermittlungs-GmbH, DEUTSCHE BANK AS., DI Deutsche lmmobilien Treuhandgesellschaft mbH, DISCA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, DWS Alternatives France, DWS Alternatives Global Limited, DWS Alternatives GmbH, DWS Asset Management (Korea) Company Limited, DWS Beteiligungs GmbH, DWS CH AG, DWS Distributors Inc., DWS Far Eastern Investments Limited, DWS Group GmbH & Co. KGaA, DWS Group Services UK Limited, DWS Grundbesitz GmbH, DWS International GmbH, DWS Investment GmbH, DWS Investment Management Americas Inc., DWS Investment S.A., DWS Investments Australia Limited, DWS Investments Hong Kong Limited, DWS Investments Japan Limited, DWS Investments Shanghai Limited, DWS Investments Singapore Limited, DWS Investments UK Limited, DWS Management GmbH, DWS Real Estate GmbH, DWS Service Company, DWS Shanghai Private Equity Fund Management Limited, DWS Trust Company, DWS USA Corporation, Deposit Solutions, Deutsche (Aotearoa) Capital Holdings New Zealand, Deutsche (Aotearoa) Foreign Investments New Zealand, Deutsche (New Munster) Holdings New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Access Investments Limited, Deutsche Aeolia Power Production Societe Anonyme, Deutsche Alternative Asset Management (UK) Limited, Deutsche Asia Pacific Holdings Pte Ltd, Deutsche Asset Management (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Australia Limited, Deutsche Bank (Cayman) Limited, Deutsche Bank (China) Co. Ltd., Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Berhad, Deutsche Bank (Suisse) SA, Deutsche Bank (Uruguay) Sociedad Anenima lnstitucien Financiera Externa, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft, Deutsche Bank Americas Holding Corp., Deutsche Bank Europe GmbH, Deutsche Bank Financial Company, Deutsche Bank Holdings Inc., Deutsche Bank Insurance Agency Incorporated, Deutsche Bank Luxembourg S.A., Deutsche Bank Mutui S.p.A., Deutsche Bank Mexico. S.A., Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, Deutsche Bank Polska Spelka Akcyjna, Deutsche Bank Representative Office Nigeria Limited, Deutsche Bank S.A, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Limited, Deutsche Bank Societe per Azioni, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Delaware, Deutsche Bank Trust Company National Association, Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation, Deutsche Bank. Sociedad Anenima Espanola, Deutsche CIB Centre Private Limited, Deutsche Capital Finance (2000) Limited, Deutsche Capital Hong Kong Limited, Deutsche Capital Markets Australia Limited, Deutsche Capital Partners China Limited, Deutsche Cayman Ltd., Deutsche Custody N.V., Deutsche Domus New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Equities India Private Limited, Deutsche Finance No. 2 Limited, Deutsche Foras New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur lmmobilien-Leasing mit beschrenkter Haftung, Deutsche Global Markets Limited, Deutsche Group Holdings (SA) Proprietary Limited, Deutsche Group Services Pty Limited, Deutsche Grundbesitz Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., Deutsche Grundbesitz-Anlagegesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Deutsche Holdings (BTI) Limited, Deutsche Holdings (Grand Duchy), Deutsche Holdings (Luxembourg) S.El r.l., Deutsche Holdings Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 2 Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 3 Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 4 Limited, Deutsche India Holdings Private Limited, Deutsche India Private Limited, Deutsche International Corporate Services (Ireland) Limited, Deutsche International Corporate Services Limited, Deutsche International Custodial Services Limited, Deutsche Investments (Netherlands) N.V., Deutsche Investments India Private Limited, Deutsche Investor Services Private Limited, Deutsche Knowledge Services Pte. Ltd., Deutsche Leasing New York Corp., Deutsche Mexico Holdings S.a. r.|., Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Group Limited, Deutsche Mortgage & Asset Receiving Corporation, Deutsche Nederland N.V., Deutsche New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Nominees Limited, Deutsche Oppenheim Family Office AG, Deutsche Overseas Issuance New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Postbank, Deutsche Postbank Finance Center Objekt GmbH, Deutsche Private Asset Management Limited, Deutsche Securities (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Securities (Proprietary) Limited, Deutsche Securities (SA) (Proprietary) Limited, Deutsche Securities Asia Limited, Deutsche Securities Australia Limited, Deutsche Securities Inc., Deutsche Securities Israel Ltd., Deutsche Securities Korea Co., Deutsche Securities Mauritius Limited, Deutsche Securities SA. de C.V.. Casla de Bolsa, Deutsche Securities Saudi Arabia, Deutsche Services (Cl) Limited, Deutsche Services Polska Sp. z o.o., Deutsche StiftungsTrust GmbH, Deutsche Strategic Investment Holdings Yugen Kaisha, Deutsche Trustee Company Limited, Deutsche Trustee Services (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Trustees Malaysia Berhad, Deutsche Wealth Management S.G.I.I.C. SA., Deutsche lmmobilien Leasing GmbH, Deutsches lnstitut fur Altersvorsorge GmbH, Durian (Luxembourg) S.a. r.l., EC EUROPA IMMOBILIEN FONDS NR. 3 GmbH & CO. KG i.l., Elizabethan Holdings Limited, Elizabethan Management Limited, European Value Added I (Alternate GP.) LLP, Fiduciaria Sant Andrea S.r.l., Finanzberatungsgesellschaft mbH der Deutschen Bank, Funfte SAB Treuhand und Verwaltung GmbH & Co. Suhl "Rimbachzentrum" KG, G Finance Holding Corp., German American Capital Corporation, Grundstucksgesellschaft Frankfurt Bockenheimer LandstraBe GbR, Grundstucksgesellschaft Miesbaden LuisenstraBe/Kirchgasse GbR, Hollandsche Bank-Unie, ISTRON Beteiligungs- und Verwaltungs-GmbH, IVAF l Manager S.a.r.l., Immobilienfonds Buro-Center Erfurt am Flughafen Bindersleben I GbR, J R Nominees (Pty) Ltd, Joint Stock Company Deutsche Bank DBU, Jyogashima Godo Kaisha, KEBA Gesellschaft fur interne Services mbH, Kidson Pte Ltd, Konsul lnkasso GmbH, LA Water Holdings Limited, LAWL Pte. Ltd., Leasing Verwaltungsgesellschaft Waltersdorf mbH, Leonardo lll Initial GP Limited, MEF I Manager. S. a r.|., MIT Holdings Inc., Maher Terminals Holdings (Toronto) Limited, Morgan Grenfell & Company, MortgageIT, MortgagelT Inc., MortgagelT Securities Corp., OOO "Deutsche Bank TechCentIe", OOO "Deutsche Bank", OPB Verwaltungs- und Treuhand GmbH, OPB-Oktava GmbH, OPB-Quarta GmbH, OPPENHEIM Capital Advisory GmbH, OPPENHEIM PRIVATE EQUITY Manager GmbH, OPPENHEIM PRIVATE EQUITY Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, PADUS Grundstcks-VermietungsgeseIlschaft mbH, PB Factoring GmbH, PB Spezial-lnvestmentaktiengesellschatt mit Teilgesellschaftsvermogen, PCC Services GmbH der Deutschen Bank, PT Deutsche Sekuritas Indonesia, Pan Australian Nominees Pty Ltd, Plantation Bay. Inc., Postbank Akademie und Service GmbH, Postbank Beteiligungen GmbH, Postbank Direkt GmbH, Postbank Filialvertrieb AG, Postbank Finanzberatung AG, Postbank Leasing GmbH, Postbank lmmobilien GmbH, Quantiguous, R.B.M. Nominees Pty Ltd, RREEF, RREEF America LLC., RREEF China REIT Management Limited, RREEF European Value Added I (G.P.) Limited, RREEF Fund Holding Co., RREEF India Advisers Private Limited, RREEF Management LLC., RoPro U.S. Holding Inc., Route 28 Receivables. LLC, SAB Real Estate Verwaltungs GmbH, SAGITA Grundstucks-Vermielungsgesellschaft mbH, SAPIO Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, Sal. Oppenheim, Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. Beteiligungs GmbH, Sharps SP l LLC, Stelvio lmmobiliare S.r.l., Suddeutsche Vermeigensvewvaitung Gesellschaft mit beschrenkter Haftung, TELO Beleiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Tempurrite Leasing Limited, Thai Asset Enforcement and Recovery Asset Management Company Limited, Treuinvest Service GmbH, Triplereason Umited, VOB-ZVD Processing GmbH, WEPLA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Wealthspur Investment Ltd., World Trading (Delaware) Inc., lmmobilienfonds BuroCenter Erfurt am Flughafen Bindersleben II GbR, lmmobilienfonds Wohn- und Gescheftshaus Koln-Blumenberg V GbR, and norisbank GmbH.

Read More
Vince Holding Corp. designs, merchandises, and sells luxury apparel and accessories in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Vince Wholesale, Vince Direct-to-Consumer, and Rebecca Taylor and Parker. The company offers a range of women's products, such as cashmere sweaters, silk blouses, leather and suede leggings and jackets, dresses, skirts, denims, pants, t-shirts, footwear, outerwear, and accessories; and men's products comprising t-shirts, knit and woven tops, sweaters, denims, pants, blazers, footwear, and outerwear under the Vince brand. It also offers occasion-forward dresses, suiting, silk blouses, leather and tweed jackets, outerwear, jumpsuits, cotton dresses and blouses, denim, sweaters, pants, skirts and knit, and woven tops under the Rebecca Taylor and Parker brands. The company sells its products directly to consumers through its branded specialty retail stores and outlet stores, as well as through its vince.com e-commerce platform and subscription business through Vince Unfold, vinceunfold.com; and to wholesale department stores and specialty stores. As of January 29, 2022, it operated 86 stores, including 49 company-operated Vince full-price stores, 10 company-operated Rebecca Taylor full-price stores, 18 company-operated Vince outlet stores, and 8 company-operated Rebecca Taylor outlet stores. The company was formerly known as Apparel Holding Corp. and changed its name to Vince Holding Corp. in November 2013. Vince Holding Corp. was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
A former interim credit union CEO was accused of allegedly stealing more than $130,000 from the $7 million N.G.H. Credit Union in Nashville, Tenn., the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said Tuesday.

TBI, the states primary criminal investigative agency, alleged that Ashley Rubbert Comer, 30, of Old Hickory, Tenn., stole the funds while she was the interim CEO of the credit union.
Talking Points:

The EUR/USD Trades Sideways as the US Dollar Consolidates

The Creation of an Inside Bar Allows Traders to Plan for a Breakout

Looking for additional trade ideas for the US Dollar? Read O ur Equities Market Forecast

The US Dollar Index (Ticker:DXY) and several major Dollar pairs have continued to consolidate through todays trading. This includes the EUR/USD, USD/JPY, and AUD/USD. Each of these currency pairs are set to close the day with an inside bar. This pattern is created by prices closing the session inside of a previous daily candles high or low. Traditionally traders may use this pattern to identify a range for trading, or to wait for prices to breakout.

EUR/USD Daily Chart and Inside Bar

(Created Using TradingView Charts)

A great example of an inside bar is the EUR/USD. Todays trading actually marks the second day of prices failing to breakout to a new high or low. As seen in the graph below, the pair is currently trading inside of Mondays high (1.0796) and low (1.0504). These values should be considered as support and resistance which traders may use for planning a breakout into the market. It is important to remember that traders may opt to set entry orders on either side of the market in accordance with their trading bias. Traders that are bullish the US Dollar may look to buy the EUR/USD, while US Dollar bears may select to sell the pair under support.

Prior to a breakout traders,may elect to trade continuing consolidation by referencing these values as well. If the market respects support and resistance, traders may look to buy near support and sell near resistance until these levels falter.

See the above video for a technical review of the DXY Index, EUR/USD, USD/JPY, AUD/USD and More!

Want to join in on the next Day Trading Markets event? Register HERE

--- Written by Walker, Analyst for DailyFX.com

To Receive Walkers analysis directly via email, please SIGN UP HERE

See Walkers most recent articles at his Bio Page.

Contact and Follow Walker on Twitter @WEnglandFX.
[December 08, 2016] RiskSense CEO to Discuss Emerging Trends in Cyber Security and Risk Management at (ISC) Silicon Valley

RiskSense, Inc., the pioneer and market leader in pro-active cyber risk management, today announced that Dr. Srinivas Mukkamala, co-Founder and CEO of RiskSense will present at the upcoming (ISC) Silicon Valley meeting on emerging trends in cyber security and risk management.







WHO: Dr. Srinivas Mukkamala is co-founder and CEO at RiskSense. Dr. Mukkamala was part of a think tank that collaborated with the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Intelligence Community on cyber security best practices. He is an expert on malware analytics, breach exposure management, Web application security, and enterprise risk reduction. He has been published in over 120 peer-reviewed publications in the areas of information assurance, malware analytics, digital forensics, data mining, and bioinformatics. He was a lead researcher for CACTUS (Computational Analysis of Cyber Terrorism against the U.S.) and holds a patent on Intelligent Agents for Distributed Intrusion (News - Alert) Detection System and Method of Practicing. WHAT: In 2016, despite best of breed IT security tools, organizations have continued to be overwhelmed by daily cyber threats and new vulnerabilities. This trend is expected to accelerate in 2017 with the continued expansion of the enterprise attack surface across cloud, mobile, and Internet of Things (IoT) environments. With hundreds of thousands of vulnerabilities across thousands of machines, how can organizations address cyber security and lower risk from cyber-attacks? In this talk, Dr. Mukkamala will discuss new developments that will enable businesses to manage cyber risk more effectively. He will explain new approaches to cyber security, including harnessing big data, threat and business intelligence to determine risk exposure, and the role of human-interactive machine learning in orchestrating remediation actions. WHEN: Tuesday, December 13, 2016 from 5:30 - 8:00 PM PST WHERE: (ISC) Silicon Valley Chapter Meeting HP Gigabyte Cafe 1140 Enterprise Way Sunnyvale, CA (News - Alert) HOW: To schedule a conversation with Dr. Srinivas Mukkamala, contact Marc Gendron at [email protected] or +1 781.237.0341.

About (ISC) (ISC) is based out of Palm Harbor, Florida and consists of over 80,000 members worldwide. Our chapter program provides members a forum to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and ideas, development of leadership and professional skills, and advancement of information systems security. We also provide our members with access to a variety of industry resource and educational programs to keep our members informed of the latest advances in technology and techniques. For more information visit http://www.isc2-siliconvalley-chapter.org/. About RiskSense RiskSense, Inc., is the pioneer and market leader in pro-active cyber risk management. The company enables enterprises and governments to reveal cyber risk, quickly orchestrate remediation, and monitor the results. This is done by unifying and contextualizing internal security intelligence, external threat data, and business criticality across a growing attack surface. The company's Software-as-a-Service (SaaS (News - Alert)) platform transforms cyber risk management into a more pro-active, collaborative, and real-time discipline. The RiskSense Platform embodies the expertise and intimate knowledge gained from real world experience in defending critical networks from the world's most dangerous cyber adversaries. By leveraging RiskSense cyber risk management solutions, organizations can significantly shorten time-to-remediation, increase operational efficiency, strengthen their security programs, heighten response readiness, reduce costs, and ultimately minimize cyber risks. For more information, please visit www.risksense.com or follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) at @RiskSense. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208005039/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
DALLAS, Dec. 7, 2016 -- Patients with acute coronary syndrome, an umbrella term for conditions where the heart's blood supply is suddenly blocked, may be at an increased risk for suicide compared to otherwise healthy people, according to new research in Journal of the American Heart Association, the Open Access Journal of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

"Depression and anxiety that develop after an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) diagnosis have been associated with limited physical abilities, reduced physical function, poor health-related quality of life and an increased risk of new cardiovascular events or death," said Jung-Chen Chang, Ph.D., co-senior author and assistant professor at the School of Nursing in the College of Medicine at National Taiwan University. "In our study, we found the odds of suicide to be high among patients with ACS."

The researchers used the National Mortality Registry in Taiwan to identify 41,050 people aged 35 years or older who committed suicide between 2000 and 2012, and then compared them to 164,200 people with similar demographics. After adjusting the data for diabetes, stroke, chronic kidney disease and psychiatric illness from the Health and Welfare Data Science Center in Taiwan, the researchers found that during the first six months after an ACS diagnosis, people with ACS were 200 percent more likely to commit suicide than people in the comparison group. After adjustment for other risk factors, such as mental illness, the rate of suicide declined among ACS patients to around a 15 percent higher risk, which is still considered significant.

Although the study used patient data from Taiwan, the authors said the findings are applicable to other countries, including the United States, since acute heart attack is one of the leading causes of death in most countries where the high prevalence of ACS represents a significant burden on healthcare resources.

Coronary heart disease and depression are two of the most critical causes of disability in countries with advanced economies. Numerous meta-analyses, prospective studies and systematic reviews have shown that depression is common in patients with ACS, but according to Chang, these studies have not reported the association between ACS and suicide after adjusting for diabetes, stroke, chronic kidney disease and psychiatric illness.

In 2008, a science advisory issued by the AHA recommended routine screening for depression in all patients with ACS, but the implementation of this recommendation remains insufficient in clinical settings, the authors said.

"We recommend that healthcare providers take the increased odds of suicide into their evaluation of patients newly diagnosed with ACS," Chang said. "In addition to the existing efforts for managing depressive symptoms and reducing suicide, all cardiologists should be aware of the potential associations between ACS and suicide and make necessary referrals to specialists for suicide prevention."

###

Co-authors are Chao-Han Liu, M.D.; Ming-Kung Yeh, Ph.D.; Ji-Hung Wang, M.D.; and Shu-Chuan Weng, Ph.D., and Meng-Yi Bai, Ph.D

Author disclosures are on the manuscript.

Additional Resources:

A heart graphic is located in the right column of this release link http://newsroom.heart.org/news/patients-with-acute-coronary-syndrome-at-increased-risk-of-suicide?preview=0611cba0c9b284552958a64b4e53e1a1

After Dec. 7, 2016, view the manuscript online.

Acute Coronary Syndrome

Depression After a Cardiac Event or Diagnosis

Follow AHA/ASA news on Twitter @HeartNews.

For updates and new science from JAHA, follow @JAHA_AHA.

Statements and conclusions of study authors published in American Heart Association scientific journals are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect the association's policy or position. The association makes no representation or guarantee as to their accuracy or reliability. The association receives funding primarily from individuals; foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations and fund specific association programs and events. The association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from influencing the science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and device corporations are available at http://www.heart.org/corporatefunding.
Researchers from Aarhus University have come closer to answering the question of how the brain defends itself against viral infections

Imagine seeing a building on fire. You grab the phone and call the fire service. What happens next can be compared to the discovery made by researchers from Aarhus University. They have discovered that a specific type of cell in the brain, microglia, acts as the incident commander in the defence against the invading virus, for example a herpes virus.

In cases of viral infection in the brain, this cell type coordinates reinforcements. It recruits additional microglia to the area, which in turn warns the neighbouring cells that something dangerous is happening. These cells are called astroglia and neurons.

After this, the 'fire' is put out, and 'medical help' is called in via proteins, so the cells that have been injured or killed can be removed.

"Viruses which travel via nerve cells into the brain are recognised by several types of cells, though not all cells are able to defend themselves against the infection. But microglia can, and through an alarm system (cGAS/STING), they are able to initiate a very strong immune reaction and suppress the virus," explains one of the researchers behind the discovery, Line Reinert from the Department of Biomedicine at Aarhus University.

The results have just been published in Nature Communications, and on the basis of the new knowledge the researchers hope to be able to contribute to new and better treatment of brain diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease and potentially also psychiatric disorders.

"We have identified and described a communication network that begins in the brain, when the cGAS/STING alarm system is activated. This new knowledge can potentially be utilised to prevent other types of diseases of the brain, where the same alarm system is either not activated or is activated too much," says Line Reinert.

The next step is to look at how damage to the brain occurs during infections and other diseases, and examine which mechanisms the brain uses to find the balance between the good and harmful aspects of the immune system.

"The brain is an organ which cannot withstand much damage. So it must therefore have, on the one hand, defence mechanisms against infections and, on the other hand, not utilise these too strongly. If microglia are activated too much, they do not only suppress the virus, but also damage some of the brain tissue. We are now working to understand this," says Sren Riis Paludan, who has led the project group, which has also involved other research groups from Denmark and abroad.

###

The research results - more information

Type of study: Basic research

Partners: Researchers from Aarhus University, The University of Southern Denmark and The University of Massachusetts

External funding: The Lundbeck Foundation, The Danish Council for Independent Research

Read the scientific article: Sensing of HSV-1 by the cGAS-STING pathway in microglia orchestrates antiviral defence in the CNS
The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation today announced the award of NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Grants valued at $1.5 million to 15 scientists, who are full professors or the equivalent, conducting innovative projects in diverse areas of neurobiological and behavioral research. Recipients of the $100,000 one-year grants seek new potential targets for understanding and treating psychiatric disorders that affect one in five people, including bipolar disorder, depression, multiple types of mental illness, schizophrenia, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Recipients of the 2016 NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Grants were selected by the Foundation's Scientific Council, which is composed of 173 leading experts across disciplines in brain and behavior research, including two Nobel laureates; four former Directors of The National Institute of Mental Health and the current Director; four recipients of the National Medal of Science; 13 members of the National Academy of Sciences; 26 chairs of Psychiatry and Neuroscience Departments at leading medical institutions; and 55 members of the National Academy of Medicine.

"The Distinguished Investigator awards provide support to encourage established scientists to advance our understanding about mental illness, and brain and behavior disorders," says Foundation President and CEO Jeffrey Borenstein, M.D. "These grants fund creative research to explore new ways of preventing, diagnosing and treating psychiatric disorders."

"The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation's NARSAD grants are remarkable because they serve as seed capital for new approaches that might otherwise go unfunded," said Jack D. Barchas, M.D, Chair and Barklie McKee Henry Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, and Psychiatrist-in-Chief at Weill Cornell Medical College, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Paine Whitney Clinic, who chairs the Scientific Council's Distinguished Investigator selection committee.

"This year, we received a large number of outstanding proposals with the potential to inform several illnesses, reveal new neurobiological or behavioral targets for potential treatment, explore exciting new basic science, pursue translational scholarship and multidisciplinary collaborations, and conduct new early treatment trials that center on new approaches or ways to combine treatment."

The Recipients of the 2016 NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Grants are as follows:

Bipolar Disorder:

Roel A. Ophoff, Ph.D., of the University of California, Los Angeles, will explore how disruptions in circadian rhythms - our internal 24-hour clock - influence bipolar disorder. Dr. Ophoff has collected tissue samples from 100 patients with severe bipolar disorder as well as 100 samples from healthy individuals, and has generated cell cultures from these samples. Dr. Ophoff will use the cultures to examine the molecular regulatory mechanisms underlying the circadian clock. The goal is to use data-driven statistical tools to objectively identify genes and gene clusters that show clock-like patterns of expression. Dr. Ophoff hopes that this work will lay the foundation for systematic investigation of the involvement of the circadian clock in bipolar disorder.

Depression:

Jay M. Baraban, M.D., Ph.D., of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, will explore the role of unconventional molecular pathways in depression. Much of our current knowledge and treatments for depression are focused on a few narrow pathways. Unfortunately, many patients do not respond to current therapies, suggesting that additional pathways may contribute to depression. Dr. Baraban will focus on a group of cellular signaling molecules known as microRNAs. In previous studies, reduced levels of microRNAs have been associated with depression-like behavior in mouse models of the illness. Dr. Baraban is working to understand how the machinery that is responsible for microRNAs degradation affects behavior. His goal is to find inhibitors for this pathway that may serve as novel alternative treatments for depression.

Uwe Rudolph, M.D., of McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, will investigate the pathways that are disrupted in depression. Specifically, he will focus on the interplay between two neural signaling pathways: the GABAergic and glutamatergic systems, which, respectively, are inhibitory and excitatory. Using highly specific chemogenetic tools (genetically engineered proteins that interact with small molecules), he will explore how increasing the activity of GABA receptors affects biochemical signaling in the medial prefrontal cortex, a brain area required for decision-making and memory. Dr. Rudolph will also assess how modulation of GABA receptor function affects behavior in animal models of depression. This work will provide insight into a novel, potentially pharmacological pathway underlying depression.

Etienne L. Sibille, Ph.D., of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Canada, is working to identify new molecular targets for drug development for depression. The majority of current drugs target a single molecular pathway, that of the neurotransmitter serotonin; little is known about other pathways that may contribute to the disease. Dr. Sibille will focus on defining the role of other signals in depression, such as somatostostatin (SST)-positive GABA neurons. He has found that reduced SST expression and function is associated with depression in both humans and animal models of the illness. He will explore how deficiencies in SST-positive neurons contribute to depression and assess whether modulation of these neurons is a potential avenue for antidepressant development.

Mental Illness-Multiple:

Richard Scott Jope, Ph.D., of the University of Miami, hopes to develop a potentially revolutionary new method to alter protein levels in the hippocampus, the center of learning and memory in the brain. Dr. Jope is using a potent class of signaling molecules known as siRNAs to control gene expression. He has found that, when administered through the nose, siRNAs accumulate in the hippocampus of mice. Dr. Jope plans to use this method to modulate the levels of genes that play an important role in a range of mental illnesses. His preliminary studies will focus on genes, such as GSK3 and histone deacetylases, that have been challenging to target with traditional methods. Dr. Jope hopes that his new method will produce highly targeted treatments with limited side effects for patients suffering from a wide variety of mental illnesses.

Kwang-Soo Kim, Ph.D., of McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, will work to identify the biological mechanisms that determine how a person reacts to trauma. For example, children who are exposed to abuse are much more likely to suffer from depression and addiction as adults. Still, a fraction of these children remain resilient despite their traumatic experiences. Using rodent models, researchers have gained insight into the hormone and chemical signaling that influence these behaviors. Dr. Kim now proposes to extend these findings to humans. Dr. Kim will generate stem cells from two groups of adult patients who were abused as children. One group will have a diagnosis of depression, while the other group will not exhibit any symptoms of mental illness. The stem cells from people in each group can be coaxed to form any adult neural cell type, thus enabling Dr. Kim to attempt to define the molecular, cellular, and physiological properties that underlie biological resilience.

Andres V. Maricq, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Utah, will study how an auxiliary protein influences the function of a key neuronal receptor, called the NMDA receptor that is critical for learning and memory. This receptor has been implicated in numerous mental illnesses, including autism spectrum disorders, depression, Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia, which make it an attractive target for new therapies. Dr. Maricq is working to understand how the receptor is regulated in an effort to identify additional avenues for drug development. Dr. Maricq has identified a protein known as NRAP-1 that is required for NMDA activity. He has proposed to define how NRAP-1 biochemically interacts with the NMDA receptor to control its activity. Dr. Maricq is hopeful that this work will lead to novel pharmacological therapies for diseases like depression and schizophrenia.

Marina R. Picciotto, Ph.D., of Yale University, will examine the role of an unstudied group of neurons in anxiety and depression. The so-called ChAT-positive neurons are a rare group of inhibitory cells in the hippocampus, the center of learning and memory in the brain. Dr. Picciotto hypothesizes that these neurons form an important network that is critical for oscillations in the hippocampus that lead to an increase in anxiety- and depression-like behaviors in rodents. Using a combination of molecular genetic, pharmacological, electrophysiological, and behavioral strategies, Dr. Picciotto will determine the effect of ChAT-positive neurons on neural signaling and behavior. The results will be the first functional and behavioral evaluation of this population in the hippocampus, and will provide a novel role for these neurons in behaviors related to anxiety and depression.

Gustavo X. Turecki, M.D., Ph.D., of McGill University, Canada, will study molecular changes in the brain that occur after severe child abuse. Children who have experienced these traumatic events are more likely to suffer from mental illnesses, including severe depression and addiction. Dr. Turecki will gather rare postmortem human brain samples to robustly and specifically characterize changes in the expression of genes and in chemical changes to DNA called methylation that are specifically associated with early-life adversity. He will focus on excitatory pyramidal neurons that are largely responsible for cognition. His goal is to improve our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the impact of child abuse, and ultimately propose novel avenues for intervention.

Simon Keith Warfield, Ph.D., of Children's Hospital, Boston, will use innovative new technology to build structural maps of the connections between neurons in the developing fetal brain during pregnancy. Dr. Warfield has developed new technology that allows researchers to image the brain even while the fetus is moving. This motion-robust MRI and other imaging enables quantitative analysis of neural connections in the early brain. Using this technology, Dr. Warfield will analyze both healthy and at-risk fetal MRI cases. The at-risk population will include fetuses with identified maternal risk factors for developing mental health disorders, including those who have experienced stressful events during pregnancy or obstetric hypoxic complications. Dr. Warfield hopes motion-robust imaging will differentiate between abnormal and normal brain development, which will facilitate the identification of fetuses that are at risk for developing mental health disorders.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder:

Rachel Yehuda, Ph.D., of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, seeks to understand the neurobiological mechanisms involved in resilience to trauma and to define markers that will allow researchers to predict how a person will respond to trauma. Dr. Yehuda has identified neuroendocrine (hormonal) and molecular predictors of resilience and markers of recovery from PTSD. Now, she will examine these predictors in combination with markers of brain structure and function. Dr. Yehuda will scan 15 trauma-exposed individuals with PTSD and 15 trauma-exposed individuals without PTSD. Her goal is to identify neural circuits associated with resilience to trauma as well as neuroimaging biomarkers of treatment response to cognitive therapy in PTSD. More broadly, Dr. Yehuda hopes that improved biomarkers for a patient's response to trauma or the treatment of trauma will advance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms that underlie behavior.

Schizophrenia:

Beng-Choon Ho, M.D., of the University of Iowa, will work to develop a method to measure neuroinflammation in neuropsychiatric disorders. Dr. Ho will test a diagnostic known as advanced diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) to determine if it can serve as a marker of brain immune activation triggered by obstetric complications. The work will take advantage of a unique and highly informative Dutch birth cohort which has been evaluated from prenatal life until mid-adolescence and is still ongoing. The project holds the promise to advance our knowledge of the mechanisms that govern neuroinflammation and provide insight into how maternal infections increase schizophrenia susceptibility, which may allow for earlier intervention and the development of improved therapeutics.

Elliot Hong, M.D., of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, hopes to build a comprehensive map of the brain based on both biochemical interactions and electrical signals. Our current understanding of the brain is largely derived from discrete maps that are based on unrelated structural, functional, chemical or electrical information. Yet complex diseases, like schizophrenia, are likely caused by defects in multiple pathways at once. Using a combination of technical and conceptual advances, Dr. Hong proposes to create the first large-scale map of the brain's synchronized electro-chemical dynamics. His hope is that this integrated image of the brain will provide insight not only into how chemical signals regulate neural activity, but will also identify abnormalities and network-dysfunctions that are commonly observed in patients with schizophrenia.

Neal R. Swerdlow, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of California, San Diego, will work to test an alternative approach to treating schizophrenia. For more than 50 years, antipsychotic drugs have been the main therapy for patients with schizophrenia, but these treatments often fall short in treating various cognitive aspects of the illness. Recent research suggests that patients may benefit from so-called pharmacologically augmented cognitive therapies (PACTs), which pair targeted drugs with cognitive therapies. The dual treatment may have synergistic effects. Dr. Swerdlow will treat schizophrenia patients with range of doses of the pro-attention psychostimulant, d-amphetamine, in addition to conventional antipsychotics. The drug treatment will be paired with cognitive therapy that is specifically targeted to develop attention skills. Dr. Swerdlow hopes that this investigation will provide compelling data that expands the use of PACTs to treat schizophrenia.

Dawn I. Velligan, Ph.D., of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, will look for new biomarkers that are associated with particularly severe cases of schizophrenia. These markers will be used to assess a new treatment, known as the MOtiVation and Engagement (MOVE) Program. The method builds on existing therapies with comprehensive, home-based, multi-modal approaches, and results have been promising so far. Dr. Velligan will focus on inflammatory markers as potential biomarkers. He will examine the relationship between the amount of inflammatory markers circulating in the blood of patients and the severity of their negative symptoms. Dr. Velligan will also assess the impact of MOVE on levels of these molecules. This work has the potential to uncover novel biomarkers associated with the negative symptoms of schizophrenia, which may offer a path to more targeted, improved treatments.

###

For a more extensive summary of Distinguished Investigator projects, visit: http://bit.ly/2gZwurK.

About the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation

The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation is committed to alleviating the suffering of mental illness by awarding grants that will lead to advances and breakthroughs in scientific research. The Foundation funds the most innovative ideas in neuroscience and psychiatry to better understand the causes and develop new ways to treat brain and behavior disorders. These disorders include depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, borderline personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Since 1987, the Foundation has awarded more than $360 million to fund more than 5,000 grants to more than 4,000 leading scientists around the world. This has led to over $3.5 billion in additional funding for these scientists. The Foundation is also dedicated to educating the public about mental health and the importance of research, including the impact that new discoveries have on improving the lives of those with mental illness, which will ultimately enable people to live full, happy and productive lives. For more information, visit http://www.bbrfoundation.org.
(Boston)--When flawed clinical research is reported in the media with hype and sensationalism, it has the potential to have a devastating effect on patients, physicians, the scientific community and eventually society as a whole.

In a review article in the journal EMBO Reports, the authors question how controversial and weak studies are publicized by the media and often coupled with a narrative that is either false or with little scientific basis. The blame for misleading the public, they believe, should be shouldered equally by journalists, scientists, journal editors and research institutions.

As an example, the authors describe the changes in medical attitudes and practices regarding the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in peri- and post-menopausal women following intense coverage of the Women's Health Initiative study. In 2002, the media reported that this large study had been prematurely halted after it showed greater risks of stroke, death and invasive breast cancer for women who took estrogen and progesterone compared with those who received placebo. Physicians called for immediate curtailment of HRT use in women and prescriptions fell by more than 80 percent and remained at that level for years. Today, healthcare experts still routinely reference this study as demonstrating the dangers of HRT despite the fact that a 2013 follow-up study reported no significant difference between HRT and placebo for mortality or a long list of other adverse events.

"We believe that the collaboration between media and scientific journals in communicating advances in science and medicine to the public may result in misinformation and distortion. Unfortunately, this collaboration often exaggerates and allows bad science to be disseminated and shared. Media is often drawn to these controversial studies and they promote them with a narrative that is difficult to change even if it is wrong," explains lead author Abdulmaged M. Traish, PhD, professor of biochemistry and urology at Boston University School of Medicine. Traish and his colleagues believe a number of strategies could help prevent medical professionals and the general public from accepting distorted study results and their coverage in the media, including recognizing the collaboration between medical journals; being wary of pronouncements from individuals who are unlikely to have clinical experience with a drug or treatment and recognizing the limitations of any one study since as many as 70 percent of the most highly cited studies eventually prove to be unreproducible.

Traish believes this critical analysis of how the media and medical journals promote questionable studies is of critical importance to the public, academics, policy makers and research institutions. "This is an issue that needs to be discussed, debated and taught to our medical students to be prepared to enter the real world of medicine and its complexities."

###
Recently, a new polarization-dipole azimuth-based super-resolution technique has been proposed by a group of researchers in Peking University (China), Tsinghua University (China), and University of Technology Sydney (Australia). It not only provides a new dimension for super-resolution, but also provides a timely solution to a recent hot debate in the field.

Since fluorescence polarization was discovered on 1926, various fluorescence anisotropy techniques have been developed to study dipole orientation of fluorophores. However, in the case of super-resolution, while other properties of fluorescence, such as intensity, spectrum, fluorescence lifetime, etc., have been well applied, little attention is paid to the direction of the fluorescence dipole (polarization). In 2014, Walla team published an article on Nature Methods to achieve sparse reconstructed super-resolution imaging by polarization-modulating excitation. In early 2016, Keller group published a comment on this article on Nature Methods, which stated that fluorescence polarization adds little additional information to (fluorescence intensity) super-resolution. This raised an interesting debate: whether the polarization modulation can bring super-resolution information or not?

However, both the Walla and Keller groups investigated this problem from a conventional fluorescence intensity point of view. Taking into account fluorescence intensity and fluorescence anisotropy, this work introduces the dipole angle to distinguish fluorescence through the fourth dimension of the fluorescence, and perfectly answers this controversy.

Traditional fluorescence anisotropy techniques are limited to samples of relative uniform polarization. Fluorescence polarization would be affected by a bulk of fluorophores due to Abbe's diffraction limit, when it comes to complex samples. SDOM utilizes polarization modulation of excitation laser and demodulation of both intensity and polarization, which improves the spatial resolution as well as the detection accuracy of dipole orientation. With the additional information of fluorescence polarization imposed on the original super-resolution intensity image, Xi group has observed several interesting findings in biological samples. At the same time, SDOM technology has a very fast imaging speed (up to 5 frames per second super resolution), the excitation light power requirements are very low (milliWatts level), is ideal for live cell observation. The observation of living yeast cells is demosntrated herein.

This work has been published on Light: Science & Applications on Oct. 21, 2016.

###
Researchers have discovered a dinosaur tail complete with its feathers trapped in a piece of amber. The finding reported in Current Biology on December 8 helps to fill in details of the dinosaurs' feather structure and evolution, which can't be determined from fossil evidence.

While the feathers aren't the first to be found in amber, earlier specimens have been difficult to definitively link to their source animal, the researchers say.

"The new material preserves a tail consisting of eight vertebrae from a juvenile; these are surrounded by feathers that are preserved in 3D and with microscopic detail," says Ryan McKellar of the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Canada. "We can be sure of the source because the vertebrae are not fused into a rod or pygostyle as in modern birds and their closest relatives. Instead, the tail is long and flexible, with keels of feathers running down each side." In other words, the feathers definitely are those of a dinosaur not a prehistoric bird.

The study's first author Lida Xing from the China University of Geosciences (Beijing) discovered the remarkable specimen at an amber market in Myitkyina, Myanmar in 2015. The amber piece was originally seen as some kind of plant inclusion and destined to become a curiosity or piece of jewelry, but Xing recognized its potential scientific importance and suggested that the Dexu Institute of Palaeontology buy the specimen.

The researchers say that the specimen represents the feathered tail of a non-avialan theropod preserved in mid-Cretaceous amber about 99 million years ago. While it was initially difficult to make out the details of the amber inclusion, Xing and his colleagues relied on CT scanning and microscopic observations to get a closer look.

The feathers suggest that the tail had a chestnut-brown upper surface and a pale or white underside. The specimen also offers insight into feather evolution. The feathers lack a well-developed central shaft or rachis. Their structure suggests that the two finest tiers of branching in modern feathers, known as barbs and barbules, arose before a rachis formed.

The researchers also examined the chemistry of the tail inclusion where it was exposed at the surface of the amber. The analysis shows that the soft tissue layer around the bones retained traces of ferrous iron, a relic left over from hemoglobin that was also trapped in the sample.

The findings show the value of amber as a supplement to the fossil record.

"Amber pieces preserve tiny snapshots of ancient ecosystems, but they record microscopic details, three-dimensional arrangements, and labile tissues that are difficult to study in other settings," McKellar says. "This is a new source of information that is worth researching with intensity and protecting as a fossil resource."

The researchers say they are now "eager to see how additional finds from this region will reshape our understanding of plumage and soft tissues in dinosaurs and other vertebrates."

###

This work was supported by the Chinese Academy of Science, the National Science Fund of China (31672345), the State's Key Project of Research and Development Plan, he National Geographic Society, USA, and the National Sciences Engineering Research Council, Canada.

Current Biology, Xing and McKellar et al.: "A Feathered Dinosaur Tail with Primitive Plumage Trapped in Mid-Cretaceous Amber" http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(16)31193-9

Current Biology (@CurrentBiology), published by Cell Press, is a bimonthly journal that features papers across all areas of biology. Current Biology strives to foster communication across fields of biology, both by publishing important findings of general interest and through highly accessible front matter for non-specialists. Visit: http://www.cell.com/current-biology. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact press@cell.com.
Cold Spring Harbor, NY - Discovered in the 1970s, tumor suppressors are among the most important proteins in the body. A master regulator of growth -- "the guardian of the genome" -- the p53 protein monitors cell growth for errors. We rely on suppressors like p53 to defeat cancer before it takes root. Indeed, cancer cells cannot survive unless p53 is mutated or non-functioning.

Not surprisingly, the gene that encodes p53 is the most frequently mutated gene found in human cancers. Most p53 gene mutations prevent p53 from being functional. In new research appearing in eLife, scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) focused on certain "loss of function" p53 mutations, and found that the mutant proteins they generate can act to promote cancer growth and metastasis, not halt it.

The variants studied are truncated - "they lack roughly half of the domains, or units, of the full-length p53 protein, specifically the domains that enable full-length p53 to enter the cell nucleus and bind DNA, both essential in its normal tumor-suppressor function," says CSHL Associate Professor Raffaella Sordella, who led the research in a collaboration with Professor Scott Lowe, a former CSHL colleague now at Memorial Sloan Kettering.

Until the CSHL-led research, the studied variants were presumed unimportant. In studies in cell culture and living mice, the team performed an array of experiments demonstrating that p53 proteins truncated after the 6th protein-coding segment, called exon 6, "no longer function as tumor suppressors but instead promote cancer by directly altering the functions of mitochondria," according to Sordella. Mitochondria are the tiny energy factories found in great abundance throughout the cell's cytoplasm.

By studying data on human tumors, the team learned that the truncated p53 proteins were most likely to be found in what Dr. Sordella calls "the hardest cancers" - ones that resist treatment and are likely to reappear even if surgically removed. Indeed, abundance of exon 6-truncated p53 proteins seems to predict bad outcomes even in cancers treated early and aggressively.

The studied p53 mutations are similar to another truncated version of p53, discovered by Sordella's team in 2014. Called p53 (the Greek letter "psi"), this mutated form of p53 is also missing domains that enable it to enter the nucleus and bind DNA. Instead, it localizes to the mitochondria and promotes tumor progression and metastasis. Unlike the exon 6-truncated p53 protein, however, p53 is the result not of a DNA mutation but rather an alternatively spliced RNA copy of the p53 gene's DNA message.

The similarities observed by Sordella's team led them to explore whether the cancer-promoting impact of the two truncated p53s could be traced to the same mechanism. The team's experiments revealed that it was.

Like p53, exon 6-truncated p53 appears to promote cancer by locating to mitochondria, where it docks with a membrane protein called Cyclophilin D (CypD). The latter regulates the opening of tiny pores in the mitochondria membrane. When exon 6-truncated p53 or p53 interact with CypD, the inner mitochondria pores open only for a brief time, having the effect, Sordella believes, of altering mitochondrial functions. And this, she further suspects, is what leads to the cancer-promoting effect that both truncated versions of p53 seem to engender. In fact, the team found that cancer cells harboring mutations that lead to the production of the exon 6-truncated p53 are dependent on p53 and CypD.

"Remarkably, despite 40 years of research and over 80,000 publications on p53, our new findings show that it still holds mystery and promise," Sordella says.

"It seems that by changing mitochondrial function, the variants are priming cells to reprogram themselves," Sordella adds. Specifically, cells that are normally epithelial - for instance, cells that line the lung or pancreas - undergo a change of type, taking on the characteristics of mesenchymal cells. Such cells are liable to break loose from their moorings in tissue and move via the circulation to other parts of the body. This is thought to be a prime enabling factor in cancer metastasis. Sordella says the team's findings could lead to improved cancer therapies. "These mutations are strong candidates for targeting by precision medicine. The frequency of exon-6 truncating mutations in fact is comparable to other precision medicine targets such as the EGFR oncogenic-mutations found in lung cancer. We have begun discussing with several pharmaceutical companies ways in which we can use our newly gained knowledge to develop treatments that will make a positive difference for many cancer patients."

Sordella and her collaborators plan to take the new findings from the bench to patients. "It is our goal to screen patients for the presence of these mutations and treat with p53  signaling inhibitors, such as small molecules inhibiting CypD, according to their tumor genotype. Our hope is that this will extend and perhaps save lives."

###

The research discussed here was supported by the National Cancer Institute (NCI P01 CA129243-06 target for therapy for 652 carcinomas in the lung) and Swim Across America.

"TP53 exon-6 truncating mutations produce separation of function isoforms with pro-tumorigenic functions" appears online in eLife. The authors are: Nitin H Shirole, Debjani Pal, Edward R Kastenhuber, Serif Senturk, Joseph Boroda, Paola Pisterzi, Madison Miller, Gustavo Munoz, Marko Anderluh, Marc Ladanyi, Scott W Lowe and Raffaella Sordella. The paper can be accessed at: https://elifesciences.org/content/5/e17929

About Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Founded in 1890, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has shaped contemporary biomedical research and education with programs in cancer, neuroscience, plant biology and quantitative biology. Home to eight Nobel Prize winners, the private, not-for-profit Laboratory employs 1,100 people including 600 scientists, students and technicians. The Meetings & Courses Program hosts more than 12,000 scientists from around the world each year on its campuses in Long Island and in Suzhou, China. The Laboratory's education arm also includes an academic publishing house, a graduate school and programs for middle and high school students and teachers. For more information, visit http://www.cshl.edu
Prof Steve WaiChing Sun Wins Air Force's Young Investigator Program Award to Model Load Response of Granular Materials

Steve WaiChing Sun, assistant professor of civil engineering and engineering mechanics at Columbia Engineering, has won a three-year, $360,000 2017 Young Investigator Research Program (YIP) grant, awarded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR). He is one of 58 researchers from 41 research institutions to be honored with this early career award. His winning project--"Modeling the High-rate Responses of Wetted Granular Materials Across Scales and the Third-party Replicable Validation Exercises Utilizing 3D Printers"--was selected from more than 230 proposals to AFOSR's YIP program, which fosters creative basic research in science and engineering and the development of outstanding young principal investigators graduated within five years of receiving their PhDs.

Sun works in the fields of theoretical and computational solid mechanics, poromechanics, and multiscale modeling of fully coupled multi-physical systems, looking to improve predictions of large-scale field problems with insight from small-scale observations and simulations. His research is focused on advancing the understanding on multiphase materials under extreme conditions and expanding predictive capabilities for related engineering applications, including geological carbon sequestration, hydraulic fracture, and nuclear waste disposal.

Sun will use the YIP award to lead a combined experiential-modeling effort to help understand the high-strain-rate responses of wetted granular materials to impact loadings released into the soil, such as blasts, explosion, munitions, subsurface exploration, ground improvement, and ballistic vulnerability of military structures. One key component of his YIP project is the introduction of 3D printing to create experimental prototypes that can be replicated and validated by other researchers.

Sun's project has two goals: First, he will introduce new numerical models that make more accurate and efficient predictions on how granular materials respond to high-rate loading using multiscale modeling techniques. This advancement requires better fracture and fragmentation models that are specific to the granular materials, as well as theories and techniques that link nanoscale simulations to field-scale engineering problems with consistency.

Secondly, he plans to develop a systemic and unbiased way to allow other researchers to challenge his results and findings by reproducing his work using 3D printers and open-source codes developed by his team. Sun's 3D printing techniques will enable other researchers to reproduce the same synthetic particles of the same particular size, shape, and material properties used in Sun's research. By making enough data available, he hopes to allow other researchers to perform the same simulations, experiments, and validation exercises as he did. "They can even challenge our results easily," he observes. "A critical issue we want to address is maintaining replication, corroboration, and transparency of research results, and we hope that other researchers will reach out to us and point out our shortcomings so that we all can learn from each other." He adds, "Granular material is the second most handled material in the global industry--second only to water--so the fundamental knowledge we gain will have far-reaching consequences, from helping engineers make more efficient and safer designs for mining and containment of underground explosions to assessment of earthquake damages. It is essential that we foster collaboration because that is how we will advance our field." In 2015, Sun also received the U.S. Army's Young Investigator Program award from Army Research Office to model how microscopic water and air seepages inside each pore of granular materials, such as sand, silt, and sediment, affect the bearing capacity and stability of the ground. In addition to the YIP awards, Sun recently won a three-year $800,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy's Nuclear Energy University Programs, which supports university-led nuclear energy research and development projects to develop innovative technologies and solutions.

His project, "An Integrated Multiscale Experimental-Numerical Analysis on Reconsolidation of Salt-Clay Mixture for Disposal of Heat-Generating Waste," will study the thermal-mechanical-hydrologic-chemical coupling effect on reconsolidated granular (or crushed) salt-clay mixture used for seal systems of shafts and drifts in salt repositories. "We think that adding some amount of clay in the re-consolidated clay mixture may make salt, an almost impermeable material, even less permeable so that these materials can be used as sealant for nuclear waste storage sites," he says. "We will be modeling and developing numerical simulations of a broad range of scenarios to see if that's the case and to understand how and why such a small amount of clay makes such a big difference on the engineering properties of the salt."

###

LINKS:

http://poromechanics.weebly.com/index.html

http://www.engineering.columbia.edu/

http://engineering.columbia.edu/professor-steve-sun-receives-army%E2%80%99s-young-investigator-award
Magnetic reconnection research sheds light on explosive phenomena in astrophysics and fusion experiments

Challenging process that occurs throughout the universe now better understood

Scientists are closer than ever to unraveling a process called magnetic reconnection that triggers explosive phenomena throughout the universe. Solar flares, northern lights and geomagnetic storms that can disrupt cell phone service and black out power grids are all set off by magnetic field lines that converge, break apart and violently reconnect in ways that are not fully understood.

Now physicists Masaaki Yamada of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and Ellen Zweibel of the University of Wisconsin-Madison have provided a major perspective on four key problems in magnetic reconnection in a paper published December 7 in the British journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A

. Their research focuses on how the field lines embedded in plasma, the hot, charged gas composed of electrons and atomic nuclei -- or ions -- that makes up 99 percent of the visible universe, behave as they do. The findings are relevant to both astrophysics and magnetically controlled fusion experiments, which reconnection can shut down.

The extensive, 30-page paper, which the journal invited, advances understanding of four deep and long-standing puzzles:

The rate problem. Why does reconnection take place much faster than theory indicates?

The trigger problem. What determines the amount of energy that can be stored in a magnetic field and triggers its release?

The energetics problem. How does reconnection convert magnetic energy into explosive kinetic energy?

The interplay of scales problem. How does reconnection that occurs on a microscale trigger blasts that occur on a global scale?

Yamada and Zweibel, winners of the James Clerk Maxwell Prize in Plasma Physics in 2015 and 2016, respectively, take a comprehensive approach to these issues. The prize, awarded by the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics, honors their contributions to the dynamics of reconnection and to plasma astrophysics. Their paper combines data gleaned from satellite sightings and the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX) at PPPL, together with theory and computer simulation, to provide a detailed view of these puzzling processes.

On the rate problem, the authors note that two paths to fast reconnection have been identified. In the first, fast reconnection takes place when magnetized electrons and demagnetized ions behave differently, causing a phenomenon called a Hall effect in the reconnection layer. In the second, a process called plasmoid instability breaks up thin current layers into magnetic islands that produce rapid reconnection (see related article here.) "Characterizing the plasmoid instability in a large laboratory plasma is a goal for future research," the authors write.

There is also much work to do on the trigger problem, Zweibel and Yamada noted. Formation of a thin current sheet has long been held to be a prerequisite for fast reconnection, they write. However, distribution of the energy that erupts in solar flares "is a key observation which trigger theories must explain," they state, and identifying the power law behind the distribution "remains a distant but important goal." In power laws, one form of energy varies as a power of another.

With regard to the energetics problem, important progress has been made recently, the authors say. Experiments conducted on the MRX at PPPL show that reconnection converts about 50 percent of the magnetic energy, with one-third of the conversion accelerating the electrons and two-thirds accelerating the ions in the plasma. "These results raise the question of whether there is a universal principle for partitioning of converted energy, an important problem for future research," they write.

An explanation of the scale problem, in which tiny microprocesses produce large global effects, "remains extremely challenging," the authors state. Nonetheless, much "important progress" has been made. While the triggers for reconnection are mostly global, the sources of energy conversion can be either global or small in scale. Therefore, "the presence of a continuum of scales coupled from microscopic to macroscopic may be the most likely path to fast reconnection."

Going forward, the authors write that, "prospects for future progress depend on continued successful innovations in methodology. The combination of laboratory experiments, space plasma measurements and numerical simulations is proving to be especially successful." Such developments will lead future research to focus "on the specialized features of natural plasmas throughout the universe."

###

The research was supported by the Vilas Trust and the University of Wisconsin-Madison for Zweibel's work and the DOE Office of Science for Yamada's.

PPPL, on Princeton University's Forrestal Campus in Plainsboro, N.J., is devoted to creating new knowledge about the physics of plasmas -- ultra-hot, charged gases -- and to developing practical solutions for the creation of fusion energy. The Laboratory is managed by the University for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science, which is the largest single supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.
Scientists are only beginning to understand the laws that govern the atomic world.

Before the 1950s the electrons, neutrons, and protons comprising atoms were the smallest confirmed units of matter. With advancements in experimental and theoretical techniques in recent decades, though, researchers now try to understand particles a step smaller and more fundamental.

In recent years large-scale experimental facilities, such as the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, have allowed researchers to begin testing theories about how subatomic particles behave under different conditions.

Research institutions funded by the US Department of Energy (DOE) have also made major investments in experimental test facilities. The newest of these facilities lies in Hall D at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab). The experiment, known as GlueX, aims to give researchers unprecedented insight into subatomic particle interactions.

"We believe there is a theory that describes how elementary particles interact, quarks and gluons that make up the matter around us," said Robert Edwards, senior staff scientist at Jefferson Lab. "If so, the theory of QCD suggests that there are some exotic forms of matter that exist, and that's what we're looking for in our Hall D experiment."

Edwards serves as the principal investigator on a project that uses computation to inform the GlueX experiment as well as corroborate experimental findings. To that end the team has been using the Titan supercomputer at DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Titan is the flagship supercomputer of the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF), a DOE Office of Science User Facility located at ORNL.

The team wants to make computer codes for quantum chromodynamics (QCD) applications run more efficiently and effectively, and with access to world-class computing resources, the researchers' computational innovations were able to achieve speedups ranging from seven- to tenfold for QCD calculations compared with those achieved in earlier work.

Mathematical mesons

The field of QCD is the study of forces between two major categories of subatomic particles--quarks and gluons.

Quarks serve as the primary force-carrying particles in an atom's nucleus and make up hadrons, a class of subatomic particles that includes protons and neutrons. Gluons, much like their name implies, allow quarks to interact with forces and serve as the "glue" that holds hadrons together.

Quarks can also bind with their inverse, antiquarks, to form mesons. Mesons are among the most mysterious of all subatomic particles because their resonances are in existence for only fractions of a microsecond. Through experiments researchers hope to use GlueX to confirm the existence of "exotic" mesons that would help advance QCD theory.

When simulating a quantum system of quarks, gluons, and mesons, the number of calculations needed to compute the interactions of the subatomic particle fields explodes in a hurry. Researchers represent quarks and gluons by using a lattice or grid. In fact, researchers using this method call it lattice QCD (LQCD).

Once the theories are expressed in terms of the lattice, the overall simulation becomes similar to a high-school-level model of a crystal--plastic spheres at the lattice points connected by springs between them. One can think of the spheres at the lattice points as representing the quark field with the springs between them representing the quark-gluon interactions. When given energy by pushing or nudging, the model will vibrate. At any given instant, a snapshot of the model would show a particular arrangement of stretched and compressed springs. If one looked at the statistical distribution of these snapshots, he or she could deduce information about the crystal.

QCD works in a similar way. The team's lattices act as snapshots of the states of the gluon fields. By generating a statistical sampling of these QCD field snapshots and analyzing them, the team can compute the properties of the subatomic particles of interest.

Although that process might sound simple, it really isn't. Each snapshot requires a lot of computation. To compute the quark-gluon interactions, the team must repeatedly carry out the complex computation of solving the Dirac equation--a complex wave equation.

Solving the equation is complicated enough, but Jefferson Lab researcher Balint Joo noted that the team's simulations must do it many times. "Our algorithm is one that requires solving the Dirac equation hundreds of thousands of times for each of the 300 to 500 snapshots that we take," he said.

Such computational demands push even the world's fastest supercomputers to their performance limits, and Joo and NVIDIA high-performance computing researcher Kate Clark have teamed with other researchers from the USQCD collaboration to search for new ways to improve code performance on the Jefferson Lab team's CHROMA code, among other QCD applications. They shared their results in a paper presentation at the SC16 conference, which took place November 13-18.

GPUs as the glue

Since 2005 Clark has focused on methods to improve code performance for the LQCD community. Before moving to NVIDIA, she worked in LQCD algorithms at Boston University with professor Richard Brower, where the team developed a multigrid algorithm. Essentially, computer chips have become so much faster than memory systems that memory can't feed chips the data fast enough, meaning the bottleneck for LQCD calculations comes from the speed of the memory system. Clark has been developing the QUDA library, which takes advantage of a GPU system's computational strength, including its very fast built-in memory, to improve calculation speed.

When developing its new algorithm, the Edwards team began by adding a multigrid algorithm into its code. Multigrid algorithms take the large, fine-grained lattice grid for LQCD calculations; average the various grid points; and create multiple smaller, coarser grids.

Similar to sound waves, which are really composed of many waves, each with a different pitch or frequency, the team's problem is composed of many modes with different energies. High-energy modes need a fine lattice to represent them accurately, but low-energy modes--which usually slow down when seeking a solution--can be represented on coarser lattices with fewer points, ultimately reducing the computational cost. By using multiple grids and separating the modes in the problem onto the various grids most efficiently, the researchers can get through their long line of calculations quicker and easier.

"GPUs provide a lot of memory bandwidth," Clark said. "Solving LQCD problems computationally is almost always memory-bound, so if you can describe your problem in such a way that GPUs can get maximum use of their memory bandwidth, QCD calculations will go a lot quicker." In other words memory bandwidth is like a roadway in that having more lanes helps keep vehicles moving and lessens the potential for traffic backups.

However, the more GPUs working on a problem, the more they must communicate with one another. If too many GPUs get involved and the problem size doesn't keep up with the computational resources being used, the calculation becomes very inefficient.

"One aspect of GPUs is that they bring a lot of parallelism to the problem, and so to get maximum performance, you may need to restructure your calculation to exploit more parallelism," Clark said.

Pouncing on parallelism

Essentially, as computing technology has evolved, processing speed has improved faster than the ability of interconnects to move increasingly larger amounts of data across supercomputers' nodes. For simulations in which researchers divide their calculations across many computer nodes, this imbalance can lead to performance bottlenecks.

"With QCD the computational cost doesn't scale linearly; it scales super-linearly," Clark said. "If you double the problem size, the computational cost goes up by more than a factor of two. I can't keep the same size of computation per node and just put it on a bigger system."

Despite performance gains through implementing the multigrid algorithm, Clark, Joo, and their collaborators noted that for maximum performance impacts, they would need to exploit sources of parallelism other than those that had typically been used in existing LQCD calculations.

Each one of Titan's 18,688 GPUs has 2,688 processing cores. To return to the roadway analogy, each one of a GPU's individual processors is a "lane" on a road, and if only one lane is open, cars back up quickly.

With that in mind, Clark, Joo, and their collaborators worked on opening up as many processing "lanes" as possible for LQCD calculations. The team recognized that in addition to exploiting parallelism by calculating multiple grids rather than a single, large grid, they could also exploit more parallelism out of each grid point.

To create multiple grids from one large, fine-grained grid, each GPU calculates a set of grid points (which appear as mathematical vectors), averages the results, and sends the averages to the middle grid point. Rather than just having one processing "lane" doing all of these calculations, researchers can use four processing cores to calculate the points above, below, and to the left and right of the original grid point.

Much like going from a one-lane road to a four-lane highway, the data throughput moves much faster. This concept works for a two-dimensional calculation, and a four-dimensional calculation can use this same concept to achieve eight-way parallelism.

In addition, the researchers noted that each grid point is not just a number but also a vector of data. By splitting up the vector calculations to run on multiple processors, the team further increased code parallelism.

Because of these innovations, the Edwards team saw hundredfold speedups on the coarsest grids and a tenfold speedup for finer grids when comparing simulations with those that took place before the QUDA implementation. Clark and Joo pointed out that this approach affects more than the team's CHROMA code. These methods are already being applied to other QCD applications.

Clark noted that as computers continue to get more powerful by using accelerators--such as the OLCF's next-generation machine, Summit, set to begin delivering science in 2018--researchers will have to focus on getting as much parallelism as possible.

"Going forward, supercomputers like Summit will have many more processing cores, so to get high efficiency as a whole, researchers in many fields are going to have to work on how to exploit all the levels of parallelism in a problem," Clark said. "At some point exploiting all levels of parallelism is something that all researchers will have to do, and I think our work is a good example of that."

###

Related Publication: M.A. Clark, Balint Joo, Alexei Strelchenko, Michael Cheng, Arjun Gambhir, and Richard C. Brower, "Accelerating Lattice QCD Multigrid on GPUs Using Fine-Grained Parallelization." SC16 Proceedings of the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Storage and Analysis, Salt Lake City, UT, November 13-18, 2016, http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=3014995&CFID=872259881&CFTOKEN=57960029.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is supported by the US Department of Energy's Office of Science. The single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, the Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.
[December 08, 2016] Kuuhubb Acquires Kemojo, a Canadian Studio Renowned for Action Shooter and Idle RPG Titles

HELSINKI, Dec. 8, 2016 /CNW/ -- Kuuhubb OY, a Finland based company specializing in boosting Asian distribution and brand/IP collaborations of mobile app and VR vendors, has acquired Kemojo Studios. Kemojo is a mobile game developer based in Vancouver, currently with 22 employees. It was founded in 2010 and it focuses on two promising mobile game niches - action shooter and idle RPG. Kemojo Kuuhubb Studios, as it will be known after the acquisition, is gearing to launch several major titles in 2017 in these genres. Kemojo has worked with Kongregate, Fox, Jagex, Big Fish Games, EA Popcap and Rovio Stars. The core team has launched over 20 mobile games and amassed over 100 million downloads worldwide. Key titles include Tap Cats: Idle Warfare and Drone: Shadow Strike. Studio leadership includes grizzled game industry veterans Sean Megaw, Eva Toker Neil Martin and Steve Hart. Kemojo's particular strength lies in lavish, detailed graphics and a distinctive look of its games. Kuuhubb was established in the summer of 2016. Cofounders include CEO Jouni Keranen, Director Christian Kolster and Chief Strategist Tero Kuittinen.Mr. Keranen is known best for building the Sulake business in China and helping to grow Habbo Hotel, the virtual world that has garnered 270 Million registered avatars. Mr Kolster is an experienced investor in the Nordic VC/PE funding scene. Mr Kuittinen worked as the only Finnish sell-side telecom analyst on Wall Street in 2003-2011, starting his US equity research career at Sanford C Bernstein.



Commenting on the acquisition, Kuuhubb CEO Jouni Keranen points out that "Kuuhubb will have a tight focus on app vendors that specialize in underappreciated, strongly growing niches, just outside the mobile app mainstream. We seek studios that have an eclectic vision and deep passion of turning slightly offbeat niches into major genres of tomorrow. We have high hopes for Asian growth prospects of upcoming Kemojo titles, as well as certain compelling licensing projects." About Kuuhubb

Kuuhubb mission is to build app vendors with strong Asian distribution and marketing, as well as robust IP partnerships with leading Western brands and media properties. Kuuhubb provides growth funding and go-to market support for mobile application vendors and VR/AR companies. Too many app industry resources are spent on copying old formulas - too little is invested in nurturing new engines of growth; product segments that demonstrate strong early revenue growth and robust engagement. Kuuhubb has a particular interest in identifying nascent, under the radar genres with evident momentum. The goal is to invest in growth areas of the future, via specialist studios with profound understanding of their particular segments. Kuuhubb studios will possess skills and passion to iterate successive generations of products in these select niches. Kuuhubb is based in Helsinki, Finland, with operations in New York and Hong Kong.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kuuhubb-acquires-kemojo-a-canadian-studio-renowned-for-action-shooter-and-idle-rpg-titles-300375428.html SOURCE Kuuhubb OY

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
An article in Blood shows that administering the anti-hypertensive drug amlodipine in conjunction with conventional chelation therapy helps combat health problems caused by the buildup of iron in organs

Iron accumulation in myocardial cells, potentially resulting in heart failure or fatal arrhythmia, is one of the complications most feared by patients with thalassemia major, a hereditary disease also known as Mediterranean anemia.

An article by Brazilian researchers published in the journal Blood reports that a daily dose of amlodipine combined with chelation resulted in more effective reduction of cardiac iron in a clinical trial involving 62 patients. Amlodipine is an inexpensive drug with few side effects and is already available for the treatment of hypertension.

"The drug has been used clinically for decades and is considered safe for adults and children. As an adjunct to standard treatment, it can be greatly beneficial to patients and has few side effects," said Juliano de Lara Fernandes, a researcher at Jose Michel Kalaf Research Institute in Campinas, Sao Paulo State, Brazil, and principal investigator for the project.

The trial was conducted in partnership with researchers at the University of Campinas Blood Center (Hemocentro UNICAMP), Boldrini Child Cancer Center, and Sao Paulo Blood Center (CHSP), among others.

Thalassemia major, Fernandes explained, is an inherited blood disorder in which the body makes an abnormal form of hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. The disorder results in a low red cell count, which leads to chronic anemia, so patients require blood transfusions every three to four weeks. The downside of this treatment is a buildup of iron in the organism.

"The iron in red blood cells is normally reused when new red cells are produced, but transfusions introduce a lot of extra iron into the patient. The concentration of iron can double after ten transfusions," Fernandes said.

The body lacks mechanisms to excrete the excess iron, which builds up in the cells of several organs, especially the heart and liver. This accumulation is usually treated with chelating drugs, which bind with the excess iron to produce compounds that can be excreted in urine or feces.

"Chelation therapy works well in peripheral organs, but it's hard to remove iron from the heart," Fernandes said. "Myocardial dysfunctions are currently the main cause of death among patients with thalassemia and can emerge in children from the age of ten."

The most serious problem of all, he added, is caused by an accumulation of non-transferrin bound iron (NTBI) in myocardial cells. NTBI is toxic and can cause cell death. Normally scarce in the bloodstream, it can increase significantly as a result of successive transfusions.

NTBI enters and leaves the liver without causing much damage to the organ, but it enters the heart via a channel whose main role is to carry calcium into cells.

"It occurred to us that drugs capable of blocking the calcium channel could also prevent NTBI from entering the heart and therefore increase the efficacy of chelation therapy," Fernandes said. "Calcium-channel blockers are widely used to treat problems such as high blood pressure and irregular heart beat."

The hypothesis was tested in 62 patients with thalassemia major. This number was considered sufficiently representative because the disease is rare. The volunteers were divided into two groups. Both were given conventional chelation therapy, but amlodipine was administered to only one. The other received oral placebo.

Before the clinical trial began, peripheral venous blood samples were collected for chemistry and hematology analyses, and MRI scans were performed on patients who had not had one within 30 days before enrollment. Depending on the iron concentrations found in their organs, each group was subdivided into those with and without initial cardiac iron overload. MRI scans were repeated a year later.

"Myocardial iron concentration fell 21% in patients with initial iron overload who were treated with chelation plus amlodipine, whereas it increased by 2% in those with initial overload who were treated with chelation plus placebo," Fernandes said.

A comparison of results for the subgroups without initial iron overload showed no significant difference between those who received amlodipine and those who received placebo.

"Perhaps we would have needed to monitor these patients for a longer period to see the benefits of preventive therapy with amlodipine for people who don't have excess iron in their organs," Fernandes said. "For those who do, however, the results show it's worth using amlodipine. There's no need to change the existing therapy. It's enough to administer the anti-hypertensive orally every day."

###
Hamilton, ON Dec. 8, 2016 -- Pioneering work being carried out in a cave in New Mexico by researchers at McMaster University and The University of Akron, Ohio, is changing the understanding of how antibiotic resistance may have emerged and how doctors can combat it in the future.

In research published in Nature Communications today, the scientists examined one bacterium found 1,000 feet underground (called Paenibacillus) that demonstrated resistance to most antibiotics used today, including so-called 'drugs of last resort' such as daptomycin. These microorganisms have been isolated from the outside world for more than four million years within the cave.

The results show the bacterium is resistant to 18 different antibiotics and uses identical methods of defense as similar species found in soils. This suggests that the evolutionary pressure to conserve these resistance genes has existed for millions of years -- not just since antibiotics were first used to treat disease.

Among the different ways that the bacteria could be resistant to antibiotics, the scientists identified five novel pathways that were of potential clinical concern. Finding these new pathways is particularly valuable, as it gives researchers time to develop new drugs to combat this type of resistance, potentially decades before it will become a problem for doctors and their patients.

"The diversity of antibiotic resistance and it's its prevalence in microbes across the globe should be humbling to everyone who uses these lifesaving drugs," said Gerry Wright, an author of the paper and scientific director of McMaster's Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research.

"It reflects the fact that we must understand that antibiotic use and resistance go hand in hand."

Hazel Barton, professor and director, Integrative Bioscience at The University of Akron, said: "Exploring these challenging and remote environments offers a unique opportunity to sample the genetic diversity of microbes untouched by human activity"

The bacteria were found in Lechuguilla Cave, which is one of the longest caves in the world and deepest in the United States. It is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Due to the fragile and highly technical nature of the cave, it has been closed to all except a few scientific researchers and cave experts since its original discovery in 1986. This restricted access makes it an ideal environment in which to study how microbes have evolved without the influence of human activity.

Today's research publication follows work by the researchers in 2012 to examine microorganisms from the cave.

Although use of antibiotics revolutionized the treatment of bacterial infections in the 20th century, overuse of antibiotics has led to the emergence of antibiotic resistance in disease causing bacteria. In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control estimate that more than 20,000 people die each year from otherwise treatable disease.

Both Health Canada and the U.S. national government have released national action plans to address the resistance crisis.

###

Editors: New Mexico's Lechuguilla Cave, a place isolated from human contact until recently, is home to a remarkable prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

A photo is available for downloading here. https://adobe.ly/2gZSyTq

Photo credit: Max Wisshak (2012)

For more information:

Veronica McGuire

Media Relations

Faculty of Health Sciences

McMaster University

vmcguir@mcmaster.ca

905-525-9140, ext. 22169

Lisa Craig

Media Relations Specialist

The University of Akron

lmc91@uakron.edu

330-972-7429

Cell: 330-608-6503
New genetic research from an international team including McMaster University, University of Helsinki, Vilnius University and the University of Sydney, suggests that smallpox, a pathogen that caused millions of deaths worldwide, may not be an ancient disease but a much more modern killer that went on to become the first human disease eradicated by vaccination.

The findings, published in the journal Current Biology, raise new questions about the role smallpox may have played in human history and fuels a longstanding debate over when the virus that causes smallpox, variola, first emerged and later evolved in response to inoculation and vaccination.

"Scientists don't yet fully comprehend where smallpox came from and when it jumped into humans," says evolutionary geneticist Hendrik Poinar, senior author of the study, director of the McMaster Ancient DNA Centre and a researcher with Michael G. DeGroote Institute of Infectious Disease Research. "This research raises some interesting possibilities about our perception and age of the disease."

Smallpox, one of the most devastating viral diseases ever to strike humankind, had long been thought to have appeared in human populations thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt, India and China, with some historical accounts suggesting that the pharaoh Ramses V -who died in 1145 BC--suffered from smallpox.

In an attempt to better understand its evolutionary history, and after obtaining clearance from the WHO in Geneva, scientists extracted the heavily fragmented DNA, from the partial mummified remains of a Lithuanian child believed to have died between 1643 and 1665, a period in which several smallpox outbreaks were documented throughout Europe with increasing levels of mortality. The smallpox DNA was captured, sequenced and the ancient genome, one of the oldest viral genomes to date, was completely reconstructed. There was no indication of live virus in the sample and so the mummies are not infectious.

Researchers compared and contrasted the 17th Century strain to those from a modern databank of samples dating from 1940 up to its eradication in 1977. Strikingly, the work shows that the evolution of smallpox virus occurred far more recently than previously thought, with all the available strains of the virus having an ancestor no older than 1580.

"This study sets the clock of smallpox evolution to a much more recent time-scale" said evolutionary biologist Eddie Holmes, a professor at the University of Sydney, Australia.

"Although it is still unclear what animal is the true reservoir of smallpox virus and when the virus first jumped into humans."

The pox viral strains that represent the true reservoir for human smallpox remains currently unsampled. Both the closest gerbil (Tetarapox) and camel pox are very distantly related and consequently are not the likely ancestors to smallpox, suggesting that the real reservoir remains at large or has gone extinct.

Researchers also discovered that smallpox virus evolved into two circulating strains, variola major and minor, after English physician Edward Jenner famously developed a vaccine in 1796.

One form of VARV (Variola virus), known as V. major was highly virulent and deadly, the other V, minor much more benign. However, scientists say, the two forms experienced a 'major population bottleneck' with the rise of global immunization efforts. The date of the ancestor of the minor strain corresponds well with the Atlantic Slave trade which was likely responsible for partial worldwide dissemination.

"This raises important questions about how a pathogen diversifies in the face of vaccination. While smallpox was eradicated in human populations, we can't become lazy or apathetic about its evolution - and possible reemergence--until we fully understand its origins," says Ana Duggan, a post doctoral fellow in the McMaster Ancient DNA Centre.

Whether the date of the ancestor, approximately 1580, precludes the massive destruction of aboriginal populations in central America by smallpox, introduced by the Spanish, remains questionable. To that end, researchers must carefully examine the remains of individuals buried in epidemic burials in central and southern America, say scientists.

"This work blurs the line between ancient diseases and emerging infections. Much of smallpox evolution apparently happened in historic time," says Margaret Humphreys, historian of medicine at Duke University.

The World Health Organization declared smallpox eradicated in 1980.

###

Attention editors: Additional quotes from collaborators are available here:

"I am excited to see that these remains from the Holy Spirit crypt, once scheduled to be buried, are now revealing so much about the health conditions of past Vilnius inhabitans. This research is yielding extraordinary information and we should especially be grateful to those unnamed people that still tell us stories after centuries." - Dario Piombino-Mascali - Vilnius University

"Indeed, behind our rear window is another world; the time machine through which we call Archaeovirology," say post doctoral fellow Maria Perdomo and professors Klaus Hedman and Antti Sajantila at University of Helsinki.

McMaster provides a high definition broadcast studio that can connect with any television broadcaster around the world. To book an interview please contact:

Michelle Donovan

Manager, Media Relations

McMaster University

905-525-9140, ext. 22869

905-512-8548 (c)

donovam@mcmaster.ca

Wade Hemsworth

Manager, Media Relations

McMaster University

905-525-9140, ext. 27988

289-925-8382 (c)

hemswor@mcmaster.ca

Vivienne Reiner

Advisor, Media and Public Relations

University of Sydney

+61 2 9351 2390

Vivienne.reiner@sydney.edu.au
Tiny predators in the soil can literally sniff out their prey: soil bacteria, which communicate with each other using scent. A team of researchers from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) has discovered that these predators - called protists - 'eavesdrop' on the bacteria's communication. It's a discovery that opens up perspectives for agriculture. The results are available online this month in The ISME Journal, from the publishers of Nature.

It's dark belowground, so having a good sense of smell is vital. NIOO's soil and microbial ecologists had already found out that soil bacteria tend to use scent to communicate with each other.

Lead author of the article Kristin Schulz-Bohm: "People, too, can smell some of these scents. Just think of the way the woods smell after a summer shower. It's produced by 'talking' bacteria. But it now turns out that the bacteria's natural enemies also take advantage of these scents."

'Long' distance

Protists are key predators of bacteria in the soil. Until now, it was unknown how protists sense their prey in such a complex and labyrinthine environment. Protists may be larger than bacteria, but they are still single-celled.

Scent, it now turns out, is especially important for long-distance communication - and of course if you're a micro-organism, most communication tends to be long distance. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) responsible for these smells can 'carry' across distances of about ten centimetres.

Another thing the protists use smell for is to distinguish between different types of bacteria. It helps them choose the best or most attractive prey and go straight for that, believes soil ecologist and protist-expert Stefan Geisen, one of the members of the research team.

Christmas trees

Terpenes are a key component of that 'aroma': the researchers found out that bacteria which could no longer produce terpenes, left the protists unaffected. Terpenes? "It's not a word many people would know", says Kristin Schulz-Bohm, "yet everyone knows what they are. Terpenes are what makes christmas trees smell like christmas trees. Or think of mandarins, or lavender."

Possible practical applications for the team's discovery are already coming into view. "It may be possible to use these volatile organic compounds for biological pest control. To attract natural enemies of pathogens and other harmful micro-organisms." Terpenes: they're not just for Christmas...

###

The NIOO counts more than 300 staff members and students and is one of the largest research institutes of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). The institute specialises in water and land ecology. Since 2011, the institute is located in an innovative and sustainable research building located in Wageningen, the Netherlands. The institute has an impressive research history stretching back 60 years and which spans the entire country and beyond its borders.
Okinawa, Japan -- Like humans learning to speak, juvenile birds learn to sing by mimicking vocalizations of adults of the same species during development. Juvenile birds preferentially learn the song of their own species, even in noisy environments with a variety of different birdsongs. But how they can recognize their species' song has, until now, remained a mystery. In a collaborative study, neuroscientists and a physicist at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) have uncovered an innate mechanism for species identification based on the silent gaps between birdsong syllables.

"We co-designed an experiment that works within the constraints of neuroscience while satisfying the requirements of physics," says Professor Mahesh Bandi, head of the Collective Interactions Unit at OIST.

Dr. Makoto Araki and Professor Yoko Yazaki-Sugiyama of OIST's Neuronal Mechanism for Critical Period Unit and Professor Bandi performed a cross-fostering experiment in which juvenile zebra finches were raised by Bengalese finch foster parents to examine how their birdsong develops under the tutoring of a different species. Birdsong is comprised of stereotypical repeats of a few syllables, called 'song motifs', in which syllables are separated by silent gaps. The findings, published in Science, reveal that the fostered zebra finches learned morphologies of Bengalese finch syllables, including syllable duration, but transposed onto zebra finch silent gap patterns. This suggests that temporal gaps between syllables are innate, while syllable morphology can be learned.

"The fostered zebra finches sang the Bengalese finch song with a zebra finch accent," says Professor Yoko Yazaki-Sugiyama.

To determine the neural basis of this innate species detection mechanism, the researchers recorded the activity of neurons in the auditory cortex of adult zebra finch brains during exposure to birdsong. They discovered a first set of neurons which registered temporal gaps of zebra finch songs, as well as a separate second set of neurons that are responsive to syllable morphology.

Using trains of song syllables or white noise separated by silent intervals of varying lengths, they discovered that the first set of neurons are most sensitive to silent gaps with the same duration as the silent gaps found in natural zebra finch song. The neurons did not respond to syllable trains if the duration between syllables was too short or too long. This phenomenon persisted in juvenile zebra finches raised in isolation or cross-fostered by Bengalese finch parents.

This first set of neurons responded strongly to natural zebra finch song. They neither responded to artificial zebra finch song in which the duration of the silent gaps between syllables had been increased, nor to the songs of other species. Together these findings support the existence of neuronal mechanisms that use silent gaps between syllables of birdsong to detect songs of the same species during learning.

"This first set of neurons operate as a kind of neural barcode reader," says Professor Yazaki-Sugiyama.

Each male zebra finch has to develop a unique song that is different from other zebra finches, while maintaining species specific identity. Parallel processing of syllable morphology and temporal silent gaps between syllables discovered by OIST researchers could help explain how these two competing criteria are satisfied.

Decades ago, researchers at Bell Laboratories seeking to boost telecommunication channel capacity developed tools in voice activity detection as well as Information Theory. This collaborative team work by researchers from different disciplines applied Information theoretic tools and discovered similar strategies are hardwired in bird brains to recognize and learn songs of their own species. These findings tell us there is information in silence.

###
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Nothing ruins a potentially fun event like putting it on your calendar.

In a series of studies, researchers found that scheduling a leisure activity like seeing a movie or taking a coffee break led people to anticipate less enjoyment and actually enjoy the event less than if the same activities were unplanned.

That doesn't mean you can't plan at all: The research showed that roughly planning an event (but not giving a specific time) led to similar levels of enjoyment as unplanned events.

"People associate schedules with work. We want our leisure time to be free-flowing," said Selin Malkoc, co-author of the study and assistant professor of marketing at The Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business.

"Time is supposed to fly when you're having fun. Anything that limits and constrains our leisure chips away at the enjoyment."

Malkoc conducted the study with Gabriela Tonietto, a doctoral student at Washington University in St. Louis. Their results are published in the Journal of Marketing Research.

In the paper, they report on 13 separate studies that looked at how scheduling leisure activities affects the way we think about and experience them.

In one study, college students were given a calendar filled with classes and extracurricular activities and asked to imagine that this was their actual schedule for the week.

Half of the participants were then asked to make plans to get frozen yogurt with a friend two days in advance and add the activity to their calendar. The other half imagined running into a friend and deciding to get frozen yogurt immediately.

Results showed that those who scheduled getting frozen yogurt with their friend rated the activity as feeling more like a "commitment" and "chore" than those who imagined the impromptu get-together.

"Scheduling our fun activities leads them to take on qualities of work," Malkoc said.

The effect is not just for hypothetical activities.

In an online study, the researchers had people select an entertaining YouTube video to watch. The catch was that some got to watch their chosen video immediately. Others chose a specific date and time to watch the video and put in on their calendar.

Results showed that those who watched the scheduled video enjoyed it less than those who watched it immediately.

While people seem to get less enjoyment out of precisely scheduled activities, they don't seem to mind if they are more roughly scheduled.

In another study, the researchers set up a stand on a college campus where they gave out free coffee and cookies for students studying for finals.

Before setting up the stand, they handed out tickets for students to pick up their coffee and cookies either at a specific time or during a two-hour window. As they were enjoying their treat, the students filled out a short survey.

The results showed that those who had a specifically scheduled break enjoyed their time off less than did those who only roughly scheduled the break.

"If you schedule leisure activities only roughly, the negative effects of scheduling disappear," Malkoc said. Aim to meet a friend "this afternoon" rather than exactly at 1 p.m.

One study showed that even just setting a starting time for a fun activity is enough to make it less enjoyable.

"People don't want to put time restrictions of any kind on otherwise free-flowing leisure activities," she said.

Malkoc said these findings apply to short leisure activities that last a few hours or less.

The results also have implications for leisure companies that provide experiences for their customers, Malkoc said. For example, some amusement parks offer tickets for their most popular rides that allow people to avoid long lines. But this research suggests that people will enjoy these rides less if the tickets are set for a particular time. Instead, the parks should give people a window of time to board the ride, which would be the equivalent of rough scheduling in this study.

###

Contact: Selin Malkoc, 614-292-3212; Malkoc@fisher.osu.edu

Written by Jeff Grabmeier, 614-292-8457; Grabmeier.1@osu.edu
How do juvenile songbirds learn to sing in a way that preserves both the unique features of local song culture and their specifics-specific song "signature"? Researchers have begun to map the brain circuitry responsible for cultural transmission and species specificity in birdsong.

Two studies appearing in the December 9 issue of Science shed light upon the neuronal architecture of birdsong. In one experiment, Dr. Vikram Gadagkar, postdoctoral fellow and neurobiologist at Cornell University, and his colleagues found that dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) of the brain encode errors in singing performance. This dopaminergic error signal may also help juvenile zebra finches learn to accurately imitate the song of their tutor.

In the second study, investigators studied songbird hatchlings fostered by another species. Dr. Makoto Araki, Neuronal Mechanism of Critical Period Unit, 2 3 Collective Interactions Unit at Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan and colleagues determined that, while juvenile zebra finches imitated the song syllables of their adoptive Bengalese finch parents, they adjusted song cadence towards the rhythm typical of their own species, whose song they had never heard, suggesting that songbirds learn rhythm from an innate template rather than from other birds.

In this same issue of Science, Drs. Ofer Tchernichovski and Dina Lipkind, psychology researchers at Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY), offer a perspective on the above studies. Drs. Tchernichovski and Lipkind, who were not affiliated with either study, propose that the findings may shed light on how songbirds maintain a species-specific song signature despite the random changes that occur in local populations and accumulate over generations. According to the Hunter researchers, two types of neurons in the auditory cortex of songbirds may code independently for the sound of song syllables and for rhythm--with song notes likely more dependent on input from adult tutors and cadence on an innate template or "barcode."

While scientists are only beginning to understand the neural mechanisms that support vocal learning in songbirds, Drs. Tchernichovski and Lipkind point out that this research is relevant to many animal communication systems, including stable cultural transmission in humans.

Dr. Tchernichovski heads the Laboratory of Vocal Learning at Hunter College, CUNY, and uses the songbird to study the mechanisms of vocal learning. Like early speech development in the human infant, the songbird learns to imitate complex sounds during a critical period of development. The adult bird cannot imitate any more - we do not know why. His lab studies the animal behavior and dynamics of vocal learning and sound production across different brain levels. The lab aims to uncover the specific physiological and molecular (gene expression) brain processes that underlie song learning.

###

The City University of New York is the nation's leading urban public university. Founded in New York City in 1847, the University comprises 24 institutions: 11 senior colleges, seven community colleges, and additional professional schools. The University serves nearly 275,000 degree-credit students and 218,083 adult, continuing and professional education students.

For more information, please contact Shante Booker (shante.booker@cuny.edu) or visit http://www.cuny.edu/research
Overweight and obesity in adolescents have increased substantially in recent decades, and today affect a third of the adolescent population in some developed countries. While the dangers posed by high adult BMI on cognitive function in later life have been documented, the association of adolescent BMI with cognitive function in midlife has not yet been reported. (BMI, or Body Mass Index, is a calculation of a person's weight in kilograms divided by the square of their height in meters.)

To shed light on this issue, scientists at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine set out to determine the association between cumulative life course burden of high-ranked body mass index (BMI), and cognitive function in midlife. The research, which will appear in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease 55(3), was led by Prof. Jeremy Kark from the Braun School, in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Faculty of Medicine, working with colleagues in Israel and the United States.

The researchers used weight and height data from 507 individuals tracked from over 33 years starting at age 17. The participants completed a computerized cognitive assessment at ages 48-52, and their socioeconomic position was assessed by multiple methods. Using mixed models the researchers calculated the life-course burden of BMI from age 17 to midlife, and used multiple regression to assess associations of BMI and height with global cognition and its ?ve component domains.

"In this population-based study of a Jerusalem cohort, followed longitudinally from adolescence for over 33 years, we found that higher BMI in late adolescence and the long-term cumulative burden of BMI predicted poorer cognitive function later in life. Importantly, this study shows that an impact of obesity on cognitive function in midlife may already begin in adolescence, independently of changes in BMI over the adult life course," said the paper's senior author, Prof. Jeremy Kark of the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine.

"Our results also show that taller stature was associated with better global cognitive function, independent of childhood and adult socioeconomic position, and that height increase in late adolescence, re?ecting late growth, conferred a protective effect, but among women only," added Irit Cohen-Manheim, doctoral candidate at the Braun School and lead author.

The researchers point out that while socioeconomic position may have a particularly important role in the trajectory of a person's lifetime cognitive function, it has rarely been adequately taken into account: "To the best of our knowledge, the association between BMI and cognition as a function of childhood and adult socioeconomic position has not been previously reported. Childhood household socioeconomic position appears to strongly modify the association between adolescent BMI and poorer cognition in midlife, the inverse association being restricted to low childhood socioeconomic position," said Prof. Kark.

"Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that childhood living conditions, as re?ected also by height, in?uence cognitive function later in life; however, our study is unique in showing that an adverse association of higher BMI with cognitive function appears to begin in adolescence and that it appears to be restricted to adults with lower childhood socioeconomic position," said Prof. Kark.

"Evidence for the association between impaired cognitive function in midlife and subsequent dementia supports the clinical relevance of our results. Findings of the relation of BMI in adolescence with poorer midlife cognitive status, particularly in light of the ongoing epidemic of childhood obesity, require con?rmation," said Irit Cohen-Manheim.

###

Scientists involved in this research are affiliated with the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Jerusalem, Israel; Department of Clinical Research, NeuroTrax Corporation, Modiin, Israel; Centre for Medical Decision Making, Ono Academic College, Kiryat Ono, Israel; Department of Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA; Biostatistics Unit, Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy Research, Tel-Hashomer, Israel.

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem is Israel's leading academic and research institution, producing one-third of all civilian research in Israel. For more information, visit http://new.huji.ac.il/en.
CHAPEL HILL - While new targeted treatments developed across the past two decades have led to dramatic survival improvements for women with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers and collaborators report that rates of breast cancer brain metastasis for women with this disease have not substantially declined.

"We need better therapies to prevent brain metastasis," said the study's senior author Carey Anders, MD, a UNC Lineberger member, an associate professor in the UNC School of Medicine, and a co-founder of a UNC Brain Metastases Specialty Clinic. "Treatments that have been developed have led to a remarkable improvement in survival for metastatic HER2-postiive breast cancer, but are not preventing the development of brain metastasis even within two years of diagnosis."

The study, presented Wednesday as an abstract at the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, examined the incidence of brain metastasis after diagnosis for three groups of patients.

The researchers investigated the brain metastasis incidence in the period after a series of drugs were approved to treat HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, starting with trastuzumab, also known as Herceptin, in the United States in 1998.

Studies have shown that trastuzumab combined with postoperative chemotherapy has increased overall survival for HER2-postive breast cancers by 37 percent. It works by targeting a protein on the surface of a breast cancer cell, human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2), that promotes cancer cell growth.

Researchers sought to identify the proportion of women diagnosed with HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer who subsequently developed brain metastases within two years of their initial diagnosis. Of women initially diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute between 2000 and 2007, 30 percent of women had developed brain metastasis within two years of diagnosis, and this proportion increased to 55 percent among women seen between 2008 and 2011. In similarly diagnosed women seen at UNC Hospitals between 2012 and 2014, 38 percent had developed brain metastasis within two years.

"Treatment for this disease has evolved, but we still have a lot work to do," said the study's first author Shlomit Shachar, MD, a former clinical fellow at the UNC School of Medicine who works as a medical oncologist in Haifa, Israel. "The brain is a site that needs increased attention, both for the prevention and treatment of brain metastases."

The risk of death in patients whose breast cancer had spread to the brain was more than twice that of patients who had experienced metastasis to other areas of the body. Risk of death was the same for all three cohorts of patients.

"We were surprised to see that nothing really improved with regard to spread of disease to the brain," Shachar said, even in years after new targeted treatments had been approved in the United States.

Anders said there are limitations in the study in that the project compared outcomes for patients treated at two different institutions. Larger, population-based studies are needed, Anders said, to draw definitive conclusions about brain metastasis incidence in the targeted treatment era for HER-2 positive breast cancer.

"We really need to think about what is allowing cancer cells to hone to the central nervous system," Anders said. "What we want to know is: Is there a way to add an adjuvant therapy to standard therapy to prevent brain metastasis?

###

In addition to Anders, other authors include Shlomit Shachar; Allison M. Deal; Ines Vaz-Luis; Claire Dees; Lisa A. Carey; M.J. Hassett; A.L. Garrett; J.M. Benbow; M.E. Hughes; L. Mounsey; and N. Lin.
CHAPEL HILL - A University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center-led analysis has found that women who are 65 years or older with metastatic breast cancer were more likely to have a cancer-linked genetic alterations in their tumors, and had a larger total number of genetic alterations, than younger patients overall.

In a preliminary findings presented at the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, researchers also reported that older patients were as likely as younger patients to receive targeted therapy and enroll in therapeutic trials based on their sequencing results.

"The whole point of genetic sequencing is to create a biomarker profile for patients to determine their eligibility for targeted therapeutics, which can be more tolerable than cytotoxic chemotherapy," said the study's first author Trevor Jolly, MBBS, assistant professor in the UNC School of Medicine. "This is a very reasonable thing to consider for older adults. The problem is, they appear to be underrepresented here."

For the study, Jolly and his colleagues analyzed genetic sequencing results for 295 patients with metastatic breast cancer who were enrolled in UNCseq, a clinical trial launched in 2011 at the N.C. Cancer Hospital to try to identify actionable molecular abnormalities that could guide cancer treatment.

Older patients were more likely than younger patients to have a genetic alteration, with 87 percent of older patients having an alteration compared to 70 percent of younger patients. Researchers also found that older patients were as likely to receive targeted therapy and enroll in therapeutic trials based on their sequencing results.

However, the study population included fewer older adults with metastatic breast cancer who completed sequencing. Only 23 percent of those sequenced were 65 years or older. The number of older patients who completed sequencing was not representative of the general population of breast cancer patients, the researchers noted.

But the researchers reported there was no difference in the rate of consent based on age, which could indicate that there was no recruitment bias. Jolly said other factors could be at play.

"Our findings tell us that we probably need to intentionally oversample older adults in some studies," Jolly said, adding that there may be factors at play influencing the ability of adults in this age group to participate in clinical trials.

The researchers said while the smaller number of older adults limited generalization of the findings, it also demonstrated the need to more extensively characterize the mutations and other genetic abnormalities that occur in this population.

"We don't understand the biology of cancer of this older age group very well," said the study's senior author Carey Anders, MD, a UNC Lineberger member and associate professor in the UNC School of Medicine. "If we can understand the tumor's biology, we might be able to better match patients to molecularly targeted small molecule inhibitors that might be better tolerated and helpful for treating their cancer."

Anders said efforts to enroll patients in clinical trials based on functional status and biological age rather than chronological age would be beneficial to helping gain valuable information about treatments and side effects in patients older than age 65.

"Many of our older patients are doing well and have few co-morbidities," she said. "This study tells us that when we have big cancer sequencing projects, we need to include patients over the age of 65 so we know how to best treat them as well."

###

In addition to Anders and Jolly, other authors include: J.E. Grilley-Olson, A. Deal, A. Ivanova, M.C. Hayward, J. Benbow, J. Parker, N. Patel, D.A. Eberhard, K. Weck, P. Mieczkowski, E.C. Dees, K. Reeder-Hayes, H.S. Earp, N.E. Sharpless, L.A. Carey and D.N. Hayes.

The study was supported by a Susan G. Komen for the Cure grant, a Susan G. Komen for the Cure Scholar grant, the National Institutes of Health and National Cancer Institute, the University Cancer Research Fund, the UNC Lineberger Breast SPORE, the UNC Lineberger gPATH laboratory and the Damon Runyon Foundation.
The Library and Reading Journal of Jennifer, Librarian
With the awarding of the Leibniz Prize to Anne Storch, a highly innovative and internationally renowned scholar was chosen. With her groundbreaking work, she has contributed to a far-reaching reorientation of her field. Storch applied theoretical and practical questions and methods from cultural anthropology and the social sciences to African studies, thus contributing important new perspectives to the research field. In exemplary studies, she has moreover shown how linguistic analyses can be applied to a cultural-anthropological understanding of contemporary Africa. Her study on taboo and secret language in central Africa from 2011 was particularly significant. Her linguistic observations allow for complex sociological descriptions of power practices and political modes of action. Storch's case studies, which are grounded in linguistic descriptions, but go far beyond them, have become international model studies for a modern and self-critical orientation in African studies.

Anne Storch became professor or African studies at the University of Cologne in 2004. She did her doctorate in Frankfurt/Main and Mainz in anthropology, African studies, Oriental studies and archaeology. From 2006 to 2009, she headed the Fachverband Afrikanistik, the German association of African studies. Since 2014, she has been serving as the president of the International Association for Colonial and Postcolonial Linguistics.

The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize is the most important research award in Germany. The Leibniz Programme, established in 1985, aims to improve the working conditions of outstanding scientists and academics, expand their research opportunities, relieve them of administrative tasks, and help them employ particularly qualified young researchers. A maximum of 2.5 million euros is provided per award. Prize winners are first chosen from a slate of nominations put forward by third parties. The final selection is made by the Joint Committee on the basis of a recommendation from the Leibniz Nominations Committee.

The Leibniz Prizes will be officially awarded on 15 March 2017 at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences in Berlin.

###
PITTSBURGH, Dec. 7, 2016 - Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) and Magee-Womens Research Institute (MWRI) have discovered molecular changes in the primary tumor of breast cancer patients who developed brain metastases. The finding is expected to lead to improved diagnosis and targeted therapies.

The results, to be published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Oncology and presented this week at the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, indicate that patients' treatments should be tailored not only for the original breast cancer, but also the brain tumors, said Adrian Lee, Ph.D., director of the Institute for Precision Medicine, a joint effort by UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh, and director of the Women's Cancer Research Center, a collaboration between UPCI and MWRI.

"The brain is a common and catastrophic site of metastasis for breast cancer patients," said Lee. "Our study showed that despite the large degree of similarity between the initial breast tumor and the brain metastatic tumor, there were enough alterations to support comprehensive profiling of metastases to potentially alter the course of treatment."

There are many types of breast cancers, and about 20 percent of them are identified as HER2-positive, meaning the cancer cells have more of a protein called HER2 that causes the cells to grow faster than those with normal levels of the protein. These patients' cancers typically respond to targeted therapies. However, breast cancer patients with brain metastases who are identified as HER2-negative do not respond favorably to the same therapies.

Lee's research team set out to determine if there were molecular differences in the primary breast tumors and their patient-matched brain metastatic tumors that would enhance treatment options.

Little research is available because there are few opportunities to study primary breast tissue with their patient-matched brain metastases. The research team tested tumors from 20 patients from two academic institutions, the University of Pittsburgh and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Among the discoveries was that the primary tumor initially identified as HER2-negative actually switched to HER2-positive in the metastatic brain tumor.

"This now means we can screen for presence of HER2 so that we can change and target the therapy to improve outcomes for our patients," said Dr. Lee.

###

Additional authors on this study are Nolan Priedigkeit, B.S., Yijing Chen, B.S., Ahmed Basudan, B.S., Rebecca J. Watters, Ph.D., Roby Thomas, M.D., Peter C. Lucas, M.D., Ph.D., Rohit Bhargava, M.D., Ronald L. Hamilton, M.D., Shannon L. Puhalla, M.D., Nancy E. Davidson, M.D., Steffi Oesterreich, Ph.D., and Adam M. Brufsky, M.D., Ph.D., all of UPCI; Ryan J. Hartmaier, Ph.D., and Juliann Chmielecki, Ph.D., both of the Foundation Medicine, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Damir Vareslija, Ph.D., and Leonie Young, Ph.D., both of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland; and Jose P. Leone, M.D., of the University of Iowa.

This research was supported by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, National Cancer Institute grant P30CA047904, Fashion Footwear Association of New York, the Shear Family Foundation, Magee-Womens Research Institute and Foundation, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, National Institute of General Medical Sciences grants 2T32GM008424-21 and 5F30CA203095, and the Irish Cancer Society Collaborative Cancer Research Centre grant CCRC13GAL.

Several of the authors disclosed conflicts of interest, which can be viewed on the JAMA Oncology publication.

About UPCI

As the only NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center in western Pennsylvania, UPCI is a recognized leader in providing innovative cancer prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment; bio-medical research; compassionate patient care and support; and community-based outreach services. Investigators at UPCI, a partner with UPMC CancerCenter, are world-renowned for their work in clinical and basic cancer research.

http://www.upmc.com/media
The University of Texas at Arlington has won three national U.S. Department of Transportation grants that could be worth about $12 million in funding to UTA during the next five years and speaks to the University's growing expertise across several academic and research disciplines that intersect the nation's current and future transportation infrastructure.

Researchers in the College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs (CAPPA) and the Department of Civil Engineering are the principal investigators or co-principal investigators on the grants.

UTA vied in a national competition for $300 million in DOT funding allocated to 32 University Transportation Centers across the country. UTA was one of only a few universities to land three projects.

"The announcement of these awards signals a transformational achievement by CAPPA, by civil engineering, and by UTA as we focus on enabling the sustainable megacity that the Dallas/Fort Worth region will become in the next decade," said President Vistasp Karbhari. "It ensures that our talented faculty, researchers and students will be at the very center of progress and advancement, and will contribute significantly to quality of life in the years to come for North Texas and for the country." The first grant will establish the Center for Transportation Equity, Decisions and Dollars (C-TEDD) in North Texas, one of the 32 UTCs. The award will fund the center and transportation research, teaching and outreach on transportation-related projects and issues for the North Texas region and beyond.

The C-TEDD grant is expected to total up to $7.7 million over a five year period. UTA's share in the first year is $1.4 million. Other partners in this Tier 1 University Transportation Center consortium with UTA are California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo, Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of South Florida.

C-TEDD plans to assist transportation leaders and elected officials in making wiser, more informed choices about transportation through the information and data it provides. It will focus on preserving the existing transportation system, while aligning transportation decision-making and funding sources and mechanisms to achieve efficiency, equity and upward social mobility.

C-TEDD proposes multidisciplinary research in five broad areas:

Innovative transportation funding and policies;

Performance management and monitoring systems;

Big data and innovative techniques;

Transportation systems and global economic competitiveness;

Meeting new infrastructure demands.

Shima Hamidi, assistant professor of planning in CAPPA and principal investigator on the C-TEDD grant, said, "The center brings together nearly 50 top faculty in associated fields to collaboratively produce research that will address our transportation system needs in the smartest, most efficient and most equitable way possible," Hamidi said. "We want to improve the tools and technologies available for state and local governments so they can address infrastructure concerns efficiently." UTA also won U.S. DOT funding of another UTC as part of a Louisiana State University-led Transportation Consortium of South-Central States in the amount of a planned $12.5 million over five years. UTA Civil Engineering professors Stefan Romanoschi and Anand Puppala are UTA's representatives in that group. Romanoschi and Puppala could access up to $2.5 million in the first year of funding.

This consortium aims to support all phases of research, technology transfer, workforce development and outreach activities of emerging technologies that can solve transportation challenges in the region. Its focus is on improving transportation infrastructure through research into innovative materials and new technology.

Romanoschi is an expert in pavement engineering, pavement materials, pavement design and construction, pavement testing and management. Puppala's proficiency is in soil research, ground modification, using recycled waste materials, sustainability in geotechnical engineering, pavement geotechnics and site characterization.

In addition, UTA's Stephen Mattingly, associate professor of civil engineering, is part of another similarly funded consortium led by Portland State University. Mattingly will draw upon a total award of $15.6 million that PSU will administer. His first-year funding is $310,000. His projects include developing institutional infrastructure, evaluating transit connections for opportunities and developing a non-motorized data archive and tools.

Mattingly's expertise is in decision and risk analysis, transportation and public health, transportation planning, intelligent transportation systems, traffic engineering, public transit, bicycle and pedestrian behavior and safety, and transportation safety.

The three awards speaks to all four key themes of the University's Strategic Plan 2020: Bold Solutions | Global Impact, building sustainable urban communities, advancing health and the human condition, addressing the global environmental impact and utilizing data-driven discovery.

In 2013, there were 45.3 million people living in poverty in the nation, an increase of more than 14 million since 2000. The number of people falling into this category who are over 65 will almost double in 30 years. Hamidi said UTA researchers look forward to collaborating with partner institutions to solve major transportation planning issues facing the nation.

"The health and well-being of the DFW region, and others into the future, depends largely on its transportation networks and opportunities," said CAPPA Dean and co-Principal Investigator on the C-TEDD grant Nan Ellin. "As the U.S. DOT defines it, transportation includes all forms of mobility including walking and biking, so this Center and the work of the others will aim to render this entire mobility network more complete and efficient in order to enhance public health, environmental sustainability and access to upward mobility."

###

About The University of Texas at Arlington

The University of Texas at Arlington is a Carnegie Research-1 "highest research activity" institution of about 55,000 students in campus-based and online degree programs and is the second-largest institution in The University of Texas System. U.S. News & World Report ranks UTA fifth in the nation for undergraduate diversity. The University is a Hispanic-Serving Institution and is ranked as the top four-year college in Texas for veterans on Military Times' 2016 Best for Vets list. Visit http://www.uta.edu to learn more, and find UTA rankings and recognition at http://www.uta.edu/uta/about/rankings.php. For more on the Strategic Plan, see Strategic Plan 2020: Bold Solutions | Global Impact.
HOUSTON - (Dec. 8, 2016) - Researchers from the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health were the senior scientific editors for the first-ever U.S. Surgeon General's Report on E-Cigarette Use Among Youth and Young Adults, released today.

"We were honored to be chosen as the senior scientific editors of this report," said Cheryl Perry, Ph.D., regional dean and Rockwell Distinguished Chair in Society and Health at UTHealth School of Public Health in Austin. "It is important for youth, young adults, parents and policy makers to understand that e-cigarettes are not just harmless water vapor. They have substantial amounts of addictive nicotine and are being marketed to attract a young population."

In 2012, Perry served in the same role for the U.S. Surgeon General's Report on Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults along with Melissa Harrell, Ph.D., M.P.H., as senior associate editor. Harrell served as senior scientific editor for the 2016 report and MeLisa Creamer, Ph.D., M.P.H., a faculty member at the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, also contributed to both the 2012 and 2016 reports. Steven Kelder, M.D., M.P.H., associate regional dean and co-director of the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, joined the team as a senior scientific editor for the 2016 report.

According to the new report, e-cigarettes are a rapidly emerging and diversified product class. The devices typically deliver nicotine, flavoring and other additives to users via an inhaled aerosol. E-cigarettes are now the most commonly used tobacco product among youth, surpassing conventional cigarettes in 2014. E-cigarette use is also strongly associated with the use of other tobacco products among youth and young adults.

E-cigarette use among 18- to 24-year-olds more than doubled from 2013 to 2014. The use of e-cigarettes by young adults 18- to 24-years old has now surpassed that of adults 25 and older. The use of products containing nicotine is dangerous, particularly to youth, pregnant women and fetuses. Studies have shown nicotine exposure during adolescence can cause addiction and harm the developing adolescent brain. E-cigarette aerosols, which can contain harmful and potentially harmful ingredients, including nicotine, are also dangerous for youth.

E-cigarettes are marketed to youth through flavored products and a wide variety of media channels, similar to approaches that the conventional tobacco industry used to target youth and young adults. The authors of the report recommend action at every level to address e-cigarette use among youth and young adults. These actions could include incorporating e-cigarettes into smoke-free policies, preventing access to e-cigarettes by youth, increasing product prices and regulating e-cigarette marketing.

"First, there is no question that traditional tobacco use is exceedingly harmful to human health. Second, the health consequences of nicotine exposure are different for youth than adults and we should double down on efforts to prevent all tobacco use. Finally, there is much that remains to be known about the type and concentration of other hazardous constituents in e-cigarette aerosol," said Kelder, who is also the Beth Toby Grossman Distinguished Professor in Spirituality and Healing.

UTHealth researchers have made it a priority to determine the patterns of onset and use of e-cigarettes and other tobacco products among adolescents and young adults in Texas. They have also explored how the products are being marketed to teens.

In 2013, several institutions in The University of Texas System, including UTHealth, were funded by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health to form the Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science on Youth and Young Adults (Texas TCORS). The goal of the center is to develop an integrated program of research and training to provide scientific evidence and a career path for regulatory scientists to support U.S. tobacco regulation. The center provides professional training and publishes scientific research on youth and young adult use of nicotine and tobacco products, as well as marketing methods targeted to this population.

UTHealth researchers who are also members of TCORS recently published a study on the link between e-cigarette marketing and teen e-cigarette use. Of the more than 22,000 students surveyed, 20 percent had tried e-cigarettes before and 9 percent were current users. Half of the students who had tried e-cigarettes encountered marketing in retail settings and 40 percent saw messages on the internet.

"Until we know more, e-cigarette safety is speculative. Youth and young adults should not be encouraged to use e-cigarettes and youth should have restricted access," said Kelder. "This report is a call to action for nationwide awareness of this product, with recommendations to public health and educational agencies to prevent the use of e-cigarettes by youth and young adults. It is also a call to action for researchers to further quantify the health risks associated with using e-cigarettes."

###

The U.S. Surgeon General's Report on E-Cigarette Use among Youth and Young Adults can be found at e-cigarettes.surgeongeneral.gov/. For access to quitting resources, visit http://www.smokefree.gov.
When paleontologists at the University of Washington cut into the fossilized jaw of a distant mammal relative, they got more than they bargained for -- more teeth, to be specific.

As they report in a letter published Dec. 8 in the Journal of the American Medical Association Oncology, the team discovered evidence that the extinct species harbored a benign tumor made up of miniature, tooth-like structures. Known as a compound odontoma, this type of tumor is common to mammals today. But this animal lived 255 million years ago, before mammals even existed.

"We think this is by far the oldest known instance of a compound odontoma," said senior author Christian Sidor, a UW professor of biology and curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. "It would indicate that this is an ancient type of tumor."

Before this discovery, the earliest known evidence of odontomas came from Ice Age-era fossils.

"Until now, the earliest known occurrence of this tumor was about one million years ago, in fossil mammals," said Judy Skog, program director in the National Science Foundation's Division of Earth Sciences, which funded the research. "These researchers have found an example in the ancestors of mammals that lived 255 million years ago. The discovery suggests that the suspected cause of an odontoma isn't tied solely to traits in modern species, as had been thought."

In humans and other mammals, a compound odontoma is a mass of small "toothlets" amalgamated together along with tooth tissues like dentin and enamel. They grow within the gums or other soft tissues of the jaw and can cause pain and swelling, as well as disrupt the position of teeth and other tissues. Since odontomas do not metastasize and spread throughout the body, they are considered benign tumors. But given the disruptions they cause, surgeons often opt to remove them.

Surgery was not an option for the creature studied by Sidor's team. It was a gorgonopsian, a distant mammal relative and the apex predator during its pre-dinosaur era about 255 million years ago. Gorgonopsians are part of a larger group of animals called synapsids, which includes modern mammals as its only living member. Synapsids are sometimes called "mammal-like reptiles" because extinct synapsids possess some, but not all, of the features of mammals. The first mammals evolved over 100 million years ago.

"Most synapsids are extinct, and we -- that is, mammals -- are their only living descendants," said Megan Whitney, lead author and UW biology graduate student. "To understand when and how our mammalian features evolved, we have to study fossils of synapsids like the gorgonopsians."

Paleontologists have categorized many "mammal-like" features of gorgonopsians. For example, like us, they have teeth differentiated for specialized purposes. But Whitney started studying gorgonopsian teeth to see if they had another mammalian feature.

"Most reptiles alive today fuse their teeth directly to the jawbone," said Whitney. "But mammals do not: We use tough, but flexible, string-like tissues to hold teeth in their sockets. And I wanted to know if the same was true for gorgonopsians."

A purely external examination of gorgonopsian fossils wouldn't answer this question. Whitney had to take the risky and controversial approach of slicing into a fossilized gorgonopsian jaw: looking at thin sections of jaw and tooth under a microscope to see how the tooth was nestled within its socket. Since this technique would damage the fossil, Whitney and Larry Mose, a UW undergraduate student working with her, used a solitary or "orphan" gorgonopsian lower jaw that Sidor had collected in southern Tanzania.

Mose prepared multiple thin slices from the gorgonopsian jaw -- each only about as thick as a sheet of notebook paper -- and mounted them onto slides. He and Whitney immediately noticed something unexpected within the jaw: embedded next to the root of the canine were irregular clusters of up to eight tiny, round objects.

At higher magnification under a microscope, Whitney discovered that the objects within each cluster resembled small, poorly differentiated teeth, or toothlets. The toothlets even harbored distinct layers of dentin and enamel.

"At first we didn't know what to make of it," said Whitney. "But after some investigation we realized this gorgonopsian had what looks like a textbook compound odontoma."

At 255 million years, this is by far the oldest reported evidence for an odontoma -- and possibly the first case in a non-mammal. According to Sidor, odontomas have been reported in archaeological specimens, as well as fossilized mammoths and deer. But those cases all date to within the last million years or so. Since this synapsid had an odontoma, it would indicate that this mammalian condition existed well before the first mammals had evolved.

"This discovery demonstrates how the fossil record can tell us a lot about our present-day lives -- even the diseases or pathologies that are part of our mammalian heritage," said Sidor. "And you could never tell that this creature had it from the outside."

###

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation and a University of Washington Mary Gates Research Fellowship.

For more information, contact Sidor at casidor@uw.edu and Whitney at megwhit@uw.edu. Sidor and Whitney have also prepared answers to a list of frequently asked questions, which can be found below, regarding gorgonopsians, tooth development, odontomas and more.

Grant number: NSF EAR-1337569.

Frequently asked questions: odontoma in a gorgonopsian

Prepared by Christian Sidor and Megan Whitney with the University of Washington and the Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture.

Major findings

Our discovery of odontoma in a gorgonopsian fossil demonstrates that this type of tumor has existed for at least 255 million years and predates mammals.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are gorgonopsians?

Gorgonopsians were a group of carnivorous, land-based vertebrates that lived between about 270 to 252 million years ago during the middle and late Permian Period. Their fossils are known from Africa and Russia.

Gorgonopsians are distantly related to living mammals, but they lie "on the mammalian line," meaning that they are more closely related to humans than to dinosaurs or other reptiles.

Gorgonopsians ranged in body size from 2 to 10 feet long, from the length of a bobcat to that of a polar bear.

Gorgonopsians are sometimes known as the "saber-tooths of the Permian," for their enlarged canine teeth.

What is an odontoma?

The World Health Organization defines a compound odontoma as: "A malformation in which all the dental tissues are represented in a more orderly pattern than in the complex odontoma, so that the lesion consists of many tooth-like structures. Most of these structures do not morphologically resemble the teeth of the normal dentition, but in each one enamel, dentine, cementum and pulp are arranged as in the normal tooth."

Odontomas are one of the most common odontogenic tumors, constituting approximately 20 percent of odontogenic tumors. Ameloblastoma is the most common with 39.6 percent of odontogenic tumors.

Odontomas are not cancer. They are considered benign tumors, though in humans they are often surgically removed.

Where was this specimen found?

The gorgonopsian jaw with the odontoma was found in southern Tanzania in the Ruhuhu Valley in 2007.

The specimen is about 255 million years old, based on dating of similar fossils in South Africa.

How did we find this pathology?

There were no external indications of a pathology. We were thin-sectioning this specimen for an entirely different project -- examining the tissues involved in tooth attachment.

UW undergraduate researcher Larry Mose noticed a pathology along the root of the canine only after the specimen had been cut.

What is thin-sectioning?

We make thin-sections of fossil bones and teeth so that we can study the fine, inner details of their hard tissues. These small details act as storybooks, preserving a lot of information about the biology of these animals while they were alive. As is easy to imagine, studying the biology of animals that lived millions of years ago can be challenging. We use the microstructure of fossil hard tissues to reveal aspects of their biology like growth rate, age and disease that otherwise would be inaccessible for us to study in these ancient animals.

Has an odontoma been found in the fossil record before?

This is not the first time an odontoma has been reported in the fossil record. Previous instances include: A Wooly mammoth from the Netherlands from the last glacial age (known as the Weichsel Glacial in Northern Europe, ca. 115,000-10,000 B.C.); Fossil red deer from France from 12,200-11,400 B.C.; Several recorded instances in archaeological material.

All reported instances, however, are relatively recent in the history of life on earth -- to within the last 1 million years or so.

Is this the oldest occurrence of tumors in the fossil record?

No. There is a decisive case of cancer reported in a lower Carboniferous fish (300 million years ago), and a possible case of cancer in fossil fish from the Devonian (350 million years ago).

But this is the oldest reported case of an odontoma. See above question.

How do teeth form?

Teeth are derived from two major tissue layers, the outer epithelial layer that gives rise to enamel and an ectomesenchyme layer that gives rise to dentine and pulp.

Odontomas arise when there are developmental anomalies involving both the epithelial and ectomesenchymal tissues. These anomalies give rise to tooth-like structures that have enamel, cementum, dentine and pulp in their normal anatomical relationships.

What did we learn? What are the implications?

This is the oldest occurrence of odontoma in a mammal relative. Odontoma has remained relatively unchanged for 255 million years.

Paleontology can contribute to medicine by shedding light on the history of disease.

Acknowledgements

Laurent Nampunju and Anthony Tibaijuka (Antiquities Division, Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism) for assistance with fieldwork in Tanzania.

Field team for helping to collect the fossil (Ken Angielczyk, Sterling Nesbitt, Roger Smith, Linda Tsuji).

Oral Biology group at the University of Washington for helpful discussions.

Royal Ontario Museum histology lab for use of thin section and imaging equipment.

Grant support

National Geographic Society (NGS 7787-05) to C. Sidor (for fieldwork to collect fossils)

National Science Foundation (DBI 0306158) to Ken Angielczyk, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago (for fieldwork to collect fossils)

National Science Foundation (EAR 1337569) to C. Sidor (for research and analysis)

For additional information, contact Christian Sidor at casidor@uw.edu and Megan Whitney at megwhit@uw.edu.
HARRISBURG, Pa.  Vegetable grower and 30-year volunteer firefighter George DeVault, a native of Delaware, Ohio, recently received the Charles A. Chet Henry Fire Service Advocacy Award from the Pennsylvania Fire and Emergency Services Institute.

The prestigious award, a medal and a check for $250, was presented Nov. 19 in Harrisburg at PFESIs 26th annual banquet.

The honor came in recognition of the widespread influence of DeVaults award-winning memoir Fire Call! about the highs  and lows  of being a volunteer firefighter.

The award is named after legendary Harrisburg Fire Chief Chet Henry, who served as Pennsylvanias first State Fire Commissioner from 1977 until his retirement in 1989

The award was presented by Chief Henrys widow, Sandy.

When DeVault joined the Emmaus Fire Department in 1982, Pennsylvania had about 300,000 volunteer firefighters. Today, state fire officials say, that number is closer to 50,000.

In accepting the award, DeVault said, I wrote Fire Call! because most people dont have a clue what volunteers really do.

Background

DeVault, a former reporter at The Columbus Dispatch, was editor of Rodales New Farm magazine in the United States and Russia for 25 years.

A two-term board member of the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, DeVault and his wife, Melanie, were named Conservation Farmers of the Year in 2004 by the Lehigh County Conservation District.

DeVault is chairman of the Board of Supervisors in Upper Milford Township, Lehigh County. Voters there just approved a modest, 0.14 percent, increase in the townships 1 percent earned income tax to preserve farmland and other open space. It is the first open space tax in Lehigh County.

Find it

Fire Call! DeVaults award-winning memoir is available online at amazon.com and wherever books are sold. A portion of the proceeds is donated to volunteer companies.
In the second of our Fertile Minds roadshows, we look at setting up a successful diversification and how to work with retailers to get the best outcomes.

Listen to the podcast with agricultural consultant James Miles-Hobbs and fruit grower Anthony Snell and read the event report and below.

Successful diversifications

Working with people is key to success with diversification, rural business consultant James Miles-Hobbs told young farmers at the Fertile Minds roadshow in Bristol.

You have to like people more than cows, said Mr Miles-Hobbs, who co-founded the consultancy JMH Farming & Renewables.

See also: Podcast: Fertile Minds on retailers and business plans

Diversification generally means engaging with people in one way or another, even if its a small traditional diversification, which is letting commercial premises or residential properties.

Unlike cows, people change their minds, argue with you, want a refund, and so on. Cows are much more regular  they come in twice a day to be milked.

Managing farm visitors

Those starting diversification projects need to think about how to manage the people who come to their farm.

The easiest way to manage people is with signage. Do not manage them with people you employ, he said.

Mr Miles-Hobbs added farmers should think about who their target customers are and what those customers need when diversifying.

Tight car parking spaces and step-only access are off-putting for elderly customers who struggle to get around.

Young urban professionals who are cash-rich but time-poor will pay more for a service or product if it saves them time.

Plan B

It is also important to have a plan B for your diversification project.

Ive seen too many plan As not work, so you have to think about plan B, said Mr Miles-Hobbs.

He suggested setting milestones for projects so you can assess whether your plan is being met.

If you are way off achieving your goals that is quite significant  youve got to be very, very brave and say, right, Im writing this off and starting again.

Working with supermarkets

In his talk about working with supermarkets Anthony Snell, co-owner of Herefordshire berry growers AJ & CI Snell, told the roadshows attendees that there is strength in numbers.

We are part of a co-operative, called Berry Gardens, of 56 growers, he said.

For a fruit grower like myself, producing fruit for six months of the year, there is no way you can just go to the supermarkets. You will be picked off.

The soft fruits sector, he said, has been successful because it has worked with supermarkets to promote its products and because growers have joined forces.

The fact that we are collaboratively working together doesnt mean we have got complete clout  we cant control prices  but we can work more closely, put forward our prices and produce what the market wants.

Supply and demand

Reconciling supply and demand is vital, he added.

You only need to produce 1% too much of any product and you will probably see a price reduction of up to 10%, Mr Snell explained.

You have to produce what the market wants  you dont want shortfalls. But you also dont want oversupply.

Sadly, in a lot of sectors in agriculture there isnt enough planned marketing.

Attendee Natalie Plummer said the roadshow offered real insight into understanding the market place.

Events like this are really valuable to young people such as ourselves and it is good to be able to discuss the future of our industry with experts and like-minded individuals, she added.

Thanks to NFU Mutual whose sponsorship made it possible to run the Fertile Minds roadshows. Farmers Weekly had full editorial control of this report.

What is Fertile Minds? An initiative to help young farmers and those hoping to get into agriculture Provides inspirational business advice  its main event is an annual conference This year Farmers Weekly, in association with NFU Mutual, is taking Fertile Minds on tour At five regional roadshows for small groups of business-minded new entrants, those attending choose the topics, allowing them to get expert advice on what they want to know about most The second roadshow took place in Bristol last week In January the roadshows will be in Cambridge and York. If you would like to apply to attend email james.williams@rbi.co.uk Read more about Fertile Minds.

Sponsor message

The Bristol roadshow offered young farmers valuable expert advice on two of the most pressing topics for those starting out in agriculture: how to diversify and how to work with supermarkets.

NFU Mutual is pleased to be supporting these events, which give young people vital knowledge as they begin their careers.
Allahabad : In a significant ruling, Allahabad High Court has termed triple talaq as unconstitutional.

Coming down heavily on the practice of triple talaq, the Allahabad HC said the triple talaq system practiced in the Muslim community violates the rights of Muslim women.

The court slammed All India Muslim Personal Law Boards stand of supporting triple talaq saying, No Personal Law Board is above the Constitution.

The High Court held that this form of instant divorce is cruel and most demeaning which impedes and drags India from becoming a nation.

Muslim law, as applied in India, has taken a course contrary to the spirit of what the Prophet or the Holy Quran laid down and the same misconception vitiates the law dealing with the wifes right to divorce, a single judge bench of Justice Suneet Kumar said in its judgement passed last month.

The single bench judge also said that holy book Quran doesnt consider triple talaq as good.

The court observed that divorce is permissible in Islam only in case of extreme emergency. When all efforts for effecting a reconciliation have failed, the parties may proceed to a dissolution of marriage by Talaq or by Khola.

The courts order comes on a petition filed by a Muslim woman from Bulandshahr, who was divorced by her husband as per triple talaq provisions.

Triple talaq is interpreted as the Islamic practice of divorcing a woman by uttering the word talaq thrice. Most Muslim countries do not approve of it.

The Supreme Court is also hearing a petitions challenging triple talaq. The Modi government has proposed for banning the divorce practice.

The AIMPLB has opposed the Centres move against the triple talaq.

A debate has emerged over the governments stand opposing the practice of triple talaq with some leading women politicians seeking its abolition, even as some Muslim bodies have accused the ruling dispensation of waging a war on their personal law.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had criticised political leaders and people on the TV debates saying such discussions on triple talaq would keep women deprived of their rights.

I request people who participate in TV debates to not make women rights a Hindu-Muslim issue. It is a development issue. The debate should be between the Muslims who are pro and anti-reforms, he had said.

He also said that justice would be given to Muslim women under the Constitution.

Source : Zee News
The Genocide Against the Mandaeans of Iraq Continues by Iraq Solidarity News (Al-Thawra)

The Mandaean community of Iraq, is appealing for international solidarity, in its efforts to prevent its community from dying out in Iraq.

The Mandaean Human rights group condemns the brutal killing of a Mandaean man in Kirkuk and wounding his brother.



On Sunday 27 Nov 2016 Mr Sami Kafif Z. AlZuhairy was murdered in the streets of Kirkuk, and his brother was wounded.



The two brothers were attacked by four gunmen while driving to work. The attackers escaped chanting "Kufar" slogans.



The Mandaean Human Rights Group holds the Iraqi government and the security forces responsible for protecting all minorities and especially the weakest group 'the Mandaeans of Iraq".



The Genocide that the Mandaeans are facing is a direct blow to all efforts to keep, let alone build ,a free and safe country.



We ask of the international community to help the Mandaeans in their dilemma and put pressure on all sectarian leaders to respect the human rights of minorities in general and the Mandaeans in particular.



It is time to establish the Minorities Security Council under an international umbrella to protect, preserve and provide logistic support for the survival of the Iraqi Minorities.
Update 8.34pm: The victim of today's fatal shooting in Blackpool, Cork, has been named as Aidan O'Driscoll - also known as 'The Beast'.

He was previously the victim of a punishment shooting by dissident republicans in the city in 2013.

In 2005, Aidan O'Driscoll was sentenced to three years in prison for membership of an illegal organisation styling itself Oglaigh na hEireann, otherwise the Irish Republican Army, otherwise the IRA on December 15, 2003.

Detective Superintendent Tony Quilter, Anglesea St, Cork, told the 2005 trial that O'Driscoll belonged to the group known as the Real IRA and was part of an active service unit of that organisation based in Cork city.

The Court of Criminal Appeal (CCA) later quashed his conviction in 2008.

Emergency services at the scene this evening. Pictures: Roisin Burke

Update 8.13pm: Gardai investigating todays fatal shooting in Blackpool, Cork have found two partially burnt-out vehicles.

They were found at Redemption Road, Blackpool and at Killeens, Co Cork.

These scenes have also been preserved for technical examination.

The man was pronounced dead after he was taken to Cork University Hospital. A post mortem is to be arranged.

Breaking : A man has died after being shot in the back 4 times in Blackpool Cork this evening. #Tv3News. pic.twitter.com/x3c5WJ8ar9  Paul Byrne (@PaulByrne_1) December 7, 2016

The 37-year old man shot at #Blackpool in #Cork this evening has died. A murder investigation is underway. @rtenews pic.twitter.com/cdVvYwVkmB  Paschal Sheehy (@PaschalSheehy) December 7, 2016

No arrests have been made. Investigating Gardai are appealing for witnesses and anyone with information, particularly those who may have been in the vicinity of Old Commons Road or The Church of the Annunciation, Blackpool this afternoon between the hours of 3.30pm and 5.30pm to contact them at Mayfield Garda Station on 021 4558510, The Garda Confidential Line 1800 666111 or any Garda Station.

Update 7.22pm: The man who was shot in the Blackpool area of Cork city today has died, gardai have confirmed.

It is thought that the man lived in the local area.

Earlier:

A man has been shot in Cork city.

Shortly before 5pm this evening, the man was approached by two others who were wearing balaclavas and who drove up in a car. The man was shot once, and twice more while he lay on the ground.

The man, who is understood to be 37 years old, has been removed from the scene on Old Commons Road by ambulance. He has been taken to Cork University Hospital.

Emergency services were on the scene shortly before 5pm to treat the man, and an ambulance carrying the victim left Blackpool at approximately 5.20pm.

Locals at the scene said the man works in the area and is originally from the northside of the city.

It is reported doctors are trying to save his life this evening.

The scene where the man was treated is at the Blackpool village end of Old Commons Road, a short distance from the Church of the Ascension and close to the entrance of the Orchard Court estate, the Irish Examiner's Niall Murray reports.

The road and nearby Brocklesby Street were closed off immediately after emergency services arrived. They remain closed and traffic is diverted to Watercourse Road and Thomas Davis Street.

Preliminary technical examination of the area is now getting underway.

No arrests have yet been made. Gardai at Mayfield are appealing for any witnesses to contact them on 021 455 8510.
Malta has become the first European country to ban gay conversion therapy, imposing fines of up to 10,000 and a jail term of up to one year for offenders.

The Maltese parliament approved a law that effectively outlaws any attempts to "cure" gay people of their sexual orientations.
CGN Europe is one of the major stakeholders in the UKs controversial planned 18bn (21bn) nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset and is one of the leading nuclear, renewable and clean energy groups in the world, with $70bn (65bn) worth of assets on its books and 35,000 employees.

Company heads were in Dublin, yesterday, to sign a deal to buy 230 megawatts of Irish wind energy assets owned by Gaelectric.

While no transaction fee has been disclosed, an estimate of between 1.3m and 1.5m per MW would suggest the deal is worth between 300m and 350m to Gaelectric.

The Irish firm will continue to manage the assets which include seven wind farms in the Republic and seven in the North  on behalf of CGN. Of the 14 wind farm projects, 10 are currently operational, while the remaining four will be by the middle of next year.

Gaelectric will remain an independent company and will still have more than 500MW worth of wind and solar-generated renewable power projects in the pipeline.

This agreement allows us to support the groups balance sheet, paying down debt and creating the foundations for our other operational and development interests in the renewable energy sector, including a near-term development pipeline across wind, solar, biomass and energy storage, said chief executive Barry Gavin.

At yesterdays signing ceremony, CGN Europe chief executive Dr Wei LU said the companys first asset purchases in Ireland will make an important contribution to its objective of becoming a global leader in clean energy, adding CGN was buying a superb portfolio of operating wind energy assets.

Deputy Finance Minister Eoghan Murphy said the deal will enhance Irelands energy sector, through a considerable injection of technical expertise and economic strength, and support job creation.

[This] agreement between Gaelectric and CGN Europe Energy demonstrates the attractiveness of Irelands clean and sustainable energy credentials, Mr Murphy added at the announcement.
Cork has made a strong pitch to Ikea in recent months as a viable destination for a new store, with business, political and local government figures actively involved in selling the region to the multinational.

The sales of 152.5m for the financial year to the end of August means that Ikea is the largest home furnishings retailer here. Moreover, the Republic is the fastest growing market for Ikea.

Bedroom furniture saw the biggest growth with a jump in sales of 17%. Its Hemnes day bed was the biggest selling product, with sales boosted by a significant price drop of almost 50 in the past year to 299.

It dropped prices on 227 products, boosting sales across the various ranges.

There was also significant job growth in Ireland, with 110 jobs boosting staff numbers to 663.

In September, it opened an order-and-collection point in Carrickmines, adding to its store in Ballymun, which opened in 2009.

Before that, it opened a store in east Belfast, where its sales are consolidated in the retailers UK accounts

A spokeswoman for Ikea said the company was actively looking for opportunities to open new stores, but stopped short of saying Cork was on the immediate agenda.

She added: There is nothing firm planned at the moment.

Local business groups across the county have stated the case for their various towns, with Mitchelstown, Charleville, Mallow, Fermoy, Ballincollig, Carrigtwohill, and Little Island all mentioned as possible locations.

Ikea held talks with Cork County Council at least twice, including meeting chief executive Tim Lucey.

Consumers on social media have long championed Cork as a store location, while local business owners have been more reticent, worrying about the implications on their businesses. There have been fears that the allure of an Ikea store could be detrimental to smaller stores and footfall in Cork city centre.

The Ikea Group, which has 315 stores in 27 countries, also posted strong numbers worldwide, with 783m visits to its shops during the year.

Total revenue for the Ikea group in its fiscal 2016 year topped 35.1bn, up 7.4% from the previous year.

China remains one of the fastest growing markets for Ikea, while the five largest retail markets based on sales value were Germany, the US, France, the UK, and Sweden.

The retailer is also about to launch in Serbia and India.
A group that claims to represent 10,000 people living on the southside of Cork City met with Transport Minister Shane Ross to outline their fears about the development of the Cork-Ringaskiddy motorway (M28).

They presented Mr Ross with information gathered from over 500 submissions made by individuals and resident associations to Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII).

These focused on noise and noxious gas issues to road safety concerns and better route options.

The M28 steering group consists of 45 representatives of local resident associations who in turn represent people from the Maryborough Hill, Rochestown, Mount Oval, Carrs Hill, and general Douglas areas.

Spokeswoman Frances Murphy said locals were supportive of motorways and progress but claimed the plans for the M28 would have dramatic negative consequences.

The substantial shortcoming is the absence of consideration to significantly better routes in line with TIIs own aspiration for an orbital route of Cork, which would bring enormous benefits for the Cork economy as a whole, said Ms Murphy.

One suggestion is to run a road from the Bandon road interchange down to Ringaskiddy, which would cut across country and not through major residential areas.

Independent county councillor Marcia DAlton said the design of the Cork- Ringaskiddy motorway was fundamentally flawed.

She said an increased volume of diesel-powered trucks coming to and from the planned cargo terminal extension in Ringaskiddy would have a significant health impact on residents in the Douglas area.

Around 25,000 vehicles daily pass through the area on the current N28, but its envisaged that will rise by 40% by 2025.

Senator Jerry Buttimer has weighed in on the side of the M28 steering group.

The M28 group has gathered significant public opinion in favour of an alternative, better route, he said.

The steering committee has a very close working relationship with residents and the meeting with Minister Ross was very encouraging, as the minister listened to the presentation in great depth.

Mr Buttimer said TII should examine the alternative route as it would not run through resid- ential areas.
Also known as the Beast, he was the victim of a previous punishment attack three years ago, claimed by the Real IRA.

But it appears that yesterday evenings shooting in Blackpool was intended to kill the 37-year-old. Gardai are to investigate reports that he was shot several times on the ground after slumping across the street from where he was first shot on Commons Road.

The callous nature of the shooting in a public street may also fuel fears of a tit-for-tat. However, some gardai familiar with the dead mans background believe any retribution might be limited if the killing was part of an internal republican wrangling.

The murder happened at around 4.45pm, after ODriscoll is believed to have dropped off a van or other vehicle at a local business. Originally from the Ballyvolane area, he is understood to have been living near the area in Blackpool where he was shot yesterday.

He was treated at the scene for over 20 minutes, first on the street where he was found and then in the ambulance. He was then rushed to Cork University Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

A preliminary technical examination of the scene began soon after the ambulance left, with focus on the pavement where he had initially been treated. But investigating gardai were also checking the road about 20 metres away near the entrance to the Orchard Court estate, where he might first have been hit.

At least two men are believed to have been involved, possibly wearing balaclavas, and two vehicles were later partly burned-out.

The scene of the shooting on the Old Commons Road near Blackpool Village, Cork, where well-known dissident republican Aidan the Beast ODriscoll was gunned down. Gardai are investigating reports that he was shot several times on the ground after initially shot across the street. Picture: Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision

One was left at Redemption Road, which runs along higher ground above the Commons Road where the shooting take place, and the other was found at Killeens between Blackpool and Blarney.

Nobody else was injured but locals who gathered near the scene were in shock that something like this could happen on an open street used by many people walking and driving home from work in the city.

Jonathan OBrien, local Sinn Fein TD and the partys justice spokesperson, described the shooting in his constituency as a worrying development.

Its a tragic event. Nobody wants to see anyone gunned down in the street like this, he said.

Gun crime is usually associated with gangland crime in Dublin. There have been few such shootings in Cork in recent years.

It is a worrying development in this city and while gardai will investigate the motive, I just hope there will be no reprisals.

Emergency services at the scene. Picture: Roisin Burke

ODriscoll was convicted in 2005 of membership of the Real IRA, along with four others. He was described at the time by senior gardai as part of an active service unit of the illegal organisation in Cork City.

Those convictions were quashed in 2008, following the mens appeals on grounds relating to charges not being brought against them after being held for more than 12 hours.

ODriscoll had previously been advised by gardai that his life may be under threat. In June 2013, he was shot in the leg in a punishment-style shooting, later claimed by the Real IRA as having been carried out for his unrepublican conduct.

He had been chief of staff of the Real IRAs southern command up to 2012, before the murder of the organisations leading Dublin figure Alan Ryan, and he may have been suspected of stealing money raised from extortion.

Gardai are appealing for witnesses and anyone with information, particularly those in the vicinity of Commons Road or The Church of the Annunciation, Blackpool between 3.30pm and 5.30pm to contact Mayfield Garda Station on 021 4558510, the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda station.
It is a tribute to businessman Denis OBriens self-regard that he thinks statements by two TDs which offended him, and which he thinks disclosed his private banking information, amounts to a constitutional coup detat, Maurice Collins said.

The Constitution intentionally provides a zone of immunity and closed universe around utterances in the Dail and Seanad which prevents them being scrutinised by the courts.

Article 15.13 of the Constitution, which states members of the Oireachtas are amenable only to the Houses for utterances in the Houses, creates an absolute barrier to Mr OBriens case over the Dail statements made by Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy and Sinn Fein TD Pearse Doherty, counsel argued.

Mr Collins, for the State, concluded his arguments yesterday opposing Mr OBriens action alleging both TDs clearly disregarded the constitutional separation of powers between parliament and the courts when they made their statements in May and June 2015.

In his case against the clerk of the Dail and the State, he wants the court to declare the statements, made when he had ongoing High Court proceedings against RTE seeking to restrain it publishing details of his banking relationship with State-owned Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, amounted to unwarranted interference in the judicial domain.

He also claims the Dail Committee on Procedure and Privileges (CPP), which had rejected his complaints over the statements, failed to properly police the TDs over their statements.

Beginning closing arguments yesterday for Mr OBrien, Eileen Barrington said the businessmans over-arching case concerned the equilibrium between the courts and parliament provided for in the Constitution.

The States position fails to recognise the courts role in maintaining the balance between the separation of powers, counsel said.

In seeking to have the court focus almost exclusively on Article 15.13, the State was skewing the balance and not giving the court the full perspective required.

While Article 15 was an important provision, it was an emanation of one of the principles of the separation of powers and the case law provides jurisdiction for the courts to intervene in certain circumstances.

There was no special carve-out of some hyper-nonjusticiable cases as a result of Article 15.13, she argued. Her side maintained Article 15.13 was not engaged here and disputed the other sides insistence on the broadest possible interpretation of that provision.

Mr OBriens cause of action against RTE was so delicate and fragile it could be decided by the utterances of a TD as opposed to having to be decided by legislation and it was noteworthy the defendants had not addressed Mr OBriens criticisms of what the TDs said in their Dail statements.

The test for court intervention was not whether the outcome of Mr OBriens case against RTE was decided by the statements but whether they affected the power to decide the case or an aspect of it.

The case continues today.
Mr Price, a former BBC journalist, of Oak Cottage, Kiltegan, Co Wicklow, had failed in the District Court to successfully sue The EW Scripps Company Inc, Cincinnati, Ohio; Tribune Media Services Inc, Illinois; PG Publishing Co Inc, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and Fairfax New Zealand Limited in Wellington and Auckland.

He failed to overturn the decision of the District Court and Judge Jacqueline Linnane, hearing the unsuccessful appeals in the Circuit Civil Court, directed that Mr Price separately pay the legal costs of all four defendants for the hearings in upper and lower courts.
At Ennis District Court yesterday, Paul Taylor, in a victim impact statement, told the court the ordeal that the family is going through as a result of the actions of Rowan Taylor can only be described as a perpetual nightmare, without the relief from waking from it.

Paul Taylor added that the family grieve as though Rowan had died and yet cannot afford to feel bereaved in the normal way because of the threat he still poses to us.

In the case, Judge Patrick Durcan imposed an eight-month jail term on Rowan Taylor, aged 28.

Rowan Taylor pleaded guilty to the harassment of his father between July 9 and November 12, 2014, at Core, Feakle, Co Clare.

Judge Durcan said that he must be punished for his vile criminal behaviour.

Before reading out in court Paul Taylors victim impact statement, Judge Durcan said it was one of the most compelling he had ever read.

In the statement, Paul Taylor stated: Our family is and has been devastated by Rowans actions against us through email, websites, social networks and in person, which have the sole purpose of hurting us and making our lives as miserable as possible.

We are on the one hand tormented by his abuse on us and on the other saddened by what has happened to him.

Paul Taylor stated that after he was granted a three-year protection order against his son in November 2014 he has continued issuing threats, defamation and insults  dealing with this situation has shocked and hurt us and has dominated our thoughts, conversations, and relationships.

On the need to change addresses five times over the past 18 months, Paul Taylor said: I feel in danger because of his threats, his violent language and actions towards me, his various attempts to damage my reputation and livelihood, his fake accusations and attacks upon my character. As a result, I feel disillusioned with much of life.

Paul Taylor told Judge Durcan that we do not want to see Rowan in prison.

Solicitor for Rowan Taylor, Tara Godfrey, said all families cant be like the Waltons and asked Judge Durcan not to convict Rowan Taylor so that he could return to the US and continue with the life that he has built there.

Mr Godfrey said that there has been no verbal contact between Rowan Taylor and Paul Taylor since late 2014.

She said that Rowan Taylor has no previous convictions and is offering 1,000 for charity.
Limerick drugs boss Christy Keane was one of four men arrested in connection with the greyhounds kidnapping. A well-known dissident republican is also being questioned by detectives.

Trainer Graham Holland, who previously guided Rocket to an Irish Derby win, choked up with emotion as he described receiving a call from gardai telling him his beloved racing dog was alive and well.

We brought Rocket home, gave him a good feed, and pampered him. There were lots of tears. I know they broke into the kennels, but its like they broke into our privacy. You work with these dogs seven days a week and they become members of the family, and it feels like somebody has been taken from you.

The father of three, originally from Dorset, England, said he was over the moon when he walked into Tipperary Town Garda Station just after midnight to collect the dog he thought hed lost forever.

Im delighted. Obviously, I feel a bit drained. Weve had a tough 48 hours and its just fantastic to get him back, he said in tears at his home in Golden.

To be really honest about it we didnt think we were honestly going to see him again. The feeling was, once it hit national news, that the people who took him would panic and probably destroy the dog and disappear  that was my feeling. Luckily enough the gardai did a fantastic job, and we are very lucky to have the dog back.

He praised Tipperary gardai for bringing the ordeal to a fairytale ending.

I would like to thank our local garda Eddie Nugent, and Detective Martin Steed in Tipperary Town. Theyve been very good. Martin understands greyhounds quite a lot, because he has his own dogs, so he could understand what we were going through. We were very lucky to have two great men on the job.

Timmy Holland, 18, had been left in charge of Rocket when thieves struck his fathers last Sunday night, Monday morning.

Timmy said he was heartbroken when he checked on Rocket on Monday morning: I tried not to panic too much in the hope that he may have got out and that he wasnt stolen. You wouldnt expect someone to come and steal a dog.

Im delighted hes back as I felt responsible that he was taken. Im just delighted hes back and hes happy.

Gardai intercepted a car travelling from Waterford to Limerick late on Tuesday night and arrested two men and recovered the dog. Two more males were arrested in a separate operation. All four were being held at Garda stations in Tipperary Town and Clonmel.

The gang behind the kidnapping had demanded a ransom but no money was handed over, Mr Holland said: I think everybody thought, like we did, that wed never see the dog again, a bit like Shergar. For once theres a good ending.

He will race again, hes in good enough condition; they didnt badly treat him. They obviously fed him and let him have water, he wasnt dehydrated.

Mr Holland agreed the nightmare ordeal reminded him of the infamous 1983 kidnapping of champion racehorse Shergar, which was never been seen again.

If the gardai never found the dog youd always wonder was he still out there. It would be a similar type of thing to Shergar.

Mr Holland said he would be increasing security at his home and kennels in Golden.

He added that he hoped Clares Rocket would compete in next years English Derby. The race has commanded up to 250,000 (290,000) for first place in recent years.

It has been worth as much as 250,000. It takes a lot of winning and there are a lot of ifs and buts, but (Rocket) is a dog thats good enough to win it, if hes lucky enough. Hes lucky enough, he must be, to have come back home safe.

Gang saw huge investment

Jimmy Woulfe, Mid-West Correspondent

The Clares Rocket abduction investigation took a further twist last night when it emerged a Limerick drugs gang suspected of involvement demanded cash and a percentage stake in the ownership of the racing wonder.

In effect, well-placed sources explained, the gang was seeking control of the dog in a multi-million euro gambling market. It is currently second-favourite for the Derby.

The gang, it is believed, saw it as a huge investment. A well-placed Garda source said last night: This Limerick gang would not be taking such a big chance for a 100,000 ransom demand  that would be small money in their business. They were aiming to be a player in what is a multi-million or even multi-billion gambling market if they had achieved control of a once-in-a-lifetime dog.

It is also believed a drug addicted industry insider was engaged to help organise entry to the Graham Holland-run kennels on Monday night last. In return, a major heroin debt was to be written off.

The individual concerned reportedly helped transfer the dog a short time later to gang associates who had moved and kept it overnight to Co Waterford.

Two well-known Limerick crime gang figures were among four men being held last night in relation to the investigation.

The greyhound had a potential stud value of up to 1 million, having already won 14 races worth almost 54,000.

It was recovered after a huge operation. Gardai intercepted a car late on Tuesday night on the Waterford-Limerick road.

The dog was in the car with two men, both well-known Limerick criminals.

Four men are being held under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act at garda stations in Tipperary town and Clonmel.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties said the need for such oversight has heightened now that many global technology giants have their European headquarters in Ireland and are affected by Irish laws on surveillance and data protection.

Publishing a report, the ICCL said: Effective independent review and audit at regular intervals by an independent authority is urgently required.

Without such reforms, Ireland will remain a black site among its EU and international peers in terms of the paucity of internal control mechanisms for oversight and accountability that are necessary to ensure legitimate use of surveillance by agents of the State.

The report, Surveillance and Democracy, said legislation introduced in the last seven years expanded surveillance powers to an unprecedented degree.

The Criminal Justice (Surveillance) Act 2009 allowed agencies to conduct covert surveillance on people and places, for three months on the authorisation of a judge and for 72 hours without judicial consent in emergencies. It said that tracking devices did not require judicial authorisation.

Subsequent legislation, the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011, allowed senior gardai, without seeking court approval, to request traffic data from telecommunications and internet service providers.

The report said High Court judges are empowered to review the various laws

But the reporting requirements are so weak that it is virtually impossible to ascertain what powers are being used, how often, and whether the surveillance operations satisfy even the minimal legal requirements. The ICCL said scale of usage of powers under the Retention of Data Act was clear with Vodafone disclosing almost 8,000 requests for data from state agencies between April 2013 and March 2014.

The concentration of surveillance powers in the hands of Irelands police, Defence Forces and Revenue Commissioners  all having the power to initiate their own operations and information requests, and with little independent oversight is troubling enough, said the report.

But in recent months, it has become clear that Irish citizens and residents are vulnerable to government-approved foreign surveillance as well. The report noted that, on November 25, 2014, the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung

released documents obtained by whistleblower Edward Snowden that revealed British intelligence agency GCHQ may have been monitoring Irish telephone and internet communications by tapping underwater cables.

The report said the 2014 GSOC bugging controversy exposed some very significant faultlines in Irelands surveillance landscape.
HE JUST disappeared off. He didnt say anything to anyone, and the first we heard of it, he was on the news.

The director of Irelands first ever feature-length film, Killarney entrepreneur Thomas G Cooper, was a modest man. The award he received in the late 1970s from Cork Film Festival for his contribution to film in Ireland was the only official recognition he ever received for his achievements, but his grand-daughter, Michelle Cooper Galvin, says he shied away from praise.

The day he set off to attend the Cork Film Festival and collect his award, he didnt even tell his family, she recalls; they learned of it through an RTE report on the evenings news. Youd talk to him about the film and what he achieved, and hed smile and puff away on his pipe and say very little, Michelle says.

Not only was Coopers film, The Dawn, Irelands first feature-length film, it was also an independent production and, produced between 1933 and 1936, was also a talkie, at a time when sound was in its infancy even in Hollywood.

Thomas G Cooper

With a script charting the tale of one family from the Fenian uprising of 1866 to the War of Independence, and featuring a cast of local amateurs, some of whom were actually veterans of the war, The Dawn was not only distinctively Irish, but an entirely Killarney-based production: a source of great pride for locals.

A lot of people were very proud of the fact that their husband or wife or son or daughter was in it, Michelle says. He went over to England to get all the equipment and then he gathered locals together within a very short radius of Killarney town and then he got the script together and they started shooting.

The man Galvin fondly remembers was, she says, always thinking ahead; he was ahead of his time. Trained as an electrician in the Ford factory in Cork, he was a technological innovator not only in film; as a pet project, he co-owned a small plane with another Killarney man in an era when Irish aviation was in its infancy. Himself and Maurice OConnell kept the plane in Fossa, where they built a little runway in Maurices place and the two of them used to fly the plane.

Coopers film may be the first Irish-produced feature, but there was a precedent: Between 1911 and 1914, the New York Kalen Film Company produced 28 films with Killarney as a location. Plans to make Killarney the Hollywood of Ireland, were stymied by the advent of Europes two great land wars and the accompanying upheavals in international logistics. Cooper, born in 1900, would certainly have remembered Kalen Film Companys visits.

KILLARNEY CASINO

A still from The Dawn, filmed in Co Kerry by Thomas G Cooper. Pictures courtesy of Michelle Cooper Galvin

Coopers film wasnt only born of a passion for the medium, but also of entrepreneurial spirit; he owned a chain of cinemas, including what was then known as The Killarney Casino, still in the family today under the name of Cinema Killarney.

He was also Irelands first tour operator, the owner of the Glebe Hotel, and a pioneering figure in Kerry tourism. He wanted to showcase all the beautiful scenery in the area, Michelle says.

The locations Cooper used are still recognisable even today, and the film was something of a marketing device for another of his innovations: Cooper was the first person to arrange and market all-inclusive package tours to Ireland.

He bought buses and theyd go to Cork and Dublin, collect tourists and take them around to Glengarriff, Dingle and Muckross. Hed go off to England to sell the tours and he did all the marketing himself.

Cooper died in 1982. Towards the end of his life, although he still screened The Dawn from time to time in his cinema, hed never watch it himself. He had been hit hard by the untimely death of his son, Michelles father, at just 30. She believes it may have been her fathers appearances in the film as a child that were simply too painful for Cooper to watch.

Family lore has it that the great Walt Disney visited with her grandfather, although the details are hazy: Disney certainly did visit Ireland in 1946 to trace his Irish roots, and his stay inspired Darby OGill and The Little People, which was filmed more than a decade later in Hollywood movie lots.

CAREFUL RESTORATION

A still from The Dawn, filmed in Co Kerry by Thomas G Cooper. Pictures courtesy of Michelle Cooper Galvin

Shot on 35mm, prints of The Dawn are held in the British Film Institute (BFI), the Irish Film Institute (IFI) and RTE, as well as the family. But four years ago, it became evident that the fragile old film was in danger of deteriorating and being lost.

Michelle, who is a press photographer with The Kerryman newspaper, and her son Diarmuid, who was attending a Broadcast Production Skills course at Kerry Education and Training Board (ETB) in Tralee, set about seeking help to preserve and restore the historic film.

The film was showing its age, Michelle says. Its 80 years old and we had to make a decision. We went to a lot of people for help and advice. But plans for the IFI to restore and remaster their copy fell through.

Brian Nolan, the broadcast production skills instructor at Kerry ETB, agreed to take the painstaking restoration on as a class project, working from the loaned BFI print, which was the best-preserved copy.

We got it scanned in the UK to digitise the print, and converted it to a video file, Nolan says. It was a fantastic learning experience for the students.

Two students, Chris Garrett and Ciaran McCormac, used software to clean up the 133,081 frames that make up the images in the film, while their classmate Seamus Slemmon worked on the audio. The results, Nolan says, are impressive considering the minute budget for what is usually an expensive process.

When Fritz Langs 1929 classic, Metropolis, was restored a few years ago, it took years and a budget of a quarter of a million dollars, he says. We did this in three months, with a budget of ham sandwiches and crisps.

The restored copy is set to be screened in Cinema Killarney. Well also show a little before-and-after to demonstrate how much better it is since it was restored, Nolan says.

Preserving The Dawn for posterity still poses challenges, though; in an era when software developments move at lightning speed, it may seem contradictory, but 35mm film is considered one of the safest ways to ensure that a film remains accessible.

While digital formats rapidly evolve and compatibility issues arise, with the provision of a projector, film remains immune to these changes.

I have it in an LTO (Linear Tape Open) format at the moment, and the family have a copy, but we really need to get that put back on to 35mm to preserve it for the next 100 years, Nolan says. But that will require a budget, and its just not there.

Making the film accessible to future generations is an important task, Nolan says.

This is a milestone in Irish Cinema history; it should be much more recognised what a pioneer this guy was. Its important to honour his achievements.
Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (TSX: FVI) - Mr. Jorge A. Ganoza, President, CEO and Director of Fortuna, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Alfredo Sillau to the Board of Directors of the Company.

Mr. Sillau is Managing Partner, CEO and Director of Faro Capital, an investment management firm that manages private equity and real estate funds. Previously, Alfredo headed the business development in Peru for Compass Group, a regional investment management firm, until late 2011. As CEO of Compass, Mr. Sillau actively took part in the structuring, promoting and management of investment funds with approximately US$500 million in assets under management. Mr. Sillau is a Harvard graduate and board member of Cosapi S.A., the second largest engineering and construction firm in Peru, and of Pecsa S.A., a company that operates gas stations in Peru.

Mr. Ganoza also announces that the company has promoted Mr. Eric Chapman, Corporate Head of Technical Services of Fortuna, to the new position of Vice President of Technical Services effective January 1, 2017.

Mr. Chapman is a resource geologist with 15 years' experience in the mining industry who has provided technical guidance to Fortuna since 2011. Prior to joining the company, Eric was a Senior Consultant to Snowden Mining Industry Consultants working on a variety of mine and exploration projects in Africa and the Americas. Mr. Chapman has a B.Sc. in Geology from the University of Southampton in the UK, and an M.Sc. in Mining Geology from the Camborne School of Mines. Eric is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, being a Chartered Geologist (C.Geol) of the Geological Society of London and a Professional Geoscientist (P.Geo) of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia.

Simon Ridgway, Chairman of the Board of Fortuna, commented, "I want to extend a warm welcome to Alfredo and look forward to his contributions." Mr. Ridgway continued, "Exciting times for Fortuna as we continue diligently working towards a construction decision next year on the Lindero gold Project located in the Salta Province, Argentina."

Fortuna Silver Mines Inc.

Fortuna is a growth oriented, precious and base metals producer focused on mining opportunities in Latin America. Our primary assets are the Caylloma silver Mine in southern Peru, the San Jose silver-gold Mine in Mexico and the Lindero gold Project in Argentina. The company is selectively pursuing acquisition opportunities throughout the Americas and in select other areas. For more information, please visit our website at www.fortunasilver.com.

Source: Fortuna Silver Mines
By Shim Jae-yun

Fresh allegations are popping up every day, proving "criminal acts" by President Park Geun-hye, who had already been cited as a suspect by the prosecution. This time Park was allegedly styling her hair while over 300 people were trapped in the sinking Sewol ferry. If true, this shows Park is cold blooded with no sympathy toward the people.

Park again challenged the citizens by saying she would stay until the Constitutional Court makes a final decision over the impeachment motion against her. Despite resistance her collapse appears imminent since most supporters belonging to the so-called pro-Park faction within the ruling Saenuri Party turned their backs on her. Their decision has been inevitable given the unswerving demand from the people who took to the streets over the past several weeks.

Park herself is to blame for the current tragedy. Diverse analysis is possible from political, social and even personal perspectives. The traditional theory of "pungsu" (feng shui: wind and water) harmonizes everyone with the surrounding environment and it will tell another aspect of Park's fate.

According to the belief, the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae (Blue House) is not suitable for people to live in and especially bad for a national leader to settle in. Experts including Prof. Cho Soo-beom of Dankook University, claims the site for Cheong Wa Dae is full of "killing energy" extracting it from Mt. Bugak surrounding it. He likens the sharp and high rocks of the mountain to furuncles in the human body.

There had been "seven small palaces" at the site during Joseon Kingdom where concubines of the kings lived in hideout. They had to live in solitude with deep remorse, despite their royal relations. The site also houses graveyards for the maids of the Gyeongbok Palace.

It has been cited as an area for spiritual beings such as ghosts compared to the Gyeongbok Palace below it. Against this backdrop, it is no wonder we see mishaps involving most former presidents since Syngman Rhee, who had to seek asylum in the United States. Former President and Park's father Park Chung-hee faced a tragic death, murdered by his chief spy in 1979. Park's successors Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo both had to endure prison. Most recently, former President Roh Moo-hyun committed suicide.

Cheong Wa Dae is an ominous place. Adding to this, Park had long been living there since her father became the head of state in early 1960s.

Park has shown a Ripley. It refers to refusing to see the reality honestly. The patients only accept the fictional world coming from their imaginations. It is an anti-societal behavior with repeated lying and cheating. What is worse for Ripley patients is that they feel no sense of guilt about their deceptions.

Park has been negligent of the people's voices, only sticking to her own point-of-view. Despite the seemingly unfavorable environment, it is Park herself who should take full responsibility for the current mishap. She does not deserve any sympathy.

Humans can overcome any difficulties with their will and determination. They make their fate themselves. The unprecedented scandal involving Park, her shadowy confidant Choi Soon-sil and other associates cannot avoid criticism at any rate.

Park should not have taken the top post. She has been deceiving the people, unable to overcome her psychological problems and the unfavorable environment of Cheong Wa Dae.

Park should make a gracious exit from power. She needs to pay respect to the people. Park has become a shame on the nation and the people. She has been scorned by foreign media. In contrast, the Korean people are displaying their high-level of civility by orderly carrying out the street rallies without resorting to any violence.
Cho Eun-soo, second from left, poses with children in the Ethiopian highlands taken in 2013.



By Kim Tae-gyu

At the age of 22, Sogang University student Cho Eun-soo could not find a reason to live. But before making any hasty decisions about her life, she wanted to do one thing: visit the far away continent of Africa.

She worked hard to make money for the trip, which could have been her last one, and bought a one-way ticket to Africa where she stayed longer than a year in total.

After having extreme and at the same time fantastic experiences in six African countries including Sudan, Ethiopia and Madagascar, she now seems to have found a reason to keep breathing.

"In 2013, I stayed in the Ethiopian highlands for about 10 days with no electricity and even with no toilets. Back then, blood-sucking bugs plagued me all night," the 26-year-old recollected.

"I have a sense of strange self confidence now. Because I went through all the difficulties in Africa, I feel I can do anything no matter how difficult it may turn out to be. After coming back to Korea, I wrote a book on my African trip and finished my university studies. I am now preparing for the next step."

Although she has returned, she is different from her contemporaries who typically study foreign languages to get good scores, take internships and try to get certifications to get a job.

As the job market for college graduates remains very tight due to the sluggish economy, the competition becomes stiffer among the country's youngsters.

"At a time when the job opportunities are so scarce for my generation, I don't want to go all-out to get a job at a company and work like a part of a big machine. I seek a different path," she said. "Definitely, travels and adventures will be an integral part of the alternative path."

Asked what her next step is, she picked a pair of options. One is to study Arabic in Egypt and the other is to cross the Scandinavian snowy fields on a dog sled.

Cho seems to lean toward the latter  after experiencing sultry weather; she might want to feel the opposite extreme of the Scandinavian cold.

"There is an event backed by a Swedish outdoor brand. A group of people from across the world will take part in the six-day journey on a dog sled," she said. "I am trying hard to be a part of that."
Strategic Communications Africa Limited last Saturday, December 5, 2015, held its annual thanksgiving event dubbed 'Praise Jam 2015' at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC).

Themed 'He Is Fearful In Praises', taken from Exodus 15:11, the event brought together Stratcomm Africa stakeholders, including staff, clients, suppliers, media and general public to offer praises to the Almighty for His goodness throughout the year.

The venue was packed to capacity with guests who enjoyed inspiring performances from the finest gospel musicians in Ghana. These included SP Kofi Sarpong, Joe Mettle, Pastor Bright, Daughters of Glorious Jesus, Francis Amoh and Harmonious Chorale.

As has been the tradition, Stratcomm Africa projected a new artiste, Ms Evelyn Abanyie, whose soul-inspiring music got the audience to their feet in joy. The guests were welcomed with an amazing 'Lobby Experience', where guests were treated to soothing gospel jazz music by Mystery Chord Band.

In a brief message, Ms Esther A.N. Cobbah, Chief Executive Officer of Stratcomm Africa, encouraged guests to praise God in all situations and see God perform wonders on their behalf.

She added, Through Praise Jam, Stratcomm Africa staff explore their God-given talents to communicate Jesus Christ and the salvation He brings to the world.

She thanked the sponsors for their support and encouraged them to keep investing in the Kingdom business.
Blantyre (Malawi) (AFP) - Malawian police on Thursday said they had arrested a Rwandan who was convicted of genocide crimes back home but has been living in the country for 13 years.

"Yes, we effected the arrest of Vincent Murekezi today on instructions from the director of public prosecutions," police chief spokesman James Kadazera told AFP.

Murekezi was sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia after being found guilty of genocide, according to a Rwandan official source cited by the Malawian media on Thursday.

Kadazera confirmed that Murekezi, who has been living in Malawi since 2003 and holds a Malawian passport, was wanted in Rwanda on "genocide issues".

The 1994 Rwandan genocide was a four-month slaughter that left 800,000 people dead. It was triggered by the shooting down of the plane of then president Juvenal Habyarimana in April 1994.

It was not immediately clear if or when Murekezi, now a businessman, would be extradited to Rwanda.

Dalitso Kabambe, a top official in Malawi's foreign affairs ministry, said in a statement that his country had received "several requests for extradition" from Rwanda, but was not sure whether Murekezi's name was amongst them.

A Malawi immigration spokesman, Joseph Chauwa was last month quoted by a local newspaper saying Murekezi had "met all the requirements for the awarding of citizenship and a travel document".
The new resident Cuban Ambassador to the Republic of Seychelles, H.E. Mr Juan Humberto Macias Pino, presented his credentials to President Danny Faure at State House today.

President Faure congratulated Ambassador Pino on his appointment and wished him the very best for his tenure in office, as Seychelles and Cuba continue to have excellent relations. The President once again offered his sympathy on behalf of the people of Seychelles for the recent death of former Cuban President Fidel Castro.

The President and the Ambassador spoke about key areas of cooperation such as health, education, and agriculture, and committed to look into other areas of common interest. President Faure expressed gratitude for the unwavering assistance of Cuba in the development and sustainability of the health system in Seychelles.

We are very grateful that the cooperation in the field of health has allowed us to have Cuban doctors here in Seychelles, it is because of them that we have been able to sustain the health system. It is important for us today to thank the Cuban government, as you make sacrifices in sending Cuban doctors here. I know it falls within your international mission that you send doctors across the globe, but they have their own families and they sacrifice two years away from home. We value and sincerely appreciate the contribution of the Cuban doctors in our health system, said the President.

President Faure and Ambassador Pino also shared mutual interest in cooperating in the field of environment, such as addressing the issue of climate change.

First of all, I would like to thank the people of Seychelles for the support they have always offered to our country, in the voting against the blockade, as well as in other international forums. I also reiterate our countrys willingness to continue the cooperation with the people of Seychelles in the fields of health and education, and to explore other areas of common interest such as the environment, said Ambassador Pino to the national media following the meeting.

Also present at the meeting were the Secretary of State in the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Barry Faure, the Secretary of State for Presidential Affairs, Mrs Aude Labaleine, Diplomatic Advisor to the President, Ambassador Callixte Doffay, Chief of Presidential Protocol and Presidential Affairs, Mrs Jacqueline Moustache-Belle, and Ambassador Pinos wife, Mrs Luz Alina Santana Suarez.
By A.B. Kafui Kanyi

Ho, Dec. 7, GNA - One person sustained a head injury following a clash between sympathizers of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) at Deme, a border town at Dzodze in the Ketu North Constituency.

Mr Redeemer Dedzo, Volta Regional Police Commander told the Ghana News Agency that the clash occurred when some sympathizers of the NPP tried to physically prevent voters in the border community from coming to vote.

He said in the process of preventing the voters, a scuffle ensued between them and sympathizers of the NDC, during which one Xorla Ahiablame was hit on the forehead with a club.

The Regional Commander said the victim was receiving treatment at the Saint Anthony Hospital at Dzodze.

He said the situation was under control and called for calm.

Mr Dedzoe asked the political parties to allow the institutions to work for free, fair and transparent polls.

Some unconfirmed reports say somebody was shot in the arm in the same town.

GNA
Duayaw Nkwanta, (B/A), Dec 07, GNA - Voter turnout in the earlier hours of voting across the Tano North Constituency was not encouraging.

Election officials were, however, optimistic that things were going to pick up.

The long queues, often seen at polling centres in the area during elections, were absent, when the Ghana News Agency toured some of these.

Being a predominantly farming area, many were said to have gone to their farms and would return to vote before the close of voting.

The process had so far been smooth and peaceful with not reported incident of confusion in any of the polling centres.

Mr. Peter Dapila, the Presiding Officer at the Duayaw-Nkwanta RC JHS Centre, told the GNA that 280 out of the 638 registered voters had voted.

Sixteen (16) voters were disenfranchised because of multiple registration.

At the RC Primary School 'A', 237 people had cast their ballot. In all, 572 voters are expected to vote at this centre.

Three hundred and forty (340) people had already exercised their franchise at the RC Primary 'B' centre.

At all the places, the political party agents, were present to closely monitor how things go.

GNA

By Dennis Peprah, GNA
Koforidua, Dec 07, GNA - Voters in rural communities across the Eastern Region appear not to be enthusiastic about voting in the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections.

This had resulted in low turnout in polling centres located in those areas, a sharp contrast of what had been happening in the urban communities.

The Ghana News Agency (GNA) found no queues, with few voters trickling in at many of the places visited.

Added to this was the delay in the start of the election because the election officials could not sort things out early.

Journalists of the Agency have been covering the polls under the 'GNA Tracks the Election 2016' project, sponsored by the Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL), the nation foremost indigenous oil marketing company.

In Koforidua, the story was completely different as voters stood in long meandering queues, waiting patiently to cast their ballot in turns.

At the Betom Anglican Primary School, Adweso Wesley International and the Saint Dominic School centres, people started streaming there long before voting officially started.

Things were the same at Agavenya Roman Catholic Primary 'A', Atekyem 'A', Galloway Police Station and Betom Presbyterian Primary Centres.

At 10 centres in the Nsawam/Adoagyiri Constituency, in excess of 1,650 voters had voted four hours into the voting.

These included Adoagyiri RC Primary School, Moshgie-line, Islamic School, Wabdra Moshie, Zamamalinen, Oberng Darku RC Primary, Nsawam Ghana Education Service 'A' and Wofa Pay

GNA

By GNA Election Team
07.12.2016 LISTEN

Accra, Dec.07, GNA - Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur and his wife, Matilda Amissah-Arthur, have cast their votes at the Accra High School and Christ the King Parish, respectively.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur, who arrived at the polling station around 11:35 hours, was accompanied by the wife, Matilda Amissah-Arthur.

The Vice President, speaking to the media after casting his ballot, expressed optimism that President John Dramani Mahama and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) would secure 'one-touch' victory in the elections.

He said the NDC's own pre-election polls and some independent polls showed that the President Mahama would win the elections.

He said he was even more confident of victory for President Mahama in this year's elections than four years ago.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur said the electoral process he went through at the Accra High School Polling Station before casting his vote was quite smooth.

He said so far their monitoring of the election process across the country had been quite peaceful without any major problems.

He said some challenges they heard in a number of places were that the electoral officers were late to the polling stations and even those problems had been resolved.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur also urged the media not to spread the wild allegations made by politicians on the airwaves.

He said the election campaign had showed that the country had matured overtime without major incidents due to the roles played by Chiefs and opinion leaders in the country.

The Second Lady, Mrs Matilda Amissah-Arthur, after voting at the Christ the King Parish, also expressed confidence of a first round victory for President Mahama.

She said her confidence was informed by the campaign she took part for President Mahama across the nation.

GNA
07.12.2016 LISTEN

Two men have been arrested at the Labone High School which is the collation centre for the La Dadekotopon constituency in Accra on Wednesday night after they tried to forcibly open the ballot box used in the general elections.

The men, reports say insisted that there was a recount of the ballot and actually made an attempt to break into the ballot box.

The demand by the duo got a section of the public who had gathered at the collation centre agitated resulting in chaos at the premises.

In the melee, a team of policemen and miltary officers who were attracted to the scene, rushed in to arrest and handcuff them.

They two were subsequently sent to the Cantonment Police Station for questioning.
The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called on President John Dramani Mahama to concede defeat in the 2016 presidential election.

Though the Electoral Commission is yet to officially announce who the winner of Wednesdays poll is, according to the NPP, results they have gathered so far from 80 percent of polling stations across the country give their candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo a commanding lead with 54.91%.

Making the call at a press conference on dawn of Thursday, the Campaign Coordinator of the NPP, Peter Mac Manu said results they have collated from 23,000 out of 28,992 polling stations across show that Akufo-Addo obtained 4,676,998 while President Mahama had 3,644,724 votes.

This is the time that we call on our opponent [President Mahama] to concede, Peter MacManu demanded.

Mahama Campaign calls for calm

The John Mahama 2016 Campaign had earlier urged its supporters to remain calm because from the parallel vote tabulation President John Dramani Mahama is in a comfortable lead.

Let us continue to ignore and treat with contempt, claims by some radio and TV stations announcing who is leading the pack or winning the election based on polling station results that do not equate to a total of three constituencies, it said, a statement signed by signed Mrs Joyce Bawah Mogtari, spokesperson of the campaign team added.



By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @AlloteyGodwin
The Electoral Commission has called on the various political parties in the country to desist from declaring results from the general elections saying the EC is the appropriate body mandated by law to do that.

We don't want any political party to be ahead of the electoral commission to declare results. We are therefore asking political parties to desist from that, Director of Electoral services at the EC, Samuel Tettey said at a press conference at dawn on Thursday.

This comes on the back of a press conference held by the opposition New Patriotic Party who announced a win for their presidential candidate Nana Akufo-Addo.

The NPP at a press conference called on President John Mahama to concede defeat because according to them, about results from 80 percent of the over 28,000 polling stations they have gathered so far show that Akufo-Addo is leading with 54.91%.

Campaign Coordinator of the NPP, Peter Mac Manu who address the press said Akufo-Addo had 4,676,998 while President Mahama had 3,644,724 votes.

This is the time that we call on our opponent [President Mahama] to concede, Peter MacManu demanded.

But Mr. Tettey called for calm and urged Ghanaians to wait for certified results from the EC.

Our attention has been drawn to the press conference by the New Patriotic Party. We wish to state that currently the commission has not received any certified collated results from the various constituencies nationwide. By law it is the chairperson of the electoral commission who can declare certified results of the 2016 general elections. The commission urges Ghanaians to remain calm as it gets the certified collation results at the national collation centre which has been set up at the headquarters of the commission, he added.



By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @AlloteyGodwin
Kinshasa (AFP) - "Getting a letter in the post is a first for me, and what's more at home!" says Odette Tshibambe, a student in her thirties in Kinshasa.

Her excitement is understandable. After 30 years of turmoil for the postal service in the Democratic Republic of Congo, letter carriers clad in smart canary yellow shirts have finally returned to the streets of the capital.

Anifa Kayumba, head of Kinshasa's vast sorting office, recalls "dark times" during her 33 years on the job when dispirited workers would routinely go without pay.

The postal service's headquarters was like a "funeral home", she says, with a coffin blocking the entrance to mark a state of "permanent mourning".

Customers lost all confidence in the service "because (most) of the packages were pilfered or lost," says Elisabeth Lengema, a postal worker with 26 years experience.

At that time, employees only came to work to "rummage through" the parcels, taking home whatever valuables they could lay their hands on including watches, jewellery and tickets, adds Kayumba.

The handful of packages that escaped the attention of dishonest sorters were delivered to recipients' homes only after the payment of special "transport costs" -- assessed by how much the recipient appeared able to pay.

After 30 years of turmoil for the postal service in the Democratic Republic of Congo, letter carriers clad in smart canary yellow shirts have finally returned to the streets of Kinshasa

Even the home of the postal service, the vast art deco "Hotel de la Poste" building, a throwback to the Belgian colonial era between 1909 and 1960, had fallen into disrepair. In recent years it had become a favoured haunt of street urchins and vagrants.

Postal service managers responded by "quitting the building and instead leasing smart offices at high rents" elsewhere, says Didier Musete, who was named head of the service in 2014. He was tasked with returning not just the head office to its former glory, but also reviving the ailing postal system entirely.

On foot, bike, moped

The return to service was only made possible after a deal was struck in which employees gave up their claims for more than 80 months-worth of back pay arrears, instead settling for monthly salaries of several hundred dollars paid regularly.

Today, surrounded every morning by mountainous piles of neatly filled jute postal sacks, Kayumba is bullish about the future of her service.

Despite significant progress, the postal service of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is only able to handle post between overseas destinations and Kinshasa -- there is not yet a functioning operation outside the capital

The postmen and women of the vast metropolis of 10 million people have once again taken to the city on foot, on bicycles and even mopeds to deliver letters and parcels.

Honore Kabiena, a postman in his fifties, sets off on his yellow post service moped to deliver to several districts in the north of the capital including Gombe, Lingwala and Barumbu.

At every stop, he removes his helmet emblazoned with the words "La Poste" and updates his delivery manifest.

"Customers shouldn't think that I'm going to ask them for a 'shipping fee'," says Kabiena, recalling the postal service's difficult recent past.

'Veritable miracle'

On Kinshasa's June 30 Boulevard, a sweeping avenue that cuts through the heart of the city close to the banks of the River Congo, even the Hotel de la Poste has had something of a facelift.

The imposing clock on the upper left corner of the wide edifice is once again keeping time after years of neglect.

The return to service was only made possible after a deal was struck in which Postal employees gave up their claims for more than 80 months-worth of back pay arrears

Inside, the serving counters are busy once more.

Customers queue up to buy stamps, send items abroad and receive cash transfers from relatives living overseas.

Despite significant progress, the postal service is for the time being only able to handle post between overseas destinations and Kinshasa -- there is not yet a functioning operation outside of the capital.

The DR Congo is a quarter of the size of the entire United States and is almost entirely devoid of infrastructure outside of its major cities.

A nationwide postal service will come in a second phase, according to Musete, who hopes to attract financial transfers from the vast Congolese diaspora around the world -- one of Africa's largest.

Currently, remittances from abroad are largely handled by the private sector, but Musete is hoping to attract transfers to the state-owned postal service to shore-up its bottom line.

Congo's postal service is far from profitable and is dependent on state funds -- mainly those that come from fees charged to telecoms operators for use of an undersea fibre optic cable running under the Atlantic installed in 2014.

To secure growth, the postal service is hoping to sign deals with two large public sector clients -- DR Congo's water and electricity companies.

With 389 post offices nationwide, Musete is hopeful that the firms -- which currently rely on private couriers -- will increasingly turn to the postal service to send bills and reminders to their customers.

Nearly all letters sent in the country are currently delivered in the same way -- via friends, family and colleagues or informal private shipping services.

But Musete may never get a chance to change the situation.

He was suspended by the government in November for "serious mismanagement", accused of overcharging on contracts and concluding deals for laying the undersea fibre link and the renovation of the Hotel de la Poste under the table without seeking bids.

Despite the accusations facing Musete -- which he denies -- his loyal sorting office chief Anifa Kayumba says that he has performed "a veritable miracle" in getting Kinshasa's postmen and women back to work.
MATTOON -- Lake Land Colleges Center for Business and Industry is hosting an Electrical Training Series, designed to enhance the skills of existing maintenance teams as well as train employees from other areas, such as production operators, to become maintenance technicians.

The series will focus on four courses, including Applied Industrial Electricity, Programmable Logic Controllers Level 1, Electronic Drives and Troubleshooting Techniques

The fourcourse series is designed to provide novice to current maintenance technicians and engineers with the skills needed to troubleshoot and repair complex industrial electronic systems.

Participants may register for an individual class or for the entire series. Those who do not begin with Applied Industrial Electricity must demonstrate equivalent training, and all individuals must to be familiar with industrial equipment.

The Manufacturing Skills Training Lab at the Workforce Development Center is equipped with industrystandard training equipment. Attendees receive handson training in halfday segments, allowing them to complete the day onsite and make a stronger connection between the training and their jobs.

The series will be held as follows:

Series 1

 Applied Industrial Electricity on Jan. 9; Jan. 17 from 8 a.m.  12 p.m.

 Programmable Logic Controller Level 1 on Jan. 23, Feb. 2 from 8 a.m.  12 p.m.

 Electronic Drives on Feb. 6, 10 from 8 a.m.  12

 Troubleshooting Techniques on Feb. 14; Feb. 16 from 8 a.m.  12 p.m.

Series 2

 Applied Industrial Electricity on Feb. 20; Feb. 28 from 8 a.m. 12 p.m.

 Programmable Logic Controller Level 1 on Mar. 6; Mar. 16 from 8 a.m.  12 p.m.

 Electronic Drives on Mar. 27; Mar. 31 from 8 a.m.  12 p.m.

 Troubleshooting Techniques on Apr. 4; Apr. 6 from 8 a.m.  12 p.m.

All sessions will be held at the Workforce Development Center, 305 Richmond Ave. E., Mattoon, and taught by Randy Strohl, electrical systems training specialist. To register, contact Randy via email at rstrohl@lakelandcollege.edu or by phone at 217-2388291.

Lake Land College District 517, located in Mattoon, Illinois, serves the second largest community college district in the state, with a total population of 189,869.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) incumbent Member of Parliament for the Nantong constituency in the Northern Region, Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed has lost the seat to the opposition New Patriotic Party.

Certified results from Wednesdays polls show that the NPPs parliamentary candidate for the area, Alhaji Hardi Tuferu polling 11,346 votes and Murtala gaining 10,451 of the total vosts cast.

Alhaji Hardi Tuferu truncated Murtalas second term bid to represent the Nantong constituents in the next Parliament.

The Member of Parliament elect was Tamale Polytechnics internal auditor who contested the Natong Parliamentary seat as a fresher.

MP plotting to unseat me

Murtala Mohammed in 2015 accused his colleague MPs from the region of plotting to unseat him .

The Nantong legislator who withheld the name of his so-called saboteur exploded on Tamale based Diamond Fm in an exclusive interview.

Someone who said to three people, Murtala has not incurred my wrath I simply don't want him to succeed: I just don't want him to succeed in life.

Are you God, who are you, the angry Nantong legislator fumed.



By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
08.12.2016 LISTEN

Majority Leader, Alban Sumana Bagbin is most certainly cruising to a comfortable win in the 2016 elections as provisional results has placed the veteran politician ahead in the tie.

Results collated from most polling stations from the constituency has set the pace for Bagbin to retain his seat as the Member of Parliament, with some 6923 votes.

The PNCs Bernard Mornah who followed managed some 1,917 votes while the NPP candidate recorded some 419 votes.

The Nadowli-Kaleo seat has been held by the NDCs majority leader, Mr Alban Bagbin, for the past 24 years.

In 2012, he won the seat by 3,900 votes difference against his closest opponent, Dr Boye Bandie of the NPP.
The Parliamentary seat of the Ekumfi constituency in the Central Region has for the first time fallen to the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), according to certified results from the Electoral Commission (EC).

Known to be the hometown of the late John Evans Atta Mills and a National Democratic Congress stronghold, the NPP candidate, Ato Cudjoe, beat out the NDCs Abeiku Crentsil in what looks to be a statement victory for the opposition party.

Mr. Cudjoe polled 12,217 votes to Mr. Crentsils 11,630.

On the presidential side of things, the constituency voted skirt and blouse with the NPP Flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo polling 10,229 to the NDC Flagbearer, President John Mahamas 13,244, according to provisional results from the EC.

The Ekumfi constituency saw a major defection in October with the NDCs constituency chairman, Ekow Esirifie-Buckman, jumping ship to the NPP.

According to him, the incumbent MP and the partys Parliamentary candidate for the area, Abeiku Crentsil and the regional executives of the party rejected him for refusing to support the MPs bid during the NDC parliamentary primaries.



By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana
For the fourth consecutive year, UNICEF ( www.UNICEF.org ) and Panalpina ( www.Panalpina.com ) have joined forces to fly relief goods to an African country where population movements, food insecurity, malnutrition and natural disasters have led to a health emergency and precarious humanitarian situation. In the morning hours, a Panalpina chartered cargo aircraft landed in Chad with more than 80 tons of life-saving goods on board that are essential for water treatment, sanitation and nutrition programs.

More than 80 tons of relief goods such as blankets and tarpaulins used for shelter, therapeutic food for malnourished children, medical equipment and drugs, provided by UNICEF, arrived in Chads capital NDjamena this morning on a flight chartered and donated by Panalpina. The companys Charter Network had organized the relief flight which left Liege the night before. The goods will address acute needs in the areas of health, hygiene and nutrition but also childrens recreation, particularly in refugee camps.

Our goal is to reach the most vulnerable children that are in dire need of help. In landlocked Chad, there are many of them, says Elsbeth Mueller, executive director of the Swiss committee for UNICEF. We are very grateful for Panalpinas continued support with yet another relief flight to Africa.

Chad is listed in 185th place in the UN Development Index, which means it is one of the poorest countries in the world. The landlocked country in Central Africa has experienced several military conflicts in the past and suffers from an extreme climate that is partially the result of climate change. As a result, fields are becoming deserts, depriving people of their livelihoods. On top of this, the country is faced with 650,000 internally displaced people and refugees from Nigeria, Sudan and the Central African Republic. The overall humanitarian situation in Chad is precarious. 3.9 million people are affected by the crisis, including 2.2 million children.

Because of insufficient financial and personnel resources, as well as poor equipment for the health services, access to medical care, but also to clean water and sanitary facilities, is very limited. As a consequence, hygiene conditions are often poor, which leads to many diseases including diarrhoea and malaria. Furthermore, vaccination rates are among the lowest in the world. The relief goods flown to Chad include medical equipment used for vaccination, malaria treatments, paracetamol, disinfectant, water purification tablets, and hygiene sets for women.

The emergency delivery has also brought more than 15 tons of therapeutic milk sachets to Chad. They are used to treat severe acute malnutrition in children under five. Nearly 200,000 children under five are affected by severe acute malnutrition in Chad and 3.4 million people suffer from food insecurity. Blankets and tarpaulin used for shelters accounted for 22 tons of the cargo. Since playing is very important and comforting for children uprooted by conflict, thousands of balls, skipping ropes and frisbees have also made their way to Chad.

Many of the goods will be brought to the Kanem region in the west of the country, where there is a particularly high level of malnutrition and very limited access to water. Thanks to Panalpinas contribution, UNICEF will improve and provide new water and sanitary facilities in the health centers that support mothers and their children with clean water, hygiene promotion and malnutrition treatment.

As in previous years, we decided that a charitable donation in the form of an aircraft charter for UNICEF would be of more value than Christmas gifts for customers and employees. The goal of our donated charter remains the same too: to bring some respite to those who are less fortunate than us, especially children, says Panalpinas CEO Stefan Karlen.

This is the fourth time that Panalpina has partnered with UNICEF to address a crisis in Africa. Last year, Panalpina flew much-needed relief goods to Burundi ( http://APO.af/uNL78D ), where a recurring crisis and violence took a heavy toll on society. In 2014, Panalpina supported the fight against Ebola by flying life-saving humanitarian aid to Sierra Leone ( http://apo.af/JkOGuS ). In 2013, Panalpinas first relief flight for UNICEF brought desperately needed goods to the Central African Republic ( http://apo.af/KKOG4Q ).

For the relief flight to Chad, Liege Airport waived 50% of the landing fee.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly Mayor Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije has won the Ablekuma South parliamentary contest for the ruling NDC.

Mr Vanderpuije, polled 19, 984 votes while his closest rival, Jerry Ahmed Shiab of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) managed 16, 524 votes.

Goodman Baah of the National Democratic Party polled 9 votes while the Progressive Peoples Partys Ishmael Paa Kwesi Longdon polled 117 votes.

Independent candidate Abdullahi Obadia Squire got 49 votes in the provisional results yet to be certified by the Electoral Commission.
Nana Akufo-Addo casting his vote at Kyebi whilst President Mahama arrives at his polling station at Bole

Ghanaians trooped to the various polling stations throughout the country yesterday to elect a new president or renew the mandate of President Mahama and the next parliament in what many experts believe will be a historic election.

Seven persons contested for the position of president, with incumbent President John Dramani Mahama representing the National Democratic Congress (NDC); Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the New Patriotic Party (NPP); Ivor Greenstreet, the Convention People's Party (CPP); Dr Edward Mahama, the People's National Congress (PNC); Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, the Progressive People's Party (PPP); Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, the National Democratic Party (NDP) and an independent candidate, Jacob Osei Yeboah.

By the close of polls, it was emerging that the contest had narrowed to a straight fight between President Mahama and Nana Akufo-Addo.

The rest of the candidates were terribly trailing behind the two, with most of them recording zilch while Dr Nduom, who seemed to be showing a sign of impact, was struggling to go past five votes at various polling stations, sometimes also recording zero.

The NPP seemed to have closed in on the NDC in some of the latter's strongholds.

Results

There were interesting provisional results coming in as at press time last night, but the trend showed that the minor parties performed abysmally.

In the provisional presidential results in Lawra Old Council, NDC garnered 195 votes with the NPP getting 123.

At Faith Evangelical Church, Kuku Hill, Klotey Korle, the NDC polled 345 and the NPP 345.

Ash-Town/Mbrom Presby NDC had 83 votes while the NPP had 449.

At the University of Education Winneba, Kumasi Campus, NDC polled 3 as against the NPPs 1,507.

Madina Social Welfare Polling Station 1C in Accra, the NPP had 262 against the NDCs 199 and at 1A Polling Station, NPP had 258 and the NDC 206, indicating that the NPP may snatch the seat from the NDC's Amadu Sorogho.

It appears that the NDC may drop more parliamentary seats by the close of today as some of the results coming from its strongholds are nothing to write home about. Some of the seats to watch are La Dadektopon, Ledzokuku, Odododiodioo, Adentan, Madina, Agona West, Heman Lower Denkyira in the Central Region, Shama and Akontombra in the Westen Region, among others.

At Wa Central Polling Station A, NDC had 82 and the NPP 106 while at Polling Station B, NDC polled 81 and NPP 115.

At Amasaman Mount Horeb Polling Station A the NPP, 423 while NDC got 180 and in Tamale Central C the NPP got 338 with NDC polling 37.

Commendation

In a statement issued in Accra yesterday, the New Patriotic Party commended Ghanaians for voting in a peaceful and orderly manner.

Despite some incidents at the polling stations, the people have turned out en masse and demonstrated to the world that Ghana wants change.

We urge all Ghanaians to remain vigilant, to stay at their polling stations to observe the counting of ballots, and verify that the correct results are reported by their polling station and constituency collation centres.

A few more hours are a small sacrifice to make sure we don't have four more years of the mismanagement, incompetence and corruption of the Mahama-led NDC government.

Together, we have come this far. Vigilance is key for change, a statement signed by John Boadu, acting General Secretary of the party, said.

Atmosphere

The elections were thought to be largely peaceful, with pockets of fracas in some parts of the country, whiles there appeared to be an appreciable voter turnout for the exercise.

Allegations of ballot snatching, intimidation of some voters by security personnel, particularly soldiers, were rife as voting proceeded.

The issue of missing names leading to possible disenfranchisement, dominated in many constituencies similar to what happened during the special voting.

Intimidation

Voting in the Ablekuma South Constituency in Accra was characterized by heightened tension with the presence of gun-wielding soldiers.

Hours after voting began on a good note, a team of gun-wielding military men stormed the area in droves, moving from one polling station to the other.

By that time, long queues had started forming at the various centres, with people anxious to cast their votes.

The mere sight of the gun-wielding soldiers put fear in some of the voters, considering the fact that there were no reported incidents of violence at the various polling stations.

Everywhere they went, these soldiers, wearing grim and long faces, ordered people who had formed long queues to rearrange themselves or got beaten, creating some level of apprehension among potential voters.

Some expressed concern about the way the soldiers were going about their duties since their posture was intimidating.

In one of such incidents which occurred at the Korle-Bu police station polling station, some of these overzealous soldiers in a truck with registration number 74 GA 60, went to the centre, issuing strict instructions for those who had formed queues to move back amidst threats to whip them.

In the process, one of the military men ordered a reporter of DAILY GUIDE to stop recording proceedings of whatever was happening.

Sometime in the day, agents of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) foiled attempts by some agents of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to confuse potential voters at Chorkor.

The Contenders

NPP presidential candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, voted after 10:00 am in his hometown of Kyebi in the Eastern Region.

He then took to social media platform  Facebook  to urge people to go out and cast their ballots.

I just voted at the Rock of Ages Polling Station in the Abuakwa South Constituency. I appeal passionately to all of you to go out and vote in an orderly and peaceful manner. There might be queues, there might be hold-ups and there might be some local difficulties, but I appeal to you to be tolerant and vigilant, he urged.

He added, Please be prepared to make the critical sacrifice of time. If we want change, we have to vote for change. I urge the Electoral Commission, security personnel and all the officials to do their work professionally. Let us make sure that the process is transparent and credible. Ghana is, then, the winner.

His running mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, voted in his hometown of Walewale in the Northern Region at about 9:44 am and was expected in Accra to monitor the situation.

Mahama

President John Mahama, who is seeking re-election, cast his vote in his hometown, Bole, in the Northern Region and took to social media  Twitter  to urge people to vote.

The NDC candidate tweeted: Finished casting my vote. Its your civic responsibility too. #Vote4JM.

His wife, Lordina Mahama, voted at Rangoon Cluster of Schools polling station in the La Dadekotopon Constituency in Accra.

Veep

President Mahama's running mate, Paa Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, together with his wife Matilda, voted at about 11:30 am at a polling station at Accra High School and expressed his excitement with the voting system.

Smiles

Dr Bawumia expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the exercise, and remarked that God will bring smiles on the faces of the NPP by the end of the day.

He advised the people to comport themselves and refrain from engaging in any acts that would disturb the peace in the country.

He was accompanied by his wife, Hajia Samira Bawumia, who exercised her franchise at the Kperiga D/A Primary School Polling Station 'B' in the same constituency.

Ex-President J.A. Kufuor voted around mid-day at Dzorwulu, Accra in the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency. Although he did not disclose his ballot, his comments showed clearly that he voted for change.

I am very confident, I don't talk 100 percent, but I expect Ghana will give it to NPP this time, he said.

He further called for calm and admonished Ghanaians to eschew violence during the election process.

Ex-President J.J. Rawlings voted at Klottey Korley Constituency but shied away from stating that the party he founded (NDC) was going to win the election.

Speaking to journalists after casting his vote, he said he was impressed with the calm nature of the process and that he hoped it stayed throughout the process.

When asked whether he was confident of an NDC victory, Jerry Rawlings said, God will deliver, and when pushed further, he said, to the one who deserves to win.

Money Sharing

At Bawjiase in the Awutu Seya West Constituency of the Central Region, voters were allegedly being given money at some polling stations to induce voters to vote for Foreign Minister Hannah Tetteh  who is contesting on the ticket of the NDC  against George Andah of the NPP.

Later, Mr. Andah confirmed the incident but said he was not perturbed, adding that he was going to spring a surprise in the constituency.

By 2 pm yesterday, a good number of polling stations were almost empty and election officials and party agents were just waiting for the close of polls to do the counting.

By William Yaw Owusu & Charles Takyi-Boadu
The Electoral commission has urged Ghanaians to remain calm as it begins to release results of Wednesdays polls.

The Commission tweeted: We urge voters to remain calm as we begin releasing results. To ensure uncontested results, EC's verification process is stringent.

The Commission has been receiving commendations for the smooth conduct of the 2016 Parliamentary and presidential polls.

Provisional results are still trickling in from various constituencies across the country.

The Electoral Commission is expected to announce the official results within 24 hours.
By Election Team GNA

Tarkwa (W/R), Dec. 7, GNA - Thirty-three inmates from the Tarkwa Local Prison in the Western Region have successfully cast their ballots at the Community Development Center polling station.

Out of 40 inmates, who had their names in the main voters' register, five were alleged to have engaged in double registration and two could not find their names in the register on arrival.

The inmates who were excited at being given the chance to participate in the Presidential and Parliamentary election were escorted to the polling station in batches by prison officers.

After voting, the inmates were ushered back by foot to the prison yard which is some few meters away from the polling station where they cast their vote.

In the Jomoro Constituency, voting continued without any incidence with all voting materials available.

At Whajah's Square at Half-Assini, out of 320 registered voters, only eight had cast their ballots by 0745 hours, while at Tobenle's Square, five out of the 294 registered voters had voted as at 0744 hours.

At Avo's Square and Methodist Primary 'A' both in Half-Assini, 30 out of 614 registered voters had cast their votes, whiles 52 out of 729 registered voters voted at Methodist Primary A.

At the Methodist JHS Workshop 'C' 67 eligible voters out of 912 had voted with JHS'A' recording 30 out of 362 registered voters at 0801 hours.

At GCB, 70 voters out of 707 had voted whiles at R/C JHS Centres 56 out of 533 registered voters had voted as at 0900hrs.

At Nana Ayebie Amihere VI Basic School with a register of 452 voters, only 67 had cast their ballots, whiles at the Nzemamaanle Nursery 'B' 34 out of 416 registered voters had cast their ballots at 0920 hours, with 135 voters casting their ballots at District Magistrate Court which has a register of 618voters

In the Ekpu constituency Market Square polling station 59 out of 402 eligible voters had voted as at 0845 hours and at the D/A JSS, 60 out of 402 voters had also cast their ballots as of 0850 hours.

Agents for NPP, NDC, CPP, PPP, and the independent candidates were present at all the polling stations.

GNA
By Morkporkpor Anku, GNA

Accra, Dec. 7, GNA - Security personnel together with electoral officers at five polling stations in the Ablekuma North Constituency found it difficult to control the crowd as most of the voters could not locate their polling centres.

The polling stations include GloryLand Hotel 1 A and B and GloryLand 2 A and B.

Mr E.K Adu, the Presiding Officer, told the Ghana News Agency that due to the confusion, electoral officers at the polling station decided to assist the voters to join the right queues.

'The place is small and yet, it is supposed to accommodate five polling stations,' he added.

He said all the verification machines were working without hitches.

Mrs Sally Amaki Darko Attopee, the NDC Parliamentary candidate, who also voted at the GloryLand polling station, was satisfied with the polls so far.

Meanwhile,voting at three other polling stations in the constituency commenced 45 minutes late due to filling of the statement of polls.

At the Otaten Electoral Area, where the Hindu Monastery 1; Odorkor A and B and Hindu Monastery 2 fell, voting started at 7:45am.

Ms Sharon Ohenewaa, the Presiding Officer for Hindu Monastery 2; Odorkor told the GNA that the electoral materials came on time and everything was in order.

He said the delay was due to the filling of the statement, which were supposed to be collected before the commencement of polls.

There were long queues at all the polling stations GNA visited with security personnel present to maintain peace and order and protect lives and property.

A couple of voters could not find their names in the voter register, because they were excluded from the main register either they did multiple registration or used National health insurance card in registering without cross-checking.

The constituency has seven Electoral Areas with over 180 polling stations ranging from part of Awoshie, Kwashieman, Sakaman, Odorkor and West and East Darkuma.

GNA also noticed that CODEO and NCCE were at the polling station to observe the polls.

GNA
By GNA Election Team

Kumasi, Dec 07, GNA - Counting of votes in the presidential and parliamentary elections is underway in the polling centres across the Ashanti Region.

A total of 2,872,619 people were expected to vote in 5,190 centres in the region.

At the Presbyterian Polling Centre in the Subin Constituency, the Progressive People's Party (PPP) polled three votes in the presidential election, with the National Democratic Congress (NDC), securing 82 votes and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), 492 votes.

The remaining presidential candidates had zero vote.

Justimo Centre also in Subin: NPP 339

NDC 46

Others: Zero

Adum Railways NPP 385

NDC 182

PPP - 1

Other presidential poll results:

South Suntreso M/A JHS One & Two Centre: NDC - 15

NPP - 230

Rest: zero

South Suntreso Three & Four Centre NPP 122

NDC 10

Rest: Zero

SDA Nursery NPP 127

NDC 21

PPP - 2

Rest: Zero

SDA JHS One & Two NPP-100

NDC 11

PNC - 1

GNA
CHARLESTON -- A man's mental condition means a charge alleging he stabbed another man will be dismissed.

Jerry L. Reynolds will be in the care of the Illinois Department of Human Services until the department determines he's no longer a danger to himself or other people.

Reynolds, 72, whose most recent address listed in court records is on Olive Avenue in Mattoon, was accused of stabbing the other man at that residence, where they both lived, on Aug. 1, 2014.

He was charged with aggravated battery, a felony offense, for allegedly causing an injury that court records described as a face laceration that required six stitches.

Reynolds' mental condition first became an issue in the case in June of last year when his attorney, Public Defender Anthony Ortega, filed a motion asking that he be examined for fitness for trial.

After the motion was granted, a psychologist's report concluded that Reynolds was not fit for trial, meaning he couldn't understand the charge against him or help with his defense.

That type of finding results in confined treatment until the suspect becomes fit for trial but no longer than the maximum amount of incarceration time possible for the charge against the suspect.

The aggravated battery count against Reynolds could have resulted in a prison sentence of one to three years had he been convicted.

Eventually, the state Human Services Department issued a report that said the best course of treatment for Reynolds would involve involuntary commitment to a state treatment facility.

State law requires that an involuntary commitment can't take place while criminal charges are still pending.

So, the charge will be dismissed once Coles County receives notice that the Department of Human Services has filed a petition seeking the commitment, according to Assistant State's Attorney Rob Scales, who prosecuted the case.

Then, once the criminal case is dismissed, a court in the county where Reynolds is being treated can issue an order on the state department's request for the commitment, Scales explained.

But, he added, the state department first needed a formal court order indicating the plan to dismiss the criminal case, Scales also said. Circuit Judge Teresa Righter signed that ordered during a hearing earlier this week.

Reynolds will continue to receive treatment at the state department facility while the commitment procedures take place, Scales also said.
08.12.2016 LISTEN

By D.I. Laary, GNA

Accra, Dec. 7, GNA - Madam Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, has expressed satisfaction about Ghana's 2016 election process, describing it as 'pretty good' and 'extraordinary professionalism' shown by election officials.

'Polling stations opened on time except one but officials made every effort- making phone calls until [voting] materials came, what I have seen so far gives me high confidence in the process,' Madam Thomas-Greenfield said.

She was speaking to journalists during a tour to the Social Media Tracking Centre - Penplusbyte flagship media hub - that seeks to use technology to promote peaceful elections.

Madam Thomas-Greenfield said electoral officials exhibited professionalism as they facilitated for the aged, persons with disability and security officers to go through the voting process.

She said with the way the voting process was going 'we can feel very confident in the process, those in queues should be patient and make sure they cast their votes,' she said.

Mr Kwami Ahiabenu II, Executive Director of Penplusbyte, said the social media centre uses 'Aggie social media tracking software, developed at Georgia Technology to monitor and respond in real-time to reports emanating from social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp among others.

He said the information gathered is verified and quickly passed on to the national elections security taskforce, the Electoral Commission and other stakeholders for prompt action.

Mr Ahiabenu II said: 'technology is playing a key role in Ghana's socio-economic development and its application in the governance sector is no exception.

'This centre and its activities during the elections is clearly in line with our vision of being the leading institution for promoting good governance using technology.'

As at 1640 hours the system has generated over 130 thousand reports with 225 recorded incidents, 91 of which were deemed 'escalated' and 27 'flagged'.

GNA
Dzodze, (V/R) Dec. 8, GNA - Police in Dzodze have apprehended vehicles belonging to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and those on board, for alleged acts of intimidation and attacks on each other.

At about 1700 hours on Wednesday, December 7, the Special Operations Unit of the Ghana Police Service chased a Bolero Pickup truck loaded with people believed to be sympathisers of the NDC.

The police also arrested NPP branded Nissan pick-up vehicle filled with stones and clubs spiked with nails.

The NPP vehicle was on its way to revenge alleged attacks on the supporters of the Party at Dzodze-Deme in the Ketu North Constituency where one person was said to have sustained a gunshot wound in a scuffle between the two parties.

The scuffle was said to have been caused by alleged attempts by some people believed to be sympathisers of the NPP to prevent voters from neighbouring Togo from coming to vote in the presidential and parliamentary elections.

GNA's coverage of the elections, dubbed: 'GNA Tracks Election 2016,' is being funded by the Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL), the nation's foremost indigenous oil marketing company and CIMG 2015 Petroleum Company of the year and Life Petroleum.

GNA
Accra, Dec. 8, GNA- Street Sense Organisation (SSO) has called on political parties to be conscious of road usage to ensure the safety of members as the polls winds down.

A release signed by Mrs Kate Opoku, the Director of Communications at SSO and copied to the Ghana News Agency said the leadership of various political parties should continue cautioning members on the need to ensure road safety.

The release said 'campaign drivers should be extra careful especially as they drive their election candidates, political leaders and members in convoys or when alone.

'Cyclist and motor cyclist and their pavilion riders, moving in convoy or alone, are advised to put on helmets in order to protect themselves.'

Mrs Opoku said motorists should wear reflective vest or have some sort of reflective materials as armbands or headgear especially in the dark hours to preventive any eventualities.

Pedestrians or passer-by are also advised to careful and watchful as they follow their leaders to various events.

They are also encouraged to have reflective vests, armbands and footwear when moving in the dark hours.

'These are to serve as measures to prevent, or minimize to the barest minimum, road accidents and knock downs.'

GNA
Accra (AFP) - Ghanaians faced an anxious wait Thursday for the results of a nail-biting presidential election tainted by sporadic outbreaks of violence, with no clear favourite emerging from the early provisional results.

The high-stakes race between incumbent John Mahama and rival Nana Akufo-Addo is seen as a litmus test of stability for one of Africa's most secure democracies.

Results will trickle in over the day, with the final winner expected to be announced at the earliest late Thursday.

Initial provisional results released by Ghana's election agency showed neither candidate gaining the upper hand.

A socio-economic factfile on Ghana as it heads to the polls

Early Thursday, the Electoral Commission website was down but it tweeted the provisional results of six of the 275 constituencies, with Mahama scoring 62,930 votes and Akufo-Addo 62,220.

Election fever gripped Ghana's capital Accra, with people out in the streets late into the night as counting of the thumbprint votes got under way, many standing behind red police lines and closely observing the blue-shirted election officials.

Mohammed Kamil, a trainee teacher, told AFP he wanted the new government to "create jobs for the youth... that will bring us peace and harmony."

Nana Akufo-Addo, (C), candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the presidential elections, casts his ballot as he votes at Rock of Ages Academy in Kibi, on December 7, 2016

Sporadic reports of violence and technical problems marred the vote although the election was seen to have gone well overall.

Voting was delayed in the Jaman North constituency until Thursday "due to security concerns," the Electoral Commission tweeted.

The commission also reported that supporters of Akufo-Addo's New Patriotic Party (NPP) had beaten one of its officials.

In another hiccup "hackers" had caused its website and election results app to crash.

Despite the problems, accredited observer Christopher Fomunyoh, regional director for the US-based National Democratic Institute, said the vote had gone well.

People line up to vote at a polling station in Kibi, southern Ghana, on December 7, 2016

"It's just impressive to see how the Ghanaian civil society have taken this on, to monitor and report on the process."

Be 'vigilant'

Akufo-Addo had told his supporters that "vigilance is key" at the polls in an attempt to avoid a repeat of the 2012 vote -- narrowly won by Mahama with 50.7 percent -- that he contested unsuccessfully in the country's Supreme Court.

President John Mahama votes in the Bole district, northern region, on December 7, 2016

"We wish to state emphatically that the NPP will not allow any person, persons or entity to subvert the will of the Ghanaian people and that all necessary steps will be taken to protect the vote," party campaign chairman Peter Mac Manu said in a statement just after midnight.

Mac Manu said the NPP has an "ever increasing possibility of being declared the winner by the Electoral Commission with a strong parliamentary majority."

After voting yesterday, Mahama voiced confidence the election would "consolidate that democracy further".

There are seven candidates battling for the top job -- including former first lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings -- and if the smaller parties perform well and deny either frontrunner a majority, a run-off vote will be held later this month.

Charismatic Mahama, 58, is running for a second term. The leader of the ruling New Democratic Congress (NDC) party has urged voters to "stay the course", promising to deliver more infrastructure projects.

Akufo-Addo, 72, is making his third and likely last bid for highest office. He has blasted Ghana's poor economic growth estimated at 3.3 percent in 2016 -- the slowest rate in two decades -- and outlined how to get the economy back on track.
Professor Naana Jane Opoku- Agyeman in a group photograph with the heads of the Technical Universities inaugurated.

Heads of technical universities have been tasked to make the difference between their institutions and traditional universities manifest.

The Minister of Education, Professor Naana Jane OpokuAgyeman, said the mission of the technical universities is to deliver practical teaching and learning, applied research with emphasis on technology development, adaptation and transfer.

You are to bring the world of work into the classroom and place practical knowledge and research results at the disposal of industry.

The Minister made these remarks at the official inauguration of eight technical universities at the Ministry last Monday.

They are Accra Technical University, Koforidua Technical University, Sunyani, Technical University, Cape Coast Technical University, Takoradi Technical University, Kumasi Technical University and Tamale Technical University.

Background

In 2013, President John Dramani Mahama, in his State of the Nation's Address, declared the intention of government to convert polytechnics into technical universities.

Following this declaration, a technical committee was put together under the auspices of the Ministry of Education.

It charged the National Council of Tertiary Education to come up with strategies for the conversion.

The committee, with representation from key stakeholders, examined various models of skills-driven industry to effectively address specific needs.

The model the committee chose is akin to that of German Universities of Applied Sciences.

Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyeman urged the newly converted technical universities to avoid repeating some of the past mistakes.

The absence of a clear transformation strategy was one of the significant flaws of the upgrading process and the ramification of this is still evident in the polytechnic system.

Professor Mohammed Salifu said the governing councils for the polytechnics have immediately become interim councils of the respective technical universities.

He said the National Council for Tertiary Education shall put representatives on the interim councils to facilitate the decision-making during the transition.

All key officers, including rector, vice rector, registrar, finance officer librarian and others shall immediately be re-appointed interim vice chancellor, provice chancellor , interim registrar and others and these appointments shall hold until the councils go through the prescribed processes to appoint the substantive officers by June 30, 2017.

( [email protected] )

By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey


The Police Administration has launched a newspaper which will serve as the mouthpiece of the Ghana Police Service in the country.

According to COP Ransford Moses Ninson, the DirectorGeneral in-charge of police administration, the newspaper, dubbed, 'police news' would help improve relations with the public.

During the launch of the newspaper at the police headquarters, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), John Kudalor, said the police service would continue to explore all means to improve its relationship with the public.

This started some time back in 2003 when the then police administration took the bold step and innovative decision to expand the public relations component of the service by enlisting public relations professionals into the service to handle police-public interaction and communication.

This also led to the opening of public relations units in all the regional police commands across the country, thereby drawing the police closer to the people.

The IGP said recently the police moved a step further by adopting twitter, facebook and instagram.

This, he said, is to enable the police to keep monitor happenings on the social media to ensure that the public is fed with accurate information.

The police will also use it to clear the air in case of any misinformation or fabrication designed to incite members of the public against the service.

Minister of Interior, Prosper Bani, in an address, tasked the editor and reporters to ensure that news items boost relationship between the Ghana Police and the public.

He added that the Public Relations Department of the service must be changed to Communications Department.

Mr Bani also appealed to the service to release funds for the establishment of a publishing house for the service.

The Interior Minister also urged reporters to focus on unraveling circumstances surrounding murder cases in their reportage.

Also in attendance were the President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), senior police officers and men.

( [email protected] )

By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey


Vodafone Ghana has launched a campaign this December dubbed, #VodafoneSuperRedChristmas to reward and excite its customers throughout the festive season.

The initiative is a holistic approach by the telecommunications company to reward all customer touch points within the various segments.

The month of December is unlike any other month; especially due to the Christmas celebration that always takes centre stage.

Across the world, numerous organisations are planning various programmes and initiatives to bring happiness and a cheer on the faces of their customers.

Vodafone Ghana's exciting line-up has already begun with a Night of Drama & Cocktail, held over the weekend at the Kempinski Hotel for its high valued and Enterprise customers across the country.

The event brought together corporate and individual clients of the company who were treated to an interesting night by the Roverman Drama Group with music by Stephen Bedi.

A lot of other activities have been lined up, as the days come by.

From 5-30 December, the Fixed Broadband team is bringing Santa Claus to the homes of over 300 customers, bearing different kinds of gifts in appreciation of their commitment over the years.

Other activities, including a Vodafone X Mall day, an insomnia movie night and musical concerts for the youth have been arranged throughout the festive season.

Additionally, Vodafone is also paying the bus fares of customers travelling on the 24th December to celebrate Christmas.

Dubbed 24th Akwantuo aye Free, selected Vodafone agents will be positioned at vantage bus stations to cater for travelling customers and ensure they arrive at their destinations comfortably.

Vodafone Retail Shops across the country will also be rewarding customers with lots of gifts during the holiday season.

On his part, Yolanda Cuba, Chief Executive at Vodafone Ghana said: As another year comes to an end, there is no doubt that the continuous loyalty of our customers, coupled with a renewed strategic focus, have continued to provide us with a competitive edge in the current environment.

Vodafone-Super-RED-Christmas is our way of appreciating the most important stakeholders in our business operations.

A business desk report


Dr. Emmanuel Dormon and Freda Duplan, Managing Director, Nestle Ghana signing the agreement.

Nestle Ghana and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded Agricultural Development and Value Chain Enhancement Programme (ADVANCE) have officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to ensure the regular supply of high quality agricultural commodities, especially maize in Ghana.

Under this new partnership, USAID ADVANCE and Nestle Ghana will work together to build the capacity of farmers and aggregators in the three Northern regions to ensure farmers produce maize that meets Nestle's quality standards.

The objective of the partnership, which will end in September 2018, is expected to increase the quality of grains in Ghana by training 113,000 farmers in agronomic, post-harvest protocols and good storage practices, which have been developed by Nestle to reduce the mycotoxins in upstream value chain.

Freda Duplan, Managing Director, Nestle Ghana, in her opening remarks, said the partnership agreement falls within the Nestle Cereal Plan for advancing the company's commitment to increasing local sourcing as part of its Creating Shared Value initiatives.

The Nestle Cereal Plan aims at enabling farmers to produce better quality grain which will generate higher revenue for them and improve their livelihood, she said.

She said Nestle is committed to creating inclusive communities under its Rural Development Framework.

Through Nestle's knowledge leadership in the area of Research and Development, the Rural Development Framework continuously help to introduce new farming methods and technologies that can ensure sustainable grain production, she explained.

Mrs. Duplan said through the partnership, the company aims to boost food security in the three Northern Regions.

This will help in ensuring food safety for the farmers and their families for the community and for the consumers, she added.

Dr. Emmanuel Dormon, Chief of Party for USAID-ADVANCE, in his statement, said the US funded project supports farmers to increase their productivity and improve access to high-end markets.

Thus, we see this collaboration with Nestle as an excellent opportunity and motivation for the smallholder farmers to further improve their agronomic and post-harvest management practices to meet the quality requirements of high-end industrial users, said Emmanuel Dormon.

Nestle Ghana is sourcing 100 percent of its cereals (maize, rice) locally from farmers for its Tema factory, and the company seeks to reduce current levels of mycotoxins and other contaminants in cereals.

By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri


The Social Security & National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has announced that it will soon introduce Biometric Terminal (BT) and Web Portal technologies to address delay in processing customers' benefits and meet global standards.

Ernest Thompson, Director-General of SSNIT, disclosed this during the 2016 Operations Conference of the Trust held at Elmina in the Central Region recently.

He said the introduction of the new technologies would help provide strategies for easy compliance to help address challenges pragmatically.

The conference, themed 'Consolidating Technology to Maximize Operational Efficiency for Superior Customer Service,' was attended by both regional directors and managers of SSNIT across the country.

Thompson noted that the Operations & Benefits Divisions of the Trust had seen vast improvements in business processing which would enable SSNIT pay benefits to customers within few days.

He indicated that the Trust, as part of its corporate social responsibility, had embarked on numerous projects geared towards transforming Ghana and improving lives.

He mentioned that the Salaga Market and Rawlings Park in Accra would be redeveloped into modern multi-purpose complexes.

Mr. Thompson added that the Salaga Market had been closed for many years, adding that But it's a very good fish market. If we can build a modern complex market there, it will also at least alleviate poverty.

As part of the programme of the Trust for 2017, the current Rawlings Park will be converted into a multi-purpose high-rise modern market, mixed-used development, and a car park complex to help reduce congestion, traffic, reckless parking intertwined with the endless hawking.

He noted that SSNIT was constructing a training complex for Trades Union Congress (TUC) at Ridge in Accra.

SSNIT, according to Mr. Thompson, had also taken over the construction of the Affordable Housing Estate Project in five regions, saying Borteyman in Accra has been completed and is already on sale. Asokore Mampong has commenced and is also going on steadily.

From Emmanuel Opoku, Elmina
Employees of Access Bank with Rotary Club and National Blood Bank Officials

Access Bank staff have organised a blood donation exercise in partnership with the Rotary Club of Ring Road and the National Blood Bank Service.

The exercise, which forms part of the Bank's Employee Volunteering Programme (EVP), was aimed at raising awareness about the importance of blood donation and helping to save lives.

Held at the car park of the bank's newly refurbished head office in Accra, the exercise witnessed a high turnout, with over 300 staff and members of the general public participating.

Speaking on the partnership to support the blood bank, the Project Coordinator of the Employee Volunteering Group, Esinam Kpodo expressed appreciation to partners, and emphasized the need for the public to avail themselves for such exercises to donate and support health facilities.

She said: We are encouraged that our call to help save lives was met with so much enthusiasm. It only goes to show that with the right resources and willingness, we will be able to demystify the notions surrounding blood donation.

Over the past three months, employees of Access Bank in other locations, have also demonstrated their volunteering spirit by executing various projects across the country.

The projects have been streamlined to help Ghana achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals specifically in the areas of health and well-being, quality education, sanitation and clean water.
100 years ago, Dec. 8, 1916

ARCOLA -- People residing on West Prairie, near Arcola, would like to know who the corn thief is who has been operating in that area and it seems likely they will soon find out. There are two clues to his identity: portions of two fingers which were left in a wolf trap which had been set to catch him. Jerry Conlin, a farmer here, had been missing corn from one of his cribs, the thefts occurring at frequent intervals. Failing to catch a glimpse of the thief and tired of the continued depredations, he procured an old steel wolf trap which he set just inside his crib door Wednesday night. The following morning he found that the trap had been sprung and clenched in the jaws were parts of two fingers pinched off a human hand. It is a pretty safe guess the thief will not be back to that crib soon... MATTOON -- The "Fair and Warmer Theatrical Company," which showed at the Majestic Theater Wednesday night, was moved into Mattoon from Olney on the Illinois Central Railroad. A statement issued by the office of the Illinois Central's Illinois Division as to the number of stock killed by trains during October says that one cow and four horses were killed in this way.

50 years ago, 1966

MATTOON -- A tornado cut a swath through Mattoon early today, causing widespread property damage but only one report of injury. Two houses under construction were demolished, a building contractor's warehouse was leveled and sections of it were blown into parked cars, a trailer home was overturned and a large section of the roof of the Anaconda American Brass Co. plant was blown off. The storm struck when the temperature was a muggy 66 degrees. It was accompanied by a heavy downpour of rain -- 3.04 inches -- with thunder and lightning... MATTOON -- Mattoon Memorial Hospital and Douglas Nursing Center registered a combined operational loss of $192,652 in the nine-month period ending Sept. 30, according to a special audit released today by the board. The audit was requested by the board following the resignation of Raymond Fleetwood as hospital administrator. Fleetwood is presently employed at a hospital in Alton... SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. Otto Kerner has named a committee of three people to look into allegations of faulty construction at Eastern Illinois University. Philip Will of Chicago, an architect, will head the group; Other members are Walter E. Hanson of Springfield, a civil engineer; and Leonard J. Graff of Chicago, a contractor. The Illinois Legislative Audit Commission asked for assistance in its investigation.

25 years ago, 1991

Sunday. No paper.

100 years ago, Dec. 9, 1916

SULLIVAN -- Professor Edward Willasey, founder of Eton Academy of Kansas, Ill., and founder of Palmer Academy of Paris, Ill., died of locomotor ataxia yesterday morning at the Masonic Home in Sullivan. He was 53 years old. Professor Willasey was a graduate of London University and the University of Cambridge. His father was Col. Willasey, who commanded a British regiment in the "Charge of the Light Brigade." Professor Willasey served as a teacher in India and then came to this country and did government work calculating the trajectory of shells from big guns. Concussions from these guns is believed to have been the cause of the ailment which resulted in his death... MATTOON -- Here are some dizzy figures of the automobile industry as gathered by one of the leading automobile manufacturers. The number of motor cars registered in 47 of the leading countries of the world -- 3.1 million. The number of motor cars now registered in the United States -- 2.5 million. Average value per car -- $1,000. Number of cars for each mile of American highway -- 1. Public roads in the United States -- 2.5 million... MATTOON -- The Illinois Central Railroad Co. has contracted to store 3,500 bales of cotton in the warehouse of the Hayes Transfer and Storage Co. on North 16th Street. The first shipment, 16 cars, is expected to arrive on Sunday. At the present price, the value of the cotton to be stored in Mattoon is $175,000. The cotton is for foreign countries but cannot be moved now because of the many embargoes in place.

50 years ago, 1966

MATTOON -- Clearing of wreckage and repairing of property damage caused by Thursday's tornado was under way here today. Estimates of the damage caused by the storm was as much as $100,000. An exact total may never be compiled because of the numerous relatively minor claims for such items as downed television antennas and minor damage to houses. Street department crews were working today to clean up limbs and trees downed in the storm. The most serious damage in the storm was in the 2400 block of Essex where two partially-completed new homes were demolished and a recently completed home damaged. Thursday rainfall totaled 1.44 inches, bringing the two-day total to 4.44 inches... MATTOON -- Members of Local 916 of the United Auto Workers union turned down proposals offered by Blaw-Knox Co. by a vote of 184-61 Thursday night. Included in the proposals were a 32-cents an hour wage increase and a 33-cent per hour wage increase over a three-year period. Fringe benefits totaling an additional 9.4 cents per hour also were included. Union officials said they had no complaint with the wage offers but are seeking other fringe benefits... CHARLESTON -- The City of Charleston is the latest community to be affected by "sabotage" to Illinois Consolidated Telephone Co. cables, according to ICTC officials. G.H. Sherer, plant manager, said that long distance service to Charleston remained severely curtailed as a result of damage to the toll cable by a shotgun blast. Contract negotiations between the company and union representatives continued today.

25 years ago, 1991

LERNA -- The difference was as obvious as the difference between a new flintlock rifle and a loaf of common eggbread. Pioneer re-enactors at Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site this weekend showed visitors two different ways the Christmas holiday was celebrated on the Illinois prairie in the 1840s. On one hand, in the more affluent home of Stephen and Nancy Sargent, family members spent Christmas Day in a decorated house playing games or baking cookies. At the more typical prairie home of Abraham Lincolns parents, the Christmas dinner was cooking but there was a lot of work that needed to be done in and outside the log cabin home ARTHUR  A plan to convert an abandoned 30-mile railroad right-of-way into a bicycle path has put many of the Amish farmers and craftsmen in this area on edge. Some Amish say they have too much publicity from tourism as it is, without adding bicyclists. The state spent $325,000 this year to buy the bulk of the former Penn Central Corp. right-of-way between Lovington and Oakland. The task is to continue developing plans for the bike path, but without ignoring the interests of the Amish. Others believe there are legitimate reasons to build the bicycle path without involving Amish-related tourism.
The only Independent Presidential candidate in the 2016 elections, Jacob Osei Yeboah (JOY 2016), has conceded defeat to the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) leader, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

JOY says he and his men have monitored the elections throughout the country and their results show that the NPP flagbearer is leading but with a slim margin.

Speaking on Onua FM's special election coverage on Thursday, December 8, Mr. Osei Yeboah explained that he does not have the constitutional mandate to declare any candidate a winner but the voting pattern is going for the NPP.

He said you can see Nana Addo is leading but the margin is not clearly. It may go for the second round so we are waiting for the rest but I have conceded defeat.

He said what is left is to congratulate Nana Addo but we are waiting for the rest of the results.

-3news
Flag bearer of the Progressive People's Party (PPP), Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom has conceded defeat to fellow flag bearer Nana Akufo-Addo and congratulated him on his victory in the 7 December polls.

In a short statement, Dr Nduom said based on results available to him, Nana Akufo-Addo had won the polls.

The wind of change has blown in his [Akufo-Addo's] favour. The NPP worked hard for this victory.

I accept the decision of the people on behalf of the PPP. We must all now work hard to make our country great and strong and the people prosperous, Dr Nduom said.

The Electoral Commission is yet to announce the final certified results.

Dr Nduom is the second flag bearer to concede and congratulate Mr Akufo-Addo on his victory. Dr Edward Mahama of the People's National Convention was the first to do so.
Sam Korankye Ankrah

08.12.2016 LISTEN

We are done with the elections, and counting is underway. Nothing I am going to write here will change anything. The hours between now and the time the Electoral Commissioner makes the final declaration must, of necessity, be a period of solemn reflection, on what we think of our country Ghana.

So I voted, and I voted wisely. I voted at Challenging Heights school (now Friends International Academy), Sankor, polling station B, Winneba. There was absolutely no queue at the time I arrived, so I walked straight to check my name, and all was fine.

As I opened the ballot paper, and began to look for the person I had already taken the decision to vote for, I said a sentence of prayer, then I remembered John 3:16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

This is a Biblical injunction, and as a Methodist I have to obey the Bible, shouldnt I? So for a moment I paused to think more.

A I paused, and thought more, I realized Ghana is sick, our country is sick of being turned into an election machine, and being run as though the only good thing about our country is being a center for electoral contest.

Our country is sick, it is really sick, of mediocrity, it is sick of corruption, it is sick of bad governance and weak governance institutions. The biggest problems facing our country is not the numerous armed robbery attacks, our biggest problem is the numerous educated thieves in public service. It is not only a developmental challenge, the high unbridled levels of corruption is a security threat to our very lives.

I listened to Reverend Sam Korankye Ankrah preached last Sunday. It was picked up live on Peace FM. He was preaching about peace. He quoted Proverbs 15:27, and Proverbs 20:21. Proverbs 15:27 reads: Whoever is greedy for unjust gain troubles his own household, and he who takes bribes will die.

So with this scripture in mind, I voted, and I left.

One of my biggest fantasies of life has been a wish to have the capabilities to manipulate the unknown. There have been several times in my solemn moments that I had wished I had a special power that creates a mysterious computer software program that could detect the bank accounts of politicians and public officers. And here I am not interested in the bank accounts of private individuals or companies, they are not the ones who take the taxes from me.

In one of those fantasy moments I saw myself with the ability to detect when government contracts are inflated, and who exactly benefitted from the differences. Then my special spiritual software traced the corrupt cash to the bank where it was deposited. As soon as the money was paid, my software transferred it back into the national account.

And the software had the ability to make corrupt public officials impotent thereafter. So when I took the money away from the persons bank account, I also made him impotent instantly, and asked him to confess publicly otherwise the software will strip him on the street within 24 hours.

Thereafter I saw ministers, Directors of state institutions, District Assembly officials, all lined up, one after the order, coming to me to confess how much they created, and how much they looted, and I felt so powerful. I plan to write a whole book on how this my spiritual software works.

People are suffering my brother. One of the reasons why I decided not to own anything personally, and to have everything I have worked for ascribed to Challenging Heights and its affiliates, is the constant pain I bear in my heart, of seeing sufferings in the hearts and eyes of people who have nothing.

In my line of work I see pains, I see very little children with massive tears, and I see their eyes filled with love, frustration, starvation, and I bleed. Sometimes I wish I own everything in this world, so that I can give everything I have, just so that every one child will be saved, so that every one child will have food, and drink safely.

Maybe I am being too hard on myself, but I am a very unhappy person, I am a very sad person. I die every day, I only live because I live.

The biggest burden on my heart has been the GHC51million our government gave to Woyome, for no work done. That money alone has caused me more health problems than anything in my life. In my private moments, I have prayed more, I have reflected more on this scandal than anything else in life in the last three years, and that is exactly what my vote stood for.

I have thought about the Woyome scandal, I have listened to those who know more about it, I have listened to Woyome himself. I have listened to judges who have sat on the case, and all I keep concluding is that this was a case of a forcible rape of a neglected 49-year old anemic pregnant virgin woman.

And in my heart, I know that the cry of many children who are starving across the country, those children who died of common malaria, the cry of mothers who died during child birth, all these pains will speak one day, and as reverend Sam Korankye Ankrah has said, anyone who took a portion of that money, and anyone who is directly or indirectly involved, those who through deliberate actions and deliberate inactions are scheming to help Woyome make nonsense of the money, I tell you my brother, one day, and that day will soon come, that day God will rule, and justice will be served.

Each time I have thought of Mannesseh Azure Awuni, each time I have thought of Martin Amidu, each time I have thought of Anas Aremeyaw Anas, each time I have thought of these individuals, I have given myself hope that something good is possible in Ghana.

There have been several times that I had wished I had good enough money to give to these individuals, I had wished I could loan my witch crafty software to Anas to operate spiritually. I have in many instances wished Manasseh had my spiritual software to know everything, to expose everything. Sometimes I wish God will actually make those moments real, so that I could loan that spiritual software to Martin Amidu to detect all the unknown monies stolen from Ghana.

But since I cannot continue to live in such spiritual fantasies, I have to wake up, and to find a more sensible way of supporting the effort of those who are risking their lives to save our country from greedy public men and women.

I have been working in the areas of child rights for at least the last decade. The problems confronting our children are a problem of institutional weaknesses, neglect, and blatant corruption. What is rightfully available to provide educational facilities, to provide healthcare, to provide food and water for these children, have been stolen by people who had good education, and whose children are already doing well, they are the ones stealing from the poor. They take bribe, they inflate contract costs, and they fail to do what is expected of them.

So I have decided to get involved. And my involvement will be through the Media Center for Social and Economic Justice. It is an independent, non partisan Ghanaian based non-profit media organization dedicated to the promotion of free, fair, just, informed and developed individuals and society where governance institutions and their leaders are held accountable and responsible for their actions and inactions. As a non-partisan media group, we will work across the political spectrum and deny partisan polarization of public wrongdoing.

We achieve our goals by working with an extensive network of media practitioners and other experts who share our ideals.

We believe in a fair application of the laws of the land. That the application of laws must not be seen to be selective, that public officials will elect to themselves when to apply or enforce the law, and when not to enforce the laws. This leads to arbitrariness, discriminatory tendencies, and victimization of some citizens. If a law is dormant, it must be dormant for all. If a law is active, it must be active for all. That is when we can say we have a just society.

James Kofi Annan
The second Annual Workshop on International Economic Negotiations opened in Johannesburg on Monday under the theme, Building Africas Negotiating Capacity for Improved Terms of Engagement with the Rest of the World.

The event is part of activities led by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to promote policies and programmes that strengthen the process of African economic integration, as explained by Stephen Karingi, Director of ECAs Capacity Development Division (CDD):

We are basically assisting Member States in the development of common positions towards international negotiations as well as in enhancing the skills of African negotiators to get optimal deals for their countries and region from bilateral and international negotiations.

During the five-day gathering, policy makers and experts on investment, taxation, natural resource contract negotiations and trade negotiations from over 40 African countries will exchange experiences, explore options and strategies for possible coordination of positions, and interact with globally leading thinkers and practitioners in the field of economic negotiations.

African governments have consistently called upon continental institutions to provide capacity building assistance in the field of negotiation. Also, the March 2015 Report of the High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows noted how Africas natural resources sector is prone to the generation of illicit financial outflows through secret and poorly negotiated contracts.

As part of its mandate on capacity development, ECA launched, in 2015, a series of annual workshops that respond to these calls by focusing on how member states can best protect their national interests from being undermined through international agreements.

Melaku Desta, Head of ECAs Natural Resources and Sustainable Development section, expressed optimism about the outcome of the workshop.

We expect this workshop to provide participants with a better understanding of the dynamics in negotiation, increase the number of trained participants, and contribute to the improved negotiation skills of continental experts, said Mr. Desta.

The first annual Workshop on International Economic Negotiations took place in Dakar, Senegal on December 1  4, 2015.
08.12.2016 LISTEN



From Sebastian R. Freiku, Kumasi

Okomfo Anokye, a renowned fetish priest of Abenkyim near Bekwai in the Ashanti Region has called on Ghanaians to show a commitment to the peace the country is yearning for.

He said the focus of Ghanaians now should be the setting of a peace agenda to avoid election violence, saying peace is crucial to ensure free, fair and transparent elections.

He has, therefore, called on all Ghanaians to see themselves as peace ambassadors and complement the efforts of government, security agents and political parties to achieve peace and stability in Ghana.

According to him, peace and stability are all geared towards proper development.

He said, after five peaceful elections in Ghana, which boasts of 25 years of stability since 1992, the country has achieved significantly larger and more rapid increases in its human development index than any other country south of the Sahara, and advised that efforts must be made to sustain it towards the development we all crave for.

He noted that violence does not only claim lives, but also destroys the very fabric of society, leaving schools and hospitals destroyed, while a devastated population suffers the physical and psychological toll.

He said while armed violence and conflict continue to take lives, destroy infrastructure and deplete employment opportunities, the state and society are derailed from their long-term development goals and prospects for a better future.

Okomfo Anokye said investing in peace, stability and transparent and accountable governance is fundamental to long-term development and prosperity, and called on party leaders to work to prevent conflict towards achieving violent free elections.

It is proper that political parties work to decrease tension on the political front, he said.

The fetish priest has, therefore, called on the political parties to educate the electorate on voting and the correct use of the ballot to make informed choices.

He said the political parties should educate their supporters on the use of the ballot, and not merely traverse the length and breadth of the country canvassing for votes.

The lack of understanding of the electoral process on the part of the electorate could scatter the very votes they laboriously go globe-trotting to canvass for.

The popular fetish priest indicated that losing the elections will depend on a particular partys failure and inability to educate supporters and voters on the proper way of exercising their franchise.

He said it would be more meaningful if the political parties educate their supporters to maximise votes, instead of engaging themselves in hostilities, while the voters are left to their fate.

Okomfo Anokye has also called on Ghanaians and all stakeholders to disabuse their minds that the elections could be rigged to the advantage of any particular political party.

According to him, this year's elections would be peaceful, and, therefore, there is no cause for alarm whatsoever.

He cautioned Ghanaians not to pay attention to election prophecies by some pastors, because they are merely prosecuting an agenda of their pay-masters and for cheap popularity.

Pix: Okomfo Anokye


08.12.2016 LISTEN



From Edmond Gyebi

Tension kept mounting at the Tamale Central ADB polling station from the beginning of the polls till darkness fell, following the large number of voters who turned out to exercise their franchise.

There were 920 registered voters on the list.



The people, except the aged, pregnant women and the disabled, struggled incessantly to overtake most of the early comers in the queue, resulting in confrontations and agitations.

About 14 police officers were called in to restore calm, but that could not entirely solve the problem, resulting in voting being delayed for almost one hour.

Speaking to The Chronicle, the Presiding Officer at the ADB polling station, Seidu Osman, said that the tension at centre was as a result of the large number of voters on the register.

He called for a split of the centre in the next election. As at 4:00pm, only 475 people had cast their votes, leaving almost 400 registered voters in the queue.

At the Rehabilitation Centre 'A in the Tamale South Constituency, only 412 people out of the total of 1,088 voters had cast their votes as at 3:43pm.

Page 2




The United States-Africa Chamber of Commerce (US-ACC) has launched its first office on African soil in Accra, to propagate the use of the Golden Rule of Business in the Ghanaian business community to promote peace and stability.

The office will help to deepen trade relations between small and medium scale business enterprises in Ghana and the United States by empowering them with the resources, connections and exposure needed to form international partnerships within peaceful national environments.

The US-ACC in collaboration with iChange Nations (ICN) launched the office on the theme: Engendering Growth and Development through Peace and Cooperation.

The Golden Rule of Business being used by US-ACC says Treat others the way you want to be treated.

Mr. Martin Ofori, Chairman, US-ACC Ghana, said his office would bring great value, develop and create wealth amongst Ghanaians by leading Ghanaian businesses to showcase business enterprises to the world.

He said the US-ACC Ghana would in collaboration with ICN would bring honour to statesmen, build and develop individuals, and inculcate the culture of honour in governance and business.

The US-ACC is geared towards promoting values and businesses that would build a bridge between the two continents, and bring value to its members, he said.

Dr Gladys Loggin-Folorunsho, the Founder and President of US-ACC, said that the organization decided to launch in Ghana first, because of its peaceful and prosperous business environment.

She urged media men to strive hard to build a continent of peace and stability with their reportage.

Dr Loggin said the media plays a critical role in Ghanas democratic dispensation; she urged the media to help promote the peace agenda and the application of the Golden Rule of Business.

I appreciate Dr Clyde Rivers and the ICN for joining in the launch and supporting the launch of the USA-ACC (Ghana), she said.

Let us as Africans build our image by doing things with integrity, love, passion, for posterity sake and enjoy the outcome, she said.

Dr Clyde Rivers, President, ICN, expressed his optimism that Ghana would have a peaceful election, which would open doors for businesses.

He said Africa had the resources that the world needs, but the world was concerned about peace because where there is no peace, there is no development.

If we can teach everyone in the world to treat people the way they want to be treated, we can change the world in on day.

So we need to have this one principle put into the institutions in Ghana, he said.

Dr Rivers said we are going to bring the golden rule into the system, to teach people how to treat others the way they want to be treated which would bring an environment of peace that would in turn promote business, development and empower Ghanaians to thrive and create their own economy.

The US-ACC is a not-profit business association which will empower small and medium business enterprises in Ghana and Africa by empowering them with the resources, connections and exposure that they need to form international partnerships for growth and development.

ICN is a professional institution that brings honour and builds statesmen by equipping, mentoring and training highly esteemed individuals who have the desire to change nations throughout the world.

The organisation is seeking to bring global awareness by strategically helping nations to educate, train and support the nation building process designed to improve the dignity and betterment of human life.

Source: GNA


The Electoral Commission has rejected accusations that there are attempts to manipulate the 2016 presidential results.

According to the commission, all they seek to do is to ensure transparency and integrity of the results which will eventually be declared.

Speaking to the media Thursday, Director of Communications of the EC, Eric Dzakpasu, said the commission has so far received only 25 collated and approved results out of the 275 constituencies nationwide.

It is not true that somebody somewhere is trying to manipulate the results, so ignore those claims; they are not true.

So far, only 25 constituencies have been approved and received at the national collation center, he said.

The reaction by the commission comes on the back of claims by the New Patriotic Party that the EC is attempting to tamper with the presidential ballot results, which so far has their candidate Nana Akufo-Addo leading.

Meanwhile, at a press conference Wednesday evening, the party called on President Mahama and the NDC to concede defeat in the polls.
08.12.2016 LISTEN



After months of propaganda, insults and personality attacks among others, Ghanaians went to the polls yesterday to elect a president and 275 parliamentarians to form the next government and legislature respectively.

Prior to the elections, there were trepidations among sections of the Ghanaian population, both home and abroad, with many thinking that violence could break out and disturb the peace we are enjoying.

What broke the camel's back was the manner Mrs. Charlotte Osei's Electoral Commission (EC) organised the special voting.

The development forced the various religious and civil society groups to call on well-meaning Ghanaians to devote their time to prayer, and call on the Almighty God to help maintain the peace the country is enjoying.

But as Publilius Syrus, a Latin writer, put it; Where there is unity, there is always victory, Ghanaians have won the day, as the elections went on peacefully yesterday.

The Chronicle, therefore, congratulates all Ghanaians for going through peaceful elections, demonstrating to all of Africa and the rest of the world that, indeed, when it comes to democracy, we are ahead.

Even though local and international observers have not, at the time of going to press yesterday, come out to give their final report, with regards to the elections, generally, the elections could be described as peaceful.

Some of the voters went to their polling stations as early as 9:00pm and 11:00pm the previous day, an indication of their determination to cast their ballots.

Voting started as early as 7:00am, with queues at almost all the 29,000 polling stations across the length and breadth of the country.

Aside a few pockets of disturbances, voters in the various polling stations waited patiently for their turn to cast their ballots, after which they left for their respective homes and monitored the radio for the outcome of the elections.

It must be noted that Ghanaians, right from the special voting exercise to the main elections, conducted themselves properly, by exercising patience, which is why we, at The Chronicle, are joining the rest of the world to say Ayekoo to all Ghanaians.

We applaud the Electoral Commission for a good job done. Initially, people did not have confidence in the Chairperson, Mrs. Charlotte Osei, to organise successful elections, but she seems to have proved her skeptics wrong.

After all the insults, backlash and names-calling, the EC boss and her team braved the storm and managed to organise the election, which have been peaceful and successful.

To the National Peace Council, Ghana for Peace, Security Warehouse, Christian Council of Ghana, Ghana Pentecostal Council, Muslims Mission, as well as other religious and civil society groups, which prayed for peaceful elections, we say congrats for their efforts.

The Chronicle cannot leave out the role personnel of the security agencies in the country played in ensuring peaceful elections.

But for them, the pockets of incidents, including attempts by some miscreants to snatch some ballot boxes at some polling stations, among other election malpractices, would have derailed the process.

But, whilst counting is still ongoing, Ghanaians must exhibit a high sense of tolerance and respect for democracy, which is the only way to maintain the peace we are enjoying now.






08.12.2016 LISTEN

By William Fiabu/Kodjo Adams, GNA

Accra, Dec. 8, GNA - The Accra Technical University (ATU) has admitted 4,528 fresh students into the university to pursue various courses.

The matriculation ceremony is the 24th in the history of the school but the first of its kind since the conversion from Accra Polytechnic to the Accra Technical University.

Speaking at the matriculation ceremony, Professor Sylvester Achio, the rector of the University told participants to take advantage of the opportunities at the university to acquire and enhance their skills.

Professor Achio said the school received a total of 7,003 applications from hopefuls seeking admission into the Technical University out of which 5,591 applicants representing 80 per cent were qualified and admitted. 4,528 applicants admitted however fulfilled admission requirements and inducted into the university.

He advised the students to make good use of the freedom they are going to enjoy in the university saying 'time should be effectively used in your three-year journey at ATU to make you productive members of society'.

Professor Achio noted: 'At ATU, we don't tell students what to think but how to take charge of their thinking and how to learn.'

He said the curriculum 'is designed to produce intellectual self-reliance, persons who have the capabilities of being independent in their judgement, critical in analysis, and innovative in developing solutions to challenges.'

'I admonish you to remain open to new and transformational experiences and your adventure may take you down roads you never dreamed of travelling'.

Professor Achio said the university's expectations were to 'develop your competences through constant practice, overcome any academic obstacles you may encounter here with much diligence by taking advantage of both the enormous human and material resources that this University is endowed with.

Professor Edmund Ameko, the Vice Rector of the ATU, urged the students to be serious with their studies and not join bad companies.

He said there is the need to 'remain positive and never give up in life but know that whatever God has begun in you, He will bring it to a successful end.'

GNA
The school bus tragedy which occurred in Chattanooga recently set me to ask some questions about the policies that govern the transport of our school children here in Mattoon and indeed our state.

The accident report stated that the six children who died were as young as kindergarten and were ejected from the bus upon impact and the children that survived suffered severe head injuries from hitting the ceiling and sides of the bus.

The State of Illinois requires a proper seat restraint for any child under 8 years of age and/or weighing less than 80 pounds, who is a passenger in a vehicle, other than a school bus. Most, if not all, insurance companies doing business in Illinois strongly advocate this law.

When I asked an employee of CUSD2 why seat belts (lap belts) were not in use on our school buses, he replied the cost was prohibitive and impractical in case of fire. I wonder how that answer would set with the parents of the six dead children.

I know the CUSD2 school bus system has an envied safety record as of today. However, traffic density grows each day and our roads and bridges cannot be maintained to acceptable standards.

My parenting days are long past, so, Dear Editor, I ask you, Should not the question be asked of those with the responsibility for transporting the children? Also, what about the parents of the school children, do they feel everything is fine and that a tragedy couldnt happen here?

Malcolm ONeill, Mattoon
By Comfort Sena Fetrie, GNA

Tamale, Dec. 8 GNA - Apostle Joseph Sakyi, the Director of Christian Education Department of Christ Apostolic Church International, has cut the sod for a three- storey building school infrastructural projects in Tamale.

The project was to expand and improve access to junior high school education and also to enhance quality and affordability of education in the Northern region.

In an interview with Ghana News Agency, Apostle Sakyi said the construction of the building had more than 15 classrooms, offices and an internet facility.

He said the church had pledged the commitment to support the government to promote quality education in the country.

GNA
By Iddi Yire, GNA

Accra, Dec. 8, GNA - The Electoral Commission (EC) has urged political parties to desist from declaring the results of the election.

Mr Samuel Tettey, the EC Director of Electoral Services speaking at a press conference in Accra on Thursday morning said by law it is the Commission that had the mandate to declare election results.

The press conference was held in reaction to the declaration of the results by the New Patriotic Party (NPP), claiming victory.

As 0240 hours, Mr Tettey said the Commission was yet to receive and declare any certified result.

He urged the public to remain calm as they await the election results.

He said the delay in the results being released was due to the fact that under the new system the EC was combining manual and electronic means in the compilation of the outcome.

GNA
By Francis Ameyibor, GNA

Accra, Dec. 8, GNA - Ghana is at a standstill waiting for the official results of the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections to be declared by the Electoral Commission (EC).

Results for the Wednesday Election is still trickling in from across the 275 Constituencies, although a survey conducted by the Ghana News Agency indicated that the results were too close to call.

People across the country kept vigil at most collation centres to witness the process of verifying the results declared at the various polling stations within the Constituency.

According to Ghana's electoral laws, Parliamentary Elections are declared by the Constituency Returning Officer at the Constituency Collation Centre whilst the Presidential Election is declared by the Chairperson of the EC who also doubles as the Returning Officer.

The polls on Wednesday were to choose a President and 275 Parliamentarians which an estimated 15,712,499 registered voters expected to cast their ballots in 28,992 polling stations across the country.

Seven Presidential candidates representing six Political Parties and an Independent candidate contested the Presidential Elections: Convention Peoples Party (CPP); National Democratic Party (NDP); National Democratic Congress (NDC); Progressive Peoples Party (PPP); New Patriotic Party (NPP) and People's National Convention (PNC).

President John Dramani Mahama of the NDC, who is seeking a second term, was challenged by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the NPP, Mr Ivor Kobina Greenstreet of the CPP, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom of the PPP; Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings of the NDP, Dr Edward Mahama of the PNC and Mr Jacob Osei Yeboah the Independent Candidate.

GNA
08.12.2016 LISTEN

Accra , Dec 08, GNA - The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) has commended Ghanaian voters for conducting themselves orderly in exercising their civic duties during the just ended presidential and parliamentary elections.

It, however, appealed to voters to show 'calm, restraint and comportment' as vote counting continues across the 275 constituencies.

The Coalition also urged the security services to remain vigilant 'at this critical moment of vote counting and collation.'

Political parties and party agents were also pressed on to behave responsibly during the vote counting and collation period.

CODEO deployed about 8000 trained, accredited, non-partisan rapid response observers to the polls largely predicted as tight, on Wednesday.

It had earlier released its mid-day situation report in which officials described the polls set and opening as having gone on well and adequate.

The close of polls situational report is based on reports CODEO received from its stationary and roaming observers as at 17:30 hours.

The body said a comprehensive statement would be made Thursday, December 8, 2016.

Observers reports received from 86 per cent of polling stations indicate that 55 per cent had no major problems during voting; 44 per cent reported minor problems, and one per cent reported major problems during voting.

'The setup and opening of polls generally went well, although some polling stations were late in opening due to delays in the arrival of materials as well as other minor incidents related to set up and opening of polling stations,' CODEO said in its earlier statement.

GNA
By Election Team, GNA

Bawku (U/E), Dec 08, GNA - Security personnel in Bawku Thursday morning fired warning shots to disperse a large crowd of youth thronging the Bawku Community Centre to find out why the collation of Presidential and Parliamentary results was delaying.

The previously defiant crowd dispersed following the incident, which occurred at about 08:45 hours at the Divisional Police Command near the collation centre.

They had previously defied the verbal warnings retreat.

The NPP agents are rejecting the addition of ballot boxes left unaccompanied in a bus that was used to cart materials to the polling stations and back to the Centre.

This has resulted in tension in the area.

The Municipal Chief Executive of Bawku, Mr Bukari Issaku, who is the Chairman of the Municipal Security Committee, told the Ghana News Agency, (GNA) that there was no cause for alarm because the gunshots were only used to disperse the crowd.

He expressed worry at the slow nature of collation by the Officers and said the delay in declaring the results was creating suspicion and thereby attracting the youth to the Centre.

Mr urged the officers collating the results to speed up the exercise and make the declaration to avoid unnecessary tension.

GNA
By Amadu Kamil Sanah,GNA

Accra, Dec. 7, GNA - Voting at some polling stations in Ayawaso Central constituency of the Greater Accra Region has delayed as election materials arrived late.

For instance, voting had not started at the Alajo Central Mosque 2(B) and 1(A&B) as at 07:25 hours, 07:30 hours and 07:40 hours respectively.

Mr. Martin Antwi Boateng, the presiding officer of the 2B polling station confirmed that election materials had arrived at his polling station about two minutes to 07:00 hours, and that some arrangements needed to be made before voting commenced.

He said the arrangements included the separation of election materials and the setting of the voting parameter area in order to ensure decency. There was however no security officer at 2B polling station at the time the GNA arrived there.

At Kotobabi JHS 1 (A&B) where voting started at exactly 07:00 hours, 538 and 740 voters respectively are expected to cast their ballots.

Voting had also started at Kotobabi JHS 2(A&B), Kotobabi JHS 3 (A&B)1 and (A&B)2 and Wilberforce JHS (A&B), as early as 07:00 hours .

Mr. Daniel Kowku Hokpoenorvi and Mr. Vinyo Linus presiding officers of the Kotobabi JHS 1 (A&B) and JHS 2 respectively confirmed that they had no challenges at their polling stations.

The Ghana News Agency's visit to the Newtown Post Office polling station also revealed that voting started at scheduled time and there had been no challenges there so far.

GNA
By Christopher Tetteh, GNA

Sampa (B/A), Dec 08, GNA - Voting is underway in the Jaman North Constituency, where the presidential and parliamentary election had to be postponed for a day because of confusion over the voters roll.

The Electoral Commission (EC) acted quickly to get things right and the exercise began at exactly 07:00 hours on Thursday.

As of 07:47 hours, when the Ghana News Agency (GNA) visited the Court House Polling Centre in Sampa, 28 people had already voted.

The Presiding Officer, Mr. Jacob Kofi Sah, said they were expecting 770 voters to cast their ballot at that place.

At the Islamic JHS Centre, 70 out of the 575 registered voters had successfully gone through the process.

Mr. George Asomah, the Presiding Officer, said everything was going on well and that they did not anticipate and problems.

Out of the 259 people on the electoral roll at the Nafana Presby SHS, 69 had already voted, an-hour-and-a-half after voting began.

GNA
The Paramount Chief of the Bongo traditional area, in the Upper East Region , Naba Baba Salifu Aleeyaarum , has launched an environmental management project dubbed, the Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR ) Project in his traditional area.

The FMNR is an ecological restoration project and involves selecting and pruning stems regenerating from stumps of naturally grown trees on the field, to give fewer ones more space to grow. This stimulates faster growth of the trees.

Speaking at the launch of the project at Adoboya, on Thursday, the Paramount Chief who had been awarded on several platforms by different institutions for championing and sustaining the environment in his traditional area, commended the constituted FMNR groups for working hard to sustain the environment.

He explained that what gave birth to the FMNR project in his traditional area was that as somebody who was passionate about the environment, he led some of his community members to World Vision Ghana Talensi branch, a learning centre of excellence for the FMNR in three years back to learn and to adopt the project.

After learning the technology and receiving some capacity building from WVG, I encouraged some selected communities to start the project. Today, I am overwhelmed by the success story of the FMNR and will further encourage the remaining communities in my traditional area to also start it, he indicated.

He explained that unlike growing of trees which required labour and capital intensive and difficult to survive, it was not so with the FMNR as the farmer only needs sickles, cutlasses and Willington boots and some level of training to prune the natural shrubs to stimulate their growth into forest.

The Paramount Chiefs who led the Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Albert Abongo and other dignitaries to the 12 hectare demonstration FMNR project site at the Adaboya community, explained that the benefit of the FMNR are enormous and cited that the intervention had contributed to food security in countries like Niger and Mali that had adopted the concept.

The FMNR is providing enough fodder for farmers to feed their animals, thatch for them to roof their houses, medicinal plants, fuel wood as well as fruits for children in the communities, he stressed.

The Paramount Chiefs who lauded the efforts of the government for supporting traditional rulers in the country with seedlings and motorcycles to water the seedlings during the dry seasons , said his vision was in line with the Governments vision to help ensure the protection and the preservation of the environment for the future generation and entreated his sub chiefs and the community members to grow trees on the compounds of their households.

The Regional Minister, Mr Albert Abongo also the outgoing Member of Parliament for the area , who was full of praise for the leadership role of the chief and elders , cautioned the community members to desist from engaging in negative acts such indiscriminate bush burning, felling of trees for charcoal production among others.

He gave the assurance that government would continue to support traditional councils in the country to help champion the crusade against the destruction of the environment.

The FMNR Project, which was started by World Vision Ghana (WVG) in communities in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region in 2009, is now a learning centre of excellence for national and international organizations. In the year 2014, a -12 Member team from East Africa undertook a- three day learning tour to the project site to learn.
A research conducted by the Turning Point Developing Consulting in the Bongo District of the Upper East Region, had revealed that there had been significant improvement of quality education delivery at the Pre-school levels than before.

The positive outcome is attributed to the implementation of the Ghana Partnership for Education Grant Project (GPEG) by the Ghana Education Service at the Pre-school levels in some selected deprived districts in the country.

The Research which was conducted using the Citizen Report Card Survey and focused on the GPEG Project Impact on Kindergarten Education Delivery in the Bongo District was made known at a dissemination forum held in Bolgatanga on Thursday.

It was commissioned by the Community Development and Advocacy Centre (CODAC) in collaboration with the Civil Society Groups from Bongo with support from IBIS- Ghana.

Among the key findings of the research indicates that there had been improvement in teaching and learning at the pre-school levels and the children could now read, recite poems and perform well in Mathematics and English Language, all due to the intervention of GPEG.

Another major issue about the findings reveal is that unlike before where teachers at the pre-school levels had low educational status, most of them were now Diploma and Degree holders in Early Childhood Development.

The research attributed the success story of most of the schools to the enhancement of the teachers education with sponsorship package provided by the intervention.

Apart from the high level of teacher attendance to classes, there had also been an improvement in the governance systems of the School Management Committees and the Parent Teacher Associations as result of the capacity building training offered by the GPEG Project intervention.

Notwithstanding this achievement, the research indicates that whilst most of the schools had adequate classrooms others had not , resulting to the conducting of teaching and learning under trees and dilapidated structures.

The dissemination forum, which attracted stakeholders including the representative of the Regional Director and District Directors of Education , Traditional Rulers , Head teachers among others , established that whilst others schools had facilities such as chairs and tables and playing grounds, Water , Sanitation and Hygiene ( WASH) , others did not have.

Mr Saaka Ismaila , the Executive Director of the Turning Point Developing Consulting impressed upon the stakeholders to draw up advocacy programmes to lobby with the duty bearers particularly the District Assemblies to provide the schools with their needs to help improve upon quality education.

Early School years are a critical period for learning and development and this must not be taking for granted if we want our children to get good foundation and to perform well at the higher level of education, the Executive Director stressed.

The Executive Director of CODAC, Mr Seidu Musah Akugri, explained that his outfit decided to commission the research to help sustain the GPEG Project which begun implementation in 75 Districts in eight out of the ten regions and ended in August 2016.

He said the findings would help inform the decision to embark upon advocacy programmes in the Talensi, Garu-Tempane and Bongo Districts where the intervention was implemented to help sustain the project.

Ms Safiya Musah, Programme Facilitator of the Democratic Consolidated and Accountable Governance of IBIS-Ghana , said her outfit views education very paramount and had over the years been advocating for bigger financing in the sector and also encouraging citizen participation in education service delivery of the country.
Former President John Kufuor has urged calm as tensions build over the delay in the release of election results more than 20 hours after Wednesday's general elections.

The Electoral Commission (EC) says it is unable to declare results for the keenly contested presidential and parliamentary elections because of complaints of over-voting at some unnamed constituency collation centres.

As at now, we have received 25 Constituency Collated results at the National Collation Centre. However, the two major parties (NDC and NPP) represented here at the NCC have declined to sign on the collated results until they have seen the pink sheets and confirmed the accuracy of the results collated. As a result, the Commission has not been able to certify any of the 25 constituency results.

The Commission appreciates that the results have been delayed considerably. We would like to emphasise that the Commission is not deliberately delaying the release of results. The delay is the result of our commitment to only releasing accurate and valid results to the people of Ghana, the Charlotte Osei-chaired EC said in a statement.

Speaking to Journalists at his residence Thursday, the former President said he trusts the EC to be fair in managing the entire election process.

The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), which Mr Kufuor is a leading figure of, has been claiming victory in Wednesday's general elections, but the incumbent National Democratic Congress is claiming same.

The tension between the two main political parties is heightening over the results of the general elections as the EC fails to declare results more than 20 hours after the close of polls at the last polling station.

Commenting briefly on the standoff, former President Kufuor said he trusts presidential candidates to stick to the Accra Peace Accord signed by all seven aspirants to promote peace before, during and after the general elections.

-Myjoyonline
The Electoral Commission (EC) has indicated that the electronic transmission system adopted by the Commission for the transmission of the election results in the 2016 general elections may have been compromised.

The Commission's Chairperson, Charlotte Osei, explained that the EC has thus advised its officers to resort to the manual transmission of results.

Addressing the press at the ECs headquarters on Thursday evening, she revealed that unfortunately we've had challenges with our electronic results system. We had reason to believe the system had been comprised and we advised our return officers at the collating centres to stop using it revert solely to the manual process.



More soon
08.12.2016 LISTEN

From Richard Owusu-Akyaw, Kumasi

Five military officers from the Tema Naval Command have been arrested at New Edubiase in the Adansi South district by the police for invading the constituency.

The police apprehended the five soldiers, who were not officially assigned in the early hours of the yesterday.

They were allegedly brought to the place by the parliamentary candidate of National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Ernest Kofi Yakah.

The New Edubiase District Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ASP) Martin Asenso confirmed the arrest of the soldiers to The Chronicle but explained that they (soldiers) were brought to the area by the NDC parliamentary candidate to assist in beefing up security, without the approval of the military high command. Their names have, however, not been disclosed.

ASP Asenso continued that the MP brought them to the police station to introduce them to the police as officers brought down from Accra to assist in policing the ballots.

However, head of the military dispatched to New Edubiase called for their arrest, since Mr. Yarkah had no authority to bring military officers to the constituency.

According to the military commander, every security personnel have been documented and properly stationed by the Electoral Commission (EC) and military command.

Responding to a question, the district police commander indicated that the five navy officers have no pass to authenticate that indeed they have been assigned to New Edubiase and were also not in the right military gear.

Commander Asenso further explained that the soldiers would not be processed for court, but rather the military hierarchy will handle the issue at their level.

The Public Relation Officer (PRO) of the Central Command, Capt Osei Duah failed to answer calls from The Chronicle.

In another development, the Ashanti regional police command has arrested three people, following a tip-off for their alleged involvement in the printing of fake accreditation cards.

ASP Mohammed Yussif Tanko, the public relations officer of the Ashanti regional police command, who confirmed this explained that the police picked intelligence that some people were printing some of the Electoral Commissions accreditation cards at a local printing press by name, Arc Printing Press .

According to him, the manager of the press, Mr. Richard Bawuah, said the contract for the printing of the accreditation was brought in by one Sly, who is at large.

PRO Tanko stated that three people -Stephen Gyan, a 64-year-old hunchback, Amoah Gyebi (37) and Bawuah Richard are in the grips of the police.

ASP Tanko noted that Gyan was caught with the accreditation cards and Bawuah is the owner of the press, while Gyebi is an accomplice of Gyan.

Asked about the fate of these alleged criminals, ASP Tanko said the suspects are being investigated by the command for the appropriate legal actions against them, adding that the said printing press have been locked up.

Meanwhile, over thousand prisoners at the Kumasi Central Prisons did not vote in yesterdays polls.

Information available to The Chronicle has it that only 94 out of over 1,738 prison inmates of the Kumasi Central Prisons voted.

Enthusiastic prisoners who wanted to vote were told that they cannot do so, since they did not register at the prisons.

Speaking on Kumasi-based LUV FM, an inmate, who gave his name as Quansah, noted that prison wardens asked them that anybody who had his/her voters ID card can vote ,but not all of us had registered.

Another prisoner who did not vote because he was not registered at the prisons bemoaned that he did not understand why they were asked to bring their ID cards to participate in the general elections, only to be denied the right to vote because they did not register at the prisons.

He said: I have my ID card in my pocket, but unfortunately I cannot vote because I didn't register.

An inmate, who gave his name as Addai, disclosed that he is voting since it is his constitutional right to vote like every Ghanaian.

The prisoner told the listeners that they were given the opportunity to register and upon going through registration formalities, he was able to cast his ballot.

The deputy director of the prisons, Mr. Lord Nii Boye, noted that the 94 eligible prisoners who voted are those who registered during the registration with required documents.
08.12.2016 LISTEN

The Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, has expressed his satisfaction over the conduct of yesterday's general elections though he admits that there were pockets of infractions.

Speaking to journalists after casting his ballot at Rock of Ages Polling Station B at Kyebi at exactly 10:34am yesterday, Nana said the conduct of Ghanaians was a positive sign for the country.

According to him, reports he had received from the region, indicates that the polls were generally peaceful. He was hopeful that God would give him and NPP the chance to lead the country.

Mr Samuel Atta Akyea, the incumbent Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South Constituency, said the NPP was targeting 31,000 votes in the election.

He said they were not there for violence or mayhem and advised all who intended to do so to desist from such acts, because the NPP wanted peaceful elections.

Mr Ivor Kwabena Greenstreet, the Presidential Candidate of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) also cast his vote at the Polling station, adjacent the Ampomah Guest house in the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency.

He was followed by a media entourage, some party executives and family members.The CPP Presidential Candidate calmly went through the process to cast his ballot.

According to GNA report, at the time of his arrival at the polling station, there was no queue, he was able to go through the process without any stress.

Mr Greenstreet later held an interview with the media and said he was so far satisfied with the voting process: I respect the Electoral Commission's efforts to ensure a free and fair election.

Mr Michael Teye Korteye, the Presiding Officer at the Polling Station confirmed that as at 14:00 hours, 240 out of the expected voter population of 568 had cast their ballots.






At the time of going to bed last night, unconfirmed reports suggest that most of the National Democratic Congress stalwarts have lost their seats in parliament.

According to the report, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hanah Tetteh, Alhaji Baba Jamal, the Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Hannah Bissiw and a host of others have all lost their parliamentary seats.

The Electoral Commission is yet to release official results of the presidential and parliamentary elections. Keep reading The Chronicle as we bring to you all the results and how the big names were booted out
President John Dramani Mahama has hinted that not only is he proud of the big things he did as president of the country, but he is equally at home with all the little things he did, such as providing water and electricity for small communities across the country.

According to him, nothing gave him joy than, for example, extending utilities such as water or electricity to Ghanaians living in small corners of the country to enable them get potable water to drink.

He explained: I'm as proud of the big things as the small things: providing a small community with water and the change it makes in their lives is just as important to me as the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange, and so, I'm proud of everything I've achieved.

President Mahama dropped the hint in an interview with both local and international journalists, soon after casting his ballot yesterday in the general elections at Bole in the Northern region, amidst heavy security presence.

He promised to accept the outcome of the election, saying whatever the outcome, Ghana will be the winner and called on Ghanaians to come out in their numbers to cast their votes.

Whatever the outcome, Ghana is the winner, he said, adding: It's a very good feeling, I think that every Ghanaian should exercise their civic responsibility and come out and vote, the destiny of our country depends on it.

The flagbearer of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) debunked allegations of corruption leveled against his administration.

He said: There's a general perception of corruption in all African countries, I think it's a stage of our development; as we continue to strengthen the institutions of state I think that people will come to see the integrity in these institutions.

We have a national anti-corruption action plan which emphasizes prevention, education and prosecution. Often, we concentrate on the prosecution end rather than the prevention and education, the President pointed out.

By Richard Kofi Attenkah
08.12.2016 LISTEN



By Maxwell Ofori

[email protected]

Three persons said to be supporters of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) were arrested by police yesterday in the Abuakwa South Constituency.

They were arrested with some seals allegedly belonging to the Electoral Commission and with some thumb printed ballot papers in favour of the NDC presidential aspirants, John Mahama and the NDCs parliamentary candidate (PC), Owureku Amofa. The supporters were reportedly sent by the NDCs Owureku Amofa.

However, the aspirant denied having any knowledge of the said incident and having anything to do with those arrested.

The people arrested were three ladies and a man, but the latter managed to escape. The trio were arrested by the Kibi police command for allegedly thumb printing ballot papers for President John Mahama and the NDC PC in a locked Methodist classroom.



Speaking with The Chronicle, Mr. Emmanuel Gyansa, the presiding officer at the Methodist Primary School polling station said he saw some people in the classroom and told the police to sack them, while he got back to his work.

He told this reporter that voting was going on well and that there was calm at the polling station. According to him, six hundred and eighty three people were expected to cast their ballots. Meanwhile, at the time of filling this report, four hundred people had being able to cast their vote.

The Methodist Primary polling station is located at Kibi in the Abuakwa South constituency of the Eastern Region.

Currently, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) holds that seat and is being protected by the incumbent Member of Parliament, Samuel Atta Akyea.

In a related development, Isaac Akwetey-Okunor reports from Kibi that there was a near pandemonium at Rock of Ages polling centre in the East Akyem Municipality of the Eastern Region, where the flag bearer the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and his wife cast their ballots yesterday.

Security details of Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo clashed with the media who were there to report, following attempts by the latter to capture how Nana Addo would vote.

The security details of Nana had argued that voting per laws governing elections in Ghana must be done in secret and they would not allow the media to capture how the flagbearer would vote.

At Ahenbronom polling center at Asamang-Tamfoe in the Atiwa East constituency of the Eastern region, the heavy security presence demonstrated high level of professional to calm nerves, after realizing that tension was building up.

According to reports, there was accusation and counter-accusation from voters at the center for delivery of election materials such as inks and stamp pads in a commercial vehicle, leading to misunderstanding.
08.12.2016 LISTEN

The race for the Flagstaff House by seven aspirants including the sitting President John Dramani Mahama began yesterday with over 15 million eligible voters expected to cast their ballot.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene and his wife Lady Julia, were among the voters who cast their votes at the Manhyia polling station, around 11.15 am.

With few cases of hold ups and irregularities at Bekwai and Offinso constituencies and other parts of the region, the elections had been generally peaceful and calm at the time of filing this report, hours before the polls ended.

Even though seven candidates, including Mr. Joy Osei Yeboah, an independent candidate, were contesting in the presidential elections, New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidates turned out to be the front runners as third time challenger; Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for NPP is pitching his strength against John Mahama of the NDC in his second bid.

In 2012, John Mahama secured 5,573,572 votes (50.63%) against Nana Akufo-Addo's 5,263,286 (47.81%) to emerge winner of the Presidential elections.

Other candidates aspiring for the presidency are Mr. Ivor KobinaGreenstreet (CPP), Mrs. Nana AgyemangKonadu Rawlings (NDP), Dr. PaaKwesiNduom ( PPP) and Mr. Edward Mahama (PNC).

The NDC is seeking to secure over a million votes in Ashanti as its safe berth to victory while the NPP has vowed to poll 85% plus votes to maintain its strength in the region.


By Maxwell Ofori & Bernice Bessey

[email protected]

Five suspected macho men were arrested yesterday by the police at the Datus Preparatory School polling station in the Tema Central constituency for going to the polling station, when they are not registered voters in the polling station. They could also not properly explain to the police why they were at the polling station.

The men were reported to have returned to the polling station after the police had driven them away, following complaints by an observer who suspected the men to have come with bad intention, as they were not neighbors of the community, checks revealed.

According to an eye witness, the five men were initially asked by the police to leave the polling station, but they came back to threaten the one who reported them to the police, resulting in their arrest.

Meanwhile, the presiding officer, Bright Abutiate, speaking to The Chronicle, confirmed the incident but swiftly added that it happened outside so I cant give any detail about it.

The incident made most of the voters who were in the queue disorganized, but it took some volunteers to tell them to go back and vote.

Also, the police, trying to calm the situation, used canes to whip the people who had gathered around the van of the police, to take shots of the arrested men.

The Tema Central constituency has Mr. Kofi Brako as the New Patriotic Party candidate, with Ebi Bright of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Meanwhile, some voters at the Riis Memorial School Annex polling station in the Ablekuma West Constituency in the Greater Accra Region had been disenfranchised through no fault of theirs. Their names could not be traced in the register, when they went to the polling station to cast their ballots.

One of the voters, who gave her name as Naomi, angrily said: I have just been told that my name is in a certain yellow book so I cannot vote. I can't understand the meaning of this I have been voting at this very center since 1992, Jerry Rawlings time. Why are they now saying my name is no longer in the register? This is unfair treatment.

Meanwhile, the presiding officer, Ernest Frimpong, indicated that they (polling officers) are under instruction not allow anyone whose name is on the exceptional register to vote.

However, he couldn't explain why some peoples' names were missing from the main register.

Though this incident nearly led to a misunderstanding between the polling officers and the disfranchised voters, the entire electoral process can be described as transparent and peaceful, as the exercise started on time.

Aside the Riis Memorial School Annex, which experienced the above problem, other polling centers that this reporter visited in the Ablekuma West, South and Central, were virtually calm, with the security officers having no issue with the voters.

The situation, however, was a little different at James Town in the Odododioodioo Constituency which was invaded by both the military and police. The heavy security presence at James town was however not surprising because the area had been identified by the police as hotspot or flashpoint.

There were also some insightful sights where over enthusiastic voters kissed the ballot papers before dropping them into the ballot box.
Monrovia (AFP) - Liberia's government has asked the United Nations to extend its peacekeeping mission in the west African country for another year, until the next president takes office.

"Liberia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Lewis Brown, on behalf of his Government, is proposing one year for the extension of the United Nation's Mission in Liberia (UNMIL)," the president's office said in a press release sent to AFP on Thursday.

Liberians will be going to the polls next year to elect a new president, as Ellen Johnson Sirleaf ends her second and final term.

Government forces and rebel groups raped, maimed and massacred hundreds of thousands of people during two conflicts between 1989 and 2003.

UN peacekeepers, first deployed in October 2003, largely ensured the country's security until the end of June when they handed over responsibilities to retrained domestic forces.

Only 1,800 of the UNMIL forces, which peaked at 15,000, remain ahead of a UN Security Council decision in December on whether to pull out its remaining personnel.

"The country has made substantial progress but there is still a long way to go," Brown said in the government statement.

In September, UN assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, El Ghassim Wane, said that "peace remains fragile" in the African nation.
08.12.2016 LISTEN

Agona Swedru, Dec 08, GNA - The Agona West Directorate of Electoral Commission has duly declared Mrs Cynthia Morrison of the New Patriotic Party as Member of Parliament for Agona West in 2016 election.

She won with 33,100 votes whilst the other Parliamentary contestants Charles Obeng-Inkoom, NDC had 22,367 votes, and Mr Idan-Coffie of Convention Peoples' Party (CPP) obtained 280 votes.

Mr Annobil Forson, Agona West Returning Officer of EC made this known to this to media when he announced the collation results at Agona Swedru.

The total number of registered voters was 83,521, while a total of 56,167 ballots were cast.

The valid votes cast were 55,747 at the 154 polling stations, whilst the rejected ballots were 420.

On the provisional Presidential results, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo defeated President John Dramani Mahama with a total vote of 32,142 as against President Mahama's 22,208 votes.

Other Contesting parties are CPP - 87 votes, NDC- 135 votes, PPP - 503votes, PNC 35 votes, Independent 18 votes.

The total number of valid votes cast was 55,128, while the total rejected ballots are 832.

GNA
BoG has only $25m of $104m needed for imports but Bawumia has chased 'strategic partner' Abochi into hiding  Isaac Adongo
By A.B. Kafui Kanyi

Ho, Dec. 8, GNA - Supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Volta Region have jumped into an early celebration of what they termed, 'electoral victory' ahead of the official declaration of Presidential results of the December polls by the Electoral Commission.

Few hours after some parliamentary results were declared on Thursday, December 8, some party sympathizers congregated at the Party's Regional Office in Ho and turned the forecourt into a jamboree amidst loud music.

A few sympathizers were also driving through the principal streets of the regional capital and tooting the horns of their vehicles.

Mr Enock Amegbletor, Deputy Regional Communication Director, NPP, told the GNA that information available to the Party indicated that it had won the general elections, which called for celebration.

'We have a commanding lead. Various polling stations and constituency polling station summary from the Electoral Commission through our agents put Nana Addo and the Party in the lead and winner, so we are happy.'

Meanwhile, there is apprehension in the Region with concerns of delay in the declaration of the winner of the polls.

At Aflao, indications are that, sympathizers of the National Democratic Congress are accusing each other for the low voter turnout recorded in the Ketu South Constituency.

Movement at the Aflao frontier is low with hardly any economic activity.

Offices and shops are closed with people seen monitoring radio and television sets, resulting in low economic and social activities.

Reports from Hohoe show that the Municipality is calm with a few people showing interest in the collation of polling station results, as many were stuck to radio and television sets monitoring results from other parts of the country.

GNA
Accra, Dec. 8, GNA - The Ghana Armed Forces is monitoring the electoral environment and working closely through the National Security Taskforce to protect the life and property across the country.

A Military source told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that the election task force has initiated moves to ensure maintenance of law and order; 'we will not allow break down of law and order'.

The Security Source also urged Eminent Persons, Religious Leaders, Former President Jerry John Rawlings and former President John Agyekum Kufuor to start engaging the political leaderships openly to restore hope in the electoral system.

The Security Source said the former Presidents should immediately begin dialogue sessions with President John Dramani Mahama and the New Patriotic Party, Presidential candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo.

He said the Election task Force leadership at the National, Regional and District levels should also initiate high level talks with political leaders, traditional rulers and other civil society leadership to mitigate the challenges.

The Security Source also noted that the security were also monitoring and picking intelligence on potential riot ignition point and mass mobilization centres to control situation likely to fuel conflict.

The Security Source also urged the Electoral Commission (EC) to release period information and package information to calm tempers.

The Security Source appealed to the media to avoid playing the devils advocates and agents for political provocateur to use to create confusion in the country. 'We must be agents for peace'.

The Election Security Taskforce was formed to deal with undesirable incidents such as shooting, ballot box snatching, vandalisation of property and other acts of violence.

The taskforce provides the right platform to deal with all election security related issues in a coordinated manner.

The team comprises Ghana Police Service, Ghana Armed Forces, Ghana Immigration Service, Ghana National Fire Service, Customs Division of Ghana Revenue Authority, representatives of the Electoral Commission, Research Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.

The task force was replicated in all the regions and districts with each regional and district head providing a number of personnel who served on the various technical sub-committees at the national task force.

By Francis Ameyibor, GNA
08.12.2016 LISTEN

By Iddi Yire,

Accra, Dec 08, GNA - The premises of the Electoral Commission (EC) is under a heavy guard by members of the security forces to forestall any eventualities as Ghanaians waited for the Commission's declaration of the December 7 polls.

Hot water canons, armoured tanks and other security vehicles have been positioned to ward off any possible attacks.

There is a huge number of security forces as compared to yesterday to keep the place safe and secured.

Meanwhile the EC's office is calm and the staff are going about their normal duties.

GNA
By Kwamina Tandoh, GNA

Sekondi, Dec 08, GNA - The certified results for the Sekondi Constituency Parliamentary Election: New Patriotic Party (NPP), Lawyer Andrew Kofi Egyapa Mercer - 16,839 votes; National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Emmanuel Assafuah - 11,075 votes.

Mr Daniel Essuman of the Progressive People's Party had 305 votes, whilst Mr Peter Arthur of the Convention's People Party had 97 votes.

The total valid votes cast were 28,444 and rejected votes 128.

Lawyer Mercer duly stands elected.

The NPP has won the seat in five consecutive elections since 1996, with Papa Owusu-Ankomah, a former Majority Leader in Parliament and Minister of State occupying the seat for the whole period.

For the Presidential results, the NDC had 9,773 votes, the NPP had 18,014 votes, PPP - 407, CPP - 30, NDP - 13, PNC - 13, Independent Candidate - 8.

The total valid votes cast were 28,447 and rejected votes 189.

GNA
Agona Asafo (C/R), Dec. 8, GNA - Prophetess Vida Gorllu, the Founder and Leader of Mountain Camel Prayer Centre at Agona Asafo, said prophets and prophetesses should not use false prophecies as bait to collect money from their members.

She noted that falsehood is inimical to God but unfortunately some prophets and prophetesses did not care and manipulated their members using false prophesies.

This behaviour deterred many people to go to church to worship their Creator, Prophetess Gorllu said during the third anniversary of the church at Asafo in the Agona East District of the Central region.

The church started as a prayer camp three years ago with few members but God has blessed it now to grow to a membership of 400.

Prophetess Gorllu asked the youth not to allow themselves to be induced with money to cause mayhem adding; 'there is only one Ghana and elections should not be used as the basis to destroy the country.'

She said there were only two giant political parties in Ghana namely the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress and the one who would win should be accepted by all.

She called on the supporters to be mindful of their utterances and behaviours after the elections adding 'it will be unwise for one political party to malign another to create confusion.'

She called on all stakeholders in the election, especially the Electoral Commission, National Peace Council, electoral officers, the media and other political parties to guide against situations that could trigger trouble for Ghana.

Nana Yamfo Asuako, the Agona Asafohen, called on parents to advice their children not to engage in any activity that could cause mayhem.

Abusuapanyin Kofi Mensah of Agona Asafo pledged to release three acres of land free of charge to the church for the construction of a mission house.

GNA
DAKAR, Senegal  A military coup in the tiny southern African kingdom of Lesotho has chased out the prime minister and apparently put the army in control of the landlocked nation, witnesses and journalists in the capital said on Saturday.

Residents woke to the sound of gunfire before dawn on Saturday, with soldiers storming the seat of government in the capital, Maseru, apparently looking for Prime Minister Thomas Thabane, said the publisher of The Lesotho Times, Basildon Peta, in an interview from Maseru.

Speaking with Al Jazeera from South Africa, where he had sought refuge, Mr. Thabane said: They were all over the State House looking for me. What they were hoping to do, I dont know.

The army is doing what it wants to do without any recourse to lawful authority, he said. All these things can only manifest one thing, a government that cannot be regarded as normal. When you put it all together, that leads to a coup detat.
Its been hard to find glimmers of hope in the fallout of Donald Trumps election, and it just got even harder. A Nobel Prize-nominated sociologist has warned that U.S. global power will be in a phase of accelerated decline under Donald Trump, and will collapse before his first term is over.

Norwegian professor Johan Galtung, who is credited with correctly predicting the fall of the Soviet Union, as well as the Tiananmen Square uprising in China, is known as the founding father of peace studies as a scientific object. Galtung attracted controversy in 2000 when he predicted U.S. global power would collapse by 2025. Under the Bush administration, he moved the prediction forward to 2020.

Now, Galtung is suggesting that Trumps election has allowed this collapse to materialize. In 2009, Galtung published The Fall of the American Empire-and then What? in which he suggested that there would be a rise of fascism before U.S. power receded. Trumps anti-immigration platform seems to herald this event, as the president-elect has vowed to deport three million illegal immigrants as soon as he enters office.

Galtung explained to Motherboard that Trumps election speeds up the decline, before qualifying the statement by adding, Of course, what he does as a President remains to be seen. Galtung continued by explaining that Trumps attitude towards NATO is an indication of the end of the U.S. as a superpower.

The collapse has two faces, Dr. Galtung explained. Other countries refuse to be good allies and the USA has to do the killing themselves, by bombing from high altitudes, drones steered by computer from an office, special forces killing all over the place. Both are happening today, except for Northern Europe, which supports these wars, for now. That will probably not continue beyond 2020, so I stand by that deadline.
If any single element characterized the 2016 election, it was dissatisfaction with the status quo. On the right, this manifested as the Republican voter base rejecting the lineup of walking planks who made up the candidate pool in favor of Donald Trumpa media-savvy clown with zero political experiencesimply as a statement against an establishment that could not back a more suitable candidate if their lives depended on it. On the left, however, the would-be coup against the Democratic leadership led by Vermont senator Bernie Sanders failed, thanks in no small part to the machinations of the DNC to back the candidate with the most name recognition, regardless of her appeal to the majority of the voter base. Last month, that voter base spoke in a way that shocked everyone: They voted against Hillary Clinton. Even though every single poll, every single media outlet, predicted a sweeping Clinton victory, the sheer hatred the American people have against the political class defeated rational thought. Revolution won.

This was the straw that broke the camels back for the dissatisfied left, but that camel has been buckling under their weight for some time now. For evidence, look no further than the sudden popularity of the political comedy podcast Chapo Trap House. Ever since Clinton was chosen as the presumptive Democratic nominee, the shows fanbase has grown rapidly thanks to the potshots against liberal thought taken by Chapos three hosts: Will Irony Daddy Menaker, Matt Volceldemort Christman and Felix Big Fuck Biederman. I made those nicknames up, but theyre official now.

The show has been frequently been categorized as vulgar scatological and somehow even more offensive than the DigCast by the media, including here on Paste. More importantly, the bitter and nihilistic humor presented by the Chapo boys tapped into a growing resentment towards modern American liberalism among the left. Chapos sudden rise has only boosted the power of the ironic left, a primarily Twitter-based community of bitter and sarcastic leftists that includes both seasoned political columnists and guys with usernames like @CrapInMyJorts among their most popular members.

However, the liberal community has not taken kindly to their new challengers. Some dismiss them as trolls who just want to get a rise out of people, while others go further and refer to them as bullies. The term alt-left has been used as a description, painting the ironic left as the counterpart to the conservative alt-right movement. I can think of no better summary of modern liberalism than the implication that tweeting jokes about Mitt Romney pissing on his wife puts you on equal footing with people who act like Neo-Nazis for attention.

This came to a head a few weeks ago following the publishing of a Chapo Trap House profile in The New Yorker by Jia Tolentino and subsequent article in New York Magazine by Rebecca Traister. In the article, Traister lambasts both Chapo and the ironic left, essentially characterizing them as resentful losers who are simply looking for targets on which to unleash their white male vitriol. This provoked a reaction of applause among many liberals, as well as resentful sighing among the ironic left, but the article paints a picture of Chapo and their fans that is, quite frankly, entirely inaccurate.

Calling themselves The Dirtbag Left, Tolentinos subjects say that their political mission is to take aim at the Democratic Party and offend the sensibilities of the leftist language police, a set of goals that makes them not entirely distinguishable from many on the right. The story was funny and punishing, itself a New Yorker cartoon, bringing to vivid life some of the worst suspicions anyone has ever harbored about the young, well-heeled Hillary-haters who proclaim themselves the true left.

For context, here is the full quote from the New Yorker profile that Traister cites:

People who belong to the Dirtbag Left, Christman said, arent afraid to offend the sensibilities of leftist language police whose only goal is sabotaging social solidarity in order to maintain their brands as arbiters of good taste and acceptable speech.

The full quote makes it clear that the ironic lefts goal as characterized by Christman is not to offend simply for the sake of attention like the so-called conservative firebrands such as James OKeefe or Milo Yiannopoulos that Traister seems to be comparing them to, but to offend a very specific group of people for a clear purpose. The ironic left see liberal media as desperate to maintain their positions as the top of the leftist food chain, and wish to knock it off that perch for the benefit of everyone. It may seem like a minor quibble, but its an important distinction to make.

Traister continues:

In perhaps the pieces most startling example of self-reflexive commentary, Biederman said of Clintons Election Night celebration turned funeral at the Javits Center: This entitled fucking slob  This fucking asshole brought all her donors to have a big party about how great they were. Shes never been a fucking leader, ever, in her life. She just has these fans who are psychologically weak, tormented, elite freaks.

The peanut-butter gobblers are keen to unleash their righteous rightness, their furious convictions, on the Javits Center crowd  the wealthy donors, sure, but also Mothers of the Movement, the reproductive rights and womens leaders, the thousands of supporters who had canvassed and phone-banked and gotten out the vote and driven souls to the polls. It could almost be Trump supporters talking, but its coming from the people who  though they dont believe it  may agree with the elite freaks about many policy prescriptions and political goals.

Again, for context, here is Biedermans full quote, taken from episode 58 of Chapo Trap House:

The way that it happened at the fucking Javits Center, where this entitled fucking slob, who could not even  she offered minority voters nothing but to define herself by who she was not  she couldnt even face them, she couldnt evenand those people there, those people that were crying, they werent even workers, they were donors. This fucking asshole brought all her donors to have a big party about how great they were and how they showed what kind of country they were, and she couldnt even fucking face them, and not just that, not just that she couldnt face them, she brought out John Podesta, this fucking cum-eating freak, to lie to them, to fucking lie to them while she stood in the back because shes never been a fucking leader ever in her life. She is just somebody who has fans who are psychologically weak, tormented, elite freaks.

The full quote makes it very, VERY clear that Biederman is not referring to the salt-of-the-earth workers and feminists that Traister alleges he is. He is referring solely to the elite donors that backed the Clinton campaign, in the process unwittingly causing the election to turn out the way it did. The argument could be made that Biederman is still insulting those people by referring to them as psychologically weak, tormented, elite freaks  more on that later.

Traister:

Like Sanders, the Chapo guys acknowledge that better representation of women and people of color in the media sphere in which they work is crucial, but seem to exempt themselves from any personal responsibility. We are literally just dudes who just do this, Matt Christman told Tolentino, without seeming to have considered that the passive state of being just dudes who just do this  have a podcast, exult in their slackerdom and sloth, and say terrible things about people without fear of repercussion, of arrest, of violence  is predicated on their identities, as economically comfortable white men.

Conveniently, Traister only briefly mentions the fact that one of Chapos co-hosts is a woman onceand never mentions that one of the male hosts is a person of colorbefore going on this tirade. However, entering into more subjective territory for a bit, I would argue that the ironic left has done more for minorities than most liberals ever have (which, granted, isnt much). Modern liberalism is based on a very superficial kind of civil rights, the kind that manifests itself as twitter hashtags, Facebook memes and dudes putting feminist ally in their Twitter bios with the conscious or subconscious hope that doing so will get them laid. These people are some of the primary targets of Chapos mockery, and as evidenced by Biedermans previous rant, the ironic left is extremely dissatisfied with the way Democrats treat minorities as prize dogs to be trotted around for political purpose. So, yes, Christmans statement that We are literally just dudes who do this is technically incorrect, but not for the reasons Traister believes.

The world has never lacked for young, spoiled white people (perhaps mostly men), who grumble ungratefully at their parents (perhaps mostly moms), whove done the work of putting food on a Thanksgiving table, and instead return to their onanistic gaming aeries with loaves of bread (no roses) and an absolute assuredness that they know better than everyone else and that one of the great injustices of the world is the ban on them saying whatever vulgar thing theyd like to.

If history tells us anything, it is that some of these guys will grow into lovely human beings; some will successfully apply pressure to the Democrats that will force them to the left, for which I and other Hillary-supporting entitled fucking slobs will be deeply grateful; others will eventually find a more natural fit for their energies and animus in the Republican Party. In a way, I am grateful to them. They remind us, as Barack Obama did this month, that the sun still comes up every morning.

Okay, let me switch gears here: I completely understand if you are personally turned away by the behavior of the ironic left. I myself do not view them as the infallible geniuses that many do. Their liberal use of slurs and offensive humor can occasionally cross the line, and like many insular internet communities, they can come across as slightly masturbatory and sensitive to criticism. I have no doubt that the people Traister describes exist among the ironic left, either. Look in the mentions of any prominent ironic lefter and youll see dozens of wannabe Chapos, desperate to out-irony the objects of their vaguely sexual affection. So if you dont personally agree with the way they present themselves, sure. Nobody besides idiots is demanding that everyone conform to one sense of humor.

However, it is also important to remind ourselves that we know essentially nothing of these people. We know nothing about how they conduct themselves among friends, family and coworkers. There is no reason to make assumptions, as Traister does here, on the personal lives of the ironic left based on their online presence. Thats not to say that people should not be held accountable for their actions onlineobviously, they should. But when the worst of those actions is making jokes you dont understand about the dude from Metal Gear Solid eating a condom, calling them spoiled, ungrateful losers based on that is the very height of hubris.

Traister:

But whats not funny about all this is that we are in a moment of national crisis, in which the developmental stage of the Dirtbag Left might be mistaken for a flash of political wisdom, when prioritization of the (yes, systemic) approaches to reducing racial, gender, and class inequality is most likely to be walked back in the name of distancing the party from the women and people of color who lost the election.

And that would be the greatest shame of this shameful election cycle. Because the objects of the vitriol from the left, dirtbag and otherwise, are the hardworking heart of the Democratic Party, now the resistance: the grandmothers who left their houses every morning to get out the vote; the people who took buses and carloads of volunteers to knock on doors and ring buzzers and make endless phone calls; the Black Lives Matter activists who protest the killing of their children and targeting of their communities; the women and men who provide reproductive-health access, even as the government works to roll back that access; the abortion rights and gay rights and criminal justice reform advocates who didnt write off Hillary Clinton, but instead asked her to be better.

This is, by far, the most insulting portion of Traisters article. Anyone who has listened to Chapo Trap House knows that accusing them of mocking activists and grandmothers is utterly ridiculous, and listing them as the poor victims of the ironic lefts vicious bullying is downright manipulative. Painting a picture of social activists such as Black Lives Matter being Hillarys staunchest supporters is also incorrect, as BLM has been vocal in their criticism of the Clinton campaign, which has in turn responded with condescension and dismissal. Its evident that Traister, as well as a majority of liberals, can only avoid criticism by conflating themselves with social movements, and using the suffering of others as an excuse to avoid self-examination is disgusting.

This is a perfect time to bring up Biedermans psychologically weak, tormented, elite freaks statement from earlier. When Biederman made this statement, he was not referring to activists looking for social change, as these people are not fans of Hillary Clinton and never were. Biederman was referring to the kind of people who unironically use the term Bernie Bro, the kind of people who singlehandedly ruined a certain (honestly pretty good) musical about revisionist American history by the sole virtue of liking it, the kind of people who take all their political opinions from the videogame industry because thats all theyre capable of following, the kind of people who donated to the NC GOP, an organization only slightly above the KKK in terms of position on social issues, out of a desire to satisfy their self-righteous need to be seen as the better person, the kind of people who could not lift anything heavier than a cell phone if their life depended on it and constantly lambast people in places theyve never been to that have an average income six times lower than the massive urban hubs they live, the kind of people who look at Variety endorsing Clinton and think well, that settles it, shes won, the kind of people who retweet inane drivel from celebrities like Youre fucking nuts if you think this racist country would elect a Jewish socialist and America can un-fuck anything. Well unfuck this. without a hint of irony. These are the psychologically weak, tormented, elite freaks that Biederman is referring to, they are Hillary Clintons base, and above all else, they are the reason Hillary Clinton lost.

Disagree with the ironic lefts conduct or sense of humor as much as youd likenobody will rightfully fault anyone for that. But to disagree with their message after the results of the 2016 election is nothing short of delusional. Personally, in an age where comedians, celebrities, hack punditsand, for some Godforsaken reason, Arthur Chuare considered to be the height of liberal political discourse, I would much rather listen to people who actually know what they are talking about.

The bottom line is this: The ironic left are not infallible. They are not gorgeous beefmen with bodies chiseled from the wood of Christ. They are very bitter, angry and smart people. And right now, we need all the smart people we can get.
Unibet Group Changes Name to Kindred Group

December 08, 2016 PokerNews Staff

Unibet Group will now operate as Kindred Group in an effort to expand the companys multi-brand strategy.

As Kindred we can create a greater distinction between our consumer-facing brands and the group brand, providing us with the necessary strategic flexibility to ensure we remain at the very forefront of our industry, said Henrik Tjarnstrom, chief executive officer of Unibet Group, in the companys release. As a group we have played an important part in driving the industry forward, and we intend to continue to do so in the future.

According to the release, shareholders met for an extraordinary general meeting in Stockholm and approved the change from Unibet Group plc to Kindred Group plc Dec. 6. The company was founded almost 20 years ago and has 10 consumer-facing brands  some of which were acquired  in its portfolio.

The latest acquisition, that of Maria Casino in 2007, kicked off the changes by delving into the groups new strategy to have multiple brands under the heading of the now Kindred Group brand.

We are now in a position to move Kindred Group into the future with enhanced clarity and flexibility, creating better conditions for future growth in a dynamic and changing business environment, said Anders Strom, chairman of the board of directors of Unibet Group, in the release.

The new name, kindred, refers to a relationship between people with similar beliefs, values and attitudes and was chosen based on an analysis of the groups culture and identity.
Contact

Venga Global

***@vengaglobal.com Venga Global

End

-- Responding to encouraging growth across Europe, Venga Global (Venga) has chosen Dublin, Ireland, as the base for its seventh office. Venga has been working on translation andlocalization projects with experienced professionals in Ireland for several years and confidently expects the Dublin office will help attract the top-quality talent it needs to sustain its successfulgrowth. Ireland is home to all of the world's top ten technology companies, as well as all five top security, all three top enterprise software and all ten top 'born on the internet' enterprises. As a result, the country promises outstanding future potential for software and technology translation andlocalization specialists such as Venga.Venga's announcement of the opening of its new Dublin operation follows shortly after its October 2016 opening of a Barcelona office and a London subsidiary earlier this year. Emphasizing how his company is solidifying its European growth, Venga CEO, Mr. Kare Lindahl said: "Having further strengthened our European base with three new offices in 2016, we are now far better placed to service U.S. headquartered businesses with European subsidiaries and also increase our work with European enterprises."This new Dublin office will ensure Venga's experienced translation and localization professionals can provide far better on-the-ground support to clients all over Ireland and Europe. Appointed to head up the Dublin office, Venga's VP of Worldwide Sales and Business Development, Mr. Antoine Rey, said: "As Dublin has long been a cornerstone of the translation and localization industry, opening an office here was a natural next step. We remain confident our newest location will deliver outstanding results for not only our clients but also our own talent acquisition efforts. I am very excited to be helping our leadership team to build our newest business."Venga's new Dublin office is located at:77 Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Suite 1374Dublin 2IrelandABOUT VENGA GLOBALVenga started in the software industry and uses their 25-plus years' experience globalizing information-based technology products to help clients succeed internationally. Venga also invests in technology, like client system integrations, automation, and business intelligence, to make the translation process more secure, efficient, and transparent to clients.Venga team members have managed all aspects of globalization for their clients, from localizing software products, translating documentation/user assistance, training materials, to global marketing, and supporting HR & Legal.As a leading translation services company, the Venga team has been driving localization best practices for the dynamic technology sector since its inception. Venga's team draws on experience with international leaders such as Uber, Workday, VMWare, Opower, WatchGuard, HireVue, and others to help their clients get to market effectively.For more information about Venga, please visit their website at www.vengaglobal.com
Istria travel guide combines travel recommendations with Google Maps

Contact

Toni Krasnic

***@adriaticroadtrip.com Toni Krasnic

End

--will take you on scenic trips through Istria, guiding you in your discovery of popular attractions, as well as obscure towns, and charming places off the beaten path. The book has just been released and is available for purchase on Amazon (https://amzn.com/B01M8FS749). This comprehensive travel guide, full of native knowledge and complemented with Google Maps, combines Toni Krasnic's first-hand local experience of Istria with his work as a Croatia Local Guide and Google Maps."In the Best of Istria travel guide, I share my intimate knowledge of Istria, while marrying it with Google Maps, to make everyone's travel in Istria more memorable and enjoyable."The book includes 25 unique trips through Istria organized around various interests, including outdoor fun, wine tours, food tastings, family adventures, and much more. The book also offers practical information you'll need when visiting Istria, and includes highlights of major towns, regions, and popular events.With full coverage of Istria, on and off the main roads, Best of Istria will take you from the outskirts of Istria into the heart of Terra Magica (magical land) of Croatia. Don't miss an opportunity to discover all the breathtaking views, hidden gems, and authentic local experiences with Best of Istria by your side as you explore this magical region.For more information, visit www.AdriaticRoadTrip.com.
EP Wealth Advisors has hired Derek Hebert as a financial advisor for its Lafayette, Calif., office location.

By: EP Wealth Advisors

End

-- EP Wealth Advisors, a fee-only registered investment advisory and financial planning firm managing more than $2.4 billion for clients as of September 30, 2016, has hired Derek Hebert asa financial advisor for its Lafayette, Calif., office location."I've been in finance for a while, but what I've been missing is the personal relationship, because that's where you really see the impact you have on people's lives," says Hebert. "It's exciting and humbling at the same time to join such an elite organization, and such a privilege to work with pioneering advisors like Lynn Ballou and Marilyn Plum. It's such a collaborative environment they've helped create."Hebert most recently was a senior relationship manager at Brighton House Associates in San Francisco, California, where heformerlyalso acted as marketing analyst for alternative investments. Previously to this, he was a senior private equity fund accountant for the alternative investment solutions group at State Street Corp. in Boston, Massachusetts. Hebert graduated from Stonehill College, in North Easton, Mass., with a degree in finance."Derek brings a world of experience to EP," says Lynn Ballou, CFP, regional director of EP Wealth Advisors in Lafayette, California. "He will leverage this experience to bring the utmost in client service and guidance to our Northern California region clients."###EP Wealth Advisors is a fee-only registered investment advisory and financial planning firm headquartered in Torrance, California. EP Wealth Advisors manages approximately $2.4 billion for clients as of September 30, 2016). With additional offices in the San Francisco Bay area, West Los Angeles, Irvine, California and Denver, Colorado, the firm provides client-centric financial planning, wealth management and investment management services to individuals and businesses. EP Wealth was listed among the Top RIA Firms in 2015 by Financial Advisor magazine and in 2016 by Financial Planning magazine (This ranking is based on a firm's assets under management as reported on Form ADV. Firms eligible for this ranking must be independent registered investment advisors providing services to individual clients with at least 50 million in assets under management as of December 31, 2015). For more information, visit: www.epwealth.com
Announcement Made Today at the International Council of Air Shows (ICAS) Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada

By: Bethpage Federal Credit Union

U.S. Air Force Thuderbirds

Media Contact

Audrey Cohen

acohen@epoch5.com Audrey Cohen

End

-- Bethpage Federal Credit Union, New York State's largest credit union, and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, are very pleased to announce that the United States Air Force Thunderbirds will headline the 14Annual Bethpage Air Show at Jones Beach taking place on Saturday, May 27, 2017 and Sunday, May 28, 2017. The announcement was made today at the International Council of Air Shows (ICAS) Convention at the Paris Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada.This will be the legendary demonstration squadron's fifth appearance at the show. Long Island will also be welcoming a hometown hero  Thunderbird # 7 Major Kevin Walsh. Currently Director of Operations for the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, Walsh grew up in Levittown, and attended St. Anthony's High School in South Huntington. Major Walsh's family still resides on Long Island.Also announced at the ICAS Convention is the return of the United States Army Golden Knights Parachute Team in the 2017 lineup. The United States Navy Blue Angels have also committed to headline the 2018 Bethpage Air Show at Jones Beach. This will be the eighth time the U.S. Navy Blue Angels have headlined the Bethpage Air Show at Jones Beach, one of the country's largest and most prestigious air shows."We are excited to welcome back the United States Air Force Thunderbirds to Long Island for their fifth headlining appearance at the Bethpage Air Show at Jones Beach," said George Gorman, Deputy Regional Director, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation."Over 439,000 spectators chose the Bethpage Air Show as their Memorial Day holiday weekend destination in 2015 when the Thunderbirds last visited. We are confident that their return to Long Island in 2017 will draw an equally large crowd as well," said Linda Armyn, Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Bethpage.Last year, the Bethpage Air Show at Jones Beach saw record breaking attendance when 453,000 people attended the show which included its biggest line up ever. During this show, for the first time, three jet teams performed including show headliners, the United States Navy Blue Angels, the Royal Canadian Air Force Snowbirds, and the Breitling Jet Team.The Thunderbirds were formed in 1953, and since have been charged with demonstrating the professionalism of Airmen and the capabilities of modern airpower. Their performance at the Bethpage Air Show will include approximately 40 maneuvers, featuring formation flying and solo routines.
By: Wartburg

Contact

Angela Ciminello

aciminello@wartburg.org

914-513-5179 Angela Ciminello914-513-5179

End

-- Culminating their milestone 150Anniversary, Wartburg heldon November 5, 2016, in their historic Chapel on their 34-acre campus in Mount Vernon, NY. Over 165 attendees, included Board of Directors, ecumenical religious leaders, community members, Wartburg residents, patients, caregivers, alumni and staff, honored the men and women who have shared their talents and dedicated their lives to caring for those in need since 1866."The remarkable story of Wartburg, since the days of its founding up until today, is that it reflects living in Christian charity and in Christ's love, this is what Wartburg is all about!" said Rev. Dr. Robert A. Rimbo, Bishop of The Metropolitan New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, who presided over the ceremony.Rev. Carol E. A. Fryer, Director of Spiritual Care and Church Relations at Wartburg, served as Master of Ceremonies. "We remember Wartburg's many saints who founded and led this institution for the past 150 years, individuals who raised children and brought them up and taught them the faith of the Church," said Pastor Fryer. "We also remember the individuals who cared for seniors, starting in the late 1890s, and we remember those who lived their final years at Wartburg." Participants were invited to tie ribbons onto the special Memory Tree to memorialize Wartburg leaders throughout the years and commemorate loved ones who passed away.The distinguished ecumenical guests who participated in the celebration included Sister Margaret Anderson, O.P., Dominican Sisters of Hope; Rev. Derek G. Lecakes, Bishop/President of The Atlantic District of The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod; Rev. Dr. Darren M. Morton, Macedonia Baptist Church; Rev. William Mizell, Grace Baptist Church; Father Alfredo Monteiro, Our Lady of Victory (Sacred Heart) and Rev. Amandus J. Derr, Pastor of St. Peter's Lutheran Church and Chair of the Board of Directors. Together, all of these individuals spoke eloquently paying tribute to the top-quality services delivered by caring, talented Wartburg staff members and the extraordinary qualities exhibited by the Spiritual Care team."When Rev. Passavant founded Wartburg in 1866, he was driven by a fierce dedication to serve individuals of all faiths," said David J. Gentner, Wartburg President and CEO. "That dedication continues today in our work with seniors, now supported by medical advances, technology and an increased awareness and respect for aging care and housing services. But significant challenges still remain, which is why this ecumenical celebration is as much about the present and the future as it is about the past. We are grateful that so many distinguished religious leaders participated in our celebration and encourage everyone to play a part in advancing Rev. Passavant's legacy and the future of Wartburg by committing to helping us help our seniors to live their best life, either on this campus or in their own neighborhoods."This event highlighted Wartburg's Spiritual Care team. Remaining deeply rooted in the belief that God calls us to provide ministries of healing and hope, Wartburg's Spiritual Care team continues to serve individuals of all faiths, as it has since 1866. The Spiritual Care team strives to bring compassion and support to all residents, registrants, patients, family members and staff by partnering with leaders of all faiths to bring the practice of one's chosen faith to Wartburg."One of the blessings of Wartburg is that it represents the best of our Church bodies. It is a place where people can come to be cared for and also learn about Christ, where their spiritual needs as well as their physical needs are looked after," said Rev. Derek G. Lecakes, Bishop/President of the Atlantic District of The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod."Let your light shineso that God may be glorifiedand that is a perfect description of all that Wartburg has been doing for the past 150 years," noted Rev. Dr. Darren M. Morton, Senior Pastor, Macedonia Baptist Church. "and we come here today, to let you knowplease continue to let your light shine for all!"Wartburg invites everyone to view A Celebration of Praise and Thanksgiving currently on Wartburg's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Wartburg, located in Westchester County, N.Y., offers integrated, comprehensive senior residential and healthcare services for all stages of life. Unlike conventional providers, Wartburg delivers a wide range of services to residents living on campus and people in their own homes. From independent, assisted living and award-winning nursing home care to inpatient/outpatient rehabilitation, home care and adult day care services, Wartburg's continuing care approach has earned them a trusted reputation. Wartburg also provides caregiver support at every stage, with an array of options to find the right level of care for the individual while also considering the needs of the whole family. Wartburg's award-winning, internationally recognized Council for Creative Aging & Lifelong Learning program lets residents and community members express themselves through art, song, theater, poetry and oral histories. TheCreative Aging & Lifelong Learning ( http://wartburg.org/ about-wartburg/ creative-aging/ ) initiative promotes increased emotional health and social engagement for seniors through a wide range of arts-based programs led by professional teaching artists trained to develop the creative capacity of older adult learners.
Americana Safety was nominated for and won the 2016 Best of Las Vegas, in the category of Professional Services, by the Las Vegas Small Business Excellence Awards Committee.

Media Contact

Joseph DeMaria, Ph.D.

***@americanasafety.com

7028378540 Joseph DeMaria, Ph.D.7028378540

End

-- According to the Awards Committee:This award recognizes outstanding small businesses that serve the Las Vegas area. Each year, our selection committee identifies businesses that we believe have achieved outstanding marketing success in their local community and business classification.Recognition is given to those companies that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implemented programs to generate competitive advantages and long-term value. Companies such as Americana Safety, help make the Las Vegas metropolitan area a vibrant and vital place to live and safely work.Our mission is to reward the small business community's contributions to the U.S. economy.Americana Safety was founded in 1996 by Joseph DeMaria, Ph.D., a highly decorated U.S. Air Force veteran and former Air Force Safety Superintendent, with its corporate office located in Las Vegas.Since its inception, it has grown to more than 22 associates with office locations in 15 states. Under a distinctive consulting model, the company has brought together the brightest health & safety and engineering professionals from 30 specialty practice areas to give its legal and business clients a wealth of professional resources from which to choose.Americana Safety has been fortunate to have been retained by many of the nation's top law firms as expert witnesses and Fortune 500 companies, providing health & safety audits to ensure regulatory compliance for the safety of their employees.For further information about Americana Safety, please call 702.837.8540 or visit http://www.americanasafety.com ///
One of the best bike shops in Cainta, Rizal launches a new website to reach more customers and make inquiries easier.

Contact

Rachelle

***@tbikeconcept.com

09238914477 Rachelle09238914477

End

-- T-Bike Concept, one of the popular bike shops located at Ortigas Ext. Cainta, Rizal recently launched a website that is aimed to reach more customer in Rizal and nearby areas.T-Bike Concept owner, Wilson Lim, stated that many of their customers ask if they have a website where they can easily browse the available bikes, parts, gear, and any promotions the bike shop may have."This website is our answer to our loyal customers. It is a work in progress but we are doing our best to make it as complete and as user friendly as possible" said Mr. Lim.When asked whether the website will be able to accept online orders soon. He said. "Hopefully. Many of our customers still prefer to visit the bike shop and look at the bike or part in person but... in time. I know Filipinos will become more comfortable in buying online and when that happens, we will surely add that functionality to our website."T-Bike Concept offers a wide range of bikes from mountain bikes, road bikes, folding bikes, fixie bikes, and more. Parts and upgrades are also available to cater to enthusiasts who would want to upgrade their ride.When it comes to service and maintenance, T-Bike Concept ( http://www.tbikeconcept.com/ ) is also the go-to bike shop of enthusiasts. The bike technician at T-Bike is one of the best bikers here in the Philippines and have won many competitions.
Contact

Zaneta Owens, team@zanetaowens.com

***@zanetaowens.com Zaneta Owens, team@zanetaowens.com

End

-- Z A N E T A O W E N SDecember 7, 2016Contact:Zaneta Owens 858.413.6096Steven M. Fish 760.889.1290W. zanetaowens.comE. Team@zanetaowens.comI. ZanetaOwensFB. Zaneta Owens#ZanetaOwens #TheZBagYoutubeCampaign:https://youtu.be/dOggl1k3P38KickstarterCampaign:https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1805164843/zaneta-owens-crowdsourcing-fashion-luxury-handbagsZANETA OWENS LUXURY HANDBAGSWe design it, You love it, You back it, We make it!Zaneta Owens is offering a revolutionary new approach to shopping, choosing and purchasing luxury handbags. Crowdsourcing!Luxury handbag crowdsourcing creates little to no waste, which directly impacts our cost and in turn, your wallet. A campaign is created for each design and you back it. This balances supply and demand, one bag at a time. Consumers will now have a voice in the production of material goods. Goodbye to inventory piling up in warehouses, goodbye to money wasted on pushing tired designs, and goodbye to any of the many tribulations of the traditional brick and mortar model.Established in San Diego, CA in 2013, Zaneta put together her dream team, which has more than 30 years of experience within the fashion, beauty and technology industries. Our handbags have been donning the arms of many in the United States, Germany, Australia and Mexico. All Zaneta Owens luxury handbags are proudly manufactured her home state of California.In order to bring these designs and concepts to life, Zaneta Owens is launching a Kickstarter Campaign, holdingfirmly to her crowdsourcing ideology.
Sustainable Entrepreneur Award one of EU top award for sustainable companies selected H2 Energy Now as a 2016 finalist. The Finals were held in Vienna Austria,

Contact

Sonya Davidson

***@h2energynow.com Sonya Davidson

End

-- 800 companies out of 120 different nations in the world applied to be present as a finalist in the 2016 Sustainable Entrepreneur Award. The SEA is a prestigious award which selects some of Europes most creative companies in the field of sustainability.H2 Energy Now a renewable energy storage company from Israel was selected as a 2016 finalist. It was an amazing opportunity to present, and it was an honor to be selected out of all the applicants. Enent held November 15-17, 2016 in Vienna, AustriaH2 Energy Now has developed a new technology for the storage of energy through the seperation of the water molecule into hydrogen and oxygen gas through the use of electromagnetic energy. The company has assembled a team, built a proof of principal prototype, filed its Intellectual Property, attended and graduated from a six month accelerator the Hive by Gvahim, and is presently involved in the products commercialization.Very few technologies have such an amazing opportunity to change the world as enabling of 24/7 use of alternative energy has.
By: Healy Consultants

Contact

Grace Odhiambo

***@healyconsultants.com Grace Odhiambo

End

-- The government of Luxembourg is in the process of enacting a new bill under a concept dubbed 1.1.1 which translates to company formation by one person, with one euro in one day. The concept which aims at simplifying the registration process and cutting down on entrepreneurs' expenditure, is still under review and should be finalised by the end of this year in time for the new law to be enacted on the targeted date 16January 2017. This new type of entity will be known as the "Sarl Simplifie" or Sarl-S. The concept is specifically aimed at entrepreneurs interested in setting up a business in Luxembourg that does not require large sums of starting capital to be invested in the country to obtain business approval."The 1.1.1 company is certainly an interesting structure for individuals, but in order to make any business a success, you need a good business plan and sufficient capital to invest into it," summarised Karl Horsburgh, a chartered accountant and expert in Luxembourg taxation. (source  Wort ( http://www.wort.lu/ en/business/ the-new-1-1- 1-company-can- ... ))The Sarl-S registration will apply to companies that have satisfied the qualifications required for a trade licence and can be registered with an amount of minimum capital ranging between 1 upto a maximum of 12,395.However, it is worth noting that while creation of the 1.1.1 company will be simplified in terms of capital requirements and facilitated by the ease of establishing an entity via the One-Stop shop, business licence application procedures and costs will remain the same as for any normal LLC. Business licence application usually costs upto 2,000 depending on the type of business and the business consultants used during incorporation, whereas monthly social security costs on average are approximately 300. Luxembourg's Chamber of Commerce, has created a One-Stop Shop called House of Entrepreneurship ( http://www.houseofentrepreneurship.lu/ en/home/ ) as a show of commitment from the government's effort to ease the company formation process and attract foreign direct investments. With this concept in the horizon, the future of entrepreneurship in Luxembourg is optimistic.For over a decade, the incorporation experts at Healy Consultants Pte Ltd., with their branch in Luxembourg, have been assisting investors worldwide to set up the optimum corporate structure for doing business in the country. The services offered include company registration, banking solutions, accounting and tax and legal services and corporate support services.To inquire more about Luxembourg company setup options and schedule a conference call, email us at email@healyconsultants or call us on +65 6735 0120.
End

-- Perdoo (www.perdoo.com), the goal management platform that helps companies realize their goals, is now available in Dutch and Spanish. Based on the popular goal setting framework OKR (Objectives & Key Results), which became famous through Google, Perdoo tackles three widespread problems within organizations:disengaged employees, a lack of focus, and an inability to achieve ambitious goals as a team. According to a Gallup study, they cost companies $370 Billion in lost productivity, every year.Founder and CEO of Perdoo Henrik-Jan van der Pol: "Perdoo is a goal-setting tool used by everyone in an organization. It's therefore crucial to break down any barriers for users to interact with our software. Language localization is a critical step in that direction. After receiving many requests from Spain, Latin America, and the Netherlands, we extended the range of supported languages to include Spanish and Dutch. Within the past nine months, we almost tripled our number of users. Now we can access an even broader potential customer base helping more organizations to increase transparency, foster collaboration, and enhance employee engagement."OKRs pay rich dividends in clearer strategy, aligned execution, less wasted efforts, a more productive and happier workforce. Especially from a financial aspect, the implementation of OKRs proves to be very valuable: according to a study by Sears Holding Company ( https://www.linkedin.com/ pulse/sears- holding-company- stud... ) for instance, the usage of this management method allowed the company to increase their average sales per hour by 8.5%.Objectives and Key Results were first developed and implemented in the 1970s. Andrew Grove, Intel's CEO back then, introduced it in his book "High Output Management" and implemented it at Intel. Soon the management method gained popularity and was successfully introduced at Google in 1999, which wasand still isconsidered the backbone of their incredible success. Soon several Silicon Valley based companies such as LinkedIn, Zynga, and Oracle developed proprietary OKR tools for their companies to enhance their operational success.Perdoo helps employees across all levels to collaborate on goals more efficiently. The cloud-based software allows users to define goals on a company, department and individual level and enables anyone to see who is working on what and share progress. This significantly enhances motivation, alignment, and focus amongst the workforce, because with Perdoo anyone can see the bigger picture.Perdoo ( www.perdoo.com ) helps organizations of all types and sizes to increase transparency, foster collaboration, and enhance employee engagement with an easy-to-use goal setting tool. The company was founded in 2014 by Henrik-Jan van der Pol and Jonathan Morrice in Berlin. Perdoo currently has over 200 customers and several thousand users across the world. The company is supported by the Berlin-based company builder MAKERS (www.makers.do), Berlin Ventures (www.berlinventures.com), and Innovation Nest (www.innovationnest.co)
Dave Cox, Middleton Idaho DUI Analyst and Consultant, recently concluded multiple DUI Seminars in Nebraska, helping DUI attorneys win more DUI cases.

Contact

Dave Cox

***@yourduipro.com Dave Cox

End

--Your DUI Pro, recently traveled to Nebraska to present his well-received "Winning DUI Cases" Seminar. Dave visited Lincoln and Omaha; Nebraska to deliver the seminar to some of Nebraska's best DUI attorneys. Dave Cox taught these Attorneys how to win DUI cases using NHTSA Manuals and advanced cross-examination techniques.The attorneys who attended Dave Cox's DUI Seminar, "Winning DUI Cases", had great things to say about their experience. Here is a testimonial from one of Nebraska's best DUI attorneys:"This was an exceptional class. Very much worth the cost."Nora Keenan - Omaha, NebraskaDave Cox, DUI Analyst and Consultant, has personally trained thousands of attorneys across the United States. Dave is a former police officer and, during his career, he was recognized as one of the top DUI officers in the country. As an officer, Dave Cox was certified as a Drug Recognition Expert, the highest level of training available to DUI enforcement officers. Dave now specializes in training attorneys how to easily and effectively use the officer, the officer's training, and the officer's NHTSA Manuals to win DUI Cases.In the upcoming weeks, Dave Cox will be presenting his DUI Seminar to attorneys in California and South Carolina. Dave will be visiting the following cities:Stockton, Bakersfield, and Fresno; CaliforniaOxnard, San Bernardino, and Anaheim; CaliforniaFlorence, Myrtle Beach, and Charleston; South CarolinaTo register for upcoming seminars, please visit http://www.YourDUIPro.com/ seminars To learn more about Dave Cox and Your DUI Pro, please visit http://www.YourDUIPro.com
Betsy DeVos, homeschool and school choice supporter, has been picked for secretary of the United States Department of Education.

5 Ways to Get The Old Schoolhouse(R) Magazine

Contact

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine

Gena Suarez, Publisher

***@theoldschoolhouse.com

14234445956 The Old Schoolhouse MagazineGena Suarez, Publisher14234445956

End

--Magazine (http://www.theoldschoolhouse.com/)reports that President-elect Donald Trump has named Betsy DeVos as his pick for secretary of the United States Department of Education. "Under her leadership, we will reform the U.S. education system and break the bureaucracy that is holding our children back," Trump said at the announcement.Home education will play a part in this reform. Homeschooling, with approximately 2.3 million home-educated students in the United States, is now bordering on "mainstream,"and may be the fastest-growing form of education in the United States.[1]Magazine (TOS) is the trade magazine for this one-billion-dollar market providing homeschool encouragement and current, cutting-edge information for homeschoolers worldwide. As parents turn to home education to escape Common Core and other undesirable factors, TOS has an enormous homeschooling information package that can be claimed at no cost at http://schoolhouseconnect.com/welcome/ .DeVos  a businesswoman, education advocate and billionaire philanthropist  has backed private school voucher programs throughout the United States. She chairs the American Federation for Children, a private organization that works to expand school choice options across the country. DeVos has spent decades working for reforms in education as well as helping underserved children attain quality education.In the spring 2013 issue ofmagazine, DeVos had this to say about homeschooling:Homeschooling represents another perfectly valid educational option. We've seen more and more people opt for homeschooling, including in urban areas. What you're seeing is parents who are fed up with their lack of power to do anything about where their kids are assigned to go to school. To the extent that homeschooling puts parents back in charge of their kids' education, more power to them."[2]In 2015, Congress passed the Every Student Succeeds Act which gives more power to the states in identifying schools needing improvement. DeVos's position as secretary of education comes at a critical time of implementing this new law. DeVos echoed Trump's stance on education when she said, "The status quo in education is not acceptable.Together, we can work to make transformational change that ensures every student in America has the opportunity to fulfill his or her highest potential."[3]She believes parents should be able to choose where their children go to school and that students shouldn't be trapped in failing schools.Michigan Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley agrees with DeVos's appointment. "Betsy's nomination shows that President-elect Trump is serious about building an education system that puts kids first and parents in the driver's seat."[4]Established in 2001,(TOS) was founded with the goal of helping homeschool families gain the facts and inspiration they need to confidently educate their children at home. It has grown into one of the largest homeschooling-support companies in the world. TOS resources help home educators produce educated, well-adjusted students who are in high demand in the workplace as well as in colleges and universities across the country.For more information, contact:Gena Suarez, Publisher,MagazinePh: (423) 444-5956[1] http://www.nheri.org/research/research-facts-on-homeschooling.html[2]http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/topic/excellence_in_philanthropy/interview_with_betsy_devos[3] https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/trump-picks-betsy-devos-pro-family-school-choice-advocate-for-education-sec[4] http://www.michigan.gov/ snyder/0,4668,7- 277-61369-397885-- ,00.html


Javascript Error

Javascript is deactivated in your browser. To use all functions on this portal, for example the login, Javascript must be activated. Please activate Javascript in your browser settings.
HB Reavis has sold Twin City A, a modern office building located in close proximity to Bratislava city centr, to Prvy realitny fond (PRF), managed by IAD Investments with a transaction yield of 6,5%. The transaction is a reflection of the buildings prime location, as well as the strength of

[]
New Tel Aviv University research suggests that periods of fasting or starvation may significantly shorten the lifespans of both children and their male descendants.

The study focused on survivors of a mass famine that took place in the early 1920s in several rural regions of Russia. It was led by Prof. Eugene Kobyliansky of TAU's Sackler School of Medicine and conducted by doctoral student Dmitry Torchinsky of TAU's Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, in collaboration with Dr. Leonid Kalichman of Ben-Gurion University's Department of Physical Therapy and Prof. David Karasik of Bar Ilan University's Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee. Its conclusions were published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

"A variety of experimental and epidemiological studies have tried to propose that intermittent or periodic fasting, like caloric restriction, may slow the aging process and extend lifespans," said Prof. Kobyliansky. "But there is also evidence demonstrating that even moderate caloric restriction may not extend but, on the contrary, can shorten the human lifespan."

A lesson from Russia

Past research suggests a strong correlation between telomere dynamics and the processes that determine human aging and lifespan. Telomeres, compound structures at the end of each chromosome that protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration, are the genetic key to longevity. They shorten with every chromosome replication cycle.

The team evaluated telomere lengths in a population-based sample composed of survivors of the mass famine of the early 1920s and in the survivors' descendants, who originated from Chuvashia, a rural area in the mid-Volga region of Russia. In Chuvashia, the proportion of starving inhabitants reached 90% in late March 1922, and mortality among starving peasants reached between 30-50%. The situation only began to improve in April 1923. By the end of that year, the mass famine in Chuvashia was considered over.

The researchers arrived at three major discoveries:

(1) There were shorter leukocyte telomeres in men born after 1923 after the mass famine ended than in men born before 1922;

(2) there was a stable inheritance of shorter telomeres by men born in ensuing generations; and

(3) there was an absence of any correlation between shorter telomeres and women born before or after the event.

"This study, while demonstrating that starvation has the potential to shorten telomere length, raises several questions," said Prof. Kobyliansky. "Does starvation exert a stronger effect on telomere length in the reproductive cells of adults than in the leukocytes of children? Is starvation-induced telomere shortening a sex-dependent phenomenon? And would fasting regimens exerting beneficial effects be accompanied by telomere shortening in descendants?"

The team is currently considering experimental in vivo studies to answer these and other questions.
New moms are increasingly using expressed breast milk (either pumped or expressed by hand) instead of directly breastfeeding their babies, according to a UBC study.

The study also found that moms who use expressed breast milk typically transition their babies to infant formula feeding sooner than their breastfeeding peers, a trend that may impact the health of our next generation.

"Breast feeding is the unequalled method for feeding infants," says Marie Tarrant, director of nursing at UBC's Okanagan campus. "It has been previously determined that breastfeeding is important for the nutrition, immunology, growth and development of infants and toddlers. Anything that contributes to shortening the recommended six months of exclusive breastfeeding is a concern."

Tarrant and her research team, including co-author Dorothy Bai of the University of Hong Kong, studied the infant feeding practices of more than 2,000 moms living in Hong Kong. They found that during a five-year stretch, mothers moved away from directly breastfeeding their infants to using expressed breast milk, which is usually delivered via a bottle.

"New mothers may believe there is no difference between expressed breast-milk feeding and direct feeding at the breast," says Tarrant. "Although expressed breast-milk feeding provides greater benefits than infant formula, bottle-feeding may increase the risk of respiratory issues, asthma, rapid weight gain and oral diseases."

The study demonstrated that those moms who expressed breast milk were more likely to quit breastfeeding earlier than moms who directly breastfed.

Tarrant believes that a lack of breastfeeding support may be partly to blame for this feeding behaviour. She suggests that providing greater access to professional lactation (breastfeeding) support to new mothers, particularly in the first 24 hours after birth, could ensure that new infants receive the optimal nutrition.

According to Stats Canada, there were more than 350,000 Canadian babies born in 2015/2016. In 2012, 89 per cent of women initially breastfed their babies, and only 26 per cent were doing so six months later. Difficulty with breastfeeding is the most common reasons for not continuing with the practice.
Hendrik Hildebrandt from the Argelander-Institut fur Astronomie in Bonn, Germany and Massimo Viola from the Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands led a team of astronomers [1] from institutions around the world who processed images from the Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS), which was made with ESO's VLT Survey Telescope (VST) in Chile. For their analysis, they used images from the survey that covered five patches of the sky covering a total area of around 2200 times the size of the full Moon [2], and containing around 15 million galaxies.

By exploiting the exquisite image quality available to the VST at the Paranal site, and using innovative computer software, the team were able to carry out one of the most precise measurements ever made of an effect known as cosmic shear. This is a subtle variant of weak gravitational lensing, in which the light emitted from distant galaxies is slightly warped by the gravitational effect of large amounts of matter, such as galaxy clusters.

In cosmic shear, it is not galaxy clusters but large-scale structures in the Universe that warp the light, which produces an even smaller effect. Very wide and deep surveys, such as KiDS, are needed to ensure that the very weak cosmic shear signal is strong enough to be measured and can be used by astronomers to map the distribution of gravitating matter. This study takes in the largest total area of the sky to ever be mapped with this technique so far.

Intriguingly, the results of their analysis appear to be inconsistent with deductions from the results of the European Space Agency's Planck satellite, the leading space mission probing the fundamental properties of the Universe. In particular, the KiDS team's measurement of how clumpy matter is throughout the Universe -- a key cosmological parameter -- is significantly lower than the value derived from the Planck data [3].

Massimo Viola explains: "This latest result indicates that dark matter in the cosmic web, which accounts for about one-quarter of the content of the Universe, is less clumpy than we previously believed."

Dark matter remains elusive to detection, its presence only inferred from its gravitational effects. Studies like these are the best current way to determine the shape, scale and distribution of this invisible material.

advertisement

The surprise result of this study also has implications for our wider understanding of the Universe, and how it has evolved during its almost 14-billion-year history. Such an apparent disagreement with previously established results from Planck means that astronomers may now have to reformulate their understanding of some fundamental aspects of the development of the Universe.

Hendrik Hildebrandt comments: "Our findings will help to refine our theoretical models of how the Universe has grown from its inception up to the present day."

The KiDS analysis of data from the VST is an important step but future telescopes are expected to take even wider and deeper surveys of the sky.

The co-leader of the study, Catherine Heymans of the University of Edinburgh in the UK adds: "Unravelling what has happened since the Big Bang is a complex challenge, but by continuing to study the distant skies, we can build a picture of how our modern Universe has evolved."

"We see an intriguing discrepancy with Planck cosmology at the moment. Future missions such as the Euclid satellite and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope will allow us to repeat these measurements and better understand what the Universe is really telling us," concludes Konrad Kuijken (Leiden Observatory, the Netherlands), who is principal investigator of the KiDS survey.

Notes

[1] The international KiDS team of researchers includes scientists from Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, Australia, Italy, Malta and Canada.

[2] This corresponds to about 450 square degrees, or a little more than 1% of the entire sky.

[3] The parameter measured is called S8. Its value is a combination of the size of density fluctuations in, and the average density of, a section of the Universe. Large fluctuations in lower density parts of the Universe have an effect similar to that of smaller amplitude fluctuations in denser regions and the two cannot be distinguished by observations of weak lensing. The 8 refers to a cell size of 8 megaparsecs, which is used by convention in such studies.
Not all children do well in school, despite being intellectually capable. Whilst parental relationships, motivation and self-concept all have a role to play, a recent study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology shows that children's learning strategy is key for academic success.

The study showed that students with normal scores on intellectual tests but that have poor grades in secondary school are also not as good at acquiring and retaining information, or later applying it.

Lead researcher of the study and professor at the University of Alicante in Spain, Juan Castejon, concludes that underachieving students appear to employ all of the learning strategies considered, but to a lesser extent than normal and overachieving students, and this seems to be the key for academic success.

"The underachievers group of students also has poorer attitudes to learning goals, poorer relationships with their parents, and lower emotional stability than their peers," says Castejon, "but learning strategies showed the strongest relationship with achievement."

By comparing underachievers with normal- or over-achievers, the work brings new insight on how educational interventions may help those in academic difficulty.

"At the moment, Spain has a school drop-out rate of more than twice the EU average," says Castejon. "We believe that underachieving students could be contributing to this, so it is really important to guide teachers, counsellors and parents on how they can help."

Learning strategies can respond well to behavioural interventions, so there is hope that with the right help from teachers and carers, underachievement is reversible. Castejon believes that teachers should focus on reinforcing these learning strategies and goals, and promote autonomy and responsibility in their students.

advertisement

"Self-regulating models in which goals, strategies and self-concept are integrated would help improve academic achievement," concludes the researcher.

"It is also important that teachers and parents are positive towards, and encourage, their children," Castejon explains, "as better self-esteem in our kids leads to better efforts and achievements."

To define underachievement, the researchers looked at the mismatch between expected achievement and actual achievement. For this, they took standardized measures of each child's intellectual abilities to define academic expectation, and of their school grades, to define academic achievement. The researchers also looked at a range of behaviours including learning strategies and goals, and relationships with their parents and peers.

But it was when they explored various aspects of learning strategies that they had insights. Learning strategies involve selection, organization and information processing, creative and critic thinking, information recovery and transference, in addition to planning, evaluation, and information control and monitoring.

"The discovery of the importance of learning strategies is vital in developing new ways to help our children fulfil their academic potential," says Castejon.

advertisement

"Our work shows the need to understand not only the causes of underachievement, but also how they differ with overachievement," says Castejon, "so we can target interventions inspired by how overachievers use their behaviours to excel," he explains.

What this study also highlights is how research can help professional development and training of teachers, in Spain, and probably in other countries.

"At the moment, there is a tendency for educational research and teacher-training to be completely separate, with little crossover of ideas," says Castejon. "What we need are more professionals who can cross the science-policy boundary, and use research to guide how we teach."

Castejon and his research group are continuing their studies to examine new possibilities. "We believe that there may be sub-groups of students with particular characteristics within the underachievers," says Castejon. "We want to look at them more thoroughly, which will help us to really individualise our recommendations for these children."
Pioneering work being carried out in a cave in New Mexico by researchers at McMaster University and The University of Akron, Ohio, is changing the understanding of how antibiotic resistance may have emerged and how doctors can combat it in the future.

In research published in Nature Communications, the scientists examined one bacterium found 1,000 feet underground (called Paenibacillus) that demonstrated resistance to most antibiotics used today, including so-called 'drugs of last resort' such as daptomycin. These microorganisms have been isolated from the outside world for more than four million years within the cave.

The results show the bacterium is resistant to 18 different antibiotics and uses identical methods of defense as similar species found in soils. This suggests that the evolutionary pressure to conserve these resistance genes has existed for millions of years -- not just since antibiotics were first used to treat disease.

Among the different ways that the bacteria could be resistant to antibiotics, the scientists identified five novel pathways that were of potential clinical concern. Finding these new pathways is particularly valuable, as it gives researchers time to develop new drugs to combat this type of resistance, potentially decades before it will become a problem for doctors and their patients.

"The diversity of antibiotic resistance and it's its prevalence in microbes across the globe should be humbling to everyone who uses these lifesaving drugs," said Gerry Wright, an author of the paper and scientific director of McMaster's Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research.

"It reflects the fact that we must understand that antibiotic use and resistance go hand in hand."

Hazel Barton, professor and director, Integrative Bioscience at The University of Akron, said: "Exploring these challenging and remote environments offers a unique opportunity to sample the genetic diversity of microbes untouched by human activity"

The bacteria were found in Lechuguilla Cave, which is one of the longest caves in the world and deepest in the United States. It is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Due to the fragile and highly technical nature of the cave, it has been closed to all except a few scientific researchers and cave experts since its original discovery in 1986. This restricted access makes it an ideal environment in which to study how microbes have evolved without the influence of human activity.

Today's research publication follows work by the researchers in 2012 to examine microorganisms from the cave.

Although use of antibiotics revolutionized the treatment of bacterial infections in the 20th century, overuse of antibiotics has led to the emergence of antibiotic resistance in disease causing bacteria. In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control estimate that more than 20,000 people die each year from otherwise treatable disease.

Both Health Canada and the U.S. national government have released national action plans to address the resistance crisis.
Water striders spend all their life on the surface of water, and the secrets of their ability to "skate" on the water surface have been discovered more than a decade ago. It is only recently that scientists began to study the biomechanics of nearly vertical jumps that water strider perform on water surface to escape from underwater predators such like fishes or backswimmers (Koh and Yang et al. Science 2015). But do they always succeed? The Asian proverb says, even monkeys fall from the trees! Would the water striders know when they are not going to jump so well? In the newest issue of Nature Communications, a team of biologists and engineers from Korea and Poland shows that water striders seem to know when they break the water surface and adjust their leg movements so that this does not happen.

Using slow motion video recordings of jumping insects (attached here and also available on YouTube), Jae Hak Son, Sang-im Lee and Piotr Jablonski made detailed descriptions of leg movements of nearly vertical jumps of water striders. Based on these data, Eunjin Yang and Ho-Young Kim built a mathematical model to explain jumping mechanics. Using this model, the researchers predicted the jump-speed maximizing behavior of several water strider species with a range of body sizes and leg morphologies and verified the predictions with the actual data.

The study reveals that jumping water striders behaved as if they "knew" when the water surface may be broken. Normally, the midlegs and hindlegs of the water striders provide the main support without breaking the surface layer of water. Small dimples are visible under each leg because the water surface is pushed against the body weight. When water striders jump upwards, they push downward the water surface further and the dimples quickly become deeper and deeper. As long as the dimples are not broken, the legs are supported on the water surface and push the body upwards making the quick jump possible. But, if the legs move too fast and too deep, then the dimple is broken and therefore the support on the water surface is lost. This makes the jumps slower, and the escape from predators less effective. Using a mathematical model, the researchers calculated for a the range of insect body sizes and leg morphologies the critical leg speed beyond which the dimple is predicted to break. The actual leg movements of these species of different body weights and morphologies were JUST below this critical thresholds. Hence, the insects move their legs fast, but just not too fast, in order to maximize the jump speeds.

It is now yet known if this precise adjustment of leg movements is based on individual learning or innate or "hard-wired" ability.
Stratford businessman Denys Shortt, third from left, with fellow members of the London Tea History Associations board at St Katharine Docks in London.

STRATFORD-UPON-AVON businessman Denys Shortt was at the unveiling a bronze plaque in London that commemorates 335 years of the tea industry in the city.

Mr Shortt, who runs the DCS Group, which employs 300 people in Stratford, is a member of The London Tea History Associations board after spending his early years on tea estates in Assam and in Uganda and Kenya.

He lived with his parents in Assam for 22 years, for the first ten years on the Langharjan Tea Estate, before moving to tea estates in Fort Portal in Uganda, and then Thika in Kenya. As well as sitting on the association's board Mr Shortt also sponsors the tea planters website www.koi-hai.com

The plaque is located at St Katharine Docks in London where approximately 32,000 tons of tea from China, India and Ceylon passed through in a year.

It is the first of four plaques the association intends to put up around key sites in the capital.
Cardinal Health, Inc. operates as an integrated healthcare services and products company in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and internationally. It provides customized solutions for hospitals, healthcare systems, pharmacies, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical laboratories, physician offices, and patients in the home. The company operates in two segments, Pharmaceutical and Medical. The Pharmaceutical segment distributes branded and generic pharmaceutical, specialty pharmaceutical, and over-the-counter healthcare and consumer products. The segment also provides services to pharmaceutical manufacturers and healthcare providers for specialty pharmaceutical products; operates nuclear pharmacies and radiopharmaceutical manufacturing facilities; repackages generic pharmaceuticals and over-the-counter healthcare products; and offers medication therapy management and patient outcomes services to hospitals, other healthcare providers, and payers, as well as provides pharmacy management services to hospitals. The Medical segment manufactures, sources, and distributes Cardinal Health branded medical, surgical, and laboratory products and devices that include exam and surgical gloves; needles, syringe, and sharps disposals; compressions; incontinences; nutritional delivery products; wound care products; single-use surgical drapes, gowns, and apparels; fluid suction and collection systems; urology products; operating room supply products; and electrode product lines. The segment also distributes a range of national brand products, including medical, surgical, and laboratory products; provides supply chain services and solutions to hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical laboratories, and other healthcare providers; and assembles and sells sterile, and non-sterile procedure kits. The company was incorporated in 1979 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ohio.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited, a pharmaceutical company, develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes generic medicines, specialty medicines, and biopharmaceutical products in North America, Europe, and internationally. The company offers sterile products, hormones, high-potency drugs, and cytotoxic substances in various dosage forms, including tablets, capsules, injectables, inhalants, liquids, transdermal patches, ointments, and creams. It also develops, manufactures, and sells active pharmaceutical ingredients. In addition, it focuses on the central nervous system, pain, respiratory, and oncology areas. Its products in the central nervous system include Copaxone for the treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis; AJOVY for the preventive treatment of migraine; and AUSTEDO for the treatment of tardive dyskinesia and chorea associated with Huntington disease. The company's products in the respiratory market comprise ProAir, QVAR, ProAir Digihaler, AirDuo Digihaler, and ArmonAir Digihaler, BRALTUS, CINQAIR/CINQAERO, DuoResp Spiromax, and AirDuo RespiClick/ArmonAir RespiClick for the treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Its products in the oncology market include Bendeka, Treanda, Granix, Trisenox, Lonquex, and Tevagrastim/Ratiograstim. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited has a collaboration MedinCell for the development and commercialization of multiple long-acting injectable products, a risperidone suspension for the treatment of patients with schizophrenia. The company was founded in 1901 and is headquartered in Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel.
Just off the coast of Perth, Australia, this week, a huge elephant seal was spotted sunning herself on the shores of the Shoalwater Islands Marine Park, a protected area for wildlife - and she had a tiny companion with her.

Jane Dawson/Department of Parks and Wildlife

People were flipping out about the baby because it's the first time in 20 years that a southern elephant seal has given birth in the area - and only the third time in recorded history, Emma de Burgh, spokesperson for the Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPW) in Western Australia, told The Dodo.

Dodo Shows Foster Diaries Guy Falls In Love With His Little Meatball Of A Foster Dog

Jane Dawson/Department of Parks and Wildlife

Usually elephant seals - so-called not because they are the largest of all seals (they are), but because of their trunk-like, inflatable snouts - opt for giving birth in and around Antarctica. While no one knows why this particular mom opted for an Australian birth, she and her baby appear to be resting and doing well.

Jane Dawson/Department of Parks and Wildlife

After her 11-month pregnancy, this mom, like all elephant seal moms, will nurse her baby pretty much non-stop for a month, during which time she won't even eat - she and her baby will live off the energy stored in her blubber.

Jane Dawson/Department of Parks and Wildlife
When Alexandria Neonakis's father headed out on a December vacation to South America, the last thing she was probably expecting was for him to fall head over heels for one of the region's locals. But that's exactly what happened. Turns out, her dad had met someone special during a stop in Peru. And it wasn't long before messages to his adult daughter came pouring in about it. He'd met an alpaca.

Twitter/@Beavs

In a series of chats that Neonakis later posted to Twitter, her adorable dad goes into giddy detail about all of the wonderful qualities of this species exotic to him. The alpaca, evidently, was happy to indulge the father with his cozy coat of luxurious wool.

Dodo Shows Faith = Restored Rescued Wild Horse Loves To Play With A Little Donkey

Twitter/@Beavs

As if his description of his alpaca experience was not enough to convey the full extent of his newfound affection, Neonakis's dad also sent her a selfie to prove, without a doubt, that he was truly in love.

Twitter/@Beavs

Not surprisingly, perhaps, given the father's endearing alpaca-related messages, Neonakis's screenshots of them quickly went viral on Twitter. In less than 24 hours, it's been retweeted and liked tens of thousands of times. You might say his love for the alpaca has been infectious.
Subscribe to The Daily Dodo

Start your day with heartwarming and hilarious animal stories that will make you fall in love.

Subscribe
The bodies of three giraffes were found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in June. They'd been shot for no apparent reason - until people saw that their tails, which are considered a status symbol in the region, had been removed. This is just one of the ways giraffes have been victimized by human beings. Habitat loss, poaching and human-wildlife conflict because of a booming human population are the main factors driving these animals to extinction.

Dodo Shows Soulmates Growling Little Kitten Becomes Her Mom's Best Friend

But almost no one has been talking about this "silent extinction" - until now. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which tracks species populations, just listed giraffes as "vulnerable." Before, the animals were considered of "least concern."

Shutterstock

Over the past 30 years, or three generations of giraffes, giraffe populations plummeted nearly 40 percent, from about 163,000 in 1985 to just over 97,000 last year. This means the giraffe is yet another species imminently under threat because of what human beings are doing to the planet.

Shutterstock

"Whilst giraffes are commonly seen on safari, in the media and in zoos, people - including conservationists - are unaware that these majestic animals are undergoing a silent extinction," IUCN co-Chairman Julian Fennessy said in the report.

"Giraffes are affected by habitat loss and conflict, but are also found in commercial trade with hair, skins, tails and other body parts being exported from Africa to markets in America, Europe, and elsewhere," Adam M. Roberts, CEO of Born Free USA, told The Dodo. "The key with giraffes, like so many other species, is to make sure no American citizen buys any products including tourist souvenirs that are made from giraffe parts." Some people are working very hard to make sure this "silent extinction" is never complete, so giraffes can be safe in the wild. For instance, the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF), a Namibia-based organization, is working specifically on trying to establish new habitats for giraffes and working toward securing a future for wild giraffes.
WINNIPEGThe surge of capital into Canadas nascent marijuana industry has sent stock prices soaring  and brought warnings its a bubble that could soon burst.

The value of 26 marijuana stocks listed in Canada has swelled to almost $4 billion from close to nothing in the past two years, as investors rushed to bet on the countrys move toward legalizing recreational use. Canopy Growth Corp. became the first marijuana unicorn, reaching a valuation of $1.24 billion on Wednesday. Other producers, including OrganiGram Holdings Inc. and Aurora Cannabis Inc., saw their share prices surge more than 250 per cent this year.

While investor optimism is fuelled by analysts estimates that there could be about 3.8 million recreational marijuana users in Canada by 2021 and billions in sales, concern that companies are overvalued is mounting. How Canada will regulate, tax or distribute the products, remains unknown and some of the publicly traded companies have yet to make a sale.

Oh, theyre going to pop, Nick Brusatore, the largest shareholder of Affinor Growers Inc., said by phone. Once a mining company, the Vancouver-based firm now develops greenhouse technology for crops, including cannabis. Its going to pop hard.

Canada is on track to become the first Group of Seven country to legalize pot for recreational use if it pushes forward with introducing legislation in 2017. It would join eight U.S. states where it wont be a crime to use the drug recreationally by January and follows Uruguay, which became the first country to legalize it in 2013.

Chris Damas, an analyst at BCMI Research in Barrie, Ontario, likens the capital pouring into the sector to the dot-com craze of the 1990s. At the time, the value of technology stocks rose rapidly as investors saw opportunity in the Internets growth despite the fact many companies had no revenue, he said.

Many holders of pot stocks that have increased tenfold are company insiders, and the market could crash if they decide to start selling to take profits, Damas said. It does smell like a real serious bubble, he said in a telephone interview.

Companies started piling into the sector after Canada changed rules governing medical use to allow access only through licenced producers. In 2013, Health Canada began approving licences and six medical marijuana companies began trading on the TSX Venture Exchange. When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wooed voters with a promise to legalize the drug in the countrys 2015 election campaign, the industry began to take off.

The market went into a frenzy ahead of a report to the government in November that laid out practical issues surrounding legalization. Its yet to be made public but price-earnings ratios now range as high 737 for Moncton, New Brunswick-based OrganiGram and 108 on a forward earnings basis for Aurora, a Vancouver-based producer. Canopy, the countrys largest medicinal producer, has a ratio of enterprise value to trailing 12-month sales of 50. That compares to 1.3 for Quebec-based pharmacy chain Jean Coutu Group (PJC) Inc. Enterprise value is market value plus debt.

For their part, many pot companies say investors are betting on future growth.

The stocks are not overvalued, OrganiGram CEO Denis Arsenault said. Volumes have risen alongside prices, which signals that investment funds are becoming more comfortable with the industry and the idea that a legal one will soon exist in Canada, he said. The investment community is waking up to the reality this is going to happen.

Cam Battley, executive vice-president of Aurora, whose market value has risen to $769 million from about $66 million this year, said that unlike pharmaceutical companies, which have long lead times between startup and generating revenue, marijuana companies will become profitable faster as theres pent-up demand for product and millions of potential customers. Its been a remarkable fast growth period for us, Battley said.

Canopy has more than half a million square feet of production space and has proven it can raise and deploy capital, CEO Bruce Linton said. Smith Falls, Ontario-based Canopy, which operates out of an old Hershey chocolate factory, has the most substantial production facilities and Canada will have a multibillion-dollar marijuana market when prohibition ends, he said.

OrganiGram rose 0.3 per cent to $3.42 at 9:54 a.m. in Toronto Thursday, Aurora was up 0.7 per cent to $2.12, and Canopy fell 0.8 per cent to $10.65.

In the U.S., the cannabis market in legal states totalled $8 billion in 2015 and is expected to reach $66 billion in 2026, according to data from Cowen & Co. But the drug remains illegal at the federal level and publicly traded companies are largely in auxiliary industries selling such things as seed kits and lotions, or raising investment funds for the industry.

That makes Canada a destination for investors who want to focus on producing and distributing the drug, Brendan Kennedy, CEO of Seattle-based Privateer Holdings Inc. said. Privateer has raised $158 million to invest in cannabis companies, including closely held British Columbia-based producer Tilray.

That said, securities regulators have issued an unprecedented number of warnings to investors regarding the risks of cannabis penny stocks, Kennedy said.

Last year, a review of issuers entering the medical pot business by the Canadian Securities Administrators found 25 raised serious investor protection concerns due to deficiencies in their disclosures.

Most of these companies are unproven, Kennedy said in a Dec. 5 telephone interview. Theyre all based on a hope and a prayer. Still, theres massive opportunities in the industry with other countries such as Germany and Australia also looking at moving into medical marijuana, he said.

While Affinor investor Brusatore is bracing for a pot bust, hes betting another big investor will eventually move into the sector: Big Tobacco.

Im pretty sure the tobacco boys are already getting their tie ups happening right now.

With assistance from Jennifer Kaplan Eric Lam and Aoyon Ashraf

SHARE:
Jackie

Starring Natalie Portman, Billy Crudup, Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig, John Hurt, John Carroll Lynch and Caspar Phillipson. Directed by Pablo Larrain. Opens Friday at the Varsity. 100 minutes. PG

Natalie Portmans Jacqueline Kennedy glares at an inquiring journalist, and by extension the movie audience, to deliver her definition of reality.

The truth? she says, in a voice of cynicism and regret.

Well, Ive grown accustomed to a great divide between what people believe and what I know to be real.

This early scene in Jackie, set a week after President John F. Kennedys 1963 assassination, lays out the challenge for viewers and for Chilean director Pablo Larrain (No, Neruda), who approaches the subject of his first English-language film as a sympathetic yet insistent outsider.

Do we go with the Jacqueline Kennedy of legend, the meek spouse timidly leading a televised White House tour and later the pink-suited grieving widow of JFK and his lost Camelot era? Or do we go in closer, as cinematographer Stephane Fontaine frequently does, and reveal the woman of stoicism and guile, one determined to both serve and shape history?

Larrain opts to do both in Jackie, which is not the biopic it has often wrongly been described as since its TIFF premiere. The action occurs mainly during those terrible late-November days of 63, when it seemed the world might drown in tears.

What emerges is more serious docudrama: a fully rendered vision of a woman ill-served by most previous accounts, featuring an Oscar-worthy lead performance by Portman. Its also one of the years best movies.

Noah Oppenheims screenplay frames the story with a lengthy interview Jacqueline gave to journalist/author Theodore H. White in the Kennedy familys Massachusetts retreat a week after JFKs death.

Its not White per se whom Billy Crudup is icily portraying, but rather an anonymous journalistic Everyman, who wants to give America a sobbing witness to tragedy. Hes nonplussed to encounter a chain-smoking master manipulator, one who denies even the fact that she smokes.

Portman plays both sides of Jacqueline Kennedy with equal facility. Larrain intercuts B&W images of her as the breathy First Lady, taking Americans on a tour of the peoples house in a televised Valentines Day tour in 1962, with colour ones of the dutiful minutes before the assassination and the sorrowful days of resolve that followed it.

All eyes are rightly upon Portman, even as other superb actors enter the frame: Crudups just-the-facts journo, Greta Gerwigs smooth social secretary, John Hurts wise padre, Peter Sarsgaards authoritarian Bobby Kennedy, John Carroll Lynchs ill at ease LBJ, Caspar Phillipsons almost ghostly JFK.

A word about Mica Levis distinctive score, one redolent of mournful strings that sound weighed down by tragedy and confused by events. Theyre the perfect audio accompaniment to Jackie, a masterful movie that presents both myth and truth and trusts us to discern the difference between the two.

SHARE:
OTTAWAThe federal government says Canada will spend $2.3 billion to replace the militarys ancient search-and-rescue planes with 16 new aircraft from European aerospace giant Airbus.

The Airbus C-295 will replace the air forces existing planes, Public Procurement Minister Judy Foote announced today at Canadian Forces Base Trenton, one of the four bases where the new aircraft will be located.

This is a significant investment to replace our fleets of Buffalo and Hercules aircraft, strengthen Canadas capability to conduct search-and-rescue operations and keep Canadians safe, she said as Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and Royal Canadian Air Force commander Lt.-Gen. Mike Hood stood nearby.

Airbus beat out Italian firm Leonardo and Brazils Embraer to win the contract.

The announcement, which includes an option for a 20-year maintenance contract that would increase the price-tag to $4.7 billion, has been a long time coming.

The effort to replace the Buffalo and older-model Hercules planes, some of which have been flying since the 1960s, was mired in controversy and delays for more than a decade.

The project was first launched in 2002, but was quickly derailed after the military was accused of rigging its requirements for a new search-and-rescue plane to favour one design.

The military denied the charges, but the government nonetheless took the project out of the hands of National Defence and set up numerous checks and balances that only now have produced a winner.

Sajjan said the new C-295 planes will be a game-changer when it comes to helping the military respond to emergencies around the country.

Today we reaffirm our commitment to our women and men in uniform, he said. Our dedicated SAR team embodies our militarys commitment to protecting Canadians here, at home, no matter where they are.

Foote also touted the contract as a big boost to the Canadian economy, as Airbus has paired with a number of local companies to provide the planes engines as well as simulators and maintenance.

Canadas leading commercial and defence aerospace companies will be able to leverage new opportunities with Airbus, she said.

The first C-295 are to be delivered in 2019, with the last due to arrive in 2022.

SHARE:
Imagine this. A candidate for a major federal party is speaking at an outdoor rally to a fairly energized crowd.

Suddenly, that crowd, many of them smiling, starts to chant: Lock Muslims up! Lock Muslims up!

The candidate, captured for a few seconds on video, clearly smiles, and as the crowd continues its hateful chant, he raises one arm and begins to keep time with them: Lock Muslims up!

Its all over in a flash, and later, despite clear video evidence of him smiling, when questioned about the chant, the candidate claims: a) he was mortified by the hateful language; but b) it isnt up to him to tell people how to feel.

That candidate would be toast. He would be finished politically for allowing, even for a split second, a dangerous racist chant to go on under his watch instead of immediately frowning, raising his hand in a stop gesture and strongly telling the crowd: We dont talk that way about Muslims, or about any group.

So tell me, why is it OK, even for a few seconds, to allow a crowd to yell about a woman leader, in this case, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley: Lock her up!

That candidate, Chris Alexander, seeking the leadership of the federal conservative party, has been roundly condemned for his do nothing in the moment reaction last weekend to the chant, including by members of his own party.

Interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose said the chanters were acting like idiots.

But the real problem was Alexander. It was his moment, standing on the steps of the Alberta legislature, to be a leader. He failed it. We will see if his leadership bid survives this moment. My feeling is it should not.

After all, we know where the chant Lock her up comes from. It was part of now U.S. President-elect Donald Trumps sustained, misogynist and untruthful campaign against his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. And it was very successful, both as a device to demonize Clinton, and as a gateway to many more disturbing gender specific insults, which were not delivered with smiles but with rage: Trump the bitch, being one of the more printable ones.

This direct attacking of female politicians has to be vigorously called out in Canada, no matter how cornily derivative and even meaningless the Lock her up chant is. NDP Premier Rachel Notley has so far as I know, not even been falsely accused of a prison worthy crime.

Her sin is to be a quietly assertive female leader in oil country, intent on both improving a desperately sinking economy while implementing climate change strategies to protect the future.

Those who yelled Lock her up looked pretty benign and stupid, frankly, but wait till the chant moves to Ontario and picks up steam. Wait till its Premier Kathleen Wynnes turn to hear Lock her up!

The bigger question is why are we standing by when female political leaders are being subjected to this offensive crap, including hate-filled sexist tweets and other social media insults?

A week or so ago, Alberta member of the legislature Sandra Jansen stunned the house by reading a string of viciously sexist messages  traitorous bitch! directed at her after she switched from the Conservatives to Notleys NDP: Now you have two blond bimbos in a party that is clueless, read one of them.

A female colleague of mine wrote witheringly that Jansen was engaged in a self-pity party and should instead man up and face those insults alone instead of exhorting her colleagues to acknowledge and decry them.

Really. The only person who needed to man up last weekend was Chris Alexander, and he failed miserably, both as a man and as a leader.

Hate against women has no ideological home. Left wing radicals from the 60s were scathing in their attempts to demean their female counterparts and keep them in their place. A bed was often mentioned as a good place for them.

Thats partly why, as second-wave feminism gained steam and women fought for every inch of their rights, for equality in the home and good jobs and real political power, that the phrase the personal is political became a mantra for women. They knew that even well-meaning men who loved them would have trouble with them holding and wielding real power.

Sexist insults are personal, but they are also political. I am beyond fed up with anyone  academics, politicians, pundits  excusing or downplaying this public sexism and vitriol directed at female leaders. It hurts us all. It takes up valuable space and time to fight against it.

Take this column for example. I had planned to write about the women who had inspired me this past year and instead I had to use it to knock a puny man who didnt even have the balls to shut down a feeble lock her up chant directed against a woman whose strength should make him hang his head.

Youre familiar with the great movie line Nobody puts Baby in a corner? Well, nobody shouts Lock HER up or smilingly allows it, without getting a whupping from me.

This isnt a self-pity party, its a power posse of women from all walks of life who have had enough.

Judith Timson writes weekly about cultural, social and political issues. You can reach her at judith.timson@sympatico.ca and follow her on Twitter @judithtimson.

Read more about:

SHARE:
Taking a vacation with my kids usually ends in tears (for me). But now that they are beyond tantrum-throwing histrionics, its time for a traditional Canadian vacation.

By this I mean Orlando, Fla.

In search of magical family moments and some Muggle fun, we hit the theme parks. My kids love every overstimulated second.

Once we negotiate the parameters of consumer exchange (You only get to buy one souvenir each, kids, and it better be under $30 US. Do you know what the exchange rate is?) my husband and I enjoy it too.

Butterbeer is addictive. I drink it cold, frozen, and ice creamed. We go on rides, most of which are 3D movies come to life, and walk through acres of carefully curated gift shops.

After six days of wondering what it would be like to never shovel snow again, our Canadian pilgrimage is almost complete. Except for one last thing: a trip to the beach.

My husband cant swim, but is fascinated with the ocean. He tells me about a childhood visit to a beach near Trivandrum, Kerala. It is the southernmost tip of India, where three bodies of water  the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean, and the Arabian Sea  meet. There was something about the experience that has stayed with him since.

Thats great, honey, I counter. But our hotel has a nice pool. It has two of them. And a hot tub. And a boardwalk. Why do we have to drive to the Atlantic Ocean?

Its only 60 miles away. I really want to do this.

You mean you really want to use up the gas you prepaid on the rental car.

We make it to the beach in just over an hour. Since we have a flight to catch in the evening, we are dressed in dark track pants and long sleeve shirts. It is 30 degrees and we dont have any towels, umbrellas, or beach toys, except for two plastic water bottles.

I heroically refrain from pointing this out as my husband looks for parking, then looks for some American change to feed the meter, which does not like our Canadian credit cards. I also dont tell him that if I had planned a day at the beach, I would have remembered our water shoes.

We settle down on the sand, sitting on our jackets. The beach is nearly empty. My kids, each holding a water-bottle-turned-sand-toy, approach the ocean with their track pants rolled up. My younger son starts mixing sand and water, the foundation for a sand fortress. The older chases waves and skims rocks. My husband looks out across the water, a faraway look in his eyes. We are each in our own world. I lean back and let the sun warm my face.

In science class I am teaching the space unit. We are learning about how far things are from each other, and about the solar system. I tell my students that our sun is a small middle-aged star, and that in the vastness of space, Earth is a mere speck. They find this a little bit scary.

I think about space as my husband and I sit on the edge of the ocean and a continent, watching our sons play and the clouds drift. All the resentment I felt at being dragged here disappears, and in that moment I feel something  zen, flow, peace.

There is sunshine on my heart. I am small, and I am content.

During the winter months ahead, I will replay this memory. The one that didnt require an admission ticket, the one that made me want to zoom in, freeze frame, and remember.

Just dont tell my husband, or well wind up at the Pacific Ocean next.

Uzma Jalaluddin is a high school teacher in the York Region. She writes about parenting and other life adventures. Reach her at ujalaluddin@outlook.com .

SHARE:
VICTORIAAlberta Premier Rachel Notley showed courage visiting British Columbia to voice her support for Kinder Morgans Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, Premier Christy Clark said Wednesday.

Clark said Notley bravely came to B.C. to make her provinces case in favour of the $6.8 billion oil pipeline project.

I think Rachel Notley did the right thing, Clark said in a conference call with reporters. I know it takes courage to come to a place where people may not be happy with the decision.

Notley was in Vancouver this week meeting with various media outlets, but did not hold any public events. She also met with B.C.s Opposition New Democrat Leader John Horgan, who opposes the pipeline project.

The expansion would triple the capacity of the existing pipeline, which runs from near Edmonton to Burnaby, B.C., and increase tanker traffic seven-fold. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently announced federal approval of the pipeline project, saying it was in the national interest.

Clark said the federal and Alberta governments have the most to gain from the Kinder Morgan project.

A Conference Board of Canada report earlier this year pegged the projects economic benefits to the provincial and federal governments at $18.5 billion in revenues over the pipelines first 20 years of operations.

The premier said the five conditions B.C. set for approving the project are close to being met.

Clark said her government is still working with Ottawa on spill response and is preparing to negotiate an economic benefits package with Kinder Morgan that reflects B.C.s risks associated with the pipeline and increased tanker traffic.

She also repeated her suggestion that Trudeau come to B.C. to publicly detail his governments support for the pipeline expansion.

The premiers are meeting with the prime minister in Ottawa Friday where the issue will likely come up for discussion along with environmental and health-care issues, Clark said.

Notley said Wednesday in Edmonton that her trip to B.C. helped give Albertas side of the debate.

I was pretty pleased with the degree to which we were able to inject some of the other facts and maybe bring down the intensity (of the debate) a little bit, she said.

Notley said she didnt expect to change Horgans mind on his opposition to the project.

There is more that unites us than divides us (between BC and Alberta NDP), but this is an issue on which we are currently divided, she said.

Read more about:

SHARE:
OTTAWAPrime Minister Justin Trudeau is sitting down with premiers to finalize a long-awaited national plan on climate change, but once those discussions wrap up, they will move right into a heated debate over health-care funding.

We want to talk about health care, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall said Wednesday, pointing out that the first-ministers meeting beginning Thursday in Ottawa is the second such gathering devoted to curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

We hope even if its only shoe-horned into the agenda, that we can have some discussion about whats going to be taking place in health-care funding.

That discussion is expected to take place at a working dinner Friday evening  after the official meeting on climate change is finished  when federal sources say Trudeau will tell the provincial and territorial premiers he is ready to listen to any of their concerns unrelated to the environment.

The only topic anyone is expecting to come up is health-care spending, and whether the Liberals are willing to budge on the plan to cut the annual increase to the Canada Health Transfer from 6 per cent to 3 per cent  a plan brought in by the Conservatives that is set to take effect in April  and what they might ask for in return.

The premiers had demanded some face time with Trudeau on the subject, saying they wanted that to come before they were willing to talk about climate change. The working dinner is viewed as a compromise meant to allow room for talking about health care without derailing the main event.

No one is expecting a new deal to be reached by the time dessert is served  especially if there are lingering tensions from the climate change talks  but those on both sides of the argument are hoping for a meaningful discussion that lays the groundwork for more detailed negotiations to come.

That would include a Dec. 19 meeting of finance ministers, which the health ministers have been invited to join, but sources from two provincial governments said they are also still insisting on a full-fledged gathering of premiers with Trudeau on the issue early next year.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said she and her fellow premiers are agreed that a 3-per-cent annual increase is not enough.

There is a real unanimity across the country among premiers and ministers of health that the cut from a 6-per-cent increase to a 3-per-cent increase is going to have severe impacts on our health-care system, said Wynne.

I just dont see the wisdom in forcing cuts in the health-care system at this moment in time, echoed B.C. Premier Christy Clark.

The federal government, meanwhile, has been trying to separate the amount of the health transfer from a new health accord, which it views as a way to set shared goals on priorities such as home care and mental health.

Senior government sources also said Trudeau plans to stick by his message that funding for the accord must be targeted at agreed upon priorities.

The government has promised $3 billion over four years to improve access to home care  separate from the transfer payments  but is open to increasing that amount, as well as the time period, if it applies to other shared priorities such as mental health.

That could be where they find a compromise, as the provinces were concerned about having to deliver new services and then be stuck covering their cost after the time-allocated funding ran out.

A senior federal source also said there is little opposition to the idea that Quebec might negotiate its own agreement, as has happened in the past.

Health Minister Jane Philpott said Wednesday that nothing has been decided yet.

She also suggested funding for home care and other priority areas could go up in the future if it proves to be a good investment.

If in fact we come to some agreement around investments in mental health, for example, and we see that our investments have done well and that in fact people are able to get better access to care, are able to achieve better health outcomes, that would certainly encourage us to continue our investments, Philpott said.

Thats one of the reasons why its important for us to make sure we target those funds and we look at the outcomes achieved, she said.

Read more about:

SHARE:
HALIFAXA former Canadian Forces member who says a series of aggressive investigations into her sexual orientation hounded her out of the military in the late 1980s is leading a class action lawsuit against Ottawa.

Alida Satalics lawsuit, submitted on Tuesday, spans the years 1969 to 1995 and applies to anyone who served in Atlantic Canada.

Lawyer John McKiggan says in the statement of claim, which has not been proven in court, that between the 1950s and 1990s the Canadian government engaged in a campaign to identify, harass and purge lesbians and gays from the Armed Forces.

It names Satalic as the representative plaintiff in the class action, saying the lesbian former postal clerk was mistreated and harassed while she was serving her country.

It says she was repeatedly interrogated by investigation units on the pretext of security screenings, and was asked about her sexual relationships in detail.

The claim says she dropped out of the military as a corporal in 1989 after learning she had no career prospects, re-enrolled in 1993 and then left again years later.

According to court documents, Satalic joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1981 at Canadian Forces Base Cornwallis in Deep Brook, N.S., and served at three bases.

It says after she told investigators about her sexual orientation, Satalic was given the option of staying in the military with no further training or promotions, or a release from service as Not Advantageously Employable.

She accepted the release.

The statement of claim says Satalics career, earnings and pension all suffered.

McKiggan said in an interview that she only returned to the military after its policy on investigating gay people ceased in 1993.

Alida simply wanted to serve her country . . . She liked her job and she wanted to go back to serving her country. So when the policy of discrimination was changed she returned to a job she enjoyed, he said.

An email from a Canadian Armed Forces official said DND is aware of the lawsuit and is reviewing the details to determine its next steps.

The lawsuit is claiming $100 million for the federal governments breach of duty of care, fiduciary duty and violation of charter rights, plus a further $50 million in punitive damages.

In wider allegations, the lawsuit says a special security team created in 1946 harassed known gay people until the mid-1990s, long after Canada decriminalized homosexual sex in 1969.

McKiggan said he has asked for a hearing before the Federal Court in the new year to set deadlines for the next steps in the proceeding.

SHARE:
It was the first story Anisa Hassan saw when she checked the news Thursday morning.

Civil rights pioneer Viola Desmond, a black woman, will be immortalized on Canadas $10 bill.

Called the Rosa Parks of Canada, Desmond defied the colour barrier at a New Glasgow, N.S., movie house in 1946.

When the new banknotes enter circulation in 2018, Desmond will be the first woman who is not a Royal to have her face featured on Canadian currency.

For Hassan, a young black woman in Toronto, the announcement holds particular significance.

For as long as I can remember, Ive always wondered what it would be like to see people that look like me represented in different parts of our everyday lives, said Hassan, 25.

For it to be on our money, its a big deal.

In 2014, while studying criminology at Ryerson University, Hassan won one of the schools Viola Desmond Awards, honouring the achievements of black female faculty, staff and students.

Hassan was rooting for Desmond as the Government of Canada prepared to put a woman on the new banknotes.

Desmond was a beautician, owner of Vis Studio of Beauty Culture in Halifax and a beauty school for black women.

On Nov. 8, 1946, trying to see a movie in New Glasgows Roseland Theatre, she was told that, because she was black, she would only be allowed to sit in the balcony.

Refusing to bow to segregation, the 32-year-old Desmond took a seat on the main floor of the theatre, normally reserved for whites and refused to move.

Desmond was arrested and spent the night in jail, then charged the following day with attempting to defraud the provincial government, for failing to pay the one-penny tax on ground-floor seats. A judge fined her $20 and ordered her to pay an additional $6 in court costs.

In the months after the incident, Desmond fought to have her charge reversed. Her case was taken as high as the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, and, ultimately, her appeal was dismissed in 1947.

She died in 1965 at age 50.

In 2010, Desmond was granted a posthumous pardon by then-Lt.-Gov. Mayann Francis, and a public apology from then-premier Darrell Dexter.

On Thursday morning, Finance Minister Bill Morneau, Status of Women Minister Patty Hajdu and Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz announced that Desmond had beaten out four other finalists to be the new face of the $10 bill.

Its a big day to have a woman on a banknote, said Desmonds sister, Wanda Robson, who spoke at the ceremony. Its really big day to have my big sister on a banknote.

She would be so very proud, Robson added.

Yusra Khogali, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Toronto, said she had a lot of mixed feelings upon hearing Desmond would appear on the $10 bill.

I thought, symbolically, it was really powerful, but theres also the reality that (it doesnt) mean anything, unless politics is also affected, Khogali said.

Theres continuous attacks on black women on every level of society (from) education to politics to media representations to even the way police engage with us . . . and we know that this is not doing anything to address that.

Still, she said, the new banknote will be a reminder of the segregation lurking in Canadas history, and of a powerful woman who stood against it.

I think this can be a really big step for us, to advocate and push forward the narratives of blackness and slavery within Canada and how it looks today, said Khogali.

Desmond was one of five accomplished, barrier-breaking women shortlisted for the banknote honour.

The runners up were Mohawk artist and poet E. Pauline Johnson; Olympic gold medalist Bobbie Rosenfeld; journalist, feminist and suffragette Idola Saint-Jean, and Canadas first practicing female engineer, Elsie MacGill, who also became the worlds first female aircraft designer.

For Darrell Bowden, a staffer in Ryersons Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, and the organizer of the Viola Desmond awards, the recognition is long overdue.

Theres a lot about Viola Desmond that I think we need to be celebrating, said Bowden. For what she has done for Canada generally, for black people, and for black women, a population that we know has not always been given the best press.

Bowden grew up in New Glasgow, the town where Desmond was arrested. He lamented that far more Canadians seem to know U.S. civil rights figure Rosa Parks than Desmond.

Viola was not the Rosa Parks of Canada. Rosa Parks was the Viola Desmond of America, he said.

SHARE:
If the federal Conservatives are looking for a leader liable to hold his or her own against Justin Trudeau in a French-language election debate in 2019, then more than half of the current contenders for Stephen Harpers succession are wasting their time.

Based on Tuesday nights bilingual debate, only half-a-dozen make the cut.

To no ones surprise the group includes the two Quebec candidates. Maxime Berniers fluency in English is equal or superior to the French-language skills of his rivals. Measured against the low average of the language skills of the competition, Steven Blaneys English also makes the grade. Former ministers Chris Alexander and Michael Chong, former House of Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer, and Vancouver businessman Rick Peterson round out the list.

A francophone politician who ran for a national leadership position with as little proficiency in the other official language as some of the former senior ministers who are vying for Harpers job would be laughed off the stage.

Neither Lisa Raitt nor Erin OToole  the favourite candidates of some Parliament Hill insiders  could survive an interview on Radio-Canadas prime time talk show Tout le monde en parle, let alone advance the Conservative cause on a French-language debate podium.

Kellie Leitch is said to have spent weeks in French immersion last summer. The result only goes to show that acquiring second-language skills is easier said than done.

Backers of the non-bilingual candidates argue that with more than two years between the election of a leader next May and the 2019 federal campaign, there should be enough time for whoever is selected to improve his or her French.

The fact is that Canadas current auditor general, Michael Ferguson, who was not bilingual at the time of his appointment, is quite comfortable giving interviews in French five years later. Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin similarly became proficient in French after she was elevated to the Supreme Court.

But neither had to win a leadership campaign to arrive at their positions.

Under the Conservative formula, every riding weighs equally in the result. Absent a prohibitive front-runner, a candidate will likely have to be the second choice of a good many of his or her rivals supporters to prevail. It will be virtually impossible to win without significant support in Quebec.

Given a choice, it is a rare Quebec Conservative who would want a leader who is not fluent in French. That is not just true of Quebecers. For many Canadians it is a given that those who aspire to be prime minister should be bilingual.

Even if they wanted to, the Quebec MPs who are currently unaligned would have a hard time selling a non-bilingual contender to their riding associations.

Just ask Belinda Stronach. In 2004, Quebecs Tory establishment was desperate for someone to block Harpers path to the leadership. For lack of a stronger alternative, many of its members threw their support behind the non-bilingual Stronach. But those high-profile endorsements failed to translate into grassroots support.

There are those who believe the Conservatives need not fret about Quebecs language preferences. After all, did not Harper secure a majority in 2011 with only a handful of seats from that province? Yes, but that was before the Liberals got their act back together.

A year in, Trudeaus popularity in his home province stands 15 points over his partys election score. In no other region of the country has Liberal support increased as much since the partys arrival in power.

Not all the credit for that goes to Trudeau. The NDP decision to oust Thomas Mulcair is part of the mix. It will be hard for the New Democrats to find a replacement with as much gravitas in Quebec. So far, none has materialized.

That means the next Conservative Party of Canada leader may not be able to count on the division of the non-conservative vote to win seats in Quebec in 2019. Without a four-way split in the 2015 vote, Harper would not have come out of his last campaign with more Quebec MPs. The Conservative share of the popular vote did not increase.

With the Bloc Quebecois a spent force and the NDP about to trade down to a less Quebec-savvy leader, a language-challenged Conservative rival may be all that Trudeau needs to succeed in restoring the Quebec Liberal fortress his father built.

Chantal Hebert is a national affairs writer. Her column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Read more about:

SHARE:
The Toronto Community Housing board voted Thursday to amend its 2017 budget, taking $19 million in recently identified surplus funds in order to reduce a $35.2-million shortfall.

That change takes some pressure off Mayor John Tory and the budget committee, who are looking to close a $91-million gap in the citys overall operating budget.

Having used most of the surplus to cut the shortfall, TCHC will likely use money from a different source to boost its spending to fix crumbling buildings. It's expected that the board will draw $22 million from special reserve funds specifically for capital repairs  further burdening the city's finances in 2018. But it helps TCHC to fund a total of $250 million in repairs next year.

Choosing to use the surplus in this way, which is ultimately up to the board, contradicts advice from interim CEO Greg Spearn that the priority for any additional funds should be capital repairs and residents' homes.

Toronto Community Housing does not have the money to maintain our residents units at a proper state of repair today and we certainly dont have the money to improve them properly for the future, Councillor Joe Cressy, who sits on the board, told the Star. The City of Toronto should take a stand in repair of good, decent housing for residents of TCHC and unfortunately we let the city off the hook today.

Cressy requested all surplus funds be directed toward capital repairs. He was overruled by the board, which instead approved a motion from Councillor Ana Bailao, the citys advocate for affordable housing and a member of Torys executive committee.

Bailao moved that $19 million in surplus go toward the corporations operating shortfall and any remainder be directed to capital repairs.

Without additional funds, TCH has budgeted to spend less next year on repairs than it did in 2016. While $250 million was spent this year, only $228 million was budgeted for next year.

By the end of 2017, the city will have spent some $870 million on repairs  or a third of the total $2.6-billion repairs backlog. There is currently not funding available to fund the rest of the repairs.

Cressy said the board should not be decreasing its request from the city to balance the books with quality of life for tenants at stake.

Bailao said she thought it was important that the city understand the shortfall of $35.2 million and that its in front of them.

What were doing here is basically telling staff were going to be prudent, she told the board.

TCH spokesperson Lisa Murray said the final surplus total will be determined in the New Year and that it is mostly made up of one-time revenues from the sale of stand-alone homes owned by TCH and $21 million in Ontario Clean Energy and water credits.

City staff are to report back in the first quarter of 2017 about how to implement recommendations from the mayors community housing task force. That body advised council to break up TCH and create a new mix of subsidized-to-affordable homes to increase revenues.

SHARE:
Investigators were called to a shooting Wednesday evening that became Torontos 64th homicide of 2016.

The victim, a man in his 40s, was found outside a business in East York with serious injuries. Toronto Police Const. Craig Brister said officers were first called to the scene, near Donlands Ave. and Plains Rd., at around 9:52 p.m.

Toronto Paramedic Services rushed the victim to a trauma centre with life-threatening injuries. He later died of his injuries, police confirmed around 11 p.m.

Officers dont have a description of possible suspects as of Wednesday evening.

An investigation continues.

SHARE:
The victim of a deadly shooting in East York on Wednesday night was likely killed by a single gunshot, Toronto police said Thursday.

Ardian Kaloshi, 46, who was known to police, was gunned down outside a social club on Donlands Ave., said Det.-Sgt. Mike Patterson. No suspects have been publicly identified.

Were hoping for video to crack this wide open, Patterson said.

Police were called to 393 Donlands Ave., near Plains Rd., shortly before 10 p.m. Wednesday for reports of gunshots. When they arrived, they found Kaloshi outside the club, suffering from obvious head injuries, Patterson said.

Paramedics rushed Kaloshi to St. Michaels hospital via emergency run, where he succumbed to his injuries.

It was unclear Thursday morning what kind of gun was used in the shooting, but Patterson said initial information suggested Kaloshi was killed by a single bullet.

After the shooting, Patterson said some witnesses inside the unmarked social club fled the scene.

I need you to come forward and contact us, he said, speaking to those witnesses directly.

The club had never been an issue for police before Wednesday night, Patterson added.

As dawn broke on Thursday, investigators were continuing to canvass the area for video footage of the incident.

The shooting marks Torontos 64th homicide of 2016.

SHARE:
A Brampton man who was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman while she was clearly too intoxicated to consent has fled to Pakistan before he could be sentenced.

In fact  as court heard for the first time Thursday  this is the second time Moazzam Tariq, 29, has fled to Pakistan to avoid jail time while on bail.

Had we known his history he would have been put in custody immediately, Ontario Court Justice Mara Greene said incredulously, adding that Tariq likely would not have been granted bail at all on the sexual assault charge had this information been available to the Crown.

On the record that we had, there was no way we could have known Mr. Tariq would have absconded. On the record that we now know it was a foregone conclusion.

Through an apparent failure to update the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC), the central database used to look up criminal records, the Toronto Crown office and Toronto police were not aware that Tariq was charged by Peel Police in January 2010 with dangerous driving causing bodily harm  and that he fled to Pakistan in September 2010 while on bail with his father Mohmood Tariq as surety.

Tariq was arrested attempting to re-enter Canada in September 2011.

According to the occurrence report he told officers when he was arrested at Pearson that he left Canada to avoid jail on his outstanding criminal charges. He told them he spent the last year in Pakistan as well as various countries in Europe, Crown prosecutor Jill Witkin told the court.

Tariq was charged with failing to appear and robbery, and promptly released on bail again two days later to his father and a second surety for $25,000.

Tariq pleaded guilty to dangerous driving in July 2012 and all other charges were withdrawn. He got a 90-day jail sentence to be served on weekends and 18 months probation.

After his sexual-assault trial, in a lengthy decision based in large part on shocking surveillance videos, Greene found Tariq raped the victim while she was extremely intoxicated and incapable of consenting, shortly after they met at a downtown Toronto nightclub.

Tariq will be sentenced in absentia on Dec. 19. The Crown is seeking a sentence of three years. No submissions were made by Tariqs lawyer.

Greene questioned Thursday whether Tariqs father  who was Tariqs surety again in July 2015 after Tariq was charged with sexual assault  was asked at the 2015 bail hearing what had happened when he acted as a surety in the past.

Mohmood Tariq only told the Justice of the Peace that, while Tariq was on bail for an assault charge, he committed a minor breach because he lived within 500 metres of a school, Witkin said. The bail condition was changed, Mohmood Tariq said, and there were no other problems.

(When the Star called Mohmood Tariq on Thursday he said, Sorry, no, then hung up the phone.)

Witkin said questions about Tariq fleeing to Pakistan when his father was a surety were not asked, because the Crown and duty counsel were not aware of those charges since they were not in CPIC.

This happens sometimes, Witkin said. We continuously experience frustration when CPIC is not updated.

When he left the country, Tariq was on a $10,000 bail and required to live with his father, his surety, in Brampton with a curfew of 10 p.m. He had to surrender his Pakistani passport after his conviction, but was permitted to remain on bail.

Witkin said Thursday that Tariq used a Pakistani passport to leave the country on Nov. 18  from Montreal to Qatar then to Pakistan.

The court and Crown first learned Tariq was missing last week when he did not show up at his sentencing hearing.

Tariq had actually been reported to have breached his bail on Nov. 24 when his father revoked his bail, court heard.

His father told police Tariq told him he was in Vancouver on business but would return for his court date.

A nationwide warrant for Tariqs arrest was issued on Dec. 5, but by then hed been out of the country for two weeks.

Your Honour can make a reasonable inference that he will not be returning and will not be found prior to Dec. 19, Witkin said.

Witkin told the court last week a hearing should be ordered to determine whether Tariqs father should forfeit the $10,000 bail.

Communication between jurisdictions clearly needs to be improved, Greene said.

I have found Mr. Tariq guilty of a serious personal injury offence that affects the core integrity of the human body. And the potential risk to others if he remains in the community, given his disregard for the legal system is really concerning, she said.

If there had been better communication mechanisms in place, if CPIC was updated properly we would not be in this position.

Read more about:

SHARE:
A Toronto woman has pleaded guilty to animal cruelty after her dog was found to have prongs from a training collar embedded in his neck.

When staff at the Toronto Humane Society took in one-year-old Maddox, a Rottweiler-type dog they saw that his prong collar was embedded into this neck. The staff used bolt cutters and discovered that all 16 prongs in the collar were embedded, according to a media release from the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

For the most part he seemed okay but obviously the collar was embedded, said Tegan Buckingham, of the Toronto Humane Society. He grew into in and the collar got lodged into his neck.

It was a twist of fate for that dog, said Brandon James, an inspector with the OSPCA.

The collar was removed from the neck and it no longer has to live in the pain and discomfort that it was suffering, he said.

James said it is hard to say how long the dog was in pain and in this condition.

The animal is a year old, so in that first year  say the collar was put on the pup months earlier  the animal grew into that collar and the collar grew into the neck, he said. It was on for quite a while. The animal doesnt just grow. And the skin doesnt just grow. It was a significant amount of time to get to that point.

The dog has now been adopted by a new family.

On Sept. 12, Maddox, was surrendered by the owner, Latifa Badri, 31, and taken into the care of the Toronto Humane Society, the release said. The owner of Maddox said she started to notice a few prongs from the dogs prong training collar puncture his neck, it said.

On Nov. 29, 2016, Badri pleaded guilty to one count of causing an animal to be in distress and one count of permitting an animal to be in distress. She was sentenced to two years probation, a 10-year ban on owning or caring for animals and will be subject to random inspections by the OSPCA for three years.

Prong collars function similar to a shock collar where they provide a little bit of a pain or a pinch to the dog so the dog corrects his behavior, explained Buckingham.

The Humane Society does not support the use of prong collars, she said.

The collar is usually made of steel with long, curved hooks.

You can imagine what the prongs would feel like 24/7  as long as the animal had the collar on it would feel like some type of poking into the neck in the beginning and later on where the collar grew into the neck, its pretty hard to think about what that dog wouldve felt.

SHARE:
Editors note  Oct. 16, 2020: In a Nov. 6, 2019 decision, a committee of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario found that the evidence showed that Dr. Howard Platnick had acted in good faith and there was no proof of any altering of reports. Platnick provided a fair and reasonable report that incorporated the opinions of the assessors, with no evidence that he altered any reports, according to the unanimous finding of the colleges five-person inquiries, complaints and reports committee. In light of those findings, the committee said it would take no further action on the complaint.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario is investigating a doctor who a Superior Court judge says wrote a misleading medical assessment about a car accident victim, to benefit an insurance company.

However, the practice of distorting medical assessments is widespread, according to both the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association (OTLA) and an organization representing car accident victims, both of which are calling for a public inquiry.

Justice Sean Dunphy last week issued a decision in which he described a 2014 executive summary report prepared by Dr. Howard Platnick about a woman injured in a car accident as on the face of it misleading.

Platnick, a Toronto family physician, had been retained by assessment company Sibley SLR to summarize reports of various specialists who had assessed the woman following the accident. Sibley had been retained to co-ordinate the assessments for TD Insurance.

The womans claim for coverage for catastrophic impairment was initially rejected by TD, partly based on Platnicks report.

But she successfully appealed the decision to the Financial Services Commission of Ontario where she was represented by lawyer Maia Bent at a 2014 arbitration hearing.

Following the hearing, Bent, then president-elect of the OTLA, wrote an email to 670 personal injury lawyers, alerting them to problems with Platnick and advising them that they should make sure to get all files from assessors and Sibley in similar cases.

Platnick sued her for libel, charging that his lucrative insurance practice had been severely impacted by her words, which were leaked and found their way into an insurance industry newsletter.

But Dunphy dismissed the lawsuit, writing that Bents comments were likely true and expressed in the public interest.

Platnicks lawyer, Tim Danson, said his client is appealing the ruling.

Danson welcomed the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) investigation, saying it could be blessing in disguise because it could help clear his clients name.

Dr. Platnick has done absolutely nothing wrong and has not yet had his day in court, he said.

Danson said if there is a public inquiry, he hopes that it would also look at the army of plaintiffs doctors who author reports that are favourable to their clients and lawyers.

Bents email stated that Platnicks report omitted observations from a neurologist that were favourable to her client.

The neurologist testified at the arbitration hearing that critically important sections of a report he had submitted to Sibley had been removed without his knowledge or consent, Bent wrote.

Bent stated that other doctors reports prepared for Sibley on the case had been rewritten, with conclusions changed from saying her client had a catastrophic impairment to not having one.

She also wrote that she represented a client on another case in which Platnick had changed the doctors decision from a marked to a moderate impairment.

CPSO spokesperson Kathryn Clarke confirmed Platnick is the subject of a probe, but was restricted by regulations from revealing the nature of it.

She explained that the college has a third-party reports policy that applies to physicians preparing reports and conducting examinations on behalf of third parties such as insurance companies.

When we receive a complaint that a physician has prepared a report or conducted medical examination for a third party report in a manner that may have contravened the policy and expectations set by the college, we investigate thoroughly, and take action as required, she said.

OTLA president Adam Wagman said his organization has for years been expressing concerns about medical assessments being distorted by doctors in favour of their insurer clients.

A public inquiry would shine a light on the type of thing we fear has been going on for a very long time, he said.

Rhona DesRoches, board chair of the FAIR Association of Victims for Accident Insurance Reform, said a public inquiry is necessary because a system that supports shoddy medical opinions for hire is clearly broken and punishes victims.

Kelsey Ingram, press secretary to provincial Finance Minister Charles Sousa, said the government has commissioned a review of the provinces auto insurance system, which is ongoing. Its aimed at identifying ways to improve health outcomes and lower costs.

TD and Sibley declined to comment, but Andrew McGrath, spokesperson for the Insurance Bureau of Canada, said: Medical professionals are often retained by claimants and insurers to provide independent medical assessment. Insurers and consumers rely on the advice of medical professionals when assessments are required. It is imperative that these professionals adhere to the codes and standards governing their profession and provide honest and accurate medical assessments.

SHARE:
The province announced changes to the law Thursday that would mean more acts of sexual abuse of patients lead to the mandatory revocation of a health care professionals licence.

Currently, under the antiquated Regulated Health Professions Act, most forms lead to automatic revocation, including penetration, oral sex and masturbation. But other acts, such as groping, do not, leaving the decision on revoking the licence to the discretion of a health regulatory colleges discipline committee.

The new rules announced Thursday by Health Minister Eric Hoskins follow a 2014 Star investigation into doctors still practicing after being found to have sexually abused their patients. That probe led to the creation of a task force to study the issue, and the changes announced Thursday were based on the task forces recommendations.

Hoskins told the Star he hopes the legislation will be passed by early spring after further debate.

Throughout the process were going to want to make sure that we hear from the various stakeholders and the patients who are either advocates themselves or who have been impacted, he said.

We want to make sure that their voices have been heard, so that we can continue to refine the legislation if necessary so that it speaks to the governments policy of zero tolerance.

Almost immediately following the proposal of the bill, a discrepancy emerged between what the government is proposing and what Ontarios largest health regulatory body, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO), is demanding.

Although the Liberals said they would expand the list of sexual abuse acts leading to mandatory revocation, the CPSO again reiterated Thursday that it is calling for mandatory revocation for all forms of physical sexual contact between a physician and patient.

The continued use of a list creates the impression that there are still some acts of sexual abuse which would not result in revocation, said medical malpractice lawyer Paul Harte.

Hoskins told the Star any finding of sexual abuse by a discipline committee that is not considered one of the acts leading to mandatory revocation would at minimum lead to an immediate suspension under the proposed changes.

He also indicated that discipline committees already have the ability under the existing law to revoke a licence even when not considered mandatory, and that there are opportunities during and after the legislative process to add more sexual acts to the list.

Im pleased to see that the government is responding to our recommendations and starting to implement changes that need to happen, Sheila Macdonald, a member of the recent task force and provincial co-ordinator of sexual assault and domestic violence treatment centres in Ontario, told the Star on Thursday.

Its a starting point. I look forward to the rest of the recommendations also being implemented. Some are easier to implement than others. I think theyre necessary, but theres going to be some challenges, but Im optimistic that this government has the desire to do what is best for patients in Ontario.

Loopholes in the legislation were highlighted this year in the case of Toronto doctor Javad Peirovy, who was found guilty of sexually abusing four female patients by a panel of the CPSO discipline committee. The panel found he had groped the womens breasts and nipples.

But despite the urging of the colleges lawyer to revoke Peirovys licence, the panel chose to suspend him for six months last April  a decision that earned a rare public rebuke from the colleges registrar.

The CPSO is now involved in a legal battle with Peirovy, urging a court to order a new penalty hearing so that it can again argue for Peirovys licence to be revoked.

The committee failed to recognize that changing social values around sexual abuse by physicians require stricter penalties, CPSO lawyer Elisabeth Widner told the judges in court Tuesday.

Other proposed changes announced Thursday include increasing access to patient therapy once a complaint has been made and new transparency rules that could see the colleges required to post more information about a health professional on their public registers online.

I think we have come to a place where a lot of people have lost confidence in the colleges, and every colleges main mandate is to protect the public, this is why they exist, said NDP health critic France Gelinas.

Once you have lost this trust from the public, something needed to be done . . . If (the bill) intends to rebuild confidence in the college system, it is something that I support.

What was not proposed was one of the main recommendations from the task forces report: the creation of an independent body to prosecute sexual abuse allegations against health professionals.

Hoskins would not commit to the creation of such a watchdog in an interview with the Star in September when the task force report was released. He again said Thursday that he wants to consult on that recommendation.

Macdonald described it as a very, very important recommendation that needs to be implemented.

I know it would take some work and substantial changes, and probably not something thats going to be well received by some of the colleges, she said. We need our patients to have trust and confidence in the system, to ensure that theyre safe.

SHARE:
At 73, retired developmental psychologist Audrey King leads a rich and fulfilling life.

She travels, attends a book club, chairs committees at her local church and shares her expertise as an advocate and guest speaker at professional gatherings.

A polio survivor who hasnt been able to use her legs or arms since she was a child, King has also spent part of her retirement years caring for her aging mother, Maisie, who died in 2012, just shy of her 101st birthday.

King was able to keep Maisie at home in the Don Mills-area condo they shared thanks to an innovative provincial program that allows people with physical disabilities to hire their own personal attendants to help with dressing, grooming, bathing and other activities of daily life.

A recent funding boost will allow more people like King to live independently.

For most of my professional life, I was the breadwinner while my mother kept the household going, got me up in the morning and looked after the meals, King says.

Suddenly, the roles were reversed.

The direct funding program  which was just being introduced in 1995 when her mothers health began to deteriorate  allowed King to hire her own personal attendants, so that she could co-ordinate home care and other supports to meet Maisies medical needs.

My mother had a much better quality of life living with me  at a fraction of the cost of a nursing home, King says. And look how long she lived.

Even though she sometimes wondered if her mother should be in a nursing home, King couldnt bear the thought of moving Maisie from her familiar surroundings.

I couldnt do it. In her confused state, I would never, ever want her to feel abandoned, King says. After all, she never abandoned me.

Without direct funding to help her manage her own needs, King says it would have been impossible to care for her mother.

Managed by Torontos Centre for Independent Living, the direct funding program is now in its 22nd year and serves about 850 people with physical disabilities across the province. About 400 people have inquired about funding and more than 100 are on the wait list.

An additional $5 million in provincial health ministry funding this fall will expand the annual budget to $43 million and extend the program to another 150 people. By March 2018, more than 1,000 people will be part of the program.

We are tremendously proud of this work and the invaluable support it provides individuals, many of whom would otherwise have to move to care facilities, and not be able to stay in their homes and communities, says Susan Fitzpatrick, CEO of the Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) which oversees the funding for the health ministry.

Unlike personal support care givers provided by an agency or a Community Care Access Centre, direct funding allows people with a physical disability to become the employer and manage their own attendants.

Prospective self-managers, as they are called, are interviewed by a panel of three people who assess their readiness as an employer to meet the obligations of the Employment Standards Act. Self-managers negotiate a budget with the centre, manage their attendant services and have a back-up plan in case an attendant is sick or otherwise unable to show up for work.

They determine the number of hours they need and pay their attendants based on the ministry mandated hourly wages of between $16.50 and $19.

The average self-manager uses just under five hours of attendant care a day and the current average monthly budget is about $4,200, including money for wages, benefits, employer taxes, postage, bookkeeping and miscellaneous costs, says program co-ordinator Leanne Larmondin.

But there is a broad range. Some who need alternate days or just several shifts a week, use as little as eight or nine hours a week while a person on a ventilator may need as much as 24 hours a day. Those with physical disabilities are eligible from age 16 and the oldest personal manager is in her 90s.

King loves the program because there are no agency policies and procedures to interfere with the assistance you need or how it happens.

The attendant can go with you to a cottage, on vacation, to help with shopping or trying on clothes in a store, she says. They can take you to appointments, help you get your mail, use the phone, organize your files, whatever your daily needs might be, she says.

As an employer, the accountability and responsibility between you and your attendant or attendants is direct. There is no middle manager off-site, she says. As a result, you respect each other and care about each other more.

It also fosters longer-term commitments, notes King, whose weekend attendant has been working for her for 16 years. Her weekday attendant was with her from 1995 until she retired two years ago.

For Derren Whiteman, 45, the program allowed him to move out of his parents home and into his own condo three years ago.

To me, it is freedom, says the technical writer and website designer who became a quadriplegic after a car accident when he was almost 17.

Since agency attendants dont work overnight, Whiteman says he could never have lived on his own without the flexibility of the program.

Now, if he gets a cold or is otherwise unwell  which he says rarely happens  his attendant can stay overnight and help clear his airways, if necessary.

Its really changed my life so much for the better, he says.

About 10 years ago the program allowed a GTA-area father who was diagnosed with ALS just after his wife died to stay home and look after his two boys. He was worried that if he went into long-term care, his kids, who were entering their teens, would have been orphaned and put into foster care, says the centres associate director Ing Wong-Ward, who has spinal muscular atrophy and uses the direct funding program herself.

This man got on the program not knowing what the outcome would be. But we were recently sent a photo of him at his sons wedding, Wong-Ward says. He is on a ventilator. He cannot move most of his body. But he has survived long enough to see his oldest child get married. And we have every reason to believe that he will be around to see the birth of his first grandchild.

More recently, the program enrolled a participant who came out as transgender male to female and has been able to hire people she knows who are trans-friendly.

When people are seeing your body naked, you dont want to be judged. If someone is imposed on you from an agency, even if someone is trained and professional, its still the subtleties that are really tricky, Wong-Ward notes.

The program has even funded a First Nations man in Northern Ontario who used an attendant to help him prepare game in the traditional way in keeping with his culture, she adds.

As advocates mark the United Nations International Day of Persons with a Disability this month, King and others hope the relatively small direct funding program continues to expand and change perceptions.

There is this sense that people with disabilities need to be taken care of and I hate that, King says. The program helps us take care of ourselves. The program gives us the power.

Every other adult is in control of their own lives, she says. This program helps put people with disabilities in the drivers seat.

SHARE:
MEUREUDU, INDONESIAHumanitarian organizations descended on Indonesias Aceh province Thursday as the local disaster agency called for urgent food supplies and officials raced to assess the full extent of damage from an earthquake that killed more than 100 people.

Volunteers and nearly 1,500 rescue personnel concentrated their search on the hard-hit town of Meureudu in Pidie Jaya district near the epicentre of the magnitude 6.5 quake that hit before dawn Wednesday. But the small number of heavy excavators on the scene meant progress was slow. Humanitarian assessment teams fanned out to other areas of the district.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the death toll had risen to 102 and warned it could increase. Search teams were using devices that detect mobile phone signals within a 100-metre radius to help guide their efforts as they scoured the rubble. The disaster agency said more than 750 people were injured.

We have to move faster to search and rescue possible survivors, said Iskander Ali, a Pidie Jaya official.

Those killed included very young children and the elderly. Mohammad Jafar, 60, said his daughter, granddaughter and grandson died in the quake but he was resigned to it as Gods will.

He was getting ready for morning prayers when the earthquake hit. He said he and his wife managed to push their way out through the debris. Another man said he found his 9-year-old daughter alive beneath a broken wall at his neighbours house.

Thousands of people are homeless or afraid to return to their houses. Nugroho said more than 11,000 people have been displaced and are staying at shelters and mosques or with relatives. About 10,500 homes were damaged and dozens of mosques and shop houses collapsed, he said.

Killer quakes occur regularly in the region, where many live with the terrifying memory of a giant Dec. 26, 2004, earthquake that struck off Sumatra. The magnitude-9.1 quake triggered a devastating tsunami that killed more than 100,000 Acehnese.

Iskandar, a Disaster Mitigation Agency official in Aceh, said staple foods for women and babies are most urgently needed. He said medicines are sufficient for the time being because assistance is coming from the army, police, state-run companies and local governments.

Whats badly needed now are staple foods such as rice, cooking oil, salted fish and other foods, said Iskandar. He said people had complained about a lack of clean water, but the problem has been tackled and electricity supply is returning to normal in many areas.

Nugroho, at a news conference in Jakarta, listed as urgent food and clothing, specialist doctors for victims suffering fractures, medical equipment, temporary shelters and heavy excavation equipment.

The Indonesian government sent 50 tonnes of urgent aid to Aceh, including 10 generators, tents, folding beds, baby supplies and body bags.

Every aid and civil society organization is piling into the area with as many boxes of rice, instant noodles, blankets and other aid as they can shift, said Paul Dillon, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, which has an assessment team in northern Aceh.

It will take at least two more days before theres a fuller picture of how many people are displaced and the relief effort required, he said. On Twitter, the IOM said one mosque was sheltering 2,000 displaced women and children.

The military is setting up an emergency field hospital and sending two dozen doctors, and the Health Ministry is sending a medical team and medicines. The Red Cross sent aid such as water trucks on Wednesday and humanitarian group CARE is leading an assessment team of four international aid groups to avoid duplication of efforts. Aid groups and others are also appealing for donations.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was centred about 19 kilometres southeast of Sigli, a town near the northern tip of Sumatra, at a depth of 17 kilometres. It did not generate a tsunami. Aftershocks have rattled the area.

The worlds largest archipelago, Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. The 2004 quake and tsunami killed a total of 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Aceh.

Scores of rescuers and giant excavators worked away at the debris of a market in Meureudu, the hard-hit town, where many shop houses collapsed.

One shop owner, Hajj Yusri Abdullah, didnt hold out much hope of finding survivors. He said nearly two dozen bodies were pulled from the market debris the day before. They included a group of eight consisting of a newlywed couple and family members holding an ornate celebration known as Antar Dara Baro.

The national disaster agency said nearly 600 buildings were severely damaged or destroyed in the districts of Pidie Jaya, Pidie and Bireun. Most were shop houses or dwellings but mosques, a hospital, boarding schools and a shopping centre also sustained damage. Roads also cracked and power poles toppled over.

Read more about:

SHARE:
Four years ago, Josh Hoyer was working for Centerpointe, doing homeless outreach.

Its a heartbreaking job anyway, but the group that broke my heart was the homeless youth, Hoyer said. These kids I met on the streets, a lot of them dont have people going to bat for them, but there are a number of charities that work to help them.

Hoyer left Centerpointe to work full time as a musician, leading his band, Josh Hoyer and Soul Colossal, through recordings in Lincoln, Omaha and Nashville and national tours and local gigs while also doing some booking for the Zoo Bar.

But Hoyer never forgot the homeless kids or lost the desire to help them, in the best way he knew how: through music.

Ive been wanting to do a charity event for a long time, I just didnt have the time to get it together, Hoyer said. Some time opened up this summer and I started calling people. Every one of the clubs was happy to jump in, every one of the bands, too. When I told them it was total charity event, that no one was getting paid, they all said yes.'

That charity event is the NE Funk and Soul Alliance and it will take place Saturday.

A total of 23 bands and four DJs will perform in the Zoo Bar, Duffys Tavern, Bodegas Alley and 1867 from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Admission will be $10. But those who come downtown for the event are encouraged to donate more. The event will be all ages from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. and 21 and over from 9 p.m. to close.

In Lincoln, proceeds from Saturday nights event will go to The Lighthouse, the Malone Community Center, The Bay and Jacobs Well.

Since many of the bands on the bill are from Omaha, the proceeds will be divided between the two cities and will go to the Omaha Childrens Choir, Omaha Girls Rock, Proud Horizons and Youth Emergency Services.

Saturdays lineup includes, in Hoyers estimation, about 80 percent of Nebraskas funk and soul outfits who play original music, as well as a few cover bands who learned of the event and volunteered to play.

People may not associate Nebraska with soul and funk music, Hoyer said. But there are a number of people doing it and doing it well, I think.

Styles of music to be heard Saturday run the gamut of funk and soul.

Its going to be cool, man, Hoyer said. Im excited for it, personally. You can catch 25 minutes of every band. Thats how I scheduled it. But for me, the focus is on the charity. It will be neat for Lincoln to learn theres a bunch of funk and soul bands here who are very talented. Its not New Orleans or New York City and its not going to be. But the music is here and its good. But this is really for the charities, for those kids.
Donald Trump likes to emphasize how everything about him is big. His plane. His buildings. His hands.

But time and again during his presidential campaign and his transition to the White House, he has shown a smallness of focus, a willingness to punch down that suggests a deep lack of discipline. The last example came Wednesday night when Trump took to Twitter  natch  to attack a local union president in Indiana:

Why? Why would the soon-to-be president of the United States use his massive social media following to attack someone in Chuck Jones whom almost no one had heard of before Wednesday night?

The answer, as almost always with Trump, is (a) because he wanted to, and (b) there is no one around him to stop him from doing what he wants to do. Trump values unpredictability, and he lives it every day. He can be big and even magnanimous (his new friendship with President Barack Obama, his consideration of Mitt Romney for secretary of state) in one minute and incredibly small (attacking a union guy, making fun of a disabled reporter) in the next. The high and the low are both Trump; he swings between the two day by day and even hour by hour or minute by minute.

That big Trump/small Trump phenomenon was on striking display in April in an interview with then-Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren. Heres the clip:

Thats a remarkable thing to watch.

In one breath, Trump insists: Tone does matter. My tones going to change as soon as I finish the victory. Being presidential matters.

In, literally, the next breath, he totally contradicts that idea: If somebody hits me. I have to hit them back. I have to.

And then this: I want to win. I will be so presidential you wont believe it.

Watching that clip is like watching the literal re-enactment of the angel on one shoulder, devil on the other cartoon shtick. Trump wants to be presidential. People he trusts tell him to be presidential. But he cannot resist hitting back when hit. Its just not him. And it never will be.

In any sort of normal political climate, Trumps willingness to punch down  or inability to resist punching down  would be a major issue for him as he prepares to ascend to the presidency. After all, most people dont want the leader of the free world getting into Twitter scuffles with a random organized-labor guy, right?

And yet, Trump won the 2016 presidential race by doing exactly that: swinging wildly between high and low, big and small  often with no warning. Its hard to look at what happened in the course of this campaign and conclude that Trumps style didnt work for him.

The lingering question is whether Americans who were fine with a presidential candidate punching down but will be much less fine with their president doing the same. Well start finding out that answer in a month or so.

Read more about:

SHARE:
SALISBURY, N.C.The man accused of firing an assault rifle inside a Washington restaurant said he regrets how he handled the situation but refused to completely dismiss the false online claims involving a child sex ring that brought him there.

I just wanted to do some good and went about it the wrong way, Edgar Maddison Welch, whos been jailed since his Sunday arrest, told The New York Times in a Wednesday videoconference.

Welch, 28, told the newspaper he started driving to Washington from his Salisbury, N.C., home intending only to give the Comet Ping Pong pizza restaurant a closer look. But while on the way, he said he felt his heart breaking over the thought of innocent people suffering.

Welch would not say why he brought an AR-15 into the pizza shop and fired it, the newspaper reported.

Asked what he thought when he found there were no children in the restaurant, Welch said: The intel on this wasnt 100 per cent. But he would not completely dismiss the online claims while talking to the newspaper, conceding only that there were no children inside that dwelling.

Welch appears to have lived an aimless life that became turbulent in the weeks before he was drawn to the nations capital by a fake news story.

Friends and family say he is a well-meaning father of two girls who wanted to be a firefighter. But he also unnerved some with his religious fervour and sometimes had trouble detaching himself from the internet.

In the weeks before his Washington arrest, there were other signs of turbulence. In late October, Welch struck a teenage pedestrian with his car in his hometown, requiring the boy to be airlifted to a hospital, according to a police report that said he wasnt immediately charged. More recently, days before he drove to Washington, he was dropped from the rolls of a volunteer fire department.

In past years, he was convicted of drunken driving and minor drug charges.

But the one constant, friends and family say, was his love for his two young daughters.

Hes a father and a very loving man, very concerned about children, said his aunt Tajuana Tadlock, adding: Hes not a vigilante, by no check of the words.

Tadlock said Welchs parents havent been able to talk to him to ask what he was thinking, and the familys only information comes from the news and the public defender.

MORE ON THESTAR.COM

Belleville woman helped cook up Pizzagate

Pizzagate gunman a sign of corrosive fake news, White House says

No, this pizzeria is not the site of a child-trafficking ring led by Hillary Clinton

In Washington, court documents say Welch fired an AR-15 rifle multiple times inside the restaurant but later exited with his hands up. He told police he had read online that the Comet restaurant was harbouring child sex slaves, and he wanted to investigate. He said he surrendered when he found no signs of children being held. Welch faces charges including assault with a dangerous weapon.

On Thursday, a judge delayed a preliminary hearing for Welch. His public defender requested the delay, saying she needed more time to investigate the case. He will be back in court Tuesday.

In recent years, Welch often mentioned his Christian faith. Interspersed with Facebook posts about his daughters are the registered Republicans musings on the Bible and religion.

Danielle Tillman of Raleigh said she met Welch a few months ago and has known his current girlfriend for years. She recalls Welch made her uncomfortable while talking at length about religion. At one point, he grabbed her hand and prayed, asking for the demons to come out of me, she said.

Welchs family has roots in the Salisbury area, where his father and grandfather served in local government, according to the Salisbury Post. Friends say he attended West Rowan High School. A woman at the familys property declined to answer questions this week.

Around age 18, Welch pleaded guilty to misdemeanour drug possession charges in neighbouring Cabarrus County, according to online records of the January 2007 offence.

Welch enrolled at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, but court records say he didnt graduate.

On a break from college in 2009, Welch was interviewed by the Salisbury Post after he made it halfway through a hike of the 500-mile (805-kilometre) Colorado Trail. He told the newspaper the hike helped him overcome an addiction to the internet.

Its a good feeling, going solo, he told the newspaper. Theres something spiritual about it.

In April 2013, Welch was charged with impaired driving with a blood-alcohol content of .09, court records show. He pleaded guilty, was sentenced to probation and community service and underwent alcohol counselling.

Rowan County records show that after a short marriage, his wife filed for divorce in November 2014. The thin file doesnt say why they split up. The divorce complaint was dismissed in 2015 after neither attended a scheduled hearing. Documents related to his arrest say they remain separated, and his two children live with him.

Welch twice served briefly as a volunteer firefighter, and his aunt said he was recently taking classes needed to get a paying job as a firefighter.

Locke Fire Chief Rusty Alexander said Welch barely showed up at the fire station after joining in 2012, and lasted about six months.

He tried it, and basically it wasnt for him, Alexander said.

In May 2016, Welch became a volunteer firefighter in the town of Spencer, Chief Gray Grubb said. Grubb said Welch stopped attending training sessions and didnt answer alarms, so he was removed from the active roster Nov. 30.

When we interviewed him, he seemed like a good guy, Grubb said.

SHARE:
CHARLOTTE, N.C.A mako shark caught by commercial fishermen off North Carolina traveled more than 13,500-kilometres after a tracking device was attached 18 months earlier, an ocean research group says.

Researchers studying shark migrations for the Guy Harvey Research Institute at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., attached the device to the female sharks dorsal fin in mid-2015 near Ocean City, Md.

A donation to the institute by Heather Finke sponsored the tag in honor of Charlotte Latin School.

A commercial long-line fishing boat caught the shark near Manns Harbor last month. The last of the tags 265 data transmissions from the sea to an orbiting satellite was recorded on Nov. 24.

Data show the shark swimming up and down the East Coast between North Carolina and Rhode Island, making one big loop into the Atlantic north of Bermuda last spring. It traveled an average of 24 kilometres a day over 557 days.

Were happy to have recovered the satellite tag, but disappointed about the loss of the mako, said executive director Greg Jacoski of the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, which supplies the tags. Its important for us to recover tags because of the value they have for our research efforts.

Mako sharks are the fastest of the shark species, able to swim 100 kilometres per hour while chasing prey fish. The North Atlantic shortfin mako is found in Atlantic waters from the Carolinas to southern New England.

SHARE:
Chuck Jones uses a flip phone, so he didnt see the tweet. His friend of 36 years called him Wednesday night and said: The president-elect is smearing you on Twitter.

Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers. No wonder companies flee country!

If United Steelworkers 1999 was any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana. Spend more time working-less time talking. Reduce dues

Jones, a union leader in Indianapolis, represents the Carrier workers whose jobs Donald Trump has pledged to save. The sudden attention from the countrys next leader didnt feel real.

My first thought was, Well, thats not very nice, he told the Washington Post on Wednesday night. Then, well, I might not sleep much tonight.

Jones, president of the United Steelworkers 1999, on Tuesday said that he believed Trump had lied to the Carrier workers last week when he visited the Indianapolis plant. On a makeshift stage in a conference room, Trump had applauded United Technologies, Carriers parent company, for cutting a deal with him and agreeing to keep 1,100 jobs that were slated to move to Mexico in Americas Heartland.

Jones said Trump got that figure wrong.

Carrier, he said, had agreed to preserve 800 production jobs in Indiana. (Carrier confirmed that number.) The union leader said Trump appeared to be taking credit for rescuing 350 engineering jobs that were never scheduled to leave. Five hundred and fifty of his members, he said, were still losing their jobs. And the company was still collecting millions of dollars in tax breaks.

In return for downsizing its move south of the border, United Technologies would receive $7 million in tax credits from Indiana, to be paid in $700,000 installments each year for ten. Carrier, on top of that, has agreed to invest $16 million in its Indiana operation. United Technologies, meanwhile, still plans to shuttle 700 factory jobs from Huntington, Indiana, to Monterrey, Mexico.

Jones, who said the union wasnt involved in the negotiations, said hes working to lift his members spirits. He said he didnt have time to worry about Trump.

He needs to worry about getting his cabinet filled, he said, and leave me the hell alone.

Spokespeople for Trump did not respond to requests for comment.

Over the last two decades, the United States has lost about 4.5 million manufacturing jobs, a consequence economists ascribe to trade and automation. Jones said he has fought to keep work on American soil, bargaining repeatedly with both Carrier and Rexnord, another Indianapolis plant that plans to relocate jobs to Mexico.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence tweeted his support for Jones earlier this year.

A half-hour after Trump tweeted about Jones on Wednesday, the union leaders phone began to ring and kept ringing, he said. One voice asked: What kind of car do you drive? Another said: Were coming for you.

He wasnt sure how these people found his number.

Nothing that says theyre gonna kill me, but, you know, you better keep your eye on your kids, Jones said later on MSNBC. We know what car you drive. Things along those lines.

Ive been doing this job for 30 years and you know Ive heard everything from people who want to burn my house down shoot me, he added. So I take it with a grain of salt and I dont put a lot of faith in that and Im not concerned about it and Im not getting anybody involved. I can deal with people that makes stupid statements and move on.

Brett Voorhies, president of the Indiana State AFL-CIO, called Jones after Trumps tweet caught his eye. He scrambled to call his friend. Jones, he said, had just left his office in Indianapolis, where he manages the needs of about 3,000 union members.

This guy makes pennies for what he does, Voorhies said. What he has to put up with is just crazy. Now hes just got president-elect smearing him on Twitter.

Read more about:

SHARE:
I bet that most Canadians followed political news in the United States more closely in 2016 than we monitored officials in our own country. Donald Trumps odyssey of hatred and deception played well in Canada, especially because it fed our habit of painting our political reality as divine by comparison.

Canadas politicians and public officials failed countless times in 2016 to stand against oppression, remove barriers to inequality, and uplift people in this country who have been forgotten. I get it  Americans elected Donald Trump. But he and his country can never serve as the standard for our conduct. In our national anthem we pray that God keeps our land glorious and free, even though it hasnt been either of those things in recent memory. Things didnt get much better in 2016.

In January, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that the federal government has been racially discriminating against indigenous children who live on reserves. The tribunal ruled that these indigenous children  163,000 of them  receive significantly less funding for child welfare services than nonindigenous kids do. This shortfall has existed since Confederation.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government have ignored the tribunal and its restatements of the ruling for the full calendar year. The government supported a unanimous motion in October to finally fix the funding gap, but no cash has flowed.

Dr. Cindy Blackstock, who has been leading the fight for equitable funding for a decade, said of the disparity in March, it is the only example we know of in the developed world where a country has been placed on trial for its contemporary treatment of a generation of indigenous children, before a body that can make a binding order.

Silences on anti-black racism were deafening this year. Black people remain the fastest-growing group in Canadas federal prisons  the black population has increased by 70 per cent since 2005. These staggering realities barely made news in 2016, and it is difficult to find a Canadian politician who commented publicly on their significance.

A 2013 report on the experiences of black federal inmates noted that the number of incarcerated Black women appears to be rising quickly. However this years report found a much more Canadian way to describe the trend for black women: The ethnic diversity within the inmate population is increasing.

Black Lives Matter Toronto staged one of the most courageous public protests in Torontos history, in large part to condemn inaction to the police killing of Andrew Loku last summer. Mayor John Tory did his best to ignore BLMTO, and suggested it would be beneath him to meet the group publicly. As he often does when black people demonstrate our resolve, Tory changed his mind in April and promised public meetings with BLMTO and the wider black communities of Toronto. The mayor still hasnt announced those meetings.

Our political institutions are designed to perpetuate inequality, but every now and again the public forces a concession or knocks down a wall. In the spring, Ontarios government finally agreed to end the clawback of child support to people on welfare, the overwhelming majority of whom are women.

In May, the federal government introduced legislation to protect trans people under the Canadian Human Rights Act. Among other things, the new law would finally make it illegal to discriminate against trans people at work or deny them employment based on gender identity or gender expression.

Perhaps the most understated bit of relief in 2016 was the late-summer revelation that former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper was leaving politics. Good riddance.

Sadly, his successor, Justin Trudeau, who campaigned on sunny ways, spent the year smiling down on us as he continued to imprison people without immigration status, to target Muslims under nightmarish anti-terror laws, such as C-51 and, most recently, to approve two new oil pipelines with the baseless claim that he was acting based on rigorous debate, on science and on evidence.

While Harper didnt care if he had political consensus, Trudeau pretends to have it, whether he does or not. Both men share assumptions of corporate power and white settler colonial dominance, which is why economic and social justice in Canada comes slowly, or not at all, or things get even tougher.

Canada remains a country of immense wealth and twisted priorities. I wish the millions who struggle to survive in our country had more to celebrate in 2016. Id say 2017 cant possibly be worse, but Id rather set a much higher bar.

Desmond Cole is a Toronto-based journalist. His column appears every second Thursday.

Read more about:

SHARE:
Justin Trudeau made one of his biggest mistakes during last years federal election when he promised to kill off Canadas first-past-the-post voting system before the 2019 election.

It was a mistake because the idea of changing our electoral system is, simply, a bad one that could potentially do more harm than good for our democracy.

One of Trudeaus best moves since the election, however, has been to start backing away from the flawed notion that our present system isnt working and theres a better way to elect members of Parliament.

Most of the people who back changing the system tout various forms of proportional representation where many seats in Parliament are allocated based on a partys share of the popular vote. They say they are fed up with feeling their vote doesnt count or their party never wins as many seats as they think it deserves.

At the same time, though, they promote supposed benefits about proportional representation ranging from increased voter turnout to preventing Trump-like populist waves from taking hold in Canada that just dont stand up to scrutiny.

They also ignore the risks of other systems, including perpetual minority governments where tiny single-issue parties hold the balance of power, legislative gridlock and backroom deals with fringe parties that have radical agendas.

One of the biggest myths championed by reform advocates is that voter turnout will improve. In fact, thats just not true. Virtually every country that uses proportional representation is facing the same problem as Canada is with falling rates of voter turnout.

New Zealand had a 77-per-cent voter turnout in its 2014 national election, the second lowest in the last 70 years. Germany recorded a 71-per-cent turnout in 2013, which was part of a fairly steady decline from 91 per cent in 1972. Greece had a turnout of 63.6 per cent in 2015, the second lowest since 1951. Similar trends are occurring in the other 19 western European countries with proportional representation.

Reform supporters also ignore the fact that any new system would lead to larger ridings with MPs more distant from their constituents than before.

Many reformists are NDP or Green Party supporters who believe this will help promote progressive government. Even former NDP leader Ed Broadbent is victim of this myth, claiming in a recent opinion piece in the Globe and Mail that proportional representation would create the firewall against a northern Trump riding a right-wing populist wave to victory.

But an extremist right-wing party or a single-issue group, such as an anti-abortion or an anti-immigrant party, could just as easily be the power broker in a minority government as a left-leaning group.

In Israel, for example, small ultra-Orthodox religious parties often are given key cabinet posts, such as education, as an enticement to help form a coalition government. That is not a practice that leads to progressive government.

Also, under most reform schemes, many MPs wont be elected directly by voters. Rather they will be part of a list nominated by their party bosses, which is the opposite of promoting greater democracy.

Fortunately, aside from the diehards, few Canadians are really interested in changing our voting system. A recent survey by the Angus Reid Institute suggests nearly 70 per cent of us put a low or very low priority on adopting a new system.

Still, Trudeau is being beaten up right now by haters chanting broken promise on his electoral-reform pledge.

In a meeting last week with the Toronto Stars editorial board the Prime Minister said he is working hard to keep my promises, noting that all 15 million Canadian households are being asked in an online survey, mydemocracy.ca, how they feel about voting and democracy in general.

The survey was launched earlier this week after an all-party Commons committee looking into electoral reform failed to agree on any of some 30 alternatives to the current first-past-the-post system.

Strikingly, Liberal MPs on the committee said it would be irresponsible for Trudeau to change the voting system or even to hold a referendum on the issue before the 2019 election.

They are right, as is Trudeau in moving slowly away from an ill-conceived promise that deserves to be broken.

As the Star said in a past editorial endorsement of our current system, first-past-the-post may not be perfect, but it is democratic and robust, delivering strong, stable government that works. Why strain to fix what isnt broken?

Bob Hepburns column appears Thursday. bhepburn@thestar.ca

SHARE:
Re: Ryerson concerned about allegations of anti-Semitism at student union meeting, Dec. 2

Ryerson concerned about allegations of anti-Semitism at student union meeting, Dec. 2

I support the idea of marking Holocaust Education Week on Ryerson University campus. However it should not be exclusive and all ethnic cleansing episodes in recent human history should be highlighted, including the mass killing of aboriginals of the Americas, the Armenian genocide and Al Nakba (the 1948 Palestinian exodus, meaning literally disaster) that befell Palestinians.

Universities are places of learning and what could be better than to teach the students the bitter lessons of human history that brought catastrophe on people just because of their race, colour or religion.

Let there be no tolerance for discrimination.

Anis Zuberi, Mississauga

Can Obald Ullah, head of Ryerson Universitys Student Union, explain why a proposal to broaden a motion to commemorate Holocaust education week to include other genocides was not appropriate? Is Ryerson not an inclusive environment? Does it not recognize other atrocities that have been committed against identifiable groups?

Will it support a motion for an education week for each such historical event? Or will it tell a student who puts forth such a proposal at their meetings that it is not appropriate?

Kevin Clink, Brampton

Holocaust week is the height of hypocrisy. It implicitly supports the State of Israel, which is currently committing a slow genocide (according to the Kuala Lumpur tribunal) against the two million Palestinians under its military occupation in Gaza. To object to it is not racist.

Publicly funded institutions should be commemorating genocides in general rather than the politically motivated and exclusivist Holocaust

events, which imply that similar tragedies do not deserve the same international response.

A study of current genocides might lead to saving the lives of thousands of people.

Karin Brothers, Toronto

SHARE:
Re: Canada cannot sit back in a dangerous world, Dec. 4

Canada cannot sit back in a dangerous world, Dec. 4

Canadian companies have significant investments in Africas mining sectors. Does this mean that we are considering using military power to secure our financial and economic interests? In this regard, it seems odd that the Senate committee on security and national defence would request a statement of justification, a sort of cost-benefit analysis, specifically asking for costs, but without asking for benefits.

Perhaps it is distasteful to consider the benefits of deploying to Africa, but if we have ulterior motives, we should be open about them. After all, we certainly do not want to end up engaging in neocolonialism.

Tobi Baumhard, King City

SHARE:
Re: Accessibility law lacking, lawyer says, Friday, Dec. 2

Accessibility law lacking, lawyer says, Friday, Dec. 2

David Lepofsky is absolutely correct in his assessment of why there is poor access at Centennial College. But not only is this the result of the provinces low standards, it is also the result of people at the top not understanding the importance of inclusion.

The defensive response by Shannon Brooks, associate vice-president of corporate services, underscores the need for better training of, and understanding by, those in positions of power in the post-secondary system of the needs of all students attending colleges and universities.

Having had some experience myself in this area, I know that all colleges and universities must have accessibility advisory committees as well as provide yearly accessibility reports to the government. This is mandated by the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. To say that a building is exempt from these laws because it is built with private funds is absurd, and highlights the lack of commitment to students with disabilities at Centennial College who deserve this consideration.

Will this building never be used by a student with a disability? A prof? A politician? A visitor? Come on!

Kathryn Bremner, Oshawa

Two days before the International Day of the Disabled, there was an important news release on December first. Canadas Minister for Foreign Affairs, Stephane Dion, announced that Canada would work toward adopting the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Coverage of his announcement and the international day were nowhere to be found in the Star, let alone the CBC.

One might cynically ask, what difference does it make? A big difference. The protocol safeguards disability rights by giving Canadians a way to complain to a UN Committee about personal or systemic violations of their rights  provided they have first exhausted all domestic remedies by petitioning provincial, territorial or federal authorities. When these avenues fail to resolve an issue, it may be taken to the UN committee under the protocol. Then, if that committee finds merit in the complaint, it can demand an explanation or resolution from the Canadian government. While the protocol provides that route to individuals and groups, without it they reach a dead end in Canada.

Canadas decision to pursue ratification of the CRPDs protocol comes after a year of campaigning for that goal, when the writer launched a change.org petition urging government to act before Minister Carla Qualtrough drafts Canadas new accessibility law. Since then over 26,500 supporters have signed it and over 3,200 added comments. They and many more are delighted that Ministers Dion and Qualtrough have now committed to adopting the Protocol by the end of 2017.

As we eagerly await that moment, dare we hope that the Star and CBC will report on it?

Salvatore (Sal) Amenta, Stouffville

SHARE:
Trustees at the Toronto District School Board have voted to close Vaughan Road Academy, the 90-year-old high school that rap star Drake once attended.

The final decision, despite protestations of students, alumni and families in the community, was made at a board meeting Wednesday evening. The reason was declining enrolment over the past decade; this year saw the school operating at about 20 per cent of capacity, or just over 200 students. Trustees said low numbers made it too costly and difficult to provide enough programs and options to meet students needs.

Current students can attend nearby schools such as Oakwood Collegiate, John Polanyi Collegiate, Forest Hill Collegiate or York Memorial Collegiate, while those in the international baccalaureate (IB) program are to be placed at Weston Collegiate.

I feel disappointed that it came to this result, said Grade 11 student Nathalie Sagisi, who attended the meeting in hopes the recommendations from staff and a trustee committee earlier this fall to close the school would be delayed or overturned.

She said it will be tough for students like her to change schools for their final year.

The TDSB has been under pressure from the province to consolidate schools and sell assets to generate revenues for the cash-strapped system, and to address the $3.5-billion repair backlog. But the neighbourhood has started campaign urging the board to keep the site so it can be converted to a community hub housing badly needed services for the neighbourhood, including child care, teen programs and health care.

Trustees are expected to decide on the fate of the Vaughan Road building and property in the new year.

SHARE:
This website is intended for U.S. visitors only.
The York Region public school board is investigating accusations that a trustee referred to a black parent as a n----- in front of others after a public meeting, the Star has learned.

The board is already reeling from a string of controversies. This latest allegation comes as it struggles with numerous complaints of racism and Islamophobia  and criticism from Ontarios education minister, who had previously demanded a report on how it is handling parents concerns.

We are aware of the allegation and at a staff level have brought in a third party to conduct an independent investigation (into the alleged slur), education director J. Philip Parappally said in an email. Racism of any kind is not acceptable, and we have policies and procedures in place in the event allegations of this nature are made by anyone affiliated with the board, attending our schools or working for the board. This includes trustees.

However, he also said that to ensure fairness and impartiality, the board will not comment on the probe, conducted by outside legal counsel, until it is completed  likely before the end of the year.

While the board has not named the trustee in question, several sources confirmed it is Nancy Elgie, 82, who has been on the board since 2000.

Reached at her York Region home, Elgie said there is no merit in the accusation, but I will co-operate fully in the investigation.

When asked if she was denying having uttered the slur, she responded: Im not saying anything like that  Im just saying there is no merit in the accusation.

Elgie, who represents Georgina, is the widow of Robert Elgie, a prominent Ontario cabinet minister in the Bill Davis government in the 1970s and 80s.

Sources say a small group of staff and trustees heard the alleged slur, made as a black parent was being interviewed by a television reporter following a board meeting to discuss equity issues on Nov. 22.

That parent, Charline Grant, previously launched a human rights complaint over alleged discrimination her son suffered at his Woodbridge school. While she did not hear any such comment, she was informed of it days later.

The first thing that came to my mind was it just shows how out of touch the current board and trustees are with the issues we are seeing, Grant told the Star. To say that now, with everything else thats going on, it just shows thats just a part of who they are.

The York Region District School Board has also been named in a human rights case launched last week by the Vaughan African Canadian Association and the National Council of Canadian Muslims on behalf of a number of families.

Education Minister Mitzie Hunter  already concerned with Yorks ongoing troubles  said in a statement to the Star that now, more than ever, parents and students need to be assured by the board that they are taking action to address the communitys concerns regarding racism and equity. The board is responsible for ensuring that an appropriate response is taken on these matters.

Lawyer Selwyn Pieters, who has been involved with human rights issues at the York board, recently posted a video on his Facebook page in which he discusses the incident.

Imagine a trustee of that school board, a trustee, watching one of the black parents give an interview recently with respect to racist incidents at the York Region District School Board, and she turns in the presence of her colleagues and called the lady a n-----. Trustees overheard it, and school board officials overheard it, and nothing happened to that trustee  You know what? She should have been fired, or a process should have been in place to remove that trustee.

In an interview, Pieters told the Star the allegation is so serious that Hunter needs to step in.

I believe that this is a matter where the deputy minister of education and the minister of education should step in and exercise their investigative powers, he said. It shows that the school board is broken  and something needs to be changed.

New board chair Loralea Carruthers, who was elected Monday night, told the Star on Wednesday that racism of any kind is not acceptable. As trustees I do believe we have an important role in providing leadership in this area.

Carruthers said that the moment the alleged slur was heard, action was taken  and was followed up afterwards with a serious conversation.

The previous chair took witness statements and it became obvious that staff were also witnesses. So the decision at the time was for this to be handled under the respectful workplaces policy.

It is now under investigation by a third party, so Im not allowed to comment on the details.

Carruthers said its important to note that while the board is doing good things in a number of areas, it can learn from this alleged incident.

We are here to change the tone and address the larger systemic issues, which I hope will include trustee training.

The accusation came as a shock to Elgies son, Stewart, who contacted the Star to say his mother doesnt have a racist bone in her body, and anybody who knows her will tell you that.

Stewart Elgie, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, said that if anyone ever makes a racist remark, even in (a) joke, she stops them and explains why its wrong and hurtful. Shes fought for equality her whole life.

He noted his mothers long years of public service, saying she is exactly the kind of person we want as a school board trustee. She has 40 years experience as a widely respected child psychologist. She has dedicated her life to childrens learning.

The alleged incident is causing upset among parents. Pieters, in his Facebook video, calls the York board a bastion of racism.

Weve got a black education minister, and weve got a Liberal premier, Kathleen Wynne, and yet we have a school board, we have a large school board, the York Region District School Board, where anti-black racism and Islamophobia flourishes, he said.

Last month, the boards head of equity, Cecil Roach, sent a letter to the director and senior staff criticizing the way complaints of discrimination were being handled, including the case of a Markham principal who posted anti-Muslim material on her public Facebook page, for which she later apologized.

Roach said he wrote the letter only after consulting with his lawyer, Pieters, who told him he had a legal obligation to speak up under both the human rights and education acts.

His letter came just days after Hunter met with board officials to discuss parents concerns about racism, as well as the secrecy surrounding trustee travel. She later demanded a plan of action by Jan. 13.

The situation, and the ministers intervention, is unprecedented in Ontario education, experts have said.

On Monday night, the board elected a new chair, Carruthers, replacing longtime and controversial chair Anna DeBartolo. Parents had pressed the boards 12 trustees for a change in leadership given all the turmoil.

SHARE:
Shares of U.S. Steel (X) are up about 80% since the election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency, as he is expected to bring jobs back to the industry. The stock is also up on government-imposed tariffs on Chinese steel imports and the U.S. Commerce Department's open investigation into whether Chinese steel producers are going through Vietnam to avoid those tariffs.

All U.S. Steel has been asking for is an environment where it can "compete with anybody," U.S. Steel CEO Mario Longhi said on CNBC's "Power Lunch" Wednesday afternoon. The environment is becoming more "fair" after a period of massive dumping, he said.

"I have not felt an environment of positive optimism where forces are converging to provide for a better environment in quite a while," Longhi explained.

The company also stands to benefit from the expected decrease in regulation and reduction of corporate tax rates under Trump, he noted. "There was a time in the past couple of years that I was having to hire more lawyers to try to interpret these new regulations, than I was hiring engineers. That doesn't make any sense."

The decreased regulation and tax rate could be a "significant driver to what we're going to do," Longhi claimed.

What U.S. Steel would like to do is accelerate its investments in the U.S. that it had already planned to make before Trump was elected, he said.

In addition, the company could bring back close to 10,000 jobs, depending on future economic growth, Longhi claimed. "I would be more than happy to bring back the employees that we were forced to lay off during the depression," he said.
Brazilian meat producer JBS will list its non-Brazilian operations on the New York Stock Exchange, weeks after a similar proposed transaction fell through amid disapproval from a major government shareholder.

In a Monday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, JBS subsidiary JBS Foods International NV announced plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol JBS with a placeholder $500 million in proceeds. The prospectus did not disclose how many shares JBS will offer, the offering price or the underwriters, but will use the listing proceeds to pay down debt.

CEO Wesley Mendonca Batista said on an analyst call that the businesses included in the IPO account for 85% of JBS's revenue and cash generation. These include for the entirety of JBS's businesses outside Brazil, plus its Seara-branded processed meats business within Brazil, which JBS acquired in 2013 for $2.75 billion from domestic rival Marfrig Alimentos.

Analyst Gabriel Lima of Bradesco SA Corretora de Titulos e Valores Mobiliarios estimated that JBS Foods International will generate consolidated 2017 Ebitda of 15.5 billion reais ($4.5 billion).

JBS's U.S. operations include Swift & Co., which JBS acquired for $1.5 billion in 2007, and Pilgrim's Pride (PPC) , of which JBS USA Holdings acquired control out of bankruptcy for $800 million in 2009.

The planned spinoff comes about six weeks after JBS canceled a reorganization plan that would have culminated in a NYSE listing. The Brazilian development bank, Brazilian Economic and Social Development Bank (BNDES) vetoed the deal, saying it was "not in the best interest of the company and its shareholders," as it would "entail denationalization of the company and would substantially alter the rights and duties conferred on all shareholders."

As of Sept. 30, BNDES held 21.4% of JBS' outstanding capital stock through its equity arm, BNDES Participacoes, or BNDESPar.

"The main difference to the originally proposed transaction is that JBSFI will remain a subsidiary and controlled by JBS (and not the other way around, as previously proposed)," Banco BTG Pactual SA analyst Thiago Duarte wrote in a Tuesday note. "This shouldn't imply any changes to controlling shareholders' or minorities' rights at the JBS level," and as a result the move doesn't require BNDESPar's approval.

JBS' board, including BNDESPar representative Claudia Silva Araujo de Azeredo Santos, unanimously approved the proposed spinoff.

JBS Foods International plans to offer class A and class B shares, with one class B shareholder entitled to ten votes. Class B shares will be solely held by a JBS SA subsidiary, and the class B shareholders will control the company.

JBS, in turn, is controlled by the Batista family, which consists of founder Jose Batista Sobrinho, his wife Flora Mendonca Batista and five of their children. JBS and the Batista family "will constitute a quorum on any matter requiring shareholder approval," the filing stated.

"The success of the IPO will depend on the appetite of investors in U.S. capital markets," Itau Corretora de Valores SA analyst Antonio Barreto wrote Tuesday. "Different from the previous restructuring, there must be demand to fill the book."

Barreto expects that JBS Foods International could be listed at an enterprise value to Ebitda multiple of 6.5 to 7, below U.S. competitor Tyson Foods (TSN) 7.9 multiple, and could raise 10 billion reais for JBS. "The cash inflow would help the company to deleverage [by] about 0.7 times EBITDA 2017, closing next year at only 2.5x EBITDA," he wrote.

The Batista family controls JBF through Brazilian corporation J&F Investimentos and investment fund ZMF Fundo de Investimentos em Participacoes. Son Wesley Mendonca Batista is CEO of JBS, while another son, Joesley Mendonca Batista, is chairman of the board.

A Brazilian anti-corruption probe into the country's state pension funds, Operation Greenfield, has reportedly investigated the two brothers, although the company is not accused of wrongdoing. JBF noted in its prospectus that a Brazilian judge briefly enjoined the brothers from exercising management roles.

"This investigation may materially adversely affect the public perception or reputation of the JBS Group or its executives, directors or affiliates or the trading price of the JBS Foods International common A shares and could have a material adverse effect on the JBS Group's business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects," the filing stated.

The prospectus also noted that Joesley is the subject of a criminal proceeding "for alleged violations of certain Brazilian financial system regulations in relation to certain financial transactions" involving at least two Brazilian banks, though unrelated to JBS.

Wesley Mendonca Batista said on the call that he will remain CEO of JBS, and its board's composition will not change, but JBS Foods International will have a board, chaired by him, with majority independent directors. JBS executives Gilberto Tomazoni and Russ Colaco will serve as CEO and CFO, respectively, of JBS Foods International.

"We believe the IPO may help JBSFI capture the advantages of being a U.S.-listed company, which includes better corporate governance (Board of Directors to be formed by a majority of independent members) and better access to global equity and debt markets," Duarte wrote. "We see this as a potential catalyst for the much-awaited valuation rerating in JBS shares," which have trailed peers' shares in part due to the overhang from the Brazilian probe.

Wesley Mendonca Batista said he expects the offering to be completed in the first half of 2017.

A JBS spokesman declined to comment.
Glencore (GLNCY) shares rose in London Thursday after the Russian government said the world's biggest commodity group had bought a stake in state-controlled oil company Rosneft OAO (RNFTF) .

Glencore said in a statement Thursday that it was in "final stage negotiations" along with Qatar's sovereign wealth fund to buy a 19.5% stake in Rosneft, the country's biggest oil group, for 10.2 billion.

"It is the largest privatisation deal, the largest sale and acquisition in the global oil and gas sector in 2016," said Russian President Vladimir Putin, who met Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin on Wednesday in Moscow.

Russia has been pushing for privatization of some of its state-owned businesses in a drive to make up downturns caused by economic slowdowns and sanctions.

Glencore shares advanced 1% in the opening 30 minutes of trading in London, against a 0.24% gain for the FTSE 100, to change hands at a 2016 high of 298.6 pence each. Rosneft shares are trading 6.5% higher in Moscow.
Ocado (OCDDY) shares fell sharply in London Thursday as sales growth at the online food retailer missed analysts' expectations amid increased competition from Amazon's (AMZN) move into the U.K. grocery market.

The online grocer reported retail sales were up 13.1% to 398 million for the 16 weeks ending Nov. 17, compared with the same time period last year, against analysts' forecasts of around 14%.

Ocado fell 3.6% to 268 pence each, extending the year-to-date loss to 12.10%.

Average orders per week grew by 17.6%, which the company said was driven by new and existing Ocado customers, the company said. The average order size decreased by 2.9% from "industry-wide price deflation and further take up of the Ocado 'Smart Pass' leading customers to shop more frequently."

The company is facing pressure from Britain's No. 4 supermarket Morrisons (MRWSY) , which signed a deal with Amazon last month that includes same-day delivery, a move that shook the highly competitive supermarket industry.

Amazon Prime customers in select areas of England are now able to order a full Morrisons order through the Prime Now app. Customers will then be able to pick it up from a local store on the same day or have it delivered within the hour for a charge of 6.99. There is also an option of free delivery within a two-hour slot on the day. Amazon Prime costs 7.99 a month in the U.K.

Several retailers recently negotiated contracts with Ocado, citing their restrictive business model as an issue.

Morrisons earlier this year announced it had renegotiated its deal with the delivery company after executives complained it was too costly and restrictive. The new deal inked in August ended the exclusivity arrangement, allowing Morrisons to deliver in areas of the country Ocado did not. Morrisons was also released from the profit-sharing arrangement that saw it hand over between one-quarter and one-half of what it earns from online sales.

Premium supermarket chain Waitrose in 2014 waged war against Ocado due in large part to its association with Morrisons. Ocado exclusively delivered Waitrose products, but the deal with the more down-market chain prompted Waitrose to set up its own online store and deliveries.

Amazonis held in the Growth Seeker portfolio. See all of the holdings with a free trial.
Shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) jumped 5.2% to $10.06 in early morning trading Thursday after an analyst's double upgrade, just one week after Jim Cramer argued that the company should be an acquisition target.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Vivek Arya upgraded AMD to Buy from Underperform and more than doubled his price target to $12 from $5 on Thursday. "In our view, AMD likely has the highest risk-reward potential in semis," he wrote, citing price volatility and low GAAP profitability, both of which will likely scare off investors and strong competitors in Intel (INTC) and Nvidia (NVDA) . In addition, AMD may be undervalued because of its concentrated ownership, with Mubadala Development Company, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, holding a 15% stake.

"We largely missed the surge in AMD stock this year as we were too concerned about its historically weak execution, high debt level, and competitive risks vs. giants INTC and NVDA," he wrote. "However, our proprietary PC gaming and AI/Deep learning industry analysis suggest AMD's growth markets are still in early stages, with AMD beginning to steadily reclaim market share."

At The Deal Economy conference on Dec. 1, Cramer identified AMD as a top takeover candidate for 2017 and suggested that Micron Technology (MU) buying AMD would improve its lagging stock price. The deal would help Micron gain exposure to fast growing markets, argued Cramer, including the hottest gaming semiconductors, and allow it to be "less trapped" in cell phones and tablets. Still, Cramer noted, AMD just had a good quarter and likely doesn't want to be acquired.

According to Arya, AMD is "the only semiconductor vendor that we believe can challenge INTC's ~$30bn addressable market in PCs and servers, and NVDA's ~$20bn opportunity across gaming, pro-graphics and deep learning/AI." Its main challenge now, says Arya, is to regain microprocessor revenue market share against Intel; AMD's peaked at 17% in 2006 and now sits at about 2.4%.

In PC gaming, where AMD's main competitor is Nvidia, Arya said "we think the market is growing fast enough to accommodate two suppliers and that both AMD and NVDA can benefit even if market share does not shift between the two competitors."

For the full year, Arya expects AMD to report a loss of 14 cents per share, better than analysts' consensus estimate of 16 cents per share. By 2017, Arya predicts EPS of 10 cents per share, ahead of consensus estimates of 4 cents per share.
U.S. citizens will be able to takea Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) or Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) ship to Cuba beginning as soon as March of 2017 after gaining approval from the Cuban government on Wednesday.

All three of Norwegian's brands - Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises - will offer Americans the opportunity to sail to Cuba beginning next year. It will launch the Oceania's Marina, Norwegian's first cruise to Cuba, on March 7, 2017, from PortMiami, the company said in a statement.

Regent's Seven Seas Mariner will begin voyages to Havana in April of 2017 and Norwegian Sky will offer four-day trips to Havana in May of 2017.

"As a Cuban-American and founder of Oceania Cruises, I am incredibly proud that one of Oceania's vessels will be our company's first to sail to Cuba," said Norwegian President and CEO Frank Del Rio in a statement.

Del Rio said it is "a dream come true" that guests will now be able to "experience the sights and sounds of my hometown of Havana."

Royal Caribbean plans to launch two Florida-Cuba cruise lines, Royal Caribbean Int'l and Azamara Club Cruises, the company said in a statement. It is unclear when these cruises will set sail.

Royal Caribbean declined further comment.

Among the cruise line companies that offer trips to Havana are Greece-based Variety Cruises, Norway-based Fred. Olsen and Sweden-based Star Clippers.

The Cuban government approved certain trade deals allowing U.S. companies to start doing business with the country on Wednesday. Last week the Obama Administration increased pressure on Havana to seal the deals before President-Elect Donald Trump takes office.

Even before the election, the White House began pushing Havana to pass the trade deals set forth by President Barack Obama, aimed at building U.S. relations with Cuba. Angela Mariana Freyre, senior vice president and general counsel of the U.S. Export-Import Bank, was tapped to focus on the effort.

Shares of Norwegian and Royal Caribbean both rose on Thursday afternoon.
Donald Trump plans to nominate Andrew Puzder, chief executive of the holding company behind the Carl's Jr. and Hardee's fast-food restaurant chains, as Secretary of Labor.

Trump made the announcement on Thursday afternoon, calling Puzder the "ideal candidate" for the job in a statement. Several media outlets reported the decision earlier in the day. Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants, has met with the president-elect twice since his November 8 victory and has made a name for himself as a vocal opponent of raising the federal minimum wage and an advocate of cutting back regulations on the restaurant industry.

Puzder was an economic adviser to Trump's presidential campaign and served as finance chair for Trump's and the GOP's fundraising efforts in California. He donated to his presidential campaign committee and to Rebuilding America Now, a pro-Trump super PAC. He also contributed to super PACs that backed Marco Rubio, Carly Fiorina and Jeb Bush during the Republican primaries.

In an op-ed published ahead of the election, Puzder described Trump as a "pragmatic centrist who has broken with both parties to focus on what matters most to ordinary Americans" and the "consummate beltway outsider."

The National Retail Federation praised the choice in a statement.

"Mr. Puzder has been an ally in our efforts to emphasize the dynamic careers available in the retail and restaurant industries, and he would bring to the job his experience in balancing the needs of all stakeholders in the American workforce. NRF is committed to long-term investments in workforce development and we look forward to working with him to advance a strong pro-jobs agenda in Washington," said NRF senior vice president David French in a statement.

Others, however, expressed concern.

Much like Trump's selection of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency, his decision to tap Puzder to head the Labor Department has raised eyebrows, given his oppositional stances to some parts of what the agency does. He is the co-author of the 2010 book "Job Creation: How It Really Works and Why Government Doesn't Understand It."

Puzder has pushed hard against raising the minimum wage. In a 2014 Wall Street Journal op-ed, he argued that a wage hike would result in job cuts and more technology. He has pushed to automate jobs in the past. He told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt in April that he believes California's $15 minimum wage hike will cost the state $3.6 billion a year when implemented.

Puzder, 66, also opposes the Affordable Care Act and has blamed it for a "restaurant recession."

The nomination may signal the demise of the Obama administration's Fair Labor Standards Act, the Labor Department's overhaul that would require employers to pay time-and-a-half to full-time employees earning less than $47,476 a year. A federal judge in Texas blocked the overtime rule in November.

Puzder in May penned an op-ed in Forbes criticizing the rule, arguing that it will "simply add to the extensive regulatory maze the Obama Administration has imposed on employers" and in practice would translate to "reduced opportunities, bonuses, benefits, perks and promotions."

While Trump and Puzder see eye-to-eye on a number of issues, one area where they differ may be immigration. "Legal immigrants are an asset to the country," he wrote in a WSJ piece he co-authored with fellow Trump adviser Stephen Moore in July.

Puzder marks Trump's 13th Cabinet-level selection since his election. On a call with press on Thursday morning, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer spoke proudly of the speed at which the president-elect has announced nominees. "We are now over 50% of the administration that has been named, well outpacing any modern administration," he said.
VeriFone Systems, Inc. provides payments and commerce solutions at the point of sale (POS) worldwide. It offers countertop solutions that accept payment options, including contactless, NFC, mobile wallets, and EMV; PIN pads that support credit and debit card, EBT, EMV, and other PIN-based transactions; and multilane consumer facing commerce devices. It also provides portable payment devices, including small, portable, and handheld devices that enable merchants to accept electronic payments wherever wireless connectivity is available; and mobile solutions that attach to and interface with iOS or Android based smartphones and tablets. In addition, it offers integrated electronic payment systems that combine electronic payment processing, fuel dispensing, and ECR functions, as well as secure payment systems for integration with petroleum pump controllers; unattended and self-service payment solutions designed to enable payment transactions in self-service, high-transaction volume, and public transportation environments; and network access solutions. Further, it provides installation, deployment, training, and application development and delivery solutions; project management, client education program, and consulting services; helpdesk support, equipment repair and maintenance, and software post-contract support services; and application libraries and development tools. Additionally, it offers omnichannel commerce, terminal management, and security solutions; and cloud-based managed, transaction payment, and other value added services. It sells its products directly; and through third party and channel partners. It serves financial institutions, payment processors, government organizations, and retailers; petroleum, transportation, and healthcare companies; and quick service restaurants. The company was formerly known as VeriFone Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to VeriFone Systems, Inc. in May 2010. VeriFone Systems, Inc. is headquartered in San Jose, California.
WABCO Holdings Inc., together with its subsidiaries, supplies electronic, mechanical, electro-mechanical, and aerodynamic products worldwide. The company engineers, develops, manufactures, and sells braking, stability, suspension, steering, transmission automation, and air management systems primarily for commercial vehicles. The company's products include pneumatic anti-lock braking systems, electronic braking systems, electronic stability control systems, brake controls, automated manual transmission systems, and air disc brakes; and various conventional mechanical products, such as actuators, air compressors, and air control valves for medium and heavy-duty trucks, buses, and trailers. It also offers pneumatic and hydraulic braking and control systems for off-highway vehicles; conventional braking systems; electronic and conventional air suspension systems; steering technologies; and vehicle electronic stability control and roll stability support products, and advanced driver assistance systems. In addition, the company supplies electronic suspension controls and vacuum pumps to the passenger car and SUV markets, as well as provides remanufacturing services. Further, it offers replacement parts, fleet management solutions, diagnostic tools, training, and other expert services for commercial vehicle aftermarket distributors and service partners, and fleet operators. The company sells its products primarily to truck and bus original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), trailer OEMs, and car manufacturers; and manufacturers of heavy duty and off-highway vehicles in agriculture, construction, mining, and other industries. WABCO Holdings Inc. was founded in 1869 and is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.
Minerals Technologies Inc. develops, produces, and markets various specialty mineral, mineral-based, and synthetic mineral products, and supporting systems and services. The company operates through three segments: Performance Materials, Specialty Minerals and Refractories. The Performance Materials segment supplies bentonite and bentonite-related products, as well as leonardite. This segment also offers metal casting products; household, personal care, and specialty products; and basic minerals, environmental products, and building materials. In addition, it provides products for non-residential construction, environmental, and infrastructure projects, as well as for construction and remediation project customers. The Specialty Minerals segment produces and sells precipitated calcium carbonate and quicklime; and provides natural mineral products comprising limestone and talc. This segment's products are used in paper and packaging, building materials, paint and coatings, glass, ceramic, polymer, food, automotive, and pharmaceutical industries. The Refractories segment offers monolithic and shaped refractory materials; specialty products, services, and application and measurement equipment; and calcium metal and metallurgical wire products that are used in the applications of steel, non-ferrous metal, and glass industries. The company markets its products primarily through its direct sales force, as well as regional distributors. It serves in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Minerals Technologies Inc. was incorporated in 1968 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
The following companies are subsidiares of Johnson & Johnson: 3Dintegrated ApS, ALZA Corporation, AMO (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., AMO (Shanghai) Medical Devices Trading Co. Ltd Beijing Branch, AMO (Shanghai) Medical Devices Trading Co. Ltd Guangzhou Branch, AMO (Shanghai) Medical Devices Trading Co. Ltd., AMO ASIA LIMITED, AMO Asia Limited (Korea Branch), AMO Asia Limited Taiwan Branch (Hong Kong), AMO Australia Pty Limited, AMO Australia Pty Limited (New Zealand Branch), AMO Canada Company, AMO Denmark ApS, AMO Development LLC, AMO France, AMO Germany GmbH, AMO Groningen B.V., AMO International Holdings Unlimited Company, AMO Ireland, AMO Ireland Ireland Branch, AMO Italy SRL, AMO Japan K.K., AMO Manufacturing USA LLC, AMO Netherlands BV, AMO Nominee Holdings LLC, AMO Norway AS, AMO Puerto Rico Manufacturing Inc., AMO Sales and Service Inc., AMO Singapore Pte. Ltd., AMO Spain Holdings LLC, AMO Switzerland GmbH, AMO U.K. Holdings LLC, AMO United Kingdom Ltd., AMO Uppsala AB, AUB Holdings LLC, Abott Medical Optics, Acclarent Inc., Actelion Ltd, Actelion Pharmaceuticals, Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Actelion Pharmaceuticals Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Actelion Pharmaceuticals US Inc., Actelion Treasury Unlimited Company, Akros Medical Inc., Albany Street LLC, Alios BioPharma, Alza Land Management Inc., Anakuria Therapeutics Inc., Animas Diabetes Care LLC, Animas LLC, Animas Technologies LLC, AorTx Inc., Apsis, Aragon Pharmaceuticals, Aragon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Asia Pacific Holdings LLC, Atrionix Inc., Auris Health, Auris Health Inc., Backsvalan 2 Aktiebolag, Backsvalan 6 Handelsbolag, Beijing Dabao Cosmetics Co. Ltd., BeneVir BioPharm Inc., Berna Rhein B.V., BioMedical Enterprises Inc., Biosense Webster (Israel) Ltd., Biosense Webster Inc., Branch of Johnson & Johnson LLC (RU) in Kazakhstan, C Consumer Products Denmark ApS, CSATS Inc., Calibra Medical LLC, Campus-Foyer Apotheke GmbH, Carlo Erba OTC S.r.l., Centocor Biologics LLC, Centocor Research & Development Inc., Cerenovus Inc., ChromaGenics B.V., Ci:Labo Customer Marketing Co. Ltd., Ci:Labo USA Inc., Ci:z Holdings, Ci:z. Labo Co. Ltd., Cilag AG, Cilag GmbH International, Cilag Holding AG, Cilag Holding Treasury Unlimited Company, Cilag-Biotech S.L., CoTherix Inc., Coherex Medical Inc., ColBar LifeScience Ltd., Company Store.com Inc., Conor MedSystems, Cordis International Corporation, Cordis de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Corimmun GmbH, DePuy Hellas SA, DePuy International Limited, DePuy Ireland Unlimited Company, DePuy Mexico S.A. de C.V., DePuy Mitek LLC, DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., DePuy Products Inc., DePuy Spine LLC, DePuy Synthes Gorgan Limited, DePuy Synthes Inc., DePuy Synthes Institute LLC, DePuy Synthes Leto SARL, DePuy Synthes Products Inc., DePuy Synthes Sales Inc., Debs-Vogue Corporation (Proprietary) Limited, Dutch Holding LLC, ECL7 LLC, EES Holdings de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., EES S.A. de C.V., EIT Emerging Implant Technologies GmbH, Ethicon Endo-Surgery (Europe) GmbH, Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc., Ethicon Endo-Surgery LLC, Ethicon Inc., Ethicon LLC, Ethicon PR Holdings Unlimited Company, Ethicon Sarl, Ethicon US LLC, Ethicon Women's Health & Urology Sarl, Ethnor (Proprietary) Limited, Ethnor Farmaceutica S.A., Ethnor del Istmo S.A., FMS Future Medical System SA, Finsbury (Development) Limited, Finsbury (Instruments) Limited, Finsbury Medical Limited, Finsbury Orthopaedics International Limited, Finsbury Orthopaedics Limited, GH Biotech Holdings Limited, GMED Healthcare BV, GMED Healthcare BV (Branch), Global Investment Participation B.V., Guangzhou Bioseal Biotech Co. Ltd., Hansen Medical Deutschland GmbH, Hansen Medical Inc., Hansen Medical International Inc., Hansen Medical UK Limited, Healthcare Services (Shanghai) Ltd., Hickory Merger Sub Inc., I.D. Acquisition Corp., Innomedic Gesellschaft fur innovative Medizintechnik und Informatik mbH, Innovative Surgical Solutions LLC, J & J Company West Africa Limited, J&J Pension Trustees Limited, J-C Health Care Ltd., J.C. General Services BV, JJ Surgical Vision Spain S.L., JJC Acquisition Company B.V., JJHC LLC, JJSV Belgium BV, JJSV Manufacturing Malaysia SDN. BHD., JJSV Norden AB, JJSV Produtos Oticos Ltda., JNJ Global Business Services s.r.o., JNJ Holding EMEA B.V., JNJ International Investment LLC, JOM Pharmaceutical Services Inc., Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy (Holding) Limited, Janssen BioPharma LLC, Janssen Biologics (Ireland) Limited, Janssen Biologics B.V., Janssen Biotech Inc., Janssen Cilag C.A., Janssen Cilag Farmaceutica S.A., Janssen Cilag S.p.A., Janssen Cilag SPA, Janssen Development Finance Unlimited Company, Janssen Diagnostics LLC, Janssen Egypt LLC, Janssen Farmaceutica Portugal Lda, Janssen Global Services LLC, Janssen Holding GmbH, Janssen Inc., Janssen Irish Finance Unlimited Company, Janssen Korea Ltd., Janssen Oncology Inc., Janssen Ortho LLC, Janssen Pharmaceutica (Proprietary) Limited, Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, Janssen Pharmaceutica S.A., Janssen Pharmaceutical K.K., Janssen Pharmaceutical Sciences Unlimited Company, Janssen Pharmaceutical Unlimited Company, Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. Japan Branch, Janssen Products LP, Janssen R&D Ireland Unlimited Company, Janssen Research & Development LLC, Janssen Sciences Ireland Unlimited Company, Janssen Scientific Affairs LLC, Janssen Supply Group LLC, Janssen Vaccines & Prevention B.V., Janssen Vaccines Branch of Cilag GmbH International, Janssen Vaccines Corp., Janssen-Cilag, Janssen-Cilag (New Zealand) Limited, Janssen-Cilag A/S, Janssen-Cilag AG, Janssen-Cilag AS, Janssen-Cilag Aktiebolag, Janssen-Cilag B.V., Janssen-Cilag Farmaceutica Lda., Janssen-Cilag Farmaceutica Ltda., Janssen-Cilag GmbH, Janssen-Cilag International NV, Janssen-Cilag Kft., Janssen-Cilag Kft. Branch Office, Janssen-Cilag Limited, Janssen-Cilag Manufacturing LLC, Janssen-Cilag NV, Janssen-Cilag OY, Janssen-Cilag Pharma GmbH, Janssen-Cilag Pharmaceutical S.A.C.I., Janssen-Cilag Polska Sp. z o.o., Janssen-Cilag Pty Ltd, Janssen-Cilag Pty Ltd (Branch), Janssen-Cilag S.A., Janssen-Cilag S.A., Janssen-Cilag S.A. de C.V., Janssen-Cilag de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Janssen-Cilag s.r.o., Janssen-Pharma S.L., Jevco Holding Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Johnson & Johnson (Angola) Limitada, Johnson & Johnson (China) Investment Ltd., Johnson & Johnson (China) Investment Ltd. Beijing Branch, Johnson & Johnson (Egypt) S.A.E., Johnson & Johnson (Hong Kong) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Ireland) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Jamaica) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Kenya) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Middle East) Inc., Johnson & Johnson (Middle East) Inc. (DHCC Branch), Johnson & Johnson (Middle East) Inc. (JAFZA Branch), Johnson & Johnson (Middle East) Inc. Service Center (DAFZA Branch), Johnson & Johnson (Mozambique) Limitada, Johnson & Johnson (Namibia) (Proprietary) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (New Zealand) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Philippines) Inc., Johnson & Johnson (Private) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Thailand) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson (Trinidad) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Vietnam) Co. Ltd, Johnson & Johnson - Societa' Per Azioni, Johnson & Johnson AB, Johnson & Johnson AB Eesti filiaal (Branch), Johnson & Johnson AG, Johnson & Johnson AG (Zuchwil Branch), Johnson & Johnson Belgium Finance Company BV, Johnson & Johnson Bulgaria EOOD, Johnson & Johnson China Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Consumer (Hong Kong) Limited, Johnson & Johnson Consumer (Thailand) Limited, Johnson & Johnson Consumer B.V., Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health Care Switzerland Branch of Janssen-Cilag AG, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Holdings France, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc., Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. (Dominican Republic Branch), Johnson & Johnson Consumer NV, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Saudi Arabia Limited, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Services EAME Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Del Paraguay S.A., Johnson & Johnson Dominicana S.A.S., Johnson & Johnson Enterprise Innovation Inc., Johnson & Johnson European Treasury Unlimited Company, Johnson & Johnson Finance Corporation, Johnson & Johnson Finance Limited, Johnson & Johnson Financial Services GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Financial Services GmbH (Branch Office), Johnson & Johnson Gateway LLC, Johnson & Johnson Gesellschaft m.b.H., Johnson & Johnson GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Guatemala S.A., Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc., Johnson & Johnson Health and Wellness Solutions Inc., Johnson & Johnson Hellas Commercial and Industrial S.A., Johnson & Johnson Hellas Consumer Products Commercial Societe Anonyme, Johnson & Johnson Hemisferica S.A., Johnson & Johnson Holding GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Inc., Johnson & Johnson Industrial Ltda., Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JJDC Inc., Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC, Johnson & Johnson Innovation Limited, Johnson & Johnson International, Johnson & Johnson International (Belgian Branch) (European Logistics Center), Johnson & Johnson International (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Johnson & Johnson International (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. (Branch), Johnson & Johnson International Financial Services Unlimited Company, Johnson & Johnson K.K., Johnson & Johnson Kft., Johnson & Johnson Korea Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Korea Selling & Distribution LLC, Johnson & Johnson LLC, Johnson & Johnson Lda, Johnson & Johnson Limited, Johnson & Johnson Limited (Sri Lanka Branch), Johnson & Johnson Luxembourg Finance Company Sarl, Johnson & Johnson Management Limited, Johnson & Johnson Medical (China) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medical (Proprietary) Ltd, Johnson & Johnson Medical (Shanghai) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medical (Shanghai) Ltd. Beijing Branch, Johnson & Johnson Medical (Suzhou) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medical B.V., Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices & Diagnostics Group - Latin America L.L.C., Johnson & Johnson Medical GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Medical Korea Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medical Limited, Johnson & Johnson Medical Mexico S.A. de C.V., Johnson & Johnson Medical NV, Johnson & Johnson Medical Products GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Medical Pty Ltd, Johnson & Johnson Medical S.A., Johnson & Johnson Medical S.C.S., Johnson & Johnson Medical S.p.A., Johnson & Johnson Medical SAS, Johnson & Johnson Medical Saudi Arabia Limited, Johnson & Johnson Medical Taiwan Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medikal Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Johnson & Johnson Medikal Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi (Ankara Branch), Johnson & Johnson Medikal Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi (Izmir Branch), Johnson & Johnson Middle East - Scientific Office, Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ - LLC (Lebanese Branch), Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ-LLC, Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ-LLC (Ghana Branch), Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ-LLC (Kenya Branch), Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ-LLC Branch (TSO) (Saudi Arabia Branch), Johnson & Johnson Morocco Societe Anonyme, Johnson & Johnson NCB (Belgian Branch), Johnson & Johnson Nordic AB, Johnson & Johnson Pacific Pty Limited, Johnson & Johnson Pakistan (Private) Limited, Johnson & Johnson Panama S.A., Johnson & Johnson Personal Care (Chile) S.A., Johnson & Johnson Poland Sp. z o.o., Johnson & Johnson Poland sp. z o.o. oddzial w Warszawie "Consumer", Johnson & Johnson Private Limited, Johnson & Johnson Pte. Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Pte. Ltd. Korea Branch, Johnson & Johnson Pty. Limited, Johnson & Johnson Romania S.R.L., Johnson & Johnson S.A., Johnson & Johnson S.A. de C.V., Johnson & Johnson S.E. Inc., Johnson & Johnson S.E. d.o.o., Johnson & Johnson SDN. BHD., Johnson & Johnson Sante Beaute France, Johnson & Johnson Services Inc., Johnson & Johnson Surgical Vision Inc., Johnson & Johnson Surgical Vision India Private Limited, Johnson & Johnson Taiwan Ltd., Johnson & Johnson UK Treasury Company Limited, Johnson & Johnson Ukraine LLC, Johnson & Johnson Urban Renewal Associates, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care (Shanghai) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Inc., Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Ireland Unlimited Company, Johnson & Johnson d.o.o., Johnson & Johnson de Argentina S.A.C. e. I., Johnson & Johnson de Chile Limitada, Johnson & Johnson de Chile S.A., Johnson & Johnson de Colombia S.A., Johnson & Johnson de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Johnson & Johnson de Uruguay S.A., Johnson & Johnson de Venezuela S.A., Johnson & Johnson del Ecuador S.A., Johnson & Johnson del Peru S.A., Johnson & Johnson do Brasil Industria E Comercio de Produtos Para Saude Ltda., Johnson & Johnson for Export and Import LLC, Johnson & Johnson s.r.o., Johnson Y Johnson de Costa Rica S.A., Johnson and Johnson (Proprietary) Limited, Johnson and Johnson Sihhi Malzeme Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, LTL Management LLC, La Concha Land Investment Corporation, Latam International Investment Company Unlimited Company, Legal Entity Name, MDS Co. Ltd., McNEIL MMP LLC, McNeil AB, McNeil Consumer Pharmaceuticals Co., McNeil Denmark ApS, McNeil Healthcare (Ireland) Limited, McNeil Healthcare (UK) Limited, McNeil Healthcare LLC, McNeil Iberica S.L.U., McNeil LA LLC, McNeil Nutritionals LLC, McNeil Panama LLC, McNeil Products Limited, McNeil Sweden AB, Medical Device Business Services Inc., Medical Devices & Diagnostics Global Services LLC, Medical Devices International LLC, Medos International Sarl, Medos International Sarl succursale de Neuchatel (Branch), Medos Sarl, MegaDyne Medical Products Inc., Menlo Care De Mexico S.A. de C.V., Mentor B.V., Mentor Deutschland GmbH, Mentor Medical Systems B.V., Mentor Partnership Holding Company I LLC, Mentor Texas GP LLC, Mentor Texas L.P., Mentor Worldwide LLC, Micrus Endovascular LLC, Middlesex Assurance Company Limited, Momenta Ireland Limited, Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc., NeoStrata Company Inc., NeoStrata UG (haftungsbeschrankt), Netherlands Holding Company, NeuWave Medical Inc., Neuravi Limited, Novira Therapeutics, Novira Therapeutics LLC, NuVera Medical Inc., OBTECH Medical Sarl, OGX Beauty Limited, OMJ Holding GmbH, OMJ Ireland Unlimited Company, OMJ Pharmaceuticals Inc., Obtech Medical Mexico S.A. de C.V., Omrix Biopharmaceuticals Inc., Omrix Biopharmaceuticals Ltd., Omrix Biopharmaceuticals NV, Ortho Biologics LLC, Ortho Biotech Holding LLC, Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical LLC, Orthospin Ltd., Orthotaxy, PT Integrated Healthcare Indonesia, PT. Johnson & Johnson Indonesia, Patriot Pharmaceuticals LLC, Peninsula Pharmaceuticals LLC, Pharmadirect Ltd., Pharmedica Laboratories (Proprietary) Limited, Princeton Laboratories Inc., Productos de Cuidado Personal y de La Salud de Bolivia S.R.L., Proleader S.A., Pulsar Vascular Inc., Regency Urban Renewal Associates, RespiVert Ltd., RoC International, Royalty A&M LLC, Rutan Realty LLC, SYNTHES Medical Immobilien GmbH, Scios LLC, Sedona Singapore International Pte. Ltd., Sedona Thai International Co. Ltd., Serhum S.A. de C.V., Shanghai Elsker For Mother & Baby Co. Ltd, Shanghai Elsker Mother & Baby Co. Ltd Minghang Branch, Shanghai Johnson & Johnson Ltd., Shanghai Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Sightbox LLC, Sodiac ESV, Spectrum Vision Limited Liability Company, Spectrum Vision Limited Liability Partnership, SterilMed, SterilMed Inc., Surgical Process Institute Deutschland GmbH, Synthes Costa Rica S.C.R. Limitada, Synthes GmbH, Synthes Holding AG, Synthes Holding Limited, Synthes Inc., Synthes Medical Surgical Equipment & Instruments Trading LLC, Synthes Produktions GmbH, Synthes Proprietary Limited, Synthes S.M.P. S. de R.L. de C.V., Synthes Tuttlingen GmbH, Synthes USA LLC, Synthes USA Products LLC, TARIS Biomedical, TARIS Biomedical LLC, TearScience Inc., The Anspach Effort LLC, The Vision Care Institute LLC, Tibotec LLC, Torax Medical Inc., UAB "Johnson & Johnson", UAB Johnson & Johnson Eesti Filiaal (Estonian Branch), Vania Expansion, Verb Surgical, Verb Surgical Inc., Vision Care Finance Unlimited Company, Vogue International, Vogue International LLC, Vogue International Trading Inc., WH4110 Development Company L.L.C., XO1, XO1 Limited, Xian Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd., Xian-Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd. Beijing Branch Office, Xian-Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd. Shanghai Branch Office, Zarbee's Inc., and Zarbee's Naturals.

Read More
BORNO STATE, Nigeria, 7 December 2016  Last year, Femi's* father was sick. So sick, in fact, that Femi wanted to go and look after him.

The 17-year-old left his school in the south of the country to travel to the north-east, to Borno state, where his father lived in a small village. Femi didn't anticipate being gone too long.

He was a keen student, and wanted to get back to his books. But control would be taken out of his hands.

Boko Haram came to our village to find me," Femi says, "They took me to their camp."

Femi says he wasn't the only boy the insurgents had kidnapped.

"We are so many that they captured. And they used to beat us every day. Some of things they teach you are bad things. They will teach you how to kill."



Children in conflict

Femi's paternal home of Borno State is the epicentre of the humanitarian crisis that has been unfolding in Nigeria and the Lake Chad region since mid-2013. In Borno alone, more than 1.3 million people have been displaced as a result of Boko Haram violence, while large areas still remain inaccessible to humanitarian actors.

Security remains precarious, and humanitarian organizations like UNICEF are providing services and scaling up life-saving activities in newly accessible areas.

As each area opens up, the stories of children who have been drawn into the conflict are discovered and documented.

In three newly accessible areas in Borno State, UNICEF and partners have identified and profiled nearly 500 children associated with armed groups.

Children like Femi.

>> Donate now to help children affected by the Nigeria and Lake Chad crisis
Support us - Help us upgrade our services!

Maintaining our website and our free apps does require, however, considerable time and resources.

We're aiming to achieve uninterrupted service wherever an earthquake or volcano eruption unfolds, and your donations can make it happen! Every donation will be highly appreciated.

Improved multilanguage support

Tsunami alerts

Faster responsiveness

Design upgrade

Detailed quake stats

Additional seismic data sources

Download and Upgrade the Volcanoes & Earthquakes app to get one of the fastest seismic and volcano alerts online:

Android | IOS to get one of the fastest seismic and volcano alerts online:

We truly love working to bring you the latest volcano and earthquake data from around the world.We need financing to increase hard- and software capacity as well as support our editor team.If you find the information useful and would like to support our team in integrating further features, write great content, and in upgrading our soft- and hardware, please PayPal or Online credit card payment )., these features have been added recently:
Haystax Technology, a McLean-based company that helps Super Bowl organizers and government agencies track security threats by analyzing millions of web-based data points, is embarking on a company-wide pivot towards helping organizations identify insider threats; employees who leak confidential information.

The company announced Thursday morning that it is getting $4 million from Kansas City businessman Gary Fish to help scale the new line of business.

Haystax is a unique conglomerate of technology companies that plays at the intersection of physical security, cybersecurity and information technology. The firm was founded in 2012 by uniting two analytics firms, FlexPoint Technology and Digital Sandbox, with backing from Chicago private equity firm Edgewater. In 2014, it bought government information technology contractor NetCentrics, helping it grow to more than $100 million in revenue.

The whole idea with that is to acquire a couple of companies and create something where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, Haystax chief executive Bryan Ware said of the combination.

At the beginning of 2016, Ware started drawing up plans to transition his company towards corporate cybersecurity with a new focus on insider threats, de-emphasizing government and intelligence work.

[McLean-based Haystax Technology powers the security behind the Super Bowl]

Like many in D.C.s government-centric technology community, Haystax will be selling private corporations a solution that was originally developed for the government.

After Wikileaks started publishing reams of classified information in 2010, Wares company started working on an organization-wide behavioral analytics service meant to track the risk that any given employee might leak confidential data. At its core was an algorithm meant to weigh whether someone is becoming more trustworthy over time or less trustworthy over time by triangulating different sources of electronically-obtained information.

The algorithm looks at whether employees pay their bills, scans public records like divorce proceedings and arrest warrants and collects background information such as whether the employee finished high school. It tracks badge data pinpointing when employees enter a building in the morning and when they leave, alongside different sorts of network and computer log-in data.

Ware says he has seen interest from large financial institutions worried about insider threats, and already sells analytical services to large corporations including National Australia Bank. But focusing on commercial work will be something of a new direction for Haystax.

The companys newest benefactor, Fish, is a serial entrepreneur who has founded and sold multiple companies.

Fish founded FishNet Security in 1996 when the security industry was still in its infancy, and sold it to private equity giant Blackstone in 2014. His latest project is a technology incubator he calls Fishtech Labs, which incubates cybersecurity companies out of offices in Kansas City, Mo. Fish uses Fishtech as a vehicle to invest his own money in technology companies across the U.S.

He says he wants to play a close advisory role in helping companies grow and find business. He says he plans to pick security companies whose technology platforms can work in tandem, allowing them to sell to the same customers when appropriate.

We have a broad portfolio of customers that we can introduce these companies to, Fish said. They can graft off each other and introduce each other to their customers as well.
President-elect Donald Trump stops to talk to the media in the lobby of Trump Tower December 6, 2016 in New York. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images)

The Angel Capital Association worked over the Thanksgiving holiday to put together its wish list for President-elect Donald Trump.

Its four-page letter was full of regulatory tweaks and legislative items that the niche group of wealthy investors hoped the new administration could deliver. The investor group also urged the nomination of two new Securities and Exchange Commission members, and it had a perfect candidate to suggest: Joe Wallin, a member of its public policy council.

We anticipate that the people on the transition team will be inundated with ideas and proposals as well as names, said Linda Smith, vice president of the Angel Capital Association, whose members help finance fledgling companies. We wanted to get on the radar screen.

The election of Trump has set off a tsunami of lobbying activity by companies eager to cash in on the inauguration of the nations businessman president. For executives who had been bracing for the tough-minded plans of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Trump holds out the promise of stripping away regulations, appointing business-friendly officials and overhauling the tax code in ways that could benefit their enterprises.

I would say that for a majority of the sectors out there, this was a surprise and not the bet they made on the election outcome, said Bob Wood, president of government affairs at the lobbying firm Barbour, Griffith and Rogers. Almost across the board, there was a sigh of relief.

That relief has quickly turned to action. Trade groups are revising their priority lists. Republican lobbyists are suddenly in greater demand. And everyone is trying to figure out who will matter most in the emerging Trump administration.

One thing seems certain: With Republicans in charge of the House, the Senate and the executive branch, much of the action will probably move back to Congress after eight years of legislative gridlock. And that holds out potential benefits and dangers as interest groups jockey to insert possibly lucrative items into comprehensive bills on health care, taxes, financial changes and other budget items.

Were trying to figure out how to manage expectations, said John Feehery, director of government affairs at Quinn Gillespie & Associates, a leading lobbying firm. But understand that we are not going to have an administration that has a disgust and dislike for the business community.

The supplicants are many. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which includes a dozen major carmakers, sent a memo to the Trump transition team two days after the election, pressing for a rollback in fuel-efficiency standards that President Obama set at the beginning of his term.

The letter said its members wanted the Trump administration to harmonize and adjust the fuel-efficiency standards that it said pose a substantial challenge to the auto sector due to the steeper compliance requirements for model years 2017-2025. The Obama administration has just reaffirmed its mileage targets, saying the industry is ahead of schedule and possesses the technology to go further.

The health-care industry  encompassing doctors, hospitals, health services and pharmaceuticals, which collectively spend about half a billion dollars a year on lobbying  is eager to capitalize on Trumps early vow to abolish Obamas Affordable Care Act and his later pledge to keep parts of it.

The device tax, the health insurance tax, the Cadillac tax  certainly all those are on the chopping blocks, said Wood, the lobbyist. Those items  the tax on medical devices, penalties for not signing up for insurance and a surcharge on especially generous employer plans  were central to Obamas effort to raise revenue to deliver affordable coverage to millions of uninsured Americans.

The health-care industry, like many others, is not a monolith, though.

The American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals have a separate overriding issue: stopping the deep cuts in Medicare reimbursements that were part of the Obama health-care changes and that will begin to take effect next year. Tens of billions of dollars are at stake for doctors and hospitals. Their slogan is to repeal, restore and replace. Restore means restoring Medicare and Medicaid payments.

Suddenly, the hospitals have reason to hope. The dozens of House bills passed in recent years to end Obamacare kept the Medicare cuts in place so the savings could be used to balance other spending or tax-cut plans. But there was an exception. The one GOP House member who proposed a bill that would have canceled the Medicare cuts was Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.)  Trumps choice for secretary of health and human services and the person who will play a key role in how the Trump administration unravels health-care restructuring.

The oil industry also stands to reap benefits, and not just in the most obvious ways. For example, the selection of a new Securities and Exchange Commission chairman more friendly to banks could help oil and gas firms, which have been pressured to include in their SEC disclosures calculations about climate risk and more information about their political contributions.

Trumps promise of a thaw in relations with Russia could also help oil and gas companies if he lifts economic sanctions imposed after Russia annexed Crimea. Those sanctions targeted the banking and energy sectors, and forced ExxonMobil to halt an Arctic exploration project  although it still possesses widespread drilling rights in Russia.

Boeing also would benefit from a lifting of sanctions on Russia because those who may buy its aircraft are blocked from getting financing under the sanctions.

For years, the for-profit education industry has been buffeted by Education Department requirements after scandals about false advertising, poor job placement records and high levels of defaults on federal student loans. The industry expects a softer touch from the Trump administration, because of Trumps views on regulation and because of his ownership of Trump University, which recently paid $25 million to settle charges of wrongdoing.

Shares of leading for-profit education companies have jumped. Apollo Education is up 8 percent, Strayer Education and DeVry Education Group have each climbed 28 percent, and Grand Canyon Education has risen 30 percent over the past month.

The telecommunications industry also is keeping a close eye on developments at the Federal Communications Commission. The Trump transition has announced three people on its FCC landing team, all of whom come from the American Enterprise Institute and all of whom are foes of the agencys net neutrality rules.

Those rules give free, speedy access to the Internet. But big communications companies, which own the infrastructure for connecting to the Internet, want to give favorable access speeds and prices to their own companies or to special customers. Rolling back those rules would benefit companies such as Comcast, which has been seeking to acquire cable companies and greater control over Web access.

Net neutrality in the U.S. is backfiring, Mark Jamison, one of the landing team members, wrote in a blog post in June 2015. He mentioned a growing miscellany of ex ante regulations that frequently work against the entrepreneurs and consumers the rules are intended to help.

Yet Trump could also pose a danger to companies.

Although Boeing could benefit from a lifting of Russia sanctions, the airline manufacturer could suffer a loss of sales to Iran if Trump tears up the accord limiting Irans nuclear program. And Trump has vowed to cancel Boeings contract to design a new Air Force One.

The president-elects threats about tariffs have sparked talk about a border adjustment tax that would impose a fee on all imported goods. It would raise $1 trillion over five years  and hurt a broad cross-section of corporate America, tripling its tax bills in some cases.

Another key player in the new Trump era is likely to be Congress.

You have one-party control, but the activity is not going to be limited to the administration, Wood said. People shouldnt forget about Congress. Congress is going to play a huge role in implementing a majority of these policies.

And once lawmakers roll up their sleeves on a comprehensive health-care, tax or spending bill, anything could happen. As one lobbyist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect his business and lobbying contacts, put it: In budget reconciliation, I have a vehicle. You can hide a lot of things in the budget reconciliation.
A 7-year-old boy was fighting for his life in a Lincoln hospital Thursday night after being hit by a truck as he crossed the street to Saratoga Elementary School, police said.

Lincoln Police Officer Katie Flood said a northbound Dodge Ram pickup hit the boy as he crossed 13th Street in the crosswalk in front of the school. The call came in at 7:57 a.m. Classes at Saratoga start at 8:15 a.m.

The boy, who police didn't identify Thursday, suffered life-threatening injuries and was taken to a hospital.

The driver, who also wasn't identified, has not been cited as the investigation remains ongoing.

In serious injury and fatal car accidents, Lincoln police don't always issue tickets or make arrests right away, said Capt. Don Scheinost.

Investigators don't want to rush a case, he said.

In this case, investigators are seeking more information on what happened.

Scheinost said the department wants anyone who saw the collision to come forward and tell police what they saw.

Saratoga Street was closed for almost four hours while police investigated but reopened before noon.

A cluster of debris from the truck remained in the middle of the 13th Street crosswalk that afternoon.

The school had extra counselors to help students and staff during the day, LPS spokeswoman Mindy Burbach said.

Burbach said there is a traffic light at the crosswalk. School staff is at the crosswalk in the afternoon to ensure the safe dismissal of students, but they do not act as crossing guards, she said.
Fuller House (Netflix streaming) The Tanners are back for another season of this revival, which focuses on D.J. (Candace Cameron Bure), Stephanie and Kimmy but features visits from the family patriarch, Danny (Bob Saget). (Michael Yarish/Netflix)

MacGyver (CBS at 8) Mac, back in his home town, has to rescue a kidnapped young prodigy with the only tools at his disposal: pliers and speaker wire.

Shark Tank (ABC at 9) The Sharks field pitches from a single mom whose business revolves around personal letters from Santa and an octogenarian who invented a more functional winter glove with his millennial business partner.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (CW at 9) Rebecca and Valencia get more than they bargained for when they team up to find intel on Joshs new girlfriend (guest star Brittany Snow).

The Exorcist (Fox at 9) Father Marcus tries to thwart a potential tragedy ahead of Pope Sebastians visit to Chicago.

Premieres

Captive (Netflix streaming) This docu-series examines true-crime stories that involved hostage-taking and the challenging negotiations to get victims home safely.

White Rabbit Project (Netflix streaming) MythBusters alums Grant Imahara, Tory Belleci and Kari Byron investigate pop culture and historical conventions to see whether they stand up to science.

Documentary

Vice Special Report: A House Divided (HBO at 10) President Obama is interviewed about his two terms in office and the deep divisions that emerged in recent years, culminating in a particularly contentious election. The program also features interviews with Vice President Biden, Sen. Harry M. Reid(D-Nev.), former House speaker John A. Boehner and Rep. Nancy Pelosi(D-Calif.).

Special

Madonna: Rebel Heart Tour (Showtime at 9) This two-hour concert special goes behind the scenes as the pop icon performs for her fans across the globe.

Returning

Mozart in the Jungle (Amazon Prime streaming) Season 3.

Late Night

Chelsea (Netflix streaming) Jennifer Aniston, Fetty Wap, Rick Doblin

Fallon (NBC at 11:34) Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Nealon, Gary Clark Jr.

Colbert (CBS at 11:35) Olivia Munn, Martin Freeman, Tom Papa.

Kimmel (ABC at 11:35) The cast of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, A Tribe Called Quest.
Astronaut John Glenn sits next to the Friendship 7 space capsule at Cape Canaveral, Florida, during preparations in 1962 for the flight that made him the first American to orbit the Earth. (AP)

John Glenn, whose 1962 flight as the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth made him an all-American hero and propelled him to a long career in the U.S. Senate, died Thursday. The last survivor of the original Mercury 7 astronauts was 95.

Glenn died at the James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, where he was hospitalized for more than a week, said Hank Wilson, of the John Glenn School of Public Affairs.

John Herschel Glenn Jr. had two major career paths that often intersected: flying and politics, and he soared in both of them.

Before he became famous by orbiting the world, he was a fighter pilot in two wars, and as a test pilot, he set a transcontinental speed record. He later served 24 years in the Senate from Ohio.

His long political career enabled him to return to space in the shuttle Discovery at age 77 in 1998, a cosmic victory lap that he relished and turned into a teachable moment about growing old.

Glenn poses for the official NASA photo for his 1998 flight on the space shuttle Discovery. (NASA/Reuters)

More than anything, Glenn was the ultimate and uniquely American space hero: a combat veteran with an easy smile, a strong marriage of 70 years and nerves of steel. Schools, a space center and the Columbus airport were named after him. So were children.

The Soviet Union leapt ahead in space exploration by putting the Sputnik 1 satellite in orbit in 1957, and then launched the first man in space, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, in a 108-minute orbital flight on April 12, 1961. After two suborbital flights by Alan Shepard Jr. and Gus Grissom, it was up to Glenn to be the first American to orbit the Earth.

Godspeed, John Glenn, fellow astronaut Scott Carpenter radioed just before Glenn thundered off a Cape Canaveral launchpad. At the time of that Feb. 20, 1962, flight, Glenn was 40 years old.

During the four-hour, 55-minute flight, Glenn uttered a phrase that he would repeat frequently throughout life: Zero G, and I feel fine.

It still seems so vivid to me, Glenn said in a 2012 interview with the Associated Press on the 50th anniversary of the flight.

Glenns ride in the cramped Friendship 7 capsule had its scary moments. Sensors showed his heat shield was loose after three orbits, and Mission Control worried he might burn up during reentry when temperatures reached 3,000 degrees. But the heat shield held.

Glenns love of flight was lifelong; John Glenn Sr. spoke of the many summer evenings he arrived home to find his son running around the yard with outstretched arms, pretending he was piloting a plane.

Glenn, second from right, heads to the launchpad with other members of the Discovery crew on October 29, 1998. (Bob Pearson/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images)

Glenns goal of becoming a commercial pilot was changed by World War II. He left college to join the Naval Air Corps and soon after, the Marines. He became a successful fighter pilot who ran 59 hazardous missions, often as a volunteer or as the requested backup of assigned pilots.

Glenns public life began when he broke the transcontinental airspeed record, bursting from Los Angeles to New York City in three hours, 23 minutes and eight seconds. With his Crusader averaging 725 miles per hour, the 1957 flight proved the jet could endure stress when pushed to maximum speeds over long distances.

He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1974 and represented Ohio until his retirement in 1998.

Glenn returned to space in a long-awaited second flight in 1998 aboard the space shuttle Discovery. He got to move around aboard the shuttle for far longer  nine days, compared with just under five hours in 1962  as well as sleep and experiment with bubbles in weightlessness. The trip gave Glenn a record that still holds: the oldest person in space.
The hemlock woolly adelgid, which came to this country from Asia, feeds on and eventually kills hemlock trees. (Elise Amendola/Associated Press)

An expanding army of insects is draining the life out of forests from New England to the West Coast.

Scientists say bugs such as the hemlock woolly adelgid and emerald ash borer, both native to Asia, are driving some tree species toward extinction and are causing billions of dollars a year in damage.

The situation is expected to worsen. According to a study in the scientific journal Ecological Applications, a projected 63 percent of the countrys forest is at risk through 2027..

Insect pests can undermine forest ecosystems. For example, scientists say, several species of hemlock and almost 20 species of ash could go nearly extinct in the coming decades.

Such destruction would do away with a critical sponge to capture greenhouse-gas emissions, shelter for birds and beneficial insects, and food sources for bears and other animals. Dead forests also can increase the danger of wildfires.

Hemlock woolly adelgids are no larger than a speck of pepper, but they do a lot of damage. (Elise Amendola/Associated Press)

Although theyre small, bugs can easily overwhelm big trees with sheer numbers. They drain the resin that otherwise defends the tree, said Matt Ayres, an ecologist who worked on the study. Then, the tree is toast.

Scientists say that the pest problem has worsened because of global trade and a warming climate and that there are a few methods to combat it. Those include genetic modifications, moving trees to new locations and introducing bugs that feed on pests in their native lands.

To fight the emerald ash borer, the United States Agriculture Department has released wasps that feed on the insect. But some scientists worry about introducing another pest, and others complain the wasps arent effective because they cant eat enough of the fast-breeding pests to make a difference.

The hope is to create balance: balance between predator and prey, said Ken Gooch, forest health program director for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Genetic modifications also offer promise.

On a research farm in Syracuse, New York, are rows of 10-foot-tall chestnut trees tweaked with a wheat gene to make them resistant to chestnut blight, a fungus that came from Japan more than a century ago and has killed millions of trees. Genetic engineering could likewise be applied to fight insects, scientists say.

An alternative strategy, also a slow one, is to plant trees 50 or 100 miles away from their normal range so they can escape pests.

To stop the next pest from entering the country, researchers including Gary M. Lovett of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in New York propose measures such as switching from solid-wood shipping material, which can harbor insects, and restricting imports of certain shrubs and trees.

Nonetheless, Lovett said, new pests are inevitable. We have this [growing] global trade, he said, so we will get a lot more of these.


Nancy Pearlstein, left, with niece Laura Pearlstein Mills. Pearlstein opened Relish boutique 20 years ago. She hopes to hand over ownership to Mills in the coming years. The high-end clothing store in Georgetown is among a shrinking number of independent clothing retailers in the country. (April Greer/For The Washington Post)

A thin, dark-haired woman in ivory-colored chinos and black boots walked into Relish, the high-end clothing boutique in Georgetowns Cadys Alley. She was on the prowl for something: a dress, an extra helping of confidence, an amusement. Rarely do shoppers who wander into stores such as this know precisely what theyre looking for until they see it.

With high fashion, youre creating demand, said Nancy Pearlstein, the owner of Relish. The first thing you have to have is taste. And then that taste has to be commercially viable.

In a sophisticated and vaguely aloof environment, Relish sells from-the-runway fashion: Dries Van Noten, Sacai, Thom Browne, Marc Jacobs, Veronique Branquinho, Marques  Almeida, Simone Rocha. Her customers are careerists and philanthropists, suburban mothers and urban singles. Women for whom one dress is an extravagance, as well as those who can spend thousands of dollars at once.

Before she set up shop in Washington in 1996, Pearlstein asked a small group of local women what they thought a successful clothing boutique would look like. She based her stock on their suggestions, but I also bought things they hadnt talked about, Pearlstein said. When it came to what sold, it was what they didnt mention.

Since then, Relish has been defined by Pearlsteins singular point of view. She loves classic silhouettes rooted in menswear. She appreciates the cubist sensibility of more experimental brands. She has a soft spot for plaid. The stock is not for everyones taste. But for those it pleases, it pleases them greatly.

Thats what makes every specialty store look different, Pearlstein said. Youre not trying to appeal to everybody; youre trying to appeal to everybody with the same sensibility.

Relish is the kind of store that was supposed to have disappeared under pressure from department stores, e-commerce, cultural shifts and a recession. It focuses on one-to-one styling. And it delivers the sort of tough love an algorithm cannot: the willingness to tell a client what she should not buy as well as what she should.

And it is thriving, in a town better known for its love affair with power dressing than creative edge.

Now, as the store marks its 20th anniversary, Pearlstein is pondering these questions: How does an independent boutique like Relish continue to grow and flourish? Will her young niece, whom she has welcomed into the business, carry on her legacy? Will Relish be able to make the next generation swoon?



The clothes at Relish are not overtly frilly or obviously sexy. They are attentive to fashion trends but not beholden to them. (April Greer/For The Washington Post)

For the shrinking ranks of independent clothing retailers, selling a single frock remains a time-consuming but rewarding endeavor. I still believe in the power of a conversation with a client about her life, said Susan Foslien, who owns Susan in San Francisco. And then she can go out and live that life.

That philosophy recalls an era when merchants knew clients by name and a sale took place only at the end of a season.

But customers have changed, as has the amount of time theyre willing to spend inside a store.

[Saks Jandel, a legendary Washington boutique, will close after 128 years]

Relish still hosts a sale only twice yearly  in June and January. It does not sell merchandise online. Its closed on Sundays and Thanksgiving Day. At Relish, the customer is not always right.

I asked Pearlstein, a friend and colleague of many years, to let me watch her in action. As a merchant, she is unbound by spreadsheets and attentive to her own gut feelings, which have led her toward upstart labels and off-kilter creativity  and in turn drawn more daring customers.

It took about five years for Relish to build a customer base, first in its original Chevy Chase location before it moved a decade ago to its sprawling 6,000-square-foot space in Georgetown. Once the store found its footing, it saw double-digit growth, Pearlstein said.

These are challenging times for retailers. Department stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus saw sales drop last year. Ralph Lauren has been closing stores and reducing inventory. Even Chanel and Hermes have seen sales slow.

More consumers now swear by online shopping, where they can dodge sales tax and hunt for the best price. Luxury consumers come in here and have someone help them. Then theyll take all the information and go home to find [a garment] online for less money, said Karen Daskas, co-owner of Tender in Birmingham, Mich.

After the economic downturn, some specialty stores hooked their wagons to larger corporations. Others shrank their footprint. Some retailers simply burned out. Relish felt the recession, too, Pearlstein said, but by the second half of 2010 was back on track.

The forces that pressured fashions specialty stores are similar to those that threatened independent bookstores, which survived by making themselves part of the civic fabric. So have fashion boutiques, which have forged closer ties to both customers and designers. And many have been rewarded.

When we were little-known, being discovered by the owners and buyers of specialty stores such as Relish, Ikram [in Chicago], who have great appreciation for fashion and the support of their selective clientele, nurtured the brand, said Sacai designer Chitose Abe, who is based in Tokyo. Our business has grown quite steadily and organically thanks to the love and support from these specialty stores.

In return, Abe said, she has been careful to curtail her sales among online-only retailers  to protect brick-and-mortar business.

[Chitose Abe of Sacai: Fashion that deconstructs the familiar, intrigues the eye]



Pearlstein, right, with customer Jennifer Peacock, would like to translate her aesthetic and brand of slow fashion to the fast-paced digital world without losing its integrity and intimacy. (April Greer /For The Washington Post)

Pearlstein, 62, is a slim, athletic woman with curly blond hair who is both blunt and precise. She can be charming and infuriating  all in a single Boston-accented sentence.

The Brookline, Mass., native majored in physical education at the University of Colorado, then went to work at Louis Boston, the clothing store founded by her grandfather in 1929 and transformed into a fashion leader by her late father, Murray Pearlstein.

She introduced womenswear to Louis before leaving to work at the larger, more conservative Mark Shale in Chicago. Looking to open her own boutique, she moved to Washington at the urging of her brother, Steven Pearlstein, an economics writer at The Washington Post. (Her sister took over the family business, which closed in 2015.)

The clothes at Relish are not overtly frilly or obviously sexy. They are attentive to fashion trends but not beholden to them. Consider last seasons must-have furry shoe:

I did a Velcro sneaker that has fur under the Velcro, which I thought was a very chic way to do it, she said. I was going to buy other shoes, the slipper, the whole look. But then, I was seeing it so much I thought, I dont want to do it. 

One recent afternoon at Relish, Pearlstein was unpacking an order from Dries Van Noten. It was a box of tan suede sandals with a shiny, decorative disk and matching glossy platforms. Lovely, but wrong: They were supposed to be matte leather with no disk.

Pearlstein was hesitant to send them back, which could hurt her relationship with the designer. When I complain, I want to be correct. If I made the mistake, thats the end of the conversation. It was her mistake. She kept the shoes and never said anything to the designer. The sandals didnt sell. The style I wanted would have sold better, she said.

Issues with fit are a bigger problem, she said. Last year, an order of shrunken sweaters couldnt fit even her smallest customer. So they were sent back. But now, clothes are gigantic again. It will take time for customers to adjust to this new silhouette. Pearlstein will have to help them see themselves in a new way.

Take oversized jackets. I bought them for [last] spring from Marni. I sold a couple of them. Theyre not the easiest sell, she said. But I want to buy it and give the customer something new. Something I believe in.

[Put away your skinny jeans. Clothes are getting big again  and its about time.]

What makes a $2,000 dress? The label. The fabric. The finish. Handwork done in Europe, where labor costs are higher but the quality is better than in China. It helps to have someone explaining the idea of the brand and justifying the price, said Marie-Christine Statz, founder of the young design house Gauchere. At larger stores, the sales staff dont know the meaning of the brand or what kind of fit is right.

Is any dress worth so much money? Who am I to say? Pearlstein said. After all, is any car truly worth $200,000? But the idea that a customer would wear a special-event dress only once  a notion popularized by fashion fanatics who Instagram their lives as if they were celebrities on a red carpet  is anathema to her. If I love it, Id wear it every chance I got.

Theres a stereotype that the sort of woman who spends more than $1,000 for a dress must be a trust-fund baby or a narcissist. But Relish customers are curators and gallerists, real estate developers and financiers, as well as government officials and holders of White House hard passes.

A New York-based curator  a tall woman with cropped gray hair who didnt want to share her name because she was not supposed to be shopping during this business trip  discovered Relish a decade ago. I dont like to have a lot of clothes; I just like things that are beautiful and classic, she said.

Pearlstein would like to translate her aesthetic and brand of slow fashion to the fast-paced digital world without losing its integrity and intimacy. She would like to reach millennials by showing them that fashion retail can be a creative and memorable experience.

That next-generation challenge will fall to her niece, Laura Pearlstein Mills, 31, who recently began working at Relish after 10 years in advertising and branding. Mills is learning about the merchandise, working with customers, getting to know the fundamentals of retail and considering how to expand her aunts singular vision.

Weve come of age when high-end fashion has been commoditized. Its all point-and-click, Mills said. The real challenge is to take whats so special about personal interaction and figure out how to scale it. Millennials do care about the personal touch  it just hasnt been presented to them when it comes to shopping.



Pearlstein pulls garments for Peacock and awaits feedback. (April Greer /For The Washington Post)

That dark-haired woman  the fashion hunter fingering the merchandise with curiosity  finally explained that she wanted something to wear to lunch in New York. She already has a closet full of clothes. And this wasnt a meal upon which her professional reputation or social stature depended. The quest for fashion is rarely that dire.

What do you do with a dress like that? she asked, pointing to a black jersey Joseph tunic priced at $650.

Belt it, perhaps, or wear it with a jacket, Pearlstein explained: I think its appropriate for what youre trying to do, she said.

The questions kept coming: What kind of shoes do you wear? Could she wear white? Is it too early for that?

The woman left empty-handed. Counseled but uncommitted.

Robin Givhan is The Posts fashion critic.
Our readers share tales of their ramblings around the world.

Who: Dana Scherer (author) and Mark Cattell of Alexandria, Va.

Where, when, why: A funny thing happened on the way to the Iberian Peninsula. After decades of putting off travel, I finally planned my first solo excursion, a year out, in late 2015. Although I had studied Spanish for more than 13 years, my only experience in Spain was a week-long trip 25 years ago as a college senior. However, after I made my reservation with Tauck Tours, I met and fell and love with Mark. We got married in May, and the solo trip turned into our honeymoon. (Fortunately, Mark speaks Spanish as well.) We spent a total of 2 weeks in Portugal and Spain in October.

The author and her husband, Mark Cattell, in front of the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. (Mark Cattell / )

Highlights and high points: The food, the architecture and views particularly stand out. I have an especially fond memory of the gold and silver droplets of reflected sunlight dancing over the Mediterranean Sea in Marbella during the late afternoon.

Cultural connection or disconnect: Once we arrived in Seville, Mark and I agreed to only speak Spanish whenever possible. By the time we dined at Robles Tapas Bar, we were at ease. The tapas were amazing, especially the smoked salmon and tomato. We mentioned to our server, Antonio, that the food was comparable to that of a world-famous Spanish chef in the district, Jose Andres. A pair of men sitting at the bar next to us turned around and said Viva Sevilla! Antonio requested that we mention him to Senor Andres.

Biggest laugh or cry: Mark and I had a deep, emotional connection with each other in Madrid looking at the art of Francisco Goya at the Museo Nacional Del Prado, and Pablo Picasso at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia. Both Goyas The Third of May 1808 and Picassos Guernica depict the raw, emotional, loss of innocence and tranquility. The emotional truth of Spanish paintings from a different era illuminated the universality of the human spirit.

A salmon and tomato tapa offered by Robles Tapas Bar in Seville, Spain. (Mark Cattell / )

How unexpected: We could see in the architecture the interrelated history of the Moors, the Catholics and the Jews. It was especially interesting to visit the Jewish quarter in Cordoba and the temple in Toledo, and to see evidence of such a vibrant community before its expulsion in 1492. Its one thing to read about the Golden Age, but quite another to see its embodiment.

Fondest memento or memory: Were still enjoying the olive oil we brought home! Now, whenever I see anything olive-related, Ill think of the groves of trees it came from.

More from Travel:

Walking Spains Camino de Santiago

In Portugal, a personal Age of Discovery

To tell us about your own trip, go to washingtonpost.com/travel and fill out the What a Trip form with your fondest memories, finest moments and favorite photos.


Pedestrians cross Vancouvers Pender Street in front of the Millennium Gate to the Canadian citys Chinatown. ( Nelson Mouellic/ Tourism Vancouver )

It doesnt take long for visitors to Vancouver to notice there are a lot of Chinese people here. According to the latest census, nearly 1 in 5 people in Greater Vancouver identifies as ethnic Chinese. The citys Chinese population includes people originally from Hong Kong, mainland China and Taiwan, and ranges from new transplants to families that have been in Canada for generations. This diversity is reflected in Vancouvers Chinese food, which blends traditional cuisine with the citys influence  and which has a reputation for being some of the worlds best.





Yet, despite being Chinese Canadian and a born-and-raised Vancouverite, I didnt really understand these nuances until I spent a week eating with Lee Man. A local food writer and judge for the Chinese Restaurant Awards, Man led me on a culinary adventure in my own back yard.

On a quiet Monday morning, I slide into a booth across from Man at New Town Bakery in Chinatown. Vancouvers Chinatown was established in the 19th century by Chinese men  largely from the southern part of Chinas Guandong province  who built the countrys railroads. Exclusionist policies restricted Chinese immigration until the mid-20th century, but things didnt ramp up until the late 60s. Thats when looser immigration laws coincided with the Cultural Revolution and prompted many to flee Hong Kong, including Mans and my parents. While Chinatown was no longer the de facto place to live, it remained the nexus of the Chinese community.

As Man examines the menu, I watch a middle-aged woman lower her wizened companion into an orange vinyl chair. Beside us, a gray-haired Chinese man smiles as a server deposits a plate of soy-glazed rice noodles, a bamboo steamer of dim sum and a white porcelain mug in front of him.

Do you want chicken feet? Man asks. I shake my head, and he orders in Cantonese. Soon, were enjoying minced beef accented with tangerine peel and wrapped in rice noodles, as well as a bowl of congee redolent with beef. A classic Cantonese breakfast, congee is, well, rice gruel. When you watch old Chinese TV shows, theres this idea that when people get married, theyll have rice together or congee together. Through thick and thin, Man says.



Some of the typical dishes at a dim sum lunch lie ready for the picking. (Eagranie Yuh)

Next, he removes the paper liner from one of New Towns famous steamed buns, cleaving the fluffy softball to reveal a heart of pork, ham, bamboo shoots and a golden yolk of salted duck egg. Finally, we share an apple tart, a flaky pillow filled with stewed fruit. Man hasnt seen either of these items in Asia; they are particular to Vancouver.

Today, New Town is one of the last restaurants of its kind, its name an ironic reminder of the gap between the Chinatown I remember  vibrant, cheerful, chaotic  and its struggle today to remain relevant to a large Chinese diaspora spread across the city. Man points to the decade leading up to the repatriation of Hong Kong to China in 1997. Thats when Chinatown started losing its hold.

Confident cuisine

On a clear day, the view from Vancouvers Waterfront Station is Instagram fodder: craggy mountains and glittering ocean framed by mechanical orange giraffes at the nearby port. Just 30 minutes away on the Canada Line, the suburb of Richmond offers an entirely different view.

Formerly a smear of farmland, Richmond was transformed into a concrete metropolis in the 90s as an influx of affluent Hong Kongers arrived. According to Man, this wave of immigration  which included chefs trained in Cantonese cuisine  brought a new kind of confidence and different expectations of food from what Chinatown offered.

Richmond is like Hong Kong lite, and in both locales, the shopping mall features prominently. At Aberdeen Center, the mainly Cantonese clientele seems unperturbed by the curious mixture of Western chains such as the Body Shop (and unexpectedly, an in-mall Mercedes dealership) with Asian shops selling ginseng and jade.

I resist the pull of Daiso, the Japanese dollar store, and head to the top-floor food court, which serves delectables including congee, dumplings, Malaysian laksa and Japanese tonkatsu. Bubble Waffle is especially popular for its namesake dessert  a sheet of ovoid bubbles with crisp shells and chewy centers, served warm from the waffle iron. But no bubble waffles for me today; I need to save my appetite.

My next stop is Hoitong Chinese Seafood Restaurant, a 10-minute walk down clogged roads lined with strip malls.

Finally I spot the sign  blocky yellow letters on a red background  at the entrance to a parking lot and scan the perimeter until I find the restaurant itself, nestled between an alley and a bakery. All its blinds are shut.

Inside is a nondescript room with just seven tables, which slowly fills with the murmur of Cantonese, angular and guttural, and the occasional melodic tones of one Mandarin-speaking table. In Hong Kong, theres a whole tradition of private dining rooms. Theyre like underground restaurants, Man says. The idea here is that its home cooking but elevated, refined to the nth degree.

Our first dish is a surprise: sweet and sour pork. Everyone has the idea that its some cheesy North American dish, and its not, Man says. Its a difficult dish to do well. The deep-fried meat is springy and not the least bit greasy, with tangy pineapple and barely cooked bell peppers that are still crisp and herbaceous, all of it in a loose sauce thats more sour than sweet.



The fried milk at Hoitong Chinese Seafood Restaurant is a cross between an egg-white omelet and custard. (Eagranie Yuh)

Next we have salt-baked chicken with burnished skin, and fried milk thats a cross between an egg-white omelet and custard. But its a vegetable dish that creates an indelible taste memory for me: parcels of tofu skin wrapped around slivered mushrooms, wood ear fungus and carrots, with baby bok choy cooked to perfect sweetness.

While the dishes themselves are straight out of Hong Kong, there is a Vancouverness to the meal. The chicken is fully cooked, whereas in Hong Kong, it would be slightly bloody at the bone; the majority of the ingredients come from local suppliers. High-quality ingredients are integral to Cantonese cuisine, which is sometimes maligned as bland. Restrained might be a more favorable description. Cantonese people want the thing to taste like the thing, Man says.

In contrast, he says, the most recent wave of immigrants to Vancouver  Mandarin-speaking people from mainland China  prefer sweeter, saltier and sharper flavors. But thats not the only difference, which is evident at Peninsula Seafood Restaurant in Vancouvers Oakridge Center, a mall that counts Michael Kors, Coach and Tiffany & Co. among its tenants.

On the restaurants back wall, a poker tournament plays out on an oversized television screen while chandeliers quiver in hyperactive air conditioning. The lunch menu includes dim sum standards such as har gow (shrimp dumplings) and shaomai (pork dumplings), but also dumplings with black truffle paste, fresh geoduck and sashimi.

Mainland Chinese food is going through an exuberant phase right now. Its about being very visible with wealth, Man says. Peninsula is one of several restaurants catering to the highly affluent  some might say ultrawealthy  mainland Chinese market, but according to Man, many stumbled. For example, in China, frozen seafood is considered luxurious. Thats not so in fresh-obsessed Vancouver.

When people come to Vancouver, they want Vancouver Chinese food, he says. Mainlanders might want their meal inflected with familiar flavors, but they dont want a wholesale facsimile of what they can get in China.

Vancouvers voice

Our final destination is in a part of town best known for deli sandwiches and hospital scrubs. From the bustle of West Broadway, I pass through the lobby of a medical office building to a glassy atrium, where gold script on black granite marks the entrance to Dynasty Seafood Restaurant.

I have a single request: typhoon shelter crab, also known as spicy garlic crab. Shortly after we order, our server approaches with a gray tub containing a wriggling, upside-down Dungeness crab, freshly plucked from the restaurants live seafood tanks. Man nods in approval.



Typhoon shelter crab at Dynasty Seafood Restaurant, consists of a whole crab piled atop a bed of sticky rice speckled with Chinese sausage, dried shrimp, egg, and a Serrano chili pepper. (Eagranie Yuh)

We start with deep-fried spareribs marinated in fermented tofu, which play beautifully against spears of house-pickled turnips and carrots. But it isnt long before a troupe of servers arrives with clean plates, extra napkins and crab crackers  and the crab, which has been deep-fried, sectioned and piled atop a bed of sticky rice speckled with Chinese sausage, dried shrimp, egg and Serrano chili peppers. Crab can be a lot of work, but this is worth it, each bite singing with sweetness.

Finally, we tackle our remaining dish: Buddhas Feast, a mixture of mushrooms, wood ear fungus, cabbage and tofu. Traditionally, the dish is stewy and braised, but at Dynasty its kissed by a wok, vibrant and lively. Buddhas Feast is usually really cooked out, but in Vancouver, the integrity of vegetables is a big deal, Man says.

As servers pack up our leftovers, the hum of Chinese, Mandarin and English ratchets up a notch. The mixed clientele is united by their appreciation of a Hong Kong-inflected menu that incorporates cues from cuisines beyond Cantonese, and that highlights the restaurants meticulous sourcing of seasonal ingredients.

Over the years, each wave of immigration has deepened the citys rich ecosystem of Chinese food, and while our tour has focused primarily on Cantonese, there are other Chinese cuisines to try, like Sichuan, Shanghainese and even Uyghur.

The places weve explored arent just Chinese restaurants  they are Chinese restaurants in Vancouver, blending traditional techniques and dishes with the influence of the city, its ingredients and its customs. The result is the distinct voice of Vancouver Chinese food that isnt seen elsewhere. And the best part? Theres plenty to explore.

Eagranie Yuh is the author of The Chocolate Tasting Kit and blogs at thewelltemperedchocolatier.com.

More from Travel:

The London guide for chocolate lovers

White whiskers and wonky hips: A retirement home for Tasmanian devils

Animal-rescue centers want you to be a flight volunteer
Eboney Matthews didnt waste any time when the man on the phone said a two-bedroom apartment had just become available.

Im on my way, she said, before hustling over to the apartment.

Thats where were sitting now, in a tidy flat on the top floor of a low-rise complex in Congress Heights. Eboney and her son, Herb, 7, moved in a little more than two months ago, having graduated from a transitional housing program run by Sasha Bruce Youthwork, a D.C. charity and a partner in The Washington Post Helping Hand.

The Sasha Bruce program was in an apartment complex on Barnaby Road SE. Eboney and the other the young parents in that program had been homeless.

The apartment looks really, really nice, Eboney, says Natonya Harris, program manager for the transitional housing program. Shes seeing Eboneys new place for the first time.

I finished the first day we moved in, put everything up, Eboney says. She did not want to be looking at moving boxes.

Eboney is no longer in the Sasha Bruce program. Shes proof that taking enough small steps in the right direction can lead to big change.

I watched her son grow, Natonya says. I watched her grow. Its a little overwhelming, because Im really proud. When I first met her, and she came in, she came in running.

Natonya dabs at her eyes.

Thank you, Eboney says. I miss you all.

You all was the group of parents between the ages of 18 and 24 in the Barnaby Road complex. In 2010, Eboney was living in the family shelter at D.C. General with her 1-year-old son.

After four months, she was chosen for Sasha Bruce transitional housing, which at the time consisted of 10 apartments. An 11th apartment housed the Sasha Bruce Youthwork program office. The young mothers met there regularly, in groups and singly, with caseworkers. They learned about child-rearing, about budgets, about credit reports, about applying for jobs.

It was helpful all the time, Eboney says. I always paid attention, even if it was stuff I already knew. I tried to learn more.

Natonya says: With the transitional housing program, our goal is to prepare the young people to be able to have the capacity where they can move into permanent housing. Eboney has been consistent throughout her entire time in the program.

Eboney was always working or looking for work, trying to earn a little bit more with each new job, from Dennys to Papa Johns to CVS, where she works now. As part of the Sasha Bruce program, Eboney put 10 percent of any money she made  from her job or from public assistance she was receiving  into an escrow account to prepare for her next move.

Sasha Bruce clients typically spend two to three years in transitional housing. Eboney had a few setbacks and was there longer. But Natonya knew Eboney would succeed eventually and recommended that she apply for rapid rehousing, a District program that helps fund an apartment.

In rapid rehousing, clients start out paying 40 percent of the rent. Every three months or so, the percentage increases until, by the end of the year, they are paying the entire rent themselves. Not all landlords accept rapid-rehousing vouchers. And some who do have minimum income requirements.

When Eboney was ready to leave the nest, she set to work. I was nonstop calling everywhere, she says. First, I would ask, do they have any units available? Then I would ask if they accepted the rapid-rehousing voucher. If they tell me yes, I ask about the income requirement.

When Eboney found her apartment, she high-tailed it over with the $50 application fee to seal the deal. The result is her own place, with her own name on the lease.

I feel good paying high rent, even though Im broke, Eboney says with a laugh. But at least my rent is paid.

She lives near a Giant but shops at Aldi, preferring its lower prices. (And they have good stuff, she says.)

Eboney has always loved driving  she has fond memories of delivering pizzas for Papa Johns  and thinks shed like to obtain a commercial drivers license.

She dreams of one day earning a salary, as opposed to being paid by the hour.

I want better stuff for myself and my son, she says.

Natonya looks at her and beams. She has definitely been one of those success stories, she says.

Helping Hand

Your donation to Sasha Bruce Youthwork can help write more success stories. To donate online, visit posthelpinghand.com. To donate by mail, make a check payable to Sasha Bruce Youthwork and mail it to: Sasha Bruce Youthwork, 741 Eighth St. SE, Washington, D.C. 20003. Attention: James Beck.

Were halfway through this years Helping Hand campaign. Our goal is to raise $225,000 by Jan. 6. Our total so far: $52,595.

Twitter: @johnkelly

For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/johnkelly.
A Maryland soldier who was injured after a suicide bomber attacked Bagram air base in northern Afghanistan last month has died, authorities said Wednesday.

[Four Americans die in suicide blast at U.S. base in Afghanistan; 17 others wounded]

Sgt. First Class Allan E. Brown, 46, of Takoma Park died Tuesday at Walter Reed National Medical Center in Bethesda, the Department of Defense said in a statement.

Brown, who was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Special Troops Battalion, 1st Sustainment Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, at Fort Hood, Texas, was injured on Nov. 12 by an improvised explosive device at Bagram, the statement said.

The suicide attack, which reportedly occurred during a fun run at the base, killed two U.S. service members that day, two American civilian contractors, and injured 17 other people.

Allan E. Brown (U.S. Army)

The suicide bombing was the first at Bagram since it opened to U.S. troops in 2001.

Brown entered the service in 2004 as a senior data systems integrator, Fort Hood said in a statement. He was deployed in Operation Iraqi Freedom from August 2006 to August 2007, November 2008 to October 2009, and December 2010 to December 2011, the statement said.

Brown also was deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom from July 2014 to September 2014, and in Operation Freedoms Sentinel from September to December 2016, according to the statement.

Brown earned several medals, including five Army Commendation Medals.

Also killed in the incident were Sgt. John W. Perry, 30, of Stockton, Calif., and Pfc. Tyler R. Iubelt, 20, of Tamaroa, Illinois. Both died on Nov. 12.
Montgomery County Democrats on Wednesday evening named Del. William C. Smith Jr. to succeed U.S. Rep.-elect Jamie B. Raskin in the Maryland Senate, making him the first African American to represent the county in that body.

The countys 28-member Democratic Central Committee chose Smith over fellow freshman Del. David Moon by a vote of 19 to 8, with one abstention.

The committees recommendation now goes to Gov. Larry Hogan, who makes the appointment. Hogan, a Republican, is required by law to appoint someone from the party that previously held the seat.

Three other candidates competed but received no votes: Howard University professor and Montgomery County EMT Darian Unger, small-business executive Scott Brown and Democratic activist Arthur Jackson.

The vote, taken at the Silver Spring Civic Center, capped months of intense backstage politicking for the seat Raskin had held since 2006. He resigned Nov. 10, two days after he was elected to succeed Rep. Chris Van Hollen in Congress.

Del. William C. Smith (D-Montgomery) was tapped to succeed former state senator Jamie Raskin. (Courtesy of Del. William C. Smith)

Smith and Moon both brought significant progressive credentials for the race to represent District 20, one of the states most liberal legislative districts, which takes up most of Silver Spring and Takoma Park. Both had served as campaign managers for Raskin  Moon in 2006 and Smith in 2010.

Smith, 34, a civil rights lawyer and intelligence officer in the Navy Reserve, was endorsed by County Executive Isiah Leggett and Council member Craig Rice (D-Upcounty), both of whom are African American, as well as the African American Club of Montgomery County and the Muslim Democratic Club of Montgomery County.

Moon, 37, a veteran grass-roots organizer and campaign strategist, collected support from a coalition of labor unions and progressive groups, including the Service Employees International Union, CASA and Progressive Maryland. He was also endorsed by the Hispanic Democratic Club and the Coalition of Asian Pacific American Democrats.

Some observers said Smith appeared to benefit from the committees desire to have an African American senator from Montgomery County, where about 1 in 5 residents is black. The countys eight-person Senate delegation includes one Asian American, state Sen. Susan C. Lee (D), who was elected in 2014.

Others said that Smith, who has passed more legislation than any other freshman lawmaker, may be better suited to the Senate than Moon, an organizer with a more hard-edge style.

I think its a shame we didnt have two open senate seats, said central committee member Jennifer Hosey. It came down to who would be more effective in working with a cooperative majority vision.

Moon said that he would not run for the Senate seat in 2018, and instead would seek a second term in the House of Delegates. He called Smiths election a proud moment for the county.

The competition also came at a time of transition for county and state Democrats, stung by declining turnout rates, the defeat of gubernatorial candidate Anthony Brown in 2014 and the record-high popularity of Hogan.

The vacancy  one of several in the state Senate this year  also revived debate about the Maryland law mandating that legislative vacancies be filled by appointment. Critics say such openings should be filled in special elections, especially because whomever takes over the seat has the advantage of incumbency if they decide to run for a full term.

In Baltimore, the Associated Press reported, Del. Barbara A. Robinson (D) was nominated Wednesday to succeed former senator Catherine E. Pugh, who resigned after being elected mayor of the city.
Two people suffered non-life-threatening injuries in an accident Wednesday afternoon while working on an electrical circuit at Offutt Air Force Base, officials said in a news release.

A member of the 55th Wing Civil Engineering Squadron and an Omaha Public Power District employee were conducting routine work on electrical equipment near Building 500 around 2:30 p.m., the release said.

An arc flash occurred and caused a flash fire, pressure blast and sound blast, the release said.

Both workers were taken to off-base hospitals.

The workers were alert and in good spirits Wednesday night when visited by 55th Wing command staff, Commander Marty Reynolds said in the release.

The incident is currently under investigation by the 55th Wing Safety Office.
Edgar Maddison Welch, 28, of Salisbury, N.C., surrenders to police on Dec. 4 in Washington. (Sathi Soma/Associated Press)

A D.C. Superior Court judge agreed Thursday to delay the preliminary hearing of a North Carolina man suspected of walking into a popular pizza shop with an assault rifle and handgun and firing at least two shots.

The public defenders for Edgar Welch, 28, told Magistrate Judge Sherry Trafford they needed more time to investigate Sundays incident. The attorneys also said they wanted time to allow Welchs family to attend the hearing.

Prosectors objected to the delay, but the judge granted the request.

[Pizzagate: From rumor to hashtag to gunfire in D.C.]

Welch, wearing an orange D.C. jail jumpsuit and leg and wrist shackles, sat next to his attorneys during the hearing. He will remain in jail at least through Tuesday.

Police say Welch walked into Comet Ping Pong with the assault rifle and fired it before pointing it at an employee. The pizzeria in Northwest Washington had become the subject of a widely shared fake news story linking Hillary Clinton to a child sex ring.

He said that he was searching for child sex slaves whom he believed were hidden there, and that he traveled to the nations capital to help rescue them, according to court documents.

Welch surrendered peacefully after 45 minutes of searching inside Comet Ping Pong and finding no evidence of sex trafficking. No one was injured during the incident.
A former Montgomery County high school science teacher was convicted on two counts of sex abuse of a minor after authorities said a student noticed the 38-year-old up-skirting her by taking pictures with his cellphone aimed under her skirt.

A judge found the teacher, Todd Michael Scriber of Gaithersburg, guilty on Tuesday, said a spokesman with the Montgomery County Prosecutors Office. Scriber faces a maximum sentence of 25 years on each count, said Ramon Korionoff, the offices spokesman.

[Maryland high school teacher arrested for taking pictures of students during class]

Authorities took Scriber into custody shortly after an Oct. 2 incident in his Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School classroom.

Police said a 14-year-old student told investigators she stayed after school to retake a science exam and had approached Scriber to discuss the test. According to a court filing, the teen said Scriber was holding the exam on one leg and a cellphone on the other. At some point, she noticed Scriber was pointing the phone under her skirt and pushed a button to take a picture, the document said.

Todd Michael Scriber (Montgomery County Police Department)

A detective questioned Scriber the following day after the student reported the incident and found several photos of other students on the teachers cellphone with most of the photos focusing on teen girls buttocks, legs and chests, the court document said. Police interviewed three students  a 16-year-old and two 17-year-olds  who identified themselves in the cellphone pictures and each told detectives they had not given Scriber permission to take the photos, said authorities.

After school officials learned about the allegations, Scriber was immediately put on leave. He is no longer an employee of Montgomery County Public Schools.

Scribers sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 24.

Dan Morse and Perry Stein contributed to this report.
Police in Howard County will redeliver dozens of holiday packages Thursday after arresting two people on charges of stealing them, authorities said.

About 4:50 p.m. Wednesday, officers responded to the area of Greystone Lane in Columbia for a report that people driving a box truck were taking packages from in front of homes, Howard County police said in a statement.

The box truck, with 77 stolen packages inside, was located within a minute, and Ernest Ohanyan, 25, and Amjad Jaouni, 28, both of Baltimore, were arrested, the statement said.

Police said the recovered packages are from addresses on Tamar Drive, Dry Barley Lane, Four Foot Trail, Fire Cloud Court, Sanctuary Court, Dark Hawk Circle, Black Star Circle, Dry Stone Gate, Roan Stallion Lane, Dawn Whistle Lane, Sea Light Lane, Summer Cloud Way, Saddle Drive, Oak Bush Terrace and Silver Trumpet Drive in Columbia.

Officers will try to deliver the packages Thursday evening, police said, and those that cannot be delivered may be picked up from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Northern District Station at 3410 Courthouse Dr. in Ellicott City.

Residents should bring photo identification or proof of address to receive their packages, police said, and those with questions should call 410-313-3200.

Charges against Ohanyan and Jaouni were not specified but both were held on $5,000 bonds. Ohanyan was released but Jaouni is still being held at Howard County Detention Center, police said.

Police encouraged residents to have packages delivered to work, ask neighbors to receive packages and report suspicious vehicles on neighborhood streets to deter thefts.
Arlingtonians who rent out spare rooms, apartments or houses through online companies like Airbnb could soon need a county license to do so.

The Arlington County Board plans to hold a public hearing and vote Saturday on a proposal to legalize and regulate short-term home-sharing, an effort to exert its own controls on the increasingly popular practice before the state government puts regulations in place.

Its pretty clear we need to do something, said County Board Chair Libby Garvey (D).

More than 1,000 Arlington rentals were listed online through Airbnb in early December, but county officials expect those offerings to spike next month with an influx of visitors for the presidential inauguration and related protests.

The proposal before the board would change the countys zoning code and create a new category for short-term rentals. Visitors would be limited to stays of 30 days or less, with no more than six people per unit, or two per bedroom, among other restrictions.

The idea of regulating such rentals has been under discussion in Arlington for several months, and county records show that more than 400 people have weighed in through comment boards and letters and at community meetings. In nearby Montgomery County, Md., the county council is also weighing how to police the industry, after voting last year to require short-term renters to pay the same tax required of hotel guests. The D.C. Council considered regulation last fall but has not taken action.

[As regulatory attacks mount, Airbnb goes on a charm offensive]

Airbnb officials say the company has worked with scores of communities to establish regulations and tax collection policies and that it has paid $110 million in taxes to more than 200 jurisdictions around the world to date.

Arlingtons goal is to pass an ordinance governing online, short-term rentals before the Virginia General Assembly meets in the first quarter of 2017. The state legislature clashed last year over how to regulate the industry and ended up voting to give preliminary approval to a policy that wont take effect until a study of the issues is completed and lawmakers have a chance to vote again.

Once enacted, Arlington officials say, a state policy could limit the countys ability to enact or enforce its own zoning laws, collect transient occupancy taxes or require owners to make their names and the addresses of their properties publicly available.

If we wait for the state, it will take months more, Garvey said. If you do it right, it seems like a win-win.

Arlington has consulted with Charlottesville, Roanoke and Botetourt County, Va., as well as Denver, San Francisco, Portland and Philadelphia, all of which have begun regulating the short-term rentals.

The countys proposed policy would require property owners to occupy the units they rent out as their primary residence for at least 185 days per year. In addition, the owner or a responsible representative must be located within 30 miles and available at all times when the unit is being rented.

The county would also require fire extinguishers and smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. It would not routinely inspect short-term rentals, but would respond if it received complaints.

Those who support looser home-sharing rules say apartments and houses are already being rented without evident problems. The Arlington Republican Committee and the Arlington Falls Church Young Republicans on Thursday called the countys proposed regulations unduly burdensome because, among other things, they would bar renters from subleasing their apartments to others when they are out of town.
Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), right, in January at the State Capitol in Richmond. (Steve Helber/AP)

Rep. Rob Wittman dropped out of the 2017 Virginia governors race Thursday, narrowing the field for the GOP nomination.

Wittman said he will stay on Capitol Hill to focus on national security and military jobs in his state.

The Virginia political class has awaited a decision by the five-term congressman since Donald Trump won the White House a month ago, invigorating House Republicans.

Wittman hopes to nab a subcommittee chairmanship that will make him an influential voice on matters involving the military and the Navy, which operates its largest base in Norfolk.

My intentions havent changed, Wittman said in a statement, but the circumstances around me have. . . . We have a unique opportunity right now in Congress to work with the new Administration and with Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate to make real impacts across the Commonwealth and the country.

The announcement leaves three Republicans vying for their party nomination: former GOP strategist Ed Gillespie; Corey A. Stewart, chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors; and state Sen. Frank W. Wagner (Virginia Beach).

Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam is the only Democrat seeking the partys nomination.

Among Republicans, Gillespie has the most fully formed campaign and the most to gain from Wittmans exit, because both men appeal to mainstream conservative voters in Virginia  the only Southern state Trump failed to carry.

Calling him a good friend and a good man, Gillespie said in a statement that Wittman has an important opportunity to work with a Trump Administration and our Republican majorities in Congress to advance Virginias priorities at a critical time for us.

Stewart, who was chairman of Trumps campaign in Virginia for a time, has tried to leverage his association with the incoming administration to woo voters.

Wagner has said that his 24 years in the legislature have prepared him to lead the state.

All three GOP candidates and Wittman are scheduled to speak this weekend at the state GOPs annual retreat in Richmond.

Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Carly Fiorina, both former GOP presidential hopefuls, will be there, as will Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and former House majority leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.).

Wittman had been mentioned as a potential candidate in a special election for the Senate seat held by Tim Kaine (D-Va.) if Democrats had won the White House. He has not ruled out running for Senate in 2018, when Kaines term ends.

[Tim Kaine returns to the Senate, seemingly untarnished by devastating loss]

As a public servant, I believe its my job to be where I can do the most good for Virginia, Wittman said. I cant predict where that will be in the future, but right now, its here in Congress.

Wittmans sprawling congressional district touches parts of Northern Virginia  in Prince William and Fauquier counties  central Virginia and Hampton Roads.

He chairs the House Armed Services readiness subcommittee but would like to move over to the top spot on the subcommittee on sea power and projection forces, where he could have more influence over the nations fleet. The Norfolk base is the East Coast home of the nations aircraft carriers.

Wittman said Thursday that he has spoken several times with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Vice President-elect Mike Pence about his decision but that they have not committed to the assignment he wants.

Virginia has been losing influence on military matters as senior members of its congressional delegation have lost seats or retired in recent years.

In 2014, Cantor lost his primary, and Democrat James P. Moran and Republican Frank R. Wolf retired. Reps. Scott Rigell (R) and Robert Hurt (R) declined to seek reelection this year, and Rep. J. Randy Forbes (R) lost in the primary after switching districts.
Nebraska Supreme Court justices are being asked to decide whether documents judges get in training sessions, including emails between them, are public records.

Attorneys on either side debated the question about the court's own policy in an interesting turnabout Wednesday.

The case started in Lancaster County District Court last year after State Court Administrator Corey Steel denied a Lincoln doctor's request for judicial branch education records judges are required to get on parenting and custody matters.

It was Steel's position that the documents are confidential.

Les Veskrna is a doctor and executive director of the Children's Rights Council of Iowa and Nebraska, which advocates for more shared custody in parental disputes.

He wants to review the documents due to concerns he has that the training and information given to judges is biased and that the state's judiciary favors mothers in child-custody matters. That's OK, Veskrna has said, except fathers typically get four days of visitation a month and research suggests noncustodial parents need at least twice that to have meaningful relationships with their children.

In January, Lancaster County District Judge Susan Strong ruled that most of the requested documents are public records and not exempt from disclosure. But she stayed her ruling to allow the state to appeal.

"That holding was wrong and should be reversed," Assistant Nebraska Attorney General David Lopez argued Wednesday.

By statute, the definition of what constitutes a public record in Nebraska is broad, defined as any record possessed by a public body. But it's not unlimited, he said.

Lopez argued the Legislature created the exception when it specifically provided for the records to be confidential.

The law passed in 2003 gave the Judicial Branch Education Advisory Committee the power to: "Develop for review by the Supreme Court standards and rules and regulations addressing such issues as the criteria for mandatory education for judges, criteria for approval of qualified activities, reporting requirements, sanctions for noncompliance, exemptions, and confidentiality of records."

Lopez conceded the committee hasn't developed such a rule.

Veskrna's attorney, Steve Grasz, argued that that was the crux of the case.

"Otherwise you're basically getting in a situation where ... the court would not be following the rule of law," he said.

If their questions were any hint, the justices seemed focused on the fact, too.

"Does the confidentiality exist in the absence of a rule?" asked Justice Lindsey Miller-Lerman.

Lopez argued that it's the state's position the court has the inherent authority to control and govern the disclosure of judicial branch education records.

But, he said, it's admittedly a problem that the confidentiality provision didn't mirror the statute that lists exceptions to what is public record.

"You'll concede there's no Supreme Court rule on the topic of confidentiality?" Justice William Cassel asked.

Lopez agreed, there's no written rule.

"What we're trying to do is defend the policy choice that the court has made on confidentiality in a rule that will endure," he said.

More than one justice asked how the court had created a policy. Lopez pointed to affidavits by Steel and Carole McMahon-Boies, an administrator in the office, about the denial and how the records are handled.

Grasz argued that without a formally adopted rule that wasn't enough.
GEORGIA

Man fatally shoots officer, wounds second

A man fatally shot one Georgia police officer and wounded a second Wednesday before fleeing an apartment complex near a college campus that went on lockdown as a precaution, authorities said. They said the suspect is believed to be armed and dangerous.

The shooting took place while the two officers were responding to a domestic dispute in Americus, about 130 miles south of Atlanta, said Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Nelly Miles. Americus police officer Nicholas Smarr died, and Georgia Southwestern State University officer Jodi Smith was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition, Americus Police Chief Mark Scott said.

The suspect, Minguell Kennedy Lembrick, 32, was still at large, and local, state and federal law enforcement officers were searching for him, Scott said.

Lembrick already had outstanding warrants and was wanted for an incident that occurred earlier in the week, but the officers didnt know that when they responded to the 911 call, Scott told reporters.

 Associated Press

MICHIGAN

Charges dropped for suspect in police death

Prosecutors dropped murder charges against a man in the killing of a Detroit college police officer who was shot in the head while on duty, but did not elaborate on why they no longer consider him a suspect.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said charges against DeAngelo Davis, 31, of Detroit, were dropped, but she did not say why. Davis was accused of shooting Wayne State University officer Collin Rose on Nov. 22. Davis had been jailed without bond since his arrest that night. He faced charges of first-degree murder and murder of a police officer.

Davis became a suspect in Roses shooting almost immediately. In a statement after he was charged, Worthy said Davis was riding a bicycle when Rose stopped him. Rose was shot shortly after requesting help from other officers.

Rose, 29, died a day after the shooting and was posthumously promoted to sergeant. He is the only Wayne State officer to be killed in the line of duty.

 Associated Press

2 toddlers killed as boiler explodes at New York homeless shelter: Two toddlers were killed Wednesday when a boiler exploded in a New York City homeless shelter, police said. The explosion in the six-story building housing the shelter in the Bronx occurred just after midday, police said. The victims, girls ages 1 and 2, were pronounced dead shortly after being rushed to local hospitals.

 Reuters
A Wahoo businessman got into hot water for failing to report more than $1 million in income to the IRS in a fight over the need to pay taxes on his work as a patent lawyer and veterinarian.

On Thursday, Kent Trembly, 62, got two years of federal probation and house arrest after paying nearly all of his $110,347.58 restitution.

Had it not been for the payment, Trembly was looking at a year to a year and a half in federal prison.

In U.S. District Court in Lincoln, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Russell said he thought probation was appropriate given the sentences others have gotten in similar cases.

But it's different when a lawyer does something as egregious as flout the law, he said.

"I get what you're saying," said Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf. "This is a well-educated man, a veterinarian ... a patent lawyer. And a good deal of my viscera tells me I ought to throw him in prison for the purposes of general deterrence."

On one hand, he said, there's a man who should've known better; on the other, a man who served his country and otherwise lived an exemplary life.

John Vanderslice of the federal Public Defender's office said Trembly brought in a box of papers challenging the legality of filing income taxes that he was reading before he was indicted.

"And they're all utter nonsense," said Kopf.

Yes, Vanderslice said, but he could see the intrigue about not paying taxes.

"I think we all can," he said, adding that everyone has heard of corporations not paying taxes.

"Mr. Vanderslice, that's nonsense," the judge said.

Kopf said this case had nothing to do with corporations or people exercising their rights under the tax code to pay the least they can.

Vanderslice said the issue is whether Americans should be taxed.

Kopf said that was above their pay grade, and Trembly's.

"This is not Boston, and it's not the Tea Party," he said.

Vanderslice said that, slowly but surely, he convinced Trembly -- after going through the pamphlets and papers -- that "this is nuts." And he came to the conclusion he'd been wrong.

Trembly, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard with no criminal history, is working to get things square with the IRS, he said.

"When I read this stuff years ago, I had a good-faith belief. But I was wrong," Trembly told Kopf. "I understand it was wrong for me to do it."

He pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return.

According to court records, he failed to report any gross receipts from his legal work or work as a veterinarian or investment broker for the 2006 and 2007 tax years.

Vanderslice said he likely will face consequences with the Nebraska Bar Association, too. He argued against electronic monitoring.

"But it'll cause him to undergo a bureaucratic hassle," Kopf said, "and that may be a good thing because it will begin to reinforce you can't screw around with the feds."
For all its epic warfare and upheaval, the 20th century did produce one happy ending: the emergence of the Federal Republic of Germany as the first German state in modern history that was united, democratic, secure, prosperous and peaceful.

And so, when hundreds of thousands of refugees flocked to Europe from Syria and other distressed places in the summer of 2015, German Chancellor Angela Merkel framed her decision to admit them as a chance to bring her countrys postwar spirit of achievement to bear in favor of needy newcomers others in Europe had shut out.

Germany is a strong country, she declared. The motive with which we approach these matters must be: We have done so much  well get this done!

This would have been a bold gesture in any political culture. In postwar Germany, where acts of risk-taking political leadership had been frowned upon, even for ostensibly good causes, Merkels move was downright dramatic.

It hasnt panned out. Millions of Germans did volunteer to help refugees, as she asked, often with good results. Millions of other Germans recoiled, however, as costs and social disruptions mounted  including cases of sexual assault and murder by newcomers, and, even more frightening, terrorism.

Merkels poll numbers plunged. The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD), an anti-immigration party similar to Frances National Front, previously barely an asterisk in the polls, has surged to the point where 1 out of every 8 Germans supports it.

Instead of a case study in the efficacy of moral leadership, Merkels decision looks more and more like a case study in the costs of good intentions. At a time when the world badly needs a stable, confident Germany, her decisions fractured the rock upon which that stability and confidence have rested since World War II: domestic political consensus mediated by broad-based political parties.

Consequently, six parties  stretching from the AfD on the ultra-right to the former East German communists on the far left  are now in position to win 5 percent of the vote in next years election for a new Parliament, the minimum for gaining seats. Thats not counting the grumbling within Merkels own centrist ruling coalition  or the general rise in American-style political incivility, which has unsettled an aging society that prizes order almost to a fault.

This may seem an unduly harsh judgment against a chancellor who  to repeat  tried to do the right thing, under great pressure, at a time when European media were dominated by images of desperate men, women and children fleeing the horrors of war.

Still, it is an assessment Merkel herself seems to acknowledge in hindsight, albeit only by implication. A situation like the one in the late summer of 2015 cannot, should not and must not be repeated, she told her Christian Democratic Union partys annual conference Tuesday, to thunderous applause.

She also promised that many of the people Germany admitted will be sent back, and that those who stay will not be permitted to develop a parallel society. As if to dispel any doubts as to what sort of parallel society she had in mind, she advocated the widest permissible ban on the burqa, the full-body veil worn by some Muslim women, adding: Our law takes precedence before tribal rules, codes of honor and sharia.

In other words, Merkel now finds herself cribbing some of the populist rights agenda, to placate an electorate of which 40 percent agree with the statement Islam is undermining German society, according to a new Friedrich Ebert Foundation survey.

The likeliest political outcome in Germany, where most people still express sympathy for refugees perceived as genuinely in need of help, is that Merkel and her allies will manage to remain in power, albeit possibly on a narrower basis. As the flow of migrants has halted in recent months, her approval ratings have improved.

Of course, this respite was achieved with the help of Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who agreed with Merkel to stop refugees from going to Europe via his country in return for $6.3 billion in aid and  critics plausibly assert  Germanys indulgence regarding his regimes suppression of human rights.

As if to remind Merkel that she is beholden to him, Erdogan recently threatened to revoke the deal and reopen the migratory floodgates, in response to what the dictator in Ankara regarded as a slight by the European Parliament.

Merkels unholy alliance with Erdogan, like her Tuesday announcement of a hard, new line on immigration and assimilation, may seem jarring to those who had begun to speak of the German chancellor as the last, best hope of liberal-democratic values amid the Wests tide of right-wing populism exemplified by President-elect Donald Trump.

A more realistic lesson might be this: No government can do more good than it can sustain politically.

Read more from Charles Lanes archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
President-elect Donald Trump waves as he is greeted by Azalea Trail Maids on his way to a thank you tour event in Mobile, Ala.

Dec. 17, 2016 President-elect Donald Trump waves as he is greeted by Azalea Trail Maids on his way to a thank you tour event in Mobile, Ala. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post

The president-elect saluted workers at a plant where he says he saved more than 1,000 jobs, then went to Ohio.

The president-elect saluted workers at a plant where he says he saved more than 1,000 jobs, then went to Ohio.

Starting next month, the United States will have a minority government.

This assertion flies in the face of just about everything you have read, because the Republicans will control the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives. But the American system of representation, invented 229 years ago for 13 states that hugged the Atlantic shore, is more than ever out of tune with how the countrys citizens have distributed themselves, across now 50 states and between metropolitan areas and the countryside.

For the next two and probably four years, a majority of Americans will be governed by politicians largely elected by a minority of us. With the country already sharply divided, this is a problem that can no longer be politely ignored. Worse still, a government put in place by the peculiar workings of an outdated system is threatening to pursue quite radical policies destined to arouse considerable resistance from the disempowered majority.

[Our campaign lost the election. But Trumps team must own up to how he won.]

The first problem is the electoral college. On only three occasions from the first presidential election in 1788 through 1996 did the loser of the popular vote become president. Two were unusual contests: 1824, when four candidates split the electoral votes; and 1876, when the returns from three Southern states were disputed, a special Electoral Commission was formed, and a deal was arranged to make Rutherford B. Hayes president. Benjamin Harrisons election in 1888 was a more standard affair; his popular vote deficit to incumbent Grover Cleveland was modest, 89,293 votes (0.8 percent).

With criticism flying about the electoral college, here's what you need to know about our system for electing the president and why the "Hamilton electors" don't like it. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

But the pace of anti-democratic outcomes is picking up. Since 2000, the loser of the popular vote has won two elections. George W. Bush became president in 2001 after losing the popular vote to Al Gore by 543,895. And this year came what ought to be  but, alas, wont be  the result that should concentrate everyones attention on the dysfunction of our electoral rules. Hillary Clinton leads in the popular vote count by 2.7 million (2 percent), and her advantage is likely to grow. But Donald Trump is becoming our president.

The inherent illogic of our practices, and the fact that they have nothing to do with the founders intentions, is underscored by this contradiction: We are supposed to ignore the national popular vote but deeply respect Trumps narrow 77,000 popular-vote advantage in the three states that will tip the electoral college his way.

The Constitution itself, of course, makes no mention of popular votes because the framers never expected there to be any. They saw the electoral college as a deliberative body chosen by state legislatures. So what we are doing now is neither fair nor in keeping with the founders vision.

Compounding the minority government problem is the United States Senate, where each state has two members. California, with a population of 39,144,818, has the same representation as Wyoming, with a population of 586,107  a ratio of 67-to-1. At the first census in 1790, the population ratio between the smallest and largest states was only 13-to-1.

The underrepresentation of the big states has measurable partisan effect: The 48 members of the Senate Democratic caucus will represent 55.33 percent of the nations population. Once again: The rules disadvantage a majority. Only the GOPs House majority is backed by a plurality of popular votes.

[Donald Trump has a diagram of his new power base]

The representation problems in both the Senate and the electoral college will get only worse as more Americans move to large metropolitan areas where economic opportunities are concentrated, widening the small-state/large-state, rural/metro gap.

Yet there is little prospect of change. Article V of the Constitution makes it virtually impossible to alter representation in the Senate, since any one state can object to being deprived of its equal suffrage. Collectively, small states could also block reforms to the electoral college. The National Popular Vote initiative to create a compact of states that would throw their electors to the popular-vote winner is an excellent idea but wont take hold anytime soon.

Because the system currently benefits Republicans and hurts Democrats, any talk about its injustices will be dismissed as partisan pleading by those who benefit from it. But their casual indifference to the non-majoritarian sources of their power will only deepen the resentments among Americans already alarmed by Trumps attacks against groups that oppose him. They are well aware that theyre being ruled by a minority. These circumstances call for compromise, consensus, statesmanship and outreach to those who have been left out in the cold. I fear that we will be seeing none of this.

Read more from E.J. Dionnes archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
AS THE allure and glitz of Las Vegas arrive at the Potomac on Thursday in the form of MGMs gigantic $1.4 billion casino at National Harbor, much of the buzz has been about all the lovely lucre for the gaming industry and Maryland. So spare a moment to consider the cost  to the tens of thousands of compulsive gamblers in and around the Washington area whose exposure to extreme risk just got a lot worse.

An eye-opening article in the current issue of the Atlantic magazine describes the outsize marketing efforts by gaming companies to target problem gamblers, who consist of less than 20 percent of casino patrons but provide a hugely disproportionate share of the industrys profits. From free limos, hotel suites, liquor and gifts, to easy credit and ingratiating hosts and hostesses, casinos know how to keep their best, and most vulnerable, customers coming back for more and more . . . and more.

Thats long been the case in Nevada and the 39 other states that have also legalized gambling and opened their arms wide to casinos in the past four decades. Whats changed, and changed remarkably, are the astonishing technological advances  specifically, in electronic slot and video poker machines  that play on gamblers weaknesses and leave millions of them even more helpless to quit their addictions.

As the Atlantic article puts it, A significant portion of casino revenue now comes from a small percentage of customers, most of them likely addicts, playing machines that are designed explicitly to lull them into a trancelike state that the industry refers to as continuous gaming productivity. 

That trancelike state is induced by ingenious high-tech methods, including features that coax players into believing theyd very nearly won (as they lost), and induce them to keep playing by making their losses occur more gradually. Through highly sophisticated techniques, which also include assiduous monitoring and tracking of big-time spenders by gaming companies, players are induced to go beyond their limits and their abilities to absorb losses.

Even as Maryland has raked in hundreds of millions of dollars in annual tax revenue from casinos since they first opened in the state in 2010, the human price has mounted. Calls to the states gambling hotline  800-GAMBLER  have climbed, and each year hundreds more people legally bar themselves from stepping inside a casino through the states Voluntary Exclusion Program (which is difficult to enforce).

By law, a minuscule portion of Marylands casino revenue is diverted to a state fund that provides counselors trained to deal with gambling addiction and pays for research and public awareness of the problem. But unlike some other states, Maryland  which with six casinos is now among the nations most concentrated gaming markets  offers no free treatment programs. Lawmakers in Annapolis have been negligent.

There are undeniable economic benefits from casinos for the state and, now, quite likely, for Prince Georges County, where MGMs casino has created several thousand jobs. It would be foolish for lawmakers and the public to salivate over those while continuing to ignore the human toll.
Kellyanne Conway, Donald Trumps campaign manager, orchestrated the presidential election of a man who:

Boasted on videotape, in vulgar terms, about assaulting women.

Called women bimbos, pigs, slobs, dogs and hookers, publicly rated their breasts and buttocks and boasted during the campaign about his penis size.

Won the election with the largest gender gap ever recorded: Not only did he lose women by a dozen points but he won men  many of them motivated by gender resentment toward Hillary Clinton  by a dozen points, too.

And now, a month after her candidate defeated the first woman ever to be a major-party presidential nominee  Trump called Clinton shrill and said her only asset was the woman card  Conway is playing the woman card herself.

Kellyanne Conway is Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's campaign manager  but the two aren't always on the same page. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

[Our campaign lost the election. But Trumps team must own up to how he won.]

Its a great time to be a woman in America, Conway exulted Wednesday at the Women Rule Summit, a girl-power event in Washington hosted by designer Tory Burchs foundation, Google and Politico. Were a product of our choices, not just our circumstances. Were independent thinkers. And its just a very special time.

Her message to the audience, many of them young women: Women should go for it and ask for what we think we deserve.

What Conway is asking for now, after Trumps win, is to return to a traditional gender role. She doesnt want a job in the administration, because she wants to have time with her four kids, to help with homework and make meals. My children are 12, 12, 8 and 7, which is bad idea, bad idea, bad idea, bad idea for mom going inside.

But fathers of young children? Thats a different matter, she explained. When male colleagues suggested she could have a White House job, I did politely mention to them that the question isnt, would you take the job? . . . The real question is, what would your wife do? And would you want the mother of your children to do it? When she puts it that way, she said, they replied that they wouldnt want their wife to take that job.

Conway endorsed the aspiration that I could maybe help Americas women in terms of feeling less guilty about balancing life and career.

But she seemed to lack self-awareness about the choice she made to help elect Trump. She spoke about how she didnt like the way Clinton and Sarah Palin were treated in the 2008 campaign. I left the 2008 campaign feeling really icky, she said. I had two daughters at the time, now three, and we just cant feel good about that. Its great to ask how were making opportunities for women, but do we even have each others support, frankly, on our way there?

She expressed no such misgivings about Trumps 2016 run, in which he disparaged Carly Fiorinas face, said both Clinton and Fiorina gave him headaches, used a vulgar word for female genitalia on the stump and suggested Megyn Kellys menstruation played a role in the Fox News personalitys tough questioning of him. He had previously fantasized publicly about a woman giving oral sex, fat-shamed a Miss Universe and spoke of the importance of having a young, beautiful piece of ass.

Politicos Anna Palmer, as moderator, was gentle in questioning Conway, waiting a half-hour before mentioning the Access Hollywood video in which Trump bragged about grabbing women by the crotch. Conway assured everybody that Trumps apology was heartfelt, then went on to say he was faced with a false accuser and that Conway did not think about quitting, for a number of reasons Ill keep private. She said Trump is a gentleman.

[Trumps one consistent policy: Chaos]

Outside the room at the Park Hyatt where Conway spoke, a photo booth for the Women Rule conference urged attendees to tell us what empowers you. What empowered Conway on Wednesday was disparaging Trumps former opponents (Clintons scandalabra and Tim Kaines paltry crowds) and the media for errant predictions of a Clinton victory. By contrast, Conway, like her boss, betrayed a fondness for self-praise. She described her management style as patient, methodical, tough and firm but gentle at the same time, honest, candid, very deferential and respectful, and with a big smile.

But after this ugly campaign, Conway and her boss will need more than a big smile. I was always raised to respect the office of the presidency and its current occupant, said the woman whose boss led the campaign questioning the current presidents legitimacy as a native-born American.

Americans respect the presidency, but Trump will have to earn respect. And you dont earn that by running a campaign that stirred up misogyny and gender-role resentment  and then proclaiming it a victory for women.

Twitter: @Milbank

Read more from Dana Milbanks archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
BEATRICE  Authorities say an inmate is facing another charge after a brief escape from the Gage County Detention Center in Beatrice.

The Gage County Sheriff's Office said 35-year-old Melissa Klassen was being taken to her cell by a jailer a little before 3 p.m. Tuesday when she pushed the jailer and shut a door, trapping the officer. Then Klassen ran out of the building.

The jailer used a radio to report the escape, and deputies caught Klassen in the front yard of the Sheriff's Office.

Authorities said she'll face an escape charge in addition to the theft and drug charges that already have been filed against her.
President-elect Donald Trump waves as he is greeted by Azalea Trail Maids on his way to a thank you tour event in Mobile, Ala.

Dec. 17, 2016 President-elect Donald Trump waves as he is greeted by Azalea Trail Maids on his way to a thank you tour event in Mobile, Ala. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post

The president-elect saluted workers at a plant where he says he saved more than 1,000 jobs, then went to Ohio.

The president-elect saluted workers at a plant where he says he saved more than 1,000 jobs, then went to Ohio.

Jennifer Palmieri was communications director for Hillary Clintons presidential campaign.

I know how to be a gracious loser.

I could have let it go last week when Kellyanne Conway, Donald Trumps campaign manager, challenged me to look her in the eye and say she ran a campaign that gave white supremacists a platform. I considered for a split second. I knew you were supposed to be gracious when you come for the post-election forum at Harvards Kennedy School of Government. But I decided this was a year where normal rules dont apply. Speaking the truth was more important.

It did. Kellyanne, it did, I told her. Its just a fact. Trump winning the election doesnt change that. To my mind, his win makes it all the more important that the truth be acknowledged.

High-level aides to both the Clinton and Trump campaigns became involved in a heated exchange Dec. 1, during a post-election forum sponsored by Harvard Universitys Kennedy School of Government. (Harvard Universitys Kennedy School of Government)

My colleagues and I from the Hillary Clinton campaign knew what we were likely to face from the Trump side at the Harvard University event and thought hard about our obligations as representatives of the losing side in this most unconventional of years  particularly when our candidate actually won the popular vote by a large margin. As I like to note, Clinton received more votes for president than any white man in U.S. history.

Our candidate gave us a good model to follow. She had the grace to call Trump on election night to congratulate him and concede. But in her concession speech she also challenged all of us to defend our rights and principles under the Constitution  rights and principles that she and many of the people who voted for her feared could be under threat in a Trump presidency. The campaign has ended, and we accept that Trump won. But we are not laying down our principles or abandoning our supporters. Thats the frame of mind I brought to Harvard.

[Yes, Kellyanne Conway, you did provide a platform for white supremacy]

A good bit of the post-election analysis has centered on what our campaign should have done differently. Thats appropriate. We should think long and hard about why we lost. Trust me, we have.

But its also important for the winners of this campaign to think long and hard about the voters who rejected them. I havent seen much evidence of such introspection from the Trump side. Thats concerning.

I dont know whether the Trump campaign needed to give a platform to white supremacists to win. But the campaign clearly did, and it had the effect of empowering the white-nationalist movement.

Trump provided a platform by retweeting white nationalists  giving their views an audience of millions. Views previously relegated to the darkest corners of the Internet also had a platform on Breitbart, the website of Trump campaign chief executive Stephen K. Bannon. Before Trump, our identity ideas, national ideas, they had no place to go, said Richard Spencer, president of a white-nationalist think tank that held a post-election conference in Washington. Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke said this fall, The fact that Donald Trumps doing so well, it proves that Im winning.

At Harvard, some on the Trump team crowed that we in the Clinton campaign and those in the press were foolish because we took Trumps words literally. Thats right. We did. You should take a candidate for presidents words literally. You know who else took his words literally? White supremacists. The white supremacists who lauded Trump with cries of Hail, Trump! Duke, who expressed confidence that Trumps decision to make Bannon his chief strategist meant Dukes ideology would have a prominent place in the West Wing. The students who mocked Hispanic athletes with chants of build that wall. The man in New York City who threatened the off-duty female Muslim police officer last weekend.

Its also true that many of the more than 65 million people who voted for Clinton took Trumps words literally. Many of our supporters were sincerely frightened by his campaigns embrace of the alt-right. Hispanic families who voted for Clinton believe Trump will deport their parents or siblings because he said he would. Muslim supporters fear they will not be welcome in their own country because of Trumps proposed Muslim ban. Mothers and fathers of both parties supported Clinton because they didnt want their children growing up in an America where women and girls dont feel respected by their own president.

Whether Trump intended for any of these people  both those who were energized and those who were repelled  to take his words literally or not, they did. That has already had real-life consequences that our new president must own up to. Thats why what he said during the campaign matters. Thats why everything he says matters.

If we are not to take Trumps words literally, he needs to explain what he does mean. The Trump team likes to tell Clinton supporters hashtag hes your president.  But this isnt a one-way street. If Trump expects the Americans who did not vote for him to accept him as president, he needs to show that he accepts all of them as Americans. He needs to show that he understands their concerns and hears their fears.

I suggest he and his team try hashtag we are all Americans.  We all have a role to play here. But its the winner who carries the burden of taking the lead in uniting the country. Its the burden of leadership. Its the burden of being the president of the United States.
Regarding the Dec. 5 front-page article Trumps Taiwan call not sudden:

Its hard for me to believe that anyone would fall for this nonsense. President-elect Donald Trumps actions are dangerous. He isnt president. He doesnt go to security briefings. Yet he changed a near- 40-year-old policy with China by accepting a phone call. The Trump Organization was considering building a hotel in Taiwan , though it now denies it has any projects planned there.

It is reckless that a man who hasnt even been officially elected yet  the electoral college has not met  would so easily create an international incident.

Janet D. Smith, Herndon
For many French voters, Francois Fillon is more than a leading contender for president in next years elections: He is viewed as a crusader in the throes of a holy war.

When Fillon handily won both rounds of Frances conservative primaries last month, he campaigned mostly on a genteel conservatism of economic restructuring and strengthened national security. But in a country that firmly defines itself as secular in its constitution, Fillons unexpected victory represented an astonishing prospect: the political reawakening of Catholic France after decades of slumber.

As right-wing and populist leaders across Europe  such as Viktor Orban in Hungary and Marine Le Pen in France  increasingly turn toward Christian values, Fillon has ignited a wave of nostalgia for a nation of traditional families and quaint village churches. It is a nation that he and many of his supporters say is under siege from the dual threats of multiculturalism and Islamist terrorism. As evidence, conservatives cite the slaying of an 85-year-old village priest in July by Islamic State-inspired militants, explaining it as an assault on the essence of France.

Fillon, the presidential nominee of the center-right party now known as the Republicans, has repeatedly pledged to defend family values  which has often translated into staunch opposition to same-sex marriage and, lately, to adoption by same-sex parents. When the fervent Roman Catholic responds to terrorist violence, he often does so in the lofty language of religious rapture. The war against the Islamic State, he wrote in his recent book, is a battle of the end times, sounded with trumpets of the apocalypse.

[Terrorist attack on French church ignites fear of religious culture wars]

People take part in a religious procession, on December 8 in the central French city of Lyon. (JEFF PACHOUD/AFP/Getty Images)

In short, what he promises is a return to his nations roots. And in his eyes, those roots are fundamentally Catholic.

Although France is renowned for strict prohibitions on religious displays in public spaces  notably on certain types of veils worn by many Muslim women  it is also a country of some 45,000 Catholic churches and one whose public holidays are almost exclusively Christian in origin. France does not keep statistics on race or religion, but a vast majority of its citizens are said to be either practicing Catholics or agnostics from Catholic backgrounds.

Some insist that France would not exist without the Catholic Church: The nations oft-invoked creation myth begins, after all, with the baptism of Clovis I, who united the kingdom of the Franks in the 6th century. And if the French Revolution of 1789 sought to banish religion from public life, it never eradicated religion from private life.

We have a secular state but not a secular society, said Matthieu Rouge, pastor of Pariss St. Ferdinand des Ternes Catholic Church and an expert in political theology.

The majority of the French are recognized as cultural Catholics. They may have studied in a Catholic school, they marry in churches, and they baptize their children. They are Catholic, he said. All our streets, the names of our towns and villages  everything is related in some way to the Catholic faith.

In provincial towns like Chartres  and in Fillons native northwest region  that ancient relationship is apparent everywhere. Anchored by a majestic medieval cathedral, Chartres is home to a relic said to be the tunic that the Virgin Mary wore at the birth of Jesus. In a country where a majority of the public opposed the burkini on grounds that it violated secular values, this fragment of cloth draws thousands of pilgrims every year.

Voters in Chartres said Fillon appealed to them because he defended Catholic virtues that, in their eyes, France has forgotten as it has evolved into an increasingly diverse and cosmopolitan society.

Mr. Fillon is a true Catholic, a man of tradition and rooted to the place he is from, said Odile Steinmetz, 82, a retiree and practicing Catholic, who voted for him in both of the primary rounds.

[The reason Francois Hollande wont seek reelection]

Philippe and Sandrine Mathieu, 51 and 41, respectively, work in a framing shop near Chartres Cathedral. Although they described themselves as non-practicing Catholics, both said Fillons Catholic identity appealed to them at least as much as their perception of his seriousness.

For 20, 30 years, theres no social cohesion in France, said Philippe Mathieu. Weve lost our values.

Asked to define these values, Sandrine Mathieu explained that they had sent their children to local Catholic schools instead of public schools because there they say, Bonjour, madame. 

These sentiments, analysts say, suggest the emergence of a new French conservatism increasingly focused on the concept of patrimony, an amorphous sense of cultural inheritance largely unrelated to matters of policy or the economy.

These voters consider themselves as legitimate defenders, said Denis Pelletier, a historian who specializes in Catholicism. They are defending France. There is economic liberalism there, but mostly there are traditional family values, authority and a sense of the moral order.

Members of the clergy explain this increasing embrace of religion in the context of recent terrorist attacks, which they say have drawn many secular French Catholics back into churches for the first time in years.

In a moment of uncertainty, said Pierre Durieux, an official in the Catholic diocese of Lyon, the Christian faith becomes a source of solace for so many. The church is a community that allows people to continue to explore their strong emotions, confront their fears, through ritual and prayer.

For Steinmetz in Chartres, the church is the last line of defense in Frances war on terrorism.

With Daesh, she said, using an alternate name for the Islamic State, we have to take back our country and guard its Catholic values. Because they want to kill us all.

Read more

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
The Nebraska Department of Education is one of two states to get a $4 million grant to find ways to improve the way states test students knowledge of science.

The U.S. Department of Education announced the grant Wednesday, part of the Obama administrations efforts to reduce unnecessary testing and ensure state tests are high-quality.

The Nebraska Education Department is the lead agency on the grant and will work with Wyoming and Montana on models that may be used for other states.

I think its a big deal in the sense that theyre looking for models, said Nebraska Education Commissioner Matt Blomstedt. Theyre looking for large-scale assessments, but also on a local and state level.

The Nebraska department decided to apply for the grant because it is updating its science standards and will have to write new statewide assessments that meet them.

The grant will allow the state to find ways to better assess students on their knowledge of science -- and to gauge school performance -- but it could also lead to ways to improve assessments across the board, Blomstedt said.

For instance, finding ways to incorporate new technology into the tests -- think virtual science experiments or virtual dissection -- could be applied to tests in other subjects.

One of the elements of the federal effort to reduce testing is to ensure that such tests are just one of multiple sources used to gauge student and school performance.

Thats been a focus for Nebraska as it develops its new accountability system, which classifies school districts into four levels. While it still relies primarily on test scores, the system also takes into account improvement from year to year. And state officials are working on ways to give credit to districts that use certain strategies and programs deemed to be effective.

Blomstedt said finding ways to offer training and professional development to teachers will be a part of the grant.

The other $4 million grant, to create alternate science assessments for students with significant cognizant disabilities, went to Maryland. Other states working on that initiative include Missouri, New York, New Jersey and Oklahoma.
Syrian residents fleeing the violence in eastern Aleppo gather at a checkpoint, controlled by pro-government forces, in the village of Aziza on the southwestern outskirts of Aleppo on Dec. 8, 2016. (Youssef Karwashan/AFP/Getty Images)

Russia said late Thursday that the Syrian military has suspended its combat operations in eastern Aleppo to allow civilians to leave the city and that it had reached agreement with the United States to negotiate the safe departure of rebel fighters.

A senior U.S. State Department official here traveling with Secretary of State John F. Kerry said that neither of those assertions could yet be confirmed but that Kerry was in contact with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

There were conflicting reports from inside Aleppo, where some residents reported a sudden quiet, but others said neighborhoods were still under fire. On Wednesday, as many as 150 elderly residents of Aleppos Old City were evacuated by the government in a joint operation with the International Red Cross.

[Syrian army retakes Aleppos Old City as rebels discuss exit]

Lavrov, speaking to Russian journalists in Hamburg, said a much bigger evacuation was underway. Yet another and the biggest [operation] so far . . . to evacuate the civilians willing to leave the place is underway there, he said, according to Russias state-owned Tass news agency. There are some 8,000 people in the column. Thats a huge operation, and the withdrawal route is five kilometers long.

Kerry and Lavrov met twice Thursday morning in Hamburg, where they were attending an international conference. Kerry left at midday for Paris, and the two spoke again by telephone in the afternoon, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the diplomatic contacts.

The White House, which has long been skeptical of Moscows sincerity in its discussions on Syria, reacted guardedly. Our approach to this situation from the beginning has been to listen carefully to what the Russians say but scrutinize their actions, press secretary Josh Earnest said.

Last summer, the United States suspended military and diplomatic expert talks with Russia in Geneva over a possible cease-fire in Syria when the Syrian governments siege of eastern Aleppo began, aided by Russian air attacks. A ferocious government ground offensive in the past few weeks, with hundreds of reported civilian deaths, has retaken all but about a quarter of the territory the opposition once held in the city. As many as 200,000 civilians, and several thousand rebels, are said to remain there.

[Congress just gave Trump the authority to send surface-to-air missiles to Syrian fighters]

Lavrov said that he and Kerry had reached agreement to restart the Geneva talks on Saturday to determine the ways and methods of a final settlement of the eastern Aleppo problem through the departure of all militants and those civilian residents, who will wish to do so, from there, the Russian news agency Interfax reported from Hamburg.

The State Department official said the resumption of expert talks had been discussed but had not been finalized as of late Thursday.

The immediate Kerry-Lavrov discussions are about evacuating Aleppo and determining the timing, the safety and where [opposition fighters and civilians] are going to go, the State Department official said. France will host a meeting here Saturday morning of the United States and other governments in Europe and the region of the conflict to discuss the process.

The hope is that talks in Geneva will move quickly to a Syria-wide cease-fire that will allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to hundreds of thousands in besieged communities across the western third of the country, and to restart political talks between the opposition and the government of President Bashar al-Assad over a political transition.

Given that more than a year of start-and-stop negotiations have failed to halt the carnage in Syria, optimism was tempered. If that occurs, we obviously would welcome that development, Earnest said. It wont be some sort of accident or coincidence. . . . It will be the product and the result of skilled, principled, tough, tenacious diplomacy, and much of the credit will go to Secretary Kerry.

But well see what happens, he said.

Louisa Loveluck in Beirut contributed to this report.

Read more:
Thousands of people in the Indonesian province of Aceh took refuge for the night in mosques and temporary shelters after a strong earthquake Wednesday killed nearly 100 people and destroyed dozens of buildings.

Killer quakes occur regularly in the region, where many live with the terrifying memory of a giant earthquake that struck off Sumatra on Dec. 26, 2004. The 9.1-magnitude quake triggered a devastating tsunami that killed more than 100,000 Acehnese.

Maj. Gen. Tatang Sulaiman, chief of the army in Aceh, said at least 97 died in the 6.5-magnitude quake, which hit before dawn Wednesday, while four people had been pulled from the rubble alive. The Indonesian government declared a two-week emergency in Aceh.

The rescue effort involving thousands of search officials, villagers, soldiers and police is concentrated on Meureudu, a severely affected town in Pidie Jaya district near the epicenter.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was centered about 12 miles southeast of Sigli, a town near the northern tip of Sumatra, at a depth of 11 miles. The agency had initially placed the epicenter undersea.

Acehs disaster mitigation agency said more than 600 people were injured. The national disaster agency said about 245 buildings were seriously damaged or destroyed in Pidie Jaya and neighboring Bireuen district, including 14 mosques. Roads also cracked, and power poles toppled over.

Indonesia, the worlds largest archipelago, is prone to earthquakes because of its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. The 2004 quake and tsunami killed a total of 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

In the capital, Jakarta, President Joko Widodo said he had ordered all government agencies to take part in the rescue efforts for Aceh, a conservative Muslim province that has considerable autonomy from the central government under a peace deal with separatists.

Aiyub Abbas, the chief of Pidie Jaya district, said there was an urgent need for emergency supplies.

Zunaidi, a village chief in Pidie Jaya, said about 1,700 people from the village moved to a temporary shelter at an Islamic boarding school about six miles south of Meureudu.

He said most took shelter because they feared aftershocks could knock down their houses, which were partially damaged.

The general hospital in Pidie Jaya was overwhelmed with the injured, according to its director, Muhammad Reza Faisal.
Former Math Teacher Allegedly Had Sex with Her Teenage Student on a Park Bench: Reports

A former Texas high school teacher was recently arrested for allegedly having sex with one of her students after the two connected on Snapchat, according to multiple reports.

Alaina Ferguson was arrested on Nov. 30 and charged with sexual assault, according to jail records. McKinney, Texas, police spokeswoman Sgt. Ana Shelley declined to comment further on Fergusons case as it is an open investigation, but she confirmed Fergusons arrest to PEOPLE.

Rumors of the former algebra teachers two-month relationship with a 16-year-old student spread throughout Plano Senior High School, according to The Dallas Morning News.

The student allegedly told police he wrote his Snapchat username at the top of a test while in Fergusons algebra class, according to CBS News. Ferguson, 24, allegedly replied via the app, and the two met a few days later and had sex on a park bench.

CBS News reports that the teenager and Ferguson allegedly had sex while his friend took the dog for a walk. They allegedly had sex in her apartment on several occasions.

CBS DFW, a local station, reports the two allegedly often played beer pong at her apartment as well, which she shared with her fiance. Ferguson allegedly told the student she knew the relationship wasnt right but that it felt right at the time, according to these reports.

Ferguson was released on Dec. 1 on $100,000 bond, following her arrest, according to jail records. She worked for the Plano school district from August to October, says district spokeswoman Lesley Range-Stanton.

Ferguson resigned from her job on Oct. 14, but school and district officials were unaware of any criminal investigation involving her until after her resignation, Range-Stanton says. The district declined further comment.

It was not immediately clear if Ferguson has entered a plea to her charge.

PEOPLE could not immediately reach her defense attorney for comment. A message left Monday afternoon at Fergusons home was not returned.

 Reporting by ADAM CARLSON
By Steven Shapiro

When we started, everyone said, Youre crazy. Youre going to pay drug addicts to go to work?

Harriet Karr-McDonald and her husband, George, took a leap of faith when they established the Doe Fund in memory of a homeless woman known only as Mama.

We said, Yeah, thats what we believe America is. In exchange for hard work, you get money. In exchange for giving up drugs, you can work and you get paid. And we were right.

Through the New York City-based nonprofit, the couple started the Ready, Willing & Able program, which has helped more than 22,000 men transform their lives.

Most havent graduated from high school. And they have experience with the criminal justice system, mostly drugs, says George McDonald.

Program trainees are provided a place to live and are paid to work, cleaning the citys streets and parks while they pursue education and other training.

Graduating from NYU was a dream come true that I didnt even think I could possibly dream, says Terrance Coffie, one of the Doe Funds most notable graduates.

Coffie told Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric that his life was heading down a dead-end road after growing up in foster care and ending up in prison.

You become limited to what resources you have, opportunities, and for me, like millions of others, it became a cesspool of life, he said.

Coffie embraced the Ready, Willing & Able program and took advantage of all its resources. He graduated from New York University and is currently pursuing his masters degree in social work.

Like Coffie, Angel Lopez grew up in foster care and spent time in jail for selling drugs.

I had to get some money cause nobody was giving me any money. No foster parent was giving me money, he said.

Lopez made the most of his opportunity with the Doe Fund and took part in the culinary arts program. He now works full-time at the programs Brooklyn facility as an in-house chef.

Im a role model to other guys too that come there, Lopez said. They say, Wow, this young guy is in here. Hes teaching us how to cook, how to bake? I say, Yeah, bro, you could do it. All you got to do is just stay humble so you wont crumble.
With tensions spreading across the Arab world, in particular in the Middle East and Southwestern Asia throughout 2016, Morocco proved, more than ever, the go-to destination for foreign filmmakers.

Indeed, Morocco managed to draw a large volume of foreign films and series, including many high-profile U.S. productions in 2016, in spite of the fact that the much-anticipated tax incentive failed to kick in at the start of the year.

Among the biggest productions that chose Morocco were Brad Andersons High Wire Act with Rosamund Pike and Jon Hamm, Alexandre Moorss The Yellow Birds with Jennifer Aniston, Per Flys Backstabbing For Beginners with Ben Kingsley, Jason Halls Thank You for Your Services with Amy Schumer, as well as the trailers for The Mummy and Allied, and episodes of Prison Break,The Missing,Viking and Homeland.

Its been a hectic year for K Films Khadija Alami and Karim Debbagh, two of Moroccos top exec producers. All the turmoils in the world ironically brought us many projects, said Debbagh.

A war drama, The Yellow Birds, for instance, was expected to shoot in Jordan but ended up filming in Morocco because Jordan would not allow the flying in of army hardware mockups, per Debbagh. The production built a village and a military basis in Marrakech, revealed the producer, who served as line producer on the film which will world premiere at Sundance.

Tarik Salehs thriller The Nile Hilton Incident, was supposed to shoot in Egypt but the whole crew was kicked out just before the start of the filming by the Egyptian secret services. Another production, Backstabbing For Beginners, was supposed to shoot in Iraq and also had to relocate to Marrakech and Casablanca. Same with Highwire Act which was due to lense in Liban and relocated to Tangier, explained Debbagh.

Alami, meanwhile, said Prison Break (season 5) was supposed to shoot in Yemen, The Missing (season 2) in the Middle East and Homeland (season 6) in the Gaza Strip.

Story continues

The economic impact of these shoots in Morocco is highly significant. Homeland for example shot for 8 days in the country and spent approximately $1.8 million. And the production also tapped 120 Moroccan crew members, according to Alami.

The volume of foreign productions coming to Morocco is expected to grow in 2017 as a 20% tax break regime is expected to be enacted by the end of the year and should start applying on Jan. 1 to all eligible foreign productions. CCM prexy Sarim Fahri Fissi said the cap of the rebate has not yet been decided on. One of the bonuses of the incentive will be the 10% rebate on above-the-line costs, according to Fahri Fissi.

The producers of Homeland promised they would return to Morocco and shoot here for 100 days if the incentive was passed, said Alami, who was recently tapped to co-produce Matthew Parkhill and Simon Maxwell (American Odyssey)s espionage thriller The Nine, Fox Networks Group Europe and Africas first scripted commission for the region.

The series will start lensing next year on location in Morocco. In parallel, Alami is building a studio which will spread over 17 acres and include one soundstage.

But even without the rebate, the country has remained a convenient shooting destination for various reasons: Foreign crews are exempt from paying VAT (20%) and that applies to materials and filming services used; productions can access a diversity of decors (ranging from mountains to the desert and the Atlantic seaside) and finally, local crews are highly skilled, can work long hours and are fairly cheap, which means U.S. productions can staff with locals instead of flying in their entire crews, argued Fahri Fissi.

Aiming to further promote the country and lure even more U.S. shoots, the CCM (the National Film Board) invited for the first time a delegation of top-level U.S. executives, including Gary French, senior VP of production at Touchstone Television Productions, Gary Goodman, executive VP of productions at Lionsgate, and Mark Binke, NBCUniversals exec VP of production, during Marrakech International Film Festival.

Treated like royalty, the Hollywood executives got to visit a wide range of locations, from the desert to the iconic Ouarzazate studios and Marrakech city center, assess local ressources and the crew base, depth as well as meeting local line producers.

The delegation was put together with the help of Richard Lance Smotkin, Comcast senior VP of global government affairs, whos been working for two years with the CCM and government officials to get the tax incentive up and running.

Without an incentive these guys wont look at any locations and that why Morocco has been getting a lot of pieces of the pie and its missed out on the big pie, said Smotkin, Comcasts senior VP of global government affairs.

Smotkin said the incentive program was just passed by the Parliement. Were just waiting for the new government to be formed and the new communications minister to be appointed, said the exec, who also cited the support of the Moroccos King Mohammed VI.

Besides promoting the new tax incentives and the countrys locations, changing perceptions was another goal of the trip. We know this is not the Middle East, so one of the reasons we put this trip together was to show the executives from American studios what Morocco is and what it can offer; for instance not many people know its only a 6 hour flight from New York, said Smotkin.

Morocco has a long and successful history of filming, and it seems to be the most moderate and liberate place in the Arab world, we dont feel that were not a 100% safe or welcome here; thats essential because we have to convince creative people as well as our on-camera people and at this point, we feel very comfortable, said Goodman.

French argued U.S. producers are increasingly looking to shoot beyond U.S. borders for creative reasons as well.

We shoot in Israel and the Middle East too, our business is becoming more and more global partly because of tax incentives, and also party because of our desire to show new and diverse locations, said French.

The U.S. can substitute for a lot of the world but not all of it. Creatively we have a desire to shoot in these new locations, pointed out French.

Binke concurred. Theres nothing like being in the authentic locale.

We were just having lunch on a rooftop in the Medina and we were saying that the view from the mountains to the roofs to the shops would cost us $5 million to recreate it and here you just have to point the camera  Thats very valuable to filmmakers, said Binke.

Related stories

Marrakech Fest Salutes Director Abdellah Masbahi, Comedian Abderrahim Tounsi

Japanese Director Shinya Tsukamoto on 'Silence,' Scorsese, His Own Film Creed

Lamia Chraibi on Board to Produce Narjiss Nejjar's 'Apatride' (EXCLUSIVE)
UPDATED with video: Stephen Colbert weighed in on fake news and its connection to Donald Trumps new cabinet-in-the-making on Late Show.

The craziest fake news these days is Pizzagate. People actually believe a conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton and her former campaign manager John Podesta ran a child sex ring at a pizzeria in D.C. Colbert said, bringing up to speed any of his viewers who get their news on his show, rather than a credible newsman such as CBSs John Dickerson.

According to the folks with the spider eggs hatching in their brain, Clinton and Podesta have a series of smuggling tunnels that connect to the basement of this pizzeria. But the police refuse to investigate the basement crime scene, on the flimsy excuse that the pizzeria does not have a basement, Colbert explained.

So where did this conspiracy theory start? Apparently some alt-right folks were combing through Clinton campaign emails hacked by Russia and published by Wikileaks, and noticed there seems to be more references to pizza and pizzerias than they had expected. Which can only mean one thing: secret sex ring, Colbert

joked. A lot of uninformed, gullible people fell for the Clinton/Podesta sex-ring theory, Colbert revealed. People like Trumps pick for National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn, who tweeted a link to one of the fake news reports, adding U decide.

Okay then, I decide a guy who spreads this bullshit shouldnt be in charge of national security, Colbert said, taking Flynns advice.

Trumps transition team has acknowledged that this is disqualifying madness and have taken steps, dumping Flynns son, who had tweeted about Pizzagate, the late-night host snarked.

For those of his viewers who find this pretty weird but harmless fun Colbert informed them a gunman walked into that pizzeria this week to investigate Pizzagate himself, firing off a few rounds but fortunately not injuring anyone.

Story continues

What you wont learn from Dickerson, but will on Late Show: Some folks on Reddit think Colbert is in on Pizzagate because, at the end of his election night special he talked about pizza. The he conspiracy theorists pronounced that CREEPY.

These super sleuths have determined Colbert is on Clintons payroll after Wikileaks published old emails to Podesta, in which a Clinton flak took credit for booking President Bill Clinton on Colberts Comedy Central show. Reddit-ers say the emails reveal Colbert is instructed by politicians as to what to say on his show.

Now, I am flattered that this guy considered it an achievement that he somehow booked President Clinton on my basic-cable news parody puppet show, Colbert said. And, he acknowledged, this email does blow the lid off what the illiterati call Talk Shows  a conspiracy that goes all the way up to POTUS-Elect Donald Trump, Colbert admitted. Seems that, when Trump was

was booked on Colberts CBS show, he too did what is known as a pre-interview, informing Late Show what he wanted Colbert to discuss with him on-air.

Colbert waived a transcript of that Trump pre-interview. He shredded it, as his audience groaned and booed. Colbert produced another copy which, he said, he also will not read, because there is an understanding between his show and his guests that these pre-interviews are private.

Here is what these conspiracy theorists dont get: There is a difference between a conspiracy and an agreement. A conspiracy is what villains do. An agreement is what adults do, Colbert explained to Reddit-ers, not that it will matter to them.

Look around the country. Wouldnt you agree we need some more adults? So, Wikileaks, Alex Jones, and the SubReddit subgeniuses  and I mean this in the nicest way possible  Grow the f*ck up.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfXWXNItF_Y&w=620&h=340]

Related stories

'South Park' Season Of Serialization Ends With Donald Trump Surrogate Still In White House

Conan O'Brien Skirts Late-Night Political Minefield With Berlin Road Trip

Former Labor Secretary On CNN Appeals Directly To Donald Trump: Stop Tweeting
City Councilwoman Cyndi Lamm wants to ask voters to approve changes to the way the city budget process works.

Lamm is proposing a city charter amendment that she said will foster more collaboration, cooperation and negotiation between the executive and legislative branches of city government.

Her plan will receive a public hearing at the Dec. 19 council meeting, which begins at 5:30 p.m. The council could vote at that meeting whether to add it to the May citywide election ballot.

Lamm and the other Republicans on the City Council complained last summer that they didn't have much input into the budget process because of the short period between the mayor making the budget public and the council voting on final decisions.

Under her new plan, neither the mayor nor the City Council would have complete control of the city budget, she said. This approach will foster a more collaborative effort, she said.

Lamm said she was approached by a number of concerned residents after the summer budget process, many calling for some type of change."

"So many people were surprised by the lack of genuine collaboration and negotiation between the mayors office and the council throughout the budget process this summer, she said.

This years budget ended up in court after the mayor vetoed the budget approved by the four-member Republican majority on the council.

The veto held when the council could not get five votes for an override.

Lancaster County District Court Judge Robert Otte agreed with the mayors interpretation of the city charter, which made the mayor's proposed plan the final budget and required the council to vote for a property tax increase to fund the budget.

Lamms proposed amendment would require the mayor to make the proposed budget public earlier, to give the public and City Council time to review the details, she said.

It would also change the fallback position if the mayor and City Council cannot agree on a budget. The budget would revert to the previous year's budget, not the mayors proposed budget.

In order to get on the May ballot, Lamms resolution will have to be approved by four of the seven council members and by Mayor Chris Beutler.

If Beutler vetoes the resolution, a five-vote super majority of the council is required to override his veto.

Beutler and his staff had not had time to review the proposal late Wednesday afternoon and had no comment.
The Social, one of the leading boutique music festivals in the UK, is expanding to Mexico and Colombia on March 17 and 18, 2017. The festival is curated by Nic Fanciulli and headlined by Carl Cox to bring a piece of UK's house and techno feel to Latin America. Billboard Dance spoke to Fanciulli, founder of the The Social and Saved Record's head, about the festival and how he is working to make it a memorable experience.

What's your process for curating festivals like The Social?

A lot of the process involves our friends because the people we try to book are people that I work with week in, week out because I'm on tour all the time and have a lot of friends on tour with me. The people I play with I respect quite a lot, so the first part of the process to it is to try and get as many of our friends in it as possible when it comes to artist. We then have a long list of artists we would like to book and we just start making phone calls. We usually have 5 or 6 people that are heroes are mine, or people who have been a massive influence over the year - not necessarily people we know, but just artists we would love to showcase such as Laurent Garnier and Four Tet - as well as Sasha and John Digweed who had their reunion this year..

So how did you and Carl Cox become friends?

The first time I met him, he was playing a night in Maidstone at a club called Atomics. I was 17 and went to see him and Shades of Rhythm right around the time where I was getting into dance music. Carl Cox had just started playing when there was a massive power cut in the club, everything went black - you couldn't see anything. It was right at the moment the club was about to go off and someone managed to put a knife in the fuse box and it only made the monitors work. Then the entire sound system kicked in and all the power and the lights came on - still to this day, it's one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had in a nightclub. I remember going up to him and talking to Carl afterwards. At that time, I was only just starting out and DJing in bars - Carl really helped me over the years and was always really friendly. Even when we weren't working together and eventually when I started touring, we begun spending more time together. It was around 2009 or 2010, I decided to leave my residency at Sundays at Space and I had nothing to do in Ibiza for the summer. Carl said "Why don't you come and play for me?" So I went to do two shows with him that summer and kicked the relationship off.

Story continues

Moving back to The Social, what does it mean to you to bring The Social to Latin America and why did you decide to do so?

The whole point of Social is an extension to what I was doing in Maidstone, which was throwing parties in alley ways, in basements and other random locations. For me, it was never supposed to be this big success story, it was just to throw a good party in the area which a lot of DJs hadn't heard. We just had such a good fan base of people where we grew up doing these street parties. Then one day I said "why don't we use the local park and build The Social up from there?" Over the last 5 years, we've gone from around 5,000 people to nearly 250,00 people this year. Luckily, I've got a good relationship with playing in Colombia and Mexico anyway, this year there were about 10 of my friends from Mexico who do great parties there and Colombia. We knew everyone goes to WMC and everyone tries to go down for the best festivals there, so we thought the best time to do it was the week before everyone heads to Miami. It worked out great, especially confirming Carl to come and do it with me which was pretty special for Central and South America because he doesn't really go there a lot. It was never a dream of me to go down there, it sort of just happened. It's weird but I'm super excited.

How do you see The Social evolving in the future and in years to come?

For me, it's just improving because it's a project, it's not a business. My business is my DJing and traveling around the world and making music. This is just my side project that I love doing and I work with some really amazing people. I just want to keep bringing good DJs, making the production better and getting the sound system better. We're 9 months ahead of the festival and I've got Funktion 1 down on Thursday to look around the site again to work out how we can make the sound better in all the arenas so that people that come have a better quality of sound. You're never going to be able to make it perfect for every single customer but what we're trying to do is to get it as good as it can be and that's our plan for the future. I would love to take it to more countries and work with people that are enthusiastic and believe in bringing good music to the cities.

So how do you want the actual festival goers to feel after they experience The Social?

I want them to feel part of it, that's the whole point of the name. For me, when I first went clubbing in the late nineties it was like a family experience, you go in and you're all in, everyone's together, there's no trouble, there's no fighting - there's nothing. It's just everyone who has worked their asses off Monday-Friday that go in, and they walk out having made new friends and listened to new music they haven't heard before and be really blown away by the whole experience, that's the ultimate goal. Just to feel good about themselves and like they've had a really good weekend.

So how do you want to distinguish your festival from others? Is it through that kind of connectivity or other things as well?

There aren't not many festivals that are owned and run by DJs. We're self-funded, we have to do everything ourselves. We don't have big sponsorships, we don't have all these other things but what we try to bring is really excellent sound to make the festival the most enjoyable it can be. It's taken me 5 years to find our new site because we had sound problems before and I've finally got somewhere where we don't have sound restrictions. We've got DJs that you wouldn't normally see on the same line up coming under one roof and we try to keep the ticket prices as low as possible so our customers don't feel like they're getting ripped off. Especially now since there are so many festivals and clubs in Ibiza.

For more info on The Social, click here.
At least 11 people have died this month in northern Myanmar in escalating clashes between security forces and armed insurgents that have undercut Aung San Suu Kyi's bid for peace.

Thousands have fled their homes in northern Shan state since the fighting erupted in late November, with many crossing the border into China.

In response, Beijing has placed its military on high alert, fearing the violence could once again spill into its territory after several of its nationals were killed last year.

The bodies of nine policemen killed by rebels on December 2 have been recovered, state-run Global New Light of Myanmar said Thursday. Two civilians were also reportedly killed in that incident.

In total at least 30 soldiers, police, pro-government militia and civilians have died since the fighting began, according to a tally of state media figures.

The clashes have delivered a fresh blow to de facto leader Suu Kyi's hopes of forging a nationwide peace agreement to end decades of bloody insurgencies rumbling along Myanmar's borderlands.

Suu Kyi prioritised tackling the simmering conflicts after her elected government took power earlier this year, ending decades of military-backed rule.

But fighting in the northern states of Kachin and Shan, and in the south in Karen, have cast a pall over her efforts and any ceasefire is expected to take years to agree.

Myanmar's army has also been carrying out a bloody crackdown in the north of Rakhine state that has sent more than 20,000 from the Muslim Rohingya minority fleeing to Bangladesh.

Analysts say the recent bout of unrest in Shan threatens the second round of peace talks she had scheduled for February and has strengthened the role of the army, who still control key levers of power.

Three of the rebel groups fighting in Shan -- the Arakan Army, the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army -- have not been invited to the negotiations.

Story continues

China-brokered talks between government negotiators and the groups reportedly broke down this week.

But TNLA spokesman Colonel Tar Phone Kyaw said the groups were open to negotiations if the army wanted to talk in good faith.

"Our alliance from Northern Shan state will stand our ground and defend if they launch more attacks," he told AFP.

"But if they stop the fighting, we welcome negotiations to find a solution."
- By PJ Pahygiannis





1. How and why did you get started investing? What is your background?

I learned investing from my mother and business from my father. Both were good influences in my life. Both took prudent risks to take care of the economic life of our family.

I almost entitled my blog "The Investment Omnivore" because of my life. I have done something with almost every class of investment.





As an actuary, I was a pioneer with investment risk issues within life insurers. I was also forced to do financial reporting for over 12 years - my least favorite area of practice. This made me more cognizant of investment risk issues, and why we should be skeptical of the figures that we get fed by corporate management teams. What the lower level prepares is not always what gets reported.

Most of my adult life, I have done some sort of value investing margin of safety concept because its neglect leads to all manner of colorful ways to lose money. More people would stay in investing if they properly sized their risks.

2. Describe your investing strategy and portfolio organization. What valuation methods do you use? Where do you get your investing ideas from?

Here are my investing rules:

Industries are underanalyzed, relative to the market on the whole and relative to individual companies. Spend time trying to find good companies with strong balance sheets in industries with lousy pricing power, and cheap companies in good industries where the trends are not fully discounted. Purchase equities that are cheap relative to other names in the industry. Depending on the industry, this can mean low P/E, low P/B, low P/S, low P/CFO, low P/FCF or low EV/EBITDA. Stick with higher-quality companies for a given industry. Purchase companies appropriately sized to serve their market niches. Analyze financial statements to avoid companies that misuse generally accepted accounting principles and overstate earnings. Analyze the use of cash flow by management to avoid companies that invest or buy back their stock when it dilutes value and purchase those that enhance value through intelligent buybacks and investment. Rebalance the portfolio whenever a stock gets more than 20% away from its target weight. Run a largely equal-weighted portfolio because it is genuinely difficult to tell what idea is the best. Keep about 30 to 40 names for diversification purposes. Make changes to the portfolio three to four times per year. Evaluate the replacement candidates as a group against the current portfolio. New additions must be better than the median idea currently in the portfolio. Companies leaving the portfolio must be below the median idea currently in the portfolio.

Story continues







I get investment ideas from all kinds of sources - news articles, 13Fs, screens, etc. I try to let them sit for a while so that I forget where I got the idea, which forces me to evaluate them independently.

3. What drew you to that specific strategy? If you only had 3 valuation metrics what would they be?

It took a long time to come up with the rules. They came from an analysis of where I went right and wrong in my past investing.

Absolute valuation metrics are overdone. The tradeoff of stocks for cash is difficult to evaluate. I have a good model for that in aggregate, but it is much easier to compare stocks against each other. That is why I compare companies to those that I do own - often a stock will strike me as being more attractive than the median stock in my portfolio and then I find a home for it by kicking out a less desirable stock that I currently own.

As an aside, P/B works better with financials while P/S works better with industrials and utilities. P/E is useful but you have to consider where you are in the pricing cycle of an industry. When things are horrible, the quality companies are typically a good buy, whether they have earnings or not.

4. What books or other investors changed the way you think, inspired you, or mentored you? What is the most important lesson learned from them? What investors do you follow today?

You can start here: Ten Investing Books to Consider.

General books on value investing:

"The Intelligent Investor" by Ben Graham

"The Aggressive Conservative Investor" by Marty Whitman







"Margin of Safety" by Seth Klarman (Trades, Portfolio)

"Accounting for Value" by Stephen Penman







Books that will help you understand markets better:

"The Alchemy of Finance"

"Soros on Soros"

"Triumph of the Optimists"







Books on managing risk:

"The Crisis of Crowding" by Chincarini

"Pandora's Risk" by Osband

"Risk and the Smart Investor" by Martin

"The Nature of Risk" also by Martin

"The Hedge Fund Mirage" by Lack







I chose some good books here, some of which are less well known. They will help understand the markets and investing, and make you a bigger-picture thinker. Which makes me think, I forgot the second level thinking of "The Most Important Thing" by Howard Marks (Trades, Portfolio).

5. How long will you hold a stock and why? How long does it take to know if you are right or wrong on a stock?

I would like to hold a stock forever, but usually it is three to five years. That said, my rule is that I sell stocks when I find a stock to buy materially better than the stock I am selling. Always incrementally improve the portfolio.

It is easy to learn when you are wrong from your initial entry when you knowing if you are wrong from the current lower-circuiting price. That sell decision to no longer ask, "Is this something? Is there something better to own at current prices?" We make much better absolute decisions on stocks - it is a major reason that I do not settle on my holdings.

6. How has your investing approach changed over the years?

Seventeen years ago, I did an analysis to try to understand where I did well and poorly in investing. I learned that I did best when I understood where the industry pricing cycles were and positioned in industries that were either underrated or given up for dead. Thus, I refocused on think-through industries first.

Aside from that, it is just value investing.

7. Name some of the things that you do or believe that other investors do not.

Looking at relative rather than absolute desirability of any stock or bond.

Starting with industries rather than being bottom-up or top-down.

Putting margin of safety first instead of opportunity or cheapness.

Thinking through virtually all investing and economic issues through an asset-liability management framework. Misfinancing is one of the most common errors in business and countries.

Adapting bond market concepts so they can be applied to the stock market.







8. What are some of your favorite companies, brands or even CEOs? What do you think are some of the most well-run companies? How do you judge the quality of the management?

Quality of management boils down to use of free cash flow, proper financing and skill at managing the operating business. I wrote extensively about it in the following series:

Talking to Management.

Favorite companies would include: Reinsurance Group of America (RGA), Assurant (AIZ), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A)(BRK-B), Industrias Bachoco (IBA) and Valero (VLO).

9. Do you use any stock screeners? What are some efficient methods to find undervalued businesses apart from screeners?

I tend not to use screens. After I find an industry that looks promising, I will look through a wide number of the companies in the industry to see who seems to be running their business intelligently and is undervalued.

I also collect ideas and then compare them to my existing portfolio as a group - I will often get as many as four promising ideas that way. Look at my eighth rule for more.

10. Name some of the traits that a company must have for you to invest in, such as dividends. What does a high-quality company look like to you and what does a bad investment look like? Talk about what the ideal company to invest in would look like, even if it does not exist.

I like companies that use free cash intelligently. That means do mergers to achieve scale or buy back stock indiscriminately.

I like companies that become dominant in their niches and grow organically by finding adjacent opportunities - new markets, products that use the existing business well.

I like companies that are neglected.

I like companies that treat outside passive minority shareholders like me fairly. I like my companies to be fair to all related parties: customers, workers, suppliers, regulators.

Companies that cheat others are not as profitable usually.

I like companies where the accounting is straightforward and companies with significant structural complexity. That is rarely rewarded in investing.

11. What kind of checklist or homework do you utilize when investing? Do you have a specific approach, structure, process that you use? Or do you have any hard cut rules?

My rules were listed in question two.

12. Before making an investment, what kind of research do you do and where do you go for the information? Do you talk to management?

Occasionally I will talk to management if something is unclear. Usually, I read documents at the SEC website and sometimes the company website. You want to be as unbiased as possible in investing, avoid doing things because a friend is doing it, popular among many or just because a company presentation or article makes it look promising.

In some industries like insurance, I will review regulatory documents because few look at them. Companies will bend GAAP reporting a lot more than they will the disclosures that they give to the regulators.

13. How do you go about valuing a stock and how do you decide how you are going to value a specific stock? When is cheap not cheap?

I do not value stocks per se-I look at relative cheapness, which is easier to discern. That said, it is mostly a qualitative decision when I buy one stock and sell another - I have to conclude that the new stock is more likely to perform better than the one being replaced.

Cheap is not cheap when:

Assets are overstated.







Earnings stem from questionable accrual entries.







The business has no sustainable competitive advantage, and is getting beaten by stronger competitors.







It looks technically cheap, but the company is overlevered or has a lot of debt coming due in the short run.







Earnings are not validated by cash flow.







Managements do not use free cash flow wisely.







14. What kind of bargains are you finding in this market? Do you have any favorite sector or avoid certain areas, and why?

Most of the stuff I am buying now is one-off. I am finding niche companies attractive, but relatively few broad themes.

I usually know of a few insurers that are cheap. Refiners look attractive. Emerging markets look attractive, aside from China. Most places outside the U.S. look better than the U.S. at present, though some of that is due to bad macroeconomics - make sure the companies you own are well financed.

15. How do you feel about the market today? Do you see it as overvalued? What concerns you the most?

The market is moderately overvalued. The light is flashing yellow for caution, not red for stop.

The thing that concerns me the most is that governments of the world are almost all getting highly indebted both directly and indirectly (through unfunded promises of future payments to their citizens). At some point, there will be national defaults and it will be difficult to see all of the second order effects in advance, such as dissolution of the European Union, wars, trade wars, government debt monetization, etc.

16. What are some books that you are reading now? What is the most important lesson learned from your favorite one?

I read a ton of books. None are that outstanding right now. I would encourage readers to read books on economic history because they can broaden your mind away from the news cycle blather that makes mountains out of molehills. I try to understand the big picture rather than absorb a simplistic view of the present from others.

17. Any advice to a new value investor? What should they know and what habits should they develop before they start?

A long time ago, Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio) personally told me to "develop away the CFA syllabus" (which would be most commonly held ideas). I develop my own edge away from what the crowds view as value. That's not a bad idea but be careful - just because you are different does not mean you have common knowledge. It became common knowledge for a reason - it works, even if it will not give you much of an edge against those who use it.

Develop the following habits: hard work, hard thought, patience, calmness, skepticism but not cynicism. Learn to evaluate investments both qualitatively and quantitatively. They are more powerful together. Be willing to read a lot.

18. What are your some of your favorite value investing resources or tools? Are there any investors that you piggyback or coattail?

Valuewalk is a great compendium website, as is Abnormal Returns. I use a lot of different things, including 13F filings that look good. Here are some of the factors I look at.

19. Describe some of the biggest mistakes you have made value investing. What are your three worst investments that burned you? What did you learn and how do you avoid those mistakes today?

Here is a set of nine stories of how I lost a lot of money and, occasionally, how I limited the losses. The set of stories includes all of my worst losses.

The main things that I learned from all of it was:

To be more choosy about investments, particularly on how financially strong they are. Do not indiscriminately be average, judicious, check down your reasoning and, if valid, add a little, not a lot. You were wrong before, the odds of being wrong are high. Pass the idea by colleagues or friends - if no one can find an error, go out to Wall Street and read the other side. If it sounds dumb, buy aggressively. (We did that with Tyco International (TYC)).







20. How do you manage the mental aspect of investing when it comes to the ups, downs, crashes, corrections and fluctuations?

Much of that just takes time and a few losses to develop a good attitude. The losses are "market tuition." Until you are disciplined mentally, you might want to be like me and create a variety of trading rules (see rules 7 and 8 and question 2) to limit your activity and don't break the rules.

If you focus on a margin of safety, the temptation to panic undo chances.

21. How does one avoid blowups in value investing?

Seek a margin of safety, which means a strong balance sheet for the industry in question. Seek talented management teams that use free cash flow well. Avoid complexity - most good business and investing is not complex. Spend some time analyzing the accounting in industries where accrual items are relatively large compared to cash flow.

22. If you are willing to share, what companies do you currently own and why? How have the last five to ten years been for you investing wise compared to the indexes?

I am behind the S&P 500 over the last five years. Value investing has been tough over that period. I am ahead over the last 10 and way ahead over the last 20 years.

Here are the last five companies that I have purchased: MetLife Inc. (NYSE:MLG), J. C. Penney (JCP), Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEP), Express Scripts Holding Company (ESRX) and Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. (ANW).

23. Here's a fun one - What stock would Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio) or Benjamin Graham buy today if he were you?

Both would have bought Assurant at the IPO, but it is said that Buffett said that is was "too tough." There are a lot of things that I own that Buffett might put to work - examples might be Industrias Bachoco, National Western Life Insurance (NWLI) or Kansas City Life (KCLI). All of those stocks are illiquid, so you money to work in them. For a smaller manager like me, some less liquid stocks can make a lot of sense.

Full disclosure: Long AIZ, ANW, BRK.B, ESRX, IBA, JCP, KCLI, KEP, MET, NWLI and VLO.

Start a free 7-day trial of Premium Membership to GuruFocus.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.






Donald Trump 's pick for Environmental Protection Agency chief has harshly criticized the agency and questioned humans' role in global warming.

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, who along with other state attorneys general is suing the EPA over Obama administration rules, has repeatedly slammed the agency for what he argues is regulatory overreach. The pick gives a clear signal that Trump could follow through on pledges to roll back climate-related regulations and improve the operating environment for fossil-fuel companies.

Here are some of his recent statements on the EPA and climate change, which show how much his EPA would likely diverge from the agency's current policy.

1) Pruitt testified before Congress on what he viewed as the EPA's role in 2013. Here is what he said then, according to a statement from his office.

"There is a great deal of frustration among the states with the EPA's attitude that ignores the proper role of the states as the agency attempts to expand its authority. The EPA seems to have a view that the states are merely a vessel to implement whatever policies and regulations the Administration sees fit, regardless of the wisdom, cost or efficiency of such measures. Fortunately for the states, that is not what the law allows. Congress clearly intended for the states to have primacy in the areas of environmental regulation and for the EPA to work with the states closely to regulate those issues. However, the EPA is attempting to usurp the role of the states all in the name of imposing the Administration's anti-fossil fuel mentality."

2) In May, Pruitt and Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange penned an op-ed ripping some attorneys general for seeking possible investigations into oil and gas companies that argue against the science showing man-made global warming. He accused them, "green-energy interests and environmental lobbying groups" of trying to "silence critics" of a "climate-change agenda."



Story continues

Pruitt and Strange wrote:

"We won't be joining this coalition, and we hope that those attorneys general who have joined will disavow it. Healthy debate is the lifeblood of American democracy, and global warming has inspired one of the major policy debates of our time. That debate is far from settled. Scientists continue to disagree about the degree and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of mankind. That debate should be encouraged  in classrooms, public forums, and the halls of Congress. It should not be silenced with threats of prosecution. Dissent is not a crime."

The vast majority of scientific experts agree that humans cause climate change, though many government officials dispute that notion.

3) A month later, Pruitt signed off on a letter from a group of attorneys general calling the formation of the so-called "AGs United for Clean Power" a "grave mistake." The group said it wanted to look into "whether fossil fuel companies misled investors and the public on the impact of climate change on their businesses.

The letter, signed by 13 attorneys general, said this about climate change and the potential drawbacks of combating it:

"We all understand the need for a healthy environment, but we represent a wide range of viewpoints regarding the extent to which man contributes to climate change and the costs and benefits of any proposed fix."

4) In announcing a lawsuit against the EPA over the Waters of the United States rule last year, Pruitt's statement accused the agency of having an "often byzantine regulatory regime." The rule, which defined which waters fall under EPA and Army Corp of Engineers jurisdiction, faced staunch opposition from industries like agriculture and oil.

"Respect for private property rights have allowed our nation to thrive, but with the recently finalized rule, farmers, ranchers, developers, industry, and individual property owners will now be subject to the unpredictable, unsound, and often byzantine regulatory regime of the EPA. I, and many other local, state and national leaders across the country, made clear to the EPA our concerns and opposition to redefining the 'Waters of the U.S.' However, the EPA's brazen effort to stifle private property rights has left Oklahoma with few options to deter the harm that its rule will do."

5) Also last year, Pruitt in a statement celebrated the Supreme Court's ruling in Michigan v. EPA, in which the top court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the EPA unreasonably applied a provision to regulate power plants when "appropriate and necessary."

"The U.S. Supreme Court's opinion in Michigan v. EPA is a substantial victory for Oklahoma industry and consumers. Thanks to our victory, the EPA can no longer ignore the substantial costs its rulemaking can heap on industry, and eventually ratepayers. The EPA routinely ignores statutes and congressional directive in order to pick winners and losers in the energy arena. This ruling will support Oklahoma's continued challenges of the EPA's attempts to act outside the authority granted to it by Congress and the law."





More From CNBC


Goblin - Quebec, Canada

With their supernatural abilities, Gong Yoo and Kim Go Eun from Goblin teleported to Quebec, Canada after walking through a door and were welcomed with the beautiful autumn leaves, in various shades of red. Where do we sign up for this superpower?

Watch Goblin now

Available every Sat & Sun, 4 hours after Koreas telecast

Descendants of the Sun - Zakynthos Island, Greece

Seems like the Song couple wasnt the only thing that caught the viewers attention from Descendants of the Sun! The Navagio Beach is now a must-visit attraction after Song Joong Ki brought Song Hye Kyo there on a date. Well, its hard to resist that crystal clear blue waters and pure white sand!

Watch Descendants of the Sun now

Full series available for free!

Spy Myeong Wol - Singapore

You cant stray far from Orchard Road if you mention Singapore and thats where Han Ye Seul began her motorbike chase for top Hallyu star, Eric. Not only that, how could we forget the famous Marina Bay Sands? Were sure the superstar made himself feel at home with the VIP treatment!

Watch Spy Myeong Wol now

Full series available for free!



Doctor Stranger - Budapest, Hungary

It seems like a scene taken out of an action film as Lee Jong Suk scooted through the streets of Budapest, Hungary while trying to escape from his enemies. If that wasnt enough, the scene reached a climax when he painfully released Jin Se Yeon at the Chain Bridge. Action overload!

Watch Doctor Stranger now

Full series available for free!



Dear My Friends - Eastern Europe (Slovenia, Crotia)

Dear My Friends Go Hyun Jung and Jo In Sungs bittersweet love story was set in the picturesque Slovenia and Croatia in eastern Europe. With the quirky architecture as backdrop paired with the chill atmosphere of the city, dont you wish you were there too?

Watch Dear My Friends now

Full series available for free!


Screening procedures of the Transportation Security Administration have once again come under scanner after television and radio personality Denise Albert, who is also a breast cancer patient, claimed that she was aggressively searched by TSA agents at Los Angeles International Airport. She also said that she felt humiliated and violated due to the frisking.

The reported incident occurred Sunday night, according to Alberts Facebook post Monday. She was traveling with colleague Melissa Gerstein, who filmed the pat-down screening. The video was uploaded in Alberts post.

The footage shows her sitting without her shoes as a woman TSA agent frisks Alberts legs and groin area. The agent then puts her hand on Alberts chest after which The Moms radio show co-host says: I have breast cancer. I had a lumpectomy. I have a port in me. You cant touch me there.

According to Albert, her medical port can get infected easily and should not be handled by anyone except her doctors.

I had already told them about my metal port and my medical cream which I removed from my bag for them to see and test as I have done on prior flight ... and once through the scanner they asked me to take off my shoes. I explained I didnt have socks on and that my cream is for an infection from my current treatment, including on my feet, Albert said, in the post.

The mother of two filed a complaint with the TSA, who issued a statement saying that it is investigating the incident and deeply regrets the distress additional security screening caused Ms. Albert.

Following are other incidents where TSA made headlines:

August 2015: TSA screener Maxie Oquendo, who worked at New Yorks LaGuardia Airport, was charged with unlawfully detaining and molesting a college student in a bathroom. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown reportedly said at the time that Oquendo allegedly had [the student] lift up her shirt and unzip her pants and touched her breasts and other areas of her body over and under her clothing. Oquendo was fired after the incident.

Story continues

June 2015: Hannah Cohen  a disabled teenage cancer patient  suffered injury during a violent arrest by TSA agents at Memphis International Airport, her family has alleged in a lawsuit filed in July 2016. The incident took place on June 30, 2015, when Cohen went through the body scanners and the warning alarm triggered off. She said it happened because of sequins on her shirt. The lawsuit alleged that the TSA did not give Cohen proper accommodation to frisk her and rather discriminated against her because of her disability.

March 2015: Kim Dove, a 63-year-old TSA agent at Newark airport, reportedly pepper-sprayed her 70-year-old husband in the eye only because he refused to turn up the heat in thermostat. She was taken into police custody and charged with a misdemeanor count of assault and a lesser count of harassment. However, she was released on her recognizance after her arraignment in Stapleton Criminal Court in Staten Island.

November 2010: A YouTube video showed a shirtless young boy resisting frisking by TSA scanners at Salt Lake City International Airport, Utah. Luke Tait, who shot the video, said the boy seemed extremely shy that he was unable to keep his arms raised for a pat-down. He added that the boys father frustratingly removed his sons shirt out to speed up the search.

The TSA officer intended to pat down the child, due to a TSA requirement to check passengers with bulky clothing, which the boy was wearing, and not due to the walk through metal detector alarming ... It should be mentioned that you will not be asked to and you should not remove clothing [other than shoes, coats and jackets] at a TSA checkpoint. If you're asked to remove your clothing, you should ask for a supervisor or manager, TSA said, in a statement at the time.

Related Articles
In a city like San Diego where there's so much to do both on land and in the water, a guided tour can provide a fun and efficient way to hit the highlights. Whether you're interested in witnessing marine life up close, sampling local beer and food or taking in one of San Diego's diverse neighborhoods, there is something for every age and interest.

Here are six tours that in-the-know San Diegans say should be on your radar when you visit.

Old Town Trolley Tour

Local experts consistently say the Old Town Trolley Tour is an absolute must for first-time San Diego visitors. This tour is known for providing a rich, detailed history with fun facts and anecdotes about San Diego. "The tour gives you a really nice overview of the city," says Christopher Jorgens, chief concierge at the Hotel Del Coronado.

[Read: 6 Off-the-Beaten-Path Neighborhoods to Visit in San Diego.]

This 25-mile hop-on, hop-off tour includes stops in Old Town, the Gaslamp Quarter and Coronado Island. Tickets can be purchased online for roughly $35 for adults and about $17 for children ages 4 to 12.

La Jolla Kayak Tour

For ocean lovers, a two-hour kayaking tour through the La Jolla Ecological Reserve is a great option.

This tour, which requires no previous experience, explores the sandstone formations in seven sea caves. Kayakers may see dolphins, sea lions, leopard sharks and Garibaldi fish. "It's really easy, they show you what to do ... [and it's] fun to ride the wave when you're coming back in," says Andrew Tellez, chief concierge at The Westin San Diego. "During the winter season, you can see the California gray whales."

The tour, offered through San Diego Bike and Kayak Tours, starts at $39 per person, but prices depend on the day and time. Check the website for details and savings. Children as young as 5 can participate.

San Diego Beer, Wine & Spirits Tours

Experience the culture of an urban winery or local brewery with San Diego Beer, Wine & Spirits Tours. Brett Hamblen, chief concierge at the Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa, says, in particular, "the beer ones are becoming incredibly popular," given San Diego's thriving craft beer scene.

Story continues

There are several different tours to choose from. Mark Peak, chief concierge at The US Grant, recommends a train or trolley tour. The five-hour train tour provides a behind-the-scenes peek at wineries up and down the Southern California coast. The trolley tour shuttles you around San Diego, stopping at a number of local breweries. There are also chauffeured tours to local wineries, breweries and distilleries, as well as walking tours. The tours start in either San Diego or the North County town of Carlsbad.

[Read: Best Foodie Destinations in the USA.]

Tour lengths, times and prices vary.

Bite San Diego

Foodies should check out the Bite tours. Choose a neighborhood -- North Park, La Jolla, Coronado, Liberty Station, downtown and Little Italy, or Encinitas -- and a guide will take you on an approximately 2-mile walking tour where you'll sample the best eats in the area.

During the walk, you'll learn about each restaurant you visit, the food you're sampling and the history of the San Diego food scene. The cost is $47 per person, and the tours last three to four hours and hit five or more restaurants.

Segway Tours

Experience the sights and sounds of San Diego from a unique perspective by hopping on a Segway. They're "incredible and a lot of fun, and once people ride them, they get hooked," says Robert Marks, head concierge at the Omni San Diego Hotel. Marks often recommends this activity for families because it doesn't require any particular skill.

The length of the tours vary, and, depending on which one you choose, you can explore the Gaslamp Quarter, Little Italy, the Embarcadero, Balboa Park, La Jolla or Mission Bay. Prices start at $89 per person.

Freefall Bike Tour

The Freefall Bike Tour leads guests on a biking tour of La Jolla and Pacific Beach. It starts at Mount Soledad, a veteran's memorial with stunning panoramic views of the city and Pacific Ocean. Then, you'll begin the descent to Pacific Beach, stopping at Crystal Pier, La Jolla Children's Pool, La Jolla Cove and the renowned surfing spot at Windansea Beach along the way.

[Read: The Best Things to Do in San Diego.]

This tour, also from San Diego Bike and Kayak Tours, lasts roughly three hours and covers a little more than 12 miles. Prices start at $49 per person, and bikers must be age 12 and older.

To experience more of what San Diego has to offer, check out the U.S. News Travel guide.

Darcie Czajkowski is a freelance writer based in San Diego.
With Donald Trump nominating Cabinet members who have spoken out against legal marijuana, some are arguing that the war on drugs may make a comeback. But while theres reason for anxiety among those selling recreational marijuana legally in states like Colorado and Washington, an all-out war remains unlikely.

Experts say that trying to undo legalization at this point would come with serious economic and political hurdles.

Its certainly come so far, says Sam Kamin, a marijuana law expert at the University of Denver, that it cant be undone without a heavy cost. Others are even more skeptical. Says Mike Vitiello, a marijuana law expert at the University of the Pacific, Its kind of like illegal immigration: You cant build a wall high enough.

Here are seven reasons that it would be hard to stop what the states have started.

Waging a war on pot would go against the will of many voters.

It would be a very blatant finger to the voters, says the Drug Policy Alliances Amanda Reiman. In November, voters in eight states cast their ballots for some form of marijuana legalization. That means that medical marijuana is now legal in 28 states and recreational marijuana is legal in eight, including the nations most populous: California. With that powerhouse on board, a total of about one quarter of the population lives in a place where voters have decided that adults should be able to consume cannabis much the same way they consume alcohol. And all but six other states have legalized a non-psychoactive form of cannabis known as CBD, which people use to treat conditions like juvenile epilepsy.

Public opinion on marijuana is going in the opposite direction.

While Democrats are generally more supportive of legalizing marijuana than Republicans, states of all shadesblue, purple and redhave embraced legal marijuana in some form, despite the fact that the federal government puts marijuana in the same class as heroin. Support for fully legalizing marijuana hit an all-time high of 60% in October, according to Gallup. And polls have found public support for medical marijuana to be nearly 90%.

Story continues

Trump himself has said he supports medical marijuana and that states should handle the question of whether to legalize.

Both Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trumps pick for attorney general, and Retired Gen. John Kelly, Trumps selection to head the Department of Homeland Security, have criticized legalization. Sessions, who would be the nations top law enforcement official if confirmed, has called reform a tragic mistake and said pot is not the kind of thing that ought to be legalized. Kelly has said legalization sends confusing signals to other countries that legalization makes it appear that, We seemingly are not caring about drugs anymore.

Trump sings another tune. Decades ago, he said that all drugs should be legalized, in order to take profits away from black-market players and produce tax dollars that could be spent on educating people about the dangers of drugs. In a 2016 appearance on Fox News, he said of medical marijuana, Im in favor of it a hundred percent. And while he has said he opposes legalizing marijuana for adult use, after a primary debate in Colorado in 2015, Trump also said, I think that should be a state issue, state-by-state.

It does not seem high on his list of priorities.

While Trumps comments on marijuana may not rise to the level of a campaign promise, and while hes proven flexible on his own prior stances on issues, reform advocates point out an indisputable fact: the president-elect almost never talks about pot. In fact, a search of Trumps very active Twitter feed produces zero mentions of the word marijuana, compared to more than 100 mentions of the word immigration. And, with limited resources, a Presidentand his Cabinetcan fight only so many battles.

He talked about changing federal policies at almost every possible level, says Mason Tvert of the Marijuana Policy Project, but he never said hes itching to change the way the government is handling state marijuana laws. Plus, Tvert adds, if his administration tried to dismantle markets that so many states have decided to build, hed be inviting new opposition not only from pro-marijuana voters but hardcore libertarians and others who believe strongly in states rights.

Waging a war costs money.

There are some dismantling tactics the federal government could use that are relatively resource-light. The government could send threatening letters to landlords who rent space to dispensaries, for instance, telling them to evict their tenants or have their assets seized, because those businesses are in violation of the federal Controlled Substances Act. Or the government could send those letters to state regulators, telling them to revoke all the licenses theyve issued to growers, processors and retailers. And if those states didnt comply, the government could file a lawsuit claiming that federal law preempts state regimes.

Yet many of the best-worn strategies in the war on drugslike raidsrequire funding, and Congress holds the purse strings. Pro-marijuana advocates hope that powerful congressional delegations from places like California will abide by the will of their voters and stymie any efforts to fund the fight. And they have reason to be optimistic: even before the 2016 election, members of Congress proved willing to use money as a tool to actually protect legal marijuana, passing an amendment to the budget that prevented the government from spending money to prosecute medical marijuana patients or distributors who are abiding by state laws. All the states that have legalized it, says University of the Pacifics Vitiello, are going to bring a lot of pressure to bear not to disrupt it.

Theres a lot of money in marijuana these days and the prospect of much more in the future.

If legal marijuana markets didnt exist tomorrow, that would mean the shuttering of hundreds of small businesses and the loss of thousands of jobs. It would buoy the black market. And it would also make for a lot of unhappy investors. The market for legal marijuana in America is already worth an estimated $7 billion and, according to market research firm ArcView, it will be worth more than $20 billion by 2020. While many bigwig venture capitalists and corporations are still wary of writing checks because of prohibition, others are proving eager to cash in on the green rush. Among them is even a member of Trumps transition team, Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel. Theres a huge amount of capital formation, says Vitiello. There are literally billions of dollars of investment in these gray market establishments.

The extent of federal governments authority over these matters is unclear.

The Obama Administration issued several memos that essentially gave states that had legalized marijuana a yellow light, says the Drug Policy Alliances Reiman. If states vigorously upheld an appropriately strict regulatory system and protected federal interests like keeping pot out of the hands of minors, the memos suggested that the federal government would not interfere. That never made marijuana anything other than illegal in the federal governments eyes, and everyone operating a marijuana shop is currently in violation of federal law, but its an open question as to how much power the feds have to shut state markets down. This gray area would likely have to be made clear in court, legal experts say, and the Supreme Court refused earlier this year to hear a case that would have yielded an opinion on the matter.

Should the Trump Administration decide that it wants to interfere, there are clear limitations, says University of Denvers Kamin. The federal government cannot require states to prohibit marijuana, nor can it force states to enforce federal law. While the Drug Enforcement Administration could go into any state and arrest every single dispensary owner, at least in theory, the state and local police would be under no clear legal obligation to help. In the past, the feds have focused more on big fish. Historically, Kamin says, the federal government is not the primary enforcer of drug laws in this country. The states are.

Trump has upended precedent in many ways, of course, and this could end up being one more example. The question, Kamin says, is just how much pain and suffering is the federal government willing to induce to do it?




Pot, meet kettle. In an ironic twist, a 9-year-old boy was shamed for his weight by a man dressed as jolly old St. Nick, who is known for a belly that shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly, in the words of Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Anthony Mayse of North Carolina visited Santa over the weekend to request an iPod Touch and a drone for Christmas. But when the boy was getting off St. Nicks lap, the man suggested the kid lay off the hamburgers and French fries. Mayse told a local edition of ABC News that the words really just disrespected me and I felt awful. Totally heartbreaking.

A mall Santa didnt see irony in fat shaming a 9-year-old this weekend. (Photo: Getty Images)

Very rude. Ive never seen anything like it, the boys mom, Ashley Mayse, told the news station. Apparently, the man playing Santa was made to apologize to the child, his family, and his supervisor, according to the town manager, ABC News says.

We could make naughty and nice all day, but the truth is, the body shaming of children is one of the lowest forms of shaming. According to a doctor interviewed by Parents magazine, this kind of treatment toward kids violates their trust in their parents and can lead to permanent, lifelong problems for them. Anxiety and depression later in life can stem from a shaming incident during childhood, the article states.

It continues to explain that shaming children is a type of bullying behavior that can even constitute abuse, and that its often a result of being abused and perpetuating the cycle. It also represents loss of control and a display of immaturity for parents.

Town officials released a statement that said, in part, On Tuesday, that individual who portrayed Santa Claus and was scheduled for the next two Fridays and Saturdays has informed the town he would no longer provide his service as Santa to the town.

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.
By Linda Sieg and Kiyoshi Takenaka TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan and Russia look set to improve ties and clinch some business deals when their leaders meet next week, but both sides are scaling back expectations of a big breakthrough in a territorial row that has blocked a peace treaty to formally end World War Two. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who pledged in September to "resolve the territorial issue", wants to leave a diplomatic legacy by breaking the impasse with Russia, a strategy he hopes would help Tokyo counter a rising China. Territorial concessions would be risky for Russian President Vladimir Putin but the business agreements Tokyo is dangling would be welcome for an economy hit by low oil prices and Western sanctions. But Abe said this week while he hoped for progress, the matter couldn't be solved in one meeting. Russian officials have echoed the cautionary tone. "We should not raise expectations. It will be enough if one fresh step toward the resolution of the territorial issue will have been taken," Muneo Suzuki, a lawmaker long involved in Japan-Russia ties and now advising Abe, told Reuters. "I think that one step can be taken." The territorial feud stems from the Soviet Union's seizure at the end of World War Two of four islands off Hokkaido, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and in Russia as the Southern Kuriles. Although ties between the two nations have improved since the end of the Cold War, there has been domestic opposition in both countries to compromising over the ownership of the islands, which remain under Russia's control. Abe and Putin meet on Dec. 15-16, first in Abe's constituency in southwest Japan and then in Tokyo the next day. The two sides are working to revive security talks and joint naval rescue training halted after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, triggering Western sanctions. They also might agree to speed up talks on joint economic activity on the four islands, Japanese media said. "These are meager results after such high expectations," said James Brown, a professor at Temple University's Japan campus. Diplomatic sources cite a variety of reasons for the dialing down of expectations in Tokyo, from the possibility U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will improve Washington's ties with Moscow and thus make Japan a less attractive partner to suggestions Abe put too much trust in his personal ties with Putin, whom he has met 15 times during his two terms as premier. "TWO-PLUS-ALPHA" Japan long insisted its sovereignty of all four islands be confirmed before a peace treaty is signed. But there are signs it has been rethinking its stance, reviving a formula called "two-plus-alpha", based partly on a 1956 joint declaration in which the Soviet Union agreed it would hand over two smaller islands after a peace treaty was signed. "It would be good if they can say concrete negotiations will be launched based on the 1956 Japan-Soviet joint declaration to achieve a resolution," Suzuki said. Agreeing on a peace treaty after the transfer of just two islands, however, would leave Abe open to criticism from his conservative base, hence the search for something extra. One previously floated idea is creating a framework for joint economic activities on the islands. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters last week discussions on the topic were underway at Abe's suggestion. Japan, however, insists any joint economic activities should be carried out without infringing on Japan's sovereignty claims, a stance that makes sorting out a legal framework tough. Any agreement involving transfer of sovereignty to Japan would have to address whether the U.S.-Japan security treaty, the core of Japan's diplomacy, would apply - including whether Washington would have the right to put military bases there or be obligated to defend the isles. Providing such assurances, however, risks weakening Washington's commitment to defending tiny Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea also claimed by Beijing. "It will be difficult for the prime minister to overcome all hurdles on Dec. 15-16," Masashi Adachi, head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's foreign policy panel, told Reuters. "There are aspects where expectations were too high. I think they are becoming cautious." (Additional reporting by Nobuhiro Kubo; Editing by Malcolm Foster and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
Paris (AFP) - UniCredit said Thursday it had agreed to sell off its holding in the Polish bank Pekao as Italy's top lender scrambles to raise funds amid rising market uncertainty.

The announcement came as the EU's economy commissioner Pierre Moscovici said "we're not worried about a banking crisis" in Italy after Matteo Renzi stepped down as prime minister on Wednesday and the nation's third-largest bank asked for an additional month to avoid a state-imposed bailout.

Italy's Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS) asked the European Central Bank on Wednesday for more time to raise the cash it needs to avoid a state-led recapitalisation that would hit many retail investors in the bank.

Meanwhile, UniCredit announced on Thursday the latest in a series of asset sales to boost its capital position.

The deal sells off a 32.8 percent stake in Bank Pekao S.A. to insurer PZU, which is partially owned by the Polish state, and the state-owned Polish Development Fund for 10.6 billion Polish zlotys ($2.6 billion, 2.4 billion euros), and is expected to close in mid-2017.

Another 7.3 percent stake in Pekao shares will be converted into certificates and settled by December 15, 2019, allowing Unicredit to benefit from an expected increase in the Polish bank's share price.

UniCredit will also transfer to PZU and PFR its holdings in several Polish firms, for 634 million zlotys.

"UniCredit's sale of its entire stake in Pekao is a tangible demonstration of the strategic approach... to focus on reinforcing and optimising its capital position, whilst maintaining strategic flexibility to seize value creating opportunities," the bank said in a statement.

It said the transaction would raise its CET1 capital ratio, which stood at 10.82 percent at the end of September, by 0.55 percentage points.

The CET capital ratio is an important gauge of a bank's ability to resist a financial crisis, and UniCredit was among the worst performers in stress test results published by Europe's EBA banking regulator in July, falling to 7.1 percent in one simulation of adverse market conditions.

Story continues

After having sold several assets, including already a 10 percent stake in Pekao, the bank said in October it said it would need 7.38 billion euros ($10.47 billion) in fresh capital to meet new European rules.

Investors are concerned UniCredit will be forced to tap the markets to raise new capital when confidence is low in the midst of a political and banking crisis in Italy.

UniCredit's share price has fallen by half this year, meaning existing shareholders stand to see a considerable dilution of their holdings if the bank sells new shares.

UniCredit plans to announce its strategic plans to raise capital to investors at a meeting on December 13 in London.

The bank's shares slid 0.08 percent in morning trading while Milan's FTSE-Mib index was up 0.4 percent.
On Dec 7, 2016, shares of the multi-line insurance giant, American International Group Inc. AIG reached to an all time high of $64.99. Despite disappointing results in three out of the last four quarters, the stock seems to have gained investors attention with the rapid recalibration of its business and other growth initiatives.



At the very onset of the year, the company updated its business restructuring strategy which targeted geographical regions and segments with critical mass and expertise, while improving multinational capabilities.



So far this year, the company has been continuously taking steps in this direction. Shares have, however, returned 4.8%, underperforming the Zacks categorized Insurance Multi-Line industrys return of 11.3% over the same time frame. The underperformance shows that investors are closely watching the several turnround actions taken taken by the company and their outcome. We expect the stock to gain going forward as and when the growth initiatives start bearing fruit, resulting in clear visibility for the companys profitability.





Since the second quarter of this year, the company has announced or completed five strategic and complex transactions. These actions are increasing the sustainability of AIG's earnings and reshaping it. The Fairfax transaction is the most recent example of this strategy.



In August, the company announced that it will sell its mortgage insurance unit United Guaranty Corporation to Arch Capital Group Ltd. ACGL. Also, in the same month, AIG completed the sale of its Taiwan unit. In May, the company completed the sale of Advisor Group to investment funds affiliated with Lightyear Capital LLC.



The companys cost reduction initiatives are also worth noting. Through the first nine months of the year, AIG remained ahead of its 6% planned reduction with a 10% decline in gross operating expense. The company expects expense reductions to extend into 2017 and remain ahead of its plan as a result of actions taken across its operations.



Apart from fixing parts of its business and reducing costs, the company has taken steps to free up capital. In this regard, it completed a Life Reinsurance transaction in the third quarter that resulted in the distribution of approximately $1 billion of excess statutory capital from its U.S. life companies to AIG.



While this was the companys first completed Life Reinsurance transaction that is expected to free up $4 billion to $5 billion of capital by the end of 2017, it remains focused on and confident about executing additional Life Reinsurance transactions. The company has also halved its hedge fund allocation, which is expected to free up $2 billion to meet its capital return target by the end of 2017.



The company is also executing well on its capital return target. In August, the company announced a new share buyback plan to repurchase additional shares with an aggregate purchase price of up to $3.0 billion. In Feb 2016, it had authorized an additional $5 billion in share repurchases. The company also raised its quarterly dividend by 14% this year.



AIG carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Better-ranked stocks from the same sector include James River Group Holdings, Ltd. JRVR and FBL Financial Group Inc. FFG, both carrying a Zacks Rank # 2 (Buy) .You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here .

Story continues

James River Group posted a positive surprise in three of the past four quarters, with an average positive surprise of 3.60%.

FBL Financial Group posted a positive surprise in two of the past four quarters, with an average positive surprise of 3.26%.

Zacks Best Private Investment Ideas



In addition to the recommendations that are available to the public on our website, how would you like to follow all Zacks' private buys and sells in real time?



Our experts cover all kinds of trades from value to momentum . . . from stocks under $10 to ETF and option moves . . . from stocks that corporate insiders are buying up to companies that are about to report positive earnings surprises. You can even look inside exclusive portfolios that are normally closed to new investors. Starting today, for the next month, you can have unrestricted access. Click here for Zacks' private trades >>



Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report



AMER INTL GRP (AIG): Free Stock Analysis Report



FBL FINL GRP-A (FFG): Free Stock Analysis Report



JAMES RIVER GRP (JRVR): Free Stock Analysis Report



ARCH CAP GP LTD (ACGL): Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
PARIS (Reuters) - Canada has selected the Airbus C295W aircraft for its fixed-wing search and rescue program, the European company said on Thursday. The Royal Canadian Air Force will purchase 16 aircraft to be modified for search and rescue as well as service support, it said in a statement. Airbus Group had competed with Leonardo of Italy for the Canadian contract, estimated in media reports to be worth about C$3 billion ($2.3 billion). The specially adapted tactical military transporter aircraft will be delivered starting three years after the contract is formally awarded, Airbus said. (Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
GENEVA (Reuters) - Airlines said on Thursday a U.N. warning mechanism designed to avoid a repeat of the 2014 downing of a Malaysian airliner over Ukraine is "useless" and called for urgent new ways of detecting dangers to aircraft posed by war zones. A new system should also contain information on other security threats and not just conflict zones, according to officials of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), representing some 265 airlines. A conflict zones repository launched in April last year by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) was meant for states to provide information on potential risks around the world so that airlines could avoid those regions. However, it does not contain enough information and even that is not provided fast enough for airlines to use in real time, a security expert with IATA said on Thursday. "The repository is inadequate, woefully inadequate," Nick Careen, IATA's senior vice president for airport, passenger cargo and security, told journalists at a briefing in Geneva. "If it's not timely and relevant, it's useless." A spokesman for Montreal-based ICAO said it had nothing to add to changes announced in July, when it restricted the data to information provided by states where a conflict is occurring. One of the problems regulators have faced is sensitivities of nations about including warnings given by their neighbors. IATA's Careen said airlines do have access to a lot of the security information they need for their daily operations but it is stored in various locations and complicated to access. He said ICAO had heard IATA's concerns and the two were now launching a survey to see where airlines were getting their information from. The aim is to present new recommendations by the middle of 2017 and enact them by the end of the year. "It was implemented too quickly without giving it appropriate level of thought as to what was required by the industry," Careen said of the database. International investigators reported in September that a missile launcher used to shoot down Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 over rebel-held eastern Ukraine in 2014 came from Russia and was returned there afterwards. Russia maintained that the airliner, which was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was brought down by Ukraine's military rather than the pro-Russian rebels. All 298 people on board, most of them Dutch, were killed. (Additional reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal; Writing by Victoria Bryan; editing by Mark Heinrich)
Fake news gunman incident at Comet Ping Pong pizzeria, in D.C. Edgar Maddison Welch, 28 of Salisbury, N.C., surrenders to police Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016, in Washington. Welch, who said he was investigating a conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton running a child sex ring out of a pizza place, fired an assault rifle inside the restaurant on Sunday injuring no one, police and news reports said. (Sathi Soma via AP)

Edgar Maddison Welch, who has admitted to being the gunman who opened fire inside of the Washington, D.C., pizzeria Comet Ping Pong on Sunday, expressed regret in a new interview with the New York Times.

"I just wanted to do some good and went about it the wrong way," he told the paper Wednesday, speaking via videoconference from an old hospital building next to a city jail.

No one was injured by the gunfire, but Welch's actions drew national attention because he was motivated by a fringe conspiracy theory about the pizzeria. Police say Welch told them he wanted to "self-investigate" the theory, which purported that Comet is the center of a child-sex ring involving Hillary Clinton and her campaign chief.

See FULL STORY by Colin Campbell /Yahoo News

See RELATED STORY by Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News

See more news-related photo galleries and follow us on Yahoo News Photo Tumblr.
By David Beasley

(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a stay in the execution of a former Eagle Scout condemned to die for a 1994 convenience store killing as his lawyers raised constitutional questions about the state's death sentencing process.

Ronald Smith, 45, had been set to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. CST (0000 GMT) at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama. He would be the 20th person executed this year in the United States and the second in Alabama, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center.

The Supreme Court did not give a reason for putting his execution on hold in the order, which was signed by Justice Clarence Thomas.

The decision came a month after the Supreme Court granted a last-minute hold to stop Alabama from carrying out another man's death sentence. Justices also did not give a reason for the stay of execution in that case.

The state's death penalty process is under scrutiny after the high court ruled in January that a similar death penalty law in Florida gave too much discretion to judges.

Smith was convicted of murdering Casey Wilson, a convenience store clerk in Huntsville, during a failed robbery.

The jury that convicted Smith recommended a sentence of life in prison without parole. But trial judge Lynwood Smith, now a federal judge, imposed a death sentence, as allowed by state law.

According to trial testimony, Smith was an Eagle Scout and a member of the National Honor Society but struggled with alcoholism as an adult.

In an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, Smith's attorneys argued that his death sentence should be overturned.

They contended that Alabama's process was similar to Florida's, which the court struck down this year. The justices ruled that Florida judges were given powers that juries should wield in deciding eligibility for the death penalty.

The U.S. Supreme Court has since ordered Alabama to review similar practices in four other cases, not involving Smith, according to court documents. Those reviews are pending.

Alabama argues that its law is different from Florida's and that the Supreme Court ruling in the Florida case was not retroactive to earlier cases.

(Reporting by David Beasley in Atlanta; Additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Ian Simpson and Jonathan Oatis)
The recent opinion piece, No More Obama Judges by Hans A. von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation (LJS, Nov. 28) was an unfortunate display of the type of political rhetoric dividing our nation.

While we can and should have a robust debate about a variety of important political issues, we should all be able to agree that in order for our democracy to function, we need all three branches of government to be strong- including the courts. It is wrong to encourage our elected representatives in Washington to shirk their core duties including those related to the judicial nomination process. Every day that a seat on our nations federal court remains vacant, it becomes harder for ordinary Americans to have access to justice.

Our country is in the midst of a judicial vacancy crisis. Our nations federal courts make rulings on virtually every issue that is important to all Americans - civil rights, business and corporate matters, gun violence, equality issues, healthcare, immigration, and voting rights to name just a few. Although most Americans are familiar with the Supreme Court, many are surprised to learn that more than 900 judges have lifetime appointments to serve on lower federal courts that hear thousands of times the number of cases that the Supreme Court hears. And most of the time, its these lower courts that have the final say in judicial matters. There are 99 current vacancies in our federal courts and every 19 minutes a new case is added to the federal court backlog because there arent enough judges to hear those cases.

We believe that it would be unjustifiable to let the lame duck session go by without holding a vote on the 25 qualified nominees pending on the Senate floor. These nominations will terminate at the end of this Congress but the work has already been done  theyve been vetted, voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee with bi-partisan support, and have the support of their home state senators. Holding an up or down vote on these 25 pending nominees would take mere minutes and potentially fill so many of these long-vacant judgeships.

President Obamas judicial nominees have been unfairly obstructed for an unacceptably long period of time, including the shameful acts by Senate leaders to allow a Supreme Court vacancy to exist for wholly partisan reasons. This kind of political tactic is almost unprecedented. We all need nominees that will actually represent the American people and uphold a fair and independent third branch of government.

Finally, the author disingenuously implies that all judicial nominees from President Obama are ideologically unfit to serve, despite a prime example to the contrary right here in Nebraska, wherein President Obamas pick for the federal district court in Nebraska, Judge Rossiter, was widely supported across the political spectrum and championed by our own Senator Deb Fischer.

Lets come together as Americans and recognize the importance of hard working well-qualified judges doing the business of the American people and remedy these issues by encouraging our Congressional representatives to do their job and vote on the pending nominees.
GENEVA (Reuters) - More than 800 people have been killed and 3,000-3,500 wounded in Syria's besieged eastern Aleppo in the past 26 days, while the remaining trapped civilians await an effective death sentence, the president of the Aleppo local council said on Thursday. "Today 150,000 people are threatened with extermination. We are calling for a halt to the bombing and guarantees of safe passage of all," Brita Haji Hassan said during a trip to Geneva, where he will meet U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura on Monday. Tawfik Chamaa, a representative of the Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organizations (UOSSM), said 1,500 people needed medical evacuation, but any evacuation should have international observers to prevent them being "executed or diverted on the way to hospital". (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay, editing by Tom Miles)
Beirut (AFP) - The White Helmets rescue group on Thursday urged international organisations to protect its members in rebel-held parts of Syria's east Aleppo in the face of an advance by government forces.

"If we are not evacuated, our volunteers face torture and execution in the regime's detention centres," the rescuers said in a statement released by the Syria Campaign advocacy group that handles communications for them.

The White Helmets, which was nominated this year for a Nobel Peace Prize for its work, said it believed it had "less than 48 hours left" before the army arrived in parts of east Aleppo still held by rebels.

Addressing the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the United Nations and Security Council members, the group called for an "urgent safe passage" for its staff, their families and other humanitarian workers.

In the last three weeks, government forces have seized around 85 percent of territory rebels controlled in east Aleppo.

A rebel call for a five-day ceasefire and the evacuation of civilians to opposition territory elsewhere has gone unanswered.

"We have good reason to fear for our lives," the White Helmets said.

It charged that the Damascus regime and its allies have "falsely claimed many times that our unarmed and impartial rescue workers... are in fact affiliated with radical extremist groups".

The group said its members in the city feared they would "be treated as terrorists" and could face detention or execution by advancing regime troops.

"We hold the ICRC, the United Nations and the Security Council responsible for our lives and we call on you to secure safe passage," it added.

The White Helmets operates in rebel-held territory throughout Syria and has won international acclaim for its daring rescues in the aftermaths of government attacks.

It was widely considered a frontrunner for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, and in September won a Swedish right award often described as an "alternative Nobel".

It is not without its critics, mostly backers of the government of President Bashar al-Assad who accuse it of being a tool of international donors that support the opposition.

But it contends it has no political affiliation, working only to save civilian lives in highly dangerous circumstances.
Chinas internet giant Tencent has picked up rights to Amazon Studios-produced The Collection, created by Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives showrunner Oliver Goldstick. The eight-episode drama, which is being represented by BBC Worldwide, is set in the world of French haute couture after WWII and stars Tom Riley, Mamie Gummer, Richard Coyle and Alix Poisson. The Collection will air exclusively on Tencents qq platform, which is available to more than 830 million active accounts. Tencent also has the distribution rights for the series in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China.

HBO Asia is in production on its first original comedy drama series Sent. The 830 series is directed and co-produced by Singaporean comedian Alaric Tay and is filming in Singapore. It is scheduled to air exclusively on HBO Asias on-air, online and on-demand platforms in 2017. Story follows the life of an unremarkable and meek financial compliance officer who habitually writes searing, honest draft emails to anyone who aggravates him. But when he inadvertently sends out the drafts, his world turns upside down. Sent is developed and produced by HBO Asia and features an ensemble cast of Singaporean and Thai actors including Haresh Tilani, Alan Wong, Adrian Pang and Carla Dunareanu.

Elad Kuperman, CEO of Endemol Shine Israel, is stepping down from his role after 11 years at the company. Hell be handing over to his COO Amir Ganor, who has worked alongside him since the company was founded in 2005. Ganor will lead the business as Managing Director. Kuperman, who founded Kuperman Productions, which went on to becoming Endemol Shine Israel, will be leaving at the end of the year. He said in a statement: After 11 years building what has become Israels leading independent producer and the success of our great partnership with Endemol Shine, Ive decided after much thought that the time has come to seek a whole new challenge.

Swedish-French thriller Midnight Sun, which stars Leila Bekhti and Gustaf Hammarsten, has been sold to Russias free-to-air broadcaster Channel One. The eight-part high-concept drama will air on the channel, which has more than 250 million worldwide viewers, in January 2017. Studiocanal, which sold the title, has already sold the series to Sky in the UK, ZDF in Germany, SBS in Australia, among others. Midnight Sun is set in a small mining community in remote northern Sweden where a series of brutal murders conceal a secret conspiracy. Its been a hit both in France and Sweden.

Story continues

Related stories

'The Wall' Trailer: Doug Liman's Thriller Puts Aaron Taylor-Johnson & John Cena In A Dire Position

Amazon Studios Takes Flight With Hot Package 'The Aeronauts'

'Rogue One' China Trailer Lands With More Footage Of Chinese Stars
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f310518%2fgettyimages-86502917_720

Amazon Go is coming, and that means you're finally going to have to bag your own groceries.

*gasp*

On Monday, Amazon released its new app that aims to revolutionize in-store shopping by allowing users to swipe their phones upon entering a store, scan items along the way and then, well, to put it simply... leave.

Sounds convenient, right? Well, not if you're a stranger to the self-checkout line and have relied on cashiers to bag your groceries all these years.

SEE ALSO: Amazon Go is a much better idea than delivery drones

With the new Amazon Go app, shopping (like so many other things in life) is about to become totally centered around your smartphone. With Amazon Gos new "Just Walk Out" technology, customers won't have to wait in those pesky checkout lines, which means there will no longer be a need for cashiers.

Aside from taking away many employment opportunities for cashiers, getting rid of checkout lines will also leave shoppers to complete one very daunting task on their own. That's right, thanks to Amazon Go you'll finally have to abandon those lazy ways and learn how to bag your own damn groceries.

If the thought of bagging groceries on your own sends shivers down your spine, don't worry  we sought advice from an expert.

Mashable spoke with Jacquelun Mosley, a manager at Trader Joe's  a California-based grocery chain with over 450 stores  in Manhattan to learn the art of successful and efficient grocery bagging.

Newsflash, people: you can't just be throwing in cleaning supplies with your poultry. That's not the way the world works. Here are five tips that will help you bag your groceries like a pro when there's not a pro around to show you how it's done.

1. Put the heaviest items at the bottom of the bag

Heavy cans of food, which need to be taken into consideration when bagging.

Image: mashable composite: Jerod Harris /getty images

First things first. It's up to you to protect your groceries during the bagging process, which means taking weight into consideration.

Story continues

Mosley, who has been with Trader Joe's for 15 years, explained a key component of the company's bagging training is teaching cashiers to put all the heavy items such as canned food, bags of sugar or boxes of garbage bags on the bottom of the bag.

These heavy items will serve as a sturdy base and ensure that more malleable foods like cheeses, fruits and vegetables are not damaged during transit.

"You put your heaviest stuff at the bottom and work your way up," Mosley said. Then you can move start packing your more delicate items like bread and chips on top.

Last but not least, you must use extra caution with those breakable eggs. Eggs are the icing on the cake, the star on the Christmas tree  they are always on top. You hear? Or better yet, just give them their own bag to be safe.

2. Utilize the 'box it off' method to keep your bags open while you fill them

One of the marvelous things about professional baggers is their speed.

Unfortunately, when us mere untrained mortals attempt to mimic those actions, the plastic bag handles flop over, closing the bag and inhibiting our speedy flow. It's frustrating as hell but luckily there's a way to prevent it.

When it comes to efficient bagging, Mosley confessed Trader Joe's employees use a nifty method to keep the bags open while also ensuring proper item placement and even weight distribution. This is known as the "box it off" method.

Essentially, to perfect the "box it off" method, start your packing from the outer corners and work your way inward. Don't just mindlessly throw items into the bag. "You have to put something at each corner of the bag to keep it open," she explained.

And when things get really heavy, don't be afraid to double bag to prevent tearing and embarrassing bag breaks in the parking lot.

3. Put meat in poultry bags to avoid contaminating other groceries

Handle chicken with care.

Image: Moussa81/getty images

Poultry and other meats are delicious when they're cooked, but until then, you have to proceed with caution.

Meats carry pathogens that can easily transfer to and contaminate other items if not properly contained, so it's important these items get their own bag, according to the Institute of Food Technologists.

To step things up a notch, we highly suggest pre-bagging your meats by making use of the produce bags your grocery store offers. "In regards to meat, if its chicken or any type of poultry we always try to put it into a produce bag before putting it into another grocery bag," Mosley shared.

Another major plus of double bagging your poultry is that you'll be able to contain any potential messy leaks your meat packages could be emitting. Gross.

4. Bag as you go to speed up the process

When it comes to bagging, waiting until you've scanned all your items to pack them is not the way to go.

To maximize bagging efficiency, when using Amazon Go take a cue from the legendary cashiers who bag your groceries as they scan, rather than letting them all pile up at the end of the conveyor belt.

So as you're zooming through the store grabbing items with your newfound Amazon Go freedom, rather than simply throwing them in your cart and bagging before you leave, have bags on hand to gradually complete the process.

5. Group like items together

Dairy items, which require refrigeration, should be bagged together.

Image: Jamie Grill/getty images

You know that old saying, "opposites attract?" Well, that doesn't apply to the world of bagging groceries. Opposites destroy.

One of the most essential pieces of advice when it comes to bagging your beloved food products is that like items  such as those that require refrigeration  belong together.

Not only does organizing bags of food by temperature (frozen, refrigerated and room) make putting your groceries away much easier, but as the Institute of Food Technologists reported, packing foods of the same temperature together will help "avoid spoilage or contamination."

Bacteria from meats is easily transferable, so you'll want to keep your poultry and ground beef away from raw fruits and veggies. And don't even get me started about non-edible items such as cleaning products, bug spray and laundry detergents. Keep those babies far away from food to prevent hazardous contamination and possible death. Yep, bagging correctly saves lives.

Fears and intrigue surrounding Amazon Go

When it comes down to it, Amazon Go may be cool, but it will not bag your groceries for you.

Though it may be more efficient for customers, at the end of the day, using Amazon Go will lead to a far more removed and impersonal shopping experience. No matter how convenient, there's one thing the app can't provide customers: good, old fashioned face-to-face customer service.

Mosley admitted that as someone extremely close to the process, the thought of grocery stores without cashiers and checkout lines, quite simply, is "scary." However, as with most modern technology, it is an intriguing concept and has potential to improve the way we complete daily tasks.

She thought back to the days when Trader Joe's first received their self checkout machines. "It was really challenging for a lot of people to adjust," she said. "At the beginning the machines were constantly updating and people were getting frustrated, but thats when your customer service has to kick in."

The app may cut down on customer service, but hopefully these tips will act as a helpful guide for when you take that first step towards the forced self-checkout life.

BONUS: Amazon Go is a much better idea than delivery drones
[Photo: Instagram/dariopolis1]

Some say that you shouldnt mess with the laws of nature  but clearly, theyve never seen a multicoloured Christmas tree before.

Yep, amongst all the of the Christmas jumper nail art and candy cane eyeliner are brightly-coloured Christmas trees dyed to be Instagram perfect.

From cute pastels to deep purples, we totally dig this twist on the traditional pine tree (yep, theyre real).

According to TribDem, Jack Keilman Trees in Pennsylvania use a secret dying process to make their trees dark blue, red and purple  and weather permitting, theyll give you your very own custom-coloured tree.

Dude gave this tree TWO thumbs up!! A photo posted by Casey Kurz (@storygirlart) on Dec 1, 2015 at 2:57pm PST

Because for the dye to adhere to the tree the temperature must be 4.4 degrees Celsius or warmer.

And this farm isnt the only one  rainbow trees have been popping up all over social media.

To make the trees, Jack Keilman ordered tanks of specially formulated dye and drove through the evergreens, spraying it onto them.

Far from destroying the trees, the dyeing process apparently helps to preserve their needles.

Sadly, unless youre heading to the US any time soon, you cant get Keilmans trees in the UK  but it looks like plenty of other farmers are on the same wavelength.

Would you buy a coloured Christmas tree? Tweet us at @YahooStyleUK.

Christmas jumper nail art is the latest Instagram beauty craze

Candy cane eyeliner is her to up your festive beauty game
Gotta do what you gotta do.

Angela Merkel, Germanys liberal chancellor, wants a ban on burkas in Germany. She announced exactly that in launching her bid for re-election to a fourth term next year.

In a speech at her partys convention, Merkel said she wants to ban the burka, the full veil worn by devout Muslim women, anywhere in public where its legally possible. Our law takes precedence over codes of honor, tribal or family rules, and over sharia law,she explained (link in German). The proposed ban would apply to situations such as schools, universities or public jobs.

When the proposal was first introduced in Augustjust as France got into a pickle with its burkini banGermanys interior minister Thomas de Maiziere explained it by saying that the burka did not belong in our cosmopolitan country. He said, Showing your face is essential for our communication, co-existence and social cohesion and thats why were asking everyone to show their faces.

Merkels proposed ban appears to be a political move to ensure her re-election next year. Her policy last year of welcoming in one million refugees, many of them from Syria, is one that can, should and will not be repeated, she has said. Polls suggest that the German people found the refugee influx difficult and a potential threat to their own culture. France, Belgium, Bulgaria, the town of Novara in Italy, Spain, Switzerland and, soon, the Netherlands enforce a ban on the full veil.

Banning the burka, however, seems a concession to Islamophobia by reinforcing a belief that there is something inherently suspicious in a Muslim veil. It also creates a paradox around womens rights. Under the pretense of freeing women from the assumed restrictions of wearing a veil, it prescribes they cannot wear what they wish.

Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief, our free daily newsletter with the worlds most important and interesting news.

More stories from Quartz:
Animation U.K., the body that represents the British animation industry, has merged with the U.K. Screen Assn., which represents production facilities and specialist services firms, including those in the VFX and post-production sector, to establish a new trade body, the U.K. Screen Alliance.

The new organization was launched earlier this week at an event at Prime Minister Theresa Mays residence in Downing Street held to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Aardman Animations, the studio behind Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, and Chicken Run.

Speaking at the event, as chair and founder of Animation U.K., Oli Hyatt said: With one voice, representing all parts of the animation industry  we can build on our strengths, make sure we take up all opportunities and address any concerns by working closely with all partners, including the government and the key funding organizations.

He added: We need to tackle skill issues, ensure our businesses and production companies are supported and developed, that our talent is curated and that our IP is harnessed.

Matt Hancock, Britains government minister for digital and culture, said: The creative industries are a great success story for the U.K., contributing a staggering 84 billion ($107 million) a year to our economy, and supporting 1.9 million jobs. British animation plays a central part in that success, and is renowned all over the world for its innovation and distinctive humor.

I look forward to working with the U.K. Screen Alliance to ensure the ongoing strength of our screen industries, and am pleased we have recognized Aardmans contribution to animation with this event at Downing Street.

The British animation biz is worth an estimated 1.5 billion ($1.9 billion) a year to the U.K. economy, and attracts around 300 million ($380 million) of inward investment a year. The sector has been boosted by the 25% Animation Tax Credit, which came into force in early 2013.

Related stories

Story continues

Annecy: Aardman Takes MIFA and Variety's 2016 Animation Personality of the Year Award

At 40, Aardman Animations Stays Stubbornly Eccentric

'Wallace And Gromit' Creators Release New 360-Degree Animation for Google's Spotlight Stories (Exclusive)
2016 was a huge year for the No Ceilings showcase. We did shows in New York, Austin, and London, and the eclectic lineups never failed to impress. No Ceilings has grown into an amazing community of artists, fans, and music industry insiders looking to catch artists on the ascent, and we can't wait to take it to the next level.

We're starting off 2017 strong, and this next show is going to be crazy. It goes down at Rough Trade in Brooklyn, on January 17. We've got Atlanta's 6LACK, who's coming off his excellent FREE 6LACK album, plus three of the most exciting artists on the rise right now: New York's Leaf, Chicago's Ravyn Lenae, and Florida's Twelve'Len.

Tickets go on sale this Friday, December 9, at noon EST. We'll see you in January.

Related links:



Continue Reading On PigeonsandPlanes

More from PigeonsandPlanes
Things aren't getting any better at Sears (SHLD)  in fact, they're getting worse.

The once-venerable department store chain on Thursday reported a wider third-quarter loss than the prior-year period as sales continued to slide.

The results were the latest indication that revenue and operating performance at the iconic retailer continue to deteriorate, despite its efforts to get rid of underperforming stores, lessen its dependence on categories that are struggling in its shops and make money from its real estate footprint.

"In the movie 'Titanic,' there is a line where, realizing chaos is about to ensue, one character helpfully notes, 'It's starting to fall apart. We don't have much time,'" Conlumino analyst Neil Saunders said. "Such a sentiment could well be applied to Sears. The analogy with 'Titanic' is also apt; not least because while Sears was once a titan of U.S. retail, it now looks set to sink."



Sears, which has reported just two profitable quarters since April 2012 , lost an adjusted $3.11 a share during the quarter ended Oct. 29. That compares with a loss of $2.98 one year ago.

Revenue fell 13 percent to $5.03 billion. The Thomson Reuters consensus forecast, which includes just one analyst, had called for Sears to report a loss of $4.06 a share on $4.95 billion in revenue.

Sales at its established stores declined 7.4 percent, including a 4.4 percent dip at Kmart and a 10 percent drop at Sears. That was slightly worse than the 5.3 percent decrease that was expected.

The stock fell slightly lower in late morning trade.

In a news release outlining its results, Sears CEO Eddie Lampert reiterated that the company remains "fully committed to restoring profitability to our company." He also addressed criticisms the company has faced from outsiders, saying he understands their concerns regarding Sears' continued operating losses.

"While many observers have acknowledged the significant asset base of our company, we understand the concerns related to our operating performance and are committed to transforming our company through our Shop Your Way membership program and our integrated retail investments," he said.

Story continues

But Saunders countered that none of these efforts have led to better results.

"On the contrary, the trends have worsened with the weakest comparable performance so far this year," he said, adding that the retailer's losses also continue to widen. Sears' adjusted results exclude items including closed store and severance charges, and pension expenses.

Sears, which has been selling off stores and other assets in search of becoming profitable, has raised roughly $9.4 billion in liquidity from 2012 through third quarter 2016. The company had $258 million in cash at the end of the fiscal third quarter, and $174 million available under a credit facility.



The chain, which said in May that it was exploring strategic alternatives for its Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard brands, as well as its home services business, said it is still evaluating opportunities.

Analysts had expected Sears' third-quarter results to show a further deterioration, with Debtwire's Philip Emma telling CNBC "there isn't anyone that's going to be surprised if the numbers are really, really bad."

Signs of ongoing troubles were popping up ahead of Thursday's report, causing many to once again question when the chain might potentially file for bankruptcy.

Sales in Lands' End (LE)'s retail business, which generates 89 percent of its revenue from Sears stores, fell 15.6 percent in its recently ended quarter. What's more, two Sears executives departed the chain a week before its report.

Sears said Thursday that is has "passed the peak" of its inventory needs for the holiday season and continues to meet its payment obligations to vendors. The company has been financing much of its inventory amid concerns about its long-term viability.

In October, when toymaker Jakks Pacific (JAKK) said it had halted shipments to a major retailer, BMO Capital Markets analyst Gerrick Johnson told CNBC that he couldn't imagine that customer being anyone other than Kmart. At a toy fair in Dallas around that time, Johnson said three or four vendors had asked the analyst whether they should ship product to the chain.

Without specifically naming Jakks, Sears CFO Jason Hollar said in a statement that "there are occasionally disputes over prices, allocations of product and other terms through the course of negotiations."



Fitch Ratings said last month that Sears should be able to fund its holiday inventory through borrowings on its credit facility, but warned that its restructuring risk remains "high" over the next 12 to 24 months.

At a national real estate conference in New York City this week, chatter swirled that late 2017 would be the earliest date Sears would file for bankruptcy, so that it could protect the $2.7 billion in assets it sold to Seritage Growth Properties (SRG) and through joint venture deals last year.



Those people formed this thesis upon a piece of the U.S. bankruptcy law called "fraudulent conveyance," which would give Sears shareholders a two-year window to go after Seritage's assets if the department store chain were to file for bankruptcy. The two-year anniversary of that spinoff falls this summer.

However, Chuck Tatelbaum, director of the Tripp Scott law firm and chair of the bankruptcy and creditors' rights department, explained that two-year window wouldn't necessarily apply for Sears. Individual states have longer statutes of limitations on that piece of the bankruptcy code  meaning if Sears were to file for bankruptcy in its home state of Illinois or in Delaware, the statute of limitations would instead be four years.

In any case, Sears will face additional pressure over the summer, as all of its secured loans and bonds mature in a three-year window beginning in July, Emma said. Sears' short-term borrowings totaled $618 million at quarter's end. It has $3.7 billion in long-term debt.

Through the company's downturn, Lampert has remained constant in his message that the maneuvers he is making will eventually return Sears to profitability. That includes dismissing reports that Kmart was shutting down.

"Our significant asset base gives us the wherewithal to fund our business, but we don't intend to use our asset value to support losses," he said in a blog post refuting those reports in October.

The company had 1,503 stores at the end of the quarter, including its Kmart brand. That's down from 1,592 as of July 30.

Sears' store count includes the closure of 68 Kmart stores and most of the 10 Sears locations that were announced in April. It does not include the 64 more Kmart stores it will close in mid-December or any other locations that could be shuttered during the current quarter.

Sears said it will continue to close unprofitable stores as their leases expire. Roughly 80 percent of its leased Kmart stores come up for renewal in less than five years, as do nearly half of its leased Sears stores.





More From CNBC


When the problem of fake news first started making headlines, I was traveling across Southeast Asia and the Middle East. That vantage point provided a striking contrast: While we in America waste the right to a free press, half a world away, the right is so precious that people routinely risk their lives to support it.

In nations where media are state run or state approved, journalists who try to work independently are often threatened, arrested and even shot or beheaded. To simply be harassed is a good day. In Turkey since the July coup, for example, the government has detained at least 200 journalists, and, according to Punto 24, a Turkish nonprofit devoted to press freedom, more than 2,300 have been fired. On Nov. 11 in Egypt, four reporters were detained when they tried to cover economic protests. In places like Myanmar, its risky to list your profession as journalist. I said, instead, I was a lawyer.

Without a doubt, the proliferation of fake news in the United States is a problem. But when I hear calls to shut down or block websites or censor what people can read or watch, my First Amendment hackles rise. A free press is fundamental to a free society, and curtailing it is an even bigger threat to our way of life than fake news. Besides, banning content wont solve anything.

Fake news is hardly a new phenomenon. For decades, Americans have had an appetite for fringe stories, from grassy knoll conspiracy theories surrounding the Kennedy assassination to the alien secrets of Area 51 and the baseless notion that 9/11 was an inside job. We sometimes want truth to be stranger than fiction.

What is new is a propensity for large segments of society to believe things that are clearly untrue. Pope Francis wouldnt and didnt endorse Donald Trump. An FBI agent involved with Hillary Clintons email investigation wasnt found dead in a murder-suicide. These memes were launched by specious internet sites as satire or were put out as purposeful misinformation. Their spread could have been halted by a more skeptical public.

But we delude ourselves if we think that this problem originates only with online trolls and heedless consumers in the thrall of the internet and social media.

Consider one of the bigger fake news stories of this decade  that a low-budget online video making fun of Islam and the prophet Muhammad spontaneously sparked the violent protest at the U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012, and led to the deaths of four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya.

This was the story initially pushed by key members of the Obama administration, including the White House national security advisor, and accepted by much of the mainstream American media. Throughout September 2012, President Obama himself repeatedly cited the extremely offensive video made by a sort of shadowy character as the cause or proximate cause of the attack  to David Letterman, to Univisions Jorge Ramos and to Joy Behar of The View. Weve since learned from then-Secretary of State Hillary Clintons private email to her daughter, Chelsea, on the night of the attack that Clinton believed the violence was the work of an al-Qaeda-like group. It wasnt a reporter who uncovered that fact but a U.S. congressional committee.

Forcing Facebook to change its newsfeed algorithm or shutting down websites wont fix fundamental problems like this.

For Americans to pay attention to real news, newsrooms have to supply it. Too often today, newsrooms are like courtrooms. Reporters, editors and anchors cast themselves as prosecutors or defense attorneys, building a case for or against a story line and molding the evidence to fit their argument. (Some even anoint themselves as judge and jury and explicitly render a verdict after that.)

Real reporting is detective work, trying to get to the bottom of a story or event. That requires skepticism and patience. If a reporter is going to be an advocate, he or she should play devils advocate  and do it with every source, on all sides.

Part of the reason fake news is so easy to believe is that fringe stories no longer read or sound all that different from too many of the real stories. Too often, both have little or no sourcing; they lack context and they get disseminated with almost no fact-checking. Sometimes the fake stories look, sound or read better than real ones. And both are chasing the same thing: ratings or online clicks.

Theres a reason our Founding Fathers explicitly guaranteed freedom of the press in the First Amendment. It is imperative for a free and healthy society. Just ask the journalists in unfree places who every day risk their lives on its behalf. If we are squandering that freedom, dont just blame Facebook or Twitter. Blame all of us.
John Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth as well as a former U.S. senator, died Thursday, according to multiple reports. He was 95 years old.

Glenn's exact cause of death was not immediately revealed, although Columbus, Ohio news station WBNS, which first reported the news of the astronaut's death, noted he died "after suffering from several health complications in recent years."

Glenn was admitted into the James Cancer Hospital in Columbus last week, the Associated Press reported. However, communications officer Hank Wilson of Ohio State University's John Glenn College of Public Affairs told the AP that Glenn's hospitalization there did not necessarily mean he had cancer.

Glenn's health had taken a turn for the worse after suffering through a number of issues over the past few years, including a 2014 heart-valve replacement and a stroke, reported WSYX in Columbus.

Glenn, born in Cambridge, Ohio, was widely considered an American hero who did more with one life than most could do with 100. He fought in both World World II and the Korean War, orbited the Earth and served four terms in the Senate. Glenn didn't give up flying his plane until he was 90 years old. He spent 73 years married to his wife Annie, who survives him.

"We are saddened by the loss of Sen. John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth," wrote NASA on Twitter. "A true American hero. Godspeed, John Glenn. Ad astra."

Glenn made his most famous trip around the Earth in 1962, amid a Cold War and American disappointment that the Russians had gotten to space first. Upon safely entering space and looking back at the world, he relayed to ground control, "Oh, that view is tremendous!"

"As we bow our heads and share our grief with his beloved wife, Annie, we must also turn to the skies, to salute his remarkable journeys and his long years of service to our state and nation," said Ohio Gov. John Kasich in a statement Thursday.

Related Articles
John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth and former U.S. senator, has died, according to Ohio State University.



"The Ohio State University community deeply mourns the loss of John Glenn, Ohio's consummate public servant and a true American hero. He leaves an undiminished legacy as one of the great people of our time," Michael Drake, president of Ohio State University, said in a statement.



Drake described Glenn as a "decorated U.S. Marine aviator, legendary NASA astronaut, tireless public servant, and an unparalleled supporter of The John Glenn College of Public Affairs at Ohio State, where he served actively as an adjunct professor until just recently."

The 95-year-old former Marine had been hospitalized more than a week ago, a spokesman for the John Glenn College of Public Affairs said in a statement to NBC News. Glenn suffered a stroke two years ago after having heart valve replacement surgery, but it was not clear what caused him to be taken to the James Cancer Hospital at Ohio State.





Glenn is primarily famous for his 1962 ride in the Friendship 7 space capsule that circled the earth, making him the first American to do so. That accomplishment put the United States on equal footing with Russia in the space race.

The Ohioan was elected to the Senate in 1974 and served for more than two decades. Glenn was also a decorated Marine Corps fighter pilot in World War II and the Korean War.

In a 2009 New York Times op-ed, author Tom Wolfe called Glen the "last true national hero America has ever had."

When he was 77, Glenn returned to space on the Discovery shuttle. That trip made him the oldest person to make such a voyage.

In 2011, Glen received the Congressional Gold Medal, America's highest civilian honor.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich said in a statement, "John Glenn is, and always will be, Ohio's ultimate hometown hero, and his passing today is an occasion for all of us to grieve."

Story continues

President Barack Obama said in a statement, "with John's passing, our nation has lost an icon and Michelle and I have lost a friend."

"John always had the right stuff, inspiring generations of scientists, engineers and astronauts who will take us to Mars and beyond  not just to visit, but to stay. Today, the people of Ohio remember a devoted public servant who represented his fellow Buckeyes in the U.S. Senate for a quarter century and who fought to keep America a leader in science and technology," the president said.

He gave his condolences to Glenn's wife, Annie, children and family.

"The last of America's first astronauts has left us, but propelled by their example we know that our future here on Earth compels us to keep reaching for the heavens. On behalf of a grateful nation, Godspeed, John Glenn," Obama said."



President-elect Donald Trump tweeted,"today we lost a great pioneer of air and space in John Glenn."

The science community mourned the loss of Glenn on Twitter.

This story is developing. Please check back for further updates.



 NBC News' Jon Schuppe contributed to this report.





More From CNBC


SINGAPORE  Local production company Xtreme Media won the inaugural Asia TV Forum & Market Formats Pitch competition. The company claimed a prize worth $14,100 (S$20,000) comprising a SGD3,500 cash award and SGD 16,500 customized consultancy package from all3media international.

The winning format Hit It, is pitched as a weekly series. Each episode will feature two teams pitted against each other in a series of high-pressure comedic challenges that put a spin on sports. It was rewarded for its originality, creativity and ability to be adapted across the world.

William Lim, executive producer at Xtreme Media, said: Participating in the inaugural ATF Formats Pitch has been an eye-opener, with many participants sharing new format ideas that we have never explored before. We are honoured to have won the first-ever ATF Formats Pitch as we now have the opportunity to work with a well-established format distributor, all3media International, to further develop our concept.

The competition received entries from the U.S., Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Ukraine. Five finalists from China, Malaysia, Singapore and Ukraine pitched their concepts at a live judging session on Thursday to a panel of television format experts.

Xtreme Media will now work with all3media over the next few months to hone the concept and present it to broadcasters.

Related stories

ATF: 'Jimami Tofu' Gobbled up by iHQ, Viki, Encore

ATF: all3media Bullish on Gordon Ramsay Formats, 'Midsomer Murders'

ATF: Netflix Teams With MediaCorp for Made-in-Singapore Content
At the 2017 CES in Las Vegas Audi will become the first carmaker in the US to offer drivers a vehicle-to-infrastructure communication system.

Before cars can become autonomous, they have to become communicative and that means being able to converse not just with each other, but with the elements around them that make up the typical road network. And the faster that Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) systems come on line the faster we'll arrive at a future where road accidents caused by human error cease to exist.

"The launch of this technology is another in a long list of firsts for Audi," said Audi of America President Scott Keogh of the system that will be officially activated in Las Vegas at the end of December. "V2I applications and services like Traffic Light Information are essential components as we continue to move toward an autonomous future. We applaud the innovative approach of Las Vegas in working with us on V2I as well as on our various piloted driving demonstrations over the past years."

To begin with the V2I system will be very basic. Owners of select 2017 Audis will be able to display on their dashboards (or via head up display) if the oncoming traffic lights are red or green and, if the former, how many seconds remain until the lights change, again.

The idea is simple. Knowing how long there is to wait relieves stress and allows drivers to get ready to pull away. Or, if the lights are going to change as the car approaches, to find the optimum speed to pass through without having to stop, therefore saving both time and fuel.

But this is just the beginning. Audi aims to use the information broadcast from connected traffic lights to recalculate programmed routes in real time to reduce fuel use or avoid congestion. It is also planning to link the information to a car's stop/start feature so that the car automatically comes to a halt with the engine shut off at red lights or finds the perfect approach speed so that the car never needs to stop at all.

"The Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada is proud to be the first in the nation to connect our traffic signal network to vehicles through our collaboration with Audi," said Tina Quigley, RTC General Manager. "This vehicle-to-infrastructure technology will help reduce congestion and enhance mobility on our already crowded roadways."
The number of college and university presidents across the country who have signed a statement of support for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program now stands at more than 500.

Its heartening that the signature of University of Nebraska President Hank Bounds is among them.

DACA students are part of the University of Nebraska community and I want them to know we stand with them, Bounds said. These young people have the same goal that most of us do -- to create a better future for themselves and their families -- and they are working hard to achieve it.

Its no stretch to say that the DACA students are precisely the type of immigrant who should have preference under a rational immigration policy.

They are responsible, ambitious, hardworking people who are a credit to their families, their communities and to America, which is really the only country they have ever known.

They were brought to the United States as children, and they could participate in the program only if they had no criminal record. Theyve graduated from college, become nurses and paramedics. Theyve served in the U.S. military.

Their future is unclear, however, after the election of Donald Trump as president. Trump promised during the campaign that he would deport 11 million illegal immigrants.

Since then, Trump seemingly has softened his stance, saying in an interview on 60 Minutes that his first priority would be to deport immigrants with criminal records.

But some of the people who are advising Trump, and Sen. Jeff Sessions, who he has selected to be his attorney general, are adamant opponents of the DACA program that President Barack Obama put into effect by executive order four years ago. And Trump said repeatedly that one of the first things he will do when he takes office will be to rescind Obamas executive orders.

That could put the DACA students at special risk, since they turned over information on their identities to federal officials in order to participate in the program.

There are an estimated 3,700 DACA youth in Nebraska, according to data from the Migration Policy Institute.

They have much support in the state, exemplified by votes in the Legislature to override vetoes by Gov. Pete Ricketts to allow them to obtain driver's licenses and professional and commercial licenses, with support voiced by the state Chamber of Commerce and local chambers in Lincoln and Omaha.

The statement of support signed by Bounds says the signers are prepared to meet with national leaders to present our case. The president-elect should take them up on the offer. The reasons to continue the DACA program are overwhelming.
By Carolyn Crist (Reuters Health)  Young Australians say theyre less likely to try smoking and more likely to quit since the countrys mandatory plain packaging for all tobacco products was implemented, according to a new study. In telephone surveys of Australians 12 to 24 years old, between 15 percent and 20 percent of non-smokers, ex-smokers and experimental smokers alike said the plain packaging made them less likely to take up smoking. A third of current smokers said they tried to quit or thought about quitting because of the packaging. One fourth reported experiencing a sense of social denormalization of smoking, such as hiding their pack from view, using a case to cover their pack or feeling embarrassed about smoking. This is one of the first studies to show that the Australia plain packs have had an impact on smoking-related thoughts, feeling and behaviors among Australian adolescents and young adults, lead author Sally Dunlop of the Cancer Institute in New South Wales told Reuters Health. Four years ago, Australia implemented the worlds first legislation that required all cigarette packs to be plain as of December 2012. The plain packs are dark olive green cardboard with the brand name and number of cigarettes in a standard font and design on the front. Health warnings were updated and increased in size, now covering 75 percent of the front and 90 percent of the back of the packs. With comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising in Australia, the cigarette pack had become one of the last places that tobacco companies had to display their branding, Dunlop said by email. By introducing plain packaging, the opportunity for tobacco companies to associate their deadly products with attractive imagery was greatly reduced. Nearly 9,000 Australians participated in four phone surveys - in June of 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 - about their smoking habits, friends smoking habits and opinions on the plain packaging. Before the plain packaging was introduced, participants were asked whether it was likely to change their habits or social status with regard to smoking, and after the law was in effect, they were asked whether it had. Researchers found that reactions exceeded the participants own expectations. After plain packs were implemented, 16 percent of never-smokers said they were less likely to try smoking as a result, whereas only 8 percent anticipated this effect in 2011. Similarly, 18 percent of experimenters and ex-smokers said the packs made them less likely to smoke again, while only 11 percent had anticipated that effect. After the packs were introduced, 34 percent of current smokers reported the packaging had prompted them to try to quit or to think about quitting, but in 2011 only 14 percent thought they would feel that way. Overall, support for the plain packaging rose, even among smokers, after it was introduced, compared to beforehand. The study is the first to record an impact on social denormalization among young smokers, the authors write in Tobacco Control. Eight months after the introduction of the new packs, one in four young smokers felt embarrassed or hid their packs. It creates a social environment where smoking is no longer the norm, said Vicki White of the Centre for Behavioral Research in Cancer in Melbourne, who wasnt involved in the study. With tobacco companies continuing to argue ineffectiveness of plain packaging, it is of paramount importance that the effectiveness of plain packaging is discussed in the public domain, said Nichole Hughes, of the Nossal Institute for Global Health in Melbourne, who also was not involved in the study. The discussion about plain packaging will hopefully lead to greater community understanding about harmful tobacco use, as well as opportunities for ongoing research, Hughes told Reuters Health by email. Australia has comprehensive tobacco control policies, which work together, and the impact of one policy alone is difficult to demonstrate, she said. However, the great momentum from Australias legislation is continuing as the UK, France, Canada and New Zealand are all committing to plain packaging. Australias precedent also extends to legal precedents, which have upheld the regulations against industry challenges. Despite industry suggestions to the contrary, young people are highly supportive of plain packaging laws, including smokers themselves, said David Hammond at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, who wasnt involved with the study. Plain packaging in Australia is achieving many of the governments objectives and supports broader implementation of plain packaging in other countries, he said by email. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2gpjaig Tobacco Control, online November 15, 2016.
Warren Boyd isn't the only big name in the Los Angeles sober-living world facing allegations. Chris Bathum, 55, sits in a county jail after pleading not guilty to multiple counts of insurance fraud, money laundering, grand theft and sexual assault. Bathum, who was arrested in November, headed up a company called Community Recovery Los Angeles, a chain of more than 20 sober-living houses and addiction-treatment facilities.

Bathum's alleged crimes include fraudulent insurance claims topping $176 million, $44 million of which was paid out before insurers began to suspect fraud, according to the L.A. District Attorney's office. Nancy Kincaid, a spokesperson for the California Department of Insurance (which participated in the sting operation that led to his arrest) tells THR that her office has seen multiple complaints from insurers about suspected fraud involving other operators. Observers worry that widespread insurance fraud could trigger an industry blowback, with patients who are dependent on their insurance for care being denied.

The drama surrounding Bathum and Boyd has exposed a sordid side of a multibillion-dollar industry that has seen massive expansion in the past decade. Because of a thicket of legal precedents, zoning laws and competing jurisdictions, efforts to regulate the industry have been scant, but that soon might change.

The explosive growth arguably began in 2008, when new medical requirements and standards were introduced for opioid addiction (pressuring insurers to cover those costs). Then came the 2010 enactment of the Affordable Care Act, which dramatically expanded the pool of applicants whose addiction recovery-related costs was covered by insurance. Against this backdrop, the opioid epidemic ravaged large swaths of the country.

REX

Many of those have sought help at facilities in places like Malibu and Orange County that offer robust services with an idyllic climate. "The real problem is there are people taking advantage of this situation," says Lou LaMont, the mayor of Malibu, which has emerged as ground zero in the fight against the proliferation of sober-living homes and addiction treatment facilities. "It is so wide open. It is like the Wild West." After mounting a monthslong investigation, LaMont still has no idea how many sober-living homes are operating in his community.

Story continues

Southern California long has served as the unofficial capital of the recovery industry, with hundreds of sober-living homes operating in residential neighborhoods. According to the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., which tracks private sector employment in many industries, the number of jobs in the mental health and alcohol/substance-abuse industry at residences in the county rose 33 percent from 2010 to 2015.

Such places as Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Santa Monica are home to dozens of sober-living homes, if not more. It's impossible to determine the precise number and location of the homes because the state does not require a license to operate one. More than two dozen pieces of state legislation aimed at providing some oversight have failed mainly on account of the Fair Housing Act, a federal statute that prohibits housing discrimination on the basis of a disability. (Most operators of sober-living homes are tethered to addiction treatment facilities that have licenses allowing them to provide clinical services like counseling and the administration of medication - and let them seek medical reimbursements from private insurers or Medicare.)

Now, nothing can stop anyone from converting a single-family house into a sober-living home. For many property owners, the option is financially compelling. There are no price controls on sober living; fees can range from modest - several hundred dollars a month for a slot in a bunk bed - to downright gilded. In the upper echelon, a room can cost upward of $10,000 a month.

The Malibu Beach Sober Living Network operates several houses and addiction treatment facilities, one of which is perched above exclusive Broad Beach, where Steven Spielberg, Michael Ovitz and Dustin Hoffman keep second homes. The website for the Broad Beach home markets its "tropical landscaping," "private elevator" and "beachfront decks and spectacular views."

For local realtors, the proliferation of sober-living homes poses an ethical quandary. One prominent broker who has multiple seven-figure listings on L.A.'s Westside says that when listing a home that is adjacent to a sober-living home, the industry norm is to avoid volunteering that information so as not to run afoul of the Fair Housing Act. "Talk about a catch-22," says the agent, who asked that his name be withheld. "The first thing your buyer is going to do is call you the next day after buying and ask, 'Why they hell didn't you tell me that?' " To get around this, he says, brokers only can prod prospective buyers to pose questions about neighbors.

Read more: The Heroin-Addict Actress, The Interventionist and a Grieving Mother's Court Fight: "She Didn't Want to Die"

Proponents of the industry say they are being unfairly stigmatized and that bad actors are the ones grabbing the headlines. "I have been involved with hundreds of sober-living homes, and the stories of those houses are boring because they operate without any problems," says Jeff Christensen, executive director of the Sober Living Network, which promotes quality standards for sober-living homes in L.A. "They are helping people move from addicts to functioning members of society."

Still, a bipartisan group of federal legislators has taken action. In July, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) requested that the Government Accountability Office, the federal government's investigative branch, open an official inquiry into abuses surrounding the sober-living home industry. Seventeen U.S. representatives followed suit with their own letter to the GAO, and Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) introduced a bill Nov. 20 that would empower states and cities to require sober homes to be licensed and registered by adjusting the Fair Housing Act.

"We are trying to empower the community to make reasonable decisions for the benefit of the addict and for the surrounding community while preserving the intent of the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Act," says Issa, who insists his legislation only would curb the overconcentration of sober-living homes in distinct areas.

That concentration has put one home for sale in Meadows Court, a small gated community in Malibu tucked above Pacific Coast Highway, in a tough position. At least five homes that surround 6415 Meadows Court, currently listed for $5.5 million, have been converted to addiction treatment facilities that are part of Passages, an addiction treatment center that's headquartered there. The neighborhood is at the center of an ongoing legal dispute between the city and state agency that issues the licenses for the treatment facilities. According to several brokers based in Malibu, the home is having a hard time finding a buyer and has sat on the market for nearly nine months. Christensen chalks up the current criticism of sober-living homes to NIMBY-ism and considers it an unfair persecution of a vulnerable class of people. "The reason you can't license these homes is because there is nothing licensable about them," he says. "You can't regulate a group of people choosing to live together sober. It would be the same if you demanded a license if a group of Mormons decided to live together."

This story first appeared in the Dec. 16 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
New Zealand Finance Minister Bill English became the presumptive prime minister on Thursday as his two challengers pulled out of the race to succeed John Key.

His confirmation as leader-in-waiting came as he highlighted infrastructure spending as a priority and downplayed the possibility of tax cuts which Key had only two weeks ago hinted were possible ahead of next year's general election.

As the numbers mounted in favour of English, who Key named his prefered successor when he resigned suddenly earlier this week, Police Minister Judith Collins and Health Minister Jonathan Coleman withdrew their nominations.

Local media organisations had earlier reported 54-year-old English had majority support within the ruling National Party caucus.

"At least 30 MPs have committed to backing English, meaning he has half of the votes of National's 59-vote caucus," the New Zealand Herald said, listing the names of the pro-English camp.

"It is clear to me that 50 percent of the caucus support Bill English as the leader and therefore as far as I'm concerned he has won," Collins said.

A caucus vote on the leadership is still scheduled for Monday.

Should he become prime minister, English has named Steven Joyce, currently economic development minister, the new finance minister and handed him a positive set of surplus forecasts.

In one of his last duties in the finance role, English opened the government books for the half-yearly economic update, showing forecast strong growth of around 3.0 percent over the next five years with falling unemployment and rising incomes.

It said a forecast budget surplus of NZ$473 million for the current financial year was expected to rise to NZ$8.5 billion in 2020/21.

"The more positive outlook for the economy is driven by high levels of construction activity, exports -- particularly tourism -- a growing population and low interest rates," he said.

English said the update "does not make an explicit provision for tax reductions", adding that a recent devastating earthquake highlighted the importance of paying off debt when the going was good so the government could support communities in challenging times.

Story continues

Government estimates have put the cost of the quake, and its thousands of aftershocks, at NZ2.0 billion-NZ$3 billion (US$0.72 billion-$1.44 billion).

English, a farmer with degrees in commerce and literature, has been in parliament since 1990 and was previously leader of the National Party in 2002 when it suffered its worst election defeat.

The popular Key resigned for family reasons, having recently marked his eighth anniversary as prime minister and 10th year as leader of the centre-right National Party.
Washington (AFP) - Jurors in the federal hate crimes trial of the white man accused of killing nine black parishioners in a Charleston church got a glimpse Thursday of the blood-soaked crime scene -- carnage one former agent called "overwhelming."

Dylann Roof, the self-described white supremacist who prosecutors say carried out the attack in cold blood in June last year during Bible study at the "Mother Emanuel" church, could face the death penalty if convicted.

Bodies everywhere, the walls spattered with blood, shell casings and bullet fragments strewn around a room in the church basement -- that was the scene described and shown to jurors on day two of Roof's trial in South Carolina.

The packed courtroom remained mostly silent as 3D images of the scene were displayed, ABC television affiliate WCIV reported. During the testimony, Roof did not look up, keeping his gaze on the table in front of him.

"It was very overwhelming," said Brittany Burke, who was a crime scene special agent for the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division at the time, describing what she found upon entering the church.

"My initial impression was it was very hectic. There were multiple victims, multiple items of evidence," she said, according to WCIV.

She described a scene "so chaotic" that it was hard to tell whether emergency first responders, police and firefighters had stepped in the blood that had pooled on the ground.

Many relatives of the victims and survivors chose to stay to see the harrowing images, despite an earlier warning from US District Court Judge Richard Gergel that they would see a "very graphic" scene.

In one angle of the scan, the body of Tywanza Sanders can be seen, covered in blood and his shirt ripped open after first responders tried unsuccessfully to revive him.

There were bullet holes in the walls, on the floor and through tables.

Over the next eight or nine hours, investigators worked through the night collecting about 117 pieces of evidence -- including cartridge cases, bullets and bullet fragments, magazines, a black messenger bag and a belt, Burke said.

Story continues

Dots showing where evidence was found filled a diagram of the room.

In all, the team recovered 74 casings and four live rounds at the church, the oldest African Methodist Episcopal place of worship in the US South.

The live rounds were found in a magazine that was left on a table. All other magazines were emptied.

Burke said 54 bullets were removed from the bodies during autopsies. The body with the most bullets was that of 87-year-old Susie Jackson, who had 11 of them lodged in her.

Jurors were also shown surveillance footage of Roof as he left the church holding a .45 Glock semi-automatic handgun.

- Mistrial motion denied -

At the start of the day, Roof's defense team filed a motion for mistrial -- quickly denied by Gergel -- after emotional testimony from a survivor, Felicia Sanders, who called the shooter "evil" and said he belonged in "the pit of hell."

"The witness was crying so hard that the government was compelled to request a recess at that moment," read the filing, referring to Sanders's tearful testimony on the trial's opening day Wednesday.

Sanders told the court that she lay in a pool of her son and her aunt's blood while cradling her granddaughter as the massacre unfolded.

"Many spectators and even court personnel -- including members of the prosecution and defense -- were crying with her," the defense motion read.

Roof's own mother experienced a heart attack during the testimony and had to be hospitalized, it added.

Federal prosecutors are seeking to put Roof to death, and have rejected his offer to plead guilty to the 33 federal charges against him -- including hate crime violations that could carry the death penalty -- in exchange for a life sentence.

The accused gunman is also facing state murder charges in South Carolina, though that trial is not due to begin until January 17. State prosecutors also are seeking the death penalty.

Roof's trial is taking place with the city on edge after a mistrial was declared in the case of a former South Carolina cop who shot dead an unarmed black suspect in neighboring North Charleston.

Both trials come during a year riddled with high-profile police shootings of African Americans that have inflamed racial tensions across the country.
LONDON (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was not setting out government policy when he said Saudi Arabia and Iran were stoking proxy wars across the Middle East, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday. Johnson, known for his colourful use of language and tendency to go off-script, told an audience in Rome last week that the absence of real leadership in the Middle East had allowed people to twist religion and stoke proxy wars. It is the latest in a series of gaffes to plague the foreign minister, who even May has jokingly said is hard to keep "on message for a full four days". He has been criticised by some EU officials for using less-than-diplomatic language in talks on Britain's decision to leave the bloc. May's quick response underlines the importance of Britain's alliance with Saudi Arabia, which is a major customer for British defence companies. "You've got the Saudis, Iran, everybody, moving in, and puppeteering and playing proxy wars. And it is a tragedy to watch it," Johnson was shown saying in footage posted on the Guardian newspaper's website. "There are politicians who are twisting and abusing religion and different strains of the same religion in order to further their own political objectives. That's one of the biggest political problems in the whole region," Johnson said. It is unclear from the footage whether he specifically accused Saudi and Iran of twisting religion, though the Guardian reported that Johnson had accused Saudi Arabia of abusing Islam. The spokeswoman for May said: "Those are the foreign secretary's views, they are not the government's position on for example Saudi and its role in the region." May, who visited the Middle East this week, met Saudi King Salman and "set out very clearly the government's view on our relationship with Saudi Arabia, that it is a vital partner for the UK particularly on counter-terrorism", she said. "We want to strengthen that relationship." May appointed Johnson, who was key in the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union, in July, after he failed in a bid to become prime minister, cementing her appeal to other Brexit supporters in the ruling Conservative Party. Her spokeswoman said May still supported her foreign secretary, adding that Johnson would have the "opportunity to set out the way that the UK sees its relationship with Saudi Arabia" during a visit to the region. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Catherine Evans)
SAO PAULO, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Klabin SA, Brazil's largest paper producer, has room to keep increasing output from the Puma wood pulp plant over the next few years, Chief Executive Officer Fabio Schvartsman said on Thursday, addressing concerns about slowing growth.

Output at Klabin doubled from 2013 levels after the 1.5-million-tonne Puma project went online this year. Schvartsman told investors at a Sao Paulo event that lower capital spending at Puma would open the door to more profitable operations.

"2017 is the year we're going to make money," he said. "We've been investing heavily through 2016, and now it's time to generate returns for our shareholders."

Schvartsman highlighted Klabin's expertise in food packaging, industrial bags and so-called fluff pulp used in diapers as factors, allowing the company to improve profitability without gaining scale through big takeovers.

His comments reflect a transition in Brazil's paper and pulp market as weaker global prices and the end of several massive new expansions have put pressure on companies to cut costs or expand and gain pricing power through mergers and acquisitions.

Schvartsman reiterated that Klabin was not seeking to merge with major rivals, although he did not rule out an eventual role in industry consolidation.

"A few small acquisitions are natural in the years ahead ... but Klabin will only make a more significant move if there is a structural market change under way," he said.

Analysts have questioned where Klabin's revenue growth would come from without any major expansions in the pipeline.

Preferred shares of Klabin were up 0.4 percent at 2.75 reais.

Schvartsman said the startup of Puma in March had opened an entirely new channel for sales through market pulp, unlike competitors such as Eldorado Brasil SA and Fibria SA that rely entirely on the fickle wood pulp market.

"These other companies end up forced to consolidate the market to generate value for shareholders," Schvartsman said. "The difference in our case is that pulp is a source of revenue to fund our future growth."

Story continues

However, the economic outlook in Brazil and the world will have to improve substantially before Klabin invests in another major expansion, Schvartsman said.

In the meantime, it will take little or no additional investment in Puma to expand its capacity beyond even the most optimistic initial estimates, he said. He declined to discuss numbers until production has ramped up entirely.

(Reporting by Brad Haynes; Editing by Guilelrmo Parra-Bernal and Lisa Von Ahn)
Oh my goodness, thanks so much for the article "20 years working at the Child Advocacy Center" (LJS, Dec. 4). The Child Advocacy Center had never been on my radar before this article; what a beautiful gem of hope and inspiration and healing for our little Lincoln-area community. I'm deeply moved to hear about the years of healing CAC has been directly involved with, and also deeply saddened to be reminded of the deep pain that can be felt in a town the size of Lincoln. Thank you so much and keep up the amazing work.
By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Drugmaker Bristol-Meyers Squibb Co will pay $19.5 million to resolve multi-state allegations that it improperly promoted a schizophrenia treatment for uses not approved by the U.S. government, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said on Thursday.

The company's agreement with 42 other states and the District of Columbia centers on charges that Bristol-Meyers Squibb promoted its Abilify anti-psychotic drug for use in children and elderly patients with dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

A company spokesman did not have an immediate comment on the settlement.

At the time the marketing of the drug occurred, such uses were not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. In 2006, the drug had received a "black box" warning stating that it could increase the risk of death for dementia patients.

Besides addressing the off-label promotion allegations, the settlement also resolves charges that the company violated state consumer protection laws by misrepresenting side effects such as metabolic weight gain.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
(Corrects company name to Bristol-Myers Squibb from Bristol-Meyers Squibb throughout)

By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co will pay $19.5 million to resolve multi-state allegations that it improperly promoted a schizophrenia treatment for uses not approved by the U.S. government, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said on Thursday.

The company's agreement with 42 other states and the District of Columbia centers on charges that Bristol-Myers Squibb promoted its Abilify anti-psychotic drug for use in children and elderly patients with dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

A company spokesman did not have an immediate comment on the settlement.

At the time the marketing of the drug occurred, such uses were not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. In 2006, the drug had received a "black box" warning stating that it could increase the risk of death for dementia patients.

Besides addressing the off-label promotion allegations, the settlement also resolves charges that the company violated state consumer protection laws by misrepresenting side effects such as metabolic weight gain.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain extended by two years a contract with G4S and Serco to provide asylum-seekers with accommodation and said it would provide extra funds to improve standards and widen the areas in which asylum-seekers are housed. The budget boost follows criticism of the so-called Compass contracts over the standards of property and the time taken to acquire housing for asylum-seekers. In January, asylum seekers in the northern English town of Middlesbrough said they were suffering abuse because they had been housed in properties run by a G4S sub-contractor that almost all had red front doors, making them easy targets. The interior ministry subsequently carried out what it called an urgent audit of housing for asylum seekers in the northeast. "There has been considerable interest in the accommodation and support that is provided to asylum-seekers," Immigration minister Robert Goodwill said in a statement on Thursday. "Therefore I have taken this opportunity to make changes and additional investment to address the concerns that have been raised and improve the services that are provided." He did not specify how much extra money would be made available but said it would allow accommodation providers to increase their property portfolios if required and widen the areas in which they operate. "This will reduce the need to continually increase the number of asylum seekers accommodated in certain communities," Goodwill said, adding that his department would closely monitor the performance of service providers. Both G4S and Serco said in statements that the contracts would continue to be loss-making, with Serco adding that part of the challenge was that the number of asylum seekers in its care had doubled since the Compass contracts started in 2012. G4S guided that the changes to the contract announced on Thursday would not make a difference to an existing onerous contract provision it had made, while Serco estimated its future liabilities would be reduced by about 20 million pounds. Shares in Serco traded up 2.3 percent to 14.6 pence at 1335 GMT (2.35 p.m. BST), while G4S was down 0.2 percent at 223.7 pence. (Reporting by Elisabeth O'Leary and Stephen Addison, Editing by Sarah Young)
London (AFP) - Britain faces an "unprecedented" terror threat that will not subside until the Syrian civil war ends, the head of foreign intelligence service MI6 said Thursday.

In a rare speech for an intelligence chief, Alex Younger said British authorities had foiled 12 terrorist plots since June 2013 and warned that the "murderously efficient" Islamic State group was still plotting attacks from Syria, despite recent military reverses.

"The plight of the Syrians continues to worsen. I cannot say with any certainty what the next year will bring," Younger told journalists in his first public comments since taking up the post of "C" in 2014.

"But what I do know is this -- we cannot be safe from the threats that emanate from that land unless the civil war is brought to an end.

"We need to take the fight to the enemy, penetrating terrorist organisations upstream," he added. "By that I mean as close to the source as possible."

Younger criticised Russia President Vladimir Putin for propping up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and warned that "hybrid warfare", incorporating cyber-attacks and propaganda, was an "increasingly dangerous phenomenon" that posed a "fundamental threat" to Western democracies.

"The connectivity that is at the heart of globalisation can be exploited by states with hostile intent to further their aims deniably," he said.

Younger played down fears of instability in the wake of Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump, saying he expected "continuity" in Britain's intelligence relationships with the European Union and the United States.

"These relationships are long-lasting and the personal bonds between us are strong," he said.
By Martinne Geller LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's advertising regulator announced new rules on Thursday banning advertising of food or drinks high in sugar, fat or salt in children's non-broadcast media, bringing standards in line with what is already required for television. Following a public consultation, the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) said that ads promoting such products can not appear in children's media or other media where children make up over 25 percent of the audience. It also said that such ads will not be allowed to use licensed characters or celebrities popular with children, which it defines as below the age of 16. It will use the Department of Health nutrient profiling model to classify which products fall into that category. The model assigns scores to foods based on the amount of specific nutrients they contain, with the ban essentially applying to products above a certain score threshold. The new rules, which come into effect on 1 July, 2017, apply to print media as well as cinemas and online content and social media sites. Similar rules already apply to television, and are an example of the increasing pressure being placed on makers of processed food and drinks such as Nestle , Coca-Cola and Mondelez International to play a role in fighting obesity and improving health. The UK will also introduce a levy on sugary soft drinks. CAP, which is responsible for writing and maintaining the UK Advertising Codes, admitted the health impact of the advertising ban will be modest, saying available evidence shows the effect of advertising on children's food preferences to be relatively small. (Reporting by Martinne Geller in London; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
LONDON (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was not setting out government policy when he said Saudi Arabia and Iran were stoking proxy wars across the Middle East, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday. Johnson, known for his colorful use of language and tendency to go off-script, told an audience in Rome last week that the absence of real leadership in the Middle East had allowed people to twist religion and stoke proxy wars. It is the latest in a series of gaffes to plague the foreign minister, who even May has jokingly said is hard to keep "on message for a full four days". He has been criticized by some EU officials for using less-than-diplomatic language in talks on Britain's decision to leave the bloc. May's quick response underlines the importance of Britain's alliance with Saudi Arabia, which is a major customer for British defence companies. "You've got the Saudis, Iran, everybody, moving in, and puppeteering and playing proxy wars. And it is a tragedy to watch it," Johnson was shown saying in footage posted on the Guardian newspaper's website. "There are politicians who are twisting and abusing religion and different strains of the same religion in order to further their own political objectives. That's one of the biggest political problems in the whole region," Johnson said. It is unclear from the footage whether he specifically accused Saudi and Iran of twisting religion, though the Guardian reported that Johnson had accused Saudi Arabia of abusing Islam. The spokeswoman for May said: "Those are the foreign secretary's views, they are not the government's position on for example Saudi and its role in the region." May, who visited the Middle East this week, met Saudi King Salman and "set out very clearly the government's view on our relationship with Saudi Arabia, that it is a vital partner for the UK particularly on counter-terrorism", she said. "We want to strengthen that relationship." May appointed Johnson, who was key in the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union, in July, after he failed in a bid to become prime minister, cementing her appeal to other Brexit supporters in the ruling Conservative Party. Her spokeswoman said May still supported her foreign secretary, adding that Johnson would have the "opportunity to set out the way that the UK sees its relationship with Saudi Arabia" during a visit to the region. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Catherine Evans)
LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said she wants a smooth and orderly Brexit but admitted that the negotiation to leave the European Union will be complex, the Financial Times reported. "I want to see as smooth and orderly a process as possible," May told the FT in an interview. "Of course, its going to be complex because theres a lot to deal with." May said the EU did not want other members to break away as Britain plans to, meaning the talks could be tense. When asked about relations with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, May said it was important to build relations with all of the 27 other members of the EU. "I think its also important to build a relationship with others sitting around the European table. There are 27 member states which will be negotiating," she was quoted as saying. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Kate Holton)
By Guy Faulconbridge LONDON (Reuters) - Islamic State militants are using turmoil sown by Russian President Vladimir Putin's bombing in Syria to plot attacks against the United Kingdom and her allies, Britain's foreign intelligence chief said on Thursday. In his first major public speech since winning the top job at the Secret Intelligence Service in 2014, MI6 chief Alex Younger said Russia and Bashar al-Assad were hindering the defeat of militants by attempting to make a "desert" out of Syria. "As I speak, the highly organized external attack planning structures within Daesh (IS), even as they face military threat, are plotting ways to project violence against the UK and our allies without ever having to leave Syria," Younger said at MI6's Vauxhall Cross headquarters in central London. Younger cast Putin's intervention on the side of President Assad as a crude tactical ploy that aligned Russia with the minority Alawites whose members are viewed with suspicion among the majority Sunnis. "In defining as a terrorist anyone who opposes a brutal government, they alienate precisely that group that has to be on side if the extremists are to be defeated," he said. "Russia and the Syrian regime seek to make a desert and call it peace." Syria's civil war, which began in 2011, has become a theater for competing global powers, with Russia and Iran supporting Assad, and the United States, Gulf Arab and European powers such as Britain backing rebels who want to depose him. A career spy who joined MI6 as the Soviet Union was crumbling, Younger said civil war in Syria was a major threat to the United Kingdom which he said was facing an unprecedented threat from terrorism including 12 foiled plots since June 2013. BREXIT, TRUMP, BOND Younger said he had been repeatedly asked about the future of intelligence cooperation with the United States and EU powers since the Brexit vote and Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election. "My answer is that I will aim for, and expect, continuity," Younger said. "The need for the deepest cooperation can only grow. And I am determined that MI6 remains a ready and highly effective partner." Younger, one of the West's most powerful spies, said Britain faced "hybrid warfare" from unidentified hostile states through cyber-attacks, propaganda and the subversion of the democratic process. By inviting selected journalists to MI6's green and cream Vauxhall Cross headquarters for the first public speech by a serving Chief, or "C", Younger sought to cast one of the most secretive organizations on the planet as a diverse and dynamic spy service which was hiring the best. He said the experience of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, when flawed intelligence was used as a justification for war, had shown that spies needed to speak truth to power and to challenge assumptions. "If we are doing our job, the facts we reveal to government and the choices they present will be uncomfortable," he said. MI6, depicted by novelists as the employer of some of the most memorable fictional spies from John le Carre's George Smiley to Ian Fleming's James Bond, operates overseas and is tasked with defending Britain and its interests. "I am conflicted about Bond. He has created a powerful brand for MI6 - as C, the real life version of M - there are few people who will not come to lunch if I invite them," Younger said. But Younger had some bad news for those aspiring to be the maverick, hard-drinking, womanizing James Bond of Fleming's novels: "Were Mr. Bond to apply to join MI6 now, he would have to change his ways." (Editing by Ralph Boulton)
By Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU states should be permitted to send some asylum-seekers back to Greece from March, the bloc's executive said on Thursday as it looks to restore a common policy on migration that collapsed last year under a mass influx of refugees. Under EU rules, the first country of entry should handle an asylum-seeker's claim, but that system broke down in 2015 when Greece was overwhelmed by the arrival on its shores of most of the more than 1 million people who entered Europe. Athens let many of them pass through unprocessed. That led some other EU countries to close their borders, stranding many people in Greece, which struggled to offer proper shelter. Some 62,000 migrants are still there. "Asylum seekers need to know that they cannot relocate themselves and that if they do so, they will be sent back," EU migration chief Dimitris Avramopoulos - himself a Greek - told a news conference. But it also would be "totally irresponsible" to increase the burden on Greece, which other EU states needed to show a greater willingness to share, he said. In Athens, a spokesman for the Greek government declined immediate comment. Last year's influx of migrants also undermined the principle of freedom of movement within the EU as many other member states imposed entry restrictions and, in some cases, erected border fences. Thursday's Commission recommendation, which member states are not obliged to adhere to, refers only to asylum-seekers who enter the bloc from mid-March 2017 onwards through Greece and make it deeper into Europe. Avramopoulos acknowledged that numbers of returnees were likely to be very small as Greece also needed to give individual assurances of proper treatment and the most vulnerable - including unaccompanied children - should not be sent back at all. The bitter disputes between member states over how to cater for the migrants remain unresolved. A deal on migration in March between the EU and Turkey has slashed new arrivals, with the Commission saying fewer than 100 people a day were making it across to Greece compared with several thousand at the peak of the influx. But that deal looks fragile due to a worsening of ties between the EU and Turkey over Ankara's crackdown in response to a failed military coup in July. Meanwhile, under a plan that was supposed to cover 160,000 people and which expires next September, fewer than 8,200 asylum-seekers have been moved from Greece and Italy to other EU states. Avramopoulos said he hoped everyone eligible would be relocated by September. Obligatory quotas on refugees are one focus of the dispute between EU states as they seek to reform their common asylum rules. Brussels, Berlin and Stockholm, among others, insist on a well-defined mechanism to share them out. Warsaw and Budapest are among those that say they will not be forced to take in any. (Additional reporting by Rene Maltezou in Athens; Editing by John Stonestreet)
Having won Emmys, Golden Globes, a Tony, and an Oscar nomination for playing such dramatic operators as Walter White, Dalton Trumbo, and President Lyndon B. Johnson, Bryan Cranston was pleasantly surprised to return to comedy with John Hamburgs Why Him?  even if it did mean a prolonged scene sitting on a toilet.

Specifically: While staying at the home of his daughters rich Silicon Valley boyfriend, Cranstons character answers the call of nature, only to discover that his hosts house is paperless. The toilet upon which he is enthroned is a Japanese import with non-intuitive controls and no instruction book.

Think of a high-tech, all-in-one toilet/bidet combo and you get the idea.

Yeah, it was in the script  I knew going in that I would be naked on a toilet, Cranston says with a laugh. That scene turned out to be about 45 minutes where we could not stop laughing.

Its an example of Hamburgs comic mind, bringing together theme and real-world notions into one comically explosive scene.

Cranstons character runs a large Michigan printing operation in dire straits. The family heads west to spend Christmas with his college-age daughter (Zoey Deutch) and her new boyfriend (James Franco).

Im telling a story about a guy who works in paper  and his daughter is in love with a guy who lives in a paperless house, Hamburg says.

Now I havent actually heard of that yet, but its not that far-fetched. I had heard about a Japanese toilet that supposedly does everything for you. And I had a Thanksgiving experience at my sisters house of not being able to figure out her new toilet. We rolled that all into this scene.

Why Him? actually began life as an idea that producer-director Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum) mentioned to Hamburg, while he was doing an (uncredited) polish on the script for Levys Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb.

I told him about this project I had in development  the premise was a guy meeting his daughters nightmare boyfriend, Levy recalls. And he took it and rigorously anchored the movie in character.

Story continues

Hamburg didnt mind the overt similarities to hugely popular Meet the Parents, the 2000 hit he co-wrote starring Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller.

What interested me was this idea of how the world has changed since I co-wrote Meet the Parents, Hamburg says. When we made that film, it felt like the grown-ups were in charge. Now it feels like the kids are in charge  so I was able to explore the same family dynamic from a different perspective. All these young people are shaping the direction of the world. And I thought, what if youre Bryans age and the world is changing in front of your face? Losing control is scary. Thats a great premise for conflict and comedy.

Once he had the actors on board, Hamburg sat down with them to add depth to the script. Franco, in particular, brought ideas that gave his character  an a tattooed, foul-mouthed and unfiltered tech billionaire with a good heart  more dimension.

James felt that if his characters need for a family could be his driving force, then he can do all these ridiculous things because its coming from a pure place, Hamburg says. He had a great instinct that this should be a guiding force for the character.

We got together six months or so before we started filming and worked with Bryan going over the script, Franco says. John did a big rewrite based on our meetings.

Cranstons conversations with Hamburg eased his reservations about the broadly comic role. I was hesitant about the script initially, because of its simplicity, he says. But I had some long talks with John and his interest in building the characters through comedy.

Reassured, he decided to dive in and let situations evolve.

Still, Franco needed to adjust because he came into the project expecting the intense Cranston of Breaking Bad and All the Way.

I sort of forgot that he comes from comedy, that before Breaking Bad, he was on Malcolm in the Middle, Franco says. It took me a little by surprise how good he was at improv and being comedic.

They are two extremely different individuals, Hamburg says. Thats true of their approach to acting and life. I was trying to tap into that when I went after them  and they played off each other incredibly well.

Related stories

Comedy Director John Hamburg on Mining Laughter From 'Unexpected Places'

'Why Him?' Tops Studios' TV Ad Spending

AFM: James Franco's Heist Thriller 'The Vault' Sells to FilmRise
About 80,000 voters in the states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have defeated over 2.5 million voters nationwide to elect Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton as the next president of our country. This clearly shows that the members of the Electoral College do not represent the majority of citizens of our country as is supposed to happen in a true democracy.
By Guillermo Parra-Bernal and Tatiana Bautzer

SAO PAULO, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Brazilian engineering conglomerate Camargo Correa SA, which this year disposed of electricity and consumer goods assets, is in talks to sell a minority stake in Loma Negra Cia Industrial SA, Argentina's No. 1 cement producer, a person familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

According to the person, who requested anonymity since the talks are private, Camargo Correa is in negotiations with a number of unspecified potential bidders, most of which are investment firms with holdings in industrial companies whose focus is not solely on cement.

Camargo Correa's interests in cement are all managed by a Sao Paulo-based investment holding company known as InterCement. The billionaire family that controls Camargo Correa has discussed selling part of InterCement or partially disposing of assets such as Loma Negra for at least two years, the person said.

Local financial blog Brazil Journal reported on Thursday that the Loma Negra deal would involve the sale of a 40-percent stake.

Press representatives for Camargo Correa did not have an immediate comment.

Intentions to dispose of another business come as Camargo Correa rapidly recovers from the impact of a corruption probe at state firms that were key clients of the conglomerate's engineering unit.

More investment is slowly flocking to Argentina as President Mauricio Macri tries to implement more business-friendly policies.

In the case of Camargo Correa, the sales of fashion brand Alpargatas SA in December and a controlling stake in power holding company CPFL Energia SA in June were aimed to "create shareholder value," and not to raise cash to pay fines linked to a leniency accord related to the probe, the person said.

The conglomerate raised about $2.5 billion from the two deals.

PRIOR ATTEMPT

The grandchildren of founder Sebastiao Camargo occupy most of the conglomerate's board seats and are working to transform Camargo Correa into an investment holding company.

Story continues

InterCement, Brazil's No. 2 cement maker, is a leading producer of the construction material in Portugal, Mozambique and Cabo Verde.

Camargo Correa purchased Loma Negra in 2005 for $1 billion, the first of a series of acquisitions to strengthen the foothold of InterCement in emerging markets. Loma Negra was founded in 1926 by Argentine businessman Alfredo Fortabat.

Two people familiar with Camargo Correa's strategy told Reuters in August that the conglomerate tried to sell a minority stake in InterCement a couple of years ago and even considered a listing of the company outside Brasil.

However, the process failed because interested parties - either for an acquisition or an offering - were unwilling to meet the group's valuation.

At the time, Camargo Correa hired the investment-banking units of Itau Unibanco Holding SA, Banco Bradesco SA and Citigroup Inc as financial advisors to the plan, the people said.

(Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal and Tatiana Bautzer; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Nick Zieminski)
In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v. FEC. In what has become one of the most controversial decisions in recent memory, the Court, by a 5-4 majority, sided with the conservative non-profit organization, Citizens United. The ruling said that restrictions on monetary contributions to independent political organizations by corporations and labor unions were infringements on the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. Because such organizations neither donate funds to nor work directly with candidates or political parties, the Court reasoned, their communications are protected political speech.

Protesters against Citizens United gather at the Capitol on Jan. 21 last year. Photo via Public Citizen/Flickr.

Protesters against Citizens United gather at the Capitol on Jan. 21 last year. Photo via Public Citizen/Flickr.

The debate over Citizens United is not just about limiting political speech or corruption, but also whether corporations are artificial legal constructs that are not entitled to First Amendment rights or legitimate participants in public debate.

Those who oppose the decision argue that Citizens United gives a stronger voice to corporations and lobbyist groups, which undermines democracy. However, others hold that campaign finance laws that limit independent political contributions are blatantly limiting free speech. The American Civil Liberties Union has pointed out that money always makes its way into elections, regardless of campaign finance laws. In addition, the ACLU has highlighted the fact that super PACs that emerged in the 2012 election cycle [were] funded with a significant amount of money from individuals, not corporations.

This year, another lawsuit could further reshape the world of campaign finance.

The Republican Party of Louisiana has been fighting to end restrictions on soft money political donations. Soft money refers to money raised that is used for general political activities, not for a particular candidate, and is thereby exempt from caps on direct donations. These limitations have been in place since the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), also known as the McCain-Feingold Act, was signed into law. But in Republican Party of Louisiana v. FEC, the Party argues that federal law that restricts soft money contributions to local and state parties has no significant justification and is therefore a violation of the First Amendment.

Story continues

The lead attorney in the case, James Bopp, has spearheaded dozens of court challenges to federal and state rules nationwide on behalf of Republicans and conservative groups. The legal team representing the Republican Party of Louisiana argues that while the BCRA is not necessarily unconstitutional on its face, the way the soft money ban has been applied is. Additionally, Bopp claims that the law leaves political parties at a disadvantage to the super PACs.

Courts have held for the past 40 years that limiting political contributions is a reasonable mechanism for reducing corruption. After the passage of the BCRA, the courts upheld the law in McConnell v. FEC (2003). With Citizens United, the Supreme Court narrowed the definition of corruption and reduced the BCRAs role in curbing said corruption.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled to uphold the soft money restrictions under McConnell v. FEC. But with a direct appeal available, this case is likely headed to the Supreme Court.

With the Court evenly split along ideological lines since the death of Justice Antony Scalia, a decision would most likely not obtain a majority, leaving the lower court ruling in place. However, with the election of Donald Trump and Republican control of the Senate, a Supreme Court Justice will likely be nominated and approved in early 2017. As a result, the Court would likely rule 5-4 in favor of the Republican Party of Louisiana.

Those who are opposed to both the Citizens United ruling and this new case to end restrictions on soft money fear that the United States is entering a new age of heightened corruption. In addition, they fear that foreign actors, whether they are individuals, corporations, or governments may be able to play a greater role in the outcome of elections. Indeed, an amicus brief written by three non-profit organizations claims that Louisiana Republicans arguments would have extraordinary and far-reaching negative consequences.

However, the First Amendment protects political speech, including the money used to finance that speech. How the Supreme Court will balance these concerns in light of McConnell and Citizens United remains to be seen.

Maggie Baldridge is an intern at the National Constitution Center. She is also a recent graduate of Dickinson College.

Recent Stories on Constitution Daily

A victory  for now  for Samsung in the smartphone wars

Is there a workable way to judge racial gerrymanders?

Podcast: Should we abolish the Electoral College?
By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's government and 10 provinces are set to agree a national carbon price on Friday, doubling down on a bid to cut greenhouse gas emissions just weeks before avowed climate change skeptic Donald Trump becomes U.S. President. Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the carbon price - the first of its kind in Canada - will help the country meet its targets under the 2015 Paris environmental accords and boost the Canadian clean technology sector. The price deal is another sign of Trudeau's alignment on climate issues with U.S. President Barack Obama, who is pressing to curb greenhouse emissions, mainly from coal-fired power plants. Trump has said he wants to help the coal industry and would pull out of the Paris agreement as it was harmful to the U.S. economy.. Canada's government has brushed aside critics who fret the carbon deal could make Canadian businesses uncompetitive at a time when U.S. energy prices may come down as a result of Trump policies. "We think that we've struck the right balance ... it's tough to speculate on what President-elect Trump will do. We will be defending Canada's interests on the basis of the action of the new administration," said Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr. Under Trudeau's plan, carbon pollution would cost C$10 ($7.60) a ton in 2018, rising by C$10 a year until it reaches C$50 in 2022. The provinces can either implement a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade market and hold-outs will have a price imposed by Ottawa. Environmental groups say the carbon price and other federal measures announced this year, such as a clean fuel standard and a plan to combat methane emissions, mean Canada might attain its Paris goal of reducing emissions by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. "If the United States is reading between the lines, this is Canada trying to get more market share of the clean tech sector globally," said Erin Flanagan of the Pembina Institute. The main obstacle to a deal on Friday is Brad Wall, premier of the energy-producing province of Saskatchewan, who is threatening to take Ottawa to court over carbon pricing. Howard Leeson, political science professor at the University of Regina, said Wall did not have enough provincial allies to try to block the agreement. "I don't think it's frankly a big deal if he is the only person not signing on because the (price) will go ahead any way," he said. (Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Andrew Hay)
By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who came to power promising to run an open and ethical government, is embroiled in allegations over political fund raisers that could tarnish his image as a youthful reformer. Trudeau was pressed hard by opposition leaders on Thursday about newspaper reports that select donors to the ruling Liberal Party enjoyed privileged access to fundraising events where the prime minister and cabinet members spoke. Although Trudeau denies he has done anything wrong, the affair - as well as a widely perceived misstep over electoral reform- is raising questions as to whether his year-long honeymoon with voters is finally over. "I think it's already tarnished his image because you're getting this pile-on of all these stories. He's on the defensive in Parliament and it's going to continue," said University of Toronto politics professor Nelson Wiseman. Awkwardly for Trudeau, accountability rules he issued after taking power in November 2015 state "there should be no preferential access to government, or appearance of preferential access" for people who contribute to politicians and parties. "Trudeau's ethics talk has not been followed up with ethics walk by him and his ministers," said Duff Conacher of the advocacy group Democracy Watch. The 44-year-old prime minister - who has leveraged his youth and energy to push through a pro-feminist reform agenda - is now on the back foot in the House of Commons, forced to fend off daily accusations of wrongdoing. "When will the prime minister finally admit that selling access to raise money for the Liberal Party is unethical?" Rona Ambrose, interim leader of the official opposition Conservatives, asked Trudeau in Parliament. Trudeau has repeatedly noted no rules were broken during the events which, according to the Globe and Mail newspaper, included a fundraiser where an insurance tycoon and Chinese-Canadian billionaires were among donors the prime minister gave a speech to. Individuals can give a maximum of C$1,500 to a party every year while corporate and union donations are banned. The challenge for Trudeau is that the last Liberal government before his, that of ex-prime minister Paul Martin, was defeated in 2006 amid a patronage scandal that helped keep the party out of power for almost a decade. "The issue of money related to politics ... is one of those things the Liberals really really want to distance themselves from," said Darrell Bricker of Ipsos Public Affairs. "The more time you spend talking about it - and it's not a topic you want to talk about - the harder it is to get people to focus on the things you want them to talk about," he said. Liberal legislators in the House of Commons clearly look uncomfortable whenever Trudeau is pressed on the matter. "We'll have problems if people think we are playing games with the system," said one official. That said, Trudeau is in no immediate danger. Polls put the Liberals far ahead of the two main opposition parties, who are both holding leadership races that will not end until 2017, and the next election is in October 2019. "The honeymoon is over but the opposition can't take advantage of it. They're headless," said one member of the Liberal parliamentary caucus. (Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Andrew Hay)
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / December 8, 2016 / Canadian Zeolite Corp. (the "Company") (CNZ.V) (CNZCF) (ZEON.F) is pleased to announce it has reached an agreement with Isodiol, a Southern California-based hemp Cannabidiol "CBD" innovator. Canadian Zeolite will now be working with Isodiol to research and develop CBD and Zeolite infused products and supplements intended for human and animal consumption.

In Isodiol's state of the art facilities in Southern California, the zeolite will be micronized maintaining its optimal cell structure to be combined with hemp derived CBD and other adaptogenic herbs. This will then be infused into a complete line of products designed towards human consumption, including a full line of anti-aging skin care products as well as products designed for animal consumption.

Isodiol's Chief Operating Officer, Troy Nihart, stated, "Isodiol is looking forward to introducing these new products to the marketplace. Zeolite as an additive, has tremendous potential especially with its detoxification properties. We feel there is an undiscovered zeolite market which we can develop and are very excited to begin a partnership with Canadian Zeolite."

Ray Paquette, Chief Executive Officer for Canadian Zeolite stated, "We are looking forward to working with Isodiol who is at the forefront of developing and marketing consumer based CBD products. We are excited to implement our natural zeolite into Isodiol's already successful product lines which will bring immediate value to our shareholders."

About Isodiol: Isodiol, along with its team of collaborators, is a group of companies that together grow and harvest hemp on an industrial scale, and then process it to extract the non-psychoactive cannabidiol CBD to the highest available purity for worldwide distribution. By utilizing one of the world's largest hemp farms, Isodiol and its partners are the choice for industrial volumes of high-grade, non-psychoactive CBD. Pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmetic companies worldwide have gained market share due to Isodiol's products. For more information, visit www.Isodiol.com. To follow Isodiol online, visit Isodiol's website at http://www.isodiol.com, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Story continues

About Canadian Zeolite: Canadian Zeolite Corp. is an environmentally friendly Green Tech business well suited to today's economic environment. The Company has a competitive advantage in the world of zeolites given its product has been tested, applied and exceeds the standards of specific markets. The Company is working with dedicated global advisers recognized as leaders in zeolite use.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

"Ray Paquette"

President & CEO

604.684.3301

www.canadianzeolite.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the ability of Isodiol or the Company to develop and/or market for sale any CBD and Zeolite infused products that would be suitable for human or animal consumption. These statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements. Such factors include, among others, the ability to complete contemplated work programs and the timing and amount of expenditures, Canadian Zeolite's ability to supply Zeolite to Isodiol and the ability of Isodiol to successfully develop and market CBD/Zeolite products suitable for human or animal consumption. Canadian Zeolite does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

SOURCE: Canadian Zeolite Corp.
Kinshasa (AFP) - Democratic Republic of Congo's Catholic Church launched "reconciliation" talks on Thursday aimed at ending a political stalemate threatening to push the country back into civil war.

President Joseph Kabila triggered a political crisis in October by agreeing a deal with a fringe opposition group that effectively lets him extend his hold on power for at least another year. He would otherwise have been due to step down in two weeks' time.

The crisis has led to outbreaks of violence, but the Catholic Church says it hopes to broker a deal to resolve the political standoff.

"We are here for inaugural political discussions on a wider consensus to the electoral process," Archbishop Marcel Utembi said as he welcomed 30 participants to DR Congo's national episcopal conference, which brings together negotiators for Kabila's ruling party and the main opposition group.

Utembi said the discussions, which could last until Tuesday, would lead the country to "peace, reconciliation, the holding of peaceful elections aimed at obtaining a transfer of political power, as prescribed by the constitution".

The prelate reiterated a call from Pope Francis to "build bridges not walls" in the mineral-rich DRC.

He also warned that the current "stalemate" could provoke "incalculable consequences".

However, he took a positive tone claiming that Kabila had given "strong and very encouraging signals" matched by the main opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi.

Kabila has been in power since his late father Laurent Kabila was assassinated in 2001.

The younger Kabila has won two elections since then but is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term of office.

Violence flared following the last election in 2011, with Tshisekedi never accepting the official results which he branded as rigged.

He has called himself the president-elect ever since.

But the DR Congo, which was ravaged by two wars from 1996 to 2003, has seen an upsurge in violence over the last few months.

Story continues

Anti-Kabila protests in September claimed 53 lives, according to the UN.

Pygmy-Bantu clashes over a caterpillar collection tax -- the insects are a common food staple for the hunter-gatherer Pygmy people -- left 20 dead in October while 34 civilians were killed in ethnic violence in the country's restive east last month.

And last week another 31 people died in clashes, sparked by a tribal rivalry, between soldiers and police on one side and militia fighters on the other.

Kabila's term as president is supposed to end on December 20 but he now looks set to remain in power until at least the end of next year.
A New York City socialite whose name has become synonymous with cosmetic surgery found herself in a not-so-chic position Wednesday after cops say she assaulted her much younger boyfriend.

Jocelyn Wildenstein, 71, was reportedly arrested after cops say she slashed her boyfriend, Lloyd Klein, 49, with scissors in her Manhattan apartment.

Read: What Happened to Tom Cruise's Face? Viewers Say Actor Looks 'Inflated,' 'Frozen'

Police were called to the Trump World Tower early Wednesday, where they told the New York Post that Klein's chest was cut with scissors.

Police reportedly said Wildenstein, known as 'Catwoman,' also scratched Klein's face with her fingernails.

Wildenstein's attorney, Alan Kachalsky, told The Post's Page Six that Klein suffered no stab wounds.

Reached for comment by InsideEdition.com, Kachalsky stressed that there are two sides to every story.

"He says he locked her in the closet because she was in a rage," the Westchester County-based lawyer said. "Consider the possibiluity that she was in the closet to get away from him."

Kachalsky went on to call the descriptions of Klein's wounds "vastly overrated."

Wildenstein was arraigned Wednesday on felony and misdemeanor assault charges in Manhattan Criminal Court. A judge freed her without bail.

Read: Nurse, 25, Undergoes Butt Lift Surgery to Look Like Kim Kardashian

The socialite became well known in the 1990s after widespread reports that she spent millions on plastic surgeries, some in an effort to make her features appear more cat-like.

Her $2.5 billion divorce from art-dealing husband Alec Wildenstein got her feline face on the cover of gossip rags and also won her the unflattering nickname "Bride of Wildenstein."

Watch: The Groundbreaking Surgery That Had This Fire Captain Throwing Out His Glasses

Related Articles:
(Adds details)

Dec 8 (Reuters) - Canadian oil producer Cenovus Energy Inc said on Thursday it planned to increase its 2017 capital budget by about 24 percent.

The company said it intended to invest between C$1.2 billion-C$1.4 billion ($1.06 billion), compared with its forecast of C$1 billion-C$1.1 billion for 2016.

The Calgary-based company said it would invest about 70 percent of the capital budget towards sustaining its oil sands production as well as base production at its other operations.

Cenovus said the rest would be spent on growth projects in its oil sands assets among other things.

The company plans to resume work on the expansion of its oil sands project in Christina Lake, northeast Alberta, in the first half of 2017.

The company also said it expected 2017 oil production to rise 14 percent to 223,000-240,000 barrels per day (bpd), while oil sands production is estimated to increase by 20 percent to 172,000-184,000 bpd.

($1 = 1.3211 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Vishaka George in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)
Sen. Deb Fischer said Thursday she is eager to work with President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to "roll back harmful rules and regulations" promulgated by the Obama administration.

Trump has chosen Scott Pruitt, a critic of climate change regulations, to head the agency, subject to Senate confirmation.

As Oklahoma's attorney general, Pruitt sued the EPA over its regulation of emissions from power plants.

Fischer said the federal agency has been engaged in "extreme overreach" and it's time to "return EPA to its intended mission of implementing laws, not creating new ones."

Responding to another Trump nomination during a telephone conference call from Washington, Fischer said she supports granting a waiver for retired Marine Gen. James Mattis to be considered as the president-elect's choice for secretary of defense.

Current law prohibits recently retired military officers from serving as the civilian head of the Department of Defense. The law erects a barrier of seven years; Mattis has been retired for four years.

Fischer, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said she fully supports the nomination of Mattis and expects there will be "tremendous support" for him in the Senate.

On another topic, Fischer said she finds it "very frustrating" to have legislation enabling construction of a new veterans medical center in Omaha stalled in the closing days of the 2016 Congress by a unanimous-consent objection raised by Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia over a separate issue.

Manchin, a Democrat, has put a hold on the bill pending Senate action to provide a longer-term solution to a shortfall in mine workers' health care benefits, a critical issue in his state.

Legislation to keep the federal government funded through April 28 includes a temporary four-month patch to keep those benefits flowing.

"I think it's going to be difficult to get (the veterans medical center) done now," Fischer said. Failure to act before adjournment of the 2016 Congress means the legislation would need to be introduced again next year.
This Immigrant Doctor Is Reimagining Health in the American City

Litterati is a community that is crowdsource-cleaning the planet, one piece at a time. We have designed a mobile application that anyone can use to identify, map, and catalog each piece of litter. Through that process, were empowering individuals to become part of the solution while collaboratively building a Global Database of Litter. Our mission is to create a litter-free world.

It all started on a walk in the woods when my four-year-old daughter noticed that someone had thrown a plastic tub of cat litter into a creek. Daddeeeeee, that doesnt go there, she said. Sure, Id seen litter before. But that moment, witnessed through a childs eyes, opened mine. I began to notice litter everywhere: sidewalks, streets, and playgrounds. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, a place that prides itself on being eco-conscious and environmentally friendly. Then I remembered a lesson I learned as a kid at summer camp. Just before our parents visited, our camp director would instruct us each to pick up five pieces of litter. Two hundred kids times five pieces per kid equaled a cleaner camp. So I thought, Why not apply that crowdsourced-cleaning model to the entire planet? That was when Litterati was born.

We heard about the TakePart + Lenovo contest from a family member. We decided to apply because we believe that Litterati embodies the spirit of Make Better Todaythat technology can be creatively used to fix our communities most complex problems. The $5,000 grant we won will be used to help us build our Android application and design the data architecture to support the ever-growing Litterati community.

Take the Pledge: Pledge to Support Pop Culture That Powers Gender Equality

Original article from TakePart
By Isabel Coles MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi police fired shots in the air and threatened to whip crowds with a hose as residents tried to overrun the first distribution of aid by UN agencies inside Mosul on Thursday, a scene of the desperation in areas retaken from Islamic State. The distribution aimed to reach 45,000 people in total at several locations but showed the challenges for humanitarian organizations seeking to alleviate acute shortages of water, food and fuel. As word of the aid spread, residents of the Zuhour neighborhood flocked to a boys' primary school chosen as a distribution point -- men queuing to one side of the main entrance and women on the other. Fifty-six year old Saad Salih came in an electric wheelchair but the battery was flat and there is no power in Mosul to re-charge it, so a neighbor pushed him along. "We need everything," Salih said. "The disabled should have priority. It's hard for us." The men queued in relative order, but the women crushed against the door and tempers flared. "We can't push them back because they are women," said one of the policemen controlling the crowd. Another brandished a section of hose, threatening to hit anyone who tried to push through. Eventually, the organizers began to let people in small groups, but could not control the flow as hundreds surged forward against just a handful of men pushing to close the gate. They burst through, and began climbing over the walls and pushing in through the exit until the police, firing shots in the air and wielding long sticks, managed to regain control. Outside, young boys hawked carts and donkeys to transport people's boxes of aid home, at a price. Aid agencies have struggled to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Mosul, where residents have largely remained in their homes despite the fighting. The sound of small arms fire was audible from several kilometers away, where Iraqi forces are fighting to dislodge the militants from the eastern side of the Tigris River that bisects Mosul. Even in areas recaptured by government forces, mortars fired by insurgents still kill and maim residents. WINTER SETTING IN Inside the school, three trucks full of aid were unloaded with the help of volunteers, who stacked boxes in neat rows containing food, hygiene kits and water purification taps. "We are going to cover the whole population in this area," said Hayder Ithawi, a program officer for the U.N.'s World Food Program who is in charge of its rapid response operations. With winter setting in, fuel is increasingly important, along with water and healthcare, Ithawi said. Queuing outside, people were anxious for their share and complained that prior distributions of aid by smaller charitable groups and individuals had been unfair. "Some people got five bags of flour and others got none," said 46-year old carpenter Ihsan Abdullah. Most people clutched government ration cards, but Samira Mohammed brought a slip bearing the official stamp of Islamic State's vice squad, known as the Hisba. It proved that the militants had confiscated the family ration card when her son was detained for raising birds, which was forbidden under their rule. Due to the "critical situation", WFP's Ithawi said any document that reliably identified a household and its head would be accepted, including those issued by Islamic State. Although the militants are no longer around to enforce their strict dress code, most of the women were still shrouded in black, with only their eyes showing. A man with a thick moustache, who identified himself as a policeman, said three Islamic State members had been found queuing for aid and were taken away. Seventy-seven-year old Idrees Saeed Ilyas blamed the government for reducing Iraqis to waiting on handouts. "If the head of a fish is rotten, the rest will go bad," said Ilyas, who was the first man in the queue. "This is Iraq." (editing by Peter Graff)
"There is a ton of laundry, and cooking that no one eats, and no sleep, all that stuff. [But], there are crazy, beautiful moments that make it all worth it," says Charlotte Kendrick, half of indie folk-pop duo Goodbye Blue, with husband Dan Rowe.

For the couple, that unglamorous side of real-life is, perhaps unexpectedly, what helps drive its music.

"I think there's a danger artistically in being too fixated on 'making it,' and being a rock star, or a celebrity," Rowe muses. "What a lot of people respond to in our music is, it's a married couple. If I didn't have a day job, or if we didn't have financial stress, the songs wouldn't be the same. Let's not try to rid ourselves of those sources of inspiration.

"Someone said, 'The best way to be a great author is to live.' I think that's true about songwriting and making music."

On the latest Chart Beat Podcast, Goodbye Blue chats with host and Billboard co-director of charts Gary Trust about the duo's newly-released album Worth the Wait, its first after a lengthy break during which the couple largely set aside music to raise three children. "We didn't intend to stop [making music]. It just slowly happened," says Rowe. "Over time, if you're not actively pushing it, it fades off."

Eventually, Kendrick explains, "We realized that things were good, but we were missing this huge thing in our life that brought us together in the first place." Rowe continues: "We're almost blessed with this amazing situation where that artistic element is our time together. It's such a win-win."

The podcast also features Goodbye Blue performing three exclusive acoustic versions of songs from the melodic Worth the Wait: "Another One on the Way," "Where Did I Go" and the title cut. Fans can hear more of the act at two shows in the Tri-State area Dec. 9 and 11: at The Outpost in the Burbs in Montclair, New Jersey, opening for acclaimed folk vet Lucy Kaplansky, and at Rockwood Music Hall in New York City.

Story continues

Goodbye Blue additionally touches on the hurdles and, ultimately, joys of being an independent act. After a recent performance, Kendrick says, "A couple came up to us after and said, 'There isn't an album that could possibly pertain more to our life right now than your album.' It's great to hear."

A sampling of previous episodes with host Gary Trust:

Alex Da Kid / Author Marc Myers / Anthony Head on the "Buffy" Musical Episode / Suzanne Vega / Bobby Bones (hosted by Jim Asker) / How Daya Broke Through on New Label Artbeatz / The Eagles' Timothy B. Schmit / Joel Whitburn / Debbie Gibson / Hit Songs Deconstructed on The Chainsmokers & Meghan Trainor / Lionel Richie (hosted by Trevor Anderson)

Enjoy the entire latest Chart Beat Podcast and check back for more upcoming episodes with artists, label executives, radio programmers and personalities, songwriters, producers and more. And, to receive every episode automatically in your inbox, subscribe to (and rate) the Billboard Chart Beat Podcast on iTunes!
The reviews are in for NBCs Hairspray Live  and while some critics loved the live broadcast, others were eager to "stop the beat."

Read: Blast From the Past: Inside the Production and All-Star Cast of 'Hairspray Live!'

"Best musical yet," raved Variety while USA Today gave it three-and-a-half stars

The New York Times said the production "had power voices but still lacked power."

Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson were praised by The Huffington Post for blowing their duet out of the water" in the production.

The show was plagued with some lighting and sound problems at the Universal backlot in Los Angeles.

Read: Man Living Near Prince's Estate Pays Tribute With Christmas Lights Set to 'Purple Rain'

Newcomer Maddie Baillio starred as Tracy Turnblad.

The show also featured two ex-Tracys  Ricki Lake, who starred in the original 1988 film and, Marissa Jaret Winokur, who won a Tony for her Broadway performance in 2003.

Former View co-host Rosie O'Donnell also delighted viewers as she appeared as the school gym teacher.

Watch: Donald Trump Was Once a Broadway Producer on Short-Lived Show

Related Articles:
U.S.energy behemoth Chevron Corporation CVX announced its 2017 capital spending plans on Dec 7, 2016. The second-largest U.S. oil company by market value has pegged its 2017 capital budget at $19.8 billion  the fourth consecutive reduction in the budget.

This $19.8 billion worth of capital and exploratory investment budget for 2017 is42% lower than the 2015 outlay. Also, the budget is expected to be at least 15% below the projected 2016 capital investments.

Chevron intends to focus on the completion of major projects that are currently under construction. Hence, by reducing its spending and concentrating on high return investments, Chevron expects to achieve its objective of becoming cash balanced in 2017.

Of the total budget, roughly 87% has been allocated for oil and gas exploration projects worldwide, while 11% has been set aside for downstream businesses.



Upstream: A major portion of the 2017 spending has been earmarked for large, multi-year developments. Chevron is planning to spend $17.3 billion for the exploration, production and natural gas-related projects, in keeping with its successful and focused drilling results in recent years. In 2017, the company is likely to undertake major initiatives in the PermianBasin developments in Texas and New Mexico, as well as opportunities in the Tengiz field in Kazakhstan and completion of the Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG projects in Australia.

Downstream: Capital spending in the downstream segment is expected to be $2.2 billion in 2017, primarily to improve refinery efficiency, maximize yield and produce cleaner fuels.



Other: The company is expected to spend approximately $0.3 billion in 2017 for technology, power generation and other corporate activities.

CHEVRON CORP Price

CHEVRON CORP Price | CHEVRON CORP Quote

San Ramon, CA-based Chevron is one of the largest publicly traded oil and gas firms in the world, based on proved reserves. It is engaged in oil and gas exploration and production, refining and marketing of petroleum products, manufacturing of chemicals and other energy-related businesses.

Story continues

Year to date, the Zacks categorized International Oil and Gas Integrated Industry has registered an impressive growth of 14.41%. However, the Chevron stock has outperformed the industry by gaining 27.21%.

This is because Chevron  one of the most oil-weighted majors  is poised to benefit from the recent OPEC deal and the subsequent advancement of crude oil. As it is, the company has been able to boost returns and remain competitive by embarking on aggressive cost-reduction initiatives. However, Chevron is experiencing signs of weakness in the refining business on fuel oversupply and weak demand.

As a result, Chevron currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 ( Hold), which implies that the stock will perform in line with the broader U.S. equity market over the next one to three months.

Some better-ranked players from the broader energy sector include Braskem S.A. BAK, Ocean Rig UDW LLC ORIG and McDermott International Inc. MDR. All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

In the last four quarters, Braskem posted an average positive earnings surprise of 105.5%.

Ocean Rig, on the other hand, delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 66.39% in the last four quarters.

In the last four quarters, McDermott posted an average positive earnings surprise of 250.00%.

Zacks Best Private Investment Ideas

In addition to the recommendations that are available to the public on our website, how would you like to follow all Zacks' private buys and sells in real time? Our experts cover all kinds of trades from value to momentum . . . from stocks under $10 to ETF and option moves . . . from stocks that corporate insiders are buying up to companies that are about to report positive earnings surprises. You can even look inside exclusive portfolios that are normally closed to new investors. Starting today, for the next month, you can have unrestricted access. Click here for Zacks' private trades >>



Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report



MCDERMOTT INTL (MDR): Free Stock Analysis Report



CHEVRON CORP (CVX): Free Stock Analysis Report



BRASKEM SA (BAK): Free Stock Analysis Report



OCEAN RIG UDW (ORIG): Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Chicago Board of Education on Wednesday approved a revised fiscal 2017 budget that accommodates a new teachers' contract, but contains a $215 million funding gap for pensions.

The spending plan for the fiscal year that began on July 1 was increased by $55 million to $5.5 billion to reflect an additional contribution of surplus tax increment financing money from the city of Chicago. That money will cover higher costs from a new four-year contract with the Chicago Teachers Union that the board ratified on Wednesday.

Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the nation's third-largest public school system, is struggling with pension payments that will jump to about $720 million this fiscal year from $676 million in fiscal 2016, as well as drained reserves and debt dependency. The fiscal woes have pushed credit ratings on the district's $6.8 billion of general obligation bonds deep into the junk category and led investors to demand fat yields for its debt.

Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner last week vetoed a bill to give CPS a one-time $215 million state payment to help cover pension costs.

CPS officials on Wednesday blasted Rauner's action, while contending there is still time to pressure the governor and state lawmakers to restore the money.

"We will not allow Chicago students, most of them poor and minority, to be held hostage," said CPS Chief Executive Officer Forrest Claypool.

If the effort fails, School Board President Frank Clark said the district was prepared to deal with the budget gap in January.

The board also reaffirmed its approval for issuing up to $840 million of bonds backed by a new $45 million a year property tax levy earmarked solely for capital expenses.

On Tuesday, CPS released a preliminary prospectus for a $500 million bond sale secured by that revenue stream and not the district's junk-rated general obligation pledge. A CPS spokeswoman said the timing for the bonds' pricing is subject to market conditions.

Story continues

Richard Ciccarone, president and CEO of Merritt Research Services, an independent municipal bond research and data provider, said the new type of CPS credit could attract investors who have avoided the district's GO bonds.

"The buyers are still going to demand a higher rate," Ciccarone said.

(Reporting by Karen Pierog; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
Parents of two former Marist High School students expelled after a racist message was discovered in their group chat are suing the Chicago school, claiming they are being unfairly blamed for larger racial tensions flaring up in the city, CBS Chicago reported Monday.

The families' lawyers also accused the school of failing to follow protocol by not taking the appropriate disciplinary measures before expelling the female students. The racist comment was revealed by one of 32 participating students in a group chat created for a spiritual retreat. One student screenshot the racist message and responses to it, which went viral on social media and led to the expulsion of five students. The parents of two of the students claim the messages omit the context of the conversation and events that surrounded them.

Marist High School is a private, Catholic school located in a predominantly white, conservative part of Chicago known as Mount Greenwood. Last month, an African-American man from Indianapolis named Joshua Beals was shot dead during a funeral procession after a road rage-related altercation with an off-duty police officer. Beals' family claim that cops failed to identify themselves and that Beals was killed after the scene dispersed, sustaining two shots to the back and three to the front. Authorities claim Beals, who had a concealed carry license, shot first or attempted to shoot at the off-duty officer.

Protests between activist group Black Lives Matter and pro-police group Blues Lives Matter erupted in the neighborhood, with many residents siding with the latter movement as police struggled to restore order. One Twitter user posted a comment claiming that the leadership of the predominantly African-American gang Gangster Disciples had called for violence against whites in Mount Greenwood. In response, one of the Marist students wrote the racist message in the group chat, which received significant social media attention.

Lawyers representing families of two students claimed the girls were being "used as scapegoats" and are suing the school demanding that the girls be reinstated in school or receive $1,000,000 each for invasion of privacy as well as a further $65,000 each for tuition and other fees if the students, both seniors, are prevented from graduating.

Groups of students calling themselves Black Lives Matter Youth staged protests in schools across the city after the message was initially revealed. The activists ultimately met with Marist High School administrators and police, agreeing that both Black Lives Matter Youth students and cops would engage in monthly workshops to improve community relations.

Related Articles
Less than 24 hours after President elect-Donald fired off a pair of provocative tweets denouncing Beijings trade policies and defending his precedent-shattering phone call with Taiwans leader, China showed Washington it can play hardball, too: It changed its previous position and joined Russia to veto a U.S.-backed resolution calling for a seven-day humanitarian ceasefire in Aleppo, essentially condemning besieged Syrian civilians.

The Chinese action is just one of the myriad ways that Beijing can potentially upend American diplomatic priorities at the United Nations, from pushing to end the war in Syria, to punishing chemical weapons violators, to working to halt North Koreas nuclear weapons development.

Western diplomats fret that Chinas tough stance could be a harbinger of tougher times ahead. They anticipate China may well cast another veto, alongside Russia, to block a draft resolution currently under negotiation by the United States, Britain, and France that would sanction Syria for using chlorine bombs against at least three rebel-held towns.

The Chinese veto over Syria caught the United States and other U.N. Security Council members off guard. Though China had stood with Russia before, including four vetoes on Syrian U.N. resolutions since 2011, in recent months Chinese President Xi Jinping has put some distance between himself and Moscow as Russias brutal air campaign in Aleppo drew international condemnation. On October 8, Russia was forced to cast the lone veto blocking a French- and Spanish-drafted resolution that would have demanded an end to the Russian and Syrian air strikes in Eastern Aleppo. China abstained.

In recent weeks, according to several council diplomats, all signs indicated China would abstain again on the new resolution, which was drafted by Egypt, New Zealand and Spain. It was seen as less controversial than the resolution China abstained on in October. Over the weekend, many even thought Russia itself might abstain, after Moscow secured a number of amendments, that would allow attacks against terrorists during the ceasefire and require moderate opposition forces to sever ties with terrorist groups like al Qaeda.

Story continues

The indications over the weekend were that [China] would abstain. The veto was a surprise, said a senior U.N.-based official.

As a veto-wielding U.N. power, China possesses enormous leverage to gum up the works at the United Nations, as it did in the 1990s, when it it cast vetoes to block U.N. peacekeepers from serving in U.N. operations in Guatemala and Macedonia because the countries established diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

In recent years, China has preferred to avoid such blunt displays of power, positioning itself instead as as responsible global power, committing troops for U.N. peacekeeping operations from Lebanon to South Sudan. Today, China has more peacekeepers deployed in overseas peace missions than any other great power. China is also angling for the top U.N. peacekeeping job, a post that would put them in charge of more than 100,000 blue helmets.

Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, recently praised Beijing for working closely with Washington to impose U.N. sanctions aimed at slashing North Koreas ability to export coal and earn money needed for its atomic ambitions.

It is hard to know for certain whether Chinas vote was designed more to punish Trump, or to reward Putin, or both. Moscow and Beijing have enjoyed closer diplomatic and economic ties in recent years, and both seek to nibble away at the U.S. role globally.

But the timing of the Chinese vote raised suspicions among some council diplomats that Trumps rapprochement with Taiwan prompted China to take a harder line. Trump roiled Chinese sensibilities Friday by taking a phone call from Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen  the first such call since before President Jimmy Carter broke off relations with Taiwan in 1979, and a sharp reversal to decades of following the so-called One China policy.

During the subsequent Syria debate, Chinas U.N. envoy, Liu Jieyi, struck an uncharacteristically tough tone with with his American and British counterparts after they questioned Chinas motives for the veto.

Michelle Sison, a senior U.S. official, accused China and Russia of cynically using their veto to demonstrate that they do not want the suffering of eastern Aleppo to end.

Liu fired back, suggesting that U.S. military intervention in the region was at the root of the problem. How did the situation in Syria come about, and how did the problems that other countries in the Middle East are dealing with reach the point where they are today? he asked. The historical record is very clear. Every member of the Council is very well aware of that. It cannot be changed by distorting the positions of some countries on the Council.

Matthew Rycroft, Britains ambassador to the U.N., also jumped into the fray.

Despite repeated pronouncements against politicization and in favor of dialogue, China has chosen to side with Russia  a party to the conflict, he told the council Monday. He said Beijings veto came because of their long-standing, misplaced faith in a despot who has killed nearly half a million of his own people, who has sanctioned the murder of civilians as they flee the bombed-out ruins of Aleppo  a despot who would rather reduce Syria to rubble than to negotiate an overdue peace.

The statement elicited a sharply-worded response from Liu, who asked his British counterpart to cease poisoning the atmosphere in the Security Council.

I would like to ask the representative of the United Kingdom what right he has to distort the position of other countriesToday is not the first time he has done that, and I hope that such abuse will not be repeated in the future.

Photo Credit:Kena Betancur/Getty Images

Correction; December 8, 2016: No sitting U.S. president has spoken with a Taiwanese leader since President Jimmy Carter broke off relations with Taiwan in 1979. An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that this diplomatic gag order dated to the Nixon Administration.
By Anshuman Daga

SINGAPORE, Dec 8 (Reuters) - AirAsia Bhd has received nearly a dozen bids for its aircraft leasing unit, mostly from Chinese firms, including the leasing arms of China Merchants Bank and Ping An Insurance Group , sources with knowledge of the process told Reuters.

AirAsia is seeking buyers for a majority stake in the leasing unit, Asia Aviation Capital, which it has valued at about $1 billion. The company plans to cut debt and pay a special dividend from the proceeds, the sources said.

Asia Aviation Capital also plans to add a number of airlines as part of a plan to diversify its customer base beyond AirAsia's affiliates, the sources said.

AirAsia declined to comment on the sale process. AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes told Reuters on the sidelines of an event in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday that the sale process "was getting too close" but declined further comment.

Reuters previously reported that AirAsia aims to conclude the sale of Asia Aviation Capital by the first half of next year.

Ping An Insurance declined to comment while there was no response from China Merchants Bank to a request for comment. The sources declined to be identified as the discussions are confidential. (Reporting by Anshuman Daga in SINGAPORE; Additional reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee, Julie Zhu in HONG KONG and Liz Lee in KUALA LUMPUR; Editing by Denny Thomas and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
The Chinese government has praised Donald Trumps nomination of Iowa Governor Terry Branstad  described as an old friend  as the next U.S. ambassador to China, in a move seen as a conciliatory gesture after last weeks protocol-shattering phone call between the U.S. President-elect and the President of Taiwan.

China was left smarting when Donald Trump accepted a phone call from Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Friday  the first direct contact between the leader of the U.S. and Taiwan, over which Beijing claims sovereignty, since diplomatic relations were severed between Washington and Taipei in 1979.

Chinese officials issued stern rebukes for the diplomatic faux pas, though were effusive about the appointment of Branstad, who has known Xi since 1985, when the Chinese leader visited Iowa as a young official heading a five-strong agricultural research delegation. It was Branstads first term as state governor at the time.

Governor Branstad is an old friend of the Chinese people, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a press briefing. We welcome him to play a great role in promoting the development of China-U.S. relations.

Branstad, who developed a friendship with Xi owing to a shared interest in farming, said he was honored and humbled to accept the position. The son of a farmer, he is known for his down-to-earth leadership during almost 21 years in public office. Branstad also received Xi with a gala dinner in Iowas state capital Des Moines in 2012 when Xi was Chinese Vice President.

I have known President Xi Jinping for many years and consider him an old friend, Branstad, 70, said in a statement. I look forward to building on our long friendship to cultivate and strengthen the relationship between our two countries and to benefit our economy.

The posting  which is subject to Senate confirmation  is one of the most prestigious, and challenging, in U.S. diplomatic relations, even more so now given Trump made campaign pledges to name China a currency manipulator and slap 45% tariffs of Chinese imports. Branstad was an early backer of Trump for the presidency and his son Eric ran Trumps campaign in Iowa.

Story continues

That Trump made the appointment so soon is also significant, indicting a desire to smooth relations and build business ties. By contrast, Barack Obama nominated Ambassador Jon Huntsman almost five months after his inauguration, and George W. Bush nominated Clark Randt three months after entering the Oval Office.

Governor Branstads decades of experience in public service and long-time relationship with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders make him the ideal choice to serve as Americas ambassador to China, Trump said in a statement.

Iowa exported $2.3 billion in goods and $273 million in services to China last year, according to the U.S.-China Business Council, making China the Hawkeye States second biggest export market after Canada.
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - The CEO of China's sovereign wealth fund said on Thursday he expects U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to be very careful in considering whether to increase tariffs in line with his election promises because it would not be in U.S. interests. China Investment Corporation chairman and CEO Ding Xuedong said Republican Trump had used a number of "slogans" during the hard-fought campaign against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton that were purely for the purpose of getting elected. "Some of the slogans will be put into effect, for example, hes going to cut taxes and increase spending and hes going to increase investment in infrastructure and in this way to stimulate the American economy. I believe thats possible," Ding told the Boao Forum for Asia in Melbourne. "But if hes going to increase tariffs ... and begin a trade war, then I believe it is against the globalization trend and I believe that Mr Trump will be very careful in considering whether to put these measures in place," he said. Trump's focus once he has taken office would turn to global trade and on increasing benefits to the United States from global trade, Ding said, and that he may find that raising tariffs would not work to that end. "They may not be effective .. or (of) benefit to the U.S.," he said. Throughout the election campaign, Trump threatened China and Mexico with punitive tariffs that some economists have warned could spark a trade war that could potentially roll back decades of liberalization. He also threatened to redraw trade deals, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would be a blow to Japan's export-dependent economy. (Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Paul Tait)
By Maria Sheahan

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - China's Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund has dropped its takeover bid for chip equipment maker Aixtron (AIXGn.DE) after the United States blocked the deal on security grounds, throwing the German company's future into doubt.

The collapse of the Aixtron deal comes amid growing objections in Germany and the United States to China buying up firms with strategic technologies abroad without allowing reciprocal transactions at home.

Fujian's takeover vehicle Grand Chip Investment said on Thursday its offer had lapsed as it had failed to obtain the necessary U.S. regulatory approvals.

The 670 million euro ($723 million) takeover offer announced in May was already in doubt after the German government withdrew its approval in October, reportedly at the bidding of the United States.

U.S. President Barack Obama then stopped Fujian from buying Aixtron U.S. following an assessment by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an inter-agency task force under the Treasury Department.

China's Foreign Ministry fired back at what it called "groundless accusations" against Chinese firms by the United States and lamented the "politicization" of what it said was a commercial takeover.

The German Economy Ministry said it was dropping a review of the deal now the bidder had withdrawn.

The crux of the issue for Aixtron is that it makes devices which produce crystalline layers based on gallium nitride that are used as semiconductors in weapons systems.

Its technology is being used to upgrade U.S. and foreign-owned Patriot missile defence systems and the U.S. Treasury said the deal had been blocked due to national security risks.

The U.S. opposition was seen as a sign of concern in the West about the acquisition of new technology by Chinese players and comes after Washington blocked the sale by Philips (PHG.AS) of its U.S. lighting business to Asian buyers.

"Under (U.S. President-elect) Donald Trump, CFIUS will likely be used more extensively than it has been under previous presidents, which could have an impact on outbound M&A deals from China," said Hans-Joerg Ziegenhain, partner for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) at law firm Hengeler Mueller.

Story continues

Aixtron may face a bleak future as a stand-alone company, having said it would need to cut costs and jobs if the deal failed so it could compete in an overcrowded market where Chinese companies call the shots.

Investors who had already accepted Grand Chip's takeover offer will have their shares returned on Dec. 13, the Chinese suitor said.

Shares in Aixtron were down 4.5 percent at 3.72 euros by 1345 GMT, well below the 6 euros per share Grand Chip Investment offered in May.

($1 = 0.9270 euros)

(additional reporting by Arno Schuetze; editing by Edward Taylor and David Clarke)
The current political climate continues to be as divided as ever on practically every issue, including the fashion front. Many designers have weighed in on whether theyll dress future First Lady Melania Trump (in camp no, Tom Ford and Sophie Theallet; in camp yes, Diane von Furstenberg and Tommy Hilfiger). Now Christian Siriano, who famously designed Michelle Obamas memorable blue dress for her speech at the Democratic National Convention, has added his two cents.

In an interview with Access Hollywood, Siriano expressed his desire to keep working with Obama. Whats great about Michelle is that shes such an amazing woman and shell be doing great things forever, he said. So even in 20, 30, 50 years, I would love to dress her. Even if no one covers it, even if there are no photos, its an honor to make clothes for her. He adds that Obamas style is what makes her special as a First Lady. What she wears is daring, is different, its special. For a first lady, she takes a lot of risks. Thats what any designer wants. When we make clothes, you want a great muse thats going to wear them.  Someone like her, she celebrates fashion, and celebrates young American designers too, which is also exciting for me, because thats what I am.

And when it comes to the incoming First Lady, Siriano is a little more hesitant. I think my response is, Ill let you know, he said. I think I need to see how it goes. Thats my diplomatic answer.

RELATED PHOTOS: All of Michelle Obamas State Dinner Outfits in One Place!

He adds that its not as easy as it seems on the surface. Sadly, its really just one of those things that has nothing to do with her, its just obviously what shes representing in whats happening right now, he said. It would be hard for anyone, especially for someone like myself, a young gay fashion designer, I cant support a campaign where I might not have the same rights. I just got married. Theres lots of deep things that get into it  Hopefully things will be great.

Story continues

Whether theyre speaking out publicly or not, sources tell People that many designers havent sent clothes to the Trump campaign. This has already been going on for months. Designers wouldnt lend to Melania, Ivanka or Tiffany, so they either bought the items themselves or wore Ivankas brand, a source said. There was a lot of shopping their own closets.

What do you think of Sirianos stance?

Reporting by Charlotte Triggs




Christopher Pearce, who in the 1980s served as head of production of Cannon Films, the legendary B-movie house known for churning out a slew of action fare, has died. He was 73.

Pearce died Sunday in Boca Raton, Fla., after a battle with cancer, family friend Polly Chung told The Hollywood Reporter.

Working for Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus at Cannon, Pearce helped take the company's production output from a handful of films per year to an astounding 43 in 1985. Movies made by Cannon that year included Death Wish 3, American Ninja, Missing in Action 2: The Beginning, Runaway Train, Thunder Alley, Hot Resort and Invasion U.S.A.

After Italian financier Giancarlo Parretti and Pathe Communications took over Cannon, Pearce became chairman and CEO of the company in 1991, overseeing contract negotiations, marketing and advertising and the management of more than 5,000 employees.

He left Cannon in 1994 with Globus to launch the short-lived Global Pictures.

Pearce was born in the U.K. and attended Lord Wandsworth College and London University, where he received a law degree.

He collaborated with directors Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas at Zoetrope Studios, where he participated in the making of The Godfather (1972) and American Graffiti (1973), among other notable films.

Pearce retired from filmmaking in 2000 and since then had served as an adviser on numerous projects.

Survivors include his wife of 19 years, Luda, and her son Louis.

Read more: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2016
With travel and gifts and eating out, the holidays can get expensive quickly.

Just how expensive can vary widely depending on where you're spending the holidays, though, according to a Christmas Price Index released by flight comparison website Kiwi.com on Wednesday.

The index ranks the cost of spending a festive day in 90 cities around the world, as well as the cost to go shopping for popular gifts in each.

The visiting costs for each cityor the cost for that festive dayis based on the average cost of a room and breakfast in a five-star hotel, a local traditional lunch, a two-course Christmas dinner, a holiday drink, and the cost of tickets to see The Nutcracker for one person.

Shopping rankings are based on the cost of popular gifts like perfumes, a Barbie doll, and a Lego Star Wars Millennium Falcon.

Overall, New York City was the most expensive Christmas destination: The total cost for both visiting and shopping in the city was $1,131.08.

New York City was also the most expensive for the visiting costs, at $762.34, while Jakarta, in Indonesia, was the most expensive city for shopping, at $568.49.

Washington, D.C. was the second most expensive city to visit after New York City, with a total cost of $589.44, followed by Bern in Switzerland at $563.06, Geneva at $548.30, and San Francisco at $540.44.

Buenos Aires had the second highest prices for shoppers at $561.46, followed by Rio de Janeiro in Brazil at $561.11, Reykjavik in Iceland at $556.24, and Shanghai in China at $545.96.

Most expensive Christmas Destinations

Reykjavik also came in as the second most expensive Christmas destination overall at $1,014.80, trailed by Copenhagen at $999.87, Bern at $974.58, and Geneva at $959.82.

Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia had the cheapest visiting costs at $122.46, while Northern Ireland's capital of Belfast had the cheapest shopping prices at $293.07.

Bratislava, Slovakia, was the overall cheapest destination with visiting and shopping coming to $521.02.

Related Articles
Ottawa (AFP) - Civil rights activist Viola Desmond, often described as "Canada's Rosa Parks," has been chosen to be the first Canadian woman to appear on a bank note, officials announced Thursday.

Desmond's portrait will appear on Canada's 10-dollar bill starting in 2018, replacing the nation's first prime minister John A. Macdonald.

Desmond, who died in 1965, was a business woman and beautician who challenged racial segregation at a Nova Scotia movie theater in 1946.

She was jailed, convicted and fined for refusing to leave a lower level whites-only area of the theater in New Glasgow in Canada's eastern Maritimes region and sit with other blacks in the balcony.

In 2010, she was posthumously pardoned.

"It's a big day to have a woman on a bank note, and it's a really big day to have my sister on a bank note," Viola's sister Wanda Robson told a press conference.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz announced her selection for the 10-dollar bill.

The bank notes are the first in a new series that will reflect themes of social justice and the struggle for rights and freedoms.

The government received more than 26,300 submissions from across Canada after making an open call for nominations last spring, which resulted in 461 eligible candidates.

An independent advisory council whittled the list down to five and Morneau was tasked with making the final decision.

"Today is about recognizing the incalculable contribution that all women have had and continue to have in shaping Canada's story," said Morneau.

"Viola Desmond's own story reminds all of us that big change can start with moments of dignity and bravery," he said.

"She represents courage, strength and determination -- qualities we should all aspire to every day."
Today marks an important anniversary in American history: the congressional declaration of war on Japan on December 8, 1941. But since then, Congress has rarely used its constitutional power formally issue a war declaration.

Congress approved a resolution declaring war with Japan on that fateful day, as the Senate unanimously voted for the resolution, 82-0. The House passed the resolution by a 388 to 1 vote, with Jeannette Rankin, a pacifist, opposing the move.

Whereas the Imperial Government of Japan has committed unprovoked acts of war against the Government and the people of the United States of America: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the state of war between the United States and the Imperial Government of Japan which has thus been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared; and the President is hereby authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the Government to carry on war against the Imperial Government of Japan; and, to bring the conflict to a successful termination, all the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States, the resolution read.

Japan had tried to issue its own war declaration just before the Pearl Harbor attack, but it failed to do it before the attack in Hawaii.

Since then, the United States has only issued five other war declarations: against Germany and Italy (on December 11, 1941) and against Bulgaria, Hungary and Rumania (on June 4, 1942).

And in total, war declarations were declared by Congress in the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Spanish-American War, World War I and World War II.

The United States military involvement in Korea came as part of a United Nations effort, while the escalation of the Vietnam War followed a joint resolution passed by Congress as requested by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

Story continues

Since Vietnam, United States military actions have taken place as part of United Nations actions, in the context of joint congressional resolutions, or within the confines of the War Powers Resolution (also known as the War Powers Act) that was passed in 1973, over the objections (and veto) of President Richard Nixon.

For example, when President Obama approved the use of military force in Libya in 2011, it was the 132nd time that a President acted under the conditions of the War Powers Resolution since 1973.

It also seems unlikely that an official state of war could be declared in the near future, due to the legal differences between a state of war and an authorization to use military force.

As the CRS explains, a formal war declaration triggers a large number of domestic statutes, like the ones that took place during World War II.

A declaration of war automatically brings into effect a number of statutes that confer special powers on the President and the Executive Branch, especially about measures that have domestic effect, it says.

These include granting the President the direct power take over businesses and transportation systems as part of the war effort; the ability to detain foreign nationals; the power to conduct spying without any warrants domestically; and the power to use natural resources on public lands.

An authorization for the use of force does not automatically trigger any of these standby statutory authorities. Some of them can come into effect if a state of war in fact comes into being after an authorization for the use of force is enacted; and the great majority of them, including many of the most sweeping ones, can be activated if the President chooses to issue a proclamation of a national emergency, says the CRS.

But an authorization for the use of force, in itself and in contrast to a declaration of war, does not trigger any of these standby authorities.
Charitable-minded individuals now have an alternative to balloons and flowers for the ones they love on Valentines Day.

Community Services Fund of Nebraska is offering Share the Love, a program that enables people to donate to a charity in the name of the one they love. The recipient will receive a card notifying her/him of the donation and a small box of chocolates for Valentines Day.

Giving a gift to charity is a wonderful alternative gift for that hard-to-buy-for parent, friend or significant other, said Jeanelle Lust, CSF board chair. Community Services Fund is a coalition of nonprofits dedicated to providing donors with options, and Share the Love does just that.

CSF member agencies are all Nebraska-based and do not participate in other local giving federations. Donors may choose from 62 agencies serving Lincoln, Omaha and the entire state of Nebraska. These CSF members assist those in need, foster local arts and culture, build strong communities, enhance education and learning, improve health options, care for animals and the environment, and work for a just society.

More than 100 workplaces throughout Nebraska use the CSF to provide employees with the opportunity to support charity though payroll giving. Over $500,000 is provided to Nebraska nonprofits annually by donors who give through the CSF.

Community Services Fund of Nebraska is a nonprofit federation founded in 1981 to connect donors to the causes they care about most through workplace giving. Learn more at CommunityServicesFund.org.
Congress has passed the most expensive and far-reaching health reform bill since the Affordable Care Act in 2010.

The 21st Century Cures Act, which garnered widespread, bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, is expected to be signed into law by President Obama soon.

The bill signifies an investment of billions of dollars over the next decade to fight cancer, prevent and treat brain disorders, and harness enormous amounts of data to develop individualized treatments based on a persons environment, genes, and lifestyle.

But the bill also lowers the bar for the kind of scientific evidence that companies must provide to gain the Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) approval for their products. It would mean, for instance, that in some circumstances the FDA could rely in part on individual patient experiences with a drug or device, instead of evidence from large-scale, randomized controlled clinical trials.

Rep. Fred Upton, the Republican from Michigan who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee and co-sponsored the bill, says the Cures Act "expedites the approval of drugs and devices and includes literally billions of dollars in additional spending for health research so that we can find a cure and the answers to what patients are demanding today.

Consumer groups, including Consumers Union, the policy and moblization arm of Consumer Reports, have deep concerns that this effort to speed medical innovation comes with a potentially harmful tradeoff for consumers.

The unfortunate consequence of 21st Century Cures is that less thoroughly tested medications and medical devices will reach the market, says Lisa McGiffert, director of Consumer Reports Safe Patient Project. And that means that consumers will have less assurance that a new treatment will help and not harm them.

More Research Dollars

The bill directs $4.8 billion over the next decade to research, in part, to fight cancer.

Considering that one in two men and one in three women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, cancer research funding is an investment in yours, mine, and everyones health, says David Pugach, vice president of federal relations at the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the advocacy arm of the ACS.

Story continues

Pugach says 21st Century Cures represents a historic opportunity to accelerate cancer research. This includes devoting more resources to improve and use new treatments like immunotherapy, he says, where the bodys own defenses are used against canceras well as creating ways for researchers to more easily share data so they can see patterns across studies more quickly.

The bill also allocates funds to treat brain disorders, combat opioid abuse, improve suicide prevention programs, and provide mental health care to children. It establishes a task force for research on women who are pregnant or breastfeeding because these women are typically excluded from medical studies.

Faster Drug Approvals, But Lower Standards

The Cures Act loosens requirements for how drugs are studied and approved that have been in place since 1962.

Here's how it usually works: A company submits evidence from studies done under controlled conditions, comparing patients who received the treatment with those who didn't. The studies typically have to show that people who were given the new drug lived longer or felt better than those who didn't get it.

This kind of research can be expensive and time-consuming for drug companies to collect, says Diana Zuckerman, Ph.D., president of the National Center for Health Research, a nonprofit think tank focused on health research. Cancer drugs, for example, can take several years to show that a drug improves survival.

The Cures Act calls on the FDA to approve some drugs more quickly, based on less thorough testing. The problem with this, says Zuckerman, is that getting drugs to market faster doesnt help consumers at all if they turn out not to work or causes them harm.

What Consumers Should Know

Once the Cures Act takes effect, consumers must be especially careful when considering a new medication or medical device, says Orly Avitzur, M.D., Consumer Reports medical director.

"When you have a choice, you may want to consider treatments with a proven track record, as you'll have more assurance that they work and are safe," Avitzur says. "Always make sure someone has taken the time to thoroughly explain all the options to you, and the possible risks and benefits of each."

Editor's Note: These materials were made possible by a grant from the state Attorney General Consumer and Prescriber Education Grant Program, which is funded by a multistate settlement of consumer fraud claims regarding the marketing of the prescription drug Neurontin (gabapentin).





More from Consumer Reports:

Top pick tires for 2016

Best used cars for $25,000 and less

7 best mattresses for couples





Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright  2006-2017 Consumers Union of U.S.
Congressional Republicans put Democrats on Capitol Hill in a tough spot late Tuesday, slipping language that would severely limit debate on President-elect Donald Trumps pick for defense secretary into a critical spending bill. The measure would limit the amount of time Congress can debate issuing a waiver so that retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, who left the Corps three years ago, can serve as civilian head of the Pentagon.

The bill, which would keep the government funded, thus dodging a Friday deadline to shut down federal agencies, is a must-pass measure that has been largely uncontroversial. It would fund government operations through March, when the Trump administration would then be able to influence spending.

Several Democratic lawmakers have opposed Mattiss nomination on the grounds that it erodes the tradition of civilian control of the military. A retired officer must have left the military at least seven years before taking over at the Pentagon. Mattis retired from the Marine Corps in 2013.

Mattis will still have to go before the Senate Armed Services Committee for confirmation early next year, but the language in the continuing resolution limits the amount of time senators have to debate granting the waiver to 10 hours.

Senate Democrats are reportedly ready to support the stopgap spending bill, despite their opposition to streamlining Mattiss confirmation, but that doesnt necessarily guarantee a smooth confirmation. While Mattis is broadly popular on the Hill, a Republican Senate aide acknowledged that the 60-vote requirement for the exemption and for his confirmation will ensure a hard fight.

The move is aimed at limiting Democrats ability to tie up the Senate with procedural roadblocks, as Republican lawmakers in both houses prepare for a busy session approving new Trump nominees, attempting to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and working on appropriations bills.

A lot of us know Jim Mattis quite well. He is so revered. He is exception worthy to the waiver rule, Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said during an interview on CNBC. That will help make sure that they can move on that nomination fairly quickly  so they cant gum it up with the filibuster.

Story continues

The most prominent voice to oppose granting a waiver for Mattis is Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D.-NY), ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee Subcommittee on Personnel. When the nomination was announced, Gillibrand issued a statement saying that while she respects Mattis military service and has no objections with him personally, civilian control of our military is a fundamental principle of American democracy, and I will not vote for an exception to this rule.

The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Adam Smith of Washington, has also walked a fine line with the Mattis nod, heavily praising the former four-star officer while urging a careful review of the issues at stake.

Smith said earlier this month that civilian control of the military is not something to be casually cast aside. And Smith told Foreign Policy on Wednesday that he wanted to pursue a full review of the waiver, including hearings, something that the new bill would make more difficult.

Now what I fear still is that the House leadership will simply pluck it out of committee and put it on the floor for a vote without allowing our committee to do its due process, Smith said.

He added that we need to have a robust discussion.

Trump formally introduced Mattis as his nominee Tuesday night at a campaign-style rally in North Carolina. Mattis delivered a few lines to reassure service members concerned about being ordered to carry out illegal acts like torture  which then-candidate Trump promised to bring back  as well as NATO and other allies who are nervous Washington may turn away from its international commitments.

Mattis said he was grateful for the opportunity to work at the Pentagon in the defense of our Constitution, and with our allies strengthened, and with our country strengthened, I look forward to being the civilian leader, as long as the Congress gives me the waiver, and the Senate votes to consent. Back at the podium, Trump added, Oh, if he doesnt get that waiver therell be a lot of angry people. Such a popular choice.

On Wednesday, the Trump transition team also nominated another retired Marine general, John Kelly, to run the Department of Homeland Security. The 66-year-old Kelly, who retired in January, would not need a waiver to run that agency. While head of U.S. Southern Command for his last four years prior to retirement, he called drug use and illegal immigration an existential threat to the United States.

He also expressed concerns over Hezbollah  a Lebanese terrorist group  smuggling drugs and possibly fighters into the United States over the southern border, calling it a crime-terror convergence.

Kelly served under Mattis during the invasion of Iraq in 2003 when then-Maj. Gen. Mattis commanded the 1st Marine Division, and Kelly was his assistant division commander. The current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joe Dunford, served under both as a regimental commander. Trump has named another recently retired general, Mike Flynn, who was pushed out as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency under the Obama administation, as his national security advisor.

Smith said he had known both Mattis and Kelly for years and held them in the highest regard, and that he hoped they would have a constructive influence on Trump and his advisors who he said have engaged in belligerent rhetoric.

Trump has picked some spectacularly unqualfiied nominees to fill his administration so far, Smith said, and Mattis and Kelly represented a break from that worrisome pattern. As a result, the Democrat said he was willing to overlook concerns about having up to three recently retired generals in top positions.

If the president-elect somehow accidentally picks high quality, very intelligent people, Im not going to let the fact that theyre generals get in the way of at least having somebody in the executive branch who knows what theyre doing.

FPs Dan De Luce contributed to this article.

Photo Credit: Sara D. Davis/Getty Images
Connor Franta will never let Daya down!

Just hours after the 2017 Grammy Award nominations were announced, the vlogger-writer sat down with PEOPLE Now to discuss his dear friends hard-earned victory.

I freaked out, Franta, 24, says of hearing that Daya had just been nominated for her first Grammy (shes up for Best Dance Recording for her track Dont Let Me Down with The Chainsmokers).I was texting my friend and I was like, Oh my God, am I reading this correctly?'

He then shared a special congratulatory message to the newly-minted Grammy nominee: Im very proud of you  and text me. Lets hang!

The pair met through a mutual friend  one of Dayas songwriters  and the rest is history. In fact, Franta was invited into the studio to exclusively preview some of Dayas chart-topping tracks before they were released.

The surprise to know about me and Dayas relationship is that I heard all the music way before it was out, he reveals. Like the Grammy nominated song  I heard it well before it was out and I was like, This is gonna be a hit.'

Dont miss the 59th Grammy Awards Feb. 12 on CBS.




Renewed speculation about a possible merger between Sprint and T-Mobile is causing worry among mobile phone customers and consumer advocates, though some industry observers say it may be the only way for those cellular carriers to compete against industry giants Verizon and AT&T.

A previous attempt by Sprint to buy its rival fell apart in 2014 under pressure from the Federal Communications Commission. But Wall Street and consumer advocates believe a deal may be possible under the incoming Trump administration.



Merger speculation was fueled this week when president-elect Donald Trump met with Masayoshi Son, the CEO of Sprints parent company, a Japanese conglomerate called SoftBank. Trump and Masayoshi Son were all smiles after the meeting, as they announced a SoftBank promise to invest $50 billion in the United States, potentially creating 50,000 jobs. There was no indication that any of that money would be used for Sprint projects.

Softbank paid more than $20 billion for Sprint in 2012. But when Sprint went after T-Mobile, the FCC essentially blocked any deal.

Four national wireless providers are good for American consumers, said FCC head Tom Wheeler in August 2014. Sprint now has an opportunity to focus their efforts on robust competition.



Earlier in 2016, Son said he was still interested in T-Mobile, though no active negotiations have been announced.

Stock investors are clearly betting the merger will gain new life: After the meeting, Sprint stock reached a 52-week high of $8.86, while T-Mobile hit a yearly high-water mark of $55.99. (Both stocks had been trending upward since the election.)

What Customers Say

Consumer advocates tend to look skeptically at consolidation, especially in a market thats as tightly concentrated as cellular, with Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint dwarfing all their competitors.



"Having four providers has been a boon for investment, consumers, and the public interest, says Michael Copps, special advisor to the watchdog Common Cause, and the FCC chairman from 2001 to 2011. Permitting two of the top four mobile carriers to combine would be heading in exactly the wrong direction. That could only drive up consumer costs and limit consumer choice. The answer is not just 'No' but 'Hell no!'"

Story continues

Many consumers feel the same way. We asked T-Mobile customers about a potential merger on our Facebook page and within a few hours received more than 100 comments. The overwhelming majority liked their T-Mobile service and had problems with Sprint.

One Facebook user summed up the feelings of many: "Used to have T-Mobile and loved them. Made the switch to Sprint to cut costs. HUGE mistake, it's horrible and their customer service is like talking to pavement.



Another user said simply: "This makes me want to cry." And a third commenter wrote, If Sprint buys T-Mobile, I'm leaving T-Mobile. I hate Sprint. Worst customer service EVER.

Those comments echo the results of Consumer Reports huge annual survey on cellular services. In our most recent study, Sprint finished last among the four major carriers in consumer satisfaction, while T-Mobile ranked first, taking over from perennial leader Verizon. (As in recent years, all four lagged far behind smaller providers such as Consumer Cellular and Ting.)

The Consumer Case for a Merger

But not all observers of the cellular business think a merger would spell trouble for consumers. Verizon and AT&T dwarf Sprint and T-Mobile, which together account for less than one-third of all cellular subscribers in the United States.

Peter Jarich, chief analyst at Current Analysis, a digital-technology research firm, says the smaller companies could find it hard to stay afloat in years to come.

Weve had these non-stop price wars, and thats been great for the consumer, says Jarich. But as we go forward, the question is how difficult is it for stand-alone companies to compete against Verizon and AT&T?



He says that a combined Sprint-T-Mobile might be better positioned to face major challenges ahead, ranging from potential competitors in the wireless marketsuch as cable companies and Googleto the expensive work of upgrading their networks to the next generation of technology.

Rolling out 5G isnt cheap, he says.



Harold Feld, senior vice president of the advocacy group Public Knowledge, opposed an earlier potential merger between T-Mobile and AT&T. But now he says a Sprint-T-Mobile deal has both pros and cons for consumers.



What has changed since the FCC and the Department of Justice signaled they would not look favorably on a Sprint-T-Mobile deal back a couple of years ago, is that both AT&T and Verizon have been bulking up on content, Feld says.

Just this week, AT&T and Time Warner executives spoke at a Congressional hearing about the cellular company's plan to buy Time Warner, which owns CNN and HBO.

For consumers there may be an argument that its valuable to have a stronger wireless company that is not affiliated with any other line of businessa pure mobile companyand therefore will compete on the basis of price rather than product differentiators like zero rating their own content, Feld says.

Zero rating is when content such as movies downloaded over a cellular network isn't counted against the consumer's data limit.

On the other hand, Sprint and T-Mobile both serve a substantial number of low-income consumers and people of color who might suffer from a merger, according to Feld.

For a number of communities wed be going down from two strong competitors actively soliciting their business to one, and thats never a happy situation.

The incoming Trump administration has sent mixed signals regarding mergers of this type. Before the election, Trump spoke out against the AT&T acquisition as well as a merger between Comcast and NBC Universal.

We'll look at breaking that deal up and other deals like that," he said in October. "That should never, ever have been approved in the first place. They're trying to poison the mind of the American voter.





More from Consumer Reports:

Top pick tires for 2016

Best used cars for $25,000 and less

7 best mattresses for couples





Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright  2006-2016 Consumers Union of U.S.
Costco Wholesale Corp. COST just released its first quarter fiscal 2017 financial results after the bell, posting earnings of $1.17 and revenues of $28.09 billion. COST is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank, and is down 0.55% to $153.00 per share in after-hours trading.

Missed earnings estimates. The company reported earnings of $1.17 per share, lagging behind the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.19 per share. This number excludes seven cents from non-recurring items.

Missed revenue estimates. The company saw revenues figures of $28.09 billion, also missing our consensus estimate of $28.384 billion but gaining 3.2% year-over-year.

Costco reported total comparable sales for the quarter of 1%. Excluding the impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange, total comparable sales were 2%. Membership fees were $630 million in Q1.

Heres a graph that looks at Costcos price, consensus, and EPS surprise:

COSTCO WHOLE CP Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

COSTCO WHOLE CP Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | COSTCO WHOLE CP Quote

Costco Wholesale Corp. operates membership warehouses based on the concept that offering members very low prices on a limited selection of nationally branded and selected private label products in a wide range of merchandise categories will produce high sales volumes and rapid inventory turnover. This rapid inventory turnover enables Costco to operate profitably at significantly lower gross margins than traditional wholesalers, discount retailers and supermarkets.

Stocks that Aren't in the NewsYet

You are invited to download the full, up-to-the-minute list of 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buys" free of charge. Many of these companies are almost unheard of by the general public and just starting to get noticed by Wall Street. They have been pinpointed by the Zacks system that nearly tripled the market from 1988 through 2015, with a stellar average gain of +26% per year. See these high-potential stocks now >>



Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report



COSTCO WHOLE CP (COST): Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
Amid the divisive political climate of 2016, Ilhan Omars election as the nations first Somali-American lawmaker gave many people hope. But less than a month after she won her Minnesota statehouse race, Omar said she was harassed for being Muslim.

Omar was visiting Washington D.C. for policy training at the White House this week, and while riding in a taxi back to her hotel on Tuesday, she was subjected to the most hateful, derogatory, islamophobic, sexist taunts and threats she had ever experienced, the lawmaker wrote in a post on Facebook.

The cab driver called me ISIS and threatened to remove my hijab, she wrote. I wasnt really sure how this encounter would end as I attempted to rush out of his cab and retrieve my belongs.

Omar told commenters on her Facebook post that she had not yet reported the incident because she didnt feel safe enough to say anything at the moment since the cab driver knew where she was staying. She wrote she planned to report the event once she returns to Minneapolis.

She wrote that she was still shaken by the encounter and had a hard time wrapping her head around how bold people are becoming in attacking Muslims. Hate crimes against Muslims and other minorities surged last year, and in the month since the Nov. 8 election, the Southern Poverty Law Center has counted hundreds of acts of hateful intimidation and harassment across the country.
As the market surged to new high s on Wednesday, Jim Cramer broke down what a Donald Trump stock is, and what it's not.

"The industries that the President-elect favors, and that's most of them, are in a fabulous house of pleasure, while the ones that have earned his wrath could be in for a world of potential pain," the " Mad Money " host said.

The only problem is that like Donald Trump , the market tends to fluctuate, so Cramer warned that the list could change. He broke down stocks into three categories: Ones Trump has blessed either by his word or by deed; agnostic stocks where he has no impact beyond the economy; and stocks on his bad side that are now in purgatory.

On the good list were the banks, metals and domestic companies that depend on the strength of the economy.

Trump has made it his intention to rescue the banks from a stiff regulatory atmosphere that he believes cuts back on lending, and makes it more difficult for the U.S. to grow. He wants to get the government out of the way so the banks can lend more money, Cramer said.

"Bank of America (BAC)  This thing acts like it's the first national bank of Trump," Cramer said.











The next group were metals and natural resource stocks that represent old-line manufacturing, and anything to do with fossil fuels. Cramer recommended US Steel (NYSE:X), AK Steel (AKS), Nucor (NUE) and Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) with more room to run, along with the rails that support commodities.

"Trump is a drill baby drill kind of guy," Cramer said.

Companies that do well with lower taxes, deregulation, faster growth and the ability to repatriate earnings overseas were next on Cramer's list. United Technologies (UTX) and Boeing (BA) can now be bought, he said, along with the airlines.

The only tech stocks that made Cramer's list were Western Digital (WDC) and Micron (MU). Domestic companies that depend on the strength of the economy will also do well, hence why restaurants and retailers have been so strong.

Story continues

The last on the list were the companies that need help from the government but won't play ball with Trump, like the drug stocks. Cramer feared that Trump may single them out to bring down drug prices and make an example out of a company like Valeant (Toronto Stock Exchange: VRX-CA).

A few on the hybrid list were Caterpillar (CAT), which could benefit from U.S. activity, but lose out of Trump is tough on China.

Telecoms, unfortunately, did not make the list. The only way they would is if there is more deregulation, Cramer said.

"With the market at all-time highs, but only some stocks taking you there, it's better to make a good deal than face the wheel without a Trump stock to your name," Cramer said.





Questions for Cramer?

Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBC

Want to take a deep dive into Cramer's world? Hit him up!

Mad Money Twitter - Jim Cramer Twitter - Facebook - Instagram - Vine



Questions, comments, suggestions for the "Mad Money" website? madcap@cnbc.com





More From CNBC


Robert Peck

Credit Suisse has hired Robert Peck from SunTrust to head its global internet banking franchise, according to an internal memo seen by Business Insider.

He is expected to start in New York in March and will report to global technology banking head David Wah.

Peck was previously head of internet research at SunTrust. Before SunTrust, he was president of the tech, media, and telecom, or TMT, merchant bank CoRise.

As an internet analyst, Peck made regular media appearances. Last year he made headlines for calling on Yahoo to remove Marissa Mayer as CEO.

He recently called on Twitter to cut 10% of its workforce in order to save about $100 million a year due to its stagnating user growth. He is also known to be an Alibaba bull.

Credit Suisse's tech group lost five key bankers earlier this year, including Cameron Lester, who was head of global internet banking.

He and four other group heads  Cully Davis, Bill Brady, Steve West, and John Metz left for Jefferies in May.

Here's the full memo, co-signed by global TMT coheads Wah and Mark Simonian:

"We are pleased to announce that Robert Peck will join Credit Suisse as a Managing Director, Head of Global Internet Investment Banking within the Technology Group of the Investment Banking and Capital Markets division. Bob is expected to start in March 2017. He will be based in New York and will report to David Wah.

"Bob joins us from SunTrust Securities where he has most recently served as the Head of Global Internet Research since 2013. Bob has been covering the Internet sector for over a decade and has consistently been a thought leader in the Internet and Digital Media sector, having been ranked for several years in Institutional Investors Annual All-America Research rankings. He has been the lead equity analyst covering Internet and US diversified Media stocks including Alibaba, Amazon, Facebook, Google and Netflix. Bob is featured regularly in the media, including CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox Business News, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, and he is well known by technology companies, public investors and venture capitalists alike. Prior to joining SunTrust in 2013, Bob was President of CORISE LLC, a TMT Merchant Bank, and from 2008 to 2011 he was a senior analyst covering TMT at Baron Capital. Bob has also served as a mentor at ERA, an early stage startup accelerator in New York City dedicated to mentoring and seeding early stage entrepreneurs.

Story continues

"Credit Suisse's Technology Group has had a long legacy of leadership in the Global Internet sector, having acted as bookrunner for the IPOs of such leaders as Google, Baidu, Facebook and Alibaba. The hiring of Bob, combined with the recent Managing Directors joining in San Francisco, Marco Chisari in Technology M&A and Brian Marshall in Software, demonstrates our commitment to maintain our leadership position in Technology investment banking.

"Please join us in welcoming Bob to Credit Suisse and wishing him success in his new role.

NOW WATCH: Bernie Madoff explains in rare interview from prison how he rationalized his crimes





More From Business Insider


Andy Puzder

Workers' rights advocates say President-elect Donald Trump's likely appointment of Andrew Puzder to lead the Department of Labor could be a major setback in the fight for higher wages and greater protections for the nation's most vulnerable workers.

"Its hard to think of anyone less suited for the job of lifting up Americas forgotten workers  as Trump had campaigned on  than Puzder," Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project, said in a statement.

Puzder is the CEO of CKE Restaurants, the parent company of Carl's Jr. and Hardee's.

The International Franchise Association praised Puzder Thursday, calling his potential appointment an "exceptional choice." But others say that Puzder's past remarks and business record are worrisome.

"[Puzder] has done everything in his power to undermine the rights of American workers, from driving down wages to opposing overtime pay," New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement Thursday.

"He opposes raising the minimum wage, threatens to replace restaurant workers with machines, has consistently opposed long-standing rules that protect workers and law-abiding employers, and demonstrated that he prizes corporate welfare and profits over workers well-being," Owens said.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio criticized the potential appointment in a tweet Thursday that referenced comments Puzder has made about worker pay and the automation of jobs.

America's workers deserve a raise and a union, not a Labor Sec. who thinks they're paid too much and wants to replace them with robots.  Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio) December 8, 2016

A representative for Puzder declined a request for comment.



In an interview with Business Insider in March, Puzder spoke about the potential benefits of swapping fast-food workers for machines in the face of rising wages.

Story continues

"They're always polite, they always upsell, they never take a vacation, they never show up late, there's never a slip-and-fall, or an age, sex, or race discrimination case," Puzder said of machines like kiosks, which can take orders and accept payments from customers.

And while Puzder told CNBC in May that increasing minimum wage to $9 per hour would have a "minimal impact" on companies' bottom lines, the CEO has a history of opposing laws that would raise workers' pay.

"[H]eres what middle-class business owners, who live in the real world, will do when faced with a 40% increase in labor costs. They will cut jobs and rely more on technology," Puzder wrote in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in 2014. "Almost every restaurant chain in the country from Applebees to McDonalds is testing or already implementing automated ordering with tablets or kiosks."

Puzder made over $1 million in salary in 2012, according to a filing cited by The New York Times.

Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro was critical of Trump for choosing Puzder.

"As a CEO, Mr. Puzder has an extensive record of engaging in marketing tactics that degrade women, fighting against paying workers their hard earned overtime, opposing expansion of the Affordable Care Act, and even allegedly failing to pay some of his workers," DeLauro said in a statement. "It should come as no surprise then that President-elect Trump has chosen Mr. Puzder as the nations top labor official."

Carls Jr

Some have also taken issue with Carl's Jr. and Hardee's marketing under Puzder's leadership. Carl's Jr. is known for its racy ads starring bikini-clad women.

"His nomination will betray American workers, especially women and people of color," Vicki Shabo, the vice president at the National Partnership for Women and Families, said in a call with press on Thursday. "He's objectified and undermined women in an effort to sell hamburgers."

Puzder has defended the ads by saying that targeting "hungry, young guys" with sexual commercials works.

"I like our ads. I like beautiful women eating burgers in bikinis. I think it's very American," he told Entrepreneur in 2015.

NOW WATCH: We compared Popeyes and KFC fried chicken  here's the verdict





More From Business Insider


By Sarah Marsh HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba said on Wednesday it hoped to sign off on at least half a dozen agreements with the United States before businessman Donald Trump, who has threatened to derail detente between the former Cold War foes, becomes president on Jan. 20. Cuban and U.S. officials held talks in Havana to discuss what more could be accomplished during President Barack Obama's remaining weeks in office, agreeing to arrange more high-level visits and technical meetings. The more Cuba and the United States deepen their detente, the more irreversible it will become, analysts said. "At the moment we are negotiating 12 more (accords) with the aim to be able to conclude and sign a majority of them," Josefina Vidal, the Cuban foreign ministry's director of U.S. affairs, told a news conference. The accords would be in areas such as seismology and meteorology, she said, adding that Cuba and the United States had already signed a dozen accords in the two years since they agreed to normalize relations, ending decades of hostility. They have also opened embassies, restored commercial flights and opened travel options. But some fear all that is now at stake, given Republican Trump has said he would seek to reverse the opening unless Communist-ruled Cuba gives the United States what he calls a "better deal". Vidal declined to comment on Trump's statements but said she hoped his administration would recognize that the detente had the backing of most Cubans and Americans. "Cuba would hope the new U.S. government takes into account the results we have achieved... that are backed by the majority of the Cuban population (and) U.S. citizens," she said. Cuba was willing to continue improving relations but "within the respect of the existing differences and without having to make any kind of concession to the principles in which Cuba firmly believes," Vidal added. In Washington on Wednesday, U.S. lawmakers joined more than 100 Cuban entrepreneurs to urge Trump to continue the thaw. Meanwhile, the Obama administration is pressing American companies to complete business deals in Cuba by then. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd and Norwegian Cruise Line said on Wednesday they had received approval from Cuba's government to operate cruises to the island. The number of U.S. visitors to Cuba had jumped 68 percent in the first ten months of this year to 208,000, Vidal said. (Reporting by Sarah Marsh; editing by Grant McCool)
For a term that is suddenly everywhere, fake news is fairly slippery.

Is fake news a reference to government propaganda designed to look like independent journalism? Or is it any old made-up bullshit that people share as real on the internet? Is fake news the appropriate label for a hoax meant to make a larger point? Does a falsehood only become fake news when it shows up on a platform like Facebook as legitimate news? What about conspiracy theorists who genuinely believe the outrageous lies theyre sharing? Or satire intended to entertain? And is it still fake news if were talking about a real news organization that unintentionally gets it wrong? (Also, what constitutes a real news organization anymore?)

Finally, do any of these distinctions matter if the end resultwidespread confusion and disagreement over whats real and trueis the same? The problem, as many see it, is that the ubiquity of fake newsmisinformation shared widely on Facebook, Reddit, YouTube, and elsewhereis creating a culture of deception and deepening the countrys partisan divide.

Recommended: Glenn Becks Regrets

But if the proliferation of bad information online is indeed the dangerous driving force of a post-fact societya society in which made-up stories inspire real incidents like the gunfire at a pizzeria in Washington over the weekend, or the woman charged with making death threats against the parent of a child murdered in the Newtown massacre because she thought the attack was a hoaxpeople ought to know what fake news actually means.

i wonder what it's like to be the pizzagate gun guy and discover that your former comrades now believe that you're a crisis actor  Max Read (@max_read) December 5, 2016

Weve reached a point where fake news and real news are becoming harder to parsenot just because its easy for anyone to broadcast fabrications to mass audiences online, but because legitimate journalistic attempts to understand the fake-news phenomenon are often absent of much-needed nuance (and, in some maddeningly illustrative cases, turn out to be inaccurate themselves). All this is happening against a backdrop of whats perceived by journalists as growing animosity toward the press, antagonism thats reinforced by some of the most powerful members of societylike the billionaire Peter Thiel, who successfully destroyed Gawker and said hed do it again, and the president-elect, who called reporters the lowest form of life and the enemies.

Story continues

To begin to unpack any of this, lets start by looking at what the fake news brouhaha is, at its core, about: The growing distrust of media institutions.

2003: Rifle-toting Americans barge into Iraq after reading viral Fake News story about weapons of mass destruction.  Murtaza Hussain (@MazMHussain) December 5, 2016

Its no coincidence that the publics faith in the media is abysmal at a moment when the institutions that were once our primary informational gatekeepers are no longer the only ones distributing the news. The fact that news outlets have simultaneously lost cultural power and the publics trust represent both a cause and an effect of the fake-news problem: The idea that media cant be trusted is bolstered by the ubiquity of alternative information sources, many of which arent credible themselves, which further diminishes trust of news sources overall.

Recommended: Not Wanting Kids Is Entirely Normal

What were witnessing, then, is not just a breakdown of institutional trust but a cultural (and economic) reconfiguring of media institutions themselves.

The distrust is so deep, the ideological lines so stark, that even reporting about fake news as a problem is being called into question by many of those who distrust the traditional media institutions reporting about it. This pushback from media skeptics aims to delegitimize traditional outlets as being fake themselves. For example, Andrew Torba, the CEO of Gaba social network with a reputation as being the place for right-wingers banned by Twittercalled The New York Times a fake news publication in a recent Medium post. (Torba also says he completely challenges the premise that Gab leans right.) A Twitter account that promotes Gab as an alternative platform tweeted what appeared to be a draft of an email to a reporter at CNN with the message that, We aren't doing interviews with fake news outlets at this time.

A second @cnn reporter reached out today. We aren't doing interviews with fake news outlets at this time. pic.twitter.com/NmHANxe54T  Gab Support (@getongab) December 5, 2016

For journalists, especially, fake news may seem like useful shorthand to describe something inaccurate.

But more nuance and precision is needed to adequately characterize the scope of the problem, to acknowledge the complexity of the informational environment and the extent to which professional journalists are complicit, andmost of allto begin to find a solution.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
The father of the knife-wielding 14-year-old shot by a cop at a Nevada high school has come to his son's defense, saying he was reacting to relentless torment from bullies.

Read: Campus Cop Shoots Knife-Wielding Boy, 14, at Nevada High School

"He was being bullied," Justin Clark wrote on Facebook Wednesday. "He brought the knives because he was gonna b (sic) jumped and he was. The school knew of this and failed to act."

The teen was filmed with two long kitchen knives in startling video footage posted to social media after a fight reportedly erupted between two boys at Reno's Hug High School.

Student Eduardo Ayala said he was threatened with suspension for posting his video on social media.

"The kid with both knives was looking everywhere you hear the cop say something and the kid doesnt comply and then he shoots him," Ayala told Inside Edition.

From one angle, the cop can be seen kicking the knife away from the wounded teen. The cop then gives him medical attention.

But the teen's dad wants to know why the cop used his gun in the first place.

"Tell if u can y the officer pulled his side arm and not his [Taser]," the distraught father wrote.

Read: College Student on His Way to Close Friend's Funeral Dies in Car Crash

Clark wants the police officer involved to be held accountable for what he believes was an improper use of force.

According to the Reno Gazette-Journal, the family is being represented by Reno attorney David Houston. An off-hours message left for Houston early Thursday was not immediately returned.

Watch: Multiple Children Reportedly Among the Dead in Horrific School Bus Crash

Related Articles:
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Security forces should shoot at the boats of migrants trying to reach the European Union illegally, a member of parliament for the Danish government's main political ally, the Danish People's Party, suggested on national television. "The only efficient way is to turn the boats and say: 'You cannot sail within this national border and if you do, you will either be shot at or be turned around and sailed back," Kenneth Berth, the EU spokesman for anti-immigrant party, said on broadcaster DK4 on Tuesday. Berth later softened his statement on Facebook, saying he did not mean that people should be shot at, but that NATO-ships could shoot in the air as a warning. Party spokesman Soren Sondergaard told Reuters that shooting at refugees is not the official party line. The Danish People's Party got 21 percent of the popular vote in last year's general election, making it the second-largest party in parliament. Denmark has implemented tough immigration policies since a heavy influx of refugees last year, including border control and a controversial "jewelry bill". In August, the government proposed an emergency law, allowing it to reject asylum seekers at its borders. (Reporting by Annabella Pultz Nielsen, additional reporting by Nikolaj Skydsgaard and Teis Jensen, Editing by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, Larry King)
Enter for a chance to win on December 7, 2016.

Travel + Leisures 26 Days of Travel Giveaways offers a new prize each day, so be sure to check back here every morning at 8am EST for your chance to win.

Retail Price: $500

Travel + Leisure may receive compensation for some links to products and services in this email.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Purchasing does not improve your chances of winning. Travel + Leisure 26 Days of Travel Giveaways is open to residents of the 48 contiguous United States and D.C., age 18 or older. Void in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, outside the United States and wherever else prohibited by law. Sweepstakes begins at 8:00:01 AM ET on 11/28/16 and ends at 7:59:59 AM ET on 12/24/16. Click here for Sweeps Facts and Official Rules. Sponsor: TI Media Solutions Inc., 225 Liberty St., New York, NY 10281.

Travel + Leisure Privacy Policy | Rules | Facts | Your California Privacy Policy | Terms of Use |Tarte Privacy Policy

Related Articles
By Nate Raymond

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lawyers for investors accusing several major banks of conspiring to rig silver prices are seeking to add five new defendants to the case, based what they call "smoking gun" evidence they obtained from Deutsche Bank AG following a settlement.

In papers filed in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday, the lawyers sought to revive previously-dismissed claims against UBS AG (UBSG.S) and add Barclays Plc (BARC.L), BNP Paribas SA (BNPP.PA), Standard Chartered Plc (STAN.L) and Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) as defendants.

The newly cited evidence was produced by Deutsche Bank after it reached a $38 million settlement in the case earlier this year. The plaintiffs said the evidence showed the new defendants engaged in collusive price manipulation.

UBS said in a statement that it believed the plaintiffs' claims had "no merit." Representatives for the other banks either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.

In their proposed revised complaint, the investors claim Deutsche Bank, HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA.L), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) and others rigged prices of silver and silver financial instruments through a secret daily meeting called the Silver Fix.

The plaintiffs, who are seeking court permission to file the revised complaint, said more than 350,000 pages of documents and 75 audio tapes that Deutsche Bank produced, including electronic chats involving silver traders, backed up their claims.

In October, U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni dismissed UBS from the case, saying there was nothing showing it manipulated prices, even if it benefited from distortions. But she allowed the investors to file a revised lawsuit against UBS.

The plaintiffs in Wednesday's filing said the Deutsche Bank evidence showed UBS was a "major participant" in the scheme to manipulate prices and that two of its traders communicated directly with two Deutsche Bank traders.

The case is In re: London Silver Fixing Ltd Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 14-md-02573.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The chief executive of Deutsche Boerse (DB1Gn.DE) on Thursday said its planned merger with London Stock Exchange (LSE.L) was still a long way off, even if European regulators should give it the green light.

"There are a series of national and regional approvals still pending after that," Deutsche Boerse CEO Carsten Kengeter said at an economic conference in reference to an investigation by European antitrust regulators.

"So it is still not clear at all that everything will work out," Kengeter added.

Concerned the $28 billion (22.2 billion) tie-up could hinder competition in key financial market activities, the EU has opened a full investigation into the deal and the European Commission is expected to detail its objections in the second week of December.

Both companies can appeal against these or make concessions.

A thumbs up from the EU would then require the local watchdog in Germany's state of Hesse, where Deutsche Boerse is based, to approve the merger. Sources had previously told Reuters the regulator was concerned over a loss of power if Deutsche Boerse became part of the larger London-based group.

The owner of the Frankfurt stock exchange is obliged by law to support the development of Frankfurt as a centre for securities trading and Hesse's market watchdog has yet to give its view on the planned merger.

Asked about talk he could step down if the merger failed, Kengeter said only, "Deutsche Boerse is a wonderful company with and without me."

(Reporting by Andreas Kroener; Writing by Tina Bellon; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
Washington (AFP) - She never went to college and a neurological disorder almost silenced her, yet Diane Rehm persevered to find her voice again as the celebrated host of one of America's longest running radio programs.

Nearly four decades after stumbling into the radio business, Rehm is hanging up the mic on December 23 at the humble age of 80.

"I am 1,000 percent ready to step away," she said in a wide-ranging interview with AFP at the offices of radio station WAMU 88.5 in Washington.

"I was born in 1936, so why not? And I'm frankly tired of getting up at 5:00 am every weekday. I am really, really ready not to do that anymore."

Rehm's guests have included top political leaders, actors and thinkers. More than two million people tune in every weekday to her eponymous live call-in program, distributed nationally by National Public Radio (NPR) and carried by some 200 stations.

On January 2, it will be replaced by "1A," hosted by Joshua Johnson, co-creator of a radio series on America's troubled race relations.

The first journalist to interview a sitting president -- Bill Clinton -- in the Oval Office, Rehm has received a slew of honors, including the prestigious Peabody Award.

Her distinctive voice is halting and strained due to a condition known as spasmodic dysphonia.

But Rehm is all steely determination, with hair blown out, red nails, and a navy blue dress hugging her slender body over knee-high black leather boots.

"My spasmodic dysphonia came as a huge shock to me, something I thought would end my career," Rehm told AFP, recalling her 1998 diagnosis.

"I feel extraordinarily fortunate that... listeners would accept such a flawed voice."

To treat the disorder, Rehm gets Botox injections straight into her vocal cords three times a year, which takes her off the air for an average of 2.5 weeks.

- Personal tragedy -

The radio host dubbed a "national treasure" by her adoring fans has been open about the deeply personal hardships and struggles that have marked her life.

Story continues

Raised in a strict household by Syrian Christian parents who immigrated in the early 20th century, Rehm was molested when she was only nine years old, divorced her first husband after marrying at 19, and lost her second husband of 54 years to Parkinson's disease.

"I'm just as human and have had as many failures as anyone else," said Rehm, who has written three autobiographies.

Donald Trump's lewd boasts about groping women, which became public just weeks before last month's US presidential election, brought back "horrific memories" from a fateful day some 70 years ago.

"For a president of the United States to say those things, and to brag about those things, and to have his supporters say it doesn't matter, shocks me more than I can tell you," she said.

Rehm never even told her husband the name of her abuser, a congressman who had told Rehm's parents she had the makings of a "Hollywood star," before taking her to his hotel room and molesting her.

"It was a terrible experience, a traumatic one in terms of the fear it generated in me in the years following," Rehm recalled. "I was afraid I might see him again, somehow, somewhere, and be taken away."

Rehm's frankness about her personal hurdles sometimes caused friction with NPR's top brass.

After her husband refused water, medication and food to end his painful battle with Parkinson's, Rehm became a vocal advocate for the right to choose to die, speaking at fundraising dinners for lobbying group Compassion & Choices.

That eventually earned her a stern rebuke in February 2015 from NPR ombudsman Elizabeth Jensen, who said she had gone "a step too far."

"It took my husband 10 days to die, and I felt that that was so inhumane, something we do not allow to happen to even the dogs or cats or horses or creatures we love," said Rehm, who plans on stepping up her activism after ending her show.

- Trappings of the internet -

When Rehm first volunteered for what was then a tiny local radio station in 1973, she was a stay-at-home mom with no broadcast experience.

The host of the program was sick, and Rehm was thrust into her chair, asking tough questions of a representative of the dairy council -- for 90 minutes.

Six years later, she began as full-time host of the program, which was renamed "The Diane Rehm Show" in 1984 and nationally syndicated in 1995.

"I think the reason I've hit the mark that I have is because the questions I want answered are the same ones everybody else wants answered," she said.

"They are not highfalutin, they are not so well educated or so well thought out; they are coming from my own curiosity."

The venerated veteran faced one of the most difficult moments of her career during the recent presidential campaign when she was tricked by an internet rumor -- one of many in a campaign rife with untruths.

In a June 2015 interview with Senator Bernie Sanders, who is Jewish and was then running for the Democratic nomination, Rehm told him he had dual citizenship with Israel and kept pressing him even after Sanders denied the allegation -- which stemmed from a listener's Facebook post.

"I felt so terrible," Rehm said, taking "personal responsibility" for the incident that triggered accusations of anti-Semitism.

"Check, check, check, check... that is the way you and I as journalists must be with the proliferation of these websites and this fake information that's out there."
Los Angeles (AFP) - Leonardo DiCaprio met President-elect Donald Trump to discuss climate change and how renewable, clean energy could boost the economy by creating millions of new jobs, the actor's foundation said Thursday.

Terry Tamminen, chief executive of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, said in a statement he and the Hollywood star presented the Republican property tycoon, his daughter Ivanka and other aides with a plan to unleash "a major economic revival" through investments in sustainable infrastructure.

"Our conversation focused on how to create millions of secure, American jobs in the construction and operation of commercial and residential clean, renewable energy generation," Tamminen added.

A long-standing environmental champion and a noted supporter of Democrat Hillary Clinton, DiCaprio recently made the climate-change documentary "Before the Flood" and spoke about the issue during his acceptance speech for winning an Oscar in February.

The actor reportedly gave Trump the documentary at the 90-minute meeting at Trump Tower, New York, having previously presented Ivanka with a copy.

Trump announced on Thursday he had tapped Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, criticized as a climate-change denier and a staunch fossil-fuel ally, to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

Opponents pointed out that Pruitt has spent much of his time as Oklahoma's top law enforcement official battling the very agency he is now being nominated to lead.

Pruitt's own official biography highlights his role as "a leading advocate against the EPA's activist agenda" and he has sued the organization on behalf of Oklahoma utilities.

Ahead of his surprise win in the November 8 election, Trump vowed on the campaign trail to dismantle domestic regulations for curbing carbon-dioxide emissions which, he claimed, put US companies at a competitive disadvantage.

Trump has called climate change a "hoax" and vowed to withdraw the United States, the world's second-largest greenhouse-gas polluter after China, from the Paris global climate accord signed in 2015 by 192 countries.

Tamminen, who was secretary of California's Environmental Protection Agency under former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, said Trump wanted a follow-up meeting with DiCaprio in January.
They came wearing Dior - and toting it - to celebrate the French fashion house's new Rodeo Drive pop-up shop on Tuesday evening.

The gallery-like space, located at the corner of Wilshire, features the new Dior Lady Art collection of limited-edition art-to-wear accessories.

Getty Images

Dior commissioned seven artists--Mat Collishaw, Ian Davenport, Daniel Gordon, Chris Martin, Jason Martin, Matthew Porter, and Marc Quinn--to play with the classic bag silhouette renamed for Lady Diana in 1996, adding 3D-textural waves, quilted fur accents, and Op Art patterns.

Getty Images

Destry Spielberg, daughter of Steven, newly signed to a modeling contract, carried a new Lady Dior style with multicolored circular motifs, while actress Kathryn Newton went with a vintage piece--a powder pink canvas Dior logo bag that was her very first purse, bought at age 8. "I used to put rocks in it," she said.

Newton had thought a lot about her outfit for the evening, which is refreshing. She wore a bubble gum pink Dior skirt suit, bought at Saks, to match her purse. "It's kind of an ode to Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde, she said, "I just wrapped a project with her" (HBO's Pretty Little Lies). And she chose Valentino peep toe pumps as an homage to Dior's new artistic director Maria Grazia Chiuri, who was formerly at Valentino.

Dior has been in the news lately because of Chiuri's debut as the first female artistic director of the couture house, with a feminist-tinged collection shown in Paris in September, which Hollywood has been enthusiastically wearing on the red carpet in recent months.

Getty Images

After cocktails at the store, guests, including Aimee Song, Katherine Ross, Britt Robertson, Zoey Deutch, Jaime King, Zosia Mamet and Gillian Jacobs, headed down the street for dinner at Spago. Caught on the sidewalk outside, Odeya Rush admitted she was wearing her white Dior dress with a Forever 21 jacket. "My mom made me rip the tag off," she said of her cheap chic statement.

Story continues

Getty Images

At the restaurant, tables were decorated with Lady Dior bag-shaped centerpieces courtesy of celebrity florist Eric Buterbaugh.

Getty Images

Ahna O'Reilly (The Help) chatted with Shameik Moore (Dope) about their mutual love of Dior.

Getty Images

The limited-edition collaboration will be exclusively available at Dior's L.A. pop-up boutique for two months, with additional global celebrations in Korea, London, China, Dubai and Paris.
It's the first Tuesday morning of December and Terius "The-Dream" Nash has woken up to great, but familiar news: "I just heard I got two Grammy nominations for 'Ultralight Beam.'" The three-time award winner stands a good chance to come away with more hardware for his work on the opening track for Kanye West's The Life of Pablo album, which also features Chance the Rapper, Kirk Franklin and Kelly Price.

2016 has quietly been a big year for Nash, who's either lent his voice or pen to some of the year's biggest albums -- Beyonce's Lemonade, RIhanna's Anti, Solange's A Seat at the Table. Each shot he's taken has ended in a victory. "You know," he says coolly from his Atlanta home, "Swish."

Though his next proper album, Love Affair, is scheduled for release on March 24, 2017, this Friday (Dec. 9), Dream will deliver his Love You to Death EP. It's a five-song collection of cuts that features a response to his buddy Beyonce's opus ("Lemon Lean"), a song for guys who were left by women with Rihanna-like confidence ("Rih-Flex"), and of course, lyrics that somehow swirl the headaches and heartache relationships can cause with vibes fit for passionate bedroom romps.

Below, Dream talks working on his superstar friends' projects, how getting dumped by a prom date inspired "Rih-Flex," and why being young, Black and broke makes for a rough dating life.

Let's recap the great year you had. It began with your visual album Genesis coming out through Tidal.

The viewing happened at Art Basel last year. The results were great. I tried not to oversell it because it's a place I'm trying to move in to. I didn't want to be like, "Oooh, look what I did!" I'm in love with Sundance films and visual art things that go on. What I realized is that those [creators] don't oversell and pound their chests. I don't want to be that loud Grammy guy, I just wanted to give my music its own identity. I love movies. They've always influenced the music i've done. That's how I think. I think video before music.

Story continues

I paint. A lot of people don't know that. The last two that I made -- I recently just gave [a painting] to [Beyonce], and I gave one to Jay [Z]. They're not typically for sale. I love it when people come in my house and ask for my paintings off the wall, and I have to tell them that I did it. I love art. Genesis was created to be the backdrop of my music.

There's a lot of poignant imagery in it. What did you hope the viewers would take from it?

The main character is trying to be something that he's not. It's this Black man and his face is white. He's seeking things that he shouldn't be seeking. That's what the film was about. I didn't want to explain it or tell anybody. I wanted viewers to see him chase down certain things through sex and what he's wearing or cars. Men have to embrace who they are.

Did the film make enough of an impact for you?

I've seen visuals that have happened this year and seen how they happened and the tone of them, and I [think to myself], "Oh, cool. Somebody was looking at me. Somebody watched it and was influenced by it."

What do you think about the trend of visual albums? It seems like more artists want to join in making companion pieces.

I've been saying this. I've wanted to do a visual album since [my 2007 debut album] Love Hate. I wanted [a movie like] Purple Rain for my record because I felt like it was that good. I felt the same way for [2009's] Love vs. Money. It's easier now because there's a cheaper way to accomplish it. You've got 4K [camera quality] on your phone now. We didn't have that shit. These kids out here are shooting whatever they want to shoot. It's different just 10 years later.

And these albums should have a visual. Everything that we do is visual. It's a visual universe. We're not just listening. We have to see the colors, the emotion. We need to see it.

You're a regular on Beyonce albums as a writer. This time you were on Lemonade's "6 Inch."

Of course. I love to be heavily involved in Bey's albums but I understood from the jump that this wouldn't be one I would be heavily involved in. The album before it [Beyonce] was eight songs. The one before that [4], I had seven. With Lemonade, it was one where she had something to say, and I maybe am just too close to the family to say most of the things that were said.

I didn't have the concept of the album when I wrote to "6 Inch." It was just like, "Okay, cool, let me write and do my thing." The parts that I did were way longer. She trimmed it down to what it is. Nevertheless, it's a great track and I definitely loved it. I can't wait for it to get the accolades that it should receive. Also, I can't wait for selfish reasons -- so I can get back in and try to dominate [her next album].

You're all over SBTRKT's Save Yourself album. What was it like to work in his world?

On Genesis, there's a record that we'd done. And other tracks from that time we worked together were kept for his project. It was a really good experience because that was a different sound, which doesn't really matter to me. Music is music. It came out beautifully. Those are really great records.

On RIhanna's Anti, you wrote "Woo." Describe that experience.

It's Rih. That's my homie. Most of the time when I come in and listen to these albums, which is how this started, it's me checking the temperature and texture of the record. That album took a long to time come out to the surface.

I think Kanye [West] was at the top of that at one point. I wasn't going to step into it if Kanye was already there. He would have had to call me, since he was executive producing. So then I kind of forgot that it wasn't with him anymore and that it wasn't done. I got there at the tail end and got on "Woo." When I first heard it, there was just mumbling on it. And Rihanna wanted me to come in and make sense lyrically, just come in and write the record. Travis' part was there already. That's what I did.

You're on two of Kanye's Pablo tracks. That's another album that took a good while to come out. What do you remember about those sessions?

We met two times for that record, which is normal for those guys at the top. February was the last time. "Ultralight [Beam]" was such an easy record to write. The chords were there. I wrote the hook right on the spot. I didn't have to go anywhere or do anything. Chance was in the other room working on his rap. I just felt like it needed something gospel in it without pretending to be something that we're not.

We all have this feeling of gospel in us. It's a feeling and tone that some will always get. It's embedded in us. It's part of our culture. I wanted to make sure I delivered that, because I had never done that before on anything, especially that wide. That was an easy thing to bring out. I just thought of my childhood, my grandfather and the deacons at church, singing hymns. It was easy to bring to the forefront and add that piece of my soul.

Solange also brought you in to sing on "F.U.B.U." How'd you land on that album?

She came here to Atlanta to finish what she had done, and played me her stuff. And she wasn't super sure about everything that she was doing. I definitely assured her that it was awesome as f--k, like, "You need to drop this sh-t. This sh-t is awesome. I don't know what you're talking about. Just put it out. Don't think about it."

For that track, I just put myself in Dream artist mode. "Fancy" is one of her favorite records. She loves it to death. When she asked me to be on "F.U.B.U.," I was like, "Of course!" It didn't take long. And I did backgrounds on the song with Wayne, "Mad." And that was a wrap.

On "Ultralight Beam" and "F.U.B.U.," fans hear you talking about the gospel and race, two topics you're not known to touch on typically. Why now?

It's high risk. Some artists won't ever risk that for you. You can risk it and ultimately pay the price. You better be talented to make it make sense in the end. But to be an artist, you have to risk something. It just can't be you and this persona that's been made up in the machine. You've got to step up.

That risk happened two years ago when I did "Black." I went to South Africa to do it, across from where they jailed Nelson Mandela. I made that video for way more money than it should have been. Nobody talks about it. It wasn't celebrated. Nobody thought about it. It was just a risk by me. It wasn't calculated. It was me bending to where I came from and things that I had seen.

I wrote that two nights after Nelson Mandela died, and I thought about all the things that he went through, and what we go through as Black Americans. The sentiment was, "I'm feeling real Black." We forget about what that feeling is. We can't leave it to outsiders to tell us what it feels like to be that. You've got to wear it. That's why I say "this wide," in regards to doing it with Kanye, because he did it his way with his audience. We've got to use even what we don't have to better ourselves. Take these high-risk environments and use them to triumph, instead of using them as a crutch.

On Love You to Death, there's "College Daze," where you sort of forgive a woman for her adventurous past. Why is that sentiment important to you? Being that candid can be hard for both men and women.

People aren't really honest with themselves about anything. That's one of the reasons why we ended up with Trump in the White House. For some reason, as much as it looks crazy, it's honestly him. People don't understand that, at a certain point, people just want honesty in the end.

I have an overall theory when it comes to women and men, especially in my culture. I don't know how it works elsewhere. If I'm 18 or 19 and I'm a white guy, I may have more privileges and things at that age and be able to see more things. As a Black male, I know that you don't see sh-t unit you've got money. Period. There's no one trying to take you out of the country. Nobody's going to buy you some fucking luxury shoes. You're not going to lay up under some girl and sleep on her couch. It's not going to happen. You're not going to end up in Cancun for free, just chilling. That's just what it is.

So when you hit 28 as a man and you're starting to get your life in order, that's when you start to see things. And you do want love and you want someone to spend that time with and share the things that you're starting to get. The unfortunate thing is that a woman of the same age has probably experienced more of these things. The first thing that you see and you hear is that there's a 19-year-old girl that probably wouldn't give you the time of day but she's talking to this 28-year-old guy. He just took her to Paris. She's in Paris before she's 20. She's at Puerto Vallarta in Mexico by the time she's 23. And you're 19 and don't even have any stamps in your f--king passport. You're just sitting there, like, "One day when I get money, I'm going to go crazy!"

The whole point of "College Daze" is, once you're over [that lifestyle], that man that you're trying to meet Whatever those things are that you've done in life as a woman, you can pretty much expect that your man has not enjoyed any of that. So try to have fun with him if you truly love him and you love for him. That's a Black male thing. We don't get to do sh-t. I wouldn't have dared talked to a girl at 22, maybe a certain few but there were more of those ones where I was like, "I can't talk to her!"

I remember feeling like that when I went to Miami for spring break in college. Those women down there seemed like they were out of my league. I was broke and felt like I had nothing to offer. And there's all this talk about girls like these certain type of nice guys. That's not true! That's not to say anything about their character, but it's just not the truth. That's not what we were taught.

The same way that a woman was taught about how her life was going to go from the princess aspect of things, we were taught certain things, too. We were taught that you better go and get money so that you have something to give because you are just not enough. Not because you're not built right spiritually or that you don't have your heart in the right place. Money pays bills and unfortunately, that's the measurement of how hard you work. That's what money is. You can't just say, "Money is the devil!" It's equivalent to my hard work. And it's the only way I can show you -- to give you a piece of my hard work. But I can't give it to you if I'm 25 and I ain't got shit.

And no disrespect to women! They do Women's Studies in college. But they don't do Male Studies and what it means to be man. I'm trying to find the rest of the things that make me whole. I need to know them. I don't want to feel like I'm just an ATM running around.

You had so many hit records that you've penned in the voices of women, but you're also a husband and a father trying to figure it all out.

I was around a bunch of men. My grandfather was the guy. He obviously was from another generation. He only graduated from the sixth grade. He owned his house and cars. He was a master mason. He built half of the city at the time. He was a man's man. His hand were all messed up front concrete work. I lived with a full-blown, fix-everything, no-nonsense man. You might not have liked him at times, but you couldn't deny his work ethic. That's who raised me. And my mother embodied everything that women have in their qualities. I had respect for both of them.

Have you ever had someone "Rihanna flex" on you?

Somebody flexed on me in high school and decided to leave me at prom and go with the guy [she had] been dating previously. That was a very humbling experience for me. As I grow older, I realize it was knowledge. [From then on] I put myself in a place that if you were to leave me, it'd mean you'd have to leave everything else. Not money. Anybody can get that. But you'll never get another man to think about you how I do. And that's the idea of the song. Nobody wants to leave that. That's beyond the cars and the money.

#RihFlex | #LYTD 12/9 #TheDreamLIVES pic.twitter.com/BkrC10aqW9

- THE-DREAM (@TheKingDream) December 6, 2016

Is Love You to Death at all related to next year's Love Affair album?

There's no direct connection. Love Affair is done. It drops on March 24. You'll start to see that rollout at the top of the year. I have thousands of songs that have their own lives. They're not loved any less than the other songs. I just thought that this was the right time to speak with these songs. Especially with the record "Lemon Lean." It's about you now trying to understand me. We hear all the time about trying to understand the woman. I think I have a good grasp of that. I have to give you some truths about me and how I feel on this side for all my men that can't say it how I would.
Jessica Moreno-Caycho has big dreams and a plan to achieve them. She wants to graduate from Virginia Commonwealth University, move to New York City and design costumes on Broadway. A theatre major and musicals fan, her favorite shows are "The Lion King," "In the Heights" and "Hamilton," though not always ranked in that order.

Moreno-Caycho, 21, is on track to start her ambitious career next year after she finishes her degree. Or, at least, she was  before Donald Trump won the election.

As a Peruvian immigrant in Virginia, Moreno-Caycho's eligibility for highly discounted in-state tuition relies largely on her lawfully present status under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a policy enacted by President Barack Obama's executive order in 2012. But Trump has vowed to cancel such "unconstitutional" actions during his first 100 days in the White House, leaving her anxious that she might not be able to afford to complete college.

"I'm just so close to the finish line," Moreno-Caycho said. "Knowing this could be easily taken away by a simple signature is just really upsetting."

She's one of thousands of undocumented youth across the United States who are worrying about and preparing for the possibility that their tuition could skyrocket in Trump's America. And they're not the only ones looking ahead to what might happen when the tycoon takes office in 2017. Policy experts and activists predict Trump's decision will add fuel to an ongoing national debate about undocumented immigrants' access to higher education.

"In the United States, we believe in social mobility: If you work hard, you can change your lot in life," said Liza Ryan, organizing director for the Boston-based Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. "Not allowing someone in-state education is a vote against that  against the values of our country."

Story continues

Obama announced his deferred action initiative four years ago, just as the debate over tuition equity for undocumented immigrants was starting to unfold in statehouses across the nation. Since then, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has accepted applications from more than 840,000 people, granting them temporary protection from deportation, work permits, drivers licenses and, in some places, the ability to qualify for in-state tuition.

State legislatures and educational boards set policies for tuition at public colleges and universities, so they have the power to decide which students pay what amount. As such, residents have long been allowed to attend taxpayer-funded schools in their states at lower costs. In the 2016-2017 school year, the average tuition and fees for public, four-year institutions in a student's state totaled $9,650. For out-of-state students, they were $24,930, according to the College Board's most recent Trends in College Pricing report.

As immigrants' share of the population has grown, so, too, has the debate on whether an undocumented child who may have spent the same amount of time living in a state as a legal resident should enjoy the same discount. Conservatives have been historically reluctant to extend financial benefits to people who immigrated to the U.S. illegally, and Trump is no exception.

Trump won the presidency after running an anti-immigrant campaign in which he promised to deport up to 11 million people and proposed building a wall along the border with Mexico. When asked about DACA at a news conference this past February, he said he wanted to keep the government's focus on U.S.-born youth instead of DREAMers, the nickname for supporters of the unsuccessful Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act that would have helped young undocumented immigrants obtain legal status.

"We're always talking about 'DREAMers' for other people," he said. "I want the children that are growing up in the United States to be dreamers also. They're not dreaming right now."

In-state tuition can make a big difference to a family of undocumented immigrants, whose median household income in 2007 was $14,000 less than people born stateside. More than 90 percent of DACA recipients in school told the Center for American Progress last year that getting deferred action consideration allowed them to pursue educational opportunities they previously could not.

Moreno-Caycho is an example of this. When she graduated from high school in 2013, she thought she was headed straight to Virginia Commonwealth University  until she got the $22,000 bill for her first semester. At the time, Virginia hadn't made rules that allowed deferred action students to establish legal residency and therefore qualify for in-state tuition. Moreno-Caycho couldn't afford it, so she went to a more affordable community college until the laws changed and she'd saved enough to cover her bills.

Now facing a Trump presidency, she's started a new bedtime ritual. Every night, she spends about 30 minutes looking for scholarships that could cover her if DACA falls apart.

"I've just been telling my parents, 'Mom, don't worry, I'm working on it. I'll try as much as I can,'" Moreno-Caycho said.

About 20 states have laws allowing undocumented immigrants to access residential tuition rates based on factors like whether they graduated from a state high school. Others ban it entirely. But some university systems and states  like Virginia  mandate that undocumented students have to be lawfully present in the U.S., a classification they can obtain through Obama's program. This is also the case in Ohio, where the board of regents decided in 2013 to let DACA students pay in-state tuition rates if they satisfied other residency requirements, according to the uLEAD Network, an online group of university leaders that supports immigrant students.

As a result, Mohamed, an Ohio State University DACA student who was born to Somalian refugees, is starting to fret about Trump. The 23-year-old political science major said he already works full-time, and he doesn't think he could pay if his bills increased.

"Trepidation is definitely a word I would use," said Mohamed, who declined to give his last name due to ongoing immigration proceedings involving his family.

Though Trump has a history of flip-flopping on controversial issues, his most recent stance on DACA may be softening. Trump told Time in his "Person of the Year" interview Wednesday that he planned to "work something out" for undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. But he noted that it was "a very tough situation."

"They got brought here at a very young age, theyve worked here, theyve gone to school here," Trump continued. "Some were good students. Some have wonderful jobs. And theyre in never-never land because they dont know whats going to happen."

Despite Trump's recent reassurances, the changing political climate could also fuel tuition equity changes. Florida state Sen. Greg Steube, a Republican from Sarasota, filed a bill Nov. 30 to repeal a 2014 law that afforded undocumented immigrants in-state tuition. Steube said when he was campaigning, the tuition issue "came up time and time again."

Steube, who opposed the 2014 law while a member of the state House of Representatives, said he sees tuition equity essentially as an incentive for bad behavior. He added that he doesn't think it's fair to middle-income Americans in other states eyeing Florida colleges.

"They may have families or children or cousins who want to come here and go to school here. They're citizens of our country, and they're being treated less favorably than illegal immigrants who are here and came to the country illegally," Steube said, referencing the fact that a student born in Georgia would have to pay expensive out-of-state tuition while an undocumented immigrant wouldn't.

The lawmaker said his bill doesn't prevent immigrants from going to college  just from taking advantage of Florida's 2014 law. "I think it's time, given the election we just went through, to re-examine the policies in the states," Steube said.

Jessica Vaughan, the director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C., which describes its mission as pro-immigration, low-immigrant, said she thinks the Trump administration should declare Obama's executive action unconstitutional and work with Congress to find a solution. For example, Congress could come up with a narrowly defined amnesty policy that gave some DACA recipients green cards while adjusting immigration totals to accommodate them.

"This whole problem was created by President Obama's choice to use executive authority rather than work with Congress to find a permanent solution, if Congress even wanted to do that," Vaughan said. "One of his motivations was to set it up so that it became politically difficult for anyone to undo. But different is not the same as impossible."

A few Republicans have come out in support of preserving the policy. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Politico late last month he was putting together a bill to continue shielding immigrant youth. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., reportedly supports Graham's measure.

Even if Trump does end up revoking DACA and federal maneuvers fail, students aren't necessarily out of luck.

Jonathan Blazer, advocacy and policy counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union, said the country could see states or institutions step up to protect students who need the lower in-state tuition rates in order to continue their education. States could revise their laws, grandfather in certain people or come up with institutional scholarships to help lessen the blow on students' wallets.

"If they're losing their ability to continue on in school, that will turn into immediate advocates those college administrators to not lose those students that they've invested in," Blazer said. "And they will seek an immediate fix."

Since Trump's election, more than 500 college and university presidents have signed a digital letter asking for Obama's deferred action program to be "upheld, continued and expanded." Other leaders have issued statements to their campus communities promising to be sanctuaries for immigrant students. At the University of Pennsylvania, for example, President Amy Gutmann sent an email vowing to not allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Customs and Border Protection officers on campus unless they have warrants.

Arizona State University President Michael Crow told faculty, staff and students specifically that he would "rise to the challenge" should DACA be eliminated. Arizona's board of regents decided last year to let youth covered by the program access in-state tuition rates at the three state universities.

"If students lose the status that makes them eligible for in-state tuition, ASU will convene and engage the community on this issue to seek financial support for the continued study of students at ASU who graduated from Arizona high schools and who are qualified to attend the state universities  regardless of their immigration status," Crow wrote in a statement.

That was comforting to Thomas Kim, a 24-year-old South Korean immigrant enrolled at the university's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law. Kim, who as a teenager thought he'd spend his life working in a restaurant, said Crow's comments gave him hope that undocumented students will be "just fine."

Even in the throes of finals week, Kim expressed gratitude for his college and law school experiences, which he said have equipped him to become a contributor to U.S. society. He hopes other undocumented youth get that same chance.

"You take away immigrants, you take away what makes America, America," Kim said.

Related Articles
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Indian generic drug maker Laurus Labs Ltd's (LAUL.NS) initial public offering of shares to raise up to 13.32 billion rupees ($197.58 million) was fully subscribed on the last day of the sale on Thursday, stock exchange data showed.

Laurus is selling up to 3 billion rupees in new shares and some its shareholders are selling about 24.1 million shares in a price range of 426 to 428 rupees per share.

Based in Visakhapatnam, Laurus makes active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), or drug raw materials, that go into the making a range of medicines, chiefly HIV/AIDS drugs. It has three production plants in India for exports to the United States and other countries.

Indian companies have raised $3.7 billion from IPOs so far this year, excluding the Laurus IPO, making 2016 the best year for initial share sales in six years, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters.

($1 = 67.4149 rupees)

(Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui and Devidutta Tripathy in Mumbai; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
MOUNT PLEASANT  A short remembrance ceremony is scheduled for Saturday to honor of the recently deceased K-9 Klaus. The ceremony is planned for 9 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 10, in the parking lot of the Wisconsin Veterinary Resource Clinic, 4333 S. Green Bay Road, according to a Kenosha Sheriff's Department press release.

K-9 Klaus died as a result of an illness on Nov. 27. Klaus will be honored as he is carried from the veterinary office and a plaque will be presented to Deputy Lanctot in honor of Klaus service, according to the release.
(Adds comments from Breen, context on merger and Trump administration)

By Ross Kerber

BOSTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Dupont Chief Executive Ed Breen said on Thursday the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is not likely to have an impact on his company's planned merger with rival Dow Chemical.

While Trump was critical of other large mergers during the campaign, Breen said many U.S. Justice Department officials reviewing the merger are career employees.

"I don't think it has any impact. We're very far down the road," Breen said in an interview after speaking to the Boston College Chief Executives Club.

Executives and dealmakers are looking for signs of whether the incoming Trump administration will take a traditional Republican approach to major mergers and treat them with a lighter touch.

Trump alternatively could follow through on populist statements he made during the campaign, such as a threat to block AT&T Inc's planned purchase of Time Warner Inc.

Breen said he does not expect Trump's rhetoric would make the president-elect's administration less likely to approve the $130 billion Dow-DuPont merger agreement, reached a year ago.

Breen is scheduled to become CEO if the deal is approved by regulators. European Union antitrust regulators said on Nov. 9 they had received key data from the companies and set a Feb. 28 deadline for a decision.

A concern is that the merger to create a giant in crop protection and seeds could reduce competition in those areas, as well as for certain chemicals and materials both companies produce.

Asked about potential divestitures that might be required to complete the merger, Breen said there would likely "be some remedies on the agriculture side, and that's predominantly it." He declined to name specific potential purchasers but said "There are always buyers available for good assets."

In his remarks to the luncheon, Breen pointed to populist developments worldwide, such as the Brexit vote and the recent defeat of Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in a referendum. But Breen said the results are not likely to slow Europe's economic growth rate and thus will have little business impact.

"It doesn't overly worry me... and I don't think it is overly bothering the business community," he said.

(Reporting by Ross Kerber; Editing by Chris Reese and Dan Grebler)
E-cigarette use is exploding among young people and is now "a major public health concern," the US Surgeon General warned Thursday, sparking disagreement from experts in Britain where the devices are seen more favorably.

The battery-powered devices heat a liquid containing nicotine into a vapor that is inhaled, and some experts worry that a new generation of smokers is becoming addicted.

About one in six US high school students say they have used e-cigarettes in the past month.

"E-cigarette use has increased considerably in recent years, growing an astounding 900 percent among high school students from 2011 to 2015," said Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, in a preface to the report.

"These products are now the most commonly used form of tobacco among youth in the United States, surpassing conventional tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, and hookahs."

Murthy said the dangers of e-cigarettes include nicotine, which "can cause addiction and can harm the developing adolescent brain."

For young people, nicotine use in any form is unsafe, said the report, which was written and reviewed by more than 150 experts.

It also said the secondhand aerosol that is exhaled into the air by e-cigarette users can expose others to potentially harmful chemicals.

But Murthy admitted to "gaps in scientific evidence" when it comes to the dangers of e-cigarettes.

"For example, the health effects and potentially harmful doses of heated and aerosolized constituents of e-cigarette liquid -- including solvents, flavorants, and toxicants -- are not completely understood," he said.

"However, although e-cigarettes generally emit fewer toxicants than combustible tobacco products, we know that aerosol from e-cigarettes is not harmless."

He urged greater federal regulations, raising and enforcing minimum age of sale laws, and media campaigns to educate the public on the harms of e-cigarettes.

Story continues

- Opposing views -

The report contained no new scientific research, but could still serve as an "important document for healthcare providers, policy makers and others," said Patricia Folan, director of the Center for Tobacco Control at Northwell Health in New York.

Experts in Britain, however, questioned the US take on e-cigarettes as a threat.

"The position in the UK is very different," said Kevin Fenton, national director of health and wellbeing at Public Health England.

"Our review of the evidence found e-cigarette use carries a fraction of the risk of smoking, a conclusion reiterated by the Royal College of Physicians earlier this year," he said.

"No new evidence has been published to contradict this."

And multiple studies have shown that e-cigarettes may help traditional smokers abandon cigarettes.

Research released earlier this year by the University College London showed that e-cigarettes may have helped some 18,000 smokers in England kick the tobacco habit last year.

Peter Hajek, director of the Tobacco Dependence Research Unit at Queen Mary University of London, described vaping as "a great public health opportunity" because it can help smokers transition away from cigarettes.

"The new US report's conclusions do not tally with what the actual data show," he added.

"It is simply not true that e-cigarettes are a tobacco product or that vaping lures children to smoking or that it creates dependence in non-smokers."

Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, disagreed, saying teens will transition to smoking cigarettes after using e-cigarettes.

"The gateway to cigarette smoking may still be the e-cigarette, and there is no safe level of traditional smoking."

Worldwide, smoking kills around six million people each year, mostly in low-income countries, according to the World Health Organization.

 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse
The Daily Beast

GettyRussia announced Wednesday that it views Norways work with other countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as provocative, warning that Norways efforts to bolster its military in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine this year will likely be the death knell for Oslo-Moscow relations moving forward.Oslo is now among the most active supporters of NATO's involvement in the Arctic, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Wednesday, according to TASS. We cons
Yousry Nasrallah is one of Egypts most highly regarded filmmakers, know for depicting his countrys social and political complexities in multi-layered movies such as Gate of the Sun (2004), Aquarium (2008) and After the Battle (2012) which was a meditation on the Tahrir Square revolution. His latest, Brooks, Meadows and Beautiful Faces, which screens in Dubais Arabian Nights section, after launching in Locarno and Toronto, is a comedy about a family of cooks preparing a wedding feast in a small Egyptian village. Nasrallah also heads the fests main jury. He spoke to Variety about his transition towards making seemingly lighter fare in what are dark times for Egyptian audiences.

The tagline for this film is: You dont need politics to make a political film Love, pleasure, beauty and food are serious enough. Its clearly more than a bucolic culinary romp.

In 1999 I made a documentary called On Boys, Girls and the Veil. The lead character was the actor Bassem Samra [who appears in many of Nasrallahs films, including in Brooks] who then introduced me to his family in the countryside. They fascinated me. They were cooks, they were very lecherous and lots of fun. They had a relationship to life that I liked. So I started writing the script, but it was too political. It was a time [before the revolution] when politics were monopolised by the state and film directors felt compelled to make political films. But it was not my intention to make a political movie, so I put it aside. And every time I finished a film I would pick up the script [for Brooks], and then put it aside once again. Then recently I decided to do it precisely because I felt there wasnt much left to say, politically, about how bad the situation in Egypt is. And that I needed to go back to certain fundamental things. You know the three basic things that mobilised people in the 2011 revolution were: bread, freedom, and dignity. Thats what this film is about!

Tell me about working with Ahmed Abdallah, who is known as a hit-making screenwriter in Egypt.

Yes, he is a very commercial screenwriter. He did a few films which I really liked. One was Elfarrah (The Wedding). But I dont think in terms of working with commercial or non commercial writers. Its about intelligence and talent. Hes good at dealing with a multitude of characters. His contribution to this particular project was basically writing dialogues and discussing the last section of the film with me, which I changed. Hes funny, he has that sense of repartee. It was fun working with him. But most of the script, including the wedding, I wrote myself. Im a cook, so I know what Im talking about when I deal with cooks.

For Arab auteurs being able to break out internationally and also have an audience in the Arab world seems to be particularly tough. Has this been an issue with you?

It was tough at the beginning, but Ive been around for about thirty years now. Still I continue to contend with this. For example my 1993 film Mercedes  one of my most difficult works that travelled internationally, and was rejected locally when it came out has become a cult movie of sorts these days in Egypt among young people, who really understand it. One thing I can tell about being an auteur filmmaker is I would never approach a producer and propose something that I would expect them to lose money on. With this project I pitched the producer, Mohamed Al Sobky [who is known for making commercially successful movies] and he went for it because with a wedding and belly dancing in it, and so on, it looked fun.

Related stories

Samuel L. Jackson and 'Miss Sloane' Give Dubai Film Festival Solid Start

Director Mohamed Ben Attia on how his 'Hedi' Reflects Post-Revolution Tunisia

Dubai: Delphine Garde-Mroueh Discusses Arabian Nights Section
Ghanas presidential elections Wednesday started off surprisingly well, with voters lining up hours early at some polling places  using stones to save their place in line  and congratulations pouring in from the (real) U.S. Embassy in Ghana. Fears of election-day violence and confusion seemed misplaced.

Then it all came apart. First, the electoral commissions website was hacked and announced that the main opposition candidate, the New Patriotic Partys Nana Akufo-Addo, had won the day, forcing the commission to frantically tweet for voters to ignore the fake news. Though votes were still being counted Thursday, the Akufo-Addo camp announced Thursday that, according to its tabulations, Akufo-Addo did in fact have a strong lead.

They called for the incumbent, President John Mahama, whos been in power since 2012, to concede. That didnt sit well. Mahamas camp called the calls for concession treasonable.

The electoral commission said it needs more time to finish counting all the votes and declare a winner. The NPP said Thursday that further delay might cause suspicion over the integrity of the elections outcome  after all the candidates had promised to respect the process.

The Electoral Commission, meanwhile, went back to tweeting out provisional district by district election results.

It was an unhappy end to what looked like a promising development in Ghanaian democracy. The electoral commission got new leadership and sought to boost public trust. Faced with legal challenges over, among other things, the voter registry and voter registration process, the commission opted for transparency.

As a result, said Christopher Fumonyoh, senior associate and regional director for Central and West Africa at the National Democratic Institute, all major stakeholders  from political players to members of the media  were made to feel that they understood the process, and that the process was fair and transparent.

Whether it ends as peacefully and hopefully as it began will depend on how and when the electoral commission announces the results  and whether the leading candidates honor their pledges to respect the process.

Photo credit: PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP/Getty Images
In possibly the most sublime moment in the often sublime modern movie musical La La Land, directed by Damien Chazelle, Emma Stone is out to dinner in Los Angeles (shes with a rather colorless date and a similarly colorless couple). A strain of piano music comes trickling in from another room. Stones eyes, which even when looking at nothing suggest two brilliant beacons on a smallish lighthouse, brighten in recognition  if anything, her whole body seems to brighten. We watch her lifted from the torpor of dinner and onto a higher plane by love: for the piano theme, and for the pianist playing it.

At another point in the film, she and that pianist, Ryan Gosling, will literally be lifted up into sky as a sort of astral consummation of their relationship. Thats lovely, too, of course, but its a special effect. What Stone accomplishes in that moment in the restaurant is done with more ineffable magic, a combination of her own airy skill and the love the camera cant help but la-la-lavish on her: She doesnt sing, but she doesnt have to. Its as if she herself were the melody.

Any good movie musical (and quite a few bad ones) will make us accept the pretense that a song rises in the body like sap in a tree and then blooms as flowers and leaves. But, as La La Land demonstrates, a movie musical starring Emma Stone has imaginative and emotional powers beyond even that.

La La isnt revolutionary  it has its share of retro pleasures. A bittersweet variation on boy-meets-girl, it consciously mines movie-musical history and conventions. The opening dance number, set in a traffic jam on the freeway, pays homage to the 1967 Catherine Deneuve musical The Young Girls of Rochefort (overall, the movie owes even more to Deneuves Umbrellas of Cherbourg). And theres a lavish moment near the end that recalls the dreamy swoon of An American in Paris.

Its as if someone tapped into the unconscious of TCM host Robert Osborne and rifled through his movie-musical memories, moving backward from about 1970.

Story continues

But La La Land always feel emotionally direct and natural, rather than cloying, playful or cute. If its meta, its also millennial. The movie is shot in beautiful, widescreen color, which gives modern Los Angeles some of the shimmering visual magic of Paul Thomas Andersons Inherent Vice, but its about fairly ordinary life in a fairly ordinary place. La La Land doesnt seem too many stones throws from Netflixs snug-ugly Love.

Everything in the movie, though, depends on the chemistry  unquestionable, believable, potent in its simplicity  of Stone and Gosling as an aspiring actress and a frustrated jazz musician. They fall in love because thats what a movie musical expects of them, they sing (nicely) because that also comes with the territory, but the rhythms of their performances are always surprising, never forced or false, and always in sync.

As an actress playing an actress, Stone gets to be the more responsive and more expressive of the two  shes been given the single most dramatic number, near the end, a soliloquy she sings spotlighted against a simple dark backdrop. (What do you think, Mr. Osborne? The My Man finale from Funny Girl, maybe?) Gosling, on the other hand, is an actor playing a misunderstood, introspective artist. Gosling doesnt mess around: If a role calls for understatement, hell be found somewhere beneath the floorboards. His performance, which is quietly graceful, crystallizes in a tiny, tiny, ambiguous smile.

The score (by Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul) is charming, witty and delicate. The loping romantic ballad, City of Stars, is especially good. The movies one mistake is to allow screen time for a-has Take on Me, played by a covers band at a party: Its close to reckless, letting an audience hear that old piece of ear candy. Its as if Stephen Sondheim decided to toss Thriller into Sweeney Todd. (Dec. 9, PG-13)




Lets nominate Andre Lyon to compete on an upcoming episode of Chopped.

Mind you, I have absolutely no idea if Empires eldest son has any culinary skills whatsoever, but what he does (or had done) to a precocious little girls lustrous locks on this weeks episode tells me the man knows what to do when armed with a pair of kitchen shears.

RELATED2016 in Review: The 10 Best Drama Series

Cruel? Perhaps. (Though isnt it time the Dorothy Hamill made a comeback with the 10-and-under set?) But theres no denying Dres methods prove effective in bending Gina Gershons absolutely ridiculous/fabulous/not-so-subtly racist fashion designer Helene von Wyatt to his will.

And anything that gives us Nessas bangin new single Black Girl Magic over tired Tianas umpeenth hip-sway gets my stamp of approval.

In other news, Boo-Boo Kittys in heat, Leahs in potentially hot water, and poor Jamals getting a lukewarm reception from his family when it comes to his latest songwriting escapade as well as his new attitude. (Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-oooooooh.)

RELATEDAsk Ausiello: Spoilers on Gilmore Girls, HTGAWM, Veep, Vampire Diaries, Once, Suits, Gotham, Arrow and More

With that said, lets recap the action from Season 3, Episode 8, The Unkindest Cut  complete with homages to The Godfather and Showgirls  and a touch of shade for Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande.

Empire nessa

THAT! GOWN! IS ON FIYAAAAHHHH! |

Cookie mashes up her street-friendly label with Helenes couture line by scoring Tiana a slot as the centerpiece of the loopy designers latest show  impressing Angelos highfalutin mama in the process. Still, theres an undercurrent of uncomfortable to the partnership, what with Helene yapping about straightening Tianas hair to conform to the sleek lines of her collection. Nessa however, watching from the sidelines, sees nothing but beauty, or at least opportunity, sighing three magic words to Andre: I want this.

Story continues

Before you can say highly flammable, Nessa is shadowing Tiana, and accidentally laying her white silk von Wyatt couture next to a blazing-hot iron. When the frock ends up crispier than the body Lucious left in D.A. Roxanne Boobs McGee Fords passenger seat, Tiana erupts, complaining Helene is only working with her to make up for a P.R. disaster in which her Out of Africa collection went public without a single black person in sight. (Wait? Isnt Serayah part of Taylor Swifts squad? Ugh, I just used the word squad.)

When footage of Tianas rant leaks on the internet, Porsha declares it no worse than that girl with the ponytail lickin on a donut, but Helene is already backtracking, mulling Ellie Goulding as a replacement despite Andres full-court press to upend expectations by going with an artist whos more black (aka Nessa). Your daughter has such beautiful hair, grins Andre, as he exits, and before you know it, Godfather-esque music fills the air as the little girl wakes up with her tresses in distress  unceremoniously hacked off and strewn about her pillow.

Nessa Empire Black Girl Magic

Just like that, Nessas on stage with the elecrifying retro R&B thumper Black Girl Magic, Hakeem and Tiana plot revenge from the couch and Helene warns Diana Dubois that the Lyons are actual gangsters. I mean, she cant be racist if her kids go swimming with Michael Strahans girls, right? (Please, internet, dont miss the overt saracasm of that last sentence!)

ANIKA CALHOUN, IN THE DINING ROOM, WITH THE, UMMMM CANDLESTICK? | I hope the butter knife is dull, grins Cookie, upon hearing Lucious is taking his mother Leah and his bride Anika to tea to iron out their differences. Turns out, though, the outing is pure theater: Lucious erupts on his mama, she claims hes hurting her, and before you know it Lucious half-brother/FBI nemesis Tariq is secretly pumping Leah for intel and promising her protection. They do dirty, nasty sex, Leah hisses about her son and Anika, as if thats something illegal. But shes also 100 percent correct, as we learn from seeing Lucious and a lingerie-clad Fake-Ass Lena Horne intertwine like mashed potatoes and gravy at the very table where Juanita is called on to put out the good silver and china. Stop it! Sodom and Gomorrah! Stop it right now! Humpin on the table like yard dogs  thats where I eat! screams Lucious mom. To which her son replies  so gross it should be illegal  I was just about to have a snack. Did I mention Leah is working on Lucious behalf, though, giving him inside scoop about Tariqs jealousy (he only got to meet his and Lucious mutual biodad on one occasion) and misdirecting the lawmans investigation? I didnt see that one coming!

jussie smollett

JAMALS WORST FAMILY GATHERING EVER? |

Philip tries to help Jamal overcome his PTSD with a virtual reality therapy that might be real (I havent had time to Google it) but looks a wee bit silly on screen. When Lucious walks into the room and begins huffing and puffing, though, his sons vitals skyrocket, and Philip realizes Lucious is Jamals trigger (pun totes intended)!

Jamal, as he tends to do, turns to music, penning a scathing indictment of Lucious called Cold Cold Man that moves Cookie to tears, leaves Andre and Hakeem squirming and results in Lucious making that old homicidal face again. We get a rehash of his indignant You wouldnt have anything if it werent for my ugly business! speech, but Jamal counters by acknowledging his dads contribution, then noting you have to lead us someplace other than heartache  or we have to leave you behind. When he looks around for support, though, its nowehere to be found  and things get even more uncomfortable when Lucious spills the beans that he killed Frank Gathers at the request of an in-peril Cookie. See, its not all black and white  even if Cookies outfit reflects that exact color scheme!

ALSO | Andre is still hearing Rhondas voice (!). And I think its implied Lucious is dippin it and doin it with his manicurist (!!).

What did you think of this weeks Empire? Whos already in the process of downloading Black Girl Magic? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Related stories

Sleepy Hollow Season 4 Premiere: 10 Things You Need to Know

Ratings: Pitch Ticks Up With Finale, Notorious Ends on (Very) Low Note

Pitch Finale: EP on Ginny's [Spoiler], #Bawson Future, Season 2 Chances
BURLINGTON  Two Burlington teens have been charged with conspiracy to commit homicide after a girl reportedly sent a list of names of people she wanted killed to her boyfriend.

Both the girl and her boyfriend are students at Karcher Middle School, 225 Robert St., in Burlington. At this time, The Journal Times is not naming either of the accused because of their ages. The 15-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy have been charged with conspiracy to commit second-degree intentional homicide and disorderly conduct.

In a news release Wednesday afternoon, Burlington Police stated that they responded to Karcher Middle School to investigate a report that two Karcher students were using texts and social media to discuss harming other students. The two students were identified, taken into custody and transported to juvenile detention.

There is no current active threat to students, staff, or the community, police said in the release.

According to the criminal complaints, the girls mom stated that she found an instant message between her daughter and the girls boyfriend and became alarmed when she read a message that stated, Do you want me to kill them all?

The list reportedly included the girls father and five other students at the school.

Messages on moms phone

On Monday night, reportedly, the girl was using her mothers phone to talk to her boyfriend through Facebook. When the mother checked the phone she saw a message from the boyfriend saying do you want me to kill them all? Her daughter had replied yes. The boyfriend had responded by saying need a list.

The girl allegedly provided a list of six names, including her father. The next day the mother went to Karcher and told the principal about the text-message exchange; he then contacted the Burlington police.

A police officer was dispatched to the school and talked to the girl. Reportedly she said that she sent the list because of things people on the list have said about her that made her upset.

According to the complaint, after sending the list the girl felt relieved because she no longer had to deal with them. But she also told police that she didnt think her boyfriend would kill them.

Police also interviewed the boyfriend, who reportedly said he wouldnt kill these people because he isnt a psychopath. He also told police he was surprised when he received a list but he only talked about it to make the girl feel better.

The school administration searched the boyfriends locker and backpack and found a large pair of stainless-steel scissors. The boy allegedly told officials he stole the scissors from a teacher and was going to hurt himself; he didnt, however, and decided he needed to give the scissors back but never returned them.

The girl made her initial court appearance on Wednesday and her boyfriend is scheduled to make a preliminary hearing on Dec. 15. If convicted, both teens could face as much as 40 years in prison and 20 years of supervision.
When Texas resident Billy Parsons went on job interviews, he emphasized his unique online education.

The 47-year-old earned his MBA from the for-profit Capella University last year through competency-based education, meaning the curriculum focused around developing clearly defined skill sets to master a given discipline.

In Capella's FlexPath program, students like Parsons progress through a degree at their own pace. As in many competency-based programs, they move quickly through the lessons they already know from past experience, complete assessments and projects along the way to demonstrate their skills and spend more time on material they aren't familiar with.

During interviews, "I said, 'Hey, I'm working on an MBA in the same manner as if I were working for you. And it allows me to accomplish the assignments in a way that would mirror what I would do for you,'" says Parsons. "And I would kind of walk through whatever class I was working on at the time."

But while employers are generally more accepting of online degrees, experts say, many are still unfamiliar with competency-based education , which can be either instructor-led or completely self-paced. That form of learning is more common in online than face-to-face programs , and often in fields such as information technology, business and health care administration -- though this varies.

[Discover four considerations about online, competency-based education.]

"It's definitely still new," says Alana Dunagan, a higher education researcher at the Clayton Christensen Institute, a nonprofit focusing on disruptive innovation. "I think we're still seeing programs proliferate; we're still seeing really fast growth when people build new competency-based programs."

In addition to Capella, Western Governors University and the College for America at Southern New Hampshire University offer competency-based degrees in different fields at various levels. The University of Wisconsin System has similar online degree options designated as "flexible."

Story continues

Stephanie Elliott, manager of recruiting programs at Aerotek, a worldwide staffing agency covering a range of industries, says she has seen these degrees on resumes, though not very frequently -- mostly among adults returning to school.

Recruiters say in those cases, especially for upper-level positions, a degree 's format is usually less important than a candidate's skills and experience.

Frank Green, managing principal at ExecuSource, an Atlanta-based staffing and recruiting firm focusing primarily on IT and finance, says many hiring managers that he works with hold a stigma against online degrees in general. There's room to educate employers about what competency-based education really entails, he says, so they don't view them simply as easier.

[Learn what employers really think about online bachelor's degrees.]

"If the hiring managers I work with were to understand that the competency-based sort of model is just getting the person through some of the more rudimentary segments of their education or their degree," they might comprehend why it works well for certain students, Green says.

A recent study conducted by Joy Henrich, regional dean at the for-profit Rasmussen College, found that while most employers aren't very familiar with competency-based education, about 43 percent of respondents said employers need to learn more about it.

Many employers surveyed, Henrich says, compared this learning style to competency-based training within their workplaces. One hundred percent of respondents said they would consider hiring a candidate with a competency-based degree for positions requiring a college education.

A separate 2015 study by the American Enterprise Institute found similar results regarding employers' lack of familiarity. But once they learn more about it, they are "highly enthusiastic," the study says.

Marc Miranda, who graduated with an MBA from Western Governors University in 2015, says that during job interviews, he needed to explain how Western Governors' curriculum works to many potential employers.

Eventually, a private medical practice where he was interning hired him for a new company position -- one that officials created after learning more about his education and seeing Miranda put his competencies into action.

[Explore tips to finish an online, competency-based degree.]

"That, I think, was a major differentiator that separated me from traditional MBA-ers out there -- because the competency-based model means I had to not only learn what these theories are but how to apply the skills into the real world," says the 34-year-old Clifton Park, N.Y., resident.

How a job applicant presents an online, competency-based education on a resume varies depending on the individual's goals, says Jessica Mitchell, manager of Western Governors University's career and professional development center. But experts say most of the time, it's not immediately clear how a degree was completed; that might come up during job interviews or follow-up conversations.

"I would specifically say, 'Well, it's a different kind of program,'" says Parsons, the Capella grad. "'It's not rote memorization, and spitting it back out on an essay or exam.'"

Sue Fransen Way, a career counselor at Capella, says that with online, competency-based education, students complete assignments that tell employers: "Here's how I am showing that I have what you're looking for. Here's what I accomplished. Here are the results I can point to."

Trying to fund your online education? Get tips and more in the U.S. News Paying for Online Education center.





More From US News & World Report


When Texas resident Billy Parsons went on job interviews, he emphasized his unique online education.

The 47-year-old earned his MBA from the for-profit Capella University last year through competency-based education, meaning the curriculum focused around developing clearly defined skill sets to master a given discipline.

In Capella's FlexPath program, students like Parsons progress through a degree at their own pace. As in many competency-based programs, they move quickly through the lessons they already know from past experience, complete assessments and projects along the way to demonstrate their skills and spend more time on material they aren't familiar with.

During interviews, "I said, 'Hey, I'm working on an MBA in the same manner as if I were working for you. And it allows me to accomplish the assignments in a way that would mirror what I would do for you,'" says Parsons. "And I would kind of walk through whatever class I was working on at the time."

But while employers are generally more accepting of online degrees, experts say, many are still unfamiliar with competency-based education , which can be either instructor-led or completely self-paced. That form of learning is more common in online than face-to-face programs , and often in fields such as information technology, business and health care administration -- though this varies.



[Discover four considerations about online, competency-based education.]

"It's definitely still new," says Alana Dunagan, a higher education researcher at the Clayton Christensen Institute, a nonprofit focusing on disruptive innovation. "I think we're still seeing programs proliferate; we're still seeing really fast growth when people build new competency-based programs."

In addition to Capella, Western Governors University and the College for America at Southern New Hampshire University offer competency-based degrees in different fields at various levels. The University of Wisconsin System has similar online degree options designated as "flexible."

Story continues

Stephanie Elliott, manager of recruiting programs at Aerotek, a worldwide staffing agency covering a range of industries, says she has seen these degrees on resumes, though not very frequently -- mostly among adults returning to school.

Recruiters say in those cases, especially for upper-level positions, a degree 's format is usually less important than a candidate's skills and experience.

Frank Green, managing principal at ExecuSource, an Atlanta-based staffing and recruiting firm focusing primarily on IT and finance, says many hiring managers that he works with hold a stigma against online degrees in general. There's room to educate employers about what competency-based education really entails, he says, so they don't view them simply as easier.

[Learn what employers really think about online bachelor's degrees.]

"If the hiring managers I work with were to understand that the competency-based sort of model is just getting the person through some of the more rudimentary segments of their education or their degree," they might comprehend why it works well for certain students, Green says.

A recent study conducted by Joy Henrich, regional dean at the for-profit Rasmussen College, found that while most employers aren't very familiar with competency-based education, about 43 percent of respondents said employers need to learn more about it.

Many employers surveyed, Henrich says, compared this learning style to competency-based training within their workplaces. One hundred percent of respondents said they would consider hiring a candidate with a competency-based degree for positions requiring a college education.

A separate 2015 study by the American Enterprise Institute found similar results regarding employers' lack of familiarity. But once they learn more about it, they are "highly enthusiastic," the study says.

Marc Miranda, who graduated with an MBA from Western Governors University in 2015, says that during job interviews, he needed to explain how Western Governors' curriculum works to many potential employers.

Eventually, a private medical practice where he was interning hired him for a new company position -- one that officials created after learning more about his education and seeing Miranda put his competencies into action.

[Explore tips to finish an online, competency-based degree.]

"That, I think, was a major differentiator that separated me from traditional MBA-ers out there -- because the competency-based model means I had to not only learn what these theories are but how to apply the skills into the real world," says the 34-year-old Clifton Park, N.Y., resident.

How a job applicant presents an online, competency-based education on a resume varies depending on the individual's goals, says Jessica Mitchell, manager of Western Governors University's career and professional development center. But experts say most of the time, it's not immediately clear how a degree was completed; that might come up during job interviews or follow-up conversations.

"I would specifically say, 'Well, it's a different kind of program,'" says Parsons, the Capella grad. "'It's not rote memorization, and spitting it back out on an essay or exam.'"

Sue Fransen Way, a career counselor at Capella, says that with online, competency-based education, students complete assignments that tell employers: "Here's how I am showing that I have what you're looking for. Here's what I accomplished. Here are the results I can point to."

Trying to fund your online education? Get tips and more in the U.S. News Paying for Online Education center.

Jordan Friedman is an online education editor at U.S. News. You can follow him on Twitter or email him at jfriedman@usnews.com.


North Zone drill hole returns 0.40 gpt gold over 147.1 metres, including 0.63 gpt gold over 48.2 metres

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / December 8, 2016 / Endurance Gold Corporation (EDG.V)("Endurance") is pleased to announce further assay results from the 2016 drill program on its 100% optioned Elephant Mountain Gold Property in Alaska, located on roads about 76 miles (123 kilometres ("km")) northwest of Fairbanks. As announced on September 27, 2016 three (3) diamond drill holes were completed on the South Zone and one diamond drill hole was completed on the North Zone for a total of 598 metres ("m") drilled.

1.4 km north of the South Zone discovery (announced on October 31, 2016), drilling at the North Zone has successfully confirmed a wide intersection of 0.40 grams per tonne gold ("gpt Au") over 147.1 m including a 0.63 gpt Au over 48.2 m confirming the existence of gold-rich alteration system associated with elevated arsenic.

At this North Zone Target, intermittent exposures of outcrop define a one square km alteration zone on surface consisting of disseminated pyrite-arsenopyrite in pervasively silicified, sericite, and clay altered granodiorite associated with a gold-arsenic soil anomaly. This area was previously drill tested by Placer Dome Inc. and others ("PDI") in which a drill section of six drill holes indicated a large volume of rock exceeding 550 m across and 100 m vertical depth that exceeded 100 parts per billion ("ppb") gold, hosted in pervasively silicified, sericite, and clay altered granodiorite similar to alteration and mineralization observed on surface. The North Zone drill section with histogram gold results is attached to this press release or can be viewed at www.endurancegold.com.

Endurance completed one diamond drill hole EL 16-13 (Az 180 Dip-45) which tested the slightly higher grade core of the prior drill section within this broad low-grade zone. EL 16-13 was drilled to a total angled depth of 180.75 m and encountered silicified and phylllic (sericite) altered granodiorite throughout the entire core length. About 150 m of this length, starting at surface, encountered up to 1.5% pervasive disseminated pyrite and arsenopyrite with arsenopyrite and pyrite bearing quartz veinlets. The entire length of the drill hole is in-part oxidized with the oxidation related to fractures and oxidized quartz-sulphide veinlets. Assay results are 0.40 gpt Au over 147.1 m including a 0.63 gpt Au over 48.2 m. True width is currently unknown although correlation of the greater than 0.50 gpt gold mineralization for the North Zone drill section shows an apparent sub-horizontal orientation. A PDI drill hole located at approximately the same location as EL 16-13 returned an average grade of 0.514 gpt Au over an interval of 99.4 m.

Story continues

"This 2016 North Zone drill hole located 1.4 km north of our earlier discovery hole with 4.09 gpt Au over 4.6 m indicates a large and complex gold mineralizing system that is largely untested with drilling" commented Robert Boyd, President and CEO of Endurance. "The extensive soil anomalies, a large untested IP chargeability anomaly between the South Zone and North Zone discoveries indicates that additional exploration is required to discover the postulated higher grade feeder structures at the North Zone and to fully explain the average grade and width of the South Zone discovery. We look forward to planning for a 2017 exploration program at Elephant that will expand on these discoveries."

South Zone - The South Zone drill hole EL 16-15 (Az 055 Dip-45) which underlies the western portion of the South Zone soil anomaly, intersected a wide oxidized and disrupted zone which includes multiple areas of faulting, brecciation and clay gouge. Only about 68% of the core was recovered for the entire 114 m length of the drill hole EL 16-15. The best assay results from this drilling include an intersection of 0.52 gpt Au over 3.04 m which includes 1.13 gpt Au over 1.06 m. This intersection is associated with one of the zones of clay gouge breccia and fault rubble and 24% of the core was not recovered through this interval suggesting possible loss of oxidized mineralization.

The South Zone drill hole EL 16-16 (Az 235 Dip-45) is located on the east side of the South Zone soil anomaly 249 m north west of EL 16-14 and intersected primarily syenomonzonite, minor diorite, with veinlet zones throughout its entire length with some inliers of altered sediments. The best assay results from this drilling include intersection of 0.59 gpt Au over 2.44 m and 0.48 gpt Au over 2.44 m. These intersections are associated with minor pyrite and arsenopyrite associated with a quartz veinlet zone in syenomonzonite and a clay gouge zone in silicified and carbonate altered diorite and sediments. It is now interpreted that this hole was collared too far to the west to intersect the interpreted northwestern strike extension of the EL 16-14 South Zone discovery.

Expansion of Property - The Elephant Mountain Property was expanded through the staking of three additional Alaska state mineral claims in September 2016.

Future Plans  A program of geophysics, soil geochemistry and diamond drilling will commence the planning stages over year end. Drill holes EL 16-14A/B and EL 16-16 have only been selectively sampled based on visual arsenopyrite and/or stibnite mineralization. As part of the winter phase of the program, further splitting and sampling of these drill holes may be undertaken to evaluate unsampled zones of vein stock work and low-suphide silicification.

ENDURANCE GOLD CORPORATION

Robert T. Boyd

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT

Endurance Gold Corporation

(604) 682-2707, info@endurancegold.com

www.endurancegold.com

Robert T. Boyd, P.Geo. is a qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 and supervised the compilation of the information forming the basis for this release. The drill intersections in this release may not represent the true width of the intersection. The split drill core samples from this program were analyzed at ALS Minerals using Au-AA23, Au-GRA21 (>10 g/t), and ME-MS61L. No assays for antimony or arsenic were completed on samples with values exceeding 10,000 ppm. Confirmation standards were inserted within sample shipments by Endurance as well as ALS Minerals inserted standards with each shipment analyzed.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. This news release may contain forward looking statements based on assumptions and judgments of management regarding future events or results that may prove to be inaccurate as a result of factors beyond its control, and actual results may differ materially from the expected results.

SOURCE: Endurance Gold Corporation
Ankara (AFP) - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan converted all of his personal assets held in foreign currency into Turkish lira after he urged citizens to buy the embattled national currency and limit its losses, the presidential spokesman said Thursday.

However presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin stopped short of saying how much the president had changed.

"Friends, from the day (December 2) our president made this call, all of the foreign currency in his account was converted into Turkish lira," Ibrahim Kalin told reporters in Ankara.

"To expect... that the president would start a campaign like this and then not even to take part.. is a fool's errand."

Erdogan earlier this week urged citizens to change foreign currency held "under their pillow" last week into gold or lira, in a national drive after the lira lost some 10 percent in value over the last month.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu claimed this week Erdogan had $200,000 in a bank account. Kalin made no reference to this.

Erdogan's call prompted small business owners to offer incentives to customers who could prove they had changed hard currency into lira.

Meanwhile, several state institutions have also begun converting assets into lira and carrying out transactions in the Turkish currency.

"A national struggle for the Turkish Lira," was the headline in the pro-government Yeni Safak daily on Thursday.

But despite the huge interest, economists have cast doubt on whether the measures will have any major effect.

The lira has been hit not just by domestic concerns such as slower growth but also the prospect of tighter monetary policy in the US.

After a rally earlier this week, the lira on Thursday lost over two percent in value to trade at 3.45 to the greenback.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Thursday also announced stimulus measures for 2017 to boost the fragile economy decided last week after a five-hour meeting of the government's economic coordination committee.

Such measures included 250 billion lira (some $72 billion) available for the private sector as well as vowing to avoid foreign currency contracts unless "absolutely necessary".
By Andrea Shalal HAMBURG (Reuters) - Estonian Foreign Minister Sven Mikser said he was "quite encouraged" that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump would maintain a strong U.S. commitment to European security despite comments that had sparked concern during the election campaign. Mikser said he was still waiting to see whom Trump would nominate as secretary of state, but said recent remarks by Trump and his transition team had helped assuage concerns raised when the Republican candidate said he would consider a country's contributions to the NATO alliance before coming to its defense. "We don't have a complete picture yet, but ... I'm quite encouraged by the tone that the incoming administration has taken since the election," Mikser told Reuters in an interview during a meeting in Hamburg of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. "There will be continuity when it comes to the U.S. commitment to its alliances," he said, adding that there could be more significant changes in U.S. trade and climate policy than in defense. "I haven't seen or heard anything that would suggest that there's going to be a radical departure." Trump's comments had unnerved many in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, where Russian military involvement in Ukraine and Georgia has stoked fears that their former Soviet master might eventually try to intervene in the Baltic area. Moscow says such fears are unfounded and based on anti-Russian sentiment. Mikser said it was critical for NATO members to make good on their pledges to boost defense spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product, a target Estonia already meets, and said his country remained concerned about Russian military exercises and actions. "We have to put our money where our mouth is. Everyone should do their part," Mikser said, adding that NATO's plans to deploy 4,000 ground troops next year to the region next year to deter Russia remained on track. Top British and NATO officials have spoken with Trump about the alliance and his commitment to European security, and said they do not expect any significant changes. Mikser said he was skeptical about Trump's pledge to reset ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, noting that previous leaders, including former President George W. Bush, had entertained similar hopes. "We've seen those attempts to charm Russia into behaving better before, but they haven't led anywhere. I really cannot see any reason for any great optimism," he said, citing continued military maneuvers and snap exercises across the region, as well as a wide array of disinformation campaigns. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Brussels (AFP) - The European Commission launched legal action on Thursday against authorities in seven EU nations including Germany and Britain for failing to crack down on emissions cheating exposed by the Volkswagen "Dieselgate" scandal.

The commission, the EU's executive arm, "is today acting against seven member states on the grounds that they have failed to fulfil their obligations" under EU law, said a statement.

The Dieselgate scandal blew open when Volkswagen admitted in September 2015 that it installed software in 11 million cars worldwide that reduced emissions of harmful nitrogen oxides when it detected the vehicle was undergoing tests.

Brussels drew sharp criticism for failing to act against Volkswagen compared to the US, where authorities not only exposed the wrongdoing, but secured a $16.5-billion (14.8-billion-euro) settlement from the Germany-based automaker.

But the Commission lacks the authority to fight Volkswagen. Day-to-day regulation of the auto sector, including approving new car models for the road, remains under the authority of national governments.

"Abiding by the law is first and foremost the duty of car manufacturers. But national authorities across the EU must ensure that car manufacturers actually comply with the law," said EU Industry Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska.

The commission's so-called infringement procedure is the first step in a long legal process that can see member states sent to EU court for breaking European law.

Germany, the bloc's most powerful nation, is accused of failing to apply the appropriate penalities when faced with proof of cheating by Volkswagen.

The commission also accuses Germany, along with Britain, of not turning over to Brussels evidence found in national probes of Dieselgate.

Other countries facing the EU's infringement action are the Czech Republic, Greece, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Spain.

The Dieselgate scandal exposed that some VW cars spewed out up to 40 times more harmful nitrogen oxide -- linked to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases -- than legally allowed in the EU.

The European Environment Agency said in a 2015 report that nitrogen oxide was responsible for around 72,000 premature deaths in Europe.

Still, one year after the scandal, nearly 30 million cars on Europe's roads were still way over air pollution limits, campaign group Transport and Environment said in a report in September.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union opened legal action on Thursday against seven nations including Germany and Britain for failing to police emissions cheating by carmakers after the Volkswagen scandal.

Germany, Britain, Spain and Luxembourg stand accused of not imposing the same kind of penalties VW (VOWG_p.DE) faced in the United States over its use of illegal software to mask emissions of health-harming nitrogen oxide (NOx) on tests.

The European Commission, the bloc's executive arm, has further called Germany and Britain to account for refusing to share details on breaches of EU emissions laws uncovered in national investigations this year.

Germany, the Union's leading power and by far its biggest carmaker, complains that current EU laws are poorly framed.

"National authorities across the EU must ensure that car manufacturers actually comply with the law," European Industry Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska said in a statement.

Another three countries - the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Greece - have been spotlighted for not even including within national legislation the possibility of fining Europe's biggest industry over potential violations.

Thursday's notice is the first step in what is known as infringement procedures, allowing the EU to ensure the bloc's 28 nations abide by agreed EU-wide regulations. Member states have two months to respond.

If they fail to respond to Brussels' concerns, the EU may take them to the EU court in Luxembourg. National watchdogs approve new cars and alone have the power to police them - although they are sold across the bloc.

The European Union institutions have been the target of a nationalist backlash across the bloc, highlighted by Britain's vote in June to leave, and are battling to show voters that the EU has a value and can deliver solutions to their concerns.

Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has accused national governments of pandering to eurosceptics by using the EU as a scapegoat. EU officials say the executive is keen to show voters that it is national governments, fearful for jobs in the car industry, which have failed to enforce EU standards.

(Reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)
BERLIN (Reuters) - The European Union should aim to keep as close a relationship with Britain as possible after Brexit, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Thursday. Germany, the EU's largest economy, is concerned about the likely financial costs of Brexit but has also stressed the need for a unified stance among member states in the divorce talks, warning Britain against trying to "cherry-pick" the bits of EU membership it would like to preserve. "My personal point of view is: We should do everything, as far as this is politically justifiable, to keep the Britons as close as possible to Europe," Gabriel told foreign reporters, without elaborating. Gabriel, who is also head of the Social Democrats (SPD), the junior partner of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives in Germany's ruling coalition, said the Brexit negotiations must not be allowed to drag on too long. "This won't be easy. But above all, we must get this done quickly. The uncertainty is the biggest problem," Gabriel said. British Prime Minister Theresa May has said she will invoke Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty that triggers the exit negotiations by the end of March 2017. Merkel repeated on Tuesday her view that access to the EU's single market of nearly 500 million people hinged on respect for the bloc's four basic freedoms - of movement of people, goods, services and financial market products. Controlling immigration was a major issue for many of the 52 percent of Britons who backed leaving the EU in the June referendum. (Reporting by Michael Nienaber and Joseph Nasr; Editing by Gareth Jones)
RACINE  A Chicago man is facing 26 felony charges after reportedly forging prescriptions for hydrocodone for more than a year.

According to a criminal complaint:

Daniel P. Dinnocenzo, 47, of the 3600 block of South Wood Street, allegedly used the name John Watt 13 times between January 2015 and April 2016 to obtain hydrocodone from Walgreens, 819 N. Memorial Drive.

A Walgreens employee reportedly became suspicious on April 4 when Dinnocenzo brought in a prescription for 180 hydrocodone pills from a Dr. Laurie Kibins at Columbia St. Marys Hospital in Milwaukee. The same prescription had allegedly been filled 13 times since January 2015.

When police contacted the doctor, she told police that she did not have a patient under the name John Watt, that the prescriptions were fraudulent and her signature was forged.

Dinnocenzo reportedly showed a Wisconsin Department of Engineering I.D. when he would fill the prescription. A Walgreens in Franklin also reported a man using the same doctor to get a prescription filled using the name John Thomas.

Dinnocenzo was identified and arrested in connection to the Franklin incidents and is also suspected to be the same person involved in the Racine incidents.

Dinnocenzo, who was charged on Wednesday, faces 13 felony charges for uttering a forgery, 12 felony charges for obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and one felony count for attempting to obtain a controlled substance by fraud.

He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing at 8:30 a.m. Dec. 21 at the Racine County Law Enforcement Center, 717 Wisconsin Ave.
Brussels (AFP) - The EU proposed Thursday that member states resume returning asylum seekers to Greece from March 15, after transfers had been suspended for five years over poor conditions there.

The European Commission, the EU executive, said Athens had now partially improved conditions in line with 2011 court rulings that had suspended the transfers and encouraged irregular migrant flows to wealthier EU countries.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - An EU-Canada free trade deal will destroy jobs in Europe and should be rejected, a committee of the European Parliament concluded on Thursday. The European Union and Canada signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) in October, but only after hesitation in Austria other countries and opposition from a region of Belgium.and CETA needs backing from the European Parliament and that vote is expected in February. The employment committee voted 27-24 for a motion saying the 751-seat parliament should not give its approval to the deal, saying studies showed it could lead to 204,000 EU job losses. Parliament's trade committee is the lead body responsible for CETA, but before it holds a vote in January, other committees are allowed to offer their opinions. The environment and foreign affairs committees are also expected to give a view, with the latter expected to be in favor. CETA has struggled to secure approval in Europe some two years after the two sides reached a deal. Even after the European Parliament vote, CETA would only enter force provisionally, most likely in the form of import tariff removal, as it needs approval from the EU's 28 member states and Belgium's regions. Supporters say CETA will increase Canadian-EU trade by 20 percent and boost the EU economy by 12 billion euros ($13 billion) a year and Canada's by C$12 billion ($9 billion). The main focus of protests against CETA is the system to protect foreign company's investments against state intervention. Critics say its arbitration panels to rule on disputes allow multinational companies to dictate public policy, such as on environmental standards. (Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
By Nate Raymond

NEW YORK, Dec 8 (Reuters) - A former JPMorgan Chase & Co employee who has been ordered to attend counseling for gambling is facing criminal charges that he engaged in a scheme to defraud the bank out of $5 million in order to pay personal debts.

Lawrence Obracanik, who worked as an operations manager for JPMorgan's broker-dealer services, was charged in a criminal complaint made public on Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan with wire fraud and attempted wire fraud.

Obracanik, a 42-year-old resident of Fort Worth, Texas, turned himself in to authorities on Tuesday in New York, according to a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

Following a court appearance that day before U.S. Magistrate Judge Katharine Parker, he was released on a $100,000 bond. He was instructed as part of his bail conditions to seek employment and attend counseling for gambling, according to court records.

A lawyer for Obracanik did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

The complaint against Obracanik did not identify JPMorgan by name. But a profile for him on LinkedIn said that he had worked for the bank in Texas. A spokesman for JPMorgan declined co comment. The bank is based in New York.

According to the complaint, from July 2014 to February 2016, Obracanik made or tried to make 22 wire transfers for more than $5 million from an account at a bank that was apparently JPMorgan to an account at another bank belonging to an unnamed individual.

The complaint said that during an interview with two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents in August, Obracanik admitted wiring the money to that person's account and said that he had done so to pay personal debts.

The case is U.S. v. Obracanik, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 16-mj-7732.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
By Steve Stecklow and Alexandra Harney

LONDON/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - The maker of the ACT college-entrance exam, which has been struggling to contain an international cheating epidemic, is raising its fees for overseas test-takers by $10 to pay for enhanced security.

The price increase was described in a letter sent last month to a college counselor in China and reviewed by Reuters. "The fee increases will cover costs for new test security measures," it stated. ACT Inc spokesman Ed Colby confirmed the measure.

Beginning next April, the high-stakes exam will cost up to $109.50 for overseas test-takers - $51 more than those in the United States.

The ACT and its rival, the SAT, are used by thousands of U.S. colleges to help choose among millions of student applicants. Both have been swamped by cheating abroad.

ACT, an Iowa-based not-for-profit, has suffered major security setbacks in recent months. After the October sitting of the exam, ACT canceled scores for an unspecified number of students in Asia and Oceania on the writing section of the test because of a leak. In June, the exam was canceled for all test-takers in South Korea and Hong Kong due to another breach.

Starting this Saturday, all South Korean test-takers will be required to take the ACT at a single test center in Seoul. The exam previously was given at 32 South Korean test centers, including sites licensed by the ACT-owned Global Assessment Certificate program. "The move is being made to combat repeated test material breaches in South Korea," ACT stated in a press release last month.

In July, Reuters detailed widespread cheating in the GAC program, which offers college preparatory courses (http://reut.rs/2akY3uf). Seven students who attended three different GAC centers in China described how school officials and proctors ignored and were sometimes complicit in cheating on the ACT.

ACTs test-security unit repeatedly had recommended tightening security overseas, Reuters reported, but ACT executives rejected the recommendations. ACTs chief executive, Marten Roorda, has declined to comment.

Story continues

ACT recently started shipping its test booklets and answer sheets to some locations in lock boxes to guard against leaks. The lock combinations are not distributed until the morning of the test.

Read our full coverage of the testing industry and college admissions here: http://www.reuters.com/investigates/section/cheat-sheet/

(Edited by Michael Williams)
By Serajul Quadir

DHAKA (Reuters) - A Bangladesh government-appointed panel investigating the cyber-heist of $81 million from its central bank in February found five officials at the bank were guilty of negligence and carelessness, the head of the panel told Reuters on Thursday.

In his first detailed comments on the inquiry since a report was submitted to the government in May, former central bank governor Mohammed Farashuddin said the officials were low to mid-level and were not directly involved in the crime.

"They were negligent, careless and indirect accomplices," he said in an interview in his office. "The committee came to the conclusion that the heist was essentially committed by external elements."

Bangladesh has so far refused to make the inquiry report public saying it wanted to deny perpetrators knowledge of the investigation into one of the world's biggest cyber-heists.

It was not immediately known if Bangladesh had shared the report with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the main agency investigating the crime.

Farashuddin did not name the officials he found were negligent. A senior central bank official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said no action had been taken against any employee since the inquiry report had not been made public.

Bangladesh Bank spokesman Subhankar Saha declined comment.

Although over 10 months have passed since the heist, there have been no arrests and no word on who carried out the complex heist.

Hackers used stolen credentials to try to transfer nearly $1 billion from Bangladesh Bank's account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York through the SWIFT transaction system. Many of the transfer orders were blocked or reversed but $81 million was sent to accounts in a branch of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) <RCB.PS> in the Philippines.

The money eventually went into the sprawling casino industry in the Philippines and most of it remains untraced.

Story continues

Like Bangladesh police investigators, Farashuddin said the inquiry panel also found the hackers may have exploited loopholes in the bank's online security when technicians hooked up the central bank's local money transfer system with SWIFT's international payments network late last year.

SWIFT has denied charges that its technicians were responsible for exposing Bangladesh Bank's systems to hackers.

Reuters has reported earlier that Bangladesh Bank had not protected its computer system with a firewall, and used second-hand $10 electronic switches to network computers linked to SWIFT, weaknesses that the hackers may also have exploited.

Farashuddin said that RCBC was responsible for allowing the stolen funds to be withdrawn and disbursed into the casino industry. Bangladesh has said it wants RCBC to compensate it for its losses.

RCBC has said Bangladesh Bank was "negligent" in letting the initial security breach take place there, and hence the Manila-based bank need not pay any compensation. So far only about $15 million of the stolen funds have been recovered.

Farashuddin said his personal opinion was it would be better to make the inquiry report public, since it would make clear that some local officials were negligent but not responsible for the heist.

"If the government would publish, then Bangladesh Bank's position would be strengthened," he said.

Bangladesh's law minister said earlier this week that his government would share the findings of the inquiry with Philippine authorities.

(Writing by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
By Anshuman Daga

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - AirAsia Bhd has received about a dozen bids for its aircraft leasing unit, mostly from Chinese firms, including the leasing arms of China Merchants Bank and Ping An Insurance Group, said sources with knowledge of the process.

AirAsia is seeking buyers for a majority stake in Asia Aviation Capital, which it has valued at about $1 billion.

This is the first time the level of interest in the leasing unit and the identities of some of the participants are coming to light. The first-round bidding closed earlier this week, the sources told Reuters.

The strong interest from Chinese firms comes despite China recently announcing measures to tighten controls on money moving out of the country, adding to speculation that potentially destabilising capital flows were on the rise.

One source said AirAsia had received strong interest from North Asian firms and Asian funds keen to gain long term exposure to the leasing industry, which has dollar-based revenue. He said potential buyers would start due diligence in a few weeks.

AirAsia declined to comment on the bidding. AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes told Reuters on the sidelines of an event in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday that the sale process "was getting too close" but declined further comment.

Reuters previously reported that AirAsia aims to conclude the sale of its leasing unit by the first half of next year.

Ping An Insurance declined to comment while there was no response from China Merchants Bank. The sources declined to be identified as the discussions are confidential.

A successful deal will enable Fernandes, who has grown AirAsia into the region's biggest budget airline from a two-plane operation over a decade ago, to cut the company's debt and pay a special dividend from the proceeds, the sources said.

CASHING IN

The airline is cashing in on a booming leasing sector in which well funded Chinese financial firms are looking to grab a bigger share of the $228 billion global aircraft leasing sector - once seen as the exclusive preserve of Western players.

Story continues

Aircraft leasing subsidiaries of China Construction Bank and Bank of Communications are rapidly expanding, while leasing units of Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Development Bank already figure among the top 15 global lessors.

One leasing industry executive said though there were some concerns about Chinese outbound investments, the sector was seen as strategic to China and as long as interest in Asia Aviation Capital was from lessors, this was unlikely to affect the sale process.

AirAsia recently hired a small team of industry veterans to spearhead growth at Asia Aviation Capital, which aims to expand its portfolio of planes to about 200 from 55 at the end of June.

Sources said the unit plans to add other airlines as part of a strategy to diversify its customer base beyond AirAsia's affiliates.

AirAsia has pending orders for about 400 Airbus aircraft secured at substantial discounts, helping it emerge as one of Airbus' biggest customers. AirAsia said in July that 30 percent of its recent order of 100 Airbus A321neo jets would be allocated to its leasing subsidiary.

(Reporting by Anshuman Daga in SINGAPORE; Additional reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee, Julie Zhu in HONG KONG and Liz Lee in KUALA LUMPUR; Editing by Denny Thomas and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
By Saikat Chatterjee

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Swiss private bank Edmond de Rothschild (RLD.S) is closing its Hong Kong operations, according to three people familiar with the matter, more than two decades after it opened shop in the former British territory and as costs in the wealth management industry bite.

The Geneva-based bank and money manager, which had 167 billion Swiss francs ($165 billion) of assets under management at end-June 2016, has already surrendered its China operating license and will run its Japan and Korea operations through its Swiss head office.

"This is part of a return to Europe strategy due to rising cost pressures," said one of the people familiar with the matter who declined to be named.

The bank confirmed the closure of its Hong Kong operations in an emailed statement and said it will continue to selectively exploit growth opportunities in Asia through partnerships such as with SMBC Nikko Securities and Samsung Asset Management.

"It also reflects a wider strategy to offer its international clients best of class asset management and private banking expertise from the European market," the bank said.

Two of the people said the Hong Kong operation would close by the end of December with its asset management arm, which opened in Hong Kong in 2007, also shutting shop.

Private banks in Asia are feeling the heat from aggressive tax amnesty programs in Indonesia and India aimed at bringing offshore wealth home and fear regulators may impose big fines on banks who breach the rules.

Tough market conditions and the need for scale in an increasingly competitive Asian market are forcing some market players to exit the industry.

Assets under management at the top twenty private banks operating in Asia declined 4 percent to $1.5 trillion in 2015, according to a survey published by Asian Private Banker. Market watchers expect 2016 to also be tough with revenues down across business segments.

In particular, western banks, battered after the global financial crisis, have faced growing competition from emerging Asian institutions, which have grown their balance sheets and wealth management operations significantly.

Story continues

Keith Pogson, a senior partner at accounting firm Ernst & Young in Hong Kong, expects an industry shakedown to continue as Asian names such as Singapore-based DBS Group Holdings (DBSM.SI) and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC.SI) grow.

U-TURN

The 63-year-old Edmond de Rothschild opened in Hong Kong in 1992 and was among the first of a wave of boutique private banks seeking to capture the business of a rapidly growing class of affluent Asians. The private bank's eponymous founder was a Swiss-born member of the Rothschild family of industrialists.

The firm embarked on an aggressive expansion plan bringing in six senior bankers in April 2014 to expand its offering to corporate banking and trust planning.

It appointed Jing Zhang Brogle as the new Hong Kong CEO last August, bringing her in from Swiss bank Vontobel where she looked after greater China operations.

It is unclear how many staff will be affected as part of this withdrawal. At end 2015, the group employed 1,771 employees globally with 766 staff in Switzerland and the rest abroad, according to its annual financial statements.

Net income at the group declined 11 percent to 56 million Swiss francs at end-2015 from a year earlier, according to its annual report.

China's banking regulator approved a request by the company to close down its Shanghai representative office in May this year. It was among the first to get a Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor quota in 2006.

(Reporting by Saikat Chatterjee; Additional reporting by Samuel Shen in SHANGHAI; Edited by Sam Holmes)
By Lincoln Feast and Greg Torode SYDNEY/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Vietnam has begun dredging work on a disputed reef in the South China Sea, satellite imagery shows, the latest move by the Communist state to bolster its claims in the strategic waterway. Activity visible on Ladd Reef in the Spratly Islands could anger Hanoi's main South China Sea rival, Beijing, which claims sovereignty over the group and most of the resource-rich sea. Ladd Reef, on the southwestern fringe of the Spratlys, is completely submerged at high tide but has a lighthouse and an outpost housing a small contingent of Vietnamese soldiers. The reef is also claimed by Taiwan. In an image taken on Nov. 30 and provided by U.S.-based satellite firm Planet Labs, several vessels can be seen in a newly dug channel between the lagoon and open sea. While the purpose of the activity cannot be determined for certain, analysts say similar dredging work has been the precursor to more extensive construction on other reefs. "We can see that, in this environment, Vietnam's strategic mistrust is total ... and they are rapidly improving their defenses," said Trevor Hollingsbee, a retired naval intelligence analyst with Britain's defense ministry. "They're doing everything they can to fix any vulnerabilities - and that outpost at Ladd Reef does look a vulnerability." Reuters reported in August that Vietnam had fortified several islands with mobile rocket artillery launchers capable of striking China's holdings across the vital trade route. Vietnam's foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment. The vessels at Ladd Reef cannot be identified in the images, but Vietnam would be extremely unlikely to allow another country to challenge its control of the reef. Greg Poling, a South China Sea expert at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said it remained unclear how far the work on Ladd Reef would go. Rather than a reclamation and a base, it could be an attempt to simply boost access for supply ships and fishing boats. Ladd could also theoretically play a role in helping to defend Vietnam's nearby holding of Spratly Island, where a runway is being improved and new hangars built, he said. "Vietnam's knows it can't compete with China but it does want to improve its ability to keep an eye on them," Poling said. Vietnam has long been fearful of renewed Chinese military action to drive it off its 21 holdings in the Spratlys - worries that have escalated amid Beijing's build-up and its anger at the recent Philippines legal action challenging its claims. China occupied its first Spratlys possessions after a sea battle against Vietnam's then-weak navy in 1988. Vietnam said 64 soldiers were killed as they tried to protect a flag on South Johnson reef - an incident still acutely felt in Hanoi. BUILDING BURST The United States has repeatedly called on claimants to avoid actions that increase tensions in the South China Sea, through which some $5 trillion in world trade is shipped every year. A spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, Anna Richey-Allen, said it was aware of reports of reclamation work by Vietnam and said the United States regularly raised concerns about such activity by claimants. "Weve consistently warned that reclamation and militarization in contested areas of the South China Sea will risk driving a destabilizing and escalatory trend," she said. "We encourage all claimants to take steps to lower tensions and peacefully resolve differences." Vietnam has emerged as China's main rival in the South China Sea, actively asserting sovereignty over both the Paracel and the Spratly groupings in their entirety and undergoing its own naval modernization. Taiwan also claims both, but its position is historically aligned with Beijing's. The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, run by the CSIS, says Vietnam has added about 120 acres (49 hectares) of land to its South China Sea holdings in recent years. Regional military attaches say Vietnam's key holdings are well fortified, some with tunnels and bunkers, appearing geared to deterring easy invasion. Vietnam's reclamation work remains modest by Chinese standards, however. The United States, which has criticized China for militarizing the waterway, estimates Beijing has added more than 3,200 acres (1,300 hectares) of land on seven features in the South China Sea over the past three years, building runways, ports, aircraft hangars and communications equipment. Beijing says it is entitled to "limited and necessary self-defensive facilities" on its territory and has reacted angrily to "freedom of navigation" operations by U.S. warships near Chinese-held islands. CHINESE RECLAMATION WORK DAMAGED In another image provided by Planet Labs, reclamation work in the Chinese-held Paracel Island chain appears to have been damaged by recent storms. China began dredging and land filling earlier this year at North Island, about 12 km (7 miles) north of Woody Island, where it has a large military base and this year stationed surface-to-air missiles. Satellite images in February and March showed dredging vessels working to build a 700-meter (2,300 ft) sand bridge connecting low-lying North Island with neighboring Middle Island. But images taken after two powerful storms spun through the region in October show the narrow sand strip has been largely swept away. The Paracels have been under Chinese control for more than 40 years after a battle towards the end of the Vietnam War, when Chinese forces removed the then-South Vietnamese navy. Analysts say they play a key part in protecting China's nuclear armed submarine fleet on Hainan Island, to the north. China has not commented publicly on the work at North Island and the foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment. (Additional reporting by Martin Petty in Hanoi, Ben Blanchard in Beijing and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Alex Richardson and Leslie Adler)
Tom Cruise dishes to ET about the "great scenes" he has with Russell Crowe in The Mummy.

"He is incredible in it. He's such a fine actor and I just had a lot of fun watching him develop that character," Cruise tells ET's Carly Steel. "And we had some great scenes together -- a really great fight scene between the two of us, and it was a blast doing."

WATCH: Russell Crowe 'Looking Forward' to Teaming Up With Tom Cruise for 'The Mummy'

In the movie, an ancient princess (Sofia Boutella), whose destiny was unjustly taken from her, is awakened from her crypt beneath the desert in our current day. Upon coming back to life, the mummy brings with her malevolence grown over millennia and terrors that defy human comprehension.

"This is a real monster movie," Cruise says. "It's also going to have humor, some romance and it's very, very scary. There's some scenes and sequences in here that are really epic and people are going to jump."

While this marks their first film together, Crowe and Cruise have known each other for decades. Earlier this year, Crowe chatted with ET about his history with the Hollywood top gun.

"I was really good friends with Tom from probably about '92 or so until he got divorced," Crowe said, before joking, "When he got divorced, I was part of Nicole [Kidman]'s settlement and so we didn't see each other."

WATCH: Tom Cruise Reacts to Viral Video of All His Big-Screen Runs at 'Jack Reacher: Never Go Back' Premiere

Crowe told us that he might have seen Cruise twice since the Mission: Impossible star split with Kidman in 2001, but assured us that there wouldn't be any awkwardness between them.

"I think we have a very simple and direct connection. I always had a great deal of respect for what he does and I'm really looking forward to being in front of a camera with him," Crowe said. "I said to him a long time ago -- when he asked me to do a particular movie -- I said to him, 'I don't really want to be in a film where we're on different sides -- you're the good guy, I'm the bad guy kind of thing.' This project, it's quite complex in terms of what our relationship really is."

Story continues

WATCH: Tom Cruise Reprises His Most Iconic Roles With James Corden in Less Than 10 Minutes!

Crowe plays Dr. Jekyll in the film, which is the first of what will be an entire monsters franchise for Universal Pictures.

"Russell and I have known each other over 20 years," Cruise told the film crew in a behind-the-scenes clip. "We've talked about working together and now we're going to do this very cool fight."

The Mummy hits theaters June 9, 2017.

Related Articles
Bassist Tommy Black (left) and singer Scott Weiland of Scott Weiland and the Wildabouts perform during day 1 of the Carolina Rebellion at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 2, 2015 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Jeff Hahne/Getty Images)

Its hard to believe its been a year since Stone Temple Pilots frontman and 90s alt-rock legend Scott Weiland was found dead on his tour bus in Bloomington, Minn., at age 48. Tommy Black, Weilands close friend and bandmate for 10 years, in particular finds that fact difficult to grasp  but not because the time has passed quickly for him.

It feels like five years to me, Black tells Yahoo Music, in his first official solo interview since the tragedy. It feels like a lot more than a year. It feels like its been a lot of years, for some reason. It was a horrible year I still feel a little uncomfortable talking about it all, to be honest.

A year ago, as speculation ran rampant regarding Weilands death, longtime sideman Black was suddenly thrust into the media spotlight, when it was reported that he had been arrested for fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance following the incident. (A small amount of cocaine had been found on the tour bus that Weiland and Black shared; it was later determined that Weiland, who had a long and much-publicized history of addiction issues, had died of an accidental overdose of cocaine, ethanol, and MDA, according to the Hennepin Medical Examiner.) Deputy Bloomington Police Chief Mike Hartley later told People that charges were actually never filed, because it would be too difficult to prove that the cocaine belonged to Black. But, the bassist says ruefully, It kind of sucks that thats the first thing that going to come up on a Google search for my name for the rest of my life.

Black recalls the dark day when he found out that his friend had died  and then found himself in a jail cell for 17 hours, trying to process the terrible news. We were at the Mall of America in Minnesota; we had a day off, he begins. I had knocked on Scotts door to see if he wanted to go eat, but he didnt answer, so I figured, let him sleep. So I was at the Mall of America, and Jamie [Wachtel], Scotts wife, called me and said Scott hadnt called her all day. I told her to call the tour manager, Aaron [Mohler], and find out whats up. A bit later, one of the tour guys called me and said, Come to the bus right now. Scotts dead. Aaron and [drummer] Joey [Castillo] had found him and called 911. I went straight to the bus The police were there, and they wouldnt let anyone on the bus at that point. We went to hang out in the [hotel] lobby  and then I went to the bar next door by myself.

Story continues

And you know, I just got drunk when I heard the news. I went next door and had a few shots, unfortunately. And the detectives came to question us  they question everybody when somebody dies on a tour bus. Theyre questioning me and they told me the next day, We had to detain you, because you [were too inebriated] to really be able to answer questions, and we didnt want you to leave the next morning. And then, you know, the media runs with that, so it had a bad spin on it. And that sucked, because thats not the way it was. It hurt me at the time, but I understand. Everybody wants an answer. Everybody wants to blame somebody.

Weilands death came only eight months after guitarist Jeremy Brown, Blacks 34-year-old bandmate in Weilands post-STP group the Wildabouts, died on the eve of the Wildabouts debut album release. Browns cause of death was also an accidental drug overdose. Black confesses hes still not over either loss. Two people like that in that timeframe  just processing it, theres a post-traumatic stress disorder thing that comes with that, he says. It takes a very long time to digest something like that, and you never truly do. I just try to be positive and live a positive life and do positive things. Thats all I can do.

These days, Black, who was the best man at Weilands 2013 wedding to third wife Wachtel, avoids reading press about Weiland (or himself), and tries to focus on positive memories  memories of a very different Weiland from the troubled addict depicted in the media, and very different from the tortured artist heard on Weilands most angst-ridden grunge hits.

Scott was a positive, loving, cool, badass person, Black says fondly. We would just have fun, like getting excited about music, talking about different bands and pulling up songs on our phones. And he loved paintball! He could be a big goofball sometimes. People only want to report the bad stuff, but Scott loved life. He had a very dry wit and he was very intelligent, and we were similar ages and came from similar backgrounds and even from similar areas, so we connected a lot on that level We could talk without talking. We could look at each other and survey each other, where we were coming from. Like, we had similar obscure jokes that no one else understood. It was that kind of bond, which you dont often come across.

Black finds it hard to deal with Weilands death at this time of year not just because of the one-year anniversary, but because Weiland took the holidays so seriously  and that shows how sweet he was. Its really hard for me, because at least the last four or five Thanksgivings, New Years Eves, and Christmases would be spent with Scott and Jamie. I spent so many Christmases over there, and he would cook and hed sing Christmas songs, and then his Christmas record [The Most Wonderful Time of the Year] would play and hed start singing with it. At Thanksgiving, he would cook the turkey. He was a real good cook, and he took the cooking of the turkey really seriously He just loved family and holidays. He was a very nostalgic guy about that sort of stuff.

This past Thanksgiving, Black honored his late friend and kept that holiday tradition alive by cooking a feast in Weilands honor. I texted Jamie: What was that turkey he always cooked? Whats the recipe? Because that was a good turkey! I had never cooked a turkey before. Scott used to tease me about my cooking, because I have, like, a George Forman/OptiGrill thing, he chuckles.

First time cooking a turkey thanks Jamie Weiland for Scott's turkey recipe! Ate that turkey every Thanksgiving for the last 4 years pic.twitter.com/gv7DxpPiZC  Tommy Black (@BlackTommy) November 24, 2016

Black also has happy memories of his final shows with the Wildabouts  contradicting multiple sad reports that in the end Weiland was tired, depressed, and strung-out, sleepwalking through the bands under-attended gigs. No. He was so excited. He enjoyed playing and he was burning brightly as ever, Black insists. We were loving what we were doing. He said [the Wildabouts album, Blaster] was his favorite record since [Stone Temple Pilots] Core. And thats huge! He was in the best place that I had ever seen him. I think his body probably just gave out. He worked hard and he played hard. He sang hard I mean, he had lived a long, hard life, and that was his reality. He didnt have the normal life any of us had. Luckily, I got to share some of that with him. He was a very special person and it was such a tragic thing. But I dont think he was upset at all.





Listening to the music he made with Weiland has helped Black process his grief. Somebody sends me a link to something and I check it out, and it just takes me right back there, he says wistfully. Music can make you smell things and taste things or hear things in your head Your mind fills in the spaces in the music. Black reveals that there is unreleased Wildabouts music in his possession, but he hasnt decided what to do with it yet. Its cool, too. Theres some more ethereal-sounding stuff it runs the whole gamut, actually. Its just in my thoughts. I havent talked to anyone about it, to be honest.

And in the end, Black hopes its Weilands music, not the tabloid scandals, that becomes his friends most lasting legacy. Scott was the real deal, Black states. Sometimes Id be playing with him and Id look to my left and Id be like, Whoa, I cant believe Im up here with this guy! It was just such a compliment, an honor, to play with him, when you realize how talented he was.

I dont matter. Scott matters. Twenty years from now, in Rolling Stone or whatever, when theres, like, pictures of Jim Morrison, Scott will be next to him too. You know what I mean? Thats all that matters.









Follow Lyndsey on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Amazon, Tumblr, Spotify
RACINE  A Racine man was charged Wednesday with reportedly sexually assaulting multiple minors since as early as 2010.

Dennis E. Kirt, 75, of the 3200 block of Kearney Avenue, was reported to police Nov. 14 for an alleged sexual assault of now 17-year-old boy that occurred in 2013.

According to a criminal complaint:

The boy reportedly helped Kirt out around his house. During an incident sometime between May and June 2013, Kirt showed the boy a pornographic movie in Kirts basement and Kirt reportedly began touching the boy inappropriately.

Kirt allegedly pushed for more but the incident stopped when the boys mother called. Kirt reportedly told the boy to not tell about the incident or he would be in trouble.

Kirt also sent the boy explicit text messages, according to the complaint.

Investigators then looked into another complaint that had been filed against Kirt. According to another boy, Kirt allegedly would buy him and his friends beer and cigarettes and let the kids hang out in Kirts basement.

Multiple boys reportedly recounted that Kirt would play pornographic videos on the television in the basement while the boys were there. One boy told police that he was assaulted as many as five times over a two-year span starting in 2010, the complaint said.

Kirt faces felony charges for second-degree sexual assault of a child and repeated sexual assault of the same child, and four felony charges for child enticement. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing at 9 a.m. Dec. 22 at the Racine County Law Enforcement Center, 717 Wisconsin Ave.

Kirt remained in custody as of Wednesday evening at the Racine County Jail, online records showed.
FOX has just released a series of photos from The Exorcist Season 1, episode 9.

In Chapter Nine: 162, Pope Sebastian heads to Chicago to visit Father Tomas (Alfonso Herrera) church. Ahead of his arrival, Father Tomas and Father Marcus (Ben Daniels) will try to take charge of Casey Rances (Hannah Kasulka) exorcism so that the pope will have an easier time. However, the hold the devil has on Caseys body proves to be much stronger than what the two priests will be able to handle.

One of the photos released by the network (via Spoilers Guide) shows Father Tomas performing an exorcism on Casey while her mom, Angela (Geena Davis), looks on. In another snap, Father Tomas has a conversation with Angelas husband, Henry (Alan Ruck).

In the previous episodes, a very confused Henry seems to be at a loss regarding what to do about whats happening to his family. When he found out that Angela also received visits from the devil when she was a teenager, Henry almost lost it.

Meanwhile, Caseys sister, Kat (Brianne Howey), will be involved in the Rance family discussions concerning what they are supposed to do with her sister. The family will also be forced to come together the minute they are faced with another ordeal.

In other news, Exorcist Season 1 has a total of 10 episodes. As of late, it is still unclear whether or not FOX will pick the show up for a second season. However, executive producer Jeremy Slater told Variety that he has some ideas about how the next season could go. In the first year were giving the audience something recognizable and relatable, but hopefully by the time a few episodes have gone by, youll start to understand how were creating an engine that can run for several years, he said.

The Exorcist Season 1, episode 9 will air on FOX on Dec. 9 at 9 p.m. EST.

The Exorcist

Photo: FOX

Related Articles
Youtube

Earlier this week Youtube belaboredly patted themselves on the back for reportedly paying out over a billion dollars to the music industry. They were no longer nickel-and-diming artists, was the gist of the blog post written by YouTube Chief Business Officer Robert Kyncl. But, experts within the music industry are disputing the easy of the video companys claim.

In a statement, the IFPI, or the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry, a global record industry trade group, called the figure into question. Here is their full account on what they call unexplained numbers from YouTube:

Google has today issued more unexplained numbers on what it claims YouTube pays the music industry. The announcement gives little reason to celebrate, however. With 800 million music users worldwide, YouTube is generating revenues of just over US $1 per user for the entire year. This pales in comparison to the revenue generated by other services, ranging from Apple to Deezer to Spotify. For example, in 2015 Spotify alone paid record labels some US $2 billion, equivalent to an estimated US $18 per user. YouTube, the worlds largest on-demand music service, is not paying artists and producers anything like a fair rate for music. This highlights more than ever the need for legislative action to address the value gap that is denying music rights holders a fair return for their work.

As the popularity of streaming continues to grow, the industry at large continues to grapple with how to get artists paid for the work they create. Fairly compensating artists matters immensely  the broke artist stereotype is not a joke  lack of resources is why scraped-together shows like the one held in the unsafe DIY Oakland space last week happen. Tragedies like that one could easily be avoided if consumers and companies invest back in the musical community.

Musicians regularly save us with their music, in my life, music has gotten me through my darkest times. Its time for us to invest back in musicians, and hold these enormous conglomerates accountable for the way they make millions off music without giving a fair cut to creators.
The Refugee Project

Online harassment is occurring at alarming rates. People get ridiculed, sexually harassed and threatened online. And sometimes this harassment can lead to violent, extremist crimes.

Technology companies have come up with different responses to the problem, but Parisa Zagat from Facebooks public policy team and the lead on its global counterspeech efforts, believes that removing offensive and harmful content from the web is not enough.

It's important to fight back with a positive message that resonates with people and that can roll back the tide of hateful content.

To do this, Facebook is turning to college students.

About a year ago, Facebook teamed up with EdVenture Partners and the U.S. State Department to help support their competition, "Peer to Peer: Challenging Extremism". Through the competition, college students around the world come up with online campaigns to help counter extremism.

The idea is to create video and other content that can be easily shared on social media, and which provides opinions, advice and insight on the same issues that extremists exploit for their own ends.

"When we were first introduced to P2P we saw the power of the programming," said Sabeti Zagat, in an interview with Business Insider. "Young voices can be really powerful. They can push back against some of the hate and extremism."

But perhaps one of the reasons that Facebook was most interested in this competition is that they recognize coming up with effective counter-extremism campaigns for the whole world from their offices in Menlo Park can be a challenge.

"Whatever the issue is in a community, whether it's harassment, Islamophobia, violent extremism, young people can create messages that will resonate the best," Parisa said. "They know what that community is experiencing."

Students know best

This holds true when you look at the University of Nebraska Omaha, which entered the P2P challenge for the first time, completing their project in time for the domestic competition's deadline yesterday.

Story continues

The group of honors students created The Refugee Perspective campaign. The purpose of the campaign is to help create positive messaging about refugees living in Nebraska. They created documentaries with refugees in the community to help share their messages. They have a Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube account.

sheryl sandberg mark zuckerberg

"The demographics here are pretty low diversity," said Professor Gina Ligon, the advisor to the students entering the P2P challenge. "We have a lot of college age students who have never been exposed to a refugee or even to someone from another country. There are really great kids here, but that's who white supremacists target, people who don't know any different."

So while there is little diversity, Omaha is also home to some of the largest populations of refugees from Myanmar and Sudan.

Ligon warns that this mix can be dangerous. So Ligon's students worked hard on their campaign to help build messaging specifically about refugees: "We thought we would be credible voices to those kind of students because we could help them to see that refugees aren't harboring terrorists in them."

An international competition

Since EdVenture Partners started the competition, it has been growing around the world. P2P currently has a presence in 60 countries with over 250 universities participating. They have a domestic competition and three regional international competitions, held in Germany, Ghana and Oman.

All these competitions culminate in one final competition held in Washington D.C. in February.

Facebook's involvement in the program includes not only funding parts of the competition, but also providing training and judging the competition, along with EdVenture Partners and the State Department.

"They call it G.U.I.  government, university, industry partnership," Ligon said. "We have been coming up with catchy things that young people might see, but then you have the expertise of the government who knows exactly what we can and can't do legally. And then you have industry like Facebook that knows how to optimize any kind of platform that we want to use to get out message out there."

Ligon and her students will find out on Dec. 16 if they have been selected for the final competition in February.

NOW WATCH: We sleep much differently than our ancestors  here's why





More From Business Insider


LONDON (Reuters) - What happens if the British government loses its appeal against a High Court ruling that said ministers could not start the process of leaving the European Union without parliament's approval? All 11 Supreme Court judges sat on the appeal, the first time they have done so since its formation in 2009, and its president said on Thursday it would reach a decision as quickly as possible. IF GOVERNMENT LOSES One suggestion is that both houses of parliament would debate and vote on a short motion giving Prime Minister Theresa May authority to trigger Article 50, kick-starting the process. However, lawyers leading the challenge against the government argue that only a new law authorising the government to trigger Article 50 would suffice because citizens would lose rights granted by the parliamentary act by which Britain joined the EU. Only a new law could start a process which would inevitably take those rights away, the lawyers say. Even the government's own lawyer told the court that a one-line bill would probably be necessary. If that is the case, it is not clear how much opposition or delay such a bill would face. Most MPs in the lower house of parliament will now back Brexit, and they overwhelmingly supported May's timetable for leaving the union in a non-binding vote on Wednesday. Some might try to force amendments and conditions on May while the upper unelected House of Lords, many of whose members opposed Brexit, could put up opposition. Judges cannot order parliament to pass laws, so they themselves might avoid suggesting a law is required. "So the real question is, can we as a court say to parliament, the trigger stage, a motion would not be good enough, even a motion supported -- a unanimous motion, that would not be good enough," Robert Carnwath, one of the Supreme Court judges, said during the appeal. "There has to be this one-line bill that says: yes, you can trigger." IF GOVERNMENT WINS If the court backs the government appeal, then May will be able to go ahead with her plan to trigger Article 50 by the end of March without seeking specific backing from MPs. Investors believe that greater parliamentary involvement would reduce the chances of a "hard Brexit" in which tight controls on immigration are prioritised over European single market access. (Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by John Stonestreet)
(Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate wrestling magnate Linda McMahon as his choice to head the Small Business Administration, Trump's transition team said in a statement on Wednesday. The following is a list of Republican Trump's selections for top jobs in his administration. All the posts but that of national security adviser require Senate confirmation: TREASURY SECRETARY: STEVEN MNUCHIN Mnuchin, 53, is a relatively little-known but successful private equity investor, hedge fund manager and Hollywood financier who spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs before leaving in 2002. He assembled an investor group to buy a failed California mortgage lender in 2009, rebranded it as OneWest Bank and built it into Southern California's largest bank. The bank came under fire for its foreclosure practices as housing advocacy groups accused it of being too quick to foreclose on struggling homeowners. DEFENSE SECRETARY: JAMES MATTIS Mattis is a retired Marine general known for his tough talk, distrust of Iran and battlefield experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. A former leader of Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East and South Asia, Mattis, 66, is known by many U.S. forces by his nickname "Mad Dog." He was once rebuked for saying in 2005: "It's fun to shoot some people." U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: U.S. SENATOR JEFF SESSIONS Sessions, 69, was the first U.S. senator to endorse Trump's presidential bid and has been a close ally since. Son of a country-store owner, the Alabama senator and former federal prosecutor has long taken a tough stance on illegal immigration, opposing any path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. COMMERCE SECRETARY: WILBUR ROSS Ross, 78, heads the private equity firm W.L. Ross & Co. His net worth was pegged by Forbes at about $2.9 billion. A staunch supporter of Trump and an economic adviser, Ross helped shape the Trump campaign's views on trade policy. He blames the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, which went into force in 1994, and the 2001 entry of China into the World Trade Organization for causing massive U.S. factory job losses. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TOM PRICE Price, 62, is an orthopedic surgeon who heads the House of Representatives' Budget Committee. A representative from Georgia since 2005, Price has criticized Obamacare and has championed a plan of tax credits, expanded health savings accounts and lawsuit reforms to replace it. He is opposed to abortion. HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT SECRETARY: BEN CARSON Carson, 65, is a retired neurosurgeon who dropped out of the Republican presidential nominating race in March and threw his support to Trump. A popular writer and speaker in conservative circles, Carson previously indicated reluctance to take a position in the incoming administration because of his lack of experience in the federal government. Carson is the first African-American picked for a Cabinet spot by Trump. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: ELAINE CHAO Chao, 63, was labor secretary under President George W. Bush for eight years and the first Asian-American woman to hold a Cabinet position. She is a director at Ingersoll Rand, News Corp and Vulcan Materials Company. She is married to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky. EDUCATION SECRETARY: BETSY DEVOS DeVos, 58, is a billionaire Republican donor, a former chair of the Michigan Republican Party and an advocate for the privatization of education. As chair of the American Federation for Children, she has pushed at the state level for vouchers that families can use to send their children to private schools and for the expansion of charter schools. [L1N1DO0KC] DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: JOHN KELLY The final leadership role of Kelly's 45-year career was head of the U.S. Southern Command, responsible for U.S. military activities and relationships in Latin America and the Caribbean. Kelly, 66, differed with Democratic President Barack Obama on key issues and has warned of vulnerabilities along the United States' southern border with Mexico. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ADMINISTRATOR: SCOTT PRUITT An ardent opponent of President Barack Obama's measures to stem climate change, Pruitt, 48, has enraged environmental activists, but he fits with the Republican president-elect's promise to cut the agency back and eliminate regulation that he says is stifling oil and gas drilling. Pruitt became the top prosecutor for Oklahoma, which has extensive oil reserves, in 2011, and has challenged the EPA multiple times since. SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION ADMINISTRATOR: LINDA MCMAHON McMahon, 68, is a co-founder and former CEO of the professional wrestling franchise WWE, which is based in Stamford, Connecticut. She ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for a U.S. Senate seat in Connecticut in 2010 and 2012, and was an early supporter of Trump's presidential campaign. U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: GOVERNOR NIKKI HALEY Haley, 44, has been the Republican governor of South Carolina since 2011 and has little experience in foreign policy or the federal government. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she led a successful push last year to remove the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol after the killing of nine black churchgoers in Charleston by a white gunman. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: RETIRED LIEUTENANT GENERAL MICHAEL FLYNN Flynn, 57, was an early Trump supporter and serves as vice chairman on his transition team. He began his U.S. Army career in 1981 and was deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Flynn became head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2012 under President Barack Obama but retired a year earlier than expected, according to media reports, and became a fierce critic of Obama's foreign policy. CIA DIRECTOR: U.S. REPRESENTATIVE MIKE POMPEO Pompeo, 52, is a third-term congressman from Kansas who serves on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, which oversees the CIA, National Security Agency and cyber security. A retired Army officer and Harvard Law School graduate, Pompeo supports the U.S. government's sweeping collection of Americans' communications data and wants to scrap the nuclear deal with Iran. (Reporting by Washington Newsroom; editing by Peter Cooney, Bill Trott and Jim Finkle)
For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android.

The family of a teen shot Wednesday after he allegedly pulled two large knives on students at his Nevada high school is now reportedly questioning the officers use of force on the 14-year-old.

The teen was taken to a local hospitalized and listed in critical condition after being shot at Hug High School in Reno, Nevada, by a school district police officer, according to authorities.

A lawyer for the family said they are focused on the boys recovery  but question the officers decision to fire, according to a report.

There are many questions to be answered as to what happened and what could have been done to avoid the use of lethal force, David Houston told NBC News in a statement. We believe options were available to law enforcement that were not pursued.

Because the suspect is a juvenile who has not been charged as an adult, PEOPLE is not identifying him.

The situation unfolded at around 11:30 a.m., when the boy got into an altercation with two other students, Reno Police Chief Jason Soto said in a news conference. The boy then pulled out the knives and tried to attack others, Soto alleged.

Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the attack. One parent told the Reno Gazette-Journal that the teen had been bullied for days.

 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

The officer gave verbal commands for the student to drop the knife, ultimately firing his service weapon, stopping the threat, Soto said, adding that medical aid was immediately provided to the suspect after the shooting.

The school was placed under lockdown following the incident, authorities told PEOPLE. But the lockdown was lifted by the afternoon, the Associated Press reports.

Story continues

Several videos of the incident were posted online, showing a boy in a blue shirt and white pants running around the schools quad with two large knives.

 Pick up PEOPLEs special edition True Crime Stories: Cases That Shocked America, on sale now, for the latest on Casey Anthony, JonBenet Ramsey and more.

Theres some very disturbing video out there, Reno police officer Tim Broadway told reporters Wednesday afternoon. But there are other events that led up to this incident, so please dont react to those.

Broadway told the Gazette-Journal that the officer who shot the teen is on paid administrative leave. Officials have not released his name, and it was not immediately clear if the teenage suspect has been charged or entered a plea.

 With reporting by HARRIET SOKMENSUER
Universal

Jurassic Worlds Colin Trevorrow has handed off directing duties to J.A. Bayona for the films sequel because of his commitment to Star Wars: Episode IX, but the two directors seem to be on the same wavelength, at least when it comes to animatronic dinosaurs, anyway. But perhaps they need to rethink their feather stance as a newly discovered piece of remains locked in amber have further confirmed previously held ideas.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter recently, Bayona said, We love animatronics and were trying to do as much with them as possible.

It echoes Trevorrows sentiments from back in October. There will be animatronics for sure. Well follow the same general rule as all of the films in the franchise which is the animatronic dinosaurs are best used when standing still or moving at the hips or the neck, he said Weve written some opportunities for animatronics into this movie because it has to start at the script level and I can definitely tell you that Bayona has the same priorities, he is all about going practical whenever possible.

Bayona said audiences are used to CGI and might be reluctant toward animatronics. But at the same time, I think animatronics bring soul and reality to it, he said. Were trying to find the balance between animatronics and CGI in order to cheat the audience so they dont know what theyre seeing.

Whether its using animatronic or CGI dinosaurs, however, its unlikely youll be seeing feathers on the Jurassic Worlds sequels. Especially in light of this tweet from Trevorrow.

But a recent discovery suggests maybe the film should rethink that decision. You probably already know birds being descendants of some dinosaurs has been a widely accepted belief for a while now. You probably also remember Jurassic Park addressing that. The series took liberties with science but by the third film it had changed up the velociraptors, putting quills on the head of the males. (Feathers were too much for CGI at the time.) Fast forward to Jurassic World and its bit of meta commentary about Dr. Wu creating the dinosaurs to exist as the public perceives them rather than as they truly were, hence, no feathers.

Story continues

But it might be nice to see feathers show up in the Jurassic World sequel if for nothing else than a nod to paleontologist Lida Xings amazing new discovery.

The tail of a 99-million-year-old dinosaur has been found entombed in amber and scientists are blown away https://t.co/cPrXXKAfWR pic.twitter.com/LLr1Vasuo9  CNN (@CNN) December 8, 2016

Inside the lump of resin is a 1.4-inch appendage covered in delicate feathers, described as chestnut brown with a pale or white underside, according to National Geographic. The presence of articulated tail vertebrae in the sample enabled researchers to rule out the possibility that the feathers belonged to a prehistoric bird.

As Dr. Wu said, we mostly think of dinosaurs as scary or imposing, not cute, but the description CNN provides of this find makes me want a new pet, even if it would eat my face off in the night:

The tail section belongs to a young coelurosaurian  from the same group of dinosaurs as the predatory velociraptors and the tyrannosaurus. The sparrow-sized creature could have danced in the palm of your hand.

If youre inclined to get into the real nitty-gritty science check out the report here.
BURLINGTON  Tuesday was a day of elation mixed with sorrow for Burlingtons Nathan Libbey.

Libbey saw eating disorders legislation he championed pass the U.S. Senate as part of a wide-ranging health care bill which now goes to President Barack Obama.

Libbey began advocating for the bill after the death of his wife, Jennifer, who suffered from bulimia. She always wanted to shout from the rooftop once she beat the disorder, Libbey said. While she wasnt able to do that, Libbey said, hes excited others may benefit.

Jennifer and I frequently discussed the power her voice would have once she defeated her eating disorder, Libbey said. There is an adage that negative voices always play the loudest. Unfortunately, her voice resonated with lawmakers from the grave and not from a pedestal of triumph.

Today, however, she is triumphant, our children are triumphant and individuals with eating disorders in Wisconsin and throughout our great nation are triumphant.

Insurance change key

Jennifer Libbey taught kindergarten in the Burlington Area School District until her death on Aug. 14, 2014.

After she died, Nathan Libbey contacted the Eating Disorders Coalition and traveled to Washington, D.C., to lobby legislators on the bill. Its named the Anna Westin Act, after a Minnesota woman who struggled with anorexia and committed suicide at age 21.

Among other things, the measure clarifies law to improve health insurance coverage for eating disorders and residential treatment. Thats a big deal, Libbey said, noting residential care could otherwise cost almost $100,000.

The legislation also provides resources for training for health professionals as well as education and prevention help for the public.

The bill, which advocates say is the first legislation on eating disorders passed by Congress, was co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.

I have heard from far too many Wisconsin families like the Libbeys who have struggled to find the quality eating disorder care and treatment that they need, Baldwin said in a statement to The Journal Times. The passage of the Anna Westin Act will take critical steps to improve health coverage and enhance prevention, treatment, and early diagnosis to better support the 192,000 Wisconsinites who are battling an eating disorder.

The Anna Westin Act was part of the 21st Century Cures and Mental Health Reform Act, which overwhelmingly passed the House 392-26 and the Senate 94-5. Obama has said he will sign the bill.

Besides eating disorders, the $6.3 billion package allocates money toward efforts such as cancer research and battling drug addiction. Most notably, the legislation invests $1 billion to fight the opioid epidemic.
A federal judge ordered Michigan's Board of Elections on Wednesday to stop the state's electoral recount after a state court ruling found Green Party candidate Jill Stein had no legal standing to request recount of votes. U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith said "there is no basis" for him to ignore the state court ruling that said the recount should never have started.

Steins campaign condemned the judgment and promised to challenge the Michigan Court of Appeals decision. Republicans have argued that the three-day recount must end as the state appeals court found that Stein, who finished fourth in Michigan on Nov. 8, did not have a chance of winning even after a recount and therefore is not an "aggrieved" candidate.

We are not backing down from this fight  a fight to protect the hard-fought, hard-won civil and voting rights of all Americans. Our campaign will seek immediate relief in Michigans Supreme Court to ensure the recount that is already underway in all Michigan counties continues, Hayley Horowitz and Jessica Clarke, the Stein campaigns lead lawyers in Michigan, said in a statement. With so many irregularities in Michigan  including more than 75,000 under-votes, many in urban areas, and widespread carelessness, and perhaps interference, with preserving ballots  there is a real possibility the rights of voters in Michigan may have been suppressed during this election."

John Bursch, attorney for Michigans Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette, who had challenged Steins case for a recount, praised Goldsmiths decision.

This ruling is a huge victory for Michigan taxpayers and the rule of law, Bursch reportedly said in a statement.

State Republican Party Chairman Ronna Romney McDaniel reportedly said: "Jill Stein, who received only 1.07% of the vote in Michigan, is not legally entitled to hijack the will of voters and drag them into an arduous and expensive publicity stunt."

Story continues

Early Monday morning, Goldsmith ordered the recount to begin by noon that day, with the intention of enabling the state to complete the recount by Dec. 13, the deadline needed to allow for sufficient time before the Electoral College meets on Dec. 19. In Michigan, Trump defeated Clinton by 10,704 votes.

"Because there is no basis for this court to ignore the Michigan court's ruling and make an independent judgment regarding what the Michigan Legislature intended by the term 'aggrieved,' plaintiffs have not shown an entitlement to a recount," Goldsmith said in his statement Wednesday.

Stein had requested for a vote recount in three states  Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin  where Trump narrowly won. A court hearing will be held Friday on a possible recount in Pennsylvania.

Related Articles
A woman in Miami, Florida, who had parts of her two legs amputated, fell to the ground and was left there for a time while she was arrested on December 3.

The woman, named in reports as 52-year-old Mary Brown, was arrested on charges of trespassing. During the arrest process, she fell out her wheelchair and was left on the ground for a time by two officers.

Miami-Dade Police reportedly reviewed footage of the incident and said in a statement, "as an agency we need to provide our law enforcement officers additional resources to aid them in facilitating the transport of disabled individuals, so that situations such as these are handled in a more amicable manner in the future. Credit: Facebook/Jay King (Money gram Music via Storyful)
Marseille (AFP) - Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu gave a rock star performance to lead after the men's short programme on the opening day of the ISU Grand Prix of figure skating final in Marseille on Thursday.

Japanese star Hanyu -- the three-time defending Grand Prix final champion -- was impressive in style and execution with an error-free routine to Prince's Let's Go Crazy.

Hanyu opened with a quadruple jump followed by a quadruple-triple, soaring to 106.53 points -- just four points short of the world record score he achieved a year ago.

"I have never connected to an audience like this since I was born, or since I started skating, but this programme feels like a concert, like it's live. I want to be their rock star," said Hanyu.

The 21-year-old leads Canada's Patrick Chan going into Saturday's free programme final in the elite six-skater field with Hanyu's training partner, reigning two-time world champion Javier Fernandez of Spain, trailing in third.

Chan, 25, also nailed all his elements in his short programme to Dear Prudence and Black Bird by the Beatles.

The Olympic silver medallist and former three-time world champion achieved 99.76 points with Fernandez a further eight adrift after falling during his Flamenco routine.

"I just did my job, stay calm and stay relaxed," said Chan.

"The quad toe didnt feel perfect on the take-off and I had to fight for the landing of the triple toe but I didnt panic and was able to keep my rhythm."

Fernandez knows he will have to pull out a great performance on Saturday if he wants to finally turn his two silver medals to gold.

"You can't always do a perfect job and today was not a good day. I have to find the mistakes and do a great programme the day after tomorrow."

Japan's Shoma Uno (86.82) is sitting fourth after a fall on his quad, just ahead of Americans Nathan Chen (85.30) and Adam Rippon (83.93).

- 'Need to gel' -

Story continues

In pairs, favourites Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford of Canada are sitting third after the two-time world champions fell on a throw triple axel during their short programme to Killer by Seal.

"It wasnt the way I wanted to have my birthday go," said Duhamel who turned 31 on Thursday as they earned 71.44 points -- seven points behind Russian leaders Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov (78.60).

Radford added: "It's a high risk programme and there's not a high reward."

The Russians skated to a musical mixture of Glam Electro Swing, to lead Chinese newcomers Yu Xiaoyu and Zhang Hao(75.34).

"We havent been skating together for a long time, so we still need to gel as a team," said Zhang.

The elite competition continues on Friday with the pairs free programme final, as Evgenia Medvedeva opens her women's title defence in a field that includes four Russians.

In ice dancing Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, the 2010 Olympic champions, returning after two seasons off, open their bid for the only title missing from their collection.

World champion ice dancers Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron will be carrying French hopes.
Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich appealed directly to Donald Trump during an appearance on CNNs Anderson Cooper 360 tonight, taking the president-elect to task for tweets against a union boss, Alec Baldwin and individual journalists: You are looking and acting as if you are mean and petty and thin-skinned and vindictive, Reich said, looking into the camera and addressing Trump. Stop this.

Reichs impassioned plea  or confrontation  followed Trumps tweet tonight criticizing Chuck Jones, the president of United Steelworkers 1999 who publicly disputed the president-elects figures regarding the number of jobs saved at the Carrier manufacturing plant in Indiana. Jones says the number of jobs saved by Trumps involvement is considerably fewer than the 1,100 claimed, and that about 500 are still headed to Mexico.

Trump lashed back, and got personal, tweeting Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers. No wonder companies flee country!

Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers. No wonder companies flee country!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2016

And in a response just as direct, Reich used his appearance on CNN to speak to the president-elect because Donald Trump is probably watching right now. (Watch the video above).

After mentioning Trumps tweets against Jones, Baldwin, journalists and Boeing  and pointedly dismissing any comparisons to FDRs fireside chats  Reich said, You are going to be president very shortly. You are going to have at your command not just twitter but also the CIA, the IRS, the FBI. If you have this kind of thin-skinned vindictive attitude, we are in very deep trouble, and sir, so are you.

Story continues

Trumps union tweet  and Reichs response to it  prompted a quick and heavy reaction on social media. Heres a sampling:

Post Comet pizza shooting, Trump has every reason to know what he & his crew are inciting when they vilify citizens by name. https://t.co/yjNtA5OKzO  David Frum (@davidfrum) December 8, 2016

Trump insulted private citizens pretty routinely as a candidate, I'd be surprised if he stopped as POTUS.  Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) December 8, 2016

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRX37ysqvpo&w=605&h=340]

Related stories

Alec Baldwin, Taylor Schilling, Jena Malone & Che 'Rhymefest' Smith Join Emilio Estevez-Directed 'The Public'

Donald Trump & 'The Apprentice' Creator Mark Burnett Talk Inauguration Plans

Seth Meyers Blasts Media For Normalizing Nazis With "Alt-Right" Label
EXCLUSIVE: 2oth Century Fox pre-emptively has acquired The State, a spec script by the writing team of Rory Haines & Sohrab Noshirvani. The script is an international action thriller about a father in a desperate race to rescue his son. David Lonner and Ben Rowe of Oasis Media Group are producing.

Its an international thriller for writers who fit that same description. Noshirvani is Iranian-born, and Haines hails from the UK. They met in New York and first hit the Black List with 2013s From Here To Albion, a script that Participant Media bought. Theyve since sold Revenge At A Wedding to Justin Lins Perfect Storm, and Universal Cable Productions bought their pilot script The Narrows. The duo also is developing a series at BBC with Sam Mendes Neal Street.

They are represented by CAA, Oasis Media Group and Jackoway Tyerman.

Related stories

'War For The Planet Of The Apes' Trailer: Caesar Fights His Darker Instincts In Epic Battle

Pharrell Williams On His 'Hidden Figures' Contribution: "It Made Sense For Everything We Stand For"

Fox Unveils New 'Alien: Covenant' Photo In Honor Of Ridley Scott's Birthday
Netflix is mounting what could be a groundbreaking challenge to fixed-term employment agreements. Even 21st Century Fox acknowledges what Netflix is doing is "audacious." In a motion submitted in court on Wednesday, Fox is asking a judge to put a stop on Netflix's efforts to have its employment agreements deemed invalid. The content giant contends Netflix is impermissibly basing counterclaims premised on Fox's own lawsuit over the way two of its executives were poached.

Fox filed suit in September with the allegation that Netflix had induced programming executive Tara Flynn and marketing executive Marcos Waltenberg to breach their contracts. The action attracted the attention of employment attorneys throughout California thanks to Fox's rare decision to go to court over poaching and Netflix's strong reaction where the streaming giant raised doubts as to the enforceability of fixed-term employment contracts. In October, Netflix moved forward with the assertion in counterclaims that Fox's "take-it-or-leave-it" deals amounted to "involuntary servitude" and necessitated a judge's red light.

Now, Fox has filed a motion premised on California's SLAPP statute, enacted to deter frivolous litigation on First Amendment protected activity.

The result of Fox's latest move could mean that a judge may provide analysis of the legality of fixed-term employment agreements sooner rather than later. And since there's an automatic right to appeal under the SLAPP statute, Fox's motion also could mean that higher authorities also get an opportunity to address the larger issues.

First, however, the judge will need to decide that Netflix's claims arise from constitutionally protected activity. In this instance, Fox is contending that petitioning for the enforcement of its employment agreements constitutes such activity and says the way it communicated with Netflix and then initiated litigation is immunized by California's statutory litigation privilege.

Story continues

If a judge accepts Fox's argument that Netflix is essentially aiming to chill its petitioning rights - and that's hardly a given since counterclaims seem to be a routine maneuver in litigation - Netflix would then need to demonstrate a probability of prevailing before Netflix's counterclaims are allowed to proceed.

"Netflix makes no Constitutional or interpretative challenge to the Labor Code - rather, it audaciously asks the Court to disregard the law or create new limitations and conditions on the validity and enforceability of fixed-term contracts," states the motion being handed by attorney Daniel Petrocelli. "The Court has no power to do what Netflix asks. Netflix's cross-complaint belongs in the Legislature, not the Courthouse."

Fox says that its deals with Flynn and Waltenberg are exactly the type of agreements that countless employers across California and the nation enter with employees.

In its cross-complaint, Netflix spoke how "California prizes employee mobility" and asserted that Fox "actually bullies individuals into signing employment contracts," alleging that neither Flynn nor Waltenberg were permitted to negotiate terms upon Fox's exercise of options in contracts to extend their service.

In its latest court papers (read here), Fox retorts that there's no argument that the contracts qualify as "unfair" nor are "fraudulent."

"Rather, Netflix argues only that the enforcement of Fox's contracts are 'unlawful,'" states Fox. "But it is axiomatic that an act cannot be unlawful when it is expressly permitted by law."

Fox contends that California Labor Code expressly recognizes the enforceability of fixed-term contracts with provisions that directly address "employment for a specified term" and delineate the circumstances under which an employee may prematurely terminate such an agreement without breaching it. The studio also mentions a California law that's famous in Hollywood circles - Section 2855, enacted around the time when Warner Bros. repeatedly attempted to extend actress Olivia de Havilland's contract against her wishes and she filed suit. The California law creates a seven-year limit on personal service contracts.

"Netflix does not allege that Fox has sought to enforce its contracts 'beyond seven years,'" continues Fox. "Quite the contrary, Netflix goes outside the Labor Code and rests its entire argument on Business & Professions Code Section 16600, arguing that Fox's contracts violate it as 'an expression of California public policy' by seeking to restrain an individual from engaging in a lawful profession, trade or business. Netflix, however, cannot so easily sidestep the Supreme Court's proclamation that 'courts may not use the unfair competition law to condemn actions the Legislature permits.'"

Fox also has filed a demurrer that challenges the sufficiency of the claims on this same basis.

Netflix and its attorneys at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, through its action, took the notable step of providing explicit word that it would be eyeing more of Fox's employees in the future.

"At a more fundamental level, Netflix's UCL claim boils down to the preposterous position that Fox owes Netflix - its competitor - a duty to release its employees from their fixed-term employment contracts or otherwise make them available for Netflix to hire," responds Fox. "Fox, of course, owes Netflix no such duty, and Section 16600 does not remotely suggests otherwise. Far from it."

In a statement, Netflix responds to the motions: "Fox is merely attempting to limit the mobility and salary potential of its employees, an archaic industry practice that doesn't reflect modern workplace norms in a state that has been consistent and clear about the illegality of such practices."

Update Dec. 8: Netflix's response added.
(UPDATED WITH RESPONSE FROM NETFLIX) No one expects the legal battle between Netflix and Fox over the latters allegations that the streaming service illegally poached of its two executives to end any time soon but a new twist today might speed things up  or at least force a definition on how enforceable employment contracts really are in the Golden State.

Netflix has no standing whatsoever to bring the claims in the cross-complaint, Fox declares bluntly in a filing today in LA Superior Court (read it here). Back in September, 20th Century Fox and Fox 21 sued the streaming service for intentional interference with contractual relations for snaring Marco Waltenberg and Tara Flynn, even though both execs were still under contract with Fox.

Fox is merely attempting to limit the mobility and salary potential of its employees, an archaic industry practice that doesnt reflect modern workplace norms in a state that has been consistent and clear about the illegality of such practices, said Netflix in response to Foxs latest filing.

Almost three months after first getting into the legal ring against Netflix, Fox Wednesday took an anti-SLAPP motion swing to down the House of Cards homes October 19 counterclaims of unlawful and anti-competitive business practices by the studio. A swing punctuated by the California law to TKO unnecessary lawsuits based on First Amendment protected speech  and one that could see an appeal moving the whole dispute up to higher courts as Fox seeks a January 9 hearing in front of Judge Gerald Rosenberg on their motion.

Netflixs position not only seeks to inhibit-indeed, prevent-Fox from exercising its Constitutionally-protected rights, it is also a direct attack on the California Labor Code (and its antecedent provisions), which for more than one century has explicitly recognized the validity of fixed-term employment contracts, the filing at the Santa Monica Courthouse declares. Netflix makes no Constitutional or interpretative challenge to the Labor Code-rather, it audaciously asks the Court to disregard the law or create new limitations and conditions on the validity and enforceability of fixed-term contracts, Fox adds in the procedural move. The Court has no power to do what Netflix asks. Netflixs cross-complaint belongs in the Legislature, not the Courthouse.

Story continues

That may be, but itll be the courthouse early next year that calls where this move takes the case and potentially employment deals in the state next.

Daniel Petrocelli of OMelveny & Myers LLP is representing the Fox parties in the matter along with the firms Molly Lens and J. Hardy Ehlers. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLPs Lynne Hermle and Karen Johnson-McKewan are representing Netflix.

Related stories

Condola Rashad Joins Netflix's 'Come Sunday' With Chiwetel Ejiofor

'The Mick' Special Premiere To Air In All Time Zones Following January 1 NFL Doubleheader

'One Day At A Time' Trailer: First Look At Netflix Remake Of Norman Lear Comedy
As France contends with a drop in tourist numbers following a series of deadly attacks, the government is hoping that a new Bollywood romantic comedy can help it lure Indian visitors.

From the golden beaches of the Cote D'Azur to the roof of the Paris opera house and the historic bridges of the Seine, the blockbuster movie "Befikre" -- "Carefree" in English -- is filled with picture postcard scenes of France.

The makers of the blockbuster movie, which hits Indian screens on Friday, say it is the first Bollywood production to be shot entirely on the French mainland.

For French ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler the new movie, which features Bollywood star Ranveer Singh and Vaani Kapoor, is worth "all the marketing campaigns in the world".

"In a country like India, the impact of movies on the dreams people have of visiting an unknown place and on the desire to discover is absolutely huge," Ziegler told AFP.

"It is without doubt the biggest influence over travel today for the Indian middle classes."

Top tourist hotspots around the world have recently focused on Chinese visitors, but are increasingly setting their sights on neighbouring India.

The country's burgeoning middle class is travelling abroad in growing numbers, with 50 million forecast to do so by 2020, up from just 20 million in 2014.

Last year 524,000 Indians travelled to France, a figure dwarfed by the number of Chinese and Japanese visitors but which is growing rapidly.

Sophie Lacressonniere, marketing director of the promotional agency Atout France, says the Indian client base is also "resilient to security fears", a key factor in the wake of recent attacks in France.

Other European countries have already enjoyed the Bollywood effect -- the number of Indians visiting Spain doubled in 2012 after the release of the hit road movie "You Won't Get This Life Again, parts of which were shot there.

Story continues

Switzerland meanwhile has long loomed large in the imaginations of Indian travellers.

Its snow-capped peaks and quiet rural villages were immortalised in the cult films of the Bollywood director Yash Chopra, who died in 2012.

All of which meant the French authorities pulled out all the stops when they were first contacted by the makers of "Befikre" last year.

As with most Indian movies, the schedule was tight and the crew spent around 50 days shooting in France in the spring.

Lacressonniere says she is now working with French operators to try to organise tours that take in the places where the film was shot.

A model of Ranveer Singh will make its debut at Paris's Grevin wax museum next year, and more Bollywood projects are said to be in the pipeline.

Ambassador Ziegler believes that in the future France may even get as many Indian visitors as Chinese -- 1.7 million of whom travelled there in 2014.
Paris (AFP) - French far-right leader Marine Le Pen proposed Thursday that the children of illegal immigrants should be refused public school places as part of tough proposals to restrict state services for foreigners.

"I've got nothing against foreigners but I say to them: if you come to our country, don't expect that you will be taken care of, treated (by the health system) and that your children will be educated for free," Le Pen said.

"That's finished now, it's the end of playtime," she told a conference in Paris in comments that provoked a storm of condemnation from the Socialist government.

Opinion polls suggest the leader of the National Front (FN) will finish second in next year's presidential election, but she is hoping for new momentum after Donald Trump's victory in the United States.

Speaking to AFP afterwards, the 48-year-old clarified that she wanted to block education for immigrants who are in France illegally, not all foreigners.

Such a move would contravene current French law, which guarantees school places for all children.

She also said that any foreigner using the public education system without paying tax in France would face a bill for school, which would affect European workers based temporarily in the country.

"We're going to reserve our efforts and our national solidarity for the most humble, the most modest and the most poor among us," Le Pen told the conference.

The nationalist FN sees itself as part of a global revolt against immigration, established political parties and globalisation epitomised by Trump's victory last month.

Its leaders regularly criticise the use of France's chronically over-budget social security system for foreigners, arguing that needy French people should be prioritised.

Polls currently show Le Pen qualifying for the second round of May's election where she is forecast to face -- and lose to -- rightwing Republicans party candidate Francois Fillon.

Few analysts see her taking power, but it has been an unpredictable year in politics and France's sickly economy and immigration are top issues for voters.

Story continues

The country has unemployment of around 10 percent and rising national debt equivalent to one year's economic output, or 98.4 percent of gross domestic product. It last ran a federal budget surplus in the 1970s.

Related:

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android.

- Illegal and condemned -

Trump made controlling illegal immigration a key part of his pitch to American voters, promising to deport 11 million undocumented migrants, whom he regularly portrayed as violent criminals.

In an interview with Time magazine this week, he signalled he might take a softer approach once in office, however, particularly towards the children of illegal immigrants studying in the US.

Immigration was also crucial in swinging Britain's referendum on the European Union in June when many voters backed the Leave campaign to gain control over their borders.

Le Pen wants to withdraw France from the eurozone and has called for a referendum to pull the country out of the 28-member European Union, a move that might unravel the project.

Socialist Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem attacked the school proposals as shameful and unworkable, while the minister for children, Laurence Rossignol, called them "inhumane".

Vallaud-Belkacem underlined that France guaranteed free education for all school-age children on its territory under its national laws and the international conventions it has signed.

"I remind you that it's a matter of honour for the French republic to guarantee to children, to all children, the right to an education -- in other words, the right to a future," she said.

A spokesman for the Socialist party, Corinne Narassiguin, said Le Pen had shown the "real face of the FN" after years of trying to softer the party's historic racist and antisemitic image.

The party has a long-standing policy of wanting to expel all illegal immigrants in France.

After a string of terror attacks over the last two years and the biggest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II, hardline rhetoric on immigration is seen as a vote-winner on the right.

Fillon has talked tough on newcomers, promising to reduce the influx to a "strict minimum."

He has also rejected the idea of "multiculturalism", called Islam a "problem" for France, and insists the country must defend its traditions, language and identity.

Le Pen's proposals have echoes of plans reportedly drawn up by the interior ministry in Britain in 2015 when it was headed by Theresa May, who is now prime minister.

Leaked documents revealed by the BBC last week showed that May's department had argued for immigration checks in schools and suggested places could be withdrawn for illegal immigrants.
CALEDONIA  Once again, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation wants to alter the intersection of Five Mile Road and Highway 38.

And once again, the Caledonia Village Board doesnt like the plan.

DOT officials have told the village they want to make the intersection a four-way stop in January, apparently as an interim measure before constructing a roundabout at the crossroads at some point in the future.

The Village Board in July voted not to support the roundabout, but DOT officials in October said they intended to build it anyway.

Now the state plans to install flashing stop signs on both Highway 38 and Five Mile Road sometime next month, said Village Administrator Tom Christensen.

Apparently they want to get people used to the idea that a roundabout will be there, Christensen said. There has been some indication if accidents decrease there after this that they might not have to do the roundabout.

Right now, traffic heading east and west on Five Mile Road must stop for traffic on Highway 38. Traffic on Highway 38 moves unimpeded north and south.

The Village Board this week expressed its displeasure with the plan and directed Village Trustee Jim Dobbs to meet with state legislators and DOT officials to determine if there are other ways to make the intersection safer.

Making the intersection a four-way stop could create an even more dangerous situation, said Dobbs, chair of the villages Public Works Committee and a retired Racine Police officer.

Cars coming down the hill wont be used to stopping, Dobbs said. You might be making it worse. Our police chief (Dan Warren) is not in favor of it.

One idea would be to lower the speed limit in that area, Dobbs said.

It appears that the DOT people are willing to work with us and we want to talk to them, Dobbs said.

At a presentation to the Village Board in July, DOT officials said a four-way stop and traffic signals were not viable options for the intersection, leaving a roundabout as the best alternative.

The roundabout is estimated to cost between $2.3 million and $2.5 million, with 90 percent of the money coming from federal sources and the rest from the state.

The cost of installing stop signs wont cost the village anything, Christensen said.
Paris (AFP) - Former French budget minister Jerome Cahuzac, whose brief in government was to crack down on tax dodgers, was sentenced to three years in prison on Thursday for tax fraud and money laundering.

A court in Paris also gave Cahuzac's ex-wife Patricia Menard a two-year prison sentence for her role in stashing millions of euros abroad from the couple's lucrative hair transplant business.

The scandal was the first of a series that tarnished Socialist President Francois Hollande's government and prompted him to order his ministers to disclose their personal wealth, breaking a taboo in France, where the assets of public officials had long been considered a private matter.

Cahuzac, a 64-year-old plastic surgeon by training, initially denied the allegations and sued the Mediapart news website that broke the story in 2012.

Footage of the minister lying to parliament was repeated in an endless loop on French TV news channels after he finally confessed in April 2013, "consumed by remorse", to having a Swiss bank account.

By the end of the trial, Cahuzac had repeatedly admitted his "inexcusable wrongdoing".

He remained motionless when the verdict was read out.

Chief judge Peimane Ghaleh-Marzban said Cahuzac, "who embodied France's tax policy", had committed an offence of "exceptional gravity".

His lawyer Jean Veil said Cahuzac would appeal, arguing that a prison term "was not a suitable punishment" for the crime.

Cahuzac said in evidence that he hid funds offshore to maintain his family's standard of living -- which included buying apartments for his children in London and Paris and paying for holidays in Mauritius.

- Like a crime novel -

The court also handed down a one-year suspended prison sentence and a 375,000-euro ($405,000) fine to Francois Reyl, a Swiss banker, for assisting the couple.

His bank, Reyl, was fined 1.87 million euros for money laundering.

The story of the fraud, which took place between 1992 and 2013, reads like a cross between a cheap airport novel and an international financial crime manual.

Story continues

In one episode, Cahuzac, using the codename "Birdie", was said to have received two cash payments of 10,000 euros on the streets of Paris.

The couple used a Royal Bank of Scotland account in the Isle of Man, an offshore financial centre in the Irish Sea, to channel cheques from English clients of their business.

As the couple's marriage began to falter, Menard also opened an account in Switzerland.

Menard's lawyer Sebastien Schapira told the trial the money was "that of fraud, but initially it was that of her work, earned day after day, hour after hour, hair by hair".

He described Menard as "naive" and an unwitting accomplice who was "swept up" in the fraud before confessing in December 2013.

She testified that the couple had become locked in a "spiral" of wrongdoing.

"I'm extremely ashamed of having done all that," she said.
Paris (AFP) - Former French budget minister Jerome Cahuzac was sentenced to three years in prison on Thursday for hiding millions of euros abroad, adding to a long list of French politicians dogged by scandal.

Here are some of the most notorious scandals over the past three decades:

- 1991: Tainted blood -

The government of Socialist prime minister Laurent Fabius was caught in a scandal in the mid-1980s after HIV-contaminated blood was knowingly given to French patients. Fabius himself was acquitted of manslaughter in the case, while former health minister Edmond Herve was convicted but not sentenced.

- 1993: Phone-tapping scandal -

Newspapers Liberation and Le Monde revealed in 1993 that the telephones of more than 100 people had been tapped between 1983 and 1986 at the request of the presidential palace's anti-terrorist unit.

In 2005, seven officials were given suspended sentences, including the head of then French president Francois Mitterrand's cabinet.

- 1994: Elf Aquitaine -

As investigating judge at Paris' top court, Eva Joly uncovered several cases of fraud at France's leading oil company Elf Aquitaine, resulting in the conviction of dozens of persons involved in the oil business.

In 2001 former French Socialist foreign minister Roland Dumas was sentenced to six months in jail and fined 150,000 euros for receiving gifts illegally paid for by Elf, before being acquitted on appeal.

- 2011: DSK scandal -

Former minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn, one of the world's most prominent public figures and formerly a Socialist frontrunner for the French presidency, was forced to resign as IMF chief in 2011 after being accused by a 32-year-old hotel chambermaid, Nafissatou Diallo, of sexual assault in his suite in a New York Sofitel hotel. The charges were later dropped and the affair ended with a confidential financial accord with his accuser.

- 2011: Chirac convicted -

Former conservative president Jacques Chirac was in December 2011 given a two-year suspended jail sentence after being found guilty of embezzlement in connection with charges that he used public money to pay people working for his political party while he was Paris mayor.

Story continues

Before that, in 2004, former rightwing prime minister Alain Juppe was given a 14-month suspended jail sentence and banned from holding office for a year, in a party finance scandal from the 1980s when he was finance director at Paris City Hall under Chirac.

- 2016: Campaign financing -

Former rightwing president Nicolas Sarkozy has faced a number of legal probes into corruption and campaign financing violations since he left office in May 2012 and he lost his presidential immunity. He was charged in February with illegal financing of his 2012 campaign.

Judicial authorities are investigating claims that he received millions in his 2007 campaign funding from the regime of late Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.
By Aislinn Laing ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) - Grieving and frustrated relatives of passengers still missing more than two years after their Malaysia Airlines flight vanished are scouring the east African coast for possible evidence that might help unlock the mystery of their fate. Flight MH370, carrying 239 passengers and crew, vanished on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, sparking a search in the southern Indian Ocean that passed its 1,000th day last Saturday. Relatives of the missing passengers are deeply unhappy and angry over the lack of progress made by official investigations. A group of them - Malaysian, Chinese and French nationals - arrived in Madagascar last weekend in the hope of finding debris themselves and of raising awareness of the missing plane among local people and organizations. On Thursday Jiang Hui, a Chinese man whose mother was on board the plane, discovered a small white piece of board in the sand on Madagascar's Riake Beach that he hoped could be a fragment from the cabin of the missing plane. "I felt excited but at the same time it was saddening," he said. "It is a small piece and won't really be able to show what happened to the plane but I hope so much that the authorities of Malaysia, China and Australia will try to find more." Grace Nathan, a spokeswoman for Members of Voice 370, an MH370 next-of-kin support group, wrote on Facebook of Jiang's find: "Such an emotional moment for all of us: sadness, hurt, confusion, excitement, hope." Some family members have accused Malaysian-led investigators of focusing too much on the deep-sea search for wreckage off the coast of Australia, and have appealed to residents on the east African coast to search for plane debris and hand in anything they find to the authorities. So far, three pieces of debris found on the beaches of Mauritius, Tanzania and the French island of Reunion have been confirmed to be from MH370. Investigators are examining several other pieces found in Mozambique and South Africa. "It was a very emotional moment," Blaine Gibson, a self-funded American investigator accompanying the families in Madagascar, said of Jiang's finding. "He found it at the small rocky cove at the north end of Riake Beach, the same place where I found the monitor case, debris and personal effects in June." The search is expected to be suspended by the end of the year, when an Australian-led team completes its scouring of a 120,000-sq-km target area. (writing by Aaron Maasho; editing by Gareth Jones)
Banjul (Gambia) (AFP) - Gambia's President-elect Adama Barrow vowed Thursday to set up a South Africa-style truth commission as he claimed the army's support after his surprise election in the west African nation.

Barrow, whose shock victory this month ended the 22-year rule of Yahya Jammeh, said the country's chief of the defence staff had called to pledge the army's backing.

"He said the security of this nation is assured by the armed forces," said the 51-year-old estate agent. "He said he was loyal to President Yahya (Jammeh) because he was the elected president.

"He said now that I am elected in to office by the Gambian people, he will support me," he added.

Barrow was elected as president of the smallest country in West Africa after he beat incumbent President Yahya Jammeh in the December 1 polls.

Asked if he will prosecute those accused of human rights violations over the last 22 years, Barrow said: "We will look at what was happening in the past.

A "Truth and Reconciliation Commission is very important here and we have seen it happened in South Africa. We will establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to look at the past."

The UN envoy to West Africa Mohamed Ibn Chambers said last week that the United Nations will help the incoming government to establish such a commission.

Barrow said he had not yet met the outgoing president, but said his officials were working on the arrangements.

"This transition issue is a new thing in Gambia and both teams (the ruling party and opposition) are not experienced on it," he said, adding that he hoped to set a date for his inauguration "very soon."

Latest official figures gave Barrow 43.29 percent of the votes in the presidential election, while Jammeh took 39.64 percent. The turnout was at 59 percent.

Meanwhile Thursday a Gambian appeal court granted bail to 11 political activists detained since April for holding rare protests, a judicial source said.

Their lawyer Antouman Gaye noted that they were members of the United Democratic Party (UDP), of which Barrow was the presidential candidate.

UDP founder and leader Ousainou Darboe, who was jailed in July for taking part in a protest, was freed on bail with 18 others on Monday, as part of their ongoing appeal against three-year sentences.
By Emma Farge and Thierry Gouegnon BANJUL (Reuters) - Seconds after the chairman of Gambia's electoral commission read out the poll results that ended President Yahya Jammeh's 22-year rule to reporters, a policeman left the building, cheering and clapping his hands in the air. This celebration of victory in last week's election for Adama Barrow, a property developer with no previous political experience, drew a rebuke from a fellow officer who reminded the policeman he was in uniform. "Adama Barrow is my new uniform," he retorted. The apparently minor incident pointed to shifting allegiances within the security forces that left Jammeh with little choice but to step aside. Later that day, the leader who once said he could rule the tiny West African country for "a billion years" and who had crushed numerous coup attempts, stunned viewers by calling Barrow to concede defeat on state TV. The decision by the quirky but widely feared Jammeh to accept defeat in the Dec. 1 election has been hailed as a victory for democracy on a continent where veteran rulers have clung to power by methods ranging from legal shenanigans and simple cheating to brute force. But it was the security forces who made clear to Jammeh that he would have to hand power next month to Barrow, a former security guard in a north London discount store. According to political and security sources, the morning after voting - but before the Independent Electoral Commission announced the results - the heads of the army, police and National Intelligence Agency met Jammeh at his office. "He was advised by them that he should be ready to officially concede defeat," said Alhagie Darboe, spokesman for the leading party in Barrow's coalition, citing one of Jammeh's ministers. Jammeh appeared ready to take their advice. "After the meeting, he told his ministers: 'You will be jobless in January'," a security source told Reuters. An aide then informed the electoral commission that he would accept his loss. "Even before the (results) announcement he wanted to concede defeat," commission chairman Alieu Momar Njai told Reuters. So, wearing white robes and looking almost cheerful, Jammeh took to television to announce his retirement from politics. "I will be a farmer," he said, his long official title - H.E. Sheikh Prof. Dr. Alh. Yahya AJJ Jammeh Babili Mansa - stretching across the width of the screen. Analysts had weighed the risk that he would instead dig in and order his troops to crush dissent, as they did at a student protest in 2000. Some opposition members had hired bodyguards and spent election night in safehouses awaiting the results. Jammeh, who along with many of his closest allies in the army is from the Jola ethnic minority, had previously vowed to crush opposition among the larger Madinka group. But in the end, the security forces acted to prevent the kind of post-election bloodshed that hit Burundi in 2015-16. Army head General Ousman Badjie declined to comment on the meeting, but he told Reuters: "I am just here to keep the country safe and stable. I am here for the Gambian people, I am not a politician." Badjie has pledged allegiance to Barrow, the president-elect's spokeswoman said. "NOT THE BAD GUYS" Gambians - who have lived for so many years in a virtual police state and never known a peaceful transfer of power since independence from Britain in 1965 - exploded with joy and celebrated the election result for days. Wearing yellow "Fear No More" T-shirts, they cheered and banged drums atop vans in the capital Banjul, delighting many European tourists there for winter sun. Officers joined them or honked at revelers following the elections when Gambians had cast ballots by dropping marbles into colored drums representing each of the candidates. Results from polling stations next to barracks, where many soldiers had voted in uniform, showed a Barrow victory. Diplomats say they would have looked to neighbor Senegal, which entirely surrounds the riverside nation and shares linguistic and ethnic ties, to intervene had violence broken out - as it did in 1981 during a coup. Analysts say that the repression of Jammeh's political opponents had backfired, helping a medley of opposition parties to rally behind a single leader for the first time, with Barrow eking out a victory by fewer than 20,000 votes. Some prisoners, however, were freed from the Mile 2 prison near Banjul in a surprise gesture last year, including many former top military brass accused of treason. "The soldiers are not the bad guys. They have been made bad by his orders," said Jaina Ba Jetta, whose father was jailed for years in Mile 2 for "security reasons" and now lives in exile. "There is constant fear, no security of tenure and everyone in the army is fed up," said Francis Mendy from the Gambia office of West African peacebuilding body WANEP. Even had they wanted to, it would have been hard for officers to seize power themselves on Dec. 1 because of a deliberate "divide and rule" strategy with armories broken up into small depots, he added. Officials from Barrow's coalition say that modernizing Gambia's bloated army, whose checkpoints are dotted across the capital, will be among the priorities. "The military needs to become a highly trained force that shows loyalty to the people and the constitution," said Mai Ahmad Fatty, the head of Barrow's transition team. (Additional reporting by Edward McAllister; editing by David Stamp)
Athens (AFP) - Thousands of Greek trade unionists demonstrated on Thursday against planned new cuts demanded by international creditors in a general strike that shut down several key sectors.

According to police, some 15,000 people took part in separate union protests in Athens and another 5,000 in Thessaloniki.

Civil servants, bank staff, merchant seamen, railway workers and state-employed doctors were among professionals taking part in the 24-hour stoppage against the measures, which are scheduled to be approved by lawmakers at the weekend.

The country's international creditors -- fellow EU states and the International Monetary Fund -- want Greece to overhaul its labour legislation to make crippling strikes less likely while also facilitating layoffs.

Official data on Thursday showed persistently high unemployment figures at 23.1 percent in September, with an increase of some 60,500 jobs compared to a year earlier.

Unions say hidden unemployment is far higher.

A new budget containing around one billion euros ($1.07 billion) from extra taxation on items including cars, fixed telephone service, pay TV, fuel, tobacco, coffee and beer is to be approved by parliament early Sunday.

Public spending on salaries and pensions will also be cut by 5.7 billion euros next year.

- 'Living standards worsening daily' -

Unions are also angry about plans to raise over 2.0 billion euros next year from privatisations, including 1.2 billion euros from the sale of regional airports.

"These (austerity) policies worsen our living standards every day," said Evi, a Communist unionist who declined to give her surname.

Seeking to sweeten the pill, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced late Thursday new measures to help pensioners and the Greek islands in the frontline of Europe's migrant influx.

In a televised message, Tsipras announced the reinstatement of a 13th-month annual payment on the lowest retirement pensions, a benefit which had previously been removed as part of austerity measures.

Story continues

The government will also postpone the planned sales tax rise for the east Aegean islands, which currently hold more than 16,000 migrants and refugees, the prime minister added.

"The time has come for Europe to recognise that Greece is carrying a load for the whole of Europe, both with the refugee crisis and the economic crisis," Tsipras said.

He stressed that the new measures would not breach a third major loan deal reached with the country's EU and IMF creditors in 2013, as this year's primary budget -- not including debt repayments -- had bettered the fiscal goals.

Already huge, Greece's debt after the three consecutive bailouts is on course to reach a mammoth 315 billion euros, or around 180 percent of gross domestic output this year, according to the latest EU data.

Greece on Tuesday rejected pressure to extend its painful austerity programme beyond 2018 as part of a deal to bridge differences between the squabbling international creditors.
By Rich McKay

ATLANTA (Reuters) - The second officer shot while responding to a domestic dispute near a university in Georgia died of his injuries on Thursday, school officials said, after the suspect killed himself inside a home where he was barricaded earlier in the day.

Georgia Southwestern State University police officer Jody Smith was transported to an area hospital in critical condition after Wednesday's shooting, and died on Thursday, university officials said in a statement.

Officer Ryan Smarr, 25, of the Americus Police Department died of his wounds on Wednesday, police said.

Police said the officers were responding to a 911 call about a domestic dispute when they encountered the suspect, identified as Minquell Lembrick, on Wednesday. Both officers were shot, but it was not immediately known if the officers also fired their weapons, police said.

Americus Police Chief Mark A. Scott told a news conference Lembrick appeared to have taken his own life on Thursday morning after law enforcement received a tip about his location from an unidentified citizen who knew him.

Officers outside the residence heard one shot at about 10 a.m. local time on Thursday, Scott said, and they called in FBI hostage negotiators to try to contact anyone inside, without success. Police SWAT teams later sent in a robot they used to locate the suspect's body, which had suffered a gunshot wound.

Vernon Keenan, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, described Lembrick, 32, as a "career criminal" and told reporters he had a criminal record that was more than 32 pages long.

Scott said both officers were close friends who went to high school together and later trained together in law enforcement.

"They're both heroes in my opinion," Scott said. "Our hearts go out to the families."

It was not immediately clear whether the suspect used the same gun that was used in the police shooting to take his own life, the police chief said.

Story continues

The investigation is ongoing and police are looking into whether anyone had been intentionally hiding Lembrick, Scott added.

Georgia Southwestern State University, which had been put on lockdown following Wednesday's shooting, resumed normal operations on Thursday.

(Writing by Gina Cherelus and Curtis Skinner; Editing by Bernard Orr and James Dalgleish)
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany is investigating whether Volkswagen's (VW) sportscar brand Porsche used software to disguise exhaust emissions, the country's car industry regulator said on Thursday, in a fresh blow to VW's attempts to move on from a 15 month-old scandal.

Germany's Motor Transport Authority, KBA, said it was examining software that can measure the angle of a car's steering wheel.

At stake is whether Porsche used software to detect whether its cars were being subjected to laboratory tests, using this information to switch to a less polluting emissions pattern than would occur under normal driving conditions.

Porsche was not immediately available for comment.

VW (VOWG_p.DE) admitted in September 2015 to using illegal "defeat device" software in the United States to disguise the true level of toxic emissions from diesel engines, sparking the biggest business crisis in its history.

It has agreed a multi-billion dollar settlement with U.S. authorities and is spending billions more to refit vehicles and speed up development of electric cars.

The KBA is already conducting a similar investigation into VW's Audi brand, which supplies engines to Porsche.

Germany's WirtschaftsWoche was first to report on Thursday that Porsche was being subjected to a probe.

(Reporting by Jan Schwartz and Edward Taylor; Editing by Mark Potter)
Far-right party Der III. Weg (The Third Way) has responded to plans to build a Mosque in the German city of Hachenburg by sending postcards to the local council suggesting they leave Germany for Africa.

In all, 22 hand-addressed postcards were delivered to council members of the small town of around 6,000 inhabitants in Western Germany. The city mayor confirmed earlier this week that the text of the postcards read who does not love Germany should leave Germany and voucher for the departure of all advocates for immigrants toward Africa, reported local television station SWR Fernsehen. On the front of the postcard was a map of Southern Europe and North Africa together with a picture of a refugee boat.

Hachenburg Mayor Karl-Wilhelm Rottig called the postcards disgusting and disgraceful. He also stressed that the action would not alter the councils consideration of a request by the Islamic Cultural Association Hachenburg to construct the mosque.

"We want to try to remain calm, calmly deal with the matter, he said. We do not want to be a brown city, we want to be a colorful city, we want to have life in our city, so it is important that we stand together now.

Formed only in 2013, Der III. Weg counts around 200 members among its ranks. The latest action is not the first time it has come out against the planned mosque in Hachenburg. Last month the group posted flyers around the town before holding a protest in the towns center.

Germany refugees

Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

The Third Way does not oppose Islam as a religion, but it does not belong to Germany, but to those countries that have been influenced by Islam for centuries, the party wrote on its website explaining its actions. A mosque is just another sign of Germany's increasing alienation.

Story continues

Initially seen as a leader in its treatment of refugees after allowing more than 890,000 asylum seekers into the country last year, tensions within Germany have increased in recent months. On Tuesday, Chancellor Angele Merkel, under pressure ahead of next years election following the rise of the populist-nationalist party Alternative fur Deutschland, announced she backed a ban on full-face veils in the country.

Related Articles
DOVER  The men standing at the front of the room after the ceremony may have met before.

The former U.S. Army Air Corpsmen stood side by side sharing memories. George Norton stood in his blue Hawaiian shirt while Leo Stewart stood with his walker in a sand-colored button-up and jeans. Both men were in the same place for only the second time in their lives, as far as they knew.

For sure, the first time the two were in the same place was Dec. 7, 1941, at Wheeler Field during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Though 10 miles away from the battleships, the airfield also was targeted.

Stewart was trying to sleep after a guard shift overnight when he heard the sound of airplanes. He went outside and an explosion rang out. The attack was on.

There was a big explosion off to the west, Stewart said. I thought one of the planes had crashed. Then the first was coming by and two bombs fell into the hangar.

Stewart went to the barracks where Norton was to tell the men that they were under attack. Though Norton never saw the man, he remembers someone yelling about the attack.

As the men stood in the basement of Boland Hall at Wisconsin Veterans Home-Union Grove in Dover on Wednesday morning for the 75th Commemoration of Pearl Harbor, the two thought they might have met before.

Stewart pulled out a picture of himself taken during the war to show Norton.

No wonder I dont recognize you, Norton said. He never actually saw the man who was yelling, but the two men pondered the idea that it could have been the first time they met on that day that will live in infamy.

A day of remembrance

About 50 veterans attended a ceremony in honor of the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. The event included words from Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary John Scocos and Stewart, who shared a firsthand experience of the day with all on hand.

The room was quiet as those in attendance heard Stewarts recollection of the event.

Stewart was joined by his son, Guy, a Vietnam veteran, who shared a Readers Digest story that was written about Makin Island where Stewart was stationed. He also was happy to be standing at the podium with his father.

Dad, I want to thank you for your service, Guy said. Being a veteran myself, I cant imagine what happened that day. My war was completely different and I thank you for being my father.

Scocos shared a speech about the history and impact of Pearl Harbor. He said those men and women who fought shaped America for a generation.

The generation of men and women who fought at Pearl Harbor on that infamous day on Dec. 7, 1941, and survived the second world war are the characteristics we all hold to such high esteem, Scocos said. They did not think they were committing acts of heroism. They only believed what was right by serving our great nation.

After the ceremony, attendees were treated to cake and refreshments. Eventually, most of the guests filed out. But Norton and Stewart remained seated in the room, talking 75 years after what may have been their first encounter.
ACCRA (Reuters) - A spokesman for Ghana's opposition candidate Nana Akufo-Addo's party urged the electoral commission on Thursday release results quickly, saying further delays would create suspicion it was trying to overturn its win in the poll. The delay "gives suspicion that the commission is trying to overturn the clearly expressed will of the people", spokesman Sammy Awuku told a news conference broadcast live on radio stations. "We call on the youth of our country to remain calm, we also say the electoral commission has a responsibility to ... restore sanity to the process." He said that the NPP has won a "landslide victory" in concurrent parliamentary polls that had given it an additional 47 seats. (Reporting by Matt Mpoke Bigg; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Louise Ireland)
Accra (AFP) - Ghana's opposition candidate Nana Akufo-Addo told a cheering crowd on Thursday he was "confident" he's won the presidential election, despite the official results not yet being released.

Speaking to a rowdy crowd of New Patriotic Party (NPP) supporters gathered at his private residence, Akufo-Addo said he believed he had defeated long-time rival and incumbent John Mahama.

"We the NPP are quietly confident that we have won a famous and historic victory," Akufo-Addo said, calling for his supporters to be patient and peaceful while the electoral agency tallies the results.

"It's going to be an anxious time, I know, until the results are formally declared, but we have been through this before and we should be able to go through it again," Akufo-Addo said.

"We will await the electoral commission to give us the formal, final details.

"This is a time we will have to remain very calm and very focussed -- the eyes of the world are on us."

The election had been blighted by sporadic outbursts of violence in a country otherwise known as a beacon of freedom and democracy in Africa.

Ghana closed most of its voting stations on Wednesday evening, but the Electoral Commission has been slow to release the results, with local media reporting that the NPP has secured the lead over Mahama's National Democratic Congress (NDC) party.

The Electoral Commission said on Thursday evening that they had received preliminary results from 90 of out 275 constituencies, but only published the results for 25 of them.

"Please be patient," commission head Charlotte Osei said at a press conference. "Accuracy is more important than speed."

Both PeaceFM and CitiFM claimed Akufo-Addo was leading the vote count.

Election observers have called on the commission to publish the results faster in order to lay to rest suspicions that the vote may be rigged.

Akufo-Addo, 72, is likely making his final bid for the presidency after two previous failed attempts while Mahama, 58, is running for a second term of office.
USA TODAY Sports

Nikita Whitlock is the latest person to experience a hate crime since Donald Trump was elected president of the United States (what could possibly be the connection?!). The Giants fullback reported a break-in at his New Jersey home that included racially charged vandalism.

The former Wake Forest standout and defensive lineman told CBS New York the details of what he saw in his Moonachie home.

Related Links:





The first thing Whitlock saw when he walked in to his home was a graffiti swastika on the wall which hes covered up to protect his 6-year-old son. He went on to discover the letters KKK scrawled in his basement apartment, in addition to the words, Go back to Africa. It just re-establishes that no matter where you are, no matter who you are, this can happen to you, he said.

This is the second time Whitlock and his family have experienced a break-in over the past six months. Police are still investigating the first incident that took place around Thanksgiving. The Whitlocks said they are moving out of this home, but had decided that before either of the break-ins.

(CBS New York)
Nikita Whitlock

New York Giants fullback Nikita Whitlock's home in Bergen County, New Jersey was robbed on Tuesday night and vandalized with a variety of racial epithets.

According to CBS2, burglars spray-painted a swastika, the letters of the KKK, and a message that read "Go back to Africa" around different parts of his apartment. One one wall, the burglars wrote "Trump". Jewelry and video games were also stolen.

"It just re-establishes that no matter where you are, no matter who you are, this can happen to you," Whitlock said. "Its about to be 2017. Oppression, violence, racism, hatred, violence, theres no need for that."

Whitlock posted a picture to his Instagram of some (but not all) of the vandalism:

Racism is real and instead of close to home this time they came inside. My family is safe but we are saddened by the hate. Thanks to the Moonachie Police Department for all of your help! #Haters #Racism #AllLivesMatter #BlackLivesMatter #SidelineRacism A photo posted by Nikita Whitlock (@nikita.whitlock) on Dec 7, 2016 at 11:47am PST on Dec 7, 2016 at 11:47am PST

Whitlock was robbed over Thanksgiving, CBS2 reports. The fullback has missed the entire season following foot surgery, though he was also suspended for 10 games in September for a second violation of the league's PED policy.

NOW WATCH: The secret history of the NFL's mob and gambling ties





More From Business Insider


Mel Gibson and his new movie Hacksaw Ridge have swept the board at the Australian film awards in a return from the wilderness for the "choked up" Oscar-winner.

Gibson returned to his Australian roots to direct his first film in a decade, the true story of a conscientious objector who saved 75 men during the Battle of Okinawa in World War II.

It tells of Desmond Doss who enlists and is determined to save lives on the front line as a medic, but refuses to carry a gun on moral grounds.

Since its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, Hacksaw Ridge has generated Oscars buzz and was recognised by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts with nine gongs at their annual awards ceremony in Sydney late Wednesday.

They included best film and best director for Gibson, while the movie's lead and supporting actors, Andrew Garfield and Hugo Weaving, also won.

"All the way up and down it's a homegrown film," said an emotional Gibson, who shot it in New South Wales state. "I'm really honoured and choked up I can't even talk."

He added: "Filming in Australia was fantastic, it was like the old days."

Gibson's family moved to Sydney from New York when he was 12.

He learned his trade at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in the city before making his name with Mad Max in 1979 and Gallipoli two years later, helping propel him into Hollywood.

Further success came with the Lethal Weapon series before Oscar success with Braveheart.

It made Gibson one of the most sought-after names in Hollywood, before being ostracised by Tinseltown after an anti-Semitic tirade captured on tape during a 2006 drunk-driving arrest.

The actor-director has since had to make do with a handful of parts in obscure or poorly received films.

Among other gongs, Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan was given one of the night's highest honours - the Longford Lyell Award - for outstanding contribution to the Australian screen.

Previous winners have included Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, and director Peter Weir.
By Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - Giraffe numbers have declined by as much as 40 percent since the 1980s in a "silent extinction" driven by illegal hunting and an expansion of farmland in Africa, the Red List of endangered species reported on Thursday. Populations of the world's tallest land creature fell to about 98,000 from an estimated 152,000-163,000 in 1985, according to the List compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The Red List rated the giraffe "vulnerable" to extinction on current trends for the first time, against a previous rating of "least concern". It said the plunge in numbers in large parts of sub-Saharan Africa had gone largely unnoticed. "Whilst giraffes are commonly seen on safari, in the media and in zoos, people  including conservationists  are unaware that these majestic animals are undergoing a silent extinction," Julian Fennessy, an IUCN giraffe specialist, said in a statement. Giraffes are at risk from the expansion of farmland to feed a rising human population and from killings for their meat, often in areas of conflict such as South Sudan, according to the IUCN, which groups scientists, governments and activists. "People are competing for fewer and fewer resources and the animals are worse off ... especially with civil strife," Craig Hilton-Taylor, head of the Red List, told Reuters. Drought and climate change are aggravating factors, he said. Among other changes on the list, the African gray parrot - famed for its skill in mimicking human speech - was rated endangered, one step worse than its earlier category as vulnerable. Trapping for the pet trade has driven down numbers. The list also found that 11 percent of more than 700 other species of bird newly assessed were at risk of extinction, such as the Antioquia wren in Colombia, which is under threat from a hydro-electric dam. A few were recovering against the trend - conservation efforts had reduced threats for birds including the Azores bullfinch, St. Helena plover and Seychelles white-eye. The Red List, the main global authority on risks to animals and plants, said 24,307 of 85,604 species assessed in recent decades were in danger of extinction. U.N. studies say that man-made threats, led by the loss of natural habitats, may herald the worst extinction crisis since the dinosaurs were wiped out 65 million years ago. (Reporting by Alister Doyle; editing by Mark Heinrich)
By Dmitry Zhdannikov and Darya Korsunskaya

LONDON/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo is expected to provide a consortium of Qatar and commodities trader Glencore with sizeable funds to help finance their purchase of a stake in Russian oil company Rosneft, two sources familiar with the transaction said.

Intesa declined to say whether it was helping finance the deal, announced by the Kremlin, which said on Wednesday it had sold a 19.5 percent government stake in Rosneft (ROSN.MM) for 10.5 billion euros (8.8 billion) to Qatar's sovereign wealth fund and Glencore (GLEN.L).

The bank, Italy's biggest retail lender, has deep ties in Russia and advised state-owned Rosneft on the sale of the 19.5 percent stake.

Wednesday's announcement showed the Kremlin can lure big foreign investors to its oil sector despite political risks associated with Russia, which is locked in a stand-off with the West over conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

"Russia's upstream is now firmly back on the map as an attractive place to invest despite more than two years of EU/US sanctions," said Michael Moynihan, Research Director for Russia at Wood Mackenzie.

But some Russian financial and industry sources raised questions about the deal. The sale valued Rosneft's assets at considerably less than it paid to acquire similar assets in the past, according to Reuters calculations.

It is also unclear exactly what Glencore's status in the Rosneft ownership structure will be and there are questions about where Rosneft will find the volumes of oil it agreed to sell to Glencore as part of the deal.

Italy has maintained close ties with the Kremlin despite European Union sanctions on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.

Glencore stands to benefit from access to additional Rosneft volumes for its trading business and this should help it compete with rival Trafigura, which has been Rosneft's preferred trading partner.

Glencore, whose stock rose 3 percent on Thursday to an 18-month high, said it would finance part of the deal by putting up 300 million euros of its own equity.

Story continues

It also said that other than its modest equity injection, it would not have any economic exposure to the shares in Rosneft, Russia's top oil producer. It did not say who would have the exposure instead.

VALUE FOR MONEY?

Several oil market participants told Reuters that for Rosneft to provide Glencore with the additional 220,000 barrels a day set out in the deal, it would probably have to reduce volumes going elsewhere.

"Since Glencore has become a shareholder, it will definitely want preferential rights to buying oil and oil products," said a trader on the Russian oil market. "It's very possible Trafigura will have to give up its leading position."

Rosneft declined to comment on the allocation of volumes.

The deal was announced days after Russia and OPEC -- dominated by Saudi Arabia and its allies Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait -- agreed on coordinated output cuts to support oil prices.

Rosneft had been under pressure to secure a sale of the stake to help replenish the state budget, hit by an economic slowdown worsened by the international sanctions.

But this meant selling at a time when, with world oil prices low, the value of oil assets is far below historical levels.

Russia sold its share in Rosneft's oil production for about half the price at which Rosneft has previously acquired domestic oil production assets, according to Reuters calculations based on publicly-available data.

The amount which Qatar and Glencore paid per barrel of production can be earned back by selling that production in about a year, the calculations showed.

When Rosneft bought Russian producer TNK-BP in 2013, it paid a price that would have taken just over two years to earn back, according to the calculations.

"The way it works out is that the state, in the shape of Rosneft, buys expensive assets, and then sells off the combined assets for several times less. It's clear there's a strategic miscalculation," said a source close to the Russian government, on condition of anonymity.

Rosneft declined to comment on the value of the deal.

(Additional reporting by Gleb Gorodyankin and Olga Yagova in MOSCOW, Karin Strohecker in LONDON, Andrea Mandala Silvia Aloisi and Stephen Jewkes in MILAN, Writing by Dmitri Zhdannikov and Christian Lowe, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
When Glenn Beck thinks about some of the moves President-elect Donald Trump has made since the election  like picking a fight with Boeing, a Carrier Corp. union leader and, well, China  he shakes his head in disbelief.

Im sorry, but if America wants to go over the cliff, thats fine. They can, Beck told Yahoo News Bianna Golodryga on Thursday. Im not going with them. Im not. It wont work.

Earlier this week, Trump attacked Boeing, calling on the U.S. government to cancel a deal with the aircraft manufacturer to develop of the next generation of Air Force One.

Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion, the president-elect tweeted on Tuesday. Cancel order!

Boeing responded by saying its current deal for Air Force One development is worth $170 million.

How can there be cost overruns when they just have a development deal? I dont understand that, Beck said. That was a swipe against Boeing to tell the Boeing CEO, You get in my boat or Ill crush you. This is exactly what FDR did to companies in the 1930s. It didnt work then, it wont work now.

The political commentator and conservative firebrand said hes disturbed by a recent New York Times report that Trump may not divest himself entirely from his real estate business when he enters the White House.

I dont have a problem with people getting rich in America, said Beck, who left Fox News to launch the Blaze in 2011. However, if youre the president of the United States, there are certain things you have to do.

Related: Glenn Beck: Obama made me a better man

Im offended that the office of the president isnt just another notch in your belt or another step on the ladder, Beck continued. This is supposed to be your swan song [and] you go away.

Beck said hes even more disturbed by the comments made by California Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, who told Yahoo News in an interview Wednesday that the United States cooperating with Russia is a good thing and that China is not Americas friend. Rohrabacher is said to be in the running to be Trumps secretary of state.

Story continues

That is so offensive on so many levels, Beck said. I really believe the confusion is coming from this antiglobalist movement.

He called the neo-Eurasian philosophy thats fueled Russian President Vladimir Putins rise terrifying.

People are proud of their heritage, Beck said, but that doesnt mean you isolate from the rest the world.

Beck said he was troubled by both Trumps controversial phone call with the president of Taiwan  and the Republicans who have supported it.

I cant believe the conservatives are picking a fight with China, like Taiwan, and then not expecting there to be significant ramifications, Beck said. Donald Trump should know better.

Beck, who refused to endorse Trump during the campaign and was a vocal supporter of the Never Trump movement, says he hopes hes wrong about Trump, and that the president-elect will color inside the lines once he gets to the Oval Office.

Ive been wrong about Donald Trump every step of the way, he said. Im hoping Im going to be wrong about him as president.
Move over, Sunny and Bo: Rumor has it that the next White House dog might be a goldendoodle named Patton.

Currently, President-elect Donald Trump does not own a petand if he doesnt get one, hes poised to become the first president in 150 years without some kind of cute animal residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. ready to get trotted out for some publicity-friendly pics.

Yet over Thanksgiving at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, FL, Trump apparently warmed to the idea of getting a dog after his close friend Lois Pope, an animal philanthropist, showed him a photo on her phone of the 9-week-old puffball Patton. All signs point to a love match: Patton was not only sired by an American military service dog, he was also named after the American general often praised by Trump.

Hero dog, Trump murmured approvingly, then encouraged Pope to show the photo to his son Barron, who was diverted from his computer game.

Id never seen such a big smile on anyones face, Pope said of Barron to cbsnews.com, adding that she is unashamedly pushing the dog on the Trumps for the boys sake.

Hes the one that Im really doing this for, Pope continued. Thats going to be quite a transition for him. Hes only 10 years old, and his dad is going to be the leader of the free world.

No pressure there, Trump! To be fair, he has some time to decide, since Barron might not move to the White House permanently until his school year ends in New York. Still, the boy will no doubt fly down to Washington, DC, often before then, and may be pining for some new friends. So what could be better than a military hero who can fetch on command?

Patton also has some other special assets. For one, goldendoodlesa cross between a between a golden retriever and a poodleare hypoallergenic. And in that sense at least, Trump could end up following a tradition started by President Barack Obama, whose pooches Sunny and Bo hail from another hypoallergenic breed, Portuguese water dogs, because Obamas daughter Malia suffers from dog allergies.

Story continues

While theres no word on whether Barron gets sneezy around dog fur, the benefits of hypoallergenic breeds definitely dont end there. Another cool characteristic about hypoallergenic dogs is that they dont shed much. Their coat is made of hair rather than fur, so it keeps growing instead of shedding. This means owners have to plan for frequent trims, but were sure the White House staff could find someone to take care of that.

Hypoallergenic breeds (which also include labradoodles, poodles, Malteses, bichon frises, Cesky terriers, wheaten terriers, Chinese cresteds, and Bergamasco shepherds) are typically pricey, but their many perks on the allergy and housekeeping front explain why theyre so popular today. Many famous figures own them, including Ellen DeGeneres (who rescued a Maltipoo named Wolf), Janet Jackson (miniature schnauzer), and Vice President Joe Biden (labradoodle). Perhaps the most beloved breed among fabulous Hollywood ladies? The coton de Tulear, owned by Barbra Streisand, Jane Fonda, and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

But what if the Trumps are cat people? Theyre in luck: Many feline breeds like the Balinese, Cornish rex, and Siamese are considered hypoallergenic, too.

All of which means Trump has no excuse: Its time to get a furry friend.

The post Will a Goldendoodle Become the Next White House Pet? appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com.
WATERFORD  Village officials are warning residents to be wary regarding a letter some may have received regarding the forthcoming Highway 20/83 reconstruction project.

In a news flash message, village officials say that a mailing from All-American Appraisal Services "is misleading, suggesting that the property owner should consider a second appraisal that will be delivered to the state Department of Transportation."

Village officials contend the appraisal is "not necessary and property owners should carefully review this before moving forward with this company."

As part of the construction, the bridge over the Fox River will be replaced and will result in a detour.
Lloyd Blankfein

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein may not have voted for President-elect Donald Trump, but he is ready to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Mr. Trump may turn out to be a much better president than anyone else might have been in that place," Blankfein said in an interview with the German newspaper Handelsblatt.

"He's a very smart guy, a businessman I am not pessimistic at all because he won."

Blankfein supported Trump's rival, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, in the election, and donated to her campaign in 2008.

"I think her positioning, not only in terms of her ideology, but what I regard as a pragmatism that I saw demonstrated when she was our senator and in earlier stages of her political career when she could cross the aisle and engage other people to get things done, I admire that," Blankfein said in a CNN interview in October.

"It stands out a little today  that kind of willingness to engage and compromise, but let's just stop at engage  that willingness to engage is a scarcer commodity these days."

But now he says he's going to give Trump a chance.

"If there are policies that are more stimulative, our fortunes rise along with that. ... The declared policies of Mr. Trump are therefore a good thing," he told Handelsblatt.

The Wall Street executive also said he would consider joining the administration, according to the interview, though he has not been approached by Trump's transition team.

Trump appointed former Goldman Sachs banker Steven Mnuchin Treasury secretary last month, and Steve Bannon, his incoming chief strategist, is also a Goldman Sachs alum. The president-elect is also reportedly considering Goldman Sachs COO and President Gary Cohn for a role in the administration.

Goldman Sachs shares are up 30% since Trump's victory on November 8.

Read the full interview in Handelsblatt

NOW WATCH: Here's how much it costs to produce money in the U.S.





More From Business Insider


When listing your home for sale, the goal is to generate interest and capture the attention of discerning buyers. Beyond high-quality photos and a competitive listing price, a property description can go a long way in attracting potential homeowners. To make homes stand out, agents and sellers pepper their listings with attention-grabbing buzzwords  and understandably so. When youre writing for marketing materials, youre going to have to use these kind of descriptors, because otherwise the copy is bland, explains Bruce Withey, marketing director of the Steven Cohen Team of Keller Williams Realty in Boston, MA.

So, how can you effectively use these ubiquitous popular real estate terms? For one, be wary of overuse. A lot of agents will be inspired by other peoples descriptions, which means theres a lot of carry-over from one property description to the other, says real estate agent Aaron Floyd. Buyers are seeing the same words used over and over again. Second, be wary of the misuse of certain descriptive words. When these labels are used ad nauseam or incorrectly, they can actually hurt your homes chance at a sale.

Below are four terms that wont necessarily help sell your home  and some expert insight on how to make your listing more powerful.

1. Gorgeous

This word garners a knowing laugh from most real estate agents when asked if it pops up frequently. Opinions differ on how glaring it is in a description, but everyone agrees on one thing: Its better to be more specific. Marcus Lee of Climb Real Estate in San Francisco, CA, believes that while a word like gorgeous is just a word, its all about using it in the proper context. If you have a gorgeous backyard in a place like San Francisco where youre looking at smaller lots and most people dont have a backyard, then having a gorgeous backyard is going to stand out.

But that doesnt mean gorgeous should be tacked on to just anything. Lauren Brown of Jeff Cook Real Estate in Charleston, SC, says the term doesnt quite cut it in an age where buyers can see so much for themselves. Back in the day, you could only put one picture and a description, so really, the description of the house was extremely important, says Brown. Today, you can list multiple photos, 3-D tours, and video, so buyers are able to determine for themselves if its gorgeous.

Story continues

So, how to avoid this word trap? Melissa Potter, listing coordinator at the same agency, says she writes a listing description as if she herself were walking through the home. She finds this approach prevents her from throwing around catchwords like gorgeous or stunning and helps her be more specific in descriptions  which ultimately stands out to buyers more than the blanket use of popular terms.

2. Luxury

Of course, there are definitely properties that deserve an adjective like luxury. Who wouldnt want a home that advertises such a lifestyle? However, this is an example of a shiny word that has just about lost its luster. Melissa Stanley, a Chicago, ILbased agent with Niche Realty, describes luxury and related words as being stretched too thin. Theyll call a property a penthouse just because its on the top floor of a three-story building, she says.

Another example? Luxury kitchen. Just because youve put in stainless steel appliances and a granite countertop, that does not make a luxury kitchen, says Stanley. Writing a listing with a word like luxury implies the seller will reveal a high-end element that sets it apart from other houses for sale in the area. What often happens instead is that the reveal ends up being a letdown to prospective buyers. Trust that buyers who are searching for luxury are truly looking for something special and wont be fooled by the word being tacked on to relatively common amenities. After all, if everything is luxury, then nothing is.

3. Charming

With a word like charming, the need for specificity is regional. Bruce Withey, who works in the notoriously charming city of Boston, MA, cites this particular descriptor as a red flag among Bostonians who are already cramped for space. When you start talking about a condominium thats charming, it immediately conjures up a vision of tiny  and thats what you dont want to tell anyone who is a potential buyer, he warns.

But is the use of charming, or its close relative, cozy, always a bad thing? Absolutely not, says Withey. In other parts of the country where space isnt an issue, a home described as cozy is harder to come by  and that word could positively influence a sale. If youre looking at a subdivision outside of Houston, TX, and youre saying that this 4,000- to 5,000-square-foot home has a lot of charm  thats a good thing. Same goes for a McMansion in the suburbs that advertises a cozy family room. Even if the room is smaller than normal, it doesnt matter because youre talking about big spaces.

Bonus tip: Avoid boasts in your listing

Almost every real estate expert we spoke with shuddered at the overuse of the verb boasts. Its being used to describe things that are relatively commonplace, says Aaron Floyd. Boasting crown molding or vaulted archway, for example, is just worn out. Beyond overuse, its grammatically incorrect. A property cannot boast an oversized family room. Its a verb, and properties cannot have actions, says Withey. I think there are areas and mistakes in real estate copy that are glaring  and thats one of them. Steer clear of grammatical errors in any copy and save the boasting for the champagne toast once youve successfully made the sale.

What house descriptions are you tired of reading in real estate listings? Share in the comments!

The post Is Gorgeous Now The Worst Way To Describe A Home For Sale? appeared first on Trulia's Blog.
Athens (AFP) - A Greek appeals court on Thursday ruled against the extradition of two Turkish coup suspects demanded by Ankara, after electing to protect another three and send back three others.

The Athens court accepted a prosecutor's arguments that the two military officers -- out of a total eight seeking asylum in Greece -- would be at risk if sent back to Turkey.

They followed a similar reasoning earlier this week for another three of the officers, but approved the deportation of the remaining three for "attempting to topple the regime" of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a judicial source said.

All eight men were in the same helicopter that landed in the northern Greek city of Alexandroupolis in July, hours after the failed military coup against Erdogan.

Government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos has said the Greek authorities would follow the court rulings "irrespective of the political cost."

In rejecting extradition, the appeals court said Ankara had not provided sufficient evidence tying five of the eight officers to the coup.

That decision outraged Ankara, which has arrested tens of thousands of people as part of a wide-ranging crackdown since the attempted putsch.

"Greece is in the NATO alliance with Turkey and is a NATO ally. Our expectation is that the Greek government make every effort to return" those individuals to Turkey, Defence Minister Fikri Isik said Monday.

The case will now be be heard by the Supreme Court.

Turkey may still appeal the case, and any final decision to extradite rests with the Greek justice minister.

The two Turkish commanders, four captains and two sergeants requested asylum in Greece after landing in Alexandroupolis shortly after the attempted government takeover in mid-July.

The officers are currently also appealing against a Greek refusal to grant them asylum in September. They say they would not receive a fair trial in Turkey.

The case is awkward for Greece, which depends on Turkey to stem the flow of tens of thousands of migrants to its shores.

Several Turkish nationals, including civil servants and businessmen, have sought refuge in Greece following the coup attempt.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg last month said an unspecified number of Turkish officers serving in NATO command positions had requested asylum in those alliance member states following the botched coup.
By Tim Branfalt

LANSING, Mich. (Reuters) - Green Party supporters rallied in freezing temperatures in Michigan's capital on Thursday and urged its high court to revive a recount of presidential votes in one of three states where the party wants ballots re-examined.

About 50 people marched in a circle for about an hour in front of the Michigan Supreme Court, where Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has asked the justices to hear an appeal. As a light snow fell, they beat on pots and pans and shouted, "Come out of hiding and start recounting!"

Even if recounts were completed in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as Stein has asked, however, they would be extremely unlikely to change the outcome of the Nov. 8 election in which President-elect Donald Trump, a Republican, defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Although Clinton won the national popular vote, she lost to Trump in the Electoral College, the 538-person body chosen state-by-state that actually selects the president. Trump, who won a projected 306 electoral votes, takes office on Jan. 20. Stein won no Electoral College votes.

The three "Rust Belt" states narrowly supported Trump, reversing their recent history of backing Democratic candidates for president.

A recount is ongoing in Wisconsin, where a federal judge has scheduled a hearing for Friday in a lawsuit by Trump's supporters who wish to halt it.

In Pennsylvania, a federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments on Friday in a lawsuit brought by Stein asking to begin a statewide recount there.

A federal judge on Wednesday halted the Michigan recount in its third day by siding with a state appeals court that found Stein did not have grounds to mount the challenge. Stein said the recount was aimed at reinforcing the integrity of Michigan's voting system, while Trump supporters called it a waste of money.

Looking at paper ballots is the only way to ensure voting machines were not hacked, Alex Halderman, a University of Michigan computer scientist, said at Thursday's rally.

Story continues

"I know Michigan's voting system can be hacked. The only security measure Michigan has is the paper ballot," he said.

The state's Supreme Court could rule at any time on Stein's appeal. Stein has also asked two of the court's justices to disqualify themselves because they are on Trump's list of potential U.S. Supreme Court nominees.

Federal law requires states to resolve disputes over the appointment of Electoral College voters by Dec. 13.

(Reporting by Tim Branfalt in Lansing; Writing by David Ingram; Editing by Frances Kerry and Alistair Bell)
A committed relationship is hard work, even when both sides really want it to succeed. Heres your guide to Washingtons current relationship status with its most important partners around the world.

1. United Kingdom: Lets both take some time

The Transatlantic alliance was at its weakest point since the 1930s even before Junes Brexit referendum, which will (eventually) remove a close U.S. ally from the E.U. fold. Now U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May is wholly consumed with plotting a strategy to keep everyone satisfied as she negotiates a deal we must hope will benefit both sides. In the meantime, her country is becoming more insular and, therefore, a less valuable ally to the U.S. In fact, its highest-profile export these days is Brexit champion (and thrice-resigned UKIP leader) Nigel Farage, who is out stumping for the worlds latest anti-establishment candidates wherever he can find them. That will endear him to his good friend Donald Trump, but the new U.S. presidents America First approach to governing and intense debates within Britain over the countrys future relations with Europe ensure that both sides will back a bit further from the special relationship in coming years to attend to family business.

Read More: Donald Trumps Taiwan Call Is a Bad Omen for His Foreign Policy

2. GermanyIm not going to change for you

Say this for Angela Merkel; the German Chancellor knows how to stand her ground with men who behave badly. Heres her congratulatory message following Trumps victory: Germany and America are bound by common values  democracy, freedom, as well as respect for the rule of law and the dignity of each and every person, regardless of their origin, skin color, creed, gender, sexual orientation, or political views. It is based on these values that I wish to offer close cooperation, both with me personally and between our countries governments. In other words, Behave well, Donald, and well get along fine.

Story continues

Not many countries have the economic and political self-confidence to set the terms of relations with the U.S., but Germany is one of them. The same goes for Angela Merkel, who put her political career on the line by opening Germanys door to Syrian refugees. Political realities have forced her to compromise here and there, but its clear that Merkel and Trump dont share the same goals. Where Trump says what he feels he needs to say to close the deal he wants, Merkel stands on principle. Thats why the U.S. and Germany are growing apart.

Read More: How Donald Trump Broke With the GOP Again

3. JapanI can work with this

Despite Trumps determination to pull the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a serious political setback for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan and the U.S. will remain strong allies. Thats in part because they share an obvious concernChinas riseand partly because Abe was quick to look past his disappointment to seize opportunities he believes that Trump can create for him. As soon as the votes were counted in the U.S., Abe was planning a trip to New York to sit down with the president-elect. Trumps repeated insistence that allies must do more to safeguard their own security plays directly to Abes plans to strengthen Japans military, and Trumps friendly attitude toward Russias Putin opens opportunities for Japan to engage Putin in hopes of regaining territory lost to the the Soviet Union during World War II. Trump and Abe are pragmatists. That will rebuild trust in a relationship that needed it.

4.MexicoI cant take much more of this.

One partner tells anyone who will listen that the relationship is making him angry, he insults his partner, and he brags that hes about to show everyone whos boss. Mexico has been hearing these tirades for months. Trump cant completely walk back the public threats hes madeon the border wall, NAFTA, and deportation of illegal immigrants, in particularand Mexico has a lot less ability than China to push back when Trump makes threats. More than half of Mexicos imports come from the United States and more than 70 percent of its exports go to the U.S.

(Observatory of Economic Complexity)

5.Israel  You know I still love you.

There was no love lost between Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu. So from the Israeli prime ministers perspective, things got a lot better on Nov. 8. Trumps hard line on Iran and all things Islam reassures Netanyahu that America remains a reliable and powerful friend. But this relationship has always been on solid footing, because even when the partners were glaring at each other, the families still got along fine.

At every level of government, communication and cooperation between the U.S, and Israel have been strong for decades, and influential interest groups continue to protect the relationship in both countries. (AIPAC, the most powerful Israel lobby in the U.S., were among the first to force Trump onto a teleprompter!) Netanyahu wont get everything he wants from Trump. Assad will remain in power in Syria, and Trump may balk at shredding the Iran nuclear deal, for example. But the foundation of this relationship remains as strong and resilient as ever.
Alternative energy stocks fell sharply after the presidential election in early November as President-elect Donald Trump advocates for loosening restrictions on fossil-fuel production and calls climate change a hoax.

Many investors took that as a sign that the outlook for clean energy would be diminished, and they pressured stocks of companies like First Solar (ticker: FSLR), SunPower Corp. ( SPWR) and Vestas Wind.

That weakness compounded some of the issues already affecting the solar industry this year, which is in a cyclical investment downturn, says Michael Grant, senior vice president and senior co-portfolio manager for the Calamos Phineus Long/Short Fund ( CPLSX) in San Francisco.

[See: 10 Energy ETFs That Will Clear Your Conscience.]

Solar "has been under pressure because it's a cyclical industry driven by the heavy capital investment cycles related to capacity," he says. "Capacity growth in solar is still quite rapid. The problem for many solar companies is they build capacity, but balance that capacity growth against falling prices. So what we've been in is a cyclical investment downturn that has been exacerbated by excess capacity in China."

For example, First Solar is down nearly 50 percent for the year. It saw the biggest drop after the election, falling from around $40 to as low as $28.60 before rebounding. SunPower is down more than 70 percent this year. Vestas Wind, which trades on lesser-used over-the-counter markets, has fared slightly better but is still down about 3 percent for the year.

Will the clean-energy sector fade away, given its own issues and the chance of less-friendly public policy under Trump's administration? Experts who watch the space say clean energy has reached critical mass as part of energy production in the long-term, but in the short-term it may be stressed.

Federal subsidies may dwindle. Angelo Zino, senior equity analyst at CFRA, says under the Obama administration the solar industry had "an unbelievable run."

Story continues

Much of that came from the federal solar investment tax credit, first passed in 2006. The Solar Energy Industries Association estimates that solar saw a compounded annual growth rate of nearly 60 percent in the last decade

Under a Trump presidency and a Republican-controlled Congress, there is greater chance this tax credit will be significantly reduced or eliminated, Zino says. The credit stands at 30 percent, and Zino says it's likely it could fall to 10 percent or less at some point in the next four years.

"I don't know if it's at the top of his (Trump's) agenda, but I do think definitely there's heightened risk of it going away," Zino says. "As a result, solar stocks will be pressured here in the intermediate term."

If those incentives are cut, Zino forecasts a steep demand drop, although the industry won't completely falter.

"If those incentives get cut, we see the potential for solar demand in the U.S. to drop as much as 60 or 70 percent in a year-over-year basis. It would be an absolute catastrophe in our view," he says.

Clean energy is still vital. Garvin Jabusch, chief investment officer at Green Alpha Advisors in Boulder, Colorado, says while many people believe in renewable energy and that it will contribute a greater percentage to the total U.S. energy mix, now is a tough time for the sector.

[Read: Wave Power: The Alternative Energy Dark Horse.]

"It is undeniable that a Republican administration, especially one staffed with a bunch of people who are climate deniers, can cause some headwinds, especially in the short term," Jabusch says.

Yet Grant says concerns over falling federal subsidies may be overblown. He says much of the clean-energy regulation comes from the states, and many state programs are likely to remain. Plus, he says, the energy debate is not an either-or choice when it comes to traditional and alternative energy.

"I think Trump is much more about driving economic growth and jobs. And that is his motivation for lifting some of the restrictions on traditional fossil fuels and encouraging greater oil and gas exploration," Grant says. "He doesn't necessarily want to shut down the clean energy side of the equation. I think that ultimately is a plus for the industry, even though the short-term sentiment is negative."

Meg Voorhes, director of research for Washington-based US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, says concerns over climate change remain important for institutional investors and money managers.

"We wouldn't expect a falloff of interest in climate change and clean-energy investing," she says. "The seas are rising. Investors can't ignore the physical aspects of climate change."

In its survey, US SIF said $1.42 trillion in money manager assets and $2.15 trillion in institutional investor assets were focused on mitigating climate change, which was more than three times the amounts in 2014.

Where to go from here. Zino says his concern about a change in U.S. clean-energy policy could have ramifications worldwide.

"Our fear is if all a sudden you were to see the U.S. pull out of the Paris climate talks, and there's a reduction in the incentives, many other regions of the world may follow suit," Zino says, referring comments on the campaign trail by Trump that he would not participate in the Paris climate talks, which were a global effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions, by country.

Because of this, Zino has a negative tilt on the industry and issued sell notices on Solaredge Technologies ( SEDG), which optimizes power for photovoltaic panels and faces increased competition from other manufacturers, and JinkoSolar Holding Co. ( JKS), a high-margin company which sells most of its panels in the U.S. and China.

Yet Jabusch and Grant differ in their views from Zino. Jabusch says he still likes First Solar, SunPower and Vestas. For investors who have an appetite to buy foreign-based companies, he likes Chinese firm JA Solar Holdings Co. ( JASO) because it doesn't have much business in the U.S.

Grant says right now the fund has no position in alternative energy because of the short-term pressures, but he's interested in the long-term view.

[See: The 10 Best Energy ETFs for an Eventual Bounce.]

"We're within one to two quarters of some very attractive long-term entry points in these names. I definitely think on a two-to-three year view a number of these solar names are quite attractive," Grant says.





More From US News & World Report


Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S. October 31, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Dave Lutz, head of Exchange Traded Funds at JonesTrading, has a quick guide to what traders are watching on Thursday:

US stock futures are adding to their biggest rally since election day. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at all-time highs on Wednesday, extending the so-called Trump rally.

Treasurys continue to sell off after the European Central Bank said it was tapering its bond-buying program. Data on initial jobless claims are also due Thursday.

Here's Lutz:

Good Morning! Im drinking from a fire-hose, playing catch-up this AM. Spoos adding to best their biggest rally since the Election ahead of the ECB (Headers at 7:45, Draghi presser 8:30ET). Upbeat China Trade Figures and follow thru from the US market yesterday has most of the globe a sea of green. Euro Stocks on 3month highs, DAX nearing up 5% on the week. Only the Fins are under pressure in Germany despite DB bouncing 1%. London is lagging the rally despite a pop again in those miners, as the Financials break lower across the continent. Asia Shares hit 1month highs despite China closing lower on their trade data  Nikkei ripped 1.5% higher, South Korea jumps 2% as Samsung leaps to all time highs, while the Resource-heavy and China-sensitive Aussie market jumped 1.2%. India continues to see a rebound from the recent hit, with the Nifty climbing nearly 2% in very light trade.

Treasuries and Bunds are falling under some pressure, with their 10YYs popping 4bp early into the Draghi. Dollar down 5 of last 6 days as the Euro hits 3week peaks and sterling recovers from yesterdays whack into the Article 50 Court Ruling. The Kiwi Dollar the globes strongest overnight as their Central Bank implied they were done cutting, and Trade data from China propels commod currencies like the Loonie and A$. Ore holding recent gains overnight, and most industrial metals are marked higher early. Eyes on the Oil complex with WTI back over $50 after yesterdays smashdown, while Natty gas reverses lower into Inventory data later today. Softs looking good, with Wheat climbing 1.5% early.

Story continues

Ahead of us today, we get the ECB Rate Decision at 7:45, followed by the Draghi Press Conference at 8:30, right when US Weekly Jobless Claims hit. At 10:30 we get the Natty Gas Inventory data, at at 11am the US Treasury announces next weeks 3-year, 10-year notes; 30-year bonds auction schedule. At noon, we get the Household Change in Net Worth. Throughout the session we get November Sales Data from the Airlines, as the space continues to rip higher.

NOW WATCH: The 3 worst things you do when you wash your face  according to a dermatologist





More From Business Insider


Hillary Clinton said Thursday on Capitol Hill that the epidemic of fake news represents a danger that must be addressed quickly.

Let me just mention briefly one threat in particular that should concern all Americans, Clinton said at an event honoring outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike  especially those who serve in our Congress.

Clinton said it was now clear the epidemic of malicious fake news and false propaganda could have real-world consequences.

This isnt about politics or partisanship, she said. Lives are at risk. Live of ordinary people just trying to go about their days to do their jobs, contribute to their communities.

Clinton continued: Its a danger that must be addressed and addressed quickly. Bipartisan legislation is making its way through Congress to boost the governments response to foreign propaganda and Silicon Valley is starting to grapple with the challenge and threat of fake news.

The former Democratic presidential nominees comments came just days after police said an armed man showed up to a Washington, DC, pizzeria after he read online that it was tied to a child sex ring linked to the Clintons.

Since Clinton lost the election last month, some observers, particularly in the media, have suggested so-called fake news could have swayed certain voters who cast their ballots for President-elect Donald Trump.

Google recently removed its in the news section at the top of its desktop search website after it accidentally promoted a fake news item about the final election vote totals.

Clintons speech on Thursday was the second public appearance she has made since conceding the election to Trump.

NOW WATCH: A fake news story led to a shooting at a pizzeria in Washington DC





More From Business Insider


Manila (AFP) - HIV infections among men having sex with men in the Philippines have surged 10-fold in five years, with authorities largely ignoring the problem, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Thursday.

The Catholic country has one of the fastest-growing epidemics of HIV in the Asia-Pacific because successive governments have failed to promote contraceptives and give sex education to gay or bisexual men, it said.

"National education on effective HIV prevention methods is non-existent, and laws prohibit condom access and HIV testing to people under 18 without parental consent," the report said.

Out of the 35,000 cases of HIV documented in the Philippines since 1985, 81 percent were from men having sex with men, HRW said, citing government data.

The problem is quickly getting worse, with 25 new cases of HIV being documented in the Philippines every day, according to HRW's study of the government data.

"There is a very real risk of this spreading into the wider community, but authorities are doing very little about it," HRW Philippine researcher Carlos Conde told AFP.

One of the biggest barriers is the Catholic Church, a very powerful institution in the Philippines.

About 80 percent of the Philippine population is Catholic, and its influence has ensured abortion, divorce and same-sex marriages remain illegal.

The Church has also fought previous government efforts to make contraceptives more easily available to the general population, and for sex education to be taught in schools.

The five-month-old government of President Rodrigo Duterte has said it is prepared to take on the Church on the issue of safe sex.

Last week it announced that it planned to start distributing condoms in schools and was considering giving away HIV self-testing kits, triggering an angry reaction from Church leaders.

Conde said the announcements by the Duterte administration were positive signs but cautioned the Church had successfully stymied efforts by previous governments, so it was too early to tell if Duterte's plans would be fully implemented.

He also said the Duterte administration appeared, like other governments, not to be looking specifically at the high infection rates among men having sex with men.
RACINE COUNTY  Representatives from the Homeless Assistance Leadership Organization of Racine and the Shalom Center of Kenosha were each presented with checks for $9,018 during the Willkomm Companies seventh annual charity fundraiser held Dec. 2, according to a Wilkomm Companies press release.

For the past month, employees at five Willkomm locations throughout Racine, Kenosha and Milwaukee counties asked customers to help raise cash for the shelters. Employees took part in a raffle and helped to raise more money for two local homeless shelters, contributing $565 towards the total, the release stated. Exxon Mobil also contributed $1,000.

This year, the Willkomm Companies raised a grand total of $18,036 for the two shelters. Over the past six years, more than $90,740 has been raised and gone directly to the two local homeless shelters, the release stated.

The shelters each received a check for $9,018 raised through public and employee donations. We are so incredibly blessed to have such awesome team members that have embraced this challenge to help our community members in need, Michael Willkomm said in a press release.

According to a release issued by Willkomm, employees were thanked for a job well done and transported to a Vegas-style night of fun at The Fabulous Willkomms Casino Night. Attendees had the chance to try their luck at the gaming tables and win a gift.

The Willkomm Companies is a family-owned business with headquarters in Somers that has served southeastern Wisconsin for three generations. Since 1946, the Willkomm family has been committed to supporting and strengthening their ongoing relationship within the community, the release stated.
Welcome to The Stews Hot Stove Digest, our daily rundown of MLB news, rumors and gossip for Hot Stove season. Here youll find a quick recap of all the days action and other fun stuff from around the internet that we think is worth your time.

THE BIG ONE: If you missed the biggest news of Wednesday night: Aroldis Chapman chose to return to the New York Yankees, agreeing to a record-setting five-year deal worth $86 million. Chapman was the No. 3 overall free agent on the market. [Yahoo Sports]

THE NEXT ONE: Chapman making his choice leaves Kenley Jansen as the latest elite closer on the market. Jansen, the ex-Dodger, is said to be choosing between going back to L.A. or heading to the Miami Marlins. Per Passan, the Marlins are being quite aggressive in their pursuit of Jansen, offering five years and more than $80 million too. [@JeffPassan]

Sources: The Marlins have made a monster offer for Kenley Jansen  almost at the level of Aroldis Chapman. Five years, more than $80M.  Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 8, 2016

OR: Could the Nationals make a surprise run at Jansen, as Jeff Passan seems to think is possible?

Question now is if the Dodgers  or perhaps Washington, which could use a closer  are going to pony up for Jansen. $80M+ is huge freight.  Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 8, 2016

STAYING PUT? The Pirates thought they were on the verge of trading Andrew McCutchen to the Nationals, according to FanRag Sports Jon Heyman. Now they seem likely to keep McCutchen and move him to a corner outfield position. [@JonHeyman]

OTHER OPTIONS: Teams missing out on Chapman and Jansen could end up turning their attention to Rays closer Alex Colome. The Nationals have reportedly inquired already, but the Rays arent expected to move until after the elite closers are gone. [@Joelsherman1]

Story continues

The next big question of the offseason: Where does Kenley Jansen go? (AP)

ICYMI: The Rockies signed Ian Desmond to five-year, $70M contract on Wednesday. The early assumption is hell play first base. [Yahoo Sports]

THEN AGAIN: The Rockies may have bigger plans, which could still include signing a first baseman like Mark Trumbo and then trading an outfielder for a top-end starting pitcher. [@Ken_Rosenthal]

ICYMI: The White Sox continued their rebuilding effort by trading Adam Eaton to the Nats for Lucas Giolito and two other prospects. [Yahoo Sports]

NO CHILL: If you think White Sox general manager Rick Hahn is anywhere near done after trading Chris Sale and Adam Eaton at the Winter Meetings, think again.

Hahn on potential of more deals getting done "we would be thrilled if we did 4 more of these press conference before we leave here."  MLB Network Radio (@MLBNetworkRadio) December 8, 2016

UNDERWHELMED: The Royals havent felt overwhelmed by offers for outfielder Jarrod Dyson. He could become a hold with Lorenzo Cains future still uncertain. [@JonHeyman]

LET HIM BE: David Ortiz caused a minor stir Tuesday when he teased a return following the Red Sox trade for Chris Sale. Dave Dombrowski knows better than to ask though, stating that Ortiz would call them if he were serious. [Providence Journal]

2018: Are some teams positioning themselves to make a splash when the loaded 2018 free-agent class hits the market? Bob Nightengale thinks so. [USA Today]

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:

      

Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
Geneva (AFP) - The UN reiterated Thursday its call for an immediate ceasefire in Aleppo, warning that as many as 500 sick and injured children desperately needed to be evacuated from besieged areas.

"There has to be a pause," Jan Egeland, head of the UN-backed humanitarian taskforce for Syria, told reporters in Geneva, pointing out that civilians at the moment had little chance of escaping the besieged part of eastern Aleppo.

"At the moment, those who... try to escape are caught in crossfire, they are caught in shelling, (and) risk being hit by snipers," he said.

"Several hundred children, sick and wounded... need to get out."

Thursday's taskforce meeting had been told that between 100 and 500 children had been identified as needing medical evacuation, he said.

But Egeland voiced little optimism that the various combatants in Syria's complex conflict and their main international backers, Washington and Moscow, would be able to reach the agreement needed to halt the carnage in Aleppo.

- 'Poles apart' -

Thursday's taskforce meeting had been "difficult", he said, "because the member states that are supposed to help us get access to civilians in the cross-fire are poles apart in how they regard what's happening in Syria".

The Norwegian diplomat acknowledged that he had never been "in my many, many years of humanitarian negotiations in as difficult negotiations and as frustrating talks, that produced nothing in spite thousands of contacts with all of the parties".

His comments came after a blistering three-week offensive in which Syrian government forces have seized about 80 percent of east Aleppo, a stronghold for rebel groups since 2012.

The increasingly cornered opposition factions are calling for an immediate five-day humanitarian ceasefire, and the United States, Britain and France have also called for a truce, warning of a "humanitarian catastrophe".

Story continues

But Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government has said a truce is only possible after a full rebel withdrawal, something opposition fighters have rejected.

At least 384 civilians have been killed in east Aleppo during the offensive, while rebel fire into the west has killed at least 105 people over the same period, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The assault has prompted a mass exodus from east Aleppo where at least 80,000 people have fled their homes, according to the monitor, while those who remain in the besieged areas are in desperate need of aid.

Egeland said the Syrian government had for the first time authorised UN access to the besieged part of eastern Aleppo, but said doing so would be impossible without a halt to the fighting.

He said aid workers had enough food supplies for 150,000 people ready and waiting in western Aleppo, but could not bring them to eastern Aleppo without a pause in the fighting.

He also called for "a better protection system" for the people leaving the besieged areas, pointing to unconfirmed reports that some people are being arrested, mistreated or are having their ID cards confiscated as they flee.
A mother and her teenage daughter whose bodies were found dumped in a well were allegedly stabbed to death by the womans estranged husband, according to North Carolina police.

According to the Martin County Sheriffs Office, the bodies of Dawnn Ward, 40, and Taylor Carroll, 14, were found in the well of a residence Thursday after being last seen the previous Sunday night.

The Medical Examiners Office in Greenville determined the mother and daughter died from stab wounds, according to WITN. The mother reportedly died from a single stab wound to the chest, while her daughter was stabbed multiple times to her chest.

Jeffrey Todd Ward, Dawns husband, was arrested on Saturday and charged the 25-year-old suspect with two counts of murder with no bond, according to police. His 24-year-old brother, Jerrett Cole Ward, was also arrested and charged with two counts of accessory after the fact to murder with a $1 million bond.

According to documents obtained by WITN, the couple reportedly had a troubled past. Dawnn reportedly obtained a one-year domestic violence protective order against her husband in September 2014, alleging he grabbed me around my throat using his hands. He strangled me until I passed out. She also claimed in the documents that Jeffrey Ward threatened to kill her family, according to WITN.

WITN also reports Taylor Carroll was not Jeffreys biological daughter.

A spokesperson for the Martin County Clerk of Courts office told PEOPLE that the Ward brothers will be given court-appointed attorneys. The two have not yet entered pleas. Their next court date is scheduled for Dec. 14.

The Martin County Sheriffs Office was unable to provide further information at this time, citing an ongoing investigation.




Edgar Maddison Welch, who has admitted to being the gunman who opened fire inside of the Washington, D.C., pizzeria Comet Ping Pong on Sunday, expressed regret in a new interview with the New York Times.

I just wanted to do some good and went about it the wrong way, he told the paper Wednesday, speaking via videoconference from an old hospital building next to a city jail.

No one was injured by the gunfire, but Welchs actions drew national attention because he was motivated by a fringe conspiracy theory about the pizzeria. Police say Welch told them he wanted to self-investigate the theory, which purported that Comet is the center of a child-sex ring involving Hillary Clinton and her campaign chief.

Slideshow: Fake news gunman incident at Comet Ping Pong pizzeria, in D.C. >>>

He told the Times that he felt his heart breaking over the thought of innocent people suffering at the pizza shop, and he wanted to shine some light on the supposed misdeeds taking place there.

The intel on this wasnt 100 percent, he admitted, saying he recently had Internet service installed and his online research left him with the impression something nefarious was happening.

He also said he listens to talk radio host Alex Jones, a prominent conspiracy theorist who has even questioned the December 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where a gunman shot and killed 20 children and six adults.

Notably, federal authorities said Wednesday that a Sandy Hook conspiracy theory motivated a Florida woman to threaten a parent whose child was killed at the elementary school. The woman, Lucy Richards, was charged with four counts of transmitting threats in interstate commerce.
Ian Somerhalder turned 38 on Thursday, Dec. 8. A day prior to his birthday, the Vampire Diaries actor grabbed the chance to enjoy a peaceful and quiet stroll with his wife, Nikki Reed.

On Wednesday, Nina Dobrevs ex-boyfriend and his wife of one year hit the Chicago streets to enjoy a walk together. Somerhalder even took a photograph of the Twilight actress and posted it on Instagram. In the pic, Reed stuns in an eclectic but warm getup thats perfect for the cold weather. It isnt clear what the TV actor was wearing that day since he is not part of the photo.

Based on Somerhalders caption, he is thankful for the time he got to spend with his human. He also shared that he loves Chicago and his wife who has impeccable style.

Prior to going on a date with Reed, Somerhalder also took to the photo-sharing platform to remind his nearly 10 million followers about his birthday. He posted a throwback snap that shows him as a toddler while his mother carries him with one hand. He did not forget to compliment his beautiful mama in the caption, and he also noted how time flies by so quickly because hes having fun.

It seems Somerhalder is indeed having a blast lately. The TV actor revealed to Variety recently that aside from working on the final season of The Vampire Diaries, he is also preoccupied with preparing for his future as a producer and his engagements in projects that aim to find a solution for environmental problems.

Somerhalder, along with his wife, just landed a deal with Warner Bros. TV. When asked what kind of projects they are interested in producing, the actor said, All kinds of shows  scripted, unscripted, drama, comedy, docuseries, digital, all of it. The reality of it is telling good stories. Really good stories. Thats really all we want to do.

Somerhalder also gushed about the eighth run of the CW series. You want things to end on a good note. We really had an amazing run. Its just time. All good things must come to an end, he said, before revealing that he does not have any clue about whats going to happen on the show because the show creators are still tight-lipped about the finale.

Story continues

Ian Somerhalder

Photo: Reuters/Danny Moloshok

Related Articles
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday that its executive board continues to be briefed on the French court case involving Managing Director Christine Lagarde and retains confidence in her ability to lead the international organization.

"The executive board has been briefed on recent developments related to this matter and continues to express its confidence in the managing director's ability to effectively carry out her duties," IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said at a regular news briefing. "The board will continue to be briefed on this matter."

Lagarde is set to stand trial from Dec. 12 over her role in a 400 million euros ($428 million) payout as French finance minister in 2008 to businessman Bernard Tapie.

Lagarde was France's finance minister from 2007 to 2011 before joining the IMF.

(Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli)
The internet is incredibly difficult to regulate, meaning its ability to circulate factual information is equaled by its ability to circulate abusive behavior and outright lies.

An unsubstantiated claim by a user of Twitter in late October that Hillary Clinton was part of a pedophilia ring was retweeted more than 6,000 times. For the unfamiliar, a retweet is nothing more than the equivalent of hey, look at this. You can retweet it, but that doesnt make it true.

But from the retweeting, the rumor made its way to the most notorious corners of social-media websites Reddit and 4Chan, mostly through anonymous or pseudonymous posts, the Washington Post reported Tuesday. Then it gained steam with some of the most feverishly paranoid, conspiracy-minded voices on the far right of the Internet, including a YouTube video that has been viewed more than 427,000 times.

The hashtag #pizzagate gained steam online because hacked emails published by Wikileaks revealed that Clintons campaign chairman, John Podesta, is an occasional customer at a Washington, D.C., pizzeria called Comet Ping Pong. Jonathan Albright, an assistant professor of media analytics at Elon University in North Carolina, said the most avid #pizzagate retweeters appeared to be bots, programs designed to amplify certain news and information. In other words, purveyors and circulators of fake news.

Apparently, all this Internet rumor-mongering was too much for Edgar Welch of North Carolina, because on Sunday he walked into Comet Ping Pong with a semiautomatic rifle to put a stop to the pedophilia. He allegedly fired two shots inside the pizzeria as he searched it. He was arrested outside the restaurant. Thankfully, no one among the terrorized customers or employees was injured.

He found no hidden children, no secret chambers, no evidence of a child sex ring run by the failed Democratic candidate for president of the United States, or by her campaign chief, or by the owner of the pizza place, the Post reported. What was false were the rumors he had read.

It might be time to turn off the Internet for a little while, folks.

How stupid do you have to be to:

1. Believe what youve read about a pedophilia ring operating out of a Washington, D.C., pizza parlor, despite no presentation of evidence to back up the allegation.

2. Conclude that no one in law enforcement is doing anything about it.

3. Arm yourself with an AR-15, drive from North Carolina to D.C., and walk into the pizza parlor to, as Welch put it, self-investigate?

You dont have to have been as criminally stupid as Welch to believe that its possible that Hillary Clinton was involved in a child sex ring. But it is stupid to believe that.

Ask yourself this: If the rumors of the pedophilia ring operating out of Comet Ping Pong were true, and Mrs. Clinton was a part of it, and all of the media outlets you presume are biased in her favor were covering it up, wouldnt the mainstream media outlets with conservative leanings have picked up such a story and ran with it?

If there were any truth to such ridiculous allegations, wouldnt the Fox News Channel  whose leading voices, it is not a stretch to say, are not fans of either Mrs. Clinton or her husband, former President Bill Clinton  have devoted all the telecast hours it could to making sure such disturbing allegations against Mrs. Clinton reached as wide an audience as possible? Do you really think Sean Hannity or Bill OReilly would have ignored credible evidence of a child-sex-crimes ring involving the Democratic nominee for president?

It is possible to loathe everything Hillary Clinton stands for and still think her a decent enough human being to not be involved in pedophilia. To be sympathetic to chants of lock her up! at President-elect Donald Trumps rallies, and to limit that sympathy to a suspicion that she may have committed crimes with her use of a private email server as secretary of state. Although the FBI says theres nothing for her to be prosecuted for there, either.

Reputable news outlets reported on the investigations into Clintons email issues, including FBI Director James Comeys revelation 11 days before the election that that investigation had been reopened, and also reported on the disclosure of an audio recording of Trump bragging that you can do anything you want to women. Because whatever political leanings editors, publishers and news directors of such outlets have, credible stories about presidential candidates get published no matter which candidate is getting the vote of those editors, publishers and directors.

We are lucky, giving the limits of Edgar Welchs brain and his access to a rifle and ammunition, that we are not discussing the deaths of innocent pizzeria workers or customers. But it is bad enough that we are discussing that somebody was stupid enough to believe an outright lie, and that it was up to him to pick up a gun and do something about it.
South Korean lawmakers began voting Friday on an impeachment motion to strip President Park Geun-Hye of her sweeping executive powers over a corruption scandal that has paralysed her administration and triggered massive street protests.

Members of the 300-seat national assembly cast anonymous, paper ballots that will be counted manually, with a two-thirds majority required for the motion to pass.

"We have to make a historic decision while the whole nation is watching," opposition MP Kim Kwan-Young told the chamber as he introduced the motion.

"President Park forgot her calling as the president... and violated the power bestowed upon her by the people of this country," Kim said

Adopting the motion would result in the immediate suspension of Park's authority, with all powers transferred to her prime minister.

She would be allowed to retain her title pending a ruling by the Constitutional Court, which has up to six months to decide whether or not to ratify the impeachment and formally end her presidency.

- Fall from grace -

Whichever way the vote goes, it marks a startling fall from grace for a politician who had run for the presidential Blue House as an incorruptible candidate, declaring herself beholden to nobody and "married to the nation".

With more than a year of her term left to run, she now confronts the prospect of going down as the first democratically-elected South Korean president to be kicked out of office.

The opposition-sponsored impeachment motion accused Park of constitutional and criminal violations ranging from a failure to protect people's lives to bribery and abuse of power.

It was filed last week with the 171 signatures of all opposition and independent lawmakers -- leaving it 29 short of the two-thirds majority.

Its passage will depend on the backing of an anti-Park faction within the Saenuri party -- more than 30 MPs who have shifted position several times but now look set to back Park's ouster.

Story continues

The entire opposition has threatened to resign their seats immediately if the motion is defeated.

"This impeachment is a road to salvation for the country and the people," said Chu Mi-Ae, president of the main opposition Democratic Party.

- Mass protests -

The push for impeachment has been driven by huge protests that have seen millions take to the streets of Seoul and other cities in recent weeks, demanding that political parties remove Park if she refuses to step down.

As the lawmakers voted, hundred of protesters gathered outside the national assembly, holding banners that read: "Give our country back" and "Impeach Park".

"It's really hard to predict which way the vote will go," Saenuri legislator Hong Moon-Jong told MBC radio.

"It may fall slightly short of 200 or just scrape over the line," Hong said.

The scandal that has engulfed Park has focused on her friendship with long-time confidante Choi Soon-Sil.

Choi has been charged with meddling in state affairs and using her Blue House connections to force dozens of conglomerates to donate around $70 million to two foundations she controlled.

In a first for a sitting South Korean president, Park has been named a "suspect" by prosecutors investigating the case.

- History of corruption -

High-level corruption has long been a stain on South Korea's democratic credentials and the presidential Blue House is no stranger to allegations of cronyism.

Since South Korea's first free and fair election in 1987, every president has faced graft investigations after leaving office and one -- Roh Moo-Hyun -- committed suicide as a corruption probe closed in on his family.

Their cases often involved family members who were able to leverage links to the president in a society where political influence has traditionally had a very close and unhealthy rapport with business success.

Park, the daughter of military strongman Park Chung-Hee who led the country from 1961 to 1979, was meant to be different.

Both her parents were assassinated and, estranged from her two siblings, unmarried and childless, she promoted herself as invulnerable to nepotism.

"I have no family to look after nor children to inherit my property... I want to devote myself to the nation and the people," she said in a speech during the 2012 presidential campaign.
By Mayank Bhardwaj and Rajendra Jadhav

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI (Reuters) - India on Thursday scrapped its 10 percent import duty on wheat after droughts in the past two years depleted stocks and raised prices, a move that traders said could lift overseas purchases to their highest in a decade.

The removal of the import duty comes after local wheat prices hit a record high last month, and should help private traders such as Cargill, Louis Dreyfus and Glencore increase purchases.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told parliament the latest cut was effective immediately with no end date. Traders in Mumbai said India could import as much as 5 million tonnes of wheat this fiscal year ending March 31, the highest since 6.7 million tonnes arrived in 2006/07.

"Supplies from local crop will start rising only from April onwards and there was risk of prices rising (further) due to thin supplies," said Harish Galipelli, head of commodities and currencies at Inditrade Derivatives and Commodities.

"The government wants to keep inflation under control ahead of elections in key states like Uttar Pradesh (next year)."

Private players have imported about 2 million tonnes of wheat from Australia and Ukraine so far this fiscal year. At India's southern ports, Australian wheat is available at $235 per tonne, nearly 20 percent cheaper than local supplies, said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm.

'PURE MYTH'

The duty cuts have raised doubts about the government's wheat production estimates.

Traders say output in the last two crop years has fallen well below the peak of 2013/2014, reducing stocks to the lowest level in nearly a decade and inflating domestic prices.

The announcement comes a month after the government, in a shock crackdown against the shadow economy, scrapped high-value banknotes that accounted for 86 percent of cash in circulation.

Farmers have complained that the move made it hard for them to buy seeds and fertilisers, disrupting the planting of winter crops. Government officials say that planting is ahead of schedule but have also taken steps to boost credit to farmers.

Story continues

India's farm ministry pegged wheat output for 2015/16 crop year at 93.50 million tonnes in a final estimate, up from 86.53 million tonnes a year ago, but most traders saw substantially lower production.

"(The duty cuts) clearly validate the fact the agriculture ministry's production estimate of 93 million-94 million tonnes was just a myth," said Tejinder Narang, a trade analyst in New Delhi. "Pure myth."

A farm ministry spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.

(Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj; Writing by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Douglas Busvine and Manolo Serapio Jr.)
By Saif Hameed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's parliament speaker called on Thursday for a government inquiry into air strikes on an Islamic State-held western border town which local politicians said had killed around 60 people, mostly civilians. Hospital sources and two parliamentarians said the air strikes killed dozens of civilians, including 12 women and 19 children on Wednesday in a market district of the town of Qaim, close to the border with Syria. Parliament speaker Salim al-Jabouri, the most senior Sunni Muslim politician in mainly Shi'ite-ruled Iraq, said the air strikes targeted "civilian shopping centers, causing the martyrdom and wounding of dozens", and called for the perpetrators to be punished. "The speaker holds the government responsible for such mistakes, asking them to open an immediate inquiry to find out the truth of the incident and to guarantee that civilians are not targeted again," his office said. Iraq's joint military command, responding more than 24 hours after the incident, criticized media and politicians for telling what it said was a "fake story" from Qaim. It said the town, and all information coming from it, was controlled by Islamic State. Iraqi air force planes carried out two missions shortly after midday on Wednesday, it said, targeting buildings where around 50 terrorists and suicide bombers, all foreigners, were sheltering. It said the air force took great efforts to protect civilians and the targets "were determined based on accurate intelligence and verified by our sources in the area". Qaim, and the western province in which it is located, is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim. The town lies on the Euphrates river, northwest of Baghdad, part of a remote region near the Syrian border which remains under the control of ultra-hardline Sunni Muslim Islamic State fighters. Wednesday's air strikes took place as Iraqi forces wage a seven-week-old campaign to crush the Islamic State militants who control the city of Mosul, about 280 km (175 miles) northeast of Qaim. Amaq, a news agency linked to Islamic State, released video footage showing what it said was the aftermath of the attacks. Burning white minibuses could be seen on a wide main road lined by shops, as well as corpses, some charred and others bloodied, and the bodies of several children. Many buildings had been wrecked. (Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
Islamic terror threat is at its highest in the U.S. since 9/11 attacks with much of the risk coming from people radicalized in the country, according to the House Homeland Security Committees December Terror Threat Snapshot released Tuesday.

There have been 227 cases of homegrown terror cases since the tragic event 15 years ago killed almost 3,000 people in series of four coordinated attacks, the report said. Of these, 115 jihadist cases were reported in 2015 and 2016 alone.

The attack last week at Ohio State University is further proof that our homeland remains in the crosshairs of Islamist terrorists. Groups like ISIS are radicalizing new operatives from within our borders, and just this week their new spokesman called for more inspired attacks by supporters all over the world, House Homeland Security chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said in a statement.

This year the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, carried out 62 attacks across the world, killing 215 people and injuring 732 others in several countries, including the U.S., France and Belgium. This threat to America and Europe remains in 2017 mainly because terrorists have been fleeing Iraqi city Mosul and Syrian Raqqa  both ISIS strongholds, the report noted.

The terrorist groups shift in spreading messages from urging fighters to join the jihad in Syria and Iraq to carrying out attacks in their home countries is likely to increase radicalization, according to the report. Moreover, terrorists are also using refugee programs, porous borders, and popular migration routes to enter countries throughout the West.

Make no mistake: we face a deadlier threat than ever before not only because our enemies have gotten savvier, but because we took the pressure off them, McCaul said.

The terror snapshot also cited the National Counterterrorism Centers 2015 comment that individuals with ties to terrorist groups in Syria are attempting to gain entry to the United States through the U.S. refugee program, which has resettled nearly 13,000 Syrian refugees across the nation this year.

Story continues

Furthermore, the Iran nuclear deal along with the volatile situation in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen has placed the Iranian government in a stronger position to get regional hegemony, according to the snapshot.

Iranian aggression, particularly in the Persian Gulf, has become routine and remains largely unopposed. If left unchecked, Tehran will continue to threaten United States interests at home and abroad, the report noted.

Related Articles
Geneva (AFP) - The UN human rights chief on Thursday slammed a bill in Israel that would legalise some 4,000 settler homes in the occupied West Bank, saying it would clearly violate international law.

Israeli lawmakers voted Wednesday to advance the bill, which would retroactively legalise settler homes built on private Palestinian land.

"I strongly urge lawmakers to reconsider their support for this bill, which if enacted, would have far-reaching consequences and would seriously damage the reputation of Israel around the world," said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein.

He pointed out that "in enabling the use of land privately-owned by Palestinians for Israeli settlements without the owners' consent, this legislation would violate international law.

"Israel as the occupying power, must respect the private property of Palestinians, regardless of whether or not compensation is provided," he said in a statement.

Some 400,000 Israeli settlers currently live in the West Bank, excluding annexed east Jerusalem, along with 2.6 million Palestinians.

The United States, UN officials and the European Union have warned that continued settlement building is eating away at the possibility of a two-state solution to the conflict.

All Israeli settlements are viewed as illegal under international law and major stumbling blocks to peace efforts as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state.

Israel differentiates between those it has authorised and those it has not. The bill would legalise nearly 4,000 settler homes built on private Palestinian land, according to settlement watchdog Peace Now.

"All Israeli settlements -- whether outposts built without formal approval but often with the support of the Israeli authorities and which are currently illegal under Israeli law, or settlements approved by Israel -- are clearly and unequivocally illegal under international law and constitute one of the main obstacles to peace," Zeid said.

Story continues

"They are also the principal cause of a wide range of human rights violations inside the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem," he said.

Fifty-seven members of the parliament, or Knesset, voted Wednesday to approve the draft legislation in the first of three readings, while 51 were against it.

Key figures in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, considered the most right-wing in Israeli history, openly oppose a Palestinian state.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett, the bill's main backer, has advocated annexing most of the West Bank, like other Israeli religious nationalists who point to the Jewish connection to the land from biblical times.
(Reuters) - Israeli paramilitary police officers in the occupied West Bank shot and killed a Palestinian who ran toward them brandishing a knife on Thursday, police said. Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the 18-year-old Palestinian had got off a bus at a main West Bank junction and appeared suspicious to border policemen stationed there. "The suspect did not heed their call to stop, continued to move in their direction and at one point whipped out a knife and began running towards them. The forces opened fire at the terrorist," Samri said. The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed the Palestinian had been killed, but had no further details on his identity. In recent months, there has been a significant ebb in what had been near-daily Palestinian street attacks that began in October 2015 in which 33 Israelis and two U.S. citizens have been killed in knife, car-ramming and gun assaults. Israeli forces have killed at least 230 Palestinians over the past 14 months. Israel says at least 156 of them were assailants. Others died during clashes and protests. Palestinians have accused Israeli police and soldiers of using excessive force in many cases, saying assailants could have been stopped or detained without being killed. In several cases, Israel has opened investigations. Israel says one of the main causes of the violence is incitement by the Palestinian leadership, with young men encouraged to attack Israeli soldiers and civilians. Palestinian leaders say assailants have acted out of desperation, frustrated by the almost 50-year-old Israeli occupation of the West Bank and annexation of East Jerusalem, territories which the Palestinians want for their own state. Israel captured those lands in the 1967 Middle East war, and maintains tight restrictions on the movement of Palestinians in some areas, especially West Bank checkpoints that border Israel. The last round of peace talks between the sides collapsed in 2014. (Reporting by Maayan Lubell and Ali Sawafta; Editing by Jeffrey Heller)
Israeli men have one of the highest life expectancies in the world with a projected lifespan of nearly 81 years, according to a new study. Researchers believe that the countrys mandatory military service is indirectly responsible for the phenomenon.

According to the World Health Organization, the average life expectancy for Israeli men in 2015 was 80.6 years, and much greater than the worldwide average of 68.5 years. According to researchers at the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies, the higher-than-average life expectancy among Israeli males is a result of a mandatory 32-month service in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

In Israel, the army is one of the agencies with a particular status that allows it to impact public health, Prof. Alex Weinreb said, in a statement released Wednesday.

Weinreb said that the military service contributes to Israeli mens physical fitness that improves their overall health and life expectancy.

Data from more than 130 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries analyzed by Weinreb showed that male populations in countries with a mandatory military service lived - on average - three years longer than their civil counterparts.

In Israel, the army is one of the agencies with a particular status that allows it to impact public health, he said, adding that enhancing overall public health is not a stated goal of military service.

In his research, Weinreb first examined primary variables that are typically considered in life-expectancy studies. These include, a countrys levels of development and education, affluence, and measures of inequality. Other criteria taken into account were the amount spent on health and the general accessibility to medical care, while a data set included demographic characteristics like population growth, crowding and fertility rates.

Weinreb found that while the standard variables could account for over 80 percent of the variance in life expectancy among other countries, it didnt sufficiently explain why Israeli men live so long. Because of this, he included another layer of variables of geography and religion.

Story continues

Following the inclusion, it was noted that populations located along a coast  such as Israels  are generally healthier and have a higher longevity.

Finally, Weinreb added another variable, which was the contribution of IDF service to Israeli mens overall health and wellness. He noted that the prominent role physical training plays in military service, and pointed to Israels low rates of cardiovascular disease and other medical conditions.

The mortality patterns among Arabs and Jews in Israel also supported his findings, he said.

If Israel did not have the compulsory military service and spending that it currently has, male life expectancy in Israel would probably be much lower, he said, adding that compulsory military service is not a cure-all, but there is some evidence supporting [military conscriptions] positive influence on public health."

Related Articles
By John Irish and Ori Lewis PARIS/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that he had told French President Francois Hollande he would not meet Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas if France pushed ahead with an international peace conference in Paris later this month. France has been trying to convince Netanyahu, who has repeatedly rejected the conference proposal, to meet with Abbas in Paris to try to revive moribund peace talks between the two sides, Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Wednesday. "Netanyahu told Hollande that if there will not be an international conference in Paris, he will come to meet Abu Mazen (Abbas) for direct talks without preconditions," the statement said Netanyahu told Hollande. "Israel will not participate in an international conference that will not contribute to achieving peace," it added. Paris has remained determined to stage the conference. It believes that bringing the two leaders to meet with Hollande a day after the conference would be a way of circumventing Israeli accusations that the French initiative aims to impose a multilateral solution. "We have to recreate the conditions for a two-state solution and we are determined more than ever to do everything to implement our initiative. The sooner the better," Ayrault told reporters at a news conference with his Spanish counterpart, Alfonso Dastis. Ayrault confirmed that invitations had been sent to Netanyahu and Abbas to attend a face-to-face meeting. Diplomats said that Hollande was also planning to call U.S. President Barack Obama to discuss the issue. Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said the Palestinians welcomed "any French effort to salvage the faltering political process." France has repeatedly tried to breathe new life into the peace process this year, holding a preliminary conference in June where the United Nations, European Union, United States and major Arab countries gathered to discuss proposals without the Israelis or Palestinians present. The plan was to hold a follow-up conference before Christmas with the Israelis and Palestinians involved to see whether the two sides could be brought back to negotiations. The conference of foreign ministers was aimed at agreeing on a joint statement that would reaffirm the two-state solution on the basis of pre-1967 borders and according to Security Council resolutions, diplomats said. The last, U.S.-backed talks ended in failure in April 2014 and the outgoing U.S. administration appears unwilling to tackle the issue before President-elect Donald Trump takes over in January. With Obama wary of being seen picking a fight at a time when he hopes to persuade Trump to preserve parts of his legacy, including the Iran nuclear deal, Obamacare and the opening to Cuba, it is not clear whether the United States will attend a new meeting in Paris. If they were not to attend the chances of a conference taking place would be slim, a French diplomat said. In New York, diplomats at the United Nations said Arab state ministers were due to meet next week to discuss a Palestinian push for a U.N. resolution on settlements and were likely to decide the content of a draft text and when it would be circulated to the Security Council. Diplomats said New Zealand was also working on a draft U.N. resolution on the Middle East peace process that would reaffirm the Security Council's commitment to a two-state solution. (Additional reporting by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem, Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Michelle Nichols in New York, editing by Larry King and Hugh Lawson)
Obamas Nobel Peace Prize was undeserved

I remember when President Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize before he had the opportunity to do anything peaceful as president. He was awarded the prize simply because he wasnt George W. Bush. Much of the world was eager to have a more restrained American foreign policy, and it pinned its hopes on a man whose election campaign was based on hope. President Obamas term in office is nearly done and we can look at his record with regards to promoting peace.

Overall, Obama has not been any less bellicose than Bush was. If anything, we are currently involved with more wars than we were before Obama took office. The Iraq War is officially over, except for the 7,000 American troops involved with the fight to recapture Mosul. We still have thousands of troops fighting in Afghanistan, even after 15 years. Libya is a chaotic mess since we helped to topple Muammar Ghaddafi. We are actively involved in the Syrian civil war. We recently shot at military forces in Yemen. We keep launching drone strikes at anybody that appears to be an enemy. Have I forgotten anything?

If the record of the last eight years qualifies President Obama for the Peace Prize, then President-elect Trump should be up for one too. Seriously, short of launching a nuclear strike, how much worse can Trump do?

Francis Pauc, Oak Creek
By Gavin Jones and Steve Scherer ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi resigned on Wednesday after a bruising referendum loss at the weekend, with most parliamentary factions pushing for an early election in a few months' time. The 41-year-old's decision to quit after less than three years in office dealt a new blow to Western governments still in shock from Britain's vote to leave the European Union and the election of outsider Donald Trump as U.S. president. Underscoring the financial risks that heavily indebted Italy faces, Moody's changed its outlook on the country's bond rating to negative from stable, saying prospects for much-needed economic reform had shrunk after Italians rejected Renzi's proposals to revise the constitution and streamline parliament. Renzi tendered his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella, who said he would consult with political parties to decide the next steps. He asked Renzi to carry on in a caretaker capacity until a solution is found. After the consultations, which will begin on Thursday at 1700 GMT and end on Saturday afternoon, Mattarella is widely expected to ask a member of Renzi's cabinet, or a politician from his Democratic Party, to try to form a new government. Elections are due in 2018 but many politicians are calling for them to be held earlier. The political crisis sparked by the referendum coincides with a crisis in Italy's debt-laden banks, especially at its third-biggest lender Monte dei Paschi di Siena , which looks likely to require government intervention to survive. Two sources told Reuters on Tuesday that Renzi's administration was preparing to take a 2-billion-euro ($2.15-billion) controlling stake in the bank by purchasing junior bonds. On Wednesday, a Treasury spokesman denied Italy was poised to ask for a loan from the European Stability Mechanism to support its banking sector. QUICK VOTE Renzi addressed his Democratic Party (PD) before meeting the president, saying the party would only participate in a government intended to last until 2018 if it was backed by all the main forces in parliament, a prospect which seems remote. Otherwise early elections should be held as soon as possible, he said, after the Constitutional Court has ruled early next year on the legitimacy of the current electoral law. "The PD is not afraid of going to early elections," he said. Most opposition parties, including the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and the right-wing Northern League, are clamouring for a quick vote. Northern League leader Matteo Salvini said on Wednesday his party would "take to the streets" if a clear indication of the timing of the next election had not been given within a week. Infrastructure Minister Graziano Delrio, a close ally of Renzi, said an interim government should change the electoral law quickly so an election could be held "in the Spring". Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia and a left-wing minority inside Renzi's PD want a new administration to be formed with the backing of the current parliament, perhaps to last until 2018, to give them time to resolve internal party battles. Markets have reacted calmly to the political tensions, with the gap between Italian and German bond yields hitting 155 basis points on Wednesday, the tightest in about a month, having climbed as high as 193 points before Sunday's vote. Although Moody's maintained its rating at Baa2, just two notches above junk status, it said the outlook had dimmed, with the chances of meaningful economic and fiscal reform receding. "(There is) the rising risk that the stabilisation and reduction in Italy's large debt burden will be further deferred," the ratings agency warned. It said it might consider cutting the rating at a future date, citing as one possible trigger "the need for a significant recapitalisation of banks by the government". There was no immediate comment from the Treasury. (Additional reporting by Isla Binnie, Crispian Balmer and Francesca Piscioneri; Editing by Philippa Fletcher and James Dalgleish)
Rome (AFP) - President Sergio Mattarella on Thursday began consultations aimed at averting a political crisis in Italy triggered by the resignation of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

Renzi formally resigned on Wednesday after losing a crucial referendum on constitutional changes on Sunday, bringing an end to the two years, 289 days reign of Italy's youngest premier.

Mattarella will try to form a cross-party coalition caretaker government to avoid being forced to call early elections -- those are currently scheduled for February 2018.

The president met Senate president Pietro Grasso, Chamber of Deputies president Laura Boldrini and former head of state Giorgio Napolitano in the first of 48 hours of consultations that began at 6pm (1700 GMT).

Mattarella will continue his task on Friday with the smallest parties in parliament, with 41-year-old Renzi's Democratic Party (PD) last to be questioned.

The president will then likely announce a decision on Monday.

Although Renzi had hinted in his resignation speech on Wednesday that he intends to lead his party into an early election battle, he spent Thursday celebrating his grandmother's 86th birthday and competing with his children on PlayStation, as Mattarella was forced to work through the Feast of the Immaculate Conception public holiday.

"And hopefully ... I will have more luck in the PlayStation battle with my sons than I have had here," Renzi had quipped in a resignation speech peppered with jokes.

- Knives being sharpened -

It is far from the end of his political career, though, as Renzi retains the leadership of his party, the biggest force on Italy's centre-left.

He indicated that he intends to pursue his political career and a reformist agenda that won plaudits from the likes of US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angel Merkel.

Renzi received a boost on Thursday with a poll published by La Stampa daily, conducted a day after the referendum, giving the PD the backing of 32.5 percent of voters, ahead of the populist Five Star movement with 27 percent.

Story continues

In addition, 57 percent of centre-left voters saw Renzi as the best leader available to the PD.

But there were also signs of knives being sharpened within the party after the referendum which Renzi's critics see as having eroded the party's base among the working class and young voters hardest hit by Italy's economic problems.

Luigi Zanda, head of the PD group in the Senate, acknowledged that "there are tensions within the party" but said he expected the need for unity to prevail.

Renzi admitted to the party's executive that he anticipated a "tough debate" over the lessons of the referendum and said he was open to proposals aimed at creating a broader coalition of the Italian left.

- 'Inevitably catastrophic' -

But that idea was shot down by veteran leftist Nichi Vendola.

The former governor of the southern region of Puglia said Renzi had burnt his bridges with progressive forces.

"If reformism means having a left elite do the work of the right, the result is inevitably catastrophic," Vendola told La Repubblica.

Before handing back the keys to his Palazzo Chigi residence, Renzi insisted the PD was ready for an early election battle with Five Star, the far-right Northern League and Silvio Berlusconi's fading Forza Italia.

"We are not afraid of anything or anybody," Renzi said.

Five Star and the Northern League are both demanding an early election but analysts have said that is unlikely.

Italy's entry into a period of political uncertainty has not created the kind of market turmoil some had predicted and a feared crisis in the banking sector has not materialised as a rescue plan for the most troubled lenders has begun to take shape.

Moody's ratings agency has however downgraded its outlook for the country's sovereign debt to negative from stable, saying the failure of the constitutional referendum slowed reform progress and left Italy more exposed to "unforeseen shocks".
* PM Renzi resigned after drubbing in referendum

* President faces his first government collapse

* Talks end Saturday, future shape of govt to be decided

By Steve Scherer and Francesca Piscioneri

ROME, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Italy's president began talks with political leaders on Thursday to seek a way out of the political crisis caused by the resignation of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

Sergio Mattarella, a 75-year-old former politician and constitutional court judge, must decide if someone can lead Italy to elections scheduled for 2018, or whether an interim government should serve until a snap vote can be held in spring.

Mattarella, a former Christian Democrat with a less interventionist style than his predecessor Giorgio Napolitano, begins talks with institutional leaders at 6 p.m. (1700 GMT) at the his Quirinal Palace.

Meetings will expand to parliamentary parties on Friday and wrap up on Saturday evening.

The process is a familiar one in Italy, which has a notorious history of government collapses, but it is the first since the Sicilian Mattarella took office last year after a career in politics which began after the mafia assassinated his politician brother in 1980.

Mattarella could wait until Monday to make his decision known, a source close to the president said. Renzi has ruled out -- for the moment -- staying on as a caretaker, a parliamentary source said.

Most parties, including Renzi's Democratic Party (PD) which holds the most seats in parliament, appear to favour an early vote, which would add Italy to a list of major European countries -- including France, Germany and the Netherlands -- facing a national ballot in 2017.

So far markets have taken Italy's situation in stride. Even Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which looks likely to require government intervention to survive, saw its shares rise more than 6 percent on Thursday after it asked the European Central Bank for a three-week extension to its rescue plan.

On Tuesday, Mattarella unexpectedly dictated two conditions that delay any vote until spring: the Constitutional Court must rule on the lower house's current voting law, a decision not expected before a Jan. 24.

Story continues

Subsequently parliament must draft new election rules for both houses, Mattarella said. Considering 45 days for campaigning are set aside by law, it would be difficult to hold an election before April.

The consultations will allow Mattarella to test parliamentary waters, but Renzi's majority - and his input as leader of the PD - are key to what happens next.

On Wednesday, Renzi said the PD would only participate in a government intended to last until 2018 if it was backed by all the main forces in parliament, a prospect most of them have already ruled out. Otherwise, early elections should be held as soon as possible, he said.

Mattarella is widely expected to ask a member of Renzi's cabinet, or a politician from his Democratic Party, to try to form a new government. But he might also seek parliamentary backing for a leader of his own choosing.

(Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / December 7, 2016 / Avid Philanthropist, acclaimed real estate investor, and consultant, Jacob Frydman is honored to be able to support the National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education (NCFJE) and its many cause-driven charities. The generous donor is deeply involved with the foundation, working closely with its Orphan, Poor and Sick Fund, Released Time Program, and Toys for Hospitalized Children initiatives among many others.

Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneerson founded NCFJE in the midst of WWII with the principle mission of providing Jewish public school students with a free Jewish education. Shortly after its conception, the institution noticed that many of the children lived in households experiencing a variety of social and economic hardships, and implemented a multitude of educational, community outreach, and humanitarian services that still provide imperative aid to New York's citizens today. Rabbi Hannoch Hecht of the Rhinebeck Jewish Center introduced Jacob Frydman to the committee, and the businessman was immediately enthralled by their generosity, "I saw from their past work that the NCFJE has made countless positive lasting effects on individual families and the entire community."





Created in 1941, the Released Time Program educates Jewish youth about the history, customs and prayers of Judaism, and has inspired more than a quarter million boys and girls in the greater New York area to be proud of their faith. Each Wednesday students are dismissed an hour early from school and transported to a nearby synagogue, where dedicated instructors create a welcoming religious atmosphere and teach the children about their heritage. The classes are free of charge, and are now available in over 125 public schools.

Another longstanding NCFJE charity, Toys for Hospitalized Children, distributes over 10,000 toys and gifts to hospitals, special needs facilities, and destitute children each year. In an effort to share joy with the city's elderly as well, the 50-year project has recently expanded to servicing senior residences on an as-need basis. The Orphan, Poor and Sick Fund aids underprivileged families in accessing necessary resources through grocery and clothing vouchers, rent and utility assistance, school and camp scholarships, and weekly food disbursements.

Story continues

Rabbi Hecht considers Frydman's constant assistance with these initiatives as a sign of greater understanding, "He knows that the foundation of the Jewish community is the Jewish family, and he believes that by helping needy families we can all look forward to a stronger Jewish community as a whole."

Jacob Frydman is a native New Yorker, real estate investor, and private equities expert. Over his 30-year career, he has structured, financed, and executed highly complex real estate transactions. He often discusses business, law, and ethics at Columbia University and in the Master's Lecturer series at New York Law School. A passionate and vocal member of the Jewish faith, Frydman has been an active supporter of the NCFJE for many years, and assists other charitable committees including The Chabad of Dutchess County and Washington, DC-based The Brem Foundation.

Jacob Frydman - Property Expert and Consultant: http://jacobfrydmannews.com

Jacob Frydman (@jacobfrydman) - Twitter: https://twitter.com/jacobfrydman

Jacob Frydman - Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/jacob-frydman

Jacob Frydman US Housing Market - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHS77IcaFwc

Contact Information:

JacobFrydmanNews.com

contact@jacobfrydmannews.com

www.JacobFrydmanNews.com

SOURCE: Jacob Frydman
She discovered Eddie Murphy and gave Prince one of his first big breaks. She saved Woody Allen's career and produced eight of his films. And she's helped to bring to life many of the most acclaimed theatrical productions of the 21st century, from August: Osage County to The Book of Mormon. Which raises the questions: How did Jean Doumanian - daughter of a Chicago restaurateur, college dropout, onetime housewife - become a show business Zelig (not one of her Allen collaborations), looming large over the pop-cultural landscape for a half-century, and why don't more people know her name (which rhymes with Tasmanian)?

To be sure, part of the reason is the soft-spoken, paper-thin, elegant septuagenarian has, for decades, actively avoided the press, which she feels treated her unfairly during the most contentious period in her life: when, in 1980, she was hired to replace Lorne Michaels as top dog at Saturday Night Live, sparking a 10-month rollercoaster ride.

When Jean Karabas was young, women weren't running anything in show business - or business, the field she aspired to enter when she enrolled at the University of Illinois. During junior year, the pretty and charismatic young woman married John Doumanian, a Capitol Records promoter who wanted her home during the day. At night, she accompanied him to clubs to scout talent, and at one they hit it off with a quirky standup, Allen. Her husband became Allen's road manager (he recently cameoed in Cafe Society) and she became Allen's closest friend for the next four decades (they spoke daily, she was one of only five guests at Allen's 1966 wedding to his first wife Louise Lasser and he once saved her life by performing the Heimlich).

Not long after, Doumanian's husband was offered a job in California and she was contacted by another comic who had come through Chicago and was drawn to her: Dick Cavett, who asked her to move to New York to become the talent coordinator for his new show. The Doumanians divorced - he went west, she east - and for the next three years she pre-interviewed Cavett guests, building a network of agents, publicists and talent that was second to none. (Joe DiMaggio was "smitten" with her, according to a forthcoming DiMaggio biography.)

When she left the show, she explored a career in PR. Power publicist Bobby Zarem, aware of her Rolodex, hired her to work with him at Rogers & Cowan and then at his own company. But soon another friend, Howard Cosell, came calling, along with exec Roone Arledge, offering a job as associate producer on their new ABC show: Saturday Night Live. She took it.

"We were trying to reinvent Ed Sullivan," Doumanian explains. But the original SNL was canceled after just 17 episodes, at which point Michaels, whose NBC sketch show Saturday Night was just getting off the ground, acquired its title and hired Doumanian to be his associate producer, tasked with booking hosts and musical guests. She moved in to 30 Rock - "Lorne's office was at one end, my office was at the other," she recalls - and "sat in on everything - writing meetings and all of that - it was a good relationship."

Doumanian wasn't an obvious fit for SNL's culture - she was a lady in a frat house - but she "had a good time and learned a lot." Most importantly, Michaels trusted her. "One week we had a host drop out, and I kept pushing Steve Martin," she says. "I don't think anybody else watched him on The Tonight Show, but I watched him all the time and thought he was brilliant, and I went to Lorne and said, 'Come on, you've got to put this guy on.' Steve came on and it was a huge hit. Now he's one of Lorne's best friends."

At the end of the 1979-80 season, Michaels, citing burnout, left the show, and Doumanian received two offers: Michael Eisner wanted her to run Paramount's East Coast operations and dispatched Barry Diller and Jeffrey Katzenberg to make a deal; and NBC chief Brandon Tartikoff asked her to replace Michaels - but not to discuss the offer with anyone. She chose SNL. "I'd been with it for five years, knew all the mechanisms of it and thought it'd be fun to do," she says. "I had to call Mike Eisner and say, 'I'm sorry, I cannot accept your position.' He couldn't believe it and said, 'Unless you're going to be president of the United States, you're making a mistake.'"

As it turns out, Eisner was right. Michaels quickly made it known that he was displeased with her hiring - he told the authors of the SNL oral history Live From New York this was because he regarded it as "a writer-based show," but some say he wanted the show to end when he left and didn't appreciate being kept in the dark by Doumanian. The few castmembers and writers who had planned to remain suddenly departed - "Nobody would accept any offers I made," Doumanian recalls - so she had to quickly replace all of them. On top of which the network gave her an operating budget significantly lower than Michaels'.

Among her hires were Joe Piscopo, Denny Dillon and an 18-year-old Murphy. "We found [Murphy] at the Comedy Strip," she recalls. "He came in to audition for me. The minute he walked in the door, he had star power." The problem was she already had exhausted her budget, meaning she could only hire him as a featured player. Before long, though, "the network finally realized how talented he was," and furnished the funds to make him a regular.

By that point, though, the show had been ruthlessly reviewed ("Saturday Night Dead") and some writers had begun circulating petitions to get "Ayatollah Doumanian" fired. "I sensed it, of course I sensed it," she says, adding, "You don't hear from those writers anymore, do you? God has his way." The final straw came when one of her hires, Charlie Rocket, said "f - " on the air, after which she was fired. "That was an excuse," she insists. "I thought, 'How could they do that to me?' I just thought it was quite unfair."

Doumanian is proud of her time as SNL's exec producer. "I did 12 shows," she says. "I had A-listers. I put Prince on for the first time. I had James Brown on, Aretha Franklin on. Come on!" She adds, "If you look it up, my ratings were the same as the end of Lorne's last season." Her defenders include Bill Murray, who said in Live From New York, "They didn't really give her a full shot." In hindsight, she says she'd have done just one thing differently: "I should've turned it down and gone with Paramount."

A few years later, Doumanian came to the aid of Allen, whose financiers dropped him after his relationship with Mia Farrow's adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn became public. "I was lucky enough to have connections," she says, referencing her longtime "significant other" Jacqui Safra, a member of a wealthy Swiss-Lebanese banking family. Over the next eight years, she and Safra made eight films with Allen, including Oscar-winning Bullets Over Broadway and Mighty Aphrodite. "I think we did the best movies he's ever done," she states. But in 2001, Allen sued their production company, alleging he'd been cheated out of millions in profits. The parties eventually settled, but the friendship was over. "We did a very big favor for someone who was a friend at the time, and saved him, I think," she says, before refusing to discuss the painful topic further.

Ever since, Doumanian has, through Manhattan-based Jean Doumanian Productions, kept her toes in film and TV, while largely devoting herself to theater. She has an upcoming film (Una, starring Rooney Mara and Ben Mendelsohn), TV series (Shrink, for NBC's comedy subscription service Seeso) and off-Broadway production (Sweeney Todd at the Barrow Street Theatre, which she helped to put on the map). And she has no plans to slow down anytime soon.

In February 2015, SNL hosted a big 40th anniversary celebration. Many were surprised when Doumanian showed up for it. "I didn't want them somehow to erase me from the history of that show forever," she explains, noting that Prince, who would be dead little more than a year later, waved off his bodyguards to give her a hug. "I saw everybody there," she says." I congratulated Lorne. It was a very nice evening."
More than a year after announcing that they were working on their first album in nearly two decades, beloved Scottish indie rock band The Jesus and Mary Chain have announced that Damage and Joy will be out on March 24 on ADA/Warner Music. The follow-up to 1998's Munki was recorded with producer Youth (The Verve, Killing Joke), who also played bass on the band's seventh studio release.

Touring drummer Brian Young and former Lush bassist Phil King are also credited with playing on the band's 14-track album, according to Pitchfork. The first single from the album, the churning shoegaze rocker "Amputation," debuted on the BBC on Thursday afternoon (Dec. 8). Last month, former Creation Records boss Alan McGee told Canada's CBC Music that his former signees had completed the album and that it was another classic.

Tune in to Steve Lamacq on @BBC6Music today from 4pm pic.twitter.com/d93iSXF1nB

- Jesus And Mary Chain (@TheMaryChain) December 8, 2016

"They've made another album! It's a big deal!" McGee said in the interview. "It's unbelievable. They've just made an album and I've signed them to Warners!... It's kinda enormous." JAMC reunited in 2007 with a plan to make a new album, but, as is often the case, quarrelsome brothers Jim and William Reid reportedly couldn't see eye-to-eye and sessions fell apart.

Damage and Joy track list:

1. "Amputation"

2. "War On Peace"

3. "All Things Pass"

4. "Always Sad"

5. "Song For A Secret"

6. "The Two Of Us"

7. "Los Feliz (Blues and Greens)"

8. "Mood Rider"

9. "Presidici (Et Chapaquiditch)"

10. "Get On Home"

11. "Facing Up To The Facts"

12. "Simian Split"

13. "Black And Blues"

14. "Can't Stop The Rock"
(Reuters) - Relatives of a Malaysian financier at the centre of the 1MDB fund scandal were dealt a setback in their efforts to claim assets seized by the U.S. government when a federal judge denied a motion that would have given them time to try their luck in overseas courts.

Earlier this week four relatives of Low Taek Jho filed a motion to delay the Dec. 12 hearing to Jan. 23 so they could go to courts in New Zealand and the Cayman Islands to try and get real estate and other assets transferred to a new trustee.

In a one-sentence ruling, U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer denied both the motion to postpone the hearing and a separate request to extend the deadline for filing a claim. No reason was given in the filing, dated Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors had opposed the delay, noting in a filing on Wednesday that almost five months had transpired since the Department of Justice launched a series of lawsuits alleging more than $3.5 billion was misappropriated from the 1MDB fund.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak established the IMDB fund in 2009 and chaired the advisory board until recently.

Low Taek Jho is among the people named in civil lawsuits aimed at seizing $1 billion in assets allegedly siphoned off from 1MDB and diverted into luxury real estate in New York, Beverly Hills and London, valuable paintings and a private jet.

Low Taek Jho's relatives had wanted to try courts in New Zealand and the Cayman Islands, hoping those venues would be more hospitable to their requests. The ruling to go ahead with the hearing on Monday could thwart those plans.

The relatives' lawyer, Daniel Zaheer of Kobre & Kim, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In addition to Low, the Department of Justice has named Riza Aziz in its lawsuits. Aziz is the stepson of Najib, the Malaysian prime minister, and founder of Red Granite Pictures, which produced the 2013 Hollywood blockbuster "The Wolf of Wall Street."

The lawsuits do not name Najib, but say more than $700 million of misappropriated funds flowed into the accounts of "Malaysian Official 1," whom U.S. and Malaysian officials have identified as Najib.

Najib has denied any wrongdoing and said Malaysia will cooperate in the international investigations.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Today we remember legendary Doors frontman Jim Morrison on what would have been his 73rd birthday (Dec. 8). Not only did he pave the way for psychedelic blues/rock music, Morrison was regarded by critics and friends as a respected poet as well as a true artist who believed in the music he performed over his short but impactful four years of leading The Doors.

With seven records released between 1967 and 1971, revisit 10 classic and deep-cut tracks below with tales explaining how each song came to be that capture the iconic sound that led The Doors to become a staple of rock history.

1. "People Are Strange"

What started as a simple walk through the Hollywood Hills eventually turned into inspiration for Morrison. According to The Doors Commentary by Jac Holzman, who discovered the band in 1966, drummer John Densmore ran into Morrison on Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Los Angeles when a poem began to take shape. Morrison began to recite the partial lyrics and Densmore quickly scribbled down what became the chorus: "When you're a stranger, faces come out of the rain/ When you're strange, no one remembers your name." The song eventually peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967.

2. "Break on Through (To the Other Side)"

Critically acclaimed as one of the greatest opening album tracks of all time, "Break on Through" was the first single released by the band in 1967. The track featured the controversial lyrics "she gets high" during the bridge of the song but the line was cut to Morrison singing just "she gets" four times before letting out a signature wail, according to the biography Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend by Steven Davis.

3. "The End"

As the last track on the band's debut album, Holzman describes this song as "clearly the closing statement The Doors wanted to make -- an exclamation point." Its controversial lyrics -- "Father I want to kill you. Mother, I want to..." -- stemmed from Morrison's fascination with Oedipus Rex and the mythological complex it spawned.

Story continues

4. "Hello, I Love You"

Inspired by a woman they stared in awe at during the summer of 1965 in Venice Beach, Morrison told keyboardist Ray Manzarek that if he had the courage to go up and talk to her, he would say exactly what the chorus says: "Hello, I love you, won't you tell me your name?," according to Davis. This eventually became their second No. 1 on the Hot 100.

5. "Roadhouse Blues"

The line "woke up this morning and got myself a beer" is not what it appears to be. According to the book Light My Fire by Ray Manzarek, the Doors keyboardist explains that Morrison was actually singing "woke up this morning and I got myself a beard," in reference to waking up after an alleged three weeks of drug-induced sleep.

6. "Light My Fire"

Written by guitarist Robby Krieger, Morrison's only lyrical contribution was adding "and our love become a funeral pyre" to rhyme with previous lyric "no time to wallow in the mire," according to Davis. "Fire" was the band's first No. 1 on the Hot 100 and they performed their hit single on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1967. After being instructed by producers and agreeing to change "girl we couldn't get much higher" to "girl we couldn't get much better," the band refused to comply with Federal Communications Commission requirements. Morrison ended up singing the original "higher" lyric, and the band was banned from returning to the show.

7. "Spanish Caravan"

With Krieger having such a deep admiration for flamenco and classical guitar, some may assume that this was one of his favorite songs to perform. According to Holzman, "He played with a nonchalance that made it all look so easy." With its central focus on Krieger's flamenco-inspired guitar rhythm, "'Spanish Caravan' demonstrates how well tonalities and rhythms of world music can be assimilated into rock," Holzman added.

8. "Riders on the Storm"

The final song on L.A. Woman, the last album they would create with Morrison, was a song described by Holzman as "their richest work since their debut album -- ending both the album and their careers together by inviting each one of us to join them as one of the riders on the storm." The song entered the Hot 100 in 1971 the day Morrison died (July 3) and peaked to No. 14 later that same year.

9. "Love Street"

Written about Morrison's infamous girlfriend Pamela Courson, "Love Street" is another track that has a story behind its love-induced lyrics. While most people are familiar with the lyrics "she has robes and she has monkeys, lazy diamond-studded flunkies," these are not the original lyrics Morrison had in mind. Instead, Morrison originally wrote "she has robes and she has junkies," referencing Courson's dealings with heroin, according to Davis.

10. "Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)"

Even though this song was not a widely known hit, it still helped define what The Doors stood for in terms of musical and creative direction. Holzman describes the first time he heard the band perform "Alabama Song" in 1966 at the Whisky a Go Go in L.A.: "Sometimes a song comes at you from a totally unexpected angle and through the prism of that strangeness you catch elements within that song that illuminates the rest of their work, and 'Alabama Song' did that."
John Glenn, one of the most important figures of the early U.S. space program who in 1962 became the first American to orbit the earth, died today at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus following an unspecified illness. He was 95. His death was confirmed today by Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Glenn, a World War II and Korean War veteran, would follow his time as an astronaut with a successful political career, serving as a Democratic U.S. Senator for Ohio from 1974-99 and attempting a run for president in 1984. He also would continue to serve the cause of space science well into his 70s, flying as a Payload Specialist on the 1998 Discovery mission at age 77.

Glenn was a member of the Mercury Seven, the group of military test pilots tapped by NASA in 1959 as Americas first astronauts that also included Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton. The men became instant celebrities and symbols of American scientific prowess during the height of the Cold War. The Mercury Seven were the subject of Tom Wolfes 1979 book The Right Stuff, which adapted into the 1983 film that won four Oscars and was up for Best Picture. Glenn memorably was portrayed by Ed Harris.

Glenn originally was nervous about the film, as he had disliked the books portrayal of him as a strict moralizer and was concerned how such a portrayal might affect his efforts to win the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984. Following the films release, however, Glenn embraced Harris portrayal, which emphasized Glenns character, as well as his relationship with and devotion to his wife, Annie Glenn, along with her struggle to overcome stuttering.

Born in in Cambridge, Ohio in 1921, Glenn studied engineering at Muskingum College, earning a private pilots license during this time. He quit college during his senior year following the attack on Pearl Harbor and enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He never was called to active duty and in 1942 enlisted as a Navy aviation cadet, followed by a transfer to the Marines. Initially serving as a transport pilot, Glenn would go on to fly 59 combat missions in the Pacific theater, serve as a combat flight instructor after the war and again be called up for combat duty during the Korean War. He would fly a total of 149 combat missions between the two wars and was awarded six Distinguished Flying Cross medals.

Story continues

NASA began recruiting astronauts for the Mercury program in 1958. Despite being close to age 40 and lacking a scientific bachelors degree (having never returned to college following the war), Glenn made the cut, joining NASA while remaining an officer in the Marine Corps. He ultimately would have the honor of being the first American to orbit Earth  on February 20, 1962, aboard the Friendship 7 spacecraft, circling the planet three times. He was only the fifth person and third American to go to space. Glenn became a national hero upon returning to ground safely and received a ticker-tape parade in New York City. He also became friends with the Kennedy family.

Glenn retired from NASA in 1964 and from the Marines in 1965, entering the private sector as a Royal Crown Cola executive but eyed a career in politics early on, encouraged by the Kennedys. Following aborted attempts in 1964 and 1970, Glenn was elected to the Senate in 1974, where among his achievements he was an author on the 1978 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act. Glenns career in the Senate faced a serious setback in 1989, when he was named as one of the Keating Five. The group of senators that also included fellow former Navy pilot John McCain were accused of abusing their influence on behalf of disgraced financier Charles H. Keating, after receiving campaign contributions. However, following an investigation by the the Senate Ethics Committee, both Glenn and McCain were cleared of any wrongdoing.

Glenn served as a U.S. senator until his retirement in 1999. The year before, he made one final trip into space as part of the STS-95 Space Shuttle Discovery mission. Becoming the oldest person to fly into space, Glenns participation was in part to study the effects of space flight, including weightlessness, on the elderly, and having been similarly studied 36 years earlier, he made a useful test subject.

Glenn founded Ohio States John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy, which was renamed in 2015 as the John Glenn College of Public Affairs.

As one of the most famous people in American history, Glenn remained an iconic figure in popular culture throughout his life and made numerous appearances in television including a 2001 guest appearance on Frasier. Glenn is portrayed by Glen Powell in the Theodore Melfi-directed biopic Hidden Figures, which tells the story of the female African-American mathematicians whose work helped make the space program possible.

Glenn is survived by his wife, Annie, and their family.

Related stories

John Glenn: Politicians, Celebrities And Peers Pay Tribute Following Astronaut's Death

NBC Nabs 'Evidence Room' Crime Drama From John Glenn & Justin Lin As Put Pilot

CBS Developing 'Under Suspicion' Book Series Adaptation From John Glenn
John Hershel Glenn Jr., a decorated combat veteran and test pilot who gained worldwide fame as the first American to orbit the Earth, went on to become a U.S. senator and, in the autumn of his life, returned to space aboard the shuttle Discovery, has died. He was 95 years old.

Glenn had been hospitalized at the Ohio State University James Cancer Center. Details of his illness were not disclosed.

PHOTOS: Stars We've Lost

Glenn -- the quintessential right-stuff astronaut, born on July 18, 1921 in Cambridge, Ohio -- was the last surviving member of the original Mercury 7 astronauts.

Glenn's career reads like the stuff of fiction: a gung-ho patriot Marine who married his childhood sweetheart, flew dozens of combat missions in World War II, the Korean conflict, served as a Navy test pilot, and set an aviation speed record in a military jet before his selection in 1959 as one of the first seven Mercury astronauts in the initial chapters of the Cold War space race.

Ralph Morse/Life Mag./The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

In an age when the word "hero" has become commonplace, Glenn was hesitant to apply the term to himself. But by any standard, he stood as the personification of the word to millions of Americans who lived through the Cold War and the space race with the Soviet Union.

"I think people need heroes," Glenn told CBS News in a 2012 interview. "I don't know whether I am one or not ... but if we can help encourage some of the young people of today in ... their education and technical matters also, it's well worth the effort."

The battle for the high frontier began Oct. 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union shocked the world by launching Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite. Within two weeks, writes Tom Wolfe in The Right Stuff, a "colossal panic was underway" in the United States.

"Sputnik 1 had become the second momentous event of the Cold War," Wolfe wrote in his 1979 bestseller, which went on to become a movie in 1983, with actor Ed Harris portraying Glenn. "The first had been the Soviet development of the atomic bomb in 1953. From a purely strategic standpoint, the fact that the Soviets had the rocket power to launch Sputnik 1 meant they now also had the capacity to deliver the bomb on an intercontinental ballistic missile. The panic reached far beyond the relatively sane concern for tactical weaponry, however. Sputnik 1 took on a magical dimension. ... Nothing less than control of the heavens was at stake."

Story continues

Glenn agreed, saying later that "people today tend too much to forget what it was like back in those days. They don't remember the national psyche back then. It was communism versus our form of government, and the Soviets at that time were saying that they were now superior to us in technology and research."

Extremely competitive, in top-notch physical shape and with a charismatic persona, Glenn fit the astronaut-hero image and many believed he would be the first American in space. He wasn't. He followed Alan Shepard and Virgil "Gus" Grissom who both made short up-and-down suborbital test flights aboard relatively modest Redstone rockets.

EXCLUSIVE: 'Scream Queens' Star Glen Powell Spills on Chad's Death and Playing John Glenn in 'Hidden Figures'



But in the end, Glenn achieved the greatest fame when he rode a more powerful Atlas rocket to become the first American in orbit, restoring national pride in the wake of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's pioneering orbital flight a year earlier. Glenn's fame and popularity were so widespread that President Kennedy reportedly ordered NASA managers not to let him fly in space again for fear America's iconic spaceman might be lost in an accident. But decades later, in 1998, he would reprise his role as astronaut-hero with an unprecedented return to space at the age of 77.

TONY RANZE/AFP/Getty Images

For more on Glenn's incredible life, continue reading here.



Related Articles
John Glenn died Thursday at the age of 95. One of the founding figures of the U.S. space program and also a long-serving U.S. Senator, Glenn had a profoundly historic and uniquely American life. Lets take a closer look.

Glenn was born in Cambridge, Ohio, in 1921. He went to elementary and high school in New Concord, Ohio, and attended Muskingum College in the same town, though he didnt complete his senior year at the school, opting to drop out at 20 and enlist in the U.S. Air Corps after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, according to the New York Times. (The school granted him an honorary degree in 1962.)

Glenn became a U.S. Marine fighter pilot in the South Pacific, flying 59 missions during the World War II and another 90 in Korea. It was during this time he earned the less-than-dignified nickname Magnet Ass for his ability to attract enemy fire, but that belies the scope of his service: Glenn was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on six occasions, among others, according to NASA.

After Korea, Glenn joined the U.S. Navys Test Pilot School, graduating in 1954. He continued to work as a test pilot until 1959, being awarded his fifth Distinguished Flying Cross for completing the first supersonic transcontinental flight (code-named Project Bullet) in 1957.

A year later, Glenn was one of seven astronauts selected by the newly formed NASA (whittled down from a pool of 508, per NASA) to become the so-called Mercury Seven, Americas first astronauts. (Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper and Deke Slayton were the other six members of the group.) Glenn nearly didnt make the cut: he was close to the cutoff age of 40 and had yet to earn the requisite science degree.

Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth on Feb, 20, 1962, as part of the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission. He was the third American in space and the fifth human being in space. Upon reaching orbit, his words back to NASA were Zero G, and I feel fine. He would go onto to circle the globe three times after those words.

Story continues

When my flight came up, it was almost as if it was designed by Hollywood for suspense, Glenn told the Washington Post in 1998. The American space program was open for the whole world to see  as opposed to the intensely secretive Soviet program  so the whole world emoted right along with us.

The importance of Glenns initial mission to the American identity at the time was crucial: the so-called Space Race seemed to be a matter of life and death and the unflappable, Midwestern Glenn was seen as the All-American boy to clinch the contest for the U.S.A. His mission was not without trouble, however  it was postponed 10 times, and not only did Glenn have to take manual control of his capsule when the systems went south at one point, but he had to watch his crafts heat shield burn up upon re-entry and peel off the ship.

NASA officials called his beloved wife Annie (the pair were married from 1943 until Glenns death), fearing the worst, but Glenn remained a picture of calm. His pulse never registered above 110 beats per minute during his ascent, the projected minimum and as he passed through the journeys maximum pressure point, his report was, Little bumpy up here. His first words upon emerging from the crafts splashdown in the Atlantic ocean were, It was hot in there.

Glenn returned to Earth an American hero unlike any other. Four million people turned out to his ticker tape parade in New York City; NASA assigned him special personnel solely to handle his mail, the Post noted. The success of the mission essentially paved the way for the continuation of the U.S.s space program and was a major boon to President John F. Kennedy, who had championed the project, as well as a blow to the perceived dominance of Russia in the space program.

Glenn resigned from NASA in 1964 with the intention of running for the Senate. A concussion and his subsequent recovery postponed his political career until December 1974, when he was elected as a Democratic Senator for his home state of Ohio. Glenn was caught up in the Keating Five scandal of 1989 when he and four other Senators were accused of improperly interfering with a regulatory investigation into the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association in 1987 after the Associations Chairman, Charles Keating, made contributions of more than $1 million to various senators. Glenn and John McCain were the only two of the five to be exonerated of the charges, and in 1992, Glenn made history by becoming the first popularly elected Senator from his state to win four consecutive terms.

Six years later at age 77, Glenn made history again, becoming the oldest person to go into space, aboard the Space Shuttle Discoverys STS-95 mission. Glenn had lobbied NASA for two years to fly as a human guinea pig for geriatric studies, the New York Times reported. He apparently had no idea he was going to fly the mission until being informed he was approved by NASA, he recounted in his memoir. Upon his return from the nine-day mission, he became the 10th  and the most recent  individual to receive multiple-ticker-tape parades in their lifetime.

Glenn was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. On the morning that John Glenn blasted off into space, America stood still, President Obama said during the presentation ceremony, according to Space.com. For a half an hour, the phone stopped ringing at Chicago police headquarters. New York subway drivers offered a play-by-play account over the loud speakers. President Kennedy interrupted a breakfast with congressional leaders to join 100 million TV viewers to hear the famous words Godspeed John Glenn. 

The first American to orbit the Earth, Obama added, John Glenn became a hero in every sense of the word.




A California federal judge has rendered a big ruling on the insurance dispute that emanated from the fatal train accident during the 2014 shooting of the Gregg Allman biopic Midnight Rider in Georgia. In a summary judgment opinion released Thursday, the film's production company is denied a bid to force its insurer to cover losses. U.S. District Judge Otis Wright concludes that criminal acts have been properly excluded under the film company's policy.

On Feb. 20, 2014, the film crew entered private property to shoot a scene on a railway trestle bridge when a train barreling forward at an estimated 57 miles per hour had the crew frantically fleeing. Unfortunately, camera assistant Sarah Jones couldn't get away and was killed while others were injured.

Midnight Rider director Randall Miller pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespass and spent time in prison for what happened. Meanwhile, Film Allman LLC filed a lawsuit against New York Marine and General Insurance Company with the allegation that the defendant had "sabotaged the Film, the very thing that it agreed to insure and protect when it issued the Producers Policy to Film Allman."

After many months of discovery, New York Marine argued that its policy was clear - that it needn't cover criminal acts like entering upon the property of another after receiving notice from the owner that such entry is forbidden. The insurer pointed to Miller's guilty plea, admissions to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and depositions from Miller and others.

In October, the producers came forward with some new evidence including an email sent by an employee at CSX, the train rail company, that "recalled" a prior message that the Midnight Rider producers say had been used by criminal prosecutors and OSHA to indicate that CSX withheld its permission to use its tracks. The producers also pointed to evidence that there were individuals from Rayonier present during the filming. Rayonier is a giant timbre company and landowner in the area where the train accident happened.

Story continues

But that's not enough for the judge.

"There is no contention that Film Allman owned the land or the train tracks in question," he writes in his opinion. "Thus, the Court can establish that the land and tracks constitute 'the land or premises of another person.' Specifically, the land was owned by CSX. Film Allman argues that the owner of the tracks is unknown, but the evidence directly contradicts this and supports the conclusion that CSX is the owner."

Wright continues, "In addition, Film Allman's employees received notice from CSX prior to entry that such entry was forbidden. Film Allman's film crew knew that CSX owned the tracks. And, Film Allman's employees received denials every time they solicited permission from CSX to use the tracks, including on the morning of the accident. Film Allman's arguments that it was not denied permission to film on the tracks prior to the accident are conclusory and unsupported. The evidence shows that Film Allman employees knew that they had been denied permission to film on the tracks prior to the accident on February 20, 2014."

The judge then rejects a "semantics arguments" that the presence of the train was the intervening cause of the accident, writing, "Without the crew's unauthorized presence on the tracks, the accident would not have occurred. Any argument to the contrary regarding causation is illogical. In conclusion, the Court determines that there is a valid exclusion in the insurance policy for criminal acts, and that exclusion was triggered here."

According to an amended complaint, after production of Midnight Rider derailed, producers revised the script to focus on the 1970s rock 'n' roll world in general instead of Allman and looked to Utah as an alternative shooting location. They hoped that the insurance money would aid them. But the prospects of collecting on the insurance policy appears dim after they are now denied summary judgment on breach of contract and other claims. The judge also has granted the insurer's own summary judgment for declaratory relief.

Miller and producer Jody Savin experienced another setback on Thursday.

With the new evidence, which included an agreement between CSX and Rayonier, they wished to be added as plaintiffs to an amended lawsuit alleging the insurer may have withheld evidence and acted in bad faith. They claimed that that the insurer had represented CSX in prior matters without their knowledge and that one of the insurer's employees had forged a plot during the criminal proceeds to force them into bankruptcy.

Judge Wright won't allow an amendment to the lawsuit. He cites procedural infirmities and doesn't believe the producers carried their burden in showing diligence in asserting claims. However, he does point out that Miller and Savin can attempt to bring their action against New York Marine separately.

Here's the full summary judgment order.
dorsey montgomery walter scott michael slager juror

A juror in the murder trial of Michael Slager, the former South Carolina police officer who fatally shot unarmed black motorist Walter Scott, said on Thursday that Slager had done nothing "malicious" in the killing.

The trial controversially ended in a mistrial on Monday after jurors were unable to agree on a verdict.

Dorsey Montgomery, the jury's foreman, said the jury was focusing on a lesser manslaughter conviction for Slager rather than murder, which under South Carolina law requires "malice aforethought."

"We had to come to find out that he didn't do anything malicious," Montgomery said on NBC's "Today" show. "He had a brief disturbance in reason at that moment."

Over the course of the monthlong trial, prosecutors repeatedly played a video, filmed by a bystander, of Slager shooting at Scott eight times as Scott ran away from the North Charleston patrolman. Slager, who is white, testified that before the bystander began filming, Scott had wrested away his Taser and lunged at Slager, putting the officer in "total fear" for his life.

Montgomery also dispelled speculation that the jury was locked in an 11-1 split, with one holdout refusing to convict Slager. Five of the jurors remained undecided by the time the mistrial was declared, Montgomery said.

Talk of an 11-1 split started on the third day of jury deliberation last week, when one juror wrote a note to Judge Clifton Newman saying he was unwilling to convict Slager. In a follow-up note, Montgomery wrote that "it's just one juror that's having the issues."

Deliberation among the 12 jurors stretched over four days, but seemed destined to result in a mistrial on Friday after Montgomery reported the jury was "hopelessly deadlocked."

Montgomery said he didn't think race played a role in the stalemate that led to the mistrial declaration.

"I do believe some jurors may have had that in their mind, but the majority of them didnt have anything in reference to race that may have played a factor in the decision," he said.

Story continues

walter scott

The shooting raised questions nationwide about police violence against minorities. Slager's attorney, Andy Savage, argued the media were trying to make Slager a scapegoat for other racially charged police killings across the country.

Montgomery was the only black member of the jury, and the only juror who said in the selection process that he had not heard of the case or seen the video of the shooting.

Slager is facing a maximum of life in prison if convicted of murder. State solicitors have vowed to retry him, although no date has been set for a future trial. Slager will also be tried in federal court.





More From Business Insider


Weve heard reports about Kanye West working on new music but now, a report is claiming the Life of Pablo rapper may be working on an album.

According to TMZ, since his return home from the hospital, the Famous rapper has built a temporary studio in his Bel-Air, California, home. Sources say Kanye is comparing his eight-day hospital stay to his 2002 near-death car crash and his mothers 2007 death. It was those major life events that led Kanye to create The College Dropout and 808s & Heartbreak, respectively.

It was previously reported the rapper wanted to record while in the hospital and TMZ claims Kanye now has enough material recorded for a new album. If the rapper does release a project in 2017, it would be reminiscent of his earlier album release schedule when he would put out an album every year or two.

Kanye West

Photo: Getty Images/Dimitrios Kambouris

If Kanye is working on a new album, it shouldnt be too surprising. While recording The College Dropout, his debut project, the rapper said the album was his medicine. It would take my mind away from the pain  away from the dental appointments, from my teeth killing, from my mouth being wired shut, from the fact that I looked like I just fought Mike Tyson, he told Ebony in 2005.

Like The College Dropout after his car crash, Kanye said the recording of 808s & Heartbreak after his mothers death was therapeutic. The album saw a change in Kanye style of music, moving from hip-hop to pop and utilizing the auto-tune effect made famous by T-Pain.

While Kanye hasnt been seen in public since his hospitalization, we may get to see the rapper in February at the 2017 Grammys. Kanye is nominated for six awards including best rap album and best rap song.

Related Articles
Whats in a name? If youre Blac Chyna, a whole lot of drama, mixed with shock.

Chyna, whos engaged to Rob Kardashian, got a surprise from her future sisters-in-law earlier this month, when companies owned by Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian filed an opposition to Chynas application to trademark her married name-to-be, Angela Renee Kardashian. (The model/entrepreneurs birth name is Angela Renee White.)

On Thursday, Chynas attorney, Walter Mosley, told People that the opposition came out of left field.

Also Read: Kardashian Sisters Try to Block Blac Chyna From Trademarking Their Name

Everything has been fantastic between her and the family to the best of my knowledge, so this is a shock, Mosley said. Thus, Im under the belief that its a misunderstanding. I dont know how this plays out any other way.

Mosley, who said that hes filed many trademarks for Blac Chyna and that this is the first one to be opposed, added that he was confident the issue would be resolved in his clients favor.

I think for us this is going to be a clear case win, because its actually her name, its not a poaching. I would hope that this is just a junior lawyers error, whos just responding to everything and not really looking at who its from or why it was filed, the attorney said.

Also Read: E! Denies 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians' Production Halted (Updated)

Chyna applied for the trademark Angela Renee Kardashian back in May. On Dec. 1, the companies Khlomoney Inc., 2Die4Kourt, and Kimsaprincess Inc. filed an opposition to the potential trademark, claiming that Chynas trademark would likely confuse consumers.

Upon information and belief, the Applicant intends to use the Opposed Mark in connection with services that are marketed and sold in the same or similar channels of trade, and to be purchased by the same or substantially similar classes of consumers as the services offered by Opposers, and each of them, under the Kardashian Marks, the opposition reads.

Story continues

The opposition goes on to accuse Blac Chyna of deliberately seeking to profit from the goodwill and popularity of Opposers Kardashian Marks.

Related stories from TheWrap:

Kardashian Sisters Try to Block Blac Chyna From Trademarking Their Name

E! Denies 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians' Production Halted (Updated)

Ray J Releases Kim Kardashian Diss Track in Response to Kanye West's 'Famous' (Audio)
Business community in Bhairahawa condemns murder bid on Neupane

The business community of Bhairahawa, Rupandehi, took out a rally on Wednesday, protesting the Tuesdays murder attempt on Kul Prasad Neupane, vice-chairman of Siddhartha Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Kate McKinnon is set to star in Amblins The Lunch Witch, sources confirmed to Variety.

Clay Kaytis is on board to direct.

Based on the book by Deb Lucke, the story follows Grunhilda, who has inherited generations worth of magical recipes. But when no one believes in magic anymore, she is forced to apply to be a school lunch lady, thanks to her knack for cooking up foul dishes.

While she spends most of her time scaring the children at the school while serving them lunch, Grunhilda accidentally befriends a shy girl who needs help both at school and at home, given her timidness, something a witch like Grunhilda has a tough time following through on.

Michael De Luca will produce via Michael De Luca Productions. Universal will distribute through their deal with Amblin.

McKinnon is coming off a busy year, helping reboot Ghostbusters at Sony as a new member of the team, winning an Emmy for her work on Saturday Night Live, and opening the new Amblin comedy Office Christmas Party. Her imitation of Hillary Clinton on SNL also garnered much attention during the election cycle.

She is repped by UTA and Principato-Young. The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.

Related stories

Film Review: 'Office Christmas Party'

North Carolina's WRAL Censors Parts of Post-Election 'Saturday Night Live'

'Saturday Night Live' Opens With Tribute to Leonard Cohen and a Political Statement (Watch)
Scream Queens star Keke Palmer cannot help but shake her head because of societys obsession with beauty, and she said that one of its victims is Keeping Up With the Kardashians star Kylie Jenner. She blamed reality TV for making false things appear real on her Instagram page and said that social media is no different.

In her latest post, Palmer shared a before and after photo of the youngest of the Kardashian-Jenner clan to explain how society is never satisfied when it comes to looks. The left photo shows Jenner with bigger cheeks in 2012, along with the words: Kylie is so ugly! Why cant she just grow up? The right photo, on the other hand, shows a polished, visibly made-up Jenner in 2016. Still, the comments were not nice, saying, Ew! Kylie is so fake! What happened to her?

Jenner has already admitted that she got lip injections because she used to be very insecure about her thin lips. Jenner told Complex magazine that she wasnt really ashamed of the fact that she got lip injections, but she was concerned what message she would be sending her young fans about their self-esteem.

I wasnt even 17 yet, she said. What if I came out and said, Oh, yeah, I got my lips done? What are all those moms going to think about me? These kids, my fans, theyre going to think Im crazy. I didnt want to be a bad influence.

The lip kit mogul added that it was an embarrassing encounter with an ex-boyfriend concerning her lips that really pushed her to get lip injections.

This guy I kissed was like, Your lips are really small but youre a really good kisser. I didnt think you were gonna be good at kissing, she said. It was so rude. From then on, I just felt like I saw guys staring at my lips. I felt like no one wanted to kiss me.

Due to her physical transformation, Jenner has often been accused of imitating her elder sister Kim Kardashian. But Jenner wrote on her website that it is not the case.

I don't try to compete with Kim to be the hottest sister, she stressed. I mean I think all my sisters are hot, but Kim's got the crown, Kim's so cute and sexy. I never compete with my sisters.

Story continues

Kylie Jenner

Photo: Getty Images/Robert Kamau

Related Articles
By George Obulutsa NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya Power aims to speed up the number of customers it adds to the grid in the year to June, as part of its plans to improve access across the nation where only two-thirds of the population are connected. In the year to June 2016, Kenya Power Company, also known as KPLC, added 1.2 million new customers to reach a total of 4.89 million. It aims to add 1.5 million new clients, including households and businesses, by the end of June 2017. Kenya Power Chief Executive Ben Chumo outlined the plans in an interview with Reuters on Thursday. Businesses and economists say limited distribution of power across the East African nation and supplies that are often disrupted are a major obstacle to investment and prevent the economy growing faster. Kenya Power, 50.1 percent state-owned, receives most of its funds in concessional or soft loans from institutions such as the World Bank, African Development Bank, European Investment Bank and the government. Most other funds come from its own income. The last time it sought funds in the commercial market was 2010, when it raised 9.8 billion Kenyan shillings ($96 million), via a rights issue. "We have no immediate intention for going to the market," Chumo said when asked about future finance raising plans. "We are adequately supported by the donor community." Kenya Power aims to secure additional revenue by leasing extra capacity on its fibre optic network, via its subsidiary Kenya Power International, the chief executive said. "Fibre optic business at KPLC is a sleeping giant we intend to awake," he said. Fibre optic leasing earned Kenya Power revenue of 259 million shillings in 2014/15, 271 million shillings in 2015/16 and this was expected to rise to 400 million in 2016/17. It already counts telecoms companies such as Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom Orange as its clients. To assist industry, the company was working to ensure more stable supplies to Nairobi's industrial area and nearby Thika town, which together serve about 6,000 industrial customers and account for 60 percent of Kenya Power's revenue, Chumo said. Many firms run stand-by generators because of unreliable supplies, adding to their costs. Kenya Power posted a pretax profit for the year to the end of June 2016 of 12.1 billion shillings, a fall of 1.4 percent. ($1 = 101.8500 Kenyan shillings) (Editing by Edmund Blair and David Evans)
Hamburg (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Thursday of "the danger of authoritarian populism" sweeping many Western democracies and cautioned against backsliding on basic freedoms.

"Every chip away at the fundamentals of freedom is actually an ugly building block in the road to tyranny," he told a meeting in Germany of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

"And the fact is that we all need to beware of the danger of authoritarian populism," he told the 57-member forum.

Kerry was speaking at an OSCE meeting focused on rising east-west tensions since Russia's intervention in Ukraine, but also on a rise in populist and far-right movements across Europe, a spike in refugee flows from the Arab world, and Western concern about growing authoritarianism in Turkey.

"In too many places ... in the OSCE region, we have seen in recent days a rise of authoritarian thinking, accompanied by backsliding on human rights, on restrictions on independent media, a spike in acts of intolerance and hate crimes," Kerry said.

Addressing the meeting of foreign ministers in the northern port city of Hamburg, he bemoaned a "troubling shift away from democratic principles, away from openness, away from freedom".

Listing other ills, he spoke of "growing corruption... increasing authoritarianism, moves by certain leaders to change constitutions in an effort to consolidate power, false news being spread through new platforms of the media, torture being actually advocated in certain quarters".

"These developments are, simply put, a direct assault on the founding principles of the OSCE," he said. "Bigotry, repression and the silencing of dissent cannot become the new normal for any of us."

Kerry had earlier met civil society activists from Azerbaijan, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Ukraine.

According to the State Department, Kerry insisted that Washington would keep speaking out about "the shrinking space" for civil society activism caused by restrictive laws such as labelling groups "foreign agents" and through the misuse of broad anti-extremism laws.

Story continues

Kerry is on his European farewell tour, six weeks before Barack Obama's administration hands over to Donald Trump on January 20.

Speaking on Monday in Berlin, Kerry had warned that "anxieties" were sweeping Western democracies, alluding to the US election, Brexit, Sunday's Italian referendum that cost Prime Minister Matteo Renzi his job, and the Austrian presidential vote where a far-right candidate came a strong second.

In his Hamburg address, Kerry said that "a free press, religious liberty, political openness, transparency in governance, a flourishing civil society -- these are the signs of a confident and thriving nation."
The Hague (AFP) - Famous children's characters such as Dora the Explorer may soon disappear from some commercial food packaging in The Netherlands to discourage unhealthy eating habits, food industry representatives said Thursday.

The decision was made after "public debates on the impact of advertising targeting children" as "obesity is a problem over which the food industry is greatly concerned," the umbrella Dutch Food Industry Federation (FNLI) said.

The move, which will be a first in Europe, will see popular cartoon characters also including Miffy the bunny disappear from generic products perceived as unhealthy but which target young children with packaging.

The new measure aims to curb packaging with "licensed media characters" aimed at children up to 13 years, the FNLI -- which represents 450 food industry businesses and 19 organisations, said in a statement.

"These products are placed on shelves at childrens' eye level and are often unhealthy, containing too much salt, sugar or fats," popular daily tabloid De Telegraaf added.

Dutch Health Ministry spokeswoman Leonne Gartz told AFP this will include seeing characters like Miffy and Dora the Explorer disappear from packaging.

"It does not affect characters specific to products," for instance such as the tiger on a famous brand of cereals, she added.

The FNLI hoped that the phasing-out would be implemented during the course of 2017 following a number of tests to ensure that the plan doesn't lead to unfair competition in the market.

Dutch Deputy Health Minister Martin van Rijn praised the food industry's initiative.

"It's important to me that children and their parents are spared from the constant bombardment of seductive advertising on unhealthy foods," Van Rijn told De Telegraaf.
trump carrier

Welcome to Finance Insider, Business Insider's summary of the top stories of the past 24 hours.

President-elect Donald Trump has gotten into a war of words with a union president.

United Steelworkers Local 1999 President Chuck Jones said that Trump had "lied his a-- off" over how many jobs were saved at a Carrier plant in Indiana. Trump then fired back, saying Jones had "done a terrible job representing workers." Jones responded, criticizing Trump for not knowing how many "damn jobs" were being saved in a heavily promoted deal.

"A lot of people just think it's crazy we have the president going on Twitter, going after private citizens," T.J. Bray, a Carrier worker who serves as a media representative for USW Local 1999, told Business Insider. "I really don't have any word for it. Hopefully he can be more presidential."

In other news, bond markets all over the world are getting demolished after the European Central Bank announced it would extend its quantitative-easing program until at least December 2017 but would scale down its asset purchases to 60 billion a month from 80 billion.

Elsewhere in markets news, Italy's "No" vote is the death knell for structural reforms, according to Alliance Bernstein. And one thing will define the winners and losers in markets next year, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

In Wall Street news, Credit Suisse just hired analyst Bob Peck to head its internet banking team. The Securities and Exchange Commission may be about to shine a spotlight on one of the hot topics in Wall Street trading. Theres a "prototypical" hedge fund manager, and if youre not it, youre screwed.

And a new HBO documentary is going behind-the-scenes into Warren Buffett's life.

Barclays, HSBC, and UBS were allegedly involved in rigging the silver market. And Prince Harry tried out being a trader for a day to raise money for charity.

A fast-food CEO who says machines are the answer to rising wages is expected to be named Trump's next labor secretary. Chipotle's CEO made a stunning admission about a grave problem plaguing the brand. And Sears is "set to sink" as stores close, executives flee, and the CFO admits the brand is falling short.

Story continues

In tech news, one of Amazon's most "underappreciated" businesses are already way ahead of Apple and Google

Take this quiz to see how you'd do on the exam used to rank 15-year-olds worldwide.

Lastly, there's now a $75 million private jet for your inner Texas oil tycoon.

Here are the top Wall Street headlines at midday

ALBERT EDWARDS: Here's "one of the scariest charts I have seen for a very long time" - Albert Edwards is worried, very worried.

BlackRock to move to New York's trendy Hudson Yards district - BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, plans to move its headquarters in 2022 from midtown Manhattan to a massive new office tower in the fast-growing Hudson Yards district on the city's far West Side, the developers said on Thursday.

Barclays bets on investment banking in Brexit UK - Barclays is taking a contrarian bet that Britain's vote to leave the European Union will help it win more investment banking business in its home market, despite the sharp slowdown in deal activity since the referendum.

South Africa is "headed for a brutal end to the year" - South Africa just saw a slew of ugly economic data.

If this keeps up, Trump won't have to do anything to punish China's economy - China's foreign exchange reserves fell yet again in November, thanks to the unrelenting upward march of the US dollar and the yuan's continued slide down.

Costco claims it's had a version of Amazons futuristic grocery store for 20 years - Amazon announced its next big push into brick-and-mortar retail on Monday.

Bain & Company was just named the best workplace of 2017  step inside its New York office - The stunning views of downtown Manhattan aren't what make Bain & Company the best place to work in the US, but they certainly don't hurt.





More From Business Insider


LONDON/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo is expected to provide a large chunk of funds to a consortium of Qatar and commodities trader Glencore to finance their purchase of a stake in the Kremlin oil major Rosneft, two sources familiar with the transaction said.

Russia said on Wednesday it had sold a 19.5 percent government stake in Rosneft for 10.5 billion euros ($11.3 billion) to Qatar's sovereign wealth fund and Glencore.

Glencore said it would finance part of the deal by putting up 300 million euros of its own equity, with the rest being financed by the Qatar Investment Authority and by non-recourse bank financing.

QIA and Intesa declined to comment. Intesa was one of the advisors to Rosneft on the privatisation.

The sale of Rosneft's stake, announced on Wednesday by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Rosneft's chief Igor Sechin, confounded expectations that the Kremlin's standoff with the West would scare off major investors.

The deal suggests the lure of taking a share in one of the world's biggest oil companies outweighs the risks that come with Western sanctions imposed on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.

"We have once again seen that Russian assets, especially leading assets, are of great interest for investors inside and outside Russia," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

The transaction pointed to a possible reassessment by foreign investors of the risks of dealing with Russia, at a time when the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president has heightened expectations of a thaw between Moscow and Washington.

The deal was announced days after Russia and OPEC - dominated by Saudi Arabia and its allies Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait - agreed to coordinated output cuts to support oil prices, the first time they have cut in tandem in 15 years.

State-owned Rosneft had kept the deal, which is meant to help Russia boost its budget revenues, a tightly-guarded secret.

The Italian government, banks and firms have long standing relationships with Russia, although ties have cooled somewhat since the times of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who called Putin a friend.

Story continues

The involvement of Qatar in a Russian privatisation deal comes as a surprise, especially given years of tensions over Syria, where Russia is effectively fighting a proxy war with Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The Kremlin said on Thursday the Rosneft deal was purely commercial and not political.

"There were not and there aren't any political aspects here," Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told reporters on a conference call when asked if any agreements on Syria were part of the talks.

The Kremlin was not involved in preparatory work on the deal, which was handled personally by Rosneft chief Igor Sechin and his team, Peskov said.

(Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov, Karin Strohecker, Andrea Mandala and Maria Tsvetkova; Editing by Christian Lowe)
Four big retailers may be sued by the Los Angeles city attorney for false advertising that allegedly caused shoppers to believe that they were buying thousands of products on a big discount, a report by Los Angeles Times showed.

JC Penney, Sears, Kohls and Macys are being accused of using a deceptive scale of list or regular prices, which was never used in reality, leading customers to believe that they were getting a better deal with the products on sale, the lawsuits to be filed Thursday reportedly said.

Customers have the right to be told the truth about the prices theyre paying  and to know if a bargain is really a bargain, City Attorney Mike Feuer said in a statement. This false reference pricing played a major role in the companies overall marketing and business strategies.

According to California law, companies are not allowed to state a higher original price unless it has been on sale for that price within three months of the offer being pushed out. The other case in which the higher price is allowed to be advertised is when the dates when that price was in effect are clearly mentioned.

The lawsuits cite examples from all four retailers. JC Penney reportedly began selling a maternity bathing suit top online for a sale price of $31.99 (down from an original price of $46) only to later pull down the price to $21.99 and then $14.99. In each case, however, the prices were compared to $46, when the product was never really for sale at that amount, the suit says.

A similar example is cited for Sears, which allegedly began selling a Kenmore washer for $999.99, down from $1,179.99 on the first day it appeared online in April, despite it never having been sold for over $999.99. The suit says Sears eventually discounted the item down to $649.99 while falsely advertising a discount from the $1,179.99 false reference price.

While JC Penney told LA Times that it doesnt comment on pending litigation, Sears declined to comment, and Macys and Kohls did not respond to requests for comment on the suits that will seek civil penalties in addition to injunctions for the prohibition of such practices.

Story continues

JC Penney

Photo: REUTERS/Rick Wilking

Related Articles
Chand Maoist men held with huge cache of ammunition

Police on Tuesday arrested four activists of the Netra Bikram Chand-led CPN Maoist in possession of a huge cache of ammunition in Jajarkot.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actors Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling left their literal mark in Hollywood on Wednesday as their hands and feet were imprinted in cement, in support of their most recent role playing lovers aspiring for success in the modern-day musical "La La Land." The two actors pressed their hands and feet into cement at the famed TCL Chinese Theater, where the ground is embedded with slabs of concrete bearing prints of hands and feet belonging to many of Hollywood's biggest names, such as Marilyn Monroe, Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep. Stone, 28, said she had visited the Chinese Theater when she moved to Hollywood at age 15, and found that her hands were "an exact match" for "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" actress Jane Russell. "If you're looking for a Jane Russell hand-double, I'm your girl," she quipped. "This is just an incredible experience and making this movie was an incredible experience, so what a place to get to commemorate that," she added. Gosling, 36, joked, "I'm still, I guess, not completely convinced that we're not going to be arrested for vandalism, but I'm going to take your word for it that we're allowed to do this." "La La Land," about an aspiring actress and jazz musician falling in love while trying to succeed in Los Angeles, is considered an Oscar front-runner, with critics praising Stone and Gosling's performances. The hand and feet ceremony came after the film's Los Angeles premiere on Tuesday, where writer-director Damien Chazelle praised the two stars. "I think they combine sort of old Hollywood glamour with a modern sensibility and they just speak the same language as actors so I was so gifted to work with them individually and as a pair," Chazelle said. "La La Land" opens in U.S. theaters in limited release on Friday before opening wide on Dec. 16. (Reporting by Reuters TV; Writing by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Leslie Adler)
- By Timothy J. McIntosh





Lam Research's (LRCX) dividend was increased by a solid 50% last week. Its overall yield is 1.76%. The company started paying a dividend in 2014.

Lam is primarily focused on the etch semiconductor market, which is a key element in fabricating semiconductors. It designs and manufactures utilized production of semiconductors. Its major products include Vector and Kiyo. The company is global in nature and sells it products to major technology companies like Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) and Samsung (SSNLF). Lam Research was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Fremont, California.
London (AFP) - Britain's Supreme Court will reveal early next year the result of the government's appeal against a ruling that it cannot unilaterally trigger Brexit, the court said Thursday.

The 11 Supreme Court judges wrapped up four days of hearings with court president David Neuberger resolving to reach a prompt decision.

"We appreciate that this case should be resolved as quickly as possible, and we will do our best to achieve that," he said.

It is the first time all 11 Supreme Court judges have convened to hear an appeal.

The High Court ruled last month that the government did not have the executive power alone to invoke Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty, formally starting exit talks which could take two years.

The decision enraged Brexit supporters and some newspapers who accused judges of thwarting the will of the 52 percent who voted "Leave" in the June 23 referendum.

The vote for Britain to become the first country to leave the 28-nation bloc sent shockwaves across the world and emboldened populists in Europe and the United States.

"The ultimate question in this case concerns the process by which that result can lawfully be brought into effect," said Neuberger.

"As we have heard, that question raises important constitutional issues and we will now take time to ensure the many arguments presented to us orally and in writing are given full and proper consideration."

Attorney General Jeremy Wright, the government's chief legal advisor, argued that the government had authority over foreign affairs, including the right to withdraw from treaties, under so-called "royal prerogative powers".

But the claimants, led by investment fund manager Gina Miller, argue that parliament must be consulted before approving any changes to domestic laws and rights.

As the hearings were being held, British Prime Minister Theresa May secured a symbolic Brexit victory when MPs Wednesday agreed not to delay her plans to begin the EU exit talks by the end of March -- although she had to promise to give them more details of her negotiating strategy.

The opposition Labour party's original motion -- supported by some from May's Conservative Party -- demanded the government publish its "plan" before triggering Article 50.

May fended off a rebellion with a last-minute amendment, accepting the Labour motion on condition that MPs support her timetable for triggering the Brexit talks.
Washington (AFP) - At least 50,000 Islamic State jihadists have been killed by the US-led coalition since it began operations in Iraq and Syria in late 2014, a senior US military official said Thursday.

A relentless operation using planes and drones from a dozen or so members of the anti-IS coalition since August 2014 has conducted some 16,000 air strikes against the jihadists in Iraq and Syria -- two-thirds of them in Iraq.

In addition, the coalition has provided training and weapons to local forces fighting IS.

"I am not into morbid counts but that kind of volume matters, that kind of impact on the enemy," the official said, calling the 50,000 number a conservative estimate.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the air campaign had been the "most pristine" ever in terms of avoiding civilian casualties, with almost all the bombs dropped so far being smart weapons that can be steered to a precise target.

The coalition tally of civilians killed in the operations is 173 -- though critics say the real figure is far higher.

The official said the coalition had diminished IS's ranks to such a level that the simultaneous attacks being waged on Mosul in Iraq and Raqa in Syria -- the jihadists last remaining major power centers -- have been possible.

Coalition spokesman Colonel John Dorrian said earlier that in Mosul, IS was turning to adolescent fighters as its hardcore warriors got wiped out.

"As this effort goes on with each passing day, Daesh has fewer fighters and fewer resources at their disposal," Dorrian said in a videocall, using an Arabic IS acronym.

He added the jihadists appeared to have run out of armored suicide car bombs, and estimated "many hundreds" of fighters had been killed in Mosul.

"It doesn't mean that it's not still an extraordinarily dangerous situation. They are not going to go quietly, but they are going to go."

The coalition has previously said it "does not use a casualty count as a measure of effectiveness in the campaign to ultimately defeat (IS) in Iraq and Syria".

Story continues

Despite this assertion, such figures are periodically announced.

Airwars, a London-based collective of journalists and researchers, uses local sources, photographs and media accounts to keep a detailed list of every known coalition air strike.

They have praised Pentagon efforts at accountability compared with other actors in Syria such as Russia and the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. But the group says the number of likely civilian deaths from coalition strikes is 1,957 at a bare minimum.
Ex-Home Minister Ghimires jeep plunged while trying to overtake truck: Probe report

The ill-fated jeep carrying former Home Minister Madhav Ghimire lost control while trying to overtake a truck before meeting with the accident at Muglin-Kurintar road stretch in Chitwan district, the probe report has concluded.
This is an excerpt from John Blanks latest Market Strategy report. To access the entire PDF, click here.

This 2200 S&P 500 Value Looks OK Only on an Optimistic Forward Look

Bottoms-up strategists have valued S&P 500 earnings at $118 in 2016. Tie on a 16 forward P/E to do that fair value math. Hence, 1904 on the S&P 500 looked to be a decent fair value lower bound.

Above 2,200 on the S&P 500, early DEC shows us the latest EPS fair value calculation has support solely on a forward look.

Consult earnings yield fair value math too. The risk-free 10-year U.S. Treasuries offered a 1.80% rate on Nov. 1st. This rose to 2.4% in early DEC. Historically, a stock earnings yield is +3% higher than this 10-year U.S. Treasury rate. Meaning U.S. stocks should offer a 5.4% return.

So, turn the S&P 500 P/E ratio on its head to attain a stock indexs earnings yield. Divide $118 in projected earnings for 2016 by an S&P 500 trading at 2200. That begets a 5.36% earnings yield. After a +32% rally in 2013, and +12% returns in 2014, evidence is getting sketchy on ongoing S&P 500 index undervaluation, unless you look ahead very bullishly.

The latest 12-month EPS Look Ahead on the S&P 500 has $131.59. Multiply by 16. You get an S&P 500 fair value calculation at 2105.

The Russell 2000 May Correct

The risk on rally took the Russell 2000 (RUT) from 1000 in Feb to near 1350 in late NOV. The RUT trades at 1352 as I write on Dec. 7th. Risk-on rallies usually show small cap and international stock indexes move together.

My DEC call: Hold off a bit buying the RUT, but not international on excess optimism. A big RUT run has taken place. The way forward is not as attractive for a few weeks/months on the RUT. A RUT pullback should happen.

Rates and Currencies Tell Independent Story on Their Own

Outside the U.S., the euro is 1.08 again. A 1.08 euro/USD rate came into play late last year. The rate was 1.13 last fall. Euro parity may now happen, as earlier consensus projected. European share indexes have recovered weakly after Brexit.

Story continues

Does a Fed Taper tantrum aka 2013 hit in 2017? Thats unlikely. We are clearly climbing the wall of worry outside the U.S. The U.S. is solidly at full employment.

Risks -- on China -- have changed complexion. NOTE: The renminbi keeps getting cheaper on its own! The stealth govt renminbi -2% depreciation happened during Brexit. Now, the govt in China is worried about unchecked capital flight from China.

Another KEY: Enhanced Europe QE. Negative rates and fiscal stimulus are on in Japan. These two big macro players hold global rates down and keep stocks aloft.

Zacks Sector/Industry/Company Telescope: OPEC Demonstrates Power

The latest Zacks Industry Ranks show slim pickings  Energy is Very Attractive. Info Tech is Attractive. Semiconductors remain red hot. Materials and Financial sectors went to Market Weight. Look into Steel and Metals Non-Ferrous. Health Care went to Market, too. Consumer Staples and Discretionary are at the back of the line at the moment.

(1) Energy stays Very Attractive. Tops are Coal (benefits from Trump), Drillers and the E&P guys. Oil industries will get more lift from the OPEC deal. That will give EPS lift next month.

Top Zacks #2 Rank (BUY) Stock: Williams Partners LP (WPZ)

This $20 billion market cap stock currently offers a 9.7% annual dividend and carries a Zacks VGM score of A.

Williams Partners L.P. is a master limited partnership. The company is engaged in gathering, processing, transportation and storage of natural gas and natural gas liquids. It operates primarily in U.S. and Canada. Williams Partners L.P., formerly known as Access Midstream Partners, L.P., is headquartered in Oklahoma City.

(2) Info Tech stays Attractive. Again: Semiconductors are hot.

Top Zacks #1 Rank (STRONG BUY) Stock: Advanced Materials (AMAT)

This $34 billion market cap stock also offers a Zacks VGM score of A.

Applied Materials develops, manufactures, markets and services semiconductor wafer fabrication equipment and related spare parts for the worldwide semiconductor industry.

Customers for these products include semiconductor wafer manufacturers and semiconductor integrated circuit manufacturers, who either use the ICs they manufacture in their own products or sell them to other companies.

(3) Materials fall from Very Attractive to Market Weight. The boost to China manufacturing PMIs is restricted to Steel and Metals-Non Ferrous. All other industries fell into a muddle-through status.

Top Zacks #1 Rank (STRONG BUY) Stock: Vale SA (VALE)

This $45 billion market cap stock also offers a Zacks VGM score of A.

Vale SA is a mining company engaged in the mining of iron ore and pellets, nickel, manganese and ferro-alloys, gold, nickel, copper, kaolin, bauxite, alumina, aluminum, and potash. It operates logistics systems in Brazil, including railroads, maritime terminals and a port.

Vale SA is based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

(4) Financials fall from Very Attractive to Market Weight. The leader is stock market led Investment Banking & Brokering and the smaller Banks & Thrifts. Real Estate, Major Banks and Insurance Cos. lagged at the back.

(5) Health Care stays at Market Weight. Medical Care looks attractive, while Medical Products and Drugs are muddle-through industries.

(6) Industrials stay at Market Weight. The leader is Business Products, Business Services, Aerospace & Defense (benefits from Republican control) and Conglomerate. Losers: Pollution Control & Industrial Products-Services.

(7) Utilities stay at Market Weight. The best niche is Utility-Gas Distribution now that winter is here. Rising Trump long-term rates hurt dividend-paying stocks.

(8) Consumer Discretionary falls from Market Weight to Unattractive. Leaders remain Consumer Electronics and Publishing and Other Cons. Discretionary. Losers are Autos/Tires/Trucks, Apparel & Home Furnishings-Appliances.

(9) Consumer Staples falls from Unattractive to Very Unattractive this month. Losers are Beverages, Soaps & Cosmetics, Food/Drug Retail, and Misc. Staples

(10) Telcos falls to Very Unattractive. The Utility-Telephone industry rests at the bottom. Rising Trump long-term rates hurt dividend-paying stocks.

This is an excerpt from John Blanks latest Market Strategy report. To access the entire PDF, click here.



Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report



WILLIAMS PTR LP (WPZ): Free Stock Analysis Report



VALE SA (VALE): Free Stock Analysis Report



APPLD MATLS INC (AMAT): Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
Tika R Pradhan is a senior political correspondent for the Post, covering politics, parliament, judiciary and social affairs. Pradhan joined the Post in 2016 after working at The Himalayan Times for more than a decade.
Moody's Investors Service, the rating arm of Moody's Corporation MCO affirmed Mack-Cali Realty Corporations CLI Baa3 senior unsecured debt rating. Also, the real estate investment trusts (REIT) rating outlook has been lowered to negative from stable.



The Baa3 rating affirmation is indicative of the companys good quality portfolio, operating performance and good health of the office REITs. On the other hand, it also reflects modest effective leverage and concentrated portfolio.



The negative outlook highlights the moderate liquidity position of Mack-Cali in comparison to its large development spend and meaningful debt maturities. Further, the high net debt to EBITDA and an expected increase in secured debt level triggered the downward revision.



Mack-Cali is engaged in providing management, leasing, development and other tenant-related services for office and multi-family real estate assets. Currently Mack-Cali carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Moody's has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).



For the current year, Mack-Calis estimates moved up 1.4% to $2.19 per share over the past 30 days. However, for 2017, the companys estimates moved down 0.4% to $2.31 per share over the past 30 days.



Year to date, the companys share price moved up 22.2%, whereas this rise for the Zacks categorized REIT and Equity Trust Other industry was 1.6%.



A couple of other favorably ranked stocks in the same space include Seritage Growth Properties SRG and DCT Industrial Trust Inc. DCT. Both these stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.



Seritage Growth Properties current-year funds from operations (FFO) estimates have moved up 0.9% over the past one month to $2.34 per share.



DCT Industrial Trusts current-year FFO estimates have moved up 0.9% over the past one month to $2.24 per share.





Note: FFO, a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs, is obtained after adding depreciation and amortization and other non-cash expenses to net income. All EPS numbers presented in this write up represent FFO per share.



Zacks Best Private Investment Ideas



In addition to the recommendations that are available to the public on our website, how would you like to follow all Zacks' private buys and sells in real time?



Our experts cover all kinds of trades from value to momentum . . . from stocks under $10 to ETF and option moves . . . from stocks that corporate insiders are buying up to companies that are about to report positive earnings surprises. You can even look inside exclusive portfolios that are normally closed to new investors. Starting today, for the next month, you can have unrestricted access. Click here for Zacks' private trades >>



Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report



MOODYS CORP (MCO): Free Stock Analysis Report



MACK CALI CORP (CLI): Free Stock Analysis Report



DCT INDUSTRIAL (DCT): Free Stock Analysis Report



SERITAGE GROWTH (SRG): Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
Should children be told the truth about Santa? [Photo: Getty]

Every year, round about November, parents all across the land convince their little ones that if they behave themselves for the next couple of months, a wonderful man with big belly will squeeze down their chimney, eat the mince pie theyve left out for them, quoff the glass of sherry and leave them a whole wealth of presents on Christmas morning.

Santa Claus. Its the magical myth that is an essential part of our childhoods. But could the age-old tale of Father Christmas actually be damaging to kids? Thats the idea that was discussed in an essay recently published in the journal Lancet Psychiatry.

The paper, called A wonderful lie, suggests that the trust children have in their parents may be undermined by them spinning stories about Santa. Whats more, the reasons behind maintaining the belief could actually be morally suspect.

If they are capable of lying about something so special and magical, can they be relied upon to continue as the guardians of wisdom and truth? the researchers write.

If adults have been lying about Santa, even though it has usually been well intentioned, what else is a lie? If Santa isnt real, are fairies real? Is magic? Is God?

Psychologist Professor Christopher Boyle and social scientist Dr Kathy McKay also condemn the idea of a terrifying North Pole, which judges whether children have been naughty or nice each year.

All children will eventually find out theyve been consistently lied to for years, and this might make them wonder what other lies theyve been told, psychologist Christopher Boyle, a professor at the University of Exeter said in a statement.

Whether its right to make children believe in Father Christmas is an interesting question, and its also interesting to ask whether lying in this way will affect children in ways that have not been considered.

Could maintaining the Santa myth be damaging our children? [Photo: Getty]

But aside from wanting to prolong the magic of Christmas, some experts argue theres another, more selfish, reason parents are choosing to keep the truth about Father Christmas a secret.

Story continues

Dr Kathy McKay, from the University of New England in Australia, said there was evidence from the world of make-believe in films and TV that in prolonging the Father Christmas myth, parents were looking for a chance to relive their own childhoods.

The persistence of fandom in stories like Harry Potter, Star Wars and Doctor Who well into adulthood demonstrates this desire to briefly re-enter childhood, she said.

But not all experts are in agreement that maintaining the magical myth is detrimental to children, or indeed families as a whole.

Psychologist Emma Kenny from makeyourswitch.co.uk believes far from being damaging, keeping a belief in Santa alive can in fact open children up to the idea of possibility.

I believe that Father Christmas is an individual who brings magic into our childrens lives, she says. In a world where fear, destruction and negativity is a daily experience these kind of lies enable children an opportunity to enjoy a world of possibility.

I asked my children who are 14 and nearly 12 about their feelings towards my lies and they suggested that it had been wonderful to imagine a world of magic, imagination and possibility regarding Christmas. As opposed to feeling harmed they felt inspired and hopeful, she continues.

Why steal imagine and magic from childhood. I loved the idea of the Tooth Fairy, Santa and magic per se and the idea of it upsetting and harming childhood is the PC brigades way of interfering with an amazing time in our little ones lives!

Its an opinion shared by mum-of-three, Kate* Theres a magic about Christmas that is about keeping the illusion alive, she says. Plus faith requires believing in something intangible.

When should you fess-up about Father Christmas? [Photo: Getty]

And even if parents do decide they want to fess-up the festive truth, theres the question of when children should be told that *whisper it* Santa isnt real.

A survey last year by childrens book publisher NurseryBox revealed that a third of British children stop believing in Father Christmas by the age of six, but play along to keep their parents happy.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia on the subject, leading parenting expert, Dr Justin Coulson claimed that in his experience kids get curious between the ages of five and seven.

Its a constant topic of conversation, and like anything thats supposed to be a secret: Knowledge is power, he said.

But if your child hasnt yet found out, when is the right time to spill the beans?

The right time to tell your child is as soon as they ask. If theyre old enough and curious enough to question, then theyre old enough to know the truth, he said.

Should children be told the truth about Father Christmas? Let us know what you think @YahooStyleUK

Why are women putting pressure on themselves to put on the perfect Christmas?

Cruz Beckham has dropped his first single, but is 11 too young to be launching a pop career?
ABC TV series Designated Survivor finally gave fans something they have been clamoring for: President Tom Kirkman (Kiefer Sutherland) now knows that there is a conspiracy brewing in the White House. Yay!

Episode 9, which aired Wednesday, began with the House of Representatives in session. Traitor Peter MacLeish (Ashley Zukerman) has a hearing before he can be accepted as the Vice President of this country. While MacLeish is busy charming the shocks off everyone, Kirkman deals with an Edward Snowden-like crisis at hand. It turns out that a former NSA employee has accessed and leaked confidential information about cabinet members on Wiki Leaks.

What Does Snowden Want?

In Designated Survivor, the NSA employee leaks information about all cabinet members in the previous Presidents House of Representatives but doesnt leak anything about Kirkman. The former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development then puts all his resources to finding this man. Unfortunately, he has sought asylum in the Venezuelan embassy. So, no one can touch him.

However, the more the President learns about this NSA employee, the more he realizes that he isnt some lunatic. Hes smart and has dedicated years of service to the country. Why is he risking his life and career for this?

Elsewhere, the Presidents Chief of Staff, Aaron Shore (Adan Canto), realizes something crucial: everyone wants five minutes with the countrys leader, including this NSA employee. A quick trip to the Venezuelan embassy confirms his hunch.

Kirkman is initially skeptical to give five minutes of his time to someone who is leaking classified information. But when his Special Advisor Emily Rhodes (Italia Ricci) career is on the line because this NSA employee leaks something she wrote about a powerful Senator years ago, he realizes that he is trying to get his attention.

Its a good thing Kirkman concedes to his request because this NSA employee trusts him. He has read every email and text message Kirkman has sent over the years he served the public and has realized that he is a very ethical politician.

Story continues

The NSA employee then hands him a hard drive that contains something very important. Kirkman, with the help of a Secret Service Agent, decodes the information of this hard drive and learns something shocking: In 2013, the NSA ran a simulation of bombs exploding in the Capitol and completely destroying it. If certain bombs were put in the right places, they would obliterate the Capitol. Which means, someone handed the blueprints of this simulation of the Capitol bombing to Al-Sakar. There is a traitor in the White House.

Designated Survivor

Photo: ABC/Ian Watson

Hannah Wells Gets Hard Evidence

Meanwhile, FBI Agent Hannah Wells (Maggie Q) is busy looking into MacLeish, who will soon become Vice President if she doesnt get some actual evidence. At first, Hannah thinks the clue  11.15 p.m.  is a time. But her trusty tech sidekick, Chuck (Jake Epstein), points out that it actually might be a date  Nov. 15, 2005 Peter MacLeish (PM)  the day the Congressman became a hero.

Hannah and Chuck talk to all the army men who were with MacLeish in Afghanistan that day and everyone says the same story: That MacLeish saved them and hes a hero.

Wells isnt buying it. She heads to interview the last army man who was in his platoon. Unfortunately, that man is dead but his wife kept a box of his things. Hannah wolfs through its contents and finds out a photograph. This photo proves that the mysterious Catalan was with MacLeish in the same platoon.

Wells then contacts her CIA friend who produces a file that tells a different story of MacLeish. He and his platoon actually destroyed several villages after the Taliban attacked them. He killed many innocent people. He is a war criminal, not a war hero!

Kimble Hookstraten Wants To Take Peter Down

Hannah contacts Kimble Hookstraten (Virginia Madsen) and tells her she has information that shows Peter is dirty but she needs time. Kimble stalls the House as much as she can. When Hannah gets the evidence  a photo that shows him with Catalan in Afghanistan and a CIA file that proves Peter murdered villagers  she phones the Congresswoman and tells her she is on her way.

Unfortunately, a car accident occurs when Wells races to the House. Were guessing she isnt dead and soon she and Kirkman will be in the same room.

Designated Survivor Season 1 airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. EST on ABC.

Designated Survivor

Photo: ABC/John Medland

Related Articles
DALLAS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / December 8, 2016 / Renowned Texas developer and investor Marcus Hiles has a keen ability for predicting market trends. Hiles began his distinguished career developing affordable properties that offered upscale amenities; to date his companies manage and own over 15,000 townhomes and apartments across Texas. His vision for offering luxury homes to working class Texans revolutionized the Dallas real estate landscape. Now, Hiles is taking his property expertise and focusing on the areas poised for exponential growth - Woodlands and coastal regions of Houston.

There has been much speculation about how President-elect Donald Trump will affect real estate policies when he enters office in January. Many investors are looking forward to having a businessman in the role of President of the United States, believing this is an opportunity to lessen many of the regulations being applied to businesses. Even with his extensive background in real estate, Trump has been mostly silent about what his impact in this area will be. According to a recent Forbes article written by Lawrence Yun, the Chief Economist of National Association of REALTORS, one of Trump's biggest influences on the property industry could be changes in some form to the Dodd-Frank financial regulation. "A clear positive would be the lifting of compliance costs imposed on small-sized banks. Around 10,000 local and community banks have traditionally been the source of funding for construction and land development loans. With less regulatory burden, these small banks can make more loans and will boost home building activity  something that is needed in the current housing situation."

http://www.MarcusHiles-News.com

The growing municipality of Houston ranks as the fourth largest metro area in the United States, coming in just behind New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Nearly half of all Fortune 500 energy companies are headquartered here, giving the city unparalleled influence in the global energy industry. Much of Houston's job and population growth has been driven by the energy industry. The expansion of the Panama Canal also offers big benefits to the city, where industrial giants strive to beat West Coast competitors in attaining foreign goods. The Port of Houston is the second busiest port in the United States, quickly becoming competitive with the Port of Los Angeles for trade and jobs. And the Texas Medical Center, sitting just three miles south of downtown, has over 100,000 employees and includes facilities such as hospitals, research institutions, nursing programs, pharmacy schools, and a dental school.

Active in the real estate market for over twenty-five years, Marcus Hiles is a graduate of Pepperdine University and Rice University with a deep commitment to education. His philanthropic contributions include over $2.5 million donated to various K-12 initiatives, after school programs, and job placement programs. Coming from humble beginnings as the son of an inner city minister, Hiles funded three large Churches in Texas as well as his home state of Massachusetts. He also underwrote a $13 million environmentally impactful tree planting initiative. Marcus Hiles is driven by his unwavering commitment to create communities and improve the lives of others.

Marcus Hiles - Chairman & CEO of Western Rim Property Services: http://www.MarcusHiles-News.com

Western Rim Property Services- Marcus Hiles - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Western-Rim-Property-Services-Marcus-Hiles-1013270532051763/

Marcus Hiles (@marcus_hiles) - Twitter: https://twitter.com/marcus_hiles

Marcus Hiles - New Luxury Apartments in Frisco, TX - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmsJNbfOh-g

Contact Information:

MarcusHiles-News.com

marcus@marcushiles-news.com

SOURCE: Marcus Hiles
Is Donald Trump enlisting his Apprentice producer to help plan his inauguration ceremony?

The president-elect, in the midst of his transition to the White House and six weeks away from his big Washington celebration, has met with prolific producer Mark Burnett to plot ideas for the inauguration, according to The New York Times.

The newspaper wrote that the producer's ideas included "a parade up Fifth Avenue, a helicopter ride to Washington from New York that could hold the attention of millions of people expected to watch from around the world."

On Nov. 15, Trump unveiled his Presidential Inaugural Committee leadership appointments, which include Colony Capital CEO Thomas Barrack as chairman along with Laurie Perlmutter, wife of Marvel chairman Ike Perlmutter, and casino mogul Steve Wynn as a vice chairman.

"The inauguration is going to be huge," Omarosa Manigault, a confidant of Trump and a member of the transition team, told The Hollywood Reporter at the Women in Entertainment breakfast on Wednesday. "Of course, Mr. Trump wants it blinged out and fabulous and glamorous."

Reps for Burnett and the president-elect did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the producer's official or unofficial involvement in the ceremony.

The Emmy-winning producer, also known for TV hits like Survivor, Shark Tank and the miniseries The Bible, has offered few public remarks on Trump recently, even though he's made headlines during the campaign season.

In early October, when Trump's now-infamous crude Access Hollywood audio leaked to the Washington Post, Burnett's production company, which made NBC's The Apprentice, faced pressure from critics to release unaired footage of the mogul.

Multiple people involved with the show spoke to THR at the time - in detail - and outlined Trump's allegedly sexist and racist unaired behavior. Burnett resisted calls to release any footage, and released a statement clarifying the issue.

Story continues

"Given all of themedia reports, I feel compelled to clarify a few points," Burnett wrote in a Oct 12. statement. "I am not now and have never been a supporter of Donald Trump's candidacy. I am NOT 'Pro-Trump.' Further, my wife and I reject the hatred, division and misogyny that has been a very unfortunate part of his campaign."

Additionally, at the time, Burnett's statement included a note from MGM counsel Marvin S. Putnam that clarified: "MGM, not Mark Burnett, owns The Apprentice. MGM has agreements with artists across a wide spectrum of creative properties, including The Apprentice."

Read more: Megyn Kelly Has "High Hopes" for Trump: "Despite the Tweets, There Is Much to Admire"
Food shortage looms large over Jajarkot villages

People in remote Majkot, Kortang, Pajaru, Subanauli, Dasera and Daha VDCs of Jajarkot district could face food shortage this year because of low crop yield due to drought.
In 1978, Martin Scorsese nearly died. Years of hard living and drug abuse finally had caught up with the filmmaker, and yet he continued to push himself, until one day, he collapsed. "After finishing New York, New York, I took chances," he says. "[I was] out of time and out of place and also in turmoil in my own life and embracing the other world, so to speak, with a kind of attraction to the dangerous side of existence. Then on Labor Day weekend, I found myself in a hospital, surprised that I was near death."

At age 35, he was fighting for his life. "A number of things had happened," he continues. "Misuse of normal medications in combinations [to which] my body reacted in strange ways. I was down to about 109 pounds. It wasn't only drug-induced - asthma had a lot to do with it. I was kept in a hospital for 10 days and nights, and they took care of me, these doctors, and I became aware of not wanting to die and not wasting [my life]."

Alone in that hospital, occasionally visited by such friends as Robert De Niro, the director thought back to his roots as a Catholic growing up in New York's Little Italy, the son of two garment workers, a boy who had fallen under the influence of a charismatic priest and at one point considered becoming a seminarian, only to be thrown out of the preparatory seminary because he never could make it to Mass on time. All these years later, "I was stunned by the realization of my naivete and denial," he says. "I prayed. But if I prayed, it was just to get through those 10 days and nights. I felt [if I was saved] it was for some reason. And even if it wasn't for a reason, I had to make good use of it."

When Scorsese emerged from that dark night of the soul, like the blind man in the Bible, he felt the scales were removed from his eyes. "[In the New Testament], they were all complaining about Jesus, that he hangs out with publicans and tax men and whores," explains the director, "and the man says, 'All I know is, I was blind and now I can see.' "



Half a lifetime later, Scorsese, 74, has returned to that spiritual crisis and used it as the underpinning of another story, of men facing their own such challenge in a very different time and place, 17th century Japan.

Based on Shusaku Endo's 1966 novel and starring Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver and Liam Neeson, Silence charts the physical and emotional journeys of two Jesuit priests who travel from Portugal to Japan in an attempt to win converts - only to be persecuted for their beliefs.

Kerry Brown/Paramount Pictures

Twenty-eight years in the making, the $46.5 million film (which opens Dec. 23) has gone through multiple script drafts; has seen various stars come and go, including Daniel Day-Lewis, Benicio Del Toro and Gael Garcia Bernal; and has faced challenges that nearly killed it on several occasions, "an extraordinary Gordian knot of legal problems and issues," says Scorsese.

The resulting film will test Paramount's marketing skills as it seeks to persuade audiences to embrace a two-hour-and-40-minute tale that centers on the human capacity for suffering and redemption and asks viewers to enter not only Scorsese's imaginative realm but also his spiritual one. "I'm a believer with some doubts," he says. "But the doubts push me to find a purer sense of the other, a purer sense, if you want, of the word 'God.' "



Silence came to Scorsese in the midst of the cacophony surrounding 1988's The Last Temptation of Christ, his adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis' controversial novel, which posits that Jesus was tempted to come down from the cross and live as an ordinary man.

Whatever the director had hoped to achieve with that picture - a spiritual dialogue, perhaps - faded amid the barrage of criticism and even death threats from religious hardliners. And yet it was through this movie that he received an unexpected gift.

"We screened a rough cut of Last Temptation to the religious groups and others who were complaining about the film but hadn't seen it," he recalls. "We went to a hotel here [in New York] and had a little private dinner, and Archbishop Paul Moore Jr. of the Episcopal Church was there with his wife. And as he was leaving, he says, 'There's a book I want to send to you.' "

Kerry Brown/Paramount Pictures

The book was Endo's novel, which blended real-life figures with loosely fictionalized ones in its account of missionaries Sebastiao Rodrigues (Garfield) and Francisco Garrpe (Driver), who come to Japan in 1639, searching for their predecessor, Father Cristovao Ferreira (Neeson), who is rumored to have "apostatized."

Scorsese was too drained by Last Temptation to finish the novel then, but he returned to it in August 1989 and decided to buy the rights, even though its meaning proved elusive to him. "I was taken by the moment of apostasy," he says, "but I didn't quite understand the epilogue," when the book follows Rodrigues over many years after he has been tortured and freed. "I thought it would be interesting to write a script."

Based on his interest, an offshoot of Italy's Cecchi Gori Pictures paid $700,000 for the option and hired Scorsese, along with his longtime collaborator, Jay Cocks (Mean Streets), to develop a screenplay. Legal documents indicate they received $250,000 for their services, with an additional $150,000 due if the project moved forward. But Cocks searched in vain for the story's emotional core.

"I was flummoxed," he says. "I immediately crashed into a creative crisis. I had a real struggle finding a thematic through line, but the deal was made, and I started writing."

When he finished, he knew the screenplay wasn't quite right. "Marty didn't say his ultimate criticism, 'Well, that's a noble effort,' " notes Cocks wryly. "That's when you know you've f - ed up, and I didn't get that." Still, it was apparent the screenplay lacked a dramatic heart, and he moved on to other projects, while Scorsese turned to 1995's Casino and 1997's Kundun.

Gianni Nunnari, then the president of Cecchi Gori, brought in other writers. "There was a period of time when maybe you were trying to refresh it or find other ways," he says. "But that was much, much after Jay did his draft."

Wesley Mann

Michael Gordon (300) took a shot, and so did Nicholas Kazan (Reversal of Fortune), who agreed to work for scale on the condition that he be paid in full later. Their participation would cloud issues of chain-of-title that subsequently would dog the picture. But for now, as far as Scorsese was concerned, Silence went quiet and only briefly was revived in 2003, shortly after Gangs of New York, when he and Cocks discussed tackling it again.

"I had to re-convince Jay," he says. "The night at the Academy Awards [when Gangs was nominated for best picture], I remember us embracing, and I was relieved. [I took] a deep breath and said, 'OK. Now Silence.' And we both laughed."



Their laughter proved premature. Throughout, there had been questions surrounding who truly owned the underlying material, not least because the novel had been filmed once before, in 1971, by Japan's Masahiro Shinoda. That ownership became the subject of a venomous dispute between Nunnari and Cecchi Gori, who parted ways and then sued each other in 2008 over the spoils of their years together.

"It was about who's getting what - 'You did this, you did that,' " says Nunnari, possibly understating the bitterness of the battle and the hostility several of the players still feel toward him for the emotional and financial roller coaster it caused them.

The problems were compounded when Cecchi Gori Pictures faced financial problems, and they became even worse when one of the company's owners, Vittorio Cecchi Gori, was sentenced to prison for issues related to the company's bankruptcy. By the time the courts awarded Cecchi Gori the rights, Scorsese had committed to other ventures, and in 2012 the company sued him for "intentional and negligent misrepresentation."

According to the suit, Scorsese repeatedly asked to postpone Silence so that he could direct such films as The Departed (2006), Shutter Island (2010) and Hugo (2011), even though he faced financial penalties each time. The suit was triggered by Cecchi Gori's discovery that he was preparing yet another film, The Wolf of Wall Street. It demanded more than $1.5 million in damages.

At the time, the director's lawyers said he already had paid more than $3.5 million in penalties. Niels Juul, who then served as CEO of Cecchi Gori, notes: "It was not Cecchi Gori Pictures he gave $3.5 million to. He gave it to Nunnari."

Says Scorsese, "I don't remember [the details]. All I know is that, whenever anything happened, I'd ask my manager and my agents and my lawyers to please make sure we did not lose the project. And they would go back into this morass of complications and try to work it out."

In January 2014, he and Cecchi Gori settled out of court. The latter agreed to free up the rights to the novel; the director committed to make Silence after Wolf. His dream project finally was a go.



Or at least it would have been, if the money had been in place. Regardless of the lawsuit, no one had resolved the conundrum of financing. Initial budgets projected a cost of $100 million, an astronomical number for a period piece shot in Japan.

Scorsese and Cocks at last had written a screenplay they liked, but the money to shoot it ebbed and flowed. Even with such stars as Day-Lewis and Bernal attached, it failed to get made because either the money or the director was unavailable.

"In 2009, we came close," says Scorsese. "[The Departed producer] Graham King paid for a location scout in Japan, and we went to Nagasaki [and] met some 'hidden Christians' - there's maybe 200 or 300 left, and they practice Christianity based on what the hidden Christians from the 17th century left them, and their language is a combination of Portuguese, Japanese and Latin."

Despite this, the movie seemed doomed until September 2010, when Goodfellas producer Irwin Winkler visited Scorsese on the Hugo set and asked about Silence.

"I said, 'What did you ever do about that script you had for so many years?' " recalls Winkler. "And he said: 'I haven't been able to get it done. Why don't we do this together?' "

Wesley Mann

Winkler plunged in. "We spent three or four years looking for financing," he says. "Generally, everybody said no. I called all the studios, all the independents. We had to search high and low and couldn't find anybody to put up any money. France's MK2 expressed great interest, and we spent six months with them, but they decided to pull out. That was very, very disheartening."

Then, out of the blue, Winkler received a call from producer-financier Randall Emmett.

A one-time assistant to Mark Wahlberg, Emmett had made dozens of films, from 2000's Escape to Grizzly Mountain on. Flush with funding from Dubai, the filmmaker and his partner, George Furla, were eager to work with Scorsese and persuaded him to trek to Cannes, where in May 2013 he and his partners romanced foreign-sales agents. Stuart Ford's IM Global agreed to pay $21 million for foreign rights; Emmett's backers committed to $25 million more; and Paramount came on board as the domestic distributor.

Everything looked like a go - until a large chunk of the money fell through, right before shooting was due to commence in early 2015. With the crew in limbo, Mexican financier Gaston Pavlovich and his partner, Dale Brown (who already were investors), agreed to replace the missing millions.

The budget was locked at more than $46 million, and filming was all set to begin.



Where the movie would be shot had remained in flux until deep into its history.

"We scouted New Zealand, we scouted Vancouver, we scouted the Pacific Northwest," says Scorsese's producing partner, Emma Tillinger Koskoff. "We did budgets for all these places because to shoot this movie in Japan, it would have been close to $100 million. But we also got a great tax credit in Taiwan [and decided to shoot there]."

As Scorsese moved into heavy preproduction, some of the finest actors of the day traipsed into his midtown Manhattan offices to audition.

"It was incredibly nerve-racking," says Garfield, who then was completing The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

He was hired with a year to go before the actual shoot, turned down everything else and immersed himself in the literature of the Jesuits, meeting regularly with Father James Martin, a priest who served as an adviser on the movie.

"He gave me spiritual direction as if I were a Jesuit in training," says Garfield. "It became a very personal journey for me, a dual journey: It was me and Rodrigues, walking together, so that I could allow the events of the story to affect me in the way that a young, ambitious, intelligent, articulate, learned Jesuit would respond to being dropped into the front lines of the battle for Christianity."

With Driver cast as the other lead missionary, the two young actors were sent to a Jesuit retreat in Wales, where Garfield completed the arduous Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola.

"It's almost like a 12-step program," he explains. "In fact, it's the basis for a lot of 12-step programs, a longform meditation and prayer spent imagining the life of Christ, story by story, gospel by gospel, and sitting with his teachings, sitting with him as he discovers who he is in the wilderness, and really meditating upon his life and even crucifixion."

By the time of the shoot, he says, "I was filled up with all this information and all this longing to spread the teachings of Christ, which I truly started to adore."

Wesley Mann

Adoration turned to horror two weeks before the start of principal photography in January 2015, when a construction worker was killed. "The studio where we were shooting had a backlot and various different sets that we were repurposing for our needs," says Koskoff. "The studio told us one of the structures we wanted to use was not sound. We hired an independent construction company to come in and make it safe. They had an accident, a horrible, horrific accident - they were shoring up this building and a scissor lift clipped the side of the roof, and the structure toppled and killed a man and seriously injured two other people. It affected everybody who was on the film tremendously."

Nothing the production faced came close to that nightmare, but the shoot was hardly easy. Turbulent weather, inaccessible locations and the difficulty of accurately researching the past tormented the filmmakers.

Some of that pushed Scorsese's team into areas that few living historians could tell them about.

"In the original versions of the script, there was a term like 'the samurai comes and arrests him,' " says Marianne Bower, Scorsese's researcher and a co-producer on the movie. "One of our consultants said, 'Every time they refer to a Japanese official as a samurai, you'll need to be more specific about the rank and file of the samurai because there is a hierarchy.' So we had to go through that process of learning what the different ranks were."

Language was another issue. "The script for the Japanese characters went through a two-part process," says Bower. "It was first translated into 17th century Japanese, and then we had Japanese historians and language consultants adapt that into a version that a modern audience would understand."

The experience was physically tough on Scorsese. It was hard "physically getting to the location, constantly walking up mountains," he admits. "I had a bodyguard who would sometimes carry me [because it was] so steep, and you had to be very careful where you placed your foot."

AP Images

Nor did the semitropical climate help. Once, the heat reached record temperatures. "I remember almost passing out, and everybody just stripped and kept shooting," he adds. The next day, the temperature plunged and "we were buffeted by winds and rain. It was a typhoon, and we shot in the typhoon."

Koskoff remembers getting a 4 a.m. call warning her that they were in the middle of a lightning storm: "The makeup tent had blown off the side of the mountain, and our entire infrastructure was destroyed. We had 400 extras in buses sitting on the top of a mountain with lightning and thunder, and we just had to sit it out."

Logistics were complicated by Scorsese's desire to shoot in continuity, and they were made trickier still by having a crew that spoke a multitude of languages, and rarely the same one. Hardest of all was the challenge the cast faced in losing a massive amount of weight.

"I think I lost 51 pounds," says Driver.

The fasting, adds Garfield, "does things to your mind, especially when you're on location in Taiwan, not knowing anybody. I would have about three hours' sleep a night and have dreams and visions of the greatest meals of my life with the closest people. It's very isolating and lonely and creates a spiritual hunger and a longing for comfort and connection."



That connection only began to be restored when the shoot wrapped in May 2015. Garfield traveled alone to Northern California's Big Sur, contemplating the sea and his thoughts, unwilling to return to the world he had known for several days. But Scorsese had to dive in to the editing, which consumed him for nearly a year and a half.

In late November, he began to show his picture for the first time, and then at the end of the month, he flew to Rome with his wife, Helen, two of their daughters and some key members of the movie team, to screen the film for about 200 Jesuit priests at the Vatican.

In a private meeting with Pope Francis, Scorsese gave him a copy of the Madonna of the Snows, based on a Japanese scroll painting revered by the hidden Christians.

"We talked about the film and the fact that Andrew had undergone the Spiritual Exercises," he says. "I told him, the next thing [for Garfield] to do was get ordained - but instead he got me. That got a big laugh. We were naturally nervous, but he was just disarming and put us at ease. He gave us rosary beads and said, 'Pray for me.' It was really moving. He blessed my wife and told me he hoped the film would bear much fruit. And I said, with his inspiration, yes."

Meaningful as that was, it paled beside the screening for the Jesuits.

"[That] was remarkable," says Cocks. "[There was] a hush throughout the film, laughs of recognition that surprised us and tears at the end. The film had a great spiritual impact on all there, which is what we had hoped and dared to expect."

More than anything, it was an affirmation for Scorsese of why he had tackled the material in the first place. "The act of working out these themes rekindled in him certain very deep seeds of his own faith that he very seldom articulates," says Cocks. "He found not only a certain challenge in this: He found a separate peace."

Wesley Mann

This story first appeared in the Dec. 16 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
Matthew McConaughey says the role of Kenny Wells in his new film Gold is the favorite of any he has played. Just watching the movie you can see why: Its a combination of The Wolf Of Wall Street meets The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre. It offers McConaughey the opportunity to play a dreamer who hasnt hit it big with his financial schemes, but suddenly thinks he has the mother lode when he gets the opportunity to venture to the Indonesian mountains to hunt for gold and certain riches.

McConaughey joined me for an episode of my new video series The Actors Side to talk not only about this role of a lifetime, but also another December release  the animated Sing, in which he plays another entrepreneur, a Koala named Buster Moon who also has big dreams. As he did in Dallas Buyers Club, the physical transformation for Gold was daunting, in this case instead of losing all that weight he had to gain it  and he talks about how he did it and much more. Gold will have a qualifying run in theaters this month before going wide January 27. Sing opens December 21.

Check out our conversation above.

Related stories

'Lion' Nabs Best International Film At Evening Standard British Film Awards

Jimmy Kimmel's 'Big Fan' Game Show Sets Debut Date With Matthew McConaughey

'Lion' Collects Best Positive Film Award In Paris
You may soon be able to buy seaweed that tastes like bacon  so get excited, vegetarians!

Think seaweed isnt for you? Well, what if that seaweed tasted like bacon? (Were serious.)

Dulse, a red algae that grows along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, boasts a savory, salty flavor similar to pork when fried, according to Oregon State researcher Chris Langdon.

This stuff is pretty amazing, Langdon told OSU. When you fry it, which I have done, it tastes like bacon, not seaweed. And its a pretty strong bacon flavor.

In case youre wondering why anyone would choose seaweed over the real thing, the answer is clear: Dulse is a super food, with twice the nutritional value of kale, OSU researchers claim.

Wait. HOLD ON. Wait. Youre saying we can eat something TWICE as healthy as kale, the food famous for being healthy, and it wont even remotely taste like kale? Where can we sign up?

Dulse is a super food, with twice the nutritional value of kale.

Dulse

While the seaweeds bacon-like properties have become well-known in the scientific community, researchers are now devising a plan to sell the super food. MBA students at OSU partnered with researchers to create products utilizing the healthy seaweed. They plan to release the products after creating a marketing plan.

That means healthy vegetarian snacks could satisfy your bacon craving very soon.

The post You may soon be able to buy seaweed that tastes like bacon  so get excited, vegetarians! appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Mel Gibsons return to directing was warmly welcomed in his native Australia where his Hacksaw Ridge won a total of nine AACTA Awards. The Daughter came second with three prizes.

The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Artss performance awards were presented at a gala on Wednesday in Sydney. They followed an earlier ceremony on Monday at which technical awards had been handed out.

Hacksaw Ridge added five performance awards to its four technical awards. They included best film, best director, best original screenplay, best lead actor and best supporting actor.

Miranda Otto took the best actress prize for The Daughter, while the films discovery Odessa Young was named best supporting actress.

Among the shows highlights were the presentation of the AACTA Longford Lyell Award to Paul Hogan AM and the AACTA Trailblazer Award to Isla Fisher.

Some of Australias top film and television stars took to the stage to present awards, including AACTA president Geoffrey Rush, Rose Byrne, Dr George Miller, Jessica Mauboy, Stephen Curry, Marta Dusseldorp, Jessica Marais, and Culture Clubs Boy George.

The evening was also the venue for a small protest about the hiring of a Canadian director Larysa Kondracki to shoot the Fremantle Media-backed TV adaptation of classic Australian film Picnic at Hanging Rock. The series is now in pre-production.

Australian directors are amazed and astonished at the choice of a foreign director to work on a classic especially as it is not a co-production and is being fully financed in Australia, said Australian Directors Guild CEO Kingston Anderson. He said that the ADG had opposed the granting a visa to Kondracki.

Screen Australia said that 2016 has been a boom year for Australian television content. Australians want to see their own stories on screen and the economic and cultural contribution of our screen sector should be a source of pride for the whole industry, said its CEO Graeme Mason in a statement.

Story continues

Related stories

Scores for 'Hacksaw Ridge,' 'Allied' Conquer War Movie Cliches

Rolf de Heer, Haifaa Al Mansour Among MPA's APSA Bursary Winners

Top Directors Banking on Nostalgia
Meredith Corporation MDP has outperformed the Zacks categorized Publishing-Periodical industry with year-to-date return of 29.7% compared with 19.9% for the latter. In fact, if we look at the companys performance in the one month, the stock has surged approximately 22%. The growth is mainly backed by the companys strategic initiatives, solid surprise history, upward estimates trend and strong financials.

In order to expand its media portfolio the company has been making strategic investments as well as acquisitions and partnership deals. Some of the important acquisitions in fiscal 2015 include Shape magazine and the digital assets of Shape, Natural Health, and Fit Pregnancy brands from American Media Inc. The company integrated Shape with its Fitness magazines. The company revamped few magazines in its portfolio including Family Circle, MORE, Wood Eat This, Not That! and Parents Latina.

Meredith has been impressing investors consistently with its earnings performance over the last twelve quarters. The companys first-quarter fiscal 2017 adjusted earnings per share of 75 cents outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 72 cents and soared 44.2% year over year. The companys results in the reported quarter were driven by robust political advertising revenues and growth in digital advertising revenues in both national as well as local businesses.

Management expects fiscal 2017 earnings to be in the band of $3.50$3.80 per share. Further, second-quarter fiscal 2017 earnings per share are anticipated to be in the range of $1.18$1.23 compared with earnings of 80cents reported in the prior-year quarter. Second-quarter results will be driven by robust political advertising revenues.

Following, robust first-quarter fiscal 2017 earnings the company witnessed upward estimate revisions. In the past 60 days, the companys fiscal 2017 estimates have moved up to $3.70 from $3.68. In the same time frame, second-quarter fiscal 2017 earnings estimate have also increased to $1.21 from $1.18.

Story continues

MEREDITH CORP Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

MEREDITH CORP Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | MEREDITH CORP Quote

On the flip side, with advancing technology, the print media is on a decline. Shift to online is likely to put enormous pressure on Merediths magazine portfolio. Though the Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company is expanding its digital presence, it will take time to complete the transition.

Stocks to Consider

Stocks which warrant a look in the retail space include Burlington Stores, Inc. BURL, Zumiez, Inc. ZUMZ and Ross Stores, Inc. ROST. Both Burlington Stores and Zumiez sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while Ross Stores carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Burlington Stores delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 25.6% in the trailing four quarters and has a long-term earnings growth rate of 19.9%.

Zumiez delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 30.9% in the trailing four quarters and has a long-term earnings growth rate of 15%.

Ross Stores delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 5% in the trailing four quarters and has a long-term earnings growth rate of 11.4%.

Zacks Best Private Investment Ideas

In addition to the recommendations that are available to the public on our website, how would you like to follow all Zacks' private buys and sells in real time?

Our experts cover all kinds of trades from value to momentum . . . from stocks under $10 to ETF and option moves . . . from stocks that corporate insiders are buying up to companies that are about to report positive earnings surprises. You can even look inside exclusive portfolios that are normally closed to new investors. Starting today, for the next month, you can have unrestricted access. Click here for Zacks' private trades >>



Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report



MEREDITH CORP (MDP): Free Stock Analysis Report



ZUMIEZ INC (ZUMZ): Free Stock Analysis Report



ROSS STORES (ROST): Free Stock Analysis Report



BURLINGTON STRS (BURL): Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
BERLIN (Reuters) - The Bavarian party allied to German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrat Union (CDU) on Thursday welcomed the CDU's tougher stance on the integration of migrants but urged it to go further to restrict arrivals and up deportations. The CDU and Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU) together form the conservative faction in the Bundestag lower house of parliament, but the two parties are at odds over how to deal with last year's record migrant influx to Germany of 890,000 people. Their rift persists as the CDU wants to improve relations with the CSU ahead of a 2017 election and regain support lost to the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD). In a hardening of her stance on migrants' integration in Germany, Merkel this week called for a ban on full-face Muslim veils "wherever legally possible" and the CDU passed a resolution on tackling forced marriage and honor killings, and cracking down on dual citizenship. "The overall development is good," CSU leader Horst Seehofer told German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung. But Seehofer said differences remained and called for the deportation of a "demonstrable number" of refugees. He also reiterated his demand for a cap to be placed on the number of migrants coming here. Merkel has rejected such a cap. Since announcing last month that she will seek a fourth term in office next year, Merkel, 62, has enjoyed a rise in support. A Dec. 5-7 survey of 1,504 voters by pollster Infratest for broadcaster ARD showed 59 percent welcomed her decision to run. In a contest for chancellor against Sigmar Gabriel, leader of the Social Democrats (SPD), Merkel would win 57 percent support to his 19 percent, the poll showed. Support for Merkel would slip to 43 percent if she faced the SPD's Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament who is returning to German politics, rather than Gabriel. The survey put support for Schulz at 36 percent in a dual with Merkel. The chancellor needs to resolve her party's differences with the CSU to run a united campaign. CSU member Manfred Weber, who also heads the conservative European People's Party (EVP) in the European Parliament, told taz newspaper the CSU would not join a coalition with the CDU after next year's election without a deal on a migrants cap. But the CDU's firmer stance on migrants attracted criticism from the opposition. Sahra Wagenknecht, a prominent member of the far-left Linke party, accused the CDU of simply adopting the policies of the AfD: "Instead of finally getting on with actually dealing with the causes of migration, they prefer to copy the AfD program when it comes to asylum issues," she told German news agency DPA. (Reporting by Christian Goetz, Ralf Bode and Michelle Martin; Writing by Michelle Martin; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican officials found 110 U.S.-bound immigrants, mainly from Central America, stuck in the back of a truck after it crashed into another vehicle in the eastern state of Veracruz, the government said on Thursday. The discovery followed warnings from Central American countries that large numbers of their poorer citizens were trying to reach the United States before President-elect Donald Trump takes office Jan. 20. Trump has vowed tighter border security. The trailer of the truck was packed with migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Ecuador, and officials could hear cries for help as they approached the vehicle, according to a government statement. The driver had left the scene of the crash, the statement added. Migrants in the group, which included 48 minors, had health problems, skin lesions, and some showed signs of suffocation. (Reporting by Joanna Zuckerman Bernstein; Editing by Andrew Hay)
Mexico City (AFP) - Mexican leftist senators screamed insults as they battered a "pinata" effigy of US President-elect Donald Trump in an online video that went viral.

To the cheerful tune of a trumpet, the male and female senators in evening dress take turns swinging a club at the paper doll, a traditional Mexican party game.

The large pinata, hung by the neck at a Christmas party for PRD party lawmakers, resembled the provocative US leader-in-waiting with a dark suit and blonde quiff.

One of the senators finally whacks off the pinata's legs and the effigy spills out its candy.

The Republican billionaire launched his White House quest by denouncing Mexican immigrants as "rapists" and drug traffickers, and vowing to build a wall on the southern US border.

Mexicans are also concerned about Trump's protectionist stance on trade with their country.

"I ask you to be united in sending our greetings to Donald," Senator Miguel Angel Barbosa tells participants before they whistle, yell an obscenity and start whacking.
Govt flouts deal it reached with Dr KC

Going beyond the bounds of propriety, the government, which reached a deal with Dr Govinda KC to stop affiliations to new medical schools, has started process to grant affiliation to a medical college based in Jhapa.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican and U.S. business leaders will share information on cross-border economic integration as they seek to build a case for free trade under the government of President-elect Donald Trump, a top industry group said on Wednesday.

Trump has threatened to renegotiate or withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), prompting concern in Mexico about the future of the economy, trade and foreign investment.

During a two-day meeting in Mexico City, the executives agreed to share data on trade, including the geographic areas where exports and imports have generated jobs, said Juan Pablo Castanon, president of Mexican group Consejo Coordinador Empresarial (CCE).

"We will find points of synergy that allow us to have arguments to convince our respective governments, in particular the incoming government of the United States," Castanon told reporters.

During the run-up to the signing of the trade accord in the 1990s, lobbyists also worked to explain the benefits of free trade to domestic politicians and lawmakers in the United States.

Mexicans involved in those lobbying efforts say data linking job creation in the United States to bilateral trade with Mexico helped make the case for NAFTA.

(Reporting by Joanna Zuckerman Bernstein and Dave Graham; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
Microsoft Corporation MSFT announced new opportunities for its global partners to pursue innovation on its Windows 10 operating system at the Windows Hardware Engineering Community event in Shenzhen, China.

Together with Microsoft, technology bigwigs Intel Corporation INTC and Qualcomm Inc QCOM demonstrated innovative ways through which partners will be able to build modern devices so as to empower the creators of the next generation.

The objective of the collaboration will be to develop the next generation of modern PCs that are secure and support mixed-reality for enhanced gaming and mobile experiences.

Microsoft flagged off Project Evo in collaboration with Intel at the event to develop smart devices that will feature advanced security, mixed reality, gaming and last but not the least Cortana and artificial intelligence. Also, the company has submitted papers for government approval of its HoloLens technology that it plans to launch in China during the first half of 2017.

MICROSOFT CORP Price

MICROSOFT CORP Price | MICROSOFT CORP Quote

What this Means for Microsoft?

As per a Gartner report, during the third-quarter of 2016, 68.9 million units of PCs were shipped worldwide, down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis due to weak consumer demand, especially in the emerging markets.

Moreover, as per a Statistia report, 261 million PCs are expected to be shipped globally with the downward trend continuing through 2020 when a total of 249.5 million units are expected to budge from their shelves.

Given the sluggish outlook for PCs, Microsofts decision to make the PC better may look a bit out of place. However, its collaboration with technology behemoths Intel and Qualcomm to bring in innovative security features, making the PC compatible with mixed reality for an enhanced gaming experience along with ingenuous technologies such as the HoloLens and voice-controlled search agent Cortana may help to revive PC demand in the future.

Story continues

Moreover, we note that, Microsofts decision to build a Windows 10 operating system that is compatible with laptops powered by Qualcomm chips could help it to gain market share in the mobile computing space that is currently being dominated by Intel.

Stock Performance Overview

Notably, Microsofts stock has outperformed the broader Zacks Computer Software Services industry on a year-to-date basis. While the stock has returned 10.6%, the industry has returned only 2.3%.

The bullish performance of the stock could be primarily attributed to the continuing enterprise strength, benefits from the Office 365 subscription model, strong growth prospects of Azure and promising new products that will continue to generate top-line growth in 2016. However, execution and foreign exchange risks coupled with intensifying competition in the software space remain concerns for the company.

Zacks Rank and Key Picks

At present, Microsoft carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

A better-ranked stock in the broader technology space is Konami Holdings Corporation KNMCY sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Notably, the consensus estimate for Konami Holdings current year has improved to $1.67 from $1.59 seven days ago.

Zacks Best Private Investment Ideas

In addition to the recommendations that are available to the public on our website, how would you like to follow all Zacks' private buys and sells in real time?

Our experts cover all kinds of trades from value to momentum . . . from stocks under $10 to ETF and option moves . . . from stocks that corporate insiders are buying up to companies that are about to report positive earnings surprises. You can even look inside exclusive portfolios that are normally closed to new investors. Starting today, for the next month, you can have unrestricted access. Click here for Zacks' private trades >>



Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report



QUALCOMM INC (QCOM): Free Stock Analysis Report



MICROSOFT CORP (MSFT): Free Stock Analysis Report



INTEL CORP (INTC): Free Stock Analysis Report



KONAMI CORP-ADR (KNMCY): Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
8 Dec - Although the 65th Miss Universe Pageant will be held in the Philippines on 30 January 2017, the actual event will kick-off on 10 December 2016, at the Conrad Manila Hotel in Pasay City, Coconuts Manila reported.



This was confirmed by the Department of Tourism Secretary, Wanda Teo, who shared that the current Miss Universe, Pia Wurtzbach, will be arriving in the country along with 11 candidates of the 2016 Miss Universe to commemorate the start of the pageant.



These ladies will also be doing a courtesy call with President Rodrigo Duterte.



Rumour has it, among the candidates who will be joining Wurtzbach for the event include delegates from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Korea, and the United States.



Meanwhile, other candidates will arrive in the country on 13 January 2017 for the official pre-pageant activities.



(Photo Source: Pia Wurtzbach Instagram)
At the New York premiere of A Monster Calls, held Wednesday night at the AMC Loews Lincoln Square 13 theater, actress Sigourney Weaver told Variety that while she appreciated that directors such as Joss Whedon (Alien: Resurrection), Greg Mottola (Paul), and Monster-helmer J. A. Bayona sought her out because of her Aliens and Ghostbusters pedigree, she never set out to be a genre queen.

I never go out of my way to find a sci-fi film or a fantasy film, but the use of some of these elements to tell a story is absolutely apt, she explained. I think great literature has always involved a certain amount of fantasy and a lot of imagination. To me, these genre labels are not very helpful. Sci-fi is a genre thats often dismissed, but some of our most interesting films, such as District 9, come out of it.

An adaptation of a popular childrens book by Patrick Ness, A Monster Calls tells the story of a young boy, played by Lewis MacDougall, who is comforted by a tree monster, voiced by Liam Neeson, after his mother becomes ill. Nowadays, its tough to find something that deals with the world of childhood so seriously, Bayona said, about why he was attracted to the project. It reminded me of movies like The NeverEnding Story or E.T., and I wanted to be the director of one of those.

I consider the movie almost a love letter to fantasy; its about how we need fantasy to understand reality, he continued. This is why we read books and why we go to the movies, because somehow books, they give us a better comprehension of life, more than life itself does.

A Monster Calls opens in New York and Los Angeles on Dec. 23, and hits theaters nationwide on Jan. 6.

Related stories

Sigourney Weaver: Next 'Avatar' Scripts Are 'Many Times More Amazing' Than First One

'A Monster Calls' Becomes Biggest Movie Hit of the Year in Spain

AFM: Liam Neeson to Star in Neil Jordan's 'The Trainer'
LONDON (Reuters) - Over thirty percent of British hedge funds say they are uncertain about remaining in the UK following Britain's vote to leave the European Union according to an industry survey, a larger proportion than immediately after the referendum.

Of 276 hedge fund managers surveyed by industry tracker Preqin in November, 24 percent said they were now uncertain about staying in the UK, up from 17 percent in July. Another 6 percent said they were actively considering moving, compared with 3 percent previously.

Seventy percent of firms said they would likely remain in Britain, down from 80 percent five months ago.

Of the 944 European Union-based hedge fund managers Preqin tracks, 590 are headquartered in the UK, running a combined $500 billion (393.76 billion) in assets, compared with $140 billion elsewhere in Europe.

"Given that the UK government has yet to trigger Article 50, it is unsurprising that uncertainty still prevails about the wider impact of Brexit on the hedge fund sector," Amy Bensted, head of hedge fund products, said.

"Until these effects become clearer, the majority of hedge fund managers and investors are conducting their business as before."

(Reporting by Simon Jessop)
From the Philippines to Iceland, an increasing number of U.S. military veterans are heading overseas to complete degrees at global universities, thanks to the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

Many veterans say appealing aspects of studying at an overseas college include learning another language and receiving cheaper tuition, thanks in part to the exchange rate.

[Read these reasons to earn a bachelor's degree overseas.]

U.S. Navy veteran Stephen Evans, 26, from Fort Smith, Arkansas, is studying for an undergraduate degree, referred to as a Master of Arts, at the University of Aberdeen in Aberdeen, Scotland. While searching for universities on the Department of Veterans Affairs website, he was surprised to find that he could use the benefits overseas.

"I decided to study in Scotland because I preferred their educational system to that of the U.S.," he said via email. "Here, we are not required to take 'core curriculum' classes such as math, English, history and science, but instead have the opportunity to explore whatever subject matter the university offers as long as we take the required credit amount."

Henry R. Charles, 31, from Virginia Beach, Virginia, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps and then the U.S. Army from 2002 to 2011, is completing a Master of Science in international transport at Cardiff University in Cardiff, Wales.

Charles says he chose Cardiff University because the one-year postgraduate specialty degree was shorter than any equivalent in the U.S., helping to maximize his three years of Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits.

The VA's list of approved international colleges now includes around 1,800 universities or training schools in more than 100 countries, says Curtis L. Coy, VA deputy undersecretary for economic opportunity. Countries include Colombia in South America, Romania in Europe and New Zealand.

According to VA statistics, 2,007 Post-9/11 GI Bill students pursued either undergraduate or postgraduate degrees overseas in fiscal year 2015 compared with 806 in fiscal year 2010. Popular countries included the Philippines, Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany and various other countries in Europe.

Story continues

Choosing a University

U.S. veterans interested in pursuing an international education can either use the GI Bill Comparison Tool to review the VA's approved list of universities or search for a specific college through the Web Enabled Approval Management System Institution Search. Both tools are available on the VA website.

The GI Bill Comparison Tool also helps veterans determine which benefits package is most suitable for them, including whether the package will provide enough money to study overseas. Veterans will need to account for a country's exchange rate in their calculations.

If a veteran's preferred college is not on the approved list, he or she can apply to have the school added, provided it meets the VA's eligibility requirements.

One of the main requirements is that any training at a foreign school must be at an institution of higher learning that will result in a college degree or equivalent, according to the VA's website. If eligible, the VA will issue the veteran a Certificate of Eligibility, which shows the quantity and duration of benefits; veterans should obtain this before enrolling at a foreign university.

Xiangyu (Sheila) Wu, international enrolment services officer at Cambrian College in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, says that once veterans know if the foreign university is VA-approved, they should complete the school's application process.

She says, ideally, those applying to foreign colleges should submit applications for their GI Bill benefits between three to six months prior to school starting.

Coy from the VA says the Post-9/11 GI Bill pays up to $21,000 in tuition per year at approved foreign colleges, about $1,500 per month for housing and $1,000 annually for books.

[Understand how to calculate the cost of an overseas degree.]

Shared Benefits

The Post-9/11 GI Bill, which replaced the Montgomery GI Bill in 2009, has also opened up global education opportunities to eligible veterans' family members. Active-duty service members must plan to complete 10 years of service to be eligible to transfer some or all of the Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to a spouse or children.

Coy says that after the service members leave the military, they cannot transfer the benefits; as such, they need to make plans prior to leaving the military.

Rose Field, 24, of Flourtown, Pennsylvania, moved to Germany in 2009 to attend college and learn German. She recently completed her master's in curatorial studies at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main. Her father, a major, has been a reservist in the Pennsylvania National Guard and Army Reserve since 1985.

"My father has always been a reservist, but was deployed post-9/11, which is how I became GI Bill eligible," Field said via email. Reservists who complete 90 days or more of active duty and remain on active duty become eligible for some GI Bill benefits.

"I was only eligible for 50 per cent of benefits, which meant that I still had to work outside the stipend to pay for everything I needed," Field said.

Ultimately, studying in another country is an "unbelievable opportunity," Navy veteran Evans said. "More veterans should take the opportunity to study overseas."

See the complete rankings of the Best Global Universities.
Morgan Spurlocks production company Warrior Poets and crowdfunding platform Indiegogo have formed a strategic partnership to help usher Indiegogo-funded films through the production process, Variety has learned exclusively.

The first film as a result of this partnership is We Believe In Dinosaurs, a feature length documentary about creationists who built a $100 million, 510-foot Noahs Ark in Kentucky in order to debunk evolution  asserting that God created dinosaurs 6,000 years ago. The film, currently in post-production, follows the designers and builders of the ark from blueprints to opening day and aims to illustrate the current conflict between science and religion.

We Believe in Dinosaurs launched its Indiegogo campaign Thursday to raise $50,000 to complete post-production and start marketing. Top premium is a Seismosaurus perk, which provides an executive producer credit for a $5,000 donation. Producers are Monica Long Ross, Clayton Brown and Amy Ellison, all of Chicago-based 137 Films.

Spurlock told Variety that the Indiegogo partnership evolved out of discussions over the past year about We Believe in Dinosaurs. Warrior Poets plans on coming on board about four films a year, with films most likely to be documentaries.

Spurlock founded Warrior Poets following his Oscar-nominated 2004 documentary Super Size Me. Warrior Poets feature credits include The Eagle Huntress, One Direction: This Is Us, POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, Comic-Con: Episode IV  A Fans Hope, Mansome, Where in the World is Osama bin Laden? and Freakonomics.

Warrior Poets will provide production and post-production services as well as film festival, financial and distribution strategy and consultation for Indiegogo-funded films, with Spurlock coming on board as executive producer on each film. Warrior Poets will offer backstop distribution through iTunes Movies & Virgil Films  ensuring that these films have the guarantee of a release.

Story continues

I am so proud to partner with an innovator like Indiegogo whose platform allows dreams to come true for a host of incredibly talented filmmakers, Spurlock said. We wish to accomplish many great things with this partnership, but above all else, we hope to play a central role in blazing the path for the next generation of filmmakers.

Indiegogos track record includes helping comedy troupe Broken Lizard to raise $4.4 million last year for Super Troopers 2. In April, the platform raised $1.7 million for the sci-fi movie Code 8, starring Robbie Amell and his cousin Stephen Amell.

Indiegogo is evolving into a single solution for filmmakers to bring their projects to life, from funding to production and distribution, said David Mandelbrot, CEO of Indiegogo. Were excited to partner with such a renowned production company that will help filmmakers and creators throughout their creative lifecycle and help film fans get access to even better films.

Indiegogo has helped raise funds for Free in Deed, which was nominated for a Spirit Award; Gotham Award-winning/Emmy-nominated web series Her Story, Sony Pictures Classic Miles Ahead, directed and starring Don Cheadle, Hardcore Henry, the first-person action film which sold for $10 million dollars to STX and Tower, the SXSW Grand Jury award-winning documentary; and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night by director Ana Lily Amirpour.

The crowdfunding platform previously partnered with Vimeo. It announced at this years Sundance Film Festival that it had formed a strategic partnership with Ava DuVernays Array to promote and support independent films by women and minority filmmakers.

Related stories

'Blair Witch' Director Dan Myrick Launches Indiegogo Campaign for DocuDrama 'Skyman'

In Wake of Fortissimo, Metrodome Closures, Movie Lovers Need to Get Creative to Support Indie Films

Film Review: 'Rats'
In a research update published Thursday morning, analysts at Morgan Stanley weighed in on the SunPower Corp. (SPWR) restructuring plan the company offered on Wednesday.

SunPower said it would close 700 megawatts of manufacturing capacity and reduce its global workforce by 25% (around 2,500). The factory that is being closed is in the Philippines and employs about 1,900 workers. The other 600 or so to lose their jobs will come from the company's corporate division according to a report at pv magazine.

The company also offered fiscal year 2017 guidance that Morgan Stanley said was below consensus, but inline with the analysts' own estimates:

SunPower posted 2017 non-GAAP revenue guidance of $2.1-2.6b, below our $2.59b estimate and the $2.7b consensus. The deployed MW target of 1.3-1.6 GW was in-line with our 1.45 GW estimate.  Notably SPWR did not provide margin or EBITDA targets for 2017, and management noted its focus will be on maximizing cash flow and liquidity as opposed to growth and EBITDA levels.

ALSO READ: America's Best States to Live In

Morgan Stanley said it remains cautious on the outlook for 2017 given limited indications of a solar PV industry recovery:

On the positive side, SPWR noted that the 4Q16 slowdown it was experiencing in the US residential and commercial rooftop market had corrected,and the company expects rooftop market growth in 2017. Regarding industry oversupply, management noted there may be some net reduction in capacity in China as producers shift to mono c-Si manufacturing from multi c-Si products, but declines so far seem to have been modest. As we outlined in our recent outlook note, industry oversupply, module price declines, utility-scale system volume weakness,and PPA [purchase power agreements] competition remain key concerns. Execution risk remains high for 2017,and we remain comfortable with our EW rating.

ALSO READ: Why Merrill Lynch Now Has the Highest AMD Target of All Over Intel and NVIDIA

Story continues

The analysts rate SunPower at Equal Weight with a price target of $6.00. Shares traded down about 4% Thursday at $7.54 in a 52-week range of $6.00 to $31.10. The consensus price target on the stock is $12.34.

Related Articles
George Wechsler was determined to see his ex-girlfriend and her three children despite her repeated requests to leave them alone, according to police officials. A few days ago, he asked to bring Christmas presents to the children and, once again, she said no.

On Monday, Wechsler broke into the womans Albuquerque home when they werent there and waited for them. When they arrived, according to the Albuquerque Police Department, he ambushed the family and shot them. The children died. Their mother remains in critical condition at the hospital.

Evidence shows the mother fought valiantly to try to save her children and get them out of the house, according to the police departments press release.

Wechsler, 45, died at the hospital from a self-inflicted gun shot wound, police say. The children were ages 5, 6 and 9. The mothers name has not been released, but will be eventually.

s a victim, we have a duty to protect her and the family as a whole, police spokesperson Celina Espinoza tells PEOPLE.

On Tuesday, the citys mayor, Richard Berry, asked for prayers for the family.

We lost three of our angels in a senseless and tragic act of violence last night, he told the Albuquerque Journal.




Govt to depute inspection teams at small customs

The Ministry of Supplies has said it will mobilise monitoring teams at a number of small customs points, which are reportedly being used as alternative routes to smuggle diesel to India.
More than 300 American Muslim leaders are imploring Donald Trump to reject the anti-Muslim policies he touted during his presidential campaign, as well as administration appointments that will bring Islamophobic attitudes into the White House.

It is deeply concerning that you have announced the appointment of individuals to your upcoming Administration with a well-documented history of outright bigotry directed at Muslims or advocating that Muslims should not have the same rights as their fellow Americans, reads the letter the leaders sent to the president-elect this week. We urge you to reconsider and reject such candidates.

Though the letter does not reference any specific Trump-appointees by name, the Council of American Islamic Relations  the countrys largest Muslim rights advocacy organization and one of the letters main signatories  has spoken out separately about what CAIR government affairs director Robert McCaw called a concerning Islamophobic trend in Trumps appointments.

The letter took nearly two weeks to draft, and every three days or so there would be a new appointment, McCaw told Yahoo News.

Of those that have been announced so far, McCaw pointed to Trumps selection of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who has called Islam a vicious cancer, for national security adviser, and Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo, who has blamed American Muslim leaders for violent attacks by Islamic extremists, for head of the CIA, as as two particularly troubling examples.

When you have people who have anti-Muslim policy positions put into positions of power, you are going to end up with bad policy that will negatively impact American Muslims and not make us any more secure, McCaw said.

The letter, which can be read in full at MuslimLettertoTrump.com, was signed by CAIRs national executive director Nihad Awad, Gold Star father Khizr Khan, Muslim American scholar Dalia Mogahed and over 300 other Muslim community leaders from around the country.

Story continues

CAIR announced in a press release that the letter is the first public communication to the new administration from American Muslim leaders who work actively every day to serve and enrich their communities and their country. However, it echoes many of the same sentiments expressed by Muslim leaders both during Trumps campaign and in the wake of his election, as reports of anti-Muslim bias, harassment and attacks have continued to rise.

While noting that Trumps recent denunciation of such behavior on 60 Minutes was a positive first step, the letter further urges the president-elect to clearly and strongly condemn bigotry, hate crimes and bias-based school bullying directed at any American, including American Muslims.

McCaw said that while CAIR has generally had good relations with the Obama administration, he admitted that as one of the more outspoken Muslim rights advocacy organizations, the groups relationship with previous presidents hasnt always been easy.

Many policy decisions put forward by the George W. Bush administration in the wake of 9/11, for example, put him at odds with majority of Muslim leaders, and that relationship was quite strained.

Still, McCaw said, there has always been an open line of communication.

Whether the incoming Trump administration will be open to such dialogue, however, remains to be seen. McCaw said that CAIR has yet to receive any sort of response from the Trump team to the latest letter.

There would have to be an acknowledgement that past statements and positions from Trump on the campaign trail and that of his nominations and appointments did not have the best interest of the Muslim community at heart, McCaw said. Were under no disillusion that  there is a certain animosity in the Trump administration toward the Muslim community. Thats definitely a hurdle that has to be overcome, but cant be done by Muslims alone.
The annual NATPE conference is seeing an increase in attendance from international TV buyers, particularly from Europe and Asia. The conference, set for Jan. 17-19 in Miami Beach, will host its first-ever China Pavilion with 20 programming-related companies represented.

JP Bommel, managing director and COO of the National Association of Program Executives, said registration for the 2017 confab is pacing ahead of this years gathering, which drew more than 5,000 attendees to the Fontainebleau and Eden Roc hotels. Companies from Russia, Thailand, Germany and Japan will be among the new exhibitors on the trade show floor in January.

We are definitely seeing an uptick in participation from Europe on buyers  and a strong expansion from Asia, Bommel said.

Among other news, Bommel said famed producer T Bone Burnett and National Music Publishers Association president David Israelite will take part in the conferences new program track devoted to television and music. Bommel, who previously ran the European music-biz conference MIDEM, said the goal was to bring producers, music supervisors and TV creators together for networking and brainstorming sessions. This is all about how important music is to the business side, Bommel said. Music is content.

Bommel also said that Access Hollywood co-host Natalie Morales has been set to host NATPEs annual Brandon Tartikoff Awards ceremony, set for Jan. 18.

Related stories

NATPE Sets 14th Annual Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award Honorees

NATPE Conference Adds Music Track, Scripted Focus and Station Summit

Steve Harvey, Quincy Jones, Norman Lear Talk Power of TV at Tartikoff Awards
The Film Brings Urban Legends to Life, References Real Events, and Twists Memorable Childhood Stories

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / December 8, 2016 / James C. Bays, a movie writer and producer, recently unveiled his latest project, The Nightmare Game. The project, which incorporates seldom-heard urban legends from Mexico, puts an emphasis on graphic imagery to tell the nightmarish tales.

To learn more about The Nightmare Game, please visit goo.gl/qROhqG

In Bays' movie, seven strangers gather around a campfire in New Mexico, where they begin playing a game to see who can tell the most terrifying tale. Since each participant tells a story that is based on a local urban legend, the movie references characters such as Navajo skinwalkers, La Llorona, The Death Waltz, the chupacabra, La Mala Hora, and Roswell Aliens. Bays has teamed up with special effects artists Shawn Darling as well as the 00 Productions team to create the images to bring the script to the big screen.

"The urban legends about local monsters and real events with a twist are the most memorable and exciting stories we learn as children," said a representative of the project.

"This early exposure often helps to cement the ideas into our head, allowing the legends to become even more believable. The incredible and terrifying samples that we created in the sizzle reel already present an exciting teaser, and fans of horror will find another frightening favorite in The Nightmare Game."

At this time, Bays and the 00 Productions team have taken their project to Indiegogo, where they seek the necessary funds to film and produce The Nightmare Game. The funds raised will also be used for editing The Nightmare Game and distributing it worldwide. In exchange for the public's support, Bays and 00 Productions are offering supporters a wide number of perks, including a mention in the credits, movie t-shirts, signed posters, and the opportunity to name a character.

Individuals interested in learning more about The Nightmare Game can visit the project's Indiegogo page for additional information.

Story continues

About The Nightmare Game:

The Nightmare Game follows seven strangers as they find themselves surrounding a campfire in the middle of nowhere. They begin telling each other stories, competing to tell the most terrifying tale. Soon, this game has the stories of La Llorona, the chupacabra, Navajo skinwalkers, Roswell aliens, la chupacabra, and the pepper tree coming to life.

For more information, please visit https://goo.gl/qROhqG

Contact:

Tyler Joseph

admin@rocketfactor.com

(949) 555-2861

SOURCE: The Nightmare Game
This Immigrant Doctor Is Reimagining Health in the American City

Environmentalists who oppose the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline have a message for the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the incoming Trump administration: When it comes to pumping oil across North Dakota, past is prologue, and thats bad news for human health and the environment.

An analysis released Wednesday by the Center for Biological Diversity found that pipelines in North Dakota have spilled crude oil and other hazardous liquids at least 85 times since 1996.

Those spillsan average of four a yearcaused more than $40 million in property damage, the center said, citing data from the United States Department of Transportation.

In the largest accident, in July 2013, some 840,000 gallons of crude oil spilled from a pipeline in Tioga, North Dakota, and contaminated a wheat field. The spill, which was not reported for two weeks, cost $17.5 million to clean up.

The analysis was released just days after the Obama administration denied an easement to the Dakota Access Pipeline for construction under Lake Oahe, the drinking water supply for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, which has been on the ground with supporters protesting the pipeline for months.

Instead, the Army Corps of Engineers will conduct a review of alternate pipeline routes and complete an environmental impact statement for the project.

Randi Spivak, the Center for Biological Diversitys public lands program director, said the analysis will be submitted to the Army Corps as part of its official review.

We want the Corps to do a full oil-spill risk analysis for every river crossing along the entire route of the project," Spivak said. Spills happen, as this analysis shows. Its not a question of if, its a question of when. The reason we did this analysis when we did it is because pipelines commonly spilland that is why its problematic at a river crossing.

Spivak said her group opposes all new fossil fuel infrastructure projects because of their contribution to climate change, as well as their direct impact on local ecosystems.

Story continues

Pipelines can fail in a number of ways, including mechanical failure, human error, and subfreezing temperatures that can rupture pipes, connectors, and valves, she said.

Spivak pointed to a study by her group that found that, on average, between 1986 and 2013, one significant oil or gas pipeline incident occurred in the United States every 30 hours, causing nearly $7 billion in damages, more than 2,000 injuries, and more than 500 deaths. A companion time-lapse video documents each significant incident.

As for the Dakota pipeline, Its worth repeating it was originally proposed to cross the Missouri River in Bismarck, where residents got the pipeline route changed to a different river crossing that would impact the water supply of the Standing Rock people, Spivak said.

The Army Corps is now initiating an environmental impact, which is a statement, not a decision, she said. But its extremely valuable for taking a hard look and evaluating and disclosing environmental harm, [because] there has not been a full analysis of the impact to the Standing Rock water supply or any water crossing.

Army Corps officials did not respond to requests for comment. Jo-Ellen Darcy, the U.S. Armys assistant secretary for civil works, made the decision to deny the easement, even though the Corps had recommended that it be granted.

RELATED: 6 Horrible Oil Spills Since Deepwater Horizon That You Probably Didn't Hear About

After meeting with tribal officials, Darcy said it was clear that theres more work to do.

The best way to complete that work responsibly and expeditiously is to explore alternate routes for the pipeline crossing, Darcy said in a statement. But her decision, she added, does not alter the Armys position that the Corps prior reviews and actions have comported with legal requirements.

The company behind the project, Energy Transfer Partners, did not respond to requests for comment. According to Spivak, it has a questionable safety record that includes 29 pipeline safety incidents since 2006, in which 9,555 barrels of hazardous liquids were spilled.

On Sunday, the company issued a defiant response to the White Houses decision, which it called just the latest in a series of overt and transparent political actions by an administration which has abandoned the rule of law in favor of currying favor with a narrow and extreme political constituency.

Dakota Access Pipeline has done nothing but play by the rules, the statement said. [We] fully expect to complete construction of the pipeline without any additional rerouting. Nothing this administration has done today changes that in any way.

But what about the next administration?

Donald Trump once owned a stake in Energy Transfer Partners and wants to see the pipeline completed. His support has nothing to do with his personal investments and everything to do with promoting policies that benefit all Americans, the president-elects transition team said in a statement.

Trump will try to overturn this, but it might not be that easy because the laws were not followed, Spivak said. They have to take into account that this project is harmful to the climate and the Standing Rock Sioux water supply.

And if that doesnt happen?

Court, Spivak said.

Send a Letter: Stand in Solidarity With Those Protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline

Related stories on TakePart:





 Portland Bans New Oil, Coal, and Gas Projects

 Is a Pipeline Explosion Coming to Your Neighborhood?

 The High Cost of Oil Trains: Hundreds of Accidents, Hundreds Dead, and $4 Billion in Damages

Original article from TakePart
barack obama smile

A leaked document from an internal NSA newsletter published Wednesday offers a look at how the US spy agency is able to tell the president what a foreign government is going to do ahead of time.

The document  which was leaked by Edward Snowden and published by The Intercept  details numerous examples in which signals intelligence has been used to notify the White House of significant events. Though the newsletter was dated February 2004, it's likely that the NSA has done similar work under President Barack Obama.

According to the newsletter, these were some of the NSA's most "profound contributions" to the Bush administration:

The NSA offered intel to the White House a few days before the president was to give a speech to a foreign audience. The speech was changed as a result.

The NSA alerted a national security council official that a foreign representative was planning to call him later that afternoon, and also knew the subject matter of the call. The official used that intel to prepare.

The president's national security adviser used intel gleaned from the NSA to prepare for a visiting head of state.

It's an interesting look at how the sausage gets made when it comes to the intersection of intelligence and foreign policy. Though the newsletter doesn't offer specifics on how it may have learned about incoming phone calls or interesting tidbits on foreign dignitaries, we know through the Snowden leaks that the agency is pretty good at tapping phones of foreign leaders and intercepting communications at international summits, for example.

Both of those specific agency exploits came under heavy criticism after embarrassing details were leaked in Snowden documents. Obama reportedly apologized to some after the revelations, such as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, while others were slowly wooed back to his side.

The White House, at least in 2004, was happy with what the NSA was providing. The newsletter mentions one ambassador telling colleagues who were planning to visit NSA headquarters in 2003, "Tell NSA that we love them!"

Story continues

Though intelligence for the president's daily brief comes from many different agencies, a significant portion has come from the NSA, especially its Prism program  a top-secret program that tapped into the databases of a large portion of American technology companies.

NOW WATCH: Part plane, part helicopter  here's what it's like to fly in the military's MV-22 Osprey





More From Business Insider


Growing political row concerns diplomatic community

Against the backdrop of a simmering political confrontation over the constitution amendment bill, the Kathmandu-based diplomatic community on Wednesday discussed the latest political situation, including prospects of elections in Nepal, during a meeting at the UN House.
The Nvidia Shield TV is more than a year old now, but it is still considered to be the number one Android set-top box on the market. However, it looks like Nvidia will be announcing a successor next year during CES 2017 in Las Vegas.

An anonymous source claims that the new version of the Nvidia Shield TV will be pretty much the same to the current version of the device. The features that will be new on the device are the 802.11ac Wi-Fi support and MIMO antennas that support the fastest network connectivity possible, according to Slash Gear.

Other changes coming to the new Nvidia Shield TV will be on its controller and remote. Both peripherals are believed to rely on Bluetooth Low Energy rather than Wi-Fi Direct. However, Bluetooth Low Energy support appears to be more likely on the controller than on the remote. Both peripherals are expected to come with better battery optimization, while the controllers design will be thinner than its chunky predecessor.

As for the new Nvidia Shield TVs internal hardware, theres no information on that just yet. The current iteration of the device already comes with a Tegra X1 processor with 3GB of RAM, and it was even the first streaming device that supports 4K content from Netflix. The new version of the device will most likely have a more powerful processor with a bigger RAM capacity in order to keep up with the most recent gaming standards.

As for 4K content, Nvidia will most likely expand the Shield TVs capabilities. Google Play just launched 4K content in the United States earlier this week. However, Googles list of supported devices left out the current Nvidia Shield. Its possible that the successor will be the Nvidia device that will support Google Plays 4K content.

Pricing for the new Nvidia Shield TV hasnt been pinned down yet, and it remains unclear whether the company will stick to its same price points. Theres also no information on whether Nvidia will offer two versions of the device, a regular one and a pro model that comes with more storage, according to 9To5Google.

Related Articles
JOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images

The devastating fire last week at the Ghost Ship, an artists warehouse in Oakland, CAand the tragic loss of three dozen lives as a resulthave led to national mourning and a desperate search for answers. The specific cause for the blaze has yet to be determined. But the nightmare event has shed light on a little-known phenomenon, one that is tied directly to Americas housing boom and affordability crisisand one that officials fear could lead to more disasters.

Ghost Ship was one of the warehomes cropping up around the nation: former industrial buildings converted, often illegally, into living, working, and underground performance spaces. They typically dont adhere to local building and fire codes. And they are usually located in and around the nations hottest and most creative cities, the places that draw in young people who cant afford to live there.

Officials fear that the warehome trend itself, as much as faulty wiring or errant fireproofing, could spark future cataclysms.

There are no official estimates of how many of these converted spaces are scattered through the nations most expensive cities. But there are probably at least 100 in the hyper-expensive San Francisco Bay Area alone, say those within the community.

Memorial for the Ghost Ship warehouse fire in Oakland. Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Unfortunately, such spaces are the only option that many of the artists believe they can afford if they want to remain in their cities of choice. In Oakland, rental studios go for a median $1,550 a month and one-bedrooms were leasing for $2,000 a month as of Dec. 1, according to Apartment List. Meanwhile, the median home price in Oakland is $547,000, according to realtor.com.

But artists, often living off sporadic meager paychecks, may be risking their lives for cheap rent, cool performance spaces, and a sense of creative community.

If you grew up in safe little residential spaces never thinking about fires and then in your 20s you decide to move to a cool new warehome, you might just assume its safe, says Gui Cavalcanti, founder of the legal artists workspace Artisans Asylum, located outside of Boston. But the fact is these converted industrial spaces arent designed for residential use.

Story continues

The appeal of warehome living: A vast and cheap creative space

Living in a warehome was a decision made out of necessity for Jose Avalos, 38, one of the roughly 20 to 25 residents of the 10,000-square-foot Ghost Ship. On the night of the blaze, roughly 100 people filled the building for a party. Avalos escaped the flames with his two dogs and his life. His next-door neighbor was not as fortunate.

It was the only place that would take me. It didnt matter that I had dogs and all my art supplies, says Avalos. These places exist all over the Bay Area. They are the only places that some of us can go.

Former Ghost Ship resident Jose Avalos. gofundme.com

The cabinetmaker from Southern California moved into a live/work studio in the warehome a little over two years ago. He paid $575 a month in rent and $40 a month for internet and trash pickup. He doesnt earn enough to pay much more in rent. Some units had kitchens. His did not.

The residents shared two bathrooms on the first floor and another two on the second floor. There were also communal kitchens and living rooms on both floors. He believes the fire began in the upstairs living room, which doubled as a performance space.

His neighbors were a mix of jewelry makers, computer coders, musicians, and painters who collaborated with one another and helped each other find work.

Everybody in there was my family, says Avalos.

The building was not permitted for residents or performances, and the city had started an investigation on the buildings illegal construction before the fire broke out. A city inspector visited the Ghost Ship on Nov. 17 but couldnt gain entry.

Warehomes are often appealing to many residents for their large footprint as much as for their bargain-basement rents.

One artist living and working in a Bay Area warehome, who requested anonymity, says the space itself has been the primary lure. The high ceilings where the 26-year-old circus performer lives have allowed her to practice aerial acts in her own home.

Having space held to experiment, play, design, and celebrate together is vital to creative development, says the artist, who also has a day job as a mechanical engineer. We need affordable places, yes, but we also need community and space to assemble.

In exchange, she pays $1,250 a month for a room in the building she shares with 16 fellow creatives. Her rent includes utilities and house supplies. The group also holds performancesunderground ones, not sanctioned by the city. (She was quick to point out there are fire alarms and extinguishers in each room as well as fire escape ladders on the second floor and glow-in-the-dark exit signs. Incense and candles are prohibited.)

Now, with her engineers salary, she could afford to move into an above-board residence. But she doesnt want to. And neither do most of her neighbors.

Artspace location in Duluth, MN. artspace.org

Artists are drawn to warehouses and buildings like that because of the natural light, high ceilings, big windows, [and] durable surfaces in which they can create large-scale projects, says Melodie Bahan, a spokeswoman for Artspace, a national nonprofit real estate developer for artists and arts groups based in Minneapolis. The organization has finished 42 projects, the majority of which are warehouses converted into (legal) live/work spaces, and has a dozen more in development.

What would it cost to bring warehomes up to code? A lot

Converting an old industrial building into a residential building up to current city safety standards is a very pricey propositionand may cost just as much as constructing a new building, says Jim Poteet, a San Antoniobased architect who has turned both a former candy factory and previous glass factory into high-end condos. He declined to provide estimates as costs vary widely by building and city.

Many former warehouses arent up to current industrial codes because they were built before the regulations were implemented or updated, he says.

To transform them into safe and legal housing, new stairwells and exits typically have to be added; aging handrails need to be replaced; and new or expanded sprinkler systems need to be installed. Modern and city-approved electrical systems and plumbing need to be added to each unit.

There are so many things in an old building that would need to be addressed, Poteet says. The [artists] who are occupying the buildings now wouldnt be able to reside there because they couldnt afford them once the costly renovations are made.

San Antonio warehouse turned into condos Chris Cooper

The folks who are converting warehouses into performance/living/work spaces often dont understand building codesor simply dont have the cash to meet local standards, says Cavalcanti, the workspace entrepreneur who left Boston and now lives in the Bay Area. Many of his friends live in warehomes.

There is certainly no shortage of long-shuttered, vacant industrial buildings on the outskirts of Americas top citiesand landlords willing to look the other way when potential tenants come knocking, he says. Those tenants can then subdivide the building into a series of rooms, dorm-style, with communal kitchens and a living room that can double as a performance space.

Adding to the warehome danger: Tenants dont always welcome city inspectors with open arms.

They see fire marshals and building inspectors not as people who could potentially help them or keep them safe, but as people who could evict them from their home, Cavalcanti says.

In the wake of the Ghost Ship fire, many Bay Area artists are now worried that their cities will shutter their illegal warehomes instead of helping them affordably bring them up to code. That will leave many of them homeless.

Displacing everybody is the worst thing they can do, says former Ghost Ship tenant Avalos. Even if theres more affordable housing, these places are not going to go away.  People need these places to release their passions. You cant do that in your studio apartment.

Thats a challenge for the Bay Area and the rest of the countys priciest metros.

The sanctity of life needs to be our highest priority, [but] we do not want to take measures to eradicate the artists communities of Oakland, Erica Terry Derryck, a spokeswoman for Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf tells realtor.com. We want to be able to find a path forward that protects our residents and protects our artists communities. It will be a tall order, but we are focused on being able to do both.

The first steps toward making top cities more affordable

Oakland, plagued by poverty and crime for decades, wasnt always so expensive. That made it especially appealing for artists. But as the tech boom led prices to reach mind-boggling heights in the Bay Area, the city has largely gentrified.

And unlike San Francisco, where theres been a building boom in recent years, there havent been very many housing units built in Oakland, says Sarah Karlinsky, a senior policy adviser at SPUR, an urban planning think tank based in San Francisco.

In the summer of 2015, the Mayors Artist Housing and Workspace Task Force was created to seek recommendations on how to address whats reaching crisis proportions.

And last month, voters in Oakland and encompassing Alameda County approved measures to earmark millions of dollars for the creation of new affordable housing.

Since the tragedy, the Oakland mayor announced that $1.7 million in philanthropic funds would go toward supporting sustainable solutions for creating more affordableand safehousing for Oakland artists.

Oakland used to be known as a place where people could live relatively affordably compared to San Francisco, says Gloria Bruce, executive director of the East Bay Housing Organizations, an Oakland-based umbrella association for local affordable housing groups. We really just need to have more housing thats affordable and housing thats safe.

The post Oakland Warehouse Fire Shows Affordable Housing Is a Tinderbox Issue appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com.
(OAKLAND, Calif.) The fire that killed 36 people during a party at an Oakland warehouse started on the ground floor and quickly raged, with smoke billowing into the second level and trapping victims whose only escape route was through the flames, federal investigators said Wednesday.

The occupants were consumed by smoke before they could get out of the building, said Jill Snyder, special agent in charge of the San Francisco office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

She also confirmed there were no sprinklers or fire alarm system in the building.

Officials previously said recovery efforts at the site had ended with the death toll remaining at 36.

Snyder reiterated that investigators were examining a refrigerator and other possibilities as a potential source of the fire but had not reached any conclusions. Investigators have not found evidence of arson, but she said they have also not ruled it out.

Snyder indicated it would be at least several weeks before the investigation was completed.

Officials hope to create a virtual, 3D reconstruction of the building for criminal and civil investigations and to provide answers to family members about their loved ones last moments, Alameda County sheriffs Sgt. Ray Kelly said.

Where was my son or daughter? Where were they standing? How come they didnt get out? he said. Families want answers. They need answers.

The fire broke out during a dance party Friday night in the cluttered warehouse.

The structure had been converted to artists studios and illegal living spaces, and former denizens said it was a death trap of piled wood, furniture, snaking electrical cords and only two exits.

Danielle Boudreaux, a 40-year-old hairdresser who was close with Derick Ion Almena, the founder of the artists colony, and his partner, Micah Allison, said it was full of extension cords plugged into each other that helped supply power to music equipment, microwaves and hot plates.

Story continues

There were also RVs inside, she said.

Almena has not responded to emails or calls by The Associated Press to phone numbers associated with him. He has said he didnt attend the event Friday night, and he is sorry.

City and state officials fielded complaints for years about dangerous conditions, drugs, neglected children, trash, thefts and squabbles at the warehouse, raising questions about why it wasnt shut down. The district attorney has warned of possible murder charges as she determines whether there were any crimes linked to the blaze.

The fire has cast a spotlight on similar artists colonies around the country that offer cheap housing but have raised safety concerns among neighbors and city officials.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said the city will look to strengthen regulations for smoke alarms and exits and clarify city employees responsibilities to monitor unsafe structures.

She said the city wants to engage the arts community in the review to ensure any changes dont jeopardize their access to affordable housing and work space.

On Wednesday, an Oakland restaurant owner, Dorothy King, called a news conference to say she was concerned the artists warehouse next to her business could pose a safety hazard.

Several artists tried to shout her down, accusing her of launching a witch hunt that could result in artists collectives being shut down.

King said that wasnt her intention.

Im concerned about my business burning down. Im concerned about a tragedy that could happen, she said. The city should come in and help, not shut it down.

In Los Angeles, City Attorney Mike Feuer told the Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/2h7NIpN) that he will meet next week with the fire chief and the head of the building and safety department to discuss what he calls an aggressive response to illegal apartment and loft conversions in commercial buildings.
Asa and Colin Dodsworth were late. The two brothers, thirty-something Berkeley natives who are longtime fixtures in the East Bay's underground art and party scene, had meant to leave Asa's house in West Berkeley for a warehouse party in East Oakland before midnight. However, an argument with the mother of Asa's child held the pair up. When they finally got on the freeway around 2 AM, Asa turned to his younger brother and said, "the place we're going is a tinderbox."

His words would prove prophetic. The party they were headed to was at the Ghost Ship on 31st Avenue and International Boulevard, a 9,900 square foot outpost of Burner culture in East Oakland's heavily working class and Latino Fruitvale District. By the time they arrived, the building had been burning for hours after an electrical fire broke out among kitchen appliances in an illegal living space at the back of the warehouse.

According to people who had spent time in the warehouse, the building siphoned power from neighboring properties, with exposed and overloaded electrical wiring running through the structure. Ghost Ship, which had been run by Derick "Ion" Almena, 46, and his wife Micah Allison since 2012, was packed full of ornate East Asian wood furniture, defunct pianos and organs, rugs, drapes and illegally partitioned into separate living quarters. A narrow staircase made from wooden pallets led up to a second story, where dozens of people danced to electronic music spun by local DJ Johnny Igaz.

As the electrical fire ignited, the lights went out, thick smoke billowed up to the second floor and the Ghost Ship went up like kindling. By the time firefighters from Station 13, merely a block away, pulled up to the warehouse, the blaze was already raging. Only a handful of people reportedly made it out of the building. 36 partygoers perished in the blaze, making it the deadliest fire in the city's history, outstripping even the catastrophic Oakland Hills fire in 1991 that killed 25 people. Among the dead were several figures from the city's close-knit music, art and transgender communities. The tragedy has rocked this city of 400,000 people, which has long struggled with gun violence, and is now in the throes of a housing and gentrification crisis driven by San Francisco's tech boom.

"There weren't many survivors: people either made it out, or they didn't make it out," said Sergeant Ray Kelly of the Alameda County Sheriff's Department on Saturday morning in front of the smoldering warehouse.

However, interviews and city records indicate that city agencies aware of complaints about Ghost Ship and Almena and had taken police reports and code complaints about the property. Two complaints about trash and illegal habitation had been filed as recently as mid November, and a city inspector had attempted to conduct an inspection of the warehouse on November 14th, but was turned around when no one answered the door. The Oakland firefighter's union has told multiple local media outlets that the fire department's inspection database is so flawed that the Ghost Ship building isn't even listed in the city's database.

Not only that, people had warned Almena about the serious risk of fire at the Ghost Ship. Asa Dodsworth had spoken to Almena about conditions in the building during a party thrown by the S.P.A.Z. Collective at the Ghost Ship in early 2015, that resulted in a confrontation with Almena over how much money the event hosts owed him. "It was terrifying, the building's interior was if you had taken a bunch of kindling and made art out of it," Dodsworth said, also recalling he spent half an hour trying unsuccessfully to find a secondary exit. "I offered to bring fire extinguishers to the warehouse and install them the next day, but he wasn't interested," Dodsworth said of his interaction with Almena.

Another woman who knew Almena well, and showed up to the Ghost Ship as the fire burned to help guide firefighters through the warehouse, said she had spoken to Almena about the dangers of the property multiple times. She said she had advised him to install emergency lights, working fire extinguishers and fire escapes on the second floor, and to create a secondary exit. She said that Almena was receptive and complained that his landlord would not help them with their electricity, but he never took her up on her offer to improve fire safety on the property.

On Wednesday, the ATF announced that the building did not appear to have any fire-suppression system or alarms.

The building and the adjacent lot -- which are owned by Chor Ng, who acquired the property in 1988 and has dozens of other warehouses in Alameda, San Francisco and Santa Clara counties -- is zoned commercially, and did not change status when Almena took over the lease in 2012. Ms. Ng's daughter has told numerous media outlets that she was unaware anyone lived on the property. However, people familiar with the property said that approximately 20 people lived in the building or trailers in the adjacent lot, facts that would have been apparent during even a cursory visit to the warehouse.

A drifter and a former marijuana grower in Mendocino County, Almena had run an art gallery and community center known as "Satya Yuga" in several buildings throughout the East Bay since at least 2006. According to participants in the music festival scene who wished to remain anonymous, Almena was a regular at gatherings like Symbiosis, where he would hire people to set up Satya Yuga "altars," composed of the same ornate East Asian furniture that packed the Ghost Ship warehouse.

Almena, his wife and three children were not on the property that night. Two days after the fire, he was interviewed by local TV station KGO at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Oakland. "They're my children. They're my friends. They're my family. They're my loves. They're my future. What else do I have to say?" Almena told a reporter. He and his landlord, Chor Ng, are the targets of a criminal investigation by Alameda District Attorney Nancy O'Malley.

In the aftermath, there have been calls by city officials and local businesses to crack down on the untold number of live/work warehouses that have proliferated in Oakland's post-industrial flatlands over the past two decades. Some of those spaces that were more safety-conscious and once hosted events like Friday's fatal party -- like the LoBot gallery, Otherworld and Ghost Town Gallery -- have been evicted, and replaced either by new high-end developments, or tenants paying significantly more rent.

Vinnie, a long-time acquaintance of Almena and participant in the Oakland arts and festival scene, said Friday's party would have been at one of the now-shuttered venues instead of the Ghost Ship. "There is literally nowhere else to go," Vinnie said. "We used to be at LoBot, it shut down, Otherworld shut down - every spot I've been to, that we used to throw events at, they're not there anymore."
- Richard McLaren's full report into doping in Russia, set to be published Friday, will pose an "immediate challenge" to the International Olympic Committee, according to IOC president Thomas Bach. The IOC on Wednesday pre-empted the report's publication by extending sanctions against Russia until further notice, despite Bach insisting Thursday "I cannot speculate, I don't know the report". Bach, speaking after a three-day meeting of the IOC executive board, added: "For the IOC, the challenges are obvious. We we will have an immediate challenge tomorrow with the final McLaren report. "We will deal (with it) as soon as we have the report. It will be handed to the two (IOC) commissions, then they will take contact with McLaren and will take up their work immediately."

AFP
Heres one freaky thing you should know before using in-flight wifi the next time you fly

Ya, so we are totally not okay with this. Apparently the government is tracking your internet use when youre on an airplane. We bet you had no idea!

Everyone knows that you have to turn off your data, or put your phone on airplane mode, but what happens when you decide to use the airlines free wifi network to watch Netflix on your phone? What about when you actually pay for wifi to get your latest term paper done, or just have it on as you fly?

Well, according to a new report from Le Monde, a French newspaper, the government is tracking you every time you use the internet on an airplane. The publication revealed that American and British intelligence agencies have been tracking phone use on different airlines since 2005.

This was way before wifi was so common on flights within these countries, so you can only imagine how much worse the tracking will become now that we all use our phones all the time while traveling.

The publication explained that Aviation security authorities have all approved the use of GSM phones on aircrafts and therefore the years 2016, 2017 and 2018 will become the years of long-term installation of in-flight wifi, which leads to more tracking.

This will further extend the scope of espionage by providing a pool of potential targets comprising several hundreds of thousands of people, a level of popularity anticipated by the NSA seven years ago, Le Monde reported. This implies a population that goes far beyond terrorist targets. The political or economic surveillance of passengers in business or in first class on long-haul flights could be put to many other uses.

These scary revelations were supplied by National Security Agency whistleblower, Edward Snowden, Thrillist reported.

It all points to a program called Thieving Magpie, orchestrated by Great Britains GCHQ, which enables government sleepers to pinpoint your location anytime your phone is turned on above 10,000 feet, the publication explained.

While these tracking mechanisms are meant to find terrorists and see whats happening on a political front, its pretty freaky knowing that every time you turn on your phone or use wifi on a plane, youre being watched!

The post Heres one freaky thing you should know before using in-flight wifi the next time you fly appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f311998%2fjk_rowling_favourite_harry_potter_moment

LONDON  Choosing a favourite moment from the Harry Potter books is a tough ask.

There are just so many, right? Dumbledore dueling Voldemort... Neville lopping the head off Nagini... Snape meeting Harry's eyes for one last time. How do you single out favourite moments from a series that is so jam-packed full of brilliant bits?

SEE ALSO: 5 articles that'll only make sense to true 'Harry Potter' fans

When I re-read the books recently one of the parts that struck me the hardest was a line of dialogue I'd almost forgotten about.

It turns out Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda feels the same way.

In a series of tweets posted on Thursday, Miranda highlighted some of the pop culture events that have left their biggest mark on him.

POP CULTURE EVENTS FROM WHICH I HAVE STILL NOT RECOVERED, MANY YEARS LATER: A thread by Lin-Manuel Miranda  Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) December 7, 2016

After shouting out the likes of Michael Jackson, David Bowie and Shakira, Miranda moved on to Harry Potter.

THIS MOMENT, @jk_rowling:

"I am not worried, Harry,"said Dumbledore, his voice a little stronger despite the freezing water."I am with you."  Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) December 7, 2016

How well do you remember that moment?

It takes place at the end of Chapter Twenty-Six in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, as Harry is helping a badly injured Dumbledore from the cave in which Voldemort concealed one of his Horcruxes.

I'm not going to waffle on about it too much here  I already did that in another article I wrote recently (scroll to point number 11 on the list)  but there's no doubt that it is a truly beautiful exchange.

Story continues

On Thursday morning, Rowling responded to Miranda.

Cannot tell you what this means (from you), because this moment is one of my very favourites. Always feel HBP gets overshadowed by DH... https://t.co/94cwNSCa2H  J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 8, 2016

Dumbledore may have been gone now for almost two decades, but his legacy lives on.

BONUS: Unlocking a chamber of secrets about the 'Harry Potter' movies
Beepi, an online marketplace for buying and selling used cars, has hit a major pothole.

The company, which was operating in 16 U.S. cities, plans to shut down in non-profitable markets outside of California, laying off 180 workers, and merging with a not-yet-launched venture called Fair, a statement from Beepi confirmed. Beepi operated in Arizona, California, Florida, New York, and Washington as well as the greater Washington D.C. area. Neither company would say how many markets would be shuttered. News about the shakeup was first reported by tech news site TechCrunch.

In a statement, Beepi painted a rosy picture of its alliance with Fair by saying that its joining forces with a number of automotive industry veterans to integrate dealers into Beepi's digital car-buying platform. Those veterans include Georg Bauer, formerly of BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Tesla; Scott Painter, formerly of TrueCar; and Fedor Artiles, formerly of Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler, Volkswagen, and Tesla.

Ale Resnik, co-founder and CEO of Beepi described the relationship with Fair.com as a partnership. But this partnership comes with a significant pivot. Fairs business model includes car dealers selling on its site, while Beepis was based on consumers buying and selling cars between themselves.

From the statement provided by Beepi to Fortune:

The number one objective will be to scale the business profitably while also integrating dealer partners. Beepi will shift its focus by tapping into a ready supply of high-quality cars for customers, and its infrastructure will be well positioned to deliver in a radically different way that modern customers have grown accustomed to.

Beepi marketed its business around a 240-point inspection that all cars must pass before being sold on the marketplace. Professional inspectors would visit the sellers home to verify that cars listed were in good condition as a way to help build trust with customers.

Story continues

Get Data Sheet, Fortune's technology newsletter

Beepi competed with several other online used car startups including Carvana, Shift, and Vroom. In the past year, Beepi tried to differentiate itself from rivals and earn more revenue by adding new services including car auctions. It also added a used car leasing option for customers and full nationwide delivery.

Beepi, which employed 270 people as of September, had raised nearly $149 million over the past two years from venture capital firms including Redpoint, Sherpa Ventures, Foundation Capital, Capital Invent, and DE Shaw. Part of the money came from $70 million raised in a funding round last year led by SAIC Motor Corporation, one of China's largest domestic automakers and parts supplier.

Still, those funding goals fell short of the $300 million that Beepis CEO had once suggested was imminent.

Getting a clear picture of Beepis finances is difficult. It never shared specific revenue numbers, instead preferring to provide fuzzier metrics like percentage growth in sales.

Beepi may have shopped itself around, at least informally, before it partnered with Fair. Shift CEO George Arison sent an email obtained by Fortune to update his employees about the news that implied that Beepi was on the block.

We've suspected that this may happen; in fact Beepi even approached us recently about buying their company, Arison said in the email. I am sad for everyone at Beepi who will be impacted by this news. That said, I want to emphasize that this ultimately will present opportunities for Shift.

Fortune has confirmed that Beepi approached Shift through back channels, according Shift business and product chief Toby Russell. However, Shifts board never received a formal sales presentation.

Beepis exit does present an opportunity for Shift, which despite its different business model that includes test drives before buying, still competed with the startup. For instance, since Beepi stopped advertising in the past week Shift's conversions on ads increased over 25% in both San Francisco and Los Angeles, according to Arisons email.

See original article on Fortune.com

More from Fortune.com
By Alex Lawler and Rania El Gamal

LONDON/DUBAI (Reuters) - Only five of 14 non-OPEC oil producers have agreed so far to meet the group on Saturday for talks aimed at widening a deal to reduce output, casting doubt on whether OPEC will secure the full cuts it is seeking, two OPEC sources said.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which finalised its first oil output cut in eight years last month to prop up prices, is to hold talks with non-member countries in Vienna in the hope that they will also limit supply.

The last time non-OPEC countries joined the organisation in cutting output, in late 2001 as prices dropped in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, non-members promised cuts of 462,000 barrels per day, not quite the 500,000 bpd OPEC then sought.

Currently, Russia has said it will cut 300,000 bpd, meaning other non-OPEC producers combined will need to pledge the same amount to lower output by the 600,000 bpd OPEC wants - half the reduction OPEC is making.

Some OPEC sources familiar with discussions were reasonably sure the outside producers would deliver enough commitments.

"I think they will," said one. "It should not be that difficult."

Other OPEC sources were sceptical a pledge for the full amount would be made this time. Among the 14 non-OPEC countries invited to attend Saturday's meeting, only Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Oman, Mexico and Russia have accepted.

"It's not clear," a second source said. "Wait until Saturday."

A third OPEC source said cut pledges amounting to 500,000 bpd were more likely.

Besides Russia, only Oman has publicly stated it is willing to cut production. In public comments, Azerbaijan has indicated it will lower supply, while Kazakhstan has said it is undecided.

OPEC President Mohammed al-Sada, speaking at the Nov. 30 news conference after OPEC finalised its output reduction, was confident that non-OPEC would deliver the 600,000 bpd.

Saturday's meeting at OPEC's Vienna headquarters will start at 10:00 a.m. local time (0900 GMT) and be chaired jointly by Sada and Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, according to a draft copy of the agenda seen by Reuters.

OPEC will still implement its cut of 1.2 million bpd even if Russia becomes the only non-member to contribute, OPEC member Nigeria said on Wednesday.

(Editing by Dale Hudson)
(Deletes incorrectly-attributed tweet in paragraph 13)

By Asad Hashim

ISLAMABAD, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Pakistan on Thursday mourned the 47 victims of its deadliest plane crash in four years, among them a famed-rockstar-turned-Muslim evangelist, two infants and three foreigners, as officials sought to pinpoint the cause of the disaster.

Engine trouble was initially believed responsible, but many questions remain, stirring new worries about the safety record of money-losing state carrier Pakistani International Airlines.

The ATR-42 aircraft involved in the crash had undergone regular maintenance, including an "A-check" certification in October, airline chairman Muhammad Azam Saigol said.

"I want to make it clear that it was a perfectly sound aircraft," Saigol said, ruling out technical or human error.

The aircraft appeared to have suffered a failure in one of its two turboprop engines just before the crash, he said, but this would have to be confirmed by an investigation.

"I think there was no technical error or human error," he told a news conference late on Wednesday. "Obviously there will be a proper investigation."

Outpourings of grief erupted online soon after flight PK661 smashed into the side of a mountain near the town of Havelian, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, late on Wednesday afternoon, after taking off from the mountain resort of Chitral.

It crashed just 50 km (31 miles) short of its destination, the international airport in Islamabad, the capital.

Much of the anguish focused on Junaid Jamshed, the vocalist of Vital Signs, one of Pakistan's first and most successful rock and pop bands of the 1990s, who abandoned his musical career in 2001 to become a travelling evangelist with the conservative Tableeghi Jamaat group.

Many of the reactions on social network Twitter spoke to this apparent dichotomy between his two lives, first as a hearthrob pop sensation singing about love and heartbreak, and later as a stern, bearded preacher admonishing youth for straying from Islam.

Story continues

"Junaid Jamshed's journey was so quintessentially Pakistani. Conflicted, passionate, devoted, ubersmart, and so, so talented. Tragic loss," Mosharraf Zaidi, an Islamabad-based development professional and analyst, said in a tweet.

Others simply shared his band's many chart-topping hits, such as 'Dil Dil Pakistan', which has become an unofficial anthem, played at public gatherings since its release in 1987.

FOREIGNERS AMONG THE DEAD

Two infants, three foreigners and five crew were among the passengers on the doomed flight, the manifest showed.

The foreigners included two Austrians and a Chinese man, the airline said. Foreign tourists increasingly flock to Chitral every year, besides thousands of domestic visitors, as Pakistan emerges from years of violence caused by a Taliban insurgency.

A member of Chitral's traditional royal family, his wife and family were among the dead, besides a Chitral administration official, Osama Ahmad Warraich, whose wife and infant daughter also died, the Dawn newspaper said on Thursday.

SAFETY CONCERNS

The aircraft, made by French company ATR in 2007, had racked up 18,739 flight hours since joining PIA's fleet that year.

Its captain, Saleh Janjua, had logged more than 12,000 flight hours over his career, the airline said.

Concerns are growing over air safety in Pakistan as media in recent years have reported near-misses following overshot runways, engines catching fire and landing gear deployment failures.

In the worst such disaster, in 2010, all 152 people on board were killed when a passenger plane operated by airline Air Blue crashed in heavy rain near Islamabad.

Two years later, all 127 aboard were killed when a plane operated by Bhoja Air crashed near Islamabad.

(Additional reporting by Jibran Ahmad, Amjad Ali, Mehreen Zahra-Malik Editing by Kay Johnson and Clarence Fernandez)
Indias new rules could pull plug on Nepal-based electricity developers

The Indian governments new guidelines on cross-border electricity trading could pour cold water on Nepal-based private power producers plans to export electricity to the southern neighbour.
By Mehreen Zahra-Malik and Asad Hashim ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan on Thursday mourned the 47 victims of its deadliest plane crash in four years, including a famed rock star-turned-Muslim evangelist, as officials sought to pinpoint the cause of the disaster. Engine trouble was initially believed responsible, but many questions remain, stirring new worries about the safety record of money-losing state carrier Pakistani International Airlines. The ATR-42 aircraft involved in the crash had undergone regular maintenance, including an "A-check" certification in October, said airline chairman Muhammad Azam Saigol. "I want to make it clear that it was a perfectly sound aircraft," Saigol said. The aircraft appeared to have suffered a failure in one of its two turboprop engines just before the crash, he added, but this would have to be confirmed by an investigation. "I think there was no technical error or human error," Saigol told a news conference late on Wednesday. "Obviously there will be a proper investigation." Grief erupted online soon after flight PK661 smashed into the side of a mountain near the town of Havelian, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, on Wednesday, after taking off from the mountain resort region of Chitral. It crashed just 50 km (31 miles) short of its destination, the international airport in Islamabad, the capital. A PIA spokesman said the pilot, who issued a "mayday" emergency call before the crash, may have prevented an even bigger catastrophe by manoeuvring the plane away from populated areas. "It seems that the pilot directed it away from people's homes. Otherwise there could have been even more damage," Daniyal Gillani told Reuters outside a morgue at an Islamabad hospital where bodies were being identified. Stunned relatives gathered there, some weeping quietly, others besieging officials with questions. "What can I tell you?" said Raja Amir, as he waited for his mother's remains. "I don't know what we will get of her. There is still another hell to go through." Remains continue to be brought by helicopter to Islamabad, where DNA tests will be used to identify them. Television images appeared to show rescue officials retrieving the aircraft's "black box" flight recorder from the wreckage, and the airline confirmed the recovery to the Geo News channel. ROCK STAR AND ROYALTY Much of the public's anguish focused on Junaid Jamshed, the vocalist of Vital Signs, one of Pakistan's first and most successful bands of the 1990s, who abandoned his music career in 2001 to become a travelling evangelist with the conservative Tableeghi Jamaat group. Many comments on social network Twitter pointed up the contrast between his two roles, first as a pop sensation singing about love and heartbreak, and then as a stern, bearded preacher admonishing young people for straying from Islam. "Junaid Jamshed's journey was so quintessentially Pakistani. Conflicted, passionate, devoted, ubersmart, and so, so talented. Tragic loss," Mosharraf Zaidi, an Islamabad-based development professional and analyst, said in a tweet. Others simply shared his band's many hits, such as 'Dil Dil Pakistan', which has become an unofficial anthem, played at public gatherings since its release in 1987. Among the 46 others who perished were two infants, three foreigners - two Austrians and a Chinese man - and five crew listed on the manifest. Foreign tourists increasingly travel to Chitral, along with numerous domestic visitors, as Pakistan emerges from years of militant violence. The dead included a member of Chitral's traditional royal family, his wife and family, besides a regional administrative official, Osama Ahmad Warraich, killed with his wife and infant daughter. At a funeral for the Warraich family, Osama's mother was seen waving at the coffins and weeping: "Let me say goodbye to my kids one more time". SAFETY CONCERNS The aircraft, made by French company ATR in 2007, had racked up 18,739 flight hours since joining PIA's fleet that year. Its captain, Saleh Janjua, had logged more than 12,000 flight hours over his career, the airline said. Concern is growing over air safety as media in recent years have reported several near-misses. In the worst disaster, in 2010, all 152 people on board were killed when a plane operated by airline Air Blue crashed in heavy rain near Islamabad. Two years later, all 127 aboard were killed when a plane operated by Bhoja Air crashed near the city. The father of one of the crew who died lashed out at PIA and the government, saying better management could have prevented the crash. "I have no hope," Raja Abdul Ghaffar said after the body of his son was brought to the morgue. "I am left with nothing." (Additional reporting by Jibran Ahmad, Amjad Ali; Writing by Asad Hashim; Editing by Kay Johnson and Clarence Fernandez)
The remains of a number of the victims of the December 7 Pakistan International Airlines crash were transferred to Islamabad on December 8. The flight went down in Pakistans Abbottabad district while en route from Chitral to Islamabad.

The remains were transferred to the capital for DNA testing intended to help in identifying them.

According to Pakistans airport authority, all 47 passengers and crew aboard the aircraft at the time were killed. Credit: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty via Storyful
KARACHI/MUMBAI (Reuters) - Pakistan has resumed cotton imports from its top supplier India after suspending them for few days, government and industry officials told Reuters on Thursday.

The resumption in the cotton trade will help India in exporting surplus, while Pakistan will benefit from cheaper supplies from the neighbouring country.

Last month Pakistan suspended cotton imports from India, saying shipments failed to fulfil phyto-sanitary certification, threatening the $822 million-a-year trade.

"Our move was portrayed as if we had banned imports," Imran Shami, director general of Pakistans Plant Protection Department (DPP) told Reuters, so we have started re-issuing permits, he added. Authorities are still working on the certification issue.

Indian traders have signed contracts to export 350,000 bales to Pakistan since the start of the marketing year on Oct.1. Out of that nearly 300,000 bales for shipments in December and January were stuck after Pakistan suspended imports.

"Since Pakistan has started issuing import permits, we are hopeful that buyers will fulfil the contracts," said an exporter based in the western state of Gujarat.

In 2015/16, Pakistan surpassed Bangladesh to become India's biggest cotton buyer, accounting for 40 percent of exports.

"Pakistan still needs to import at least 2 to 2.5 million bales. Resumption in trading will help both the countries," said Chirag Patel, chief executive officer of Indian exporter Jaydeep Cotton Fibers.

Pakistan's cotton consumption is pegged around 15 million bales, while it is likely to produce around 10.5 million bales, Patel said.

Last year, Pakistan bought 2.7 million bales from India and supported Indian cotton prices at a time when China was cutting imports, traders said.

(Reporting by Syed Raza Hassan and Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
Jerusalem (AFP) - An 18-year-old Palestinian threatened Israeli border police with a knife at a flashpoint junction in the occupied West Bank on Thursday and was shot dead, Israeli authorities said.

The incident occurred at the Tapuah junction near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, where a number of attacks have taken place in recent months, police said.

Police said: "A suspect approached border police suspiciously.

"The border police called upon him to identify himself," spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said in a statement.

"He continued towards them and then pulled out a knife. Border police responded and the terrorist was neutralised. No injuries to officers at the scene."

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the Palestinian had been killed and identified him as an 18-year-old from the West Bank city of Qalqilya.

A wave of Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming attacks erupted in October 2015, but the violence has greatly subsided in recent months.

Since October 2015, 242 Palestinians, 36 Israelis, two Americans, a Jordanian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese have been killed, according to an AFP count.

Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to Israeli authorities.

Others were shot dead during protests or clashes, while some died in Israeli air strikes on Gaza.

The vast majority of attacks have been carried out by lone wolves, many of them young.

Israel says incitement by Palestinian leaders and media is a leading cause of the violence.

Many analysts say Palestinian frustration with the Israeli occupation and settlement construction in the West Bank, comatose peace efforts and their own fractured leadership have helped feed the unrest.
LONDON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The British parliament's vote on Wednesday to back Prime Minister Theresa May's plan to trigger Brexit by end-March is "highly significant" to the legal battle over who has the power to authorise the step, a government lawyer said on Thursday.

The comment was made in the Supreme Court by James Eadie, who is acting for the government in an appeal against a ruling that would oblige ministers to seek parliament's assent before triggering Article 50, the EU's exit clause.

Lawmakers voted 448 to 75 on Wednesday to support a motion calling on the government to give details of its Brexit plan, but also backing the government's timetable to trigger the divorce procedure by the end of March.

"We respectfully submit that that is highly significant," Eadie told the Supreme Court.

"It isn't legally binding but that doesn't mean it isn't legally relevant. It provides the sharpest of focuses on the nature of the issues now in play, because the House of Commons has given specific approval to the government to give that (Article 50) notice and indeed has called on them to do so by a particular date." (Reporting by Estelle Shirbon; editing by Stephen Addison)
LONDON (Reuters) - The British parliament's vote on Wednesday to back Prime Minister Theresa May's plan to trigger Brexit by end-March is "highly significant" to the legal battle over who has the power to authorize the step, a government lawyer said on Thursday. The comment was made in the Supreme Court by James Eadie, who is acting for the government in an appeal against a ruling that would oblige ministers to seek parliament's assent before triggering Article 50, the EU's exit clause. Lawmakers voted 448 to 75 on Wednesday to support a motion calling on the government to give details of its Brexit plan, but also backing the government's timetable to trigger the divorce procedure by the end of March. "We respectfully submit that that is highly significant," Eadie told the Supreme Court. "It isn't legally binding but that doesn't mean it isn't legally relevant. It provides the sharpest of focuses on the nature of the issues now in play, because the House of Commons has given specific approval to the government to give that (Article 50) notice and indeed has called on them to do so by a particular date." (Reporting by Estelle Shirbon; editing by Stephen Addison)
MARRAKECH, Morocco  Dutch helmer Paul Verhoeven, whose most recent pic, Elle, is Frances entry to the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, received a career tribute at the 16th Marrakech International Film Festival, which he said was the first time he has accepted such a homage.

The ceremony was preceded by a screening of Robocop in Marrakechs Place Jemaa el-Fna.

The career tribute included a screening of Elle, presented by lead actress Isabelle Huppert, who was Marrakech jury president in 2014 and in recent weeks has received three major best actress awards  at the Gotham Awards, and from the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. and New York Film Critics Circle.

Greeting the audience in Arabic, to large applause, Huppert said that, since his first film, Turkish Delight we have been captivated by his obsessions, provocative spirit and his taste for representing the shock of raw violence.

Soldiers of Orange, which received a Golden Globe nomination for best foreign language film in 1980, first caught the attention of Steven Spielberg, who invited Verhoeven to film in the U.S. but that it was only after Flesh and Blood that he finally considered working on the other side of the Atlantic.

Paul adapted to working in Hollywood with insolence and brilliance, he imposed his fantasies and style. Like Milos Forman and Roman Polanksi before him, he brought a European influence to American cinema, Huppert said.

After listing his key Hollywood pics, including what she called the sulphurous Basic Instinct, Huppert spoke about her experience as lead actress on Elle, which competed this year at Cannes.

For me the adventure of this film was extraordinary. I always dreamt of working with Paul since I was very young and first discovered Turkish Delight. Orson Welles once said that a director shouldnt impose a method on an actor. Whats important is what actors will do. You should discover which direction they will go and make actors believe that they are better than in reality. He is right. With you Paul, one feels free. You gave me confidence to go beyond my own limits, Huppert added.

Story continues

She went on: That is what a great director is. Welles also said that everyone should be happy during the shoot. Well we were all happy while making this film, and this evening I feel so happy to give you this prize and to say to you and to everyone, that I love you, because of your freedom, immense talent and singularity, that is so essential for cinema.

Verhoeven took the stage to explain that the last and only other time that he was in Marrakech was over 20 years ago, when he was preparing a film about the Crusades, with Arnold Schwarzenegger. They traveled to Casablanca, Marrakech, Ouarzazate and the Sahara desert,

and started to build the streets and walls of Jerusalem. But Carolco, its production company, was in financial problems and ultimately went bankrupt.I really regret never making it. I thought it would have been something wonderful, he added.

At the age of 78, this was the first time he had received a career tribute, he said, thanking Huppert for her affection and praise.

Working with Isabelle was probably the most inspiring collaboration with an actor or actress in my entire life. She is an actress beyond the norm and beyond the super norm. Unique in her class. I have never worked with an actress who is so mysterious to a certain degree and so talented and courageous, Verhoeven said.

He added: Its interesting because we didnt talk too much about character or psychology. We talked more about the color of her dress, than why she makes the strange expressions and moves you will see her make in this film. I am very happy that Isabelle lives on this planet and was working with me.

Talking about Elle, Verhoeven says that he slowly realized he would have to shoot it in French, which came as a shock, because he would have to talk to everyone in French.

It gave me terrible headaches for months before shooting, but when I started that all disappeared because I had such a wonderful cast and crew. For me in a way, it was like coming back to Europe again, after a long stay in the United States.

Huppert rounded off by saying that Verhoevens French was excellent and that it was an extraordinary adventure because of the helmers wild imagination and the strength and force of his directing vision.

He carries everyone with ease, and courteousness. While on screen we see extraordinary violence, disturbing images that shake the status quo and that challenge established ideas, the shoot itself had incredible energy and good humor. These were wonderful, gentle weeks, like an enchanted period for me.

Prior to the ceremony, Verhoeven provided a 90-minute masterclass in Marrakech, in which he provided further insights into his working methods and the experience of making Elle.

He began by saying that he is optimistic and that perhaps he is going in the right direction, while admitting that there are always setbacks.

Even with Elle it wasnt clear that it would be highly praised. It wasnt even clear at the beginning that Isabelle Huppert would be the star in the film. Although now I cant imagine how I could have made it without her. I dont believe that any other actress in the world could have done what she did. Shes audacious and has enormous talent.

He said that he felt that his Hollywood career was over in 2002, after making Hollow Men, but now thinks that its back on track and he would love to work in France again, because of the rich talent pool.

He then revealed that the most challenging aspect of having made Elle was perhaps dealing with the American controversies that have followed the movie since its release.

In all countries in Europe where the film has been released  England, France, Belgium, Holland, Spain etc  there has been no controversy, but now that it has been released in the U.S. its already a problem, in terms of the response to rape shown in the film. Some critics were very angry.

He said that in the beginning he and his producer Said Ben Said, had thought of setting the film in the U.S. and shooting in English, but when we started to talk about co-financing and casting we received an absolute no. Any actress of name immediately said no. That went on for a few months. It seemed to be going nowhere. We realized we couldnt make this movie in the U.S. not just for formal reasons but because of the morals of the movie. So we had to go back to France.

Verhoeven says it was scary to work in another culture and other language, although he says that when he was 17 he lived for a year in northern France and had a French girlfriend  but that was 60 years ago. He took a crash course in French while living in Holland, 10 hours a day, and then did everything in French.

Isabelle basically set the tone for the movie, aspects such as the sense of irony. The character was in her hands. Many scenes could have been done in so many bad ways. But she always found the best way to be innovative and avoid cliche, Verhoeven said.

He added: She finds new ways to jump over things that could easily be a cliche. She sees the pitfalls and moves around them.

The Dutch helmer explained that he doesnt go into depth in relation to the psychology of each character, and instead follows Hitchcocks maxim that one should cast the actor because people know them in s specific way.

I cast an actor because of the way that they are seen by the audience. In North by Northwest we know why Hitchcock used Cary Grant instead of James Stewart. He brought the right mix of lightness and a little wink wink. The first thing that I expect from an actor is that they will be what they have been before  a prolongation and extension of what they have already done.

He explained that when casting Huppert he felt that her character had a deep connection with her role with Hanekes Piano Teacher and even in Amour as the daughter.

She has that special kind of coldness and strangeness. But she can also do very different roles. I wanted that depth.

He said they kept clear of psychology, which kept up the surprise factor.

In the last third of the film when her character discovers who raped her, she goes in the opposite direction to what we would normally expect. Instead of looking for revenge she stretches out her hand. We didnt discuss this. We didnt try to know exactly what she felt and how she would behave. I felt from the first moment, one-to-two days into the shoot that I should never try to talk too much or try to explain things. Everything she did was correct and often better than what I had in mind.

Verhoeven also talked about how he shrugs off criticism which has always dogged his films, saying that even in the beginning of his career, with Spetters, the film was very successful but was criticized a great deal, with people saying that he had gone too far.

He explained that it was such criticism which led him to abandon the Netherlands and leave for Hollywood, because the juries that handed out subsidies began to refuse to support his projects.

At the time ,the people on the juries were very left wing and the movies I made were seen as not being intellectual or sociological enough, without any philosophical base. They felt that I should not get state money any more.

Verhoeven said that it was his wife who forced him to go to Hollywood- She felt that I should not live in this humiliating situation and kneel down to the committees.

He explained that he doesnt try to be provocative but has always been criticized from some quarters. I am not looking for provocation. I film what I think is reality.

Even for his first U.S. pic, Robocop, Verhoeven had to recut the film seven-to-eight times before it could be released and was only released in the directors cut in Europe.

In relation to Starship Troopers, he said he was also surprised by criticism that the film was proto-fascist because he was deliberately trying to mock such movements, and added that the film was perhaps unfortunately prescient of trends in America.

He says that several shots were directly inspired by Leni Riefenstahls 1934 Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will.

A lot of critics didnt see what we were doing. In the Washington Post, they said that myself and the writer were neo-Nazis. Its amazing that they didnt see we were criticizing the heroes in the story. I hope the film isnt too prophetic.

For the final question of the masterclass, Verhoeven said that his favorite Russian film of all time is Eisensteins classic Ivan the Terrible, Part II which he says he has watched once or twice a year after first seeing it as a student.

I was so impressed by the film, I suddenly realized that film is an art form. Its a wonderful movie. I always wanted to make something like that.

Related stories

Isabelle Huppert on Paul Verhoeven's 'Elle' and Mia Hansen-Love's 'Things To Come'

Marrakech: Career Tributes For Paul Verhoeven, Isabelle Adjani, Shinya Tsukamoto, Abderrahim Tounsi

Isabelle Huppert on How She Tackles Difficult Roles Like 'Elle'
Over the years, customers have watched Starbucks SBUX transform from a standard corner coffee chain to a sprawling multinational empire with a diverse range of concept stores. Loyal drinkers can now head to Starbucks for everything from a cup of black coffee to a glass of wine and a sandwich.

Starbucks recently announced that it is doubling down on some of its more upscale store experiences. For one, the company will be expanding its Roastery concept, which debuted as a larger store in the companys hometown of Seattle that offers small batches of premium drinks in a tasting-room-style atmosphere.

Starbucks said that it plans to open 20 to 30 Roasteries around the world, with Shanghai and New York options coming first.

The company also revealed plans to transform its Reserve brand of premium coffees into a new cafe concept. The Reserve shops will be about twice as large as a standard Starbucks store and will offer pricier caffeinated beveragesas high as $10 a cup for certain coffee drinkand alcoholic drinks.

One of the running jokes that surrounds Starbucks is the idea that a crazed coffee drinker can easily drop $6 to $7 on a single beverage by upgrading everything. Most people spend less than that when they head in for their daily cup, but its not out of the realm of possibility.

Starbucks isnt joking around here though. These $10 beverages are meant to be more than just a drink; theyre meant to be an experience. These new concept stores arent about getting your necessary caffeine; theyre about doing something. Think of it as the difference between grabbing a Bud Light at your local pub and going into a local craft brewery for a tour and samples.

You really want to know how serious Starbucks is about these new concepts? Long-time CEO Howard Schultz is stepping down from his role in order to focus solely on the expansion of the Roastery and Reserve stores.

Story continues

The company also has some cool stuff planned with Italian bakery and pizzeria chain Princi, which it invested in earlier this year. Starbucks detailed more of its plans at its bi-annual investor presentation in New York City recently (Also read: Starbucks News: $10 Coffee, Its Next Five Years, Princi is a Go).

For now, investors will continue to look at total revenues, earnings, and comps when trading SBUX, and its unlikely that these premium concepts will add much value for shareholders immediately. However, Starbucks is clearly looking to establish several new long-term brands that could become part of the overall company experience eventually.

Stocks that Aren't in the News. Yet.

You are invited to download the full, up-to-the-minute list of 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buys" free of charge. Many of these companies are almost unheard of by the general public and just starting to get noticed by Wall Street. They have been pinpointed by the Zacks system that nearly tripled the market from 1988 through 2015 with a stellar average gain of +26% per year. See these high-potential stocks free >>



Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report



STARBUCKS CORP (SBUX): Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
EXCLUSIVE: Naomi Watts is teaming with Reese Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea to produce a movie based on the top selling Australian book Penguin Bloom. Theyve optioned the book to produce, with Watts set to star. The trio will produce along with Aussie-based producer Emma Cooper.

Set on Sydneys northern beaches, Penguin Bloom is the true story of a unique little bird that saves a family. The book is written by Bradley Trevor Greive, with photographs by Cameron Bloom. Cameron and Sam Bloom and their three boys were an everyday family until a shocking, near-fatal accident left Sam paralyzed. She fell from a balcony while on holiday in Thailand, and was left paralyzed from the chest down. As the family struggled to adjust to her new situation, an unlikely ally entered their lives in the form of an injured Magpie chick which the Bloom clan called Penguin. The wild bird became a mascot for the family.

penguin-bloom

Watts was captivated by the life-affirming nature of Sams story. Sams undeniable spirit and the intense physical and emotional journey she and her family embraced resonated with me both as a storyteller and as a mother, she said. Papandrea had a similar reaction. Every family will respond to this universal and heartwarming story of a family dealing with tragedy, she said. The books subjects hope the movie will create awareness and financial support for the spinal cord injury research being undertaken by SpinalCure Australia, Wings for Life, and The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.

AP Images)

The film will shoot in Australia, and they will now look for a screenwriter and director. Watts will next be seen starring for Colin Trevorrow in The Book Of Henry, and the Destin Daniel Cretton-directed The Glass Castle opposite Brie Larson. She also stars in the Netflix psychological thriller Gypsy. Witherspoon and Papandrea have together produced Wild, Gone Girl and Hot Pursuit and are teamed on Luckiest Girl Alive at Lionsgate and Ashleys War at Fox 2000.

Atria Books will publish the book April 4 in the U.S. and Canada under the title Penguin The Magpie, with 10% of royalties going to those spinal cure charities.

Related stories

'Big Little Lies' Trailer: Watch HBO's Murderous Moms Of Monterey

'Sing' Review: The Tunes In This Terrific Toon Will Have You Dancing In The Aisles

AT&T Launching DirecTV Now With Introductory Offer Of 100+ Channels For $35 A Month
Mourners shave heads for India's Jayalalitha

Mourners in India have been shaving their heads as a mark of respect to the charismatic politician J Jayalalitha, who died on Monday night.
LIMA (Reuters) - The government of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has asked MMG Ltd's copper mine Las Bambas to seek fresh approval for its environmental plan to correct any possible shortcomings, the vice president said Wednesday. Martin Vizcarra said Las Bambas, one of the world's biggest copper pits, would be able to operate as usual while it prepares an "integral" environmental impact study - part of the new government's bid to rebuild trust with local communities following deadly protests that suspended exports in October. Previous governments approved the mine's original environmental plan and subsequent modifications that allowed its concentrates to be transported to port on local roads instead of through a pipeline as initially proposed. But residents in the highland region of Apurimac have said they were not consulted on the revisions and have protested pollution from hundreds of trucks carrying copper concentrates on unpaved roads near their communities every day. "We've asked the company to start the process of modifying its environmental impact study within three months," Vizcarra told Reuters after visiting Apurimac to hold talks with local leaders. "We want to prevent and correct all the mistakes or deficiencies that may have occurred." Vizcarra has been leading the government's efforts to ease tensions near the Chinese-owned mine but said it was too early to specify how its environmental plan might be revised, saying only that "everything that has been changed" was on the table and that local communities would be involved. Las Bambas representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside of normal working hours. Vizcarra, who is credited with helping resolve a dispute over another large copper project when he was governor of an important mining region, helped end a stalemate with protesters near Las Bambas in October when a province-wide road blockage threatened to shut the mine down completely. A key road has remained blocked by four Quechua-speaking communities but the company has continued to use alternate routes to transport its concentrates, Vizcarra said. The government has proposed buying the land that the blocked road passes through from the towns for about 17 million soles ($5 million), Vizcarra said. That road and two others would then be paved. The centrist government of former investment banker Kuczynski, who took office in July, has also proposed about 2 billion soles ($588 million) in social and development plans to help poverty-stricken towns near Las Bambas, Vizcarra said. (Reporting By Mitra Taj, Additional Reporting By Teresa Cespedes; Editing by Richard Pullin)
After two weeks at No. 1, Walt Disney Studios Finding Dory finally slipped a notch on the national home video sales charts  replaced at the top by another Disney film, Petes Dragon, a remake of the 1977 musical that earned nearly $77 million in U.S. theaters.

Disney also claimed the No. 3 spot, with The BFG, on both the NPD VideoScan overall disc sales chart, which tracks combined Blu-ray Disc and DVD sales, and the dedicated Blu-ray Disc sales chart.

A theatrical underperformer with a domestic gross of less than $56 million, The BFG is a fantasy about an orphan girl who befriends a kindly giant, known as the Big Friendly Giant. It was directed and coproduced by Steven Spielberg and is based on the 1982 childrens book of the same name by the late Roald Dahl.

Rounding out the top five were the Sony Pictures horror film Dont Breathe, about three friends who break into, and get trapped inside, a blind mans house, and Harry Potter: Complete 8-Film Collection, from Warner.

Dont Breathe debuted at No. 4 on the overall disc sales chart, with the Harry Potter set  which was originally released in November 2011  returning to the chart at No. 5. On the Blu-ray Disc sales chart, the order was reversed.

Several classic holiday movies have also returned to the top 20 in recent weeks, including the Warner titles Elf (No. 6), National Lampoons Christmas Vacation (No. 9), The Polar Express (No. 11), A Christmas Story (No. 19), and the original animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas (No. 20).

Twentieth Centurys original Home Alone, released theatrically in 1990, came in at No. 12. Universal Pictures live-action How the Grinch Stole Christmas, with Jim Carrey in the title role, also soared back into the top 20, finishing the week at No. 14.

On Home Media Magazines rental chart, the top three remain unchanged from the previous week: Universal Pictures Bad Moms at No. 1, Lionsgates Mechanic: Resurrection at No. 2 and Finding Dory at No. 3.

Story continues

Rounding out the top five on Home Media Magazines rental chart were the 20th Century Fox family film Nine Lives at No. 4 (now that its 28-day holdback from Redbox is over) and Independence Day: Resurgence at No. 5.

Thomas K. Arnold is Editorial Director of Home Media Magazine.



Top 20 NPD VideoScan First Alert, powered by Nielsen, chart for the week ended 12/4/16:

1. Petes Dragon (new)

2. Finding Dory

3. The BFG (new)

4. Dont Breathe (new)

5. Harry Potter Eight-Film Collection

6. Elf

7. Star Trek Beyond

8. Captain America: Civil War

9. National Lampoons Christmas Vacation

10. Mechanic: Resurrection

11. The Polar Express

12. Home Alone

13. Kubo and the Two Strings

14. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (live action)

15. War Dogs

16. Game of Thrones: The Complete Sixth Season

17. Deadpool

18. Independence Day: Resurgence

19. A Christmas Story

20. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (cartoon)

Top 10 Home Media Magazine rental chart for the week ended 12/4/16:

1. Bad Moms

2. Mechanic: Resurrection

3. Finding Dory

4. Nine Lives

5. Independence Day: Resurgence

6. Hell or High Water

7. Sausage Party

8. The Legend of Tarzan

9. Lights Out

10. The Wild Life (new)

For complete sales and rental charts, visit HomeMediaMagazine.com.

Related stories

'Fantastic Beasts' and 'The BFG' Tap Into Magical Musical Worlds

'Finding Dory,' 'Deadpool' Make Big Splash With Holiday Shoppers

U.S. Box Office Tops $10 Billion for 2016, Led by 'Finding Dory'
Peter Thiel

Peter Thiel, a PayPal founder and tech luminary, upset a lot of people by endorsing Donald Trump. (Wasn't Silicon Valley supposed to be liberal?) He has also upset people by crushing Gawker Media, attacking the college system, criticizing multiculturalism, and more.

Thiel usually explains his actions in libertarian or pragmatic terms. He does stuff to promote individual freedom. He does stuff because it's logical.

If you look at his wonkier writings, however, it's clear Thiel also recognizes a larger historical mission. In short, he's trying to save the world from apocalypse.

"We are in a deadly race between politics and technology," Thiel wrote in a 2009 essay on Cato Unbound. "The future will be much better or much worse, but the question of the future remains very open indeed. ... The fate of our world may depend on the effort of a single person who builds or propagates the machinery of freedom that makes the world safe for capitalism."

Thiel's philosophy, though complex, is coherent and provocative. It's also arguably liberal  at least in the classical sense of valuing individual freedom.

In this article, we'll try to break it down and show how it relates to various actions. Thiel declined to be interviewed, so we'll focus on his past comments.

"The limitless violence of runaway mimesis or the peace of the kingdom of God"

To understand Thiel's outlook, you have to look at mimetic theory, an idea developed by Rene Girard, whom Thiel studied with at Stanford and in whose name he sponsors an institute.

"I've noticed that it takes a long time to really sink in," Thiel said in 2014 about Girard's theories. "You can understand what his words mean as philosophical concepts without understanding how those concepts play out in life."

Like Girard, Thiel believes that ...

... mankind's extraordinary capacity for mimesis, aka imitation, leads to envy.

Human see, human want.

In ancient cultures, this often resulted in chaos.

Story continues

"The fundamental problem in these cultures was that there were all sorts of conflicts everywhere," Thiel said in a 2012 class, according to notes by his former student Blake Masters, which we'll treat as verbatim.

... society controls tensions through scapegoating.

"Where warring civilizations didn't just collapse entirely, the most common resolution involved polarizing and channeling all the hostility into one particular person," Thiel told his class.

Early examples of scapegoats might include Oedipus and Julius Caesar. Recent examples might include Bill Gates, Kanye West, and Donald Trump.

By literally or figuratively sacrificing these figures, people are able to find a cathartic release for anger, envy, and other destructive urges.

... modern thought aims to uncover the truth about society.

The fact that society is built on violence and justified by lies. The fact that we have these violent urges in us.

Girard and Thiel hold the New Testament as a seminal text, with its defense of innocent victims through history and its focus on Christ, the most innocent scapegoat of all.

"For Girard, the knowledge of the founding murder is driven by the historical working of the Judeo-Western revelation," Thiel wrote in 2004. "The revelation may be slow (because it contains a message that humans do not wish to hear), but it is not reversible."

Thiel also describes modern thought in terms that might be called liberal or libertarian. As he wrote in 1996, "The breakthrough involved a single revolutionary idea: that individuals exist and have rights, and that these rights are independent of the cultures these individuals happen to inhabit."

The spread of modern thought might lead to paradise, but ...

... modern thought is dangerous.

By exposing the lies that hold up society  e.g., that we are good and others are evil  modern thought makes it harder to justify ongoing exploitation.

What's more, modernity has introduced ever larger societies, opening the possibility for ever larger mimetic rivalries. Today, for instance, people around the world might be aware of and jealous of how people in the West live.

"For Girard, this combination of mimesis and the unraveling of archaic culture implies that the modern world contains a powerfully apocalyptic dimension," Thiel wrote in 2004.

Peter Thiel Chess

Where Thiel goes beyond Girard is in ideas about influencing the future.

Thiel laid out his own worldview at a 2004 philosophical conference, which he sponsored, on "Politics and Apocalypse." As noted by the scholar Geoff Shullenberger, "Thiel's contribution to the conference, seeks common ground between Girard's mimetic theory of human social life  and the work of two right-wing, anti-democratic political philosophers who were in vogue in the years following 9/11: Leo Strauss  and Carl Schmitt."

In a world of nuclear weapons, facing the scale of terrorism seen on 9/11 or worse, true liberal thinkers must act forcefully to spread their values and stave off existential risks, Thiel argued.

On the philosophical front, that meant reengaging with important questions about human nature  e.g., what are good and evil and why is society the way it is.

"Today, mere self-preservation forces all of us to look at the world anew, to think strange new thoughts, and thereby to awaken from that very long and profitable period of intellectual slumber and amnesia that is so misleadingly called the Enlightenment," Thiel wrote.

On the political front, that meant taking occasionally secret or undemocratic actions.

"Instead of the United Nations, filled with interminable and inconclusive parliamentary debates that resemble Shakespearean tales told by idiots, we should consider Echelon, the secret coordination of the world's intelligence services, as the decisive path to a truly global pax America," Thiel wrote.

"The postmodern world," Thiel wrote, "could differ from the modern world in a way that is much worse or much better  the limitless violence of runaway mimesis or the peace of the kingdom of God."

How to save the world

Thiel's apocalyptic mission  which might be described as spreading individual freedom while preventing cataclysmic mimetic violence  appears to be a factor in many of his actions.

His attack on multiculturalism  such as in his 1995 book, "The Diversity Myth: Multiculturalism and Political Intolerance on Campus"  was a warning against a new form of scapegoating.

"Rather than breaking the cycle of human history, multiculturalism merely represents another link in the long chain of victimization and revenge," Thiel wrote.

What's more, Thiel argued, debates about female culture, black culture, and a thousand other cultures were distracting from more important questions about human culture.

Founding PayPal, which launched in 1999, may have been a way to spread individual freedom and keep dangerous political forces in check. Thiel said in an early speech (recounted by Eric Jackson): "PayPal will give citizens worldwide more direct control over their currencies than they ever had before. It will be nearly impossible for corrupt governments to steal wealth from their people through their old means, because if they try, the people will switch to dollars or pounds or yen, in effect dumping the worthless local currency for something more secure."

peter thiel elon musk early paypal

PayPal, notably, didn't work quite as intended. September 11 "proved fatal to PayPal's libertarian ambition  electronic currency systems suddenly seemed like ideal ways for terrorists to hide money," George Packer wrote. (The company sold to eBay in 2002.)

Founding Palantir, a big data analysis company specializing in security, in 2004, might have been Thiel's way of supporting forceful but necessary political actions. Remember Thiel's line about the global spy network Echelon being "the decisive path to a truly global pax America"? It is clearly echoed in Palantir Defense's mission to fuse "data and analysis across geographically dispersed users, providing commanders with the latest intelligence no matter where they are."

Investing in Facebook, back in 2004, could be read as a way to spread individual freedom. As Thiel wrote years later, "companies like Facebook create the space for new modes of dissent and new ways to form communities not bounded by historical nation-states." Additionally, perhaps Facebook was "a mechanism for the containment and channeling of mimetic violence in the face of an ineffectual state," Shullenberger wrote  let people fight on social media, and they won't fight in real life.

Thiel did at least recognize the potential of Facebook through mimetic theory.

"Facebook first spread by word of mouth, and it's about word of mouth, so it's doubly mimetic," he told The New York Times. "Social media proved to be more important than it looked, because it's about our natures."

Thiel's other activities in the past decade might be summed up as trying to spread liberal innovation and disrupt stagnation.

Thiel promoted innovations like artificial intelligence, life extension, and seasteading  the creation of new societies in international waters. In his 2014 book, "Zero to One," Thiel championed the idea of true innovation (going from 0 to 1) as opposed to copying (going from 1 to n). No wonder he was popular in Silicon Valley.

Thiel tried to disrupt what he saw as an overpriced and not-truly-intellectual university system, which he challenged with $100,000 Thiel Fellowships that required recipients to drop out of college, and what he saw as an overpriced and incompetent government, which he challenged by supporting libertarian and conservative groups and candidates.

Which just about brings us to the present.

Peter Theil

In May 2016, Thiel admitted to funding Hulk Hogan's privacy lawsuit against Gawker Media, which eventually bankrupted the publication. This action upset many liberals because it appeared to be an attack on the freedom of the press  after all, Gawker had antagonized Thiel in 2007 by outing him as gay, and now the powerful man appeared to be getting revenge.

Thiel publicly defended himself by saying he was defending broader issues of online privacy.

"The press is too important to let its role be undermined by those who would search for clicks at the cost of the profession's reputation," he wrote in The Times. Thiel pointed to his support of the Committee to Protect Journalists as evidence of good faith.

Perhaps privately, Thiel worried that Gawker was stirring up tensions and slowing global progress with its gleeful embrace of scapegoating. Shullenberger observed the same in a recent essay.

"It seems reasonable to conclude that Thiel's animus against Gawker, which he has repeatedly accused of 'bullying' him and other Silicon Valley power players, is closely connected to his core concern with scapegoating, derived from his longstanding engagement with Girard's ideas," Shullenberger wrote. Perhaps Thiel also feared that Gawker was undermining the kind of journalism that spread truth.

As for his thoughts on sexual privacy, Thiel's stance appears to follow his criticism of multiculturalism. He doesn't want to identify as a gay man; he'd rather identify as a human.

In June 2016, Thiel took his most provocative action yet. Appearing at the Republican National Convention, he endorsed Donald Trump for president.

"I'm not a politician. But neither is Donald Trump," Thiel told the audience. "He is a builder, and it's time to rebuild America."

Peter Thiel

Thiel's support for Trump surprised many people who may have assumed that any smart person out of Silicon Valley must be a liberal, but it made sense in a lot of ways.

On the surface, Thiel might have liked a candidate who was a founder, who mocked political correctness, who pledged to reduce the size of government, and who, in general, seemed likely to disrupt politics as usual.

Although Thiel was once skeptical about politics  he wrote in 2004 that "no new Alexander is in sight to cut the Gordian knot of our age"  perhaps he saw Trump as the rare leader who might accomplish something.

On a deeper level, perhaps Trump fit into Thiel's grand historical plans. Here was a man who would disrupt the runaway mimesis caused by globalization, which encouraged people around the world to compare their lives to everyone else's. Here was a man who was already channeling mimetic tensions through scapegoating  conservatives were venting about Mexicans, the Chinese, and Hillary Clinton, while liberals were venting about Trump himself. By serving these functions, the provocative candidate might paradoxically defuse or distract from global tensions.

Perhaps, as suggested by Shullenberger and others, Trump is destined to become a scapegoat for the ages, a kinglike figure who is in one way or another sacrificed to create a new world order.

"Trump even viscerally looks the part of the old scapegoat kings who would be ceremonially paraded before being sacrificed," commentator David Gornoski wrote.

Has Thiel really done these things to ensure the spread of individual freedom, in pursuit of global peace? Whatever exactly he is doing, don't expect him to talk openly about it.

Thiel subscribes to "the Straussian idea that it's important for the intellectual elite and the ruling class to have secrets," Shullenberger wrote in an email. As scary as that sounds, one might take faith in the idea that Thiel believes in a final reckoning.

"The Christian statesman or stateswoman must diverge from the teachings of Strauss in one decisive respect," Thiel wrote in 2004. "One must never forget that one day all will be revealed, that all injustices will be exposed, and that those who perpetrated them will be held to account."

NOW WATCH: Watch Peter Thiel tell the RNC audience that he's proud to be gay and Republican





More From Business Insider


MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday vowed to retain the country's vice president until her term ends, just days after she resigned from the cabinet, complaining of a "plot to steal" her position. Vice President Leni Robredo resigned from the cabinet on Monday, saying she would lead the opposition and challenge Duterte's policies, such as his deadly war on drugs and moves to reinstate the death penalty. "I will assure Leni and the rest of the Bicol region that you will have her until the very end of this term," Duterte told reporters after a ceremony to break ground for an airport in the central region of Bicol. "And there is no such thing as removing a vice president." Robredo was a one-term congresswoman from Naga City, located in Bicol. In earlier speeches, Duterte has accused the opposition of using street protests against the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in a heroes' cemetery as a pretext to force him out of office and make way for Robredo. Robredo was elected vice president in May in a separate contest and was not Duterte's running mate. She has warned of a plot taking shape to remove her from the number two post after she was barred from attending regular cabinet meetings. The 52 year-old social activist and human rights lawyer won by a narrow margin over former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr, whose father was overthrown in a 1986 revolt. He has filed an election protest. Robredo did not give details of the alleged plot to "steal" the vice presidency, but said it was telling that Marcos had accompanied Duterte on an official visit to China in October. (Reporting by Manuel Mogato; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
* Trump vows "consequences" for US companies who offshore jobs

* Philippines has 12 pct of world's outsourcing business

* Industry adding 100,000 jobs a year - the bulk from U.S. firms

* India's big IT sector also preparing for Trump protectionism

* Established outsourcing firms unlikely to leave, however

By Neil Jerome Morales and Karen Lema

MANILA, Dec 9 (Reuters) - When Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, the man dubbed "Trump of the East", told U.S. businesses to pack their bags if they didn't like his anti-American rhetoric, the huge and growing outsourcing industry got a little nervous.

It's now the real Donald Trump who has businesses worried here, after the U.S. president-elect vowed to bring offshored jobs home from places such as the Philippines, a big provider of back-office services for corporate America.

The Southeast Asian country accounts for 12.6 percent of the global market for business-process outsourcing (BPO), which has been growing 10 percent a year for the past decade, according to the IT & Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP).

The industry body predicts the BPO industry could be adding 100,000 jobs annually with earning revenues of $38.9 billion by 2022, although global outsourcing consultants believe that could even reach $48 billion within four years.

Three-quarters of the $23 billion sector services U.S. firms.

"It's a U.S.-centric business," said Manuel Pangilinan, president of PLDT, which provides telecoms for the sector. "To the extent that Trump compels, persuades or incentivises the BPO businesses to return ... it will impact our business or the industry as a whole.

"It's going to be a tough one, not only for us, but for the economy as a whole."

TRUMP TWEETS

In a string of tweets on Sunday, Trump threatened "retribution or consequences" for companies that move operations out of the country, as well as a 35 percent tariff on their goods sold back to the United States.

That could leave the Philippines exposed, with companies such as Citibank, JPMorgan, Verizon, Convergys , Genpact and Sutherland Global Services key to jobs that were forecast to increase to 1.8 million full-time Filipinos by 2022.

Story continues

It's not just companies in the Philippines that are worried.

Anticipating a more protectionist U.S. technology visa programme under a Donald Trump administration, India's $150 billion IT services sector will speed up acquisitions in the United States, industry sources there say.

Companies also plan to recruit more heavily from college campuses, expecting the Trump administration to tighten up on temporary visas for India's high-tech workers.

WAIT AND SEE

Philippine businesses and BPO firms that spoke to Reuters said some trade delegations had deferred visits and potential foreign investors in the industry were taking longer with their due-diligence procedures.

And they were doing so even before Trump won the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 9.

Duterte's volatility has drawn comparisons to Trump and his hostility towards Manila's long-time ally the United States has shocked investors and even his own cabinet.

He told President Barack Obama to "go to hell" over the U.S. president's concern about Duterte's war on drugs, threatened to scrap U.S.-Philippines defence pacts, and in October announced before China's political elite his "separation" from the United States.

That remark rattled some U.S. firms, said Juan Victor Hernandez, an IBPAP trustee, who told Reuters that four companies put their decisions on hold immediately. He declined to name them.

Hernandez said uncertainties over Trump's policies affected potential investors rather than existing ones, such as JP Morgan, which is staying put.

"So far, they are still hell-bent on the Philippines, number one," he added.

'PACK YOUR BAGS'

Philip Goldberg, who until recently was the U.S. ambassador in Manila, said he took more calls from investors in his last three months than during his whole tenure. All were about Duterte's anti-American vitriol.

"They are very nervous," Goldberg told news channel ANC. "They don't know what it means."

While aware of those concerns about him, Duterte was defiant: "Go ahead. Pack your bags," he told reporters before flying to Japan in October. "We will sacrifice. We will recover."

Julius Guevara, head of research at Colliers Philippines, said while U.S. investors were concerned about Duterte and Trump, firms that are already in the Philippines are unlikely to leave.

"If it's more profitable for them to continue having operations here in the Philippines, I don't think Trump can do anything about it," he said.

Charito Plaza, an ally of the president and director general of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, said Duterte would ask Trump to be kind to U.S. firms looking at the Philippines.

But it wasn't clear if Duterte did that when the two spoke last Friday. Duterte said he felt a rapport with Trump and "assured him of our ties".

But the only policy issue Duterte mentioned afterwards was his drugs crackdown, which he said Trump understood.

GROWTH DRIVER

Policy makers have been banking on BPO overtaking remittances as the mainstay of one of the world's fastest-growing economies.

The BPO sector's recent growth plan said it wasn't Trump or Duterte that posed the biggest challenge to the industry but automation.

The plan aims to boost mid- to high-skilled labour from 53 percent of the workforce to 73 percent by 2022 to meet that challenge. That would push annual incomes from $19,100 to $21,600 with jobs that diversify beyond voice services and focus on higher-value IT support.

Economic planning minister, Ernesto Pernia, told Reuters he was optimistic the Philippines' competitive costs and services would insulate its BPO sector from Trump, and the BPO jobs that Filipinos do might not appeal to Americans.

Duterte's talk shouldn't be taken too seriously, either, Pernia said.

"I think investors should listen to the economic planners and not the president," he said.

(Writing and additional reporting by Martin Petty; Editing by Bill Tarrant)
Philippines Rodrigo Duterte Trump speech

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and US President-elect Donald Trump have been compared numerous times for their blunt styles and reputations as outsiders.

When Trump won the US election in November, Duterte heralded his victory, and Trump told Duterte that he was pursuing the Philippines' bloody drug war "the right way," Duterte has said.

On Wednesday, Duterte, who has become known for his rough language and colorful speaking style, debuted his impression of Trump in a profanity-laced recounting of his December 2 phone call with the US president-elect.

During a speech at a UN Convention Against Corruption conference at the Malacanan presidential palace in Manila, Duterte shared his version of their seven-minute conversation:

Duterte: "Mr. President, it's evening here, good evening."

Trump: "Oh, President Duterte, we should fix our bad relations. It needs a lot of ... you know, you just said something good here, and you're doing great. I know what you're ... you worry about Americans criticizing you. You're doing good, go ahead. I had this problem in the border of Mexico and America and this goddamn s--- guy ..."

Duterte then spoke in Tagalog, his native language, before returning to his retelling of the conversation:

Trump: "Media? No media supported me, and I did it on my own."

Duterte: "That's why I'm very impressed with you, Mr. President."

Trump: "Oh yes, when you come to Washington, DC, or New York City, look me up and I will have coffee. Maybe you can give me a suggestion, one or two, how to solve this goddamn bulls--- ... son of a b---- ..."

Duterte has developed a reputation for speaking bluntly, often forgoing diplomatic formalities and lacing his comments with obscenities. This was not his first impression, either. He's also impersonated his foreign secretary and his law school professors, according to the Philippine news site Rappler.

The Philippine president said his chat with Trump left him feeling "like a saint" because of the drastic change in tone from that of the current US administration.

Story continues

Duterte's seeming chumminess with Trump is in sharp contrast to his relationship with US President Barack Obama, who, along with other countries and international groups, has heavily criticized the bloody drug war Duterte initiated when he took office this summer.

Philippines drug war vigilante extrajudicial violence Duterte

Earlier this year, Duterte gave remarks that were widely interpreted as him calling Obama a "son of a whore." He apologized for that incident, but in October, Duterte again rebuked Obama and the international community.

"Mr. Obama, you can go to hell. EU, better choose purgatory. Hell is full. Why should I be scared of you?" he told a group of local officials in a Manila suburb, according to Rappler.

Duterte has also made overtures to China and to Russian President Vladimir Putin  gestures that are part of Duterte's "separation" from his country's longtime alliance with the US.

Since Duterte took office at the end of June, the anti-narcotics campaign mounted by Philippine authorities has led to the deaths of about 4,800 Filipinos. Many of those killings remain under investigation or were unrelated to police operations, leading to accusations that vigilantes, death squads, and hit men are adding to the body count.

Watch Duterte's comments:

NOW WATCH: Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte congratulates Trump on a 'well-deserved victory'





More From Business Insider


(credit: Kenny Cole)

(credit: Kenny Cole)

Last month in Wisconsin, for the first time in three decadesand only the second time in our nations historya federal court ruled the states legislative districts unconstitutional on the grounds that they unduly benefit one political party over another.

This isnt a new issue; after all, gerrymandering takes its name from one of the Founders, Elbridge Gerry, who, as governor, approved salamander-like districts in the state of Massachusetts to benefit the Democratic-Republicans.

But over the years, gerrymandering has confounded legislatures and courts, as they have grappled with its impact on our politics and their powers to stop it.

Joining We the People to discuss challenges to gerrymandering and the possibilities for reform are two experts in election law.

Nicholas Stephanopoulos is an assistant professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School. Nick is currently representing plaintiffs in the Wisconsin case, Whitford v. Gill.

Michael Morley is an assistant professor of law at the Barry University Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law. Mike was counsel of record at the Supreme Court for Shaun McCutcheon in the landmark First Amendment case McCutcheon v. FEC; he also wrote about the Elections Clause for the National Constitution Centers Interactive Constitution, along with Franita Tolson of Florida State University.

Nick and Michael also joined We the People last year to discuss the Arizona redistricting case heard by the Supreme Court.

This show was engineered by Jason Gregory and produced by Nicandro Iannacci. Research was provided by Lana Ulrich. The host of We the People is Jeffrey Rosen.

Get the latest constitutional news, and continue the conversation, on Facebook and Twitter.

We want to know what you think of the podcast! Email us at editor@constitutioncenter.org.

Please subscribe to We the People and our companion podcast, Live at Americas Town Hall, on iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app.

Story continues

We the People is a member of Slates Panoply network. Check out the full roster at Panoply.fm.

Despite our congressional charter, the National Constitution Center is a private nonprofit; we receive little government support, and we rely on the generosity of people around the country who are inspired by our nonpartisan mission of constitutional debate and education. Please consider becoming a member to support our work, including this podcast. Visit constitutioncenter.org to learn more.

Recent Stories on Constitution Daily

Presidential recount efforts hit court roadblocks

New campaign finance challenge seeks to expand First Amendment protection

Podcast: Should we abolish the Electoral College?
NC leaders smell foul play by CPN-UML

Two senior Nepali Congress leaders on Wednesday accused the main opposition CPN-UML of playing foul in the governments quest to amend the constitution for the second time.
Canadian politician Michelle Rempel (Photo: Courtesy of Michelle Rempel / @michellerempel)

Michelle Rempel, a member of the Canadian Parliament, is pulling back the curtain on the sexism she endures regularly at the hands of faux-concerned citizens. The politician tweeted a photo on Tuesday of an icky letter she received regarding her appearance. In the letter, an anonymous stranger tried to shame Rempel by implying that she dresses in a way thats distracting to men, and suggested that she be more like the Queen (of England, probably) or that she take a page from Michelle Obama.

Nobody will notice your bare neck or your decolletage if you wear a blouse and necktie as do your make [sic] counterparts, the creepy letter reads. If we can see it, you can see it, and dont be surprised that hetero males will look. Hide the skin and people will look you in the eyes.  Then the bold writer steps directly across the line by asking, Were you wearing a bra on Thursday? Cue skin-crawling.

The letter closes with, Im a girl watcher, Im a girl watcher and you are not that bad looking. What was it that you were talking about?

Wherein a creepy weirdo anonymously writes my office to tell me that it's my fault that he's a creepy weirdo. ???? pic.twitter.com/V5ko9M3cIs  Michelle Rempel, MP (@MichelleRempel) December 6, 2016

Rempel captioned the tweet, Wherein a creepy weirdo anonymously writes my office to tell me that its my fault that hes a creepy weirdo. As if the letter werent gross enough, Rempel claims to receive letters like this on a weekly basis, according to the Telegraph. She told the publication she gets loads of this sort of fan mail all the time, and that this time it got under [her] skin, hence the tweet.

Think the creepiness ends there? It doesnt. Rempel told BuzzFeed that she even receives death and rape threats, according to the Telegraph. By tweeting this particular correspondence, shes not looking for attention or playing the victim, but rather wanted to highlight the sort of treatment female MPs face. She says, Its just more like, come on, really? Like this person actually thought this was appropriate to send to me.

Story continues

Rempel, whos been in office since 2011, told the publication that shes shielded from such harassing letters when they arrive in the mail. The staff usually intercedes and throws out correspondence like this. But on social media, shes a direct target, and its impossible not to let messages like this affect you in some way.

This is absolutely awful, Michelle. I dont know how you deal with this constantly Its not okay at all, one commenter reacted to Rempels letter on Twitter. Im a girl watcher has got to be the creepiest thing Ive read today, another woman commented. I could say I do look at attractive women but that just wouldnt sound serial killer-y enough! another defender snarked. So sorry you deal with this garbage just to do your job. Not much in common politically but on this, I stand in solidarity, someone said to the politician.

Other female Canadian politicians have come forward with similar tales of nasty comments. Sandra Jansen, who recently crossed the floor from her longtime home in the Progressive Conservative party to the ruling NDP, according to CBC News, came forward in November to say she has received messages including, Sandra should stay in the kitchen where she belongs, What a traitorous bitch, Now you have two blond bimbos in a party that is clueless, and Dumb broad, a good place for her to be is with the rest of the queers. (Jansen has backed legislation that supports the LGBTQ community.)

Jansen read the messages aloud in Parliament; she claims to have received the vitriol after switching political parties. As part of a panel on CBC televisions The National, a group of female members of Parliament read some of the hateful messages they also have received on social media. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May received one tweet that was the repetition of c**t, according to the CBC. Others shared messages in which they were called bitches and threatened with violence.

Meanwhile, male Conservative MP Deepak Obhrai read a chilling message from a person who called him a brown piece of s***. Not that it makes it any better to level the playing field of hate and harassment. It just goes to show that everyone is fair game, and politicians are shining a light on this tragic phenomenon.

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.


By Vijaykumar Vedala and Eileen Soreng

(Reuters) - OPEC's landmark oil-production deal may prove effective in running down global inventories, but analysts hold little hope for much of a rise in prices, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday.

If all members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries honor the deal reached in Vienna on Nov. 30 to cut output, any ensuing price gain and drop in inventories could be quickly reversed by rising non-OPEC production.

"In the medium term, we can expect tighter market balances but for a substantial price recovery to take place, significant demand growth will be required to draw down high inventories of crude and products," said Shakil Begg, head of Thomson Reuters Oil Research and Forecasts.

The 29 analysts and economists polled by Reuters forecast Brent crude futures will average $44.69 a barrel in 2016 and $57.01 in 2017, against $44.78 and $57.08 for the same periods in the previous survey about a month ago.

Brent has averaged about $44.50 per barrel so far this year.

"This is a short-duration cut, targeting excess inventories and not high oil prices, which would instead unleash a sharp production response both in the U.S. and in the rest of the world," U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs said in a note.

As part of its first oil output cuts since 2008, OPEC agreed to reduce production by about 1.2 million barrels per day beginning in January. It hopes non-OPEC countries will contribute a further 600,000 bpd of cuts.

The group will meet non-OPEC producers, led by Russia, in Vienna this weekend and seek their contribution to erode a global supply glut that could run into a third year in 2017. Russia has said it will reduce output by around 300,000 bpd.

A majority of analysts said the OPEC deal would have to extend beyond the six-month period currently agreed, for global oil rebalancing to occur in the second half of 2017.

"Curtailments from OPEC are required throughout 2017 to rebalance the market as U.S. shale supplies are expected to hit the market in 2017," said Rahul Prithiani, director at CRISIL Research.

Story continues

The poll forecast U.S. light crude will average $43.46 a barrel in 2016 and $55.23 in 2017. WTI has averaged about $43 so far in 2016.

Of the 28 respondents who participated in the current as well as the previous survey, 16 kept their forecasts unchanged.

Raymond James had the highest 2017 Brent forecast at $83 per barrel, while BNP Paribas had the lowest at $50.

(Reporting by Eileen Soreng and Vijaykumar Vedala in BENGALURU; Editing by Amanda Cooper and Dale Hudson)
ROME (Reuters) - Pope Francis prayed for the unemployed, for families trying to make ends meet and for exploited children on Thursday at a popular wreath-laying ceremony at a statue of the Madonna near Rome's Spanish Steps. The traditional event, which draws thousands of Romans and tourists, is held on the Roman Catholic feast of the Immaculate Conception, a public holiday in the Italian capital. In his prayer, Francis also prayed to the Virgin Mary for neglected children, the poor and the sick. The statue, which rests atop a 14-meter-high ancient Roman column, has been there since 1857 and popes have been presided at the ceremony for decades. The wreath of flowers is later put around the statue by fire brigades. (Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Tom Heneghan)
Posh Spice looks more like Pumpkin Spice is this lush dress

Victoria Beckham is a fashion icon, but shell always be Posh Spice first in our hearts. And thats why we adore that this Spice Girl channeled a different spice for a FABULOUS dress that Beckham was spotted wearing on December 6th in New York City. While pumpkin spice most likely makes you think of a delicious latte, Beckham has now equated those words with fashion.

In a bodycon, sweater midi dress in a pumpkin color, Beckham was the definition of fall.

She complimented the look with a vibrant red-orange, high-collared, long-sleeved shirt underneath. Beckhams black sunglasses and white heels (WHERE CAN WE GET THOSE SHOES?!) offered stark contrasts to this amazing look as well.

Celebrity Sightings in New York City - December 6, 2016

Seriously, could she look any more chic in this unconventional color? This autumnal look makes us want to cozy up with some pumpkin pie-flavored things right now.

We also love the movement of the bottom of the dress where it hits her calves.

Celebrity Sightings in New York City - December 6, 2016

Beckham has been embracing orange recently since back in September, she was photographed rocking a brighter  and equally stunning  orange.

BuzzFoto Celebrity Sightings In New York - September 12, 2016

Along with giving us serious fall fashion envy, Beckham is currently busy looking to the next season  winter. Thats because shes a proud mom promoting her 11-year-old son Cruz Beckhams recently released Christmas song.

Proud! @cruzbeckhams new single #IfEveryDayWasChristmas helping children in the UK with all proceeds going to @globals_make_some_noise x VB @applemusic @spotify photo credit @brooklynbeckham X VB A photo posted by Victoria Beckham (@victoriabeckham) on Dec 7, 2016 at 1:42pm PST

No matter what season Beckham is in, shell be fashionable. Now we need a pumpkin spice latte because Posh just spice upped our lives.

The post Posh Spice looks more like Pumpkin Spice is this lush dress appeared first on HelloGiggles.
A long-shot effort by Jill Stein to recount presidential election votes in three states took a big hit in a court on Wednesday, with another possible blow coming on Friday.

The Green Party presidential candidate wants recounts in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, three states whose combined electoral votes swung the November 8 election to Republican candidate Donald Trump. Wisconsin is in the process of doing a recount, but Steins efforts were contested in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

And on Wednesday, federal court Judge Mark A. Goldsmith, of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, effectively ended the recount effort in Michigan, unless a higher appeals court or even the Supreme Court feels otherwise.

Michigan Republicans went to a state court to argue that Stein wasnt entitled to a recount because she wasnt close to winning the presidential race in Michigan. The state court agreed, and then the federal district court upheld the state court decision.

Goldsmith sympathized with the generalized concerns voiced by Stein about the vulnerability of modern voting systems to potential security problems. But he also pointed out there was no evidence presented to show specific instances of hacking or vote tampering.

Invoking a courts aid to remedy that problem in the manner plaintiffs have chosen  seeking a recount as an audit of the election to test whether the vulnerability led to actual compromise of the voting system  has never been endorsed by any court and would require, at a minimum, evidence of significant fraud or mistake  and not speculative fear of them. Such evidence has not been presented here, Goldsmith said.

With a December 13 deadline looming over all three possible recounts, political observers believe Goldsmiths decision to stop to any Michigan recount effectively ends that process in the state, barring an unforeseen event in a higher appeals court. Steins lawyers said they would appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court.

Story continues

And on Friday, Stein and her attorneys have a court date in Philadelphia. Stein has appealed to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to intercede in her attempted Pennsylvania recount.

Stein wants federal judge Paul S. Diamond to order a recount of the Pennsylvanias paper ballots and conduct a forensic examination of the electronic voting machines. The lawsuit, as in Michigan, doesnt appear to present any eyewitness evidence of machine tampering. Instead, it alleges that Pennsylvanias antiquated and fundamentally unfair election laws violate the First and 14th Amendment rights of the states voters in the situation of a vote recount.

If Stein hits the same roadblocks in Pennsylvania federal court as she did in Michigan, the effectiveness of any recount effort to influence the 2016 presidential election is greatly diminished.

Currently, Trump has 306 electoral votes, compared with 232 votes for Hillary Clinton. A winning candidate needs 270 votes, and Trump would need to lose recounts in all three states to lose the election. (Pennsylvania has 20 electoral votes, Michigan has 16 votes and Wisconsin has 10 votes.)

And even in Wisconsin, where a recount effort is underway, there has been little change in the vote count so far. Trump won that state by about 22,000 votes and Clinton has picked up 85 votes with 70 percent of the recount completed. Trump has leads of about 11,000 in Michigan and 44,000 in Pennsylvania.

Unless there is an unlikely court decision or decisions by next Tuesday, any recount process would need to be completed by then. Under federal safe harbor provisions, the states and the District of Columbia must determine their electors by December 13, or six days before the Electoral College members meet in person on December 19. This was the critical deadline back in 2000 that halted the Florida recount in the Bush-Gore election dispute.

Scott Bomboy is the editor in chief of the National Constitution Center.

Recent Stories on Constitution Daily

Jill Stein alleges three constitutional violations in Pennsylvania lawsuit

Dont expect Electoral College drama on December 19

What happens to a vote-switching Elector on December 19?
For more celebrity videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android.

Meghan Markle was all smiles as she stepped out in Toronto, Canada after spending two days with boyfriend Prince Harry.

The 35-year-old L.A.-born actress didnt shy away from revealing the matching his and hers beaded bracelet the couple have been seen wearing before in separate instances. Harry, 32, was also seen wearing his bracelet at a charity event on Wednesday.

The Suits star also wore a personalized gold necklace on Saturday with the letters M and H on it, as coded jewelry appears to be a regular theme in their growing relationship.

Harry has shown how committed he is to his relationship with Markle. He made a major detour from the Caribbean to see her in Canada on Sunday, instead of jetting back to Britain.

The royal was beaming when he joined ICAP city brokers on Wednesday morning for their annual charity day, working the phones on behalf of his charity, Sentebale.

The couple was apart for two weeks while Harry toured seven nations in the Caribbean on behalf of his grandmother Queen Elizabeth. With it being such a high-profile trip, Markle wasnt expected to join him.

Despite being apart, the actress cheekily displayed her colors when she shared a photo of her dog wearing a sweater decorated with the British flag.

A friend of the actress recently told PEOPLE that she is head over heels for Harry.
About two dozen activists visited the offices of Democratic Representatives on December 8 to demand protection for immigrants.

In two Facebook Live updates, protesters representing an organization called Movimiento Cosecha walk through the Longworth House Office Building in Washington. There, they confronted Democratic members of Congress in English and Spanish to push for protection of documented and undocumented immigrants.

At one point in the video, California Rep. Zoe Lofgren updates them on the work her office is attempting to do. The group then visits the office of Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez where they sing and chant. Despite being confronted by police at one point, the event is allowed to continue and no arrests are made. Credit: Facebook/movimientocosecha via Storyful
Even as Democrats in Congress clamor for more information from the Obama administration about Russia-backed efforts to interfere with the presidential election by hacking into Democratic Party-related computer networks, the Russian government is taking steps to protect its own country from outside intrusion into its own computer networks.

President Vladimir Putin this week approved a new information security doctrine that updates a policy that has been in place since 2000. In addition to steps meant to increase the security of Russian internet infrastructure from foreign attacks, the policy also calls for a stepped-up campaign of state-produced news that much of the rest of the world views as Kremlin propaganda.

Related: Is This the Real Reason Putin Is Interfering With the US Election?

The strategic goals of ensuring information security in the sphere of state and public security are the protection of sovereignty, supporting political and social stability, territorial integrity of the Russian Federation, ensuring major rights and liberties of man and the citizen and also protection of critical information infrastructure, the document released by the Kremlin says.

The new policy also contains plans to crack down on foreign media coverage, particularly coverage critical of the Russian government. There is an increased information impact on Russias citizens, first of all young people, with the goal of washing out traditional Russian moral and spiritual values,

The new Russian policy, which was thin on specifics, at least in its public release, comes just months after the U.S. intelligence community released a highly unusual statement accusing the Russian government of being behind multiple efforts to interfere in the U.S. election by hacking into computers and email accounts belonging to the Democratic National Committee and a number of high-profile Democratic operatives, including John Podesta, the chairman of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clintons campaign.

Story continues

Such activity is not new to Moscowthe Russians have used similar tactics and techniques across Europe and Eurasia, for example, to influence public opinion there. We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia's senior-most officials could have authorized these activities, said the statement from the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Related: Trump Still Singing Putins Praise, and His Chorus Is Growing

President-elect Donald Trump, who plainly benefited from a near-constant stream of stolen emails that were released to the media in the month before the election, has repeatedly said that he does not believe Russia had anything to do with the attacks on the DNC, Podesta and others.

That became a laughing point, not a talking point, a laughing point, Trump said in an interview with Time magazine published Wednesday. Any time I do something, they say oh, Russia interfered."

When pressed on the fact that there had indisputably been hacking of computers, he added, It could be Russia. And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey.

Nevertheless, many lawmakers -- and not just Democrats -- are furious at the idea of Russia meddling in a U.S. presidential election. This week South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said that he will pursue an investigation of Russian hacking in the Senate.

Related: Could Faithless Electors Really Deny Trump the Presidency?

On Wednesday, California Rep. Eric Swalwell, the ranking member of the CIA Subcommittee of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, introduced a bill calling for a special commission to investigate Russias involvement in the presidential election.

Regardless of whether you voted for Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, or anyone else, Russias attacks on our election are an attempt to degrade our democracy and should chill every AmericanDemocratic, Republican, or Independentto the core, said Cummings. This commission will conduct a truly bipartisan and comprehensive review of these attacks and offer specific recommendations to prevent future attacks on our electoral process.

Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress are pressuring the Obama administration to declassify more of the information that led the intelligence community to the unanimous conclusion that Russia was behind the attacks.

All of the Democratic and independent members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, in a letter to President Obama, have argued that the American people deserve more information than they have been given.

Related: Like LBJ, Trump Is Loving the Role of Americas Dealmaker

We believe there is additional information concerning the Russian government and the US election that should be declassified and released to the public, they wrote. We are conveying specifics through classified channels.

Whether the Obama administration will release further details or not is an open question -- and a delicate one.

Trump is plainly sensitive to the public impression that Russia may have helped him in some fashion during the election, and if President Obama were to release additional information backing up that storyline, he could be seen as deliberately undermining his successor.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Nepal's ambassador to Belgium presents credentials

Ambassador of Nepal to Belgium, Mr Lok Bahadur Thapa presented his Letters of Credence to the King of the Belgians, King Philippe, amidst a special official ceremony held at the Royal Laeken Castle in Brussels on Wednesday.
LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) on Thursday lost a court battle to withhold transcripts, notes and interview records from thousands of retail investors suing the bank over an ill-fated, 12 billion pound ($15 billion) share sale in 2008.

Judge Robert Hildyard rejected an attempt by RBS to class the documents as legally privileged and confidential in a judgment welcomed by a group of 27,000 retail investors, who hope the information will bolster their case ahead of a trial next March.

"I accept that the court has discretion to prevent disclosure and inspection, or impose conditions, in an exceptional case ... But I have not been persuaded that this is such a case," Judge Hildyard said in Thursday's judgment.

RBS said it was considering appealing the judgment.

The bank attempted to settle the multi-billion pound lawsuit with an 800 million pound out-of-court deal on Monday. But only institutional investors accepted the offer, dropping their part of a claim that alleges the bank misrepresented its parlous financial state when asking investors to stump up cash in 2008.

Shareholders lost around 80 percent of their investments after the bank's near collapse, just months after the cash call. RBS was rescued by a 45 billion pound taxpayer-funded bailout at the height of the credit crisis.

The documents relate to internal investigations launched by RBS into its sub-prime exposure and into allegations made by Victor Hong, a former employee based at RBS's U.S. division Greenwich Capital, who says he repeatedly warned managers the bank was over-valuing its fixed-income portfolio.

Shareholder claimants brought a so-called interlocutory application against RBS to force disclosure of the documents they say could prove a "major breakthrough" in their case.

"New documents, which have now been deemed admissible by the court, are thought to contain damming evidence against the bank and its conduct in relation to its RBS Greenwich Capital arm and its exposure to U.S. sub-prime mortgages," said a spokesman for the shareholder group.

Story continues

"Whether or not the bank's sub-prime exposure was adequately represented in the rights issue prospectus is central to the litigation. This evidence is expected to lead to a major breakthrough for the claimants in this case."

RBS declined to comment on the contents of the documents.

(Reporting by Kirstin Ridley; Editing by Mark Potter)
LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L> on Thursday lost a court battle to withhold transcripts, notes and interview records from thousands of retail investors suing the bank over an ill-fated, 12 billion pound ($15 billion) share sale in 2008.

Judge Robert Hildyard rejected an attempt by RBS to class the documents as legally privileged and confidential in a judgment welcomed by a group of 27,000 retail investors, who hope the information will bolster their case ahead of a trial next March.

"I accept that the court has discretion to prevent disclosure and inspection, or impose conditions, in an exceptional case ... But I have not been persuaded that this is such a case," Judge Hildyard said in Thursday's judgment.

RBS said it was considering appealing the judgment.

The bank attempted to settle the multi-billion pound lawsuit with an 800 million pound out-of-court deal on Monday. But only institutional investors accepted the offer, dropping their part of a claim that alleges the bank misrepresented its parlous financial state when asking investors to stump up cash in 2008.

Shareholders lost around 80 percent of their investments after the bank's near collapse, just months after the cash call. RBS was rescued by a 45 billion pound taxpayer-funded bailout at the height of the credit crisis.

The documents relate to internal investigations launched by RBS into its sub-prime exposure and into allegations made by Victor Hong, a former employee based at RBS's U.S. division Greenwich Capital, who says he repeatedly warned managers the bank was over-valuing its fixed-income portfolio.

Shareholder claimants brought a so-called interlocutory application against RBS to force disclosure of the documents they say could prove a "major breakthrough" in their case.

"New documents, which have now been deemed admissible by the court, are thought to contain damming evidence against the bank and its conduct in relation to its RBS Greenwich Capital arm and its exposure to U.S. sub-prime mortgages," said a spokesman for the shareholder group.

Story continues

"Whether or not the bank's sub-prime exposure was adequately represented in the rights issue prospectus is central to the litigation. This evidence is expected to lead to a major breakthrough for the claimants in this case."

RBS declined to comment on the contents of the documents.

(Reporting by Kirstin Ridley; Editing by Mark Potter)
The Syrian Red Crescent said it evacuated about 150 civilians, many in need of urgent care, from Aleppos Old City, on December 7.

These patients and civilians had been trapped in the area for days because of heavy clashes nearby and as the front line kept drawing closer, the ICRCs Head of Delegation in Syria, Marianne Gasser, said in an ICRC statement.

About 118 patients were taken to hospitals in west Aleppo. Thirty men, women and children were transferred to shelters in west Aleppo. There were six orphaned and very young children among the evacuees, according to the statement. Credit: International Committee of the Red Cross via Storyful
Pressure is growing on regulatorsas well as insurance companies and healthcare providersto make sure a trip to the emergency room doesn't result in a bad case of sticker shock.

Under current practices, patients who choose an ER that's in their insurance network can still get slammed with huge bills. That's because even though a hospital is in-network, the doctors who work there may not be.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., earlier this week asked the Federal Trade Commission (PDF) to look into these surprise medical bills, which can leave consumers on the hook for thousands of dollars.

Nelson, who cited a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine last month and written up by the New York Times, called on the FTC to investigate whether billing patients in this way is unfair or deceptive.

This is a national problem," says Chuck Bell, who works on consumer policy issues for Consumer Reports. Its going to take a lot of public pressure on Congress and regulators to step up and solve the problem. Millions of people are not protected from surprise medical bills, and we think they should be.

Consumer Reports has been actively advocating for changes to protect consumers from out-of-network bills, particularly in emergency situations. CR has collected more than 4,000 stories from consumers struggling to pay these bills.

The problem is only growing worse as more insurance companies reduce or eliminate coverage for out-of-network services and healthcare providers contract with fewer insurers or choose not to take insurance at all.

Consumer Reports is part of a coalition of consumer advocacy organizations that pushed for laws in five states to limit surprise medical bills in ER situations. Since 2015, Illinois, Connecticut, New York, Florida, and California passed laws against surprise medical billing.

Consumer Reports also signed on to national legislation, the End Surprise Billing Act, introduced by Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, last year.

Story continues

Doggett became involved in the issue "because too many insured consumers are hit with big bills after being trapped between their physicians, hospital, and insurer, he says. Texas has one of the highest rates of surprise medical bills in the U.S.

The Doggett bill, which has 32 Democratic co-sponsors but no Republican ones, would require patients to consent before they are treated by someone not on their insurance plan.

If such consent is not possible, as might be the case in a medical emergency, the patient would have to pay only what he would have owed had the treating professional been on his insurance plan. Doggett plans to reintroduce the bill in 2017.

A Pervasive Problem

The surprise medical bill study, done by Yale University researchers who examined claims data from an insurer with clients in all 50 states, is the first to demonstrate just how widespread this problem is.

As many as one in five emergency room patients who went to an in-network hospital got a bill including charges from at least one out-of-network doctor, the researchers found.

In some areas of the country, the problem is almost impossible to avoid. Surprise out-of-network charges showed up on 62 percent of in-network ER bills in St. Petersburg, Fla., and 89 percent of such bills in McAllen, Texas.

In other cities, including Boulder, Colorado, and South Bend, Ind., these kinds of charges didnt show up at all. That suggests, the authors write, that surprise billing is a solvable problem.

The study points out that doctors in non-emergency specialties are forced to negotiate with insurance companies if they dont want the number of patients who can see them to sharply decline.

But emergency medicine is different. These doctors "arent chosen, cant be avoided, and arent subject to the same competitive pressures that other physicians face, says Zack Cooper, Ph.D., an assistant professor of public health and economics at Yale, who led the study. Its like going to dinner at a restaurant and getting an additional bill later from the person who brought you bread.



Solutions Needed on Both State and Federal Levels

In his letter to the FTC, Nelson said consumers should at least be told that they will be treated by a healthcare provider who doesnt take their insurance and how much that treatment will cost. He asked the FTC to consider whether to ban the practice of out-of-network billing in ER situations when there is no other option for treatment.

Nelson cited the case of a man named Doug Moore, who contacted Consumer Reports to complain after he was billed $1,620 for an ER trip when he became ill with stomach pains while traveling for business. Moore said he contacted his insurer on his way to the ER and was told the hospital was in his insurance network. (You can share your story with Consumer Reports here).

The FTC hasnt said yet whether it will take action. It may not even be able to because its not clear whether the agency has the authority to act against insurance companies, which are governed by state regulations.

The Yale researchers say that even if other states enact the same protections as the five that already have, that wont solve the whole problem. That's because half of consumers get health insurance through employers that self-insure and pay employee medical claims directly (other employers don't self-insure). Companies that self-insure are regulated by the federal government, not the states.

Cooper from Yale proposes this solution: States should require hospitals to offer emergency care to consumers as a bundle that includes all the treatment you get. Hospitals would negotiate with insurers for these all-inclusive services, so consumers would not be billed separately when they go to the ER.

You can learn more about Consumer Reports effortsand what you can do if you end up with a surprise out-of-network chargeat our End Surprise Medical Bills site.







More from Consumer Reports:

Top pick tires for 2016

Best used cars for $25,000 and less

7 best mattresses for couples





Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright  2006-2016 Consumers Union of U.S.
UPDATED: 11:52 a.m. EST  The suspect in Wednesday's fatal police shooting has shot himself in the head, according to the Macon Telegraph. His condition was not immediately known. Police had been searching for Minguell Kennedy Lembrick since Wednesday morning after he allegedly shot and killed a Georgia police officer and critically injured a Georgia Southwestern State University police officer.

The reported self-inflicted wound happened as law enforcement moved in on a house Lembrick was suspected of hiding in.

Original story:

A manhunt was underway for a man who authorities say shot and killed one police officer and left another critically injured in southwest Georgia Wednesday morning. Authorities set a reward of $30,000 as a search was organized to find Minguell Kennedy Lembrick.

Shortly after the shooting, a Facebook account for man named Minguell GStreet Lembrick went live for four seconds, according to Georgias the Telegraph. Im gonna miss yall folks, man, the video, which has since been deleted, said. A post saying Love ya, Nikki brown. I tried to stay out to get ya (expletive) happenother life gone not going to jail, was written as well. Lembrick, 32, also goes by the name Minquell Kenney Lembrick, according to the Telegraph.

Police in Americus, Georgia, said Officer Nicholas Ryan Smarr responded to a domestic disturbance call at an apartment complex near Georgia Southwestern State University at around 9:40 a.m. when he was shot and killed. University police Officer Jodi Smith arrived shortly after to provide backup and was critically injured. Smith remained in critical condition Thursday morning.

Lembrick had a previous warrant for kidnapping and a domestic dispute and police said he should be considered armed and dangerous. It was not immediately clear if he was wounded during the incident.

Story continues

RTSV5QV

Photo: Reuters

Nearby Georgia Southwestern State University said on its website that there would be no classes Thursday because fall semester had already ended.

The suspect in the Americus shooting is still at large; however, Georgia Southwestern academic and administrative buildings have been released. Students in residence halls are being asked to stay in their building and not wander around campus, the alert read. GSW Public Safety remains on patrol in and around buildings with students, faculty and staff.

The two police officers involved in the shooting had graduated from Americus-Sumter High School together in 2009 before becoming officers and were best friends, according to Atlantas Local 11Alive.

Its a tragedy beyond words, Americus Police Chief Mark Scott said. One of our family members has been taken from us.

SaveSave

Related Articles
Geneva (AFP) - Human rights standards worldwide are under "unprecedented pressure", the UN said Thursday, warning that "the rhetoric of fascism" was becoming commonplace in parts of Europe and the United States.

Speaking ahead of the international Human Rights Day on December 10, UN rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein urged people around the globe to push back against a dangerous erosion of rights protections.

"2016 has been a disastrous year for human rights across the globe," Zeid said in a statement, warning that "if the growing erosion of the carefully constructed system of human rights and rule of law continues to gather momentum, ultimately everyone will suffer."

International human rights standards, he said, were "under unprecedented pressure" and risked "unravelling".

Zeid pointed to conflicts, like the one raging in Syria, that have unleashed a massive refugee crisis, extremist movements that are subjecting people to "horrific violence", climate change, discrimination and "yawning economic disparities".

The failure of many leaders to effectively and honestly deal with such issues has pushed many to turn to "the siren voices exploiting fears, sowing disinformation and division, and making alluring promises they cannot fulfil," he warned.

His comments follow a string of populist victories in Europe, and the stunning November election of Donald Trump as the next US president.

"In some parts of Europe, and in the United States, anti-foreigner rhetoric full of unbridled vitriol and hatred, is proliferating to a frightening degree, and is increasingly unchallenged," Zeid warned.

"The rhetoric of fascism is no longer confined to a secret underworld of fascists, meeting in ill-lit clubs or on the 'Deep Net'. It is becoming part of normal daily discourse," he said.

Zeid, who is set to launch a campaign entitled "Stand up for someone's rights today" on Saturday, urged everyone to "push back the violence and hatred which threaten our world."

"At a time of enormous turmoil and rapid change, the values which uphold peace across the world are too important to be left to international institutions and governments alone," he said.
An unprecedented number of Electoral College members may break with their states' popular vote results when casting their votes on Dec. 19. Though it's unlikely they will alter the results of the 2016 election, it could have a ripple effect in state and Constitutional law.

Several electors have already indicated they plan to dissent from their states' votes as part of a last-ditch effort to prevent Donald Trump from reaching the 270 electoral votes necessary to claim the presidency.

Texas Republican elector Christopher Suprun in a New York Times op-ed piece declared his intention to cast what is called a "faithless" vote, calling for electors to unify behind a Republican alternative. In Colorado, two Democratic electors filed a lawsuit challenging state laws that require them to vote for the winner of the state's popular vote in hopes of freeing up electors nationwide to become unbound. P. Bret Chiafalo of Washington and Michael Baca of Colorado have launched the "Hamilton Electors," a group inspired by Alexander Hamilton's explanation of the Electoral College, in an effort to stop Trump.

"Donald Trump is unfit for the presidency and that doesn't come just from my personal judgement, it comes from conversations that I've had with Republicans, Independents, Democrats," said Robert Nemanich, one of the Colorado electors suing, in an interview with local Fox 21 News.

To keep Trump from reaching the 270 electoral votes necessary to become president, at least 37 electors would have to defect. That would throw the election to the House of Representatives. While the Republican-controlled body could nonetheless elect Trump, the rogue electors hope they would support another GOP candidate instead -- Ohio Governor John Kasich, Arizona Senator John McCain or former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, for example.

Kasich on Tuesday put out a statement on the push, asking electors not to vote for him.

"The president elect won a pretty decisive victory last month," said Trump spokesman Jason Miller when asked about the potential rogue electors on a call with the press on Thursday, adding that Trump's numbers have "continued to move up" since his election, presumably referring to opinion polls.

Story continues

He said that regardless of the "side talk," whether Jill Stein's "recount shenanigans" or the electoral college defections, "the voters have spoken, and we think that folks will do what the voters have asked them to do, but it's not something that we're particularly concerned about."

Twenty-nine states have laws that enable state parties to extract oaths from their electors, and a handful of states criminalize faithless electors. There is no federal law requiring electors to vote in accordance with the results of the popular votes in their states.

"That issue remains unsettled as a matter of federal law," said Ned Foley, director of Election Law at Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law.

The 1952 Supreme Court case Ray v. Blair ruled that it is constitutional for states to require pledges from electors, but it did not address whether electors have to actually vote for their pledged candidate. Most legal scholars agree they don't.

"Most constitutional law scholars believe that these laws that forbid faithless electors or criminalize faithless electors are probably not constitutionally permissible or wouldn't pass constitutional muster," said Robert Alexander, a professor of political science at Ohio Northern University and expert in the Electoral College. "An elector is ultimately an officer of the Constitution."

Faithless electors have appeared before. In 2004, for example, an anonymous Minnesota elector cast his or her presidential vote for John Edwards (misspelled as "John Ewards"), Democratic candidate John Kerry's vice-presidential pick, presumably by accident.

Electors voting faithlessly en masse is extremely rare.

The last time it happened was in 1836, when nearly two dozen electors refused to vote for Martin Van Buren's vice presidential running mate, Richard Mentor Johnson, because of his relationship with an African American woman. The maneuver tossed the vice-presidential vote to the Senate, which ultimately elected Johnson anyway.

"We've had faithless electors in nine of the last 17 elections, but the idea of multiple defections, we have not seen that in years," said Alexander.

While 2016's rogue electors are unlikely to be successful in their bid to affect the results of the election, their push could result in more states enacting laws to bind or criminalize faithless votes.

The Uniform Law Commission, a nonprofit association that provides and promotes uniform legislation for states and jurisdictions, has put forth the Uniform Faithful Presidential Electors Act. The act allows for the extraction of a state-administered pledge of faithfulness, and if an elector acts in violation of that pledge, he or she is immediately removed and replaced.

Minnesota, Nebraska, Montana and Nevada have enacted the legislation, and if many electors act faithlessly this year, there could be more.

"I wouldn't be surprised at all if after this year a number of other state legislatures take another look at that uniform law and the problem of faithless electors," said Foley.

More states enacting such laws could potentially push the issue to the courts, which could ultimately lead to a court decision as to whether electors are constitutionally bound to cast their votes a certain way. If the courts were to rule that electors are independent, as most legal scholars expect, it could free up electors permanently to cast votes as they please.

"That's part of what the Colorado electors are doing is they're testing the water on this independence argument," said Alexander.

"My personal belief and judgement is that Donald Trump is so dangerous to the representative form of government, regardless, that him in office is more dangerous than the mechanisms that would be put in play to stop him from office," said Nemanich.

Even if electors are legally independent, political calculation may keep them from breaking with their states' votes anyway. Simply put: they don't want to risk their own political futures by going rogue.

"That's probably more important than any law forbidding a faithless elector, their own standing in the party," said Alexander.

EXCLUSIVE OFFER: See inside Jim Cramers multi-million dollar charitable trust portfolio to see the stocks he thinks could be potentially HUGE winners. Click here to see his holdings for FREE.
In addition to being a badass actor and playing pilot Bodhi Rook in the upcoming Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Riz Ahmed also happens to be a killer MC.

He proved his skills on The Tonight Show on Wednesday night during the "Wheel of Freestyle" game by slaying a Jedi-level rhyme off the dome.

The London-based Nightcrawler and The Night Of star first described to host Jimmy Fallon the disastrous audition process for the film, describing how he spammed the movie's director, Gareth Edwards, with 14 audition tapes and still getting invited to join the Star Wars family.

Then it was time to get down to the real business at hand as Ahmed watched the Freestyle Generator serve up a doozy: a rhyme incorporating three classic characters - Yoda, Darth Vader and the daunting Lando Calrissian.

Read more: Riz Ahmed Talks 'The Night Of' and 'Rogue One,' Freestyle Raps on 'Late Show'

Child's play, as it turns out. "The beat's stripped back/ Like it's wearin' a toga," rapped the British-Pakistani MC, who frequents rap battles in the U.K. and is a member of the Swet Shop Boys crew along with Heems of Das Racist. "The Roots do a lot with a little just like Yoda."

Watch the videos below.

This article originally appeared on Billboard.com.
NHRC urges govt to address fasting Tiwaris concerns

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has drawn the attention of the government to the deteriorating health condition of Bikas Tiwari,
Moscow (AFP) - Shares in Russian oil giant Rosneft lept Thursday after the Kremlin announced the 10.5 billion euro ($11.3 billion) sale of a stake to commodities trader Glencore and Qatar's sovereign fund.

President Vladimir Putin late Wednesday hailed the surprise deal for 19.5 percent of the state-controlled firm as the largest in the global energy sector for 2016, a major fillip for the strongman leader as he seeks to plug the country's growing deficit.

The sell-off is part of a broader privatisation drive and comes despite Moscow being mired in Western sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine that have played a major part in plunging the country into recession.

Rosneft stock was up some five percent by 1100 GMT on the Moscow Exchange to 374 rubles ($5.9, 5.5 euros), valuing the company overall at around 58 billion euros.

Swiss-based Glencore and the sovereign fund of gas-rich emirate Qatar will go fifty-fifty on the deal, which leaves the Russian state controlling just over 50 percent of the country's largest oil firm.

The sale of the stake in Rosneft was long in the pipeline but up until the last minute most observers expected the company itself to buy the shares from the government.

Rosneft chief Igor Sechin told Putin on Wednesday the firm had taken part in talks with "more than 30 companies, funds, professional investors, sovereign funds, financial institutions from countries in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region" ahead of the deal.

The final agreement is being partly funded by a cash from "one of the major European banks", he said, without naming the lender.

Investment bank Renaissance Capital said in a note that it was an Italian bank financing the lion's share of the purchase by Glencore.

A statement from Glencore said that the deal "will be conditional on the subsequent finalisation of all relevant financing, guarantee and other agreements," and could be closed in mid-December.

Story continues

- Just business -

Sechin pointedly thanked Putin at the Kremlin meeting and said that the deal was only made possible thanks to his "personal input."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted the sale was strictly business and said it showed Russian companies remained attractive for overseas investors despite the poor economic climate.

"This deal is exclusively commercial," he said.

"Russian assets, especially leading assets, are of considerable interest to investors both at home at abroad."

The sale comes after oil prices have risen to more than $50 a barrel after OPEC members last week hammered out a deal to cut oil output for the first time in eight years.

Once a little-known firm, Russia's Rosneft has enjoyed a meteoric rise under Putin.

Headed by the ex-KGB agent's powerful ally Sechin, it has scooped up some of the most prized assets in the Russian oil sector in a series of controversial deals.

Moscow -- which is not a member of OPEC -- has said it is ready to reduce crude output by 300,000 barrels a day in the first half of next year.

OPEC and non-OPEC members are set to meet in Vienna on Saturday to discuss the implementation of the deal to slash output.

Experts predict that if oil prices remain higher than expected, the Russian government will use the opportunity to increase spending ahead of presidential elections in 2018 instead of reducing its deficit.
Russell Crowe has been cleared of all accusations in the case filed against him by rapper Azealia Banks.

The case was dropped, according to E! News, because of the lack of evidence. Legal documents and witness accounts also reportedly state that it was Banks who actually assaulted Crowe.

Banks demanded a public apology from Crowe for allegedly assaulting her. In a now-deleted Facebook post, the rapper said: To recap my night, I went to a [party] at Russell crowes suite [sic], at which he called me [the n word], choked me, threw me out and spat at me. Last night was one of the hardest nights of sleep Ive had in a long time. The rapper said that nobody stopped Crowe from assaulting her and that she had receipts of what happened.

Attendees of the event said the altercation was prompted by Banks behavior, according to TMZ. The rapper reportedly laughed at the music Crowe played during the event. Banks also called the guests boring, white men.

Banks was also said to have threatened a woman, saying: You would love it if I broke my glass, stabbed you guys in the throat, and blood would squirt everywhere like some real Tarantino [movie].

Banks has not commented on the issue again, but she did post recently about acceptance after some people reportedly wished for her death. The rapper said she is being put in a box by people.

In a Facebook post, Banks said: Nothing about Azealia Banks CAN change until you change the way you look at her. If you look at me like a demon thats all you will see. If you look at me like a human and a girl as so many of my fans do you will see the real me.

Crowe has also yet to comment on the latest development in the issue.

Russell Crowe

Photo: Reuters/Mario Anzuoni

Related Articles
MOSCOW, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Russia's communications regulator said on Thursday it had a constructive meeting with representatives of LinkedIn Corp., a social networking website it blocked last month over its failure to comply with a data storage law.

"The meeting with LinkedIn was constructive. The parties agreed to continue dialogue", Vadim Ampelonsky, a spokesman for the Roskomnadzor watchdog, told Reuters.

LinkedIn, which has its headquarters in the United States, became the first major social network to be blocked in Russia under a new law that requires firms holding Russian citizens' data to store it on servers on Russian soil.

LinkedIn did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Alexander Winning)
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's communications regulator said on Thursday it had a constructive meeting with representatives of LinkedIn Corp., a social networking website it blocked last month over its failure to comply with a data storage law.

"The meeting with LinkedIn was constructive. The parties agreed to continue dialogue," Vadim Ampelonsky, a spokesman for the Roskomnadzor watchdog, told Reuters.

LinkedIn, which has its headquarters in the United States, became the first major social network to be blocked in Russia under a new law that requires firms holding Russian citizens' data to store it on servers on Russian soil.

LinkedIn confirmed the meeting took place on Thursday but did not elaborate.

"We appreciated the meeting and will continue to evaluate the matter. We look forward to engaging further with Roskomnadzor on this," a spokeswoman said in emailed comments.

(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Alexander Winning)
Hamburg (AFP) - Moscow's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov on Thursday denounced the "myth of a Russian threat" and accused Western powers of destabilising Europe, at a meeting in Germany of OSCE nations.

He urged all sides to take "a map of the continent and together look at what's where and what belongs to whom", referring to NATO's enlargement in eastern Europe since the Cold War, which Moscow regards as a threat to its security.

"We are sure such a review will convincingly dismantle the myth of a Russian threat and demonstrate where the real risks are coming from," Lavrov told Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe nation foreign ministers at an annual meeting in the northern city of Hamburg.

"The euphoria the West was in after the end of the Cold War didn't lead to an architecture of security for all in the Euro-Atlantic space," he said, adding that instead "the choice was made for a closed NATO-centred system".

Lavrov also said the Western military interventions in Iraq and Libya had destabilised the region and sparked a surge in refugee, to the point of threatening European security.

"An honest conversation must be held about the causes of the migrant crisis in Europe that are the result of gross interference in the internal affairs of countries in the Middle East and North Africa leading to chaos, terrorism," he said.

On the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Lavrov charged that Kiev had sabotaged peace efforts by refusing a direct dialogue with the pro-Moscow rebels.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin at the same meeting decried "Russian aggression" and reiterated his government's call for the deployment of an OSCE armed police mission in eastern Ukraine and along the Russian-Ukrainian border.

"The stakes are bigger and the price is higher than ever, the death toll from the war of Russia against Ukraine has already risen to 10,000," he said.

Story continues

Germany, which chaired the meeting of the group created during the Cold War to promote East-West dialogue, noted the dramatic deterioration of relations within the group.

"The pillars of the OSCE are crumbling, the tone is getting harsher between East and West," said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, calling however for "common answers to the new global challenges of terrorism, extremism and cyber attacks".

"Most of all... we need to rebuild trust where it has been lost," he said.
Looking out the window of her home in the small, coastal city of Manzanita, Oregon -- where only about 600 people permanently reside, and many more vacationers visit -- Leila Salmon describes the scene before her: "I'm looking right now at Neahkahnie Mountain, which goes right down to the ocean and the rainbow that just came out over the ocean and the mountain."

The twice widowed 87-year-old has resided in rural Tillamook County since she moved back to the state, after her second husband died, to be closer to her children in Portland, about 90 minutes away. One of her daughters has since retired and built a house nearby. "I've never lived any place where people felt so attached to the land and the preservation of the land, and the beauty that surrounds you [is] a bonus to living here," she says. "It never fails to amaze, amuse and satisfy me."

Still, for many like Salmon, there are health challenges associated with aging in place in a rural community, including limited access to a range of health care services. And yet, as America grays, many older adults are choosing to age in place where they grew up -- or in places they have since come to call home -- outside of major cities, in the broad patchwork of rural, wide open spaces that stitch the country together from sea to shining sea. But to tackle challenges and ensure older adults receive the care they need while living in more remote places, additional foresight and coordination is required, experts say.

[See: Easy Ways to Protect Your Aging Brain.]

"Just a year ago, I started having uncomfortable bladder symptoms," Salmon says. "Because our local health provider, which is a federally qualified health center, doesn't have specialists, they [referred] me to Oregon Health and Science University, which is 90 miles from here." Though Salmon can still drive herself, her daughter drove her to OHSU in Portland for initial visits and subsequent treatment after she was diagnosed with bladder cancer. "It necessitated regular trips to Portland -- the 90 miles over the Oregon Coast Range," she says. Though a challenge, she notes it worked out well. "At the moment, I'm cancer-free."

Having a strong support network is critical to aging in place -- particularly in a rural area, says Cassandra Ford, an associate professor of nursing at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, who has lived in rural areas and worked with rural populations as a nurse and researcher for much of her career. "Sometimes that can be family, sometimes that can be friends, sometimes that's neighbors," Ford says. In instances where older adults need more help with basic care needs, like taking medications, or activities of daily living, such as bathing, dressing and making meals, it's often informal caregivers -- frequently family -- who provide this. In other cases, where an older adult is more independent, a support network may be comprised of family or friends who call regularly and drop by to check in and make sure that person is doing OK.

With access to care being a central issue, research finds that older adults who live in rural areas tend to have more health problems and take more medications than their peers in urban areas. One Oregon-based study published in June in the Journal of Rural Health found that individuals 85 years and older who lived in rural areas dealt with more disease -- from diabetes to depression -- and took between five and six prescription medications, on average, as compared with fewer than four (or 3.7) medications, on average, for their urban counterparts.

"They're more likely to suffer from more chronic conditions, and the chronic conditions are going to get worse at a faster rate than people in urban areas," says Leah Goeres, a former postdoctoral fellow at Oregon State University who led the research. Goeres is now a pharmacist and outpatient care clinical coordinator at CareOregon, which provides health plan services for Medicaid and Medicare members in Oregon. The reasons rural residents often have more health issues than their urban counterparts aren't clear. But experts suggest a number of factors may play a role: lagging access to care; education differences; less awareness about prevention and treatment options; and income differences -- poverty is frequently a concern in rural areas.

[See: 17 Ways Heart Health Varies in Women and Men.]

Efforts are being made across the country, however, to accommodate people who want to age in place. That includes supporting veterans. "When we ask our veterans what they want, they really want to be able to age in place," says Under Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Dr. David J. Shulkin. And veterans disproportionately hail from and choose to live out their golden years in rural areas.

To help meet the health care needs of rural veterans who choose to age in place, the VA is employing a variety of approaches like telehealth. "We've done over 2 million [telehealth] visits, and 45 percent of all of our veterans enrolled in our telehealth program are in rural areas," Shulkin says. "This gives a rural veteran access to specialty care in ways that it would be very hard to get in their local community." In addition, the VA offers a caregiver support program that also provides training for caregivers. "If you want to keep rural veterans at home, according to their preference, they often do need help," he says. For some veterans, particularly those with complex care needs, the VA is also dispatching nurses and doctors to provide primary care in their homes.

Whether you have a military background or not, experts say it's important to reach out to your care providers and community organizations, like local Area Agencies on Aging, to determine what resources are available. No one should have to age in place alone.

Isolation is a top concern among older adults, says Lyn Holley, a professor of gerontology at University of Nebraska--Omaha. Research suggests that becoming socially disconnected can have far-reaching implications, from increasing the risk of depression to heart disease. And though many people aging in place in urban areas face the same danger of becoming isolated, experts say, the geography of open spaces -- the space between neighbors, family or friends -- can exacerbate the issue.

Connecting to local resources and community is all the more necessary not just for social and emotional health, but given the rigors involved in aging at home in areas with more limited services. The demands of rural living are significant, Holley says. "You're not going to have a drop-in housekeeper."

[See: 14 Ways Caregivers Can Care for Themselves.]

The challenges of rural aging vary by the individual and the community in which they live. For caregivers and others providing support, that makes it all the more important to listen to the needs of an individual, experts say. To meet them where they are -- wherever that is.

This article was written with the support of a journalism fellowship from New America Media, the Gerontological Society of America and the John A. Hartford Foundation.

Michael Schroeder is a health editor at U.S. News. He covers a wide array of topics ranging from cancer to depression and prevention to overtreatment. He's been reporting on health since 2005. You can follow him on Twitter or email him at mschroeder@usnews.com.
Competing with the likes of London, New York, Paris, Rome, Venice and Sydney, Saint Petersburg fought off its rivals to be named the world's best cultural destination of 2016 this week at the "World Travel Awards," the Oscars of the tourism trade. Here's a look at some of the cultural highlights awaiting visitors to this "Venice of the North."

> The unmissable Hermitage Museum

This former residence of Russia's Tsars is to Saint Petersburg what the Louvre is to Paris. It's also the world's biggest museum, in terms of the number of collections of art exhibited, embodying the artistic and cultural promise of Russia's one-time imperial capital. It would take 15 years to see all of the works in the Hermitage, taking in each for barely a minute for eight hours a day. The museum's three million works and objects include masterpieces by Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Van Dyke and Picasso, for which visitors often make a beeline. Visitors can step into the Winter Palace, a former residence of Russian Emperors, as well as the Old Hermitage, the Small Hermitage and the New Hermitage, all part of the museum complex situated on the banks of the Neva River.

> On the trail of Russian literature

Visitors can spend a whole day (or more!) checking out sites deeply rooted in Russian literature. The Dostoyevsky Museum is a must-see, delving into the history of the "Crime and Punishment" writer in the author's home from 1878 until his death. Next stop, the Raskolnikov House, as described in the Dostoyevsky bestseller and home to its protagonist. Other sights steeped in Russian literary history include the Nabokov Museum, taking visitors inside the home described in his autobiography "Speak, Memory," released before his famous novel, "Lolita." You can even visit the place where Alexander Pushkin challenged his rival, Baron Georges d'Anthes, to a duel, in which Pushkin was shot and died.

> Stunning architecture

Simply strolling along the canals and across their 400 bridges will give visitors a taste of Russian architecture. The historic center of Saint Petersburg, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a mix of Baroque and Neoclassical styles. Founded by Tsar Peter the Great, the city maintains the integrity of its original layout and is often considered one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, and one of the most authentic. The architecture of the city's churches, such as the Smolny Cathedral and the Chesme Church, is of particular interest, and the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood is no doubt the most famous landmark in this Venice of the North. Saint Petersburg is also a prime destination for the opera and the ballet. The Mariinsky Theater is another must for visitors, and since the Saint Petersburg ballet is one of the world's most respected, it would be a shame just to admire the architecture.
A Tampa, Florida, woman was indicted Monday on four counts of transmitting threats to the family of one of the Sandy Hook school shooting victims, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Authorities claim Lucy Richards, 57, is a Sandy Hook truther  someone who believes the infamous school shooting was a hoax.

Richards made an initial court appearance before United States Magistrate Judge Mark Pizzo in Florida and is scheduled to appear in a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, court on Dec. 19. It was not immediately clear if she has entered a plea or retained an attorney.

USA Today reports that Richards allegedly made a series of death threats against the parent of a child who was killed in the Dec. 14, 2012, shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The parent, Len Pozner, resides in south Florida, according to Today.

We are comforted to know that the system is working to protect the victims of violent crime from re-victimization by potentially violent hoaxers, Pozner said in a statement obtained by CBS News.

Richards was allegedly motivated to threaten the parent because she thought the elementary school shooting never happened, according to Time.

The Sandy Hook shooting resulted in the death of 20 children and six adults.

The alleged threats were made in January 2016 and included messages such as, You gonna die, death is coming to you real soon, and, LOOK BEHIND YOU IT IS DEATH, according to CBS News.

If Richards is convicted, each of her counts carries a maximum term of five years imprisonment.




NIC, UN Women, Zonta Club stand against VAW

National Information Commission (NIC), the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women-UN Women Nepal and Zonta Club Nepal jointly organised a programme in Kathmandu to take a stand against violence against women as part of the commemoration of the 25th year of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign.
(Adds context, share movement)

MEXICO CITY, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Santander Mexico will invest more than 15 billion pesos ($736 million) over the next three years to modernize its bank branches and explore new businesses, Hector Grisi, president of the Mexican unit of Spain's Banco Santander SA, said on Thursday.

"This is the biggest investment that Santander has made since it came to Mexico," Grisi said.

In a statement to Mexico's stock exchange, the company said it would use the investments to update systems and infrastructure, including its digital platforms and ATMs.

The bank, which has more than 1,000 branches across Mexico, is one of the country's four largest by assets.

Earlier this year, Citigroup Inc said it would invest $1 billion in Mexican unit Citibanamex's information technology, digital banking, branches, ATMs and other areas.

Santander Mexico's stock was the biggest gainer on the benchmark IPC index on Thursday, rising 3.2 percent in early trading.

($1 = 20.3750 Mexican pesos) (Reporting by Noe Torres and Natalie Schachar; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is informing its customers of cuts to their January crude oil supplies to comply with the latest OPEC agreement, according to a PIRA note late on Thursday. The note adds that cuts will be to varying degrees, but is likely to be larger to North America due to lower margins. Last week, members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to scale back output, its first cut since 2008. (Reporting by Catherine Ngai; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
London (AFP) - Britain's foreign minister has accused Saudi Arabia and Iran of engaging in "proxy wars" in comments that forced the prime minister's office to deny Thursday this was the government view.

Boris Johnson told a conference in Rome last week it was a "tragedy" that politicians in the Middle East were "twisting and abusing religion" and said Saudi Arabia and Iran were "puppeteering".

Such public criticism of British ally Saudi Arabia was seen by some commentators as a diplomatic blunder by Johnson, who has been in the job less than six months.

"Those are the foreign secretary's views. These are not the government's position on, for example, Saudi Arabia and its position in the region," Prime Minister Theresa May's spokeswoman said, adding that she has "has full confidence" in Johnson.

The comments were made public at an embarrassing time as May had pledged to strengthen ties with Gulf states including Saudi Arabia at a summit in Bahrain earlier this week.

In a video posted on the Guardian's website, Johnson told the Med 2 conference: "There are politicians who are twisting and abusing religion and different strains of the same religion in order to further their own political objectives.

"That's one of the biggest political problems in the whole region. And the tragedy for me -- and that's why you have these proxy wars being fought the whole time in that area -- is that there's not strong enough leadership in the countries themselves."

Johnson said there were "not enough big characters" willing to "reach out beyond their Sunni or Shia" group.

"That's why you've got the Saudis, Iran, everybody, moving in and puppeteering and playing proxy wars," he added.

The foreign ministry stressed that Johnson had voiced support for Saudi Arabia in a BBC show on on Sunday.

"As the foreign secretary made very clear on Sunday, we are allies with Saudi Arabia and support them in their efforts to secure their borders and protect their people," a spokesman said.

Story continues

"Any suggestion to the contrary is wrong and misinterpreting the facts."

Addressing a summit of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Bahrain on Wednesday, May reaffirmed British support for traditional allies in the region and said Britain would help "push back against Iran's aggressive regional actions."

In a joint statement, GCC states and Britain agreed to a "strategic partnership" and said they "oppose and will work together to counter Iran's destabilising activities".
By Curtis Skinner

OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) - Authorities said they concluded their search on Wednesday of a warehouse in Oakland, California, that was gutted by a fast-moving fire that killed 36 people during a dance party.

The blaze erupted on Friday in the sprawling two-story building known as the Ghost Ship, which was leased to an artists' collective. It was the deadliest blaze in the United States since 100 people perished in a 2003 nightclub fire in Rhode Island.

A special agent of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Jill Snyder, told reporters the fire started on the first floor and trapped party-goers above.

"There was rapid fire progression. Initial witness interviews have indicated the fire was well developed by the time the second-floor occupants realized a fire was going on on the first floor," Snyder said.

Officials have proclaimed a local state of emergency, potentially allowing for state and federal funds to help cover the costs of the response to the inferno. The declaration is set to go before the Oakland City Council for ratification on Thursday.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaff on Wednesday afternoon told reporters the city was convening a fire safety task force to enhance building and event space safety as well as inspection protocols.

She said a "flood of complaints and concerns" about other locations have come in to the city since Friday's deadly fire.

"We will learn from this tragedy to make Oakland safer," Schaff said.

The coroner's office has concluded autopsies on most of the victims, and the cause of death in all those cases was determined to be smoke inhalation, Alameda County Sheriff's Office spokesman J.D. Nelson said, adding that that is typical for a major fire.

Survivors said flames spread quickly and billowing thick, black smoke blinded and choked those struggling to flee.

Investigators are still seeking to determine the cause of the blaze. Officials have found no evidence of arson.

Story continues

However, charges ranging from involuntary manslaughter to murder could be brought, Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley told reporters on Monday.

The dance party was held on the warehouse's second floor, which has partially collapsed. The 10,000-square-foot (900-square-metre) building lacked sprinklers and smoke detectors, and wooden pallets partially formed a makeshift stairway between the first and second floors, officials have said. It had just two exterior doors.

City officials released complaint and inspection logs for the warehouse, which showed three complaints had been recorded by the city's building and planning department from 2005 to 2014.

Records showed an inspector visited the site on Nov. 17 to investigate a complaint about an "illegal interior building structure" but was unable to gain entry. The investigator did not return to the scene before Friday's deadly blaze.

(Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Chris Reese and Leslie Adler)
Sears

Sears reported mounting losses on Thursday and acknowledged that the company has "fallen short" of expectations for a recovery.

The company said revenue fell 12.5% to $5 billion in the third quarter, with losses widening to $748 million from $454 million in the period last year.

Same-store sales dropped 7.4%, including a 10% decrease at Sears stores and a 4.4% decrease at Kmart stores.

Sears' cash and equivalents fell 12% to $258 million in the period.

The company said it would continue to accelerate store closings to help stop the bleeding.

Sears is shutting down 64 Kmart stores this month, following the closing of nearly 80 Sears and Kmart stores in July.

"We understand the concerns related to our operating performance," Jason Hollar, Sears' chief financial officer, said in a prerecorded conference call. "We have fallen short on our own timetable for achieving the profitability that we believe the company is capable of generating. With that said, the team remains fully committed to restoring profitability to our company and creating meaningful value."

Neil Saunders, the CEO of the retail consulting firm Conlumino, likened Sears to the Titanic on Thursday, saying it "looks set to sink."

In a note to clients, he said the company's plan to restore profitability is a sham, writing, "the funds raised are not being used to develop of growth the firm  they are being used to prop up an ailing and failed business."

"In our view, it is now too late to turn this around," Saunders wrote. "It is just not financially feasible to reverse it."

Addressing widespread speculation about a potential Sears bankruptcy, Hollar reiterated on Thursday that the company has a "rich asset base" to draw from to stay in operation.

"We believe that our liquidity needs will be satisfied through the foreseeable future using the levers available to us through our portfolio of assets," Hollar said.

The company is still looking for options such as the sale or licensing of several of its key brands and its Home Services business.

Story continues

"We have had strategic parties express interest in our Kenmore, Craftsman, and DieHard brands, and our Home Services business, and we continue to evaluate opportunities for these businesses," Hollar said.

Sears reported earnings Thursday one week after losing two of its highest-ranking executives in the midst of the key holiday shopping season.

The outgoing executives include Jeff Balagna, formerly Sears' executive vice president, and Joelle Maher, formerly Sears' president and chief member officer.

Sears

Sears' sales have dropped from $41 billion in 2000 to $15 billion in 2015. Kmart, which merged with Sears in 2005, has seen its sales in the same period plunge to $10 billion from $37 billion.

As Business Insider reported last month, at least half a dozen suppliers have "significantly" reduced product shipments to Sears over fears of a bankruptcy, according to Marc Wagman, the executive vice president of trade credit and political risk at the insurance brokerage firm Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., which represents the Sears suppliers to insurers.

The companies' concern over Sears' financial health has "really accelerated in the last six to 12 months," Wagman told Business Insider.

According to a recent report by The Wall Street Journal, the toymaker Jakks Pacific Inc. recently suspended sales of its products to Kmart, which is owned by Sears Holdings, because of worries about the company's financial health.

Suppliers have grown concerned after warnings from Sears store employees and numerous banks.

Fitch Ratings in October identified Sears as one of seven major retailers at risk of going bankrupt in the next 12 to 24 months and eventually liquidating.

In September, Moody's analysts downgraded Sears' liquidity rating, saying Sears and Kmart didn't have enough money  or access to money  to stay in business.

The Moody's analysts said Sears was bleeding cash and would have to continue to rely on outside funding or the sale of assets, such as real estate, to sustain operations. Kmart in particular is at risk of shutting down, the analysts said.

Sears CEO Edward Lampert responded in early October, saying "there have never been any plans to close the Kmart format."

NOW WATCH: 9 items you shouldn't buy at Costco





More From Business Insider


The expression loose lips sink ships, has become part of the American popular lexicon, almost as common as other expressions such as going cold Turkey, or pitching in. Despite its humorous nature, a very serious and profound history exists behind the statement. During World War II, the U.S. military establishment commissioned numerous artists in cooperation with the The Office of War Information (OWI) Bureau of Graphics to create and distribute propaganda posters.

These posters were widespread and mass produced, aimed at improving domestic morale and encouraging enlistment, citizen involvement, conservation and other efforts to help the war effort abroad and at home. As Alan Winkler explained in The Politics of Propaganda, the U.S. government was initially reluctant to engage in a mass propaganda campaign. The U.S. government was afraid of the power a centralized information bureau could wield, having witnessed it with Joseph Goebbels campaign in Nazi Germany, and Congress was wary of allowing the OWI to operate separately from diplomatic and military oversight. Pressure from private interests, however, led to the creation of information campaigns, through numerous outlets, including print.

Independent poster producers, sometimes from the private sector, forced the governments hand in creating a central bureau to oversee what exactly was being disseminated, and which information was crucial to convey to the wider public. A similar campaign was created in Great Britain, as well as Canada and other states sympathetic to the Allied war cause. The dissemination of the physical posters was coordinated through organized groups that volunteers would plaster on a variety of public spaces, including churches and schools.

Even though the propaganda campaign in the U.S. tended to have a positivist theme, portraying smiling faces, Allied victories and patriotic zeal, many depictions of the enemy were outright racist in nature, and depicted the enemy in extremely negative and stereotypical fashion. One of the most important functions of these propaganda posters was the attempt to cut down on careless talk. The United States was afraid of critical information being intercepted by the Axis, which could lead to mass casualties if the enemy acquired prior knowledge of ship lanes and troop movements.

The OWI campaign commissioned unpaid artists to submit their work, using various symbolisms to get the message across. One of the most popular types of silence posters featured the image of grieving family members, or even pets, mourning the loss of those who had been killed as a result of reckless speech. Guilt was undoubtedly the biggest emotion artists were trying to stir in viewers. Other posters depicted the Nazis awarding medals or acknowledgements to American citizens who had contributed information leading to their victories.

But, while the possibility of causing a death was made explicit by these posters, they also served another function: preventing people from spreading rumors that might sap morale.

Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter

But were the posters simple paranoia on the part of the U.S. government, or a truly necessary campaign that rooted out saboteurs, spies and enemy agents? There were two serious attempts to sabotage and spy on American war aims by the Nazi regime, notably Operation Pastorius and Operation Elster.

Even though both were ultimately unsuccessful, they still proved the American government correct in its cautious mentality and the need to have a populace that would not spread known critical information. In addition, the Duquesne Spy Ring, the largest espionage case in United States history to end in convictions, proved that serious attempts at information gathering and sabotage were deeply rooted, and existed well within the American homeland.

Propaganda posters proved to be a cheap and accessible form of mass public information. The campaign utilized the emerging psychology of advertising with the powerful motifs of patriotism and loyalty to discipline the citizen base  and the posters remain an important indication of the extent to which the entire population was mobilized for war.

Albinko Hasic is a PhD candidate at Syracuse University, whose research concerns U.S. military propaganda.
IRVINE, CA / ACCESSWIRE / December 7, 2016 / Khang & Khang LLP (the "Firm") announces a class action lawsuit against Impax Laboratories Inc. ("Impax" or the "Company") (IPXL). Investors, who purchased or otherwise acquired Impax shares between February 25, 2014 and November 3, 2016 inclusive (the "Class Period"), are encouraged to contact the Firm prior to the January 9, 2017 lead plaintiff motion deadline.

If you purchased shares of Impax during the Class Period, please contact Joon M. Khang, Esquire, of Khang & Khang, 18101 Von Karman Avenue, 3rd Floor, Irvine, CA 92612, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or by e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com.

There has been no class certification in this case yet. Until certification occurs, you are not represented by an attorney. You may choose to take no action and remain a passive class member.

The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, Impax made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose: that the Company was engaged in conduct that would trigger investigations of possible collusion of generic drug pricing by the antitrust division of the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") and the Connecticut Attorney General; that the DOJ investigation and the underlying conduct would likely result in criminal charges against Impax for collusion of generic drug pricing; that the Company lacked effective internal controls over financial reporting; and that as a result of the above, Impax's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. When this information was revealed to the public, shares of Impax declined in value, which caused investors harm.

If you wish to learn more about this lawsuit at no charge, or if you have any questions concerning this notice or your rights, please contact Joon M. Khang, a prominent litigator for almost two decades, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or by e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com.

This press release may constitute Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions.

Story continues

Contact:

Joon M. Khang, Esq.

Telephone: 949-419-3834

Facsimile: 949-225-4474

joon@khanglaw.com

SOURCE: Khang & Khang LLP
Sherri Papini's husband, Keith Papini, has not been ruled out as a suspect in the kidnapping case of his wife, the New York Post reported Wednesday. The California mother was kidnapped, tortured and starved for three weeks following which her captors released her.

Initially, Keith was a suspect in the case, and later underwent a lie detector test and provided a verified alibi. However, Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko told the Post that Keith still remains under the watch.

Keith has been cooperative and even volunteered for a polygraph, which he passed, Bosenko reportedly said. We are keeping an open mind and looking at all avenues.

Papini disappeared on Nov. 2 while out jogging near her home in Redding, California. Keith filed a missing complaint after his wife failed to pick up her children from daycare. The 34-year-old was found heavily battered on Thanksgiving morning after being spotted by a motorist on Interstate 5 in Woodland, more than 150 miles from her home.

Just after Papini went missing, rumors spread about Keith being somehow involved in the abduction. One of Papini's relative defended Keith on social media, saying he was being defamed by a baseless speculation.

We recognize that in 80 percent of the disappearance cases the spouse is responsible, Rod Rodriguez III, Sherris father-in-law, wrote on Facebook on Nov. 8. But conversely, that means in 20 percent of the cases the spouse is not involved. This case falls into the latter category.

He never once lawyered up and has cooperated fully without hesitation, he said, adding that Keith allowed police to search the familys cars and home, and also turned over laptops, iPads, phones and other items to help with the investigation.

Police are still searching for the suspects in the case, believed to be two Hispanic women  one with curly hair, and the other with straight hair  who had covered their faces and spoke mostly Spanish.

Related Articles
A dog impaled with a stick and another with a mouth infested with insects  The Doctors have the latest shocking pet headlines!

We are joined by veterinarian Dr. Arvid Edward, star of Amazons Pet Doctors of Atlanta, who shares some terrifying stories of four-legged friends who found themselves in scary situations.

Dr. Edward tells The Doctors about a two-year-old beagle named Rex who chased a rabbit in a park and returned to his owner with a bloody nose. The nosebleeds continued along with frequent sneezing. Initially, the owner and vet failed to see the underlying issue and put little Rex on medications. When bleeding persisted, a CT scan revealed the dog had a 5-inch long stick lodged in his nose! Thankfully, they successfully removed the stick and Rex is doing much better.

Watch: Why Do Dogs Hump?

Dr. Edward says the stick in the nose problem is most common with dogs. He warns that an object left in the nose for an extended period can lead to scar tissue buildup, which makes spotting the object more difficult during an exam.

In a story that most pet owners have probably never heard of or seen, Dr. Edward shares the unique problem of an insect infestation in a dogs mouth. A dog named Bailey experienced the rare issue after the roof of his mouth became filled with Asian ladybugs, which are difficult to remove. His owner first became worried after he became lethargic and was foaming at the mouth.

Watch: Can You Teach Your Dog to Read?

Dr. Edward explains Asian ladybugs are very different than the traditional kind and are usually found in rural areas. The bugs will attach to any mucous membrane and then release protective mucus that will affect the animal like a chemical burn. It can lead to infection and corrosion of the mouth. Dr. Edward says this issue is rare, but that it should be dealt with as soon possible. Luckily, a vet was able to successfully remove the ladybugs and Baileys condition improved dramatically.

Rex and Bailey serve as a reminder to always check your dogs mouth and nose for anything abnormal and when in doubt, take your furry friend to the veterinarian.
Pokharas hotel boom spreads to valley rim

With hotels and resorts reaching saturation point at Pokharas lakeside, tourism entrepreneurs have been casting their eyes towards the valley rim as possible sites for their next ventures.
Andrew Left

On Thursday, the short-selling firm Citron Research tweeted that Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefits manager, might be targeted during the Trump administration.

"When @realdonaldtrump tells $ESRX ' you're fired' heads will roll. The culprit behind pharmaceutical price gouging. Price Target $45," the firm, which was founded by investor Andrew Left, tweeted.

The stock is now down by about 7%. In an interview with Time, President-elect Donald Trump said he thought drug-price gauging across the pharmaceutical industry was wrong, but he gave little detail about what he would do about the practice.

And that's where Express Scripts come in.

Pharmacy benefit managers manage lists called formularies for insurance companies. Those lists determine which drugs insurers will pay for and how much they'll pay. PBMs also collect a rebate from drug companies that they may or may not pass on to their clients. Those rebates are secret, as are the fees that insurers pay to the PBMs.

That lack of transparency has led critics to believe that PBMs contribute to high drug costs by taking big rebates for drugs without passing them on to customers, among other shady practices. They have some powerful enemies on Capitol Hill, too  Republican Reps. Earl "Buddy" Carter and Doug Collins, each of whom is from Georgia.

express scripts chart

Express Scripts is facing a lawsuit from one of its largest clients, Insurer Anthem, accusing it of self-dealing. Multiple pharmacies are also suing the company, accusing it of diverting prescriptions from them to Express Scripts' in-house mail-order pharmacy without permission. Federal investigators in New York and Massachusetts are also looking into the company.

"$ESRX is Philidor of the pharma industry," Citron also tweeted, referring to the secret pharmacy that was discovered inside battered drug company Valeant Pharmaceuticals last year. "@therealdonaldtrump promises to fix drug pricing? Two words: EXPRESS SCRIPTS."

Story continues

Three PBMs dominate the market, combing for an 80% share. Of those three, Express Scripts is the largest and the only one that is not part of another company. The other two large PBMs are CVS Caremark and UnitedHealth's OptumRx.

NOW WATCH: Martin Shkreli goes on a raging tweetstorm in response to high school students recreating his $750 drug for $2





More From Business Insider


Businesses explain why Singapore seems to take the lead over HK.

According to Bloomberg, tax benefits, government help and easy access to regional markets led Joe Seunghyun Cho to choose Singapore as the headquarters for his six financial technology companies, rather than base them in the rival hub of Hong Kong or his native South Korea.

Many fintech companies are making similar choices, adding a new dimension to the decades-old tussle between Singapore and Hong Kong for the position as Asias premier financial center. With banks profits under pressure from stricter global regulations and rising compliance costs, its a battle either city can ill afford to lose.

Interviews with fintech entrepreneurs and business consultants show that while Hong Kong is making strides to catch up, Singapore has the lead -- in part because its government was quicker in recognizing the industrys potential. In a February study commissioned by the U.K. government, Ernst & Young LLP ranked the Southeast Asian city fourth among global fintech hubs, while Hong Kong came seventh. Singapore was the preferred gateway into Asia, the report said, highlighting the citys increasingly progressive regulatory regime.

Read more here from Bloomberg.







More From Singapore Business Review


Donald Trumps TIME magazine cover is raising eyebrows after some say he has devil horns sticking out of his head.

Read: Donald Trump Named TIME's Person of the Year

The real estate tycoon was named the Person of the Year by the magazine and he was placed under the magazine titles M where it looks as if he has horns bulging from his head.

Social media users took notice to the cover.

Kudos to the designer who made the "M" look like devil horns. We will send you care packages after Trump throws you in prison. pic.twitter.com/jsqKxC8IOq  Rex Huppke (@RexHuppke) December 7, 2016

Give that art director a raise pic.twitter.com/5Xe1RrOGbj  Christopher Hooton (@ChristophHooton) December 7, 2016

I love the position of Trump's picture on Time magazine. It really brings out his devil-like horns   Marilyn Fregoso (@littomarilyn) December 7, 2016

Given the shape of the letter "m" in the magazine's name and its location on the cover, many other subjects in the past have also appeared to sprout extra features," the magazine said in a statement. Any resemblance to cats, bats or devil horns is entirely coincidental."

Trump has found himself in a Twitter war with Steelworkers Union Leader Chuck Jones, who says the president-elect exaggerated the number of jobs he saved at the Carrier air conditioner plant in Indiana.

Jones, who has been the president of the union since 1999, said Trump got his figures wrong.

Read: Ms. Trump Goes to Washington? Ivanka Reportedly Planning to Relocate Family to D.C.

The union leader said Trump appeared to be taking credit for rescuing 350 engineering positions that were never scheduled to leave," according to The Washington Post: "Five hundred fifty of his members, he said, were still losing their jobs. And the company was still collecting millions of dollars in tax breaks.

Story continues

Jones told The Washington Post: He got up there and, for whatever reason, lied his ass off.

Trump fired off on Twitter saying Jones has done a terrible job representing workers.

Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers. No wonder companies flee country!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2016

If United Steelworkers 1999 was any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana. Spend more time working-less time talking. Reduce dues  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2016

Meanwhile, Trump nominated General John Kelly to run the Department of Homeland Security.

He joins retired generals James Mad Dog Mattis at defense, and Michal Flynn as national security adviser.

Watch: Alec Baldwin Responds to Trump's 'SNL' Criticism: 'Release Your Tax Returns and I'll Stop'

Related Articles:
In an interview with Time magazine, President-elect Donald Trump again flatly denied that the Russian government was involved in launching cyber attacks on the Democratic party and a top advisor to Hillary Clinton during the presidential election. Trump said that despite the consensus of the U.S. intelligence community that Russia attempted to influence the U.S. presidential election, I dont believe it. I dont believe they interfered. Asked if he thought the various U.S. intel agencies were politically-driven in their assessment, Trump replied, I think so.

As a result of his distrust of Washingtons intel community, Times Michael Scherer writes, Trump has chosen not to consistently make himself available for intelligence briefings, since the election, according to his aides. At one point during the campaign, Trump openly called on Russia to hack Hillary Clintons servers.

Because reasons. Trump has stuck to his position for months, but has declined to offer any evidence for this belief. For the record, on October 7, 2016 the Department of Homeland Security and Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a joint statement concluding that the U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations.

Congress not so sure. The President-elects refusal to accept the intel communitys assessment may put him on a collision course with Congress, as both Democratic and Republican members are demanding investigations into the attacks.

For the Ds. Rep. Elijah Cummings, (D-Md.), ranking member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Rep. Eric Swalwell, (D-Calif.) introduced legislation Wednesday to create a bipartisan commission to investigate the hacks. No Republicans have signed onto the bill so far, but Swalwell told reporters hes sure theyll get bipartisan support once Congress comes back to town in January.

Story continues

Rep. Adam Schiff, (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, charged on MSNBC Wednesday that by denying Russian involvement, Trump has essentially become really a propaganda piece for the Kremlin. Meanwhile the White House has yet to respond to a letter signed by every Democratic member of the Senate intelligence committee looking for the declassification of more information concerning the Russian government and the US election, according to the request.

For the Rs. In a speech at the Heritage Foundation on Wednesday, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Tx.)  who chairs the House Committee on Homeland Security  said, Russias recent hacks should be a wake-up call, and a call to action. We cannot allow foreign governments to interfere in our democracy. When they do, we must respond forcefully, publicly and decisively. In the Senate, Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has pledged to launch an investigation, and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) said his committee is looking into holding closed-door hearings on the issue.

We have committee members that are interested and we certainly intend to pursue what if any interference took place, Corker said, according to the Wall Street Journal. Corker is also being considered by Trump to be his nominee for Secretary of State.

FPs John Hudson has more on charges being leveled by some Democrats on the Hill that a renewal of U.S. sanctions on Russia for its 2014 annexation of Crimea are being delayed by Republicans close to the Trump administration.

Speaking of intelligence. Over in Beijing, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman took on claims in Trump National Security Advisor Mike Flynns book that China was part of a secret alliance of countries including Cuba, North Korea, Russia, China working with radical Islamists to undermine the United States. In response to the claims, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters at a press conference that he hoped everyone could base their opinions on facts when taking a position.

Mattis to get his waiver. Democrats on Capitol Hill are ready to allow limited debate over whether or not to issue a legal waiver to allow Trumps pick for Defense Secretary, retired Marine general James Mattis, to serve FPs Paul McLeary, John Hudson and Dan De Luce report.

The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Adam Smith of Washington told FP that while Trump has picked some spectacularly unqualfiied nominees to fill his administration so far, if the president-elect somehow accidentally picks high quality, very intelligent people, Im not going to let the fact that theyre generals get in the way of at least having somebody in the executive branch who knows what theyre doing.

Rubio calls for China sanctions. Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio has introduced a bill proposing sanctions  including asset freezes, travel bans, and visa restrictions  on any Chinese person who contributes to construction or development projects in any contested area of the South China Sea, writes FPs Emily Tamkin. The bill also urges a more muscular U.S. response to Chinas territorial ambitions. It calls for the United States to continue and expand freedom-of-navigation operations meant to challenge Chinas claims, and calls for the United States to meet Chinese provocations with commensurate actions that impose costs on any attempts to undermine security in the region. Rubio hasnt managed to attract any co-sponsors for his bill.

Good morning and as always, if you have any thoughts, announcements, tips, or national security-related events to share, please pass them along to SitRep HQ. Best way is to send them to: paul.mcleary@foreignpolicy.com or on Twitter: @paulmcleary or @arawnsley

China

China is doubling down on its peacekeeping commitment to South Sudan, sending 120 more troops to the violence-plagued country after losing two soldiers in fighting months ago. The AP reports that the troops will be followed by 580 more peacekeepers as part of the U.N.s 12,000-strong contingent in the country. The relatively new country plunged into conflict after a clash between forces aligned with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar. The loss of two Chinese peacekeepers shocked citizens back home, unaccustomed to see Chinese military casualties.

Philippines

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte says President-elect Donald Trump told him we should fix our bad relations in a recent phone call. After the call, he said he felt like a saint because of the warm reception from Trump. Duterte has urged citizens to murder those they suspect of being drug addicts or dealer and many vigilantes in the country have taken up the call to lawlessness. After receiving criticism on the policy from the Obama administration, Duterte has called for the expulsion of American special operations troops, the cancellation of joint exercises and a closer relationship with China and Russia.

Syria

Russias military lost one of its rising stars in an artillery attack in Aleppo, the Daily Beast reports. Prior to his death, Col. Ruslan Galitsky had an apparent career in Russian covert operations, receiving a decoration for his service fighting in Ukraines Russian-backed rebel enclaves, where he served with Russias 5th Independent Tank Brigade. Galtisky also served with the secretive 64722 unit and may have been advising a Syrian armored unit at the time of his death in Aleppo.

Iraq

An airstrike in Iraq appears to have gone horribly wrong with reports that warplanes hit a market in the city of Qaim, killing 52 men, women, and children. Al Jazeera reports that the strike was carried out by an Iraqi air force Sukhoi jet. On Twitter, U.S. military spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve Col. John Dorrian wrote that American aircraft did not conduct strikes in the area around the time of the incident. Anbar province legislator Mohammed al-Karbouli called for an investigation into the strike and said the incident aids Islamic State propaganda.

Afghanistan

The Afghan government is worried about what it says are warming ties between Russia, Iran, and the Taliban, VOA News reports. Afghan senate chairman Fazal Hadi Muslimyar said the government has found evidence of cooperation between the countries and the Taliban. Afghan officials and locals along the border with Iran tell the news outlet that high-ranking Taliban members live in Iran and fighters often travel across the border between the two countries. Afghan lawmakers are also unnerved by comments from Russian envoy Zamir Kabulov claiming Russias interests coincide with the Taliban because both are against the Islamic State.

Navy

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus is refusing to follow Defense Secretary Ash Carters orders to cut $17 billion from the services budget, Navy Times reports. Mabus is hesitant to cut into the Navys shipbuilding because it could be difficult to make up for lost time given the lengthy process to construction. One anonymous defense official also tells the Times that cutting the shipbuilding budget now would make little sense given that Trump administration officials are certain to reverse the cuts once in office in January.

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images
There are five new players in the battle to win federal approval of the $85.4 billion merger of AT&T and Time Warner: Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft.

The size, reach, and balance sheets of the tech giants were cited as a primary impetus for the AT&T-Time Warner nuptials during a hearing on the merger Wednesday with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The nearly three-hour session marked the first real test of how the deal will play in the court of public opinion amid the populist uprising spurred by Donald Trumps victory in the presidential race.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson and Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes faced expected questions about the deals impact on prices for consumers, the competitive landscape for Time Warners content rivals, and whether the enlarged company would be able to squash independent programmers. The scope of the combined company is a bipartisan concern, judging by the questioning from committee members. That concern is especially acute as the incoming presidential administration has vowed to rescind the FCCs existing net neutrality rules designed to police high-speed data providers like AT&T from erecting tollbooths on the Internet.

In that context, its no surprise that the CEOs would invoke the threat posed by the tech giants who, in varying degrees, are becoming increasingly focused on video. Stephenson positioned the enlarged company as angling to drive major changes to televisions status quo before theyre beaten to the punch by Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos.

Our intent is to disrupt the existing pay TV model, Stephenson assured.

The initial warning to the pols about the specter of Google et al hanging over old media came from a friendly witness, the maverick entrepreneur Mark Cuban. In sounding the alarm about the challenging marketplace that even the largest TV players are facing, Cuban cited evidence from his own household.

Punishment for my 7-year-old son is taking away his Minecraft,  Cuban said. He could care less about TV.

Story continues

As the video business steadily migrates to online platforms, the tech giants will have a gatekeeper status that will dwarf the power of an enlarged AT&T. Looking into the future, Cuban said, AT&T and DirecTV could easily find themselves at the mercy of Apple or Google or Facebook for distribution. They really cant control their own destiny, Cuban argued.

Stephenson and Bewkes defended the merger as being good for consumers in allowing the enlarged company flexibility to innovate and to offer low-cost programming packages. There is no doubt that AT&Ts Nov. 30 introduction of its low-cost DirecTV Now streaming channel package was done in part to prove the companys good intentions on the consumer-pricing front. AT&T is offering DirecTV Now service to its wireless subscribers free of data charges. That provision sounds consumer-friendly on the surface but it drew questions about whether AT&T could wield its data-free option in some way to discriminate against content or distribution rivals.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah and chairman of the committee that called the hearing, called it the siren song of zero rating. Stephenson explained that DirecTV pays AT&T a fee for the right to have its content excluded from a customers data cap. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., a vocal critic of Big Media mergers, seized on the prospect that AT&T could charge rivals more for the same data-free option.

Stephenson repeated the mantra of the merger that the combination of AT&Ts global wireless business and DirecTV with Time Warners blue-chip content would give subscribers more flexibility to watch shows across multiple devices. He boiled it down to the soundbite-friendly notion of allowing people to pay for their content once, watch it anywhere at any time.

Bewkes, meanwhile, is looking to turn an old defeat into victory while hes on the stump. He cited the stalled rollout of TV Everywhere authenticated streaming as an example of why Time Warner needed a big distribution partner to drive change across the industry. Bewkes and Comcasts Brian Roberts were the frontmen for TV Everywhere when Time Warner and Comcast teamed to introduce the concept in 2009  just as Netflix was revving up its streaming business.

As many cable operators fiddled around with clunky authentication processes and clumsy navigational systems (if they embraced TV Everywhere at all), Netflix and Hulu took root as the better option for watching TV and fueled cord-cutting, to Bewkes dismay. TV Everywhere deals were held hostage to complicated affiliate negotiations, and also hampered by the unwillingness of other content providers to grant broad VOD and streaming access to programs, also to Bewkes dismay.

We need to deliver great consumer experiences and thats what joining with AT&T will allow us to do, he said.

Toward the end of the session, Stephenson sought to deconstruct the rationale for the move by major MVPDs to embrace a wider variety of bundling options, including OTT options like DirecTV Now. He cited the all-or-nothing approach to carriage deals taken by big programmers as the biggest menace for consumers cable bills. Finally, with skinny bundles like the options offered at DirecTV Now, distributors are drilling down to the channels consumers really want and jettisoning the periphery channels that only drive up prices.

The old system is just flat-out broken, he said.

All in all, the hearing produced few fireworks, and the deal seemed to draw support from Republican members of the committee (a good sign, from AT&T-Time Warners perspective). The discussion did veer into surprising territory when Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D.-Conn., elicited vows from Stephenson and Bewkes that CNN would not alter its coverage of Trump despite what Blumenthal described as threats from the president-elect to block the deal because of his disdain for CNNs reporting.

On Tuesday, as Bewkes and Stephenson made the rounds of investor conferences in New York, the CEOs told the Wall Street crowd that they were optimistic that the incoming Trump administration would be good for the nations business climate. Bewkes raised eyebrows with his statement that he believed that Democrats poised a greater threat to free speech concerns than Trump, despite the president-elects vows to sue the New York Times and Washington Post, among others, for coverage he deemed biased.

For sure, Bewkes and Stephensons words on Trump had to have been carefully considered, just like every point the two made during Wednesdays hearing. If there was one message they tried to convey, it was that the big-ness of the combined AT&T and Time Warner needs to be measured by a different yardstick than regulators have used for media mergers in the past.

We have to recalibrate what size means in this new world, Stephenson said, once again calling out the influence of the tech behemoths. The market cap of AT&T-Time Warner, in the $350 billion range, is still about half the size of the companies that present the real competitive threat.

(Pictured: Jeff Bewkes, Randall Stephenson)

Related stories

AT&T, Time Warner Chiefs Face Questions About Merger in Senate Hearing

AT&T, Time Warner Chiefs Grilled on Donald Trump's Campaign Promise to Block Merger

AT&T, Time Warner to Face Questions on Merger at Senate Hearing
The work of ancient astronomers reveals that the Earth's spin is slowing down  though not as much as scientists believed.

Each century, the length of the solar day, or the time it takes the planet to do a full rotation, grows by 1.8 milliseconds, according to a new study using astronomical observations going back to 750 B.C. Researchers have known that the planet's rotation is slowing because of friction caused by the tides, as water that's being tugged on by the moon's gravity sloshes against the solid Earth. However, measurements of this tidal effect suggest that the planet should be slowing in its rotation by 2.3 milliseconds per century, slightly more than the new research finds.

The difference between 2.3 milliseconds and 1.8 milliseconds over a century may seem trivial, said study researcher Leslie Morrison, who worked at the Royal Greenwich Observatory for nearly 40 years. But those fractions of milliseconds are important for understanding the ways that the Earth has changed shape since the end of the last ice age, about 12,000 years ago, Morrison told Live Science. [50 Amazing Facts About Planet Earth]

Ancient records

Morrison and his colleagues have been working on measuring the Earth's rotation for decades. The new study is perhaps the most comprehensive effort yet, Morrison said, mostly because the ancient Babylonians were so good at keeping records.

By 720 B.C., this civilization, located in what is now Iraq, was keeping records on clay tablets in a writing system called cuneiform. When archaeologists discovered some of these tablets in Babylonian ruins in the 1800s, the language had been lost; it took decades to decipher those original tablets.

Fortunately for modern-day Earth scientists, some of these tablets happened to contain records of eclipses, particularly solar eclipses, when the moon moves between the sun and the Earth, casting a shadow on this planet. These eclipses tended to make an impression on ancient people, Morrison told Live Science. The events also strengthened tides slightly, because the alignment between the Earth, moon and sun meant a stronger pull on the planet and its oceans.

Story continues

"The descriptions of a total solar eclipse are so graphic," he said, including descriptions like, "When the days suddenly turn to night and the stars appear."

The researchers also collected eclipse observation records from ancient China, ancient Greece and the ancient Arab regions. The timing of the eclipses from these descriptions, however, conflicts with calculations of when the eclipses should have occurred if tidal friction alone explained the slowdown of the planet's rotation. In 720 B.C., Morrison said, the discrepancy was about 7 hours between what the tablets reported and what calculations based on the tidal models would have predicted.

"That discrepancy is the measure of how much the Earth has been changing over this period of time," Morrison said. Working backward from the discrepancy, the team calculated how long the days have lengthened over the centuries. He and his colleagues published their findings today (Dec. 6) in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A.

Geophysical parameters

Calculating the Earth's rotation time down to less than a millisecond matters because that number says something about the way the very shape of the planet has changed, said Duncan Agnew, a geophysicist at the University of California, San Diego, who was not involved in the new study.

The major change since 720 B.C. relates to the end of the last ice age, Agnew said. The planet is like a memory-foam mattress, Agnew said, gradually rebounding as the ice retreats. The glaciers retreated 12,000 years ago, but the Earth has taken its time in bouncing back during the time that it's been relieved of their weight. That change in shape alters Earth's rotation, much as a figure skater can change the speed of a spin by drawing her or his arms in or throwing them out wide. [Images of Melt: Earth's Vanishing Ice]

That shape change, which requires knowing the precise speed of the spin to calculate, is key for many other geophysical calculations, Agnew told Live Science. For example, when measuring sea-level change, climate scientists must be able to account for changes in the land.

"This data gives us another piece of information," Agnew said.

Morrison and his colleagues also used data on lunar occultation, or times when the moon passes in front of a star, blocking it from view, collected since the 1750s. Changes in Earth's rotation since that time are probably mostly due to changes in the dynamics of the liquid-iron core deep in the center of the Earth, Agnew said. Very little is known about this liquid core, so the measurements of its effect on the planet's spin are important for future research, he said.

This might seem like a bit of a dry subject, Agnew said, if it weren't for the staggering fact that all of these measurements would be impossible to calculate if fellow humans hadn't felt compelled to record astronomical events thousands of years ago.

"There were a bunch of guys back in what is now Iraq 2,500 years ago putting things in clay tablets.  They weren't thinking that 2,500 years later somebody was going to be writing a paper about Earth rotation," Agnew said. Those tablets were later lost and buried, only to be discovered by future generations of enterprising Homo sapiens.

"It's kind of amazing that this information exists at all," Agnew said.

Editor's Note: This article has been corrected to reflect that cuneiform is a writing system, not a written language.

Original article on Live Science.

Editor's Recommendations
Washington (AFP) - The United States' first Somali American Muslim legislator says she was harassed with "hateful" and "Islamophobic" language by her cab driver while visiting Washington.

Ilhan Omar -- a former refugee who wears the hijab -- was elected in November to the legislature of the midwestern state of Minnesota. She said the "taunts and threats" occurred after she left policy discussions at the White House and headed to her hotel.

"I got in a cab and became subjected to the most hateful, derogatory, Islamophobic, sexist taunts and threats I have ever experienced," she wrote on her Facebook page.

"The cab driver called me ISIS and threatened to remove my hijab."

Omar said she rushed to leave the vehicle and wrote on Facebook that she planned to report the incident once she returned to Minneapolis, as the driver knew where she was staying in Washington.

"I am still shaken by this incident and can't wrap my head around how bold beings are becoming in displaying their hate towards Muslims," Omar wrote.

The lawmaker's victory was notable in a campaign season that saw Republican Donald Trump disparage Muslim immigrants and refugees before going on to win the White House.

The FBI last month reported that hate crimes against Muslims in the US surged 67 percent in 2015 -- to the highest level since the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

The bureau's Uniform Crime Report documented 257 anti-Muslim hate crimes, up from 154 in 2014.

Trump railed against Muslims and immigrants during the presidential race. In its final week the real estate magnate had targeted the Somali community in the state, where he ultimately lost to his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton 45 to 47 percent.

Nearly a third of Somali refugees resettled in the United States live in Minnesota. They number around 25,000 according to 2010 data, the latest available.
Protests in Palpa and Gulmi districts continue for eighth straight day

Protests in Palpa and Gulmi against the constitution amendment bill which proposes splitting Province 5 continued for an eighth straight day on Wednesday.
south africa

South Africa just saw a slew of ugly economic data.

Mining production fell by 2.9% year-over-year in October, a huge drop from the prior month's increase of 4.7%. None of the analysts polled by Bloomberg expected a fall in output, with a median forecast of 2.7% growth.

Moreover, manufacturing production fell by 1.9% year-over-year in October, below economists' expectations of an uptick of 0.4%, and a drop from the prior month's reading of 1.5%.

"October's mining and manufacturing data were both worse than even the most pessimistic analysts had expected. This suggests that, after a very week Q3, the economy may have slowed even further in Q4," wrote John Ashbourne, Africa economist at Capital Economics, in a note.

South Africa's economy is "headed for a brutal end to the year," he added.

Untitled

Looking under the hood of the manufacturing data, a big chunk of the slump came from the automotive sector, which saw output drop by 9.9% year-over-year.

This is significant given that car production previously was a strong performer within an otherwise floundering manufacturing sector. You can see this change boxed in the adjacent chart.

As for what this means for South Africa going forward, Ashbourne writes that Thursday's data dump "supports our view that economic momentum will be very weak going into 2017 and that the South African Reserve Bank will probably keep its key policy rate on hold."

The South Africa rand is down by 1.9% at 13.7211 per dollar as of 9:54 a.m. ET.

Screen Shot 2016 12 08 at 9.54.44 AM

NOW WATCH: Why almost every pair of jeans has a zipper that says YKK





More From Business Insider


South Korea's parliament on Thursday introduced an impeachment motion against President Park Geun-Hye, ahead of a vote seeking her ouster over a corruption scandal that has riveted the country and paralysed her administration.

The motion, which accuses Park of constitutional and criminal violations ranging from a failure to protect people's lives to bribery and abuse of power, will be put to a full vote of the National Assembly on Friday.

If adopted, it will go to the Constitutional Court for final approval which, if granted, would result in Park becoming the first democratically elected South Korean president not to complete her full five-year term.

Park has said she would accept a parliamentary decision to impeach her, but also that she would remain in office while the motion is being considered by the court -- a process that could take months.

In the meantime, however, her powers would be suspended and transferred to her prime minister, leaving her with nothing but the title.

The passage to impeachment has been a fitful one, and to a large extent driven by massive protests that have seen millions take to the streets of Seoul and other cities in recent weeks, demanding political parties remove Park if she refuses to step down.

- Public pressure -

The public pressure has been crucial in pressuring enough members of Park's Saenuri Party to support the opposition-sponsored motion and provide the two-thirds majority required for adoption.

When it was filed last week, the motion carried the 171 signatures of all opposition and independent lawmakers -- leaving it 29 short of the majority needed to clear the 300-seat chamber.

An anti-Park faction within the Saenuri party -- numbering more than 30 MPs -- has repeatedly hedged its options, but now looks set to support the motion, especially after party whips said members could vote according to their conscience.

"The impeachment process and its result will set a new standard for governing the nation and state affairs," said the head of the faction, Kim Moo-Sung.

Story continues

"I am certain that it will significantly reduce the abuse of power," he added.

The main opposition Democratic Party refused to speculate on the final outcome, but seemed quietly confident.

"Since it's an anonymous vote, you never know until you open the lid," said party spokeswoman Kang Sun-A.

- President as suspect -

The move to impeach is the result of a scandal centred on Park's relationship with a long-time friend and confidante, Choi Soon-Sil.

Choi is now awaiting trial on charges of fraud and abuse of power, and, in a first for a sitting president, prosecutors have named Park a suspect in the case.

Choi is specifically accused of meddling in state affairs and using her Blue House connections to force dozens of conglomerates to donate tens of millions of dollars to two dubious foundations she controlled.

In drawing up the motion, the opposition tagged on other accusations against Park, aside from the role she allegedly played in abetting Choi's activities.

In particular, they have dragged up a long-running controversy over Park's reaction to the Sewol ferry disaster of 2014 that claimed more than 300 lives -- most of them children.

- Shamans and hairdressers -

Questions have been raised over Park's activities during a seven-hour period after she was initially informed of the Sewol incident and before her first appearance at an official meeting to discuss the government's response.

Unconfirmed media reports have suggested an astonishing range of theories about Park's whereabouts, including a romantic liaison, participation in a shamanistic ritual, cosmetic surgery or, most recently, a 90-minute haircut.

The presidential Blue House has denied all of them, but failed to provide a detailed schedule of the president's actual movements at the time.

The impeachment motion says Park failed to respond adequately to the Sewol sinking, in violation of her constitutional duty to protect the lives of Korean citizens.
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena on Thursday rescinded a colonial-era British order naming 19 nationals as "traitors" for leading a rebellion nearly 200 years ago, his office said, as he strives to shore up his fading popularity. Sirisena hailed the ethnic Sinhalese men whole led the insurrection against the island's British rulers as national heroes, a move some critics were swift to denounce as a political gimmick to bolster his support among the Sinhalese majority. Sirisena said he had "canceled the gazette notice issued by then governor of Sri Lanka Robert Brownrigg in 1818 naming the ... Sinhalese leaders as traitors." Sirisena's leadership of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) has been weakened as grassroot supporters shift their loyalties back towards the Indian Ocean island state's former president Mahinda Rajapaksa. Rajapaksa remains popular among the Sinhalese and some of his supporters have formed a new party in the expectation that he will lead it. Kusal Perera, a political columnist and outspoken government critic, said Thursday's act was a clear indication Sirisena was now going to cater to the larger Sinhala majority". Even so, Perera said, Sirisena was unlikely to win back much support as a result of the announcement. "Sinhala leaders anyway have been treated as heroes in Sinhala society. This shows how desperate Sirisena is," Perera told Reuters. Sirisena was a one-time ally of Rajapaksa before he challenged his leadership and won a surprise victory in last year's presidential vote. The president, who like Rajapaksa is from the majority Buddhist community, has reached out to ethnic minority Tamils and Muslims, upsetting Sinhala leaders. Sirisena's government has postponed local council elections by more than a year citing the new electoral process is still not ready. Sri Lanka was under colonial rule from 1815 to 1948. The 19 Sinhalese leaders launched their revolt in a bid to restore the ruling of Sinhalese kings who exercised power before Portugal's invasion in 1505. The British governor ordered their execution. (Reporting by Ranga Sirilal; Writing by Shihar Aneez)
An Indiana union leader whose criticism of Donald Trump 's Carrier jobs deal prompted a Twitter attack from the president-elect told CNBC on Thursday he does not regret what his words.

"What I did was trying to get the people to understand that the numbers that Mr. Trump and Governor [Mike] Pence made weren't accurate.  I stand behind all" of the remarks, said Chuck Jones, president of United Steelworkers Local 1999.



Jones bashed Trump on national media outlets for saying his agreement with the United Technologies unit saved more jobs in Indiana than it actually did. Trump announced last week that the agreement  which gives Carrier $7 million in financial incentives  would keep 1,100 jobs in Indiana. Those jobs had been slated to move to Mexico.

Jones said that he then was told the deal would only save about 800 jobs, 730 in production at the Indianapolis plant, and 550 of his members would lose their jobs. He told The Washington Post that Trump "lied his a-- off" about the number of positions the agreement preserved.

A Carrier spokeswoman previously confirmed to CNBC that 300 headquarters and engineering jobs in the state were never getting relocated and were included in the 1,100 position estimate.

Shortly after Jones criticized Trump on Wednesday night on CNN, Trump tweeted that the union leader has done a "terrible job" representing workers. The president-elect added that the jobs would have stayed in Indiana "if United Steelworkers 1999 was any good."

Some have criticized Jones for going after Trump even though his deal saved 800 jobs.

The union boss stressed that he is "grateful" for the president-elect's intervention to keep some positions in Indiana. But he said he rebuked Trump because the higher number that Trump publicly shared gave some workers "false hope" that they would keep their positions.

"I took exception to that because our people, at that time, got their hopes back up that they might have a job. During his interviews, and during his speeches at Carrier, he did not allude to any of that," Jones said. "And people thought there was a good chance that they were going to have a job, be able to provide for their families moving forward, in order to find out Friday, when we told them, 'No, 550 people's jobs are going to Monterrey, Mexico."

Story continues

Jones, whose local also represents Indiana workers at Rexnord (RXN), added that he does not think his criticism of Trump limits his ability to negotiate in the future, saying he believes he can still work with Trump.









More From CNBC


Starbucks boss Howard Schultz plans to open 12,000 more stores over the next five years, he announced today. But at the same time he said brick-and-mortar is a dying breed.

Were going to see a very major downturn in the fact that the country is over-retailed in lots of categories. Were going to see significant, major brands  as weve seen already  not open many stores as they have in the past and its the beginning of lots of companies announcing store closures, Schultz said.

Though his remarks at Starbucks investor conference, streaming live on Yahoo Finance, may seem paradoxical given the expansion plans, he is most bullish on mobile payments and has been for the last several years.

Starbucks first launched mobile payment six years ago, in January 2011. By downloading an app and adding your Starbucks card information, it provides an efficient and convenient way to pay for your coffee. Companies like Walmart (WMT), Dunkin Donuts (DD), CVS (CVS) and Taco Bell (YUM) have all followed suit by launching their own mobile programs.

Though the majority of retailers arent investing heavily in mobile, Forrester Research found that apps accounted for 42% of 2014 mobile sales for the retailers ranked in the 2015 Internet Retailer Mobile 500, a survey of leading mobile retailers worldwide. Companies like Neiman Marcus, Kohls (KSS), and Victorias Secret parent company L Brands (LB) derive more than 60% of their mobile revenue from apps.

Today, one in four Starbucks payments is mobile, and the fraction of mobile-based purchases will only rise from here. Schultz said hes proud of Starbucks being ahead of the curve when it comes to seamlessly integrating technology into the retail experience.

[Companies] can no longer rely on interception traffic; theyre going to have to become a destination, he said.

Schultz said executives wont be able to justify the paltry returns compared to the costly investment in infrastructure and physical retail space.

Story continues

Starbucks identified it very early and began to invest significantly ahead of that curve in all things mobile, and theres no doubt that created a leadership position in the flywheel of Starbucks, which was driven by the mobile ecosystem, he said.

With behemoths like Amazon (AMZN) trying to reinvent the grocery store, it may already be too late for companies neglecting mobile to play catch up.

Melody Hahm is a writer at Yahoo Finance, covering entrepreneurship, technology and real estate. Read more from Melody here & follow her on Twitter @melodyhahm.
Beirut (AFP) - Here are the latest developments on the main battle fronts in Iraq and Syria, as of 1600 GMT on Thursday:

SYRIA

- Battle for Aleppo -

Syria's army battled to take more ground from rebels in east Aleppo after President Bashar al-Assad said victory for his troops would be a turning point in his country's five-year war.

Three weeks into a major offensive to retake all of Aleppo, government troops have captured about 85 percent of territory rebels controlled in the city's east.

The UN reiterated its call for an immediate ceasefire in Aleppo, warning that as many as 500 sick and injured children desperately needed to be evacuated from the besieged last pockets of rebel-held areas.

Nearly 150 civilians, many disabled or sick, were evacuated on Wednesday night from a health facility in Aleppo's Old City after the army retook the area, the Red Cross said.

Talks between the United States and Russia -- including fresh meetings between top diplomats -- failed to achieve a breakthrough on a ceasefire.

The White Helmets rescue group urged international organisations to protect its members in the last rebel-held parts of Aleppo.

At least 384 civilians have been killed in east Aleppo since the regime assault was launched on November 15, while rebel fire into the city's government-held west has killed at least 105 people over the same period, says the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The assault has prompted a mass exodus from east Aleppo where at least 80,000 people have fled their homes, according to the Britain-based monitoring group.

- Raqa -

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance, is trying to push closer to the Islamic State group's de facto Syrian capital of Raqa.

The SDF has been battling the jihadists to drive them from positions around 25 kilometres (15 miles) north of the city.

IRAQ

- Battle for Mosul -

Since starting an offensive on October 17 to oust the Islamic State group from its last Iraqi stronghold, pro-government forces say they have recaptured almost half of eastern Mosul and are edging towards the Tigris river that divides it.

Story continues

The elite Counter-Terrorism Service has retaken a large number of neighbourhoods in the east and was around three kilometres (two miles) from the river on Thursday.

The Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitary force has been fighting on a western front and on Thursday announced it had retaken the town of Tal Abtah after fierce fighting that lasted days.

Their spokesman said retaking Tal Abtah stripped IS of its main desert command centre west of Mosul.

The southern front has stopped moving north within striking distance of Mosul airport, while the northern front has also made little progress in recent days.

According to the United Nations, a total of 82,000 people are currently displaced as a result of the Mosul operation.
For investors seeking momentum, VanEck Vectors Steel ETF SLX is probably on radar now. The fund just hit a 52-week high and is up about 182.2% from its 52-week low price of $15.30/share.

But are more gains in store for this ETF? Lets take a quick look at the fund and the near-term outlook on it to get a better idea on where it might be headed:

SLX in Focus



This product offers exposure to the overall performance of steel companies. No stock accounts for more than 12.96% of the fund. Vale SA, Rio Tinto and Arcelormittal are top three stocks of the fund. The fund charges 55 bps in fees (see all materials ETFs here).

Why the Move?

Trumps pledge to invest in infrastructure activities and upgrade the nations crumbling roads, bridges and waterways went in favor of steel prices. Also, the implementation of tariffs on steel imports in the U.S. in order to safeguard domestic companies from the adverse impact of cheap supplies from China helped the sector. If these were not enough, bets over tighter supply from China with the country taking measures to cut excess steel capacity also pushed up prices in recent sessions.

More Gains Ahead?

It seems that SLX might continue with its strength given a positive weighted alpha of 123.40. Since a positive weighted alpha hints at more gains, there is definitely still some promise for investors who want to ride this surging ETF a little further.

Want key ETF info delivered straight to your inbox?



Zacks free Fund Newsletter will brief you on top news and analysis, as well as top-performing ETFs, each week. Get it free >>



Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report



VANECK-STEEL (SLX): ETF Research Reports



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research



Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
(Adds further details on settlement, background on case)

By Nate Raymond

Dec 8 (Reuters) - Stifel Financial Corp's brokerage unit and an ex-executive have agreed to pay $24.6 million to resolve claims arising from the sale of risky investment products to five Wisconsin school districts ahead of the financial crisis of 2008.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced the deal on Thursday. As part of the settlement, St. Louis-based Stifel, Nicolaus & Co and David Noack, a former senior vice president, agreed to admit to wrongdoing, the SEC said.

Under the settlement, Stifel and Noack agreed to jointly forfeit $1.66 million and pay $840,000 in prejudgment interest. Stifel and Noack also agreed to pay penalties of $22 million and $100,000, according to court documents.

The final settlement came after a tentative accord was reached in September on the eve of trial in the 2011 lawsuit. Of the $24.6 million that will be paid, the five school districts will receive $12.5 million, according to court papers.

The SEC said that sum, coupled with prior settlements by the SEC and in private litigation, would fully compensate the school districts for their losses.

A spokesman for Stifel did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did a lawyer for Noack.

The SEC sued Stifel and Noack in 2011, saying they misled five Wisconsin school districts about the risks of investing in synthetic collateralized debt obligations.

Synthetic collateralized debt obligations are tied to mortgage-backed securities or credit default swaps and were at the heart of the financial crisis eight years ago.

The districts did not invest directly in the CDOs, instead providing funds to trusts that invested in notes issued by special purpose vehicles affiliated with RBC Capital Markets, the SEC said.

In trying to persuade the districts to make the investments, Noack at the time told them it would take "15 Enrons" for them to lose money, and told two districts that it would take 20 to 30 defaults for them to suffer a loss, the SEC said.

Story continues

But according to the SEC, the investments were a compete failure, causing the districts to suffer over $200 million in losses as the investments declined in value in 2007 and 2008, amid the housing market downturn and financial crisis.

RBC, a unit of Royal Bank of Canada, in 2011 reached a $30.4 million settlement with the SEC over its role in misconduct relating to the sale of the investments.

The case is Securities and Exchange Commission v. Stifel, Nicolaus & Co Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin, No. 11-00755.

(Additional reporting by Susan Heavey and Tim Ahmann; Editing by Frances kerry)
Cinemax is reviving its first foray into original scripted programming.

The premium cable network and U.K. collaborator Sky are bringing back Strike Back for its fifth season, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

The drama was renewed for its fourth and then-final season in 2013 and wrapped its run in October 2015. The new season, which will feature an entirely new cast, will resume production in 2017. A premiere date has not yet been determined.

Strike Back will be overseen by a familiar face: Jack Lothian, who penned a few episodes of the fourth season, will serve as head writer and showrunner. He will executive produce alongside Andy Harries, who developed the novel for television. Sharon Hughff also will exec produce alongside Michael J. Bassett, the drama's go-to director. Bill Shephard will produce. The series will continue to be produced by Left Bank Pictures.

Read more: 'Strike Back' Renewed for Fourth and Final Season at Cinemax

The new incarnation will center on the Section program, disavowed and disbanded, that is restored in order to track down a notorious terrorist following a brutal prison break. Tasked with covert military intelligence and high-risk operations, the resurrected unit embarks on a lethal manhunt that will uncover a vast web of interconnected criminal activity. As the team journey across the Middle East and Europe, they uncover a deadly conspiracy which threatens to overwhelm them all and change the face of modern warfare forever.

Alin Sumarwata stars as Gracie Novin, a gearhead who is looking to make the step up. Genuine, honest to the point of bluntness, she's the heart and soul of the team.

Daniel MacPherson is set as Samuel Wyatt, a barroom philosopher who works best alone. Wyatt has no intention of being dragged into a team situation. But what he wants and what he gets are rarely the same thing.

Roxanne McKee will portray Natalie Roberts, a woman who comes from a military family and excels at psychological profiles and seeing weaknesses in others, though she might be blinded to her own fault-lines.

Story continues

Warren Brown rounds out the cast as Daniel "Mac" Macallister, a man of his word, physically capable, driven by a desire to avenge the team he's lost. He's easygoing, affable - and utterly deadly.

Read more: 'Strike Back' Alum Reveals Details Behind Final Season Delay: Sullivan Stapleton Was in a Coma

This marks the fifth season of the franchise on Cinemax and sixth on U.K. broadcaster Sky, which aired the first season of the drama - Strike Back: Origins - in 2013. It's unclear if any of the original stars - including Philip Winchester or Sullivan Stapleton (the latter of whom stars on NBC's Blindspot) - will return in any capacity.

Strike Back launched Cinemax into original scripted programming. The HBO sibling's roster of originals consists of Robert Kirkman's Outcast; Quarry, which is awaiting word on a second season; and The Knick, whose fate beyond season two remains unclear.
Ronda Rousey Partners With Pantene [Elle]

Ronda Rousey is joining the ranks of Selena Gomez, Eva Longoria and Gisele Bundchen as the newest brand ambassador for Pantene. The Olympic medalist stars in the hair-care brand's new "Don't Hate Me Because I'm Strong" campaign, a play off the "Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful" slogan from the 1980s. Says Rousey in the ad, "If you think fierce can't be feminine, I'm about to show you what a strong woman can do."

A video posted by rondarousey (@rondarousey) on Dec 7, 2016 at 7:28am PST

Stella McCartney Taps Philippa Price for Surrealist Short Film [The Cut]

Stella McCartney tapped surrealist filmmaker Philippa Price to create a new short film, The Uncanny Valley, for her spring 2017 campaign. Price, who has worked with Banks, Pharrell and Alicia Keys, shot models Megan Nison and Bradley Soileau in the resort and inaugural menswear collections for the creepy film set at the infamous Clown Hotel in Nevada. The short is the first in a new series called #StellaBy.

Complex Is Shuttering Print [Billboard]

After 14 years, Complex magazine is shuttering its print operation to focus more of its efforts on its digital platforms. The news came with several layoffs in the art, marketing and sales department as Complex Media moves to beef up its digital video team. The final print issue will be the Dec./Jan. 2017 issue starring Sofia Richie on the cover.

Ruth Negga Covers Vogue [Vogue]

Vogue is kicking off the new year with Ruth Negga. The Loving actress was photographed by Mario Testino wearing an Alexander Wang frock for the January issue. In the cover story, the Irish-Ethiopian actress discusses her biracial identity, her post-Loving rise to fame and her go-to exercise, Krav Maga.
Reconstruction of Rani Pokhari yet to resume

When the government formally launched the reconstruction campaign on January 16, almost nine months after the devastating earthquake, Rani Pokhari was made the starting point, where President Bidya Devi Bhandari laid the foundation stone of a temple there which was destroyed by the quake.
Khartoum (AFP) - Sudanese security agents have arrested a prominent rights activist, Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, as part of an ongoing crackdown on dissent, Amnesty International said on Thursday.

The 58-year-old was taken into custody on Wednesday at the University of Khartoum where he works as a professor of engineering, the rights watchdog said.

"He was arrested by National Intelligence and Security Service agents... and taken to an undisclosed location where he is at a grave risk of torture and other ill-treatment," Amnesty said in a statement.

Ibrahim's family members also confirmed to AFP that he had been arrested and that they had no information on his whereabouts.

"Mudawi's arbitrary arrest underscores the government's desperate attempts to extinguish the last embers of dissent in the country," Amnesty's deputy director for East Africa, Michelle Kagari, said in the statement.

In recent weeks, Sudanese security agents have arrested several opposition leaders and activists in an attempt to crush widespread protests against a government decision to raise fuel prices last month.

The authorities are determined to avoid any repetition of 2013 unrest that was sparked by a similar round of fuel subsidy cuts.

It was suppressed only by a deadly crackdown by security forces that drew international condemnation.

Rights groups say that crackdown left about 200 people dead, while the government put the death toll at less than 100.

Groups of protesters have staged sporadic demonstrations against the latest round of subsidy cuts, but anti-riot policemen have swiftly dispersed them.

Opposition groups and activists had called for a three-day "stay-at-home" strike in November against the rising cost of living and subsidy cuts. The call had met with a mixed response.

Ibrahim, who has worked extensively on human rights causes in Sudan, has been arrested several times before for his work.

His organisation the Sudan Social Development Organisation was shut down by the government in 2009.
ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland's dominant Swiss People's Party (SVP) threatened to launch a new referendum on ending the free movement of people across the border with the European Union if watered-down legislation fails to deliver the immigration cuts it wants. SVP president Albert Roesti's words late on Wednesday raised the prospect of a fresh confrontation with the European Union, Switzerland's main trading partner, which balked at earlier moves spearheaded by the far-right party to curb immigration. Swiss people voted in a 2014 referendum supported by the SVP to curb the number of immigrants - jeopardizing a long-standing deal allowing Switzerland access to the EU single market in exchange for the free movement of people. The Swiss government, bound to obey the referendum but determined not to damage relations with the bloc, drew up legislation that would give locals the first crack at jobs, but stopped short of imposing immigration quotas. Parliament is due to vote on it next week. Roesti told SRF television that party leaders had decided not to call another referendum on the new law, but would instead wait to see if it failed to limit immigration. "If that happens we will have to launch an initiative for a popular vote to end the free movement of people," he said. (Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Andrew Heavens)
By Lisa Barrington BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's imminent victory in Aleppo will increase Syrian and Iranian influence in Lebanon, the leading Lebanese Druze politician said on Thursday, as Assad said Lebanon could not remain unscathed by regional conflicts. The Syrian army and allied forces have made rapid gains against anti-Assad rebels' main urban stronghold in Aleppo in the past two weeks, and look closer than ever to taking the city at the heart of a conflict now in its sixth year. "Assad will win in Aleppo, benefiting from the fact that most of the international community has given up on the Syrian people. Then he will destroy Idlib," said Walid Jumblatt, the main political leader of the minority Druze community in Lebanon and head of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP). Idlib province is the rebels' largest remaining patch of territory in heavily populated western Syria. "This means that (Assad's) influence in Lebanon will increase, and the Iranian-Syrian grip on (Lebanon) will strengthen," he told As-Safir, a Lebanese daily close to the Iran-backed Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah, which is fighting on Assad's side in neighboring Syria. Syria dominated Lebanese government and politics for years and had a military presence in the country until 2005, when it withdrew following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri and months of anti-Syria protests. Jumblatt is seen as a weathervane of Middle Eastern politics and his stance towards Syria has shifted more than once in recent years. He was a leading voice in the anti-Syrian movement but then moderated his attitude after a rapprochement with Syria's allies in Lebanon, including Hezbollah. Early in the Syrian conflict, Jumblatt called for Assad to be removed from power. But he told As-Safir he has no plans to mend relations with the Syrian leader. "I will not end my political life repairing a relationship with Assad ... Even if the regime achieves total victory," he said. Lebanon, which suffered its own 15-year civil war, is caught up in regional rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Despite a 2012 declaration that Lebanon would disassociate itself from regional and international conflicts, the regional tensions have paralyzed internal decision-making and raised fears for Lebanon's stability. After a 2-1/2 year presidential vacuum, former army commander and Hezbollah ally Michel Aoun was elected in October. In an interview published on Thursday in Syria's al-Watan newspaper, Assad said Aoun's election was a victory for Lebanon and Syria, and that Lebanon could not disassociate itself from Syria. "When the person (elected) is somebody like General Michel Aoun, who knows the danger terrorism around Lebanon poses for the Lebanese, this will also be a victory for both Lebanon and Syria," Assad said. "Especially when the president knows Lebanon cannot remain unscathed by the fires raging around it." Assad added that Lebanon cannot continue with its "politics of no-policy", referencing the disassociation policy. This week Aoun received Syria's Grand Mufti Ahmed Badr al-Din al-Hassoun, who congratulated him on his election. (Editing by Mark Heinrich)
(Adds details on de la Vega and Arroyo)

By Malathi Nayak and Christine Murray

MEXICO CITY/NEW YORK, Dec 8 (Reuters) - AT&T Inc Vice Chairman Ralph de la Vega, who played a critical role in bringing the iPhone to the U.S. market, will retire on Dec. 31, a spokesman for the wireless carrier said on Thursday.

De la Vega, 65, who is CEO of AT&T's Business Solutions and International unit, will be succeeded by Thaddeus Arroyo, who heads AT&T's Mexico operations, AT&T spokesman Fletcher Cook said.

Kelly King, who was previously the president of the consumer mobile division in 12 U.S. states, will replace Arroyo as chief executive of its Mexico business, according to a company statement.

AT&T bought Mexico wireless carriers Iusacell and Nextel Mexico last year to expand its footprint in Latin America. It has been integrating the two companies' networks to face off against Carlos Slim's America Movil, the dominant carrier in that region.

De la Vega will leave after a 42-year run at AT&T, where he led the company's launch of the first iPhone from Apple Inc through an exclusive partnership. He has also held other executive roles in the telecom industry, including that of chief operating officer of Cingular Wireless and president of BellSouth Latin America.

In January last year, AT&T picked Arroyo to lead the network and business expansion of its Mexico operations. He has previously held roles such as president of technology development and chief information officer at AT&T.

(Reporting by Christine Murray in Mexico and Malathi Nayak in New ; Editing by Dan Grebler)
Surprising news from AT&T today: It says that Vice Chairman Ralph de la Vega will retire at year end.

The Cuba-born exec was an early proponent of wireless connectivity, and famously forged a deal with Apples Steve Jobs that gave AT&T first crack at offering the iPhone.

Recently he has led AT&Ts charge for whats known as the Internet of Things  wireless connections to devices other than phones and tablets.

The telco has tapped AT&T Mexico CEO Thaddeus Arroyo to replace de la Vega as CEO of AT&T Business Solutions and International. SVP of Strategy for Business Solutions Kelly King will take charge of AT&T Mexico.

De la Vega had a compensation package of $10.1 million in 2015, making him AT&Ts second highest paid executive after CEO Randall Stephenson.

The departure appears to have been unexpected. This week the company listed de la Vega as a presenter at a gathering for developers that AT&T plans to hold in Las Vegas next month during the Consumer Technology Associations CES conference.

AT&T did not issue a press release with laudatory comments from colleagues, which is customary when long time, high level, and high profile executives retire.

Related stories

AT&T & Time Warner CEOs Parry Charges That Merger Would Hurt Consumers

DirecTV Now Subscription Signups Are Ahead Of Plan, AT&T CEO Says

FCC Warns AT&T: Waiving Subs' Video Data Fees Might Violate Net Neutrality
Tiwari continues fast for reforms in Sagarmatha Zonal hospital

The hunger strike of Bikas Tiwari, Chairman of Nepal Sadbhawana Party (Gajendrawadi), has entered 16th day on Thursday. He has been protesting on the premises of Gajendra Narayan Singh Sagarmatha Zonal Hospital in Rajbiraj, the headquarters of Saptari, demanding reforms in hospital condition and health services.
It isnt easy to bestow awards for political courage in an election yearand its near impossible after a campaign like the one weve just experienced, which set a sad new standard for ugliness and mendacity. But as an eternal optimist, I proceed with my annual chore and will even say something nice about Donald Trump, who ran the most disgraceful presidential campaign that I can rememberbut, in the course of which, took several positions athwart the traditions of the Republican Party. He supported gay rights and admitted that the war in Iraq was a mistake. Granted, these were positions that had long been obvious to a majority of Americans, but not to the GOP. He defied evangelicals on the gay-rights issue (and also in his support for Planned Parenthood) and still won their votes.

I wish I could say that Hillary Clinton had similar moments of courage, moments when she defied her partys entrenched base, but she didnt. She must receive credit, however, for her seriousness, for the honorable detail of her policy papersroundly ignored in a year when the size of hands loomed larger than the size of budgets. There are still important things she can do for our country. I hope she finds a new role in the arena, after a suitable time to rest, reflect and wipe off the blood and dust.

Ill have more to say about Barack Obama elsewhere in these pages, but there are two important achievements of the Presidents time in office that need to be acknowledged. One is the stimulus plan he fought for and passed in 2009, which prevented a depression and responsibly laid the groundwork for the economic recovery were now experiencing. (Those Democrats who believe that the 2016 election was lost only because of economics are deluding themselves; it was lost because of tribalism.) And overseas, Obama made some mistakes, but he got the big things right: he was not arrogant, he was not bellicose, he reached out to enemies in Cuba and Irangestures that will eventually pay off, I believeand most important, he was confident that our ways will prevail over Islamic extremism (just ask any man or woman in Mosul how they felt about ISIS rule).

Story continues

Some other political Teddys: to Jeb Bush for running the Republican equivalent of the Clinton campaign, stuffed with great policy ideas  to John Kasich, for running with his heart on his sleeve  to Bernie Sanders, for giving young people something to care about and, postelection, for speaking out against identity politics. And in a major break with tradition, Id like to bestow a prospective pair of Teddys to Senators Chuck Schumer and Lamar Alexander, who will have the difficult task of reformingthe Republicans will call it replacingObamacare. Both are good men, members of the Senates sanity caucus, and I predict theyll find a way to get this difficult job done.

And Teddys go to another unlikely pair: William Kristol and William Galston, who have disagreed about many things over the years but now agree that there is a need for a new center movement, mindful of tradition, stability and accountability, free from the excesses of left and right. Along those same lines, courageous work was done this year by the conservative writers who boldly opposed Trump, for all the right reasons, and will now pay the consequences of being shut off from a Republican Administration: Pete Wehner and David Brooks of the New York Times, Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal and Mike Gerson of the Washington Post, among others.

Ive covered 11 presidential campaigns, which is more than enough. This one was my last. Id like to thank my editorsNancy Gibbs, Michael Duffy and Michael Schererfor giving me the freedom to speak my mind, and you, dear readers, for your tolerance of my oft-cranky centrism. It has been a privilege to serve you.



This appears in the December 19, 2016 issue of TIME.
* PTT to buy 1 mln tonnes/year in 2017 and 2018

* PTT to buy 1.2 mln tonnes/year from 2019

* Raises long-term LNG purchase to meet rising demand (Adds details on long-term LNG purchase plan)

BANGKOK, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Thailand's energy policy committee has approved a proposal for state-owned PTT Pcl to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Malaysia's Petronas over a 15-year period, a senior energy ministry official said on Thursday.

PTT will buy 1 million tonnes of LNG per year from Petronas in 2017 and 2018, and 1.2 million tonnes from 2019 onwards, the committee said in a statement.

The plan is subject to Cabinet approval and the draft contract will be examined by the Office of the Attorney General, the director-general of the ministry's Energy Policy and Planning Office, Twarath Sutabutr, told reporters without giving an exact time frame.

Petronas will be Thailand's fourth LNG supplier under long-term contracts.

PTT, Thailand's sole gas supplier, has already signed a 20-year contract to buy 2 million tonnes of LNG a year from Qatar that came into effect last year.

PTT recently won approval to sign long-term contracts with Royal Dutch Shell and BP to buy 1 million tonnes LNG each per year. The contracts are expected to be signed within this year.

Thailand uses natural gas for nearly 70 percent of its power generation. The country has become increasingly reliant on LNG imports as its own domestic gas fields are being depleted.

The committee said on Thursday that it had also approved a new LNG import plan for the next 20 years to meet rising demand after delays in the construction of coal-fired power plants.

Thailand recently revised its LNG imports target to 17.4 million tonnes in 2022 and reaching 34 million tonnes a year by 2036, up from earlier planned 31 million tonnes.

PTT is already in the process of doubling the capacity of its existing LNG import terminal to 10 million tonnes, which will be completed in 2017, and another expansion of 1.5 million tonnes, to be completed in 2019.

The energy planning committee last month approved PTT's plan to raise the capacity of its new LNG import terminal to 7.5 million tonnes a year from 5 million, with an estimated cost of 38.5 billion baht ($1.08 billion). ($1 = 35.6000 baht) (Reporting by Pracha Hariraksapitak and Orathai Sriring; Writing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Khettiya Jittapong; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Subhranshu Sahu)
Thai authorities have ordered a controversial Buddhist temple to suspend its 24-hour TV channel, as police redouble efforts to arrest the spiritual leader of the scandal-hit sect.

A cat-and-mouse game between investigators and the powerful Wat Dhammakaya temple in Bangkok has staggered on for months over allegations its former abbot accepted illicit funds.

Police are reluctant to raid the super-rich temple's 1,000-acre compound after previous attempts saw thousands of devotees of the breakaway order turn out to defend the 72-year-old monk.

Authorities suspect Phra Dhammachayo of accepting embezzled funds worth 1.2 billion baht ($33 million) from the owner of a cooperative bank who was jailed.

Eager to avoid clashing with devotees on temple grounds, police have repeatedly allowed deadlines for the monk's surrender expire.

But the stand-off has heated up in recent weeks, with authorities leveling new accusations against the well-connected monk and moving to target the temple's acting abbot for sheltering him.

On Wednesday Thai broadcasting authorities ordered the temple to suspend its television channel for 15 days, citing "inappropriate" content.

The channel appeared to be off the air on Thursday.

Colonel Paisit Wongmuang, chief of Thailand's Department of Special Investigations (DSI), accused the temple of using its media arm to lure supporters to the compound and thwart police's attempted raids.

"In previous searches we found that the temple has used television as propaganda to attract people to come for (religious reasons), but instead used people to meditate and block the temple's gates," he said.

The satellite station, called Dhammakaya Media Channel (DMC), broadcasts across multiple continents and airs everything from meditation teachings to cartoons and daily news.

It is part of a broader PR arsenal, including print media and active social media pages, that has established Wat Dhammakaya's presence in countries spanning the globe.

In a statement released Wednesday night, the temple denied the police's allegations and said it was preparing to fight the black-out order.

While the movement says its core focus is on teaching meditation, critics accuse the sect of propagating a cult-like brand of Buddhism that promises benefits in the afterlife in exchange for donations.
Three teens have been arrested in connection with the death of 15-year-old Florida high school student Roger Trindade, who was declared brain-dead in October days after he was discovered with few obvious signs of violence.

On Oct. 15th, the teen was found unconscious in an upscale park in downtown Winter Park, Florida. A police report later stated that he showed minimal signs of trauma or injury.

Nearly two months later, police have charged two 15-year-old boys are charged with manslaughter and battery. A third boy, 14, has been charged with tampering with a witness.

Two of the teenagers appeared in court on Thursday afternoon. Citing the seriousness of the case, Judge Sally Keft ruled that they would both remain in custody at least until Jan. 4.

The three suspects are being tried as juveniles, and PEOPLE is not identifying them. The three suspects have not entered pleas or retained attorneys.

Police have released very few details about Rogers death, although original witness statements alleged that the boy had gotten into an altercation with other teens.

In a statement, the Winter Park mayor said that authorities wanted to wait for the autopsy results before making an arrest. The autopsy reveled that Roger died of blunt force trauma to the head.

Hopefully the family and community can find solace in knowing that although the process seemed lengthy, it was necessary so as to provide the State Attorneys Office with sufficient information to proceed, Mayor Steve Leary said in his statement.

 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

Victims Mom Shares Her Grief

PEOPLE obtained the 911 recordings from October, in which three bystanders  including a physician  say they tried to administer CPR to the teen. The doctor initially thought that the boy had simply fainted. Another woman told the dispatcher that she had seen some kid whos been passed out for I dont know how long.

Story continues

Rogers future looked bright before his death: His family moved from southern Brazil to Florida, where he enrolled at Winter Park High, a large school in an affluent suburb of Orlando, Florida. He spoke three languages and took advanced math classes.

 Pick up PEOPLEs special edition True Crime Stories: Cases That Shocked America, on sale now, for the latest on Casey Anthony, JonBenet Ramsey and more.

In an email to the Orlando Sentinel following the arrests, Rogers mother expressed her sorrow about the loss of her son. (The Trindade family could not reached.)

Having to accept that my son was beaten by young men who have education, wealth and live in a community like Winter Park is very difficult, his mother said. Im going to pay a very high price every day of my life for not having my son with me. My penalty cannot be bigger than theirs.




Tom Hardy is a man of his word.

The Revenant actor revealed in an interview with Esquire UK that after losing a wager made by Leonardo DiCaprio last year, Hardy would now have to get a tattoo in DiCaprios handwriting.

I havent got it yet because it sucks, Hardy told Esquire.

The bet was made during awards season earlier this year, when DiCaprio bet that Hardy would receive an Oscar nomination for his work in The Revenant, though Hardy was certain he wouldnt. If DiCaprios prediction was correct, Hardy would have to get a tattoo of his choosing. However, if Hardy was right, his co-star would have to get inked.

Related Content Tom Hardys Taboo Series to Premiere in January on FX

In the end, DiCaprio prevailed.

He wrote, in this really shitty handwriting: Leo knows everything. Ha! the 39-year-old actor revealed. I was like, OK, Ill get it done, but you have to write it properly.'

Though the tattoo isnt exactly on the top of his priorities, it wouldnt be the first time he had to make good on a inked promise. As the profile recounts, among Hardys tattoos of his wifes name, the London skyline, a Chinese dragon and religious figures is one of his agent Lindy Kings name. He made that commitment after saying he would get a tattoo if she ever got him in to Hollywood.

Related stories

The Most Popular GIFs of 2016 Include Barack Obama, 'Zootopia'

Leonardo DiCaprio Sells in Studio City, Price Chops in Malibu

Tom Hardy's 'Taboo' Series to Premiere in January on FX
Throughout the long campaign, and in the long month that has followed, President-elect Donald Trump sounded some odd notes about the environment.

He rejected the scientific fact of climate change, calling it a hoax or a fraud. He repeatedly announced his intent to repeal all of the Obama administrations environmental regulations. He lamented, wrongly, that you couldnt use hairspray anymore because it damaged the ozone layer.

And then, out of nowhere, he met with Al Gore, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for educating the public about the dangers of climate change.

While the broad strokes of Trumps policies were never in doubt, there was often enough bizarreness to wonder what he would do with the powers of the Environmental Protection Agency.

On Wednesday, those questions were all but settled. Trump has chosen E. Scott Pruitt, the attorney general of Oklahoma, to lead the EPA, according to early reports.

Recommended: Self-Control Is Just Empathy With Your Future Self

In a certain light, Pruitt is an inspired choice to lead the EPA, as he has made fighting the agency a hallmark of his career. His own website calls him a leading advocate against the EPAs activist agenda. The significance could not be more clear: As he promised on the trail, Trump will likely use the powers of the presidency and the legal expertise of Pruitt to block or weaken the Obama administrations attempts to fight climate change.

And Trump will be able to try for more than that. For what distinguishes Pruitts career is not just his opposition to using regulation to tackle climate change, but his opposition to using regulation to tackle any environmental problem at all. Since he was elected Oklahomas attorney general, in 2010, Pruitt has racked up a sizable recordimpressive in its number of lawsuits if not in its number of victoriesof suing the EPA.

Many of these suits did not target climate-related policies. Instead, they singled out anti-pollution measures, initiated under previous presidential administrations, that tend to be popular with the public.

Story continues

In 2014, for instance, Pruitt sued to block the EPAs Regional Haze Rule. The rule is built on a 15-year-old program meant to ensure that air around national parks is especially clear. Pruitt lost his case.

Last year, he sued to block a rule restricting how much mercury could be emitted into the air by coal plants. He lost that, too.

Recommended: The Case Against Reality

And early in his tenure, he sued to keep the EPA from settling lawsuits brought by environmental groups like the Sierra Club. That one was dismissed.

He has brought other suits against EPA anti-pollution programslike one against new rules meant to reduce the amount of ozone in the airthat havent been heard in court yet. While ozone is beneficial to humans high in the atmosphere, it can be intensely damaging when it accumulates at ground level, worsening asthma and inducing premature deaths. The American Lung Association calls it one of the most dangerous pollutants in the United States.

All this is not to say that Pruitt has omitted climate regulations from his litigation. His most common target has been the Clean Power Plan, the Obama administrations set of Clean Air Act rules meant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. The Clean Power Plan is Obamas main mechanism for pushing the United States to meet its pledge under the Paris Agreement.

Pruitt began suing the EPA to block the Clean Power Plan more than two years ago. Now, Oklahoma is one of the 28 states challenging the agency in court, and it helped succeed in getting the Supreme Court to block the rules in February.

As I wrote in September, there are valid legal reasons that lawmakers might oppose aspects of the Clean Power Plan. Lawrence Tribe, President Obamas old law-school mentor, argued in court that he believes some of its provisions go too far in asserting federal power. A cap-and-trade component is particularly controversial.

Recommended: Why You Shouldn't Listen to Music While You Work

But Pruitts understanding of the bill seems not entirely legally minded in two significant ways. First, Pruitts knowledge of global warming appears lacking, at best. Earlier this year, for instance, he wrote in the National Review that scientists continue to disagree about the degree and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of mankind.

While this sounds reasonable, it is not true. The overwhelming consensus among scientists who study the Earth is that humans are largely to blame for the planets warming. Climate scientists have understood this to be the case since at least the early 1990s, and since then scholarly consensus on the issue has only strengthened. The majority of scientists also believe that global warming will be quite harmful; the scientific debate about its degree and extent is only about how bad it will be and how soon its consequences will kick in.

Second, Pruitt has worked extremely closely with oil and gas companies in opposing the plan. In one case, a New York Times investigation revealed that Pruitt sent an official letter to the EPA, bearing his signature and letterhead, that had been almost completely written by lawyers at Devon Energy, a major oil and gas company. It was delivered to Pruitts office by Devons chief lobbyist.

Energy firms and lobbyists, including Devon, have donated generously to the Republican Attorneys General Association, which Pruitt has led. In interviews after the Times report, Pruitt described the collaboration as a kind of constituent service, saying that Devon is based in Oklahoma City. He agreed with the letters legal reasoning, he said, so he signed it.

I dont think there is anything secretive in what weve done, Pruitt told The Oklahoman. Weve been very open about the efforts of my office in responding to federal overreach.

Now Pruitt could be the one doing the federal reaching. Environmental groups immediately condemned Trumps selection of him. The EPA plays an absolutely vital role in enforcing long-standing policies that protect the health and safety of Americans, based on the best available science, said Ken Kimmell, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, in a statement. Pruitt has a clear record of hostility to the EPAs mission, and he is a completely inappropriate choice to lead it.

More unusually, New York states attorney general also decried the choice. As attorney general, Scott Pruitt consistently failed to uphold his responsibility to protect our nations air and water, instead acting as an agent of the oil and gas industryat the expense of the American peopleevery time, said Eric Schneiderman in a statement.

The statement wasnt totally out of the blue, as Schneiderman and Pruitt have clashed before. In March, Pruitt alleged that Schneiderman was stifling debate when he investigated whether Exxon was properly communicating the business risks of climate change to its investors. Theyll likely also clash again: As the powerful attorney general of a populous liberal state, Schneiderman will lead the litigative charge against any weakening of EPA regulationsjust as Pruitt led litigation against Obamas EPA.

Every Republican administration since Ronald Reagans has taken office promising to roll back some environmental regulations. Many have succeeded in part. But most Americans like strict environmental regulations, and both the Reagan and Bush White Houses discovered that relaxing limits on pollution is particularly unpopular.

Once, it had seemed like perhaps Trumpwho speaks often of his adoration for clean air and clean waterwould bypass those old fights and only target Obamas new climate rules. But with Pruitt leading his EPA, it seems that Trumps administration will act like its GOP predecessors. Whether it is successful will depend on the Senate, on the courts, and on how well environmental advocates make their case to the public.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
Chuck Jones

President-elect Donald Trump snapped at a union president who represents some Carrier employees Wednesday after the union boss suggested Trump was not truthful about the number of jobs that would be saved in the president-elect's deal with the Indianapolis heating and air-conditioning manufacturer.

"Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers," Trump said in a tweet. "No wonder companies flee country!"

The president-elect followed up with another tweet accusing union leaders of not doing enough to save the jobs that were threatened.

"If United Steelworkers 1999 was any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana," Trump wrote. "Spend more time working-less time talking. Reduce dues."

Trump's spat with Jones began after the president-elect involved himself with Carrier's plans to move jobs from its Indianapolis plant to Mexico.

Trump touted his actions as integral in helping save what workers believed to be about 1,100 jobs. Carrier actually decided to keep only about 800 jobs and outsource about 550 to Mexico  a detail Jones said Trump neglected to mention when he announced the deal at a press conference last week.

But he got up there and, for whatever reason, lied his a-- off," Jones told The Washington Post.

In addition to the jobs lost at the Indiana plant, Carrier's parent company, United Technologies, still plans to relocate its Huntington, Indiana, plant to Mexico, putting another 700 jobs on the chopping block. In total, an estimated 1,300 Carrier employees will still lose their jobs.

In an interview with CNN's Erin Burnett on Wednesday, Jones said he was grateful for Trump's intervention in Indianapolis but continued to criticize Trump for his characterization of the number of jobs that were saved.

I just wish that he would have had the numbers down and he had been upfront with 800 people's jobs staying here in Indianapolis," Jones said.

Story continues

"Where he did wrong was by promising 1,100-some-odd jobs would remain in Indianapolis and he saved them, and it was a falsehood," Jones said in a follow-up interview after Trump sniped at Jones in the tweet. "I think he got caught up in a deal where he would need to bail out and the way he did it was by attacking me."

"I didn't attack him," Jones said. "I just called him out on what I felt like he misled the people."

Following Trump's comments about Jones, a March tweet showing Vice President-elect Mike Pence praising him and Steelworkers 1999 for their hard work was noticed by observers on Twitter.

Appreciate the chance to meet w/ Chuck Jones & hardworking men of Local 1999 about our efforts to save Carrier jobs pic.twitter.com/jAzV4DO4PY  Governor Mike Pence (@GovPenceIN) March 2, 2016

Watch Jones' interview below:

NOW WATCH: Donald Trump's 'strange' morning habit tells you everything you need to know about him





More From Business Insider


If Donald Trump is serious about cracking down on drug prices, as he told Time Magazine, then he could start by beefing up Medicares bargaining clout in negotiating their bulk purchases of prescription drugs.

The Republican President-elect didnt explain precisely what he has in mind, just as he was somewhat vague on the subject throughout the 2016 presidential campaign. Im going to bring down drug prices, Trump said in the interview for Times Person of the Year issue released on Wednesday. I dont like what happened with drug prices.

Related: How Big Pharma Lobbyists Keep Medicare Drug Prices High

But policy experts and lawmakers say there are a number of things that a powerful new president and a cooperative Congress could do to rein in prices and crack down on industry gouging of consumers and the government. One of them is to empower Medicare officials to negotiate the prices of prescription drugs for 41 million beneficiaries  just as Medicaid, the Veterans Administration and other government health care providers are entitled to do.

When Congress approved the Medicare Part D subsidized prescription drug program for seniors in 2003, the drug industry was granted a provision that prohibited the federal government from negotiating rebates or lower drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries. That sweetheart arrangement subsequently provided major pharmaceutical companies with billions of dollars in windfall profits.

Indeed, a House Oversight and Government Reform study estimated that Medicare officials could have saved taxpayers as much as $156 billion over the past decade if they had been able to negotiate the price of drugs they purchase, according to Democratic Rep. Peter Welch of Vermont, an ardent advocate of granting Medicare officials bargaining authority. Welch told The Fiscal Times recently, The whole essence of a free market is that willing buyers and willing sellers can negotiate prices and reach a market price. How in the world can one explain that the government actually passed a law saying that you cant negotiate prices?

Story continues

Almost as if on cue, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday released data on the price history of 5,000 prescription drugs under Medicare Part D over the past five years, documented the governments problem of fast-rising drug prices.

Related: Two Big Reasons Prescription Drug Prices Are So Much Higher in the US

The data was released by Andy Slavitt, the acting director of CMS, during Modern Healthcares 2016 Leadership Summit in Chicago. Slavitt told the gathering that the data wasnt intended to be used as a cudgel to shame the pharmaceutical industry into restraining its marketing practices but to get away from the world of anecdotes.

Gilead Sciences nearly $1,000 a pill Sovaldi and Harvoni for treating victims of the hepatitis-C virus has become one of the biggest drains on the budgets of Medicare and Medicaid.

However, a generic version of the antihypertension drug Cozaar registered the biggest unit cost increase of any of the Medicare Part D drugs surveyed by CMS, according to a report by Modern Healthcare. The price of Losartan potassium skyrocketed by 491 percent between 2014 and 2015, from an average unit cost of $1.55 to $3.22.

At the same time, the average cost of carbamazepine, a generic version of anticonvulsant drug Epitol, jumped by 451 percent. And a generic version of the ACE inhibitor Zestril used in treating hypertension and congestive heart failure rose by 405 percent to an average cost per unit of $7.44.

According to a preliminary analysis of the data by Modern Healthcare, the average price of all Part D drugs sold in both 2015 and 2011 rose by 83.6 percent. However, for the most common drugs that are prescribed to more than four million beneficiaries, prices dropped by 23.6 percent.

Yet the prices of drugs that accounted for the biggest chunk of Part D overall spending  at least $1 billion annually -- increased by 59.1 percent. Whats more, the prices for many inexpensive drugs went up by more than 1,000 percent.

Related: The Feds Finally Make a Move on Soaring Drug Prices

In fairness to the drug industry, the CMS Part D data doesnt reflect manufacturer rebates and other price concessions that the government is prohibited from disclosing. However, if Trump is serious about doing something about rampant increases in drug prices, he might start by reopening the Medicare Part D law to strengthen government officials hand in dealing with drug manufacturers.

Trump first jumped into the drug pricing debate in September 2015 when he publicly attacked Martin Shkreli, the former hedge fund manager and CEO of Turing Pharmaceutical, for raising the price of Dataprim, a drug used to prevent malaria and treat a parasitic infection, by more than 5,000 percent. "That guy is nothing, Trump said. Hes zero. He's nothing. He ought to be ashamed of himself.

Trump subsequently made drug prices an important element of his campaign agenda and offered a number of proposals  including allowing cheaper prescription drugs manufactured abroad to be sold in the U.S. He also said he favored requiring pharmaceutical companies to competitively bid to sell their drugs through Medicare and Medicaid, the health care programs for seniors and the poor.

His Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, hit hard as well against the drug manufacturers. Clinton also advocated broadening consumer access to safe, high-quality generic and alternative competitors through the emergency importation of drugs from Canada and other countries. And last September, she proposed the creation of a government commission with the power to compete with or penalize pharmaceutical companies like Mylan, Valeant and Turing that for years have jacked up the prices of lifesaving drugs.

Related: Extreme Rise in Some Drug Prices Reaches a Tipping Point

Since the Nov. 8 election, Trump had little, if anything, to say about drug prices. The president-elects transition health care agenda lists six top priorities, including limiting abortions, restructuring Medicare and Medicaid, and speeding up federal approval of new prescription drugs. But there is nothing specific about combating drug prices on the transition teams website.

Trumps silence on the matter was no doubt heartening to the drug industry and its lobbyists who have been attempting to tamp down talk on Capitol Hill about government intervention or even price controls. But that was before Trumps comments to Time Magazine this week, vowing to bring down drug prices.

This latest effort at presidential jawboning comes on the heels of Trumps public dressing down of Boeing for charging too much to develop a replacement for Air Force One and his criticism of the Indianapolis-based Carrier heating and cooling company and the Ford Motor Company regarding initial plans for sending jobs across the border into Mexico.

Trumps salvo against soaring drug prices jolted the biotech and pharmaceutical industry and briefly sent shares of stock in Pfizer Inc., Johnson & Johnson and Merck & Co. tumbling on Wednesday.

Holly Campbell, a spokesperson for PhRMA, the drug industrys main trade group, said in a statement that Government mandates and interventions are not the solutions for patients and that a more pressing challenge is reducing patients out-of-pocket health care costs.

We look forward to working with the administration next year on solutions that will enhance the competitive private market and ensure we continue to deliver innovative treatments and cures, she said.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
The limits of rhetoric

Oli and his followers have no choice but to negotiate hard with the govt and the Madhesi and Janajati leaders
(This version of the story corrects date in last paragraph to Dec. 14, not Dec. 4) (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump was scheduled to hold additional meetings on Wednesday as he forms his administration before taking over from Democratic President Barack Obama on Jan. 20. The Republican president-elect has held more than 80 meetings so far, according to his transition team. This week, Trump was to meet with the following people: WEDNESDAY RAHM EMANUEL * Democratic Chicago mayor, former White House chief of staff for U.S. President Barack Obama and political director under former Democratic President Bill Clinton PAT MCCRORY * Republican governor of North Carolina who on Monday conceded the state's gubernatorial race to his Democratic challenger SCOTT PRUITT * Oklahoma attorney general, whose name has been mentioned as possible Environmental Protection Agency administrator * Was also scheduled to meet with Trump on Nov. 28 ANDREW PUZDER * Chief executive officer of CKE Restaurants whose name has been mentioned as possible labor secretary * Second meeting with Trump THURSDAY RETIRED ADMIRAL STAVRIDIS * Retired U.S. Navy Admiral, former supreme allied commander of NATO, dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University FRIDAY JOE MANCHIN * U.S. Senator from West Virginia, a Democrat NEXT WEEK Trump has also invited technology industry leaders for a meeting on Dec. 14, according to media reports citing transition officials. Reuters could not immediately confirm the reports. (Reporting and writing by Doina Chiacu, Susan Heavey and Eric Walsh; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, W Simon and Frances Kerry)
By Steve Holland and Warren Strobel NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate a third retired general for a top job in his new administration with the choice of a battle-hardened Marine commander to lead the agency set up after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to protect the U.S. homeland. Trump is expected to name former Marine General John Kelly, 66, as head of the Department of Homeland Security, a source familiar with the decision told Reuters on Wednesday. Kelly told Fox News on Wednesday that he has "been asked and would consider it an honor." If confirmed by the Senate, Kelly will be in charge of the agency tasked with securing borders against illegal immigration, protecting the president, responding to natural disasters, coordinating intelligence and counterterrorism. Like Trump, Kelly is believed to hold strong views on stopping illegal immigration. The four-star general told a congressional committee last year that the lack of security on the U.S.-Mexican border represents a national security threat. As former head of the military's Southern Command, Kelly was responsible for U.S. military activities and relationships in Latin America and the Caribbean. He was a proponent of keeping open the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Kelly, whose son was killed fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, retired in January after a 45-year military career. CBS first reported that Trump would nominate Kelly to the position, which would put him in charge of more than 240,000 employees. Those include Secret Service and Border Patrol agents as well as the agency that clears refugees for resettlement in the United States. Under Democratic President Barack Obama, the department's Border Patrol and immigration enforcement agents were criticized by civil rights groups for acting as a paramilitary force that neglected the humanitarian mission of helping immigrants escaping violence. With a retired general as chief, the department risks furthering that image and facing backlash from Democrats and immigrant rights groups. Trump energized voters in the election campaign by promising to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border in order to keep out Mexican immigrants he described as rapists and murderers. In testimony last year before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Kelly said people-smuggling activities on the southern border were a dire threat. "Terrorist organizations could seek to leverage those same smuggling routes to move operatives with intent to cause grave harm to our citizens or even bring weapons of mass destruction into the United States," Kelly said. Such sentiments may have endeared him to Trump, who warned repeatedly during his presidential campaign of dangers from illegal immigration, and pledged to make Mexico pay for the wall along the border. The Republican president-elect, who has no military experience, also plans to nominate retired General James Mattis to lead the Pentagon and picked retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn to be his national security adviser. MILITARY EXPERIENCE Trump may be forced to look to generals to fill key positions because he lacks a relationship with Republican establishment figures, said former White House and State Department official P.J. Crowley. He never served in government, so until the campaign, he didn't have an established bench," said Crowley. He's forming a pickup team on the fly. On an individual basis, they have a lot of international operational experience but far less domestic political experience. How well they will gel together remains to be seen, said Crowley, author of Red Line, a book on U.S. foreign policy. Trump's transition team is also said to be considering former Army General David Petraeus for secretary of state. Kelly served in Iraq several times, and in 2003 was the first Marine in more than 50 years to be promoted to the rank of brigadier general while in a combat zone. In 2010, his son, Marine 1st Lieutenant Robert M. Kelly, was killed in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan. Human rights groups had feared someone would be appointed to Homeland Security with a stronger anti-immigration position, such as Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who is a proponent of reinvigorating a system to track Muslims entering the United States on visas. Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice Education Fund, an immigrant rights advocacy group, said he was hopeful Kelly's experience in Central America would make him sympathetic to migrants fleeing violence in the region. But Sharry said he was concerned over the number of generals Trump has appointed. "At times Trump's Cabinet looks like a military junta. There's been a securitization of migration that is out of whack with reality," said Sharry. "But I'll take a general with knowledge of the Americas over a radical like Kobach." The National Border Patrol Council, an early Trump backer that represents some 18,000 Border Patrol agents and other employees, noted that Kelly had no immigration experience but had "stellar credentials." It said in a statement that his popularity with troops boded well for morale problems at the Department of Homeland Security, but added that "we believe no other cabinet level nominee will be under more pressure to produce." Kelly questioned the Pentagon's decision to allow women to serve in combat, and differed publicly with Obama over the president's attempt to close the Guantanamo Bay prison. "There are no innocent men down there," Kelly said of Guantanamo in a January interview with the Military Times newspaper. The Republican-controlled Senate must confirm Kelly for the Homeland Security post. (Reporting by Steve Holland and Warren Strobel; Writing by Julia Edwards Ainsley; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Alistair Bell)
Donald Trump is still talking tough about China  even with all the presidential campaigning behind him  and some investors are starting to wonder who gets hit hardest if he puts words into action.

Perhaps most concerning to Wall Street are the ramifications of the president-elect's talk of a punitive 45 percent tariff on goods imported from China, the world's second-biggest economy. The current average tariff on imports from China is about 3 percent , according to the U.S. International Trade Commission.



Some economists say a tariff of that size could slow China's economy by 3 percentage points, that according to Capital Economics.

"The direct impact on GDP would be sizable. The value added by export[s] is about 10 percent of China GDP, and [the] U.S. accounts for about one-fifth of China exports," Gene Ma, chief economist for China at the Institute of International Finance, told CNBC.

But the pain would almost certainly spread to the U.S.-based multinationals that do business in China.

After years of diversification and globalization, big U.S. retail chains including Wal-Mart (WMT) and others sell a tremendous amount of merchandise made in China to consumers in America. Low production costs in Asia and Latin America bring cheap goods to shelves in the United States, but tariffs would increase the cost of selling Chinese-made goods into the U.S.  that in fact appears to be Trump's goal.

An added tax on Chinese goods could pressure corporate margins and raise questions about how much many popular products will cost in a years' time.



Wal-Mart did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.

China exported about $482 billion in goods to the United States in 2015, more than any other country exported to the U.S., according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

It is the technology industry that is perhaps most dependent on China, either for the manufacturing of specific components or whole products.

Story continues

Research consultancy Capital Economics points out that China is the source of three-quarters of mobile phones and 93 percent of tablets or laptops shipped to the United States.

Over the past 15 years, China has been a manufacturing hub for big, diversified technology companies like Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT) that specialize in hardware and software. Manufacturers in Harbin, China, that spoke to CNBC said the Chinese are known for their meticulous attention to detail and skill at manufacturing high-quality goods.



But an added tax on goods made in China could push multinational companies to re-evaluate whether their exposure to China makes sense, or if it is time to scale back operations. The answer would likely be complicated.

According to a Thomson Reuters model from analytics research group StarMine, companies with high revenue exposure to China include many semiconductor companies, such as Skyworks Solutions (SWKS), Qualcomm (QCOM), Broadcom (AVGO), Micron Technology (MU) and Texas Instruments (TXN). Many of those companies specialize in chips that power smartphones and tablets of Apple, Google and others.

The Semiconductor Industry Association, a trade group that represents the industry, was not immediately available for comment.

But not all the global trade proposals Trump has floated are bad for U.S. companies, or even technology companies.

"President-elect Trump specifically mentions on his website that he would offer a one-time tax repatriation holiday of 10 percent for cash held offshore," Gene Munster, senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray, said in a Nov. 17 research note. "This most obviously helps Apple, who held $216 (billion) in cash and marketable securities through foreign entities as of September 2016. Google (GOOGL)would also benefit, holding $49.7 billion."

Serial entrepreneur Div Turakhia, who sold Media.net in August for $900 million, also thinks that in the long term, Trump will be good news for the tech industry.

"Some of the economics of these trade deals may change, but Trump is a businessman, so ultimately his policies will likely be favorable for the tech sector," Turakhia said.

Ma also noted that the Trump administration would most likely focus less on technology and more on the industries in the Rust Belt states, whose votes proved crucial for his election victory. Industries there include steel, tires, appliances and auto parts.

Correction: This story has been revised to correct the spelling of Div Turakhia.
(Adds statements from Trump, Puzder)

By Amanda Becker and Robert Iafolla

WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump named fast-food executive Andy Puzder to head the U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday, drawing criticism from labor advocates worried about his opposition to a higher minimum wage and government regulation of the workplace.

Puzder, chief executive of CKE Restaurants Inc, which operates the Carl's Jr. and Hardee's fast-food chains, has frequently argued in the media that higher minimum wages would hurt workers by forcing restaurants to close.

He has bashed a new Labor Department rule aimed at extending overtime pay to more than 4 million U.S. workers and has praised the benefits of automation in the fast-food industry.

Fast-food workers, who are largely not unionized, are engaged in a multi-year campaign known as the "Fight for $15," which is supported by labor unions, to raise minimum wages to $15 per hour. They have had state-wide successes in New York and California and in cities and municipalities such as Seattle.

Trump, in a statement released by his transition team, praised Puzder for a "record fighting for workers" and said he would ensure occupational safety standards.

"He will save small businesses from the crushing burdens of unnecessary regulations that are stunting job growth and suppressing wages," Trump said.

In the same statement, Puzder said he agreed with Trump that "the right government policies can result in more jobs and better wages for the American worker."

The Labor Department regulates wages, safety and discrimination in the workplace.

Republican Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in last month's election by carrying swing states - and some traditionally Democratic states - in the U.S. Rust Belt after promising to create jobs and to review or cancel trade deals that he said were bad for workers.

National labor leaders had urged their rank-and-file members to back Clinton, saying Trump's appointments and policies would not align with his promises to workers.

Story continues

Labor leaders have been girding for Trump to appoint pro-business regulators at the Labor Department and National Labor Relations Board, and to roll back key regulatory initiatives of the Obama administration such as the Labor Department rule granting overtime pay to more than 4 million salaried workers, both unionized and not unionized.

"He was talking a good game when he was running for president, as far as helping workers and leveling the playing field for them, but with the nominations he's made it's just the opposite," said Lee Saunders, president of the public employees union AFSCME.

Although just 11.1 percent of U.S. workers were represented by a union in 2015 - down from 20.1 percent in 1983, the first year government statistics were kept - labor unions are a powerful force in Democratic politics. But union members' support for Clinton at the election was lower than it had been for President Barack Obama four years ago.

About 51 percent of voters from union households backed Clinton, with 42 percent supporting Trump, a CNN exit poll showed. Obama won 58 percent of the same voters in his 2012 re-election win against Republican Mitt Romney.

Business groups welcomed the appointment of Puzder. Robert Cresanti, president of the International Franchise Association, an industry group, praised him as an "exceptional choice" who would bring "business experience and policy acumen on so many issues impacting employers and employees."

But Democrats were critical.

"In Andrew Puzder, Trump found a Labor Secretary that would help him roll back the minimum wage, end the overtime rule that will raise wages for millions, weaken safeguards for workers, and to wipe out unions," said American Bridge, a liberal advocacy group.

DISPUTE WITH UNION LEADER

Trump's decision to pick Puzder comes as he is engaged in a Twitter dispute with the head of a local United Steelworkers union in Indiana.

United Steelworkers Local 1999 President Chuck Jones, who represents workers at United Technologies Corp's Carrier plant in Indianapolis, criticized Trump for inflating the number of jobs that would be saved by his intervention in the company's decision to move some production to Mexico.

Trump responded on Twitter that Jones has done a "terrible job representing workers."

Jones said after speaking to the company that 800 jobs will remain in Indianapolis and 730 of those will be union jobs, with another 70 management positions. But Trump said last week that a deal made by Indiana to give the company $7 million in tax breaks would keep 1,100 jobs in the region.

"Our people, at that point in time, got their hopes back up that they might have a job," Jones told CNBC on Thursday. "I've said at every interview that I'm grateful for President-elect Trump getting involved  without his involvement these 800 jobs would not remain in Indianapolis."

"All he had to do is come back and say I was misled by (United Technologies) ... instead of doing that he goes on the attack on me?" Jones added. Jones has said some of the president-elect's supporters sent him death threats.

(Additional reporting by Julia Edwards Ainsley, David Shepardson and Emily Stephenson; Editing by Alistair Bell and Frances Kerry)
Andrew Puzder, chief executive of CKE Restaurants, leaves a meeting with president-elect Donald Trump at Trump International Golf Club, Nov. 19, 2016, in Bedminster Township, N.J. (Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Donald Trumps pick to lead the Department of Labor strongly defended immigration reform in remarks several years ago and also criticized border security as a waste of money and overly intrusive  positions that put him at odds with the president-elects campaign promises to crack down on immigration.

Andrew Puzder, CEO of the fast-food chain conglomerate CKE Restaurants, said that passing immigration reform that offered a path to legalization for many of the millions of undocumented immigrants in the country was the right thing to do and would boost the economy, in a question-and-answer session organized by conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute in 2013.

Puzders belief that immigration reform could be an economic boon was once firmly implanted in the Republican mainstream, with Republicans willing to join a bipartisan effort to pass comprehensive immigration reform as recently as 2013. But the victory of Trump, who campaigned on building a giant wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and said that Mexico has sent rapists to the United States, demonstrated that the Republican base rejects that thinking.

If we had immigration reform and were able to hire these people who really want to work, wed have a more diverse, incentivized and productive workforce, Puzder said in 2013. Youd really reinforce this idea that the United States is the land of opportunity, the land of entrepreneurial vision  and that could use some reinforcing.

Puzder said that his fast-food chains workforce in California, where a greater share of employees were Latino, was more productive and motivated than some of his employees in other areas of the country.

Our Hardees restaurant operators in the Midwest and Southeast often use the labor force in California as an example of what they would like their labor force to be, Puzder said. Theyre very hard-working, dedicated, creative people that really appreciate the fact that they have a job whereas in other parts of the country, you often get people that are saying, I cant believe I have to work this job. With the immigrant population, you always have the Thank God I have this job kind of attitude. So, you end up with a real different feeling.

Story continues

Puzder stressed that this observation was a gross generalization and that many people of all races and backgrounds were grateful to have a job.

The CEO didnt just argue that immigration reform would boost the economy, but also that it was the moral choice. Its the right thing to do, he said. Its the country that we are, its the people that we are, and we need to foster that image across the world and in the United States.

Puzder also praised E-Verify, which allows employers to ensure they are only hiring people who are authorized to work in the country. E-Verify is actually very, very helpful to business owners who really just want to comply with the law, he said.

What Puzder singled out for criticism was the emphasis on border security in the GOP-authored immigration reform bill at the time. The bill proposed doubling the number of Border Patrol agents at the time to 40,000. As an American  not as a CEO, but as an American, it does bother me a little bit for a couple reasons, he said. One is, as a conservative and a Republican, were trying to keep the deficit down  this is another $40 billion in spending, which you hate to see. And secondly, I dont know when it became a conservative Republican principle that increasing the size and intrusiveness of the government is a good thing. He pointed add that the number of people attempting to cross the border illegally was down dramatically from its height in the 1990s.

Trumps pick for the Department of Homeland Security, Gen. John Kelly, will have far more to do with enforcing immigration law than Puzder will. But as Dara Lind at Vox points out, the Labor Department is in charge of making sure employers who use foreign workers are complying with the law. Puzders agency would lead any investigations into companies potential abuse of H1-B visas, for example, which are meant to go to skilled foreign workers when employers cant find native workers to fill the slots.

Immigration hardliners objected to the choice of Kelly to lead DHS on Wednesday, although they hold out hope that Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who designed laws to increase deportations of undocumented immigrants, will be picked as his deputy.
This Immigrant Doctor Is Reimagining Health in the American City

The tragicomedy that is the Trump transition just keeps getting worseor better, depending on whether you see it more as, well, tragedy or comedy. News reports are now confirming that the president-elect is likely to nominate Andrew Puzder as labor secretary. Puzder is CEO of the parent company of fast-food giants Hardees and Carls Jr. and is probably best known for steering those chains toward their increasingly outlandish, big-breasted, babelicious approach to selling outrageously oversize hamburgers.

For all the talk of Trumps game-changing unpredictability, hes sure proving to have a pattern. After all, hes set to nominate a climate change denier to head the Environmental Protection Agency and an opponent of expanded health insurance coverage to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Thus, despite Trumps supposed championing of the American working class, it comes as little surprise that he has tapped a staunch opponent of the Obama administrations efforts to improve the lives of millions of underpaid workers to take charge of the Labor Department.

Surely at the top of a Secretary Puzders agenda (if hes confirmed by Congress) would be to abandon any effort to defend President Obamas executive order to significantly expand the eligibility for overtime pay. The order, which would have doubled the annual salary threshold from $23,660 to $47,476 to determine who qualifies for overtime pay after working 40 hours a week, has been subject to a legal challenge by business groups and a coalition of conservative state attorneys general; its up to the Labor Department to defend the order in court. Fat chance of that with Puzder, the fast-food executive who has written scathing op-eds against the overtime rule, at the helm.

Trump has flip-flopped on raising the federal minimum wage, pivoting from his position early in the primaries that wages in America are too high to what seemed like a halfhearted embrace of boosting the stagnant federal minimum wage to at least $10. Puzder has adamantly opposed any substantial minimum wage hike, calling instead for a paltry raise of less than $2 per hour. Thats far less than what many labor experts see as a livable wage, and as a tactic, its one that appears more designed to sap the momentum of groups such as Fight for $15 than to provide workers with a more equitable standard of living.

Story continues

Within hours after the first reports appeared regarding Puzders likely nomination, the Fight for $15 released the following statement from two employees of Puzders restaurant chains: Rogelio Hernandez, a cook at a Carls Jr. in Santa Monica, California, and Lacretia Jones, a Hardees cashier in Richmond, Virginia.

Putting one of the worst fast-food CEOs in charge of national labor policy sends a signal to workers that the Trump years are going to be about low pay, wage theft, sexual harassment, and racial discrimination, the statement reads. Instead of taking on the rigged economy, it seems like Trump wants to rig it up even more. Puzder is paid more in one day than we each make in one year working at his restaurant chains, and thats the way he wants to keep it. Puzder is against unions, calls the minimum wage and overtime restrictions and employees extra cost, and even said he wants to fire workers like us and replace us with machines that cant take vacations or sue their employers when they break the law.

Futuristic visions of fast-food automation aside, Puzder would otherwise seem decidedly retrograde: Hes a 66-year-old white male multimillionaire whose veneration for a pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps American fairy tale has remained stubbornly impervious to the economic reality that upward mobility in the country is declining as surely as income inequality is skyrocketing. Yet hes been as unapologetic in his embrace of rollicking, free-market, worker-trouncing capitalism as he has of his chains blatantly sexist boobs and burgers advertising. I like our ads, Puzder told Entrepreneur last year, I like beautiful women eating burgers in bikinis. I think its very American. I used to hear, brands take on the personality of the CEO. And I rarely thought that was true, but I think this one, in this case, it kind of did take on my personality.

No doubt that ethos, harking back to Trumps own locker room talk, appealed to the president-elect in choosing Puzder for labor secretaryas did the fast-food CEOs loyalty. As The Washington Post reported, Puzder and his wife contributed upwards of $332,000 to get Trump electedabout 15 times the average annual salary for fast-food workers in America.

Sign the Petition: $2.13/hr is Unacceptable: Raise the Tipped Minimum Wage!

Related stories on TakePart:





 The Fight for $15 Celebrates Its Fourth Anniversary with New Protests

 The Fight for $15 Is Now Fighting Against Sexual Harassment Too

 The Fight for $15 Protests Arent Just About Higher Pay

Original article from TakePart
The most expensive U.S. weapons program in the world  Lockheed Martin Corp.s LMT F-35 has been in the headlines for quite some time, on account of consistently underperforming in key tests. Michael Gilmore, director of operational test and evaluation of the Department of Defense (DoD), who raised doubts regarding this program earlier, recently blamed Pentagon officials of preparing a deceptive review of its progress.



The controversial statement came after President-elect Donald Trump slammed aerospace giant The Boeing Co. BA on Twitter for developing an costlier version of the Air Force One on Dec 6. In his tweet, he urged the federal government to cancel an order with Boeing, which included the remodeling of 2 Air Force One planes as the costs associated with the project were deemed out of control. (Read more: Will Trump's Tweet Hurt Boeing's Air Force One Deal?)



Earlier too, Trump had raised questions related to the F-35 program. In an Oct 2015 interview, Trump criticized the fighter jets cost and said that other existing planes are much better in comparison.



Other Officials Questions on the F-35



On Nov 3, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, an Arizonian Republican, questioned Defense Secretary Ash Carter in a letter about the delays related to the F-35 Lightning II.



In response to McCains question on when the Pentagon could complete the System Development and Demonstration (SDD) phase of the F-35, the Pentagon admitted that it was scheduled to end in the beginning of 2018. In response to questions regarding operational combat testing, the Pentagon said that it would start the process in mid 2018 and expects it to be completed in a year.



Gilmores Take



Gilmore, who had sent a letter to Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work on Nov 18, raising concerns about the F-35, said that the aforementioned draft answers should be revised to provide clear, accurate and complete answers. Further, on Nov 28, he wrote a criticizing memo to Frank Kendall, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, urging him that if the responses are not modified, they would be considered misleading or deceptive, and could possibly lead to conflicts with the Congress.



Gilmore has specifically disproved three answers by the Pentagon. He has revealed that SDD testing will not end before mid 2018. Moreover, operational combat testing of the weapons systems will not start before late 2018 or early 2019, and could extend up to 2020.



In addition, Gilmore stated that due to delays in testing of the final version of the F-35s software and correcting 276 pending deficiencies, planes that were set to be delivered in fiscal 2018 with full combat capability is highly unlikely. He further added that live-fire testing of the jets gun system for attacking ground targets and in dogfights against enemy jets will be postponed.



Besides, he claimed that the Navy's version of Lockheeds F-35  the F-35C  has inadequate wing strength. Its wingtips are not strong enough to carry the AIM-9X short-range air-to-air missile, a primary weapon, at certain altitudes and airspeeds. In addition, the issue of "excessive F-35 vertical oscillations," or shaking, in catapult launches from aircraft carriers need to be resolved.



Pentagons Reaction



According to Joe DellaVedova, spokesman for the Pentagons F-35 program office, only a couple of flights have faced stability issues, which have already been placed under review. He said that the program office, along with Lockheed, will continue to drive toward the completion of the test program, including solutions for the issues cited by Gilmore.



The program should complete flight-testing of the most capable software by late 2017, he said, although the schedule could be postponed by about another three months.



About the F-35



Lockheed Martins F-35 Lightning II is a single-seat, single-engine fifth-generation fighter aircraft, which comes with an advanced stealth feature, combined with enhanced fighter speed and agility, fully fused sensor information, network-enabled operations and advanced sustainment. Three variants of the F-35 are set to replace five fighter jets for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, as well as a variety of fighter jets for at least 10 other countries.



With Lockheed as the primary partner, the F-35 program has been supported by an international team of leading aerospace majors. While Northrop Grumman Corp. NOC contributed its expertise in producing carrier aircraft and low-observable stealth technology to this program, BAE Systems plcs BAESY short takeoff and vertical landing technologies, and air systems sustainment added to the jets combat capabilities. Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corporation UTX, provided the F-35s with the F135 propulsion system, the world's most powerful fighter engine.



Although this engine has led to delays, recently it was announced that engine removal for maintenance  a key measure of engine reliability is over 90% and hence not required until 2020.



Our View



Built with the combined expertise of some of the best companies in the aerospace/defense space, F-35 is the world's largest defense program. Going forward, Lockheed Martin aims to increase F-35 deliveries to 53 this year, having supplied approximately 180 since the inception of the program. Management also adopted a cost-saving initiative to lower sustainment costs for F-35 by 10% over the next couple of years. This will result in cost savings of $1 billion over a five-year period.



Price Movement



Lockheeds share price has improved about 21.7% in the last one year, outperforming the Zacks categorized Aerospace/Defense industrys gain of 12.2% over the same time frame. This could be because the company continues to witness a steady flow of contracts from the Pentagon and other international customers.

Story continues





Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks



Lockheed Martin currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.







Zacks Best Private Investment Ideas



In addition to the recommendations that are available to the public on our website, how would you like to follow all Zacks' private buys and sells in real time?



Our experts cover all kinds of trades from value to momentum . . . from stocks under $10 to ETF and option moves . . . from stocks that corporate insiders are buying up to companies that are about to report positive earnings surprises. You can even look inside exclusive portfolios that are normally closed to new investors. Starting today, for the next month, you can have unrestricted access. Click here for Zacks' private trades >>



Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report



NORTHROP GRUMMN (NOC): Free Stock Analysis Report



BOEING CO (BA): Free Stock Analysis Report



LOCKHEED MARTIN (LMT): Free Stock Analysis Report



BAE SYSTEMS-ADR (BAESY): Free Stock Analysis Report



UTD TECHS CORP (UTX): Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
TIA project stalls indefinitely due to slowpoke contractor

The $92-million Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) improvement project has been stalled indefinitely despite two deadline extensions as the slowpoke contractor hasnt been able to get its act together.
TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's powerful UGTT union has cancelled a planned public- sector general strike after reaching an agreement with the government on salary increases covering the next two years, officials said on Wednesday. The agreement reduces the prospect of widespread social unrest over austerity measures proposed in the 2017 draft budget, though the government still faces protests and industrial action from several sectors. The UGTT had called a strike for Thursday over a proposed freeze on public-sector wage increases. Under a compromise deal signed on Wednesday, the government will spread wage rises over the next two years, government and union officials told Reuters. "This agreement will allow the country more social stability and let it avoid any social tension," said UGTT head Hussein Abassi. Civil service minister Abid Briki said the deal would cost the government 963 million dinars ($418 million) in 2017. The UGTT also said it had also cancelled a private-sector strike after entering salary negotiations with the UTICA industry and business employers' association. Tunisia has been praised as a rare Arab example of moderate politics and democratic transition since the overthrow of autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali in a 2011 uprising. But its economy has struggled and it faces pressure from international lenders to reduce public spending and cut the deficit. The International Monetary Fund says public-sector pay in the North African state accounts for about 13.5 percent of gross domestic product, one of the highest rates in the world. Many Tunisians are concerned about the rising cost of living, unemployment and the continued marginalisation of rural areas - factors that helped fuel the country's uprising and, more recently, Islamist militancy among some disaffected youth. (Reporting by Tarek Amara; Editing by Aidan Lewis and Larry King)
By Alex Dobuzinskis (Reuters) - Two juveniles were charged with arson on Wednesday in connection with the eastern Tennessee wildfires that broke out last month in and around the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in which 14 people died, officials said. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesman Josh DeVine declined to release details about the juveniles, who have been arrested, citing their ages and the ongoing investigation. The fires have been centered in Sevier County just east of Knoxville and have damaged or destroyed more than 1,750 structures, local and federal authorities said in a statement. It was the highest death toll from wildfires in the United States since 2013, when 19 firefighters died near Prescott, Arizona. "Our promise is that we will do our very best to help bring closure to those who have lost so much," Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director Mark Gwyn said in a statement. The two youths were charged with aggravated arson and were held at a juvenile detention center in Sevier County, the bureau said in a statement. It added that authorities from the National Park Service, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Sevier County Sheriff's Office participated in the probe. The largest of the blazes, the so-called Chimney Tops 2, broke out on Nov. 23 in a remote rugged area dubbed Chimney Tops in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, authorities said. Fed by drought-parched brush and trees and stoked by fierce winds, the flames quickly spread, turning into an inferno that roared out of the park. Thousands of people were forced to evacuate their homes and businesses. Authorities have said since last week that the fire was human caused. A large amount of the damage was in Gatlinburg, known as the "gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains," in eastern Tennessee, about 40 miles (64 km) southeast of Knoxville. At one point, residents of Pigeon Forge, which is home to country music star Dolly Parton's theme park Dollywood, were forced to leave the area. Dollywood has since re-opened. Parton and other performers will put on a show Dec. 13 on the Great American Country channel to raise funds for people affected by the fires, Parton's company said in a statement. The Chimney Tops 2 Fire is 64 percent contained after burning more than 17,000 acres (6,880 hectares), according to the government tracking website InciWeb. Rainfall over the last week has helped firefighters control the blazes. (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Andrew Hay)
Two major cruise lines have been approved for trips to Cuba. Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line officials announced Wednesday they had received approval from the Cuban government to sail to Havana from ports in Florida starting in 2017.

Based in Miami, Royal Caribbean Cruises (RLC) said it would send Royal Caribbean and Azamara Club Cruises ships to Cuba. The company didnt specify which ships in the Royal Caribbean catalog would be the first to dock in Havana, although in the past RLC said the 2,020-passenger Empress of the Seas would most likely be the ship used for Cuban voyages. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) said it would send three ships from the NCLH catalog to Cuba including Oceania Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line.

NCLH said its three brands would set sails to Cuba starting in March as a part of broader voyages. RLC, also only docking in Havana during broader trips, didnt announce specifically when cruise lines would start making stops in the country but said an itinerary would be coming soon.

Oceanias Marina ship will be the first Norwegian brand to sail to Cuba from Miami. The voyage is set to sail 1,250 people on March 7 as a part of a broader Caribbean trip. Marina will make more multi-stop voyages to Havana from March to May. Regents 700-passenger Seven Seas Mariner will follow making two Havana calls during April, after which Norwegians 2,004-passenger Norwegian Sky will host four-day voyages that will dock overnight in Havana starting in May.

Smaller cruise line, Adonia, was actually the first brand to set sail to Cuba following President Barak Obamas lift of certain Cuba embargo restrictions. Back in May, the cruise line launched bi-weekly voyages to Cuba on its Fathom cruise ship. However, the brand was unable to bring in the American interest they were hoping for due to week-long voyages that made stops in secondary Cuban cities like Santiago de Cuba and Cienfuegos. Adonia announced in November Fathom would no longer make trips to Cuba as of May.

Related Articles
(Corrects figure for Qatar to million from billion in 1st paragraph)

WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department notified Congress on Thursday of possible military sales to Saudi Arabia worth $3.51 billion, to the United Arab Emirates worth $3.5 billion and to Qatar for $781 million, the Pentagon said in a statement.

The possible sale to the UAE involves Apache AH-64E helicopters and services; the Saudi Arabia sale is for CH-47F Chinook cargo helicopters and related equipment; and the possible sale to Qatar is for logistics support and spare engines and equipment for C-17 aircraft, the statement said.

The approval coincides with Saudi Arabia leading a military coalition in support of Yemeni forces loyal to the exiled government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi who are trying to oust Iran-allied Houthi forces from the capital, Sanaa.

In October, the United States said it would start an "immediate review" of its assistance to the Saudi-led campaign, which has drawn condemnation from human rights advocates for killing civilians.

Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Thursday that the Saudi-led coalition had killed several dozen civilians in three air strikes in September and October.

"The coalition's use of United States-supplied weapons in two of the strikes, including a bomb delivered to Saudi Arabia well into the conflict, puts the U.S. at risk of complicity in unlawful attacks," the statement said.

Previously this year, the United States approved the sale to Saudi Arabia of about $1.15 billion in military equipment.

(Reporting by Eric Beech and Yeganeh Torbati; Editing by David Alexander and Leslie Adler)
By Alana Wise

(Reuters) - More than 45 million passengers will take to the skies on U.S. airlines this holiday season, Airlines for America projected on Thursday, up 3.5 percent from holiday travel last year.

During the 21-day stretch from Dec. 16 through Jan. 5, between 1.8 million and 2.4 million passengers daily will fly globally aboard U.S. carriers, according to the Washington-based trade group.

"An improving economy and reduced airfares remain the driving force behind the growth seen in air travel," Airlines for America Chief Economist John Heimlich said in a statement.

"As we saw over Thanksgiving, U.S. airlines are well positioned to handle the increase in passengers expected this holiday season," he added.

U.S. carriers got a trial run at the upcoming travel rush during the 12 days of Thanksgiving travel, the trade group said.

During Thanksgiving travel, airlines had a completion factor of 99.4 percent, a percentage of flights an airline completes without cancellation, and an on-time arrival rate of 84.5 percent, the industry body said.

Airlines for America said it expects the most congested travel days to fall on Dec. 22 and Dec. 23, while fewer travelers are expected on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

(Reporting by Alana Wise; Additional reporting by Jeffrey Dastin; Editing by Alan Crosby)
By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legislation expanding the 2012 U.S. Magnitsky human rights act from Russian citizens to cover abusers in any country passed the U.S. Senate on Thursday as part of an annual defense policy bill, leaving the landmark measure on the verge of becoming law.

The legislation was included in the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, setting policy for the Department of Defense, despite the recent election of Republican Donald Trump as the U.S. president.

Trump has signaled a softer line against Russia, which vehemently opposes the original Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, and its expansion.

The Magnitsky Act imposed visa bans and asset freezes on Russian officials linked to the 2009 death in prison of Sergei Magnitsky, a 37-year-old Russian whistleblower.

Backers of the bill have pushed for years to expand its impact to every country, and to make "significant" acts of corruption sanctionable offenses.

"Visiting the United States and using our financial institutions are privileges that should not be extended to the worst actors in the international system," Senator Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement.

Cardin pushed the measure along with Republican Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, by an overwhelming margin on Dec. 2. The Senate vote sends the measure, including Global Magnitsky, to the White House for President Barack Obama to veto or sign into law.

A White House spokesman said shortly after the NDAA passed that he could not yet say how the president would proceed.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Andrew Hay)
By Gina Cherelus and Dan Whitcomb (Reuters) - A federal judge in Michigan on Wednesday revoked his order requiring a recount of the state's presidential vote sought by Jill Stein, siding with a state appeals court that found the Green Party candidate had no grounds to mount the challenge. U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith's ruling has the effect of halting the recount in Michigan, at least for now, following conflicting rulings a day earlier by federal and state appeals courts. The Michigan Court of Appeals on Tuesday ordered the recount stopped, while the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Goldsmith's earlier decision and said the process should proceed. The dueling rulings had both sides claiming victory but left the future of Stein's bid unclear. Goldsmith, in deferring to the Michigan appeals court, said Stein had not presented valid reasons for him to override that court's decision, which found that she was not an "aggrieved" candidate with standing to demand a recount. The Stein campaign said in a statement following Goldsmith's ruling that it had appealed again, to the Michigan Supreme Court, and sought to disqualify two justices there because they had been mentioned by Republican President-elect Donald Trump as potential nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court. "In a huge victory for Michigan taxpayers and the rule of law, this recount is stopped," Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, a Republican who opposes the recount, said in a statement. In addition to Michigan, Stein is trying to have the votes from the Nov. 8 presidential election recounted in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. All three states were key to Trump's victory. The recounts are extremely unlikely to change the outcome of the election. But Stein, who got only about 1 percent of the vote, has said that they are necessary to ensure the integrity of voting systems. Losing Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign has said it will take part in the recounts. Stein sued in federal court in Pennsylvania on Monday to try to force a statewide recount of presidential votes there. In a setback for Stein's team, the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas on Wednesday denied a full forensic analysis of the city's voting machines and their software. Stein's team had argued that such an analysis was the only way to guarantee the accuracy of the city's election results. "The court's decision will deny voters the chance to know the truth about this election," Ilann Maazel, lead counsel for Stein's campaign recount effort in Pennsylvania, said in a written statement. (Reporting by Gina Cherelus and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
(Reuters) - A U.S. Marine pilot has died after he ejected from his FA-18C+ fighter jet as the aircraft went down off the coast of Japan, the U.S. military said in a statement on Thursday.

The pilot, identified as Captain Jake Frederick, was located by a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force ship, the statement said. "He is pronounced deceased," it added.

The U.S. military provided few details about the incident, which occurred on Wednesday, other than saying the cause of the crash was under investigation.

The pilot ejected about 120 miles (190 km) southeast of Iwakuni, Japan, the U.S. military said on Wednesday.

The accident occurred on the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, which drew the United States into World War Two.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles and Phil Stewart in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Violence against women high in Dalit community

The Dalit community has been found suffering much with the violence against women in Nepal.
By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations Syria mediator Staffan de Mistura said on Thursday he planned to meet "people around the team" of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to discuss the nearly six-year conflict in the country. "The plan is to meet some people around the team of President (elect) Trump," de Mistura told reporters, adding that meetings would take place in New York and Washington. De Mistura briefed the U.N. Security Council behind closed doors on Thursday afternoon and said he would remain in the United States until Tuesday. He declined to elaborate on who he would meet with from Trump's team and when. De Mistura told reporters after the council briefing that he has ideas on "how President (elect) Trump's team would be able to look at the fight on terrorism in very effective ways." He said last month little was known about Trump's Middle East policy, but there might be a chance of progress in ending the Syrian war if Trump stuck to his campaign pledge to fight Islamic State with Russian President Vladimir Putin. On Thursday, the 15-member Security Council discussed the Russian announcement that the Syrian army had stopped combat operations in eastern Aleppo to allow for the evacuation of civilians, Spain's U.N. Ambassador Roman Oyarzun Marchesi, president of the council for December, said after the meeting. "We didn't get any information from the Russian announcement on how long it will be," de Mistura said of the truce. Since July 2014, de Mistura has been trying to broker peace talks between the warring parties in Syria. He was appointed after former U.N. chief Kofi Annan and then Lakhdar Brahimi quit in frustration at the global deadlock over how to end the war. "I did raise, and to a certain degree insisted, that perhaps now is the time to actually either look seriously at a possible renewal of looking where and how we can have political discussions," de Mistura said of the council briefing. "Otherwise we will leave with the impression, which no one wants to have, that there is only a military victory or military solution," he said. A crackdown by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on pro-democracy protesters in 2011 sparked a civil war and Islamic State militants have used the chaos to seize territory in Syria and Iraq. Half of Syria's 22 million people have been uprooted and more than 400,000 killed. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Writing by Eric Beech; Editing by Eric Walsh and David Gregorio)
By Patrick Rucker

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. bank regulator is ready to fail Wells Fargo on a national scorecard for community lending, sources familiar with the decision said on Wednesday, in a move that could limit near-term expansion for the bank.

Wells Fargo is due to be deemed a bank that "needs to improve" under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), a law meant to promote lending to poor neighborhoods.

The move is a two-notch downgrade from the "outstanding" tag Wells Fargo has held since 2008 and the change would give regulators a greater say on day-to-day matters like whether they may open new branches.

The ruling from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the main regulator for national banks, is due by early January, said the sources with knowledge of the plans.

A Wells Fargo spokesperson declined to comment. A spokesman for the OCC also declined to comment.

Wells Fargo has struggled since September to overcome its admission that employees wrongly created as many as 2 million accounts without customer authorization.

A downgrade on the bank's community service score could further tarnish the reputation of the San Francisco-based lender at a time when it hopes to move beyond the scandal.

Wells Fargo may win an appeal to the downgrade through an independent arm of the regulator but no decision has yet been made, said sources familiar with the process.

Consumer advocates have faulted the OCC for letting eight years pass between reviewing Wells Fargo's commitment to community development.

"Regulators could have downgraded Wells Fargo years ago and maybe that would have stopped some of this wrongdoing," said Paulina Gonzalez, head of the California Reinvestment Coalition.

Following the 2008 housing market collapse, the OCC faulted several national banks for their community lending.

Bank of America Corp lost its "outstanding" grade in 2011 when the OCC faulted the lender for "discriminatory or other illegal credit practices." JPMorgan Chase & Co also slipped one notch from "outstanding" to "satisfactory" in 2013.

But industry and regulatory sources said they knew of no other case where a national bank had slipped two notches in a single review of CRA compliance.

(additional reporting by Dan Freed in New York)
By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republican senators are leaning towards a plan to delay the effective date of an Obamacare repeal for three years, a senior Republican said on Wednesday. But some conservatives in the House of Representatives think that is too long to wait for the end of the Affordable Care Act, as President Barack Obama's signature health insurance program is known. "In the Senate, there's consensus for three years," Senator Orrin Hatch, chairman of the chamber's finance committee, told reporters, saying it could take that long to work out a replacement for Obamacare. "It takes time to do things around here." Republicans in both the House and Senate say they want to repeal Obamacare early in 2017; it will be the first order of business in the Senate in January, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said on Tuesday. Donald Trump's election as U.S. president last month means Republicans will control the White House, Senate and House of Representatives in 2017. The new Congress goes to work on Jan. 3; Trump will be sworn in on Jan. 20. But Republicans have not agreed on how quickly the Obamacare repeal should go into effect. A delay would give them time to work on a replacement, instead of throwing millions of Americans out of their health insurance with no substitute. Some House conservatives favor phasing out Obamacare and getting a replacement within two years, because three years would not lapse until after the next congressional election, with the attendant uncertainty about who will be in the majority then. "We don't think it's very wise to leave a long-term plan like that up to a (future) Congress that you can't necessarily control," said Ben Williamson, spokesman for Representative Mark Meadows, the incoming leader of the Freedom Caucus, a group of about 40 House conservatives. "There is a potential that some members of the Freedom Caucus might vote against repeal, if the replacement was going beyond two years," Williamson said. The Affordable Care Act has provided some 25 million previously uninsured Americans with health coverage. Republicans have repeatedly tried to dismantle the law, which they call a government overreach. Another senior senator said some Republicans are worried about whether they will have to raise taxes in three years to pay for an Obamacare replacement, which could for example involve tax credits to subsidize health insurance. "What Republicans could be faced with in three years, is voting for a tax increase ... and that's not exactly a place that Republicans relish being," said Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee. (Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Bernard Orr)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone on Thursday about the situation in Aleppo and agreed to keep discussing a ceasefire to allow aid delivery and the departure of anyone who wants to leave the embattled city, the State Department said. The phone call was in addition to a brief meeting the two men had on Thursday on the sidelines of an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe conference in Hamburg, Germany, and a meeting on Wednesday evening also in Hamburg. "They agreed to continue discussions about establishing a framework for a ceasefire that will allow the delivery of aid, desperately needed humanitarian aid, as well as the safe departure of those who wish to leave the city," State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told a briefing. She said Lavrov had announced technical discussions in Geneva on Saturday, but the specific nature of those talks was still being worked out. Lavrov said earlier on Thursday the Syrian army had stopped active military operations in eastern Aleppo because a large effort to remove civilians from the city was under way, RIA news agency reported. Trudeau said she could not confirm the Syrian government had stopped its military operations in Aleppo. (Reporting by Yeganeh Torbati, Writing by David Alexander; Editing by Eric Walsh and Peter Cooney)
By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of 27 U.S. senators sent a letter to President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday urging him to take a tough line against Russia over what they termed its "military land grab" in Ukraine. The letter, whose 12 Republican and 15 Democratic signatories included some leading foreign policy voices from Trump's Republican party, was an early sign that lawmakers will publicly assert themselves on international matters where they disagree with his White House. The New York property developer becomes president on Jan. 20. Trump signaled during his campaign that he might take a softer line in dealings with Moscow, repeatedly praising Russian President Vladimir Putin's leadership. Putin said recently Trump confirmed to him that he was willing to mend ties. "In light of Russia's continued aggression and repeated refusal to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereign right to choose its own destiny, we also renew our call for the United States to increase political, economic and military support for Ukraine," said the letter, led by Senators Richard Durbin, a Democrat, and Rob Portman, a Republican, who are co-chairmen of the Senate Ukraine caucus. In the letter, seen by Reuters before its public release, the senators also said they believe Russia's annexation of Crimea should not be accepted and the United States should not lift sanctions imposed on Russia for its behavior in eastern Ukraine. President Barack Obama and Putin have had a challenging relationship, with stark differences over Russia's actions in Ukraine and Syria. Tensions have risen more with Obama's Democratic Party in particular over cyber attacks attributed to Russia during the U.S. presidential election. Among Republican senators who signed the letter were John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Lindsey Graham, head of the appropriations subcommittee that oversees the State Department. A majority of Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including ranking Democrat Ben Cardin, signed the letter. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on Senate Armed Services, also did so. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Leslie Adler and Alistair Bell)
* Supreme Court hearing ends on who can trigger Brexit

* Challengers want parliament to give authorisation

* Case complicating government's Brexit plans (Recasts after end of four-day hearing)

By Estelle Shirbon and Michael Holden

LONDON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Britain's Supreme Court will decide as quickly as possible whether Prime Minister Theresa May can trigger Britain's exit from the European Union by the end of March without parliament's assent, its president said on Thursday.

Last month, the High Court decided that May could not invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the EU's exit clause, using executive powers known as the "royal prerogative".

"We are not being asked to overturn the result of the EU referendum," Supreme Court President David Neuberger said at the end of a four-day appeal in which the government sought to overturn the High Court ruling.

"The ultimate question in this case concerns the process by which that result can lawfully be brought into effect," he said.

The case could potentially hamper May's Brexit plans, and investors believe involving lawmakers would lessen the chances of a "hard" Brexit, where Britain gives up access to the single European market in order to impose tighter immigration controls.

Pro-Brexit critics have cast the legal battle as an attempt by a pro-EU establishment to thwart the result of June's referendum, when Britons voted by 52-48 percent to leave the EU.

The judges in the High Court case were dubbed "enemies of the people" by one newspaper while Gina Miller, the investment manager who brought the challenge, has received death threats and a torrent of online abuse.

The government's argument is essentially that under Britain's unwritten constitution, it can make or leave international treaties without parliamentary assent.

The challengers argue that triggering Article 50 would inevitably mean citizens would lose rights granted by parliament and so only lawmakers could take these away.

Story continues

NOT IF, BUT HOW

The Scottish and Welsh governments and lawyers for Northern Irish challengers all joined the case against the government. Scotland's nationalist executive, which opposes Brexit, argued that the Scottish parliament should be consulted.

"(Brexit) is almost the most divisive political event that has happened over the last several decades," Richard Gordon, law officer for the Welsh government, told the court on Thursday. "Who is going to judge what happens next? According to law ... it must be parliament."

If May wins, she can follow her planned timetable for invoking Article 50. If she loses, she might need to bring in a parliamentary bill, albeit one containing just a single line.

On Wednesday, parliament overwhelmingly voted to back a motion supporting her timetable, which government lawyer James Eadie said was highly significant and "legally relevant".

"The House of Commons has given specific approval to the government to give (Article 50) notice and indeed has called on them to do so by a particular date," he said.

Echoing comments made by her lawyer to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, lead challenger Miller said she did not believe the motion in parliament had any bearing on the case.

"Our case has nothing to do with politics - it concerns legal process and the constitution. It is not about if we leave the EU, it is about how we leave the EU," she said.

(Editing by Angus MacSwan)
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN's peace envoy for Syria on Thursday said he is planning to hold meetings with US President-elect Donald Trump's transition team.

Staffan de Mistura, who has been leading diplomatic efforts to end the five-year war in Syria, told reporters that talks would be held in New York and in Washington next week.

"The plan is to meet some people around the team of president Trump," De Mistura said as the Security Council met behind closed doors to discuss the crisis in Syria.

Declining to give details on the issues he plans to raise, he said he has "some ideas" about how the new US administration "would be able to help fight terrorism in a very effective way."

Although it was not immediately known with whom he would be meeting, he said the talks would take place on Monday and Tuesday.

Backed by Russian air power, Syrian forces have captured about 85 percent of eastern Aleppo after three weeks of heavy fighting to seize one of the last opposition strongholds.

The United States and Russia are holding talks on a ceasefire deal that could allow rebel fighters and civilians to leave the city.

The United Nations has stepped up calls for a pause in fighting to allow hundreds of sick and injured children to be evacuated.
World Bank can help build Kathmandu-Tarai fast track

Since the end of the armed insurgency in 2006, Nepal has been struggling to achieve higher economic growth rates.
By Gianluca Semeraro, Pamela Barbaglia and Stephen Jewkes

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's largest lender, UniCredit (CRDI.MI), is set to announce next week the country's biggest bank share issue, worth up to 13 billion euros (11 billion), in what would be a major test of confidence in Italy's wider banking system, sources said.

If successful, the fundraising would be a shot in the arm for a sector overburdened by bad loans, buffeted by political uncertainty and dogged by the risk its third-largest lender, Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS.MI), could be nationalised.

UniCredit, which operates in 17 countries and is the only Italian bank whose health is deemed important to the stability of the global financial system, needs to strengthen its balance sheet to meet tough new regulations designed for such lenders.

"It's a massive amount and the mere fact they're thinking of it means they must be confident of pulling it off," said Roberto Lottici, a fund manager at Ifigest.

Chief Executive Jean-Pierre Mustier, drafted in this year to boost capital and profits at Italy's biggest bank, is set to present his strategic review on Tuesday.

Sources familiar with UniCredit's thinking said he could announce the cash call for early next year.

Mustier would face a harsh investment climate: Prime Minister Matteo Renzi quit this week after a heavy referendum defeat, raising the prospect of early elections, and Monte dei Paschi may need a state bailout after investors balked at funding the bank's own 5 billion euro rescue plan.

Other, smaller banks are also lining up for cash.

On Wednesday, credit rating agency Moody's cut its outlook on Italy, saying prospects for much-needed economic reform had shrunk after Renzi's departure.

"There is a monstrous hangover on Italian banks looking to raise capital, including UniCredit," said Anthilia Capital Partners Chief Investment Officer Andrea Cuturi.

But Mustier has said Renzi's resignation and the threat of early elections next year will not change his thinking.

Story continues

"The event overnight will not change our strategy and we plan for the long term," he told Bloomberg TV on Monday, after Renzi announced the night before that he would quit to take responsibility for the defeat of his constitutional reform plan.

Some investors are concerned a popular anti-euro party, the Five Star Movement, could come to power at the next general election, which is widely expected to be held in the spring.

Mustier, a former Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) executive, was appointed to run UniCredit in July. The bank has been selling assets and has said a share sale is an option.

"Mustier has got 13 billion euros pencilled in but hasn't made a final decision yet," a source close to the matter said.

Two other sources confirmed the amount, saying the CEO wanted to fix the bank's capital concerns once and for all. But another source said Mustier might stop at 10 billion euros.

DISPOSALS

UniCredit, with a market value of 15 billion euros, has lost more than half its value this year, weighed down by concerns over profitability, bad loans and a weaker balance sheet compared with major European rivals.

In June, a source said Mustier, hired for his experience in managing complex operations at a big bank, was looking to raise core capital - a key measure of financial strength - to 12.5 percent. At the end of September, the bank's fully-loaded CET 1 ratio was 10.82 percent.

UniCredit, which has Europe's biggest bad loan portfolio, is also expected to reveal plans to dispose of as much as 20 billion euros worth of non-performing loans, sources have said.

"The bank could present its plan for clearing out the bad loan book, perhaps indicating who it's talking to," a person familiar with the matter said.

Mustier has begun selling assets and slimming down the bank, making it easier to manage.

It is in exclusive talks with France's Amundi (AMUN.PA) to sell its asset manager Pioneer in a deal that could raise around 3.5 billion euros. On Thursday, it announced deals to exit Polish unit Pekao, raising more than 2.5 billion euros.

More disposals could be on the way.

"We can't rule out another share placement in FinecoBank (FBK.MI)," said a banker who has recently worked on deals with UniCredit. The lender sold 20 percent of its online broker unit in October for around 550 million euros.

The banker said a successful UniCredit cash call could be a prelude to a tie-up with France's Societe Generale.

Any deal would be structured as a merger of equals meaning UniCredit needed to bump up its valuation.

"It's too early now but there are good chances this will be the first pan-European bank merger," the banker said.

Rumours about a possible merger between the French and Italian banks have circulated for years but re-emerged after Mustier's appointment. Both banks have declined to comment.

(Additional reporting by Paola Arosio and Danilo Masoni; Editing by Mark Bendeich and Mark Potter)
donald trump chuck jones

Chuck Jones, a union leader who accused President-elect Donald Trump of misrepresenting the scope of an agreement to preserve some manufacturing jobs in Indiana, says he has been receiving threatening phone calls.

Jones told the Washington Post on Wednesday night that the threatening calls started after Trump tweeted him by name the same night, accusing Jones of "doing a terrible job" in his role as president of the United Steelworkers Local 1999 union.

Trump, who is apparently busy setting up his Cabinet before his inauguration on January 20, sent another searing tweet: "If United Steelworkers 1999 was any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana. Spend more time working-less time talking. Reduce dues," he said.

Jones told the Post's Danielle Paquette that his phone began ringing constantly a half-hour after Trump tweeted the insults.

"One voice asked: What kind of car do you drive? Another said: Were coming for you," the Post reported.

In an interview with MSNBC, Jones said some of the threats were more specific:"Nothing that says theyre gonna kill me, but, you know, you better keep your eye on your kids ... We know what car you drive. Things along those lines."

Despite the numerous threats, Jones said he is not worried:

Ive been doing this job for 30 years, and Ive heard everything from people who want to burn my house down or shoot me ... So I take it with a grain of salt and I dont put a lot of faith in that, and Im not concerned about it and Im not getting anybody involved. I can deal with people that make stupid statements and move on.

Late Wednesday, tweets from Vice President-elect Mike Pence showing support for Jones earlier this year began circulating on social media. Pence tweeted in March: "Appreciate the chance to meet w/ Chuck Jones & hardworking men of Local 1999 about our efforts to save Carrier jobs.

Story continues

NOW WATCH: Trump goes on a tweetstorm less than 48 hours after promising to be more 'restrained' on Twitter





More From Business Insider


Trump tours a Carrier factory in Indianapolis, Dec. 1, 2016. (Photo: Mike Segar/Reuters)

Chuck Jones, the union leader who claims President-elect Donald Trump lied to Carrier employees while touting a deal to keep jobs in the U.S., says he started receiving harassing phone calls a half hour after Trump slammed him on Twitter. But Jones is refusing to back down.

Ive been doing this job for 30 years, Jones, president of the United Steelworkers Local 1999, told CNN on Thursday morning. Ive had a lot more serious threats than what people are making right now. Ive got a little more thicker skin than maybe I did many years ago.

Everybodys got a right to their opinion, Jones continued. He overreacted, President-elect Trump did. I would expect that if he were to tweet something, he should have come out and tried to justify his numbers.

The President-elect "overreacted," Carrier union leader Chuck Jones says of the Trump tweets. https://t.co/m6XLeTG80A  New Day (@NewDay) December 8, 2016

At an event at Carriers Indianapolis plant last week, Trump said the deal he helped broker would keep 1,100 factory jobs from being moved to Mexico. But according to Jones, workers at the plant were informed that Trumps deal with Carrier will maintain about 800 U.S. positions, while more than 550 are still being moving to Monterrey, Mexico.

He got up there, and, for whatever reason, lied his ass off, Jones told the Washington Post. I almost threw up in my mouth.

After Jones repeated his criticism Wednesday night on CNN, Trump retaliated on Twitter.

Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers, the president-elect tweeted on Wednesday. If United Steelworkers 1999 was any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana.

Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers. No wonder companies flee country!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2016

Jones told MSNBC that his phone started ringing about 30 minutes later.

Story continues

He said one caller asked: What kind of car do you drive?

Were coming for you, another said.

Nothing that says theyre gonna kill me, but, you know, You better keep your eye on your kids, Jones explained. We know what car you drive. Things along those lines.

Still, Jones said he wasnt concerned for safety.

Ive been doing this job for 30 years, and Ive heard everything from people who want to burn my house down or shoot me, he added. I can deal with people that make stupid statements and move on.

Back in March, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, now the vice president-elect, met with Jones and praised him on Twitter.

Appreciate the chance to meet w/ Chuck Jones & hardworking men of Local 1999 about our efforts to save Carrier jobs pic.twitter.com/jAzV4DO4PY  Governor Mike Pence (@GovPenceIN) March 2, 2016

The president-elect did not.

Trump also tweeted that Jones should spend more time working and less time talking.

He needs to worry about getting his Cabinet filled, Jones told the Post on Wednesday night, and leave me the hell alone.
Fox Searchlight has released a new trailer for A United Kingdom, and it offers a closer look at David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike's international romance.

Written by Guy Hibbert and adapted from Susan Williams' book Colour Bar, Amma Asante's historical drama tells the story of Seretse Khama (Oyelowo), a member of the royal family in Bechuanaland, a former English colony in Africa that would become Botswana. He shocked the world when he married white British bank clerk Ruth Williams (Pike) in 1948, when interracial marriage was illegal.

"Father will hate him on sight - he's cleverer than him, and he's black," Pike is told by her sister in the new trailer, which also shows how the two first met in a jazz club. The naysaying continues: "Who do you think will accept you, as if it were your right to be our queen?" says one African resident, as another echoes, "We need him more than you - let him go."

Yet Oyelowo asserts at the end of the preview, "I am ready to serve you because I love my people. I love this land, but I love my wife."

Read more: 'A United Kingdom': Film Review | TIFF 2016

A United Kingdom hits theaters Feb. 17.
A US military communications satellite was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on the night of Wednesday, December 7.

According to Florida Today, the $425-million Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) satellite was the Air Forces eighth spacecraft launched into orbit, bolstering the Department of Defenses much-needed communications network in space. Credit: YouTube/United Launch Alliance via Storyful
Washington (AFP) - The United States on Thursday approved a series of deals worth more than $7 billion to supply military helicopters, planes and missiles to four of its Arab allies.

The green light, announced by the State Department, will mark another windfall for plane maker Boeing and other large US defense manufacturers.

But it may face opposition from critics of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates' controversial role in Yemen's ongoing civil war.

The biggest agreement announced Thursday was for the $3.51 billion sale to the Saudi kingdom of 48 CH-47F Chinook cargo helicopters with spare engines and machine guns.

Boeing and Honeywell Aerospace will be the main contractors. Up to 60 Americans -- both private and government employees -- will work in Saudi Arabia to maintain the aircraft.

Next, the United Arab Emirates want to spend $3.5 billion on 27 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters plus support equipment, made by Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Qatar, meanwhile, has requested eight C-17 military cargo jets and spare engines in a pair of contracts totaling $781 million.

And Washington has also approved a contract to sell Morocco 1,200 TOW 2A anti-tank missiles made by US arms giant Raytheon for $108 million.

Although the State Department has approved the sales, after consultation with the Pentagon, Congress could still block them in theory.

Since all four Arab countries involved are US allies and past major arms purchasers, however, the contracts are expected to be approved without problem -- despite human rights groups' criticism of US support for the Saudi-led coalition campaign against Huthi rebels in Yemen, which has killed many civilians.
Washington (AFP) - Top US Democratic lawmakers have demanded that President Barack Obama release details on alleged Russian interference in last month's election, fearing the issue will be swept under a rug when Donald Trump assumes office in January.

The Republican president-elect has repeatedly rejected the idea that Moscow had a hand in the private email releases that damaged rival Hillary Clinton and arguably helped his victory.

The legislators say they are not refighting the election, but want to make public what they believe was an effort by a foreign rival to erode the foundations of American democracy.

"By eroding Americans' and foreigners' trust in US institutions, Russia both weakens our country and sows global instability and uncertainty," leading House Democrats said in a letter to Obama Tuesday.

US intelligence officials announced on October 7, one month before the election, that "the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of emails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations."

"These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process," said the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in a statement.

That was a reference to the release through WikiLeaks and other websites of emails stolen from the accounts of Clinton aide John Podesta and also from the Democratic National Committee, which embarrassed both the party and its White House nominee.

Susan Hennessey, a former NSA lawyer and now a cybersecurity expert at the Brookings Institution, said there were genuine grounds for concern, and that this was no mere politicking by resentful losers of the vote.

"This was an incredibly close election, and this was a significant event. That's why it's important to have a really serious response to this," she told AFP.

- Trump: Russia not behind hack -

Story continues

The Democratic legislators, already having been privately briefed by intelligence officials, suggest that there is more to the hacking story -- and that it needs to be made public.

In a rare move, on November 29 Senator Ron Wyden and six other Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee pressed Obama in a letter to reveal more.

"We believe there is additional information concerning the Russian government and the US election that should be declassified and released to the public," they wrote.

There was no indication whether they were talking specifically about the hacked emails, or were also referring to Trump's business relations with Russia.

Released in a steady drip online in the months before the election, the emails clearly did damage. A batch of Democratic National Committee internal communications put out just ahead of the party convention in late July forced the resignation of DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

They also revealed details on Clinton's paid speeches to Wall Street, which the campaign had sought to keep secret.

That gave rise to accusations that Moscow was aiding Trump, who has business interests in Russia and a less adversarial view of Russian President Vladimir Putin than the Obama administration and Clinton.

Despite the conclusions of US intelligence, Trump has repeatedly rejected the idea that Moscow was behind the email leaks.

"It could be Russia, but it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, OK? You don't know who broke in to DNC," he said in a September presidential debate.

And on Wednesday, when asked in an interview with Time magazine whether the intelligence was politicized, Trump answered: "I think so."

"I don't believe they interfered. That became a laughing point, not a talking point, a laughing point. Any time I do something, they say 'oh, Russia interfered.'"

"It could be Russia. And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey."

- Republican senator pledges hearings -

The White House has yet to respond to the requests, and Republicans in Congress have been loath to back the effort, with some worried of the possible damage to a Trump presidency before it starts.

But after Trump's comments Wednesday, Republican Senator Lindsay Graham announced he will hold hearings on the issue next year.

Hennessey said fears of Russian political interference did not just concern the United States. She pointed to the WikiLeaks release last week of documents on Germany's BND intelligence agency that embarrassed Chancellor Angela Merkel just as she began campaigning for the elections slated for late 2017.

"With Hillary Clinton having been defeated, it is now clear that there is a relationship" between WikiLeaks and the Russian government, said Hennessey.
Soldiers in the US Armys 25th Infantry Division marked the 75th anniversary of the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack on December 7 by performing a traditional Hawaiian haa, a dance of the warrior, for survivors.

The dance was also intended to honor US Army soldiers who served at military installations in central Oahu which were also attacked by Japan on December 7. According to the US Department of Defense, several soldiers who served at Schofield Barracks and what is now Wheeler Army Airfield were killed and injured.

The surprise Japanese attack on US Navy stationed at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu on the morning of December 7, 1941, sank or capsized the several ships and killed more than 2,400 people.

Thirty survivors attended the ceremonies marking the anniversary of the attack, according to Reuters, and several of them were in attendance to watch the haa being performed, officials said. Credit: YouTube/Department of Defense via Storyful
Paris (AFP) - Former French budget minister Jerome Cahuzac will on Thursday learn the verdict in his stormy tax fraud trial in which he was accused of hiding millions abroad while leading a crackdown on tax dodgers at home.

The 64-year-old former rising star in the Socialist Party was also accused of under-declaring the value of his fortune when he took up his ministerial post in 2012 with a remit that included cracking down on tax evasion.

Prosecutors have called for a three-year jail term and a two-year sentence for his co-defendant and ex-wife, dermatologist Patricia Menard.

The pair, who ran a hair transplant clinic with a client list featuring members of Paris's high society, have already paid back taxes and penalties totalling some 2.5 million euros ($2.8 million).

In closing arguments in the trial in September, Cahuzac's defence lawyer Jean Veil noted his client had already made financial amends and said he had "no desire to see my taxes going towards maintaining Jerome Cahuzac" in jail.

But prosecutor Jean-Marc Toublanc said Cahuzac's family life "was rooted in fraud for 20 years".

Cahuzac, a trained plastic surgeon, told the court that he stashed funds offshore to maintain his family's standard of living -- which included buying apartments for the children in London and Paris and paying for holidays in Mauritius.

- Like crime novel -

The story of the fraud, allegedly perpetrated between 1992 and 2013, reads like a cross between a cheap airport novel and an international financial crime manual.

In one episode, Cahuzac, using the codename "Birdie", allegedly received two cash payments of 10,000 euros on the streets of Paris.

The couple used a Royal Bank of Scotland account in the Isle of Man, an offshore financial centre in the Irish Sea, to channel cheques from English hair transplant clients.

As their marriage began to falter, Menard also opened an account in Switzerland.

Menard's lawyer Sebastien Schapira said the money was "that of fraud, but initially it was that of her work, earned day after day, hour after hour, hair by hair".

Story continues

He described Menard as "naive", an unwitting accomplice who was "swept up" in the fraud before confessing to it in December 2013.

She testified that the couple had become locked in a "spiral" of wrongdoing.

"I'm extremely ashamed of having done all that," she said.

The scandal was the first of a series that have tarnished Francois Hollande's presidency and prompted him to order his ministers to disclose their personal wealth, a first in France, where the wealth of public officials had long been considered a private matter.

Cahuzac initially denied the allegations and sued the Mediapart news website that broke the story in 2012.

Footage of the minister lying to parliament was repeated in an endless loop on French media after he finally confessed in April 2013, "consumed by remorse", to holding a Swiss bank account.

But by the end of the trial, Cahuzac had repeatedly admitted his "inexcusable wrongdoing".
Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews has announced his government will introduce a bill to legalise medically assisted suicide in 2017.

In a video published to his Facebook page, Andrews stated the potential bill was intended to launch legislation that would be guided not by ideologues or advocates but by an advisory panel of independent experts in the law, health, patient rights and palliative care.

The premier touched on his own story, acknowledging his fathers struggle with terminal cancer, but said it was not the only story.

In a debate like this, everyones voices, everyones story, needs to be heard and the debate needs to be respectful, he says in the footage.

Whichever side of the debate you are on, its still a fact that hundreds of sick people in Victoria take their own lives every year in desperately sad circumstances. We at least owe it to these people and their families to acknowledge their suffering and to try and feel their pain and make a real decision  anything else is failing to act. Credit: Facebook/Daniel Andrews via Storyful
The Mexico-based unit of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), Wal-Mart de Mexico, announced Wednesday that the company plans to invest $1.3 billion in its logistics operations in the country. The investment is being funded by Walmex, as the unit is known, and the company said the spending is needed for the expansion of Wal-Mart's business in Mexico.

CEO Guilherme Loureiro is cited at CNBC as saying that the investment will be made over the next three years and would create some 10,000 permanent new jobs in the country.

Wal-Mart wants to double its sales in Mexico by 2024 and that won't happen unless the company's logistics infrastructure is up to the task. There are more Wal-Mart stores in Mexico than in any country other than the United States, and the Walmex already employs more than 200,000 workers in the country.

ALSO READ: America's Best States to Live In

Not so long ago Wal-Mart was defending itself against charges of bribing Mexican officials to increase the pace of permit-granting for new stores. According to a 2012 report in The New York Times:

The Times's examination reveals that Wal-Mart de Mexico was not the reluctant victim of a corrupt culture that insisted on bribes as the cost of doing business. Nor did it pay bribes merely to speed up routine approvals. Rather, Wal-Mart de Mexico was an aggressive and creative corrupter, offering large payoffs to get what the law otherwise prohibited. It used bribes to subvert democratic governance  public votes, open debates, transparent procedures. It used bribes to circumvent regulatory safeguards that protect Mexican citizens from unsafe construction. It used bribes to outflank rivals.

ALSO READ: 40 Countries the US Government Doesn't Want You to Visit

Some shareholder lawsuits against Wal-Mart already have been dismissed, but others are still pending and both the U.S. and the Mexican governments continue to plod along with open investigations.

Walmex's Wednesday announcement was made at the official residence of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and was televised live via YouTube. Pena Nieto is clearly hoping for a positive bounce in his approval ratings, something like the good coverage President-Elect Trump got for saving 800 jobs in Indiana.

Story continues

Economy secretary Ildefonso Guajardo got in a wave to international trade, according to Quartz: "For those who doubt today of what we are capable of achieving with free trade, I invite you to go through one of the aisles at a Wal-Mart."

ALSO READ: America's Richest Cities

Pena Nieto said that the announcement "attests to the confidence" in Mexico.

Related Articles
Denzel Washington just reconnected with a very special figure from his past.

While in town to promote his new film Fences, Washington stopped by an Atlanta nursing home to wish Miss Connie, his childhood librarian, a happy 99th birthday.

The two had not seen each other in nearly 50 years, but the now-retired librarian never forgot the day Washington, around 7 years old at the time, came to the childrens department of the Mount Vernon public library to ask for a book.

When Washington became a movie star, Miss Connie enjoyed remembering the actor as the cute little boy who lived across the street from the library and would often stop in to say hello with his mother. After hearing her story, friends at Miss Connies Atlanta nursing home decided to post a video of her retelling her memories of Washington to YouTube.

In the video, the former librarian recalls that the first time Washington came to the childrens section, he asked for a little, skinny book that he could read over the weekend, so that he could have his book report done by Monday. Miss Connie always cherished the memory, and was proud to learn that Washington gave back to the community after becoming wealthy, donating $1 million to the local Boys and Girls Club where he grew up. Hes a wonderful human being, she says.

After hearing about the video, Washington called Miss Connie at her nursing home and told her he also remembers that first day at the library. During the phone call, which was recorded for another video, Washington tells his former librarian that he never stopped reading, and made plans to see her in person while in Atlanta to promote Fences.

Finally, almost half a century since Miss Connie gave Washington his first library book, the two reunited in person on Wednesday in Atlanta.




Hasan Sham (Iraq) (AFP) - Well-wishers danced in defiance of the Islamic State group on Thursday at the wedding of a bride and groom among families who fled the jihadists' brutal rule in Iraq's Mosul.

"In Mosul, I would never have been able to do this," said the groom, 35-year-old Jassem Mohammad, in the Hasan Sham camp east of Mosul.

"I came here five days ago... and I didn't want to wait any longer to get married. Today is the wedding," he said.

"We are very, very happy," he said. "Everyone in the camp is happy."

Music, dancing and partying were banned at weddings under IS rule in Mosul, the jihadists' last remaining stronghold in Iraq.

Brides were not allowed to wear white wedding gowns, and grooms could not dress in suits and ties.

But on Thursday the bride was in full wedding regalia: a white dress with a laced bodice, a tiara on her head and a bouquet of blood-red roses clasped in her hands.

Jassem, who wore a grey suit and tie, shook hands with guests at the wedding attended by around 300 people.

The couple got engaged two months ago but postponed their wedding because of the major offensive by Iraqi forces to retake Mosul from the jihadists, said Jassem's sister, Sabah.

The 19-year-old said she was pleased to be at the wedding but also sad because many of their relatives were still trapped in Mosul and unable to take part.

"But we are happy because this wedding will encourage others in the camp to get married as well," she added.

The Barzani Charity Foundation planned the event, providing the newlyweds with clothes, a hairdresser and a hotel room for their honeymoon, charity official Najm Eddin Mohammad said.

The couple are to spend two nights at the hotel in Arbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan, before returning to the camp.

Awaiting them on their return to the camp would be a "new tent with heating and new bedding", said Mohammad.

Wedding guest Khaled Mahmoud Mohammed, 43, who also fled from Mosul for the camp at Hasan Sham said he had never seen anything as beautiful in the past two and half years of IS rule.

"Everything about Mosul was bleak... there was no music or ullulating at weddings. It was as if we lived in a different country," he said.

According to the United Nations, a total of 82,000 people are currently displaced as a result of the Mosul operation which was launched on October 17.
pizzagate

In his first interview with the media since he fired an assault rifle in a Washington pizzeria, Edgar M. Welch admitted that he went about things "the wrong way" last week and that he regretted how he "handled the situation."

Welch, of Salisbury, North Carolina, was arrested on Sunday for assault with a dangerous weapon. He had driven six hours to the restaurant Comet Ping Pong in Washington, DC, to investigate a baseless conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton was leading a ring of child sex slaves there.

Speaking to a reporter from The New York Times, Welch said he had originally just wanted to give the restaurant "a closer look" so he could "shine some light on it" after reading false news reports on the internet. He said he could feel his "heart breaking over the thought of innocent people suffering," The Times reported.

Welch didn't say when or why he decided to bring an assault rifle into the restaurant, but once he was inside, he realized "the intel on this wasnt 100%," although he didn't completely dismiss the news reports, according to The Times.

According to the newspaper, Welch said he would have done things differently if he had the chance.

"I just wanted to do some good and went about it the wrong way," he said.

Read the full New York Times story here

NOW WATCH: A fake news story led to a shooting at a pizzeria in Washington DC





More From Business Insider


Writers Guild of America West president Howard A. Rodman has issued a blistering condemnation of President-elect Donald Trump over attempts to intimidate Indiana union official Chuck Jones.

Jones, president of United Steelworkers Local 1999, had noted that 550 of his members at Carrier plants would lose their jobs in spite of Trumps deal to keep another thousand jobs from moving to Mexico. Trump responded by attacking Jones on Twitter.

We stand in solidarity with the members of Local 1999 and with their chosen leadership, Rodman said in a statement on Thursday. And we will not stand in silence as a President-elect, soon a President, uses his vast powers to intimidate the working men and women of our republic.

Rodman pointed out that Jones has reported receiving threats of bodily harm following Trumps attacks.

Trump attacked Jones in a pair of Tweets on Wednesday.

Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers. No wonder companies flee country!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2016

If United Steelworkers 1999 was any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana. Spend more time working-less time talking. Reduce dues  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2016

Read Rodmans full message to the guilds 8,000 members below.

Chuck Jones is President of United Steelworkers Local 1999, which represents the workers of the Carrier plants in Indiana. This week he spoke out about the much-publicized deal to keep over a thousand jobs from moving to Mexico, calling it a promise half-way delivered. He pointed out a truer set of numbers: that even as Carrier would receive seven million dollars in tax breaks, 550 of his members would lose their livelihoods after all.

Story continues

In retaliation the President-elect of the United States, Tweeting from his gilded apartment atop the tower that bears his name, lashed out yesterday at the union. He said its dues were too high. He blamed the workers themselves for the loss of jobs. And he attacked Jones by name. As a consequence Jones and his family are now on the receiving end of a torrent of hate. He was told I better watch out for myself, and they know what kind of car I drive, that I better watch out for my kids.

Whether we work in Culver City or Indianapolis, in writers rooms or on factory floors, we all of us have the right to fight for a better deal. We stand in solidarity with the members of Local 1999 and with their chosen leadership. And we will not stand in silence as a President-elect, soon a President, uses his vast powers to intimidate the working men and women of our republic.

Related stories

Donald Trump to Remain Executive Producer on 'Celebrity Apprentice' (EXCLUSIVE)

Trump Connects With Middle America. Does Hollywood?

Former WWE CEO Linda McMahon Tapped by Donald Trump to Head Small Business Administration
Newt Gingrich speaks to the media after a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower in New York on Nov. 21. (Photo: Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

I have a job, Newt Gingrich told me this week, when I asked him if there was a job he might accept in the new administration. I have a full-time job reconceptualizing the way Republican government will occur.

Coming from someone else, this would sound like one of those platitudes Washington insiders often mouth when theyve been passed over for something, as much to console themselves as to persuade you. I can do more good from outside the tent than inside. I wanted a broader portfolio. And so on.

But anyone whos known Gingrich for very long  and he and I have talked often over the last decade  knows that he couldnt be happier with how things are shaping up. Yes, he would have accepted the vice presidency had Donald Trump asked him. Yes, he has visions of himself as a very good defense secretary, if only he could hop into a time machine and serve during the last great land war.

But its hard to imagine Newt  he is universally known by his first name in Washington  dragging himself to the doorstep of some drab Cabinet outpost every morning, managing some sprawling bureaucracy, taking orders over the phone from some deputy chief of staff (or perhaps one of the Trump kids). Its even harder to imagine him doing all that at the cost of the small empire he runs from across the Potomac River, a lucrative generator of speeches, films and books.

What Gingrich wants, as he first told me during a conversation at the Republican convention in July, is to be Harry Hopkins, the confidant to whom Franklin Roosevelt entrusted the implementation of the New Deal. I pointed out to him, during my hourlong visit to his Arlington office Monday morning, that Hopkins had worked alongside the president.

This is the modern world, Gingrich said breezily. Ive got an iPad and a smartphone. Ill be inside the White House as much as I want to.

Trumps takeover of Republican politics over the last year, unfathomable and yet somehow inevitable at the same time, posed a treacherous test for establishment Republicans, few of whom came through unscathed.

Story continues

Mitt Romney, for instance, tried to plant himself directly between Trump and the nomination, and now finds himself demonstrating his fitness for the State Department by translating French entrees off a menu. (I would not say hes not serious, Gingrich told me of Trumps dalliance with Romney. But I would say hes massively enjoyed it.)

On the other end of the spectrum you have Chris Christie, who boldly leaped to Trumps side when it made him a pariah in his own party  only to be cruelly discarded, it appears, when Trump no longer needed the governing imprimatur.

Perhaps no one, though, played it wilier than Gingrich, who has managed to hover near the center of Republican power for most of the last 20-plus years. Remaining uncommitted throughout the early primaries, the former House speaker and presidential candidate spoke kindly enough of Trump to be considered an ally, but demonstrated enough independence to avoid becoming a lackey.

Gingrich may well be the longtime politician closest to what Trump, who disdains the entire profession, would consider a peer. When he greeted me Monday, he mentioned that he had just gotten off the phone with the president-elect, who called because he had seen Gingrich defending Trumps call with the Taiwanese president in multiple TV interviews. They talk periodically.

He watches everything, never kid yourself, Gingrich told me. I spend a lot of time studying him. What does he do, why does he do it, what hes trying to accomplish.

To that end, I told Gingrich I was interested less in all the speculation around the transition than in how Trump would govern. I wanted to know what the first six months of the Trump administration would actually look like, if Gingrich had any influence over it.

Gingrich flashed that intrigued look he sometimes gives you, which I can only imagine is the same look he used to give his history students at West Georgia College when they asked him something that got him thinking.

You ask me a good question, and I havent thought about how to put it down in an organized way, Gingrich said, rising to his feet.

Behind him was a whiteboard where Newt had scribbled some phrases and diagrams, like Alan Turing trying to decode some new political language. Trump begins in answer form  Thus begins the personal evolution  Core cultural difference.

Now he hurriedly erased it all. Grabbing a red marker, he started writing out a series of headings, along with a triangular diagram. Below this and in the middle of the whiteboard, Gingrich scrawled out some figures: $13 6yrs. $3 2.5mths.

These few numbers, he explained, make up the centerpiece of what he calls Trumpian reform. They represent the story of the Wollman Skating Rink in Central Park, which New York City tried and failed to rebuild at a cost of $13 million over six years, and which an exasperated Trump (his office looked out over this monstrosity) finally renovated in a matter of months, for only $3 million.

Trump hadnt known a thing about skating rinks, Gingrich reminded me. The first thing hed done was to call a Canadian company, because he figured Canadians must know a lot about building skating rinks, and within a week he had a plan.

You have to take that story as a logic train, Gingrich told me, adding that he had advised Trump to make it a central plank of his campaign. In several key areas of government, Trumps challenge in his opening months would be to break with convention and smash the bureaucracy in a handful of key areas, delivering fast results at a lower cost.

The park story, which Trump did in fact highlight in his primetime convention video, has always seemed a little unpersuasive to me. Rather than highlight Trumps genius as a can-do builder, it reminds you of how little he can actually point to as proof of public service. A $3 million sheet of ice stands as his lone testament to civic-mindedness.

Given that limitation, though, it made sense to me that Gingrich should seize on this story as a guidepost for Trump as he girds for some important early battles with an entrenched governing establishment.

When all you have is a bulldozer, I guess everything looks like a rink.

*****

The first challenge in governing is to not blow up, Gingrich told me. Because if you blow up, you just have a mess, OK?

He was talking about the unavoidable problem Trump will face right away, which is what to do about President Obamas signature health care law. With a Republican Congress at his disposal and eager to scrap the law, Trump has no practical choice other than to make good on his vow to repeal it. But moving all at once would revoke coverage for some 22 million Americans and play havoc with the insurance market.

So theyve got to get through how you unravel Obamacare, because they want to replace it in a way that you never own the problem, Gingrich said. You dont want to leave 22 million people anxiety-ridden. So start with that. And it is really, really complicated.

In other words, Trump and the Republican Congress may make a big show of repealing some provisions, but the heart of the law  namely the state exchanges and the subsidies  may stay intact for a while yet, while lawmakers debate other solutions.

You have to pass something in January or February, he told me. You have to. You pick the weakest, dumbest parts of Obamacare, and you replace them.

At the same time, he said, Trump will have to do something immediate to back up his promises on keeping jobs in the country. While Republican leaders have already balked at Trumps proposal to levy a 35 percent tariff on imports, Gingrich thinks the principle of a transfer tax might be more practical.

What that means, in theory, is that businesses might get a 35 percent tax rebate on goods built domestically while paying a corresponding 35 percent tax on anything they import from overseas  essentially a tariff with a corresponding tax cut.

The third pillar of Trumps Make America Great Again platform, of course, was stemming illegal immigration. Immediately after the campaign, Gingrich made news when he called Trumps wall a campaign device. In our conversation, he suggested there would, in fact, have to be a wall, but it might be literal in some stretches, with others filled in by sensors or patrols.

Gingrich expects Trump to take a hard stand against so-called sanctuary cities, which would afford him a highly symbolic way to castigate both illegal immigration and liberal government  a kind of two-for-one deal.

But even as Trump advances some tangible ideas to make good on his promises on these fronts, Gingrich told me, hell have to get down to the granular, often nasty business of breaking up longstanding bureaucracies.

This is the Wollman Rink parable applied to Washington; either Trump gets control of the governing apparatus so he can do things the way he wants, or the apparatus will simply stall until hes gone.

This is the biggest fight that theyre going to have, Newt said. You say, I want you to go down and paint the building blue. And the federal workforce says, Well, were not really sure where to find blue paint, and were not really sure we know how to paint, but we can fill out a report telling you that were seriously thinking about someday thinking about whether or not well eventually have training to someday do something.

What Gingrich then outlined for me, on his whiteboard, were several grenades he wants Trump to unpin and hurl in his first year on the job  not only to remove the obstacles that stand in his path but to send a significant message to the voters about the meaning of Trumpian reform.

The first he mentioned to me was a bill to reform the civil service, so that Trump could hire and fire as he sees fit. Gingrichs plan would be to make the Veterans Administration the focal point of this debate, because that lends itself to a classic wedge strategy; the idea is to make Democrats choose between the interests of civil servants and those of veterans.

Gingrich, you may recall, is very good at conceiving of this kind of devious strategy.

What you want is to pit yourself against corrupt, dishonest, incompetent and sometimes criminal bureaucrats who are hurting veterans, he told me. And then you say, All right, all you Democrats who are up in 18, you want to vote to keep hurting veterans?

The second assault Gingrich wants to launch on the governing establishment is a bid to eliminate the Congressional Budget Office. This is the little-known, nonpartisan group of government economists that scores legislative proposals, meaning it tells you how much your tax cuts or your wall is likely to cost the government over a period of years.

Or, if youre Gingrich, its a small band of stunningly arrogant bureaucrats who should all be fired.

The triangle Gingrich had drawn on the whiteboard was what he called a watershed. (Its really a chevron, but no one knows what this is, he mumbled, as if people doodled watersheds every day.)

Gingrich put the CBO on one side; on the other he scribbled down accurate private scoring alongside other elements of his Trumpian idea. The idea is to hire private-sector firms to forecast public costs.

If youre still using CBO, youve not crossed the watershed, Gingrich told me. This is the centerpiece of Trumpism, and this is a very big test for Trump. This is not a city today capable of being a Trumpian city.

Another point on Gingrichs watershed indicated an assault on the foreign policy establishment. Trump, he said, should quickly order the American Embassy moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem  something the last three presidents have refused to do, which to Gingrich demonstrates the outsize power of the diplomatic bureaucracy.

I guarantee you the State Department will fall on its sword, people will be committing hari-kari, he said. Until somebody says to the foreign service, This is over.

Whatever one thinks of these proposals, which taken together would essentially set official Washington aflame, Gingrich had, in under an hour, spun out a more specific agenda for Trumps first year than anything the president-elect has managed himself. He had created a checklist for bold, systemic reform, a series of skating rinks waiting to be taken over and rebuilt.

What I wondered, listening to him hold forth, was how much of this agenda reflected Trumps own conception of his nascent presidency, and how much was Gingrich just being wishful.

When I asked him whether he had discussed all this at length with Trump, Gingrich told me, It is the inevitable consequence of where we are. Its like saying to me, do I really have to advise him to refuel the car? And the answer is no. These are smart people.

All of which gets at the essential mystery of Trump right now. Is he, as Newt would have you believe, a more strategic, more methodical thinker than he seemed at rallies or on the debate stage? Hes really radically smarter than most of his critics think, and much more self-aware, Gingrich assured me.

Or is Trump more like one of those toy cars you might have had as a kid  the kind that would keep going until it hit the wall of the playroom, then back up and head off in some other random direction?

Did Trump, as his advisers say now, take a call from Taiwans president last week because he had made a calculated decision to send China a message? Or did he pick up the phone because hes impetuous and uninformed, and hes only trying to look deliberate after the fact?

I really couldnt tell you. And as I tilted my head to study his watershed, it occurred to me that Gingrich might not really know the answer, either.

*****

Washington orients itself by historical analogies, and no shortage of them have been thrown around where Trump is concerned. A lot of hopeful Republicans will tell you hes much like Ronald Reagan, whose adversaries too quickly dismissed him, similarly, as intellectually wanting.

The thinking here is that Trump may not be an especially learned guy when it comes to politics and history, but he knows what he doesnt know, and he can surround himself with people like Gingrich, who know all about governing. What Trump can do, as both a self-reliant billionaire and a skilled entertainer, is to hold the line and galvanize public opinion.

In this light, Trumps controversial chat with the Taiwanese president might be reminiscent of Reagans rattling of the Soviets. Perhaps he wants to be seen abroad as more impulsive and explosive than he really is.

It seems to me a specious comparison, though, not least because Reagan had governed the largest state in the nation (twice) and led a long ideological struggle within his own party before he was elected in 1980. He was nothing like the political novice that Trump is; the tendency to underestimate him probably came from his Western persona and distant career as a movie star, which seem irrelevant by modern standards.

For his part, Gingrich likes to say that Trump is an amalgam of three American prototypes: one-third Andrew Jackson, one-third Franklin Roosevelt and one-third P.T. Barnum.

When I offered that Trumps campaign seemed more like 60 percent Barnum to me, Gingrich nodded. Thats because it was a campaign, he said wryly.

Its not accidental that Gingrich compares himself to Harry Hopkins. Clearly he hopes the most relevant of the three influences now is Roosevelt  another wealthy New Yorker who made common cause with the working class at a time of economic peril.

Roosevelt not only redefined government in his time but realigned it, too, such that Republicans were effectively decimated as a governing party. Gingrich came to power in the 1990s hell-bent on trying to flip that reality, and he has never given up.

My planning horizon is January of 2025, he told me. Do we govern so effectively at every level that the next president is naturally a Republican, because were being rewarded for being the party that solved things.

That may or may not be the Trumpian vision of where we are, but its Gingrichian to the core.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Thursday that it raised concerns about China's new cyber security law during a meeting with a Chinese official after the latest round of talks between the two countries on cyber crime.

U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice met with Chinese State Councilor Guo Shengkun to discuss the importance "of fully adhering" to an anti-hacking accord signed last year between the China and the United States, National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said.

The deal, brokered during Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Washington in 2015, included a pledge that neither country would knowingly carry out hacking for commercial advantages.

Rice told Guo that the United States was concerned "about the potential impacts" of a law that China adopted in November aimed at combating hacking and terrorism.

Critics of the law say it threatens to shut foreign technology companies out of various sectors deemed "critical," and includes contentious requirements for security reviews and for data to be stored on servers in China.

Rights advocates also say the law will enhance restrictions on China's Internet, already subject to the world's most sophisticated online censorship mechanism, known outside China as the Great Firewall.

Rice met with Guo after the third round of high level talks on cyber security between China and the United States was held on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Alistair Bell)
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has now raised $7.2 million to fund vote recounts in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Thats more than twice the total Stein raised through the entire 2016 campaign, all to pursue a project that has effectively zero chance of changing the result of the presidential election.

Her own running mate is against it. Hillary Clintons campaign was against it. Democratic operatives say its a waste of time and money, or worse. Donald Trump calls it a scam.

Steins effort does raise a few red flags. She jacked up her fundraising goals (from $2.5 million to the current $9 million) as cash poured in, changed her estimates of attorneys fees and has furnished no concrete evidence of voting shenanigans. Shes raising money for recounts that may not happen, in a race where she played spoiler, and shes been vague about what will happen to any money left over from the fundraising drive.

Yet campaign finance lawyers say theres no indication that Trumps charge is true. Stein may be draining grassroots resources, but she has so far spent the money the way she promised. The real danger for Democrats is that her doomed project is a sign of a problem that has longed plagued Republicans.

Throughout the Obama Administration, the GOP has struggled with the scourge of the scam PAC. These groups raise money by pledging to accomplish a certain goaldraft a candidate to run for office, or drive a policy goalthen use the cash to enrich themselves. The Federal Election Commission recently recommended that Congress crack down on fraudulent outfits, defining them as groups which solicit contributions with promises of supporting candidates, but then disclose minimal or no candidate support activities while engaging in significant and continuous fundraising, which predominantly funds personal compensation for the committees organizers.

Story continues

Movement conservatives have long bemoaned the proliferation of scam PACs in their ranks. One reason for the phenomenon is the simplicity of the formula: pinpoint a source of grassroots outrage or excitement, rent a mailing list, pump out solicitations and reinvest the cash on ever-more fundraising appealsall while pocketing a share of the proceeds. There are different theories why conservatives have been ripe for plunder: an aging, web-baffled base; a media bubble; the lack of a consensus leader; the ideological gulf between the partys grassroots and its elected officials. But the primary reason is the party has been out of the White House and unable to achieve many of its signature promises. Scam PACs thrive on outrage.

But now the script is flipped. The Democratic base is furious about the results of the election, rippling with anger toward Trump and facing a leadership vacuum. Some nefarious entrepreneurs will try to wring profit from this sense of powerlessness. I am sure well see more groups popping up, more unscrupulous political operatives tapping into public dissatisfaction with Trump and public anger over his election, says Brendan Fischer of the Campaign Legal Center.

Paul Jossey, a Virginia campaign-finance lawyer, has an idea about how theyll do it. If I wanted to make a million dollars tomorrow, he says, all Id have to do is start a PAC, name it something like the PAC Against Citizens United, buy some email lists, and in a month Id have a million dollars or maybe more. Jossey speaks from authority: he worked for a firm whose mission was to separate gullible Tea Partyers from their money, and he opened the playbook earlier this year in a piece for Politico. The structural conditions that give rise to scam PACs havent been present on the left, Jossey says, because the average small-dollar liberal donor has been reasonably happy with President Obama and ideologically in sync with congressional leaders like Nancy Pelosi.

But Democrats havent been entirely immune to the phenomenon. One political fundraiser who created a host of pro-Bernie Sanders websites was later charged with fraud. Jossey singles out another group called Progressives United PAC, founded by former Wisconsin Senator candidate Russ Feingoldthe longtime campaign-finance reform advocateas an example of a PAC that raised millions, spent little of it on the partys political candidates, and funneled most of it toward staff salaries and more fundraising appeals. (The group has repeatedly defended its work and dismissed the charge, which surfaced during Feingolds failed campaign to win back his Senate seat last month.) But while there have been a few [scam PACs] here and there, says Fischer, it doesnt seem to have been as endemic a problem on the left.

Its easy to imagine that changing. Obama is on his way out. Fury toward Trump is unlikely to abate. And the Democrats top negotiator on Capitol Hill will be incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a moderate deal-maker whose Wall Street ties are anathema to the ascendant liberal wing of the base.

In the age of Trump, the looming danger for Democrats may not be outright grift but rather that an avalanche of futile solicitations will siphon cash from worthier causes. Political fundraising is more or less a zero-sum game. Every buck a small donor sends toward Steins recount is a dollar that probably doesnt go toward organizing at the local level or rebuilding shattered state parties.

And some of the biggest grassroots outfits on the progressive left specialize in peddling false hope. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which declined an interview request for this story, is currently asking its nearly 1 million members for $3 apiece to support efforts to reform the Electoral College and organize protests designed to convince electors to vote for Clinton instead.

Even when such groups arent asking for money, they may be preparing to profit off subscribers activism. MoveOn.org has garnered more than 400,000 signatures on a petition asking Congress to block Trump aide Steve Bannons appointment as a senior White House adviser. It makes no mention of the fact that the position, unlike Cabinet nominations, is not subject to Senate consent. The point of the exercise is to gather email addresses, which will be added to the list for future fundraising solicitations or sold or rented to like-minded groups.

But by the time the petitioner realizes this, there will be a new indignity to confront, and a new solicitation waiting in their inbox.
Lethal Weapon executive producer Matt Miller said that they are very lucky to have Clayne Crawford play the role of Martin Riggs on the FOX buddy cop series.

In a recent interview with Screener, Miller said that the role of Riggs  famously played by Mel Gibson in the original film franchise  was extremely difficult to cast, so they were very grateful when Crawford agreed to portray the character.

It was incredibly hard to cast this role because Mel Gibson played it so iconically, Miller told the website. We looked in Los Angeles, New York, Canada, England, Australia  We looked everywhere and most people came in  doing  whether it was conscious or not  a poor mans Mel Gibson. They were doing a Mel Gibson imitation, even if they didnt want to.

Then Clayne came in, the exec producer continued. Hes from Alabama so hes got this light southern twang Hes just got this different presence and a different way of approaching things.

Miller and his fellow producers, however, needed the help of Fox Television Group chairman and CEO Dana Walden to encourage Crawford reconsider the role after he initially declined to do the part. I was not in a place to read anything new, Crawford told The Hollywood Reporter in September of why he initially passed on the TV series. I wasnt interested in a remake.

But after the executive producers assured him that theyre not doing a remake of the film franchise, Crawford ultimately said yes.

Its hard to find someone who has that kind of comedy, drama and sort of depth to their performance. We got very lucky with casting there, Miller told Screener of casting Crawford in the role of Riggs.

Hes a special find, McG told The Hollywood Reporter of Crawford. A very earnest actor.

In an interview with Parade in September, Crawfords co-star Jordana Brewster commended the shows casting team for picking Crawford play the role of Riggs. I love that they cast someone as good as Clayne because hes so talented, said Brewster, who portrays who plays Dr. Maureen Cahill on the show. Everything he does is so grounded.

Story continues

What do you think of Crawfords performance as Riggs so far? Sound off in the comments below!

Lethal Weapon Season 1, episode 10, titled Homebodies, airs on Wednesday, Jan. 4 at 8 p.m. EST on FOX.

Clayne Crawford as Martin Riggs

Photo: Adam Taylor/FOX

Related Articles
Losing between 25 and 40 million dollars in a legal settlement would be a crippling blow for virtually any company -- but for satellite radio giant SiriusXM, which cut such a deal in November after a long battle with pop group The Turtles over pre-1972 royalty payments, it could turn out to be a triumph.

For the past eight years SiriusXM has not been paying royalties on the music it plays that was recorded before 1972, the year that the U.S. copyright for master recordings became part of federal law. The Turtles contested the provision with a class-action lawsuit filed against SiriusXM in 2013. (In 2014 The Turtles also sued Pandora, which hasn't paid royalties for pre-1972 recordings since 2011.)

The suit assert that, while such songs are not covered by federal law, they are protected by state laws and are entitled to royalty payments. (So far, the Turtles' suits against Sirius have prevailed in California and New York, although they lost in Florida; all three decisions are under appeal.)

On Nov. 28 Sirius and The Turtles reached an agreement around that $25 million to $40 million payout, which would go to both The Turtles and independent labels that own music made before 1972. While the settlement doesn't put a stop to any legal proceedings, it does act as a form of insurance for The Turtles and labels participating in the class action, guaranteeing that they will receive a pro-rata share of royalties from the $25-40 million pool. The settlement simultaneously protects SiriusXM by placing an upper limit on its financial obligation. (If the Turtles prevail in all three appeals, the pool grows by $5 million each time, but caps the settlement at $40 million.)

SiriusXM issued a statement at the time of its agreement with The Turtles and class participants, noting that "the agreement does not resolve the fundamental legal question in these lawsuits -- whether the law grants owners of pre-1972 recordings a right to control performances of those recordings -- with each side retaining the right to pursue appeals on that issue." (Moreover, the settlement still needs to be approved by the courts.)

Story continues

The Turtles' legal team, of Gradstein & Marzano, are currently vetting administrators to oversee the payout. The class action is inclusive for all indie labels and has been set up as an opt-out system. Once the claim process begins, master recording copyright owners will be able to look though a list of songs issued before 1972 -- songs that have been played a combined total of 11.8 million times. After labels stake a claim on the records they own the rights to, they will receive a pro-rata share of the funds based on their number of plays, expected to range from $15 to $25 per.

Sirius reached a similar settlement with the major labels and ABKCO in 2015, agreeing to pay out $210 million for their recordings made before 1972.

So... where is the win for SiriusXM, which is potentially out $40 million? As part of the agreement, SiriusXM also gets a 10-year license to play the pre-1972 recordings at issue in the three suits, and has agreed to pay royalties out of a pool of revenue comprising 5.5 percent of its gross revenue. That rate has some major label executives concerned, since it is only half of the rate -- 11 percent of revenue -- that SiriusXM is scheduled to pay in 2017.

While SiriusXM has the highest per-play payout in the U.S. industry, its overall revenue payout is one of the lowest. Many interactive services pay as much as 70 percent of revenue for publishing and recorded master royalties; Pandora's non-interactive service pays about 45 percent. SiriusXM's main competitor, terrestrial radio, pays nothing for playing master recordings, and pays about 2.5 percent to 4 percent of revenue to songwriters.

Some major label executives fear Sirius will attempt to position the Turtles' settlement rate of 5.5 percent rate as a benchmark that the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) could use when setting statutory rates in the future. In fact, the CRB relied heavily on two such direct deals when setting rates for digital radio last year.

If Sirius can get the judges which determine statutory royalty rates to agree that 5.5 percent represents a benchmark -- and thus doesn't give SoundExchange their 23 percent rate -- then the $25-40 million it's looking down the barrel at paying now could end up saving it $570 million a year over the next five years (the period currently being considered in the CRB's rate setting process).

SiriusXM generated revenues of $4.6 billion in 2015. Extrapolated against that year's statutory rate, 10.5 percent of gross revenue, the company should have paid out roughly $480 million to labels and artists that year (if it hadn't deducted royalties for the pre-1972 recordings). At the 23 percent level, that would mean a $1.05 billion payout to labels.

Henry Gradstein, partner at Gradstein & Marzano, dismisses the notion of the settlement rate being cited as a benchmark in future talks. He says it's not clear that every state has a law protecting the pre-1972 recordings and that The Turtles settlement is based on having a victory in only three states, which only represent about 13 percent of Sirius subscriber base. (That's why the going-forward royalty fee cited in the settlement will decrease by 2 percent if The Turtles lose in New York and 1.5 percent if they lose in Florida, which would leave the 10-year licensing deal with only a 2 percent of revenue royalty pool.)

Making matters worse, from the perspective of those worried about a precedent-setting benchmark, a 5.5 percent rate is not the only deal that SiriusXM might put forth as representing a benchmark deal. According to the court documents, 5.5 percent is the highest rate of all the direct deals SiriusXM has cut with indie labels.
Donald Trump

Steel union boss Chuck Jones just accused President-elect Donald Trump of lying "his a-- off," saying Trump's announcement that he had saved over 1,000 jobs from leaving the U.S. was nonsense.

The number is more like 800, Jones told the Washington Post. Trump angrily responded to Jones on Twitter, attacking his union work, but did not deny that he had exaggerated the number.

This is just one more on a long list of fibs Trump has told over the past few years.

Donald Trump has said that Barack Obama founded ISIS.



He said that Texas Senator Ted Cruz's father was involved in the plot to assassinate JFK. He claimed he saw thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrate on 9/11. He said that he won the popular vote.



There isn't a shred of evidence to support any of this.



We also know that some of those claims might've come from fake news stories that spread conspiracy theories across the internet.

None of this would matter if lying weren't a game of two. For a lie to work, the liar must also be believed.

For example, it wouldn't matter that there's a conspiracy theory that says Hillary and Bill Clinton run a child sex ring out of a D.C. pizza shop if people didn't believe it. But some people do.

One of those people was a North Carolina man with a semi-automatic rifle willing to drive to Washington and "self-investigate" the situation himself. He managed to fire one or two shots before being arrested.

It sounds like madness because it is, so why do some people keep participating? Why do people believe lies? Research tells us it's actually quite simple: It's because humans are desperate to be in control.

Born believers

Science writer and historian Michael Shermer believes that human beings are conditioned to believe, rather than disbelieve, things. He explained it all in a 2010 Ted Talk called "The pattern behind self deception."

During the talk he asked attendees to do a thought experiment, and pretend they were an early human named Lucy, walking the plains of Africa millions of years ago. Just go with it:

Story continues

...you hear a rustle in the grass. Is it a dangerous predator, or is it just the wind? Your next decision could be the most important one of your life. Well, if you think that the rustle in the grass is a dangerous predator and it turns out it's just the wind, you've made an error in cognition, made a Type 1 error, false positive. But no harm. You just move away. You're more cautious. You're more vigilant.

On the other hand, if you believe that the rustle in the grass is just the wind, and it turns out it's a dangerous predator, you're lunch. You've just won a Darwin award. You've been taken out of the gene pool.

A "Type 1" error makes you more cautious, but it really costs you nothing to believe that there maybe danger behind the rustling.

What Shermer later calls the "Type 2 error"  not believing in the danger, but actually having it exist  is deadly.

And so we believe. But more than that, in that belief we create patterns. That helps us structure our lives. It gives meaning to what could easily be random. It is from there that Shermer believes we develop things like superstition and conspiracy theories. They make sense of what is random.

Trump CNN chyron

I see dead patterns

If this were all humans had to rely on for cognition  our limited brains making sense of that which we can't understand  we would be in big trouble. Thankfully, however, we have verifiable facts. They ensure that what is random not only makes sense, but is also true.

And that's where we get into some even more fascinating research about why people believe overt lies  easy to disprove lies like the kinds Donald Trump tells.

According to Jennifer Whitson, an assistant professor at the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin and Adam Galinsky, a professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, people tend to believe lies when they feel vulnerable.

"The less control people have over their lives, the more likely they are to try and regain control through mental gymnastics," said Galinsky. "Feelings of control are so important to people that a lack of control is inherently threatening. While some misperceptions can be bad or lead one astray, they're extremely common and most likely satisfy a deep and enduring psychological need."

To test this, Galinsky and Whitson gathered a group of subjects and put them in situations where they had varying levels control. Then they showed their subjects "snowy" pictures. Some of the pictures were just dots, others actually showed an image.

Ninety-five percent of the time the subjects, no matter what situation they were in, saw images that were actually there. What's interesting though, is that 43% of the time people who were in situations where they had less control saw images that were not there. Their minds were naturally assigning structure, pattern and meaning where there was none.

In normal life people find false patterns in data all the time (think about the stock market). When they do, it's usually because they feel a given situation is out of their control. The man who went to "self-investigate" the pizza parlor was, in a sense, acting very rationally. He was acting on his innate human desire to take control.

Comet Ping Pong

Trump or fiction

Of course, the more false the pattern, the more vulnerable you have to be to believe it. And of course, the more gymnastics your brain has to do to accept it.

Enter Donald Trump, a man known for spreading falsehoods. He captured the imaginations of many people who felt vulnerable about the past, present and future. Business Insider's Harrison Jacobs aptly pointed out that he won in parts of the country ravaged by the opiate epidemic  the 'Oxy electorate.'

Talk about vulnerable. These are also places of higher unemployment, where manufacturing jobs have been on the decline for decades. These are places where a rational structure is needed to explain why things got so bad and why they don't seem to be getting better.

But again this is not "rationality" here as we think about it in an economic sense  as a cost-benefit analysis. If it were, individuals would seek the truth no matter what their state of distress, because it is only when a problem is truly understood that it can be solved.

Indeed, Whitson herself has said that "sstrategy is better based on reality, not tempting illusions."

Here's a relevant example. Trump has dumped on China over and over since he entered the national stage. He's said that we're losing jobs to Chinese manufacturing and that the Trans Pacific Partnership was "was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone."

In the world of facts, however, we know that thousands and thousands of manufacturing jobs have been lost to automation, not off-shoring to China. We also know that China is not involved with the TPP in any way. In fact, the country has been upset about TPP since talks for the agreement started.

The human desire to feel in control supersedes all of those facts, and in turn, pushes us to believe what may be irrational, but is simple, understandable, and gives us a sense of control.

Think about it: Say you believe all the lies Trump has told about trade, China and the global economy. It's a comforting notion, ultimately, because it means he also has the solutions. Voting for him, then, is a way to take control of that untruth.

Unfortunately, since it's a lie, the problem will remain. Lies never solve anything.

NOW WATCH: A fake news story led to a shooting at a pizzeria in Washington DC





More From Business Insider


Chuck Jones

Workers and unions are speaking out against Donald Trump, after the president-elect called out an Indiana union leader by name on Twitter.

On Wednesday, Trump accused Chuck Jones  the president of the United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1999 union which represents manufacturing workers at Carrier's Indiana plants  of doing a "terrible job representing workers."

"If United Steelworkers 1999 was any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana. Spend more time working-less time talking. Reduce dues," Trump wrote soon after, in a second tweet.

Prior to Trump's tweets, Jones had criticized the president-elect for misrepresenting the Carrier deal  something that served as a huge symbolic win in Trump's mission to keep manufacturing jobs in the US.

Last week, Trump celebrated keeping 1,100 jobs in Indiana. While technically the figure is correct, of the 1,100 jobs staying in the US, 300 are research and headquarter positions that were never going to move to Mexico. A total of 550 people from the Indianapolis factory and 700 from the nearby Huntington, Indiana plant are still losing their jobs, as Carrier outsources labor to Mexico.

Trump's tweets were swiftly condemned by workers, unions, and supporters.

"A lot of people just think it's crazy we have the president going on Twitter, going after private citizens," T.J. Bray, a Carrier worker who serves as a media representative for USW Local 1999, told Business Insider. "I really don't have any word for it. Hopefully he can be more presidential."

Supporters of Jones and the union took to social media to voice their support.

Chuck Jones was trying to save workers jobs while @realDonaldTrump was buying Chinese steel for his bldgs https://t.co/w9vtbikULP  Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) December 8, 2016

Proud to stand in Solidarity with Chuck Jones and @steelworkers Local 1999 #ImWithChuck  Jody Mauller (@jmauller) December 8, 2016

"Chuck Jones is a man of integrity who ALWAYS puts the interest of workers first," Indiana AFL-CIO, a coalition of local Indiana unions, wrote on Twitter. "To say otherwise is not only false, it's infuriating."

Story continues

Chuck is a hero not a scapegoat: you, others know about Carrier because of his, members' tireless work since day 1 to save ALL jobs there. https://t.co/C9fvwajHY7  United Steelworkers (@steelworkers) December 8, 2016

Dues have helped us file 45+ cases against bad trade; saving jobs in tire, paper, steel, etc. We walk the walk. #imwithchuck #wearewithchuck https://t.co/PlGznkwrTS  United Steelworkers (@steelworkers) December 8, 2016

We need more local union leaders like #chuckjones and more unions like #usw  Stephen Lech (@StephenLech) December 8, 2016

This retired union nurse is proud to stand with Chuck Jones who stands up for his fellow union members @steelworkers #ImWithChuck  Diane RN (@ORDiane) December 8, 2016

Following Trump's tweets, Jones said Wednesday night he has been receiving threatening phone calls. Bray told Business Insider that, as he has been similarly publicly critical of the deal, he has received "hateful," though not threatening, Facebook messages and phone calls.

However, according to Bray, USW Local 1999 is not going to back down following Trump's tweets, continuing to fight to keep all Carrier jobs at both the Indianapolis and Huntington, Illinois plants.

"If I could say to Mr. Trump, 'Come out to the hall, we can have a debate,'" said Bray. "We're not billionaires, but we're hard-working people and we look out for each other."

NOW WATCH: Trump fires back at union leader who alleged he 'lied his a-- off' about Carrier deal





More From Business Insider


Erik Van Looys anticipated action-packed thriller The Prime Minister has been sold by The Works International across a raft of territories.

Shot in English and Flemish-language feature film, the movie was picked up by Trade Media for France, DDDream for China, Aya Pro for Japan, Discovery for Former Yugoslavia and Viswas Films for India. The Works International is in negotiations with buyers from Turkey, Middle East and Italy, with deals soon to be announced.

The company previously inked deals with Square One for Germany, Flins Y Piniculas for Spain, Kinepolis Film Distribution (KFD) for Belgium and Dutch Film Works for Holland.

Since being theatrically released by Kinepolis Film Distribution across Belgium five weeks ago, The Prime Minister has grossed a healthy 2.6 million Euros at the local B.O.

The Brussels-set film follows the story of the Belgium Prime Minister who gets kidnapped while on his way to a summit meeting and is told he must kill the President of the United States in order to save his wife and children who are being held hostage.

Co-written (with Carl Joos) and directed by Van Looy (The Alzheimer Case), The Prime Minister stars Koen de Bouw (Loft), Dirk Roofthooft (The Memory of a Killer), Saskia Reeves (Our Kind of Traitor) and Adam Godley (The BFG).

The movie was produced by FBOs Hilde De Laere (Loft) and co-produced with Woestijnvis and Mill Street Films with the support of the Flanders Audiovisual Fund and Screen Flanders, Screen.

Theres been a tremendous amount of buzz about this picture and buyers have been quick to recognise its broad commercial appeal, said Clare Crean, head of international sales.

Van Looy has made a name for himself in the thriller genre and this slick and stylish thriller with humorous touches and a melodramatic edge certainly delivers. We are enormously pleased with its performance in Belgium and we hope audiences will continue to devour it around the world, added Crean.

Story continues

Related stories

Jon Stewart's 'Rosewater' Sold in U.K., Australia

Magnolia Challenges Int'l Distribution Biz Model

'The Last Vampire' Movie In The Works (EXCLUSIVE)
The United States was late to abolish slavery compared with many other nations, and in no other nation did its abolition involve the level of violence seen during the American Civil War, in which approximately 750,000 people were killed. From the stormy years from 1865 through 1877 following the years of Reconstruction, to the civil rights movement in the 1960s, to the emergence in 2014 of the Black Lives Matter movement, racial tension largely remain in the United States.

To highlight these tensions, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 10 worst states for black Americans, namely, the states where social and economic inequality remains at its worst.

ALSO READ: 40 Countries the US Government Doesn't Want You to Visit

In the 10 worst states for black Americans, the typical black household earns less than two-thirds the income of a typical white household without exception. In a few states, black households earn half of what white households do. Because only a fraction of net worth can be captured by annual income, this disparity captures only a portion of the true wealth inequality in these states. According to estimates from the Economic Policy Institute, the median wealth of black families was less than $5,000 in 2010. For white families, by contrast, the typical wealth was nearly $100,000.

Income disparities are quite pronounced nationwide -- the typical black household earns $36,544 a year, about $25,000 less than the typical white household. The household income gap, while severe, does not fully explain the 20-to-1 wealth gap between white and black families. Ownership of property, the single greatest source of familial wealth in America, is one significant factor. Just 40% of Black Americans own the residences in which they live compared to 71% of white Americans.

The United States is far and away the international leader in incarceration. There are 2.2 million people in U.S. prisons and jails, up 500% from 40 years ago. According to criminal justice reform advocate The Sentencing Project, changes in law and policy -- not changes in crime rates -- account for much of the increase. Nationwide, 275 of every 100,000 white Americans are in prison compared to 1,408 of every 100,000 black residents.

Story continues

Researchers at the Sentencing Project wrote, The results are overcrowding in prisons and fiscal burdens on states, despite increasing evidence that large-scale incarceration is not an effective means of achieving public safety.

The consequences of high incarceration rates on African Americans are widespread and compounding. People who have been in prison are less likely to be able to find a job or acquire an education, and those who are convicted on felony charges in many states lose the right to vote. Nationwide, 1 in every 20 black residents is disenfranchised, largely because of imprisonment. In Wyoming, 1 in every 5 black residents is disenfranchised.

It is worth noting that even in states in which social and economic inequalities are less severe, there is still a meaningful gap in outcomes between white and black populations. In Maryland, the state in which the smallest white-black poverty gap exists, black residents are still more than twice as likely to be poor. Even in the state where the racial incarceration rates are the most similar, Hawaii, black residents are still more than twice as likely to be imprisoned.

These are the worst states for black Americans.

10. Alabama

> Pct. residents black: 26.8% (6th highest)

> Black homeownership rate: 49.7% (5th highest)

> Black incarceration rate: 1,417 per 100,000 (25th lowest)

> Black unemployment rate: 10.6% (12th highest)

More than one-quarter of Alabama residents are black, the sixth largest share of all states and more than double the national proportion. Many states with higher proportions of black residents are Southern states, but do not necessarily have larger racial disparities than others.

Social and economic disparities between racial groups lead to unequal health outcomes. For example, the mortality rate for black babies nationwide is twice as high as that for white babies. In Alabama, the disparity is even greater. While the white infant mortality rate in the state of six deaths for every 1,000 live births is among the highest in the nation, it is less than half the black infant mortality rate. At 14.5 deaths per 1,000 live births, Alabama's black infant mortality rate is the highest of all states.

ALSO READ: America's Fastest Growing Beer Brands

9. Kansas

> Pct. residents black: 5.9% (22nd lowest)

> Black homeownership rate: 34.9% (23rd lowest)

> Black incarceration rate: 1,734 per 100,000 (14th highest)

> Black unemployment rate: 6.6% (17th lowest)

Kansas has one of the lower black unemployment rates in the nation at 6.6%. However, unemployment is still higher among the states black labor force than among white Kansas workers. At 4.1%, the state's white unemployment rate is not even especially low compared with white jobless rates in other states.

The likelihood of imprisonment is grossly higher for black Americans than for white U.S. residents, and this is especially the case in Kansas. While the states white incarceration rate of 246 prisoners per 100,000 white state residents is lower than the national white incarceration rate, the likelihood of going to prison as a black person in Kansas is higher than it is nationwide. For every 100,000 black Kansas residents, more than 1,700 are in prison, higher than the nationwide black incarceration rate of 1,408 per 100,000 black Americans.

8. Virginia

> Pct. residents black: 19.2% (9th highest)

> Black homeownership rate: 45.5% (7th highest)

> Black incarceration rate: 1,386 per 100,000 (22nd lowest)

> Black unemployment rate: 7.9% (21st lowest)

Certain policies and implicit racial bias can contribute to racial inequity in a community or across a state. Socioeconomic inequities are perhaps the best illustration of how racial disparities can grow. Fewer than 20% of black Virginia residents live in poverty, one of the lower black poverty rates compared with other states but still more than double the states white poverty rate of 8.7%. The education level is a major determinant of a populations financial prosperity. More than 40% of white Virginia adults have at least a college degree versus 22.8% of black Virginia adults. While black Virginians are more likely than African Americans across the nation to have a college degree, the difference compared to the white educational attainment in Virginia is one of the largest of all states.

7. Pennsylvania

> Pct. residents black: 11.0% (20th highest)

> Black homeownership rate: 42.9% (13th highest)

> Black incarceration rate: 1,810 per 100,000 (11th highest)

> Black unemployment rate: 10.5% (15th highest)

Like most of the worst states for black Americans, more than 10% of black Pennsylvania workers are unemployed -- double the white unemployment rate. Because individuals with higher levels of education tend to have access to more job opportunities, higher education mostly leads to higher income. However, as is the case virtually without exception throughout the United States, black Pennsylvanians tend to have attained less education than white state residents.

Pennsylvanias former Gov. Tom Corbett cut education budgets. These cuts disproportionately affected black students, who disproportionately make up student populations in poorer school districts that depend on state funding. Further, according to research published last year, districts at any given poverty level with higher proportions of white students received greater funding than districts with more minority students.

ALSO READ: Beers Americans No Longer Drink

6. Connecticut

> Pct. residents black: 10.6% (21st highest)

> Black homeownership rate: 39.5% (19th highest)

> Black incarceration rate: 1,392 per 100,000 (23rd lowest)

> Black unemployment rate: 13.2% (3rd highest)

Connecticut has one of the nations most financially well-off populations. However, the prosperity is largely enjoyed by the states white residents. While the white poverty rate of 6.1% is the lowest in the country, for example, more than 20% of black Connecticut residents live in poverty. Similarly, the difference of almost $37,000 between the median annual incomes for black and white households, at $44,418 and $81,324 respectively, is the largest of all states.

Segregation underpins many of these inequities and is a major problem in most U.S. areas. Racial segregation is especially pronounced in Connecticut. Not only are highly affluent, predominantly white neighborhoods more common in Connecticut than across the nation, but unlike many other areas, these communities often border extremely poor, predominantly nonwhite neighborhoods.

5. Michigan

> Pct. residents black: 13.9% (15th highest)

> Black homeownership rate: 40.8% (16th highest)

> Black incarceration rate: 1,682 per 100,000 (15th highest)

> Black unemployment rate: 11.6% (6th highest)

Based on social and economic gaps between black and white residents, few states are worse for African Americans than Michigan. Gross segregation and inequalities in the Detroit metro area contribute to the states poor ranking. By using race to determine home loan eligibility, the FHA deliberately segregated the Detroit area over the course of the mid-20th century. To this day, a wall built in 1940 along 8 Mile Road to separate white and black neighborhoods serves as a reminder of the areas history of segregation. The wall no longer separates black and white residents, but the city remains one of the most segregated in the country.

Across Michigan, black residents are considerably more likely than white residents to live in poverty. Close to 33% of black people in the state live in poverty versus less than 12% of whites.

4. Ohio

> Pct. residents black: 12.3% (17th highest)

> Black homeownership rate: 34.9% (22nd lowest)

> Black incarceration rate: 1,625 per 100,000 (19th highest)

> Black unemployment rate: 10.9% (10th highest)

The share of white adults in Ohio with at least a bachelors degree is 27.7%, one of the lowest compared with white adult populations in other states. Still, white Ohioans are considerably more likely to have gone to college than black residents as just 16.4% of black adults in Ohio have at least a bachelors degree, one of the lowest such rates nationwide. Perhaps due in part to the low educational attainment, black state households tend to earn very low incomes compared to both white Ohio households and black households in other states. The states black median household income of less than $30,000 annually is lower than the nationwide black median household income of $36,544 and than the state's white median household income of $55,448 a year.

ALSO READ: School Districts Spending the Most Per Student

3. Illinois

> Pct. residents black: 14.3% (14th highest)

> Black homeownership rate: 38.0% (23rd highest)

> Black incarceration rate: 1,533 per 100,000 (23rd highest)

> Black unemployment rate: 12.2% (4th highest)

The white unemployment rate in Illinois of 5.0% is 12th highest compared with white jobless rates in other states. While relatively high, white unemployment is still a fraction of the rate for black workers in Illinois, which at 12.2% is among the highest in the country. Socioeconomic disparities such as this employment gap contribute to unequal incarceration rates. Black Illinois residents are more than eight times more likely to be imprisoned than white state residents. While the white incarceration rate of 174 per 100,000 white people is one of the lowest in the country, the black incarceration rate of 1,533 per 100,000 black residents is higher than the corresponding national rate.

According to a recent policy brief from the Fiscal Policy Center at Voices for Illinois Children, the state also has a juvenile justice problem. According to the Center, youth incarceration not only disproportionately affects black children, but also it is the most expensive and least effective response to juvenile delinquency. Unfortunately, political gridlock and one of the nations worst government debt problems have resulted in fewer community programs in Illinois.

2. Minnesota

> Pct. residents black: 5.8% (21st lowest)

> Black homeownership rate: 21.7% (5th lowest)

> Black incarceration rate: 1,219 per 100,000 (16th lowest)

> Black unemployment rate: 14.1% (the highest)

White Minnesota residents are more than three times as likely to own their homes as black state residents. More than 75% of white-occupied housing units are owned by their occupants, one of the highest homeownership rates in the nation even when compared to white Americans only. By contrast, the black homeownership rate of just 21.7% in Minnesota is almost half the national black homeownership rate of more than 40%.

Such economic disparities are tied to a host of factors, including other social and economic inequities. Of particular note is the racial poverty gap. Nearly a third of black residents live in poverty versus less than 10% of white residents. According to some community leaders in Minnesota, the states criminal justice system has burdened minority residents, particularly black men. According to the Minnesota Department of Corrections, black Minnesotans make up 36% of the states prison population despite making up just 5.8% of the total population.

1. Wisconsin

> Pct. residents black: 6.3% (24th lowest)

> Black homeownership rate: 26.2% (8th lowest)

> Black incarceration rate: 2,542 per 100,000 (2nd highest)

> Black unemployment rate: 11.1% (8th highest)

Based on measures of racial inequity, no state is worse for black residents than Wisconsin. For example, the state is one of only two where the typical black household earns less than half the median income of white households. According to such measures of prosperity as homeownership, the racial wealth gap in Wisconsin is likely considerably wider. While the white homeownership rate of 71.6% is in line with the national rate, just 26.2% of housing units with black heads of household are owned by their occupants, much lower than the national black homeownership rate of 40.9%.

ALSO READ: America's Richest Cities

The likelihood of imprisonment is grossly higher for black Americans than for white U.S. residents, and this is especially the case in Wisconsin. While the states white incarceration rate of 221 prisoners per 100,000 white state residents is lower than the national white incarceration rate, the likelihood of going to prison as a black person in Wisconsin is considerably higher than it is nationwide. For every 100,000 black Wisconsin residents, 2,542 are in prison, the second highest black incarceration rate of all states, more than double the national black incarceration rate of 1,113 per 100,000 black Americans, and 10 times the white incarceration rate.

Methodology

To determine the 10 worst states for black Americans, 24/7 Wall St. created an index of 10 measures to assess racial gaps in access to resources and opportunities in each state. Creating the index in this way highlights disparities between racial groups rather than what may be particularly poor socioeconomic climates for both whites and blacks. For each measure we constructed an index from the gaps between black and white Americans. The index was standardized using min-max normalization. We only considered states where black residents comprise at least 5% of the population, which excluded 19 states from the ranking.

To construct the index, we used 2015 data from the U.S. Census Bureaus American Community Survey (ACS) on median household income, poverty, high school and bachelors educational attainment rates, and homeownership rates  each broken out by race. Unemployment rates for 2015 come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Incarceration rates and estimates of felony disenfranchisement are from the Sentencing Project, and are for 2014 and 2016, respectively. Age-adjusted estimates of infant mortality are from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and are pooled over the period 2012-2014. Also from the CDC we considered infant mortality rates for 2014.

Related Articles
Writers Guild of America West president Howard A. Rodman on Thursday went on the offensive against President-elect Donald Trump, criticizing him for attacking a United Steelworkers official who called Trump's promise to save jobs at a Carrier factory in Indiana a promise "half-way delivered."

"In retaliation the President-elect of the United States, Tweeting from his gilded apartment atop the tower that bears his name, lashed out yesterday at the union," said Rodman. "He said its dues were too high. He blamed the workers themselves for the loss of jobs. And he attacked [United Steelworkers Local 1999 president Chuck Jones] by name. As a consequence, Jones and his family are now on the receiving end of a torrent of hate. He was told, 'I better watch out for myself, and they know what kind of car I drive, that I better watch out for my kids.'"

"Whether we work in Culver City or Indianapolis, in writers rooms or on factory floors, we all of us have the right to fight for a better deal," Rodman continued. "We stand in solidarity with the members of Local 1999 and with their chosen leadership. And we will not stand in silence as a President-elect, soon a President, uses his vast powers to intimidate the working men and women of our republic."

Trump's ire had been aroused when Jones pointed out that, even as Carrier would receive $7 million in tax breaks, 550 of Jones's members would lose their jobs anyway.
Hong Kong (AFP) - Seventy-five years ago, a handful of idealistic "Free French" took up arms to defend the British colony of Hong Kong in a futile battle against Japanese invaders.

But their sacrifice, though largely unknown in their homeland, is not forgotten in Asia.

There are six names on the worn stele that pays tribute to them in a corner of the British military cemetery in Stanley, on a hill in the south of Hong Kong island.

"I do not see why these people should be forgotten," says Francois Dremeaux, chairman of the Hong Kong committee of French Remembrances of China.

"My job is to make their memory live by giving it meaning," adds the history teacher, who helped oversee a ceremony dedicated to them last week.

Dremeaux, who has written a thesis on the French presence in Hong Kong in the interwar period, feels there is much to learn from these men, who in 1941 chose to fight in a battle some 10,000 kilometres (6,000 miles) from their homeland.

Hong Kong was a British enclave, and there was nothing forcing them to defend it, he adds.

"We cannot even say they were defending their colony," Dremeaux said.

"They defended an idea, freedom, and did it of their own free will, which makes their sacrifice even more noble."

Apart from representatives from the French consulate and army, those attending the modest commemoration were largely students from the French international school where Dremeaux teaches.

The group sang 'Le Chant Des Partisans', the anthem of the French Resistance -- a tune rarely heard on the shores of the South China Sea.

- Dissident consul -

By June 1940, many in the French community -- which numbered around 400 in the late 1930s, had already fled to Indochina. Those who remained largely rallied to the Gaullist Resistance cause.

While the French embassy in Beijing was loyal to the pro-Nazi Vichy regime, in diplomatic correspondence Hong Kong consul general Louis Reynaud railed against the "treason" of the armistice Germany demanded and stamped his official telegrams with "V" for victory.

Story continues

A "Free France" committee was set up in Hong Kong with about 20 active members to recruit volunteers, turn merchant sailors on stopover in port or prepare propaganda broadcasts.

Then on December 8, 1941, hours after their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese invaded Hong Kong, which had been living under the threat of the imperial forces since they seized the nearby Chinese city of Canton -- modern day Guangzhou -- three years earlier.

Some of the Frenchmen joined the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps established by Britain to support regular forces vastly outnumbered by the Japanese.

- Bayonet wounds -

Dremeaux picks up the trail of the Free French at several key moments in the 17-day "Battle of Hong Kong", including the fight for the island's sole power plant.

While only six names are on the stele, Dremeaux believes around ten took a stand against the Japanese.

Among them was Armand Delcourt, a 42-year-old merchant who came to Hong Kong in 1926 and married a Eurasian woman of Japanese and Scottish origins, Captain Roderic Egal, who was in transit from Shanghai when the invasion began, Henri Belle, a sailor passing through Hong Kong who took up arms, and Paul de Roux a director of the Banque d'Indochine.

Egal and Belle were both captured and sent to prison camps, the latter dying in captivity. Roux did not fight but set up a resistance network. He was arrested and tortured, before committing suicide to prevent the enemy forcing him to talk.

Delcourt was wounded by two bayonet blows on December 21 while defending a strategic hill pass and executed two days later, shortly before the governor surrendered on Christmas Day.

On January 5, 1942, brutalised by the Japanese, his pregnant wife gave birth prematurely in a Hong Kong church to a girl who for decades would not know the circumstances of her father's death.

"I did not know the full circumstances of my father's death until much later when I was in Australia and received the letter from my father's close friend Carlos Arnulphy who had managed to trace me," Monique Westmore, who now lives in Melbourne, told AFP by email.

"I would have loved to have known my father but when I read the documents that are attached (to the letter) I understand that he was a man of great principle -- I do sometimes ask myself 'why did you go knowing that your wife was hugely pregnant and also you weren't exactly a young man?'," Westmore wrote.

"The battle of Hong Kong was a total disaster and many people lost their lives."

His military death notification praised him as "a continuous example of courage and enthusiasm" in an unequal battle who "cheerfully made the supreme sacrifice, confident in the final victory of France."

For Dremeaux, the path chosen by Armand Delcourt resonates strongly today, "a time of withdrawal" when countries are increasingly looking inward.

"He was married to a Japanese woman, lived abroad and gave his life for Free France," he said.

"To be patriotic is not a contradiction with being open to the world".
Dana Rohrabacher Yahoo

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher denied that Russia commits human rights abuses while at the same time denouncing China in a testy exchange with a Yahoo News anchor.

Rohrabacher, a California Republican who has been named as a possible candidate for secretary of state in President-elect Donald Trump's administration, accused Yahoo's Bianna Golodryga of bias for pointing out that Russia is accused of human right abuses just like China, calling the assertion "baloney."

Rohrabacher advocates for a closer US relationship with Russia, but also seems unconcerned about the US endangering its relationship with China.

"If its right for us to join in and cooperate and have a better relationship with Russia in order to defeat radical Islam and to pull China back a bit, well, that's a good thing, and that's what this is all about," Rohrabacher said. "Russia is no longer the Soviet Union. There's a bunch of people here who want to treat it like it's still the Soviet Union and get in the Cold War. That's not what Donald Trump wants, it's not good for America."

Rohrabacher had also referred to China as a "vicious dictatorship" and "the world's worst human-rights abuser."

When Golodryga pointed out that Russia has also been accused of human rights abuses, things got testy. Here's the back-and-forth:

Golodryga: When you talk about human rights abusers in China, much can be said about Russia as well in that regard.

Rohrabacher: Oh, baloney. Where do you come from? How can you say that?

Golodryga: I come form the former Soviet Union, that's where I came from. I came here as a political refugee. That's where I came from.

Rohrabacher: Oh, okay. What country did you say you came from?

Golodryga: I come from the former Soviet Union, from Moldova.

Rohrabacher: Oh, well then that's good, the audience knows that you are biased.

Golodryga: I'm biased, because I'm an American citizen who was born in a foreign country?

Story continues

Rohrabacher: Yeah, yeah, when you start saying that Russia, do you know that there have been no political reforms in China? None.

Golodryga: I'm not saying, I'm not advocating that China be our best friend. I'm talking to you about Russia right now.

Rohrabacher: You just said that Russia and China are the same. I'm sorry, they are not.

Golodryga: I said they are both human rights abusers. How am I wrong?

Rohrabacher: How are you wrong? In China they don't have opposition force?

Golodryga: And Russia isn't accused of murdering journalists?

Rohrabacher: Ah, okay, look. I'll let the public decide with that last comment where you are coming from.

Soon after that, Rohrabacher compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to Mikhail Gorbachev, a former communist leader of the Soviet Union.

Watch the full exchange below:





More From Business Insider


VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / December 8, 2016 / YDreams Global Interactive Technologies Inc. (YD.V) (FSE:APYYD) ("YDreams Global" or the "Company"), a creative and technical supplier for Fortune 500 brands such as Cisco, Qualcomm, Intel as well as the Government of Rio de Janeiro, is pleased to announce that it has been contracted to use its Virtual Reality ("VR") technology in the United States.

The first project sold in the United States will be released in the second week of December and will debut in New York City for a two week event.

"Our goal for 2017 is to accelerate our virtual reality growth strategy in North America, focusing on our fortune 500 relationships in place already. We are extremely pleased upon closing our first project in the United States and we feel this is a great sign that the US Market is primed for the rapid and scalable international expansion of YDreams Global." declared the CEO of the Company, Daniel Japiassu.

Recently (December 1,2016) we announced we plan to create a virtual reality platform to be used by the military and other government agencies such as police departments, fire departments and emergency medical services that could use VR as a training experience. By using this technology for training, for example, the military, police and fire services would be able to experience accurate real-life situations that would be impossible to replicate in physical world exercises.

About YDreams Global

YDreams Global Interactive Technologies Inc. (www.ydreamsglobal.com), is a technology company with offices in Vancouver, Sao Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro, is a post digital company that combines both Augmented and Virtual Reality Technology, Design, and Intelligence to respond to the challenges and demands of today's users and consumers.

YDreams Global works as a partner for companies and brands to reframe their strategy through relevant human-centered ventures that integrates digital experience with the physical presence and venues. YDreams Global anticipates future challenges and connects them with the needs of the market, building innovative concepts and delivering them with international excellence.

Story continues

YDreams Global have developed over 1,000 projects for clients all over the world, such as Adidas, Cisco, Nokia, Nike, Mercedes Benz, Coca-Cola, Santander, AmBev, Qualcomm, Unilever, City of Rio and Fiat.

More Information:

James Nelson

Director, Canada

Tel: 604-646-6910

hey@ydreamsglobal.com | www.ydreamsglobal.com | www.youtube.com/ydreamsglobal

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: YDreams Global Interactive Technologies Inc.
Disney fans who like their merchandise with a designer edge will be pleased to learn that the brand has teamed up with luxury e-tailer Yoox on a new project.

The online store now features a special Disney boutique, housing designer collaborations across womenswear, menswear, childrenswear and home accessories.

Collaborators include French designer Olympia Le-Tan, accessories brand Codello, knitwear brand Markus Lupfer and Italian footwear company Superga. Menswear designer Bobby Abley, stationery brand Moleskine and kids clothing brand Little Eleven Paris have also designed pieces for the online concept store.

The collection is divided into the subcategories of Disney Classics', Pixar', Star Wars' and Mickey Mouse', and features everything from luxe sweatshirts and handbags to pillows, hats and notebooks bearing some of the best-loved characters from Disney's history. A Jungle Book-themed collection created with Kenzo is also in the pipeline.

Disney is well-versed in designer collaborations, having partnered with UK designer Christopher Raeburn on a capsule bag collection and Gap on a children's collection this year alone.

The Disney at Yoox collection is now available at yoox.com priced from $19 to $1,506.
aroldis chapman

The New York Yankees are bringing back Aroldis Chapman, signing the free agent closer to a 5-year, $86 million contract, according to Ken Rosenthal.

Chapman spent the first part of the 2016 season with the New York Yankees after being acquired in a trade from the Cincinnati Reds. However, when the Yankees fell out of the playoff race in July, he was traded to the Chicago Cubs for three prospects and a relief pitcher.

After winning the World Series, Chapman recently told ESPN that the Cubs never expressed any interest in re-signing their closer.

Chapman would only say that he was looking for a six-year contract. However, he strongly hinted that he wanted a deal worth at least $100 million.

"The only thing I have expressed that I would like is a six-year contract," Chapman told ESPN. "I know that doesn't mean that I will get it, but that's what I would like to sign. There are rumors out there that I requested $100 million, and that's not true at all. I believe that if you deserve something, you don't ask for it."

According to Rosenthal, Chapman can opt out of the deal after three years and he can reject any trade in the first three years.

NOW WATCH: New doping tests are stripping Olympians of their medals  here are the countries that dope the most





More From Business Insider


YouTube dismissed allegations of making changes to its algorithm after one of the most popular stars on the video-sharing platform announced he would delete his channel.

In a video uploaded last week, video gamer Felix Kjellberg, widely known as PewDiePie, said he would delete his channel and accused YouTube of making changes to its algorithm that affected the discoverability of a users content.

YouTube is trying to kill my channel, he said in his 10-minute video. Its clear if you watch my analytics. Its all going down there.

The 25-year-old Swede, who currently lives in the U.K., was ranked by Forbes as the highest earning YouTuber with a net worth of $12 million pretax in the past year. Kjellberg, who announced he would delete his channel once he gains 50 million subscribers, said changes to the suggested videos algorithm resulted in a drop in his video traffic from the suggested videos feed from 30 percent to 1 percent.

Kjellberg isnt alone. Other YouTubers have also reported a similar problem in which new videos are viewed fewer times than old ones. Some complained that ever since Google acquired the video-sharing site, users are finding it more difficult to keep track of latest videos.

Kjellberg also alleged that channels he had previously subscribed to were removed from his subscription list. He added that the homepage, which usually featured videos from YouTubers a user had subscribed to, was now replaced with recommended videos the user isnt interested in.

The 25-year-old added that YouTubes suggested video feed preferred pornography or clickbait videos.

YouTube told the BBC it had not made any changes to its suggested videos algorithm.

A spokeswoman for the company reportedly said: Some creators have expressed concerns around a drop in their subscriber numbers. Weve done an extensive review and found there have been no decreases in creators subscriber numbers beyond what normally happens when viewers either unsubscribe from a creators channel or when YouTube removes spammed subscribers.

Story continues

In last weeks video, Kjellberg accused YouTube of suppressing his content because he was white, preferring Indian-Canadian Lilly Singh, another popular YouTuber, as the face of the brand.

They want someone else on top, he said. Someone really extremely cancerous, like Lilly Singh. Im white. Can I make that comment? But I do think thats a problem.

Related Articles
By Charlotte Greenfield and Swati Pandey WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand Finance Minister Bill English is set to be confirmed as the country's next leader after both his competitors for the prime ministership dropped out of the race on Thursday. Health Minister Jonathan Coleman and Police Minister Judith Collins both conceded the race as it became clear that English had the support of the 59-member caucus. English said the swift agreement within the ruling center-right National Party on a new leader would help the government ensure a smooth transition following John Key's surprise resignation earlier this week. "It's going to allow us as a government to re-set, look forward and provide New Zealand with good government after John Key," English told reporters in New Zealand's distinctive "Beehive" parliament building in the capital, Wellington. English, who thirteen years ago oversaw a disastrous election loss for the National Party to the center-left Labour Party, takes the reins of a country in good economic shape compared to much of the developed world. But it hasn't been smooth sailing in recent years with a slump in global milk prices harming the country's major export commodity and low inflation causing a persistent monetary policy headache. English also presided on Thursday over a downgrade to the budget surplus estimate for 2016/17, largely due to an estimated NZ$1 billion in net costs related to a devastating earthquake that rocked the nation last month. The government's half-year economic and fiscal update showed it expects to post a NZ$473 million ($341.13 million) surplus in the year to June 2017, lower than its prior forecast of NZ$719 million. The hugely popular Key will also be a hard act to follow. "I won't do it the same way as John, I'm a different person," Key said. "It will lead to changes in how the national party will operate." Both Collins and Coleman threw their support behind English to provide a unified stance for the party ahead of next year's general election, where the Nationals are expected to lose some support without the extremely popular Key. "It is very important that the party comes together, gets on with the job of winning the next election," Coleman told reporters. English, who will be formally named the prime minister at a caucus meeting on Monday, has already lined up senior cabinet minister Steven Joyce, the minister for economic development, to replace him in the finance ministry. English was the clear favorite to replace Key in a Fairfax-Nielsen poll, with 37 percent of New Zealanders surveyed backing him. ($1 = 1.3866 New Zealand dollars) (Writing by Jane Wardell; Editing by Paul Tait and Kim Coghill)
Kelly Markland wearing a pair of bright leggings from LulaRoe. (Photo: Liz Grimes/Love and Limes Photo)

A curvy woman was shamed for wearing leggings but turned the insult to something positive, with many feeling so inspired by her that theyve taken to social media to share photos of themselves in colorful, bold leggings with the hashtag #LeggingsWin.

Kelley Markland recently took to wearing spandex because she got compliments on them and started feeling better in what she was wearing, according to Babble. As a plus-sized woman, your options are limited, Markland told the site. The 36-year-old said the more she wore her new leggings from LulaRoe, the more she wanted to keep wearing them because she felt pretty and good in them.

Before stumbling upon this newfound confidence brought on by a pair of leggings, Markland  a mom, teacher, and education student  wore mostly black, because she tried to hide. But the flashy leggings changed her wardrobe, throwing blues and pinks into the mix. Im happy I finally have the confidence to wear something that isnt solid black, she said.

Unfortunately that confidence was short-lived, as she recently came home to find hate mail urging her not to wear her favorite new pants. Using a printed image of Ron Burgundy from Anchorman, it read, Your pants say yoga but your butt says McDonalds. It came with another image of a plus-size woman, who is not Markland, bending over in leggings. There was also a hand-written note that said, Women who weigh 300 pounds should not wear yoga pants!!

You know what we have to say to that? People who are so hateful should not tell people what to wear.

Markland told Babble finding the letter was surreal. I was numb and I didnt know what to think. I wanted to laugh like, This is a really weird joke, she explained. I kind of just froze. I walked to my bedroom to show my husband, Dustin, and he didnt know what to say either. What can you say?

She obviously got upset but didnt brood for too long. As her husband began crumpling up the letter, she stopped him because in that moment, she decided she wasnt just going to sit at home and cry over this act of hate  she was going to speak out about it. So, like any angry social media user would do, Markland took to Facebook to share her story.

Story continues

Anyone who knows me, knows that I care deeper and stronger than many. I am a sensitive woman and I despise cruelty towards others, she wrote. Im sorry that some of you may not like it, but Im not dressing for you. All the hate in this world, and you have to pick on me for this?!

And, all of a sudden, the leggings that once brought her sorrow turned into a beacon of strength.

Women she didnt even know were hearing her tale and posting their own stories of learning to love their bodies, sharing pictures of themselves in their own pants with the hashtag #LeggingsWin.

What started out as a horrid act of bullying turned into an experience that changed the way Markland saw herself for the better. No one should tell us what we can and cannot wear, especially based on our size, Markland said. We have to love ourselves, because if we arent going to love ourselves then who will love us? A year ago, that letter would have sent me into a big downward spiral, but that letter doesnt define who I am. I may not like the way I look all the time, but Im a pretty good person. Any woman goes through that, were all kind of struggling to keep our heads above water and be better and do more, but not always appreciating where they are in this exact moment.

This isnt the first time stretchy pants have caused controversy. After a Rhode Island resident wrote into a local newspaper to express his disdain for adult women who wear yoga pants in public because they provide an unforgiving perspective thats inappropriate for general consumption, the women he targeted organized a peaceful protest  a Yoga Pants Parade  right on their grouchy neighbors block.

Then there was the October viral video of a Tennessee woman ranting about her contempt for what she considers to be too-sheer leggings. In response, the folks at Fox & Friends decided to bring in a panel of men  including Duck Dynastys Willie Robertson  to dissect the situation further, because what women wear is up to men, apparently.

Finally, in October, more than 30 young girls were sent home from their Tennessee high school, not for acting out, defacing school property, or bullying fellow students but for wearing leggings. According to the schools dress code, leggings are too much of a distraction for male students.

Anyway, to her bully, Markland says watch out, because shes now on a mission to wear the brightest and boldest leggings she can possibly find.

And, getting the ultimate revenge, Markland thanked the anonymous critic. Whoever wrote this letter, thank you, because you started something so much bigger. Because of this, I found some strength I didnt have. Because of this act of bullying  the love that has come from it has been so amazing. Its not about leggings. Its about being confident in who you are.

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.
Ask most gadget fans and theyll tell you that theres really only one new flagship smartphone that theyre looking forward to seeing launch during the first half of 2017: Samsungs Galaxy S8. Expectations couldnt be higher following the cancellation of Samsungs Galaxy Note 7 phablet, which was the hottest Android phone the world had ever seen until it went up in flames literally. Now, Android fans have been left with a Galaxy-sized hole that wont be filled until February or March next year.

Thats the bad news. But the good news is that according to a number of solid reports, next years Galaxy S8 is going to be well worth the wait.

Don't Miss: T-Mobiles multi-number Digits solution can transform any phone into a T-Mobile phone

The rumor mill has really been heating up as we approach the end of the year and Samsung finalizes its plans for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 edge. In fact, we know enough now to safely assume that there wont be a Galaxy S8 edge next year. Unlike in 2016 when Samsung launched a flat Galaxy S7 and then a larger Galaxy S7 edge with curved edges, both of next years Galaxy S8 models are expected to feature a design that curves downward on both sides.

What else can smartphone fans expect to see on next years Galaxy S8? Here are the five biggest changes were expecting:

All-screen design

Okay, so it wont really be all screen, but the front of the Galaxy S8 is expected to be occupied mainly by a gorgeous new Super AMOLED display with 2K Ultra HD resolution. This hot new design will see the bezels on either side of the display completely eliminated, allowing the images shown on the screen to roll over the curved edges and disappear on the sides of the phone. The bezel sizes will also be drastically reduced above and below the screen, according to reports.

No place like home

In order to shrink that bottom bezel down, Samsungs typical oblong home button will reportedly no longer be present under the screen. As a result, the home buttons duties will shift to taps and gestures performed on the screen. Then the home buttons fingerprint scanner will reportedly be embedded beneath the display.

Story continues

This is something weve known to be in the pipeline for Apples iPhone 8 for quite some time now, and Samsung will seemingly beat Apple to the punch. Actually, Apple ripoff artist Xiaomi beat both companies to the punch. Weve read about this new all-screen design a number of times now, most recently on Thursday morning when Bloomberg reiterated all the same details once again.

Next-gen processors

Apple is always way out in front when it comes to smartphone performance, but 2017 could see the gap narrow significantly.

In 2016, new Android smartphones released all year long were no match for Apples 2015 iPhone 6s on paper or in performance tests. Then, the iPhone 7 came along and blew them all out of the water. Because Apples in-house mobile chips are so powerful and its software is optimized so well, we dont see Apple losing its lead in this area anytime soon.

That said, were hearing very good things about the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset expected to power the US version of next years Galaxy S8, and the new Exynos chip headed to the international model is said to be just as impressive. If Android and Samsungs Samsung Experience tweaks dont get in the way, we could be looking at a very powerful smartphone indeed.

Viv

One of Siris co-creators went on to create a newer, supposedly better version of his virtual personal assistant. He named it Viv, and then he sold his company to Samsung. The company has since confirmed that its AI-based personal assistant, which will compete with the likes of Siri and Alexa, will debut on next years Galaxy S8.

LOL

Last but not least, recent reports claim that Galaxy S8 users can kiss the standard 3.5mm headphone jack goodbye because Samsung is ditching it and going with USB-C for audio as well as charging. This is particularly hilarious not just because Samsung fans spent so much time ridiculing iPhone users when the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus ditched the dedicated headphone port, but because Samsung itself fired shots at Apple several times over the decision to remove the 3.5mm audio jack.

Even as Samsung executives and the companys PR team was mocking Apple over its decision, we all knew the company would ultimately end up copying Apple and ditching the legacy port to free up space for other components we just didnt know it would happen so soon.

Trending right now:

See the original version of this article on BGR.com
The search for salvation is eternal. The search for a priest in Spain is a click away.

Maybe youre wandering around one of Spains leafy plazas when you get that guilty itch. Perhaps you were being covetous, or taking the Lords name in vain; maybe you just forgot to call your mother again. Or maybe youve been busy retweeting fake news (which Pope Frances himself recently condemned). Youve strayed from the path and given into sin  and need to confess.

Luckily, Spanish priests have your back. On Thursday, a new app called Confesor Go launched, allowing remorseful Catholic users to order up a confession as easily as an Uber or a Tinder date. The app, developed by Father Ricardo Latorre, detects a users location and plots a route to the nearest priest whos signed up with the service. You can confess in a church, or, for conveniences sake, in a public place, like a plaza, park, or even right on the street.

Is looks like the Catholic Churchs latest effort to approach the smartphone generation. Pope Francis has often admonished priests not to turn off the faithful by being boring or inaccessible  and nothing is more accessible than being summoned like a cab.

While Catholicism remains a pillar of Spanish culture  from Christmas decorations in public squares to national holidays based around the Christian calendar  Spanish churches have emptied out in recent decades and active participation took a nosedive. Just 15 percent of Spaniards say they go to misa every week.

Early interest in the app shows there might be a latent hunger for easy confession in the country, though: The beta version of Confesor Go has already been download several thousand times since it was released in September.

So far, there are about 100 technology-savvy priests signed up to be confessors-in-waiting. Like a holier-than-thou Uber driver, they signal when they are available to listen to sins. Dispensing with anonymity, and the app provides basic information about the priests, like name, date of birth, and year of ordainment. Theres also a handy list of the Ten Commandments, in case you need a refresher on how many sins youve racked up since your last confession.

The creator, Father Latorre, said he hopes to expand to Latin America next year  just in time to bolster the struggling Catholic population, which has dropped to 69 percent from 90 percent in recent years, according to Pew Research Center.

Photo credit: PABLO BLAZQUEZ DOMINGUEZ/Getty Images
By Eric Auchard and Tom Kackenhoff FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Technical trade secrets were stolen from the steel production and manufacturing plant design divisions of ThyssenKrupp AG in cyber attacks earlier this year, the German company said on Thursday. ThyssenKrupp, one of the world's largest steel makers, said it had been targeted by attackers located in southeast Asia engaged in what it said were "organized, highly professional hacker activities". In breaches discovered by the company's internal security team in April and traced back to February, hackers stole project data from ThyssenKrupp's plant engineering division and from other areas yet to be determined. "ThyssenKrupp has become the target of a massive cyber attack," the industrial conglomerate said in a statement. Globally, cyber attacks on banks, retailers and other businesses have led to widespread consumer and financial data losses in recent years. ThyssenKrupp's disclosure followed last week's attack on Deutsche Telekom routers that caused outage for nearly 1 million customers. While revelations of industrial espionage are far rarer, estimates put the costs to businesses in the billions of dollars. China was frequently blamed for such commercial hacking attacks until the United States and China agreed not to hack each other's businesses (http://reut.rs/2gewbrH). German business magazine Wirtschafts Woche reported the attacks hit sites in Europe, India, Argentina and the United States run by the Industrial Solutions division, which builds large production plants. The Hagen Hohenlimburg specialty steel mill in western Germany was also targeted, the report added. The company declined to identify specific locations which were infected or speculate on likely suspects. It said it could not estimate the scale of the intellectual property losses. BIG BANG COUNTER-ATTACK ThyssenKrupp said it waited to publicize the attack while it identified, then cleansed infected systems in one concerted, global action before implementing new safeguards to monitor its computer systems. "It is important not to let the intruder know that he has been discovered," a spokesman said. A criminal complaint was filed with police in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and an investigation is ongoing, it said. State and federal cyber security and data protection authorities were kept informed at each stage, as well as Thyssen's board. Secured systems operating steel blast furnaces and power plants in Duisburg, in Germany's industrial heartland in the Ruhr Valley, were unaffected, the company said. No breaches were found at its marine systems unit, which produces military submarines and warships. A previous cyber attack caused physical damage to an unidentified German steel plant and prevented the mill's blast furnace from shutting down properly. The country's Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) revealed two years ago that the attack caused "massive damage", but gave no further technical details and the location of the plant has remained shrouded in mystery. Subsequent media reports identified the target as a ThyssenKrupp facility, but the company has denied it was hit. The industrial conglomerate, along with Airbus parent EADS, were the targets of major attacks by Chinese hackers in 2012, according to a Der Spiegel report (http://reut.rs/2hamDzY). The company, a big supplier of steel to Germany's automotive sector and other manufacturers, is looking to form a joint venture of its European steel operations with India's Tata Steel to combat over-capacity in the sector. (Editing by Jason Neely/Keith Weir)
Killeen, TX (76540)

Today

Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy in the afternoon. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 82F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Partial cloudiness early, with scattered showers and thunderstorms later during the night. Low 71F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
According to Minister of State for Trade, Industry and Co-operatives Micheal Werikhe, the new proposed policy aims at addressing a number of challenges that include shortage of food, lack of good market in the country as well as poor prices offered by Kenyan traders.

He said Ugandans are selling maize, millet, sorghum and other food crops to Kenya every season without restriction.

Speaking at the End of Project Workshop of District Commercial Services Support Project [DICOSS] in Mbale, Mr Werikhe attributed the escalating hunger and poverty in the country to peoples attitudes to sell food to Kenya at cheap price.

The minister said although Uganda is a food basket in the East African Region, the country still experiences hunger every year.

He disclosed that the ministry of Trade has started lobbying for good market for farmers to sell their farm produce instead of selling cheaply through middle men.
As Uganda commemorate the corruption weak, Action Aid Uganda has signed a memorandum of understanding with police to weed out corruption tendencies in the institution.

According to the country director Action Aid Henry Nickson Ogwal, police has been severally singled out as the most corrupt institution in Uganda, thus starting with it is the only way to go

The Action Aid Uganda programs officer, Harriet Jimbo, said that under this campaign, they tend to display posters with information against corruption across all police stations in Uganda to enlighten citizens about corruption.

Meanwhile, the commander Kampala metropolitan, Mwesigwa Frank, challenged all Anti corruption civil societys organization to avoid using assumption when investigating corruption in police
GARRETT  The Indiana State Police and DeKalb County coroners office have identified the victim of Tuesdays homicide in Garrett as Keith Allen Secrest, 45, a resident of the city.

Police have filed a preliminary charge of murder against Branston Secrest, 20, of Garrett, who is the son of Keith Secrest. He is expected to be formally charged by the DeKalb County Prosecutors Office sometime today. He is being held in the DeKalb County Jail without eligibility for release on bail.

DeKalb County Deputy Coroner Rodney Snyder said Keith Secrests death has been ruled a homicide as a result of gunfire.

Branston Secrest was captured in Fort Wayne at 5:32 p.m. Tuesday, after police chased him in a car and then on foot. After questioning Secrest, around 9 p.m. police transferred him to the DeKalb County Jail in Auburn.

Police expected that the DeKalb County Prosecutors Office would file a formal charge against Secrest today.

In a news release Tuesday, police said the homicide occurred in the 100 block of East 3rd Avenue, on Garretts south side. Police were called to the house at 2:15 p.m. on a report that someone heard gunshots.

Police said Branston Secrest fled the scene of the shooting in his fathers 2011 Ford Taurus, and that the victim lived in the home where the shooting occurred.

Immediately after the shooting, police began searching for Branston Secrest, focusing especially on the south edge of Auburn.

At approximately 5:23 p.m., officers of the Fort Wayne Police Department spotted Secrests vehicle in the area of Coldwater Road and Coliseum Boulevard on the north side of Fort Wayne, state police said. Fort Wayne police reported that Secrest failed to stop, and a short vehicle pursuit began. Secrest then stopped and ran from his vehicle in the area of Goshen and Harris roads before he was captured.

An obituary for Keith Secrest appears on page A4 of todays edition.
Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Areas of patchy fog early. Sunny skies. High 69F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy in the evening with more clouds for later at night. Low 52F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
ALBION  Five more graduates completed Noble County Drug Courts rigorous substance-abuse rehab program as it celebrates its 10th anniversary.

After years of struggling with drug abuse, the five graduates  Heather, Elon, Amy, Travis and Faith  are now clean and sober and getting their lives back on track, perhaps for the first time.

The high-supervision program includes numerous meetings with probation officers and support staff, drug screenings, educational programs and counseling. In Noble County, a person who enters the drug court spends about 28 months in the program before he or she is finally released.

Since the drug courts inception, staff have spent about 12,000 hours, held 21,000 support group meetings and probation meetings each, tested 15,000 drug screenings and been involved in 4,600 court hearings.

A total of 104 people have successfully completed the program across 22 graduation ceremonies. A total of 39 people are currently in the program.

Nationwide, about 75 percent of people who successfully complete a drug court program stay out trouble for at least two years after leaving it.

They go from lives guided by dope to lives guided by hope, Noble Superior Court 2 Judge Michael Kramer said during the opening of the graduation ceremony Monday morning.

Its seeing lives truly transform, seeing who you are once you remove drugs and alcohol from your lives. Its truly inspiring, Kramer said.

Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Loretta Rush attended the graduation, delivering a few inspiring words to graduates. Prior to her appointment to the states highest court in 2012, Rush had run several juvenile programs in Tippecanoe County, including establishing one of the states first juvenile drug courts.

Rush noted her continuing support of drug court programs as the entire criminal justice system changes its philosophy on battling drugs as a health problem instead of a criminal issue.

Its a disease. Its not a character flaw, Rush said.

Each of the graduates shared a little about their experiences before and after getting involved in drug court to a packed courtroom filled with county officials, drug court workers, family and friends.

Elon shared that shed been clean for four years now, and that forcing herself to get away from familiar places and familiar faces was what she needed to finally stop using drugs. After sitting in jail and wishing to be free, she realized getting out from behind bars wasnt going to be enough.

Id get out and go right back to the same things, she said.

Graduates stories

Five people graduated from Noble County Drug Court Monday morning. Heres what each of the graduates had to say about the journey he or she has been on, from addiction to recovery (the graduates are only identified by their first names):

Heather: I wasnt going to keep messing up.  This past year has been one of our best years.

Elon: Several times I wanted to give up  but I just kept going.

Amy: Im sober today. Ive never had as much as Ive got today.

Travis: When I was using, my life was chaos  Now that Im clean, I feel like a new person.

Faith: I never thought Id be standing here today, clean and sober.
Urgent! Membership Dues Alert!

So said the correspondence from the American Legion recently. So now, checkbook in hand, I must consider this and other membership appeals as the new year approaches thinking about the work of each of them in relation to the coming change in national leadership.

I was particularly interested in the Legion request because, in the past, the Legion has been outspoken in favor of an amendment to the Constitution allowing protection of the flag against the infrequent incidents of flag burning as a form of protest. And the American Legion national commander has praised President-Elect Donald Trump for his support of the American flag. Trump recently tweeted: Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flagif they do, there must be consequencesperhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!

A few years ago, I sent a letter with my renewal urging the Legion to put all of its resources into helping veterans and refrain from efforts to alter a Constitutionally protected freedom  freedom of speech. The letter I received in response was that we would have to agree to disagree on that topic.

Indeed, I will continue to disagree, although I didnt see any reference to the flag protection in the membership appeal, nor did I find it in the news release issued early in December citing the priority issues the Legion presented to the Trump transition team. The presentation, in cooperation with other veteran service organizations, focused on efforts to strengthen, reform and sustain the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) heath care system, remove budget constraints that negatively impact veteran-centered programs, and reform the VAs claims and appeals process.

Further, the American Legion initiated a call-to-action on fairly new Legion priorities  support of research related to the impacts of medical marijuana and the Drug Enforcement Administrations reclassification of cannabis from a Schedule I drug to Schedule III. Reclassification of the drug would allow easier access to pure strains of the substance to cultivate quantifiable research and statistics regarding marijuanas medical benefits.

Those are priorities one expects from a veterans organization.

But I disagree with the commander who said while praising Trump that flag burning dishonors the sacrifice of service members and their families, past, present and future. On the contrary, the freedoms that flag-burning represents, however offensive it may be to some, have been protected by that sacrifice.

The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said it best in a 2012 interview: If I were king, I would not allow people to go around burning the American flag. However, we have a First Amendment, which says that the right of free speech shall not be abridged and it is addressed in particular to speech critical of the government, Scalia said. That was the main kind of speech that tyrants would seek to suppress.

The Supreme Court said in a 1990 decision finding a federal law against flag-burning unconstitutional, Punishing desecration of the flag dilutes the very freedom that makes this emblem so revered, and worth revering.

The Legion commander cited widespread support for protection of the flag.

Regarding that, the court said: We decline the Governments invitation to reassess this conclusion (a prior decision on flag burning) in light of Congresss recent recognition of a purported national consensus favoring a prohibition on flag-burning. Even assuming such a consensus exists, any suggestion that the Governments interest in suppressing speech becomes more weighty as popular opposition to that speech grows is foreign to the First Amendment.

Protection of veterans benefits will be the urgent issue in the coming debates over budgets and how services will be delivered. The American Legion and other veterans groups need to focus on that rather than being distracted by tweets, especially those that demonstrate a disrespect for settled Constitutional rights.
She expected a fun night with a friend, a week before her last high school prom.

She woke early May 4, 2014, to Benjamin Wendler raping her before she passed out again from alcohol.

I didnt know a single thing about him, and he took the most important thing from me, she testified Monday. This will be with me forever.

It has been 945 days since the day that changed her life and five months since she had to tell her story to a panel of strangers who found Wendler guilty of second-degree sexual assault.

Wendler, now 32, will serve six years in prison and four years on extended supervision under the sentence imposed by La Crosse County Circuit Judge Elliott Levine.

It takes incredible courage to do what you did throughout this process, he told the victim. None of this is your fault.

Wendler, then 30, on May 3 took the then 18-year-old and a friend to a party in La Crescent where she drank alcohol until she got sick. Friends told police they later helped her into bed at Wendlers State Street apartment in La Crosse because she was unable to walk.

The victim remembers vomiting in the bed before waking to Wendler penetrating her, assistant district attorney Noel Lawrence said.

Wendler testified at trial that the contact was consensual and that he wasnt drunk that evening, although he now blames alcohol for his misconduct.

It needs to be clear that a drinking problem is different from drinking and then sexually assaulting someone, she said. Rape is not alcohols fault.

Wendlers wife, Diane, talked largely about his alcoholism and praised his commitment to sobriety for their infant son. She asked for a sentence that would allow him to continue treatment in the community.

When he is not drinking, he does not sexually assault anyone, defense attorney Todd Schroeder said.

Now in recovery, Wendlers addiction can be treated while on community supervision and placing him in prison with high-risk offenders could increase his likelihood to reoffend, Schroeder said.

Prison is not necessary to protect the public, he said.

Wendler was charged in July 2014 with the same offense stemming from a 2013 encounter with an intoxicated college student, but prosecutors dismissed that case after a judge ruled it could not be tried at the same time.

Wendler begged for leniency and cried through his apologetic statement to the court, telling the victim he has the deepest regret for his decisions that evening.

I should have protected her, he said.

The victim asked the judge impose a 15-year prison sentence for the man who described their contact as great sex, Lawrence said. Wendler built a family and a small business while his case was pending, but that does not erase the fact that he was found guilty of sexual assault, the victims sister testified.

He deserves to spend years behind bars, she said. Dont let him get away with this.
Actress, teaching artist, director, and now La Crescent-Hokah School District three-week resident artist Taous Khazem taught sixth graders how to act.

Say it with emotion; I want you to speak with emotion if your character cares, even if you dont, Khazem told the actors on stage.

The sixth graders were lucky enough to have Khazem in their classroom, thanks to an arts integration grant from Compas.

Compas writes grants for arts money and asks the recipients of the grant to work with an artist. This is our third year, La Crescent Middle School fifth- and sixth-grade teacher Cyndy Reichgelt said. Our first year, we had a spoken-word artist. Last year, we had math in real life with this movie guy and this year, we are bringing in science with performance art.

Compas goal is to encourage arts integration in schools and communities. The school district began its relationship with Compas after working with Perpich Arts Integration Project a few years ago.

We had a three-year commitment, so we got together with them three times a year and they showed teachers how arts can be brought into the classroom and they gave us funding so Compas could provide us with artists, Reichgelt said. After Perpich ended, we wrote a grant for Compas.

The teachers get to pick what kind of artist they want to come into the classroom. This year, Khazem was chosen to help integrate art into the energy unit in sixth-grade science.

The science aspect was really fun; the last time I did science was a few years ago, Khazem said. Its inspiring to see it co-exist. I had to do a lot of research before we started.

Khazem has worked professionally as a freelance teaching artist for the past 11 years; she has worked with Compas for four. Born and raised in St. Paul, she attended Macalester College in St. Paul and Jacques Lecoq International Theater School in Paris. She works on a television show in Algeria and has worked at Stepping Stone Theater in St. Paul, Childrens Theater in Minneapolis, and currently has a residency at Frank Theater in Minneapolis.

Its important to work on it step-by-step, she said. We work with a lot of different acting games and basic tools for an actor like projection, stage scenes, not turning their back to the audience.

The skits that the sixth graders performed to their parents were written by them. The three sixth-grade science classes were broken up into three categories: the history of energy and its beginnings, the consequences of using energy and how it affects the earth, and solutions.

The energy use cited in the performance tied in some local statistics and facts; the biomass plant on French Island was mentioned.

Reichgelt and Khazem also focused on the Native American relationship to nature. The play ended with lines of poetry Khazem compiled and edited together written by the students.

Im proud of their work, Khazem said. Getting up on stage in front of a big audience takes guts. I hope having science topics in art lets them learn on a deeper level than just taking a test and moving on.
BURLINGTON, Wis.  Two Burlington teens have been charged with conspiracy to commit homicide after a girl reportedly sent a list of names of people she wanted killed to her boyfriend.

Both the girl and her boyfriend are students at Karcher Middle School, 225 Robert St., in Burlington. At this time, The Journal Times is not naming either of the accused because of their ages. The 15-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy have been charged with conspiracy to commit second-degree intentional homicide and disorderly conduct.

In a news release Wednesday afternoon, Burlington Police stated that they responded to Karcher Middle School to investigate a report that two Karcher students were using texts and social media to discuss harming other students. The two students were identified, taken into custody and transported to juvenile detention.

There is no current active threat to students, staff, or the community, police said in the release.

According to the criminal complaints, the girls mom stated that she found an instant message between her daughter and the girls boyfriend and became alarmed when she read a message that stated, Do you want me to kill them all?

The list reportedly included the girls father and five other students at the school.

Messages on moms phone

On Monday night, reportedly, the girl was using her mothers phone to talk to her boyfriend through Facebook. When the mother checked the phone she saw a message from the boyfriend saying do you want me to kill them all? Her daughter had replied yes. The boyfriend had responded by saying need a list.

The girl allegedly provided a list of six names, including her father. The next day the mother went to Karcher and told the principal about the text-message exchange; he then contacted the Burlington police.

A police officer was dispatched to the school and talked to the girl. Reportedly she said that she sent the list because of things people on the list have said about her that made her upset.

According to the complaint, after sending the list the girl felt relieved because she no longer had to deal with them. But she also told police that she didnt think her boyfriend would kill them.

Police also interviewed the boyfriend, who reportedly said he wouldnt kill these people because he isnt a psychopath. He also told police he was surprised when he received a list but he only talked about it to make the girl feel better.

The school administration searched the boyfriends locker and backpack and found a large pair of stainless-steel scissors. The boy allegedly told officials he stole the scissors from a teacher and was going to hurt himself; he didnt, however, and decided he needed to give the scissors back but never returned them.

The girl made her initial court appearance on Wednesday and her boyfriend is scheduled to make a preliminary hearing on Dec. 15. If convicted, both teens could face as much as 40 years in prison and 20 years of supervision.
The following editorial appeared in The Baltimore Sun on Wednesday, Dec. 7:

It should not have taken thousands of protesters to camp out at Standing Rock  and especially not the use of water cannons, rubber bullets and tear gas by local authorities as they tried, in vain, to disperse the crowds  for federal authorities to seriously consider the grievance that brought the members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and their supporters to assemble there in the first place. The decision announced Sunday by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to not grant a needed easement for the Dakota Access Pipeline segment under a North Dakota water reservoir was welcome but badly overdue.

A certain amount of celebration by oil pipeline opponents is understandable, of course. State officials and the pipelines developer, Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, have treated protester concerns with the same level of respect Richard Daleys Chicago police officers extended to anti-Vietnam War demonstrators in 1968. The U.S. has a long, shameful history of taking advantage of Americas indigenous peoples, particularly when energy and mineral rights are involved. Donald Trumps election hasnt exactly signaled good times for the environmental movement either.

And before conservatives start screaming about politics and overreaching by an outgoing administration in its final weeks, they ought to acknowledge the next president is already flexing the same muscles by promising, for example, to personally intervene (with steep tariffs, if necessary) when companies are moving facilities abroad. So lets not delude ourselves into believing theres some sort of ideological purity involved. Rather, the Standing Rock standoff comes down to this  is there a better route available for a pipeline that threatens to pollute drinking water supplies and disturb sacred burial sites?

Frankly, that question should have been fully answered months ago, and its clearly only getting investigated adequately now because of those hardy souls living in tents and yurts and other makeshift camp sites in Standing Rock willing to face a brutish Plains winter and unsympathetic state authorities. That they were joined in recent weeks by hundreds of military veterans who came to protect them and demonstrate solidarity with their cause underscores their moral authority. The nation can give proper respect to a group thats been collectively treated as second-class citizens for generations or it can side exclusively with a politically-connected energy company seeking to transport crude oil from the Bakken and Three Forks oil production areas.

Trump has indicated in the past that he is inclined to support the $3.7 billion pipeline project, and, during the campaign, he spoke often about a desire to help the fossil fuel industry. But the Standing Rock Sioux have also touched a nerve in this country among all those average Americans who, like those Carrier workers in Indiana, dont want to see their lives ruined by greedy corporations and indifferent bureaucrats. A populist president who won by promising to stand up for the Davids against the Goliaths might want to take note.

Resisting the idea that every ounce of fossil fuel available on this planet must be exploited isnt anti-American or anti-progress or anti-capitalism, its pro-common sense. We cant continue to spew greenhouse gases and other pollutants into the air in the belief that there are no adverse consequences. The science on this subject is clear and convincing. Whether blocking (or more likely delaying) this particular pipeline ultimately slows extraction of oil in any meaningful way remains to be seen, but this much is certain: A far more costly day of reckoning is coming if the U.S. and other countries dont reduce harmful emissions from the use of fossil fuels.
State Sen. Jennifer Shilling declared victory in her race for re-election Friday, retaining a narrow vote margin after a recount this week of more than 89,000 ballots.

The La Crosse Democrat, who is her partys leader in the Senate, edged Republican challenger Dan Kapanke, who sought the recount after the initial tally had Shilling ahead by 56 votes.

La Crosse County completed its recount at midday Friday, and while County Clerk Ginny Dankmeyer didnt have the official results ready for release, she said lawyers for the Shilling and Kapanke campaigns had been keeping on top of the tally and had Shilling ahead in the end by 55 votes, one less than the original election results.

Numbers provided by the Government Accountability Board Friday evening had Shillings margin of victory at 61 votes, with 43,585 votes for Shilling, 43,524 for Kapanke and 2,093 for Chip DeNure.

Both Shilling and Kapanke issued statements indicating that the matter was settled.

With the result of the race once again confirmed, I hope we can put this election behind us and continue moving forward on the issues that working families are concerned about, Shilling said in her statement. Its time to get to work strengthening our schools, investing in infrastructure and expanding economic opportunities in our state.

In his statement, Kapanke congratulated Shilling on her victory.

I wish her the best, and know that when she returns to Madison she will represent all of the voters in the 32nd District. What a great responsibility and privilege for her to do so, he said, adding that the recount ensured that each and every vote that was cast was recorded correctly and fairly.

Any changes in the votes came not because a defective process or machinery, but because of voter error. In some cases, Dankmeyer said, voters put a check instead of filling in the box or they might have neglected to properly fill out their absentee ballots. Other vote changes came because voters partially filled in the box for one candidate and then completely filled in the box for the other candidate, resulting in an overvote so neither candidate got the vote when the ballot was scanned.

And, she added, there were no signs of Russian elves. That was the joke throughout the recount.

Although it was a lot of work, especially considering the clerks office is scheduled to move out of the existing administrative center into the new building on Dec. 13, for Dankmeyer elections and recounts are a core part of what her office does.

This is our Super Bowl. This is our way of proving what were doing is right, Dankmeyer said.

Clerks offices across the state have a presidential recount to undertake. Dankmeyer said work on that will begin Monday and should be done within three days as part of the work of that recount already was done as part of the Senate recount.

Shilling expressed appreciation for all the people involved in the recount.

I want to thank all of the local election officials, poll workers, volunteers and observers who put in many long hours to protect the integrity of our electoral process and make sure every vote was counted, Shilling said. Once again, their efforts have resulted in another clean, open and transparent election in western Wisconsin.

Shillings victory leaves Republicans with a 20-13 advantage in the state Senate. Republicans have controlled both houses of the legislature since 2011.

The 32nd District includes the towns of Angelo, Adrian, Tomah, Leon, Wells, Ridgeville, Wilton, Portland, Jefferson, Sheldon and Wellington and villages of Norwalk, Wilton, Melvina and Cashton in Monroe County.
Family & Childrens Centers drop-in center in Vernon County, The Other Door, is hosting the "Art Has No Rules" art show, Friday, Dec. 9. The show runs from 4 to 8 p.m. at Family and Childrens Center in Viroqua.

Art Has No Rules features artwork from The Other Door consumers, friends and Family and Childrens Center staff and volunteers. Art is therapeutic for many of the Other Door consumers; it promotes health, well-being and supports consumers mental health and addiction recovery journeys. Light refreshments will be provided.

The Other Door has grown into a premier socialization spot for people in mental health and substance abuse recovery in the Viroqua area. Recovery is supported through socialization at group meetings, special events and seasonal activities. Local chapters of National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA) and other groups also use The Other Door to hold their meetings.

Were about being a safe place for people to come and learn how to take care of themselves, said Ken Weinberg, The Other Door peer support specialist.

Last year, The Other Door recorded nearly 5,000 visits, helping hundreds of individuals stay on track with their recoveries. But, those numbers are in jeopardy. Since last year, the drop-in center has had to cut open hours, and efforts to secure funding have fallen short. The center welcomes donations at the art show or online at www.fcconline.org.

To learn more about The Other Door and Family and Childrens Center, visit www.fcconline.org, call 608-785-0001 or stop in at 1321 N. Main St., Viroqua.
A West Salem man killed his wife early Sept. 16 and tried to conceal her fatal injuries by staging an implausible traffic crash on a rural La Crosse County road, according to court records.

Prosecutors on Tuesday charged Todd Kendhammer, 46, with first-degree intentional homicide in the death of his wife, Barbara Kendhammer. He is jailed on a $250,000 cash bond and returns to La Crosse County Circuit Court on Dec. 15 for a preliminary hearing.

Ive been working on this case for three months, and his arrest comes as a shock to us, said his attorney, Jonas Bednarek.

Kendhammer told authorities the couple left their home between 7:30 and 7:45 a.m. Sept. 16 for Holmen, where he planned to pick up a truck to replace its windshield.

Barbara Kendhammer was scheduled for work at 8 a.m. at West Salem Middle School and the owner of the truck said he did not arrange for Kendhammer to repair the damaged windshield, according to the criminal complaint.

Kendhammer said they were driving north on Hwy. M when a 53-inch pipe fell from an oncoming flatbed truck, bounced off the pavement and impaled the passenger side of the windshield, striking his 46-year-old wife, according to his initial statement to authorities.

He later said the pipe flew off the truck and did not strike the pavement before passing through the windshield. Before impact, he said he hit the windshield with his left hand to try to block the object, according to the complaint.

He turned onto nearby Bergum Coulee Road, a dead-end road seven miles from the couples home at N6617 E. Scotch Coulee Road, before backing the couples Toyota Camry off the road. He removed the pipe from the windshield and his wife from her seat to perform life-saving measures for three to five minutes before calling 911 at 8:06 a.m., according to the complaint.

An autopsy found Barbara Kendhammer died of blunt force injuries to her head and neck, including skull fractures, brain swelling and injury, fractured cartilage and neck muscle hemorrhaging.

She also had possible scratches and other injuries to her neck and torn fingernails, indicative of a struggle.The pattern of her injuries  including a cut to her forehead, three to the back of her head, nasal fractures and others  were inconsistent with Todd Kendhammers account of the incident, according to the Dane County Medical Examiners Office.

Todd Kendhammer had scratches on his neck and chest and injuries to the knuckles of his left hand, inflicted because he said he works with glass all of the time and gets scratched up, according to the complaint.A passerby who spotted the couples Camry in the ditch on Bergum Coulee Road noticed the passenger door open but did not see anyone around the car. There was no damage to the windshield, the complaint stated.

A Wisconsin State Crime Laboratory analyst found blood inside the car and on the rear passenger side wheel.

There were multiple impact points on the windshield, including one that indicated an object struck but did not shatter the glass.

Based on the spread of broken glass, the analyst found it was unlikely a passenger was inside the vehicle when the windshield shattered and that it likely broke when the passenger door was open, according to the complaint.

Kendhammer said the passing flatbed truck was blue, green or black with 18 to 24-inch metal sides but could not identify the gender of the driver. Authorities could not locate the truck described by Kendhammer on surveillance video from area businesses.
Blog Archive Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (3) Oct 30 (3) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (3) Oct 25 (3) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (3) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (3) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (3) Oct 17 (4) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (2) Oct 14 (3) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (4) Oct 11 (3) Oct 10 (3) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (3) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (4) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (4) Sep 26 (3) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (5) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (3) Sep 20 (4) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (3) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (4) Sep 13 (3) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (4) Sep 10 (2) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (4) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (3) Sep 05 (3) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (4) Sep 02 (3) Sep 01 (4) Aug 31 (4) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (4) Aug 28 (4) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (3) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (3) Aug 20 (3) Aug 19 (3) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (4) Aug 13 (3) Aug 12 (3) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (3) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (4) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (3) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (4) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (3) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (2) Jul 17 (3) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (3) Jul 12 (3) Jul 11 (3) Jul 10 (3) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (4) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (3) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (2) Jul 01 (3) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (3) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (3) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (4) Jun 17 (2) Jun 16 (3) Jun 15 (3) Jun 14 (4) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (4) Jun 07 (5) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (4) Jun 01 (3) May 31 (3) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (3) May 27 (1) May 26 (4) May 25 (2) May 24 (3) May 23 (4) May 22 (3) May 21 (3) May 20 (3) May 19 (5) May 18 (4) May 17 (4) May 16 (3) May 15 (3) May 14 (3) May 13 (4) May 12 (3) May 11 (3) May 10 (3) May 09 (4) May 08 (2) May 07 (3) May 06 (4) May 05 (4) May 04 (4) May 03 (3) May 02 (4) May 01 (1) Apr 30 (5) Apr 29 (4) Apr 28 (4) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (4) Apr 25 (3) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (3) Apr 22 (4) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (4) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (3) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (5) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (5) Apr 10 (3) Apr 09 (3) Apr 08 (4) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (6) Apr 04 (4) Apr 03 (3) Apr 02 (3) Apr 01 (3) Mar 31 (3) Mar 30 (4) Mar 29 (3) Mar 28 (4) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (4) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (3) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (3) Mar 18 (3) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (3) Mar 15 (4) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (3) Mar 12 (3) Mar 11 (4) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (4) Mar 08 (6) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (5) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (4) Feb 28 (3) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (4) Feb 25 (5) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (3) Feb 22 (7) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (3) Feb 18 (5) Feb 17 (5) Feb 16 (3) Feb 15 (3) Feb 14 (5) Feb 13 (3) Feb 12 (5) Feb 11 (3) Feb 10 (4) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (3) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (3) Feb 04 (3) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (3) Jan 30 (3) Jan 29 (4) Jan 28 (4) Jan 27 (3) Jan 26 (6) Jan 25 (3) Jan 24 (6) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (5) Jan 21 (4) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (3) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (3) Jan 16 (3) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (4) Jan 12 (3) Jan 11 (3) Jan 10 (3) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (4) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (4) Jan 05 (5) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (4) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (3) Dec 28 (3) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (4) Dec 23 (3) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (5) Dec 20 (2) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (4) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (3) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (5) Dec 05 (4) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (3) Nov 30 (3) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (4) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (3) Nov 22 (3) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (3) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (2) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (4) Nov 12 (5) Nov 11 (4) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (3) Nov 08 (4) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (3) Nov 05 (3) Nov 04 (3) Nov 03 (3) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (4) Oct 30 (4) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (3) Oct 25 (5) Oct 24 (2) Oct 23 (3) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (3) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (5) Oct 17 (2) Oct 16 (3) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (4) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (3) Oct 11 (3) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (4) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (5) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (4) Sep 30 (4) Sep 29 (5) Sep 28 (5) Sep 27 (2) Sep 26 (3) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (4) Sep 22 (4) Sep 21 (5) Sep 20 (3) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (4) Sep 17 (4) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (4) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (3) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (5) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (3) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (4) Aug 30 (3) Aug 29 (4) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (3) Aug 20 (5) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (4) Aug 13 (3) Aug 12 (3) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (4) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (3) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (2) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (4) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (5) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (3) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (3) Jul 17 (3) Jul 16 (3) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (5) Jul 12 (5) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (3) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (5) Jul 01 (3) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (5) Jun 28 (2) Jun 27 (3) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (3) Jun 24 (3) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (3) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (3) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (3) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (5) Jun 07 (3) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (3) May 31 (4) May 30 (3) May 29 (4) May 28 (4) May 27 (3) May 26 (5) May 25 (4) May 24 (4) May 23 (4) May 22 (3) May 21 (5) May 20 (4) May 19 (3) May 18 (3) May 17 (4) May 16 (3) May 15 (6) May 14 (3) May 13 (3) May 12 (5) May 11 (4) May 10 (3) May 09 (3) May 08 (3) May 07 (4) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (4) May 03 (3) May 02 (3) May 01 (3) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (3) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (5) Apr 26 (4) Apr 25 (3) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (3) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (6) Apr 19 (5) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (4) Apr 16 (5) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (5) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (4) Apr 04 (4) Apr 03 (3) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (4) Mar 31 (4) Mar 30 (4) Mar 29 (4) Mar 28 (3) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (5) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (6) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (5) Mar 15 (3) Mar 14 (7) Mar 13 (5) Mar 12 (8) Mar 11 (6) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (6) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (3) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (5) Mar 04 (5) Mar 03 (7) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (3) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (6) Feb 25 (7) Feb 24 (4) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (7) Feb 21 (4) Feb 20 (3) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (5) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (6) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (4) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (4) Feb 09 (3) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (4) Feb 06 (7) Feb 05 (7) Feb 04 (7) Feb 03 (9) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (9) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (6) Jan 29 (5) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (6) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (6) Jan 21 (6) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (4) Jan 18 (9) Jan 17 (5) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (6) Jan 14 (7) Jan 13 (7) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (7) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (7) Jan 08 (8) Jan 07 (11) Jan 06 (9) Jan 05 (5) Jan 04 (7) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (8) Jan 01 (8) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (6) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (7) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (5) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (5) Dec 20 (5) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (6) Dec 17 (6) Dec 16 (4) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (5) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (5) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (5) Dec 08 (6) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (5) Dec 04 (5) Dec 03 (6) Dec 02 (4) Dec 01 (5) Nov 30 (4) Nov 29 (6) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (4) Nov 26 (4) Nov 25 (4) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (7) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (6) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (3) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (4) Nov 14 (5) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (6) Nov 11 (6) Nov 10 (8) Nov 09 (8) Nov 08 (7) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (5) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (6) Nov 03 (5) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (5) Oct 31 (4) Oct 30 (3) Oct 29 (5) Oct 28 (5) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (6) Oct 24 (2) Oct 23 (3) Oct 22 (5) Oct 21 (4) Oct 20 (6) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (4) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (5) Oct 15 (2) Oct 14 (5) Oct 13 (2) Oct 12 (3) Oct 11 (7) Oct 10 (3) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (2) Oct 07 (7) Oct 06 (2) Oct 05 (6) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (8) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (6) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (4) Sep 26 (4) Sep 25 (4) Sep 24 (1) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (2) Sep 20 (5) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (3) Sep 15 (4) Sep 14 (4) Sep 13 (4) Sep 12 (3) Sep 11 (3) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (4) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (5) Sep 04 (2) Sep 03 (4) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (3) Aug 29 (2) Aug 28 (4) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (4) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (3) Aug 23 (2) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (4) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (4) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (5) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (4) Aug 07 (3) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (3) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (4) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (4) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (5) Jul 19 (4) Jul 18 (4) Jul 17 (3) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (3) Jul 11 (3) Jul 10 (3) Jul 09 (4) Jul 08 (4) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (3) Jul 05 (5) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (4) Jul 01 (4) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (3) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (5) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (4) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (6) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (5) Jun 07 (3) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (5) Jun 04 (5) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (5) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (3) May 30 (5) May 29 (3) May 28 (4) May 27 (5) May 26 (7) May 25 (4) May 24 (4) May 23 (4) May 22 (6) May 21 (4) May 20 (3) May 19 (5) May 18 (4) May 17 (4) May 16 (5) May 15 (4) May 14 (4) May 13 (5) May 12 (4) May 11 (5) May 10 (6) May 09 (7) May 08 (3) May 07 (6) May 06 (4) May 05 (6) May 04 (6) May 03 (4) May 02 (4) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (3) Apr 28 (4) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (6) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (5) Apr 22 (5) Apr 21 (7) Apr 20 (6) Apr 19 (5) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (6) Apr 09 (7) Apr 08 (7) Apr 07 (4) Apr 06 (7) Apr 05 (6) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (6) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (6) Mar 31 (4) Mar 30 (5) Mar 29 (5) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (6) Mar 25 (7) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (4) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (5) Mar 19 (4) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (3) Mar 15 (4) Mar 14 (5) Mar 13 (5) Mar 12 (5) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (5) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (4) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (6) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (5) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (3) Feb 29 (4) Feb 28 (4) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (5) Feb 25 (4) Feb 24 (5) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (5) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (4) Feb 19 (2) Feb 18 (5) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (4) Feb 14 (4) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (5) Feb 11 (3) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (5) Feb 06 (5) Feb 05 (5) Feb 04 (4) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (2) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (5) Jan 27 (6) Jan 26 (4) Jan 25 (3) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (3) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (4) Jan 18 (3) Jan 17 (3) Jan 16 (3) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (3) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (3) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (5) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (5) Jan 04 (3) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (1) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (5) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (3) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (3) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (4) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (3) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (3) Dec 06 (5) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (3) Dec 02 (4) Dec 01 (5) Nov 30 (3) Nov 29 (4) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (5) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (5) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (3) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (3) Nov 18 (3) Nov 17 (4) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (4) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (5) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (5) Nov 10 (2) Nov 09 (3) Nov 08 (3) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (1) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (3) Nov 03 (3) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (3) Oct 30 (3) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (3) Oct 25 (3) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (3) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (3) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (3) Oct 13 (4) Oct 12 (4) Oct 11 (4) Oct 10 (3) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (4) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (3) Oct 04 (4) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (4) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (4) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (4) Sep 26 (3) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (5) Sep 20 (3) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (3) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (5) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (3) Sep 05 (5) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (4) Sep 02 (3) Sep 01 (4) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (4) Aug 24 (3) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (3) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (4) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (3) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (3) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (4) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (3) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (3) Jul 20 (3) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (3) Jul 17 (3) Jul 16 (3) Jul 15 (4) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (3) Jul 12 (3) Jul 11 (3) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (3) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (1) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (5) Jun 24 (4) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (3) Jun 15 (3) Jun 14 (3) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (3) Jun 11 (4) Jun 10 (3) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (3) Jun 06 (4) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (4) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (3) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (4) May 27 (6) May 26 (3) May 25 (3) May 24 (3) May 23 (3) May 22 (5) May 21 (3) May 20 (3) May 19 (3) May 18 (4) May 17 (3) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (4) May 13 (4) May 12 (5) May 11 (2) May 10 (3) May 09 (3) May 08 (3) May 07 (3) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (3) May 03 (3) May 02 (4) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (4) Apr 28 (4) Apr 27 (3) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (3) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (5) Apr 22 (3) Apr 21 (4) Apr 20 (1) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (3) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (3) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (4) Apr 11 (5) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (3) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (2) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (3) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (3) Apr 01 (7) Mar 31 (2) Mar 30 (2) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (6) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (4) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (6) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (4) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (3) Mar 18 (5) Mar 17 (3) Mar 16 (3) Mar 15 (4) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (6) Mar 12 (7) Mar 11 (4) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (4) Mar 08 (3) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (3) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (3) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (4) Feb 28 (5) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (4) Feb 25 (4) Feb 24 (3) Feb 23 (3) Feb 22 (5) Feb 21 (5) Feb 20 (5) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (3) Feb 17 (3) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (3) Feb 14 (6) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (3) Feb 11 (6) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (3) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (6) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (6) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (3) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (6) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (4) Jan 27 (5) Jan 26 (4) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (3) Jan 23 (3) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (4) Jan 19 (3) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (3) Jan 16 (3) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (4) Jan 12 (3) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (4) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (3) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (5) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (3) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (3) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (7) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (5) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (6) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (3) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (7) Dec 10 (7) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (4) Dec 04 (4) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (5) Nov 30 (3) Nov 29 (5) Nov 28 (4) Nov 27 (5) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (4) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (3) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (5) Nov 18 (3) Nov 17 (4) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (3) Nov 14 (4) Nov 13 (5) Nov 12 (7) Nov 11 (4) Nov 10 (6) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (4) Nov 07 (4) Nov 06 (3) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (3) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (3) Oct 30 (4) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (4) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (4) Oct 24 (5) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (4) Oct 21 (3) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (4) Oct 18 (3) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (4) Oct 13 (4) Oct 12 (5) Oct 11 (3) Oct 10 (5) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (5) Oct 07 (6) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (3) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (4) Sep 29 (4) Sep 28 (5) Sep 27 (5) Sep 26 (5) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (5) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (4) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (4) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (4) Sep 13 (4) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (4) Sep 10 (3) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (5) Sep 04 (4) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (5) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (6) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (5) Aug 25 (4) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (7) Aug 22 (4) Aug 21 (6) Aug 20 (3) Aug 19 (7) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (4) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (6) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (4) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (3) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (5) Jul 28 (5) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (6) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (6) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (3) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (6) Jul 15 (4) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (3) Jul 10 (5) Jul 09 (4) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (3) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (4) Jul 01 (4) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (3) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (4) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (5) Jun 11 (5) Jun 10 (6) Jun 09 (5) Jun 08 (4) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (4) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (5) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (4) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (5) May 27 (3) May 26 (4) May 25 (3) May 24 (6) May 23 (4) May 22 (5) May 21 (5) May 20 (4) May 19 (5) May 18 (6) May 17 (6) May 16 (4) May 15 (4) May 14 (5) May 13 (4) May 12 (3) May 11 (4) May 10 (5) May 09 (2) May 08 (4) May 07 (4) May 06 (4) May 05 (4) May 04 (4) May 03 (3) May 02 (3) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (5) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (6) Apr 23 (6) Apr 22 (5) Apr 21 (6) Apr 20 (4) Apr 19 (4) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (5) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (8) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (6) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (3) Apr 04 (4) Apr 03 (6) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (3) Mar 31 (7) Mar 30 (6) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (8) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (6) Mar 20 (5) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (5) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (5) Mar 13 (6) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (4) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (7) Mar 08 (4) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (4) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (4) Mar 03 (6) Mar 02 (3) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (7) Feb 27 (6) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (5) Feb 24 (8) Feb 23 (7) Feb 22 (8) Feb 21 (7) Feb 20 (7) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (5) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (6) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (5) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (7) Feb 11 (6) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (6) Feb 07 (5) Feb 06 (5) Feb 05 (4) Feb 04 (4) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (5) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (3) Jan 29 (6) Jan 28 (4) Jan 27 (3) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (4) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (5) Jan 22 (7) Jan 21 (6) Jan 20 (6) Jan 19 (3) Jan 18 (6) Jan 17 (5) Jan 16 (7) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (7) Jan 13 (5) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (5) Jan 10 (4) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (7) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (5) Jan 05 (5) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (4) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (6) Dec 31 (5) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (7) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (6) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (5) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (4) Dec 17 (6) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (4) Dec 14 (5) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (5) Dec 11 (7) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (6) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (4) Dec 04 (7) Dec 03 (6) Dec 02 (4) Dec 01 (4) Nov 30 (6) Nov 29 (4) Nov 28 (4) Nov 27 (7) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (5) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (4) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (5) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (5) Nov 17 (6) Nov 16 (7) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (5) Nov 13 (5) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (7) Nov 10 (6) Nov 09 (7) Nov 08 (4) Nov 07 (9) Nov 06 (7) Nov 05 (7) Nov 04 (7) Nov 03 (5) Nov 02 (6) Nov 01 (6) Oct 31 (7) Oct 30 (6) Oct 29 (7) Oct 28 (4) Oct 27 (7) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (3) Oct 24 (6) Oct 23 (10) Oct 22 (6) Oct 21 (5) Oct 20 (5) Oct 19 (5) Oct 18 (4) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (5) Oct 15 (6) Oct 14 (7) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (5) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (6) Oct 09 (8) Oct 08 (6) Oct 07 (5) Oct 06 (4) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (5) Oct 01 (5) Sep 30 (6) Sep 29 (5) Sep 28 (5) Sep 27 (6) Sep 26 (7) Sep 25 (6) Sep 24 (6) Sep 23 (6) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (5) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (6) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (7) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (7) Sep 09 (7) Sep 08 (7) Sep 07 (6) Sep 06 (5) Sep 05 (3) Sep 04 (6) Sep 03 (7) Sep 02 (6) Sep 01 (6) Aug 31 (5) Aug 30 (5) Aug 29 (4) Aug 28 (5) Aug 27 (5) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (8) Aug 24 (5) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (7) Aug 21 (7) Aug 20 (6) Aug 19 (7) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (6) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (6) Aug 09 (6) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (4) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (6) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (5) Aug 01 (5) Jul 31 (7) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (7) Jul 27 (6) Jul 26 (4) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (5) Jul 23 (4) Jul 22 (4) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (5) Jul 17 (5) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (5) Jul 12 (6) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (4) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (4) Jul 01 (4) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (5) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (3) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (3) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (4) Jun 17 (5) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (7) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (5) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (6) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (5) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (5) Jun 03 (5) Jun 02 (5) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (4) May 30 (5) May 29 (5) May 28 (5) May 27 (8) May 26 (7) May 25 (7) May 24 (5) May 23 (2) May 22 (5) May 21 (4) May 20 (5) May 19 (5) May 18 (5) May 17 (5) May 16 (7) May 15 (7) May 14 (7) May 13 (5) May 12 (6) May 11 (8) May 10 (4) May 09 (6) May 08 (10) May 07 (8) May 06 (5) May 05 (6) May 04 (7) May 03 (7) May 02 (8) May 01 (6) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (9) Apr 27 (6) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (8) Apr 24 (7) Apr 23 (8) Apr 22 (6) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (10) Apr 19 (7) Apr 18 (7) Apr 17 (8) Apr 16 (5) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (9) Apr 13 (11) Apr 12 (8) Apr 11 (5) Apr 10 (10) Apr 09 (7) Apr 08 (5) Apr 07 (9) Apr 06 (10) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (7) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (5) Mar 31 (3) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (7) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (8) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (7) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (8) Mar 17 (8) Mar 16 (3) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (6) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (7) Mar 10 (6) Mar 09 (8) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (9) Mar 04 (7) Mar 03 (6) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (7) Feb 28 (8) Feb 27 (7) Feb 26 (4) Feb 25 (9) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (6) Feb 22 (7) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (5) Feb 18 (5) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (8) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (4) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (6) Feb 09 (7) Feb 08 (6) Feb 07 (6) Feb 06 (6) Feb 05 (5) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (10) Feb 02 (9) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (8) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (9) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (5) Jan 26 (6) Jan 25 (7) Jan 24 (6) Jan 23 (6) Jan 22 (5) Jan 21 (7) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (5) Jan 18 (5) Jan 17 (5) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (5) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (5) Jan 12 (6) Jan 11 (5) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (3) Jan 07 (5) Jan 06 (5) Jan 05 (6) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (3) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (5) Dec 25 (6) Dec 24 (7) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (5) Dec 20 (6) Dec 19 (10) Dec 18 (9) Dec 17 (10) Dec 16 (8) Dec 15 (4) Dec 14 (6) Dec 13 (10) Dec 12 (6) Dec 11 (5) Dec 10 (6) Dec 09 (5) Dec 08 (8) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (6) Dec 04 (7) Dec 03 (7) Dec 02 (6) Dec 01 (9) Nov 30 (5) Nov 29 (9) Nov 28 (7) Nov 27 (6) Nov 26 (7) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (4) Nov 22 (7) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (4) Nov 19 (8) Nov 18 (12) Nov 17 (8) Nov 16 (6) Nov 15 (4) Nov 14 (11) Nov 13 (11) Nov 12 (9) Nov 11 (6) Nov 10 (9) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (7) Nov 07 (7) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (8) Nov 04 (6) Nov 03 (4) Nov 02 (7) Nov 01 (5) Oct 31 (7) Oct 30 (6) Oct 29 (7) Oct 28 (4) Oct 27 (7) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (7) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (7) Oct 22 (7) Oct 21 (6) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (7) Oct 18 (6) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (8) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (6) Oct 13 (7) Oct 12 (5) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (8) Oct 09 (8) Oct 08 (7) Oct 07 (7) Oct 06 (7) Oct 05 (8) Oct 04 (6) Oct 03 (8) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (10) Sep 29 (7) Sep 28 (10) Sep 27 (10) Sep 26 (11) Sep 25 (5) Sep 24 (6) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (5) Sep 21 (8) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (6) Sep 18 (6) Sep 17 (7) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (6) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (6) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (10) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (3) Sep 08 (8) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (7) Sep 05 (8) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (6) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (6) Aug 30 (3) Aug 29 (4) Aug 28 (5) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (5) Aug 25 (9) Aug 24 (7) Aug 23 (8) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (9) Aug 20 (8) Aug 19 (7) Aug 18 (6) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (8) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (5) Aug 13 (6) Aug 12 (5) Aug 11 (7) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (9) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (5) Aug 06 (5) Aug 05 (6) Aug 04 (6) Aug 03 (7) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (6) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (8) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (6) Jul 26 (9) Jul 25 (9) Jul 24 (7) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (7) Jul 21 (9) Jul 20 (6) Jul 19 (9) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (2) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (7) Jul 14 (7) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (4) Jul 10 (7) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (6) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (8) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (6) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (5) Jun 27 (6) Jun 26 (6) Jun 25 (7) Jun 24 (4) Jun 23 (5) Jun 22 (7) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (6) Jun 17 (5) Jun 16 (6) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (7) Jun 12 (8) Jun 11 (5) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (7) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (5) Jun 06 (7) Jun 05 (5) Jun 04 (6) Jun 03 (5) Jun 02 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (7) May 30 (4) May 29 (5) May 28 (1) May 27 (5) May 26 (8) May 25 (5) May 24 (8) May 23 (8) May 22 (7) May 21 (5) May 20 (6) May 19 (9) May 18 (5) May 17 (9) May 16 (7) May 15 (5) May 14 (11) May 13 (6) May 12 (13) May 11 (5) May 10 (7) May 09 (6) May 08 (8) May 07 (9) May 06 (6) May 05 (5) May 04 (2) May 03 (6) May 02 (7) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (5) Apr 29 (7) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (6) Apr 26 (10) Apr 25 (7) Apr 24 (5) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (6) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (10) Apr 16 (6) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (10) Apr 10 (6) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (10) Apr 07 (6) Apr 06 (6) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (4) Apr 03 (5) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (6) Mar 31 (5) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (8) Mar 27 (7) Mar 26 (9) Mar 25 (11) Mar 24 (10) Mar 23 (6) Mar 22 (8) Mar 21 (3) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (2) Mar 18 (9) Mar 17 (7) Mar 16 (6) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (6) Mar 13 (6) Mar 12 (10) Mar 11 (7) Mar 10 (8) Mar 09 (6) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (6) Mar 06 (7) Mar 05 (6) Mar 04 (10) Mar 03 (2) Mar 02 (8) Mar 01 (9) Feb 29 (11) Feb 28 (8) Feb 27 (6) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (8) Feb 24 (9) Feb 23 (12) Feb 22 (10) Feb 21 (11) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (5) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (9) Feb 16 (10) Feb 15 (8) Feb 14 (9) Feb 13 (8) Feb 12 (8) Feb 11 (7) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (7) Feb 08 (9) Feb 07 (7) Feb 06 (10) Feb 05 (10) Feb 04 (6) Feb 03 (8) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (6) Jan 31 (10) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (6) Jan 28 (9) Jan 27 (7) Jan 26 (8) Jan 25 (8) Jan 24 (7) Jan 23 (6) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (6) Jan 20 (10) Jan 19 (8) Jan 18 (6) Jan 17 (7) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (8) Jan 13 (8) Jan 12 (6) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (6) Jan 09 (8) Jan 08 (4) Jan 07 (5) Jan 06 (6) Jan 05 (9) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (7) Jan 02 (6) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (9) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (2) Dec 27 (8) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (6) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (6) Dec 22 (8) Dec 21 (8) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (8) Dec 18 (6) Dec 17 (8) Dec 16 (7) Dec 15 (9) Dec 14 (7) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (4) Dec 11 (5) Dec 10 (6) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (5) Dec 04 (4) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (7) Dec 01 (7) Nov 30 (5) Nov 29 (5) Nov 28 (6) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (5) Nov 24 (8) Nov 23 (2) Nov 22 (6) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (5) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (4) Nov 16 (6) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (5) Nov 11 (4) Nov 10 (4) Nov 09 (2) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (4) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (5) Nov 04 (6) Nov 03 (6) Nov 02 (5) Nov 01 (5) Oct 31 (6) Oct 30 (6) Oct 29 (5) Oct 28 (5) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (5) Oct 25 (8) Oct 24 (7) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (7) Oct 21 (5) Oct 20 (5) Oct 19 (5) Oct 18 (6) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (2) Oct 15 (2) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (6) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (3) Oct 10 (6) Oct 09 (4) Oct 08 (5) Oct 07 (6) Oct 06 (6) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (5) Oct 01 (8) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (6) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (9) Sep 26 (4) Sep 25 (4) Sep 24 (5) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (6) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (4) Sep 19 (5) Sep 18 (7) Sep 17 (6) Sep 16 (7) Sep 15 (4) Sep 14 (8) Sep 13 (3) Sep 12 (7) Sep 11 (8) Sep 10 (5) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (8) Sep 07 (5) Sep 06 (6) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (5) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (4) Aug 31 (5) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (5) Aug 28 (5) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (7) Aug 24 (6) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (6) Aug 21 (5) Aug 20 (5) Aug 19 (5) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (7) Aug 14 (8) Aug 13 (8) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (6) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (4) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (6) Aug 06 (7) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (6) Aug 01 (6) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (6) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (5) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (4) Jul 22 (5) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (2) Jul 19 (4) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (8) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (5) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (5) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (7) Jul 10 (5) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (10) Jul 02 (4) Jul 01 (2) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (3) Jun 26 (6) Jun 25 (3) Jun 24 (3) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (3) Jun 14 (4) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (2) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (2) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (1) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (2) Jun 02 (2) Jun 01 (2) May 31 (2) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (5) May 27 (1) May 26 (1) May 25 (2) May 24 (2) May 23 (1) May 22 (2) May 21 (2) May 20 (3) May 19 (3) May 18 (2) May 17 (2) May 16 (2) May 15 (3) May 14 (2) May 13 (2) May 12 (2) May 11 (3) May 10 (3) May 09 (2) May 08 (3) May 07 (2) May 06 (2) May 05 (2) May 04 (2) May 03 (3) May 02 (2) May 01 (2) Apr 30 (1) Apr 29 (2) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (2) Apr 26 (2) Apr 25 (2) Apr 24 (2) Apr 23 (3) Apr 22 (4) Apr 21 (4) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (2) Apr 17 (2) Apr 16 (2) Apr 15 (2) Apr 14 (2) Apr 13 (2) Apr 12 (2) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (3) Apr 09 (2) Apr 08 (2) Apr 07 (2) Apr 06 (2) Apr 05 (3) Apr 04 (2) Apr 03 (2) Apr 02 (2) Apr 01 (2) Mar 31 (1) Mar 30 (1) Mar 29 (2) Mar 28 (2) Mar 27 (2) Mar 26 (3) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (2) Mar 23 (2) Mar 22 (1) Mar 21 (1) Mar 20 (2) Mar 19 (2) Mar 18 (2) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (2) Mar 14 (2) Mar 13 (2) Mar 12 (2) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (3) Mar 08 (2) Mar 07 (1) Mar 06 (2) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (3) Mar 03 (8) Mar 02 (2) Mar 01 (1) Feb 28 (2) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (1) Feb 25 (1) Feb 24 (2) Feb 23 (2) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (2) Feb 20 (2) Feb 19 (2) Feb 18 (2) Feb 17 (2) Feb 16 (2) Feb 15 (1) Feb 14 (1) Feb 13 (1) Feb 12 (2) Feb 11 (1) Feb 10 (2) Feb 09 (1) Feb 08 (1) Feb 07 (1) Feb 06 (1) Feb 05 (5) Feb 03 (1) Feb 02 (1) Feb 01 (1) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (4) Jan 28 (2) Jan 27 (5) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (3) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (4) Jan 18 (3) Jan 17 (2) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (5) Jan 13 (5) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (3) Jan 09 (5) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (4) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (4) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (1) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (5) Dec 20 (5) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (4) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (4) Dec 15 (6) Dec 14 (4) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (5) Dec 11 (5) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (5) Dec 08 (4) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (5) Dec 05 (4) Dec 04 (4) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (3) Nov 30 (4) Nov 29 (4) Nov 28 (5) Nov 27 (4) Nov 26 (4) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (5) Nov 23 (4) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (4) Nov 20 (4) Nov 19 (5) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (4) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (4) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (4) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (3) Nov 08 (3) Nov 07 (4) Nov 06 (4) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (3) Nov 03 (2) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (3) Oct 30 (4) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (4) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (3) Oct 25 (3) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (3) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (3) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (3) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (3) Oct 13 (6) Oct 12 (4) Oct 11 (4) Oct 10 (3) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (3) Sep 26 (5) Sep 25 (5) Sep 24 (4) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (4) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (5) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (4) Sep 13 (3) Sep 12 (6) Sep 11 (6) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (3) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (4) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (3) Sep 01 (4) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (3) Aug 29 (4) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (4) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (3) Aug 20 (5) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (5) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (3) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (3) Aug 09 (4) Aug 08 (2) Aug 07 (2) Aug 06 (2) Aug 05 (2) Aug 04 (2) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (4) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (2) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (6) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (4) Jul 22 (4) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (4) Jul 18 (4) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (5) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (5) Jul 09 (2) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (2) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (5) Jul 01 (3) Jun 30 (2) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (2) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (1) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (2) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (2) Jun 08 (2) Jun 07 (2) Jun 06 (2) Jun 05 (2) Jun 04 (2) Jun 03 (2) Jun 02 (4) Jun 01 (3) May 31 (4) May 30 (5) May 29 (3) May 28 (3) May 27 (3) May 26 (4) May 25 (4) May 24 (2) May 23 (4) May 22 (4) May 21 (5) May 20 (6) May 19 (4) May 18 (3) May 17 (4) May 16 (5) May 15 (6) May 14 (4) May 13 (9) May 12 (4) May 11 (5) May 10 (5) May 09 (4) May 08 (3) May 07 (5) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (5) May 03 (1) May 02 (5) May 01 (7) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (5) Apr 28 (4) Apr 27 (1) Apr 26 (4) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (3) Apr 21 (4) Apr 20 (4) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (3) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (3) Apr 14 (4) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (6) Apr 10 (1) Apr 09 (4) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (1) Apr 03 (3) Apr 02 (4) Apr 01 (3) Mar 31 (1) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (4) Mar 28 (3) Mar 27 (4) Mar 26 (2) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (6) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (4) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (4) Mar 14 (3) Mar 13 (4) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (3) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (3) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (4) Feb 28 (2) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (3) Feb 25 (3) Feb 24 (4) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (3) Feb 21 (4) Feb 20 (4) Feb 19 (3) Feb 18 (3) Feb 17 (3) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (4) Feb 14 (3) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (3) Feb 11 (3) Feb 10 (4) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (3) Feb 07 (4) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (3) Feb 04 (3) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (3) Jan 30 (3) Jan 29 (4) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (2) Jan 26 (4) Jan 25 (3) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (3) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (3) Jan 12 (6) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (4) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (4) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (4) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (5) Jan 02 (4) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (2) Dec 30 (2) Dec 29 (2) Dec 28 (3) Dec 27 (3) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (3) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (5) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (3) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (2) Dec 11 (6) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (6) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (3) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (4) Dec 03 (3) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (4) Nov 30 (2) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (5) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (6) Nov 22 (5) Nov 21 (4) Nov 20 (2) Nov 19 (5) Nov 18 (7) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (4) Nov 15 (6) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (3) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (3) Nov 07 (2) Nov 06 (2) Nov 05 (2) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (4) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (2) Oct 31 (3) Oct 30 (4) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (3) Oct 25 (2) Oct 24 (2) Oct 23 (2) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (2) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (2) Oct 17 (2) Oct 16 (2) Oct 15 (2) Oct 14 (4) Oct 13 (2) Oct 12 (3) Oct 11 (2) Oct 10 (2) Oct 09 (4) Oct 08 (4) Oct 07 (4) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (6) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (7) Sep 26 (4) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (5) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (3) Sep 20 (6) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (7) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (4) Sep 13 (3) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (5) Sep 09 (7) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (2) Sep 06 (7) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (4) Sep 03 (2) Sep 02 (2) Sep 01 (2) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (3) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (4) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (3) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (4) Aug 21 (4) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (2) Aug 16 (2) Aug 15 (5) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (10) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (5) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (5) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (5) Jul 30 (4) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (5) Jul 23 (5) Jul 22 (7) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (5) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (3) Jul 12 (2) Jul 11 (2) Jul 10 (2) Jul 09 (2) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (2) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (2) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (6) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (6) Jun 27 (6) Jun 26 (6) Jun 25 (6) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (5) Jun 18 (8) Jun 17 (6) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (5) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (2) May 30 (2) May 29 (2) May 28 (2) May 27 (4) May 26 (4) May 25 (3) May 24 (2) May 23 (2) May 22 (3) May 21 (5) May 20 (4) May 19 (2) May 18 (3) May 17 (3) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (5) May 13 (3) May 12 (4) May 11 (3) May 10 (4) May 09 (4) May 08 (4) May 07 (3) May 06 (2) May 05 (3) May 04 (4) May 03 (2) May 02 (3) May 01 (3) Apr 30 (3) Apr 29 (4) Apr 28 (2) Apr 27 (3) Apr 26 (4) Apr 25 (2) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (2) Apr 22 (2) Apr 21 (4) Apr 20 (4) Apr 19 (5) Apr 18 (7) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (10) Apr 15 (5) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (7) Apr 08 (4) Apr 07 (7) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (7) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (5) Mar 31 (5) Mar 30 (5) Mar 29 (7) Mar 28 (6) Mar 27 (5) Mar 26 (5) Mar 25 (6) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (4) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (6) Mar 18 (6) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (5) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (5) Mar 12 (5) Mar 11 (4) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (2) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (3) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (4) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (2) Feb 23 (3) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (2) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (2) Feb 16 (3) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (6) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (9) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (3) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (7) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (4) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (2) Jan 27 (2) Jan 26 (3) Jan 25 (4) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (2) Jan 22 (2) Jan 21 (5) Jan 20 (4) Jan 19 (5) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (4) Jan 16 (3) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (3) Jan 12 (3) Jan 11 (2) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (2) Jan 07 (2) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (2) Jan 04 (2) Jan 03 (2) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (2) Dec 31 (2) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (3) Dec 28 (3) Dec 27 (2) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (2) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (2) Dec 21 (2) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (2) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (2) Dec 16 (2) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (2) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (3) Dec 10 (5) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (2) Dec 06 (3) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (5) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (3) Nov 30 (4) Nov 29 (4) Nov 28 (2) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (2) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (2) Nov 22 (2) Nov 21 (2) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (3) Nov 18 (2) Nov 17 (2) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (4) Nov 13 (2) Nov 12 (2) Nov 11 (2) Nov 10 (2) Nov 09 (2) Nov 08 (2) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (6) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (5) Nov 03 (5) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (5) Oct 31 (7) Oct 30 (5) Oct 29 (4) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (2) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (4) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (2) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (2) Oct 18 (2) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (5) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (2) Oct 12 (4) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (2) Oct 05 (5) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (5) Sep 30 (2) Sep 29 (2) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (6) Sep 26 (2) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (2) Sep 22 (2) Sep 21 (2) Sep 20 (2) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (2) Sep 15 (4) Sep 14 (3) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (6) Sep 10 (2) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (5) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (2) Sep 02 (3) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (2) Aug 30 (2) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (2) Aug 25 (2) Aug 24 (3) Aug 23 (2) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (5) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (3) Aug 18 (2) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (5) Aug 13 (2) Aug 12 (2) Aug 11 (2) Aug 10 (2) Aug 09 (2) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (5) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (2) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (2) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (2) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (2) Jul 29 (2) Jul 28 (2) Jul 27 (2) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (2) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (2) Jul 21 (3) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (2) Jul 18 (3) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (2) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (2) Jul 12 (3) Jul 11 (2) Jul 10 (2) Jul 09 (2) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (2) Jul 06 (2) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (2) Jul 03 (2) Jul 02 (2) Jul 01 (3) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (7) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (2) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (1) Jun 24 (2) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (2) Jun 19 (2) Jun 18 (2) Jun 17 (2) Jun 16 (2) Jun 15 (2) Jun 14 (2) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (3) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (2) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (5) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (2) Jun 02 (2) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (2) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (3) May 27 (2) May 26 (2) May 25 (2) May 24 (2) May 23 (2) May 22 (3) May 21 (3) May 20 (2) May 19 (2) May 18 (4) May 17 (7) May 16 (2) May 15 (2) May 14 (4) May 13 (3) May 12 (4) May 11 (4) May 10 (4) May 09 (3) May 08 (2) May 07 (2) May 06 (2) May 05 (1) May 04 (2) May 03 (4) May 02 (3) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (1) Apr 29 (3) Apr 28 (2) Apr 27 (3) Apr 26 (2) Apr 25 (2) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (2) Apr 22 (2) Apr 21 (2) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (4) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (2) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (3) Apr 04 (1) Apr 03 (1) Apr 02 (1) Apr 01 (2) Mar 31 (2) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (2) Mar 28 (3) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (3) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (2) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (3) Mar 21 (4) Mar 20 (2) Mar 19 (3) Mar 18 (1) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (2) Mar 15 (1) Mar 14 (3) Mar 13 (1) Mar 12 (2) Mar 11 (1) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (2) Mar 08 (1) Mar 07 (1) Mar 04 (2) Mar 02 (2) Feb 28 (1) Feb 24 (1) Dec 31 (4) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (3) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (3) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (3) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (3) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (3) Dec 06 (3) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (3) Nov 30 (3) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (3) Nov 22 (3) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (3) Nov 18 (3) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (2) Nov 15 (3) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (3) Nov 10 (4) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (4) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (3) Nov 05 (5) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (3) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (4) Oct 30 (3) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (4) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (3) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (4) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (4) Oct 17 (4) Oct 16 (3) Oct 15 (3) Oct 14 (3) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (3) Oct 11 (3) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (4) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (5) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (4) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (4) Sep 26 (3) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (3) Sep 20 (3) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (3) Sep 13 (3) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (4) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (4) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (3) Sep 05 (3) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (4) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (5) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (3) Aug 20 (3) Aug 19 (3) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (3) Aug 12 (3) Aug 11 (4) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (5) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (3) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (3) Jul 30 (4) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (5) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (4) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (3) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (4) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (5) Jul 11 (4) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (3) Jul 01 (6) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (4) Jun 25 (5) Jun 24 (4) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (5) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (3) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (3) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (5) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (4) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (5) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (5) Jun 01 (3) May 31 (4) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (3) May 27 (3) May 26 (4) May 25 (4) May 24 (4) May 23 (4) May 22 (3) May 21 (3) May 20 (4) May 19 (3) May 18 (3) May 17 (4) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (3) May 13 (4) May 12 (1) May 11 (3) May 10 (3) May 09 (3) May 08 (3) May 07 (4) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (4) May 03 (3) May 02 (3) May 01 (6) Apr 30 (3) Apr 29 (3) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (5) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (3) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (3) Apr 22 (3) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (4) Apr 16 (3) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (3) Apr 09 (3) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (3) Apr 04 (3) Apr 03 (3) Apr 02 (3) Apr 01 (3) Mar 31 (3) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (3) Mar 28 (4) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (3) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (3) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (3) Mar 21 (3) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (3) Mar 18 (3) Mar 17 (3) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (3) Mar 14 (3) Mar 13 (3) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (4) Mar 08 (3) Mar 07 (3) Mar 06 (4) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (3) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (3) Mar 01 (3) Feb 28 (3) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (3) Feb 25 (3) Feb 24 (2) Feb 23 (3) Feb 22 (3) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (3) Feb 19 (3) Feb 18 (3) Feb 17 (3) Feb 16 (3) Feb 15 (3) Feb 14 (3) Feb 13 (3) Feb 12 (3) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (3) Feb 09 (3) Feb 08 (3) Feb 07 (4) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (3) Feb 04 (4) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (3) Jan 30 (3) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (5) Jan 27 (4) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (3) Jan 21 (4) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (5) Jan 18 (5) Jan 17 (4) Jan 16 (3) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (5) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (4) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (3) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (3) Dec 28 (3) Dec 27 (3) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (3) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (4) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (3) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (3) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (3) Nov 30 (3) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (6) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (4) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (4) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (2) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (2) Nov 11 (3) Nov 10 (2) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (2) Nov 05 (2) Nov 04 (3) Nov 03 (2) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (2) Oct 30 (6) Oct 29 (5) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (5) Oct 26 (3) Oct 25 (4) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (5) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (4) Oct 18 (4) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (2) Oct 15 (3) Oct 14 (3) Oct 13 (2) Oct 12 (2) Oct 11 (2) Oct 10 (3) Oct 09 (4) Oct 08 (2) Oct 07 (2) Oct 06 (2) Oct 05 (3) Oct 04 (2) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (4) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (2) Sep 26 (2) Sep 25 (2) Sep 24 (1) Sep 23 (1) Sep 22 (2) Sep 21 (2) Sep 20 (1) Sep 19 (1) Sep 18 (1) Sep 17 (2) Sep 16 (1) Sep 15 (2) Sep 14 (2) Sep 13 (1) Sep 12 (1) Sep 11 (2) Sep 10 (2) Sep 09 (1) Sep 08 (1) Sep 07 (2) Sep 06 (1) Sep 05 (1) Sep 04 (2) Sep 03 (1) Sep 02 (1) Sep 01 (1) Aug 31 (2) Aug 30 (1) Aug 29 (1) Aug 28 (1) Aug 27 (1) Aug 26 (1) Aug 25 (1) Aug 24 (1) Aug 23 (2) Aug 22 (1) Aug 21 (1) Aug 20 (2) Aug 19 (1) Aug 18 (1) Aug 17 (2) Aug 16 (2) Aug 15 (1) Aug 14 (1) Aug 12 (1) Aug 09 (1) Aug 08 (1) Aug 07 (1) Aug 05 (1) Aug 04 (1) Jul 31 (1) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (5) Jul 28 (2) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (4) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (3) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (4) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (4) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (5) Jul 01 (3) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (4) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (4) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (6) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (3) Jun 19 (6) Jun 18 (5) Jun 17 (5) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (4) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (5) Jun 03 (5) Jun 02 (4) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (4) May 30 (4) May 29 (4) May 28 (5) May 27 (5) May 26 (5) May 25 (4) May 24 (5) May 23 (4) May 22 (4) May 21 (3) May 20 (6) May 19 (4) May 18 (4) May 17 (4) May 16 (5) May 15 (3) May 14 (3) May 13 (4) May 12 (3) May 11 (3) May 10 (3) May 09 (3) May 08 (3) May 07 (3) May 06 (3) May 05 (3) May 04 (3) May 03 (3) May 02 (3) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (3) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (3) Apr 22 (3) Apr 21 (4) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (3) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (6) Apr 12 (4) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (5) Apr 09 (7) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (4) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (4) Apr 04 (6) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (4) Apr 01 (3) Mar 31 (4) Mar 30 (5) Mar 29 (5) Mar 28 (6) Mar 27 (5) Mar 26 (5) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (4) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (3) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (5) Mar 16 (5) Mar 15 (3) Mar 14 (6) Mar 13 (4) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (7) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (4) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (4) Feb 28 (4) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (5) Feb 25 (4) Feb 24 (5) Feb 23 (5) Feb 22 (6) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (3) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (7) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (7) Feb 14 (5) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (6) Feb 11 (8) Feb 10 (4) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (3) Feb 06 (6) Feb 05 (3) Feb 04 (6) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (6) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (6) Jan 26 (6) Jan 25 (4) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (5) Jan 22 (5) Jan 21 (5) Jan 20 (5) Jan 19 (5) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (5) Jan 13 (3) Jan 12 (4) Jan 11 (5) Jan 10 (3) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (5) Jan 05 (6) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (3) Dec 27 (3) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (7) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (5) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (6) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (3) Dec 05 (4) Dec 04 (5) Dec 03 (5) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (5) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (4) Nov 27 (4) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (5) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (4) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (4) Nov 20 (5) Nov 19 (5) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (4) Nov 14 (4) Nov 13 (4) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (3) Nov 10 (4) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (3) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (4) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (5) Nov 03 (4) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (3) Oct 30 (5) Oct 29 (4) Oct 28 (5) Oct 27 (5) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (3) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (5) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (4) Oct 20 (2) Oct 19 (4) Oct 18 (2) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (4) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (4) Oct 11 (4) Oct 10 (2) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (5) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (6) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (4) Sep 26 (4) Sep 25 (5) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (4) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (2) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (4) Sep 17 (4) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (4) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (3) Sep 09 (3) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (3) Sep 05 (6) Sep 04 (5) Sep 03 (4) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (4) Aug 31 (4) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (2) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (2) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (2) Aug 21 (5) Aug 20 (3) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (2) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (4) Aug 12 (3) Aug 11 (4) Aug 10 (3) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (6) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (3) Jul 30 (4) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (4) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (2) Jul 20 (3) Jul 19 (4) Jul 18 (3) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (3) Jul 15 (5) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (5) Jul 11 (4) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (8) Jul 08 (6) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (3) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (4) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (3) Jun 26 (4) Jun 25 (3) Jun 24 (3) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (2) Jun 21 (1) Jun 20 (2) Jun 19 (2) Jun 18 (4) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (3) Jun 15 (7) Jun 14 (3) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (5) Jun 11 (4) Jun 10 (3) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (5) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (4) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (3) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (3) May 27 (3) May 26 (3) May 25 (4) May 24 (2) May 23 (4) May 22 (3) May 21 (2) May 20 (3) May 19 (2) May 18 (4) May 17 (4) May 16 (3) May 15 (2) May 14 (6) May 13 (4) May 12 (2) May 11 (3) May 10 (2) May 09 (3) May 08 (4) May 07 (4) May 06 (3) May 05 (3) May 04 (4) May 03 (3) May 02 (4) May 01 (3) Apr 30 (2) Apr 29 (5) Apr 28 (2) Apr 27 (2) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (3) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (2) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (2) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (4) Apr 16 (3) Apr 15 (2) Apr 14 (4) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (5) Apr 09 (4) Apr 08 (4) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (4) Apr 04 (4) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (6) Mar 31 (2) Mar 30 (5) Mar 29 (4) Mar 28 (4) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (4) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (3) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (3) Mar 17 (5) Mar 16 (2) Mar 15 (4) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (2) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (4) Mar 08 (4) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (4) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (4) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (6) Feb 25 (4) Feb 24 (5) Feb 23 (5) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (2) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (3) Feb 14 (4) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (4) Feb 11 (3) Feb 10 (4) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (3) Feb 07 (2) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (3) Feb 04 (4) Feb 03 (3) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (3) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (5) Jan 27 (3) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (3) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (2) Jan 22 (3) Jan 21 (4) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (4) Jan 18 (3) Jan 17 (3) Jan 16 (2) Jan 15 (2) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (2) Jan 12 (3) Jan 11 (3) Jan 10 (2) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (2) Jan 07 (2) Jan 06 (2) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (3) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (1) Dec 31 (2) Dec 30 (2) Dec 29 (2) Dec 28 (2) Dec 27 (2) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (1) Dec 24 (2) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (2) Dec 20 (1) Dec 19 (2) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (2) Dec 16 (2) Dec 15 (4) Dec 14 (2) Dec 13 (1) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (2) Dec 10 (2) Dec 09 (2) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (2) Dec 06 (1) Dec 05 (2) Dec 04 (1) Dec 03 (2) Dec 02 (2) Dec 01 (2) Nov 30 (2) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (2) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (1) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (1) Nov 23 (3) Nov 22 (1) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (2) Nov 18 (2) Nov 17 (1) Nov 16 (1) Nov 15 (1) Nov 14 (1) Nov 13 (2) Nov 12 (3) Nov 11 (2) Nov 10 (2) Nov 09 (1) Nov 08 (2) Nov 07 (1) Nov 06 (2) Nov 05 (2) Nov 04 (1) Nov 03 (1) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (2) Oct 31 (2) Oct 30 (2) Oct 29 (4) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (2) Oct 25 (2) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (2) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (3) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (1) Oct 18 (3) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (2) Oct 15 (1) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (2) Oct 10 (2) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (2) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (1) Oct 03 (2) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (1) Sep 29 (2) Sep 28 (1) Sep 27 (3) Sep 26 (3) Sep 25 (2) Sep 24 (1) Sep 23 (2) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (1) Sep 20 (1) Sep 19 (2) Sep 17 (2) Sep 16 (2) Sep 15 (1) Sep 14 (1) Sep 13 (1) Sep 12 (3) Sep 11 (1) Sep 10 (2) Sep 09 (2) Sep 08 (2) Sep 07 (1) Sep 06 (1) Sep 05 (3) Sep 04 (2) Sep 03 (1) Sep 02 (1) Sep 01 (2) Aug 31 (2) Aug 30 (1) Aug 29 (2) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (2) Aug 26 (1) Aug 25 (1) Aug 24 (2) Aug 23 (2) Aug 22 (1) Aug 21 (1) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (1) Aug 18 (1) Aug 17 (2) Aug 16 (1) Aug 15 (2) Aug 14 (1) Aug 13 (1) Aug 12 (3) Aug 11 (2) Aug 10 (2) Aug 09 (1) Aug 08 (2) Aug 07 (1) Aug 06 (1) Aug 05 (1) Aug 04 (1) Aug 03 (2) Aug 01 (1) Jul 31 (2) Jul 30 (1) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (2) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (1) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (2) Jul 23 (2) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (1) Jul 20 (3) Jul 19 (2) Jul 18 (2) Jul 16 (3) Jul 15 (1) Jul 13 (2) Jul 12 (1) Jul 11 (2) Jul 09 (5) Jul 08 (1) Jul 07 (1) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (1) Jul 03 (2) Jul 01 (1) Jun 30 (1) Jun 29 (2) Jun 28 (2) Jun 27 (2) Jun 25 (2) Jun 24 (1) Jun 23 (2) Jun 22 (2) Jun 20 (1) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (1) Jun 15 (1) Jun 14 (3) Jun 12 (1) Jun 11 (1) Jun 08 (1) Jun 07 (1) Jun 05 (1) Jun 04 (1) Jun 03 (1) Jun 01 (1) May 31 (1) May 27 (2) May 25 (2) May 24 (1) May 23 (2) May 22 (1) May 21 (1) May 20 (2) May 19 (1) May 18 (1) May 17 (2) May 14 (1) May 13 (1) May 11 (2) May 10 (2) May 09 (1) May 07 (2) May 06 (1) May 05 (1) May 04 (1) May 03 (3) May 02 (1) May 01 (1) Apr 29 (1) Apr 28 (1) Apr 27 (1) Apr 25 (2) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (1) Apr 22 (2) Apr 21 (2) Apr 20 (1) Apr 19 (2) Apr 17 (1) Apr 15 (1) Apr 13 (1) Apr 10 (2) Apr 08 (1) Apr 07 (1) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (3) Apr 03 (1) Apr 02 (1) Apr 01 (2) Mar 31 (2) Mar 30 (1) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (1) Mar 25 (1) Mar 24 (1) Mar 22 (2) Mar 21 (1) Mar 20 (1) Mar 18 (1) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (1) Mar 14 (2) Mar 13 (4) Mar 12 (1) Mar 11 (1) Mar 10 (1) Mar 06 (4) Mar 05 (1) Mar 04 (1) Mar 03 (2) Mar 02 (2) Mar 01 (2) Feb 28 (2) Feb 27 (1) Feb 26 (1) Feb 25 (1) Feb 23 (2) Feb 19 (2) Feb 13 (1) Feb 12 (1) Feb 02 (1) Jan 31 (1) Jan 22 (1) Jan 18 (1) Jan 16 (1) Jan 09 (1) Jan 01 (1) Dec 20 (2) Dec 15 (1) Dec 13 (1) Dec 11 (1) Nov 30 (1) Nov 27 (1) Nov 20 (1) Nov 11 (1) Nov 10 (1) Oct 23 (1) Oct 20 (1) Oct 01 (1) Sep 30 (1) Sep 29 (1) Sep 24 (2) Sep 15 (1) Sep 13 (1) Sep 12 (1) Sep 08 (1) Sep 02 (2) Aug 31 (1) Aug 28 (1) Aug 27 (2) Aug 24 (1) Aug 21 (1) Aug 20 (1) Aug 18 (3) Aug 16 (1) Aug 15 (1) Aug 14 (1) Aug 11 (1) Aug 08 (1) Aug 07 (1) Aug 03 (1) Jul 27 (1) Jul 26 (1) Jul 24 (1) Jul 22 (1) Jul 21 (1) Jul 19 (1) Jul 15 (1) Jul 14 (1) Jul 13 (3) Jul 10 (1) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (1) Jul 06 (1) Jul 03 (1) Jul 01 (1) Jun 28 (1) Jun 24 (2) Jun 20 (1) Jun 19 (1) Jun 18 (1) Jun 15 (1) Jun 14 (2) Jun 11 (1) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (1) Jun 07 (1) Jun 06 (1) Jun 04 (2) Jun 03 (1) Jun 02 (2) Jun 01 (1) May 31 (3) May 30 (1) May 29 (1) May 28 (2) May 26 (1) May 25 (1) May 18 (1) May 17 (1) May 15 (1) May 09 (1) May 07 (2) May 02 (1) May 01 (1) Apr 30 (1) Apr 27 (1) Apr 26 (2) Apr 23 (1) Apr 22 (1) Apr 19 (1) Apr 18 (1) Apr 12 (1) Apr 11 (1) Apr 09 (1) Apr 07 (1) Apr 05 (1) Apr 01 (1) Mar 30 (1) Mar 27 (1) Mar 25 (1) Mar 22 (2) Mar 19 (1) Mar 18 (1) Mar 16 (1) Mar 15 (2) Mar 13 (1) Mar 12 (1) Mar 11 (1) Mar 10 (1)
Your digital subscription includes access to all content on our agricultural websites across the nation. Access unlimited content and the digital versions of our print editions - This Week's Paper.
Afghan officials say the Islamic State, or IS, is trying to strongly influence children in the countrys East through a growing number of religious seminaries and schools.

The militant group operates at least 25 seminaries, or madrassas, in Nangarhar province, officials say. A madrassa is an Islamic religious school. But at the ones in Nangarhar, Afghan children reportedly are taught military ideology and how to prepare for suicide attacks.

"Madrassas that were built by local people are now being used by IS for militant activities," said Abdul Zahir Haqqani, the provinces director of religious affairs.

"They use them as military centers where they teach militancy, conduct military trainings, and plan their activities," he added.

Officials say that the majority of the students are children of IS fighters, but some local children also attend the IS-operated schools.

Afghans say they are concerned about IS's expertise in teaching terror to children and are asking for local officials and the government to intervene.

The madrassas in the areas remain under IS control, said a man named Ezzatullah, who like many Afghans uses a single name.

He added that IS agents train their fighters in the schools. "They used to be under the government, but not anymore. They teach how to shoot a Kalashnikov, a PK machine gun, and RPG (an explosive device fired by a rocket)."

Provincial leaders say they are preparing an attack against IS to free the schools from the militants.

"IS and other militant groups always try to use Islamic centers as their bases, where they not only provide training, but also use them for other terror activities," said Attaullah Khogyani, a provincial official.

He added that Afghan forces will continue to clear the Islamic centers of IS without causing damage to the centers.

IS forces entered the Afghanistan/Pakistan area in early 2015. Before that, they established bases in the eastern border areas of Afghanistan. The group calls Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of Iran its Islamic State of Khorasan Province.

In Nangarhar, a combination of groups have fought against IS supporters. They include local militias, provincial police, Afghan forces, Taliban fighters and American drone strikes.

According to Abdul Zahir Haqqani, IS also uses mosques as military centers. He said the group has turned at least 60 mosques in Nangarhar into training centers. IS has also killed many Islamic religious leaders if they do not support their extremist beliefs.

Experts say the teaching of children by IS will have a harmful effect for many years.

Michael Kugelman is a South Asia specialist at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington. He says the only thing worse than extremist ideologies influencing a society is when they also influence the children of the society.

Im Phil Dierking.

Zia-U-Rahman Hasrat and Noor Zahid wrote this story for VOANews.com. Phil Dierking adapted it for Learning English.  George Grow was the editor.

How do you feel education can influence children? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

ideology  n. the set of ideas and beliefs of a group or political party

Kalashnikov  n. a type of rifle made in Russia.

province n. any one of the large parts that some countries are divided into

seminaries n. a school for training religious leaders

society  n. people in general thought of as living together in organized communities with shared laws, traditions, and values
This is Whats Trending Today:

Have you ever heard the expression when pigs fly?

It is a saying people use to express that something is very unlikely to happen  as unlikely as pigs growing wings and flying like a bird!

For example, a person who hates riding roller coasters might tell a friend: Ill go on that ride with you when pigs fly.

Well, one pig in San Francisco may not be flying. But she is helping people relax before they fly in a plane.

LiLou is a small pig working at the San Francisco airport. She is a therapy animal. That means she is calm and likes to be touched by humans. She and other therapy animals aim to help travelers who get nervous about flying in planes.

She was trained by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).

This is LiLous first week on the job as a member of the airports wag brigade.

She only works at the airport once a month, so not all travelers to the San Francisco airport will see her. But you might see some of her fellow therapy animals.

She works alongside a group of trained dogs. Their trainers walk around the airport with them. The animals wear signs that say pet me!

LiLou the pig has been getting a lot of attention at the airport, and on social media.

One Twitter user said he made fun of the airports decision to provide a relaxing yoga room for travelers, but he fully supports LiLou.

LiLou is the first pig to ever to be certified by the SPCA in San Francisco. Jennifer Henley is the manager of the SPCAs program.

Its wonderful to witness the surprise and delight that LiLou brings to people during therapy visits, she said.

And thats Whats Trending Today.

Dan Friedell wrote this story for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

Will you look out for the therapy animals if you are at the San Francisco airport? We want to know. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

nervous  adj. having or showing feelings of being worried and afraid about what might happen

therapy  n. the treatment of physical or mental illnesses

cruelty  n. actions that cause suffering

brigade  n. a large group of soldiers that is part of an army

pet  v. to touch (a cat, dog, child, etc.) with your hand in a loving or friendly way

delight  n. a strong feeling of happiness : great pleasure or satisfaction

cute  adj. having a pleasing and usually youthful appearance

relax - v. to make less tense; to reduce from nervous tension
A new United Nations report says a lack of education for girls in developing countries may be partly to blame for a rise in poverty worldwide.

The U.N. released its 2016 State of the World Population Report last week in Jordan's capital, Amman. The writers examine the well-being of 10-year-old girls as signs of success or failure of a country's development.

The report says most of the world's 10-year-old children live in developing countries. In many areas, girls face barriers to good education, healthcare and safety. The report points to problems with continued gender inequality among half of the world's young population.

On the day of the reports release, a group of students sang about gender equality at a press conference in Amman. The students take classes at the citys Princess Alia School for Girls.

The report says 89 percent of the worlds 125 million 10-year-olds live in developing countries. It also says 35 million 10-year-old girls live in countries said to be very unequal on issues of gender.

Princess Basma Bint Talal is a Goodwill Ambassador for the U.N. Population Fund. She told reporters, In some parts of the world, a 10-year-old girl looks forward to her horizons opening up so she can reach her goals. But in other places, she is up against closed doors.

Princess Basma said that girls chances for success are limited when their futures are decided by other people or their environment. Some barriers can threaten their safety and social or economic growth.

Ten-year-old girls in many poor countries face the risk of being married off. More than 60 million girls are not in school. They do twice as much work around the home as boys their age, and they serve as unpaid laborers more than boys do.

Every 10 minutes, an adolescent girl dies of violence. Many of them are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, as a result of rape. Suicide is the second largest cause of death for young girls.

Jordans Princess Basma said, Let us remember that we are all responsible. Let us remember that our every word and deed, positive or negative, can affect the road a girl travels from this turning point in her life. She continued, This is what will shape her role in society, which is to say our society, and our world.

The U.N. report says that investment in the health, education and empowerment of 10-year-old girls can triple a girls lifetime earnings.

Daniel Baker is the humanitarian coordinator for the U.N. Population Funds office in Amman.

Failing to invest in girls is nothing less than planned poverty. Unless we invest in girls, were planning to have a poorer future.

This is a point that cannot be noted enough, he said.

The report closes with the message that doing damage to girls is harmful not only to their communities, but to humanity as a whole.

Im Alice Bryant.

Zlatica Hoke wrote this story for VOANews.com. Alice Bryant adapted her report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

gender - n. the state of being male or female

horizon - n. the limit of what is possible in a particular field or activity

adolescent - adj. a young person who is developing into an adult

deed - n. something that is done: an act or action

triple - v. to cause something to become three times as great or as many
HOLDREGE  Discussions about details for new Johnson Lake lot lease rates and policies can begin.

At Mondays Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District board meeting in Holdrege, which was attended by several dozen Johnson Lake home and cabin owners, a draft proposal was accepted on an 8-4 board vote.

The proposal was described by CNPPID Natural Resources Manager Mike Drain as a starting point to generate discussion. These are a set of draft proposals, not necessarily what the lease would be, he said.

The next steps will include meetings between Central managers and a seven-member committee appointed by Johnson Lake Development Inc., a mailing to the nearly 600 tenants to seek comments, and a Jan. 23 public open house at the Holiday Inn Express in Lexington.

Earlier at Mondays meeting, JLDI President Jean Edeal, who also is a member of the lease committee, said a committee proposal was mailed to board members on Nov. 22, but there was no feedback.

Over the past 24 months, the committee has met with Centrals management multiple times and presented our requests to them. But we feel that our voices arent being heard, and I havent received any assurance that our lease is even being considered, Edeal said.

She added that neither the JLDI board nor the lease committee has the legal right to enter into a binding agreement. Accepting a new lease is up to each lease holder.

Major differences in the two proposals are lease rates and how property values might be used to set them.

CNPPID draft proposal

Drain said Centrals proposal is for a fixed term of 30 years, rather than the current 30-year cancellation notice lease, so that a future-payment schedule can be created. Also, the lakes shoreline management plan approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission does not allow leases of more than 30 years.

Lot lease fees still would start as a percentage of lot value. Values would be based on size and frontage, Drain said, with discounts for lots in bays or coves or with shallow water.

The current lease is based on 5 percent of property value, and appraisals are done every 10 years. A new 10-year period is approaching, and appraisals will be done in 2017.

The lease proposal would do away with the requirement for 10-year appraisals, Drain said.

Under the CNPPID proposal, the fee initially would be 3.5 percent of appraised value. Then, there would be annual increases of 3.5 percent for 30 years.

Drain used averages for various tiers to show how fees would go down using the new rate, assuming new values are similar to current ones. He also gave some examples for specific lots in various locations around the lake.

Tenant committee proposal

The Johnson Lake committees proposal calls for a five-year freeze on current fees to allow lease holders who financed their costs for the lake areas sanitary improvement district to pay off that debt.

Edeal said residents around the lake paid an average of nearly $12,000 for personal sewer connections.

After five years, the proposal calls for a 30-year rolling lease with annual fee increases capped at 2.65 percent. Also, a portion of lease fees should be dedicated by CNPPID for annual lake improvements such as dredging and control of invasive plants and non-game fish.

Edeal told the Hub that paying property taxes, sewer costs and lot lease fees is becoming too much for many Johnson Lake tenants. We pay property taxes on lots we dont own, she said.

Several tenants at Mondays meeting said the sewer improvements are a major cause of soaring values for their lake properties.

Edeal said its estimated the average Johnson Lake lot has had $60,000 worth of improvements  water, electricity, sewer, landscaping, shoreline  in the years since it was an unimproved lot.

I dont think were given fair credit for that, she added.

We want to get away from the appraisal process of putting a value on the lots because Johnson Lake is so unique ... Its an intangible value, Edeal said.

The committees proposal is to use cost of living or a similar index to set annual fee increases within the 2.65 percent cap.

Everyone understands that Central has to run a business, Edeal said.

Allan McClure, another Johnson Lake committee member, said Monday he reviewed CNPPID records provided after he requested them last summer. He determined annual lease fee income is around $1.25 million and lake-related expenses are at about $500,000.

He said that because he did not get a response when he asked CNPPID officials if his findings are correct, he assumes they are. We are more than paying our way, McClure said.

We have asked for a lease that is simple, easy to understand and fair to both parties, Edeal said.

After a motion was made to approve the CNPPID lease proposal, Directors Bob Dahlgren of Bertrand and Dave Rowe of Johnson Lake said voting yes would make it seem as if they approve the proposals general features, which they dont.

They were joined by Martin Mueller of Ogallala and Geoff Bogle of Elwood in voting against the motion.

I dont think this is going to be the final (plan), said board President Dudley Nelson of Axtell. I think this is a starting point.
Matthew Finkin (University of Illinois College of Law) has posted Chapter 7: Privacy and Autonomy (Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal, 2017) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

In 2003, the American Law Institute launched a project to restate the common law of employment. Shortly thereafter the Labor Law Group (LLG), an organization founded in 1948 composed of law faculty who research and teach in that area, though it well to consider what the ALI was doing. The Groups overture to the ALI, more closely to engage with it, was rebuffed. As the ALI project progressed two LLG conferences critiquing the projects work-in-progress were held and the proceedings published in the Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal. The ALIs Reporters declined the Groups invitation to attend both conferences; their subsequent drafts declined to acknowledge the Groups criticisms. The final text of the Restatement was adopted by the ALI in 2015. The LLG held a summarizing conference at the Indiana University School of Law in November, 2016. The ALIs Reporters were invited and again declined to attend. The collection to be published in the Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal.



This essay, part of the Groups chapter-by-chapter critique, unpacks the documents treatment of the law of employee privacy and autonomy. It concludes that by the ALIs own standards the document is at all critical points opaque and incoherent, wanting in explanatory content or expository power. The documents basic thrust is to have the law buttress managerial prerogative and reify the status of employee as servant.

Recommended.
Tampa's Fort Homer W. Hesterly Armory first opened on Dec. 8, 1941. Now, with $30 million in upgrades, the building has re-emerged as the Jewish Community Center.

New Jewish Community Center opens in Tampa at 522 N. Howard Ave

110,000-square-foot building will be a multi-use facility

Anyone can join, with membership starting at $48 for kids

A look back at the Fort Homer W. Hesterly Armory

We have taken the property over and have given rebirth to it, JCC executive director Jack Ross said. Our community is proud and privileged to have restored a Tampa landmark.

Ross said Theodore Roosevelts Rough Riders camped on the property before the armory was built. That rich history continued after World War II.

In the post-war years, we had the likes of Elvis Presley singing here, Ross said. Martin Luther King spoke here, and four days before his assassination, John F. Kennedy.



The JCC features a hardwood floor gym thats open to the barrel roof. The gym is surrounded by an elevated indoor track and modern fitness center. The Mezrah Family Aquatic center has a 25-yard heated competition pool along with other amenities.

The City of Tampa moved their city arts center over to our facility, Ross said. We have the full spectrum of fine arts that are being offered with indoor kilns and outdoor kilns and jewelry making.

The official name of the facility is the Bryan Glazer Family JCC. The Buccaneers co-chairman donated $4 million to the project.

The 110,000-square-foot building also has an event space to watch films or for dinners.

We truly are not only situated geographically, but in terms of luxury and flexibility, to be Tampas premier events center, Ross said.

The building is divided into a public and members side. Only members can access the gym and pool. Anyone can join the JCC with membership costs for youths starting at $48.
The organisers of the 21st edition of International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) have given entry passes to 13,000 film buffs who will be able to choose from a bouquet of around 184 national and international films in 10 sections, reports IANS.

This year's festival, always held in the capital city, runs between 9 December to 16 December. The event will see 490 screenings at 13 screens and will cost Rs 7 crore. The IFFK, that's staged soon after the International Film Festival of India in Goa, has over the years become a hugely popular festival in the world cinema circuit. It is organised by Kerala State Chalachitra Academy for the Cultural Affairs Department of the Kerala government.

Academy chairman and veteran film director Kamal said this time there are various segments apart from the usual routine of film screenings. "Along with the festival, we are showcasing a folk festival which will see 150 artistes performing various folk arts," he said. "Besides that, there will also be an interesting section which displays the yesteryear's film notices, song books and similar curios. Then come seminars, symposiums and special sections that showcase Adoor Gopalakrishnan and K. Sethumadhavan," said Kamal.

"We spend around Rs 1 crore to get the films. Ours is a modest festival when it comes to spending, but in terms of rating, nationally ours is rated the best, while in Asia it has got a very high rating too. It's not the spending that makes a festival rich, but its contents," said Beena Paul, Artistic Director of the festival.

The curtain raiser included a flash mob by a popular radio channel, a performance by the Thrissur-based folk band Oorali and a screening of the critically acclaimed film Ottal. The Agriculture Minister V.S Sunil Kumar inaugurated the function by letting releasing 21 balloons into the sky to mark the festival's 21 year run.

R. Jayaraj's Ottal (The Trap) had won all the top awards at the 20th edition of the IFFK in 2015 including a cash award of 15 lakhs as a part of The Suvarna Chakoram award.

This year the opening film is The Parting; directed by the Afghan director and won big at the Berlin Film Festival this year. The film documents the love story of two Afghans whose search for a better life makes them illegal immigrants moving through Europe in search of a better life.

The films competing for awards at the festival are from all over the world. Turkish Clair Obscure, Die Beautiful from Philippines, China's Knife in the Clear Water, Sink from South Africa among others.

The festival is also going to screen Muhammad: The Messenger of God the controversial by Iranian director Majid Majidi; who is now working with Deepika Padukone for his next film. Another film to watch out for is

The Nights of Zayandeh-rood. Originally released in Iran in the 1990, the film was banned because of its controversial content. Its restored version is being screened in the Special Screening section.

- Compiled using IANS inputs
For Spiderman and Marvel, the third time's the charm.

So far we've had Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield play different versions of Spidey in films. The new film Spider-Man: Homecoming will look at a teenage Parker, who trying to impress his benefactor Tony Stark while trying to balance schoolwork and saving the world from his arch nemesis vulture, played by Michael Keaton.

All other plot details of Spider-Man: Homecoming has been kept under wraps by Marvel and the filmmaker. While San Diego Comic Con 2016 saw the first trailer release; the footage is yet to be released onto Youtube for public access.

So while we wait for the actual trailer to release on 9 December 2016; here's what we know about the film from the very brief teaser. We see Tom Holland in brief action as Spidey, and an opening moment in which Jon Favreau's Happy Hogan delivers a costume upgrade courtesy of one Tony Stark. That upgrade? A winged Spidey-suit, as seen in early iterations of the comics, but never on screen until now.

According to Geek.com the web wings are a homage to Steve Ditko, the co-creator of the comics. For fans of the comic book, the film looks like a more faithful adaptation to the original Steve Ditko-drawn Spider-Man lenses.

Here's a look at the teaser starring Tom Holland and Jon Favreau:
At this stage, there appear to be no immediate tangible monetary gains of demonetisation in sight, hence the change in the primary narrative and target of Narendra Modi governments major currency crackdown to cashless economy isnt difficult to understand.

This is even more evident from Finance Minister Arun Jaitleys presser on Thursday detailing governments big package to push cashless transactions in the society. The announcement, mainly reduction in transaction charges on digital payments and tax rebates on smaller transactions makes it clear that the government intends to pursue the theme of cashless economy with more vigour in the days ahead.

Announcing the measures, Jaitley said the government will offer reduction of 0.75 percent on digital transactions for fuel purchase, similar discounts on suburban railways tickets, insurance policy payments, toll payments on national highways besides offering Rs10 lakh free insurance cover for travellers who book railway tickets through digital mode. The minister also announced the offering of free Rupay credit cards to farmers and two PoS terminals each to one lakh villages with population over 10,000. These measures are indeed positive to encourage more people do digital transactions and lessen the use of cash.

This new focus also reflects in prime ministers recent speeches too. Marking the 30-day of demonetisation, the PM said, "We also have a historic opportunity to embrace increased cashless payments and integrate latest technology in economic transactions." This is something which he said in the last Mann Ki Baat programme too. Modi saluted people "for wholeheartedly participating in this ongoing Yagna against corruption, terrorism, and black money", and said, "government's decision has several gains for farmers, traders, labourers, who are the economic backbone of our nation." The shift in focus as 30 days of demonetisation gets over would likely raise further questions from the opposition. Modi's critics would perhaps want to know the status of the originally stated objectives of fighting black money, corruption and terror funding. This is particularly so when seen against the hardships majority of Indias poor have been pushed into due to this massive exercise in the economy.

But, there are reasons to believe that the shift in the government narrative to cashless economy is also due to the indications that the gains on black money wouldn't be major. Lets set aside political claims and counter claims and look at this one month impartially. What are the salient features of one month of demonetisation?

On the negative side, there have been repeated flip-flops on rules, stories of cash crunch from across the country, the huge hit on rural economy and massive disruption of the informal sector that employs a majority of poor Indians giving them their livelihoods. On the positive side, we have seen a notable jump in non-cash transactions and the move has impacted the counterfeit note networks for now. After a month of demonetisation, the available data point out to the possibility that immediate gains from the drive are unlikely to be anything significant than one had hoped for. This is unless the government comes out with a big number on the amount of unaccounted cash uncovered and taxed to benefit the exchequer.

A cost-benefit analysis of demonetisation will have to be done once the government is done with the process and thatll happen sooner than later. Unless there is a clear monetary gain at the end of the demonetisation exercise, the government will find it difficult to explain the timing and massively disruptive nature of the whole exercise, given the hit on the economy, which is difficult to estimate at this stage.

Speculations that the government will benefit from a "windfall" gain from RBI when a significant chunk of currency notes do not find their way back to the system, has ended after RBI governor Urjit Patel clarified that there is no plan to give any special dividend to the government.

Anyway, Patels clarification was irrelevant since almost Rs12 lakh crore money have come back to the banking system already (out of the Rs14 lakh crore demonetised).

Going by this pace, almost the entire money will come back to the banking system before the deadline to deposit old notes expires on 30 December. So what is the immediate monetary gain for the government now?

The only tangible benefit thus becomes the tax recovery from unaccounted cash deposits. If through the exercise, taxmen manage to get hoarders taxed for a substantial amount, the plan is a success, since that money is now taxed and up for productive use. The unaccounted cash could come back to the banking system either in the form of voluntary deposits or when the taxman knocks on the doors of tax evaders. In the first case, the tax and penalty will together be around 50 percent plus 25 percent of the deposits get locked for four years. If they get caught with the illegal cash, they will have to pay a penalty of 85 percent. Certainly, it isnt an easy exercise for the taxman since the crooks know well how to keep their ill-gotten wealth safe, such as using benami accounts. Part of the reason why the government chose to offer an amnesty scheme to tax cheats is knowing this difficulty.

One should see governments big push to cashless economy in this context. The government probably realises that at this stage putting the whole weight behind the cashless narrative is a safer bet rather than chasing the black money mirage, where a big success appears unlikely. Such a narrative will also have a revolutionary reform character. However, there are major challenges in aligning the consumer behaviour in favour of digital transactions in a country like India, where a majority of the poor still live in ash economy and initiatives such as two PoS terminals per village may not be effective enough. Even developed countries such as Singapore are still dependent on cash transactions to a significant extent is a proof that cash is something difficult to get rid of. Most experts agree that the change to cashless society should happen over a period of time, rather than being forced on the poor.
Gold shopping in India is an activity indulged by both the rich and the poor. Demonetisation has dealt a body blow to the worlds second-biggest gold consuming nation and consequently to the demand for gold, a must-have accessory in Indian weddings. Demand for gold jewellery has dropped as much as 80 percent with jewellery shops witnessing drastically reduced footfalls and low volumes.

A month later, footfalls continue to be lacklustre, especially, at a time when weddings are held across the country starting by the year-end till mid-February. Business has thinned down to a mere 10 to 15 percent, say jewelers.

Demonetisation has been the biggest crisis ever for the business, said Ashok Minawala, partner in the 80-year-old Mumbai-based Danabhai Jewellers and Sons. Ticket sizes have dwindled to below Rs 2 lakh and that is the budget most weddings are also trying to adhere too with the cash crunch enveloping the entire country.

Jewellery is a high value purchase and customers are putting their decision to shop for the yellow metal on the back burner as they are focussed on taking care of the essentials items. People are focused on having cash reserves until they can access their money easily given the fact that banks and ATM are cash-strapped and are rationing money.

Unless there is a wedding in the family which necessitates spending or buying a gift for a close relative's wedding, people are reluctant to enter jewellery stores. We do not see our regular customers coming into the stores anymore, said Minawala. He pegs the drop in business to almost 40-50 percent where cheques are given for gold purchases. Sales in cash purchases of gold has plunged to over 50 percent, he said.

Lacklustre half year

The jewellery industry has seen highs and lows in the current year. The industry had shut shop post the budget when the government reintroduced a one percent excise duty on jewellery after four years.

Industry estimates the loss incurred on account of the strike to be at Rs 18,000 crore.

Dhanteras brought a shine to the yellow metal which was otherwise lacklustre for nearly six months. The country's gold demand had fallen 30 percent to 247.4 tonnes during the first six months of 2016, from 351.5 tonnes in the year-ago period, as per World Gold Council.

India is the world's largest gold consumer and imports a sizeable chunk of its total annual consumption of around 900-1,000 tonnes.

Post-demonetisation

Since 9 November, the rush for gold has petered down to a trickle. The demand is down to almost 90 percent now, said jewellers. The reason for the fall can be mainly attributed to the limited availability of cash at ATMs and the banks in the country, said Sreedhar GV, chairman, All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation.



We are witnessing a drop of around 75-80 percent. If there is not much circulation of money in the country due to demonetisation, business cannot be buoyant, he said.

A month after demonetisation, the situation continues to be grim. Shailesh Sangani, director, Gitanjali Group, creators of Gili jewellery, said that though the trade has undergone several challenges particularly in 2016, demonetisation was the worst of it all. We have been affected as sales has been dismal.

Most jewellers said that they had clocked sales of 80-90 percent during Diwali and post-Diwali too and also on the day the demonetisation announcement was made. Now there is hardly 10 to 15 percent growth, they said.

In the south, the wedding season is on only until December and then mahurats or auspicious days begin post-January 15 till mid-March. But demonetisation has brought down business to almost 90 percent in the South. But some of them are happy at the trickle of footfalls in their stores. We thought there would be hardly any business post-demonetisation, said Ananthapadmanabhan, MD, NAC Jewellers, a 43-year-old jewellery chain with nine stores in Chennai, but is thankful that the wedding season has brought in a business of 20-25 percent.

Usually, the big ticket buyers purchase their jewellery months in advance. It is the middle and lower middle classes who make their purchases closer to the wedding dates, he said, adding that the latter's purchases have been negligible so far. The footfalls to the store has begun to pick up to almost 20-25 percent because of small ticket purchases. After mid-December, non resident Indians arrive in the country to attend weddings or to buy jewellery, said Ananthapadmanabhan. He was worried wondering how their shopping behaviour would turn out to be under the prevailing circumstances post-demonetisation in the country.

Those jewellers dealing in small tickets like the south-based Muthoot Jewellers are seeing increased footfalls since the past week. The company deals in low-ticket purchases averaging 4 grams. I dont stock product and customers have to make bookings, said Keyur Shah, CEO, Muthoot Pappachan Group, precious metals business. It has 3,500 stores across India.

Shah said that business was picking up and he was hopeful that it would be normalized by January 2017.

In the East in Calcutta too, limited shopping and footfalls have watered down the otherwise bright time of wedding season buys. P C Jewellers said the demand for wedding jewellery has fallen upto 60 percent due to demonetisation. The company expects the pent-up demand to drive revenue growth in the coming months.

Sangani said he expected this dismal phase in the gold jewellery business to continue until February.

In the south, in Tamil Nadu, Pongal is a big festival when jewellers are expecting sales to pick up. For rest of India, post makar sankranti (14 January), there is renewed interest. Until last year at least. However, the trader is not optimistic that trend will be evident in January 2017. The only hope is Akshay Trithiya in April-May as of now, said Sanghani.

Meanwhile, All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF), said the sales of jewellery have started to pick up slowly and there has been increase in cashless / credit and debit card / RTGS / NEFT / IMPS / cheques and pay order transactions over the last few weeks. Sreedhar of GJF has urged the government to provide special consideration on cashless purchase of jewellery. "We urge the government to remove existing restrictive measures on cashless jewellery buying," he said.
A few journalists, both Indian and foreign, were not invited to attend the Reserve Bank of Indias (RBI) fifth bi-monthly policy monetary policy press conference on Wednesday. This Firstpost reporter was among that list. Also excluded from the press conference were foreign journalists from the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, BBC and certain other global agencies/television channels.

A Wall Street Journal correspondent told this writer that he too wasnt invited for the meet. The Economist's correspondent tweeted on Wednesday that he too was denied entry to the central banks press conference. This is the first time in several years that most of these journalists and organisations have not been invited to the RBI policy press conference. At the time of writing, the RBI spokeswoman was yet to respond to text messages and emails requesting the reason for the denial of entry.

Before examining the likely reasons behind this, lets understand why this press conference wasnt just another RBI media interaction on monetary policy.

On Wednesday, the presser commanded the worlds attention by being the first meeting with the press by Governor Urjit Patel at the RBI in the wake of Narendra Modi governments 8 November announcement on demonetisation, which had invoked criticism for its serious implementation flaws and resultant prolonged cash-crunch. Patels silence on the issue in the period that followed Modis announcement had invited sharp criticism from the media. Except a few press releases on the RBI site and a few interviews, Patel hadnt offered any guidance to the public on the note ban issue, the situation on the ground and on how long the pain is expected to last.

Hence, in many ways, Wednesdays conference was supposed to be the first chance for the press  both local and foreign  to meet the governor and ask certain questions.

So what could have been the reasons for keeping a selection of scribes out?

One possible theory could be that the RBI faced severe physical constraints to accommodate a large crowd. Perhaps, in the days of the cash-crunch, it didnt have enough chairs, pens and papers to distribute to the large group of journalists thronging its premises on policy day. It, thus, decided to cut short the long, regular list of media organisations. If this is the reason, one cant blame the RBI for trimming its media guest list.

The second possibility is that the RBI wanted to conduct the press conference as a peaceful affair without much trouble from journalists asking tough questions on the RBIs role in the entire demonetisation saga, the many flip-flops in rules seen during the past month, the RBI's lack of preparedness in foreseeing an impending cash-crunch and about the apparent failure of Patel to effectively communicate during a period of cash crisis.

This possibility indicates that the RBI probably wanted less trouble from foreign and local critics at a time when the demonetisation rollout is still at the halfway point.

Colleagues from other media houses who attended the press conference told this writer that there was a visible change in the way RBI conducted the policy presser this time. To begin with, the initial media invite came from one of the deputy governors offices instead of RBIs communication department, which has been the practice for several years, said a journalist with a leading newspaper who attended the press conference, adding, There were tags attached to each seat naming the media organisation and the whole event ended in less than 20 minutes. Contrary to the practice, the presser was conducted by Patel himself instead of the RBI spokeswoman.

It is a fact that since the demonetisation announcement, several critical articles have appeared both in the local and foreign press (read here, here and here) and on this very website, which would not have gone down well with the Central bank.

Was this the reason scribes were left out of the policy presser?

The RBI hasnt clarified on the actual reason for the exclusion of a selection of journalists, so far. But, if the reason for exclusion is criticism on demonetisation, this practice certainly doesnt send a good signal to the outside world and raises certain serious concerns. It undermines the long-practiced principles of transparency, tolerance and professionalism of the RBI  an institution known for its independence and credibility.

Over the years, the RBI, considered among the best in world for its ability to guide the economy through troubled times, has made serious efforts to bring transparency to its operations. A part of these efforts included making public the minutes of RBIs technical advisory committee on monetary policy and organising informal chats with journalists by RBI top brass to explain the banks various policy steps. Also, in recent years, top RBI officials have begun speaking at public functions more frequently. All this helped to make the RBI a more transparent organisation.

But, if indeed the Central bank has shut the doors for journalists, it has taken a major step backwards in its efforts to bring in transparency. That will only add to the confusions of a change in communication pattern of the RBI ever since Patel took over and especially during the rollout of the demonetisation exercise. It is difficult to believe physical constraints caused the trimming of the media list since anyone who has visited the RBI headquarters even once will know that isnt the case.

Denying access to the press and ducking criticism is the trait of a banana republic.

India certainly isnt one.
COLOMBO Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena on Thursday rescinded a colonial-era British order naming 19 nationals as "traitors" for leading a rebellion nearly 200 years ago, his office said, as he strives to shore up his fading popularity.Sirisena hailed the ethnic Sinhalese men whole led the insurrection against the island's British rulers as national heroes, a move some critics were swift to denounce as a political gimmick to bolster his support among the Sinhalese majority.Sirisena said he had "cancelled the gazette notice issued by then governor of Sri Lanka Robert Brownrigg in 1818 naming the ... Sinhalese leaders as traitors." Sirisena's leadership of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) has been weakened as grassroot supporters shift their loyalties back towards the Indian Ocean island state's former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.Rajapaksa remains popular among the Sinhalese and some of his supporters have formed a new party in the expectation that he will lead it. Kusal Perera, a political columnist and outspoken government critic, said Thursday's act was a clear indication Sirisena was now going to cater to the larger Sinhala majority".

Even so, Perera said, Sirisena was unlikely to win back much support as a result of the announcement. "Sinhala leaders anyway have been treated as heroes in Sinhala society. This shows how desperate Sirisena is," Perera told Reuters.Sirisena was a one-time ally of Rajapaksa before he challenged his leadership and won a surprise victory in last year's presidential vote.

The president, who like Rajapaksa is from the majority Buddhist community, has reached out to ethnic minority Tamils and Muslims, upsetting Sinhala leaders.Sirisena's government has postponed local council elections by more than a year citing the new electoral process is still not ready.

Sri Lanka was under colonial rule from 1815 to 1948.The 19 Sinhalese leaders launched their revolt in a bid to restore the ruling of Sinhalese kings who exercised power before Portugal's invasion in 1505.The British governor ordered their execution. (Reporting by Ranga Sirilal; Writing by Shihar Aneez)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Firstly, I welcome the judgment by the Allahabad High Court.

It is important to understand here what the Sharia law is. It is widely believed that triple talaq is part of Sharia law and therefore cannot be interfered with because they are protected under Article 25 of the Constitution. Sharia law is the law of Quran and Hadith, and it encompasses issues that are economical, social, personal in any way they may affect an individual. But it is important to separate between practices that fall under the law and that which do not because the Constitution is often used as an excuse to justify these practices. While on one hand practices like Roza and Namaaz are protected by the Constitution, it makes no mention of marriage-related issues like divorce.

While the Quran guides you for everything, from business related to personal issues, it is impossible to understand why issues like divorce are quashed. If you are prepared to accept the Constitution then what is the problem with accepting the rights it provides as well? A woman has no rights to divorce as per the Quran. Hence, the argument that the issue in itself is addressed within the Sharia law is baseless. Which only begs the question that what exactly is the Constitution protecting here?

We need to understand that this has not been just a case, or a ruling, this is the women fighting for their rights in a male-dominated society. And it definitely does not help when all of your Islamic scholars are only half-bred. They learn certain aspects of Islam and stick to it. There are no comparative studies. Whether you talk to a Mufti, or Maulvi or an Alim, their arguments, more often than not, tend to be self-centered, and not universal. I think that is out of fear, because that may result in their shops closing down.

Coming to the Uniform Civil Code, it is crucial to remind ourselves that even Islam calls for a universal law for people regardless of their religion or caste. Upon that, if there exists a uniform criminal law, then why not the same for a civil one. Part of the reason there I believe is because the criminal law was introduced by the British. After Independence, India became secular, and laws like the Sharia, successfully bargained for its existence, even in the modern world. I think it is the very character of secularism of our country that the people protecting Sharia law exploit. But I see the Supreme Court is very serious about bringing in change.

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) runs its own court which means they decide civil issues. The fact that they have their own courts, is reason enough to call for a uniform civil code, which is not only gender-just but also unbiased across religions and cultures. These organisations do nothing but only exploit and pressurise the govt.

I must also mention the role of the media here. Social media has changed so many things in our fight for justice. Previously, getting our voice to the people was so difficult. Even today, not a lot of people read newspapers or watch the television for news. Social media is where everything is happening. And it has to a great extent championed our cause as well, and brought us support, not only at a national level, but international as well. I can only be thankful that such means now exist, which may eventually speed up this slow process. Because Im convinced that it will happen. This ruling is only an indicator and when the Supreme Court passes its judgement, Im sure it will be in the favour of banning triple-talaq, polygamy and whole host of other issues that we are petitioning for at once.

The author is the president of Rashtrawadi Muslim Mahila Sangh

As told to Manik Sharma


New Delhi: Amid the tussle between the government and the Supreme Court over judicial appointments, a Parliamentary committee on Thursday said appointment of judges to the higher judiciary is essentially the function of executive, and asked the government to take appropriate steps to reverse the "distortions" in the original mandate of the Constitution.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Personnel said the "distortions" in the original mandate of the Constitution have arisen out of various Supreme Court orders which gave birth to the collegium system.

The report comes a little over a year after the Supreme Court struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act which had sought to scrap the collegium system of judges appointing judges.

It also said that instead of five, a minimum of 11 judges of the Supreme Court should hear cases involving the validity of a Constitutional amendment. It also recommended cases involving interpretation of Constitution should not be heard by a Bench of less than 7 judges.

Over the course hearing on three cases, the Supreme Court has evolved the principle of judicial independence to mean that no other branch of the state, including the legislature and the executive, would have a major say in the appointment of judges.

The court then created the collegium system, which has been in use since the judgement in the Second Judges Case was delivered in 1993. "After having gone through the Constitutional provisions, the intent behind them as enshrined in the debates of the Constituent Assembly, the developments following four Supreme Court judgements in Judges cases and the views expressed by the legal luminaries and the Bar, the Committee is of the opinion that appointment of judges of higher judiciary is essentially an executive function and is envisaged as a participatory Constitutional function to be jointly performed by the Judiciary and the Executive," the committee said in its report tabled in Parliament Thursday.

It said the deliberate use of word 'consultation' in place of 'concurrence' in relevant provisions of the Constitution strengthens this opinion.

It said the panel is of the view that judicial appointments are a shared responsibility of the Executive and the Judiciary to be exercised jointly "with neither organ of the state having a primacy over the other".

"The Committee, accordingly recommends that the distortion in the original mandate of the Constitution arising from the judgements of the apex court in the Second Judges case and subsequent cases needs to be reversed and the original Constitutional position needs to be respected in letter and spirit for which government may take appropriate measures."
New Delhi: The CBI has filed a fresh charge sheet against former Coal Secretary HC Gupta, already facing prosecution in over seven cases related to the coal scam, in connection with alleged irregularities in allocation of a Chattisgarh-based coal block to SKS Ispat and Power Ltd (SIPL).

Besides the former Coal Secretary, the final report named senior public servant K S Kropha, the firm, its two directors Anil Gupta and Deepak Gupta, and three others  Amit Singh, Rakesh Singh and Jagan Nath Panda  as accused, claiming that they misrepresented facts before the Screening Committee in relation to the land and net worth of company.

The court is likely to take up the final report for consideration on Thursday.

According to the sources, the CBI has claimed in the final report that the accused hatched a criminal conspiracy to cheat the Screening Committee, in order to bag mining contract for Fatehpur Coal Block in Chattisgarh.

The probe agency has charged the accused with forgery, cheating, criminal conspiracy and criminal misconduct.

According to the CBI, SIPL had got Fatehpur coal block in Chhattisgarh in 2008. It said that the company misrepresented on aspects of preparedness and was ineligible on the issue of net worth. The CBI had registered FIR in the matter in 2014.

In a surprising move, the former Coal Secretary had on 16 August, told the court that he intended to "face trial from inside the jail" and withdraw his personal bond to secure bail due to financial difficulties. However, he later withdrew his plea.

Around eight different charge sheets have already been filed against Gupta and proceedings are going on individually. The Supreme Court had recently dismissed his plea seeking joint trial in all these cases.

Some of the cases in which Gupta was summoned as accused by the court include those relating to alleged irregularities in allocation of Thesgora-B Rudrapuri coal block to Kamal Sponge Steel and Power Ltd (KSSPL) and allocation of Moira and Madhujore (North and South) coal blocks in West Bengal's Raniganj area to Vikash Metal and Power Ltd.

He is also accused in a case of alleged irregularities in the allotment of the Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block to two companies of Jindal Group and allocation of Brahmapuri coal block in Madhya Pradesh to Pushp Steels and Mining Pvt Limited.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on 8 November that his government has rendered Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes as illegal, citing the drive as an effective solution for an economy riddled with black money, counterfeit currency, and to counter terrorism. Many didnt know what to make of it, some called it a "masterstroke", others a "foolish idea". As the days pass on his 50-day waiting period, and economists, policy watchers have had time to reflect on the demonetisation move, the side-effects are becoming more apparent.

How will demonetisation affect foreign policy?

A recent PTI report claimed that the demonetisation move is taking a toll on Indian diplomacy because Russia lodged a strong protest over cash shortage affecting the functioning of its embassy in Delhi and threatening retaliatory action.

Before we give into theatrical imaginations, a retaliatory action would be that the issue will be escalated to Moscow and the Indian ambassador in Russia will be called in. What seems to be the issue, you ask? There has been a restriction on withdrawal imposed on embassies for about Rs 50,000 per week. Russian ambassador Alexander Kadakin wrote to the Ministry of External Affairs that such an amount totally inadequate as regards (to) the embassy's salary and operational expenditure requirements.

The official quoted in the PTI report also suggested that other retaliatory options would include putting a similar restriction on cash withdrawals for Indian diplomats posted in Russia.

Russia, however, is not the only country expressing its frustration with demonetisation  not so much with the move, but with the withdrawal restrictions.

According to The Times of India, Hans Dannenberg Castellanos from the Dominican Republic, ambassadors of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Ethiopia have also sent letters to the MEA.

The worst hit are Nepal and Bhutan where Indian currency is a legal tender, says the report. The disgruntled diplomat group, led by Russia is hoping for increased ceiling for withdrawals, dedicated bank windows in bank branches and removal of cash curbs for foreign visitors.

The government, according to a report in Business Standard, has set up an inter-ministerial task force to ease the problems of diplomats.

Now, the most obvious impact that one can ascertain from the way things are going is that this hurts the goodwill between nations, at a very individual level.

The Narendra Modi government has maintained the necessary optics in terms of foreign policy and diplomacy. As argued in this Firstpost piece, foreign policy has been the most visible dimension of this governments term so far. But the governments negligence in taking care of the growing dissatisfaction and negative impact of demonetisation on embassies and for diplomats will mar the good reputation that India has built so far.

The BJP government has prided itself on turning the focus of its international efforts towards Indias neighbours  the "neighbourhood first policy" might get off course as countries like Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Nepal  where the Indian rupee is a legal tender and use of which is actually encouraged.

Handshakes, press conferences, signed MoUs, photo-ops are all great, but if the people working behind the scenes  foreign bureaucrats, diplomats and embassy workers  are unhappy, the shiniest jewel in the BJP crown could lose some of its sparkle.
Panaji: Accusing Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar of pushing the state backwards, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), a constituent of the ruling coalition, on Thursday said its alliance with BJP will continue only if he is removed from the top post.

This stance by MGP has created uncertainty over its alliance with the BJP in the state Assembly polls, scheduled to be held early next year.

"When we formed the alliance during the 2012 Goa State Legislative Assembly election, we had done it considering Manohar Parrikar as the leader of BJP. But over the last two-and-a-half years, the leadership is with Laxmikant Parsekar," MGP President Dipak Dhavalikar told reporters after chairing the central working committee meeting of the party.

Former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar was picked as the country's defence minister by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the BJP-led NDA government came to power.

Dhavalikar said MGP will not fight the upcoming Goa Legislative Assembly election in alliance with BJP if Parsekar continues to be the BJP legislature party leader.

"During the last two-and-a-half years, Parsekar has pushed Goa backwards by 10 years. We are not comfortable with him as the state CM," said Dhavalikar, who along with his elder brother Sudin, are part of BJP-led state cabinet.

BJP and MGP had fought 2012 polls together, wherein the former won 21 seats, while the latter clinched three seats out of the total 40 constituencies.

Dhavalikar said that before beginning the talks of alliance with MGP, BJP should first declare who would be the party's face for upcoming state polls.

"When Parsekar was chosen as a leader after Parrikar was elevated to the Union Cabinet, we were not taken into confidence," the minister said.

He also said that the state government had not taken them into confidence while announcing the decision to make Goa the first 'cashless state' in the country.

Responding to a question on whether Goa can be made a cashless state, Dhavalikar taunted, "Goa is already a cashless state. Where's the cash with government? We are already cashless."
Faisal, a 32-year-old Muslim convert, was hacked to death in Kodinhi, a sleepy village in Kerala's Malappuram district last month. Faisal  Anil Kumar before switching to Islam  was allegedly murdered by RSS workers at 5 am on 19 November, while he was on his way to the neighbouring Tirurangadi railway station to receive his in-laws.

Faisal had embraced Islam six months ago in Saudi Arabia, where he was working as a driver. His wife, Jesna (formerly Priya), two sons and a daughter, followed suit a week before his murder. He had been receiving death threats ever since he came home for a vacation in August this year. And he was murdered a day before he was to return to his workplace in Saudi Arabia. Police sources said Faisal was killed by a gang with the support of his relatives, as they feared he would convert more family members to Islam.

The news of the killing spread fast, and thousands converged at Kodinhi, 25 kilometres west of the district headquarters at Malappuram.

The situation was tense and everyone feared retaliatory action against Hindus, a minority in the village. Members of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), the political arm of right-wing Muslim outfit Popular Front of India (PFI), visited the village. And even as Faisal's coffin was being carried to the burial ground at the Kodinhi mosque, their Taqbir chants (Allah is the greatest) reverberated the air. The ruling CPM dispensation in the state has been at loggerheads with the SDPI, and Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan had earlier described it as a "party that trains people to commit murder".

Peace keepers

But when the situation threatened to get out of hand, Kodinhi found its saviours in the mosque committee and the Imam (the person who heads the prayers in the mosque). The mosque committee acted quickly and called for an immediate meeting of all Muslim organisations to chalk out plans. "We wanted to preserve communal harmony in Kodinhi. We also offered help for the police, as we knew it was difficult to control the 10,000-odd crowd who came to attend the funeral," said PV Komukkutty Haji, one of the two secretaries of the committee.

The Muslim-majority Kodinhi village is part of Nannambra Grama Panchayath. It has 3,000 Muslim families and less than 200 Hindu families. "We decided to protect our Hindu brothers at any cost," Haji said.

Imam PA Hyderali Faisi said he feared the worst when he saw a huge crowd where the body was kept for public viewing. "It prompted me to urge people to desist from fomenting trouble," he said. "The charged up SDPI members tried to ignite communal passion by chanting Takbir. It was against our tradition. Devotees normally chant La Ilaha Illallah (There is absolutely no deity worthy of worship except Allah) peacefully while carrying the coffin."

"I once again made an announcement through the public address system before leading the funeral prayer. I exhorted them to keep faith in the law enforcement agencies. I also told them to not to participate in protest marches that would affect the communal harmony of the village," he added.

These efforts paid dividends, as Kodinhi remained calm.

Fearing non-cooperation from Kodinhi villagers, the SDPI was forced to shift its protest march to the nearby town of Chemmad. "By the grace of God, our village remained peaceful. We are happy to protect it from a disaster," Haji said. "If we didn't interfere, fundamentalist organisations would have influenced youngsters to create havoc," Faisi added.

Paying respects

The Kodinhi Juma Masjid is the oldest among 25 mosques in Kodinhi village. Built by Sufi saint Mambaram Thangal, the mosque is the preferred place for both Hindus and Muslims to settle disputes. "When people fail to solve disputes, they come to the mosque on Fridays to find a solution," Faisi said.

But now, devotees flock to the mosque on other days as well; they arrive in groups and offer prayers near Faisal's grave. They also visit his uncle's home, where his mother, wife and three children stay currently, to offer condolence and financial support. For them, Faisal is a martyr who gave his life for Islam, and they consider it their duty to pray for his departed soul.

A few days after Faisal's killing, his mother, Minimol, also embraced Islam and took the name Jameela. "My son lost his life only because he embraced Islam. So, I too decided to follow his path. Moreover, I don't want to leave my daughter-in-law and children alone," said the grieving mother said. "I had planned to convert to Islam a few months ago. But I waited to get permission from my daughters. Faisal's killing forced me to take this decision quickly."

Faisal's murder had shocked villagers, cutting across religious lines. Devayani, who is busy preparing for a pilgrimage to Sabarimala, said she knew Faisal since childhood. "I was shocked to hear about his death. He didn't do anything wrong. People have the right to believe or choose their religion. I never imagined such a thing would happen in our village. I will visit his mother after coming back from Sabarimala," she said.

She stays close to the Kurumba Bhagavathi Temple, which was built in the land donated by the Kodinhi Juma Masjid many years ago. Alikkutty Haji, who stays close to Faisal's house, said some fringe elements tried to create tension in the village after the killing. "We should not blame the whole community for a crime done by a few people. Hindus and Muslims have been living in perfect harmony in Kodinhi. We will preserve it at any cost," he said.

Police action

Meanwhile, the police arrested three RSS workers  Babu, Appu and Sudheesh  on Tuesday and Wednesday in connection with Faisal's killing. They had earlier picked up eight RSS workers, including the victim's bother-in-law Vinod, for hatching the conspiracy. More arrests are expected in the coming days.
Srinagar: A gunfight started early on Thursday between holed up militants and the security forces in south Kashmir Anantnag district.

Fresh exchange of fire between terrorists and security forces starts in Arwani, Anantnag (J&K) (Visuals deferred by unspecified time) pic.twitter.com/VXCOOYZDkR  ANI (@ANI_news) December 8, 2016

Police said troops of counter insurgency Rashtriya Rifles (RR), special operations group of state police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), surrounded Arwani village late on Wednesday after receiving information about the presence of militants.

"As the security forces tightened the cordon, some gunshots were heard, but after that, there was no exchange of fire, with the first light today (Thursday) hiding militants started firing at the surrounding security forces.

"The fire was returned and the encounter was still going on," a senior police officer told IANS.

Meanwhile, mobile phone services were suspended in parts of Kashmir on Thursday as the gunfight raged between militants and security forces. Though there was no official order on the suspension of telephone service in Anantnag, knowlegdeable sources told IANS that the step was meant to check rumours.

Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Abu Dujana, one of the most wanted militants, was suspected to be among the gunmen holed up in a house in Arwani village of Anantnag, some 40 km south of here.

Dujana was said to have had appeared at a protest rally days after the killing of Hizul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.

Wani's killing on July 8 triggered a wave of violent protests that left nearly 100 people, mostly civilians, dead in firing by security forces.

Asked to confirm if the Lashkar-e-Taiba divisional commander, Abu Dujana was among the holed up militants, the officer said, "We can confirm nothing until the encounter was over."
Kolkata: Refuting allegations by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the purchase of huge tracts of land by BJP ahead of demonetisation, Siddharth Nath Singh on Thursday said it was a decision taken by BJP two years ago to buy land for building party offices in each district of the country.

The BJP national secretary also urged Banerjee to stop "harbouring perceptions" about the hardships caused due to demonetisation.

"She should stop hallucinating that hardships are being caused by demonetisation. When the entire country had supported demonetisation, she is opposing it for her vested interests. She should stop blabbering lies, false statements and canards," he said.

Terming the allegations raised by Banerjee that the BJP had brought huge land assets months before demonetisation move as "baseless", Singh said the chief minister should first look into the assets of her own party colleagues, who have "amassed fortunes by siphoning off money in chit fund scams".

"The allegations are completely baseless. We have proper papers for everything. Secondly, the decision to buy land was taken by our party leadership two years back. We had then decided that we needed to have party offices in every district of the country. So in order to build a party office, you need to have land," Singh reasoned.

Reacting to Banerjee's claim that a financial emergency had been imposed and that the country was being run in an "arbitrary way", the BJP leader asked, "She is questioning prime minister, but what is her credibility?"

Banerjee had demanded a probe by a Supreme Court judge into the assets bought by BJP months before demonetisation was announced. She had said there were "reports and proof" of how the BJP purchased the huge tracts of land and deposited large amounts of money in accounts held by it before ban on old high-value bills was announced on 8 November .

The TMC supremo had also staged a sit-in in Delhi on 23 November and met President Pranab Mukherjee on the issue.
Raipur: A Maoist sympathiser, allegedly trying to illegally exchange over Rs one lakh in scrapped Rs 1,000 currency notes for the new ones, was arrested on Thursday from Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district.

Hemla Bheema, 40, was nabbed from Bhansi Police Station area, Dantewada Additional Superintendent of Police (anti-Maoist operations) Gorakhnath Baghel told PTI.

After receiving inputs that a suspect was trying to exchange Rs 1,10,000, in demonetised currency notes of Rs 1,000, in Bhansi area, around 400 km away from Raipur, a police team swung into action and the accused was apprehended with the cash, he said.

As per preliminary information, Bheema, a native of Masapara in Bhansi area, was active as a range committee member of Janatana Sarkar squad of the outlawed CPI(Maoist), the officer said.

During interrogation, the accused revealed that Sanjay Kadti, a senior member of Bhairamgarh Area Committee of Maoists, had given him the cash to get it exchanged with new notes, either through banks or with support of local traders, Baghel said, adding his interrogation is on.
30 days after the knock-out blow delivered to two currency notes  Rs 1000 and Rs 500  it comes to mind that all these lakhs of crores that were unearthed do not seem to have hampered or upset the filthy rich.

They seem happy as larks and are having a blast. That said, there is now a growing school of thought that seems to think the surprise element and the couple of hours notice that was given on the night of 8 November was unnecessarily dramatic.

All that hush-hush stuff made good headlines and projected the imagery of a crackdown, a word that conjures up scenarios of really catching the bad guys by the scruff of the neck and rises to heroic proportions.

So overwhelming is this belief that all the other flaws which followed the implementation are covered up and accepted as the price to be paid for a good thing done.

While confessing I am not an expert, let me lay this before you: What if a fortnights notice had been given to the country to say that as of 20 November, the Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes will be defunct. In that period, the mints could have printed sufficient notes and a combined decision could have taken over whether the Rs 2000 note was actually a valid alternative and how a gap between Rs 2000 and Rs 500 was potentially rickety.

How much less money do you think would have been unearthed sans all the intrigue and secrecy and tension to grab the miscreants of our black money economy if there was this notice period.

Where would they have offloaded this money once it had been sentenced to death row? Logically, who would deal with them or the notes knowing they would be dead and done with inside fifteen days?

Would you have started collecting these notes or doing business with them knowing they were on a ventilator? How would the hoarders of black money have gotten rid of their ill-gotten wealth in a fortnight if there were no takers.

Gone out for five star dinners every night? Paid cash for a car. Flown first class with the maid? Retail outlets, service agencies, you name it would have all shut shop on the notes and the debit cards and PayTM options would have kicked in from the publics side.

We underestimate the people, always. Sometimes, transparency is a powerful sword.

In fact, the more you think about it, by giving this time frame, the black market would have been in more of a tizzy and there would have been no concealing themselves or becoming users of proxies and camouflage. They would actually have been more easily exposed to the tax authorities and not even been able to misuse the Jan Dhan accounts because every citizen would have been party to it.

Much credit has been given to the suddenness of the surgical strike. Sounds awesome, but it is this suddenness that confused people and made them pawns in the hands of the manipulators who used them to filter and launder their money before they could figure what was going on and being cashless, it made them more vulnerable.

I think where the government went wrong was in not trusting the people. They should have been made integral to the process because we would had much less of a mess up and no great amount would have been lost. Economic experts may bust this theory with fancy buzzwords but purely as an individual I am thinking what would I have done in those 15 days to save even a thousand rupee note if nobody was prepared to take it. Nothing different.

Sometimes, taking the common man as a soldier in a just war provides a stronger army of righteousness than declaring hostility in his name but leaving him on the bench.
In a judicial order which can potentially raise a storm across the country, a divisional bench of the Kerala High Court on Thursday, ordered that women should not be allowed to wear salwar kameez and churidar inside the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple, an ANI report said.

Kerala HC orders that women should not be allowed to wear salwar kameez & churidar inside the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple.  ANI (@ANI_news) December 8, 2016

The latest order also states that the decision of the tantri or chief priest is final and the Temple Board does not have the authority to make the rules, a Mathrubhumi report said.

The order claims significance as last month, the temple executive officer of the renowned temple, broke age-old traditions allowing women wearing churidar or salwar kameez to enter the temple. This step was taken after the high court intervened following a petition by a woman devotee Riya Raj, The Indian Express reported.

The new petition was filed by private parties challenging the Kerala High Court's November order.

According to this NDTV report, many members of the administrative board, which includes temple priests as well opposed the move and urged to continue the tradition.

However, just days after the November order, the new dress code was withdrawn by the temple board after protests from Hindu organisations, The Indian Express added.

According to traditions, only women wearing a saree, dhoti or long skirt are allowed to enter the temple premises, the NDTV report added.
After the Allahabad High Court's judgment against triple talaq said the practice was unconstitutional and "violated the rights of Muslim women", several right-wing bodies in the country have reacted encouragingly. In a landmark verdict on Wednesday, the court held that no personal law board was above the Constitution.

Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM), a body affiliated with Rashtryia Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) that works for the cause of Indian Muslims, said the intention of the central government on triple talaq issue was clear: It won't have a showdown as in the Shah Bano case during Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's regime.

"It's a welcome move and we strongly condemn the concept of triple talaq. We may have been late on having a ban on triple talaq, but it is finally in place. As per our Constitution, Indian Muslim women must be treated at par with other citizens. The Modi government has made its intentions clear on this issue. Unlike the Shah Bano case, where the Rajiv Gandhi government took to appeasement for the sake of vote bank politics, the Centre has now made its stand clear through an affidavit submitted before the apex court on this issue," said Girish Juyal, national organising convener, MRM.

Citing a historical precedent, Juyal added, "A case of triple talaq came before the Umar Hazrat (583-644 CE), one of the most powerful and influential Muslim caliphs in history. He gave his ruling in favour of the woman and ordered public flogging of the person who had asked for triple talaq. The Quran and the Hadith consider divorce a crime and there's no mention of 'triple talaq' in them. Moreover, other practices like Halala and Musa also ought to be stopped, because they are also demeaning for Indian women."

However, while the experts laud the Centre for its efforts to empower Muslim women, they also feel a new law needs to be enacted to repeal the Shariyat Act, in order to abolish the existing practice of triple talaq. "Though the court has sent a strong message through its order, that the 7th century Islamic Shariat law needs to be changed, the issue of triple talaq won't settle unless a new law is made. The SC has to first quash the 1937 Shariat Act," said Tufail Ahmad, executive director of Open Source Institute, a Delhi-based think tank.

"It's high time that Islamic clerics understand the importance of the rights granted by the Indian Constitution to all citizens. Triple talaq violates the Constitution. The AIMPLB, or other Muslim organisations like All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, are essentially unconstitutional from the beginning, because they were established with the objective of working against the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution," Ahmad, a former journalist with BBC World Service, emphasised.

Ahmad recently proposed a draft Uniform Civil Code  the first-ever attempt to bring specific issues before the public for a wider discussion. "Unless the government repeals the Shariat Law of 1937 and 1939, and brings a new law in compliance with the 21st century ensuring protection of the rights of Muslim women, nothing practical is possible," he said.

What the Shariat Act, 1937 and 1939 is about?

Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937: Indian Muslims can contract marriages and effect divorce through various informal ways deemed correct by local Islamic clerics. A Muslim husband must divorce under this law, which means he cannot go to a court for divorce. He is forced to effect his own divorce through a letter, phone call, video or internet. There are two ways to effect divorce: Utter the word talaq three times, unilaterally, thereby ending the marriage. Or, deliver the talaq in three monthly installments  a three-month period during which reconciliation can occur.

Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939: This law was written to empower the Muslim women to take, not to give, divorce. Under this law, a Muslim woman can get divorce in two ways: Either she gets the dissolution of her marriage by approaching Islamic clerics; or she can get one by going to a court against her husband.

The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), while condemning the approach of All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) towards Indian Muslim women, also hailed the central government's approach towards triple talaq. It feels that the high court order will finally be upheld by the apex court as well.

"This case of triple talaq won't be like Shah Bano case, because the then Rajiv Gandhi government had taken a U-turn and the judgment was reversed. We're confident that in the Supreme Court will also uphold the high court's order. The Modi government has made its stand clear through an affidavit submitted before the apex court on this issue," said VHP's joint international general secretary Dr Surendra Jain.

"The AIMPLB has always condemned any move against triple talaq and has shown severe disregard towards our Constitution and human values. The board even gave death threats to Muslim women. This board can't be above the Constitution. Moreover, it doesn't represent the entire Indian Muslim population. This can't be acceptable in a civilised society. Now, Indian Muslim women want to come out of medieval, barbaric traditions and be liberated," he added.

The Muslim women's wing of MRM hailed the HC order as a success, and said 5,000 Muslim women had garnered courage for a signature campaign. "AIMPLB failed to ensure rights to Muslim women. I had questioned the board on why triple talaq hasn't been discontinued even after more than six decades of Independence. Pakistan doesn't have triple talaq, but secular India has it, which is a shame. There's no mention of this concept in the Quran or the Hadis. A hapless Muslim women are thrown out of their houses by husbands by saying, 'Talaq-talaq-talaq'," said Reshma Husain, national convener, women's wing, MRM.

Condemning the vote-bank politics of previous governments, she added, "The previous Congress government used the Muslim community as a vote bank. They failed to separate religion from our Constitution, when it came to provide rights to women. It's a victory for these 5,000 Muslim sisters who went for a signature campaign to seek deletion of triple talaq. We too have simultaneously undertaken a signature campaign across the country and we expect to get 10 lakh signatures from Muslim women supporting a ban."
New Delhi: The government and the All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board on Thursday hailed the observations of the Allahabad High Court on triple talaq as a welcome step, but the All India Muslim Personal Law Board was dismissive, saying the Supreme Court will deliver the final verdict.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray cautioned that the issue of triple talaq should not go the way of Shah Bano case due to vote bank politics.

Welcoming the judgement, Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said women should get justice and everyone agrees to it.

Shaista Ambar, chairperson of All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board, who had earlier expressed reservations over a uniform civil code, on Thursday said the practice of triple talaq was "unjustified".

"It is an atrocity...no law of Allah tolerates atrocity," she said.

Ambar hoped that Muslim women will get justice based on the Constitution as well as Islamic laws.

Minister of State for Women and Child Development Krishna Raj said, "Nobody understood the agony of women. Today, the High Court has taken a welcome step. It will help boost the morale of women."

But the AIMPLB seemed dismissive of the high court's observations. Its member Kamal Farooqui said the matter of triple talaq is already before the Supreme Court. "So that will be the judgement."

He said the issue of triple talaq is not restricted to Muslims alone. "It is the question of all those religious entities who have been given guarantee under the Constitution to follow their own faith and religion," he said.

Thackeray said the observations should be respected. "It has a lot of importance for the country. Due to vote bank politics, the issue (of triple talaq) should not go the Shah Bano case way," he cautioned.

The court has observed that "divorce is permissible in Islam only in case of extreme emergency. When all efforts for effecting a reconciliation have failed, the parties may proceed to a dissolution of marriage by Talaq or by Khola".

It has held that triple talaq is "cruel" and raised a question whether the Muslim Personal law could be amended to alleviate the sufferings of Muslim women.

Union minister Naidu said that the Constitution was "supreme" and justice should be done with the women of the country without discrimination.

"This is a settled fact. Constitution is supreme. Religion is a belief. Law which has been made under the Constitution, everybody should abide by it. I am feeling elated by the observation of the high court. I am satisfied because justice should happen with the women of the country. And there should be no discrimination," he said.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju maintained that it was a "welcome observation".

JD(U) spokesperson KC Tyagi, while welcoming the high court observation, cautioned the government against bringing in the uniform civil code in the light of it.

"We respect the observation of the court. No religious binding is above the Constitution. But our Constitution does allow us to perform our religious rituals according to our own religion. We respect it and we want to warn the government, in the light of triple talaq, they must not impose uniform civil code on the minority community," Tyagi said.

BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj said that India is the largest democracy and discrimination between women and men is

injustice.

"I want to express my gratitude to the HC that it has given such an observation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also said that time has come to put an end to triple talaq. I think under no circumstance, saying talaq, talaq, talaq and getting talaq is acceptable," he said.

Asked if this would become a political issue, he said that his party does not want to make it a political issue as its motto is 'sabka saath, sabka vikas'.

"But I am thankful to those Muslim women who have stood up for their own rights and have gone to courts and are demonstrating. We should all support them," he said.

BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi said that it was a "fantastic" observation and noted that the fight is being fought by somewomen from the Muslim community who are against triple talaq.

"The fight is within the community by the women who are affected by such derogatory practices. All those people who are doing politics in the name of religion and are denying the human rights to the women of their own community, let me reiterate that this is the law which was enunciated by the court before Shah Bano, after Shah Bano and now," she said.

"I really wish that wisdom prevails, as all these people who are running their shops in the name of religion should shut their shops because it is for the betterment of their community, their sisters and mothers," she said.
The case of Mohammad Naseem Bhat vs Bilquees Akhtar heard by Justice Hasnain Masoodi is an infrequently told story of a Muslim wife's claim for maintenance against her husband. The parties were married in August 2002 and had a daughter. The marriage failed and Bilquees started living separately with her daughter. In January 2006, she filed a claim for maintenance for herself and her daughter. She alleged that her husband ill-treated her, mainly because she had given birth to a girl child. The husband held that he had divorced her more than a month before the child was born, and hence she wasn't entitled to any maintenance.

The lower court accepted the man's divorce plea and rejected her claim of maintenance for herself. Thus, he was directed to pay a monthly amount only towards his daughter.

The wife appealed against the judgment, and the first appellate court set aside the lower court's decision, calling it "perverse, illegal and passed in a mechanical manner". It also directed the lower court to fix a proper maintenance allowance. The husband appealed in the high court that the lower court's decision be upheld. It was then that Justice Masoodi stated that under the Kashmir Shariat Act 2007, Muslims are to be governed by the Shariat law.

Today, when discussions on triple talaq have boldly resurfaced in drawing rooms and newsrooms alike, Supreme Court lawyer Shabnam Lone, who was appointed by the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir as amicus on behalf of the lady in 2014, says that there is much to be learnt from this incident. "Many religious bodies, and even a retired high court judge and the bar filed a petition against the high court's order. The application was filed under Section 94 of the Constitution of J&K for reviewing the order passed by the high court. Her own lawyer refused to represent her since the case was widely reported in local newspapers. I filed her power of attorney in open court. When she contacted me, she was worried but sure about going ahead. After the third or fourth hearing, she stopped coming to court. It was then that the court appointed me amicus on her behalf," Lone said.

And whether she wasn't allowed to show up or lost interest in the case is a reason best known to her, the fact of the matter is that in India, women are entangled in legal battles they aren't even allowed to fight.

There are several cases to illuminate that a married Muslim woman's rights change with the culture and class she comes from, but in every situation, she is denied.

Women's rights activist and lawyer Abha Singh says it is as much an urban problem, and talks about two of her clients battling triple talaq in their own ways. In one case, the client comes from an upper middle class business family in south Mumbai, and because she spoke up against her in-laws, they urged their son to divorce her. She is a graduate and is seeking maintenance for her children under Section 125 of the CrPC. The second is a software professional who converted to Islam to marry her Muslim lover. He wants to divorce her and keep the child. She is fighting for the custody of her son, arguing she is better placed to take care of him.

"These are educated girls who feel they live with the fear of talaq looming over their heads all the time. They are now ready to spend on lawyers, install CCTV cameras to collect evidence against the husband and their in-laws. All this is done with the realisation that the Constitution guarantees basic rights which the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPL) cannot question or interfere with," Singh says.

Singh points to the many Halala marriages that are prevalent in Lucknow. In this, in order to return to the first husband and children after talaq, a woman is made to marry another man and sleep with him. This humiliating exercise is undertaken each time he divorces her. In other cases, rich Sheikhs from the Middle East marry girls half their age, impregnate them, divorce them and fly back; where there is extreme poverty, there is no concept of maintenance.

Triple talaq has been banned in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran and even Saudi Arabia, because as per Islam, there has to be a gap of one menstrual cycle between each time the man utters the word talaq. This ensures that divorce is not given in a fit of rage and the man has time to cool down and think rationally over his decision. While India has overlooked this aspect, it has embraced technology. Talaq can now be given via SMS or email.

Sharifa Khanam, who founded the STEPS Women's Development Organisation in 1987, has some more scary stories to share. She pointed out that in the last 15 years, 80 Muslim women have died in South Indians towns like Pattikonda, Nagapattinam and Tirunelveli, and there is no reliable data to certify that these were suicides. "In most cases, the woman doesn't complain because there's risk of being ostracised by the Jamaat. In 1993, we conducted a survey in Tamil Nadu and found out that in every five families, there is at least one woman who is divorced, or physically and mentally tormented, handicapped or destitute. Not much has changed," she said.

Khanam pointed out that there is no dowry in Islam and the cultural practice that has emerged in poor families in villages is that the boys' family pay a mahr of Rs 500, and in turn demand dowry worth Rs 50,000. A dowry harassment case she noticed in Pudukkottai involved a girl who was harassed and burnt to death while the police refused to hear her mother's plea and asked her to seek help from the jamaat. "In lower levels, the police refuse to interfere in Muslim matters for whatever reason," Khanam added.

Rubina Patel, who runs the Rubi Social Welfare Society in Nagpur, brings to light some more shameful cases. In Teka in Nagpur, 18-year-old Shahnaz was given talaq without her knowledge. She was packed off to her mother's house and was living in oblivion for months before she realised what has happened. Shahina, from the same place, was pregnant at 20. Her husband approached a Mufti who issued a fatwa. "When we asked the Mufti why he issued it, he said the talaq was decided according to the man's neeyat (will). Then we asked him how can a pregnant woman be divorced, to which he said that the talaq will be implemented once the baby is born, like an advance talaq," Patel said.

While the men are busy politicising personal laws, the women continue to fight peculiar battles, ones that they mostly lose.
Two Pakistanis who had been arrested for being 'terror guides' to the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorists who carried out the Uri terror attack are Class 10 students who had strayed across the Line of Control (LoC), according to a report by The Indian Express.

The report said that Faisal Husain Awan, residing in Potha Jandgran near the Koomi Kote village in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and his friend Ahsan Khursheed from Khilayana Khurd in Muzzafarabad's Hattain Bala tehsil were arrested on 21 September. Both the villages where the two accused reside are an hour's walk away from the LoC.

Awan was a science student who had graduated from Class 9 with a first division, according to Basharat Husain, the principal of Shaheen Model School. The principal also described Awan as "a model student, respectful and friendly."

More importantly, school documents provided by the principal show that both of them were 16 years old, which make them juveniles and entitles them to special protections.

A PTI report in October had also observed that the four JeM terrorists, who had killed 19 soldiers in one of the the bloodiest attacks on an army camp in Uri, had used a ladder to scale the electrified fence at the LoC.

Investigation carried out by the army to identify the infiltration route of the four terrorists had led it to conclude that a ladder was used near Salamabad nallah.

Army officials had said that one of the four, who mounted the brazen attack in Uri, about 102 km from Srinagar, had infiltrated using the gaps along the fence near Salamabad nallah and erected a ladder on the Indian side of the fence, while the other three had a ladder on their side. The two ladders were connected like a pedestrian bridge.

The sources had said it was difficult for all the four to infiltrate through the gap used by the first terrorist as each one of them was carrying heavy rucksacks filled with ammunition, weapons and eatables. It would have taken them a lot of time to cross the fence at grave risk to their lives as army teams, which routinely patrol the area, could have spotted them.

After the four had infiltrated into India, the ladder, carried by the first terrorist, was handed over back to the two guides who accompanied them up to the LoC, sources had said, adding it was done to ensure there were no tell-tale signs.

With inputs from PTI
Both Houses of Parliament were disrupted on Wednesday, Day 14 of the Winter Session, as Opposition parties kept up their demand for a debate on the government's demonetisation drive including a vote on the issue. The disruptions, which forced several adjournments throughout the day, forced President Pranab Mukherjee to launch a scathing attack on the Opposition. Mukherjee said the House is not a place for dharna and disruptions, which amount to "gagging of majority" by the minority.

He told Parliamentarians that they are meant to discuss and transact business and not to disrupt. "Disruption is totally unacceptable in Parliamentary system. People send representatives to speak and not sit on dharna and not to create any trouble on the floor," he said. "For demonstration, you can choose any other places. But for God's sake, do your job. You are meant to transact business. You are meant to devote your time for exercising the authority of members, particularly Lok Sabha members over money and finance," he said.

The Rajya Sabha saw members disrupt proceedings over the demonetisation issue. Soon after the House resumed post lunch at 2 pm, chairman Hamid Ansari asked members to resume their debate on demonetisation, but opposition members raised slogans, which were countered by members from the treasury benches. Ansari adjourned the house for the day.

Earlier in the day, it was adjourned twice over the same issue. It happened once after the House met for the day. After the members assembled, the Opposition alleged that more than 100 people died so far in the aftermath of demonetisation. It led to a ruckus that forced an adjournment till 12 noon. When the house assembled at noon, opposition members began raising slogans against the demonetisation of Rs 500 and 1,000 notes. Ansari then adjourned the house till 2 pm. The third adjournment was the day's last.

Lok Sabha disrupted

Proceedings in the Lok Sabha were also disrupted, as the Opposition continued to engage in sloganeering, demanding a debate on demonetisation under a rule that entails voting. As soon as the House assembled, leader of Congress in the House, Mallikarjun Kharge, wanted to raise some issue but Speaker Sumitra Mahajan did not allow him and started Question Hour.

This prompted members belonging to the Congress, Trinamool and Left parties to rush into the Well, demanding discussion on demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes under Rule 184 which entails division.

As Mahajan refused to concede to the demand, Opposition members raised slogans to press for it. Apart from usual English and Hindi slogans, the members also raised slogans in regional languages like Malayalam and Bengali. As the din continued, an upset Speaker warned the protesting MPs not to disturb the entire House through their protests. "What is this? I am warning you. Please, please, I am repeatedly telling you if you want to debate, debate. But don't disturb the whole House," she said.

Members belonging to Samajwadi Party and NCP extended their support to their Opposition counterparts by standing in the aisles along their seats. Amidst continued din, the Speaker took up five questions before adjourning the House for nearly 20 minutes till noon.

Congress and Left members were seen wearing black bands on their right arm as a mark of protest against demonetisation, which was announced exactly a month ago.

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, who was recently hospitalised, was present in the House. She was seen engaging in intimate discussions with her son and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and party leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Jyotirditya Scindia and Deepender Singh Hooda.

Jaitley dares Congress

Under attack over demonetisation, the government sought to turn tables in the Lok Sabha, by daring Congress to spell out a single decision it had taken against black money when it was in power for 10 years. "I today challenge them (Congress) to spell out a single step that they had taken during 10-year of their rule against black money," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said while

replying to a short discussion on second batch of 'Supplementary Demand for Grants', which was subsequently passed by the House.

Refuting allegations that government has given an additional route to people to convert black money into white by paying 50 percent tax, Jaitley said the effective liability on them would be about 65 percent, much higher than 8 percent under the Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme (VDIS) of 1997.

"It is not just 50 percent. Out of remaining 50 percent, 25 percent would be kept by government for four years. If you calculate interest on that, the effective tax comes out to be 65 percent," he said. "Although Congress made promises, they never made so much expenditure on the scheme," the finance minister said, adding that during the UPA regime, the actual expenditure used to be much less than what was mentioned in the Budget.

The finance minister said India was considered one of the five "fragile" economies in the world two-and-a-half years ago. "Today, India has become a bright spot in the global economy. India is set to become the fastest growing large economy of the world in third year in a row," he added.

As regards demonetisation, he expressed the hope that situation would normalise by the end of this month and every effort is being made to minimise hardship of people who had to stand in long queues to get currency. "I should clarify that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that we will normalise the situation by 30 December. We will try and minimise hardship faced by the people. Every day, RBI puts money into the system. Efforts are being made to move towards less cash and a digital economy," he said.

Supplementary Demand for Grant approved

During a short debate which was conducted, Trinamool Congress and some other opposition parties, including several members including Kirit Somaya (BJP), Jayadev Galla (TDP) and Dushyant Chautala (INLD) spoke on Supplimentary Demand for Grants.

After the Supplementary Demands for Grant was approved by the Lok Sabha, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar

appealed to the Opposition to shun its protest and agree to a debate on demonetisation under Rule 193 which does not entail

voting.

He accused the Opposition of running away from the debate by continuing the protest. Opposition members, meanwhile, continued to shout slogans against against the government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and demanded debate under Rule 184 which entails voting. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan then adjourned the Lok Sabha for the day.

With inputs from agencies
Indira Gandhi was once lauded as the only man in cabinet of old women. The sexist description  supposedly a tribute to Gandhi  was, simultaneously, a slight to women in general. This, unfortunately, is the kind of linguistic sexism that has peppered our political vocabulary, particularly in the way we tend to describe women leaders. The analytical frameworks within which these women leaders are studied are more often than not layered with sexism.

Unlike their male counterparts, women leaders are usually described with gendered and negative adjectives like mercurial, emotional, unpredictable, and moody. Such terms were frequently used in reference to J Jayalalithaa during her long and eventful political tenure.

They are also routinely used in conversations surrounding two other significant women leaders  Mamata Banerjee and Mayawati. These womens personalities and their political modes of functioning are always commented on using an inherently patriarchal vocabulary.

Though dictatorial tendencies among male leaders are often taken for granted (or even celebrated,) the very same tendencies in women meet with greater flak or acidic criticisms. Jayalalithaa, for instance, was perhaps no more dictatorial than any other male political leader of significance (all political parties are ruled by a supreme leader who rules with an iron hand). Yet, the AIADMK leaders authoritarian ways arguably attracted more flak than has, say, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumars autocratic way of functioning. And this is just one among many examples of male leaders who are known for brooking little or no dissidence within their parties, and for expecting unwavering and uncritical loyalty from colleagues.

Jayalalithaa was not very different in this respect  dictatorial and imperious in her style of functioning. She walled herself up behind a screen of inaccessibility. That image deified her, striking fear and admiration in the hearts of her colleagues, as well as the people at large. Its interesting to note in this context that admirers of both Jayalalithaa and Mamata Banerjee have admiringly depicted these leaders as Goddess Durga; a symbol of divine, feminine power.

In many ways, Jayalalithaa and Mamata Banerjee share some parts of their political trajectory. If the AIADMK chief was the other woman (MGR introduced her to politics but she never was the outsider within in his life,) Banerjee had no mentor when she entered politics. Like Jayalalithaa, Banerjee was subjected to personal and political humiliation, to physical attacks by the CPIM. Both women survived and went to on to become leaders occupying centerstage of regional and national politics.

In her obituary of Jayalalithaa in The Indian Express, Vaasanthi (author of Amma: Jayalalithaas Journey from Movie Star to Political Queen,) writes: She realised that the leader had to be projected as an exalted being with rare or superhuman qualities and the followers necessarily were mere mortals, upon whom she showered her grace. The AIADMK chief knew that all over the world, creating a powerful aura has been an effective strategy used by powerful leaders to control their respective party organisations. It was more of a necessity for her, having to survive in a male-dominated chauvinistic political arena, Vaasanthi opines.

Herein lies the essence of Jayalalithaas personal and political narrative. It would be impossible to undermine the impact of her early years  when she was mentored and dominated by political patron MG Ramachandran  on the personality that she evolved for the public. After breaking free of MGRs influence she evolved into an independent political power house.

The death of MGR left her vulnerable to attacks within her own party, as well as from her opponents outside. MGR, as Jayalalithaa had on occasions mentioned, did not facilitate her emergence within the party. She faced a tough and lonely challenge, which she did successfully overcome. Once she held the reins of her party in a tight grasp, she became deified as Amma. But the journey to that ultimate position of power was traumatic and tough. Jayalalithaa suffered a great deal of humiliation  both physical and mental  at the hands of her male party colleagues. Not surprisingly, these experiences left an indelible impression on her.

In 1989, in the presence of then DMK Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, she was viciously, physically attacked on the floor of the Tamil Nadu assembly. Jayalalithaa left the assembly precincts, and the next time that she entered that same building was when she was elected chief minister two years later. Similar to Mamata Banerjee who, years after being dragged from Writers Buildings by her hair during a protest, eventually took control of that building.

Scandals, corruption, and criticism aside, no remembrance of leaders like Jayalalithaa can overlook these symbolically powerful moments of reversal and triumph, and the battles of sexism that she had to fight.
Kolkata: Sharpening her attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over demonetisation, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said he must resign because the move has led to "economic disaster" in the country and he has "no moral right" to continue.

Alleging the country's growth and business have been hit due to demonetisation, she said the Prime Minister "doesn't trust" anyone and he "doesn't understand" what is good for the country.

"There is no teamwork. He did not consult experts. It is a one-man dictatorship. It is a one-man made disaster. It is a dangerous tendency," she told a press conference at the state secretariat.

"After committing mistakes, he (PM) is showing chest and shoulder. What is this? Such figure is required in films. Ravana too had broad shoulder," she said.

She said if she were the PM, she "would apologise to the people and talked about rectifying myself".

"He must step down. He has no moral right to continue," she said.

"I am sorry to say that the (central) government got derailed totally under the present PM. He is not saying what will happen tomorrow and the day after. He must clarify," she remarked.

Describing her campaign against demonetisation a fight between Modi and the people, she said "the people wanted to know why he did it".

"Who got the benefit of demonetisation. The PM and his associates are the beneficiary. The PM is protecting black money," she said.

"Only the PM who stays at 7 RCR, will eat, others will not," she said.

She said her party has been raising the issue on all platforms.

"We have met the President, raised the issue in Parliament, Assembly and in public meetings. All opposition parties are fighting together. I am in touch wit other opposition parties as well. I will fight even if I am alone," she said.

Banerjee said, "If people raised voice, they will be dubbed as bad and holder of black money."

On the land purchase by the BJP, she said, "They have amassed huge wealth. How did the fakir get so much money?"
Auto refresh feeds

"Most of the people eat food in dhabas when they eat outside. Can the government inform us about a dhaba in which a person carries card-swiping machine in his dhoti?" he said.

"Many labourers became unemployed today...there are very long lines and crores of people in those lines. But it is not just that," he said.

"Does the farmer own black money when he engages in transactions for seeds, fertilisers?" he said.

"It is a reality that the farmer is an important part of the economy. That is why India does not have to beg," said a dramatic Anand Sharma in the Rajya Sabha.

"What authority do the prime minister and finance minister have so that we have to beg you for our very own money?" thundered Anand Sharma.

"You have created a condition in which you told a person that he can exchange Rs 4000...I marvel at your generosity," Anand Sharma said sarcastically in the Rajya Sabha.

"After the Uri attack and surgical strikes, we posed various questions about the army....You said we cannot ask questions about the army," said Anand Sharma.

"If you are the government, that doesn't mean India belongs to you. You have created such an environment that we cannot ask questions," he said. "If we ask questions, you start asking questions about our nationality," he added.

"Who got the benefits of your decisions?" he said. "Your government is only for those people who are your friends. You hurt those people who question you."

"If you are trying to give this impression to the country that India started fighting money laundering now, then the prime minister is living on a different planet," said Anand Sharma in Rajya Sabha.

After this statement, the Congress MPs began shouting again. Note that Anand Sharma was not interrupted even once when he was talking in the Rajya Sabha.

"But I think Anand Sharma does not know much about economics," he said. "If his claim of fight against black money is true, he would not have ignored the fact the entire country has welcomed this move by the Narendra Modi government," he added.

"In the future, inflation will be controlled when more people pay taxes," he said. "The central government will also get more resources for the welfare of farmers, labourers, youth, women in the country."

"Some people had suggested that this move should have been made public seven days before implementing it. But secrecy is most important in such issues," he said.

"The government has taken many steps against corruption. Demonetisation was a historic step against corruption. This was also a warning to the corrupt that the black money they had was useless now," he said.

"This move was aimed at only the corrupt," he said.

"Finance Minister had informed the House only about the counterfeit money in the economy, not the money which some people have got through corruption," Goyal said in the Rajya Sabha.

"Some people just seem to be unhappy that Prime Minister Modi has taken an important step against corruption and black money," he said.

"When the government had just come to power in 2014, there was an atmosphere against corruption," Piyush Goyal said in Rajya Sabha.

"We opened Jan Dhan accounts. An account was opened for every person," he said.

"This is a step after which a person will think twice before engaging in corruption," he said. "The poor labourers will benefit the most," he added.

"Please do not hold views which the corrupt can use to free themselves," Goyal added.

"You (Congress) talked about surgical strike. We did not mention it. This is good. You have given us a certificate that we conducted precise strikes against corruption," he said.

"RBI has authority over monetary policy. An RBI board gave approval for this move," he said.

"The country is ready to tolerate a few days of inconvenience," he said. "The entire country is with us," he added.

"And even the Election Commission won't be able to notice when someone is carrying the Rs 2000 note in one's pocket," he said.

"Several crore vegetables were just thrown away per day from markets," he said. "Who gave you the advice to come up with the Rs 2000 note? Go outside Delhi to the villages of India. Nobody will accept that note," he said.

"The farmer is unable to buy fertiliser and seeds," said SP's Ram Gopal Yadav in Rajya Sabha. "Farmers are not able to sell potatoes now. Were these potatoes made using black money?" he said.

Who gave you the advice to come up with the Rs 2000 note? SP asks govt in Rajya Sabha

"Our party will move adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha," she said, adding that demonetisation was a dictatorial and draconian step by the government.

"Credit card will not buy you food...the President knows the country's situation very well," Banerjee said.

"This move is like a move taken by Mohammad bin Tughlaq," she said.

"We told the President that he is the custodian of the Constitution. We told him to talk to the government," Mamata Banerjee said.

"Starvation deaths are rising," she said. "Our country does not have plastic economy," she added.

"Today, people are not getting access to vegetables in the markets. Children are not getting milk. People are dying," she said.

"Today, how did the non-performing assets increase in the last six months?" the Bengal chief minister said.

"After cancelling notes, there were a lot of notes needed in banks for the huge demand," Mamata Banerjee said after meeting the President.

"90 percent of blak money is in tax havens abroad," Yechury further said. "It's like the prime minister is killing the pond to kill the crocodiles, forgetting that the crocodiles can survive on land too."

"But where is this black money? All estimates say 6 percent of this black money is in cash," he said. "Black money is in circulation, in real estate...gold imports have surged in the last few days."

"We want black money controlled. We want it eliminated. The World Bank says that nearly 21 percent of the Indian economy is in the black economy," Yechury said.

"If you stop these Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, you think corruption will stop? Now, corruption will double with the Rs 2000 notes," Yechury said.

"After 26/11, we went on debating over a new law to combat terrorism. On many issues, we had agreed over how terror funding needed to stop," Yechury said.

"We want to stop counterfeit money. Locate where this is happening. Punish them. We will all support this. But this is not the way to stop it," he said.

"By this way, you are killing the poor," he said. "As Anand Sharma said, 0.02 percent of the cash is counterfeit. To take care of that, you needed to do this?" he added.

"The point is that black money is not going to go away with this. Black money is not stock, it is a flow," Yechury said in the Rajya Sabha.

"For the rest of India, it is Tarasta Bharat," he said. "People can't get their children treated at hospitals."

"In our rural population, 80.8 percent of the rural population is not covered by the banks," he said. "What banking does the prime minister want us to go to? There is Shining India with e-wallets for them," he said.

"Why are you agonising the Indian people?" Yechury said. "Agonising people is a way to tell people: I control your personal lives," he said, adding that this was a fascist move.

"People will say this Tughlaqshahi," he said. "This does not meet the objectives of what the prime minister set out to do."

"You have allowed banks to exchange notes. Bulk of Indians today are dealing with rural cooperative banks. You don't allow them to change notes...86 percent of the rural population is dependent on transactions from these banks," Yechury said.

"What is the meaning of this move?" he said.

"Don't give this exemption to political parties to spend whatever they want," Yechury said. "If you're serious about stopping corruption, stop the supply side of corruption," he added.

Laughing at Das, Patel said, "Are you kidding me? How can you allow your EAS to issue such statements. You are making a fool of yourself."

Slamming the Narendra Modi government's handling of the issue, Patel gave example of Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, who during a press conference on Wednesday said: "The new currency notes, just as the old ones, will lose colour if rubbed with a piece of cloth wet because that's the nature of the dye used. If your note does not lose colour, it's one of the signs that it may be fake."

"Abolishing black money is a move we all support, and BJP government's intention is great but you are asking people to be hungry for 50 days for a feast on the 51st day. Vo aadmi toh mar ayega, bhoj kya khayega (The person will die on the 51st day, what will he do with the feast)," says Patel.

Rajya Sabha erupted after the comment. Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad interrupted Tiwari's speech and said that the statement, which was "atrocious", should not go in record. "No one speaks about the country's prime minister in such an atrocious way. It should not go in record,"Prasad urged the Chair.

In a dramatised speech, Congress leader Pramod Tiwari from Uttar Pradesh compared prime minister to former dictators like Gaddafi, Adolf Hitler and Mussolini. "The seat that you (Narendra Modi) occupy, has been occupied by Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru, Shastri ji, Charan Singh and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. But the way you are working, I am forced to say that it reminds me of dictators like Gaddafi, Hitler and Mussolini."

"Modi government marched to victory in 2014 because the country was tired of scams and scandals. That was our poll promise. I request Congress to come out of the dilemma - are you in favour of the people who are hoarders and scamsters or you are in favour of a bold step that eradicates black money from the country. Narendra Modi is capable of taking very strong steps. Temporary pain for long term gain - is the buzz across India. One thing I want to assure - if your money is valid, nothing will happen to it."

"You have got a chance to discuss important things on this platform so do not waste it by mud-slinging. When it comes to people and their hatred towards our PM (the way you claim), we saw their hatred in 2014 and we will see it in 2019," Naidu says to a thundering applause.

Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu addresses Rajya Sabha and says that people across the nation are watching this Session and they are not interested in a history lesson.

As expected, the Opposition targetted the Narendra Modi governmemnt over its "ill-preparedness" and "lack of empathy" for the general public. Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad at the end of day one requested the prime minister to appear in the House tomorrow and discuss the issue of demonetisation.

While the Lok Sabha was adjourned earlier in the day, Rajya Sabha argued and debated on topics till 6 pm on Wednesday. Chairman of Upper House PJ Kurien announced that the House will resume the same discussion (on demonetisation) from 2 pm on Thursday.

The first day of Winter Session went as expected, in fact it went better than expected.

While the Union ministers and BJP MPs are demanding an apology from Leader of Opposition in the House Ghulam Nabi Azad for his Uri remark, Congress MPs are demanding an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the demonetisation scheme.

"The nation wants to know today," he added, reminding of a news anchor famous for shouting at the panellists on his show.

"The Opposition has disappointed us and the country," he said. "I want the Congress to clarify on Azad's remark," he said.

"Those who ruled over the country for 50 years and ruined the situation of the aam aadmi and those who did not let the Parliament function are now also on the same path," said Naidu. "The prime minister will respond if needed," he said.

"They are not strong...they are not on the side of the truth, the people are not with them," Naidu further said.

"The government is ready for a discussion. We don't know what has happened with the Congress. Suddenly, they took a U-turn," said Venkaiah Naidu.

"There is a need to fix the railway infrastructure. Modiji talked about the bullet train. But there is no focus. How will the aam aadmi benefit and get safety?" said Rahul on the Patna-Indore Express tragedy.

"This is one of the biggest economic decisions in India. But the prime minister had not thought about the impact," he said. "This is some other form of the prime minister," he added.

"We are ready for a discussion. These days, why does the prime minister need to come to the Parliament? He is on a different level. He does not need to interact with his ministers," said Rahul sarcastically.

"People are complaining of deals at the back of long lines to banks. So people are suffering huge losses," he said. "Only 15 or 20 friends of the prime minister will benefit from this move," he added.

"People have told me that they are suffering a lot," said Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi outside the Parliament on the issue of demonetisation.

The Opposition members raised slogans, even as deputy chairman PJ Kurien threatened to adjourn the House. And... he did. The Rajya Sabha is adjourned till 12 pm.

Rajya Sabh and Lok Sabha will resume in a while. Meanwhile, asking his countrymen to tell their views on demonetisation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted saying, "I want your first-hand view on the decision taken regarding currency notes. Take part in the survey on the NM App."

Speaker of Lok Sabha Sumitra Mahajan, quite hassled by the way the MPs were behaving, threatened to adjourn the House. "Kyun kar rahe ho?" asks Mahajan very politely as Opposition MPs raised slogans and asked for debate over demonetisation. The protesting MPs also demanded that Modi should come to the House and make a speech.

The Lok Sabha is heading for another adjournment as the Opposition escalated their attack on the BJP government over the same issue of demonetisation. By the look of it, the Winter Session of Parliament till now has been a total washout with no constructive debate happening on the floor.

After the ruckus got out of hand, a very calm Hamid Ansari stood up and adjourned the Upper House till 2 pm.

Members could not keep it together even as the Rajya Sabha resumed proceedings at 12.32 pm.

However, an unrelenting opposition continued to raise slogans. The Speaker again appealed to the opposition to participate in the debate saying that the disruption of proceedings would not resolve the problem. "I am really pained. If you are people's representatives, you should stand by them," she said. As pandemonium continued, the Speaker adjourned the House till noon after 20 minutes of proceedings.

Ignoring the slogan shouting opposition members, Speaker allowed the Question Hour to continue amidst noise. When some opposition members tried to bring a placard, denouncing the demonetisation move, infront of Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, who was replying a question related to his Ministry, the Speaker tried to intervene and asked the MPs not to disturb the Minister. "This is not good. Everyone will be shown on TV, but don't disturb the Minister. If you want to discuss something, raise it before the government. People are in pain, tell the government. But this is not the way to highlight people's grievances," Mahajan said asking them to return to their seats.

Samjawadi Party, NCP and RJD stood in the aisles in solidarity with the other opposition members. While AIADMK members were also on the aisles raising the issue of Tamil fishermen injured allegedly in firing by Sri Lankan Navy, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi was seen busy in his seat in an intimate discussion with AAP MP from Punjab Harinder Singh Khalsa.

Opposition disrupted the proceedings of the Lok Sabha for the fourth consecutive day demanding discussion on demonetisation on a rule which entails voting forcing Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to adjourn the House for about 50 minutes soon after it assembled. As soon as the House met, members of Congress, TMC, Left parties and AAP rushed to the Well of the House demanding discussions on the demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 under Rule 56, that entails.

As BJP members also created a ruckus, an angry Kurien snapped at them. "Why should treasury benches do this? Mr Minister, why should treasury benches to this," he asked Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.

He told Azad that he was ready to accept his notice under rule 267 seeking suspension of business. "Mr Azad, I am ready to admit your notice under 267 if only there is order in the House."

As they shouted slogans from the Well, Kurien said, "You cannot speak in the Well. Shouting in the Well is of no use. If you go back to your seats, I will give you time (to speak)."

At this point, TMC members carrying placards of "Financial Emergency" trooped into the Well, with Congress members following suit.

"He should come and listen to the pain people have faced because of his decision," Mayawati said. Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said the opposition is ready for discussion on the issue but Prime Minister should come to the Rajya Sabha first. As he spoke, members of the BJP moved into the aisles raising slogans.

No sooner were the listed papers laid on the table in Rajya Sabha, Sharad Yadav of JD(U) said the government should pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to kin of the 70 persons who lost their lives due to hardships caused by withdrawal of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes. Naresh Agarwal (SP) and Mayawati (BSP) said Modi should be called before starting discussion on the demonetisation.

"Today they want PM Modi to address Parliament, tomorrow they will be demand a JPC on the demonetisation issue. Trust me, the opposition is just shifting the goalpost. Why are they running away from a debate? Why do they just want prime minister to speak, is the finance minister not competent enough to reply to their questions," asks Prasad.

Speaking to CNN-News18, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad attacked the Opposition on their demand of asking Prime Minister Modi to address the House of Parliament and in turn asked, "Why is the Opposition running away from debate?"

"Government wants that there should be a long and elaborate discussion so that we can explain to this country the enormous benefits of this move," Singh said. "Congress and other opposition parties are on a self-destructing course."

On the other hand, Jitendra Singh said that the Opposition was on a self-destruct course.

"Let's keep Opposition and government out of this. Let's think of the people," he further said.

"Almost 70 people have died. He must be crying for them. And I respect that," Congress leader Kapil Sibal told Times Now, clearly taking a dig at the prime minister and implying that he could not come to the Parliament because he was crying.

Speaking to the media outside Parliament, Rahul alleged that the government and the prime minister are not allowing a debate in the House. "We have filed an adjournment motion in the House and we want Modi to discuss the issue with us," says Rahul Gandhi

"Main poochna chahti hoon prime minister se ki agar unhone itna acha kaam kiya hai to vo ghabra kyu rahe hain? (I want to ask PM Modi that if he has taken a decision which is so good why is he scared?) I urge President to summon Modi and ask him to take measures to solve the problems faced by people post demonetisation move," Mayawati told the media after Lok Sabha got its first adjournment of the day.

Alleging that it sends a wrong message if prime minister keeps shying away from a debate, BSP chief Mayawati on Wednesday that a debate is a must because otherwise the BJP government looks like it has done something wrong. "Puri daal kali lag rahi hai."

If PM has done this great thing, why is he scared to face Opposition: Mayawati

Proceedings was continuously disrupted as Opposition leaders raised loud slogans against the BJP government. Senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu urges Speaker Sumitra Mahajan not to adjourn the Lower House. "The debate has begun, madam Speaker. Please let the debate happen. The world is watching what Congress and the Oppostion is doing inside the House," Naidu said.

The protesting MPs, for the past half an hour, have continously made noise and tried to disrupt the Lok Sabha proceedings. Speaker Mahajan still holding solid ground.

Opposition members are trying their best to disrupt the proceedings, but BJP MPs (MJ Akbar, Jitendra Singh) are holding their ground and not giving in to the awful noise that the protesting MPs are making.

 Samajwadi Party's Akshay Yadav tore paper and threw it at Speaker Sumitra Mahajan in the Lok Sabha. This is definitely a new low for Opposition parties in the Parliament.

"I am very sorry that the RBI has been exposed to this kind of criticism which is fully justified," he added.

"It is not good that every day, the banking system comes up with some modifications. That reflects very poorly on the prime minister's office," he said.

"The national income can decline by about 2 percentage points...I feel that the prime minister must come up with some constructive proposal," said the former prime minister.

"In my opinion, the way demonetisation has been implemented will hurt agriculture, small industries and the people in the informal sector," he said.

"I want to know from the prime minister the names of countries where people have deposited their money in banks but are not allowed to withdraw it," he said.

"What has been done can weaken and erode our people's confidence in the currency and banking system," said Manmohan Singh in the Rajya Sabha.

"I say so with all responsibility that we do not know what will be the full outcome," he said. "50 days is a short period but for those who are poor, even 50 days can bring about disastrous effects. About 60-65 people have lost their lives," he said.

"Today, there are no two opinions in the country. It is important to take note of the grievances of the common people who have suffered," said Manmohan Singh.

"In the process of demonetisation, monumental mismanagement has taken place," he said.

"I do not disagree with the objectives of taking steps against terroism and black money," said former prime minister Manmohan Singh in the Rajya Sabha. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present in the House.

"By the day, the damage to the economy is increasing. Today, reports have come which have said that in three sectors that are biggest in exports, 4 lakh people have lost their jobs in the last one week or so," Sitaram Yechury said.

Served notice for moving motion of contempt against PM for not showing up in RS: Yechury

Addressing the Upper House, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said how can the prime minister say something like this? "How can the prime minister allege that Opposition parties are in favour of black money? This is wrong."

Within minutes after the Rajya Sabha began today, the opposition members were up in arms protesting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement that those cirticising the government are not angry with the government's preparedness but the fact that they did not get time to prepare.

Slamming the prime minister for his statements on black money hoarders and his veiled attack against the Opposition, the leaders of Congress and SP and BSP created ruckus in the Upper House and demanded that Modi should address the MPs and apologise for his remarks.

"I'm sure many of us have read analysis of noted economist Lawrence Summers, former chief economist of the World Bank and advisor to Obama government who concludes that this exercise has "resulted in chaos and loss of trust" and "without new measures, is unlikely to have lasting benefits. Don't you think it is high time and right time to form a committee of our real experts and intellectuals like Arun Shourie, Yashwant Sinha, Subramanian Swamy and other top economists and intellectuals of our party and veteran Murli Manohar Joshi to help the government in this hour?"

In a series of tweets on Friday, BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha, reiterating his faith in PM Modi's intention, said, "However, I have serious concerns about the outcome, fallout and responses of the people of India and the almost united opposition in particular."

Seventh day of Winter Session and looks like this week business will take a massive hit due to ongoing protests by the Opposition

As Opposition din did not die down even after many requests by the Speaker, Mahajan adjourned the Lok Sabha till Monday (28 November) 11 am.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said that a man  Rakesh Singh  tried to jump in the Lok Sabha off the audience gallery on Friday after the House was adjourned. "Security officials overpowered him and took him under custody and he has been let off with warning," Mahajan added.

Taking the nation by surprise, the Prime Minister had on November 8 announced demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes with effect from midnight.

Latching on to media reports, Yechury sought to pick holes in the November 8 decision as he noted that 29 crore out of the 30 crore Rupay card holders have never used their cards in a swipe machine. Referring to a report on surfacing of two variants of Rs 500 currency notes, the Marxist leader also took a dig at Modi, saying it was the "Prime Minister's way" of stopping circulation of fake currency.

CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over demonetisation, dubbing him as 'Tughlaq' who had "gone missing" after issuing a farman (order). "Barely 20-25 percent of cash demand being met in Metros. Rural areas even worse. While Tughlaq goes missing after his firman," Yechury tweeted.

Will government's wait-and-watch technique, as far as Opposition's protests are concerned, work out in their favour? Most political observers say no because the government does not have the luxury of time. Meanwhile, Opposition leaders are still not relenting with their demand of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's presence in Parliament.

Opposition leaders met before Parliament session commences for the tenth day. However, the worry again is will the Opposition let the Parliament function? Winter Session will go on for 22 sittings - 50 percent of the sittings are already over - the Upper House and the Lok Sabha have still not been able to table crucial bills.

Zero Hour begins with ruling-opposition bickering. As Venkaiah Naidu argues against the Opposition, protesting MPs raised slogans against the prime minister.

"Start the debate! You want the debate, start the debate, Prime Minister Narnendra Modi will come," says Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien.

"Why is the BJP government so stubborn? Why is the prime minister not coming to debate?" Mayawati asks.

In Samba, security forces killed two militants early on Tuesday when a group of militants tried to sneak in from Pakistan through the International Border near a border outpost in this Jammu district. According to reports, the two militants were killed following a "heavy firing exchange" with the BSF.

Even as terrorists infiltrated the International Border and attacked two - Nagrota and Samba - districts of Jammu and Kashmir, there was no talk of that in Parliament. The attack in Nagrota reportedly started around 5.30 am with militants firing at a field regiment camp located in the garrison town of Nagrota near the headquarter's of army's 16 corps in the state.

Demonetisation has been the reason for Parliament washouts over ten days now since Winter Session began on 16 November. Interestingly, Parliament has not discussed anything else except note ban imposed by the Narendra Modi government since the Winter Session began.

Sumitra Mahajan tells two warring factions in Lok Sabha to start the debate. "I am ready, please start the debate."

Rajya Sabha adjourned till 11 am until 1 December as opposition storms the well of the House regarding Nagrota Attack.

TMC leader slammed the BJP government for deploying Army in West Bengal. Senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu told Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien that the deployment was a routine exercise and casting aspersions on the prime minister is not acceptable.

Opposition members are protesting against the ruling government in the Lower House. Rajya Sabha has already been adjourned.

Opposition: Modiji says he wants the poor to build their own homes, but what about those homes which are being broken?

Opposition members raise slogans and stall Rajya Sabha again. Debates not allowed and Chairman of Upper House Hamid Ansari quietly and hopelessly looks around.

If one had to compare, Rajya Sabha gets adjourned way faster and sooner than the Lower House.

Unrelenting Speaker Sumitra Mahajan continues to let MPs speak on different issues while a group of MPs continue to try to disrupt Lok Sabha. But since Winter Session has begun (16 November) members who are against the demonetisation drive have tried, and sometimes successfully, to stall Parliament.

"These photos on the walls of the Rajya Sabha, from where emanates the power of democracy, often haunt me. It has been particularly difficult these last few days to get past those photos.Till 1 December (15th day since the commencement of the Winter Session) no business has been allowed to occur in the House except on the first day when a good debate took place in the Rajya Sabha over demonetisation. Regular disruptions, chaos and high-pitched slogan shouting have resulted in complete pandemonium in the House. The continuous ruckus usually leads to the suspension of the House proceedings and, sadly, it has become a regular feature. I ask myself: is this the only alternative left to us to address the genuine grievances of the public, the states and the nation?"

"He (the prime minister) must answer our questions. India's image has been damaged globally," he said.

"Today, the situation is that the withdrawals of the foreigners who come to India are being rationed," he said. "This has globally affected India's image," he added.

"Demonetisation created a situation that 86 percent of the currency was invalidated. Now, after one month, tens of millions of Indians are standing in queues...It is wrong to give an impression that the Opposition is opposing the prime minister's crusade against black money," Sharma said.

"The government has collective responsibility but the prime minister is the first among the equals," said Congress leader Anand Sharma in Rajya Sabha.

"In the 2G debates, we have insisted that the prime minister participates in this discussions but there is no such practice in this House that the prime minister must be here to listen to each and every member," Jaitley said.

"What is the stage we are in? Halfway through the debate, you interrupted the debate and are now raising concerns which have never been raised in the House," he told the Opposition.

"In this case, we've repeatedly said that the prime minister is going to participate in the debate," Jaitley said.

"It's obviously an important issue. The questions have to be answered," he said. "The government and the council of ministers fucntions on a collective responsibility. There is no such principle that a specific person has to answer."

"We've gone through this exercise of having a major debate which is incomplete. We have spent seven hours on the debate under rule 167," said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Rajya Sabha.

When asked what does the Opposition want, Rahul said, "He should come and debate in Parliament and explain his decision," he said.

Targetting the Prime Minister over the issue of note ban, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi slammed the BJP government saying that the decision to scrap high denomination currency was the biggest mistake ever. "It was a bold decision - that's what Modi ji says - but bold decisions are also foolish decisions. Demonetisation was a foolish decision. Our farmers, fishermen and the poor of the society are dying, our Prime Minister does not care for any of that. He (PM Modi) is laughing and having a nice time while the people of the country are suffering. The idea behind cashless economy is that a few people and corporates will get maximum benefits from these transactions. This has damaged the nation."

Today, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi launched a full frontal attack on the prime minister and an united Opposition on Thursday observed Black Day to mark one month since the demonetisation scheme kicked in.

8 November was when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. It's been a month since then and the Opposition protests have gone on unabated - both in and outside Parliament.

"It is a matter of shame that the government refused to pay tributes to the martyrs," Azad thundered, provoking the ruling party ministers and MPs, who began shouting as if Azad had just thrown something at them.

He also said that by protesting in front of the Gandhi statue, the Opposition was the one which paid tributes to the deceased.

"We have been saying for a long time that over 100 people have died because of demonetisation," said Ghulam Nabi Azad in Rajya Sabha. "But the government refused to pay tribute to the deceased," he added.

It is a matter of shame that govt refuses to pay tributes to people killed due to demonetisation: Congress in RS

President Pranab Mukherjee has accused the Opposition of "gagging majority" in both Houses of Parliament. "Debate, dissension and decision are necessary," Times Now quoted the President as saying. "The Parliament must not be disrupted...this is unacceptable."

Has the Winter Session turned out to be a complete waste of time? Read the full article here .

The Winter Session of Parliament began on 16 November. On 8 December, both the Houses  Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha  met for the 14th day but within minutes of commencing, both the Houses were adjourned. The deadlock over demonetisation has led to wastage of the Winter Session so far and considering that just one more week is left for the session to wrap up, there is little hope that the Houses will be able to pass, introduce or even debate the Bills that have been listed for consideration.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Venakaiah Naidu also termed the 'dharna' by opposition leaders near the Gandhi statue in Parliament premises as a big 'tamasha' and an insult to the Father of the Nation. "Our opponents particularly the Congress I am told are observing a Black Day. I say what they are observing is a 'Black Money Support Day'," Naidu said.

Hitting out at the Congress-led Opposition for observing a 'Black Day' against demonetisation decision, government on Thursday said they are actually observing a "Black Money Support Day".

According to Times Now, the parliamentary panel has found Mann guilty of security breach after he filmed a video entering Parliament by crossing several security layers and posted it on social media.

 As if the logjam in Parliament  for which President Pranab Mukherjee admonished both Houses  was not embarrassing enough for the country, there is now a delegation of parliamentarians from Vietnam who are going to witness what happens in an Indian Parliament.

"Govt running from debate, if they allow me to speak then you will see what an earthquake will come," says Rahul Gandhi.

Keep in mind that Vietnamese Parliamentarians are in both the Houses to witness this scene.

It's hard to decide at this point who is trying to stall Parliament. During zero hour in Lok Sabha, MPs in Lok Sabha kept raising ruckus while Speaker Sumitra Mahajan tries her best to keep the House in session.

Rajya Sabha adjourned till 14 December On Friday as the count of members in the Upper House remained 21 despite calls from the Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien, the house was adjourned till Monday. The benches remained empty while BJP and Congress leaders sparred with each other blaming each other for the non-functioning government.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a meeting with key ministers before Parliament convenes on Wednesday morning to decide their strategy," the report said.

According to an NDTV report Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu said that Prime Minister Modi will be present in Parliament for the three remaining days of the Session and can participate in proceedings for either of the House depending on the need.

Congress is going to raise the issue of corruption charges against Kiren Rijiju. Rajya Sabha member and senior Congress leader, Anand Sharma has given notice under Rule 267 in Rajya Sabha for discussion on corruption charges against Rijiju.

Comparison of the Right of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2014 and new amendments

"This is the first time that the government is scheming to make sure Parliament does not function. It usually is the job of Opposition to stand up and protest. However, this government is doing a pretty job of that and making sure that Parliament does not work and no one questions the ruling party's decision. Demonetisation has hurt a lot of people, but Modi government's arrogance is not allowing us to debate it in the House," a TMC member said.

BJP was reacting to Congress vice-president's claim that he has information of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's alleged involvement in "personal corruption." Rahul was speaking a joint press briefing of the Opposition after the Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day amid din created by Opposition.

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ananth Kumar said that if Rahul Gandhi had any information, he could have revealed them twenty days ago, ""but till today he wasn't ready to make any earth-shattering revelations."

Soon after Rajya Sabha passed the amended The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill (2014) and Kurien congratulated the members over a productive day, Anand Sharma raised the issue of Rijiju and his alleged involvement in the Rs 450-crore scam. Kurien tried to maintain calm in the House by saying, "Allegation without informing the Chair cannot be allowed."

As Opposition members raised slogans and ruckus, Kurien said, "What can I do except adjourning. Both sides are indisciplined. The House is adourned till tomorrow (15 December) 11 am."

It seemed like the members in the Upper House were just waiting to pass one single Bill this Winter Session. Soon after Kurien praised the members of the Upper House for being disciplined, ruckus over alleged corruption allegations on Kiren Rijiju took the House by storm again.

Kurien: "I have given the floor to Leader of Opposition. That's the tradition. Let's follow it. Please sit down."

Senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi object to leader of opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad speaking in the Upper House. Kurien asks BJP members to sit down. Amid slogans of "Agusta Agusta" , BJP leaders demanded to know what is the topic of discussion?

"I have to adjourn.. what should I do?" asks Kurien. "This is for the first time in history of India that it's the ruling party that's not letting the House to function," says Azad.

Helpless deputy chairman PJ Kurien begs for MPs to sit down as Congress and BJP leaders spar over Ghulam Nabi Azad's speech on demonetisation.

Sources said that it was also decided in the meeting to raise the plight of farmers and common people in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and demand a loan waiver for farmers. Representatives of Congress, Trinamool Congress, BSP, SP, JD-U, CPI, CPI-M, NCP, DMK and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) were present in today's meeting.

Leaders of various parties said the entire opposition has decided to approach the President to "complain" against the ruling party for not allowing them to speak in Parliament. The leaders said they were elected representatives of the country and had every right to speak in Parliament and it was "unconstitutional" not to allow them to speak in both Houses. Sources said time is being sought from the President till Friday and all opposition parties were ready to raise the issue unitedly before him.

Taking their protest on demonetisation to President Pranab Mukherjee's doorsteps, Opposition parties sought a meeting with the president to convey the problems caused by the measure to the common man and "over not being" allowed to speak in Parliament. At a meeting of the opposition held in the chamber of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, representatives of various parties decided to raise with the President the problems of the common people, including the poor and farmers arising out of demonetisation.

Advani also added that "had Atal ji been in Parliament today, he would have been upset."

Senior BJP leader LK Advani told Home Minister Rajnath Singh to intervene and stop disruptions in both Houses of Parliament. Expressing his unhappiness, Advani allegedly said that he "feels like resigning".

Opposition leaders are scheduled to meet the President and PM Modi to push for a way to break the deadlock.

The BJPs Parliamentary Party meeting to discuss the strategy to counter the Oppositions charges against the government is currently underway. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to address the gathering.

The last day of the Winter Session of Parliament is setup for a big tussle between the government and the Opposition as both try to break the deadlock.

"Regular and continuous disruptions signify this session... The rules about displaying placards and shouting slogans were ignored by all sections of the house," Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari said in his closing statement before adjourning the house.

The Rajya Sabha on Friday concluded its winter session after an emotional speech by the Chairman as the house was adjourned sine die.

On the eve of Winter Session, two all-party meetings were convened, first by the ruling NDA and the other by Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan. At the all-party meeting Modi requested all parties for cooperation in order to make Parliament session a fruitful one.

"I hope that Winter Session will be fruitful. I expect that Winter Session will proceed in a positive way. I hope that Winter Session debate will strengthen democracy. I believe that to take the country ahead this Winter Session debate will be useful, " said Modi as Winter Session sets to begin.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said govt should should respect Opposition and create an atmosphere for healthy debate during Parliament Winter Session.

"If you will put their husbands in jail, who will provide for them, who will pay for their children," Azad asked as he reiterated that Congress leader Anad Sharma's suggestion to send it to Standing Committee should be taken into consideration.

Ghulam Nabi Azad stood up as the bill was taken up for discussion and said that none of the parties are in opposition of the bill in essence. However, he said that the government's bill will "finish Muslim women" instead of saving them.

He said that a committee should reflect the nature of the House, which the list of suggestions given by Sharma does not. Sharma's suggestion did not include names from the BJP.

Jaitley said that the previous precedents show that any amendments or motions should be introduced with prior notice. He said that the Opposition's demand to send the bill to Select Committee was invalid. He also raised objection on the suggestion on members of Select Committee made by Anand Sharma.

Kurien said that the Leader of the House is a very learned advocate himself and all points raised by him are of relevance. The rule he quotes that a prior notice should be given is also correct, he said. "However, the same rule adds that the Chairman has the power to admit such a motion and which is why I cannot overrule it. It is now admitted and hence is the property of the House, only members can amend it," Kurien said on Jaitley's objection over the Opposition motion seeking triple talaq bill be sent to Standing Committee.

Roy, responding to Jaitley's objection that the Select Committee suggested by him did not reflect the nature of the House, Roy said that he had included members from all parties who were willing to send the bill to the Standing Committee. However, BJP members were not included because the government was not willing to send the bill to the committee. Roy added that if the BJP is interested in sending the Bill for further scrutiny, he has no objection to ammend the list to include its members too.

Govt requests to take up GST bill first as Dy Chairman ruled Triple Talaq bill can't be taken for passage without first building consensus in House

"If you will put their husbands in jail, who will provide for them, who will pay for their children," Azad asked as he reiterated that Congress leader Anad Sharma's suggestion to send it to Standing Committee should be taken into consideration.

Ghulam Nabi Azad stood up as the bill was taken up for discussion and said that none of the parties are in opposition of the bill in essence. However, he said that the government's bill will "finish Muslim women" instead of saving them.

He said that a committee should reflect the nature of the House, which the list of suggestions given by Sharma does not. Sharma's suggestion did not include names from the BJP.

Jaitley said that the previous precedents show that any amendments or motions should be introduced with prior notice. He said that the Opposition's demand to send the bill to Select Committee was invalid. He also raised objection on the suggestion on members of Select Committee made by Anand Sharma.

Uproar in Rajya Sabha after opposition's motion on #TripleTalaqBill , opposition has demanded the bill be sent to select committee

Kurien said that the Leader of the House is a very learned advocate himself and all points raised by him are of relevance. The rule he quotes that a prior notice should be given is also correct, he said. "However, the same rule adds that the Chairman has the power to admit such a motion and which is why I cannot overrule it. It is now admitted and hence is the property of the House, only members can amend it," Kurien said on Jaitley's objection over the Opposition motion seeking triple talaq bill be sent to Standing Committee.

Roy, responding to Jaitley's objection that the Select Committee suggested by him did not reflect the nature of the House, Roy said that he had included members from all parties who were willing to send the bill to the Standing Committee. However, BJP members were not included because the government was not willing to send the bill to the committee. Roy added that if the BJP is interested in sending the Bill for further scrutiny, he has no objection to ammend the list to include its members too.

Govt requests to take up GST bill first as Dy Chairman ruled Triple Talaq bill can't be taken for passage without first building consensus in House

As the Parliament Winter Session reconvenes after a four-day break, it looks like the Opposition may finally get the debate on demonetisation it has been asking for, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi likely to attend all the remaining parliamentary proceedings, reports said on Wednesday.

According to The Indian Express, both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress has instructed their Member of Parliaments (MPs) to be present in both Houses for the rest of the session.

The news story, however, indicated that the government seems to have managed to convince the Opposition to forego its demand of a discussion under Rule 193, a primary demand of the Opposition  mostly Congress and Tirnamool Congress  that had lead to a deadlock in both the houses of Parliament since the beginning of the session. It will now be a no-rule discussion, it said.

As for the Opposition's second demand, which was that Prime Minister Modi should answer questions from the Opposition, CNN-News18 said that Modi is likely to attend the parliamentary proceedings. However, whether or not he will speak, remains unclear.

However, according to an NDTV report Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu said that Prime Minister Modi will be present in Parliament for the three remaining days of the Session and can participate in proceedings for either of the House depending on the need.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a meeting with key ministers before Parliament convenes this morning to decide their strategy," the report said.

The Opposition will discuss its strategy during the parliamentary proceedings on Wednesday in an Opposition party's meet at 9.30 am, CNN-News18 reported.

The Parliament's Winter Session has been facing a deadlock on demonetisation ever since it began on 16 November. While the Lok Sabha has managed to conduct two legislative actions  pass the Income Tax amendment bill and approve the Supplementary Demand for Grants  the Rajya Sabha, on the other hand, functioned normally only on the first sitting of the session when a debate on demonetisation took place for five hours.

While three bills related to Goods and Services Tax (GST), are unlikely to be cleared on Wednesday, The Indian Express said, "Rajya Sabha is likely to pass the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2014 in a brief remission of hostilities."

However, apart from the listed topics of business, the Parliamentary proceedings are likely to attract heated discussions on the arrest of former Air marshal, SP Tyagi, in relation to the AugustaWestland VIP chopper scam as well as BJP leader Kiren Rijiju's alleged corruption in the Arunachal Hydro Power project.
New Delhi: Hitting out at the Congress-led Opposition for observing a 'Black Day' against demonetisation decision, government on Thursday said they are actually observing a "Black Money Support Day".

Information and Broadcasting Minister Venakaiah Naidu also termed the 'dharna' by opposition leaders near the Gandhi statue in Parliament premises as a big 'tamasha' and an insult to the Father of the Nation. "Our opponents particularly the Congress I am told are observing a Black Day. I say what they are observing is a 'Black Money Support Day'," Naidu said.

Attacking the Congress over the protests near the statue of Gandhi, he said the opposition party was actually moving away from the Gandhian spirit. "Dharna by opposition parties near Gandhi statute in Parliament premises is a big 'tamasha' and an insult to the Father of Nation," he said.

"By posing for photos in front of Mahatama Gandhi, you cannot claim to be a Gandhian. And you cannot make the people believe that you are believers of Gandhism. Scuttling the debate on demonetisation for than two weeks and not allowing Parliament, staging dharnas, going to the Well of the House, abusing the Prime Minister, raising slogans is in no way going to help democracy," Naidu said.

He added that such an attitude reflected "weakness" of the opposition and "hatred" towards the people's mandate. "That's why I say they are insulting the Mahatama Gandhi. They are insulting the concept of satyagraha. It is time Congress realises its folly," he said. Not allowing Parliament to function only reflects "contempt" of democracy, he told reporters.

Naidu said that while Gandhi used 'Satyagraha' to ensure victory of truth over evil, Congress was only inflicting "pain" on people. The minister observed that praise has poured in from abroad as well on the demonetisation decision.
It didnt take the news-break claims of NDTV on Wednesday for the people of Tamil Nadu to realise that it will be Jayalalithaas long-term associate and friend Sasikala who will be calling the shots in the AIADMK and the state government now.

Since Sasikala is visibly reunited with her family after Jayas passing, the remote control of the party and the government will be shared by them too.

NDTV on Wednesday said that ever since Jayalalithaa suffered a cardiac arrest on Monday, there were a series of behind-the-scenes political maneuverings by Sasikala and her family to gain control of the AIADMK and the government. The channel said that Sasikala negotiated the transfer of power with five heavyweights in the AIADMK.

The spokespersons of the DMK and the Congress, as well as national and local media, have already expressed their concerns about this emerging extraconstitutional arrangement while other political parties are delaying their denunciation because of the mourning. However, the BJP has no problem. Its singing the same tune as the AIADMK.

None of the BJP leaders have found anything amiss in Sasikala clan taking control of the party and the government, or the family that Jaya had banished in 2011 crowding around her body at the funeral.

In fact, the BJPs approval of Sasikala being the de facto inheritor of Jayas legacy and her family helping her stay in control has been all too evident in the last few days. All the reported political deals and midnight transfer of power, which appeared extremely well-planned and executed, couldnt have happened without the tacit support of the Centre and the Governors office. Everything that night  from the announcement of the death, the election of the new parliamentary party leader and the swearing-in of the new chief minister  appeared too perfect to be true.

There were many more signs of the BJPs explicit support to the new arrangement: Prime Minister Narendra Modis gesture of blessing Sasikala by placing his hand on her head in the presence of her brother who had been thrown into jail by Jayalalitha in 2011; his being introduced to Sasikalas husband M Natarajan  another persona non grata in Jayas list  by BJP local leader and Rajya Sabha MP L Ganesan; the presence of a BJP functionary with Natarajan while he gave an interview to New18 Tamil Nadu about taking the legacy of MGR and Jaya forward; and Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu standing by during the funeral and camping in Chennai throughout the transition couldnt have been merely coincidental. The entire choreography of events had the unmissable footprints of the BJP.

The BJP could have certainly made it difficult for Sasikala, through the governor, had it wanted because Jaya passed away without a nominee or a second line leadership. Instead, it chose to join the plot by not spoiling the party, but gain from it. By being a partner in the plan, it now has a very important state on its side.

With a pliant AIADMK leadership, the BJP gets the support of 50 MPs, in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha together, who could otherwise be bothersome and gets a mild chief minister who wouldnt be able to say no to any of the proposals of the Centre. Although Jaya had been a great personal friend of Modi and a past ally of the BJP, she had never allowed it to come in the way of exercising her autonomy or political authority.

While almost all the states, including the left-ruled Kerala, fell in line for the GST, Jaya had continued her resistance. Similarly, she neither allied with the BJP in the last general elections nor supported Modis prime ministerial pitch. Nobody else, probably with the exception of Mamata Banerjee, demonstrated the level of autonomy that a chief minister could wield as she had. Central ministers often had to wait for her appointment that never came so much so that the Union Power minister Piyush Goyal once had reportedly remarked that Tamil Nadu was "a state within a state". "It is part of the country where I can't even reach out to the chief minister. I have made several attempts to talk to their leaders without success," he had said.

Its not with a friendly BJP alone that Jaya had been resistant, or protective about her autonomy, but with the UPA too. Throughout her career as the chief minister, Jaya opposed every bill, policy statement, or notification of the Centre that seemed to overlap with or usurp the policies or powers of the states. The GST, planning commissions approach paper on poverty, FDI in retail, Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (PCTC) Bill, Right to Food Act, the centres stand on Tamil Nadu fishermen and Sri Lanka, Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme, common entrance test for professional courses, National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), and the National Commission for Human Resources for Health Bill were some of the proposals that Jaya had vehemently opposed.

During the UPA regime, Jaya had even charged that the Centre had reduced the states to "glorified municipal commissions", an analogy that she had first used in her speech at the National Development Council (NDC) in 2011. She said it again at the Chief Ministers meeting on NCTC in 2012. On NCTC, she had said that the lack of consultation with the state governments and the failure of the Centre in taking the states into confidence was a cogent commentary on the system of governance at the Centre. And her members in Parliament always echoed her lines.

In her place, the BJP now has a low weight and hardly articulate O Panneerselvam and an unelected Sasikala Natarajan, who owe part of their power to the Centre. Its an easy bargain. The BJP has one more state to its list and more support in Parliament, particularly in Rajya Sabha. Part of Sasikala's remote control is certainly with them.
New Delhi: Accusing Rahul Gandhi of levelling baseless allegations against the government to grab headlines, BJP on Thursday dared him to speak on demonetisation in Parliament. Attacking the Congress Vice-President, the ruling party said on the one hand he claims to speak about the interests of the common man but on the other hand Congress was stalling Parliament for three weeks and wasting public money spent on running it.

Congress ran way from discussion in Parliament when it was in power and it is doing the same now when it is in the opposition, BJP National Secretary Shrikant Sharma alleged. "His (Rahul's) charges against the Modi government are borne out of his incompetence and arrogance. He is competing with Arvind Kejriwal in TRP politics by levelling baseless charges on almost daily basis. He is doing so merely for headlines. He should instead speak in Parliament not outside," Sharma said.

He was reacting after Rahul attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying his "foolish decision", a reference to demonetization, has "devastated" the country.

Earlier also, the Congress leader had targeted Modi over demonetization, accusing him of practising TRP politics and said the country has suffered damage due to his "vanity and incompetence". Sharma hit out at Rahul, saying he was rattled by Modi's offensive against black money and corruption as they are rooted in the opposition party's culture and said the Congress leader's allegations highlight his "mental bankruptcy".

Congress does not want Modi to take developmental measures for the poor and farmers, he said, adding that the Prime Minister's fight is not against some political parties or persons but against corruption.

"When 2G, coal block allocation and CWG scams happened during the UPA government, BJP wanted debate in Parliament but Congress ran away from it. It continues to avoid a debate even in opposition. It committed scams worth 12 lakh crore and is rattled by the Modi government's actions," he claimed.
New Delhi: US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, and briefed him

on the progress made in taking decisions forward and understandings reached between the two countries following their June meeting.

The two also exchanged views on regional issues and the developments in the Asia Pacific region, a PMO statement said.

During the meeting, Prime Minister Modi appreciated the contribution made by Secretary Carter in strengthening defence cooperation between India and the US.

The Prime Minister also recalled his successful visit to the US in June this year.

He reaffirmed India's commitment to a robust and strong bilateral strategic partnership with the US, the statement said.

Carter is on an official visit to India at the invitation of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.
Dhaka: Five members of a banned Islamist extremist group were nabbed in Bangladesh on Thursday, as they were regrouping in a bid to free their arrested leaders, a day after the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of the outfit's chief.

The five were members of Harkatul Jihad al Islami (HuJI) and were arrested in separate operations, police said.

The elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) found bomb-making materials from their three-storey hideout in Chittagong. Three militants were arrested in the operation carried out on the lead provided by two militants arrested from another area in the southern port city.

"The five arrested in separate incidents are HuJI members," RAB media wing director Mufti Mahmud Khan told reporters. "They were trying to regroup after a long period of inactivity," Khan was quoted as saying by bdnews24 online.

He said the militants were planning attacks to free their arrested leaders.

The two suspects caught earlier - Tajul Islam and Nazimuddin - had pistols in their possession, Khan said adding that seven gun magazines, 12 IEDs and bomb-making materials were found in the hideout from the three were arrested later.

"Tajul Islam is HuJI's chief coordinator in Dhaka. His name came up after the arrest of HuJI leader Mufti Mainul Islam. Tajul has been central to their organisation attempts in Chittagong."

"Nazimuddin has close ties to HuJI leaders Mufti Hannan and Rouf who are in prison," he said.

Mufti Abdul Hannan is the chief of HuJI in Bangladesh and his death sentence in a terror case for attacking the British envoy in Bangladesh in 2004 that left three policemen dead was upheld yesterday by the Supreme Court.

The ruling cleared the way for Hannan's execution and the regrouping of the militants could be a desperate attempt by the outfit to free the militant leader.

HuJI is accused of launching a series of deadly blasts targeting a Christian church, an Ahmadi Muslim mosque, and rallies of secular activists. The US several years ago designated HuJi as a foreign terrorist organisation and "specially designated global terrorist." Its involvement is also suspected in several bomb blasts in India.

The militant hideout was seen littered with jihadi books, ball bearings, wires and knives, the report said.
By Nacho Doce

| BOSTON

BOSTON A multi-coloured gay pride flag hangs in a corner of a bare room in an abandoned Sao Paulo art deco building that was once the headquarters of Brazil's social security agency. The room is home to several members of Brazil's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community seeking refuge from discrimination and hate crimes against LGBT people.They were invited to join some 300 squatters who have been living in the building for several months in an occupation organised by Front in the Fight for Housing, an activist group promoting rights of some 400,000 people without decent housing in Sao Paulo. "The occupation is a space where we can feel safe," Rodrigo, a tall shaven-headed gay man says as he strokes his black beard. "In the LGBT movement, we just want to live our lives and that means not having to be afraid of who is behind you."Brazil has one of the world's highest rates of LGBT hate crimes, despite a reputation for sexual tolerance. The country recognised same-sex marriage in 2013 and hosts some of the world's largest gay pride festivals. Human rights groups including Amnesty International say homophobic violence is endemic in Brazil, where there were 326 murders in the community in 2014.Some Evangelical pastors, who are becoming increasingly popular in Brazil, have adopted overtly homophobic rhetoric.

Luciana Jesus Silva, a bisexual woman and organizer of the occupation, asked the FLM to offer space to LGBT people after she learned that one of her gay friends had been hospitalized after a hate attack only to have his mother throw him out of the house, saying he was the work of the devil."We who are the most marginalized and repressed by society have to stand together," said Silva, 45, a mother of four.More than two dozen LGBT people have joined the occupation, though many more come. The occupation of several buildings in central Sao Paulo has lasted several months because of a Brazilian law that makes it hard to evict squatters. The Front in the Fight for Housing offers families an escape from violence-plagued slums that ring the metropolis.

Rodrigo lounges on a mattress with Wam, 24, and Teflon, 19, whose colorful turban and brightly patterned clothing strike a contrast with the drab abandoned apartment. They stage an impromptu fashion display. He strikes a pose, with his arms languidly outstretched like the wings of a crane, his legs crossed. Makeup and clothes are an act of defiance for some LGBT people.Jorge, 31, teaches drawing to the children in a vacant apartment. Gaby, 18, cooks dinner in a large communal pot from which residents are served. With scant furniture in the building, some eat standing up or sitting on the floor.In the evening, Rodrigo and his friends head to Arouche square in downtown Sao Paulo, a gathering point for the LGBT community.

Gaby does her makeup in the dimly lit room before going out. Rodrigo, Teflon and Fernando don high heels and flowing robes, their appearance turning heads on the graffiti-marred streets. The small square, marked by a lamppost adorned with a gay-pride flag, is a place to make friends, share experiences and discuss gay rights."It's not my fault that I live in a society with an empty heart and mind," laments Fernanda, a 20-year-old black transgender woman. She says her appearance makes finding a job almost impossible. "It's harder being trans than being gay because if you're gay you still have a masculine appearance," she says. "My appearance is my own creation." (Reporting by Nacho Doce; Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Jim Finkle)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
London: British Prime Minister Theresa May secured a symbolic victory on Brexit on Wednesday after MPs agreed not to delay her plans to begin the EU exit talks by the end of March, although she had to promise to give them more details of her negotiating strategy.

The opposition Labour party's original motion demanded the government publish its "plan" before triggering EU Article 50, which begins the two-year exit process.

This motion had been expected to draw support from dozens of May's Conservative MPs but the premier fended off a rebellion with a last-minute amendment, accepting the Labour motion on condition that MPs support her timetable for triggering the Brexit talks.

Lawmakers voted 461 in favour of the amendment, backing May's timeline to trigger the divorce negotiations with Brussels by 31 March, 2017.

A total of 89 MPs voted against that amendment, in which May agreed to provide further details on her negotiating strategy before triggering Article 50 of the European Union's Lisbon Treaty, with the results announced in parliament.

A second vote saw 448 lawmakers support the motion in its entirety, with the amendment, while 75 lawmakers voted against.

The House of Commons vote is not binding and the government is still fighting a challenge at the Supreme Court against moves to give parliament the final say on starting the Brexit process.

Following the results MP Hilary Benn, from the opposition Labour Party, said he hoped the vote would prompt the government to give more information on its plans for negotiating Britain's future outside the European Union.

"When they have said they are going to publish a plan, I expect to see some detail.

"Parliament doesn't intend to be a bystander, parliament intends to be a participant," he told BBC News.

Iain Duncan Smith, from the ruling Conservative Party, said the vote was "a very historic moment" which enabled the government to act on Brexit.

"The government now has a blank cheque, and I think that's a good thing," he told Sky News.

May has so far refused to give a "running commentary" on her strategy, insisting that revealing her hand prematurely would undermine the negotiations.

'A trap'

Ahead of the vote Labour's Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer welcomed the amendment, saying the government had "caved in" and "must now prepare its plan and publish it".

He called for an outline plan by January, warning that his party would not accept a "late, vague plan" that allowed no time for parliamentary debate.

May has previously said she wants the "best possible deal" for trade with the EU, to create new deals outside the bloc and to control immigration.

Government minister David Lidington said there would be a "statement about our negotiating strategy and objectives" before Article 50 is triggered.

But the approved motion gives ministers considerable leeway to withhold details, by stating "there should be no disclosure of material that could be reasonably judged to damage the UK in any negotiations".

The amended motion was opposed by one Conservative MP  former chancellor Ken Clarke  and nine Labour MPs. Five of the Liberal Democrats' nine MPs also voted against the final motion, along with 51 out of the total 54 Scottish National Party lawmakers, among others.

A further challenge for May comes with the Supreme Court case, which could give MPs the chance to block Brexit at a later date by voting against the government, the newspaper added.

Court case arrest

The Supreme Court is holding hearings this week over whether the government or parliament should begin the Brexit process, but both sides said the case is not affected by Wednesday's Commons debate.

The prime minister is appealing a ruling by the lower High Court last month which decided she cannot use her executive power to trigger Article 50 and must first seek authorisation from parliament.

MPs overwhelmingly opposed Brexit during the June referendum on the subject, prompting concerns they might seek to delay Britain's withdrawal or at least soften the terms of the break.

The court case has reignited strong passions over Brexit, and the claimant leading the challenge against the government, investment fund manager Gina Miller, has received death threats.

Police said Wednesday they had arrested a 55-year-old man on suspicion of racially aggravated malicious communications, as part of an investigation into online threats against an unnamed woman, believed to be Miller.
Beijing: A man who wrote a social media post critical of China's decades-old land reform policies was sentenced to a year in prison, reports said, amid a tightening

of civil liberties and free speech.

The man, surnamed Miao, ran the Twitter-like Weibo social media account for the traffic police of Zizhou county in northern Shaanxi province, the Global Times newspaper reported on Thursday.

In June 2015 he wrote a post that criticised China's land reform policy of 1950, which abolished landowners' rights and saw the violent confiscation of property and its redistribution to peasants.

Since that law was enacted, "a vigorous land reform was carried out across China, a movement under which people were killed for money and property, leading to hatred and decay of traditional moral values," he wrote in the now-deleted post, according to the Global Times.

"The land reform was the start of the collapse of Chinese moral values!"

The post was quickly scrubbed and the traffic police posted an apology blaming the manager's irresponsible work attitude for the "inappropriate remarks, which deeply wounded the feelings of the mass of internet users".

Miao was sentenced to one year in prison with one year and six months' reprieve for dereliction of duty by the local court, it said.

China has seen a sprawling crackdown on dissent under President Xi Jinping, restricting citizens' speech online and jailing hundreds of lawyers who had taken on civil rights

cases considered sensitive by the ruling party.

Communist authorities oversee a vast censorship system  dubbed the Great Firewall  that aggressively blocks sites or snuffs out internet content and commentary on topics considered sensitive, such as Beijing's human rights record and criticism of the government.

In November China passed a controversial cybersecurity bill that banned internet users from publishing a wide variety of information, including anything that damages "national honour", "disturbs economic or social order" or is aimed at "overthrowing the socialist system".
Washington: He's not yet finished picking, but President-elect Donald Trump already has named three retired generals to top posts, raising questions as to why there will be so much military brass in cabinet-level jobs.

Trump on Wednesday named retired four-star Marine general John Kelly to head the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees several critical areas including immigration and border control  signature issues for Trump.

If confirmed by the Senate, Kelly would join retired Marine general James Mattis as defense secretary and retired Army lieutenant general Michael Flynn as national security adviser. Mattis also needs Senate approval.

While the men bring broad depth of knowledge to the cabinet and considerable expertise, some worry their numbers threaten a cornerstone of American democracy  that civilians control the military and the government.

"If you have a significant number of (former military members) in your cabinet, you begin to bring into some question whether you actually are maintaining full civil control of a nation," David Barno, a retired general who once led the US war effort in Afghanistan, told AFP.

Yet another retired general, David Petraeus, has been floated as a possible pick for secretary of state, and retired admiral Michael Rogers has been rumored to be in the running for director of national intelligence.

"One more three or four-star general given a senior appointment, and we can start referring to a Trump junta rather than a Trump administration," retired Army lieutenant colonel and military scholar Andrew Bacevich told Time magazine.

Trump was outspoken during his campaign against the generals currently serving under President Barack Obama's administration, boasting he knew more about the Islamic State group than they did, and claiming the White House had reduced the four-stars to "rubble."

Impressed by generals' 'gravitas'

One possible reason Trump is drawing so deeply from the military well now is because officers typically keep their political views private, meaning few generals were openly critical of Trump's divisive campaign, while a slew of experienced lawmakers and civilians sharply disagreed with him.

Trump also was likely wowed by the breadth of experience he had seen in the generals, Barno said.

He "is very impressed by the seriousness and the experience and the gravitas that a number of retired generals have brought into interviews with him," he said.

"They are very different kinds of people from many of the people he has surrounded himself with for the other parts of his career, to include through most of his campaign."

Timothy Hagle, who teaches political science at the University of Iowa, said the generals have qualities Trump appreciates: an ability to be "straight talking, very blunt" and to "focus on the mission regardless" of political leanings.

A major concern about a military-heavy cabinet is that Trump might begin to see all world problems through a military prism without giving sufficient voice to other forms of influence, such as diplomacy.

But retired major general Charles Dunlap, who formerly was a top Air Force lawyer and who now teaches at Duke University, said the opposite was often true  military members who understand the horrors of war are less likely to be hawkish than civilian leaders.

"Retired generals don't clamor for war; they are typically the voices urging that all other avenues be exhausted before turning to force," Dunlap said in an opinion piece published on Vox.com.

How hawkish the new Trump administration will be remains to be seen, but the incoming president has already upset China by taking a call from Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen, breaking with decades of tradition.

And Mattis, who is highly regarded by politicians of many stripes, is outspoken on Iran and has publicly called it the "single most belligerent actor in the Middle East."

Having retired in 2013, Mattis needs a special waiver to serve, as US law bans uniformed military officers from being secretary of defense for seven years after leaving active duty.

Barno, now based at American University, echoed Dunlap's view that more retired generals don't necessarily equate to more foreign military interventions.

"The military leaders that (Trump) has selected will bring a very sober voice about the risks of using military power," he said.

"So I think the military people will bring a cautionary note to a number of these campaigns, in some cases more than some civilian leaders might in the past."
LONDON What happens if the British government loses its appeal against a High Court ruling that said ministers could not start the process of leaving the European Union without parliament's approval?All 11 Supreme Court judges sat on the appeal, the first time they have done so since its formation in 2009, and its president said on Thursday it would reach a decision as quickly as possible.IF GOVERNMENT LOSES

One suggestion is that both houses of parliament would debate and vote on a short motion giving Prime Minister Theresa May authority to trigger Article 50, kick-starting the process.However, lawyers leading the challenge against the government argue that only a new law authorising the government to trigger Article 50 would suffice because citizens would lose rights granted by the parliamentary act by which Britain joined the EU.Only a new law could start a process which would inevitably take those rights away, the lawyers say.

Even the government's own lawyer told the court that a one-line bill would probably be necessary. If that is the case, it is not clear how much opposition or delay such a bill would face.Most lawmakers in the lower house of parliament will now back Brexit, and they overwhelmingly supported May's timetable for leaving the union in a non-binding vote on Wednesday.Some might try to force amendments and conditions on May while the upper unelected House of Lords, many of whose members opposed Brexit, could put up opposition.

Judges cannot order parliament to pass laws, so they themselves might avoid suggesting a law is required."So the real question is, can we as a court say to parliament, the trigger stage, a motion would not be good enough, even a motion supported -- a unanimous motion, that would not be good enough," Robert Carnwath, one of the Supreme Court judges, said during the appeal."There has to be this one-line bill that says: yes, you can trigger."

IF GOVERNMENT WINS

If the court backs the government appeal, then May will be able to go ahead with her plan to trigger Article 50 by the end of March without seeking specific backing from lawmakers.Investors believe that greater parliamentary involvement would reduce the chances of a "hard Brexit" in which tight controls on immigration are prioritised over European single market access. (Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by John Stonestreet)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Will Dunham

John Glenn, who became one of the 20th century's greatest heroes as the first American to orbit Earth and later as the world's oldest astronaut, in addition to a long career as a U.S. senator, died on Thursday at age of 95, Ohio's governor said.Glenn was the last surviving member of the original seven "Right Stuff" Mercury astronauts."John Glenn is, and always will be, Ohio's ultimate hometown hero, and his passing today is an occasion for all of us to grieve," Ohio Governor John Kasich said in a statement.Glenn was credited with reviving U.S. pride after the Soviet Union's early domination of manned space exploration. His three laps around the world in the Friendship 7 capsule on Feb. 20, 1962, forged a powerful link between the former fighter pilot and the Kennedy-era quest to explore outer space as a "New Frontier."As the third of seven astronauts in NASA's solo-flight Mercury program to venture into space, Glenn became more of a media fixture than any of the others and was known for his composure and willingness to promote the program.

Glenn's astronaut career, as well as his record as a fighter pilot in World War Two and the Korean War, helped propel him to the U.S. Senate in 1974, where he represented his home state of Ohio for 24 years as a moderate Democrat.But his star was dimmed somewhat by a Senate investigation of several senators on whether special favours were done for a major campaign contributor. He was cleared of wrongdoing.Glenn's entry into history came in early 1961 when fellow astronaut Scott Carpenter bade him "Godspeed, John Glenn" just before the Ohio native was rocketed into space for a record-breaking trip that would last just under five hours.

"Zero-G (gravity) and I feel fine," was Glenn's succinct assessment of weightlessness several minutes into his mission. "... Oh, and that view is tremendous."After splashdown and recovery in the Atlantic, Glenn was treated as a hero, addressing a joint session of Congress and being feted in a New York ticker-tape parade.

His experiences as a pioneer astronaut were chronicled in the book and movie "The Right Stuff," along with the other Mercury pilots. The book's author, Tom Wolfe, called Glenn "the last true national hero America has ever had.""I dont think of myself that way," Glenn told the New York Times in 2012 to mark the 50th anniversary of his flight. "I get up each day and have the same problems others have at my age. As far as trying to analyse all the attention I received, I will leave that to others."Glenn's historic flight made him a favourite of President John Kennedy and his brother Robert, who encouraged him to launch a political career that finally took off after a period as a businessman made him a millionaire. (Reporting by Will Dunham in Washington; Editing by Bill Trott)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Aislinn Laing

| ANTANANARIVO

ANTANANARIVO Grieving and frustrated relatives of passengers still missing more than two years after their Malaysia Airlines flight vanished are scouring the east African coast for possible evidence that might help unlock the mystery of their fate.Flight MH370, carrying 239 passengers and crew, vanished on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, sparking a search in the southern Indian Ocean that passed its 1,000th day last Saturday.Relatives of the missing passengers are deeply unhappy and angry over the lack of progress made by official investigations.A group of them - Malaysian, Chinese and French nationals - arrived in Madagascar last weekend in the hope of finding debris themselves and of raising awareness of the missing plane among local people and organisations.On Thursday Jiang Hui, a Chinese man whose mother was on board the plane, discovered a small white piece of board in the sand on Madagascar's Riake Beach that he hoped could be a fragment from the cabin of the missing plane.

"I felt excited but at the same time it was saddening," he said. "It is a small piece and won't really be able to show what happened to the plane but I hope so much that the authorities of Malaysia, China and Australia will try to find more."Grace Nathan, a spokeswoman for Members of Voice 370, an MH370 next-of-kin support group, wrote on Facebook of Jiang's find: "Such an emotional moment for all of us: sadness, hurt, confusion, excitement, hope."Some family members have accused Malaysian-led investigators of focusing too much on the deep-sea search for wreckage off the coast of Australia, and have appealed to residents on the east African coast to search for plane debris and hand in anything they find to the authorities.

So far, three pieces of debris found on the beaches of Mauritius, Tanzania and the French island of Reunion have been confirmed to be from MH370. Investigators are examining several other pieces found in Mozambique and South Africa."It was a very emotional moment," Blaine Gibson, a self-funded American investigator accompanying the families in Madagascar, said of Jiang's finding.

"He found it at the small rocky cove at the north end of Riake Beach, the same place where I found the monitor case, debris and personal effects in June."The search is expected to be suspended by the end of the year, when an Australian-led team completes its scouring of a 120,000-sq-km target area. (writing by Aaron Maasho; editing by Gareth Jones)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Ahmed Rasheed and Saif Hameed

| BAGHDAD

BAGHDAD Iraqi troops who briefly seized a Mosul hospital believed to be used as an Islamic State base were forced to withdraw from the site, but managed to establish a base for army tanks nearby after days of fierce back-and-forth fighting, residents said.The rapid advance into the Wahda neighbourhood where the hospital is located marked a change of tactic after a month of fighting in east Mosul in which the army has sought to capture and clear neighbourhoods block by block.The ferocity of the fighting reflects the importance of the army's push from southeast Mosul towards the centre, their deepest advance in a gruelling seven-week offensive to crush Islamic State in Iraq's largest northern city.The soldiers seized Salam hospital, less than a mile (just over 1 km) from the Tigris river running through central Mosul, on Tuesday but pulled back the next day after they were attacked by six suicide car bombs and "heavy enemy fire", according to a statement by the U.S.-led coalition supporting Iraqi forces.Coalition warplanes, at Iraq's request, also struck a building inside the hospital complex from which the militants were firing machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, it said.The soldiers involved in the action are at the spearhead of a U.S.-backed, 100,000-strong coalition of Iraqi forces including the army, federal police, Kurdish peshmerga fighters and mainly Shi'ite Popular Mobilisation forces battling to crush Islamic State in Mosul.Defeating the militants in their Iraq stronghold would mark a major step in rolling back the caliphate declared by the jihadists in parts of Syria and Iraq when they took over Mosul in mid-2014.But with two years to prepare themselves, retreating fighters have waged a lethal defence, deploying hundreds of suicide car bombers, mortar barrages and snipers against the advancing soldiers and exploiting a network of tunnels to ambush them in residential areas."GATES OF HELL"

Soldiers from the army's Ninth Armoured division were left exposed on Tuesday after punching into the Wahda neighbourhood.

"When we advanced first into Wahda, Daesh (Islamic State) showed little resistance and we thought they had fled," an officer briefed on the operation told Reuters by telephone. "But once we took over the hospital, the gates of hell opened wide.""They started to appear and attack from every corner, every street and every house near the hospital," said the officer, who declined to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media. He said insurgents may also have used a tunnel network reaching into the hospital complex itself.A nurse at the hospital said that when the Iraqi army approached on Tuesday, Islamic State guards removed the militants being treated there, including some field commanders. Staff and civilian patients took shelter in the basement as fighting erupted around the hospital half an hour later.A resident who lives just 300 metres away, a veteran of Iraq's eight-year war with Iran in the 1980s, said he had never seen such fierce fighting."It was very violent warfare - they used all sorts of weapons, it's not traditional war. There were explosives, suicide attackers, mortar barrages and planes, everything," he told Reuters by telephone.After three days of fighting, Iraqi tanks and armoured vehicles had managed to assemble at a site in the Wahda neighbourhood, a resident said.

Iraqi military spokesmen have said little about the fighting around the hospital, stressing instead gains they said were being made in other parts of east Mosul, including the Ilam neighbourhood a few districts northeast."LIKE GHOSTS"

The statement by the coalition said Iraqi troops "fought off several counter-attacks and six VBIEDs (car bombs) ... before retrograding a short distance, under heavy enemy fire".The Iraqi officer said that when the troops were inside the hospital complex, fighting off the militants, they came under attack from suicide bombers who he said either infiltrated through tunnels or had been hiding in the hospital grounds.

"We don't know, they were like ghosts," he said.Iraq does not give casualty figures or report on its equipment losses, but the officer said 20 soldiers were killed and around 20 armoured vehicles were destroyed or damaged.Those figures could not be confirmed. Islamic State's Amaq news agency said more than 20 military vehicles were destroyed and dozens of soldiers killed, and that they had been forced to retreat. Alongside those figures it showed a picture of a smouldering tank, its turret blown off, next to a crater in the road.Around 280 km (175 miles) southwest of Mosul dozens of people, mainly civilians, were killed on Wednesday in air strikes which hit a western Iraqi town close to the border with Syria, local parliamentarians and hospital sources said.They said the strikes hit a busy market area in the Islamic State-held town of Qaim, in the overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim province of Anbar. Among the victims were 12 women and 19 children.An Iraqi military statement said Iraqi air force planes conducted air strikes "on a terrorist hideout" in the area shortly after noon on Wednesday, as well as a second attack on an unspecified location. It said at least 50 terrorists were targeted in the air strikes. It gave no details of civilian casualties, but said that the region - and all information coming out of it - was controlled by Islamic State.Iraq's speaker of parliament, the country's most senior Sunni Muslim politician, called on Thursday for a government inquiry into the air strikes. (Writing by Dominic Evans, editing by Peter Millership)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Rome: Matteo Renzi bowed out as Italian prime minister with a combination of jokes, regrets and a strong hint that he wants to lead his party into an early election battle.

Political consultations on forming a caretaker government were set to begin Thursday at 6 pm (1700 GMT), after Renzi formally submitted his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella following a crushing referendum defeat.

Before handing back the keys to his Palazzo Chigi residence, the 41-year-old chaired a meeting of the executive of his Democratic Party (PD).

"We are not afraid of anything or anybody, if other parties want to go to the polls .... the PD is not afraid of democracy or elections," Renzi said, in reference to opposition clamour for a nationwide vote due in early 2018 to be brought forward by up to a year.

Ironically, Renzi's rule came to an end with his government winning a vote of confidence in the Senate, the parliamentary chamber he tried to emasculate with a referendum in which he suffered a crushing defeat on Sunday.

The confidence vote curtailed prolonged discussion on the approval of Italy's 2017 budget  an unfinished task which had prompted Mattarella to ask Renzi to delay his departure for a few days.

"Budget law approved. Formal resignation at 1900. Thanks to everyone and viva l'Italia!" ("long live Italy!") he tweeted. This being Italy, 1900 (7 pm) came and went, and Renzi had still not resigned.

Later Wednesday, the Moody's ratings agency downgraded its outlook for Italy's sovereign debt to negative from stable, saying the failure of the constitutional referendum slowed reform progress and left Italy more exposed to "unforeseen shocks".

Better luck at PlayStation

After the talks at his party headquarters, Renzi said he assumed full responsibility for the referendum but gave no indication he was considering stepping down from the PD leadership.

He said he would be spending Thursday, a public holiday, celebrating his grandmother's 86th birthday. "We have to thank the elderly," he said in a reference to pensioners supporting him in the referendum debate.

"And hopefully tomorrow I will have more luck in the Playstation battle with my sons than I have had here," he added.

Renzi's speech sounded at times like the launch of an election campaign, with the former Florence mayor boasting of how he had left Italy with "fewer taxes and more rights" and pointedly playing up his leadership in the aftermath of a series of devastating earthquakes between August and October.

The fallout from the referendum remains unclear however with the PD beset by internal divisions that were painfully exposed by the vote.

As secretary general, Renzi controls the party apparatus, which he used to stage the coup that deposed his predecessor Enrico Letta in February 2014.

The opposition meanwhile insists the referendum was a vote of no confidence in the centre-left coalition.

"Either we have immediate elections or we take to the streets," Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right Northern League, warned Wednesday.

"We cannot make a mockery of the 32 million people who voted on Sunday."

Polls taken before the referendum suggested that the PD remains well-placed to emerge from an election with the largest share of the vote, despite the upward trend in backing for the populist Five Star Movement.

Recipe for paralysis

Led by comedian Beppe Grillo, Five Star is skilled at pitching an eclectic message to all shades of opinion -- from libertarian leftists and ultra-environmentalists to anti-euro and anti-immigration eurosceptics.

The last year has seen the movement emerge decisively as Italy's biggest opposition force, largely at the expense of 80-year-old former PM Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia, with around 30 percent of voters likely to back it.

Backing for the Northern League has been largely stable at around 15 percent of voter intentions, and Five Star's hopes of power are seen as being restricted by its reluctance to countenance alliances with other parties.

The major obstacle to holding an election in two months' time is that parliament must first revise the rules by which it will be held.

As things stand, two different electoral laws apply to the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, which hold equal powers under the "perfect bicameral" principle upheld by the referendum.

A new system for the Chamber of Deputies, under which the party getting the most votes would be guaranteed a majority of the seats, was approved earlier this year. But all the parties had agreed to revise it before the referendum.

The Senate meanwhile is elected by a proportional system unlikely to give any one party or coalition a majority. Elections under two different systems would be a recipe for political paralysis, most observers agree.
Yangon: At least 11 people have died in December in northern Myanmar in escalating clashes between security forces and armed insurgents that have undercut Aung San Suu Kyi's bid for peace.

Thousands have fled their homes in northern Shan state since the fighting erupted in late November, with many crossing the border into China.

In response, Beijing has placed its military on high alert, fearing the violence could once again spill into its territory after several of its nationals were killed last year.

The bodies of nine policemen killed by rebels on 2 December have been recovered, state-run Global New Light of Myanmar said Thursday. Two civilians were also reportedly killed in that incident.

In total at least 30 soldiers, police, pro-government militia and civilians have died since the fighting began, according to a tally of state media figures.

The clashes have delivered a fresh blow to de facto leader Suu Kyi's hopes of forging a nationwide peace agreement to end decades of bloody insurgencies rumbling along Myanmar's borderlands.

Suu Kyi prioritised tackling the simmering conflicts after her elected government took power earlier this year, ending decades of military-backed rule.

But fighting in the northern states of Kachin and Shan, and in the south in Karen, have cast a pall over her efforts and any ceasefire is expected to take years to agree.

Myanmar's army has also been carrying out a bloody crackdown in the north of Rakhine state that has sent more than 20,000 from the Muslim Rohingya minority fleeing to Bangladesh.

Analysts say the recent bout of unrest in Shan threatens the second round of peace talks she had scheduled for February and has strengthened the role of the army, who still control key levers of power.

Three of the rebel groups fighting in Shan -- the Arakan Army, the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army - have not been invited to the negotiations.

China-brokered talks between government negotiators and the groups reportedly broke down this week. But TNLA spokesman Colonel Tar Phone Kyaw said the groups were open to negotiations if the army wanted to talk in good faith.

"Our alliance from Northern Shan state will stand our ground and defend if they launch more attacks," he told AFP. "But if they stop the fighting, we welcome negotiations to find a solution."
London: The Jordanian pilot who crashed a private jet flying Osama bin Laden's relatives to the UK last year was suffering from a "mental overload", British

investigators said on Thursday in a report on the crash that killed all four on board.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said the Jordanian pilot landed too far down the runway after taking a steep descent to avoid a microlight at Blackbushe Airport in Surrey, southeast England, on 31 July 2015.

Slain al-Qaeda chief bin Laden's half-sister, Sana Mohammed bin Laden, 53, his stepmother, Raja Bashir Hashim, 75, and brother-in-law, Zuhair Hashim, 56, were killed in the crash, along with 58-year-old pilot Mazen Al-Aqeel Da'jah Salem.

"It is possible that in these circumstances the pilot... fixated on his initial strategy  landing  and lacked the mental capacity to recognise that the approach had become unstable and had to be discontinued," the AAIB report found.

Investigators found that the pilot's "mental capacity could have become saturated" after he was given 66 audio warnings, instructions and messages during the three minutes and 32 seconds before he reached the start of the runway.

The Saudi-registered Phenom 300 jet smashed into an earth bank at the end of the runway at Blackbushe airport before becoming airborne again and colliding with several parked cars.

The occupants survived the impacts but died from the effects of a fire, which began after the wing separated from the fuselage.

The AAIB report found that the pilot's ability to adapt and take on new information as he was landing was impeded due to a "very high workload situation".

No technical defects were discovered with the aircraft, the pilot was not found to have any substances in his body that would have reduced his performance and the weather was good, the AAIB noted.

Al-Qaeda leader Bin Laden, who claimed responsibility for the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US, and was killed in Pakistan in 2011, is believed to have had more than 50 brothers and sisters and many stepmothers.
Paris: Paris was smothered on Wednesday by its worst winter pollution in a decade, with commuters enjoying free public transport and half of all cars ordered off the road to try to clear the air.

The surge in pollution has been driven by cold weather and near windless conditions that have trapped exhaust fumes, smoke from wood fires and other pollutants, according to the French capital's AirParif air monitoring service.

Although bad by Paris standards, current levels of fine airborne particles, or PM10, are around 60 percent of those in Beijing and a fraction of readings in New Delhi, the world's most polluted capital.

City authorities announced traffic restrictions would be extended to Thursday, with a ban imposed on private cars with registration plates ending in odd numbers from between 5.30 am (0430 GMT) and midnight.

The rule has been in place since Tuesday, alternating between odd and even plates.

Public transport in the city was free for a second day running Wednesday, to encourage commuters to leave their vehicles at home, while school children were prevented from exercising outside.

"It's not the best time to be doing sport, that's clear," said David Ettinger, a 42-year-old teacher who uses the city's Velib cycle-hire service.

Mohamed Navhit, 29, a tricycle rickshaw driver plying his trade outside the Louvre, said he had been struggling with the air quality.

As a smoker, he noticed the deterioration, he said.

"It feels like I'm smoking 10 cigarettes instead of one."

"This is a record period (of pollution) for the last 10 years," Karine Leger of AirParif told AFP.

Fines for motorists

For more than a week now, PM10 readings have been at dangerously high levels of over 80 microgrammes per cubic metre of air particles, reaching 146 microgrammes/m3 last Thursday.

Other parts of France are also being choked by smog.

Officials in the southeast Rhone valley region said they would introduce measures to restrict car use from Friday to combat the problem in the city of Lyon.

The Greens candidate in next year's presidential election, Yannick Jadot, said politicians needed to target the most polluting vehicles and restrict the use of diesel engines.

"We have politicians who tell us they are looking after our health," Jadot said. "The reality is that when they have to choose between traffic, diesel and our health, unfortunately they don't choose our health."

Measures are already in place to phase out diesel engines in buses in the capital.

This is only the fourth time Paris has resorted to traffic restrictions to cope with air pollution. The region's officials took similar measures in 1997, 2014 and 2015.

A parliamentary report has questioned the efficacy of the restrictions, arguing that they do not target the most polluting vehicles.

On Tuesday, traffic police were kept busy trying to enforce the anti-pollution measures, fining more than 1,700 motorists for flouting the order to leave their car at home.

A power failure at one of the city's main stations, the Gare du Nord, added to the transport pressures on Wednesday.

Trains to London, Brussels and Amsterdam came to a halt for several hours and intercity and local services were disrupted.

On Tuesday morning, the main rail link from central Paris to the city's main airport, Charles de Gaulle, was knocked out of action after an accident brought down power lines.

State rail company SNCF said it hoped to have the line repaired by later Wednesday.
By Coco Liu

HONG KONG (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The Philippines is not doing enough to tackle soaring HIV prevalence among men who have sex with men by offering greater access to HIV testing and condoms, an international rights group said on Thursday.The prevalence of HIV among men who have sex with men in the Southeast Asian country has increased tenfold over the last five years, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report.Last year, at least 11 cities in the Philippines reported HIV prevalence rates of more than 5 percent among men who have sex with men, the study said.The Philippines introduced effective policies targeting the outbreak of HIV among sex workers in the 1990s, however "it has failed to adapt its prevention strategies in line with the epidemic's shifting epicentre", HRW said in a statement. In 2013, the World Health Organization (WHO) also warned the Philippines of the risk of focusing HIV prevention programmes only on female sex workers, saying the virus continued to spread, unabated, among other key groups that had "little or no access to services suited to their needs".

Officials at the Philippines' Department of Health were not immediately available for comment.HRW said national education on effective HIV prevention methods in the Catholic country were non-existent, adding that laws prohibit condom access and HIV testing to people under the age of 18 without parental permission."These factors are contributing to the worsening epidemic among adolescent males who engage in same-sex practices," HRW said in a statement.

The report said although the government provides free condoms at a number of public clinics, many Filipinos stay away, because the clinic mainly cater to sex workers.There are also obstacles from local authorities, HRW said. For instance, the mayors of Balanga and Sorsogon have banned government clinics, which poor people rely on for healthcare, from procuring and distributing condoms.

HRW also said it was concerned that a planned cut of 1 billion pesos ($22 million) from the Department of Health's budget would mean fewer condoms being bought by government-run clinics."Reducing HIV transmission isn't rocket science," said Carlos Conde, Philippines researcher at Human Rights Watch."But it does require the ... government to implement an HIV prevention programme and remove obstacles to condom and HIV testing access so that young Filipinos - particularly men who have sex with men - can protect themselves from an otherwise preventable illness," Conde said in a statement. (Editing by Katie Nguyen. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Seoul: South Korea's opposition-controlled parliament introduced an impeachment motion on Thursday on President Park Geun-hye, setting up a likely vote Friday on whether to suspend her powers over a huge political scandal.

A parliamentary official reported the motion to a plenary session, which means an impeachment vote must take place between 24 and 72 hours. Friday is the final day of the current parliamentary regular session.

The motion needs two-thirds approval in the 300-seat parliament to pass. Political observers say the opposition and anti-Park independents have 172 seats. They appear to have secured enough support from ruling party dissenters to get an impeachment.

If impeached, the country's Constitutional Court will have up to 180 days to determine whether to formally end Park's presidency. During the court deliberation, Park would be suspended as president but not removed, with her duties temporarily transferred to the prime minister until the court reaches a decision on whether her impeachment is constitutional.

Prosecutors say Park colluded in the criminal activities of a longtime confidante to manipulate government affairs and extort businesses. The confidante, Choi Soon-sil, and two of Park's former aides allegedly linked to the scandal have been indicted. Park, who has immunity from prosecution while in office, has refused to meet with prosecutors investigating the scandal.

Park, South Korea's first female president, would be the country's second leader to face an impeachment vote. In 2004, lawmakers impeached then President Roh Moo-hyun on allegations of incompetence and election law violations. But the impeachment led to a big public backlash, and the Constitutional Court reinstated Roh two months later. Roh left office in early 2008 after serving out his single five-year term. In 2009, he killed himself amid a high-profile corruption investigation of his family.

Park has publicly apologized over the scandal three times and acknowledged that she received help from Choi in editing her speeches and with unspecified "public relations" matters. Park denies involvement in Choi's alleged criminal activities.

Hundreds of thousands of people calling for Park's ouster rallied near her presidential place of Blue House for six straight Saturdays, and her approval ratings plunged to 4 per cent, the lowest among South Korean leaders since democracy came in the late 1980s. An opinion survey released Thursday showed about 78 per cent of respondents supported Park's impeachment.

Park is a daughter of late dictator Park Chung-hee, who ruled the country for 18 years until his 1979 assassination. Choi is a daughter of Choi Tae-min, a purported cult leader who served as a mentor for Park Geun-hye until his death in 1994. Park, whose mother was assassinated in 1974, described Choi Soon-sil as someone "who helped me when I had difficulties" in the past.

Park's ties with Choi Tae-min, who faced a slew of corruption scandals, have long dogged her political career. Many here criticize her for maintaining ties with the Choi family and lacking transparency on key decisions.

Park, whose term is to end in early 2018, has said she would stand down if parliament arranges a stable power transfer. Her liberal opponents have called the overture a stalling tactic to buy time and find ways to survive the scandal.
New York: Pakistan's involvement with terrorism came under a double-barrel attack from two US departments, State and Defence, reflecting Washington's continued frustration with Islamabad's destablising role.

The US Defence Secretary said that Pakistan needs a "historic shift" to stop sheltering terrorists targeting India, Afghanistan and American military personnel.

"I have said to their leaders for some time now that kind of terrorism poses a principal strategic danger to the Pakistani state," he told reporters travelling with him to India. "It would require a historic shift in their focus."

Meanwhile in Washington, State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner opened another front saying: "We have consistently expressed our concerns to the highest level-levels of the government of Pakistan  about their continued tolerance for Afghan Taliban groups such as the Haqqani Network operating from Pakistan soil."

Toner was answering a reporter's question at the department's briefing about the stinging criticism of Pakistan's terrorism policy by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the recent Heart of Asia conference in Amritsar.

He said: "We continue to encourage the government of Pakistan to and Afghanistan, rather - both governments to cooperate in their counterterrorism operations and efforts because that's only going to contribute to regional stability."

Terrorism did come up in talks in Washington between Under Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Tariq Fatema, the special adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Toner said they discussed regional stability and counter-terrorism cooperation.

"I think that Pakistan's interests, and as they reflect upon them, are best served by stability and not instability in Afghanistan," Carter said in reply to a question about how Pakistan would figure in his talks with Indian officials during his visit to new Delhi on Thursday.

"It's important that Pakistan not continue to offer or provide a place for those who destabilise Afghanistan, as well as those who threaten American service members in Afghanistan and other coalition service members; or who support terrorist groups, including those that target India," he said.
Fast-growing global hospitality company Dusit International has signed a management agreement with Abduljawad Holding Co., an investment company headquartered in Saudi Arabia, to operate the Dusit Thani Residences Maslak Istanbul, Turkey, which will open as part of Maslak 1453  a commercial, business and residential hub set over two million square metres on the European side of the city.

Located just 4km from the Bosphorous, 15km from Taksim Square, and 20km from the city's Third Airport, which is now under construction, Dusit Thani Residences Maslak Istanbul is Dusit International's first project in Turkey and is designed to offer a unique hospitality experience in Istanbul.

The property, which is being developed by experienced property developers Agaoglu, will comprise over 300 luxurious apartments inspired by contemporary Southeast Asian design and driven by Dusit International's signature gracious service.

While serviced apartments will make up the majority of the property, there will also be a branded residence with units leased to tenants on a long stay basis. One-bedroom, two-bedroom, three-bedroom and four-bedroom apartments will all be available, each one spacious and fully furnished with high quality fixtures and fittings throughout. Rooms on the upper levels of the 41-storey building will provide stunning views of an adjacent forest.

The family-friendly property will feature a swimming pool, meeting rooms, lobby lounge, residence lounge, deli, a large gym outfitted with the latest equipment and a spa.

Guests will also have easy access to a wide range of bars, restaurants, shops, theatres and other lifestyle facilities that make up the sprawling Maslak 1453.

With easy access to the TEM highway and Istanbul Metro, a rapid transit railway network that serves the city, guests can explore and experience everything this culturally-rich destination has to offer, including sightseeing cruises on the Bosphorus Strait, an immersive walk around the city's historic areas to learn about Istanbul's history as Constantinople, capital of the Roman Empire; tours of the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia Museum, Topkapi Palace, and much more.

Ms Suphajee Suthumpun, Group Chief Executive Officer of Dusit International, said, "We are delighted to partner with Abduljawad to bring the Dusit brand to Turkey for the first time. This is an important step in our global expansion and puts us in a good position for further development throughout Europe, the Middle East and beyond. We look forward to delivering our unique gracious hospitality to guests when the doors open in 2018."

The Chief Executive Officer of Abduljawad Holding Co. said: "The Maslak 1453 project is one of the most talked about projects in Istanbul and will be a unique tourist destination in its own right. We are confident that, with Dusit's experience operating hotels, resorts and serviced residences in key markets around the world, the Dusit Thani Residences Maslak Istanbul will become a beacon of gracious hospitality for visitors from all around the world."

Dusit International currently operates 29 properties around the world and has 45 confirmed projects in the pipeline across four distinctive brands: Dusit Thani, dusitD2, Dusit Princess and Dusit Devarana. Dusit Thani Residences Maslak Istanbul is scheduled to open in August 2018.

About Dusit International

Established in 1948, Dusit International or Dusit Thani Public Company Limited (DUSIT) is a leading hospitality group listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. Its operations comprise five distinct yet complementary business units: hotels and resorts, hospitality education, food, property development, and hospitality-related services.

The group's portfolio of hotels, resorts and luxury villas includes more than 300 properties operating under a total of six brands (Dusit Thani, Dusit Devarana, dusitD2, Dusit Princess, ASAI Hotels, and Elite Havens) across 16 countries worldwide. The group also operates culinary schools and hospitality colleges in Thailand, plus catering companies for the education sector in Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

Dusit International's diversified investments in real estate development, hospitality-related services, and the food sector are part of its long-term strategy for sustainable growth, which focuses on three key areas: balance, expansion and diversification.

For more information, please visit dusit-international.com.
GET OUR APP Our Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. Download it here.
Australias prime minister yesterday ruled out making power companies pay for greenhouse gas pollution they create  a policy option that angered conservative government lawmakers when proposed by a minister this week.

Malcolm Turnbull said a review of the governments climate change policies next year aimed at achieving greenhouse gas reduction targets by 2030 would not include any measures that would inflate electricity bills.

We are not going to take any steps that will increase the already too high cost of energy for Australian families and businesses, Turnbull told reporters.

The government swept to power at elections in 2013 with a promise to abolish an unpopular carbon tax that was levied against the nations biggest industrial polluters. Had the former center-left Labor Party government won that election, the tax would have transitioned into an emissions trading scheme in which polluters would pay for carbon credits at a price set by market forces.

Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg angered some colleagues on Monday when he said the policy review would consider making electricity generators pay for their pollution through a so-called emissions intensity scheme. Under such a scheme, generators who create above-average emissions for the amount of power they produce would have to buy carbon credits from generators whose emissions are below average or face penalties imposed by the government.

One of the governments most conservative lawmakers, Cory Bernardi, described the policy as one of the dumbest things Ive heard in politics in recent times.

Frydenberg said yesterday, after Turnbull spoke, that an emissions intensity scheme would never be part of government policy.

Australia has pledged to reduce its carbon emissions by at least 26 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.

Australia is among the worlds worst greenhouse gas polluters on a per capita basis because of its heavy reliance on abundant reserves of cheap coal for electricity generation. MDT/AP
Cotai Travel was awarded a Service Star Award  Inbound Service from the Macao Government Tourist Office (MGTO) as part of the offices Quality Tourism Services Accreditation Scheme. The announcement was made at an awards gala dinner held on Monday, according to a statement issued by Sands China.

The scheme recognizes a number of restaurants, food and beverage establishments and travel agencies across Macau using criteria based on a Mystery Shopping Assessment and a Service Management System Audit.

Travel agencies that pass the assessment receive a Star Merchant Award, valid for two years, with the two highest scoring agencies  one in inbound and one in outbound categories  receiving a Service Star Award. Cotai Travel earned the highest score and was the sole winner in the inbound category.

Cotai Travel is a travel agency serving hotel guests, conference and exhibition visitors, leisure travellers and visitors to The Venetian Macao.
A strong earthquake rocked Indonesias Aceh province early yesterday, killing nearly 100 people and sparking a frantic rescue effort in the rubble of dozens of collapsed and damaged buildings.

Maj. Gen. Tatang Sulaiman, chief of the army in Aceh province, said at least 97 died while four people were pulled from the rubble alive. Another four or five are known to be buried, but he didnt say if they are dead or alive. Hopefully we would be able to finish the evacuation from the rubble before sunset, said Sulaiman.

The rescue effort involving thousands of villagers, soldiers and police is concentrated on Meureudu, a severely affected town in Pidie Jaya district. Excavators were trying to remove debris from shop houses and other buildings where people were believed buried. TV footage showed rescuers in orange uniforms shining flashlight into the interiors of broken buildings as they searched for signs of life.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said 273 people were injured, about a quarter of them seriously. Some 245 buildings were seriously damaged or destroyed, mostly in Pidie Jaya, including 14 mosques and the remainder largely dwellings and shop houses. Roads also cracked and power poles toppled over.

Aiyub Abbas, the chief of Pidie Jaya district, which is located 18 kilometers (11 miles) southwest of the epicenter, said there was urgent need for excavation equipment to move heavy debris and emergency supplies. Footage showed rescue personnel taking bodies in black bags away from the rubble.

Muhammad Reza Faisal, director of Chik Ditiro General Hospital in Pidie Jaya, said the facility, which was damaged by the quake, was overwhelmed with the numbers of injured and many people were being treated in tents pitched on its grounds. He said five of the quake victims died at the hospital.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the shallow 6.5 magnitude earthquake was centered about 19 kilometers southeast of Sigli, a town near the northern tip of Aceh, at a depth of 17 kilometers. The agency had initially placed its epicenter undersea. It did not generate a tsunami.

For Acehnese, the quake was a terrifying reminder of their regions vulnerability to natural disasters. More than 100,000 died in Aceh after the Dec. 26, 2004, earthquake triggered a devastating tsunami.

It was very bad, the tremors felt even stronger than 2004 earthquake, said Musman Aziz, a Meureudu resident. I was so scared the tsunami was coming.

In the capital Jakarta, President Joko Jokowi Widodo said he has ordered all government agencies to take part in the rescue efforts for Aceh, a conservative province that has considerable autonomy from the central government under a peace deal with separatists. The Red Cross Indonesia has deployed emergency response teams and advertised bank accounts for donations. The International Organization for Migration said it had sent an assessment team to Aceh.

The worlds largest archipelago, Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. MDT/AP
Over the last twenty years the MSARs neighboring region, Guangdong, has undergone some significant changes, particularly relating to its infrastructure and legal framework, said Jeremy Sargent, managing director and partner of Guangzhou-based law firm JSA.

Speaking on the sidelines of the British Business Association of Macau breakfast meeting, Sargent  who is also the chair of the British Chamber of Commerce Guangdong  discussed Guangdongs industrial revolution, citing infrastructural works such as hundreds of underground railways and direct international flights.

Over the last twenty years [] the changes have just been enormous in Guangdong as a whole. Twenty years ago when I arrived, [the city was] sort of very rundown and dirty and now [there are] huge investments and infrastructures, explained Sargent.

There were also several alterations in the legal framework. Two decades ago, there was a fairly basic legal framework for foreign investment, allowing outsiders and foreign businesses to set up business only under extensive restrictions and specific conditions.

According to Sargent, a would-

be investor had to have a Chinese joint venture partner to establish a business in the territory, adding that foreign businesses were also restricted by rules around trading in China.

Yet with Chinas entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2000, traders saw a relaxation in the regions trade laws.

There are still some restrictions but compared to twenty years ago, [its a] big change, Sargent noted.

When China joined the WTO, the country signed an accession document, which listed the extent to which various industries would have to liberalize and over what period of time.

Sargent implied that the progressive relaxation of trade rules has meant year-on-year growth for foreign investments.

Traditionally China is attracting [between] USD50 [to] USD70 billion a year of FDI [foreign direct investment]. As the rules relaxed, the scope of engagement in the Chinese economy hugely changed. In the old days it was pretty much manufacturing and export, but now its almost everything.

He also highlighted that Chinese residents have embraced the Internet, highlighting the growth of e-commerce in China, as seen in the rise of shopping websites Alibaba and Taobao.

Sargent warned that infrastructure investment could decline in tandem with the slowdown in Guangdongs economy, but noted that there are still some 250 airports being planned for construction in mainland China.

GDP growth was 12, 13 percent in the early days [but] its now probably 5 to 6 percent. Nobody really knows the true figures. The growth rate has slowed.

The expert added that certain industries in China are struggling as there is huge over-capacity and lots of consumer goods in several industries.
Everybody in the developed world is very familiar with the problems posed by coins. When you buy stuff with cash you pay mostly with notes and get change mostly in coins. As soon as you get home you drop the coins on your bedside table or some other place because they are heavy and clumsy to carry around, and they quickly wear holes in the bottoms of your pants pockets.

Then you periodically get rid of all your accumulated coins by giving them away to children or charities or, in civilised countries, depositing them at your local bank branch. Unfortunately, new arrivals in Macau and Hong Kong are often caught out when the bank refuses to accept their stash of coins, after standing for a long time in a bank queue. Shopkeepers also have considerable problems in getting coins from local banks  they are only available sometimes!

I have always been very annoyed by this practice, which is very easily resolved by requiring banks to always accept and distribute all values of legal currency as part of their licensing. Shame on the local monetary authorities for not enforcing such rules, as they do in most parts of the developed world.

I am sure that banks complain that handling coins is expensive, but my answer is that this is simply a reasonable cost of doing business. Also, nowadays, in most countries banks have automatic coin counting and dispensing machines so that the handling cost is minimal  why cant Macau and Hong Kong banks buy some of these machines?

Another way to (at least partially) resolve this issue has been widely adopted in Hong Kong where Octopus debit cards can nearly always be used for purchases to give the merchant the exact amount. These debit cards were initially developed for use in public transport but have been extended to cover many different kinds of purchases in many different kinds of retail outlet. Octopus cards are also very easily refilled by electronic funds transfers. Again, the Macau monetary authority has had years of this example to follow and promote, but they have done very little so that MacauPass cards are still not widely enough used, and they can only be refilled in limited ways.

In many other parts of the world the use of small purchase debit cards (like Octopus) are being supplanted by smartphone Apps that contain an electronic wallet and near-field or wifi communications technologies are used to communicate with merchant equipment and transfer funds securely at the point of sale. When buying something using these technologies, people simply wave their smartphone near a reader (and possibly give an authorisation code) to make a payment. Again, the Macau monetary authority and the local banks seem to be dragging their heals in legally authorising and setting up these systems for locals and tourists to use.

I hate to sound like a broken record, but Macau should be positioning itself as a showcase for the latest and greatest 21st century technologies for making life easier and more sustainable. We are small and rich so we can afford to do it, and we have a very large tourist population that will be impressed at how modern life is in Macau. These tourists will also create regional demand for implementing the technologies showcased in Macau which will open up opportunities for consulting and other exportable services. This is the best way that I can think of for diversifying Macaus economy. What is holding us back?
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is urging Western allies to maintain diplomatic pressure and sanctions on Russia until it respects the peace agreement in Ukraine.

After talks with NATO and Ukraine foreign ministers, Stoltenberg told reporters yesterday of a massive increase in cease-fire violations in the conflict-torn east of the former Soviet republic. He said hundreds of explosions are sometimes reported daily, including many caused by heavy weapons banned under the Minsk peace accords.

The international community must keep pressuring Russia to respect its obligations, especially while the security situation in eastern Ukraine remains so serious, Stoltenberg said. Its important that economic sanctions be maintained.

More than 9,600 people have been killed since April 2014 in eastern Ukraine, where Russia-

backed separatists are fighting Ukrainian government troops. Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for the lack of progress in settling the conflict.

The Minsk peace deal envisaged that Ukraine regains control of the rebellious regions border with Russia after granting the area a special status, holding local elections and offering amnesty to the rebels.

The European Union has imposed sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine conflict. Some of the measures are due to be extended in January but cracks have appeared in EU unity, and some countries with strong energy and business links to Russia want to see the sanctions eased.

NATOs ties with Russia have been under heavy strain since Russian forces annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, and Stoltenberg said the seizure will not be recognized. MDT/AP
Since the invention  more likely to be accidental than intentional  of grain-based beer, fruit-based wine and grain-based cereal wine predates written history, it falls on the shoulders of archaeologists, not historians, to delve into the origins of these nectars. Although they first emerged in ancient Egypt, Georgia and China independently, there is a common thread to beer, wine and cereal wine, in that a mere drink quickly became divine libation, intricately linked to national memory, mythology and religion.

Legend has it that cereal wine was invented in around the mid-3rd millennium BC by a minister of the Yellow Emperor, Du Kang, whose name would go on to become a synonym for brewers and distillers in the Chinese language, as well as the revered job title  Toji  of sake brewers in Japan. Predating the oracle bone script, Chinese cereal wine was recorded thereby and later on institutionalised by the Rites of Zhou during the eponymous dynasty.

As previously discussed in the Japanese sake series, cereal wine is an umbrella term, convenient but imprecise. Wine sensu stricto is made by fermenting sugars naturally existent in fruits, while cereal wine is made by fermenting sugars converted from starch inherent in grains. Both beer and cereal are brewed, but they differ from each other in that beer depends on enzymes for fermentation, whereas cereal wine relies on microbes, usually in the form of a starter culture (jiuqu in Chinese). Therefore, saccharification and fermentation occur separately in beer, but simultaneously in cereal wine.

Cereal wine can make use of a wide range of grains as ingredients, including but not limited to barley, coixseed, millet, rice, sorghum and wheat. Chinese mijiu (literally: rice wine), popular mainly in the southern half of the country, is the progenitor of Japanese sake (literally: clear liquor, not distilled) and Korean cheongju (literally: clear liquor, not distilled), while Chinese baijiu (grain-based spirit) has the upper hand in the northern half of the country. A style of mijiu, huangjiu (litrally: yellow wine) produced in the Jiangnan region is particularly well-known, especially to those from Zhejiang province and indeed the city of Shaoxing, whose name has become synonymous with huadiao (literally: flowery carving, a style of huangjiu named after its embossed container).

To be continued

Guyuelongshan Celadon Gourd Huadiao 5 Year Old

Bright mahogany with copper-tawny reflex, the fragrant nose offers dried date, salted plum, black bean paste and dried mushroom. With a suave texture, fresh acidity and rich umami, the expressive palate delivers wolfberry, oolong tea, chicken consomme and dried mussel. Medium-bodied at 17%, the tangy entry continues through a mushroomy mid-palate, leading to a woody finish.

Guyuelongshan Celadon Premium Huadiao 8 Year Old

Rich mahogany with bronze-persimmon reflex, the aromatic nose presents jujube, dried sweet potato, red bean paste and dried cordyceps flower. With a rounded texture, lively acidity and bounteous umami, the vibrant palate supplies brown sugar, conch consomme, shitake mushroom and dried tiger daylily. Medium-full bodied at 17%, the dense entry evolves into a vinous mid-palate, leading to a supple finish.

Guyuelongshan Shaoxing Huadiao 8 Year Old

Luminous mahogany with auburn-maroon reflex, the redolent nose effuses dates, miso, lingzhi and conpoy. With an urbane texture, animated acidity and abundant umami, the tasty palate emanates dried longan, five-spice powder, conch consomme and dried shrimps. Medium-full bodied at 17%, the poised palate persists through a complex mid-palate, leading to a lingering finish.

To re-discover the national treasure of huangjiu, contact Mr John Ng, Managing Director of Agencia Superar; E: john@superar.com.mo; T: 2871 9978; F: 2871 7936; A: Rua dos Pescadores No. 354-408, Edificio Industrial Nam Fung Bloco II, Andar 4F.

Jacky I.F. Cheong is a legal professional by day and columnist by night. Having spent his formative years in Britain,

France, and Germany, he regularly writes about wine, fine arts, classical music, and politics in several languages
A little earlier than usual, its time to take a look back over the year and review the events of 2016.

The slump in 2015 carried over into 2016, and prices appeared to bottom out in the first quarter of the year and then remain at that level in the second and third quarters.

Around the end of the third quarter, property sales started to pick up, and there was more movement in the market. In this final three months of the year, there has been a small rise prices, and many of the properties that had been stagnant at the lower end of the scale have begun selling again.

Rental prices followed a similar pattern, and anyone renting in the first nine months of the year would find rents reduced by up to 35% from their previous high.

Once again, the biggest demand for rental property was in Taipa as foreign workers try and avoid the logistical issues of buying a car or the horrors of catching a bus.

At the beginning of the year, a nicely appointed 2 bedroom apartment in Taipa that does not have access to any facilities carried an asking price of $3,500,000 with a rental price range of $8,000  $11,000 per month.

Now that same 2 bedroom apartment in Taipa has an asking price of around $3,700,000  $3,900,000 with a rental range of $9,000  $12,000 per month. In both cases a rise of around 10%.

The same holds true for a 2 bedroom apartment in Taipa in a complex with common facilities such as a gym, swimming pool etc, the current asking prices are up approx. 10% from the first part of this year.

As we go up the ladder, the more spacious and luxury apartments remain empty unless they have dropped their rental rates into the mid-range levels below $25,000.

Here is a quick recap of the year in case you have been marooned on a desert island or lost in the jungle for 12 months;

More low cost housing plans were announced by the government, and there were vicious rumours that Hengqin island was finally going to open up access to Macau residents. Yet again, that didnt happen.

The supply of new apartments into the market was miniscule

The Population in Macau at the beginning of the year was approx 645,000. By the end of 2016 the government estimate is around 650,000, an increase of just 5,000 people

Rental prices have risen approx. 10% from the start of the year.

Property values bottomed out then rose by around the same 10% over the course of the year at the lower end of the market, but luxury prices remain stagnant.

The government had further discussions on rent control procedures, but have yet to finalize a concrete plan. Increasing supply by speeding up the Hengqin connection does not seem to be high on their agenda.

Did the government get it right this year ? Below is what we wrote at the end of 2015, and it seems not much has changed;

Well the free market corrected property prices whilst the government is still talking about rent control, delayed border openings, a Taipa Ferry Terminal whos opening date seems to get further away each year and a light rail system that has NO opening date, so you be the judge.

Coming Up: How to control prices in a rising market, a new perspective is needed.

Juliet Risdon is a Director of JML Property and a property investor.

Having been established in 1994, JML Property offers Investment Property & Homes. It specializes in managing properties for owners and investors, and providing attractive and comfortable homes for tenants.

www.JMLProperty.com

info@JMLProperty.com

* Figures expressed in MOP unless otherwise stated
Syrian government troops and allied militiamen seized more ground in Aleppos ancient quarters yesterday, further widening their control over an enclave in the divided city that has been in rebel hands since 2012, Syrias state media and an opposition monitoring group said.

With the latest gains, the endgame for Syrias largest city, which has been carved up between the government and the rebel side for the past four years, appeared to draw even closer. If Aleppo  Syrias former commercial hub  is captured by government troops, it would be a turning point in the conflict, putting the four largest cities in Syria and the coastal region back under state control.

Rebel defenses have collapsed rapidly in the face of a massive government assault backed by Russia and thousands of Iranian-

backed Shiite fighters. On Tuesday, Syrian government forces captured Aleppos centrally located al-Shaar neighborhood from the rebels, security nearly three quarters of the besieged enclave less than two weeks after launching their ground offensive.

The state news agency SANA said yesterday that Syrian forces established control over two districts north of the Aleppo Citadel in the heart of the city  the Aghiour and Bab al-Hadid neighborhoods  after rebels abandoned positions and retreated further south.

The new gains have choked the rebels, forcing them to pull back to other parts of the Old City, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group that tracks Syrias civil war, now in its sixth year.

In a statement, the Observatory said dozens of bodies littered streets stretching from al-Shaar to the southern part of eastern Aleppo, including the Old City, as a result of ongoing intense government bombardment.

A map provided by the Syria army showed a quickly shrinking opposition enclave a pointed leaf-shaped territory in the center, abutting already government-controlled Aleppo districts. The army media said the new gains bring the area controlled by the government in eastern Aleppo to about 73 percent of its original size, which is estimated to be about 45 square kilometers.

There was no immediate comment from Syrian rebels on yesterdays losses. Wissam Zarqa, an English teacher in eastern Aleppo and an outspoken government opponent, said the rebel retreat from large parts of Old Aleppo was a bad sign.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said a Russian colonel who worked as a military adviser in the government-controlled part of Aleppo has died in rebel shelling.

The fatality marks Russias third casualty this week, after two nurses were killed in a rocket attack on a makeshift Russian military hospital in Aleppo. The ministry said in a statement yesterday that Col. Ruslan Galitsky was wounded in rebel shelling of a government-controlled neighborhood several days earlier and has died of his wounds.

The Syrian government and its ally Russia have rejected a cease-fire for the war-torn city, keeping up the military offensive that has forced rebel retreats and massive displacement of Aleppo civilians. Sarah el Deeb, Beirut, AP

Govt says Israel launched missiles

The Syrian government says Israel has launched several surface-to-surface missiles that hit near a military airport west of Damascus, triggering a fire. The official news agency SANA says the missiles were launched early yesterday from inside the occupied territories and fell within the perimeter of the Mezzeh military airport on the western edge of the capital. It added that no injuries were report. It was the second such Israeli strike into Syria recently, according to the Syrian government. Last week, SANA said Israeli jets fired two missiles from Lebanese airspace toward the outskirts of Damascus, in the Sabboura area.The Israeli military declined to comment on that incident, and there was no immediate comment on yesterdays attack.

Iraq launches new push in southeast Mosul

After weeks of unchanging front lines, the Iraqi army rolled yesterday into a southeastern Mosul neighborhood held by Islamic State militants, taking a hospital before meeting stiff resistance, the military said.

The push began just after 6 a.m. with a barrage of airstrikes that kicked up dark clouds of smoke in the modest al-Salam residential neighborhood. The bombardment by Iraqi air support and the U.S.-led coalition appeared heavier than previous operations in the area.

Coalition forces providing logistical support could be seen about 4 kilometers from the front.

Iraqi troops also reported fewer car bombs than in previous assaults. After one such attack, at least two military vehicles could be seen carrying wounded from the front.

By evening, Iraqi forces had only secured a few hundred meters and clashes continued. MDT/AP
Thailands prime minister warned yesterday that the BBC could be prosecuted if an online report published by its Thai-

language service about the countrys new king is found to have violated the law safeguarding the monarchys reputation.

BBC-Thai, a relative newcomer among the services of the British Broadcasting Corp., caused a stir when it published a profile of King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun touching on controversial aspects of his background. The story included details of three of his marriages that ended in divorce and other material that cannot be published by Thai news media without legal risk.

Thailand has a strict lese majeste law against insulting the monarchy that carries a penalty of three to 15 years in prison. No charges have been filed against the BBC yet.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-

ocha said that because a news agency has a branch in Thailand staffed with Thai reporters, if they violate Thai laws, they have to be prosecuted. Just like when we go to other countries and violate their laws, we are also prosecuted.

In the days after the story was published on Friday  one day after Vajiralongkorn ascended the throne  the BBCs office in Thailand received multiple visits from the army and police. The BBC shut the office this week, but continues to broadcast and publish on its website and on Facebook, although some readers said they found the link to the article about Vajiralongkorn now blocked in Thailand.

BBC said in a statement that its Thai-language service was established to bring impartial, independent, and accurate news to a country where the media faces restrictions, and we are confident that this article adheres to the BBCs editorial principles.

The article sparked outrage among some Thai royalists, with social media groups vigorously criticizing the BBC. The Facebook group V for Thailand posted the BBCs Bangkok phone number on its Facebook page, encouraging its followers to call and harass people who work at the news service.

Thai police arrested a student on Saturday for sharing a link to the BBC article on Facebook, releasing him on bail the next day. It was the first arrest under the lese majeste law since Vajiralongkorn became king. MDT/AP
The decision by the Court of Final Appeal (TUI) that ruled against a petition by the defense of the former Prosecutor-General Ho Chio Meng is worrying, say lawyers Jorge Menezes and Jorge Neto Valente, who is president of the Macau Lawyers Association.

Ho Chio Meng had previously aimed to have the judge Sam Hou Fai recused from the trial over his public comments regarding the case.

Questioned by the Times on the topic, Valente expressed concerns about the way the case was being conducted, and highlighted the decision of another judge, Viriato de Lima. In March this year, de Lima had declared a self-impediment from the decision on the habeas corpus petition in accordance with article 29 of the Macau Criminal Code, since he had presided over preliminary hearings.

According to the information I have and as I was informed, looks like the judge Viriato de Lima took part in the discussion and production of this decision, Valente said to the Times.

Even if there isnt an outright ban [in] the law, I think it would be of elementary common sense that he wouldnt take part [in] this decision. I see all this with a lot of concern. I think there werent enough guarantees given to the defense and I think this [case] is not giving a good image [of the judiciary system] and Im not alone in these concerns [] The way this trial is being started fails to give the court its prestige.

Elaborating on the case and the reasons behind it, Menezes said, The law provides that a judge can be refused to act in the proceedings where there is [the] risk of being considered suspicious, on the basis of a serious and significant reason that is conducive to generate distrust about the judges impartiality.

On the defenses request to TUI, Menezes thinks that Ho Chio Mengs lawyer seems to have argued that judge Sam Hou Fai expressed the view that there were strong indications to believe the defendant committed the offences under investigation [] This doesnt seem accurate regarding the habeas corpus appeal, when the judges didnt express that view. They mentioned only that this was the understanding of the judge who ordered the defendant to remand in custody. The habeas corpus didnt discuss guilt or the facts of the case; it discussed other matters of law.

Regardless, Menezes also agrees that this is not the best starting point for a case that has promised to be complex from the very start. It is likely to be a case without a consensus easily reached.

In Menezes opinion, the defense scored some points when they argued that Sam Hou Fai expressed this view [of guilt] in deciding an application regarding access to Ho Chio Mengs tax returns.

If this is true, the defendant will have his life decided by a judge who has already expressed the view that there are strong reasons to believe the defendant is guilty, Menezes said. He said the situation was not helpful but added that it did not mean that the judge would be incapable of changing his mind.

The legal question is whether the reasons invoked are serious and significant enough to generate distrust about the judges impartiality.

There is a relevant level of discretion here, as you can imagine, and impartiality is a matter of degree. So it is not easy to give a black and white legal answer, Menezes said.

I would have advised the judge not to sit in the panel. We want both the defendant and the community to unequivocally trust that he will have a fair trial. And we want people to be trialed by judges who do not walk into the courtroom with a particular view of the case or under a particular mindset.

It is a well-known aphorism that not only must justice be done, it must be seen to be done. It is the role of those engaged with justice to make an effort [to show] that justice is being served  that is perceived to be served  to build trust in the system, he finished.

After the TUIs decision, the first session of the trial has been rescheduled for tomorrow morning.

Lawyers Association reelects Neto Valente to presidency

The elections for the presidency as well as other bodies of the Macau Lawyers Association (AAM) were well attended, newly re-elected president Jorge Neto Valente told the Times.

The election took place on Tuesday (December 6) at the Association headquarters and benefited from very significant participation, although there was only a single-list run for the AAM.

Valente said around 70 percent of the lawyers voted and that with a few exceptions, they voted on the list presented.

Valente, who has helmed the Association for several terms, will resume the main role on the Board of Directors for another two-year period. RM
China yesterday accused Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen of seeking to use a planned transit stop in the U.S. to score diplomatic points, amid Chinese rancor over an unprecedented phone call between Tsai and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

Asked at a briefing whether China has asked the U.S. to cancel the stop planned for next month, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang reiterated Chinas claim to sovereignty over Taiwan and accused Tsai of political machinations.

Taiwans administration and leader always perform some petty moves like a transit diplomacy whose ulterior political intentions are clear for all to see, Lu said.

Tsai plans to stop in the U.S. on her way to visit Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador, among the islands handful of diplomatic allies. China, which claims Taiwan as a breakaway province, objects to any nation having formal contact with its government. The island has diplomatic relations with just 22 countries, of which 12 are in Central America and the Caribbean.

The phone conversation last Friday between Tsai and Trump broke a more than 4-decade-old precedent barring such direct communication, and set off a firestorm of controversy in Washington over Trumps apparent indifference to diplomatic protocol. Since the U.S. switched relations from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, the sides have had only unofficial diplomatic dealings, although the U.S. remains a key ally of Taiwan and by law must ensure the island can maintain a credible defense.

China, which split with Taiwan during a civil war in 1949, continues to threaten to use force to reunify with it if deemed necessary.

Beijing cut off contacts with Tsais government earlier this year over her refusal to endorse the concept that China and Taiwan remain part of a single Chinese nation despite their present state of division. That brought a shuddering halt to the trend in recent years of warming ties between the former archrivals.

In Taipei, presidential spokesman Alex Huang said Wednesday that Taiwan considered it of equal importance to maintain good relations with both the U.S. and China, but also took a swipe at Chinas response.

Such overreaction is unnecessary and is also not conducive to the normal development of [Taiwan-China] relations, Huang was quoted as saying by Taiwans official Central News Agency. AP
TWIN FALLS  Another birder might have figured that chirping in the shrubs was just another song sparrow.

Austin Young suspected otherwise.

The Idaho State University freshman, home for Thanksgiving, was birding alone on the overcast, chilly morning of Nov. 23 along the dirt road to Auger Falls Heritage Park. This road in the Snake River Canyon is a favorite of Magic Valley birders and the route of one of their annual Christmas Bird Counts.

But this energetically vocal bird in the shrubs, Young thought, might be one theyd never documented here.

He could see a couple of field marks: a light breast and white speckling on the back and shoulder. But the bird never emerged long enough for Young to take a photograph that was more than a blur, an image that would determine whether the bird was a Pacific wren or a winter wren.

And its no small difference.

In 2010, on the basis of vocalizations and genetics, scientists split what they once considered a single species into three: the Pacific wren of western North America, the winter wren of eastern North America and the Eurasian wren.

The Pacific wren? Entirely predictable here. But the winter wren? Since the 2010 split, Idaho had only two confirmed records of winter wren, one in November 2014 near Troy, and one the next month in Caldwell.

Fortunately, to a birder like Young, the two wrens sound nothing alike.

Of course, Young was something of a wonder child in Magic Valley birding. While he was still a Filer High School track star, fellow birders invited Young to lead a field trip at the 2014 Hagerman Bird Festival. At the festival two years later, the high school senior taught a sparrow identification workshop and led another field trip. A few years ago, he photographed what would have been Idahos first record for laughing gull  if the Idaho Bird Records Committee had confirmed it.

Telling the story, Young emphasizes the laughing gull was unconfirmed. Then he adds: Im positive thats what it was.

Young had never seen or heard a winter wren, but hed listened to recordings of its songs and calls. And on this chilly November morning near Auger Falls, he was practically certain.

He recorded audio of the bird. He looked up all the call types of both wrens. Then he turned to the experts among his peers.

Youngs Facebook post in the Idaho Bird Sightings and Discussion group on the evening of Nov. 23 employed a becoming blend of confidence and humility:

I believe I may have a Winter Wren sighting from Twin Falls.  The big thing is the voice. You can hear it in the video and its very high, much higher than Pacific Wren  the bird in the video really is vocally alike to Winter Wren. I wanted to get opinions first though!

Great find

Idaho Bird Sightings and Discussion is a public Facebook group, but its not the place for posting pretty photos, describing your birding adventures or asking bird-identification questions that a little research would answer. A READ BEFORE POSTING note from the groups admin team politely but firmly directs that sort of thing to a sister Facebook group called Idaho Birding.

Rather, Idaho Bird Sightings and Discussion is for serious talk: notable sightings, species status and distribution, advanced identification issues.

There, Youngs post got immediate attention.

That evening, a handful of birders concurred with Youngs identification and congratulated him on the find  among them, the outreach and education director at Intermountain Bird Observatory, Heidi Ware.

Will go down tomorrow. Great find, Twin Falls birder Pat Weber wrote. Glad you came home for break!

Boise birder Stoddard Davenport offered to send a note to an Idaho birding message board and planned to start his Thanksgiving by making a run for the wren.

Ill probably head that way in the morning, he posted, and hopefully track it down before I ruin all the family holiday plans.

The last Magic Valley sighting to attract birders from around the state was the American golden plover that Weber observed in late October near Hazelton. Before that, three reports of scissor-tailed flycatchers brought in the birders and their binoculars: in June near Oakley, in October southwest of Twin Falls and a week later east of Declo.

Now theyd head for Twin Falls again.

Little and brown

Observations submitted to eBird.org chronicle the lonely winter wrens human admirers on the Auger Falls road.

Nov. 24: Weber. Davenport and his wife. Kathy Eklund, the Declo birder who made the third of this years scissor-tailed flycatcher observations.

Nov. 26: Young again. Twin Falls birder Melody Asher, also of scissor-tailed flycatcher fame. Rexburgs Darren Clark and birding buddy Steve Butterworth.

Asher would have come a day earlier except that she already was heading for a rose-breasted grosbeak at the Hayspur Fish Hatchery near Picabo.

Clark, chairman of the art department at Brigham Young University-Idaho, was visiting Utah when he heard about Youngs wren and opted not to abandon the family Thanksgiving. But his patience paid off Nov. 26 with the first clear photos of the Auger Falls winter wren.

It has its own charm, but its certainly not a crowd-pleaser, Clark said later by phone. Its little and brown and pretty drab.

The winter wren doesnt require fantastic plumage to appeal to the serious Idaho birder, of course.

Of all the birders with public eBird checklists, Clark has the biggest Idaho species list.

And Ive seen most of the easy-to-get birds in Idaho, he said. The winter wren was his No. 377.

No individual, Clark figures, could amass an Idaho list of 429  the number of species ever documented in Idaho by eBird users. Some of those birds might never show up again in his lifetime.

It would be nice, the 46-year-old said, to get to 400 before I die.

Nov. 27: Young again. Weber again. Caldwell birder Cheryl Huizinga.

And they kept coming.

Anything for a bird

Lists arent the main thing. The main thing is to go looking for birds, said Asher, walking the Auger Falls road Dec. 3 with a handful of fellow Prairie Falcon Audubon members. She used to track her sightings with Xs in a notebook. I never knew the numbers until I did eBird.

Now the numbers are hard to ignore. The rose-breasted grosbeak was Ashers 194th Idaho species this year. The winter wren, on Nov. 26, was 195. By the Audubon chapters Dec. 3 field trip, Asher was up to 196.

I am working really hard to get 200 this year, she said, bundled up for the cold walk to the spot where a single winter wren was generating daily eBird alerts of rare-bird sightings. Shed seen the wren on two outings already and thought she heard it another time, but some of her companions were still hoping for their first glimpse.

Now if you guys see a golden-crowned kinglet, be sure I see it, Asher told them. Or a brown creeper.

As the birders with binoculars worked their way slowly along the Auger Falls road, a vehicle with Idaho Falls license plates stopped. The passenger lowered his window to ask about the winter wren and introduced himself as Jacob Briggs, birding with his dad, Blair Briggs.

You had the woodpecker picture! Weber exclaimed before pointing the pair toward a pullout near the winter wrens hangout. She didnt have to say she meant Jacobs May 2015 image of an acorn woodpecker in Swan Valley.

The day before Dec. 3, on their way back from watching McKays buntings in Nome, Alaska, the Briggs father and son noted that birders were still reporting the winter wren in Twin Falls. So thats where they headed next  with Jacobs huge camera lens and his young son.

The local birders and the Idaho Falls visitors were examining bushes on the south side of the road when, suddenly, shotgun pellets rained out of the sky. Startled and appalled, two birders picked pellets out of the dirt at their feet. Two others pulled out phones to call dispatchers as shot after shot spattered around them.

But nobody left. Every time they heard an explosion on the south canyon rim, they just turned around to shield their eyes and their optics. Blair, struck painfully on his balding head, put on a hat.

Well, thats too bad, Weber said, briefly able to focus her binoculars on the bushes again.

Jacob saw a bird hop up from a drink at the river and fly across the road toward the shrubs. Definitely a wren. But unable to see identifying features in flight, he couldnt be positive it was the winter wren.

I dont know if hes going to come out with all that going on, Jacob said sadly.

The repeated gunfire, the birders learned later from a sheriffs deputy who investigated, came from a group shooting clay pigeons on private property out of sight on the canyon rim. The deputy told them to stop shooting into the canyon, and the pellet rain finally stopped.

But the moment was over.

Weber heard enough to include the winter wren in her Dec. 3 eBird list, with a note: Continuing bird. Very vocal but glimpses were sparse.

Jacob, however, didnt plan to count the wren.

We heard it calling, so we know it was there, he said later, but we never really had a good look at it.

Birders have their own criteria on the question. But if its a species that humans can usually see, Jacob wants to see it.

Maybe another year will bring a winter wren to Idaho.
Mentors  The Free 2 Succeed Community Mentoring Program is sponsored by the Idaho Department of Corrections and is looking for community volunteer mentors, age 25 and older, who are interested in supporting state men and women parolees in transitioning into communities. Volunteers may be individuals, teams, groups or organizations with any religious or non-religious affiliation. This will also include potential volunteers who have been or are presently on state supervision. Training will take place in mentors district and communities. For information, questions, and to fill out an application: #Free 2 Succeed, mentoring@idoc.idaho.gov, www.idoc.idaho.gov, or contact State Volunteer and Religious Coordinator Jeff Kirkman at 208-658-2073, or District 5 volunteer mentor Russ Howell at 208-539-7639.

Drivers  The American Cancer Society is looking for volunteer drivers for its Road to Recovery program in Twin Falls. Volunteers will drive patients to and from medical treatments. Commitment is flexible. Information: 1-800-227-2345.

Volunteers  The Senior Companion Program at the CSI Office on Aging needs volunteers, age 55 and older, to assist homebound seniors by providing friendly visits, transportation or other assistance as needed. Senior Companions make positive impacts by helping to improve the mental and emotional status of their clients. Senior Companions receive a stipend per hour of service (to income eligible seniors) and can work between 15 to 40 hours a week. They receive reimbursement for mileage, and training on age-related problems. Information: Dandre, 208-736-2122, or toll free, 800-574-8656

Volunteers  St. Lukes Home Health and Hospice is looking for new volunteers to join its team to share compassion and care and increase the quality of life for patients and their families. The program is designed to offer companionship and socialization to patients as well as respite and support for the caregivers. Information: Marie Sharp, 208-814-7603 or sharpm@slhs.org.

Volunteers  The Fifth Judicial District CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) Program is seeking community volunteers to become advocates for abused children. Advocates receive training and support to investigate, report, monitor and advocate for children involved in the child protection system. Advocates are needed in all eight counties of the district, and the program needs volunteers in the Mini Cassia area. Information: Tahna, 208-735-1177.

Volunteers  Horizon Home Health and Hospice is looking for volunteers to join our team to provide quality compassionate care to our patients through the following activities: companionship, socialization, respite, and support for patients and families and much more. Information: Cynthia Nixon, 208-800-8085 or cnixon@horizonhh.com.

Drivers  The Twin Falls Senior Center needs drivers to deliver meals to homebound seniors in Twin Falls Monday through Friday, and the routes take an hour or less to complete. Commitment is based on your availability. Volunteers must be 18 years of age with their own car, and have proof of liability insurance and a background check. Drivers receive 54 cents a mile fuel reimbursement. Information: 208-734-5084.

Volunteers  The Twin Falls Senior Center has a ladies group (The Crazy Quilters), who are looking for individuals to put finishing touches on quilts as a group while socializing. The group meets from 9 a.m. to noon every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. All quilt project proceeds are given to the Twin Falls Senior Center. Information: 208-734-5084.

Volunteers  St. Lukes Magic Valley Medical Center is in need of volunteers for a variety of positions from shuttle drivers to care volunteers to gift shop volunteers and more. The medical center is looking for pleasant, and friendly individuals with a sincere interest in voluntary services offered to patients, visitors, employees and guests. Meet new people and learn new experiences and challenges. Information: Kim Patterson at 814-0861 or kimpa@slhs.org, or visit the Volunteer Services Office, lower level at St. Lukes Magic Valley Medical Center; 801 Pole Line Road W., Twin Falls. Applications are available at the Front Information Desk.
Blog Archive Nov 2022 (4) Oct 2022 (64) Sep 2022 (60) Aug 2022 (61) Jul 2022 (55) Jun 2022 (60) May 2022 (73) Apr 2022 (60) Mar 2022 (58) Feb 2022 (65) Jan 2022 (69) Dec 2021 (106) Nov 2021 (84) Oct 2021 (58) Sep 2021 (67) Aug 2021 (62) Jul 2021 (54) Jun 2021 (50) May 2021 (58) Apr 2021 (44) Mar 2021 (57) Feb 2021 (64) Jan 2021 (93) Dec 2020 (82) Nov 2020 (62) Oct 2020 (50) Sep 2020 (45) Aug 2020 (51) Jul 2020 (56) Jun 2020 (53) May 2020 (70) Apr 2020 (66) Mar 2020 (169) Feb 2020 (211) Jan 2020 (184) Dec 2019 (54) Nov 2019 (56) Oct 2019 (55) Sep 2019 (63) Aug 2019 (54) Jul 2019 (69) Jun 2019 (56) May 2019 (65) Apr 2019 (68) Mar 2019 (72) Feb 2019 (76) Jan 2019 (62) Dec 2018 (55) Nov 2018 (69) Oct 2018 (90) Sep 2018 (82) Aug 2018 (58) Jul 2018 (36) Jun 2018 (47) May 2018 (44) Apr 2018 (64) Mar 2018 (63) Feb 2018 (68) Jan 2018 (92) Dec 2017 (85) Nov 2017 (64) Oct 2017 (82) Sep 2017 (54) Aug 2017 (89) Jul 2017 (60) Jun 2017 (86) May 2017 (84) Apr 2017 (62) Mar 2017 (86) Feb 2017 (91) Jan 2017 (113) Dec 2016 (109) Nov 2016 (100) Oct 2016 (82) Sep 2016 (95) Aug 2016 (84) Jul 2016 (84) Jun 2016 (99) May 2016 (93) Apr 2016 (106) Mar 2016 (145) Feb 2016 (125) Jan 2016 (103) Dec 2015 (83) Nov 2015 (80) Oct 2015 (100) Sep 2015 (111) Aug 2015 (94) Jul 2015 (98) Jun 2015 (151) May 2015 (125) Apr 2015 (109) Mar 2015 (122) Feb 2015 (113) Jan 2015 (135) Dec 2014 (131) Nov 2014 (115) Oct 2014 (146) Sep 2014 (112) Aug 2014 (128) Jul 2014 (94) Jun 2014 (104) May 2014 (140) Apr 2014 (132) Mar 2014 (81) Feb 2014 (89) Jan 2014 (141) Dec 2013 (100) Nov 2013 (96) Oct 2013 (99) Sep 2013 (94) Aug 2013 (95) Jul 2013 (95) Jun 2013 (91) May 2013 (139) Apr 2013 (179) Mar 2013 (73) Feb 2013 (76) Jan 2013 (85) Dec 2012 (59) Nov 2012 (71) Oct 2012 (85) Sep 2012 (70) Aug 2012 (71) Jul 2012 (53) Jun 2012 (51) May 2012 (52) Apr 2012 (52) Mar 2012 (69) Feb 2012 (76) Jan 2012 (70) Dec 2011 (60) Nov 2011 (54) Oct 2011 (57) Sep 2011 (75) Aug 2011 (72) Jul 2011 (64) Jun 2011 (76) May 2011 (56) Apr 2011 (73) Mar 2011 (114) Feb 2011 (71) Jan 2011 (80) Dec 2010 (92) Nov 2010 (82) Oct 2010 (73) Sep 2010 (95) Aug 2010 (86) Jul 2010 (81) Jun 2010 (76) May 2010 (71) Apr 2010 (74) Mar 2010 (74) Feb 2010 (82) Jan 2010 (101) Dec 2009 (108) Nov 2009 (182) Oct 2009 (136) Sep 2009 (102) Aug 2009 (120) Jul 2009 (151) Jun 2009 (136) May 2009 (180) Apr 2009 (145) Mar 2009 (113) Feb 2009 (113) Jan 2009 (124) Dec 2008 (108) Nov 2008 (69) Oct 2008 (89) Sep 2008 (76) Aug 2008 (75) Jul 2008 (87) Jun 2008 (80) May 2008 (99) Apr 2008 (93) Mar 2008 (115) Feb 2008 (147) Jan 2008 (162) Dec 2007 (124) Nov 2007 (95) Oct 2007 (67) Sep 2007 (42) Aug 2007 (78) Jul 2007 (75) Jun 2007 (123) May 2007 (110) Apr 2007 (108) Mar 2007 (92) Feb 2007 (136) Jan 2007 (119) Dec 2006 (41) Nov 2006 (34) Oct 2006 (12) Sep 2006 (13) Aug 2006 (13) Jul 2006 (16) Jun 2006 (12) May 2006 (21) Apr 2006 (38) Mar 2006 (27) Feb 2006 (25) Jan 2006 (18)
BURLEY  Five men have been charged with crimes after an inmate at the Mini-Cassia jail was beaten.

Joshua Kevin Sierra, 21, Isaias Fuentes, 25, and Melvin E. Smith, 39, all inmates at the jail, were all charged with misdemeanor battery while Joel P. Birkeland, 22, and Dean David Quintana, 24, were both charged with misdemeanor criminal conspiracy.

Cassia County Sheriff officers were dispatched to Cassia Regional Hospital at 2 p.m. on Nov. 14 to take a report of a male who was battered at the jail.

When officers went to the hospital to meet with the victim, he was having a seizure and was undergoing treatment for it by staff, police said.

The man, who said was afraid to disclose details of the incident for fear there would be repercussions after he was released from jail, said that a man took him into one of the cells at the jail where he was beaten two men. At one point he attempted to leave, court records said, but an inmate in the hall pushed him back in the cell and the beating resumed.

When detectives reviewed video of the incident, they saw Sierra meet the victim in the hallway at the jail and point for him to enter a cell. Shortly after they entered, Fuentes followed them inside.

Court documents say the video showed only the doorway of the cell. Detectives said somewhat of a struggle could be seen on the video and Smith was seen pacing up and down the hallway appearing to watch for jail staff. At one point the video shows the victim attempting to leave the cell and Smith pushing him back inside.

After Sierra and Fuentes left the cell, the victim can be seen leaving the cell with a towel on his head, court documents said.

Detectives listened to phone calls between Sierra, Quintana and Birkeland on the jail call system where the three talk about Sierra getting even for what the beaten man did to Quintana. The two men appeared to have issues about a burglary.

During one phone call, Quintana said that he would put money on Sierras books for taking care of the man.

Pretrial conferences for Birkeland and Quintana are set for Tuesday. Hearing dates in the other cases were not available on Wednesday.
TWIN FALLS  A man accused of the strangulation murder of a 20-year-old Twin Falls woman earlier this year is mentally incompetent to continue with the court case, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Glenn Joseph Tures, 45, of Twin Falls, will be sent to a secure mental-health facility run by the Idaho Department of Correction where he will undergo treatment aimed at restoring competence. After 90 days, hell be evaluated again to determine if hes mentally fit enough for the case to continue.

Tures is accused of murdering Anessia Shaye Winterholer on Aug. 20. Winterholers body was discovered in the basement of a Twin Falls home on Aug. 21, and Tures turned himself in and admitted to the killing three days later.

A report submitted to the court last month by a forensic psychiatrist found that Tures is not competent, fit and able to assist counsel and understand proceedings, 5th District Magistrate Judge Calvin Campbell said during a status hearing Wednesday.

I therefore find that he is not competent at this time to proceed, and criminal proceedings will be suspended in this matter, Campbell said.

The judge also said the evaluation concluded Tures fits the legal definition of someone who is dangerous and mentally ill, ensuring that his mental-health treatment will be conducted at a secure corrections facility.

Idaho code defines someone who is dangerous and mentally ill as someone in need of supervision, evaluation, treatment and care who presents a substantial risk of physical harm to other persons as manifested by evidence of homicidal or other violent behavior.

Pursuant to that, Ill make those findings, that for a period of 90 days, hes committed, Campbell said.

Treatment at the secure Idaho Department of Correction facility will consist of whatever (the treatment providers) think they need to do to restore mental competence, Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs told the Times-News.

At the end of 90 days, the treatment providers will evaluate Tures again, Loebs explained. If hes considered competent, his court case will proceed; if not, theyll ask for an extension of time to continue treatment.

The forensic psychiatrists finding that Tures is not fit and competent to help his counsel was submitted to the court a week after Tures took the unusual step of sending a hand-written letter to Campbell to discuss his competence and his unwillingness to take medications.

(My attorney) wants me to voluntarily medicate. And to that I say no! Tures wrote. Sir, I have never been in trouble with the law for 44 years and turned myself in. No one has or had reason to question my intelligence or competence my whole life. I am 100% competent to stand trial.

Twin Falls County Deputy Public Defender George Essma asked that Campbells order include a requirement that Tures take certain medications recommended in the evaluation. Campbell agreed to that suggestion, saying Tures was also unfit to make reasoned decisions about his medications.

Those decisions are to be made by the treatment providers, Campbell said.

The ruling came a day after a Burley man once considered too mentally incompetent to stand trial for murder was sentenced to 18 years to life in prison. Jose Antonio Lara pleaded guilty to strangling his wife with a belt, but his case took nearly five years to complete because delays over questions of his mental competence.

A preliminary hearing in Tures case scheduled for next Friday was cancelled, and a new preliminary hearing was set for March 31 in the event that Tures is found competent after 90 days in the secure mental-health facility.
BOISE  Four Magic Valley school districts will receive grants from the Idaho Community Foundations Idaho Future Fund, the group announced Tuesday.

Local recipients are the Cassia County School District, Gooding School District, Idaho Educational Services for the Deaf and the Blind Foundation in Gooding and Shoshone School District.

The Basin School District and Snake River Elementary School will also receive awards.

The fund  created by an anonymous couple from Blaine County  will provide a total of $98,000 in grants to six education projects in southwest Idaho.

The grant money is used in Idaho specifically for preschool scholarships, charter school projects, public schools and school libraries.

Heres how grant money will be used here in the Magic Valley:

Cassia County School District  $17,873 at Mountain View Elementary School in Burley to improve the school library.

The money will be used to buy books, shelves, paint, technology and furniture, plus create a special needs section.

Gooding School District  $18,950 to buy 30 Thin Clients and 30 monitors for the middle school computer lab and add an additional host server for Thin Clients.

A Thin Client is a lightweight computer used for remote access to a server or cloud.

Idaho Educational Services for the Deaf and the Blind Foundation  $15,000 for interactive science equipment and materials for sixth through 12th grade students who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Shoshone School District  $10,000 to replace outdated books and buy new books for the school library.
TWIN FALLS  At first glance, it looked like Vera C. OLeary Middle School students were playing online games Wednesday.

But they were actually using a tutorial featuring Disney characters to learn about coding.

More than 930 students at the Twin Falls middle school got an introductory, one-hour coding lesson during their social studies class. It was part of a worldwide Hour of Code event during Computer Science Education Week.

Organizers hope to encourage more students  particularly, girls and minority children  to pursue computer science as a career in the future. Its a highly in-demand career field with high wages.

The coding event helps prepare students for the future, said OLeary student Elway Myers, 13. I think the Hour of Code really helps with a lot of jobs.

The Idaho Department of Labors website lists software developers and computer systems as the number one hot job, based on 2014-2024 projections.

The number of jobs is expected to grow 37 percent over that decade. And the median annual wage is $82,209.

At OLeary, computer science teacher Annette McFarlin teaches coding in her media technology class. Its a skill needed for creating computer software, websites and phone applications.

Eighth-graders from her class  plus a few high schoolers  led lessons Wednesday for the schools Hour of Code.

Elway was one of the student helpers. He started learning coding in sixth grade and wants to pursue computer science as a career.

Why does he enjoy coding? I just think its fun, he said.

Other schools in the Twin Falls School District  and a handful of others across the Magic Valley  are also doing coding lessons this week.

Its the fourth year for the Hour of Code at OLeary. And last year, McFarlin received a $10,000 grant from Code.org to use to buy new computer hardware.

Idaho  like many other U.S. states  doesnt require students to take a computer science class.

To help fill the gap, the nonprofit Code.org provides free tutorials with a variety of themes, including Minecraft and Star Wars. Lessons can be accessed from most computing devices and are available in multiple languages.

On Wednesday, OLeary students dragged and dropped visual blocks to write codes to direct actions of characters from Moana, a Disney movie released over Thanksgiving weekend about a girl in ancient Polynesia who goes on an ocean voyage.

The first lesson started out with basic tasks, such as moving a character forward two steps. Students progressed through online lessons at their own pace.

The ability level among students varies drastically.

Theres kids in sixth grade who could probably write the code, McFarlin said.

In one seventh-grade social studies class Wednesday, students worked on coding tutorials on laptops.

Throughout the class period, students made comments as they worked, Ive almost got it one said. And another: I did it. That was easy.

McFarlin said she wants students to gain coding skills because its useful regardless of what career they pursue in the future. I hope they get hooked on coding.

If they do, theyll have the chance to take a new class next school year at OLeary devoted just to coding.

How is coding used in the real world here in Twin Falls? Officials from two major employers  the city and St. Lukes Health System  say coding or software development isnt something most employees do regularly in their jobs.

But employees at the city of Twin Falls are assisted by that technology, said Gretchen Scott, a human resource analyst. And it makes sense that theyre building that skill set in youth, she said about OLearys coding event.

For city workers, weve seen a real expansion in the kinds of assistance tools that are being developed, Scott said. That helps with tasks such as tracking inventory and work orders.

Plus, programs contribute to the citys overall efficiency, ability to gather information and make decisions, she said.

The citys information technology department has job responsibilities such as conducting training, doing hands-on work with users, and assisting with equipment installation and maintenance.

For the St. Lukes Health System, from a technical perspective, we tend to differ from some other industries, senior recruiter Brian Ray said. We dont have a lot of software development.

But computer science skills are used in other ways, including data analysis and programming.

Another big push for the health system was launching a new system-wide electronic medical records system this fall.

The health system hired 120 short-term trainers to provide in-person lessons for employees on the technological changes, Ray said.

Whether employees work in billing, patient care or another area of the health system, the trend is more into technological involvement, he said. I dont foresee any way that will slow down.
The day after Pearl Harbor was attacked by 360 Japanese warplanes, the Idaho Evening News was filled with devastating news.

Law officials in Twin Falls County pleaded with residents to stem their anger against foreigners as the country swung into World War II.

The plea came as law agencies pledged support to the FBI and informed that agency: Our people are ready for any demands that may be made upon them, the News said.

Law officials from Twin Falls County, Idaho State Police, Twin Falls, Filer, Kimberly, Castleford, Buhl and Murtaugh met Dec. 8, 1941, at Prosecutor Everett M. Sweeleys office to discuss the countys preparations to meet the war emergency.

Officials asked all citizens to be very careful just now not to let their feelings overcome their self-control, the News said. Any act or acts toward local foreigners will only make our work more difficult.

All the officers within our county are organized under and ready to work fully with the Federal Bureau of Investigation... All matters of disloyalty to the government should be immediately reported to the nearest officer.

The newspaper also announced the Japanese had attacked the American island of Wake, halfway between Hawaii and Japan.

Many south-central Idaho men are on the island, working at carpentering and other repair jobs to fortify the important air base, the newspaper said. Sailors and Marines form the defense force.

Twin Falls Mayor Joe Kohler, a member of the nationwide Fight for Freedom Committee, received a telegram that morning from committee executives squarely placing blame for the attack on Adolph Hitler.

Japans war on the United States is the last desperate effort of Hitler to turn American attention from the center of war against our world, the telegram read. Kohler was charged with spreading the message throughout Idaho.

The FFF, organized in April 1941 to support U.S. intervention in World War II, had warned that Hitler would try to divert American war resources away from Germany.

This treachery was master-minded by the thugs and gangsters of Berlin... War has chosen us, read the message. Our fight for freedom has begun. Its battle cry is unity.
Heres a political wizards prediction for 2017. The Idaho legislature, dominated for decades by Republican legislators, will announce plans, yet again, to reduce some component(s) of Idahos tax levies. The stated goal will be to improve Idahos overall economy.

The chief rationale will be that Idaho needs lower taxes to better compete nationally to attract businesses and industries. Republican leadership will double down, saying this is especially important to lure Western-based enterprises from neighboring states.

To make this work, theyll argue, the biggest tax slashes ostensibly must benefit corporate and upper income brackets, with some tiny snips (if any) for the middleclass or working poor. Bill-sponsors will present a dazzling special-effects-enhanced 3-D jumbo-tron projection of the tinkle-down benefits to the average Idaho working family.

If legislated, Gov. Otter will acquiesce. While signing the bill hell take some credit for it, chanting repeated refrains from the familiar mantra. Otter and or the Legislature may also orchestrate a crescendo of calls for special one-off tax incentives or gifted infrastructure packages by the state, counties or municipalities, aimed at specific enterprise recruitments.

Just so its clear: You personally will be paying for the gifts. But that wont be mentioned at the bill-signing ceremony.

When legislators journey home to proclaim their tax-cutting triumphs, they will weave the narration into the fabric of their other feats of legerdemain, heroic slaying of nanny-state dragons, caging of blood-sucking welfare ogres and disemboweling of culture-war demons.

A good story is a lot more captivating than reading spreadsheets, carefully examining financial landscapes, collateral assets or previous economic performance. Indeed, the bigger the wish-fulfilling whopper central to a story, often the more endearing the fantasy and the stronger listeners embrace it. Can you say Santa? Leprechaun? Tooth Fairy?

By its own most 2013 official analysis, Idaho ranks as Americas 49th state for overall taxation per capita, 31.2 percent below the national average. It is ranked 41st relative to income, 13.3 percent below the national average. The reason Idaho is 49th per capita, vs. 41st relative to income is because of Idahos exceptionally (deplorably?) low per capita income, 20.7 below the national average. Idahos per capita income in fact ranks 50th of the 50 states and District of Columbia. Only Mississippi is lower. (Good job, GOP!)

The report states that overall Idaho taxes remain considerably below the U.S. average on both income-based and per capita based analysis. Ah, yes, but we must compete in the 11-state Western region, right? Well, so happens that per capita we are 18.3 percent below the Western states median, and 7.5 percent below the median relative to income. Those numbers give Idaho the lowest overall tax burden (11th place of 11 Western states) in both indices.

The components of these indices include property, sales, individual income and corporate income taxes. The per capita ranking of these components range from 38.3 percent to 20.6 percent below the national average, and from 30.9 percent below the Western states median to 0.4 percent above the Western states median. The income-adjusted rankings of the components range from 22.3 percent below the national average to 0.1 percent above the national average and 11.6 percent below the Western states median to 11.7 percent above the Western states median.

The only statistic that rears up noticeably from the overall subterranean taxation profile is income-adjusted corporate taxes at 11.7 percent above the Western states median.

Undoubtedly this statistic triggers alarms among Republican legislative first-responders to further lower taxes on the corporate source of tinkle-down dollars. But just so we understand what is setting their britches on fire, thats not an 11.7% tax rate. It is an 11.7% (i.e. slightly) larger comparative rate against earnings vs. corporate taxes and earnings in other states. The Idaho corporate tax is 7.4%.

Of course corporations deduct copious expenses that they regard as existential for which individuals can claim no comparable deduction. In 2013 individual income taxes (from wage earners) contributed 25.3 percent of Idahos overall tax revenues, compared to only 3.9 percent from corporations. Sales taxes and property taxes (from which many corporations are wholly or partially exempt) generated 25.9 percent and 28 percent respectively. The balance of revenue comes from a variety of fees such as auto registrations/licensing, fishing/hunting licensing, permits etc.

Heres where the tale becomes rather mysterious.

As the analysis of Idahos own bureau of the exchequer states several times and in several contexts: Idaho is and has been one of the lowest taxed fiefdoms in all of America for decades. Our Republican overlords assured us that this coupled with the lowest wages in all the land was the sure potion to assure prosperity. This and only this potion could fulfill their prophecy of becoming the Wests seat of economic empireCamelot (Manhattan?) on the Snake  or some Idaho river. Its causeways promised to be adorned with gilded sculptures of Ayn Rand, Ronald Reagan and Butch Otter.

What happened?

Can we really hope that if the wizards prediction of more tax cutting comes true Idaho will at last, like a tipping-bucket rain-gauge, spill its abundance and prosperity over us in response to this next precipitous increment of tax-clemency? Will the tinkle-down water wash away our school funding shortfall like sins fleeing a baptismal font, forever eliminating the need for supplemental levies? Will the tinkle-down water finally bathe the neglected infirmed among the working poor, purging their diseases and healing their wounds? Will chickens materialize in pots and cars blink into existence in garages?

Dont bet your buskins on it, good thrall. Remember? Its just a whoppingly clever feudal tale.
Chicken will be the best-positioned protein due to its low price position in times of pressure on consumer spending power but rises in production costs and the long-term impact of COVID-19 threaten to disrupt the sector, according to Rabobank.
Credit: Photo illustration by David Arky

Steven Mendoza was five weeks old when he first landed in the emergency room. His skin was dusky gray, his eyes were rolling back in his head.

The doctors and nurses at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital swarmed around him, peppering his distraught parents with questions: Did he have epilepsy? Had he suffered some trauma? "No, no," his mother, Fabiola Gudiel, responded. "No puede respirar!" He can't breathe.

A flexible tube inserted into Steven's trachea kept his airway open while he was rushed by ambulance to the pediatric intensive care unit at UC San Francisco Medical Center. He stayed there for seven days, recovering from a respiratory infection.

At age six months, after continued breathing problems, Steven was diagnosed with asthma. Treatment? That was trickier. Steven didn't respond as well as hoped to a shifting array of medications, leaving him either exhausted and drowsy or hyperactive. He was also plagued by croup. The family's one-room apartment in San Francisco's Excelsior District was spotless, thanks to Gudiel's housekeeping. But she couldn't do much about the damp, dank carpeting or the cracked and strangely bulging walls.

"Before he even reached preschool, Steven had 11 episodes requiring oral corticosteroids in the hospital or urgent care. That's unheard of," says Kimberlee Honda, registered nurse, M.S., director of the ZSFG Pediatric Asthma and Allergy Clinic.

Steven is now four and a half years old. His survival is more than an example of lifesaving patient care. His case is also an illustration of UCSF's compelling imperative to advance cutting-edge biomedicine and health equity for an increasingly diverse population.

Precision public health

"You can match a blood transfusion to a blood type," President Obama said in announcing his Precision Medicine Initiative last year. "What if matching a cancer cure to our genetic code was just as easy, just as standard? What if figuring out the right dose of medicine was as simple as taking our temperature?"

"Precision medicine" is the starring attraction of today's health care, with $215 million in federal funding and heady promises of transforming disease prevention and treatment by leveraging advances in genomics and data analysis.

With 15 publications on the subject and more than two dozen related research and development projects in the pipeline, UCSF is at the forefront of the precision medicine endeavor. In fact, the term was coined in a 2011 National Academy of Sciences report co-authored by several UCSF faculty, including Susan Desmond-Hellmann, M.D., MPH, and resident alumna, while she was chancellor of the University. Her successor as chancellor, Sam Hawgood, MBBS, has identified precision medicine as a priority to strengthen the university's impact on local and global health, economics and innovation.

But even ardent fans of the approach caution that precision medicine could too easily become privileged medicine, undercutting another of the University's foundational mandates: serving vulnerable populations.

"Precision medicine has the potential to be extremely expensive to develop and manageand fraught with opportunities for voltage drops, losing patients along every step of the way," says Dean Schillinger, M.D., resident alumnus, chief of the UCSF Division of General Internal Medicine, and director of the Health Communication and Health Literacy Program at ZSFG's Center for Vulnerable Populations.

To help navigate the tension between a low-cost, one-size-fits-all approach and individually tailored medicine, UCSF hosted a Precision Public Health Summit in June, convened by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. A key takeaway: "Telescoping out" is as important as "telescoping down" to the genetic level.

"After taking into account our individual genetics, we have different behaviors; different social backgrounds; different places where we live, eat, pray, sleep," says Sam Oh, Ph.D., MPH, an associate researcher at the UCSF School of Medicine and an epidemiologist at the UCSF Center for Genes, Environment and Health.

Fabiola Gudiel snuggles with her son, Steven Mendoza. Credit: Gabriela Hasbun

Neighborhood is one key proxy for health disparities, indicating significant variations in air quality, housing and social environment: "Depending on where you live, there are different stresses on you and your psyche and different risk factors for disease and response to treatment," Oh adds. "It's also about your interactions with law enforcement or how easy it is to access health care."

Consider Oakland, where the number of African American men killed on its streets in the past decade nearly matched the number who graduated from its high schools ready to attend a state university, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

In pursuit of health equity

UCSF's "tremendous depth" in epidemiological, genotype and molecular researchtogether with the strong expertise in vulnerable patient populations of UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals and partners San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center and ZSFG  uniquely positions the institution to foster a more holistic and equitable approach to both patient care and research, says Schillinger.

"It's not just basic bench science," he says, likening the effort to UCSF's response during the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, when he was chief medical resident at ZSFG. "When we tackled a problem like AIDS, it was understanding the virus, understanding the bathhouses, understanding mother-child transmissions."

Indeed, what helped Steven Mendoza, the young asthma patient, as much as therapeutics was UCSF's focus on social and environmental determinants around health.

Gudiel, now 39, moved to San Francisco from Central America 12 years ago and had never heard of asthma before her son's diagnosis. ZSFG's pediatric asthma clinica multidisciplinary collaboration that includes community health workers, behavioral health specialists, a nutritionist and a lawyerhelped Gudiel became an expert in telling the difference between asthma symptoms and the barking cough of croup.

She also learned about deadly environmental triggers for her son's breathing problems: mold, dust, vermin, humidity, second-hand smoke. Gudiel asked the landlord to fix the walls and carpet in the family's apartment, to no avail.

"It was disgusting," Gudiel says in Spanish, with Silvia Raymundo, one of the clinic's community health workers, translating. "The landlord would come and paint over the mold, but the wall would get inflated and crack, and you could see the mold again."

In 2013, Raymundo visited the apartment, noting chipping paint, damaged window frames and a severe mold infestation. The clinic wrote a letter to the landlord, requesting immediate remediation. Rather than make repairs, the landlord offered Gudiel and her family a different unit. They could barely afford the 20-percent rent increase$300 a monththat came with it, but the move, along with fine-tuning Steven's medication regimen, has paid off. This past year, the family's frantic trips to urgent care were down by half.

Reflecting America

Given UCSF's goal of improving quality of life through research into health and disease, it's an "absolute necessity" that research accurately reflects demographics, says Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Daniel Lowenstein, M.D., resident alumnus, and the Aird Professor of Neurology.

Science, Lowenstein says, has failed to meet that challenge for "a very, very long time."

For decades, the vast majority of U.S. epidemiological studies reported on cohorts with very few women or even none altogether. The number of non-white participants? Even fewer.

Postdoctoral scholar Marquitta White, left, and Esteban Burchard, right, director of UCSFs Asthma Collaboratory lab, are studying genetic and environmental influences on asthma in minority children. Credit: Noah Berger

Despite Congressional mandates aimed at diversifying clinical research and improvements in gender parity, little else has changed in the last 30 years: Since 1993, less than 2 percent of 10,000-plus National Cancer Institute-funded clinical trials and less than 5 percent of National Institutes of Health-funded respiratory studies have included enough minorities to be relevant. Those figures were published in PLoS Medicine in December 2015 by Oh and Esteban Burchard, M.D., MPH, resident alumnus and the Harry Wm. and Diana V. Hind Distinguished Professor in Pharmaceutical Sciences II.

With these diseases hitting minority populations at a disproportionate rate, and with drugs affecting people differently based on their genetic backgrounds, the lack of diversity in research is already having serious impacts on care for the nearly 40 percent of the U.S. population with non-European heritage. Additionally, health disparities cost the U.S. an estimated $300 billion a year in medical care, lost wages and productivity, family leave and premature death.

"Generalizing results from research performed in one racial/ethnic group to another can work reasonably well, or it can have fatal consequences," Burchard, Oh, and a co-author from Stanford wrote in a February editorial in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

One striking example is asthmathe most common chronic disease among children worldwide. In the U.S., minority kids like Stevenhis Nicaraguan and Salvadoran parents likely have a mix of Native American, Caucasian and African ancestryare at far higher risk of having asthma than their white peers.

Puerto Ricans and African Americans also tend to have more severe asthma that is harder to control with common drugs, and African American children die of asthma-related episodes at four times the rate of white children. Why? There haven't been definitive answers, because almost all of the genetic studies of asthma have included only white patients.

Genetic vs. race-based research

Burchard, as director of the UCSF Asthma Collaboratory, has spent 18 years collecting DNA samples of African American and Latino kids to study genetic and environmental influences on asthma. He now has more than 10,000 samplesthe country's largest such collection from minority children with asthma.

This treasure trove of data has led to several significant studies. One, led by Marquitta White, Ph.D., a postdoctoral scholar in the Asthma Collaboratory, recently identified both new genetic risk factors and the fact that only a tiny fraction of known factors for asthma apply to African American childrena crucial step toward improving diagnosis and treatment.

By recruiting people into genetic studies by race, however, Burchard and his colleagues have come under fire from critics pointing to a scientific legacylike the infamous "Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male"that has persecuted people of color rather than advancing their interests.

"We look at genetic ancestry, at things we can measure. Racial and ethnic groups don't have a basis in biology," explains White, who identifies as African American and has African, European and "a little block of Southeast Asian ancestry" in her genome.

"So many of us are from admixed populations," she says, using the term for new genetic lineages introduced from the interbreeding of two or more previously isolated populations. "The percentages of those parent populations can affect susceptibility to disease or response to medication."

Diversity in science is not just "science done well," as Oh says. It's also vital to health equity.

"This country is plagued by racial and ethnic disparities in some of the most deadly diseases," Burchard says. "The only way we will make progress in decreasing that burden of disease is by understanding why it occurs. We can't understand that without including diverse communities in our research."
The human papillomavirus causes not only cervical cancer but also cancers of the head and neck. Credit: National Cancer Institute

People with head and neck cancers with evidence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection generally have a better prognosis than people without evidence of infection. A new study in JAMA Oncology suggests that to produce a strong, reliable prognostic signal, all that's needed is a blood serum test for two specific HPV antibodies, rather than lab work on a biopsy. Further, the researchers said, the study shows that this blood-based biomarker is predictive of outcome for all types of head and neck cancer.

"What this adds is that it helps us know how best to measure clinically the HPV contribution to this disease," said study senior author Karl Kelsey, a professor of epidemiology and of pathology and laboratory medicine at Brown University. Kelsey collaborated with lead author Heather Nelson of the University of Minnesota Masonic Cancer Center in making the findings.

Moreover, Nelson, Kelsey and their colleagues wrote, referring to the common HPV16 strain of the virus: "These data are among the first to demonstrate a convincing relationship between HPV16 and improved patient survival for tumors of the larynx and oral cavity."

Appraising antibodies

The study examined blood serum samples and five-year survival rates among more than 1,000 Boston-area head and neck cancer patients diagnosed between 1999 and 2011. Overall, those who tested positive for antibodies to the oncogenic HPV proteins E6 or E7 were less likely to die during the five year follow-up period after diagnosis compared to those who tested negative for the antibodies. Based on the analysis, the researchers estimated that those with evidence of an immune response to HPV were 25% less likely to die during the course of follow-up compared to those with no immune response to HPV.

The study's purpose was to determine whether the antibodies provide a reliable indication of prognosis. In ongoing trials, doctors are testing whether patients with HPV-associated cancers can be treated less aggressivelyand hopefully with fewer negative side effectsthan people with non-HPV-associated cancers, Kelsey said. If trials prove successful, then it will be particularly important to determine whether cancers are HPV-associated.

"The assessment of a patient's HPV status likely will affect treatment," he said. "That's why there's real interest in getting it right; for instance, how do you test?"

Better prognosis across the board

Prior studies have focused primarily on the role of HPV in the oropharynxthe area of the throat right behind the mouth. An important contribution of the current study, Nelson said, is demonstration that an immune response to HPV is important for all forms of head and neck cancer, although the benefit does show some variance based on the exact cancer location. Those patients with an HPV immune response with tumors located in the oropharynx and larynx had a similar risk of dying during the follow-up period, though the reduced risk was slightly attenuated for those patients with tumors located in the oral cavity.

The results didn't depend significantly on whether people had high or low levels of the antibodies, so long as they had some, the researchers found, though testing positive for both E6 and E7 was better than for just one.

The reduced chance of dying by five years carried through for people who tested positive for the antibodies even if they consumed tobacco and alcohol. But the worst prognoses in the study were among smokers whose cancers could not be traced to HPV.

In all, the findings controlled for the statistical influences not only of tobacco and alcohol exposure, but also of age, race, gender, education and how far advanced the cancer was.

Relates to broader advances

Kelsey said the findings could help bring head and neck cancer treatment closer into line with two emerging practices of fighting the disease: personalized medicine and immunotherapy.

"To me, personalized medicine really reflects using all the information you can glean about an individual tumor to treat it appropriately," Kelsey said. "Here HPV is an example of a causal factor that delineates the mechanism of the tumor suppressor genes that drive the tumor and that gives you insight into the differences in the tumor."

Meanwhile, the study might help shed light on why immunotherapyin which the body's immune system is marshaled to attack cancerappears to help for some head and neck cancers, Kelsey said. It may not be coincidence, for instance, that the prognosis is better among people whose cancers are associated with a virus that promotes a robust immune response, in the form of antibodies, than among people without a viral cause for their cancer.

If HPV-related cancers can indeed be treated differently, Kelsey said, then serum-based testing to determine the role of the virus could soon be available, too.
Jennifer Lycette, M.D., understands the importance of treating patients with cancer at home in their in rural communities. It allows them to spend more time with their families and to focus on their treatment and recovery, not traveling.

Lycette and other physicians who treat these patients are keenly aware of the numerous challenges they encounter. Consequently, they are strongly committed to ensuring rural patients have access to the latest targeted therapies and other cutting-edge treatment options.

When faced with a breast cancer patient with underlying mental illness who was reluctant to try standard cancer treatments, Lycette asked herself an important question: "What good were targeted therapies when her coexisting mental illness prevented her from taking them?"

Lycette outlines this and other concerns while sharing one patient's profound struggle in a New England Journal of Medicine "Perspective" paper published today titled, "NeglectedCancer Care and Mental Health in Rural America."

An oncologist with the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, Lycette treats patients in the coastal community of Astoria, Oregon. Astoria, like many other rural settings in the United States, has a severe shortage of psychiatric health care providers. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, approximately 4,000 Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas, defined as having less than one psychiatrist per 30,000 people, were identified in the United States in 2016. In reviewing what was available for the citizens of Clatsop County, of which the city of Astoria is a part, she found a disappointing zero psychiatrists per 100,000 people.

Lycette's recounting of this patient's experience demonstrates the terrible impacts of insufficient or nonexistent psychiatric care. In her commentary, Lycette notes her inability to reach her patient with mental illness marked " ... the saddest final chapter in the devastating story of untreated mental illness, the true neglect."

More information: Jennifer Lycette. NeglectedCancer Care and Mental Health in Rural America, New England Journal of Medicine (2016). Journal information: New England Journal of Medicine Jennifer Lycette. NeglectedCancer Care and Mental Health in Rural America,(2016). DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp1612129
This is an image of a weight scale. Credit: CDC/Debora Cartagena

Overweight and obesity in adolescents have increased substantially in recent decades, and today affect a third of the adolescent population in some developed countries. While the dangers posed by high adult BMI on cognitive function in later life have been documented, the association of adolescent BMI with cognitive function in midlife has not yet been reported. (BMI, or Body Mass Index, is a calculation of a person's weight in kilograms divided by the square of their height in meters.)

To shed light on this issue, scientists at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine set out to determine the association between cumulative life course burden of high-ranked body mass index (BMI), and cognitive function in midlife. The research, which will appear in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease 55, was led by Prof. Jeremy Kark from the Braun School, in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Faculty of Medicine, working with colleagues in Israel and the United States.

The researchers used weight and height data from 507 individuals tracked from over 33 years starting at age 17. The participants completed a computerized cognitive assessment at ages 4852, and their socioeconomic position was assessed by multiple methods. Using mixed models the researchers calculated the life-course burden of BMI from age 17 to midlife, and used multiple regression to assess associations of BMI and height with global cognition and its ve component domains.

"In this population-based study of a Jerusalem cohort, followed longitudinally from adolescence for over 33 years, we found that higher BMI in late adolescence and the long-term cumulative burden of BMI predicted poorer cognitive function later in life. Importantly, this study shows that an impact of obesity on cognitive function in midlife may already begin in adolescence, independently of changes in BMI over the adult life course," said the paper's senior author, Prof. Jeremy Kark of the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine.

"Our results also show that taller stature was associated with better global cognitive function, independent of childhood and adult socioeconomic position, and that height increase in late adolescence, reecting late growth, conferred a protective effect, but among women only," added Irit Cohen-Manheim, doctoral candidate at the Braun School and lead author.

The researchers point out that while socioeconomic position may have a particularly important role in the trajectory of a person's lifetime cognitive function, it has rarely been adequately taken into account: "To the best of our knowledge, the association between BMI and cognition as a function of childhood and adult socioeconomic position has not been previously reported. Childhood household socioeconomic position appears to strongly modify the association between adolescent BMI and poorer cognition in midlife, the inverse association being restricted to low childhood socioeconomic position," said Prof. Kark.

"Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that childhood living conditions, as reected also by height, inuence cognitive function later in life; however, our study is unique in showing that an adverse association of higher BMI with cognitive function appears to begin in adolescence and that it appears to be restricted to adults with lower childhood socioeconomic position," said Prof. Kark.

"Evidence for the association between impaired cognitive function in midlife and subsequent dementia supports the clinical relevance of our results. Findings of the relation of BMI in adolescence with poorer midlife cognitive status, particularly in light of the ongoing epidemic of childhood obesity, require conrmation," said Irit Cohen-Manheim.

More information: Irit Cohen-Manheim et al. Body Mass Index, Height, and Socioeconomic Position in Adolescence, Their Trajectories into Adulthood, and Cognitive Function in Midlife, Journal of Alzheimer's Disease (2016). Journal information: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease Irit Cohen-Manheim et al. Body Mass Index, Height, and Socioeconomic Position in Adolescence, Their Trajectories into Adulthood, and Cognitive Function in Midlife,(2016). DOI: 10.3233/JAD-160843
Kenyan doctors and nurses warned Thursday they will extend a strike crippling public hospitals to private clinics as well next week, unless the government offers them more in a pay dispute.

Public hospitals have been deserted for four days, with patients left to fend for themselves, forced to return home or transfer to private clinics as healthcare workers embarked on a mass stayaway.

"It is very important for Kenyans to know that we don't hate going to work, we love our work but it has come to a situation where we need to tell the government that we are serious this time," nurse Eunice Ngare told AFP during a protest march.

Unions are demanding a 300-percent pay rise for doctors and 25- to 40-percent pay rise for nurses that they say was agreed in a 2013 collective bargaining agreement, but has yet to be implemented.

The government on Wednesday offered a 50,000 shilling ($500, 442 euro) increase to the lowest paid doctorseffectively doubling their salariesbut unions rejected this outright and again walked out of talks.

"We want to make it very clear that this strike shall only be called off by the implementation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The doctors in this country have been taken on a goose chase for so long," said Ouma Oluga of the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union.

He said that from Tuesday next week "all hospitals will be closed, be it private or public."

A judge on Wednesday ordered union officials to appear in court next Tuesday, threatening them with jail for disobeying a court order to call off the strike.

Judge Helen Wasiliwa said that if they did not show up she would order their arrest.

The strike led to chaos outside hospitals earlier this week, with bystanders helping women give birth, and more than 100 patients escaping from Kenya's only psychiatric hospital in the capital Nairobi.

At least 14 patients are reported to have died in public hospitals due to lack of care, President Uhuru Kenyatta said Wednesday.

"We are ready to dialogue with our doctors and nurses. Let's be mindful of the lives of our people," he said.

However Kenyatta and his government have received short shrift on social media, where supporters of the strike question the loss of millions of dollars in the corruption-plagued country, while doctors battle to secure wage increases.

"It is appalling that Kenya cannot pay its doctors a decent salary, while billions are shamelessly stolen from the public coffers," said an editorial in the Daily Nation this week.

 2016 AFP
Antibody-based immunotherapy is a new promising method to treat cancer. Unfortunately, today's treatments can result in adverse side effects. New findings from IGP show an alternative way to administer the therapy, which has the same effect on the tumour but less impact other parts of the body.

In antibody-based immunotherapy drugs are used to stimulate the body's own immune cells to attack and destroy the tumour cells. This method is presently used to treat certain types of metastasised cancer, such as melanoma and bladder cancer. However, a disadvantage of the therapy is that the drug is injected in the blood, which will lead to an exposure of the whole body and thereby possible adverse events.

An alternative strategy would be to administer the drug directly in or close to the tumour, provided that this still leads to the desired immune cell stimulation. In the present study a group of researchers, led by Sara Mangsbo at IGP, has demonstrated that a local immune activation in the tumour area had the same tumour inhibiting capacity as when the drug was delivered in the blood.

'We found that the therapy that we tested in a model system of bladder cancer could stimulate the immune cells to find and attack the cancer cells, even if it was administered locally. These results are very promising since they indicate that it's not necessary to activate the body's whole immune system, but only the one that is relevant in the tumour. This way adverse events caused by the drug can be reduced,' says Sara Mangsbo.

In the study immune activation was achieved by administering blocking antibodies close to the tumour. The results complement the researcher's previous findings where they found that a direct immune stimulatory antibody had superior anti-tumour capacity when used locally at the tumour, as compared to after injection into the blood.

The hope is also that the immune cells, not the drug itself, can find potential metastases and eliminate them. To understand if and how this is happening, further research is required. The present results are based on studies in mice and to determine if drug administration to the tumour results in fewer adverse events in patients, as compared to injections into the blood stream, clinical studies are also needed.

The study is a collaboration with researchers in Lund and Canada and was recently published in European Journal of Immunology.

More information: Luuk van Hooren et al. Local checkpoint inhibition of CTLA-4 as a monotherapy or in combination with anti-PD1 prevents the growth of murine bladder cancer, European Journal of Immunology (2016). Journal information: European Journal of Immunology Luuk van Hooren et al. Local checkpoint inhibition of CTLA-4 as a monotherapy or in combination with anti-PD1 prevents the growth of murine bladder cancer,(2016). DOI: 10.1002/eji.201646583
Online Non-bank Credit Associations addresses government

The Online Non-bank Credit Associations of Georgia have released a joint statement. The Associations respond to the initiative of the government and the Prime Minister on regulation of the online loan market."We accept the decision of the government to regulate this field.We appeal to the government to mediate with the National Bank to accelerate the process of granting the status of microfinance organizations to the companies issuing online loans.It is in the interest of the markets healthy players to be represented at the market under the regulations of the National Bank and to provide financial products to the customers in accordance with relevant standards.We believe that the government's initiative is a necessary condition for further development of the online loan market and implementation of structural investments, says the statement, which is signed by the members of the Association: vivus.ge; netcredit.ge; ccloan.ge; crediton.ge; moneyman.ge; emmascredit.ge; masesxe.ge; minicredit.ge; mozo.ge ?? mon.ge.
The News in Brief

Parliament Revokes MP Credentials for Four Lawmakers



On November 30, Parliament revoked MP credentials for Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze, Economy Minister Giorgi Gakharia and ex-first lady Sandra Roelofs.



Sandra Roelofs, who was number two on the United National Movements (UNM) party list of candidates, renounced her mandate won under proportional representation



The three ministers, who entered Parliament through the GDDGs party list, were revoked of their MP credentials, as the law bans a government member to hold any other office simultaneously.



The vacant seats in Parliament will be occupied by the next candidates on the list. For the GDDG, Guguli Magradze (who was a lawmaker in the previous two Parliaments), Davit Matikashvili and Giorgi Khatidze will fill the posts. Sandra Roelofs will apparently be replaced by Giorgi Gviniashvili, who was also a member of the previous Parliament. (civil.ge)







Deputy Minister held meeting with representatives of IOM



Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Shalva Khutsishvili held a meeting with the regional director of East and South-East Europe and central Asia, Argentina Sabadosh.



The meeting was also attended by head of the mission, Liliana Derilova, and director of the International Relations Department, Shalva Kvinikhidze.



The participants discussed the reforms implemented at the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the sphere of migration and border management, and evaluated the close and successful cooperation between IOM and Ministry of Internal Affairs and reviewed prospects for enhancing the existing cooperation.



The International Organization of Migration (IOM) has operated in Georgia since 1993 in the sphere of border management and migration issues. Within the frames of the various projects and programs, the IOM cooperates with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, running qualification courses for employees and working on infrastructure renovation under European standards. (police.ge)







Georgian police arrest man for exporting falsified hazelnut products to Germany



A Georgian man could spend four years behind bars after he allegedly used falsified tax documents to export low quality hazelnuts to Germany.



The Investigation Service of Georgias Ministry of Finance arrested a man for the alleged offences, which are punishable in Georgia by imprisonment from two to four years.



The identity of the accused has not been released.



Officials said that while processing and packaging hazelnut products, the accused mixed peanuts with hazelnuts. Peanuts are relatively cheap and have different consumption features so mixing them with the hazelnut products bulked up the production with a completely different, lower quality nut.



The alleged offender exported these low quality nut products to Germany.



The detainee was registered as director of Global Trade LTD and in the name of this company, he allegedly used 65 illegal documents (purchase acts), which showed the company bought hazelnuts worth almost two million GEL.



If proven guilty, the accused person will face several years in prison (agenda.ge)




@PatriciaMazzei

The office of Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez got a request late last week from an aide to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel asking him to ink his name to a letter asking President-elect Donald Trump to protect young immigrants under President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

But Gimenez's name didn't appear on the list of mayors in the letter Emanuel handed Trump on Wednesday -- because Gimenez didn't respond to Emanuel in time.

On Friday, Gimenez asked for a policy briefing to help make up his mind on whether to sign the letter. But the briefing didnt take place before the letter was printed and handed to Trump.

Gimenez traveled to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta on Monday to learn about the latest efforts to combat the Zika virus. He sat through a county commission meeting Tuesday. He flew to Washington on Wednesday to ask members of Congress for money to pay for public transportation projects.

Mayor Gimenez supports comprehensive immigration reform, said his spokesman, Michael Hernandez.

Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado wasn't asked to sign the letter -- but said as soon as he learned of it Wednesday that he would, "in a heartbeat."

More here.
@PatriciaMazzei

U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo of Miami got plenty of love Wednesday night as a Republican willing to take action in Congress to combat climate change.

Curbelo was prominently featured on a "Years of Living Dangerously" episode on the National Geographic channel that featured environmental activists' efforts to get congressional action.

"Why can't there be more Republicans like this guy?" asked actor Bradley Whitford, the episode's host. He's a liberal activist best known for his role as Josh Lyman in NBC's former TV series "The West Wing," and he's praised Curbelo on national TV in the past, to promote the NatGeo series.

The episode showed, among other things, a meeting of a small "climate change" caucus in Congress -- which means other South Florida representatives got some air time, too. U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch of Boca Raton, the Democrat who created the caucus with Curbelo, got a speaking role, and U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Miami Republican, also appeared on screen.

Here are two clips cut by Curbelo's office. Watch the full episode (number seven) here.
@ByKristenMClark

State Sen. Rob Bradley is renewing his effort to change Florida's "stand your ground" law in a way that prosecutors have said could make it harder for them to try cases.

Bradley's legislation in the 2016 session was the subject of much debate, because critics argued it would force prosecutors to essentially try a case before it actually got to trial.

Bradley, a conservative Republican and attorney from Fleming Island, doesn't see it that way. He's on a mission to correct what he views as the Florida Supreme Court's "misinterpretation" of law when it comes to who has the responsibility in a pretrial hearing to prove whether a defendant can claim self-defense under "stand your ground."

He revived the legislation by filing a bill (SB 128) for the 2017 session on Thursday.

Florida's controversial "stand your ground" law, adopted in 2005, allows residents to use deadly force in defense of their lives or property in certain instances -- but with no obligation to flee.

In July 2015, five of seven Supreme Court justices ruled defendants who claim a stand-your-ground defense have to prove before trial why theyre entitled to that immunity.

Bradley and some other conservative lawmakers complained that the court "overreached" its powers, and they argued the law was intended so that prosecutors -- not defendants -- should bear the burden of proof at the pre-trial hearing. That means, under Bradley's proposed change, prosecutors would have to prove before trial why a defendant could not claim a stand-your-ground defense.

"The government has the burden of proof in a criminal case from the beginning of a case until the end," Bradley said in a statement Thursday. "This fundamental premise is guaranteed in our Constitution and understood intuitively by all Floridians."

In the spring, opponents of the proposal argued it would "stack the deck against justice for the dead."

Bradley's bill easily passed the Senate, but that was mostly a symbolic vote because the House bill abruptly died in committee before session even began.

One of the points of debate in the Senate was over what level of proof prosecutors would be held to at the pre-trial hearing: "beyond a reasonable doubt" or the lesser standard of "by clear and convincing evidence."

The version that passed the Senate included the compromise of "clear and convincing evidence." But Bradley's filed bill for 2017 calls for what he originally proposed: requiring prosecutors to prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" -- the standard required at trial -- why a stand-your-ground defense can't be claimed.

"We have an obligation to zealously guard the protections granted us all in the Constitution," Bradley said Thursday. "It was uplifting last session to have the support of fellow conservatives around the state on this important issue."

No House companion has yet been filed for 2017. Last session's sponsor, Ocala Republican Dennis Baxley, is now in the Senate.

Image credit: Florida Channel
from @LloydDunk of the News Service of Florida:

In his annual "state of the university" address on Wednesday, Florida State University President John Thrasher reiterated his strong opposition to allowing guns on university and college campuses.

As a member of the Florida Senate, Thrasher helped kill a bill in 2011 that would have allowed gun owners with concealed-weapons licenses to bring their firearms to Florida's university and state-college campuses.

"I opposed it. I killed it. I have worked against it since then," Thrasher told the FSU faculty. "And you have my promise that I will work against it this year also."

The so-called "campus carry" bill, which in the past has been approved by the House, has already re-emerged as an issue for the 2017 legislative session. Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood, filed a new version of the bill (HB 6005) on Wednesday.

The issue also may have more support in 2017 in the Senate, where newly elected Sen. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, a major supporter, has been named chairman of the Judiciary Committee. That committee is where the proposal, strongly backed by Second Amendment groups, died during the 2016 session.

Thrasher, a former House speaker and Senate Rules Committee chairman, said he continues to agree with other university and college leaders, campus law enforcement officials and faculty members "that having more guns on campus does not make our campus safer."
@PatriciaMazzei

Nelson Diaz, the chairman of the Miami-Dade County Republican Party, said Thursday he's running for reelection to another two-year term.

In an interview with the Miami Herald, Diaz said he's proud of how Republicans did in the Nov. 8 election but "there's some unfinished business that we need to take care of."

"We need to make sure we get a Republican governor and Cabinet back in 2018," he said. "We need to send a Republican senator to help Marco Rubio. And there are a few state House seats we need to win back in Miami, and two state Senate seats we need to defend."

In an email to party members Thursday, Diaz outlined Republicans' 2016 wins.

"Presidential years are always tougher for Republicans, but together we proved we could survive and do better than everyone expected," he wrote, adding that the local GOP's annual Lincoln Day fundraisers brought in about $200,000 each over the past two years.

Diaz, who has already served two terms, said a third term would be his last. He faces no opposition yet for the Dec. 22 election, but at least one early Donald Trump supporter, party member Lorenzo Palomares-Starbuck, sounds eager to recruit a Trump loyalist for the job -- or perhaps to run himself. Diaz remained neutral in the presidential primary, though he's a friend of Rubio's.

"Miami-Dade needs a new direction," Palomares-Starbuck, who is traveling out of the country, said in a text message to the Herald. "Marco Rubio lost Miami-Dade. So did Trump."

Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 300,000 in Miami-Dade, so it's unrealistic for any Republican running statewide to hold out hope for a win here.

This year, Rubio, who is from West Miami, nearly matched his level of MIami-Dade support from 2010, a year that heavily favored Republicans. He received about 45 percent support in 2010 and 43 percent support in 2016. In raw numbers, that amounted to about 200,000 more Miami-Dade votes for Rubio in 2016 than in 2010.

Photo credit: Jose A. Iglesias, el Nuevo Herald
@ByKristenMClark

Gwen Graham hasn't officially launched a campaign for Florida governor in 2018 -- but that's not stopping the Republican Governors Association from taking a pre-emptive swipe at the outgoing Democratic congresswoman from Tallahassee.

In a statement Thursday, the RGA accused Graham of not being transparent, saying her congressional office hasn't responded to a Freedom of Information Act request made by the RGA.

However, the federal FOIA applies only to the executive branch, i.e. federal agencies. Congress, like federal courts, is exempt so Graham -- or any other member of Congress -- is under no obligation to respond to FOIA requests.

Nonetheless, RGA spokesman Jon Thompson said, "when it comes to transparency, Gwen Graham says one thing, but does another."

"Graham says she believes that Florida families deserve full transparency, but as her actions have demonstrated, she only believes in full transparency until it could impact her quest for political power," Thompson said.

Graham dismissed the RGA's criticism, saying in a statement: "We are 23 months away from the governor's election in Florida, and there will be plenty of time for the RGA to engage in this petty nonsense and partisan attacks."
via @learyreports

President-elect Donald Trump has picked former U.S. Southern Command leader, Gen. John Kelly, as his choice for secretary of homeland security, a further blow to President Obamas hopes of closing down the military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

Kelly oversaw Southcom, which operates out of Doral and oversees Central and South America and the Caribbean. He defends the use of Gitmo, which Obama pledged to close down during his first run for president and has been transferring prisoners from.

We're the good guys  they're not, Kelly said earlier this year. "We can quibble over what they were doing on the battlefield when we took them, but every one of them is a bad guy."

Currently about 59 detainees remain there and Republicans, including Sen. Marco Rubio, want to prevent more transfers and a shuttering of the facility.

Obama's plan to close Gitmo is a continuation of prioritizing his own legacy over the safety of the American people, Rubio said in February, when Obama announced a proposal to close the facility.

--ALEX LEARY, Tampa Bay Times
For picture posts from 2010 and earlier, see the Earlier Picture Posts Page
Footloose Montana reminds Montanans that the wolf-trapping season begins Thursday, Dec. 15, and ends Feb. 28. Large, dangerous steel leg-hold traps are hidden across Montanas landscape, often encircling bait that lures any animal or carnivorous bird. Dog owners should be on alert and will be safest recreating with their dogs on trap-free areas such as Bass Creek, Pattee Canyon and Blue Mountain around Missoula. The Rattlesnake National Recreation Area is trap-free but does not allow dogs during the winter months. Ground-set traps are prohibited in the Lake Como Ski Area from Dec. 1 through March 31.

For details about trapping in other areas, refer to Fish, Wildlife and Parks, fwp.mt.gov/eBook/hunting/regulations/2016/wolf/index.html or pick up a copy at your local FWP office.

There is no limit to the number of wolf traps set in Montana. Traps do not have warning signs. A 150-foot setback is required for wolf traps along open roads and hiking trails on public lands. Trapping licenses are available to anyone 12 years or older for $20 for five animals per hunter/trapper. There is a 48-hour mandatory trap check. It is unlawful to disturb any trap or trapped wildlife belonging to a trapper without permission of the owner of the trap. Wolves do not defend their kills and rarely pose a threat to human safety.

If you see a trap, if your pet or livestock is missing or caught in a trap, notify Footloose Montana, info@footloosemontana.com, 406-282-1482, PO Box 8884, Missoula, MT 59807, so we can post the location on our map at footloosemontana.org for others to check before planning outings. Your name will be kept confidential.
The land, water and wildlife that make Montana the Last Best Place did not happen by mistake.

In its darkest days of exploitation, game herds dwindled and pollution threatened the states great rivers and streams. Recognizing that without action the best of the state might be lost forever, conservation giants set the groundwork of restoration and preservation.

But the work of conservationists did not end with the likes of Theodore Roosevelt or Bob Marshall. It was also not limited to the preservation of land but stretches into teaching, law, tribal rights and leaders of conservation organizations.

In the second of this two-part series on the 2016 Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame inductees, meet Jim Posewitz, Bob Ream, Bud Lilly, Jim Goetz, Tony Schoonen and Thomas Bearhead Swaney.

Jim Posewitz

Noted author and conservation historian Jim Posewitz knows that a conservation ethic comes from both the personal and the collective.

America spurned the aristocratic privatizing of wildlife in favor management by the states in trust for all citizens. That catalyzed conservation by individuals inspired to restore wildlife and preserve important habitat.

In England you had to be a poacher but in America any citizen could hunt, Posewitz said. We need to appreciate that thats part of who we are.

Posewitz has perhaps done more to encourage conservation ethics than anyone alive.

Following a 30-year career with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, he started Orion: The Hunters Institute and was a founding board member and executive director for the Cinnabar Foundation.

Posewitz authored several books on hunter ethics and history, including the seminal work and staple of hunter education Beyond Fair Chase: The Ethic and Tradition of Hunting.

In 2015 Posewitz was honored as the National Wildlife Federations Conservationist of the Year.

Most history you study is the history of how people exploit a place, he said. And yet you talk to a Montana person at random, and chances are good that what they want to talk about is not what we exploited but what we nurtured and conserved and preserved.

Bob Ream

Bob Reams impacts on conservation stretch from the world of academia to the chambers of the state Capitol to the commission overseeing fish and wildlife in Montana.

As a notable wildlife biology professor at the University of Montana, he initiated the Wolf Ecology Project in 1973 laying the groundwork for wolf recovery in the Rocky Mountains. In 1975 he founded the Wilderness and Civilization program, offering students an interdisciplinary approach studying Montanas wildlands.

Ream counts the program as a hallmark of his academic career, particularly as he reflects during his battle with pancreatic cancer.

From 1983 to 1997 Ream served in the Montana House of Representatives. There he became the chief sponsor of Montanas Stream Access Law, Montana Superfund law and restitution payments for illegally taken wildlife.

Bud Lilly

Bud Lilly, 91, of Three Forks, has been called the trouts best friend  for a host of very good reasons.

A longtime fly-shop owner, outfitter and guide, Lilly grew up fishing Montanas waters. He's also been the director, founding or charter member of a host of organizations dedicated to conservation and the preservation of wild trout fisheries: Montana Trout Unlimited, Montana River Action, Federation of Fly Fishers, Montana Land Reliance, the International Flyfishing Center, the Montana Trout Foundation, and more.

Currently, the World War II Navy veteran is the director of the Warriors and Quiet Waters Foundation, a project that brings disabled veterans to Montana and introduces them to fly-fishing.

Jim Goetz

Jim Goetz, a Bozeman attorney born in Miles City and educated at Montana State and Yale, has been at the forefront of many constitutional battles in Montana. He brought a case in 1984 that resulted in the Montana Supreme Court clearly defining public access to Montanas waterways. The courts ruling stated that the public has the right to use Montanas rivers and streams that are capable of recreational use up to the ordinary high water mark.

The following year, that principle was codified in law by House Bill 265, the Stream Access Law.

Goetz also drafted the Montana Conservation Easement law, for a group of Blackfoot Valley ranchers, and later represented A.B. "Bud" Guthrie Jr.  author of "The Big Sky"  in contesting a Teton County subdivision. He represented the Libby Rod and Gun Club in a case that saw the U.S. 9th Circuit Court block the construction of a "re-regulation" dam, below the main Libby Dam, which would have flooded another seven miles of the Kootenai River.

Goetz also represented Sister Mary Jo McDonald, Fritz Daily and Ron Davis in their successful lawsuit to get upper Silver Bow Creek recognized as a state waterway by that name. He is currently representing the Montana Standard and the Silver Bow Creek Coalition  McDonald, Daily and Davis  in an effort to open Butte Superfund negotiations to the public.

Tony Schoonen

Tony Schoonen, a Butte fisherman and public access advocate, is widely credited with successfully pushing the concept of stream access, culminating in the Supreme Court ruling and the 1985 law.

Schoonen was a resident of the Montana State Orphanage in Twin Bridges nearly from birth to about age 14. Often, local ranch folk would take in kids from the orphanage, and he says it was his good luck to live on the Seidensticker Ranch, where the family raised him as their own.

When he was done with chores, he roamed the Big Hole ranch with the single-shot shotgun and springer spaniel given to him by the family.

Schoonen, long a leader in both Trout Unlimited and Buttes Skyline Sportsmens Club, told the Montana Standard recently, Growing up, I could hunt, fish, ride a horse, do anything almost anywhere in Montana. It's gotten so much more restrictive.

"I wanted to see my grandkids do a lot of the things I grew up doing."

In the early 1960s, he lobbied to get a law passed requiring highway construction to follow strict guidelines to protect streams  and later, another more sweeping law that ensured stream beds would be protected from construction activities.

But his biggest fight was the battle for stream access.

Thomas Bearhead Swaney, 1931-2009

Bearhead Swaney lived most of his life with the Mission Mountains commanding the skyline above his St. Ignatius home.

As a tribal leader and well-known orator, Swaney advocated for tribal sovereignty and conservation that led to landmark environmental protections on the Flathead Indian Reservation.

Swaney returned from the Korean War to become an influential tribal leader during the 1970s and 1980s. He served as a member of regional and national American Indian councils, earning respect for his work on wildlife, wilderness, water and air.

As a young man Swaney helped establish tribal conservation areas including one for grizzly bears in the Mission Mountains. The efforts earned him the American Motors Conservationist of the Year Award in the late 1970s.

On the Flathead Reservation he pushed for primitive area status for 35,000 acres of the South Fork and wilderness designation for nearly 100,000 acres in the Mission Mountains  the nations first tribally designated wilderness area.

When Bureau of Indian Affairs proposed to log old-growth ponderosa pine from the banks of the 72-mile-long lower Flathead River, he and his cousin Joe McDonald organized a float trip with world-renowned wildlife biologists Frank and John Craighead, BIA foresters and his tribal council. The BIA soon withdrew its proposal.

Bearhead similarly stopped lower Flathead River hydroelectric dams proposed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from being built.

***

Information from Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame biographies.
SWAN LAKE  A never-before-tried idea to let a county conservation district manage 60,000 acres of federal forest got a vigorous review on Wednesday evening.

About 75 people came to hear Lake County Conservation District Chairman Jim Simpson pitch the Swan Forest Initiative: a proposal giving local control over logging and hazardous fuels on a portion of the Flathead National Forest. While the plan has been under study for more than six years, Simpson said it still had a long way to go.

"We are not talking about privatizing lands," Simpson said early in the two-hour presentation. "We're only talking about changing out the manager and changing out the laws of managing that land. All existing legal uses can still occur."

What would also occur would be a stepped-up level of timber harvest. Simpson cited an economic analysis of the Flathead Forest lands in Lake County that aren't designated wilderness or otherwise off-limits to logging, which estimated revenues between $500,000 and $1.6 million a year depending on saw-log prices.

The adjacent 56,000-acre Swan State Forest currently earns about $600,000 annually from logging, which goes to various state programs through the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. Simpson said the conservation district would contract with DNRC for similar management of the federal land, with the profits going to local conservation work.

"It's national forest," Salmon Prairie resident Neil Meyer said. "It belongs to everybody. How do we take a piece of that and give it to Lake County?"

Those details remain unresolved, Simpson said. While the conservation district board has kept Forest Service, state and county officials informed of the project, no other agency has given an OK or even participated in the debate yet. On the other hand, Simpson said, no one has told him to stop.

Meanwhile, lack of Forest Service management has led to dangerous levels of dead wood in the forest that puts residents at risk for wildfire, Simpson said. However, he could not cite specific levels of fuels buildup or end-goals of what the landscape would look like after treatment.

Asked if the concept was related to proposals by the American Lands Council to privatize federal lands, Simpson strongly countered.

"If ALC tries to co-opt this concept, we're out of here," Simpson said. "Our conservation district does not support privatizing federal lands."

Nevertheless, many in the room remained skeptical that a small division of local government could manage something as complex as a federal forest, with its multiple duties to wildlife habitat, recreation, boundary management, firefighting, and commercial use. Others asked how the national public would benefit from Lake County residents taking all the local profits from the cut trees.

One particular division in the room straddled the question of what laws would govern management of the conservation forest. Simpson said a major plank of the idea was that Montana state law and courts would be the venue for overseeing timber sales and disputes. That meant federal laws like the Equal Access to Justice Act would not be available to pay the expenses of litigants in federal courts.

Keith Hammer of the environmental group Swan View Coalition pointed out those laws were in place to ensure the national public maintained its right to participate in decisions on federal land.

Simpson replied that laws protecting the land, such as the Endangered Species Act or Clean Water Act, could not be lifted by local control. He also pledged that Montana state laws requiring user permits on state land couldn't be part of the deal either, because that would impose state limits on people's right to access their federal lands.

The proposal would probably have to win congressional approval, Simpson said, which would also give the national audience a vote through their elected representatives.

Trout Unlimited senior policy director Corey Fisher doubted that would work.

"Cutting out the Forest Service and transferring management authority to DNRC would effectively silence every American who doesn't happen to be a constituent of Lake County or the State of Montana," Fisher wrote in a statement. "Enough time and money has been spent on this dead-end proposal. It's time to let it die and concentrate on our current responsibilities."

Simpson acknowledge the study and analyses have been paid for through a $25,000 grant from the state Legislature.

"We know from the emails we've received at the office that there are very strong opinions on this issue right now," Lake County Commissioner Bill Barron said. "Whether you agree with this or not, I think it's important to listen to it. Lake County has no opinion on this at this point."

Simpson noted that the Lake County Conservation District's seven members have split on the concept, 5-2. Once it has received all the public feedback it can get by March, it plans to decide how to go forward.

"A lot of people are saying this is crazy - it's not going to go anywhere," Simpson said. "We just want to find out from you if this goes forward or if it stops."
The status quo will not serve the University of Montana well, and the flagship must "embrace relevancy" as it moves forward, said Commissioner of Higher Education Clayton Christian.

And as UM makes decisions about its future, faculty members must be heard, Christian said.

"I think that that voice hasn't been heard enough," he said. "And that's my plan. I want to see that we engage this group more concretely."

Christian spoke and took questions Thursday at the UM Faculty Senate meeting, the first since last week's announcement that the Commissioner's Office had asked President Royce Engstrom to depart at the end of December.

Former Commissioner of Higher Education Sheila Stearns will serve as interim president, and Christian said she will be "fantastic."

"It's not all bad," Christian said of UM in general. "There's a lot of things moving in the right direction."

At the meeting, the commissioner and other campus leaders talked about the searches for provost and president, the work of setting priorities, the role of the humanities on campus, shared governance, and the 2017 legislative session.

UM has seen enrollment drop some 24 percent over six years, and it's had ensuing budget trouble. Thursday, Christian said the Montana Board of Regents is making the university priority No. 1.

"The board has certainly sent a message that there is no higher priority from their level than making certain the University of Montana is on sound footing, and we need to help with that," Christian said.

***

To lead the hire of a new president, the Commissioner's Office selected AGB Search, which has worked with the Montana University System in the past.

"I think they're an incredibly good firm," Christian said.

Ideally, he would like to be able to make an offer to a new president in April and have the person start July 1. However, Christian said he was not convinced that timeline would be possible, and that a new president may start in January 2018 instead, with a hire taking place in August rather than April.

UM was in the middle of a search for provost, second-in-command, when the Commissioner's Office announced the president would step down. The search for a provost was postponed, and faculty members Thursday wanted to know the status of that process.

Both the Associated Students of the University of Montana and the executive committee of the Faculty Senate have urged the search for a provost to continue, said Jule Banville, a faculty senator. She wanted to know if the commissioner would give weight to their voices.

In response, Christian said the decision depends partly on whether provost candidates want to remain in the running given the leadership change on campus.

"I don't want to move forward if it's not a strong pool of candidates," he said.

This school year, an interim provost is serving in the post while the search for a permanent provost takes place. Christian said one piece of the puzzle is the availability of interim provost Beverly Edmond.

***

Brady Harrison, a faculty member in literature, wanted reassurance that decisions about where resources go weren't already a done deal. He said humanities have been targeted in cuts, and he wants to know if faculty will truly be heard as UM looks at programs and spending in the future.

Christian, though, disagreed the humanities have been fingered: "It's unfortunate that your perception is that there's a target out there."

He also said setting priorities for where resources go isn't as simple as tracing enrollment dollars. It also means considering societal needs, and he doesn't want to see the humanities damaged.

"To the contrary, I think it's an integral piece of education and of our society," Christian said.

At least a couple of times, he also said he did not believe UM had been making decisions with adequate input from faculty, and he would like to see that change.

The commissioner also wasn't sure it made sense to wait on evaluating priorities. The campus must make decisions every day, he said, and as such, he prefers to see it move forward strategically and with feedback from faculty.

Roughly a year ago, President Engstrom opened his cabinet to faculty, staff and student leaders. Thursday, the ASUM president and faculty members talked about the importance of that "shared governance."

"Shared governance means that the various stakeholders are meaningfully involved in the decision-making process," said Paul Haber, president of the University Faculty Association.

Faculty are willing to make a contribution if given a seat at the table where the real decisions are being made, Haber said. He said collective leadership is especially important in times of big change.

"This issue is always important, but more so when the going gets rough," Haber said.

ASUM President Sam Forstag also wanted the different campus constituencies to keep their seats at the table and said they have a bigger voice than groups at other schools.

"The greatest gift that we've gotten over the past few years is a strong, stronger than ever, shared governance system," Forstag said.

***

Before faculty members asked questions, Christian offered a brief preview of the coming legislative session. He said higher education is faring better in the governor's proposed budget than most other state agencies.

At the same time, he said he doesn't have any illusions that the session will be easy.

"We'll do our best to hold onto what resources we can," Christian said.
HELENA  A judge on Wednesday cleared the way for Montana's medical marijuana dispensaries to reopen after a three-month hiatus by ruling that a drafting error in a voter-approved ballot initiative should not delay the measure's implementation.

District Judge James Reynolds of Helena ruled the error that pushed back the effective date of a key portion of the initiative until July 1 should not keep very ill patients from accessing the drug immediately.

"The folks that are maybe the most in need are the least able to provide, to grow their own," Reynolds said in making his ruling. "I think speed is more important than niceties."

The initiative approved by voters last month struck down a law passed by the Montana Legislature in 2011 that limited medical marijuana providers to three patients each. The three-patient limit took effect Aug. 31 after a five-year court battle, forcing the closure of medical marijuana dispensaries across the state and leaving thousands of registered users without providers.

It punished the patients and the sickest people in the state, said Bobby Long, owner of the Flower dispensary in Missoula. It helped the black market and hurts people who were trying to do the right thing.

The authors of the ballot measure, the Montana Cannabis Industry Association, had intended for the three-patient limit to be struck down immediately upon passage of the initiative.

But a last-minute flurry of activity between initiative sponsors and state officials resulted in two new sections being added to the measure, changing the numbering of the sections in the initiative, according to the group's lobbyist, Kate Cholewa. The part of the initiative that laid out the effective dates of the various sections of the measure was not updated to reflect the final changes, she said.

The advocacy group took their case to Reynolds, who had twice ruled to block the three-patient limit while the challenge to the 2011 state law was making its way through the courts. Reynolds said the effective date issue was clearly an error, that the advocacy group had meant for the measure to take effect immediately and that the group had publicly campaigned that it would upon passage.

The judge, in an aside, noted that federal and state laws regarding marijuana remain in conflict while the number of states legalizing recreational pot is growing.

"We're in a morass here," he said of the disparity between federal and state laws. "Folks are speaking with their votes."

Cholewa said it was not clear how much time providers would need to get their operations up and running. She acknowledged that shortages in marijuana supplies, a rush to physicians who refer patients, and how the state Department of Public Health and Human Services administers the changes could cause delays.

"The people who work providing marijuana in Montana were, let's face it, they were jerked around quite a bit," Cholewa said. "They are somewhat used to it and very good at coming back. "

After more than two years of operating out of a basement shop in downtown Missoula, Long moved Flower to a street-level spot on Higgins Avenue this summer, despite knowing at the time that 30 days later the three-patient limit would be enforced. Long decided to turn the dispensary business into a gallery  hosting First Friday events including portrait photos hes taken of medical marijuana patients  and using it to provide education about the issue and the people effected by the changes in the laws and rulings by the court.

After hearing the news about the judge's ruling on Wednesday, Long said he sent out a newsletter to his former clients and spent the rest of the day getting ready to file paperwork with the state that hes been holding for some former clients since shortly after their medical marijuana cards were revoked.

I was also trying to have a moment to enjoy the victory, he said. But I want to work to get access back to people as quickly as possible.

Flower will be open from noon to 5 p.m. Thursday for walk-ins, and Long said hell help people connect with clinics and talk to them about what paperwork they will need to fill out and file. Then hes looking forward to ramping up production as patients are re-certified by the state.

One dispensary, The Marijuana Company, posted on Facebook "WE ARE OPEN!!! We are accepting new patients!!!" Its owner, J.J. Thomas, said his company served about 100 patients in Butte and Helena before it shut down in August.

"It's been brutal," Thomas said. "We were forced out of business, and we were trying to hang on until we could re-open. If we had to wait until June, we probably would have had to throw in the towel."

The Marijuana Company will accept the paperwork of any patient who wants to list the dispensary as his designated provider, but it will have to offer marijuana on a first-come, first-served basis until its supplies are replenished, he said.

The state health department did not oppose the advocacy group's effort to change the effective date through the courts, attorney Nicholas Domitrovich said.

"We have the program in place. We have the staff in place," Domitrovich said before the ruling. "We are prepared to act, but we feel we don't have the proper legal cover right now."

The health department immediately saw an increase in applications after the judge's ruling. The department received 70 medical marijuana cardholder and provider applications on Wednesday, spokesman Jon Ebelt said.

Another provision of the initiative, allowing people diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder to use medical marijuana, has already gone into effect and was not affected by Wednesday's ruling.

There were 7,558 enrolled medical marijuana patients in Montana in November, and 6,557 without a designated provider, according to health department statistics. There were more than 30,000 people enrolled before state lawmakers in 2011 passed the restrictive law, citing the need to close loopholes that allowed the medical marijuana law approved by voters in 2004 to be abused.

Missoulian reporter Dillon Kato contributed to this article.
Family caregivers are an invaluable part of our state. Over 118,000 family caregivers provide about $1.4 billion in unpaid care. Their commitment allows loved ones to stay at home, with their families in their own communities as they age.

As the state director for AARP here in Montana I believe that we owe a huge debt of gratitude to this silent army of family caregivers who quietly go about taking care of their loved ones. That is why AARP is strongly supportive of the Montana Caregiver Act bill, sponsored by Rep. Geraldine Custer (R) of Forsyth.

The Montana Caregiver Act is a common-sense solution to help those caring for their loved ones so they can live independently, as well as help provide assistance and education to the over 118,000 caregivers who work tirelessly throughout the state.

This bill ensures that family caregivers have support as their loved ones go into the hospital and as they transition home. Key provisions of the bill include: 1. Designating and recording your name on the medical record of your loved ones as the primary caregiver; 2. informing you when your loved one is to be discharged to another facility or back home; and 3. giving you education and instruction on the medical tasks you will need to perform at home, like managing medication or changing bandages.

This proposal is a win-win  caregivers will be more confident and competent, and hospitals will have better medical results and face fewer financial penalties when fewer patients are readmitted with complications due to inadequate home care. As a result, many hospital associations in states across the country, including neighboring states, have supported similar measures. We hope our hospital association will join us in supporting Montanas caregivers.

Since many caregivers have the responsibility of a full-time job, along with caring for loved ones, caregiving becomes a very stressful and time-consuming responsibility. By eliminating some of the stress that comes with being a caregiver and providing assistance with hospitals and their transition back home, this bill will allow for caregivers to free up time for themselves as well as their loved ones.

This is increasingly important as many caregivers dedicate so much time to caring for their loved ones that they forget to care for themselves. They push aside much needed relaxation and me time needed to allow them to focus on their own health and well-being, both of which are essential when it comes to being a caregiver. The Montana Caregiver Act can help caregivers be better at caregiving, as well as focus on keeping themselves healthy.

If passed, Montana will become the 34th state (including Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) to enact this type of legislation. AARP Montana encourages you to reach out to your legislators and ask them to support the Montana Caregiver Act, sponsored by Representative Custer.
Trying to improve the interface between the criminal justice and mental illness treatment system has some parallels between touching two hot electrical wires while chewing on batteries. Even if youre successful, its going to be an incredibly difficult and painful process. However, this interface is critically important to public safety and civil liberties. Its a life and death issue with millions upon millions of dollars at stake in both taxpayer investment and potential legal liabilities. The only option more painful than doing something is doing nothing.

Lee Newspapers published a front-page article last week describing the lawsuit filed in District Court in Helena. In that suit seeking $1.5 million in damages, a woman who was criminally committed to Montana State Hospital alleges that she was sexually assaulted and impregnated in late 2011 by another patient at the psychiatric facility.

While I do not have any details on this womans allegations, Montana State Hospitals forensic unit was dangerously overcrowded and underfunded for years. At the same time period, the state of Montana was also sued by the ACLU for failing to properly care for the psychiatric needs of offenders at Montana State Prison who should have been in the overcapacity forensic unit of Montana State Hospital.

In the fall of 2013, NAMI Montana presented a buffet of potential options to revise the existing Montana institution infrastructure to safely and effectively care for those with mental illness who have been incarcerated. The options included building a forensic hospital in Boulder and converting the existing Montana State Hospital into a forensic facility. None of these options got any traction with the Legislature, community leaders, union representatives or anyone else involved.

Gov. Steve Bullock tackled the issue by asking the 2015 Legislature to expand Montana State Hospitals existing forensic unit. The operations of the expanded unit were funded, but the new construction was not. The legislative session ended without a workable option and it appeared the dangerous overcrowding would continue until something even more horrible happened.

Fortunately, Governor Bullocks administration figured out a way to rent a facility from Community, Counseling, and Correctional Services, Inc., a nonprofit based in Butte, and convert it into a forensic unit. It would be an understatement to call that solution controversial, but every other plan had failed. There is already a lawsuit for the new forensic facility, but we are somewhere around Plan F on this issue and no one has a workable Plan G.

Legislative leaders have threatened to unravel Bullocks solution to the overcrowded forensic unit. I understand their frustration. I also wish that state and community leaders had found a workable, consensus solution to this controversial issue. However, Ive worked on this issue for years and I think the probability of finding that solution is lower than the probability of finding Bigfoot taking selfies with tourists at Yellowstone Park.

The time and resources going into examining fixes for Montanas public institutions should be focused on the current festering problem that is threatening to become a crisis  the burgeoning population of people with Alzheimers and dementia patients. Thats the problem that we will be reading horror stories about three years from now if our leaders do not begin working on a solution today.
Yellowstone National Park annually announces the need to kill hundreds of buffalo to placate ranchers' unfounded fears and prejudices. Assisted by the media, they manipulate facts and language, attempting to persuade the public to believe their lies. For example, see the recent Associated Press article, Yellowstone Park looks at large bison cull to trim herds (Dec. 1). This damaging propaganda is loaded with false premises supporting their buffalo-killing agenda.

Premise 1: Bison herd size needs to be reduced. Why do the herds of ecologically extinct wild bison need to be reduced? Scientists acknowledge that Yellowstone can support more than 6,500 individuals, and wild, migratory buffalo also create their own habitat. Gallatin National Forest, surrounding the north and west boundaries of Yellowstone, encompasses an additional 3 million acres that could support thousands more buffalo, while the whole of the Greater Yellowstone bio-community is around 20 million acres. The continent can support tens of millions of bison, yet today, a few thousand is deemed too many. Compared to what? The 23 who saved themselves from extinction in Yellowstones remote Pelican Valley? The politics of competition is using declining baselines to define populations; instead we should compare them to those before European invasion and exploitation.

Premise 2: Bison are spilling into neighboring Montana. When did seasonal migration become an accident? Do elk and deer spill over park boundaries? This is just more livestock rhetoric. Wild buffalo arent park animals that should stay put within artificial, ecologically meaningless boundaries for the benefit and enjoyment of the people. Migration is not some error that humans should correct.

Premise 3: 5,500 bison is a high number. Declining baselines again (see Premise 1). Interestingly, Yellowstone now claims they underestimated the population last year. How did these professionals miss counting over 1,000 of Americas largest land mammals? Whos to say they arent overestimating now to serve livestock agendas? Yellowstones Central Herd, which migrates north and west, is doubly impacted by management actions; they havent recovered from the 2008 slaughter. In spring, our field patrols typically see 400-600 buffalo in the Hebgen Basin, but last spring we saw fewer than 250 total. Recons into the park, to places suggested by Yellowstones bison biologist, also failed to reveal where these buffalo were. In what corner of Yellowstone were a thousand buffalo hiding? How convenient that this mistake is revealed when its time for them to kill again.

Premise 4: Bison pose a brucellosis threat to cattle. What threat? There has never been a single documented case of wild bison transmitting brucellosis back to cattle, even where they co-exist, even decades prior to the Interagency Bison Management Plan. Cattle brought brucellosis here when they were imported. Brucellosis entered the bison population by human error. Meanwhile elk, who have been implicated dozens of times (and as recently as last week) in transmitting brucellosis to cattle are free to spill into neighboring Montana without consequence.

Premise 5: Yellowstones neighboring communities are concerned about property damage and threats to human safety. Who? Not communities who actually live with wild buffalo. In the Hebgen Basin, where year-round habitat for wild bison finally exists, residents are celebrating. These communities are teeming with Buffalo Safe Zone signs and the residents fiercely defend their shaggy neighbors. For many years Horse Butte residents have demonstrated a living classroom of co-existence with wild buffalo. Gardiner residents are waiting for the same chance. As to safety, an average of two Yellowstone tourists per summer are charged by bull bison during the rut. Compared to the hundreds of buffalo who are killed by humans each year, whos dangerous?

Montanans are tired of the political games being played with the countrys treasured buffalo. We are through being bullied by cattle ranchers and lied to by the governments who serve them. Current management schemes threaten the evolutionary potential of wild bison, violate treaties with and autonomy of indigenous sovereign nations, and undermine the will of Montanas citizen majority. Contact your legislators and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock and urge them to defend Americas national mammal. Urge them to repeal or amend MCA 81-2-120 to remove Department of Livestock authority over wild bison, and to support a new plan that respects wild buffalo like wild elk in Montana.
KALISPELL (AP)  A 22-year-old Evergreen woman has been sentenced to five years in the custody of the Department of Corrections for her role in the death of her 2-year-old son.

Takara Juntunen was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty to felony mitigated negligent homicide for the February 2015 death of Forrest Groshelle.

The Daily Inter Lake reports (bit.ly/2h1mEYT) Juntunen thanked District Judge Heidi Ulbricht for recommending drug treatment as part of her sentence.

Juntunen had previously admitted that she was negligent in leaving her son in the care of her boyfriend and that she did not seek medical care for the boy, who suffered a blow to the abdomen and died due to poisoning from a lacerated small intestine.

Brandon Newberry is serving a 40-year prison sentence for mitigated deliberate homicide.

___

Information from: Daily Inter Lake, http://www.dailyinterlake.com
Students in preschool through grade 12 are invited to enter the annual Martin Luther King Jr. essay and art contest by responding to a quote attributed to King. That quote: "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends."

The writing portion may be an essay, poem or letter of no more than 250 words. Handwritten or typed work will be accepted. The artwork must be an original drawing, painting, print, collage or other 2-D media on 8 1/2-by-11 inch paper.

On the back of each entry include the students full name, grade, school, home address and telephone number. Entries must be received at the Missoulian by Thursday, Dec. 22.

Winners will receive cash prizes, be featured in the Missoulian and recognized at the annual MLK community celebration Monday, Jan. 16.

Send entries to MLK Contest, Missoulian, P.O. Box 8029, Missoula, MT 59807.

The contest is sponsored by the Missoulian, MLK Jr. Day Planning Committee and NCBI Missoula. Contact Kim Spurzem at 406-541-6891 or kim@empowermt.org with questions.

Missoulian Staff
Pascal Lamy, former director-general of the World Trade Organization. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The European Union will likely grant China recognition as a market economy soon, former World Trade Organization head Pascal Lamy said.

He made the prediction as the 15th anniversary of China's accession to the WTO approaches on Sunday.

Lamy, who was the WTO director-general from 2005 to 2013, said in Beijing that while the EU is likely to recognize China's market economy status, it will also probably change its anti-dumping regulations in a non-discriminatory way.

As a condition for being admitted to the WTO, China agreed in 2001 that other members could treat it as a "non-market economy" for 15 years ending on Dec 11, 2016. This status has made it relatively easy for aggrieved parties to prosecute anti-dumping claims against China.

Lamy said that changing anti-dumping regulations has long been a subject of debate in the EU, and changes that are made are likely to affect not only China but all other countries that trade with the EU.

"I think the EU will recognize (China's market economy status), but in some way anti-dumping measures will be reformulated."

Lamy, who is now honorary president of the Paris-based think tank Notre Europe, played a key role in negotiating China's admission to the WTO.

Reviewing the past 15 years, he said China has fulfilled the commitments it made. As globalization has proceeded it has also increased the value it adds to the goods it produces, and that has been important in the country's economic growth, he said.

The country has pledged to open up more and wants to proceed with more economic reform, and that is a good signal, Lamy said.

He said he hopes more action will be taken soon, particularly regarding the services sector.

"Better service will come from more competition in the services industry. And, more competition in the services industry will come with more services being imported or foreign service providers establishing themselves within the Chinese system."

The opening up of trade is still the main trend in the world, he said, even if there is opposition in the EU to Chinese steel imports, and there is an anti-free trade backlash in the United States. Protectionism cannot guarantee people's livelihoods and social well-being but is in fact destructive and will not make a return, he said.

"Trade remains open. If you look at trade today, it is more open than yesterday, when it was more open than the day before, so the direction is right," he said.

Reducing obstacles to trade, whether multilaterally, bilaterally or regionally, should be the common goal for all organizations, he said.
DILLON  University of Montana Western Professor of Biology Jack Kirkley may have stumbled upon the first nesting colony of a rare species of grackle in Dillon.

Grackles are medium-sized, all-black birds found throughout Central, South and North America.

Officially, there are three species of grackles in North America: the great-tailed grackle, common grackle and boat-tailed grackle. Traditionally, only the common grackle is typically found in Montana. However, the significant range expansion of the previously subtropical great-tailed grackles into the western half of the United States during the past 100 years has resulted in their major overlap with the range of the common grackle. Those two grackle species were never known to interbreed  until now.

Kirkley, an ornithologist by training, noticed odd behaviors in one local male great-tailed grackle that he discovered for the first time in March 2013. In 2014, that male grackle nested just a couple of blocks west of Montana Westerns campus, becoming the first documented nesting attempt for this species of grackle in the state of Montana.

But in 2015, Kirkley suspected this male, defending a nest in the exact same location in the nest tree, had instead fathered offspring with a female common grackle, because Kirkley saw both of these parents feeding a pair of recently fledged young in the treetop near their nest. DNA analysis of a feather from one of those fledglings confirmed that it was the hybrid offspring of those two different species of parents, a first-ever record of hybridization between these two species of grackles.

Additionally that year, the male became the primary or sole caregiver to that pair of hybrid offspring, a parental behavior which, according to the literature, is highly unusual for male great-tailed grackles. Males of this species almost never help the females raise their young. Kirkley explained. By late July, however, this male was the only adult feeding those two, nearly full-grown, fledglings.

Kirkley diligently watched the movements of the male great-tailed grackle, which he named 'McGrackle,' near the local McDonalds parking lot, while also collecting the males molted feathers for future DNA analysis.

Kirkley and his research collaborators are still trying to determine if the male is a pure great-tailed grackle or some kind of hybrid.

The McDonalds great-tailed grackle, that Ive nicknamed McGrackle, was behaving in ways I have never seen before and hes been breaking a lot of the rules for his species, Kirkley said. I am excited to have his DNA examined more thoroughly to figure out exactly what he is, a pure great-tailed grackle or some hybrid mix.

In addition to collaborating with a grackle genetics expert in Kansas, Kirkley also turned to his Montana Western colleague and fellow biology professor Mike Morrow to assist with the DNA analysis of the grackle. Morrows Advanced Molecular Biology class took on the task of helping Kirkley with his grackle identity puzzle.

It was a great, collaborative opportunity for my students to obtain some hands-on experience attempting to solve the grackle mystery, Morrow said. Montana Western students have an advantage with the block system in that they can focus on one class at a time, which lends itself to tackling special projects like the grackle case.

Morrows class took three of the molted McGrackle feathers that Kirkley had collected and attempted to extract a key segment of DNA from them.

Nuclear DNA found in an animals chromosomes comes equally from its mother and its father, Morrow explained. By looking at those chromosomes we can determine the species identity of both parents of an offspring. That is what we attempted to do with the McGrackle samples.

They then used a technique called polymerase chain reaction (or PCR) to amplify two genes from McGrackles chromosomes. This technique produces billions of copies of the gene of interest, which can be analyzed for the DNAs code sequence.

By amplifying the genes from McGrackles chromosomal DNA and then sequencing them, we should be able to determine if McGrackle has any DNA from a common grackle, Morrow said. If it only has great-tailed grackle chromosomal DNA, then both of McGrackles parents were Great-tailed grackles. If any common grackle sequences are found, then one of McGrackles parents must have been a common grackle.

The jury is still out on this particular mystery, as the DNA sample from shed feathers was not as rich as that which may be obtained from a half-grown feather that still contains blood or an actual blood sample, Kirkley explained.

In pursuit of those DNA-rich tissues, Kirkley will continue his early morning stake-outs in the vicinity of McDonalds, attempting to capture and band the mysterious McGrackle in hopes of obtaining a better tissue sample for further DNA analysis.

Stay tuned, as the McGrackle story isnt over yet, Kirkley said. The mystery grackle is still here in Dillon, and it looks as though he is going to spend his second consecutive winter in Montana, just as he managed to do last winter. How a subtropical bird manages to survive a Montana winter is sure a mystery to me. Hes one strange bird!
Federal District Judge Sam Haddon Wednesday denied The Montana Standards move to open up confidential talks on the largest Superfund site in the U.S.

Haddon ruled that The Standard did not offer a single justifiable reason for the fact that it waited 13 years to intervene. The Standard initiated the lawsuit in September to bring sunshine to discussions launched in 2003. Those discussions will determine the future of cleanup on the Butte Hill.

The responsible party, Atlantic Richfield Company, and the Environmental Protection Agency signed a 2003 court order, allowing the Butte Hill negotiations to be private. All other entities, including the state and county, involved in the talks agree to that confidentiality.

If The Standard had prevailed, the suit could have impacted Anacondas Superfund discussions as well as others still pending.

The Standards lawyer, Jim Goetz, argued before Haddon on Nov. 30 that the privately held meetings violate Montana open meetings and public records laws. Goetz also said The Standard did not try to intervene in 2003 because, initially, it and Butte trusted the federal government.

But that trust has eroded, Goetz said in his argument to the Court Nov. 30.

Haddon concluded that nothing before the Court supports the conclusion that the United States has betrayed the publics interest in environmental remediation.

Haddon said The Standard offered no proof that there are doubts in the minds of Butte residents that EPA is failing to protect Butte citizens. Haddon called The Standards argument for the need to intervene in the talks nebulous.

Haddon also stated in Wednesdays ruling that Superfund law allows for the public to have a comment period. During that comment period, The Standard will have ample opportunity to be publicly heard, Haddon stated in his ruling.

He also said that litigation at this stage of the legal talks would without doubt delay resolution for years.

Montana Standard editor David McCumber said he was very disappointed in Haddons decision.

Its an important issue and needed argument, McCumber said. I think the losers today are the people of Butte.

McCumber said he's not sure what The Standard's next step will be.

A spokesperson for ARCO said the company agrees with the ruling but has no further comment.

A spokesperson for EPA said he would defer to the Department of Justice for comment. Calls to the Great Falls-based Department of Justice office were not returned.
Anaconda-Deer Lodge County and the Montana State University Extension Nutrition Education Program offers a series of free classes helping people to buy, eat and live better on a budget.

The next series runs Jan. 4-Feb. 22. Classes are held Wednesdays from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Anaconda-Deer Lodge Public Health Department, 115 W. Commercial Ave.

The SNAP-Ed Program  Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program  Education  provides the free classes designed for families and people living on a limited income, including those eligible for SNAP, WIC (Women, Infants, and Children), and Head Start. You do not need receive SNAP benefits to attend the class.

Organizers teach basic nutrition, meal planning and saving money; tricks to increasing daily fruit-and-vegetable intake; whole grains and various protein foods; food safety; and family physical activity tips.

Class space is limited. Register at www.buyeatlivebetter.org. Or contact SNAP-Ed program manager Molly Viall at 406-723-0217 and molly.viall@montana.edu. For more information, see the Buy Eat Live Better Facebook and Pinterest pages.
The number of geese that died after landing in the Berkeley Pit last week could exceed 3,000, proof that not enough has been done to prevent such tragedies, Butte-Silver Bow Chief Executive Matt Vincent said Wednesday night.

He said steps taken after more than 300 geese died after landing in the giant pit of toxic mine water in 1995 were, in retrospect, obviously not enough.

Its a tragedy plain and simple, Vincent said. Every party that is still involved today was given a wake-up call.

Vincent made the strong comments and criticisms during opening minutes of the Council of Commissioners meeting, one of the last he will lead as chief executive. Commissioner Dave Palmer defeated Vincent in the November election and will take over in January.

Vincent said regulators from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service met with officials from Montana Resources (MR) and British Petroleum (BP) earlier Wednesday.

MR mines the area now and BP  through the old Atlantic Richfield Co. subsidiary  mined the area when water pumps were turned off in the 1980s, flooding the pit with water polluted by decades of copper mining.

MR and BP have not announced a final death toll of birds, Vincent noted, in part because they cannot get onto the pit water safely to do an up-close count. They are instead relying on images, some from drones, to determine how many geese have washed up on the sides of the pit.

But Vincent said they expect the number to exceed 3,000 in the coming days. That would be nearly 10 times the number that died during a landing in 1995.

Vincent said hazing and other steps taken to prevent future landings were followed religiously by MR.

Unfortunately we know that wasnt good enough, Vincent said.

Instead of staying on top of the issue and striving for new technologies to prevent another mass bird landing, Vincent said, Everyone went back to sleep after that wake-up call.

Unlike other parts of Butte under Superfund pollution management, the county has not had direct involvement with the Berkeley Pit, he said. Regardless, not nearly enough has been done, he said.

The only thing that has really happened is the surface area of the pit is continuing to get larger and larger, providing a larger target for those birds to hit, he said.

The rising pit water was approaching a critical stage, he said, and time is no longer a luxury on our side.

Vincent said he visited separately with officials from the EPA and BP ARCO on Wednesday.

What I can say is they were conciliatory, he said. They agreed, in light of this, that we have to do more.

Vincent said MR officials and employees were devastated.

You can see it in the faces of the individuals, he said. They did everything they could. There were tears shed down their faces. This is not anything that is being taken lightly.

He said federal regulators and BP need to get more information out to the public as soon as possible, and should establish a web site and social media site to update the number of dead birds and actions being taken.

We need to make this a wake-up call where we dont go back to sleep, he said.
In 1978 Max Baucus was elected to the U.S. Senate starting a record 35 years of representing Montana. In 1978, Pat Williams was elected to the first of a record nine consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Also in 1978, something happened in New York City that foreshadowed a political event in Montana 38 years later. In 1978 the ABC television network cancelled the prime time show The Six Million Dollar Man.

The Six Million Dollar Man was a successful science fiction television series starring Lee Majors who portrayed a former astronaut who had acquired superhuman strength from bionic implants and then became a U.S. government secret agent.

This year in Montana the Six Million Dollar Man event occurred when GOP gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte put an unprecedented amount of his personal fortune, nearly $6 million, into his campaign. But, Montana rejected its political Six Million Dollar Man while his show was still in tryouts -- it never made prime time in the Treasure State.

Gianforte spent $5.8 million of his own money to persuade Montanans that he was just another regular Montanan. You may have noticed the effort after being assaulted by what the Center for Public Integrity has documented as a nationally high 38,193 Gianforte broadcast television ads, which does not include ads on cable TV, radio or the internet.

In spite of the spending, Governor Bullock won with 255,933 votes (50.2%) while Gianforte got 236,115 (46.4%). Gianforte spent $24.56 of his personal money on each and every person who voted for him -- almost $25 for each vote. In saying no to the Six Million Dollar Man, Montana once again said it is not for sale.

Montana didnt just reject Gianfortes expensive bid, they voted FOR Governor Bullock based upon his prudent fiscal management, the strong economy he nurtured and his long-standing commitment to Montana values. Almost 26,000 more votes were cast for Governor this year than in 2012. Governor Bullock got three of every four additional votes cast. He is a majority governor winning over 50% of the vote. His 19,818 vote margin of victory exceeded the vote total for the Libertarian ticket, taking away any charge that the Libertarian vote got him elected.

And the Governor talked straight with the people of Montana. Recall that Governor Ted Schwinden was elected back in 1980 and 1984 under the banner Straight Talk  Good People. Montanans value that characteristic

But, Gianforte fell short on straight talk. As he was lavishly spending his millions, he was also spending his entire campaign trying to obscure where he stood on many issues important to voters.

When asked by workers if he would support or sign any form of so-called right-to-work which hurts workers and wages, his non-answer was its not one of my top priorities. Not straight talk.

When asked by women if he would de-fund Planned Parenthood which provides medical services to over 13,000 Montanans, his non-answer was I dont have any plans right now. No straight talk there, either.

When confronted with his previous support of a general sales tax, he pretended it was a one-time event, while it was his mantra for a number of years. And then he poured thousands into ads charging the Governor with sales tax support. Again, not straight talk.

It came out that Gianforte had put up a fence with a no-trespassing sign and filed suit against the state of Montana to deny access to the East Gallatin River through a properly granted easement. He denied it and tried to obscure it by pouring millions into persuading us that he was Montanas #1 outdoorsman. Straight talk?

Now, I personally like Greg Gianforte, but I was disappointed that he didnt stand tall in support of his personal values, even though I disagree with most of them. He has privately poured millions into causes such as allowing discrimination of Montanas LGBT citizens, denying women the ability to make their own reproductive healthcare choices, advancing anti-science causes such as the creationist dinosaur museum that turns science and history onto its head, and unconstitutionally channeling your tax dollars to religious schools. He told us to pay no attention to these private causes.

Montanans were not fooled.
Louis Broders, 1840 Iron City Avenue, expressed concern about the County's goals for repairing a blow out in the roadway of Iron City Avenue. Broders stated he had heard the hole will not be filled in before spring and he feels the repairs should be done before flooding begins. Broders stated he disagrees with the County's claim that they do not own the levee/water control device adjacent to this portion of Iron City Avenue. Sorensen stated because the levee/water control device is not in a Levee District, the County does not know what their rights are and what requirements FEMA or the DNR may have regarding the repairs. Sorensen stated the cost to repair this area could be as much as $750,000 and the Board needs options from the County Engineer before proceeding. Sauer stated County Engineer Keith White told him an evaluation of the hole indicated repairs would take 12 - 13 weeks of all available man hours for every Secondary Road employee, concluding the repair is too large to be completed in-house and would have to be bid out.
Civil #: 16-002153

Special Execution

U.S. Bank National Association

VS.

Andrew R. Rice; Spouse Of Andrew R Rice, If Any, ET AL.

As a result of the judgment rendered in the above referenced court case, an execution was issued by the court to the Sheriff of this county. The execution ordered the sale of defendant(s) Real Estate Described Below. To satisfy the judgment. The property to be sold is

Legal Description: Lot 3 in Block 60 of Butterfiled's Addition to the City of Wilton, in Muscatine County, Iowa. Street address: 110 East 6th St., Wilton, IA 52778

Property Address: 110 East 6th St., Wilton, IA 52778

The described property will be offered for sale at public auction for cash only as follows:

Sale Date: 01/17/2017

Sale Time: 9:30 am

Place of Sale: Muscatine County Jail Lobby, 400 Walnut Street, Muscatine, IA 52761

Homestead: Defendant is advised that if the described real estate includes the homestead (which must not exceed 1/2 Acre if within a city or town plat, or, if rural, must not exceed 40 Acres), defendant must file a homestead plat with the Sheriff within ten (10) days after service of this notice, or the Sheriff will have it platted and charge the costs to this case.

This sale not subject to redemption.

Property exemption: Certain money or property may be exempt. Contact your attorney promptly to review specific provisions of the law and file appropriate notice, if applicable.

Judgment Amount: $100,979.38

Costs: $7,060.25

Accruing Costs: Plus

Interest: $14,093.89

Sheriffs Fees: Pending

Date: 11/22/2016

Attorney:

Emily Bartekoske

1401 50th St., Ste. 100

West Des Moines, IA 50266

(515)223-7325

C.J. Ryan

Muscatine County Sheriff

Melissa Hurlbut

Civil Deputy
WAPELLO, Iowa  A juvenile has been charged in Wapello for allegedly damaging a residence and making multiple purchases with the victim's credit card.

The juvenile, of both Muscatine and Wapello, has been charged with third-degree criminal mischief, an aggravated misdemeanor, and 13 counts of credit card fraud, also an aggravated misdemeanor, according to a press release from the Wapello Police Department.

The juvenile allegedly damaged a front screen door and a basement window of a residence, leading to the criminal mischief charge, and also allegedly used a credit card belonging to another person throughout October and November.
MUSCATINE, Iowa  Tyler Dernath, 13, is playing a video game in class. He moves an airplane back and forth with his trackpad, catching a bouncing bat.

You cant let the bat hit the ground, he said.

Playing games in class is totally allowed and even encouraged, as long as you made them yourself. And Dernath did. He created this and other games using Scratch, an MIT website that helps kids learn how to code in with a colorful, vivid platform. And when they get stuck, their teacher, John Kvapil, is there to help.

For the first time this year, West Middle School has a coding class where students like Dernath can learn to create games, web pages, and simple animations using HTML, CSS and Javascript.

When kids learn how to code, over time they can actually learn pattern recognition and then also they see the connection with math  they see the connection with art, especially with animation, Kvapil said, adding that coding helps children work on their problem-solving skills.

And coding can open them up to new career paths in website design, game animation and more. Kvapil himself used to work in graphic design and animation and he is passionate about demystifying code for everyone.

Everybody codes, they just dont know it, he said, adding that everything from music to daily routines is a form of code.

A composer that writes a note, codes for sound, he said.

Back at the classroom, Brooke Horton, 13, works on her website. She taps on her Chromebook, looking through magenta and blue web pages she created. They are full of moving dots, smiley faces, and text.

Its fun to do because its a new thing to learn, she said.

But when she first started, Brooke found coding difficult and frustrating. It took her a few weeks, but then she warmed up to it.

It felt really good that I got it, she said.

Now, Brooke said shes considering a career in website design.

Kvapil is on a mission to bring these types of light bulb moments to elementary and high school students too. He wants the younger children to learn basic code early and the older children to expand on their knowledge, perhaps making complex animations and Android apps.
FRUITLAND, Iowa  "We serve" is their slogan and Fruitland Community Lions Club members did just that at their holiday party for senior citizens Wednesday morning.

The party included bingo, food from Mad Marv's Place, and a visit from Santa Claus with the event giving seniors a chance to come together and celebrate the holiday season. A first time event for the Fruitland Lions Club, the holiday party met the goals of the club said Judy Shoultz: serve.

"The seniors meet every week, and we've given to them for their funds, we've donated, and so we thought we'd do a party for them," she said.

Several guests attending the event said a holiday party should become a yearly staple for Fruitland seniors.

"I think it's neat," said Nellie Becker.

Sue Phillips said the event was "wonderful."

A group of seniors meets at the Fruitland Community Center every week, and Wayne Shoultz, the president of the Lions Club, said the holiday party seemed the perfect thing to do for seniors, especially because many holiday events are geared toward children.

"And often times seniors are kind of neglected through the holiday season," he said.

The Fruitland Community Lions Club has only been operating for about two years, but members have been working by building handicap-accessible ramps for seniors in the community, supporting area organizations like Riding for Success and the Muscatine Center for Social Action, and helping clean Deep Lakes Park.

"We're a new club and I think we've accomplished a lot," Judy said.

"It's just fun helping other people," Pat Hatfield added.

For more information about the Fruitland Community Lions Club, or to join, contact Wayne at wayneeshoultz@machlink.com or 563-264-2373. The club meets at 7 p.m. every third Wednesday of the month at the Fruitland Community Center, 104 Sand Run Rd.
LETTS, Iowa  Louisa-Muscatine FFA students are selling the last of the Christmas trees at the Ver-A-Fine Christmas Tree Farm.

The FFA chapter started selling the remaining trees from Dick and Vera Clevenger's farm three years ago, after they decided to retire.

Adam Crews, the FFA Advisor and an agriculture teacher at Louisa-Muscatine High School, said the Clevengers were kind to give his students the opportunity to take over selling the last of the trees on the tree farm.

"A big thank you to the Clevengers for letting the kids come out and take over the project," Crews said.

Brady Hafner, a senior at L-M, arrived at the tree farm on Wednesday afternoon after school. He has been helping with the trees since the FFA took over the tree farm.

Hafner and other students begin working at the tree farm in June or July, trimming branches to help shape the trees.

"To make them look nice, get all the old growth off, to make it look like a Christmas tree," he said.

He and other students have spent time taking care of them and learning about different varieties of trees.

"It's a great learning experience, because I really, personally, enjoyed it," Hafner said.

Lane Crumly, also a senior at L-M, said he also has appreciated the learning experience provided by working at the tree farm.

"It's a great experience for all the kids to get out here and learn what to do, how to handle a chainsaw," Crumly said.

"It's all hands-on, which is what our instructor focuses on," Hafner added.

One of the best things about watching families come to the farm to choose their tree, they said, was seeing them have to decide between everyone's favorite trees.

"That is amusing, because they go all different ways," Crumly said.

They also said they love to meet new people who visit the farm to choose their trees.

"They come from all around, tell their stories," Hafner said.

Crumly said he also enjoys seeing children visit the tree farm.

"All the little kids, and they take off running they see the trees," Hafner said.

Some of the younger children, they said, like to hug the smaller trees to let their parents know which is their favorite.

"They'll go over here to one of these tiny itty bitty ones and say 'I want this one!'" Crumly said.

Crews said he and students would like to keep the project going, maybe on land more near to the high school, but currently they will not be able to continue.

"It would be a nice project for the kids, just right now it's not feasible," he said. "Maybe down the road sometime it'd be a neat project."

The project will also be coming to a fitting conclusion, Crews said, because 25 years ago the Columbus FFA helped plant the first trees at the tree farm.

"And the L-M FFA planted the last," he said.

One of the biggest lessons he hopes the high school students have learned throughout the project is customer service skills.

"They've had to interact with customers and the public, be polite, and provide correct information about the trees," Crews said. "My main goal is get kids the experience of the customer service side."

Crews' students have also learned how to care for the trees, and about the different species.

"It's been an awesome fundraiser and just a fun project," he said.

The trees are $25 each, and customers can choose their own. The FFA students on site will then cut them down, and put the trees on the tree shaker to rid it of dead needles.

The proceeds from the fundraiser, Hafner said, will go toward a greenhouse the group recently purchased. He said they are hoping to put the greenhouse up next spring.

The tree farm will be open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 10-11, and 3:30-5 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 14, weather permitting. It is located on County Road G40 less than a mile west of Letts.
LETTS, Iowa  On Wednesday morning, before most students began their day, five English teachers and a facilitator from the Mississippi Bend AEA gathered in a sunny Louisa-Muscatine High classroom. On the wall above them, a yellow poster hung with a quote from Harry Potter: It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be.

The poster was apt background for a meeting whose goal is to help students grow up to be everything they can be. But lofty goals are not reached in one or even two meetings, so the teachers meet weekly.

Todays conversation revolves around a topic they all teachreading and writing.

Rafael Benitez, who teaches eighth grade, shares an umbrella analogy he uses in his classroom to help his students separate a texts main idea from supporting evidence.

The umbrella is the main idea and the little triangles underneath are the supporting details, he said.

Another teacher interjects an analogy she uses in her class  that of a table. The table, she says, is the main idea and the food on it is the supporting detail.

But the teachers arent just swapping tips, they work together to create common goals and track student progress across grade levels.

The group is what educators call a Professional Learning Community  and it is one of many in the district.

It is part of a new approach to supporting students, one the district began using this year, with support from the Mississippi Bend AEA. The new approach, called Multi-Tiered Systems of Support," involves tracking student progress and providing differing levels of support based on need.

Schools already do this to some extent, and the Louisa-Muscatine district is no different. For example, students who struggle with math can get extra help from a teacher after class. Whats new about this approach, said Louisa-Muscatine School District Superintendent Mike Van Sickle, is that teachers collect more data and they collaborate with one another.

The goal is to help students learn.

We want to see the students learning increase, we want to see the students move to the highest levels of learning for all students, and all means all, said Diane Campbell, building collaboration team lead at the Mississippi Bend AEA.

Its more efficient and more effective, Van Sickle said, adding that when Professional Learning Communities monitor student progress, they can determine the best way to help each students.

It might be working a little harder, but a lot smarter, Van Sickle said.

Van Sickle said the process of putting the system in place is one of continuous improvements.

Its a three year process to get it [the program] to where you can say, OK, this is what we wanted, and well sustain this and even make it better, he said.
WAPELLO, Iowa - A performance evaluation program was rescinded, but higher salaries will remain intact for the Louisa County Public Health Service (LCPHS) staff following a special meeting of the Louisa County Board of Health (BOH) on Wednesday.

The BOH voted 3-1 to maintain the raises, which have raised the concerns of the county supervisors who have indicated they feel the increases are too high.

BOH member Craig Helmick provided a report on a Nov. 29 meeting he attended that included supervisor Randy Griffin, Louisa Countys human resource consultant Paul Greufe, and Berdette Ogden, Regional Community Health Consultant for the Iowa Department of Public Health.

That committee had been formed to review and possibly forge a compromise over the salary increases the BOH approved in June for six of its nine Louisa County Public Health Service (LCPHS) employees.

After learning of the increases, the board of supervisors objected, explaining they were concerned over the potential impact on county expenses, if or when the grant funding dried up. They also suggested the higher wages had created a negative impression with other county staff.

BOH officials later said the supervisors had hinted they might refuse to amend the BOH budget to include the grant funding.

At Wednesdays BOH meeting, Helmick said Griffin had asked the BOH to rescind all the increases.

(Griffin) said he wanted to go back to the beginning, Helmick said.

He pointed out the supervisors seemed to be especially concerned over increases provided to LCPHS Administrator Patti Sallee and assistant administrator Heidi Pallister. Sallee, who has since resigned to accept a similar position in Henry County, received a salary increase of almost 23 percent, to $39.96 per hour. Pallisters increase was nearly 28 percent, which raised her hourly rate to $21.73. BOH officials however pointed out Pallister had been the LCPHS office manager, but was promoted to the newly created assistant administrators position and given more responsibilities for environmental health, grant administration and other duties.

After hearing Helmick report on Griffins call for returning to original salaries, BOH Chair Jeri Bailey objected, explaining the demands on the countys nursing staff had led to the increases.

Bailey said Sallee had applied for a wide range of grants that helped fund programs Louisa County could not provide in the past because of its small, rural characteristics and lack of hospital. If the budget amendments were not approved, those services could suffer, she said.

Bailey also said the greater duties Pallister had assumed required increased compensation.

Nursing is just different. There has to be some incentive, she said.

Supervisor Chris Ball, who is the board of supervisors representative on the BOH, acknowledged the LCPHS staff had assumed additional duties, but suggested the raises had been too much and too sudden.

He suggested averaging all six salaries using the original wages and the more recent amounts and then re-evaluating salaries when budgets for next year are created.

Bailey however said she was not in favor of changing all the salaries and then proposed a motion to leave the increases intact. BOH member Rita Adam seconded and the motion passed with Ball casting the lone dissent.

A later motion to rescind the performance evaluations passed unanimously.

In other action, the board approved setting Smiths interim salary at $65,000 and making it retroactive to when she was appointed Nov. 16.
WEST LIBERTY, Iowa - The designee to fill West Liberty's open Police Chief position is looking forward to his new job.

"It's an honor to be here," Kary Kinmouth told the West Liberty City Council Tuesday night.

Kinmouth has resigned as Police Chief in Mitchellville, Iowa, to take the West Liberty position. His first official day on the job will be Jan. 11.

"I'm excited about West Liberty," Kinmouth continued. "The officers have been very gracious and welcoming, as has everyone. I'm looking forward to jumping in Jan. 11th."

Mayor Robert Hartman, who introduced Kinmouth to the council Tuesday night, said Kinmouth is well known for his public relations work and being active in the community.

"That was one of the biggest reasons he was selected," Hartman said.

Official approval of Kinmouth's appointment will be scheduled for the council's Jan. 17 meeting. Kinmouth is the replacement for Kevin Gyrion, who resigned in 2015 to become Police Chief in Clinton.

WIND POWER UPDATE

Officials continue to explore the use of wind power to supplement West Liberty's conventional energy production. Matt Robinette from Omaha based Bluestem Energy Solutions updated the council on Bluestem's progress toward locating two wind generation units on a site around a mile north of West Liberty.

"Any development activities that take place at the site are on our dime," Robinette told the council. "It's no expense at all to the city. What we would like to do is continue to drive our price down and increase the value of the project."

Specific costs were not mentioned, but Bluestem and the city will share costs if they enter into an official agreement. Robinette said Bluestem is looking at new technological advances and renewable energy credits to help lower costs. Robinette said Bluestem wants to start on site work by the end of 2016 to qualify for a federal tax credit.

"That shows we had this project underway in 2016 and secures those credits," he said.

The council gave unanimous consent approval to move forward.

LIBRARY BOARD MAKEUP

Rules will change to allow the membership of West Liberty's library board to include a resident of rural Muscatine County. The council unanimously approved a request from Library Director Janette McMahon to allow one board seat to be occupied by a rural resident.

McMahon said a small portion of the library's funding comes from the county, and nearby rural residents have use of the library.

"We are asking that you would please look at one of the seats be filled by someone from the county," she said. "That would probably enhance our board, especially for those residents who live very, very close to our city."

The council also approved the reappointments of Jose Macias and Esther Renteria to the Library Board. The council also approved a request to place stop signs on Fourth Street at the intersection of Fourth and Spencer where the library is located, making the intersection a four way stop.

COUNCIL RESIGNATION

A council member will step down shortly into the new year. Felicie Simmons announced her last meeting will be Jan. 3, 2017, because she is relocating to another community.

Simmons will have served three years of her four year term.

"It's been a fun ride," she told the council.

IN OTHER BUSINESS

 The council approved payment of claims totaling $733,990.

 The council delayed a decision on conducting an annexation study pending where the funding would come from.

 The council voted unanimously to skip the meeting scheduled for Tuesday, July 4, 2017.
Les emplois a Rennes sont abondants et varies. Il y a quelque chose pour tout le monde. Que vous soyez a la recherche dun emploi []
Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes []
As the architecture of a revived Napa Town Center starts to come into focus, a design handbook for its future stores is starting to win the support of city land-use authorities.

The look of future shops, eateries and other businesses in the downtown First Street Napa complex will draw from a set of design standards and outer finishes prepared by its developer, Zapolski Real Estate.

A preview given last week to the city Planning Commission produced generally good reviews, as well as hope from project planners for a smooth build-out that would avoid bogging the project down in studies of individual storefronts.

Rick Tooker, Napas community development director, declared the handbook a good fit with design standards already on the citys books  and a spur to designers creativity.

Everything Ive seen here is outstanding; it takes a layer of our design guidelines and takes it to a layer that is so much better, he told representatives of Napa developer Todd Zapolski. Not only that, it provides flexibility.

In October, Zapolski Real Estate reported the signing of more than a half-dozen store leases and advanced progress on about 20 others, with the first public tenant announcements coming as soon as this winter. The first shops at the $100 million-plus redevelopment are expected to open in late spring of 2017  a year behind the original schedule  at about the same time as the adjacent Archer hotel on First Street.

First released in late September, the guidebook for First Street Napa suggests which design elements should adorn different areas of the center, which will include more than 40 shops and restaurants. The developers handbook also features a palette of recommended exterior materials  including stone, kiln-dried woods, metals and porcelain tile  and prohibits other items such as simulated wood, brick or stone finishes, as well as plastic plants and laminates.

In general, the guidelines are meant to create more window space on each storefront to create a more open feel, while adding trees and trellises to lessen heat radiation from walls during the summer, according to Yann Taylor, a principal for San Francisco-based Field Paoli Architects. The variety of outdoor treatments available to businesses is meant to create a diversity of designs similar to that found in the rest of downtown, he told planners.

We believe we can use the document to tell the tenants, Well, this is what we think is appropriate for Napa, and this is going to help you figure out how you will relate to the Napa customer. Taylor said.

Guidelines for a store vary depending on its location. Shops along inner walkways farther from the street are to have squared or arched window openings, while businesses at the corners of corridors are encouraged to use their full facade height for adornment, subject to city design review. Tenants directly behind the First Street facade of the historic Merrills drugstore  the only surviving element to be folded into the Archer hotel  must keep the outer decoration as is.

The design recipes offered for First Street Napa storefronts struck Commissioner Paul Kelley as a sharp improvement from the original Town Centers late-1980s look, which he derided for a facade where you could poke your finger into the very thin stucco finish. In a retail market where online stores continually increase market share, he added, creating the most premium atmosphere is essential to woo shoppers back.

This (concept) tries to make it more like a European street; it encourages the shopper to spend more time in this space, said Kelley. From what Ive seen so far, Im really excited by this project.

The 275,000-square-foot First Street Napa is expected to be a nearly clean sweep of the tenants that once occupied the Town Center, whose last remaining retailer, Napa Valley Jewelers, will close in January but may reopen elsewhere in the shopping center.

Zapolski, the developer, last month declared that were not doing Subways or Chinese restaurants and acknowledged the more cautious post-recession decision making by the higher-quality retail chains he hopes to recruit.
Shozaburo Nakamura, the ex-husband who killed restaurateur Eiko Nakamura in May 2014, testified in Napa County Superior Court most of the day on Tuesday and again on Wednesday morning.

Although Nakamura, 74, has admitted to killing his former wife and business partner, defense attorney Molly Hendry is arguing that he did it in the heat of the moment, while Assistant District Attorney Paul Gero is arguing that the killing was premeditated and warrants a first-degree murder verdict.

It was just after 9:30 a.m. Tuesday when the defendant took the stand, wearing glasses, a dress shirt and tie.

For the next two hours, Hendry questioned Nakamura about his childhood, his finances and his relationship with Eiko Nakamura before and after their 1994 divorce.

Nakamura, who was born in Japan, was brought to tears as he described one incident of violence by his father.

One night after the war, he said through a Japanese interpreter, stray dogs came and ate some of the familys chickens. Food was scarce, he said, and his father became upset. Nakamuras father took his anger out their security guards dog, John, whom the 4-year-old Nakamura loved dearly.

My father had the servants bring John to him  put the rope around his neck and said he was going to kill him, said Nakamura, who remembers the dogs cries. I couldnt forget this the rest of my life.

Nakamura went on to describe other violent offenses committed by his father before the mans death when Nakamura was 20. Thats when the family divided his assets  an inheritance that Nakamura would live on for most of his life, according to Hendrys questioning.

He came to San Francisco in 1971 in order to date his future wife, whom he had met during her visit to Japan the previous year, he testified. They were married two months later and lived in San Francisco for the next 16 years. During that time, Nakamura said he bought Eiko a beauty salon with money from his inheritance.

When asked about other forms of income, Nakamura said, Im an artist; however, my paintings didnt really sell. He also said that he had worked as a butler for a total of seven years.

The couple moved to Napa in 1987 and bought Fujiya restaurant with his inheritance money, he said.

Nakamura described Eiko, age 78 at the time of her death, as having an abusive personality and said that she would often pour alcohol on him, hit him or even lock him out of their house. Eiko hated his family and would insult him about his social status, calling him stuck up and proud, he said. His drinking and smoking were one of the things the couple fought about, he said, in addition to her gambling problem.

Shes crazy about gambling, Nakamura said.

When Hendry asked if Nakamura ever reported this violence to police, he said No. I did not because Im a Japanese man.

I came from a family who would be in charge of samurai so  no matter what happened  we would consider it a shame to be treated by a woman like that, Nakamura explained.

After their divorce, Nakamura said that he lived for 11 months in Lake Tahoe before settling in a condo he purchased in Hawaii. Even though the couple had divorced, Nakamura said that his former wife would call him about once a month, often asking him to help her with money issues.

Nakamura said he sent her an estimated $500,000 over the course of 13 years.

Why did you send this to her? Hendry asked, noting that Nakamura was no longer obligated to Eiko and was aware of her gambling problem.

Its because all of my friends had passed away, he said. So I only had her left.

In 2008, at Eikos request, Nakamura moved back to Napa and in with his former wife at her house on the 2900 block of Pinewood Drive, he said. It only took a few months for the two to begin fighting again, he said.

If I say white, she would say black. If I said You look nice in that dress, she would never wear it again. She was that kind of person.

Nakamura lost the rest of his inheritance in 2011 and had only his $500 monthly Social Security check to rely on.

Early in the morning of May 31, 2014, when he learned of Eikos plan to sell the house and leave him homeless, Nakamura said he felt a terrible anger. They had been cleaning all night, he said, and it was 1 or 2 a.m. when he discovered that Realtors were scheduled to come the following day.

Eiko told him she was selling the house because she was $500,000 in debt and that she was going to live in a motor-home, he testified. When he told Eiko that his Social Security check would only buy him a week in a cheap motel and that he would become homeless, he said she responded by laughing at him and told him it would last two or three days at most.

I asked her, Then what do I do, he told the court. She started to laugh and skip around me.

Eiko then grabbed a knife from the kitchen drawer, told him to get out of the house and was threatening to kill him, Nakamura said. As she started swinging the knife, Nakamura said he didnt move. He said that Eiko started throwing knives at him and pointed one at his throat.

Eventually he told her that if the knife touched her, he would kill her, he said. In response, Nakamura said Eiko laughed at him and said You have no guts, jerk.

When the knife finally touched him, he blew up, he said.

I dont really remember well, but I grabbed a rock  and hit her twice.

The next thing he said he remembered was leaning up against the wall in the hallway and seeing Eikos body in front of him, the floor covered in blood.

I touched her, he said. She was dead.

He admitted to cleaning the area with the same cleaning products the two had been using to clean the home earlier.

I did not want to see her face so I put a plastic bag over it, Nakamura said.

Then he wrapped her body in the bed cover from his room and dragged her across the smooth hardwood floor into the bathroom, he said.

I figured after doing a thing like this I could do nothing but commit suicide, he said. The propane tank with the barbecue set was empty, though, so he needed to buy more, he said.

Nakamura went to the bank, went to a Chevron station and then to Browns Valley Market. Before that day, he said, he had never tried to use an ATM before and had to get someone to help him since the bank was closed. He bought alcohol, cigarettes, and boiled shrimp.

I was going to commit suicide right away but I wanted to die with a lot of alcohol in front of me, he said.

He drank half a bottle of whiskey, threw up and fell asleep, he said. He didnt wake until he heard a knock on the door the next morning.

I was heavily drunk, he said.

Nakamura told the court that he never thought of killing Eiko.

In the afternoon, Gero painted a different picture of the night Eiko died.

You killed Eiko, correct? he started.

Yes, replied Nakamura.

Nakamura admitted to hitting Eiko on the head with a rock, but once again said that he didnt remember what happened next  that he didnt remember stabbing her in the back four times or in the neck 21 times.

Is it possible that when you lost your memory that someone snuck into the house and stabbed Eiko in the neck 21 times? Gero asked.

Im saying that I dont know, Nakamura said, his once soft voice getting louder.

Is it possible that this was an accident? That the knife fell into her neck? Gero continued.

As Gero went through the transcripts of Nakamuras interview with detectives, Nakamura said that he couldnt remember admitting to stabbing Eiko in the heart or saying that the rock was inefficient for killing her. I was totally drunk, he said.

Is this a memory youre trying to forget, Gero asked.

I do not recall (it) in the first place, Nakamura responded. When asked if the video of the interview recalled his memory of the events, he said, I saw it but you shouldnt make a big deal about what a drunkard was saying.

When presented with the rock and knives he allegedly used as the murder weapon, Nakamura said he didnt recognize either.

Are those good-quality knives, Gero asked.

I wont be able to tell unless I have it in my hand, Nakamura replied.

Well, thats not gonna happen.

At about 3:30 p.m., the court took a break.

Nakamuras took the stand again on Wednesday morning. Gero stayed focused on Nakamuras alleged memory loss, asking him if it was frustrating to be able to remember the death of John the dog so vividly but unable to remember killing Eiko.

Exactly, the defendant replied.

In his questioning, Gero suggested that it was, in fact, Shozaburo Nakamura who relied on his ex-wife for a place to live since he was on a limited income and hadnt worked in years.

She wasnt obligated to live with her ex-husband forever, correct?

Thats what she said, Nakamura replied.

Gero again asked Nakamura about his interview with detectives during which he said the words premeditated murder.

Nakamura said that he had never thought of killing Eiko in all their years of knowing one another.

When Hendry was able to question her client again, she had Nakamura clarify his memory loss. He said that he knows he killed Eiko, he just doesnt remember doing it.

Hendry and Gero are scheduled to give their closing arguments to the jury on Thursday.

Nakamura is being held without bail at the Napa County jail. If convicted, he will face 25 years to life in prison.
ST. HELENA  In a 2-1 vote, the St. Helena Planning Commission on Tuesday approved an eight-unit housing project on McCorkle Avenue that drew heavy opposition from neighbors.

Applicant Joe McGrath said the project would replace a dilapidated home at 632 McCorkle Ave. with much-needed housing, comply with city policies promoting infill housing, and clean up a property that had become a contaminated mess under the previous owner, whom neighbors described as a hoarder.

This will be a cleaner site because were doing something on it, he said. If we do nothing on it, that contamination is still there.

Commissioner Tracy Sweeney agreed, and said that while the two-story project isnt ideal, its the only design compatible with the half-acre propertys high-density zoning, which would require a variance for any fewer than eight units.

This is exactly the kind of project you need on this lot, she said.

Commissioner Mary Koberstein compared the project unfavorably with Our Town St. Helenas eight-unit Brenkle Court just down the street.

She criticized the design for lacking private outdoor spaces such as backyards, balconies and play areas, and for using carports that would cut down on natural light and air getting into the first-floor units. She compared the second-floor units to the bad room at the hotel where youre looking down onto the roof of something else.

Commissioner Grace Kistner said she shared Kobersteins concerns, but cast the deciding vote in favor of the project.

Only because I believe that we need the housing, she said. I dont particularly care for the design.

Commissioners Bobbi Monnette and Sarah Parker recused themselves from voting because they live nearby.

City Attorney Tom Brown said that under heavy pressure from the state, St. Helena adopted new policies that allow multi-family housing by right in zoning districts such as this one. As a result, the commission could only evaluate the projects design, not the various environmental concerns that neighbors raised, such as soil contamination, traffic, parking and safety.

Libby Shafer said she was worried about the safety of kids who play and ride their bikes in the middle of the dead-end street. She said shes in favor of Brenkle Court, but with this new one, its just too many cars, too many people, too many children.

Its just an accident waiting to happen, she said.

She and other neighbors said it took six months to clear the property of cars, boats and piles of junk that had accumulated under the previous owner. McGrath commissioned a soil study that confirmed the presence of petroleum hydrocarbons and lead at shallow levels. The contaminated soil will be taken away and replaced with clean dirt, he said.

However, Paul Skinner, a neighbor who holds a doctorate in soil science, claimed the contamination was much more extensive. He criticized the soil studys methodology and said there needs to be more investigation of lead and other harmful toxins deeper underground.

Vickie Bradshaw cited a letter from her husband, attorney David Bradshaw, disagreeing with city staffs determination that the project was exempt from most of the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act. The concerns about safety, traffic and contamination merit a full environmental impact report, she said.

David Bradshaw has filed a separate housing discrimination claim threatening to sue the city for allowing too much affordable housing on the east side of town and not enough on the west side.

While we all agree there is a need for multi-family housing in St. Helena, we also have to agree that we dont want to put residents in need of such housing at risk of multiple health and safety problems in order to accomplish that goal, said Vickie Bradshaw.

After the hearing, Bradshaw said she plans to appeal to the city council.
This course Read more [...]
No U.S. president has been as vocal about climate change, or as focused on mitigating it, as Barack Obama, says Eri Saikawa, an assistant professor in Emorys Department of Environmental Sciences and an expert in public policy and the science of emissions linked to global warming.



President-elect Donald Trump, however, has repeatedly called climate change a hoax.



The concern about how Trump will deal with climate change is worldwide, Saikawa says. We all share the same atmosphere and the United States is a leading emitter of greenhouse gases. The impacts of global warming will affect the entire planet.

Among Obamas initiatives is the U.S. Clean Power Plan  which established the first national carbon pollution standards for power plants. U.S. leadership was also instrumental in the historic Paris Agreement to combat climate change. The 2015 agreement, organized by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), brought more than 190 countries together to commit to a framework to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.



The Paris Agreement is an amazing achievement, and there was so much momentum and excitement surrounding it, Saikawa says.



On Nov. 7, delegates from around the world gathered in Marrakech, Morocco, to hammer out details resulting from the Paris Agreement. Saikawa headed a 10-member Emory delegation to Marrakech for the two-week event, known as the U.N. 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP 22). Emory, one of the few universities approved as an official U.N. observer by the COP, also sent a delegation to the Paris talks last year.



Emorys Marrakech delegation included six students and three staff members. They split into two teams, with half participating at COP 22 during the first week and the other half during the second.

View Full Story in eScienceCommons 
Mark Lee Team is breaking real estate records on Pensacola Beach The Mark Lee Team at Levin Rinke Realty currently holds three sales records for the highest priced properties on Pensacola Beach on the gulf front,...

Blue pumpkins signal autism visitor Autism Pensacola announces the Blue Pumpkin campaign to help the community create a positive Halloween experience for the autism community. On Halloween, some children may...

Toys for Tots drive is underway The Gulf Breeze Optimist Club and GBHS Junior Optimist Club will be conducting a citywide collection of toys for the US Marine Corps Reserve Toys...

Calendar of Meetings Thursday, October 27 SRC Commission Regular Meeting 9:00 a.m., 6495 Caroline St., Milton SRC Commission Special  Rezoning Meeting 5:00 p.m., 6495 Caroline St., Milton...
Hyper-starburst galaxy churns out stars, clues to universes evolution

A recently discovered galaxy is undergoing an extraordinary boom of stellar construction, revealed by a group of astronomers led by University of Florida graduate student Jingzhe Ma using NASAs Chandra X-Ray Observatory.

The galaxy known as SPT 034652 is 12.7 billion light years from Earth, seen at a critical stage in the evolution of galaxies about a billion years after the Big Bang.

Astronomers first discovered SPT 034652 with the National Science Foundations South Pole Telescope, then observed it with space and ground-based telescopes. Data from the NSF/ESO Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile revealed extremely bright infrared emission, suggesting that the galaxy is undergoing a tremendous burst of star birth.

However, an alternative explanation remained: Was much of the infrared emission instead caused by a rapidly growing supermassive black hole at the galaxys center? Gas falling towards the black hole would become much hotter and brighter, causing surrounding dust and gas to glow in infrared light. To explore this possibility, researchers used NASAs Chandra Xray Observatory and CSIROs Australia Telescope Compact Array, a radio telescope.

No Xrays or radio waves were detected, so astronomers were able to rule out a black hole being responsible for most of the bright infrared light.

We now know that this galaxy doesnt have a gorging black hole, but instead is shining brightly with the light from newborn stars, Ma said. This gives us information about how galaxies and the stars within them evolve during some of the earliest times in the universe.

Stars are forming at a rate of about 4,500 times the mass of the Sun every year in SPT0346-52, one of the highest rates seen in a galaxy. This is in contrast to a galaxy like the Milky Way that only forms about one solar mass of new stars per year.

Astronomers call galaxies with lots of star formation starburst galaxies, said UF astronomy professor Anthony Gonzalez, who co-authored the study. That term doesnt seem to do this galaxy justice, so we are calling it a hyper-starburst galaxy.

The high rate of star formation implies that a large reservoir of cool gas in the galaxy is being converted into stars with unusually high efficiency.

Astronomers hope that by studying more galaxies like SPT034652 they will learn more about the formation and growth of massive galaxies and the supermassive black holes at their centers.

For decades, astronomers have known that supermassive black holes and the stars in their host galaxies grow together, said co-author Joaquin Vieira of the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign. Exactly why they do this is still a mystery. SPT0346-52 is interesting because we have observed an incredible burst of stars forming, and yet found no evidence for a growing supermassive black hole. We would really like to study this galaxy in greater detail and understand what triggered the star formation and how that affects the growth of the black hole.

SPT034652 is part of a population of strong gravitationally-lensed galaxies discovered with the SPT. It appears about six times brighter than it would without gravitational lensing, which enables astronomers to see more details than would otherwise be possible.

A paper describing the results appears in a recent issue of The Astrophysical Journal and is available online. NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Chandra program for NASAs Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, controls Chandras science and flight operations.

The distorted galaxy in the simulation results from a collision between two galaxies, followed by them merging. Astronomers think such a merger could be the reason why SPT0346-52 is having such a boom of stellar construction. Once the two galaxies collide, gas near the center of the merged galaxy (shown as the bright region in the center of the simulation) is compressed, producing a burst of new stars. The composite inset shows X-ray data from Chandra (blue), short wavelength infrared data from Hubble (green), infrared light from Spitzer (red) at longer wavelengths, and infrared data from ALMA (magenta) at even longer wavelengths. (The light from SPT0346-52 is distorted and magnified by the gravity of an intervening galaxy, producing three elongated images in the ALMA data located near the center of the image. SPT0346-52 is not visible in the Hubble or Spitzer data, but the intervening galaxy causing the gravitational lensing is detected.) There is no blue at the center of the image, showing that Chandra did not detect any X-rays that could have signaled the presence of a growing black hole. Image courtesy of CXC Press Office.
Pakistan's involvement with terrorism came under a double-barrel attack from two US departments, State and Defence, reflecting Washington's continued frustration with Islamabad's destablising role. The US Defence Secretary said that Pakistan needs a "historic shift" to stop sheltering terrorists targeting India, Afghanistan and American military personnel. "I have said to their leaders for some time now that kind of terrorism poses a principal strategic danger to the Pakistani state," he told reporters travelling with him to India. "It would require a historic shift in their focus." Meanwhile in Washington, State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner opened another front saying: "We have consistently expressed our concerns to the highest level-levels of the government of Pakistan - about their continued tolerance for Afghan Taliban groups such as the Haqqani Network operating from Pakistan soil." Toner was answering a reporter's question at the department's briefing about the stinging criticism of Pakistan's terrorism policy by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the recent Heart of Asia conference in Amritsar. He said: "We continue to encourage the government of Pakistan to and Afghanistan, rather - both governments to cooperate in their counterterrorism operations and efforts because that's only going to contribute to regional stability." Terrorism did come up in talks in Wasbhington between Under Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Tariq Fatema, the special adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Toner said they discussed regional stability and counterterrorism cooperation. "I think that Pakistan's interests, and as they reflect upon them, are best served by stability and not instability in Afghanistan," Carter said in reply to a question about how Pakistan would figure in his talks with Indian officials during his visit to new Delhi on Thursday. "It's important that Pakistan not continue to offer or provide a place for those who destabilise Afghanistan, as well as those who threaten American service members in Afghanistan and other coalition service members; or who support terrorist groups, including those that target India," he said. --IANS ahm/ ( 345 Words) 2016-12-08-10:24:15 (IANS)
Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria, responding to questions at a weekly news briefing here, said the dialogue should not be "for the sake of dialogue but result-oriented and sustainable".

He said that despite a number of gestures by Pakistan, India remains "defiant and intransigent" to resumption of the dialogue.

Zakaria said Pakistan believes that the international community has a role in the resolution of the long-standing dispute.

He also welcomed US Vice President-elect Mike Pence's statement regarding mediation on Kashmir.

Bilateral relations between Islamabad and New Delhi deteriorated in July following resurgence of unrest in Jammu and Kashmir and India placed the blame for the September 18 Uri military camp attack and continuing infiltration attempts on Pakistan.

Things turned worse with the spike in ceasefire violations at the border that have claimed dozens of lives in barely two months.

--IANS ahm/dg

( 175 Words)

2016-12-08-14:16:22 (IANS)
Following a US Congressional hearing earlier this week regarding an American NGO being subjected to funding restrictions in India by the Home Ministry, a senior official said on Thursday that it was "based on limited understanding of India, its society, Constitution and laws". "Our attention has been drawn to a recent Congressional hearing in the US regarding placing of an American NGO in the Prior Reference Category by the Ministry of Home Affairs," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in his weekly media briefing here. "The hearing appears to be based on limited understanding of India, its society, Constitution and laws," he stated. Stating there was a well established legal framework for NGOs to conduct their operations in India, he said: "This is borne out by the presence of over three million NGOs in the country, one of the largest NGO networks in the world. India welcomes lawful operation of foreign NGOs in India." On Tuesday, the Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing regarding the case of the NGO Compassion International (CI), that has been operating in India since 1968, being subjected to funding restrictions The NGO's counsel reportedly told the Committee that the organisation would shut down its operations in India within three weeks if the Home Ministry did not ease its restrictions. Following this, US lawmakers asked the Indian government to ease restrictions on the Colorado-based NGO. On Thursday, Swarup said that "India's credentials as a vibrant democracy and pluralistic society with a strong civil society" were well known and needed no reiteration. "The government is fully committed to the Constitutional principles which underpin the nation of 1.25 billion people as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society with an abiding commitment to inclusion and tolerance," he stated. "Government of India looks forward to continuing to work with the US Congress and administration to foster mutual understanding and deepen India-US bilateral relations," the spokesperson added. --IANS ab/bg ( 333 Words) 2016-12-08-20:16:12 (IANS)
Sources close to the development said the FBI team wanted to interrogate Musa about his links with the Islamic State.

Earlier in the day, a city court granted the National Investigation Agency the custody of Musa, who was in judicial remand for two days.

Musa was nabbed by the CID on July 4 from aboard a train in Burdwan for having alleged links with foreign extremists including the IS. The probe was subsequently taken over by the NIA.

In August, Musa was grilled by a hi-profile intelligence team from Bangladesh's Rapid Action Battalion which is probing the terror attacks in Dhaka and Kishoreganj.

--IANS ssp/vd

( 153 Words)

2016-12-08-22:18:18 (IANS)
A more powerful engine, albeit imported, will enable the Mark-2 naval version of the indigenous light combat aircraft (LCA) meet the requirements of the Indian Navy, its developer says, even as the navy chief has said that the Mark-1 version has not delivered. "I would think that it is the Indian Navy's prerogative on their operational needs. We are trying to develop an indigenous carrier-borne aircraft from scratch and it is certainly a challenging proposition," Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) Director C.D. Balaji told IANS, responding to a recent statement by the navy chief, Admiral Sunil Lanba. Speaking about the upgraded version of the aircraft, he said: "A new programme with a higher thrust engine was sanctioned and termed LCA Navy Mk2. This programme is envisaged to minimise the constraints of Navy LCA Mk-1. As for the new power plant, Balaji said: "The GE 414 engine has adequate thrust for a heavier take-off and this would permit the mission performance to be met as indicated at the time of sanctioning the Navy LCA Navy Mk-2 (in 2009)." The GE F 404 powers the Mk-1 version. "It is expected that the first prototype would commence flight testing by end 2020. The second prototype is expected a year later. It is expected that flight-testing would take about four years," Balaji said, adding: "It is expected that Mk-2 can be available from 2024-25 onwards." As part of its development, a dedicated Shore Based Test Facility (SBTF) has been set up to replicate to a large extent a short take-off but with arrested recovery (STOBAR) carrier. India's sole aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya, has this capability, as does the first indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC), INS Vikrant, now under construction at the Cochin Shipyard. The next generation IAC, INS Vishal, is also likely to have this capability or the even more advanced EMALS (electromagnetic aircraft launch system). "The next big proving capability is for arrested recovery, for which a number of activities like handling quality evaluation, higher sink rate landing, structural testing, arrester hook integration on aircraft and the like have been carried out. The phase of actual taxi-in engagement and flight engagement is progressively planned during the course of 2017." What then went wrong with the Mk-1? Balaji said it was intended to be a technology demonstrators (TD) that provide inputs for the final development of an aircraft. "When the programme was envisaged at the time of its sanction in 2003, it was expected that the naval version could be derived from the air force version, already flying, by introduction of a stronger landing gear and arrester hook. However, as detailed design progressed, there was a need for significant changes to the structure, a much more complex landing gear to be housed in the centre fuselage, and an externally mounted arrester hook on a dedicated platform. "Further, the major constraint of design space due to the conversion of the existing LCA platform resulted in a sub-optimal design and compromises leading to the Navy Mk-1 variant being heavier than anticipated. A naval aircraft is typically 500-700 kg heavier than its air force variant due to the need of strengthened structure, heavier landing gear and arrester hook. However, the navy Mk-1, being a first-time development with associated conservatism in design and constraints of the air force configuration, led to an aircraft weight of around 900-1,000 kg heavier than the air force Mk-1. (Rohit Srivastava can be contacted at rohit.s@ians.in ) --IANS rs/vm/ky/sac ( 589 Words) 2016-12-08-13:16:12 (IANS)
New Delhi [India], Dec 8 (ANI-NewsVoir): Freshwater detective, biologist and extreme angler Jeremy Wade has spent three decades traveling the World's waterways in search of man-eaters that lurk beneath the surface of rivers and lakes in some of the most inhospitable locations in the world. Man-sized piranhas, fish that electrocute, nine-foot river sharks (yes, river sharks) ... take a deep dive with Jeremy Wade and bring out these outlandish creatures to your living room weekdays at 8 PM. The world's greatest angling explorer takes Discovery viewers where no wildlife program has gone before, revealing the creatures that lurk in the murky depths of our planet's inland waterways. RIVER MONSTERS will air Monday to Friday at 8 PM on Discovery. Get a glimpse of the top 5 catches of Jeremy here: https://youtu.be/1kzsW_z-se8 Jeremy grew up in southeast England on the banks of the Suffolk Stour, where his fascination with the underwater world and the desire to see "what's around the next bend" began. His first overseas trip was to the mountain-rivers of India in1982 and since then, he has increasingly spent his time tracking down large and little-known fish in rivers around the world - particularly in the Congo and the Amazon rainforests. Over the last thirty years, Jeremy has travelled extensively to India in search of elusive fish in Kali (Brahmaputra), Kauvery and other iconic rivers. At the Kali River, he found a little-known catfish species that can grow to a large size - the Goonch or Giant Devil Catfish. His search continued to find the rare fish, a Golden Mahseer. In the new episodes of River Monsters airing this December, the journey will continue with Jeremy visiting India in search of Goonch and Mahseer. He also tries fly fishing that takes a lot of practice to get right. Will he be able to compare it to catches of his past? Jeremy heads to Southeast Asia in search of the mythological sea serpent. But will his freshwater knowledge be enough to tackle this monster of the deep? He embarks on an epic mission to reveal the real creature behind the world's most famous river monster; the Loch Ness Monster. But what will he uncover? Further in Africa's Rift Valley, rife with killer crocs, hippos and warring gangs, he dives deep for a worthy prize: the Mputa Nile perch. In Papua New Guinea rumours of flesh-eating pacu are haunting locals. How dangerous is this fish and has it really developed a taste for parts of the male anatomy? In the Congo River lurks a super predator. Fast and ferocious, this killing machine has even snatched a local child. Can Jeremy catch this notorious fish? This December, viewers can join biology teacher and angler turned explorer Jeremy Wade, for an evening of mystery, mayhem and monster wrangling, only on Discovery. Why River Monsters? Nearly half the world's fish species live in just 0.01% of the world's water - our lakes and rivers. Yet most people know less about what lives in fresh water than they do about the oceans. Because some rivers are very hard to get to - and/or too murky to see into, using normal means - many of their inhabitants are rarely or never seen in conventional natural history programs. River Monsters takes a different approach. Biologist and fishing detective Jeremy Wade starts by examining myths and fishermen's tales, subjecting them to scientific scrutiny to separate fact from fiction. Then he homes in on his targets using a fishing line. The results are some fish of staggering dimensions and appearance, including some spectacular TV 'firsts'. Jeremy Wade Biography Biologist, Extreme Angler and Host of River Monsters The world's most fearless fisherman, Jeremy Wade, is a biologist, teacher, writer and television host who has been traveling (mostly solo) to the world's most remote rivers for 30 years. Wade has encountered some of the strangest andmost terrifying fish out there and has risked his life more than once to document the stories of hundreds of fish and the cultures where they live. Wade holds adegree in zoology from Bristol University and a postgrad teaching certificate inbiological sciences from the University of Kent. Wade grew up in southeast England on the banks of the Suffolk Stour, where his fascination with the underwater world and the desire to see "what's around the next bend" began. His first overseas trip was to the mountain-rivers of India in1982 and since then, he has increasingly spent his time tracking down large and little-known fish in rivers around the world - particularly in the Congo and the Amazon rainforests. "I don't see myself as a particularly expert angler," He says, "But I am able to getinto the kinds of places where outsiders don't normally go and seem to have enough energy after I get there to put a line in the water. Teaming up with local fishermen is vital to my success and what's great about this approach is that youget to see and explore diverse human cultures too." In between catching fish (or, on some journeys, not catching fish), Wade has also managed to catch malaria, be detained as a suspected spy, narrowly escape drowning, avoid gun-toting renegades and survive a plane crash. In 1992, he co-wrote 'Somewhere Down the Crazy River' - a book that is considered to be one of the classics of angling literature. He has also written on travel and natural history for publications including The Times, Guardian, Sunday Telegraph, The Field and BBC Wildlife. His latest book, 'River Monsters: True Stories of the Ones That Didn't Get Away', was published in April 2011. His first television series, JUNGLE HOOKS, filmed in 2002 for Discovery Europe, was one of the most-watched shows on multichannel television when it was released and has since been seen by audiences around the world. RIVER MONSTERS, his most recent and most iconic series, is the most-watched series in the history of Animal Planet and has been since its debut in April 2009. When he's not beside a remote river, Jeremy lives in the countryside of Somerset, England. (ANI-NewsVoir)
New Delhi [India], Dec 8 (ANI-NewsVoir): Scaling up pilot projects in the area of technology-enabled health care delivery requires a concerted effort that involves going beyond the quick-fixes and working towards a sustainable health solution that can help tackle the rising burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases in the country. This is the recommendation of a new report entitled, "Landscape of Technology enabled Health care in India" by The George Institute for Global Health. Researchers evaluated a large number of initiatives and several health care apps in the area of m-health that have been launched in the market. The report, which was released at a Consensus Conference on Technology Enabled Health care organized here today, argues that bringing many of these projects to scale will require a generation of robust evidence that can work in a variety of geographical contexts. "While the Digital India campaign being implemented by the Government of India offers tremendous potential for strengthening health care delivery, accessibility and affordability, more robust evidence is required of what works and what does not in different community settings," said Dr. Vivekanand Jha, Executive Director, The George Institute for Global Health India. The conference drew renowned experts from the healthcare industry and government health officials who deliberated on topics related to the potential of technology enabled healthcare in India. It was noted by experts that smartphones and tablet devices are being increasingly used to screen and monitor high-risk conditions and so presented a real opportunity to tackle the rising disease burden. Addressing the conference Chief Guest, Rajendra Pratap Gupta, Advisor to the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare said, "Technology and Healthcare are inseparable and in fact complement each other. mHealth is an integral part of the Digital India campaign launched by the Government of India and we believe that it has the potential to revolutionize healthcare delivery and access in India. We believe that the role of mHealth is in preventive, promotive and curative care, which is why we have launched apps focusing on areas like blood donation, general public health, vaccinations, hypertension management under the Digital India vision." Technology-enabled health care is rapidly being recognized as an important enabler in reducing the double burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases (NCD). Several examples of the usefulness of technology-enabled health care delivery were presented. These included a range of interventions that utilize handheld computing devices, point of care diagnostics, electronic decision algorithms, wearable and environmental sensors, wireless technology and cloud computing as transformative tools, and leveraging community healthcare workers for primary care as well as post-discharge care for patients with chronic diseases. Speaking about the importance and relevance of mHealth in India, Dr. Vivekanand Jha said, "technology-enabled health care delivery holds out a lot of promise to tackle the disease burden in India where there is huge shortage of doctors. Dr Jha said: "If we are able to provide simple technology to a village level health worker to detect and screen various diseases and link her up with the doctor at the primary health centre to manage, we would have established a grassroots level process that can yield rich dividends in the long run." The George Institute is using an evidence-based approach to implement a m-health driven community engaged project called SMART health that has important learning's for technology-enabled health care delivery. The project has shown that village-level health workers can be empowered to screen high risk NCD cases through hand-held devices and then through a referral mechanism to ensure that proper treatment and follow-up is done. Initially evaluated in the West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, the same model is now being tested in Haryana in North India. (ANI-NewsVoir)
Beijing sees ulterior motive in Tsai's plan to stop in US on way to Central America

China's Foreign Ministry said Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen's planned transit stop in the United States carries "ulterior political intentions", while an expert warned that playing the Taiwan card could be counterproductive.

Asked to comment on Beijing's call for the US to prevent Tsai from passing through the country next month en route to her planned visit to Central America, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said that "transit diplomacy" is among the "petty moves" employed by Taiwan's leader, whose "ulterior political intentions are clear for all to see".

Lu reiterated that it has been commonly recognized by the international community that Taiwan is part of China, and that the one-China principle is the key political precondition for countries to develop relations and cooperate with China.

Meanwhile, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, an old friend of China, has been asked by president-elect Donald Trump to be ambassador to China, media reported.

Earlier on Wednesday, when asked about the possible appointment of Branstad, Lu said, "We welcome him to play a greater role in advancing the development of China-US relations."

"We are willing to work with whoever receives the position and work together to enhance the Sino-US relationship in a healthy and steady way."

Tsai is scheduled to visit Guatemala on Jan 11 and 12, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Trump, who was named Time magazine's Person of the Year on Wednesday, will be inaugurated on Jan 20.

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad has been asked to be ambassador to China

An adviser to Trump's transition team said he considered it "very unlikely" there would be a meeting between Tsai and Trump if she were to go through New York, according to Reuters.

However, Li Haidong, a professor of US studies at China Foreign Affairs University, said Trump is unpredictable.

"The Obama government will continue to send the signal that Washington will not change its one-China policy," Li said. "On the contrary, Trump is highly unpredictable."

It is unlikely that Tsai will meet with senior Obama administration officials, Li said.

Trump might adopt risky policies toward Taiwan after taking office, because the political novice might not know well the significance of Taiwan in China-US relations, and his advisers might have a great impact on him, he added.

Ruan Zongze, vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies, said Tsai is using the US as a focus to make a breakthrough from what he called her bad performance in office, while Trump is testing China's bottom line on Taiwan.

"But the test is very dangerous, as China has made its stance very clear. Moreover, China's will and capability to maintain Taiwan as part of China are unprecedented," he said.

"Playing the Taiwan card is fruitless, and even counterproductive," he added.

US Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, a Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tweeted on Tuesday, "Pressing China on Taiwan won't likely bring them to (the) table on North Korea and currency," and this "risks backing them into a dark, nasty corner".

Zhang Zhihao contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at zhaohuanxin@chinadaily.com.cn
"Dilip Kumar is fine and recovering, soon he will be shifted out of the ICU," Dr Jalil Parkar told ANI.

The 93-year-old actor was rushed to the hospital by his wife Saira Banu after he complained of swelling in one of his legs.

While the legendary actor, who is days away from celebrating his 94th birthday, too took to his social media on Wednesday to inform his fans that his condition is stable, the recent remark from his doctors are sure to give respite to scores of his fans.

Born as Mohammad Yusuf Khan, Dilip Kumar, in a career spanning over six decades, gave some classics to the Indian cinema, like 'Madhumati,' 'Devdas,' ' Mughal-e-Azam,' 'Ganga Jamuna,' 'Ram Aur Shyam,' 'Karma' and more. (ANI)
PVR cinemas, the largest Indian cinema exhibition company, recently signed an agreement with CJ 4DPLEX to add ten more 4DX screens, at CineAsia 2016, retaining its position as the largest provider of 4DX in India with 11 theatres. CJ 4DPLEX is the world's first 4D cinema company, headquartered in Seoul with international offices in Los Angeles and Beijing. The company created 4DX, the first and leading 4D cinema technology for feature films, providing moviegoers with an immersive cinematic experience that utilizes all five senses, allowing the audience to connect with movies with motion, vibration, water, wind, snow, lighting, scents, and other special effects that enhance the visuals on-screen. The extended partnership between PVR and 4DX comes on the heels of a remarkable performance by the first 4DX site, which launched in New Delhi in March 2016. The new roll-out includes the installation of 4DX in PVR Cinemas' highest grossing theaters in prime PVR locations in Bangalore and Mumbai. With this technology, movie enthusiasts in metros & urban metros will be able to witness a captivating4D experience. The 4DX features include motion, wind, lightning, vibration, fog, rain, snow, rainstorm and scents that go far beyond 3D; it offers a complete visual, aural, olfactory and tactile experience to cinema viewing. Addressing the media,Ajay Bijli, Chairman & Managing Director, PVR Ltd,"4DX offers an experience that is not only impossible to replicate at home, but also enhances the overall viewing experience. With more global exposure, the expectations of audiences are increasing as they look for added experiences that supplement the on-screen viewing." "PVR, being an innovator in the cinema exhibition space in India, aims to fulfill this expectation by aligning itself with the world leaders in motion picture technology," he added. Byung- Hwan Choi, CEO of CJ 4DPLEX said, "We are very excited to accelerate expansion in the world's largest film-producing country with the largest Indian multiplex chain. From the success we've seen at the first 4DX theaterin New Delhi and the overwhelmingly positive response we've received from audiences, we look forward to offering this unusual and intense film experience to more Indian moviegoers." PVR cinemas currently have a total count of 557 screens at 121 properties in 48 cities catering to urban metros, metros, tier-I & tier-II cities. (ANI)
After shooting a video in Mumbai's Dharavi, considered Asia's largest slum, Vancouver-based world music group Delhi 2 Dublin, that comprises a mix of Canadians and Indo-Canadians, is set to put the spotlight on the "hidden world of bhangra" in their upcoming documentary. The electronic pop-bhangra fusion band launched the official music video of "We're All Desi", shot with the local cast and crew in Dharavi slum earlier this year. Now, they are working on a documentary on bhangra -- a genre of Punjabi dance and music. "At the moment, we are shooting a documentary on the 'hidden world of bhangra'. Trying to shed light on this subculture of Punjabi music in Vancouver that has such deep roots here (India), and also in the UK. We'll be travelling to Punjab later this month," Tarun Nayar, the band's DJ and tabla player, told IANS in an email interview. The band, which also consists of Sanjay Seran, Ravi Binning, James Hussain and Serena Eades, will show India in a good light. But generally, when international films -- including Oscar-winner "Slumdog Millionaire" -- choose India as a backdrop, the focus is on poverty or other social evils. How does such representation of the country affect him? Nayar says that, as the children of Indian immigrants to North America, "we take issue with the systemic misrepresentation of Indian culture in mainstream western media". "It's so annoying! We're vocal about it both in our music and in our online and real-life personas. And it's not just Indian culture that is fetishised and exotified for easy consumption of the mainstream -- it is all narratives outside the conventional white, straight-male perspective," he said. Talking about "We're All Desi", he said the video was the brainchild of videographer Kedar Sonigra. "We were on a flight together last year, jamming about how to tell a story around our song 'we're all desi'. He pitched the idea for the video, we loved it, and he worked really hard to make it happen. Playing around with classic Bollywood themes in a non-conventional representation of a 'slum' appealed to us -- it challenges our stereotypes," he said. So, any Bollywood dreams? "We are working on a small Bollywood project. Loving it," he said. Right now, they are pumped-up about their Indian tour, which will conclude on December 17 in Bengaluru. "So excited. After our trip to India last year, which included SulaFest and Jaipur Lit fest, we just couldn't wait to come back," said Nayar. And their fans in India must be overjoyed as Delhi 2 Dublin is not restricted to just one genre. "We've never been too concerned about fitting into a genre or getting radio or TV play. I guess, from the outset our music was so weird that those things weren't an option for us. "So we just make whatever music we like. Ranging from really folky to really electronic. And over the years, as we've grown, so too have our tastes and the music we represent." He says the band, which was formed 10 years ago, didn't really strategically pick any form, but agrees they have a strong bhangra influence as "2.5 of our members are Punjabi". (Natalia Ningthoujam can be contacted at natalia.n@ians.in ) --IANS nn/vm/ky/sac ( 551 Words) 2016-12-08-12:10:14 (IANS)
"The song was shot earlier this week in Hyderabad. It features both father and son and they're seen matching steps. It's going to be a treat for the fans of both the actors," a source from the film's unit told IANS.

An official remake of Tamil film "Kaththi", V.V Vinayak-directed "Khaidi No 150" features Chiranjeevi in dual roles, and in a comeback role after eight years.

Kajal Aggarwal plays the leading lady while Tarun Arora will be seen as the antagonist, reprising Neil Nitin Mukesh's role from the original.

With the principal shooting wrapped up last week, the makers are gearing up for a wide release during Sankranti festival weekend next year.

IANS hp/nv/vm

( 159 Words)

2016-12-08-12:22:12 (IANS)
The 35-year-old actress was spotted in Toronto stopping by a close friend's house, just one day after the prince flew back to London following a brief, but surely memorable getaway with his girlfriend, reports E! Online.

Markle was seen dressed in a chic, winter-appropriate ensemble that included a floor-length coat, navy blue and white plaid top, skinny jeans, oversized sunnies and a casual knit beanie. She also sported the blue beaded bracelet she and Harry have both worn in recently.

According to a source, the lovebirds "wanted to have time alone and to be together" after the conclusion of Harry's Caribbean tour and Markle's filming schedule.

"Harry has been traveling and wanted to make time to see Meghan. They wanted their time together to be private," the insider explained. (ANI)
India's biggest pet festival 'Pet Fed' is all set to make a comeback, in a grand way, with its third annual edition for two days in Delhi starting December 17. The event, which will take place at the NSIC Grounds, Okhla between 10am and 8pm, will highlight the fest's aim at making an attempt towards a 'Guinness World Record' for dogs. More than 25,000 people and 3000 pets are expected to turn up so as to break the World record for most number of dogs wearing bandanas, the current record being 764 in Australia. Pet Fed is aiming to break that by twice the margin. The festival will also have a fashion show for pets. The showstopper will be fashion icon and actor Dino Morea, who will be walking the ramp with one of the lucky visiting dogs for which Pet Fed is running a contest on their Facebook page. Morea says, "I believe it is a pet owner's sole responsibility to indulge into such fun platforms dedicated to their pets as it is nothing but a mere attempt to make them feel special in exchange of the unconditional love that they shower on us every day. I am hoping to interact with an enormous amount of people along with their beautiful pets." With 3 acres of lush green area and 10,000 square foot off-leash zones, the numbers of activities are nearly doubled with dog swings and rides, dedicated cat zone, pet bakeries and much more this year. The highlights will also include a special art gallery for dogs made scientifically in a way for the dogs to be able to recognize the patterns and a one of a kind doggy cafe in partnership with Puppychino, serving everything from doggy beer to doggy pizza and everything in between.(ANI)
The Congress party on Thursday criticized the Centre for holding the opposition responsible for the deadlock in parliament and said it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence that needed to be blamed for the prolonged impasse. Congress leader Om Prakash Mishra told ANI, "It is Prime Minister Modi who has been bunking the parliamentary session; it is his party that is refusing to discuss demonitisation under a rule in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha." "The Prime Minister is an absconder, so he is the one who is undermining parliamentary democracy, he is the one who actually has attempted to question parliament, it is he who actually has been habitual absenting from the proceedings of parliament" he said. BJP veteran Lal Krishna Advani yesterday expressed his ire over the repeated disruptions in Parliament post the government's demonetisation drive, holding both the ruling dispensation and the opposition responsible for the deadlock. Advani, who put forth his concerns before Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar, said both the government and opposition benches are party to the repeated disruptions in the parliament. He demanded that action should be initiated against those lawmakers responsible for the continued deadlock in both houses. He also demanded that there should be a cut in their salaries for their adamant attitude. The BJP veteran asked the government to find a way out or ensure that Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan asks the protesting lawmakers to leave parliament. Kumar later met Minister of State for Parliamentary Affair S.S. Ahluwalia to chalk out the future course of action in Parliament. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu was also present in the meeting. Advani's outburst came as the demonetisation issue continued to disrupt proceedings in parliament. Since the beginning of winter session of parliament, the opposition has been demanding a debate on demonetisation along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's participation in the same. (ANI)
Train service on Pattan-Baramulla track continue to remain affected for the third day following clashes between demonstrators and security forces in Pattan area in north Kashmir on December 6. However, train service on Badgam-Srinagar in central Kashmir to Banihal in Jammu region via Anantnag and Qazigund in south Kashmir was operating normally. Train service on Pattan-Baramulla track in north Kashmir remained affected and train is now running from Srinagar to Pattan only, an official of the railway told UNI this morning. However, he said, ''Train is now operating from Srinagar to Pattan only on the track for security reasons and we are running all the five trains from both sides on the track.'' Decision to extend the train run upto Baramulla will be taken only after taking into consideration all security concerns, he added. Train service on the track was suspended on December 5 after track hooks were found damaged at Palhallan Pattan, where clashes took place between security forces and demonstrators, who were protesting against night raids and arrest of some persons on December 4. Train service was resumed next day after the damaged portion of the track was restored by the railways. However, service was again suspended in the afternoon same day following massive clashes between demonstrators and security forces at Tantrapora Pattan. Security forces had to fire in air and burst teargas shells to disperse the demonstrators who had blocked the track and tried to damage it. Rail service between Baramulla in north to Badgam and Srinagar in central Kashmir and Anantnag and Qazigund in south Kashmir to Banihal in Jammu region remained suspended for more than four months due to unrest in the Kashmir valley during which rail track and other property was damaged. However, the rail run was resumed last week after conducting repair work. The railways had suffered more than Rs 4.5 crore loss during the unrest when train service remained suspended.UNI BAS SV SB 1048 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-1056105.Xml
Former bureaucrat E.A.S. Sarma has sought the de-registration of the BJP and the Congress for violation the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) by accepting donations from foreign sources. In a letter to the Election Commission, the former Secretary said if the Commission failed to initiate proceedings to deregister both the parties forthwith, he would be forced to seek judicial intervention. "Since both BJP and INC (Indian National Congress) have violated FCRA (1976) and FCRA (2010) by accepting donations from foreign sources, thereby infringing the Proviso to Section 29B of the Representation of the People Act (RPA) of 1951, they should be deemed to have violated the conditions precedent to their registration under Section 29A of RPA (1951)," he wrote. The former IAS officer, who has been fighting against the deficiencies in the Indian democratic system, referred to the judgement of the Delhi High Court of March 28, 2014. The court had asked the government and the Election Commission to act against the two political parties for accepting foreign funds. It had directed the Home Ministry and Election Commission to "relook and reappraise the receipts of the political parties and identify foreign contributions received by foreign sources" and act within six months. Sarma, who was petitioner in the case along with the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), pointed out that both the BJP and Congress filed Special Leave Petitions (SLPs) in the Supreme Court. The apex court on November 29 this year dismissed the petitions as both the parties withdrew their petitions. Sarma said the government did not comply with the High Court for for more than 26 months, thereby prima facie committing contempt of the court directive. "I have separately issued a notice to the Union Home Ministry that it should comply with the above cited court direction within 15 days failing which I will approach the Delhi High Court to intiate contempt of court proceedings," he added. --IANS ms/ahm/mr ( 330 Words) 2016-12-08-12:22:14 (IANS)
Speaking to reporters after the Cabinet meeting here lastnight, Law Minister T B Jayachandra said that the government wouldappoint any number of retired Doctors as there was huge shortage inrural areas.

On alleged irregularities committed by Nandi InfrastructureCorridor Enterprises (NICE) as reported by the House Committee, hesaid the government would look into the allegations inimplementing the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Projectafter studying recommendations by the departments, such as PublicWorks and Urban Development.

The Cabinet has approved a special voluntary retirement schemepackage of Rs 396.72 crore for 2,200 employees of Mysore PaperMills at Bhadravati in Shivamogga which was closed about eightmonths ago.

The Cabinet also decided to push ahead with its proposal toreduce the area reserved for parks and open spaces in residentiallayouts developed by urban development authorities in towns and cities.

The Karnataka Urban Development Authorities Bill, 2016, which waspassed earlier, was aimed at reducing the area to be reserved forpublic parks and playgrounds in layouts from 15 per cent to 10 percent. However, Governor Vajubhai Vala returned the Bill, saying thereduction would increase pollution and lead to congestion inlayouts. The Bill would be now sent again to the Governor, theMinister added.UNI RS MSP CS 1211

-- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0284-1056219.Xml
The Latin Catholic priest Edwin Figarez on a few occasions in 2015, starting from January till March , had exploited the minor girl, who was also a member of the same parish which the priest served as the Vicar.

In April last year, the mother of the girl complained to the police following which the priest went into hiding and was arrested later.

The Ernakulam special court on Thursday found the priest guilty and handed him a double life term and also asked to pay a fine of Rs 2.15 lakh.

The court also found his brother guilty of helping the priest to go into hiding and has been sentenced to a year's imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5,000.

--IANS sg/sm/vm

( 152 Words)

2016-12-08-13:38:17 (IANS)
Assistant Police Inspector, Rani Kale, from (ANC) said that an accused Ajitha Begam (49), a resident of Cheeta Camp in Trombay area, was caught red-handed yesterday while selling mephedrone near LP junction onSion-Panvel highway.

She had been selling drugs since last two months to make some extra money and also owned a food stall selling idlis in Trombay, police said.

She has been booked under section 8a and 22 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, police added.UNI AAA NV SB 1348

-- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-1056287.Xml
Police source said during vehicle checks, they stopped atavera car, which was travelling at a high speed.

When questioned by the police, the three people in the car gave contradictory statements.

All the three tried to escape, but police arrested two of them.

A search of the car resulted in the seizure of the two ft high statue of Goddess Amman, sitting on a lion.

Police arrested the two, who were identified as car driverSatish Kumar (23) from Pudukuppam in Almadi in Tiruvallur district and a 17-year-old minor boy, whose name was withheld.

Based on the information provided by them, police arrestedthe third person Japan alias Jebakumar (23) this morning.

All the three were being interrogated further to ascertain from where they sourced the statue.UNI GV CS 1416

-- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-1056428.Xml
Facing criticism for release of an accused of infamous toppers scam and former ruling JD (U) MLA Usha Sinha, wife of the main Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh from jail, the Bihar government today announced that it will file a petition in the Higher Court, seeking cancellation of bail granted to Ms Sinha. State Human Development Resources Minister Ashok Choudhary told media here that the state government would not spare anyone found guilty of indulging in the scam, irrespective of his or her post and position."Both Usha Sinha and Lalkeshwar Singh have played with careers of children they have defamed Bihar across the country through their misdeeds government will not spare scamsters," Mr Choudhary remarked when asked whether the state government would move higher court for cancellation of Ms Sinha's bail granted last Friday. Sinha's release is being seen as a setback for the prosecution.Ms Sinha, a former Janata Dal (United) MLA and former principal of Ganga Devi College, and her husband and former Bihar School Examination Board's (BSEB) Chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh, were arrested from Varanasi on June 20. Both Sinha and Prasad have been accused of tampering with examination copies and evaluation process.On June 21, a civil court in Patna rejected an interim bail plea of the couple.The merit list scam was exposed in May this year after BSEB Arts stream topper was unable to answer simple questions in her interview to TV channels.BSEB had also cancelled results of Arts stream topper Ruby Roy and two other toppers of the science stream-Saurabh and Shresta after they failed to prove their merits in a re-test.UNI DH RN 1420 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0311-1056448.Xml
Initiative is supported by Department of Education, Government of Kerala. India's first program where around 5,000 children will be inspired through art to imbibe the essence of healthy living. 100 Schools from Kerala to actively participate in the ABC outreach program. Teacher and parent workshops to discuss healthy living and social values. Merck, a leading science and technology company, in partnership with Kochi Biennale Foundation, today announced the launch of, "Art By Children (ABC) Outreach programme powered by Merck". Supported by the Department of General Education, Govt of Kerala; the initiative was inaugurated by Master Anujath Sindhu Vinaylal*, who had received the Rashtrapati Puraskar 2016, conferred by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, from Hon'ble President of India on Children's Day at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Talking about the initiative, Anand Nambiar, MD, Merck India said, "Art enhances creativity, which is crucial for innovation and adaptation. Our purpose in this outreach program is to spread the message of healthy living through the medium of art, while inspiring creative thinking. Children are inspired to visualise a healthy future and teachers are engaged in discussions on health living. We are confident that the talented team under the guidance of Riyas Komu and Manu Jose will give impetus to a new vision in art education in the country. Through this program we aim to bring about a new dimension in creative thinking, and in the understanding of healthy living and social values" This unique initiative is reflective of Merck's social responsibility efforts where promotion of culture falls under its strategic activities in corporate responsibility. Riyas Komu, Director of Programmes, Kochi Muziris Biennale: "For the thousands of children that visit the Biennale, it had already become a window to the world of contemporary art. Going forward, the Kochi Biennale Foundation envisions a major role to play in the changing paradigm of art education in India that will involve art educators, children, teachers, and institutions as well." Creative learning and Healthy living workshops across the state The ABC outreach powered by Merck launched in November 2016 will continue until March 2017. Innovative workshops run by visual artists and theatre experts who specialise in children's programming will engage children in an exciting new model of learning and expression. Children will be encouraged create art around the theme of healthy living. Teacher training sessions will cover topics from sensitivity, health, gender and identity, to using art and theatre as a means to instil habits for a healthy living and high social values. Merck supported parent workshops will also be conducted in interested schools where experts will address the parents on child health and development. India's first art exhibition dedicated to work by children The ABC Outreach powered by Merck initiative will also initiate India's first bi-annual art exhibition dedicated to work by kids at the Children's Pavilion at the Kochi Muziris Biennale beginning 12th December 2016 to March 2017. The Pavilion will showcase the artistic talents of the youngest members of the society at a professional global platform. Through this endeavour Merck aims to encourage a step in the right direction towards developing the cognitive skills of young students, which in turn promotes the social and emotional strengths that can lead to academic achievement, positive behaviour and healthy relationships.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Jaitley said the government is making all sort of efforts to reduce the inconvenience faced by people due to demonetisation.

"I want to specify that the Prime Minister has said that we will make efforts to minimise the difficulties faced by the people till December 30. There is an effort to reduce inconvenience," he said.

Slamming the Congress party, Jaitley asked them to mention one step taken by the grand old party to curb black money in their 10 years' rule.

"The Congress was in power from 2004-14; I challenge them to tell about even one step taken to curb black money in the 10 years," he added.

The Lok Sabha was later adjoined till 11 a.m. on Friday.

Proceedings in the Lok Sabha were disrupted for the 16th consecutive day today as Opposition continued to engage in sloganeering demanding a debate on demonetisation under a rule that entails voting. (ANI)
President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday expressed strong displeasure over the ongoing parliamentary logjam and said "disruption of Parliament is totally unacceptable". Frequent elections are a costly affair and (the practice) should be done away with, the President said while delivering the Defence Estate Day Lecture 2016 here on 'Reforms for a stronger democracy'. The President said he favoured simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. "I am convinced the country needs electoral reforms. We should (first) have a public debate and thereafter make the reforms," he said. "We are ready to pay the price for democracy but it should not be at the cost of development," he said, adding that the country should find a way out to hold simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies. The President said people send their representatives to Parliament to work for the country and not to agitate. He expressed concern that disruption of parliamentary work has become a practice. "Do your job," he told the MPs. "Dharnas can be organised elsewhere," he said asking all concerned to debate and discuss issues of public importance in the house. Mukherjee said he was not criticising any particular political party but all concerned must work together to ensure the smooth functioning of Parliament. Mukherjee shared his own experience when he urged countrymen to vote decisively as frequent elections, because of hung Parliament, were causing lots of problems to the country. "I had urged the nation to vote diligently and I was criticised in some political quarters," he said. The President urged all political parties to give adequate representation to women in their organisations. "Political parties are not doing enough to give adequate representation to women," he said, adding that this should be explored. Ending his lecture, the President said he did not use the written text but "spoke frankly". --IANS sk/tsb/dg ( 320 Words) 2016-12-08-17:04:12 (IANS)
The Maddur Police, investigating into thesuicide case of K C Ramesh, the official car driver of KAS OfficerBheema Naik, have intensified their probe by questioning themanagement of Samrudha Lodge in Maddur where he committed suicide,to surrender the footages of CCTV cameras installed at the Lodge. The Police have formed three teams to hunt for the abscondingBheema Naik and his personal car driver Mohammed. Ramesh, in his 12-page death note, had stated that Bheema Naikhad threatened to kill him (Ramesh) if he disclosed any informationabout exchange of banned Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes into new Rs 2,000currency notes post-demonetisation. Bheema Naik, who is accused of abetting the suicide of Ramesh,hails from Mariyammanahalli in Hosapet taluk in Ballari District. Hewas working as Special Land Acquisition Officer in Bengaluru whenthe currency exchange reportedly took place. Bheema Naik, who worked as a Tahsildar in Belagavi, had earlierserved as Tahsildar in Ballari from May 10, 2007 to September 25, 2008and again from April 13, 2008 to March 3, 2009 when the BJP was in powerin the State. Said to be a close aide of mining baron and formerMinister G Janardhan Reddy, Naik is said to have been staying inBengaluru since 2009. Relatives of Ramesh staged a protest in front of the mortuary atMandya District Hospital demanding immediate arrest of Bheema Naikand Mohammed. They also alleged that Police, despite the names ofBheema Naik and Mohammed being mentioned in Ramesh's death note, hadnot taken any step to arrest them.UNI BSP MSP CS 1710 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0287-1056800.Xml
Expressing strong displeasure over the continued logjam in Parliament, President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday said "disruption in Parliament is totally unacceptable". Delivering the Defence Estate Day Lecture 2016 here on 'Reforms for a stronger democracy', the President said people send their representatives to Parliament to work for the country and not to agitate. He expressed concern that disruption of parliamentary work has become a practice. "Do your job," he told the MPs. "Dharnas can be organised anywhere else," he said asking all concerned to debate and discuss issues of public importance in the House. He said he was not criticising any particular political party but all concerned must work together to ensure smooth functioning of Parliament. He said only a minority disrupts parliamentary proceedings by entering the well of the House and raising slogans, when the majority was ready for a debate. "The majority never participates in disruptions. Only the minority comes to the well, shouts slogans, stops proceeding and creates a situation," Mukherjee said. The President also favoured simultaneous polls to Lok Sabha and state assemblies, and said India needed electoral reforms. "I am convinced that the country needs electoral reforms. We should (first) have a public debate and thereafter make the reforms," he said. Appreciating the country's parliamentary democracy, Mukherjee said frequent elections are a "costly affair" and should be done away with. "We are ready to pay the price for democracy but it should not be on the cost of development," he said, adding that the country should find a way out to hold simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies. Mukherjee also shared his own experience when he had urged the countrymen to vote decisively as frequent elections, because of hung Parliament, were causing lots of problems for the country. "I had urged the nation to vote diligently and I was criticised by some political quarters," he said. President Mukherjee also spoke about low representation of women in representative bodies. "The Women's Reservation Bill is pending for a long time in Parliament and representation of women is abysmally low. It is totally unacceptable," he added. "Political parties are not doing enough to give adequate representation to women," he said, adding this idea should be explored. Ending his speech, the President said he did not use the written text but has "spoken frankly". Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Minister of State for Defence Dr Subhash Bhamre were also present. --IANS sk/tsb/bg ( 418 Words) 2016-12-08-18:54:13 (IANS)
The Supreme Court today deferred till next Thursday, a plea filed by Asha Ranjan, the wife of slain journalist Rajdeo Ranjan, seeking shifting of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) strongman Mohammad Shahabuddin from Siwan jail in Bihar to Tihar Central Jail in New Delhi for a free and fair trial in the case, relating to her husband's murder. A division bench of the Apex Court, headed by Justice Dipak Misra and also comprising Justice Amitava Roy, said ''We would hear the matter again on December 15. Ms Ranjan's plea stated that free and fair trial against Shahabuddin was not possible, if he remained lodged in Bihar jail, as witnesses would not be able to depose against him with his goons threatening them. Shahabuddin is facing trial in 45 criminal cases. Meanwhile, a separate petition was filed by Chandrakeshwar Prasad, whose three sons had been murdered at the behest of the RJD leader. Forty-two-year-old Ranjan, the bureau chief of The Hindustan, was shot dead in July this year at Phal Mandi near Siwan railway station, barely half-a-kilometre from the police station. Bihar Government had recommended a CBI probe in the case.UNI XC RJ 1926 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0329-1057192.Xml
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today criticised the Punjab Government for forcing the private school managements to shut the schools and provide buses to the organisers of Akali Dal rally at Moga on December 8. Accusing the State Government and Shiromani Akali Dal of misusing the state machinery for party rally, AAP state convener Gurpreet Singh Waraich said that SAD has stooped so low that they have started harassing the school children for their convenience. "It is on record that the District Education Officers sent order letters to the school managements to shut the schools on rally day and provide school buses to ferry the people to rally venue on the directions of concerned Deputy Commissioners," the AAP leader said. He said that it also exposed the lie of Education Minister Daljit Singh Cheema that he was not aware of the fact that any order from the Government was released to shut the schools. "As per the media reports around 19 schools were ordered to shut in Ludhiana and the same orders ware also sent in other districts of the state too," Waraich said and added "The parents still carry messages in their phones in which school management asked them to drop and pick their children on December 8 as the schools buses were to sent to the rally at Moga." He said that it is such an irony of the state that the Government itself was preventing students to study as they needed their buses for the use of a particular political party. "The Government boasts of opening new schools and improving education system in the state but the reality is that they have politicised the most sacred profession as well," he added. The AAP leader said that the HRD Ministry at the Centre must take note of issue and seek an explanation from the Punjab Government and the Education Department for forcing school to remain closed without any need. He also demanded that the Punjab and Haryana High Court must take suo moto action against the Punjab Government and State Education Department for creating hindrance in the working of schools. UNI DB SHS SNU 1933 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0292-1057109.Xml
Invited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Widodo will on his first visit to India after assuming power in October 2014.

He will be accompanied by several cabinet ministers, senior officials and a 22-member very high level business delegation.

--IANS and/vd

( 74 Words)

2016-12-08-20:52:13 (IANS)
Children of Haryana suffering from Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) will now receive free quality care and surgical services at the leading private health care facilities in the state. An agreement to this effect was signed between the Haryana government and Jaipur-based Narayana Hrudayalaya and Fortis Hospital, Mohali today for providing facility of paediatric cardiac surgeries to the children diagnosed with Congenital Cardiac Defects, under the 'Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram' (RBSK). The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by Mission Director, National Health Mission Haryana Dr Saket Kumar on behalf of the Haryana government. Dr Saket Kumar said that Gurugram-based Artemis Hospital had already been taken on the panel for this purpose. He said the number of children in Haryana diagnosed with CHD was estimated to be very high, keeping in view the high incidence of CHD reported by studies from across the globe, and an annual birth cohort in Haryana of approximately 5.50 lakh. Such studies report number of incidences of CHD ranging from eight to ten per 1,000 live births. He said that to avail the benefits under the RBSK programme, the parents should approach District Early Intervention Centres established in the premises of civil hospitals in their respective districts. The manager or coordinator of the programme would support them in screening and confirmation of the health condition of the child, and if required, would process all the papers for free treatment at the government and private hospitals. The parents would get a permission letter from the state headquarters of National Health Mission Haryana and on producing it at the empanelled private hospitals, would receive all treatment on cashless basis, he added. Dr Saket Kumar said that CHD referred to structural or functional heart diseases, which are present at birth, and some of which may be discovered later. While these are primarily seen in neonates, infants and children, in countries like India, it is not uncommon to see uncorrected CHD on account of inaccessibility of cardiac surgical services. CHD is the most common birth defect with substantial contribution in Neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR), Infant Mortality (IMR) and Under Five Mortality Rate (U5MR). Many of the babies born with critical CHD succumb in the first year of life, whereas many of the adults who survive with CHD are inoperable due to development of complications and have to lead a subnormal quality of life. He said that under the RBSK programme, many of the children were being diagnosed with CHD but, long waiting period at government tertiary institutions and availability of fewer government institutions offering such specialised services was serving as a major impediment in the way of timely service access. He said that therefore, it was expected that with the empanelment of private hospitals, children who were diagnosed with CHD would receive timely access to surgeries, which would be a substantial step towards improving IMR and U5MR in the State. Dr Kumar said that the state government had expanded the scope of better health services for the children of the state by implementing the RBSK child health screening and early intervention services programme to provide comprehensive care, including free surgical and medical treatment to all children up to the age of 18 years registered in Anganwadi Centres, government and government-aided schools of the state, for birth defects, diseases, deficiencies and developmental delays, including disability.UNI DB SHS RJ 2046 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0292-1056984.Xml
Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit today proposed resumption of constructive dialogue with India to resolve the outstanding issues between the two countries, including Kashmir. ''We should move from conflict management to conflict resolution. We have wasted 70 years and now, the diplomacy should be given a fair chance to resolve the issues between the two countries,'' said Mr Basit. He was speaking at a seminar organised by Harsh Narayan, Creative Director and Filmmaker. He said the development in J&K since July 8 very clearly said that J&K was the main issue between the two countries. ''Islamabad fears that unless the two countries move towards a concrete solution, the situation in the region could go worst,'' said Mr Basit. However, senior Congress leader and former diplomat Mani Shankar Iyer countered Mr Basit by pointing out that he should not forget that the main issue was terrorism not Kashmir. "You said that main issue was Kashmir and why you forget that main issue is terrorism," said Mr Iyer. He said that whenever India started peace dialogue, some terrorist activity or attack occurred on Indian land. He also said that it was a terrible that Pakistan was under army dictatorship and the voice of people was least heeded in the country. While speaking during the programme, former Member of Parliament from J&K Abdul Rashid Kabli said that both the countries should initiate a dialogue as the people of the valley were suppressed and living in fear. He said that both India and Pakistan were nuclear countries and if in case war occurred, all the innocent would suffer. UNI MKS RJ 2342 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0329-1057433.Xml
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today paid homage Homage to freedom fighters Binoy, Badal and Dinesh. "Homage to Binoy-Badal-Dinesh. Salutes to our freedom fighters," Ms Banerjee tweeted.Vivek, an organisation rendering selfless service for the distressed humanity organised a program here to pay tribute to legendary freedom fighter trio Binoy Badal, and Dinesh. The program was organised at the joining area between piping road and Ibrahim Road. Minister for Urban Development and the Minister for Municipal Affairs, Depiprasad Roy, Professor Sougato Roy, Professor Nityananda Dey and Vivek head Kartick Banerjee were present to grace the occasion.In 1930 the Inspector General Col NS Simpson, famous for his brutal torture was the target of this trio. They decided to kill Simpson and on December 8, 1930 the trio entered in the Writers' Building, dressed in British Costume so that they cannot be identified by the security persons. They entered in Simson's room and shot him. But soon they were captured by police.Not ready to surrender themselves in front of British Police they Dinesh shot themselves with their own revolvers. Badal died on the spot. Binoy was taken to hospital where he died on December 13, 1930. However Dinesh survived from the injuries and hanged on July 7,1931. Their sacrifice inspired the other patriots for further revolutionary activities in India.UNI BM SHS RJ2342 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-1057485.Xml
The meeting, held with the district authorities, was attended by Vidhan Sabha Secretary Sunder Singh Verma, Inspector General of Police G D Bhargav, Additional Deputy Commissioner Richa Verma, Kangra District Police Chief Sanjeev Gandhi, ADM Balbir Thakur and senior officers of the Vidhan Sabha.

The issues of security scenario and security arrangement, besides the traffic management were discussed in the meeting.

Mr Butail said the entire Vidhan Saba Winter session will be paperless as usual and all the officers have been directed to carry out the official business without using paper during the session.

He directed the authorities to take appropriate steps for maintaining law and order.

UNI XC RJ 2300

-- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0292-1057211.Xml
A statement released by the Prime Minister's Office said Netanyahu agrees to meet Abbas but not in the framework of the international peace conference that France tries to advance, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Netanyahu told Hollande that if there was no international conference in Paris, he would meet Abbas for direct talks without preconditions," the statement read.

"Israel will not participate in the international conference, which would not contribute to achieving peace," the statement added.

Israel has repeatedly rejected the French initiative, calling instead for direct talks.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Palestinian presidency announced that it has not received an official invitation for a trilateral meeting.

--IANS sku/

( 148 Words)

2016-12-08-05:02:19 (IANS)
At least 12 terrorists affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) group and nine civilians were killed on Wednesday in airstrikes in an IS-held town near Iraq's western border with Syria, security and medical sources said. An airstrike, believed to be conducted by the US-led coalition aircraft, bombed two IS positions in the town of al-Qaim in Iraq's western province of Anbar, destroying the positions and leaving 12 terrorists killed and five others wounded, a source from Anbar's provincial Operations Command told Xinhua. Another airstrike occurred at night and struck a residential building in the central town, killing nine people and wounding 20 others, a medical source from the provincial health department said. The attacks come as the Iraqi security forces backed by anti-IS international coalition are carrying out a major offensive to drive out the IS terrorists from its last major stronghold in and around Mosul. --IANS sku/ ( 160 Words) 2016-12-08-05:40:38 (IANS)
Some local government officials in China have forged economic data and such offenders will be severely punished, the country's statistics chief wrote in an article in the People's Daily on Thursday.There has long been widespread global scepticism about the reliability of Chinese data, especially as the government has sought to tamp market expectations of a protracted slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.Statistical fraud and violation of statistical law and regulations have been uncovered in some places, Ning Jizhe, the head of the National Bureau of Statistics, wrote in the article.Authorities will show "zero tolerance" for such behaviour and local officials will be severely punished if they are found fabricating data to help safeguard the credibility of the government, Ning said.China also will improve the quality of its economic data, he said.The combined economic output of China's provinces has long exceeded that of the national level compiled by the bureau, raising suspicion that some growth-obsessed local officials have cooked the books.Last year, the statistics bureau changed the way quarterly gross domestic product data is calculated, a move it calls a step to adopt international standards and improve the accuracy of Chinese numbers.China has reported steady economic growth of 6.7 percent for three quarters in a row, bang in the middle of the government's 6.5-7 percent full-year target.Reuters CJ GC1055 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0400-1056130.Xml
Brazil's Supreme Court met to defuse a constitutional crisis triggered by an injunction from one of its justices ordering Senate President Renan Calheiros to step aside following his indictment for embezzlement.Brazilian President Michel Temer was working behind the scenes to resolve the dispute, which threatens to derail approval of legislation at the center of his plan to reduce a widening budget deficit and end a two-year recession.The removal of Calheiros would leave the Senate leadership in the hands of a leftist senator whose Workers Party opposes the public spending cap at the heart of Temer's efforts to restore fiscal discipline.Calheiros, whose mandate in charge of the chamber expires when Congress goes into its Christmas recess in a few days, refused to step down on Tuesday, heightening the standoff between the legislature and judiciary.He is second in line to Brazil's presidency after the speaker of the lower house, as the nation currently has no vice president.Senate lawyer Alberto Cascais, defending Calheiros before the court, called on the justices to annul the injunction or, alternatively, remove Calheiros from the presidential succession but leave him in his Senate position.Local media reported the top court might agree to allow Calheiros to finish the few days left of his term, provided he is removed from the succession. Senators are due to elect a new president at the start of the next session after the Christmas recess.Addressing the court, Public Prosecutor Rodrigo Janot called for Calheiros' immediate removal and blasted the senator for refusing to receive notification of the injunction on Tuesday.Temer's chief spokesman, Marcio de Freitas, told Reuters the administration was working to reduce tensions between the judiciary and the legislature, and would respect their decisions.Justice Marco Aurelio de Mello defended his injunction, based on a majority vote by the court a month ago that no person indicted for a crime could be in the presidential line of succession.The Supreme Court has yet to complete its ruling on the ban. The vote was suspended on Nov. 3 after six of the 11 justices had already voted in favor because one judge asked for further discussion of the case.Overturning the injunction would be a blow to the judiciary in a growing confrontation with the legislature over attempts by lawmakers to curb the powers of prosecutors to shield politicians from corruption probes.The Senate has suspended business until the situation is resolved.Senator Jorge Viana, who would head the Senate if Calheiros is removed, dismissed reports that he was considering resigning or that he would suspend all votes scheduled for this year if he were to assume the leadership role.Viana, considered a moderate, is in a difficult position because his Workers Party opposes the government's austerity drive and wants him to delay the Dec. 13 spending cap vote indefinitely.If he did that, he would be widely criticized for deepening Brazil's fiscal crisis."I am not thinking of resigning," he told CBN radio.Viana said he was trying to broker a deal with members of the Supreme Court that involved Calheiros remaining Senate president. "I am very hopeful that the justices will find a middle road to resolve this."REUTERS VS 0548 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0440-1056005.Xml
President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate a third retired general for a top job in his new administration with the choice of a battle-hardened Marine commander to lead the agency set up after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to protect the US homeland.Trump is expected to name former Marine General John Kelly, 66, as head of the Department of Homeland Security, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters yesterday.In confirmed by the Senate, Kelly will be in charge of the agency tasked with securing borders against illegal immigration, protecting the president, responding to natural disasters, coordinating intelligence and countering terror threats.Like Trump, Kelly is believed to hold strong views on stopping illegal immigration. The four-star general told a congressional committee last year that the lack of security on the US-Mexican border represents a national security threat.The former head of the military's Southern Command, Kelly was responsible for US military activities and relationships in Latin America and the Caribbean. He was a proponent of keeping open the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.Kelly, whose son was killed fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, retired in January after a 45-year military career. CBS first reported that Trump would nominate Kelly to the position, which would put him in charge of more than 240,000 employees. Those include Secret Service and Border Patrol agents as well as the agency that clears refugees for resettlement in the United States.Trump energized voters in the election campaign by promising to build a wall on the US-Mexico border in order to keep out Mexican immigrants he described as rapists and murderers.In 2015 testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Kelly said people-smuggling activities on the southern border were a dire threat."Terrorist organizations could seek to leverage those same smuggling routes to move operatives with intent to cause grave harm to our citizens or even bring weapons of mass destruction into the United States," Kelly said.Such sentiments may have endeared him to Trump, who warned repeatedly during his presidential campaign of dangers from illegal immigration, and pledged to build a wall along the border and make Mexico pay for it.The Republican president-elect, who has no military experience, also plans to nominate retired General James Mattis to lead the Pentagon and picked retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn to be his national security adviser.MILITARY EXPERIENCEKelly served in Iraq several times, and in 2003 was the first Marine in more than 50 years to be promoted to the rank of brigadier general while in a combat zone.In November 2010, his son, Marine 1st Lieutenant Robert M. Kelly, was killed in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan.According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, at the younger Kelly's burial ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, his father said he preferred not eulogize his son.Rather, Kelly said, he wanted to honor all those who enlisted after the Sept. 11 attacks, ready to fight "an enemy that is as savage as any that ever walked the earth."Although Kelly's military experience may give him insight into overseas threats like drug trafficking or Islamist militancy, he would face new challenges at an agency that oversees everything from airport security to protecting against cyber threats and responding to domestic security crises.Kelly also questioned the Pentagon's decision to allow women to serve in combat, and differed publicly with President Barack Obama over the Democrat's attempt to close the Guantanamo Bay prison."There are no innocent men down there," Kelly said of Guantanamo in a January interview with the Military Times newspaper.The Republican-controlled Senate must confirm Kelly for the Homeland Security post. He would be the fifth secretary of the United States' newest cabinet-level agency and the first to serve without a background in law.REUTERS VS 0732 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0440-1056011.Xml
Giraffe numbers have declined by as much as 40 per cent since the 1980s in a "silent extinction" driven by illegal hunting and an expansion of farmland in Africa, the Red List of endangered species reported today.Populations of the world's tallest land creature fell to about 98,000 from an estimated 152,000-163,000 in 1985, according to the List compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).The Red List rated the giraffe "vulnerable" to extinction on current trends for the first time, against a previous rating of "least concern". It said the plunge in numbers in large parts of sub-Saharan Africa had gone largely unnoticed."Whilst giraffes are commonly seen on safari, in the media and in zoos, people - including conservationists - are unaware that these majestic animals are undergoing a silent extinction," Julian Fennessy, an IUCN giraffe specialist, said in a statement.Giraffes are at risk from the expansion of farmland to feed a rising human population and from killings for their meat, often in areas of conflict such as South Sudan, according to the IUCN, which groups scientists, governments and activists."People are competing for fewer and fewer resources and the animals are worse off ... especially with civil strife," Craig Hilton-Taylor, head of the Red List, told Reuters. Drought and climate change are aggravating factors, he said.Among other changes on the list, the African grey parrot - famed for its skill in mimicking human speech - was rated endangered, one step worse than its earlier category as vulnerable. Trapping for the pet trade has driven down numbers.The list also found that 11 per cent of more than 700 other species of bird newly assessed were at risk of extinction, such as the Antioquia wren in Colombia, which is under threat from a hydro-electric dam.A few were recovering against the trend - conservation efforts had reduced threats for birds including the Azores bullfinch, St. Helena plover and Seychelles white-eye.The Red List, the main global authority on risks to animals and plants, said 24,307 of 85,604 species assessed in recent decades were in danger of extinction.UN studies say that man-made threats, led by the loss of natural habitats, may herald the worst extinction crisis since the dinosaurs were wiped out 65 million years ago. REUTERS VS 0534 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0440-1056041.Xml
Actor Brad Pitt's request to seal court documents in his high-profile custody and divorce proceedings involving actress Angelina Jolie was rejected by a Los Angeles judge.Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Richard Burdge Jr rejected Pitt's motion at an emergency hearing, yesterday a court spokeswoman said. Pitt and Jolie did not attend.While Burdge ruled against sealing the entire case, he said requests to seal specific documents would be considered, especially given that the six children at the center of the custody case are all minors."The court recognizes privacy rights of minor children and would be guided by what's in the minor children's best interest," Burdge said.Jolie's representatives did not respond to phone and email messages from Reuters seeking comment, and Pitt's representatives said the actor would not comment on the matter.Jolie, 41, and Pitt, 52, known collectively as "Brangelina," were together since 2005 and married for two years before their sudden split in September, which has been widely covered by news media.Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt, citing irreconcilable differences, after an incident on a private plane in which Pitt was reported to have lost his temper in front of one or more of the children.At the time, she said she made the decision "for the health of the family," and is seeking full physical custody of their children. The couple share adopted sons Maddox and Pax, adopted daughter Zahara and three biological children, Shiloh Nouvel and twins Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline, aged between 8 and 15.Pitt, 52, was cleared in the incident last month by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services. He has filed for joint custody of the children.REUTERS VS 0739 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0440-1056053.Xml
: Russia put several S-400 'Triumf' long-range air defence missile systems on combat duty on Thursday to guard the Russian air borders in the country's north-west."During the combat duty the S-400 regiments will check their integration in the existing system of air and space defence of the Western Military District in the north-western strategic direction and carry out a series of special trainings," Interfax news agency quoted Russian Western Military District spokesman Col. Igor Muginov as saying.Earlier in August, S-400 crews from the Western Military District aerospace forces' unit successfully completed their retraining to operate this new system and fulfilled a program of live-fire exercises at a firing range in Russia's southern Astrakhan region, Muginov said.The S-400 'Triumf' long-range air defence system can destroy aerodynamic targets at a range of up to 400 kilometers and hit ballistic targets flying at a speed of up to 4.8 kilometers per second at altitudes varying from several meters to several dozen kilometers at a range of 60 kilometers.UNI XC CJ 1456 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0400-1056381.Xml
The European Union's executive said today that member states should be allowed to send some asylum-seekers back to Greece from mid-March, in a step Brussels hopes will help restore the bloc's migration policies, which collapsed under a mass influx last year.Under EU rules, the first country of entry is responsible for handling an asylum claim, but that system broke down last year in Greece, the main gateway to Europe for more than a million refugees and migrants.Unable to cope, Greece let many of them pass through on their own to Germany and other wealthy EU states in defiance of the bloc's rules. That led countries along the route gradually to close their borders, stranding many in Greece, which struggled to offer them proper shelter.The European Commission today said Greece has improved in hosting and registering arriving asylum-seekers.It recommended that EU states be allowed to send back to Greece asylum-seekers who enter the bloc that way and make it deeper into Europe from mid-March onwards. The recommendation does not apply to those who have already made that journey."This will provide further disincentives against irregular entry and secondary movements, and is an important step for the return to a normally functioning ... system," the Commission's deputy head, Frans Timmermans.The bloc's asylum policy and its zone of internal free travel both collapsed last year as an uncontrolled flow of migrants and refugees triggered bitter disputes between EU states on how to handle them.These disputes remain unresolved and more than 62,000 people are still in Greece, even though an EU agreement with Turkey in March reduced the arrivals to a trickle.The failure is in large part due to reluctance by EU states to take in people from Greece and Italy to help process their asylum requests and ease the burden on the two frontline states.So far, fewer than 8,200 people have been moved from these two Mediterranean countries to other EU states under a plan that was supposed to cover 160,000 people and which expires next September. The Commission called on EU states to step up."Our aim is to relocate all those in Italy and Greece who are eligible for relocation within the next year," said the bloc's migration chief, Dimitris Avramopoulos.Brussels put additional conditions on returning people beyond March, saying Greece should give individual assurances of fair treatment for any returnees and that unaccompanied children not be sent back at all.Obligatory quotas on refugees are now the focus of a tug of war between EU states seeking to reform their troubled common asylum rules.The Commission said arrivals from Turkey to Greece stood at an average of 92 people a day since March, compared to thousands that were making at times making it in a single day before the deal with Ankara. It said 1,187 people have been deported from Greece to Turkey since March 2016.Under the deal with Turkey, which looks fragile now due to a breakdown in ties following Ankara's crackdown in the wake of a botched military coup in July, Brussels also said it had spent 677 million euros of the 3 billion promised to help Syrian refugees living on Turkish soil. REUTERS PS VN1552 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-1056625.Xml
Turkey is conducting intense talks with Russia for a ceasefire in Syria's Aleppo and to allow humanitarian aid into the war-ravaged city, President Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman said today.Ibrahim Kalin also told a news conference in Ankara that Syrian government forces were carrying out crimes against humanity and war crimes in the city.REUTERS PS BL1724 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-1056876.Xml
Wearing a camouflage cap over her headscarf, Miaad al-Jubbouri cuts an unusual figure among the hundreds of men fighting to retake a village from Islamic State in northern Iraq.The mother of five was the sole woman among a joint force of Iraqi army and tribal militias who attacked the village of Kanous on Wednesday - one of multiple fronts in a campaign to drive the insurgents from their remaining strongholds in Iraq.Like the men around her, Jubbouri said her motive for taking up arms was hatred of Islamic State, which overran large parts of the country more than two years ago, meting out brutal punishments and killing its opponents, including several of her cousins.But unlike them, her mere presence on the battlefield goes against the weight of tradition in a society where women are often confined to the home and seldom seen near the frontlines, except when fleeing."These soldiers are all my brothers; I am proud to be with them," said Jubbouri, to voices of approval from the men standing around her. "They (Islamic State) came to destroy Iraq but we will ... burn those dogs."Despite the fighting talk, Jubbouri joined the 'Lions of the Tigris' tribal militia just 10 days ago and has no prior combat experience.The militia is one of dozens that have sprung to support Iraqi forces advancing on Mosul - Islamic State's last major urban stronghold in the country - in a US-backed campaign that began in October and is regarded as crucial to dismantling the caliphate the jihadists declared over parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014.The men treat her more like a mascot than a sister in arms.A Kalashnikov is slung across her small frame, but not once did Jubbouri fire it during Wednesday's battle, and she remained a short distance behind the first line of fire."They (the men) don't let me go to the very front. They fear for me, but I want to go," said Jubbouri apparently unperturbed by the deafening sound of mortars being fired at Kanous - her hometown.On the roof of a house further forward, a dozen soldiers and militiamen positioned on a roof fired round after round indiscriminately towards the village, facing only light resistance.LIKE A WOLFDuring the two years she lived there under Islamic State rule, Jubbouri said she secretly informed Iraqi security forces about the militants' movements, and flouted their order that women veil their faces.She left Kanous with her family this summer and joined thousands more displaced Iraqis at a camp in the Kurdish region, where her husband was picked up by security services and put in jail.Jubbouri is not sure why, but said her husband's name may have been confused with that of a suspect, or that someone bearing a grudge against him may have accused him of links with the militants. "As far as I know he's done nothing wrong," she added, the flag of Iraq tied around her neck like a scarf.After her husband was detained, Jubbouri went south to Tikrit and left her children - aged between one and nine - in the custody of a relative so she was free to join the fight against Islamic State."My children cried and said, 'We are scared you will die'," Jubbouri said. "I told them I won't."Neither her father nor mother are alive, and Jubbouri did not tell her uncles, who might have objected to her taking up arms. Her mother-in-law however encouraged Jubbouri to go and avenge the death of a son who was killed by insurgents in 2012.Jubbouri's husband, who remains in a Kurdish prison, is not aware of his wife's militia role. "He wouldn't be satisfied ... but he knows I am a wolf, that I am a fighter and that I am like a man," she said.Backed by the Iraqi government, the Lions of the Tigris' ranks are drawn from young local men, many of whom used to be in the army and have lost friends and loved ones to the militants.The men asked to have their photograph taken beside Jubbouri and said she would be awarded the home of an Islamic State fighter in Kanous after it was liberated."It raises the soldiers' morale to see a woman with them, fighting against terrorism and Daesh," said 27-year-old fighter Amer Kadhim.One commander talked about making Jubbouri the head of a female battalion, but the fighters were less enthusiastic about the prospect of their own wives and sisters taking up arms alongside them.Asked whether he would allow his female relatives to join the battle, Kadhim evaded the question. "We have customs and traditions," he said. REUTERS PS AN1746 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-1056914.Xml
US Secretary of State John Kerry said today he was "hopeful" about reaching an agreement with Russia over the Syrian city of Aleppo but that he was still waiting for "certain feedback and input"."We're working on something here," Kerry told reporters after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe conference in Hamburg, Germany.Asked if he was confident about a breakthrough, Kerry said he was not confident, but "hopeful".The Kremlin said on Wednesday that a potential U.S.-Russia deal to allow Syrian rebels to safely leave Aleppo was still on the agenda.REUTERS PS AN1756 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-1056971.Xml
US Secretary of State John Kerry today left a meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe to head to Paris for further meetings on Syria on Saturday, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters.Kerry told reporters after a second bilateral meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Hamburg that he was "hopeful" about reaching an accord with Moscow that would allow Syrian rebels to safely leave the besieged city of Aleppo.France, a backer of the opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is convening foreign ministers of like-minded countries in Paris on Saturday to seek a strategy in the wake of the Aleppo onslaught, although few diplomats expect anything concrete to be achieved. REUTERS SHS BD2333 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0329-1057528.Xml
The United States and Russia must broker an evacuation from east Aleppo, UN Syria humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland said today, as a local politician warned that 150,000 people there faced "extermination".Five months of negotiations over aid plans have produced "nothing", Egeland said, and it was up to the United States and Russia to try to coordinate a deal."The member states that are supposed to help us get access to civilians in the crossfire are poles apart in how they regard what is happening in Syria," he told reporters after a weekly Syria humanitarian meeting led by the United States and Russia.US Secretary of State John Kerry said after talks in Hamburg with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov he was "hopeful" about reaching an agreement but he was awaiting "certain feedback and input".Opposition groups in eastern Aleppo are simply asking for a pause in the fighting to allow people to leave, with no strings attached, Egeland said.Russia wants eastern Aleppo's citizens to leave via four humanitarian corridors, although it will not let food go in to supply the hungry population."Russia said they will definitely be discussing with us how to organise the evacuations, but they are not any more promising any pause (in fighting)," Egeland said.More than 800 people have been killed and 3,000-3,500 wounded in the past 26 days, while those still trapped await an effective death sentence and needed safe passage, Aleppo's council president Brita Haji Hassan said."Today 150,000 people are threatened with extermination," he said.A UNICEF volunteer was shot dead in a "child-friendly space" and a mortar hit another UN location, with no casualties, but both sites temporarily suspended work, the UN said.Nearly 150 sick and disabled civilians were evacuated overnight from a hospital in Aleppo's Old City, the first major medical evacuation, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.The UN described east Aleppo's health situation as "catastrophic".Some 1,500 people need medical evacuation, including 500 "seriously wounded", said Tawfik Chamaa of the Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organisations.The U.N. estimates about 33,000 people have been displaced in the past 10 days, including about 20,000 going into government-held areas. But Syria's government says 30,000 have been registered in government-held zones alone.Russia wants rebels and their families to be evacuated to the rebel-held town of Idlib, but the rebels want evacuees to go to northern Aleppo province.Egeland said the local council in Idlib had informed the United Nations the town could not receive any more people because it was already too full of displaced people. REUTERS SHS BD2340 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0329-1057529.Xml
Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena today rescinded a colonial-era British order naming 19 nationals as "traitors" for leading a rebellion nearly 200 years ago, his office said, as he strives to shore up his fading popularity.Sirisena hailed the ethnic Sinhalese men whole led the insurrection against the island's British rulers as national heroes, a move some critics were swift to denounce as a political gimmick to bolster his support among the Sinhalese majority.Sirisena said he had "cancelled the gazette notice issued by then governor of Sri Lanka Robert Brownrigg in 1818 naming the ... Sinhalese leaders as traitors."Sirisena's leadership of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) has been weakened as grassroot supporters shift their loyalties back towards the Indian Ocean island state's former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.Rajapaksa remains popular among the Sinhalese and some of his supporters have formed a new party in the expectation that he will lead it.Kusal Perera, a political columnist and outspoken government critic, said today's act was a clear indication Sirisena was now going to cater to the larger Sinhala majority".Even so, Perera said, Sirisena was unlikely to win back much support as a result of the announcement."Sinhala leaders anyway have been treated as heroes in Sinhala society. This shows how desperate Sirisena is," Perera told Reuters.Sirisena was a one-time ally of Rajapaksa before he challenged his leadership and won a surprise victory in last year's presidential vote.The president, who like Rajapaksa is from the majority Buddhist community, has reached out to ethnic minority Tamils and Muslims, upsetting Sinhala leaders.Sirisena's government has postponed local council elections by more than a year citing the new electoral process is still not ready.Sri Lanka was under colonial rule from 1815 to 1948.The 19 Sinhalese leaders launched their revolt in a bid to restore the ruling of Sinhalese kings who exercised power before Portugal's invasion in 1505.The British governor ordered their execution.REUTERS SHS PM2344 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0329-1057530.Xml
XINING, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- A former senior legislator of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was sentenced to 12 years in prison for accepting bribes, according to court verdict announced on Friday.

Li Zhi, former deputy head of the standing committee of Xinjiang regional people's congress, was also fined 1 million yuan (145,119 U.S. dollars), according to the verdict by the Intermediate People's Court of Xining, capital city of northwest China's Qinghai Province.

Before becoming a senior legislator, Li held several positions in Xinjiang, including chief of the Communist Party of China (CPC) committee of the regional capital Urumqi.

Between 1996 and 2013, Li took advantage of his positions to seek profit for others on construction projects, land development and promotions, as well as extorting and accepting bribes totaling about 13.19 million yuan, which will be confiscated and turned over to the state treasury, the verdict said.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC announced an investigation into Li in March 2015, before his trial in Xining began June this year.
HANOI, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Car registration fees in Vietnam will drop 5 percent every two years from next year as Vietnam's Ministry of Finance (MoF) has changed the way to calculate the fees for new vehicles.

The new calculation will be based on the cars' list price, and will thus drop 5 percent every two years, until 10 years from the production date.

The new calculation which is expected to enter into effect on January 1, 2017, will reduce expenses for car buyers, reported local Bao Moi (Newspaper) online newspaper on Wednesday.

Truong Kim Phong, marketing director of Ford Vietnam, said the new calculation would benefit customers, especially those who buy more expensive imported cars.

Echoing Phong, Nguyen Tan Trung, an industry insider, said a drop in registration fees would not only benefit customers but also auto companies. The auto businesses would have the opportunity to reduce the selling price and boost sales.

In 2016, Vietnam's total auto sale is forecast to hit 300,000 units, up 22.44 percent year-on-year.

Local analysts predicted that the year 2017 will be a busy year for the automobile industry due to the reduced registration fee and lower tax of vehicles imported from ASEAN member states.
NEW YORK, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices continued to slip on Wednesday as government data showed that U.S. fuel inventories increased more than expected last week.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its weekly report on Wednesday that crude inventories fell 2.4 million barrels during the week ended Dec. 2, beating market consensus.

However, gasoline stocks rose by 3.4 million barrels, higher than market expectation of a 1.9 million-barrel gain. Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, were up by 2.5 million barrels, exceeding expectations of a 1.8 million-barrel increase, according to the EIA report.

Analysts said the report was overall bearish, deepening investors' concerns about oversupply in the market.

The West Texas Intermediate for January Delivery decreased 1.16 dollars to settle at 49.77 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for February delivery erased 0.93 dollars to close at 53.00 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
MELBOURNE, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Other nations could learn a lot from Australia's willingness to embrace globalization, the Premier of the Australian state of Victoria said on Thursday.

Premier Daniel Andrews told the Boao Forum For Asia that encouraging further globalization in an increasingly "isolationist" political climate was vital to future global prosperity, and that foreign leaders only have to look to Australia's lead to recognize the vast benefits of embracing globalization.

The Boao Forum is an opportunity for economic, business and political leaders to discuss "The Future of Globalization," and Andrews lauded the leading role Australia has played in encouraging the movement, through free trade deals, education opportunities and tourism.

He said the benefits of Australia's free trade deal with China were obvious to see, and multilateral international cooperation could open a lot of doors for further opportunities in the region.

"The China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) is one (positive) example," Andrews told the forum. "If we can get (agreements like this) done in a bilateral way, we can improve partnerships for the benefit of everybody involved.

"They might be stronger if they were of a multilateral nature but ultimately we're committed to making the most of the arrangements we have. I think ChAFTA, and other free trade deals in the region, are a model for what can be achieved."

Andrews said the current political landscape was challenging for proponents of globalization, but added that embracing the global push would help and not hinder the global economy.

"It would seem that while there might have been support for things like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) a year ago, but things have changed," the premier said.

"The important thing is to remember that globalization, open markets, open dialogue and shared investment are critical to prosperity and growth for the future. You simply cannot achieve what we want to achieve if we don't work together.

"It's become fashionable to question globalization, and that's been something under close examination in many parts of the world of recent times."

He believed that this "isolationist" agenda seemed to be quite popular at the moment, but benefited no one.

Meanwhile Secretary General of the Boao Forum Zhou Wenzhong agreed with Andrews' sentiment, telling the forum that "globalization has been an important driving force for the global economy," while former Chinese Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan hailed the relationship between Australia and China.

"Both China and Australia are active promoters of globalization," he said.
Howard Schultz, chairman and chief executive officer of Starbucks, was talking about the company's strategic layout for higher-end Roasteries and Reserve stores. (Xinhua/Starbucks)

NEW YORK, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Starbucks said on Wednesday that its fast-growing China market could one day eclipse that in the United States.

The company unveiled its five-year strategic plan at its biennial investor conference on Wednesday in New York City.

According to the plan, the company eyes to grow revenue by 10 percent, and earnings per share by 15-20 percent as it plans to open approximately 12,000 new stores globally by 2021.

In China alone, the store count will be doubled in the next five years.

Starbucks' China market expansion was emphasized by the company's leadership at the investor conference.

Belinda Wong, chief executive officer, Starbucks China, talked about social gifting feature on WeChat. The feature is co-created by Starbucks and Tencent, and will be launched early 2017. (Xinhua/Starbucks)

China is Starbucks' fastest growing market and the largest international market. The company now operates approximately 2,500 stores in 118 cities in China, employing more than 30,000 partners (employees) and serving over five million customers every week, said Belinda Wong, chief executive officer of Starbucks China.

To expand its Chinese market, the company reached a strategic partnership with Tencent, a leading provider of internet value-added services in China.

Starting from Thursday, Starbucks will introduce the use of WeChat Pay for purchases in its retail stores across China in an effort to elevate the in-store experience for customers.

A man takes a rest at a Starbucks outlet in Shanghai, east China, Jan. 31, 2012. (Xinhua/Lin Chao)

In accordance with the company's digital flywheel and mobile system, Starbucks co-created a new social gifting feature on Wechat. Starting from early 2017, the over 800 million global monthly active WeChat users will be able to send Starbucks-branded gifts and products to another person through WeChat. Recipients can redeem their gifts at a local Starbucks store.

The online-to-offline social gifting platform will deepen Starbucks' engagement with its customers and introduce the brand to new customers, said Wong.

"Despite our early success, we are only in the beginning chapters of our growth story," Wong added.

The brand's higher-end Roasteries and Reserve stores will be another driving force for Starbucks' growth. They sell premium coffee and offer customers experience with the craft of roasting and brewing coffee.

The company plans to open its first international Roastery in Shanghai next year.
CANBERRA, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Time is running out to stop the spread of an insect that could be the most damaging invasive species to ever enter Australia, a report has found.

An independent review of Australia's National Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication Program found that there was "only a small window of opportunity left" to stop the spread of the deadly red fire ant that is already plaguing parts of the country.

The report, published by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Thursday, recommended that the Federal government commit 285 million U.S. dollars to eradicating the species in the next decade.

The fire ant originated in South America and has been responsible for 85 deaths in the United States from people who have had an allergic reaction to a bite from the ant.

The report warned that unless managed the species would be responsible for up to 3,000 anaphylactic reactions each year.

Agriculture ministers from around Australia are expected to meet early in 2017 to decide whether to ramp up efforts to eradicate the ant or to manage the insects' presence.

Andrew Cox, the chief executive of the Invasive Species Council, said that unless more money was allocated to combatting the ants' spread, authorities would lose the fight in Australia.

"The area's slowly expanding and we think it's because they haven't got enough money to do the job," Cox told the ABC.

"The impacts of red fire ants if allowed to spread will exceed the combined impacts of all of our current feral animals. The cane toads, the feral cats, the wild dogs, the camels -- so the impacts are enormous."

Barnaby Joyce, Australia's minister for Agriculture and deputy prime minister (PM), said in a statement that eradication remains technically feasible and in the national interest.

"(Federal and State Governments) are considering a future eradication program, which will be on the agenda for the first agricultural ministers meeting in 2017 currently scheduled to take place in May," the statement said.
ALGIERS, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika held talks with visiting Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel on Wednesday and both sides agreed to enhance cooperation, the official APS news agency reported.

The talks covered a wide range of issues, including ways to establish a smart bilateral partnership, Michel told reporters after the meeting.

Both sides discussed illegal migration, which Michel said "can be addressed with mutual respect and pragmatism."

The meeting was also attended by Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal and Foreign Minister Remtane Lamamra.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Belgian official met with his Algerian counterpart. The pair held a joint press conference, vowing to give a new impetus to bilateral cooperation.

"We have had dense and intense exchanges on important issues," Michel said, adding that both sides have agreed to work together to identify various areas where partnerships can be strengthened.

Michel said that they have the potential to strengthen partnerships "in the fields of economic development and strategic investments," including infrastructure, energy, transportation, petrochemical and pharmaceutical industry.

For his part, Sellal said: "We need a strong partnership and we have agreed to focus on some sectors which could bring added value to our national economy, including industry, agriculture, digital and general services, because Belgian companies have great experience in these fields."

Michel and Sellal also exchanged views on the fight against terrorism, "including sharing intelligence information and work together on the process of curbing extremism and radicalization," said Michel.

The Belgian top official was quick to relate economic development to security, saying "stability and security are required to achieve any economic development."

Before leaving Algeria, Michel invited Sellal to visit Belgium to "continue boosting bilateral partnership at a high political level."
By Matt Goss

MELBOURNE, Dec. 8. (Xinhua) -- Despite of the rise of protectionism, globalization is an irreversible trend, experts said at the Boao Forum for Asia in Melbourne on Thursday.

Speaking at the conference, Zhang Dawei, Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE), said though globalization faced many challenges worldwide it would continue.

Zhang said the benefits of free trade could be displayed simply in the relationship between China and Australia.

He said that since China and Australia signed a free trade agreement (FTA) both countries have thrived from a growth in two-way trade of 16 billion U.S. dollars.

Australia's dairy and health supplement industries have thrived from the two nations' strong relationship, with both exhibiting a 70 percent growth in exports to China since the agreement was put in place, Zhang said.

He said that 60,000 Chinese students studied in Victoria alone every year, a practice as Jenny Shipley, former Prime Minister of New Zealand said was the single best investment that could be made in globalization.

Zhang said that many of the objections from globalization had stemmed from the unequal distribution of the benefits of globalization.

"China as a developing country has been rewarded by globalization," Zhang said.

He said that in order to ensure that the benefits were evenly distributed global governance needed to be strengthened and global governance was in need of structural reforms.

Geoff Raby, former Australian ambassador to China, said that the difference in attitudes towards globalization stemmed from a lack of strong leadership.

"There are issues with globalization such as unequal distribution of benefits but those issues have been around for a long time," Raby said.

"The difference today is there is much weaker political leadership around globalization."

He said that political leaders in the past took unpopular positions advocating for globalization and pointing out the negative effects of protectionism whereas current leaders were unwilling to take unpopular positions.

Raby said that the President-elect of the United States Donald Trump would not be able to make the protectionist ideology he made a centerpiece of his campaign a reality.

He said that World Trade Organization (WTO) restrictions would make it impossible for Trump to impose significant tariffs on U.S. trade with China and the United States' relationship with China was too complex for Trump to do any significant harm.

Shipley said her country's failed attempt at becoming an isolated nation gave her optimism that many of Trump's election promises could not be fulfilled.

"New Zealand tried in the late 80s to go full fortress and it was a complete and utter failure," Shipley said.

"It's a nice theory that you can put up walls but ultimately you defeat yourself."

Former Chairman and President of China Eximbank Li Ruogu said it was impossible for the Republican to withdraw the U.S. from global trade.

Li said that rather than abandon global trade Trump instead wanted to renegotiate free trade agreements the U.S. was involved in to ensure the U.S. derive greater benefits.

He said that to equally distribute the benefits of globalization the countries which have benefited immensely needed to increase their investment in those which have not benefited.

"Even development and even distribution of the benefits of globalization will resolve many issues," Li said.

Sudheendra Kulkarni, Chairman of the Observer Research Foundation Mumbai, said that the opposition to globalization on economic grounds was ignoring the cultural impact it was having.

"Globalization should not be viewed narrowly from economic growth perspective," Kulkarni said.

"Economic growth is important but it's not an end in itself."
PHNOM PENH, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia had exported 107,091 tons of milled rice to China in the first 11 months of 2016, up 16.5 percent from 91,883 tons over the same period last year, the latest report said Thursday.

The report released by the Secretariat of One Window Service for Rice Export showed that China is the top buyer of Cambodian rice, followed by France and Poland.

According to the report, the Southeast Asian country had sold a total of 479,689 tons of milled rice to 64 countries and regions during the January-November period this year, representing a 5-percent rise over the same period last year.

Cambodia is an agrarian country with some 80 percent of the population being farmers. Last year, the country produced over 9 million tons of paddy rice, according to figures of the Ministry of Agriculture.
MELBOURNE, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Governments must further facilitate the international expansion of Australian e-commerce ventures in order to compliment the global free trade climate, a group of leading Asian and Australian business leaders told the Boao Forum for Asia in Melbourne on Thursday.

Speaking at the Future of Globalization conference, business leaders from China, Australia and Indonesia have stressed the need for the federal and state Australian governments to assist small and medium enterprises (SMEs) capture a greater share of foreign markets, as the free trade climate continues to break down barriers across the world.

James Li, chief development officer of Chinese e-commerce group Didi Chuxing said other governments could look to China's lead to implement a similar, successful e-commerce environment for local businesses.

"(Government) policy is the most important factor to encourage the growth of e-commerce. We can see the open policy promoted by the government gave Didi the chance to grow so fast," Li told the forum.

Australia in particular is lagging behind, many of the experts argued, urging the government to back local SMEs in making it in major Asian markets such as China and, in the future, India.

"Cross-border e-commerce is a major, major opportunity," Australia Post CEO Ahmed Fahour said. "What governments are starting to do is developing infrastructure to support the future of e-commerce."

Damien Gance, CEO of Australian company Chemist Warehouse, said his successful venture into China was made easier by the local government's co-operation in broadening his company's horizons.

"(Governments need to) do everything they can do, and then get out of the way and let business grow," Gance told the forum.

"We have had a fantastic rise (in China) and the only time we had a misstep was when the government proposed legislative framework changes.

"At that time it put shockwaves in the market, but when they put the changes on hold, everything resumed as normal."

Radik Sali, CEO of supplement company Swisse, said that the Chinese government was a world leader in helping businesses grow and prosper in their local market.

"China is leading the way in this area," he said. "They're the most developed, globally in terms of free-trade. It's a completely different world to what we live in here in Australia.

"You have to think global, (and we succeeded because) we have a global mindset."

But while the panel urged the Australian government to facilitate globalization, they also stressed the need for Australian and other international SMEs to "think global" in order to take advantage of the worldwide marketplace.

"For whatever reason, Aussie small businesses are too domestically focused and not export-oriented. Alibaba should be an example for them... we have a lot to do in this country to take advantage of that," Australia Post's CEO Fahour said.

However, Managing Director of Alibaba Australia and New Zealand, Maggie Zhou said it was important not only for SMEs to have a global vision, but they must also work to better understand the different consumer landscape in foreign nations.

"Local merchants don't understand the Chinese consumer very well. If you want to break into the market, you need to acknowledge their preferences. If you can't do that, find a partner to help you," she told the forum.

Leading lawyer Scott Farrell from King & Wood Mallesons said that while "strategies are global... customers are local," understanding the local consumer climate was of paramount importance to SMEs looking to globalize operations.
BUENOS AIRES, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese dream of achieving a moderately prosperous society by 2020 will have a positive impact beyond China's borders, especially in Latin America, according to Argentine experts.

Nadia Radulovich and Maria Cecilia Peralta, co-founders of the Argentine consulting group Asia Viewers, said the Chinese government's development goals represent opportunities for the region.

"Latin America should not view it just as a Chinese strategy to attain food and energy security, but also as an opportunity for regional economies to transform their production structures and to make the most of a market that consumes increasingly more sophisticated products," said the consultants.

By taking advantage of China's evolution, regional economies could "generate goods and services with greater added value in sectors where Latin American countries have more comparative advantages," they said.

China's average economic growth rate of 6.7 percent "is good news for the world in general, due to the impact" its dynamic production sector can have on the sluggish global economy, said Radulovich and Peralta, who both serve as consultants on China-related affairs to the Argentine Council for International Relations.

Since the concept of the Chinese dream was proposed four years ago, they said, China has made significant progress in key areas, including state governance, and in implementing reforms, development targets and foreign policy.

"In a global macroeconomic context marked by frail growth or stagnation, China should seek strategic partners with which it can undertake ... investments that place both sides on the path to growth, consumption, and trade in goods and services" to jointly improve their quality of life, they said.

Complementarity can help bolster the relationship between China and Latin America, they noted.

"For Latin America, bilateral accords with China, and agreements between regional blocs and China, can generate great benefits for both sides," they said.

China's economy has shown great resilience. However, "To realize the Chinese dream, China cannot rely solely on domestic policies" especially given "a global economy marked by uncertainty and changing blocs," said Radulovich.
SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- South Korean opposition lawmakers agreed to resign en bloc unless the bill to impeach embattled President Park Geun-hye is passed through the National Assembly amid the lingering uncertainties from the ruling party.

Woo Sang-ho, floor leader of the biggest opposition Minjoo Party, said senior party members agreed that all lawmakers of the party would vacate their seats if the impeachment motion is not passed through the unicameral assembly.

The bill is scheduled to be put to vote on Friday.

The Minjoo Party, which has 121 parliamentary seats, is set to hold a general meeting later in the day, before submitting the resignation en bloc to the party leadership, according to Yonhap news agency report.

Spokesman of the minor opposition People's Party, which has 38 seats in the parliament, told a press briefing that all party legislators agreed to drop their seats if the bill is not passed in the 300-seat assembly.

The impeachment bill was put forward last Saturday by opposition and independent lawmakers, but at least 28 ruling Saenuri Party lawmakers are required to vote for it to overcome the two-thirds threshold. The governing party has 128 parliamentary seats.

President Park has allowed the ruling party members to freely vote on it, but uncertainties remained as the party leadership still adheres to its proposal of letting Park resign voluntarily by next April to hold a presidential election two months later.

Saenuri Party Chairman Lee Jung-hyun told a party meeting that the assembly needs to think again about stopping the impeachment process and kicking off the president's resignation in April and the presidential election in June next year.

The proposal was cast into doubt as President Park lost credibility by repeatedly refusing to be interrogated by prosecutors even after promising it during her address to the nation over the scandal involving herself and her longtime confidante.

Park was identified as a criminal accomplice to Choi Soon-sil, her decades-long friend who has been indicted on multiple counts including abuse of power and extortion. She became the first sitting South Korean leader to be investigated as a suspect.

Almost eight out of 10 South Koreans demanded President Park's immediate resignation or impeachment, according to a poll released on Tuesday. Last Saturday's protest rally drew 2.32 million ordinary South Koreans across the country, marking the largest-ever demonstration in constitutional history.

Uncertainties also linger about the faction of the ruling party, which is not loyal to President Park. The clan is being divided over whether to include Park's responsibility for the initial bungling of rescue operations in the country's worst maritime disaster in the impeachment motion.

The scandal-hit president has long been criticized for her improper response to the catastrophe on April 16, 2014 when the ferry Sewol sank in the country's southwestern waters and killed over 300 passengers, mostly high school students on a school trip to the southern resort island of Jeju.

For about seven hours after the incident, called here as a "golden time" for rescue operations, President Park disappeared from public view and triggered a variety of media speculations about whether she was absent from the presidential office.

If the responsibility for Park is included in the impeachment bill, some anti-Park faction members of the Saenuri Party reportedly plan to go against the bill. Local media speculations varied from as many as 220 votes in favor of the impeachment to as few as 195 in favors.
KATHMANDU, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Nepal Telecom (NT), Nepal's state-owned telecom company, and China Telecom Global have signed an agreement on providing internet protocol service between the two countries through cross-border Terrestrial Cable Route, the NT said.

Geelong Port (Kerung) of China will be used as the route for providing the internet service. The two companies signed the agreement in China's Hong Kong on Tuesday, the Nepalese company said in a press statement on Wednesday.

The agreement was signed after the two countries were connected with optical fiber through the Geelong (Keyrong)- Rasuwagadhi border point in June, ending Nepal's sole dependence on India for connecting the Himalayan country with global telecom and internet services.

"As the two countries have now been connected through terrestrial cable route, it will help Nepal to connect with telecom service providers of other countries too," the NT said, adding "it is an alternative for Nepal for international connectivity after the existing connectivity through Indian territory."

According to NT, with the latest agreement, access to internet service through the route of China has been possible. As of now, Nepal has access to internet service only through Indian route. Currently, Nepal Telecom has been connected with various Indian telecom service providers through bordering southern towns --Bhairahawa, Birgunj and Biratnagar.

After the connectivity was established through optical fiber, Nepal now can be directly linked with China's Hong Kong Data Center, which is one of the two biggest global date centers in Asia, through the Chinese mainland.
CANBERRA, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Thursday that his country will not consider a 'burka ban' despite controversial One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson hinting she will push to introduce such legislation into Parliament next year.

Hanson's push comes in the same week that beleaguered German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced her support for a ban on burkas, but Turnbull said Australia would not be following her lead in supporting a similar ban in Australia.

Saying Europe's immigration situation was different to that in Australia, Burnbull told Macquarie Radio that Australia's border protection programs meant potential immigrants were carefully screened before entering Australia and pose no threat to the public.

"Obviously what you're seeing in Europe is the consequences of uncontrolled, irregular migration," Turnbull said on Thursday.

"The Europeans regrettably lost control of their borders and when I was at the UN recently talking to a lot of European leaders they all talked about the way this large-scale irregular migration posed a real threat to their societies, to the stability of their democracies. That is why it is vital for us to maintain the security and integrity of our borders.

"We're a very generous and compassionate nation, we accept a lot of refugees, but the Australian people expect their government and not people-smugglers to decide who comes here."

Turnbull's words come after Hanson applauded the German Chancellor's proposed ban. Hanson posted to social media this week "I honestly don't see how anyone on either side of the house would disagree with (a burka ban) law coming into effect."
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Search and recovery operations ended in the early morning of Wednesday for victims of the worst fire in Oakland, a city in northern California, on the U.S. west coast.

The death toll stood at 36, unchanged since Monday, as agents from the U.S. federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) were continuing their investigation into cause of the fire on Friday night.

"ATF is looking at every possible source of ignition," said ATF special agent Jill Snyder. "There is no timeline for the conclusion of the investigation. ATF experts will be on scene for possibly several more days examining physical evidence. The analysis of data and interviews may take several weeks."

The fire occurred in a two-story structure, named "Ghost Ship" by Derick Ion Almena, the man who turned the warehouse into the site of an arts collective, a residence for his family and reportedly some other tenants, and an underground party venue.

"By all accounts, the fire started on the first floor," Snyder told reporters on Wednesday morning. "There were two internal stairwells from the second floor that led to the first floor. Neither went to an exit. Smoke traveled up the stairwells, trapping the people on the second floor. There was rapid fire progression. Initial witness interviews have indicated the fire was well developed by the time the second floor occupants realized a fire was going on."

Her evaluation echoed what spokesman J.D. Nelson of Alameda County Sheriff's Office told a press conference on Tuesday, that autopsies had revealed the victims died of smoke inhalation and not burns.

Before winding down the search operations, which had involved about 300 firefighters since around 11:30 p.m. Friday, a secondary search by recovery personnel and cadaver dogs was made and returned no additional victims.

While fire crew and heavy machinery were gone, few workers remained after midnight to remove debris from the warehouse. Also remained were shrines put up by mourners with flowers, candles, notes and others along sidewalks leading to the structure.

At 1:00 a.m., a young couple came up at one of the shrines. The woman wrote a few lines on a book there, about her prayers for the dead; and the man said he knew somebody among the victims through a friend.

At the time of the fire, an electronic music party was going on, supposedly from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m.

Oakland Fire Chief Teresa Deloach-Reed said on Saturday there was no sign of fire alarms and no evidence of a sprinkler system.

On Tuesday night, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf announced the release of the permit and complaint history from the past 30 years from the city's Planning and Building Department related to the warehouse.

By Wednesday morning, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office Coroner's Bureau has identified 35 of the 36 victims, mostly Californian residents in their 20s and 30s, and notified 32 families.

At an additional press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Snyder cautioned about speculations in media reports, saying there was no evidence that a refrigerator was the origin of the fire, and neither was arson.

"The digging part of the investigation is done, now is the analysis part," said Snyder.
BRASILIA, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian Supreme Court voted Wednesday that Renan Calheiros can keep his position as president of the country's upper house, but agreed to remove him from the presidential line of succession.

Supreme court Judge Marco Aurelio Mello said that it's "unacceptable and grotesque" that the Senate had contested his decision to remove Calheiros from his office. However, the move was reversed by 6 to 3 votes.

Another judge, Celso de Mello, suggested on Wednesday allowing Calheiros to stay in office, but depriving him of his eligibility for presidency.

Celso de Mello argued that removing Calheiros as Senate president could bring about negative consequences for its operation.

On Monday, Marco Aurelio Mello suspended Calheiros from his office after the court last week upheld embezzlement charges brought against the latter in 2013.

However, Calheiros refused to resign and said he would only do so upon a vote by the entire Supreme Court. On Tuesday, the Senate appealed to the court to reverse Marco Aurelio Mello's decision.

Calheiros was indicted on Dec. 1 on charges of using public money to pay off pending child support for an illegitimate daughter.

However, while he has survived this legal challenge, Calheiros is still embroiled in a number of corruption allegations concerning the national oil company Petrobras corruption ring.

The head of the Senate is ordinarily third in the line of succession in Brazil, behind the vice-president and the president of the Chamber of Deputies.
WELLINGTON, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Finance Minister Bill English was set Thursday to become New Zealand's next prime minister when the last remaining contender for the job pulled out of the race.

Rival and Health Minister Jonathan Coleman conceded defeat and congratulated English after 30 of the ruling center-right National Party's 59-strong Parliamentary caucus publically stated their support for English.

Earlier Thursday, Judith Collins, who holds the Police and Corrections portfolios, withdrew her candidacy and threw her support behind English.

The caucus is expected to officially elect English at a meeting on Dec. 12 when they will also select a new deputy prime minister.

The race for that post, which would open with English's promotion, is being contested so far by Transport Minister Simon Bridges and Climate Change Issues Minister Paula Bennett.

Outgoing Prime Minister John Key had endorsed English in his shock resignation speech on Monday, leading commentators to believe there might be a seamless transition, before the two contenders emerged.

English has reportedly offered Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce the key finance portfolio, should he become prime minister.

However, English declined to discuss policy changes or other Cabinet appointments when he answered questions at a standup press conference broadcast by Radio New Zealand after Coleman's concession.

"I won't be talking about being a prime minister until I am one," said English.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- The third China-U.S. ministerial dialogue on fighting cyber crimes was held here Wednesday.

The dialogue was co-chaired by China's State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun with U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson.

In his remarks to the meeting, Guo noted that under the auspices of Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama, China-U.S. cooperation in safeguarding cyber security is booming and has yielded positive outcomes in cracking down on cyber crimes and related matters.

Calling the current China-U.S. cooperation in cyber security a link between past and future, Guo proposed that the two sides press on in using the dialogue mechanism as the main channel for communication in tackling cyber security issues, give prompt and effective response to the requests from the other side, and constructively manage their differences.

The U.S. side said that China and the United States share common interests in fighting cyber crimes and protecting cyber security, and the high-level dialogue mechanism also serves as a crucial platform for candid communication and enhancing mutual understanding and trust between law enforcement officials of the two countries.

U.S. officials also called for continuing and developing the current dialogue mechanism to jointly fighting cyber crimes, including cyber terrorism and e-mail fraud.

The two sides agreed to convene the next cyber security ministerial dialogue in China in 2017.
People attend a rally calling for the resignation of South Korean President Park Geun-hye in Seoul, South Korea, on Dec. 3, 2016. South Koreans kicked off the sixth weekend rally on Saturday after President Park Geun-hye issued her third address to the nation earlier this week over a scandal involving herself and her longtime confidante. (Xinhua/Yao Qilin)

SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Demand grew in South Korea for the impeachment of embattled President Park Geun-hye ahead of vote on it in parliament, a local poll showed on Thursday.

The main opposition Minjoo Party's approval rating rose in tandem as they took the lead in proposing the bill to impeach President Park who is facing the biggest political crisis since she took office in early 2013.

According to a Realmeter survey between Monday and Tuesday, 78.2 percent said the scandal-hit president should be impeached, up 2.9 percentage points from the previous week.

Those who go against the impeachment was down 0.4 percentage points to 16.8 percent this week a day before the impeachment motion is put to vote in the National Assembly's plenary session.

Last Saturday, the 300-seat assembly put forward the motion as Park's third address to the nation over her scandal enraged South Koreans further for the absence of her sincere apology to wrongdoings.

Park was branded by prosecutors as a criminal accomplice to her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil, who has been indicted on multiple charges including abuse of power and extortion. Park became the first sitting South Korean leader to be investigated as a suspect.

To be passed through the unicameral assembly, the impeachment bill requires at least 28 ruling party lawmakers to vote in favor as there are 172 opposition and independent legislators.

Almost seven out of 10 South Koreans held President Park responsible for the initial bungling of government responses to one of the country's worst maritime disasters on April 16, 2014 when the sinking of ferry Sewol claimed more than 300 lives, mostly teenagers on a school trip to the southern resort island of Jeju.

According to the survey, 67.4 percent said Park's responsibility for the catastrophe should be included in the impeachment motion. Some of ruling Saenuri Party lawmakers had opposed it.

Support for the biggest opposition Minjoo Party marked the highest, since it changed the party name late last year, at 35.8 percent this week as it led the impeachment campaign. It was up 3.3 percentage points from a week earlier.

Approval for the ruling Saenuri Party was under half the Minjoo Party's support scores at 16.8 percent, down 1 percentage point from the previous week.

The governing party decided to allow its legislators to freely vote on the impeachment, but the party leadership still adheres to its initial proposal of letting the president resign by next April to hold an early presidential election two months later.

It was followed by minor oppositions People's Party and the Justice Party with approval scores at 12.1 percent and 4.8 percent respectively.

Among presidential hopefuls, Minjoo Party candidates distinguished themselves. Support for former Minjoo Party chairman Moon Jae-in gained 2.7 percentage points to 23.5 percent this week.

Moon ranked the first for six straight weeks since the presidential scandal emerged in October. He was the runner-up to President Park in the 2012 presidential election.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon maintained the second place with an approval rating of 18.2 percent, but it was down 0.7 percentage points from a week earlier as he is known to be close to President Park and the Saenuri Party.

Ban, former South Korean diplomat, hasn't clearly expressed his will to run for presidency, but he has regarded here as one of presidential hopefuls.

Lee Jae-myung, mayor of Seongnam city near capital Seoul, kept an upward momentum in approval rating for the fourth consecutive week at his highest of 16.6 percent, up 1.9 percentage points from a week ago.

Lee's popularity surged recently as he catered to public sentiment by demanding an immediate resignation and impeachment of President Park in an early stage of the presidential scandal.

The mayor of Seongnam having a population of about a million is famous for his social welfare policies, including postnatal care to new mothers, subsidies to 24-year-old youths and free uniforms to secondary school students.
By Matt Goss

MELBOURNE, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- China's position as a global leader on free trade will be enhanced by the death of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), experts have told the Boao Forum for Asia in Melbourne on Thursday.

Deming Chen, president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits and China's former commerce minister, said despite some optimism since the election of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States, the TPP is likely dead.

"I believe the TPP is dead before its birth," Chen said.

"It cannot be replaced but (in its place) we promote multilateral trade."

Chen said that as the United States becomes more isolated on a global scale, it would be up to China to lead the world on free trade.

He said that China's Belt and Road Initiative, which will see a huge infrastructure network connecting European and Asian countries, is one way that China could play as the world's foremost trading partner.

Ron Eddington, chairman of Infrastructure Australia and guest at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Peru in November, said the APEC summit was buoyed by China's affirmation that it would remain committed to free trade regardless of the sentiment overseas.

The death of the TPP will have little impact on Australia's economy as it is only a stepping stone for bigger deals such as the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) and will be replaced by the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Eddington said.

"Short term the focus will be on RCEP, longer term on FTAAP."

"I think there will be real focus on bilateral agreements and smaller multilateral agreements."

Frank-Jurgen Richter, chairman of Horasis: The Global Visions Community, concurred that the rise of protectionism in the world which makes him "extremely concerned" paved the way for China to lead the world on free trade.

"The European Union (EU) won't compromise on free trade and the free movement of people," Richter said.

"China is the new engine of globalization. It will be very active in defining the new era of free trade."

"We can all benefit from China's trade."

Dato Michael Yeoh, CEO of the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute and secretary general of the Asian Business Forum, said Australia should look to join the Belt and Road Initiative.

"OBOR (the One Belt and One Road Initiative) will enhance regional connectivity as well as increasing investment from China to the region," Yeoh said.

"Australia should become a part of OBOR and benefit from that increased connectivity."

He said that negotiating a Commonwealth free trade agreement would provide great economic benefits for Australia, a notion that Linda Yueh, director of the China Growth Centre at Britain's Oxford University, agreed with.

Yueh said that contrary to belief, Britain's vote to leave the European Union could create greater free trade opportunities with Britain rather than the country isolating itself.

"It's easier to do trade deals with a single country like the UK rather than the entire EU," Yueh said.

"Market access is what matters."

Eddington said the rising protectionist sentiment worldwide was misguided and that the United States has lost 80 percent of its jobs in the alst decade to technology rather than globalization.

Richter said that rather than focusing on issues within the United States such as a median wage that has stagnated for 40 years, President-elect Trump was instead trying to blame other countries such as China.

He said that rather than withdraw from global trade the United States should instead be focused on education reforms that were up to date with technological advancements so that the robots that were taking U.S. jobs were being built within the country rather than outside it.
WUHAN, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co., a 50-50 joint venture between China's Dongfeng Motor Corp. and Japan's Honda Motor Co., broke ground on a new factory in central China Thursday.

The new factory in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, will produce passenger cars in 2019.

With investment of 5.5 billion yuan (800 million U.S. dollars),the plant is the third one to be built by Honda and Dongfeng.

The new factory will initially produce 120,000 cars a year, including new-energy vehicles. Its annual capacity will eventually increase to 240,000, according to a statement from Dongfeng Honda.

Auto sales in China strengthened this year as fresh models were released to attract young and middle-class consumers. Sales of Dongfeng-Honda grew 47.8 percent to 520,000 units in the January-November period thanks to the popularity of the XR-V sport-utility vehicle, the Civic sedan and the Elysion MPV.

The venture has raised its 2016 sales target twice to the current 560,000 units despite its annual capacity limits of 512,000 at the two current factories in Wuhan, which have been in production since 2004 and 2012.

Honda also has a joint venture with GAC Group called Guangqi Honda. Located in the southern city of Guangzhou, it produces the Accord sedan and the Odyssey MPV, to name but a few.

Honda aims to increase sales in China to 1.07 million cars this year. It sold 1.01 million vehicles in 2015, a 32.5-percent rise from the previous year.
UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Wednesday called for a quick implementation of a political deal in Libya in order to stop fighting and form a national unity government in the North African country.

The 15-nation UN body, in a press statement issued here late Wednesday, said that the council members "expressed their deep concern over the challenging political and security context in Libya and the serious political polarization resulting in a deterioration of the security, economic and humanitarian situation."

The council members "further expressed their deep concern over the recent escalation of violence between armed groups in Tripoli, and called on all parties to immediately heed the Presidency Council's appeal to cease fighting," the statement said, adding that they condemned the actions of those calling for violence.

"The members of the Security Council reaffirmed their full support for the Libyan Political Agreement and called on all parties to accelerate its implementation," the statement said.

The statement added that almost one year has passed since the signing of the Libyan Political Agreement, the UN-mediated agreement achieved between two rival Libyan parliaments, the internationally-recognized Council of Deputies in Tobruk and the self-proclaimed Tripoli-based General National Congress.

According to the agreement, the participants in the Libyan dialogue will form a unity government to put an end to the violence and political chaos in Libya.

The statement came after the Security Council was briefed on Tuesday by the special representative of the UN secretary-general, Martin Kobler, who reported about the stalled implementation of the political agreement in Libya.

The Security Council also reiterated its "grave concern about the terrorist threat" in Libya and "urged Libyans across the political and security divide to unite and join forces under unified command in their fight against ISIL (the Islamic State, or IS) in the service of their country and called on armed actors to halt violence against civilians," the statement said.

Libya remains divided politically between two governments and parliaments, despite the UN-brokered peace agreement signed by the country's political rivals in December 2015. Enditem
WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- A new Bloomberg poll shows a majority of Americans think it is not necessary to force U.S. president-elect Donald Trump to sell his businesses in order to avoid conflicts of interest.

The poll released Wednesday shows 69 percent of the respondents believe it goes too far to force the New York real estate billionaire to sell all his businesses so that neither he nor his family could potentially profit from actions he takes as president.

The first Bloomberg National Poll since the Nov. 8 presidential election also found that 51 percent of those surveyed are very or mostly confident Trump will put the nation's best interests ahead of his family's finances when he deals with foreign leaders.

A few weeks after winning the election, Trump has suggested on Twitter that he will be leaving his great business "in total" in order to "fully focus on running the country." He has scheduled a news conference on Dec. 15 to address the topic.

"While I am not mandated to do this under the law, I feel it is visually important, as President, to in no way have a conflict of interest with my various businesses," he said on Twitter.

However, two-thirds of U.S. adults think Trump needs to choose between being president or a businessman, said the poll.

Trump sold all his stock holdings in June, his spokesman Jason Miller said Tuesday. The move shows the president-elect has begun to address concerns about potential conflict between his businesses and his career in White House.

Ethics experts have suggested that selling his corporate assets is the only sure way to separate them from his new position of power, according to Bloomberg News.

According to the New York Times, financial filings submitted by Trump and released in May by the Federal Election Commission show that as of that month, Trump's portfolio was worth at least 22 million U.S. dollars, and included a number of the country's best-known companies like Apple, Walmart and MasterCard.

Trump's largest single holding was a stake in a multistrategy fixed-income hedge fund managed by BlackRock that had a value of at least 25 million dollars, the New York Times said, adding it is not known if he sold that or smaller holdings.

In addition, the Bloomberg poll shows the American public also appear to be OK with Trump re-calibrating some of his campaign promises, including backing off from prosecuting his former Democratic rival Hillary Clinton over her private email server use, dumping Obamacare, and banning all Muslims from entering the United States.

According to the poll, 73 percent of the respondents are fine with Trump making adjustments to his positions, while only 20 percent of them view his change of tune as "broken promises."

It seems that Trump is still in his honeymoon period with the American public, but how long this could last remains to be seen.

The Bloomberg poll shows that 55 percent of the respondents say they're more optimistic about a Trump presidency because of his actions and statements since the election, while 35 percent are more pessimistic.

Like other winning candidates in the past, Trump enjoyed a post-election boost in popularity, but his favorable rate is still well behind President Barack Obama's 78 percent in a January 2009 Gallup poll after winning his first term.
Kenyan striking doctors do a mock resuscitation during a demonstration in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, Dec. 5, 2016. (Xinhua/Charles Onyango)

MAKUENI, Kenya, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has called on striking health workers in public hospitals to go back to work while lamented death of nearly 20 patients amid the nationwide walkout.

The doctors and nurses stopped working on Monday, demanding the implementation of a 2013 deal with the government on a 300 percent salary rise.

President Kenyatta, who is on a visit to eastern Kenya, said Wednesday a solution would be found to the issue but lamented the death of close to 20 patients since the strike started.

"Let us be human and be mindful of the lives of the patients. I am confident that we will find a solution to the problem," Kenyatta told health workers, saying that even when an agreement is reached, "those lives will have been lost".

He was speaking in Makindu town, Makueni County after he commissioned the Kenya Medical Training Center Makindu campus and launched medical equipment at the Makindu Sub-County Hospital.

His remarks came as Kenya's Labour Relations Court ordered leaders of the two health workers' unions organizing the strike to appear in court on December 13 over the defiance of a court order issued last week to suspend the then planned strike.

Judge Helen Wasilwa said she would issue arrest warrants if they failed to appear in court.

The authorities and the Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) agreed on Monday in a consultative meeting that within a period of one week, all counties should sign "Recognition Agreements" and within a period of 30 days they should negotiate and sign Collective Bargaining Agreements with the KNUN.

In Kenya, some health workers in public hospitals are paid by county governments.

Kenyatta on Wednesday said county governors and the ministry of health had been for weeks engaging the unions to resolve the matter and called on the striking health workers not to allow lives to be lost.

Meanwhile, KNUN Secretary-General Seth Panyako said on the same day they would not call off the strike until a harmonized Collective Bargaining Agreement was signed and a commitment to payments made.

"The strike is 100 percent successful and we will not back down. Disparities within the public sector must be corrected. We are asking the naysayers to watch us," Panyako said.
A black rhino walks on the savanna in Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve, on Aug. 16, 2015. (Xinhua/Sun Ruibo)

DAR ES SALAAM, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in Tanzania said they were investigating the mysterious disappearance of a black rhino from the east African nation's northern Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA).

Alexander Songorwa, Director of Wildlife in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, said they were investigating to establish how the rhino was reportedly sold to a private lodge in the Serengeti for 100,000 U.S. dollars.

"We are going through documents to establish how the rhino was sold," said Songorwa, adding that the findings will be submitted to Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa on Thursday.

On Tuesday, the Prime Minister ordered relevant authorities to give him full report on how the rhino was moved from its sanctuary in Ngorongoro to the Serengeti's Singita Sasakwa Lodge in the Grumeti Reserves located on the Serengeti plains.

The disappearance of the rhino named John was reported to the Prime Minister on Tuesday during his tour of the NCAA.

Majaliwa gave the officials two days to furnish him with information on details of the black rhino's sale along with an official report from a qualified wildlife veterinary officer to confirm whether the rhino had indeed died as reported by NCAA officials.

Majaliwa lashed out at both NCAA and Tanzania National Parks Authority officials for allegedly colluding to sell the otherwise endangered wild animal.

According to the Prime Minister, the black rhino was corruptly sold at a price of 100,000 US dollars with TANAPA officials cashing in 50,000 US dollars as an initial deposit by the buyer.
MELBOURNE, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- China's capacity to invest in other countries will be crucial to rescue the world economy, experts said at the Boao Forum for Asia in Melbourne on Thursday.

After a period of downturn following the global financial crisis, foreign direct investment (FDI) has recovered to 1.7 trillion U.S. dollars globally in 2015.

FDI is a practice whereby companies or individuals in one country make investments in establishing businesses or acquiring business assets in another country.

Andrew Parker, the leader of consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers Australia's Asian operation, said much of the FDI resurgence has been driven by China.

Ross Garnaut, an economics professor at the Australian National University (ANU) and one of the country's most respected policy experts, said China's vast wealth would be crucial in saving the global economy from this "very tough" period as the popularity of protectionism soars.

"(There has been) very little productivity growth in developed counties such as Australia, almost none in Australia," Garnaut said.

"China has a very big role in getting the world out of these difficulties," said Garnaut, adding that China has announced an ongoing commitment to free trade as the United States and Britain "back away."

Garnaut noted that China remaining open for business can have a very big impact on global financial flows. "China's savings today are as big as the whole world's combined savings when China joined the global economy in 1978," the expert said.

Andrew Martin, the managing director of asset management firm Moelis and Company, said the next wave of Chinese investment in Australia would come from high net-worth individuals, classified as individuals worth more than two million U.S. dollars.

China made a considerable investment in Victoria in 2016, most notably through a consortium which was 20 percent owned by China's CIC Capital buying the Port of Melbourne, Australia's busiest shipping port, for 7.2 billion U.S. dollars in September.
WELLINGTON, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Finance Minister Bill English was set Thursday to become New Zealand's next prime minister when they last remaining contender for the job pulled out of the race.

Rival and Health Minister Jonathan Coleman conceded defeat and congratulated English after 30 of the ruling center-right National Party's 59-strong parliamentary caucus publicly stated their support for English.

Earlier Thursday, Judith Collins, who holds the Police and Corrections portfolios, withdrew her candidacy and threw her support behind English.

The caucus is expected to officially elect English at a meeting on Dec. 12 when they will also select a new deputy prime minister.

The race for that post, which would open with English's promotion, is being contested, so far, by Transport Minister Simon Bridges and Climate Change Issues Minister Paula Bennett.

Outgoing Prime Minister John Key had endorsed English in his shock resignation speech on Monday, leading commentators to believe there might be a seamless transition, before the two contenders emerged.

English has offered Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce the key finance portfolio, should he become prime minister.

However, English declined to discuss policy changes or other cabinet appointments when he answered questions at a standup press conference broadcast by Radio New Zealand after Coleman's concession.

"I won't be talking about being a prime minister until I am one," said English.

English, 54, was a farmer in the far south of the South Island and policy analyst at the New Zealand Treasury before being elected to Parliament in 1990.

He became National Party leader in 2001 and led the party to its worst ever general election defeat in 2002.

He has been deputy to Key and Finance Minister since the National Party was returned to power in 2008.

The government must go back to the polls by September next year, although the new prime minister might seek an early general election.

English told Radio New Zealand Tuesday that the circumstances had changed since 2002.

"The National Party was different, the political environment was quite different, I've worked closely with the prime minister, learnt an awful lot in those 15 years and I think it's partly because of that experience can see the opportunities ahead," he said.

In terms of personality and background, English is commonly perceived to be as different from Key as he could be.

The self-deprecating Key has sold himself and the country over eight years in power on his outward optimism and ability to shrug off trouble, traits that have carried him on a rags-to-riches rise.

Key grew up in a state house in Christchurch before studying commerce at Canterbury University and going straight into investment banking.

It was a career that took him to Singapore and London as a foreign exchange dealer for Merrill Lynch, and made his fortune, but also earned him the nickname of "The Smiling Assassin" after he was told to sack 400 staff at the company's London office.

He was invited in 1999 to sit on the Foreign Exchange Committee of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and he also studied management at Harvard University on two occasions, all of which established a reputation for sound business sense.

English, on the other hand, has established a reputation as a dour policy wonk, with the gruff exterior of a stereotypical New Zealand farmer.

But together they formed one of the most rock-solid political partnerships in recent New Zealand history.

They will remembered for steering New Zealand through its economic recovery after the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 and the disastrous Canterbury earthquakes that killed 185 people in February 2011.

Treasury forecasts out Thursday confirmed English's handling of the books has resulted in expectations of growing government surpluses, although critics say that has been achieved by running down and starving public services.

English also faces a raft of problems, many of them persisting from the previous center-left Labour Party government.

The predominant challenge is a ballooning housing crisis that is rippling out from Auckland, New Zealand's largest city with a third of the population, as well as child poverty, and persistent criticisms of expanding economic inequality.

Most recently doctors, police, teachers and other essential public servants have been voicing growing agitation at diminishing resources after eight years of government belt-tightening.

With his center-right National Party rarely polling much short of 50 percent, unprecedented for a third-term government in New Zealand, but its success is often attributed to Key's personal popularity.

English might find a popular mandate might be tougher to earn than backing of his caucus colleagues.
BEIJING, December 8 (Xinhua) -- Russia and Turkey believe bilateral relations have turned a new page following Turkish Prime Minister Binaly Yildirim's two-day visit to Russia.

During the trip, both sides agreed to further strengthen cooperation, develop economic and trade ties and implement major joint programs.

However, Russian experts believe that while Russia-Turkey relations are in normalization mode, ties have not been restored to the level they were at a year ago before Turkey downed a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border.

Russia has not lifted restrictions on imports of agriculture and food products from Turkey, and the two nations still diverge on the Syrian crisis.

HOPES ON ENHANCING COOPERATION

Russian President Vladimir Putin, while receiving Yildirim upon his visit Tuesday, said the Turkish Prime Minister's visit would boost bilateral relations and lay the groundwork for a meeting of the two heads of state scheduled for next year.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev took note of such long-term joint projects as the Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline and Turkey's first nuclear power plant Akkuyu based on a Russian design while meeting with his Turkish counterpart Tuesday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a law on ratifying the agreement with Russia on the Turkish Stream. The Russian parliament is expected to ratify it in the near future, according to Medvedev.

The Russian head of government also said the Russian side has endeavored to put the first nuclear unit into use by 2030, when Turkey celebrates the 100th anniversary of its founding.

Medvedev and Yildirim covered the cancellation of the embargo on Turkish farm produce, but Russia is unlikely to lift the ban by the end of 2016, Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev said Tuesday.

Natalia Ulchenko, the sector chief of the Turkish Institute of Oriental Studies, said Russia is hesitant to drop the ban on Turkish agricultural products since it faces much pressure from the national agricultural ministry which supports domestic farm produce.

The Russian daily newspaper the Independent wrote that "Russia needs the 'Turkish Stream,' not Turkish tomatoes."

DIVERGENCE ON SYRIAN ISSUE

On the economic and trade fronts, tensions between Ankara and Moscow appear minimal. The real headache is political, as the two diverge greatly on some key issues related to the Syrian crisis, said Elena Suponina, adviser to the director of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies.

Suponina pointed out that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom Moscow supports, has been listed as a war criminal by Ankara.

Furthermore, the two countries hold different views on the terrorist threats Syria is facing. Russia believes that the extremist group ISIS and its allies are posing the greatest danger, while Turkey also points the finger at Kurdish militants who keep close contacts with the Kurdistan Workers' Party.

Both countries are working to overcome these differences to make sure they don't cloud economic prospects, Suponina noted.

Medvedev noted that both governments stress the need for the Syrian crisis to be resolved through dialogue among different Syrian parties.

Yildirim said Turkey wants to put an end to the humanitarian crisis in Syria and will sustain its fight against all terrorists.

Ulchenko held that if the fragile balance in Syria is destroyed, Russia-Turkey economic ties will suffer too.

MUTUAL NEEDS

Relations between the two countries soured last year after Turkey downed a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border, which Putin called a "stab in the back," and ordered a range of sanctions against Ankara, devastating the Turkish economy.

The eight-month-long period of icy relations began to thaw in June after Erdogan apologized for the downing incident, and Moscow began gradually lifting its restrictions on Ankara.

Putin met with the Turkish president in Russia's second largest city of St. Petersburg in August, after which the two have kept frequent phone conversations on bilateral ties and regional hot issues.

"I'm sure that with joint efforts we have turned a difficult page of Russian-Turkish relations and on a new foundation we can move forward. Today's talks gave it a necessary boost," Medvedev told reporters Tuesday after meeting with his visiting counterpart.

In an interview with Xinhua, Leonid Isaev, Middle East expert at Moscow's Higher School of Economics, said soured relations impact both economies. Since its ties with the EU have been deteriorating, Turkey is desperate to prove that it can survive without maintaining robust relations with Europe and can find powerful partners like Russia. Besides, the dynamic Syrian situation requires both countries keep in close contact.

Anna Glazova, deputy director of the state-funded Russian Institute of Strategic Research, said Moscow is a strategic spot for Ankara, which can feature its geopolitical importance and steer Western policies toward Turkey by strengthening its ties with Russia as well as grabbing real benefits from sound bilateral relations.

Nikita Isaev, director of the Russian Institute of Contemporary Economics, believes that Ankara is in greater need of normalizing ties with Moscow. He says Turkey only accounts for four percent of Russia's foreign trade.
URUMQI, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- No casualties have yet been reported after a magnitude 6.2 earthquake jolted Hutubi County in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region at 1:15 p.m. Thursday.

The epicenter is located at 43.83 degrees north latitude and 86.35 degrees east longitude. The quake struck at a depth of 6 km, and was strongly felt in Urumqi, the regional capital, and other places such as Ili and Shihezi in northern Xinjiang.

Hutubi is about 100 km away from Urumqi.

Wang Guiqin, a resident who lives on the second floor of a building in Hutubi, told Xinhua "the building was shaking and the lamp in my home looked like falling down. The hooks of the window curtain rang and the balcony door opened because of the shake," she said.

A Xinhua reporter in Urumqi said his office building shook for more than 10 seconds. Drink cans and bottles fell to the ground from shelves in a superstore in Urumqi.

A county official in Hutubi told Xinhua no houses collapsed in the urban area. Officials are checking the damage of two townships hit by the quake.

Fire fighters and quake officials are on their way to the county.
JAKARTA, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia has won 12 from a total of 16-category World Halal Tourism Awards this year, Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said on Thursday.

All of Indonesia's nominations grabbed international recognitions in the prestigious competition, according to the minister.

"We won in the last lap. This would be the first time for us to successfully win 75 percent of the categories in the competition," the minister said in a statement.

Results of the annual competition this year made Indonesia get more international recognitions in wider categories than that of last year that put West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) province's Lombok as the nation's single winner in world's best halal destination and best halal honeymoon destination categories.

Indonesia's resort island of Bali contributed to the nation's success in the halal tourism competition as it secured best family friendly hotel award.

West Java capital of Bandung and Jakarta contributed two awards for the categories of most luxurious family friendly hotel and best hajj operator respectively.

Indonesia is keen to attract more tourists in world's niche halal tourism as it promises great potentialities to boost the nation's tourism sector.

Twenty million foreign visitors are targeted by 2019 with earnings from the sector expected to reach more than 24 billion U.S. dollars by then.
BANGKOK, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Seven suspected drug traffickers were killed in a clash with Thai army rangers in northern Thailand on Thursday, police said.

A group of suspected drug traffickers had been spotted in a mountainous area in Mae Aye district of Chiang Mai province, which borders Myanmar, by the patroling rangers of Phamuang Task Force.

Seven of the unidentified suspects were killed in the 15-minute clash with the rangers while others escaped into the mountainous area.

The rangers seized an estimated 400,000 methamphetamine pills and more than 10 kilograms of heroin, contained in bags and left behind by the suspected traffickers, the police said.
MEXICO CITY, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The giraffe, the world's tallest land mammal, is now at risk of extinction as its global population plummeted by nearly 40 percent in the past 30 years, warned conservationists.

Its numbers have dropped from around 155,000 in 1985 to 97,000 in 2015, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The conservation status of giraffes was previously listed as "of least concern," but is now classed as "vulnerable" to extinction after the organization updated its global red list of threatened species recently.

Conservationists at a biodiversity meeting Wednesday in Mexico blamed habitat loss, civil unrest, poaching and ecological changes as the major threats to giraffes' existence.

Everyone assumes giraffes are everywhere, but their numbers have been plummeting, said Julian Fennessy, who co-chaired the IUCN giraffe specialist group, referring to what's happening to the creatures as a "silent extinction."

The species currently remains widespread across southern and eastern Africa, with smaller isolated populations in west and central Africa, according to the list.

The IUCN proposed typical conservation measures, such as habitat management and protection through law enforcement and community-based conservation initiatives.
BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, who boasts a 30-year relationship with China, to be the next U.S. ambassador in Beijing, a spokesman for Trump said Wednesday.

"The governor has a lot of experience and grasp of trade issues, agriculture issues and the understanding of China," Jason Miller told reporters.

Branstad, an early supporter of Trump, met with the president-elect in New York on Tuesday. He has accepted the offer, according to media reports.

"He's someone who has very much impressed President-elect Trump not just during the meetings but also on the campaign trail," Miller said. "We couldn't be prouder of the selection."

"It's very clear that Governor Branstad is someone who'll represent our country well on the world stage," he added.

Branstad, 70, has long nurtured a close relationship with China, having visited China multiple times. He served as the governor of Iowa between 1983 and 1999, and again since 2011.

In 1985, Xi Jinping, then party secretary of Zhengding County in the Chinese province of Hebei, led an agricultural delegation to Iowa and stayed with a local family for two days.

Branstad, the Iowa governor at the time, met Xi for the first time and hosted Xi and his colleagues warmly.

During his visit to the United States in 2012, Xi, then Chinese vice president, went to Iowa for a reunion with the family that hosted his delegation 27 years ago. Branstad and Xi met again on the occasion.

During Xi's state visit to the United States in September 2015, Branstad flew to Washington to take part in a welcoming banquet for the Chinese president.

Pundits believed Branstad's expertise on China and friendship with Chinese and U.S. leaders would facilitate him in lubricating the development of the most important bilateral relationship in the global political arena.

His longtime relationship with China could help smooth things out. His personal touch could go a long way in avoiding conflicts caused by miscommunication or misinterpretation.

It is widely believed that the nomination sent a positive signal to the development of the China-U.S. relations amid a mixture of messages from Trump over his attitude toward China.
UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday called for efforts to promote the rule of law on the oceans and seas and maintain a fair and reasonable maritime order.

Wu Haitao, the deputy permanent representative of China to the United Nations, made the statement as he was taking the floor at the UN General Assembly on the topic of oceans and the law of the sea.

With the concerted efforts of China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries, the situation in the South China Sea is moving toward a positive direction as the issue is returning to the right path of negotiated discussion, Wu said.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea has set down balanced provisions regarding the rights and obligations of states parties in the peaceful use and conservation of the oceans and seas, Wu said. He added that all parties must interpret and apply the convention and its dispute settlement mechanism with good will and in an accurate and comprehensive manner.

Right now, the attention of the international community is focused on the negotiations on an international agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction, he noted.

"The new agreement must not compromise the rights of navigation, scientific research, fishing and mining that countries enjoy under the convention," he said.

"Parties should engage in thorough exchanges and consultations during the negotiations, fully consider the legitimate need of countries, developing countries in particular, to use marine biological resources, and advance the negotiating process steadily. It is undesirable to seek a result in haste," he said.

China appreciates the positive contributions by the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf to the maintenance of the balance between the legitimate rights and interests of coastal states on the one hand and the overall interests of the international community on the other, and to the promotion of the stability of the international maritime order, he said.

Meanwhile, the senior Chinese diplomat also called for efforts to strengthen international cooperation to realize the sustainable development of the oceans and seas.

China has put forward the initiatives of developing a "blue economy" and building "the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road," which are believed to greatly promote international cooperation on maritime affairs, he said.

"The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development sets a higher bar for us in the protection and sustainable use of the oceans and seas," he said.

"We must foster the awareness of a community of shared future for mankind, engage in close cooperation, and join hands in tackling various challenges related to the oceans and seas," he said.
BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's planned trip to Pearl Harbor under the cloak of "peace" and "reconciliation" will not distract the world from his administration's real pursuit of militarism.

During the Dec. 26-27 visit and accompanied by U.S. President Barack Obama, Abe will become the first sitting Japanese prime minister to visit the site of a Japanese sneak attack on Dec. 7, 1941.

"This visit is an opportunity to remember those who died in war, demonstrate a resolve that the horrors of war must never be repeated, and at the same time send a message about the reconciliation between Japan and the United States," claimed Abe's top spokesperson, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshida Suga.

Perhaps there's been reconciliation between Japan and the United States. But what about reconciliation between Japan and its Asian neighbors?

Asian countries suffered greatly when Japanese militarism ran riot during the World War II.

The issue of "comfort women," the Nanjing Massacre, the Manila massacre and plenty more crimes committed by the Imperial Japanese Army have yet to spur any sincere apology from the Abe administration.

On the contrary, the Abe administration has unveiled plans to reinforce the nation's missile defense system and expand its defense budget.

These are steps toward Abe realizing his ultimate dream of militarism, which will escalate tensions and undermine peace and stability in the region.

The moves also runs counter to the trend of peace and development and win-win regional cooperation; it is unlikely to win the trust of its Asian neighbors and the international community.

The Pearl Harbor trip is expected to earn some bonus points for Abe's failed foreign diplomacy and also show the incoming Donald Trump administration that Japan is still America's loyal ally.

However, what kind of signal is the Abe administration sending to the world with a visit to Pearl Harbor? Not a good one. Japan is extending a friendly hand to the United States, its former foe in war, whereas it continues to turn a blind eye to its wartime atrocities in Asia while sharpening its militarism knife.

Under the banners of seeking "peace" and "reconciliation" with America, the Abe administration can not hide its revisionist view of war history and ignore the crimes of its past.

Past examples always serve as a warning to later generations. The United States and the world must wake up to the Abe administration's true intention of militarism under its shameful guise of peace.
by Peter Mertz

DENVER, United States, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's campaign rhetoric about building a "Great Wall" between the United States and Mexico is evaporating like a mirage in America's vast southwest desert.

"Most of his supporters knew the Great Wall was baloney," James Ryder, a Denver Republican strategist, told Xinhua on Tuesday.

"But they don't care -- he can do whatever he wants," the 62-year-old lifelong Republican insider said. "They just wanted a change in Washington and to keep (Democratic candidate Hillary) Clinton out of the White House."

"I will build a great, great wall on our southern border ... and I will make Mexico pay for that wall," Trump regurgitated many times during the heated 2016 presidential campaign. "It is something that can be absolutely done ... and not done at tremendous cost."

Less than a month after one of the most contentious and controversial elections in U.S. history, words of Trump's drum-beat-themed "Great Mexico Wall" have all but vanished in the wind.

Last week Trump admitted that he would consider "fencing" and other budget-conscious alternatives to stop illegal immigrant from crossing the 2,000-mile-long U.S.-Mexico border.

His top advisor Newt Gingrich even referred to the wall as a "campaign device" the day after the election.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, told CBS News on Sunday that the wall would be "a fence in places, or a barrier, or something else that secures the border." He also rejected Trump's idea of a deportation force to send undocumented immigrants out of the United States, another retreat from a campaign promise.

But at a Dec. 1 victory rally in Cincinnati, Trump supporters were still screaming the chant, "Build the Wall!"

"When Trump compared the Great Wall of China to his Mexico-USA wall, we all laughed," Denver college history professor and WWII veteran John Yee told Xinhua.

Yee was a member of the legendary Flying Tigers (1941-1942) and worked in the control room with Claire Lee Chennault, one of the top generals in U.S. history.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto says he won't pay for the wall. And a 2015 CNBC study said the 2,000-mile-long wall would cost tens of billions of dollars and was virtually impossible due to easements and private property ownerships.

"It brought American politics down to a new, low level," Seattle attorney and Washington insider David Richardson told Xinhua. Richardson spent years working on Capitol Hill in the 1980s and was an activist during the administration of Ronald Reagan.

"(The wall) is an easy, symbolic scapegoat for many who lost their manufacturing jobs to the forces of technological automation and the competitive global market. The wall said: keep out competition," Richardson told Xinhua.

"The Chinese built the greatest wall in the history of the earth, and it didn't keep anybody out," emphasized Yee, who taught Chinese history at the University of Colorado in the 1960s. "If you study history for five minutes you realize all these walls never worked ... they never stopped anybody ... from Troy, to the Maginot Line, to Hadrian's Wall, to the Ming Dynasty's 13,000-mile wall," he added.

And, as many predicted, Trump's "Great Wall" has now faded into obscurity. "Sure, he will build some wall sections, put up fences, and the media will make a big deal about it ... but it's all for show," Richardson said. "The unbelievable thing is, it worked."
RAMALLAH/JERUSALEM, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Israeli security forces shot and killed a Palestinian youth after he allegedly tried to stab them in West Bank on Thursday, the latest in a yearlong wave of violence.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said in an emailed press release that it was informed that a Palestinian was killed after Israeli soldiers opened fire on him at an Israeli military checkpoint near Nablus city.

Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the suspect moved toward a group of border police, pulling out a knife; the police responded with gunfire, killing the man on the spot.

Governor of Nablus Akram Rajoub condemned the incident and told Xinhua that the Israeli army "targets Palestinian youth to kill them."

"We observe a systematic policy by the occupation army, giving clear directives to its soldiers to shoot to kill," Rajoub said. "Otherwise we would not have seen that the result of each shooting is death."

Two weeks ago, security guards shot dead another Palestinian youth after he allegedly pulled a knife at a guard in the Shuafat neighborhood in East Jerusalem.

A wave of violence in the West Bank and Israel has claimed the lives of at least 235 Palestinians and 34 Israelis since September 2015.

Israel says that most of the Palestinians were killed while perpetrating or attempting to perpetrate stabbing, car-ramming, and shooting attacks.

The Palestinians and human rights organizations say that Israel is using excessive force to quell the uprising, and in many cases, kill Palestinians who could be stopped without using lethal force. Some of the casualties were mistaken to be attackers, according to Palestinian officials and rights groups.

Israeli leaders accuse the Palestinian National Authority of "inciting" the unrest, while the Palestinians say it is the result of nearly 50 years of Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

More than 5 million Palestinians now live in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
HAMBURG, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Ministerial Council convened here Thursday its 23rd annual meeting to discuss security issues including conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

The Ministerial Council, composed of the foreign ministers of the OSCE participating states, is the central decision-making and governing body of the organization.
Photo taken on Dec, 6. 2016 shows the 53-meter ruined Buddha in Bamyan province, Afghanistan. Both the 53-meter and 35-meter tall Buddhas carved in the fourth and fifth centuries by devotees into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan valley were vandalized by Taliban militants in March 2001, leading to harsh criticism and strong oppositions by both Afghan and the international community. (Xinhua/Jawid Omid)

by Abdul Haleem, Jawid Omid

BAMYAN, Afghanistan, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- "Its natural beauty, panoramic landscapes, historical monuments, hospitable people and, above all, its peaceful environment, has lured me to Bamyan," tourist Mohammad Haroon told Xinhua recently.

Visiting the site of the giant Buddha ruins and lambasting the Taliban for blowing up the cultural heritage with dynamite, Haroon protested that the hardliner group, by destroying a Buddha effigy, had committed a crime against humanity.

Located in central Afghanistan and surrounded by mountains, half rocky hilltops, plain flats, green valleys, clean streams and boasting countless monuments, Bamyan is widely regarded as the most peaceful province in militancy-plagued Afghanistan.

In addition to having cultural heritages including the famous giant Buddhas and thousands of nearby caves historically used by monks before reaching Mecca and Medina in the years after the 7th century, Afghanistan's first-ever national park, the Band-e-Amir, comprises seven natural blue lakes which add to its outstanding beauty.

Although there are few facilities and amenities to accommodate tourists in the national park, hundreds of nature lovers visit the Band-e-Amir every day in autumn and winter, according to locals residing around the sapphire blue lakes.

The numbers of visitors, including foreigners, spikes in the earlier months, however, reaching more than 1,000 people everyday in spring and summer to the resplendent national park.

Located just two km away from the seven blue lakes of Band-e-Amir are hilltops used by skiers in winter to enjoy the sport and countless numbers of males and females are breaking with tradition and learning how to ski.

"We thank God that the number of tourists including foreigners has been on a constant rise in Bamyan province over the past couple of years," Ishaq Azizi, director of the Tourism Department and acting director of the Culture Office in Bamyan, told Xinhua.

He also added that some 4,500 local tourists and more than 300 foreign sightseers visited Bamyan in 2015 and that the number has increased in the current year.

Many of the tourists visiting Bamyan are interested in seeing the giant Buddhas, the official said, adding that he is hopeful to see the monuments restored to their former splendor, with support for the international community.

Restoration of the Buddhas, according to Azizi, would increase the number of tourists to Bamyan.

Although he could not give an exact figure of future revenue estimates from tourism, he said hundreds of thousands of people benefit directly and indirectly from tourism in the region.

"The number of local tourists to Bamyan has increased to 5,700 so far in 2016 compared to 4,500 in 2015," Abdul Hamid Jalya, director of protecting historical monuments in Bamyan province, told Xinhua.

In addition to local sightseers touring Bamyan in the current year, 422 foreign tourists have also visited the province in 2016.

"A total of 422 foreign tourists, of which 66 were American, 50 French and 12 Chinese, visited Bamyan's tourist sites and especially the Buddhas' ruins," Jalya said.

In 2015, according to the official, only 320 foreign tourists visited Bamyan.

Jalya, who is also in charge of monitoring the work for construction of protective walls to keep the destroyed Buddha from further crumbling, said he was hopeful that the restoration of the Buddhas would attract more local and foreign tourists to Bamyan.

Both the 53-meter and 35-meter tall Buddhas carved in the fourth and fifth centuries by devotees into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan valley were vandalized by Taliban militants in March 2001, leading to harsh criticism and strong oppositions by both Afghan and the international community.

The prominent factors that differentiate Bamyan from other provinces and attract so many tourists is its peaceful environment, law-obedient people and its hardworking men and women.

Contrary to other parts of the conservative country, women in Bamyan contribute to building their families' economy.

The first female governor in Afghanistan was based in Bamyan some four years ago and presently women are leading their own businesses and have handicraft shops in Bamyan city.

"We have local and foreign customers and at least 10 foreigners visit my shop everyday and buy my products," Masooma Ibrahim, a local businesswoman who runs a handicrafts shop in "Women Market" said.

"The peaceful surroundings, warm hospitality, historical monuments and such beautiful landscape see us returning here year after year, we love Bamyan so very much," a visiting couple from the Netherlands told Xinhua.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of Central Military Commission, speaks at a two-day meeting on ideological and political work in China's universities and colleges, which wound up on Dec. 8, 2016 in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese president Xi Jinping has said the ideological work in colleges should be integrated into the whole process of education, calling for firm Party leadership in higher education.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of Central Military Commission, made the remarks at a two-day meeting on ideological and political work in China's universities and colleges, which wound up Thursday.
MOSCOW, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Russia and the United States are close to reaching an understanding on the settlement of Syria's Aleppo, as the Syrian army has made major breakthroughs recently in its offensive to the rebel-held city, local media reported Thursday.

The Interfax news agency quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying that Moscow and Washington are conducting intense exchanges on the situation in Aleppo and "the situation there is changing every hour."

"We are close to reaching an understanding. But I would like to caution against any heightened expectations," Ryabkov was quoted as saying.

Moscow and Washington have resumed consultations recently on the Syrian settlement after the U.S. suspended dialogue with Russia in early October.

On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met in Rome, where they agreed on a plan that would allow all militants to withdraw from eastern Aleppo.

Lavrov and Kerry met again in Hamburg, Germany, on Wednesday to discuss the ongoing multilateral efforts to achieve a cessation of hostilities in Aleppo, according to the U.S. State Department.

Kerry said discussions with Lavrov will continue on Thursday.
German Foreign Minister and the 2016 Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Chairperson-in-Office Frank-Walter Steinmeier speaks during a press conference before the opening session of the 23rd annual meeting of OSCE Ministerial Council in Hamburg, northern Germany, Dec. 8, 2016. The OSCE Ministerial Council convened Thursday its 23rd annual meeting to discuss security issues including conflicts in Ukraine and Syria. (Xinhua/Shan Yuqi)

HAMBURG, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Ministerial Council convened here Thursday its 23rd annual meeting to discuss security issues including conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

The two-day meeting, a gathering some 50 foreign ministers from across the OSCE region, was inaugurated by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, also the 2016 OSCE Chairperson-in-Office.

In his opening speech, Steinmeier said it's "indispensable" that a strong OSCE is needed now more than ever for a secure Europe, adding that OSCE is a platform to keep up dialogue between East and West.

The Ministerial Council, composed of the foreign ministers from OSCE participating states, is the central decision-making and governing body of the organization.
BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- China's procuratorates have filed for two former senior officials and two chairmen of large state-owned enterprises to stand trial.

Ai Baojun, former vice mayor of Shanghai Municipality, will stand trial for embezzlement and accepting bribes after an investigation by Zhangzhou Municipal People's Procuratorate in southeast China's Fujian Province, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said.

Pan Yiyang, former vice chairman of the government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, will defend himself against charges of accepting and giving bribes, the charges were put forward by the First Branch of Tianjin Municipal People's Procuratorate.

Guangzhou Municipal People's Procuratorate has initiated prosecution procedures against Song Lin, former chairman of China Resources Group, who is suspected of accepting bribes and embezzlement.

Deng Qilin, former chairman of Wuhan Iron and Steel (Group) Corp.,will stand trial on charges of accepting bribes, following an investigation by Foshan Municipal People's Procuratorate in south China's Guangdong Province.

Procuratorates informed the four defendants of their litigation rights, questioned the defendants and heard the opinions of their defense teams.
DHAKA, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Bangladeshi government has reached an agreement with the state-owned China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau (CPP) for a project to set up a 220-km pipeline to carry oil from tankers in the Bay of Bengal to storage plants on the mainland.

Bangladesh's cabinet committee on economic affairs had earlier given the go-ahead to the Chinese firm for engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning for installation of single point mooring with 220 km double pipelines.

Officials say the project cost stands at 54.26 billion taka (about 694 million U.S. dollars), with China Exim Bank giving about 550 million U.S. dollars in low-cost loans.

The project is expected to be completed by 2018 in line with an agreement signed here Thursday between the CPP and the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), a state run organization.

Zhao Yujian, head of CPP, and Sayed Mohammad Mozammel Haque, director of BPC, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective sides in the capital Dhaka Thursday.

Officials say once the project is implemented, the new infrastructure will help unload crude oil from mother vessels in the Bay of Bengal.

They said the new infrastructure with annual unloading capacity of 9 million tonnes will pave the way for unloading 120,000 tonnes of crude oil in 48 hours and 70,000 tonnes of diesel in 28 hours.

Under the project, BPC officials said the Chinese firm will build 146-km offshore pipeline and 74-km onshore pipeline to carry imported oil from deep sea to a refinery in Chittagong district, some 242 km southeast of the capital Dhaka, for processing.

The project has been launched as Bangladesh is not currently in a position to handle large vessels carrying imported crude and finished oil because of low navigability of a key river channel and constrained facilities at the principal seaport in Chittagong.

Against this backdrop, according to the officials, currently large tankers anchor at deep sea and smaller ships unload them, taking lots of time and causing systematic losses for the government.

Nasrul Hamid, Bangladeshi state minister for power and energy, said the new infrastructure will help the country to hasten the entire process and save about 1 billion taka (about 12.5 million U.S. dollars) a year in reduced vessel fare and operational loss.

According to project details, a diesel and crude oil storage tank will be set up at Moheshkhali Island on the Bay of Bengal under Bangladeshi Cox's Bazar district, some 391 km southeast of the capital Dhaka.
Photo taken on April 2, 2011 shows medical members give an operation in "mobile hospital" donated by China in Chongwe District, Zambia. (Xinhua/Meng Jing)

NAIROBI, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government, through the ministry of science and technology, on Wednesday donated four modular container clinics to the Kenyan ministry of health to boost response to killer diseases in underserved Kenyan regions.

Developed by an institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the state-of-the-art mobile clinics will deliver advanced health care services to disadvantaged communities in Kenya.

Speaking at the handover ceremony of the mobile health facilities in Nairobi, the Economic Counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Kenya, Guo Ce, said that Sino-Kenya bilateral cooperation in healthcare delivery had reached a critical milestone.

"The modular container clinic project is an important step under the program for healthcare science and technology," Guo remarked, adding that customized mobile containers could be a respite to healthcare delivery challenges in remote parts of Kenya.

The mobile clinics are assembled using modern Chinese technology and their design is sensitive to the local environment in Kenya.

These facilities, which will be operational from February next year, will offer convenient screening and treatment of fatal ailments that blights communities in marginalized areas.

Guo said the donation of container modular clinics reaffirmed China's commitment to helping African countries improve health care services against a backdrop of a rising burden of infections and lifestyle diseases.

Errol King, Director of Synergy Innovations Limited that has partnered with the Chinese to implement the modular container clinic project in Kenya, said the project will offer durable solution to the country's endemic health care provision challenges.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi speaks during a press conference in Rome Dec 5, 2016. Matteo Renzi on early Monday announced resignation, as exit polls showed the Sunday referendum opposed constitutional reforms. [Photo/Xinhua]

ROME - Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi formally resigned Wednesday evening but President Sergio Mattarella asked his cabinet stay in office for day-to-day administration before handing over to a transition government.

He formally handed in his resignation to Mattarella after the country's 2017 budget was approved in Senate.

Renzi's resignation came three days after he suffered a sounding defeat in a referendum on a cabinet-backed constitutional reform held on Sunday.

Renzi had already submitted his resignation on Monday, but was asked by the president to remain in office until the budget bill passed, which happened Wednesday afternoon.

The resignation now opened the way for the president to launch a round of talks with all party leaders in order to name a new prime minister, and form a transition government.

Renzi's cabinet would remain in office for handling the state's administrative affairs, while the president "will start consultations at 6 pm (1700 GMT)

on Thursday," Secretary General to the Presidency of the Republic Ugo Zampetti stated. The first round of talks is expected to end by Saturday.

Earlier in the afternoon, Renzi had gathered the leadership of his center-left Democratic Party(PD), which is the largest in parliament, to outline its political strategy for the government crisis.

"Our party does not fear democracy, nor vote. As such, if the other political forces want early elections, they just have to say it clearly," Renzi said, referring to the other parties calling for early elections.

He added the PD would also be open to a national unity government including all major parties, with the aim of overseeing a new electoral law, and the international appointments awaiting Italy in 2017.
MOGADISHU, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has decried the use of child soldiers by armed groups in Somalia.

Francisco Madeira, Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission for Somalia, said armed groups in Somalia had many child soldiers within their ranks, hence the need for a collective approach to enhance the war against the vice.

"If we manage to make the extremist ideology unattractive, and if we manage to tackle the problem of child soldiers, Al-Shabaab (Islamist group) will be wiped out because they will have nowhere to recruit soldiers," Madeira said in a statement released on Thursday.

According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), there could be as high as 5,000 child soldiers in Somalia as Al-Shabaab, which has been battling the Somali government, continues its recruiting campaigns.

Madeira said the continued recruitment and use of child soldiers by armed groups in Somalia was a contributing factor to the protracted nature of the conflict in the country.

"Children are fighting wars created by adults," Madeira told a three-day workshop on the prevention of recruitment of child soldiers in Mogadishu.

The AU envoy said key in the campaign would be to counter radicalization and extremist ideology used by militants to influence young people into joining armed groups.

Militant groups such as Al-Shabaab have for long exploited the high poverty rates in Somalia to recruit vulnerable children.

AMISOM's Child Protection Advisor, Musa Gbow, cited Somalia's vast and rugged terrain as one of the challenges the AMISOM had faced in trying to liberate children in armed groups.
BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Ma Huisen used to have four or five lunches a day, though not because he was gluttonous, but because officials were taking advantage.

"We received many officials coming for 'inspection,'" said the vice Party chief of Ulagan County, western China's Qinghai Province. By "inspection" he actually means "travelling."

The salt lake in Ulagan County is a popular tourist attraction, and it receives many groups of visiting officials every day. To show their hospitality, local officials would once accompany them on their entire journey. After the initiation of China's anti-corruption campaign, featuring the "Eight-point Rules," launched December 2012, Ma felt relieved.

"We don't have to drink so much liquor and spend so much time chatting around the dinner table," he said. "Now we can focus on improving people's livelihoods."

Friday is International Anti-Corruption Day, four days after the fourth anniversary of the release of the "Eight-point Rules". The rules, aimed at curbing extravagance and improving officials' work style, ban red carpet official receptions, the use of public vehicles for private affairs, pro forma meetings and traffic disturbances such as road closures for officials, and order austerity in official meals, travel and housing.

Many Chinese, civil servants and ordinary people saw changes in their daily lives.

Hu Xianmin (a pseudonym) has been working as a driver in a government department in northern China's Shanxi Province for 16 years. He did not need to buy his own car until 2014.

"We once took pride in being able to use public vehicles," he said. In 2003 when his nephew was admitted into a university, he drove him to Beijing in a public vehicle..

Now all public vehicles in his department have been installed with GPS. Every evening the vehicles must be driven back to the garage.

"In the past when we went to the counties, local government officials gave us local specialties as gifts," Hu said. "Now we dare not receive such gifts. Those who violates the 'Eight-point Rules' will receive a public warning."

Zhang Xiaofeng, inspection officer with the party discipline commission in eastern China's Shandong Province, has been involved in the province's discipline investigation of 19,235 civil servants, 8,583 of which were given discipline punishments since the start of the thrift campaign.

Chinese are known for cherishing their personal image.

"We found that naming discipline offenders in public is a harsh penalty for civil servants, and is effective in preventing others from the same wrongdoings," the discipline officer said.

During the past four years, expenditure on public vehicles dropped from 4.4 billion yuan (639.5 million U.S. dollars) a year to 3 billion yuan, according to the Communist Party of China's (CPC) anti-graft agency.

Nearly 200,000 Party and government staff had been punished for violating the rules in the past four years, with many holding senior positions.

These people were involved in more than 146,400 cases, about a quarter of which involved use of public vehicles and dining out on public funds, the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said.

An unnamed owner of a high-end restaurant in Hefei, capital of eastern China's Anhui province, told Xinhua that his business suffered difficulties following the regulation, because few officials dared to feast at his restaurant. The restaurant now has a buffet.

Sun Liqing, Party chief with the Dinggang community of Hefei, attends fewer meetings than before.

"I have been working in the community level for nearly 30 years, and I know that in the past we needed to attend numerous meetings," he said. "Efficiency has been greatly improved."

"In the past four years, officials' working style has changed," said Xin Ming, a professor with the CPC Party School of the Central Committee.

"It is a good beginning for strict governance of the Party," he said.

In spite of the achievements, the anti-corruption campaign is not all plain sailing.

Zhao Xiaofeng in Shandong now feels his work is getting more and more difficult, as grassroots officials have become very cautious when tempted to profiteer from the power given by their posts.

Discipline inspectors have had to trace lavish banquets from hotels and private clubs, and records of them happening mysteriously disappear. License plates of government vehicles are covered with private license numbers when the cars are in private use.

Inspectors have found more than 930 fake license plates on government vehicles since 2014.

"The anti-corruption drive must maintain high pressure. More sophisticated discipline inspection measures should be used to fight new types of corruption," he said.

"The campaign has lasted for four years," said Ma Huisen. "How we maintain momentum is a problem that everyone is facing."
BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy on Thursday commemorated the 70th anniversary of the recovery of the Xisha and Nansha Islands.

In compliance of the Cairo Declaration and Potsdam Proclamation, China in November and December 1946 designated officials to proceed to the Xisha and Nansha Islands by four warships to take over the islands, illegally occupied by Japan.

Ceremonies were held to demonstrate that China resumed the exercise of sovereignty over the islands.

"Recovering these islands was an important achievement of China's war against aggression, demonstrating that China was firmly safeguarding the post-war international order and affirming the nation as defending its rights and interests in the South China Sea," said PLA Navy Commander Wu Shengli at the commemoration.

Wu said construction on the islands and reefs are "lawful, justified, and reasonable" being in Chinese territory.

China is committed to resolving the disputes in a peaceful manner through negotiations and consultations, controlling differences through regulations and achieving a win-win solution through mutually beneficial cooperation, Wu said.

He stressed that history should be respected, and stability maintained by strengthening mutual trust and deepening cooperation, so that peace and development in countries in the South China Sea is assured.
BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- China will continue to develop intelligent manufacturing in the next five years to digitize the country's manufacturing sector and generate new growth impetus.

By 2020, key areas of China's traditional manufacturing will be upgraded to digital manufacturing, according to the 2016-2020 plan on intelligent manufacturing development released on Thursday.

The five-year plan, jointly released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Finance, said intelligent manufacturing improves production efficiency, reduces costs and energy consumption, and fosters new growth impetus.

In the next five years, China will research and develop a set of key technical equipment for intelligent manufacturing, make key technological breakthroughs in intelligent manufacturing and set intelligent manufacturing standards, said the plan.

China will establish a support system for intelligent manufacturing by 2025, according to the plan.

Intelligent manufacturing is the core of China's "Made in China 2025" plan rolled out in May 2015 to shift the country away from low-end manufacturing to more value-added production.

The national plan focuses on 10 priority sectors, including advanced rail, aviation and aerospace, agricultural machinery and technology, and new generation information technology.
ADDIS ABABA, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The 5th Retreat of the African Union (AU) Executive Council kicked off Thursday to discuss progress of Agenda 2063 and the continent's major socio-economic and political issues.

The two-day meeting, held at the AU headquarter in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, gathers foreign ministers of the AU member states to exchange views.

In her opening remarks, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the AU Commission, called on AU member states and stakeholders to play their role towards the realization of Agenda 2063.

The chairperson highlighted the need to harness Africa's natural resources towards job creation, industrialization, food security and transformation.

"On a global level, there are also many opportunities and challenges, and Africa must continue to position itself in such a manner that advances its agenda," noted Dlamini-Zuma.

Ethiopian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Workneh Gebeyehu, reiterated that ministerial retreats are valuable opportunities for AU member states to deliberate on continental priority issues.

"The domestication of Agenda 2063 into our national development policies is, indeed, a priority that requires our full attention during this retreat," he said.
HAMBURG, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Foreign ministers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) met in the German city of Hamburg on Thursday to discuss security issues including conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

In his opening speech, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that a strong OSCE is needed now more than ever for a secure Europe, adding that the OSCE is a platform for dialogue between the East and the West.

2016 is a stormy year when structures of dialogue and cooperation are needed, he told the participants.

A cease-fire in Ukraine requires political will, said Steinmeier, noting that all sides must proceed toward the goal by faithfully implementing the various agreements reached in Minsk.

The OSCE Ministerial Council is the central decision-making and governing body of the OSCE. The annual council meeting provides the foreign ministers of the 57 OSCE participating states an opportunity to review and assess the organization's activities and strengthen the dialogue on security issues in the OSCE area.
KIGALI, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Africa's poor infrastructure is threatening to black out its ambitious digital revolution, experts have said at the regional International Telecommunication Union conference in Kigali, Capital of Rwanda.

Information technology experts observed that poor transport, communication and energy infrastructures pose a serious threat to digital revolution especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

Rwanda is hosting the ICT forum on Dec. 6-8 ahead of the World Telecommunication Development Conference 2017 (WTDC-17) in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Speaking at the meeting on Thursday, Ibrahim Sanou, director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), said that due to poor infrastructure development, Africa's share of global technological revolution is drastically disproportionate to its population.

"Africa should not wait until the train of the next industrial revolution has passed to play catch up," Sanou said.

"Digital transformation of African economies is lucrative. This means Africa will register sudden improvements to education, health, Agriculture, communication, trade and political spheres," he said.

In the last five years, Africa has undergone a phenomenon that analysts refer to as the continent's "digital revolution." However, inadequate or poor infrastructure development has derailed the growth of technology advancements.

The meeting attracted ICT policy-makers, regulators, industry, academia, regional and international development agencies and organizations from Africa and beyond to discuss specific regional telecommunication and ICT issues.

According to the World Bank, only 40 percent of Africans have a reliable energy supply, and just 20 percent of people on the continent have Internet access.

Jean Philbert Nsengimana, Rwandan minister of youth and ICT, said that addressing infrastructure challenges in Africa means advancing digital revolution.

"We are at the dawn of a technological revolution that will change almost every part of our lives. We need to ensure that this wave of digital revolution is supported by investments in infrastructural growth to enable smooth transition from analog to digital technologies," he noted.

ICT analysts say the construction of undersea fiber-optic cables, coupled with a full embrace of mobile technology, is yet to redefine sub-Saharan Africa's information communication technologies' landscape.

Power is Africa's biggest infrastructure weak point, with as many as 30 countries facing regular power outages, according to a 2015 report by the World Bank.
KABUL, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani on Thursday said that the government was determined to strengthen protection of cultural relics and historic sites in the country.

"The wars and conflicts have prevented the preservation of cultural relics over the past four decades. But there is an urgent need to focus on restoring historical sites and preservation of cultural heritage," Ghani told audience at a ceremony held at a palace under reconstruction here.

The ceremony marked launching of the third phase of the renovation of Dar-ul-Aman Palace which was severely damaged during 1990s civil war.

In 2012, the Afghan government started a campaign to raise funds to restore the three-story building, which is located in southwestern part of Kabul. The reconstruction work started in late May this year.

"The renovation of Dar-ul-Aman Palace, funded by the government resources, itself has an importance. This historic palace belongs to Afghans and it would be rebuilt by the Afghans," the Afghan leader said.

"Afghanistan is a great nation boasting a countless amount of cultural treasures but we should take proper measures to ensure that all sites with historical and archeological importance throughout the country should be preserved and maintained for the next generation," he said.

The reconstruction of Dar-ul-Aman Palace is expected to cost up to 16.5 million U.S. dollars and the rebuilding process is likely to be completed within four years.

Earlier on Thursday, Ghani also chaired a meeting of the High Urban Development Council held in Dar-ul-Aman Palace and ordered the related government agencies to step up efforts for development of the national capital Kabul city and other big cities.
SHIJIAZHUANG, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- She is Chinese, but that is not going to stop Zhang Yuan, 33, having a western-style Christmas feast with her family this year.

Her menu includes Australian steak, Italian spaghetti, salad, creamy mushroom soup, imported wine and French souffle as dessert.

"I will bake the cake myself, with flour, cream, butter and milk -- all imported," said Zhang, who lives in Shijiazhuang, capital of north China's Hebei Province. "Now that ordering online is so convenient, foreign food is no longer rare."

Due to online shopping services, Chinese now have much better and faster access to food from around the world, prompting changes in the local food industry.

THRIVING DEMAND

It is not the first time for Zhang to buy imported food. She has always bought baby formula and fruit juice from foreign brands, as she does not think domestic brands are safe enough for her eight-month-old son.

"Considering contaminated farmland plus questionable production, I won't risk my baby's health," she says.

Zhang's concerns may sound extreme, but they are not groundless.

According to the ministries concerned, about 16 percent of all land surveyed and about a fifth of arable land is polluted by heavy metals such as cadmium, lead and mercury. About 3.33 million hectares of arable land, an area the size of Belgium, are not suitable for growing crops.

China's most notorious food safety scandal occurred in 2008, when six babies were killed and thousands became seriously ill as infant formula produced by Sanlu Group, then a leading dairy company in Zhang's hometown of Hebei, was found to contain the chemical melamine.

"Better quality, more choice and different taste, these are why I choose imported food," Zhang says.

Consumer demand for imported food is spurred by online shopping. With a few simple clicks, people can get almost anything from around the world delivered to their doorstep.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, there are more than 5,000 cross-border shopping websites, with total trade value estimated at 6.5 trillion yuan (945 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016. Annual growth of over 30 percent is expected in the next few years, and food is a major category on these websites.

Although retailers in physical stores are facing difficulties due to online shopping, imported food sales are on the rise. Data released by a chain store research institute in Shanghai shows sales of imported food surged to 54.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, up 70 percent year on year. Up to 60,000 types of food from 143 countries and regions were imported to China last year.

The Association of Food Industries of the U.S. estimates China will become the largest consumer of imported food in 2018, with a total market value up to 480 billion yuan on the Chinese mainland.

LOGISTIC SUPPORT

The booming food import market is an outcome of faster and cheaper logistics. Air delivery, for example, is needed for fresh foods such as seafood and fruit.

On November 23, a Boeing 777 aircraft carrying mangos and blueberries landed at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, the first ever direct-cargo flight between China and Peru.

An official with China Eastern Airlines said the air cargo route was launched to meet the increase in trade between China and Peru. Cargo between Asia and South America is normally transported via the United States.

According to China Eastern Air Logistics, a subsidiary of China Eastern Airlines, the number of direct cargo flights carrying South American agricultural products rocketed from two in 2013 to 70 this year. Total cargo volume increased from 220 to 6,500 tonnes.

Rail networks connecting China and European cities since 2011 are also favored by food importers.

By the end of June, a total of 1,881 trains had traveled on the network's 39 lines, connecting 16 Chinese cities with 12 foreign cities, bringing in around 17 billion U.S. dollars in trade.

"China-Europe trains, which take only one-third of the transport time of shipping and are one-fifth of the cost of air delivery, have offered a brand-new model for international logistics," said Zhong Cheng, deputy general manager of transport company China Railway Container.

Border control authorities in China have also been simplifying customs clearance procedures to have international packages delivered more efficiently.

"The Earth is like a small village where we have the most quality food with local characteristics from around the world. It feels amazing," said 35-year-old Zhang Hongwei in Shijiazhuang City.

FORCED TRANSFORMATION

The expanding imported food market has impacted the domestic food industry, forcing it to transform.

Huailai County, a traditional wine growing region dating back 1,200 years in northern China's Hebei Province, is today known as the birthplace of China's first dry white wine, sparkling wine and brandy. What was once a common scene has become rare in recent years, as grape farmers are reluctantly cutting down vines they have raised for decades as the demand is just not there.

"Strong competition from imported products has made life hard for us. We are less willing to continue the plantation," said 42-year-old Liang Xiaoqing, a local grape farmer.

Foreign wine has been pouring into China with sales surging every year. Exports of bottled wine to China reached 223 million liters in the first half of 2016, up 56 percent year on year, the highest increase since 2012, according to customs figures. About a quarter of wine consumed by Chinese over the past two years was produced overseas, and the share continues to grow.

According to Sun Yanyuan, a wine expert, the prevalence of small unknown domestic wine brands, and a series of scandals about the quality of wine from small and medium wineries that make 70 percent of Chinese grape wines, have driven consumers away from local brands.

For Chinese gourmands who embrace western lifestyles, wine culture is still an exotic fashion, so they prefer to pay for foreign brands. said Sun.

Liang said several big wine companies in Huailai are considering a merger in a bid to win back customers.

"The old way of working-on-our-own no longer works. We should work together and offer quality products under a unified standard," he said. "It's easy to cut grapevines, but the roots are still there."
BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The landmark establishment of China Baowu Steel Group in December, the world's second largest steelmaker by annual output, wrapped up a year of bold reorganizations of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

Created by the combination of two leading steel mills, the new steel conglomerate is estimated to have a 228,000-strong staff and total assets worth 730 billion yuan (106 billion U.S. dollars).

"The merger is an important move to promote China's economic restructuring and improve the competitiveness of Chinese steelmakers in the international market," Baowu's chairman Ma Guoqiang said.

Baowu represents a new hope for a badly bloated steel sector, which is typical of the country's SOE-dominated heavy industries.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the government has spared no efforts to support state businesses, especially in steel smelting, coal mining and oil exploration, in a bid to swiftly industrialize a shattered economy.

There are currently 102 non-financial companies administered by the central authorities, with many more under the supervision of local regulators.

Now the world's second largest economy, though plagued by a slowdown, China is pushing for mergers and acquisitions (M&As) of its larger SOEs to enhance efficiency. A 350-billion-yuan national fund was established three months ago to speed up the process.

From power supply to tourism, consolidation in a number of sectors has gathered steam at an unprecedented pace this year. Food giant Sinograin was approved to acquire China National Cotton Reserves Corporation last month, and two building material producers initiated their merger in August.

Peng Huagang, Deputy Secretary General of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, said the number of central SOEs, already markedly down from 196 in 2003, will be reduced further.

"The M&As will accelerate in a variety of forms in the next three years, including stock holding and asset purchase," Peng said.

In fact, the ongoing large-scale restructuring is just part of an ambitious program to push those government-covered businesses to the market.

Although significant in stabilizing GDP growth and employment, the blind expansion of SOEs regardless of a cooling market in recent years compounded nationwide overcapacity and risks of corporate debts.

As the wider economy keeps losing steam, many overstaffed and inefficient SOEs are struggling to keep afloat. The phenomenon is prevalent in the country's northeast economic belt, which suffered the most due to its loss-making "zombie enterprises."

"Most 'zombie enterprises' are state-owned," said Huang Yiping, vice president of the National School of Development at Peking University. "We have to let the market determine their destiny, instead of keeping government and financial support for them."

China published complete guidelines on its SOE reform in September last year, promising to start mixed-ownership pilots, liberalize enclosed industries to private capital, and build modern enterprise systems, in addition to M&As.

Jintong Rubber Company was among the first batch of piloted companies that benefited from the reform measures. The medium-sized SOE in eastern China's Shandong Province posted quick-growing profits after a change in ownership -- 19 management, technical and sales personnel purchased 45.5 percent in capital stock of the hydraulic hose manufacturer.

"Mixed ownership binds the company with its shareholders, who, acting in their own best interests will be more concerned about the firm's growth," said Liu Guangping, general manager of Jintong.

Liu He, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, described the mixed-ownership pilots as an ice breaker for SOE reform, and asked for quicker measures to push SOEs to the market, limit the blind expansion of the public sector and improve efficiency.

He highlighted electricity, crude oil, natural gas, railway, civil aviation, telecom and military industry as key areas.

China's largest oil company Sinopec Group plans to cooperate with private companies in sales of refined oil, while the smaller China National Petroleum Corporation said it will allow private companies to hold no more than a 49 percent of stake in oil exploration businesses.

Around two-thirds of central and provincial SOEs have diversified their ownership, with some even advertising for management, Peng said.

Results of the reform are emerging. Combined SOE profits returned to growth in October after persistent drops since the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Finance said. In the first ten months, SOEs made a combined profit of 1.92 trillion yuan.

But analysts said there is still a long way to go as some sectors remain exclusive and lack competition.

"The reform cannot be done in one kick, but will be a long journey that requires patience," Morgan Stanley Chief China Economist Robin Xing said.
DHAKA, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- With a view to creating public awareness about power and energy conservation and their efficient use, the Bangladeshi government has been observing "Power and Energy Week" in recent years.

The theme of this year's "Power and Energy Week" is "Odomya Bangladesh or Indomitable Bangladesh".

As part of the event, a fair on electricity equipment and associated businesses is now underway in Dhaka's Bashundhara Convention Center.

Scores of local and international farms including those from China are participating in the fair to showcase their products and services.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wednesday inaugurated the power and energy week Thursday and reiterated her government's commitment to providing electricity to every household by 2021.

She called upon the public to maintain austerity in using power and gas in their houses and workplaces to achieve the goal.

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hami said experts and professionals from different countries will participate in as many as four international seminars during the week.
BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang sent a message to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday, expressing condolences over Wednesday's Pakistani plane crash that killed all 48 passengers and crew members.

Li said in the message that he was shocked to learn that a passenger plane unfortunately crashed in Pakistan, and all passengers and crew unfortunately died, including one Chinese national.

On behalf of the Chinese government, and in his own name, the Chinese premier said, he expressed deep condolences to the victims and sincere sympathy for their families.

A passenger plane of Pakistan International Airlines with 48 people on board, including one Chinese national, crashed in the country's northwest Havelian area on Wednesday. No one survived the accident.
by Maria Spiliopoulou

ATHENS, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Greece's migration policy ministry on Thursday dismissed media reports regarding 13,000 refugees and migrants who were allegedly unaccounted for in the past few weeks.

Citing European immigration officials, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that in recent weeks Greek authorities had lost track of some 13,000 people of the total of 63,000 refugees and migrants who have been stranded in Greece since spring, according to the government's official estimates.

The report, which was reproduced by other media, implied that some of these people may have found ways to slip into other Balkan countries through smuggling networks or have already reached northern Europe despite the closure of borders and the Balkan route last February.

"The reports are baseless. Hospitality centers for refugees are open facilities and people are free to come and go, therefore some may not be inside at the moment of the counting each day," the ministry responded in a statement to Greek national news agency AMNA.
LAGOS, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- A total of 800 hostages in Boko Haram's custody have been freed in a military operation by Nigerian troop in the restive northeast state of Borno, the Army said Thursday.

Lucky Irabor, Theater Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, told a news conference in Maiduguri, the state capital, that they were rescued in its ongoing anti-terrorism operations.

He said that the persons had been rescued since Nov. 23.

Irabor said the military had also arrested a number of terrorists fleeing their Sambisa forest hideout due to the ongoing operation.

The arrested have been handed over to the Nigeria Police, he added.

On Sunday, the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, called on troops serving in the northeast to immediately embark on the final aggressive action and comprehensive sweep of the operational theater to end the operation against the Boko Haram insurgents.

Nigeria's northeast region has been a stronghold of the extremist group Boko Haram. Over the past months, the Nigerian government has launched several military operations to eliminate the terror group.
HAMBURG, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Efforts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine and Syria and strengthen the dialogue on security issues in Europe were the main topics of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)'s annual ministerial council meeting here Thursday.

The two-day meeting gathered some 50 foreign ministers from across the OSCE region, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and EU High Representative Federica Mogherini.

In his opening statement, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said a strong OSCE was "indispensable" and that the organization was needed now more than ever for a secure Europe.

"We need structures of dialogue and cooperation... Especially in these times we need the OSCE as a lighthouse, which gives us orientation," he said.

A ceasefire in Ukraine requires political will, said Steinmeier, noting that all sides must proceed in the way laid out by the Minsk agreements.

Steinmeier called on participants to focus on the new challenges and threats, such as terrorism, radicalization, cyber issues, migration, and discrimination and hatred of all kinds.

In her address, president of the OSCE parliamentary assembly Christine Muttonen admitted that various parties were struggling with developing a common response to the refugee and migrant crisis.

"At the same time, we must continue our efforts to counter violent extremism, to promote arms control, to defend human rights, and even to combat climate change," she said.

Just prior to the meeting, Steinmeier also demanded constructive participation in the OSCE from the Russian side during a meeting with his Russian counterpart on Wednesday night.

The ministerial council is the central decision-making and governing body of the OSCE. The meeting, held annually, provides foreign ministers of the 57 OSCE participating states an opportunity to review, assess, and discuss the organization's activities in the OSCE area.

This year in Hamburg, the foreign ministers will focus on efforts to settle existing conflicts in the OSCE area, in particular regarding the crisis in and around Ukraine, strengthening the OSCE's capacities in civilian crisis management, reviving conventional arms control as well as empowering the OSCE to effectively address new global challenges.

The council will also set the course for the future work of the OSCE with Austria which takes over the chairmanship from Jan. 1, 2017.
GAZA, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) mission in the Gaza Strip on Thursday called for the lifting of restrictions imposed on the coastal enclave.

"Keeping restrictions on Gaza can never bring stability," Mamadou Sow, who will be leaving after a two-year service in Gaza, told a briefing.

He was referring to more than 10 years of Israeli blockade imposed on the enclave ruled by Islamic Hamas movement since 2007.

Sow, a Senegalese national, will be succeeded by Guislain Defurne from France.

"These restrictions had clearly obstructed development and the reconstruction of the infrastructure such as health, water and electricity besides helping the weak economy to promote," he said.

Sow expressed the hope that "these restrictions will be one day lifted and life in the Gaza Strip are eased."

"The key for improving the hard daily living situation for Gaza is to lift all these restrictions," he said.

Sow stressed that Gaza needs not only humanitarian aid "but an opportunity for building up life and hope for a future of dignity, which can be made only through lifting all restrictions imposed on the Gaza Strip."

"It is a shame that at the end of 2016, 2 million Palestinians are left living on this small spot of the earth in such a humanitarian situation," said Sow.

He also urged the Palestinian leaders to make "positive" and "proper" decisions.
TOKYO, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- A pilot of a U.S. military fighter jet crashed into the sea off western Japan on Wednesday was rescued on Thursday, according to local media, quoting Japanese defense officials.

The condition of the pilot has not been revealed so far. The pilot was set to be sent to the Marines' Air Station Iwakuni in southwestern Japan's Yamaguchi prefecture, said Kyodo News.

The F/A-18 fighter jet stationed at the U.S. Iwakuni base was flying together with another fighter jet in a training area for the U.S. military on Wednesday when crashed into the Pacific Ocean about 130 km south of the city of Kochi in western Japan.

The pilot bailed out from the plane and the next day a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force rescue flying boat found the pilot.

Kochi Governor Masanao Ozaki on Thursday called for the clarification of the cause of the accident by the U.S. side, and a suspension of low-altitude training flights over Shikoku, one of Japan's main islands which has four prefectures including Kochi, by the U.S. military until the cause of the accident is clarified.
BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Icelandic counterpart, Gudni Johannesson, exchanged congratulatory messages Thursday to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

In his message, Xi said that bilateral relations have advanced with times and remained vibrant over the past 45 years since China and Iceland established diplomatic relations.

Iceland is the first European country that has signed a free trade agreement with China. With joint efforts from both sides, China-Iceland cooperation in various fields are continuously deepening with fruitful achievements, Xi said.

Xi noted that China attaches great importance to developing friendly relations with Iceland and stands ready to work with Iceland to continuously deepen the traditional friendship and pragmatic cooperation between the two countries, so as to further benefit the two peoples.

For his part, Johannesson said in his message that the friendship between Iceland and China has developed continuously and steadily over the past decades, with close cooperation in various fields. The two countries' friendly and equal exchanges and cooperation are commendable and exemplary.

On behalf of the Icelandic people, Johannesson extended the best wishes to China and hoped that cooperation between the two countries will continue to be strengthened in the future.
BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday exchanged congratulatory messages with his Icelandic counterpart, Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, on the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between their countries.

In his message, Li said that bilateral ties have maintained healthy and steady development since the two countries established diplomatic relations 45 years ago.

The Chinese side is ready to work with Iceland to continue to deepen communication and cooperation in various fields and further enrich bilateral relations so as to carry forward the China-Iceland friendly ties, Li said.

Johannsson said the development of Iceland-China relations is entering a new stage, featuring sound cooperation in trade and economy, geothermal energy and North Pole affairs, and ever closer people-to-people exchanges.

The Icelandic prime minister said he is confident that the two countries will constantly deepen friendship and cooperation in the future.
PARIS, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- A French court on Thursday handed down a three-year jail term to former French budget minister Jerome Cahuzac for tax fraud and money laundering, according to local media.

Cahuzac's ex-wife Patricia Menard was also sentenced to two years in jail for her role in stashing millions of euros abroad.

Known as the toughest budget-watcher in the Socialist Party, Cahuzac is accused of stashing a secret 600,000 euros (647,209 U.S. dollars) in foreign bank accounts in Switzerland and Singapore through which he laundered money between 2003 and 2013.

The 64-year-old former cosmetic surgeon will appeal the court's ruling, his defense lawyer Jean Veil told broadcaster Europe1.

"We think that prison is not really an adapted sanction," Viel said.

Cahuzac, who led a crackdown on tax evasion in the Socialist Party's first government in 2012, was forced to resign from his ministerial post in 2013 after admitting to holding a Swiss bank account for 20 years.

Embattled by the tax evasion affair just months after taking office, French President Francois Hollande ordered his ministers to make public their personal wealth to stem the shocking scandal and regain trust.
BUJUMBURA, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- European ambassadors have urged an aggressive and dynamic approach to settle Burundi's crisis, stressing that an inclusive dialogue is essential, the French Ambassador to Burundi said Thursday.

The French diplomat was speaking after European ambassadors held a closed meeting with the facilitator in the inter-Burundian talks, also former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa.

Burundi plunged into a crisis in April 2015 when Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run his controversial third term.

His candidature, which was opposed by the opposition and civil society groups, resulted in a wave of protests, violence and even a failed coup in May, 2015.

"We feel that the only way to solve the current political difficulties in Burundi is by a very aggressive and dynamic approach by Burundians themselves and particularly by the Burundian political forces all across the spectrum, both in Burundi and outside Burundi," said French Ambassador to Burundi Laurent Delahousse.

According to him, it is essential that parties enter into "compromise" that had led to the success of Arusha talks in 2000.

"The 2000 Arusha spirit needs to come back to Burundi. If each party sticks to its position, nothing will happen," said Delahousse.

He said that the European Union (EU) and its member states, France particularly, support the mediation efforts of the East African Community (EAC) through Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Mkapa.

On Wednesday, Mkapa started a three-day visit in Burundi to look at ways of settling the east African country's crisis. On Thursday, he met with the Burundian president.

"Both leaders discussed the progress made in the inter-Burundian dialogue," said Jean Claude Karerwa, deputy-spokesman of the Burundian president without giving further details.

The inter-Burundian dialogue at the external level has made no concrete progress since its launch in December 2015.

In January 2016, the Burundian government boycotted talks in Arusha, Tanzania, arguing that it could not sit on the "same table" with what it called "non-peaceful" stakeholders.

More than 500 people in Burundi have been killed and some 300,000 people fled to neighboring countries, mostly Tanzania, Rwanda, DR Congo, and Uganda since the outbreak of the crisis.
RAMALLAH, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Arab Quartet is to convene in Cairo next week to discuss a bid to be presented to the United Nations Security Council about anti Israeli settlement in the Palestinian territories, a senior official said Thursday.

Jamal Shoubaki, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) representative in the Arab League, who is currently in Cairo, told Xinhua that the Arab Quartet will decide on when the bid will be presented.

The Arab Quartet comprises Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and one of the major files the Quartet is concerned about is following up the Palestinian cause and the conflict with Israel.

"The Quartet may convene in Cairo either on 17th or 19th of December in the Arab League headquarters in Cairo," said al-Shoubaki, adding that "an Arab and international position is needed to halt expansion of settlement in Palestine."

The senior Palestinian diplomat stressed that "Israeli settlement is completely illegal and violates the international law because it rapes the Palestinian land and also it is a war crime."

Earlier, senior Palestinian diplomats had stated that heading with a bid to the UN Security Council to halt Israeli settlement "needs an Arab decision in order to guarantee a successful voting."

The Palestinian bid would call on Israel to halt all settlement activities immediately and fully respect its legal responsibilities as well as avoid using all means of violence, terror and provocations by settlers.
ANKARA, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Turkey launched a new medium-altitude air defense missile earlier this month, state-run Anadolu Agency reported Thursday.

Turkish Defense Ministry announced in a statement that the Hisar-O, produced in Turkey under a project to meet the Land Forces Command's air defense needs, was launched on Dec. 3 in Aksaray, central Turkey.

"Turkey has to achieve and develop critical technologies in both air and missile defense systems," said Defense Minister Fikri Isik, who witnessed the missile test.

Turkey's long-range air and missile defense systems could act as a deterrent force in the region, he added.

Hisar's radar, command control, fire control and missile systems are developed by local Roketsan and Aselsan, the leading Turkish defense firms.

The medium-altitude air defense missiles' targets are military aircraft, helicopters, navigation missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, with a maximum range of 25 km, according to Roketsan's statement.

The Hisar-O's first unarmed test was in 2014 in Aksaray.

T Hisar-A, a low-attitude version of the defense system, was initiated in 2011 and is expected to be delivered to the Turkish Armed Forces by 2020.
PHNOM PENH, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Nine villagers had died and 26 others hospitalized in northern Cambodia after they drank locally-made rice wine, which is suspected of containing "high levels of methanol", a local police officer said Thursday.

"Seven men and two women had subsequently died since last week after they drank tainted rice wine, which was sold in their villages," Liv Bunsong, deputy police chief of Kampong Chhnang province's Teuk Phos district, where the incident took place, told Xinhua.

"The victims had the same symptoms: dizziness, eye irritation, nausea, diarrhea, and breathing difficulty," he said.

Besides the dead persons, 26 others had been admitted to hospitals as of Thursday evening, Bunsong said.

He said a rice wine producer in the district had been detained for questioning, as a sample of the tainted wine was sent to the provincial food safety bureau for an examination.

Checks on food are rare in the Southeast Asian nation, where safety regulations are lax.

In December last year, contaminated rice wine killed 19 people and sickened 172 others in eastern Kratie province. Laboratory tests found that the tainted wine contained methanol levels between 10.57 percent and 12 percent, much higher than the safe level of 0.15 percent.

Rice wine is popular in rural areas in Cambodia due to its cheap price.
LUSAKA, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Zambia's revenue collection will decline by 15 percent by the end of this year for the first time in five years, state media reported Thursday.

Minister of Finance Felix Mutati attributed the revenue collection drop to factors such as a slowdown in mining activities and power shortages.

"We will not be able to meet our revenue target. Our revenue collection will decline by 15 percent for the first time in five years due to a slowdown in mining activities such as a decline in copper prices and also power shortages which impacted negatively on the economy," he is quoted as saying by the Times of Zambia.

The Zambian minister was speaking during the launch of an economic brief entitled "Raising Revenue for Economic Recovery" on the country by the World Bank.

According to the economic brief, Zambia needs higher domestic revenue collection if current levels of government expenditure are to be maintained in a sustainable manner.

The World Bank has since urged the government to find ways of improving revenue collection so that economic growth would be expedited.
LUSAKA, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Finland said Thursday that it had entered into discussions with the new management of a farmers' body in Zambia to seek refund of its misappropriated money, local media reported.

In September, the Finnish and Swedish governments demanded for refunds from the Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) after an audit revealed serious misappropriation of funds.

The audit found that about 3.4 million U.S. dollars was misappropriated in a suspected high-level fraud. Two former senior officials at the farmers' body have since been arrested.

Finnish Ambassador to Zambia Timo Olkkonen said discussions had commenced with the new management over the refunds of the money, according to the Lusaka Times, a local online publication.

The Finnish envoy further expressed concern over the high levels of corruption in Zambia which he said should not be allowed to continue.

He said the Finnish government has encountered corruption in some of the other programs it was supporting in the country and cited a government farmer input subsidized program where "ghost farmers" have been exposed as an example.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) meets with President of the Republic of Gabon Ali Bongo Ondimba at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 8, 2016. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)



BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- China and Gabon on Thursday agreed to enhance alignment of development strategies and jointly explore new opportunities for cooperation.

During a meeting with President of the Republic of Gabon Ali Bongo Ondimba in Beijing, Premier Li Keqiang said Gabon is an important cooperative partner of China in central Africa, and China is ready to work with Gabon to transform economic complementary advantages into results.

China is willing to deepen cooperation with Gabon in the areas of resource development, infrastructure construction, agriculture, forestry, fisheries and further processing according to market rules, he said.

Li said China-designed passenger aircraft can meet the needs of African countries and help develop the regional aviation network due to its safety and cost-effectiveness.

He said he hopes China and Gabon can discuss the possibility of cooperation in this regard.

Bongo said Gabon is ready to deepen cooperation with China in infrastructure development, agriculture, forestry, mining, further processing of products and civil aviation.

He welcomed Chinese enterprises to invest in Gabon to jointly explore new opportunities for development.

Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), also met with Bongo on Thursday.

Invited by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Bongo is paying a state visit to China from Tuesday to Friday. It is Bongo's first state visit to a foreign country since he was re-elected as Gabon's president in August.

On Wednesday Xi and Bongo agreed to lift China-Gabon relations to a comprehensive cooperative partnership in a bid to better realize common development.
Photo taken on Feb. 27, 2015 shows terracotta warriors wrapped in cling film for color fixing at the Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)

LIVERPOOL, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The mayor of Liverpool on Wednesday welcomed an announcement that China's famous terracotta warriors are to go on show in the city.

The warriors will be the star attraction at an exhibition to be staged at Liverpool's World Museum in 2018.

It will be the first time in more than 30 years that the treasures from the Mausoleum of the Qinshihuang, the first emperor of a united China, have been brought to a museum in Britain outside London.

Joe Anderson said attracting the terracotta warriors to Liverpool is a huge coup for the port city in northern England. He said it shows how far this city has progressed since Liverpool became European Capital of Culture in 2008.

Liverpool is planning to host a number of internationally events in 2018 to mark a decade since it became European Capital of Culture.

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Karen Bradley said: "The terracotta army represents one of the most significant archeological excavations of the 20th century, and I am delighted that a selection of the warriors will be coming to Liverpool, for the first time in 2018. "

"The exhibition will also encourage an ongoing cultural exchange between China and Britain, further progressing the relationship between our two nations and strengthening lasting ties," she said.

Planned for a run of more than six months, from February to October 2018, visitors to World Museum will be given a glimpse into the extraordinary story of Qinshihuang(259-210 BC). His vast burial site and tomb complex was discovered near Xi'an in northwest China in 1974, and the story of the tomb's terracotta warriors will be displayed alongside important artefacts and research relating to the formative years of the Chinese nation.

David Fleming, director of National Museums Liverpool, said: "This exhibition will be unprecedented in the UK, offering a new perspective on China's history. Spanning three periods of more than 500 years, it is set to include a number of objects that have never been on show in this country before."
by Maria Spiliopoulou

ATHENS, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Athens' Appeals Court ruled on Thursday against the extradition to Ankara of the final two Turkish military officers who fled to Greece in July, a day after the failed coup attempt in Turkey.

The same court on Monday had issued a similar verdict for the first three of eight Turkish nationals who landed in a military helicopter in the city of Alexandroupolis in northern Greece seeking political asylum.

However, on Tuesday, the court ruled in favor of the extradition of another three of the officers, accepting Ankara's extradition request on charges of involvement in the coup attempt.

All eight defendants have insisted from the outset that they had no idea of the coup attempt, did not participate, and sought refuge in neighboring Greece when their helicopter came under attack.

During the legal process, according to Greek national news agency AMNA, they repeatedly told the Greek judges that they feared for their lives should they be returned home.

During Thursday's hearing, the court's prosecutor Yorgos Voulgaros backed the defendants' plea, arguing there was no guarantee they would receive a fair trial in Turkey or their human rights would be respected.

"We belong to Europe. We defend democracy and human rights," prosecutor Voulgaros said, according to AMNA.

On Wednesday, Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called again for the immediate extradition of all eight officers.

The judicial process is expected to drag on for more weeks, according to law experts in Athens.

Athens chief prosecutor Antonis Liogas' office has already announced that Monday's ruling would be contested before Greece's Supreme Court, while the lawyers for the officers who lost their case on Tuesday said they would appeal the verdict to the Supreme Court and intend to bring the case all the way to the European Court of Justice.
Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli (C) attends the annual general meeting of China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 8, 2016. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)



BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- China will make more efforts to improve the environment in the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli said.

"China will face both challenges and opportunities in the period," Zhang said at the annual meeting of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) on Thursday.

To promote ecological civilization, China will further implement its five development concepts: innovation, coordination, green development, opening up and sharing, said Zhang, also chairman of CCICED.

The government will ensure the country's ecological situation improves by 2020, Zhang said.

Specifically, China will boost green, circular and low-carbon industries, prevent and control air, water and soil pollution, improve the accountability system, promote the rule of law, and expand international cooperation on fighting climate change and green "Belt and Road" construction.

The vice premier hopes the CCICED will facilitate communication between China and rest of the world in the environment and development, and facilitate improvement of global environmental governance.
BAGHDAD, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Iraq's army denied on Thursday that its air fleet targeted civilians in the Islamic State (IS)-held town of al-Qaim near the border with Syria, confirming that the warplanes bombed buildings housing dozens of IS terrorist militants, said the Iraqi military.

"It is not correct that some media and political leaders depend on the propaganda of terrorist IS group," the Joint Operations Command (JOC) said in a statement denying media reports and statements by some officials which claimed that dozens of civilians were killed during air strikes against al-Qaim.

The statement clarified that Iraqi warplanes carried out an air strike at noon (0900 GMT) against a two-storey building in al-Qaim's suburb of Karabula, housing 25 suicide bombers from different nationalities led by Abu Maysara al-Quqazi.

At 12:55 p.m. (0955 GMT) the warplanes carried out another air strike against another two-storey building in al-Qaim housing between 30 to 40 terrorists from various nationalities, the statement said.

"The targets have been identified by intelligence information and were confirmed by our sources inside the town," added the statement.

The statement pointed out that the town of al-Qaim, 330 km northwest of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, is "under firm control of IS group and news or photos coming from there are scrutinized by the extremist militants in order to serve their criminal propaganda."

In the past 24 hours, local and foreign media reports quoted parliament speaker Salim al-Jubouri as saying that air strikes hit a civilian market area in the town of al-Qaim, resulting in the death and injury of dozens of people.

Jubouri said he "holds the government responsible for such mistakes," demanding an immediate probe into the attack.

In addition, the office of Suhaib al-Rawi, the governor of Anbar province, said that "Rawi condemned the massacre committed against unarmed civilians in the town of al-Qaim, and called for conducting an urgent investigation into the incident to bring the perpetrators of this massacre to justice."

Rawi also called on the Iraqi JOC and the U.S.-led coalition to direct their attacks toward precise targets to avoid killing innocent civilians in IS-held areas where IS militants use civilians as human shields, according to the statement.

However, Eid al-Karbuli, a spokesman and member of Anbar's provincial council said it was not immediately clear if the air strikes were conducted by Iraqi or international coalition air fleet, demanding a government probe.

He said that the air strikes targeted a crowded market, a residential building and another building where seniors were collecting their pensions, killing and wounding over 100 people, including women and children.

On Wednesday, provincial security and medical sources said the air strikes targeted IS posts in the town, killing up to 70 people, including many IS militants and wounding over 50 others.

Also on Wednesday security reports put the death toll at 12 IS militants and nine civilians, with five militants wounded.

Provincial authorities could not give exact casualty figures nor confirm whether Iraqi or international aircraft executed the attacks, as the town has been under IS militant control for over two years.

The attacks come as Iraqi security forces backed by the anti-IS international coalition are carrying out a major offensive to drive out IS militants from their final major stronghold in and around Mosul.
SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- A civilian was killed Thursday while gunfight between militants and government forces was going on in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said.

The gunfight broke out at village Hassanpora near Bijbehara in Anantnag district, about 47 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Locals said people from within the village and neighboring hamlets marched to the village shouting anti-India slogans in a bid to help militants break cordon and escape.

The government forces fired shotgun pellets, tear smoke shells and warning shots to disperse the rock-throwing protesters. Dozens of people were injured during the clashes.

Police spokesman in Srinagar said the civilian was killed after being hit by a stray bullet some distance from the gunfight site.

"At some distance from the gunfight site, a stray bullet hit a person identified as Arif Ahmad Shah of village GundBaba,Sangam. The said person later on succumbed to his wounds," the spokesman said.

Reports say police launched the operation in the village Wednesday on specific intelligence information regarding presence of militants in the area.

Three local militants including a commander affiliated with Lashkar-e-Toiba were killed so far. However, there was no confirmation from police or army about the militant killings

"There is no official confirmation about the militant killings during the gunfight so far. The operation is underway," Indian military spokesman in Srinagar Col Rajesh Kalia told Xinhua.

In July this year killing of a top militant commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani triggered a wave of violence and anti-India protests in the region.

A guerrilla war is going on between militants and Indian troops stationed in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 1989. The gunfight between the two sides takes place intermittently across the region.
KATHMANDU, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has announced a 20 million USD grant to help boost private sector investment in utility-scale solar power projects in Nepal.

Issuing a statement on Thursday, the ADB Nepal office stated that the grant assistance should ensure installation of at least 25 megawatts (MW) of solar power by 2018.

The fund is expected to provide a business model that can be replicated elsewhere in energy-strapped South Asian nation, according to the statement.

"The grant will be used to finance the difference between private sector cost of producing utility-scale solar power and the minimum price that the Nepal Electricity Authority is willing to pay for the power," the statement reads.

Nepal has been suffering chronic power shortages, with peak demand of 1,444 MW far outpacing installed capacity of 885 MW. Solar power is seen as an ideal complement, particularly during the low-water season.

However, private sector investment has largely been in micro- and mini-grid solar power, with utility-scale plants of 4 MW or more attracting little private sector attention.

According to ADB, now the companies will be able to bid to develop solar systems through an international competitive bidding process, with power purchase agreements awarded on the basis of the best offtake prices.

The funding under the grant will be payable on the first day of operation of the solar system, up to end June, 2022. Bidding is expected to start in the first quarter of 2017 and last around 6 to 12 months.
GENEVA, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- A cessation of hostilities between warring factions is especially crucial for war-ravaged Aleppo, senior adviser to the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Jan Egeland, reiterated Thursday.

"We need a pause for the sake of the population of east Aleppo," Jan Egeland told reporters.

"At the moment those who try to go through crossing points are caught in crossfire, shelling and risk being hit by snipers...it is a very intense battle scene," he added.

Once Syria's commercial hub, Aleppo has been divided in two since 2012, with western parts under Syrian government control and eastern districts held by rebels seeking to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

A military operation launched by Damascus on Nov. 24 broke the deadlock however, with Syrian government troops seizing some 75 percent of eastern Aleppo.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported last Friday that ensuing fighting resulted in the displacement of 31,500 civilians.

With frontlines changing on a daily basis, the diplomat warned that many of those left in rebel-held districts are now crammed in an enclave only 25 percent the size of the area previously controlled by opposition groups.

Egeland also blamed the UN's diminishing access on the ground to reach civilians living in besieged and hard-to-reach areas, including east Aleppo, on the lack of a "united humanitarian diplomacy."

He said the UN stood ready to send much-needed food and medical supplies to what is left of rebel-held east Aleppo as soon as all parties to the conflict provide sufficient safety guarantees.
COLOMBO, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena on Thursday cleared the names of 19 Sri Lankan leaders who were branded as 'traitors' during the British colonial rule nearly 200 years ago the President's media division said.

Sirisena cancelled a gazette issued by English Governor Robert Brownrig on January 10, 1818, listing the 19 leaders, including Keppetipola Disawe, as traitors.

"After 198 years, I cleared the names of Wellassa heroes including Monarawila Keppetipola," President Sirisena said in a tweet.

The decision was announced following a recommendation made by Justice Minister Wijedasa Rajapakse to rescind the January 1818 gazette which declared the 19 leaders as traitors, and make a fresh proclamation making them national heroes.

Hardline nationalists from the majority Sinhalese community have been pressing for the scrapping of the colonial-era decrees against those who resisted British rule.

Keppetipola, more widely known as Keppetipola Disawe, was a high-ranking official under the rule of a past Sri Lankan King Sri Wikrama Rajasinghe and later under the British Administration in Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon).

He was a prominent leader of the Uva rebellion of 1818 after he joined the rebels, whom he was sent to suppress by the British.

The rebellion was defeated by the British, and Keppetipola Disawe along with several other leaders of the rebellion were found guilty of high treason and sentenced to death.

He is well known for the exceptional courage that he showed at the moment of his execution.

Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon, gained independence from British rule in 1948. The British ruled Sri Lanka from 1815 to 1948.
HANGZHOU, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- China's e-commerce giant Alibaba Thursday signed several agreements with Thailand's Ministry of Commerce to help the southeastern Asian country develop e-commerce.

The deals were signed as Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak headed a delegation to visit Alibaba's headquarters in Hangzhou.

Alibaba will help small and medium-sized Thai firms expand businesses on local and international e-commerce sites, according to the deals. It will also train Thai government officials on big data and artificial intelligence.

Alibaba will help Thailand develop an efficient logistics system and explore cooperation opportunities in Thailand's eastern economic corridor.

Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba, said Thailand can create its own digital economic miracle by embracing new technology and helping its young people to develop the new economy.

In August 2015, Thailand launched a store on Alibaba's Tmall.com to sell its home brands. In November this year, Alibaba's financial affiliate Ant Financial announced a strategic investment in Thailand's payment firm Ascend Money, seeking to use its payment technology to serve more than half of Thai netizens in the next five years.
NAIROBI, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Ongoing strike by health workers in Kenyan public hospitals over their pay rises entered its fourth day on Thursday and is set to get worse next week after those working in private, mission and other public health facilities threatened to down their tools in solidarity.

The Secretary General of the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), Fredrick Ouma Oluga, said the government has up to Monday to resolve the issues raised by unions or they will shut down all the medical services.

"Given no solution by Monday, KMPDU will call for a 24-hour complete stoppage of all clinical services in all private hospitals, private clinics, and mission hospitals on Tuesday," Oluga said in the capital Nairobi.

More than 20 patients have died since the strike started on Monday.

The KMPDU accused the government of failing to show any good will in the negotiation process but instead threatening them with law suits.

Talks between the union and the government have failed more than thrice with the medical staff walking out in protest.

"We are not going to negotiate anymore. Talks have been called without proper communication and with intent of blackmailing the union. We have remained willing to engage the government in good faith to no avail," Oluga said.

"The government should know that we are not going back to work. The collective bargaining agreement must be implemented first," he warned.

The striking health workers are demanding the implementation of a 2013 deal with the government on salary rises.

Leaders of the KMPPDU and the Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN), which are organizing the strike, have been ordered to appear in court on Dec. 13 over the breach of a court order suspending the then proposed strike.

Specialist doctors in Kenya's largest referral hospital, the Kenyatta National Hospital, and lecturers in the Medical School of the University of Nairobi have joined the strike.

More than 250 medics, who work as consultants, suspended the emergency services they were offering in the Kenyatta National Hospital on Thursday.

However, the nurses' union KNUN, which is asking for a 25-40 percent salary increase, new allowances and harmonization of their grading scales, has been holding talks with the government since Wednesday to resolve the current crisis.

"The ministry has shown seriousness to negotiate with us and we are ready to talk," said KNUN Secretary General, Seth Panyako.

But KNUN chairman John Bii said county governors had refused to negotiate with them, forcing the union to write its unilateral collective bargaining agreement, which the union now wants the Council of Governors to sign.

"They did not want to negotiate with us and we felt the strike was the best way to force them to the table," Bii said.

Under Kenya's constitution, health functions are the role of county governments but the union is adamant that the transfer of power to county governments should be carried out in phases.

Since the strike, some lawmakers have argued that the perennial industrial strife by health workers was an indication that county governments had failed to manage the health sector.

The gruesome images of struggling or dying patients have received condemnation from Kenyans who are demanding that the president should handle the crisis with urgency.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of Central Military Commission, speaks at a two-day meeting on ideological and political work in China's universities and colleges, which wound up on Dec. 8, 2016 in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has said ideological work in colleges should be integrated into the entire education process, underlining the need of firm Party leadership in higher education.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at a two-day meeting on ideological and political work in China's universities and colleges, which concluded Thursday.

Members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli attended the meeting, together with other senior officials and college officials.

As higher education is a key factor in a country's development potential, it is urgent for China to improve the quality of its higher education, Xi said.

China's unique history, culture and national conditions have dictated the development path for higher education and colleges featuring socialism with Chinese characteristics, according to Xi.

As higher education shoulders the major responsibility of cultivating successors for the socialist cause, it must adhere to correct political orientation, Xi said, adding that only by cultivating first-class talent can universities become world-class institutions.

Improving the ability to cultivate talent is the core work of higher education and must be the focus, Xi said.

"China's higher education institutions are under the leadership of the CPC, and are socialist colleges with Chinese characteristics, so higher education must be guided by Marxism, and the Party's policies in education must be fully carried out," said Xi.

The president called for greater efforts to teach Marxist theory to help students lay an ideological foundation for their lives.

Ideological and political work is fundamentally work about individuals, Xi said. The work must focus on students, caring for them, serving them, and helping them improve in ideological quality, political awareness, moral characteristics and humanistic quality to enable them to develop both ability and integrity, according to Xi.

"Students should be educated to be aware of the development trends of China and the world at large," Xi said, adding that they should develop firm beliefs and confidence in lofty communist ideals and socialism with Chinese characteristics.

"Students should be encouraged to integrate their own ideals and pursuits into the cause of the nation," Xi said, urging colleges to educate their students to be bold trailblazers and "translate their ideals into concrete actions."

Xi stressed that colleges should make full use of classroom teaching, strengthening teaching on ideological and political theory through reforms to make ideological and political education more appealing.

Xi urged college teachers to be "disseminators of advanced ideology and culture" and "staunch supporters of governance by the Party," so that they can better guide students in their growth.

Adherence to the Party's leadership is essential to the development of higher education in the country, Xi said, calling for efforts to ensure firm Party leadership in the field and "build colleges into strongholds that adhere to Party leadership."

Xi called on Party authorities to prioritize the ideological and political work in colleges and strengthen their leadership in the field.

Party authorities should increase their contact with intellectuals in colleges, befriend them and sincerely listen to their opinions, Xi said.

Xi stressed the importance of the leadership of college Party committees, asking them to strengthen the construction of grass-roots Party organizations and improve their ability in ideological and political work.

Hailing the contributions made by college staff involved in ideological and political work, the president called for more efforts to foster qualified officials and teachers for colleges.

Liu Yunshan said that Xi's remarks are guidelines on ideological and political work for colleges under the current circumstances, urging authorities to act accordingly.

Liu also called on authorities to realize the significance of improving the ideological and political work and uphold the Party's leadership over colleges.
BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese cities reported less PM2.5 pollution in the first 11 months of the year thanks to government's efforts to control air pollution.

The average density of PM2.5 in 338 cities dropped by 8.3 percent year on year in the Jan.-Nov. period, Minister of Environmental Protection Chen Jining said at the annual meeting of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) Thursday.

Meanwhile, days with good air quality rose 2.6 percent from a year ago, according to Chen, who is also the CCICED's executive vice chair.

Chen attributed the amelioration to the country's improving energy and industry structures, but called for continued efforts as the ecological progress still lags behind economic growth.

The ministry on Thursday issued an alert for moderate to heavy smog in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region till the end of the weekend due to unfavorable weather conditions.

Established in 1992, the CCICED is a high-level non-profit international advisory body composed of Chinese and international experts in the field of environmental protection.
WARSAW, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Polish President Andrzej Duda signed a law on withdrawing Poland from the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), the president's chancellery informed on Thursday.

The main reasons for the decision were the high cost of the annual fee (more than 82,000 U.S. dollars in 2015), which significantly exceeded the value of services Polish scientists obtained from the institution, as well as another fee increase as from 2017, the chancellery said.

Another reason was that apart from the ICGEB, Poland also participates in other similar type organizations.

The ICGEB is an international research organization established as a special project of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

The ICGEB conducts innovative research in life sciences for the benefit of developing countries. The main fields of its activity are molecular biology and biotechnology, including biomedicine, crop improvement, etc.
NAIROBI, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Kenyan police on Thursday denied being behind extrajudicial killings amid allegations about the disappearance of 81 people in the coastal region in the past five years in the war on terrorism.

Inspector General of Police, Joseph Boinnet, termed the allegations documented in a report by a civil society organization, Haki Africa, which was released on Wednesday "unfounded".

"The National Police Service rejects the allegations as based on unfounded distortions of real facts made for reasons only known to themselves," said Boinnet in a statement.

The report by Haki Africa released details of the deaths or disappearances of 81 people during that time, saying 22 of the deaths were allegedly caused by excessive force by police; four occurred in police custody; 31 involved cases of alleged extrajudicial execution; and 24 were thought to be enforced disappearances.

Haki Africa Executive Director Hussein Khalid said Kenya's counter-terrorism police and members of specialized units were involved in the cases.

"Although there are many other cases that have been reported to us or that we have come across, it is these cases that we are able to confirm details of," said Khalid.

He said available evidence on the incidents suggests the vast majority of likely perpetrators in the period between 2012 and 2016 were police officers from counter-terrorism or other specialized units.

"Although most victims on our list are youths, there are also sheiks, imams and preachers, some of them well over 50 years old," Khalid said, adding there was heavy religious profiling involved in these cases.

"We totally reject claims of religious profiling as we only focus on criminals irrespective of their religious affiliation. The national police will continue to exercise its mandate in accordance with the law without fear or favour," Boinett said.

He called on Kenyans to continue to support the counter-terrorism measures by the police and other security agencies in the efforts to deal with all forms of crime.

The report however called for clarification from the state on who has been killed or disappeared by the agents since April 2012, any action taken on the agents, where the bodies are and what steps taken to investigate them.

"The Kenyan government must furthermore clarify whether there is or has ever been in existence a shoot to kill or political assassination counterterrorism policy- formal or informal amongst the security operatives," it said.
BRUSSELS, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Thursday praised Estonia for being one of the allies that is spending 2 percent of GDP on defense.

Welcoming Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid to NATO headquarters, Stoltenberg thanked her for Estonia's contributions to NATO.

Estonia leads by example on defense spending, which will contribute to a fair burden sharing among allies and thereby strengthening the transatlantic bond, Stoltenberg said.

He also voiced NATO's commitment to secure Estonia, saying that at the Warsaw Summit NATO Allies decided to enhance its forward presence in the three Baltic countries and Poland.

"We are on track when it comes to the deployment of the battalion, a multinational battalion to Estonia, " he added.

Five of 28 NATO member states met the alliance's goal of spending 2 percent of their GDP on defense in 2015, including the United States, UK, Greece, Estonia and Poland.
ADDIS ABABA, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia and Denmark on Thursday signed a 28 million Danish Krone (about 4 million U.S. dollars) grant agreement to support Ethiopia's effort in diversifying renewable power generation.

The agreement signed in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa aims at diversifying Ethiopia's renewable energy through wind power generation and improving quality of service in Ethiopia's electricity distribution system.

Signing the agreement, Admasu Nebebe, Ethiopia's State Minister of Finance and Economic Cooperation, said that his country is striving to unleash its potential in the energy sector.

Admasu said Ethiopia has a target to reach 17,000MW production capacity by the end of the country's second five-year Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II) through energy mix of hydropower, wind, solar and biogas.

"The agreement we signed today is aligned with our plan to diversify electricity generation sources and investment mechanisms," he said.

The assistance is also expected to improve Ethiopia's institutional framework and market readiness in the power sector with an improved power integration system and minimum grid loss.

"Maintaining high economic growth requires power, and meeting the electricity needs of a growing population requires electricity," said Mette Thygesen, Ambassador of Denmark in Ethiopia.
Yu Zhengsheng (C rear), chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), presides over a biweekly consultation session on promoting modern agriculture science and technology in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 8, 2016. (Xinhua/Zhang Ling)

BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- China's political advisors on Thursday discussed ways to improve the country's system of disseminating agricultural science and technology during a bi-weekly consultation session.



Though great progress has been made in spreading agro-science, the current system has yet to adapt to new missions brought by supply-side structural reform in agriculture and new requirements resulting from the transformation of agricultural development modes, members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee said at the session.

They called for accelerating reform of the system to provide stronger support for the agricultural modernization drive.

Some political advisors proposed increasing inputs in the development of primary-level agencies and personnel.

Agricultural universities and research institutes should be encouraged to play a bigger role in agro-science dissemination, they said, also suggesting better involvement of market entities in the process.

They also urged greater guidance and supervision over dissemination services, as well as deepened reform of agricultural research institutions to promote agro-science dissemination and innovation.

Yu Zhengsheng, chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, presided over the session and gave a speech.
HAMBURG, Germany, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- A senior institutional leader of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on Thursday said that a strong and effective OSCE is needed to help improve the security situation across North America, Europe and Central Asia.

Addressing the 23rd Ministerial Council of the OSCE, Parliamentary Assembly (PA) President Christine Muttonen stressed that the PA stands ready to do its part working for a more effective organization, noting that OSCE parliamentarians can help mobilize the political will needed for real results.

"Looking around the OSCE region today, it seems there is no end to the number of threats and challenges that we face," Muttonen, a member of parliament from Austria, said.

"Conflicts have emerged and been fueled in the OSCE area, and along with them, all of the tragedies of war that we are all too familiar with. We are struggling with developing a common response to the refugee and migrant crisis," she said.

At the same time, she added, we must continue our efforts in countering violent extremism, promoting arms control and even combating climate change.

The OSCE leader pointed out that these challenges are coming at a time of growing mistrust, rising populism and increasing political divides.

However, she noted, being paralyzed by politics is simply not an option in today's environment.

"It may at times seem that we are out of options. But we do have a choice: we can either 'see no evil and hear no evil,' or we can put our efforts and hopes in the power of multilateral co-operation and joint solutions. This choice means building bridges," she said.

She said the PA will continue to cooperate with the governments of the OSCE participating states to improve the security situation in the OSCE area.

"The Parliamentary Assembly stands ready to do its part in working for a more effective OSCE," she said, "Our parliamentarians are a powerful tool of people-to-people diplomacy. All our work is guided by the key principle of enhancing dialogue."

Muttonen stressed that as a political assembly unrestrained by the OSCE's consensus decision-making process, the PA can speak out and act quickly and clearly.

With 57 participating states, the OSCE is the world's largest regional security organization. It has a number of institutions and structures that help it implement its mandate. The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly brings together parliamentarians from all participating states.
ATHENS, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of protesters marched peacefully in Athens and other Greek cities on Thursday, joining the latest 24-hour walkout by Greece's two largest labor unions to protest the new set of budget cuts being debated.

Approximately 16,000 Greeks took part in the two main rallies organized in front of the parliament by ADEDY and GSEE, the two umbrella unions representing public and private sector employees, and PAME union, according to police estimates.

Public hospitals were operating with skeletal staff during Thursday's general strike, while schools and banks were closed and transport services from buses and trains to ships were disrupted.

The Pan-Hellenic Seamen's Federation (PNO) announced the extension of the seafarers' week-long strike by another two days to Sunday. Other trade unions were examining similar steps.

Ferries have remained docked at ports across Greece since Dec. 2, cutting off islands from the mainland, as seamen protest against the planned labor reform and the abolishment of their special tax breaks.

"From tomorrow we are escalating our actions. We will not allow them to pass these measures which are against workers," Grigoris Kalomiris, member of the directors board of ADEDY, said.

According to official statistics, a quarter of Greece's working force suffers from chronic unemployment, a quarter of Greek households is struggling at the threshold of poverty, and the average Greek taxpayer has lost about 40 percent of his income from the start of the debt crisis.

Ahead of the vote on the 2017 budget draft scheduled for Saturday, cabinet ministers reassured that the ailing economy is returning to growth and the most vulnerable groups of society will be supported.
JERUSALEM, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Tourism Ministry said Thursday that the country saw a record-breaking rise of inbound tourists in November, despite an ongoing wave of violence in Israel and the West Bank.

About 287,900 tourists entered Israel last month, an increase of around 38 percent year on year, a statement by the Tourism Ministry said.

The revenues to the local economy in November alone reached over 1.5 billion shekels (394 million U.S. dollars), a sum that almost equals to the annual Israel tourism marketing budget.

The ministry's figures showed that a total of 2,651,400 tourists have entered Israel from January to November, a rise of about two percent compared with the same period last year.

Tourism Minister Yariv Levin attributed the increase mainly to intensive marketing efforts in new markets, particularly China and India.

Levin praised the tourist industry's incredible potential, highlighting its significant contribution to the Israeli economy.

He said that efforts will continue to be made to meet the challenge of creating a continuing increase in incoming tourism.

The numbers came as a surprise to the tourism industry, which feared that the Palestinian unrest, including frequent knife attacks, would deter inbound visits.
HARARE, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe's economy is projected to grow by a modest 0.6 percent in 2016, down from 1.1 percent in 2015 due to an El-Nino induced drought and weak commodity prices on the international market, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said on Thursday.

The minister had initially projected the economy to grow by 2.7 percent in 2016 but revised downwards the growth forecast to 1.2 percent in September.

He said the economy was expected to slightly recover and post 1.7 percent growth in 2017 due to anticipated better rains, recovery of some commodity prices on the international market and implementation of reforms to ease doing business.

The minister was presenting in parliament the 2017 national budget under which the government expects 3.7 billion U.S. Dollars in revenue and plans to spend 4.1 billion.

"The economy is still confronted with a number of headwinds, which continue to restrain sustainable and equitable economic growth," the minister said.

He said the 2017 budget was intended to increase domestic production backed by critical reforms to re-orient fiscal resources towards development projects, improve investment environment and finalize re-engagement with international financial institutions.

Chinamasa also hailed the introduction of bond notes, saying the notes should spur private spending.

To boost platinum production, the minister extended a 15 percent tax on raw platinum exports with another year to December 2017.

He said the reprieve was aimed at giving the three platinum producers enough time to complete setting up base metal refineries.

Amid a shrinking tax base, the minister also proposed a number of measures to boost revenue, including proposing a 5 percent levy on all mobile phone airtime and mobile broadband to go towards a health fund.

He also announced incentives for companies in Special Economic Zones, including exemption from paying corporate tax for the first 5 years.

The minister said robust fiscal adjustment and structural reforms, as well as arrears clearance were crucial to the promotion of a business environment conducive for economic growth.

After clearing its 15-year debt with the International Monetary Fund of 108 million dollars last month, the minister said the next step was to clear debt arrears to other multilateral creditors - the African Development Bank (610 million dollars), World Bank (1.16 billion dollars) and the European Investment Bank (212 million dollars) - early next year.
Xie Xiaoyan, Special Envoy of the Chinese Government on Syrian issue, speaks during a press conference in Damascus, Syria, Dec. 8, 2016. The UN Security Council should remain united to reach consensus and form resultant force on ending crisis in Syria, said Xie Xiaoyan during his latest trip to Damascus. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)



By Hummam Sheikh Ali, Xinhua writer Che Hongliang

DAMASCUS, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council should remain united to reach consensus and form resultant force on ending crisis in Syria, said a Chinese envoy during his latest trip to Damascus.

Responding to China's recent veto on the draft resolution relating to situation in Syria's northern city Aleppo, Xie Xiaoyan, Special Envoy of the Chinese Government on Syrian issue, said that the draft resolution without full consultation was not conducive in improving the situation in Syria.

Xie called for unity in the Security Council as the Syrian crisis entered into a crucial and sensitive stage, and countries concerned should avoid creating disputes and complicating the issue.

China and Russia at the Security Council voted against a draft resolution proposed by the several countries to establish a truce in Aleppo without the evacuation of rebels from that key area.

Syria's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem expressed in talks with Xie his gratitude for China and Russia for the veto, as the draft resolution did not stipulate the exit of militants from the eastern part of the city.

"The double veto by Russia and China is an attempt to thwart the western countries' goal to offer the rebels in eastern Aleppo a chance to regroup and empower themselves," said Hmaidi Abdullah, a Syrian political analyst.

Another analyst, Taleb Ibrahim, said that the vetoed resolution will also distract the army from advancing further into the rebel-held areas.

The draft resolution came as the Syrian army made huge progress in Aleppo. The army now has become in control of over 80 percent of the rebel-held part east of Aleppo city, as part of a major campaign aiming to drive out the rebels from the city.

Several truces have previously taken place, but quickly failed to hold on or bring in any solution. Both the government and the rebels traded barbs on who is behind the faltering truces.

Xie started his second visit to Damascus as China's special envoy Wednesday, holding talks with al-Moallem, and Minister of State for National Reconciliation Affairs Ali Haidar as well as representatives from the opposition during his two-day visit.

The envoy stressed in different occasions during his visit that China will continue to play a constructive role in helping Syria recover peace and stability at an early date.

He noted that the Syrian situation is still "very complicated," calling on related parties to maintain patience to find a solution.

Xie, former ambassador to Iran and Ethiopia as well as representative to the African Union, was appointed by the Chinese government in March, 2016 with the aim of better promoting dialogue, contributing Chinese wisdom and communicating with other parties to facilitate a proper solution.
China and Russia at the Security Council voted against a draft resolution proposed by the several countries to establish a truce in Aleppo without the evacuation of rebels from that key area. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

DAMASCUS, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council should remain united to reach consensus and form resultant force on ending crisis in Syria, said a Chinese envoy during his latest trip to Damascus.

Responding to China's recent veto on the draft resolution relating to situation in Syria's northern city Aleppo, Xie Xiaoyan, Special Envoy of the Chinese Government on Syrian issue, said that the draft resolution without full consultation was not conducive in improving the situation in Syria.

Xie called for unity in the Security Council as the Syrian crisis entered into a crucial and sensitive stage, and countries concerned should avoid creating disputes and complicating the issue.

China and Russia at the Security Council voted against a draft resolution proposed by the several countries to establish a truce in Aleppo without the evacuation of rebels from that key area.

Syria's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem expressed in talks with Xie his gratitude for China and Russia for the veto, as the draft resolution did not stipulate the exit of militants from the eastern part of the city.

"The double veto by Russia and China is an attempt to thwart the western countries' goal to offer the rebels in eastern Aleppo a chance to regroup and empower themselves," said Hmaidi Abdullah, a Syrian political analyst.

Another analyst, Taleb Ibrahim, said that the vetoed resolution will also distract the army from advancing further into the rebel-held areas.

The draft resolution came as the Syrian army made huge progress in Aleppo. The army now has become in control of over 80 percent of the rebel-held part east of Aleppo city, as part of a major campaign aiming to drive out the rebels from the city.

Several truces have previously taken place, but quickly failed to hold on or bring in any solution. Both the government and the rebels traded barbs on who is behind the faltering truces.

Xie started his second visit to Damascus as China's special envoy Wednesday, holding talks with al-Moallem, and Minister of State for National Reconciliation Affairs Ali Haidar as well as representatives from the opposition during his two-day visit.

The envoy stressed in different occasions during his visit that China will continue to play a constructive role in helping Syria recover peace and stability at an early date.

He noted that the Syrian situation is still "very complicated," calling on related parties to maintain patience to find a solution.

Xie, former ambassador to Iran and Ethiopia as well as representative to the African Union, was appointed by the Chinese government in March, 2016 with the aim of better promoting dialogue, contributing Chinese wisdom and communicating with other parties to facilitate a proper solution.
CAIRO, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Arab League (AL) strongly condemned the recent Israeli initial approval of a settlement legalization bill, urging the international community to pressure Israel to stop settlement expansion, the pan-Arab organization said in a statement Thursday.

"The international community should be aware of the real face of the current Israeli government that carries out unprecedented settlement construction," AL Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit said in the statement, stressing that settlement construction will remain "illegitimate and outlawed" and passing the related law will not change the fact.

The Knesset, Israel's parliament, passed on Wednesday a first reading of the controversial legislation that is meant to retroactively legalize about 4,000 settlement homes and to allow expropriation of more Palestinian lands in the West Bank.

"Issuing such a bill is no surprise under an Israeli government most of whose members reject the two-state solution and openly call for settlement expansion to obstruct this solution forever," said Aboul-Gheit.

Earlier on Monday, the Knesset also voted in support of a first reading of bill legalizing unauthorized Israeli outposts in the West Bank, which has also been rejected by the AL and many Arab states including Egypt.

Israel is blamed by the international community for the deadlock of the Middle East peace process due to its settlement expansion policy that is rejected even by its closest ally, the United States.

Supported by the United States, Russia, China, the European Union and many other states, the two-state solution seeks to put an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by the establishment of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.
GENEVA, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein on Thursday urged Israel to reconsider a bill that might legalize its outposts in the occupied West Bank.

The passing of the bill would further deprive the Palestinians of their land and their livelihoods, the high commissioner said.

He stressed that if adopted, the bill would allow the retroactive "legalization" of so-called Israeli outposts constructed on privately-owned Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.

The Bill was approved by the Knesset, or the Israeli parliament, at the first of three readings on Wednesday.

"In enabling the use of land privately-owned by Palestinians for Israeli settlements without the owners' consent, this legislation would violate international law according to which Israel, as the occupying power, must respect the private property of Palestinians, regardless of whether or not compensation is provided," the high commissioner said.

"I strongly urge lawmakers to reconsider their support for this bill, which if enacted, would have far-reaching consequences and would seriously damage the reputation of Israel around the world," he added.

According to figures provided by the UN, at present at least 570,000 Israeli settlers live in some 130 settlements and 100 outposts in the West Bank, and initial work of some NGOs showed that the new bill would clear the way for the potential retroactive legalization of 55 illegal outposts and approximately 4,000 housing units in settlements and outposts built on over 800 hectares of private Palestinian land.
HAMBURG, Germany, Dec.8 (Xinhua) -- The chief administrative officer of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the world's largest regional security organization, called for teamwork of its member states on Thursday.

OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier made the remarks at the opening session of the 23rd OSCE Ministerial Council, which brought together top diplomats of the organization's member states in Germany's Hamburg on Thursday.

Zannier said the member states must work together to tackle the complex and interconnected security challenges they face today, and that the OSCE has the potential to play a unifying role.

He also stressed the importance of mutual trust and confidence, which comes through open communication, in the organization's pragmatic cooperation.

"We must revitalize our dialogue and return to genuine debate and engagement to help us find cooperative approaches to shared problems," Zannier said.

Chairmanship of the OSCE is held by a member state on a calendar-year basis since 1991, with the state's foreign minister performing the function of Chairperson-in-Office.

Secretary General is the chief administrative officer of the OSCE and ensures implementation of the OSCE's decisions.

Secretary General also acts as the representative of the Chairperson-in-Office and supports him or her in all activities aimed at fulfilling the goals of the OSCE.
ACCRA, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Ghana's police administration warned here Thursday it would not countenance the breach of the country's peace ahead of the declaration of the presidential election results.

This comes at the back of claims of victory and counter-claims by the two leading political parties, governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) and New Patriotic Party (NPP), in Wednesday's general election.

Tension is gradually building up in the West African country as it waits for the Electoral Commission (EC) to declare the results of the presidential election.

Addressing a press conference here, the Director General of Operations for the Ghana Police Service, Christian Tetteh Yohuno, expressed anguish about the seemingly tension in the country. He asked the political parties to remain calm and wait for the declaration of the results by the EC.

"It is unfortunate the two major parties are engaged in this practice and at this stage I will appeal to them to be patient as we all wait for the EC to declare who has won the presidential election," Yohuno said.

The Director General further said the police administration was monitoring the situation on the ground and would protect lives and property.

"The police is closely monitoring the situation so that it does not escalate. The police will do everything in its power to protect lives and property," Yohuno said.

Ghanaians voted in presidential and parliamentary elections Wednesday and the country's electoral body has within 72 hours to declare winner of the presidential poll.
LILONGWE, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Malawi Police Service Thursday arrested a Rwandan national, Vincent Murekezi, reportedly wanted by Rwandan government for the 1994 genocide, police have confirmed.

According to Malawi Police Spokesperson James Kadadzera, Murekezi was arrested in Malawi capital Lilongwe upon the directive of the country's highest public prosecution office.

"It's true that we have arrested Murekezi today," Kadadzera told the state-run Malawi News Agency.

"We received communication from the Rwandan government that Murekezi was wanted in connection to the 1994 genocide and we referred the matter the Director of Public Prosecution who ordered his arrest," Kadadzera said.

Murekezi's cover was blown recently by the Malawi media which questioned the authenticity of his origin after the details of his Malawian passport contradicted that of his Rwandan passport.

Since the local media blew Murekezi's cover, local civil society organizations have been putting Malawi government under pressure to have the suspect arrested and sent back to Rwanda for trial.

Malawi hosts close to 30,000 refugees and asylum seekers at Dzaleka Camp in the Central Region district of Dowa.

The majority population at the Camp are Rwandese, and Brundi followed by other displaced people from the Great Lakes countries.
CAPE TOWN, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The South African government said on Thursday it is opposed to Israel's controversial bill which is viewed to legitimize the continuing annexation of Palestinian land.

The South African government "received with shock" the news that the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) passed the bill on Wednesday, described as a "land grab" bill by opposition parties against it, the SA Department of International Relations and Cooperation said in a statement.

"South Africa reiterates that the illegal occupation of Palestinian territory is a direct obstacle to the peace negotiations and is contrary to international law," the statement said.

South Africa calls on all peace-loving people throughout the world to stand up in defence of the two-state solution and strongly opposes the "land grab" bill, according to department spokesperson Clayson Monyela.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein on Thursday also urged Israel to reconsider the bill that might legalize its outposts in the occupied West Bank.

The passing of the bill would further deprive the Palestinians of their land and their livelihoods, the high commissioner said.

He stressed that if adopted, the bill would allow the retroactive "legalization" of so-called Israeli outposts constructed on privately-owned Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.

According to figures provided by the UN, at present at least 570,000 Israeli settlers live in some 130 settlements and 100 outposts in the West Bank, and initial work of some NGOs showed that the new bill would clear the way for the potential retroactive legalization of 55 illegal outposts and approximately 4,000 housing units in settlements and outposts built on over 800 hectares of private Palestinian land.
RABAT, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Moroccan police said in a statement on Thursday that they have seized some 5.5 tons of cannabis in the northeastern city of Nador.

Two people with suspected links to a criminal drug trafficking network were arrested and five vehicles were also seized in the suburb of Nador.

According to the statement, one of the suspects was wanted by security services for drug trafficking and forgery.

The arrestees were remanded in custody to complete the probe conducted under the supervision of the competent public prosecutor, while investigations are underway to arrest all the suspects involved in this case.

Despite efforts in the past decade to crack down on cannabis harvesting, Morocco remains the world's largest producer of the cannabis resin.

According to the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime's 2016 World Drug Report, Morocco ranked first among 129 countries in terms of cannabis production from 2009 to 2014, followed by Afghanistan, Lebanon, India and Pakistan.
TEHRAN, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday called for cooperation among the members of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to stabilize crude market, state IRIB TV reported.

"It is necessary for OPEC members to continue cooperation to stabilize market and to raise the crude prices," Rouhani said in a telephone conversation with the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday.

"As the first step, the crude producers should do their utmost efforts in the next six months to implement the agreement in the recent OPEC meeting," he said, adding that the continuation of contacts among the 12 OPEC member states was a must.

He emphasized the supports for the increase in the crude prices, describing the role of the non-OPEC members in the success of the recent agreement as important.

"The close cooperation between OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers for the market stability and raise of the prices is of grave importance," he stressed.

Rouhani also called the recent decision by the OPEC to cut oil output as a "success" for the oil cartel and the global market, saying the impact of this agreement would be felt in the coming months.

The OPEC decided on Nov. 30 to cut its oil output by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd), setting the ceiling of oil production at 32.5 million bpd.

The cut, effective from Jan. 1, 2017, is the oil cartel's first oil reduction since 2008.

According to the agreement, Iran will keep its production at 3.8 million bpd, about the same as the country's pre-sanction level in 2008.

The reduction is being coordinated with non-OPEC country Russia, which promised to cut its production by 300,000 bpd.

OPEC is said to establish a ministerial committee to monitor the implementation of the output cut agreement.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke on phone with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Thursday about continuing the discussion of a ceasefire in Syria, the U.S. State Department said.

"Secretary Kerry spoke by phone today with Foreign Minister Lavrov about the situation on the ground in Aleppo," said State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau here at the daily briefing, referring to a key battleground in Syria's civil war.

"They agreed to continue discussions about establishing a framework for a cease-fire that will allow the delivery of aid, of desperately needed humanitarian aid, as well as the safe departure of those who wish to leave the city," said Trudeau.

According to the spokeswoman, though Lavrov announced "technical discussions" in Geneva over the last weekend, the specific nature of the follow-on discussions were still being worked out.

Moscow and Washington have resumed consultations recently on the Syrian settlement after the U.S. suspended dialogue with Russia early October.

On Friday, Lavrov and Kerry met in Rome, where they agreed on a plan that would allow all militants to withdraw from eastern Aleppo.

Lavrov and Kerry met again in Hamburg, Germany, on Wednesday to discuss the ongoing multilateral efforts to achieve a cessation of hostilities in Aleppo, according to the U.S. State Department.
LA PAZ, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Thirteen people have been killed and more than 10 others were injured after a bus fell off a cliff along a Bolivian highway on Wednesday night, said Efrain Urquidi, captain of the highway police of the Cochabamba Department.

Speaking to the press, Urquidi said that the accident was reported involving a passenger bus of the Trans Lujan company.

According to the police chief, one of the injured passengers said a trailer attached to a truck hit the side of the bus and sent it falling off 200 meters down a cliff.

The accident happened around midnight on Wednesday night in the area of Llavini along the Oruro-Cochabamba highway.

The international bus had departed from the city of Iquique in Chile and was heading for the city of Cochabamba in central Bolivia.

Urquidi added that a search had begun for the truck involved, and the driver had fled the scene.

The police got to the scene quickly and began rescuing the passengers, with the wounded sent to the Viedma hospital in Cochabamba.

No information has been released about the identity of the victims.
LONDON, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Children's play putty has been used to create sensors so sensitive it can detect the footsteps of tiny spiders.

What was described Thursday as a world-first graphene innovation could see medical devices and diagnostics using applications created by the breakthrough.

Researchers from Trinity College Dublin in collaboration with colleagues from the National Graphene Institute (NGI) used graphene to make the novelty children's material Silly Putty (polysilicone) conduct electricity. What was a playful experiment allowed scientists to create extremely sensitive sensors.

"The world first research, led by Professor Jonathan Coleman of Trinity College in collaboration with Professor Robert Young of the University of Manchester, potentially offers exciting possibilities for applications in new, inexpensive devices and diagnostics in medicine and other sectors," said a statement Thursday from the University of Manchester.

The team's findings have been published in the leading journal Science.

Prof Coleman from Trinity's School of Physics along with postdoctoral researcher Conor Boland, discovered that the electrical resistance of putty infused with graphene ('G-putty') was extremely sensitive to the slightest deformation or impact.

They mounted the G-putty onto the chest and neck of human subjects and used it to measure breathing, pulse and even blood pressure. It showed unprecedented sensitivity as a sensor for strain and pressure, hundreds of times more sensitive than current sensors.

"The G-putty also works as a very sensitive impact sensor, able to detect the footsteps of small spiders. It is believed that this material will find applications in a range of medical devices," the statement added.

Young, professor of polymer science and technology at Manchester said: "The endless list of potential applications of graphene, a material first isolated in Manchester, never ceases to amaze me."

"We have now developed a new high-performance sensing material, 'G-putty', that can monitor deformation, pressure and impact at a level of sensitivity that is so precise that it allows even the footsteps of small spiders to be monitored,"said the researcher.

"It will have many future applications in sensors, particularly in the field of healthcare."

The material was developed at Trinity College and the NGI contributed to the work through analysing the structure of the material using the facilities available at the world-leading institute.

Manchester-based scientists were then able to develop a mathematical model of the deformation of the material to explain the effect of its structure upon its mechanical and electrical properties.

Prof Coleman said: "What we are excited about is the unexpected behavior we found when we added graphene to the polymer, boric acid-treated polysilicone. This material is well known as the children's toy Silly Putty. It is different from familiar materials in that it flows like a viscous liquid when deformed slowly but bounces like an elastic solid when thrown against a surface."

"When we added the graphene to the silly putty, it caused it to conduct electricity, but in a very unusual way. This unique discovery will open up major possibilities in sensor manufacturing worldwide."
UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday appointed Major General Wang Xiaojun of China as the force commander of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

"Major General Wang will succeed Major General Muhammad Tayyab Azam of Pakistan, whose tour of duty ended on Nov. 7, 2016," UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq told a daily briefing here.

MINURSO was established in 1991 by the UN Security Council in a bid to seek settlement in Western Sahara, whose territory has been contested by Morocco, Mauritania and the Frente Polisario, supported by Algeria, since colonial power Spain's withdrawal in 1976.

Haq said Wang "brings to this position 40 years of national and international military experience, having served as Defence Attache at the Embassies of the People's Republic of China to Brazil, India, Sweden, and the United States of America from 2006 until 2016."

"He also has served as a United Nations Sector Commander in MINURSO from 2003 to 2004, and was a United Nations Military Observer in Kuwait from 1992 to 1993," Haq added.

Wang has a Master's degree in Military Administration from the Military Science Institution of the People's Liberation Army, and a Bachelor's degree in Signals Technology and Command from the Nanjing Army Command College, China.

Born in 1959, Wang is married and has two children.
BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhuanet)  China on Wednesday released a five-year plan for intelligent manufacturing at the World Intelligent Manufacturing Summit held in Nanjing, east Chinas Jiangsu Province.

The plan, published by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, is a long-term strategic task to develop intelligent manufacturing to generate new growth to improve the country's manufacturing sector.

A two step strategy and ten key tasks for intelligent manufacturing are listed in the blueprint.

The two step strategy for promoting intelligent manufacturing before 2025 are: firstly, by 2020, foundation and supporting capability for intelligent manufacturing will be enhanced significantly, and digital manufacturing for key areas of traditional manufacturing industry realized. Secondly, till 2025, supporting system for intelligent manufacturing will be established and preliminary intelligent transformation for key sectors will be realized.

The plan calls for the speeding up of development in intelligent equipment and key common technologies, setting up of intelligent manufacturing standards, expanding intelligent manufacturing trials, and promoting intelligent transformation in key sectors and small and medium-sized companies.

Promoting coordinated development of regional intelligent manufacturing and nurturing talents are also included in the plan.

In addition, the plan stresses that development of intelligent manufacturing is a long-term strategy.

Other key parts of the plan include enhancing the security controllable capability of key technology and equipment, beefing up supporting capability for bases, upgrading integrated application level, exploring new modes for cultivation and building beneficial development environment. With these key parts stressed, solid foundations will be laid for fostering new momentum of economic growth, developing new competitive advantages and building manufacturing power, according to the plan.

The World Intelligent Manufacturing Summit is held from Dec. 6 to 8 in Nanjing.

Representatives of policy makers, industry organizations, research institutes and World Top 500 from China, the United States, Germany, Switzerland and other countries attended the summit.
The meteorological facilities aided by China are not only high quality but also very useful, said Dr. Amos Makarau, Director of the Meteorological Services Department of Zimbabwe, on November 25, when he was interviewed by China Meteorological News Press during the sixteenth session of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Commission for Basic Systems (CBS) in Guangzhou, China.

In 2013, the Chinese government embarked on the meteorological facility aid project for African countries. Comoros, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Namibia, DRC, Cameroon and Sudan were listed as the recipient countries. The aid project encompasses automatic weather stations, and a whole set of forecasting systems and software. In June, 2016, China has completed the installation and training work of meteorological facilities in Zimbabwe.

It has been nearly half year passed. How do they operate the facilities? Amos Makarau delightedly expressed that meteorological facilities provided by China are of high quality and very useful. After its operation, Zimbabwe has made three breakthroughs: for the first time monitoring forest fire through satellite, building own weather TV studio, and releasing multiple warnings through weather early-warning radios.

Amos Makarau said that Zimbabwe has a high coverage of forest and grassland and is always exposed to wildfire especially in dry season from May to October. In the past, forest fire monitoring was a headache to the government. After the installation of Chinas FY-3 satellite data reception and application system, the meteorological service can take advantage of images captured by FY-3 satellite and accurately pinpointed the location of the fire.

It is a great help for the government to extinguish fire.The installation of meteorological TV studio system provided by China is another case in point. He said that with this system the weather forecast host can improve recording until satisfied rather than going to TV station. And this system is equipped with digitized and modern technologies. The weather program made by the studio becomes more and more popular in the nation.

Zimbabwe is under threat of frequent rainstorms, floods, and thunder & lightening. Timely early-warning is of vital significance. He told the reporter that weather early-warning radios provided by China are instrumental in ensuring timely weather forecast and early warning. To optimize the benefits of the facility, the meteorological service department has co-operated with departments of health, agriculture, civil and others to disseminate warning and useful information for the rural areas.

To help Zimbabwe improve forecasting capabilities, China also incorporated the Meteorological Information Comprehensive Analysis and Process System (MICAPS) which is independently developed by China Meteorological Administration (CMA), into the aid project. Amos Makarau spoke highly of this system. He said that this system is very convenient and equipped with powerful data analysis and process capabilities. MICAPS enables the upgrading of the forecasting operational system in Zimbabwe and has gained popularity among forecasters.

Since 2016, CMA dispatched 21 meteorological engineers to conduct installation and training in Zimbabwe. They have overcome various difficulties and trained us how to conduct equipment maintenance and use software.

According to the assessment, the aid project has enhanced meteorological disaster prevention and early warning capabilities by 60% in Zimbabwe. This is a revolutionary transformation. Amos Makarau also said that the huge lift in forecasting level has shortened the distance between meteorological service and the general public. A growing number of social institutions and NGOs hope to cooperate with the meteorological service.

The aid project has brought tangible benefits. Amos Makarau extended sincere gratitude to China. As President of WMO Regional Association for Africahe hopes that in the future China will continue to support African countries in personnel training and early warning capability building. Most African countries are least developed countries. They are vulnerable to climate change. We expect to enhance disaster monitoring and prediction capabilities through China-Africa cooperation and learning from the experience of China.  he said.

(Source: cma.gov.cn)
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) passenger plane arrives at the Benazir International airport in Islamabad, Pakistan December 2, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

The Chinese Embassy in Pakistan has confirmed the death of one Chinese citizen in the Wednesday crash of a plane in Pakistan.

Rescue teams have retrieved all 48 bodies from the wreckage of a Pakistan International Airlines jet, which crashed in the country's north mountainous area on Wednesday, Xinhua reported on early Thursday.

The embassy told China Daily late on Wednesday that the Chinese citizen was a male and was working for an Austrian company operating in Pakistan.

Currently, the embassy is contacting the family of the victim.
ExporTT to help local manufacturers

Addressing a forum, Doing Business in Latin America at the Hyatt Regency, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain, organised by the American Chamber of Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago (AMCHAM), Acting Chief Executive Officer of ExporTT, Dwight Brown, said 90 percent of this countrys non-energy exports are to Caricom countries and other regional markets. The forum was held on Tuesday.

He added that in August this year the ExporTT did a Market Interest Survey of 145 local manufacturers and found that 61 percent of them were selling their products to Caricom markets and another 12 percent to other islands in the Caribbean, meaning that 73 percent of this countrys manufacturers are focussed on Caricom and the Caribbean markets. He said the country has to develop strategies to push manufacturers beyond the Caricom/ Caribbean market.

He said that at Government and ministerial level there is significant interest in negotiating trade agreements but wondered what was the point of trade agreements if they were not being used by the local manufacturers.

He said that next year, ExporTT will hold a number of seminars to explain to manufacturers the contents of the trade agreements and what challenges still exist in these markets with which Trinidad and Tobago has reached trade agreements.

Brown said significant challenges still exist: telling businessmen that in the Dominican Republic, for instance, there is a rule that if the exporter gets a distributor that the company is bound to keep that distributor for life or pay to break the arrangement.

Brown added that in Cuba, there is a registration process which mandates a company wishing to export to that island to register its products with two main state agencies.

Brown said the registration process can take a year and payment terms can take up to a year and a quarter.

However, he said this country has had a Trade Facilitation Office in Cuba since the 1990s and that office has developed an excellent business relationship with the Cuban government.

He said the office has had a lot of success stories and has been able to have business to business meetings with high level Cuban Government officials.

However, Brown said that in these modern times, some companies do not even have a website or a company profile and asked what was the point of looking to engage Latin America without a company profile in Spanish. He added that there was a bigger problem among local businesses, asking how many senior officials in local companies and even in large companies are bi-lingual or tri-lingual.

Brown also said that the Latin American culture is a very warm culture, telling the audience that the business persons they would meet in Latin American countries like to hug and shake hands. You have to kiss twice on each cheek, he said, adding that their business counterparts in Latin America would even want to know what school their children attended. He said local businesses cannot simply send a representative to any Latin American country and tell them to go and get some orders. He said the higher the level of company official who goes on the trip the better.

He said that just having trade agreements with the countries of Latin America will not significantly boost trade because those countries also have trade agreements with all the countries of the world, including China.

He said the trade agreements only level the playing field.
Dragon in the Hibiscus

These images of fiery power and floral delicacy symbolise the historic energy agreement signed this past Monday between the governments of Trinidad and Tobago (TT) and Venezuela.

It is an agreement which allows TT and Venezuelas energy companies, National Gas Company (NGC) and PdVSA (Petr?leos de Venezuela, SA) and international giant, Royal Dutch Shell, to work together on the delivery of natural gas from fields offshore Venezuelas north eastern coastline to Trinidad.

The pipeline will run from Venezuelas Dragon gas field to the Hibiscus Platform, owned by Shell, on to land at Trinidads Point Lisas Industrial Estate where the gas would be processed and sold.

TT will be given priority in purchasing the gas.

It was an occasion which had TT Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Venezuelas President Nicolas Maduro dancing around in a conga line with folk dancers, after the signing ceremony following hour-long private talks at the Presidential Palace in Caracas.

The objective of todays signing was to identify the resources in Venezuela, identify the processes by which well bring those resources to market, identify the agencies and all the protocols involved in giving life to a particular project (Dragon gas field), Rowley revealed to local media on Monday evening, at the VIP Lounge, Piarco International Airport, on his return from the day-long Official Visit to Venezuela.

We are talking about an agreement between the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, and the Government of Venezuela, Rowley added, to bring Venezuelan gas by specific identification of pipeline and platform, and specific usage in TT.

In short, we now have a project and the Government-to-Government heads of agreement thats been signed today, and the heads of agreement between the operating agencies (NGC, PdVSA, Shell). Rowley also told members of the media corps who had accompanied him on the visit that the existence (of the) Hibiscus platform, which Shell now owns thanks to its acquisition of British Gas (BG) earlier this year, has been a major impetus in putting this project together. Rowley explained that the confidentiality aspects of the agreement meant he was unable to provide the media with certain details. This was also due, the PM added, to the fact that some details are still to be worked out at the level of (the) heads of agreement of (the) operating companies. However, he did quote from page five, article two of the agreement, titled Obligations of the Parties, so that you as the media in TT can be properly apprised of exactly what we have agreed to today (Monday). The parties (Governments of TT and Venezuela) agree to take reasonable steps to facilitate: (a) The development, construction, operation and maintenance of one or more pipelines from the Mariscal Sucre region in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the Republic of TT, including a pipeline from the Dragon field to the Hibiscus platform, known in the agreement as the pipeline; (b) The delivery of gas from fields in the north-eastern offshore area of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, known as the Mariscal Sucre region, to the Republic of TT; and (c) The sale of natural gas volumes to the domestic gas market of TT, as a priority, and international markets. Rowley noted that, as of December 5, these companies are authorised by both governments to proceed to operationalise that project. When Business Day asked if the government-to-government agreement included a specific date by which gas from Venezuelas Dragon field would be piped to TT; which Rowley previously noted is located to the north of us here, just beyond the Bocas, the PM said a date of 2020 was included but efforts are being made to achieve an earlier start date.

In preparation for the decision that the development of this project should proceed, one of the things that was taken on board is TTs need for gas up to 2031.

And also, our immediate need, our short-term need and medium-term.

The plans are, in the agreement, we look at latest 2020 but today (Monday), what the President (Maduro) agreed to, and we in TT agreed to, is that if it could be done in 10 months, it should be done in five months. So in fact, while the analysis of the static situation is a 2020 deadline, Rowley continued, we are working towards a much earlier date. Therefore, what we are looking at for TT is not an immediate gas supply to our shortfall situation but treating with a worsening situation in the near to medium term. If we are able to have the pipeline works and the platform works and so on done in 24 months, then that would be a tremendous improvement but in the meantime, we could look towards the gas utilisation because we now know that there will be gas at some time, which is a situation that was of great concern to us when the opposite was beginning to loom as true, the PM said.

Rowley was accompanied on his official visit by a high-powered delegation that included Energy Minister Franklin Khan, Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs Dennis Moses, Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs Stuart Young, Petrotrin Chairman Professor Andrew Jupiter, NGC Chairman Gerry Brooks and Chief of Defence Staff Brigadier General Rodney Smart.

The only persons to make official statements during the trip were Rowley and Maduro. While the PM answered questions from the TT media upon the contingents return to Piarco Monday evening, Maduro declined to take questions following the signing at the Presidential Palace.

He did however speak for just under 17 minutes about many things, chief among them, how this agreement will allow TT to commercialise the Dragon gas field would be of mutual benefit to both countries.

Venezuela is the country of opportunities to invest in oil, gas, and other areas. We have 15 engines that we are developing in a new strategic vision, 15 powerful engines of the economy. We are going to work together, we are going to be good partners, we are going to look for new roads, if we had any problems in the past. We are going forward. So you are invited to work and all the international companies that want to work within this vision, welcome. Referring to the clear (economic) difficulties facing the Venezuelan people, Maduro said, all of these investments are necessary for our country, as well as being of mutual benefit (to TT). These are very necessary for our country because these incomes (will provide) a new system of income collection.

International co-operation for economic stability and the development of our nation, it is very important to be on top of these projects. It is very important, Maduro reiterated. Speaking about the Dragon gas field, he said the regulatory framework, the constitutional and legal framework.

are clear and all investments in Venezuela are guaranteed their success, present and future.

We also celebrate this partnership with Shell to develop this project and we also ask them in the same way to accelerate everything, Maduro stated.
Eye on inequality

He indicated that London and the South East are the only places in the UK where income per head is back above pre-financial crisis levels. He further suggested that net wealth has also fallen in places such as the North East of England.

The degree of differences across regions has seen the UK move to the lower rungs of the league table within Europe. As an example, wage differences between regions of the UK could differ by as much as 50% and the productivity gap between regions could be as high as 60%. In fact, it appears that these gaps are growing.

Further examples of inequality include the following statistics.

Gross Domestic Product per head is ?45,000 a year in London which is nearly 2.5 times higher than in Wales or the North East of England, where the figure is about ?18,000. Then there is the average weekly wage of ?670 in London compared to the East Midlands where it is ?480. The data suggests differences across regions as well as across income bands.

After the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008, national output per head has risen by 6.6% in London, but has gone down by 4.6% in Northern Ireland. Net wealth has shot up 13% on average across the UK. However, in the North East of England and the East and West Midlands, net wealth has fallen.

The concern of the growth of inequality in income and across regions is something that we in Trinidad and Tobago should be also be concerned about. The data reveals that the TT Gini coefficient, a measure of the inequality of income distribution, stood at 0.43 in 1958 and increased to 0.51 in 1972. After that there was a gradual though small decline which saw the Gini coefficient fall to 0.39 by 1998. As the coefficient tends to 1, income inequality becomes worse.

At the early stages of economic development both a countrys economic growth and its income inequality rise. In the case of developed countries, income inequality shows a tendency of narrowing. The possible explanation for this is it rises because of the secular shift from lowincome and low-inequality agriculture to high-income, medium-inequality industrial production. An additional reason for narrowing inequality is the increased efficiency of the established urban population which decreases inequality within the industrial sector. It is interesting to note that the data for a number of years suggests that the index is much lower for Tobago than for Trinidad. In fact, across the regions in the country there are significant differences in income distribution.

We have gotten hints from representatives of UN agencies that income inequality has gotten worse for this country based on the latest Household Budgetary Survey (HBS). It appears that the survey is complete and a report has been submitted. It is important that this report is released to the country especially at this time since it could be added to the national discussion about the way forward. We should follow the example of the UK and release the information and have an open discussion both on the nature of the problem and remedies to address the problem going forward.
Tru Valu invests in staff training, customer satisfaction

All supermarkets essentially offer the same product if you think about it  milk, rice, sugar, flour etc. Competing strictly on price is therefore not an option, so you have to find ways to set yourself apart, she details as we get to chatting.

We all want a nice environment to shop in and to have great stores but those things take major investments. To make it there we have to ensure that we have one thing: loyal and repeat customers, she explains, detailing why Tru Valu offers more than their rival chains.

Supermarkets operate on small margins, so we need volume to generate adequate revenue. And that can only be achieved by having our customers come back again and again. To achieve this, the CEO has squarely placed her faith in her people offering above-industry-average training programmes. We are a labour-intensive organisation, so we set out to make Tru Valu, first and foremost a great place to work which would then also make it a great place to shop for customers, she says confidently.

Most of the programmes are ongoing and range from leadership summits for managers and supervisors which help to foster a culture of mentorship as well as continuous training in-store and through UWI-affiliated programmes for middle supervisory staff. It also included as one example, fun and interactive activities whereby customers were given a symbolic cupcake image and asked to award floor staff with these hidden tokens if they thought they received great service. It was fun to get actual customers involved, Mustapha- Scott notes, apart from also having mystery shopping programmes in place.

It helped to break the ice with the staff feeling more motivated to give great service all round, so that they could receive a measurable reward. The idea is to make it feel more natural for staff and customers too. The overall programme, driven by key deliverables and data, is monitored so that staff can be commended or called upon to do better as needed, but is being administered in a fun way as much as possible. We even have intra-store competitions such as wrappers versus cashiers or have stores compete to outperform each other in fun, friendly rivalry, she adds. The real test therefore is for the programme to sustain momentum so that it crosses the tipping point into becoming part of the company culture, which is the exact area that many local organisations will falter in  persistence; a character trait that seems forged in Mustapha-Scott.

The jewel of the programme however, is the Tru Valu HelpDesk to be found in every store, being executed in part with Dawn Richards of DRA Consulting. These frontline desks are commandeered by Helpdesk officers clad in smart, navy uniforms with a bright green and yellow rosettes who are there to welcome shoppers, assist with finding items, resolve complaints or even advise on how they can save via the coupon offers or special offers that day or week. The chain will even assist shoppers in budgeting if they ask, given the economic climate.

The economy is slowing, she notes, We are seeing a drop in volumes and see customers being more careful, comparing more, trading down in purchase options. And its not that we have increased our prices via increasing margins, its also that the end consumer now has a return of that 12.5% VAT to their bills, FOREX fluctuations affecting prices and other economic factors.

And the chain also is facing a number of other challenges too including the proliferation of groceries in communities.

We always welcome free and fair competition, Mustapha-Scott responds, but we face a regulatory environment that differs to what many of these groceries operate in. We have to meet requirements guided by OSH, field visits by the Bureau of Standards and ensure that our staff receive their annual medicals to have food badges, along with operating under the collective agreements made by unions on behalf of our staff. It all adds a cost, which we are happy to bear as long as everyone else does too. Despite the challenges, Mustapha- Scott continues to push for the development of her staff above all. But is it working? Why invest in staff that rotate between franchises and chains once incentivized to do so? She is quick to answer, I believe we have seen a shift in our culture and within our staff, and our complaint levels have definitely fallen, which can only be good for the bottom line.

But it goes beyond that, if we arent willing to invest in our people, even if they walk out the door, then we cant continue to complain about customer service nationally. Sure, the person may leave after you train them, but you are putting out a more confident skilled person, and you likely received a return on that investment while they worked with you anyway, she points out. And other chains are moving to match the programmes that she has created, which can only be good news for us all.

When not leading the way at the supermarket giant, Mustapha-Scott makes time to balance her schedule, My life is based on balance  I try to have a good social life, a good family life as well as a good work life. I have always believed that if you are going to do something, anything, then do it with commitment and passion, setting your priorities and pursuing it, being key to it all. And recognise that a fair days work for a fair days pay, no matter where you work is a source of pride.
Cops injure bandit in shootout

The three other accomplices remained in police custody. They are: a 26 year-old man of Lodge Road, Claxton Bay; a 20 year-old man from St Johns Trace, Claxton Bay; and a 43 year-old man from Cipero Road, Victoria Village in San Fernando. Police reports are at about 7 pm, three gunmen stormed into a California supermarket and robbed the business place of a quantity of cash and items. They also robbed several customers of cash and personal items before fleeing the scene in a white AD wagon.

A report was made police and investigators sprung into action.

They spotted the wagon along the south bound lane of the Solomon Hochoy Highway and intercepted the vehicle near the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba. The report added that the 35 year-old man began shooting at police who returned fire hitting him on the leg.
Half-naked thief fights with police

When Newsday arrived in front of Sweet Candy clothes store in Capital Plaza, crowds were gathered on both sides of the street as a pants-less man lay on the side of the road, struggling with several plainclothes and uniformed police officers.

According to Kevin Fidley, an employee at Sweet Candy, at about 3 pm, the man tried to shoplift several expensive garments at the store. The employee monitoring the security cameras noticed the man and informed the stores security, one of which was a plainclothes police officer.

The officer approached the man and attempted to arrest him. However, the thief resisted and began to fight back. Other male employees of the store joined the officer as the man thrashed about, throwing down numerous garments and mannequins as he fought the employees.

As they fought, the men dragged the thief outside the store, down a short flight of stairs, and onto the sidewalk.

However, during the melee, the thief s pants was pulled off and his underwear pulled below his buttocks.

I dont know if he wanted to try to say he was crazy or what, Fidley said. All I know is that fella was real strong and he was in his right sense to be stealing. The man was eventually taken into police custody.
Mom threatens to sue Education Ministry

Shafeeza Ali, 51, made a report to the Fyzabad Police Station that one of the schoolmates of her daughter, Jewel Precious Ali, even threatened to, open Jewels brains and sit down and watch her blood drain. That was one of several incidents of bullying, violence and discrimination, Ali said, which occuured while Jewel was a pupil of the Fyzabad Presbyterian School.

In a pre-action protocol letter sent by her attorney Stephen Boodram who is instructing attorney Jeevan Andrew Rampersad, Ali outlined a series of abusive incidents involving her daughter while she was a Standard Five pupil.

She stated last month, a teacher asked Jewel, The virus eat out your brains. And on another day, the teacher shouted to her, You are an idiot! and, You are stupid and dumb. In the letter, which was also sent to Minister of Education Anthony Garcia and the Presbyterian Board of Trinidad and Tobago, the attorneys stated on Alis behalf that on several days in November, a certain teacher did not attend school but was seen campaigning for a political party in the recent local government election.

And, on those occasions the teacher was absent, the class was left unattended.

Toward the end of October, the pre-action letter continued, a classmate struck Jewel across one of her eyes with a ruler. She had to seek medical attention.

It also alleges that while Jewel was a Standard 11 pupil, the classmate struck Jewel with a sharpened pencil on the palm of her hand. Jewel was taken to the Fyzabad Health centre where a doctor had to surgically remove the piece of lead pencil from the childs hand. Jewel is due to write the Secondary Assessment examination next year, but Ali stated in the pre-action letter that her daughter is the only student in Standard Five, who writes with pencil while other classmates write in pen.

Jewel is not allowed, the mother stated, to participate in school activities although her daughter, she aded, is a prolific dancer. And furthermore, Jewel was also prevented from taking part in the inter-schools Spelling Bee competition.

Boodram called for a stop to the bullying and assault on Jewel and threatens that if within 28 days the ministry does not respond to the pre-action letter, he would file an action in the High Court against the Ministry of Education and the Attorney-General, for damages on Jewels behalf.

The letter was copied to the Childrens Authority of Trinidad and Tobago, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education, the National Parent Teachers Association, the schools principal Patricia Beepath and the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association
Lloydie in court for acid attack

The charges alleged that on Monday last at Figarie Trace, Basse Terre Village, Moruga, he threw a certain corrosive fluid called hydrochloric acid at four persons with intent to do them grievous bodily harm. The victims were Juliet Mollineau, Carlene Mollineau, Peter Goddard and another person. The offences are contrary to Section 23 of the Offences Against the Person Act, Chapter 11:08.

All four charges, laid by Cpl Rosan of the Moruga Police Station, were indictably therefore, the accused man was not called upon to plead.

Senior Magistrate Maria Busby Earle- Caddle, before whom Johnson appeared yesterday, denied bail and remanded him into custody to reappear tomorrow when his criminal record will be produced to the court.

Johnson was unrepresented by counsel while Sgt Roger Richardson prosecuted.

The charge against Johnson alleged that he committed the act in one of his homes located at Figarie Trace following a domestic dispute
Mercy inspires music

In a world rampaged by terrorism, injustice and selfishness, in an age where election results bring fear and uncertainty, in a time where locally, our own economic conditions bring a feeling of dread as to what the future holds, The Holy Father, Pope Francis, proclamation of a Jubilee Year of Mercy was the inspiration for the three nights of GOBAG 8, explains the ebullient production/artistic director, Kwasi Noel.

The Holy Year began on December 8, 2015 and ended in Rome on November 27, 2016 on the Feast of Christ the King. During this extraordinary Jubilee Year, the church was called to not only reflect upon, but to live the message of mercy, a message beautifully crafted in the words: Be Merciful like the Father.

The Archdiocese of Port-of- Spain truly experienced the Year of Mercy in a deep way and in this vein, the theme of this years concert represented Fatima Colleges recognition of the Jubilee Year. It is said in the touching hymn to love in Corinthians 13:13, As it is, these three remain: faith, hope and love, the three of them; and the greatest of them is love. The cast featuring the colleges Senior and Junior Choirs, The Fatima College and Holy Name Convent Mixed Choir, The Fatima College Guitar Troupe, The Fatima College Senior Steel Ensemble and the Junior Steel Ensemble which was formed in January 2016 by Duvano Garnes, the chemistry lab assistant. The ensemble which comprises 30 students of form one most of whom had little or no exposure to pan was formed to instill an appreciation for our culture. Also on the cast was Los Cantantes de Nuestra Senora de Fatima all coming together to sing, dance and dramatise this powerful message as Christmas Gifts to a faithful, hope-filled, loving audience. The concerts were held from November 25 to 27.

The first half of the show presented messages of faith and hope - a mix of powerful classics such as The Battle Hymn of the Republic and music that may be somewhat unfamiliar, for example the finale of the first half of the production: Waloyo Yamoni which translates to mean We Overcome. The main refrain of the song is Beber! which means: It is Well! Sung in the African language of Lango, the piece carries the message that no matter how bad things get, no matter how heavy it rains, we must rejoice and believe that everything is well! A main element of the song was the dance that accompanies it, featuring of course the boys of Fatima but additionally a group of young ladies from the Cascade Festival Ballet. The second half of the show focused on the message of love: love for God and mankind and many of the pieces in this segment had the audience singing along. The success of GOBAG 8, as usual, relied on the commitment of many teachers, with full support from Father Gregory Augustine, CSSP, principal of the college who declared that the theme of this years concert Faith, Hope and Love: Christmas Gifts of Mercy is in commemoration of the Year of Mercy...may the theme of this years concert inspire us in the faith that our young people have it within them to be the hope for the future.

The performing arts are food for the soul: they inspire creativity and character. The passion and love of all involved will indeed be our gift this Christmas season.
PM: Forex $$ will be available

Responding to a question from Pointe-a-Pierre MP David Lee on this issue in the House of Representatives, the Prime Minister said, We will still expect that the arrangements in place will permit small medium and large businesses to survive within the context of our circumstances. Rowley said regardless of the size of the users of foreign exchange, this conversation has to be rooted in the fact that there has to be an understanding that foreign exchange in TT is not at the level that it used to be. The Prime Minister said people would be burying their heads in the sand if they did not accept that foreign exchange is being, bought and sold outside of the banks in TT. He attributed this to a tinkering in April 2014 under the then Peoples Partnership (PP) government, with the distribution of foreign exchange that first took us down the road to the creation of a black market in this country. Regarding Lees question which spoke about a huge demand for foreign exchange by businesses during Christmas and claimed there was a prolonged shortage of it, Rowley found such as statement to be strange in the second week of December. He said the bulk of the foreign exchange required for the Christmas trade, would have been occurring before and spent as far back as October. Asked by Tabaquite MP Dr Suruj Rambachan about businesses putting up signs saying they are buying foreign exchange, Rowley said as far as he was aware foreign exchange is supposed to be handled within certain regulatory arrangements. The Prime Minister said any breaches of the law in this regard would be dealt with by the relevant agencies.
Nicholas Group building seven-storey car park

Group Chairman Issa Nicholas, at the ceremony to mark the construction of the facility, said there is a dire need for parking facilities in the city.

That is the only way we could have people come to the offices and get them to stay. Otherwise we will have empty buildings with no offices in it, he said.

The modern parking facility, he said, will provide for 200 cars.

The entrance will be on Abercromby Street while the exit will be through Chacon Street.

It is scheduled for completion by July 2017. Nicholas, who has already built four car park facilities, said that two years ago, he bought the land adjacent to his office building Nicholas Court and decided to use it to ease up the problem of parking in the city.

Apart from parking spaces, he said, it will add to the lively atmosphere of the commercial surrounding area. In brief remarks, Minister of Planning and Development Camille Robinson-Regis said that though simple, the ceremony was of great significance to the capital city which needs revitalising.

Noting that parking was an issue for the city, she said, the investment was timely.

On each occasion Mr Nicholas and his team have made an input into changing the landscape of Port-of-Spain, it has been very effective and significant for Port-of-Spain, she said.
Family praying for Shannons safe return

Banfield, who resides in Santa Cruz, was last seen at about 4 pm leaving the banks Independence Square, Port-of-Spain branch, to purchase items on Charlotte Street.

The last conversation Banfield had with her mother was at 4.45 pm on the same afternoon.

Banfields mother, Sherry-Ann Lopez, told Newsday, We are claiming it in the name of Jesus that Shannon will return home safely because she is a strong believer in the Lord and we have to continue to think positively and continue praying for her safe return. Lopez indicated that some police officers visited the family and spoke with them yesterday afternoon to keep them updated on the progress of the case.

She said Banfield only started at the bank a couple of months ago and is known to be a fun and loving person.

She said Shannon is an active member at the San Juan Seventh Day Adventist Church and they too are praying for her to return home safely.

God is in control. I am a little stronger today because of all the prayers we are having.

I know for a fact, wherever she is, that she is praying. I am pleading with the public if they know anything or may have seen anything unusual, please come forward so we can use the information to find Shannon. Republic Banks Group Marketing and Communications General Manager, Michelle Palmer-Keizer, said We are saddened by this incident and concerned for the welfare of Ms. Banfield. We have been advised that the matter is with the police and that they are pursuing their investigations.

We care about the well-being of every member of our team and we look forward to her safe return. Anyone with information of Banfields whereabouts can contact the nearest police station or call 765-5165 or 745-0967.
Cultural activist Martina Cowie passes on

She was ailing for some time with cancer.

Cowie- Chootoolal last served as a Best Village Officer 1. She was responsible for going into the various villages around the country and monitored the development of the cultural groups that were registered under the Prime Ministers Best Village Trophy Competition. She worked with the Ministry of Community Development and Culture for over 30 years and established good relations with community groups in Princes Town, San Fernando, Point Fortin, Siparia and Port-of- Spain. She devoted a lot of her own time lecturing and counselling the groups during their preparations for competition.

She was also deeply involved with the people of Mon Diablo and Vistabella and often went beyond the call of duty to find materials that these villages needed.

In 2005, while based in Princes Town, she established a friendship with the people of St Croix and The Princes Town Theatre Workshop of Realise Road. She was a regular invitee to social events organised by these groups.

She was the daughter of Elva Cowie Warner (deceased), an alderman for the San Fernando Borough Corporation.
Matter of national concern

Responding to a question on this matter in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Rowley said the Police Service takes these reports seriously and the Counter- Trafficking Unit looks at these matters if there are international connections involve.

He disclosed that joint sensitisation sessions are being held in various communities in the country to educate people about all the signs of human trafficking.

Rowley said while the Police Service has protocols regarding reports of missing persons, there are instances where action is taken less than 24 hours after a report is made.

The Prime Minister also disclosed the British government is assisting Government with a manpower audit of the Police Service. He said the British are also assisting in improving other aspects of the Police Services capabilities.

Rowley said reports that similar initiatives here and elsewhere in the region where unsuccessful, cannot be used as a barometer to determine success on this occasion. Later in the sitting, National Security Minister Edmund Dillon gave the assurance that there would be a heightened police presence in commercial shopping areas and city centres during the Christmasd period.
Rowley: TT getting earthquake ready

Seismic microzonation is defined as the process of subdividing a potential seismic or earthquake prone area into zones with respect to some geological and geophysical characteristics of the sites such as ground shaking, liquefaction susceptibility, landslide and rock fall hazard and earthquake-related flooding, so that seismic hazards at different locations within the area can correctly be identified. Microzonation provides the basis for site-specific risk analysis, which can assist in the mitigation of earthquake damage.

Noting the issue of the national building code has persisted for decades, Rowley observed, What should concern us is whether we are complying and whether there is adquate enforcement of the building codes. He explained that the construction of large buildings in the country conform to the California Code, which is the highest standard in the world. As he wondered whether the Oppositions interest in building codes was because of the shake yesterday, Rowley recalled that the building constructed in Chaguanas to house the Tertiary Education Ministry, under the former Peoples Partnership (PP) government, did not comply with seismic codes.

Rowley said as a result of this, that building had to be retrofitted under the Peoples National Movement (PNM), so that the Agriculture Ministry could occupy the premises. He also recalled that the last government was warned not to build the (Couva Childrens) Hospital on the Spring Vale fault but they went ahead and did it anyway
TT-Venezuelan gas agreement PM: Contract is binding

He added, It has nothing to do with who is in office. Rowley reiterated that the foundation agreement was signed on Monday and, it was now for the operational agreements to be concluded and developmental work to take place on the pipeline. In posing his question, Tewarie said the Venezuelan National Assembly is currently controlled by that countrys parliamentary opposition.

Rowley said if legislative input in Venezuela is required with respect to the agreement, that was a matter for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to deal with. I am the Prime Minister of TT, he added.

Regarding an invitation from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to TT to a meeting to discuss cutting back oil production, Rowley said this country is a non-OPEC producer and is in no position to influence decisions. However from a diplomatic perspective, Rowley said TT would consider attending such a meeting, even if it was just as an observer.
A joyous occasion

He said that report showed a finite end in terms of the proven natural gas reserves within TTs borders and in its waters. We were seeing the end right over the horizon, the minister added We have gone across the border into Venezuelan waters and negotiated with them to get a supply of gas from them. Noting that discussions for monetisation of natural gas reserves in the Loran/Manatee fields which straddle the TT-Venezuela maritime border have been ongoing since the former Patrick Manning administration, Young explained that while this initiative remains on the table, the agreement that has been signed is an agreement where we now have a project...it is no longer talk. The minister said, We are now into the implementation of getting gas to Trinidad.

Thats where our focus is. Young, who was part of the Governments delegation to Venezuela, explained, At the end of a live video broadcast between President Maduro and Prime Ministe Rowley in Venezuela, the President arranged a cultural event which he asked the Prime Minister to participate in. Young continued, Both the President and the Prime Minister participated in it. It was a very joyous occasion. Young said he had faith and confidence that the media would recognise the significance of this gas agreement leading to the continuation of TTs oil and gas economy going into the future.

He said the Dragon gas field (which the agreement involves) has proven natural gas reserves of approximately 12 to 13 trillion cubic feet (TCF) compared to this countrys proven gas reserves of about ten TCF. Young said the agreement allows Venezuela, access to inernational market prices for the first time for their gas. Saying there are also discussions between TT and Venezuela regarding access to reserves in the Mariscal Sucre field in the latters jurisdiction.
Left-wing media morons praise Fidel Castro as a reformer rather than the mass murderer he really was

Fidel Castro is one of the most twisted men in modern history. A vicious dictator whose rule over the country of Cuba forced millions of citizens to flee to the United States, Castro is seen as a truly awful person by every logical human being on the planet. Sadly, there are a lot of leftists who somehow view Fidel Castro as a revolutionary hero, reformer and beloved icon instead of the monstrous dictator that he actually was.

Its hard to understand a situation that makes Castro anything but awful, but thats the Regressive Left for you. Theyre always finding bogus ways of turning horrible human beings into heroes. From Castro to Che Guevara, the leftists of the world continue to find people to admire within the realm of communism and socialism. Even in the face of facts about how evil Castro was, idiots on the left try to turn a negative into a positive and lie to themselves in the process.

Tammy Bruce of The Washington Times breaks down why this is such a terrible idea, stating, There is no religious freedom in Cuba  there was room for only one god and that was Fidel. There was no free press, of course, no personal freedom, only fear. The actual number of those killed by the Castro brothers and their murderous associate Che Guevara can never be known only because of the number of disappeared opponents, gays, academics and the educated.

Healthy societies can not grow under the likes of Castro. Communism is an economic disaster and should be treated as such, but the foolish people on the left refuse to accept the fact that any aspect of American life  including free market capitalism  is a good thing, so they lie to themselves about how good of an idea communism  or even socialism  really is.

It is vital that all of us go out of our way in order to show the Regressive Left just how maniacal Fidel Castro was. Not only was he a bad person by conservative standards, he also held values that directly infringed on what modern liberals believe. The fact that they continue to rally around him as if he were some sort of lovable hero is baffling, to say the least, but at this point, we should expect hypocrisy and idiocy from these folks.

Capitalism is the only method that truly benefits the people. Communism is terrible. Socialism is terrible. Castro is terrible.

Sources:

FreeBeacon.com

Breitbart.com

WashingtonTimes.com

Submit a correction >>
Indigenous advanced Navy LCA will meet operational requirements: Developer

Delhi,National,Business/Economy,Defence/Security, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) A more powerful engine, albeit imported, will enable the Mark-2 naval version of the indigenous light combat aircraft (LCA) meet the requirements of the Indian Navy, its developer says, even as the navy chief has said that the Mark-1 version has not delivered.

"I would think that it is the Indian Navy's prerogative on their operational needs. We are trying to develop an indigenous carrier-borne aircraft from scratch and it is certainly a challenging proposition," Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) Director C.D. Balaji told IANS, responding to a recent statement by the navy chief, Admiral Sunil Lanba.

Speaking about the upgraded version of the aircraft, he said: "A new programme with a higher thrust engine was sanctioned and termed LCA Navy Mk2. This programme is envisaged to minimise the constraints of Navy LCA Mk-1.

As for the new power plant, Balaji said: "The GE 414 engine has adequate thrust for a heavier take-off and this would permit the mission performance to be met as indicated at the time of sanctioning the Navy LCA Navy Mk-2 (in 2009)."

The GE F 404 powers the Mk-1 version.

"It is expected that the first prototype would commence flight testing by end 2020. The second prototype is expected a year later. It is expected that flight-testing would take about four years," Balaji said, adding: "It is expected that Mk-2 can be available from 2024-25 onwards."

As part of its development, a dedicated Shore Based Test Facility (SBTF) has been set up to replicate to a large extent a short take-off but with arrested recovery (STOBAR) carrier.

India's sole aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya, has this capability, as does the first indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC), INS Vikrant, now under construction at the Cochin Shipyard. The next generation IAC, INS Vishal, is also likely to have this capability or the even more advanced EMALS (electromagnetic aircraft launch system).

"The next big proving capability is for arrested recovery, for which a number of activities like handling quality evaluation, higher sink rate landing, structural testing, arrester hook integration on aircraft and the like have been carried out. The phase of actual taxi-in engagement and flight engagement is progressively planned during the course of 2017."

What then went wrong with the Mk-1?

Balaji said it was intended to be a technology demonstrators (TD) that provide inputs for the final development of an aircraft.

"When the programme was envisaged at the time of its sanction in 2003, it was expected that the naval version could be derived from the air force version, already flying, by introduction of a stronger landing gear and arrester hook. However, as detailed design progressed, there was a need for significant changes to the structure, a much more complex landing gear to be housed in the centre fuselage, and an externally mounted arrester hook on a dedicated platform.

"Further, the major constraint of design space due to the conversion of the existing LCA platform resulted in a sub-optimal design and compromises leading to the Navy Mk-1 variant being heavier than anticipated. A naval aircraft is typically 500-700 kg heavier than its air force variant due to the need of strengthened structure, heavier landing gear and arrester hook. However, the navy Mk-1, being a first-time development with associated conservatism in design and constraints of the air force configuration, led to an aircraft weight of around 900-1,000 kg heavier than the air force Mk-1.

(Rohit Srivastava can be contacted at rohit.s@ians.in <mailto:rohit.s@ians.in>)

--IANS

rs/vm/ky/sac
Pakistan wants 'result-oriented' dialogue with India

Pakistan,Indo-Pak/Pakistan,Diplomacy, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

Islamabad, Dec 8 (IANS) Pakistan on Thursday said any dialogue with India should lead to "ultimate resolution" of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions.

Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria, responding to questions at a weekly news briefing here, said the dialogue should not be "for the sake of dialogue but result-oriented and sustainable".

He said that despite a number of gestures by Pakistan, India remains "defiant and intransigent" to resumption of the dialogue.

Zakaria said Pakistan believes that the international community has a role in the resolution of the long-standing dispute.

He also welcomed US Vice President-elect Mike Pence's statement regarding mediation on Kashmir.

Bilateral relations between Islamabad and New Delhi deteriorated in July following resurgence of unrest in Jammu and Kashmir and India placed the blame for the September 18 Uri military camp attack and continuing infiltration attempts on Pakistan.

Things turned worse with the spike in ceasefire violations at the border that have claimed dozens of lives in barely two months.

--IANS

ahm/dg
Breather for over 24,000 illegal Indian workers in Kuwait

United Arab Emirates,Diaspora,Business/Economy, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

Kuwait City, Dec 8 (IANS) In a rare gesture, the Kuwait government has stated it would not imprison or penalise over 24,000 illegal Indian workers if they report to the Interior Ministry for deportation or transfer of job visas.

"We are lenient towards Indian workers but have asked them to strictly follow the rules and regulations. The Immigration Department is ready to help them in the deportation process," Maj General Talal Ibrahim Marafie, who heads the department, told a group of Indian journalists, adding this was being done "in view of good and strong ties with India".

There are around one million Indian workers in Kuwait, who contribute immensely to the development of the country.

Marafie said there were multiple reasons for the overstays. In most cases, workers leave their sponsors and work for other companies for financial benefits. There are also cases where the sponsor is abroad and when visas expire there is no one to help the workers get their travel documents legalised. Some sponsors retain the passports of workers. Such workers leave their sponsors for monetary benefits and better jobs.

Marafie said the government is keen to help illegal workers if they report to "us".

The Immigration Department will make necessary arrangements for their deportation. The workers have to pay a small amount as a penalty, but in most cases, this has been waived. However, Marafie made it clear that if any of the workers had indulged in malpractices, they would not be spared.

He said that 2,018 illegal Indian workers had already been helped to leave the country without any penalty.

As for the non-payment of dues to the workers, he said the government attached great importance to this critical issue.

Senior Interior Ministry official Mohammed Ajami stated that thousands of such cases had been resolved. The ministry also offers legal assistance to workers to fight their cases in court. The verdict has to be given within one month's time so that the workers don't suffer any delay. The government has also formed a committee of lawyers to help foreign workers in settling their dues.

Ajami He said the government has proposed certain changes in the labour laws under which workers will have the right to retain their passports and travel documents. Moreover, sponsors will be made responsible to pay dues within a one-month period or face legal action.

On the drop in oil revenue, Marafie said this has not impacted on recruitment. More than 50,000 Indians have been recruited this year, he noted.

(Sheikh Manzoor is in Kuwait at the invitation of the Kuwait government. He can be contacted at ahmedsmanzoor@gmail.com <mailto:ahmedsmanzoor@gmail.com>)

--IANS

sma/vm/sac
Pakistan lifts 'undeclared' ban on Indian cotton imports

Pakistan,Indo-Pak/Pakistan,Business/Economy, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

Islamabad, Dec 8 (IANS) Pakistan has lifted an "undeclared" ban on imports of ginned cotton from India, pledging to strictly implement all phytosanitary and other conditions governing the fibre's imports on future shipments coming in via surface or sea.

Earlier, the Department of Plant Protection (DPP) of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research put cotton imports from India on hold through Wagah border checkpost and Karachi port from November 23, saying the shipments did not fulfil phytosanitary conditions.

However, traders at that time claimed that rising border tensions between the two neighbours prompted Islamabad to impose the ban on Indian cotton.

A trader told Dawn that the DPP started issuing permits for importing cotton from India via Wagah.

But the DPP has also made it clear to importers that only the consignments free from cotton seeds will be accepted and allowed into the country, he added.

Last year, Pakistan imported from India ginned cotton worth more than $800 million, which accounted for two-thirds of India's cotton exports.

Traders are expecting cotton imports from India and elsewhere to surge this year in view of the anticipated shortfall in the domestic crop.

The government expects cotton output to remain close to 10.5 million bales of 170kg each against a reduced industry demand of 14m bales owing to widespread factory closures in Pakistan's Punjab province because of higher energy prices.

--IANS

ahm/vt
Heavy clashes in Mosul as Iraqi troops advance

Iraq,Defence/Security,Terrorism, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

Baghdad, Dec 8 (IANS) Fierce clashes have erupted in war-torn Mosul as Iraqi forces made gains against Islamic State (IS) militants deep inside the northern city, media reported on Thursday.

Fighting continued on Wednesday in the al-Salam neighbourhood, where the IS militants were said to have been using the five-storey hospital, reported Press TV.

Three Iraqi soldiers were killed and 40 others sustained injuries in IS attacks on Wednesday, said an unnamed military source.

"We advanced in al-Salam district but the situation is difficult, there is heavy fighting," said Iraqi Brigadier General Shaker Kadhem, adding, "We took control of al-Salam Hospital, which was a command center for the IS group."

The Iraqi Army's 9th Armoured Division announced the recapture of al-Salam Hospital in eastern Mosul.

Meanwhile, the IS-affiliated Amaq news agency reported that the jihadis carried out five car bombings in the al-Salam area over the past 24 hours.

The Iraqi Federal Police also confirmed several car bombings in the flashpoint district around al-Salam Hospital.

The Iraqi forces also liberated eight villages in northern Mosul from the grip of IS militants on Wednesday. The special forces further managed to wrest control of the al-Elam neighbourhood in eastern Mosul.

Till now, more than 82,000 people have been displaced by the Mosul offensive, said the United Nations.

--IANS

soni/ahm/dg
Bihar to challenge bail to board topper scam mastermind

Bihar,National,Crime/Disaster/Accident,Education, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

Patna, Dec 8 (IANS) The Bihar government on Thursday decided to challenge the bail granted to Usha Sinha, one of the masterminds behind the Bihar education board exam topper scam.

Sinha, former Janata Dal-United legislator, was granted bail by the special court of vigilance-I judge here on November 30, nearly five months after she was arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), along with her husband and Bihar School Examination Board's former Chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh.

Bihar Education Minister Ashok Choudhary told media here that the state government will challenge her bail in the apex court soon.

"The government has made all preparations in this connection to file a petition against her bail in the apex court," he said.

Choudhary said Bihar and its education system was defamed because of the topper scam and "we will not spare anyone accused of topper scam".

He said the government will ensure tough punishment to Usha Sinha and her husband, who is considered kingpin of the scam by the court and currently lodged in a jail here. "There is no question of any relief to them."

Another accused, Amit Kumar alias Bachcha Rai, the mastermind behind the Class 12 board merit list scam in Bihar, is also in jail.

They were arrested for the alleged irregularities in the results in the Class 12 examinations for the arts and science stream this year.

--IANS

ik/sm/vt
AIMPLB defends Triple Talaq, to appeal against verdict

Delhi,National,Immigration/Law/Rights,Religion, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Thursday said it will appeal against the Allahabad High Court ruling against Triple Talaq.

"It is an observation by the court and I don't know in what context it has been made. Even it is a judgment, it is of no significance because the entire matter is before the Supreme Court," AIMPLB member Kamal Faruqi said.

"We have filed affidavits before the Supreme Court and given our detailed view about Triple Talaq.

"It is not a question of Muslims alone but about all religious entities who have been given the guarantee under the Constitution to follow their faith and religion. Therefore, only the Supreme Court verdict matters," said Faruqi.

Faruqi reacted strongly to the High Court observation that personal law of a community cannot be placed above the Constitution.

"With due respect to the judge, it is the same Constitution that gives the me the protection and freedom to follow my religion. Talaq is part of Sharia law."

Another AIMPLB member, Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahali, too defended Triple Talaq and said the Board was mulling filing an appeal against the high court ruling.

"Triple Talaq is an integral part of our religion and the Muslim Personal Law Board.

"If 8-10 cases of Triple Talaq are reported across the country when the Muslim population is 20 core, it doesn't mean the law should be abolished or changed," said Mahali, the Naib Imam of Lucknow's Aishbagh Eidgah.

"The Personal Law Board works within the parameters of the Constitution and it not right to suggest we are above the Constitution.

"Our legal committee is studying the verdict and we will move in appeal against it," he added.

--IANS

and/mr
Disruption of Parliament unacceptable: Pranab

Delhi,National,Politics, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday expressed strong displeasure over the ongoing parliamentary logjam and said "disruption of Parliament is totally unacceptable".

Frequent elections are a costly affair and (the practice) should be done away with, the President said while delivering the Defence Estate Day Lecture 2016 here on 'Reforms for a stronger democracy'.

The President said he favoured simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

"I am convinced the country needs electoral reforms. We should (first) have a public debate and thereafter make the reforms," he said.

"We are ready to pay the price for democracy but it should not be at the cost of development," he said, adding that the country should find a way out to hold simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies.

The President said people send their representatives to Parliament to work for the country and not to agitate.

He expressed concern that disruption of parliamentary work has become a practice.

"Do your job," he told the MPs.

"Dharnas can be organised elsewhere," he said asking all concerned to debate and discuss issues of public importance in the house.

Mukherjee said he was not criticising any particular political party but all concerned must work together to ensure the smooth functioning of Parliament.

Mukherjee shared his own experience when he urged countrymen to vote decisively as frequent elections, because of hung Parliament, were causing lots of problems to the country.

"I had urged the nation to vote diligently and I was criticised in some political quarters," he said.

The President urged all political parties to give adequate representation to women in their organisations.

"Political parties are not doing enough to give adequate representation to women," he said, adding that this should be explored.

Ending his lecture, the President said he did not use the written text but "spoke frankly".

--IANS

sk/tsb/dg
President's rap for government, not opposition: Azad

Delhi,National,Politics,Business/Economy, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday said it is the government, more than the opposition, which should pay heed to President Pranab Mukherjee's criticism of the continued logjam in Parliament.

"What the honourable President said is an admonition for the government and not for the opposition. It is the government's ministers who are not letting the Parliament function," the Congress leader told media here.

"They have not realised as yet that they are in the government now, and not in opposition. Why are they assuming the role of the opposition?" he added.

Azad averred that there has been no initiative or outreach from the government's side to find common ground with the opposition.

"What all they have been doing is criticising the opposition five times a day in their media bytes. This is not the way to run Parliament," he said.

Severely criticising the Narendra Modi government over demonetisation, he said that it is perhaps the biggest scam of India so far which has caused innumerable hardships to the people.

He also called persons who died in bank queues post demonetisation as "martyrs".

"The government is not ready to acknowledge that more than hundred people have died due to its wrong policy. They refused to bring in obituary reference in Parliament for these martyrs, nor did the Prime Minister expressed any sympathy towards their families in his Mann Ki Baat.

"This is the height of shamelessness," Azad said.

He also accused Prime Minister Modi of shifting the goalposts everyday.

"First they (government) said it's a fight against black money. But official figures show that out of around 14 lakh crore rupees of the total currency, around 12 lakh crore have returned. So where is the black money?.

"Then they said it will curb fake currency. But fake currency is just Rs 400 crore. So you used an atom bomb to kill a mouse? Then you said it will curb terrorism. But a terrorist captured in Bandipora already had the new Rs 2,000 currency note.

"Now they are saying it's a move towards cashless economy. In more than 100 countries I have been to, I have never seen a fully cashless economy. And they want to implement in a vast country like India where there are no banks, no ATMs, no connectivity in remotest parts?" said Azad, adding all the arguments put forth by the Prime Minister and his government do not hold water.

--IANS

mak/vd
Woman dies after being pushed by bank guard, family blocks road

Punjab,National,Crime/Disaster/Accident,Business/Economy, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

Ludhiana, Dec 8 (IANS) Angry relatives of a woman blocked a busy road in Punjab's industrial city of Ludhiana on Thursday after she died after being pushed by a bank security guard.

The victim, Asha Rani, aged around 50 years, who was a resident of a locality on Tibba road, was allegedly pushed by a security guard of the Punjab National Bank on the Shingar Cinema road here.

The incident took place when there was a rush at the branch and tempers were running high, eyewitnesses told police. The woman, whose daughter is due to get married soon, had been visiting the bank branch for the last four days to withdraw money, her son said.

The victim was pushed, fell on the ground and became unconscious. She was taken to a private hospital but had to be taken to the CMC Hospital here as her condition was serious. Doctors at the hospital declared her dead.

Relatives of the victim brought her body to the bank and held a protest. They also blocked the road in front of the bank. Police tried to pacify the protestors and asked them to lift the blockade.

--IANS

js/vd/bg
Assam mulls thermal sensors along rail tracks to reduce elephant deaths

Assam,National,Politics,Environment/Wildlife, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

Guwahati, Dec 8 (IANS) Expressing concern over the death of elephants in the state due to conflict with humans as well as train collisions, Assam Forest Minister Pramila Rani Brahma on Thursday said that the government is contemplating to use thermal sensors along the railway tracks to detect the movement of elephants particularly during night.

Addressing a press conference in her office, she said that the Forest Department is also mulling to involve local people as well as to strengthen the coordination with railway authorities to stop elephant fatalities.

"It is a fact that the number of elephants are increasing in Assam and their habitations are reducing. According to the last elephant census in 2011, Assam has 5,620 elephants. Besides the state also see large number of elephant migration from Meghalaya and Bhutan," she said adding that all these factors have reduced the elephant habitats in the state, forcing the animals to often come out from forests to be either engage in conflict with humans or to get killed by speeding trains on tracks.

The Minister said that the state had lost a total of seven elephants till date since May this year after being hit by speeding trains. Apart from this, two elephants were killed by poisoning and one by poachers.

"We have taken the matter seriously. We cannot let this happen again and again. Our department is mulling over a host of measures to reduce incidents of elephants death as well as human elephant conflicts," she said adding that decisions have been taken to press NGOs into service to reduce man-elephant conflicts.

"We are also going to sit with the Railway Department so that we are in a position to strictly implement the minimum speed of trains while crossing elephant corridors," she said adding that anti-depredation squads have been formed in association with local youth and training is being imparted to them to deal with man-animal conflict as well as to prevent untoward incidents regarding the safety of wild animals.

The Minister admitted here is scarcity of well-trained veterinarians in Assam to attend to the wild animals. "We have decided to ask the veterinary university to open up a specialised wing so that their services can be hired for treating animals in wild during emergencies," said Brahma.

--IANS

ah/vd
Jaitley warns bank officials against aiding black money hoarders

Delhi,National,Politics,Business/Economy, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday warned the bank officials from aiding people convert their black money into white post-demonetisation.

Bank officials will be held accountable for any transactions beyond the expected limit, Jaitley said at a press briefing here.

Recently on December 2, as many as 27 public sector bank officials were suspended and six transferred to non-sensitive posts for carrying out violative activities post-demonetisation.

"Some cases have come to notice of officials involved in carrying out transactions which were irregular and violative of Reserve Bank of India's instructions," the Finance Ministry had earlier said.

While all efforts are being made to facilitate genuine transactions, illegalities will not be tolerated and appropriate action will be taken against individuals involved in irregular and unauthorised activities, the ministry said.

--IANS

mm/vd
Adavani meets Speaker over parliament logjam

Delhi,National,Politics, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) Amid the continuing impasse in Parliament over demonetisation, veteran BJP leader L. K. Advani met Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Thursday in her chamber.

The meeting came a day after Advani on Wednesday termed the unending disruption of the Lok Sabha as "disgraceful" and expressed his displeasure over Mahajan and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar for not "running the House".

With just four working days left for winter session to end but a near washout of the of Parliament imminent, Mahajan, according to sources, sought suggestions from the veteran leader to break the logjam in the House.

While Advani did not interact with the media, Mahajan, later talking to reporters, hoped that better sense would prevail among the members.

"A veteran politician like Advaniji is daily coming to Parliament and is witnessing what is happening there. The House is for debate and we have already lost so many days," she said.

Sources said that Advani suggested the Speaker to act against or cut the salaries of those creating pandemonium in the house.

This reflected in Lok Sabha too when Mahajan warned the agitating members of "harsh steps" if they did not stop protesting and disrupting others who were speaking.

The Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day without transacting any meaningful business as pandemonium continued over the demonetisation decision of the government.

President Pranab Mukherjee too on the day expressed strong displeasure over the ongoing parliamentary logjam and said "disruption of Parliament is totally unacceptable".

Expressed concern that disruption of parliamentary work has become a practice, Mukherjee told the MPs to their job.

"Dharnas can be organised elsewhere," he said asking all concerned to debate and discuss issues of public importance in the house.

The normally quiet Advani on Wednesday expressed deep anguish over the continued disruptions and wondered 'why not adjourn sine die'.

On Wednesday, senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar wrote to the Speaker urging her to take disciplinary action, including stopping salary and allowances, and even expel members.

Charging certain political parties of "crossing all limits", Kumar who is perceived close to Advani, advocated taking stern steps to restore discipline in the House.

"After 70 years of independence, the country's politics should have been more serious, decent, disciplined and mature. Instead, values in public life continue to fall. Consequently, the term politician is not a symbol of respect," Kumar wrote in the letter.

--IANS

and-bns/vd
Demonetisation: Problems are increasing day by day, says Uddhav

Delhi,National,Politics, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said the problems of people had increased a month after the demonetisation decision and peoples' voice was not being heard.

"I had neither opposed the decision nor supported it. I had just said that common people should not suffer. However, the problems are increasing day by day. It is unfortunate that people' voice is not being heard in Parliament," Thackeray said here, adding that his party had not softened its stand on the issue.

Thackeray, who was scheduled to meet Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, told reporters that the Shiv Sena was not a part of the demonetisation move, though a partner in the government.

"We are not economists. Economists such as Dr Manmohan Singh, Amartya Sen opposed the demonetisation decision. They said the decision was wrong. So should we say that their degrees are bogus? Prime Minister has promised (things will be normal in) 50 days. Let us wait for 20 more days, Acche din aayenge (good days are ahead)," he said.

He highlighted the point that there were incidences of terror attacks even after the surgical strike.

Referring to a BJP leader's comment that demonetisation queues are a test of patriotism, Thackeray said: "I would like to ask if the government is going to give pension to those in queues outside banks and ATMs since they are being hailed as patriots."

Asked about the compensation of Rs 2 lakh being given by the Uttar Pradesh government to the kin of those who died in queues, he said: "All state governments should start similar compensation scheme."

Reacting to senior BJP leader L.K. Advani's displeasure over non-functioning of Parliament, Thackeray said that his opinion in this matter should be heeded.

"Advaniji is an experienced leader and oldest among us all. The government should take his opinion seriously," he said.

He also asked the government to make its position clear if farmers will be made to pay tax in the future.

"I do not know if farmers have been taxed so far. However, now you (centre) have asked them to put their money in the bank and put restrictions on the withdrawal. We just want to know if farmers will have to pay tax in the future," Thackeray said.

--IANS

spk/vd/bg
Parliament disrupted again, Speaker warns unruly MPs of stern action (Roundup)

Delhi,National,Politics,Business/Economy, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) Parliament failed to function and transact any meaningful business yet again on Thursday as the government failed to find a common ground with the opposition protesting in both the houses.

Both opposition and the government continued to blame each other for the parliamentary stalemate even as an anguished President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday advised the MPs to "do their job" instead of indulging in sloganeering and protests.

In the Lok Sabha, miffed at unrelenting sloganeering by some members, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan warned of "harsh steps".

The opposition members were on their feet as soon as the house met at 11 a.m. and gathered near the Speaker's chair while shouting slogans. In the din, Mahajan carried out the Question Hour for about half an hour, repeatedly warning the protesting members.

But the ruckus only got acute and the house was adjourned until noon.

When the house met at noon, the Speaker warned of action if the opposition members did not stop protesting and disrupting those speaking.

"It is not proper to come in front of a member and disturb them but it is happening here," Mahajan said as opposition members raised slogans near her podium.

"I would like members to keep this in mind, so that we do not have to take any harsh steps. Any member speaking is an elected member and has the right to speak," she said.

Mahajan then continued with the Zero Hour amid sloganeering before adjourning the house till 2 p.m.

When the house re-assembled, the Speaker took up the Supplementary Demands for Grants, but Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge was stood up to ask for permission to speak.

Mahajan, however, sought an assurance that the opposition would let the house function if she allowed him.

With the opposition not giving any assurance, the Supplementary Demands for Grants were passed by voice vote amid the din.

The house was then adjourned for the day.

In the Rajya Sabha, Chairman Hamid Ansari adjourned the house for the day amid ruckus by the opposition and treasury benches soon after it was reconvened post-lunch at 2 p.m.

Earlier, when the house met at 11 a.m., Ansari asked members to resume the debate on demonetisation but opposition members raised slogans, which were countered by some members from the treasury benches who also trooped into the aisle.

Ansari then adjourned the house for the day.

Earlier, when the upper house met for the day, opposition members alleged that more than 100 people have died since demonetisationwas announced on November 8.

Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said the opposition was making it a usual practice to raise the issue, even as a structured debate has already been initiated.

He said: "November 8 will remain a historic day in India."

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad called those who died after the November 8 demonetisation as "martyrs" and said the government was not ready to offer condolences over these deaths was a "height of shamelessness".

"People are dying and you are saying everything is alright. Besharmi ki bhi hadd hoti hai (There a limit even to shamelessness)," Azad said.

Members from the treasury benches taunted Azad, saying the opposition levels allegations against the government but does not listen when the government tries to respond.

Ansari told them it was an established practice that the Leader of House or the Leader of Opposition was allowed to speak whenever they wanted.

The house was adjourned till noon after Ansari's intervention went unheeded.

When the house re-assembled at noon, opposition members began raising slogans against the demonetisation of Rs 500 and 1,000 notes that has led to a nationwide cash crunch.

Ansari then adjourned the upper house till 2 p.m.

--IANS

mak/tsb/dg
Government's demonetisation drive biggest scam: Amit Mitra

Delhi,National,Business/Economy, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra on Thursday has called the demonetisation drive started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Allaince (NDA) government a "scam".

"The government's demonetisation drive is the biggest scam about to happen," Mitra told India Today news channel.

The government on November 8 embarked on a demonetisation drive by declaring high denomination notes -- Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 -- as illegal tender.

Mitra said the move by the Centre was "a dictatorial streak by a government which has lost touch with the ground level".

--IANS

ag/hs/dg
Diplomats may be allowed to withdraw money on priority

Delhi,National,Politics,Diplomacy,Business/Economy, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) With foreign missions here expressing difficulties in running their day-to-day affairs due to the government's demonetisation move, the Finance Ministry has been asked to direct banks to allow diplomats to withdraw money on a priority basis, a senior official said on Thursday.

"The Ministry of External Affairs has received communications from some embassies about the problems they face in the context of the demonetisation of high value notes," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in his weekly media briefing here.

"With a view to avoid inconveniencing their operations, the ministry has been in discussion with concerned authorities in the government on this matter," he stated.

"The Finance Ministry, as a consequence, is being asked to issue directives to banks to allow embassy officials with identity cards to withdraw money on a priority basis."

On Wednesday, Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in India and Ambassador of the Dominican Republic Frank Castellanos said that Rs 50,000 cap a week for the operation of an embassy was not enough.

Citing the Vienna Convention, he said that diplomats could not be stopped from accessing their funds and a solution to this was needed soon.

Last week, Russian Ambassador to India Alexander Kadakin wrote to the Ministry of External Affairs complaining about inadequate funds.

On Thursday, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar met Castellanos and discussed the issues raised by foreign missions and how best to address them.

"We appreciate learning from the Dean that the vast majority of foreign missions understand that the demonetisation exercise is being conducted to combat the menace of black money and tax avoidance," Swarup said.

"We are confident that the missions would bear with the temporary difficulties that arise in that process, even as we seek to address their concerns."

On the cap of Rs 50,000 withdrawal per week, the spokesperson said that the External Affairs Ministry has agreed to look into the issue and take it up with the Finance Ministry.

As for Catellanos citing the Vienna Convention, he said that the convention "clearly says that foreign diplomatic missions are to be allowed uninterrupted facilities for their work".

"We have given him a very sympathetic hearing to him today. The meeting (between Jaishankar and Castellanos) was very constructive, very cordial and we have agreed to refer his concerns to the concerned quarters," Swarup stated.

--IANS

ab/bg
Assam cop nabbed for shooting at two civilians

Assam,National,Crime/Disaster/Accident, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

Guwahati, Dec 8 (IANS) The Assam Police arrested an Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) for allegedly shooting at two civilians and injuring them, police said on Thursday.

The police said that ASI of Basistha police station, Golap Konwar, fired from his service pistol at the driver and handyman of an excavator -- Rakesh Kumar and Rupesh Kumar respectively -- around midnight on Wednesday after an altercation and fled from the spot.

"The incident took place around midnight on Wednesday when Konwar was on his way home. Eyewitnesses told us that Konwar fired at the driver and handyman and escaped. Based on the FIR, we searched his house on Thursday, seized the pistol and bullets, and arrested him," a senior official of Guwahati (East) district said.

"We have also verified that the bullets that injured the driver and handyman were fired from his service pistol," the official added.

"He was produced in a local court here on Thursday and the court remanded him in police custody. We are interrogating him," the official said.

The locals also alleged that the police officer was inebriated and fired at the civilians without any provocation.

Both the driver and handyman of the excavator received bullet injuries on their hands and they were undergoing treatment at the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital, police added.

--IANS

ah/lok/bg
India demands consular access to national held in Pakistan

Delhi,National,Indo-Pak/Pakistan,Defence/Security,Diplomacy, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) India on Thursday demanded immediate consular access to one of its nationals arrested in Pakistan on charges of being a spy after Pakistani top diplomat Sartaj Aziz said that there was not enough evidence against him.

Aziz, Advisor on Foreign Affairs to the Pakistan Prime Minister, reportedly told parliament that the government has been provided with "insufficient evidence" against Kulbhushan Jadhav who was arrested in March this year after allegedly entering Pakistan from Iran.

India has said that Jadhav is s former Indian Navy officeer

"We have seen conflicting media reports about this issue," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in his weekly media briefing here on Thursday.

"This is a pattern we have seen in the past as well. Government has always maintained that Pakistan's allegations against Jadhav, an Indian national and a former Indian Navy officer, were completely baseless."

The spokesperson said even after keeping Jadhav in custody illegally for over nine months, Pakistani authorities have not found a shred of evidence against him.

"We demand immediate consular access to him in accordance with relevant international conventions and his earliest release from wrongful confinement," he said.

"We have also sent eight note verbales to the Pakistan Foreign Office on this issue," Swarup added.

--IANS

ab/dg
Tajik President Emomali Rahmon to visit India

Delhi,National,Diplomacy, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) Tajikistan's President Emomali Rahmon will be on a state visit to India December 14-18, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.

This will be the sixth visit of President Rahmon to India. During his last visit to India in 2012, the two countries elevated their bilateral relations to the level of a long-term strategic partnership. Bilateral relations span cooperation in a wide spectrum of areas - political, economic, health, human resources development, defence, counter-terrorism, science and technology, culture and tourism.

President Rahmon will arrive in New Delhi on December 16 after visiting Kerala. His official engagements would be on December 17 in New Delhi, when he will meet the Indian leadership including President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The President will host a banquet on December 27 for his visiting Tajik counterpart, said a ministry statement.

--IANS

and/vd
India responds to Mongolia's call for help

Delhi,National,Diplomacy,Business/Economy, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) With Mongolia seeking India's help after China hiked transit tariffs on Mongolian trucks, New Delhi on Thursday said that the landlocked country can use an Indian credit line already on offer to get over its crisis.

Mongolian Ambassador Gonchig Ganbold said here on Tuesday that after Ulan Bator hosted Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, China increased transit tariff on Mongolian trucks passing through its territory.

Ganbold sought India's support against the difficulties imposed on Mongolia by China which he described as "unjustifiable"

"We are aware of the difficult budgetary situation that Mongolia is facing due to various factors including high cost of servicing of debt raised by them in the past," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in his weekly media briefing here on Thursday.

"As a close friend of Mongolia, which regards India as its 'third neighbour' and 'spiritual neighbour', we are ready to work with Mongolian people in this time of their difficulty," he said.

Swarup said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visit to Mongolia in May 2015, had conveyed to the Mongolian leadership that India would extend support to Mongolia in diverse fields.

"We had announced a credit line of $1 billion during the visit," the spokesperson said.

"The Mongolian leadership was highly appreciative of this gesture and conveyed that it would help them in obtaining investment and financial resources from their other partners," he stated.

"We are closely working with the Mongolian government to implement the credit line in a manner that is deemed beneficial to the friendly people of Mongolia by its leadership."

--IANS

ab/bg
Post 50-day deadline, 'cashless' focus must stay: BJP

Goa,National,Politics,Business/Economy, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

Panaji, Dec 8 (IANS) Even after the 50-day deadline of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to end post-demonetisation hardships, the BJP would not like to revert to the pre-November 8 times of 'cash transactions', said a party spokesperson on Thursday.

The government is in favour of moving towards an economy where 'cashless transactions' outweigh the 'cash transactions', BJP National Spokesperson G.V.L. Narasimha Rao told a press conference at the party's state headquarters here.

Talking of his party's tough stance against black money, Rao said action against black money is being taken by the central government on multiple fronts, including cash, gold, landed property and foreign assets.

Several legislations, like the Black Money Act and the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act would be used to curb black money and corruption, he said.

"Unless we move towards a less-cash economy, from January 1 (2017), things will be back to the usual. We don't want to return to that business-as-usual scenario of pre-November 8 days," he stressed.

India's cash-to-GDP ratio is 14 per cent, which is considered very high, he said, adding that in major economies it is not more than four per cent.

The BJP leader also said that a completely cashless economy is not a practical idea.

"There is no economy which is completely cashless. It is not practical.

"But that doesn't mean that after December, all the cash will be back for us to do cash transactions," he said and urged the general public to opt for cashless transactions over using cash.

--IANS

maya/nir/bg
Pakistan does not want perpetual hostility with India: Envoy

Delhi,National,Indo-Pak/Pakistan,Terrorism,Diplomacy, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit on Thursday said his country did not want "perpetual hostility" with India, but stressed that Kashmir is the "core issue" between the two countries.

He was speaking at a discussion on India-Pakistan relations organised by think tank Centre for Peace and Progress here.

However, former Union Minister and Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar pointed out that for India, the core issue remains terrorism from Pakistani soil.

Basit stressed on the need for uninterrupted dialogue.

"The two countries need an uninterrupted dialogue process. We need to move from conflict management to conflict resolution that cannot happen until we talk to each other with the seriousness and sincerity of purpose.

"Pakistan does not wish to live in perpetual hostility with India. We remain positive and constructive but it takes two to tango. There are serious problems between our two countries but if we engage in purposeful diplomacy I think we can realise results to our mutual satisfaction and make a good beginning," he said.

"I think we have wasted 70 years of our existence. I think time has come to make up our mind to what we want. Whether we would like to continue with status quo or we would like to make new beginning in our relationship," he added.

Basit however said that New Delhi did not show much desire to engage in dialogue at present, but his country was "patient" and would wait to "see how things unfold in the months ahead"

"But as far as Pakistan is concerned, we remain positive and constructive in our attitude and whenever there is any desire on the part of New Delhi to engage with us Pakistan would respond positively and constructively provided our engagement is meaningful and does lead to resolving the core issue that is Kashmir," he said.

He said the developments since July 8 in Jammu and Kashmir - referring to the protests after killing of militant Burhan Wani that brought life in the Kashmir Valley to a near standstill - "again very clearly show that Jammu and Kashmir is the dispute between our two countries".

"In Islamabad the view is unless we move towards finding a just and fair solution to this problem, it will continue to be very very difficult for our two countries to bridge the trust deficit," he said.

Aiyar meanwhile pointed out that terrorism is the core issue for India when it comes to a dialogue with Pakistan, but also stressed on the need for dialogue.

"The only way of stopping terror is to talk," he said.

Bilateral relations took a nosedive following the Pathankot attack in January 2016 and the attack at an Army camp in Uri on September 18, which left 19 soldiers dead, with India launching a surgical strike at terror launch pads across the border in the intervening night of September 28-29. Since then, other attacks, infiltration bids and ceasefire violations have increased tensions further.

Basit also said that the SAARC summit that was to be held in Pakistan was cancelled because of differences between India and Pakistan.

"We saw what happened to SAARC summit, it could not take place primarily because of differences between our two countries. Peace is not only in our mutual and bilateral interest but also in interest of the region. If we want to exploit the opportunities unleashed by globalisation and move towards regional integration, connectivity, cooperation I think it is essential our two countries must overcome our problems, our differences," he said, adding diplomacy "must be given a fair chance to deliver".

The 19th Saarc Summit which was to be held in Islamabad in November this year was cancelled after several member nations pulled out after India decided not to participate.

--IANS

ao/vd
Modi appreciates US Defense Secretary's contribution to ties

Delhi,National,Defence/Security,Diplomacy, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday appreciated outgoing US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter's contribution to bilateral ties.

Modi said this when Carter called on him here, according to External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup

"Prime Minister appreciated the contribution made by Secretary Carter in strengthening the defence cooperation between India and the United States," Swarup told the media.

"Prime Minister recalled his successful visit to the United States in June this year. He reaffirmed India's commitment to a robust and strong bilateral strategic partnership with the US.

Carter briefed Modi on the progress in taking forward the decisions and understandings reached in June this year.

"They also exchanged views on regional issues and the developments in the Asia Pacific region," Swarup said.

Earlier on Thursday Carter held a meeting with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, following which it was announced that US had designated India as its "Major Defence Partner".

--IANS

ab/vd
BJP blasts Congress, other parties over demonetisation

Delhi,National,Politics, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) The BJP on Thursday hit out at the Congress and other parties opposed to demonetisation for disrupting Parliament and misleading people of the country.

In an official release, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attacked the Congress and the opposition parties for their "irresponsible statements" and "anti-development stand".

"The Congress and (its Vice President) Rahul Gandhi have been giving misleading statements. The opposition parties have been disrupting Parliament continuously for past a few days. The President of India has also said that such behaviour is not acceptable," said the release.

"The Congress and the opposition parties demand discussion and debate on the issue in Parliament. However, they start disruption when the government starts speaking and run away."

The ruling party also slammed the Congress for criticising the bill proposing 50 per cent tax on unaccounted deposits.

"The Congress should name a single step in its 10-year rule it took against black money. The Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme it had brought had a tax slab of just seven per cent.

"On the other hand, the new bill enables effective tax of up to 65 per cent. And now the same Congress feels that 65 per cent is less," it said.

The party further said that the allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad shows their "frustration and helplessness".

--IANS

spk/nir/vd
Bella Hadid wants to act

New Delhi,Cinema/Showbiz,Hollywood,Lifestyle/Fashion, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

The 20-year-old says one of her goals is to appear in movies but insists she won't be sharing any more of her hopes and dreams as she is superstitious, reports femnalefirst.co.uk.

"I think it would be really fun, because it's exciting to be in front of the camera on film instead of just pictures. I have so many goals but most of the time I like to keep them to myself, because I'm really superstitious," Bella told Paper magazine.

Bella was thrilled when she was asked to walk the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show last week as she had been rejected the year before.

"I was really surprised, but definitely excited. I tried last year to be cast in the show but I think everything happens for a reason," she said.

--IANS

ks/nn/
Indian scientists hunt down elusive blood-forming stem cells in fruit fly

West Bengal,National,Science/Tech, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

Kolkata, Dec 8 (IANS) Indian researchers have for the first time hunted down the elusive hematopoietic stem cells (that give rise to all other blood cells) in fruit flies. The discovery in fruit fly has far-reaching implications for stem cell-based therapies for humans, they said.

Published recently in the journal eLife, the research also paves the way for understanding mechanisms of human diseases linked to development of blood cells.

"We have unveiled and reported affirmatively, the existence of true hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in Drosophila (fruit fly), which have long eluded scientists," Lolitika Mandal from the Developmental Genetics Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Mohali, told IANS in an email.

The discovery in fruit fly (invertebrate) model-which shares several similarities with humans at the molecular level-offers a platform to study and answer several questions pertinent to vertebrate blood development, the researchers said.

"For example, one of the aspects that has drawn much attention is to understand the mechanisms regulating self-renewal of early HSCs. Understanding the mechanism will help us in developing methods for early HSCs expansion important for regenerative medicine," said Mandal, a Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance Intermediate Fellow.

Drosophila hematopoiesis (the process by which blood cells are formed) mirrors striking resemblance with that of vertebrates, both at the level of signalling molecules and the phase of development.

But why can not we use the vertebrate model?

"These early HSCs appear 11.5 days post conception in mouse and approximately 32-33 post-ovulatory days in human. Thus, due to technical limitations and rarity of vertebrate early HSCs we still have little understanding about the nature of division that the cells undergo or the complex transcriptional network that controls the HSC fate," Mandal explained.

So, the fruit fly model can plug in the gap "to identify and elucidate not only normal development but also several uncharacterised early pathological events linked with embryonic HSC related disorders."

Leukemia, Amyeloproliferative or myledisplastic syndromes and several types of anaemia can be associated with blood development, Mandal added.

The outcome of this study holds the promise of opening new avenues to better understand developmental hematopoiesis, Mandal said.

"This has a far-reaching implication spilling into stem cell based therapies, wherein it is pertinent to know how tissue specific stem cells are specified in development," she added.

The co-authors of the paper are Nidhi Sharma Dey, Parvathy Ramesh, Mayank Chugh, Sudip Mandal.

--IANS

sgh/ssp/sm/ahm/
Australia government not to support 'burka ban'

Australia,Immigration/Law/Rights,Politics,Defence/Security, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

Canberra, Dec 8 (IANS) Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Thursday said that his country will not consider a "burka ban" despite controversial One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson hints on pushing such legislation into Parliament next year, media reported.

Hanson's push came in the same week when German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced her support for a ban on burkas, but Turnbull said Australia would not be following her lead in supporting a similar ban in Australia, Xinhua news agency reported.

Saying Europe's immigration situation was different to that in Australia, Turnbull said that Australia's border protection programmes meant potential immigrants were carefully screened before entering Australia and pose no threat to the public.

"Obviously what you're seeing in Europe is the consequences of uncontrolled, irregular migration," Turnbull said.

"We're a very generous and compassionate nation, we accept a lot of refugees, but the Australian people expect their government and not people-smugglers to decide who comes here," the Prime Minister added.

--IANS

sm/ahm/
Dronejacking, fileless infections to increase in 2017: Symantec

Delhi,National,Technology,Business/Economy, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) Enterprises of all sizes and consumers in India are at equal risks as advanced criminal attack groups now echo the skill sets of nation-state attackers, a Symantec executive has said, adding that "dronejacking" and "fileless malware" will increase in the upcoming year.

"As businesses in India embrace the digital transformation,fileless malware among others will be some of the prevalent trends and threats in the upcoming year," Tarun Kaura, Director of Solutions Product Management - Asia Pacific & Japan at Symantec told IANS.

In its Security Predictions for 2017, Symantec said that with the proliferation of the Cloud Generation, enterprises will need to shift their focus from safeguarding endpoint devices toward protecting users and information across all applications and services.

Symantec also highlighted that in 2017, fileless infections -- those written directly onto a computer's RAM without using files of any kind and are difficult to detect and often elude intrusion prevention and antivirus programmes -- are set to go up.

With the technology explosion and increase in the use of drones, 2017 could see these devices being used for espionage and explosive attacks.

According to the predictions, with the workforce more mobile than ever, the need to primarily protect an on-premise network will become increasingly short sighted.

"The need for firewalls to defend a singular network becomes unnecessary if it is connected to the cloud. All enterprises will start to move towards wi-fi and cloud-based services, rather than investing in expensive and unnecessary network solutions," Symantec predicted.

As Internet of Things (IoT) and shift towards cloud-based storage and services become more common, targeted ransomware attacks are also likely to increase in the coming year.

While talking about connected cars, Symantec predicted that as cars start to have connected capabilities, they can be held for ransom. The self-driving cars can be hacked to obtain their location for hijacking, unauthorised surveillance and intelligence gathering, or other automobile-focused threats.

"This will also lead to a question of liability between the software vendor and automobile manufacturer, which will have long-term implications on the future of connected cars," Symantec said.

As seen in 2016, machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) will only continue to grow in the next year. Market research firm Forrester had predicted that investment in AI would grow 300 per cent in 2017 alone.

From a security standpoint, this expansion will impact organisations in more ways than one - including endpoints and mechanisms in the cloud.

Enterprises will need to invest in solutions that have the capabilities to collect and analyse data from the countless endpoints and attack sensors across different organisations, industries and geographies.

"Each year, the security industry faces new types of threats as cybercriminals evolve their approach toward accessing organisations' data," Kaura said citing Symantec's Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR), which was released recently.

The report revealed an organisational shift by cybercriminals where they are increasingly adopting corporate best practices and establishing professional businesses in order to increase the efficiency of their attacks.

Symantec said that there is a dangerous possibility that rogue nation states could align with organised crime for their personal gain. This could result in down time for countries' political, military or financial systems.

When asked about the adoption of security measures in India, Kaura said, with the increase in the vulnerability, businesses too have realised the importance of cyber security.

"It's not about checking off a box; it's about finding a policy that protects the organisation's brand, reputation and operations if they are faced with a breach," Kaura said.

--IANS

sku/gb/ahm/
'Walking with Nanak' conscious attempt to humanise the saint: Author Haroon Khalid

Delhi,National,Religion,Art/Culture/Books, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) Its format is rather unique: part fiction, part history and part travelogue. Pakistani author Haroon Khalid says his third book, "Walking With Nanak", is a "conscious attempt to humanise the saint" and could be the first work of its kind in the country.

"I had already done two books which were pure travelogues. I wanted to experiment within the genre so I came up with the idea of fictionalising half of the book -- Nanak's journey ... with his Muslim companion, Bhai Mardana.

"Another reason why I wanted to fictionalise this part is because I wanted to understand and then present the character of Nanak beyond his hagiography. I think that is how he too would have liked to be remembered. Therefore, I made a conscious attempt to humanise the saint which only fiction could allow," Khalid, who has an academic background in anthropology from the Lahore University of Management and Sciences (LUMS), told IANS in an email interview from Islamabad.

At the same time, Khalid admitted to being "much more nervous" about "Walking with Nanak" (Tranqebar/pp 292/Rs 699) compared to the first two, given the new format.

"It will be interesting to see what people think about it. Secondly, I am dealing with a sensitive topic, which is the institutionalisation of religion. I know that many devotees of Nanak would have a different interpretation of his message and would criticise me on my subjective interpretation of him," Khalid said of the book that will be formally launched next month.

On that score, he need have no apprehensions as the book is not merely a story of gurdwaras but is also the retelling of the story of Guru Nanak the son, the poet, the wanderer, the father, the friend and more. Sifting through the stories of his miracles and poetry, the book brings out the picture of Guru Nanak the man.

Khalid said one reason why he chose to study Guru Nanak's life and his travels was because of a "long fascination" with his character.

"I have always known that Nanak, like me, was a Punjabi, but his character became increasingly difficult to access in a Muslimised Punjab after the creation of Pakistan. There are hardly any references to him in popular culture. There was, therefore, a curiosity in me to learn about someone who is such an integral part of my culture yet blatantly missing from cultural representation," the author explained.

To write effectively about Guru Nanak, Khalid read his biographies, which were helpful in allowing him to understand the chronology of his journeys, but they still did not give him a good insight into Guru Nanak the man.

"All his biographies were a collection of stories of his miracles. In order to delve deeper into his psyche, I, therefore, engaged with his poetry which, of course, presented a more accurate picture of how he thought. Then, there were the dialectical discussions with my mentor who accompanied me on all these journeys and features heavily in the book.

"Iqbal Qaiser is an expert on Sikh history and wrote a seminal book on Sikh heritage in the country. Through our discussions, we dissected the several stories of Nanak and tried imagining what would have really happened. These discussions are mentioned as they are in the book. Finally, there was the engagement with the physical spaces at places that Nanak had visited. This was more like a spiritual engagement rather than academic research. It would be unfair to categorise this as research, but rather I would regard this is a deeper spiritual understanding of his life," Khalid said.

"This, then, is understood in the context of Nanak's own philosophy and life," Khalid said.

He also lamented the lack of any literature on the Sikh community in Pakistan.

"The large body of work in Sikhism in Pakistan is a recent phenomenon. It is for the most part limited to the heritage of Sikhism in the form of historical gurdwaras. Most of these books are pictorial or descriptive accounts of different Sikh gurdwaras in the country, just re-narrating their histories. There isn't much engagement in this literature.

"There is still hardly any literature on the Sikh community in the country. In fact, my first book, 'A White Trail', which includes a comprehensive section on the Sikh community in the country, is the first such attempt to talk about the history of the Sikhs after the creation of Pakistan. Another important feature that is missing from this large body of work is how these places are interpreted and understood in a Muslim Pakistan, which has increasingly been identified in an Islamic framework. In that regard, I believe, 'Walking with Nanak' is the first book of its kind," Khalid said.

From the photographs in the book, it is quite apparent that many gurdwaras are well maintained. Is this done through community donations or does the government too chip in?

"Most of these gurdwaras have recently been renovated. It is only in the past few years that the Pakistani state has woken up to the potential of Sikh religious tourism in the country, and the need to renovate and promote these historical gurdwaras to attract more tourists. It is part of the state's agenda to project itself as liberal and tolerant after years of being viewed as the hub of terrorism.

"While the government has been generous with its own funds in some of these cases, it also now invites foreign Sikh charity organisations to help renovate these shrines. A lot of these shrines have been renovated in this process. The local Sikh community is still not economically strong enough to take care of these gurdwaras on their own," Khalid said.

(Vishnu Makhijani can be contacted at vishnu.makhijani@ians.in <mailto:vishnu.makhijani@ians.in>)

--IANS

vm/dg/ky/sac
Pregnant Natalie Portman craves pineapples, burritos

United States,Cinema/Showbiz,Hollywood, Fri, 09 Dec 2016 IANS

Los Angeles, Dec 9 (IANS) Actress Natalie Portman is craving pineapples and burritos during her pregnancy.

Portman, who is expecting her second child with husband Benjamin Millepied, has revealed that she has been addicted to the sour fruit and the not-so-healthy Mexican food wrap, reports etonline.com.

Talking about her cravings on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" on Wednesday, Portman said: "With (first child Aleph) it was very (different)...

"I wanted cream puffs, anything dessert with cream in it, or just plain cream straight. This time it's, like, healthy - pineapple, cucumbers, burritos, which is maybe less healthy, but delicious."

Portman and Millepied currently have a five-year-old son Aleph.

The actress also said she can't wait to lose her baby weight.

"It does make you look forward to the day when you can just have your own body on the red carpet. It's weird because I'm a small person in general, so you show a lot faster and a lot more when you're small. Everyone thinks I'm about to pop and about to give birth any minute, and I have months to go.

"I went to the store the other day to buy water and the guy at the checkout counter was like, 'Almost, huh?' I was like, 'No! Not at all!"

--IANS

sas/nv/
10 Al-Shabaab terrorists killed in southwest Somalia

Somalia,Terrorism, Fri, 09 Dec 2016 IANS

Mogadishu, Dec 9 (IANS) The Somali army killed at least ten Al-Shabaab terrorists and injured several others on Thursday during fighting in Goof-Gaduud area near the southwestern town of Baidoa town, an army commander said.

Gen Ibrahim Yarow told reporters the army and South West State forces repulsed the terrorists and recovered weapons during the fight, Xinhua reported.

"Al-Shabaab terrorists attacked our base here early Thursday, then heavy fighting broke out and we repelled them. We killed 10 Al-Shabaab fighters and wounded several others. We lost some soldiers and the situation is calm at the moment," Yarow said.

According to the sources, five government soldiers were killed in the attack.

--IANS

sku/
Social media gone wrong for Maisie Williams

United States,Cinema/Showbiz,Hollywood, Fri, 09 Dec 2016 IANS

Los Angeles, Dec 9 (IANS) "Game of Thrones" actress Maisie Williams has suffered a social media disaster, with topless photographs of her leaking online.

Williams wanted to share some images with her inner circle via Facebook. However the images ended up leaking to Reddit -- and causing major buzz online, reports pagesix.com.

The photographs show the 19-year-old posing topless on a rock, with her back turned to the camera, and with two female friends in skimpy outfits.

Williams's representative confirmed that the images are real and that they were lifted from the actress's private account.

"The images online were shared from Maisie's personal social media account. The images are not explicit in nature, but pictures of Maisie and close friends at a spa at a recent visit in Japan," the representative said.

Williams went to Japan to protest dolphin shows and hunting of the aquatic mammals.

--IANS

sas/nv/
India  Europe 29 trade potentials vastly under-explored: Gen. V K Singh

New Delhi, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 NI Wire

In the inaugural session of the 2-day 3rd India  Europe 29 Business Forum being organised in New Delhi, the true potentials of India-Europe 29 bilateral trade flows are vastly under-explored.

It was said by Gen (Dr) V K Singh, Minister of State for External Affairs, Government of India, urged the Forum to come up with tangible deliverables with definitive timelines that can go into building the roadmap for intensive India-E29 economic partnerships.

Gen. Singh invited companies and investors in the E29 countries to explore the investment opportunities in Indias manufacturing sector to make in India and cater to global markets.

He also cited areas like infrastructure development, clean and renewable energy, smart cities among others where E29 investors will find compelling business opportunities.

At the session, the minister released the FICCI Knowledge Report titled India- Europe 29: Partnering for Transforming Economic Relations

Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry, Tourism, Cyprus, Mr Yiorgos Lakkotrypis, said in his address that Indian companies will find attractive investment and business opportunities in Cyprus.

Especially as the country has recorded faster GDP growth and key sectors like oil and gas offer significant investment opportunities. Cyprus is the Partner Country of this edition of IE29BF.

The Minister for Higher Education and Science, Denmark, Mr Soren Pind, , said in his address that building skills is central to building a better world.

He also said that Denmark with its experience of dovetailing higher education with the dynamic needs of the labour market can offer useful knowledge and expertise to India in the realm of skills development.

He further referred to the role of Danish Innovation Centre in India that is building bridges between Denmark and India in areas like innovation and education.

Nordic Region is the Partner Region of this edition of the Forum.

Earlier, Mr Harshavardhan Neotia, President, FICCI in his welcome address said that there is immense scope for India- Europe 29 bilateral partnerships in areas like SME development, manufacturing, new and renewable energy, etc.

M

r Rakesh Bakshi, IE29BF Forum Convenor and CMD, RRB Energy, Ltd, said in his concluding remarks that the deliberations at the Forum should lead to sector-specific outcomes.

He urged businesses from the E29 countries to undertake good homework in identifying business partners in India and adopt a calibrated approach in this regard. He added that as both India and the E29 economies are inn transition, there are opportunities to leverage one anothers complementary strengths to build strong partnerships.

At this session, the dignitaries were also awarded Green Certificates that endorsed planting of trees in the Sunderbans in India.
President says, disruption is totally unacceptable in Parliament

Delhi, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 NI Wire

The President Pranab Mukherjee expressed a strong displeasure over the continued logiam in Parliament. The uproar is still continued in both the houses Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha over the decision of demonetisation made by the government.

The President while expressing displeasure over the continued uproar in Parliament, said that disruption is totally unacceptable in Parliament.

The President said, people send their representatives to Parliament to work for the country and not to agitate while delivering the Defence Estate Day Lecture 2016 on Reforms for a stronger Democracy.

He also expressed concern that disruption of parliamentary work has become a practice.

Telling the Member of Parliaments, he said, Do your job.

Asking all concerned to debate and discuss issues of public importance in the House, the president said, Dharnas can be organised anywhere else.

The continued protest was held by the opposition members on the demonetisation move made by the Prime Minister on November 8.

The opposition wants answer from the Prime Minister about that the decision was made without any proper planning.

Because of the improper planning the people suffered a large scale of problems. Due to the shortage of new currency long queues were seen outside banks and ATMs.

--with agency inputs
Kejriwal asked PM to clarify his relation with Mahesh Shah

New Delhi, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 NI Wire

The Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should clarify his and Bharatiya Janata Party Chief Amit Shahs relation with Mahesh Shah. After the decision of demonetisation by the government Kejriwal started protesting against demonetisation.

Mahesh Shah disclosed an unaccounted income of Rs 13,680 crore under the central governments income declaration scheme.

Arvind Kejriwal said, Former Gujrat Chief Minister Suresh Mehta said that Mahesh Shah was close to Amit Shah and Modi. People want to know what is the relation between them and whose money was it that Shah disclosed.

He then added that Mahesh shah said on a TV channel that he wants to name all the people whose money he has disclosed as his own income.

The Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that, It has been one week and Income Tax department has still not questioned Mahesh Shah.

The Chief of Aam Aadmi Party Kejriwal said, that people are asking that while Modi has made them all stand in the queues, but why is he not questioning those who actually have black money.

Arvind Kejriwal when protested against the decision on November 28 raised questions that why the Prime Minister is not coming to answer the opposition members in the Parliament.

Due to this decision people suffered a lot and long queues were seen outside banks and ATMs after one month. The decision of demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 old notes and new currency was introduced after the announcement.

Due to the shortage of new currency notes across the country people spending time in the long queues to get some cash to fulfil their household needs.

Earlier, the AAP leader Dilip Pandey said about the decision of demonetisation that the announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has turned to Talibani farmaan from Tughlaqi farmaan.

Arvind Kejriwal also said earlier that, the Prime Minister changed the topic to cashless economy from black economy.

--with agency inputs
Share



Nokia (News - Alert) was once a major name among names in the mobile device market. Most anyone who had a cell phone in the late nineties probably had a Nokia phone. Since Apple (News - Alert) got in on the market, though, Nokia's pride of place was all but shattered, and the smartphone revolution began in earnest. Though Nokia tried to recover, its place in the next generation communications market seemed lost, until it made some changes and staged a comeback that's been plenty surprising along the way.





Now, Nokia's reconsidering the next generation communications device market, and it's focusing on one key point: let's stop worrying about specs, and start worrying about user experience instead. A noble ambition, certainly, and one that Nokia's pursuing in some unexpected ways. The new devices are said to focus on durability, capability, and great cameras, which certainly suggests that Nokia has a handle on what consumers are looking for in mobile devices these days.

However, there are problems with this. One, Nokia will be struggling under the weight of its own legacy. A lot of people remember that Nokia devices were huge two decades ago, and may transfer that feeling of outmoded or behind the times to current releases. Its work with Microsoft (News - Alert) has often been considered a mistake, something for Nokia to overcome on its way to being great once more.

HMDwho develops devices sold under the Nokia brandpresident Florian Seiche commented, We have the opportunity to distance from the competition, we can take a human aspect on technology. We have the brand equity and we want to leverage that to the fullest. Every product, marketing, will be true to the Nokia brand and the foundation of it. Stability, quality, reliability, and then we're bringing in innovation where it matters the most for [the] consumer, and removing the clutter. This will be seen through [the] Nokia line up coming to life again.

All of this couldn't be nobler if it took off its cloak to provide a way for a lady to walk through the mud without dirtying her shoes. Nobility, however, is not directly proportional to profitability, and Nokia may have a tough time getting back into the next generation communications market that's thoroughly entrenched with competitors like Apple and Samsung (News - Alert). It's not impossible, and certainly Nokia's got the right idea. Focusing on the user experience should pay dividends, and since Nokia also has a robust software offering to back it up, it's no longer the bet-the-company strategy it may once have been.

Nokia is in a much better position to deliver smartphone quality now, and though it may have a rougher time than some might think, it's still looking decent for the company to get some market share back.

Edited by Alicia Young
With so much going on in the world, it feels nearly impossible to keep up with the top stories and breaking headlines. But is it really worth the trouble? Some argue that it causes unnecessary stress, while others simply dont see it as a priority. However, such an attitude prevents people f
We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription.
US President-elect Donald Trump's pick of Iowa Governor Terry Branstad to be the next US ambassador to China has been well received in both countries.

Trump announced his intent to nominate Branstad for the job, according to a statement on Wednesday afternoon from Trump's transition team.

"Governor Branstad's decades of experience in public service and long-time relationship with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders make him the ideal choice to serve as America's Ambassador to China," Trump said in the press release.

"He successfully developed close trade ties with China while serving as chief executive of the Hawkeye State. That experience will serve him well as he represents America's interests and further develops a mutually beneficial relationship with Chinese leadership."

The possible pick had been circulating for weeks, but Jason Miller, spokesman for Trump's transition team, confirmed it on Wednesday morning. He described Branstad as "someone who has a lot of experience and a great grasp of trade issues, agriculture issues, a tremendous understanding of China and Chinese people, and is someone who very much impressed the president-elect not just in their meetings on the campaign trail but also in meetings after the election".

"After long discussions with my family, I am honored and humbled to accept President-elect Trump's nomination to represent our great country as Ambassador to China," Branstad was quoted in the press release.

"I have known President Xi Jinping for many years and consider him an old friend. I look forward to building on our long friendship to cultivate and strengthen the relationship between our two countries and to benefit our economy."

The announcement was made just days after Trump's controversial phone call with Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen on Dec 2, drawing much criticism both in China and the US for its break with decades of bilateral diplomatic protocol between China and the US since they established diplomatic ties in 1979.

The Chinese government reacted favorably to the choice. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang, when asked about news reports about the possible nomination, said on Wednesday that "Mr Branstad is an old friend of the Chinese people, and we welcome his greater contribution to the development of China-US relations."

Cheng Li, director of the John L. Thornton China Center of the Brookings Institution, said such a soon pick of US ambassador to China reflects the high attention Trump pays to China.

"By picking his own people to the position, Trump wants to lead the China-US relations according to his own thinking," Li said.

President Barack Obama nominated Jon Huntsman to be the ambassador to China on May 16, 2009, nearly five months after his inauguration, while Clark Randt was nominated by President George W. Bush on April 30, 2001, three months after Bush took office.

Li also pointed to Branstad's close relationship with Xi, established in 1985 when Xi visited Iowa as a county leader in China's Hebei province during his first trip to the US.

"It's a clear sign for Trump to establish good interaction with Xi, so it's very positive in this regard. He not only pays attention to China, but also Xi himself," Li said.

Douglas Paal, vice president for studies and director of the Asia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said most people did not notice that at the last campaign rally in Iowa with Branstad as host on the eve of the election, Trump publicly commented that Branstad would make a great ambassador to China.

"So this is a political payoff for delivering Iowa big time. But it is also a recognition of Branstad's considerable investment of time and interest in China, including with a junior official named Xi Jinping," Paal said.

"While this is not related to the Tsai phone call, it ought to help balance it out. Trump gets a loyal friend in Beijing. Beijing gets an ambassador with clout in the White House," Paal said.

Branstad, who is in his sixth term as Iowa governor and the longest-serving governor in US history, supported Trump during the presidential race. His son, Eric, ran Trump's general election campaign in Iowa.

In an interview with China Daily in September 2015 before Xi's state visit to the US, Branstad fondly recalled his time with Xi. When Branstad received Xi's five-person group in 1985 in the Iowa State Capitol, he was serving his first term as governor.

It was at Branstad's invitation that Xi made a return trip to Iowa in 2012 as China's vice-president. "We're very honored and very proud to have the president of China call us old friends," Branstad told China Daily in the interview.

Branstad has led several trade missions to China over the years. China is a key trade partner for Iowa, a major agricultural state and producer of soybeans, corn and pork.

Branstad, who turned 70 on Nov 17, said in the interview that he understands there are differences that need to be worked out by the two countries.

"But nevertheless, I have an old friend whom I trust and respect, and I want to build on that long-standing relationship of friendship and trust."

He said that there are going to be ups and downs in the China-US relationship. He urged people to "take the long view, and recognize the importance of building personal relationships, which can break down a lot of barriers of mistrust and misunderstanding that sometimes occur between our countries."

Li, of Brookings, believes the importance of the role of ambassador is declining compared with 30 or 50 years ago due to the growing interactions between the two governments and the many mechanisms of communication established between government departments.

But he said it also depends on an individual president, citing the fact that Randt, the longest-serving US ambassador to China and a former schoolmate of Bush's at Yale University, could contact the president directly. "So we cannot overlook the role of an ambassador," Li said.

Contact the writer at chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com
Gibraltar organized road shows in major Moroccan cities to attract more tourists to the British enclave that lies less than 15km north of Moroccan northern coasts.

In this respect, the Gibraltar Chronicle reports that Gibraltars Tourism Minister, Gilbdert Licudi, led a delegation in three tourism roadshows in the cities of Marrakech, Casablanca and Tangier in a bid to lure Moroccans to visit the British overseas territory.

The roadshows featured meetings between professionals of the tourist industry led by the head of Gibraltar Tourist Board (GTB), Nicky Guerrero, and 180 representatives of tour operators in addition to meetings with journalists.

The events have given us a chance to promote much of what Gibraltar has to offer and even before leaving the country we were already receiving coverage in the Moroccan press, the Gibraltar Chronicle quoted Licudi as saying.

He said that Gibraltar has much to offer Moroccan visitors, adding that direct flights from Morocco makes access that much easier.
Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

A JPMorgan employee with a gambling problem tried to steal $5 million from the bank to pay off his personal debts and now hes in deep trouble. Lawrence Obracanik, a 42-year-old Fort Worth resident turned himself in to authorities on Wednesday and was subsequently released on bond. That court is requiring him to seek counseling for his gambling habit as a condition of his release, Reuters reports.

According to court documents, Obracanik tried to make 22 transfers of more than $5 million from an account at an unnamed bank to an account at another bank belonging to an unnamed individual. Though the name of the bank he stole from was not disclosed in the court documents, Reuters deduces that its JPMorgan from his LinkedIn page.
Foster Campbell is an old-school populist and opponent of legalized abortion. The formula is not gripping Louisiana, and if it doesnt work there, it probably wont work anywhere. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call,Inc.

In the reemerging struggle for the soul of the Democratic Party that was made inevitable by the events of November 8, advocates of economic populism  many of whom are convinced that Bernie Sanders would have beaten Donald Trump like a drum  are riding pretty high. And thats not surprising: With so very much attention being focused on white working-class voters ravaged by neoliberal economic policies defecting to Trump and the GOP, the persistent case that Democrats need to get back to a purer class-based argument against economic privilege probably makes more sense now than it did when Barack Obama managed to strike both populist and centrist notes during his 2012 reelection campaign.

There is, however, a more controversial undertone to the populist argument: that while talking more about economic inequality and blasting Wall Street and corporate power, Democrats ought to talk less about other things, like the cultural or identity concerns of women and minorities, on grounds that such commitments alienate the white working-class voters who awarded Trump the presidency (there are echoes here, I cannot help but note, of New Left arguments during the 1960s that student radicals needed to cut their hair and throw away their tie-dyes in order not to alienate the workers.) This argument has understandably generated a backlash, particularly from feminists who view it as an attack on Hillary Clinton for, well, being a woman. But lurking just under the surface of the populism-versus-identitarianism fight is the much older and more controversial proposition that Democrats got it backwards when they embraced economic centrism and social liberalism. And you can understand why that idea is persistent: Vast swaths of the white working class, in the Midwest and in the South, were once represented politically by economically populist but culturally conservative pols. It was one of the great underpinnings of the New Deal coalition.

Even as liberals and progressives argue about the right mix of messages for Democrats, we are about to see a test of the economic populist/cultural traditionalist message two days from now, in the Senate runoff in Louisiana. And its very likely not going to go well for the Donkey Party.

Democrat Foster Campbell has one of those political jobs economic populists crave: Hes a utility regulator, someone given constant opportunities to fight the Man on behalf of the little people. And in his Senate race against Republican John Kennedy, hes playing the role up to the hilt:

I dont wear a thousand-dollar suit to walk down a gravel road. He does, Campbell says in another [line] that refers to a recent Kennedy campaign ad.



Its like you close your eyes, and youre listening to Huey Long ridicule his opponents with a one-liner that put them in their place, said Bob Mann, a Louisiana State University professor, referring to the assassinated former governor, one of the most colorful politicians in the history of Louisiana.

Beyond the masses-versus-the-classes rhetoric, Campbells supporters are also going after Kennedy, a former Democrat, as a cultural liberal, focusing on his long-past pro-choice politics. Indeed, one group running ads on behalf of Campbell is basically calling his Republican opponent a baby-killer:



The ad alleges that Kennedy supported abortion from 1988 to 2004 and, as viewers hear a beating heart, posts the number 22,581,040 on the screen.



Thats how many children were aborted during John Kennedys career as a pro-choice politician, the announcer says, citing figures from National Right to Life.



Foster Campbell worked with us to protect the unborn, the announcer adds.

The trouble for Campbell  and for other Democrats who think they can thread the needle with white working-class folk with a combo platter of economic and social themes  is that voters motivated by this kind of messaging have already chosen up sides and joined the conservative coalition. Yeah, maybe Kennedy flip-flopped on abortion and Campbell didnt, but the former belongs to the party that has made recriminalizing abortion a priority and thus has been endorsed by the National Right to Life Committee. Something similar has happened on a more limited front on economic issues, for that matter: Millions of hard-pressed white working-class voters who hate elites and are by most definitions populist persistently think Big Government and even labor unions are their nemeses as much as Daddy Warbucks or even snooty neoliberal bicoastal types. Trading in business suits for flannel and waling away at rich people isnt going to change that overnight.

Or so the polls in Louisiana would suggest. Kennedy is drifting toward a decisive win on Saturday. There hasnt been a lot of polling on this race, but Kennedy has consistently led Campbell by a very comfortable double-digit margin. Superior runoff turnout by Republicans is another advantage. Louisiana Democrats may rightly complain they arent getting much help from the national party. But money does not seem to be Campbells problem. The Pelican State is now pretty reliably red, and economic populism  even when combined with a right-to-life position thats more viable in Louisiana than almost anywhere else  wont change that.

Yes, Democrat John Bel Edwards won a gubernatorial runoff in Louisiana last year, and that gives Campbell some hope for an upset. But it took Bobby Jindal basically wrecking the state, and a feckless gubernatorial campaign from Senator David Vitter, to make that happen. In normal elections, its going to take Democrats a lot of work  and yes, reliance on the identity politics issues of minority voters who are a lot thicker on the ground in the South than white voters longing for liberal populism  to make the state truly competitive again.
Tom Steyer. Photo: Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images

The Democratic Party needs to pick its bloodied body off the mat before the GOP kicks out what remains of its ribs.

Within the next 23 months, there will 38 gubernatorial elections. Twenty-seven of the governors mansions up for grabs are occupied by Republicans. Team Blue needs to win as many of those races as possible  because if Democrats dont mount a state-level resurgence in the next two years, they could be locked out of Congress for another decade.

When the new census came out in 2010  and congressional districts were redrawn  the GOP fully controlled the process in 18 states; for Democrats, that figure was six.

After the tragic events of November 8, the Republicans enjoy unified control of state government in 24 states.

Even without gerrymandering, Democrats suffer a structural disadvantage due to the fact that their base is clustered in cities  providing the party enormous margins in a few congressional districts, while putting them in the minority in many others.

Add district maps drawn by the GOP  with the benefit of modern data science  and you have a situation where Democratic congressional candidates need to win 8 percent more votes than Republican ones for the party to have any hope of controlling the lower chamber.

If Democrats arent able to claw back a whole bunch of statehouses and governors mansions between now and 2020, the risk isnt merely that theyll be stuck with this sorry state of affairs  the risk is that their structural handicap will become even more severe.

It will not be easy to nullify this risk. Democratic voters have proven themselves habitually disinterested in midterm elections. Its possible that this will change with the party out of power. But even if Democrats are able to engineer high turnout, they will not necessarily be assured of victory: Somehow, in a presidential election year, the party just lost the governorship of Vermont.

Which is to say: Candidates matter. And the Democrats lack of power on the state level has left their bench quite thin; so thin that, after a couple weeks of surveying the talent, three of the partys mega-donors decided theyd seen better 2018 candidates the last time they looked in the mirror.

Per Politico:

In three major states with a governors mansion up for grabs in 2018, a big-name, politically active billionaire or multimillionaire is taking steps toward a run  donors looking to take matters into their own hands after 2016s gutting losses.



In Florida, its John Morgan, a wealthy attorney who has long been one of the Democratic Partys biggest swing-state fundraisers. In Illinois, its J.B. Pritzker, the businessman and philanthropist with a history of pumping cash and Chicago political support toward Hillary Clinton. And in California, its Tom Steyer, the hedge fund manager turned climate activist who used the 2014 and 2016 election cycles to become one of the lefts single biggest donors, to the tune of over $140 million. And more may be on the way.

Some progressives may find the notion that Democrats would seek to emulate Donald Trumps success by nominating their own billionaires  as opposed to their own (self-styled) economic populists  a bit distasteful.

But its true that Democrats have had recent success with the self-funding magnate model: The party took the Pennsylvania governorship with furniture mogul Tom Wolf, and West Virginias by nominating the richest man in the state, (the not very liberal, but very well-named) Jim Justice.

And because the stakes of the 2018 gubernatorial races are so high, Democratic candidates in large states will need to weather floods of conservative money  money that tends to go a lot farther on the state level than it does on the presidential one.

In a better, more progressive world, Democrats would have made strengthening unions a top priority during those brief periods (over the past four decades) in which they controlled the federal government. But with organized labor weak and getting weaker, the party has become increasingly reliant on other funding sources.

In 2016, Bernie Sanders proved that in high-visibility, national elections, crowd-funding can be one alternative model. But it remains to be seen whether that model can work on the state level. If it cant, the millionaires and billionaires that the socialist senator loved to rail against may increasingly become the standard-bearers of Americas left-wing party.
Congressman Keith Ellison pledges to become Ex-Congressman Keith Ellison if hes made national party chief, addressing one concern about his candidacy. Photo: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call,Inc.

The front-runner for the vacant position of permanent chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota, took a big step today to address one objection to his candidacy. The Hill reports:

Ellison said Wednesday hell resign from Congress if hes elected chairman  removing a major hurdle to his bid that was viewed as a deal-breaker for many in the party.



Ellison is the early front-runner to be the next DNC chairman, racking up endorsements from progressives, mainstream Democrats and labor groups.



But with the national party in crisis and in need of a dramatic overhaul in the wake of a disastrous election cycle, the desire for a full-time chairman who is not splitting duties on Capitol Hill emerged as a major point of contention to Ellisons bid.

This concern was one mentioned by former DNC chairman Howard Dean over the weekend in remarks withdrawing his own candidacy for the job. But its unclear exactly what Ellison will or even can do to address Deans other proviso: that the fight for DNC chair not be a proxy war between supporters of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

Ellison was a strong supporter of Sanders, and one of his announced rivals for the DNC position, South Carolina Democratic Party chairman Jaime Harrison, backed Clinton during the 2016 nomination contest. A third contender, New Hampshire party chief Ray Buckley, was neutral.

Maybe all three of these candidates ought to make a joint statement rejecting the idea of a continuation of the 2016 primaries, and pledging to focus on practical party-building ideas. They can leave the struggle for the soul of the party ideological duels and big messaging decisions to the Democrats who will actually be running for office in 2018, and to the punditocracy, who loves that stuff.
Portland: where the rich are nervous. Photo: George Rose/Getty Images

Portland, Oregon, is taking concrete steps to battle rising income inequality. On Wednesday the City Council voted to levy a special surtax on any companies whose CEOs make more than 100 times the median pay of their workers.

The move  which passed in a 3-1 vote  makes Portland the first municipality in the United States to tax companies based on their CEOs pay.

Under the new rules, if the chief executive earns more than 100 times what their employees do, an extra 10 percent will be amended to the companys usual business tax. For a CEO salary of more than 250 times median pay, the company will have to fork out 25 percent.

As it stands, more than 550 companies pay business taxes in Portland, and it is believed that most would be subject to the surtax when it comes into effect next year. All told, experts estimate that the new initiative will bring in an extra $2.5 to $3.5 million every year, which will be put toward the citys basic public services.

The tax had been a passion project of Steve Novick, an environmental lawyer and Portlands city commissioner for the last four years. It will become an important part of his legacy as he prepares to leave City Hall  in a surprise upset, he was ousted by housing activist Chloe Eudaly in November.

After its passage, Novick gushed, This is as close as Ive ever [come] to a tax on inequality itself.

The tax also has the support of the mayor, Charlie Hales. The Portland Business Alliance (PBA) was less than pleased with the new initiative.

The PBAs president and chief executive Sandra McDonough described the tax as an empty gesture and said that successful companies were just an easy group to pick on.
Reno police officer Tim Broadway briefs reporters outside Hug High School. Photo: Scott Sonner/AP

A teenager is in critical condition after he was shot at his high school by a campus police officer. The 14-year-old had been brandishing a knife and threatening to cut his fellow students when the officer shot him.

Police were called to Hug High School in Reno late on Wednesday morning, where they were told a student had been shot by a Washoe County school-district officer.

Cell phone footage taken at the scene shows the student wheeling around, slashing at passersby with a large knife. A second video shows him lying on the ground, grasping his neck after being shot. The officer is shown crouching over him, apparently attending to his injuries  the footage does not show the shooting itself.

In pictures taken at the scene, the teen appears to have blood on his lip and a fellow student has claimed that he stabbed somebody before being shot  though no injury other than the gunshot has been reported. Apparently the teenager had been in a fight with another student before he drew a knife and began threatening his peers. When he refused to drop the knife, a campus police officer fired one shot, incapacitating him.

Part 1 of incident at Hug High School where the knife-wielding teen was shot  pic.twitter.com/V62LAeHyhh  Evan (@yusonicspeed) December 7, 2016

Authorities are not releasing the teenagers identity. They have confirmed that he is being treated at a local hospital, and according to a statement from the Reno police department, the officer who fired the shot has been placed on administrative leave.

I was kind of scared, but I didnt think it was real, said another 14-year-old who said she was in English class when she heard people screaming. Then people said it was real, and I just felt sick to my stomach.

One parent questioned by the Reno Gazette-Journal said that the boy who had been shot was one of his sons best friends. He claimed that the boy had been bullied for days.
Trump at the Carrier plant in Indianapolis, where he failed to mention hundreds of people would still be losing their jobs. Photo: The Washington Post/The Washington Post/Getty Images

As president-elect, Donald Trump has lashed out at various individuals (a CNN reporter, Alec Baldwin, the cast of Hamilton) for challenging him. On Wednesday night, he branched out beyond the liberal elite, launching a baseless attack on an Indianapolis union leader who pointed out that Trump falsely claimed he saved far more jobs at Carrier than he actually did.

Seven months after promising to prevent the air-conditioning and heating company from shipping jobs to Mexico, Trump announced last month that hed struck a deal with United Technologies, Carriers parent company, to save 1,100 American jobs. I will tell you that United Technologies and Carrier stepped it up, he told workers while visiting the Indianapolis factory last week. And now theyre keeping  actually the numbers over 1,100 people, which is so great, which is so great.

That would be so great, but unfortunately it wasnt true. While the deal gives Carrier $7 million in tax credits from Indiana over the next decade, it still gets to move hundreds of jobs to Mexico. This week, workers finally got a breakdown of which jobs will be moving, and learned that Trump only saved 800 jobs at Carrier. WTHR reported:

Union workers got a letter at the plant saying Trumps deal with Carrier will save only 730 factory jobs in Indianapolis, plus 70 salaried positions  553 jobs in the plants fan coil lines are still moving to Monterrey, Mexico.



All 700 workers at Carriers Huntington plant will also lose their jobs.

Chuck Jones, president of the United Steelworkers 1999, which represents Carrier employees, told the Washington Post on Tuesday that he had hoped Trump would use his appearance at the plant to clarify how many workers were still losing their jobs. But he got up there, Jones said, and, for whatever reason, lied his ass off.

Then, on Wednesday night on CNN, Jones said that while he appreciates Trump helping Carrier employees, he wishes Trump would have been more upfront about the numbers, because he gave hundreds of workers false hope.

Pres. of United Steelworkers Union on @Carrier deal: "What nobody's mentioning is 550 people are losing their jobs" https://t.co/SxPg1jZHk9  OutFrontCNN (@OutFrontCNN) December 8, 2016

Minutes later, Trump launched a nonsensical attack on Jones, suggesting on Twitter that companies are shipping jobs overseas because of union leaders like him.

Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers. No wonder companies flee country!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2016

Trump circled back about an hour later, blaming the union for failing to make Carrier keep the other 553 jobs from moving to Mexico.

If United Steelworkers 1999 was any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana. Spend more time working-less time talking. Reduce dues  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2016

The union was not invited to participate in negotiations between United Technologies and the Trump transition team, but Jones has been working for months to save Carrier jobs in Indiana. Vice-President-elect Mike Pence actually mentioned Jones by name back in March in a tweet about their efforts to stop Carriers move to Mexico.

Appreciate the chance to meet w/ Chuck Jones & hardworking men of Local 1999 about our efforts to save Carrier jobs pic.twitter.com/jAzV4DO4PY  Governor Mike Pence (@GovPenceIN) March 2, 2016

And unions quickly leapt to Joness defense:

Chuck is a hero not a scapegoat: you, others know about Carrier because of his, members' tireless work since day 1 to save ALL jobs there. https://t.co/C9fvwajHY7  United Steelworkers (@steelworkers) December 8, 2016

Dues have helped us file 45+ cases against bad trade; saving jobs in tire, paper, steel, etc. We walk the walk. #imwithchuck #wearewithchuck https://t.co/PlGznkwrTS  United Steelworkers (@steelworkers) December 8, 2016

We applaud Chuck Jones for coming forth with the facts that @realDonaldTrump forgot to mention in his "victory" lap in IN last Thursday.  Indiana AFL-CIO (@INAFLCIO) December 8, 2016

Chuck Jones is a man of integrity who ALWAYS puts the interest of workers first. To say otherwise is not only false, it's infuriating.  Indiana AFL-CIO (@INAFLCIO) December 8, 2016

Jones responded on CNN, saying via phone that Trumps attack wasnt very damn nice, but it must mean Im doing a good job. He also noted that instead of admitting his mistake, Trump chose to lash out at Jones. I think that is pretty low down, low life, he said.

Later on MSNBC, Jones said that since he publicly fact-checked Trump, hes been receiving threats from Trump supporters. Nothing that says theyre gonna kill me, but, you know, you better keep your eye on your kids, Jones said. We know what car you drive. Things along those lines.

Jones said it takes more than that to rattle him. Ive been doing this job for 30 years, and Ive heard everything from people who want to burn my house down or shoot me, he said. So I take it with a grain of salt and I dont put a lot of faith in that, and Im not concerned about it and Im not getting anybody involved. I can deal with people that make stupid statements and move on.

But many noted that its still alarming and dangerous to have the president-elect launching false personal attacks against his critics.

We really are not reckoning enough with how disturbing it is that the next president sees fit to attack individual American citizens.  Jesse Berney (@jesseberney) December 8, 2016

It represents a threat of a major life disruption against any ordinary citizen who appears on TV criticizing Trump. Yes, a chilling effect. https://t.co/ShRW3MI9QG  Walter Shapiro (@MrWalterShapiro) December 8, 2016

This sparked an extraordinary plea from Robert Reich, who happened to be on CNN after Jones called in. Reich addressed Trump directly, rightly pointing out that there was a good chance he was watching the network. Stop this. This is not a fireside chat. This is not what FDR did. This isnt lifting people up, he said.

Reich pointed out that Trump takes offense to anyone criticizing him, whether its a CEO or a local union leader, and thats an untenable position for the president of the United States. You are going to have at your command not just Twitter but also the CIA, the IRS, the FBI, he said. If you have this kind of thin-skinned vindictiveness attitude toward anybody who criticizes you, we are in very deep trouble, and, sir, so are you.
Eastern Tennessee has been decimated. Photo: Andrew Nelles/AP

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced on Wednesday that two juveniles have been charged with arson in relation to the deadly wildfires that tore through Eastern Tennessee over the last few weeks, killing 14 people and injuring 134.

The charges come just a week after authorities announced that the wildfires were likely started intentionally.

Fires have ravaged the area in and around the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, decimating Sevier County, destroying nearly 2,000 structures, and even threatening Dolly Partons theme park Dollywood. The wildfire is the countrys deadliest blaze since 2013, when 19 firefighters were killed fighting a similar inferno in Arizona.

Footage from Tennessee where they been having extreme wild fires! pic.twitter.com/XspjKS0gHp  DJ Rick DaRuler (@DJRickDaRuler) November 30, 2016

The two juveniles were arrested after a joint investigation by the National Park Service, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Sevier County Sheriffs Office. Authorities will not release details on the two suspects who are both underage, other than the fact that they are from Tennessee, though neither are local to the area affected by the fire.

Both have been charged with aggravated arson and are being held at a juvenile detention center in Sevier County, near the epicenter of the fires they stand accused of starting.

According to Fourth District Attorney General James Dunn, the state may seek further charges against the pair, and they have not ruled out the possibility of transferring them to adult court.

The Washington Post interviewed one woman, Katerina Mills, 45, who lost her home in the blaze. I would love to see them tried as adults. Yes maam, she said. I do feel sorry for the parents. But no, I do not feel sorry for those kids.

So far, the fire has burned more than 17,000 acres, and despite recent rains, firefighters still have it only 64 percent contained.
Photo: Keri Pinzon/Getty Images

When a stray cat wandered onto the tracks of a midtown 7 train last month, the MTA halted the entire subway line until the animal was out of harms way. At the same time, the U.S. government euthanizes millions of stray cats each year. Theyre a disaster for the environment: One conservancy organization has called cats the ecological axis of evil. American cats kill between 1.4 and 3.7 billion birds each year, and theyve been implicated in dozens of mammalian extinctions. (The Australian government has funded research into the most efficient methods of cat control  yielding products like a poison-laced kangaroo sausage called Eradicat.) Nearly half of house cats have physically attacked their owners.

Humans relationship with cats is rife with paradox. There are an estimated 100 million pet cats in the U.S., and their ranks are only growing. Cat culture flourishes online. The cat-less can get their fix at cat cafes opening across Asia, Europe, and North America.

In The Lion in the Living Room: How Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World, journalist Abigail Tucker traces cats journey from fearsome Near Eastern predator to global intruder, shedding light on how this baby-sized beast worked its way into so many homes. Science of Us spoke with Tucker about the disturbing similarities between cats and lions, the reason cats failed to uphold the Rabbit Suppression Act of 1884, and the somewhat baffling question of why people put up with them.

You write that cats are a rather unlikely house pet. Why is that?

Cats are uniquely ill-suited for domestication. When people set out to domesticate the first animals, we targeted animals that were easy to keep in confined spaces, and animals that would eat a variety of things  think of a pig or a goat, which will eat any old swill left over from your kitchen. Cats eat only fancy food, meat that we could eat ourselves. We also tended toward animals that had social hierarchies that we could dominate. Dogs and cattle have lead animals, and we can control them by acting the alpha dog or the lead steer. But cats are solitary animals that dont have social hierarchies. Theyre hard to physically control, and they dont tolerate confinement well.

Usually, you dont have to write a 200-page book to figure out why we domesticated an animal. Theres a purpose for the animal, and its really clear: We want its meat or its milk or its fur or its labor. But what on earth did we want cats around for?

As I talked to scientists, it dawned on me that we werent necessarily the ones who were driving this relationship. House cats sidled up to our first settlements 10,000 years ago, because of big changes we started making to the environment. All of these animals crept into our settlement and were eating our trash  animals like badgers and foxes, in addition to small wildcats. They got into this new niche and exploited it.

Cats are uniquely ill-suited for domestication.

So how did they trick us into feeding them and taking care of them?

For a long time, it was probably just an accident. But there are reasons that cats made the transition, but we dont have badgers or foxes as pets today. One reason is that cats have a set of physical features that, for completely accidental reasons, remind us of human babies. Cats have big round eyes located right in the middle of their faces, because theyre ambush predators and need good binocular vision. They have little noses, because they dont hunt by smell. They have round faces because they have short, powerful jaws. This set of features, which is actually just an expression of the way the cat hunts, looks to us like our infants. That gave them a leg up on the competition, and made them an intriguing and charming presence, rather than a straight-up nuisance, like a raccoon.

One justification people give for keeping cats around is that they hunt rodents. I was surprised to learn that cats arent even that good at killing rats.

Cats are magnificent hunters, and they can hunt anything from butterflies to wallabies. They can kill rats but they have no reason to, in our cities. Theres plenty of garbage for everybody. Cats and rats have been photographed sharing piles of trash. Why would these animals fight and risk their lives, when they could just comfortably graze together?

People have tried it before  letting a feral cat colony go within a certain area, with the goal of keeping rat populations down. While they might kill a few rats, the populations of rats are so big that theres no way the cats can ever repress them.

In colonial Australia, there was this act called the Rabbit Suppression Act of 1884. The Australians released hordes of house cats, because they wanted them to kill off these invasive bunny rabbits, which the British had also released. They even built them little cat houses out in the wilderness, so they would have a place to live. But the cats didnt end up killing off the rabbits. Cats can kill a gazillion rabbits, and there are still more rabbits they breed like rabbits. What the cats ended up doing was killing off other more vulnerable, native animals. Cats dont do their assignments the way that dogs do.

Photo: Knape/Getty Images

Pet owners like to say that caring for their dog or cat confers various health benefits  mental as well as physical. But what do we really know about how having a cat affects our health?

There have been all these studies about toxoplasmosis, the cat-borne parasite that can get into human brain tissue. Some scientists think that theres a link between this parasitic disease and mental-health problems, especially schizophrenia.

Even if your cat doesnt give you toxoplasmosis, it may not be wonderful for your mental health. There are a few troubling studies that show that having a cat can decrease your likelihood of surviving a heart attack and increase high blood pressure.

People who have cats are less likely to be outside in the world, walking their cats, meeting other people in cat parks. And cats may not be as good a substitute for human companionship as other kinds of pets. Dogs and their owners have this lovely synergy  they gaze into each others eyes, and both of them have this flow of oxytocin going.

That doesnt happen so much with cats. In nature, cats dont live near other cats, and they dont have a good expressive repertoire. One way they communicate is by leaving pheromones and other smells around, which humans are completely oblivious to. Were really not built to communicate with each other.

One of the fascinating things about cats is their adaptability. Even though they are fundamentally asocial animals, theyve figured out how to manipulate their human hosts. Feral cats dont meow much, but in the presence of humans, cats learn how to communicate to get what they want. They purr in a manner that embeds this insistent, annoying, almost infantlike cry inside of a pleasant purr, to condition their owners to get them food.

But is it possible to know if cat owners mental-health problems are the result of having a cat? Might someone who is already lonely or antisocial be more likely to get a cat?

I think it could be both. Somebody who is socially isolated to begin with, or unable to do the rigorous care that a dog needs, might be more likely to get a cat  but having a cat can be isolating in and of itself. Its interesting that people persistently describe the internet as a digital cat park, where cat people can finally socialize via their pets.

I have seen a lot of articles lately about the cat-borne parasite toxoplasmosis. [One researcher blames the rise of insanity in the 19th century on the rise of toxoplasmosis-infected house cats. Another study says that people with toxoplasmosis are twice as likely to be in a car crash, and suggests that infected drivers have been distracted and worn out by persistent low-level sickness. Toxoplasmosis-infected prey animals like chimps and rats, which are usually repulsed by the urine of predators like leopards and rats, are attracted to it instead.] A lot of these stories seem a little bit hysterical. Do you think the fear around toxoplasmosis is warranted?

I do think a lot of them are overblown. Scientists agree that the parasite gets into our brain and can be very damaging to human fetuses and people with compromised immune systems, but there isnt a ton of support for the idea that cats are manipulating us via this parasite.

I think that the fact that we have glommed onto this idea, and we write so many stories about it, speaks to the fact that cats do have some kind of mysterious power over humanity. These stories about toxoplasmosis remind me of stories that used to come out six or seven hundred years ago about cats and sorcery  that cats have dark powers we dont understand, that theyre witches in disguise.

Photo: Westend61/Getty Images

On that note, cat culture seems pretty female. Whether its witches or cat ladies, cats seem to always be associated with women  whats that about?

From my experience drifting around the cat world, it does seem to be more of a female-centric passion. The simple, slightly sexist explanation is that cats infantile-looking features prey particularly on female instincts.

There are some interesting ideas from evolutionary psychologists  that a woman might use a cat to hone her parenting skills or, before having kids, to demonstrate her fitness as a mate. I think that people of both sexes could be guilty of that. It does seem like its a good way for guys to meet women, to be a passionate public cat-man.

Why are cats such an ecological disaster? How did they end up in isolated island environments like Australia?

Cats are very good shipboard travelers. They dont need a lot of water; they dont need a lot of vitamin C, so they dont get scurvy. Theyve been able to endear themselves to sailors for the past 10,000 years and sail across the oceans, which are the major barrier to mammalian dispersal. Its usually hard for mammals to get to places like Australia. They have to ride on rafts or get blown in. A lot of islands dont have any mammals living on them at all, let alone apex predators that are hypercarnivores, like cats.

With just a few tweaks, the house cat is basically the king of beasts. Cat species are very different in terms of size, but the feline blueprint  their behaviors and the proportions of their bodies  is really consistent across species. You let it go in any environment and its going to be able to kill anything thats smaller than it, and even things that are a little bigger. Its like a meat-eating machine.

You tell stories of house cats clawing and scratching their human owners, especially children. Why do cats so often turn on the people who feed them?

Cats and humans havent lived locked inside the same places, in such numbers, until the last few decades or so. We talked about the implications for our mental health, but this arrangement might not be so great for cats mental health, either. They can get really stressed out in our houses. A lot of things that we consider normal  everything from the volume of our voices, to our thermostats, to the way that a child is playing with a toy  can stress cats out.

Theres evidence that to prevent cathuman violence, we need to go to more extreme lengths than Id ever thought. Experts say that you need to give an entire room of your house for the cats exclusive use. That you should make sure the cat has multiple litter boxes, one per floor, and extra ones for extra cats. That you should never rearrange your furniture. That you should try not to wear perfume. That houseguests are freaky for your cat.

Youre coming at this subject as a lifelong cat-lover. Did learning all of this  that cats are bad for your health, bad for the environment  change your relationship with your cat? Why would you still want to have a cat?

I lost a lot of my sentimental regard for cats  that oh, my cute fur-baby response. But I find that I marvel at them more. I can appreciate the backstory, how this little animal managed to carve out a place for itself in the world, and to become a dreaded invasive species and  culturally speaking  one of the most powerful animals on the planet. To me, its about the wonder of life, and how this animal has gotten so far in the world without giving us much in return. I think that makes our relationship more pure. Humans are so good at extracting what they want from the environment. With cats, were not necessarily holding the reins. We dont even know what we want, but we love it.

The interview has been edited and condensed.
If youre like us, youve probably wondered what famous people add to their carts. Not the JAR brooch and Louis XV chair, but the ground coffee and the bathroom rug. We asked Didier creative director Julia Restoin Roitfeld, who is also the curator of Grey Goose pop-up shop Le Marche Bleu (opening this weekend at 64 Wooster Street), which items she cant live without.

Cire Trudon Bethleem Candle $105 I was in the Cire Trudon store once and was immediately drawn to this candle because its not in the typical Cire Trudon green glass jar. Once I smelled it, it instantly became my favorite. Im not religious by any means, but I love the smell of a church because it reminds me of the holidays and attending celebrations in with my whole family. Its so warm, almost like incense, which makes it perfect for this time of year. $105 at Net-A-Porter Buy

Frends Layla Headphones The best thing about headphones is that when you have them on, nobody tries to talk to you. Ill put these on sometimes even when Im not listening to any music just so nobody disturbs me. Whats nice is they have this really chic color combination that you dont see every day, and the cushiony ear pad is really comfortable to lean on, too. When Im on an airplane, I basically use them as earplug pillows. Buy at Amazon Buy Buy at Amazon Buy

Carine Gilson Lace-Trimmed Camisole Not all the time, but sometimes, you want to look and feel a little bit sexy. I love the things Carine Gilson does because she really understands how to flatter a woman, and the details are so lovely, like the intricate lace on this camisole. Its a great burgundy color, too, which is super-appropriate for this time of year. I can wear this at home when I want to look put-together or even wear it out over a pair of jeans if Im feeling very confident! $588 (30 percent off) at Net-A-Porter Buy

Unfortunately this is sold out from Net-a-Porter, but here are more options in red, black, and white.

Maison de la Truffe Whole Duck Foie Gras $16 When Im in Paris, I go into the Maison de la Truffe shop and buy jars and jars of this stuff to bring back home  the foie gras you get in America somehow is just not the same. I could eat this all day long, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Now that its the holidays, I pretty much do. Its the time to indulge, so Ill constantly snack on it smeared on toast or a baguette. Now that I can buy it online, I wont have to hoard it, though Ill probably still go to the shop because I just love it. $16 at Gourmandise Deluxe Buy

Equipment Cashmere Morgan Knitted Travel Set $468 You know how when youre traveling and running through the airport, you want to feel comfortable, but theres still the possibility that you might bump into someone you know? You dont want to just wear ratty old clothes that you would be embarrassed to be seen in. Ive been wearing this cashmere set, which is so comfortable, and actually is stylish in its own way. To me, its also the perfect color, too  I think black doesnt set the right tone for sweats, and white is too easy to get stained, so the grey is the just-right in-between. $468 at Orchard Mile Buy

This particular travel set is sold out, but here is another cotton-blend option from Equipment.

The Strategist is a new site designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Some of our latest conquests include the best notebook, black T-shirts, fashion-editor-approved jeans, toothbrush, and apartment decor. Note that all prices are subject to change.



If you buy something through our links, New York may earn an affiliate commission.


The rest of the editors around here know about the pencils I use. They are black, with oddly shaped metal fittings holding their white erasers in place, and I carry three or four of them into meetings to take notes, switching off as I write. Theyre called Palomino Blackwings, and they are the best writing pencils on earth. This is not an opinion I alone hold. John Steinbeck and Chuck Jones were fans; Stephen Sondheim writes everything he writes with Blackwings. The difference between these and those off-brand yellow  things in your offices supply closet is the difference between drugstore house-label instant coffee and single-estate Venezuelan Maracaibo.

We almost lost them. Eberhard Faber, the company that introduced the Blackwing in the 1930s, discontinued it in 1998, and people started hoarding boxes of Blackwings. (Sondheim said he bought enough to last for the rest of his life.) After a decade in which people were getting $30 per pencil on eBay, a small company called Palomino figured out how to reproduce the texture of the Blackwing graphite pretty closely, and brought it back in 2010 (though there was carping from the cult about small differences from the original).

What makes the Blackwing a life-changer is a little hard to explain, at least until you try one. The lead is extremely soft  thats why I switch among four of them, because they get dull after half a page. That softness comes with an upside: smoothness. You get nice black marks while barely touching the paper, which means you can write faster. (The old Faber Blackwings came in a box that displayed the slogan Half the pressure, twice the speed.) The Palomino version improves on the original in one particular respect, because the pink rubber eraser has been upgraded to the newer plastic type, in white or black, that is much kinder to paper and better at removing marks. (The eraser can be pulled out and replaced, too, if it wears out before the pencil does.) You can even write thick-and-thin with them, making calligraphic strokes, if you are so inclined. They are expensive, which is to say a little more than two bucks apiece, or $25 for a box of 12. Two boxes will probably last you a solid year, unless you are a demon scribbler.

Most of all, they are a source of tiny pleasure every single time you put one to a sheet of paper. In a high-tension work environment, the pleasure of writing with them can, if only occasionally, take the edge off a headlong day. Half the pressure, twice the speed. Words to live by.
Senator Kris Jordan. Photo: The Ohio Senate, The State of Ohio

On Tuesday, Ohio passed a bill that, if signed by Governor John Kasich, will be one of the strictest pieces of anti-choice legislation in the country. It would ban abortions upon the detection of a fetal heartbeat, which typically occurs around six weeks into pregnancy, a time when many women dont yet know theyre pregnant. On Wednesday, it surfaced that the Republican who first introduced the Heartbeat Bill, Senator Kris Jordan, has history of being accused of domestic violence.



The Columbus Dispatch reported that officers were called to Jordans house on July 11, 2011, by his wife Melissa, who had said that he was pushing her around and throwing things. Jordan said they had argued over the houses cleanliness and that I threw some things on the ground, but I didnt hit her or anything. So shes all worked up about who knows.



Jordan was also recorded telling a deputy, She got a little upset. Girls do that.

Per the Dispatch, Melissa Jordan was recorded as saying violent incidents with her husband began about two years ago, sometimes after he had been drinking. She added that Jordan kept ten to 15 unloaded guns in the house.



Melissa Jordan also told officers, This is not new. Hes done this numerous times, and I just got sick of it and I just had to call.

The dispute ended with Mrs. Jordan asking prosecutors not to press charges.
Ohio lawmakers passed a six-week abortion ban. Photo: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

The heartbeat bill that Ohio lawmakers passed on Tuesday would prohibit abortion in the state at only six weeks of pregnancy. But because most women dont even know theyre pregnant at that stage  and most doctors wont see them until theyre further along  the bill basically bans women in the state from accessing abortion at all.

The bill, which doesnt include exceptions for rape or incest, is just one of Ohios challenges to abortion rights, as lawmakers are expected to pass a 20-week abortion ban, too. Both may soon be signed into law by Republican Governor John Kasich. Yet, earlier in the year, the Supreme Court refused to overturn rulings that blocked a similar 6-week ban in North Dakota and a 12-week ban in Arkansas. So, unless Donald Trump is successful in his quest to appoint pro-life justices to the Supreme Court, the Ohio bills may also be deemed unconstitutional if they actually become law.

As artist and author Jessica Hische pointed out on Twitter, the bills actively restrict womens rights to make their own reproductive choices, particularly given the timeline of a womans pregnancy.

If you don't get why early abortion bans are a big deal, here is the timeline to explain how pregnancy works. pic.twitter.com/fpdveUtqVs  Jessica Hische (@jessicahische) December 7, 2016

Pregnancy technically begins the first day of a womans last period  before shes even pregnant. Furthermore, many women learn that they are pregnant sometime between weeks four and seven. A womans first prenatal visit usually isnt until around week eight, because of the high risk of miscarriage in the first trimester. Fetal anomalies, such as those caused by the Zika virus, are usually only detected starting around week 20.

The excessively restrictive six-week ban would therefore block a womans access to abortion before she even had the opportunity to discover she was pregnant or talk to her doctor about her options. We can only hope Governor Kasich doesnt sign these bills into law  or if he does, that the Supreme Court will once again protect womens reproductive rights.
Lincoln Memorial. Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

Theres been a long history of rallies taking place at the Lincoln Memorial in D.C., including civil rights and antiVietnam War protests. However, women marching on Washington the day after Donald Trumps inauguration wont get the same opportunity, as the National Parks Service has blocked access to the Lincoln Memorial.

The Guardian reports that the NPS, on behalf of the Presidential Inauguration Committee, filed a massive omnibus blocking permit to block off much of the National Mall, Pennsylvania Avenue, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial for the inauguration. The permit secures these public spots for days and weeks before and after the January 20 event, which means the locations wont be available for protests.

Shortly after the election, women across the country came together to organize a Womens March on Washington for January 21. The march was set to be held at the Lincoln Memorial, and 136,000 women have already RSVPd on Facebook. However, given the NPSs decision to block access to the famous spot, the rally will have to find a different home. Cassady Fendlay, a spokesperson for the womens march, told The Guardian that the group is in conversations with the police, and that they have secured another location nearby.

Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, executive director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, said in a press conference for the Answer (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) Coalition that she has worked on lawsuits for protest access on Inauguration Day itself. But banning public land access for days afterward is extremely unique, according to The Guardian:

It hasnt come up in any way previously, where youve had a groundswell of people trying to have access on the Saturday, January 21, and thousands of people want to come, and the government is saying we wont give you a permit. What theyve done is take all of these spaces out of action.

Mike Litterst, a spokesman for the NPS, told The Guardian that each of the blocked-off locations are construction zones, effectively. He noted that inauguration bleachers and stands wont be completely cleared until March 1 from many of the major public spaces.

This post has been updated to show that the Womens March has found another location.
The OECD Observer online archive takes you on a journey through half a century of public policy and world progress.

Since November 1962, the OECDs experts and leading guests offer insights on the questions facing our member countries with concise and authoritative analysis, and provide our audiences with an excellent opportunity to understand policy debates and consider solutions.

Each edition of the OECD Observer reports on a core theme of the OECDs on-going work, from economics and society through governance, finance, and the environment, and articles are bolstered by tables and graphs.
"Brooklyn, NY  Brooklyn Steel"



I've never heard of this place & don't want to go to Brooklyn to see this QUEEN. Maybe I would if I hadn't already been blessed enough to see her in the past <3

Reply

Thread

Link

yea i never heard of that place in my life, i looked it up apparently it's a new venue in williamsburg :/ but whatever, anything to finally see my queen!!!

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Oh, you ain't just going to come to Chicago, huh?



*cries in the corner*

Reply

Thread

Link

I saw her a month ago in London and she was absolutely stunning live! Her new album isn't one of my favorites from her, and she played mostly newer songs, but I really enjoyed watching them live anyway. She's so magnetic onstage.

Reply

Thread

Link

yes!!!!!!!!!!! going to go to portland and seattle if possible

Reply

Thread

Link

Yass I missed her over the summer so happy she is coming around again, god is good.

Reply

Thread

Link

Whaaaaat half your album is about DC where is your show

Reply

Thread

Link

Although alot of garbage and courtney love fans love her i cant find a good song off the new album any recommendations on her past catalogue

Reply

Thread

Link

Yeah, the new album is really hit or miss.. I think I only liked 2 songs from that album...



I, personally, feel her strongest work is - her album(s): 'To Bring You My Love' + 'Uh Huh Her'



For newbies, most people say (and I do agree with this): 'Stories From the City Stories from the Sea' (is most accessible to new-comers)..



However, "die-hard" fans feel her best work are her first (2) albums -- 'Dry' + 'Rid of Me'... I really liked her 'Is This Desire?' album, so that gets an Honorable~ Mention -- in my books!!

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Thanks! I don't mind the first single off the new album ill check out the others

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

To Bring You My Love and Is This Desire? are far and away my favorite albums of hers - her last few are in a pretty drastically different style to most of her earlier work. I'm not too familiar with Garbage, but judging from what I've heard, I think you'll be able to find something you like from one of those albums (or anything pre-White Chalk really)

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

To Bring You My Love and Is This Desire? are my faves. One is bluesy and guitar-based while the other is electronic, menacing and quiet. Rid Of Me is a rocker too: ferocious, sexual and aggressive. Dry is a fun slap in the face- it's melodic and catchy. The 4-Track Demos and '95 B-sides album are also worth checking out if you end up liking her gritty rock sound.



Stories is her most accessible but most boring. Uh Huh Her has some great songs but is a little messy.



Her style really changed after White Chalk which was mostly piano-based, highly depressing and beautiful. Let England Shake and Hope 6 are political and powerful. LES is brilliant - Hope 6 needs more time to grow-reading the lyrics really helps those 2 records come alive.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I would honestly start with Dry, though I started with Rid of Me.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

*sighs, very, very loudly*



The joy of living in Texas, except every cool~ band only stops in East Texas.... :(

Reply

Thread

Link

Freja must be shitting bricks.

Reply

Thread

Link

SCEAMING AND BUYING TICKETS



She last came to Houston I think in like the early 2000s when I was too young to go.

Reply

Thread

Link

I love PJ and would love to see her but her last two albums have done absolutely nothing for me and her recent set lists show she mainly sings songs from those two albums and only 2 or 3 from her 90's work :/

Reply

Thread

Link

on a side note, she's literally never looked prettier

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Guess i'm not driving two and a half hours to see her

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

oh fuck icn believe i will miss her short of a month

Reply

Thread

Link

Do i drive two and a half hours to see her

Reply

Thread

Link

actual queen

Reply

Thread

Link

IT'S ABOUT GODDAMN TIME.

Reply

Thread

Link

Awesome

Reply

Thread

Link
Flawless gif usage

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

somebody set his shirts on fire........then set him on fire

i don't have time or sympathy for racists like him

Reply

Thread

Link

Maybe they could save time and set the shirt on fire while he's wearing it.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

mte

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

lmao

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link



When the best celeb endorsement you could get is kid rock

Reply

Thread

Link

mte lmao

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

LOL

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/pictures/19-of-donald-trumps-weirdest-celebrity-endorsements-20160121



(spoiler alert: none of these endorsements are weird or unsurprising) (spoiler alert: none of these endorsements are weird or unsurprising)

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

and even from this list, kid rock is yet the most relevant endorsement he had

again, wow.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

LOL oh @ jesse james. i forgot about his existed but this nazi would.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Lol this gif is cracking me up so hard right now

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

TRASH. ago back under the rock you crawled out of

Reply

Thread

Link

Not soon enough, Jaqen.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

yeeep

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Hello, fellow citizen of Dumbfuckistan! We're neighbors! :)

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Also in Nevada! :)

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Same with Colorado <3

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

lol his dumb ass forgot hawaii but we're fellow dumbfuckistanians

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I know everyone forgets us poor Delawareans but can he please make the shirt accurate so we're blue. I'm positive MD and NJ are also blue states so idk why PA and DE are connected together.

Reply

Thread

Link

fucking gross.

Reply

Thread

Link

Thank god for New Mexico otherwise Colorado would be completely surrounded

Reply

Thread

Link





"the d is missing because it's in every hater's mouth"

Reply

Thread

Link

mfte

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Imagine being a grown-ass adult and thinking, "wow what a sick burn. Should put that on a t-shirt."

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I think grown-ass adult is generous.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

yeah... fucking hell

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

mte Schmidt



so disgusting yet not surprising Kid Rock would sell t-shirts like that

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

dude loves his confederate flag, i'm not surprised

Reply

Thread

Link

he's fucking ridiculous. i think he's from romeo, mi and his dad owned a successful car dealership. oh, and his son is biracial. boy, bye!

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Lmao a fucking mess all around.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Omg they filmed this in the dorm neighboring our building. I never watched the show, so it's weird to see it.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

queen



watching krysten ritter in jessica jones recently made me realize how similar jj and vm are, i miss vm so much :(

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I loved this episode.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

So like.....it's technically just a kid taking a picture of his mom, but like...........



........................................ .......



..........................

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Wait that's Melania's son? I thought it was the older kid.. why does Baron look 39???

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

Technically, yes... but also while he is straddling his mother.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

You can't convince me there's not a lot of incest going on this family. Their poor children (incl Ivanka)... :\

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

ugh i'm a csa survivior and even if dump never physically hurt ivanka the obvious covert incest is still so upsetting. what a fun 4 years this will be.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

okay no....also their home is disgusting

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

the second picture confuses me so much idgi

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

lol the pic on the right is such a reach, cmon now

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Weird how Republicans/far-right leaning people are always the first to shriek about things being "unAmerican" and "unpatriotic" and then they do things like this. Like how they get so offended about anything to do with 9/11 and then immediately turn around and go "Ugh, east coasts elitists, you know, like New York types...." Like, bitch, which is it.

Reply

Thread

Link

MFTE the cognitive dissonance is enough to split a fucking cranial lobe

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

yeah like how it's "unamerican" to burn the flag but proudly flying the confederate flag is totally cool

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Right? They do realize that the confederate flag is the flag of traitorous states who basically said 'fuck you,' to the American flag of their time. There's nothing more unamerican than the confederate flag.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link





I hate them both, but that nod when Cruz realized he fucked up...



Edited at 2016-12-08 01:04 am (UTC)

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

the 9/11 hypocrisy has bothered me since the day it happened-- these racist fucks outright hate blue states and yet they are more than happy to co-opt their tragedy

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link
if you were to tell me that the weather channel would clap back at breitbart on january first, I would have laughed in your face.

Reply

Thread

Link

2016: Savage and unpredictable.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

shit, the weather channel is doing the bet reporting I've seen all year. they're calling out the bullshit like it is.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers. No wonder companies flee country!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2016



Already turning on his base. Sad! Already turning on his base. Sad!

Reply

Thread

Link

Chuck Jones started to receive death threats after Trump tweeted this.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I just heard an interview from him and he was like "if Donald wants to tweet about me, I'm going to respond every time." I was like yas daddy. He doesn't give a fuck lmao.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

You're a nobody until you start receiving death threats. Then you're a somebody.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

I loved his response to them. He was just like 'I'm a union leader, I get death threats all the time' and brushed them off. The hero we need!

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

And Hillary was the one accused of turning her back on WWC. LMAO.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

i guess I spoke too soon (literally the last political post) about him retaliating against ordinary citizen for when they criticizing him. Anyone who disagrees with him is literally a political opponent. what the fuck man...didn't anyone take a basic civ history class in this fucking country????



Edited at 2016-12-08 04:29 am (UTC)

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I saw red with these tweets. Blaming workers and union leaders for jobs leaving the U.S. Suggesting they lower dues (because dues don't pay for anything?) so more people would join and they'd seemingly have more power (l o fucking l). I hate him.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

He is so unbelievable moronic. What president (outside of like, North Korea or some shit), attacks individual citizens who criticize him--BY TELLING THE TRUTH I might add? Dump is going to fucking nuts when he's actually president and people really start in on him. He's not going to do any of the actual job of being president. He's going to sit in his ugly ass apartment and scour Twitter and television looking for people criticizing him.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Here in Mexico they keep talking about Global warming and how it will fuck us all, but hey! Obviously we were wrong!



Thank you Breitbart, you clearly know better than hundreds of scientist and are not following any orange agenda.

Reply

Thread

Link





President of the Divided States of America is actually really accurate.

Reply

Thread

Link

Tofu Palin should be protesting Breitbart but nah. Also they are practically trying to ban abortion in Ohio.



Edited at 2016-12-08 04:13 am (UTC)

Reply

Thread

Link

Did you hear how in Texas you are now supposed to bury and cremate fetuses? Fucking crazy. This Ohio thing is ridiculous too. Basically after six weeks, you are not allowed to abort.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I really don't ever want to put myself in the position to become pregnant.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

Pence tried this in Indiana, a very a Republican state, and they denied this because it was too much. I can't believe there are other states that have

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

If the governor signs it, it's going to go to the Supreme Court... which is potentially scary, depending on who Trump appoints.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

I saw that. Ohio is trash.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

The fact that people continue to deny climate change in 2016.... Every comment on The Weather Channel's facebook posts are all anti climate change, and ofc for this all these idiots are supporting Breitbart.

Reply

Thread

Link

If Anderson Cooper is your best example of a good journalist then we are in trouble.

Reply

Thread

Link

Same. I've been over him lately 

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

At what point is a time traveler appearing and fixing this timeline? 

Reply

Thread

Link

I feel like we're in a alternate universe.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

the dark timeline

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

We are, tbh

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

We are in the bad timeline of Back from the Future

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

IKR, like I only watched one ep of The Man in the High Castle but I feel like we are in the wrong goddamn timeline.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link





we are stuck

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I feel like a time traveller probably caused this shit. Like, Barry Allen needs to get his skinny ass back here right the fuck now and fix whatever Flashpoint nonsense is going on.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

We need Dr. Samuel Beckett from Quantum Leap to fix this shit and/or possibly be president.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

this would never have happened in the berenstein bears timeline

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

Maybe this is the fault of a time traveler to begin with...





Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Where is Booster Gold??

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

Like that kid who tried to assassinate Trump? I was reading an article on him, and honestly, I thought he is a time traveller, he tried to save us. lol He knew the true danger while everyone thought Trump was just a joke.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Barry fucked up yet again SMH.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

This is so depressing.

Reply

Thread

Link

This country is going to be literal hell for the next four years. How the fuck do you meet with Al Gore and supposedly Leonardo DiCaprio to discuss climate change and pick Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA?

Reply

Thread

Link

I wonder if the #NeverHillary assholes are realising they are not the same. My friend on Facebook literally went "k" when I mentioned you are going to lose your ability to get an abortion.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

is she pro-life? bc i've seen many women respond like this and it's due to them being against abortion. trump being president is not the most ideal situation for women across the board but remember 53% of white women voted for this bleached asshole.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

theyll never get it. trump could drop a nuke in the middle of ohio and these assholes would be all 'but... but... emails!'

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

I wish somebody else would've gotten the nomination but that doesn't matter anymore. With the choices people had, Hillary was far & away the only one a rational human being could vote for. The fact that so-called "liberals" couldn't do this is proof that they don't have empathy for POC, Muslims, LGBTQ people, the poor, women in places with limited access to abortion, etc. If 2016 was a dumpster fire then I shudder to imagine how life will be in Trump's America.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

Did you also tell her that Trump is also raising single income households taxes, which hurt single mothers by eliminating deductions for children in a household? But doesn't hurt married couples in his plan?

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

they don't give a fuck about what actually happens to actual people, they'll just be gloating about how they voted their "conscience"

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

He just wants to throw people off by thinking for even a second that he's going to be reasonable.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

Pls come through, faithless electors.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

lol Right?? How the fuck can anyone seriously think they can reason with a buffoon who claims climate change is a hoax created by the Chinese? It's a waste of time.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

I think he's playing people for shits and giggles. It's really cruel although I think people should know better than to believe he'll be remotely sensible.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

because thats the point. trump detracts relentlessly until the other story picks up.

everyone was shocked he was meeting with al gore, while he was busy appointing someone whose state is suing the EPA. like this is tiresome already.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

lmao their response is amazing



never not glad andrew is rotting in the ground

Reply

Thread

Link

Conservatives are so fucking exhausting jesus christ

Reply

Thread

Link

And this shit hasn't even happened yet. Ugh.



I see so many people on ONTD like "When will 2016 end?" I hope fucking never! Why the hell are people rushing 2017?!?

Reply

Thread

Link

Can we fast forward to 2020?

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I really don't think there's a time we can fast forward to where we're not fucked.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

The level of fuckedupness you'd be greeted with when you skipped to 2020 would be so jarring your head would explode.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

right? not looking forward to anything tbh

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

never heard of this website before this year. why did a bunch of ppl pull their ads from them before this climate thing?





also lol @ the bernie tweet.

Reply

Thread

Link

It's the leading website for the neo-Nazi movement. And now it's ex-executive chair is one of Trump's right hands.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

We truly are living in a post-truth era. It doesn't matter how many times you fact-check. There are people out there who think anyone who refutes their dear leader is a liar and that their feelings trump (ugh) vetted factual information. We're all fucked.



Edited at 2016-12-08 04:29 am (UTC)

Reply

Thread

Link
A right-to-life lawsuit has been filed in Louisiana against Sofia Vergara on behalf of her two frozen embryos. The female embryos are listed as "Emma" and "Isabella" in court papers.Vergara has been engaged in a California court battle with her ex-fiance Nick Loeb over the embryos they created in 2013 (she wants them destroyed and he wants them implanted in a surrogate). But he apparently dropped that suit this week after the judge ruled in favor of Vergara's request to force Loeb to identify two of his previous girlfriends who had abortions after he impregnated them.The new lawsuit contends that Emma and Isabella, by not being born, have been deprived of an inheritance from a trust that has been created for them in Louisiana. It accuses Vergara of refusing to allow her daughters Emma and Isabella to continue their development, so they remain frozen in a tank,.Loeb is not listed as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, but appears to be behind it. Although Loeb doesn't currently live in Louisiana, he attended college there and is still a reserve police officer there. He apparently believes that he will have better luck with a lawsuit in the traditionally pro-life, conservative South than in California.Louisiana law forbids the destruction of frozen embryos, and is the only state in the U.S. to consider them "juridical persons" . But several legal experts told thethat it will be difficult to convince a judge that the case should be heard in Louisiana since the embryos are in California.
The mood of crude has flipped again, with optimism rising ahead of the NOPEC meeting at the weekend. Even though doubts persist, for today, oil prices push higher. Hark, here are six things to consider in oil markets today.

1) We discussed on Monday how the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is expecting no major impact to its crude oil production from the OPEC decision, and how crude from northern Iraq flows through the 600-mile Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline before being loaded onto tankers in the Turkish port.

The KRG controls ~550,000 bpd, and has indicated that it doesn't plan to scale back on production. Iraq needs to cut production by 210,000 bpd to meet its OPEC cut quota, but 90 percent of the crude produced in the non-Kurdish controlled areas is operated by international oil companies. The state-run oil company controls some 440,000 bpd of Iraq's production, with 280,000 bpd of this in the south. These fields are the ones that are expected to feel the brunt of the OPEC production cut:

(Click to enlarge)



2) Italy is the leading destination for Kirkuk crude, accounting for over a third of all exports this year - some 155,000 bpd. Israel is the second most popular destination, while Cyprus is third - despite an absence of deliveries over the last three months. The key takeaway in terms of Iraqi crude flows is that southern grades (i.e., Basrah Light and Basrah Heavy) predominantly head to Asia, while northern grades (Kirkuk) head predominantly to Europe.

(Click to enlarge)

3) Timing is everything. Back in late November we discussed how Saudi production is up over 2 million barrels per day since the start of 2011, while Iranian output is flat over the same period. We get a similarly confounding view when we look at OPEC versus non-OPEC production growth since the beginning of 2012. Related: Will We See $60 Oil By Christmas?

Despite the pullback in U.S. production in the last year and a half, non-OPEC production is still up over 5.5mn bpd, while OPEC production is up 1.44mn bpd. OPEC production was basically flat from 2011 to mid-2015 before taking off, coinciding with non-OPEC moving in the opposite direction.

(Click to enlarge)



4) Our ClipperData is cited in this article about the narrowing contango of the forward curve. Our ClipperData show that global floating storage is well over 100 million barrels, but we should see this volume whittled lower should the financial incentive to store crude continue to be erased. The contango needs to be at $3.15 - $3.38/bbl six months out to make a profit after covering the cost of leasing an oil tanker to store the black gold, Texas tea.

5) The cost of leasing an oil tanker is expected to drop further next year, with the industry bracing itself for the worst earnings since 2013. Rates are now 12 percent lower than they were prior to the OPEC meeting - given the expectation that the decision will lead to higher oil prices, lower demand and less trade. As the chart below illustrates, shipping rates move inversely to prices:

(Click to enlarge)

6) Finally, after discussing the prospects of a U.S. Gulf Coast LNG benchmark yesterday, it is particularly interesting to see that 80 percent of global LNG supply this year is priced off an oil index, as opposed to a LNG-based benchmark. Room for change, me thinks.

By Matt Smith

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
If you dont have your crews lined up by now, youre not going to be able to complete your wells in Q1, replied my oilfield service friend. Were fully booked into the New Year, he nodded, anecdotally confirming the trends I was starting to sense.

Back at the office, my line charts for Canadian upstream spending and oilfield activity were finally reversing, poking up through the lowest grid lines in the spreadsheet. And all this was happening before the OPEC-ites pushed oil prices into the low end of the $US50/B range last week.

Two Canadian pipeline approvals also pumped more positively charged ions into the industrys mood.

But Im wondering whats going on? If the first quarter is already booked up for some vital oilfield services, what does the rest of 2017 look like? Could the next page flip of the calendar put the worst two years in the industrys history back into the black?

Im not exaggerating when I say that the last two years have been the worst in the 100-plus years of Western Canadas oil and gas business. There is no other time in its history when the aggregated income statements of all upstream producers showed $C52 billion and $C32 billion of consecutive losses like in 2015 and 16 respectively; 1998 doesnt even come close as Figure 1 shows.

Related: OPEC Cheating Will Cap Oil At $52

Whether or not the industry will get back into the black in 17 is still unclear. It will take more than a recovering first quarter, but at least its a start. Having said that, this nascent recovery is not going to be uniform across the business.

The cost-and-carbon laden oil sands that take far too long to develop will still remain hungry for investment well beyond 2017. On the other hand, the rejuvenation of the Canadian oil and gas industry is already happening in tight oils, liquids and natural gas plays located in western Alberta; northeast BC and southern Saskatchewan.

(Click to enlarge)

Post downturn, capital investment is heavily favouring a subset of the business that has three traits: bite-sized development, fast investment payback and lower carbon (natural gas and lighter oils). This trifecta is what the Canadian oil and gas industry will be biasing their bets towards to compete against their U.S. counterparts in Texas, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.

Assuming $US55/B (WTI) and $C3.40/Mcf (AECO), prices in 2017 should boost the odds of success compared to the recent past. Two full calendars of fiscal pain have done much to tune up the industry for the future. Costs have moderated, field productivity has improved significantly, and the debilitating Canadian crude oil price discounts of 2012 and 13 have almost retreated back to normal. A weaker Canadian dollar also eases the ante.

The tone will be better next year. Upstream revenue for the industry as a whole is likely to push back through $C 100 billion, up from $C 78 billion this year. Cash flow should more than double from $C20 to $C45 billion.

Following the money, capital investment will be up in 17 too, but as mentioned the spending will not be uniform across Western Canadas hydrocarbon geography. Recent financial disclosure from more than 20 publicly traded companies suggests an average 40 percent bump in 2017 over this year. Companies targeting coveted areas like the Montney represent the biggest spenders. On the other hand, oil sands spending will be down again next year with an estimated 20 percent reduction over an already-weak 2016. Related: OPEC Winners: Iran Brags It Can Now Sell As Much Oil As It Wants

Things are looking much better outside the oil sands, but lets not get carried away with optimism. The aggregate financial numbers are far short of the peak in 2014 when the industry as a whole was investing $1.5 billion every week. Which begs the question, Why are some oilfield service companies booked up in Q1 as if it were boom times again?

Answer: Imagine any service industry in which its customer base has endured close to $C80 billion of losses and write-downs over two years. The Canadian oilfield service industry has been gutted (by the way this is a global problem, not one that is exclusive to Canada). For those service companies that still have a pulse, their talent pool has been weakened, thousands of qualified staff have been let go or have left voluntarily. Equipment has not been maintained. Banks have pulled their loans. The physical and financial capacity of the oilfield service business has been left lame. So any company left standing with the best equipment and people has a good looking order book for the next three months, even if they are still on financial crutches.

Headlines, ticker tapes and spreadsheets show promising signals that 2017 is looking quite a bit better for the oil and gas industry. But its only going to be better for a smaller set of producers and oilfield service providers than in the past.



(Click to enlarge)

By Peter Tertzakian for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Chevron has announced its capital expenditure program for 2017, which will see the company spend US$19.8 billion next year, down 42 percent on 2015 and at least 15 percent lower than outlays for 2016.

On Wednesday, Chevron said capex for 2016 will be US$26.6 billion, a substantial downward revision from an earlier estimate of US$35 billion. Based on this, the 2017 capex sum is 24 percent lower than the figure for 2016.

Like its peers, Chevron is turning increasingly towards smaller projects with faster and higher returns. As chairman and CEO John Watson said, Over 70 percent of our planned upstream investment program is expected to generate production within two years, going on to add that 2017 will be the fourth year in a row of capex reductions for Chevron.

In an interview with CNBC, Watson said that the capex was planned around the companys top priority, which is to maintain dividend payouts.

Chevrons capex program includes a US$2.5-billion allotment for shale and tight oil and gas, most of which will be utilized in the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico. Another US$2 billion will be spent on completing the Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG projects, both large-scale developments off the Australian coast. Total outlays for large-scale projects already in development are estimated at US$7 billion.

Chevron is also joining other Big Oil players in the deepwater sector of the Mexican shelf: earlier this week, a consortium led by the company won a drilling license for an oil and gas block in Mexican waters, as part of the countrys efforts to open up its energy industry to foreign investment.

Like its peers, Chevron can now take a breather after OPECs deal that pushed up prices, although it is uncertain how long this breather will last. According to at least one analyst, the company is well placed to refocus on its production business now that benchmarks are a bit above US$50 a barrel.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Wind farms and solar panels will provide 100 percent of the energy Google uses to power its business operations by the end of next year, according to a report by The New York Times.

Over the past decade, the California-based giant has secured deals with renewable producers that guarantee Googles purchase of the energy produced through sponsored wind turbines and solar cells. When the energy firms head to the bank to secure financing for the construction of new turbines or cells, Googles contracts serve as a major asset.

The ever-increasing amounts of renewable energy make their way back to the electrical grid, through which Google powers its buildings. By next year, the companys green energy contributions will essentially equate to no net fossil fuel usage from the grid.

We are the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy in the world, Joe Kava, Googles senior vice president of technical infrastructure, told the Times. Its good for the economy, good for business and good for our shareholders.

Google also worked with the 50,000-acre wind farm in Minco, Oklahoma, to supply electricity to a data center in the same state.

Googles 2015 consumption of 5.7 terawatt-hours of electricity is equal to the output of two 500 megawatt coal plants, Jonathan Koomey, a research fellow at Stanford Universitys Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance, said in an interview. For one company to be doing this is a very big deal. It means other companies of a similar scale will feel pressure to move.

Facebook, a company of comparable size and scope, has forged similar purchase-guarantee deals with wind producers in the past. Amazon has shown a preference for the solar power route, with the mega-shopping site expected to fulfill 40 percent of its needs through renewables by the end of the year.

Microsoft has been carbon neutral since 2014, but only through the purchase of carbon offsets and other green projects on the side.

Zainab Calcuttawala for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com
Mexico plans to increase its crude oil production substantially, overtaking both Venezuela and Brazil if its plans work out. This has emerged after earlier this week, the country awarded nine major drilling contracts to international bidders for fields in the Gulf of Mexico.

Venezuela currently produces around 2 million bpd, which could drop to 1.6 million bpd next year. Brazil pumped 2.6 million bpd in October. When commercial production starts at the nine new fields, Mexicos National Hydrocarbons Commission expects the combined output from them to reach 900,000 bpd, adding to the countrys current rate of some 2 million bpd.

One of the fields that will be developed in the deepwater section of the Mexican shelf, part of the Trion block, was awarded to Australias BHP Billiton, one of the worlds top three miners, which has been expanding its oil and gas operations recently. This, as the Wall Street Journal reports, made it the first foreign company to join Pemex in the development of an already operating oilfield.

Chevron, BP, Exxon, and the China National Offshore Oil Corp. were also among the winners in the tender. CNOOC won the rights to drill at three fields; Statoil, BP, and Total together will develop another two blocks; and the rest will be developed by POC Carigali, a unit of Malaysias Petronas, in partnership with Mexicos first private oil and gas company, Sierra, along with U.S. Murphy Oil and UK-based Ophir Energy.

Related: Kuwait Calls For Meeting To Enforce OPEC Cut In Q1 2017

Two blocks remained unawarded, but nevertheless, the results of the tender were considered a bigger success than initially expected by the organizers. Investments in the blocks could reach US$40 billion.

The tender also marks a milestone in Mexicos liberalization of the energy sector, which began in 2013 with the aim of making better use of the countrys mineral resources by removing Pemex from its monopoly position and inviting outside investments in the industry.

Mexico is currently the fourth-largest oil producer in the Americas, according to the EIA, behind the US, Canada, and Brazil.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Escalating tensions were temporarily defused Sunday when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, at the direction of the Obama administration, announced it would refuse to grant the final permit needed to complete the $3.8 billion project. The pipeline, which runs nearly 1,200 miles from the Bakken Shale in North Dakota to Illinois, is nearly complete except for a small section where it needs to pass under the Missouri River. Denying the permit for that construction only punts the issue to next monthto a new president who wont thumb his nose at the rule of law.

 This isnt about tribal rights or protecting cultural resources. The pipeline does not cross any land owned by the Standing Rock Sioux. The land under discussion belongs to private owners and the federal government. To suggest that the Standing Rock tribe has the legal ability to block the pipeline is to turn Americas property rights upside down.



 Two federal courts have rejected claims that the tribe wasnt consulted. The projects developer and the Army Corps made dozens of overtures to the Standing Rock Sioux over more than two years. Often these attempts were ignored or rejected, with the message that the tribe would only accept termination of the project.



 Other tribes and parties did participate in the process. More than 50 tribes were consulted, and their concerns resulted in 140 adjustments to the pipelines route. The projects developer and the Army Corps were clearly concerned about protecting tribal artifacts and cultural sites. Any claim otherwise is unsupported by the record ...



 This isnt about water protection. Years before the pipeline was announced, the tribe was working with the Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps to relocate its drinking-water intake. The new site sits roughly 70 miles downstream of where the pipeline is slated to cross the Missouri River. Notably, the new intake, according to the Bureau of Reclamation, will be 1.6 miles downstream of an elevated railroad bridge that carries tanker cars carrying crude oil.



Further, the pipeline will be installed about 100 feet below the riverbed. Automatic shut-off valves will be employed on either side of the river, and the pipeline will be constructed to exceed many federal safety requirements.



Other pipelines carrying oil, gas and refined products already cross the Missouri River at least a dozen times upstream of the tribes intake ...



 This isnt about the climate. The oil that will be shipped through the pipeline is already being produced. But right now it is transported in more carbon-intensive ways, such as by railroad or long-haul tanker truck. So trying to thwart the pipeline to reduce greenhouse gas could have the opposite effect.



So what is the pipeline dispute really about? Political expediency in a White House that does not see itself as being bound by the rule of law. The Obama administration has decided to build a political legacy rather than lead the country. It is facilitating an illegal occupation that has grown wildly out of control. That the economy depends on a consistent and predictable permitting regime seems never to have crossed the presidents mind.

The media is on the warpath (yeah, that is a foreshadowing pun) about "fake news." Interesting, then, that most of what has been reported about the Dakota Access Pipeline is fake. The land grab, the climate impact, the danger it poses to ground waterall 'fake.'The trained hamsters in the main stream media never met a left-leaning activist they didn't like, never dismissed concerns about "climate justice," even when those concerns are outright bogus, and never-ever take any side but the one taken by minority populations who are viewed as perpetual victims. All three characteristicsactivism, climate justice, and the ultimate minority (Native Americans)come into play when reporting on the pipeline occurs. Most of that reporting is "fake news" but of course, the kind of fake news that the MSM applauds. Kevin Cramer writes:But maybe the Native American and environmental activists had a point and their use of environmental and cultural "blocking" techniques was justified? Uhhh ... no.Cramer explains:Gee ... in just a few short paragraphs, Cramer provides interesting context. But because that context blows up the media's tired leftist narrative, it is conveniently omitted from virtually every media report. Tell me again about "fake news."
The opinions expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the opinions of OnMilwaukee.com, its advertisers or editorial staff.

Now that the initial emotion from the Aug. 13 shooting of African-American Sylville Smith by African-American police officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown has subsided, its time to take a look at some of the fiery rhetoric uttered that night  in particular, from Milwaukee District 7 Ald. Khalif Rainey and his response to the subsequent riot in the Sherman Park area. Indeed, lets examine his speech in the context of an elected official and look closely at his effectiveness in assigning blame to the proper parties responsible for the challenges he addressed that evening.

Rainey claimed that that the riots were "byproducts" of "the injustice, the unemployment, the under-education" that he claims renders Milwaukee the "worst place to live for African-Americans in the entire country."

He continued to say that black people in Milwaukee are "tired of living under this oppression." Rainey ended with "rectify this immediately because, if you dont, this vision of Downtown, all of that, you one day away. You one day away."

Wow.

The term "systematic racism" was frequently used in August to justify the outrageous and unlawful actions in #Milwaukee during the aftermath of the Smith shooting. While buildings were burning, Milwaukee liberals were insisting that these actions were due to a litany of systematic failures. Lets dig into these claims to see if the system is truly systematically racist, or if there are other forces at work here.

Rainey cited under-education as a critical factor in Milwaukee violence. Without a doubt, low funding due to systematic racism is often specified as a challenge to attaining an education in urban environments. When considering that systematic implies long-term, we should see a methodical and detailed pattern of low funding for Milwaukee schools.

However, among the country's largest metro districts, MPS maintained its status is 4th highest per-pupil spender in 2011. In addition, MPS is so ravaged by systematic racism that they proposed $471,000 for Black Lives Matter in their 2017 budget. Clearly, the systematic challenge of under-education cited by Rainey does not apply to the funding provided to educate Milwaukee children.

Given that school funding is highly adequate, is attendance affecting under-education?

According to the Department of Instruction, "More than 70% of MPS high school students were considered truant in the 2012-2013 school year." Add this to Ald. Zielinskis estimation that, "On average about 40,000 MPS students have five or more unexcused absences during a semester," and the answer to that question appears to be a resounding yes.

As Ive shown, the funding is there but a significant segment of students arent attending school on an acceptable basis. Hopefully this means that the students that are attending are learning?

MPS data shows that the "MPS four year graduation rate ticked up slightly from 60.6% in 2013 to 60.9% in 2014." Despite all of the effort expended to put kids in the right situation to learn, four in 10 do not finish MPS with a diploma after four years!

Rainey insists that under-education has much to do with the current problems of violence in the City of Milwaukee, but what the actual facts show is that a different factor is at work here. Racism isnt causing under-education, but rather a systematic pattern of poor parenting is the problem, and it starts at birth in Milwaukee.

I had previously written about the challenge of co-sleeping deaths in Milwaukee several years ago. In addition, Mayor Barrett and the Milwaukee Commissioner of Health Bevan Baker released a report in 2013 discussing Milwaukees high infant mortality rate. In that report, its noted that from 2009 through 2011, black infants died nearly three times more often than white infants. Whats the root cause of black children being given less of an opportunity than their white and Hispanic counterparts?

In my opinion, its clearly because of a lack of fathers. In 2013, the Journal-Sentinel reported that:

"No large metropolitan area has a lower percentage of black husband-wife families, according to the 2010 U.S. census. Not coincidentally, none has a higher incidence of black poverty. The relationship between the two measures is strong. "Out of all 366 U.S. metropolitan areas, only one, Dubuque, Iowa, ranks below Milwaukee in percentage of husband-wife black families."

When Ald. Rainey says that Milwaukee is the worst place in America for blacks to live, perhaps he should first acknowledge that funding for education is at direct odds with low parental involvement. The future of some black children in Milwaukee communities is being affected by a systematic pattern of poor parenting. Given the low birth rate and low school attendance, Im not sure one can simply point to race as the driving factor that explains the differences in outcomes, both as children and as adults.

What kind of chance do these Milwaukee children have as adults when trying to find a job?

Back in 2009, it was an ugly situation for low skilled black workers. In fact, the Washington Post stated that "the unemployment rate for African-Americans surpassed that of every other state, reaching an average of 22 percent for the past 12 months." However, according to the Journal-Sentinel in 2015, "Unemployment among African-Americans in Wisconsin last year was the highest of any of the 50 states."

To summarize, in six years, the entrenched Milwaukee leadership has failed at the very least to crawl from 50th to 49th in the rankings. The failure of leadership to correct these types of injustices is what should be motivating residents to riot for change.

Surely, these neighborhoods will hold their elected officials accountable? In that same 2009 Washington Post article I linked above, "Most blamed Wall Street or the Bush administration for the deteriorating economy." If we fast forward to 2015, politicians are now blaming systematic racism for the same problems in Milwaukee that most perceived to be Bushs fault only six years earlier.

In the district that featured the Sherman Park rioting, the residents have a Democrat as an alderman, assembly representative, state senator and mayor. In fact, Milwaukee hasnt had a Republican mayor since 1908. There may be a failure in systematic politics at work here, but they arent the types of failures that Rainey and his political associates would want to discuss in front of cameras.

Unless citizens recognize that a change in both representation and mentality is needed, aldermen from our most vulnerable communities will continue get up in front of TV cameras and point fingers at racism to easily appease an angry crowd. Until someone is brave enough to stand up and simply discuss the issues of poor parenting, low birth rates, truancy, low graduation rates and how they correlate to high unemployment, the same challenges will continue to plague some Milwaukee communities. Until people connect the dots that these issues are because of a systematic pattern of voting Democrat, and not in spite of it, things will stay as stagnant as they always seems to be in Milwaukee.

If you dont think status quo is exactly what those entrenched in power desire, then you havent been paying attention to urban America for the last 50 years.
The opinions expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the opinions of OnMilwaukee.com, its advertisers or editorial staff.

As a reactionary response to the election, incoming minority leader Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) decided to expand the democratic senate leadership team from seven members up to 10. It should be noted that Sen. Cory Booker, the only black Democratic U.S. senator in the 114th congress, was not offered a leadership position. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) will be the third African American serving in the upcoming 115th congress. As a freshman, she wasnt offered a leadership spot either.

Schumer, suffering from a sudden lapse of clear judgement, instead tapped Bernie Sanders (I-VT) as chair of outreach for the senate Democrats. The same Bernie Sanders that was rejected by black presidential primary voters is now the mastermind charged with the responsibility that was nonexistent in his failed presidential primary bid.

The Independent senator from Vermont has no African American staffers, of any rank, in his senate office. In fact, the highest ranking African American employee in the whole of the U.S. Senate is Jennifer DeCasper. Jennifer works for Sen. Tim Scott  thats right, the black Republican from South Carolina.

The title of Sanders most recent book is "Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In." But Bernie, its not "our" political revolution; its your political revolution, and it lost.

Sanders, the favorite comrade of the progressives, fails to mention a single black presidential campaign staff member in his book  not even a sentence about Symone Sanders, who served as his national communications director after he poached her from the Black Lives Matter Movement. There's at least a photograph of my friend Marcus Ferrell in the book, a shot of him leaving the neighborhood where Freddie Gray was killed in Baltimore appearing on page 377.

Modern American liberalism and the progressive movement is going to have a difficult time wining future elections because it is plagued with painfully obvious problems  in which Bernie Sanders is no panacea.

The Democratic party lacks diversity where it counts. The constituencies under the big tent of the Dems is multifaceted, yet the apparatus is homogeneous.

Theres also a money problem. Campaigns are big business, but it seems that the Democrats' sentiment of inclusion falls short of its colorful talking points.

PowerPac Plus, a Democratic organization, released a report in 2015 that found that only 1.7 percent of the money the Democratic Party spent during the 2010 and 2012 election cycles (2016 data not yet available) went to firms owned by minorities  just $8.7 million of $514 million spent. The report examined expenditures from the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Thats atrocious.

In order to effectively communicate to diverse communities, it is imperative for campaigns to hire, retain and contract with the firms that are represented by the constituencies that oft lean left. A white campaign consultant may often miss the mark when trying to design a political mailer that will be distributed in a Latino community. Wouldnt it make more sense for an African American media consultant be contracted to write the scripts that will be aired on predominantly black radio?

Campaigns require lots of creativity. Its unfortunate that the political party that lives on the participation of people of color provides minuscule spending with businesses that reflect the rainbow coalition.

Then theres the fallacy of progressivism.

Black voters are the most loyal supporters of Democratic candidates. At least 80% of African American voters have turned out for the Democratic presidential candidate since the 1960 election of John F. Kennedy.

There is no American demographic that could more greatly benefit from progressivism than black folk. Wisconsin incarcerates more black men than any other state. The Badger State has been ranked as the worst place to raise a black child. Theres a skills gap and an education gap. Black students are suspended and expelled at higher rates than their white, Latino and Asian counterparts.

The income gap, the comparatively low levels of home ownership and even decreased life expectancy are all areas where progress is sorely needed. Yet, there doesnt seem to be a democratic policy agenda to address these issues. Instead, there is lip service and no shortage of campaign promises.

Its telling that the progressive movement offers few solutions for their most faithful partisan voters. After this election, we are now told that working class whites are the priority  as if working class blacks are free from struggle. The president-elect won white men, and the left must do everything in their collective power to regain that electorate while everyone must sit in the back of the bus.

The narrative has been repeated like a catchy pop song hook: The Republicans are racist! Well, I have always subscribed to the notion that the epithet you cast on your opponent is the very characteristic youre trying to mask in yourself. Theres still plenty of room in the proverbial "Basket of Deplorables."

Look, Im under no illusion about the Republican party. Between the federal court ruling that legislative districts in Wisconsin were gerrymandered and the use of voter suppression tactics, the modern GOP has made it clear that they can win elections without the black vote.

2018 will be here before we know it, a year in which elections for U.S. senate, congress, governor and state legislators will take place. Im cautiously optimistic that the Democratic party and its response will note the value of its black voters, staffers and political consulting firms. If not, the entire party will descend even deeper into minority status just like the electors they seem to take for granted.
By Virginia Rasmussen



A sample Airbnb listing

(Image by Skift) Details DMCA



Most of us are drawn to the "shared economy" aspect of the Airbnb Corporation, the chance it offers to meet ordinary people living in ordinary places and to support the economic security of households in countries around the world.

But in a culture in which "more is better," even good things have a way of getting out-of-hand. In the last two years this corporation tripled its value to $30 billion. In New York State there are a total of 46,000 hosts with New York City being the company's largest market in the U.S. The only way to continue that growth is to expand the number of hosts.

Today Airbnb stands accused, in U.S. cities and abroad, of violating state and municipal laws, skirting taxation policy, evicting tenants, eliminating affordable housing, and "disrupting neighborhoods with streams of transient visitors."

New York City is the latest metropolitan area to rise-up against what it sees as Airbnb's assault on its law and communities. San Francisco, Santa Monica and Anaheim in California, along with the European cities of Barcelona, Berlin and Amsterdam are legally wrestling with Airbnb's corporate practices.

Recent New York State (NYS) legislation expands a 2010 law that made it illegal to rent more than one dwelling unit for less than 30 days if the owner is not a resident in the building. The expanded law makes it illegal to advertise a unit that's in violation of that restriction.

"The San Francisco-based company's money doesn't come from people living in their own homes renting out a room or a bed while they're there, which is legal," said the legislation's sponsor, NY Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal. Instead, it's "people who have figured out they can take groups of apartments off of the market and turn them into their own private hotels," she said.

Airbnb Corporation immediately sued the NYS Attorney General and the City of New York claiming that the law violates its constitutional rights of free speech (First Amendment) and due process (14th Amendment).

The company's lawsuit maintains that the NYS law "is a content-based restriction on advertisements--in the form of rental listings--which are protected under the First Amendment." It also cites protections of the Communications Decency Act, a federal law holding websites not responsible for content posted by its users. The NY law had this federal statute in mind when it held hosts responsible with fines up to $7500 if found listing a barred rental on an internet platform such as Airbnb.

Airbnb Corporation makes the same constitutional claim in its lawsuit against the city of San Francisco. It is clear the corporation values its "right" to profit from these rentals more than it appreciates a community's right to protect its residents.

As these cases are battled in the courts, there are fundamental questions to be raised by us "self-governing" people:

1. Is a community not legally entitled to define and design its jurisdiction in keeping with the protection of all its residents and local economy?

2. Are the people not functioning legally when they pass laws through democratic process that define and limit corporate actions in their midst?

Next Page 1 | 2

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
From Consortium News



Rep. Adam B. Schiff - California's 28th District

(Image by members-of-congress.insidegov.com) Details DMCA



On Tuesday, Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and six ranking members of major House committees sent President Obama a letter declaring, "We are deeply concerned by Russian efforts to undermine, interfere with, and even influence the outcome of our recent election."

A prominent signer of the letter -- Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee -- is among the Democrats most eager to denounce Russian subversion.

A week ago, when the House approved by a 390-30 margin and sent to the Senate the Intelligence Authorization Act for fiscal 2017, Schiff praised "important provisions aimed at countering Russia's destabilizing efforts -- including those targeting our elections." One of those "important provisions," Section 501, sets up in the executive branch "an interagency committee to counter active measures by the Russian Federation to exert covert influence."

This high-level committee could easily morph into a protracted real-life nightmare.

While lacking public accountability, the committee is mandated to ferret out such ambiguous phenomena as Russian "media manipulation" and "disinformation." Along the way, the committee could target an array of activists, political opponents or irksome journalists. In any event, its power to fulfill "such other duties as the president may designate" would be ready-made for abuse.

The committee is to be selected by presidential appointees, including the director of the FBI -- an agency with leadership that has all too often pursued covert and overt political agendas, from the times of J. Edgar Hoover to James Comey.

All in all, the provision is a gift for the next president, tied up in a bow by congressional Democrats.

This country went through protracted witch hunts during the McCarthy era. A lot of citizens -- including many government workers -- had their lives damaged or even destroyed. The chill on the First Amendment became frosty, then icy. Democracy was on the ropes.

Joe McCarthy rose to corrosive prominence at the midpoint of the Twentieth Century by riding hysteria and spurring it on. The demagoguery was fueled not only by opportunistic politicians but also by media outlets all too eager to damage the First Amendment and other civil liberties in the name of Americanism and anti-communism.

Today, congressional leaders of both parties seem glad to pretend that Section 501 of the Intelligence Authorization Act is just fine, rather than an odious and dangerous threat to precious constitutional freedoms. On automatic pilot, many senators will vote aye without a second thought.

Yet by rights, with growing grassroots opposition, this terrible provision should be blocked by legislators in both parties, whether calling themselves progressives, liberals, libertarians, Tea Partyers or whatever, who don't want to chip away at cornerstones of the Bill of Rights.

Scapegoating Russia

Most Democratic leaders, for their part, seem determined to implicitly -- or even explicitly -- scapegoat the Russian government for the presidential election results. Rather than clearly assess the impacts of Hillary Clinton's coziness with Wall Street, or even the role of the FBI director just before the election, the Democratic line seems bent on playing an anti-Russia card.



Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaking with supporters at a campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona, March 21, 2016.

(Image by (Photo by Gage Skidmore)) Details DMCA



Next Page 1 | 2

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
From Middle East Eye



Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas delivers a speech during the 7th General Assembly meeting of Fatah Movement at Palestinian Prime Ministry office Mukataa in Ramallah, West Bank on November 29 2016

(Image by [Palestinian Presidency / Handout/Anadolu Agency]) Details DMCA



In July 2003, the then Palestinian Authority Chairman, Yasser Arafat, described Mahmoud Abbas as a "traitor" who "betrayed the interests of the Palestinian People." Arafat loathed Abbas to the very end. This particular outburst was made during a meeting with United Nations envoy Terje Larsen. The meeting took place a few months after Arafat was coerced by the US, Israel and other Western powers to appoint Abbas as Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority.

Historically, Abbas has been the least popular among Fatah leaders; the likes of Abu Jihad, Abu Iyad and Arafat himself. These popular leaders were mostly assassinated, sidelined or died under mysterious circumstances. Arafat is widely believed to have been poisoned by Israel with the help of Palestinians, and Abbas has alleged recently that he knows who killed him.

Yet, despite his unpopularity, Abbas has remained in one top position or another. The power struggle between him and Arafat which culminated in 2003, until Arafat's death in November 2004, hardly helped Abbas's insipid reputation among Palestinians.

At times, it seemed that the less popular Abbas became, the greater his powers grew. Now, he has just been re-elected as the head of his political party, Fatah, during its seventh congress held in Ramallah on 29 November. At 81, he is the leader of Fatah, head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and President of the Palestinian Authority.

However, his long, drawn-out speech of nearly three hours on 30 November contained nothing new; just rehashed slogans and subtle messages to the US and Israel that his "revolution" shall remain subdued and non-violent. Considering this critical period in Palestine's history, Abbas's impractical rhetoric represents the depth of the crisis among Palestine's political elites. The numerous rounds of applause that his tedious, unimaginative speech received from the nearly 1,400 supporters who attended the conference is a reflection of the deep-seated political tribalism that now controls Fatah, the dominant PLO party and, arguably, the party that sparked the modern Palestinian revolution.

However, today's party is a far cry from its original self. Fatah's founders were young, vibrant, educated rebels. Their primary literature from 1959 spoke of their early influences, particularly the guerrilla war of Algeria's resistance against French colonialism.

"The guerrilla war in Algeria had a profound influence on us," wrote Abu Iyad. "We were impressed by the Algerian nationalists' ability to form a solid front, wage war against an army a thousand times superior to their own, obtain many forms of aid from various Arab governments and, at the same time, avoid becoming dependent on any of them."

Certainly, some circumstances have changed, inevitably so, but many aspects of the conflict have remained the same, including Israel's territorial war and unceasing colonial expansion, backed by the United States' unhinged imperialism.

Yet, Fatah has changed to the point that its founders would no longer recognize the current political structure as the entity that they created. The movement is now more keenly interested in consolidating the power of Abbas's allies than fighting Israel; top members are conspiring against each other, buying allegiances and ensuring that the massive financial perks which resulted from Abbas's Oslo accords remain intact, even after the old leader retires or dies.

Mohammed Dahlan's political clan was, of course, excluded from the conference. In fact, the reason the conference was held after all these years (seven years separate it from the previous one) was partly to ensure that the new Fatah hierarchy is set up in such a way that it will prevent Dahlan's allies from staging a comeback.

The sad truth is that, regardless of who wins in the current power struggle, Fatah's fall is inexorable. Both Abbas and Dahlan are perceived as moderates by Israel, supported by the US and extremely unpopular among most Palestinians.

According to a poll conducted in September 2015, the majority of Palestinians -- 65 percent -- want Abbas to resign. The same poll indicated that Dahlan was nowhere near popular (only six percent supported him) while Abbas's allies, Saeb Erekat and former prime minister Salam Fayyad, received four percent and three percent of the vote respectively. Indeed, there is a chasm between Palestinians and those who claim to represent them, and that rift is growing exponentially.

The Fatah conference's political theatre last week seemed far removed from this reality. After Abbas -- who was only elected to lead the Palestinian Authority once in 2005 for a period of four years -- had purged all of his opponents, he sought a new mandate from his supporters. Predictably, "everyone voted yes," a spokesman for Fatah, Mahmoud Abu Al-Hija, told reporters.

When "everyone" in Fatah's top political circle votes for Abbas, while the majority of Palestinians reject him, it is reasonable to conclude that Fatah is neither a fair representation of the Palestinian people, nor remotely close to the pulse of the Palestinian street. Even if one is to ignore the "yes-men" of Fatah, one cannot ignore the fact that the current fight among the Palestinian elites is almost entirely detached from the struggle against Israel.

Next Page 1 | 2

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
From Counterpunch

Syrian Army helicopters dropped leaflets on parts of eastern Aleppo on Sunday warning anti-government fighters to surrender while they still had the chance. Hundreds of jihadists have already laid down their weapons and surrendered while a hardline corps of dead-enders continue to fend off the rapidly advancing army.

The situation is looking increasingly hopeless for the ragtag group of insurgents that have lost more than half the territory they held in just the last week. Every attempt they've made to break through Syrian Army lines has been repelled leaving them to defend a few shrinking districts where they will either surrender or die.

On Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov delivered an ultimatum to the remaining militants that clarified the position of the Syrian government and its allies. he said:

"Those groups which refuse to leave eastern Aleppo will be treated as terrorists. By refusing to walk out from eastern Aleppo they will in fact go ahead with armed struggle. We will treat them accordingly, as terrorists and extremists, and support the Syrian army in its operation against such armed gangs."

US Secretary of State John Kerry has made every effort to stop the fighting to protect US-backed jihadists that are trying to topple Syrian President Bashar al Assad. Unfortunately, a proposal that was accepted by both Kerry and Lavrov concerning the withdrawal of fighters in Aleppo, was rejected by higher-ups in the Obama Administration ending the prospects for a negotiated settlement. Lavrov expressed his frustration in comments to the media where he said:

"They have withdrawn their document and have a new one. Our initial impression is that this new document backtracks, and is an attempt to buy time for the militants, allow them to catch their breath and resupply. The same thing happened with our agreement of September 9. It's difficult to understand who makes decisions there, but apparently there are plenty of those who want to undermine the authority and practical steps by John Kerry."

According to Reuters, "the Syrian Foreign Ministry said it would now accept no truce in Aleppo, should any outside parties try to negotiate one." Meanwhile, "Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution on Monday calling for a week-long ceasefire." Simply put, this is the end of the line for the US-backed terrorists that have laid to waste much of the battered country and killed more than 400,000 people. And while Aleppo may not be the decisive turning point in the ongoing conflict, it does put all of the main population centers and industrial hubs back under regime control.

More important, the recapturing of Aleppo is a major setback for Washington and its jihadist-breeding allies (US, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar). US plans for redrawing the map of the Middle East to meet its economic and geopolitical objectives has been defeated by a courageous and determined coalition (Syria, Iran, Russia and Hezbollah) that has methodically routed or exterminated the foreign-backed opposition and reestablished both state security and the sovereign authority of the elected government to control its own affairs.

On Tuesday morning, AMN News reported that the Syrian Army had captured 85 percent of East Aleppo. Dozens of insurgents have been killed in sporadic fighting while hundreds more have surrendered. It appears that the battle of Aleppo is about to end and the Syrian Army is on the "verge of total victory."
From NY Daily News

Sometimes we say that so and so is a "mouthpiece" of some special interest, meaning that they're in cahoots, that they express their views. Or maybe we say someone's a "puppet" of industry. Most of the time these are metaphors.

But sometimes they're literal. Scott Pruitt, Donald Trump's pick to head the EPA, is a mouthpiece and a puppet of the fossil-fuel industry. He's a stenographer.

How do we know this? We know this because in 2014 Pruitt sent a letter to that same EPA in his capacity as attorney general of Oklahoma. The letter argued that the agency was dramatically overstating how much pollution new gas wells in his state were causing.

He was wrong (the EPA has actually dramatically underestimated the pollution from fracking, as they've lately admitted), but never mind that. What was interesting was the letter.

It turned out that it had been written by the good folks at Devon Energy, a local oil and gas company. And Pruitt had taken their words, and put it on his letterhead, and passed it on to the EPA as the official position of the state.

And he did the same thing with letters to President Obama and the secretary of the interior. Once he'd dispatched the company's letters to D.C. on his stationery, his staff wrote to Devon Energy to report back, and, according to the New York Times, got a pat on the head from the company's executive vice-president for public affairs.

"Excellent," he said. "The timing of the letter is great, given our meeting this Friday with both the EPA and the White House."

That really tells you all you need to know about Pruitt, and about the Trump team in general. Having sold the public on the idea of his independence, Trump is now busy selling off the nation to industry, the fossil-fuel industry in particular.

And in so doing, he's setting us up for disaster. How do we know? Well, look at Oklahoma. It used to be a place essentially without earthquakes.

But then the frackers started injecting their waste-water deep underground, and what do you know -- pretty soon it was the most seismically active corner of America! On the Pawnee reservation, for instance, a chief reported last month that they'd had three earthquakes that day, 15 in the last week, and 816 in the course of the year.

Various Oklahomans are suing various companies (including Devon) for the endless damage, but the state's top officials are too busy holding days of prayer asking God for economic help for the oil industry.

It goes without saying that Pruitt is a climate denier. Ivanka Trump may be holding court with Al Gore in the front parlor of Trump Tower, but in the back rooms the real power is being handed over to the oil industry. And it goes without saying that he'll continue to be a mouthpiece and a puppet at EPA, even though the entire point of the agency is to try and rein in pollution.

But now he won't have to bother copying letters from the oil companies to send to himself. He'll just be able to pick up the phone and get his marching orders firsthand.
From Consortium News



Saudi King Salman bids farewell to President Barack Obama at Erga Palace after a state visit to Saudi Arabia on Jan. 27, 2015.

(Image by (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)) Details DMCA



If someone wants to become somebody in Official Washington, there are certain lies that you must assert as undeniable truths, almost like flashing a secret sign to gain entry to an exclusive club. For instance, you must say that Iran is the world's "chief sponsor of terrorism" though that is patently false.

The problem is that a much bigger sponsor of terrorism is Saudi Arabia, with some competition from Qatar, but those two Gulf states are extremely wealthy U.S. "allies" and their hatred of Iran is shared by Israel, which possesses the most intimidating foreign lobby in Washington. So, deviation from the "Iran-chief-sponsor-of-terrorism" mantra marks you as someone who is not part of the club and never will be.

Yet, while lies may be the mother's milk of Official Washington, there are severe costs paid by the American people and even more by the people of the Middle East who have suffered from the bloody consequences of this particular lie because it has been at the root of a series of misguided U.S. interventions, which themselves have spread widespread terror.

The U.S. government allied itself with Saudi Arabia in building the modern Islamic terrorism movement in the 1980s when the Reagan administration went in 50/50 with Saudi Arabia to finance and arm the Afghan mujahedeen -- a project costing billions of dollars -- to fight a merciless war against Soviet troops defending a leftist, secular regime in Kabul.

That war not only opened the gates of Kabul to the likes of Saudi jihadist Osama bin Laden and the Taliban but it created the methodology and means for the Saudis to expand their Sunni proxy wars against various Shiite "apostates" and secularists across the region.

Though hailed in U.S. propaganda as noble freedom fighters, the mujahedeen routinely sodomized, tortured and murdered captured Russian soldiers and put Afghan women back into prehistoric servitude. After the Taliban prevailed in 1996, they castrated Afghan President Najibullah and hung his mutilated body from a light pole. In the years that followed, there were plenty of public beheadings for violating the Taliban's fundamentalist teachings, which were shared by Saudi officialdom.

From the "successful" Afghan experience, the Saudi intelligence agency recognized the value of using Sunni fundamentalist fanatics as the tip of the spear in wars against Middle East secularists and Shiites, including Shia Islam's spinoffs, such as Alawites and Houthis.

The Saudis also recognized the value of influencing Official Washington, which the kingdom had tried to do by creating its own lobby based on spreading around lots of money. But that Saudi effort was blunted by Israel and its lobby, which didn't want to share its unmatched influence over the U.S. government.

So, the Saudis found it easier to "rent" the Israel Lobby by developing covert ties with Israel and quietly paying Israel billions of dollars. The Saudi dollars, in effect, replaced the money that Israel had been getting from Iran during the 1980s when Israel brokered Iran's arms sales. As part of the Israeli-Saudi under-the-table alliance, the two countries agreed that Iran and the so-called "Shiite crescent" -- stretching from Tehran through Damascus to Hezbollah neighborhoods of Beirut -- were their joint strategic enemies.

Behind the combined clout of politically influential Israel and financially powerful Saudi Arabia, the script was written for U.S. politicians, pundits and officials to recite: "Iran is the chief sponsor of terrorism."

This dogma is repeated again and again, including by retired Generals James Mattis and Michael Flynn, President-elect Donald Trump's choices for Defense Secretary and National Security Advisor, respectively. But the terror groups that Americans fear most, such as Al Qaeda and Islamic State, are supported by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States, not by Iran.

Hillary Knew Well

And this reality is well known to senior U.S. officials even though it is never openly acknowledged. For instance, classified documents provided to WikiLeaks included diplomatic cables from then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and top advisers recognizing that violent jihadist groups were raising millions of dollars from Saudi Arabia, an inconvenient truth that even The New York Times has finally recognized.



U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets with Saudi King Abdullah in Riyadh on March 30, 2012.

(Image by [State Department photo]) Details DMCA



Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.

Just whom Donald Trump will appoint to various key posts in his future administration has an unbearably enticing set of moving targets for the media (until, as at a recent rally in Cincinnati, dramatic announcements are made at unexpected moments, or released in other ways). And give The Donald credit: if he has a genius for anything, it's for dominating the news cycle in ways -- from his pre-crack-o'-dawn tweets to those rallies -- that simply haven't been seen here before. And be suitably amazed that, as during the election campaign, he continues to have an uncanny knack for flooding the screens of our world with that larger-than-life figure of his dreams, Donald Trump, nearly 24/7. He's the media-made man of our -- and his -- (endless) moment.

Until each appointment is announced, the speculation goes on endlessly about which billionaire or multimillionaire will be included in the latest round of The Chosen. In some ways, those officially or unofficially being considered, whether appointed or not, offer us a strange window into the future Washington world of Donald Trump. Take, for instance, two oily selections touted recently as possibilities for the man who has committed himself to elevating fossil fuel extraction to a high art. Trump has, after all, already promised to make a future Saudi America independent of oil imports from the actual Saudi Arabia or any other "foe" or member of the "oil cartel," come -- if you'll excuse a phrase that, in the context of climate change, is all too apt -- hell or high water.

In such situations, it undoubtedly makes a certain sense to think about going directly to the trough. If you want someone to oversee the Department of Energy, why not, for example, consider Harold Hamm, the Oklahoma oil tycoon and 60th richest person on the planet, whose fortune, according to Forbes, rose by $1.7 billion to $14.7 billion in the wake of Trump's election victory? (On the subject of such a possible appointment, Hamm himself has been diffident.) Or if it's the State Department you're thinking about and global energy policy is on your mind, why not put aside the thought of frog legs and Mitt Romney for a second and at least consider -- as Donald Trump reputedly is doing -- Rex Tillerson, CEO of ExxonMobil, a man who made a salary of $27.3 million last year alone? After all, it would ensure transparency if the global energy policy you were going to pursue was directed by the man who had steered one of the top fossil-fuel extractors on the planet through years of choppy waters, right?

If you're a normal human being and not a billionaire, this ongoing spectacle has to have a phantasmagoric feel to it. After all, we're now in a world in which -- I'm not kidding you -- Sarah Palin has denounced Trump's deal with Carrier to keep 1,000 jobs in Indiana as "crony capitalism"! And if you're feeling that way now, just wait until you take the initial tour of his onrushing world that TomDispatchregular (and author of All the Presidents' Bankers) Nomi Prins offers today, billionaire by billionaire. My suggestion: buckle your seatbelt; it's going to be a bumpy ride. Tom

Trump's Bait and Switch

How to Swamp Washington and Double-cross Your Supporters Big Time

By Nomi Prins Given his cabinet picks so far, it's reasonable to assume that The Donald finds hanging out with anyone who isn't a billionaire (or at least a multimillionaire) a drag. What would there be to talk about if you left the Machiavellian class and its exploits for the company of the sort of normal folk you can rouse at a rally? It's been a month since the election and here's what's clear: crony capitalism, the kind that festers and grows when offered public support in its search for private profits, is the order of the day among Donald Trump's cabinet picks. Forget his own "conflicts of interest." Whatever financial, tax, and other policies his administration puts in place, most of his appointees are going to profit like mad from them and, in the end, Trump might not even wind up being the richest member of the crew. Only a month has passed since November 8th, but it's already clear (not that it wasn't before) that Trump's anti-establishment campaign rhetoric was the biggest scam of his career, one he pulled off perfectly. As president-elect and the country's next CEO-in-chief, he's now doing what many presidents have done: doling out power to like-minded friends and associates, loyalists, and -- think John F. Kennedy, for instance -- possibly family.

Here, however, is a major historical difference: the magnitude of Trump's cronyism is off the charts, even for Washington. Of course, he's never been a man known for doing small and humble. So his cabinet, as yet incomplete, is already the richest one ever. Estimates of how loaded it will be are almost meaningless at this point, given that we don't even know Trump's true wealth (and will likely never see his tax returns). Still, with more billionaires at the doorstep, estimates of the wealth of his new cabinet members and of the president-elect range from my own guesstimate of about $12 billion up to $35 billion. Though the process is as yet incomplete, this already reflects at least a quadrupling of the wealth represented by Barack Obama's cabinet. Trump's version of a political and financial establishment, just forming, will be bound together by certain behavioral patterns born of relationships among those of similar status, background, social position, legacy connections, and an assumed allegiance to a dogma of self-aggrandizement that overshadows everything else. In the realm of politico-financial power and in Trump's experience and ideology, the one with the most toys always wins. So it's hardly a surprise that his money- and power-centric cabinet won't be focused on public service or patriotism or civic duty, but on the consolidation of corporate and private gain at the expense of the citizenry. It's already obvious that, to Trump, "draining the swamp" means filling it with new layers of golden sludge, similar in color to the decorations that adorn buildings with his name, including the new Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House where foreign diplomats are already flocking to curry favor and even the toilet paper holders in the lobby bathrooms are faux-gold-plated. The rarified world of his cabinet choices is certainly a universe away from the struggling working class folks he bamboozled with promises of bringing back American "greatness." And yet the soaring value of his cabinet should be seen as merely a departure point for our four-year (or more) leap into what is guaranteed to be an abyss of inequality and instability. Forget their wealth. What their business conflicts, relationships, and ideological stances indicate about what they'll do to America is far more worrisome. And though Trump promised (and tweeted) that he'd be "completely out of business operations," the possibility of such a full exit for him (or any of his crew) is about as likely as a full reveal of those tax returns. Trumping History There is, in fact, some historical precedent for a president surrounding himself with such a group of self-interested power-grabbers, but you'd have to return to Warren G. Harding's administration in the early 1920s to find it. The "Roaring Twenties" that ended explosively in a stock market collapse in 1929 began, ominously enough, with a presidency filled with similar figures, as well as policies remarkably similar to those now being promised under Trump, including major tax cuts and giveaways for corporations and the deregulation of Wall Street. A notably weak figure, Harding liberally delegated policymaking to the group of senior Republicans he chose to oversee his administration who were dubbed "the Ohio gang" (though they were not all from Ohio). Scandal soon followed, above all the notorious Teapot Dome incident in which Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall leased petroleum reserves owned by the Navy in Wyoming and California to two private oil companies without competitive bidding, receiving millions of dollars in kickbacks in return. That scandal and the attention it received darkened Harding's administration. Until the Enron scandal of 2001-2002, it would serve as the poster child for money (and oil) in politics gone bad. Given Donald Trump's predisposition for green-lighting pipelines and promoting fossil fuel development, a modern reenactment of Teapot Dome is hardly beyond imagining. Harding's other main contributions to American history involved two choices he made. He offered businessman Herbert Hoover the job of secretary of commerce and so put him in play to become president in the years just preceding the Great Depression. And in a fashion that now looks Trumpian, he also appointed one of the richest men on Earth, billionaire Andrew Mellon, as his treasury secretary. Mellon, a Pittsburgh industrialist-financier, was head of the Mellon National Bank; he founded both the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa), for which he'd be accused of unethical behavior while treasury secretary (as he still owned stock in the company and his brother was a close associate), and the Gulf Oil Company; and with Henry Clay Frick, he co-founded the Union Steel Company.

Next Page 1 | 2 | 3

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
Oregon Senate Republicans

SALEM  Gov. Kate Brown threw ice-cold water on the idea of addressing Oregons critical pension crisis at the annual Oregon Leadership Summit, which has met since 2002 to facilitate honest and collaborative conversations.

Senate Minority Leader Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, released the following statement: Im disappointed the governor rejects all engagement efforts on PERS reform. Governor Brown and Legislative Leaders have a moral obligation to cut skyrocketing PERS costs that are destroying our ability to fund schools, health care, mental health and other services needed by seniors and veterans. We also have an obligation to current and future retirees to manage PERS for long-term sustainability. Failure to reduce runaway PERS costs today may threaten Oregons bond rating and could ultimately cause PERS to be declared insolvent.

This years event focused on the states fiscal challenges and in a show of hands, the roughly 1,000 business and civic leaders in attendance overwhelmingly said the states budget problems qualify as a crisis.

The critical PERS crisis will cost Oregon schools $335 million in the 2017 to 2019 biennium, which could have paid for over 2,000 new teachers. And, PERS is now only 71 percent funded, with a 15 percent drop in just two years, and costs are expected to continue increasing. PERS deficit is now $21.8 billion, and Oregon schools owe $13,879 in PERS debt per student.

Oregon can redirect future employee contributions from the Individual Account Program (IAP) to the pension plan to help offset the costs of financing its promised benefits. Other states have boosted both employer and employee contribution rates to shore up their pension plans. It can be done without reducing take-home pay for employees and without touching IAP balances accrued to date and it can offset half of employer borne rate increases over the next six years.

Another sensible reform proposed by business leaders at the summit would be to reduce the annuitization rate for the PERS system Money Match from 7.5 percent to 3.5 percent.

Other solutions include capping the calculation of final average salary payouts at $100,000, and/or calculate the average final average salary payouts over five years instead of three, to prevent exorbitant retirement salaries like an Oregon professors $663,354 per year.

The full Oregon Business Plans 14th Annual Leadership Summit Policy Playbook can be viewed here.
Contact Oyster Radio any time:





We can be reached at 850-670-8450.

You can also e-mail us at
*T*his is yet another example of the corruption of the mainstream media. If you like this blog's content please subscribe to our mailing at upper right c...
The mathematical (and other) thoughts of a (now retired) math teacher,
Credit: Douglas Petrovich

(Phys.org)Douglas Petrovich, an archaeologist with Ontario's Wilfrid-Laurier University in Canada has sparked controversy in the ancient history scholarly community by making claims that he has found proof that Hebrew is the world's oldest alphabet. He has been speaking to media outlets in conjunction with the self-publication of a book he has written regarding his findings called simply World's Oldest Alphabet.

In interviews, Petrovich claimed that he has found evidence of Israelites in Egypt who converted 22 hieroglyphics into a Hebrew alphabet more than 3,800 years ago. Not everyone in the scholarly community is convinced, however.

Most scholars of ancient times agree that the world's oldest alphabet was probably Semitic, but they have not been able to come to a consensus regarding which it might be. Petrovich contends that converting hieroglyphics into an alphabet was an attempt by those who spoke Hebrew to find a way to create their own written expressions during the time it is believed Israelites lived in Egypt; he claims it predates any other known written alphabet. He notes that he has been working on his research since 2012. He started by translating Middle Egyptian inscriptions on stone tablets along with inscriptions on other tablets (including Sinai 115) that appeared to be precursors or actual examples of a Hebrew alphabet.

To conduct his translations, Petrovich has combined letters previously identified from some other scholars with some of his own interpretationsa method that may make it difficult for others in the field to accept his findings. Another point of controversy is the source he offers for dating some of his referencesthe Bible. He further claims that after assembling the early Hebrew alphabet, he was able to use it to translate 16 Hebrew inscriptions that up till now have been indecipherable. He claims he found references to Moses that aligned with biblical references, and Ahisamach and Asenath, two other biblical figures. He also claims to have found the word "Hebrew."

Petrovich acknowledges that there will be skeptics and even suggests that they attempt to prove or disprove his findings in their own way, insisting that if what he has found is correct then eventually others will come to the same conclusion.

 2016 Phys.org
A Chinese company on Thursday said it had scrapped plans to purchase German semiconductor equipment maker Aixtron after US President Barack Obama blocked a key element of the deal on security concerns.

The Chinese government-backed Grand Chip Investment said its offer could no longer go through after Washington rejected the inclusion of Aixtron's US unit over fears it could put sensitive technology with potential military applications in Chinese hands.

In a statement, Grand Chip said the block meant that the conditions of the deal "no longer can be fulfilled".

"Any contracts based on the acceptance of the takeover offer will not become effective."

The failure of the proposed 670-million-euro ($714-million) takeover comes at a time of growing unease in the West about a recent slew of Chinese takeovers, often by state-backed companies.

The death knell for the Aixtron deal came last week after a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) chaired by Obama found that the national security risks were too great.

In a statement last Friday, the US Treasury said Aixtron's expertise in advanced compound semiconductors used for LED lighting, lasers and solar cells also has military applications.

The Treasury said Aixtron's US business was an important contributor to that technology.

Beijing expressed frustration in response, saying it was opposed to "politicising normal business behaviour" and accusing Washington of making "groundless accusations" against Chinese firms.

The troubled deal had also come under scrutiny in Germany where Chinese companies have bought a record number of tech firms this year, sparking criticism of homegrown intellectual property being sold off to Beijing.

Links to Beijing

After initially giving the proposed Aixtron takeover its blessing, the German government withdrew its approval in late October following security worries raised by Washington.

Citing German intelligence sources, the Handelsblatt daily reported at the time that the US had expressed fears that China could use Aixtron technology to bolster its nuclear programme.

In response, Germany's economy ministry announced that it was putting the deal back under review.

The US Treasury department did not say what military application exactly of the German company's technology had concerned US officials.

Aixtron's speciality is a technology for depositing thin layers of atoms on semiconductor wafers that are used in electronic devices and systems that produce, control and convert light. It is popularly used in making solar cells.

According to the Treasury, Grand Chip is "ultimately owned by investors in China, some of whom have Chinese government ownership".

It added that the deal would be financed by a unit of China IC Industry Investment Fund, a Chinese government-supported industrial investment fund designed to support the country's integrated circuit industry.

Aixtron shares fell by more than three percent in early afternoon trading in Frankfurt on news that the deal had fallen through.

The company has some 750 employees in Germany and annual revenues of around 200 million euros. Its US division in California employs around 100 people.

Grand Chip said the shares of Aixtron investors who had already accepted the takeover offer would be returned on December 13.

 2016 AFP
Credit: University of Kansas

Most popular audiences today recognize the 1960s Sexual Revolution, but historians consider the early 1900s as the first American sexual revolution that created the groundwork for future social change.

Especially in New York City, Americans challenged the more conservative notions of the Victorian era with new ideas about romance, companionship and marriage. New technology like automobiles and venues such as dance halls offered chances for younger adults to interact freely from more formal courtship. For example, this led to the Flapper generation of the 1920s that included women dressing and acting in ways that flaunted their disdain for what earlier generations held as proper and respectable behavior.

However, Brian Donovan, a University of Kansas cultural and historical sociologist, in his research has uncovered sex crime trial transcripts that reveal a less romanticized view of the era.

"Some historians present this as a sort of great leap forward not only in sexual expression but sexual rights and opportunities and this idea of casting off the shackles of Victorianism into these new freedoms and practices," Donovan said. "What I suggest is that perspective is flawed because actually there was a great deal of sexual violence during this first sexual revolution."

In his new book, "Respectability on Trial: Sex Crimes in New York City, 1900-1918," Donovan, associate professor of sociology, examines courtroom battles over seduction, pimping, rape and sodomy from researching trial transcripts held in the John Jay College of Criminal Justice archives.

Most research on the criminal justice system in this era focuses on well-known people, such as Margaret Sanger, or high-profile murder trials, but these cases received much less attention.

"These trial transcripts were a way to capture not only what was going on in the courtroom but in the lived experiences of primarily immigrants and working-class people in New York at the time," he said.

His research reveals how police and other agents of social control often enforced sex-crime laws in ways that hurt the working class, women and racial and ethnic minorities. Efforts against prostitution targeted immigrants, and laws designed to protect women from sexual violence had uneven consequences while enforcement of sodomy laws often criminalized emergent sexual subcultures.

"It was an uneven revolution in the sense that men were at an advantage compared to women, and the native-born and upper classes compared to working classes and immigrant groups had an advantage," Donovan said. "So it exacerbated some of the inequalities that existed during this time instead of alleviated them."

For example, he found a shocking number of trials where witnesses testified about women falling unconscious during an act of rape. Defense attorneys would often use that as a way to cast doubt on a woman's memory and credibility.

"Victims were supposed to fiercely resist their attacker, according to the language that was used," Donovan said. "It created this double-bind where if they fiercely resisted their attacker, they were considered not to be feminine for fighting back. If they didn't fight back, or if they were unconscious, then they were considered an unreliable narrator of what happened."

Unlike trial proceedings today, jurors could ask questions in open court. Donovan found the questions indicate many jurors had certain expectations of victims and witnesses based on gender. For example, in compulsory prostitution trials, jurors often wanted to hear stories of women physically kidnapped and put into positions to be prostitutes.

"They were led to prostitution not necessarily through physical force, although that happened," Donovan said. "But their economic situation made them more prone to engage in sex work. A big theme is that gender ideology saturates the strategies in the courtroom and the decision-making of the jurors."

Examining how gender and cultural expectations influenced the criminal justice system during an era often historically viewed as a sexual revolution adds a scholarly contribution to how historians and sociologists consider the way the legal system works, he said.

It also provides a perspective on how the U.S. system handles sex crimes today. Donovan said over 100 years the system has addressed some issues, such as the development of rape shield laws to prevent information about the victim's past not germane to the case being dragged into a trial. The "resistance test" where women are required to fiercely resist an attacker for a rape to be successfully prosecuted is no longer in play, he said.

However, some of the same issues still remain, and some studies have found the gap between the incidents of sexual assault and prosecution of such cases is wider than any other violent crime.

"I think a lot of the gendered thinking about 'good' victims and proper womanhood are still shaping the way the criminal justice system treats sexual assault today," Donovan said. "We can see how far we've come. But we can also see how little has changed."
Step edges on topological crystalline insulators may lead to electrically conducting pathways where electrons with opposite spin spin move in converse directions -- any U-turn is prohibited. Credit: Thomas Bathon/Paolo Sessi/Matthias Bode

Physicists of the University of Wurzburg have made an astonishing discovery in a specific type of topological insulators. The effect is due to the structure of the materials used. The researchers have now published their work in the journal Science.

Topological insulators are currently the hot topic in physics according to the newspaper Neue Zurcher Zeitung. Only a few weeks ago, their importance was highlighted again as the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Physics to three British scientists for their research of so-called topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter.

Topological insulators are also being studied at the Departments for Experimental Physics II and Theoretical Physics I of the University of Wurzburg. However, they focus on a special version of insulators called topological crystalline insulators (TCI). In cooperation with the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw and the University of Zurich, Wurzburg physicists have now achieved a major breakthrough. They were able to detect new electronic states of matter in these insulators. The results of their work are published in the latest issue of Science.

Step edges direct electrons

The central result: When crystalline materials are split, small atomically flat terraces emerge at the split off surfaces which are separated from each other by step edges. Inside these structures, conductive channels for electrical currents form which are extremely narrow at just about 10 nm and surprisingly robust against external disturbance. Electrons travel on these conductive channels with different spin in opposite directions - similar to a motorway with separate lanes for the two directions. This effect makes the materials interesting for technological applications in future electronic components such as ultra-fast and energy-efficient computers.

"TCIs are relatively simple to produce and they are already different from conventional materials because of their special crystalline structure," Dr. Paolo Sessi explains the background of the recently published paper. Sessi is a research fellow at the Department of Experimental Physics II and the lead author of the study. Moreover, these materials owe their special quality to their electronic properties: In topological materials, the direction of spin determines the direction in which the electrons travel. Simply put, the "spin" can be interpreted as a magnetic dipole that can point in two directions ("up" and "down"). Accordingly, up-spin electrons in TCIs move in one and down-spin electrons in the other direction.

It's all about the number of atomic layers

"But previously scientists didn't know how to produce the conductive channels required to this end," says Professor Matthias Bode, Head of the Department for Experimental Physics II and co-author of the study. It was chance that now got the researchers on the right track: They discovered that very narrow conductive channels occur naturally when splitting lead tin selenide (PbSnSe), a crystalline insulator.

On surface of topological crystalline insulators created by cleaving one finds atomically flat terraces which are separated by step edges. Their electronic properties depend on the particular height of the step edge. If the height corresponds to an odd number of atomic layers (right), electrically conducting pathways are formed. When they carry electrical currents electrons with different spin move into opposite directions -- similar to cars moving on the separate carriageways of a highway. Credit: Thomas Bathon/Paolo Sessi/Matthias Bode

Step edges on the fragments' surfaces cause this phenomenon. They can be imaged using a high-resolution scanning tunnelling microscopy, or more precisely, the height of the corresponding step edges. "Edges that bridge an even number of atomic layers are totally inconspicuous. But if the edges span an odd number of atomic layers, a small area about 10 nm in width is created that has the electronic conductive channels properties we were looking for," Sessi explains.

Pattern breaks off at the edge

Supported by their colleagues from the Department of Theoretical Physics I and the University of Zurich, the experimental physicists were able to shed light on the origin of these new electronic states. To understand the principle, a little spatial sense is required:

"The crystalline structure causes a layout of the atoms where the different elements alternate like the black and white squares on a chessboard," Matthias Bode explains. This alternating black-and-white pattern applies to both squares which are adjacent and squares situated below and on top one another.

So if the crack of this crystal runs through different atomic layers, more than one edge is created there. Seen from above, white squares may also abut to other white squares along this edge and black squares to other black squares - or identical atoms to identical atoms. However, this only works if an odd number of atomic layers is responsible for the difference in height of the two surfaces.

Backed by calculations

"Calculations show that this offset at the surface is actually causative of these novel electronic states," says Paolo Sessi. Furthermore, they prove that the phenomenon of the spin-dependent conductive channels, which is characteristic of topological materials, occurs here as well.

According to the scientists, this property in particular makes the discovery relevant for potential applications, because such conductive channels cause low conduction loss on the one hand and can be used directly to transmit and process information in the field of spintronics on the other.

However, several questions need to be answered and challenges to be overcome before this will become reality. For instance, the scientists are not yet sure over which distances the currents in the newly discovered conductive channels can be transported. Also, in order to be implemented in circuits, methods would have to be developed that allow creating step edges of a defined height along specified directions.

More information: "Robust spin-polarized midgap states at step edges of topological crystalline insulators", Science, science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi  126/science.xaah6233 Journal information: Science
The vaquita, a porpoise that lives only in the upper Gulf of California, Mexico, is the world's smallest and rarest marine mammal. Credit: Paula Olson, 2008

One of the most sophisticated networks of acoustic detectors ever developed for wildlife science has documented a devastating 34 percent per year decline of Mexico's critically endangered vaquita porpoise, according to a new study published this week in the journal Conservation Biology.

A companion paper published in Conservation Letters uses both acoustic and visual surveys to estimate that only about 60 vaquitas remained, as of last year.

"We are witnessing the end of a species, if the illegal fishing continues," said Armando Jaramillo-Legorreta of Mexico's Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) and lead author of the research describing the acoustic array and its findings. "The acoustic array is a powerful new tool that helps us see the tragic direction of this population by listening for the porpoises' voices."

Intense fishing that began in the 1940s for totoaba, a large fish whose swim bladder is highly prized in China, had driven both species onto the endangered list by the 1980s - the totoaba as the fishery's target and the vaquita as an unintended bycatch.

To save the vaquita, the Government of Mexico has set aside half of the small porpoise's range as a no-fishing refuge and implemented a two-year ban on all gill net fishing in the range of the species. The government is compensating local fishers and related industries at a cost of about $74 million. Scientists and government officials hoped that these actions would reverse the decline.

Fishermen from a local fishermen's community organization, Pesca ABC, working with SEMARNAT to launch the acoustic monitoring devices. Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Barbara Taylor

"The science revealing the decline was key to spurring the Government's emergency actions," said Rafael Pacchiano, Mexico's Secretary of the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT).

Instead, the new acoustic study found that the decline has accelerated along with a resumption of illegal gillnet fishing for totoaba. Totoaba bladders are now worth up to $5,000 per kilogram and can command as much as $100,000 on the black market in China, according to a report released last month by the Environmental Investigations Agency.

"Long-term monitoring like this is usually about as newsworthy as an annual check-up," said Barbara Taylor, a NOAA Fisheries marine mammal biologist and coauthor of the new study. "In this case the monitoring exposed the shocking degree of illegal fishing that is rapidly driving the vaquita toward extinction. The science is showing us the urgency of the situation."

Vaquita observers on "big eye" binoculars are capable of spotting vaquita more than 3 km (1.9 miles) away. Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Barbara Taylor

Unfortunately, vaquitas continue to die in totoaba nets despite the valiant efforts by law enforcement agencies, the Mexican Navy, and conservation groups to prevent illegal fishing since the gillnet ban came into effect in April 2015, immediately before the new acoustic and visual studies were launched. Three vaquitas killed in gillnets were recovered during surveillance activities last spring and alarming quantities of totoaba gill nets have been found and removed in recent months. A new abundance estimate using acoustic monitoring that builds on last year's abundance estimate is expected out soon.

"This pioneering research revealed just how sharply vaquitas are declining, and how urgent the situation has become," said Cisco Werner, director of NOAA Fisheries' Southwest Fisheries Science Center. "Science may have bought the vaquita some precious time by supporting the extra protections. But we are now on the verge of losing the species altogether."

More information: Armando Jaramillo-Legorreta et al, Passive acoustic monitoring of the decline of Mexico's critically endangered vaquita, Conservation Biology (2016). DOI: 10.1111/cobi.12789 Barbara L. Taylor et al. Extinction is Imminent for Mexico's Endemic Porpoise Unless Fishery Bycatch is Eliminated, Conservation Letters (2016). DOI: 10.1111/conl.12331 Journal information: Conservation Biology , Conservation Letters
Credit: ESA

Launched on 10 December 1999, XMM-Newton is an X-ray observatory designed to investigate some of the most violent phenomena in the Universe. Sources that emit large amounts of X-rays include remnants of supernova explosions and the surroundings of black holes.

Detecting this energetic radiation is a daunting endeavour, requiring techniques that are greatly different from those used in traditional telescopes. In the case of XMM-Newton, it carries three telescopes of 58 nested mirrors each. These sit at one end of a 7 m-long tube, while at the other end are the scientific instruments at the focus.

The two images in this collage were taken by the two low-resolution monitoring cameras mounted on opposite sides of the focal plane assembly, looking along the pointing direction of the telescope tube towards the service module (see below for an annotated version with explanation).

The cameras were originally used by controllers to check how the solar wings unfolded after launch, and have remained dormant since 2003.

When these images were captured on 14 September 2016 at 06:50 GMT, XMM-Newton was in its 3070th orbit at around 50 000 km altitude and in contact with mission controllers at ESA's mission control in Darmstadt, Germany, via the antenna at Kourou, French Guiana.

In the image on the left, one camera captured the Sun side of one of XMMs solar wings (at left in the image), and the dark multilayer insulation on the service module, the bright Sun-shielding behind and a dark box-like structure topped by a pair of thrusters (at right in the image). In the image on the right, the other camera captured the dark tripod of the S-band antenna (at left in the image) and then the 2A/2B thruster pair (at centre) and XMMs other solar wing (at right). Credit: European Space Agency
One of my favorite Woody Allen lines is, "I'm not afraid of death. I just don't want to be there when it happens." Death ...
The Capital Region, which includes Warren, Washington and Saratoga counties, was a winner again in the state's Regional Economic Development Council funding awards Thursday, with $83.1 million coming to the region next year for economic projects.

It was the second year in a row the region was deemed a "top performer" among the state's regions, and it got $98 million last year.

Hudson Headwaters, Finch Paper, Common Roots Brewery, Adirondack Brewery, the former Wallie's Restaurant building in Greenwich and the Park Theater in Glens Falls are among those with proposed projects on the Capital Region list.

Municipal projects in Glens Falls, Corinth, Granville, Hudson Falls, Whitehall, Hague, Lake George, Bolton and Pottersville also are on the list for funding.

(Near and dear to my heart as a bike rider is $22,500 to fund a link of the D & H Rail Trail in Granville).

A contingent of regional leaders was among those invited onto the dais with Gov. Andrew Cuomo to accept the award, among them Lake George Mayor Bob Blais and Warrensburg Supervisor Kevin Geraghty, chairman of the Warren County Board of Supervisors.

The North Country, which includes Essex and Hamilton counties, will received $61.4 million. Among the North Country's priority projects are work at Fort Ticonderoga and Adirondack Museum.

Here is a full link to the report on the awards.

Here is a link that shows progress on Capital Region projects that were previously funded.

- Don Lehman
GREENFIELD -- A Greenfield woman was charged with felony assault recently for allegedly hurting another person with a weapon, police records show.

Chelsea S. Olmo, 20, of Porter Corners, was arrested after a Nov. 29 complaint, according to the State Police public information website. No serious injuries were reported, but no further details were released.

Olmo was also charged with misdemeanor counts of criminal possession of a weapon and endangering the welfare of a child, the website showed. A second person, Lisa M. Stiglianese, 44, of Porter Corners, was also charged with endangering the welfare of a child, the website showed.

Both women were released pending prosecution in Greenfield Town Court.
WELLINGTON - New Zealand Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Bill English looked set to step into the prime minister's shoes Thursday with at least half his ruling party Parliamentary caucus declaring their support for him.

English was endorsed by outgoing Prime Minister John Key in his shock resignation speech on Monday, but a seamless transition was disrupted when Health Minister Jonathan Coleman and Judith Collins, who holds the Police and Corrections portfolios, threw their hats in the ring.

However, it was widely reported that English on Thursday had the declared support of at least 30 of the 59-strong caucus of the ruling center-right National Party -- enough to take the leadership if it came to the vote scheduled for Dec 12.

Radio New Zealand reported that Collins had withdrawn from the race that same day and declared her support for English.

It also reported that English had said he would give Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce the key finance portfolio, should he become prime minister.

With English now looking certain to be New Zealand's new leader, more attention would now be given to his deputy, said the report.

On Wednesday, Climate Change Issues Minister Paula Bennett and Transport Minister Simon Bridges both put their names forward to be English's deputy should he win the top job.

English, 54, was a farmer in the far south of the South Island and policy analyst at the New Zealand Treasury before being elected to Parliament in 1990.

He became National Party leader in 2001 and led the party to its worst ever general election defeat in 2002.

He has been deputy to Key and Finance Minister since the National Party was returned to power in 2008.

He now appears likely to lead the party into the next general election, which is expected later next year, although he could decide to call it earlier.

English told Radio New Zealand Tuesday that the circumstances were different now.

"The National Party was different, the political environment was quite different, I've worked closely with the prime minister, learnt an awful lot in those 15 years and I think it's partly because of that experience I can see the opportunities ahead," he said.
GLENS FALLS  The Chapman Museum will feature guided tours of the 2016 seasonal display Scottish Holidays, theatrical presentations, craft activities for kids and music by the Adirondack Flutes from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.

For 400 years religious leaders in Scotland opposed the celebration of many Christmas traditions popular elsewhere in Great Britain and the U.S. People in Scotland, however, developed their own unique holiday activities, celebrating, in particular, the New Year. Visitors to the museum will learn about Hogmanay, First Foot, the Ghillies Ball and other traditions of the Scottish holiday season.
SCHUYLERVILLE  A feed store is moving from Saratoga Springs to Route 4, where it is hoping to attract more farmers.

It brings us a little closer to a lot of our farm customers, said Sara Baldes, business manager for Thorobred Feed Sales. We sell dog food, cat food, goat feed  pretty much you name the animal, we have it. We even have kangaroo feed.

The company, which was established in 1958, has to move from its East Avenue, Saratoga Springs, location because the owner of the building is redeveloping for another use.

Baldes started searching for another place with a large storefront and warehouse space for lease. It wasnt easy.

This was the closest location we could find to our current location, she said. Theres not a lot out here.

But shes hoping it will improve business in the long run.

I think it will help build our farm-customer base, she said.

The companys main business is providing horse feed to the Saratoga Race Course. Those orders keep the company busy from April to November because trainers come long before the track season begins.

Shes planning to move in January, during the slow time for her business. But even so, she doesnt plan to close down for the move.

Were actually going to do it in a weekend, she said.

The store will open Jan. 9 at 164 Route 4. For the winter, the store has a skeleton crew of six employees, but that will grow to as many as 18 employees in the summer.

Some customers come to the store, but the core of the business is delivery, Baldes said. The company delivers for free.

Although the biggest orders are horse feed for the track, they also sell bedding, hay, and wood pellets for stoves. Pellet sales are growing, providing the companys first departure from animal products.

The company buys much of its feed locally. But it also ships in specialty products. The premium Western Timothy hay comes from Washington state, and other well-known regional hay products come from other Western states.

Those are some of the most popular hay feeds at the store, Baldes said.

For the winter, the store will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. The times change seasonally.
QUEENSBURY  Officers of Queensbury Central Fire Department will meet with neighborhood residents who are upset with the departments Station 2 siren, which the department recently began using after seven years of being out of service.

The whole group of us are going to meet and sit down, said 4th Ward Councilman William VanNess, who, together with 3rd Ward Councilman Doug Irish, arranged the meeting for 6 p.m. Monday in the supervisors conference room at Queensbury Town Hall.

Any members of the public are welcome, said Supervisor John Strough.

VanNess announced the upcoming meeting at a Town Board workshop meeting on Wednesday, when department officers met with the board to discuss purchasing a new firetruck.

Strough said the board wanted discussion of the truck to be separate from the siren issue, but he wanted the public to be aware the board is addressing the siren issue.

The siren at the departments station on Aviation Road had been out of service before the department made repairs last spring and began using it again.

Neighborhood residents have complained it is loud and piercing and wakes children and senior citizens from naps.

The department agreed earlier this year to only use the siren between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., instead of previous use between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.

Neighbors have said it is still a disturbance, and is not needed, particularly the daily noon test blast.

VanNess said it might not be practical to eliminate the siren entirely, but there may be ways to make it less of a disturbance.

I think we can work something out, he said.

Queensbury Central Fire Chief Adam Norton and department President Joe Mali did not mention the siren when they outlined a plan to purchase a 2017 Pierce engine rescue truck for $788,000 to replace a 1991 vehicle that has peeling paint, rust around the wheel wells, has had transmission problems and failed a recent pump test.

The new truck would have a 1,000-gallon water tank, double the capacity of the current truck, Norton said.

The department would use $288,000 from its vehicle reserve fund and finance the rest over 15 years through Glens Falls National Bank, Mali said.

The monthly payment would be $3,450, which is less than the $3,500 per month allocated for vehicle debt in the departments contract with the town.

The vehicle purchase is scheduled in the towns firefighting vehicle replacement plan, Mali said.

Strough said the department is not asking the town for any additional funding.
FORT ANN  YMCA Camp Chingachgook and Y-Knot Sailing invite the community to welcome a new 23-foot Sonar sailboat and learn more about the Y-Knot sailing program at 1 p.m. Sunday at the camp, at 1872 Pilot Knob Road.

The boat, received thanks to a grant from The Clagett Regatta in Newport, Rhode Island, will arrive Sunday.

Y-knots first winter chalk talk, a seminar discussing a specific sailing or racing tactic, will follow the celebration of the boats arrival. This session will focus on the components of team sailing in a bigger boat, which will be crucial, thanks to the new fleet addition and program improvements.

Y-Knot Sailing, supported by trained YMCA volunteers and staff, has taken strides in improving quality of life for sailors and participants faced with disabilities by offering its sailing programs on Lake George. RSVP by calling 656-9462.
SOUTH GLENS FALLS  After six years, the Village Board has resolved a lawsuit brought by former village employees.

Seven retirees complained when the village switched health insurance plans, six years ago. At issue was the copay for hospitalization, which went up in the new plan.

Retirees objected, saying their labor contract guaranteed that all benefits would stay the same, including hospitalization charges.

But village officials argued they had no choice in the health plan.

It was a forced change, said village attorney Michael Muller. The insurance company terminated their plan. The village was pressed to take the next-best plan.

The result was six years of litigation. Village officials refused to admit any wrongdoing, but retirees wanted their hospitalization benefit back.

Finally, the sides agreed to a compromise, which the Village Board approved Wednesday night.

The retirees were reimbursed for the additional hospitalization charges over the last six years, but wont be reimbursed for any future charges.

The total was $1,290. The board met briefly in executive session to consider the deal before voting in public. Board member Bill Hayes voted no, while the rest of the board voted yes.

This ends it. This resolves the issue, Muller said.

In other financial business, the board agreed to resolve an embarrassing situation in which the village owed itself taxes. The village was listed as delinquent by Saratoga County, for not paying a $600 village tax for a piece of property given to the village.

A local developer, Hayes and Hayes, gave the village a 120-foot strip of land leading to the Betar Byway, near the gazebo.

But when the title was transferred, the property was erroneously not placed on the tax-exempt list of government properties.

In normal circumstances, it would have been caught and the village wouldve forgiven it, Mayor Joe Orlow said.

The village negotiated to pay $300 of the bill, while the title agency that made the mistake paid the other $300. Thats the charge after late penalties, and must be paid to the county, which collects delinquent taxes.
U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik was effusive in her praise of retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, President-elect Donald Trumps pick for Secretary of Defense.

She called the general one of the finest officers of this generation.

When you look at the threats we face, Mattis is uniquely qualified to lead in this time, she said during an interview with the Watertown Daily Times.

Placing him in the defense secretary role would require Congress to pass a waiver of the National Security Act of 1947, which requires military officers to wait seven years before assuming such a role. Mattis retired in 2013 as the head of U.S. Central Command, where he oversaw operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Stefanik, R-Willsboro, said granting a waiver was not a decision she would take lightly, and said she wanted more discussion in Congress about the issue.

Its important to have hearings to discuss the option of a waiver, and ensure we have oversight into that process, she said.

Congress has not approved a waiver like this since 1950, when President Harry Truman picked Gen. George Marshall, who had only been out of active service for five years, to be his defense secretary.

Fellow New York lawmaker U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand voiced her opposition to granting a waiver for the general during an appearance in Watertown last week, stating the timing rules should be followed without exception.

Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement that he wanted to move forward with the confirmation as soon as possible.

Rep. William Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, told Defense News on Saturday that the waiver would get a full discussion.

Were not going to try to ram it through, were going to fully talk to the experts, the legal scholars and others, and do it in due course, he told the publication.

The New York Times and Washington Post contributed to this report.
A Fort Edward man died of injuries suffered in a Saturday night crash in South Glens Falls that occurred after he fled from state troopers who had stopped the driver at a sobriety checkpoint in Moreau.
IOA polls: SC allows circulation of draft constitution among members ahead of general body meeting on Nov 10.

SC approves fresh time table for holding of elections for executive committee of Indian Olympic Association, polls to be held on Dec 10.
He further added that the EC is also working on complaints of over voting during voting.

"So far the voting process have been smooth; let us remain calm and support the EC," he said during a press conference in Accra.

Mr. Dzakpasu added that Ghanaians should relax as it is not deliberately delaying.

Meanwhile the National Peace Council minutes before the EC's press conference also charged the commission to expedite actions in declaring the results.
Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected!
Ms. Oteng Mensah, a 26-year old Law student of the Kwame Nkrumah University beat her contender from the NDC with more than 50,000 votes to massively win the seat.

READ MORE:

She had 70,688 votes of the total valid ballots while her NDC counterpart had 15,003 votes. Francisca, a relatively new face in Ghanaian politics beat the incumbent Member of Parliament Kofi Frimpong by polling 321 votes.
A press release from the Electoral Commision signed by Eric Dzakpasu revealed that the it has come to the attention of the commission that several possible instances of over voting have allegedly occurred at a number of polling stations.

According to the Electoral Commission, the verification process is now in several stages before results will be certified and the stages are the receipt of manual faxes from the collation centres, comparison of faxed summary results with the electronic results transfer data, comparison of the constituency collation sheets and the final comparison with the polling station pink sheets.
Gbenro Ajibade broke into the limelight when he played the role of Soji in the MNET soap opera '.'

He has grown beyond the TV series, as he is now one of the most promising actors in Nollywood. He recently featured in Juliet Ibrahims new flick .

Gbenro married fellow Tinsel actressOsas Ighodaro in 2015.

The birthday boy also took to Instagram to wish himself lots of love. "3 DECADES AGO, I REALIZED A FEW YEARS PRIOR TO THAT DAY THE UNIVERSE DECIDED IT COULD NO LONGER GO ON WITHOUT ME.

TODAY I PROMISE TO KEEP CALM AND BE CRAZY,LAUGH,LOVE AND LIVE IT UP COS ITS THE OLDEST AV BEEN AND THE YOUNGEST I'D EVER BE AGAIN.SUPER GRATEFUL FOR GETTING OLDER,WISER,GETTING GREATER,AND MOST IMPORTANTLY M GRATEFUL FOR GETTING LOVE.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME AND EVERY OTHER DECEMBER 8 OUT HERE N AROUND THE WORLD.BLESSINGS!"
Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected!
Justice Olabisi Akinlade, of the Igbosere High Court, Lagos, had on Oct. 27, foreclosed the right of the second defendant, Olisaeloka Ezike, 23, to file his address.

Akinlade had made the order due to the delay by the second defendant to file his final written address.

She said that there were several adjournments by the court to enable the second defendant file his address.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Osokogu was allegedly murdered on July 22, 2012 at Cosmilla Hotel, Lakeview Estate, Festac Town, Lagos, by her Facebook lover.

The defendants are Okwumo Nwabufo, 33; Olisaeloka Ezike, 23; Orji Osita, 33, and Ezike Nonso, 25.

They are facing a six-count charge bordering on conspiracy, murder, stealing, recklessness, negligence and possession of stolen goods.

At the resumed hearing on Thursday, Nwachukwu, told the court that he had a motion on notice which was seeking to regularise his written address filed out of time.

He informed the court that he had served other parties in the case with the document, a copy of which was handed to the courts registrar but with the leave of the court.

Nwachukwu told the court that he was not the counsel handling the case from the beginning.

He said that the reason why the former counsel was not able to file the address within time was due to ill-health.

The former lawyer handling this case was very ill. I was newly briefed, therefore, needed time to study the proceedings of the court.

Also there were 10 witnesses in this case which I had to study their various testimonies.

I seek the leave of this court to file a motion to regularise my final written address, Nwachukwu said.

Other counsel in the case, the prosecutor, Mrs E. I. Alakija, the Director for Public Prosecutions, Lagos State, Mr Victor Okpara, counsel to the first defendant and Mr Chris Obiaka, for third/fourth defendants, were all present.

All the counsel in the case did not object to Nwachukwus prayers.

Akinlade, however, cautioned the counsel and said that the final written address was supposed to be filed in April but was not filed.

She said that the counsel filed the final address out of time without accompanying it with a motion to regularise it.

Akinlade said, you took this court for granted and decided to sleep on your clients rights before filing the written address and the motion to regularise it. For the interest of justice, your prayers are granted.

She, however, said that the court could not accommodate the adoption of the addresses today, and adjourned the case till Jan. 12, 2017 for adoption of the final written addresses.

Earlier, the prosecutor informed the court that she had filed her reply to the written addresses as was instructed by the court.
Agada, a 27-year-old business man, who lives behind CBN quarters, Mararaba, pleaded guilty and was convicted on a one-count charge of receiving stolen property.

The Upper Area Court judge, Mr Umar Kagarko, however, gave the convict an option of N8, 000 fine.

Earlier, the prosecutor, Mr Donatus Abah, told the court that one Ikejiofor Emeka and six others reported a case of robbery at Lugbe police station on Aug.15.

Abah said that the robbers carted away HP laptop, Infinix phone, Nokia Lumia and other valuables.

He said that during police investigations, it was discovered that the convict dishonestly received one Nokia Lumia phone worth N30, 000.

He claimed to have bought it at the sum of N6,000 from one Umar Idris when he had reason to have believed that the phone was a stolen property, Abah said.
An Ikeja Magistrates Court also directed the accused, Ogunwale Yemi, 30, to provide one surety as part of the bail conditions.

The Chief Magistrate, Mr Alexander Komolafe, said the surety should be gainfully employed and show evidence of three years tax payment to the Lagos State Government.

Komolafe directed that the accused be remanded in Kirikiri Prisons pending the perfection of his bail conditions.

The accused, a resident of Odogunyan, in Ikorodu area of Lagos State, is facing a two- count charge of cheating and malicious damage.

Earlier, the Prosecutor, Sgt. Joseph Ajebe, told the court that the accused, committed the offences on Nov. 16, 2015 at No. 11, Alhaji St., Shogunle, Oshodi, Lagos.

He said that the complainant, Mr Agada Emmanuel, had given his Mitsubishi car with registration number, EY 796 AA, to Yemi for repairs.

He said that the complainant gave the accused N8,000 for workmanship.

He said that the complainant had not seen him since the accused collected the money only to discover that the accused had damaged his car.

The accused converted the N8,000 to his own personal use, damaged and removed some spare parts from the car valued at N500,000, the prosecutor said.

He also said that the accused abandoned the car and absconded until he was apprehended by the police.

The offences contravened Sections 321 and 348 of the Criminal Law of Lagos, 2011.

The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges.
There is no romance with no finance. A couple of years ago it was stated on Twitter by the cool chicks that a broke man does not deserve an erection.

In these times it seems a guy who isn't swimming in a pool of bank notes doesn't have a fair shot at love either.

On Sunday, December 4, 2016, Twitter user @Spino_OnipSgh shared a screenshot of a text he received from a woman we presume he had been asking out for a while.

In her text, she bluntly told the guy that he wasn't rich enough to date her. If that wasn't enough she friend zoned him.

"I think we should just remain as friends" read her text, "I know you expressed interest in me before, but I don't think that your financial situation is stable enough to seek a relationship with me." That was very honest. Thumbs up to the chick for coming out with the truth and not playing him.

As for @Spino_OnipSgh he merely tweeted "My evening, anyway, how's yours?" A lot of people on his timeline encouraged him and said this message should push him to chase his dreams.
Readers have however hailed her love and strong attachment to Stanley who died a week to their wedding but they all think she should move on with her life and stop living in self pity.

Read her story:

My name is Hannah, a 29-year-old lady. I am a sad woman and I have been living with a heavy heart for two years now but now, I want to pour out my heart hoping to get some soothing words from your readers.

Today, December 7, 2016, makes it two years since death snatched Stanley from me on Sunday, December 2014, just one week to our wedding and since then, life has been meaningless for me.

I met Stanley at 18 when I gained admission into the university and ours was love at first sight as we clicked the moment we set eyes on each other.

He was in his third year and we met while I was trying to register for my courses. Stan took over my registrations and made things so easy for me. I knew he felt something for me and I also felt the same way towards him but he was very shy and could not open up to me.

We remained friends for over a year before he summoned the courage to tell me he was in love with me. I told him I knew all along and that I was also in love with him and we kicked off a relationship that became the envy of all.

We were inseparable and did almost everything together. Stan loved and respected me so much. When I told him I was a virgin and not ready to be deflowered, Stan understood and said he was willing to wait till the right time, a decision I still bless him till today.

We only got to make love for the first time after my final year and he had come home to meet my parents and made his intention of marrying me known to them.

It was the most enchanting feeling to lose my virginity to a man I loved with all my heart and would soon get married to, but little did I know that I was living in a dream world as the cold heads of death snatched my only love, the only man that made my world go around, from me.

Preparations for our wedding was in top gear with the two families putting finishing touches to it. My friends too could not stop talking about the wedding as the excitement was palpable.

I remember December 7, 2014, vividly as Stan had called me from Port Harcourt that he was on his way back to Lagos. He had gone to represent his company at a conference and stayed for a week.

He was supposed to come with the flight his company had booked for him but he said he wanted to see some of his old-school mates in Benin before coming to Lagos that day.

I waited for him to call that he was at the park so I could go and pick him but I waited in vain. When I called his phones, they were switched off and I became worried. I called his brother and friends but no one could get across to him but they all assured me Stan was a big boy and could take care of himself.

But at about 3am, I got a call from a strange number that would shatter my world forever. The call was from an official of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), telling me that my Stan was involved in an accident along the Benin-Ore road and that his family should come to Benin the next day.

I asked the man if Stan was okay and he assured me he was. I quickly called his younger brother who told me to remain calm that he and other family members would go to Benin immediately. I insisted on going with them but he refused and said I should wait for them to come back.

To cut the story short, my Stan was found in a mortuary, very dead. When they told me, I passed out and when I came to two weeks later, Stanley had been buried and the most painful thing apart from not paying him my last respects was that I lost the three months pregnancy I was carrying for him.

I have cried every day since that black Sunday and every December 7 will never remain the same for me.

My friends and family, even Stans family want me to move on with my life but it has not been possible.

Hannah.

The teaser for the day was:

How Nigeria voted:

She should move on with her life and get married to another man - 61%

She has mourned enough and Stanley would be proud of her - 20%

She should not continue living a life of regret - 19%
The Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Isiaka Gold who dismissed the report today at a news briefing in his office, said there is no iota of truth in the said publication.

Gold who is also the Alternate Chairman, State Personnel Database Committee, said no section of the report recently submitted to the State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, indicted any serving or retired Permanent Secretary as drawing multiple salaries.

ALSO READ: Governor commends military on fight against insurgency

He appealed to Journalists to always cross check their stories before publication.

The State Head of Service, Hajia Zarah Omar alsoexpressed displeasure over the publication, saying that no permanent secretary in the state civil service was withdrawing multiple salaries.

Hajia Omar who was visibly irate, said she was embarrassed by the publication.
People have been trying to bring some gift items to me but I have not been collecting them, she said.

Right from when I was campaigning with the Wife of the Vice President for our husbands, we did not take a dime from anyone and we have continued like that till today.

I have never collected any gift and I am not ready to do so even in the future, she added.

Mrs Buhari said, in June 2015 before her husbands inauguration, that no one would have to pay money to see her or her husband.

I will like to inform you that in the past regime, whether it is true or false, only God knows, some people were going round and parading themselves as Personal Assistants. If you wanted to see the First Lady, you would pay $30,000 or $50,000 and if you were seeing the President, you would pay all that you have gathered in your lifetime, she said at the time.

This will not happen in our regime. Whoever asks you to give a single penny in the name of coming to see the President or his wife is not our staff. He is not an APC member, it is a lie. Dont be deceived, she added.

She had also warned those who would serve in her husbands administration to be careful of their conduct.

Mrs Buhari attracted controversy in October when she said that a cabal had hijacked her husbands government.
This was disclosed by Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant on Media & Publicity in the Presidency.

Akande said: "Last month, the N-Power scheme kicked off with the selection of the first batch of 200,000 unemployed graduates, many of whom are now being deployed in the 36 states/FCT in the first batch of the planned half a million graduates to be engaged in the N-Power Volunteer Corps, NPVC.

"Meanwhile, no one should have to pay any fees to benefit in the N-Power or the Homegrown School Feeding programmes, and any such imposition or request for fees is uncalled for and illegal.

ALSO READ: Buhari approves N93b to fund first phase of school feeding project

"Reports of such acts of extortion in some states where beneficiaries are being asked to pay a fee for registration have reached the Presidency, and firm instructions have been given that such acts should stop".

Speaking from Awka, the Anambra State capital earlier today, the Special Assistant on Homegrown School Feeding Programme in the Office of the Vice President, Mr. Dotun Adebayo said primary school pupils in Anambra were excited as the feeding program commenced in their schools.

Adebayo who led a team of federal and state officials to some of the schools on day one of the Homegrown School Feeding Programme implementation, said they witnessed the feeding in three schools in Awka: Community Primary School, Awka South, Central School Ameobi, and Central School in Nibo.

The pupils were excited and enjoyed the meals, he stated, adding that the cooks in those three schools, among the total 774 already recruited and trained for the feeding programme, served Okpa a.k.a Moin-moin garnished with vegetables to the delight of the pupils who took the meals during their break time at about noon day.

Altogether, an estimated 76, 690 pupils in 1050 schools would be served every day of school in Anambra State, according to the Presidency. The feeding programme caters to pupils from primary 1-3.

Having met the stated requirements for Federal Government funding for the Homegrown School Feeding, a sum of N53, 687, 900 had been released directly to cooks for the kick-off of the school feeding programme in Anambra, to last till the end of the current school term, the Presidency said.
PINE was set up by President Muhammadu Buhari to rebuild the war ravaged North East, after all the havoc terrorist sect Boko Haram has wreaked in the region.

During a special hearing conducted by the Senate ad-hoc committee on the north-east humanitarian crisis on Thursday, lawmakers were able to establish that PINE hasn't been able to account for N2.5B--being part of funds released by the federal government for its capital projects.

ALSO READ:

According to a Premium Times' account of events, on one occasion, PINE boss, Umar Gulani, claimed that the agency spent N203M to weed out taipa grass in Yobe State.

However, the Yobe State Commissioner for Information, Mohammed Lamin, immediately punctured holes in his claims.

According to Lamin: no taipa grass was cleared in the state by any federal government agency in Yobe State".

Lamin also took issue with Gulani's claims that PINE spent N253 million on the clearing of invasive plants species around river banks in the state; and another N422.5 million to provide temporary shelter (tents) to displaced families in the state.

PINE also claimed that it had spent millions of Naira renovating 18 schools destroyed by Boko Haram in the North East.

Yet again, the Yobe State commissioner disputed those claims, calling them outright lies.

The affected states said they were not aware of all the contracts executed by PINE; you people just decided to make money and that is why you decided to donate N50M for a conference organised by an NGO, said a member of the committee, Senator Theordore Orji (PDP, Abia), according to Premium Times.

Senator Shehu Sani (APC, Kaduna) thereafter demanded photographic evidence and documents of contracts executed, from the PINE boss.

None has been forthcoming.

Senator Ben Bruce (PDP, Bayelsa), narrated how, during the Senate committee's visit to an IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camp in the North East, several women cried out for sanitary pads.

According to Bruce, sanitary pads wouldn't be an issue in IDP camps if the N2.5B given to PINE out of the budgeted N5B, was well utilised.

PINE appears to be cornering huge sums of money meant to provide succour to persons who have been handed a raw deal by terrorists.

Like most government agencies, PINE's sole agenda seems to be to benefit from the misfortunes of vulnerable persons.

We are really sick in this country. Where else do privileged persons steal from the poor?

Buhari was supposed to be the guy who finally saves us from heartless corruption.

If this level of corruption can still be perpetrated in a government agency on his watch, our redemption may still be afar off.

On this evidence, we can all go home now.

STOP PRESS: The Presidential Committee on the North East Initiative (PCNI) was inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari on the 26th of October, 2016.

PCNI is different from the defunct Presidential Initiative for the North East (PINE) inaugurated by erstwhile
Justice John Tsoho held that the court was compelled to strike out the suit because it appeared abandoned.

According to him, no representations from the parties have been entered since the matter was assigned to the court.

This is against the rules of court, all opportunities given for the plaintiff and the respondents to put life in the suit have failed. The suit is hereby struck out, Tsoho said.

Buahari had filed the suit in 2015 challenging the alleged documentary transmitted by the station aimed at defaming his character in the eyes of the public.

The President averred that the video documentary aired by the television station was aimed at giving him away as a dictator and religious bigot.

He also averred that the documentary was also shown on the state-owned Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that before the action, the APC national leadership had written to the two stations describing the video as fabricated and defamatory.

Subsequently, the presidential candidate of the APC, as he was then, was approached the court with the suit.
The News Agency Nigeria (NAN) reports that the newly appointed judges are Mr John Olatokunbo, Mrs Abiodun Shobayo and Mrs Eniola Fabamwo.

He added that they should see their appointments as a call to service, adding that the assignment was coming with greater dedication and commitment.

I appreciate the serving judges in the state for distancing themselves from all forms of attitude that could bring the judiciary arm of the state to disrepute.

Even in the face of overwhelming challenges confronting the arm and the nation at large, it is important to be more resolute in discharging justice to all persons without fear or favour," Amosun said.
NUPENG President, Mr Igwe Achese, who did not disclose the date in a statement signed in Lagos, said the union took the decision after its National Executive Council meeting.

According to Achese, the union issued a 21-day ultimatum for the Federal Government intervention in the labour issues with multinationals operating in the oil and gas sector.

He said among contending issues was the non-payment of terminal benefits to 48 contract staff.

He said 250 contract staff terminated in Lagos and Port Harcourt by the Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) were not paid.

He said that Exxon Mobil refused to reinstate over 200 NUPENG members sacked through its directives to contractors in spite of the ultimatum jointly issued by NUPENGASSAN.

There are also the issues of closure of Chevrons Eastern Operations through divestment and refusal to discuss the redundancy terms.

Chevron refused to facilitate the formation of Chevron labour Contractors Forum to interface with NUPENG, the union leader said.

Achese alleged that another oil company reneged on the communique signed with the union on settling the severance benefits of its members working in the companies.

He said that the union had yet to resolve its issues with Pan Ocean over non-implementation of annual salary increase for its members in the company since 2014.

ALSO READ: NUPENG to picket Lagos government over N224m debt

He said that NUPENG would resist diversion by multinationals that did not carry the union along and urged the government to invest in areas that would create jobs.
The monarch gave the advice on Thursday in Akure, capital of Ondo State, when the corps members had a road-walk to the palace of Deji, to express their appreciation on the passage of Nigeria Peace Corps Bill by the National Assembly.

The Deputy Commandant of the Corps in the State, Mr Kayode Poroye led other corps members to the palace.

He noted that the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) started just like the Peace Corps, before the bill recognized it was passed and signed into law.

My advice is that dont allow corruption in the organisation and you will succeed. Corruption is eroding the country so bad.

Everybody wants to become rich through the backdoor. If you add corruption to your job, there wont be peace.

It is because of corruption that we have kidnapping and other vices in the country. Bring peace to Nigeria, maintain the peace, God will help you to succeed.

I know the president will sign it into law very soon, the monarch said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that men of the command had walked through Arakale Street of Akure from its Alagbaka office to the Deji of Akures palace.

They displayed banners thanking the National Assembly and President Buhari during the road-walk.

The functions of the corps include: promoting social and economic development; to empower, preoccupy the Nigerian youths through job creation and provision of alternative employment.
THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER

Stakeholders give terms over Senates move to unbundle NNPC

Some stakeholders have given conditions for supporting the Senates move to unbundle the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as the lawmakers took the matter to the public domain yesterday.

Trade takes backseat as seaports operations falter

Efforts at job creation and price stabilisation are proving very little in the face of dwindling seaport operations.

48 killed in Pakistani passenger plane crash

A passenger plane with 48 persons on board yesterday crashed in Pakistan, killing all its occupants. The Pakistan International Airlines ATR-42 aircraft vanished after taking off from the Northern Chitral region.

VANGUARD NEWSPAPER

FGs debt to CBN: OPS, others back Sanusi

Organised Private Sector, OPS,and a source, have thrown their weight behind former CBN governor, now Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, over his claim that the federal government over-borrowed from the apex bank.

Anti-corruption: I dont accept gifts, please, Aisha Buhari tells Nigerians

Wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, has said that she has not received any gift from anyone since becoming the Presidents wife.

Demola Serikis daughter, Kah-Lo nominated for Grammy Awards

A rising Nigerian-born international artiste and daughter of former Minister of Defence and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State, Chief Demola Seriki, Faridah Demola Seriki better known as Kah-Lo, has been nominated for the 2017 Grammy Awards.

THE NATION NEWSPAPER

Rerun tension grips Rivers

There is tension in Rivers State ahead of Saturdays rerun elections.

EFCC: Jonathans wifes $15.5m proceeds of crime

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has urged the Federal High Court in Lagos to dismiss a suit by former First Lady Mrs. Patience Jonathan.

Citigroup, Standard Chartered, others to issue $1b Eurobond in January

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) yesterday approved the appointment of transaction parties for the one billion dollars Eurobond to be issued next month.

THE PUNCH NEWSPAPER

$793,800 bribe: EFCC grills Justice Ajumogobias children

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Wednesday grilled the children of Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia at the Lagos office of the commission for several hours.

Ignore Olugbos anti-Moremi comment, Soyinka tells Ooni

Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has urged the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, to ignore anybody, who called Moremi Ajasoro a traitor.

Judge earns N24m annually, spent N500m in 10 months AGF

The Federal Government on Wednesday said investigations had shown that a Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, spent over N500m between January and October 2016 despite his total annual legitimate earnings, including his allowances being N24m.

THE BUSINESSDAY NEWSPAPER

PIB: Senate seeks to bar Buhari doubling as petroleum minister

The Senate has proposed the removal of President Muhammadu Buhari as petroleum minister, as it conducted a public hearing on the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill on December 7.

Govt steps in as poor practices challenge Ebonyi, Anambra rice farmers

The potential for rice production in some south-eastern states is not peaking, as cultivation suffers from poor practices in many farms, while the processing of rice is itself lacking adequate mechanisation.

Digital payments could add 46 million Nigerians to financial system, says Mckinsey
But with the 2015 movie "Rebecca," Shirley Frimpong-Manso proves you don't need series of locations to shoot a captivating and enthralling movie.

The Ghanaian filmmaker successfully directed a movie in a single location and confined environment with the characters cut off from the rest of the world.

Unlike one-location movies like "12 Angry Men," "Rebecca" is a one-hour-twenty six minutes and two-cast movie shot in one location.

ALSO READ: undefined

The movie which features Joseph Benjamin and Yvonne Okoro pays much attention to casting, characters, narrative detail and retains a theatrical feel. There are no flashbacks, just the characters taking viewers through their journey with verbal and action sequences.

Abandoned and lost in the middle of a deserted road, an egotistic proper city guy (Clifford) gets a rude awakening when he begins to realize that his only companion, a timid looking village girl (Rebecca) who he had been forced to marry only a few hours earlier, is anything but ordinary.

ALSO READ: undefined

Frimpong-Manso elevates the movie to enthralling just by picking the right location and making it a narrative device. The movie speaks to how far a talented director can reach with just the right location and story.

Everything happens in a Range Rover and its limited environs, as Clifford and Rebecca find a way to survive until help comes their way. The camera work is stellar, keeping everything close and creating a sense of tension and claustrophobia.

ALSO READ: undefined

Despite featuring just two actors in one location for over an hour, "Rebecca" offers a thrilling, engaging atmosphere and narrative that makes it one of the best. It even attempts humour; humour which you might find crass or intelligent.

As you watch, you're anxious to know the couple's fate. You are grinning at their chemistry. You love their sex under the rain. You're amazed at Fripong-Manso's creative direction. You're surprised at how such a movie kept your attention for over an hour.
The allegation was made by Commissioner for Information, Austin Tam-George via a statement released on Thursday, December 8.

In the statement, Tam-George blamed the Minister for Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi for importing thugs and Boko Haram fighters, disguised as APC supporters, to cause mayhem in Rivers State.

Governor Ganduje had charged APC supporters to resort to violence during the rerun elections in Rivers State on Saturday, saying: if they shoot you, take cover and shoot them, Tam-George said.

This is a shameful and egregious invitation to violence by the Kano State governor, he added.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is expected to hold rerun elections in Rivers state on Saturday, December 10, 2016.

According to Vanguard, Amaechi said Before now, l used to tell my Party members to vote and protect their votes, but there has been complaints of indecent attacks from the PDP , so, l have asked the APC party members to protect their votes and their lives as well, because the PDP cannot be bigger than everybody everywhere.

The former Governor of Rivers state also called on his supporters not to listen to the lies being peddled against him by Governor Nyesom Wike.

He accused Wike of making up stories to gain cheap popularity and promote violence.

Speaking on the APCs readiness for the rerun election, Amaechi also said On Wednesday, l will also join the APC stakeholders to carry out further campaigns, while on Thursday, there will be national campaign for the Party in the state to indicate our readiness and preparedness for the re-run elections.
Oyegun said that the APC is on a rescue mission, adding that he is pleased with the enthusiasm of the party members in the state.

Oyegun said I am very pleased with the turnout here today. It shows you are truly ready. As you can see, we came in force. The whole federal might is here. You have the governors of this nation here today.

We are sending one message, and that message is clear. It is that we respect you the people of Rivers state. We respect the courage of our members in this state. We want to let you know that we have heard your cry; we have seen your anguish; enough is enough. This is the beginning of a rescue mission.

I was here during the time of our beautiful governor, Rotimi Amaechi. He drove me round Port Harcourt; we strolled in the city, but can you do so today? We now have a blood-thirsty regime in Rivers state.

I am glad with what I am hearing here today; very glad. If they push you, push them back. If they slap you, slap them back.

We cannot allow them. The APC came on a rescue mission, unfortunately they are fighting back, the same way they have always done. Are you going to allow them? It is within your powers to return the members of the house of assembly.

ALSO READ: Wike declares three days fasting ahead of Rivers rerun

Return the members of house of representatives and senators because we need them. When you do that, it will be the beginning of the end.

Go and cast your vote, and if they snatch the result sheet, give me the answer.
Amaechi made the comment on Wednesday, December 7, after his arrival in Port Harcourt ahead of the December 10 rerun elections in the state.

During my tenure as governor, l never abused the office. The office of the governor is sacred and should be respected in all ramifications, he said.

When I was governor, I had over 75 per cent support from Rivers people and other Nigerians resident in the state. l am very sure l had more popularity than any PDP stakeholder including governors across the country.

This is so because, as governor then, l overhauled the health and education sectors by promoting free healthcare system and free education, over 10,000 teachers were employed, including the building of critical infrastructures, roads and youth empowerment, making Rivers people and other Nigerians to experience change.

This is another opportunity for us to exercise our right to vote for candidates of our choices. You would recall that the last time the elections were held, members of the APC were brazenly, crudely and violently prevented from exercising their inalienable rights to elect those they wanted, he said.

Those same characters and forces that stole our votes by violently denying us the right to vote the last time are at it again. In the months and weeks leading to this Saturdays election, they have employed the use of violence and intimidation and harassment all aimed at preventing us from coming out to vote.

They have turned our hitherto peaceful state into a haven of brazen criminality, culminating in killings and maiming of innocent citizens. However, it is gratifying to know that the Commander-in- Chief, President Muhammadu Buhari, has assured the security of lives and property in the state before, during and after the election. Mr. President has graciously provided adequate security through the length and breadth of the state," he added.
Saraki fell out with the APC after he emerged Senate President on June 9, 2015, despite being excluded from contesting by the party.

The disagreement was resolved at a peace meeting between Saraki and the APCs National Working Committee (NWC) on Wednesday, December 7, 2016.

We are here to listen and we are at your service at all times. Thank you sir, Saraki said at the beginning of the meeting pledging his loyalty to APC Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun.

Saraki later told journalists that a frank discussion was held and both parties have agreed to bury the hatchet so the APC can move forward.

Formally, we both bared our minds, told ourselves hard truths and at the end of the day, we accepted that certain things were not done, he said.

We accepted to move forward, work closely with the party in the interest of the party because of Nigerians that believe in our party.

We need to work closely together and we are hopeful that a new chapter is being opened today and we are committed to the hopes and aspirations we gave Nigerians who came out to vote a year and half ago, he added.

Saraki was excluded from contesting for the Senate Presidency after the APC conducted a mock poll and chose Senator Ahmed Lawan as its sole candidate.

ALSO READ:This is what Bola Tinubu has to say about Saraki becoming Senate President
The actress was surely moved to say this due to her relationship with her rapper husband, Wacka Flocka, who has been caught cheating on few occasions, only for the actress to take him back after every of his indiscretions.

Explaining what she thinks about partners and cheating in the Interview with Bombshell Magazine, Tammy Rivera explains that she isnot making excuses for men to cheat," but some of men [including her husband] need to be cut some slack because they do not actually understand faithfulness and family life due to the way they were brought up.

She then proceeds to drop the bomb line that exploded on social media, "Why would I give up on my husband? she asked.

"Im not that type. I think its weak of a woman to do that. Its easier to walk away as opposed to speaking up! No, were going to fight for this. We got married. My family is worth fighting for.

ALSO READ:How to recognise reasons behind cheating

When you consider that Tammy decided to stay with Flocka Rocka because of his willingness to change his ways, you can actually understand what she meant when she said she wouldn't never leave him.

It actually requires a lot of strength for a man to cheat on you and you still take him back, regardless of the reason for his unfaithfulness, or promises he makes to change.

This could be an explanation into why the actress suggests that only a weak woman would deny her man a second chance despite his promise to turn a new leaf.

Reaction to the actress' statement has been negative, with many people calling her out for putting other women down just to make her decision valid.

What do you think about this?
In a blistering three-week offensive, Syrian government forces have seized about 80 percent of east Aleppo, a stronghold for rebel groups since 2012, with increasingly cornered opposition factions calling for an "immediate five-day humanitarian ceasefire".

The United States, Britain and France have also called for a truce, warning of a "humanitarian catastrophe".

US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov were set to meet Thursday in Germany's Hamburg after talks the previous day failed to achieve a breakthrough on efforts to halt the fighting in the devastated city.

Asked at the start of the session about Russia's position on a ceasefire, Lavrov said: "I am in agreement, and I confirm support for the American proposal of December 2", referring to a meeting with Kerry in Rome at which they were believed to have agreed on a plan to evacuate civilians and rebels from east Aleppo and to work towards a new ceasefire.

Tens of thousands of children in Aleppo are "sitting targets" in the ongoing fighting, according to Save the Children Syria Director Sonia Khush.

"It defies belief that after nearly six years of suffering through this war, the international community is still willing to stand by as civilians are bombed with seeming impunity," she added.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 19 civilians were killed in the regime bombardment of east Aleppo on Wednesday.

In an interview with Syrian daily Al-Watan, published Thursday, Assad said defeating the beleaguered rebels in Aleppo "will be a win for us, but let's be realistic -- it won't mean the end of the war in Syria".

"But it will be a huge step towards this end."

When asked about the possibility of a truce in Aleppo, Assad said, "it's practically non-existent, of course".

Assad said a rebel loss in Aleppo "will mean the transformation of the course of the war across Syria" and would leave opposition factions and their backers with "no cards left to play".

Aleppo was once known as the beating heart of culture and commerce in Syria, but the outbreak of fighting there four years ago left it divided between rebels in the east and government forces in the west.

In his wide-ranging interview, Assad pledged to fight rebels even beyond Aleppo, because "the war in Syria will not end until after the complete elimination of terrorism".

"Terrorists are present elsewhere -- even if we finish with Aleppo, we will continue our war against them," he said.

'Only available solution'

Assad touted local agreements between his government and rebel groups as the best way to resolve Syria's complex conflict.

Such deals have seen opposition fighters quit a string of towns around Damascus in recent months, often in exchange for an end to regime bombardment.

"It is the only available solution, in parallel with striking the terrorists. Its success has been proven over the past two to three years, and is now speeding up," Assad told Al-Watan.

He said these agreements had protected Syrian civilians and infrastructure and allowed former rebels to "return to the bosom of the state. What more could we want?"

jpegMpeg4-1280x720Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011 with widespread demonstrations but has since turned into a brutal multi-front war drawing in world powers.

Many Western countries cut ties with Damascus in 2011 and have imposed crippling economic sanctions, but Assad said he remained open to better relations with them.
On the second day of the trial at the International Criminal Court, a lawyer representing thousands of victims said Ongwen -- a former child-soldier-turned warlord -- scorned chances to leave the brutal rebel army led by Joseph Kony.

"Is Dominic Ongwen a victim or a criminal?" asked Francisco Cox, who represents some 2,600 out of more than 4,000 victims in the case before the court in The Hague.

Those communities affected by the LRA's reign of terror -- which lasted almost three decades and included murder, rape, pillage and the abduction of young children to serve as child soldiers or sex slaves -- knew the answer, said Cox.

They said Ongwen "may have been abducted as a child, but when he became an adult he had the choice to leave but he did not -- he found the 'work' too nice," Cox told the judges.

Victims' lawyer Paolina Massidda told the court that top LRA leaders like Ongwen often had the best pick of young girls which they then forcibly married and raped as part of a macabre reward system.

"Top commanders would describe the type of girl that they wanted including age, physical appearance and intelligence."

"If recent abductees matched these desired characteristics... they were collected and distributed to the commanders," she said.

At the opening of his trial on Tuesday, Ongwen denied 70 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the LRA's terror campaign mainly directed against unarmed civilians living in refugee camps.

"In the name of God, I deny all these charges in respect to the war in northern Uganda," Ongwen said.

He maintained he "was not the LRA", but "one of the people who had crimes committed" against them.

But Cox said: "The victims are seeking justice. Only when Ongwen is put before a legal process will people become aware of what happened to them and will he become an example," of the horrors they suffered."

A self-styled mystic and prophet, the elusive Kony launched a bloody rebellion against Kampala some three decades ago seeking to impose his own version of the Ten Commandments on northern Uganda.

The UN says it has slaughtered more than 100,000 people and abducted 60,000 children since it was set up in 1987.

The case has now adjourned until mid-January, and the trial, during which 74 witnesses including former child soldiers will be called, is likely to last several years.

The defence says it is considering several arguments including that Ongwen is suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. His lawyers also maintain he was acting under duress.
Scores more were hurt in the capital when "non-identified elements in the police" and "protesters using stolen weapons" clashed September 19 and 20 in opposition protests against President Joseph Kabila, a commission report said.

The release of the CNDH report, its first since the commission was set up in July 2015, was hailed by the European Union, a major donor to the vast resource-rich nation.

Democratic Republic of Congo has seen months of trouble ahead of the official end of Kabila's mandate on December 20, his second term in office.

He is barred from serving again but has never said he plans to step aside and last month cut a power-sharing deal with fringe opposition politician Samy Badibanga as prime minister in a move that effectively extends his term to early 2018.

The CNDH toll for the September protests, which were organised by anti-Kabila coalition Gathering, was slightly lower than the UN toll of 53 dead.

There were signs of an easing of political tension in the country this week when Tshisekedi agreed to join mediation talks headed by the country's bishops, the deputy secretary of Congo's National Episcopal Conference said.

The talks, which aim to agree on a transition ahead of April 2018 presidential elections, showed "there is goodwill all round," said Andre Masinganda.

Tshisekedi's Gathering had snubbed talks involving the authorities up until this week.

The formal talks are set to start "Thursday December 8 2016" at 10am (0900 GMT) in Kinshasa, according to a statement released late Tuesday.

However the UN mission in Congo, MONUSCO, is bracing for violence ahead of December 20, UN Special Representative to DR Congo Maman Sambo Sidikou said in New York on Tuesday.

"MONUSCO has further updated its contingency plans and is further adjusting its posture and deployment to mitigate politically driven violence and to protect civilians," he said.

Kabila came to power after the murder of his father Laurent-Desire Kabila by a bodyguard in 2001 during the Second Congo War, which ended two years later.
The earthquake, which shook Sumatras northernmost province, Aceh, had a preliminary magnitude of 6.5, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency said that the temblor, which struck after 5 a.m. at a depth of about 6 miles, was centered in Pidie Jaya, a region on Acehs east coast, adjacent to the Strait of Malacca.

Connie Magdalena, a duty officer at the National Search and Rescue Agencys headquarters in Jakarta, the capital, said Thursday that at least 102 people had been killed. Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the National Agency for Disaster Management, said earlier that more than 500 people had been injured, 125 of them seriously.

But we are still doing search and rescue operations, Magdalena said. The communications with our teams in the field remains very bad, but they are still searching.

The rescue teams were scouring rubble across Pidie Jaya, about 70 miles southeast of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.

Sutopo said that panicked residents in Pidie Jaya had run from homes and other buildings. At least five aftershocks were felt, he said.

Numerous homes and buildings collapsed; shop houses collapsed, he said.

Sutopo said that more than 160 homes and more than 100 buildings, including 14 mosques and a school, had been damaged.

Medical teams were transferring some survivors to the town of Sigli, the capital of the neighboring region of Pidie, because of overcrowding at hospitals in Pidie Jaya, The Jakarta Post reported.

Both Indonesian and international aid organizations were sending teams to Aceh to assist in the disaster. As rescue and relief operations continued, another earthquake, with a magnitude of 5, struck nearby late Wednesday. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
Kirk, 71, was taking part in a rally flying vintage planes across Africa when he accidentally veered off course nearly two weeks ago, ending up in South Sudan instead of a town in Kenya just across the border.

It was the second time he went missing during the rally -- whose exasperated organisers have disqualified him for his antics: flying with an unfit aircraft and broken compass, and forgetting all his maps in a Khartoum hotel.

Stricken with malaria in the South Sudanese capital Juba, Kirk told AFP how he crash-landed in Kapoeta -- the site of violent clashes in July between warring parties in the country -- shortly after all the pilots were detained in Ethiopia for two days.

"I was headed for Lokichogio (Kenya) and I simply ran out of daylight. I think I was suffering from malaria then and I had difficulties as a pilot-in-command. And I'm afraid I scratched her a little bit," he said.

His rough landing left him with a puncture, broken propeller and other damage to his 1943 Piper Cub.

Locked up by police

Kirk said he was "generally attacked" by locals when they stumbled upon him, slapping him around and herding him into the local police station.

"They put me into a cubbyhole with no water, no bucket. And they left the lights on and the flies were everywhere," he said.

"They kept me there for four or five days... And every time the embassy rang, they would stand to attention with the phone and comb their hair," he said.

Kirk has been recounting his adventures on his Facebook page, issuing desperate pleas to save his plane and get spare parts shipped to him, while detailing his severe nausea and headaches before he was transported to Juba and diagnosed with malaria.

"Malaria frightened me a lot," said the pilot who was injured in 2005 when he crash-landed in Japan on a solo bid to fly around the world in a vintage plane. He also crashed in the Caribbean in 2008.

As he struggles to get a visa to legalise his presence in South Sudan, Kirk's biggest fear is that his plane will be stripped by locals.

"I fear that because its upended, it's an ideal slide for the local children. It's very very old, it's older than me."

'The man is a legend'

Sam Rutherford, organiser of the vintage plane rally which is expected to reach Cape Town in nine days, told AFP they were still trying to help Kirk despite his disqualification.

"Nothing can be done with the plane until he is fit"- but it is likely to have been stripped before that happens... Very sad, but it's not a good place to leave an aeroplane damaged and unattended."

Despite his ordeal, Kirk says he is "besotted" with the countries he has visited in Africa.

While his maverick attitude angered many during the rally, he has plenty of fans on social media cheering him on and comparing him to adventurous aviators of old.

"Maurice Kirk is never lost, he is just occasionally uncertain of his current location. The man is a legend!" one friend wrote on his Facebook page.

Kirk, who dubs himself the Flying Vet for his days as a veterinarian, is a colourful character who parachuted into his own wedding and has also spent 20 years as a "chronic litigant" embroiled in dozens of court cases.

After sinking in the Caribbean, where he was saved by US coastguards, he landed on the Texas ranch of then US president George W. Bush in 2008 to deliver a letter of thanks, and was promptly arrested and placed in a psychiatric clinic.

After his experiences in South Sudan, Kirk is far from done with adventure.
The 58-year-old was taken into custody on Wednesday at the University of Khartoum where he works as a professor of engineering, the rights watchdog said.

"He was arrested by National Intelligence and Security Service agents... and taken to an undisclosed location where he is at a grave risk of torture and other ill-treatment," Amnesty said in a statement.

Ibrahim's family members also confirmed to AFP that he had been arrested and that they had no information on his whereabouts.

"Mudawi's arbitrary arrest underscores the government's desperate attempts to extinguish the last embers of dissent in the country," Amnesty's deputy director for East Africa, Michelle Kagari, said in the statement.

In recent weeks, Sudanese security agents have arrested several opposition leaders and activists in an attempt to crush widespread protests against a government decision to raise fuel prices last month.

The authorities are determined to avoid any repetition of 2013 unrest that was sparked by a similar round of fuel subsidy cuts.

It was suppressed only by a deadly crackdown by security forces that drew international condemnation.

Rights groups say that crackdown left about 200 people dead, while the government put the death toll at less than 100.

Groups of protesters have staged sporadic demonstrations against the latest round of subsidy cuts, but anti-riot policemen have swiftly dispersed them.

Opposition groups and activists had called for a three-day "stay-at-home" strike in November against the rising cost of living and subsidy cuts. The call had met with a mixed response.

Ibrahim, who has worked extensively on human rights causes in Sudan, has been arrested several times before for his work.
Israeli officials have long opposed the initiative, which would involve an international summit in Paris at the end of December aimed at restarting long-stalled peace efforts with the Palestinians.

Netanyahu told French President Francois Hollande in a Wednesday phone call however that he was willing to meet Abbas "directly, without preconditions," his office said in a statement.

The Palestinians strongly support France's international approach, saying years of negotiations with the Israelis have not ended the occupation.

Netanyahu has spoken out against "international diktats" and repeatedly called for direct negotiations.

Peace efforts have been at a complete standstill since a US-led initiative collapsed in April 2014.

A spokesman for Netanyahu repeated Israel's rejection of the French initiative on Wednesday.

"Peace will be achieved through direct negotiations with our Palestinian neighbours, not through international conferences," David Keyes said before Netanyahu's call with Hollande.
"France shall, pending a final decision in the case, take all measures at its disposal" to ensure the "inviolability" of a building in Avenue Foch, Paris, described by the African nation as a diplomatic mission, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled.

France disputes that the building is a diplomatic mission.

But the tribunal in The Hague sidestepped Equatorial Guinea's demand to order France to temporarily suspend a corruption trial before French courts brought against the son of its president, saying it would not make any other provisional measures in the case.

Malabo argued the French trial of Teodorin Obiang should be frozen until the ICJ has ruled on its complaint that France has violated Obiang's diplomatic immunity.

Obiang, the 47-year-old son of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea's veteran ruler, goes on trial in France in January on charges of plundering his country's coffers to fund a jet-set lifestyle.

Promoted by his father Teodoro Obiang Nguema to vice president in June, Obiang is accused of using the proceeds of corruption and embezzlement to fund an array of purchases, from a luxury home to private jets and top properties, to pop star Michael Jackson's famous white glove.

In 2012, French authorities swooped on the Obiang family's six-storey mansion on Avenue Foch -- one of the most upmarket addresses in Paris -- seizing it along with a fleet of luxury cars including two Bugatti Veyrons and a Rolls-Royce Phantom.

Police also took away vanloads of valuables, including paintings, a $4.2-million clock and fine wines worth thousands of euros per bottle.

Reading the judgement, vice president Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf said the court was "of the view that, pending a final decision in the case, the premises presented as housing the diplomatic mission of Equatorial Guinea at 42 avenue Foch in Paris should enjoy treatment" afforded diplomatic missions under the Geneva Convention.

The court also "rejects the request of France to remove the case" from its workload, Yusuf added.
When the opportunity to purchase The Stern Center in Rock Island was presented to Bill Healy Jr., owner of Bridges Catering in Princeton, Iowa, he saw an opportunity for his familys long-established catering business he could not pass up.

In April, Bridges Catering took over The Stern Center and now is in the process of constructing a 9,000 square-foot kitchen on the second floor to handle the business. It is a huge and expensive undertaking that Healy, 38, is involved in, but as someone who grew up in Rock Island and whose family is from Rock Island, it all made sense.

We were in Princeton, Iowa, for 40 years, but this gives us a good central location and a very nice venue that people can use if they want, Healy said Wednesday after receiving the Mayor and City Council Trophy for most strategic new investment in Rock Island during the 28th annual Hard Hat award ceremony held, appropriately, at The Stern Center.

The Hard Hat awards recognize Rock Island businesses large and small that work to improve their business and in the process help the city. The awards are sponsored by Renaissance Rock Island.

Healy, a graduate of Alleman High School and St. Ambrose University, said Bridges Catering employs about 117 people and is booked well into 2017. We have one Saturday open between March and November, Healy said. But there are discounts on Friday weddings, he added with a smile.

Dan Neises, owner of Neises Chiropractic Clinic, had no idea anybody with the city would notice he made $30,000 worth of improvements to his building at 2512 18th Ave. From a new facade to new awnings, Neises said he made the improvements, to stand out more for patients and for his building to be recognizable as Neises Chiropractic.

For his efforts Neises received one of the Golden Broom awards.

Neises, a Palmer College graduate, opened his practice in Rock Island five years ago after spending nine years practicing in Wisconsin. It feels great to be recognized, Neises said. It feels good to know the City of Rock Island cares about small business.

One of the Golden Paintbrush awards went to The Speakeasy and owner Brett Hitchcock who also owns Circa '21 Playhouse.

Hitchcock did some painting and remodeling to the outside of the historic building in which The Speakeasy is located, 1818 3rd Ave.

We wanted to blend the paint and front of the building with Circa '21, Hitchcock said. We went to Galesburg and got some ideas from that citys historic Seminary Street with all its shops and restaurants.

Renaissance Rock Island is the umbrella name for three inter-connected organizations dedicated to the revitalization of Rock Island. The organizations are Rock Island Economic Growth Corp., Community Housing Development Organization and Development Association of Rock Island.
Addresses around a new housing development in northeast Bettendorf don't exist, according to Google Maps, but that doesn't mean the homes aren't there.

Late last year, representatives from Cedar Rapids-based Vanguard Appraisals and the Scott County Assessor's Office checked out a recently constructed $500,000-plus home in Knutsen Builder's Spencer Hollow subdivision, which connects to Forest Grove Park.

Since Jan. 1, 2016, 133 new homes have been built in Bettendorf, which remains one of the strongest housing markets in Iowa, said Allen Beck, a Quad-City-based reviewer for Vanguard, which has conducted mass appraisals in almost every county in Iowa.

Although thousands of property owners refused to let vetted Vanguard inspectors into their homes, the firm hired by Scott County in 2015 to re-evaluate all residential real estate in Bettendorf has wrapped up its work. It will now analyze the data and expects to send out new residential property assessment by the end of February.

Vanguard appraisers last canvassed the entire city in 2001-2002, and were asked to return because several homes in Bettendorf were selling for more than their assessed values.

The goal of the project, which began on Aug. 1, 2015, is to help correct any inequities between the county's assessments and the actual market value of homes.

"If we're within 5 percent of what it's sold for, that's a bullseye for us," said Beck, who assessed that home north of Forest Grove Road at $513,000  $16,000, or 3 percent, less than the listed price.

Increasing property values

As of late November, 625 homes had been sold in 2016 in Bettendorf.

While sale prices of comparable homes on the same block might fluctuate, depending on demand and time of year, Scott County hopes this work will set fair property values in every neighborhood across the community.

"We're never going to out-guess buyers and sellers," said Ed Vieth, Scott County's chief deputy assessor. "We'd have to increase values in 2017 even if Vanguard wasn't doing this door-to-door thing."

He said million-dollar homes are now a "dime-a-dozen" in Bettendorf.

The county expected Vanguard to inspect the interior of at least 70 percent of the residential properties in Bettendorf, and determine new assessments within 18 months.

Vanguard appraisers made it inside 7,675 homes of the 13,130 residential dwellings in Bettendorf. They estimated the values of 3,146 homes because owners never answered the door.

Meanwhile, 2,226 property owners  about 17 percent  refused to allow appraisers into their homes.

So, not including the refusals, Vanguard gained entry into a little more than 70 percent of the 10,821 remaining homes in the city.

Bob Ehler, president of Vanguard, said representatives stopped at every house at least three times to give the property owner a chance to respond: Once in the morning, once during afternoon hours and once in off hours, either in the early evening on a weekday or a Saturday morning.

If someone was not home or refused to let data collectors in, appraisers looked for signs of remodeling from the outside, including the quality of windows, doors or roofs.

Radio host blamed for slow start

The refusal rate in Bettendorf was higher than most of Vanguard's projects, company officials said.

Ehler and Vieth of Scott County partly blamed the high number of refusals on Jim Fisher, talk radio host for WOC-1420 AM, who addressed the issue on his show.

They said Fisher urged his listeners to ignore Vanguard's door-knocking employees soon after their project kicked off.

"This guy was telling everybody not to let us in, and some people were listening to him," Ehler said. "These things can be considered controversial by some people."

In response, Fisher said, he received a couple calls last year regarding the work, and recalled telling listeners they weren't required to open the door for appraisers.

"These people shouldn't be able to come in from out of town and make up a number," Fisher said. "It's irrational."

Ehler noted the refusals eventually curtailed over time.

Beck thinks the election cycle also hurt their efforts.

"I think everybody's on edge," he said.

New values expected in February

After Vanguard appraisers finish analyzing the results, they will hand over the results of their work to Scott County.

While some naysayers argued the county should have been able to accurately assess homes by looking at public records, the veteran assessor of 30-plus years said he doesnt have the resources to do so.

"We can barely keep up with new construction and permits," Vieth said.

As of mid-December, Scott County had issued 914 permits in 2016 for home-improvement work, such as basement finishes and bathroom or kitchen remodels.

Ehler stressed the importance of gathering current information on properties and documenting the improvements that did not get appraised in the past.

Those who did work to their homes without pulling the necessary permits will not be penalized.

At the completion of the project, Vanguard will receive close to $1.2 million for the project. Vieth said the county will pay Vanguard with money it has set aside every year since the company's last assessment of Bettendorf's residential properties more than a decade ago.

Once property owners have received and reviewed their new assessments, they can contact the Assessor's office at 563-326-8635 with questions.
A Davenport man who is in the Scott County Jail awaiting trial, accused of shooting a man in July, is now facing charges in connection with another shooting in August.

On Wednesday, Davenport police served Micah Lee Bates Jr., 28, with charges of attempted murder, willful injury causing serious injury and felon in possession of a firearm.

According to the arrest affidavits filed by Davenport Police Detective Bill Thomas, Bates and a co-defendant drove to the area of East 12th and Judson streets at 11:47 p.m. Aug. 21. The men were armed with handguns that had laser sights attached to them.

Bates and the co-defendant then shot the victim multiple times with the intent to cause his death, according to the arrest affidavit.

The victim survived after undergoing surgery at University Hospitals, Iowa City.

Attempted murder is a Class B felony under Iowa law that carries a prison sentence of up to 25 years.

Willful injury causing serious injury is a Class C felony that carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years, while being a felon in possession of a firearm is a Class D felony that carries a prison sentence of up to five years. However, federal prosecutors could choose to prosecute Bates for the firearms charges, under the Safe Neighborhoods Act. Federal charges carry longer sentences, and there is no parole in the federal prison system.

In the other shooting case, at 11:33 p.m. July 9, Bates was in the parking lot at 826 E. River Drive armed with a .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun, according to the arrest affidavit filed by Thomas. While in the parking lot, Bates got into an argument with two other people and began firing at them. One of the victims was struck in the leg.

In that case, Bates is charged with willful injury causing bodily injury, felon in possession of a firearm, going armed with intent and intimidation with a dangerous weapon.

During the time of both of the incidents, Bates was on work release from the Iowa Department of Corrections.

Randall Torrington Ramsey, 28, of Moline, was arrested Tuesday on charges that he did knowingly aid and abet Bates by providing him with the gun that was used in the shooting in July.

He also is accused of providing a false address on a firearms application at a Bettendorf gun store in late June.

He was released from the Scott County Jail on Tuesday after posting $10,000 bond through a bail bond company.

Bates also is charged in another incident with second-degree burglary, operating while intoxicated, eluding, leaving the scene of an accident, reckless driving, driving under suspension and second-degree criminal mischief.

Bates is being held in the Scott County Jail on $110,000 cash-only bond and a $25,000 surety bond on all of the charges, and he is being held without bond for violating the conditions of his work release.
A federal judge has granted prosecutors request to permanently forfeit 27 of 64 pit bulls seized earlier this year in connection with an alleged dog-fighting ring in the Quad-Cities.

The Dec. 2 ruling by U.S. District Judge Sara Darrow will allow the U.S. Marshals Service to dispose of the dogs, which includes transporting them to a shelter or other appropriate organization.

The dogs have been held at a temporary shelter run by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals since they were seized.

Darrow also granted prosecutors request to humanely euthanize two additional pit bulls who have become aggressive and agitated, pose a danger to their handlers and have little prospect of rehabilitation.

These dogs are the tragic victims of dog fighting, and the ASPCA is continuing to work with prosecutors to ensure their abusers are held responsible, ASPCA spokeswoman Kelly Krause said Wednesday.

Krause said placement decisions have not yet been made for the dogs as of Wednesday.

Our animal behaviorists have been conducting behavior evaluations for each individual dog, and those dogs that are suitable for adoption will be placed with our partner shelters across the country, she said.

Federal and local law enforcement and the ASPCA removed 64 dogs from a dozen homes in Rock Island and Davenport on April 14.

One of the dogs taken from one Rock Island home died the next day while being transported to a temporary shelter because of severe anemia, according to court documents.

Krause did not have a specific amount the ASPCA has spent on the dogs care, but the organization has spent significant resources providing veterinary care and temporary shelter.

She added the government is providing funds for some costs of caring for the animals.

No charges have been filed in the case, although federal prosecutors confirmed in May a criminal investigation is under way.

On April 15, prosecutors filed a 15-page complaint for forfeiture and claimed the dogs are subject to seizure and forfeiture because they were used as gambling devices and were involved in a violation of the Animal Welfare Act. The measure regulates the treatment of animals in research, exhibition, transport and by dealers.

Confidential sources and cooperating witnesses provided information to law enforcement that several individuals in the area have been involved or participated in an illegal dog-fighting operation, including gambling on dog fights in Illinois, Iowa, Alabama and Mississippi, according to the complaint.

They also have purchased and transported dogs from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Alabama and Mississippi, according to the complaint.

The complaint claims, in at least two cases, dogs that lost a fight were killed by their owners and then hung by the neck in front of spectators.

The complaint named 17 individuals believed to be involved in dog fighting. No charges have been filed against them as of Tuesday.

Prosecutors filed an emergency motion for default in October against 14 individuals  five of whom they have named as possible participants in the ring  served in the case who did not file a claim or answer to contest the forfeiture of any of the dogs.

That same month, prosecutors also filed the motion seeking to euthanize the two additional dogs.

The dogs were taken from two homes in the 1800 block of West 8th Street in Davenport and the 400 block of 7th Street in Rock Island.

Both locations contained strong indicia of dog fighting, including training devices, medications, documents and kennels with a lack of access to food and water, Darrow noted in her Dec. 2 order.

Darrow wrote that despite rehabilitative efforts, the two dogs have shown aggression toward their handlers and they are experiencing an extremely reduced quality of life.

She also noted in her order that the owners who filed written claims to the dogs do not have procedural standing in the case because they did not make a verified complaint, meaning that it was made under oath and under penalty of perjury, which is required to proceed in the civil forfeiture case.

Eight other people have filed claims for the rest of the dogs. Only one person, a woman who was not named as a possible participant in the dog fighting ring, has filed a verified claim.

The claims have not yet been resolved.
Pasta and a marinara sauce will be on the menu for 2,000 needy people after work by volunteers from Scott Community College.

On Thursday, about a dozen students, teachers and staff teamed to package the food products in a first-time program.

Jill Naab, Scott's director of student engagement and activities, said that students have done outreach projects in the past. But this year, in an effort to address hunger awareness, student leaders decided on the holiday meals program.

The six-step process involved packing pasta into plastic sleeves and adding an envelope of dehydrated Italian tomato basil sauce.

The $750 for the project came from the students' fund, Naab said, and will be provided to nearly 300 families and people in Bettendorf, as well as many associated with World Relief, Moline.

Each package will provide six meals, Naab said.

According to Christy Davis, social worker for the city of Bettendorf, there are 288 people who will receive the packets as part of a wide effort that also involves the city's Rotary and Lions clubs.

The Scott Community College meals are a welcome part of the holiday packages.

"This is totally awesome," Davis said as she watched the volunteers work.

Scott student ambassadors Blake Knobbe and Jake Jones handled the last step of the process; they labeled each package and packed 36 of them into a box.

"This is easy, and it's very organized," Knobbe said.

One goal for the event is to raise awareness about hunger and food insecurity in the Quad-Cities, said Lysa Hegland, director of the school's foundation.

The latest statistics from the Feeding America organization are that 1 in 6 people in America are food insecure, and that includes the metropolitan area.
The city of Davenport is considering the continuation of its automated traffic camera contract with Redflex Traffic Systems, Inc.

Five responses were received after a request for proposals was issued to 137 vendors and Redflex was recommended after the three top scoring firms were invited to interview.

The city also received responses from American Traffic Solutions, Inc., Automated Enforcement Division, Gatso USA, Inc. and Optotraffic.

Finance Director Brandon Wright said the new contract calls for a distribution of $21 to Redflex and $44 to the city for a $65 ticket.

Previously, Redflex was receiving $24 per $65 ticket.

Once the number of tickets reaches a specific threshold, the city's take also rises as Redflex's portion drops to $16 per ticket.

Wright estimated automated red-light and speeding citations account for $1.3-$1.5 million a year in fines.

Collecting the fines, however, remains a challenge.

Unpaid debt

As part of the contract, services include provision and installation of new equipment, system upgrades and maintenance, violation identification assistance, management information reports, citation processing and mailing services, and payment collection.

Payment collection has consistently been in issue in Davenport.

Two years ago, Davenport gave drivers with outstanding camera tickets partial amnesty for two months as a way encourage payment from the 27,000 drivers who racked up $3.5 million in unpaid tickets.

Out-of-state drivers were responsible for more than one-third of the traffic camera violations.

The city waived a $25 collection fee so drivers would only have had to pay the $65 fine.

Following the amnesty period, the city turned to the Department of Revenue's debt collection program to block license plate renewals for those with outstanding citations.

Wright said the Department of Revenue and Department of Transportation got cold feet as the date approached and nixed the idea.

The idea has never been revisited and would have been the first time the Department of Revenue's Central Collection Unit had been used for collecting traffic camera citations.

Instead, the city uses Municipal Collections of America for debt collection after 60 days of nonpayment.

Wright said outstanding camera ticket debt has now ballooned to $6.5 million.

"We've never written off debt, but at some point, we may think about doing it," Wright said.

Checkered past

While Davenport continues its traffic camera program, many municipalities have made changes to their approach for camera systems.

Redflex's own history has not inspired confidence in other cities especially after a former executive was involved in bribing government officials for contracts in Cincinnati, Columbus and Chicago.

Karen Finley, the former CEO of RedFlex, was sentenced in Ohio to 14 months in federal prison before U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Kendall handed out a two-and-a-half year sentence on Nov. 10 in Illinois.

The sentences will run concurrently.

In her plea for leniency, Finley called Redflex a "toxic and soul-sucking place to work."

Redflex also has been sued in a number of other states including New Mexico, where the company and Creditwatch settled a $3.5 million class action lawsuit for using robocalls to collect on 89,000 unpaid tickets.

In evaluating proposals for automated traffic enforcement, the following criteria were used to grade firms:

experience, qualifications and expertise  25 percent

capabilities and resources  25 percent

project understanding and approach  10 percent

pricing  30 percent

quality, thoroughness and responsiveness  5 percent

references  5 percent

Wright said the recommendation of Redflex came from a review panel consisting of representation from the police department, the revenue side of the finance department and the information technology department.

Although collection methods were considered in evaluating proposals, Wright said it was important to realize that the collections outside of 60 days are being handled by another party.

"Federal agencies have a lot of protections for what they can do on the consumer side," Wright said. "But, they're not doing the actual collection past 60 days."
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley will be in Davenport on Dec. 18 to campaign for Iowa Rep. Jim Lykam, D-Davenport, in his bid to win the 45th District state Senate seat.

Lykam confirmed Thursday that O'Malley would be in the Quad-Cities for a small fundraiser on the Dec. 18, a Sunday. He said details still are being worked out.

"Im excited to have someone of his stature coming back to support me," Lykam said Thursday afternoon. Lykam was an O'Malley supporter in this year's Iowa caucuses.

O'Malley, who was a frequent visitor to the state, finished a distant third in the caucuses, coming in behind Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. He dropped out of the presidential race after the contest.

O'Malley had expressed an interest last month in running for chairman of the Democratic National Committee last month but withdrew from that contest shortly after.

Lykam is seeking to succeed the late Sen. Joe Seng in the 45th District, which includes much of west Davenport. He's facing Republican Michael Gonzales and Severin Gilbert, a Libertarian candidate.

A special election for the seat has been set for Dec. 27.
CEDAR RAPIDS President Barack Obama is premature in declaring victory over ISIS, according to U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, a former Iowa Army National Guard member who served in the Iraq war.

Hes extremely premature with that comment, Ernst said Thursday, referring to the president telling military service members the terrorist organization is a shadow of its former self.

In his last national security address, delivered at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Obama cited the killing of Osama bin Laden and disruption of terrorist plots directed from Afghanistan and Pakistan in outlining progress in the war on terrorism.

No foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned and executed an attack on our homeland  and its not because they didnt try, Obama said.

We are breaking the back of (ISIS), we are taking away its safe havens, and weve accomplished this at a cost of $10 billion over two years, the president said. The U.S. used to spend that much each month at the peak of the Iraq war.

The president went on to warn service members that a deadly threat persists and some form of violent extremism will be with us for years to come.

That is a more accurate portrayal of the situation, Ernst said.

In letters to the president, Ernst said she has emphasized that ISIS is  taking hold in Latin America now  continuing to develop in southeastern Asia and Africa.

So he is very premature with those statements, and he is taking our focus off ISIS, said Ernst, who commanded a transportation unit in combat areas in Iraq and Kuwait. His victory lap is very premature.

She hopes the incoming Trump administration takes the ISIS threat seriously because we cant allow ISIS to continue to spread and inspire other terrorists.
A roundup of state government and Capitol news items for Thursday:

DRUG REPORT: Heroin and other illicit opioids are spreading across Iowa, fueled by prescription opioid misuse and addiction, even as the use of purer methamphetamine and more potent forms of marijuana remains strong, according to a report issued by the Governors Office of Drug Control Policy. Office director Steve Lukan said the continued high rate of meth use and the deepening impact of marijuana use  particularly among Iowa youth  concerns him as much as the opioid abuse and must be part of a comprehensive strategy to address all addictive substances. Easier access to progressively more powerful forms of marijuana from states legalizing the addictive drug is contributing to negative impacts on an increasing number of Iowans, Lukan said. According to national data, marijuanas potency is growing exponentially, and as it rises so too do Iowas numbers of adolescents in substance use disorder treatment primarily due to marijuana, marijuana-related hospital emergency department visits, and drug-related traffic fatalities. About 76 percent of Iowa juveniles in substance use disorder treatment in 2016 cited marijuana as their primary drug of abuse. Meanwhile, marijuana-related emergency department visits reported in Iowa in 2015 rose to an average of 166 per month, the most in recent history and four times more than 10 years ago, he said. Among the positive signs, Lukan said, Iowa has the second lowest rate of current illicit drug use in the U.S., and the number of Iowa 11th graders who report drinking alcohol or smoking tobacco was reduced nearly in half over the past decade. To read the 2017 Drug Control Strategy, go to this story at qctimes.com.

SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARDS: Iowa Department of Education Director Ryan Wise announced on Thursday he is seeking input from Iowans on a draft of proposed statewide social studies standards for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Wise announced an online survey open through Jan. 9 and public forums in January to seek feedback on the draft standards. The draft represents the first statewide effort to update Iowas social studies standards, which were adopted in 2008. Iowas academic standards are the subject of ongoing review as part of the Governors Executive Order 83. The proposed social studies standards were written earlier this year by a team of Iowa educators and leaders. The draft standards are now subject to review by the Social Studies Standards Review Team, which will take into consideration public feedback. The teams final recommendations are expected to go to the State Board of Education in the spring. The online survey is available at svy.mk/2ggQ1aF.

BEEF CHECKOFF: The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship announced Thursday the passage of the referendum to reinstate the 50 cents per head Iowa beef checkoff that was held last month. Preliminary results of the Nov. 30 referendum show a vote of 56 percent to 44 percent in favor of reinstating the assessment. A simple majority was needed for passage. Ag department officials have until Dec. 30 to certify the referendum results. Collection of the checkoff will begin March 1, 2017. The Iowa beef checkoff will be mandatory, but refunds will be available to interested producers. The federal beef checkoff of $1 per head remains in place and would not be affected by the Iowa vote. A petition to vote on the state beef checkoff was delivered to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship on Sept. 2 by the Iowa Cattlemens Association. The petition contained more than 500 signatures of cattle producers in the state who were interested in a referendum.

NATURAL GAS PRICES: Natural gas prices spiked this week, according to officials with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, closing at $3.71/MMbtu. Other heating fuels also increased but by smaller increments, with propane prices increasing 2 cents from last weeks report with a statewide average of $1.06 per gallon while home heating rose 11 cents from last week, ending with a statewide average of $1.96. Motor fuels also are going up in Iowa with the price of regular unleaded gasoline averaging $2.14 per gallon across Iowa, according to AAA. That was 7 cents a gallon higher than a week ago and 2 cents higher than a year ago. The national average was $2.19 a gallon. Retail diesel fuel prices in Iowa rose 3 cents per gallon from last weeks price with a statewide average of $2.38.

 Times Bureau
CEDAR RAPIDS  In a move likely to calm diplomatic and trade concerns created by Donald Trumps rhetoric during and after the presidential campaign, the president-elect has tapped Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad to be his ambassador to China.

Branstad, whose familiarity with the worlds second-largest economy includes leading six trade missions to China, has a long, personal relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Branstads decades of experience in public service and long-time relationship with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders make him the ideal choice to serve as Americas Ambassador to China, Trump said Wednesday.

Branstad made his first visit to China in 1984 and has known current President Xi for more than 30 years.

That relationship and his experience trading with China will serve him well as he represents Americas interests and further develops a mutually beneficial relationship with Chinese leadership, Trump said.

Branstad, 70, the longest-serving state governor in American history, said he was honored and humbled to accept the nomination and the extraordinary opportunity it presents.

I believe that the respect and admiration built over a decades-old friendship between President Xi and me gives me an opportunity to help the president-elect and serve Iowa, the United States and the world for the better, Branstad said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.

His nomination appeared to sit well with the Chinese. At a news briefing in China, foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang referred to Branstad as an old friend and said his greater contribution to the development of China-U.S. relations would be welcome.

No matter who takes this position, were willing to work together to push the Sino-U.S. relationship to consistent, healthy and steady development, Kang said.

Thats a change in tone from Kang, who called Trumps recent phone call to Tsai Ing-wen, the leader of Taiwan, petty. Although the U.S. has relations with Taiwan, which China considers a rogue province, and the Obama administration is selling it military equipment, the call was not consistent with the United States one China policy of more than 40 years.

Earlier on the campaign trail and in Twitter posts, Trump attacked China for its trade and currency policies, as well as the way it has staked territorial claims in the South China Sea. He has threatened to slap tariffs of up to 45 percent on Chinese goods if Beijing didnt behave.

In his statement, Branstad seemed to acknowledge there will be some hand-holding involved in repairing the relationship with China, which he said is at a critical point.

Ensuring the countries with the two largest economies and two largest militaries in the world maintain a collaborative and cooperative relationship is needed more now than ever, he said.

Branstad may be just the person for that role, according to a University of Iowa official who has traveled to China with Branstad on a trade mission.

Branstads appointment could help cool tensions that might have flared with heated rhetoric during the campaign season, said Downing Thomas, the university associate provost for academic affairs and dean of International Programs. Branstads relationship with Xi and the experience he has logged forging partnerships in the country could benefit both nations, he said.

That steady-hand approach is the right one with China, Thomas said. Its quite a good match for the Chinese mentality  which is about stability.

John Stineman of the Iowa Chamber Alliance, seconded that thought but said the strength of the Branstad nomination is more than his relationship with Xi.

Outside of a former U.S. trade rep, I dont think there is anyone out there who has personally been involved in and negotiated more trade agreements than Terry Branstad, said Stineman, whose organization represents the 16 Chambers of Commerce and economic development organizations in Iowas largest communities. Hes well-qualified on the merits of his experience.

The Branstad-Xi friendship dates to 1985 when Xi, then an up-and-coming Communist Party member and low-level agricultural official, lived with a Muscatine family while leading an animal-grain delegation. It has continued over the years as they have visited each others nation, including Branstad leading a China trade mission in November.

Branstad, whose son, Eric, directed Trumps Iowa campaign, made an impression on Trump during the campaign, Trump's spokesman Jason Miller said. Even before the election, Trump appeared to have Branstad in mind for the China post. At a campaign rally in Sioux City just two days before the election, he referred to Branstad as our prime candidate to take care of China.

The favorable impression may have stemmed in part from Branstads willingness to defend some of Trumps controversial statements, including a suggestion that Muslims should be banned from entering the United States.

I think what Donald Trump is doing is saying we need to take this threat seriously, Branstad said after the Orlando nightclub shooting.

In addition to signaling that the president-elects relations with China may be more cordial and diplomatic than his campaign comments might indicate, the Branstad appointment should ease fears of a trade war.

This year, the U.S. has exported $92 billion worth of goods and services to China and imported $381 billion in Chinese goods. Iowa farmers and ag processors exported $2.3 billion in goods and $273 million in services to China in 2015, according to the U.S. China Business Council.

Branstad does have differences with Trump. Hes a supporter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal involving the United States and 11 Pacific Rim nations, but not China. Branstad sees it as key to expanding trade to that part of the world where soybean products are in demand and the appetite for meat is growing.

For trade and the importance of that for Iowa, its a real positive having him be ambassador, said Bruce Rastetter, president of Iowas Board of Regents, agribusiness mogul and Branstad confidante. In addition to agricultural trade, Rastetter sees a variety of potential benefits for the state and its public universities.

Its not about Iowa getting a leg up on other states in terms of China trade, Stineman said, but having the best possible person in the role to make sure the U.S. has a healthy trading relationship with China.

However, he conceded Iowa has a disproportionate opportunity when it comes to trade. We have more opportunity and more on the line.

Theres more work involved in negotiating several bilateral trade agreements, which Trump prefers, than multilateral pacts such as the TPP, but Grant Kimberly of the Iowa Soybean Association said he takes the appointment of Branstad as a good sign that Trump understands that China an important trade partner.

We need each other, and it certainly helps to have Branstad with a personal relationship with Xi to have a good conversation about tough issues, Kimberly said. He can be a great go-between for everybody.
Getahun Nana appointed President Development Bank of Ethiopia

Getahun Nana, vice-governor and director of bank supervision division at the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), has been appointed to lead the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE), a policy-lender bank which has financed major investment projects in Ethiopia worth billions of birr over the years.

Gethanu has served at the central bank for over 20 years where he has come to amass detailed and intimate knowledge about private commercial banks in Ethiopia, sources said. Over the years, Getahun has overseen the application of some of the most stringent banking regulations in the industry and so far he has not entertained a major incident in the industry under his watch.

In fact, banking is perhaps one of the few very successful private sector dominated industries in Ethiopia and Getahun was at the top of the supervisory division all the time.

Getahun replaced another long-serving banker in Ethiopia, Esayas Bahire, for the top job at DBE. Esayas has led the policy lender bank for close to eight years up until his removal from his position following a letter written by the supervisory agency earlier last week.

Esayas, on his part, has a cumulative experience of over 30 years in the banking industry in Ethiopia.

The letter written by Sintayehu Gebremichael (PhD), head of the Financial Enterprises Supervisory Agency, offered little by way of explanation as to why Esayas was removed but noted that the decision is effective immediately.

Esayas, however, said that he has no information as to what were the reasons behind his dismissal from the presidency but said: If it is to bring fresh leadership and energy to the bank, I dont object to my removal.

According to sources, Esayass dismissal came after a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn one week before his removal, which discussed the success and failure of commercial agriculture in Ethiopia in the past five years.

Sources also said that the bank has recently stopped advancing a new credit line to agricultural projects in Ethiopia which Esayas claims to be a decision that was taken following the governments move to discontinue the provision of new farmland to commercial farms in Ethiopia. He also argued that if there is at all any fault it could not be the banks.

The same sources also claimed that the meeting ended with a disagreement as to who should take the responsibility for the colossal failure in commercial agriculture in Ethiopia.

www.dbe.com.et
Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading.

Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy
With President-elect Donald Trumps thank you Iowa tour, its time for thank you notes.

Big oil thanks 295,310 third-party Florida voters for giving Donald an 119,770 vote victory. Donald will withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, weaken EPA clean air regulations, and end clean energy subsidies. But everybody likes warmer weather, right?

Big business thanks 145,694 Gary Johnson/Bill Weld Pennsylvania voters who may be from union households, giving Trump a 46,948 vote victory. The GOP can push for national right-to-work and weaken the National Labor Relations Board. But labor unions have never helped the middle class, right?

The military-industrial complex thanks 31,006 Jill Stein Wisconsin voters who may be anti-war, giving Donald a 22,177 vote victory. He will increase the defense budget and defeat enemies worldwide. But his temperament wont start any new conflicts?

Vice president-elect Mike Pence thanks North Carolina LGBTQ community members that did not vote for Hillary Clinton, giving a 177,529 vote victory. He feels homosexuality is a sin and will push for national religious liberty laws. But he cant stop marriage equality, right?

Donald thanks 16,139 Michigan Taxpayer Party voters who paid federal income tax giving a 10,704 vote victory. By not requiring him to disclose his taxes, he can pass tax laws friendly to him and bad for you. But he cant lower his tax liability below zero, right?

The GOP thanks the Electoral College after losing the popular vote for the second time in the past five elections. But Trump couldnt do more damage than George W. Bush, right?

Paul Dobroski

Bettendorf
IOWA CITY  Chinese nationals account for the largest share of international students attending Iowas public universities, leaving administrators hopeful about the potential for their campuses of the governors nomination to be the U.S. ambassador to China.

I hope it will continue the strong connections, said Downing Thomas, the University of Iowa associate provost for academic affairs and dean of International Programs, Wednesday. Not only for Chinese students to come here, but for all UI students to hopefully benefit from the ties and connections that result.

Of the 8,590 international students who enrolled this fall at one of the three Iowa public universities, 88.1 percent were from Asia  with 49.3 percent from China, according to Board of Regents documents.

At the UI specifically, 2,642 students from China enrolled this academic year, according to UI International Programs statistics. At least 135 UI students last year studied abroad or took an internship or other educational opportunity in China or Hong Kong, according to Thomas.

Gov. Terry Branstads nomination as ambassador could open up new partnerships and opportunities for the states universities.

Its possible that it will have an effect on recruitment abroad, Thomas said, noting, Theres a huge amount of competition, and its increasing, for international students.

The relationship between Iowa and China could especially be helpful in calming fears that flared following heated campaign rhetoric about immigration and diversity. Thomas said the nomination could reassure international students theyre welcome here.

I mean that not only in a financial sense, he said. They create an environment where students from Iowa can learn about the world.

Thomas, who traveled with Branstad to China in 2012 and saw him interact with Chinese officials, said the ambassadorship seems a good fit for Branstad, for Iowa and for the UI  which has a growing envoy of alumni in China.

Its extremely large, Thomas said. I would venture to say there are probably more UI alumni in two or three Chinese cities than in most U.S. cities except Chicago  if you just take a given city. There are a lot.

When former UI President Sally Mason visited China in 2012, about 100 people showed up for an alumni reception in Beijing. Thomas said he hopes to work with Branstad on future alumni events there.

It would be wonderful if soon-to-be Ambassador Branstad were to allow us to host an event for University of Iowa or the regent universities  That would be tremendous.

Regents President Bruce Rastetter said he foresees benefits for the state universities, although its too soon to say just what to expect.

From a relationship with China on working with them on Chinese students coming to Iowa public universities, I can only see positives, he said.

The universities in recent years have dialed down to some degree recruitment in China in hopes of diversifying the country-of-origin portfolio of their international populations. Rastetter said he doesnt know if this bond will affect Chinese applications in a dynamic way.

The good news is we would be able to manage that, and the universities would, on the entrance acceptances and what they think the right balance is, he said.
PIERRE | A Native American tribe in South Dakota misspent or couldn't account for roughly $1.4 million in federal funds for a rural water system, including thousands of dollars paid to officials for meetings they didn't attend and money spent on a backhoe that couldn't be found, according to a government audit report released Wednesday.

The Interior Department's Office of Inspector General reviewed roughly $2.6 million worth of grant money, interviewing federal and tribal employees and reviewing tribal financial documents.

The audit, launched after human rights organization alleged financial mismanagement in the Lower Brule Sioux tribe's government last year, found the tribe claimed $1.44 million in costs for the operation and maintenance of a water system between 2012 and 2015 that were unsupported, unallowable or unreasonable.

The resulting report calls for increased oversight by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, a water management agency in the Interior Department that the report said didn't adequately review federal financial reports submitted by the tribe before approving them. The bureau has an agreement with the tribe for the operation, maintenance and administration of the Lower Brule Sioux Rural Water System, which includes a plant that treats water from the Missouri River for rural tribal consumers and several nontribal towns.

The tribe's secretary and treasurer, Orville Langdeau, didn't immediately respond to a telephone message requesting comment from The Associated Press.

According to the report, officials found about $315,000 in payments to vendors and others without adequate documentation. For example, a roughly $35,000 invoice from 2012 for painting a water tower reads "Bill for painting water tower," and did not come with documentation such as timesheets or material and supply lists. The tribe also paid $7,000 for a Caterpillar backhoe that later couldn't be located.

Auditors discovered about $204,000 in internal transactions in the tribe's accounting system that didn't have adequate documentation. The tribe paid employees over $103,000 for things like incentive bonuses without supporting records. Members of a steering committee over a 2 1/2 year period received overpayments for attending meetings or compensation for meetings they weren't at totaling more than $24,000.

The audit also uncovered a more than $880,000 discrepancy between expenses on federal financial reports and the tribe's general ledger, and nearly $40,000 in unallowable payments to vendors  including more than $2,000 spent on a 2013 Christmas party for 50 guests at a restaurant in Pierre.

The Inspector General's office will refer its recommendations, which include developing better review procedures, to the Office of Policy, Management and Budget.

The Bureau of Reclamation intends to make contact with the tribal government by the end of the year to discuss resolving the financial issues highlighted in the audit, according to an agency response.

The Interior Department's watchdog office is still investigating the circumstances surrounding the tribe's purchase of a New York-based brokerage firm called Westrock Advisors Inc. that ultimately went bankrupt.
LAKE NORDEN | South Dakota's attorney general confirms it was the police chief of Lake Norden who was involved in a shooting that injured a woman this week.

The attorney general's office said in a statement Thursday that city officials have placed Police Chief Jimmy Murphy on administrative leave until further notice.

The officer-involved shooting happened at a home early Wednesday. The 22-year-old woman was being treated at a hospital.

Attorney General Marty Jackley has said the Division of Criminal Investigation will investigate the shooting at the request of Lake Norden police. No details of the shooting have been released.

Murphy told The Associated Press he had no comment.
SIOUX FALLS | Bond is set at $2 million cash-only for a 36-year-old man charged in the death of his 18-month-old stepson in southeastern South Dakota.

Keith Cornett was charged Thursday with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, manslaughter, child abuse and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. He remains in jail.

Officers were called to a Dell Rapids home Wednesday afternoon where they found the child unresponsive with traumatic injuries. The toddler, Hayden Wigton, could not be revived.

The Argus Leader reports Minnehaha County State's Attorney Aaron McGowan says an autopsy found six blows to the child's head and bite marks.

Authorities say the boy's mother and her husband had been staying at the home with a couple who was renting the house. The mother, Kristine Cornett, and the couple renting the house traveled to Sioux Falls Wednesday morning. The couple later returned and found the child unresponsive.
A free place for teens to gather and learn how to start a business or make a movie or start a band is the grand vision behind Wellfully's Life Above and Beyond program, which was granted $1.125 million in Vision Funds on Monday.

The proposal  in the top three on the Rapid City Vision Fund Citizens Committee's priority list, which the city council approved  includes a new building to house the organization's services, which help about 300 teens a year overcome addiction and mental health issues.

The Premier Adolescent Care Center is planned for construction to begin sometime next year on the lot directly across from the Roosevelt Park Ice Arena and Swim Center on Waterloo Street.

Wellfully Executive Director Jessica Olson said the new building will allow the 26-year-old organization to expand its services as the only provider of residential group care and residential addiction recovery treatment for adolescents in western South Dakota.

She said Wellfully has needed a new building for a while, and this grant will also allow the nonprofit to expand to fill service gaps for youths in the community.

The residential treatment program's current building is on East St. James Street, and there is another building on Cottonwood Street for after-school programs and administration. Wellfully also runs a mobile treatment program that served about 60 youths on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation last year.

The new Life Above and Beyond, or LAB, program will be more like an after-school activity open to all teenagers. The goal is to help them gain valuable life and work experience.

The program was called for by several citizens' comments for Rapid City's Comprehensive Plan, said Olson.

Teens hoping to enroll in LAB projects will have to earn their way into the classes, taught by local professionals, by volunteering for Wellfully.

"They come and volunteer and earn their badge to sign up for classes," Olson said. "That way they have ownership by volunteering in our coffee shop and gift shop to prove that they're engaged and committed, and that also makes it socioeconomically fair."

Each project will include a small-business model in which participants plan and create a budget along with acquiring the new skill. The sessions will last three to four weeks and feature a final presentation by the students.

With the grant from the Vision Fund, Wellfully has raised about $1.5 million to construct the building. The lot was purchased in November for about $500,000, according to Olson. She said the total budget for the two-story building, which will contain more than 27,000 square feet, is $5.6 million.

Olson said the Vision Fund award is a huge boost and the organization is working hard to raise the remaining money by offering unique naming rights opportunities for donors.

Olson said donors may name a parking spot or a wall, as just a couple of examples. She said donors will also be allowed to provide a quotation of support to go on the walls.

We really want there to be a sense for every teen who walks through that door to know how invested the community is in them and their future, Olson said.

Wellfully, formerly Wellspring, changed its name in 2013 to reflect the uniqueness of its program. It is starting a campaign to make people aware of the change.

Communications Coordinator Todd Pfaff said when someone searches for the name Wellspring on the internet, programs from all over the country pop up. However, typing Wellfully into the search engine brings up only the local organization.

Pfaff explained the origin of the name choice as the desire for a certain outcome.

"It came about because we want those who come through our program to come out fully well," Pfaff said. "It is something that is uniquely about us, and it works quite wellfully as an adverb."
PIERRE | The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission granted a 180-day delay Tuesday on a rate adjustment for South Dakota electricity customers of Northern States Power, which does business under the Xcel Energy name.

The commission staff wants time to take a closer look at the companys proposed increase, PUC lawyer Kristen Edwards said.

PUC Chairman Chris Nelson said the amount is about 3 cents per kilowatt-hour.

I want to commend staff for keeping your radar screens up, Nelson said.

The staff wants to investigate whether South Dakota customers would be paying more than necessary.

Xcel is buying electricity from three new solar-power installations in Minnesota.

A new Minnesota law requires utilities there to receive at least 1.5 percent of their electricity from solar generation by 2030.

Nelson said he doesnt want South Dakota ratepayers charged more than they should be for political decisions made in Minnesota.

Nelson said he doesnt know whether that is the case but that the delay would allow time to find out.

Commissioner Gary Hanson said hes always concerned about Colorado and Minnesota because those states do things in ways that South Dakota doesnt.

Xcel representative Jim Wilcox said the company understands the commissions desire and accepts the staffs request.

Wilcox said there would be a true-up at the end of 180 days.

Of immediate concern for the staff is the Marshall solar project that began producing energy in October. Xcel wanted to start recovering the costs through its fuel clause rider in December.

The company further wants to begin recovering costs for the Aurora solar project and the North Star solar project in January.
PIERRE | The Anti-Corruption Act approved by South Dakota voters last month is constitutional and doesnt hamper the existing employment arrangements of legislators or their family members, according to the state Attorney Generals Office.

A group of more than 12 legislators and some spouses, led by Senate Republican leader Blake Curd of Sioux Falls, want state Circuit Judge Mark Barnett to stop parts or all of Initiated Measure 22 from taking effect.

Their lawsuit receives its first hearing Thursday afternoon in Hughes County court. Assistant attorney general Steven Blair has filed state governments defense of IM 22.

Reducing the appearance of government corruption is a compelling government interest, Blair told the court in the states response.

Blair said there isnt a retroactive intent in the $100 limit on gifts to a legislator or family member from a lobbyist or a group that employs a lobbyist. Jobs they already have shouldnt be affected, he said.

The publicly funded Democracy Credits system for legislative and statewide candidates is legal, as well, Blair said. It relies on an appropriation of $9 per registered voter. Blair said the appropriation is legal, too.

In his budget speech Tuesday to the Legislature, Gov. Dennis Daugaard said he wouldnt recommend the $5 million needed in the year ahead for the Democracy Credits program.

Daugaard said the backers of IM 22 should apologize for what he described as the most poorly written law hed seen in his public life.

But Blair said IM 22 has a lot of court decisions that support its features.

Contrary to the legislators claim, Blair said the new Ethics Commission doesnt have to be attached to a state agency. He listed the South Dakota Housing Development Authority, the state Board of Regents and the state Board of Elections as similar examples.

Seeking to intervene in the case is the Sioux Falls law firm of Heidepriem, Purtel and Siegel on behalf of South Dakotans for Integrity, the group that sponsored IM 22, and its leaders, Darrell Solberg of Sioux Falls and Don Frankenfeld of Rapid City.

Representing Solberg and Frankenfeld is John Hinrichs of Sioux Falls. Other names on the intervention motion from the firm are Scott Heidpriem and Kasey Olivier. Attorney James Leach of Rapid City is also on it.

The legislators have engaged the Sioux Falls law firm of Woods, Fuller, Shultz and Smith, with James Moore as their lead attorney.
SPEARFISH | On the heels of two arrests Tuesday in connection with two October armed robberies of convenience stores in this Northern Hills community, Nebraska authorities Wednesday night apprehended a third Belle Fourche man who is a suspect in one of the robberies.

Spearfish Police Chief Pat Rotert said Thursday that, based on information gleaned from the investigation of the armed robberies, police alerted Nebraska law enforcement agencies that the suspect had relatives in their state and might have fled to their area.

Wednesday evening, Nebraskas Deuel County Sheriffs deputies arrested Kameron Michael Reynolds, 22, in Chappell, Neb., a small town located north of the Colorado border about 300 miles south of Spearfish. Reynolds faces felony counts of armed robbery and grand theft in connection with the Oct. 23 robbery of the Phillips 66 gas station at Interstate 90s Exit 8, Rotert said.

Reynolds was booked into the Cheyenne County, Neb., jail, and was expected to make his first court appearance on Thursday, the chief said.

Two other Belle Fourche men, Kirk James Jolley and Jacob Tanner Daniel, both 20, are being held at the Lawrence County Jail, charged with two counts of first-degree armed robbery in the theft of an undisclosed sum of money from the same Phillips 66 robbery and an Oct. 8 theft at the Fresh Start Corner convenience store at Evans Lane and U.S. highway 14. Both were arrested Tuesday.

Rotery said good old-fashioned detective work led to the arrests of the three men.

I credit it to a lot of hard work by the investigators involved, he said. Yes, there was a tip that came in that pointed us in a good direction, but the investigation by Spearfish police and the Lawrence County Sheriffs Office involved a lot of time and effort.

Rotert said a timetable for Reynolds extradition back to South Dakota to face charges had not been determined, but he also said he was confident that all of the suspects directly involved in the two armed robberies were now in custody.

Armed robbery is obviously a very serious offense, and to have two of them in close proximity and having those responsible out there for a time, puts everybody on edge, he said. It just makes us happy in how it was resolved in a timely fashion.
State Duma passes bill to block access to websites with information on synthetic drugs

MOSCOW, December 8 (RAPSI)  The State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian Parliament, passed in the third and final reading a bill allowing to restrict access to websites containing information about potentially dangerous psychoactive substances without prior obtaining a court ruling.

The bill was submitted to the State Duma in April.

Under the new law, out-of-court blocking will apply in Russia to websites publishing information about methods of creation, production, use and sales locations of new psychedelic drugs expected to be dangerous to health and life including synthetic cannabinoids (spice), stimulants (salts), Utopiates, and their precursors.

The law is aimed to improve efficiency of countering action against distribution of information about new species of hallucinogenic drugs, the government said when introducing the bill.

From now on, such websites are to be put on the Russian blacklist of websites, which was launched on November 1, 2012.

The respective law envisages that websites may be blacklisted by the Federal Service for Drug Control, the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Protection and Welfare (suicide-related content) and the Federal Agency for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (child pornography). Starting February 1, 2014, the register also includes websites promoting extremism and mass riots.

According to the law, a web page containing prohibited content will be blocked unless removed within three days of the notice. However, many communications operators do not have the technical capacity to block certain pages, and therefore they often have to restrict access to entire websites.
Russian watchdog sets conditions for unblocking access to LinkedIn - report

MOSCOW, December 8 (RAPSI)  Russia's communications watchdog Roskomnadzor ready to unblock access to LinkedIn's website under certain conditions, Rambler News Service reported on Thursday, citing head of Roskomnadzor Alexander Zharov.

According to Zharov, representatives of the watchdog will hold a meeting with representatives of LinkedIn on Thursday.

The conditions are very simple: LinkedIn must declare that it localizes personal data of Russian citizens on Russian territory. During the meeting we should discuss acceptable terms of this localization. Usually, we give each company 6-8 months to do this. When everything is done and proved on paper, we will check the documents and if we are sure it was done, the social network will return to Russia, Zharov said.

On November 17, Roskomnadzor added LinkedIn on the blacklist and notified internet providers about blocking.

In August, Moscows Tagansky District Court granted a motion filed by Roskomnadzor seeking to block access to LinkedIn in Russia. The Moscow City Court upheld the ruling on November 10.

Roskomnadzor claimed that the social network violated the law on personal data storage.

LinkedIn said that Roskomnadzor had lodged the claim unreasonably. If personal data owners consider that their rights have been violated, they are to turn to court and apply to Roskomnadzor. In this case, the regulator has turned to court advocating for indefinite range of persons, the companys representative said in court.

The federal law requiring that data operators must store personal data of Russian citizens on servers located within the territory of the Russian Federation became effective on September 1, 2015. The law affects all businesses operating in Russia to the extent that they collect, record, systematize, accumulate, store, correct (update, change), extract personal data on citizens of the Russian Federation, and those dealing with clients from Russia. Compliance monitoring is vested with Russias Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor), which would ask a Russian court to block access to sites operating in violation of the law.

LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network with more than 450 million members in over 200 countries and territories, according to its website.
Describing what goes on at Synesis7 isnt an easy task.

But if you ask company founder and Chief Executive Officer Allen Ellmaker what goes on at his Butte-based company you might get an answer that goes a bit like this: Synesis7 takes large amounts of client data and converts it into a standardized format.

For instance, the company can take maintenance data from an airplane, automate its conversion using software, and use it to create a technical manual.

Today the company does mostly contact work with the U.S. Navy Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), but according to Ellmaker, getting his company to where it is today wasnt easy.

In fact, Synesis7 almost didnt happen.

Back in the early 2000s, Ellmaker was getting the company off the ground, and he had just been handed his first contract with NAVAIR, to the tune of $5 million, but there was a problem: he didnt have the capital to follow through on the contract. He had depleted his resources just to get the contract signed, Ellmaker said.

Although Ellmaker grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, he always had an affinity for the northern mountain states. So when it seemed as though his vision of starting his own data conversion company was in jeopardy, he called then Butte Local Development Executive Director Evan Barrett  whom he knew through prior projects with other companies  who said he would offer a financial package to the company if Ellmaker promised to locate his business in Butte.

Months later, with a BLDC loan in hand and also loans from the Urban Revitalization Agency and Granite Mountain Bank, Ellmaker set up shop on Alaska Street in Uptown Butte.

Today the company boasts 27 employees  and three of them are Ellmakers children.

His daughter Holly Smith is the director of human resources and administration, while his son Andrew Ellmaker is director of technology and engineering services. Meanwhile, daughter Heidi Kessler wears several hats in the company.

The longest stop weve ever been in is Butte, said Smith, explaining how the family moved around a lot before Synesis7 got started.

Before coming to Butte, Ellmaker held a variety of roles in companies that led the way in data conversion.

After spending three years in the Army after graduating high school, Ellmaker attended Florida State University, where he received a degree in business with an emphasis on management information systems.

His first job was with Electronic Data Systems, founded by none other than former presidential candidate Ross Perot.

Ellmaker said EDS managed data systems for its clients, including banks, Blue Cross and Blue Shield and various federal agencies.

Eventually EDS was brought by General Motors, which sold it to Hewlett-Packard, where Ellmaker worked as a software engineer, among other roles.

Pure and simple Ive always been involved in systems, software development and systems integration, said Ellmaker. [But] the big break for me was I ended up with Northern Telecom, which became Nortel.

Ellmaker said in the 1980s Northern Telecom was the first company to come up with a digital switch for the central offices of telephone companies.

They were three or four years ahead of the competition, and when they did that, their growth was amazing.

Ellmaker moved up in the company, becoming a member of the corporate strategic planning department of one of its divisions, but eventually decided to launch his own business, thus sowing the seeds for Synesis7.

It was always in my blood to want to go out on my own, said Ellmaker.

Currently Synesis7 deals in government contracts, but Ellmaker and Smith said they want to commercialize their products and sell them to the private sector by the end of 2017. The two said they believe the move will help the company expand.

As for living in Butte, Smith and Ellmaker said theyre living the good life.

Ellmaker noted that by locating outside a hub like Silicon Valley or New York, hes being going against the grain of industry thinking.

However, locating in a mountain state has come with a few challenges  after all, it takes a certain kind of individual to pack his or her bags and move to Butte to work for Synesis 7  but it also comes with benefits.

For one, Ellmaker said, in Montana hes been able to get to know his congressional delegation, which he said wouldnt be possible in other parts of the country.

But perhaps the greatest benefit, he said, is the support hes received.

You build relationships with people who want you to succeed.
POLSON  The unusual case of a husband and wife who blame each other for the murder of their teenage nephew in Arlee in February moved a step closer to a final resolution Wednesday.

Stephen Seese changed his plea to guilty, to a reduced charge of accountability to negligent homicide, for his part in the death of 18-year-old Richard Warner.

In the plea agreement, Lake County Attorney Steve Eschenbacher will be allowed to argue for as much as a 40-year prison term for Seese, whose sentencing is now scheduled for Jan. 18.

Seeses attorney, Lisa Kauffman, will be allowed to argue for less.

It will, Eschenbacher has said, be an unsatisfactory resolution, but is the only way he can be sure both Stephen and Kassandra Seese are held accountable for the homicide.

Warner was brutally beaten to death in mid-February. His body was then hidden in a shower stall in the camper-trailer where the Seeses continued to live with their two young children for several weeks.

The body was badly decomposed by the time it was discovered on June 2, after the Seeses had moved out and other people arrived to move the trailer. The length of time between the murder and the time the body was found made it difficult for medical examiners to even determine a cause of death, Eschenbacher has said.

Both Seeses say the final blow that killed their nephew, who had been staying with them, was delivered with a hammer.

But Stephen claims his wife inflicted the fatal blow. Kassandra says Stephen did.

With both pointing fingers at each other, and a lack of physical evidence to prove which one is lying, it could be possible for juries to deliver not-guilty verdicts for both based on reasonable doubt if the cases went to trial, Eschenbacher said.

***

In a halting voice, Stephen Seese on Wednesday read from a statement he had written out and accepted responsibility for my part on the day I lost my nephew and best friend.

He said he arrived at the camper-trailer to find his wife and Warner arguing. It wasnt the first time the two had fought, he said, and he became angry because he said Warner had promised that the fighting would stop.

Our fight was pretty short, Seese said. I beat him up pretty good. I stopped when I seen him bleeding from his nose and his eyes.

Seese said he retreated from the camper, called his mother, spoke to her for about 20 to 30 minutes and told her Warner needed to leave, and she needed to come get him.

When I came back in the trailer, Richard was in a different spot. It looked like he fell asleep, Seese said. I went to wake him up, and started CPR for what felt like an hour.

His wife tried to push him away while he performed CPR, he said. She told him Warner had been crying while he was outside the trailer and on the phone, and that she had hit their nephew with a hammer.

Midway through his statement, Seese indicated he couldnt continue, and his attorney finished reading it for him.

***

Kassandra told him to bury Warners body, but I couldnt do it. I was too emotional, Kauffman read from Seeses statement. Kassie didnt know I didnt bury him.

He decided to put the body in the bathroom instead, and said he wanted to tell everyone what had happened and then kill himself.

Instead, the Seeses told Warners father and stepmother, Joe and Tabitha Warner of Osburn, Idaho, that Richard Warner had gotten upset over something, packed his things and left. They didnt know where hed gone.

Kassandra reportedly later told investigators she had used Febreze to combat the odor of rotting flesh in the trailer.

Tabitha Warner and Kassandra Seese are sisters. Kassandra and her two young children even moved in with her sister and brother-in-law in Idaho, several weeks after the Warners son was murdered in Arlee.

Kassandra Seese also got a plea agreement, and two weeks ago was sentenced to 20 years, with 15 suspended, for accountability to negligent homicide.

Joe and Tabitha Warner were unhappy with the sentence, calling it too lenient. Tabitha said she was especially upset given that, after Richard had been killed, her sister had lived under the Warners roof, relied on them for money and transportation, and let them believe Joes son was missing and not contacting his family.

Its disgusting that the only two people who know what happened cant testify against each other, Eschenbacher said at Kassandra Seeses sentencing. And they hid his body for so long it actually benefited them.

Stephen Seese was originally charged with deliberate homicide.

While only the Seeses know which of them delivered the fatal blow, Eschenbacher said medical examiners were able to determine that Richard Warner also suffered broken bones, broken ribs, (a) broken jaw  outrageous blows directed repeatedly at this kid during the fight with Stephen Seese.
Two Hamilton High School students are tackling the issue of childhood hunger.

Senior Josephine Lange and sophomore Olivia Zepeda were selected to serve on the Governors Council to End Childhood Hunger.

The two attended the orientation and training in Helena on Saturday.

After learning that in Montana, more than 48,500 children do not know where or when their next meal will come, each contemplated their No Kids Hungry Campaign project for No Kids Hungry Awareness week, April 17-23.

Lange said she wants to make the world a better place and is mad about the problem of hunger.

Childhood hunger is really important to me and its upsetting that we dont have this problem fixed in Montana, Lange said. I see hungry kids at my job at Keystone (after school program). Kids are hungry in our community.

Lange volunteers in the community, enjoys film production and has formed her own production company.

Lange said for her project she plans to focus on fundraising, for a nice community dinner, the No Kids Hungry Campaign and community education.

My main project will be a nice dinner with pulled pork, corned bread, salad and dessert, she said. It will be free to the public. Ive secured a location and will talk to Key Club, the volunteer program, to get Hamilton kids involved in preparing and serving the food.

Lange said she will create a video public service announcement and create a fundraising event to pay for the dinner.

Ill get up and talk about No Kids Hungry and the dinner, she said. Ill raise money for the dinner and any extra goes to No Kids Hungry to prevent childhood hunger in Montana.

Zepeda said she is passionate about helping others.

Im thrilled to be part of the Youth Leadership Council where I will be able to make a difference in my community, state and hopefully country, she said. The orientation in Helena was a really cool experience. I learned a lot about project planning, how I should plan my project and make it successful.

Zepeda said the number of kids in Montana that have food insecurity did not surprise her.

Learning that more than 48,500 children are food insecure refreshed my memory and thats why I wanted to join the council so I could do my best to decrease the number, she said. It saddens me so I want to do what I can.

Zepeda said she sees hunger in the school but that sometimes it is hard to tell who is hungry.

I have friends who have developed habits like they just want tons of food. They horde it, kind-of, she said. They are hungry all the time and have trouble focusing in class. I havent experienced it full-on in the classroom but I have a general idea and now what to expect and have seen smaller instances of it.

Zepeda said she has not finalized her project.

I want something that involves the whole school like a competitive fund raiser, she said.

Zepeda is in Key Club, which is doing a food drive now but her project will be in April.

She said she is enjoying her involvement with the First Lady Youth Leadership Council and the training on Saturday.

It was great to meet students from all across Montana, Zepeda said. Its going to be a cool experience and I hope I can help people.

Hamilton Principal Dan Kimzey said he is proud to have two students serving on the Governors Council to End Childhood Hunger.

Olivia and Josephine are the type of young ladies who will have the heart and motivation to help people, Kimzey said. One of this years themes at HHS is if youre not doing something to make somebodys day better, youre wasting your time. Definitely, no time wasted with these girls. Making others lives better is how they operate. The opportunity they have to work with the First Lady and the government to implement plans to help kids in need in our community gives them a chance to expand their influence well-beyond Hamilton.

Gov. Bullock said ending childhood hunger is solvable.

Its truly incredible to see these youth leaders take part in a movement where they make a difference to their classmates and friends, Bullock said. This effort is valuable and its done the Montana way  by talking to our neighbors and seeking community-specific solutions.

First Lady Lisa Bullock said it is inspiring to see youth leaders fight to ensure children have food security.

It takes concerned community members and students, like those who serve on this council, to make an impact  and fortunately, this is an issue where we all can really make a difference, Lisa Bullock said.

According to Marissa Perry, Policy and Outreach Governors Office of Community Service, last year the youth leaders organized 30 projects in 16 communities across the state. Projects included weekend backpack and elementary school snack programs, fun runs, food drives, fundraisers and community discussions.

There are lots of reasons why one in five children in Montana go hungry that are similar to the reasons a family has to go to a food bank for a meal, Perry said. Poverty and unexpected events (healthcare issues, unexpected death in family, loss of employment) can make it difficult to put food on the table, and unfortunately, that means sometimes a kid has to go without a meal during the school day or over the weekend.

Perry said citizens in Montana are working to solve the hunger.

Folks can help by donating to weekend backpack programs at local food pantries or local schools, she said. During the holiday season, Montanans can look to local resources to make sure students have food on the table over holiday breaks. Weve seen communities make a big difference by coming together and providing whats needed, as well as teachers who have seen improved behavior when students get three meals a day.
SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio - RMS Investment Corp. expects to close Monday on a financing package for the $97.2 million first phase of the Van Aken District project, an endeavor to create a transit-centric downtown for this East Side suburb.

On Thursday, the Cleveland Cuyahoga County Port Authority's board of directors signed off on plans to issue two buckets of bonds, which will help pay for construction of apartments, offices, retail and structured parking near the intersection of Warrensville Center Road and Van Aken Boulevard.

Demolition of an older shopping center on part of the site started last month, and RMS aims to open the new buildings in July 2018.

The bonds are the last substantial slug of financing that RMS needed to start building a project that's been under discussion for more than two years. The developer still is seeking a $2 million state loan through an Ohio Water Development Authority program. But the verdict on that potential piece of funding, tied to storm water management, won't come until January.

Meanwhile, RMS is ready to push forward, with the rest of the puzzle pieces in place.

The port will issue up to $60 million in taxable bonds, split into two transactions.

PNC Bank will buy the bonds tied to a 102-unit apartment building, which will include roughly 30,000 square feet of first-floor retail and 81 underground parking spaces.

The other part of the project comprises 60,000 square feet of offices; more retail, including a food hall and freestanding restaurants; and a parking garage.

Foreign investors are lined up to buy the bonds tied to those buildings, through a deal orchestrated by the Cleveland International Fund and Civitas Capital Group of Dallas. Civitas and the Cleveland International Fund, collaborating for the first time, both amass overseas money for loans to projects through a federal program that offers wealthy investors U.S. residency if they help to create jobs here.

As part of the bond deals, RMS has agreed to the port's requirements for including minority-owned and female-owned businesses in the project. Luke Palmisano of RMS told the port board that approximately 85 percent of the labor will be union workers. Marous Brothers Construction and Turner Construction Co. are managing the job.

Documents presented at the port board meeting show that the bond deals will generate an estimated $52 million for the project. RMS is contributing $20.4 million in cash equity and land value. Phase one of the district also involves a $4.3 million Cuyahoga County loan, a $6.2 million grant from Shaker Heights and state grants totaling $800,000.

All of that funding is allocated for new construction.

RMS obtained separate financing to renovate the nearby Shaker Plaza shopping center, an $11.5 million investment that's included in the nearly $100 million phase-one total. The developer, which put $4 million in cash into the Shaker Plaza revamp, moved some retailers to Shaker Plaza from Van Aken Center, the 1950s shopping strip that is being razed, and is bringing in new tenants, including a few stores that already have opened.

In mid-2018, those existing retailers will get new neighbors across the street, including watchmaker Shinola Detroit and food and beverage tenants selected through a partnership between RMS and Cleveland chef Jonathon Sawyer. The planned office building is half-leased, to tenants including ABA Insurance, a University Hospitals suburban pediatrics office, a financial services advisory firm and RMS's own offices.

RMS is the private investment manager for members of the Ratner, Miller and Shafran families, the founding families of Cleveland-based Forest City Realty Trust, Inc. The Van Aken Distrist is not a Forest City project, though RMS clearly is drawing on the urban-development expertise and connections of former and current Forest City executives and board members.
Guwahati : Three wild elephants were died and another injured in three separate incidents in Assam on Wednesday as the state lost seven panchyderm in past 72 hours.

According to the reports, a wild elephant was died at Pulibagan area near Simalugura hill along Nagaon-Karbi Anglong border on Wednesday.

A top state forest department official said that, the male elephant of a herd was injured while fighting among themselves on Tuesday evening, but succumbed his injuries on Wednesday morning.

In separate incident, another big animal was died at Madhupur Patargaon area in Upper Assam's Dibrugarh district.

The wild elephant was died after consuming suspected poisonous food,'A the forest official said.

On the other hand, another elephant was died at Daranggiri area near Rongjuli in Goalpara district, who injured after hit by a speeding goods train on Tuesday, in which a panchyderm was killed on spot.

Earlier on December 5, three panchyderm including two female pregnant were died after a speeding passenger train hit them at Jogijan near Hojai, when they were crossing railway tracks.

On the other hand, an elephant was bullet injured at Numaligarh in Golaghat district, while miscreants attacked the big animal.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
Guwahati, December 7 : Security forces had apprehended two militants and recovered huge cache of arms and ammunition from different areas in Assam.

Guwahati city police had recovered an AK series rifle and huge quantity of ammunition from Chandrapur area, outskirts of the Assam's capital city on Tuesday night, police said on Wednesday.*

Following a tip-off, police had launched operation at Bonda Chapaidong area near Chandrapur and recovered one AK-81 rifle, two magazines and 52 rounds ammunition which were buried by suspected ULFA militants.*

Police has started investigation into the arms recovered incident.

On the other hand, security personnel had apprehended a ULFA(I) militant from Mahadevpur area near Bordumsa in Upper Assam's Tinsukia district on Wednesday.

The nabbed militant was identified as Bikash Gogoi and security personnel recovered a point 22 pistol and several rounds live ammunition in possession from him.

Police also apprehended a hardcore militant belonging to NDFB from Hojai district.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
Kathmandu, Nepal: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has on Thursday pledged to provide a grant assistance of more than Rs 2 billion for generating 25 megawatts solar power.

Organizing a news conference in Kathmandu, Kenichi Yokoyama, the ADB country director for Nepal said the assistance was provided from the Climate Fund. The assistance was made to promote and encourage the private sector participation in solar energy production, Kenichi Yokoyama.

The ADB has stated that the grant would be provided to the power developers concerned through the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA). It is expected that about 25 megawatts power will be generated by 2018.
KATHMANDU, Dec 8: The Investigation Committee that probed into the road accident involving former Minister for Home Affairs Madhav Prasad Ghimire has concluded that the incident took place when his jeep tried to overtake a truck.

The Committee coordinated by former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kuber Singh Rana has concluded that the jeep, driven by Ghimire himself, plunged into Trishuli River at Ghoptebhir in Chitwan district on September 25 while overtaking. The Kathmandu-bound jeep was coming from Mustang with the family members of Ghimire after concluding a religious trip.

The report prepared by the Committee also established the fact that since Ghimire was driving himself, no other persons could be held accountable for it. Furthermore, the report persuades to acknowledge the event as a mere fateful accident.

Submitting the report, Coordinator Rana explained, "The incident took place when the jeep driven by Madhav Prasad Ghimire was trying to overtake a truck and struck with another truck coming from the opposite direction."He added, "The jeep then lost its balance and fell into the Trishuli River."

It is also assumed that Ghimire failed to use brake so as to take his jeep under his control.

Although the Committee was likely to submit its report within 15 days since its formation on October 13, the report was only released on Dec 8. RSS
Kathmandu, Nepal: CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli has demanded to announce the date for local elections at the earliest.

Oli, who is also the leader of the main opposition party, demanded to the government to announce the local body election while welcoming newcomers from various parties to the UML at the party central office, Dhumbarahi on Thursday.

The party had organized a function to welcome 92 leaders and cadres of various parties into the UML.

Addressing the function, Oli demanded to announce the date of the local body election without specifying the situation that local bodies are not fixed yet as per the new constitution of Nepal.

As the transition of the country will be ended only after successful completion of elections at local, provincial and federal, we demand the government to announce the date for the local body election as soon as possible, Oli said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~







TO ADVERTISE ON OUR BLOG







The above are paid ads. To place yours for just $25/month, call Jim Keyworth at (928) 517-1103 or e-mail peoplesgazette@gmail.com. Banner ads are also available across the bottom and top of the blog.







(The Rim Country Gazette Blog is currently averaging over 5,000 visits per month. Our readership survey shows Gazette readers are better educated and more affluent than the average newspaper reader. Gazette Blog ads reach the people most likely to vote and to use your services and products.)







~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~








SNc Channels:



Search

About Salem-News.com



Dec-07-2016 22:50 TweetFollow @OregonNews Winter Storm Warning for NW Oregon This is the strongest storm of this type in quite a while.

Snow in McMinnville from West Second Street, earlier this week.

Photo by Scott Stoutenberg

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning for Southwest Washington and Northwest Oregon, Thursday and Thursday night. An unusually strong winter storm will bring mixed precipitation across much of Southwest Washington and Northwest Oregon that will have significant impacts spreading North over the area Thursday. The storm will continue in the Northern areas into Thursday night and into the Columbia River Gorge into Friday. This is the strongest storm of this type in quite a while. The Winter Storm Warning for snow and ice remains in effect from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday for the Central Willamette Valley, including the cities of Salem and McMinnville. TIMING:

Beginning around sunrise Thursday and continuing through most of Thursday afternoon. Precipitation should turn to mainly freezing rain between 10 a.m. and Noon.

Beginning around sunrise Thursday and continuing through most of Thursday afternoon. Precipitation should turn to mainly freezing rain between 10 a.m. and Noon. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS:

Generally 1 to 2 inches, though accumulations of 2 to 5 inches will be possible for locations closer to the Coast Range such as Newberg, Dallas and McMinnville.

Generally 1 to 2 inches, though accumulations of 2 to 5 inches will be possible for locations closer to the Coast Range such as Newberg, Dallas and McMinnville. ICE ACCUMULATIONS:

Up to a quarter inch of ice accumulation is possible later Thursday morning and Thursday afternoon.

Up to a quarter inch of ice accumulation is possible later Thursday morning and Thursday afternoon. IMPACTS:

Travel will be difficult Thursday, some power disruptions are possible.

Travel will be difficult Thursday, some power disruptions are possible. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS:

A Winter Storm Warning means significant amounts of snow, sleet and ice are expected or occurring. Strong winds are also possible. This will make travel very hazardous or impossible. _________________________________________

Weather | Traffic | Oregon | Most Commented on





Articles for December 7, 2016 | Articles for December 8, 2016
SNc Channels:



Search

About Salem-News.com



Dec-08-2016 23:45 TweetFollow @OregonNews Oregon's Governor Advises Against Partying and Driving Over the past 5 years during the holidays, 14 people died in crashes and half of those were alcohol-involved crashes.

Don't ruin a good thing. Party responsibly!

(SALEM, Ore.) - Members of the Governors Advisory Committee on DUII are reminding motorists this holiday season about the dangers of driving under the influence, which includes alcohol and other impairing drugs, such as cannabis (marijuana). Impaired driving is completely preventable, said Chuck Hayes, chair of the Governors Advisory Committee on DUII. All it takes is a little planning. We want the public to remember that its a choice. Drivers have a responsibility to drive sober and to not use impairing substances if they intend to drive. We want to keep people from making a poor choice that harms others and themselves. Last year over the Christmas holiday, four people died in crashes and one was alcohol-involved. Over the past five years during the official holiday, 14 people died in crashes and half of those were alcohol-involved crashes. Some of these crashes have weather as a major contributor  but because dangerous weather is always a possibility in December in Oregon, being sober and rested before you get behind the wheel is even more important. In years past, Oregon and other states were primarily concerned with drivers under the influence of alcohol. That continues to be a major concern, but now cannabis has also become a major concern, especially with the legalization of cannabis (marijuana) in Oregon. We know marijuana affects reaction time, short-term memory, hand-eye coordination, concentration and perception of time and distance  all of which are vital functions for driving safely. Hayes also cautioned people that combining alcohol with marijuana is even more dangerous, multiplying the adverse effects on a persons ability to operate a vehicle safely. Law enforcement will be patrolling for safety The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration continues to provide national attention to promote impaired driving prevention campaigns with the slogan Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over from Dec. 16  Jan. 1. Oregon law enforcement agencies will be using ODOT-administered grants to add extra patrols throughout the state looking for drivers impaired by any substance, legal or illegal. Oregon State Police stayed busy during the 2015 holiday period (Dec. 16  Jan. 3). According to Drug Recognition Experts Coordinator Sgt. Evan Sether, OSP make 156 DUII arrests. Drive Sober We investigated at least 724 crashes during that time frame, Sether said. Many of them involved some sort of impairment. Governor Kate Brown has proclaimed December as 3D Month, which stands for Drunk and Drugged Driving Awareness Month, in order to encourage conversations about making smart choices during the upcoming holiday season. Residents and communities in Oregon need to continue to demand that friends and family members be responsible, avoid driving under the influence of any intoxicants, and condemn irresponsible and life-threatening driving choices, Governor Brown wrote in the proclamation. Safety advocates in Oregon continue to gather facts about how marijuana, now that it is legal to use recreationally, affects driving, according to Dan Estes, ODOTs Impaired Driving Program manager. There continues to be this myth that marijuana doesnt affect a persons ability to safely operate a vehicle, but evidence shows that it does, Estes said. We need to continue to increase awareness about that and prevent impaired driving. Oregon has 219 police officers statewide that are trained as Drug Recognition Experts. In addition, Oregon continues to increase basic drug-detection training to police officers through the Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE) program. According to Sgt. Sether, more than 980 police officers have been trained in ARIDE since 2009. _________________________________________

Prohibition | Marijuana | Medicine | Business | Most Commented on





Articles for December 7, 2016 | Articles for December 8, 2016 |
Thank you for reading!

Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.
A judge ruled Thursday that two men charged in connection to the 2015 murder of Marilyn Joy Pharis will have two separate juries when they go 
We hope you are having a great holiday season. As the year winds down, take a few minutes to go through this gallery of the top 2016 stories f
You have permission to edit this collection.

Edit Close
Like our founder and editor Todd Brown, I am obsessed with, and flummoxed by, the troubled history and ongoing weirdness surrounding Russia's modern adaptation of Viy. Ten years in the making, the film finally got released last year under the international title Forbidden Empire, and, while it was a fun film full of whimsy and wonderful creatures, it was, by all accounts, something of a disaster all in.

Except, maybe it wasn't?

Earlier in 2016 it was announced that Viy-2 was rushing into production with the aid of Chinese funding and two massive stars on board, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jackie Chan. Fantasy regular, Jason Flemyng also returns to reprise his role as cartographer Jonathon Green along with Rutger Hauer.

Here's where it gets weird again. If Russia is intent on turning the adventures of Jonathon Green into a franchise, you'd think that either "Viy-2" or "Forbidden Empire" would stick as titles. Nope, the film has undergone yet another name change, becoming the mouthful that is Journey to China: The Mystery of Iron Mask, eliminating any connection to the famous Russian fable or the first film adaptation.

Below you'll find the first trailer for the film. It's in Russian with no English subs.

Since the film's two biggest names don't make an appearance in the trailer, we've also included the first official image of Schwarzenegger and Chan. Together at last!

Synopsis: The English traveler Jonathan Green receives from Peter the Great an order to map the Russian Far East. Once again he sets out for a long journey full of incredible adventures that will eventually lead him to China.

The cartographer will unexpectedly face a lot of breathtaking discoveries, encounter bizarre creatures, meet with Chinese princesses, and confront deadly martial arts masters and even the king of all dragons - the Dragon King. What could be more dangerous than meeting eye to eye with Viy, except doing it again? What would be stronger this time - a staunch skepticism of the scientist or the old black magic that has seized power of Eastern lands?

I have no idea when this is coming out. If all goes well, it will be under 10 years.
If you are currently a print subscriber but don't have an online account, select this option. You will need to use your 7 digit subscriber account number (with leading zeros) and your last name (in UPPERCASE).
Illegal trade of diamonds from Central African Republic to Cameroon financing conflict, study

Illicit trafficking of diamonds from the Central African Republic (CAR) into neighbouring Cameroon continues to partially finance an almost three-year conflict, a new report has shown.

According to Partnership Africa Canada, Cameroons poor controls, smuggling and corruption, explain the countrys failure to implement the Kimberley Process, an international diamond certification scheme meant to stop the trade of conflict diamonds.

Unrest in CAR dates back to early 2013 when mostly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power, triggering retaliations by "anti-balaka" Christian militias who drove tens of thousands of Muslims from the south in a de facto partition of the country.

As a result, the Kimberley Process banned in May that year the export of diamonds from the landlocked country. Such prohibition was partially lifted this year, but todays report shows the flow of conflict diamonds from CAR to international markets goes on.

The lengthy document comes on the eve of the Kimberley Process Review Visit to Cameroon, which evaluates the nation's implementation of internal controls that govern diamond production and trade.

The authors followed Cameroonian traders who usually buy diamonds from across the river in CAR and then sell them to retailers in Cameroon's East region.

Such diamonds, the reports says, are "self-declared" as originating in Cameroon and Kimberley Process Certificates are issued attesting to their conflict-free status, allowing for their export to international markets.

Partnership Africa Canada asked the Kimberley Process to place Cameroon under Special Measures, which would require a tightening of internal controls within a three-month period. During that time, no diamond would leave Cameroon without expert and external oversight.

The group also called on a regional approach to tackle the illicit trade of CAR's conflict diamonds, bringing in other neighbours such as Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola, for a harmonized strategy.

The UAE KP Chair, Ahmed Bin Sulayem, acknowledged the findings and said the organization he leads endorses the need for an on-the-ground approach in countries that have been subject to sanctions.

He also highlighted the urgent need for a permanent UN Secretariat that can guarantee the continuity and efficiency of the Kimberley Process.

The report can be downloaded here.

www.pacweb.org
We warned you last week as soon as news arrived that Portland's well loved Salt & Straw ice cream would be making its way to San Francisco with two new scoop shops in 2017, and now the time has come. The ice creamery will be doing preview pop-ups Friday and Saturday from afternoon to evening in both the neighborhoods where the brick-and-mortar shops are set to open, Hayes Valley and upper Fillmore, serving up $1 scoops, so, practically free. (The first shop to open will be at 2201 Fillmore Street, in the spring.)

As Eater tells it, the first appearance will be on Hayes Street at noon on Friday, December 9. Then the schedule goes like this:

Friday, 12/9, noon to 3 p.m. on Hayes Street between Laguna and Octavia.

Friday, 12/9, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Fillmore Street at Sacramento

Saturday, 12/10, noon to 4 p.m. on Fillmore Street at Sacramento

Saturday, 12/10, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Hayes Street between Laguna and Octavia.

And each dollar you use for a scoop of Gingerbread Cookie Dough or whatever (they haven't announced what the flavors will be) will go entirely to charity, to the YMCA's Western Addition Family Resource Center, to be exact.

And given this is prime Christmas shopping time in two bustling retail districts, you can expect lines. Consider pitching a tent, Black Friday style.

Previously: Portland's Salt & Straw Ice Cream Arrives In SF For Pop-Ups Next Week, Opening Two SF Shops In 2017
As the names of the missing officially become the names of the dead, SFist is continuing to offer brief remembrances and obituaries as they're being collected from various news sources and friends. Here was the first group of eight, and you can read about another group of six here. If you have any of your own to offer, please do so at [email protected].

Jennifer Kiyomi Tanouye, 31, Oakland

Jennifer Tanouye was a 31-year-old Mills College graduate and a music manager at Shazam, as KRON 4 reports. One of the features of Friday night's party was a booth set up to paint "nail art" on peoples' fingernails, and Tanouye's brother Kevin told Bay Area News Group he believes his sister was there for that reason, because she enjoyed painting nails.

"She was so big and bright and colorful in this community," Spence McCall, who interviewed Tanouye for a 2012 documentary, told ABC 7. "I mean, it's impossible not to be just totally heartbroken."

In the documentary, Tanouye spoke about how she viewed the world. "That feeling you get when you find a clue, or something you make the connection of what you're supposed to do next, like split second of connection, that's when you're elsewhere," Tanouye said  noting that she had the word "elsewhere" tattooed on her body. "That's what's awesome."

McCall spoke about this to ABC 7. "She'd love it for us to think that as well, you know she went missing, she went elsewhere," he told the channel. "She went furthermore."

Oakland FD confirms Chagrin Falls native, Billy Dixon, was a victim in the massive warehouse fire.. :'( Hear from loved ones on @fox8news pic.twitter.com/LnKprU77II  Jessica Dill (@JessicaLynnDill) December 7, 2016

Billy Dixon, 35, Oakland

Billy Dixon graduated in 2000 from Chagrin Falls high school in Ohio, and according to KRON 4 was living in Oakland and performing as a beat boxer and DJ. Fox 8 reports that his desire to play music is what inspired his move to California. Those who knew him from his childhood said they were not surprised that he would be hanging out with a bunch of musicians and artists in an art space like the Ghost Ship warehouse.

"We know loss here, but this one hurts," Ohio Supreme Court Justice William O'Neill, who is the parent of one of Dixon's childhood friends, told Fox 8. "We can't change history. Billy was doing what Billy does. If he was in a building full of artists, having a good time, I'm sure he was right in the middle of it... I'm positive."

Robert St. Price, Dixon's former brother-in-law, spoke to the gravity of the loss. "I lost a good friend over the weekend to the tragic Oakland fire," the Daily Mail reports him as writing. "Billy Dixon was not just a brother-in-law to me, he was a great friend and an artistic guide."







Johnny Igaz (a.k.a. Nackt), 34, Oakland

Johnny Igaz was an Oakland DJ who was excited to play the Friday, December 2 show at Ghost Ship. Really looking forward to breaking the seal with this one on Friday," the East Bay Times reports he wrote on Facebook four days before the fire. "Been a minute since Ive played Oakland."

The last photo of Igaz spinning, taken shortly before the fire began, can be seen here.

Under the moniker "Nackt" (German for "naked") Igaz had built a sizable following in the East Bay  starting off with a weekly residence at the Ruby Room. His brother, Paul Igaz, wrote about the loss on Facebook. "As I look back on the years shared together, its with certitude that I say that no single person has ever affected or influenced me more as much as my older brother."

In addition to creating music, Igaz worked at Pandora as a music analyst and voice-over artist. One of his mixes is embedded below.





Griffin Madden, pictured at right.

Griffin Madden, 23, Berkeley

A 2015 UC Berkeley grad, Griffin Madden is described by one professor as having "a luminous way about him" and "probably the most memorable undergraduate student I've had." This was from Luba Golburt, an associate professor in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, speaking to the Chronicle, adding that Madden had "an enthusiasm for learning things." He double majored in Slavic Languages and Literatures and philosophy, and he also spent five years as an usher for Cal Performances.

Madden leaves behind a close family, including a sister, Sky, and girlfriend Saya Tomioka. Sky's partner MJ Bernier launched a GoodFundMe page to help friends and family with any unexpected expenses, like funeral travel.

On Facebook, describing a photo of herself with Madden in front of Book of Mormon poster at a theater, Tomioka writes, "I remember tears swelling my eyes because the city was so beautiful and amidst of all the lights, I got to look at the brightest light of all, my sweetie. I cried, and we kissed. Some random photographer captured this very moment, this very kiss."

"It's hard to use this space to begin to describe how much Griffin means to all of us and how profoundly we feel lost without him," Bernier writes. "I am just going to hope anyone who reads this knows and understands what an unimaginable hole there will now be in all our lives."



Photo via KRON 4.

Hanna Ruax, 32, Helsinki, Finland

Hanna Ruax came to Oakland in November from Finland to visit her fiance, Alex Ghassan, before the two planned to move to Europe. According to KRON 4, she was both a social activist and a yoga instructor. A roommate of Ghassan, Vikram Babu, said Ruax was very gentle.

KQED notes that Ruax had a jewelry design business back in Finland, and the Chronicle describes it as "upcycled" jewelry.

On Facebook, Ruax's father, Yrjo Timonen, wrote only "No words. Just great sorrow."





Photo from KQED via the Chronicle.

Alex Ghassan, 35, Oakland

New Jersey-born filmmaker Alex Ghassan had twin four-year-old daughters, and moved to the Bay Area both to pursue his interest in film and to earn money to support them. Their names, Lucy and Alex, were tattooed on his knuckles. The Chronicle reports that he was doing documentary film work for KQED at the time of his death, and a profile by one of his coworkers makes it clear that he was loved there.

He was engaged to Hanna Ruax, who also perished in the fire. "I know Alex found what he was looking for, and Hannas excitement for the prospects that lay ahead couldnt be bottled up, and spilled all over," coworker David Markus wrote. "I was so happy for them."

Ghassen is also notable for having uploaded perhaps the last video shot inside the Ghost Ship space, one hour before the fire broke out.

Below is a short documentary he directed and produced for KQED.





Photo via Facebook.

Edmund Lapine, 34

Edmund Lapine studied French, and Russian literature at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington before moving to the Bay Area to start a new job at an art gallery. According to CBS News, Lapine's father, Bob Lapine, spoke of the loss of his son. I just want the world to know that he was a very decent human being. I try to be strong, but I break down every once in a while."

Lapine's friend, Amanda Stauffer, wrote about when he taught her to play guitar. He gave me lessons, and his patience and enthusiasm for the whole project can only be described as saintly in the face of my unwavering lack of discipline, KRON 4 reports.



Previously: Profiles Of Eight People Who Died In The Oakland Warehouse Fire

Six More Profiles Of Those Lost In Oakland's 'Ghost Ship' Fire
In a complaint filed this week in US District Court in San Francisco, a current Stanford graduate student and former Stanford undergrad alleges she was assaulted by a male student who was allowed to remain on campus and graduate with both undergraduate and masters degrees, despite the university being made aware of his actions. CBS 5 reports that the civil suit argues Stanford University stood in violation of Title IX by allowing the alleged sexual predator to stalk its campus, depriving female students of the educational benefits and opportunities provided by the school. A representative of the university denies the charge.

The male student, identified as Mr. X, allegedly raped at least one other female student prior to his alleged attack on the plaintiff, according to the complaint. That plaintiff is listed as Jane Doe. Stanford failed to protect her and other female undergraduate students from a male student who was a known sexual predator on campus, the suit claims.

Specifically, Mr. X choked and raped a woman on campus in February 2011 according to the complaint, and though his actions were made known to the university, they were not, allegedly, investigated. Three years later, in February 2014, Mr. X assaulted Jane Doe, and in between 2010 and 2014, the suit claims, Mr. X physically and/or sexually assaulted no fewer than four female Stanford students.

Mr. X, the Chronicle writes, is 6-foot-6 and 200 pounds. He attempted to rape the plaintiff according to the complaint after she refused to perform oral sex. Doe had previously had a consensual relationship with her alleged attacker, and after her refusal, Mr. X physically and verbally assaulted Doe, according to the claim.

We have sympathy for the plaintiff in this case, but we will be vigorously defending the lawsuit as we believe that Stanford has acted with appropriate diligence and compassion within the constraints of privacy laws, Lisa Lapin, Stanford Universitys vice president of university communication, told CBS 5.

Three law firms are representing Jane Doe in the action according to the Chronicle, and the lead attorney for one of those firms, Rebecca Peterson-Fisher of Equal Rights Advocates says that Institutions like Stanford need to be held accountable for their failure to recognize the severity of these crimes and to comply with Title IX.

The school was recently criticized during the trial of Brock Turner, a former freshman whose lenient sentence for the sexual assault of an unconscious woman outside a fraternity party made national headlines. Turner, now a registered sex offender, has returned to his home state of Ohio.

Related: Brock Turner Is Now The Literal Poster Child For Sexual Assault




That San Francisco has a homelessness problem is not news  indeed, since Supervisor David Campos declared the situation a crisis last spring, six new Navigation Centers were approved in June, and the city's top health official endorsed the idea of safe-injection sites for intravenous drug user just last week. And while what is or is not the best approach to house San Francisco's roughly 7,000 homeless is hotly debated, the fact that many of those living on our streets are youths often goes overlooked. It's no small number, either, with the Examiner reporting that SF is home to 1,488 homeless youth as of last count.

"Youth" in this context is defined as the age group 18 to 24, with "children" being 17 and younger. San Francisco is certainly not alone in that is has a homeless youth population, but as a percentage of the general homeless population, San Francisco beats out all other major US cities in that 92 percent of our city's homeless youth are unsheltered  meaning approximately 1,370 are living on the street.

City officials have struggled to house this group for some time as many are hesitant to stay in shelters with adults for safety reasons. "They just dont feel comfortable or safe in those much larger shelters with folks that are much older than them, executive director of Larkin Street Youth Services Sherilyn Adams told the Ex. My job is to ensure that young people are not lost in this conversation, that they are not invisible in the conversation about homelessness. Young people are an invisible  sometimes  part of the homeless population because they are good at hiding their homelessness because they want to fit in.

The city is trying to address the issue, albeit slowly. Hoodline reports that a plan approved in 2007 called for the creation of 400 new homeless youth shelter beds by 2015, but with 2017 fast approaching that goal is less than halfway met. "Its good to have aspirational goals, Mara Blitzer of the Mayors Office of Housing and Community Development told Hoodline. Were making progress, its been slower than expected, but were committed to reaching our goal.

The Examiner reports that as of November of last year there were just 402 transitional age youth housing units in San Francisco. Just like with shelter beds for the adult homeless population, that number falls far short of the need.

So what's the delay? Just like seemingly everything else in this city, it comes down to housing. If we want to make more units available for transitional age youth, we need more housing, Anne Romero of the Mayors Office of Housing and Community Development told Hoodline. In other words, the problem is not going away soon.

Related: Mission District Neighbors Are Now Opposing Nuns Trying To Feed The Homeless
Rejecting the Board of Supervisors' unanimous recommendation that the SFMTA name the Chinatown Central Subway station after Rose Pak, an idea some protesters begged the SFMTA Citizens' Advisory Council to ignore, transit officials approved a new naming policy that requires transit stations to reflect their geographic location  such as street, intersection, or neighborhood  according to news website SFBay. Their resolution is online, and it rules out the possibility of a Pak station  as well as any other station name. Tough luck, Willie Brown  at least you've got that bridge.

"SFMTA staff has surveyed other U.S. transit agencies to determine whether they have naming policies that provide such guidance," the resolution says, and citing specific instances such as potential emergencies as well as general convenience, they've declared the formal policy.

Rose Pak was, at least metaphorically, synonymous with Chinatown. Relatedly, she was a driving force behind the creation of the Central Subway project which seeks to promote transportation to and from the sometimes isolated neighborhood. After her death in September, Pak was celebrated with a massive funeral procession through Chinatown, but following that event, she was not properly interred as planned: Her body was last seen languishing at the Green Street Mortuary as her family fights over her estate, inexplicably sizable despite her lack of income.

Although the rule against using people's names for SFMTA stations might appear final, Rose Pak, were she still with us, would be the first one to fight. Perhaps if we could first rename the cross streets at the station, which are Stockton and Washington, Rose Street and Pak Street? Or maybe we ought to rename Chinatown after her altogether? Or, last, and hear me out, we could finally make permanent the temporary Stockton Street winter walk of which everyone but she approved, and name it after her. Just spitballing here.

Previously: Supes Pass Resolution Urging SFMTA To Name Chinatown Central Subway Station After Rose Pak
 Expand Photo via Wisconsin Foodie Facebook

The locally produced independent television series Wisconsin Foodie has won an Emmy. The award was presented at the Chicago/Midwest Regional Emmys on Dec. 3 in the category of Outstanding Achievement for Magazine Programming  Series for the episode titled Stoney Acres Pizza Farm . The award is shared by the producers and host of the series: Arthur Ircink, executive producer, Erik Ljung and James Michaels, co-producers, and Kyle Cherek, host. This is the first Emmy win for "Wisconsin Foodie," which has been previously nominated.

The episode takes an in-depth look at Stoney Acres Farm in Athens, Wis., where two UW-Madison graduates run a pop-up pizza restaurant every Friday during the summer and fall. They use all farm-grown wheat, vegetables and meats, plus cheeses from a dairy down the street to create hyper-local pizza. A new season of "Wisconsin Foodie" will air on Milwaukee PBS in 2017.

Watch the full episode below:
SIOUX CITY  The new owners of the Perry Creek Plaza are making some major changes to the retail center on Sioux City's northside, including demolishing a building that formerly housed an Applebee's restaurant.

The Applebee's, which opened in 1993, closed in 2014.

The 5,470 square-foot building at 1700 Hamilton Blvd. and adjacent Perry Creek Plaza were acquired in June by Omaha-based Perry Creek Investors LLC.

Woodsonia Real Estate of Omaha is marketing space in the former free-standing restaurant and the shopping center, located between 18th and 19th streets.

Drew Snyder, president of Woodsonia Real Estate, did not immediately return calls Wednesday for comments about the demolition or future plans for tjat site.

Henry Henchal, plans examiner for the city, said his office has received no plans or permits for the site other than the demolition permit that was granted.

A notable addition to Perry Creek is the under construction Tanner's Bar & Grill at 1790 Hamilton Boulevard. The site previously housed a Carlos OKellys Mexican Cafe and, most recently, Ruth's Mexican Fiesta & Grill.

Tanners Bar & Grill is a small restaurant chain that started in Atchison, Kan., in 1985, but that has expanded to 20 locations over the last 30 years. The restaurant is known for its grilled steaks and "chicken lips."

Tanners Sioux City will be the companys third location in Iowa. The other restaurants are in Ankeny and Cedar Rapids.

Perry Creek Investors acquired the Perry Creek Plaza, which encompasses a number of the commercial addresses between 1700-1790 on Hamilton Boulevard, from Hamilton Development Corporation of Sioux City through a deed in lieu of foreclosure, according to Woodbury County records. That type of transaction occurs when a mortgage-holder transfers ownership of a property to the party that issued the mortgage to satisfy a defaulted loan.

The combined assessed valuation for the properties and parking lot is $4.48 million

A Bomgaars store that anchors Perry Creek Plaza is owned by the Sioux City-based retailer, but shares parking with the neighboring businesses.
DES MOINES | Soon, Iowa will have its first female governor.

With Gov. Terry Branstad set to resign and become the next U.S. ambassador to China, Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds will, at some point in 2017, be promoted to governor.

When that happens, Iowa will be crossed off the list of 23 states that have never had a female governor.

The 57-year-old Reynolds has been Branstads lieutenant governor since he returned to office in 2011.

I have been honored to be a full partner with Gov. Branstad in this administration and know that the experience Ive gained over the last six years has prepared me well for this next chapter of service to all Iowans, Reynolds said Wednesday in a prepared statement.

Reynolds is vacationing this week with her family and is expected to be back in Des Moines on Thursday in time for that night's event with President-elect Donald Trump.

Republicans who know the governor and his administration say Branstad has been preparing Reynolds as his successor, including her in important policy and personnel decisions and deploying her to head large initiatives, including the states effort to generate more interest in science, technology, engineering and math careers and the states long-term energy plan.

I would venture a guess that theres not a lieutenant governor in America thats more prepared to take the reins of running a governors office than she is, said Robert Haus, who has worked in the administration as Reynolds chief adviser. Gov. Branstad, from what I witnessed, was fantastic to her. And they worked very closely. ...

It was very much a mentor relationship, and I think that served both of them well. Its good for public policy, but it also got her ready for this moment in time.

Prior to serving as Branstads lieutenant governor, Reynolds served two years in the Iowa Senate representing seven southeast Iowa counties. She was elected to the Senate in 2008 but served only two years before resigning to be Branstads running mate in the 2010 gubernatorial election.

In the Senate, Reynolds served on multiple committees; she was the minority partys ranking member on the Local Government Committee and served on the economic development budget committee.

She also served on the board for the states fire and police retirement system.

Haus said that experience serving in the Iowa Legislature will help Reynolds when she takes over as governor.

She understands the legislative process. She understands having worked with (legislators) for many years now in the governors office. She understands the committees, the players, and all the interests that will be brought to bear, Haus said. She comes in with just a wealth of experience and the ability to get things done.

Prior to serving at the Iowa Capitol, Reynolds was Clarke County treasurer for eight years.

Joni Ernst, Iowas freshman U.S. senator, said Reynolds work in local government, as a state legislator and then as lieutenant governor has provided experience that will help her succeed as governor.

She did just a tremendous job listening to her constituents in the county, and then in her state senate district, and now as lieutenant governor as well, Ernst said of Reynolds. She listens very well to Iowans and their concerns, and thats why shell succeed as governor.

Reynolds encouraged Ernst to run for local office (Ernst served as Montgomery County Auditor), recruited Ernst to succeed her in the Iowa Senate and encouraged her to run for the U.S. Senate in 2014.

Reynolds and her husband, Kevin, live in Osceola, which is roughly 50 miles south of Des Moines. She grew up about halfway between the two, in St. Charles, population 634.

The Reynoldses have three daughters and eight grandchildren.

What you have is somebody who has come from a small town, very humble, great work ethic and has never forgotten her roots, Haus said. She is a classic example of an Iowa leader.

Because Branstad cannot be formally nominated to serve as U.S. ambassador to China until Trump is inaugurated and all appointments must then be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, it is likely Branstad will continue to serve as governor at least through January and February 2017.

Once confirmed, Branstad will resign and duties of the office will fall on Reynolds, who would then select her lieutenant governor.

The exact format for that transition is being worked out between the offices of the governor, the attorney general and the secretary of state, according to a secretary of state spokesman.

Reynolds and her lieutenant governor then will serve out what remains of the current term, which expires at the end of 2018. They would then need to run for re-election, if they choose.

Reynolds will be taking over as governor at a time when Republicans have gained full control of the Iowa Capitol  majorities in the Iowa House and Iowa Senate and a GOP governor  for the first time in 20 years.

Not everyone expressed optimism about a pending Gov. Reynolds on Wednesday.

The advocacy group Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement issued a statement claiming Reynolds is beholden to campaign donations made by agriculture businesses, and the Democratic Governors Association issued a statement in which they laid some early groundwork for 2018.

Democrats already had Iowa as a pickup target, association executive director Elisabeth Pearson said. "Gov. Branstads departure increases the chances for Democrats to win back the Iowa governors office in 2018."
SIOUX CITY | Siouxlanders can expect another frigid day Thursday.

National Weather Service Sioux Falls meteorologist Jennifer Hacker said Thursday's high temperature will only reach about 20 degrees Thursday.

Sustained winds up to 20 miles per hour will bring wind chills down to around zero degrees.

Low temperatures will dip into single digits.

Friday won't be much warmer, Hacker said, with high temperatures once again around 20 degrees, but with less wind.

Hacker said warmer temperatures will move into the area Saturday, with highs near 30 degrees. However, more moisture in the air brings a 60 percent chance of snow. As of now, Hacker said models show the Sioux City area could receive around one inch of accumulation.

Now that sustained cold temperatures have settled in the area, Hacker said Siouxlanders need to proceed outside with caution.

"Hopefully, people took the warm season to prepare your mindset and your car for the winter," she said. "When you go out, make sure you wear a bunch of layers and keep exposed skin covered as much as possible."
SOUTH SIOUX CITY | The South Sioux City Fire Department on Thursday is determining what caused a significant fire at a towing company Wednesday afternoon.

Fire Chief Clint Merithew on Thursday morning said conversations with the property owners of Siouxland Towing have begun and an investigation will be conducted Thursday.

A fire started in the northeast corner of the structure, located at 815 W. 13th St., some time around 4:45 p.m. Wednesday.

Crews were able to extinguish the fire at 6:15 p.m.

At the time of the fire, Merithew called damages to the building "severe."

He said more details could be available Thursday afternoon.
SIOUX CITY | Siouxland Republicans said Wednesday even though it will leave a void in Iowa, the tapping of Gov. Terry Branstad as U.S. ambassador to China was a smart move by President-elect Donald Trump.

"It is bittersweet of course. Any time an organization loses this type of leadership, historical knowledge and work ethic, it will have an impact," state Sen. Rick Bertrand, R-Sioux City, said of Branstad.

Branstad, the nation's longest serving governor, on Wednesday confirmed he was picked for the ambassador post by Trump, following a meeting with the president-elect on Tuesday in Trump Tower in New York City.

Siouxlanders said Branstad was poised to do well, since he has a long relationship with China and the Asian country's president.

Branstad first met Chinese President Xi Jinping in 1985, during a visit to Iowa when Branstad was in his first term after being elected in 1982. China is Iowa's largest export market.

"He'll represent our country quite well because of his experience of dealing with (Jinping) in the past," Buena Vista County Republican Party co-chairman Denny Weber, of Alta, said.

Branstad also traveled to China, including with Iowa Economic Development Authority Director Debi Durham, of Sioux City. Durham, who served as Siouxland Chamber of Commerce president before being appointed to her current post by Branstad in 2011, did not immediately return calls to the Journal Wednesday.

Weber and Sioux County Republican Party Chairman Mark Lundberg, of Orange City, agreed Branstad delivered well recently for the state, leaving on the heels of campaigning widely for a host of Republicans in the 2014 and 2016 elections that were good for the party in terms of electoral gains.

"He can step on now and do something better for the country," Weber said.

Branstad's departure in 2017 will create a vacancy in the governorship that by state law will be filled by Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds, who will become the state's first female governor. It also creates some intrigue, as some Republicans expect Reynolds to have a contested primary in 2018, when Branstad's current four-year term expires.

U.S. Rep. Steve King, of Kiron, said Wednesday he was considering his options for governor, according to The Hill, a Washington, D.C.-based publication.

"The thought is in my mind. Immediately, it locks in there," King said in response to a question on whether he would run for governor, according to The Hill. "But I don't want to send any message that I'm making plans actively."

King's congressional and campaign offices did not respond to Journal inquiries. He won his eighth term in the House in November with 65 percent of the vote.

Lundberg said Reynolds having two years as governor under her belt governor could freeze out some Republican competitors considering a run.

"It doesn't eliminate the field...I think it will narrow the field significantly,' Lundberg said.
SIOUX CITY | Sioux City Police taped off an area around an SUV in a gas station parking lot after a report of shots fired Wednesday night.

Police responded to the call at about 10:40 p.m. in the parking lot of Central Mart, 1203 Tri View Ave.

Sgt. Terry Ivener would not release any information about the incident that caused investigators to take pictures of the vehicle and scan the surrounding area.

"Nothing took place inside the business. It all happened there," he said motioning in the direction of the vehicle. "We are not looking for anyone... everything is under investigation."

Ivener said the department will release a statement on the incident, but did not know when.

Check back for details on this developing story.
SIOUX CITY | A Sioux City police officer fatally shot a passenger in an SUV after he felt threatened during a routine traffic stop Wednesday night, the police chief said Thursday.

After pulling over the Chevy Suburban near the intersection of Tri-View Avenue and South Myrtle Street, officers learned there was an outstanding warrant for the lone passenger, Daniel Anthony Riedmann, 36, and the Dakota Dunes man could be armed and dangerous, Police Chief Doug Young said.

"The officers then re-approached the vehicle. Mr. Riedmann did not comply with the officer's demands to exit the vehicle. The vehicle was locked and as they were making their demands there were some furtive movements at which time the officer stepped back and discharged his service weapon striking Mr. Riedmann," Young said at a news conference at police headquarters.

The officers administered first aid and Riedmann was transported to Mercy Medical Center -- Sioux City by ambulance, where he was pronounced dead about 30 minutes later.

A handgun was later recovered inside the vehicle, Young said.

It's the first fatal shooting involving a Sioux City police officer in nearly three years.

The police chief said he did not know how many shots were discharged Wednesday night nor where Riedmann was shot. Young did not identify the male officer who fired his weapon, other than to say he has been on the force for three years. He has been placed on paid administrative leave, pending further investigation, and his name will be released in the near future, Young said.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is investigating the case. An autopsy on Riedmann's body is scheduled to be performed Friday in Des Moines.

Young said the incident was captured on a police squad car dash cam. The video will be released at an undisclosed time and date, he said.

The stop occurred at about 10:25 p.m. Wednesday on South Myrtle Street, near the Central Mart convenience store at 1203 Tri-View Ave.

The driver, Melinda Benoit, 39, of Sioux City, was pulled over because "there was an indication that there may be a wanted on the plate of that vehicle," Youngs said. Benoit was not arrested, but was cited for a traffic violation. The police chief said he did not know the relationship between Benoit and Riedmann.

State officials last month issued a warrant for Riedmann for a parole violation. Riedmann, who has a long criminal record dating back to 2001, was released from prison in June after serving a portion of sentences on felony charges in Woodbury and Polk counties, according to the the Iowa Department of Corrections website. In Woodbury, he was sentenced in March 2014 to 15 years on second-degree theft, habitual offender enhancement, according to court records.

The last time Sioux City police officers fatally shot someone was in January 2014. Felix Navarrete, 29, died after he was shot by an unidentified officer in an apartment in the 2700 block of South Helen St., and then fell from a second-story window onto the ground. The SWAT Team was serving a warrant on Navarrete for a homicide in Sioux City three days earlier. A loaded handgun was found tucked into the back of his pants.
SIOUX CITY | A month before Vernon Mace was fatally stabbed, he held a gun to the back of the head of the man who would later be accused of killing him.

Chris Peterson testified Thursday that he was riding in the back seat of a car driven by Elias Wanatee in January when Wanatee and Mace, who was sitting next to Peterson, began arguing about who was going to take the car once they got back to Sioux City.

Wanatee threatened to crash into construction barricades on Interstate 29 near downtown Sioux City.

"He said, "I could kill us all right now,'" Peterson said.

As the two men argued, Wanatee began to reach down beside the seat, Peterson said, but Mace pulled a gun from his pocket, put it to Wantee's head and told him to keep his hands where he could see them.

Peterson first testified that he didn't know what Mace was holding. Defense attorney Jason Dunn referred to Peterson's deposition this summer in which he said it was a gun.

"It was a gun that Mace pulled out and pointed at the back of my client's head?" Dunn asked.

"Yes," Peterson said.

Wanatee, 47, of Sioux City, has pleaded not guilty in Woodbury County District Court to first-degree murder for the Feb. 17 stabbing death of Mace, 50, of Sioux City, near West First and Turner streets.

During the second day of testimony in Wanatee's trial, Peterson said that when they got to Sioux City late at night, they pulled into Speedy Lube, his business at 120 Nebraska St. Mace's niece, who had been in the passenger seat, took the keys and went inside the shop with Peterson and Mace. Wanatee would not leave and demanded the car keys. He ultimately got out of the car, Peterson said, and pulled out a knife.

"He stated to me, 'I'm going to get those car keys,'" Peterson said.

Peterson went back inside Speedy Lube. After 10-15 minutes, they noticed that Wanatee had left.

Less than one month later, Mace was dead.

Mikaeya Wright and Lorenzo Cariaga testified that they had come to Mace's home at about 1 a.m. on Feb. 17. They were asked to leave Mace's home, so they walked up the block to the home of Tom Abbe. Inside, they smoked methamphetamine in Abbe's bedroom and left after Mace received a phone call, Cariaga said.

As they walked outside, they noticed a man with a hood pulled over his face walking up the sidewalk toward them.

"We kept an eye on him. It was an odd situation," Cariaga said.

The man turned around and went to Mace's home and stood in the doorway. Mace, Cariaga and Wright stood in the street, debating what to do.

"I asked Mr. Mace if he was going to be all right. I didn't want to leave," Cariaga said.

Cariaga and Wright decided to leave. After driving around the block, Cariaga and Wright noticed that Mace and the other man had not moved. Cariaga and Wright, who both testified that they never saw the man's face, decided to leave. About an hour later, Wright said, she texted Mace to ask if he was OK. Mace never responded to her message.

By that time he had died at Mercy Medical Center.

Abbe testified Wednesday that a blood-covered Mace had come to his door and left while Abbe was trying to call 911. Mace flagged down Kim Stahle, who drove him to the hospital. Stahle testified Wednesday that Mace told her Wanatee had stabbed him.

At the hospital, Abbe and Stahle told police they should be looking for Wanatee, Sioux City police Officer Zac Croft said.

Police arrested Wanatee without incident around 11:30 a.m. later that day outside his apartment building at 923 Douglas St., Sioux City police Detective Sgt. Ryan Bertrand said.

Dr. Thomas Carroll, who performed the autopsy on Mace, testified that he identified nine separate stab wounds: one to the scalp, one near the left ear, two under the left armpit, three to the left arm, one to the left side of the chest and one to the right side of the chest.

Five of the wounds were superficial, Carroll said, but the stab to the right side of the chest was the fatal wound. Carroll said it penetrated Mace's diaphragm and sliced his liver, severing a major blood vessel and causing profuse internal bleeding that led to Mace's death.

The trial will resume at 9 a.m. Friday.
SIOUX CITY | Before Anna Edwards and Tom Abbe could go out to tell whomever was shouting outside Abbe's house to be quiet, the front door opened and a bloodied Vernon Mace stepped inside.

"It looked like he had a gash on his head. It looked like it was pulsating," Edwards said.

Asked by Assistant Woodbury County Attorney Drew Bockenstedt if Mace said anything, Edwards replied, "The only thing I heard him say was 'Eli stabbed me ..."

Eli was Elias Wanatee, 47, of Sioux City, who is on trial for first-degree murder for the Feb. 17 fatal stabbing of Mace, 50, of Sioux City, near West First and Turner streets.

At around 1:30 a.m.-2 a.m. that morning, Abbe testified, Mace and two of his friends had stopped by to visit with Abbe at his house in the 1900 block of West First Street. They left after about 15 minutes, and when Abbe went out on his deck to smoke a cigarette, he said he saw Mace walking backward along the sidewalk adjacent to his house. Wanatee was farther down the sidewalk.

Abbe said Mace yelled to him to get a gun.

"I thought maybe they were fooling around. I went back inside," said Abbe, who earlier had testified that he believed Mace and Wanatee got along with each other.

While Mace had been in Abbe's bedroom, Edwards testified, Wanatee had showed up at the sliding glass door at the back of the house. He asked if he could do his laundry and take a shower there. Edwards, who was temporarily staying with Abbe, told him to go see Abbe. She said Wanatee walked toward the bedroom, heard Mace's voice inside, then turned around and came back to the kitchen, where she was reading.

"He said, 'I'm not going back there. I don't want any trouble,'" Edwards said.

Wanatee left through the back door, Edwards said, and Mace soon left through the front door. The yelling outside began soon after that.

Abbe said that when he heard the shouting, he did not recognize the voices. Soon, Mace was back at the door, covered in blood.

"I looked at him and he said call the ambulance, something like that," said Abbe, who admitted under defense questioning that he, Mace and Mace's two friends had been smoking methamphetamine in his bedroom. Edwards told defense attorney Jason Dunn that Mace had come to the house alone, not with two other people.

While Edwards and Abbe left the room to call 911, Mace went back outside. He approached a car driven by Kim Stahle, who had been living with Abbe until a few days earlier and had come over to the house to pick up some clothes.

"(Mace) came to the car and said please take me to the hospital," Stahle said.

When Mace opened the door to get inside the car, Stahle said she could see he was bleeding.

She said she asked him who had hurt him.

"Did he respond?" Bockenstedt asked.

"Yes," Stahle said.

"What did he say?" Bockenstedt asked.

"Eli," Stahle answered.

Stahle said she drove Mace to Mercy Medical Center's emergency room, went inside and alerted medical personnel that Mace needed help.

Jurors were shown photos of Mace's wounds, and Dr. Suman Tandra, who attended to Mace in the emergency room, testified that Mace died while undergoing a CT scan to determine the extent of his internal injuries.

During his opening argument to jurors, Bockenstedt said evidence would show that Mace was stabbed nine times. The fatal wound, he said, was to Mace's right chest and that his diaphragm and spleen had been punctured, leading to massive internal bleeding. Another stab wound punctured Mace's liver.

"This case is about how the defendant violently ended the life of Vernon Mace," Bockenstedt said.

Dunn deferred his opening argument until after the state concludes its evidence.

If found guilty as charged, Wanatee would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.

The trial will resume at 9 a.m. Thursday.
We were, honestly, surprised Terry Branstad was willing to leave the office he's held for a total of almost 22 years and the state in which he's lived for all of his 70 years, but we understand why Iowa's governor is President-elect Donald Trump's choice to be America's ambassador to China.

On Wednesday, Branstad accepted Trump's offer, subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate early next year.

As a result of committed, consistent efforts as governor to strengthen economic ties between Iowa and China through trade, Branstad forged strong, positive relationships with Chinese leaders, including President Xi Jinping. As a result, he is a recognized, respected figure within the country.

"He's a known commodity (in China)," former Branstad aide Tim Albrecht told The Des Moines Register. "Moreso, probably, than any other political leader, save for (President Barack) Obama. There's not just a respect there, there's a kinship that's hard to describe."

In a conference call with reporters on Wednesday, Branstad spokesman Jason Miller said Branstad combines "considerable public policy experience," "great grasp of trade issues, agriculture issues" and "tremendous understanding of China and Chinese people."

In our view, Branstad's positive history with China will serve him well as he navigates the twists and turns so woven within the fabric of complicated U.S.-China relations. Those relations became more contentious during the campaign for president because Trump levelled frequent criticisms of China - on trade and currency issues, for example.

We offer our congratulations to Branstad for earning what is a high-profile opportunity at a critical moment in a key part of the world.
DES MOINES | Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad's nomination to be the new ambassador to China will scramble Iowa's 2018 political picture.

First, Democrats now know they won't have to face the man they have never been able to beat. Meanwhile, Republicans who may have been considering a run for the office in the event the governor didn't seek a seventh term now will have to deal with the fact that Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds will ascend to the job more than a year before any 2018 contest could take place.

Reynolds, who has been at Branstad's side in Des Moines and in their travels across the state since he re-emerged to win a fifth term in 2010, has long been seen as his heir apparent. And party leaders made clear Wednesday that, when Reynolds succeeds Branstad, she will have GOP support.

"As far as the Republican Party goes, the minute Kim Reynolds takes the oath of office, we will be behind her 100 percent," Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said Wednesday.

Branstad has long praised Reynolds, frequently calling her his equal in terms of energy and commitment, but a clear path to the nomination for her wasn't a certainty.

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey of Spirit Lake has been mentioned as a possible 2018 candidate. Also, Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett has been traveling the state in what has been widely taken as a testing phase for a 2018 gubernatorial candidacy.

In a statement Wednesday afternoon reacting to Branstad's appointment, Northey made it clear that he won't run. He said he had begun to explore a bid, but he urged Republicans to "unite behind Lt. Governor Reynolds, help ensure her election in 2018 and join me in working to keep Iowa red for the next generation.

Corbett declined to address his own ambitions but said Wednesdays developments dont necessarily close the door to somebody challenging Reynolds in a primary.

I dont know that it does, he said. Corbett said that this should be considered an open seat. He added that this will speed up the decision-making process for those considering running. The mayor said there had been the thought that a decision on running could be made toward the end of 2017. Now, he said, decisions will have to be made early in the year.

Iowa 4th District Rep. Steve King also had people guessing. The Kiron Republican, who was re-elected to an eighth term in November, said Wednesday he was considering his options, according to The Hill, a Washington, D.C.-based publication that asked him whether he might run.

"The thought is in my mind. Immediately, it locks in there," King said Wednesday morning, according to the Hill. "But I don't want to send any message that I'm making plans actively."

Kaufmann downplayed the idea that King would run for the nomination, calling it natural for somebody in his position to think about the prospect.

Meanwhile, a former state party chair, Matt Strawn, said a challenger would not only face difficulty with the party but the incoming Trump administration.

"I have every anticipation that Iowa Republicans are going to rally around governor Kim Reynolds," he said. "And I hope they do."

As for Democrats, Branstad's new job may be an opportunity.

Norm Sterzenbach, a former executive director of the state Democratic Party, said that the governor's exit from Iowa will surely spur conversations among people who were thinking of a 2018 bid.

A succession of Democrats have sought to oust Branstad but have failed. If he were to have sought a seventh term, that may well have narrowed the field of Democrats running for the job. With Branstad leaving, however, and that it's happening early in the campaign cycle, that could speed up some of the discussions, Sterzenbach said.

He added the news also could provide a psychological lift to Democrats who took it on the chin a month ago, losing not only the presidential contest in Iowa but control of the state Senate.

"Were on the mat. Were down, he said. "Democrats need to believe that they can win, and Terry Branstad moving on provides that opportunity for Democrats to get excited about 2018. That more than anything is what Democrats need right now."

Kaufmann, however, was bullish on a Reynolds candidacy in 2018.

"I think we get a breath of fresh air that has the confidence and the time worn stability of Terry Branstad," he said.

Cedar Rapids Gazette reporter Brian Morelli contributed to this story.
CEDAR RAPIDS | In a move likely to calm diplomatic and trade concerns created by Donald Trumps rhetoric during and after the presidential campaign, the president-elect has tapped Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad to be his ambassador to China

Branstad, whose familiarity with the worlds second-largest economy https://governor.iowa.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Branstad%20Ties%20to%20China%20Final.pdf includes leading six trade missions to China, has a long, personal relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Branstads decades of experience in public service and long-time relationship with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders make him the ideal choice to serve as Americas Ambassador to China, Trump said Wednesday.

Branstad made his first visit to China in 1984 and has known current President Xi for more than 30 years.

That relationship and his experience trading with China will serve him well as he represents Americas interests and further develops a mutually beneficial relationship with Chinese leadership, Trump said.

Branstad, 70, the longest-serving state governor in American history, said he was honored and humbled to accept the nomination and the extraordinary opportunity it presents.

I believe that the respect and admiration built over a decades-old friendship between President Xi and me gives me an opportunity to help the president-elect and serve Iowa, the United States and the world for the better, Branstad said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.

His nomination appeared to sit well with the Chinese. At a press briefing in China, foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang referred to Branstad as an old friend and said his greater contribution to the development of China-U.S. relations would be welcome.

No matter who takes this position, were willing to work together to push the Sino-U.S. relationship to consistent, healthy and steady development, Kang said.

Thats a change in tone from Kang, who called Trumps recent phone call to Tsai Ing-wen, the leader of Taiwan, petty. Although the U.S. has relations with Taiwan, which China considers a rogue province, and the Obama administration is selling it military equipment, the call was not consistent with the United States one China policy of more than 40 years.

Earlier on the campaign trail and in Twitter posts, Trump attacked China for its trade and currency policies, as well as the way it has staked territorial claims in the South China Sea. He has threatened to slap tariffs of up to 45 percent on Chinese goods if Beijing didnt behave.

In his statement, Branstad seemed to acknowledge there will be some hand-holding involved in repairing the relationship with China, which he said is at a critical point.

Ensuring the countries with the two largest economies and two largest militaries in the world maintain a collaborative and cooperative relationship is needed more now than ever, he said.

And Branstad may be just the person for that role, according to a University of Iowa official who has traveled to China with Branstad on a trade mission.

Branstads appointment could help cool tensions that might have flared with heated rhetoric during the campaign season, said Downing Thomas, UI associate provost for academic affairs and dean of International Programs. Branstads relationship with Xi and the experience hes logged forging partnerships in the country could benefit both nations, he said.

That steady-hand approach is the right one with China, Thomas said. Its quite a good match for the Chinese mentality  which is about stability.

John Stineman of the Iowa Chamber Alliance, seconded that thought, but said the strength of the Branstad nomination is more than his relationship with Xi.

Outside of a former U.S. trade rep, I dont think there is anyone out there who has personally been involved in and negotiated more trade agreements than Terry Branstad, said Stineman, whose organization represents the 16 Chambers of Commerce and economic development organizations in Iowas largest communities. Hes well-qualified on the merits of his experience.

The Branstad-Xi friendship dates back to 1985 when Xi, then an up-and-coming Communist party member and low-level agricultural official, lived with a Muscatine family while leading an animal-grain delegation. It has continued over the years as they have visited each others nation, including Branstad leading a Chinese trade mission in November.

Branstad, whose son, Eric, directed Trumps Iowa campaign, made an impression on Trump during the campaign, his spokesman Miller said. Even before the election, Trump appeared to have Branstad in mind for the China post. At a campaign rally in Sioux City just two days before the election, he referred to Branstad as our prime candidate to take care of China.

The favorable impression may have stemmed in part from Branstads willingness to defend some of Trumps controversial statements, including a suggestions that Muslims should be banned from entering the United States.

I think what Donald Trump is doing is saying we need to take this threat seriously, Branstad said after the Orlando night club shooting.

In addition to signaling that the president-elects relations with China may be more cordial and diplomatic than his campaign comments might indicate, the Branstad appointment should ease fears of a trade war.

This year, the U.S. has exported $92 billion worth of goods and services to China and imported $381 billion in Chinese good. Iowa farmers and ag processors exported $2.3 billion in goods and $273 million in services to China in 2015, according to the U.S. China Business Council.

Branstad does have differences with Trump. Hes a supporter of the Trans-Pacific partnership, a trade deal involving the United States and 11 Pacific Rim nations, but not China. Branstad sees it as key to expanding trade to that part of the world where soybean products are in demand and the appetite for meat is growing.

For trade and the importance of that for Iowa, its a real positive having him be ambassador, Bruce Rastetter, president of Iowas Board of Regents, agribusiness mogul and Branstad confidante. In addition to agricultural trade, Rastetter sees a variety of potential benefits for the state and its public universities.

Its not about Iowa getting a leg up on other states in terms of China trade, Stineman said, But having the best possible person in the role to make sure the U.S. has a healthy trading relationship with China.

However, he conceded Iowa has a disproportionate opportunity when it comes to trade. We have more opportunity and more on the line.

Theres more work involved in negotiation several bilateral trade agreements, which Trump prefers, than multilateral pacts such as the TPP, but Grant Kimberly of the Iowa Soybean Association said he takes the appointment of Branstad as a good sign that Trump understands that China an important trade partner.

We need each other and it certainly helps to have Branstad with a personal relationship with Xi to have a good conversation about tough issues, Kimberly said. He can be a great go-between for everybody.

Vanessa Miller in the Iowa City bureau contributed to this report
SIOUX CITY | When the weather outside is frightful, what better way to spend the day than to curl up in a chair by the fire and get lost in a good book.

Kelsey Patterson, Sioux City Public Library reader services specialist, and Elisha Karr, Southern Hills Barnes & Noble's community relations manager, share some of their favorite winter/holiday reads that are sure to keep you turning the pages as temperatures plummet and snowflakes start flying.

Patterson's recommendations can all be checked out from the Sioux City Public Library:

'The Snow Child' by Eowyn Ivey

Alaska in the 1920s is a difficult, brutal place to homestead, especially for new arrivals Jack and Mabel. Drifting apart, the childless couple builds a youngster out of snow. The next morning the couple finds the snow child is gone. But they soon discover Faina, a young girl living alone in the wilderness and soon come to love her as their own.

Why did you read it?

"I picked it because it combines Alaska history -- there aren't a ton of books out there on that --as well as kind of a fairy tale and pioneer life. It's a pretty haunting book. The setting is pretty rugged and it plays a huge role in the book."

Why would you recommend it to other people?

"I would recommend it because it is definitely just kind of one of those general fiction books that could appeal to just about anyone. It has a little bit of everything."

'In a Dark, Dark Wood' by Ruth Ware

Reluctantly, crime writer Leonora Shaw accepts an invitation to a bachelorette party in a remote cabin in the woods. But as the first wintry night falls, revelations unfold among friends old and new, an unnerving memory shatters Leonoras reserve, and a haunting realization creeps in: the party is not alone. What should be a cozy and fun-filled winter weekend deep in the English countryside takes a sinister turn in this suspenseful and darkly twisted psychological thriller.

Why did you read it?

"I picked this one because I personally am a huge fan of psychological thrillers -- the Gillian Flynn ones, 'Girl on a Train' and kind of all of those that fit into that current trend of publications."

What did you like about it?

"I just really liked that the suspense just kept building. Right off the bat, the author goes back and forth. You know something bad happened during the weekend, but you just don't know what. It's definitely a page-turner. You can't put it down."

'The Children's Blizzard' by David Laskin

The devastating blizzard of 1888 swept across the Great Plains and killed more than 500 people including numerous schoolchildren. Shattered, these immigrant families had moved to the West on the promise that the prairie would offer them land, freedom, and hope, but they had no idea how hard and unforgiving a place it could be.

Why did you read it?

"I read it because I'm a huge fan of Midwest history. Knowing more about the area I live in always appeals to me."

What did you like about it?

"I liked how moving it was -- from the very first page you just get caught up in the story of all of these different families and the horrible events that happen to them as a result of this blizzard."

Find Karr's recommendations at Southern Hills Mall Barnes & Noble or barnesandnoble.com:

'The Christmas Town' by Donna VanLiere

About the book: Lauren Gabriel spent many years of her childhood in foster homes, wishing her mother would come back for her. As Christmas approaches, the now 20-year-old cashier finds the songs, carols and holiday chatter she hears throughout the day unbearable. But when she witnesses a car accident in the small town of Grandon, her outlook changes. Could this town and its people be the home she has always longed for?

Why did you read it?

"This is the author of 'The Christmas Shoes.' I loved that book. When this came into the store I knew it would have to go on my 'to be read' pile."

What did you like about it?

"I loved the premise of the story. I love reading something hopeful during the holiday and winter season. It can remind you of the goodness of people."

'Winter Storms' by Elin Hilderbrand

About the book: This year promises to be a celebration unlike any other as the Quinn family prepares to host Kevin and Isabelle's wedding at Winter Street Inn. But as the special day approaches, a historic once-in-a-century blizzard bears down on Nantucket, threatening to keep the Quinns away from the place -- and the people -- they love most.

Why did you read it?

"I picked this book because it was a continuation of a series I had been reading. The Winter Street Series. I love reading trilogies. I like being immersed in stories that pull you into the characters lives."

What did you like about it?

"Elin Hilderbrand writes such beautifully complex characters and puts them into situations that may be happening in your families. She develops the story in such a way that you cant stop reading the books. She was also a teaching/writing fellow at the University of Iowa Writers Workshop so I cant help but pull for her success."

'Twelve Days of Christmas' by Debbie Macomber

About the book: Julia Padden likes nearly everyone, but her standoffish neighbor Cain Maddox presents a particular challenge. She decides she's going to break through Cain's Scrooge-like exterior by killing him with kindness. To track her progress, Julia starts a blog called The Twelve Days of Christmas. Her first attempts to humanize Cain are far from successful. Julia brings him homemade Christmas treats and the disagreeable grinch won't even accept them. Meanwhile, Julie's blog becomes an online sensation, as an astonishing number of people start following her adventures.

Why did you read it?

"I love Debbie Macomber. She always does a great read for someone who likes light romance."

What did you like about it?

"Her Christmas novels always leave you feeling hopeful and full of Christmas spirit."
We want to know what you think about the movies. You can Tweet us your reviews @scweekender or share them on Facebook, facebook.com/siouxcityweekender. We'll pick the best comments on Monday before the next Weekender. Here are this week's movies:

Jackie

Starring: Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard

Story: The story behind First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy's stuggles with her husband's tragic death.

Rated: R for brief strong violence and some language

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

Incarnate

Starring: Aaron Eckhart, some other people

Story: A scientist with special powers is tasked with saving a boy who is threatened by demonic forces.

Rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of horror violence, terror, disturbing images, brief strong language, sensuality and thematic elements

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

Moana

Starring: Aulii Cravalho,Dwayne Johnson

Story: A woman uses her navigational skills to find a fabled island along with her demi-god hero Maui.

Rated: PG for peril, some scary images and brief thematic elements

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

Bad Santa 2

Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Kathy Bates

Story: Willie is still greedy, still hateful and still drunk. He teams up with his sidekick again to rip off a charity.

Rated: R for crude sexual content and language throughout, and some graphic nudity

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Starring: Eddie Redmayne and some fantastic beasts

Story: A writer embarks on an adventure to rescue magical creatures and thwart the plans of evil wizards.

Rated: PG-13 for some fantasy action violence

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

The Edge of Seventeen

Starring: Hailee Steinfeld, Woody Harrelson

Story: A high schooler's life reaches a boiling point when her best friend starts dating her older brother. And then other stuff happens.

Rated: R for sexual content, language and some drinking -- all involving teens

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

Bleed for This

Starring: Miles Teller, Aaron Eckhart

Story: A world champion boxer suffers a near fatal car crash, and he's left not knowing if he'll ever walk or fight again.

Rated: R for language, sexuality/nudity and some accident images

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

Starring: Joe Alwyn, Kristen Stewart

Story: An American soldier returns from Iraq to a roaring stadium but the memories of the war still cut deep.

Rated: R for language throughout, some war violence, sexual content and brief drug use

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

Arrival

Starring: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner

Story: A linguist is tasked to translate communications from a possible alien race that landed on Earth.

Rated: PG-13 for brief strong language

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender

Doctor Strange

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton

Story: A former neurosurgeon embarks on a journey to learn a new healing method and discovers a world of mystic arts.

Rated: PG-13 for sci-fi violence and action throughout, and an intense crash sequence

Verdict: Your movie review could go here. Tweet us @scweekender
Remember when your mom told you not to play with your food? Chances are that none of our moms ever tried Somali cuisine where getting a little bit "hands-y" around a dinner table is highly recommended.

At least that was the impression Weekender taste testers got when visiting Adan, a South Sioux City grocery store and restaurant specializing in foods from the Federal Republic of Somalia in the Horn of Africa.

Located at the busy intersection of 13th Street and Dakota Avenue, Adan may be easy to miss. But once you try Adan's exotic finger foods, we think you'll be hooked.

So, what's Somali food like? Think of the cuisine as being heavily into bite-sized pieces of meat picked up with pliable (and flavorful) pieces of bread. Yup, Somalis are into sandwiches that uses flatbreads as scoopers.

How ingenious is that?

Luckily, our taste testing team -- made up of two guys and two women -- received expert culinary advice from Mohamud Ibrahim, a Northeast Community College student who patiently explained each dish that came out of the busy kitchen.

That is before Mohamud whisked us away to a portion of the restaurant that was curtained off from prying eyes.

According to our host, we were given special treatment since females shouldn't eat in mixed company (i.e. in the company of a bunch of strange dudes, we imagined).

That being the case, the only thing we could add was "bring on the food!"

The scoop on scoops

Somali cuisine is often served family-style, which means guests are encouraged to share food with their neighbors.

In place of utensils, different types of freshly-made flatbreads take the place of both forks and plates.

For instance, we used the canjeero -- a small, thin, slightly sweet pancake-like bread -- as a way to pick up succulent pieces of goat meat while using lahoh -- a spongy bread made of dough, self-rising flour and a pinch of salt -- for suqaar, which is what Somali people call broiled beef tips.

Personally, we preferred using sabaayad, a bread that has a greater diameter allowing for more food for the surface.

Meet the meats

Yeah, in our hurry to describe the breads, we kinda gave the meat short shrift.

So, how was the goat, you asked? Pretty goat-y, we thought. Although we've had the meat before, Adan's goat was moist, mild and not at all gamy.

"If you didn't know it was goat, you'd think it was lamb," said one of our taste-testers.

That sounds about right.

However, we actually like Adan's beefy suqaar (pronounced sooh-car) a little bit better. Consisting of bits of beef less than an inch in diameter, suqaar was simple in a good way and filling in a very good way.

But is it really a sandwich?

Regular readers of this column know that we specialize in all types of sandwiches.

Whether it's something from a deli or a burger joint, we think anything put between two pieces of bread constitutes a sandwich in our eyes.

That's also true of the flavorful finger foods we received at Adan.

An unexpected delight from a faraway land

Living in Siouxland, we've grown accustomed to being served authentic fare from far-flung places.

When we went into Adan, none of the taste testers knew what to expect. What resulted was a fabulous lunchtime spent with an enthusiastic host.

More importantly, the food was spectacular, expertly-made and surprisingly approachable.

The Federal Republic of Somalia may be on the other side of the world but its cuisine can be found in an otherwise nondescript grocery store.

If you can smell goat wafting along Dakota Avenue, we suggest that you follow your nose. The food at Adan's Grocery Store and Restaurant is well worth the trip.

Our rating: 4 out of 5
Puff, puff, pass and tell

STORM LAKE, Iowa | It's like "Bring Your Parent to School Day," but with drugs!

A Storm Lake juvenile was charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia for bringing marijuana to Storm Lake Middle School Friday.

Storm Lake police received a drug-related complaint at the school. Upon arrival, school administrators alleged that they found and seized drugs in a student's locker.

The 14-year-old was arrested and released to a parent.

Getaway hopes? Flattened

ROCK RAPIDS, Iowa | "Sir, any chance you can let me off with a warning?"

An Archer, Iowa, man is in custody after leading Lyon County authorities on a high-speed chase.

Bayron Revolorio Garcia, 21, was arrested Tuesday on felony charges of eluding and forgery, misdemeanor charges of identity theft and operating while intoxicated and numerous traffic violations.

According to the Lyon County Sheriff's Office, a deputy responded to a call about a suspicious vehicle on the side of the road near U.S. Highway 75 and 220th Street. The vehicle sped away as a deputy arrived, and a chase ensued.

A second deputy set out spike strips on the north side of Rock Rapids, and Garcia ran over them, continuing into the city. He attempted to turn west onto Iowa Highway 9 but was unable to make the turn because his vehicle's tires were flat. His vehicle was stopped, and deputies took him into custody.
Parker-Hannifin Corporation manufactures and sells motion and control technologies and systems for various mobile, industrial, and aerospace markets worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Diversified Industrial and Aerospace Systems. The Diversified Industrial segment offers sealing, shielding, thermal products and systems, adhesives, coatings, and noise vibration and harshness solutions; filters, systems, and diagnostics solutions to monitor and remove contaminants from fuel, air, oil, water, and other liquids and gases; connectors, which control, transmit, and contain fluid; control solutions for extreme corrosion resistance, temperatures, pressures, and precise flow; and hydraulic, pneumatic, and electromechanical components and systems for builders and users of mobile and industrial machinery and equipment. This segment sells its products to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and distributors who serve the replacement markets in manufacturing, packaging, processing, transportation, construction, refrigeration and air conditioning, agricultural, and military machinery and equipment industries. The Aerospace Systems segment offers products for use in commercial and military airframe and engine programs, such as control actuation systems and components, engine build-up ducting, engine exhaust nozzles and assemblies, engine systems and components, fluid conveyance systems and components, fuel systems and components, fuel tank inerting systems, hydraulic systems and components, lubrication components, pilot controls, pneumatic control components, thermal management products, and wheels and brakes, as well as fluid metering, delivery, and atomization devices. This segment markets its products directly to OEMs and end users. The company markets its products through direct-sales employees, independent distributors, and sales representatives. The company was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.
CACI International Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides expertise and technology to enterprise and mission customers in support of national security missions and government modernization/transformation in the intelligence, defense, and federal civilian sectors. It operates in two segments, Domestic Operations and International Operations. The Domestic Operations segment offers information solutions and services to the U.S. federal government agencies and commercial enterprises in the areas, such as digital solutions, C4ISR, cyber and space, engineering services, enterprise IT, and mission support. The International Operations segment provides a range of IT services, proprietary data, and software products to the commercial and government customers in the United Kingdom, continental Europe, and internationally. The company designs, implements, protects, and manages secure enterprise IT solutions. It also offers software-defined, full-spectrum cyber, electronic warfare, and counter-unmanned aircraft system solutions; and platform integration and modernization and sustainment, as well as system engineering, naval architecture, training and simulation, and logistics engineering. In addition, the company provides enterprise cloud solutions for classified and unclassified networks; and intelligence support that ensures continuous advances in collection, analysis, and dissemination to optimize decision-making. CACI International Inc was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.
Kimco Realty Corp. is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on open-air mall-style properties in the US and is among the largest mall REITs on the market. The firm has been in business since the post-war boom of the 1966 and trading on the public markets since 1991. The name is a blend of the founders names, Martin Kimmel and Milton Cooper, who merged their assets in order to form the larger company.

The stock was added to the S&P 500 in 2006 and has held its position ever since. Kimco is also know for being the first vertically integrated REIT meaning it is internally managed and advised, and provides its own asset and property management. The firm raised $120 million with its IPO and was worth $11.4 billion in October 2022.

As of October 2022, the company laid claim to more than 530 properties enclosing 92 million square feet of retail space. The properties are primarily located within grocery-anchored shopping centers and mixed-use assets in suburban areas. The tenant-focus is on a diverse blend of essential and/or necessity-based goods or services that drive multiple consumer trips per week and provide stable income.

Kimco Realty is headquartered in Jerico, N.Y., but does not limit its investments by geography. The companys properties are located in 1st-ring suburbs surrounding major metropolitan areas from coast to coast. One area of focus is high-barrier-to-entry coastal properties in population-dense vacation zones while another is the rapidly expanding Sun Belt.

The firm offers a variety of services and features apart from property rentals that include curbside pickup zones and many others that enhance the tenant and consumer experience. Other features include digital maintenance requests, Click Pay, and a Discount Program. Some of the markets served by Kimco Realty include New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Miami, and Atlanta.
The following companies are subsidiares of Laboratory Co. of America: 1957285 Ontario Inc. dba Quality Underwriting Services, 2089729 Ontario Inc., 2248848 Ontario Inc., 3065619 Nova Scotia Company, 3257959 Nova Scotia Company, 8165335 Canada Inc., 8348596 Canada Inc., 896988 Ontario Limited, 9279-3280 Quebec Inc., Accupath Diagnostic Laboratories Inc., Assets of Pathology Inc, Beacon LBS IPA Inc., Beacon Laboratory Benefit Solutions Inc., CannAmm GP Inc., CannAmm Limited Partnership, Center for Disease Detection International, Center for Disease Detection LLC, Centrex Clinical Laboratories Inc., Chiltern, Clearstone Central Laboratories (U.S.) Inc., Clearstone Holdings (International) Ltd., Clinical Outreach Laboratory Services, Clipper Holdings Inc., Colorado Coagulation Consultants Inc., Colorado Laboratory Services LLC, Correlagen Diagnostics Inc., Covance Inc., Curalab Inc., Cytometry Associates Inc., Czura Thornton (Hong Kong) Limited, DCL Acquisition Inc., DCL Medical Laboratories LLC, DCL Sub LLC, DIANON Systems Inc., DL Holdings Limited Partnership, Decision Diagnostics L.L.C. (aka DaVinici/Medicorp LLC), Diagnostic Services Inc., DynaLifeDX, Dynacare - Gamma Laboratory Partnership, Dynacare Company, Dynacare G.P. Inc., Dynacare Holdco LLC, Dynacare Laboratories Inc., Dynacare Laboratories Limited Partnership, Dynacare Northwest Inc., Dynacare Realty Inc., DynalifeDX Infrastructure Inc., Envigo's nonclinical contract research services business, Esoterix Genetic Counseling LLC, Esoterix Genetic Laboratories LLC, Esoterix Inc., Execmed Health Services Inc., FirstSource Laboratory Solutions Inc., GDML Medical Laboratories Inc, Gamma Dynacare Central Medical Laboratories GP Inc., Gamma Dynacare Central Medical Laboratory Limited Partnership, HHLA Lab-In-An-Envelope LLC, Health Testing Centers Inc., Health Trans Services Inc., Home Healthcare Laboratory of America LLC, IDX Pathology Inc., Impact Genetics Corporation, Impact Genetics Inc., Kaleida LabCorp LLC, Lab Delivery Service of New York City Inc., LabCorp BVBA, LabCorp Belgium Holdings Inc., LabCorp Central Laboratories (Canada) Inc., LabCorp Central Laboratories (China) Inc., LabCorp Colorado Inc., LabCorp Development Company, LabCorp Employer Services Inc., LabCorp Health System Diagnostics LLC, LabCorp Indiana Inc., LabCorp Japan G.K., LabCorp Limited, LabCorp Michigan Inc., LabCorp Nebraska Inc., LabCorp Neon Ltd., LabCorp Neon Switzerland S.a.r.l., LabCorp Specialty Testing Billing Service Inc., LabCorp Specialty Testing Group Inc., LabCorp Staffing Solutions Inc., LabCorp Tennessee LLC, LabCorp UK Holdings Ltd., LabWest Inc., Laboratoire Bio-Medic Inc., Laboratory Corporation of America, Lifecodes Corporation, LipoScience Inc., Litholink Corporation, MEDTOX Scientific Inc., MNG Laboratories, MedAxio Insurance Medical Services GP Inc., MedAxio Insurance Medical Services LP, Medical Neurogenitics LLC, Medtox Diagnostics Inc., Medtox Laboratories Inc., Monogram Biosciences Inc., Monogram Biosciences UK Limited, Myriad Autoimmunes Vectra Testing Business, NWT Inc., National Genetics Institute, New Brighton Business Center LLC, New Imaging Diagnostics LLC, New Molecular Diagnostics Ventures LLC, Orchid Cellmark ULC, Ovia Health, PA Labs Inc., Paclab LLC, Path Lab Incorporated, Pathology Associates Medical Lab LLC, Pee Dee Pathology Associates Inc., Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc., Persys Technology Inc., Pixel by LabCorp, Princeton Diagnostic Laboratories of America Inc., Protedyne Corporation, SW/DL LLC, Saint Josephs-PAML LLC, Sequenom Biosciences (India) Pvt. Ltd., Sequenom Inc, Sequenom Inc., Tandem Labs Inc., Toxikon Corporation, Tri-Cities Laboratory LLC, Viro-Med Laboratories Inc., Visiun, and Yakima Medical Arts Inc..

Read More
The gravity of the existential threat we face from Islamic Jihad is truly of epic proportions. It is essentially a battle pitting free-civilized man against a totalitarian barbarian. What is at stake is the struggle for our very soul - namely who we are and what we represent. The lives that were sacrificed for individual rights and freedoms that we've come to cherish are being chiseled away from right under our noses by the stealth jihadists. And many of us are in denial and totally clueless.



The left's appeasement and pandering to evil is nothing new. What makes their utopian delusions so infuriating and unpardonable is that it is not only they who will have to pay the consequences, and deservedly, so, they are thwarting and undermining our best efforts at resistance and are thus dragging us down in the process as well.







By Peter Lancz,, the head of the Raoul Wallenberg World Campaign Against Racism.
PRINCE FREDERICK, Md.

(Dec. 8, 2016)The Calvert County Sheriff's Office released the following incident reports.BOMB THREAT: The Sheriff's Office received a phone call from a subject that advised there was a bomb in the courthouse. CCSO and MSP personnel were dispatched to the court houses in Prince Frederick. K-9 resources responded to the court houses and scanned and cleared both the District Court and Circuit Court buildings. The CCSO Criminal Investigations Bureau is currently working on this case.5TH NOOSE FOUND AT THE DOMINION COVE POINT LNG FACILITY IN LUSBY: On December 07, at approximately 11:50 am, the Sheriff's Office was notified by a representative of Kiewit Construction that a noose had been located on the construction site at the Dominion Cove Point LNG facility in Lusby. This is the 5th such noose that has been found on this site. The Sheriff's Office was contacted immediately upon the noose being located. The noose was collected and placed into CCSO property for evidence. Kiewit construction is cooperating fully with CCSO detectives who are investigating these cases. Numerous CCSO resources have been deployed to assist with the investigation which is still ongoing. Anyone with information on this incident is asked to contact Detective Nicholas DeFelice @ 410-535-2800 or defelinb@co.cal.md.us.On December 1, at approximately 5:11 p.m., deputies responded to the area of Maryland Rt. 2 and Federal Oak Drive for the report of a serious crash. Once on scene deputies observed a 2000 Toyota mini-van and a 2013 Infiniti with severe damage as the result of a rear end type collision. The at fault mini-van was occupied by 4 females, 3 of which including the operator were juveniles. Two of the occupants of the minivan appeared to be uninjured and the remaining two were flown to trauma centers where they were evaluated and found to have non- life threatening injuries. Two of the juveniles were not belted. One that was not belted was flown.Gladys Sewell was operating a Sewell Funeral Home passenger vehicle when she was rear ended by the mini-van. Sewell was waiting to make a left turn from northbound Rt. 2 into the Sunderland Park and Ride. Gladys Sewell was transported to Calvert Memorial Hospital where she was treated for her injuries.Due to the severity of this crash CCSO reconstruction team members were called to the scene to assist with the investigation. A possible cause of injury to the occupants of the mini-van is believed to have been from a spare tire that was not properly secured in the vehicle. The spare tire, just as an unoccupied passenger or other loose objects in a vehicle, became a projectile during the collision and is believed to have struck at least one of the occupants causing serious injury.This investigation is continuing. Anyone who may have witnessed this crash or has information that may assist with the investigation is encouraged to contact CCSO's Cpl. Tom Phelps at 410-535-2800 or email phelpsts@co.cal.md.us.BOGUS ASSAULT CLAIM: On November 14, Sheriff's Office patrol personnel responded to Rousby Hall Road near the intersection of Olivet Road in Lusby for the report of a serious assault. The alleged victim was transported to a medical facility where he was evaluated and found the subject had no injuries. After extensive investigation and interviews by CCSO detectives it has been determined the incident never occurred. The second alleged assault which was reported on November 15, 2016 was also investigated and was determined to be a false report. The juvenile in this case is being charged with giving the false report.
Fourteen years after entering the all-male Telford State Prison in Texas (TDCJ), transgender woman Passion Star is being granted parole.

Passions experience in custody has been punctuated by acts of interpersonal and institutional violence, Demoya Gordon, Lambda Legal Staff and Transgender Rights Project Attorney said in a press release.

Throughout her sentence, she has remained resilient, Gordon continued. She will leave Telford as a powerful advocate against sexual violence and assault in prisons. Her story is not one of a victim bent and broken by a faulty system, but of a fighter who braved incredible odds to see justice done.

Star has been represented by Lambda Legal who filed a lawsuit on her behalf in October 2014. Star has been exposed to repeated sexual assault since her entering TCDJ custody in 2002, including rape, physical assault, and even a razor attack that resulted in multiple slash wounds to her face.

According to the court case, Star has requested to be placed in safekeeping by TDCJ officials on multiple occasions, but instead of helping, the officials told her to suck dick, fight, or stop acting gay in order to avoid assault.

Texas must end sexual violence in its prisons and jails, reads the Lambda Legal campaign against rape in Texas jails. Texas must no longer callously deny incarcerated people their right to protection, or threaten them with isolation when they complain of abuse.

Lambdas campaign aims to enforce the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), which was unanimously passed by Congress  but Governor Rick Perry dismissed the act as ill-conceived and opted to pass on funding that was previously earmarked for the prevention of rape in Texas jails.

According to Lambda Legal, the act requires states to take measure to eliminate sexual abuse of people in custody by, for example, screening and separating particularly vulnerable people, like transgender women in male facilities, from likely aggressors.

Somebody, somehow, needs to shed light on what is taking place her in Texas prisons, Star wrote in a statement to Lambda Legal. TDCJ officials get away with so much and disregard so many legitimate threats to peoples safety, and it needs to stop somewhere. I fight for my life every day in here. Safety from rape and assault is not a privilege. Its a right, and I hope that this lawsuit will make sure this doesnt happen to anyone else.
When people tell Laura Burke that they cant do their jobs because they cant put her books down, thats when she knows shes done her job as an author  to write something entertaining.

Its a good feeling. It makes me feel really good, said Burke, who has lived in Wilton Manors for the past 20 years. Originally from Chicago, Burke lived in Costa Rica for two years before moving here. Over the last six years, shes written eight novels, most of which are murder mysteries with a little romance thrown in, including four in the Masson Murder Mystery Series.

Her next novel, Alone, is expected to be finished in January. Its the story of a group of doctors being murdered in various cities across the country. The first takes place in Miami. The murderer is following them to certain seminars and bumping them off.

But Burkes experience with mysteries isnt confined to books. Along with being a nurse for 20 years, Burke was also a private investigator for 30 years.

We handled quite a few different things, from husbands and wives cheating to people who just disappeared to kidnappings. I think that kind of inspired me more in my writing than anything. That gave me a lot of material, Burke said. Youd be surprised at how many unsolved cold cases there are in the U.S. and Europe.

Her first attempt at writing was 25 years ago but she gave up. I just put [the unfinished novel] in the closet. And then, about six years ago, I happened to run across the papers and I said Im going to finish this book.

After finding her draft again, and with some encouragement from her husband, she finished it and published her first novel  If Walls Could Scream.

But her favorite is Black Orchid.

I love orchids for one thing, but it was really a unique book. It has so many turns and twists but it still flows very easy. Burke calls it a classic mystery novel. Its a mystery right until the very end.

But her method for writing is anything but what some of the classic authors employ.

With the television on, I have a recliner sofa and I sit on one end with my feet up and my laptop in my lap, and I write. Her characters, she adds, speak to her. They tell her what to write. Everything just flows freely. My characters have a life, have a voice. I never know where its going to go.

Burkes novels are available at the Wilton Manors Library or online at Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Amazon and goodreads.com.
The H-II Transfer Vehicle 6 (KOUNOTORI 6) is open to media reporters at the Second Spacecraft Test and Assembly Building, Tanegashima Space Center. 2016/10/19 Credit: JAXA. JAXA

Japan is preparing to launch its sixth cargo mission to the International Space Station Friday morning. The Expedition 50 crew is training for the cargo ships arrival while studying how living in space affects the human body and maintaining station systems.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is getting ready to roll out its H-IIB rocket Thursday afternoon for a launch Friday at 8:26 a.m. Eastern time (10:26 p.m. Japan time) from the Tanegashima Space Center. The H-IIB is carrying the Kounotori HTV-6 cargo craft that will deliver over 4.5 tons of cargo to the International Space Station. Astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet continue studying the robotic procedures they will use to capture the HTV-6 when it arrives Tuesday morning.

Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson, who is on her third station mission, spent the entire day researching how microgravity pulls fluids towards the head. Doctors have noted how these fluid shifts apply pressure to the back of astronauts eyes potentially causing damage and affecting vision.

Cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko joined Whitson throughout the day for ultrasound scans and eye checks as part of the Fluid Shifts study. Cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy measured how activities on the station affect its magnetic field and microgravity environment.



Interior of the Kounotori HTV-6 cargo craft. Credit: JAXA.

On-Orbit Status Report

Story Time From Space Demo: The crew recorded a narrated video that pairs with the books Max Goes to Mars and Max Goes to Jupiter, that demonstrates how in the absence of compressive forces exerted by the earths gravity, the human body grows/stretches. Story Time From Space combines science literacy outreach with simple demonstrations recorded aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Crew members read five science, technology, engineering and mathematics-related childrens books in orbit, and complete simple science concept experiments. Crew members videotape themselves reading the books and completing demonstrations. Video and data collected during the demonstrations are downlinked to the ground and posted in a video library with accompanying educational materials.

Fluid Shifts: The crew performed the final day for the Fluid Shift operations in the Russian Service Module (SM) for their Flight Day 45 session. The subject donned the Lower Body Negative Pressure (LBNP/Chibis) device, while the operator, with ground support in Moscow, assisted in the medical monitoring. Additionally, while the subject was in the LBNP and experiencing the negative pressure (pulling the fluid feetward), the Crew Medical Officer performed Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions (DPOAE), Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), and Tonometry measurements. Fluid Shifts is a joint NASA-Russian experiment that investigates the causes for severe and lasting physical changes to astronauts eyes. Because the headward fluid shift is a hypothesized contributor to these changes, reversing this fluid shift with a lower body negative pressure device is investigated as a possible intervention. Results from this study may help to develop preventative measures against lasting changes in vision and eye damage.

Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Airlock Slide Table Reconfiguration: With the completion of the Robotics External Leak Locator (RELL) checkout, the crew extended the JEM Slide Table into the module and removed the RELL and JEM On-orbit Replacement Units (ORU) Transfer Interface (JOTI). The crew then installed the Small Fine Arm Attachment Mechanism (SAM) and Multi-Purpose Experiment Platform (MPEP) in preparation for the Japanese Small Satellite Orbital Deployers (J-SSOD) to be delivered on HTV-6. The JOTI will be returned to its Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA)-2 stowage location at a future time.

Personal CO2 Monitor Calibration: Prior to next weeks long duration Personal CO2 Monitor demonstration, the crew performed a calibration of the sensor, comparing the sensors readings to that of the Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA). The Personal CO2 Monitor demonstrates a system capable of unobtrusively collecting and downlinking individual crew members CO2 exposure for weeks to months. This investigation evaluates wearability principles in microgravity and also demonstrates Modular Wearable Architecture Base Board, allowing rapid certification of future wearable devices.

EVERYWEAR Tonometry: The crew performed the first session of the Everywear Tonometry test. By connecting the Tonometer and the EveryWear application on the iPad, the crew was able to monitor and record pulse waves of the carotid and radial arteries. The EVERYWEAR assistant is an ambulatory data collection system that makes use of wearable sensors connected to a space station iPad tablet computer, which itself, is wirelessly synchronized with computers on the ground. This easy-use system seeks to demonstrate the benefits of extensive physiology data collection for both science and medical follow-up purposes, by improving usability for crew members on the ISS. The main advantage of EVERYWEAR is the ability to aggregate data from different tools, but it also brings with it a simplification in procedures for astronauts. This is a versatile device that can cover a wide variety of needs with a tailored data collection capability that allows a unified treatment of data. The use of this personal assistant brings a very important gain in crew-time availability for ISS crew members.

Meteor Grating Exchange: Today the diffraction grating on the Meteor camera located in the Window Observational Research Facility (WORF) was changed from a fine to a coarse grating. By changing the grating, the scientists are able to observe different frequencies of light. The Meteor payload is a visible spectroscopy instrument with the primary purpose of observing meteors in Earth orbit. Meteor uses image analysis to provide information on the physical and chemical properties of the meteoroid dust, such as size, density, and chemical composition. Since the parent comets or asteroids for most of the meteor showers are identified, the study of the meteoroid dust on orbit provides information about the parent comets and asteroids.

Optical PAyload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS): OPALS flight software was updated on Tuesday to correct an issue with the laser RS-422 commanding interface. Yesterday the laser unit was powered on and the RS-422 commanding interface was initialized and verified by test. Following OPALS activation today and prior to the optical laser transmission over the Nice, France ground site, OPALS put itself into a Safe State. OPALS is unable to assess and recover prior to the ground pass today, so these operations will be deferred until OPALS performs some troubleshooting steps today, looks at data, and reschedules this ground site opportunity. OPALS tests the potential for using a laser to transmit data to Earth from space. Instead of being broadcast on radio waves, data is packaged onto beams of laser light and hardware on the International Space Station will point the laser to a receiver station on the ground. Radio waves transmission is limited by the speed that it can transfer data, but beaming information packages with lasers can greatly increase the amount of information transmitted over the same period of time.

Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) Troubleshooting: The crew reconnected Fluids Control and Pump Assembly (FCPA) Quick Disconnect (QD)27 earlier today, this QD has been disconnected since GMT 322. The UPA has been producing distillate with an elevated conductivity. Sample results have determined Pre-Treated Urine (PTU) is in the purge distillate. The source of PTU is either the FCPA or the Distillation Assembly (DA). Troubleshooting involved disconnecting QD27 for two Advanced Recycle Filter Tank Assembly (ARFTA) concentration cycles to isolate the FCPA housing from the purge distillate.

Internal Thermal Control System (ITCS) Fluid System Servicer (FSS) Lab Refill Procedure Review: Today, the crew reviewed procedures outlining FSS operations, and gathered FSS hardware. Over the next couple days the crew will be using the Fluid System Servicer (FSS) Fluid Control Pump Assembly (FCPA) to perform the following ITCS Maintenance Tasks:

Refilling the Lab Low Temperature Loop (LTL) Pump Package Assembly (PPA) Accumulator

Refilling the JEM Moderate Temperature Loop (MTL) Accumulator

Refilling the Columbus Water Pump Assembly 2 (WPA2) Accumulator

Filling a pair of dry ITCS lines running between Node 1 and Node 3

JEM Pressurized Module (JPM) Smoke Detector Cleaning: As part of routine maintenance, the crew inspected and cleaned JPM Cabin Smoke Detector b using the Intravehicular Activity (IVA) Connector Cleaning Tool and Compressed Air.

On-Board Training (OBT) Robotics On-Board Trainer (ROBoT): In preparation for HTV-6 capture and berthing, the crew completed another session of training. In addition to self-study the crew practiced a 30 meter approach and 2 Capture Point (CP)-hold runs.

Todays Planned Activities

All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.

EveryWear sleep assessment questionnaire filling

Acoustic Dosimeter Setup Day 3

Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (RGN) WSTA Fill

Story Time from Space Effects on Human Body Demonstration

Story Time From Space Historical Photo

FLUID SHIFTS. Comm Config for the Experiment

Inventory of the Hardware Connected to the Outlets in DC1, MRM1, MRM2, FGB, Systems Power Panels ???-26 and ???-31

Internal Thermal Control System (ITCS) Fluid System Servicer (FSS) Coolant Refill of Lab and Columbus  Procedure Review

FLUID SHIFTS. Hardware Prep and Setup for Video Coverage

XF305 Camcorder Setup

JEM Airlock Slide Table (ST) Extension to JPM Side

Fluid Shifts OCT Service Module Setup

Structures and Mechanisms (S&M) JEM ORU Xfer I/F (JOTI) and Robo Ext Leak Locator (RELL) Removal From JEM Airlock

Structures and Mechanisms JEM ORU Xfer I/F Robo Ext Leak Locator Assist

FLUID SHIFTS. Connection of OCT Laptop to BRI and RS HRF to ???-26 (instead of RSE-Med).

Fluid Shifts Tonometry Service Module Setup

Fluid Shifts OCT Service Module Power On

Fluid Shifts CCFP Service Module Configuration

Fluid Shifts DPOAE Service Module Setup

FLUID SHIFTS. Chibis Suit Pressure Control Unit Prep

FLUID SHIFTS. Assistance during Operations with Chibis and Gamma-1.

Fluid Shifts Experiment Service Module Data Collection

Small Fine Arm (SFA) Airlock Attachment Mechanism (SAM) installation To JEM Airlock (AL) Slide Table FLUID SHIFTS. Closeout Ops with Chibis

Fluid Shifts CCFP DPOAE Service Module End

FLUID SHIFTS. ???? Hardware Deactivation and Closing of SCC Apps

Dose Tracker Data Entry Subject

Fluid Shifts Tonometry Service Module Stow

FLUID SHIFTS. Restoration of Nominal Comm Config

Fluid Shifts OCT Service Module Power Off

Personal CO2 Monitor Payload On Board Training

JEM Airlock Capture Mechanism Release

FLUID SHIFTS. OCT Laptop Power Off. RSE-Med Connection.

Personal CO2 Monitor Sensor Calibration

JEMRMS Multi-Purpose Experiment Platform Installation to Small Fine Arm Attachment Mechanism Part1.

FLUID SHIFTS. Disconnection of US Inverter from ????

Fluid Shifts OCT Service Module Stow

JEM Airlock Capture Mechanism Capturing

JEMRMS Multi-Purpose Experiment Platform Installation to Small Fine Arm Attachment Mechanism Part2.

Fluid Shifts CCFP HRF PC Service Module Stow

JEM Airlock Slide Table (ST) Retraction from JPM Side

METEOR Grating Configuration

Temperature Measurement on ????-1? (position ?304).

ESA ACTIVE DOSIMETER MOBILE UNIT SWAP

Pulse Wave monitoring with EveryWear Tonometer

Temperature Measurement on ????-1? (position ?304). Assistance

Fluid Shifts Hardware Final Gather

Fluid Shifts Hardware USOS Transfer

ESA Monthly Management Conference

Leak Check of ??? fluid section and ?? ??-23 Safety Valve Setup. Tagup with specialists

Capillary Flow Experiments Interior Corner Flow Procedure Review

Fluid Shifts Ultrasound 2 Data Export Alternate

On-board Training (OBT) HTV Robotics Onboard Trainer (ROBoT) Session

Comm Config in MRM2 for the Experiment

KULONOVSKIY KRISTALL. Experiment Ops.

Aerosol Passive Samplers Drawer 3 Closure

In Flight Maintenance (IFM) Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) QD27 Remate

Dose Tracker Data Entry Subject

JPM Cabin Smoke Detector b Cleaning

Fluid Shifts HRF PC 2 Reconnect

Fluid Shifts OCT Laptop US Lab Setup

Fluid System Servicer (FSS) Lab Stowage Clear

Restoration of Nominal Comm Config in MRM2

Fluid Shifts Ultrasound 2 HRF Rack 1 Setup Power On From Cargo Transfer Bag

Temperature Measurement on ????-1? (position ?304).

KULONOVSKIY KRISTALL. Data Transfer and Downlink

Fluid Shifts Hardware Stow

On-board Training (OBT) HTV Robotics Onboard Trainer (ROBoT) Session

Delta file prep

Countermeasures System (CMS) Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) Cylinder Flywheel Evacuation

SD b Cleaning Closeout

In-flight Maintenance (IFM) Rheostat Air Mix Valve (RAMV) Adjustment And Tightening

URAGAN. Photo Spectrum System Battery Charge (start)

Completed Task List Items

Veggie 03 Pillow Watering

Unpack Inc 50 Coffee

Relocate Stowage from NOD2D2 to Clear Hatchway for HTV6

Ground Activities

All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.

Cupola AVU Checkout

Three-Day Look Ahead:

Thursday, 12/08: FSS ITCS Coolant Loop Refill, Solar Array Mast Imagery

Friday, 12/09: MSPR Combustion Chamber Installation, ITCS Coolant Loop Fill, HRF Samples, Fine Motor Skills

Saturday, 12/10: Weekly Housekeeping, HRF Samples

QUICK ISS Status  Environmental Control Group:

Component  Status

Elektron  On

Vozdukh  Manual

[???] 1  SM Air Conditioner System (SKV1)  On

[???] 2  SM Air Conditioner System (SKV2)  Off

Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab  Standby

Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3  Operate

Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab  Operate

Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3  Idle

Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA)  Process

Urine Processing Assembly (UPA)  Process

Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab  Off

Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3  Full Up
Bridenstine staffer (Left), Rep. Bridenstine (Center), Bob Walker (Right) NASAWatch.com

Some additional insight into the Trump Administrations space policy was revealed today in Washington DC.

Meeting at the Cosmos Club, attendees at the 11th Eilene M. Galloway Symposium on Critical Issues in Space Law heard from a number of speakers including former Congressman Bob Walker, who is advising the Trump Transition Team, and Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) who has been conducting a behind the scenes effort to become the next administrator of NASA.

Walker spoke first and said that the Trump space policy came together rather quickly at the end of then campaign and that he was asked to come up with one and deliver it  the next day. He cautioned the audience that just because he wrote some things this is not indicative of where the Transition Team  and the incoming NASA leadership  would necessarily go. That said, Walker said that there is an intent that the National Space Council be re-instituted so as to guide all space activities. civilian, military, and commercial. Walker went on to say that the Trump team is looking for a space policy that is disruptive, resilient, and enduring.

For one thing, Walker said that they are looking for a much longer life for the ISS  and that it will need to be refurbished and upgraded. He speculated that it would need to be handed over to an organization or consortium eventually. They are also looking for opportunities to have the commercial sector backfill for NASA so that NASA can focus on deep space exploration. Walker was very clear on this point noting that there was an awareness of many government programs that take a decade to do with technology that ends up being out of date.

Full story
Theres no other title in coffee quite like Neil Days.

A veteran of Silicon Valley and certifiable coffee fanatic, Day first came to our attention back in 2014 for his groundbreaking Perfect Coffee project, a Shasta Ventures-backed startup that has revolutionized the quality possibilities for pre-ground coffee. Before that he worked for Apple in the 90s, has consulted on projects across the Valley, helped boot WalMarts web store in the early 2000s, and has been the CTO at Sears and Shutterfly, where he also served as VP. Perfect was acquired by Blue Bottle in early 2015, as part of the Oakland-based brands astonishing round of fundraising and acquisition over the last 3 yearssome $145 million total, according to Pitchbook.

Upon acquiring Perfect Coffee, Neil Day went to work for Blue Bottle with the remarkable title of VP, Coffee Technologies. It iswe believethe only such title of its kind and an unprecedented acquihire in the fast-merging worlds of coffee and tech. And yet, we (and the rest of the world) had to wonder as to what, exactly, a Coffee Technologies role would entail at Blue Bottle. The September launch of Perfectly Ground made sense as the continuing arc of Days Perfect Coffee project, but now theyve dropped something new entirely: the Blue Bottle Coffee Dripper, released to the public earlier this week.

Outwardly its a new coffee dripper like the ones youve seen before: a ceramic, flat-bottomed half-cone vessel that holds a paper filter, which in turn holds ground coffee. You pour hot water through the coffee at a certain ratio, it drips down from the cone, and voila: youve got a cup of brew.

But this project is also an exhaustively researched, data-driven marvel of coffee engineering, and serves as an answer to that thesis questionthis is what a coffee technologies department at Blue Bottle does. Through dozens of prototypes, hundreds of hours, thousands of cups and roughly a million data points, Neil Day and his team at Blue Bottle have re-imagined the pour-over coffee cone for the 21st century. Its the proverbial better mousetrap, at once familiar and brand new, designed for consumer convenience but with a geek pedigree to satisfy the nerdiest of coffee brains.

Heres how they did it.

Day and his team started researching this project in the summer of 2015, with input from Blue Bottle QC head Benjamin Brewer, Director of Training Michael Phillips, and founder James Freeman. We wanted to be able to measure exactly what was going on with the brew process, Day tells Sprudge, then relate it back to sensory tasting notes. To execute those measurements the team applied the same data-driven approach to sensory analysis that Day pioneered with his Perfect Coffee project. Day brought in consultant Jeremy Kuempel, an MIT Graduate engineer known in coffee circles for his work as CEO of Blossom Brewer; Kuempel was last seen on Sprudge brewing coffee for American hip-hop recording artist 2 Chainz.

Kuempel, Day, and co. spent several months building testing equipment in Blue Bottles lab to precisely measure brewing extraction and thermal mass on existing brewers. Day estimates they brewed some 500 cups of coffee on a custom-built test riga series of thermal probes and scalesin order to collect some million-odd data points. A huge amount of analysis informed this design, says Day, who allows that this is an admittedly geeky, tech-driven approach that might go over a lot of peoples heads. Were big on obsessive, experimentally driven stuffbut its about bringing together technologies to make things easier and more delicious for coffee drinkers.

Blue Bottle sent us a dripper and filter set to play with for this article, and our biggest question out of the box was, What makes this different from existing products on the market? Though informed by the same obsessive approach to research and data collection, this particular final product is less obviously disruptive than, say, Days work on Perfectly Ground.

We feel like theres lots of really great drippers out there, says Day, and weve had great success in our coffees with the Bonmac drippers, which have been on bar for more than a decade. And we like some things about the V60 and Kalita as well. But we had this feeling that if we really understood extraction and the interaction between technique and coffee, we could make something better. Factors like flow rate, thermal mass, size, and interactivity between cone and filter were exhaustively measured and tested by Day, Kuempel, and their team. The goal was not necessarily for Blue Bottle to create a brewer that was outright *better* than whats on the market; rather, it is to create a brewer that allowed for better coffee more often, with a wider target and less demands on expertise, but understanding every last factor and input involved in the process. In engineer speak, Kuempel and Day talked about it as producing better results with a broader set of inputs. In laymens terms, all that tech and research has been purposed towards creating a more forgiving brewer, one that is more tolerant of variation and capable of removing obstacles to by-the-cup deliciousness.

All that complexity, all that science kind of melts away when you use it, Kuempel says. You dont need to know any of this other stuff; you just use the dripper and it does its thing.

It is also, and this should be noted, an absolutely beautiful object, custom made for Blue Bottle at a small ceramics factory in Arita, Japan. Japanese design and aesthetic sensibilities can be found throughout the project, including the brewers proprietary paper filters. Research on the filters began by first consulting an origami expert, before the QC team at Blue Bottle set out cupping endless cups of water poured through various paper filters, taking in-depth sensory notes along the way. The goal wasnt necessarily to find a tasteless paper, says Kuempel, but rather, to find a paper that complemented coffee in a meaningful way. Flavor is not just some pure scientific expression of coffee, Kuempel says. Its like an orchestra, where youve got instruments playing together, and maybe the filter paper is part of that.

The team eventually settled on a paper manufactured and produced inyou guessed itJapan, resulting in a product duo that is sourced, forged, packaged, and shipped entirely from the island nation. Theyre especially proud of the Arita connection, a small city in Kyushu known for its artisan ceramics tradition dating back some 400 years. When you hold ceramics from Arita, the glaze is smoother; the walls are a little bit thinner; these products are special, says Kuempel. And indeed, the Blue Bottle drippers density is such that it will actually ring like a bell if you hold it just right. Maybe thats the just crushed rock in the ceramics. Or maybe Kuempel is right, and theres something special about the products that come from this tiny place of just 20,000 people on the southernmost main island of Japan.

So is the Blue Bottle dripper only designed to work with Blue Bottle coffee? Is it a closed system, like a Keurig, say, designed around Perfectly Ground? Absolutely not, says Day. This is not a closed system, he tells us, and if you want to put your favorite local roasters coffee into it and play with it, its open. But the team did design the brewer around Blue Bottles approach to by-the-cup brewing in their cafes, and the Blue Bottle dripper is now on barsome 800 units in totalacross Blue Bottles network of cafes in New York, Tokyo, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area. At the end of the day, its a dripper for all coffees, but we did design it with Blue Bottle in mind, Day tells Sprudge. That intentionality allowed for some narrowing of focuslike working with a laser beam instead of a shotgun, quips Kuempelbut the drippers applications out in the wild are fundamentally agnostic, open source, user-friendly.

Ever the coffee fana data-driven experimental technologist pushing the industrys boundaries, but a fan all the sameNeil Day tells us, Ive brewed up plenty of Four Barrel, Sightglass, and Coava on this, and it all tastes great. I mention wed been playing around with brewing some Kenyans from Camber Coffee through the dripper, a tiny new coffee roaster from Bellingham. Or should I call them a startup?

Days voice lights up across the line. Oh! he exclaims. Theyre really good!

Jordan Michelman is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Jordan Michelman on Sprudge.

Blue Bottle Coffee is an advertising partner on Sprudge. A complete list of partners is published on the lower right-hand side of each article.
The aroma of freshly brewed coffee mingles with the cool sounds of up-beat Northern Soul music, embracing you as you enter. Welcome to Coffee Press, a vibrant, busy cafe on the site of an old newspaper building in the small town of Kilmarnock, Scotland, a once thriving industrial hub some 12 miles south of Glasgow.

Soul music is a big part of what we are all about, Coffee Press owner Alisdair Hood laughs as he explains his affinity with the music. Its all about creating a good atmosphere for our customers, getting their toes tapping while enjoying their coffee. Here the playlist is steeped in Northern Soul greats like Frank Wilsons Do I Love You (Indeed I Do), (Marvin Gaye and) Tammi Terrells California Soul, The Supremes Stoned Love, The Jackson Sisters I Believe In Miracles, and Minnie Ripertons Les Fleur to name only a few tracks on the playlist.

Im talking about the original version of I Believe In Miracles, of course, not The Jackson Sisters more famous disco crossover. The original is a Northern Soul flag waver and the distinction matters.

Northern Soul was a musical phenomenon that captivated young people in northern Britain in the 1960s and 1970s. In towns like Wigan, UK youths fell in love with the music of Chuck Wood, Dobie Gray, and Tobi Legendobscure artists in their native America overshadowed by the massive success of Motown, but adored in the small towns of Scotland and northern Britain, spun and re-spun at public dances until the grooves wore off. America largely ignored these artists, but in Northern Soul circles that was the attraction: the more obscure the better.

The Coffee Press opened in 2006, and it may be Scotlands only coffee bar dedicated to the sounds of Northern Soul. The name is a nod to the history of the building, Hood tells me. It was previously the offices of the local newspaper (The Kilmarnock Standard), and is also another name for cafetiere.

In ten years the outlet has grown in popularity and has a reputation for being a well-organized and operated coffee outlet close to central Kilmarnock. The staff are attentive, even in busy periods, and Hoods cooking up many of his own recipes for the cafe menu. The shop is well-equipped with the retro-styled and hard-working Elektra Barlume two-group coffee machine and the durable Mazzer espresso grinder. Coffee is supplied by Matthew Algie, an independent Glasgow-based coffee roaster founded in 1864.

But this is more than just a coffee shop: it is a cultural oasis in a town whose great engineering and manufacturing era has long since passed, and a nod to the days when American soul music transfixed a generation of Scottish and English kids. They host at art shows here and allow it to double as a gallery; there are occasional themed nights in which Hood, a talented chef, rolls out menus that celebrate cuisines from around the world, all of it accompanied by great music (and a friendly BYOB policy).

There should be more Northern Soul cafes, in my very biased opinion, and more appreciation of this quirk of musical history, which is still inspiring new generations of musicians todayBelle and Sebastian, an iconic Scottish band, are huge Northern Soul devotees. And so it was that obscure American soul music would get a generation of Northerners dancing in the streets; today Coffee Press has mixed those sounds with coffees from around the world. The beat still grooves.

As a special treat for Sprudge readers, allow us to offer 10 classic Northern Soul cuts, in collaboration with the staff at Coffee Press.

Frank Wilson  Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)

Dobie Gray  Out On The Floor

Judy Street  What

Dean Parrish  Im On My Way

Epitome of Sound  You Dont Love Me

Al Wilson  The Snake

James Fountain  Seven Day Lover

Chuck Wood  Seven Days Too Long

Jimmy Radcliffe  Long After Tonight Is All Over

Tobi Legend  Time Will Pass You By

Sergio Burns is a journalist at Ayrshire Magazine and an author based in Glasgow. Read more Sergio Burns on Sprudge.
Ontario Sired Il Mago, who has not missed a cheque since arriving at Dover Downs, won for the first time over the five-eighths mile course on Wednesday, December 7. His 1:52.3 clocking came in the tracks $20,000 Open Handicap Trot.

Tim Tetrick moved Il Mago out of second on the backstretch and then breezed to a three-length victory, his seventh of the year, which pushed his seasonal earnings to $102,046.

Scott DiDomenico conditions the seven-year-old son of Kadabra-Northern Style for CC Racing. The winner of $664,908 in lifetime earnings was followed to the wire by Tough Mac (driven by Corey Callahan). Celebrity Pegagus (Art Stafford Jr.), who was the only four-year-old in the race, finished third.

Tetrick had four wins on the card, including a victory with 20-1 shot Royal Lad. Yannick Gingras scored three times and owner-trainer Ed Gannon registered two winners. Tetrick and Gingras are now tied for first place in wins during the current Dover meet with 37 apiece, one more than former leader Vic Kirby.

Dovers Thursday, December 8 card of racing will be headlined by a $30,000 Preferred Pace and a $27,500 Delaware Special.

First-race post time for Thursdays card will be 4:30 p.m.

(With files from Dover Downs)
Driver Gerry Hudon will be sidelined indefinitely as a result of an accident this past Saturday night (Dec. 3) at Northlands Park.

The accident occurred when Cowboy Caper (Keith Clark) broke stride while advancing first-over on the backstretch, causing interference to the trailing horses. Hudon was driving Timberline Court, who was following Cowboy Caper second-over and couldn't avoid the horse in front of him. Hudon was thrown from the racebike as his horse fell.

Hudon, who was taken to hospital and released later that night, told Trot Insider that he's banged up and bruised but the main issue is his right elbow.

"My right elbow is the problem. I have no use of my arm because, my elbow, they say there's a chip lodged in it," said Hudon. "I'm just waiting to get a CT scan to see what they're going to do about it."

The arm has mobility from the shoulder, but because of the chip in the elbow Hudon says the arm is essentially locked in a position resembling a 45 degree angle.

"I've been through the ultrasounds and the x-rays of it. There's definitely something going on but they're not saying much, they're going to wait and have the CT scan done and go from there."

While Hudon naturally feels frustrated with the situation he faces regarding his immobilized arm, the longtime horseman considers himself extremely fortunate.

"I consider myself lucky, I really do. When I was leaving the bike I didn't know where I was going to land. I remember everything about it, I remember Keith [Clark] giving the holler, 'look out! look out!' Well, I was on his helmet...and I tried to go to the inside and maybe that was a mistake. I should have stayed straight at him. You're trying to be defensive too, right?"

Not only did Hudon escape severe and serious injury, thankfully the same can be said about Alberta's Horse of the Year from 2012, Timberline Court.



Gerry Hudon guides Timberline Court to victory at Alberta Downs in 2010 Gerry Hudon guides Timberline Court to victory at Alberta Downs in 2010

"He's doing OK, the bullet end of the shaft come around and got him in the side but he's feeling good," noted Hudon. "He's tough, he's an old veteran. I just didn't like seeing him lay out on the track, that horse has been a good horse all his life. He just didn't need that, but it happened so quick, there was nothing anybody could do about it."

Timberline Court is one of 25 horses Hudon currently has in his barn, horses he'll be able to only manage from the sidelines and cheer on during race nights for the time being.

"It's OK, I've got real competent staff and competent young kids that will drive for me...Phil Giesbrecht and Dave Kelly. I've got guys that will do the job."

His staff and catch drivers are just part of the support that Hudon has received since his Saturday spill.

"Everybody's been phoning and asking," said Hudon. "I didn't watch the replay, I never do after I'm in them, but I've had guys phone me and say that was one ugly-looking one."

Please join Standardbred Canada in wishing Gerry Hudon a full and speedy recovery.
The Central Ontario Standardbred Association (COSA) has announced the date for its seventh annual general meeting (AGM).

The meeting is to take place on Wednesday, December 21, 2016 and will commence at 7:00 p.m. at St. Davids Presbyterian Church, 130 Main St. N, Campbellville, Ont. (Upper Hall-use back door)

The AGM has been scheduled to update all COSA members with respect to the ongoing business of COSA and to present the COSA 2015/2016 Audited Financial Statements from KPMG.

Please bring your membership card, as membership will be verified at the door.

(with files from COSA)
Diocese of Phoenix to Host Courage International's 'Truth and Love' Conference

Contact: Lisa Wheeler , 404-519-1987; Kevin Wandra , 404-788-1276; both with Carmel Communications PHOENIX and NORWALK, Conn., Dec. 8, 2016 / Standard Newswire / -- The Diocese of Phoenix and Courage International will host the upcoming Truth and Love conference. The goal is to offer sound practical and pastoral guidance on the topics of homosexuality and sexual identity. The event, Jan. 911, 2017, at St. Paul Parish in Phoenix, is the third of its kind. Previous educational conferences organized by Courage and various co-sponsors have been held in Detroit and Rome.The theme of this year's conference is "Welcoming and accompanying our brothers and sisters with same-sex attractions or confusion regarding sexual identity." So many of the current approaches to homosexuality do not include the fuller perspective of the human person. Rather, they limit themselves to "acceptance" and to the protection of the "right" of "sexual satisfaction." Yet, as the Catholic Church has consistently taught, these approaches will never lead people to the abundant life that Christ promises.Catholic experts will present authentic pastoral care responses to these issues most relevant to the Church today. Presenters include Fr. Philip Bochanski, executive director of Courage International; Dr. Janet Smith; Jason Evert; Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse; Andrew Lichtenwalner; among others.Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix and Jose H. Gomez, Archbishop of Los Angeles, will be Mass celebrants.Testimonies of people who experience same-sex attractions or sexual-identity confusion, and how chaste friendships and the teachings of the Church have helped them on their journey toward chastity and sanctity, will also be presented.Bishop Olmsted explains, "The work of Courage International, helping those with same-sex attraction to build friendships and virtue, and helping the Church to share the Good News of Christ in a challenging area, is essential in our time. I encourage all who have pastoral responsibilities to join us at the Conference this January in Phoenix. It will help you to grow in knowledge and fellowship."Fr. Philip Bochanski, executive director of Courage International, sees the conference as a tool to "share the good news that living chastely and finding our true identity as sons and daughters of God is the way to real happiness and authentic relationships."The conference is designed for clergy, religious and those lay faithful working in ecclesial ministry, as well as medical and mental health professionals. Registration is available at TruthandLove.com MEDIA: Press credentials to attend the conference are available. To arrange interviews with conference speakers and panelists, or a Courage spokesperson, contact Lisa Wheeler of Carmel Communications ( lwheeler@carmelcommunications.com or 404-519-1987) or Kevin Wandra of Carmel Communications ( kwandra@carmelcommunications.com or 404-788-1276).
Franklin City Council Keeps Nativity Despite Threats

Contact: Liberty Counsel, 800-671-1776, Media@LC.org, Press Kit



FRANKLIN, Penn., Dec. 8, 2016 /Standard Newswire/ -- The Franklin City Council has elected to maintain a Nativity display in Bandstand Park despite an anonymous demand letter received on Monday from two local residents in Seneca. The letter's authors, "RM, SJ and family," copied the email to the atheist group Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) and stated that a Nativity display is a violation of church and state and should be removed from Bandstand Park.



City officials unanimously approved Monday evening to add secular decorative items to the display, which has been part of its annual holiday decor for decades. Liberty Counsel offered to provide pro bono assistance and supports the City of Franklin's inclusion of other secular Christmas decorations with the Nativity scene in order to engage in permissible "government speech." Such decorations could include Santa, reindeer, snowmen, or other symbols or decor displayed in tasteful proximity to the Nativity scene.

In addition to the City's constitutional "government speech" option under applicable Supreme Court precedent, other courts, including the Third Circuit Court of Appeals (which has jurisdiction over Pennsylvania), routinely uphold Christmas displays against legal challenge.

"Publically-sponsored Nativity scenes on public property are constitutional, especially when the display includes other secular symbols of the holiday," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. "Franklin city officials quickly voted to add other appropriate decor, in order to avoid question whether the Nativity scene is constitutional. We stand by the city and will offer legal counsel to any city facing threats from the FFRF or other individuals," said Staver.

Liberty Counsel has launched its fourteenth annual Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign, pledging to be a "Friend" to those who recognize Christmas and a "Foe" to those who censor it. The campaign educates, and if necessary litigates, to make sure that Christmas and Christian themes are not censored. Liberty Counsel provides a memorandum to offer guidance regarding publicly and privately sponsored religious holiday displays, religious holidays in public schools, and the rights of public school students in the context of religious holidays. An updated Naughty & Nice List is also available, that catalogues retailers that recognize and those that censor Christmas.

Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics.
Wealthy corporations practically giving away their assets in Venezuela to flee the coming collapse

Venezuela is in shambles and has been for quite some time. What is responsible for this? None other than socialism.

After adopting a socialist system of economics, the country of Venezuela slowly began collapsing on top of itself. The once economically stable country has since become a complete disaster where people are now spending ludicrous amounts of money on necessities.

To make matters even worse for the country, many of the corporations that once held offices and factories in the country are doing everything they can to escape. Theyre so desperate to get out of Venezuela that they are practically giving away their assets just so they can flee the country. Everyone from Ford Motor Company to General Mills is engaging in this behavior  and it is no wonder why.

Bob Adelmann of The New American reports, Executives quizzed about the departures said their operations were no longer viable, that it was increasingly difficult to obtain raw materials, and when they did, they couldnt sell the finished goods profitably, thanks to price controls enforced by Marxist Nicolas Maduros government.

The societal and economic collapse in Venezuela serves as the latest example of socialism being a complete joke. Every corporation, every country that has given socialism a chance has paid the ultimate price. This isnt an isolated incident  it is one of many, from all across the world. It is time for people to grow up and accept the fact that both socialism and communism will never actually work.

Capitalism is the only way. It allows businesses, societies and individuals to prosper without any sort of government intervention. Socialism forces people to rely on the government for everything, which is what has left so many socialist countries in shambles. The federal government is terrible at almost everything, so depending on them for absolutely everything is a recipe for disaster.

While we can all hope that Venezuela will be a learning experience for the world, the Regressive Left is so obsessed with the idea of socialism that there is little doubt that they will attempt to make this happen once again. They continue to convince themselves that the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth times will be the charm and they never learn their lesson. There is no hope for these people anymore, but that doesnt mean that the rest of us shouldnt do our part to expose the corruption where we see it.

Its never too late to open a young liberals eyes to the truth.

Sources:

TheNewAmerican.com

Bloomberg.com

CTVNews.ca
It's Election season and our editor's mailbox is overflowing. Who do your neighbors support? Read about it here.
Harold Koenig, 94, was only 19 when he left his job at Boeing and enlisted as a Mechanic Second Class in the Navy 75 years ago. Hundreds of Japanese aircraft had just attacked Pearl Harbor the morning of Dec. 7, 1941.

At the Kelso Senior Center on Tuesday morning, Koenig was one of five World War II veterans  each marked with a red carnation and blue and white ribbons on his chest  at a remembrance for the day former President Franklin Roosevelt said would live in infamy. He was the oldest veteran there.

Theyre all gone now, Koenig said of the comrades he fought with on the battlefield. Im the only one still alive.

About 75 people attended the remembrance at the center, 45 of whom were veterans spanning decades of war. Koenig said the event was wonderful, a way to get the guys together and trade stories of their service.

Its been a labor of love for me, said Sandy Rountree, a Longview woman who organized the gathering.

The event began with a breakfast and included music from the Happy Ukulele Group and the Mark Morris High School marching band, a presentation on Pearl Harbor by two Mark Morris seniors and a speech by Cowlitz County Sheriff Mark Nelson.

Rountree also gathered about 40 letters addressed to the soldiers from elementary school students. The letters appeared on the breakfast tables at the center Tuesday morning.

I think you are brave, generous and kind because you fought for us and our country and you were away from your family, a student from St. Rose Catholic School in Longview wrote.

Rountree estimated that the veterans who attended had a total of more than 350 years of service to the country.

In Nelsons speech, he spoke of his time serving in the Marine Corps. He thanked the vets for their service and reminded the audience that is important to remember Dec. 7, 1941, to continue to honor veterans.

Why do they mean so much to us? Its because they identify us. They define us. They are what built us as a nation, Nelson said, and they also serve to ignite us to action.
Editors note: Todays editorials originally appeared in The Columbian and Seattle Times. Editorial content from other publications is provided to give readers a sampling of regional and national opinion and does not necessarily reflect positions endorsed by the Editorial Board of The Daily News.

As the nations most trade-dependent state, Washington is particularly susceptible to ripples in international commerce. So it is that two recent news items are resonating in this state. While there is reason for consternation, the prudent action would be for trade watchers to take a deep breath and relax, understanding that the complexities of international business do not leave room for a panicked response.

In one of the items, the World Trade Organization ruled that Washington states tax subsidies for Boeing violate international rules. In 2013, the Legislature approved an extension of tax breaks for the aerospace giant, providing subsidies that are expected to be worth $8.7 billion over 25 years; in exchange, Boeing agreed to build the 777X in the state.

While the deal secured thousands of jobs for the Puget Sound region  and ensured work for suppliers  it also triggered debate. After the agreement was reached, Boeing began announcing that other jobs would be moved out of Washington, essentially thumbing its nose at taxpayers. Lawmakers should have been more diligent about tying up loose ends in the agreement to ensure that the company was beholden to citizens. But the deal was imperfect.

That provides some subtext for the recent decision from the World Trade Organization, which ruled that requiring Boeing to assemble the 777X and its composite wings in the state violates rules about foreign goods and local products being treated equally. The decision followed a complaint from the European Union  which subsidizes Boeings primary competitor, Airbus  and it was the latest salvo in on ongoing trade war between the two companies. Notably, the trade organizations ruling rejected most of the European Unions complaints about the deal, and Boeing officials hailed the decision as a victory for U.S. manufacturing.

Cutting to the chase, with appeals in the works and with the complexities of the ruling still being worked out, next years Legislature should not be eager to reconstruct the tax breaks. For one thing, lawmakers have enough items on their agenda without worrying about capitulating to the World Trade Organization; for another, it will take some time for appeals to play out.

Meanwhile, the situation demonstrates the attention that will be paid to international trade in the coming years  which brings us to the second news item. President-elect Donald Trump helped negotiate a deal that will keep roughly 1,000 jobs in Indiana after Carrier, a manufacturer of air conditioning and heating units, had threatened to move those jobs to Mexico. The simplistic explanation is that Carrier will receive $7 million in tax breaks from the state of Indiana.

Therein lies the problem. By allowing Carrier to hold jobs hostage in exchange for tax breaks, it sets a precedent for other companies to follow. Boeing did the same thing a couple years ago in Washington, which brings up the question of where the tipping point lies. Carrier has about 45,000 employees in 170 countries; Boeing has 80,000 in Washington alone.

With Trump having campaigned on a platform of being against trade agreements, vast changes could be in the works for the U.S. economy. Those changes inevitably will be felt in this state, leading us all to take a deep breath  and probably hold it for a while.

How does canceling Boeing contract save U.S. jobs?

President-elect Donald Trumps scrutiny of defense-procurement costs is welcome.

Less welcome is Trump abruptly blurting out that hell cancel a contract affecting thousands of American manufacturing jobs in Washington state.

Thats the effect of Trump tweeting Tuesday morning about Boeings work on the new Air Force One planes. He said, Costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!

Despite having invested in Boeing and being a satisfied 757 customer, Trump has used the company as a punching bag in attacks on trade and now procurement costs.

Trump must reconcile this stance with his promise to support American workers affected by global trade.

Perhaps Boeing is singled out for bullying because it exposes a fatal flaw in Trumps argument for protectionism: The aerospace company is the prime example of how America must embrace foreign trade to support its beleaguered manufacturing industry.

Trumps support should also extend to all American workers, not just a select few in states such as Indiana that voted for him.

Indiana is where Trump last month pressed Carrier to keep about 800 manufacturing jobs in the state rather than move them to Mexico. Its also the state governed by Vice President-elect Mike Pence.

This generated positive headlines and support, even though Carrier will now automate the Indiana factory to lower costs and reduce jobs.

America and its manufacturing industry will not be made greater with one-off deals involving members of Trumps inner circle.

To support current and future industry and jobs, the country needs policies supporting economic development and education from coast to coast. It must also support trade with foreign countries, which provide the majority of customers and growth opportunities for U.S. companies.

At the start of this year, around 2,000 people were employed building 747s. The planes are globally recognized symbols of American manufacturing and technical prowess, especially customized versions that carry the president.

The planes are mostly sold to international-cargo companies, which have reduced purchases as trade has slowed. This has led to cutbacks and created uncertainty about how much longer production will continue.

Among the final buyers is the U.S. Air Force, which decided last year to use the 747-8 for the next version of Air Force One. It approved an initial contract with Boeing this year.

More than $3 billion is budgeted through 2021 to develop several of the jets into flying-command centers for the president. They will be among the worlds most sophisticated aircraft, with features such as aerial refueling and defensive capabilities.

The cost is breathtaking and deserves scrutiny before the full program is approved.

Yet even more shocking is the inconsistency in Trumps position toward American workers, and his ongoing pursuit of headlines with knee-jerk tweets.
Soon after getting leaked images of Moto X (2017) a new speculation is started surfacing the Internet confirming the rumour true. It is being reported by the sources that a Lenovo spokesperson said that the Moto X (2017) will be launched in sometime next year, OppTrends reported. So it is now proved that the Lenovo-owned Motorola hasnt discontinued its Moto X series.

Lenovo has officially announced in June that the Moto X series is alive and well. Besides, recently leaked images showed that the company is preparing to launch its next Moto X smartphone in the market, next year.

Citing the leaks, Moto X (2017) will be full metal build and flaunts a round camera panel at its back, similar to the Moto Z models. Also, we havent seen any kind of connector pins on the lower back of the phone, hence, we can conclude that the handset wont support Moto Mods. While, the photo which reveals front of the smartphone suggests a home button at the bottom, and it could be expected that it is equipped a fingerprint scanner.

Considering, the Lenovos statement, in which it revealed earlier this year that the upcoming Moto Z smartphones will support Moto Mods but these images show that this Moto phone wont support them, so it is clear that the smartphone leaked in the images is not a Moto Z series phone.

Previously, techroider has also reported some leaked images of Moto X (2017) smartphone, which also shows a similar round panel camera at the back. Handset in these images also lacks the Moto Mod connector pins at the back.

The Moto X (2017) leaked image shows its Silver colour variant, while, it is also expected that the handset will be launched in Gold colour option as well. All information is assumed from the previous data, nothing officially has confirmed yet. Also, the specs and features of this smartphone are still unknown, and we would have to wait for an another leak or benchmark listing for the same, so to know further stay tuned to The TeCake.

Besides, Motorola has recently announced that it has no plans to launch its new Moto 360 smartwatch soon. The company released a statement on Monday which reveals that indicates we have at least a several months long wait before the next Moto 360 arrives.

Whereas, the Lenovo-owned brand, Motorola has launched two new Moto Mods for its Z series smartphones. It has unveiled a 3000mAh Mophie Battery Pack and an Incipio Car Dock that allows charging and comes with a 3.5mm audio output.
tech2 News Staff

IBM announced that more than 40 global clients in industries as varied as financial services, healthcare and education have joined the IBM Watson for Cyber Security beta program. The program uses the Watson AI to provide security services to these companies. Clients include Sun Life Financial, SCANA, California Polytechnic State University and Avnet.

The AI will help to identify and prioritise threats, allowing security analysts to make better and faster decisions. Watson uses machine learning and natural language processing to pull out the relevant information from vast amounts of data. A poll conducted by IBM Institute for Business Value among security professionals shows that more than sixty percent believe that emerging cognitive technologies will have an important role to play in combating cyber crime.

Sandy Bird, Chief Technology Officer, IBM Security, says "Customers are in the early stages of implementing cognitive security technologies. Our research suggests this adoption will increase three fold over the next three years, as tools like Watson for Cyber Security mature and become pervasive in security operations centers. Currently, only seven percent of security professionals claim to be using cognitive solutions."

IBM Watson can determine if a security event or offence matches with the behavior of any known malware or cybercrime campaign. If so, then Watson can pull the relevant background information, and known approaches for tackling the malware or attack. IBM Watson also helps at identifying suspicious behavior, by providing contextual information about the behavior which will allow a security analyst to better decide if the suspect activity is indeed malicious.

IBM security monitors over thirty five billion security events every day, in more than a hundred and thirty countries, and IBM owns over three thousand security related patents.
hidden

US tech giant Microsoft on Wednesday introduced solutions from its partner ecosystem to meet the needs of small and medium businesses across India. Built by Microsoft's independent software vendors (ISV) "Smarter Biz" and "IDOS", these solutions address key areas like customer relationship management (CRM), finance and accounting.

"The SMB sector in India has strong potential for driving growth through technology adoption and Microsoft is committed to providing them with the right set of solutions to achieve it," said Sudhir Nayar, Director, Partner Sales, Microsoft India, in a statement. "Smarter Biz" is the next generation mobile CRM tool that can measure and track the sales team at every opportunity generated from the marketing team.

"IDOS" is a simple-to-use accounting and compliance software fully integrated into Microsoft Office 365 and comes with real-time internal audit capabilities. IDOS also provides real-time and accurate business intelligence to facilitate decision making. These solutions will run on Microsoft Cloud and will be available at a very low cost.

"The pricing for Office 365 will start for as low as Rs 250 per user per month and for organisations with more than 50 users, Microsoft will take the responsibility for deploying the suite," the company said.

Reuters
British lawmakers back PM Theresa May's Brexit timetable

British parliament lends support to PM Theresa May\'s Brexit timetable on Wednesday.

Reuters, London :

British lawmakers backed Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit timetable on Wednesday after she headed off a rebellion in her Conservative Party over a lack of insight into the government's strategy to leave the European Union.

May has come under pressure from lawmakers, businesses and investors to set out at least a broad picture of how she sees Britain's future relationship with the EU. She says giving too much away could weaken Britain's hand in the country's most important negotiations since World War Two.

After a sometimes rowdy session in parliament, lawmakers voted by 448 to 75 to support a motion calling on the government to offer up its Brexit plan, but also backed the government's timetable to trigger the divorce procedure by the end of March.

During the six-hour debate, the opposition Labour Party pressed its motion for a plan setting out the government's negotiating stance in its talks with the bloc, before Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty is invoked to start the exit process. But by agreeing to the government's demand for parliament to endorse May's timetable for Article 50, Labour lawmakers were accused of falling into a trap-allowing ministers to begin the divorce without consultation.

Labour Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer denied the vote was on Article 50. It was a vote, he said, to force the government to offer a plan with "enough detail and clarity to end the circus of uncertainty" over Britain's future ties to the EU's single market of 500 million consumers.

"Asking for a plan setting out the objectives is not to seek to undermine the UK's negotiating hand nor is it to seek a running commentary, but it is in fact to have clarity, scrutiny and accountability," he said.

He said that if the government failed to provide a sufficiently detailed plan, Labour would challenge it again, he said, adding that the party aimed to head off a "hard Brexit".

The answer from government was clear-it was offering information when it could and it would produce a plan. What was not clear was what would be included in that plan.

"I will make as much information as possible available without prejudicing our negotiating position," said David Davis, May's Brexit minister.

May hopes to stick to her timetable but faces obstacles after a court ruled that the government needs parliament's assent to invoke Article 50. The government is challenging that ruling in the Supreme Court.

A lawyer at the court said that even if parliament did vote in favour of the March deadline, that would make no difference to his case that parliament, not ministers, had the power to authorise triggering Brexit talks.




MANIKGANJ: The half -yearly meeting of Disabled People Organisation (DPO) was held at Uthalia Government School in Shibalaya Upazila yesterday.
Nepal Telecom, China Telecom Global sign deal on internet service

Xinhua, Kathmandu :

Nepal Telecom (NT), Nepal's state-owned telecom company, and China Telecom Global have signed an agreement on providing internet protocol service between the two countries through cross-border Terrestrial Cable Route, the NT said.

Geelong Port (Kerung) of China will be used as the route for providing the internet service. The two companies signed the agreement in China's Hong Kong on Tuesday, the Nepalese company said in a press statement on Wednesday.

The agreement was signed after the two countries were connected with optical fiber through the Geelong (Keyrong)- Rasuwagadhi border point in June, ending Nepal's sole dependence on India for connecting the Himalayan country with global telecom and internet services.

"As the two countries have now been connected through terrestrial cable route, it will help Nepal to connect with telecom service providers of other countries too," the NT said, adding "it is an alternative for Nepal for international connectivity after the existing connectivity through Indian territory."

According to NT, with the latest agreement, access to internet service through the route of China has been possible.
Career dev program at CUB

Shitangshu Kumar Sur Chowdhury, Deputy Governor, Bangladesh Bank is seen at a career development program branded as \'Career Quest: Financial and Banking Sector\' held at Canadian University of Bangladesh on Saturday.

Campus Report :

Canadian University of Bangladesh (CUB) organized a career development program branded as 'Career Quest: Financial and Banking Sector' on Saturday.

Shitangshu Kumar Sur Chowdhury, Deputy Governor, Bangladesh Bank was the chief guest and Arif Khan, CEO and Managing Director, IDLC was the special guest of the event. After the program a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Canadian University of Bangladesh and IDLC Finance.

Prof Dr AK Azad Chowdhury, Former Chairman, UGC, Bangladesh and Honorary Advisor, Canadian University of Bangladesh and Hossain Khaled, President, DCCI attended the program as the guest of honor. Chowdhury Nafeez Sarafat, Founder and Chairman, Canadian University of Bangladesh confer vote of thanks to the present guests and audience.

Among others, Prof Dr William H Derrenger, Vice Chancellor and Prof Dr James Gomez, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Canadian University of Bangladesh also spoke on the occasion.


An Untimely Story (Ashomoyer Golpo)

Sheikh Arif Bulbon :

The 1st solo painting exhibition of artist Manjurul Shibly titled An Untimely Story (Ashomoyer Golpo) is going on at La Galerie of the Alliance Francaise de Dhaka (AFD) in the city's Dhanmondi area now.

Prof Anisuzzaman, Professor Emeritus, University of Dhaka inaugurated the exhibition as the chief guest, while Aly Zaker, theatre activist and media personality, also attended the ceremony as the special guest.

Manjurul Shibly was born in 1988. He completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts from University of Development Alternative (UODA). He started his career with Alpha-I Media Productions Ltd. as a director and creative manager.

While giving explanation of the theme of the exhibition titled An Untimely Story (Ashomoyer Golpo) the artist said, "Time is very scattered, constantly muddled with confusion and chaos and whatnot. One can hardly blame the time for any misfortune he or she may encounter as time runs on its own and listens to no one. Not so long ago that the phenomenon of technology came along and many became distracted by it."

Shibly's exhibition is for those people who got confused by that distraction and sought a kind of respite. Technology is continuously providing newer facilities and services, but only by ensconcing balance between technology and the spirit of human life, time can become something worthwhile to journey through. And that is the story Shibly wants to tell.

The exhibition will continue

till December 10. n
BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia appeared before the special court in the city\'s Bakshibazar Alia Madrasha premises on Thursday on a corruption case filed by Anti- Corruption Commission.
Protecting education in conflict zones

Peter Klanduch and Maleiha Malik :

In conflict zones, it is children who often bear the brunt of the violence. Last month, repeated air strikes on a school compound in Idlib, Syria, killed at least 22 children; and children in the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo have, for months, had no way to escape near-constant bombardments. As the New York Times reported in September, "They cannot play, sleep or attend school. Increasingly, they cannot eat."

Just a few weeks before that report, a bomb was detonated outside a school in Southern Thailand, just as parents were dropping off their children. The blast instantly killed a father and his four-year-old daughter, and injured ten others. Brad Adams of Human Rights Watch described the bombing as an act of "incomprehensible brutality": "Calling this a war crime does not fully convey the harm done to the victims, or the far-reaching impact such attacks have on children in the region."

And just weeks before the Thailand bombing, on August 13, air strikes on a school in Yemen's northwestern Saada region killed ten children and injured about 30 more.

Given these recent examples, there is clearly a need to prevent attacks - by state and armed non-state actors alike - on educational institutions and facilities. That is why Education Above All (EAA) has established its advocacy program, Protect Education in Insecurity and Conflict (PEIC).

The rationale underpinning PEIC is straightforward: education provides critical opportunities for children and young people, and this is especially true for those living in conflict zones. Schools and universities give students a vital link to normality, while encouraging them to maintain hope and pursue their aspirations. They not only train the next generation of doctors, journalists, lawyers, and community leaders; they also furnish children with mentors, food, water, and knowledge about basic health and sanitation. And yet, as the attacks on schools in countries such as Syria, Yemen, and Sudan show, what are supposed to be safe havens often are under direct threat.

If children can still attend school during conflicts, they will be the green shoots that emerge to re-rebuild their war-torn societies when the fighting is over. To protect students' basic human right to education, universities and schools in conflict zones should be shielded in the same way that health-care facilities are. Indeed, like hospitals, schools concentrate one of the most vulnerable populations in any society.

Attacks on children and schools often draw international condemnation, but words alone are clearly not an effective deterrent. Thus, PEIC's mission is to use the enforcement mechanisms available under international law to strengthen our collective political will to prevent attacks on educational facilities. EAA wants to ensure that education is recognized as being fundamental to human development - and thus is accorded the fullest protection.

We should be creating a world where everyone who wishes to learn, teach, or conduct academic research can do so in peace and with dignity.

But this shared ambition requires shared action, because it will take collaboration, cooperation, and mutual trust to develop the new international arrangements needed to protect educational institutions in conflicts.

Toward that end, and in partnership with the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, PEIC has taken a leading role in promoting the Safe Schools Declaration, which includes a promise to protect "schools and universities from military use during armed conflict." This clause is essential for safeguarding schoolchildren, teachers, and facilities during times of war. We hope that, in time, the Declaration in its entirety will become a universally recognized international standard.

In September, Albania became the 56th country to sign the Declaration, and the Albanian government has now publicly committed to protecting education during periods of armed conflict. In making this pledge, Albania has joined countries such as Iraq, where there is a pressing need to safeguard children's futures, as well as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Italy, Kenya, Nigeria, New Zealand, Norway, Qatar, and South Sudan.

EAA is committed to preventing schools from becoming battlegrounds, and it is calling on all countries that have not yet signed the Declaration to do so. Signing the Declaration amounts to a political commitment to protect education, even during the most savage conflicts - which is to say that it is a commitment to protect the world's children. It is in every country's interest to guarantee that today's students will have the opportunity to serve as tomorrow's leaders. As the world watches schools being destroyed in Syria, Yemen, and other conflict zones the Safe Schools Declaration is more important than ever.



(Peter Klanduch is Senior Program Manager, Protect Education in Insecurity and Conflict, Doha. Maleiha Malik is Executive Director of Protect Education in Insecurity and Conflict, Doha).

Courtesy: Project Syndicate
ILO concern over wage deprivation of migrants deserves consideration

NEWS report on Thursday, quoting a survey report, said that more than 75 percent of migrant workers are receiving the wages lower than what they were promised before leaving their home countries. They are now experiencing unforeseen deduction. The governments of the employer countries are very much responsible for these plights of migrant workers globally. Unfortunately, there are only a limited number of governments that have well-regulated systems facilitating the legal and transparent movement of low- or semi-skilled workers. This is a clear violation of the regulations of migrant workers rights. So, all countries, native and host, should take the rights of migrant workers under utmost consideration to resolve their plights. Otherwise, remittance inflow may sharply decline, posing serious threat to the balance of payment of the economies of immigrant dispatching countries. Bangladesh will, perhaps, be the most affected one.



A survey conducted by the World Bank and the International Labour Organisation in the Asia-Pacific and Gulf regions, said that about 14.5 percent of the respondents don't receive wages on time. About 30 percent of the workers did not have a contract prior to departure and they experienced health-related problems. Of them, about one-in-five had serious work-related injuries. About 25 percent of the migrant workers don't have any day-off in a week. The average number of weekly hours is 71, with sizeable gender disparities. The migrants' sufferings are reaching peak as these countries are not following the ILO charter to protect the rights of migrant workers. Experts said that both the sending and receiving countries should follow the ILO Convention 181, which deals with the recruitment process of migrant workers to make it hassle-free.



Bangladeshi migrant workers are facing the similar predicaments abroad to maintain their livelihood. Officially there is a fixed ceiling on the costs of migration but it is more often violated than complied with. Migrant workers, who go abroad, particularly in the Middle East, have to pay huge money to meet the cost. Payments to brokers that verge on extortion and the exploitation of recruiting agencies make the life of migrant workers miserable even before they leave the country. Inadequate monitoring by the government compounds the problems. Besides, lack of adequate skills make the migrant workers work in low-paying wages. There is vast scope for upgrading their skills before they leave for employment abroad which will benefit both the workers and the country through higher income and remittance.



In this situation, governments of the man-power exporting countries especially Bangladesh should firstly introduce tight monitoring over recruitment agencies and secondly start G2G dealings for protecting the interest of migrant workers in foreign countries. And as preemptive measure, training prior to go abroad is a must to save these migrant workers.
38 illegal BD migrants return from US

Staff Reporter :

A total of 38 illegal Bangladeshi migrants returned home on Wednesday midnight from the United States of America, according to Airport sources.

A special chartered flight carrying the Bangladeshi nationals landed at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Wednesday midnight along with US Security Personnel, airport sources said.

After handing over the illegal migrants to Bangladesh authority, the US Security Personnel left Dhaka on the same night. Later, the Bangladesh nationals went their respective destinations. Many of them had been languishing in different jails in the USA for a long, the sources said.

On April 6 a total of 27 illegal Bangladeshi migrants were deported by the USA.

Besides, on July 27 the authorities of USA sent back a total of 40 illegal Bangladeshi nationals after their detention in the USA in allegation of illegal entrance.
US, Russia `close` to deal on Aleppo

Syrian residents fleeing the violence in the eastern rebel-held parts of Aleppo react as they evacuate from their neighbourhoods through the Bab al-Hadid district after it was seized by the government forces. Internet photo

Al Jazeera News :

Russia and the United States are close to reaching an understanding on Syria's Aleppo, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has said.

"In the past several days an intensive document exchange on the situation in Aleppo has taken place," Ryabkov was quoted as saying in the Interfax news agency on Thursday.

"We are close to reaching an understanding, but I want to warn against high expectations," Ryabkov added.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that a potential US-Russia deal to allow Syrian rebels to safely leave Aleppo was still on the agenda.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was due to meet US Secretary of State John Kerry in Hamburg later on Thursday after the two diplomats held brief talks on Wednesday.

Aleppo, Syria's second largest city, has been divided between government-controlled neighbourhoods in the city's west and rebel-held areas in the east since 2012.

The Syrian government and its allied forces reportedly control at least three-quarters of formerly rebel-held eastern Aleppo due to a massive military assault on the besieged area. Government forces scored an important victory on Wednesday when the rebels retreated from the Old City, the historic heart of Aleppo.

They extended their advances later in the day, seizing the Bab al-Nayrab, Al-Maadi and Salhin neighbourhoods, according to state media.

While rebels have vowed to continue fighting, the battle is complicated by tens of thousands of fearful civilians trapped in the remaining portions of the rebel-held east.

And as winter set in, siege conditions are increasingly desperate, exacerbated by increasing numbers of displaced residents and food and water shortages.

"It's true that Aleppo will be a win for us, but let's be realistic - it won't mean the end of the war in Syria," Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the al-Watan newspaper. "But it will be a huge step towards this end."

Evacuations

The Syrian Civil Defence, a first responder group also known as the White Helmets, said air strikes and shelling on Wednesday killed 61 people in what's left of the rebel-held areas. Nearly 150 civilians, most disabled or in need of medical care, were evacuated overnight from a hospital in Aleppo's Old City, the first major evacuation from the eastern sector, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday.

Rebel fighters have vowed to continue fighting despite sustaining huge losses to government forces [Abdalrhman Ismail/Reuters]

Among those evacuated from Dar Al-Safaa hospital in the Old City - taken over by Syrian government forces on Tuesday - 118 patients were taken to three hospitals in the west of Aleppo and 30 people were taken to shelters, also in the west of the city, the ICRC said in a statement.

The evacuation was conducted jointly with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, it added.

Speaking to Al Jazeera on Thursday, ICRC spokesman Pawel Krzysiek said: "The people were basically trapped there [in recent days]."

"The fighting kind of slowed down starting from yesterday afternoon," he continued, adding that "it was too dangerous" to carry out an evacuation earlier.

"It's first and utmost about the safety of those people [being evacuated] and our priority is to ensure that they will be helped ... and safely transported to a safer place."

Speaking of the meeting between Kerry and Lavrov, Middle East analyst James Denslow, said that "the fate of hundreds of thousands of Syrian civilians seems to now rest upon these two individuals in Hamburg".

Since it began in March 2011, the war in Syria has killed hundreds of thousands of people, made more than half of Syrians homeless, and created the world's worst refugee crisis. Assad has ruled out the possibility of a negotiated ceasefire with rebel forces. "If you look at previous tactics used elsewhere in the country, the besieging of urban areas, heavy attacks and then an agreement to have fighters leave has been used previously," Denslow told Al Jazeera.

"If Assad wants to win his biggest city back, it's not much of a victory if the city is destroyed or if the population is decimated."
5 Huji men held in Ctg

RAB members arrested five suspected Huji men from a militant den at a house in Ctg\'s Colonel Haat area with some arms and bomb-making explosives from their possession on Thursday.

UNB, Chittagong :

Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in a drive arrested five suspected members of Harkat-ul-Jihad (Huji) Bangladesh from a 'militant den' in city's Colonel Haat area on Thursday.

The arrestees were identified as Nazim Uddin, Tajul Islam, Hafez Abu Jar Gifari, Iftisham Ahmed and Nure Alam. Sohel Mahmud, assistant superintendent of Rab-7, said a team of the elite force arrested two suspected Huji members-Nazim and Tajul- from AK Khan area on Wednesday night. Based on the information gleaned from the duo during primary interrogation, the RAB members conducted a drive at Mukim Talukdar Para in Akbar Shar area and cordoned off a two-storey building around 6 am.

Later, the elite force stormed into the first floor of the building around 10 am and arrested three other Huji men from the house. The militants burnt down a laptop, mobile phone sets and some documents in the meantime.

The Rab members also recovered two firearms, four grenades, huge bomb making materials, some sharp weapons and jihadi books from their possession.

The militants rented the first floor of the two-storey building, owned by one Haji Mansur Ali, in mid-November and had been residing in the flat from December 1, said the Rab ASP.

The owner of the building could not be found as he went into hiding, he added.
Life turns hell

Mosquito menace on rise

Reza Mahmud :

Mosquito bite has made the life of the city residents painful and the other hand there is little effort to check the breeding.

Sources said that budgets allocated for wiping out mosquitoes were lying idle.

"We did not get respite from the mosquito bite even in the broad day light. Our children in schools too cannot escape bite and cannot study attentively without using mosquito net or burning mosquito coils. But the mosquito net is uneasy to use at day time while coils have unpleasant smell, which is also harmful," said, Tahmina Tabassum, a housewife from Wari.

The residents of Dhaka North City Corporation areas also have stated the same experience.

"Mosquito menace has become a big problem for us as we have to suffer from the mosquito bite day and night. When the women are cooking, the mosquitoes irritate. The children are facing the same problem at schools and homes and people in the offices," said Mahfuz Alamin, a senior citizen from Uttara in DNCC area.

"Although the problem becomes severe, the city corporation is yet to take any measure to ease the sufferings," he said.

People from different walks of life alleged that both of the city corporations are spending lots of money in the name of mosquito killing.

The officials said that the Dhaka South City Corporation sanctioned Tk 11.50 crore and Dhaka North gave Tk 26.25 crore in the current fiscal year's budget for mosquito killings.

When contacted, the Chief Executive Officer of DSCC Khan Mohammad Billal told The New Nation, "It is a fact that the mosquito breeding is on rise. But it is also true that we are not sitting idle. The employees of city corporation are trying heart and soul to kill mosquitoes. They are carrying fog machines and spreading pesticides in every areas."

The Chief Health Officer of DNCC Brigadier General SM Saleh Bhuiyan told The New Nation, "The mosquito bite increases due to the weather changing. The officials are trying honestly to tackle the problems. We are clearing drains and water bodies in our areas."

The city dwellers in different areas said that the fog machines could not give them respite.

"In the past, we saw that after spreading medicines by fog machines we get relief for at least few days. But today the mosquitoes remain in actions hours after fog machines spread medicines," said, Bubul Ahmed, an government officials.

DSCC Chief Executive Officer said, "Sometime the pesticides are found less powerful, which may be one of the causes to increase mosquitoes. But we are honestly trying to curb the problem."

The Chief Health Officer of DNCC assured that there was no fear of infection of any disease from the mosquito bite in this time.

Besides, some officials of the both city corporations said wishing not to be named that some of their dishonest colleagues were not properly using pesticides.

The officials also said, a portion of the city residents also are partially liable of uncontrolled mosquitoes breeding. Because some of them use to throw waste in drains. The stagnant water of the drains and elsewhere caused enormous breeding of mosquitoes.
Rohingya issue a pol problem: PM

Staff Reporter :

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday termed the Myanmar's Rohingya issue as a "political problem", saying it cannot be resolved through military action.

"Rohingya issue is a political problem and it cannot be resolved through military action," she made this remark during a meeting with newly appointed Danish Ambassador Mikael Hemnid Winther who paid a courtesy call on the Prime Minister at her office yesterday.

The Prime Minister urged the Myanmar government to resolve the issue of their minority Rohingya community using political means, quoting the PM, her Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim told journalists after the meeting in the afternoon.

Sheikh Hasina told the envoy that she understands the problems of refugees very well as she herself was in exile for long six years after the brutal killing of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975.

In this context, she referred to the example of settling the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) problems in Bangladesh in 1997 through peaceful internal negotiations. She laid importance on resolving the Rohingya problem in neighbouring Myanmar domestically. "CHT agreement led to surrender of arms by the insurgents," she said.

Karim said the premier's comments came as they discussed various matters relating to mutual interests as well many global issues, including the Rohingya problems in Myanmar.

The Danish ambassador highly appreciated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for the way she is handing the Rohingya issue, added the press secretary.

On Wednesday, the Prime Minister told Parliament that her government was very much sympathetic toward the Rohingyas, but hard against the culprits, who want to use Bangladesh's land against neighbours.

Meanwhile, members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) on Thursday sent back nine boats fully packed with Rohingyas to Myanmar following their attempt to intrude into the Bangladesh territory through the Naf river of Cox's Bazar.

Lt Col Abu Jar Ali Jahid, Commanding Officer of BGB-2 Battalion, said the BGB team pushed the 135 Rohingya nationals boarded in nine boats back while they were crossing the river.

"Each boat carrying 15-20 people tried to trespass into Bangladesh territory," he said.

Jahid said the BGB team sent a total of 240 boats with 2350 Rohingyas back to their country while they were trying to enter Bangladesh through 15 border points since November 1.

Amid BGB's strict vigilance to prevent the influx, thousands of distressed Rohingya refuges, including children and women, continue to cross border into Bangladesh. Thousands more have been reported to be gathering at the border crossing.

Those Rohingyas who managed to enter Bangladesh have sought shelter in refugee camps or people's homes. Many of them have been reported missing since Tuesday.

Rohingya residents and human rights groups accuse the Myanmar military and border guard forces of raping Rohingya women, torching houses and killing civilians during operations there. However, the Myanmar government and military deny the accusations.

Bangladesh earlier summoned Myanmar's ambassador in Dhaka to express concern at the situation.
3 MoUs signed with China to develop Payra seaport

Staff Reporter :

Three Memorandum of Understandings [MoUs] were signed with two Chinese companies on Thursday for the development of Payra seaport in the southern district of Patuakhali.

The MoUs were signed between Paira Port Authority and China Harbal Engineering Company Limited and China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited at the Ministry of Shipping at Secretariat in the city.

Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan was present at that time, said an official release.

The MoUs were signed for the construction of Payra Port's main infrastructure, bank protection and building dams, houses and health and education establishments.

The Payra Port, situated at Kalapara in Patuakhali, has already stated unloading goods in a limited scale.

Officials said two MoUs were signed with China Harbour Engineering Company for the construction of 'core port infrastructure'. Besides, another MoU was inked with China State Construction Engineering Corporation for building 'riparian liabilities' and 'housing, education and health facilities' of the port.

Payra Port Authority Chairman-in-Charge Commodore M Saidur Rahman, China Harbal Engineering Company Limited Joint Managing Director ML Zeng Nanhai and China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited Managing Director Li Shujiang signed the MoUs on behalf of their respective organizations. Shipping Secretary Ashok Madhab Roy was also present at the function, among others.

The Chinese companies are expected to invest US$ 600 million under the MoUs.

As per MoUs, the China Harbal Engineering Company Limited will construct the main infrastructure, including connecting bridges, roads, sewerage and railway links.

Besides, the China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited will deal with the bank protection and construction of houses and education and health establishments.

The three development components will be implemented under G-to-G [government to government] cooperation.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally inaugurated it as the country's third seaport on August 13 to expedite Port activities of the country keeping pace with the rising national economic growth.

The government has undertaken short-term, mid-term and long-term plans to develop Payra Port as a world standard modern and green seaport by 2023.

Speaking on the occasion, the Shipping Minister said the Payra Port Authority has marched one step forward in the way of building a modern seaport by singing the MoUs.
PM`s Delhi visit postponed

Pressure on signing Teesta Treaty

The planned visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India, which was scheduled to start on December 18, has been postponed due to "unavoidable circumstances".



A top level government official preferring to remain anonymous told The New Nation on Thursday night that it will take around one month to rearrange the trip. Probably, it may be fixed in mid-January.



Sheikh Hasina was supposed to discuss a wide range of bilateral issues with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi during the three-day visit and also planned to meet West Bengal's Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.



It is not the first time. In 2009, Sheikh Hasina's scheduled visit to India [December 18 to 21] was deferred when the then Indian Premier Manmohan Singh decided to attend the high-level segment of the conference of climate change in Copenhagen.



In the incoming visits list of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, there was no schedule kept for the visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister.



Although Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Indian Ministry of External Affairs did not elaborate the reason, there is widespread speculation that the trip was postponed due to 'confusion' over signing of the Teesta water sharing treaty -- an important issue for Bangladesh.



In fact, the Teesta water sharing treaty has posed high-importance for political future of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and for that reason Dhaka reportedly had persuaded Mamata Banarjee to withdraw her objection on equitable Teesta water sharing.



Meanwhile, the Indian media have reported that West Bengal's Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will not support the deal, though the Modi administration is keen to sign it.



It is to be noted that, the Teesta deal has been facing obstacles since September 2011 when Mamata Banerjee had refused to accompany the then Indian premier Manmohan Singh to Dhaka opposing the agreement. But strangely, she had sounded very much positive when she accompanied Modi to Dhaka in 2015.



A source close to the Foreign Office said that Dhaka had earlier wanted to trim down differences with Mamata Banerjee but now it is creating pressure on New Delhi to sign the treaty considering the issue 'an internal matter of India'.



Dhaka had also hoped that Narendra Modi government would take initiatives to solve bilateral issues, including the Teesta water sharing treaty, at the earliest, while Hasina government has already extended its all-out cooperation to India.



Hasina's sideline meeting with Modi in Goa ahead of the BRICS-Bimstec Outreach Summit on October 16 also raised high hope that the Teesta pact would finally come through as "diplomatic quid-pro-quo", because Dhaka had stood beside India during the Uri terror attack.



Not only that, Dhaka also refused to join SAARC summit which was scheduled in Pakistan's capital Islamabad in November last. There are more things! Apart from land transit, Dhaka on Wednesday finalized a bundle of draft agreements, one of which would allow India to use Chittagong and Mongla ports.

Quoting government officials Indian media recently said: "There is an issue over Teesta River internally. The Sikkim government has a number of hydroelectric projects coming up on Teesta River. During rainfall, Sikkim releases water, which leads to flooding in north Bengal. During the dry season, there is water shortage in north Bengal due to their dams."



"West Bengal receives less than 40 per cent of the available utilizable surface water and reservoirs only meet 2.44 per cent of the total water demand for the agricultural sector. The delta, which once had excess water, now suffers from acute dearth of water during the dry period," the Indian media reported.



Sources said, Indian State Minister for External Affairs Ministry MJ Akbar will arrive Dhaka today [Friday] to attend the meeting of Global Forum on Migration and Development [GFMD] under the Bangladesh Chairmanship.



At that time, he is likely to meet PM Sheikh Hasina where Tessta water sharing along with other bilateral issues is likely to be discussed.



Sheikh Hasina, however, earlier had expressed hope that the Teesta water sharing agreement would be inked with India in the near future.


ILO DG Ryder due Saturday

UNB, Dhaka :

Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Guy Ryder arrives here on Saturday on a four-day visit.

During his stay here, Ryder will take part in the Ninth GFMD Summit Meeting: 'Migration that works for Sustainable Development for All: Towards a Transformative Migration Agenda'.

He will hold discussions with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali and Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Nurul Islam,

State Minister for Labour and Employment Md Mujibul Haque, representatives of workers' and employers organisations as well as development partners.

Ryder will address the inaugural ceremony of the Dhaka Summit on Skills, Employability, and Decent Work 2016 which forms part of the ILO's Future of Work initiative, said an ILO official.

He will join the launch of a new ILO project funded by Sweden and Demark that aims to build social dialogue and harmonious industrial relations in the Bangladesh's readymade garment industry.

An agreement will also be signed during his visit on a new skill development programme funded by the European Union as well as a memorandum of intent between the government of Bangladesh, donors and ILO to collaborate on a second phase of ILO's programme to improve working conditions in the RMG sector funded by Canada, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
The Russian government has introduced a draft bill that proposes prison sentences as punishment for hackers and cyber criminals creating malicious software used in targeting critical Russian infrastructure, even if they have no part in actual cyber attacks.The bill, published on the Russian government's website on Wednesday, proposes amendments to the Russian Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code with a new article titled, "Illegal influence upon the critical informational infrastructure of the Russian Federation."The article introduces punishment for many malicious acts, including the "creation and distribution of programs or information, which can be used for the destruction, blocking or copying data from the Russian systems."When suspects found as part of any hacking operation, they will face a fine between 500,000 and 1 Million rubles (about $7,700 to $15,400) and up to five years in prison, even if the hacking causes little or no harm.However, if the cyber attacks lead to serious consequences or create a threat of such outcome, the bill orders the prison term of up to ten years for those involved in it.Moreover, hackers obtaining unauthorized access to protected data have to pay a penalty of up to 2 Million rubles (approx. $31,500) and can face up to five years of forced labor and six years in prison.The proposed bill was drafted in a short period of time after Russian President Vladimir Putin recently signed an updated doctrine on Russia's Information Security.The doctrine is aimed at "reinforcing the country's sovereignty, territorial integrity, maintaining political and social stability, protecting human and civil rights and liberties, as well as crucial IT infrastructure."According to the document , "the opportunities of cross-border circulation of data are increasingly used to achieve geopolitical, military and political (in contravention of international law), terrorist, extremist, and other illegitimate goals to the detriment of international security," the website reads.The new bill introducing criminal punishment for hackers has been submitted to the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian Parliament.The move is great because Russian hackers are always in the news for cyber attacks, malware, POS exploit, banking Trojans, exploit kits, and many cyber threats.
Gabina VOA is designed to be an infotainment youth radio show broadcasting to Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Amharic language. The show brings varied perspectives on issues concerning young people in the Horn of Africa region. Gabina in the Amharic language is a front row taxi ridesymbolic of the shows content as a fun ride that takes audiences from point A to point B. Gabina VOAs main goal is Enlightening young people, introducing them to cutting-edge technological innovations, exposing them to new processes and ideas so they can be productive, informed and self-governing citizens.
Less than 48 hours before the polls close for the Saturday runoff, 3rd Congressional District candidates Scott Angelle and Clay Higgins will participate in a town hall-style event on KATC.

In what has shaped up to be a classic mud-slinger, the race for Southwest Louisianas seat in the U.S. House of Representatives goes down to Saturdays wire with each side claiming the lead based on its own polling. The combatants  Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle and ex-deputy Clay Higgins  will sit within shouting distance of each other Thursday night during a KATC-hosted digital town hall event in conjunction with the UL College of Liberal Arts and Political Science Department. It airs at 7 p.m. on KATC TV3 and will be live-streamed by the local ABC affiliate.

According to a press release, the debate will allow voters to ask the candidates questions via social media, which will be relayed by Marcelle Fontenot. Her weeknight co-anchor, Jim Hummel, will serve as moderator.

Voters can submit questions in text or video form by posting them on KATCs Facebook and Twitter pages with the hashtag #KATCDebate. Viewers can also comment during the broadcast using the same hashtag.

Angelle and Higgins finished first-second, respectively, in the Nov. 8 primary, and since then the race has gotten exceedingly ugly, pulling in super PACs and opposition research. Higgins has accused Angelle of being a career politician and on the corporate dole, while the Angelle camp has made much ado about allegations that Higgins skipped out on tens of thousands of dollars in back child support. Higgins has either denied the allegations or claimed they're inaccurate, but telephone conversations posted to Facebook by an ex-wife appear to undercut those claims.
If you have enjoyed these perambulations of a pensioner, why not support my charity.
The Stage Company, in association with WSIU Radio, will host open auditions for Miller and the Jabberwock, a play by award-winning playwright and SIU theater professor David Rush, at 7 p.m. Dec. 13 and 14, at The Varsity Center.

Director Elyse Pineau, retired professor of communication studies at SIU, is casting for ensemble performers, male and female, ages 20 to 60. The audition format will be a workshop-style mix of theater exercises, improvisational play with the poem The Jabberwocky, and cold readings from the script.

The play follows a day with Professor Frederick Miller, who has been publicly charged with antisemitism by a student and has his political science class taken away.

Performances will be Feb. 10 to 12 and Feb. 17 to 19 at The Varsity Center, located at 418 S. Illinois Ave.

For more information, email the director at elyse@siu.edu or call 618-833-3561; or visit stagecompany.org.

 The Southern
Mila Maring-Sims and Kelley Sims are inviting people to join them at their kitchen table.

The married musicians from Alto Pass are longtime bastions of the Southern Illinois bluegrass community. Their dulcet harmonies and pristine arrangements stood out on "Dandelions," released by their quintet, The Rural Kings, in 2012.

At the time of that albums release, Sims, an accomplished flatpicking guitar player, was showing signs of cognitive difficulties. Two years ago, he was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimers disease at the age of 56.

For years, the couple had been wanting to record a compilation of kitchen table tunes  original and traditional songs played with friends in an informal atmosphere. As Sims illness worsened and his playing abilities began to diminish, it seemed like a good time to embark on the project.

Its sort of been a magical part of our lives, gathering around the kitchen table with good people and eats and drinks, and really thats been the core of our life here, in terms of friends and family. Its all been all built around music, Maring-Sims said.

This Friday, theyll release the 17-track Level Best at the Old Feed Store in Cobden. The concert is already sold out and begins at 7:30 p.m. $5 of the $20 ticket price will go toward the Cure Alzheimers Fund, a charity that finances Alzheimers research.

Recorded at Misunderstudio in Murphysboro, Level Best features an impressive roster of local musicians, including Mark Stoffel, Robert Bowlin, Nate Graham, Doug Anderson, Lew Hendrix and Jenny Johnson. Josh Morrison, who co-wrote five of the six original songs with Maring-Sims, helped produce the album and played guitar, banjo and percussion. Anderson contributed two of his own original songs.

Some of the original material deals with Sims illness. The albums title track is from the perspective of a caregiver.

There are people who are incapacitated by health issues overnight, and we have the luxury of time, and thats really an amazing thing  that we can do this gradually, progress through this. So Josh (Morrison) pointed out that from his perspective, because Im so stoic, Im not much of a crier  that this is my way of expressing this emotion and such that has become, really, our daily bread, Maring-Sims said.

For the traditional and instrumental tracks, the group found the studio too confining to capture the kitchen-table feel they wanted, so local engineer Alex Kirt recorded an informal two-hour session at the Alto Wine Trail Loft in Alto Pass.

Its amazing that, as I listen to (the songs from that session), theyre as solid as they are. These guys are such good instrumentalists. There are a few stinker notes and a few stumbles, but theyre all single takes and just very raw, and Alex did a wonderful job engineering that session and mixing those, Maring-Sims said.

The CD release party will be the groups only performance of the material; with Sims' illness, its too difficult to plan a full evening of playing, Maring-Sims said. But she hopes that people will enjoy the album, which she calls a bucket list project.

We cant choose the moments of great ability, but theyre still there. Sort of randomly well be sitting, picking, and hell come up with a song that none of us have ever heard, and its as though hes been playing it all these years, Maring-Sims said. It sort of takes you by surprise, and those moments are still there. I think that music is such an integral part of his being that the musical abilities and the value of that, in terms of his quality of life, I think that that will be sustained. Im hopeful.

If youd like to purchase a copy of Level Best, you can send a request to milakel.sims@gmail.com.
MURPHYSBORO  A Collinsville woman charged with first-degree murder in the death of Robin L. Stief pleaded not guilty to charges Thursday.

Tiesha D. Anderson, 22, is one of three suspects charged in connection with a burned body found in Carbondale in August.

She was previously indicted by a grand jury in Jackson County. The indictment charges that on Aug. 29, Anderson, acting in concert with others, killed Stief by hitting her on the head with a hammer, strangling and suffocating her.

In addition to two counts of first-degree murder, Anderson faces one count of concealment of a homicidal death, which charges that she knowingly concealed Stiefs death by placing her body in trash can in a wooded area off East Main Street in Carbondale and setting the remains on fire.

The sentence for a murder conviction in Illinois is 20 to 60 years. Andersons indictment also carries an enhancement alleging that the offense was accompanied by exceptionally brutal or heinous behavior indicative of wanton cruelty. If that enhancement is found to exist, her sentence could be lengthened to life.

Anderson is in custody at Jackson County Jail and her bond is set at $750,000.

Robert J. Dennis, 25, faces the same set of charges in the case. Although his arraignment was scheduled for Thursday, it was postponed because his attorney, Celeste Korando, was found to have a conflict. He has been assigned another attorney and his arraignment will take place next Thursday.

Lauren L. Stinde, 23, was also indicted on charges of first-degree murder and concealment of death in the case. She entered a guilty plea at an arraignment inside Jackson County Courthouse on Nov. 21, and her sentencing hearing has been scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Feb. 1.

Authorities began the investigation Aug. 30 when the burned remains of a human were found in the 900 block of East Main Street in Carbondale, near Piles Fork Creek.

Video surveillance had captured three individuals later identified as Stinde, Anderson and Dennis pushing a large plastic trash can near where the body was found, Jackson County Assistant States Attorney Casey Bloodworth said at Stindes arraignment.

On Oct. 28, Stinde was arrested for her involvement in the concealment of the victims remains. She later confessed to detectives about her role in the murder and the concealment of the body, and confirmed the other two suspects involvement.

A jury trial for Anderson and Dennis is currently scheduled for 8:15 a.m. Jan. 23.
CARTERVILLE  The Illinois Community College Board adopted a formula Wednesday to distribute $3 million in emergency funds to community colleges in need.

Under the 2017 Budget Implementation bill, the Illinois Board of Higher Education must consult with the ICCB for community college financial emergencies. At a Nov. 23 special meeting, the IHBE passed a resolution reserving $3 million for community colleges in the state.

On Wednesday, during its special meeting via a conference call at JALC and other locations, the ICCB unanimously approved the $3 million appropriation.

Despite his appreciation for the available emergency funds, Lazaro Lopez, chairman of the ICCB, said community colleges in the state will continue to struggle until a stable budget is implemented.

"I do want to say that while we are grateful and moving forward in this process, there is still a need for a regular state budget and our community colleges will continue to struggle until a full state budget is passed," he said.

Du Quoin Mayor Guy Alongi and JALC Trustee Jake Rendleman, both members of the ICCB, were also present for the special meeting at JALC and shared that the distribution of emergency funds, as well as the community colleges who will be receiving them, will be determined after a "yes" vote from the IBHE.

"I've never known them to turn it down," Rendleman said.

The IBHE is scheduled to meet at 1 p.m. Dec. 13 at Harper College in Palatine.
If you thought Donald Trump was the face of America's anti-establishment movement, hold on to your chapeaus: A wild wind is rising.

Want to know what's more anti-establishment than a president-elect who refuses to play by the rules? How about similarly spirited electors going AWOL and sending someone else to the Oval Office?

Could it happen? Might.

A movement headed by a mostly Democratic group calling itself Hamilton Electors is trying to convince Republican electors to defect  not to cede the election to Hillary Clinton but to join with Democrats in selecting a compromise candidate, such as Mitt Romney or John Kasich. It wouldn't be that hard to do.

Mathematically, only 37 of Trump's 306 electors are needed to bring his number down to 269, one less than the 270 needed to secure the presidency.

On the Hamilton Electors' Facebook page, elector Bret Chiafalo, a Democrat from Washington, explains the purpose of the Electoral College. If you haven't previously been a fan of the electoral system, you might become one.

Bottom line: The Founding Fathers didn't fully trust democracy, fearing mob rule, and so created a republic. They correctly worried that a pure democracy could result in the election of a demagogue (ahem), or a charismatic autocrat (ahem), or someone under foreign influence (ditto), hence the rule that a president must have been born in the U.S. We know how seriously Trump takes the latter.

Most important among the founders' criteria for a president was that he (or now she) be qualified. Thus, the Electoral College was created as a braking system that would, if necessary, save the country from an individual such as, frankly, Trump.

It is worth noting that 50 former Republican national security officials and foreign policy experts co-signed a letter saying that Trump would be a "dangerous president." Do we simply ignore them?

At least one Republican elector, Christopher Suprun, has decided to pay heed. In an op-ed in Tuesday's New York Times, Suprun, a paramedic in Texas, outlined all his reasons for not rubber-stamping Trump, saying that he owes a debt not to his party but to his children. He urged others to join him.

This, apparently, they can do, though some states may impose penalties. Hamilton Electors are raising funds to pay any such costs that may accrue.

Alexander Hamilton, suddenly a star both on Broadway and Main Street, wrote that the Electoral College "affords a moral certainty that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications."

Electors would prevent the "tumult and disorder" that would result from the candidate's exploiting "talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity." Speaking of Trump. How wise our founders were. And how unwise are we to pay so little attention to their far-keener insights.

It is, perhaps, a sign of these upside-down times that Democrats, usually preferring the popular vote, are suddenly genuflecting to the Electoral College and Republicans, who so often defer to the founders' original intent, shift principle so swiftly, presumably in hopes of taking the ultimate escalator ride in the golden palace of King Trump. Tut-tut.

Meanwhile, those on both sides who remain opposed to Trump are dismissed as either sorry losers or as dining on crow and sour grapes. But the stakes are too high  and the evidence of Trump's presidential aptitude deficit too severe  for such trivializing designations. His demonstrated lack of judgment and impulse control should send shivers down the spines of all Americans in consideration of the nuclear arsenal he is poised to have at his fingertips.

That's not all of it, but it's enough. Without consulting advisers or "sleeping on it," for which he is not known, Trump can authorize a nuke upon the slightest provocation -- or none. All previous presidents have had the same authority, of course, but all have also been experienced statesmen, nary a reality-show celebrity (nor snake-oil salesman) among them.

Trump's friends have told me they're confident he'll solemnly respect the burden of such power, but nothing thus far justifies their faith. After his election win, Trump hasn't much bothered himself with intelligence briefings. He ignored 37 years of diplomatic precedent by chatting with the president of Taiwan, upsetting China. He spoke like an inarticulate ninth-grader with Pakistan's prime minister, according to that country's readout. Trump apparently told the prime minister that he's a "terrific guy" doing "amazing work" and that Trump is "ready and willing to play any role that you want me to play to address and find solutions to the outstanding problems." Oh, really? Which ones?

Electors are scheduled to meet Dec. 19 in their respective states to cast their final ballots. If there are 37 Republicans among them with the courage to perform their moral duty and protect the nation from a talented but dangerous president-elect, a new history of heroism will have to be written.

Please, be brave.
Alee Quick Local news editor Alee Quick is the local news editor for The Southern. Follow Alee Quick Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

A man entered a pizzeria in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, armed with an AR-15 rifle. He was arrested after he fired the rifle inside the restaurant. Thankfully, no one was hurt in the incident.

The pizza place was Comet Ping Pong, at the center of so-called Pizzagate, which has largely spread on pro-Trump Internet forums and fake news websites, and claims to connect a series of clues showing that Hillary Clinton is at the center of a child sex trafficking ring being run out of the restaurant.

According to a New York Times report after Edgar Maddison Welchs first court appearance, the criminal complaint against him said he had surrendered peacefully after finding no evidence that children were being harbored in the restaurant.

I spent a while reading about Pizzagate, and at best it seems some people have deduced meaning where there really isnt any  have connected random dots to form some sort of amorphous blob. There is no proof of child sex abuse happening around the restaurant  only wild speculation through a connection of so-called clues.

But a man drove six hours to the restaurant, with weapons, to investigate, after he had read about the claims on the Internet.

In November, Facebook and Google announced that they would not allow websites that spread fake news to advertise on their platforms. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also announced last month a series of steps the social media platform is exploring to try to stamp out fake news, including improving reporting protocol of suspected fake news, flagging content that has been reported by users as false, and third-party verification of information shared on the platform.

This is all great. But its not enough.

Facebooks algorithms are still going to show us what we want to see. Photoshopped images are still going to crop up everywhere. Memes that lack vital context to understanding the days news are still going to be the easiest way for us to digest tidbits of information when were scrolling through piles of content.

Fake news and Internet lies are just part of the media landscape we live in now. Facebook and Google can stop advertising fake news websites (that they know of), but where one is axed, another will sprout. We are all empowered now, through the Internet and social media, to disseminate whatever we want.

The way I see it, Welch, who fired the gun inside Comet Ping Pong, is a kind of victim.

Well-meaning people are fooled by fake news websites  be they satirical or more malicious  speculative or just made-up social media posts, chain emails, phishing scams, and the like, every day.

Literacy education must adjust to this new normal when it comes to media consumption online.

In high school English classes, I learned how to read a work of literature critically, how to ask questions, and find meaning in the text. We need to approach our consumption of web-based media in the same way.

We need to arm our minds with the tools to recognize fake news and falsified information. We need to know the questions to ask. We need to know what to expect from media platforms we can trust.

Perhaps we need to treat all Internet content like the real person on the other end of a dating profile  they could be what they seem. Or not. But there are red flags that can guide us to decide if we want to make an in-person date, or swipe left.
As'ad's Bio

As'ad AbuKhalil, born March 16, 1960. From Tyre, Lebanon, grew up in Beirut. Received his BA and MA from American University of Beirut in pol sc. Came to US in 1983 and received his PhD in comparative government from Georgetown University. Taught at Tufts University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Colorado College, and Randolph-Macon Woman's College. Served as a Scholar-in-Residence at Middle East Institute in Washington DC. He served as free-lance Middle East consultant for NBC News and ABC News, an experience that only served to increase his disdain for maintream US media. He is now professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus. His favorite food is fried eggplants.
Answers Africa is one of a kind platform created for Africans both locally and in the diaspora and those seeking for more in-depth information about Africa. We have always focused on creating the highest quality informational contents right from the beginning. We share the most relevant information on the latest and trending news, events, people, and places in Africa.

We produce contents across various categories including Politics, People, Love and Romance, Nature, Entertainment, Technology and pretty much everything else that Africans may find relevant.

We aim to answer the most relevant questions about Africa in areas of entertainment, famous people, emerging technologies while we also engage with various distribution capabilities to connect with Africans in need of information who rely on our website to keep in touch with the world that is changing so fast.

These are some of the articles you may be interested in reading:

10 Famous TV Personalities Born In Ethiopia Ethiopia is a country best known for its fast athletes like Dibaba and Bekele, breathtaking models like Liya Kebede and of course Haile Selassie but there are also famous TV personalities who are doing a great job in entertainment and pushing the country to civilization. The following is a list of ten most famous TV ...

Top 10 African Authors of All Time The pace of present African literature is moving at a high-speed; more defiant in both style and tone than those of the great independence writers generation. Here, the subjects of taboo are widely explored. The emerging African authors of this generation are not afraid to go further afield for the literary fodder. Meanwhile, since the birth ...

Maina Kageni Biography  Daughter, Salary and Gay Rumors Maina Kageni is one of those Kenyans who has remained as interesting as ever in the eyes of the public. A strong Red devil fan and lover of football, the man is currently a Breakfast Show presenter with Mwalimu Kingangi on Nairobis Classic 105 Radio Station. Many questions have always emerged on the man in serious ...

Kalekye Mumo  Biography, Boyfriend and Salary Kalekye Mumo has been described as someone who is as vibrant as she is beautiful, a Kenyan radio queen, TV host and media personality, movie actress, Musician, businesswoman, and fashionista but what else is there to know about this Kenyan icon, Kalekye Mumo and her co-host Shaffie Weru have been among the most listened to radio presenters ...

Julie Gichuru Bio  Age, Husband & Children In Africa, women have a long history of bringing under control obstacles to keep their heads above the water. So, it comes as no surprise whenever African women are recognized and decorated across the continent and globe for performing brilliantly well in their various fields of endeavor. In Kenya for instance, a list of national ...

Jeff Koinange Biography  All About His Age, Wife  Shaila Koinange & Family Jeff Koinange is a well-known Kenyan journalist. He currently hosts Jeff Koinange Live on KTN. Koinange has served as a journalist in the United States and has also worked for a few U.S. broadcasters. He was born in Kenya but attended college in the United States, which may explain his accent. There are several interesting ...

Caroline Mutoko Biography  Age, Daughter & House Caroline Mutoko is a Kenyan radio presenter, famously known for hosting a morning breakfast show on Kiss 100 FM. The station is based in Nairobi and ranks among the highly-rated radio stations in Kenya with online streaming services as well. Learn more about the Kenyan-born journalist. Caroline Mutokos Age and Bio Born on January 4, 1973, Caroline is ...

The Most Stunning News Presenter In Kenya Discloses Her Real Age  You Would Not Believe It In modern African societies, it is often regarded as impolite or outright lack of disrespect to ask a woman of her age. We also have seen celebrities lie about how old they are when asked their age. People, mostly women have refused to let people know their real age, despite being public figures. The few ...

Demystifying Chimamanda Ngozi Adichies Biography, Husband & Education Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian novelist, non-fiction writer, short story writer and actress. As a seasoned Nigerian writer, she has been called the most prominent of a procession of critically acclaimed young anglophone authors that is succeeding in attracting a new generation of readers to African literature. She has been making Nigeria proud in the global scene ...

Wole Soyinka  Biography, Wife, Children, Family, Quick Facts Professor Wole Soyinka, a great and brilliant Nigerian writer and political activist, who was the first African to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. The name, Wole Soyinka, is a household name both in Africa and beyond especially in the field of literature. With over 50 pieces of work, his writing includes poems, novels, memoirs ...

5 Most Vulgar Kenyan Radio Presenters It appears being vulgar is the real deal nowadays especially for the fact that the world is becoming more exposed and civilized. Sadly, but true, young people are constantly being exposed to images, discussions, and content that most people would deem detrimental to the African culture and moral statutes. This is because most of us ...

6 Sexiest News Anchors In Kenya Some news anchors have been stealing eyes every time they appear on-screen. Most of us hardly concentrate on the programme they present as our entire focus is usually on their striking physique and beautiful faces. It is common knowledge that Kenyan women are amazingly beautiful. From the celebrities to the everyday woman, they are all in ...

Interesting Oprah Winfrey Quotes To Keep You Motivated Oprah Winfrey is one of the worlds most powerful women in the media and business sectors. Her life is the typical success story that motivates and lifts ones morale. One amazing thing about this media mogul is her sincerity about past hurts, mistakes, healing, and success. The renowned talk show host and media personality is the first ...

Chinua Albert Achebe Biography- Family, Net Worth & Death Chinua Albert Achebe, of blessed memory, was a Nigerian prolific author best known for his inventive style of writing and simplicity of expressions. Famed as one of the finest writers Nigeria has ever produced, Achebe lived and died an international hero and a literary giant, who left behind unforgettable legacies and footprints in the sands of ...

Steve Harvey  His Wife, Kids & Height Steve Harvey is an American comedian, actor, radio and TV show host, producer and an author of different relationship advice books. Steve Harveys Early Life Born in Welch, West Virginia, on January 17, 1957, as Broderick Stephen Harvey, Steve was the last of five children. His family relocated to Cleveland when he was young and there, he attended Glenville High School from ...

Intriguing Things You Should Know About Danny Kokers Rise to Fame and Who His Wife Is Danny Koker is popular as the star of the History Channel reality TV series, Counting Cars. Prior to him appearing on the show, the TV personality was a musician who had embarked on a number of national tours with his rock group, Counts 77. He and his group have released quite a number of songs ...

Fun Facts You Didnt Know About Andy Cohens Rise to Prominence and His Partner Andy Cohen is one of Americas top media personalities who gained prominence after helping to bring the Bravo network back to life. He also hosted a couple of shows on the network, including the popular nightly series Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. After rising to the position of head of production and development at ...

Tracing Isha Sesays Career Until CNN, Her Worth And Why She Divorce Her Husband As far as journalists of African origin go, Isha Sesay is one of the most famous on the continent  and by extension, the world. The Sierra Leonean and British journalist has had a successful career since she joined the industry in 1998. In that time, she has worked for a host of major media ...

Open Secrets of How Joanna Gaines Balances Her Career With Being a Wife and Mother Joanna Gaines is the co-founder of Magnolia Homes, a business she runs with one goal: converting houses to homes. She doubles as the lead designer of the company which she co-owns with her husband, Chip Gaines. Lady Gaines gained massive popularity when she became a co-star with her husband on the HGTVs show, Fixer Upper. ...

Juicy Details of Ayesha Currys Love Story With Stephen, Her Family Members and Recent Pursuits When your husband is one of the greatest basketballers that the NBA has ever seen, then it bestows on you the status of a celebrity wife  and may not even demand that you do anything extra to maintain that status. However, Ayesha Curry, the wife of multiple NBA champion, Steph Curry, is not one ...

What Is Tarek el Moussas Ethnicity, Why Did He Divorce His Wife and Who Is He Dating? Tarek El Moussa has made himself one of the most recognizable men on reality television, especially to fans of HGTV. Thanks to his expertise in the world of real estate, Tarek has become a national star. But even to his hardcore followers, there are questions about Tarek El Moussa that remain unanswered, such as his ...

Fun Facts About Natalie Beckers Lonely Childhood and Eventual Career Success Natalie Becker is an actress of South African descent who became famous for her appearance in films like The World Unseen and The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior. A multitalented individual, Natalie is also a television/radio presenter. She is also a co-founder of the Thought Leader Global Media which she runs together with ...

Top 3 Female CNN News Anchors You Didnt Know Were Africans CNN is one of the leading news agencies in the world. The satellite and cable news network was founded in 1980 by Ted Turner and has been one of the best sources of news for a number of years. It also boasts of the best journalists and presenters all around in media broadcasting. The company is a ...

Channels That Aided Katie Pavlichs Growth as a Journalist and All About Her Marriage To Friedson If you have ever come across any Fast and Furious featuring Barack Obama, it is the handiwork of Katie Pavlich. The book which claims to have exposed Obamas bloodiest scandal and the shameless cover-up thereof, has been earning Pavlich much praise and fame ever since it was published in 2012. Nonetheless, Pavlich is more famed ...

Is Oprah Winfrey Married? Husband, Children, Biography, House, Facts Oprah Winfrey is a billionaire philanthropist, talk show icon, producer, actress, and writer. The media icon famously dubbed The Queen Of All Media owns and hosts the highest-rated television program in the media circle. Read more about the powerful television star below. Oprah Winfrey Biography Oprah was born as Orpah Gail Winfrey on January 29, 1954, to a ...

Who Is Arsenio Hall, What Happened To His Talk Show and Why Do Fans Think He Is Gay? He is one of the funniest beings to have graced the comedy constituent of the American entertainment industry. Arsenio Hall has a reputation for the rib-cracking disposition always portrayed in his comedy roles. He is not just a comedian; he is also an actor and a former talk show host for his popular show, The ...

What Is Woah Vicky Famous For and Who Are Her Family Members? Like most social media celebrities in this digital era, Woah Vicky is one of those stars that have utilized the internet as a powerful tool to propel themselves to instant fame. The social media space, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, etc., offers lots of people the right opportunities and potentials to become superstars overnight. Not everyone achieves ...

Where Is Michael Strahan Since His Retirement From The NFL and Who Is His Partner? Michael Strahan is a retired American football player turned media personality. He played the defensive lineman position and holds the record for most sacks in a single NFL season. He also only played for the New York Giants throughout the entire 15-year professional career that saw him win a Super Bowl ring. In February 2014, ...

How Wendy Williams Went From Being a College DJ to Having Her Own Talk Show and More About Her Divorce Wendy Williams is a former radio personality, now talk show host, who is known for her outspokenness and brash no-nonsense attitude. She gained fame and notoriety for her on-air clashes with celebrities before moving on to host her own talk show. Since 2008, Williams has hosted the nationally syndicated television talk show, The Wendy Williams Show. ...

Who is Sunny Hostin? Her Husband, Family & Net Worth Sunny Hostin is no ordinary Latina  American lawyer but also a successful columnist, multi-platform journalist, and social commentator. A happily married woman and mother of two, Hostin is the Senior Legal Correspondent and Analyst for ABC News and co-host of ABCs popular morning talk show, The View. She is a legal expert popularly known as a former ...

Who Is Robert Costa and Is He Married, Who Is His Wife? Robert Costa is a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC who is regarded as being part of Americas next generation of journalists. The University of Notre Dame graduate, who is of Italian/Portuguese descent, has been lauded for his fresh political perspectives in an industry full of old heads. In addition to his work listed above, Costa ...

Team Valor Pokemon Go  7 Key Facts You Need To Know Team Valor Pokemon Go  The craze of the new game Pokemon Go is one that took the gaming world by storm sending teenagers and adults alike into a frenzy and one of its teams Team Valor, has proven to be instrumental in making it so. Before the game was created, Pokemon was a cartoon ...

Sheryl Underwood  Husband, Family & Net Worth She is known for her trademark smile which can be described as the brightest and broadest smile ever seen on planet earth. She is none other than Sheryl Underwood the comedian, actress, and TV host whose funny wits has left America in great awe. Although Sheryl has risen to become an important personality in the industry, ...

Team Mystic Pokemon Go: 7 Facts You Need To Know And Signs You Are One Team Mystic of the break out game Pokemon Go is a team that is full of sass and chivalry. With an enchanting monicker, Team Mystic stands out from the rest of its counterparts and deserves to take the crown as champion in the Pokemon gaming-verse. To be a member of this exceptional team of Pokemon battle ...

Exploring Guy Beahms Dr Disrespect Persona, Wife and Why He was Banned Permanently From Twitch Guy Beahm who is popularly known by his online alias  Dr DisRespect, is an award-winning Twitch.tv streamer. He has leveraged on the Twitch platform to become an internet personality that is quite widely known. His online success is just more proof that anyone who is good at what they do can attain celebrity status ...

Critical Facts About Lee Ann McAdoo  The Infowars Anchor Lee Ann Mcadoo is a conservative journalist and television host whose interests in conspiracies and astrology has established her as a famous American reporter. Often referred to as Wonder Woman, McAdoo is a reporter who works for InfoWars.com, a controversial right-wing website run by radio show host, Alex Jones. Who Is Lee Ann McAdoo? Lee Ann McAdoo was born on 7 ...

Millie Weaver  Age, Husband & Infowars Career Millie Weaver is an American model, journalist, political activist, and social commentator. The young and beautiful journalist rose to fame working as a reporter for a controversial right-wing website InfoWars.com. Also known as Millennial Millie, Weaver is a social media influencer with over 100,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel and over 35,000 followers on Twitter. Who Is Millie Weaver and What Is ...

Is Jessica Tarlov Married? What Are Her Height & Weight? Jessica Tarlov is an American political consultant, strategist, and analyst whose influential and regular TV presence has made a popular figure. A good example of beauty with brains, Tarlov has appeared on various TV networks, mostly the FOX News Network where she is known for her liberal views on political analysis and insights. She is also the senior director ...

Who Is Kelly Rebecca Nichols  Alex Jones Ex-Wife? Kelly Rebecca Nichols is the ex-wife of controversial American radio show host, Alex Jones. She got nationwide attention following her divorce and subsequent custody battle with her estranged husband. Nichols, who worked with PETAs public relations department, was herself no stranger to controversies as she was involved in several publicity stunts of the non-profit animal rights ...

Who Is Bree Morgan  Cole Sprouse Ex-Girlfriend And What Is She Up To Now? Although Bree Morgan became famous through the Instagram, she also sapped some dose of popularity from Disneys sweetheart, Cole Sprouse of the Sprouse brothers. She is not only an Instagram star but also a YouTube vlogger whose popularity has long exceeded the ordinary level. Bree is conspicuously prominent on the internet and has her digital savviness ...

Does Vanna White Have Husband or Children, What Is Her Net Worth / Salary? For over three decades, Vanna White has been a household name, famous as the co-host and letter turner of the iconic NBC game show Wheel of Fortune. The talented and beautiful television personality is also an actress with several TV series and films to her credit. Since making her Wheel of Fortune debut in 1982, she has become one ...

Liz Wheeler  Biography, Husband & Net Worth Liz Wheeler is the kind of girl who sets the room on fire whenever she comes around. In this situation, however, she sets our screens on fire each time she appears as the host of One America News Tipping Point. She is, therefore, a presenter, publisher, consultant and a member of the Board of Zoning ...

Betty White  Net Worth, Children & Husband The entertainment industry will remain indebted to personalities like Betty White who brought something extra to the table and kept the world entertained for donkey years. The comedienne, actress, and writer graced the big screens in the early 50s as a show host and has been a delight since then. She is the queen of ...

Is Bill Nye (The Science Guy) Dead or Alive, What Are His Net Worth & Education? Everyone will always remember Bill Nye as the Science Guy. Besides his TV show Bill Nye the Science Guy, he is well-known for his Netflix show Bill Nye Saves the World which started airing in 2017 as well as his appearances in many famous media projects as a science educator. The star studied mechanical engineering ...

Is Cesar Millan Dead, Who Is The Wife & What Is His Net Worth? Cesar Millan is the famous dog whisperer who often stirs up mixed emotions. The Mexican-American is precisely speaking, a dog behaviorist; he has been in the game for over 25 years. His Emmy-nominated television series, Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan further pushed his method and tactics into the limelight. The series was produced from 2004 ...

Is Thomas Sanders Gay and Does He Have A Boyfriend? By the time Vine was shut down in January 2017, Thomas Sanders was already popular within and beyond the internet community for his heavy involvements on the online video hosting platform. After the tragic shutdown of Vine impacted on the growing career of the multi-talented personality, he immediately switched over to YouTube where he continued to upload ...

Is Shepard Smith Gay, Who Is The Boyfriend & What Is His Net Worth? There are only a few media personalities who are as bold and confident as Shepard Smith. Apart from his impressive stint at Fox News Channel which includes but not limited to his classic news delivery, upfront stance on virtually every issue and much more; he loves his job as much as he loves his personality. Smith ...

Is Milo Yiannopoulos Gay? His Husband and Net Worth Milo Yiannopoulos is a popular writer, journalist, polemicist, public speaker, and political commentator who is also known as the founder of The Kernel, an online blog. He has been said to be among the list of 100 weird and influential people in the United Kingdom. He appeared on this list as a result of personal beliefs and ...

Does Ryan Seacrest Have A Wife Or Girlfriend, What Is His Net Worth? From radio to television, Ryan Seacrest is a household name and a force to be reckoned with in showbiz. The radio personality, television host, and producer is best recognized as the host of the popular TV talent search contest American Idol. Heres how the media personality who always knew what his lifes ambition was and diligently pursued ...

Is Anderson Cooper Gay, Who is The Boyfriend or Husband? For many, the thought of becoming a millionaire by writing and talking about other people appears unachievable but this is the reality of the prominent American journalist Anderson Cooper who gathered millions of dollars for conducting accurate political analysis and other vital reports on TV. He is the main anchor of the CNN news show Anderson ...

Is David Muir Gay or Does He Have A Wife, What Is His Salary? David Muir is an Emmy Award-winning journalist who works for the ABC broadcast-television network and anchors the ABC World News Tonight with David Muir program while also co-anchoring the magazine program 20/20. The Ithaca College graduate, whose show has become the most-watched newscast in America, has covered stories from all across America and the world; reporting ...

Joel Osteen  Divorce Rumors, Net Worth & Family Members Joel Osteen is an American Televangelist, Senior Pastor of Lakewood Church based in Houston, Texas, a husband and a father of two. He is an author of many books, seven of which are New York Times Best Sellers and his televised sermons capture more than 7 million viewers per week and 20 million every month ...

Who Is Todd Chrisley? What To Know About His Children, Gay Rumors & Net Worth Premiered on the USA network in 2014, Chrisley Knows Best is one of the most watched family reality TV shows in the U.S. The series which is currently in its sixth season is centered around U.S real estate mogul Todd Chrisley and his family. The show reveals Todd the patriarch of the Chrisley family as a strict dad who rules ...

Who Is Shannon Bream Of Fox News? Her Husband, Children & Net Worth Shannon Bream who hosts the iconic primetime program started her journalism career in the late 1990s debuting as the evening and late-night news reporter for the CBS affiliate, WBTV. The beauty from America currently works for the Fox News Channel and she is best known for anchoring the primetime program. She also hosts Americas News ...

Is Troye Sivan Gay, Who Is His Boyfriend and What Is His Net Worth? Troye Sivan is an Australian singer and songwriter best known for songs like Happy Little Pill, Youth, Heaven (with Betty Who) and The Boyfriend Tag (with Tyler Oakley) which have all garnered him different awards and ranked on the Billboard Charts. Sivan, who was born in South Africa but now resides in the United States, is ...

Did iDubbbz Have Cancer, Is He Gay and Who Is His Girlfriend Now? iDubbbz is one YouTuber who has made a career out of courting controversy. Renowned for his absurdist channels and comedy video series, the Los Angeles based personality is the owner of two channels, iDubbzTV, and iDubbzTV2, as well as the brains behind comedy video series such as Content Cop, Kickstarter Crap, Gaming News Crap, and ...

Inside Greg Gutfelds Love Story With Wife Elena Moussa and Why Fans Thought He Was Gay Greg Gutfeld is a seasoned American television producer whose career in the media industry has spanned over a decade. He is a man of many talents who makes extra income through comedy, journalism, and editorial works. Gutfeld regularly appears on Fox News Channel as a panellist and co-host of the political talk show The Five ...

Works That Made Bo Burnham A Household Name and How Much He Is Worth Now One of YouTubes first viral stars and the worlds most exciting young comedian, Bo Burnham, has always amazed critics and comedy aficionados alike. Often regarded as the Justin Bieber of comedy, thanks to his fresh looks, floppy blond hair and hoodies, he has a multi-faceted career bigger than many comedians twice his age. It wouldnt ...

Is Louie Anderson Gay And What Is His Net Worth? Louie Anderson has one of the most abstract faces in the industry and equally knows how to use it to his advantage. He is not only a stand-up comedian but also an actor and television host who is known for his distinctive comic wits. Some of his notable projects include Family Feud, where he was ...

Is Don Lemon of CNN Gay, Who is His Partner and What Is His Salary? Don Lemon has risen to become one of the most recognizable faces on CNN over the past few years. The fiery journalist, who anchors CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, is liked and somewhat disliked for his strong and candid opinions on a variety of matters that do not just include politics but also race, significantly, matters that ...

Is Rachel Maddow Gay, Who is the Wife and How Much Does She Earn in Salary? Rachel Maddow is an award-winning American journalist, political commentator, and television news anchor. She is best known for hosting the popular nightly TV show The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC. Prior to this, she hosted a talk radio program on Air America Radio from 2005 to 2010. As of now, the TV sensation co-anchors MSNBCs ...

Demystifying Pokimane  Her Real Name, Ethnicity & Boyfriend Like most social media celebrities in this digital era, Pokimane Thicc is one of those stars who took advantage of the internet to make a name for herself. Given the unlimited potentials which the social media space offers, many people have been instantly propelled to fame just by posting creative online contents. Not only has ...

A Breakdown of Kris Jenners Net Worth, Sources Of Income and Relationships Over The Years Standing outside and looking in, Kris Jenner looks like the oil that greases the wheels of the entire Kardashian/Jenner machine. She has been dubbed a momager and rightfully so because she seems to have had a part to play in the trajectory of each and every one of her daughters individually and the Kardashian brand ...

Pursuits That Brought Liza Koshys Fame To its Zenith and Her Love Life Since David Dobrik Liza Koshy is an American actress who has leveraged YouTube as a platform to promote her comedy while also serving as a television host on occasions. She is talented and funny and has gathered a lot of fans from around the world. Koshy started on Vine in high school and was able to get millions of ...

Alex Aiono Biography  Inside The Life Of The American Singer Not everyone who started from the streets has attained the heights where Alex Aiono is currently. His story could be referred to as the perfect definition of rising from Grass to Grace. He came into the limelight after he started out as a YouTuber, singer, and producer. One fascinating thing about the young YouTuber is ...

Virginia Vallejo Biography And Her Love Story With Pablo Escobar Virginia Vallejo can be referred to as one of the oldest whistleblowers in history after her involvement with Pablo Escobar which made her famous. Over the years, many questions have been raised about her relationship with the drug lord and why she endangered her life to be with him despite his notorious acts. The death ...

Princess Love Bio  Ethnicity, Real Name & Parents For many people, Princess Love is simply Ray Js wife but there is so much more to this feisty lady than meets the eye. She is a star in her own right and has many feathers on her cap. Princess Love is a reality TV star, a model, video vixen, and fashion designer. She and her ...

Who is Papa Franku Also Known As Filthy Frank or Joji, Where is He Now? The social media as we all know today has given people the opportunity to be creative and innovative and at the same time, make something of themselves. YouTube is one of the known social platforms we have today that makes it possible for people to express their God-given talents and post videos they created to ...

Who Is Molly Qerim, How Did She Become a Famous Sports Anchor and Who Is Her Husband? Molly Qerim is an American sports anchor popularly known for moderating First Take, a highly rated sports talk show, on ESPN. Prior to joining ESPN, Qerim hosted Fantasy Live and NFL AM on NFL Network. It is quite obvious that the widely acclaimed television personality is in a class of her own when it comes ...

Safiya Nygaard  Height, Parents & Net Worth Safiya Nygaard is an American YouTuber, writer, content producer, and director who is popular for posting makeup, beauty and fashion videos on YouTube. Her videos regularly top at least one million views, thanks to her lively character as well as her willingness to experiment with outrageous outfits and different beauty products. Here are the things to ...

The Rigors of Sunlen Serfatys Career Journey Until CNN and Fun Facts About Her Personal Life CNN correspondent, Sunlen Serfaty is an Emmy Award-winning journalist known for covering a broad range of breaking news stories, national news, and Washington politics. She has been able to garner widespread recognition for herself which even goes beyond the sphere of her work. Her profile also increased with the extensive work she did in covering ...

Demystifying Jazz Jennings Real Name, Boyfriend & Family Of One The Youngest Transgenders Jazz Jennings is an unusual personality who became famous as a transgender activist and was recorded as the youngest documented public figure to be seen as transgender. She is also a YouTube personality and spokesmodel for brands, her fans, and other transgenders. She fought for acceptance in her high school with her super supportive family for over ...

Inside Fred Armisens Life  Ethnicity, Romantic Relationships and Gay Rumors Fred Armisen is an award-winning American comedian, he is also a writer, an actor as well as a musician. He was a cast member of the legendary comedy show, Saturday Night Live for 13 years and also one of the brains behind the successful satirical show Portlandia. Find out more about this incredibly talented guy ...

Ed and Lorraine Warren Biography: Cases, Kids, and Family Life Have you ever woken up with fear you could not explain, or felt a strange presence that made the hair at your nape rise or even experienced strange occurrences around you? Well, these were some of the promptings that made the well-known paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren delve into trying to explain the ideas ...

Truth About Tony Romos Wife, Kids and Life Since His NFL Retirement Tony Romo grew from the field as a quarterback to the screens as an American Football Analyst. He was a quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys in the richest football league in the world (NFL) before retiring. As a junior, he was honored as an All-Ohio Conference Member, an Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year and ...

Who is Brittany Venti, The Controversial Game Streamer and YouTuber? In recent times, many people live stream themselves playing video games. This has become a popular pastime on the internet and many highly skilled gamers have become internet celebrities through this means. However, some of them rather than becoming renowned for their gaming skills and great commentary, have become controversial and infamous. A good example ...

Rob Dyrdeks Family: His Kids And Relationship With Wife Bryiana Noelle Flores A multi-talented star and an elite pro skateboarder, Rob Dyrdeks success story began at a remarkably young age. Yet another proof that schooling doesnt always correlate with success, Rob has established himself not just as a phenomenal sportsman but also as a successful entrepreneur. Besides perfecting his skill as a natural talent on the board, ...

xChocobars  Biography and Everything You Should Know About Her Having distinguished herself and recorded massive successes in an industry notably dominated by men, it is very safe to say that Xchocobars deserves all the attention and cash she makes from her career. A household name on Twitch (a smart live streaming video platform), the online-gamer is popularly known for streaming classic games such as Stardew ...

Everything To Know About Mary Padian, Her Boyfriend and Net Worth Mary Padian is a famous American television reality personality best known for her involvements on the Reality show Storage Wars. She also has her own shop called Mary finds where she displays her antique collections. Since her childhood, Padian has been a creative learner. At the time, she used to create new items out of reusable ones and ...

Betsy Woodruffs Family Life: Is She Married or Related To Bob Woodruff? An old name in the world of journalism, Betsy Woodruff has warmed her way into the hearts of many with her impressive talents. Through hard work, Woodruff has carved a niche for herself in a very competitive field. Betsy has strong family and work values and is also an advocate for equal opportunities for everyone ...

Matpat (Matthew Patrick)  Wife, Height & Net Worth As far as internet business is concerned, Matpat remains one of the most dynamic and seasoned figures. He boasts a wealth of experience that has helped him in growing his business from one level of greatness to another. Like most successful people, MatPat started out small but today, he makes millions of dollars from his ...

Facts About Ricegum  His Girlfriend, Real Name & Net Worth Ricegum is an online gamer and YouTube sensation who ditched college; took advantage of the digital era, and made a name for himself on the internet. Though he began as a gaming YouTuber, Ricegum soon gained recognition as a controversial internet star following his many diss tracks. Here is everything you need to know about the youngster ...

Joy Taylor Once Married MLBs Richard Giannotti  Inside Look At Her Love Life and Family The erosion of the sexist idea that women have no business in sports broadcasting created a host of women celebrities who attained fame outside of modeling and acting. One of them, Joy Taylor, a radio personality and TV host for Fox Sports 1, has been in the industry since 2009, becoming one of the most ...

What To Know About Conan OBriens Wife, Kids & Family Today The name Conan OBrien is one that jumps right at you almost immediately you start talking about the most popular television hosts in the USA and this is no surprise because the man behind that name has risen to become one of the most admired men in the business. Known for hosting the late-night talk ...

David Letterman  Net Worth, Wife & Son In all of American, one man whose face has been seen frequently by late night TV talk show lovers is none but David Letterman. The comedian and TV show veteran has been hosting late night talk shows for more than three decades. His Late Night with David Letterman show began on February 1st, 1982 aired ...

Demystifying Sssniperwolfs Family Background And The Boyfriends Shes Had Since she launched her eponymously named channel in 2013, Sssniperwolf has been on the rise when it comes to video game influencers. She is one of the biggest names in the online gaming subgenre of YouTube videos. Real name Lia Shelesh, she started with Call of Duty: Black Ops II but has diversified with other ...

Lester Holt  Wife, Family & Net Worth Lester Holt is a multiple award-winning journalist, newscaster, reporter, and actor who has worked for notable media houses like WCBS TV, CBS, MSNBC and among others. His remarkable feat in journalism has endeared him to the hearts of many and earned him some awards and recognitions. Read on to get acquainted with his biography, ethnicity, ...

What Is Louis C.K. Doing Now, Where Are His Family And How Much Is His Net Worth? It is not easy to make it in comedy. It takes more than a funny bone and the ability to elicit a few giggles from a listening audience. For all the complexities that go into making a successful career in comedy, Louis C.K, the Washington D.C-born comedian, did it. For years, he was at the ...

The Progression of Hoda Kotbs Career, Her Ancestry and Family Life Hoda Kotb gained fame as a television host and news anchor for NBC. She anchors the shows signature show Today, and it has been an excellent vehicle for her skills in front of a camera. Kotb has won several awards, including Daytime Emmys and Peabody Awards. Simply put, she is one of the most successful ...

Jerry Seinfelds Family: All About The Amazing Comedians Wife and Kids Apparently one of the highly important entertainers in America, Jerry Seinfeld is a man of many talents. A very funny man, he is considered to be one of the most successful comedians in the USA who has been in the business as a professional rib-cracker for more than 40 years. As an actor, he has ...

The Rigors Of Sarah Silvermans Rise To Prominence And Rundown Of The Men She Has Dated A comedian, writer, and actress, Sarah Silvermans art and craft is as unique as you would ever find. Her poignant use of comedy to discuss social issues such as race, sexism, politics, and religion has gained her an impressive following. As unorthodox as her style is, so is her life experiences. She previously suffered from epiglottitis ...

Who Is Hannibal Buress, Does He Have A Wife or Girlfriend & Why Was He Arrested? Making people laugh when they are tense or not in the mood is a tough order and to ply the trade, it must indeed take some guts and expertise, this is what the humor maker, Hannibal Buress has been able to achieve and sustain after his inital teething process. The African-American is a screen writer, stand-up ...

The Success of John Mulaneys Career Efforts Since His Work On Saturday Night Live and Facts About His Wife John Mulaney had been working as a professional comedian for years before Saturday Night Live changed his status for life and like many who are now his fans, you probably did not know of him then. However, that changed when he joined the sketch comedy show in 2008. Since then, he has been one of ...

Jeff Dunham  Wife, Children and Net Worth Ventriloquism is a very subtle method of making an inanimate object (like a puppet, doll or dummy) appear to be saying words which are actually coming from the person (holding the inanimate object). In effect, the individual throws his/her voice to the puppet and can even appear to be having a conversation with it. Not ...

Ellen DeGeneres  Net Worth, Wife  Portia de Rossi & Parents Ellen DeGeneres is an American female standup comedian who has proven that whatever a man can do, a woman can also do. Since her journey as a standup comedian started in 1981, she has held swirl as one of the finest comedians America and the world at large has seen. She is often referred to ...

Revisiting Joan Rivers Death  The Daughter, Husband & Net Worth She Left Behind Joan Rivers was a renowned American comedian, TV host, writer, and actress. Her brand of comedy consisted of scathing one-liners and no individual or topic is spared. She hosted her own talk shows in the 80s and 90s and was a pioneer for women in stand up comedy. She was the first woman to host a late night ...

The Struggles of Margaret Chos Childhood, How It Influenced Her Career Growth and Love Life Margaret Cho is best described as a comic star who knows how to maneuver everything related to life into a rib-cracking joke. She is also known to criticize every social and political problem, especially those involving race and sexuality. Apart from her talents as a comic actress, she does amazingly well as a singer and ...

Where Is Eric Bolling Today? Who Is His Son & What Is His Net Worth? Eric Bolling who was once a notable figure on Fox News, is an American TV personality, an author, and versatile Journalist. As a political and financial analyst/commentator, he anchored discussions bothering on finance for Fox Business Channel. Here is everything there is to know about his career, family, and allegations that led to his exit ...

Who Is Chelsea Handler and Does She Have A Husband or Boyfriend? Chelsea Handler is one of Americas top female comedians. She is also an actress, writer, television host, producer, and activist. She is known to be very outspoken even with things that are very personal. In separate interviews with The New York Times, Handler revealed that she had an abortion twice when she was 16. She has authored five books ...

How Did Laura Lee Achieve Fame, How Much is She Worth and Who is Her Husband? Laura Lee is a popular American YouTuber, make-up artist and beauty blogger. From posting videos of her makeup routines on Instagram, Lee has transformed into a beauty influencer and a YouTube sensation. Today, her YouTube Channel has over 630 million views and 4.5 million subscribers. Asides having millions of followers across all social media platforms, ...

Madison Gesiotto Bio  Ethnicity, Parents & Measurements Madison Gesiotto is no ordinary woman; although she excelled in quite a number of pageants and competitions while she was in school, it is her views on politics and issues in America that has made her name known to most people. She possesses beauty and intelligence in a seemingly equal measure and has been able ...

Who Is Lil Tay? Parents, Brother, Sister, Age, Net Worth, Ethnicity Child stardom is nothing new in the entertainment world. With the advent of social media, we have seen more stars made from the internet than ever before, and Lil Tay is one of them. Her uploaded rap videos trademark is cursing, swearing, cash-throwing, and use of obscene languages. Her fame went wild after she dropped ...

What To Know About Tig Notaros Wife, Kids and Family Today Tig Notaro is an American stand-up comic star, writer, actress, and radio analyst. Since she started her career in 2001, she has become one of Americas best comedians, particularly when it comes to observational comedy. One prominent aspect of her routine involves her family, which includes a wife and two children. Interestingly, Tig Notaro is part ...

Who Is Chantel Jeffries? What To Know About Her Age, Ethnicity & Net Worth Chantel Jeffries is a lady of many talents. Beyond being celebrated as a DJ, she has fared well as a model, an actress, musician, and as an artist. She first rose to fame on Instagram where she has a large following. However, in recent times, she has hit the spotlight for her rumored relationships with some ...

Is Ellen DeGeneres Married, Who Is The Brother  Vance DeGeneres and Family Members? Ellen DeGeneres is one of a kind celebrity in todays world as she has used her wealth for the greater good for many people. She has served a host of famous awards shows like the Grammy, Primetime Emmy and Academy Awards. Moreso, she is probably one of the most decorated entertainment personalities around the world and ...

Carli Bybel Bio  Height, Boyfriend & Net Worth Video blogging is now on the rise and YouTube is the place where most of it happens. If you are a lady who cares about her looks or a guy who likes to help his woman out with her looks, then one person whose name rings a bell when it comes to giving beauty tips ...

Who Is Lexy Panterra? What To Know About Her Ethnicity, Boyfriend & Net Worth Lexy Panterra is one of the YouTube personalities whose breakout came through the Twerk dance videos she posted on her social media handles and YouTube which has so far generated over 13 million views for her. From there on, she created her LexTwerkOut workout program in 2014. She is sure very talented as she as moved ...

Who Is AnneMunition? What Is Her Ethnicity & Does She Have A Girlfriend or Boyfriend? AnneMunition is a professional gamer and content creator of American origin. She is one of the most sought-after streamers on Twitch  a popular online platform for watching and streaming videos, especially video games. AnneMunition has almost half a million followers on Twitch and her channel has accumulated at least 13 million views. Her favorite games ...

Norm MacDonald  Former Wife, Son & Net Worth Recently, 59-year-old former Saturday Night Live stand-up comic Norm MacDonald caused a not-so-funny stir when he expressed his personal opinion about the #MeToo movement speaking in defense of Louis CK and Roseanne Barr. Following the backlash of his actions, he is diligently doing damage control for his questionable opinion by posting a public apology on ...

Inside Iliza Shlesingers Life With Husband and How Much She is Worth Now Witty, spontaneous, and truly humorous, Iliza Shlesinger is an American comedian who is clearly proving that the stereotypical claim that women are not really funny is not only incredibly wrong but completely outrageous. Having been in the game for more than 10 years, Shlesinger has grown bigger with each step, stunning fans with her incredible ...

Who Is Nessa Diab? Details of her Parents, Ethnicity & Relationship With Colin Kaepernick Nessa Diab has gained more fame as the girlfriend of different footballers than in her career. She is currently with the popular National Football League (NFL) player, Colin Kaepernick, and has stood by his side during his most trying times. Also known for her mononym, Nessa, she recently engaged in a tweet battle with the ...

Samantha Bee  Inside the Life of Full Frontal Comedian and Presenter We have over the decades seen various brands of humor and personalities who have walked the ropes. One of the formidable forces in the world of comedy is no other than the iconic Samantha Bee of the Daily Show who now runs her own television show on TBS channel. She is a Canadian-American political commentator, ...

What Happened To Jessica Williamss Boyfriend And Which Are Her Best Works? Jessica Williams is a woman who has a lot of feathers in her cap  and keeps acquiring more. The former senior political correspondent of the comic Daily Show, who is also a comedian and actress whose recent movie appearance include starring as a playwright just recovering from a recent split with her boyfriend, Damon, and ...

Who is Nicole Byer? Here are 5 Facts You Need To Know About The Comedian Nicole Byer, an American comedian, actress, and writer, made a name for herself after she played supporting roles on MTVs prank show Ladylike and the reality show Girl Code. The latter was a series that featured comedians who analyzed in minute details, all the issues that young women deal with daily, from period to dating, to weird friendship dynamics and questions about sex. Currently, ...

A Closer Look At Bart Kwans Ethnicity, Height & Personal Life Bart Kwan is one of few Asians who is known for being successful in the comic industry at an international level. His fame broke out after the YouTube channel which he created with his close pal Joe Jo garnered up massive followings. The talented duo has been running the channel since 2007 and their success ...

Heres How VanossGaming Achieved Fame Online, His Worth and Other Facts About The Gamer For many years, the decision to drop out of college to pursue an online career was considered to be foolish and self-destructive by conventional wisdom. It was no different when Evan Fong, popularly known as VanossGaming, dropped out of college to pursue a YouTube career. However, that radical move paid off, and he stands shoulder to ...

Desi Perkins  Ethnicity, Net Worth & Husband YouTube is littered with videos of makeup tutorials by different people but if you are interested in learning how to do your makeup like a pro, there is just one person on that platform who you must follow. She is none other than Desi Perkins! She is a popular make-up artist, Instagram star, and vlogger. Desi, ...

The Phases of Casey Neistats Pursuits and His Love Story With Candice Pool YouTuber, vlogger, filmmaker, and creator extraordinaire; these are just a few hats that Casey Neistat wears and the story of how he got here is incredible. A native of Connecticut, Neistat started out by making refreshingly-authentic short films and videos that featured content that was based on everyday life and called attention to serious issues. He ...

Connor Franta  Inside The Life of American YouTuber YouTube has produced a lot of young celebrities in modern times and Connor Franta happens to be one of them. Apart from being a YouTuber, the young American is also an entrepreneur, entertainer, and writer. His journey to fame began almost a decade ago when he started a self-named YouTube channel where he uploads content ranging ...

Rhett and Link  Bio, Who are Their Wives, Net Worth and Family Facts Rhett and Link refer to an American comedy duo who are very popular on YouTube. They are known for their comic songs, viral commercials, skits and the daily show, Good Mythical Morning. Good Mythical Morning is the most watched daily show online, averaging 100 million views in a month. The show has featured guests such ...

A Walk Through The Maze of Ryan Higas Career Pursuits And Relationship With Arden Cho Ryan Higa is not only celebrated as a YouTube star, but he is also famed for appearing on television screens as an actor and comedian. Nigahiga, his Youtube channel, has gathered over 20 million subscribers and billions of views with his different comic acts, short films, and music videos uploads. With the rise in his career, ...

What to Know About The Shows That Made Craig Ferguson a Star and His Family Ties Rising to the top of your profession can sometimes be a hard and difficult process. It requires days and nights of working consistently hard to be better than what you were yesterday. It requires not giving up when all of your experiences seem to be pushing you to quit. It is because of these challenges ...

David Dobrik Married Liza Koshy for One Month  Inside His Family and Relationships David Dobrik is a YouTube sensation who has garnered fame not just for his vlogs but his love life too. Given his career as a YouTuber, his channel is one place where he shares his romantic escapades. With a cute boyish look like his, this Slovakian young man is definitely a good catch, and not ...

Merrell Twins Bio  Ethnicity, Parents & Boyfriend One of the beautiful things about modern life is social media. As rudimentary as it might seem, it could turn out to be the greatest thing that would be invented in the next 50 years because of its impact on human life. Very few tools have revolutionized human behavior and culture as much as social ...

Who Is Bunny Meyer, Is She Married & What Is Her Net Worth? Bunny Meyer is a YouTube celebrity who has amassed over 8.8 million subscribers with 1.5 million viewers on her channel. She is popularly known as Grav3yardgirl and is one of the highest-paid YouTubers in the world. She initially started out as a fashion designer and later chose the path of a YouTuber. Grav3yardgirl has used her knowledge on fashion, makeup, ...

Ninja  Inside The Life of The American YouTuber and Internet Personality Ninja is a talented video game player known for his mastery of Fortnite and other seemingly difficult games he plays with ease. The video gamer made a career out of what is ordinarily the hobby of many people and has since then amassed a huge online following. Find out about him here, including the controversies that ...

What Is Eva Gutowskis True Sexuality and How Did She Rise So Fast As an Influencer? Ever since Eva Gutowski joined YouTube in 2011, it has been an interesting journey for her, moving from one milestone to the other. Backed by an army of young women and teenage girl fans known as Evanators, she has risen to become one of the most-talked-about personalities in the digital stratosphere. She has also leveraged ...

Emma Chamberlain Biography  Age, Height & Net Worth Before now, people in the entertainment industry could only achieve popularity after many years of dedication and hard work but since social media came into the scene, massive success and overnight popularity became possible. That is the story of Emma Chamberlain who encountered fame as a fifteen-year-old. Emma is one of the many young people who became ...

Anna Akana  Ethnicity, Boyfriend & Net Worth There is a new crop of YouTubers known by their different contents with a very strong uniqueness that stands every one of them out, some upload video games, some fashion while some others have comedy video contents to showcase on their channels. Anna Akana has used her platform to showcase her comedy contents to the ...

Revealing Truths About Lilly Singhs Ethnic Background, Family and Her Relationship With Yousef Erakat Lilly Singh is an Indian-Canadian YouTube personality, actress, and comedian also known as Superwoman. She kicked off her YouTube career in 2010 with the launch of her channel IISuperwomanII and followed it up with a vlog channel in 2011. This paved the way for her fame and success which led to a world tour. The ...

Who Is Andrea Constand, Is She Married and What Is Her Connection With Bill Cosby? Many people got sexually molested but could not voice out due to the stigma victims suffer and what will become of them thereafter. Very few of the victims danm every consequence to seek justice and bring the perpetrator to the book, like Andrea Constand. She never got any media buzz, not until her friend cum molester; ...

Who Is Lazarbeam (Lannan Eacott)? Here Are Facts You Need To Know Lannan Eacott became a person of interest after his YouTube channel, LazarBeam pulled him to the limelight. Initially, he started with uploads of Madden Challenge videos before deciding to build his own channel in January 2015. Within the space of three years, his YouTube channel had gathered over 7 million loyal subscribers. Today, he has not ...

Puzzling Facts About Wengies YouTube Success and More About Her Fiance Among the many YouTubers who have succeeded in winning the hearts of millions of people is Wengie. She is a Chinese-Australian YouTube personality, vlogger, singer, and voice actress. Wengie is famous for a lot of things, from her simple life hacks, DIYs, craft ideas to fun experiments, tricks and pranks. Her content portfolio also includes hair tutorials, diet & fitness tips, lookbooks, ...

Is Jeffree Star A Billionaire and How Much Does He Make On YouTube? If looks can be deceptive then theres no other person who proves this maxim better than Jeffree Star. A quick look at Stars pictures would likely leave you wondering whether or not to tag him a male or female. But who says being controversial has to be a curse? For Star, his looks have caught ...

The Place of Rosanna Pansinos Career Hats In Her Rise To Fame and Facts About Her Personal Life There are a few phrases that could summarize Rosanna Pansinos rise to fame. None of them can do it better than the famous axiom, no knowledge is lost. Her popularity YouTube comes out of her foray into other professions, specifically acting. Although acting now occupies one of the major professional hats in Rosannas resume, it was ...

Muselk (Elliott Watkins) Biography  Age, Girlfriend and Net Worth The new and best in-thing in terms of career is video gaming and we have over time seen young men and women make massive income from an activity that was purportedly designed to serve as a hobby or a relaxation activity. One of such individuals is the Australian-born YouTube Celebrity and Twitch streamer, Muselk, whose ...

PopularMMOs Biography: 5 Interesting Facts You Need To Know We have over the years seen social media millionaires, especially on the YouTube social platform. These celebrities cum millionaires have made names for themselves after carving out niches on the internet, and a typical example of one of such exciting media personality on the YouTube is American Minecraft gamer and YouTube star, PopularMMOs whose channel ...

Jason Nash Once Married Marney Hochman  What To Know About His Ex-Wife and Kids The now-defunct video-sharing app Vine was the path that led Jason Nash to fame. With it, he built an audience of over two million followers, which he parlayed into a significant YouTube career. That move has seen him become one of the most popular personalities on the internet, with the cash income to go with ...

Where Does Dantdm Live? What Do We Know About His Net Worth, Wife and Brother? Most parents buy video games for their kids to occupy their time leisure, while other parents frown at their kids when they play video games. Despite the disparity, every parent would be proud of their child if he/she eventually turns a celebrity or millionaire through playing video games like Dantdm. Biography of Dantdm Dantdm was born Daniel ...

LaurDIY  Biography: 5 Facts You Need To Know About The YouTuber LaurDIY is the YouTube channel of Lauren Riihimaki which she created on December 1, 2011, when she was still a college undergrad with the sole aim of giving Do It Yourself (DIY) as well as practical fashion and beauty tips to her followers. She has used the channel to establish herself as a YouTube personality ...

Lachlan Ross Power  Bio And Family Life Of Australian The YouTube Star It is amazing the varied sources of income that the internet has made possible in this day and age. Internet fame can get its holder a whole lot of monetary and social benefits, but it must be noted that it does not come easy or cheap. For those who desire fame, content is the sacrifice ...

Alfie Deyes  Bio and Net Worth: Everything You Need To Know Alfie Deyes is one internet personality you definitely would like to know about. He boasts of over 10 million subscribers on three of his YouTube channels and has three bestseller books to his name. He is probably the most renowned young personality on YouTube today and his vlogging empire continues to grow by the day. ...

Colleen Ballingers Love Story With Husband Erik Stocklin and How Much She Is Worth Now Colleen Ballinger is an American comedian and YouTuber who is a very funny, adventurous, and highly talented woman. She is also an actress, singer, and writer. Collen is widely known for her work on YouTube where she posts content on her channel, Miranda Sings. The comedian has gained many subscribers over the years and has ...

Who Are The Dude Perfect Members and How Much Are They Worth? Entertainment in the 21st century can be digested in many forms and with platforms like YouTube, the creators and purveyors of entertainment have been democratized. Today, one of the most popular platforms to exhibit ones creative talents is YouTube, even though there are other platforms like Twitter, Facebook, who suffer in comparison to YouTube because ...

Who Is Rudy Mancuso, What Is His Earning Power and What Do We Know About His Girlfriend? Rudy Mancuso started his internet journey on Vine. He would later transition to YouTube where he solidified his place among the internets most beloved comedic creators. He is now regarded as one of the renowned internet personalities in the world, with a presence in mainstream TV and film projects like Comedy Centrals Drunk History and ...

Vsauce (Michael Stevens) Biography and Net Worth: All You Need To Know The advent of YouTube and the internet as a whole revolutionized how human beings consume information. With each passing year, the percentage of learning that is done in a traditional classroom decrease as a seismic shift to internet-based learning happens in our education industry. From open courses online to YouTube classes and videos, there are ...

How did Jake Paul Make His YouTube Big Break and Who is His Wife? One of the most interesting Social Media personalities of the 21st century is the young and popular Jake Paul whose elder brother is the famed Vine star, Logan Paul. Jake has utilized the power of the internet to bring himself to the limelight with a channel named JakePaulProductions that has amassed up to six billion ...

5 Facts You Need To Know About Reaction Time (Tal Fishman)  The American YouTuber Before 2015, the leading meaning of reaction time was the amount of time it takes to respond to a stimulus, until Tal Fishman started his channel, Reaction Time on YouTube and the dominant meaning changed. Today, a google search of Reaction Time would deliver Tal Fishmans videos and YouTube channel link with a few physics ...

Grace Helbig  Net Worth, Boyfriend and Family Life of The YouTuber Grace Helbig is an American internet personality, comedian, actress, and writer. She became popular due to her daily vlog series, DailyGrace, which ran on My Damn Channel from 2008 to 2013. Helbig is also popular for her own indie series on YouTube, ItsGrace, which she launched in 2014. Her vlogs which feature random stuff such as ...

Mark Wiens Bio  Ethnicity, Wife and Parents Food is a great way to connect with people. We all love to eat, if not for the pleasure of food, the satisfaction of quenching hunger, and the very process of providing and sharing that food is part of the strongest bonds that bind humanity together. Maybe it is our historical connection to food, where ...

Is Filthy Frank Dead, What Happened To Him and How Much Is He Worth? As George Kusunoki Miller, he was a nobody. However, as Filthy Frank, George was one of the most famous internet personalities on the planet. The Filthy Frank Show, a sketch series on his YouTube channel, TVFilthyFrank, was one of the platforms most influential creations. He is the reason a crazy dance song, Harlem Shake, made it ...

CaptainSparklez Bio  Net Worth, House and Cars of The Famous YouTuber Sometimes, what society wants from its citizens is quite different from what the citizens want for themselves. This is evident in the life and career of video blogger and American YouTube personality, Jordan Maron famous for his YouTube channel CaptainSparklez. He dropped out of school after discovering his talent in playing an online game called Minecraft. ...

Who is Simply Nailogical (Cristine Rotenberg)? Here are Facts You Must Know Canadian Youtube personality, Simply Nailogical (Cristine Rotenberg) originally started out polishing and designing nails even before it became a trendy culture in the social media. Simply Nailogica started out her showbiz career in her early days as a child actress, acting in commercials for game and toy companies. Aside from acting, she is blogger, vlogger, specializing ...

5 Interesting Facts You Need To Know About Huda Beauty In the world of entrepreneurship, it is interesting when an individual has a mentor who he/she looks up to, this yield more productivity on the part of the individual. The iconic and rich American beautician and makeup artist Huda Kattan nicknamed Heida is the founder of the Huda Beauty blog which is number one Instagram beauty blog ...

Is Dino MasterChef Gay? Details About His Ethnicity, Girlfriend, Where He Is Now Food, for the better part of the early years of human life, was nothing more than what we needed for survival. There was no artistry or curation to the method of cooking. The scarcity of food left no room for artistic expression until we figured out agriculture and we could make as much as we ...

Who Is Gabbie Hanna And How Did She Become Famous? As the world shifts to digital media and depends more and more on streaming services for its news and entertainment content, YouTubers have become one of the leading creators in the new media world. Their understanding of the online audience: how to create, maintain, and increase followers, are all handy skills that have primed them ...

Jacksepticeye  Height, Girlfriend & Net Worth Jacksepticeye is a YouTuber and actor who gained popularity with a series of gaming videos he uploads on his channel to the delight of millions of his subscribers. He is Known primarily for his comic video game series titled Lets Play and his vlogs. His channel was formerly ranked 46th in the list of most subscribed ...

Chris Heria Personal Details: About His Wife, Height & Ethnicity Background In this generation, keeping fit has become one of the major criteria for being hale and hearty. In fact, most occupations these days are majorly concerned with ones body mass, weight and looks. Unlike the past where most people have to register in a gym to keep fit, social media has made it quite easy ...

Everything You Need To Know About Game Grumps Gaming is becoming incredibly popular on YouTube these days with game vloggers make millions of dollars out of them yearly. One of the most popular up-coming gaming YouTube channels is Game Grumps. The Lets Play series was created in 2012 and celebrated its fifth anniversary on July 18th, 2017. In six years of its existence, the ...

Daithi De Nogla Biography, Girlfriend and Net Worth YouTube has created an avenue for many to make wealth and become famous from the comfort of their homes while having fun. Many have built a career out of the platform, uploading numerous videos that have earned them the admiration of viewers across the globe. For Daithi De Nogla, he is loved for his humorous commentary on ...

Does Phoebe Robinson Have A Boyfriend or Husband and What Do We Know About Her Family? Phoebe Robinson is a New York-based comedian, writer, and actress. She is best known as the co-creator and co-host of the WNYC Studios podcast 2 Dope Queens. Just like some other female comedians, she never had any original plans of becoming a stand-up comedian even though, according to her, she took a class on a whim at Carolines on Broadway. After ...

Who Are Lex and Alana from Listed Sisters? What Is Their Ethnicity & Is the Show Cancelled? America is a country built on diversity. Everywhere you look all over the country, a countless number of immigrants or children of immigrants have become an integral part of the fabric of the country. From entertainment to business, immigrants are creating a niche for themselves and climbing to the summit of their respective professions. One ...

Riveting Facts About Danielle Lombard And What She Is Best Known For The American entertainment industry is one that provides many avenues for aspiring hopefuls to express their talents and become famous. From films to television shows and game shows, there is no shortage of ways for men and women who desire fame to pursue and earn it in the United States of America. Another tested medium ...

Unearthing New Details About The YouTube Success And Personal Life of Alex Burriss of Wassabi Productions Wildly hilarious and truly audacious, Alex Wassabi is an American YouTuber who has become a very popular face on the video-sharing platform after having garnered millions of subscribers over the years by keeping people glued to his channel with his witty parody video releases. If you have always loved parody videos, there is every chance ...

Everything You Need To Know About H2O Delirious H2O Delirious whose full birth name is reported to be Jonathan Gormon Dennis has successfully kept himself mystified by hiding his face behind the masks leaving his loyal fans speculating who he really is for many years. The American YouTube star is easily identified by the Jason Mask Style with make-up which he wears on his ...

Who Is HolaSoyGerman and What Happened To Him? German Garmendia has certainly seen it all when it comes to internet success. His channels, HolaSoyGerman and JuegaGerman are in the top twenty most subscribed channel on YouTube. The Chilean YouTuber found a way to tap into one of the worlds greatest inventions and make a living from it. He has been able to build ...

Who Are Glenn Becks Family, What Is His Net Worth And What Happened To Him? The American political commentary space is filled with different personalities. A few of them, through their rhetoric, charisma, and resources have been able to build a large following of men and women who listen to them for insight and direction for various political and social issues in the United States. For Conservatives, the story is ...

Following Charissa Thompsons Rise Through The Ranks Of Sports Casting and All About Her Boyfriend Superstar TV host and sportscaster, Charissa Thompson, has been hailed as one of the highest-profile women journalists in America, and the reason is there for all to see. She has worked for popular establishments such as Versus, Yahoo! Sports, ESPN, GSN, and Big Ten Network. She currently hosts the popular pre-game show, Fox NFL Kickoff, ...

Is Chris Kattan Gay or Does He Have A Wife? What Is His Net Worth? Chris Kattan is a popular American comedian and actor. He has appeared in several comic movies and TV series such as The Middle, A Night at the Roxbury and Bunnicula. Kattan is, however, most popular for his six-year stint as a cast member of Saturday Night Live. During his time on the legendary show, he ...

Everything You Should Know About the Rise of Insta Star Claire Abbott and Why She Gave It All Up A lot of young Americans have shot into the limelight for uploading different kinds of videos on YouTube. Some of these young stars include Connor Franta, Desi Perkins, Emma Chamberlain, the Dolan Twins (Ethan and Grayson), and Claire Abbott. The latter became a social media celebrity for uploading sexy bikini pictures of herself on social media. Apart from ...

5 Facts You Need To Know About The YouTube Channel  h3h3Productions H3h3Productions is a YouTube channel that specializes on Comic responses or reactions of other contents or trendy stories. The celebrity couple that created the channel has over time racked up sizable views for their commentaries and contents. Even though they had their own fair share of copyright cases, thankfully they scored an unprecedented victory in all ...

Lilypichu Bio  Height, Brother and Love Story With Albert SleightlyMusical Chang Like most popular internet celebrities, Lilypichu is one of those Twitch streamers who spend their lives on camera. From daydreaming about the possibility of becoming a full-time professional streamer, she grew to live out her dreams on the popular live streaming platform where people play games, make crafts, and showcase their day-to-day activities. Given the rise of ...

KSI  What To Know About His Girlfriend, Brother  Deji Olatunji & Net Worth Assuredly, when Internet inventors Vint Cerf and Bob Khan created the technological masterpiece, they probably did not know how massive the creation will be harnessed by many for different purposes including as a platform for earning money through content creation. One of such person who smiles to the bank regularly today for spending time creating ...

The Interesting Progression and Highlights of Carrie Keagans Career as a Host and Actress Carrie Keagan has garnered huge fame through her various stints on television. She is not just your regular TV host but one with a difference. Keagan has hosted several high profile events and TV shows, including VH1s Big Morning Buzz Live and Fox News Channels Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld. However, not many know she ...

The Gist On Elise Jordans Marriages And Her Rise To Prominence Political commentaries tend to be boring when it is handled by someone who does not have a knack for it. However, when you see the likes of Elise Jordan run the same commentary, you will have a lot of reasons to look forward to watching her again as the journalist is well-versed in the field ...

What Is Timmy Thick Best Known For and How Successful Is The Star? Thanks to the internet, many people whose talents would have ordinarily gone unnoticed have become famous. A very good example of this modern-day internet celebrity is Timmy Thick, an American social media star. He became popular on Instagram due to his penchant for posting raunchy pictures of himself. He also often posted videos of himself ...

What Does Heather Storm Do For a Living and Who Is She Dating? Reality Television is a great way to make a name for oneself as well as amass a fortune. Heather Storm can attest to this as she is one of those who have made a name and earned a lot from reality TV. She made her name appearing on shows like Car Fanatics, Awesome Autos, and, ...

Matt Carriker Biography  Net Worth, Wife & Height Unlike your regular veterinary doctor next door, Matt Carriker chose to spice up his noble profession with the unusual. Though he is known to many as a medical practitioner, Carriker is better renowned as a YouTube star and an animal lover. Having recorded huge successes on his various YouTube channels, the vet doctors name and ...

Jillian Mele of Fox News Career Achievements, Husband & Measurements There are quite a good number of presenters on radio and television who listeners and viewers may never wish to miss any of their shows because of their sensational golden voice, beauty or the special way or artistry they anchor their shows. Jillian Mele is one of such. She has been at the top of ...

Who is Gillian Turner of Fox News? Her Fiance or Husband and Net Worth Gillian Turner is well-known as a news correspondent for Fox News Channel but before she became a TV personality, she built an intimidating resume working for different institutions, including the American government. She served in different capacities at the White House National Security Council during the administration of former US Presidents  George W. Bush and Barack Obama. ...

Gloria Govan Bio  Age, Ethnicity & Height Even as Gloria Govan is famous as an American actress, author, a TV host, and reality television star, shes more popular as the wife of the former NBA player, Matt Barnes. She became known after appearing on the Florida version of the reality television series, Basketball Wives and later, Basketball Wives: LA  after Matt was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. Sadly, ...

Michael Fishmans Interesting Start as an Actor and Why He Divorced His Wife of Many Years When one door closes, another one opens. As silly as that axiom may seem, it is the story of the resurgence of Michael Fishman, who plays D.J Conner on the popular show, Roseanne. Having played the character for several years as a child actor into his teenage years; when the show originally ended, Michael did ...

Who Is October Gonzalez  Tony Gonzalezs Wife? All You Need To Know October Gonzalez is a popular American TV host and media personality. Additionally, she is also a model. Gonzalez has hosted several TV shows such as Beat Shazam, Entertainment Tonight, and Rachel Ray. She has also featured in several reality TV shows. Gonzalezs fame is not just due to her profession but also because of her ...

Who Is Tony Berlin  Harris Faulkners Husband: His Children and Family Facts Tony Berlin is a popular American media guru. He has variously worked as a reporter, anchor, and producer for some of the biggest TV networks in America. They include CNN, CBS, NBC, and ABC (where he hosted the popular Good Morning America). Berlin has now diversified into public relations and owns his own PR firm. ...

The Progression of Gianna Tobonis Journalism Career and Details About Her Marriage to Kyle Buckley Gianna Toboni may not be your ideal newscaster but her unusual reporting is what made her a household name. The American journalist is renowned for her hard-hitting and authentic reportage. A motivator and activist for total press freedom, Gianna loves to explore pervasive cultural issues. Not only does this unique and ambitious journalist call for all ...

Dog The Bounty Hunters Family Including Details of His Late Wife and Kids Popularly known as Dog, a name which he got from the television series, Dog The Bounty Hunter, Duane Chapman, an American bounty hunter, and one-time bail bondsman, went from being convicted for a felony to being a reality TV star. He was brought to the limelight following the capture of the convicted criminal, Andrew Luster in 2003 and this eventually made ...

Vicky Karayiannis, Chris Cornells Wifes Bio, Children and Family The world of showbiz is made up of different people who serve different roles, and function in a variety of capacities, and one of the most important people are those in the background. Publicists are undoubtedly one of these background people yet they are vital to the life and fame of most of our favorite ...

Joe Rogan Has A Step-Daughter and 2 Other Kids With Wife Jessica Ditzel  Meet His Family Joe Rogan is a popular American stand-up comedian and TV host. His journey to stardom began in the late 80s and has seen him host several shows, the most popular is the game show titled Fear Factor. The exciting show dares contestants to face some of their greatest fears and embark on challenging stunts. The ...

Josh Gates and Wife Hallie Gnatovich Have 2 Kids But Who Has the Higher Net Worth? Best known for his explorations and adventures, Josh Gates, is a television presenter with a voracious appetite for seeing the world and the beauties in it. Some of that beauty, however, is in his home, in the form of two children he shares with his wife, Hallie Gnatovich. Not excluded is their marriage which has lasted ...

Holly Sonders Wiki, Plastic Surgery & Why She Divorced Her Husband  Erik Kuselias After trying everything within her capacity to have a low key wedding, Holly Sonders was drawn to the public because of her husbands controversy at his workplace. Well, the two are rumored to be divorced but the article below will give more light on how true these rumors are. Meanwhile, Holly Sonders is yet to ...

Nadeska Alexis Bio  Age, Boyfriend & Net Worth Journalism is one diverse profession that allows the practitioners to choose their area of specialty, build a career on it by reporting the truth and facts which in the long run will distinguish them as deserving commendation and recognition among their peers. Some choose to specialize in political journalism, while to others it is sports ...

Media Platforms Charlamagne Tha God Has Explored and All The Controversies He Has Courted Charlamagne Tha God is an American on-air personality, radio presenter, and more recently, author. He is popularly known as a co-host on New York radios nationally syndicated show, The Breakfast Club, a program he has been hosting alongside DJ Envy and Angela Yee since 2010. However, his early years had no connection to his current career ...

A Look At Jimmy Fallons Net Worth and Family Including His Wife & Kids Sometimes, a childs passion for something is a pointer to what he/she would become in the future. As a child, Jimmy Fallon was literally obsessed with watching the late-night comedy program, Saturday Night Live (SNL). Then, his parents would tape the clean parts for him to watch and later, he and his sister would re-enact sketches from the ...

Kay Adams Biography  Does The Sportscaster Have A Husband or Boyfriend? When you hear the phrase sports enthusiast, women are hardly the first group that comes to mind. Well, thats changing pretty fast. Especially with the rise of female sports analysts and broadcasters like Kay Adams who is famed for knowing more about sports than most men do. And why not, shes paid handsomely for it ...

Ben Shapiros Family  Meet His Wife, Kids and Sister Who is Popular for the Wrong Reasons A multi-talented man, Ben Shapiro is a man of controversial nature, an attribute that has made him an unusual public figure. An intellectual whose career path was clearly defined even before he became a man, the Jewish conservative commentator has always had his way with words. He became popular by sharing his critical and often ...

QVC Shawn Killinger Bio  Husband, Net Worth & Facts To Know Shawn Killinger is a prominent TV personality who has worked her way to the top. Though not initially a journalist by training, she defied the odds and today has established herself as a household name, as well as, worked alongside some industry legends. More than just being a reporter, newscaster, and anchor, heres all you ...

Liv Lo  Dissecting the Ethnicity, Parents and Personal Life of Henry Goldings Wife While many are aware that Liv Lo is the better half to Crazy Rich Asians star Henry Golding, only a few understand why his beautiful wife appears increasingly endearing to fans. A former model turned TV personality, and fitness star, Liv has an impressive resume which when combined with that of her statuesque spouse is considered a perfect ...

Stpeach Age, Husband and Other Facts About The Twitch Streamer Lisa Vannatta, famously known by her online alias, STPeach is a Canadian video game streamer cum vlogger who has garnered fame through her appearances on different video-sharing/social networking platforms such as Youtube, Instagram, Twitch, Reddit, and Twitter. The beautiful lady got her career to a start in August 2015 when she joined the live streaming video platform, Twitch. She rose to ...

Insights into Seth Meyers Wife, Family and What His Net Worth Is Celebrities are mostly remembered and known for the work they do. For Seth Meyers, his career as a comedian, writer, actor, TV host, and producer is his biggest identifier. He was on Saturday Night Live SNL show as a head writer and cast member for more than ten years during which he built a reputation ...

Who Is Jessica Gadsden  Age, Net Worth & All About Charlamagne tha Gods Wife Jessica Gadsden is an American fitness coach as well as a personal trainer. She is better known as the spouse of popular American media personality, Charlamagne Tha God. Charlamange Tha God is a well-known TV and radio personality in the U.S. He has featured in several shows (both on the radio and TV) and is ...

Who Is Collins Tuohy  Michael Ohers sister ? Her Wedding, Husband & Net Worth Collins Tuohy is an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, blogger, and social media personality. She is also better known as the adoptive sister of NFL player, Michael Oher, whose life story inspired the Hollywood blockbuster The Blind Side. The Blind Side tells the true life story of Oher who grew up in an impoverished background consisting of a ...

Eye-Popping Facts About The Personal Life And Career Success Of Sportscaster Heidi Watney Heidi Watney is a media personality who has created a niche for herself as a sportscaster. Starting out as a radio presenter, the brilliant young lady has gone on to work for several prominent sports networks, and currently, she is with the MLB. The sportscaster is also known to have been an avid sports lady right ...

Marty Lagina Bio  Siblings (Martina and Rick Lagina), Net Worth and Wife Marty Lagina is an American engineer and businessman who has risen to fame as a reality TV star. This is thanks to his involvement in the adventure TV series, The Curse of Oak Island. The Curse of Oak Island is a long-running TV series which airs on the history channel. The show aims to solve ...

Is Jordan Schlansky Just A Character or a Real Life Person and What Does He Do? The world of late-night television is an interesting one. Shows during that time are geared towards giving viewers comedic relief from a long day at work through interviews and comedy sketches. The often charismatic host of this show requires the balancing talent of a producer whose primary job is to deliver great episodes. It is ...

Heres How Wealthy Jimmy Kimmel Is From All The Phases of His Career, Marriages and Sons Health Jimmy Kimmel is a renowned late-night talk show host known for his charm, wit, and the A-list guests he features on his show. As the host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! On ABC, Jimmy has been serving comedy to television viewers for years which played a pivotal role in launching him into mainstream fame and enabled ...

Natasha Bertrand Biography  Is She Married? Who Is the Husband & What Is Her Age? Natasha Bertrand is not just a young prominent journalist but a first-rate investigative reporter. With her natural beauty and smile, Natashas sharp, insightful political commentary also makes her a thorough reporter. Her sound political perspective and coverage in the country have made her a force to be reckoned with in the profession. Renowned for her ...

What Happened to Shane Kilcher? His Injury Update, Net Worth and More Shane Kilcher is well-known thanks to the Discovery Channel series Alaska: The Last Frontier. It is a show that documents the daily lives of the extended Kilcher family, people who live without plumbing or modern heating. The episodes follow their routines as they rely on hunting and farming for their nutritional needs as well as ...

Is Stephanie Gosk Gay or Lesbian, Who is the Wife or Partner  Jenna Wolfe? In August 2013, NBCs Today viewers were greeted with two shocking news. Today weekend anchor, Jenna Wolfe, announced that she was as a lesbian, introducing her partner as NBC News correspondent Stephanie Gosk, and said the two are expecting their first child. A long time has passed since then and certainly, a lot of things ...

Nikki Mudarris  Bio and Net Worth: 5 Interesting Facts You Need to Know Nikki Mudarris, also known as Miss Nikki Baby, is a reality television star, model and fashionista. Shes best known for VH1s reality TV series Love & Hip-Hop: Hollywood. Her entrepreneurial skills enable her to create and run a successful lingerie line Nude by Nikki. Not only that, but Nikki has also successfully run the Las ...

5 Interesting Things You Need To Know About Kelly Nash Ever heard of the lady who gained national prominence for taking a selfie with a dangerous ball just a few inches away from hitting her? Its no other person than Kelly Nash, an American sports broadcaster currently working as host of The Rundown show which airs on MLB Network every weekday at 2 pm ET. ...

Understanding The Height of Fame John Oliver Achieved With The Daily Show and How He Met His Wife Without knowledge of who he is and his exemplary career, John Oliver cuts an unassuming figure of a regular man but he is one of the most influential personalities in America, especially on television. Since he began his career in 1998, he has been a loud and unapologetic agent of change, using his wit and ...

Why Did Big Chief Leave Street Outlaws, Where Is He Now And Why Did He Divorce His Wife? Justin Shearer, otherwise known by his professional name Big Chief is a famous street racer and television personality. He is famously known for being one of the main characters on the racing reality television series, Street Outlaws. Justin, who had been a significant part of the show since its premiere in 2013, appeared in a ...

Who is Josina Anderson of ESPN? Her Husband and Family Facts There has been a gradual paradigm shift in the world of sports which has today produced the likes of Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka, and other female athletes that are pulling great feats in different sporting fields. Their achievements have also been followed by the emergence of female sports journalists such as Jillian Mele, Eboni Williams, ...

Is Brittany Wagner Married, Who Is The Husband, How Old Is She? Brittany Wagner has been an inspiration to a lot of sports youngster. She has won the hearts of many athletic students with her role as a life coach and an academic counselor. She is well groomed in her career and has worked over a decade for The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and The National ...

Tati Westbrook Bio  Age, Husband & Net Worth With five videos dished out every week, alongside running her own brand, beauty guru, and YouTube superstar Tati Westbrook has proved to the world that theres utterly no impossibility or limit to whatever one is passionate about. Tati is best known for being the owner and manager of the worlds most-viewed beauty and lifestyle YouTube channel, ...

Cathy Areus Long Road to Becoming a Freelance Journalist and What to Know About Her Kids An American freelance journalist, news analyst, and author, Cathy Areu has built a lasting reputation for herself on cable television. Popular for her skillful and sassy presentation of professional views on varying topics including cultural and feminist issues, Cathy is an inspiration to many women across the globe. In addition to being a journalist, she ...

Tucker Carlsons Love Story With Wife Susan Andrews, their Children and Net Worth Today On the TV screens, Tucker Carlson is that fiery fellow who passionately dishes out his conservative and often controversial views on issues of national importance. Such brazenness has fetched him many enemies, especially on the left-wing, but it has also helped him cement a reputation as one of the foremost broadcast journalists in America. His ...

Paige Wyatts Net Worth, Boyfriend and Where She Is Now Paige Wyatt became popular after the Wyatt family began running the reality television show, American Guns. The Wyatt family comprises Rich Wyatt (father), Renee Wyatt (mother), Paige and Kurt Wyatt (children). Rich Wyatt originally ran a gun shop, the Gunsmoke Guns in Wheat Ridge, Colorado which is outside of Denver. The business which he ran together ...

The Progression of Howard Sterns Career As A Media Personality And Why He Divorced His First Wife Howard Stern is a legendary American radio host, who has also done some notable work as an actor, producer, author, as well as photographer. The radio personality achieved worldwide fame as a result of his self-titled radio program, The Howard Stern Show. As a professional radio personality, he has worked in different radio stations. Since 2006, ...

Lisa Joyners Biography  Ethnicity, Net Worth and Other Key Facts Lisa Joyner is an American Journalist, TV talk show host, and actress. Some of her well-known works are her correspondences for the Los Angeles based TV KCBS, inFANity show, Find My Family Show including her film and television appearances in Brimstone, American Sweetheart, The Bold and The Beautiful among others. Lisas passion for reconnecting people with their biological families ...

Amanda Balionis Rise Through the Ranks of Sportscasting and the Identity of Her Boyfriend Amanda Balionis is an American sportscaster currently working as a golf broadcaster for CBS Sports. Among so many of her works in the field of sports reporting, Amandas PGA Tour coverage seems to be the most popular so far. She covered the Super Bowl working with CBS Sports social media team in Atlanta, where she ...

Dissecting Charles Paynes Sexual Allegations, Its After Effects and More About His Wife Charles Payne had a respectable career as an analyst on Wall Street before he made the transition to television and became a contributor and later a host on Fox. In that time, his expertise has come under scrutiny, and he has been at the center of at least one major controversy. The major controversy in question ...

Erik Asla And Tryra Banks Split: Everything You Need To Know Tyra Banks and Erik Asla have called it quits! The couple, who began dating in 2013 and have a son named York Banks Asla, has decided to end what everybody taught was the perfect relationship. Neither person has come out to give a reason for the breakup, but what is obvious right now is that ...

What to Note About Dr Terry Dubrows Qualifications, TV Works and Marriage to Heather Kent In the realm of people that we expect to see regularly on our screens, medical doctors are closer to the bottom of the list. Aside from the fact that their work has little correlation with TV, they are presumably too busy to pursue life as TV personalities. Yet, a few of them have usurped this ...

Jessica Goch  Bio: 5 Things You Didnt Know About Ninjas Wife Jessica Goch is the Schofield-born American Social Media Influencer who has worked as a model but is now better known as a host and interviewer of prominent Electronic sports celebrities at popular gaming events/tournaments. The screen queen also serves as the manager of her famous husband Ninja aka Tyler Blevins whose exploits on Twitch and Fortnite has ...

CNNs Chris Cuomo Biography  Wife, Family & Net worth Chris Cuomo needs no elaborate introduction as he has starred graced many prominent Television cable networks and his voice has been heard through acknowledged radio shows. He is a television journalist and Lawyer who has previously worked for ABC News as Chief law and justice correspondent as well as a co-anchor on 20/20. If you still ...

Neil deGrasse Tyson  Family, Religion & Net Worth Neil deGrasse Tyson is a distinguished American astrophysicist and author who has been able to achieve so much after falling in love with astronomy at the age of 9. He has since attended and become an alumnus of prestigious universities such as Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia, and also recorded numerous achievements in his field of ...

Is Simon Cowell Gay? Does He Have A Wife or Girlfriend and Why is He Famous? Simon Cowell is a well-known talent show judge, TV producer, entrepreneur and one of the most popular TV personalities that Britain has ever produced. In conjunction with his company, Syco, Cowell is the brain behind hugely successful talent hunt shows such as The X-Factor UK, The X-Factor US, Britains Got Talent, Americas Got Talent and ...

Everything To Know About Joanna Gaines Life With Chip Gaines, Their Business Pursuits and Kids Joanna Gaines and her husband Chip Gaines became celebrities after their television show Fixer Upper began airing back in 2013. The show which was about home renovation and decoration ran for about 6 seasons with a total of 79 episodes before the couple bade farewell to it in April 2018. Apart from their appearances on ...

Who Is Larry The Cable Guy? What To Know About His Wife And Net Worth Larry the Cable Guy is a self-professed country kid renowned for his trademark Southern accent and sensational catchphrase Git-R-Done! The famous comedian who talks about anything under the sun has gone on to become one of the most memorable characters in comedy history. Join us in unearthing lesser-known facts about the former on-air-personality, standup comedy superstar, movie ...

Who Is Patrick Starr, What Is His Net Worth and Gender? The make-up industry over the years has grown to become a billion dollar industry not just because there are probably more women wearing make-up but because a whole lot of men, especially the young ones, have become bold enough to wear it unlike before. A few of these men, like Patrick Starr, have even gone ...

How Did Chris Jansing Become a Senior Correspondent at MSNBC and Who Is Her Husband? An award-winning American television news reporter and journalist, Chris Jansing has succeeded in carving a spectacular niche for herself in the field of TV journalism. Outstanding for not just her excellence in journalism, Chris is also cherished for her incredibly gorgeous looks post 60! For close to four decades, Jansing has continued to soar in her ...

Jaclyn Glenn Biography  Age, Height & Ex-Boyfriend American Youtuber, Jaclyn Glenn, rose to prominence through her self-titled YouTube channel Jaclyn Glenn. She has remained an acclaimed atheist and continues to air her views on hot issues from politics, religion, animal rights, to atheism. During the heated 2016 US Presidential elections, Glenn featured in Hump Trump: Official Donald Trump Song. Her parallel acting career ...

Is Pat Sajak Married to a Wife or is He Gay With a Partner? Pat Sajak is one of the most popular TV game show hosts in America. He commenced his career as a radio disk jockey as well as a TV weatherman before being tapped to host Wheel of Fortune, the longest-running syndicated game show in the United States. Sajak has hosted the popular game show from 1983 ...

Nayyera Haqs Bio  What To Know About Her Husband, Parents And Family Nayyera Haq can take anyone on political debates as well as discussions on social issues affecting many. Her ability to masterfully deliver her stance on every issue or political debate has made her a regular face in morning and evening news media platforms. This is not a common feat especially for someone from her kind ...

Inside Guy Fieris Family With Wife, Kids and Sister Who Died of Cancer Over the years we have seen men dominate the kitchen and churn out amazing delicacies from it. Some do it way better than their female counterparts and one of such men is Guy Ramsay Fieri  an American TV host, celebrity chef, restaurant owner, bestselling author of four culinary books, and game show host. His ...

Meet Phil Mudd of CNN  The Former CIA and FBI Exec, Is He Married, Who Is The Wife? When it comes to discussing issues surrounding terrorism, American Counterterrorism and National Security Expert, Phil Mudd, occupies a globally significant position. He has voiced his interest in the fight against terrorism and insecurity on many popular media platforms, both print and broadcast, such as CNN, BBC, CBS, MSNBC, al-Jazeera, ABC, NBC, Fox, The New York Times, ...

Jim Hoffer: Biography, Wife  Mika Brzezinski, Children and Net Worth Jim Hoffer is an Emmy Award-winning journalist who works as an investigative reporter for Eyewitness News, New York City. In his over two decades of investigative journalism, Hoffer has been at the front lines of several crucial stories from the 9/11 attack to the crash of American Flight 587 to the 2003 Blackout. On top of ...

The Ups and Downs of Erin Mcpikes Journalism Career and Other Facts About Her Personal Life Erin McPike is a journalist working for the Independent Journal Review (IJR) as a White House Correspondent but she gained widespread recognition for her coverage of general news. Whether its breaking news or some mainstream story, McPike has a reputation of baring the facts. As a journalist, her work as a White House Correspondent for Independent ...

Bert Kreischer Is Married To LeeAnn Kreischer With 2 Kids  Meet His Family Those familiar with Bert Kreischer mainly have the image of a large-bellied party man whose college life inspired the National Lampoon film, Van Wilder. It is an image that one would not naturally associate with a wholesome family. The standup comedian still maintains his wild party animal image on stage. But, back at home, he is ...

How Brendan Greene Became a Game Designer to Look Out For and Facts About His Failed Marriage The name Brendan Greene may not easily ring a bell in the larger society but for gaming enthusiasts, he is considered a god and this is because of his invention of the video game, Player Unknowns Battlegrounds, also called PUBG. Based on the popular last-man-standing/battle royale concept, Greenes creation has taken the gaming world by ...

WFAAs Sonia Azad Bio  Does The Reporter Have A Husband Or Boyfriend? Emmy Award-winning journalist and Health & Wellness reporter Sonia Azad is on the news segment News 8 Daybreak for the television station WFAA-TV in Dallas, Texas, a channel which she joined in October of 2015. Besides her time on the news, Azad is also a marathon runner and a certified yoga instructor. She has covered major news ...

This Is Everything You Should Know About Caroline Heldman, Her Career Portfolio and Other Facts Love it or hate it, there is no escaping the fact that feminism has come to stay in our world. The movement has continued to garner momentum over the years and this is due to the sustained push by several women, and even men, including the likes of Caroline Heldman. A Professor of Politics at ...

Understanding The Enigma That Is Gavin McInnes, The Controversies He Has Stirred and All About His Wife Gavin McInnes is a polemical English-born writer and TV personality, who is best known for his racist and fascist ideologies, as well as his co-ownership of Vice Media and Vice Magazine. He is also an actor a
WASHINGTON -- Fake news leads eventually to real tragedy. It almost got there Sunday when an idiot brought a loaded assault rifle into a Washington pizzeria, firing at least one shot, in an attempt to "self-investigate" a preposterous made-up conspiracy theory.

No one was hurt -- this time. But the same kind of thing will happen again, thanks to the poison being dispensed by "alt-right" and white-supremacist propagandists. They concocted "news" stories out of whole cloth during the campaign in an attempt to destroy Hillary Clinton and those closest to her. Is anyone surprised that some people take these paranoid fantasies as gospel truth? I'm not.

President-elect Donald Trump makes matters worse by trumpeting "facts" that are non-factual. To the extent that he shapes the "post-truth" media landscape, he shares responsibility for the consequences.

The made-up story that inspired Sunday's incident grew out of the hack of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's emails. There were a number of exchanges between Podesta and the owner of Comet Ping Pong, a pizza parlor. Suspicious? Not in the least. Comet is located in the affluent neighborhood that is home to much of the political establishment. And anyone involved in politics knows that campaigns basically run on pizza.

Also, quite a few of Podesta's hacked emails had to do with food. Apparently, he likes to eat well. How sinister.

In any event, cynics writing on sites such as Facebook, Reddit, Infowars and Inquisitr spun these innocent facts into a dark, hydra-headed conspiracy involving the alleged trafficking and sexual exploitation of young children. Hidden rooms and secret tunnels were supposedly involved, and no, I am not making this up. Other people made it up, and some gullible readers swallowed it.

Among the believers, apparently, was Edgar Maddison Welch, 28, of Salisbury, North Carolina, who allegedly walked into Comet Ping Pong waving around a loaded AR-15-style assault rifle. Fortunately, employees and customers were able to flee. Welch allegedly fired at least one shot before surrendering to police, who said he had a second firearm with him in the restaurant and a third in his car. He is charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

Police said Welch told them he came to the nation's capital to look into the ridiculous child trafficking story. He reportedly barged into the pizzeria's kitchen to search for the entrance to the nonexistent secret tunnels.

Yes, this is all as crazy as it sounds. But the lives of those who happened to drop by Comet Ping Pong or any of the neighboring businesses on a chilly Sunday afternoon were put in real danger by the purveyors of fake news. Morally, those propagandists should be in the dock along with Welch.

Legally, of course, those who make up such stories are protected by the First Amendment. The only way we can shield ourselves from toxic conspiracy theories is to denounce them and disown those individuals and media outlets who spread them. In other words, we can use shame as a disinfectant. Yet next month we will inaugurate as president a man who -- in this regard, at least -- is without shame.

Trump is the Old Faithful of fake news. He started his late-blooming career in politics by claiming, falsely, that President Obama was not born in the United States. He said that "thousands and thousands" of Muslims in New Jersey cheered the 9/11 attacks, which was not true. He charged, absurdly, that Obama and Clinton were the "founders" of the Islamic State. He touted a ridiculous National Enquirer story alleging that Sen. Ted Cruz's father had something to do with the JFK assassination. He repeatedly said, falsely and without evidence, that there was something seriously wrong with Clinton's health. Apparently stung at having lost the popular vote to Clinton, he claimed that he would have won it if not for widespread "voter fraud" -- which simply did not take place, according to officials in the states he cited.

Trump has not, to my knowledge, spoken or tweeted about the pizza "scandal," although his chosen national security adviser, Gen. Michael Flynn, did send a tweet about purported "Sex Crimes w Children." But the president-elect seems not to realize that it is now in his self-interest to renounce fake news and its creators. Soon, after all, he will be the source of "the official story" about basically everything.

In a post-truth world, how will we know he's not cooking the economic books? Or that every foreign policy move isn't designed to further his business interests? Or that his Cabinet doesn't practice witchcraft?

Real news and "true truth" still matter. As Trump will discover.
Back in 2015, 1st Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe found himself facing the tough decision in a high-profile case that involved the shooting death of a Eutawville man in 2011 by the then-police chief during an incident at town hall.

The case was controversial, not unlike the one in North Charleston in which former officer Michael Slager is accused of murder in the 2015 shooting death of 50-year-old Walter Scott.

Pascoe prosecuted the former Eutawville officer for murder through two mistrials, even in the face of critics saying the prosecution was a politically based stand born of the national controversy surrounding the deaths of African-American men at the hands of white police officers.

In the end, the solicitor, who stood by his decisions to continue the case at trial, and the defense agreed to a plea bargain that saw the former chief plead guilty to misconduct in office and get a sentence that put him under house arrest for a year. Some thought it was not enough, but the victims family said they accepted the cases outcome.

Much the same scenario may be unfolding with Slager. Prosecutors vow to go to trial again as soon as possible in the murder case against the former officer that features publicly released video of Slager shooting Scott. And Scotts family said they will continue pursuing justice.

As we stated at the time regarding Solicitor Pascoe, if the state prosecutors see no legal reason to change their case against Slager, they are obligated to pursue justice through a retrial  or retrials.

But this is not a process without a price  not the least of which is emotional drain on all involved on both sides. In the recent trial, the jury panel could not reach a unanimous verdict after deliberating more than 22 hours over four days. And that came after a trial with 55 witnesses testifying over five weeks.

Prosecutors say the case remains viable and they will go to trial again. So be it. But there may well come a point at which the only way to the conclude the case is through a plea bargain between the state and Slager. Already, the judge in the case advised jurors that they had a choice between a murder conviction and the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.

For the state, the victims family, and the defendant and this family, hard decisions on just what outcome constitutes justice may be ahead.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
The Yoruba people are one of the most popular ethnic groups in West Africa and Africa at large. They are predominantly found in Southwestern and north-central region of Nigeria and in some parts of the Benin Republic and Togo.

In this article, well present to you everything you need to know about the Children of Yoruba, their language, religion, tribe, culture and other interesting facts you probably didnt know about them.

Yoruba People, Tribe

Also known as Awon omo (which literarily means The Children of Yoruba), the Yoruba tribe reportedly constitute over 40 million people generally, including those in Southern and Central Benin.

In Nigeria, this wonderful tribe boasts 21% of the population, making them a major tribe and one of the largest ethnic groups in the Western Africa country.

The Yoruba are surrounded by some minor ethnic groups in Nigeria as well as in Benin. To the northwest in Benin, they share borders with the Bariba, the Ebira to the northeast in central Nigeria, the Nupe to the north and the Edo, the Afemai and Esan groups to the east in mid-western Nigeria.

The Yoruba tribe also shares borders with the Gbe speaking Mahi, Egun ethnic group, Fon to the southwest and the Ewe people living in Benin and Togo. To the southeast, they share a border with the principal inhabitants of Itsekiri who live in the north-west end of the Niger Delta.

Though the Yoruba are mostly populated in Nigeria, they also dwell (in large number) in other West African countries like Liberia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Sierra Leone.

There are two major groupings of Yoruba people in the diaspora; the first group is known as recent migrants and they are made up of Yorubas who migrated to the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1960s to 1980s as a result of major economic and political changes. The second group consists of Yorubas who were part of the Atlantic slave trade.

According to reports, the second group are larger in number and has communities in countries like Trinidad, Tobago, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Saint Lucia, Jamaica, Brazil, and Grenada, among others.

According to history, The Yoruba kingdoms were a part of the British Protectorate during the imperial era in Africa. They strongly believe they descended from Oduduwa.

Ancient Yoruba practised polygyny, the men were allowed to marry more than one wife, while also treating them equally, although competitions were evident among wives in order to secure preference for their children.

Some Yoruba still practice this act, with the most popular being the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Dr. Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III, who is currently married to four wives.

Language

As at 2010, records had it that about the number of Yoruba language speakers was put at 30 million. While we are yet to confirm if this figure actually increased or dwindled over the years, we make bold to affirm that majority of Yoruba people are native speakers of the Yoruba language.

Like most languages, the Yoruba language has a myriad of different dialects. These dialects are further grouped into five major dialect areas which are: Northwest, Northeast, Central, Southwest and Southeast.

The North-West Yoruba (NWY) dialect is predominantly spoken in the following areas: Egba, Ibadan, Egbado/Yewa, Oyo, Western Ogun, Lagos/Eko while residents in the Yagba, Owe, Ijumu, Oworo, Gbede, and Abunu areas speak the North-East Yoruba (NEY) dialect.

The Central Yoruba (CY) dialect is predominantly used by residents in Igbomina, Ijesha, Ife, Ekiti, Akure, Efon while Ikale, Ilaje, Ondo City, Owo, Idanre, Akoko, Remo, and Ijebu communities are speakers of the South-East Yoruba (SEY) dialect.

Lastly, the South-West Yoruba (SWY) dialect is majorly spoken by Yoruba communities in Ketu, Awori, Sakete, Ife (Togo), Idasha, and Ipokia/Anago.

Interestingly, many Yoruba words are used in the Afro-Brazilian religion known as Candomble and in many other Afro-American religions in the Americas and the Caribbean.

Irrespective of the aforementioned discrepancies in the Yoruba language, the tribe has a standard variety of Yoruba known as Literary Yoruba, Yoruba koine, or Yoruba.

This variety, which has its origin in the 1850s, is the written form of the language and is widely used in the media by newsreaders. All credit to Samuel A. Crowther, the first African Bishop, who was the first person to publish a Yoruba grammar.

Among all the languages spoken by ethnic groups in Nigeria, the Yoruba language is most closely related to the Igala (spoken in central Nigeria) and the Itsekiri language (spoken in the Niger Delta).

Religion

Southwestern Nigeria and the adjoining parts of Benin and Togo are not just the homelands of the Yoruba people, they significantly double as places where the religious and diverse traditional practices of the people are played out.

Records have it that at least 20% of the Yoruba practice the traditional religions of their ancestors. Yoruba religious beliefs share tied with Itan, which comprises songs, histories, stories, and other cultural concepts of the Yoruba society.

The Yoruba strongly believe every man possesses Ayanmo (destiny, fate) and that Olodumare is the principal agent of creation. In addition, they also believe reincarnation within the family which they call Atunwa.

The Yoruba ethnic holds that the ruler of the sky and the earth beneath the sky is Olorun (Sky God) and is orisha to other orishas. They believe the Olorun is the father of Orunmila and Obatala. He can be communicated through prayers or by pouring water on kola nuts on the ground.

Eshu, another god, is considered the divine messenger who takes up sacrifices to Olorun after they are placed at his shrine while Ifa, the God of Divination, interprets the wishes of Olorun to mankind.

Ogun is the god of war, the hunt, and metalworking. In Yoruba courts, people who follow traditional beliefs swear to give truthful testimony by kissing a machete sacred to Ogun. Then Shango (also spelt Sango and Sagoe) is the creator of thunder.

For more information on the religion of the Yoruba people, click here

Culture

Virtually every ethnic group has cultural norms that are passed down from one generation to another. The Yoruba are not exceptional, as they survive on unique cultural norms they consider precious and irreplaceable.

The Yoruba ethnic group is very protective of their culture, and most of them continue to give their children traditional names rather than English and would speak their language at any given opportunity.

From their artistry (which embodies sculpture, textile, cuisine) to other things like naming customs (Naming, Oruko Amutorunwa  Preordained name, Oruko Abiso  Name given at birth, Abiku names, pet names), law, linguistics, wedding, music, funeral, philosophy, idealism, religion, and language, the Yoruba are quite unique, blessed and hardworking.

The Yoruba are famous and prolific sculptors. They are also popular for their beautiful clothing designs and patterns. Some of their native food include moin-moin (steamed bean pudding) and akara (bean cake), ewedu, gbegiri, and efo riro (native soups), ila asepo (okra soup) and amala (a traditional fufu made of yam flour).

Check Out: Interesting Facts About The Ek People Of Nigeria

They Yoruba also believe so much in giving relevant names as well as pet names to their babies and loved ones. This is because they believe people live out their names  whether good or bad.

Weddings in Yorubaland are usually a lovely sight to behold. For a wedding to take place in Yoruba, the bridegroom is expected to first receive the consent of the brides parents after which he pays the bride price. Friends and the family of the bridegroom usually attend the ceremony to send her off to her new home.

Like most ethnic groups, the Yoruba believe death is not the end of ones life but simply a transition to another form of existence. They also believe in old age, this is why most of them pray for long life during blessings. In addition to this, they often to the creator for wealth and children.

Interesting Facts About Yoruba People
By Azernews





By Laman Ismayilova

Istanbul hosted the final of beauty pageant Best Model of the World 2016.

With more than 30 models in attendance, the grand contest of beauty Onur Seyit Yaran (Turkey) and Joy Akpokinova from Nigeria as winners.

Azerbaijani models also awarded honorably titles in the evening hosted by Ece Gursel.

Zahra Garakhanova appeared in the final evening in national dress designed by Gulnara Khalilova, who is the head of the Center of National Costumes. Her elegance and grace thrilled international community, gaining her a recognition of the most charming model at the contest.

Another national model, Yusif Jafarli became the winner in two categories: Best Catwalk and Best Press.

At the contest, Azerbaijani models appeared in stunning gowns and suits by legendary national couturier Yildirim Miruka.

The jury included the President of the competition Erkan Ozerman, art and cultural figures including Emel Muftuoglu, Robert Hatemo, Tugba Yurt, Chaglayan Topaloglu, Omur Gedik as well as Azerbaijani model Gunay Musayeva and national designer Rufat Ismayil.

The Best Model of the World has been held every year since 1955.












By Azertac





Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev attended the opening of the newly renovated Ramana-Mashtagha highway in Sabunchu district in Baku on December 8.

Chairman of Azeravtoyol OJSC Saleh Mammadov informed the head of state of the renovation work. The 11km highway established a new road infrastructure in the area by linking Heydar Aliyev Avenue-Mardakan and Zabrat-Mashtagha roads.

The width of the two-lane highway was expanded to 10 metres from 6-7 metres. All communication lines along the highway were renovated. The highway, which links three residential areas, will ease movement of more than 85,000 people.

President Aliyev cut a ribbon symbolizing the opening of the road, and then spoke to builders.

Later, the president attended the opening of a 5km long section of Zigh-Amirjan-Yeni Surakhani highway in Surakhani district, Baku, after renovation.

Mammadov informed the head of state that the road is 10 metres in width. All underground communication lines along the road were renovated. Sidewalks were built along the road. The highway will ease movement of 63,000 people in three residential areas.

President Aliyev cut a ribbon symbolizing the opening of the road.












By Azernews





By Rashid Shirinov

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is concerned over the recent developments in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the opening of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Hamburg.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains dangerous and it is necessary to hold negotiations to find a solution to this conflict, said Steinmeier, who is also OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, adding that in April, there was an escalation in the conflict zone, which shows that there is a danger of re-ignition of the conflict.

Noting the importance of the humanitarian aspects of the conflicts resolution, Steinmeier added that the ceasefire must be consolidated in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and that there is need to start negotiations on a political solution.

Over the past 20 years of unsuccessful peace talks between the aggressor country Armenia and its suffering neighbor country Azerbaijan was casting a shadow over the security of the region. Once again, the conflict emerged as the real and big danger to the security and development of the region in April 2016  mainly because of the inactivity of the mediators and international community.

The necessity of resolving the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict was also raised by OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier, who stated that the conflict resolution depends on political will of the sides to the conflict.

"The aim of the OSCE is to provide opportunities for negotiations. However each of the parties should take advantage of these opportunities," Zannier said, stressing that the conflict parties need to make efforts to find a solution.

Zannier further highlighted that he supports the position of Frank-Walter Steinmeier on the need to give new impetus to the work of the OSCE Minsk Group.

The OSCE Minsk Group, the activities of which have become known as the Minsk Process, works to find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for over two decades, but in vain.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains a cause of concern for the OSCE member countries, US Secretary of State John Kerry said at the event.

High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini also touched upon the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in her speech.

"EU hopes for progress in the negotiation process on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict following the previously reached agreements," she said at the Ministerial.

Mogherini added that the sides to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should seek to establish a lasting peace in the region.

France has previously proposed to hold a meeting in the format of 3+2 [three co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group and Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers] on the sidelines of the Ministerial in Hamburg.

Soon after that, the Azerbaijani side informed that it backs the proposal on the meeting. However, Armenia hasnt confirmed its consent.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region.
By Azernews





By Gunay Camal

Azerbaijan is the most interested party in moving beyond the current status-quo in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.

Mammadyarov made the remarks during the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Hamburg on December 8.

The minister emphasized that the unlawful presence of the armed forces of Armenia in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan remains the main cause of escalation in the conflict zone and is the major impediment to political settlement of the conflict.

Mammadyarov hailed the existence of almost a unanimous position within OSCE that the status-quo in the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is unsustainable and must change, emphasizing that Azerbaijan is the most interested party in moving beyond the current status-quo.

In this context, we assess the high-level substantive discussions in Vienna and St. Petersburg as positive steps in the right direction and we are thankful to the Co-chair countries, particularly to President of the Russian Federation, Mr. Vladimir Putin, for all his efforts in this regard. We must sustain the momentum and transform the understandings reached in those meetings into concrete actions without further delay, he said noting that Baku the OSCE and its Minsk Group to play an instrumental role to this end.

The minister went on to say that a step-by-step elimination of the consequences of the conflict, starting with withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, restoration of regional transportation and communication links and safe and dignified return of displaced persons to their places of origin, while addressing security concerns appropriately, will transform the conflict dynamics and significantly improve the overall security environment in the whole region.

This approach is based on the relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions and affirmed in the decisions of the OSCE, notably in the Budapest Summit decision of 1994, according to the minister.

As confidence-building measures, agreement was reached to expand the Office of the Permanent Representative of the Chairman-in-Office, provided that this expansion is synchronized with substantive negotiations and does not change Offices mandate and modus operandi. Azerbaijan submitted its proposal in this regard and we expect constructive talks to this end as we are speaking about activities of this mission on the sovereign and internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan, he said.

The minister further voiced regret over the position of Yerevan, saying :Unfortunately, statements that we hear through the last few months from the Armenian side do not give a reason for optimism and indicate the apparent unwillingness of the Armenian side to engage constructively in result-oriented talks.

He noted that attempts to precondition the substantive negotiations undermine the Vienna and St. Petersburg agreements and pursue the obvious goal to derail the peace process. Continued efforts of Armenia to strengthen its military build-up in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, illegally change the demographic, cultural and physical character of these territories undermine trust and reveal true intentions of the Armenian side.

The months ahead will demonstrate if Armenia is a serious partner for peace, genuinely interested in engaging constructively in substantive negotiations to resolve the conflict or we will continue down the road of further instability and conflict, he said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
By Trend





An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by Martin Sommer visited Ashgabat December 16, 2016 to assess macroeconomic and financial developments and discuss economic challenges and policy priorities with senior government officials and the diplomatic community.

The expectations for persistently lower oil and natural gas prices imply the need for additional policy adjustment in Turkmenistan, the IMF press-release said Dec. 7.

According to IMF press-release, there is also scope for continued progress in increasing the efficiency of public spending, further improvements in banking regulation and supervision to prevent the build-up of risks, and additional steps to move to a more market-based real economy and financial sector.



The authorities intention to accelerate development of the private sector is appropriate and should be based on market-based principles as much as possible, so as to support growth and living standards in a sustainable manner, IMF press-release said.



Turkmenistan continues to be impacted by an adverse external environment, similarly as the other Central Asian countries, Martin Sommer, head of IMF mission, said. Hydrocarbon prices remain low and trading partner growth is muted.



As a result of these external factors, Turkmenistans overall economic growth has slowed down, although domestic non-hydrocarbon growth has been supported by credit and structural policies in support of diversification, the press-release said.



According to the press-release, the current account deficit is expected to widen significantly in 2016 as a result of lower energy revenues, and in spite of an active policy effort to substitute imports with domestic production, promote exports, and reduce public investment expenditures.



The state budget is projected to record a small and better-than-planned deficit this year, the press-release said.

The Turkmen authorities have taken a number of pro-active measures to address these challenges, the press-release said. They devalued the manat in January 2015, cut investment spending and subsidies, and re-doubled their efforts to boost local production, both through new strategic investments in the hydrocarbon sector, as well as by providing cheap and ample financing to the local businesses.

The IMF stands ready to support the governments reforms through policy advice and capacity building, including on macroeconomic statistics and forecasting, monetary policy operations, and fiscal policy, the press-release said.
The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) has signed an agreement with AlHuda Center of Islamic Banking and Economics (CIBE) to implement its new banking model.



The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) has signed an agreement with AlHuda Center of Islamic Banking and Economics (CIBE) to implement Biniog Sathi Banking Model, which is a new initiative of ICD.



The initiative Biniog Sathi  a Bangla term that means friend in investment, is a new generation banking model that incorporates the concept of Zakat and charity with the existing banking model and offers a solution to the problem of credit default for both the beneficiaries and the banks, said a statement from ICD.



ICD, a multilateral development financial institution, is part of the Islamic Development Bank Group.



This model is based on Islamic finance principles and it raises the competitiveness of Islamic banking model to a new level of superiority. This model is a blessing for microfinance banks and micro beneficiaries, it said.



Under the cooperation framework, both parties are determined to collaborate in the implementation of the model at the field level with the help of potential partners, in particular the Islamic microfinance organisations, and have agreed to work together to implement the pilot phase of the model in different countries through various Islamic Microfinance Programmes, it added.



Khaled Al Aboodi, chief executive officer of ICD, added: The aim of the agreement is to expand the financial products and services offered to the private sector investors in common member countries.



At this moment, the model is in theoretical stage and it needs pilot testing in the field level for its implementation. Once done, it will nurture the Islamic finance industry with a new service, he added.



Zubair Mughal, chief executive officer, AlHuda CIBE, said: Islamic microfinance is a recognised tool of financial inclusion, social development and poverty alleviation, and the ICDs new initiative is an eminent value addition in Islamic microfinance arena which will connect Zakat and charity models with Islamic banking and finance industry to achieve the optimum goal of poverty alleviation and economic development.



Mughal also appreciated different ICD initiatives for the development of Islamic banking and finance industry around the globe, it stated.  TradeArabia News Service
Leading global developer Emaar has announced the launch of its third luxury residential project at Jeddah Gate, an elegant masterplanned community located centrally in the Saudi city, under its Emaar Residences brand of homes.

Spread over a total area of 413,000 sq m, when completed, Jeddah Gate will have 2,009 residential units, 230,000 sq m of office space, and 68,000 sq m of retail space. It is located on King Abdullah Road, close to King Fahad and Prince Majed Roads, the new gateway to King Abdul Aziz International Airport.

Green walkways link the entire neighbourhood with public plazas surrounded by retail outlets, restaurants and cafes.

With the final touches to the dedicated office precinct being completed, it is billed to become a vibrant commercial destination offering 63 world-class office spaces in three buildings that overlook a central plaza.

According to Emaar, the location of Emaar Residences is unique as it is part of an integrated development. Located close to King Abdullah Road and facing Emaar Square, it offers direct access to the community services and amenities through walkways and plazas.



Emaar Residences are set in three towers, 17 to 21 storeys high, offering only 283 elegant one to four-bedroom apartments and upper villas (penthouses) for an exquisite lifestyle. The homes range in size from 69 to 298 sq m. Each of the towers has a welcoming lobby.

The first residential project - Abraj Al Hilal 1- has been fully handed over and is now a vibrant family neighbourhood.

The Abraj Al Hilal homes are designed for Saudi families, spacious and rich in exclusive amenities including fitness centres, daycare, and swimming pools, said a statement of Emaar.

Other amenities include a childrens playground, outdoor swimming pools for men, a spa for women with fully-equipped gym, aerobics area and other amenities. There is also a males fitness centre and a multipurpose hall for social occasions. A childcare centre, 24/7 security, concierge services, and assured parking add to the convenience.

Customers now have the opportunity to buy into one of the most sought-after communities in the city that offers a wide range of lifestyle amenities, the statement added

Meanwhile, the Dubai developer is all set to hand over its Emaar Square offices in Jeddah Gate, an elegant masterplannned community located centrally in the city, to investors and business owners starting this month.



Emaar Square comprises three centrally commercial buildings overlooking a central plaza with spectacular water features. A number of luxury retail outlets and a diversity of food and beverage (F&B) attractions are situated by the plaza, while an executive office on the top of each building offers business centre amenities.



Each office ranges in size from 239 to 400 sq m. A spacious lobby with reception, high-speed elevators, fine selection of restaurants and retail outlets, dedicated parking, round-the-clock security services, and surveillance system with advanced technology are other features.



"The handover of Emaar Square offices from this month, and the launch of the third residential project prove our commitment to deliver and create sustained value for our investors," said a company spokesman.



"Emaar Square is an office precinct like no other in the city with a central location and being part of an elegant master-planned community with all lifestyle amenities in walking distance. With the growth in demand for homes and offices in Jeddah, our projects are ideally suited for homeowners and investors for its exceptional designs, luxury services and amenities and the high quality of construction," he stated.



Strategically located, Jeddah Gate is only five minutes away from the new express-train station, Al Haramain, which will offer direct access to Makkah and Madinah.

Designed to suit the Saudi modern lifestyle choices yet upholding traditional values, Jeddah Gate is an integrated master-planned development with residential, commercial and hospitality projects, leisure facilities, walkways, beautiful plazas and gardens, as well as the wide range of services, retail outlets, mosques, schools and sidewalk dining and cafes.



The development is also close to the new Jeddah Metro Station at Al-Muntalaq and in close proximity to the central business district, commercial institutions, banking headquarters, the Jeddah Islamic Port, educational institutions, hospitals, malls and governmental offices, it added.-TradeArabia News Service
Cass Business School and the Coca-Cola Foundation have announced the Global Womens Leadership Programme  an innovative initiative designed to attract and nurture rising women leaders.



Funded by The Coca-Cola Foundation, the Dh2.3 million ($626,000) partnership will support four women MBA scholars with exceptional potential to lead global womens leadership development efforts. Scholarship recipients will be drawn from each of Cass Business Schools four MBA programmes, including the Executive MBA in Dubai.



Serving as leaders within their respective programs, the Scholars will develop and practice their leadership skills by coordinating leadership development events. Such events will include Rising Women Leaders Development Workshops for MBA students and Womens Executive Leadership Forums for alumni and corporate partners. The events programme will span across London, Dubai, Hong Kong, Beijing and New York.



Professor Marianne Lewis, dean, Cass Business School said: We are delighted to work with Coca-Cola on this important initiative. Despite concerted efforts around the world, women remain a still too small, albeit vital minority among business leaders. At Cass, we are determined to alter this trend  we already support women leaders through faculty leadership and via our internal Cass Academic Women programme. This partnership will allow us to continue to develop the women leaders of the future.



Helen Smith Price, president of The Coca-Cola Foundation said: We believe one of the best ways to strengthen communities is through education. Were honoured to work with Cass on this scholarship programme to reach some of the brightest and most ambitious female students and provide them the skills and training they need to be successful.



The programme will be funded for three years. Scholarship recipients will be selected based on exceptional academic and professional achievements and their commitment to global womens leadership development.



Earlier this year, Cass Business School welcomed its tenth intake for its Executive MBA Programme based in DIFCs Centre of Excellence. Women comprise nearly 30 per cent of the new class of over 40 students, one of the highest levels of female participation for tier-one business schools in the region. Meanwhile in London, the home of Cass Business School, this years EMBA class consists of over 50 per cent female candidates, reflecting the gender diversity throughout the School.  TradeArabia News Service
UAE-based telecom provider du has pledged Dh1 million ($272,000) over the next two years in support of the initiatives of Emirates Foundation, which facilitates public-private partnerships for empowering youth, as its Gold Partner.

The collaboration between the two entities will commence in January 2017 until December 2018 with an aim to invest in youth development initiatives in the UAE.



In line with dus overall sustainability and business objectives to support the UAE community and to empower its youth, we are proud to sponsor an organization that believes in the importance of the next generation, said Osman Sultan, chief executive officer, du.



Our support of Emirates Foundation through this partnership will help further their work and thus strengthen community development overall. By investing in the future of our countrys youth, we are helping to cultivate a sustainable knowledge economy that will yield the leaders and innovators of tomorrow.



Emirates Foundation was conceived in 2005 with the goal of bridging the gap between the private sector and the community. Its administrative expenses are covered by the Government of Abu Dhabi, while its program expenses are covered by donations from the private sector.



Emirates Foundation has six key programs, whose scale is continuously growing, that are dedicated to enhancing UAE communities: EsrafSah, a financial literacy program; Kafaat, dedicate to private sector exposure; Kayani, providing vocational training skills; Think Science, a science exhibition run by students; Takatof, a social volunteering program; and Sanid, an emergency response volunteering program. To date, these programs have collectively generated60000 participants and volunteers.



Clare Woodcraft-Scott, chief executive officer of Emirates Foundation said: At Emirates Foundation, we acknowledge that philanthropy cannot operate in a vacuum. Engaging Business partners such as du is essential to addressing youth development systemically and sustainably.



Woodcraft added: Our broad spectrum of programmes  from leadership development, to volunteering, and promoting innovation and social enterprises in the UAE and GCC at large - are all invaluable ingredients for engaging the private sector to give back to the community and play an active role in youth development. We are looking forward to working with du and engaging their teams in our programmes and see a lot of benefits for both organizations, particularly in terms of introducing our youth to the telecommunications sector and providing them with essential relevant skills to explore careers on this front.  TradeArabia News Service
If youre considering a subscription to the Disney Plus streaming service, you may be wondering how much it costs. The service is available on both
State oil giant Saudi Aramco is set to host the second iktva (In-Kingdom Total Value Add Program) Forum 2016 on December 14 in the city of Dammam which will highlight the major localisation initiative and its benefits to Saudi Arabias economy.



The event will provide an opportunity for two-way dialogue between the company and its key and strategic suppliers as the kingdom commemorates the first anniversary of the launch of its localization initiative.



Saudi Aramco will share its vision for the future of the energy sector with an update on major projects and initiatives that support iktva, such as local manufacturing, training and development, and attracting increased investment to the Kingdom.



Saudi Aramco president and chief executive Amin H. Nasser said the upcoming forum will mark a major milestone in the trajectory to accelerate localisation amongst Saudi Aramcos supplier community.



Iktva 2016 will provide a clear path towards a diversified and sustainable Saudi energy sector as envisioned by Saudi Vision 2030. Through a collaborative win-win approach with the private sector, distinguished suppliers and service providers are recognized with Saudi Aramco iktva Excellence Awards.



"Our aim is to enable tangible opportunities in engineering, manufacturing, innovation, technology, human capital development, job creation and also serve to strengthen the culture of entrepreneurship in the Kingdom," he noted.



The event will also include the first annual iktva Excellence Awards which will be presented in recognition of the most significant commitment, investment, and progress in localization.



Abdulaziz AbdulKarim, the VP (Procurement & Supply Chain Management) said: "Tthe forum will recognize excellence and commitment to value creation in the kingdom by eligible suppliers from within its network as demonstrated in five categories to honour those suppliers success and commitment towards localization, local workface development and value creation."-TradeArabia News Service
Bahrain's leading telecom services operator Batelco said it has won the Fastest Growing Service Provider Partner of the Year award at the Avaya Engage event held in Dubai, UAE.



Batelco is a major ICT vendor in the region and is the largest partner of Avaya in Bahrain, it said.



The attainment of this award and some of the highest regional and international certifications from Avaya is a direct result of the companys significant investments in the latest telecommunications and ICT technologies that ensure its customers are among the first to enjoy the benefits of such technologies, said a statement from Batelco.



Batelco designs, engineers and implements Avaya telecommunication systems for businesses and government entities across Bahrain, it stated.



Batelco Bahrain CEO Muna Al Hashemi said that the company is delighted and honoured to have received this award from Avaya.



Al Hashemi added: This achievement would not have been possible without the diligent efforts of many teams at the company who continue to prioritise the requirements of our customers.



Earlier this year Batelco was awarded Platinum Certified Partner status by Avaya in recognition of the companys commitment, investment, experience and dedication to customer satisfaction, said a statement.



Batelco has an ongoing commitment in providing the best-in-class solutions for its customers to support their efforts to grow and optimise their businesses.



The Avaya Awards, held during the Avaya Engage event, celebrates the role its partners have played in driving Avayas success across the combined geographies of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and the Asia-Pacific region.



Fadi Moubarak, Avaya International channel leader, said: The awards celebrate and recognise the role our partners play in driving our companys growth and customer-centric strategy.



We are investing and developing our partner ecosystem to enable more companies to implement business communications solutions that help drive their digital transformation journeys, he said.



The event provides the perfect platform for us to drive innovation and deliver industry leadership across the combined regions, he concluded.  TradeArabia News Service
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) has launched a 10-week programme to help shape future of energy and water in collaboration with ExO-Works, a key corporate solutions provider based in US.



The programme is the first of its kind in the region, and aims to enhance Dewas role in shaping the future of energy and water. It supports the vision of the UAEs wise leadership to make foreseeing the future part of government strategic planning,said a statement from the utility.



It also supports Dewas role as an incubator of creativity and innovation to achieve its vision to become a sustainable innovative world-class utility, it stated.



Dewas top management team will collaborate with ExO-Works consultants to enhance the understanding of disruptive technology, and evaluate its use to develop proactive plans and strategies, said Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, the managing director and chief executive of Dewa, after inaugurating the programme today.



Present at the launch was Salim Ismail, an internationally recognised author and thought leader of future technologies and founding executive director and global ambassador of Singularity University.



Ismail is also the supervisor of the programme, which includes 5 workshops and 4 specialised teams.



"The ExO Sprint programme is the first of its kind in the region, and will enhance Dewas leading position in developing Disruptive Technologies and long-term proactive plans to cope with the fourth industrial revolution the world is going through," stated Al Tayer.



The programme also enhances Dewas efforts to provide an environment that motivates its employees and work teams to create and excel, and train them to drive innovation and enhance competitiveness.



These efforts support the vision of our wise leadership to shape and make the future so that the UAE becomes an effective contributor to shaping the future.-TradeArabia News Service
The upcoming year will include an increased breadth and depth of attacks, with malicious threat actors differentiating their tactics to capitalize on the changing technology landscape, said a report.



Next year will take the cybersecurity industry into new territory after 2016s threat landscape opened doors for cybercriminals to explore a wider range of attacks and attack surfaces, said Raimund Genes, chief technology officer for Trend Micro, a global leader in cybersecurity solutions.



We foresee the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) causing extensive data management changes for companies around the world, new attack methods threatening corporations, expanding ransomware tactics impacting more devices and cyber-propaganda swaying public opinion, he added, commenting on Trend Micros annual security predictions report, The Next Tier  8 Security Predictions for 2017.



In 2016, there was a large increase in Apple vulnerabilities, with 50 disclosed, along with 135 Adobe bugs and 76 affecting Microsoft. This apparent shift in exploits against vulnerable software will continue in 2017 as Microsofts mitigations continue to improve and Apple is seen as a more prominent operating system.



The Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) will play a larger role in targeted attacks in 2017. These attacks will capitalize upon the growing acceptance of connected devices by exploiting vulnerabilities and unsecured systems to disrupt business processes, the report said.



The increasing use of mobile devices to monitor control systems in manufacturing and industrial environments will be combined with the significant number of vulnerabilities found in these systems to pose threats to organizations.



Business Email Compromise (BEC) and Business Process Compromise (BPC) will continue to grow as a cost-effective and relatively simple form of corporate extortion. A BEC attack might yield $140,000 by luring an innocent employee to transfer money to a criminals account. Alternatively, hacking directly into a financial transaction system, while requiring more work, will result in far greater financial windfalls for criminals  as much as $81 million.



We continue to see cybercriminals evolving to the changing technology landscape, said Ed Cabrera, chief cybersecurity officer for Trend Micro. While new ransomware saw an exponential increase in 2016, that growth is no longer sustainable, so attackers will find new ways to use existing malware families. Similarly, changes in IoT open new doors to go after additional attack surfaces, and software changes push criminals toward finding different types of flaws.



Highlights from the 2017 predications report include:



 The number of new ransomware families is predicted to plateau, only growing 25 percent, but will branch out into IoT devices and non-desktop computing terminals, like PoS systems or ATMs

 Vendors will not secure IoT and IIoT devices in time to prevent denial of service and other attacks

 New vulnerabilities will continue to be discovered in Apple and Adobe, which will then be added to exploit kits

 With 46 percent of the worlds population now connected to the internet, the rise in cyber-propaganda will continue as new world leaders are appointed, potentially influencing public opinion with inaccurate information

 As seen in the Bangladesh Bank attack early in 2016, BPC attacks can allow cybercriminals to alter business processes and gain significant profits, and BEC attacks will continue to be useful to extort businesses via unsuspecting employees

 GDPR will force policy and administrative changes that will greatly impact costs and require organizations to conduct complete reviews of data processes to ensure compliance

 New targeted attack methods will focus on evading modern detection techniques to allow threat actors to target different organizations  TradeArabia News Service
Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), the Emirate's dedicated entity for culture, arts and heritage, has announced that the Etihad Museum will open its doors to the general public on January 7.



This follows the recent official inauguration of the museum on December 2 during the UAEs forty-fifth National Day. The museum is currently welcoming senior officials and VIP delegations only.



The Museums management has completed the programming and the operation plan to welcome visitors all week long from 10am to 8pm and will present educational exhibits and programmes that show the chronological events of the agreement signing and Union declaration in 1971.



Saeed Al Nabouda, acting director general of Dubai Culture & Arts Authority said: This landmark heritage initiative is an important manifestation of the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, to create an important national UAE cultural and tourist landmark. It will offer the public a valuable opportunity to discover year-round the events before, during and after the Union agreements signing in 1971. In doing so, the museum will enhance visitor understanding of the rights, privileges and responsibilities bestowed upon the nations citizens through the UAE constitution.



As part of Dubai Cultures wider role in establishing a regulatory framework for the Emirates heritage sector, Etihad Museum will contribute to the realization of the Dubai Plan 2021 objectives - to consolidate the Emirates position as a home for creative individuals who are proud of their cultural identity.



The museum will play a significant role in the academics of, and knowledge exchange between students and experts, and will provide an important cultural and historical source for a young Emirati generation, Dubai residents and tourists.



Visitors will be able to enjoy reading books at the Dubai Public Library branch within the museum, which will hold three thousand different titles on the UAEs national and social history. Pictures, movies and documents from 1968 to 1974 will be on display to provide numerous points of interest throughout the nation building process of the nation, all of which is captured in the Etihad Museum.



The museum complex extends across the Union House building, a 123-meter flag pole, a parking building with a 100-car capacity, with an additional 100 outdoor parking spots.



The Etihad Museums new permanent pavilion is inspired by the shape of a manuscript, with seven columns which emulate the pens used to sign the 1971 Union agreement, while the museums identity is inspired from the colours of the UAE flag, the Unions identity and the seven emirates. - TradeArabia News Service
Hempel, a leading paint manufacturer, is set to open a new factory in Kuwait next year in line with its plans to boost the company's production capacity to 19 million litres from the current 13 million litres.



The 20,000-sq-m facility, which is likely to be launched in the first quarter of 2017, will have cooling facilities, and will produce solvent-borne as well as water-borne products, said a statement from Hempel, which is celebrating 50 years of its operations in Kuwait.



Within five decades, Hempel has emerged as a major force in the country with a 60 per cent share of the marine coatings market, and 30 per cent of the construction paint market.



It is also contributing to major projects including the Jaber Al Ahmad Al Sabah Hospital, Al Sabah Housing Project, First Ring bridges, Kuwait Opera House, Kuwait Towers, and Kuwait National Petroleum Companys Clean Fuel Project, said a top official.



Karsten Pedersen, group vice-president and CEO of Hempel Middle East-West, said: Kuwait holds a special place in our hearts. It was our gateway to Middle East markets. Fifty years later, Hempel Kuwait is stronger and more dedicated, with a leading position in the paints market."



He was speaking at the Golden Jubilee ceremony held recently in Kuwait which was attended by a large number of guests including engineers, contractors, consultants, suppliers and other key industry players.



In 1966, Hempel Group partnered with Al Rashed Family, and United Industries Company, establishing Hempel Kuwait, which started producing marine coatings at an early stage to meet the needs of the countrys shipbuilding industry, and also supplying decorative paints that protected and beautified Kuwaits infrastructure, including schools, mosques, hospitals and other civil structures.



Hempel Kuwait's production line expanded steadily, and three years after its inauguration, the company began manufacturing protective paints in 1969 and further broadened its product range to produce decorative paints in 1973.



It played a key role in safeguarding the countrys oil industry through partnerships with Kuwait Oil Company, Kuwait National Petroleum Company, and Kuwait Oil Tanker Company. For Hempel, Kuwait was the gateway to other GCC states.



Khaled Al Rashed, member of the board of directors at Hempel Middle East-West, said: We are proud today as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of establishing our first factory in Kuwait.



"Hempel succeeded in the past five decades in forging solid partnerships with all segments of the Kuwait society by producing high quality paints that protect peoples assets. Today, the company crowns its great successes with the announcement of the opening of the new factory next year, he added.-TradeArabia News Service


Glencore, a global natural resource company, is in final-stage negotiations to acquire, as part of a consortium with the Qatar Investment Authority a 19.5 per cent stake in Russias oil giant Rosneft for 10.5 billion ($11.3 billion).



Under the proposed arrangement, Glencore would commit 300 million in equity with the balance of the consideration for the acquisition of the shares to be provided by QIA and by non-recourse bank financing.



The other material terms of the proposed transaction for Glencore include:



 New five- year offtake agreement with Rosneft representing a sizeable additional 220,000 bbls/day for the Glencore Marketing business.



 Additional opportunities, through a strategic partnership for further cooperation, including infrastructure, logistics and global trading.



 Other than the economic exposure represented by the Glencore Equity, (amounting to a c. 0.54 per cent indirect equity interest in Rosneft), Glencore would not have any economic exposure to its interests in the shares.



 Limited liability structure fully ring-fenced and non-recourse to Glencore apart from its 300 million equity contribution and the provision of certain guarantees, the risks of which would be fully indemnified by appropriate financial institutions



Once the transaction is entered into, it will be conditional on the subsequent finalisation of all relevant financing, guarantee and other agreements and would be expected to close in mid-December.



Glencore is one of the worlds largest global diversified natural resource companies and a major producer and marketer of more than 90 commodities. The Group's operations comprise around 150 mining and metallurgical sites, oil production assets and agricultural facilities.  TradeArabia News Service
Qatar has signed two agreements to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to energy firms E.ON and RWE Power in Germany, a report said.



Qatar is seeking to strengthen its position as the worlds largest LNG exporter and develop the area of renewables. Germany wants to diversify its gas supply sources and transport routes, and to share its high level of technical expertise in renewable advancements, Matthias Machnig, German State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, was quoted as saying in the Gulf Times report.



We welcome the supply agreement that had been setup between companies from Germany and Qatar. Indeed, this is the first time that a German company has concluded a supply contract for LNG from Qatar. I would be pleased if more such contracts would be concluded between our two countries, he added.



Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Qatari-German Business Forum in Doha, Qatar, he said one of the companies will start receiving LNG probably in the beginning of 2018.



We are building LNG terminals in Germany and they will import LNG from Qatar and other parts of the world. Its an ongoing project, which is expected to be commissioned in two years, he noted.



According to Machnig, about 20 per cent to 30 per cent of Germanys energy supplies come from gas, and more than 30 per cent of the countrys electricity is produced by renewables.



We used to have 21 nuclear plants and that has already come down to nine, and these will be phased out by 2022. We are going to reduce coal as well, so the main resources for energy in the future will be gas and renewables, he pointed out.



Machnig said trade between Germany and Qatar amounted to 2.6 billion ($2.8 billion) in 2015. From January to September 2016, volumes stood at 2.2 billion. Over the same period, Germanys exports to Qatar grew by 30 per cent reaching 1.9 million, he said.



Qatar Businessmen Association chairman Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani said trade between Qatar and Germany increased by more than 33 per cent in the first half of 2016 to reach QR6 billion ($1.64 billion). And we expect trade to reach more than QR10 billion in the future, he added.
King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), a special economic zone on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast, said it has signed a long-term master supplier agreement with AVK Saudi Valves Manufacturing Company (AVK), a leading supplier of valves and fire hydrants in the kingdom.



As per the deal, AVK will supply the city with its hitech products as the city continues to develop and expand its infrastructure.



With an annual turnover of SR2.2 billion ($586 million), AVK is one of the worlds largest manufacturers of valves, pipes and hydrants, focusing their expertise primarily on these core product areas.



AVK has been manufacturing locally in the Kingdom for over 30 years, and supplies projects across Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE.



This partnership is a key indicator of the caliber of companies working alongside KAEC in the delivery of a next generation city to support Vision 2030, remarked Ahmed Linjawy, the deputy chief executive of KAEC.



"KAEC continues to partner with new best-in-class companies to maintain our ability to provide a premium infrastructure that empowers growth," he noted.



Ole Hedegaard, the managing director of AVK, said the company places the support of Saudi Arabias economy at the center of its business practices.



"Offering world-class skills and expertise to Saudi employees, we are currently on track to soon reach Saudization levels of over 40 per cent. Partnering with KAEC, a city designed to support the growth of Saudi into the future, is a natural direction for us, and we are very excited about the level of sustainable, high quality projects being developed there," he stated.



"The new partnership with AVK supports a commitment by both parties to prioritizing the use of high quality domestically manufactured products in the growth of local communities," he added.



Linjawy pointed out that KAECs continued development was evidence of the power of Vision 2030 to drive an economy beyond oil.



"The advanced infrastructure of the city has been developed in partnership with renowned industry leaders, focusing on a premium level product to increase safety and security for all investors," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
The past year has thrown a spotlight on the importance of Availability  both of services and data. From a number of high-profile systems outages across the globe (think travel!), the public has come to understand the importance of having access to accurate information and critical services on-demand.



As we move into 2017, businesses will increasingly need to embrace customer expectations and ensure seamless delivery of services. From an IT perspective, there are four key trends that businesses will need to embrace in order to exceed the expectations of customers and partners alike:



Blurring lines between public, private and hybrid clouds: A few years ago, the thought of extending data centre infrastructure to a hyper-public cloud may have seemed a futile endeavour of connectivity, security and a mix of unknown surprises. However, now the market is ready to accept the adoption of hybrid cloud architectures from both the infrastructure and application side. It's already happening and much greater mainstream adoption is on the horizon as enterprises look to enhance operational agility and reliability, while ensuring that data and applications are available at any time, from anywhere.



The explosion of the software-defined infrastructure. Its no secret that the software-defined datacentre has been a huge trend in recent years  thanks in part to the popularity of virtualisation. Running applications in a virtualised environment brings many advantages for companies to help build efficiencies, provide reliability and a flexible IT infrastructure to ease management and free time and resources. As businesses evolve, expect to see more demands on vendors to provide software and services to meet the expectations of the next generation of innovators.



Stay one step ahead of hackers. Threats from hacking, as well as the proliferation of botnets, and malware (specifically ransomware) will keep IT managers up at night throughout 2017. Weve seen enormous burdens placed on organisations looking to maintain availability during 2016, with large attacks on DNS services causing major companies and services to be unreachable during critical times. As more businesses look to provide digital services, the hackers will be nipping at their heels. More than ever before, businesses will need to place additional emphasis on end-to-end data security, backup and recovery to ensure their services remain available for partners and customers.



More data, more possibilities: The datacentre of today, and definitely of tomorrow, will increasingly hold more data  both historical and mission-critical. Whether it be an influx of inputs from the Internet of Things, more complex business systems, or growing amounts of existing data sets, the conclusion is obvious: the data deluge will continue. On the positive side, this will bring benefits to businesses looking to leverage advanced analytics to hone their existing operations and provide new services to customers.



As the calendar ticks over to 2017, businesses will be able to gain more insight from the data they have collected; helping shape decisions and inform business strategies. However, these analytic capabilities will only bear fruit if data is both available and robust. For businesses relying on advanced analytics to drive operations, any downtime not only halts the ability to transact with customers and suppliers, but also stymies informed decision-making. Businesses will need to direct their attention to maintaining availability of mission-critical systems that underpin their analytics.



Specific predictions are always challenging, but the technology landscape today provides endless possibilities for organisations to provide great services based on the datacentre and the information a datacentre both houses and delivers. The expectation is that data is available on-demand. Gone are the days where downtime is considered a normal part of doing business



In 2017, the datacentre will take centre stage and will serve as a critical piece of infrastructure to both store information and provide services to customers, employees and partners alike. Having a plan to ensure availability will be vital to maintaining business operations to meet  and exceed  expectations.



Gregg Petersen is an IT industry veteran with over 17 years of experience. As regional director, MEA and SAARC at Veeam, he has been instrumental in creating brand awareness, growing the companys regional market share and driving profitable revenues.
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. The Defense Ministry of Nagorno Karabakh told Armenpress the Azerbaijani forces fired more than 500 shots from various caliber automatic weapons and sniper rifles at the Armenian positions in the Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan line of contact.

The Ministrys announcement reads:

Overnight December 7-8 the Azerbaijani side continued violating the ceasefire regime (over 40 times) across the Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan line of contact. The Azerbaijani forces fired more than 500 shots from various caliber automatic weapons and sniper rifles at the Armenian positions.

The Defense Army forces took countermeasures only in case of strict necessity and continued confidently fulfilling their military tasks along the entire length of the line of contact.

On December 8, at 02:45, Defense Army soldier Albert H. Postolokyan (born in 1996) was mortally wounded in one of the military units of the Defense Army located in the north-eastern direction (Martakert).

Investigation is underway to clarify the details of the case.

The NKR Defense Ministry shares the grief of the loss and extends condolences to the family members, relatives and co-servicemen of a fallen soldier.
A Saudi Arabian Airlines carrier flying to Jeddah from India had to make an unscheduled landing in Pakistan on Thursday after the pilot fell ill, said a report.



According to a report in Saudi Gazette, the captain of the Airbus A330 experienced severe health problems around 2.5 hours into the flight, forcing the co-pilot to take over the plane.



The co-pilot landed the plane normally, and the captain was medically checked. The doctor transferred him to hospital for the necessary treatment, the report said.



A special Saudia flight left Jeddah at 9 pm on Thursday to bring the stranded passengers from Karachi.
Petra Lounge at Amman's Queen Alia International Airport was named the Africa & Middle East Winner in the Priority Pass Lounge of the Year Awards 2016.



Now in its 12th year, the awards are based on ratings by Priority Pass Members and recognise excellence within the world's largest independent lounge membership program that includes the best service design and visitor experience in over 1,000 airport lounges, in over 500 cities.



This year's overall winners are:



 Global and Europe: Plaza Premium Lounge at London Heathrow

 Africa & Middle East: Petra Lounge at Amman Queen Alia International

 Asia Pacific: Asiana Lounge at Seoul Incheon International

 North America: The Club at San Jose CA Mineta International

 Latin America & The Caribbean: VIP Lounge at Guadalajara Miguel Hidalgo International



Azzam Abu Yasin, managing director of Hotels Global Group, said: "Jordan is a country known for its hospitality, and that is exactly what guests at Petra VIP Lounge will find. We strive to always offer the best service possible, from our staff, who are always on hand to meet the needs of our visitors, to our delightful Arabic dishes made by our own chef Mohammad Issa. This win recognises our commitment to excellence, and shows that we're already well on our way to offering one of the world's most luxurious airport lounge experiences."



Stephen Simpson, Global Marketing director for Priority Pass, part of the Collinson Group, added: "It is an honour to recognise Petra Lounge at Amman Queen Alia International as the winning Africa & Middle East Lounge of the Year. This award recognises the team's continuing efforts to deliver a high-quality experience beyond the expectations of frequent flyers, through a focus on comfort, quality and service in every area."



"It has never been more important to be able to escape the hustle and bustle of the airport terminal. We are proud to have the world's largest independent lounge membership program which provides access to a tranquil space in over 1,000 lounges in key destinations across the globe. As our network grows, so too does our knowledge and understanding of the changing global demands of the 21st century traveller, something that informs every level of service in the lounges in the Priority Pass network."



Wider recognition in Africa



Other winners this year include the Shongololo Lounge at Johannesburg O.R. Tambo International, which was highly commended in the Africa & Middle East Lounge of the Year category; and Marhaba Lounge at Dubai International, which was highly commended in the Best Business Facilities category.



Priority Pass received over 60,000 ratings from its Members in this year's awards using the lounge rating function on the new Priority Pass website and app. Its members provide ratings on a set of criteria covering overall lounge quality, refreshments, staff, business facilities and ambience. - TradeArabia News Service
Hospitality giant Marriott International has joined a long list of global hotel groups looking to gain a foothold in Iran, said a report.



The group has expressed its keenness to enter Iran, which it considers as a substantial market in terms of demand, following the pending removal of legal barriers, said a report in Iran Daily.



"Depending on what happens in the future and what agreements are reached between the United States and Iran, if the doors open legally to do business in Iran, we would be very keen to pursue that opportunity," said Alex Kyriakidis, president and managing director of Marriott's Middle East and Africa division.



The government has made tourism a top priority for rebuilding Iran's economy and hopes to attract 20 million visitors a year by 2025.



Abu Dhabi-based-Rotana Hotel Management Corp, Spain's Melia Hotels International and Germany's Steigenberger Hotel Group have also entered Iran's market.



Rotana has two hotels in the pipeline in the next two years while Melia is planning to open a 319-room hotel in 2017.



Iran plans to build 300 new hotels over the next five years. According to Akhoundi, projects are underway to build some 170 four- and five-star hotels, the report said.



Foreign companies are specially seeking to tap Iran's huge religious tourism market in Mashhad and Qom which attract about 25 million pilgrims a year.


Leading hospitality group AccorHotels has signed four new hotel management agreements in Egypt with Arco, one of the foremost developers in high quality mixed-use real estate developments and integrated communities.



The new developments on Egypts North Coast, slated to open by 2022, include the Fairmont Fuka Bay, Swissotel Fuka Bay, Novotel Al Alamein City, and ibis Styles Al Alamein City.



The addition of these hotel projects increases AccorHotels operational and development pipeline to 31 hotels in Egypt.



Francois Baudin, senior vice president, Development, Luxury Hotels, Europe, Middle East, and Africa, AccorHotels, said: Following the recent union of AccorHotels and FRHI, we are excited to announce four new hotel projects in Egypt, ranging from economy and midscale options to luxury and upper upscale brands.



He added: This announcement further underscores the groups commitment to the destination and its envisioned potential, evident since opening the first Accor hotel over 35 years ago to today with 17 hotels in operation and a robust pipeline of 14 new hotels coming online within the next five years.



We look forward to playing an integral role in re-energizing the countrys tourism infrastructure, said Frank Naboulsi, regional vice president and general manager, Fairmont Nile City. The destination has demonstrated positive growth over the past few years which has also increased the appeal of international hospitality brands. Our valued partnership with Arco also highlights our intention to accelerate expansion and to create employment opportunities for the local market.



Opening in 2019, Fairmont Fuka Bay will feature 250 rooms and 150 Fairmont branded residences set against dramatic and lush landscaping, turquoise blue sea and with perfect year-round weather. As part of a brand that is recognised for being a part of the destination in which it operates, Fairmont Fuka Bay is located within an upscale residential community in one of the most enviable vacation spots in the country. The hotel will also offer a number of speciality restaurants, a private beachfront and a marina.

The 300-room and 200-branded residences of Swissotel Fuka Bay will also represent one of the citys first international hospitality brands. Anticipated to open in 2022, Swissotel guests will enjoy recreational crystal lagoons and a range of specialty restaurants in keeping with the brands commitment to vitality and genuine Swiss hospitality. Both hotels in Fuka Bay are an hours drive from the Marsa Matruh International Airport, a two hour drive from Borg El Arab International Airport as well as a two hour drive from Cairo via the newly constructed Fuka Road.



Set to debut in 2018, the 250-room Novotel Al Alamein City will feature international standards of quality, service, comfort and simplicity synonymous with the brand. The hotel will overlook the Crystal Lagoons  one of the extraordinary features of the project measuring 7,000-sq-m and suited towards a range of recreational activities, including swimming and water sports. The Crystal Lagoons will effectively create a beach paradise while employing energy efficient technologies and sustainable practices.



Ibis Styles Al Alamein City will offer 300 rooms and is adjacent to a water park and shopping centre. Reflecting a bright and energetic brand spirit with its creative design and distinct personality, the hotel is equally complemented by its location in the North Coast with pristine coastline and sandy golden beaches, turquoise blue waters, and seasonable temperatures. The city of Al Alamein is also in proximity to popular summer destinations located by the Mediterranean Sea, including an 80 minute drive to Alexandria, suitable for daytime excursions to the historically rich city.



Ashraf Salman, vice chairman and managing director, Arco, said: We are pleased to be partnering with AccorHotels and its leading brands to create a prime destination for both residents and international visitors. This collaboration will contribute positively to developing a prime tourism destination and will complement a growing portfolio of other AccorHotels currently under development in Egypt.



AccorHotels currently operates 17 hotels in Egypt with 14 hotels in the pipeline, encompassing a combined total of 10,352 rooms and residences across luxury, upscale, midscale and economy segments. Notable examples include the Sofitel Cairo El Gezirah and Fairmont Nile City, both located in the heart of the city, and Novotel Marsa Alam and ibis Styles Dahab, overlooking the Red Sea. Upcoming projects include the ambitious Sharm El Sheikh multi-hotel development, featuring Raffles, Fairmont and Swissotel, highlighted by the largest Crystal Lagoon in the world. - TradeArabia News Service
Russian troops abandoned a key Ukrainian city so rapidly that they left the bodies of their comrades in the streets. The scene offered more evidence Tuesday of Moscows latest military defeat as it struggles to hang on to four regions of Ukraine that it illegally annexed last week. Russias upper house of parliament rubber-stamped the annexations Tuesday after referendums that Ukraine and its Western allies dismissed as fraudulent. Responding to the move, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy formally ruled out talks with Russia. Meanwhile, the U.S. announced it would provide an additional $625 million in military aid to Ukraine, including more of the advanced rocket systems credited with helping Ukraine's military momentum.
Environmental groups across the West are rallying around the Bureau of Land Management, throwing their names into the hat as defenders of a contested federal rule to limit natural gas waste from flaring, venting and leaks.

The rule, passed Nov. 15, requires companies to inspect their equipment twice a year for leaks, using expensive equipment and expertise to diminish unintended greenhouse gas emissions.

Many Westerners bristled at what they see as another federal intervention into industry and state autonomy. Wyoming filed a lawsuit against the rule the following week, soon joined by organizations from industry and other states.

But Friday, environmentalists took a stand on the issue. The Wyoming Outdoor Council, the Environmental Defense fund and the Western Organization of Resource Councils are among 15 environmental and health groups that requested recognition from the court as defenders for the BLMs rule.

This is the kind of thing that nearly everyone agrees we need to do, which is fix faulty equipment, reduce natural gas waste as much as possible, said Chris Merrill, associate director of the Wyoming Outdoor Council. From our perspective, thats what this rule is trying to accomplish.

By adding their names to the lawsuit, the groups will be able to submit arguments and rebuttals as the case progresses.

Jurisdiction and revenue

Opponents of the rule have a central argument: The federal land organization has no right to pass an emissions rule given that the Environmental Protection Agency has jurisdiction over air pollution limits.

The BLM is once again overstepping its bounds and imposing unnecessary regulations, said Gov. Matt Mead in a statement in November.

But others say the BLM is well within its jurisdiction.

The Bureau of Land Management is charged with ensuring that federal resources are managed properly, said Jon Goldstein of the Environmental Defense Fund. Thats true whether its grazing allotments or mineral resources. What they are doing here, at the ground level, is making sure that federal natural gas resources are being managed to the benefit of the taxpayer.

And though Western states chafe against federal rules, they have other priorities that run deeper, he said.

If there is one thing that Westerners hate more than these federal agencies (intervening in industry), its government waste, Goldstein said

Efficient management of resources is the heart of the BLMs rule, he argued.

Wyoming relies on the income from natural gas and other fuels. In the current downturn, where revenue shortfalls are cutting state services, the state needs that money more than ever, said Merrill, of the Wyoming Outdoor Council.

Environmentalists point to a 2013 study by the consulting firm ICF that estimated Wyomings lost revenue from natural gas vented or leaked on federal and tribal lands was about $42 million.

When it comes to flaring, we just want to see that reduced, Merrill said. It makes sense when its done for safety. But when its done for expediences sake, it doesnt make sense anymore.

Industrys response

However, industry find the argument that companies regularly waste product frustrating.

Its a business decision, and its a good one to sell everything you can, Robitaille said.

Some venting and flaring is not methane but other inert gases, he said.

The way I read this rule, it appears to me they are assuming everything in that pipe is a methane of sellable quality and quantity, Robitaille said. There is more than strictly a methane molecule in these streams coming out of these production pipes. So now we are being punished for producing, say, a nitrogen. Well, nitrogen has no market. It has no value.

The timing of the rule couldnt be worse for companies who see the rule as an unnecessary cost, from equipment to training.

Anytime you put additional economic burden on a well, that well has to make up that economic burden, Robitaille said. The way to do that is production at a decent price. Well, we havent seen a decent price for some time.

The Upper Green

Not everyone agrees that the cost will hurt business.

In many ways the state has been a leader on capturing leaks and reducing emissions, in part due to the history of the Green River Basin, where ozone levels exceeded standards numerous times between 2008 and 2011.

Regulators, energy companies and environmentalists worked together to address that issue and stricter air quality measures were passed by state regulators.

One company in particular, Jonah Energy, pioneered many of the measures that are visible in the BLM rules passed last month.

The companys increased revenue from saved product and reduced maintenance costs more than pays for the burden of increased inspections and new equipment, said Paul Ulrich, Jonahs regulatory director.

Jonah sends out inspectors to its gas lines and equipment monthly, a much higher rate than the BLMs rule, which mandates two inspections a year.

However, Jonah shouldnt be used as a standard, Ulrich said.

Each field and each reservoir is unique, he said. It works for Jonah. Jonah is a very productive field and a very small surface footprint. Our ability to conduct monthly inspections is greatly enhanced by the very, very small footprint.

Many point to the experience in the Upper Green, and Wyomings success at bringing down the pollution level, as evidence that rules arent necessary. The industry is moving in this direction on its own, some say.

We can point to multitudes of environmental challenges that Wyoming has met head-on and put measures in place that negate the need for additional federal regulations that often simply duplicate what Wyoming has already done, Ulrich said.

Supporters of the rule have a different view. The Upper Green should set a new, higher standard across the state, they say, and the progress Wyoming has made in response to environmental challenges needs to be enforceable.

Its not because of the good actors. They are already doing it right, said Merrill, of the Wyoming Outdoor Council. Its for the unfortunate, occasional bad actors out there. Thats who we need regulations for.
The Small Business Administrations Wyoming office recently relocated its Casper office as part of an effort to consolidate the federal agencys operations and make it more accessible to the public.

SBA, which provides training and loans to small businesses, moved from the fourth floor of the Dick Cheney Federal Building in downtown Casper to an office across from the post office on the first floor of that building.

District Director Amy Lea said that the agency reduced its square footage by 44 percent though the move. The new office is shared with another federal agency, Housing and Urban Development, and Lea said the pooled resources will make some of SBAs statewide work easier.

The two agencies will now share modern training and webinar conference rooms.

We serve the entire state from Casper, Lea said. (Now) well have some increased ability to do distance training that we havent had in the past.

SBA provides loan guarantees for private lenders to provide funding for small businesses and partners with groups like the Wyoming Business Council to offer training and advice for individuals looking to start or already operating a business in the state.

Last year, the Wyoming office increased its lending by 11.5 percent to 126 loan guarantees worth $45.7 million.

In 2014, the Government Services Administration announced a $70 million effort to consolidate federal office space across the country. The GSA project was in line with a wider push by the federal government to reduce the federal governments physical footprint.

The Wyoming SBA office was selected as a pilot project (to see) how much it was possible to do to consolidate the office and make it more available to the public, Lea said.

The new office opened on Nov. 30 after about a year of planning and construction, Lea said. She did not know the cost of the construction or how much savings were expected to be realized from the relocation.

Casper Mayor Daniel Sandoval gave remarks at the offices grand opening.

Its not art deco. Its more like commercial deco, Sandoval said at the Casper City Council meeting Tuesday. I dont know if theres a name for this kind of architecture, but its really nice.
Latin Club meets

Wish you had taken Latin in school or had paid better attention when you did? You are welcome to join the Latin Study Club at Mount Hope Lutheran School, 2300 Hickory. This friendly group of language enthusiasts meets on Tuesday nights at 7 p.m., to study Latin, free of charge. We will pick up where we left off last year, Chapter 4 of Wheelocks Latin, 7th edition. Noli timere!

Mount Hope Lutheran School admits students of any race, color, and national or ethnic origin.

Chronic pain/illness group starting

Highland Park Community Church and The Healing Place are starting HopeKeepers. HopeKeepers is a support group designed to meet the emotional and spiritual needs of the person who lives with chronic illness or pain. Through the support group setting you will have the opportunity to grow spiritually surrounded by others who share similar circumstances, unrevealed answers, and even joys, living with chronic pain or physical pain.

The group will meet Mondays from noon to 1:30 p.m., Highland Park Community Church, Rm #1327-The Prayer Room. This is an ongoing group. Call The Healing Place at 265-3977 to enroll.

Learn Mac OS X Photos

The Natrona County Library will offer a Mac OS X Photos class at 3 p.m., on Saturday, Dec. 10. Learn how to view, organize, edit, and share photos on your Mac with the Photos app. Well also explain how to use the Photos app to import photos from your iPhone or iPad. Call 577-READ ext. 2 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information.

Flu vaccination clinic

The Casper-Natrona County Health Department has added a flu vaccination clinic Monday, Dec. 12, from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. We are accepting walk-ins on first come first serve basis. $25 per person. We can bill insurance.

Compassionate Friends lights candles

The Central Wyoming Chapter of the Compassionate Friends, a non-profit, self-help support organization for parents who are grieving the death of a child of any age, from any cause, invites all to participate in The Worldwide Candle Lighting on Sunday, Dec. 11, 2016. Join in this event by lighting a candle in your home at 7 p.m. and letting it burn for an hour until the next time zone lights candles. You will be helping to honor the memories of children who have died, but who will never be forgotten.

For more information please call Gail: 235-0702 or Sheila: 237-0735.

Parkinsons support Dec. 13

Rocky Mountain Therapy is offering a Parkinsons Support Group. Join us on the second Tuesday of each month at Rocky Mountain Therapy, 2546 East 2nd Street, Building 500 at 5:30 p.m.

This support group is open to anyone with Parkinsons or caring for someone with Parkinsons. Our next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 13, our guest speaker will be Dr. Cozier, with Wyoming Neurologic Assoc. To RSVP call 577-5204 and ask for Jerri or Shannon. To find out more about Rocky Mountain Therapy please visit our website at www.rockymountaintherapy.org. Were looking forward to seeing you at our next meeting.

Beyond the Inbox

The Natrona County Library will offer a Beyond the Inbox class at 10 a.m., on Tuesday, Dec. 13. We will cover the four Ds of mailbox management: Do, Defer (or Delay), Delegate, and Delete. Well go over everything you need to keep your inbox clean, including spam reporting, unsubscribing, aliases, and secondary email addresses. Well also discuss the basics of setting up rules and filters in Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook. Call 577-READ ext. 2 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information.

Virtual reality demo

Dont miss the chance to immerse yourself in an entirely new world when the Library hosts a virtual reality demo from 4 to 8 p.m., on Tuesday, Dec. 13. Choose from over 40 of the best virtual reality games and apps while being taken through a guided experience with the HTC Vive. Free and open to the public. Gameplay will last for approximately 10 minutes per player. Tickets will be handed out at the beginning of the event; available on a first-come, first-served basis; and limited to the first 25 attendees. Call 577-READ ext. 2 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information.

Veterans get help with employment

Attention veterans! Are you having a hard time finding employment? Need help with a resume? Considering a new career? If so, stop by any Wyoming Department of Workforce Services Office. All of our services are free. In Casper, the office is located at 851 Werner Court. Call 234-4591 for more information.

Tech buying guide

The Natrona County Library will offer a Tech Buying Guide class at 6 p.m., on Thursday, Dec. 15. This class will cover tablets, laptops, desktops, and everything in between. Learn the uses and features of a variety of devices as well as how to determine what type of device is best for you. An array of technologies also will be available for attendees to learn about, use, and touch. Call 577-READ ext. 2 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information.

Blue Christmas service at St. Marks

The holidays are not always festive and cheerful for some people who may have suffered the loss of loved ones or experienced other problems such as the loss of a job. As a means of coping with such setbacks, St. Marks Episcopal Church will have a Blue Christmas service Sunday, Dec. 18, at 5:30 p.m., allowing for a time of reflection and healing, at the church, 701 South Wolcott. All are welcome. For further information, call 234-0831.

Joshuas needs help from hunters

Attention hunters, meat is needed to help the hungry in Casper and your donation of wild game will help feed the many hundreds of families in need. Please donate your game to the food pantry. Your donation is tax deductible. Please advise your meat processors where you want this important product to go. Thank you from Joshuas Storehouse.

Saturday morning watercolor classes

ART321/Casper Artists Guild announces the schedule for the Saturday Morning Watercolor Sessions for the months of September and October 2016. We hope to see you then to begin or continue your learning experience with us. All levels are welcome. Saturday mornings, 10 a.m. to noon, $10 per session. If you have questions, please contact Ellen Black at 265-6783.

Dec. 10, Holly Bryson, a painting from start to finish; Dec. 17, painting snow; Dec. 24, no session, Christmas Eve; Dec. 31, no session, New Years Eve.

ART321/Casper Artists Guild, 321 W. Midwest Ave, Casper, WY, 82601, gallery hours Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., phone 265-2655, www.art321.org

Teen Challenge offers fall classes

Teen Challenge Wyoming offers classes this fall at local churches, True Care and the Link (Youth for Christ). For more information on these groups or on other Teen Challenge programs, please call 258-5397.

Peacemaking: Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. In this world of division and conflict, it is important for Christians to stay grounded in what the Bible teaches about resolving our differences with orders in a God-honoring way. For more information, call Pat at 258-5397.

Save One: A group for post-abortion healing. For more information, call Judy at 251-5644.

Single & Parenting: Sundays at 6:30 p.m. Covers major challenges single parents face in raising their children, and offers tools to help them meet these challenges. Enter anytime, each lesson stands alone. Call Cathie at 258-6119.

Professionals in Recovery: An ongoing Christian recovery group. For more information, call Gary at 267-7777.

Insight: Discovering the path to Christian character, especially in the midst of stress. Time to be announced. For more information, call Teen Challenge Wyoming at 258-5397.

Possible offering: Committed Couples and/or the Smart Stepfamily (groups designed to strengthen marriages for both married couples and those anticipating marriage) may be offered later this year. For more information on these possibilities, please call Teen Challenge Wyoming at 258-5397.

Shop at Art 321

Did you know ART 321 has a gift shop? Come and shop from our fine selection of original artwork, jewelry, ceramics, prints, and apparel. Perfect for any gift occasion and any budget. ART321/Casper Artists Guild, 321 W. Midwest Ave., hours Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., 265-2655.

Caregiver support meets monthly

Are you caring for a loved one with a debilitating condition? Confusing and conflicting feelings are likely to come up-anger, sadness, hopelessness, resentment and guilt for having those feelings. Please join us on the second Thursday of the each month to talk about your feelings and learn effective ways to release difficult emotions by joining a support group. Meetings will be held at Rocky Mountain Therapy, 2546 East 2nd Street #500, at 5:30 p.m. Different topics will be discussed each month. Coffee and lemonade will be served. We will be meeting on Dec. 15. To RSVP please call 577-5204 and ask for Jerri or Shannon.

Casper Charla

Would you like to practice conversational Spanish or help others learn? Come and join the Casper Charla! Te gustaria platicar en espanol? Ven y charla con nosotros! Todos son bienvenidos!

Come and join us on the third Wednesday of each month this fall. We meet at a different restaurant and partake in food, drink and conversation. All levels of Spanish are welcome, from beginning to native-speakers.

Nos reunimos los miercoles en varios restaurantes en Casper. Ven por una copa, un antojito o simplemente una charlita.

Wednesday, December 14, 5-7 p.m., place to be determined for the Fiesta de Navidad.

Caregiver support

Wyoming Dementia Care offers five Alzheimers Caregiver Support groups each month. Caregivers of those with dementia-related illnesses and the loved ones they care for are welcome at any of the group sessions. Professional staff from Intermountain Home Companions will be on hand to offer separate activities and snacks for those who need care. There is no charge for Wyoming Dementia Cares support groups or for the respite care provided during the approximately one hour long sessions.

The morning support group sessions meet on the first and third Thursday of each month at 10 a.m. at Central Wyoming Senior Services, 1831 E. 4th St. The afternoon support groups meet at 1 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month at Life Care Center of Casper, 4041 S. Poplar. The evening groups meet on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. at Meadow Wind Assisted Living, 3955 E. 12th St.

For information, email wyodementia@casperseniorcenter.com or call Dani Guerttman at 265-4678.

Family continues suicide support

Good Grief, Support will continue at 5:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month at the 12-24 Club, 500 S. Wolcott, by request of attendees. The family of J.R. Hunter, who died from suicide in June 2015 began the support before the especially tough holiday season. Anyone who is grieving a suicide, death, or considering suicide is encouraged to attend. Attendance at the meeting, as well as the content, will be strictly confidential. The Fresh Start Cafe will be open, and you can eat during the meetings. This meeting place was offered by Dan Cantine of the 12-24 Club. You need not be a member to attend.

New depression group begins

J.R.s Hunt for Life is offering See it Clearly, a free peer support group for persons suffering from depression and other mental conditions that lead to suicidal thoughts and actions. We are not professionals but rather a group of like-minded peers wishing to support each other in these struggles. We offer anonymity and confidentiality to all attending. Our meetings are at 6:45 p.m. on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month at 500 South Wolcott in the conference room on the second floor, (12-24 Club). If you have ever considered or attempted taking your life or are struggling, please come. You are important to us.

Family offers faith-based groups

The family of J.R. Hunter, who committed suicide, is going to begin two more support groups, these faith-based, in addition to the groups they run on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month at the 12-24 Club. Those continue.

J.R.s Hunt; for life presents faith-based grief and depression peer to peer support groups at 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. at Restoration Church, 411 S. Walsh.

Grief Support Group, Good Grief: A faith-based grief support group that our family hosts on the first and third Tuesdays of the month at 5:30 p.m. at Restoration Church. Our loss has moved us to offer this to anyone grieving. Youll experience comfort and understanding. We get it.

Depression Support Group, See It Clearly: A faith-based free peer to peer support group for persons suffering from depression and other mental conditions that may lead to suicidal thoughts and actions. We are not professionals but rather a group of like-minded peers wishing to support each other in these struggles. We offer anonymity and confidentiality to all attending. Our meetings are at 6:30 p.m. on the first and third Tuesdays of the month at the Restoration Church. If you have ever considered or attempted taking your life or are struggling, please come. You are important to us.

Parkinsons exercise

Rocky Mountain Therapy is offering a Parkinsons exercise program. Join us from noon to 1 p.m. Thursdays at Rocky Mountain Therapy, 2546 E. Second St., Building 500. These classes are open to anyone with Parkinsons or caring for someone with Parkinsons.

Thursdays class is tailored for the individual with more advanced Parkinsons and focuses on improving endurance, safety and managing symptoms. We are open to all ages and can tailor the class to meet varying exercise needs. The cost of the class is $5. To RSVP, call 577-5204 and ask for Jerri or Shannon.

Celebrate Recovery every Friday

Celebrate Recovery meets at 5:30 p.m. every Friday at Highland Park Community Church, just south of Elkhorn Valley Rehabilitation Hospital on East Second Street. We start with a family meal, followed by praise and worship. At 7 p.m., theres either a lesson from Celebrate Recoverys planned curriculum or a testimony by a person who has found recovery through Christ. Then, people go to gender-specific small groups until 8:30 p.m., when dessert and fellowship conclude the evening. Child care is available at no cost. For more information, contact Chris at 265-4073.

Here and Now: Dementia-focused monthly art class

Classes are every third Tuesday of the month from 1 to 3 p.m. There is no charge. Here and Now is a program made possible through a collaboration between Wyoming Dementia Care and the Nicolaysen Art Museum. It is designed to provide a supportive environment for people with dementia and Alzheimers and their loved ones.

To register, contact Dani with Wyoming Dementia Care 265-4678, ext. 106, or at wyodementia@casperseniorcenter.com or Zhanna Gallegos at 235-5247 or at zgallegos@thenic.org.
Fridays support meetings

Alcoholics Anonymous: 6:30 a.m., 917 N. Beech; 8:30 a.m., 500 S. Wolcott; 10 a.m., 328 E. A; noon, 500 S. Wolcott; 2 p.m., 917 N. Beech; 5:30 p.m., 1124 Elma, Imitate the Image Church; 5:30 p.m., 328 E. A; 7 p.m., 500 S. Wolcott; 8 p.m,. 328 E. A; 8 p.m., 328-1/2 E. A, closed; 8 p.m., 917 N. Beech; 10 p.m., 917 N. Beech. Douglas: noon, 805 E. Richards, Ste. 1; 7:30 p.m., 628 E. Richards (upstairs in back). Unless otherwise noted, Casper info: 266-9578; Douglas info: (307) 351-1688.

Narcotics Anonymous: Noon, 500 S. Wolcott, 12-24 Club; 6 p.m., 500 S. Wolcott, 12-24 Club; 8:30 p.m., 302 E. 2nd St., Methodist Church. Web site: www.urmrna.org.

Overeaters Anonymous: 10 a.m., 12-24 Club, 500 S. Wolcott. Info: Candace, 359-6225; Rebekah, 320-6779.

Al-Anon Family: Noon, 500 S. Wolcott, Ste. 200, 12-24 Club, all ages welcome. Info: 377-7260 or 258-1444.

International Addictions Program: 7 p.m., Calvary Baptist Church, 1800 S. Conwell. Info: 266-5417.

LGTBQ AA/NA: 7 p.m., A 12-Step AA/NA Recovery Group for gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual and questioning persons meets at the United Church of Christ, located at the corner of 15th and Melrose. Info: 259-5026.

Final day for deployment donations

Mesa Natural Gas Solutions, a Casper-based energy company, is working to send a little piece of home to the 126 Wyoming soldiers deployed this holiday season. Friday is the last day to give donations. Casper residents are encouraged to drop off Wyoming-inspired items to send to troops from the Cowboy State currently serving abroad.

More than 60 percent of Mesas employees are veterans or members of the National Guard or Reserves. Combined, their employees have over 200 years of military service and more than 28 overseas deployments. Mesas team was inspired to send care packages to deployed Wyoming troops because of their own personal experiences with serving overseas during the holidays.

Donations can be dropped off 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Mesas Casper headquarters, 441 Landmark Drive, Suite 150. A box for donations is located in the front entryway.

Believe Day

at Macys

Make-A-Wish Wyoming and the Casper Macys store will join together this Friday to celebrate Believe Day, a national event that encourages people to believe in the magic of the holidays and join in the spirit of giving while raising funds for Make-A-Wish.

Supporters are encouraged to visit Macys, write a letter to Santa as part of the Believe campaign and be entered to win a holiday raffle. The raffle includes a Miracle on 34th Street DVD, a popcorn maker, popcorn, a jumbo dominoes set and more. The winner of the raffle will be drawn at 6 p.m. by a local wish family.

Santa believers of all ages are encouraged to write a letter to St. Nick and drop it in the big red letterbox at their local Macys store. For each letter collected in stores and online through Christmas Eve, Macys will donate $1 to Make-A-Wish, up to $1 million, to help grant wishes of children who have life-threatening medical conditions.

At the Casper Believe Day event, supporters who write a letter will be given a raffle ticket to enter in the drawing.

Last weekend, the Chi Omega sorority at the University of Wyoming gathered more than 60,000 letters for the Believe campaign.

Live music at Mountain Plaza

Taylor Corum spends most of his time as a musician in Nashville, but after discovering Bufaflo through the Longmire books six years ago, he started coming out to the area to play. He has been playing at the famous Occidental Hotel in Buffalo.

He will be at Mountain Plaza Assisted Living, 4154 Talon Dr., at 10 a.m. The public is welcome for a great morning of music.

Trains at historic trails center

The Central Wyoming Model Railroad Association is participating in the festive Holidays on the Homestead at the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center. This years theme will be on Wyomings Ghost Trains.

Operating hours will be 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday as well as Dec. 15-17, 22-24 and 29-31. For further information call Homer 266-6439, Harry 235-4950, Nathan 258-7869 or contact the National Historic Trails Center 307-261-7780. Call for a special day and time.

Sunrise craft fair starts Friday

Sunrise Shopping Center Christmas Craft Fair is a great place for last-minute gifts. Now open Friday, 4 to 8 p.m., and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., at 4000 S. Poplar St. Over 60 vendors will have great gift ideas for you and your list.

Pulled pork at Elks

Friday Night Special at the Casper Elks Lodge is pulled pork with mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, corn and roll. All you can eat for $7, children 5 to 12 are $3, serving from 6 to 7 p.m. or until gone. Members, significant others and guest accompanied by a member. For more information, call 234-4839.

Celebrate Recovery every Friday

Celebrate Recovery meets at 5:30 p.m. every Friday at Highland Park Community Church, just south of Elkhorn Valley Rehabilitation Hospital on East Second Street. We start with a family meal, followed by praise and worship. At 7 p.m., theres either a lesson from Celebrate Recoverys planned curriculum or a testimony by a person who has found recovery through Christ. Then, people go to gender-specific small groups until 8:30 p.m., when dessert and fellowship conclude the evening. Child care is available at no cost. For more information, contact Chris at 265-4073.

Friday Melrose music

Join us this Friday, from 7 to 10 p.m., at Melrose Coffee House, 1511 S. Melrose, and enjoy the sounds of A Band Named Sue. Sue Morrison, Jon Porter and friends will close out the fall season with a jam you wont want to miss!

No cover, but we encourage generous tips for our band. Espresso drinks and desserts available at a minimal cost.

Coyotes at

events center

The Casper Coyotes host the Colorado Junior Eagles on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., at the Casper Events Center and at noon on Sunday at the Casper Ice Arena.

Bring a teddy bear for the Teddy Bear Toss on Friday night and throw it onto the ice to benefit Toys For Tots after the Coyotes first goal.

This weekend is promoting Donate Life Wyoming and you can enter to win an autographed jersey if you show the red heart on your drivers license.

Christmas light

show open

The light show at 3148 Whispering Springs is up and will run nightly from 6 to 10 p.m., and until 11 p.m., on Friday and Saturday. We are collecting items for Joshuas Storehouse at the display. There are a total of approximately 50,000 lights all choreographed to popular Christmas music, and free to view and listen to. Just tune your radio to 98.1 FM and enjoy.

Pastel artist opens at CC gallery

Impressionistic pastel artist Karen Hennecks works will be on display at the Mildred Zahradnicek Gallery through Feb. 27. In addition to the show, the artist will give an artists talk on Feb. 24 at 12:30 p.m. as part of Casper Colleges 2017 Humanities Festival and RedStone Concert and Recital Series.

A signature member of the Pastel Society of America, Henneck is also a member of the Pastel Society of Colorado, the Pastel Society of New Mexico, and Casper Artists Guild. Currently, galleries in Wyoming and Colorado represent her.

The Zahradnicek Gallery is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and is free to the public. The gallery is located in the Music Building on the Casper College campus.
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. The destroyed batch of Turkish cucumbers and tomatoes in Russia  which were labeled as Armenian  in reality hasnt been documented in the state service for food safety (SSFS), meaning the SSFS did not issue a phytosanitary certificate for it, SSFS spokesperson Nvard Arakelyan told ARMENPRESS, commenting on the illegally imported vegetable batch which was discovered by Russias Saratov food inspection authorities, which, according to Russian media, were labeled as Armenian.

We also clarified that it was discovered in a retail network rather on the border, meaning theoretically I do not rule out the possibility that something might have been sold under Armenian label, taking into account the Armenian production is prestigious in terms of quality, she said.

According to the spokesperson, no report or official statements were received from their partner structures, but upon being notified on the issue, they contacted the authorities and revealed that no evidence has been presented proving the Armenian origin of the product, except the labeling.

Russian food inspection authorities discovered illegally imported Turkish vegetable batches in Saratov, which were labeled to be Armenian. The total volume of the product comprised 6 thousand 83kg, which included cucumbers and tomatoes.

Under the packaging of the product it was noted that the vegetables were imported from Turkey. The importers failed to provide food safety documents to the Russian inspection. The entire batch has been destroyed.
There are times when the fifth-graders in Amy Raddens math class run the show. The Evansville Elementary teacher will stand at the front and talk for five or 10 minutes before the kids take over.

And that method of letting students learn together and teach together has helped propel Evansville to national recognition.

We really put our power with the students, Radden said. Our mission statement is empowering students to succeed.

The school was singled out for its work closing the achievement gap as a Title 1 school, the state Department of Education announced Wednesday. It was specifically recognized for its progress in math. More than 80 percent of its students across several grade levels are proficient or advanced in math, and the schools students who receive free and reduced lunch outperformed the statewide average in math, according to a news release.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow said she was proud of Evansville, particularly given its Title 1 classification. To be considered Title 1, a schools student body must have a high percentage of kids from low-income families.

Sheridan County School District No. 2s Woodland Park also won a Title 1 award, for exceptional student performance for two or more years. Fifty-seven Title 1 schools were honored last year, Department of Education spokeswoman Kari Eakins said.

Im particularly excited about the award Evansvilles has received, Balow said. Evansville has a particularly high ratio of at-risk learners. Theyve found ways to be innovative.

That method of innovation uses the constructivist model of teaching, which melds the art of teaching with the science of teaching, Balow said.

For Radden, it means showing the students how and why math works, rather than simply teaching formulas. Students are taught to look at problems from all angles and grasp the numbers in a more complete way. Evansvilles instructors have bought into the model, and it stimulates a different classroom dynamic, Radden said.

There are times I dont consider myself a teacher but a facilitator, she said.

That approach allows students to be little teachers, said Radden, whos been at Evansville for 15 years. One of her fifth-graders may raise a hand and have a misconception, and another may pipe up and explain the problem. A students thought turns into a classroom discussion.

The approach thats yielded such success for Evansville comes from a half-decade of work, Principal Wayne Tuttle said. Its only his second year at the schools helm, but he said his two predecessors placed a high emphasis on math.

That emphasis has meant peer reviews among the schools teachers, as well as a trainer to help with professional development. Radden said instructors went through a program a few years ago to teach them the constructivist model that theyve employed at Evansville.

Radden and Tuttle both attributed the national award, for which they were nominated by the states education department, to the success of that model.

For me personally, it just validates what I believe in, Radden said. Ive been very vocal that the constructivist approach is the way to go.

Tuttle also complimented the schools fantastic teachers, who he said help the Title 1 students build a foundation for their lives.

Were helping their future, and we think thats what excites teachers the most, he said. The award validates how the school is helping students prepare for that future.

The students have bought in, too. Tuttle said they love the schools approach. The school greets testing, which Evansville has excelled at, with celebrations.

The schools annual Harry Potter-esque competition helps, too. Every year, Evansville awards its house cup to the grade level with the most points, which can be earned through hitting targets in academics, behavior and attendance.

Once a week, when the point totals are announced, cheers can be heard from the leading grade level.

While the house cup is a sign of a grade levels success, the national award is a victory for a Title 1 school whose students have varied and challenging backgrounds. The school deserves that recognition, Radden said.

A lot of our students come to school with many other challenges that other students dont even know exist, she said. And for them to get an award like that, its just amazing.
Natrona County High School closed early on Thursday after electricity issues persisted throughout the morning, district officials said.

Students were dismissed at 12:15 p.m.

The cause of the problems, which included at least a partial loss of electricity, is still unknown, Natrona County School District spokesman Kelly Eastes said. He had said it could be the frigid temperatures or something related to the ongoing construction at the school.

Because the district couldn't determine the cause of the problems or identify how to completely fix them, officials decided to dismiss students early. Eastes said the power had come on and off throughout the morning.
A Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper and a Thayne man were injured Wednesday when their vehicles collided on U.S. Highway 89 about 20 miles north of Afton.

Trooper Scott Neilson was hospitalized with injuries that were not life-threatening, the patrol said. The other driver, Kenneth Magrath, was treated at Star Valley Medical Center in Afton and later released.

After the crash, a highway patrol K-9 named Hunter escaped from the patrol vehicle and ran away. Troopers found him after he traveled about 3 miles in minus 15 degree weather, the patrol said. The Lincoln County Sheriffs Office and large community response helped in the effort.

This event is yet another example of the high level of quality our Wyoming citizens possess from the support that was provided to our K-9 team last night, highway patrol Col. Kebin Haller said in a statement. This couldnt have ended any better.

The crash occurred at 6:12 p.m., when Neilson was making a U-turn from the shoulder of the highway to help a driver with a broken-down car. The trooper didnt see a 2011 Silverado pickup driven by Magrath, and the two vehicles collided.

Both men were wearing seat belts.
Officials with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game are once again preparing to push a plan to raise hunting and fishing fees, despite previous resistance from state lawmakers who have refused to advance similar proposals.

Director Virgil Moore announced earlier this week that his department has had to cut services because of a drop in funding. The agency relies on revenue from licenses, tags and permits to cover operational costs and does not receive general state tax dollars. However, those fees havent increased in roughly 12 years.

Moore says he plans on asking lawmakers to approve raising resident fees in 2018. As part of the plan, a person can lock in the current price by buying a license in 2017 and each subsequent year  which would allow them to avoid the fee hike.

If approved by the Idaho Legislature, the plan would increase fees by $1 to $6. For example, this would bump hunting licenses from $12.75 to $15.75, while an elk tag would jump from $30.75 to $36.75. The plan is expected to raise $1 million annually.

The level of services Fish and Game provides and our capacity to manage are both decreasing because of increased costs, Moore said in a letter sent to sportsmen. As a result, we are stocking fewer trout and conducting fewer game and fish population surveys.

However, similar proposals have stalled in the Statehouse since the agency first pitched to lawmakers in 2014, with lawmakers disagreeing over the best method for the department to increase revenue.

Thats because the Legislature in 2012 gave authority to the Fish and Game Commission  which supervises the department  to auction up to 12 Governors Wildlife Partnership big-game tags, including three each for deer, elk and pronghorn and one each for bighorn sheep, moose and mountain goat.

Yet to the chagrin of many lawmakers, the commission has declined to offer any tag for auction except for bighorn sheep, which has been auctioned annually since 1988. That tag sold for $90,000 in January.

House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, and Sen. Steve Bair, R-Blackfoot, attempted to force the commission into auctioning the tags with a legislative proposal introduced this year, but that attempt died without a hearing.

Months later, Gov. C. L. Butch Otter declined to reappoint two members of the Fish and Game commission. Sportsmen and commissioners argued that the commission was being punished for not bending to the will of lawmakers. An Idaho wildlife group published emails between a handful of lawmakers unhappy with the Idaho Fish and Game Commissions hard stance to not auction tags to boost revenue.

To help ease the concerns of lawmakers, the department has increased its budget to address damage caused on private land by wildlife and expanded the states landowner appreciation program to allow more hunting tags to be awarded to landowners. The program allows landowners with at least 640 acres in a hunting unit to participate in a separate drawing for tags.

Bair, who chairs the Senate Resources and Environment Committee, said he had not seen the departments latest revenue boost proposal and could not comment.

The only thing I can say about it is that well take a look at it and make decisions at that time, Bair said.
CODY  A man who crashed his pickup into a group of German motorcyclists heading to Yellowstone National Park, killing three, has been sentenced to two years in jail.

Manuel Defuentes, of Ontario, Oregon, was sentenced Wednesday and was given credit for 181 days he has already served. He pleaded guilty last month to three misdemeanor counts of vehicular homicide stemming from the June 9 crash that killed 53-year-old Tino Cachey, 52-year-old Ute Cachey and 37-year-old Erik Brecht.

Four other motorcyclists were injured.

The group was headed to Yellowstone from Cody when Defuentes' truck crossed the center line at a curve. An investigation did not reveal any drug or alcohol use or mechanical issues with the truck.
The blue states of America are in a depression. I dont mean the collective funk of liberal voters because they lost the election to Donald Trump.

Im talking about an economic malaise in the blue states that went for Hillary Clinton. Here is an amazing statistic courtesy of the just-released 2016 edition of Rich States, Poor States, which I co-authored with Reagan economist Arthur Laffer and economist Jonathan Williams: Of the 10 blue states that Democrats won by the largest percentage margins  California, Massachusetts, Vermont, Hawaii, Maryland, New York, Illinois, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Connecticut  every single one of them lost domestic migration (excluding immigration) between 2004 and 2014. Nearly 2.75 million more Americans left California and New York than entered these states.

They are the loser states. They are all progressive: high taxes rates; high welfare benefits; heavy regulation; environmental extremism; high minimum wages. Most outlaw energy drilling. The whole left-wing playbook is on display in the Clinton states. And people are leaving in droves. Day after day, they are being bled to death. So much for liberalism creating a workers paradise. Now lets look at the 10 states that had the largest percentage vote for Trump. Every one of them  Wyoming, West Virginia, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Kentucky, Tennessee, South Dakota and Idaho  was a net population gainer.

This is part and parcel of one of the greatest internal migration waves in American history, as blue states, especially in the Northeast, are getting clobbered by their low-tax, smaller-government rivals in the South and the mountain regions. By the way, pretty much the same pattern holds true for jobs. The job gains in the red states that Trump carried by the widest margins had about twice the job-creation rate as the bluest states carried by Clinton.

The latest Rich States, Poor States report, published by the American Legislative Exchange Council, shows a persistent trend of Americans moving from blue to red states. The best example is that from 2004-2014, the two most populous conservative states  Florida and Texas  gained almost 1 million new residents each. The two most populous liberal states  California and New York  saw an equal-sized exodus.

Its easy to understand why people might want to leave gray and rusting New York. But California? California has, arguably, the most beautiful weather, mountains and beaches in the country, and yet people keep fleeing the state that is supposed to be a progressive utopia. What doesnt make California and New York paradise is the high cost of living  thanks to expensive environmental regulations, forced union policies and income tax rates that are the highest in the nation, at 13 percent or more. Florida and Texas are right-to-work states with no income tax. Is it really a shocker that people would choose zero income tax over 13 percent? New York politicians know that their record-high tax rates are killing growth, which is why the state is spending millions of dollars on TV ads across the country trying to convince people that New York has low taxes. Sure. And Chicago is crime-free. Even when it comes to income inequality, blue states fare worse than red states. According to a 2016 report by the Economic Policy Institute, three of the states with the largest gaps between rich and poor are those progressive icons New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Sure, Boston, Manhattan and Silicon Valley are booming as the rich prosper. But outside these areas are deep pockets of poverty and wage stagnation.

The lesson to be learned from the experimentation of the states is that the progressive tax and spend agenda leads to much slower growth and benefits the rich and politically well-connected at the expense of everyone else. Trump is now promising that on a national scale, he will cut taxes, deregulate and cut wasteful government spending.

In the presidential debates, Clinton disparaged this agenda as trumped up, trickle-down economics, and she said it had never worked.

Yet prospering red states such as Florida, Tennessee, Texas and so many others keep stealing jobs and growth from blue-state America.
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. Germanys Christian Democratic Unions Congress discussed the issue of relations with Turkey, Deutsche Welle reported.

The Congress representatives considered unacceptable the restrictions set by President Erdogan on freedoms of speech, media, religion and holding rallies in Turkey.

At the same time, the CDU representatives said Turkey is the EUs strategic partner, and they dont want to lose it, thus, it is necessary not to cease the negotiation process with Turkey. Although certain CDU members urged the opposite, to cease the talks with Turkey, however, their calls were not accepted.
Around the world, the populist, ethnonationalist far right is gaining vote share  in some cases (ahem) even winning elections.

Also around the world, political observers are shocked  shocked!  that such anti-democratic impulses are gaining ground. But an important new study from three German economists suggests that these phenomena could have been predicted.

In fact, given the 2007-2008 financial crisis, they were virtually preordained.

First, an overview of the populist political rebellion.

On Sunday, Italian voters rejected a constitutional referendum widely seen as a proxy for establishment politicians. It was also a victory for a consortium of populist parties headed by the anti-globalist, anti-elite, Euroskeptic Five Star Movement.

The same day, Austria held its own highly symbolic election. The leader of the nationalist Austrian Freedom Party, Norbert Hofer, came astonishingly close to becoming the first freely elected far-right European head of state since World War II.

Hofer lost, but he still managed to claim a projected 46.7 percent of the vote. Thats the highest national vote share to date for his party  and, for context, higher than the percentage claimed by Americas president-elect. So its hard to argue that the threat that he and his co-partisans represent to a liberal democratic Europe has been neutralized.

Speaking of Donald Trump, he of course represents a tremendous victory for the self-described alt-right. This is a populist, white-nationalist movement in the United States, whose informal leader will soon hold one of the most powerful positions in the White House.

Likewise, in Britain, we can see the phenomenon in Brexit and the rising ethnonationalist, populist U.K. Independence Party. And across the channel, Frances anti-immigrant National Front is gaining steam, as is Germanys comparable AfD party.

Some commentators have analogized this anti-establishment wave to that of the 1930s, when economic instability helped hardline populists gain popularity not just in Europe but also here in the United States.

Thats fair. But its also limiting.

According to the study I mentioned earlier  based on an analysis of 800 elections across 20 countries over 140 years  systemic financial crises have usually produced similar results. Indeed, the researchers find that several trends recur.

One, political polarization and fractionalization rise. The middle hollows out, and parties on the far right benefit more than those on the far left. In fact, on average, the far right sees an increase in vote share of about 30 percent in the five years following a financial crisis.

Two, governing becomes much harder, precisely because of this splintering. There are more political crises, and theres more leadership turnover.

And three, social unrest  anti-government demonstrations, strikes, riots  increases.

These patterns generally do not occur in the wake of normal recessions or major macroeconomic shocks that are not financial in nature.

People see financial crises as man-made disasters, explains Moritz Schularick, an economics professor at the University of Bonn and study co-author. This means that afterward, there is a popular impulse to punish those thought to be responsible.

The scapegoats are often minorities and elites. As weve seen in the recent wave of global anti-elitism, casualties might also include incumbent political parties, central banks, experts, educated cityfolk and the foreigners both at home and abroad viewed as greedily nibbling on natives share of the economic pie.

Why does the populist far right profit more than the populist far left?

Schularick theorizes that after periods of economic uncertainty, people are drawn to the far rights promises of law and order and financial stability, rather than experiments in wealth redistribution.

Theyre voting for reestablishment of order, whatever they perceive that to be, he says.

This is, in my view, among the more tragic implications of this research.

Voters seek out law-and-order politicians precisely because the world has seemingly become so lawless and disorderly; yet those politicians are likely to produce even more chaos, uncertainty and instability.

This is true for Trump, who even before taking office has produced an international incident through his courtesy call from Taiwan, and whose domestic and international policies suggest more volatility to come.

And its likewise true for the anti-establishment, anti-system parties gaining ground across Europe, where they threaten to rip up international agreements and pull out of an already strained currency union.

The one silver lining buried in this depressing study? Right-wing populism may already have peaked. The researchers find that the political effects they document diminish over time, generally reverting back to pre-crisis conditions about 10 years after a crisis.

I wouldnt exactly set your watches yet, but the latest global financial crisis began about nine years ago.
Im drawing a blank. And Im blaming it on my bad cold. My head is all stuffed up and I cant think of anything to write about for todays column. So I decided to open my inbox and turn the first four or five questions into a column. Here goes.

Question: Can immigrants who move to this country get Social Security retirement benefits if they have never worked and paid into the Social Security system? Can they get SSI benefits?

Answer: The quick answers to your questions are no and no. A person must work and pay Social Security taxes for a minimum of 10 years to qualify for Social Security retirement benefits. Certainly, there are noncitizens who get Social Security checks. These are people who came to this country legally and who have lived and worked here long enough to meet that 10-year minimum requirement. So despite all kinds of silly internet rumors to the contrary, there are no immigrants getting Social Security benefits who have not worked and paid Social Security taxes for more than a decade.

And because SSI is a welfare program, U.S. citizenship is required to qualify for benefits. So unless an immigrant becomes a citizen, he or she will never qualify for SSI benefits.

Q: I am getting Social Security disability benefits. When I die, will my wife qualify for my disability payments?

A: Your wife wouldnt qualify for your disability payments, per se. But what she could qualify for is monthly widows benefits, assuming she meets the eligibility criteria. In a nutshell, she would get widows benefits if she is 60 or older when you die. Or if she is under 60 but has minor children in her care. So if there are no little kids at home, and if she isnt 60 years old when you die, she wont get any of your Social Security until she reaches that age.

Q: Can I get Social Security disability benefits if I am getting workers compensation payments?

A: Yes, you can. But one or the other benefit might have to be cut. And thats because there is a law that says the combination of your workers comp payments and your Social Security disability check cannot exceed 80 percent of whatever your average monthly income was before you became disabled. If the total payments exceed that amount, one or the other must be reduced. Which benefit gets cut varies from state to state.

Looks like there is room for one more question out of the mailbag. And it turns out to be maybe the most common question I get.

Q: I will be 62 years old next year. My husband is 70 and has been getting his Social Security for many years now. Can I apply for wifes benefits on my husbands Social Security record and save my own until I am 66 years old?

A: No, you can NOT do that. The law says you must apply for your own Social Security retirement benefits first. And only after you sign up for your own Social Security can you look to your husbands record and see if you can get any additional benefits from his account.

Q: I appreciate the recent column you wrote about the confusion people have between Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income payments. Could you please do the same for Medicare and Medicaid? I work in a doctors office and I swear that three-fourths of the elderly patients I deal with mix them up.

A: I know exactly what you mean. Every single week, I hear from dozens of folks who confuse these two government-run health insurance programs.

In a nutshell, I can explain the major difference this way. Medicare is for anyone, rich or poor, who is 65 or older, or who is getting Social Security disability benefits. Medicaid is for poor people  usually for folks who are on welfare or who are getting SSI benefits. Or to put that another way. Warren Buffet qualifies for Medicare benefits. But he will never be eligible for the Medicaid program.

There are two major parts to Medicare, called A and B. Part A is hospital coverage that helps pay for inpatient hospital bills. It is paid for payroll taxes deducted from workers paychecks. Because you pay for it while you are working, the coverage is free once you reach age 65, or once youve been getting Social Security disability benefits for 24 straight months.

Part B of Medicare is called medical insurance. It provides coverage for doctors visits, lab tests, outpatient hospital care, etc. It is paid for by monthly premiums, usually deducted from your Social Security checks. Anyone 65 or older, or anyone who has been getting Social Security disability benefits for two years in a row, can apply for Part B Medicare coverage. (It is this Part B of Medicare that people usually mistakenly refer to as Medicaid. For example, many folks will tell me that they have Medicare and Medicaid, when what they really mean to say is that they have Parts A and B of Medicare.)

There are also Parts C and D of Medicare. But they are not as common. Part C is sort of like an HMO version of Medicare. Part D provides prescription drug coverage.

Medicaid helps pay for a broad range of medical services for poor people in this country. It is most frequently tied to our nations primary welfare program for the elderly and disabled population, the Supplemental Security Income program. So if you are getting SSI, you also will get Medicaid coverage. Even though Medicaid is tied to the federal SSI program, it is administered by state social service agencies, more commonly known as welfare offices.
Dr. Joe G.N. "Skip" Garcia, who is one of the highest paid employees at the University of Arizona, will resign his post as senior vice president for health sciences.

The UA announced the resignation on Thursday afternoon. Garcia will continue to receive his $870,000 annual salary for two more years under terms of his contract. He will remain working at the UA as a professor at the UA College of Medicine - Tucson and as a researcher.

Garcia's high profile presence at the UA includes overseeing the university's two medical schools  one in Tucson and one in Phoenix. They are currently the only allopathic medical schools in a state with an existing and projected doctor shortage.

"This is a great opportunity for a fresh start," said Cary Pfeffer, a Phoenix resident, author and owner of a consulting firm who sat on a community advisory board to the Phoenix medical school for several years.

"I think the people who have been supportive of medical education at the U of A will be watching this closely and enthusiastically hoping for a good person to take his spot."

$595 million budget

In addition to the medical schools Garcia oversees the UA College of Pharmacy, the UA College of Nursing, and the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. The total health sciences budget is $595 million per year.

Garcia has been the focus of scrutiny this year, most recently when the Arizona Board of Regents contracted a law firm to do a report on concerns about the leadership of the medical schools. The report cost $180,000 in public money but the board of regents, which is the governing body for the state's public university system, has so far refused to release the report to the public.

The decision to do a report was announced after the regents convened in August to address increasing scrutiny of the medical schools and their leadership.

Public criticism of the UA medical school leadership began after well-regarded UA College of Medicine-Phoenix dean Stuart D. Flynn announced in March that he was leaving to be the founding dean of a new medical school in Texas. Shortly after, five members of Flynns leadership team, including the associate dean of admissions and the vice dean of academic affairs, announced their departures.

Critics say it is unheard of for virtually the entire leadership team of a medical school to leave at once. Garcia responded that such departures are common in academic medicine.

Earlier in the summer, the 4,000-member Arizona Medical Association, which has a membership of physicians and medical students, called for an independent investigation into why so many of the Phoenix medical school leaders left at once.

The association expressed concern that the departure of so many top leaders could affect the schools attempt to see full accreditation, a process that is ongoing.

The association asked for exit interviews with the departed deans and publicly called on the Board of Regents to initiate an investigation into any U of A organizational impediments or policies that contributed to the departures of the well-respected and quality team that was in place.

As further fuel to the scrutiny, Garcia, attracted public attention in August when he was the subject of an Arizona Republic article. The article focused on his travel expenses, including a chauffeured car that costs $475 or more for trips between Tucson and Phoenix.

Research portfolio

In its news release, UA officials said that Garcia would be resigning his administrative position devote more time to being a medical school professor and to his expanding research portfolio. Garcia holds a tenured appointment as the Dr. Merlin K. DuVal Professor of Medicine in the UA College of Medicine  Tucson.

In a prepared statement, Hart said that Garcia's leadership will be missed, but that she is "extremely happy" that Garcia has decided to continue his work as a, "world class physician scientist and teacher, and that his impact on the University of Arizona will continue for years to come."

Garcia said in a prepared statement that his first love is cutting-edge clinical and translational research and clinical care, and science-based teaching for the next generation.

"I am proud to have been able to have had such a strong impact on health science at the University of Arizona and am pleased to be able to continue to contribute to this important effort through my scientific research, teaching and clinical work," his statement says.

Garcia will return to the faculty full time in January 2017. An interim senior vice president will be named soon. UA spokesman Chris Sigurdson said he expects a search committee will be convened to find Garcia's replacement.

The Arizona Board of Regents on Thursday issued a statement thanking Garcia for his, "demonstrated excellence and integrity." The regents credited Garcia for helping secure the UA's affiliation agreement with Phoenix-based Banner Health in 2015 and for spearheading a dramatic increase in federal research grants, including the awarding of the National Institutes of Health Precision Medicine Initiative Cohort Program  $43.3 million over five years.
A former faculty member at Pima Community College will receive nearly $150,000 in an out of court settlement after a federal judge found his civil rights were violated by the schools CEO.

David A. Katz will receive $100,000 in compensatory damages and $49,815 for lost pay in the wake of the finding that Chancellor Lee Lambert denied due process to the chemistry instructor who was let go in 2014.

Katz will not, however, get back his old job, which paid $65,000 a year and which he has said he hoped to resume.

Neither side would comment on the settlement, which includes a gag order on all parties and an agreement to not make disparaging, denigrating or defamatory comments, about each other.

The deal was signed Nov. 21 by Lambert and PCC Governing Board chairman Mark Hanna. The Arizona Daily Star received a copy in response to a public records request.

The defendants, including Lambert, two former subordinates and the college district as a whole, denied wrongdoing as part of the settlement.

But a pretrial ruling in July by U.S. District Court Judge Cindy K. Jorgenson found Lambert violated Katzs constitutional right to due process when the instructor was suspended, and later let go without being given an opportunity to defend himself.

The Fourteenth Amendment provides extensive due-process protections to state employees, including the right to an impartial hearing, the right to details of alleged wrongdoing and the right to refute allegations before disciplinary action occurs.

PCC didnt follow any of those practices in the Katz case, said Jorgenson, who declined to rule out the possibility that Lambert could be held personally liable for damages if the matter went to trial.

Katzs lawsuit made several other claims the judge rejected, such as that his free-speech rights were violated when he was disciplined after complaining about laboratory conditions at the colleges west campus.

PCC portrayed Katz in court records as a problem employee prone to angry outbursts, a characterization disputed by some current and former college personnel.

The settlement agreement calls for the parties to bear their own court costs.

Katzs damage award will be covered by PCCs insurer, the Arizona School Risk Retention Trust.
A man was sent to the hospital and his two dogs rescued, after a fire broke out in his apartment on Tucson's north side.

Fire crews arrived at the scene, in the 200 block of East Ft. Lowell Road, at about 4:45 p.m., after receiving a 911 call about a gasoline fire, said Capt. Barrett Baker, a Tucson Fire Department spokesman.

The resident, a man in his 60s, met firefighters at the front door, but told them that his dogs were still trapped inside. Several crews entered the apartment, and the dogs were quickly found and taken outside.

Southern Arizona Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Center, which is located across the street from the apartment, volunteered to help the dogs, and the resident taken to the hospital with smoke inhalation and singeing of his facial hair, Baker said.

It took nine units and 23 firefighters 12 minutes to extinguish the fire, which consumed the apartment's entire kitchen.

Fire investigators have learned that the man was storing gasoline cans inside the apartment, one of which was leaking. When he turned on his stove for heating purposes, the gas vapors ignited, burning him and starting the kitchen fire, Baker said.
When Cassandra Yates was gunned down on Nov. 20, her husband, whos been charged with her killing, was freshly out of jail on a prohibited firearms charge.

A convicted felon with a history of domestic violence, 22-year-old King Yates had been arrested on Nov. 7, after police discovered him with a gun, court records show.

King was subsequently released from the Pima County Jail with no bond, pending a Jan. 3 hearing, according to Tucson City and Pima County Superior Court records.

Less than three weeks after his release, 24-year-old Cassandra died when her husband allegedly shot and killed her at a neighbors apartment.

Before police arrived, King walked away from the apartment, police said.

Paramedic crews tried to save Cassandra, but she died shortly after.

The next morning, police located King while responding to a suspicious activity call after neighbors heard breaking glass at a residence only miles away from the scene of his wifes murder, according to police.

King was found asleep inside a bedroom and arrested without incident.

On Dec. 1, he was indicted on charges of second-degree murder, criminal trespass and prohibited possession of a firearm, court documents show.

But these court cases arent Yates first.

In 2012, a woman who Yates had a relationship with filed a restraining order with Pima County Superior Court.

That same year, he was convicted on a felony drug charge and ended up violating his probation, which landed him in prison from June to November 2013. While in custody, he had a number of disciplinary infractions, including disorderly conduct and harassment, according to Arizona Department of Corrections records.

In January 2014, Yates was arrested on a misdemeanor domestic violence assault charge and pleaded guilty, paying a $378 fine, according to city court records.

He and Cassandra married in September 2014 and two months later, Yates was charged with nine felonies related to drug possession and sales, weapons violations and prohibited possession, but was never convicted. The court ended up dismissing five of the charges and he was acquitted on the other four, records show.

In March 2015, Yates was arrested again on domestic violence assault charges. City court records show that the case is still ongoing.

After his Nov. 7 arrest , the courts Pretrial Services recommended he stay in jail. The court overruled the decision, releasing him on his own recognizance.

Yates is now being held on a $1 million bond pending a hearing Friday.
District of Columbia

Obamacare repeal may leave 30M uninsured

WASHINGTON  Repealing President Obamas health care law without a replacement risks making nearly 30 million people uninsured, according to a study released Wednesday.

Separately, a professional group representing benefit advisers warned congressional leaders of the risk of significant market disruption that could cause millions of Americans to lose their health insurance.

Republicans dismiss such dire scenarios, saying that they are working on replacement legislation. Nonetheless, the complex two-stage strategy the GOP Congress is contemplating has raised concerns not only among supporters of the law, but also industries such as hospitals and insurers.

The plan is for Congress to first use a special budget-related procedure to repeal major portions of the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, next year. The effective date of that repeal would be delayed by months or even years to give lawmakers time to write replacement legislation.

The replacement law would presumably do many of the same things that Obamacare does, such as subsidizing coverage and protecting people with health problems. But it would not involve as much federal regulation, and it would eliminate a highly unpopular requirement that most Americans get health insurance or face fines.

South Dakota

Report: LGBT students

face discrimination

SIOUX FALLS  Many public schools are still hostile environments for LGBT students, an international human rights organization concluded in a report released Wednesday.

The lengthy report from Human Rights Watch was based on interviews primarily with current and former high school students, parents, administrators and teachers in Alabama, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas and Utah. It documented several challenges lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender students face, including in-person and online bullying, limits on LGBT student groups, exclusion of some topics from curricula and discrimination by classmates and school personnel.

In every state we visited, we heard stories of students who were insulted, cyber-bullied or attacked, and teachers who allowed discrimination and harassment because they see it as normal behavior, said Ryan Thoreson, a fellow in the nonprofits LGBT Rights Program.

Ohio

Former astronaut Glenn hospitalized

COLUMBUS  An Ohio State official says former astronaut and U.S. Sen. John Glenn has been hospitalized for more than a week.

Hank Wilson with Ohio State Universitys John Glenn College of Public Affairs said Wednesday that the 95-year-old Glenn is at the James Cancer Hospital, but that doesnt necessarily mean he has cancer.

Wilson said he didnt have other information about Glenns condition, illness or prognosis.

Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. He served as a U.S. senator from Ohio from 1974 to 1999.

Florida

SpaceXs next launch bumped to January

CAPE CANAVERAL  SpaceXs first launch since a rocket explosion at the pad has slipped to January.

The company said Wednesday it needs more time. So instead of launching in mid-December, SpaceX will try in early January.

SpaceX has been grounded three months since the accident, which originated in the upper stage of the Falcon rocket. The next Falcon to fly will carry 10 satellites for Iridium Communications, and launch from Southern California.

The Falcon and its satellite were destroyed in the massive fireball that erupted Sept. 1 as the rocket was being fueled for a test-firing. The pad remains damaged at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Maryland

Bus driver speeding, had prior wrecks

BALTIMORE  The driver of a Baltimore school bus that careened into a transit bus, killing him and five others, was speeding, had a history of previous crashes and had a seizure the week before, national investigators said Wednesday.

Glenn Chappell was driving about 57 mph in a 30-mph zone when he struck a Ford Mustang from behind before colliding with an oncoming Maryland Transit Administration bus last month, according to the National Transportation Safety Boards initial report.

Chappell was driving the school bus for AAAfordable LLC of Baltimore, which held a contract with Baltimore City Public Schools until Nov. 21 of this year. No children were on board at the time of the crash.
George A. Williams

I don't mind a saccharine seasonal play. But cut that unabashed sweetness with a shot of dark humor and the convenient miracles of a Christmas tale like My Three Angels are dosed with reality, making the story perfectly relatableand that's important when the play was penned in 1953 and set in 1910 French Guiana.

In the penal colony of Cayenne, the Ducotel family's small store struggles under the management of the nebbish father figure, Felix. More of a dreamer than a practical businessman, Felix hands out credit to anyone, and in turn, is taken advantage of by everyone. His all too trusting nature is balanced by his wife, Emilie (played in this production with as much depth as is afforded by the writing by the incomparable Bridget Dunne), whose head is a bit more firmly on her shoulders. A team of convicts, or, as they amend their title in the playmurdererson a work release program are busy repairing the family's roof on the cheap. It's Christmas Eve, and along with their daughter, Marie Louise, the family worries over the impending visit of the store's fiscal supporter, the classically contemptible Henri Trochard, accompanied by his arrogant nephew, Paul, who has jilted Marie Louise.

Descending literally from on high (the roof), the team of convicts swings through the shop doors and proceeds to win each of the Ducotelsas well as the audienceover. Played with magnetic charm, this show is theirs. Our leads are Joseph, a charismatic con man played with beguiling aplomb by Shangreaux Lagrave; Jules, whimsical and warm, who contributes a lot of unpretentious heart to the show, played by standout Brian Jackson; and last, but not least, the skulking, surprisingly tender brute, Alfred, assumed by Tim Riley.

While there are the rote and predictable sentiments and happy endings here, they are colored by an alternate morality, guided by the convicts' hard-won wisdom. There is no justice, they repeat many times throughout the playa sentiment articulated in the character of Henri Trochardwho is rich and successful, but entirely lacking in kindness, a foil to the down-and-out angels, who have goodness (their own articulation of it) in spades.

What's created in this indelible production is a hopeful piece of theater, that, while not subtle in its metaphors and morals, renders the viewer accepting and hopeful. There's something of the childlike Christmas spirit in that, I think. And that's not mentioning the many good, full belly laughs delivered by the punchy dialogue. Under the guidance of Micah Linford, this show is a delight. Bolster your holiday spirits with a visit to The Adobe Theater (9813 Fourth NW) before My Three Angels' closing night on Dec. 18.
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. Martin Erdmann, Germanys Ambassador to Ankara was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry following a temporary detention of Turkish Parliament Deputy Speaker Ayse Nur Bahcekapili at the Cologne airport, a diplomatic source told RIA Novosti on Wednesday, Sputnik News reports.



Bahcekapl was detained for 45 minutes in the Cologne airport on Monday on her way back to Turkey, since the police found her temporary passport invalid.



The deputy speaker obtained a temporary document in the Turkish Consulate after her bag with all her identity cards had been stolen during her working visit to Cologne.






YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan instructed Minister-Chief of the Government Staff Davit Harutyunyan to organize meetings with the businessmen next week , reports Armenpress.

It is instructed to organize separate meetings with 10 major tax payers, 10 major importers, 10 major exporters, 5-10 major investors and 5 banks next week, the PM said adding that the issues faced by them will be discussed.
Italy

Renzi quits; search is on for new leader

ROME  Italian Premier Matteo Renzi resigned Wednesday evening, his self-inflicted penalty for staking his job on constitutional changes voters resoundingly rejected earlier in the week. He will stay in a caretakers role at the request of Italys president until a new government can be formed.

Renzi had first offered his resignation Monday, shortly after voters rejected the constitutional reforms his center-left government had championed. President Sergio Mattarella, Italys head of state, told him to stay in office until Parliament completed approval of the 2017 national budget.

A few hours after the budget was passed on Wednesday, Renzi returned to the Quirinal presidential palace. This time, Mattarella accepted the resignation of the man who in February 2014 became Italys youngest premier at age 39.

Mexico

Millions accept invite to Sweet 15 party

MEXICO CITY  Millions of people have accepted a videotaped invitation to a girls coming of age party in rural northern Mexico after the invite went viral.

The Ibarra familys invitation for their daughters down-home 15th birthday party complete with horse races and local music groups was posted to a local web site.

Evidently the familys simple, sincere demeanor caused the invitation to go viral, even though the township of 10,000 where the family lives couldnt hold a tenth of the millions who watched, liked or otherwise responded.

Authorities in the northern state of San Luis Potosi said they were adding extra security measures for Rubi Ibarras Sweet 15 party on Dec. 26. State congressman Roberto Segovia has said he wants Red Cross and state civil defense personnel be posted in the area.

Vatican City

Pope insists suggestion has church backing

Pope Francis says the majority of the worlds bishops back his suggestion that civilly remarried Catholics can receive Communion, adding fuel to the debate that has riled some conservative Catholics.

In an interview Wednesday with the Belgian Catholic weekly Tertio, Francis said his 2016 document The Joy of Love  which contains the suggestion  was the fruit of two meetings of bishops over two years.

It is interesting that all that (the document) contains, it was approved in the Synod by more than two thirds of the fathers. And this is a guarantee, he said.

Russia

Police arrest 12 terrorist suspects

MOSCOW  Russias security agencies have arrested 12 people accused of involvement in a terror organization.

Moscows branch of the Russian Interior Ministry said the suspects were searching for recruits for an unspecified organization. Wednesdays bust in Moscow was conducted jointly by the Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service, the main KGB successor agency known under its acronym FSB.

Gaza Strip

Two militants killed in tunnel collapse

GAZA CITY  The Islamic militant group Hamas that rules Gaza says two of its members were killed when a military tunnel they were working on collapsed in the territory near the border with Israel.

Gazas Health Ministry said another Palestinian was injured in the incident. Hamas said they were working in a resistance tunnel.
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. The Parliament of Armenia will hold an extraordinary sitting on December 12 by the Governments suggestion, Minister-Chief of the Government Staff Davit Harutyunyan said at the Governments session, reports Armenpress.

He said the agenda exists, however, amendments will be made.

The bill criminalizing the illicit enrichment is included in the agenda. In his turn, Minister of Economic Development and Investments Suren Karayan proposed to include also the loan agreement in the agenda.
It takes three different employees to prep the ingredients for Obon's intergalactic cocktail menu. The downtown sushi bar makes everything from scratch (including the liquid "blood bits" on the zombie drink), so on Sundays the team will get together to dehydrate pineapples and cut up onions for the Japanese liqueur.

It takes them five hours.

But of course it's worth it, because when they're done the onions become the star ingredient in the Kung Fud, a showy beer cocktail that tastes rather like a "cheese plate," according to beverage director Matt Martinez. The onions are caramelized and then infused with shochu, a Japanese spirit made from fermented rice. (The shochu is actually produced in California at the Bay Area distillery St. George Spirits.) Oatmeal stout adds a chocolaty layer at the top of the cocktail, balancing out the sweet raspberry and the unadulterated funk of the onions.

Obon's house mixologist Martinez developed the menu along with the restaurant's bar manager Marlee Palmer. She's the one responsible for the squid ink cocktail with the edible glitter (pictured up top). The Space Oddity is dedicated to David Bowie and is pitch black like motor oil, with sparkly silver weaves of corn starch "pearl dust" that resemble a floating galaxy. (She originally found them at a Michaels craft store.)

The Space Oddity really doesn't look like something you'd drink, but the creation is actually rather tasty. It is sweet and syrupy with a lemony tang, perhaps from the apple brandy she puts in there. Other than color, the squid ink just adds a tiny bit of saltiness and that's it. Surprise, no fishy flavor!

Register for more free articles. Log in Sign up

If it seems like this article is all over the place, that's because it is. Obon's menu runs the gamut of contemporary cocktail trends, with nods to tiki culture, Japanese kitsch and the world of Mexican mescal (check out the Elote Libre with a corn spiced rim). Martinez said that they dreamed up each cocktail like they would a dish of food.

"If there's an ingredient we're really stoked about, we want to play around with it," he said.

The Zonbi cocktail started like that, with the edible brain. Matt had the idea to make a coconut flavored jello shot with a brain mold, and then spray some cocktail bitters on top to look like blood. (Hence the "blood bits".) The rest of the cocktail is simple, with a blend of three rums and some cinnamon butter syrup they call Cinnabon. It's sweet and boozy like any good tiki drink should be. Oh yeah, and they put absinthe in there, because, why not!

Obon Sushi Bar and Ramen is at 350 E. Congress St. Call (520) 485-3590 to set up a reservation.
Help India!

By Faisal Fareed, TwoCircles.net

As Uttar Pradesh gears up for the upcoming elections, it is becoming increasingly clear that for Samajwadi Party, the squabble within the family remains a major concern. The acrimony which began in September is still visible, and the supporters of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and state president Akhilesh Yadav continue to remain divided.

Support TwoCircles







Shivpal Yadav addressing SP rally at Bareilly with minister Riyaz Ahmed.



SP has held two major rallies so far as part of its assembly election campaign. The first was held at Ghazipur on November 23 while the second one was held at Bareilly on December 7. Both were addressed by Mulayam, but Akhilesh abstained from both the rallies.

At Ghazipur rally when Akhilesh did not arrive it was attributed due to the presence of Ansari brothers (Mukhtar, Afzal and Sibghatullah) who were prominent during the rally. It was reported that for projecting a clean image due to criminal antecedent of Mukhtar Ansari, Akhilesh stayed away.

But the same factors, or people, were not present in Bareilly. Still, Akhilesh did not attend the rally.





Leaders om the stage including Mulayam at Bareilly rally.



At both these rallies, Shivpal supporters sat in the front. At Ghazipur, sacked ministers: Om Prakash Singh, Shadab Fatima and Narad Rai, who are known to be Shivpal supporters, were busy organizing the rally and Mulayam even publicly favoured for their reinstatement. At Ghazipur, another son from the Yadav family, Aditya Yadav alias Ankur Yadav, son of Shivpal Yadav was publicly launched and he addressed the rally for the first time.

At Bareilly, Mulayam again chided Akhilesh. He openly stated that former ministers like Shivpal Yadav, Om Prakash Singh and Ambika Choudhary have been removed despite doing good work in the government. He also asked minister Gayatri Prajapati for asking Akhilesh as to why the recruitment in police department had not been completed so far. Prajapati is also a known Mulayam supporter, and like others, he too was sacked but was later reinstated after Mulayam intervened. The Yadav patriarch also did not give any hint about possible tie-up with Congress, a proposal being mooted by Akhilesh.

At both these rallies, Akhilesh supporters were given raw deal. Most of them were not invited on the stage, and the rallies were had just a few hoardings of Akhilesh, and none with both Shivpal and Akhilesh in the same frame. Even Dharmendra Yadav, who is Badaun MP and is reported to be in the Akhilesh camp, did not get a chance to address the rally at Bareilly. In last rally at same place in Bareilly in 2013 he was the convenor. The sideling of Dharmendra becomes all the more curious given that he is the only MP from the party in the entire Rohilkhand region.





Crowd at Bareilly rally.



Slogans in favour of Akhilesh also were raised in feeble voice. For three hours, Dharmendra sat quietly on the stage but did not get an opportunity to address the rally. Akhilesh supportersShahzl Islam, Ataurrehman, both of whom are MLAs, were also not given a chance to address the rally.

Azam Khan, the Muslim face of the party also did not attend both these rallies. Recently he is reported in media to have shifted towards Akhilesh camp. At Bareilly, another Muslim leader minister Riyaz Ahmed of Pilibhit was given importance who was also given the opportunity to conduct the rally from the stage. Riyaz justified his loyalty by stating that after Gandhi, it is Mulayam who has stood for Muslims and the community should not leave him. The previous rally held two years ago, Azam was the main speaker at Bareilly.

Recently on December 6 another event has gone against Akhilesh. Amar Singh has been appointed as member of central parliamentary board of the party, the body which officially decides tickets to candidates in assembly polls. For Amar Singh, Akhilesh has openly stated that if he had been president of party, he would have shown him door.

Akhileshs supporter Ramgopal was not present in both the rallies.

Meanwhile, Shivpal Yadav conveyed the message. At Bareilly, a day before the rally when asked about Akhilesh as CM face, he commentedNo comments. While during addressing the rally, he openly said that next election will be fought under the leadership of Mulayam. During his whole speech he did not take name of Akhilesh.

In coming days, the tussle is likely to deepen when ticket distribution is done in the party. The two groups are yet to reconcile while the assembly elections are inching closer and this is likely to harm their prospects.
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. On December 8, 2016, in accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the OSCE Mission conducted a planned monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan in the direction of the NKR Askeran region, north-east of Kengerli settlement, press service of the NKR MFA told Armenpress.

From the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring was conducted by Field Assistants to the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Ghenadie Petrica (Moldova) and Khristo Khristov (Bulgaria).

From the opposite side of the Line of Contact, the monitoring was conducted by Personal Assistant to the CiO Personal Representative Simon Tiller (Great Britain), Field Assistant to the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Irji Aberle (Czech Republic), and staff member of the Office Peter Svedberg (Sweden).

The monitoring passed in accordance with the agreed schedule. No violation of the ceasefire regime was registered. However, the Azerbaijani side did not lead the OSCE mission to its frontlines.

From the Karabakh side, the monitoring mission was accompanied by representatives of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense.
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. Armenia will soon open an Embassy in Moldova. The Government approved the corresponding draft decree of the President during the Cabinet meeting.

The Moldovan side has officially agreed on opening an Armenian Embassy in Chisinau, deputy minister of foreign affairs Shavarsh Kocharyan said.

Diplomatic ties between Armenia and Moldova were established on May 18 in 1992. After the establishment of the diplomatic ties, Ambassadors of the two countries were accredited, however the residence was outside the country of accreditation (Residence of Armenian Ambassador to Moldova  Kiev).
In what has been described as a historic moment, Members of Parliament have decided to begin Brexit, the UKs departure from the EU (which is looking to take about ten years to fully take effect, far and wide ramifications considering it only took Cameron a few months of his term to mess everything up), by the end of March next year.

461 MPs voted in favour, while only 89 voted against

A total of 461 MPs voted in favour of kicking off Brexit nice and early, whereas a mere 89 voted against it, probably to allow more time for the revolution or some kind of a flipping of the script that the liberals saddened by the referendum result are all hoping for.

Theresa Mays desired outcome came in by a phenomenal 372-vote lead, although the Prime Minister missed the vote as she was off in the Middle East for a business trip.

Ken Clarke was the only Conservative MP to oppose Brexit, reminiscent of the six Republicans who objected to the Iraq Resolution in the face of the 215 who couldnt wait to get started. Clarke stood alongside 23 Labour MPs who also opposed it, with the rest of the votes against it being lefties.

Vote for Theresa May to reveal Brexit plan

Another vote at Parliament is a move to require Theresa May to publish her Brexit strategy before Article 50 goes through. Article 50 is essentially the formal process of leaving the EU, which until Article 50 is triggered, is just something more than half of Britons voted for that resulted in a controversy that forced David Cameron to resign and is now being planned for by our government, so like Ron Burgundy, its kind of a big deal.

This vote received a similar landslide vote in favour, because so far, May has been very coy about her plans for handling Brexit. Other than some notes glimpsed in the hands of a Tory aide on CCTV footage of Downing Street, very little is known of her plan, and she has staunchly refused to reveal it, suggesting that maybe she doesnt have one.

Angus MacNeil has some harsh words about Brexit

SNP MP Angus MacNeil was very adamant that if the government didnt start answering the publics questions about the EU leave, it would reflect badly on them and turn the British people against the idea. He said, No answers is not a black Brexit or a white Brexit. Its not a red, white and blue Brexit. No answers is a yellow Brexit. Its a cowardly Brexit. Is someone going to award him the Guinness World Record for most uses of the word Brexit in one breath?
On Monday, around 2,300 people crammed into the Riverside Church - a building steeped in historical significance- to celebrate the 20th anniversary of independent news channel Democracy Now!

Democracy Now! first aired February 19th, 1996, on the eve of the New Hampshire primary. Rooted in radio, Democracy Now! has rapidly expanded and now airs on over 1,400 television and radio stations all over the globe.

Political dissident and activist Noam Chomsky was among those present for the celebration. Initially beginning his academic career in linguistics, over the past fifty years, Noam Chomsky has become one of the most prominent anti-establishment intellectuals in the world.

Chomsky is renowned for both his outspoken commentary on various US governments and his criticism of traditional media in creating political agendas.

At the Democracy Now! anniversary conference, Chomsky discussed president-elect Donald Trump.

Chomsky began by stating that young people will be "facing problems that have never arisen in the 200,000 years of human history", bemoaning that there will be an ongoing struggle to "save the human species from a pretty grim fate".

The institute emeritus professor at the Massachusetts Institution of Technology continued, invoking parallels between the spread of fascism across Europe in 1939-the year he first wrote about political discourse-to the spread of fascism across the globe in 2016.

Chomsky's comments came mere hours after Italian Prime Minster Matteo Renzi resigned following a comprehensive defeat in a referendum to reform Italian constitution.

59% of Italians voted against the proposed reforms as the Eurozone's third biggest economy descended into chaos.

The victory has galvanized the populist Five Star Movement and the xenophobic Northern League-both of whom lead the opposition to the proposed reforms. Upon the election of Donald Trump, Five Star Movement leader Beppe Grillo exuberantly exclaimed that Trump' ascension represented a giant "fuck you" to the political establishment.

Again, the recent events in italy are a rejection of establishment Politics that have alienated a significant proportion of the electorate.
An internet troll has been found guilty of harassing a Labour politician with a collection of antisemitic posts following the incarceration of a fellow far-right extremist in 2014. Joshua Bonehill-Paine was found guilty of racially aggravated harassment after writing five hate fuelled blogs about Labour MP Luciana Berger, after Garren Helm received a four-week prison term in October 2014 for admitting to tweeting a picture of Berger with a Star of David on her head with the caption "Hitler was right."

Racist material

During the following four months after Helm's arrest, fellow far-right extremist Bonehill-Paine posted several articles referring to Berger as a "dominatrix" and "an evil money-grabber" who had a problem with men.

In one of the articles he also spoke about he believed that the number of Jewish Labour MP's was an issue. Bonehill-Paine's posts also included offensive pictures of Berger, including one image with her face superimposed onto the body of a rat. During the period when Bonehill-Paine made the posts about Berger he was on bail, as he awaited sentencing for claiming via Twitter that several people were paedophiles.

Internet used for racist agenda

This is not the first time Berger has been targeted by internet trolls because of her religion. After trying to get certain antisemitic words blocked from Twitter in 2014, American white supremacist site Daily Stormer started a campaign against Berger called 'Operation Filthy Jew Bitch' in which they encouraged supporters to target the Wavertree MP with racist abuse, Berger received over 2,500 tweets as a result of the campaign, something Bonehill-Paine referred to as "fantastically successful".

Berger gives evidence on racist attack

Whilst giving evidence against Bonehill-Paine, the Labour MP said that the posts she received were sickening and made her feel "under attack". She told the jury that the posts had made her fear for her safety and that the police were in "constant contact" with her at her home and at her office.

Bonehill-Paines legal representation labelled the posts as "satire" and argued that they fell under the rights of freedom of speech. Bonehill-Paine refused to receive questions in the witness box. The jury was also informed that Bonehill-Paine is already serving a jail term for posting other antisemitic material after being found of inciting racial hatred last December after producing flyers advertising a neo-Nazi rally in an area of London with a large Jewish population, the flyers featured an image of the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp and said that the event would be "a gas".

Bonehill-Paine faces up to two years in prison when he is sentenced later on in the week. The 24-year old's conviction comes just days after neo-Nazi Thomas Mair received a life sentence over the murder of another Labour MP Jo Cox.

Berger took to Twitter following the verdict to thank people for their "kind and supportive messages".
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. By the decision of Armenias Government Armenias jurisdiction fund is being established, and the provisions of its program were approved at the Government session, reports Armenpress.

Minister of Economic Development and Investments Suren Karayan said the fund aims to develop the platform of respective steps which will make Armenia more attractive for foreign investments and will create incentives to direct the financial flows of foreign companies, as well as the human resources to Armenia.

The implementation of the program will make Armenia more attractive and comfortable hub for the investment flows between the large markets, the Minister said.

The fund board will be headed by Aram Gharibyan - Chief Adviser to the President of Armenia.

Finance Minister Vardan Aramyan, Minister of Economic Development and Investments Suren Karayan and others are board members.
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. Minister of foreign affairs of Armenia Edward Nalbandian had a meeting on December 8 with his Kyrgyzstani counterpart Erlan Abdyldaev within the framework of the 23rd council of OSCE member state foreign ministers, the MFA told ARMENPRESS.

The sides exchanged views on upcoming steps aimed at expanding bilateral cooperation. In this regard, the organization of high-level visits was highlighted, and establishment of ties between various agencies and business circles.

The ministers discussed issues relating to different fields of the OSCE activities and issues which are set to be discussed at the ministerial council.

The meetings agenda included deepening of cooperation in international structures.

Nalbandian and Abdyldaev also discussed OSCE agenda issues.
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. President of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Bako Sahakyan on December 8 welcomed Armenias President Serzh Sargsyan at the Stepanakert airport, press service of the NKR Presidential administration told Armenpress.

The two Presidents attended the opening ceremony of the new barrack located in one of the military units of the central part of the NKR.

The same day the two Presidents convened a consultation in the NKR Defense Ministry with the participation of the supreme command staff of the Defense Army.

Issues related to the army building and the current situation in the borders were discussed during the consultation.
Several grassroots limited government organizations have sent a letter to a key committee chairman in Congress asking that language banning internet-based gaming not be included in the spending bill pending in the lame-duck session. The internet gaming ban legislation is similar policy to the language of the Restoration of America's Wire Act (RAWA) legislation that failed to advance in Congress earlier this year. The groups sent the letter to Rep. John Culberson, Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science, the committee where the spending bill will be heard.

The letter states, We, the following free-market, limited-government, and freedom-oriented organizations are asking you to oppose language supporting any kind of ban or federal limitation on internet gaming that might be included in a 'lame-duck' spending bill.

Inclusion of RAWA in Spending Bill

The letter highlighted the rejection of earmarks in the spending bill by House Speaker Paul Ryan, and how including legislation like RAWA in the spending bill is inconsistent with reforming the process. It also mentioned RAWA, stating, ...we believe that an effort is underway to reward Republican donors by passing the Restore America's Wire Act (RAWA) and creating a de facto ban on Internet gambling.

In a letter to Speaker Ryan, Rep.

Mick Mulvaney requested that Congress vote, during the lame-duck session, on a clean continuing resolution, free of legislative add-ons such as the RAWA legislation. Members of Congress often use the lame-duck spending bill to sneak in legislation, often included at the bequest of special interest groups or big money donors, that has not otherwise gone through the normal legislative process of committee hearings, markups, and Congressional debate.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), who has received several donations from Las Vegas casino owner Sheldon Adelson, sponsored RAWA and held a hearing for it before the House Oversight Committee, where he's chairman, earlier this year. Adelson strongly supports RAWA because of the perceived threat to his brick-and-mortar casinos from online gambling being legalized and regulated in some states.

RAWA Failed in Congress

After the hearing on RAWA before the House Oversight Committee, the bill failed to gain any additional support from members of Congress. It was clear that a federal ban on state-based Internet gambling violated the Tenth Amendment, and giving Congress such authority also endangers Second Amendment rights if Congress were to also use it to prohibit states from allowing ammunition and firearms sales online. Most Republican members as well as Democrats seemed to oppose RAWA.

The letter from the groups further highlighted problems with circumventing Congressional procedure, stating Furthermore, the consequence of RAWA legislation being buried in a spending bill sets a dangerous precedent for any party to use such bills in the future to circumvent the Constitutions protections in a variety of areas, including the 2nd Amendment, which increases the possibility of further federal intervention in firearm and ammunition sales.

Groups Opposed to RAWA

The letter opposing RAWA was signed by Andrew Langer, President of the Institute for Liberty, David Williams, President of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, Andrew F.

Quinlan, President of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, Michelle Minton, Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Norm Singleton, Senior Vice President of the Campaign for Liberty, Seton Motley, President of Less Government, and George S. Scoville, III, who is a Constitutional Scholar and Online Commentator.
President-elect Donald Trump received an unexpected offer from Antonov, the manufacturer of the world's largest aircraft in Ukraine, in a tweet. Antonov offered to sell Trump one of its large aircrafts to replace Air Force One (AF1) after Trump tweeted an order to "scrap" plans to purchase a new plane from Boeing for around $4 billion. In that tweet,

Trump acknowledged that Boeing was planning to produce the outrageously expensive aircraft; but that the costs were "out of control." Trump then ended the tweet with the order: "Cancel order!"

@realDonaldTrump May be it is better to consider #Antonov aircraft as Air Force One?  Antonov Company  (@AntonovCompany) December 7, 2016

How much is $4 billion?

Four billion dollars is four thousand, million dollars.

To put it into perspective, a $200 million urban hotel would cost one fifth of one billion dollars (five hotels per one billion dollars). Then if you were to multiply that times 4, it would come to 20 hotels altogether. And so one $4 billion jet would cost the same as 20 urban hotels, each costing $200 million! (Ironically, Trump now is having to sell his urban hotel, the Trump International Hotel, before he takes office. It is worth well over $200 billion though).

To bring the comparison more down to Earth, the aircraft would cost the same as 16,000 homes each costing $250,000 (4 houses per million x 1,000 = 4,000 houses per billion dollars X4 = 16,000 houses!). As anyone can see from this simple math, Boeing's costs are outrageous and beyond reason.

It is unknown what the exact costs of Antonov's aircraft would be, but it undoubtedly would be much less prohibitive than are Boeing's costs.

No contract so far

To date, no contract for the building of the new aircraft has been signed between the Obama Administration and Boeing. So far, all that the Administration has done is pay Boeing $170 million to determine the feasibility of building a new fleet of White House aircraft, including a new Air Force One.

Antonov's largest aircraft thus far is the Antonov-225 Mriya cargo plane, which is not a passenger jet. Of course, Air Force One would have to be a luxury passenger jet with offices, briefing rooms, a kitchen, a nuclear command center and other many other things.

Firing of Michael Flynn, Jr.

Meanwhile, Trump has had a busy week.

In addition to taking a call from the the President of Taiwan and violating the "one China policy" and setting off an international firestorm, the befuddled President-elect also fired Michael Flynn, Jr. from his transition team for intensifying the Washington, D.C. "Pizzagate" scandal with a series of inflammatory tweets. And the announcement of Trump's nominee for Secretary of State is promised within the next week; not one boring moment in the Trump Transition world.
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan arrived on December 8 to Nagorno Karabakh on a working visit. In Stepanakert airport, Serzh Sargsyan was welcomed by NKR President Bako Sahakyan, Defense Army commander Lt. General Levon Mnatsakanyan and other top military officials, the Presidents Office told ARMENPRESS.

During the visit, the two Presidents had earlier attended the opening of a new barracks in a military post. President Sargsyan awarded several distinguished servicemen. Afterwards, a consultation was held between Armenia and NKR within the framework of the military cooperation in the Defense Army headquarters. The Commander of the Defense Army briefed the Presidents on the latest works and upcoming projects. Issues related to equipping the army with new technologies and armaments were also discussed.
Taiwan's main opposition Democratic Progressive Party, DPP, Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen speaks during a press conference in Taipei, Taiwan, April 15, 2015. [Photo/IC]

Close attention will be paid to Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen's transit via the United States when she travels to Guatemala in early January, for it will shed light on what direction Sino-US relations will take when Donald Trump enters the White House.

Despite Beijing's opposition, the US insists it is a "long-standing practice" since it has given the nod to such transits by leaders of the island many times before.

However, Tsai's transit is taking place soon after she and Trump held a phone conversation, breaking with decades of precedent.

No incumbent or incoming US president has spoken by phone with a Taiwan leader since 1979, when Beijing and Washington established diplomatic relations.

The incident, if indeed by design as reported, could indicate a major US policy shift that would threaten relations, since they are built on the long-standing acknowledgment by the US of one China, which is the sine qua non for healthy relations.

So far Beijing's response to the conversation has remained restrained. It has taken a wait-and-see attitude, giving Trump the benefit of the doubt since he is a novice in foreign policy and won't take the helm until the Jan 20 inauguration. Beijing has demonstrated calmness and confidence again after Trump, in a twitter tirade, lambasted China for its trade, currency and South China Sea policies on Sunday; and even after his economic adviser Stephen Moore went so far as to say "screw them" in a vulgar verbal attack against China.

Such prudence is laudable for the time being, for a good Sino-US relationship serves not only the best interests of people in both countries, but also peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific and beyond.

However, with separatist-minded Tsai due to set foot on US soil, further provocative moves by the US president-elect and his team cannot be ruled out given the reckless and impulsive style of leadership that Trump displays. Especially, as hawks in the US have never given up hope of using Taiwan as part of the US' pivot to Asia aimed at containing the mainland's rise.

Although Beijing has shown that it is willing to keep the bigger picture in mind, this attitude should not be mistaken for weakness.

China has to prepare for the worst, even though it will continue to do all it can to maintain a healthy bilateral relationship. What has happened over the past weeks tends to suggest that Sino-US relations are facing uncertainty as never before, as Trump's words are not necessarily more bark than bite.
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov, Secretary of State of the United States John Kerry, and Foreign Minister of France Jean-Marc Ayrault have issues a joint statement on Nagorno Karabakh conflict in the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Hamburg,, particularly highlighting the preservation of 1994/95 ceasefire agreements between Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan and the implementation of the Vienna and St. Petersburg agreements as key preconditions for the resumption of peace talks. As Armenpress was informed from the press service of the OSCE, the statement runs as follows,

We, the Heads of Delegation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries  Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov, Secretary of State of the United States John Kerry, and Foreign Minister of France Jean-Marc Ayrault - remain fully committed to a negotiated settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

In light of the dramatic escalation in violence along the Line of Contact in April, we express concern over continuing armed incidents, including reports on the use of heavy weapons, and strongly condemn the use of force or the threat of the use of force. There is no military solution to this conflict and no justification for the death and injury of civilians. We are also aware of allegations of atrocities committed on the field of battle in April, which we condemn in the strongest terms. We appeal to the sides to confirm their commitment to the peaceful resolution of the conflict as the only way to bring real reconciliation to the peoples of the region. We also urge them to adhere strictly to the 1994/95 ceasefire agreements that make up the foundation of the cessation of hostilities in the conflict zone.

We call on Baku and Yerevan to honor the agreements reflected in the Joint Statements of the 16 May Summit in Vienna and the 20 June Summit in St. Petersburg. We welcome the sides progress in implementing the exchange of data on missing persons under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross. We urge the parties to remove all remaining obstacles to expanding the mission of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and to make progress on a proposal to establish an OSCE investigative mechanism. The proposals should be implemented together with the immediate resumption of negotiations on a settlement. We would like to reiterate our call to the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to demonstrate flexibility and to return to the negotiation table with the firm aim of moving toward a sustainable peace on the basis of the current working proposals. Unless progress can be made on negotiations, the prospects for renewed violence will only increase, and the parties will bear full responsibility.

We remind the sides that the settlement must be based on the core principles of the Helsinki Final Act, namely: non-use of force, territorial integrity, and the equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and additional elements as proposed by the Presidents of the Co-Chair countries, including return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control; an interim status for Nagorno-Karabakh providing guarantees for security and self-governance; a corridor linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh; future determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh through a legally binding expression of will; the right of all internally displaced persons and refugees to return to their former places of residence; and international security guarantees that would include a peacekeeping operation. Our countries will continue to work closely with the sides, and we call upon them to make full use of the assistance of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs as mediators.

The Co-Chair countries are prepared to host a meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan when they are ready. We firmly believe that the Presidents need to engage in negotiations in good faith at the earliest opportunity. Continuous and direct dialogue between the Presidents, conducted under the auspices of the Co-Chairs, remains an essential element in building confidence and moving the peace process forward.
Culture Shock

Getting Free

Idris Goodwin's notes toward liberation through imagination
On December 8, 2016, in accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the OSCE Mission conducted a planned monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan in the direction of the NKR Askeran region, north-east of Kengerli settlement, press service of NKR MFA stated.

December 8, 2016, 12:43 OSCE Mission conducted a planned monitoring in the direction of the NKR Askeran region

STEPANAKERT, DECEMBER 8, ARTSAKHPRESS: From the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring was conducted by Field Assistants to the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Ghenadie Petrica (Moldova) and Khristo Khristov (Bulgaria).

From the opposite side of the Line of Contact, the monitoring was conducted by Personal Assistant to the CiO Personal Representative Simon Tiller (Great Britain), Field Assistant to the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Jiri Aberle (Czech Republic), and staff member of the Office Peter Svedberg (Sweden).

The monitoring passed in accordance with the agreed schedule. No violation of the cease-fire regime was registered. However, the Azerbaijani side did not lead the OSCE mission to its front-lines.

From the Karabakh side, the monitoring mission was accompanied by representatives of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense.
On November 30, the representatives of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Delegation in Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan, visited Armenian POW Arsen Baghdasaryan, and provided him with an opportunity to exchange family news.

December 8, 2016, 14:47 Red Cross visits Armenian POW in Azerbaijan

STEPANAKERT, DECEMBER 8, ARTSAKHPRESS: Communication officer of the ICRC Mission in Nagorno-Karabakh, Eteri Musayelyan, informed that the visit was conducted in line with the standard ICRC procedures.

According to its mandate, the ICRC visits detainees to monitor their treatment and conditions of detention and help to ensure that they are able to maintain contact with their families, added Musayelyan.

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR/Artsakh) citizen Arsen Baghdasaryan was taken into Azerbaijani captivity on December 26, 2014. And within the framework of a hastily concocted case, he was charged with sabotage and sentenced to 15 years in a maximum security prison.
Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, on Thursday participated in the meeting of the FMs of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member states.

December 8, 2016, 15:22 Armenia FM attends CSTO ministers talk in Germany

STEPANAKERT, DECEMBER 8, ARTSAKHPRESS: The event was held along the lines of the 23rd Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Ministerial Council meeting in Hamburg, Germany.

The ministers discussed the course of carrying out the decisions that were reached during the CSTO Council of Collective Security session that was convened in October, in Armenias capital city of Yerevan, and the coordination of foreign policies of the CSTO member countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia informed.

The discussants also exchanged views on the matters that are on the agenda of the OSCE Ministerial Council, and reflected on regional and global issues.
At the conference, the police commissioner expressed concern that police behaviour was getting out of hand and that the force needed to undergo drastic transformation to bring back discipline and regain public confidence, both of which are at an all time low.

The irony of this latest account of police brutality against this unfortunate woman is that it coincided with a police conference held in Kimbe, West New Britain.

In recent times, the stories of police brutality against innocent vendors doing their best to feed their family have become notorious.

THE NEWS that a woman vendor in Port Moresby was physically abused by police officers - who can only be described as criminals - has once again brought to light the harsh reality of making ends meet in the Port Moresbys informal economy.

Throughout Port Moresby, countless of men, women and youths engaged in the informal economy are being subjected to all manner of police intimidation and abuse.

What gets reported in the news is only the tip of the iceberg. While the sale of goods such as alcohol, betel nut, cigarettes and store goods warrants some level of scrutiny from the police and the health inspectors, a large part of the informal economy is in agriculture, cooked food, artisan, textiles and garments.

These are area where the majority of vendors are women, mostly mothers, whose chances of committing crimes is negligible. Unfortunately, with the imposition of the betel nut ban in Port Moresby, the entire informal economy has suffered a great deal.

While most people would say that informal vendors do harbour criminal elements, we tend to lose sight of the fact that most informal vendors reluctantly comply for their own security. This is where a constant police presence is crucial in places such as markets.

Police do not have the right to exercise force to deter people from informal economy activities to sustain their lives. So long as those activities do not infringe the Summary Offences Act, the vendors should not be subject to intimidation, coercion or have their goods confiscated.

Engaging in the informal economy is not illegal. Few people operating in the informal economy are criminals. People venture into the informal economy because their situation or the business environment is not conducive to them operating formally.

Survival is usually the key underlying reason why most PNG micro-enterprises operate informally. The benefits derived from selling goods and services in the informal economy are usually channelled back into the household to provide school fees, food and other necessities.

Unfortunately in Port Moresby, which is the epicentre of PNGs modernity, the informal economy is seen as a backward and filth ridden sector occupied by thugs and criminals.

This is where police brutality can easily go unnoticed by a public which sees action against the informal economy as justified.

And in PNG and Port Moresby, an estimated 85% of the population is engaged in the informal economy.

The top brass of the police should note that the failure of municipal, town and urban authorities in recruiting inspectors to enforce the informal economy is partly the reason why police are asked to step in to deal with problems.

There is a need for a concerted effort between urban authorities and police to work together. Inspectors should enforce standards to safeguard the interest of consumers while the police ensure criminal elements are eliminated.

Such actions should be complemented with the establishment of informal economy vendor groups to work with these authorities to eradicate criminal elements camouflaged in the informal economy.

But right now the police are not doing anyone any favours by playing the tough guy, especially to the wrong audience.

Busa Wenogo is an award-winning writer and an economist working with the Consultative Implementation & Monitoring Council as a senior project officer specialising in the area of informal economy
Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page.

Loading...

Checking your browser before accessing the website.

This process is automatic. Your browser will redirect to your requested content shortly.

Please wait a few seconds.
For only the second time since the state launched the regional economic development council awards in 2011, central New York didn't win top honors in the competition.

The Central New York Regional Economic Development Council will receive $62.2 million in grants to fund projects in Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga and Oswego counties. The prize was announced Thursday at an awards ceremony in Albany.

The award follows the regional council's win last year in the Upstate Revitalization Initiative. Central New York will receive $500 million over five years to fund economic development projects, including an initiative aiming to make the region a hub for unmanned aerial systems.

"It's a bummer that the region wasn't one of the overall winners, but there's still $60 million there, so that's a good thing," said Tracy Verrier, executive director of the Cayuga Economic Development Agency and one of the county's regional council representatives. "I'm really happy to see a lot of the programs that made it in there from us."

Cayuga County will benefit from the pot of money the region is receiving this year. The county will receive more than $5.4 million to support 13 projects. Nearly $400,000 in additional funding was provided to Cayuga and other counties for various initiatives, including a grant to create an arts and entertainment district in Auburn.

With $2 million grant, Auburn 'considering' Save-A-Lot parcel to relocate police, fire stations AUBURN  Auburn will receive $2 million from the state to develop plans to arrange a new headquarters for several city and county emergency services.

Among the projects that will be supported by state grants or tax credits:

 A $2 million grant from the state Department of Environmental Conservation to transform a strip mall on Seminary Street in Auburn into a new public safety complex for the city and county.

 SB Lattimore Inc., which owns Springside Inn in Fleming, will get $1,191,000 to construct a new $8.7 million boutique hotel across from Emerson Park and Owasco Lake. The 55-room hotel will include bar and event facilities and be located adjacent to the Lattimores' existing events center, The Point at Sand Beach.

 The Cayuga Economic Development Agency was awarded $500,000 to develop a business accelerator in Auburn's Technology Park. The accelerator will provide support to new and existing businesses. The funds will be used to purchase a building that is owned by Lexi Interiors. The company will remain a tenant after CEDA acquires the facility.

The state also will provide $289,750 for the design of a riverside public market in Auburn and $263,700 for the "Walkable Owasco" initiative, which aims to improve walkability near Owasco Elementary School.

Willard Memorial Chapel in Auburn will get $250,000 for a restoration project and CIDEC, a dairy milking equipment company, has been awarded $240,000 to build a new manufacturing and warehousing facility at its Aurelius location.

Weaver Machine in Auburn will receive $200,000 to purchase equipment and the E. John Gavras Center, also in Auburn, netted $176,000 for its expansion and other improvements, including the installation of a new playground and roof.

The Cayuga County Soil and Water Conservation District was awarded $125,075 to implement a strategy designed to reduce erosion and stabilize streambanks. The Cayuga County Water and Sewer Authority will get $100,000 from the state to develop a master plan for improving water and sewer systems throughout the county.

The Seward House Museum in Auburn received a $99,773 grant for restoration of the rear woodshed section of the historic mansion. And Port Byron will get $24,000 to complete an engineering study to "evaluate alternatives for solids dewatering improvements."

"It's a positive sign for Cayuga County that we're putting really good projects forward and projects that are regionally significant," Verrier said.

At Thursday's awards ceremony, Gov. Andrew Cuomo highlighted the state's efforts to turn around upstate New York's economy. The regional councils have played a key role in Cuomo's economic development strategy since the program's inception in 2011.

Cuomo also repeated a line that he's uttered in many speeches about upstate New York  that the region was ignored by state government for many years. He says that's changed under his administration.

"As long as I am governor of the state of New York, I will not sign a budget that does not help upstate New York," he said.

The top performer awards in the regional council competition went to the Capital Region, Finger Lakes, Mid-Hudson, Mohawk Valley and New York City panels. Each council received between $80.2 million and $83.3 million.

The remaining councils  central New York, Long Island, North Country, Southern Tier and western New York  received between $60.4 and $62.2 million.

Since 2011, central New York has been awarded more than $529 million through the regional economic development council initiative.
The New York Farm Bureau is under new leadership.

David Fisher, whose family operates Mapleview Dairy in St. Lawrence County, was elected president of the state farm bureau during the organization's annual meeting Wednesday. He'll replace Dean Norton, who served as president since 2008.

In the farm bureau's Grassroots newspaper, Fisher detailed his ties to New York agriculture and his connection to the organization he's been elected to lead. He was elected to represent District 7 on the farm bureau's board of directors in 2011 and was elected to the group's executive committee last year.

"I believe there are difficult decisions to be made by the board and members," Fisher said. "I will facilitate the discussions necessary to ensure that Farm Bureau remains strong to support New York agriculture."

Fisher issued a statement Thursday saying he's "humbled" by the support he received from fellow farm bureau members.

"My family has a long history with Farm Bureau, and I am excited to work on behalf of our diverse membership to increase the value and visibility of New York agriculture," he said. "I would also like to thank Dean Norton for his service and commitment to New York Farm Bureau."

A graduate of Cornell University, Fisher's family has operated Mapleview Dairy in Madrid for four generations. Before joining the state farm bureau's board of directors, he previously served as president of the St. Lawrence County Farm Bureau.

Other leadership positions were on the ballot at the farm bureau's annual meeting. Eric Ooms was re-elected vice president of the organization. He's a dairy farmer from Columbia County. And the group elected several members to its board of directors.

The farm bureau also presented awards at the meeting. Distinguished Service to Agriculture Awards were presented to Chris Fesko of Skaneateles, who's a member of the Onondaga County Farm Bureau. Michael DellaRocco, a Rensselaer County Farm Bureau member, was also honored.

Joe and June Swyers of the Livingston County Farm Bureau and Brad and Carolyn Almeter of the Wyoming County Farm Bureau received the James Quinn Award that "recognizes extraordinary efforts by individual Farm Bureau members during the course of a given year to serve and strengthen agriculture."
The International Joint Commission, which oversees shared waters between the United States and Canada, has signed a plan to regulate water levels and flows on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River.

The commission's approval of Plan 2014 comes after 16 years of studying the need for changes to the current regulatory framework. More than $20 million was spent on the study.

"Plan 2014 is a modern plan for managing water levels and flows that will restore the health and diversity of coastal wetlands, perform better under changing climate conditions and continue to protect against extreme high and low water levels," said Lana Pollack, the commission's U.S. section chair.

Pollack said the commission formally signed Plan 2014 Thursday, one day after receiving it from the Canadian and U.S. governments. Both governments had to approve the plan before it was implemented by the commission.

Gordon Walker, the Canadian section chair, said no further approval is necessary. There is no mechanism in place for opponents to appeal the decision.

"The moment it is signed it is in effect," he said. "At that point in time it is done and over with."

Plan 2014 received strong support from environmental groups and officials in northern New York. Proponents say it will help restore wetlands and benefit the tourism industry and property owners.

Mark Tercek, president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy, said restoring the wetlands will help communities and businesses.

"This decision is a great example of how a comprehensive and balanced approach that respects the needs of all stakeholders can improve the well-being of both people and nature," Tercek said.

But opponents say Plan 2014 would harm Lake Ontario's southern shoreline and lower property values. U.S. Rep. John Katko has been one of the critics of the plan. He organized a meeting on the proposal last year between Wayne County representatives and President Barack Obama's administration.

In a letter to House Appropriations Committee leaders last year, Katko, R-Camillus, and U.S. Rep. Chris Collins, a Buffalo-area Republican, called Plan 2014 "a bad deal for the United States."

Katko issued a statement Thursday saying he's "incredibly disappointed" with the Obama administration's endorsement of Plan 2014, which cleared the way for the commission to sign it.

"This decision by the administration, made on its way out the door, will have a devastating impact on the shoreline, homes, businesses and vast agriculture economies of Wayne, Cayuga and Oswego counties," Katko said.

"While I certainly support preserving our region's natural resources and maintaining the health of Lake Ontario, I have long called for more thorough, objective research into the overwhelming consequences of Plan 2014 for our community and our local economy."

With final approval of Plan 2014, Pollack said it will be implemented in January. The technicians who manage the lake and river's water levels received notice of the new regulations Thursday. They will begin preparing to implement the new order.

The International Joint Commission has the authority to manage Lake Ontario water levels under the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909.
The 11th Viet Nam International Exhibition on Industrial Machinery Equipment, Material and Products (Vinamac Expo 2016) opened in HCM City on December 7. Photo hairworld.vn

HCM CITY  The 11th Viet Nam International Exhibition on Industrial Machinery Equipment, Material and Products (Vinamac Expo 2016) opened in HCM City yesterday.

The expo features more than 450 booths set up by 250 Vietnamese and foreign exhibitors, including those from Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, South Korea, the US, Japan, Singapore and China.

Products on display includes a wide range of machinery, steel pipes, metallurgy, materials, metal and welding items, chemicals, paint, coating materials, and textile, printing and advertisement equipment, among others.

Conferences on the textile industry, fertilisers and pesticides, welding and metalworking, the chemical industry and others will be held alongside the expo.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Nguyen Quang Huy, deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trades Southern Affairs, said the exhibition offered an opportunity for Vietnamese manufacturers and foreign companies to seek new business opportunities and technology exchange.

Organised by the Viet Nam Advertisement and Fair Exhibition JSC in collaboration with HCM City Association of Mechanical Engineering and other local and international organisers, the expo at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre will run until December 10.  VNS
Jaruwan Suwannasat, director of TCEB Exhibitions and Events and Supat Sriwannavit, president of the Associations of Thai Lifestyle Products Federation, tell Viet Nam News that Vietnamese firms stand to gain a lot from participating in Thai trade fairs.

Could you explain why TCEB chose Viet Nam as a destination to expand promotion? What are the benefits for Vietnamese enterprises when they participate in international trade fairs in Thailand ?

We are a Thai governmental organisation that facilitates exhibitions in Thailand . We promote exhibitions in Thailand in order to attract visitors and exhibitors to join trade fairs in the kingdom. The reason we are here in Ha Noi today is because we see that Viet Nam has high potential. Many Vietnamese business people have come to various kinds of exhibitions in Thailand , especially in food and agriculture, automobiles and spare parts.

Our studies show that Viet Nam ranks sixth in the world terms of foreign visitors coming to trade fairs in Thailand . Therefore, we want to give you more information about our exhibition and events industry.

As for benefits, for example, Viet Nam is a major coffee exporter. So why not exhibit your coffee at international trade fairs in Thailand in order to capture buyers from other ASEAN countries and the world.

So, this time we want to inform major industries and major exhibitions in Thailand that Vietnamese companies can join as exhibitors or as visitors.

Do you have figures on Vietnamese firms visiting trade fairs in Thailand ? How should Vietnamese companies prepare to get the best results out of participating in trade fairs in Thailand ?

Last year, we had more than 180,000 trade visitors to exhibitions in Thailand . Vietnamese traders account for 6.63 per cent of the total.

We would recommend that Vietnamese visitors use our marketing campaigns, like Connect Business, in order to participate more effectively in exhibitions. The campaign will have supporting policies for businesses joining our events. Our teams will also provide advice for trade visitors and help them arrange appointments with exhibitors so that they can get the best results from the fairs.

Since both Viet Nam and Thailand are looking to exploit their advantages in the agriculture and food sectors, especially in rice exports, why would you want Vietnamese companies participate in these exhibitions?

It is a market where all sellers have opportunities to exhibit their products. For instance, producers from Viet Nam, Thailand and Cambodia can exhibit their rice products. And we invite buyers to come, so they can see and compare and choose what is best for them.

We dont see Viet Nam as a competitor, but as a partner. We dont see it as competition, but as partnership. This way, we can develop and grow together.

Lifestyle products

Please tell us something about lifestyle products in Thailand . What are your plans to promote the industry?

Lifesyle products are very popular in Thailand . In the past, we focused on producing good, high-quality products, but in the future, we will focus on creative products. We see that creative products with unique features will help us increase our value and compete with products from other countries.

In the next five years, we will expand our markets, first in ASEAN, as it becomes a common community, then expanding to other bigger markets in Asia and Europe .

What advice do you have to offer to the Vietnamese market for developing the lifestyle product business and improving its exhibition and events industry?

If they want to get into the Thai market, I recommend that Vietnamese businesses study the culture and habits of Thai consumers.

They also should join international fairs in Thailand and have their own exhibitions in Viet Nam, and invite businesses to attend Vietnamese fairs by reaching large numbers of exhibitors from fairs in Thailand . They can also organise business matches.

How do you assess the capacity of Vietnamese lifestyle product businesses to compete with other markets in ASEAN?
Defence Minister General Ngo Xuan Lich (L) meets yesterday with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who said that India wishes to maintain and boost friendship and co-operation with Viet Nam.  VNA/VNS Photo Huy Binh

NEW DEHI  Defence Minister General Ngo Xuan Lich met yesterday with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who said that India wishes to maintain and boost friendship and co-operation with Viet Nam.

PM Modi described General Lichs visit as a positive contribution to strengthening India- Viet Nam ties as well as bilateral defence affiliation.

He said that India is a close friend of Viet Nam, adding that the country considers Vietnam as a top priority in its Act East policy.

India will continue forging closer ties with Viet Nam in five major areas, including defence, thus tapping cooperation potential between the two countries and deepening the Viet Nam-India comprehensive partnership, said the PM.

General Lich expressed delight at Indias strong growth, which has helped the country rise as a world power.

He thanked the Government and people of India for their support to Viet Nam during the struggle for independence and for the cause of national defence and construction. He briefed his host on the outcomes of defence cooperation between the two countries, lauding the support of the Indian Government and PM Modi for the two Defence Ministries to foster their affiliation.

The people and army of Viet Nam will exert efforts to maintain and reinforce the sound traditional friendship between the two countries, which was founded by late Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and President Ho Chi Minh.

Large potential for defence ties

There is plenty of room for Viet Nam and India to deepen bilateral defence co-operation based on their comprehensive strategic partnership.

Lieutenant General Vu Chien Thang, Director of the Foreign Relations Department under the Ministry of Defence, made the statement in an interview granted to Vietnam News Agency on the occasion of Defence Minister Ngo Xuan Lichs visit to India from December 4-7.

Thang noted that Minister Lich and his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar agreed during their meeting to increase the exchange of delegations at all levels, especially among young officials, for deeper mutual understanding and experience sharing.

The two ministers also consented to carry out the US$500 million credit package that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged for Viet Nam during his recent visit to the Southeast Asian country, as well as re-evaluate Indias $100 million defence credit package for Viet Nam.

India vowed to continue assisting Viet Nam in the training of pilots and information technology officials training and sharing experience on UN peacekeeping activities.

Both sides agreed to soon implement the $5.45 million aid package announced by the Indian Prime Minister to realise the second phase of the software park project in Nha Trang City of the central coastal province of Khanh Hoa.

He stressed Viet Nam supports the Act East policy of India, while India considers Viet Nam an important pillar in this policy.

Viet Nam is willing to support India to expand relations with other ASEAN member states and make contributions to peace and stability in the region, the official added.  VNS
National Assembly (NA) Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan has left Viet Nam for an official visit to India from today to Sunday, announced the NA Committee for External Affairs.  VNA/VNS Photo

HA NOI  National Assembly (NA) Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan has left Viet Nam for an official visit to India from today to Sunday, announced the NA Committee for External Affairs.

The visit is made at the invitation of Chairman of the Indian Senate Mohammad Hamid Ansarin and Speaker of the Lower House of the Indian Parliament Sumitra Mahajan.

After that, the NA leader will attend the 11th Meeting of Women Speakers of Parliament in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from December 11  13.

She was invited by President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Saber Chowdhury and President of the Federal National Council of the UEA Amal Al Qubaisi.  VNS
HA NOI  Ha Noi traffic police will not overlook violations made by any public servants, police officers or journalists, said Colonel ao Vinh Thang, head of Ha Noi Traffic Police Department.

This is a key task to ensure traffic order during the months prior to Tet (Lunar New Year festival).

Many of those caught violating traffic laws attempt to lean on acquaintances in the police department, in an attempt to avoid paying the penalty for their crimes.

The citys police will report these cases to the Minister of Public Security or office of police officers who interfere, and record their phone number to track personal identities, Thang said.

Heads of traffic police teams are not allowed to pick up calls asking for special treatment, Thang said.

An officer from Ha Nois traffic police team 2 said that traffic officers found many public servants and even police officers violating rules, for example, failing to wear helmets, jumping traffic lights or having alcohol levels exceeding the permitted amount.

To ask for forgiveness, they call their bosses for help. Some drunk officers even threaten police officers with aggressive words and behaviour.

After the interference, police officers not only in Ha Noi but also neighboring provinces and cities often impose minor fines on major violations. For example, those who jump yellow or red traffic lights are fined for not wearing their seat belt, the Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper reported.

An official from the Traffic Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security told the Tien Phong newspaper that they stopped seven cars in a day for speeding. Three of them belonged to police officers, and another three to journalists.

Imposing penalties on police officers, reporters and journalists is not easy. They often blame their violations on being in a rush to take on public duty or a business trip, he said.

Police officers or journalists who commit violations will have to pay for their traffic tickets or be subjected to penalties without reprieve. The punishment is conducted in the spirit of respecting laws and law equality among all citizens, Colonel Thang said.

Police officers must neither tolerate violators nor impose minor fines on major offences. Those breaking the rules will be punished, he said.  VNS
HA NOI  Fire and police officials on Wednesday began examining the factory in La Phu Commune to determine the cause of the huge fire that razed it on Tuesday night.

The blaze destroyed the 600sq.m factory in Hoai uc District, which belongs to the European Industry Joint Stock Company, officials in the Ha Noi fire-fighting police department said. The fire also spread to another 600sq.m workshop next door and damaged its roof, the police said. There were no casualties.

The fire broke out around 8.29pm, but the police were informed only a little later. At least 13 fire engines, six water tankers and more than 100 firefighters, with other personnel, were mobilised to put out the fire. The fire was extinguished completely by 3am, the police said.

Officials suspect the fire broke out because of the presence of flammable materials in the factory.

Preliminary investigations have estimated property damage at tens of billions of ong.  VNS
On the latest episode of "Total Divas," Nikki Bella heads to Washington spend a few days with her sister, Brie Bella, and brother-in-law, Daniel Bryan. She's looking forward to quality time with her sister and to ask Bryan an important question: Will he help with her WWE comeback?

Brie, however, has concerns. Bryan dealt with depression after being forced to retire from being a WWE in-ring performer due to concussion problems. Since he can't wrestle anymore, she's worried about how he would handle helping someone else return to the ring  something he couldn't do.

Nikki attempts to talk to Bryan about assisting her, but Brie quickly squashes it. She discourages Nikki from discussing the topic with Bryan for the benefit of his mental health.

Later in the episode, Brie, Bryan and Nikki are at a winery. Nikki organized a tour for the trio while she was in town. Over lunch, Bryan asks Nikki about her comeback. She doesn't feel comfortable talking about it because of what Brie said, so she leaves the table.

Bryan talks to Brie about why she would tell Nikki that it wasn't OK to discuss wrestling with him. Talking about wrestling doesn't hurt him. He says he legitimately cared about how Nikki's comeback was coming along.

Bryan heads outside and finds Nikki. They talk about it and he's comfortable with discussing her comeback. And he wants to help her. They hug it out and then take photos of each other posing with a Sasquatch cutout.

Brie, Bryan and Nikki head to a gym and Bryan works with Nikki on some new moves she can use in the ring when she returns to WWE. She now uses a few of the moves in the ring, so the session was a success.

Other notes from "Total Divas":

 There's trouble brewing with Paige. She asked for a couple of days off from WWE and received it, but then showed up late the day she was supposed to return. She also is avoiding most of the women, which makes "Total Divas" filming difficult.

At the end of the episode, she has a conversation with WWE executive Mark Carrano. He tells her he's there to help and encourages her to not push away some of the women who truly care about her well-being.

One of those friends is Renee Young, who tried to talk to Paige earlier in the episode. Paige proceeded to storm off after an argument with Renee in a public park.

Paige and Renee hugged it out at the end of the episode, but you're left wondering whether Paige's drama is over. (It probably isn't.)

 Eva Marie is disappointed that she's not getting opportunities on WWE television. She goes to events, but isn't used. She decides to be bold and just show up to a WWE live event, even though she's not booked for it.

She drops in and has a conversation with Road Dogg, who admires her initiative but also notes that it could be frowned upon by management. She pitches him a new entrance that she could use as part of her gimmick. He says he'll run it up the ladder.

A short time later, a WWE official approaches Eva Marie and asks her if she has her equipment with her. They liked the entrance theme and want her to wrestle on the show. She makes her entrance, which is elaborate but effective, and she wrestles against Natalya. Natalya gets the win, but that's not what's important to Eva Marie. She was finally able to break through and get in the ring. That's a big deal. That's progress.
HA NOI  Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked Ministry of Health to check the veracity of a newspaper report stating that Viet Nam ranks the top in the world in antibiotic-resistant infections.

The report, published in Viet Nam Law newspaper on December 2, quotes the World Health Organisation (WHO), which has listed Viet Nam among the countries with the highest antibiotic-resistant infections. The newspaper states that antibiotics can be purchased easily over the counter at pharmacies across the nation without the legally required prescription, which has led to antibiotic resistance among the populace.

Drug resistance also means that patients will have to spend more money on new drugs for treatment, the newspaper said.

The prime minister has asked the ministry check the information and report to him before December 15.

By 2050, resistance to antibiotics could lead to the deaths of ten million people a year globally, according to WHO.  VNS
HCM CITY  The Ministry of Public Securitys Criminal Police Department affirmed that it has arrested Nguyen Thanh Dung, the suspect accused of brutally beating a small child in Cambodia.

Major General Ho Sy Tien, head of the Criminal Police Department, yesterday said Dung, 34, was caught at about 8pm while fleeing to HCM City.

Previously, on Monday, a video clip showing a Vietnamese man torturing a 2-year-old child at a rubber plantation in Cambodia was circulated. The man used a stunt gun and clamps to beat the child. The video clip outraged the public.

On the day after, police in Cambodias Kompong Cham District arrested a Dutch and two Cambodian suspects over their involvement in the case. -- VNS
HAVANA  A senior Cuban diplomat said on Wednesday that she hopes President-elect Donald Trump will take into account advances in US-Cuban relations and can even improve on them when he takes office.

Trump has threatened to end the US thaw with Cuba unless Havana delivers a "better deal" for Washington and makes concessions on human rights and opening up its economy.

Cuba "would hope the new government of the United States takes into account the results we have achieved" since diplomatic ties were re-established in 2015, and would be ready to continue improving them "on the basis of respect," said Josefina Vidal, head of US affairs at the Cuban foreign ministry.

Vidal spoke to reporters after meeting with US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Mari Carmen Aponte in Havana.

Cuba reaffirmed its will "continue making progress in improving relations and building ties of peaceful coexistence, beneficial to both sides," Vidal said.

However, this must happen "within respect for the existing differences, and without having to make any type of concession or abandoning the principles in which Cuba firmly believes in," she said.

The United States and Cuba re-established ties in July 2015 after a rupture of more than half a century.

Despite advances in relations between the former Cold War rivals which include a slew of bilateral agreements and more than 208,000 US citizens visiting Cuba this year - Washington has not lifted the economic embargo imposed on the island in 1962.  AFP
HAMBURG  US Secretary of State John Kerry held fresh talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Germany on Wednesday but no breakthrough emerged on efforts to halt the fighting in the devastated Syrian city of Aleppo.

After a meeting lasting about one hour, Kerry said the two talked "about the extraordinarily dire situation in Aleppo and we exchanged some ideas about it and we intend to connect in the morning to see where we are".

Kerry, who is on a farewell tour in Europe, and Lavrov were in the northern city of Hamburg for a gathering of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe that opens on Thursday.

Kerry will continue on to Paris to take part in a separate meeting organised by his French, German and Qatari counterparts on Saturday on Syria, the State Department said.

The announcement came as the United States, Britain and France led a joint call for an immediate ceasefire to allow aid to reach Aleppo, in an appeal backed by Canada, Germany and Italy.

In Hamburg Lavrov said earlier, as he walked into a hotel to meet Kerry, that he agreed and confirmed "the support of the American proposal of December 2".

The Russian side had earlier said Kerrys proposal made in Rome last Friday involves a complete rebel withdrawal from eastern Aleppo, but then accused Washington of backtracking and cancelling talks due to be held in Geneva this week.

Kerry denied any change of plans and Washington itself accused Moscow of stalling after Russia and China blocked a UN Security Council resolution on Monday calling for a seven-day ceasefire.

Kerry, taking part in his last NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, said he would work for a relaunch of peace talks between the Syrian administration and the opposition with the help of Russia.

"Russia says Assad is ready to come to the table... and I am in favour of putting that to the test," Kerry said in Brussels.

Kerry has had repeated meetings on Syria with Lavrov as the situation in Aleppo has deteriorated.

Moscow launched an air war in support of Assads forces last year, while Washington has supported rebel forces battling the government.

Kerry, asked by a journalist before the Hamburg meeting what it would take to bring peace to Aleppo, replied: "common sense".  AFP
Just as Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi could sense disturbances in the Force, computers can sense disturbances in their own operating systems.

But sometimes detecting true disturbances in the noise of numerous background tasks run by high-performance computing systems is more difficult because of variance in how tasks are performed. The greater the variation, the greater the inability to run programs efficiently or detect dangerous cybersecurity breeches brought on by malware.



A Virginia Tech researcher has received funding to study variability in high-performance computing, an issue that has broad ramifications.

Variance can affect everything from how efficiently Wall Street executes nearly two billion trades per day, to the maintenance of thousands of e-commerce transactions made at retail giants like Amazon, to securing millions of networks against cyberattacks.



Variability itself is somewhat of an abstract concept, but in a very real way, variability threatens profit margins by eating into the bottom lines of companies when they have to compensate for potential swings in the performance of datacenters and their interaction with the cloud, said Kirk Cameron, professor of computer science in Virginia Techs College of Engineering and principal investigator. System variability also impairs our capacity to separate malware from normal system activity because cyberattacks can hide in operating system noise.



Operating system noise is defined as any interruption of a running program by the operating system. When systems go rogue and are hacked, its harder to see the divergence of normal activity when noise is present.



Cameron and his interdisciplinary team are conducting research that will increase the ability of the information technology industry to identify, and also manage, high-performance computer variation peaks.

The team will do this using advanced mathematics and statistical methods to model the impact of variables, such as power level, time of day, file sizes associated with tasks, and how often memory is accessed.



The collaborative project is funded by the National Science Foundation and draws on several disciplines that include experts in cloud and parallel computing, statistics, and cybersecurity. The primary goal of the project is to develop software, called VarSys, to improve the design and operational efficiencies of both high-performance and cloud systems. The broader impact of VarSys research will apply variability identification and management to improve malware detection.



Daphne Yao, associate professor of computer science, will work on the cybersecurity aspect of the grant.



How variability impacts security has not been systematically studied, said Yao. Noise appears to be a double-edged sword in security. It could make a system more challenging to defend, but it could also make it harder for a hacker to launch certain attacks. We are extremely excited about this project because of the interdisciplinary team and its broad research scope. It gives us a unique opportunity to connect the dots from completely different paradigms,  said Yao.



In addition to Cameron and Yao, the VarSys project team consists of Layne Watson, professor of computer science; Yili Hong, associate professor of statistics in the College of Science; and Ali R. Butt, professor of computer science.



Computer networks, like the Force, will continue to surround and bind us through smart phones, personal computers, and cloud computing devices. And like Jedi masters, Cameron and his team will make sure the disturbances to those networks never let them go dark.

Written by Amy Loeffler
Federal judge halts Michigan recount

DETROIT (AP)  Michigans presidential recount was halted Wednesday after three days, assuring Republican Donald Trumps victory in the state, when a federal judge said hell abide by a court ruling that found the Green Party candidate Jill Stein couldnt seek another look at the vote.

Meanwhile, the fate of Steins request for a recount in Pennsylvania must wait at least until a federal court hearing on Friday, just four days before the Dec. 13 federal deadline for states to certify their election results.

Trump narrowly defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in both states and Wisconsin, which started its recount last week.

None of the recounts were expected to affect the outcome of the election.

Ex-astronaut, senator John Glenn ailing

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)  Former astronaut and U.S. Sen. John Glenn has been hospitalized for more than a week.

Ohio State University officials said the 95-year-old Glenn is at the James Cancer Hospital, but that doesnt necessarily mean he has cancer. Officials didnt have other information about Glenns condition, illness or prognosis.

Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. He served as a U.S. senator from Ohio from 1974 to 1999.

Indonesian quake toll nears 100

MEUREUDU, Indonesia (AP)  Rescue workers, soldiers and police combed through the rubble of a devastated town in Indonesias Aceh province early today, resuming a search for earthquake survivors halted at night by rain and blackouts.

Nearly 100 people died in the shallow and powerful magnitude 6.5 quake that struck northeast Sumatra before dawn Wednesday. Hundreds were injured and dozens of buildings were destroyed.

Scores of rescue personnel were crawling over a market in Meureudu, the hard-hit town, where many shop houses collapsed.

Giraffes put on extinction watch list

WASHINGTON (AP)  Biologists say the giraffe, the tallest land animal, is now at risk of extinction.

The giraffe population has shrunk nearly 40 percent in just 30 years. Scientists have put it on the official watch list of threatened and endangered species worldwide, calling it vulnerable. Thats two steps up the danger ladder from its previous designation of being a species of least concern.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature says the giraffe population in 2015 was around 97,000 down from between 151,000 and 163,000 in 1985.

Scientists blame habitat loss for the decline.

Police: Black cat rats out suspect

EPHRATA, Pa. (AP)  Police department say a black cat was lucky for one of its officers tracking down a fugitive.

The Ephrata Police Department posted on its Facebook page that officers were searching for Jonathan Michael Steffy last month over an outstanding bench warrant.

They found the 23-year-old in a backyard but he fled. As they searched the area, one officer noticed a black cat in a nearby yard staring intently at a shed. The officer checked that shed, but it was empty. The officer again saw the cat, and it became apparent it was staring at a different shed behind the officer.

The officer opened that shed and found Steffy.

Police say their thankful for any crime-fighting help, whether human or feline!
"Allied" is a complex movie that embodies the simple charms of cinema -- whirlwind romance, impossibly beautiful movie stars, exotic locales against a backdrop of danger and intrigue, and gun battles. Director Robert Zemeckis goes forward by going backward into another era of filmmaking.

One part "Casablanca," one part Hitchcock, the film stars Brad Pitt as a Canadian intelligence officer and Marion Cotillard as a French Resistance operative. Max (Pitt) parachutes into 1942 Morocco, where, posing as husband to Marianne (Cotillard), they are to assassinate the Nazi ambassador to Vichy, France. Having never met before, the pair must carefully operate under the eyes of watchful German authorities.

When they first meet, it's in front of a group of her Nazi embassy co-workers, and though they've never laid eyes on one another, the chemistry between them instantly ignites into something bright and insatiable. In private, they plot their attack, with Max cooly resisting sensual temptation, even when Marianne seductively tests his willpower. But they're too perfect for each other to keep things strictly professional. Zemeckis, along with screenwriter Steven Knight, render the romance with a deft touch, making it believable that their ruthlessness coexists with their compassion and heartfelt affection.

The second half of the film follows Max and Marianne to London, where he now flies a desk and she raises their baby daughter. Max's life has taken a turn toward domestic tranquility, but that comes to an end when summoned for an alarming meeting with command.

The war has followed Max into his home, sending him on a mission for truth. The melodrama between Pitt and Cotillard hits pitch-perfect notes, with the material afforded a seriousness that doesn't detract from the suspenseful fun of it all.

They don't really make them like this anymore, but they should.
CEDAR FALLS  A morning fire damaged a furnace at Viking Pumps Alloys Foundry on Wednesday, according to firefighters.

The blaze broke out in the melting furnace at the 222 E. Seventh St. facility shortly after 8 a.m. Wednesday. Most of the fire was out when crews with Cedar Falls Fire Rescue arrived, and firefighters finished it off with a dry chemical extinguisher and vented smoke from the building, said Acting Chief John Bostwick.

Damage was limited to the furnace, and no injuries were reported, Bostwick said.

Gunshots fired

at occupied car

WATERLOO  Two Waterloo residents escaped injury after someone opened fire on a vehicle they were in Tuesday night.

According to police, Ryan Edward Ellis, 25, had just pulled in to his driveway at 534 Boston Ave. at 11:14 p.m. Tuesday when someone began shooting, striking his vehicle. He was not hit. His passenger, 24-year-old Trichanda Gardner, also was uninjured.

Police found spent shell casings in the area. No arrests have been made.

Space heaters caution urged

WATERLOO  With winter temperatures here, fire officials are asking residents to exercise caution when using portable space heaters.

A space heater-related fire caused minor damage to a Waterloo home Tuesday night.

The heater was hooked to an extension cord in an upstairs room at 306 Oliver St. Shortly after 6 p.m., a fire broke out where the heaters power cord and the extension cord met, igniting a nearby stuffed animal, said Ben Petersen with the fire department.

He said the residents evacuated the home without injury and called 911, and firefighters put out the flames before the fire could spread, Petersen said.

Battalion Chief Marty Freshwater said residents shouldnt attach space heaters to extension cords or power strips. He also cautioned residents against placing combustibles near space heaters.

According to a National Fire Protection Association study released in April, space heaters are responsible for 40 percent of home heating fires in the United States and are behind 84 percent of deaths in home heating fires. By comparison, fireplace and chimney blazes were responsible for 32 percent of home heating fires and 5 percent of deaths.

Driver crashes

into a lagoon

ST. LUCAS  A Hawkeye man was ticketed after he allegedly drove into the freezing waters of a waste water lagoon early Wednesday.

Steven David Langreck, 37, wasnt injured when his 2008 Chevrolet 2500 pickup truck broke through the ice at the St. Lucas treatment ponds, but Fayette County sheriffs deputies cited him for failure to maintain control of his vehicle. Other charges are pending.

Deputies were called to the lagoon around 12:15 a.m. Wednesday for a suspicious vehicle. Deputies said Langreck had been driving when he apparently fell asleep, went through a ditch and fence before entering the water.

The truck is considered a total loss, deputies said.

2 fraud suspects plead not guilty

NEW HAMPTON  A Fredericksburg woman who was convicted of forgery has pleaded not guilty to allegations she took money from a grandmother after claiming her grandson needed bail money.

Mindy Jo Riley, 36, entered a written not guilty plea to one count of second-degree fraudulent practices Nov. 29 in Chickasaw County District Court in New Hampton.

Also pleading not guilty in the case was William Carl Ondrashek, 41, of Fredericksburg.

Both were arrested in October. Trial has been tentatively been set for January.

According to court records, Riley approached a woman in May and told her the womans grandson, who was a juvenile, was in trouble with the law and needed $1,700 for bail to avoid jail. The woman collected money from her brother and gave Riley a $1,700 check. Riley had her endorse the check to Ondrashek, who cashed it.

The grandson was never in need, according to court records. Riley never returned the money, court records state.

The bail scam allegedly happened while Riley was awaiting sentencing on unrelated forgery charges in a Bremer County case. In that case, authorities allege she took $134,000 from a man by signing his name on checks. A judge sentenced her to up to 10 years in prison in June, but she remains free after posting an appeal bond.
WATERLOO  Young Ralphie has just one request for Santa Claus to fulfill: A shiny, brand-new Red Ryder BB gun. Never mind admonishments from his mom and every other adult within earshot  Youll shoot your eye out! Ralphie stubbornly wages his campaign with the fervent hope that hell find one wrapped with a neat bow under the tree on Christmas morning.

Waterloo Community Playhouses performances of the much-beloved and hysterically funny A Christmas Story run Friday through Dec. 18 at the Hope Martin Theatre, directed by Black Hawk Childrens Theatre Artistic Director Anita Ross.

The story is deeper than one boys wish for a BB gun, says Ross. Its about a kid who realizes just how deeply his parents love him. Theres a lovely line in Jean Shepherds book about parents are supposed to take care of us and our job is to let them. Thats a lovely thought for a family show.

While reading through the play, Ross says she was suddenly struck by the realization that this is a memory play. You forget that when youre watching the movie because you dont see the narrator. In our show, the narrator is very apparent, watching the action and becomes integral to the story. Young Ralphie gets to interact with his older self, she explains.

A memory play, coined by playwright Tennessee Williams, is a play in which a lead character narrates events taking place in the play.

There are 22 cast members, including many new young performers. Its really awesome. Our youngest actor is 8, and even the new ones have jumped into the story. Theres a level of discipline, too, as well as play, Ross says.

Hunter Russell, a fourth-grader at Lincoln Elementary School in Cedar Falls, portrays young Ralphie, and WCP/BHCT veteran actor Tom Nicol is the grown-up Ralph.

Russell impressed Ross because hes able to maintain that naive innocence that is so important to the role, she explains. Were also being careful when we talk about Santa because you dont want to destroy some childs belief who is sitting in the audience.

Many iconic moments from the popular movie version are incorporated into the play, including little Randy (Emma Batterson) getting into the snowsuit and not being able to put his arms down to his side, and Ralphies hideous pink bunny rabbit suit.

Although the show isnt heavy with effects, there will be moments when the fuses are blown, when the neighbors dogs steal the Christmas turkey and what Ive deemed the leg lamp ballet when Mom and Dad keep turning the leg lamp on and off, Ross explains.

Theres also lots of faux cursing. We had to make sure the diction is very good or it sounds like real cursing, adds Ross, laughing.
Church to host holiday concert

SHELL ROCK  The Double J Wranglers, with Jim Gates, Jim Meyer, Larry Wildeboer and Claire Emerson, will host a special Cowboy Christmas Concert at Faith Lutheran Church on Sunday.

There is no cost to attend the 2 p.m. program, but donations will be accepted to benefit both Cedar Valley Friends of the Family and the Shell Rock Food Pantry.

In December and January, Faith Lutheran aims to raise $500 per month to provide meat to the food pantry, which serves Shell Rock area families in need of food throughout the year.

Church to host meal Saturday

RAYMOND  A Breakfast to Lunch fundraiser will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Raymond United Methodist Church.

The menu will include biscuits and gravy, egg casserole, muffins and beverages for breakfast. For lunch, broccoli soup and chili, sandwiches, salads, dessert bars and drinks will be offered.

Donations will be accepted for the meals to go toward the 150th anniversary.

Bear roundup set at Blue Room

CEDAR FALLS  The Blue Room Lounge, 201 Main St., will host the annual Teddy Bear Roundup Friday and Saturday.

Bears may be dropped off between 10 a.m. and 2 a.m. and will be donated to the Shriners Hospital for Christmas. Some will be donated to the Cedar Falls Firefighters.

Veterans holiday party Saturday

ST. ANSGAR  The 16th annual Veterans Christmas Party will be Saturday at the St. Ansgar American Legion. Doors will open at 8:30 a.m.

Christmas cookies and coffee will be available. Veterans, spouses and the public are welcome.

Chars Polka Band will perform Christmas tunes, Polkas, Waltzes and patriotic music. Introductions and Share a Christmas Story will begin at 10 a.m.

Ken Borchardt, of Grafton, an Iraq War veteran with the 1133rd Trans Co. of Mason City, will be the emcee. The event is free.
Miracle on Genesee Street was a huge success, with a terrific time being had by all. For those of you who know me, I often refer to the phrase, "Many hands make great and successful work. I am truly grateful for the support that we have in our Auburn community. It is truly the best. I want to thank Mayor Michael Quill, City Councilors Terry Cuddy, Debby McCormick, Jimmy Giannettino and Dia Carabajal, Mike Talbot and the DPW, and the city of Auburn for their endless support of BID and the holiday celebration.

As you can well imagine, it takes months of preparation and partnerships to create a successful event. I would like to thank Auburn Public Theater (Angela Daddabbo and Janie MicGlire) for partnering with BID in hosting our family activities during the day. Your hospitality, warmth and genuine love for our community are immeasurable. The afternoon was filled with children and adults of all ages enjoying a performance of Fanny Seward from the Seward House Museum, Dawn Jordans "Holiday Homeless Marionette" show, the Christmas movies, music by Perform 4 Purpose and the Eat More Sweets cookie decorating contest by Asia Murphy, as well as sipping on delicious beverages from 3 Leaf Tea. Many thanks to all the terrific talents that wowed our visitors!

Hundreds celebrate Auburn's 30th annual Holiday Parade downtown AUBURN  Despite a light mist that settled over downtown Auburn Saturday, Christmas spirit s

As the 51 participants lined the streets with their float creativity, Santa and Mrs. Claus were seen riding on the Knights of Columbus firetruck, wishing everyone a very merry Christmas. They were a big and merry hit. Thank you to Merry Mischief (Merlyn and Wayne Fuller) for making the childrens eyes twinkle and their faces light up with a smile.

The festivities continued with the citys annual tree lighting ceremony that was led by Mayor Michael Quill, who welcomed everyone with a "merry Christmas" and magically lit the Memorial City Hall tree as the cast of "Scrooge: The Musical" serenaded us with Christmas carols. What a great and festive night. Thank you to all who inspired the Auburn Sings Hallelujah (Katie MacIntyre, Terry Cuddy, Erin Humphrey, Beth Beer) it was a great tribute and touching moment with voices being heard throughout the city.

I am happy to announce the parade float winners and thank all who participated. Your time, creativity and efforts are truly appreciated.

First place: SkillsUSA/BOCES

Second place: Girl Scouts Troop No. 40464

Third place: Cub Scout Pack No. 6

Our window decorating contest was a huge hit, and the judges had a tough time choosing their favorite three, as all were great.

I want to thank the city of Auburn (Memorial City Hall), the Cayuga County Office Building, East Hill Medical, the Edward T. Boyle Center, Parker's Grille & Tap House, A.T. Walley & Co., the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce, Choices for Change, Prison City Pub & Brewery, The Citizen, Auburn Public Theater, Finger Lakes Art, Silbert Optical, Fabric Fair Upholstery, CoCo & Co. salon, Mark Lawn Optical, L.B. Lightning Cyclery, Carmody Insurance, Angelos Pizza, The Copper Pig, the Cayuga County Office of Tourism, Speno Music and the Liberty Store for your enthusiasm and excitement to brighten up downtown during the holiday season.

The winners are as follow:

First place: Finger Lakes Art

Second place: Mark Lawn Optical

Tied for third place: Fabric Fair Upholstery and the Cayuga County Office Building

The cookie decorating contest had more than 30 entrants, and was enjoyed by all. The winners are:

First place: Brian

Second place: Madison Traver

Third place: Delia Nolan

Thank you to all who participated; your cookies were nothing short of amazing.

If you have been singing or tapping your toes as you stroll down Genesee Street to grab a bite to eat or purchase that holiday gift, its due to the upbeat holiday music that has been made possible by Visual Technologies, which has ensured us with its expertise that we will be serenaded right through to the new year. Once again, thank you to Visual Technologies and Jack Hardy for making this a reality.

The beautiful Christmas trees throughout downtown have been graciously donated by Strawberry Fields Hydroponic Farm in Skaneateles. It's a family-owned business serving our community for seven years now, and a pure joy to work and partner with  thank you so much, the trees are beautiful. Please take the time to enjoy their beauty.

Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank The Citizen for supporting, advertising and promoting all our events and goings-on at the BID office. Your support is greatly appreciated.

As the holidays are fast approaching, please remember to pick up that gift certificate at one of our terrific restaurants. Find that gift of art, jewelry, fashion and books for that special someone at any of our great retail shops and restaurants. Your support equals success for our local economy!

Until next month, I wish you all a merry Christmas and a wonderful holiday season, and take time to be grateful for the wonderful people who make up the city of Auburn.
CEDAR FALLS  Footprints helped lead police investigators to a man who was suspected of breaking into the muffler shop where he used to work.

Thomas Allen Young, 30, of 1241 Ingersoll Road, Waterloo, turned himself in to authorities on Thursday and was arrested for third-degree burglary and second-degree criminal mischief in connection with the Oct. 31 break-in at Midas Muffler.

More than $1,000 damage was reported in the burglary, according to police. Shoe prints showed the intruder went to an area of the business where cash had been kept before a change of management, court records state.

A resident who lives in a neighboring apartment building noticed a suspicious Pontiac G6 with two different styles of rims parked in his designated spot on the night of the break-in. The resident saw a man walking from the area of Midas to the Pontiac and leave.

After the resident noticed damage to the business, he called police.

Investigators noticed a Pontiac G6 with different rims at Youngs address. The obtained a warrant to search his home and found shoes that had a tread consistent with prints left at the business, records state.
WATERLOO  A Waterloo teen who was detained for allegedly breaking into seven vehicles in a parking ramp in November has been charged as an adult.

And police have linked him to 27 vehicle break-ins at downtown parking ramps.

Davon Marcell Oliver, 17, was originally charged as a juvenile with three counts of vehicle burglary, four counts of attempted vehicle burglary and one count each of second-degree criminal mischief and interference after he and a 15 year old were chased by police at the West Fourth Street ramp on Nov. 13.

On Nov. 29, a juvenile court judge waived the case to adult court, and on Wednesday, Oliver was arrested as an adult on 21 counts of vehicle burglary, nine counts of attempted vehicle burglary, two counts of second-degree criminal mischief and one count each of fourth-degree criminal mischief, interference and third-degree theft. He was later released from the Black Hawk County Jail.

Oliver was originally detained following a rash of break-ins at downtown parking ramps. In some cases, bricks were used to smash car windows.

In addition to the Nov. 13 burglaries, police linked him to a Nov. 6 spree that hit 18 vehicles parked at the Commercial Street ramp and single-vehicle break-ins on Oct. 1, Oct. 10, Nov. 3, Nov. 5 and Nov. 13 at the ramp on Commercial, West Fourth and East Fourth ramps, according to court records. He was also arrested in an Oct. 5 vehicle burglary in the 800 block of Baltimore Street where a laptop was taken.
CEDAR FALLS  The University of Northern Iowas next president Mark Nook calls himself just a kid from Holstein.

In many ways, the community he so impressed during his interview process views him the same way. In Nook, they see someone with Iowa values and an Iowa work ethic.

News Nook will head UNI was met with approval by the community he will begin to work with starting Feb. 1. He began to assemble his transition team Wednesday and met with lawmakers and others.

Nook, 58, chancellor of Montana State University-Billings, was unanimously selected Tuesday by the Iowa Board of Regents to become the 11th president of UNI. He succeeds Bill Ruud, who left in July to lead Marietta College in Ohio.

I spent a lot of the last two years working on economic development in Billings as part of my role trying to convince Montanans that had left Montana to come back to Montana and grow Montana. Im sitting there thinking, Im a kid from Iowa convincing Montanans to build Montana. I need to go help Iowa if I can, Nook said Tuesday.

Growing Iowa

Nook often repeated the phrase educating Iowans for Iowa to describe UNI. He talked about how the university develops future leaders and business professionals who stay in Iowa.

Current leaders and business professionals noticed.

He really sang our song about talent recruitment and retention, said Steve Dust, chief executive of the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance and Chamber. He began his discussion with us, from the community standpoint, the importance of the connection between the university and the economy, the university and its connection to our civic life.

Dust said Nook was extremely impressive, and the only candidate to talk about the importance of being in Iowa and surrounded by his family here.

Cedar Falls Mayor Jim Brown echoed Dusts sentiments.

He seemed pretty intent and purposeful in working with the city, which was very encouraging, Brown said. It seemed like he had a great vision for the university, which being an alumni, is very good.

Student support

UNI students also liked what they heard.

I think the students really liked how his values and focus on students aligned with where this university wants to go, said Hunter Flesch, UNI student body president and search committee member. He has extensive experience in executive roles, and he also brings tangible experiences centered around student success and diversity, two focuses of UNI and where we want to go.

Nook praised UNI for increasing diversity on campus, but stressed there is still work to do.

What I really love about UNI is right now in their strategic plan, its goal one, to improve diversity and make sure its inclusive, Nook said. Everybody has to be engaged, and that means from the bottom to the top and from the top to the bottom.

State Rep. Bob Kressig, D-Cedar Falls, who represents the district that includes UNI, also heard in Nook someone who values student input.

I thought, to me, heres somebody thats listening to what students have to say, which I think is an important job, and responsibility, for the president of the university, Kressig said.

Growing UNI

Regents will ask for a 2 percent increase in state aid for next fiscal year, plus an additional $2.5 million for UNI, which has been traditionally underfunded.

Lawmakers said Nook has a good grasp of the budget picture.

I think he brings some unique leadership in the area of just understanding the overall aspect of what a school like UNI has to do, its unique position here in the state, said Rep. Walt Rogers, R-Cedar Falls. The way I see him is somebody who is very relational, and very good with people, and understands that, and also has a wise demeanor he brings to the position. And I think those combinations will be really good for UNI.

Lawmakers agreed there is a good chance, particularly with Nook at the helm, the Legislature will approve the UNI funding request in the 2017 session.

Nook makes the case for that funding as well. The mathematics professor in Nook came out as he explained the value of a UNI education.

A student that comes to UNI, over a student that doesnt go to college, will on average earn $1 million more, and if you just figure out, $1 million, 7 percent of that is $70,000, and the state has about $20,000 into their education. Thats a pretty significant return on investment, and nobody else will deliver the same return. So, it really is a tremendous advantage you have, and I think the people of Iowa just need to understand that little piece of calculus.

Nook also knows increasing enrollment will be an uphill fight. Flat high school graduation rates mean increasing those numbers will be difficult, but thats a challenge, not an excuse, right?

Process praised

There also was praise for the selection process.

I have never been more satisfied with a decision the Board of Regents has made relative to UNI in a long time, said Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Waterloo. They listened; they used a professional approach; the search committee, the Panther family, were all engaged in the process, and that led to a credible, professional decision on who would be the next president.

Joe Gorton, president of UNIs United Faculty, had a similar response.

United Faculty noted in a release Tuesday it had substantial concerns about the search process at the outset due to the regents hiring of Bruce Harreld to lead University of Iowa last year. The hiring process caused the American Association of University Professors to sanction the university.

But Gorton said the UNI hire could be grounds for removing that sanction.

After all, the sanction was primarily intended for the board as a way to encourage them to work in accordance with AAUP principles, Gorton said. The search process and the outcome achieved seem to demonstrate that we have achieved that goal.

Many community leaders said they were impressed by all three finalists. Jim Wohlpart, UNI provost and interim president, and Neil Theobald, former Temple University president, also were finalists.
CEDAR RAPIDS  Gov. Terry Branstad has agreed to serve as U.S. ambassador to China under President-elect Donald Trump.

Trump spokesman Jason Miller confirmed Wednesday Branstad was offered the post and has accepted. A more formal announcement is expected when the governor joins Trump at a victory tour rally in Des Moines tonight.

Branstads office issued a statement confirming the news Wednesday.

After long discussions with my family, I am honored and humbled to be nominated to serve as the U.S. ambassador to China, Branstad said.

Branstad has a lot of experience and a great grasp of trade issues and agriculture issues, has a tremendous understanding of China and Chinese people, Miller said.

Trump was impressed by Branstads command of those issues as well as his long relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who he met in 1985 when Xi visited Iowa as a low-level agricultural official.

Its very clear that Gov. Terry Branstad is someone who will represent our country well on the world stage, and we couldnt be prouder of this selection, Miller said.

The selection also was based on the impression Branstad made on Trump in their meetings on the campaign trail and after the election, Miller said.

Since Trumps Nov. 8 election victory, political observers speculated Trump would offer the ambassadorship to Branstad. At Trumps last campaign stop in Iowa before the election, in Sioux City, Trump praised Branstad as someone who could serve as Chinese ambassador.

Terry came to my office and he was talking to me about trade, and I think theres nobody who knows more about trade than him, Trump told the crowd in Sioux City the Sunday before the election. (Branstad) would be a prime candidate to take care of China. He has done so well for the people of Iowa. Nobody knows it better.

Branstads full statement, issued Wednesday, is below:

I love Iowa and I love my country. For 22 years, I have been honored and privileged to serve the people of Iowa as their governor. My family and I will always be grateful to Iowans for trusting me to lead and putting their faith in me to serve.

America is at a crossroads, and the American people are looking for bold change to renew our position as the leader in the world. To once again hold America up as that shining city upon a hill as President Reagan so proudly proclaimed. By electing President-elect Trump on November 8, this message was sent loud and clear by the voters.

During our 30-year friendship, President Xi Jinping and I have developed a respect and admiration for each other, our people and our cultures. The United States-Chinese bilateral relationship is at a critical point. Ensuring the countries with the two largest economies and two largest militaries in the world maintain a collaborative and cooperative relationship is needed more now than ever. The president-elect understands my unique relationship to China and has asked me to serve in a way I had not previously considered.

After long discussions with my family, I am honored and humbled to be nominated to serve as the U.S. ambassador to China. I also accept President-elect Trumps charge to prioritize collaborative policies that will Make America Great Again. This is an extraordinary opportunity. I believe that the respect and admiration built over a decades-old friendship between President Xi and I give me an opportunity to help the president-elect and serve Iowa, the United States and the world for the better.

This new mission to continue serving my state, and my country, in a new role is essential to building a bright future for our children and grandchildren. With my wife Chris by my side, I look forward to the work ahead but we will never have Iowa far from our hearts.
High schools get

are

a scholarships

CEDAR FALLS  The Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa has recorded its largest scholarship awards total in its 60-year history. In 2016, CFNEIA awarded $446,000 in scholarships across Iowa.

This includes 187 scholarships totaling $294,177 to Black Hawk County high school and college students pursuing higher education opportunities.

Students from 10 Black Hawk County high schools were awarded scholarships. The three high schools with the most student scholarship awards were Cedar Falls, 33 scholarships totaling $41,375; Waterloo East High School, 28 scholarships totaling $70,215; and Waterloo West High School, 47 scholarships totaling $108,250.

CFNEIA scholarship awards vary in size from $250 to $60,000 and are awarded based on various criteria. The 2017 scholarship application process opens Jan. 10. Scholarship opportunities can be found on the CFNEIA website at cfneia.org/scholarships.

Mayors compete

in bell ringing

WATERLOO  The Salvation Armys traditional mayoral Battle of the Bells will take place again this year.

Waterloo Mayor Quentin Hart will be facing off against Cedar Falls Mayor Jim Brown from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday. Both mayors will be attempting to raise the most money for The Salvation Army of Waterloo/Cedar Falls.

The challenge has been won by Waterloos mayor for the past six years.

Hart will ring the bell at the Crossroads Hy-Vee. Brown will take up the post at College Square Hy-Vee.

The Salvation Army also is still in need of volunteer bell ringers. Sign up at kettles2016.volunteerlocal.com. For more information contact The Salvation Army at 235-9358 or visit sawaterloo.org.

UNI professors

film wins award

CEDAR FALLS  The Confucius Village, a documentary produced and translated by Cong- cong (Penny) Wang, UNI faculty of languages and literature, won the Best Feature Documentary Award and the Angel Peace Award at the 2016 Monaco International Film Festival on Dec. 1.

The Confucius Village documents the sufferings and triumphs of a group of Confucius descendants living in the mountains of eastern China and seeking a spiritual home. These villagers struggle to maintain traditions while adapting to life in modern China, and their travails play a significant role in the interpretations of Chinese culture, society and history.

In addition, Wang received the Best Producer Award and Jiandong Huang received the Best Director Award. The Confucius Village also was awarded the Best Cinematography Nominees in Documentary in the 3rd Asia Rainbow TV Awards in Macao, China, on Nov. 27.
New IT director

named in Decorah

DECORAH  Steve Smith has officially accepted the position of the county and citys shared information technology director.

Last month, the Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors approved the recommendation of a committee to hire Smith, who accepted the job last week.

Former IT Director Jeff (Chopper) Albert resigned July 1 and is currently working in IT at Iowa Rotocast Plastics in Decorah.

Smithcurrently is a web programmer analyst and in system support at Luther College; his start date with the county and city has not yet been determined. His salary will be $63,788.I have enjoyed working at Luther College for the past 12 years. Im excited to serve Winneshiek County and the city of Decorah in this new capacity and look forward to working with the IT team, Smith said.

Although its a county position, the city of Decorah shares the IT directors services with the county and pays half of the salary. The committee interviewing the candidates consisted of County Auditor Ben Steines, Sheriff Dan Marx, County Geographic Information System Coordinator Jon Lubke, Decorah City Manager Chad Bird and City Clerk/Treasurer Wanda Hemesath.

Trachtes to get

Wartburg Medals

WAVERLY  Two Wartburg graduates with deep ties to the Waverly and college communitieswill receive Wartburg Medals on Sunday.

The contributions of the Rev. Larry and Lois Trachte will be recognized at the colleges December Commencement at 10:30 a.m. in Wartburg Chapel. Larry is a Wartburg professor emeritus of religion, while Lois was a teacher in the Tripoli Community Schools.

Larry also will deliver the keynote commencement address.

The Trachtes graduated from Wartburg in 1966.; Larry with a degree in history and German, and Lois with a degree in English.
President-elect Donald Trump announced James N. Mattis was his choice to lead the Department of Defense, what seemed to delight him most was the retired generals Iraq war nickname: Mad Dog.

Mad Dog Mattis! Trump told a post-election rally. Mad Dog. He is great, he is great.  They say he is the closest thing to Gen. George Patton that we have.

Over the next few weeks, were going to hear a lot about Mattiss prowess as a combat commander and his salty exhortations to the troops he led.

Be professional, be polite, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet, he told his Marines. (A pretty good definition of what combat forces are for, actually.)

And he incautiously told a partly-civilian audience fighting is a hell of a hoot.  Its fun to shoot some people. (He apologized for that one.)

But if Trump chose Mattis for his mad-dog reputation, he made a good choice for the wrong reason.

Yes, Mattis was a Marine who demanded ferocity from his troops in battle. But hes also a strategic thinker and scholar who ordered his officers to read military history, can quote Marcus Aurelius or Ulysses S. Grant  and never much liked the mad dog sobriquet his men bestowed on him in Anbar province.

Off the battlefield, hes soft-spoken, thoughtful, cautious  and, most important, un-Trumplike.

Indeed, Mattis has already disagreed with many of the foreign policy positions Trump adopted without evidence of deep study during his campaign.

Trump has suggested the United States should adopt an America First foreign policy, shedding excess obligations and spending less on traditional alliances. Mattis has called for continued engagement in the world and stronger alliances, and said Trumps dismissal of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance was kooky.

When Trump called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States, Mattis said the proposal caused great damage to U.S. relationships in the Middle East. (Trump later softened the policy to extreme vetting.)

Trump has suggested Vladimir Putins Russia could be a U.S. ally; Mattis considers Putin a major threat and believes the U.S. should do more to help Ukraine.

And, as Trump himself reported, Mattis told the president-elect to his face he was wrong to suggest U.S. forces should torture suspected terrorists for information. Give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers, and Ill do better, the general told the president-elect.

Trump and Mattis also differ on Iran, which could set up one of the new administrations first big foreign policy debates.

Trump has said dismantling Obamas 2015 nuclear arms deal with Tehran would be his top priority. Mattis says thats simply impractical.

Theres no going back, Mattis said in April. I dont think that we can take advantage of some new presidents (arrival) and say were not going to live up to our word on this agreement. I believe we would be alone if we did, and unilateral economic sanctions from us would not have near the impact of an allied approach.

Instead, he said, the priority should be to keep pressure on Iran to curb its intervention in the rest of the Middle East, and to deter Iran from abandoning the nuclear agreement in the years ahead.

I think were going to have to hold at risk the nuclear program in the future  in other words, make plans now of what wed do if in fact they restarted, he said.

Theres one big problem with Mattiss nomination: the law that prohibits a former military officer from being secretary of Defense unless he or she has been retired for at least seven years.

Its a sensible law, meant to guarantee the principle of civilian control, and its only been waived once before, for George C. Marshall in 1950. Marshall was an extraordinary case: the chief of staff who organized victory in World War II and then served as a successful secretary of State.

This is an extraordinary case for a different reason: Trump needs Cabinet officers who are willing to stand up to him and push back when hes wrong. Mattis has already done that.

And Trump needs someone to balance the influence of his other favorite general, the volcanic Michael Flynn, who will be his national security advisor. Mattis and Flynn, who know each other well, are likely to go head-to-head on a long list of issues. (According to one report, Flynn wasnt thrilled with the idea of nominating Mattis, who outranked him four stars to three. Generals remember details like that.)

Trumps infatuation with generals  he boasted frequently in the campaign about their support  sometimes takes on an odd fanboy tone. (Mad Dog!)

But in this case, it might be a good thing. When Mad Dog Mattis tells Trump blowing up the Iran nuclear agreement, weakening alliances, bombing civilians or reinstating torture is a bad idea, the boss might actually listen.
The attack on the 20th convoy to Auschwitz was unusual and life-altering for many. Three men from the Belgian Resistance tricked the Nazis running the train to stop in the middle of the night and then hastily cut the barbed wire keeping in more than 1,600 people in freight wagons; 233 escaped and 118 survived. On Friday, Dec. 9, one of those survivors, Simon Gronowski, will be at Vista Grande Community Center to speak about his experiences during this horrific and turbulent time, followed by a jazz piano performance beginning at 7:30pm. Gronowski is a Doctor of Law at Universite libre de Bruxelles, but in his spare time plays jazz piano and travels the world discussing his most painful experiences and how he's learned to forgive. Advance tickets to see this incredible survivor are $15 for adults and $12 for students and seniors. Vista Grande Community Center, Sandia Park  Fri Dec 9  7:30-9:30pm  $12-$15  13+  View on Alibi calendar
A former town of Niles supervisor who posted water danger signs around the city of Auburn and town of Owasco in November is asking Cayuga County for compensation after the signs were taken down.

Charlie Greene posted approximately 200 signs around the Owasco Lake watershed in mid-November, warning people of lethal toxins in the water and telling them to stay away from it. Greene posted them without the authority of the Cayuga County Health Department, and after the department had said there were no more detectable levels of blue-green algae toxins in the raw or treated water sampled at filtration plants.

The red-and-white printed signs taped on utility poles and light poles were taken down shortly after they were put up, though it is not clear by whom.

Greene said in an email Wednesday morning to Cayuga County Legislature Chairman Keith Batman, Health Department Director Kathleen Cuddy, Legislator Michael Didio and Legislator Aileen McNabb-Coleman that he believes the health department "and its agents performed the act of theft" of his signs. He said he contacted Eileen O'Connor, director of the Environmental Health Division, and asked "for compensation of my time and materials."

"Because the signs were protected by free speech, were placed within the public right of way, and because the Health Department and its agents had no more right to the utility poles than does the public, I believe that I should receive just compensation and a very public apology," Greene wrote.

The Auburn Police Department conducted an investigation of Greene's actions, and Deputy Chief Roger Anthony said an ordinance does specify that signs cannot be posted on public property owned by the city. He said the department investigated the signs especially because of how many there were and because the person who posted them was known. Officers spoke to Greene, Anthony said, and he agreed not to post any more.

Batman said as far as he's been able to determine, no one from the county removed Greene's signs. He said he stood by O'Connor's previous statements that the signs could cause confusion and should a true public health emergency arise, people may be less apt to take it seriously.

"It's the boy who cried wolf, and that's our concern," Batman said. "I don't think there's anything to apologize for. We're all concerned about this issue. Charlie is going at it one way, which he has a perfect right to do, and we're going about it another way, and that's public safety."

Batman said Greene is "well-meaning and intelligent" but said his methods are distracting people from the focus of what needs to be done in the short-term. To the county, that's finding a solution to the water treatment problem of removing toxins, Batman said, and then the longer-term issue of cleaning up the lake.

Greene also said in his email that he has contacted the New York State Center for Dispute Settlement and provided notice to O'Connor and county attorney Fred Westphal. Kelly Porter, director of the center's Cayuga County office, said she could not comment specifically about the matter due to client confidentiality, but said the center does help peacefully resolve all kinds of disputes without a court referral. Both parties, however, must be present and agreeable to a mediation, she added.
During a Sioux City rally two days before the Nov. 8 presidential election, President-elect Donald Trump declared Gov. Terry Branstad our prime candidate to take care of China.

On Wednesday, Trump announced Branstad  Iowas six-term governor and the longest-serving state chief executive in U.S. history  was his nominee as ambassador to China.

What taking care of China entails well wait to see, but Branstad was a welcome choice.

Trump had been doing everything possible to offend China. On the campaign trail, he warned it to behave on trade and currency issues or face 45 percent tariffs. Since his election, he broke with diplomatic protocol and spoke on the phone with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen  a first since the U.S. officially recognized China in 1979.

China subsequently denounced Trump in a front-page editorial of its overseas Peoples Daily.

But Chinese spokesman Lu Kang applauded the Branstad nomination.

I would like to say that Mr. Branstad is an old friend of the Chinese people and we welcome him to play a greater role in promoting Sino-U.S. relations, he remarked. The U.S. ambassador to China is an important bridge between the U.S. government and the Chinese government. No matter who is in this position, we are willing to work with him to push forward the sound, steady development of Sino-U.S. relations.

President Xi Jinping and Branstad, indeed, are old friends, having forged a real bond because of Iowas longstanding agricultural ties to China that date back to Gov. Robert Rays visit to China in 1974.

Xi began his ascent in China as an agricultural official in Hebei province, Iowas sister state. He was part of its delegation that met with Branstad  and Iowa farm families  during his first visit to the U.S. in 1985. He also visited with Branstad in China in 2011. A year later, Branstad hosted a dinner for Xi, who had become vice president, at the state Capitol in Des Moines.

Branstad has made seven visits to China, the most recent a week after the election when he met with the agricultural minister in Hebei.

According to Chinese media, its agricultural imports from Iowa increased by a factor of 13 between 2000 and 2010  a period, ironically, between Branstad administrations  to $6.3 billion.

Branstad, whose son, Eric, managed Trumps Iowa campaign, will have his work cut out for him.

As Jie Dalei, an assistant professor at the School of International Studies of Peking University, told the Washington Post, the appointment could help communication, but wont have much impact at the decision-making level.

(Trumps) tweets and remarks certainly have attracted the most attention, he said. Compared to that, the appointment of an ambassador to China, though very thoughtful, is unlikely to fix the damage caused by the uncertainty of his tweets and Taiwan call.

U.S. businesses in China are already feeling the heat from Xi. An American Chamber of Commerce in China business survey found 77 percent of companies feel unwelcome compared to 44 percent a year ago, including 83 percent in technology.

In regard to the economic competition, we expect Trump will do another about-face  this time on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. During the campaign Trump criticized the multinational trade pact to undercut Chinese influence, but it has support of congressional Republicans and the Obama administration.

The reset of relations with Taiwan will be the most contentious problem facing Branstad.

Taiwan is the island refuge established by Chinese nationalists who fled the mainland in 1949 amid the Communist revolution led by Mao Zedong.

The mainland government calls itself the Peoples Republic of China. It considers Taiwan a breakaway province and is committed to reunification. Taiwan, a democracy, calls itself the Republic of China.

In 1992, both sides agreed to only one China, just not what it means. President Tsai has not endorsed that agreement.

The U.S. and most foreign states also recognize One China  the Beijing government  while maintaining unofficial ties with Taiwan.

So when Trump called Tsai the president of Taiwan on Twitter, it annoyed Beijing. Then again, it wasnt a first. The U.S. sells arms to Taiwan, and the Clinton administration granted a visa to the Taiwanese president in 1995.

One China may not make sense, particularly when Taiwan is a thriving underdog worthy of support, and China can be a detestable big bully. But detente has been the cautious option to possibly inciting confrontation.

Also, cordial relations with China may help rein in nuclear North Korea.

We congratulate Branstad on his nomination. He isa good choice, one that possibly bodes well for Iowa agriculture.

But with Trump looming as the proverbial bull in the China shop, Branstad may need to frequently call upon his friendship with Xi to keep all the precarious pieces of U.S.-Sino relations together.
past daily news Sep 13 (1) Sep 09 (15) Sep 06 (12) Sep 04 (10) Sep 03 (10) Aug 31 (17) Aug 29 (14) Aug 26 (13) Aug 22 (11) Aug 21 (12) Aug 19 (21) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (10) Aug 10 (10) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (10) Aug 06 (10) Aug 05 (8) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (14) Jul 29 (1) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (5) Jul 24 (10) Jul 22 (11) Jul 19 (16) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (10) Jul 15 (13) Jul 12 (7) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (8) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (8) Jul 04 (11) Jul 03 (8) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (8) Jun 28 (7) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (8) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (9) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (9) Jun 18 (8) Jun 15 (9) Jun 13 (13) Jun 11 (11) Jun 09 (19) Jun 06 (10) Jun 04 (10) Jun 03 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (5) May 30 (5) May 29 (6) May 28 (7) May 27 (7) May 26 (6) May 25 (4) May 23 (6) May 22 (6) May 21 (4) May 20 (7) May 19 (9) May 18 (4) May 17 (6) May 16 (5) May 15 (7) May 14 (3) May 13 (3) May 12 (9) May 10 (3) May 09 (7) May 08 (4) May 07 (3) May 06 (5) May 05 (8) May 03 (9) May 02 (1) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (8) Apr 29 (5) Apr 28 (4) Apr 27 (7) Apr 26 (12) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (8) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (5) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (1) Apr 19 (5) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (6) Apr 15 (5) Apr 14 (2) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (2) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (3) Apr 09 (3) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (10) Apr 04 (2) Apr 03 (3) Apr 02 (9) Apr 01 (7) Mar 31 (10) Mar 30 (6) Mar 29 (7) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (10) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (10) Mar 22 (6) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (11) Mar 19 (8) Mar 18 (5) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (7) Mar 13 (7) Mar 12 (5) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (6) Mar 07 (8) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (12) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (8) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (8) Feb 28 (7) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (6) Feb 25 (7) Feb 24 (3) Feb 23 (6) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (1) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (2) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (3) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (6) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (6) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (6) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (2) Feb 04 (3) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (1) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (8) Jan 30 (2) Jan 29 (4) Jan 28 (1) Jan 27 (4) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (4) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (2) Jan 20 (2) Jan 19 (3) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (2) Jan 16 (7) Jan 15 (6) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 05 (5) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (1) Dec 31 (5) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (5) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (2) Dec 17 (1) Dec 16 (4) Dec 15 (2) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (7) Dec 12 (5) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (2) Dec 08 (2) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (1) Dec 04 (5) Dec 03 (3) Dec 02 (5) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (5) Nov 29 (10) Nov 28 (6) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (3) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (6) Nov 19 (2) Nov 18 (5) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (2) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (2) Nov 11 (4) Nov 10 (5) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (5) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (5) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (9) Oct 30 (9) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (6) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (6) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (6) Oct 22 (4) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (5) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (4) Oct 12 (7) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (10) Oct 07 (1) Oct 06 (10) Oct 05 (6) Oct 04 (8) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (1) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (6) Sep 26 (5) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (6) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (6) Sep 20 (6) Sep 19 (5) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (6) Sep 13 (4) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (8) Sep 05 (6) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (5) Aug 31 (8) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (6) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (1) Aug 26 (4) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (7) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (4) Aug 21 (4) Aug 20 (7) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (8) Aug 16 (8) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (2) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (4) Aug 08 (8) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (10) Aug 02 (9) Aug 01 (8) Jul 31 (1) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (2) Jul 28 (11) Jul 27 (10) Jul 26 (10) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (5) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (2) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (8) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (1) Jul 16 (10) Jul 14 (7) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (11) Jul 11 (7) Jul 10 (5) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (8) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (6) Jul 03 (7) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (2) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (7) Jun 28 (5) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (6) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (8) Jun 18 (2) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (3) Jun 14 (7) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (7) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (8) Jun 08 (8) Jun 07 (8) Jun 06 (10) Jun 05 (14) Jun 04 (6) Jun 03 (6) Jun 02 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (7) May 30 (2) May 29 (7) May 28 (7) May 27 (2) May 26 (4) May 25 (5) May 24 (4) May 23 (5) May 22 (5) May 21 (5) May 20 (3) May 19 (10) May 18 (6) May 17 (3) May 16 (6) May 15 (2) May 14 (3) May 13 (5) May 11 (1) May 10 (5) May 09 (3) May 08 (4) May 07 (2) May 06 (4) May 05 (6) May 04 (5) May 03 (5) May 02 (1) May 01 (6) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (7) Apr 28 (8) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (14) Apr 25 (6) Apr 24 (6) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (1) Apr 21 (8) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (1) Apr 15 (8) Apr 14 (1) Apr 13 (7) Apr 12 (10) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (2) Apr 09 (2) Apr 08 (4) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (6) Apr 05 (6) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (2) Mar 31 (5) Mar 30 (4) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (9) Mar 26 (4) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (11) Mar 23 (10) Mar 22 (9) Mar 21 (10) Mar 20 (11) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (3) Mar 16 (7) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (6) Mar 13 (9) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (6) Mar 07 (13) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (7) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (6) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (5) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (9) Feb 22 (6) Feb 21 (7) Feb 20 (8) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (3) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (6) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (7) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (3) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (9) Feb 08 (8) Feb 07 (7) Feb 06 (10) Feb 05 (7) Feb 04 (2) Feb 03 (8) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (5) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (7) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (7) Jan 26 (8) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (6) Jan 23 (5) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (6) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (8) Jan 17 (12) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (8) Jan 12 (6) Jan 11 (6) Jan 10 (7) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (6) Jan 05 (9) Jan 04 (9) Jan 03 (4) Jan 02 (6) Jan 01 (8) Dec 31 (2) Dec 30 (1) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (8) Dec 26 (4) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (12) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (7) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (5) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (1) Dec 15 (7) Dec 14 (10) Dec 13 (7) Dec 12 (12) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (6) Dec 08 (7) Dec 07 (12) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (13) Dec 04 (6) Dec 02 (8) Dec 01 (8) Nov 30 (6) Nov 29 (7) Nov 28 (7) Nov 27 (4) Nov 26 (8) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (11) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (7) Nov 17 (6) Nov 16 (11) Nov 15 (10) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (5) Nov 11 (12) Nov 10 (4) Nov 09 (14) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (11) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (5) Nov 04 (11) Nov 03 (9) Nov 02 (10) Nov 01 (8) Oct 31 (12) Oct 30 (5) Oct 29 (5) Oct 28 (5) Oct 27 (11) Oct 26 (13) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (10) Oct 23 (8) Oct 22 (5) Oct 21 (11) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (5) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (6) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (9) Oct 13 (10) Oct 12 (11) Oct 11 (9) Oct 10 (10) Oct 09 (7) Oct 08 (5) Oct 07 (10) Oct 06 (9) Oct 05 (14) Oct 04 (9) Oct 03 (12) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (9) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (7) Sep 28 (13) Sep 27 (10) Sep 26 (11) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (7) Sep 22 (10) Sep 21 (12) Sep 20 (12) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (7) Sep 16 (11) Sep 15 (8) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (8) Sep 12 (8) Sep 11 (6) Sep 10 (10) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (9) Sep 07 (8) Sep 06 (11) Sep 05 (2) Sep 04 (8) Sep 03 (2) Sep 02 (6) Sep 01 (9) Aug 31 (9) Aug 30 (7) Aug 29 (9) Aug 28 (4) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (5) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (2) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (6) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (6) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (4) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (7) Aug 06 (7) Aug 05 (7) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (11) Aug 02 (6) Aug 01 (9) Jul 31 (11) Jul 28 (7) Jul 27 (11) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (5) Jul 24 (1) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (2) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (8) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (7) Jul 15 (4) Jul 14 (2) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (10) Jul 11 (11) Jul 10 (2) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (5) Jul 06 (6) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (6) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (3) Jun 30 (8) Jun 29 (5) Jun 28 (6) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (4) Jun 25 (1) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (11) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (7) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (6) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (6) Jun 09 (8) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (8) Jun 06 (7) Jun 05 (5) Jun 04 (7) Jun 03 (1) Jun 02 (9) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (8) May 30 (7) May 29 (5) May 28 (5) May 27 (4) May 26 (4) May 25 (4) May 24 (3) May 23 (5) May 22 (2) May 21 (3) May 20 (7) May 19 (11) May 18 (1) May 17 (7) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (3) May 13 (4) May 12 (4) May 11 (11) May 10 (2) May 09 (6) May 08 (6) May 07 (2) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (5) May 03 (8) May 02 (4) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (13) Apr 28 (5) Apr 27 (7) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (2) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (9) Apr 21 (11) Apr 20 (2) Apr 19 (2) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (6) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (2) Apr 12 (9) Apr 11 (10) Apr 10 (6) Apr 09 (5) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (10) Apr 06 (7) Apr 05 (7) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (9) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (7) Mar 28 (4) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (6) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (8) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (10) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (6) Mar 17 (7) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (4) Mar 12 (6) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (9) Mar 08 (10) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (2) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (3) Feb 27 (8) Feb 26 (9) Feb 24 (11) Feb 23 (8) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (8) Feb 20 (7) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (6) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (7) Feb 14 (11) Feb 13 (2) Feb 12 (5) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (3) Feb 09 (10) Feb 08 (9) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (2) Feb 05 (9) Feb 03 (7) Feb 02 (5) Feb 01 (7) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (5) Jan 29 (6) Jan 28 (5) Jan 27 (2) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (7) Jan 24 (8) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (14) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (10) Jan 18 (11) Jan 17 (9) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (7) Jan 10 (2) Jan 09 (7) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (10) Jan 06 (8) Jan 05 (7) Jan 04 (9) Jan 03 (8) Jan 02 (5) Jan 01 (14) Dec 30 (13) Dec 29 (13) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (5) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (7) Dec 24 (4) Dec 23 (5) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (8) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (8) Dec 18 (9) Dec 16 (8) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (5) Dec 13 (8) Dec 12 (4) Dec 11 (17) Dec 09 (8) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (10) Dec 06 (12) Dec 05 (6) Dec 04 (8) Dec 02 (6) Dec 01 (7) Nov 30 (9) Nov 29 (6) Nov 28 (11) Nov 27 (6) Nov 26 (15) Nov 24 (7) Nov 23 (15) Nov 22 (9) Nov 21 (6) Nov 20 (11) Nov 18 (11) Nov 17 (13) Nov 16 (8) Nov 15 (13) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (7) Nov 12 (3) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (13) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (6) Nov 06 (4) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (8) Nov 03 (9) Nov 02 (8) Nov 01 (6) Oct 31 (10) Oct 30 (8) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (8) Oct 27 (15) Oct 26 (10) Oct 25 (10) Oct 24 (13) Oct 23 (9) Oct 21 (8) Oct 20 (13) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (8) Oct 16 (14) Oct 14 (9) Oct 13 (11) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (13) Oct 10 (7) Oct 09 (15) Oct 07 (7) Oct 06 (11) Oct 05 (18) Oct 04 (14) Oct 03 (1) Oct 02 (10) Sep 30 (11) Sep 29 (11) Sep 28 (11) Sep 27 (15) Sep 26 (7) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (11) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (17) Sep 20 (20) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (11) Sep 16 (10) Sep 15 (12) Sep 14 (9) Sep 13 (12) Sep 12 (14) Sep 11 (4) Sep 10 (8) Sep 09 (9) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (13) Sep 06 (15) Sep 05 (8) Sep 04 (11) Sep 03 (10) Sep 02 (12) Sep 01 (12) Aug 31 (14) Aug 30 (14) Aug 29 (8) Aug 28 (8) Aug 27 (9) Aug 26 (12) Aug 25 (6) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (12) Aug 22 (6) Aug 21 (5) Aug 20 (6) Aug 19 (9) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (7) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (2) Aug 14 (12) Aug 12 (15) Aug 11 (11) Aug 10 (6) Aug 09 (7) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (5) Aug 05 (7) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (5) Aug 01 (5) Jul 31 (7) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (9) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (8) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (6) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (6) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (15) Jul 15 (14) Jul 14 (5) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (12) Jul 11 (8) Jul 10 (3) Jul 09 (11) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (10) Jul 05 (4) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (10) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (2) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (7) Jun 20 (3) Jun 19 (7) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (11) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (7) Jun 13 (14) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (8) Jun 09 (9) Jun 08 (11) Jun 07 (14) Jun 06 (16) Jun 03 (8) Jun 02 (12) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (7) May 30 (15) May 28 (7) May 27 (5) May 26 (21) May 25 (14) May 24 (10) May 23 (7) May 22 (8) May 21 (11) May 20 (5) May 19 (4) May 18 (10) May 17 (11) May 16 (5) May 15 (6) May 14 (7) May 13 (12) May 12 (10) May 11 (7) May 10 (13) May 09 (4) May 08 (7) May 07 (3) May 06 (6) May 05 (9) May 04 (14) May 03 (7) May 02 (10) May 01 (10) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (9) Apr 28 (5) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (8) Apr 24 (6) Apr 23 (14) Apr 22 (16) Apr 21 (11) Apr 20 (7) Apr 19 (16) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (10) Apr 15 (8) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (11) Apr 12 (10) Apr 11 (8) Apr 10 (12) Apr 09 (5) Apr 08 (13) Apr 07 (9) Apr 06 (11) Apr 05 (15) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (15) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (11) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (10) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (7) Mar 27 (12) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (8) Mar 24 (7) Mar 23 (15) Mar 22 (17) Mar 21 (9) Mar 20 (8) Mar 19 (4) Mar 18 (16) Mar 17 (8) Mar 16 (19) Mar 15 (13) Mar 14 (7) Mar 13 (20) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (11) Mar 09 (13) Mar 08 (13) Mar 07 (7) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (9) Mar 04 (10) Mar 03 (16) Mar 02 (16) Mar 01 (13) Feb 29 (8) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (16) Feb 26 (10) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (12) Feb 23 (14) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (11) Feb 20 (8) Feb 19 (12) Feb 18 (12) Feb 17 (11) Feb 16 (8) Feb 15 (9) Feb 14 (7) Feb 13 (10) Feb 12 (11) Feb 11 (13) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (13) Feb 05 (10) Feb 04 (11) Feb 03 (7) Feb 02 (19) Jan 31 (21) Jan 29 (11) Jan 28 (10) Jan 27 (13) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (2) Jan 23 (8) Jan 22 (13) Jan 21 (11) Jan 20 (9) Jan 19 (13) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (11) Jan 15 (7) Jan 14 (13) Jan 13 (9) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (5) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (7) Jan 08 (7) Jan 07 (6) Jan 06 (11) Jan 05 (7) Jan 04 (7) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (8) Jan 01 (5) Dec 31 (10) Dec 30 (9) Dec 29 (7) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (1) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (6) Dec 23 (6) Dec 22 (7) Dec 21 (6) Dec 20 (7) Dec 19 (13) Dec 18 (16) Dec 17 (10) Dec 16 (13) Dec 15 (11) Dec 14 (8) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (9) Dec 11 (10) Dec 10 (12) Dec 09 (10) Dec 08 (13) Dec 07 (7) Dec 06 (12) Dec 05 (8) Dec 04 (11) Dec 03 (12) Dec 02 (16) Dec 01 (14) Nov 30 (10) Nov 29 (11) Nov 28 (15) Nov 27 (16) Nov 26 (11) Nov 25 (9) Nov 24 (13) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (1) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (11) Nov 17 (11) Nov 16 (10) Nov 15 (3) Nov 14 (10) Nov 13 (14) Nov 12 (8) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (10) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (11) Nov 06 (12) Nov 05 (17) Nov 04 (12) Nov 03 (11) Nov 02 (5) Nov 01 (12) Oct 31 (11) Oct 30 (11) Oct 29 (10) Oct 28 (18) Oct 27 (16) Oct 26 (11) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (12) Oct 23 (11) Oct 22 (14) Oct 21 (12) Oct 20 (17) Oct 19 (12) Oct 18 (13) Oct 17 (15) Oct 16 (14) Oct 15 (10) Oct 14 (16) Oct 13 (12) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (8) Oct 10 (12) Oct 09 (21) Oct 08 (22) Oct 07 (19) Oct 06 (18) Oct 05 (6) Oct 04 (17) Oct 03 (13) Oct 02 (14) Oct 01 (13) Sep 30 (14) Sep 29 (15) Sep 28 (12) Sep 27 (11) Sep 26 (15) Sep 25 (13) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (10) Sep 22 (12) Sep 21 (8) Sep 20 (4) Sep 19 (12) Sep 18 (12) Sep 17 (16) Sep 16 (21) Sep 15 (14) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (10) Sep 11 (16) Sep 10 (7) Sep 09 (8) Sep 08 (10) Sep 07 (7) Sep 06 (5) Sep 05 (8) Sep 04 (9) Sep 03 (8) Sep 02 (11) Sep 01 (10) Aug 31 (4) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (1) Aug 28 (10) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (8) Aug 25 (14) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (13) Aug 20 (9) Aug 19 (13) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (8) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (12) Aug 11 (9) Aug 10 (8) Aug 09 (14) Aug 08 (6) Aug 07 (1) Aug 06 (4) Aug 05 (8) Aug 04 (6) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (2) Aug 01 (6) Jul 31 (6) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (6) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (6) Jul 23 (5) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (5) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (5) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (9) Jul 14 (2) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (1) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (8) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (13) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (7) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (1) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (9) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (3) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (7) Jun 17 (7) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (11) Jun 12 (6) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (10) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (2) Jun 05 (9) Jun 04 (8) Jun 03 (9) Jun 02 (6) Jun 01 (4) May 30 (7) May 29 (9) May 28 (13) May 26 (8) May 25 (5) May 24 (2) May 23 (8) May 22 (9) May 21 (7) May 20 (4) May 19 (6) May 18 (7) May 17 (8) May 15 (9) May 14 (5) May 13 (8) May 12 (6) May 11 (6) May 09 (7) May 08 (6) May 07 (11) May 06 (7) May 05 (4) May 04 (11) May 03 (5) May 02 (4) May 01 (9) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (4) Apr 28 (9) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (10) Apr 22 (8) Apr 21 (9) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (4) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (8) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (6) Apr 10 (2) Apr 09 (4) Apr 08 (5) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (2) Apr 05 (2) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (7) Apr 02 (7) Apr 01 (12) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (2) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (2) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (4) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (6) Mar 20 (9) Mar 19 (9) Mar 18 (8) Mar 17 (9) Mar 16 (7) Mar 15 (11) Mar 13 (5) Mar 12 (12) Mar 11 (9) Mar 10 (12) Mar 09 (4) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (5) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (11) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (8) Feb 27 (9) Feb 26 (9) Feb 25 (8) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (3) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (3) Feb 19 (10) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (7) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (2) Feb 14 (8) Feb 13 (12) Feb 12 (8) Feb 11 (10) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (3) Feb 07 (2) Feb 06 (7) Feb 05 (4) Feb 04 (11) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (8) Jan 29 (12) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (8) Jan 26 (13) Jan 24 (8) Jan 23 (12) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (10) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (9) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (11) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (6) Jan 10 (2) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (6) Jan 06 (4) Jan 05 (4) Jan 04 (3) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (3) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (5) Dec 18 (8) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (9) Dec 15 (7) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (10) Dec 12 (10) Dec 11 (9) Dec 10 (10) Dec 09 (11) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (9) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (8) Dec 02 (10) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (1) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (9) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (7) Nov 25 (12) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (8) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (6) Nov 18 (10) Nov 17 (12) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (12) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (7) Nov 11 (8) Nov 10 (7) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (6) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (9) Nov 03 (6) Nov 02 (14) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (6) Oct 30 (7) Oct 29 (9) Oct 28 (9) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (8) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (4) Oct 20 (2) Oct 19 (11) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (7) Oct 15 (7) Oct 14 (8) Oct 13 (5) Oct 12 (8) Oct 11 (6) Oct 10 (5) Oct 09 (11) Oct 08 (10) Oct 07 (8) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (8) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (10) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (7) Sep 29 (6) Sep 28 (5) Sep 27 (8) Sep 26 (11) Sep 25 (11) Sep 24 (15) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (9) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (9) Sep 18 (10) Sep 17 (10) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (8) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (7) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (2) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (7) Sep 04 (11) Sep 03 (7) Sep 02 (7) Sep 01 (2) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (1) Aug 29 (10) Aug 28 (5) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (10) Aug 25 (6) Aug 24 (9) Aug 22 (11) Aug 21 (8) Aug 20 (12) Aug 19 (8) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (4) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (8) Aug 11 (7) Aug 10 (12) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (6) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (8) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (4) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (6) Jul 30 (12) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (5) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (8) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (8) Jul 20 (6) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (8) Jul 17 (2) Jul 16 (7) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (9) Jul 13 (10) Jul 11 (9) Jul 10 (8) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (7) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (7) Jul 05 (10) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (5) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (1) Jun 27 (15) Jun 26 (10) Jun 25 (9) Jun 24 (16) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (12) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (8) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (6) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (13) Jun 12 (7) Jun 11 (14) Jun 10 (3) Jun 09 (2) Jun 08 (2) Jun 07 (7) Jun 06 (16) Jun 05 (7) Jun 04 (18) Jun 03 (12) Jun 02 (8) May 31 (3) May 30 (6) May 29 (6) May 28 (7) May 27 (4) May 26 (4) May 25 (6) May 23 (4) May 22 (8) May 21 (5) May 20 (6) May 19 (2) May 18 (9) May 17 (1) May 16 (5) May 15 (5) May 14 (7) May 13 (7) May 12 (7) May 11 (4) May 10 (4) May 09 (5) May 08 (10) May 07 (4) May 06 (13) May 05 (4) May 04 (10) May 02 (2) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (9) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (9) Apr 25 (9) Apr 24 (7) Apr 23 (11) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (10) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (6) Apr 15 (7) Apr 14 (11) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (9) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (6) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (6) Apr 05 (10) Apr 03 (9) Apr 02 (9) Apr 01 (12) Mar 31 (4) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (10) Mar 28 (7) Mar 27 (8) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (15) Mar 24 (11) Mar 23 (8) Mar 22 (7) Mar 21 (14) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (11) Mar 18 (11) Mar 17 (12) Mar 16 (8) Mar 15 (8) Mar 14 (13) Mar 13 (8) Mar 12 (10) Mar 11 (8) Mar 10 (7) Mar 09 (3) Mar 08 (12) Mar 07 (15) Mar 06 (16) Mar 05 (9) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (12) Mar 02 (20) Feb 28 (11) Feb 27 (8) Feb 26 (11) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (14) Feb 23 (5) Feb 22 (6) Feb 21 (8) Feb 20 (11) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (8) Feb 16 (11) Feb 15 (3) Feb 14 (10) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (10) Feb 11 (7) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (6) Feb 07 (5) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (10) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (3) Jan 30 (5) Jan 29 (2) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (3) Jan 26 (2) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (7) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (5) Jan 20 (5) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (7) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (5) Jan 13 (4) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (3) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (1) Jan 05 (4) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (6) Jan 01 (2) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (1) Dec 29 (5) Dec 27 (1) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (8) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (1) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (8) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (4) Dec 16 (3) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (4) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (7) Dec 09 (5) Dec 08 (2) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (10) Dec 04 (9) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (2) Dec 01 (8) Nov 29 (5) Nov 28 (7) Nov 27 (5) Nov 26 (9) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (5) Nov 23 (6) Nov 22 (5) Nov 21 (12) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (8) Nov 15 (7) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (12) Nov 11 (6) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (5) Nov 05 (9) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (4) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (10) Oct 30 (4) Oct 29 (11) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (7) Oct 26 (7) Oct 25 (6) Oct 24 (7) Oct 23 (11) Oct 22 (2) Oct 21 (7) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (7) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (8) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (5) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (7) Oct 11 (20) Oct 10 (2) Oct 09 (4) Oct 08 (21) Oct 07 (20) Oct 06 (34) Oct 04 (24) Oct 03 (21) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (7) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (5) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (5) Sep 26 (6) Sep 25 (5) Sep 24 (2) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (4) Sep 21 (3) Sep 20 (9) Sep 19 (11) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (7) Sep 16 (6) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (8) Sep 12 (11) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (6) Sep 06 (10) Sep 05 (7) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (5) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (8) Aug 31 (5) Aug 30 (7) Aug 29 (10) Aug 28 (7) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (6) Aug 21 (8) Aug 20 (8) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (2) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (7) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (4) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (6) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (6) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (12) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (4) Aug 01 (10) Jul 31 (3) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (6) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (7) Jul 23 (10) Jul 22 (8) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (7) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (10) Jul 16 (11) Jul 15 (5) Jul 13 (5) Jul 12 (9) Jul 11 (11) Jul 10 (12) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (8) Jul 06 (9) Jul 05 (10) Jul 04 (8) Jul 03 (10) Jul 02 (12) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (5) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (23) Jun 27 (18) Jun 26 (12) Jun 25 (14) Jun 24 (15) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (11) Jun 21 (15) Jun 20 (9) Jun 19 (8) Jun 18 (11) Jun 17 (7) Jun 16 (6) Jun 15 (6) Jun 14 (6) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (6) Jun 11 (9) Jun 10 (10) Jun 09 (9) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (2) Jun 06 (6) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (3) May 30 (5) May 29 (8) May 28 (7) May 27 (2) May 26 (2) May 25 (8) May 24 (7) May 23 (6) May 22 (9) May 21 (6) May 20 (5) May 19 (6) May 18 (9) May 17 (10) May 16 (11) May 15 (5) May 14 (11) May 13 (6) May 12 (7) May 11 (7) May 10 (5) May 09 (3) May 08 (10) May 07 (8) May 06 (11) May 05 (5) May 04 (9) May 03 (3) May 02 (2) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (5) Apr 29 (8) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (9) Apr 25 (11) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (11) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (7) Apr 19 (10) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (10) Apr 16 (8) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (7) Apr 12 (11) Apr 11 (6) Apr 10 (7) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (9) Apr 05 (10) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (2) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (4) Mar 31 (3) Mar 30 (4) Mar 29 (3) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (10) Mar 26 (5) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (6) Mar 21 (9) Mar 20 (5) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (9) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (8) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (10) Mar 12 (10) Mar 11 (2) Mar 10 (1) Mar 09 (6) Mar 08 (4) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (3) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (7) Mar 03 (6) Mar 02 (8) Mar 01 (9) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (7) Feb 24 (3) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (7) Feb 20 (4) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (2) Feb 17 (1) Feb 16 (6) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (5) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (7) Feb 11 (2) Feb 10 (2) Feb 09 (5) Feb 08 (5) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (9) Feb 04 (3) Feb 03 (3) Feb 02 (10) Feb 01 (9) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (8) Jan 29 (5) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (4) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (7) Jan 18 (3) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (8) Jan 15 (7) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (1) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (1) Jan 10 (3) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (2) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (4) Jan 02 (4) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (8) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (4) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (7) Dec 21 (5) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (6) Dec 17 (4) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (8) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (6) Dec 11 (8) Dec 10 (5) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (4) Dec 07 (7) Dec 06 (7) Dec 05 (6) Dec 04 (6) Dec 03 (7) Dec 02 (1) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (2) Nov 29 (8) Nov 28 (16) Nov 27 (7) Nov 26 (5) Nov 25 (2) Nov 24 (6) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (5) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (15) Nov 19 (8) Nov 18 (2) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (7) Nov 14 (6) Nov 13 (9) Nov 12 (7) Nov 11 (8) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (5) Nov 08 (8) Nov 07 (9) Nov 06 (9) Nov 05 (1) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (8) Nov 02 (6) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (6) Oct 30 (7) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (8) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (1) Oct 22 (6) Oct 21 (1) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (10) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (15) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (5) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (7) Oct 10 (1) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (7) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (8) Oct 05 (5) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (7) Oct 02 (6) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (8) Sep 29 (6) Sep 28 (13) Sep 27 (10) Sep 26 (8) Sep 25 (8) Sep 24 (8) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (9) Sep 20 (7) Sep 19 (8) Sep 18 (4) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (8) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (7) Sep 12 (7) Sep 11 (9) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (10) Sep 08 (4) Sep 07 (12) Sep 06 (13) Sep 05 (15) Sep 04 (5) Sep 03 (4) Sep 02 (6) Sep 01 (9) Aug 31 (7) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (8) Aug 28 (11) Aug 27 (2) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (15) Aug 24 (6) Aug 23 (8) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (6) Aug 20 (7) Aug 19 (2) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (9) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (6) Aug 09 (5) Aug 08 (7) Aug 07 (9) Aug 06 (4) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (9) Aug 01 (10) Jul 31 (11) Jul 30 (4) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (11) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (5) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (6) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (7) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (7) Jul 12 (8) Jul 11 (6) Jul 10 (14) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (9) Jul 05 (8) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (8) Jul 02 (5) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (6) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (8) Jun 25 (3) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (14) Jun 22 (11) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (8) Jun 19 (7) Jun 18 (4) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (12) Jun 15 (12) Jun 14 (10) Jun 13 (10) Jun 12 (9) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (12) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (12) Jun 06 (6) Jun 05 (7) Jun 04 (6) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (4) Jun 01 (8) May 31 (4) May 30 (3) May 29 (8) May 28 (7) May 27 (4) May 26 (3) May 25 (5) May 24 (9) May 23 (16) May 22 (12) May 21 (11) May 20 (7) May 19 (10) May 18 (8) May 17 (8) May 16 (10) May 15 (8) May 14 (5) May 13 (1) May 12 (6) May 11 (9) May 10 (9) May 09 (10) May 08 (9) May 07 (6) May 06 (5) May 05 (7) May 04 (10) May 03 (7) May 02 (9) May 01 (10) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (9) Apr 28 (12) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (4) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (9) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (8) Apr 20 (9) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (2) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (10) Apr 14 (7) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (7) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (7) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (7) Apr 07 (10) Apr 06 (8) Apr 05 (8) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (6) Apr 02 (4) Apr 01 (4) Mar 31 (11) Mar 30 (12) Mar 29 (16) Mar 28 (8) Mar 27 (10) Mar 26 (12) Mar 25 (6) Mar 24 (9) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (12) Mar 20 (14) Mar 19 (8) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (8) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (9) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (13) Mar 09 (8) Mar 08 (10) Mar 07 (12) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (2) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (12) Mar 01 (8) Feb 29 (11) Feb 28 (5) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (13) Feb 25 (10) Feb 24 (13) Feb 23 (10) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (18) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (5) Feb 16 (9) Feb 15 (7) Feb 14 (6) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (6) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (8) Feb 09 (5) Feb 08 (8) Feb 07 (10) Feb 06 (7) Feb 05 (7) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (11) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (12) Jan 30 (7) Jan 29 (7) Jan 28 (7) Jan 27 (12) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (11) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (6) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (12) Jan 20 (11) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (6) Jan 17 (11) Jan 16 (9) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (9) Jan 10 (10) Jan 09 (5) Jan 08 (10) Jan 07 (5) Jan 06 (6) Jan 05 (8) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (8) Jan 02 (7) Jan 01 (7) Dec 31 (10) Dec 30 (11) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (10) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (7) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (9) Dec 21 (8) Dec 20 (8) Dec 19 (5) Dec 18 (1) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (6) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (13) Dec 13 (8) Dec 12 (7) Dec 11 (9) Dec 10 (12) Dec 09 (7) Dec 08 (11) Dec 07 (9) Dec 06 (11) Dec 05 (10) Dec 04 (6) Dec 03 (8) Dec 02 (6) Dec 01 (14) Nov 30 (7) Nov 29 (8) Nov 28 (8) Nov 27 (6) Nov 26 (9) Nov 25 (10) Nov 24 (12) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (10) Nov 20 (4) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (8) Nov 17 (9) Nov 16 (9) Nov 15 (12) Nov 14 (6) Nov 13 (9) Nov 12 (3) Nov 11 (9) Nov 10 (10) Nov 09 (10) Nov 08 (7) Nov 07 (8) Nov 06 (10) Nov 05 (8) Nov 04 (7) Nov 03 (10) Nov 02 (11) Nov 01 (10) Oct 31 (5) Oct 30 (8) Oct 29 (8) Oct 28 (8) Oct 27 (11) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (10) Oct 23 (5) Oct 22 (14) Oct 21 (10) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (11) Oct 18 (13) Oct 17 (7) Oct 16 (6) Oct 15 (9) Oct 14 (7) Oct 13 (12) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (9) Oct 10 (8) Oct 09 (9) Oct 08 (7) Oct 07 (12) Oct 06 (8) Oct 05 (13) Oct 04 (11) Oct 03 (7) Oct 02 (5) Oct 01 (14) Sep 30 (12) Sep 29 (12) Sep 28 (11) Sep 27 (11) Sep 26 (7) Sep 25 (10) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (7) Sep 22 (8) Sep 21 (8) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (7) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (14) Sep 16 (7) Sep 15 (11) Sep 14 (13) Sep 13 (11) Sep 12 (9) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (13) Sep 08 (11) Sep 07 (11) Sep 06 (16) Sep 05 (1) Sep 04 (10) Sep 03 (8) Sep 02 (8) Sep 01 (7) Aug 31 (1) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (2) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (8) Aug 25 (5) Aug 24 (5) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (7) Aug 21 (6) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (9) Aug 18 (7) Aug 17 (7) Aug 16 (10) Aug 15 (2) Aug 14 (5) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (10) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (5) Aug 06 (12) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (14) Jul 31 (7) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (13) Jul 28 (10) Jul 27 (6) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (12) Jul 22 (14) Jul 21 (6) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (12) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (6) Jul 15 (8) Jul 14 (15) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (10) Jul 11 (6) Jul 10 (6) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (6) Jul 07 (9) Jul 06 (15) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (10) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (11) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (11) Jun 24 (9) Jun 23 (10) Jun 22 (8) Jun 21 (8) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (5) Jun 18 (15) Jun 17 (8) Jun 16 (13) Jun 15 (15) Jun 14 (11) Jun 13 (6) Jun 12 (15) Jun 11 (7) Jun 10 (7) Jun 09 (18) Jun 08 (20) Jun 07 (17) Jun 06 (9) Jun 05 (9) Jun 04 (12) Jun 03 (13) Jun 02 (14) Jun 01 (8) May 31 (13) May 30 (8) May 29 (6) May 28 (8) May 27 (17) May 26 (8) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (9) May 22 (4) May 21 (4) May 20 (11) May 19 (14) May 18 (6) May 17 (10) May 16 (4) May 15 (5) May 14 (28) May 12 (9) May 11 (17) May 10 (15) May 09 (12) May 08 (5) May 07 (4) May 06 (10) May 05 (8) May 04 (10) May 03 (5) May 02 (6) May 01 (8) Apr 30 (8) Apr 29 (12) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (11) Apr 26 (12) Apr 25 (6) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (5) Apr 22 (10) Apr 21 (19) Apr 20 (13) Apr 19 (11) Apr 18 (11) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (12) Apr 15 (11) Apr 14 (17) Apr 13 (6) Apr 12 (16) Apr 11 (10) Apr 10 (1) Apr 09 (18) Apr 08 (14) Apr 07 (6) Apr 06 (10) Apr 05 (21) Apr 04 (12) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (13) Apr 01 (8) Mar 31 (10) Mar 30 (11) Mar 29 (10) Mar 28 (8) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (12) Mar 25 (15) Mar 24 (10) Mar 23 (12) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (8) Mar 20 (4) Mar 19 (11) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (7) Mar 16 (9) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (2) Mar 12 (14) Mar 11 (13) Mar 10 (7) Mar 09 (9) Mar 08 (17) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (7) Mar 05 (13) Mar 04 (10) Mar 03 (14) Mar 02 (12) Mar 01 (18) Feb 28 (8) Feb 27 (2) Feb 26 (9) Feb 25 (13) Feb 24 (17) Feb 23 (13) Feb 22 (12) Feb 21 (11) Feb 20 (11) Feb 19 (16) Feb 18 (17) Feb 17 (15) Feb 16 (15) Feb 15 (15) Feb 14 (10) Feb 13 (8) Feb 12 (10) Feb 11 (15) Feb 10 (11) Feb 09 (13) Feb 08 (10) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (6) Feb 05 (15) Feb 04 (15) Feb 03 (11) Feb 02 (14) Feb 01 (15) Jan 31 (11) Jan 30 (9) Jan 29 (19) Jan 28 (9) Jan 27 (9) Jan 26 (16) Jan 25 (19) Jan 24 (17) Jan 23 (8) Jan 22 (15) Jan 21 (9) Jan 20 (11) Jan 19 (7) Jan 18 (9) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (7) Jan 15 (12) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (14) Jan 12 (11) Jan 11 (13) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (8) Jan 08 (20) Jan 07 (11) Jan 06 (11) Jan 05 (8) Jan 04 (14) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (7) Jan 01 (7) Dec 31 (14) Dec 30 (15) Dec 29 (7) Dec 28 (10) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (11) Dec 24 (9) Dec 23 (9) Dec 22 (15) Dec 21 (12) Dec 20 (11) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (16) Dec 17 (6) Dec 16 (12) Dec 15 (14) Dec 14 (11) Dec 13 (10) Dec 12 (6) Dec 11 (10) Dec 10 (17) Dec 09 (11) Dec 08 (12) Dec 07 (16) Dec 06 (11) Dec 05 (5) Dec 04 (12) Dec 03 (15) Dec 02 (15) Dec 01 (12) Nov 30 (16) Nov 29 (7) Nov 28 (11) Nov 27 (13) Nov 26 (13) Nov 25 (16) Nov 24 (15) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (4) Nov 20 (8) Nov 19 (9) Nov 18 (16) Nov 17 (11) Nov 16 (11) Nov 15 (10) Nov 14 (9) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (10) Nov 11 (12) Nov 10 (15) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (6) Nov 06 (7) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (14) Nov 03 (10) Nov 02 (13) Nov 01 (9) Oct 31 (9) Oct 30 (11) Oct 29 (18) Oct 28 (13) Oct 27 (23) Oct 26 (12) Oct 25 (14) Oct 24 (20) Oct 22 (18) Oct 21 (18) Oct 20 (19) Oct 19 (12) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (18) Oct 15 (8) Oct 14 (11) Oct 13 (9) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (6) Oct 10 (7) Oct 09 (27) Oct 08 (14) Oct 07 (10) Oct 06 (9) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (10) Oct 03 (6) Oct 02 (9) Oct 01 (13) Sep 30 (12) Sep 29 (13) Sep 28 (8) Sep 27 (9) Sep 26 (8) Sep 25 (14) Sep 24 (4) Sep 23 (14) Sep 22 (20) Sep 21 (11) Sep 20 (6) Sep 19 (9) Sep 18 (14) Sep 17 (8) Sep 16 (17) Sep 15 (6) Sep 14 (11) Sep 13 (9) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (14) Sep 09 (12) Sep 08 (17) Sep 07 (12) Sep 06 (13) Sep 05 (9) Sep 04 (20) Sep 03 (16) Sep 02 (16) Sep 01 (10) Aug 31 (13) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (9) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (11) Aug 25 (10) Aug 24 (14) Aug 23 (12) Aug 22 (13) Aug 21 (10) Aug 20 (13) Aug 19 (15) Aug 18 (8) Aug 17 (10) Aug 16 (8) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (11) Aug 13 (12) Aug 12 (15) Aug 11 (10) Aug 10 (17) Aug 09 (6) Aug 08 (13) Aug 07 (11) Aug 06 (13) Aug 05 (11) Aug 04 (11) Aug 03 (10) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (6) Jul 31 (10) Jul 30 (21) Jul 29 (14) Jul 28 (13) Jul 27 (16) Jul 26 (10) Jul 25 (15) Jul 24 (17) Jul 23 (15) Jul 22 (15) Jul 21 (19) Jul 20 (17) Jul 19 (9) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (26) Jul 16 (18) Jul 15 (20) Jul 14 (16) Jul 13 (19) Jul 12 (11) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (13) Jul 09 (11) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (12) Jul 06 (16) Jul 05 (9) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (15) Jul 02 (11) Jul 01 (14) Jun 30 (13) Jun 29 (19) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (9) Jun 26 (16) Jun 25 (22) Jun 24 (17) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (15) Jun 21 (14) Jun 20 (8) Jun 19 (17) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (10) Jun 16 (17) Jun 15 (13) Jun 14 (14) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (13) Jun 11 (15) Jun 10 (25) Jun 09 (10) Jun 08 (23) Jun 07 (14) Jun 06 (20) Jun 05 (10) Jun 04 (11) Jun 03 (12) Jun 02 (21) Jun 01 (14) May 31 (10) May 30 (14) May 29 (8) May 28 (23) May 27 (20) May 26 (16) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (10) May 22 (18) May 21 (14) May 20 (12) May 19 (18) May 18 (14) May 17 (13) May 16 (4) May 15 (7) May 14 (16) May 13 (13) May 12 (8) May 11 (18) May 10 (8) May 09 (7) May 08 (13) May 07 (11) May 06 (15) May 05 (18) May 04 (17) May 03 (7) May 02 (5) May 01 (11) Apr 30 (19) Apr 29 (21) Apr 28 (18) Apr 27 (16) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (11) Apr 24 (9) Apr 23 (20) Apr 22 (23) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (16) Apr 19 (13) Apr 18 (6) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (16) Apr 15 (18) Apr 14 (13) Apr 13 (14) Apr 12 (9) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (16) Apr 09 (14) Apr 08 (12) Apr 07 (18) Apr 06 (7) Apr 05 (11) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (19) Apr 02 (17) Apr 01 (16) Mar 31 (16) Mar 30 (22) Mar 29 (16) Mar 28 (16) Mar 27 (19) Mar 26 (31) Mar 25 (25) Mar 24 (26) Mar 23 (27) Mar 22 (22) Mar 21 (22) Mar 20 (13) Mar 19 (21) Mar 18 (20) Mar 17 (24) Mar 16 (18) Mar 15 (9) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (29) Mar 12 (15) Mar 11 (11) Mar 10 (11) Mar 09 (20) Mar 08 (12) Mar 07 (6) Mar 06 (21) Mar 05 (22) Mar 04 (19) Mar 03 (9) Mar 02 (20) Mar 01 (11) Feb 28 (11) Feb 27 (27) Feb 26 (15) Feb 25 (18) Feb 24 (17) Feb 23 (19) Feb 22 (24) Feb 21 (10) Feb 20 (14) Feb 19 (25) Feb 18 (16) Feb 17 (19) Feb 16 (23) Feb 15 (8) Feb 14 (11) Feb 13 (25) Feb 12 (16) Feb 11 (12) Feb 10 (18) Feb 09 (12) Feb 08 (14) Feb 07 (8) Feb 06 (27) Feb 05 (28) Feb 04 (24) Feb 03 (17) Feb 02 (20) Feb 01 (23) Jan 31 (16) Jan 30 (20) Jan 29 (26) Jan 28 (17) Jan 27 (21) Jan 26 (24) Jan 25 (16) Jan 24 (14) Jan 23 (16) Jan 22 (17) Jan 21 (19) Jan 20 (21) Jan 19 (17) Jan 18 (13) Jan 17 (14) Jan 16 (10) Jan 15 (21) Jan 14 (16) Jan 13 (19) Jan 12 (30) Jan 11 (14) Jan 10 (11) Jan 09 (8) Jan 08 (23) Jan 07 (13) Jan 06 (21) Jan 05 (15) Jan 04 (18) Jan 03 (9) Jan 02 (12) Jan 01 (15) Dec 31 (18) Dec 30 (7) Dec 29 (13) Dec 28 (11) Dec 27 (8) Dec 26 (6) Dec 25 (8) Dec 24 (28) Dec 23 (12) Dec 22 (12) Dec 21 (17) Dec 20 (19) Dec 19 (19) Dec 18 (22) Dec 17 (24) Dec 16 (17) Dec 15 (29) Dec 14 (22) Dec 13 (12) Dec 12 (22) Dec 11 (24) Dec 10 (25) Dec 09 (18) Dec 08 (15) Dec 07 (21) Dec 06 (24) Dec 05 (30) Dec 04 (28) Dec 03 (26) Dec 02 (22) Dec 01 (33) Nov 30 (23) Nov 29 (9) Nov 28 (18) Nov 27 (25) Nov 26 (17) Nov 25 (23) Nov 24 (27) Nov 23 (12) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (15) Nov 20 (23) Nov 19 (23) Nov 18 (24) Nov 17 (21) Nov 16 (20) Nov 15 (13) Nov 14 (15) Nov 13 (27) Nov 12 (23) Nov 11 (19) Nov 10 (21) Nov 09 (13) Nov 08 (16) Nov 07 (16) Nov 06 (32) Nov 05 (24) Nov 04 (20) Nov 03 (29) Nov 02 (12) Nov 01 (15) Oct 31 (20) Oct 30 (22) Oct 29 (27) Oct 28 (20) Oct 27 (23) Oct 26 (21) Oct 25 (15) Oct 24 (23) Oct 23 (26) Oct 22 (27) Oct 21 (28) Oct 20 (24) Oct 19 (13) Oct 18 (9) Oct 17 (30) Oct 16 (8) Oct 15 (20) Oct 14 (14) Oct 13 (17) Oct 12 (16) Oct 11 (8) Oct 10 (19) Oct 09 (22) Oct 08 (16) Oct 07 (18) Oct 06 (23) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (15) Oct 03 (21) Oct 02 (17) Oct 01 (22) Sep 30 (25) Sep 29 (20) Sep 28 (17) Sep 27 (13) Sep 26 (20) Sep 25 (15) Sep 24 (24) Sep 23 (23) Sep 22 (18) Sep 21 (20) Sep 20 (11) Sep 19 (24) Sep 18 (25) Sep 17 (25) Sep 16 (19) Sep 15 (21) Sep 14 (15) Sep 13 (10) Sep 12 (23) Sep 11 (23) Sep 10 (25) Sep 09 (25) Sep 08 (17) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (17) Sep 05 (14) Sep 04 (24) Sep 03 (16) Sep 02 (11) Sep 01 (19) Aug 31 (20) Aug 30 (11) Aug 29 (24) Aug 28 (24) Aug 27 (16) Aug 26 (26) Aug 25 (21) Aug 24 (15) Aug 23 (19) Aug 22 (15) Aug 21 (25) Aug 20 (27) Aug 19 (19) Aug 18 (24) Aug 17 (14) Aug 16 (10) Aug 15 (15) Aug 14 (16) Aug 13 (21) Aug 12 (30) Aug 11 (19) Aug 10 (8) Aug 09 (12) Aug 08 (17) Aug 07 (21) Aug 06 (26) Aug 05 (23) Aug 04 (21) Aug 03 (12) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (19) Jul 31 (21) Jul 30 (25) Jul 29 (29) Jul 28 (23) Jul 27 (17) Jul 26 (11) Jul 25 (21) Jul 24 (14) Jul 23 (15) Jul 22 (19) Jul 21 (15) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (10) Jul 18 (15) Jul 17 (22) Jul 16 (18) Jul 15 (21) Jul 14 (20) Jul 13 (7) Jul 12 (9) Jul 11 (29) Jul 10 (19) Jul 09 (17) Jul 08 (26) Jul 07 (21) Jul 06 (18) Jul 05 (14) Jul 04 (20) Jul 03 (17) Jul 02 (24) Jul 01 (23) Jun 30 (23) Jun 29 (18) Jun 28 (16) Jun 27 (16) Jun 26 (17) Jun 25 (23) Jun 24 (32) Jun 23 (29) Jun 22 (8) Jun 21 (17) Jun 20 (25) Jun 19 (28) Jun 18 (19) Jun 17 (25) Jun 16 (23) Jun 15 (9) Jun 14 (11) Jun 13 (14) Jun 12 (22) Jun 11 (19) Jun 10 (17) Jun 09 (15) Jun 08 (16) Jun 07 (7) Jun 06 (29) Jun 05 (27) Jun 04 (24) Jun 03 (22) Jun 02 (22) Jun 01 (13) May 31 (9) May 30 (26) May 29 (19) May 28 (15) May 27 (15) May 26 (23) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (24) May 22 (13) May 21 (21) May 20 (18) May 19 (16) May 18 (7) May 17 (12) May 16 (25) May 15 (24) May 14 (23) May 13 (19) May 12 (17) May 11 (8) May 10 (6) May 09 (14) May 08 (21) May 07 (26) May 06 (14) May 05 (14) May 04 (3) May 03 (3) May 02 (24) May 01 (13) Apr 30 (15) Apr 29 (24) Apr 28 (24) Apr 27 (11) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (13) Apr 24 (27) Apr 23 (15) Apr 22 (21) Apr 21 (19) Apr 20 (17) Apr 19 (8) Apr 18 (20) Apr 17 (27) Apr 16 (27) Apr 15 (21) Apr 14 (8) Apr 13 (8) Apr 12 (7) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (22) Apr 09 (15) Apr 08 (15) Apr 07 (17) Apr 06 (14) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (12) Apr 03 (19) Apr 02 (17) Apr 01 (19) Mar 31 (25) Mar 30 (13) Mar 29 (9) Mar 28 (16) Mar 27 (23) Mar 26 (22) Mar 25 (17) Mar 24 (25) Mar 23 (16) Mar 22 (13) Mar 21 (24) Mar 20 (27) Mar 19 (20) Mar 18 (24) Mar 17 (17) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (20) Mar 13 (28) Mar 12 (30) Mar 11 (20) Mar 10 (21) Mar 09 (12) Mar 08 (8) Mar 07 (17) Mar 06 (20) Mar 05 (19) Mar 04 (15) Mar 03 (17) Mar 02 (8) Mar 01 (12) Feb 28 (16) Feb 27 (17) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (23) Feb 24 (15) Feb 23 (8) Feb 22 (10) Feb 21 (24) Feb 20 (14) Feb 19 (24) Feb 18 (19) Feb 17 (27) Feb 16 (13) Feb 15 (11) Feb 14 (15) Feb 13 (13) Feb 12 (13) Feb 11 (21) Feb 10 (16) Feb 09 (15) Feb 08 (10) Feb 07 (17) Feb 06 (21) Feb 05 (17) Feb 04 (14) Feb 03 (23) Feb 02 (5) Feb 01 (8) Jan 31 (17) Jan 30 (22) Jan 29 (23) Jan 28 (10) Jan 27 (24) Jan 26 (12) Jan 25 (9) Jan 24 (12) Jan 23 (19) Jan 22 (19) Jan 21 (14) Jan 20 (21) Jan 19 (12) Jan 18 (8) Jan 17 (20) Jan 16 (14) Jan 15 (23) Jan 14 (8) Jan 13 (20) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (7) Jan 10 (18) Jan 09 (11) Jan 08 (18) Jan 07 (13) Jan 06 (12) Jan 05 (12) Jan 04 (11) Jan 03 (10) Jan 02 (9) Jan 01 (9) Dec 31 (12) Dec 30 (11) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (13) Dec 26 (15) Dec 25 (8) Dec 24 (6) Dec 23 (8) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (6) Dec 20 (14) Dec 19 (17) Dec 18 (14) Dec 17 (14) Dec 16 (13) Dec 15 (9) Dec 14 (9) Dec 13 (11) Dec 12 (16) Dec 11 (18) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (24) Dec 08 (11) Dec 07 (19) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (26) Dec 04 (15) Dec 03 (20) Dec 02 (17) Dec 01 (11) Nov 30 (10) Nov 29 (18) Nov 28 (21) Nov 27 (10) Nov 26 (22) Nov 25 (16) Nov 24 (12) Nov 23 (8) Nov 22 (18) Nov 21 (9) Nov 20 (17) Nov 19 (16) Nov 18 (16) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (9) Nov 15 (21) Nov 14 (17) Nov 13 (20) Nov 12 (16) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (9) Nov 09 (10) Nov 08 (16) Nov 07 (15) Nov 06 (18) Nov 05 (19) Nov 04 (16) Nov 03 (11) Nov 02 (5) Nov 01 (17) Oct 31 (17) Oct 30 (21) Oct 29 (9) Oct 28 (16) Oct 27 (6) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (16) Oct 24 (18) Oct 23 (14) Oct 22 (17) Oct 21 (10) Oct 20 (6) Oct 19 (8) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (12) Oct 16 (14) Oct 15 (19) Oct 14 (15) Oct 13 (11) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (10) Oct 10 (23) Oct 09 (13) Oct 08 (15) Oct 07 (20) Oct 06 (13) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (16) Oct 03 (17) Oct 02 (17) Oct 01 (20) Sep 30 (17) Sep 29 (9) Sep 28 (8) Sep 27 (14) Sep 26 (20) Sep 25 (19) Sep 24 (13) Sep 23 (11) Sep 22 (9) Sep 21 (5) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (21) Sep 18 (12) Sep 17 (20) Sep 16 (16) Sep 15 (10) Sep 14 (6) Sep 13 (18) Sep 12 (14) Sep 11 (24) Sep 10 (17) Sep 09 (16) Sep 08 (16) Sep 07 (10) Sep 06 (20) Sep 05 (13) Sep 04 (23) Sep 03 (14) Sep 02 (12) Sep 01 (11) Aug 31 (11) Aug 30 (13) Aug 29 (18) Aug 28 (14) Aug 27 (21) Aug 26 (10) Aug 25 (8) Aug 24 (10) Aug 23 (17) Aug 22 (15) Aug 21 (14) Aug 20 (20) Aug 19 (20) Aug 18 (7) Aug 17 (9) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (12) Aug 14 (14) Aug 13 (19) Aug 12 (14) Aug 11 (6) Aug 10 (12) Aug 09 (7) Aug 08 (18) Aug 07 (16) Aug 06 (16) Aug 05 (20) Aug 04 (12) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (12) Aug 01 (14) Jul 31 (16) Jul 30 (16) Jul 29 (11) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (9) Jul 26 (17) Jul 25 (20) Jul 24 (17) Jul 23 (11) Jul 22 (18) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (14) Jul 18 (11) Jul 17 (15) Jul 16 (12) Jul 15 (10) Jul 14 (8) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (17) Jul 11 (18) Jul 10 (16) Jul 09 (13) Jul 08 (10) Jul 07 (12) Jul 06 (8) Jul 05 (16) Jul 04 (14) Jul 03 (17) Jul 02 (13) Jul 01 (16) Jun 30 (19) Jun 29 (7) Jun 28 (19) Jun 27 (21) Jun 26 (27) Jun 25 (23) Jun 24 (23) Jun 23 (12) Jun 22 (9) Jun 21 (18) Jun 20 (15) Jun 19 (24) Jun 18 (21) Jun 17 (13) Jun 16 (9) Jun 15 (9) Jun 14 (18) Jun 13 (24) Jun 12 (18) Jun 11 (23) Jun 10 (25) Jun 09 (24) Jun 08 (27) Jun 07 (5) Jun 06 (25) Jun 05 (30) Jun 04 (23) Jun 03 (22) Jun 02 (16) Jun 01 (17) May 31 (18) May 30 (19) May 29 (17) May 28 (23) May 27 (15) May 26 (10) May 25 (19) May 24 (16) May 23 (16) May 22 (27) May 21 (20) May 20 (26) May 19 (6) May 18 (8) May 17 (20) May 16 (8) May 15 (18) May 14 (5) May 13 (21) May 12 (9) May 11 (8) May 10 (12) May 09 (18) May 08 (11) May 07 (27) May 06 (12) May 05 (16) May 04 (19) May 03 (14) May 02 (18) May 01 (18) Apr 30 (25) Apr 29 (27) Apr 28 (11) Apr 27 (10) Apr 26 (18) Apr 25 (10) Apr 24 (29) Apr 23 (29) Apr 22 (14) Apr 21 (15) Apr 20 (20) Apr 19 (22) Apr 18 (16) Apr 17 (32) Apr 16 (12) Apr 15 (21) Apr 14 (21) Apr 13 (15) Apr 12 (13) Apr 11 (14) Apr 10 (16) Apr 09 (20) Apr 08 (36) Apr 07 (22) Apr 06 (11) Apr 05 (28) Apr 04 (20) Apr 03 (29) Apr 02 (32) Apr 01 (18) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (15) Mar 28 (22) Mar 27 (24) Mar 26 (17) Mar 25 (17) Mar 24 (13) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (15) Mar 20 (18) Mar 19 (19) Mar 18 (16) Mar 17 (10) Mar 16 (6) Mar 15 (18) Mar 14 (24) Mar 13 (18) Mar 12 (18) Mar 11 (17) Mar 10 (13) Mar 09 (12) Mar 08 (18) Mar 07 (25) Mar 06 (16) Mar 05 (16) Mar 04 (22) Mar 03 (17) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (23) Feb 29 (19) Feb 28 (25) Feb 27 (26) Feb 26 (23) Feb 25 (12) Feb 24 (13) Feb 23 (15) Feb 22 (26) Feb 21 (31) Feb 20 (12) Feb 19 (21) Feb 18 (15) Feb 17 (10) Feb 16 (15) Feb 15 (19) Feb 14 (15) Feb 13 (25) Feb 12 (20) Feb 11 (9) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (28) Feb 08 (20) Feb 07 (22) Feb 06 (20) Feb 05 (19) Feb 04 (14) Feb 03 (16) Feb 02 (28) Feb 01 (37) Jan 31 (27) Jan 30 (31) Jan 29 (18) Jan 28 (14) Jan 27 (10) Jan 26 (18) Jan 25 (26) Jan 24 (34) Jan 23 (21) Jan 22 (21) Jan 21 (18) Jan 20 (18) Jan 19 (18) Jan 18 (26) Jan 17 (24) Jan 16 (23) Jan 15 (30) Jan 14 (20) Jan 13 (18) Jan 12 (24) Jan 11 (11) Jan 10 (23) Jan 09 (22) Jan 08 (17) Jan 07 (17) Jan 06 (9) Jan 05 (18) Jan 04 (15) Jan 03 (19) Jan 02 (14) Jan 01 (6) Dec 31 (12) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (15) Dec 28 (11) Dec 27 (7) Dec 26 (10) Dec 25 (16) Dec 24 (13) Dec 23 (16) Dec 22 (11) Dec 21 (26) Dec 20 (28) Dec 19 (14) Dec 18 (25) Dec 17 (23) Dec 16 (19) Dec 15 (22) Dec 14 (38) Dec 13 (26) Dec 12 (25) Dec 11 (27) Dec 10 (31) Dec 09 (15) Dec 08 (30) Dec 07 (31) Dec 06 (27) Dec 05 (38) Dec 04 (25) Dec 03 (27) Dec 02 (15) Dec 01 (36) Nov 30 (23) Nov 29 (17) Nov 28 (23) Nov 27 (13) Nov 26 (16) Nov 25 (14) Nov 24 (18) Nov 23 (21) Nov 22 (21) Nov 21 (24) Nov 20 (20) Nov 19 (23) Nov 18 (17) Nov 17 (17) Nov 16 (34) Nov 15 (25) Nov 14 (17) Nov 13 (21) Nov 12 (18) Nov 11 (9) Nov 10 (15) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (12) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (4) Oct 29 (1) Oct 01 (1) Jul 29 (1) May 11 (1) Jul 11 (1)
Update (7pm, 8-16-2011): I am working on this issue and there will be a complete updated article to explain what is happening. My grandma use to say, Sometimes you have to be that damn squeaky wheel to get the oil!

Does anyone realize the implications of what Ukraine is doing?

Does anyone care?

Will it only become an issue when more sites are blocked?

Ukraine has permanently blocked Windows to Russia! At least that is how I see it. You should be worried and care

This is how it starts. Block a few and if the masses could care less then block some more. Once it becomes habit to block sites and everyone starts to worry, it is too late at that point

The picture is proof of the pudding and it has been this way now for over a week. I got it released before, but this time no one admits that it is blocked

The image is of a website that checks your site and its up time. Ukraine has totally blocked http://windowstorussia.com and really it is hard to understand why? 99% of my articles about Ukraine are very pro Ukraine. I have always been a supporter of Ukraine and promote betterment for Ukraine. Back when I had a few articles that downed Ukraine, that was a different era and a much different president

I miss out on the headcount that is being blocked and Ukraine before the blockage had reached number 4 of the countries as a reader on Windows to Russia. I had a huge following and now they are being censored from Windows to Russia! Anyone around the world who knows people in Ukraine. Tell them to try to reach Windows to Russia! They wont make it. Then tell them to use a proxy. They will get the site then

I know what is happening and I am going to be patient for the time being. Ukraine needs to unblock Windows to Russia. I am going to exploit all options that I have available to counter this atrocity. But with Britain talking about blocking Twitter and Facebook for security reasons. It looks like Europe as well as America will be following suit with Ukraine and blocking sites that do not fit their agendas

That means your site and your sites that you read will be blocked if they express views that do not coincide with the Status Quo. There will not be much left to read after that, except government controlled media

I have heard for years about the terrible government of China and that she blocks sites that do not conform. Looks like Ukraine blocks sites also

Stay tuned, I am being nice right now and writing letters to all the hosts involved with blocking. ABCname  GiperHost  ITQua  HostLife  ITL  Hvosting  Qlayer.net are the ones that have shown time and time again as the blocked areas. It is time for explanations as to why Windows to Russia is blocked in Ukraine. Would not hurt my feelings at all if a reader decided to inquire also why Windows to Russia is blocked in Ukraine. You can disagree with things I say. But you should dislike your freedoms being destroyed much more than a dislike for me

Time to wake up and smell the coffee

Kyle Keeton

Windows to Russia!

PS: As we approach the truths so shall the implications against you be increase to try to squelch truth. For no one squelches lies, but we can see through them with time
AUBURN  People struggling with alcohol and substance abuse in Cayuga County could soon have another option for treatment as a Syracuse-based agency hopes to open a new facility in Auburn.

At a meeting of the Alcohol & Substance Abuse Subcommittee in Cayuga County, members voted Wednesday to create a resolution to allow Syracuse Recovery Services  an outpatient rehab facility serving Onondaga and Cortland counties  to establish a location on Easterly Avenue.

According to Lisa Forshee, the director of Syracuse Recovery Services, for the past 10 years, the for-profit agency has been in good standing with New York State's Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS). In September, Forshee said the state approved her original application to establish its third location.

"New York State OASAS is in support of additional substance abuse services in Cayuga County," she said in an email to The Citizen last week.

Now it's up to the Local Governing Unit (LGU) in Cayuga County to sign off on the new outpatient facility.

Raymond Bizzari, director of Community Services, said there is a process all agencies must go through to add, expand or reduce mental health services in Cayuga County.

First, the applicant must meet with one of three subcommittees  Mental Health, Alcohol & Substance Abuse or Developmental Disabilities  for a "prior consultation" to evaluate the overall need for the organization.

"This prior consultation process requires the LGU and its subcommittees to evaluate need, character and competence of the organization, what services it plans to provide, budget, staffing and location as well as how the provider fits into the existing treatment system," Bizzari wrote in an email to The Citizen.

On Wednesday, Dec. 7, after meeting with local agencies such as Confidential Help for Alcohol and Drugs (CHAD) and Recovery Counseling Outpatient Treatment in Auburn, Forshee sat before the substance abuse subcommittee a second time to see what members had to say about her service.

"I had no burning desire to come to Auburn. Auburn came to me," she said in the meeting at Unity House, noting that she currently has six patients from Auburn who take Medicaid cabs to Syracuse Recovery Services for treatment. "I'm not looking to be a huge entity. ... I want to provide a niche for people who, for whatever reason, can't go to other services."

If approved, Forshee said the agency could likely service anywhere from five to 50 patients, rotating staff between their Cayuga, Onondaga and Cortland County locations.

After nearly an hour of discussion, the subcommittee agreed there is enough need in the county to consider adding Syracuse Recovery Services to its list of local resources.

"I don't think there is any opposition at all to another outpatient provider as long as they have demonstrated a track record of providing high quality services that are accessible and provided to anyone needing them regardless of their ability to pay," Bizzari said.

Still, as there is currently no wait list for outpatient services and no access-to-service issue in the county, Bizzari added that there are several other services the county still needs.

"We have important work to do in the areas of crisis and emergency services, detox, stabilization and access to beds, all of that provided in an integrated system of providers that work together," he said. "We are working on some exciting new services."

The application for Syracuse Recovery Services will now head to the Cayuga County Community Services Board for approval. The board will vote on the issue Dec. 22.


It is well-known that Tamil super star Ajith had been shooting for his 57th movie in Souryam Sivas direction in Varna, Bulgaria. Ajith had flown down to Chennai after former chief minister J Jayalalithaa breathed her last a couple of days ago.

According to the latest update, Ajith had paid his tributes to the late CM at her Merina Beach memorial after heading straight to the beach from the airport.

Apparently, Ajith traveled to Bucharest in Romania by road and took a flight to Athens in Greece and from there to Abu Dhabi and from there Chennai. Ajiths humble gesture has won everyones heart.

Articles that might interest you:
According to Mark Hamill, production on Star Wars 8 is so secret it's like working for a government agency, meaning that most Star Wars 8 rumors we heard so far are nothing but simple speculations.

SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA, December 08, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Star Wars fans were collectively heartbroken when Han Solo, arguably the coolest guy in the space saga, was killed by Kylo Ren in the final act of Star Wars Episode Seven: The Force Awakens. Captain Solo played a crucial role in the first Trilogy and was regarded as a hero by the Rebel army, and his death was described as "shocking".



Before the release of Star Wars 7: The Force Awakens, followers of the saga did some serious speculation about what would happen in the film. Theories ranged from Princess Leia becoming "Queen Leia" to some ridiculous plots such as Obi Wan's return or Jar Jar Binks role as the new Sith Lord.



Similarly, rumors about what is going to happen in the main series' next film have already begun to circulate, including some suggestions that new heroine Rey may turn out to be Skywalker's daughter and that Kylo Ren is a secret Jedi agent.



We all have to admit that Han's death at the hands of his son was an unexpected turn, but now that millions of followers are gearing up for "Rogue One" premier, many of us are concerned about what beloved character will die in the next episode.



Filming of "Star Wars: Episode 8" is currently under way, with most of the filming already complete. According to Mark Hamill, production on Star Wars 8 is so secret it's like working for a government agency, meaning that most Star Wars 8 rumors we heard so far are nothing but simple speculations.



The only thing we know is that the next film will pick up directly where the last one finished, and while Rey's role as the next Jedi savior is likely to be the main plot in the Star Wars sequel, a major death in "Episode 8" is expected to have a huge impact across the galaxy. So while you we another year for opening night, distract yourself with some of the odds and props released by MyBookie.ag for the next episode of this beloved blockbuster.



STAR WARS EPISODE 8 - WHO WILL DIE FIRST



Rey: +8000 (80/1)

Kylo Ren: +2500 (25/1)

Leia: +5000 (50/1)

General Hux: +700 (7/1)

Poe Dameron: +8000 (80/1)

Luke Skywalker: +200 (2/1)

Captain Phasma: +1500 (15/1)

Maz Kanata: +400 (4/1)

Supreme Leader Snoke: +4000 (40/1)

Finn: +8000 (80/1)

Chewbacca: +6600 (66/1)

C-3po: +5000 (50/1)

R2-d2: +5000 (50/1)

Admiral Ackbar: +6600 (66/1)



# # #
Two thousand years ago, according to the Christian story, a young Middle Eastern couple traveled across the desert. It was a long and dusty journey and when they arrived at their destination they found that there were no rooms available and they had to sleep in the straw among the animals in the stable.

What makes this story unique is that the woman was pregnant in a time when women had no rights and she was not married to the man she was traveling with. And even more remarkable, according to the story, is that both dirty shepherds from the fields and opulent wise men from the Orient traveled to meet this poor child born in such a lowly place to an unmarried couple. And then even more astounding was that the ruler of the nation heard about this baby wrapped in dirty linen and was so afraid that the baby would undermine his leadership that he ordered all young male babies killed.

But the most important part of this story is what became of the baby. According to the Christian scriptures, the baby grew to be a man who healed the sick, fed the poor, chastised the rich and those who made money off the backs of other peoples hard labor telling them to care for the least among them instead. He welcomed strangers, the hated, the ugly, the poor, those who worked and those who didnt work, those who were Jewish and those who were not. He never carried a sword, nor did he ever ride in a chariot surrounded by armed guards and yet the people called him King and laid down their cloaks to welcome him. He engaged with people of other, despised, faith traditions and used them as examples of good behavior because they stopped to help someone in need or turned around to be grateful. He demanded that his followers not judge others but rather give up all that they had and help those who were born less fortunate.

And he was a threat to the powers that be, to the rich, to the powerful, to those in charge, to those who wanted to hang onto their wealth and their power and so they killed him, along with thousands of other insurgents.

But the true beauty of this story is that it lives today, that his life and his teachings still exemplify the Way toward creating a better, more caring, less anxious, less fearful, society  a more joyful and peaceful world filled with abundance and love, a Kindom of Peace on Earth.

The Rev. Barb E. Blom

Aurora

Blom is a United Church of Christ minister serving at St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church of America in Spencer
Robert McCrum in The Guardian:

A Room of Ones Own is both a landmark in feminist thought and a rhetorical masterpiece, which started life as lectures to the literary societies of Newnham and Girton Colleges, Cambridge, in October 1928. It was then published by the Hogarth Press in 1929 in a revised and expanded edition that has never been out of print. Barely 40,000 words long, addressed to audiences of female students in the hothouse atmosphere of interwar creativity, this became an unforgettable and passionate assertion of womens creative originality by one of the great writers of the 20th century. Ironically, she herself never favoured the term feminist.

Virginia Woolf, no question, transformed the English literary landscape. But how, exactly? Was it through modernist innovation (Mrs Dalloway; To the Lighthouse)? Or flirting outrageously with historical fiction (Orlando)? Or in the provocative argument  in part a response to EM Forsters Aspects of the Novel  of a book like A Room of Ones Own? Well, all of the above. As many critics have noted, Woolfs writings  from letters and diaries to novels, essays and lectures  are of a piece. Open any one of her books and its as though you have just stepped inside, and possibly interrupted, a fierce internal monologue about the world of literature. Woolf herself assists this response. But, you may say, we asked you to speak is the opening line to A Room of Ones Own that backs its author into the limelight of an initially rambling, but finally urgent, polemic. England is under the rule of a patriarchy, she declares on about page 30, and then proceeds to lay bare the structure of male privilege and female exclusion  from independence, income and education.

At first, she masks the narrator of her argument in the guise of several fictional Marys: Mary Beton, Mary Seton or Mary Carmichael, an allusion to a 16th-century ballad about a woman hanged for rejecting marriage and motherhood. This Mary narrator identifies female writers such as herself as outsiders committed to jeopardy.

Quite soon, however, Woolf seems to abandon this contrivance. Now she is on fire, writing in her own voice: One might go even further and say that women have burnt like beacons in all the works of all the poets from the beginning of time  Clytemnestra, Antigone, Cleopatra, Lady Macbeth, Phedre, Cressida, Rosalind, Desdemona, the Duchess of Malfi, among the dramatists; then among the prose writers: Millamant, Clarissa, Becky Sharp, Anna Karenina, Emma Bovary, Madame de Guermantes  the names flock to mind, nor do they recall women lacking in personality and character. Indeed, if woman had no existence save in the fiction written by men, one would imagine her a person of the utmost importance; very various; heroic and mean; splendid and sordid; infinitely beautiful and hideous in the extreme; as great as a man, some think even greater. But this is woman in fiction. In fact  she was locked up, beaten and flung about the room.

More here.
UNDERSTANDING THE OTHER SIDE: Only a fraction of the articles we post are normally about politics but it is also true that the editors of 3QD are all (to a person) liberal progressives and none of us supported or voted for Donald Trump. In the interest of dialogue and trying to understand the conservative point of view better, I have decided to start occasionally posting relatively well-argued articles from the right side of the political spectrum. Some of these are sent to me by friends who did vote for Trump. (And, yes, I have such friends and hope you do too.) Trust me, it will not hurt you to read them. I hope that people will keep the comments civil and focused on the issues, and not engage in ad hominem attacks.

Jason Tucker and Jason VandenBeukel in C2C Journal:

Can you give us a brief background of your academic career and your interests?

For the first two years of my undergraduate degree I studied Political Science and English Literature. I was very interested in politics, but what I was learning in economics and political science was just not correct. There was too much emphasis placed on the idea that economic interests were the prime motivators for human beings, and that was not obvious to me at all. I was spending a lot of time thinking about the Cold War, and the Cold War was not primarily an economic issue. So I started taking psychology, and I was interested in clinical psychology. I did my PhD under Dr. Robert Pihl, and I worked on drug abuse, alcoholism, and aggression  there was a heavy biological emphasis. I did my post-doc with Dr. Pihl, and Maurice Dongier. Then I taught at Harvard for six years, and Ive been at the University of Toronto ever since then.

My primary interest has always been the psychology of belief. Partly religious belief, and ideology as a sub-category of religious belief. One of Jungs propositions was that whatever a person values most highly is their god. If people think they are atheistic, it means is they are unconscious of their gods. In a sophisticated religious system, there is a positive and negative polarity. Ideologies simplify that polarity and, in doing so, demonize and oversimplify. I got interested in ideology, in a large part, because I got interested in what happened in Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, the Cultural Revolution in China, and equivalent occurrences in other places in the world. Mostly I concentrated on Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. I was particularly interested in what led people to commit atrocities in service of their belief. The motto of the Holocaust Museum in Washington is we must never forget. Ive learned that you cannot remember what you dont understand. People dont understand the Holocaust, and they dont understand what happened in Russia. I have this course called Maps of Meaning, which is based on a book I wrote by the same name, and it outlines these ideas. One of the things that Im trying to convince my students of is that if they had been in Germany in the 1930s, they would have been Nazis. Everyone thinks Not me, and thats not right. It was mostly ordinary people who committed the atrocities that characterized Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

Part of the reason I got embroiled in this [gender identity] controversy was because of what I know about how things went wrong in the Soviet Union. Many of the doctrines that underlie the legislation that Ive been objecting to share structural similarities with the Marxist ideas that drove Soviet Communism. The thing I object to the most was the insistence that people use these made up words like xe and xer that are the construction of authoritarians. There isnt a hope in hell that Im going to use their language, because I know where that leads.

More here.
The art lover's December to-do list for gallery openings, theater, and dance performances.







What: Out of the Box: The Rise of Sneaker Culture

Where: Oakland Museum of California

When: December 22April 2017

Why: Because you're a sneaker addict with a closet full of Nike, Puma, Converse, and Adidas. Your Instagram feed consists of sneaker brands. You're somehow aware, like a stalker, what's in the sneaker inventories of celebrity sneaker obsessives such as Dee Wells and Bobbito Garcia. But it's never been enough to collect great urban kicks, you're interested in learning about their history and the evolution, too. And one thing's for sure: You'll show up to do it wearing your most prized pair. // Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak Street (Oakland), museumca.org





Tabula Rasa (American Hero) by Chris Thorson Courtesy of State Gallery.

Where: State Gallery

When: December 10January 28, 2017

Why: Because you're curious about how popular American culture from 1930 to 1980 has unconsciously shaped your hipsterism and your preference for underground art. To help you trace those tendencies, Bay Area artist Maria Forde will present an original series, "Western Drawings," inspired by Western movies and Chris Thorson will be showing work from "Tabula Rasa," created with super hero stickers. // State Gallery, 1295 Alabama Street (Mission), statespacesf.com





Where: A.Muse Art Gallery

When: Through December 23, only by appointment.

Why: Because you like artwork made with recycled materials and you appreciate an interactive installation. In her latest exhibition, local artist Paz de la Calzada, originally from Spain, takes hand-cut pieces of carpet she found inside of local hotels such as the Palace Hotel, and sticks them on walls and floors to erase the limits of architecture. // aMuse gallery, 614 Alabama Street (Mission), yourmusegallery.com





Colin Epstein (left) Julie Mahony (right) of 13th Floor Photo by Pak Han.

What: Next Time, I'll Take the Stairs

Where: Joe Good Annex

When: December 818

Why: Because you're always walking the line between reality and imagination, like a good user of hallucinogenics should. Dancers with the 13th Floor Theater Company, directed by Jenny McAllister, jump onboard something known as the "Otis People Mover" and subsequently get lost in a fantasy world, where present and past memories overlap and where the perception of their own reality gets disrupted by the stories of other people. // 401 Alabama Street (Mission), 13thfloortheater.org, tickets joegoode.org/box-office.





William Scott's painting Courtesy of Creative Growth.

What: Home

Where: 836M Gallery

When: December 19January 27, 2017

Why: Because you want to see a San Francisco not in the throes of gentrification. Where relationships are built outside Facebook or Snapchat. Where you invite your neighbor home for dinner. This is the ideal urban world known as Praise Frisco, created in painting and drawings by William Scott, a local self-taught artist. // 836M Gallery, 836 Montgomery Street (FiDi), 836m.org





A scene from Cinderella

What: Cinderella

Where: Herbst Theater

When: December 22 - 24

Why: Because you like, ahem, happy endings. A new version of Cinderella, directed by Rodney Earl Jackson, Jr. and Marcelo Pereira of San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company will be performed for the first time at Herbst Theater. Samantha Williams, a young woman of color studying classical voice at Stanford, is the long-lost owner of the glass slipper. Through challenges and difficulties, she'll make her dreams come true. How? With a little help from a Fairy Godmother, of course. // The Herbst Theater, 401 Van Ness Ave (Civic Center), sfwmpac.org





Larry Bourgeois Courtesy of City Dance Studios

Where: City Dance Studios

When: December 1718

Why: Because hip hop is your favorite dance style and you want to burn the floor. Now's the time to learn from the masters. Les Twins, Larry and Laurent Bourgeois, will lead you in two high-vibe workshops to give you new moves to show off during the after party following the classes. // 10 Chase Court (Mid-Market), citydancesf.com





What: Reseau d' Equilibre

Where: Bateau Hair Salon

When: December 17, 6 p.m.10 p.m.



Why: Because you're always seeking balance. A new project by local designer Maxime Genauzeau, originally from France and founder of DMG DESIGN SF , will display a series of mini-3D letter sculptures made of metal, acrylic paint, ink and graphite that draw the boundaries between tension and balance. During the event there will be a performance of Dean Mermell and Mauro De Nucci, local musicians and founders of Sunset Piano, a collective of Bay Area musicians who tickle the ivories with free concerts in public spaces. Hot cider and bourbon cocktails will also be served from a 1947 teardrop trailer.// 2 Townsend, Suite 4b (South Beach), bateauhairsalon.com









Sita from The Rama Epic Courtesy of Asian Art Museum

What: The Rama Epic

Where: Asian Art Museum

When: Through January 15, 2017

Why: Because your fascination with India goes beyond veggie samosas and yoga. Indian spiritual traditions are explored in this exhibition of drawings, paintings, and old books inspired by the "Rama Epic," a 2,500-year-old tale about a prince who must overcome a demonic king to rescue his wife. You'll also find more contemporary works made by living artists who have reinterpreted the "Rama Epic." // Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin Street (Civic Center), asianart.org





A picture from Sutro Bath Courtesy of Spark Arts.





What: Sutro Baths, Portraits from Land's End

Where: Spark Arts

When: Through December 31

Why: Because hiking this iconic blufftop trail is your Sunday ritual and you never quite make it down to Sutro Baths. For your viewing pleasure, photographer Kenneth Leaf shoots the historic ruins in low light, adding the presence of fictional characters. // Spark Arts, 4229 18th Street (Mission), sparkarts.com
Auburn Fire Department: Nov. 27-Dec. 3, 2016

 EMS: 90 (4 cardiac, 24 trauma, 2 unconscious persons, 2 overdoses , 1 poisoning)

 Motor vehicle accidents: 3 (2 with injuries )

 Hazardous conditions: 2 (wires down)

 Carbon monoxide incident : 1 (1 with Illness)

 False alarms:4 (1 accidental, 3 malfunction)

 Smoke odor condition: 3 (1 commercial refrigerator )

 Burnt food: 1

 Rescue: 1 (elevator)

 Investigations: 4

 Service calls: 3 (residential lockout)

 Fire safety inspections: 17

 Fire safety consults with business: 3

 School inspection: 1

 Yearly re-inspect: 4

 Fire evacuation drill: 1

 Saturday inspections: 112

 Vacant houses: 2

 Inspection forms: 26

 Nursing home inspection: 2

 Carbon monoxide alarm consults: 1

 AFD personnel took part in 196 hours of documented training this week: 34 hours of multi-company hands on, 17 hours of apparatus driving operations and maintenance , 13 hours of tools and equipment, 11 hours of leadership, management, supervision, and 77 hours physical fitness.

 All shifts are currently in the process of EVOC training (emergency vehicle operator class) and 19 members are attending OCC/SFD-152 Strategies and Tactics course via remote classroom video feed. Lt. S. Deluca attended codes class at New York State Fire Academy. Firefighter S. Weaver attended hazmat technician training at New York State Fire Academy.

 2 properties on Park Ave being used for ventilation, search and rescue firefighter survival, forcible entry, hose line advancement and other training, thanks to Auburn Community Hospital.

 AFD personnel taught classes in Cayuga County, at the New York State Fire Academy and across the state.

 New MTO (municipal training officer) Lt. S. Giannettino ongoing training for requirements of that position.
Malaysian foodies are in for an Italian treat with the fresh offerings of Sassorosso restaurant. This Italian restaurant boasts of their fresh pizza and pasta, meat, fish and vegetarian options. Customers can also enjoy the beautiful ambiance of the restaurant, to cap off the dining experience.

Fans of European, specifically Italian cuisine now have a new dining destination at the heart of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Sassorosso offers an authentic Italian dining experience both for Malaysian locals and tourists. Among their specialty are pasta, pizza, meat, seafood and vegetarian dishes that are all Italys staple.

The restaurant ambiance and interiors were also designed to cater to various occasions. Whether its romantic dinner or company lunch, Sassorossos venue and menu are set to serve to your needs.

We also offer affordable ala carte and set meals serves with our soup for the day and appetizers, the restaurant website states.

Sassorosso has also been recently known in Kuala Lumpur for hosting various company events and personal parties. Apart from their competent chefs who prepare the Italian dishes, the restaurant also has their own events managers who make every occasion memorable in all aspects. Find out more about private event at http://www.sassorosso.com.my/annual-dinner/ and http://www.sassorosso.com.my/birthday-party/.

To ensure utmost convenience of customers, the restaurant is open 7 days a week serving dinner. Lunch is served six days a week, except for Saturday.

All our ingredients are freshly prepared, thus ensuring sumptuous meals day in and day out, a statement from the restaurant chef says.

Apart from their Italian menu, customers are also encouraged to check out the wine selection of Sassorosso to cap the whole Italian dining experience. Since the restaurant is a direct retailer of high quality wines, customers can expect friendlier prices from Sassorosso.

Sassorosso accepts dining reservations and party organizations requests. For an easier transaction, the restaurant can be reached through +603-2166 6428 or whatsapp or text +6012-306 5200 . A glimpse of their menu and location can also be seen at http://www.sassorosso.com.my

Media Contact

Company Name: Sassorosso

Contact Person: Nikos

Email: ask@sassorosso.com.my

Phone: +603-2166 6428 or +60123065200

Country: Malaysia

Website: http://www.sassorosso.com.my


Signs Definitive Agreement with Harvest One

Perth, Dec 8, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - MMJ PhytoTech Limited ( ASX:MMJ ) ("MMJ" or the "Company") today confirms that it has signed a definitive agreement with Canadian-based Harvest One Capital Corp. ("Harvest One") ( CVE:WON ). The definitive agreement outlines the sale of 100% of issued and outstanding shares (collectively, the "Purchased Shares") of United Greeneries Holdings Ltd ("UG") and Satipharm AG ("Satipharm") to Harvest One. Completion of this transaction will constitute Harvest One's "Qualifying Transaction" in accordance with the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange").



- Definitive agreement signed with Harvest One to vend in 100% of issued capital of United Greeneries Holdings and Satipharm AG



- Represents a key milestone for MMJ and unlocks considerable shareholder value



- MMJ will hold ~70% of Harvest One and benefit from the Company's continued growth and development, plus access to North American capital markets



- Harvest One to be renamed Sol Growth Corp ( CVE:SOL ) following successful recapitalisation



Prior to completing the Qualifying Transaction, Harvest One will complete a consolidation of its issued and outstanding common shares (the "Harvest Shares" and each a "Harvest Share") at a 1.179 for 1 consolidation ratio.



As consideration for the Purchased Shares, Harvest One has agreed to pay C$2 million and issue 53,333,333 common shares in the capital of Harvest One (on a post-consolidation basis), to a wholly-owned subsidiary of MMJ. This will be at an ascribed price of C$0.75 per Harvest Share, representing approximately 98% of the issued and outstanding Harvest Shares pre-financing.



Completion of the Qualifying Transaction is subject to, among other things, (i) approval from the Exchange and MMJ shareholders, which will be sought at a meeting of shareholders on 9 January 2017; and (ii) completion of a financing for a minimum of C$15 million. Post financing, MMJ will own approximately 70% of Harvest One.



Following the completion of the Qualifying Transaction, Harvest One will be renamed Sol Growth Corp. ( CVE:SOL ).



The binding agreement represents a key milestone for MMJ and unlocks considerable value for shareholders, who will gain exposure to a 70%-owned publicly-listed entity that will have the necessary financial flexibility to grow and expand the UG and Satipharm assets. Importantly, Sol Growth will also have access to the large North American capital markets to underpin future advancement of both subsidiaries.



MMJ PhytoTech's Managing Director, Andreas Gedeon, commented: "This development will deliver considerable value to MMJ's shareholders, and subject to final shareholder approval, means the Company will now benefit from far greater exposure to the much larger and faster-growing North American cannabis market, and further benefit from access to larger pools of capital. This will provide us with the necessary financial flexibility to significantly scale up Sol Growth's operations and join the ranks of the larger North American cannabis companies.



"MMJ is in excellent shape and we look forward to finalising this transaction during Q1 2017 and updating shareholders on other developments in the near term."





About MMJ Group Holdings Ltd





MMJ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX:MMJ) is a global cannabis investment company. MMJ owns a portfolio of minority investments and aims to invest across the full range of emerging cannabis-related sectors including healthcare, technology, infrastructure, logistics, processing, cultivation, equipment and retail. For MMJ's latest investor presentation and news, please visit: https://www.mmjphytotech.com.au/investors/
Distribution of company announcements to the professional platforms, finance portals and syndication of important corporate news to a wide variety of news aggregators and financial news systems.
(Bloomberg) Koch Industries Inc., the influential private firm headed by billionaire Republican supporters Charles and David Koch, slammed a key element of the House Republicans plan to overhaul corporate taxes, saying it would raise prices for American consumers and could be devastating to the economy.

In a statement, Koch objected to the plans proposal to replace the current corporate income tax with a 20 percent levy on U.S. companies domestic sales and on their imports of foreign goods and materials. Exports under the plan would be tax-free.

The proposal, which is generally known by the term border adjustments, would adversely impact American consumers by forcing them to pay higher prices on products produced in and goods imported to the U.S. that they use every single day, the company said in the statement.

Kochs statement made clear that the company supports a comprehensive overhaul of the U.S. tax system. But its opposition to border adjustments is the most politically prominent yet in a swelling chorus of corporate voices concerned that the proposal would damage companies such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. that rely on imported goods to sell products at low cost. For Republicans, buoyed by Donald Trumps surprise electoral victory last month, the opposition demonstrates that their call for a tax overhaul early in Trumps administration may hit some speed bumps.

Trumps Plan

Trump hasnt signed on to the border-adjustments plan, but has embraced other elements of a blueprint for tax policy that House Republicans released last summer: Both would cut tax rates for individuals and businesses, eliminate the estate tax and offer a corporate tax break designed to bring to the U.S. roughly $2.6 trillion in untaxed profits now held by American companies offshore subsidiaries.

House Republicans have been working with Trumps transition team to meld their tax proposals as they try to pass the biggest tax overhaul in three decades next year. Trumps plans for corporate taxes include a major rate cutto 15 percent from 35 percentand ending companies ability to defer taxes on their overseas earnings. Economist Stephen Moore, an adviser to Trump during the campaign, has said several times recently that the border-adjustment provision is the biggest difference between the two plans.

Border adjustments would mark a seismic shift in U.S. corporate taxation. Under current law, U.S. companies face a statutory tax rate of 35 percent on their global profits, regardless of where theyre earned. They can use credits for foreign taxes they pay to reduce their U.S. taxesand they can defer U.S. levies indefinitely by leaving the earnings overseas.

The Houses corporate tax plan moves from that origin-based approach to a destination-based system. U.S. companies would no longer be taxed the profit they earn all over the world, a feature of the current system that makes the U.S. an anomaly. Instead, companies would be taxed based on their sales inside the U.S. The blueprint says that such a system, combined with the 20 percent rate, would remove the incentive for companies to shift profit overseas to low-tax countries like Ireland.

Koch Industries, a Wichita, Kansas-based conglomerate with interests ranging from oil and ranching to farming and the manufacturing of electrical components, would benefit from the change because it produces many products domestically, according to its statement, which was released by Kochs lobbying arm, Koch Companies Public Sector LLC. However, the long term consequences to the economy and the American consumer could be devastating, the statement said.

Shared Goal

House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, a Texas Republican, said he was glad to get Kochs input.

This pro-growth idea is a key provision that improves our global competitiveness and helps level the playing field for exports and imports, Brady said in an emailed statement. It also meets our shared goal to eliminate any tax incentive to move our jobs, headquarters and innovation offshore. I look forward to working with Koch Industries and all job creators as we continue to turn our blueprint into legislation.

The border adjustments provision may face another hurdle: The World Trade Organization, whose members include the U.S., might conclude that the new approach is applying the adjustments to a direct tax, which isnt allowed, rather than to an indirect tax, like a value-added tax, which is permitted.

That concern has diminished somewhat since Trumps victoryand his threats to renegotiate trade agreements and slap tariffs on products of companies that send U.S. jobs offshore. The idea that it might not be legal is now less important, said Rachelle Bernstein, a tax lobbyist for the National Retail Federation, a powerful lobbying group whose members include Wal-Mart, Macys Inc. and Neiman Marcus Group Inc.

But that doesnt mean the retailers approve. We want tax reform that spurs economic growth, but this one particular provision is very negative, Bernstein said.

Economists Alan Auerbach and Douglas Holtz-Eakin, both proponents of border adjustments, argued in a recent paper that unlike tariffs on imports or subsidies for exports, border adjustments are not trade policy. Instead, they are paired and equal adjustments that create a level tax playing field for domestic and overseas competition.

Curt Beaulieu, a tax policy lawyer at Bracewell LLP in Washington, said that the adjustments are not a tariff and instead are a so-called destination-based cash flow taxwhat he called mumbo jumbo for taxing companies on revenues from sales in the U.S.

Retailers, who rely heavily on imports from China and elsewhere, are particularly concerned about the provision. Bernstein said that specialty apparel stores that import 90 percent or more of their inventory could face tax bills that are much larger than their actual profits.

Imported Cars

Its going to slam clothing manufacturers hugely, said Peter Barnes, an international tax lawyer at Caplin & Drysdale in Washington and a former senior tax lawyer at General Electric Co. Prices for U.S. consumers on everything from t-shirts to imported cars would increase by 15 percent to 20 percent, he said.

U.S. companies that are net exporters could end up in a perpetual tax loss position under the provision, wiping out their tax bills permanently, accounting firm EY, formerly Ernst & Young, wrote in a Nov. 9 research note.

House Republicans argue that the provision, combined with a lower corporate rate of 20 percent, will end the current incentive for U.S. companies to shift profits to their overseas subsidiaries and will boost manufacturingand exportsat home.

Still, many issues werent spelled out in the House Republicans blueprint. For example, it doesnt indicate whether flows of financial assets out of the country would count as exports. Nor does it define precisely when a sale would be deemed to have taken place.

Big multinationals are neither purely importers nor exporters; as such, the provision would introduce complex accounting issues over what percentage of a sold product came from taxable imported materials. Under the provision, companies like Apple Inc. and Pfizer Inc., which use sprawling global supply chains to make iPhones and prescription drugs for sale in the U.S., would pay the 20 percent rate on their domestic salesbut not on their foreign ones, though theyd still pay the tax on any imported materials.

The proposed system is a game-changer, said Kenneth Kies, a Washington tax lobbyist whose clients include General Electric, Microsoft Corp. and Pfizer. Its a really big deal.
MARCELLUS  Lilly Locastro said she was frightened at first when she landed in Haiti.

She was accompanying her father  Marcellus Board of Education member and physician Dr. David Locastro  on a five-day medical mission to Haiti, where they saw hundreds of patients on a daily basis. The need was so great that many more people were turned away each day.

When we got there, I was scared to death, Locastro said.

He'd been on mission trips before but never with Lilly, a ninth-grader at Marcellus Senior High School. He said he could deal with it himself, but he was worried for her as the part of the country they were in was the most desperate of circumstances he had witnessed in his world travels.

They had nothing, he said.

No shoes, no refrigeration nor plumbing, Locastro said, adding that if they had electricity, it was spotty and it only worked for a couple of hours a day.

"We all had to wear mosquito nets to bed," he said, because of the Zika virus and malaria.

Lilly was dispensing medicine. She said she got comfortable in Haiti quickly because of the people, as they put her at ease even though they didn't speak each other's language. The Haitians speak French or a version of Creole.

It was really eye-opening to see these people in their everyday life, Lilly said, adding that most only had one parent if any parents at all.

The Locastros showed their audience at Monday's school board meeting a video they produced from their trip that displayed the conditions the Haitians are living in.

The video was followed up with a question-and-answer period.

School board member Janine Lundrigan asked if they witnessed any of the aftermath of the recent hurricane, Matthew.

Locastro said it wouldn't have mattered, as there wasn't anything there to be destroyed. It was dirt lanes and rustic tin shacks. If they were knocked down, they would just be set back up.

Board Vice President John Fuller said his daughter is planning to leave for Haiti for three weeks after Christmas with Habitat for Humanity and wondered if Lilly could offer any advice.

Lilly replied that it might be shocking at first, but Fuller's daughter should not worry as she will get used to it with time.

The Locastros said their patients would speak to them through interpreters, but that was difficult as well. For example, it took them three days to realize that when the patients were telling the interpreters they didn't have any food, it was being interpreted as they didn't have an appetite.

The Locastros were asked if they had to take any special medicine or vaccines to travel to Haiti and also if the Haitians were vaccinated. Lilly said she had a couple of shots before leaving and was taking pills to ward off malaria.

Locastro said there just wasn't a delivery system for the Haitians to be vaccinated.

He also said while they were packing up the last day, he let some children play with his stethoscope so they could listen to their own hearts. A women came up and pointed to herself, and he said she could listen, too. But, he realized she was really asking for him to listen to her heart. When he did, he realized she had end-stage rheumatic fever.

"There's really no place for them to go," he said.

A hospital stay is $35 a day, but if somebody gives them that money, they need to spend it on food to feed their families.

"We are a Band-Aid to a systemic problem that requires surgery," Locastro said.

Superintendent Michelle Brantner summed up the presentation by noting that Lilly had access to this opportunity and perhaps the school district could look at programming more service learning.

The superintendent added that there are many other places in dire circumstances such as Haiti around the world and even in parts of the United States.

"There are parts of Lilly that are changed forever," Brantner said.
(Bloomberg) McDonalds Corp. shrugged off Brexit by announcing plans to switch its non-U.S. tax base to the U.K., ditching tiny Luxembourg where its fiscal arrangements are under attack from European Union regulators.

In an apparent vote of confidence in the U.K., the hamburger giant said Thursday its creating a new international holding company based in Britain, which decided in June to quit the EU. The new company will be responsible for most of the royalties received from licensing McDonalds intellectual property rights outside the U.S. It will pay U.K. corporation tax, according to an emailed statement.

The reasons for changing the location of the corporate structure to the U.K. were sound before Brexit and remain so beyond it, the company said. These strengths are unlikely to change as the U.K. negotiates leaving the European Union. The Big Mac maker cited the significant number of staff based in London working on our international business, language and connections to other markets.

McDonalds is embroiled in a yearlong EU probe over allegations it benefited unfairly from super-sized tax breaks in Luxembourg. Trade unions and consumer groups alleged the company avoided more than 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in taxes in Europe between 2009 and 2013. An EU official said earlier this year that the McDonalds case shows just how far some companies push tax authorities to avoid paying any taxes.

Significant Amount

Amid the barrage of criticism, McDonalds has insisted it hasnt broken any rules and said Thursday it pays a significant amount of corporate taxes. From 2011 to 2015, we paid more than $2.5 billion in corporate taxes in the EU, with an average tax rate approaching 27 percent, it said. The company generates about two-thirds of its revenue outside the U.S.

Alex Cobham, chief executive of campaign group Tax Justice Network, said the McDonalds announcement "provides a more public example of what has been happening quietly, which is the winding-down of many of the structures used to shift profits from across the EU into Luxembourg."

The European Commission said last year that one McDonalds unit has paid no tax in Luxembourg since 2009 despite recording large profits. The companys French offices were inspected by the countrys fiscal authorities in 2013.

Luxembourgs Finance Ministry declined to comment and the U.K. Treasury didnt immediately respond to a call.

Amazon, Apple

Amazon.com Inc.s tax deals with Luxembourg are also being probed by the EU, which in August ordered Apple Inc. to pay back as much as 13 billion euros plus interest over tax arrangements with Ireland that regulators said were illegal.

While Luxembourg has a corporate tax rate of as low as 20 percent, many multinational corporations received tax rulings that lowered effective taxes on profits transferred to the country. Leaked documents from 2014 showed that more than 340 companies such as PepsiCo Inc., Ikea Group and FedEx Corp. transferred profits to the country through tax arrangements.

The U.K. taxes 20 percent of company profits, a rate that will fall to 19 percent in April. Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond last month reaffirmed a commitment to cut it to 17 percent in 2020. Prime Minister Theresa May told business leaders last month she wants Britain to have the lowest corporation tax rate in the Group of 20.

With assistance from Andrew Atkinson, Stephanie Bodoni and Thomas Penny
By Matt Agorist

Santa Maria, CA  As the war on alleged fake news wages on, the establishment is losing horribly. All the corporate media and governments war on fake news has done is serve to expose the most guilty  the corporate media and the government. From the Gulf of Tonkin to Weapons of Mass Destruction  corporate media and government have colluded to perpetuate the death and suffering of millions.

Government constructed lies spread by their mouthpieces in the media isnt solely limited to the Pentagon and their blowhards. As a new report from the Guardian shows, fake news is also put out by police departments.

When Santa Maria police chief Ralph Martin was caught last week in a conspiracy to deceive the press and the public through the release of a fictitious news story, he was unapologetic.

It was a moral and ethical decision, and I stand by it, Martin said. I am keenly aware and sensitive to the community and the media. I also had 21 bodies lying in the city in the last 15 months.

For the supposed greater good, Martin deliberately undermined the trust of the community and the press alike. According to the Guardian:

The fictional news release was found in court documents last week by the Santa Maria Sun, nearly 10 months after the local paper and television stations had reported the story as fact. Police had said officers had detained two cousins, 22-year-old Jose Santos Melendez and 23-year-old Jose Marino Melendez, on charges of identity theft and had given the men to immigration authorities. As a cover, the police wrote a fake news release to deceive the MS-13 assassins. When the would-be killers returned to look for the cousins, police eavesdropped on a phone conversation and heard the hitmen talking about local news reports of the arrests. Martin said that the investigation, called Operation Matador, was able to continue thanks to the ruse, and that police eventually arrested 17 gang members on charges related to 10 murders. The police chief told the Associated Press he would not rule out fabricating another story to protect lives and investigations.

This immediately and almost permanently undermines the credibility of an entire police department, said Greg Leslie, the legal defense director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Not only in the eyes of the public, but even the gang members wont believe them in the future.

Its worrying, he added. Whos going to believe a police department statement about the status of anyone in custody or about whos been arrested for a crime? A reporter might have to say, The police say they have someone in custody, but they have been known to falsify information in the past.

According to the Guardian, Kelly McBride, a vice-president for the Poynter Institute, said the fake press release undermines trust in the police department and sends a message to the officers in this department that falsifying information is OK if you have a good reason. Thats antithetical to the principles of law enforcement.

These are people who often have to testify that they are telling the truth, she said. The police, she added, achieved an important good for two people, and sacrificed the greater good for the citizens they serve.

Unfortunately, this has been going on at the Federal level for years, and, just because this was the only department that was exposed, does not mean that this sort of lying doesnt happen in departments across the country.

The state thinks it is okay to distort reality through mass deception to catch a bad guy.

In September, FBI agents conducting undercover investigations were given the green light to impersonate journalists  effectively legalizing the governments most notorious propaganda program, Operation Mockingbird.

Months ago, the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General published whats become the subject of outrage for journalists, civil and constitutional rights advocates, and legal experts  A Review of the FBIs Impersonation of a Journalist in a Criminal Investigation.

The report centered around a case from 2007 in which an FBI agent pretended to be an Associated Press journalist to identify an elusive suspect online. At the time, the FBI did not prohibit agents from impersonating journalists or from posing as a member of a news organization, the report states.

During the case in 2007, the FBI constructed a plan, and, as the Intercept summarized, An undercover agent sent the student email impersonating an editor for the Associated Press. The email included links to a fake news site designed to look like the Seattle Times.

While cops and the feds have often devised sting operations involving fake prizes and bait to lure criminals in, the idea of mass public deception takes this tactic to an entirely new low  and a dangerous one.

People have done stuff like this before to get criminals to show up to police departments, lures to get people to come in for free lottery tickets, aid Jeffrey Seglin, an ethicist at the Harvard Kennedy School. But I dont know anything thats gone this far.

Thats trying to get the criminals to believe something. This is different: it misleads the press and the public. It erodes trust in everything, right?

Matt Agorist is the co-founder of TheFreeThoughtProject.com, where this article first appeared. He is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Follow @MattAgorist. and now on Steemit
Integrated communications agency, Jack in the Box Worldwide, a part of The 120 Media Collective, has appointed Kaizad Pardiwalla as President, with the aim to lead its ambitious growth strategy. Kaizad, who joins from Orchard Advertising, where he was Chief Operating Officer, will report to Roopak Saluja, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, The 120 Media Collective.

A 360-degree marketer with rich experience in the advertising and digital communications space, Kaizad brings to the table a vast repertoire of advertising knowledge and adds strong agency-scaling experience that will be instrumental in Jack in the Boxs growth strategy. Apart from growth and new business acquisition, his key responsibilities will include managing existing clients and ensuring seamless operations and delivery across the agency. As a key member of The 120 Media Collectives management team, Kaizad joins at a juncture where his role will be crucial in the companys quest to be South & South-East Asia's premier communications and content company.

An industry veteran, Kaizad started his career with Lowe Lintas and went on to hold leadership positions with Ogilvy & Mather, where he was National Head of OgilvyOne India, before joining Grey as Branch Head - Mumbai and subsequently moving to Orchard. In his career spanning over two decades, Kaizad has worked with brands such as Amazon, Wipro, Viacom 18, American Express, Cadbury, CISCO, Unilever, The Economist, Fiat, Ferrero and Vodafone, amongst others.

Commenting on Kaizads appointment, Roopak Saluja, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, The 120 Media Collective, said, As Jack in the Box enters its next phase of growth as an integrated communications agency for the digital era, theres a vital need for leadership with experience and stature; someone who can marshal all that we have at our disposal and beyond in terms of talent and technology to provide real business impact for our clients. Kaizad belongs to a rare breed of professionals, who couple a proven track record with the agility thats integral to success in our business today and tomorrow. And Im super excited to have him as a key partner in The 120 Media Collectives quest for impact across the South/South-East Asia region.

On his new appointment, Kaizad said, Today digital has become crucial for every brand to stay relevant. Jack in the Box Worldwide, with its digital first approach is a leader when it comes to assisting brands strike a chord with their target audience. I'm really excited to lead this extremely creative and talented team at Jack in the Box. We are here to provide business solutions for brands backed by strong ideas and insights into consumer behaviour. The vision is to create path breaking ideas that are media agnostic and which deliver results for our clients in the marketplace. With content and platforms coming into their own, these are very exciting times for us at JITB and there will be a lot to watch out for!
KFC India today brought to Maharashtra  its add HOPE program, an initiative that aims to fight hunger in the country. KFC presented a cheque for INR 43.61 Lakh to support meals for 1900 children in Aarambh, ARUN among others NGOs in Pune and Mumbai for a year in partnership with Responsenet - India FoodAngels Network (IFAN) organisation.



Rahul Shinde, Managing Director, KFC India said, We are a food company and its our privilege and responsibility to address the issue of hunger where millions of children go days without a proper meal. 1 in 4 children in India is malnourished and consequently, facing greater obstacles to reaching their fullest potential. Through add HOPE we want the children of our country to be given access to nutritious and balanced meals in order to grow and learn, so they can be their best selves.

Angela Nar, Programs Vice President, Responsenet Feeding Programs said, We share a common vision of eliminating hunger with add HOPE. We are confident that this partnership will help address the hunger challenge successfully and make a meaningful difference.

Launched in May this year, add HOPE is KFCs long term commitment to fighting hunger in the country. add HOPE raises funds to provide meals to Indias underprivileged children through beneficiaries like World Food Program (WFP) and India FoodBanking Network (IFBN)and Responsenet associated Feeding programs nationally. Together with these organizations, KFC aims to provide 20 million meals to underprivileged children by 2020.

Through add HOPE consumers can feed a hungry child by adding 5 to their bill, each time they visit a KFC store. KFC employees in the 300+ restaurants around the country will also support local communities through volunteerism.
Duco, the global fintech provider of post trade data control services, has won the FOW International Award for Best Technology Product  Trade Reconciliation for the third year in a row. FOW, the leading news and data service for the global futures and options industry, presented the award at their International Awards Dinner on 7th December.

"We are very proud to receive this award again and want to thank everyone who has supported us over the past 12 months," said Christian Nentwich, Ducos Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder. "The listed derivative and cleared swap industry is undergoing major change with a particular focus on the challenges introduced through regulation and the optimisation of data and business processes. As the market continues to evolve, hosted, agile, self-service platforms such as Duco Cube are becoming much more valuable, and we are delighted that a growing number of firms are choosing our technology to deal with data normalisation, technology migration, reconciliation and regulatory change."

Duco has grown significantly over the past year, making a number of key client wins, expanding into new markets and developing innovative product enhancements, including a unique fee reconciliation service for CME Group clearing member firms.

After selecting Duco as the winner, one judge commented: "Duco is continuing to build the business, winning new clients and launching new services. More and more we are seeing forward-thinking technology firms like Duco coming in to the market and doing things better than the incumbent providers." Another said: "We have been really impressed with Ducos service and the continued innovation. The additional client wins are testament to that innovation and the need for new solutions in the back office."

Will Mitting, Publisher at FOW, added: "Since arriving on the scene around three years ago, Duco is becoming recognised as one of the leading new technology players in the industry."

About Duco

Duco is changing the way the world controls its data. Its hosted, agile reconciliation platform, Duco Cube, enables firms to control complex data using light-touch, self-service technology. In the past 18 months, Duco was voted into the European Fintech Top 100 list by a panel of experts, won the Best of Show award at the Finance Magnates London Summit, and was one of the inaugural recipients of the FIA Innovation award. It has also won the FOW International Award for Best Technology Product - Trade Reconciliation for the past three years. Headquartered in London, with offices in New York and Luxembourg, Duco serves clients throughout Europe, the United States, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Australia.

For more information, please visit du.co.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208005690/en/

Intermarket Communications

Eleis Brennan, +1-212-754-5610

+1-917-428-9085 (mobile)

ebrennan@intermarket.com
PROVIDENCIALES, Turks & Caicos Islands, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- interCaribbean Airways is pleased to announce a new nonstop weekly service from Providenciales to Montego Bay.

These new flights will commence operating on December 18th, 2016 every Sunday and return every Monday. The service is initially offered on a once weekly basis on the following schedule. This new flight increases the flights to 8 weekly flights in each direction between Jamaica and the Turks and Caicos Islands with a faster flight and improved connections from San Juan -Puerto Rico, Nassau - Bahamas and Santo Domingo -Dominican Republic. These flights offer the fastest way around the Caribbean.

Jamaica's Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, welcomed the announcement by interCaribbean Airways of the new nonstop weekly service from Providenciales to the island's tourism capital and second city.

Minister Bartlett said "intra-regional travel has a critical role to play in Jamaica's efforts to grow visitor arrivals over the current growth rate of five percent. Cooperation between our sister islands will assist in establishing multi-destination marketing arrangements that give us access to new markets. This is exciting news for us and we are happy to have interCaribbean Airways on board."

SCHEDULE





Depart Providenciales every Sunday 4:15pm Arrive Montego Bay 5:05pm Depart Montego Bay every Monday 8:15am Arrive Providenciales 11:05am

Dr. Rafael Echevarne, Chief Executive Officer of MBJ Airports Limited said we are very pleased with the new non-stop service to Providenciales. Montego Bay not only gains a new destination, but having direct access to interCaribbean's hub opens up a wealth of much needed connectivity to the Caribbean.

Trevor Sadler, interCaribbean Chief Executive Officer said the steady increase in demand to Montego Bay warrants the introduction of this new service. We are pleased to continue to respond to the need of the Caribbean Traveler with this service. With significant ties between the two Caribbean nations we look forward to building on this initial once per week service.

About interCaribbean Airways:

interCaribbean Airways is based in the Turks & Caicos Islands, and was founded 25 years ago, to connect you and the Caribbean. The company operates a fleet of EMB 120, Twin Otter, BE99 aircraft connecting the Turks & Caicos to Antigua, Tortola, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, the Bahamas and Cuba; Domestic flights in Jamaica between Kingston and Montego Bay, are also offered.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/intercaribbean-introduces-new-montego-bay-nonstop-flight-300375469.html

SOURCE interCaribbean Airways
Luke creates first F-35 undergraduate pilot curriculum

The first class of undergraduate pilots began training through the newly written F-35 Lightning II curriculum Dec. 5 in the F-35 Academic Training Center at Luke Air Force Base.



The day was long awaited as Luke personnel worked to create the syllabus for several years.



The start of the F-35 B-course class today is the culmination of years of work by thousands of U.S. and partner active-duty, civilian, industry and government personnel, said Maj. Matthew Mayer, the 56th Fighter Wing F-35 Program integration chief. Specifically over the past several years, the Luke F-35 team has taken delivery of the world's newest leading edge combat aircraft. They put it through the wringer to fully understand its capabilities then based on lessons learned, designed a training program to produce world-class F-35 pilots and support personnel for decades to come.



This was no easy task. Many traditional fourth-generation' support, maintenance and operations methods and procedures needed updating, modifying, or all together recreation. Many open minds have engaged that challenge and succeeded in laying a solid foundation to carry the U.S. and its allies into the future of combat aviation.



The course is more than seven months long. The first few weeks will be focused on academics and simulators. The remainder of the course will be a combination of flying, academics and simulators.



Traditionally, only pilots with prior fighter jet experience were chosen to fly the F-35. Under the new F-35 curriculum, pilots with no prior experience flying fighter aircraft will be able to learn to fly the F-35 as their first fighter jet.



The six pilots selected have flown the T-38 Talon, said Lt. Col. Matthew Hayden, the 56th Training Squadron commander. The pipeline for undergraduate pilot training is first training on the T-6 Texan II and then they will be selected into either a fighter track or a cargo/tanker track. Our pilots have been track selected into the fighter track so they went on to fly the T-38 to earn their wings. Afterward they went through a course called Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals during which they also flew the T-38. The IFF is essentially a shorter course that is a snapshot of mission sets we typically do in a fighter. From there, pilots are branched off into either the F-16 (Fighting Falcon), F-22 (Raptor), A-10 Thunderbolt II or in this case, the F-35.



The need to create the curriculum arose to ensure the future and growth of the F-35 community.



Pilots that are fresh out of pilot training have an advantage because since they have no fighter jet experience, they are able to better absorb what we teach them and dont come with habits that more experienced fighter pilots may bring when learning a new platform, Hayden said. The new syllabus also benefits the Air Force in the long run by building experience in the F-35 and shaping the F-35 platform and the community.



As students go through the course, adjustments will be made to the syllabus as needed.



Throughout the course we will be gathering the lessons learned by phase, Gette said. Then the lessons learned will be vetted and pushed up to influence syllabus changes.



One F-35 student pilot shares his feelings about the course.



Were all very grateful and excited to be here, said Capt. Anthony Nejman, a 61st Fighter Squadron F-35 student pilot. Im really looking forward to flying again and cant wait to get in the seat of an F-35.



The creation of the new F-35 syllabus and start of the first class marks a monumental moment for not only Luke AFB but the Air Force overall.



Weve entered a new phase of training F-35 pilots, said Col. Benjamin Bishop, the 56th Operations Group commander. The student pilots starting today are the future of the F-35 program because five, 10, 15 years from now when these pilots assume leadership roles, they are going to lead the community with a different perspective. It is a phenomenal opportunity today to innovate and to take this airplane into the next step.
Team Rescue assisted its mission partner, the 45th Space Wing, in supporting United Launch Alliances successful launch of the WGS-8 spacecraft aboard a ULA Delta IV rocket from Space Launch Complex 37 here December 7 at 6:53 p.m. ET. The powerful Delta IV rocket boosted a high-bandwidth military satellite into orbit adding communications capacity for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Airmen from the 920th Rescue Wing, Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, launched in two HH-60G Pave Hawk Helicopters or Jollies to clear the Eastern Range beneath the rocket's path into space.

While the rocket could be seen throughout the nearly four-minute firing of its first-stage engine, the Jollies remained airborne and could be heard patrolling the Range. The rocket's four solid rocket boosters illuminated in the clear night sky as they fell away and the flight climbed southeast over the Atlantic Ocean.

The Air Forces eighth Wideband Global SATCOM communication spacecraft will provide anytime, anywhere communication for soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and international partners through broadcast, multicast, and point-to-point connections. The WGS constellation is the highest-capacity military communications system in the U.S. Department of Defense arsenal. WGS supports a wide variety of missions for Combatant Commanders around the world to perform missions, from search and rescue efforts to military operations.

According to Brig. Gen. Wayne Monteith, 45th Space Wing commander and mission Launch Decision Authority, this launch is the culmination of many long hours and hard work by the entire mission team.

Information compiled from a 45th Space Wing news article.




At least 11 people have died this month in northern Myanmar in escalating clashes between security forces and armed insurgents that have undercut Aung San Suu Kyis bid for peace. Thousands have fled their homes in northern Shan state since the fighting erupted in late November, with many crossing the border into China.

In response, Beijing has placed its military on high alert, fearing the violence could once again spill into its territory after several of its nationals were killed last year.

The bodies of nine policemen killed by rebels on December 2 have been recovered, state-run Global New Light of Myanmar said Thursday. Two civilians were also reportedly killed in that incident.

In total at least 30 soldiers, police, pro-government militia and civilians have died since the fighting began, according to a tally of state media figures.

The clashes have delivered a fresh blow to de facto leader Suu Kyis hopes of forging a nationwide peace agreement to end decades of bloody insurgencies rumbling along Myanmars borderlands.

Suu Kyi prioritised tackling the simmering conflicts after her elected government took power earlier this year, ending decades of military-backed rule.

But fighting in the northern states of Kachin and Shan, and in the south in Karen, have cast a pall over her efforts and any ceasefire is expected to take years to agree.

Myanmars army has also been carrying out a bloody crackdown in the north of Rakhine state that has sent more than 20,000 from the Muslim Rohingya minority fleeing to Bangladesh.

Analysts say the recent bout of unrest in Shan threatens the second round of peace talks she had scheduled for February and has strengthened the role of the army, who still control key levers of power.
Unidentified gunmen targeted a branch of the state-run Jammu and Kashmir Bank at Arihal in south Kashmirs Pulwama on Thursday and robbed more than Rs. 8 lakh. The attackers reportedly fired shots while leaving the branch.

The gunmen fired five to six rounds before escaping from the spot, he said, adding, bank officials were counting the cash to determine the amount of money the gunmen have taken.

A police official said a team of security forces has been dispatched to the area to ascertain the details of the bank robbery.

Preliminary estimates have revealed that the gunmen managed to take away nearly Rs. 10 lakh from the bank, he said.

A similar attempt was foiled when gunmen tried to loot money at the Poshkar branch of Jammu and Kashmir Bank in Budgam district.

Earlier last month, robbers looted over Rs. 34 lakh from branch in Sarthal area and also made a vain attempt in another branch of the Bank at Nawapachi area of the district overnight.

On November 21, a group of the Lashkar-e-Toibas (LeT) robbed the J&K Banks Malpora branch in central Kashmirs Budgam district of Rs. 14 lakh.

The police had related the robbery with demonetisation move, claiming militant outfits were facing notes crunch.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2016 - In November, U.S. gasoline inventories reached 226.1 million barrels, the highest level for this time of year since at least 1990, according to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). This is a 9.3 million barrel-increase from the same time last year.

Gasoline inventories have been elevated all year despite strong domestic consumption and exports. EIA says that high gasoline crack spreads  the difference in value between a gallon of gasoline and a gallon of crude oil  have encouraged continued high utilization of U.S. refining capacity.

The fall refinery maintenance season also had less down-time compared with last year, helping to further drive high levels of production and inventory, EIA notes.

Gasoline prices are closely linked to crude oil prices, the agency says, and both were relatively low compared with recent historical levels.

The Cushing, Oklahoma, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) spot price on Nov. 21 was $47.48 per barrel (b), above the November 2015 average of $42.44/b, the data show. However, EIA notes that this was well below the previous three-year (2013-2015) November average of $70.70/b.

U.S. gasoline prices follow a similar pattern. The price for regular gasoline was $2.15 per gallon as of Nov. 28, up 10 cents from the same time last year.

However, the agency points out that 2016 prices for U.S. regular gasoline are still relatively low compared with the November average of $2.77 per gallon for the previous three years.

Do you find the information on Agri-Pulse helpful? See even more ag, rural policy and energy news when you sign up for a four-week free trial Agri-Pulse subscription.





The data show that in addition to strong domestic gasoline demand, exports have also been high.

September 2016 exports were 564,000 barrels per day, up 208,000 over the year-ago level. The Gulf Coast (Petroleum Administration for Defense District 3), accounted for 92 percent of total U.S. gasoline exports in September of this year. The bulk of U.S. exports go to Mexico, which alone accounted for 60 percent of total U.S. motor gasoline exports in September.

#30

For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com
WASHINGTON, Dec. 7, 2016 - Gene editing is simply the latest development in the evolution of plant breeding, the head of the American Seed Trade Association said at ASTAs annual meeting today in Chicago, seeking to reassure consumers about the safety and efficacy of the new technique.

ASTA President and CEO Andy LaVigne was joined by three seed company representatives and a University of Idaho professor at a press conference, where they discussed the potential of gene editing to battle persistent disease problems, such as fusarium head blight in wheat and barley, and downy mildew in spinach.

The farmers constantly looking to grow more using less, LaVigne said. Farmers need that variety of seed choices to solve their local needs, to manage changing weather, to fight plant disease and pests and wisely use crop inputs and those natural resources.

He cautioned, however, that regulatory barriers that have effectively prevented land grant universities from conducting biotech research could be applied to gene editing, which he said would be a shame.

Juliet Marshall, a professor of cereals agronomy and plant pathology at the University of Idaho, said gene editing could be used to control, or at least reduce the impacts of, fusarium head blight (FSM), known more commonly as head scab.

The disease is characterized by scabby kernels, which in addition to reducing yield can indicate the presence of vomitoxin, a mycotoxin that can coat the seed and is showing up in a lot of our grain, Marshall said.

The FDA recommends that vomitoxin in finished products such as flour not exceed 1 part per million. Advisory levels for animal feed are 5 ppm or 10 ppm, depending on the animal.

But Marshall said she has seen levels as high as 25 ppm in some durum wheat in Idaho, which had to be thrown away.

Growers can use a variety of techniques to reduce the chances that head scab will spread  crop rotation, less use of corn in the rotation because its a good source for this fungus to grow and reproduce, and precise and timely application of fungicides.

Even with all of these practices, we dont have the host resistance to actually control this disease, Marshall said. Even if you have a moderately resistant variety, it doesnt help.

Gene editing can help, she said. Using the CRISPR-Cas9 tool, plant breeders can modify existing genes to effectively enhance what small resistance factors are there.

Marshall touted the ability of universities to make crucial advances in plant breeding, because they are not driven by the profit motive.

Its really important that public institutions utilize these techniques, she said. The public sector is often where things start.

Corinne Marshall, intellectual property and licensing manager for Sakata Seeds America, said that gene editing could be used to build resistance to downy mildew in spinach, a disease that is threatening organic growers ability to meet demand.

She also said that gene editing could help broccoli retain nutrients that are lost through cooking.

Ultimately, however, consumers will have to accept the new technology. LaVigne said the industry needs to be transparent in discussing the new techniques and ASTA is working on a communications effort addressing consumer concerns.

Not an Agri-Pulse subscriber? Get our Daily Harvest email and Daybreak audio Monday through Friday mornings, a 16-page newsletter on Wednesdays, and access to premium content on our ag and rural policy website. Sign up for your four-week free trial Agri-Pulse subscription.





We want to keep it (gene editing) in that realm of plant breeding, he said.

Jerry Flint, vice president of industry and regulatory affairs at DuPont Pioneer, said the company has been engaging with various stakeholders in an effort to discern their concerns about gene editing.

A consistent theme were hearing is that how we talk about technology matters, he said.

And Mark Herrmann, chair of ASTA and the CEO of AgReliant Genetics, the third-largest seed company in the U.S., said the industry is trying to get out in front of the conversation. People who are dead-set against GMOs will be hard to convince that gene editing is beneficial, but those in the movable middle can be swayed when they understand the benefits, such as being able to produce more food with fewer inputs.

#30

For more news, go to www.Agri-Pulse.com.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 7, 2016  A plan to increase scholarship opportunities to a broader array of agricultural students received bipartisan commendations at a Capitol Hill hearing Wednesday.

The bill  Funding for Student Scholarships for the 1890s Land-Grant African American Colleges and Universities Act (H.R. 6020)  would create five years worth of scholarship funding at $1 million per year for students pursuing food and ag careers at 19 universities across the country. The House Agriculture Committee had been convened to discuss recruitment challenges and scholarship opportunities for 1890 land grant institutions, but much of the conversation centered on the bill.

H.R. 6020 is the education portion of a two-bill package. The other bill (H.R. 6021) addresses on-the-job training, specifically in infrastructure, transportation, energy, and technology positions. Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., the chief sponsor of both bills, told Agri-Pulse he expects the measures to attract bipartisan support.

Theres no question that this bill will be a Republican and Democratic offer; we have set it up that way, Scott said. Most of these colleges are in Republican districts, so its very important that we have the Republican leadership on this.

Scott also said he believes his twin-bill effort would have the support of President-elect Donald Trump.

Its one of the kinds of things that he personally would feel very welcome to work with us on as a way of following up on his own commitments to helping the African American community, Scott said. What better way than these two bills (to) deal with employment.

Furthermore, Scott pointed out that on the campaign trail, Trump implored African American communities to let me help you, asking, What do you have to lose? The Georgia Democrat said hes taking the president-elect at his word.

There appeared to be bipartisan support for the initiative at the hearing. North Dakota Republican Kevin Cramer  not a member of the committee but the lead GOP co-sponsor on both bills  said at the hearing that improving scholarship opportunities at these universities makes good sense.

We need smart people who learn from (1890s land grant universities) to help us grow more food in a responsible way, said Cramer, who has been a key Trump ally in Congress. If in the process we serve a testimony to what people can do working together, all the more great, to me.

Some lawmakers expressed concerns about potentially discriminatory practices in awarding scholarship funding specifically to the 1890s land grants, sometimes referred to as historically black colleges and universities. Reps. Steve King, R-Iowa, and Dan Benishek, R-Mich., both pressed the issue, but university administrators on hand said it wouldnt be a problem.

Learn about the benefits of subscribing to Agri-Pulse. Sign up for your four-week free trial Agri-Pulse subscription.





We dont see anything relating to a race-based scholarship, Cynthia Jackson-Hammond, the president of Central State University in Ohio, said in response to Benishek. When we bring students into our institutions, race is not a consideration  all of our students have financial need, all of them, so were not making any determination based on race.

Jackson-Hammond and two other witnesses said that 1890s land grants are not race-focused institutions. Much as the admittance process is equal opportunity, awarding scholarships would be as well. However, they did concede since many of their students identify as African American, logic would dictate that many scholarship recipients could be as well.

Since the 114th Congress is expected to conclude within days, Scott said he would introduce the bills again in the 115th Congress, which convenes in January.

#30
WASHINGTON, Dec. 7, 2016  Congress decision to take catfish inspection away from the FDA and give it to USDA was sharply criticized as a waste of money and resources at a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing today in which only one lawmaker dissented.

Catfish is an extremely low-risk food product, said Pennsylvania Republican Joseph Pitts, chairman of the Health Subcommittee, in his opening remarks at the hearing titled Waste and Duplication in the USDA Catfish Inspection Program. Explicitly creating a program exclusively for catfish is unnecessary and directs resources away from high-risk foods to focus on a food that is one of the safest.

Rep. Gregg Harper, a Republican from the catfish-producing state of Mississippi, was the only lawmaker at the hearing to offer a defense of the USDA catfish inspection program.

He stressed that USDAs Food Safety and Inspection Service has been successfully blocking thousands of pounds of foreign catfish contaminated with illegal antibiotics and other drugs.

Since FSIS began inspecting imported catfish on April 15, about 343,000 pounds of foreign catfish has either been rejected at the border or removed from commerce in the U.S., according to industry and government officials.

Overwhelming evidence suggests that imported catfish  represent a significant food safety threat to the American people, Harper said during the hearing. Unfortunately the FDA inspection system was inadequate and it conducted inspections on a mere 0.2 percent of catfish species.

William Jones, FDA deputy director for the agencys Office of Food Safety and a witness at the hearing, stressed that he did not believe that catfish inspection was given to USDA because of any deficiency at FDA. He also highlighted the agencys targeted approach to inspecting imports, which dedicates more resources to product that comes from the riskiest sources.

Congress took inspection authority for catfish away from the FDA and gave it to the USDA through provisions in the 2008 and 2014 farm bills. The switch was seen as a boon for domestic catfish farmers who have been struggling for years to compete with growing imports from countries like Vietnam, China and Thailand. Proponents of the switch said USDA would do a more thorough job of inspecting imports and holding foreign producers to the same standards as their U.S. counterparts.

But opponents like Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., have said the billions of dollars it cost to move catfish inspection to USDA was an unnecessary burden on taxpayers because FDA could do the job adequately.

McCain led the successful effort to pass a measure in the Senate in May to move inspection back to FDA. The House has failed to vote on the measure, despite lawmakers claims that they have enough votes to approve it. The Senate measure  S.J. Res. 28  will expire this year.

One of the core criticisms from McCain and others was the potential for duplicative inspections that were likely to occur in facilities that processed both catfish and other seafood that still needed to be inspected by FDA officials.

Read about other USDA news such as this. Sign up for a four-week free trial Agri-Pulse subscription for the latest ag and rural policy news.





It was also a problem pointed out in several reports issued by the Government Accountability Office and it was discussed today in the hearing by Steve Morris, a GAO director.

In May, 2012 we reported that USDAs proposed catfish inspection program would further fragment the responsibility for overseeing food safety, introduce overlap of additional costs to taxpayers and would likely not enhance the safety of catfish, Morris said in his testimony.

Since that 2012 report, USDA and FDA signed a memorandum of understanding to, in part, make sure the two agencies were not both doing the same work at the same processing facilities.

FDAs Jones said the MOU has been effective in preventing duplication of inspection chores.

#30

For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com
WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2016 - A majority of Americans support clean energy development, according to a polling report released by Conservative Energy Network (CEN).

CEN was launched in 2016 by conservatives, for conservatives, to support and connect state-based conservative clean energy and energy efficiency organizations throughout the U.S.

The organizations post-election poll shows that, across all ideologies, most voters find value in national and statewide policies that encourage the generation and use of electricity from renewable and clean energy sources.

Conservatives and Trump voters alike recognize our nations inevitable transition to clean energy, and want to ensure that our nation gets the national security, economic development and jobs benefit to moving more fully toward an all of the above approach, says Mark Pischea, executive director of CEN.

The all-of the-above energy approach includes the development of alternative energy sources such, as wind, solar, hydropower, nuclear, geothermal and biomass.

Some 88 percent of the 1,000 voters surveyed nationwide said they would likely oppose a candidate who does not support development and use of clean energy sources.

A majority of voters, some 80 percent, also indicated they feel that it is important for elected officials to share their views on energy.

Clean energy provides a critical path toward growing state economies and job creation, especially in innovation-driven states, Pischea asserts.

Glen Bolger of Public Opinion Strategies, which conducted the poll, says that a majority of voters get the importance of encouraging our nations clean energy transition  even if many politicians do not.

The poll found overwhelming support for renewable energy projects such as community solar and policies like net metering, Bolger said.

John Karakoulakis of The Western Way, a regional organization that urges conservative leaders in Western states to engage on environmental and energy challenges, contends that it is time for conservatives to reject the false label that we are anti-environment or anti-renewables.

Did you know Agri-Pulse subscribers get our Daily Harvest email and Daybreak audio Monday through Friday mornings, a 16-page newsletter on Wednesdays, and access to premium content on our ag and rural policy website? Sign up for your four-week free trial Agri-Pulse subscription.





We need to embrace policies that strike the right balance between the need for clean air and water and the preservation of our public lands, with investment in energy generation that also improves local economies, Karakoulakis says.

Key findings from the survey:

Seventy percent of voters surveyed think the U.S. should put more emphasis on wind production and 76 percent support increased solar production.

More than half those polled think the U.S. should put less emphasis on coal.

Republican, Democrat and Independent voters all demonstrate strong support for adoption of an energy optimization standard in their state, under which utilities are required to help customers reduce energy consumption through energy efficiency programs and products.

Mike Franklin, consultant to the Minnesota Conservative Energy Forum, said he feels that clean energy represents an opportunity for the Republican Party to build a bridge to key independent voters such as millennials, the college-educated and minorities that are critical to the partys ability to win elections in the future.





To view the poll, click here.

#30

For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com
Flagstaff's new community choir, Flagstaff Sings!, will perform "Not another Holiday Concert" Friday at the Coconino Center for the Arts. The concert will be a fundraiser for Shelterbox, a non-profit organization that provides emergency disaster relief around the world, including to the millions of refugees fleeing war-ravaged Syria.

A press release for Flagstaff Sings! states: "In this day and age, the limits of our love is being tested. Will we close ourselves to the struggles around us in the world, or embrace those in need? Will we live by fear, or bravely open with love? This concert is a passionate declaration of the truth that in the end, love wins!"

Because there has been a narrow  and at times problematic  representation of Middle Eastern culture in the media, Flagstaff Sings! has chosen to highlight some of the more beautiful, ecstatic and funny aspects of the culture.

Flagstaff Sings! will be joined by Rhythm Oasis, featuring Middle Eastern dancer Annette Morrison and Mounia Mnouer on vocals. George Breed will also be speaking. Breed is a local psychologist, author and street photographer with a strong interest in interfaith dialogue. Breed, a Zen Baptist, will speak for a few minutes on the joy and compassion of Islam as shown through the poetry of Hafiz.

Coconino Center for the Arts is located at 2300 N. Fort Valley Road. Tickets are $10 and are available at flagstaffsings.com. Children 12 and younger are admitted for free. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the concert will begin at 7. For more information, visit the Flagstaff Sings! Facebook page.

Help buy bikes for deserving Flagstaff kids

Continental Country Club, Wyndham Flagstaff Resort and the Oakmont have partnered with Flagstaff Unified School District to raise money to buy children in need a bike for Christmas. The group's goal is to raise enough money to purchase 80 bikes by Dec. 17. As of today, 65 bikes have been purchased. To donate to the Christmas bike project, call 526-5125 or stop by the Continental front desk.

On Dec. 17, the children and their families will be invited to Continental Country Club where they will be greeted by Santa, cookies, hot chocolate and new bikes for Christmas.
Aiken, SC (29801)

Today

A few clouds from time to time. High 76F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Clear skies. Low 52F. Winds light and variable.
A middle school-aged girl, whose pants were adorned with emojis, little faces or pictures sent over text messaging, walked into the meeting about internet safety accompanied by her mother, her pants a colorful reminder of how connected teenagers and preteens are to the internet and technology.

The meeting, led by Leslie Russell from the Arizona Attorney Generals Office, focused on educating parents and students about smartphone apps and websites that are popular with students, as well as the dangers that come with sharing information online.

The meeting was the second of its kind hosted by the Flagstaff Unified School District, and drew about 10 parents to attend Tuesday night.

In her presentation, Russell discussed various apps, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat, which remain popular for adults and for students. Russell said some apps, like Snapchat where pictures disappear after a set time period, may give children a false sense of security that an inappropriate picture or cyberbullying will be gone forever, when really they are stored by the company.

Russell also discussed social media challenges that generally refer to people making a video of themselves or their friends completing the challenge. Russell said some of the challenges can be all in fun, like the ice bucket challenge, which was designed to raise awareness for ALS. However, others, like the cinnamon challenge, which asks that the person eat a spoonful of cinnamon without drinking water, can be dangerous and have sent people to the hospital.

Talking with students about the various apps and accounts and setting up accounts with their children are some of the ways Russell suggested parents get involved with knowing what their children ae doing online. She suggested parents check their childrens phones to see what apps and accounts they have, and said parents should open apps they are unfamiliar with, instead of looking at the icon, because some icons are designed to fool people into thinking the app is something different than it is. For example, Russell said there are messaging apps whose icons look like the weather app.

Russell also discussed the laws regarding sexting, or sending sexually explicit photos or messages. Arizona law makes it a misdemeanor for minors to knowingly transmit sexually explicit photos of minors, regardless of where the image was generated. The means a minor who takes and send a sexually explicit picture of himself or herself can be held criminally liable for transmitting child pornography. It is also illegal for a juvenile to knowingly possess a sexually explicit photo of another minor that was sent through an electronic device.

Russell said about one in six teens who own a cell phone have received sexually explicit pictures.

Its happening whether we want to believe it or not, Russell said.

FUSD offers online courses for parents interested in learning more about digital literacy, which are tailored for parents of children at a variety of grade levels and can be accessed from the FUSD website. The district also incorporates technology and behavior online into the curriculum at every grade level, according to the districts website. All students in FUSD must receive one internet safety lesson each year. Topics of discussion in these internet safety lessons range from cyberbullying and texting safety, which are addressed in the elementary grades, to online relationships and lessons about online privacy taught in high school.
Who is Responsible for Destruction of Iraq's Cultural Heritage?

Remains of a wall panel destroyed by Islamic State militants is seen in the Assyrian city of Nimrud, south of Mosul, Iraq, Nov. 16, 2016. ( Ari Jalal/Reuters) BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Safeguarding Endangered Cultural Heritage, a conference held in Abu Dhabi December 3-4, called for international support to protect the endangered cultural heritage of the Middle East, especially in Iraq and Syria. Conference participants approved establishing a $100 million fund and a safe haven network for use during conflicts. The problem in Iraq is one of conflict as well as neglect. On Nov. 25, after the liberation of Nimrud -- the Assyrian archaeological site south of Mosul -- from the Islamic State (IS), UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova announced, "The damage inflicted to Nimrud is a major loss for Iraq and for the world." She also asserted, "The protection and rehabilitation of Iraqi's heritage, in Nimrud and beyond, is essential for stability and cohesion in the country and the entire region." The destruction of Iraq's cultural heritage is not limited to extremist groups like IS and widely known ancient sites. Some governorates and municipalities are also culpable in the neglect and destruction of locally historic places. For example, on Nov. 13, the local government in Diyala gave a developer permission to demolish the oldest cinema in the governorate, a cultural and entertaining landmark built in 1949. Its decision raised the ire of a broad segment of the population, which viewed the act as "uncivilized" and a sign of "ignorance" about the importance of culture and heritage. Read the full story here.
Airbus Helicopters' UK headquarters to begin aircraft completion work

Ascent Flight Training fielding team undergoes training

H145





Oxford,

The H135 Juno and the H145 Jupiter, the first two aircraft in the 32-strong fleet of the UK Military Flying Training System (UKMFTS) helicopters, can be seen together for the first time, marking the start of a new era in helicopter military flight training in the UK.

Flown over from the Airbus Helicopters manufacturing site in Donauworth, Germany, G-CJIW H135 Juno aircraft joins the G-CJIV H145 Jupiter which was the first UKMFTS helicopter to arrive in Britain, landing at the companys UK headquarters at Oxford Airport. The H145 Jupiter is currently being operated by a joint military and civilian fielding team in support of the UKMFTS programme and for which the first three pilots have now completed their H145 type ratings. The first H135 Juno will enter a short programme of modification to meet specific UKMFTS training requirements before being operated by the UKMFTS fielding team.



The aircraft will allow UK armed forces to benefit from conducting initial training on a twin-engine, full glass cockpit aircraft; thus reducing the time needed to retrain once in contact with frontline helicopters. Furthermore, the H135 and H145 family of aircraft, equipped with Airbus Helicopters advanced avionics suite Helionix, provides for a much improved flight and safety envelope.



Air Vice-Marshal Andy Turner, Air Officer commanding 22 Group responsible for flying training, said, These state of the art Airbus Helicopters aircraft will be the perfect starting point for the next generation of battlefield helicopter aircrew. With all of the latest technology in autopilot, stability, navigation and communication systems, they will allow training to stretch our people further, earlier and quicker making them better all-round aircrew.



Ian Morris, Head of UK Defence Business at Airbus Helicopters, said, The H135 and H145 are proven multirole helicopters in both civil and military segments and have become the aircraft of choice for military flying training across the globe. The latest Helionix versions provide a level of technology which mirrors that on UK front line aircraft, ensuring all future UK military student pilots and crewmen can make the best possible transition from training to operations.



With all UK armed forces helicopter pilots of the last 35 years having trained on Airbus aircraft, staff at Airbus Helicopters are proud to continue this heritage and continue supporting UK Armed Forces helicopter training at least for the next 18 years. Airbus Helicopters has steadily increased its capacity with a clear objective: to ensure that the UK armed forces can benefit from the high quality training experience that is possible with these superb modern aircraft. Full service training delivery is due to begin on 1 April 2018, an auspicious date given it is the 100th Anniversary of the Royal Air Force.



To meet this, key infrastructure work is progressing well at RAF Shawbury and RAF Valley, home to the UKMFTS rotary wing system, while teams of pilots, engineers, planners and instructors have already been fully engaged with the Ascent fielding team, ensuring that skills and capability are ramped up in preparation for the significant deadline.





About Airbus Helicopters in the UK

Airbus Helicopters has been present in the United Kingdom for 40 years and is the UKs largest helicopter supplier with approximately 400 aircraft operating in civil, military and emergency services roles. The companys site at Oxford Airport is home to Britains Civil Helicopter Hub while sites at Aberdeen, Belfast and Hawarden support our customers across the breadth of the British Isles.







About Airbus Helicopters

Airbus Helicopters, a division of Airbus Group, provides the most efficient civil and military helicopter solutions worldwide. Its in-service fleet includes nearly 12,000 helicopters operated by more than 3,000 customers in 154 countries. Airbus Helicopters employs more than 22,000 people worldwide and in 2015 generated revenues of 6.8 billion euros.



Medias:

H135 H145 H145 H145

Media contacts:
Programme is on schedule

Next-generation NH90 naval helicopter

German Armed Forces to receive 18 of these helicopters

Donauworth,

On Thursday, the NH90 Sea Lion naval multi-role helicopter took off on its on-schedule maiden flight at Airbus Helicopters in Donauworth. Wolfgang Schoder, CEO of Airbus Helicopters Deutschland; Ralph Herzog, Director in the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) and Vice Admiral Andreas Krause, Chief of the German Navy welcomed this important milestone in the programme.



We are proud to be delivering this state-of-the-art naval helicopter to the German Armed Forces on time, said Wolfgang Schoder. This new generation of NH90 naval helicopters, the Sea Lion, has benefited from experience gathered by other countries who have been using it. The NH90 Sea Lion has an increased number of sensors and improved navigation and communications equipment, which means that this military helicopter will also be able to operate in civil air space. The military friend/foe identification has also been updated to the latest standards.



For the BAAINBw in Koblenz, the Sea Lion is also a special project: We need to keep to a tight schedule if we are to replace the Sea King in time. This requires all those participating in the project to coordinate quickly and efficiently to achieve this, explained Ralph Herzog. By using an existing NH90 model as the basis for the Sea Lion and adding the required additional functionalities to it, we have been able to significantly reduce the delivery process. This model is also configured not only to be an adequate replacement for the Sea King but is designed so that it can be adapted to future roles.



The Navy is looking forward, as the first customer, to be receiving the NH90 Sea Lion on time by the end of 2019, said Vice Admiral Andreas Krause. We are now expecting a successful test phase. Meanwhile, the Navy is preparing intensively for the acceptance of the helicopters with technical and flight personnel already training. Further measures have commenced at their future home, the Nordholz naval air base. Infrastructural changes and new buildings are necessary.



Deliveries of NH90 Sea Lions to the Navy will start at the end of 2019. When deployed, it will take on a range of roles including search and rescue (SAR) missions, maritime reconnaissance, special forces missions as well as personnel and materiel transportation tasks. The German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) have ordered 18 of these helicopters altogether, with the last due to go into service in 2022. The second NH90 Sea Lion awaiting qualification testing is currently at the final assembly stage and series production at Donauworth will commence in the summer of 2017.



In addition to its land-based use in SAR missions, the NH90 Sea Lion is also intended to operate on Type 702 (Berlin class) combat support ships.



Thanks to its multi-role capability and future proofing, the Sea Lion will not merely replace the Bundeswehrs Sea King Mk41 fleet but significantly enhance the Navys operational capabilities. The electronic fly-by-wire flight controls of the NH90 Sea Lion reduce the crews workload. Other benefits of this control system are its high precision and ease of use, which particularly come to the fore in over-water hovering, even in poor weather conditions.



The NH90 Sea Lion shell is manufactured from advanced, high-strength composite materials. This offers optimum protection for the crew thanks to its excellent crash behaviour.



Five nations are already using the naval NH90 NFH (NATO Frigate Helicopter). They have already completed more than 30,000 flying hours with the 69 helicopters delivered so far: in humanitarian and SAR and military missions on land and on board naval vessels. The German NH90 Sea Lion programme has greatly benefited from the experience gained from these operations. Altogether 129 NH90 NFH helicopters have been ordered; the total for all NH90 models comes to 515. The whole NH90 fleet comprising 296 helicopters delivered so far has already completed over 120,000 flying hours.





About Airbus Helicopters

Airbus Helicopters, a division of Airbus Group, provides the most efficient civil and military helicopter solutions worldwide. Its in-service fleet includes nearly 12,000 helicopters operated by more than 3,000 customers in 154 countries. Airbus Helicopters employs more than 22,000 people worldwide and in 2015 generated revenues of 6.8 billion euros.

 (www.airbushelicopters.com)

Medias:

The German Navy's NH90 Sea Lion performs its first flight The German Navy's NH90 Sea Lion performs its first flight The German Navy's NH90 Sea Lion performs its first flight The German Navy's NH90 Sea Lion performs its first flight The German Navy's NH90 Sea Lion performs its first flight

Media contacts:
December 7, 2016

CAIRO  Supporting national armies is the slogan Egypt is using to promote its policy on issues across the region, first and foremost in Syria.

This became evident when Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced his countrys support for the Syrian army during a Nov. 22 TV interview with Portuguese news channel RTP. Two days later, on Nov. 24, Lebanese newspaper As-Safir published a report claiming that an Egyptian contingent of 18 helicopter pilots and four major generals had been stationed at the headquarters of the Syrian General Staff in Damascus for the past two months.

The article quoted Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem as saying on Nov. 20 that there had been progress in the way Egypt talks about Syria, and that the two governments views on the Syrian crisis were closely matched.

The As-Safir article sparked controversy over the presence of Egyptian soldiers on Syrian soil.

On Twitter, the Arabic hashtag #Sisi_Supports_Bashar went viral, with users slamming Egyptian support for Bashar al-Assads troops. One tweet said that Egypt was ducking moral responsibility toward Syrian civilians and supporting Russias goal of keeping Assad in power.

The Egyptian media are trying to promote Sisis policy on Syria as that of a military man supporting national armies, arguing that he cannot possibly give support to the armed opposition.

Russian daily Izvestia and Irans Tasnim News Agency also confirmed reports of Egyptian troops on Syrian soil. The Kremlin, however, said it had no information on Egyptian military involvement in support of the Syrian army.

The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also denied the reports. It is clear to anyone why these rumors are being spread, it said in a statement Nov. 28, without further explanation. It added, There are constitutional and legal measures that must be taken before Egyptian soldiers or military hardware are sent outside state borders.

Journalist Mohammad Ballout, who wrote the As-Safir article, said Egyptian troops in Syria were not fighting on the front lines. Ballout, who lives in France, said in a telephone interview with Al-Monitor that recent Egyptian-Russian military exercises resemble operations currently underway in Syria.

Ballout said the Egyptian presence sends a political message reflecting Cairos ambitions to play a more direct role in the Syrian conflict.

The Lebanese writer noted that Egypt was using Beirut as a base for closely monitoring developments in Syria, as indicated by the September appointment of a new ambassador to Lebanon, Nazih al-Nagary, who previously led the Egyptian delegation to the Geneva negotiations on the Syrian crisis.

Ballout refused to name his sources for the story and declined to say whether they were military or civilian.

The Egyptian militarys spokesman, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Samir, refused to comment on reports that Egyptian troops were present in Syria, but cited denials by the Foreign Ministry. Samir told Al-Monitor that the Ministry of Defense had no authority to approve sending Egyptian troops abroad, which is a matter for parliament to approve.

Maj. Gen. Yahya al-Kedwany, the commissioner of the Egyptian parliaments Committee for Defense and National Security, told Al-Monitor that sending Egyptian troops to Syria would only take place under the auspices of the United Nations. Kedwany ruled out any Egyptian participation in field operations on Syrian soil.

He said there was ongoing coordination with the Syrian regime as the countrys official, elected government, and added that Egypt did not recognize any armed opposition group.

Kedwany also hinted that Egypt had intelligence agents in Syria and Iraq, as events in both countries have implications for Arab national security.

He said that Egypts security services were working with their Syrian counterparts on an ongoing basis to examine reports that a growing number of Egyptians are fighting in Syria alongside the armed opposition.

It is worth noting that on Oct. 17, Cairo hosted the first public visit by a Syrian security official to Egypt after an official invitation from the Egyptian leadership. Egyptian state media were silent on the visit, but Syrian state news agency Sana reported that Ali Mamlouk, the head of Syria's National Security Bureau, met with senior Egyptian security officials, including Maj. Gen. Khaled Fawzi. No further details of the visit were disclosed.

Al-Monitor asked Brig. Gen. Samir Suleiman, the head of the Syrian armys media branch, whether Egyptian troops were present on Syrian soil. I dont want to comment on that, and I will leave it to the Egyptian side, he said.

Speaking by phone from Damascus, he said any Egyptian involvement in Syria was a political issue, not a military one, noting that relations between the Egyptian and Syrian armies are strong.

We are working together to fight terrorism and we hope to develop our cooperation, both political and military, he said. Talk of an Egyptian military presence [in Syria] at this time is at an advanced stage.

During his interview Nov. 22, Sisi called for support for national armies in Syria, Iraq and Libya so they could regain control and impose stability across their national territories.

In October, Egypt voted in favor of two UN Security Council resolutions: one French-backed resolution calling for an end to fighting in Aleppo, and the other a Russian resolution opposed by Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states.
December 7, 2016

The image of Libyan Gen. Khalifa Hifter sporting a Russian ushanka hat as he left the building of the Russian Foreign Ministry on his recent visit to Moscow invokes memories of Cold War era revolutionaries from the Middle East flocking to Moscow in search of political support and military aid. It was Hifters second trip to Russia this year, the kind of intensity of visits not every leader in the Middle East would dare to demonstrate today.

Russias relationship with Hifter has become more than just diplomatic courtesy. This dynamic is a two-way street in which both sides see beneficial opportunities. Whenever a certain visit goes against strict rules of diplomatic protocol, it indicates an important trend. In the case of Hifter, who is not a head of state, the trend is the significance that Russia attaches to his authority in Libya.

The Kremlins official position regarding Hifters regular contacts with the Russian authorities is that it is part of a wider process to engage with various political factions in Libya. In fact, when a reporter asked about the generals visit to Moscow, Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, criticized him for completely ignoring reports of Russian official contacts with the Unity Government in Tripoli. But the Moscow-Hifter dynamic seems to be significantly more exposed to public attention.

Hifters recent visit to Moscow was noticeably different than his visit just a few months ago. The general replaced his army uniform, his signature image, for a suit, which many have interpreted as an attempt to position himself as a politician rather than a strongman from the army. This may be exactly what Russia expected from Hifter since his last visit to Moscow in June. Following a flurry of high-level meetings at the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry and the UN Security Council, Hifter made statements that marked a change in his vision of Russias role in the Libyan war. In the future, when an arms embargo will be lifted and the deliveries of advanced weapons begin, we will need Russian weapons experts for military training, he told Russian journalists. The statement is a departure from the generals position in June when he requested the delivery of Russian arms despite the existing embargo. The leader of the Libyan National Army also promised billions worth of deals for Russian companies in restoring the countrys infrastructure and developing its oil deposits.

Hifters evolution goes along the lines of how Moscow sees his role in Libya, revealing just how much sway the Russian authorities have over the general. Before the Russian military campaign in Syria, Russian authorities were keenly flirting with the idea of fighting extremists in Libya. In early 2015, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin told journalists they were planning a Russian naval blockade off the Libyan coast to prevent the Islamic State (IS) from receiving weapons by sea and to prevent arms deliveries to the internationally backed government. With the launch of the Syrian campaign, Russia has been walking a fine line between a limited military operation and a quagmire. The Libyan context is equally as challenging as the Syrian one for Moscow. Coupled with logistical troubles associated with a possible operation there, it would be certain to turn into a quagmire for Russia.

In other words, Syria gave a timely reality check to Russias possible military ambitions in Libya. This doesnt mean, however, that Russia will give up on Libya altogether, but only that it puts politics over the military in the country at the moment. Militarily, Hifter is not in dire need for Russian aid at the moment. Amid fierce fighting that is raging between militias in Tripoli, exposing the limitations of the unity governments control, Hifter in the east of the country is making significant advances against forces allied with IS in Benghazi, positioning his army as a primary front against extremists. Martin Kobler, the UN envoy for Libya, indicated in Rome last week that the general may now be seen as part of the political process in Libya. Unconfirmed reports also hint that recognizing Hifters influence, Koblers office may be pushing for amendments to the political agreement that would give Hifter a share of political power in Tripoli. A leading role in the Tripoli government is the key reason why Hifter has been preventing the House of Representatives based in Tobruk from voting on the UN-backed unity government for almost a year now.

While military considerations are a strong element in the relationship between Moscow and Hifter, interpreting Russias interests in Libya through the same lens would be a mistake. Following the generals trip to Russia, commentators reignited the talk of a possible Russian naval base in Libya; some even suggested that Benghazi could host one. The rumors of a Russian base on the Libyan coast have been swirling since 2008, when Col. Moammar Gadhafi proposed the idea to the Russians, yet no practical steps were taken back then. The need for a naval base in 2008 was arguably far more acute for Moscow than it is today. Syrias Tartus base, which is currently undergoing an upgrade, was recently named the Russian permanent naval base, albeit out of need rather than a careful calculation, essentially fulfilling the role of a stronghold in the Mediterranean for Russia. Libyas Benghazi in that regard is a less safe option and is too isolated to exercise proper control over it.

Under Gadhafi, Libya was one of the few prospective cash-paying clients willing to purchase Russian weaponry. In 2008, Moscow canceled $4.5 billion of Libyan debt in exchange for arms deals that were reportedly signed in 2011, just before Gadhafi was overthrown. The deals that were worth between $4 billion and $10 billion have never been completed, and Russia still looks at Libya as a state that could one day deliver on these agreements. While the Libyan National Armys mostly Soviet equipment keeps degrading, Hifter, who remains outside the Libyan government structure, will not have the resources to pay for new Russian weapons, even if the embargo is lifted.

The transformation of Hifters role hints at the evolution of Russian interests in Libya. Because of Russias Syrian operation, Libya is no longer seen strictly as a stronghold for projecting military power. Currently, Moscow sees the development of a long-term political partnership with Hifter as a more beneficial option that could facilitate both possible military objectives in the Mediterranean as well as lucrative deals associated with the reconstruction of the country and the re-emergence of its oil industry.
A group of hardhat-clad utility officials and journalists braced themselves against a bitter December breeze on Friday as they watched a metal chute spill a stream of wood chips onto a conveyor of jet black coal.

Churning along at a rate of 1,000 tons per hour, the coal was headed up to the giant silos of Salt River Projects Coronado Generating Station. The power plant sits among rolling hills of pinyon- juniper and shrubby grasses just north of St. Johns in eastern Arizona. Its two generating units produce up to 773 megawatts of power that help feed the electricity demand of SRPs more than 1 million customers in the Valley.

The wood chips are part of a giant experiment for the utility to see if it would be economically and technologically feasible to burn a small percentage of biomass along with the coal.

The reason goes back to the source of the wood, in the forests around Flagstaff. The chips are finely ground ponderosa pine needles, bark, branches and trunks -- collectively called biomass -- that were the byproduct of forest thinning operations in the fall.

Removing a certain proportion of the trees benefits the ponderosa pine ecosystem, helps more moisture soak into soils and, most importantly for SRP, reduces the risk of severe wildfires that could torch the forest and trigger large amounts of sediment to flow into nearby water sources. The same water sources that SRP taps to deliver 800,000 acre feet, or 260 trillion gallons of water annually to municipal, urban and agricultural water users.

The goal of burning biomass is to generate a steady and relatively lucrative demand for this forest thinning byproduct, which usually has little value to loggers who bid on the Forest Services contracts. The entrance of another steady buyer of the product will hopefully spur more investment from companies either here or elsewhere to speed up forest thinning operations, said Bruce Hallin, director of water supply for SRP.

In short, the aim is to improve the economics of forest thinning via a coal-fired power plant, Hallin said.

Biomass struggles

While a final evaluation of the experimental burn wont be available until early next year, three weeks in, the signs are positive, said Dan Bevier, the manager at Coronado Generating Station.

I haven't seen a show-stopper," Bevier said. "There are technical issues we're trying to resolve but right now I feel pretty confident. I'm not sure what level we could burn at but I think we could do it."

It will take some tweaking to allow the plant to permanently accommodate biomass. The woody product is harder to grind up into same consistency as the dust-like coal that is fed into the boiler, for example. The wood chips also need a special weighing and delivery system to ensure the right coal-to-biomass mixture goes into the power plant.

On top of that, its going to be a challenge to obtain a steady supply of biomass, Hallin said. To meet a 2 percent to 5 percent mixture of biomass to coal, which are the ratios SRP is testing, the utility would need the equivalent of between 28,000 tons and 70,000 bone dry tons of biomass annually at full load.

There may or may not be enough biomass to feed all of SRPs needs on the east side of the state, which would be the most economical source, said Brad Worsley, president of the biomass power plant Novo Power. Though he now has more than enough biomass to meet his 28 megawatt plants 240,000 tons-per-year demand, Worsley struggled in the past to secure a sustainable supply of wood chips.

He supports SRPs project but said the real biomass bottleneck is on the west side of the states ponderosa pine forests, near Flagstaff, Worsley said.

I would argue they would be better off to duplicate a facility like my facility in Flagstaff to resolve this biomass reality, Worsley said. He estimated startup costs for a plant like his would average $56 million to $84 million.

While the benefit to northern Arizonas forests will help protect SRPs water infrastructure investments, burning biomass doesnt bring any sort of upfront economic advantage to the utility. Throughout the experiment, the costs to process and transport a ton of biomass have been about double those per ton of coal, Hallin said. Natural gas and solar are cheaper than biomass as well, he said.

Nor does the biomass make much of a difference environmentally, according to initial data. The plant has seen very small increases in nitrogen oxide emissions while emissions of particulates and atmosphere-warming carbon dioxide havent been much different, Bevier said.

In fact emissions from burning biomass can actually be worse than those from burning coal. A 2014 analysis by the Partnership for Policy Integrity found that biomass plants can emit more than 150 percent of the nitrogen oxides and more than 190 percent the particulate matter of coal as well as more than 50 percent more carbon dioxide than coal.

Eyes on the forest

Considering the challenges biomass poses, SRP officials said it comes down to potential forest restoration benefits that are driving their effort forward. So far, large-scale thinning of northern Arizonas ponderosa pine forest has fallen short of expectations. The Four Forest Restoration Initiative, or 4FRI, set an ambitious goal of thinning 50,000 acres per year over 10 years, starting in 2010. But the major contractor on the project, Good Earth Power, has underperformed, thinning just 8,300 acres since September 2013 when it should have been cutting trees at a rate of 45,000 acres per year by now. Since 2010, Forest Service data show all logging companies, including Good Earth, have thinned 95,000 acres over 4FRIs 2.4 million-acre footprint.

For comparison, the 2 percent to 5 percent biomass to coal mixture that SRP is testing would create demand for the biomass from 5,000 to 10,000 acres per year, Hallin said.

For their part, Forest Service officials said they appreciate SRPs effort to contribute to forest restoration and said the Coronado test burn will provide valuable data to help the agency determine the economic feasibility and energy value of biomass as a fuel.

Looking out from the conveyor belt outside the SRP plant, the few piles of biomass were dwarfed by mountains of coal stretching along the eastern horizon. While the biomass isnt much compared to the fossil fuels powering the facility, SRP officials appear truly excited about the potential of the process.

Were looking at accomplishing multiple goals, Hallin said.
December 7, 2016

RAMALLAH, West Bank  Recent developments have some observers asking if PLO parties Hamas and Fatah are possibly nearing reconciliation, but others point to the numerous failed attempts at rapprochement since the groups split violently in 2007.

A Hamas delegation participated in the opening of Fatahs seventh general congress Nov. 29 in Ramallah, possibly marking a turning point in the groups' relations.

Ahmed Haj Ali, Hamas' representative to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), expressed the importance of his group's participation in the event. Speaking on behalf of Khaled Meshaal, the head of Hamas political bureau, Haj Ali said, We are partners in our homeland and the decision-making process. We are ready [to assume] all the requirements of our partnership with Fatah and all other factions.

On Nov. 30, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads Fatah, thanked Meshaal for his kind and promising words."

Abbas said, Our national unity is the backbone of our cause. We call on Hamas to end the division through democracy, by holding the Palestinian National Council elections as well as presidential and legislative elections.

Speaking about the implications of Hamas' attendance at the congress, Haj Ali told Al-Monitor, Hamas participation was not part of protocol. It was rather to express its position over reconciliation and its willingness to be partners with Fatah and all other factions when it comes to decision-making and fighting for the Palestinian cause.

He added, Hamas' participation stems from its belief that no party can exclusively make Palestinian decisions, because unity is a must.

Abbas and Meshaal had met Oct. 27 in Qatar, which is sponsoring reconciliation talks between the two movements.

Sultan Abu al-Einein, a member of Fatahs Central Committee, told Al-Monitor, We hope that Hamas words will be interpreted into actions, and we hope the national interest will win over partisan interest. He added, President Abbas sent a positive message to Hamas at the conference when he stressed the need for unity by forming a government of national unity or conducting presidential and legislative elections.

He noted, We are worried about Hamas, because we have heard the words [of its leaders before] and we want to see action. Hamas must bear the historical responsibility of ending the division.

Yahya Moussa, Hamas PLC representative, spoke with Al-Monitor about Meshaal's statement.

Hamas stressed the importance that all factions participate in the decision-making process, in addition to the need for Fatah to unify its ranks and return to its initial program, which is the armed resistance and the development of the PLO.

Despite all the well-wishing, however, it didn't take long for the war of words to heat up once again.

Moussa said, Abbas message is worthless. It is a play on words. He added, President Abbas has to make a real move toward Hamas and make concessions as the latter has done in order to end the division.

Author and political analyst Ibrahim Abrash told Al-Monitor that Hamas and Fatah always present a positive front before meetings, but things go downhill from there. He allowed, however, that this time might be different.

Meshaals words and Abbas positive response and the way he praised Qatars and Turkeys roles in achieving reconciliation could indicate that the president wants to try to work out reconciliation from a new perspective, Abrash said.

Hamas' participation at Fatahs seventh congress stirred up some positivity. However, during Fatahs sixth congress, held Aug. 4, 2009, when now-dismissed Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan participated, Hamas was attacked and accused of attempting to stage a coup. Dahlan, an Abbas rival, did not participate in this year's conference. Some believe Hamas' participation resulted from its agreement with Fatah to keep Dahlan away.

Sufian Abu Zaida, a close Dahlan associate, wrote in his Dec. 1 article Love Letters Between Hamas and President Abbas that Hamas has made up its mind and picked a side" in Fatah's internal conflict. He was referring to Hamas choosing Abbas over Dahlan.

He added, Hamas seems to be convinced that President Abbas needed to get rid of his nemesis Dahlan, or at least weaken him. Seeing as how [Dahlans] main center of power is Gaza, Abbas is ready to make concessions and to take all the steps he was reluctant to take during the past 10 years.

Some Dahlan supporters wanted to hold a separate conference, as Dahlan was excluded from the seventh congress. Naima Sheikh, a dismissed Fatah leader close to Dahlan, told Al-Monitor, Hamas did not allow us to organize any event in Gaza to express our rejection of Fatahs congress, and this may have been the result of an understanding between Abbas and Hamas.  We submitted several requests to Hamas in Gaza, but they were all denied.

Is Hamas seeking to exploit the disagreements within Fatah? Sheikh said, It is only normal for Hamas to take advantage of the Fatah disputes. Any political faction as major as Hamas would want to take advantage of any conflict within its political rival  to overcome its own crises.

Though Hamas apparently chose Abbas over Dahlan during the conference, Abrash said Hamas has sent positive messages to both Abbas and Dahlan, who has close ties with Egypt. Abrash believes Hamas will choose the side that offers the most to it and Gaza.

He explained that Hamas was searching for common ground with Abbas, which may help resolve some outstanding issues, but one cannot yet be optimistic about ending the division or reaching reconciliation.
December 7, 2016

After a week of heavy pressure on the administration of moderate President Hassan Rouhani and senior members of Irans nuclear negotiating team, the Council for Monitoring the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) held a meeting on Dec. 7 to discuss Washingtons recent move to renew the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA).

Tasnim News Agency reported that after the meeting, the council announced that the renewal of sanctions would be an evident violation of the nuclear deal. Tasnim added, The council has assessed different suggestions for Irans reactions, and will take necessary measures to counter all probable future scenarios. The council provided no further details on Irans potential responses and possible measures.

The nuclear deal has once again made headlines since the US House of Representatives voted to renew the ISA on Nov. 15. The Senate approved the 10-year extension of the act on Dec. 1, sending the measure to the White House for President Barack Obama to sign the bill into law.

Tehran considers the renewal of the ISA to be a violation of the July 2015 JCPOA, which laid out a framework for lifting nuclear-related sanctions against Iran in exchange for curbs on the countrys nuclear program.

On Nov. 23, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the extension of the ISA would breach the nuclear deal and threatened retaliation. Moreover, Rouhani has condemned the renewal of sanctions, and in a Dec. 6 meeting with Iranian students at Tehran University announced that the Council for Monitoring the JCPOA would soon convene.

On Dec. 7, Iran also submitted an official letter of complaint to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, denouncing the renewal of the ISA.

Meanwhile, Iranian politicians and commentators have proposed various ways of reacting to the 10-year extension of the ISA. The Reformist Aftab-e Yazd daily on Dec. 7 published the remarks of politicians and media figures from across the political spectrum. Conservative former member of parliament Esmail Kowsari told the daily, The monitoring council should announce that we will immediately increase the number of centrifuges to what we had before the nuclear deal  and they should resume the 20% enrichment of uranium. He continued, We must show to Americans that we dont joke around with them if they break their promises.

Moreover, Mohammad Sadegh Javadi Hesar, a Reformist activist, told the daily that the renewal of sanctions against Iran is a plan by the United States to force Tehran to halt the implementation of the nuclear deal. He stated, The JCPOA is an international obligation, and the monitoring council should not react to that in a retaliatory manner. The monitoring council should submit our complaint to the international body supervising the implementation of the JCPOA.

Irans Council for Monitoring the JCPOA consists of eight senior politicians: President Rouhani; parliament Speaker Ali Larijani; Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif; Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehghan; Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Adm. Ali Shamkhani; head of the countrys Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi; former chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili; and Ali Akbar Velayati, a foreign policy adviser to Iran's supreme leader.

These eight figures were appointed to the council by the Supreme National Security Council after an Oct. 21, 2015, letter by Ayatollah Khamenei in which he conditionally approved the nuclear deal. Any comments suggesting the sanctions structure will remain in place would be a violation of the JCPOA, the letter stated. He also listed nine key conditions to implement the deal and ordered the establishment of a special supervisory unit to ensure proper implementation of the JCPOA.

Meanwhile, conservatives have criticized the councils reactions to the extension of the ISA. One Twitter user in a sarcastic post wrote, The councils plan to react to the extension of [US] sanctions: First, to write a very severe email. Second, to stick their tongues out. Third, to throw two pens [at the Americans].
December 7, 2016

Iran hawks on and off Capitol Hill laid out their clearest wish list to date for the next four years during a Dec. 7 briefing.

Lawmakers and outside experts agreed that President-elect Donald Trump would be unwise to rip up the nuclear deal on day one. Barring that, however, the bipartisan group of panelists encouraged him to challenge even minor technical violations of the deal, slap sanctions on thousands more Iranian companies and send Iranian vessels that challenge the US Navy to the bottom of the Persian Gulf.

Its clear were about to enter a new phase of Iranian sanctions, said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., the chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs panel on the Middle East. We will see a flurry of Iran-related activity early in the new year. I think we have an opportunity to undo a lot of the problematic concessions that we have seen over the past few years. And. I. Cant. Wait.

Ros-Lehtinen was the keynote speaker at the briefing organized by United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), which lobbied against the deal in 2015, and the hawkish Foreign Policy Institute. She laid out a three-pronged approach that consists of enforcing current sanctions, expanding the other non-nuclear related sanctions and perhaps even rolling back or tightening provisions of the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action].

I can say that the next Congress will continue our oversight, will continue to hold Iran accountable for its illicit activities, she said. Were not going to be willing to look the other way because of a small infraction, thinking, oh well, if we take them to task on that they could walk away from the deal. Were not scared of that.

Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., the top Democrat on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, warned against outright repealing the deal with Iran, France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China.

Now we have to be very careful when we talk about tearing up the Iranian deal, said Engel, one of just 25 House Democrats who voted against the deal. Because we have already provided Iran with billions and billions of dollars [and] the things were asking Iran to do, they would just walk away from.

Ros-Lehtinen specifically outlined efforts to put companies that do business with Iran on notice and vowed to push sanctions on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as well as IRGC-controlled businesses  to include subsidiaries that are not wholly or majority-owned [by the IRGC] and those that have IRGC members on their boards. Part of the goal is to put US and foreign companies on notice that doing business with Iran could prove harmful to their bottom line.

You can be sure that in the next Congress we will place an increasingly high importance on scrutinizing those that seek to do business with Iran, she said. Our message is not going to be, Iran is open for business. Its going to be, Be careful if you do business with Iran.

IRGC sanctions are also a top priority for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), which argues that President Barack Obamas Treasury Department has only designated 25 firms for terrorism-related offenses out of some 2,500 companies linked to the IRGC. After that, FDD Executive Director Mark Dubowitz said at the briefing that Congress and the incoming administration should adopt legislation introduced by Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., that would extend sanctions to sectors of the Iranian economy that support the missile program and would reverse Obama Treasury Department regulations to prohibit all Iranian access to the US dollar.

I think its wise for this administration not to abrogate the deal on day one, he said, but to actually use our ability under the deal [through] non-nuclear sanctions  to begin to address Irans malign activities.

Dubowitz went on to argue that Trumps election would cause fear, uncertainty and doubt for both the Iranians and the five world powers that negotiated the nuclear deal with the United States. Former Sen. Joseph Lieberman, UANIs chairman, recommended taking advantage of that uncertainty and to sit down with Israel and Americas Arab allies early on to coordinate a regional response to Iranian trouble-making.

That threat, that fear ought to be in the minds of the leadership of Iran and our allies in the P5+1, he said. When it comes to our relations with Iran and the goal of stopping Iran from ever becoming a nuclear power, the coming of the Trump administration represents a sea change, and from my point of view, a sea change in the right direction.

Lieberman said Trump has a lot of tools in his toolkit when it comes to strengthening the terms of the nuclear deal and pushing back on its ballistic missile program and support for US-designated terrorist groups such as Hezbollah. He urged the new administration to start by focusing on enforcement of the existing act, and to point out that Iran has already broken some of its terms.

Under those terms, the United States has kept its nuclear sanctions on the books but waives them every few months if Iran continues to comply with its end of the deal. Dubowitz encouraged the incoming Trump administration not to have any qualms about reinstating those nuclear sanctions if warranted.

The first step out of the gate is a menu of US nuclear sanctions in response to incremental Iranian cheating and a zero-tolerance policy on those incremental violations, he said. That would be a dramatic reversal from what weve seen.

Dubowitz also floated the idea of having Trump treat the nuclear deal as a treaty rather than an executive agreement, as Obama did. That would empower the Senate to demand changes, including access to Irans military installations where past nuclear work was conducted and a permanent ban on certain nuclear activities instead of the current 15-year prohibition.

Finally, Dubowitz said Trump should empower the US military to fire on Iranian ships that threaten US vessels and arm Syrian rebels battling Iranian soldiers and proxies backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

We need to put the military option back on the table in a credible way, he said.
December 7, 2016

OPEC finally agreed to cut oil production at its Nov. 30 meeting in Vienna. The decision was preceded by months of intense negotiations against the backdrop of dramatically declining oil prices since mid-2014. The talks in Vienna were complemented by intense telephone diplomacy involving Iran and Saudi Arabia as well as major non-OPEC producer Russia.

Overall, the cartels members pledged to cut production by some 1.2 million barrels per day (mbpd) from January onward. Several non-OPEC producers are joining the endeavor, with Russia and others adding some 0.6 mbpd to the cut.

Iranian officials have welcomed the outcome of long months of negotiations. Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh praised how OPEC members managed to reach a deal despite many political differences and economic competition. Though repeatedly asked to cut production, Iran was able to negotiate an exemption, the minister noted. Iranian newspapers have enthusiastically celebrated the deal, with some outlets referring to it as a new Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Iran will certainly benefit from the deal in several respects. Its reference production quota  the base against which production cuts are measured  has been set at just below 4.0 mbpd, which is effectively the level prior to the imposition of Western sanctions from 2011 onward. This figure reflects recognition of the fact that Iranian output in recent years, which according to official numbers was at times as low as 3.1 mbpd due to sanctions, was a deviation from traditional levels. For Iran, whose officials have time and again argued that the sanctions were unfair, this exemption is of great symbolic importance, as fellow OPEC countries acknowledged what many in Tehran argue are Iran's traditional rights. Irans defiance appears to have paid off, especially in the face of political pressure by its archrival Saudi Arabia, which advocated for the production cut and called upon OPEC members  including Iran  to join in reducing output.

Beyond the optics and the politics, the OPEC deal presents clear economic advantages for Iran. The accord allows for a modest increase in Iranian oil output. With current production at 3.7 mbpd, Iran does not have to cut production but can slightly raise its output to almost 3.8 mbpd while several other OPEC members will need to cut production. While expanding its output and market share, Tehran will also likely be able to take in more revenue per barrel as the Nov. 30 deal has sent oil prices up by 10%.

The deal also enables Iran to continue inviting foreign companies to invest in its energy sector. Since the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions in January, Western energy companies have begun trickling back into the country. A multibillion-dollar preliminary agreement has been reached with a consortium led by Frances Total. Several memoranda of understandings have been signed, including with Germanys Wintershall, Hollands Schlumberger and Norways DNO. From Irans perspective, these are only the first steps toward more international cooperation as the country seeks investment totaling $150 billion in its energy sector.

Had Iran agreed to reduce output to achieve a deal in Vienna, operations would have needed to be scaled down or work at some of the fields currently in production effectively halted. This would have reduced the scope for engagement at those fields in Iran that have already been highly processed and require advanced technologies to maintain output levels.

However, while the OPEC deal will have tangible positive effects, Irans overall outlook will not be greatly affected by it, particularly because its far from likely that the accord will fundamentally transform global energy dynamics.

With the exception of Angola and Iran, the reference production quotas of OPEC members were set at the output levels in October. Comparatively high production levels are now the benchmark, since many cartel members have substantially increased output in recent years. Thus, while indeed cutting production, these producers are in the grander scheme of things merely scaling back some of the output that they have added in recent years.

For instance, Saudi Arabias reference production quota under the Nov. 30 accord is set at 10.5 mbpd. That is 800,000 barrels more than the countrys production level as recently as 2014, when it was producing 9.7 mbpd. While the deal obliges Riyadh to cut output to 10.1 mbpd, it is evident that even under the accord, Saudi output will remain significantly above that prior to the past two years.

Moreover, while OPECs production cut is rather modest, more supply is likely to soon enter global markets. Two OPEC members that were able to secure exemptions under the Nov. 30 accord  Libya and Nigeria  can be expected to expand production in the near future, partly neutralizing the overall cuts. On the other, as prices increase, more expensive competition is likely to become commercially viable, especially from North America.

As for Iran, the OPEC deals definition of its reference production quota at close to 4 mbpd is not only a recognition of its pre-sanctions output as being the "normal, but also of post-1979 maximum production. Iran can stay under this ceiling without any sacrifice. Ramping up production beyond this level would require massive new investment, which can in any case only materialize in the long run. Here, rather than current OPEC quotas, it is the overall attractiveness of Iranian energy that matters, which is a function of not only energy economics but also the complex workings of both domestic and international politics.

With regard to Irans role within OPEC, it should be kept in mind that the Nov. 30 deal is only a success on the surface. The brunt of production cuts  almost two thirds  is taken by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait. The remainder is distributed among seven other members. Thus, while Saudi Arabia was only able to convince two fellow Gulf Cooperation Council member states to make significant production cuts, it was the GCC that made the deal happen.

In the future, Iran can be expected to join other OPEC countries in calling for higher prices. When it comes to concrete action, however, as Iran is keen to expand its profile in international energy, it is unlikely that there will be much appetite in Tehran to follow more Saudi-led initiatives  especially maneuvers that will involve cuts in Iranian output.
December 7, 2016

Saudi Arabia had a bad 2016. Only in the second year of King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud's rule, the kingdom faced low oil prices, deteriorating economic conditions at home, a quagmire in Yemen and a resurgent Iran. The US Congress accused it of complicity in 9/11. Now the kingdom faces the uncertainty of a new US administration unlike any of its predecessors.

Salman fired his labor minister in the beginning of December. The normally careful Saudi press castigated the minister for growing unemployment, which is reported to be over 12% now. That is probably an understatement. The media suggested that this rise in unemployment will undermine the chances for the success of the kings much ballyhooed Saudi Vision 2030. Vision 2030 promises Saudi Arabia will no longer be dependent on oil revenues by 2030, an incredibly ambitious promise.

The OPEC agreement in Vienna to reduce the cartels oil exports is another implicit defeat for the kingdom. The Saudis had resisted any cut in oil exports that did not include an Iranian cut as well. In the end, OPEC agreed Iran can increase exports while the kingdom must bear the bulk of reductions. The Iranians have lauded and rejoiced in the Saudi retreat. Saudi reserves have been drawn down all year to fill the gap in income, and Saudi consumers have paid the costs. It is far from clear that the OPEC move will significantly change the oil price slump.

The war in Yemen has also been a major cost for the kingdom. Saudi border towns have suffered from missile and rocket attacks. The military has expended huge amounts of munitions that have had to be replaced at high prices. The costs in terms of worn-out aircraft and other weapons systems are a closely guarded secret, but they must be substantial and will only get higher the longer the war goes on. Rather than being able to cut defense spending  a key to Vision 2030  it will have to rise to pay for the long-term costs of the war.

Of course the Yemenis have paid a much higher price. According to the United Nations, more than 3 million Yemenis have been displaced by the war. Almost 20 million have inadequate access to water, and 15 million are getting insufficient food. Child malnutrition is rampant. The long-term humanitarian consequences are likely to be staggering for the Arab world's poorest country. So, too, will be the long-term enmity for Saudi Arabia and its Gulf partners in the war.

Salman is attending the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit this week in Bahrain. United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May is the guest of honor. The Saudi king will press for a closer union of the GCC, but only Saudi-occupied Bahrain will agree. The king's GCC tour skipped over Oman, which is the strongest opponent of making the GCC an ever closer union.

On the summit's eve, the Saudis sentenced 15 alleged Iranian spies to death. The GCC faces an Iran whose allies in Baghdad and Damascus are gaining considerable ground against their Sunni enemies. Tehran has also consolidated its alliance with Moscow.

Egypt was the kingdom's biggest success in the Arab Spring. With a big helping hand from Riyadh, the Egyptian army overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood government and restored military rule. But now Cairo is tilting away from Riyadh on Syria. Keeping the Egyptian generals in power may be too expensive in any case for the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia's relations with another key ally, Pakistan, have also deteriorated on Salman's watch. The Pakistani parliament voted unanimously against sending troops to the war in Yemen. If the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Iran nuclear deal collapses next year for whatever reason, the Saudis are going to need to rebuild their Pakistani connection if they want to project the impression that they have a credible source for getting their own nuclear weapons. That will be a high priority for the king.

The US Congress overwhelmingly overrode President Barack Obama's veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA)  the only override of his eight years in office. JASTA permits legal proceedings against the kingdom and Saudi officials for allegedly being involved in the attacks on America 15 years ago. It was a staggering setback for the kingdom's huge lobbying machine in Washington. Donald Trump supported JASTA.

Now Trump is on the verge of inauguration. The Saudis increasingly are pinning their hopes on former Central Command commander Gen. James Mattis. He is a well-known quantity for Saudis and a proven advocate of coalition warfare. The retired general has been lauded in the Saudi press for being tough on Iran and having a sophisticated understanding of the Middle East.

The elephant in the palace is the king's son, Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Yemen is his war, as is Saudi Vision 2030. "Mr. Everything" is the king's darling. He is apparently the indispensable adviser to the 80-year-old monarch. The prince will survive the kingdom's disappointing 2016. How he does in 2017 may determine the kingdom's fate.
December 7, 2016

TUNIS, Tunisia  Corruption has become a major challenge for Tunisia after it registered a decline of 17 places between 2010 and 2016 in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI), which ranks countries around the world in terms of monitoring corruption and is issued annually by Transparency International (TI).

In an interview with Al-Monitor, the head of the Tunisian Anti-Corruption Commission, Chawki Tabib, revealed from the commissions headquarters in Tunis the reasons for the increasing corruption rates in all domains  particularly in the public sector, real estate sector and municipalities  after the fall of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's regime in 2011. He explained the Anti-Corruption Commissions vision on spreading the culture of good and transparent governments, while stressing the role of civil society and the need to raise awareness among citizens to fight corruption.

The text of the interview follows:

Al-Monitor: Can you explain the Anti-Corruption Commissions work, its functions and objectives?

Tabib: In the wake of the fall of Ben Ali's regime, a committee was formed to investigate financial corruption and bribery in February 2011. In November, the committee submitted its report on the corruption situation and the government decided on Nov. 14, 2011, to establish a permanent anti-corruption body and called it the National Anti-Corruption Commission in virtue of Decree no. 120. Chapter 130 of the 2014 Tunisia Constitution mentioned the constitutionality of the commission and defined its functions as monitoring cases of corruption within the public and private sectors. It carries out investigations into these cases and refers them to the competent authorities.  [It] contributes to policies of good governance, and preventing and fighting corruption. It is responsible for following up on the implementation and dissemination of these policies,  for the consolidation of principles of transparency, integrity and accountability.

Al-Monitor: In March 2016, you told ifm radio that corruption indexes have risen five years after the fall of Ben Ali's regime. How much did it increase and why?

Tabib: The CPI, which is issued annually by TI, confirmed this increase. In 2010, which marked Ben Alis final year in power, Tunisia occupied the 59th position according to the CPI, while it made it to the 76th position in 2015.

This increase is caused by the absence of a political will to fight corruption, the lack of political stability in Tunisia after the fall of Ben Alis regime and the successive governments that only ruled for short periods of time  paving the way for this phenomenon to prevail.

Al-Monitor: How many corruption cases have been reported and what is the nature of common cases of corruption?

Tabib: Between January and August 2016, the commission received 1,937 cases of corruption, 801 of which were referred to us from the prime minister's office and 1,136 from citizens. By November, we had referred 120 cases to the judicial authorities. The cases include seizing public funds and rigging employment in the public sector and public transactions, and bribery. Also some cases are related to the work of vital public services, namely municipalities, and health care and real estate sectors.

Al-Monitor: Do you cooperate with other state agencies in dealing with cases of corruption?

Tabib: Our commission is indeed a governmental institution, but an independent one as far as decision-making is concerned. We have, however, cooperated with the executive, legislative and judicial authorities. We are a regulatory body that monitors corruption in all sectors and refers the cases to the judiciary in order to hold those responsible accountable. Yet some ministries take a lot of time to respond to the monitoring bodies and are thus reluctant to refer the reported cases to the judiciary. We hope the commission, which receives its annual budget from the prime minister's office, would be granted the minimum level of financial and logistical means to enable us to fulfill our commitment to the government and fight corruption.

Al-Monitor: Do you work alone as a commission, or do you partner with the civil society?

Tabib: Fighting corruption requires the joint efforts of all three constitutional authorities, in addition to the fourth authority represented by the media and the civil society. No matter how important the commission is, it can never confront this phenomenon alone. This is why we have signed a large-scale partnership with the civil society in early 2016 in order to organize campaigns to raise awareness of the seriousness of this phenomenon and urge citizens to report suspicions of corruption. We also organize seminars and workshops in schools and colleges to spread the culture of anti-corruption. We also held joint sessions with organizations defending press freedoms to support the journalists ability to deal with corruption cases.

Al-Monitor: Which sectors are the most affected by corruption?

Tabib: All sectors are affected by corruption, but it mostly prevails over the public sector, particularly in terms of public transactions. Up until August, the highest number of reported corruption cases was [registered] at the Ministry of Interior with almost 500 cases, followed by the Ministry of State Property with 300 cases; while the Tourism and Defense ministries and the prime minister's office had the lowest percentages. The commission received complaints of about 1,532 cases of corruption in employment in the public sector, and 1,137 cases of administrative and financial corruption.

Al-Monitor: Do Tunisian citizens bother to report corruption?

Tabib: The number of cases reported to the commission indicate that the number of reports submitted by the citizens is higher than those submitted by the state. Citizens are affected by corruption firsthand. However, there are no laws protecting citizens from the consequences of reporting corruption; the parliament has recently started to discuss such a law  but it has yet to be passed. Some citizens, who were known to have reported corruption, were accused of maliciousness and dismissed from their jobs. Nonetheless, the commission has a free hotline for citizens to call and report cases of corruption.

Al-Monitor: Is it possible for corruption to affect the democratic transition in the country?

Tabib: Over the past six years of democratic transition, Tunisia has managed to establish democratic institutions and guarantee freedom of expression as well as conduct elections. However, a democratic state cannot be established as long as corruption continues to increase and threaten the economy all the while putting the state institutions integrity at stake. Such a phenomenon could escalate and eventually affect civil peace. This is why if we do not seriously handle this issue, the country would turn into a battlefield for the major corruption lords.

Al-Monitor: What future steps can the commission take in order to limit corruption?

Tabib: The commission will unveil a national plan to fight corruption in a ceremony held on the occasion of International Anti-Corruption Day on Dec. 9. The presidents of the executive, legislative and judicial authorities will be present, along with the National Union of Tunisian Journalists and civil society representatives, to sign the plan and pledge to abide by it so every party could fulfill its share of responsibility to fight corruption. This plan was prepared by all concerned parties, and it includes an accountability section and a preventative section to raise awareness.
December 7, 2016

Among all the complex alliances and shifting loyalties in Syria, the Kurds seem caught in the middle. Common sentiment is that the Kurds are now at a critical threshold of relations with the Damascus regime, and the outcome could be cooperation or, just as easily, combat.

Much hinges on how the regime reacts to the government models of "democratic autonomy" or "democratic federation" that the Kurds have been advocating and trying to install in western Kurdistan (Rojava).

As preparations for the major assault on Aleppo were going on in September, Russia arranged a meeting between Kurdish representatives and the Syrian regime at Khmeimim air base to see if they could find common ground on autonomy.

Kurdish officials told Al-Monitor that the meeting did not produce an agreement and that there have been no more contacts with Russia. The Kurds say it is important for them to maintain contact with Russia and the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to keep Afrin and Sheikh Maksoud from turning into deadly war zones.

This apparent coordination between the Syrian regime and the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) against armed groups that were keeping Sheikh Maksoud under steady fire have prompted comments about "Kurdish-regime cooperation." But it is not that simple. What we have is friendship and enmity coexisting.

This unusual, fragile coexistence was best illustrated Nov. 28 when the YPG and Syrian flags were flying together over the agriculture office of Aleppo's Bustan al-Basha neighborhood, as it was being abandoned by opposition groups including Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, Ahrar al-Sham and the Nureddin Zengi Brigade.

But in Aleppo, nothing is what it seems. Kurdish news sources, without referring to the armys role, keep reporting how the YPG and the Kurdish Women's Protection Units have liberated Hellok, Bustan al-Basha, Heydarieh, Hanunu, Sheikh Faris, Baidin, Ain El Tel and Inziraat neighborhoods. One fact is confirmed, though. The Syrian regime and its allied militias advanced from Heydarieh in the west, and the Kurds from Sheikh Maksoud in the east, and they linked up somewhere in the middle.

A YPG commander who spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity explained the operation's development and the flags over the agriculture office: When armed opposition groups withdrew from areas around Sheikh Maksoud, we took over. Those were the groups that were regularly attacking Sheikh Maksoud. We cleaned out Sheikh Khidir, Hanunu, Bustan al-Basha and Inziraat. We were surprised by the speed of their unexpected withdrawal. We were expecting violent clashes, but they withdrew to more strategic locations.

"I can tell you that there was actually a race between the Syrian army and the YPG to fill the void left by their opposition. As for the agriculture office, it was a building we wanted badly. The army also wanted it. So we raced to hoist our flag, but it was actually a race to occupy a key position. We nearly clashed with the army, but our fighters withdrew and lowered our flag to avoid fighting. Sheikh Maksoud is a sensitive area. We cant afford a clash with the Syrian army, so we opted to expand our territory around Sheikh Maksoud without confronting the army.

Was there coordination between the YPG and the army during the Nov. 26-28 operation? What will the Kurds do if the Syrian army wants to control Sheikh Maksoud?

The YPG commander replied, We discussed with the army not a joint operation in east Aleppo, but how we will defend that area. We have checkpoints there  so does the army. We dont expect an army attack against Sheikh Maksoud.  We know it is geographically distinct from Rojava, but aspirations are the same. Sheikh Maksoud is an important issue of the federation debate.  [It] cannot be an independent entity. That neighborhood cannot survive as an island in the middle of Aleppo. But if the state insists on taking it over, we will resist. What Kurds will do with Damascus in a way depends on the attitude of the major powers [Russia and Iran] backing Syria. Russia is concerned and is trying to find a solution.

A Syrian journalist who was recently in Sheikh Maksoud assessed for Al-Monitor the Syrian regimes policy: There is an effective established order, a system, in Sheikh Maksoud. Every neighborhood has councils that take care of daily affairs. These councils have a woman and a man as co-chairs. But autonomy is a very complex issue. It wont be easy to incorporate it into the Syrian Constitution. But I still dont think the Syrian army will enter Sheikh Maksoud. Kurds are the only trump card Syrians have against Turkey. That is why the status quo will survive. To fight the Kurds now will not be in the interests of the Syrian government.

There is also talk of Syrian army cooperation with the Kurds regarding al-Bab, Turkeys primary target in its Operation Euphrates Shield. Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) want to turn the zone between Manbij and Afrin into a safe zone for the Kurds. The Turkish army is trying to thwart that goal. Some observers interpreted the Syrian armys shelling of Turkish-supported groups advancing to al-Bab as signaling the regimes support for the Kurds. The YPG commander tried to clarify: There are complications about al-Bab. For example, our SDF partner, Jaish al-Thuwar, declared they wont fight FSA [Free Syrian Army] around al-Bab. We respected that. At the moment there isnt much we can do in that area.

"An alliance that opposes YPG control of the area has emerged. Russia, Syria, the United States and Turkey dont want the YPG to dominate. Now we are seeing another group, called Syrian National Resistance. We are in touch with them, but our forces are not near them. We stay away from Jaish al-Thuwar. In other words, in that area, local Arabs are spearheading the resistance against the Turkish army and the groups it supports. These are pro-regime Arabs. [In this particular situation] our goals are conflicting.

There were some clashes between the Kurds and government forces in Aleppo in the first phases of the Syrian crisis. Although the Kurds reject allegations that they are cooperating with the regime, both Assad and his adviser, Bouthaina Shaaban, several times said that they have been assisting the Kurds and that there was coordination between them.

The clashes, but also the contacts, between the Kurds and the Syrian army/pro-regime militias have illustrated that the Kurds are not a front confronting the regime and that the regime is not an assurance for the Kurds. Whether the Kurdish aspiration for autonomy will become reality depends on new balances that are bound to emerge.
December 7, 2016

WASHINGTON  Even as Western nations pleaded for a pause in the fighting in Aleppo to evacuate the wounded, a growing sense of confusion and uncertainty has settled on diplomatic efforts to try to ease the suffering in Syria, fueled by steady Syrian regime advances that saw it retake the old city of rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Dec. 7, as well as the US presidential transition.

Syrian rebel factions asked for a cease-fire in Aleppo Dec. 7, which the regime initially rejected, and were reportedly considering a previously rejected proposal to leave the city.

After days of on-again, off-again signaling between Moscow and Washington, US Secretary of State John Kerry was due to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Hamburg, Germany, Dec. 7 on a possible US-Russia deal for Aleppo, under which rebel fighters would agree to leave eastern Aleppo, enabling the wounded to be evacuated and humanitarian and medical aid to get in. But adding uncertainty to prospects for an 11th hour US-Russian deal to try to ease the suffering in Aleppo and possibly restart intra-Syrian talks is growing confidence by the Syrian regime that it can achieve an outright military victory in the 5-year-old conflict, as well as the prospect of a new US administration that favors cooperating with Russia to fight the Islamic State (IS).

US President-elect Donald Trump has spoken frequently of his interest to work with Russia to fight IS, and he suggested he is inclined to cut US support for Syrian rebel groups that oppose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. By contrast, the outgoing Barack Obama administration, while avoiding direct escalation against the Assad regime and its Russian and Iranian backers, has steadfastly refused to countenance cooperation with the Assad regime and has said it believes he lost the legitimacy to govern Syria given the tens of thousands of his citizens that his regime has killed in the civil war. The Pentagon, under Obama, has also fiercely resisted a now collapsed cease-fire deal, negotiated by Kerry and Lavrov, that called for joint US-Russian targeting of al-Qaeda-linked Syrian militants.

Showing growing confidence at his fortunes, Assad, in an interview published Dec. 7, said defeating the rebels in Aleppo would be a major step toward reconquering the rest of the country.

Victory in Aleppo will not mean the end of the war but a huge step toward this end, Assad told Syria's Al-Watan newspaper. The decision to liberate all of Syria, including Aleppo, has been taken.

The State Department said Dec. 7 that the Syrian rebels, facing potential defeat in Aleppo, may be changing their position on whether to agree to leave the city. I am not going to try to characterize their position, which I think is also changing, given the situation they are in, State Department spokesman Mark Toner told journalists at a State Department press briefing, referring to the Syrian opposition.

I think the Syrian moderate opposition is assessing the situation, which is indeed dire, and making their own decisions, Toner said.

He added, We are obviously looking for any credible effort that would ease the suffering in Aleppo and help bring humanitarian assistance to the population there."

Syrian armed opposition groups received a message via a US military joint operations center in Turkey on Dec. 5 conveying a proposal to leave the city, with guarantees for their safety, a Syrian opposition source, speaking not for attribution, told Al-Monitor. While they initially did not accept the terms, they may now be reconsidering.

Most opposition groups continue to resist the idea of surrender, though theyre undoubtedly falling back day by day, Charles Lister, a Syria expert and senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told Al-Monitor by email Dec. 7. Ultimately, theyre concerned with two things: the fate of the civilians in their midst, and in fighting as long as possible until they can consider some kind of withdrawal deal that saves face and allows them to fight another day, elsewhere.

Sporadic negotiations that have taken place so far in recent days have focused on the idea of a cease-fire giving space for aid access and a safe civilian evacuation, Lister said. Russia seemed interested in discussing these terms, provided JFS [Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, the renamed, al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra] was withdrawn from the city, but it appears that Assad and Iran are determined to win this outright. This explains Moscows current position of demanding a total surrender of all armed groups, no longer limited to JFS.

With this in mind, its hard to imagine a major deal from being agreed until perhaps the last moment at which the armed opposition really has no chance of putting up any limited defense, Lister said. Were approaching that point, but not there yet.

The Syrian armed opposition is also now insisting that civilians  and likely eventually armed groups  be given the right to evacuate or withdraw to Aleppos countryside, rather than Idlib, Lister added. Theres a strong sense that Idlib will be the next target of regime-Russian bombing.  Neither civilians nor armed groups in Aleppo city want to fall into that trap. Id expect many of the mainstream groups in Aleppo right now are encouraging Turkey to push for their eventual withdrawal and inclusion in the Euphrates Shield operation. Thatd give them a sense of continued credibility, legitimacy and protection.

Kerry, speaking to reporters in Brussels Dec. 6, said the Syrian rebels had rejected a cease-fire at earlier points in the conflict when they were in a stronger position on the ground than they find themselves today. But he said even a Syrian regime victory in Aleppo would not end the civil war, and that ultimately a negotiated solution will be needed to end the conflict and help bring the support needed to rebuild Syria.

When we assembled in Vienna a couple of years ago to begin the process of trying to create a political direction for trying to resolve the war, we brought everybody to the table  and we sought a cease-fire, Kerry, speaking on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers meeting, told reporters in Brussels. And let me make it clear that at that point in time Russia and Iran both supported a cease-fire when we were in Vienna. But the opposition would not buy into a cease-fire.  And from that day until today, theres been a loss of territory and a loss of life way beyond what any of us wanted to see unfold.

So were not the fighters on the ground  they are, Kerry said. They have to make their choices. And the fact is that, most recently in discussions, there has been discussion of trying to move people out in order to save Aleppo. But until this moment, there has not been an agreement on how that would happen or how those people would move out or how they might be protected.

Now Russia says that Assad is prepared to come to the table, Kerry said. They say thats part of their agreement that they would support him, that he has to engage in good faith in a negotiating process.

I do know this: Even if it did fall, Aleppo will not change the fundamental underlying complexity of this war, Kerry said. If Assad takes over Aleppo, is the war going to end? No. Will he have solved the political challenge of bringing people together to unite the country? No. Will many of the people who have been embittered as a consequence of what has gone on in Aleppo continue to fight and blow themselves up or put a car bomb in place or a suicide vest on? Yes, the war will continue. The violence will continue.

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura, who had been planning to deliver a new political proposal on Syria to the UN Security Council on Dec. 8, is now expected to scale back his proposal, given the rapidly changing developments on the ground and in international capitals.

There are too many pieces moving, one diplomat working on Syria, speaking not for attribution, told Al-Monitor.
belle1.PNG

The Bama Belle is available for parties on the Black Warrior River in Tuscaloosa, after several years of inactivity.

(Bama Belle)

A once familiar sight cruising the Black Warrior River is back.

The Bama Belle, a 90-foot, 54-ton paddle-wheel riverboat rated to carry 149 passengers, is available for charters and private parties.

Its owner, businessman Craig Dodson, has completed a year's worth of repairs to the boat, which had sat idle for the past four years. The craft has assembled all the necessary permits, though a liquor license has yet to be acquired.

Rates are contingent on the number of people and the type of event.

Dodson said owning a boat is the fulfillment of a dream he's had since his boyhood in Decatur, nurtured along the way by watching riverboat races and working.

"Years ago when I was 18, I left Alabama and worked on a riverboat in Baton Rouge," he said. "I've always loved boats and the river. It's something you daydream about as a kid."

The riverboat was built in 1969 in Iowa but has undergone four name changes before becoming the Bama Belle. It was brought to Tuscaloosa in 2001 by Mike and Nikki Medeiros.

Dodson said more than a decade ago he contacted Mike while living in the North about any boats he knew for sale down South. At that time, Dodson said, Medeiros offered to sell half of it. But he died shortly after.

The boat has been docked since 2012, when engine failure forced its cruises to end.

Dodson said the reaction to the Bama Belle's return has been largely positive.

"It's like a part of Tuscaloosa," he said. "I'd see people on the Riverwalk and they'd stop and look. Everybody seems excited."

For more information on cruises, call Dodson at (205) 275-0560.
Birmingham isn't Silicon Valley - but the Innovation Depot is trying its darnedest to get the next big tech company to start here instead.

The Velocity Accelerator is the business incubator's attempt at something like Y Combinator, the famed seed accelerator started in March 2005. A number of these accelerators have popped up nationwide where investors give a handful of tech companies seed money, an office they all share, a lot of mentoring and a short time frame before letting these companies into the world.

Many of these companies fail, but many are among the tech world's biggest success stories, like Dropbox, Airbnb and Reddit, all of which came out of Y Combinator. Techstars, a similar operation in Seattle, helped fund Birmingham's own Instagift. Now, Instagift's CEO Nate Schmidt is leading Birmingham's program.

The programs take 10 startup teams at a time and gives each $50,000 in seed funding. Then, they focus on building their company in a shared space in Innovation Depot. The 12-week program is designed for high tech startups focused on building products with low starting costs and high potential returns.

Velocity received more than 100 applications from around the world for their first 10 spots. The chosen companies include teams from Slovakia, New York City, and even one whose founder already works in Innovation Depot.

Meet the Velocity Accelerator's first class of startups:

GLOW:

Book-It Legal:

Planet Fundraiser:

Koyote:

Delect:

Healthfundit:

Gender Reveal:

Quantalytix:

Likely Al:

MetalView:

"This class includes companies in all sectors - from finance to health to beauty to marketing, but each of them has great potential," Schmidt said in a press release. "We hope that Velocity, and the support from the Birmingham community that we've already started to receive, will help them reach their potential much faster than they would on their own."
PLEASE NOTE!

Due to the March 23, 2020 NM DOH Public Health Order, These Event Listings Are Not Accurate!

All non-essential businesses are closed, public gatherings are prohibited!

(One day some of these events will be rescheduled or will resume, but they are not happening now!)
A trial is underway in Coconino County Superior Court for a Doney Park man accused of downloading child pornography.

Phillip D. Sims, 60, is charged with 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor  one count for each image of suspected child pornography found on a thumb drive the Coconino County Sheriffs Office seized from Sims home in September 2012.

He copied anything that looked like children, said felony prosecutor Eric Ruchensky from the Coconino County Attorneys Office in opening statements Wednesday morning.

The Sheriffs Office arrested Sims in 2013 following an investigation that began when an Arizona Department of Corrections parole officer found what appeared to be pornography depicting a child under the age of 14 on a thumb drive plugged into Sims computer in 2012.

Sims was already a registered sex offender at the time of his 2013 arrest. In 1990, Maricopa County Superior Court had convicted Sims on one count of attempted child molestation. Yavapai County Superior Court convicted him on a second count of attempted child molestation the same year. Sims was sentenced to nine years in the Arizona Department of Corrections, followed by a life term of probation.

Phil Sims, a Navy veteran, has spent most of his adult life battling and struggling with inner demons, said public defender Charles Doughty in opening statements. He thought he had found an outlet. He thought he had found a permissible, a legal, a lawful way to address and exorcise these demons.

The parole officer testified Wednesday that he and his supervisor were conducting a routine search of Sims room Sept. 6, 2012, when they found hand-drawn sexual depictions of children, which Sims was forbidden from having under the terms of his parole.

The parole officer said he also noticed some questionable websites in the browser history on Sims computer. When he asked Sims if there was anything on the computer that shouldnt be there, the parole officer said, Sims showed him a video that appeared to depict child pornography. The parole officers supervisor called for the Sheriffs Office to take over.

The Sheriffs Office seized Sims computer and other electronics and turned them over to a Flagstaff Police Department detective for forensic analysis. On a thumb drive, the detective found 10 images Sims had downloaded from the internet.

What that search revealed was images of children depicted in exploitative positions on his thumb drive, Ruchensky said. Mr.Sims admitted to looking at those images.

Doughty argued Sims should not be convicted of sexual exploitation of a minor because he told investigators he believed the images were fake  or at least doctored.

Mr. Sims had very little familiarity with the internet, Doughty said, reminding the jury about Sims long incarceration. Mr. Sims believed, he thought that the internet was well-regulated, policed and monitored.

Most importantly, Doughty said, the Sheriffs Office detective was unable to prove any of the images depicted real children.

The trial is expected to wrap up by the end of the week.
On Wednesday morning, the entire student body of Dauphin Island Elementary School walked down the sidewalk along Bienville Boulevard, begging the drivers of three semi-trailer trucks from Ducky Johnson House Movers to honk their horns. The historic Little Red School House was slowly and carefully being transported one mile east from the beach to its new home across from Town Hall.

"This is the best field trip ever," said Gene Fox, a Town Council member who walked with his son, Jackson, a third-grader at the school. "And it's got to be the most interesting Wednesday in Dauphin Island history."

The students were joined by many residents of the island who gathered to witness the event. Most businesses were closed because power lines had been taken down to make room for the building to pass.

The first of the three pieces showed a cross-section of the building, from the attic down to the center hallway that still had a mural painted on its walls, the "exit" sign over the door at the back and half of two classrooms. One bright yellow room still had the dry-erase board on the wall with equations written on it, plus empty cubbies and blinds on the windows. The exposed rooms evoked the feeling of peeking inside a dollhouse.

Jim Hall was recording the move on his favorite toy, a drone that flew high above the street among the pines. "I'm the un-appointed, unappreciated, unacclaimed historian for Dauphin Island," said Hall, who will be the collections manager when the building becomes a community multipurpose center that will include new museum, lending library and welcome center.

The Little Red School House was built 90 years ago in its original location near the shell mounds, Hall said. In the 1950s, when the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce started developing the land on the island, the school building was given to Mobile County Public Schools, he said. It was divided into thirds and moved to the spot where it's been for nearly 70 years.

The school system built a new Dauphin Island Elementary School, which opened this year. Saving the Little Red School House was a community effort, Hall stressed. "It's been an experience."

The move was made possible by donations including $23,000 from ExxonMobil, $35,000 from individuals and local organizations and $100,000 each from the town of Dauphin Island and the Dauphin Island Chamber of Commerce, according to a news release. The town donated the lot where the building will sit.

Dauphin Island has a unique history, Hall said. As the southeast corner of the Louisiana Purchase, it was the only property identified with a proper noun in the transaction, he said. "It was the first French capital in the New World."

Hall, who describes himself as a "newbie" on the island he moved to in 1985, looks forward to setting up the artifacts, drawings and documents he has collected over the years. His sister is a museum curator, he said.

Looking up at the exposed attic, which he had never seen before, Hall noted how large it is. "That's going to come in handy!" he said.
A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected Alabama death row inmate Ronald Bert Smith's request to block his scheduled execution Thursday.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals stated in its ruling that it also affirmed U.S. District Court Judge Keith Watkin's ruling that dismissed a lawsuit by Smith challenging Alabama's method of lethal injection. Watkins also had ended "negotiations" over whether Smith should be executed using a single dose of the drug midazolam, rather than the state's three-drug protocol.

While his appeal failed over Alabama's lethal injection method, Smith still has an appeal and a request for stay of execution pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. That appeal challenges Alabama's death penalty sentencing scheme in which a judge can override a jury's recommendation for life without parole and instead impose death.

The U.S. Supreme Court had not ruled on Smith's request for a stay as of 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Smith was convicted in 1995 in the shooting death of Casey Wilson, a clerk at a Circle C convenience store in Huntsville, on Nov. 8, 1994. The jury, in a 7-5 vote, recommended Smith be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. The judge, however, overrode the verdict and imposed the death sentence.

Alabama is alone now in allowing judges to override jury recommendations to impose the death penalty. Two other states - Florida and Delaware - did have similar override laws until this year. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down Florida's law in January in Hurst v. Florida and the Delaware Supreme Court struck down that state's law in August.

This U.S. Supreme Court has remanded four cases this year back to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals to be reviewed in light of its decision in Hurst v. Florida, according to a response by Smith's lawyers in a court filing Wednesday. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals has not acted on those cases.

"None of these cases have been decided and none of them involve a death sentence imposed by a judge in the face of a jury verdict for life," Smith's response states. "Even so, the Alabama Supreme Court has already announced its belief that post-Hurst, Alabama's capital-sentencing scheme remains entirely constitutional. And, consistent with that belief, it denied Mr. Smith's stay motion."

The U.S. Supreme Court also has three cases before it other than Smith's raising issues challenging Alabama's capital sentencing statute, Smith's response states. Among them is one by Tommy Arthur, a death row inmate whose execution set for Nov. 3 was stayed by the U.S. Supreme Court at the last hour.

"It is appropriate for this Court to stay Mr. Smith's execution in order to consider how it will resolve the issues raised by these cases, and the others sure to follow from Alabama," according to Smith's response. "Granting a stay of execution to Mr. Smith and granting his petition for certiorari will resolve at least some of these issues."
A month-long investigation led to the Wednesday arrest of a Florida man in Tuscaloosa.

Kevin Clark, 27, was taken into custody by the West Narcotics Task Force, with assistance from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, U.S. Postal Inspectors and Homeland Security Investigations.

Authorities say the Tallahassee man was shipping illegal drugs through the postal service. During the probe, agents seized one pound of an illegal synthetic drug that mimics MDMA, or ecstasy. The confiscated drugs have an estimated street value of $32,000.

Clark is charged with trafficking in a synthetic controlled substance. He is being held in the Tuscaloosa County Jail with bond set at $1 million.
Investigations are underway after two separate shootings in western Jefferson County Wednesday night.

The first happened about 7:30 p.m. at an apartment complex in Bessemer. Sgt. Cortice Miles said a person in the 100 block of Westlake Circle. That victim was struck in the leg, and taken to Medical Center West with a non-life-threatening injury.

No arrests have been made in that shooting.

At least one more person was shot later Wednesday night in Lipscomb. Details of that incident weren't immediately available, but authorities said the victim was en route to the hospital and ended up stopping at the Kangaroo Express on Highway 150. That victim is believed to have serious injuries.

More information on both shootings will be released as it becomes available.
This week, U.S. District Court Judge John J. Tuchi sentenced Nicholas Cooper, 32, of Hotevilla to 37 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Cooper had pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of firearms.

Despite being prohibited from possessing firearms because he was a convicted felony, Cooper was determined to have firearms in December 2014 and January 2015. One of the firearms had been stolen from a fellow member of the Hopi Tribe. The investigation was conducted by the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Office of Justice Services, Hopi Agency.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety is asking for the public's help in identifying a man found dead along Interstate 40 near Winslow.

According to DPS, Highway Troopers located the body of a deceased white male Thursday, Dec. 1, approximately 10 miles east of Winslow on the eastbound side of I-40 at milepost 264, which is the Hibbard Road exit. Investigators believe the man had either been struck by a passing vehicle or was killed elsewhere and dumped in the location where he was found.

For that reason, DPS investigators say, the man may not have been from the Winslow area. He had no personal belongings or identification on him and his identity is unknown at this point.

The victim was believed to be in his 20s or 30s. He was approximately 6 feet tall and 150-160 pounds with short, clean-cut brown hair. Investigators described him as physically fit and believe he was a CrossFit enthusiast. He was found wearing a teal CrossFit T-shirt and Reebok CrossFit shoes. The victim also had a tribal tattoo on his torso and Greek Aries symbol tattoos on each forearm.

The investigation into the man's death is ongoing. Anyone with possible information regarding the victim's identity or the circumstances surrounding his death is being asked to call DPS at (602) 223-2212.
An annual pilgrimage in which the relatives of the missing follow the steps of their loved ones through Mexico.

Veracruz, Mexico  The bus is quiet, the only sound is the hum of the engine and the murmur of a couple of women talking near the back. The rest are fast asleep, resting against the windows or each other.

They are older men and woman, dressed modestly, clutching canvas bags and rucksacks on their laps. Farmers, market stall owners, bakers, housewives. Working class people, many of whom have never before left their own countries in Central America.

Desperation has pushed them to embark on an exhausting journey to some of the poorest and most dangerous parts of Mexico.

The reason is tied with chord around their necks. A laminated plastic placard, each one with a large photo, a name and date. All of the 42 people in the caravan put theirs on the moment they start the day.

The photos are of their relatives  sons, daughters, brothers, sisters. The date is when each one went missing in Mexico.

The caravan

This is the caravan of mothers, whose children have disappeared on the migrant routes going from Central America, through Mexico to the United States.

The rights organisation Mesoamerican Migrant Movement has been organising this caravan for the past 12 years. Its an annual pilgrimage of desperation in which the relatives of the missing follow the steps of their loved ones through Mexico, hoping to find them.

Guatemalans, Hondurans and Salvadorans in particular have been heading to the US and Mexico for years, trying to escape the poverty and violent gangs of their homelands. But in this country more danger awaits them. They are a valuable commodity for powerful cartels who kidnap them, squeeze their families for ransom money, then often either kill them or enslave them in prostitution or drug trafficking.





Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have disappeared.

Jaqueline Morales is one of them. Her young, beautiful face stares out of the photo hanging around the neck of her sister Lilian, who has been looking for her for nine years, while raising Jaquelines children by herself.

Lilian is a quiet, middle-aged woman, far from home, clinging to a fragile hope.This is her third time on the caravan. I have faith in God and I know that my sister isnt dead and that at some point Ill find her, she says in a practical tone.

And then she begins to cry. The hole that they leave in our hearts no one can fill. Its really hard to lose a loved one and any chance I have to look for her, it doesnt matter where, Ill go.

The same mixture of bewilderment, sorrow and determination is ever present among the 42 people in the caravan.

Every day they travel to a different town.

This time its Cordoba, in the gang-ridden state of Veracruz. They spread the photos of their missing relatives on the ground to make sure theyre seen, then each says the name of their relative through a megaphone.

Holding banners they march around the centre, joined by local people who have also lost family members at the hands of organised crime or, they say, Mexican authorities. As they march, Lilian and others give out flyers to try and spread the message.

WATCH: Mexicos Disappeared

Looking for a miracle

Its an all-consuming, two-and-a-half week journey in which theyve also combed dive bars, cemeteries, migrant shelters and prisons. They look everywhere for a clue or someone who knows something that could lead to a miracle  finding a loved one.

The caravan organisers say that theyve managed to find some 270 people in the 12 years but thats still a drop in the ocean: they estimate that there are around 70,000 missing migrants in the country.

To make any inroads in finding out what has happened to them, they would need help from Mexican authorities.

But that simply isnt forthcoming, says Martha Sanchez Solis, one of the caravan organisers.

According to her, officials stonewall relatives looking for answers because they dont want their own wrongs to come to light.

Its not convenient for the transit country [Mexico] to make known the crimes that are committed here, especially because theres lots of authorities that are colluding in them. The lesser sin is omission  when they just do nothing  but many times it goes further than that and theres direct participation from Mexican authorities.

Other migrant rights organisations and shelters across the country share Martha Sanchez Soliss assessment  that officials are at best often negligent, at worst involved.

WATCH: Separated  Deported mothers and their American children

Angela Arranda, 63, a grandmother travelling from her native Honduras for the first time, felt this first hand.

From her seat at the front of the bus she explained to Al Jazeera that her daughter Hilda Alvarado had been in a Mexican jail for a whole year  on drug-dealing charges that she says are trumped up  before migrant rights groups could put enough pressure on authorities to allow her to contact her family and tell them she was alive.

When I heard her, I started to cry all over the place. I couldnt believe it was her, Arranda told. Hilda has been in jail for four years now. Angela is taking care of Alvarados children alone.

READ MORE: On Ayotzinapa anniversary, all eyes on Mexico

Easy prey for criminal gangs

Al Jazeeras interview requests to Mexican authorities went unanswered, but they have given serious thought to the migrant issue.

Their solution has been to stop them from crossing the country altogether. The Mexican government has poured millions of dollars into Plan Frontera Sur, which started in 2014 and features a web of checkpoints and patrols to catch those who cross the countrys southern border.

Migrants rights groups say that has forced migrants to travel through more isolated areas to avoid detection, where they are even easier prey for criminal gangs.

But they still keep coming. With Donald Trump about to take the US presidency, Central American governments say more people than ever are making the journey. With so many dangers on the route, its a measure of how desperate the situation is in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala  countries suffering from violent gangs and widespread poverty  that the stream continues.

READ MORE: Guatemala  The indigenous population too poor to stay

Omar Jarquains son David was one of the many who saw little choice but to head to the US, after being beaten up and repeatedly threatened by gangsters in El Salvador.

Riding on the bus as it trundles through the Veracruz countryside, Omar told Al Jazeera he tried to dissuade David. When he couldnt, he sold his car and remortgaged his house to raise the $8,000 for a people smuggler to guide his son safely to the States. It left him in debt but he hoped David could pay him some of the money back when he arrived.

But David disappeared in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, one of Mexicos most notoriously violent cities. Omar remembers their last phone call.

He was content, telling me he was already there [at the border]. I was really pleased and asked him how many days to cross over. He said, in five days and then Ill call you. Those five days have turned into two years and five months. I dont know where he is or even if hes dead, Jarquain told.

Jarquain has been frantically searching for him since, at the same time struggling with the debt. He has lost his house. In the midst of the nightmare hes found consolation with an association of parents in the same position in El Salvador.

Weve become like a family, he says.

Finding each other again

Its that solidarity that keeps those on the caravan going through the long, frequently fruitless days.

They start each morning by holding hands and praying together. In the nights they hold mass in sympathetic churches along the way. They sleep often in the migrant shelters dotted along the route. But their list of allies is small, and the power and resources they have is limited.

At the end of the two and a half weeks, three members of of the caravan had found a relative. One of them was Norma Santizo, whose sister Amalia had left Guatemala decades before, trying to start a new life in Mexico after losing a child.

They had last seen each other 37 years before.

On a warm Veracruz night, Norma and the rest of the caravan waited to see her in a migrant canteen set up by local volunteers. As the hours ticked by and Amalia didnt come, it all became too much for the niece travelling with Norma  who suddenly fainted.

Finally she arrived. Tears pent up over decades came spilling out as the two embraced.

The other parents stood around chanting: It can be done, it can be done.

It was a brief moment of catharsis and triumph for the caravan organisers and other relatives. The next day they would go back to the long, painful task of looking for their own relatives.

Photogallery

Production: Mireya Lopez. Camera: Gustavo Huerta
The rise of Nigel Farage, the former leader of UKIP, face of the Brexit vote and friend of Donald Trump.

Glasgow, United Kingdom  He is the bombastic UK politician who realised his long-held dream of a British exit from the European Union, and who remains a thorn in the side of the nations political establishment.

Nigel Farage, the former leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), and nominee for Time magazines person of the year 2016, took the British political scene by storm two years ago when UKIP won the UK European Parliament elections, securing an excess of four million votes and 24 seats.

The party gained its first elected MP at Westminster soon after, when Farage managed to negotiate the controversial defection of Conservative Party MP, Douglas Carswell, who knocked his old party into second place in a by-election.





Just two years later, and the rarely dull Eurosceptic movement had fulfilled its ultimate ambition when the British people voted to leave the 28-member bloc by a narrow majority in Junes in/out EU referendum.

The right-wing populist British Member of the European Parliament (MEP) mocked the European Parliament just days after the referendum result, saying: When I came here 17 years ago and I said that I wanted to lead a campaign to get Britain to leave the European Union, you all laughed at me  well youre not laughing now, are you? He has not gone quietly into the night in the months following Britains Brexit vote.

A political celebrity

Indeed, after basking in the glow of a result, which saw the anti-EU majorities in England and Wales negate the pro-EU majorities in Scotland and Northern Ireland, Farage turned his attention towards events on the other side of the Atlantic.

There, he was invited to speak at a Donald Trump rally during the US presidential campaign. After the billionaire reality TV stars shock victory in November, Farage became the first British politician to meet the president-elect. Trump, who was the one to be named as Times Person of the Year, caused the British government acute embarrassment when, in a November 22 tweet, he touted the UKIP man for the post of UK ambassador to Washington.

OPINION: How Europes far-right feasts on Trumps victory

He has become almost one of the things that seems to be very current in our politics  a political celebrity, said James Mitchell, a professor of public policy at The University of Edinburgh.

His celebrity status is interestingly higher now than it ever has been  even higher than in the Brexit referendum  The fact that Donald Trump tweeted that Farage could be UK ambassador  it would be the oddest thing in the world if a head of state gets a say in who should be another countrys ambassador  all feeds into Farages celebrity status, Mitchell said.

The 52-year-old, who is fond of being photographed with a pint of beer or cigarette in hand (and sometimes both), has revelled in being the quintessential political outsider since he first took the reins of the party in 2006.

He gained widespread attention in 2010 when he accused then president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, of having the charisma of a damp rag in an attack in the European Parliament.

His often-controversial remarks on the issue of immigration also regularly grabbed media attention  attracting and repelling British voters in equal measure.

His personal life, too, has been fraught: in his early 20s he sustained severe injuries when he was struck by a car, and not long after he was successfully treated for testicular cancer. On the day he made a failed bid for a Westminster seat in the UKs 2010 general election the twice married father-of-four, whose current wife is German, was involved in a light aircraft crash and was dragged out of the wreckage.

But Farage, who stepped down from his role as UKIP leader several times only to re-take control of the party, saw his chances of securing an in/out EU referendum increase as his band of Eurosceptics began racking up support and eating into the votes of the Conservative Party.

Eurosceptic victor

In a bid to placate his partys own Eurosceptic voices and to check the rise of UKIP, then Conservative British prime minister David Cameron called a UK-wide plebiscite.

Its result saw Cameron fall on his sword and Farage, who had been marginalised by the official Vote Leave camp during the EU campaign itself, proclaim an unlikely victory. For Farages admirers, Brexit catapulted the former London City trader into the realm of British political great.

For those of us in UKIP and who have been in the Eurosceptic side of politics for 20-25 years, most of us have always had a great respect and knowledge and understanding of Nigel and what makes him tick and have always come to the conclusion that hes a wonderful force of nature, said John Stanyer, an English UKIP regional chairman.

Stanyer told Al Jazeera that Farage was one of the greatest orators of our time, along with the greats of [former prime ministers] Tony Blair, David Cameron, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, whose part in securing a Leave vote in the referendum sent a great shock across the bows of the establishment.

READ MORE: Who is the real Tony Blair?

As the long-term figure head for the [Eurosceptic] movement, I think his standing around the world now has reached an all time high and is likely to remain there, Stanyer added.

What next for Farage?

Many Britons, particularly Remain voters and campaigners, are not quite so enamoured with Farage, who, despite several attempts, has never been elected to the Westminster parliament.

They accuse him of stoking xenophobic sentiments in Britain  and point to his association with Trump, who repeatedly called for American voters to bring about a US-made Brexit of their own in the presidential election, as proof positive of his true political inclinations.





Nigel Farages interactions with Donald Trump are astonishing and would be amusing if they werent so horrifying, said Natalie Bennett, former leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, speaking to Al Jazeera.

The idea that we would have Nigel Farage representing US interests [as British ambassador] and trying to impose them on the UK  hes got the position of ambassador 180 degrees the wrong way round.

Farage, who was replaced as UKIP leader on November 28 after standing down from the head of the party, which has been marred by infighting since this summers Brexit victory, appears to covet a more global position if his associations with Trump are anything to go by.

Yet, with seemingly zero chance of him assuming the job of top British diplomat in Washington, what of his future role?

My sense is that it will be more in the celebrity stakes than in the political influence stakes, said Mitchell.

 I think hes someone whos had his day and hes still in the limelight, but I think, perhaps, in time he will continue to have to do quite outrageous things to get noticed. But, of course, he still has some life in him as a celebrity so long as Brexit is an issue.

Follow Alasdair Soussi on Twitter: @AlasdairSoussi
The collapse of the armed opposition in Aleppo has removed the major military threats to regime advancement.

When the Russian intervention into the Syrian conflict accelerated in mid-2016, many analysts and partisans declared the Battle of Aleppo to hold the key to the future of the Syrian conflict.

Decisive victory one way or another, or the re-establishment of a military stalemate, would dramatically affect the course of the conflict and the possibilities of a political solution, no matter how flawed or unjust.

As 2016 draws to a close, the Russian-led intervention into Aleppo has led to virtually the entire city falling under the control of regime-aligned forces, begging the question: What next?

While sound prediction and analysis in this moment is a challenging, if not entirely flawed, exercise, there are certain trajectories that point to what the future may hold.

READ MORE: Why Syrias Bashar al-Assad is still in power?

There were no restrictions or limitations to the extent of destruction wrought on Aleppo and the approach of full military force is unlikely to change.

The strategy has been validated by sustained territorial gains and the collective indifference of most of the world. Most importantly, however, was the decimation of armed groups capacity and their increasing inability to resist regime-led advances.

What is emerging then is a new Syrian order, one in which Russian-led forces are able to impose new military and political realities on the conflict.

Rebel groups have thus suffered from both the decreased patronage of their regional sponsors and the serious material degradations caused by the Russian-led intervention.

Groups had consolidated in Aleppo and received displaced fighters from other areas, integrating them into their ranks. This meant that the most significant and potentially powerful concentration of armed oppositionists congealed in Eastern Aleppo, including Ahrar al-Sham, Fateh al-Sham (formerly al-Nusra front), Jaysh al-Mujahideen, and key brigades associated with the Free Syrian Army.

For all intents and purposes, the collapse of the armed opposition in Aleppo has removed the major military threats to regime advancement.

The strategy employed to bring this about was quite clear: bombard and besiege specific areas; cut off supply routes; intensify attacks against any existing infrastructure; and impose ceasefires and related agreements that forced armed groups out of the areas.

Slowly, over the past few months, this strategy has put the death knell to any serious oppositions ability to shape the course of the conflict. Having now been validated by the events in Aleppo, the strategy is sure to be exported to other areas now in the sightline of the Russian-led forces, mainly Eastern Ghouta and the Hama countryside.

While these areas may soon serve as refuges to fighters from Aleppo, these fighters are unlikely to be able to mount any serious military challenge to any further Russian-led advances. Supply routes from both the southern and northern borders have been effectively cut off and there is virtually no hope for any sort of coordination among armed groups ranks.

Compounding this reality is the total unwillingness on the part of regime allies to contemplate any political compromise that is not consistent with the regime advances. For example, the UN Security Council attempt to impose a ceasefire on Aleppo was vetoed by Russian and China, while armed groups calls for a ceasefire and humanitarian corridor were similarly rejected.

What is emerging then is a new Syrian order, one in which Russian-led forces are able to impose new military and political realities on the conflict. Recent events in Homs portend what this may mean for the future.

In that city, as in Hama, a series of car bombs and continued low levels of violence have persisted even in the aftermath of the cities so-called liberation. This is merely a repackaging of violence and it is not an insignificant development. It does not mean that violence has gone away or that it is not a threat to Syrians who live in these cities. In just this past month, Homs has seen aid and reconstruction money flow into the city to the point where the United Nations has declared that 99 percent of all war debris is cleared from the city centre.

READ MORE: Syrias future is shaped by Russian designs

Meanwhile, Russian and regime jets continue to bomb and besiege the countryside around the city.

This is, unfortunately, the kind of future that the Russian intervention is making possible, one in which violence persists amidst the facade of normality and reconstruction. How else could we explain this dichotomy in which Homs gets labelled as free and safe and international organisations rush in to participate in its reconstruction, while a few miles outside of the city violence persists?





The post-Aleppo order is thus unlikely to be defined by the same geography and fragmentation of the country into competing areas of control by different groups. Pockets of control may persist, but it seems unlikely that the contraction of territory will be reversed anytime soon.

With the regime and its allies already unwilling to surrender political concessions, and any sort of external military solution seemingly off the table, we seem to be entering a totally new phase of the conflict in which we need to be serious and pragmatic about what is politically possible moving forward.

In the meantime, as the conflict map changes, so too will the dynamics of violence and human suffering that are unlikely to be alleviated anytime soon.
Crucial issues ignored in the debate over the constitution will create faultlines in Nepali politics once its passed.

Last November marked a decade since Nepals Maoists ended their bloody Peoples War in 2006 to join competitive politics. The conflict, which started after a fringe communist group declared an armed revolt against the government in 1996, claimed the lives of more than 16,000 Nepalis.

In 2007, the reinstated parliament of Nepal adopted an interim constitution, declaring the country a secular, federal republic and called for an election of a constituent assembly that would write Nepals first democratic constitution within four years. But this gruelling exercise took eight years of political bickering that saw six governments fall and two constituent assemblies elected.





The final months of the constitution drafting was marred by violent protests by ethnic Madhesis and Tharus against arbitrary federal demarcation and citizenship provisions in the southern part of the country. Nepals first constitution delivered by the peoples elected body had pushed the country into further instability and violence.

Nobody would realise that better than former President Ram Baran Yadav, who has spent the past year publicly repenting the fact that he was forced to promulgate a constitution that is now in limbo and that has divided the country.

Yadav has all the time in the world to regret and reflect whether his loyalty towards then ruling party Nepali Congress betrayed his judgment in promulgating a bitterly contested document. But what followed next has created faultlines that have made Nepali politics more unstable than ever.

Geopolitical tectonics

A landlocked nation, Nepal has always been dependent on its neighbours for importing essential goods, especially India, with which it shares more than 1,800km of largely unregulated borders.

The mountain barrier with China in the north meant Beijing has mostly been a distant observer of Kathmandus affairs. This has historically given New Delhi leverage, especially since it brokered the 2006 accord between the Maoists and Nepals political parties.

So, when Madhesis and Tharus, who share geographical and cultural affinities with people living on the Indian side, took to the streets against the draft constitution in August last year, the government in New Delhi used its diplomatic channels to put pressure on Kathmandu to address their demands.

The Madhesis and Tharus have long complained about being treated unfairly by dominant hill caste groups, taunted and politically marginalised for appearing to be more Indian and less Nepali. The communitys aspiration for autonomy is among one of the long-standing struggles in recent Nepali history.

READ MORE: Nepal  A decade after the Maoist rebellion

The demand for federal autonomy was revived during the 2007 uprising known as Madhes Movement, and the issue became contentious as the constitution drafting team in the constituent assembly came up with a proposed federal demarcation.

The Madhesis and Tharus, each demanding an autonomous province with a demographic advantage, took to the streets protesting arbitrary demarcation of provincial boundaries.

Having exhausted its diplomatic efforts, India resorted to a blockade on Nepal, crippling life across the country for six months and causing a massive shortage of essential goods including petroleum products and medicines.

The angry government in Kathmandu under then Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxists and Leninists, reacted by signing a historic treaty with China and vowing to build a petroleum pipeline between Tibet and Kathmandu.

Emboldened by Kathmandus overtures, Beijing sent a fleet of petroleum tankers to Nepal. When the tankers arrived in Kathmandu on the first week of November 2015, they were greeted by cheering crowds waving national flags.

Despite ridiculously vague provisions in Article 17 and 19 clearly limiting individual and the media's freedom of expression, there has been no serious lobbying from citizen groups to pressure political parties to amend these coercive provisions. by

For a country surrounded by two nuclear giants, Nepal may have little room for manoeuvring when it comes to managing its foreign affairs.

But the country is being held hostage to the diktat of incompetent and greedy leaders, who have made political careers playing one powerful neighbour against the other, forcing the country into a dangerous political course.

Every small country treads a thin diplomatic line to balance its national interests against those of its larger neighbours, but it takes years of consistent bad governance and diplomacy to arrive at the mess Nepal currently finds itself in.

State of limbo

The April 2015 earthquake and the political blockade may have momentarily brought international media focus to Nepal, but the world has moved on, leaving Nepal to deal with its problems.

The way political parties and the newly formed government in Kathmandu have gone about their business, it seems that they have conveniently forgotten that the constitution was delivered at the cost of precious Nepali lives.

Now, a year under a dysfunctional statute, the present political equation in the parliament may finally favour the ruling Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) and the Nepali Congress to table an amendment proposal and bring the protesting constituencies into an agreement.

But with the Oli-led CPN-UML party taking to the streets, obstructing the house and trying to polarise public opinion, the Maoist Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal will find himself cornered.

Dahal will look to strike a compromise deal with UML to get the proposal endorsed and secure a good campaigning chip for his party during the next elections. The largest Nepali Congress party, too, has invested huge political capital in the process by backing a Maoist-led government, and would want to see the amendment bill tabled.

But, even if the amendment bill is endorsed by the parliament, it will come at the cost of more than half of the population still being denied their rights to equal citizenship. Under the Article 11 (5) and (7) of the present constitution, Nepali women cannot pass down citizenship rights to their children without declaring the citizenship status of the man who fathers the child.

Such a provision is deeply humiliating and discriminating for women who want to exercise their right to be treated equally by the constitution, and it violates several provisions under international law including the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.





On the crucial issue of federal demarcation, the proposed amendment seems to have recognised indigenous Tharu peoples demand for autonomy by carving a province that includes six districts with demographic advantage for Tharus.

But, in a glaring display of political dishonesty, the proponents have left out Kailali and Kanchanpur districts which have a major Tharu population, to suit the political interest of a few leaders including Nepali Congress boss Sher Bahadur Deuba.

Unfortunately, the Tharus of midwest and far west Nepal lack a strong voice in Kathmandu and may go unheard today, but it will create a major faultline in Nepals federal politics in the years to come.

But, the biggest letdown in this constitutional amendment debate has been the passive role of Nepals civil society and intelligentsia.

Despite ridiculously vague provisions in Article 17 and 19 clearly limiting individual and the medias freedom of expression, there has been no serious lobbying from citizen groups to pressure political parties to amend these coercive provisions.

While the Nepali media has been busy dissecting other constitutional provisions and their possible impact on national life, it sees no merit in questioning the limits put on its own constitutional rights.

Nepal has lived through a decade of bloody conflict and another decade of painful transition, but the country is yet to be at peace with its own people and their liberated political aspirations. The broader acceptance of the constitution is a minimum requirement to ensure it, which the proposed amendment may not guarantee after all.

Anurag Acharya is a Kathmandu-based journalist.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
The spirit of the revolution in Syria persists, even as Assads forces advance.

Malak Chabkoun is an independent Middle East researcher and writer based in the US.

Regardless of what Donald Trump says he is going to do in terms of disarming Syrian rebels and his promises to Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian revolution is not dead.

Regardless of how many armed opposition factions are fighting among themselves at the moment, regardless of what the external opposition does, or who it plans to work with now that Trump will be the new United States president, the Syrian revolution is not dead.

Regardless of how many Friends of Syria continue to sell out Syrian revolutionaries, the Syrian revolution is not dead.





Regardless of the countless doomsday declarations that there are no options for the US but to submit to Russia in Syria, the Syrian revolution is not dead.

And regardless of whether East Aleppo falls to the regime or not, the Syrian revolution is not dead.

Declaring the Syrian revolution dead reduces it  and all the sacrifices Syrians have made  to a military conflict, and once again plays directly into the narratives of despots and dictators in the Arab world who treated the Arab Spring as their personal invitation to further destroy their own peoples.

Syrians defined their revolution early on

Since the first anti-regime protests in Daraa, Syrians have defined revolution on their own terms. In those early days of revolution, weapons and military factions  save for the Assad-controlled army  had nothing to do with the peaceful demands of the protesters.

Back then, the thawra, translated literally as revolution, represented a changed state of mind, one that defied the decades-long brutal security state built by Hafez al-Assad and willfully extended by Bashar al-Assad.

Syrians have not only demanded that they wanted isqat al-nidham (fall of the regime), but also that they preferred death to humiliation. When the revolution began, activists across the nation used social media platforms to choose the weekly themes of their protests every Friday.

It is very clear from the themes chosen in early 2011 that Syrians were using them to define exactly what their revolution demanded, aspired to and represented: March 18, dignity; March 25, dignity; April 15, persistence; April 29, rage; May 13, free women.

Unfortunately, these demands have not been a focal point for most researchers and journalists covering Syria, particularly as the military map in Syria increasingly became crowded and complex. However, while analysts have chosen to ignore that these demands have translated to civil society initiatives across Syria under far less than ideal conditions, Syrians have not forgotten this.

One cannot expect that the freedom and independence displayed by Syrians in these areas will simply disappear - social change in the form of local councils and civil society organisation and mobilisation will not be erased by military conquests. by

Earlier this year, Daraya, a city in the suburbs of Damascus, also known as Reef Damascus province, was forcibly evacuated of its revolutionaries by the regime.

Before the evacuation, Daraya gained notoriety in revolutionary circles not only for its staunch resistance against Hezbollah and the regime, but also for its massive library built underground by the very people painted mainly as Islamist fighters.

As the city was being evacuated, an image of a green evacuation bus circulated with a line of poetry written on the side in Arabic, Your attempts are in vain. A revolutionary never dies.

For many observers, both inside and outside Syria, it was a reminder from Darayas people that even on one of the worst days of the revolution, its spirit persists within those loyal to it.

It is worth noting that Syrias history contributes to the current revolutionaries definition of freedom. An attempted uprising in 1982, for which Hafez Assad punished residents of Hama by killing tens of thousands of civilians, and rebellion against French colonisation of the country starting in 1919, are both cited as inspiration for the revolutionaries.

The revolutions enemies grow in number, yet it persists

The Friday themes mentioned earlier have reflected an expansion of the Syrian revolution as time has gone on  Syrians have had to defend their revolution not only against Assads assaults, but also the full force of the Lebanese Hezbollah, the militias of the Iranian al-Quds Force, Russian troops and air power, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), and groups such as the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Jabhat Fath al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra or al-Nusra Front Front).





On Friday, November 8, 2013, the revolutionaries called out Iran, with the theme, No to the Iranian Occupation of Syria. On February 28, 2014, and again on August 8 of the same year, Hezbollahs attacks on the Syrian revolution were called out by the revolutionaries.

On November 21, 2014, ISIS Seeks to Distort Islam. On June 5, 2015, ISIL Betrays Aleppo. On October 9, 2015, Russian Intervention Will Not Stop the Peoples Revolution.

The very fact that peaceful protests persist against these various actors that have attacked the revolution indicates a social change within Syria.

As recently as November 29, as shelling on Aleppo intensified, Syrian activists gathered in Idlib city, both in solidarity and to remind the world, yet again, that their narrative has not changed, and that their demands for freedom and peace have not yet expired.

Who gets to call the end of the revolution?

Can anyone say that the revolution has been free of flaws? No, of course not. Its flaws were expected and human, and have often been a natural reaction to conditions far beyond the revolutionaries control. But these flaws are not an excuse for random analysts to declare the revolution dead.

Even if, as many are predicting, the battle for Aleppo segues into the eventual fall of Idlib province back into regime and Russian hands, the revolution will not have died. One cannot expect that the freedom and independence displayed by Syrians in these areas will simply disappear: social change in the form of local councils and civil society organisation and mobilisation will not be erased by military conquests.

OPINION: How Facebook hurt the Syrian Revolution

The bottom line is that the Syrian revolution changed something within Syrians, something that they have paid dearly for and that only they can give life to or declare it dead.

For nearly six years, their narrative has been trampled, twisted and abused, and this would be a fine moment for analysts to finally respect Syrians enough to return the narrative of this revolution back to its rightful owners.

Malak Chabkoun is an independent Middle East researcher and writer based in the US.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Joint List promises to sue PM over incitement against Palestinians during fires, but lawyers say plan is not feasible.

Members of the Joint List, a predominantly Arab electoral coalition in the Israeli parliament, have vowed to sue Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for incitement against Palestinian citizens of Israel during the recent large-scale fires that engulfed Israel and the occupied West Bank.

They [Israeli officials] called it a wave of Palestinian terror while they were quiet about the thousands of Israelis inciting against Arabs and calling for their death, Ayman Odeh, head of the Joint List, told Al Jazeera.

Last week, Netanyahu suggested that the fires were started deliberately and promised to punish any person guilty of arson in a string of threats made publicly. He said those responsible would be treated as terrorists  a term usually reserved by Israeli officials to refer to Palestinian attackers  and said he would revoke their citizenship.

READ MORE: Zahalka  Israeli PM trying to benefit from Haifa fires

Among several other officials who fuelled suspicions, Education Minister Naftali Bennett said: There is no wave of accidental fires. There is a wave of nationalistic terror  in a Hebrew-language tweet. Only those to whom the country does not belong are capable of burning it, he said in another tweet.

Gilad Erdan, Israels public security minister, also chimed in, calling for the demolition of the home of any person found guilty of arson  a frequent sanction used by Israel against Palestinians.

This incitement is very dangerous. It could cause Israelis to go out and attack Arabs [Palestinians] as acts of revenge, Odeh continued.

The more than 1,700 fires began ripping through the country close to two weeks ago, with dozens taking place in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank. Palestinian firefighters were sent to help Israeli crews put out the flames in Haifa and Jerusalem.

Forty Palestinians  both citizens of Israel and others in the occupied West Bank  were detained and investigated following the fires, Israeli police told Al Jazeera. Of the 40, 24 are still being questioned, said Micky Rosenfeld, Israeli police spokesman.

While three Palestinians in Israel have reportedly been arrested over some of the smaller fires, the cause of the major fires in Haifas Carmel forests has not been determined.

This by Ayman

as acts of revenge.]

The Palestinians who were arrested were only burning the garbage in their towns to get rid of its smell. But no one has been charged with starting the big fires in Carmel, Odeh said.

Even if they find one or two or three people that were guilty of arson, we declare that we are against such acts. We even ask that they be punished. But my question is how can Israeli officials turn this into collective accusations against all Palestinians in Israel?

Approximately 1.7 million Palestinians  Muslims, Christians, and Druze  live inside Israel and carry Israeli citizenship. They face institutionalised racism and discrimination in a state that prizes Jews over non-Jews by law.

The Joint List has appealed to the Attorney General of Israel, Avichai Mandelblit, to open a criminal investigation in to Netanyahus statements. Israel has a law against incitement to violence, but Mandelblit is required to review such matters on a case-by-case basis.

READ MORE: How Israel aims to redefine ethnic cleansing

Odeh says that if the attorney general decides against opening an investigation, they will take him [Mandelblit] to the High Court of Israel. If all efforts to put Netanyahu on trial inside Israel prove ineffective, they will appeal to the international community, he said. Netanyahu is someone who systematically incites against us. We have two goals: To officially classify him as an inciter, and for us to gain more legitimacy here in Israel.

While he constantly makes such comments, we want to make him think twice about saying the things he does in the future.

But the options to charge Netanyahu both in Israel and internationally, are limited and grim, legal academics and lawyers say. They believe the Joint Listss threats are empty, designed to pacify the anger of Palestinians in Israel.

There is no chance that Mandelblit will open an investigation against Netanyahu because, if he did, that would mean that we [Palestinian citizens of Israel] could be filing lawsuits against every aspect of the Zionist foundation of the country, Haifa-based lawyer, Jehad Abu Raya, told Al Jazeera.

It is not just incitement we are facing  there are plenty of other racist crimes that the state carries out against us, but we are not able to seek justice through their courts, since they are built on Zionist thinking.

Abu Raya says the Joint List knows it will not be able to achieve anything locally, and believes it would be wiser to prosecute Israel and Netanyahu in international courts.

Munir Nuseibah, a professor of law at al-Quds University, says the plot is not feasible  even on the international level. None of the international courts have jurisdiction over Israel.

The International Criminal Court for example only has jurisdiction over the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and Gaza, and it can only prosecute individuals who are accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide, Nuseibah told Al Jazeera.

Since the ICC does not have jurisdiction over Israel, then it cannot look into cases therein without a United Nations Security Council referral  which will never happen to Israel, due to its political impunity on the international level.

The crime of incitement says Nuseibah, is too minor for international courts to consider. Should the Palestinians want to take Netanyahu to ICC, they should really choose the case carefully.
Far-right leaders call for early elections or threaten to take to the streets as Matteo Renzi resigns as Italys PM.

Matteo Renzi has bowed out as Italian prime minister, hinting strongly that he wants to lead his party into an early election battle.





Political consultations on forming a caretaker government were due to begin on Thursday at 6pm (1700 GMT), after Renzi formally submitted his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella following a crushing referendum defeat.

Before handing back the keys to his Palazzo Chigi residence, the 41-year-old chaired a meeting of the executive of his Democratic Party (PD).

We are not afraid of anything or anybody, if other parties want to go to the polls . the PD is not afraid of democracy or elections, Renzi said, in reference to opposition clamour for a nationwide vote due in early 2018 to be brought forward by up to a year.

Ironically, Renzis rule came to an end with his government winning a vote of confidence in the Senate, the parliamentary chamber he tried to emasculate with a referendum in which he suffered a crushing defeat on Sunday.

The confidence vote curtailed prolonged discussion on the approval of Italys 2017 budget  an unfinished task which had prompted Mattarella to ask Renzi to delay his departure for a few days.

READ MORE: Italy decides its future

Budget law approved. Formal resignation at 1900. Thanks to everyone and viva lItalia! he tweeted. This being Italy, 1900 (7pm) came and went, and Renzi had still not resigned.

Al Jazeeras Jonah Hull, reporting from Rome, said Renzi had failed to convince the country he was its best hope, adding that Renzi was considered to be allied with big business, out of touch [and] unelected.

Fewer taxes

Later on Wednesday, the Moodys ratings agency downgraded its outlook for Italys sovereign debt from stable to negative, saying the failure of the constitutional referendum slowed reform progress and left Italy more exposed to unforeseen shocks.

After the talks at his party headquarters, Renzi said he assumed full responsibility for the referendum but gave no indication that he was considering stepping down from the PD leadership.

He said he would be spending Thursday, a public holiday, celebrating his grandmothers 86th birthday.

We have to thank the elderly, he said in a reference to pensioners supporting him in the referendum debate.

ANALYSIS: Italy votes for new constitution amid political turmoil

Renzis speech sounded at times like the launch of an election campaign, with the former Florence mayor boasting of how he had left Italy with fewer taxes and more rights and pointedly playing up his leadership in the aftermath of a series of devastating earthquakes between August and October.

The fallout from the referendum remains unclear, however, with the PD beset by internal divisions that were painfully exposed by the vote.

As secretary-general, Renzi controls the party apparatus, which he used to stage the coup that deposed his predecessor Enrico Letta in February 2014.

The opposition meanwhile insists the referendum was a vote of no-confidence in the centre-left coalition.

Immediate elections or we take to the streets

Either we have immediate elections or we take to the streets, Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right Northern League, warned on Wednesday.

We cannot make a mockery of the 32 million people who voted on Sunday.

Polls taken before the referendum suggested that the PD remains well-placed to emerge from an election with the largest share of the vote, despite the upward trend in backing for the populist Five Star Movement.

Led by comedian Beppe Grillo, Five Star is skilled at pitching an eclectic message to all shades of opinion  from libertarian leftists and ultra-environmentalists, to anti-euro and anti-immigration eurosceptics.

OPINION: Why Matteo Renzi should vote no in the Italy referendum

The last year has seen the movement emerge decisively as Italys biggest opposition force, largely at the expense of 80-year-old former PM Silvio Berlusconis Forza Italia, with about 30 percent of voters likely to back it.

Backing for the Northern League has been largely stable at around 15 percent of voter intentions, and Five Stars hopes of power are seen as being restricted by its reluctance to countenance alliances with other parties.

The major obstacle to holding an election in two months time is that parliament must first revise the rules by which it will be held.

As things stand, two different electoral laws apply to the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, which hold equal powers under the perfect bicameral principle upheld by the referendum.

A new system for the Chamber of Deputies, under which the party getting the most votes would be guaranteed a majority of the seats, was approved earlier this year. But all the parties had agreed to revise it before the referendum.

The Senate meanwhile is elected by a proportional system unlikely to give any one party or coalition a majority. Elections under two different systems would be a recipe for political paralysis, most observers agree.

Crucially, reports say President Mattarella shares that view.
What the White House can give to undocumented college students it can also take away.

But that doesnt mean Northern Arizona University has to go along with it.

Thats the message coming from the NAU Faculty Senate, which voted this week to protect and support students registered under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals if that program is rescinded by the next administration.

But the resolution was broader than just Dreamers, reaffirming that a university should provide all students a learning environment free from discrimination and harassment  as well as fear of deportation. Its unfortunate that such a basic purpose of higher education has to be labeled a sanctuary, with its connotations of retreat and resistance. If some college students need sanctuary today, will they come for the professors next?

For the moment, however, nothing has changed. Dreamers  those brought to this country as children by undocumented parents  can get work papers and drivers licenses under DACA. And that status entitles them, as authorized residents, to pay in-state tuition, which can make a big difference in their ability to finance a college education.

NAU doesnt have a lot of Dreamers  just four on the Mountain Campus and 14 others around the state. But its likely they are among the most motivated and disciplined of students  whatever they have accomplished to date hasnt come easily. Preserving in-state tuition by tapping nonprofit foundations and other private sources shouldnt be too difficult for NAU, given the small numbers and high profile of the issue.

As for the resolutions call for noncooperation with immigration officials if DACA is withdrawn, wed liken it to current privacy protections for any student. NAU allows felony criminal warrants to be served on campus, but if ICE or any other agency wants to collect information or detain undocumented students, it needs to do so off campus.

Once a university is seen as complicit in enforcement actions unrelated to higher education, the bonds of trust that students, faculty and staff have in pursuing truth wherever it leads are broken. Flagstaff, as a college town, is richer for the diversity and vigor of that inquiry. Dreamers have done no wrong, and we urge the president-elect to continue to do right by them.
After historic election ousted president Yahya Jammeh, many are eager to see how truth and reconciliation unfolds.

Serrekunda, The Gambia  In a dusty backyard tucked behind a hardware store, two men sit under the shade of a Kapok tree, chatting animatedly about the fate of their outgoing president, Yahya Jammeh.

We cannot forgive him. There is no mercy, says Ismael, whose name has been changed to protect his identity after Jammeh announced hes not yet ceding power.

We need to go after Yahya. He did things we cannot forget. He seized our brothers and we didnt see the dead bodies. It is too painful. He must go to court. We want him to tell us where are our brothers.

Such is his emotion that Ismael, an unemployed 30-year-old, has to stop to catch his breath.

It will not be easy to forget, says his friend Yunus, a 30-year-old farmer whose name has also been changed. It was like he kidnapped us and put us in a big hole. He blocked our minds and our brains.

As the dust settles on The Gambias historic election, which saw the nation oust longtime dictator Jammeh after a 22-year reign of terror, the national debate over his eventual prosecution has reached fever pitch.

Jammehs brutal regime locked up and tortured countless journalists and opposition figures. Some, such as Solo Sandeng, an activist who was arrested at a protest in April, died in custody. Others have simply disappeared into the system, their fate a mystery to grieving families and friends.

After a week of euphoric celebration, Gambians have high expectations of how the incoming coalition government will handle the process of truth, reconciliation, and justice that will enable the country to move on. On the streets of Serrekunda, a town on the outskirts of Banjul, Al Jazeera found a clear majority calling for Jammeh to face trial.

President-elect Adama Barrow told Al Jazeera that a truth and reconciliation commission would be established to look at human rights abuses committed during Jammehs rule, after which the government will file a case at the International Criminal Court.

It is a matter of justice. People should not fear. The process will be fair and will not pinpoint anyone, he said. Filing at the ICC would, he said, ensure that principles of good governance are upheld. In other words, it would ensure things dont get personal.

We didnt contest the elections to take revenge, he said. There are no personal things against anyone.

Barrows caution is understandable. Although power has been draining palpably from Jammeh since last weeks election victory, the country now faces a delicate two-month transition period until Barrow officially takes the reins at the end of January.

As rumours swirl around the country, many fear the incumbent could risk a coup in a desperate act of self-preservation. He is certainly no stranger to coups, having seized power by force in 1994.

But, with the heads of the Gambian army and police services having publicly declared their support for the new coalition forces, it seems a coup would be doomed to failure.

As fear of the Jammeh regime fades, the debate over how he should be tried is gaining pace. Although Barrow has stated his preference for an international investigation, other politicians believe he could be tried in the Gambian courts.

Lamin Dibba, senior administrative secretary with the opposition United Democratic Party (UDP), the major party in the new ruling coalition, says Jammeh should be tried at home.

If it can be done in The Gambia, he will be tried in The Gambia because the crimes he committed took place here. If its beyond our laws, then international law will take over, he says.

We are not interested in any vendetta. Whatever he did wrong, the law will take its proper course. He will be handled by the law, not by sentiment. We dont want to give the impression we are retaliating, he says. We have to be careful, look at things properly.

The coalition government will move to prosecution  whether nationally or internationally  in the coming year, he said.

Holed up in his villa in his hometown of Kanilai, where his bucolically named business Kanilai Farms  a tentacular enterprise including bakeries, butchers and taxis which has allegedly thrived on tax-funded subsidies and land-grabbing  is based, Jammeh is keeping a low profile.

The incoming government intends to compensate Gambians for their loss of land and property during the regime, says Omar Jallow, the leader of the Peoples Progressive Party, which is part of the new coalition government.

He was in prison 22 times and lost sight in one eye as a result of torture.

If America and Japan can be friends when America dropped bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, if Nelson Mandela could forgive the white South Africans, if Ghana could forgive Rawlings, then we Gambians should be able to learn from those lessons.

We have seen a leader treating citizens worse than our colonial masters. We want to set up a [reconciliation] commission to remember all these things.

We will forgive, but not forget.

Jammehs shadowy paramilitary hit squad, the so-called junglers, is based near Kanilai. Largely drawn from the Presidential Guard, the group is alleged to have killed newspaper editor Deyda Hydara in 2004.

According to Human Rights Watch, other abuses include the execution of more than 50 migrants who had been detained after arrival in the country, their bodies dumped in a well not far from the village.

The process of reconciliation started last week with the release of political prisoners, who had been arrested after protesting against Solo Sandengs death in custody in April. On Monday and Tuesday, 31 prisoners were released in two lots from Mile 2 Central Prison, just outside Banjul.

Among the first group freed was Ousainou Darboe, the 68-year-old leader of the UDP. A human rights lawyer who founded the opposition party in 1996, he is often described as the Mandela of the Gambia for his two decades of struggle against Jammeh.

A towering political figure in the country, replaced by Barrow, a real-estate businessman, he made a return to freedom that was viewed by sources as a potentially divisive factor in coalition politics.

But Darboe indicated to Al Jazeera he will not be returning to the fray. Instead, he plans to work on much-needed judicial reform. I could do that without playing a role in the government. I could be part of a committee, he says.

If Darboe was not tortured while in prison, he believes it was because of the people power demonstrated during the April protests. If I hadnt gone out that Saturday to protest Solo Sandengs death, and subsequently went on to be imprisoned for something else, they would have done something to me.

Sheriffo Suno, 38, part of the second group of activists released on Tuesday, suffered a different fate. Al Jazeera met him on his way back home from the beach, where he went to cleanse himself of his prison experience in the sea.

He described how he had been attacked by riot police at protests, beaten with a truncheon, the tendons on his arm severed with a knife, disabling the middle finger of his left hand.

Then one of them said Lets finish him off and tried to choke me, he says.

He was first held at Janjanbureh prison in the east of the country, where he says prisoners were forced to sleep in a hole, men piled two or three deep into a space 2.5 metres long and 1 metre wide, which was covered by wood.

I cannot describe the heat, he says. We couldnt move, couldnt change position. We cooked like chickens.

After 52 days, he was moved to Mile 2 Central Prison, from where he was released on Tuesday.

Barrow has vowed to find all political prisoners who have disappeared without trace. We will access all the records, he says.

One legacy of Jammehs leadership was the division sown among ethnic groups, in particular between his minority Jola tribe and the Mandinka, Fulani and Wolof.

Although The Gambia does not have a history of tribal conflict, Jammeh feared he might be toppled by the majority Mandinka group, which make up 33 percent of the population, says a journalist with state broadcaster GRTS who did not want to be named.

He planted Jola boys with no academic qualifications everywhere, at the National Intelligence Agency, at the electricity board and the ports authority, says the journalist.

Although his cabinets were mixed, a Jola cleaner could be more important than a minister because he or she would have direct access to the presidents ear, he says.

The ethnic tensions were confirmed on the streets.

Everywhere, at the police or at the airport, if you didnt speak Jola, you had a problem, says Ismael Jaiteh, 55, a driver. If I went to the police station to renew my driving licence and spoke Wolof, they would look at me funny.

But Isatou Touray, who entered the electoral race as an independent presidential candidate before joining the opposition coalition after Solo Sandengs death, says the call for change came from across the country, from all ethnic groups.

We are sensitive and aware that these conflicts can come. But we intermarry, so the space for conflict is limited, she says. Theres unity and diversity in The Gambia. You have different tribes and societies everywhere. But its not a dividing fact. The Gambia is a composition of different religious and ethnic groups.

Thats the beauty of The Gambia.

One of the first priorities of the new government will be to reform the system of village chiefs, says Touray.

Under Jammeh, the constitution was changed so he could appoint chiefs, she says. That will change. Because he appointed them, they were under his prerogative, so they gave their allegiance. He was their employer. In a democracy, you allow people to choose their leaders.

Ironically, for someone who flouted the laws of his own land, the re-establishment of an independent judiciary in The Gambia should ensure Jammeh a fair trial.

Back in the yard, Ismael says Gambians will not rest until the government moves to prosecute Jammeh. People are still stockpiling food. Anything can happen. We dont know. Some will still die for this man, he says. He has eyes everywhere. He knows all corners of The Gambia.

Yunus believes a coup attempt would blow up in Jammehs face.

But as long as he is free, we will not be 100 percent free, he says. It will not be easy to forget.

This story has been amended to protect identities after Jammeh announced on December 10 that he rejected the election results
Civil servants, bank staff, merchant seamen and others shut down the country to oppose new pay cuts and taxes.

Greeces leading unions have launched a general strike that shut down several key sectors in protest over planned new pay cuts and taxes called for by international creditors.





Civil servants, bank staff, merchant seamen, railway workers and state-employed doctors were among professionals taking part in Thursdays 24-hour stoppage against the measures, which are scheduled to be approved by politicians at the weekend.

We are reacting to repressive austerity, poverty and destitution  once again we face absurd demands by [Greeces EU-IMF] creditors, leading union GSEE said.

Passenger ships remained docked at ports, city transport was disrupted and local administration offices shut down as workers joined the 24-hour nationwide walkout called for by the countrys largest private and public sector unions, GSEE and ADEDY.

The burden we carry is already unbearable, added GSEE in a statement, calling lenders demands irrational.

The downturn must finally end, its rally poster read.

Journalists had staged a one-day walkout on Wednesday.

Raised taxes

The countrys international creditors  fellow EU states and the International Monetary Fund  want Greece to overhaul its labour legislation to make crippling strikes less likely while also facilitating layoffs.

A new budget containing around a billion euros ($1.07bn) from extra taxation on items including cars, fixed telephone service, pay TV, fuel, tobacco, coffee and beer is to be approved by parliament early on Sunday.

Public spending on salaries and pensions will also be cut by 5.7 billion euros ($6.13bn) next year.

READ MORE: EfSyn  A Greek media success story

Unions are also angry over plans to raise more than 2 billion euros ($2.15bn) next year from privatisations, including 1.2 billion euros from the sale of regional airports.

Separate union demonstrations are planned in Athens and major Greek cities later in the day.

Already huge, Greeces debt after three consecutive bailouts is on course to reach a mammoth 315 billion euros ($338bn), or around 180 percent of the countrys gross domestic output this year, according to the latest EU data.

Protesters have clashed with police forces repeatedly in recent months. Last week, demonstrators with physical disabilities protested against government cuts to their monthly disability cheques and pensions.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras hopes a deal can be reached by the end of the year for the countrys bonds to be included in the European Central Banks bond-buying programme by March 2017.

This would help Greece return to markets next year, for the first time since 2014, and eventually reduce its dependence on bailout loans. Athens has rejected pressure to extend its painful austerity programme beyond 2018 as part of a deal to bridge differences between the squabbling international creditors.

On Monday, the eurozone granted Greece short-term debt relief, which was hailed as a success by the leftist-led government that has been sagging in polls for months.

But the news did not impress austerity-hit Greeks, who have lost almost a third of their income since the crisis started in 2009.
Iraqs military responded to what it called a fake story that alleged its air strikes mistakenly killed dozens of civilians in the ISIL-held city of al-Qaim, accusing media and politicians of doing propaganda work for the armed group.

Iraqs Joint Operations Command said on Thursday the air raids a day earlier targeted dozens of foreign fighters of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS)  not civilians.

READ MORE: Iraqi army mistakenly bombs civilians in ISIL-held city

It said the first of two air strikes was conducted at 09:00 GMT and struck a two-storey building housing 25 mostly foreign would-be suicide bombers, led by a fighter it named as Abu Maysar al-Kawkazi.





Another strike was carried out during a second mission at 09;55 GMT, hitting a building hosting 30-40 ISIL cadres, also mostly foreigners, according to a military statement.

It also said the air force made great efforts to protect civilians, and the targets were determined based on accurate intelligence and verified by our sources in the area.

Everyone should refrain from spreading Daesh lies and fabrications and follow accuracy, it said, using the Arabic term for ISIL.

The statement came after several Iraqi politicians, including parliament speaker Salim al-Jabouri, said on Wednesday that dozens of civilians were killed in air strikes on a market area in al-Qaim, close to the border with Syria.

They alleged more than 50 people were killed  including many women and children  some while lining up to receive their salaries.

The speaker holds the government responsible for such mistakes, asking them to open an immediate inquiry to find out the truth of the incident, and to guarantee that civilians are not targeted again, said the office of Jabouri, the most senior Sunni-Muslim politician in mainly Shia-ruled Iraq.

The military denied striking a market area, as reported on Wednesday, and said a blast there was caused by a car bomb that either went off accidentally, or was detonated by ISIL for propaganda purposes.

READ MORE: New UN tally shows spike in casualties in Iraq

Amaq, an ISIL media arm, released a video showing scenes of chaos in a market area, with bodies strewn across a street and the wounded being treated.

Al Jazeeras Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from Erbil in northern Iraq, said the incident was not helpful amid the major ongoing operation to take ISIL-held Mosul in the north.

These kinds of incidents are not going to help anyone, certainly not the Iraqi government. You have the military operation going on, but you also have a very fierce propaganda war going on, Hamid said.

Sunni-Shia divide

Qaim, and the western province of Anbar in which it is located, is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim.

The town lies on the Euphrates River, northwest of Baghdad, part of a remote region near the Syrian border which also remains under ISIL control.

Qaim has always welcomed foreign fighters, ever since the US invasion in 2003, said Hamid.

It was one of the strongholds of al-Qaeda at a certain point simply because the Sunni population there  like elsewhere in Anbar province  felt alienated ever since the new rulers came in Baghdad and created a Shia-dominated government.

Wednesdays air strikes took place as Iraqi forces and their allies continue to wage a seven-week-old campaign to crush ISIL, which seized control of Mosul, about 280km northeast of Qaim, in 2014 and declared a caliphate.
Police say civilian was killed by a stray live round in Arwani village during protests that followed a gun battle.

At least one civilian was killed and dozens of others wounded during protests in Indian-administered Kashmir that erupted after a gun battle between fighters and security forces.

Police said the firefight on Thursday started after Indian soldiers and police cordoned off the southern Arwani village, and gunmen hiding there opened fire in an attempt to break through the siege.

As the shootout raged, thousands of people from neighbouring villages ignored government orders to stay away and marched to Arwani in an attempt to help the trapped fighters escape.

A police officer said protesters tried to storm the site of the gun battle, leading to fierce clashes at several places around the village.

Innocent killings continue as 1 more youth is killed & dozens injured as Forces fire bullets &pellets at protesters in Arwani,South #Kashmir  Mirwaiz Umar Farooq (@MirwaizKashmir) December 8, 2016

Witnesses said security forces fired live rounds, shotgun pellets, and tear gas to disperse the rock-throwing protesters, killing a young man and wounding at least 40 others.

A police statement said the man died after being hit by a stray bullet. One injured civilian was in critical condition.

Clashes were also reported in several other areas of southern Kashmir in a show of solidarity with rebels who have been fighting against Indian rule since 1989.

Earlier on Thursday, authorities blocked mobile and internet services in some areas of southern Kashmir to stop activists from organising anti-India protests.

IN PICTURES: Blind in Kashmir with 100 pellets lodged in his head

The Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since independence from Britain in 1947, but is claimed in full by both.

Attacks against Indian security forces have increased in recent months, although raids in the Hindu-majority Jammu area of the state are less common.

Indian and Pakistani cross-border firing along the heavily militarised Line of Control has intensified as tension between the nuclear-armed neighbours has risen.

Rise in tension

Kashmir has been gripped by protests since security forces killed a popular separatist leader in July. A crackdown in response to the protests has paralysed much of the region.

Indian security forces have also been accused of blocking medical treatment for wounded protesters in the disputed region by holding up ambulances and harassing hospitalised patients.

Physicians for Human Rights said not only did police and paramilitary forces use excessive force during months of unrest, they also hindered people from seeking medical attention, increasing the likelihood of permanent injuries and deaths.

Such delays in care are violations of the long-standing protections afforded to medical workers and facilities in times of conflict and civil unrest, said Widney Brown from the New York-headquartered advocacy group.

Whats more, the doctors we interviewed said police were present in their hospitals, intimidating patients, and monitoring those being admitted.
At least 11 people killed in northern Myanmar as clashes escalate in the northern Shan state.

At least 11 people have died this month in northern Myanmar in escalating clashes between security forces and armed rebel fighters.





Thousands have fled their homes in the northern Shan state since fighting erupted in late November, with many crossing the border into China.

In response, the Chinese government has placed its military on high alert, fearing the violence could once again spill into its territory after several of its nationals were killed last year.

The bodies of nine policemen allegedly killed by rebels on December 2 have been recovered, state-run Global New Light of Myanmar said on Thursday. Two civilians were also reportedly killed in that incident.

In total at least 30 soldiers, police, pro-government militia and civilians have died since the fighting began, according to a tally of state media figures.

The clashes have delivered a fresh blow to de facto leader Aung Suu Kyis hopes of forging a nationwide peace agreement to end decades of uprisings rumbling along Myanmars borderlands.

Suu Kyi prioritised tackling the simmering conflicts after her elected government took power earlier this year, ending decades of military-backed rule.

IN PHOTOS: Rohingya children in Malaysia, an undocumented life

But fighting in the northern states of Kachin and Shan, and in the south in Karen, have cast a pall over her efforts and any ceasefire is expected to take years to agree on.

Analysts say the recent bout of unrest in Shan threatens the second round of peace talks she had scheduled for February and has strengthened the role of the army, who still control key levers of power.

Three of the rebel groups fighting in Shan  the Arakan Army, the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army  have not been invited to the negotiations.

China-brokered talks between government negotiators and the groups reportedly broke down earlier this week.

But TNLA spokesman Colonel Tar Phone Kyaw said the groups were open to negotiations if the army wanted to talk in good faith.

Our alliance from Northern Shan state will stand our ground and defend it if they launch more attacks, he told AFP. But if they stop the fighting, we welcome negotiations to find a solution.

Rohingya crackdown

Myanmars army has also been carrying out a bloody crackdown in the north of Rakhine state that has sent more than 20,000 from the Muslim Rohingya minority fleeing to Bangladesh.

Malaysia has accused Myanmar of engaging in ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled their homes since a bloody crackdown by the Myanmar army in Rakhine began in October, sparked by a string of deadly attacks on police border posts.

READ MORE: Rohingya in Rakhine state suffer government retaliation

The fact that only one particular ethnicity is being driven out is by definition ethnic cleansing, Malaysias foreign ministry said on Saturday in an unusually strongly-worded statement.

Myanmar has restricted access to the northern part of the state and says its military is hunting down the perpetrators of the attacks.

Earlier this week, Myanmar banned workers from travelling to Muslim-majority Malaysia.

The Rohingya have long faced persecution and government restrictions on movement that has been likened to apartheid.
US State Department confirms Kerry and Lavrov met but no agreement on ceasefire or civilian evacuation was reached.

Russia and the United States will continue talks on Aleppo and evacuation of civilians after the US secretary of state and his Russian counterpart discussed the situation in the war-torn Syrian city.

Aleppo has been divided between government-controlled neighbourhoods in the citys west and rebel-held areas in the east since 2012.





The Syrian government and its allied forces now control at least three-quarters of the east because of a massive military assault on the besieged area.

Earlier on Thursday, Russian media quoted Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as saying the Syrian army had halted its attacks on Aleppo to allow for the evacuation of civilians, but there was no confirmation from the UN or the Syrian government.

John Kerry and Lavrov held brief meetings on Wednesday and Thursday on the sidelines of an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe conference in Hamburg.

They [John Kerry and Lavrov] agreed to continue discussions about establishing a framework for a ceasefire that will allow the delivery of aid, desperately needed humanitarian aid, as well as the safe departure of those who wish to leave the city, State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told a briefing.

On Wednesday, government forces scored an important victory when the rebels retreated from the Old City, the historic heart of Aleppo.

They extended their advances later in the day, seizing the Bab al-Nayrab, Al-Maadi and Salhin neighbourhoods, according to Syrian state media.

Its true that Aleppo will be a win for us, but lets be realistic  it wont mean the end of the war in Syria, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the al-Watan newspaper. But it will be a huge step towards this end.

READ MORE: What went wrong in east Aleppo?

While rebels have vowed to continue fighting, the battle is complicated by tens of thousands of fearful civilians trapped in the remaining portions of the rebel-held east.

And as winter sets in, siege conditions are increasingly desperate, exacerbated by increasing numbers of displaced residents and food and water shortages.

Brita Haji Hassan, president of the Aleppo local council, said on Thursday more than 800 people have been killed and 3,000-3,500 wounded in war-devastated eastern Aleppo in the past 26 days.

Today 150,000 people are threatened with extermination. We are calling for a halt to the bombing and guarantees of safe passage of all, Hassan said during a trip to Geneva.

Nearly 150 civilians, most disabled or in need of medical care, were evacuated overnight from a hospital in Aleppos Old City, the first major evacuation from the eastern sector, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday.

Among those evacuated from Dar al-Safaa hospital in the Old City  taken over by Syrian government forces on Tuesday  118 patients were taken to three hospitals in the west of Aleppo and 30 people were taken to shelters, also in the west of the city, the ICRC said in a statement.

OPINION: Why Syrias Bashar al-Assad is still in power

The evacuation was conducted jointly with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, it added.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, ICRC spokesman Pawel Krzysiek said: The people were basically trapped there [in recent days].

The fighting kind of slowed down starting from yesterday afternoon, he continued, adding it was too dangerous to carry out an evacuation earlier.

Its first and utmost about the safety of those people [being evacuated] and our priority is to ensure that they will be helped  and safely transported to a safer place.

Since it began in March 2011, the war in Syria has killed hundreds of thousands of people, made more than half of Syrians homeless, and created the worlds worst refugee crisis.

Assad has ruled out the possibility of a negotiated ceasefire with rebel forces.
Parliament scheduled to vote on suspending President Park Geun-hyes powers over her involvement in corruption scandal.

South Koreas opposition-controlled parliament has introduced an impeachment motion against President Park Geun-hye, setting up a likely vote on Friday on whether to suspend her powers over a political scandal.

A parliamentary official reported the motion on Thursday to a plenary session, which means an impeachment vote must take place between 24 and 72 hours. Friday is the final day of the current parliamentary regular session.





The motion needs two-thirds approval in the 300-seat parliament to pass. Political observers say the opposition and anti-Park independents have 172 seats. They appear to have secured enough support from ruling party dissenters to get an impeachment.

Al Jazeeras Harry Fawcett, reporting from the capital Seoul, said the vote has to happen in the coming hours.

If she is impeached, President Park said she would not resign. She will wait for the Constitutional Court to deliver a final verdict, he said.

The countrys Constitutional Court will have up to 180 days to determine whether to formally end Parks presidency. During the court deliberation, Park would be suspended as president but not removed, with her duties temporarily transferred to the prime minister until the court reaches a decision on whether her impeachment is constitutional.

Prosecutors say Park colluded in the criminal activities of a longtime confidante to manipulate government affairs and extort businesses.

The confidante, Choi Soon-sil, and two of Parks former aides allegedly linked to the scandal have been indicted.

Park, who has immunity from prosecution while in office, has refused to meet prosecutors investigating the scandal.

Park impeachment filed as South Koreans step up protest

Park has publicly apologised over the scandal three times and acknowledged that she received help from Choi in editing her speeches and with unspecified public relations matters.

Park has denied involvement in Chois alleged criminal activities.

Robert Kelly, a professor of international relations at Pusan National University, said if the situation was not resolved soon, South Korea could see even bigger protests in the comings months.

There have been six weeks of protest and more than a million people have been on the streets. There is a fear that there could be civil unrest, Kelly told Al Jazeera.

Hundreds of thousands of people calling for Parks removal have rallied near her presidential place of Blue House for six straight Saturdays, and her approval ratings have plunged to four percent, the lowest among South Korean leaders since democracy came in the late 1980s.

An opinion survey released on Thursday showed about 78 percent of respondents supported Parks impeachment.

Park is the daughter of late dictator Park Chung-hee, who ruled the country for 18 years until his 1979 assassination.

Choi is a daughter of Choi Tae-min, a purported cult leader who served as a mentor for Park Geun-hye until his death in 1994.

Park, whose mother was assassinated in 1974, described Choi Soon-sil as someone who helped me when I had difficulties in the past.

Parks ties with Choi Tae-min, who has faced a series of corruption scandals, have long dogged her political career. Many criticise her for maintaining ties with the Choi family and lacking transparency on key decisions.

Park, whose term is to end in early 2018, has said she would stand down if parliament arranges a stable power transfer. Her opponents have called the overture a stalling tactic to buy time and find ways to survive the scandal.
Questions raised about independence of International Institute of Strategic Studies after multimillion-dollar deal.

The UK Charity Commission has confirmed it is investigating a complaint filed against a London-based think-tank into whether it compromised its independence by accepting confidential financing from the Gulf state of Bahrain.

Documents leaked by rights watchdog Bahrain Watch indicate Bahrains government started funding the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) in October 2010 to the amount of roughly $7.6m a year, after a secret agreement was signed.

That amount covers both the Manama Dialogue, a three-day conference that begins on Friday, as well as IISS offices in Bahrains capital.

The revelations have been controversial, with suggestions that funding from the Gulf kingdom, frequently accused of rights violations and media crackdowns, might hamper the independence of the British think-tank.





There is not a legal requirement to disclose the identity of donors, a Charity Commission spokesperson told Al Jazeera over the phone.

The commission  which regulates the operation of charities in the UK, as IISS is registered  received the complaint on Wednesday.

Trustees, however, must recognise the importance of maintaining the independence of their charity, whether from funders, stakeholders or government. Trustees decisions must be made independently and in the interests of the charity.

Fahad Desmukh, a researcher with Bahrain Watch, acknowledged that Bahrains funding of IISS is largely in line with what other governments have done  including Egypt, Israel, Qatar and Kenya.

The amount of money, calculated to be roughly a third of IISSs funds, is what concerns him.

We dont know the full extent [of Bahrains funding]  these are just the projects that we know of  it could be higher, said Desmukh.

READ MORE: Bahrain authorities block Al Jazeera from GCC summit

Al Jazeera asked both IISS and Bahrains Ministry of Foreign Affairs why the memorandum of understanding between the two had to be kept secret.

Calls and emails to Bahrains Ministry of Foreign Affairs were not returned.

James Clements, media and communications manager at IISS, told Al Jazeera he was not doing any interviews or answering any questions on the subject.

He forwarded a statement from IISS that rejects any allegations that its independence is compromised by Bahrains funding. It also said the think-tank does not participate in any manner of advocacy.

IISS said on its website: In all dealings with potential funders, we insist clearly and consistently that we will not accept any funding that may impinge on our intellectual and political independence. This is never a matter for negotiation.
New leader Shavkat Mirziyoyev has Uzbekistans people wondering if the hard-line rule under Islam Karimov will change.

For more than three years, Saodat Mananova, a 63-year-old schoolteacher from ex-Soviet Uzbekistan, could not get her late husbands savings from a state-run bank.

The sum was modest, $1,400, the will was in her name, but bank officials kept coming up with new documents she had to submit, or invented excuses to delay the payment, the frail, gray-haired woman said.

The situation was typical for Uzbekistan, which ranked 153 on the list of 168 nations in the 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International, a Berlin-based graft monitor.

Then a miracle happened. In late October, Mananova followed her nieces advice and sent an email to the nascent online reception of Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Uzbekistans prime minister since 2003 and acting president.

Within days, bank officials delivered the money in cash, apologised profusely, and begged her to sign a document saying she was happy with their performance.

They used to look at me like I was an insect, Mananova told Al Jazeera. After the letter, they looked like somebody gave them a good beating.





The online reception has received more than 200,000 complaints from average Uzbeks who wanted to solve their problems with corrupt officials, unjust judges, and abusive police officers, Mirziyoyev said on Wednesday. It opened shortly after the September 2 death of Uzbekistans first president Islam Karimov, whose generation-long rule began before the 1991 Soviet collapse.

The reception has become the most outspoken novelty introduced by Mirziyoyev in stagnant Uzbekistan  along with other changes such as an upcoming liberation of currency exchange or abolition of visas for tourists from 17 countries. It also became a perfect propaganda tool to boost Mirziyoyevs appeal ahead of the Sundays presidential election.

Of course I voted for him, Mananova said.

Mirziyoyev won 88.6 percent of the vote, becoming the second president of the most populous, authoritarian, and strategically located Muslim nation of ex-Soviet Central Asia. The vote was predictable as Mirziyoyevs campaign mimicked six election triumphs of Karimov that Western observers never called free or fair.

One observer, the European Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, said there were signs of vote-rigging, no genuine competition with three other presidential hopefuls, and a need for comprehensive reforms in Uzbekistan.

READ MORE: Uzbekistan Presidents daughter and the Panama Papers

Reforms are on many peoples minds in the nation of 31 million dogged by unsolved problems.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev loudly praises his predecessor, at the same time emphasising the necessity of changes, Daniil Kislov, a Moscow-based Central Asia expert whose website is blocked in Uzbekistan, told Al Jazeera.

Uzbekistan is high on the list of the worlds most repressive societies.

At least one million university students and government employees are forced to pick cotton each authumn for weeks or even months, and farmers are coerced to grow the fibre and sell it to the government at low, fixed prices. The government has kept a Soviet-era monopoly on the cotton industry exports despite chronic droughts that threaten to turn Central Asia into a desert.

Dozens of political activists and thousands of peaceful Muslims have been jailed for their alleged anti-government sentiments and membership of terrorist groups, rights groups say. Corruption, complicated laws and blatant expropriations have driven many foreign investors out, and local businessmen deal with unbearable bribes  or face jail.

Millions of Uzbeks became labour migrants working menial jobs mostly in Russia and neighbouring Kazakhstan despite corruption, rights abuses and hate attacks. Uzbekistan nearly sealed borders with two of its impoverished neighbours, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and its relations with other ex-Soviet neighbours and Afghanistan are far from cordial.

Memberships of Moscow-led economic and military blocs have been suspended or terminated, and trade with China is tightly regulated. Ties with the West have been severed after the 2005 bloodbath in the eastern city of Andijan, where government troops mowed down a crowd of mostly peaceful protesters, killing hundreds.

After Western demands to conduct an independent investigation into the Andijan massacre, Karimov kicked out a US military base from the Afghan border, but kept a NATO outpost in exchange for a portion of used Western weapons withdrawn from Afghanistan.

READ MORE: Thousands of Uzbek Muslims jailed for extremism

Independent media have been shut down or driven out of Uzbekistan, and an internet firewall keeps most Uzbeks away from independent news sources. State-run television networks and newspapers resemble Soviet-era propaganda with a sprinkle of medieval verbosity.

Even Karimovs death was shrouded in rumours and controversy. He died on September 2, officials said, but independent sources claimed the death occurred days earlier.

Defying the Uzbek constitution that puts a Senate speaker in charge in case of a presidents death, Mirziyoyev assumed the title of interim president and headed a lavish funeral ceremony for Karimov in his ancient Silk Road home city of Samarkand  a Soviet-era indicator of whos going to be in charge.

There was a double violation of the constitution  by Mirziyoyev and the Senate that submitted to his will, Muhammad Solih, an opposition leader who challenged Karimov during the 1991 presidential vote and now lives in exile in Turkey, told Al Jazeera.

Hence, the presidential election that got Mirziyoyev elected is illegitimate.

WATCH: Whats next for Uzbekistan?

So is he qualified to change Karimovs policies and bring about the much-anticipated reforms?

As his resume suggests  not really.

As prime minister, Mirziyoyev did not succeed, because corruption in all segments of economy and in law enforcement agencies has reached unprecedented levels. It resulted in a lack of conditions for development of nationwide mechanisms for human rights protection, Nadejda Atayeva, head of the Association for Human Rights in Central Asia, who fled Uzbekistan and lives in France, told Al Jazeera.





Mirziyoyev also appears to have been one of the architects of the cotton industry with its forced labour and fixed, low prices for cotton growers. He served as prime minister since 2003 and governed two key cotton-growing regions before, an expert claims.

He is the chief organiser of forced mobilisation of students and government employees for cotton harvesting, Umida Niyazova, head of the Uzbek German Forum for Human Rights, a non-profit organisation that monitors forced labour in Uzbekistans cotton industry, told Al Jazeera.

Uzbekistan is also not going to resume its membership in the Eurasian Economic Union, a Moscow-led economic bloc, deputy trade and economy minister Shavkat Tulyaganov said in early December.

READ MORE: Uzbekistan  A dying sea, mafia rule, and toxic fish

The bloc includes five ex-Soviet republics and is widely seen as the Kremlins attempt to revive the Soviet Union. Uzbekistans inclusion could significantly mitigate the bureaucratic hurdles Uzbek labour migrants face in Russia.

Mirziyoyev, 59, an irrigation engineer by education, was a mid-level communist official before Uzbekistans independence from the Soviet Union. He is part of the Samarkand clan Karimov belonged to, and his dogged loyalty to the late boss guaranteed his survival through the political purges of Karimovs iron-fisted rule.

This background also suggests Mirziyoyev is hardly going to be a groundbreaking reformer.

Dont expect him to liberalise political life, Kislov said. Mirziyoyev is Islam Karimovs flesh and blood, and he is interested in keeping, not destroying, the system of authoritarian rule.
Desmond fought racial segregation in the 1940s after refusing to give up a seat in a whites only section of a cinema.

Toronto, Canada  A black civil rights leader who led a struggle against anti-black segregation and racism in Canada in the 1940s will be the first Canadian woman to figure on a banknote.

Viola Desmond will appear on the Canadian $10 bill  replacing the nations first prime minister John A Macdonald who will be moved to a higher bill  when new banknotes go into circulation in 2018, Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced on Thursday morning.

A successful businesswoman from a middle-class family, Desmond is best known for refusing to give up her seat in the whites only section of a cinema in Canadas eastern province of Nova Scotia in 1946.

It's my privilege to announce that Viola Desmond will be the first Canadian woman on a bank note. #bankNOTEable pic.twitter.com/jAOceW2ETX  Bill Morneau (@Bill_Morneau) December 8, 2016

She was eventually dragged out of the segregated cinema by police, arrested, held in prison overnight, and forced to pay a fine, all for refusing to move to the upstairs balcony reserved for black people.

She was criminally charged with not paying a small tax that would normally apply on a downstairs ticket. But instead of letting the matter rest, Desmond decided to fight her conviction in court.

Viola inspires us  today as she inspired people years ago, said her sister Wanda Robson, who attended the announcement. Im so proud, Im almost in tears.

Her case was the first known legal challenge by a black woman against segregation laws in Canada.

Desmond, who died in 1965, had the support of local black community leaders and the Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, among others.

In 2010, she received a posthumous pardon from the province of Nova Scotia.

OPINION: Is having anti-Canadian values a Canadian value?

I just think this is great. Its very inspiring. I am inspired, as a black Canadian woman, said Afua Cooper, the James Robinson Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies at Dalhousie University in Halifax, told Al Jazeera.

I think its about time Canada recognises its black citizens, people who have suffered, added Cooper, who is also the founder and chair of the Black Canadian Studies Association.

While she is often compared to Rosa Parks  the civil rights leader who refused to give up her seat at the front of the bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955  Cooper said Desmonds case should be viewed within its Canadian context.

Glad to hear #ViolaDesmond is being added to money. I didn't know much about her. Shame her story wasn't taught in my Canadian history class  Scott Fox (@ScottFoxonair) December 8, 2016

Canada has its own homegrown racism, anti-black racism, and anti-African racism that it has to deal with without comparing it to the US. We live here. We dont live in America. Desmond lived in Canada, she said.

Earlier this year, the Bank of Canada launched an open call to nominate iconic Canadian women to appear on the new banknote. After receiving 26,000 submissions, the bank narrowed the list down to 461 women, and five eventually made the shortlist.

OPINION: Justice for Canadas indigenous women

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described Desmond as a  businesswoman, community leader, and courageous fighter against racism, and said putting her on the new bill was a fantastic choice.

By and large, most Canadians still do not know much about Desmonds story. However, having Desmond on the new note is an important step to acknowledging what happened, Cooper said.

Its a recognition, its an acknowledgement and she deserves it so much because she was such a fantastic woman, and such a hard worker, and for her to be dealt that hand was so unfair.
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft to join hands and filter out content they consider terrorist propaganda.

Social media has become an important part of our lives, galvanising protesters and driving elections.

Some of the worlds biggest social media companies want to battle against what they consider terrorist propaganda online.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft want to create a database of digital fingerprints, which will flag content that is considered offensive or violent.

That includes recruitment videos for armed groups or gruesome imagery.

Once one bit of content is removed by one company, others can quickly follow suit, the companies hope.

But should these companies be in the business of censoring content?

Presenter: Sohail Rahman

Guests:

Robert Pape  Director of the Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism at the University of Chicago and co-author of Cutting the Fuse: The Explosion of Global Suicide Terrorism and How to Stop It

Aral Balkan  Digital rights activist

Jamil Jaffer  Former associate counsel to President George W Bush and Director of the Homeland and National Security Law Programme at George Mason University
Taking It to the Street: Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America and Wells Fargo are among the many banks being targeted by a trio of activist investors  Arjuna, Pax, and Trillium  demanding the companies disclose compensation data for men and women and publish statistics about the race and gender of their employees. "Given the financial benefits of diverse leadership teams, the female talent gap is simply bad for business," said Natasha Lamb, Arjuna's director of equity research and shareholder engagement. "Moving women up the ladder is critical, and companies can start by addressing structural barriers, including the gender pay gap." Lamb began the movement earlier this year looking at tech giants such as Intel (which reported it reached 100% gender pay parity), Apple (which says its female employees earn 99.6 cents to every male employee's dollar) and Facebook. Following the success in Silicon Valley, the activist trio began speaking publicly about taking the same measures in financial services. Bank of New York Mellon, PNC and First Republic also have also been targeted, and Arjuna says it plans to file a proposal to JPMorgan Chase.

A Lighter Regulatory Burden?: Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester says the banking system is better off now than it was in the days leading up to the financial crisis, but assures those concerned about the compliance burden that regulators are already making adjustments. "Some of the changes that have come most recently are about calibrating the regulation" to address the level of risk, she says, citing as an example tweaks made to community banks' stress tests. She also says fintech is not so much of "a banking thing" as it is a portal to modernize the payments system. Rather than the technology making banks irrelevant, "I think banking is going to adapt to the technology that's available, so they'll be able to do their jobs better as well." In her interview with American Banker, Mester also shares her views on efforts to reform the Fed, ending "too big to fail," the future of Basel and the impact of a Trump administration on financial services.

The Fed on Fintech: Federal Reserve governor Lael Brainard has urged fintech firms to provide affordable access to credit for those who are underserved instead of pushing high-cost loans. It's still unclear where the Fed stands on fintech, however. Speaking at a Fed conference on the topic, Brainard said the central bank is reviewing its guidance for how banks interact with fintech firms. Citing some major concerns around consumer protection, she encouraged a do-no-harm approach. "It is important that regulators and supervisors not impose undue burdens on financial innovations that would provide broad social benefits responsibly." (Separately, Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry made similar comments about the ability of fintech firms to promote financial inclusion, when he announced that the OCC plans to develop a special-purpose fintech charter. The OCC is taking comments on the issue through Jan. 15.)

A Perfect Blend All in One App: Mobile could become the one-stop shop that banking companies never quite achieved, blending basic banking, wealth management, and other services, says Carey Kolaja, global chief product officer for Citigroup's fintech unit. This week, Citi FinTech revealed its first consumer product: a mobile-first bank for Citigold clients. It does not try to be everything to everybody, but it does do more than one single function. "Our goal was to start decomposing what's out there today," Kolaja says. "The intent isn't to force everything into this app, but rather to curate it so it fits customers' needs." Nodding to the single-use-case fintech apps that have emerged in the last few years, she said they indicate "the ability for a consumer to make a decision about what to do with that money goes beyond wanting to save it to wanting to invest it  maybe pay off a debt or save for a college fund or treat yourself."

We Hear You: Digital Asset Holdings' Blythe Masters acknowledges that banks' concern about privacy issues seem to be overlooked in the midst of all the blockchain hype. "Distributed ledger technology is fashionable. In fact, if you could wear it, you'd put Ralph Lauren out of business, at least in my case," she says. "The reality of actually industrializing distributed ledger technology is quite another matter. It's a real undertaking."

Role Call

Deutsche Bank hired Elly Hardwick as head of innovation, a role in which she oversees Deutsche Bank Labs. She was previously CEO of Credit Benchmark, a provider of consensus credit risk information, and before that she was global head of strategy, investment and advisory at Thomson Reuters.

Santander Consumer USA in Dallas has appointed Edith Holiday to its board. Holiday served in various roles at the Treasury Department during the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. She was the first woman to serve as general counsel of the Treasury, from 1989 to 1990.

Bank of New York Mellon has named two female executives from the energy and technology sectors to its board: Linda Cook of EIG Global Energy Partners and Jennifer Morgan of SAP.

Beyond Banking

The Real Cost of Baby Breaks: It's no surprise that women are hit with a financial penalty when they have children (generally, they lose 4% of their income with each baby), but new research shows that figure is closer to 10% the more skilled and higher paid the new mother is. In the fast track, wages rise more quickly and the cost of taking a break to focus on family is more impactful for women in the long run than it is for men. Men get a fatherhood bonus, because they are perceived as showing "stability" and "commitment" when they have a family. Earnings tend to increase 6% for men with every child they have.

Meanwhile, in India: A six-month-old company in India has hired half a dozen people to make deliveries so far  all women. The startup, which offers delivery services for e-commerce companies, was founded to help bring women into typically male dominated professions. Delivery might seem a modest choice in terms of breaking gender barriers, but in India delivery jobs pay well for people without a college degree. Requiring women to venture out and reclaim their "share of public space" is essential to the company's founder, Yogesh Kumar. "This feeling of insecurity or putting yourself in danger has to go away," he said. "We're taking all the precautions we can, of course, but we want to change the mindset of how people see women in public spaces. We can't always think of women as a species in danger. That is maintaining the status quo, and we need to change that thinking."

If you see some news that should be included here, email us.

Visit our Women in Banking page to sign up for this news scan and join our LinkedIn group to connect with other women in the industry.
Circle Internet Financial is de-emphasizing bitcoin services to focus on global mobile payments, it said Wednesday as it unveiled a new blockchain protocol called Spark and messaging features for its existing app.

The Boston company will continue to transfer money over the bitcoin network, but will focus its resources on global social payments and "future next-generation blockchain technology," instead of supporting the buying and selling of bitcoins directly, its cofounders said in a Wednesday blog post. Users can receive and hold bitcoin in their Circle accounts and it will continue to be insured, but they can no longer buy or sell bitcoin on the app.

Circle, one of the earliest bitcoin exchange and wallet startups to emerge in the space, has also maintained one of the cleanest reputations. Last year it secured a $50 million Series C investment co-led by Goldman Sachs and the Chinese company IDG Capital  at a time when banks' bitcoin worries seemed to calm as they warmed to the promises of its underlying blockchain technology. A few months later it became the first company to receive a BitLicense from the New York State Department of Financial Services.

This year it raised another $60 million from Chinese investors to continues expanding its operations in China, bringing its total funding to date to $136 million.

"Our continued use of bitcoin as a settlement token and network behind the scenes means that Circle will continue to be a leading participant in the digital currency markets and ecosystem, with our focus on getting more digital wallets to adopt public blockchains as open transaction settlement networks," Circle's CEO Jeremy Allaire, and its president, Sean Neville, said in the post.

Instead, Circle is referring customers to bitcoin exchange and wallet provider Coinbase  which counts BBVA, USAA and former Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit as financial backers  as a preferred partner. Customers can take their bitcoin trading activity to any third party and then use Circle to convert it to dollars, euros or pounds sterling (but the cannot convert it back to bitcoin).

The announcement comes a week after a federal court in California approved a controversial request from the IRS to obtain the records of potentially millions of Coinbase users who had made digital currency transactions between 2013 and 2015, highlighting tension between compliance and customer privacy for financial institutions.

Around the time it received its BitLicense, Circle rebranded its mobile bitcoin wallet app to Circle Pay, which has launched in the U.S., U.K., and parts of Europe allowing users to hold, send, receive and convert U.S. dollars in addition to bitcoin, link credit or debit cards and bank accounts, higher spending limits and FDIC-insured deposits (held at a third-party bank). It also lets people send local currency to other digital wallets over the bitcoin blockchain.

That's the initial focus of its new open source project, Spark: connecting digital wallets globally while ensuring it meets know-your-customer/anti-money-laundering (KYC/AML) and compliance requirements. Spark is a set of additions to the protocol that provides a way for digital wallets to exchange value using blockchains, including the bitcoin blockchain, and settlement layers.

Because Spark is open source, any developer can use and implement the software. Circle said it intends to work closely with similarly minded ecosystem participants to advance the technology and integrate it with additional public and private blockchains.

The first implementation of Spark will be through two new partnerships, one with a Korean company called Korbit and the other with a Philippine company, Coins. Both remittance companies will be able to implement Circle's Spark application programming interfaces to allow U.S., U.K. and European customers to transact with customers in Korea and The Philippines. The experience would have "the speed, security and cost efficiency of distributed ledgers, but with a pure fiat-to-fiat consumer experience" and is compliant with international KYC and AML standards.

Circle Pay also introduced new messaging capabilities. The app is now organized around people instead of transactions, it said. Payments exist in an ongoing conversation between the sender and receiver, a function they likened to the more widely popular messaging WeChat and WhatsApp. In September it integrated with iMessage to allow payments transactions through Apple's text messaging platform.
AltaPacific Bancorp in Santa Rosa, Calif., has promoted its chief operating officer to a bigger role.

The $380 million-asset company said in a press release Wednesday that Frank Basirico had become its president, succeeding Charles Hall, who remains CEO.

Basirico, who joined AltaPacific in 2009, became COO last year. He joined AltaPacific's board in May.

Basirico had a brief stint as CEO of Temecula Valley Bancorp in 2008 and 2009. That company recently agreed to sell itself to AltaPacific for $16 million.

Basirico "has been essential to the strategic development and implementation of the company's merger and acquisition program, de novo branch expansion, recruitment of experienced and established bankers, and solid organic growth," Hall said in the release.
A friend is fond of saying, But for the federal government, Washington would be Richmond. Hes not dissing Richmond. Hes making the common sense observation that behemoth government is the reason DC metro thrives. After all, as of late 2014, five of the nine richest counties in the U.S. were commuting distance from Washington.

A Trumpian government reform project would reduce the federal government as an engine of DC metros wealth. That wealth has created legions of affluent professionals, in and out of government, who reside in DCs ever-sprawling reach. These government-dependent pros are about protecting their turf and growing government when possible. Its not mainly ideology that drives them; its paychecks and contract fees. Follow the money first.

The Washington metro is where there is the most concentrated number of influential constituencies for big federal government. Federal employees and contractors tend to be better educated and upwardly mobile. More than some are two-income households and can command well over $200,000 annually in combined pay. There are benefits and pensions, too. These pros make up a powerful lobby-army dedicated to advancing their interests  whether or not that conflicts with whats best for the nation. Middle and working class citizens across the republic get short shrift.

In the wake of Trumps election, American Thinkers Thomas Lifson wrote, simply: The federal government requires structural reform. That sentence has huge implications. Structural reform of the federal government isnt sexy, but a significant overhaul of it could do more to promote economic vitality and, not incidentally, safeguard our liberties than slews of other initiatives.

Donald Trump and his team of very savvy business achievers should well appreciate the need to downsize government while assuring that core functions are even better executed on leaner budgets -- and with fewer workers. This involves more than ridding Uncle Sam of waste and fraud  though thats a start.

Newt Gingrich has spoken publicly about a role in Trumps administration. He wants to be Trumps strategic planner. Thats perfect for Newt. Anyone who knows anything about Gingrich appreciates that hes spent a career pushing to reinvent Uncle Sam. Sam needs to be positioned as a leaner, meaner machine to meet the evolving challenges of the 21st Century. The federal governments professional class constituencies must be reined in and winnowed as part of the process.

Making Uncle Sam a new man is easier said than done. But if Trump isnt the guy to take on the challenge, who is? When might a similar opportunity present itself?

Lifsons article principally addressed ways of making federal employees more accountable and the need to control public employee unions. Check and check. No union should be able to impede the functions of government. As Lifson points out, collective bargaining is overdue for reform and limits.

Another reform for Trump and congressional Republicans is to make government service less lucrative. Federal employees need to revert to being public servants. In fact, language matters. Henceforth, they should be called public servants. There should be some sacrifice in working for fellow citizens. Duty over reward.

One idea: as a rule, federal government positions should offer compensation less than comparable positions in the private sector. As of 2010, according to the Congressional Budget Office, only professional degrees and doctorates were compensated at less than private sector rates. Every other employee class exceeded private sector compensation.

Cost of living adjustments for federal employee relocations should be shrunk  or, better, limited to a brief timeframe, say, 24 or 36 months. The Washington, DC, metro, which boasts an expensive cost of living, shouldnt be made affordable to public servants ongoing. If you want to make better wages and benefits, find a job in the private sector. Living in the DC metro strains your budget, move to Des Moines.

The DC metro has become home to hundreds of thousands of government employees, contractors, and others who have stakes in Big Government, Inc. They and their kids may go back to Pittsburgh to visit family at Christmas, but Pittsburgh is no longer home  particularly for the kids. Their first loyalties are to the Nats, Redskins, and Capitols, not the Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins. The Washington area shouldnt be a federal government employees permanent home.

During the depths of the Great Recession, visiting Washington, DCs precincts, one hardly knew that the nation had been hard hit by a sharp economic downturn. Oh, well, yes, housing prices dipped in DC metro, but never cratered. There were foreclosures. The economy slumped, but not for very long. Watering holes, restaurants, and boutiques were doing business. The streets were still chockfull of BMWs, Mercedes, and Volvos.

In the DC metro, theres no such thing as the rich side of town. There are rich sides of town.

Where to begin? Potomac, Bethesda, McLean, North Arlington, Northwest DC, Chevy Chase, Reston, Fairfax, Alexandria, Falls Church  among others. The median income in Falls Church City, Virginia, is $121,250 annually (tops in the nation). The median home value for a house in McLean: $887,100, with the forecast trending up. The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Arlington fetches $2,193 per month; two bedrooms run on average at $2,892.

Expensive? Right, but plenty of Washington area residents can afford the tab  off the taxes you pay. Or off the federal debt politicians are racking up  $19.9 trillion, to date. Those who cant pay the tab  or those who refuse to pay the freight to live closer in  make absurd treks to DCs exurbs, where housing prices are generally better but higher than many other locales.

Politics are, indeed, impacted by hundreds of thousands of people residing in the DC area who derive incomes directly or indirectly from Uncle Sam.

Virginia, once reliably the land of conservative Democrats, and then reliably Republican, has gone from purple to blue in the last presidential election. Liberal Democrats dominate the highly urbanized, government-employee heavy Maryland and Virginia counties ringing DC. The affluent, federal government-centric counties of Northern Virginia now routinely tip the scales in Commonwealth contests. Maryland, always Democrats turf, has become a virtual bedroom community for the federal government (Montgomery and Prince Georges counties leading the way).

Anything wrong with thriving, affluent communities and the rich who occupy them? Not when affluence comes from private initiative and enterprise, from producing goods and services that consumers need or want and voluntarily pay for. Government produces nothing; it takes, consumes, and redistributes  often incompetently. Essential services there are for governments to provide, but most services arent essential. Theres something wrong when wealth is lopsidedly generated off taxpayers. Living the good life off the ingenuity and hard work of private sector achievers and middle and working class folk in places like Kalamazoo and Kokomo is perverse.

Government service shouldnt be a destination and a way of life, as a rule (well make allowances for the military, intelligence, and law enforcement). Public service should entail sacrifices and be of shorter duration than careers in the private sector.

But for big government, Washington would be Richmond. Thats the way it really should be.
Rarely in history has a ten-minute phone call, like that on Friday December 2, 2016, been credited with raising fears of new tensions in international politics. According to the New York Times on December 4, 2016, the protocol shattering phone call between president-elect Donald Trump and the president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, leader of the Democratic Progressive party, is rattling Asia.

Irrespective of whether the telephone call was well planned for tactical reasons, orchestrated by former Senator Bob Dole, or a diplomatic gaffe on the part of Trump, or a clever political overture by Tsai Ing-wen to strengthen relations with the U.S., or simply a polite message of congratulations to Trump on his victory, the New York Times, the mainstream media, and the political correct have erred once again in their assessment of a minor event.

So far, the anticipated shaking, rattling, and rocking in Asia has not materialized. Instead, a short, polite congratulatory courtesy call from a democratically elected head of a friendly political entity has been transformed into high drama, drawing attention to China policy. Even if the phone conversation included a brief exchange of political views or proposals, those ten minutes did not attempt to change U.S. policy toward China, let alone the world. The call did not constitute a formal U.S. recognition of Taiwan.

The short phone call did not ignite any activity except in the U.S. mainstream media, nor did the courtesy call by the Taiwanese leader lead to any discussion of or indication of policy by the incoming U.S. administration towards the Far East, or touch on future U.S. policy on the controversial relationship between China and Taiwan.

Political language, George Orwell asserted, is designed to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. One can ask wherefore is the telephone call from Tsai different from the many other similar calls that Donald Trump received from leaders in the world, including Communist China and Russia.

At the outset two things are important. Since the U.S. Constitution says nothing to the contrary, the critics of the Tsai phone call, whatever their political views, should acknowledge that U.S. citizens, even a president-elect, have a perfect right to talk to whoever they like. American citizens certainly do not need approval of the Communist China regime, or even the New York Times, before making or taking phone calls. Critics of the Tsai phone call should explain why this call is different from all the other congratulatory calls to Trump from leaders around the world, including Communist China and Russia.

Trump was not naive in accepting the call and it was not a gaffe, but rather a signal of political goodwill towards Taiwan. It was certainly not as purposeful as the actions by President Barack Obama in reestablishing diplomatic relations with Cuba severed in January 1961, exchanging embassies, restoring commercial flights, negotiating agreements on a number of issues, or aiming to promote a democratic, prosperous, and stable Cuba.

The second matter is that Trump addressed Tsai as president of Taiwan, thus indicating recognition of Taiwan as a distinct political entity and independent state. Does this suggest a change in U.S. policy and stronger support for Taiwan or simply recognition of the legal position of Tsai?

At the core of the issue is the definition of the true China. Taiwan was founded by the Kuomintang (KMT), the Chinese nationalist party led by Chiang Kai-shek that had ruled the Asian mainland until overthrown by the Communist party led by Mao Zedong. The KMT fled and established their own political system, now a country of 23 million with its own political and military structure. The inherent dilemma is that all recognize Taiwan is a province of China, but there is no unanimity on what is China. Is the concept of One China fact or fiction?

For the U.S. the issue seemed to be resolved in 1979 with the agreement between President Richard Nixon and Mao Zedong and Deng Xioping that recognized China as one sole legitimate country. and the U.S. had no official diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The Communist Peoples Republic was recognized as the official country while Taiwan, that had held the seat in the UN for China until 1971, was named as the Republic of China. Official ties between the U.S. and Taiwan were abrogated.

What is important is that the U.S. does not specifically or legally approve the policy of One China. It simply accepts that the two sides, China and Taiwan, agree on the concept. Moreover, the 1979 Agreement upholds the right of the U.S. to maintain cultural, commercial, and unofficial relations with the people of Taiwan. President Trump must do this and more.

Those relations are ongoing with Taiwan, which is now the U.S.s 9th largest trading partner. In 2016 the U.S. exported $21,344 million of products to Taiwan and imported $32,580 million, a deficit for the U.S. of $11,236 million. The U.S. sold Taiwan $12 billion in arms, and by the 1970 agreement, the U.S. is obliged to helped Taiwan to defend itself. After early years of authoritarianism, Taiwan can be said to have become part of the democratic world. as was shown by the first direct presidential elections in 1996.

The Trump administration has to deal with the yearning of Taiwan to be recognized as a sovereign political state. Taiwan already has diplomatic relations with 22 countries, though they are small and developing ones, and has signed 23 agreements with China to which it sends 40% of its exports. Trump must consider adding the U.S. to the 22 countries.

Throughout his electoral campaign, Trump underscored his criticism of China, its currency manipulation, and trade sanctions. His promise was to bring back jobs from China. A persistent theme was the threat of imposing a 45% tariff on Chinese goods. The fundamental problem is that China, with 1.3 billion people, is now the worlds largest economy and expanding, though with variations, at 6.5-7 % a year. Its GDP is over $20 trillion, while that of the U.S. is $18.5 trillion. However, Chinese GDP per capita is $15,000, while that of the U.S. is $57,000.

Trump must face reality. China is the worlds largest trading power: 130 countries have China as their most important bilateral trading partner, more than double the figure for the U.S. Moreover, the U.S. is the worlds largest debtor while China is a creditor, the largest buyer of U.S. debts, and holds 10 % of U.S. national debt, and has largest foreign currency reserves. The U.S imports 18% of Chinas exports.

China is militarily and technologically strong, with its aircraft carriers, strategic bombers, cyber weapons, fighters, intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine launched ballistic missiles, and powerful fast supercomputers.

Trump has made overwhelmingly clear U.S. economic problems of trade with China, its currency manipulation, and military buildup. Already he suggests tariff on goods imported from U.S. companies located abroad, particularly in China and Mexico. Trumps main argument has been to bring back jobs from China.

Trump must counter the Chinese challenges, especially in the South China Seas and the Spratly Islands, more than 100 small islands or reefs, 500 miles from the Chinese mainland, where China is building and expanding reefs to provide radar and military facilities, and where it claims almost all the potentially resource rich waters.

Trump must also consider a shift in diplomatic relations with Taiwan, strengthening its democratic character, and also expanding the U.S. Navy in the East and South China Seas. This will take more than a 10-minute phone call.
The Azerbaijani leadership and its Baku-controlled media have remained completely silent on multiple declarations, beginning this past April, regarding the state of Israel's intent to officially annex the Golan Heights and surrounding areas. Baku should be deeply concerned because the arguments Israel uses to support such annexation pale in contrast with those already in place on the ground in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian-inhabited region that lies between the Republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The Golan Heights

Israel claims Greater Golan was part of ancient Israel, repeats refrains of we will never give it bac, the world must get used to the new reality, and who do we give it back to? None of these hold water in diplomatic circles. However, the reality is that the Golan Heights was captured from Syria in the aftermath of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, and its inhabitants and settlers are subject to Israeli civil and military laws; yet, most importantly, it has remained relatively peaceful.

Negotiations, reported as secret, have taken place between Syria and Israel over the status of the Golan Heights, the latest being sometime in 2010. Negotiations were cut off when Syria plunged into civil war. Israel was willing to return the Golan Heights to Syria in exchange for specific security guarantees, including a demonstration that the Assad government would stop acting as an Iranian proxy. This is significant because it demonstrates that Israel captured Golan, kept it under its jurisdiction, and would indeed return it for strategic security reasons. It is unknown what the fate of its Jewish population will be; perhaps they would return to Israel. Conversely today, a full annexation of Golan, Israel argues, also secures its northeastern border.

Nagorno-Karabakh

The region of Nagorno-Karabakh was arbitrarily placed under Azerbaijani jurisdiction by Stalin in 1921 after it was fought over both politically and militarily during and after WWI. The local population, which had always been majority Armenian by a wide margin, resisted this decision. Just prior to the breakup of the Soviet Union, in December of 1991, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region (or Oblast, officially designated as such in mid-1923) overwhelmingly voted in favor of not remaining under Azerbaijani jurisdiction in full legal compliance with Soviet law. After declaring independence and fighting a war imposed by Azerbaijan, a truce was negotiated in May 1994. Nagorno-Karabakh has conducted its own affairs ever since then, although aided by the Republic of Armenia. Since 1994, border areas between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan have witnessed persistent periodic shelling, sniper fire, and cross-border attacks.

Negotiations have been ongoing between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Armenia represents the interests of Nagorno-Karabakh because Baku does not recognize the existence of Nagorno-Karabakh as a political entity. Negotiations have been in a permanent stalemate because the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh claim the right of self-determination and Azerbaijan claims inviolability of its international borders.

Land for Peace

The land offered in the case of Nagorno-Karabakh was all but two western areas that connect Nagorno-Karabakh directly with Armenia, releasing the remaining eastern and southern areas to Azerbaijan if the latter recognized the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh. The result would be a people having achieved self-determination.

Historical or biblical arguments do not constitute a legally recognized basis for land claims. Reparatory demands or indigenous self-determination are better arguments, although not sufficient by themselves to unilaterally constitute a change in international political status. Reparatory claims were used to redraw boundaries in post-WWII Europe. Factors in favor of indigenous self-determination are more associated with big power interests. For example, the dismemberment of the Yugoslav Federation eventually resulted in the separation of Kosovo from Serbian jurisdiction, which was designated its own state. Kosovo has only partial international recognition and its legitimacy is not recognized by Serbia, although Serbia has started a process of normalization.

However, today is 2016 and much has changed in the five years since Israel and Syria ended their Golan negotiations. If Israel is successful in officially incorporating the Golan Heights, it would create a precedent for those peoples and regions that are in a state of uncertainty, under pressure from prevailing political forces. Israel's public relations campaign for a full Golan annexation acceptance is sure to draw attention.

This should surely worry the authorities in Baku who have thus far remained silent. Baku is silent because Israel purchases about half its crude oil supply from Azerbaijan, and Azerbaijan has purchased just under $2B worth of Israeli high technology drones, support infrastructure, and limited manufacturing licensing of additional technologies. This creates a dilemma for official Baku, who call the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh separatists, or worse, while selling crude oil to Israel, which seemingly has less of an international legal basis for the incorporation of the Golan Heights than does Nagorno-Karabakh for its self-determination. During Nagorno-Karabakh negotiations, Azerbaijan might continue to demand jurisdiction over the entire region, but Armenia would note the precedent set in the annexation of the Golan Heights  a clear violability of established borders (Bakus central argument)  one that Baku never protested.

The accompanied chart provides a relative comparison of arguments used and issues raised with respect to the self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh and the Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights. The chart is not intended to be exhaustive. The "Advantage" column entries are based on how existing realities contribute to the "Argument" or "Issue. A None means one case has no particular advantage over the other. While not a strict mathematical endeavor, the case of Nagorno-Karabakh appears stronger than that of an official Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights and surrounding lands.

Argument or Issue Golan Heights (GH) Nagorno-Karabakh (NK) Advantage 1 Historical Claim 1 Early as 953 BCE, land of Israel 1 Recently discovered 7000 year old tooth has exact DNA match with todays Armenians of NK 2 NK 2 Historical Claim 2 (currently known) At least 25 synagogues excavated 1 9+ Forts/Castles 3, 30 Churches/Monasteries 4 NK 3 Population ~50K 5, 5.1 ~147 (2013) 6 NK 4 Focus population ~20k Jewish 5, 5.1 ~147K Armenian 6 NK 5 Land area ~1200 15 ~4457 7 N/A 6 Population/sq km 42 (total) 21 (Jewish) 34 Armenian GH 7 Continuous ethnic plurality, last thousand plus years Jewish, Arab, then Druze (Jewish re-settlement post 1967) Armenian NK 8 Not included in expected territory Not part of 1923 British Palestine Mandate 1 Soviets rescinded Armenian jurisdiction, ordered Azerbaijani jurisdiction over NK in 1921 7 NK 9 Referendum on regions disposition No. GH was occupied militarily from the 1967 war Yes. Dec 1991: overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Azerbaijan. Vote was in accordance with USSR law. War fought until May 1994 7.1 NK 10 Israeli or Armenian law extended into regions Yes. 1981 Knesset enacted the Golan Heights Law extending Israels civil law, jurisdiction and administration8 No. NK has its own laws and constitution 7.1 NK 11 UN resolutions regarding activity UNSC Res. 497: dismissed Israel's control of the Golan Heights as illegitimate 9 UNSC Res. 822: withdrawal of local occupying forces from Kelbajar  10 UNSC Res. 853: ...calls on withdrawal of local Armenian troops from Agdam  11 UNSC Res. 874: ...to implement Security Council resolutions 822 (1993) and 853 (1993)...12 UNSC Res. 884: ...Condemns the recent violations of the cease-fire established between the parties ... calls upon the Gov't of Armenia to use its influence to achieve compliance by NagornoKarabakhArmenians13 NK 12 International Recognition None (Non-state) New South Wales, Basque Parliament, various US states NK 13 Unilateral associated state recognition Israel: Yes, stated its annexation intention on April 2016 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 Armenia: No. NK declared independence September 2, 19916 NK 14 Declaring international community recognize new reality Israel regarding Golan in 201614 Armenia in support of NK None 15 Abandon fixation with artificial borders drawn a century ago Israel regarding Golan in 2016 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 Armenia in support of NK 23 None 16 Land will never be returned Israel regarding Golan in 2016 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 NK 24 None 17 Land for Peace offered Yes 25 Yes 26 See article text 18 Fighting between affected sides No Yes GH 19 Refugees generated 131K Syrian citizens 27 50K from NK only. Entire conflict generated over a million refugees28 GH 20 Local defense force Israeli Indigenous NK population with defense arrangements with Armenia NK 21 International norms Military acquisition Sovereign self-determination NK 22 Acceptance campaign Widespread PR campaign capability Limited PR capability hampered by Azerbaijani hydrocarbon interests and lobbying GH 23 Strategic justification Military, Syrian civil war, (potential hydrocarbon deposits29 Self-determination and security for an indigenous population30 NK

David Davidian is an Adjunct Lecturer at the American University of Armenia. He has spent over a decade in technical intelligence analysis at major high technology firms.
As a kid, when I got up in the morning, there was no more welcome a sight than a box of donuts on the kitchen table. Of course, I liked to eat donuts, but that was not the reason I welcomed their arrival. No, what the donuts told me was that while I was sleeping, my father had arrived home safely.

My father was a police officer in Newark, New Jersey, a city in which bad things routinely happen to good cops. As South Carolina police officer Michael Slager has learned the hard way, today, bad things can happen to good cops just about anywhere.

The lead sentence in a CNN report on Monday of this week tells us why Slager is in a jam (italics added): "A prosecutor vowed Monday to retry a white former police officer charged with killing an unarmed black motorist in North Charleston, South Carolina, after the jury failed to reach a verdict following 22 hours of deliberation."

The insertion of racial qualifiers would lead one to believe that the incident had something to do with race. It did not. CNN just wishes it had. A media willing to roast white cops who do everything right  Ferguson's Darren Wilson comes to mind  yearn to condemn those cops who have done something wrong.

Slager would appear to be one such cop. Those running the state of South Carolina certainly think so. By placing him in the cell next to Dylann Roof, the man who wantonly murdered nine black churchgoers, they signaled to the community that Slager was just another racist killer, equally deserving of a life in prison.

Unasked in the rush to judgment was a fundamental question, the answer to which affects not only Slager's future, but also that of every other police officer in America. Simply put, should we imprison otherwise good cops for making bad decisions?

Nothing Slager had done prior to the Walter Scott shooting led anyone to think of Slager as anything but a good cop. A Coast Guard veteran with five years on the NCPD and the married father of an infant son, Slager pulled Scott over for a taillight violation on a Saturday morning, told Scott politely why he had done so, and returned to his vehicle to write Scott a warning ticket.

As he did so, Slager saw Scott bolt from his own car and run off. He immediately pursued him. "In my mind at that time was, people don't run for a broken taillight. There's always another reason," Slager testified in his own defense.

Slager chased the heavyset Scott before catching up to him in a vacant lot. He yelled "stop" and then "Taser! Taser! Taser!" With a warning given, he fired both sets of electric darts. After the second shot, Scott fell, and Slager tried to subdue him while calling for backup.

Scott resisted, grabbing the stun gun and ripping it out of Slager's hand. "After observing the two men struggle on the ground and hearing the sound of a Taser gun," said witness Feidin Santana, "I began filming the altercation with my cell phone."

The video picked up as Scott broke free of Slager's grasp. "I knew I was in trouble," Slager testified. As Scott started to run away, Slager fired multiple times, killing Scott. Said Slager, "I fired until the threat was stopped as I was trained to do."

In recent years, other police officers have been tested much as Slager was. A January 2009 incident captured on video served as something of a prototype for those that followed. Following a chaotic early-morning brawl on a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train in Oakland, BART officer Johannes Mehserle, thinking he had grabbed his Taser, shot and killed Oscar Grant, 22. After several nights of rioting, prosecutors charged Mehserle with murder, and Hollywood made a movie celebrating Grant's life.

In October 2014, Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke shot and killed knife-wielding Laquan McDonald from ten feet away. McDonald, 17, had been suspended from school and arrested multiple times before the shooting. Van Dyke, a fourteen-year veteran of the CPD, has a wife and two children. When the video of the shooting surfaced a year after the fact, protests followed, and Van Dyke was promptly charged with first-degree murder and held, initially at least, without bail.

In September 2016, Tulsa sheriff's deputy Betty Shelby was promptly charged with first-degree manslaughter for fatally shooting motorist Terence Crutcher. A nine-year veteran with a clean record, Shelby told interviewers she feared for her life. An investigator thought otherwise, telling the media Shelby became "emotionally involved to the point that she overreacted." If convicted, Shelby faces a minimum of four years in prison, a maximum of life.

In cases like these, Slager's included, the defense often relies on a 1985 Supreme Court ruling. The ruling posits that if the officer "has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a threat of serious physical harm, either to the officer or to others, it is not constitutionally unreasonable to prevent escape by using deadly force."

In Slager's case, Scott had already shown his willingness to attack a police officer and resist arrest. In the second or two after Scott broke free, Slager had to decide whether Scott posed a threat to those in the neighborhood.

A more useful long-term defense for all four of the officers cited above  and in all comparable cases  would be an appeal to the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The amendment insists that no state "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." These officers have been denied that protection for two reasons, one more obvious than the other.

Let us presume for a minute that each of these officers, in a moment of extraordinary stress, made a lethal error. Mehserle clearly did. "Oh, my God!" he repeated over and over after shooting Grant. Fatal accidents happen in many other professions as well  medicine, the military, firefighting, construction  but only cops face prison for their mistakes.

Today, of course, the odds that a cop will be imprisoned increase dramatically if the cop is white and the deceased is black, as was true in every case cited above. If the DOJ were to run a "disparate impact" study on judicial outcomes, the results would be obvious beyond debate: white cops do not receive anything like equal protection under the law. The threat of riots makes the judicial fate of all accused cops more precarious still.

The police are aware of their legal vulnerability. In Chicago, in October 2016, a large black man badly beat Parta Huff, a white female officer. "As I was at the hospital last night visiting with her," said black police superintendent Eddie Johnson, "she looked at me and said she thought she was going to die and she knew that she should shoot this guy but she chose not to because she didn't want her family or the department to have to go through the scrutiny the next day on the national news."

Not only are the police suffering from this mayhem, but so also are the residents of cities like Chicago, who are caught in the blowback from the so-called "Ferguson effect." When the police pull back  and who can blame them?  the gangsters move in. So far this year, Chicago has experienced more murders than New York and Los Angeles combined.

If there is one man responsible for provoking this madness, it is Barack Obama. Oscar Grant supporters in Oakland began their riots two weeks before his inauguration. After every incident since, Obama has used his power and prestige to incite the protesters.

One very good way for Obama to undo the damage of his presidency would be to pardon Michael Slager and explain why. I know; don't tell me  and maybe one day pigs will fly.
Years ago, Rush Limbaugh coined the term low-info voters. The term perfectly describes Americans, like 95% of my family, who only get their news from the mainstream media. Consequently, low-info voters do not know that the mainstream media is not fair and balanced. The mainstream media has become strong-arm enforcers of political correctness and operatives of the Democrat Party; 100% focused and committed to furthering the socialist/progressive agenda.

Yes, I remember when I was a kid my black Baltimore City firefighter dad told me, The Republicans are for the rich and the Democrats are for the little guy; the working man.

A few years ago, I was able to convince my 89-year-old dad that this ain't the Democrat Party of his youth. Dad's Democrat Party has been hijacked by old hippies. They reject Christianity while vowing to arrest anyone speaking badly of Islam. They use public schools to teach our kids to despise all things traditional, wholesome, patriotic, and good.

They are the ones who have, for the most part, made it criminal to publicly say you believe marriage should remain as it has been for thousands of years and how God intended; between one man and one woman (Genesis 2:24). They are the ones banning Nativity scenes and banning saying Merry Christmas.

They are the ones banning teachers addressing students as boys and girls, claiming gender distinctions are intolerant, discriminatory, and bigoted. They are the ones pushing the extinction of blacks via a disproportionate high number of black abortions. This is why it continues to frost me when low-info idiots in my black Christian family continue to pledge their brain-dead loyalty to Democrats while calling me their Uncle Tom relative.

The Left uses a highly effective tactic. They brand any pushback against them cramming their progressive agenda down our throats as extremism. This tactic works great with so many low-info voters.

Here is how it works. The Left says they want burly men with beards, dressed like lumberjacks, to be permitted to use women restrooms if they inwardly feel like a woman that day. Husbands, fathers, and brothers across America politically said, no way. We are not allowing grown men in restrooms with our little girls, wives, and mothers.

Government mandating this insane restroom policy and leftist businesses like Target embracing it has led to rapes and molestation in women's restrooms. And yet, guess who the mainstream media and Democrats attack, calling them extremist? Answer: all those who oppose men in women's restrooms. In an attempt to demonize and silence American's common-sense disagreement, the Left claims anyone opposing men in women's restrooms hates homosexuals and want to see them tortured and murdered.

If you oppose the left removing crosses from memorials, removing the Ten Commandments from public buildings, banning Nativity scenes and banning saying Merry Christmas, the left claims you're an extremist who hates homosexuals, suppresses women, and wants to cram your religion down everyone's throat. Do you see how the left's extremism tactic works? They are the aggressors, but call you an extremist when you simply say, No.

Clearly, the left has launched a pedal-to-the-metal campaign to cram their progressive agenda down our throats. For example: a Zales jewelry TV commercial featured a lesbian wedding. Homosexuals are only 2% of the population. So why is featuring a lesbian wedding necessary? While fearful to admit it, most Americans still instinctively know that marriage is between one man and one woman. But if they dare say it out loud, the left will try to destroy them by branding their belief in tradition and biblical teaching extreme; outrageously claiming they hate homosexuals and want to see them tortured and murdered.

The Left's tactic of branding the slightest opposition extremism has silenced many. I believe Trump in the WH has already begun liberating Americans from the left's tyranny of political correctness and muzzling of free speech. I realize the left will distort my statement to mean Trump has opened the flood gates to express hate. Nonsense.

The truth is that leftists are the ones who boldly and relentlessly spew hate against Jesus, Christians, Republicans, conservatives (black and white), white people, and police. Heck, leftists have even given marching orders to their minions, declaring it open season on killing whites and police. Have you heard the slightest rebuke from the mainstream media? No.

All I am saying is Trump has Americans timidly coming out from the shadows; feeling a little less afraid of exercising their Constitutional right to express their religious and political views.

And that brothers and sisters, is good for all Americans.

Lloyd Marcus, The Unhyphenated American

Chairman: The Conservative Campaign Committee

http://www.lloydmarcus.com/
Leon Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance has been detested and denigrated by the social sciences community since its first formal description in 1956. As a result, a lot of what people have been taught about it is wrong -- specifically, the theory is mainly about the consequences of emotional disequalibria caused by conflicts between beliefs and reality, and only tangentially about the intellectual discomfort (cognitive dissonance) felt by those holding two opposing views at the same time.

The question Festinger was interested in was how the overwhelming majority of Germans, people who worked hard, paid their bills, and went to church on Sunday could genuinely hold Christian moral views and yet see nothing wrong about working to exterminate Jews, retardates, cripples, and the otherwise socially undesirable -- and that question reverberates today because the same behavioral pattern that has driven mob behaviors ranging in scale from Mao's roughly eighty million dead to my sister in law's insane anti-Trump rants, underlies both the production of, and the response to, much of what we think of as fake news.

Festinger's description of the processes that lead to morality denying behavior among groups of believers features multiple stages during each of which a small minority drop out of the process but a majority escalate their commitment, seek to further strengthen their belief by proactively searching out confirmatory opinion (a process that includes proselytization) and increasingly substitute emotional and physical violence for rationality in the rejection of contradictory information.

In this context, it is easy to see why people who want to free drug dealers and cure child rapists and murderers through therapy see nothing wrong with jailing climate change deniers, favor abortions for their social lessors, and resort immediately to the vilest of ad hominem attacks when their beliefs are challenged.

Thus the search for confirmatory opinion drives the widespread acceptance of falsehoods about specific enemies whether those are individuals (Sarah Palin did not say "I can see Russia from my house"); organizations (neither the Trump campaign nor the GOP as a whole exhibits systemic racism or homophobia); or merely identifiable groups (the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity at UVA did not rape "Jackie", cops don't preferentially shoot blacks, and there is no 97% scientific consensus on anthropogenic warming). Similarly, the avoidance of contrary information drives believers to select information sources, like the New York Times, Salon, and CNN, that can be relied on not to mention people like Bob Creamer or Scot Fogal; not to point out that Ezekiel Emanuel's ethical musings largely replicate those of Nazi eugenicists; and to gloss over dozens of major Obama era scandals ranging from Holder and the New Black Panthers to the IRS and EPA abuses.

Since dissonance reducing behaviors are part of the normal human psych they can reliably be taken advantage of. Marketers do this, for example, to strengthen brand loyalties: GM's ads showing a Ford F-150s aluminum load bed being damaged by a steel toolbox thrown at just the right angle are aimed, for example, at reducing the rate at which GM customers are defecting to Ford, not at expanding its own customer base.

Thus the third, and possibly worst, form of fake news starts with a deliberate lie told with a specific intent to deceive that is then picked up by news services which lose the distinction between reporting that someone said or did something and the truth of what they said or showed. The most obvious examples of this in current American politics are the lies the Obama administration told to sell ObamaCare: as Jonathan Gruber has repeatedly jeered, everyone, from Obama on down, knew these were lies, but most of the liberal media dropped the distinction between reporting that, for example, Obama said "if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor" to report, instead, that ObamaCare would let those who wanted to keep their existing plans keep those plans.

Gruber hasn't been the only one to brag about this kind of intentional abuse of the leftist media platform: in a New York Times Magazine interview Ben Rhodes, justified by fawning media as the president's alter ego on foreign policy, described how he developed and implemented a fake news plan that both appealed to those looking for reasons to justify their support for Obama's actual pro-Muslim, anti-Israeli, policy and set up cognitive barriers against those wishing to draw public attention to what was really happening.

A short gush from the article illustrates the process:

For much of the past five weeks, Rhodes has been channeling the president's consciousness into what was imagined as an optimistic, forward-looking final State of the Union. Now, from the flat screens, a challenge to that narrative arises: Iran has seized two small boats containing 10 American sailors. Rhodes found out about the Iranian action earlier that morning but was trying to keep it out of the news until after the president's speech. "They can't keep a secret for two hours," Rhodes says, with a tone of mild exasperation at the break in message discipline... Price turns to his computer and begins tapping away at the administration's well-cultivated network of officials, talking heads, columnists and newspaper reporters, web jockeys and outside advocates who can tweet at critics and tweak their stories backed up by quotations from "senior White House officials" and "spokespeople." I watch the message bounce from Rhodes's brain to Price's keyboard to the three big briefing podiums -- the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon -- and across the Twitterverse, where it springs to life in dozens of insta-stories, which over the next five hours don formal dress for mainstream outlets. It's a tutorial in the making of a digital news microclimate -- a storm that is easy to mistake these days for a fact of nature, but whose author is sitting next to me right now.

Like Gruber's gloats, the story revealed too much -- producing a predictable rush to self-justification in the catspaw media Rhodes was using to manipulate public opinion. Here's a bit from Joe Cirincione writing for Politico in such haste and anger that his subhead "None of us was taking the Obama administration's word for it on the Iran nuclear deal", still contains an obvious grammar error:

A devious president and his top aides trick the nation into a dangerous foreign entanglement with the help of a gullible press corps and complicit experts. George W. Bush and war with Iraq? No, Barack Obama and diplomacy with Iran. At least according to David Samuels' telling in an instantly controversial article for this past Sunday's New York Times Magazine about White House adviser Ben Rhodes. Rhodes, whom I know, is very talented, but he is no modern-day Rasputin casting a spell over Obama, the press and public. The truth is that Samuels used his access to Rhodes to attack a deal he never liked and publicly campaigned against. In his article, Samuels claims Obama was "actively misleading" the public about Iran. He says the president made up a story of how the 2013 election of pragmatic Iranian President Hassan Rouhani created a new opening with Iran. This, so Obama could win "broad public currency for the thought that there was a significant split in the regime." This, in turn, claims Samuels, allowed Obama to avoid a "divisive but clarifying debate of the actual policy choices" and eliminate the "fuss about Iran's nuclear program" so that Obama could pursue his real agenda: "a large-scale disengagement from the Middle East." Every element of this thesis falls apart under scrutiny.

On the surface this response looks like an ad hominem attack on Samuels coupled with repeated claims to shared possession of some objective Truth -- that we know that every element of the Rhodes story is false because we know it to be false. More subtly, Cirincione's is a worldview with exaggerations and elisions: values filters adding certainty and weight to some factors while deleting others to fit reality to preferred perceptions.

This is really what fake news is: a sometimes intentional and sometimes unintentional combination of lies of commission serving the needs of those seeking confirmatory opinion with lies of omission serving those seeking to reject contrary information.
Using the same skill set he employed during the presidential campaign, President-Elect Trump has crafted another public drama around a storyline of his choosing. A highly predictable story arc  a series of subplots that unfold as time passes  is in store for the public.

Trump has done this sort of thing before. And unlike any previous president, he is an incredibly successful impresario/performer in episodic reality television. A substantial fraction of the electorate follows politics at the level of reality television, and Trump knows how to reach them.

His early-morning tweet of December 6 was an attention-grabbing opening scene:

Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2016

His tweet and subsequent Trump Tower lobby comments about the Air Force One contract ignited a massive amount of coverage and comment. But Act One of the story, as seen by the public Trump is targeting, is that he is criticizing waste in government spending and picking on something that is actually a perk of the presidency. Trumps use of the word cancel in his tweet was his customary dramatic start to a negotiation, letting the other side know that it has to give something in exchange for what it thought it already possessed. While the media nattered over its appropriateness and even legality, the public understood that Trump was calling on Boeing to do better.

The day after his tweet, Trump kept the storyline alive by confirming the commonsense interpretation of what he was up to with the use of the word cancel:

"Well I think the planes are too expensive," Trump told NBC host Matt Lauer on the "Today" show. "I spoke to a terrific guy yesterday, the head of Boeing, and I think we're going to work it out, but you know, that's what I'm here for  I'm going to negotiate prices."

Here is why I think Trump is going to be able to save money and in addition accelerate the projects delivery date. Boeing first responded to the next CEO of its largest customer and revealed the current economic stakes:

Boeing on Tuesday responded to President-elect Donald Trump's criticism over the cost of a new Air Force One plane, saying the contract is actually for $170 million.

The sunk costs so far do not exceed $170 million, mostly spent on preliminary planning and engineering on a four-billion-dollar (eventually) contract. The sunk costs so far are much less than the federal government squandered on Solyndra, by comparison. This is the perfect stage for Trumps people to come in and put his cost-conscious philosophy to work. Trumps views are being brought to bear early in the process. There is no half-finished hulk in a hangar at Paine Field in Everett, Washington that would need to be abandoned. Quite the contrary: Under this contract, Boeing and its contractors are mapping out a project that will take eight more years, because a lot of equipment has to be imagined, scoped out, planned, and engineered, and then made to work in concert with a lot of other engineering underway. Its a huge task, and inevitably, problems arise. That is how progress is made: by learning from failures. But it is slow and expensive.

Conceptual image by Boeing

The airframe itself is the least of the cost. The extensive capabilities demanded of a flying White House is what is so expensive. While I am not knowledgable about the specifics of the project, we do know already that a project like Air Force One probably is not being conducted under strict budget discipline. When you push the state-of-the-art, incremental improvements tend to get very expensive. Often one can get 90% of the performance for a small fraction of the price of the most exotic, custom-engineered new trailblazing technologies. And it is understandable that nobody wants to pinch pennies when Air Force Ones capabilities are involved.

Under a regime such as this, contractors, including Boeing, get to develop potentially very valuable new technologies on the taxpayers dime. This, incidentally, is the sort of thing Airbus claims is a subsidy to Boeing. That is why two airplanes can cost four billion dollars or more.

My guess is that Trump wants to use the basic approach he used when he saved the foundering Wollman Rink project in Central Park. Instead of the advanced technology chosen by the citys officials (Freon circulated in expensive and fragile copper pipe  in the name of energy savings), Trump brought in much cheaper established technologies (circulating brine) that used a little more energy but were reliable. Trump also got the advice and help of the best people in the business of building ice rinks. Trump brought in the project in four months and 25% under budget, not the two years the city had planned for its next attempt to finish the rink six years after it had been closed for renovations.

The new Air Force One is incomparably more complex than an ice rink, but Trumps approach to the cost and completion issues of advanced technologies is likely to draw on the pattern of action he displayed at Wollman.

I would assume that Trumps people who review the contract and negotiate with Boeing are going to want to hear the arguments against using more established technologies that are off-the-shelf or cost-effective modifications of existing components and systems. There may be ways of redefining capabilities that are currently demanded. For instance, the specifications for this Air Force One reportedly demanded four engines in the name of reliability. But the new-generation high-thrust engines are so reliable that old restrictions on twin-engine flight are disappearing. Twin-engine airliners routinely fly over vast empty oceans many times a day. The era of four-engine airliners is closing, with the 747-8i and Airbus 380 both languishing as their backlogs shrink. There would be no economic advantage in substituting a Boeing 77W or 787-10 for the 747 frame, since the four-holers are available and are being discounted in order to move the metal, as they say in the industry. But there may well be other specifications that safely could be relaxed.

If the Trump administration follows this approach of using more existing systems and weighting cost and speed more heavily than seems to have been the case to date, it could set up a great long-term story: bringing in the new-generation Air Force One not just on time and on budget, but ahead of the old schedule for substantially less money. If this is the approach taken, expect Trump to highlight every step of the process, perhaps even visiting the Assembly Building to thank the workers building the plane and providing irresistible images.

Air Force One is a potent symbol of the nation and the presidency, right up with the White House. Donald Trump understands the power of symbols, and he consciously or intuitively grasps that a whiff of heroism attaches to the plane in popular culture.

In his own life, Trump has demonstrated a grasp of the symbolic power of a personal airplane as a branding device. The Trump Organization flies a fleet of private jets, of which the 757 nicknamed Trump Force One is the flagship. This documentary from the Discovery Channel is actually instructive for understanding how Trump runs his private airline, demanding a lot and employing people dedicated to getting it right and on time.

This dramatic storyline of Air Force One is exactly what is needed to change the behavior of Pentagon weapons buyers. They need to weigh costs more heavily into the equation and eschew all the fun of pushing the state-of-the-art. New procedures and other changes from above are one thing, but getting buy-in from the operating staff is important. The Air Force One model could become a very valuable tool in changing the culture of weapons procurement. In addressing military culture, which values leadership by example, Trumps use of the presidents private craft as the example of how to wring out costs is sheer genius. If this all plays out as predicted here, The Air Force One Story will be far more than a personal media stunt; it will serve as an effective tool of reform of our military.

Cost savings on Air Force One: maybe a hundred million to a billion dollars?

A stronger military delivering weapons systems on time and under budget: priceless.
Remember how windmills were used in the 19th century to slowly turn a wheel that could grind corn meal? Well, Google has proudly announced that its thousands of servers are being powered by this cutting-edge technology. Except that they are not.

Last year, Google consumed as much energy as the city of San Francisco. Next year, it said, all of that energy will come from wind farms and solar panels.

That's a lie. When Google lies, why doesn't the New York Times headline its piece saying "Google falsely claims," as it does about Trump?

The online giant said on Tuesday that all of its data centers around the world will be entirely powered with renewable energy sources sometime next year.

Another lie.

This is not to say that Google computers will consume nothing but wind and solar power.

That's what the Times just said in the previous sentences.

Like almost any company, Google gets power from a power company, which operates an energy grid typically supplied by a number of sources, including hydroelectric dams, natural gas, coal and wind power. What Google has done over the last decade, with relatively little fanfare, is participate in a number of large-scale deals with renewable producers, typically guaranteeing to buy the energy they produce with their wind turbines and solar cells.

In other words, Google, which has cash to burn, has paid for the production of inefficient wind and solar power, but it is not actually, from moment to moment, using such power. And the reason why is very obvious. Wind and solar, in addition to being much more expensive than oil and gas, are inconsistent sources of power.

Can you imagine doing a Google search and having the results freeze because it has suddenly become cloudy in Arizona? Can you imagine clicking on a Google link and nothing happening because the wind became calm around turbines in Concord, California? That's the biggest problem with "renewable" energy sources, and why Google, for all its propaganda, will never be largely powered by it.

"We are the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy in the world," said Joe Kava, Google's senior vice president of technical infrastructure. "It's good for the economy, good for business and good for our shareholders."

No, Joe  it's bad for the economy, because it is much more expensive. It is bad for business because those without a lot of money to burn have to raise prices to compensate. And it's bad for shareholders because it doesn't produce economic value for the company.

Whether Google is the largest buyer of renewables would be difficult to verify, as many industries do not release data on how much energy they consume

Why bother to check or verify any statement Google makes?

The 5.7 terawatt-hours of electricity Google consumed in 2015 "is equal to the output of two 500 megawatt coal plants," said Jonathan Koomey, a lecturer in the school of earth, energy and environmental sciences at Stanford.

Do you notice how the article tells you how many power plants Google needs (two), but will not tell you how many hundreds of square miles of solar panels or thousands of windmills it needs to meet that demand?

Google has long championed uses of alternative energy. In 2007, it patented an idea for a floating data center that would be powered by waves. It was never built. Less fanciful, but so far equally fruitless, have been schemes to source lots of geothermal power, or capture the high-velocity winds of the stratosphere with large kites.

When a company has a monopoly, and a lot of money, it can do fanciful things.

At the very, very bottom of the article is a small voice of reason:

Critics note that while Google might be adding wind and solar to the world's power grid, overall it is still dependent on fossil fuels, since sun and wind power are intermittent, while demand for things like YouTube cat videos is continual. "In my mind it's a P.R. gimmick," said Chris Warren, vice president of communications at the Institute for Energy Research, a think tank in Washington supported largely by donations from individuals and companies in the fossil fuel industry. "If they think they can actually support themselves with wind and solar panels, they should connect them directly to their data centers."

Maybe it would be easier if they stop trying and just keep cranking out press releases.

Ed Straker is the senior writer at NewsMachete.com.
Pity hapless Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, anxiously awaiting the delivery of a fainting couch from Bobs Discount Furniture.

First cheated out of a plum spot as a US Senate majority committee chair, or the chance at joining Hillarys cabinet as Treasury Secretary.

And now she must reckon with the increasing flyweight stature of the Massachusetts Democrat Congressional delegation, along with her own voice buried in a global warming blizzard of electoral repudiation.

Warrens initial swing-and-miss labeled Steve Bannon, Trumps White House strategic advisor, a white supremacist -- offering zero evidence to justify her slur.

Bannons crime has been to exhort economic nationalism, while denouncing globalization that has eviscerated the working class, an aggrieved group whose presumed sympathy from Warren has been all talk and no action. In an unheralded speech delivered to a Vatican group in 2014, Bannon pre-empted Warrens evergreen Festivus rants against the excesses of Wall Street investment banks, and crony capitalism.

How embarrassing for Warren to be co-opted by an imaginary oppressor, also unrepentant in refusing to surrender to identity politics, and the language police, the only currency circulating in Warrens grievance state -- where her opponents are racists, sexists, and all-purpose meanies.

Warrens second whiff arrived with her unhinged shrieking that Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trumps nominee to be Attorney General, is a racist. In his former life as US Attorney for Alabama, Sessions successfully prosecuted, obtained a conviction, and sought the death penalty for a KKK leader who abducted and murdered a black teenager. Subsequently as Alabama state Attorney General, Sessions ensured that the KKK leader was executed. With later civil actions, Sessions bankrupted the remains of the KKK in Alabama.

And imagine racist Sessions offering this praise for President Obamas pick of Eric Holder as Attorney General in 2009: "Congratulations, Mr. Holder, on the nomination. You certainly bring excellent background and experience to the job as a federal prosecutor for a number of years and as a federal judge."

Soon thereafter, Sessions led a minority of Republicans to vote yes for Holders confirmation.

Meanwhile Sen. Warren has endorsed Minnesota congressman Keith Ellison to be the next chair of the Democratic National Committee. Ellison, first elected to Congress in 2006, and a long time pal of Louis Farrakhan, has a sordid history with the black nationalist Nation of Islam, roundly condemned for its virulent anti-Semitism by even the reliably hate-conservatives-first Southern Poverty Law Center.

And under the alias Keith Hakim Ellison advocated a separate nation-state carve-out for black Americans, reprising the American Colonization Society founded in 1816 that led to the establishment of Liberia. How enlightening, and such a noble gesture to promote racial, and cultural healing.

Sen. Warren should join Amazon Prime. From ammonia smelling salt ampoules to menthol camphor vapor rubs, with one click she can endure an interminable consignment into the cranberry bogs, sand dunes, and salt marshes of a Commonwealth once the Hub of Universe, now a political backwater of her own making.
Remember when Trump supposedly blundered into a diplomatic minefield he had no comprehension of by taking a phone call from the President of Taiwan? The same media that dismissed his presidential run as comedy were dead certain that disaster lay ahead in a complex and delicate diplomatic relationship.

So committed are Trump haters to the idea that he cannot possibly have outsmarted them that they never bother to consider that a plan may be at work. Average Americans understand that the devastation of our manufacturing sector is in large part the result of that delicate diplomatic balance, and the notion that it might be disrupted sounds as satisfying as watching stuffy rich lady Margaret Dumont receive her comeuppance at the hands of Groucho Marx.

Yesterday, Donald Trump revealed a brilliant choice for Chinese ambassador on Facebook, bypassing the media once again.

President-elect Donald J. Trump today announced his intent to nominate Governor Terry Branstad of Iowa, the longest-serving governor in American history, to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to China. Gov. Branstad's relationship with President Xi Jinping dates back to the mid-1980s, when President Xi was a young county official seeking a closer relationship with Iowa's robust agriculture sector. Governor Branstads decades of experience in public service and long-time relationship with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders make him the ideal choice to serve as Americas Ambassador to China, said President-elect Trump. He successfully developed close trade ties with China while serving as chief executive of the Hawkeye State. That experience will serve him well as he represents Americas interests and further develops a mutually beneficial relationship with Chinese leadership. "After long discussions with my family, I am honored and humbled to accept President-elect Trumps nomination to represent our great country as Ambassador to China," said Gov. Branstad. "I have known President Xi Jinping for many years and consider him an old friend. I look forward to building on our long friendship to cultivate and strengthen the relationship between our two countries and to benefit our economy. I am grateful for the opportunity I had to serve as Governor of Iowa and I look forward to serving in this extraordinary new role. Chris and I will always keep Iowa close to our hearts." Gov. Branstad is the longest serving governor in American history, having served from 1983 to 1999 and again from 2011 until the present. Since leading his first delegation to Hebei Province in 1984, the Governor has led six trade missions to China meeting with numerous provincial governors, ministerial leaders and local officials. Gov. Branstad is considered an old friend, a culturally significant title, by President Xi and has a long-standing relationship with the Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai. Gov. Branstad collaborated with the Ministry of Agriculture for China, including meetings with Minister Han Changfu and has worked closely with Madam Li Xiaolin of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries to further relationships between states in America and Chinese provinces. Gov. Branstad was born, raised and educated in Iowa. A native of Leland, Branstad was elected to the Iowa House in 1972, 74 and 76, and elected as Iowas lieutenant governor in 1978. Following his four terms as governor, Branstad went on to serve as president of Des Moines University from 2003-2009. On November 2, 2010 he was again elected governor where, under his leadership, the state of Iowa's unemployment has fallen to 4.1 percent, well below the national average. Gov. Branstad supports President-elect Trumps mission to negotiate trade deals that put Americas interests first. He will work with President-elect Trumps economic team to negotiate fair trade deals that create American jobs, increase American wages, and reduce America's trade deficit. He will also work with President-elect Trumps national security team to implement an America First foreign policy that will advance Americas core national interests and promote regional stability.

The claims about the importance of being an old friend are spot on. Personal relationships are extremely important in Chinese political and commercial culture. Branstad is just the guy to talk about where this relationship is going from now on, now that political realities in the United States have changed and the people have spoken.

The fact that Trump was able to talk Governor Branstad out of continuing to break the record for longer-serving governor shows me that big plans are afoot with China. This appointment did not occur to Trump after the Taiwan phone call.

Once again, Trump is thinking at least two chess moves ahead of the haters.
Donald Trump says he wants more legal immigration  a lot of it.

President-elect Donald Trump veered off his anti-immigration message Tuesday night and told a crowd in North Carolina that hundreds of thousands of immigrants will come in during his administration. "We are going to stop people coming into this country illegally but we are going to be having people come into our country  and they are going to come in by the thousands and the hundreds of thousands  but they are going to come in, they are going to come in, legally," Trump said. "But by the hundreds of thousands. We want people to come in but they have to come in legally."

Why? We have enormous unassimilated pockets of America where nary a word of English is heard. Shouldn't our first priority be to assimilate the immigrants we have before we admit even more? Trump's comments are disappointing.

Trump also said children of illegal aliens, so-called "Dreamers," will be happy with what he has planned for them.

President-elect Donald J. Trump on Wednesday appeared to soften his stance on whether to deport the more than 700,000 young people who entered the country illegally as children and were permitted to stay by President Obama. "We're going to work something out that's going to make people happy and proud," Mr. Trump told Time magazine. "They got brought here at a very young age, they've worked here, they've gone to school here. Some were good students. Some have wonderful jobs. And they're in never-never land because they don't know what's going to happen."

Trump talks like a liberal. I feel as though I'm reading a transcript from an NPR show. He's showing more empathy for illegal aliens than he is for American citizens. Shouldn't it be the concerns of Americans he should be considering first, before the feelings of illegals? These people are taking taxpayer money and American jobs, some committing crimes, and many are not assimilating and speaking English, and Trump wants them to stay?

Ever since Trump posed for a photo with illegal aliens, it's been obvious where his true sympathies lie. While I believe he may do many good things as president, such as build a border wall (now reduced to a fence), possibly appoint good judges, and reduce regulations, I think, based on Trump's own words, that most of our illegal aliens are here to stay. Because if the kids are being allowed to stay, surely their parents will be as well.

Ed Straker is the senior writer at NewsMachete.com.
FNCs Andrew OReilly reports (my italics):

With the Wisconsin Election Commission working since last Thursday -- when Stein paid $3.5 million for the recount after alleging reports of fraud -- there has been little change so far to the unofficial results reported on Election Day. Trump won the state by 22,000 votes over Clinton.

In a twist, Trump is gaining.

By Wednesday morning, Trump had widened his victory margin over Clinton in Wisconsin by 146 votes, with 23 of the state's 72 counties having finished their recounts as of Tuesday. In those counties, Trump gained 105 votes and Clinton dropped 41 votes...

Whatever Steins reasons, it appears the recount has been more of a help than a hindrance to Trump, who saw the number of votes for him go up in several counties.

In Green Lake County, which sits about 100 miles northwest of Milwaukee, the unofficial results from election night had Trump winning with 6,213 votes to Clintons 2,701. The recount found that Trump actually received 6,216 votes while Clinton lost eight votes to finish with 2,693.

And in those counties where Clinton picked up votes on Trump, Wisconsin officials said the number was not enough to influence the results.

The overall results will not change, Magney said. Its two votes here, two votes there.
Pozzo di S. Patrizio, or the St. Patrick's Well, is a historic well in Orvieto, Umbria, central Italy, built between 1527 and 1537 at the behest of Pope Clement VII who had taken refuge at Orvieto during the sack of Rome by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Fearing that the citys water supply would be insufficient in the event of a siege, the Pope assigned the task to architect-engineer Antonio da Sangallo, who had worked extensively in Rome during the Renaissance.

Hailed as a masterpiece of hydraulic engineering, the cylindrical well plunges down more than 50 meters in a double helix design, carrying two one-way staircases one going up and another going down. This allows people and donkeys loaded with water vessels to move without obstruction. At the bottom is a bridge where people could walk on and scoop out water. Large windows, placed diametrically opposite to each other, light the staircases naturally. This design was unique at the time, because there are no other wells like it anywhere in Europe.

Photo credit: orso/Panoramio

The well was originally named Pozzo della Rocca, or the fortress well, as it is close to the Albornoz fortress, that stands on the hill of St. Elias. It was later named after St. Patrick inspired by the medieval legend of St Patrick's Purgatory, where God revealed to him a pit in the ground telling him that it was the entrance to Purgatory.

Before the well was completed, Pope Clement VII and Charles V reconciled their differences and the town was never besieged. However, the digging continued and in 1537, ten years after work first began, St Patricks Well was completed.

Photo credit: James Good/Flickr

Photo credit: James Good/Flickr

Photo credit: James Good/Flickr

Entrance to the well. Photo credit: Gwendolyn Stansbury/Flickr

Sources: Wikipedia / Ancient Origin / www.inorvieto.it
For nearly fifty years, St. Georges Church in the village of Lukova, in Czech Republic, lay abandoned. The last congregation held in this 14th century church was in 1968, when a funeral service was in progress and the ceiling and part of the roof collapsed sending everyone running outside. The terrified locals took it as a bad omen and never ventured inside. The church slowly crumbled away while sermons and services were held outside. The communists looted everything of value that was inside paintings, statues, the church bell and the clock tower. The church organ was damaged.

Cut to 2014. A professor at the Department of Design and Fine Arts at the University of West Bohemia asked his third-year Bachelor students to a find a suitable but dilapidated church for an installation artwork. Each student was to find for themselves their own church. Some students found churches that had only the foundation or a few walls, but Jakub Hadrava, knew exactly where to find an abandoned but nearly intact church.

Photo credit: Yahoo

Jakub Hadrava got in touch with a local resident, Petr Koukl, who became intrigued at the prospect of having the church repaired. Although in disrepair, St. Georges church was in good shape. Its roof was damaged but the interior was still functional, and thats all Hadrava needed for his sculptures.

Hadrava built more than a dozen life-sized ghostly figures dressed in robes and seated them in the churchs pews. He explains how he made the figures:

I decided to make figurative sculptures from plaster, which means getting the help of models who you prepare to cast. In my case, the models were fellow students. I did one cast in the church itself but after that I made a copy of the bench or pew and cast the sculptures at school. It means wrapping the model in plastic and a raincoat to protect their skin, then adding the different textiles dipped in plaster to create the overall shape and their hoods. A single statue, with a little luck, took around half-an-hour to complete.

Hadrava ghostly installation attracted an enormous amount of attention bringing visitors from all around the world. Petr Koukl says they had visitors from Germany, England, Australia, Brazil, Russia. Eventually, this project kickstarted an interest in saving other dilapidated churches in the area.

Petr Koukl has now raised enough fund to install a new roof. He hopes the church will soon be restored to its former glory.

Photo credit: iridiumetric/imgur

Sources: www.czech.cz
Google had talked about the Android N update during Google I/O back in May, but the company did not officially release what is now known as Android 7.0 Nougat update until a couple of months ago. Android 7.0 Nougat is now available on a number of devices, including the Sony Xperia XZ and Xperia X Performance which got the update quite recently, the LG V20, and so on. A recent rumor suggested that the Huawei P9 and Huawei Mate 8 could start getting the Android 7.0 Nougat update in the near future, and that is exactly what just happened, read on.

According to a report that surfaced in China, some users are already getting Android 7.0 Nougat-based EMUI (Emotion UI) 5.0 update. Now, were still not sure whether this process is limited to China just yet, but it seems like it is. Do keep in mind that other markets should start getting the update in the near future, though, presuming theyre not getting it already. The Huawei P9 comes with a B352 firmware version in China, while the Mate 8 comes with a B552 firmware version. So, if you have either of these two devices (maybe you purchased one from China), you can update to Android 7.0 Nougat as we speak, though do keep in mind that not all devices got the update straight away, it can take a bit of time before the phone actually lets you know that the update is available, and you can always check if it is available manually through settings.

We still dont have any info when it comes to the changelog for Android 7.0 Nougat on either of these two devices, but the Huawei Mate 9, Porsche Edition Mate 9 and Mate 9 Pro come with Android 7.0 Nougat and EMUI 5.0 out of the box, so you should be getting a similar experience on both the Huawei P9 and Mate 8. This update includes a number of Android 7.0 Nougat features youve seen on other smartphones, like the new notification shade options, though all that looks different here because of EMUI 5.0. Youre also getting a redesigned UI, and a number of new features and fixes added to the skin itself. Other Huawei and Honor-branded smartphones will probably start getting this update soon as well, so stay tuned for that, well let you know as soon as more info surfaces.

Advertisement

Buy the Huawei Mate 8

Buy the Huawei P9
The smartwatch, and by a broader scope, the wearable industry, has not been doing to well in the past few years. Many thought that wearables would be the next big thing after smartphones, but they are still a fairly niche product, with really only fitness trackers taking off, instead of smartwatches. Google launched Android Wear back in 2014, as a platform for wearables, although it mostly only has smartwatches right now (one could argue that the Polar M600 is more of a fitness tracker or even a fitness watch than a smartwatch). And these products havent sold as well as they, or their partners had hoped. So they are looking at other ways to promote these products, and get users to pick them up especially in the midst of the Holiday shopping season. The latest is The Magic Minute Project.

This new project saw Google team up with about 30 people, they say that this group of people include makers, doers, and dreamers. And they created a collection of one-minute videos that celebrates what time means to all of us. One of the examples they used is a 300-word rap in just a minute from Andrew Huang. Then there is Kie Willis who did a time trial in Parkour in under 60 seconds, and many others. All of which you can check out at the source link below. These videos all showcase different Android Wear-based smartwatches. Google says that some of the smartwatches featured in The Magic Minute Project include the ASUS ZenWatch 3, ZenWatch 3, Michael Kors Access, Moto 360 2nd Gen, Moto 360 Sport, Huawei Watch, Nixon Mission, Polar M600, Fossil Q Wander, Fossil Q Marshal, Casio Smart Outdoor Watch and the LG Watch Urbane.

Google is also opening up the Magic Minute Project to everyone. Stating that users are able to submit their own Magic Minute films and they may get featured on the website dedicated to the project. These films can be anything from painting, coding, cooking, raping or even playing. The possibilities truly are endless. All of these smartwatches which Google showed off in the Magic Minute Project, are still available for purchase at the Google Store and other retailers. The majority of them will be getting the update to Android Wear 2.0 when that launches in the first quarter of 2017.
The Galaxy Note 7 is no longer available for purchase, as many of you know. The companys flagship phablet got recalled twice following serious issues, the device basically had a tendency to go up in flames while charging. Having that in mind, the Galaxy S7 Edge is, next to the Galaxy S7, still the most powerful Samsung-branded smartphone out there. The company had recently introduced two new variants of the Galaxy S7 Edge, the Blue Coral and Black Pearl models. These two devices are identical to the rest of the Galaxy S7 Edge variants, except for the fact Black Pearl model comes with 128GB of internal storage.

Having that in mind, Samsung has just launched the Blue Coral Galaxy S7 Edge variant in India. The company had started rolling out this variant of the device to select markets last month, and its Indias turn it seems. The Black Onyx, Gold Platinum and Silver Titanium Galaxy S7 Edge models are already available in India, which makes the Blue Coral the fourth available iteration of the Galaxy S7 Edge in the country. The Galaxy S7 edge has witnessed a tremendous response from Indian consumers. The new color variant is one of the trendiest must-have colors of the year and will compliment personal styles and offers a touch of sophistication. Coupled with a premium design and impeccable functionality, the new variant will surely add to the phenomenal success of the Galaxy S7 edge in India, said Manu Sharma, Vice President of Samsungs Mobile Business in India. The Blue Coral Galaxy S7 Edge handset is priced at Rs. 50,900 ($755) in India, and will be available starting December 15th across India from authorized stores, both offline and online. The phone will be available directly from Samsung, through their online store, and also from Flipkart.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge features a 5.5-inch QHD (2560 x 1440) Dual Edge Super AMOLED panel, along with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage. The device is, in this case, fueled by the Exynos 8890 64-bit octa-core processor, and a 3,600mAh battery is included on the inside, and you do get fast charging here. The 12-megapixel camera is placed on the back of the Galaxy S7 Edge, and a 5-megapixel shooter is available on the phones front side. Android 6.0 Marshmallow comes pre-installed on the device, along with Samsungs custom user interface. There are two SIM card slots available in this variant of the smartphone, and the phone is also IP68 certified for water and dust resistance. If you need more info about the Galaxy S7 Edge, take a look at our full review of this smartphone.
Motorola had introduced several interesting smartphones this year, led by the Moto Z and Moto Z Force smartphones, which are the companys flagship offerings for 2016. Having that in mind, the company had released some more affordable devices as well, phones like the Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus, and also the Moto M which actually arrived last month. The Moto M handset was originally announced in China, but it was only a matter of time before it arrives to other markets. We presumed that the phone will launch in India, though we did not have any official info, well, until now.

The company has started sending out invitations for the Moto M launch in India. If you take a look at the provided image, youll get to see a sketch of the back of the Moto M, and that, in addition to the rest of this image, more or less confirms that the Moto M is coming. Motorola is describing this handset with the following words: mesmerizing, masterful and majestic. The image reveals that the Moto M handset will land on December 13th in India, the event is starting at 11:30 (local time). Now, the company is almost certainly planning to release the same device they announced in China last month, both in terms of the design and specifications. This means that well get a metal-clad handset which will sport the Moto branding below the display, and a rear-facing fingerprint scanner. The devices power / lock and volume rocker keys will be placed on the right, and its SIM card tray will be available on the left.

Now, considering the Moto M had been announced in China last month, we have its specs as well. The Moto M features a 5.5-inch fullHD (1920 x 1080) AMOLED display, 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage (expandable up to 128GB via a microSD card). The device is fueled by the Helio P15 64-bit octa-core processor running at 2.2GHz, while the Mali T860MP2 GPU is also a part of this package. On the back of the device, youll notice the 16-megapixel snapper (f/2.0 aperture, 1.0um pixel size, PDAF), along with the dual-tone LED flash. The 3,050mAh battery is included here, and it offers fast charging, while there are two SIM card slots available inside of this phone. Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow comes pre-installed on the Moto M, and the device weighs 163 grams. The Moto M was originally launched in Gold and Silver color options, and chances are both of those colors will be available in India as well.
Introduction

Do we have a good one for you today  the ASUS ZenFone 3 Ultra goes up against the Google Pixel XL. The Ultra uses a new Aerospace-grade aluminum alloy body, and ASUS cleverly hide the antenna lines on the side of the device and eliminate those lines on the back of the device. The Pixel XL has a polished glass and metal back where the fingerprint sensor resides. Both devices have a solid build and a nice, clean, design, although the ASUS ZenFone 3 Ultra would probably win in the looks department. Lets look at some of the similarities between these two devices before we look at each one individually.

The ZenFone 3 Ultra and the Google Pixel XL have very little in common. The size difference starts us off on the wrong foot. At 5.5-inches, the Google Pixel XL is considered a phablet but wielding a 6.8-inch display, the Ultra could be regarded as a small tablet  certainly not something, you would be comfortable carrying around in your pocket as an everyday driver. Besides the screen size, the Ultra uses IPS LCD technology and an FHD resolution, whereas the Pixel XL uses an AMOLED display and a QHD resolution. Both use a Snapdragon processor and Adreno GPU for graphics, but different models. They both pack 4GB of RAM and offer expandable memory. Both devices have a great camera area, and either one will satisfy any photo buff and large enough non-removable battery to get you through the entire day and both offer rapid charge. They both have a fingerprint sensor for unlocking your phone and the Pixel XL can authorize mobile sales as well. The usual suspects are there WiFi, Bluetooth v4.2, GPS, and a reversible Type-C USB port for charging and data transfer.

Advertisement

Please take a careful look at the detailed Specifications Comparison chart below and here you will see just how these two great devices stack up against one another  click on the View Full Comparison link at the end of the chart to expand the details. After that, we will look at each device in greater depth and point out some of its pros and cons. From all of this information, we will try to determine the winner based on specs and execution of design and functions.

Specifications

Google Pixel XL

Getting rid of the Nexus era and bringing in the Google Pixel era helps Google to have its own ecosystem, much like Apple, where you purchase only Google products because they all work together. The Google Pixel smartphones are the first to incorporate Goggle Assistant directly onto the device. From your Pixel XL, you can communicate directly with Googles new Home products. Google is hoping that if you buy one device, you will want them all. For this comparison, we will be looking at how well the Google Pixel XL with its polished glass and metal construction holds up to the all-metal ASUS ZenFone 3 Ultra.

The Google Pixel XL comes with a 5.5-inch QHD AMOLED display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels with 531 pixels-per-inch (PPI.) Google used the newest Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 quad-core processor with a dual-core clocked at 1.6GHZ and a dual-core clocked at 2.15GHz and said to increase performance by 10-percent. It is paired that to the powerful Adreno 530 GPU to handle those demanding graphics. It packs 4GB of DDR4 RAM and 32GB or 128GB of the faster UFS memory, as there are no means to expand the built-in memory. Google did include a large 3,450mAh battery for power, and it has rapid charge capabilities.

Advertisement

It was nice to see Goggle include a terrific camera in both Pixel models. The Nexus 6P had a great camera, and we were hoping for the same from Google this year. When we first looked at the specifications, they seemed quite modest  with only a 12.3MP sensor for the primary camera along with an aperture of f/2.0, phase detection autofocus (PDAF,) a dual-tone LED flash, and no OIS, instead opting to use EIS (Electronic Image Stabilization.) However, after DxOMark tested the camera, it was awarded an 89  the highest rating yet for a smartphone camera. Google also included an 8MP front-facing camera (FFC) that comes with a f/2.0 aperture, a 1.4m pixel size, and 1080p video support. This combination of specs offers up great selfies to share with your friends on social media as well as video chatting.

The new Google Pixels are priced rather high for what you get as they did not include a lot of bells and whistles such as a heart rate monitor, exercise app, or memory expansion. You will find Google Assistant built in that will work with other Google products such as Google Home. Of course, you can make Android Pay and mobile payments. It will be running Android 7.1 Nougat out of the box and receive the fastest software updates. It is only IP53 rated against dust and splashing water. The Pixel XL measures in at 154.7 x 75.7 x 8.6mm and weighs in at 168 grams. There are three different colors available: Quite Black, Very Silver, and Really Blue (a limited edition color.) The Pixel XL comes with either 32GB or 128GB of storage, and it will cost you about $770 for the 32GB model.

ASUS ZenFone 3 Ultra

Advertisement

ASUS are well known for computers but wisely started producing smartphones. For its new line of ZenFone 3 smartphones, ASUS made many improvements. They are a beautiful all-metal body with the antenna lines hidden in the edges of the device. The Deluxe model is the actual flagship of the three whereas the Ultra, is so named because of its large 6.8-inch display. The ZenFone 3 Ultra model with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of UFS memory is the model we will be comparing today. Lets take a closer look at the Ultra model and see just how it stacks up against the Google Pixel XL.

The ZenFone 3 Ultra is more like a tablet with its massive 6.8-inch IPS LCD display and Full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and 324 PPI. The Ultra is a little larger than most people would want to carry around all day in your pocket. ASUS went with the mid-range 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 octa-core processor with a quad-core clocked at 1.4GHz and a quad-core clocked at 1.8GHz. ASUS uses the Adreno 510 GPU to handle the graphics. It boasts 4GB of slower DDR3 RAM (a restriction of the processor) and 64GB of faster UFS 2.0 memory  like that used in the Pixel XL  but is expandable to 200GB via a microSD card.

ASUS really improved the camera area on their new models with the Ultra model having a primary camera with a large 23MP Sony IMX318 sensor with a f/2.0 aperture, 6-element Largan lens, and 0.03-second TriTech Autofocus  it uses both Laser and Phase Detection Autofocus (PDAF.) ASUS even went with a 4-axis OIS for more stability and then added a dual-tone flash. The ZenFone 3 Ultra gives you an 8MP FFC with a f/2.0 aperture and 85-degree wide-angle lens for selfies and video chatting. A large, non-removable, 4600mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0 powers the device.

Advertisement

The ASUS ZenFone 3 Ultra comes with a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor for unlocking the device, although it lacks an NFC chip for mobile payments. It has a nice pair of bottom-mounted stereo speakers that will make watching movies and videos more enjoyable. The Ultra arrives running Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with the newest ZenUI 3.0 running over the top. The Ultra measures 186.4 x 93.9 x 6.8mm and weighs in at 233 grams. It is available in Glacier Silver, Titanium Gray, or Metallic Pink and it will cost you about $480 with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of memory.

And The Winner Is

Advertisement

The Final Word

As far as specifications go  the Pixel XL is the clear winner here. It has a better display (AMOLED QHD), better processor, faster RAM (DDR4 vs. DDR3), and GPU. The Pixel XL has NFC for mobile payments and is IP53 certified for water splashes. These features come with a price tag of $770. Using the Pixel also gives you access to Google Assistant.

The ZenFone 3 Ultra has an ultra large display and dual speakers that make it an ideal device to watch movies or videosnot to mention the 4600 non-replacement battery. For just under $500, it is quite a buy, but you miss many excellent specifications. If you only use the device for watching movies or playing games, then the cheaper Ultra may be the best device for you. However, if you want a real flagship with the best of everything, then the Pixel XL is one for you.

Advertisement

[socialpoll id=2405698]
Uber is most likely the most popular ride sharing service, and it is widely used by people around the world. Having its roots in San Francisco, the ride hailing service has now expanded globally, though it is facing challenges from certain governments which want to regulate the service. However, Uber tries to make the best of it and is pushing on, and this time around, it has updated its community guidelines, so that riders and drivers alike will have a more pleasant ride and drive respectively.

In a post on its official website, Rachel Holt, the head of Uber in North America explained the new guidelines, which of course the company expects all users to adhere to from now on. Under the new community guidelines, Uber stresses a few main rules. First of, riders must respect drivers and other passengers, which includes no shouting, slamming the car door, or swearing at each other. Also, riders will have to pick up after themselves and leave the vehicle in the same state when the ride first began, meaning a rider should not leave litter in the car. Physical contact with drivers or fellow riders is also not allowed, meaning there shouldnt be any touching or flirting with occupants of the car, and sexual conduct is strongly frowned upon. Contact with the driver or fellow passengers after the ride is over is also against the guidelines. If any of these guidelines are not followed, Uber will terminate your account upon further investigation.

A guideline for Uber drivers has also been posted and according to it, drivers are expected to maintain a standard of quality which is based on star ratings, cancellation rate and acceptance rate of rides. When it comes to safety, the same rules which is applied to riders, is applied to drivers, including no physical and unwanted contact with riders, and no usage of foul language. Uber also has zero tolerance for the usage of drugs and alcohols by drivers while driving. If any of these rules are broken, the driver risks being banned from being an Uber driver. If you would like to checkout the complete updated community guidelines, you may click on the source below.
Thursday 8

The Selection: Special Operations Experiment (History 8:03pm) Yup, its yet another in TVs now endless line of reality game show-ish competitions that force ordinary people to endure military-style basic training (for no prize money). Just watch Full Metal Jacket instead.

Friday 9

White Rabbit Project (Netflix streaming anytime) Former Mythbusters Grant Imahara, Tory Belleci and Kari Byron are on Netflix now, testing science-based myths. ... Just dont call it Mythbusters.

Albert (Nickelodeon 5pm) In this animated special, a tiny Douglas fir tree named Albert dreams of becoming Empire Citys most famous Christmas tree. ... So, lemme get this straight, Al: Youre a sentient tree who wants to have his roots hacked off with an ax, get tarted up like an elven streetwalker and be fed into a woodchipper come January?

Joe Pera Helps You Find the Perfect Christmas Tree (Cartoon Network 1am) Actor/ director/ comedian Joe Pera (The Pancake Breakfast Critic) assists you with your holiday decorating. ... Hey, I know this Douglas fir name Albert.

Saturday 10

A Christmas Wedding Date (Lifetime 6pm) I think its cute that youre going for a slice of the made-for-TV holiday rom-com pie, Lifetime. But Hallmark has got this covered.

Merry Ex-Mas (TVOne 6pm) Dean Cain and Kristy Swanson? Yup, that is a high-quality cheese plate to serve with a made-for-TV holiday rom-com. Kudos for stepping up, TVOne. But youre still way behind the curve.

A Nutcracker Christmas (Hallmark 6pm) Amy Acker (Angel, Person of Interest) as a ballet dancer traumatized by Christmas because her sister died on the night she was supposed to dance in The Nutcracker? Years later, her niecewhom shes now raisinglands the lead in the same ballet? Turns out the ballet is being directed by our Christmas-hating ballet dancers ex-boyfriend? This is why youre the kings, Hallmark.

Sunday 11

Lip Sync Battle Shorties (Nickelodeon 6pm) Why should adults have all the embarrassing fun? Kids can lip sync too, ya know!

The Simpsons (KASA-2 7pm) The Simpsons get into the holiday spirit, helping Krusty spend Christmas with his estranged daughter.

The Making of Frozen: A Return to Arendelle (KOAT-7 9:04pm) Disney gives viewers a sneak peek at the sequel to Frozen, coming out ... sometime in the future.

Monday 12

The Greatest Holiday Commercials Countdown 2016 (KWBQ-19 8pm) Between commercials, The CW counts down the top 12 commercials!

Tuesday 13

Rock the Troops (Spike TV 7pm) Dwayne The Rock Johnson pays tribute to Americas armed forces by letting Nick Jonas sing at them. Also, Lynyrd Skynyrd. And Flo Rida. ... Looks like somebody hit random.

Wednesday 14

The Top 12 Greatest Christmas Movies of All Time (KWBQ-19 7pm) And tune in next week when The CW counts down the 12 greatest Christmas countdown specials.

A Pentatonix Christmas (KOB-4 7pm) Its Christmas. I suppose I can allow a single a capella TV special. But only if we dont have to hear them on Dick Clarks New Years Rockin Eve.

Star (KASA-2 8pm) From the creators of FOXs hit musical drama Empire comes ... another musical drama. But this one has Queen Latifah and Lenny Kravitz.
Elizabeth Decker, 90, of Columbia, Mo. A memorial service is planned at the Holiday Inn Express, Beatrice, on Dec. 10, 2016 from 5 to 9 p.m.

Mary Ellen Frazee, 80, Summerfield, Kan. Celebration of life services Friday, Dec. 9, 2016, 11 a.m. at the Presbyterian Church, Summerfield, Kan. Burial to follow in the Summerfield Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials will be designated at a later date to familys choice.

Dr. Floyd Walter Hansmire. Graveside services are at 2 p.m. on Dec. 12, 2016 at the Fairbury Cemetery. Following the interment, a reception and light meal to follow at 4 p.m. at the Elks Lodge in Fairbury. Memorials will go to the Bonham Theatre Project, Box 22, Daykin, NE 68338.

Donna Beth Laue, 64, of Tecumseh. Funeral services at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016 at the St. Pauls United Church of Christ (Maple Grove) Church, rural Tecumseh, with Rev. Eric Biehl officiating. Visitation will be at the Wherry Mortuary in Tecumseh, Friday, Dec. 9, 2016 from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Memorials may go to the familys choice. Interment will be in the St. Pauls U.C.C. Cemetery, rural Tecumseh.

Kevin P. Patterson, 36, of Beatrice. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016 at the First Presbyterian Church in Beatrice with Reverend John Duling officiating. Interment will be at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., at a later date. Closed casket visitation will be 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday at the Griffiths-Hovendick Chapel in Beatrice with the family greeting friends from 6-8 p.m. A family prayer service will be held at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday at the church. A memorial has been established to the family's choice with the funeral home in charge.

Richard Dick Petersen, 73, of Rockwall, Texas. A celebration of Dicks life will be held at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2016, at the Petersen home. In lieu of flowers, memorials in his name can be made to the Honor Flight Network at www.honorflight.org or the charity of your choice.

Janet Lee Wilhelm, 79, of rural Tecumseh. Memorial services at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11, 2016 at the St. Johns Lutheran Church in Tecumseh, with Rev. Jason Wolter officiating. Visitation will be at the Wherry Mortuary in Tecumseh, on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., with family greeting friends from 2-4 p.m. Inurnment will be in the Spring Creek Cemetery, northeast of Tecumseh.
The 2016 Adam Foundation Prize winner Annaleese Jochems contributes a chapter from her award-winning novel,. Anna Jackson returns from the 2016 Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship to contribute three poems and a sound recording. Other poets in this issue include Airini Beautrais, winner of the 2016 Landfall Essay Competition, and Nick Ascroft and Bill Nelson, who have both published new books with Victoria University Press this year. There is fiction from Christine Utz and poetry from Justin Cox, both teachers at The University of Iowa and convenors of this summers IIML Iowa Workshops, hosted at Victoria. This years edition also sees a diverse selection of fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry from past, present, and future IIML Master of Arts and PhD students.
NCGA's Program Evaluation Division finds contractors not holding counties accountable for failure to report waste or fraud

The state's Medicaid program is not detecting or preventing waste, fraud, and abuse due to lack of staff, bureaucratic cooperation, and proper documentation, and the Medicaid Program Integrity Section is paying outside contractors much more to root out those problems than they return in savings, a state Program Evaluation Division report concluded.Chuck Hefren, principal program evaluator for the Program Evaluation Division, told members of the Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Oversight Committee recently that problems at the state Department of Health and Human Services' Division of Medical Assistance, which administers the Medicaid program, do not end there.The DMA's Program Integrity Section has failed to compile available reports from various federal and state agencies and law enforcement sources into a meaningful tool to detect improper Medicaid payments for services, or to identify the best areas to target to reduce problems before they occur, Hefren said.The Program Integrity Section also has not held accountable county Departments of Social Services that are conducting inaccurate Medicaid eligibility reviews but not sharing lost costs of ineligible payments as a result of their mistakes with the state, Hefren said.The Program Integrity Section was created to help ensure compliance and efficiency with Medicaid operations by detecting waste, fraud, and abuse, recovering improper payments, and identifying opportunities for cost avoidance.The section is responsible for referring potential fraud to the state Department of Justice's Medicaid Investigations Division for prosecution. But Hefren said the number of referrals has declined 84 percent, from 122 in 2012-13 to 20 in 2014-15.Performance issues with the Program Integrity Section arestate Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, said during debate on the report. Hise is co-chairman of the Senate Health Care and the Appropriations on Health and Human Services committees.In the past Hise has told Carolina Journal the state Medicaid system is "very ripe for fraud" due to insufficient eligibility determinations and renewals.State Medicaid Director David Richard told committee members he objected to the process the Program Evaluation Division used to compile its report, and said theas a result.He disputed that the Program Integrity Section refers fewer cases to the Medicaid Investigation Division. Some now channel from Medicaid Managed Care Organizations to Program Integrity, and are tabulated differently, but the totals remain consistent with past years.The Program Evaluation Division report made several reform recommendations for the General Assembly to consider. Richard said his agency is willing to work with lawmakers.Richard said some of the report's criticisms have been or are being addressed. Some report findings used to illustrate underperformance are inaccurate, he said, because they were reviewed on a one-year time frame. One example he cited was recovering overpayments, a process that can stretch over more than one year.In the 2015-16 fiscal year, 66,255 providers delivered Medicaid services to 2,295,654 poor, pregnant women and children, aged, blind, and disabled people. Medicaid consumes 17 percent of the state budget, so reducing waste, fraud, and abuse, and implementing cost-effective programs are top priorities.The Program Integrity Section contracted with four private providers to do pre-claim and post-claim reviews to determine if payments were proper, and to perform data analytics to identify areas to monitor for abuse.Hefren said the Program Integrity Section paid private contractors $8.6 million of its $13.8 million budget in fiscal year 2014-15. The contractor performing pre-claim reviews was paid $1.04 million, but saved the state only $370,000. Two contractors performing post-claim reviews were paid $2.6 million more in state funds than the state recouped from their work.The Program Integrity Section focuses too much of its analytics and pre-claim and post-claim reviews on areas such as personal care, behavioral health, and ambulance services, which accounted for just 8.5 percent of Medicaid claims payments in 2014-15, while doing little to no review of skilled nursing facilities, prescription drugs, and inpatient/outpatient hospital services, which totaled 52 percent of claims, Hefren said.The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid conducted a Payment Error Rate Measurement for North Carolina in 2013 that found $664.5 million in wrongful payments, an error rate of 6.7 percent. That was actually an improvement over 2010, when the error rate was 11.9 percent, and the value was $798.6 million.The Office of State Auditor audited the Medicaid program and found a payment error rate projected at $835 million for 2014-15. In defending the Medicaid program then, as he did at the legislative committee meeting, Richard said those scrutinizing the program don't always work with those operating it, which can result in misunderstandings and misinformation.While most of the legislative meeting centered on programmatic ways to catch payment errors, some warned that piling on more regulations could be counterproductive.Robert Leandro, a health care partner at the Parker Poe law firm in Raleigh, said he supports the findings of the PED report, but cautioned that under current prepayment reviews,output providers must submit to the Medicaid program.Providers do not receive payments while under review, so cash flow problems arise in addition to the growing administrative burden, for which they might not have the money to hire additional staff. As a result, providerstheir Medicaid clients, which reduces their options for health care, Leandro said.Knicole Emanuel, a Medicaid attorney at the Gordon & Rees law firm in Raleigh, testified that Medicaid auditors sometimes force providers to satisfy regulations that are stricter than those required by state law.One personal care company got cited for not donning shoes on a Medicaid patient.Emanuel said. Another provider was cited for using purple ink on a form instead of blue or black ink.
It is the eve of Thanksgiving. I look forward to this day about as much as the holiday, itself. Today is the day to bake pies and wash linens for overnight guests. The grocery stores are buzzing and many folks are packing their bags. Fancy dishes are being brought out from cupboards to be washed and porch lights will be left on, later than usual, to welcome loved ones home.I am making pumpkin, chocolate and banana cream pies, today. I am not sure why, but it just seems like pie is the traditional dessert for Thanksgiving. When my sister and I were little and took to arguing, our grandmama would say "you two would argue in a pie factory!" meaning we would rather fuss than eat pie! I can still hear her saying that, she said it so often.I am tidying up the old farmhouse and hoping the turkey thaws. I am making another large batch of biscuits for the "dressing"-and will light the kitchen fireplace to add to the holiday atmosphere. I have been saving some pricey candles for the holidays and they will be lit shortly.The weather is perfect- a cold night and a bright day ahead. Most often the trees are bare for the holiday, but this year a few colorful leaves remain boasting their tribute to autumn. I will gather a branch or two for the table. There will be wood smoke in the air from the hearth of the rabbit patch and frost will cover the pumpkins in the morning light.I am hoping to be up when the frost is on the pumpkins. I put the turkey on and drink coffee while the house starts to smell like Thanksgiving morning. Breakfast will be especially light, so to improve the appetite for the traditional feast.There is just something about Thanksgiving that stirs me deeply. I think about the first Thanksgiving, when the Native Americans gathered with those from across the ocean, who had come to make new lives. I think of the women from both sides, preparing different foods in different ways. Surely language itself, presented an obstacle. There is no telling how many practices of religion were present that day, yet in spite of all the differences, they united for a meal and gave thanks together. I suppose the children played together, as children still do today without barriers. I hope tomorrow, hearts across the nation, will unite for the sake of showing gratitude. The older I get, the more I think about such things.There are a lot of ways to live a life, but it seems to me, that practicing gratitude might be one of the best habits we can assume. Such a habit acts as tonic, I think- and it goes so well with pie.
Congress Will Vote Soon On A Continuing Resolution That Provides North Carolina With More Than $300 Million To Assist With The Recovery Effort

Contact: Daniel Keylin

Daniel Keylin daniel_keylin@tillis.senate.gov

- Today, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), delivered a Senate floor speech to provide an update on the Hurricane Matthew recovery effort. Senator Tillis and his staff worked with Congressional appropriators and the North Carolina Congressional delegation to secure more than $300 million in initial recovery assistance for North Carolina, which is contained in the Continuing Resolution that was released last night. Congress is set to vote on the Continuing Resolution this week.
Kathy Manos Penn

In 2014 for the first time, we left town for Christmas and enjoyed a picture-perfect holiday at Amelia Island. In the past, my husband and I hosted Holiday meals for varying size crowds. The guest list ran the gamut from cousins, aunts, siblings and friends to just my mom and the two of us. After Mom passed away in the Spring that year, we wanted to create a new tradition for just the two of us, one that would make the holiday a little less sad. Our trip fit the bill.Picture us walking up the front stairs of the Elizabeth Pointe Lodge to a wraparound porch, and sighing, "Ahhh," as the long traffic-filled drive faded from our memories. The lobby was reminiscent of a New England B&B with the added attraction of an expansive ocean view. The Christmas tree in the corner, the inviting sitting area, and the aroma of freshly baked cookies combined to take our breath away.We had opted for the Christmas package, which meant another treat greeted us when we opened the door to our room. There we found a bottle of champagne chilling alongside a platter of cheese, crackers, and chocolates. We set aside the champagne and snacks for later and drove the short distance to Brett's Waterway Cafe in Fernandina Beach for a late lunch, where we sat outside in our shirtsleeves and enjoyed the sunshine as we overlooked the marina. After a nap, happy hour in the Lodge, and time in the porch rockers, we were so relaxed that we decided to return to the cheese and champagne in our room and forgo dinner out. It was a lovely start to our Christmas vacation.Our stay at the Lodge came complete with a daily breakfast buffet, including cooked to order eggs. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast surrounded by the ocean view and then hit the beach for a walk. That became our morning routine.The Lodge offered lunch but not dinner, so I relied on the helpful staff to handle our Christmas Eve and Christmas day dinner plans. Our Christmas package came with a gift certificate to David's, so we reserved Christmas night dinner there and a Christmas Eve meal at Joe's 2nd Street Bistro. With those plans made, we knew we'd be able to fend for ourselves for the remainder of our meals.Christmas Day we set out to bicycle through Fort Clinch State Park and the quiet town. Fortified once again with a hearty breakfast, we weren't hungry for a big lunch but did want a snack. Jack & Diane's on Main Street fit the bill with their eclectic menu and a huge selection of craft beers. As the day turned chilly and wet, we ended our afternoon with another nap. Dinner at David's that evening was a festive and delicious wrap-up to our day.We spent our last full day wandering through the shops that line Main Street in Fernandina Beach, enjoying the historic downtown decked out in Christmas finery. The next morning, we lingered over breakfast wishing we didn't have to leave. Our visit was everything we'd hoped for, and the inclusion of yet another gift certificate in our Christmas package, good toward our next stay at Elizabeth Pointe Lodge, made a return trip seem inevitable. And, you guessed it, that's where we'll be this year.
Viet Nam has opened its first meeting of officials from the 21 APEC member economies as incoming chair of the worlds largest regional economic group.

Over the next two days in Ha Noi, APEC Senior Officials will decide their policy priorities for reinvigorating trade and growth in 2017 among their diverse economies, which together account for half of trade and 60 per cent of GDP globally.

Economic growth of APEC and beyond is strongly hit by weakening commodity prices, global trade and the tightening of monetary and fiscal policies, said Viet Nams Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh. The risks that can arise from the advancement of new technologies are increasing and may widen the development of disparity among economies.

We need to strengthen inclusive and resilient communities where people and businesses are placed in the center, he explained to the Asia-Pacifics trade policy community. Efforts must be made to improve resilience to economic volatilities and financial shocks, as well as disasters and epidemics.

They will build on the reaffirmation of support for greater Asia-Pacific trade and investment articulated by APEC Leaders in Lima while taking into account significant changes afoot in the regional landscape.

There is a clear recognition in APEC of the enduring power of trade to boost job creation and living standards but that some adjustments in approach will be necessary moving forward, said Dr Alan Bollard, Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat.

Concerns about fairness and equity provide an opening for APEC to advance globalization 2.0 that is softer, more inclusive and palatable, he noted. The focus must be on whos benefiting and whos being hurt, and how to communicate and compensate better.

Senior Officials will consult with representatives from the regions business community, policy researchers and civil society on ways to address these issues as anti-globalization and protectionist pressures mount.

They will also consider the findings of APECs newly concluded two-year collective strategic study on realizing a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific as well as the regions new roadmap on the development of servicesits fastest growing sector and biggest source of employment.

This includes emerging opportunities to integrate small businesses into digital trade, among other areas critical to boosting trade and sustainable growth that benefits more of the regions 3 billion people.

On the threshold of the digital age, we need to strongly facilitate small and medium-size enterprises by supporting them to enhance their competiveness, innovation and participation in global value chains, Deputy Prime Minister Minh continued. In a globalized world of profound change, APEC needs to assume greater responsibility as an incubator and driver for economic growth and integration.

With formal, legally binding institutions under strain, APECs voluntary, consensus-based approach to policy innovation is well-suited to keep regional efforts to deliver next generation trade and investment going, Dr Bollard explained.

Viet Nam exemplifies the uplifting potential of market integration and trade, he concluded. As Chair of APEC in 2017, it will play a central role in determining the next steps for economic cooperation and ensuring that it brings the results people all around the region are counting on.

# # #

For further details, or to arrange possible media interviews, please contact:

David Hendrickson +65 9137 3886 at [email protected]

Michael Chapnick (in Ha Noi) +65 9647 4847 at [email protected]

More on APEC meetings, events, projects and publications can be found on. You can also follow APEC onand join us onand
BISMARCK, N.D.  A company with a history of oil field-related spills in North Dakota and Montana is being hampered by winter weather in its cleanup of a "significant" pipeline break that leaked crude oil into a tributary of the Little Missouri River in western North Dakota, a regulator said Thursday.

Bill Suess, an environmental scientist with the North Dakota Health Department, said the Belle Fourche Pipeline Co. spill was discovered Monday by a landowner near Belfield. The cause of the leak is under investigation and the amount of the spill is unknown, in part because of recent blizzards and subzero temperatures throughout North Dakota, he said.

"Anytime you have cold temperatures, it's going to hinder cleanup and the investigation," Suess said.

He said the spill migrated about 2 miles from the spill site along Ash Coulee Creek, and it fouled an unknown amount of private and U.S. Forest Service land along the waterway. He said state and federal inspectors have been monitoring the spill and that it appeared to be contained. The creek was free-flowing when the spill occurred but has since frozen over.

The spill in the creek is about 20 miles upstream of the Little Missouri River. Suess said it did not appear that any of the oil reached the river and no drinking water sources were affected.

The 6-inch steel pipeline is mostly underground but was built above ground as it crossed the creek, Suess said. The pipeline is used to gather oil from nearby oil wells to a collection point.

"It is not a transmission line, so overall it won't have a major impact on oil movement," Suess said.

Belle Fourche Pipeline is part of Casper, Wyoming-based True Cos. A spokeswoman for True, Wendy Owen, said the pipeline was shut down immediately after the leak was discovered and crews had been cleaning it up since. She said it was not known how much oil leaked due to the pipeline breach.

Owen said she "couldn't even begin to speculate" what caused the breach and that the company was doing its "best to assess the entire situation and what the next step will be."

True Cos. operates at least three pipeline companies with a combined 1,648 miles of line in Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming, according to information the companies submitted to federal regulators.

Since 2006 the companies have reported 36 spills totaling 320,000 gallons of petroleum products. Most of the product spilled was never recovered, including after a January 2015 pipeline break into the Yellowstone River. The 32,000-gallon spill temporarily shut down water supplies in the downstream community of Glendive after oil was detected in the city's water treatment system.

The companies' spills caused combined damage of almost $11 million, with most of that attributed to the Glendive spill, records show. A federal investigation into that spill is pending.

Kevin Pranis, a spokesman for the Laborers District Council of Minnesota and North Dakota, which represents some workers building the disputed four-state, $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline, said Thursday that regulators need to provide better oversight of the True Cos.

True Cos. also owns Black Hills Trucking Inc., which is accused of illegally dumping saltwater, a byproduct of oil production, in 2014 on a road in northwestern North Dakota. The three-member North Dakota Industrial Commission that includes Gov. Jack Dalrymple is pursuing $950,000 in fines against Black Hills Trucking, but there has been a dispute over whether the commission has jurisdiction.
Director Sondra Baker described the show she wrote with Wendy Carlin, "The Wonderful (Totally Awesome & Braggadocious!!) World of Christmas," as just a cabaret show.

When it opens Friday at NOVA Center for the Performing Arts, the audience will get a glimpse into Christmas hijinks and some of the best voices around spreading holiday cheer.

"Wonderful World of Christmas" runs through Dec. 18.

Baker said she's a sucker for harmonies, so she selected vocalists based on their ability to sing well with others. During rehearsal Monday night, CJ Jennings and Vanessa Dent proved Baker can pick 'em as they crooned their way through a lesser-known Christmas song, "Love is Needed."

"I'm a big fan of Pentatonix because of their harmonies," Baker said. "I picked four of their numbers for the show. Wendy said if I'd have picked any more, I would have to call this 'Pentatonix Christmas.'"

Carlin, who teaches at Beartooth Elementary, said she and Baker are bringing comedy to the show through their emcee duties. The two performers have been sidekicks for years, sharing Billings stages in Billings Studio Theatre and Prince Theatre productions.

For this show, they tapped into Carlin's appreciation for a kid's brain.

"We are playing our 8-year-old alter egos and we get ourselves in a bit of trouble," Carlin said.

There are signs taped to performers' backs, a yowling cat backstage and other surprises mixed in with the holiday songs.

Some of the 24 songs performed include Winter Wonderland, Do You Hear What I Hear, The First Noel, and Mele Kalikimaka."

The cast also includes Janie Sutton, Caitlin Hart, Dylan Petit, Jordyn Armstrong, Steven Hrubes, Christie Arnold and Tom Wagner.

Ticket prices are $21 for adults, $16 for seniors and military, and $10 for students. Tickets are available by calling NOVA Center for the Performing Arts at 591-9535, going online to novabillings.org or stopping by the NOVA Center at 2317 Montana Ave.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is advising hunters to wait to consume snow geese harvested in the Butte and Dillon areas after Nov. 28.

The request comes following the death of hundreds of snow geese that landed in the waters of Butte's Berkeley Pit.

Instead, FWP recommends hunters process and freeze birds and not eat them until the department knows how or if the event has affected the edible portions of the birds.

Montana Resources and Atlantic Richfield Co. officials (responsible for the Berkeley Pit mine) are asking members of the public who find living or dead snow geese to contact Butte-Silver Bow animal control at 406-497-6527. After hours, contact Montana Resources directly at 406-496-3233.
Best Education Products and Services

Would you like to submit an article in the Education category or any of the sub-category below? Click here to submit your article.

Would you like to have your product or service listed on this page? Contact us.
In the social media, there have been tens of thousands of comments about King Bibi, [sculptor Itay] Zalait said on Army Radio when asked what had inspired him to create the statue. I simply made it a reality and put it in its deserved place, the Kings of Israel Square.'
The mother of a biracial high school student on the states Eastern Shore told a school board meeting, Im not disputing this is great literature. But there is so much racial slurs in there and offensive wording that you cant get past that, and right now we are a nation divided as it is.
If youre like most people, when you think of the holidays, you think of egg nog, Christmas trees, Santa Claus and demonic possession. ... At least thats what the folks at Blumhouse Productions were hoping when they decided to release their latest horror film, Incarnate, in the gap between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Blumhouse is the production company behind such cheap-but-successful horror franchises as Insidious, Sinister, The Purge and Paranormal Activity. Basically, the folks at Blumhouse have never met a jump scare they didnt like. So if America is looking for a cheapjack new exorcism drama to latch on to (you know, besides The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Last Exorcism, The Last Exorcism Part II, The Rite, The Devil Inside, The Conjuring, Deliver Us From Evil, The Haunting in Connecticut and The Vatican Tapes), Incarnate ... is one of those.

Incarnate focuses on a single mother (the underused Carice van Houten from Game of Thrones), who comes to believe her 11-year-old son (David Mazouz, better known as baby Batman in FOXs Gotham) is possessed by a demon. Naturally, the Vatican sends a representative (Colombian actress Catalina Sandino Moreno) to check it out. Realizing the magnitude of this particular possession, she calls on wheelchair-bound scientist Dr. Seth Ember (Aaron Eckhartnot the good one from Erin Brockovich and The Dark Knight, but the cheesy one from I, Frankenstein and Battle Los Angeles). She gives him a briefcase full of cash (yes, thats a thing that actually happens) and the fight is on.

Ember, you see, is sort of a cross between John Constantine and Dr. Gregory House. Hes a gruff, demon-hunting doctor genius (known here as an incarnate). But instead of relying on crosses and Bibles to fight demons, he used good, old-fashioned science. He doesnt exorcise demons, he evicts them. Conveniently, Ember has an Inception-like power that allows him to go inside the subconscious minds of his patients while various CSI-style punk-nerds stand around and stare at computer monitors shouting numbers. Trust me, its all very scientifical. (Did you know, for example, that the human soul is a lot like wi-fi?)

Turns out that the demon in this particular kids head goes by the name of Maggie. (No, really.) And its not just any ordinary demon. Maggie is the same malevolent entity that killed Embers family in an auto accident, which led to his being paralyzed. Yup. This time, its personal. So Ember uses his psychic super power-cum-computer device doohicky to go inside the kids head and kick some demonic ass. For eight minutes at a time. (Dont ask. Its a rule.)

The films dreamy meanderings all kinda looks like The Further sequences from Insidious crossed with The Matrixwith lots of Inception thrown in for good measure. Thats a kind way of saying the whole film is terribly derivative and made up of random scraps of a whole bunch of other moviesright down to the gosh, where have I seen that before? ending. Director Brad Peyton (who gave us the similarly terrifying Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore) turns the lighting way down in hopes that the darkness will hide the films cheap makeup and hokey scares. A lack of illumination cant hide the leaden, pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo of Ronnie Christensens script, however. (He wrote the Halle Berry shark thriller Dark Tide and a handful of other direct-to-video non-starters.) Eckhart spends the entire movie talking in a gruff grumble he seems to have borrowed from his Dark Knight co-star Christian Bale, but it doesnt help the chintzy cheese of Incarnate seem any more worthy of serious contemplation. Basically, if youre not a horror movie completist whos seen every exorcist drama since The Exorcist and is desperate for the slightest variation on the theme, theres no reason to bother with this hellish waste of time.
When the temperature hit 2 below zero early Thursday, it marked the end of a record-breaking streak of days without subzero weather in Billings.

The stretch lasted for nearly two years  698 full days  after the National Weather Service's Billings office recorded a low of 7 below zero on Jan. 9, 2015, and ended just before 4 a.m. on Thursday, a few hours into the streak's 699th day.

"The streak we have, that we broke this morning, was the longest streak we've ever had without temperatures at or below zero," said Wright Dobbs, a meteorologist with the Billings NWS office.

The previous longest streak ran 684 days, from Jan. 25, 1999, to Dec. 8, 2000.

The frigid temperatures began in Billings on Monday after a November that had the third-highest average temperatures  more than 8 degrees warmer than usual  in the city's recorded history.

Dobbs said a mass of cold arctic air that had built up in northern Canada moved into the area and brought a drastic change in the weather. Temperatures quickly dropped from the 30s and 40s into the teens, then single digits and finally below zero Thursday morning.

"We're going to see that the bitterly cold air is going to stick around through at least Friday," he said.

While Billings didn't see any snow to go with the icy blast of cold air, other parts of southern and south central Montana had anywhere from a half-inch to 16 inches on Dec. 5.

Pryor received an inch of snow, while the Red Lodge area got 4 to 5 inches. Six inches fell south of Livingston and Cooke City got 16 inches.

There's a chance that could change in Billings however, as NWS predicts a 60 percent chance of snow by Friday night, to go with a daily high of 9 degrees and a low of 4 below, and a slight chance over the weekend.

While the weekend should see a slight break from single-digit temperatures  with highs expected in the teens to mid-20s Saturday and Sunday  they're likely to come back to start next week.

"As we move through Monday morning it'll get colder," Dobbs said. "Possibly even colder than what we're seeing now."

Looking at the extended forecast, Dobbs said NWS predictions indicate that December could be colder than usual.

"The winter here is very dynamic," he said. "It changes a lot. We can have extended periods of warm and extended periods of cold."

He recommended that people prepare for the colder weather and have supplies and emergency kits ready in their vehicles.
Marlon Brando's scene from Bernardo Bertolucci's 'The Last Tango To Paris' had led to major outrage.

The uproar has made us revisit five instances when Indian film actresses had to enact traumatising sexual scenes, consensually or otherwise.

Mumbai: Though 'The Last Tango From Paris' had opened to unanimous acclaim, a video that resurfaced, where director Bernardo Bertolucci admits to have shot the particularly infamous rape scene involving protagonist Marlon Brando without the consent of co-actress Maria Schneider, had recently led to major outrage across the globe.

A still from 'Last Tango In Paris'

The director had self-confessedly conspired with the veteran actor to shoot the scene, in which Brandos character uses a stick of butter to simulate rape on Schneider. The then 19-year old actress had, on many occasions, claimed to have not been in the loop regarding the scene.

The uproar has made us revisit five instances when Indian film actresses had to enact traumatising sexual scenes, consensually or otherwise.

Rekha in Anjana Safar:

One too many feathers had been ruffled when 'Rekha: The Untold Story,' the actresses's unofficial biography by Yasser Usman had been released. Thee xplosive book had many a snippet from her sensational career, in it, but the most startling one was a particularly unsettling incident from the filming of her Raja Nawathe helmed film, 'Anjana Safar,' co-starring Biswajeet. The actress, then 15, had allegedly been kissed, forcefully, while filming a romantic scene. Though traumatised, she was too benumbed to react.

An excerpt from the biography

Bawandar:

The film, a 2000 biopic, based on the life of Dalit gang-rape survivor Bhanwari Devi, starred Nandita Das.

The scene, integral to the plot, was consensually filmed, but proved to be particularly taxing on the actress, who's said to have been left broken for a good few hours post filming.

A still from Bawander

The actress has since vociferously spoken against prevailing rape penalties in the country, rating a death sentance as inadequate to act as a sexual offence deterrent.

Zakhmi Aurat:

The Dimple Kapadia starrer was the quintessential Bollywood potboiler, in every essence, but it tackled a subject was hitherto untouched, back then. The 1988 film, about a group of vigilante rape surviving victims taking law in their own hands had released to expected criticism, having come out at a time when a majority of the country's feminine populace was being fed Doordarshan's 'appropriately' filtered 'family' content.

Dimple Kapadia in a scene from the film

The idea of women vengefully retaliating by castrating their rapists was too gory and ahead of the time it'd come out in. Dimple had to film a very taxing gang-rape scene for the film, albeit not too graphically disturbing.

Bandit Queen:

Shekhar Kapoor's iconic biopic on Phoolan Devi had courted controversy for all the wrong reasons, but the film still stood the test of time and has been hailed as cinematic milestone. Seema Biswas won a national award for her eponymous portrayal. Her dedicated act for the film made her push herself to the extent of going full monty, battered and bruised post being gang-raped for three days straight, in front of a speechless crowd of fifty.

Seema Biswas in the infamous scene from the film

The heart-numbingly disturbing sequence leaves one with a sense of adverse bitterness, something one would have felt after watching Monica Bellucci's ordeal from the borderline disconcerting 'Irreversible' by Gaspar Noe.

Shaitaan:

Kirti Kulhari had a major career break in this year's 'Pink,' courtesy her exemplary performance in the highly acclaimed film. But she was noticed for her grittily urbane act in Bejoy Nambiar's 'Shaitan'.

A particularly alarming scene from the film had the actress being raped before her friends venture in and murder the perpetrators.

A still from the scene from Shaitan

Speaking of the scene, the actress had said, "Pink was an extremely difficult film to make but it was easier for me, relatively, since I'd played out a rape sequence in Shaitan. Though it was all simulation, such scenes are extremely difficult film to make, since they have a prolonged effect on you."

(With inputs from Ashwin Vinayan)
Few days ago, Rakesh Roshan, producer of 'Kaabil', had announced January 25 as the release date of his film.

Mumbai: Superstar Shah Rukh Khan, whose upcoming film 'Raaes' is set to lock horns with Hrithik Roshan starrer 'Kaabil', says they had decided to prepone the release date earlier but wanted it to be announced through the trailer.

Earlier 'Raaes' was scheduled to release on January 26 and now it has been preponed by a day. It will now hit theatres on January 25.

Few days ago, Rakesh Roshan, producer of 'Kaabil', had announced January 25 as the release date of his film.

"We had actually decided about the release date long back. First both the films ('Raaes' and 'Kaabil') were going to release on January 26, so we had decided with our exhibitors and distributors about coming out on January 25," Shah Rukh told reporters here at the trailer launch of 'Raaes'.

"I guess 'Kaabil' is coming out in the evening shows of January 25 and we would be coming on the regular shows on the same day. There is nothing like we decided later... it is a wise decision to take note that January 26 is a holiday. We thought it would be better to let people know about the release date through our trailer."

SRK says in India there is still a dearth of theatres. "I may be wrong with numbers. I have heard that in England there is one theatre for ten thousand people and in America there are ten theatres for one thousand people. India has a shortage of theatres. There should be more theatres in small towns and cities.

"In China, the films do three to five times more than our business and that is because of the number of theatres. We are trying to have a new chain and more theatres. In America and London, you don't hear of clash as there are more theatres."

'Raees' stars Shah Rukh as bootlegger, Nawazuddin Siddiqui as a cop while Mahira Khan plays SRK's love interest.
A few scenes from the films trailer released on Wednesday have rubbed members of the Shia community the wrong way.

Raees has found itself embroiled in multiple controversies merely hours after its trailer launch  not that its a bad thing in Bollywood. The first controversy was it stepping on the Roshans toes by coinciding the release with Kaabil. The second controversy surfaced on Thursday when members of the citys Shia community protested the use of religious symbols in the film. A scene in particular that depicts holy symbols during a Moharrum procession has upset the community, which has written to the additional commissioner of police and social security branch.

Some concerned members of the community based in Mumbai decided to approach Javed Shroff, a prominent personality in the community. Nanji (Shia community member) and the others informed me about the objectionable scenes and requested me to take up the issue with the concerned authorities so that the filmmakers remove it not only from the trailer but also from the film, said Shroff who is also the secretary of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee. He added that as the issue affected Shias across the country and the world, he had also requested Leader of opposition in Parliament Gulam Nabi Azad, MP Ahmad Patel and MP Rajiv Shukla who is on personal good terms with SRK, to resolve the issue amicably.

Mr Sajjad (Pilloo) Nanji, a member of the community, on seeing the trailer of the film said that he was surprised to see that the main character (Khan) participating in a Moharrum procession which has all the religious symbols and flags that are carried by the devotees during actual processions held all over the world. If including the religious rituals followed by the Shias to commemorate the martyrdom of the Imam Hussain and his family in Karbala was not enough, Khan is seen jumping over the flags and symbols in an action scene.

The letter to the police has requested Khan to withdraw all such scenes, and intimated them about a possible peaceful protest in case the request is not met.

When contacted, Shilpa Handa from the films PR agency Spice said that they were still trying to understand the nature of the complaints.
China was informed that Baruah was holed up in Ruili, a frontier township of China.

Guwahati: After signing a formal bilateral agreement between with China for cooperation on insurgency front, India has shared the photographs of elusive ULFA (I) chief Paresh Baruah and his Chinese associates with the neighbour, seeking action against them.

Disclosing that ULFA (I) chief Paresh Baruah was holed up in Ruili, a frontier township of China, authoritative security sources in the home ministry told this newspaper that they have shared the information with its Chinese counterpart for action.

Pointing out that home ministry was working on a mechanism to institutionalise the real time intelligence sharing arrangement with China after the bilateral agreement between the two countries, security sources however said that once this mechanism gets functional, it would be difficult for insurgent groups to operate from China.

Indicating that China was firm on its commitment to stop illegal movement of Northeast insurgents in its territory, security sources said that central government has also informed China about its citizens helping ULFA (I) chief in getting shelter and other logistic supports.

Admitting that the ULFA (I) chief was shuttling between Myanmar and China, security sources said that bilateral cooperation between India and China has also improved manifolds. We have also shared information on illegal supply of arms and ammunition from China to insurgent groups in India, security sources said.

Claiming that ULFA (I) chief was under the constant vigil of the security agencies in Myanmar also, security sources said that Myanmar has also started strengthening the presence of its army along the border with India.

Asserting that work has started on setting up bases of Myanmar army close to Indian border, security sources said that India has also taken initiative to improve their bilateral cooperation with Myanmar army.

Informing that relationship with political leadership of Myanmar was at its best, security sources said that military establishment of Myanmar has also acknowledged it.

The home ministry was also keeping a close watch on strategic alliance of insurgent groups of North-eastern states, security sources said adding that home ministry was also taking steps to tackle them effectively.
Since November 10, Rs 11.85 lakh crore in form of old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes have returned into the banking system.

It was estimated that now defunct notes constituted 86 per cent or Rs 14.5 lakh crore in circulation. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: Government on Wednesday said that inflows into Jan Dhan accounts have come down significantly after it warned people not to allow their accounts to be misused for converting black money into white.

The deposits in Jan Dhan accounts post demonetisation saw a sudden surge but after the Centre's warning against misusing such accounts, there has been a continuous fall in deposits in last couple of weeks.

Total amounts deposited during November 8-15 were Rs 20,206 crore, while during November 16-22, people deposited Rs 11,347 crore in such accounts. This further decelerated to Rs 4,867 crore during November 23-30.

Total daily deposit in Jan Dhan accounts was Rs 410 crore on December 1 and Rs 389 crore on December 2.

"The average per account deposit in Jan Dhan accounts is Rs 13,113 for this entire period from November 8 to December 2, which is not alarming, given the need to bring all cash to banks," said the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).

The Income Tax Department has identified the local clusters and bank branches where the inflows of Jan Dhan deposits have been more than normal, in order to investigate money deposits in Jan Dhan accounts which belonged to somebody else, it said.

After setting a cash deposit limit of Rs 50,000 in Jan Dhan accounts, the government had on November 18 cautioned account holders that they will be prosecuted under the I-T Act for allowing misuse of their bank accounts through deposit of black money in Rs 500/1,000 notes during the 50-day window till December 30.

The directive came against the backdrop of reports that some are misusing other persons' bank accounts to convert their black money into new denomination notes.

The CBDT today said since the time the government has alerted people not to allow their accounts, particularly Jan Dhan accounts, to be used by others for the purpose of converting their black money into white, there has been a considerable decrease in inflows of funds in Jan Dhan accounts.

Since November 10, Rs 11.85 lakh crore in form of old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes have returned into the banking system.

It was estimated that now defunct notes constituted 86 per cent or Rs 14.5 lakh crore in circulation.
State prosecutors filed to revoke the suspended sentence of Barry Beach on Thursday, after his arrest in early November for allegedly violating a protection order in Billings.

The revocation petition was filed in the 15th District Court, which includes Roosevelt County, where Beach was sentenced for deliberate homicide for the 1979 beating death of 17-year-old Kim Nees.

Gov. Steve Bullock granted Beach clemency in November 2015 after he had served more than 30 years in prison for the murder.

Beach had long maintained his innocence in Nees's death and a campaign to release him attracted widespread support from elected officials in Montana. In his clemency order, Bullock cited Beach's good behavior while in prison and the fact that he was 17 at the time of the murder.

Since November 2015, Beach has been serving a 10-year suspended sentence. A revocation could send him back to prison.

The petition was filed by Brant Light and Ole Olson, assistant Montana attorneys general who are assisting in the case. It draws upon an alleged violation of a protection order this fall, for which Beach faces a misdemeanor charge in Billings Municipal Court.

Prosecutors asked that Beach be able to admit or deny the allegations during hearings on the misdemeanor charge in Billings.

"If the defendant denies, the state requests that an evidentiary hearing be stayed until after that offense has been resolved in Billings Municipal Court," the petition states.

A woman filed for a protection order against Beach on Oct. 28, saying that she was the mother of a child she had with Beach during his brief release from prison in 2011. In filing for the protection order, she said Beach had repeatedly contacted her to have a relationship, which the woman did not want.

The protection order was granted. The woman later told police that on Nov. 5, Beach had parked outside of her home and followed them to other locations. A GPS monitoring unit attached to Beach as part of his probation backed up those claims, according to court documents.

Beach attorney Timothy Baldwin said he expects his client to be exonerated of the stalking claim based on the records of a GPS device he was wearing at the time of the alleged violation.

The woman also said she recognized Beach's truck because the license plate reads, "BBFREE," court documents state.

This served as the basis for prosecutors' petition for revocation.

"Based upon the attached report of violation, the state asserts that there is probable cause that the defendant has violated the terms of this court's sentence," the document states.

A court hearing has not yet been set in Roosevelt County, according to the clerk of court's office.

If the suspended sentence ultimately is revoked, the state is "recommending that he be sent back to prison," said Justice Department spokesman Eric Sell. That recommendation is in line with a probation officer's referral that he be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.

A return to prison would not be automatic, Sell and Baldwin both said.

A judge could instead impose additional conditions on his release, Baldwin said. But the defense attorney added that there were questions about the credibility of Beach's accuser, which Baldwin said could help exonerate him.

"If we can get a not guilty verdict or dismissal in the city (municipal court) case then we'll reach the same result in the revocation" of his probation, he said.
TMC leader and Bengal minister Firhad Hakim questioned where Sharma got the amount of Rs 33 lakh and all of it in new currency.

Sharma was BJP's candidate in the last assembly polls from the Asansol area of Burdwan district. (Photo: Representational Image)

Kolkata: BJP and Trinamool Congress on Wednesday traded charges on the issue of black money, with the TMC asking the BJP to come clean on their "party leader" Manish Sharma who was arrested with a cash worth 33 lakh.

The BJP, however, claimed that they had suspended him few months back.

"Those who are taking of fighting black money by demonetisation have black money hoarders within their own party. They have given tickets to such criminals," senior TMC leader and state urban development minister Firhad Hakim told reporters.

"It only shows the true colours of BJP and their fake intention to fight black money. Those who themselves are thieves can't talk of fighting black money," Hakim said.

Hakim questioned where Sharma got the amount of Rs 33 lakh and all of it in new currency, at a time when the entire country is reeling under the pressure of scarcity of notes.

Reacting to Hakim's statement, state BJP President Dilip Ghosh said, "Yes he was our party candidate in the 2016 assembly polls. But he was later suspended on June 30 after allegations were raised against them."

Sharma was BJP's candidate in the last assembly polls from the Asansol area of Burdwan district.

"We have more than 40 lakhs members in Bengal. How would we know (everytime) who is a thief and who is a saint," Ghosh said.

Seven persons including Sharma were arrested on Wednesday in the eastern part of the city for their alleged involvement in smuggling coal.

After a search, several unlicensed firearms, ammunition and Rs 33 lakh in cash were seized from them. Along with Sharma, alleged coal mafia Rajesh Jha, Lokesh Singh, Krishna Murari Kayel, Sayan Majumdar, Partha Chatterjee and Subham Bhowmik were arrested.
New Delhi: The Opposition on Thursday staged a Black Day in protest against the government at Gandhi statue outside Parliament, on the issue of demonetisation of old notes.

Demonetisation has devastated the poor, farmers and daily wage workers. We want to have a discussion. We want a vote, but the government doesnt, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi said at the protest.

This is not a bold decision, it is a foolish decision which has been taken without any due consideration, he alleged.

Claiming that the Prime Minister had changed his narrative on demonetisation, the Gandhi family scion said that Modi started by saying the move was aimed against black money, then he shifted to terrorism, then to counterfeit currency and finally began to talk of a cashless economy.

PM Modi is running away. If he comes to the House for debate, we won't let him run, Rahul said.

He alleged that Modi was laughing and having a nice time while the people of the country are suffering due to demonetisation.

Imputing dishonest motives behind the push towards a cashless economy, Rahul claimed it was intended to ensure that a few people must get maximum benefits from these transactions.

In an indirect reference to veteran BJP leader LK Advanis remarks on Wednesday, Rahul further asserted that it is the responsibility of the government and Speaker, not the Opposition to ensure that Parliament runs smoothly.

He also made a curious claim that if allowed to speak in the Lok Sabha, he would expose how Paytm actually means Pay to Modi.

Hitting back at the Opposition, Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu said that the Black Day was not being held against demonetisation but in support of black money.

Invoking Mahatma Gandhi, Naidu said, Gandhi ji gave call for Satyagraha to see that victory of truth prevails. What are so-called namesake Gandhis doing? Observing a protest.

Opposition is staging protest only to garner media space. Government is ready for discussion in the house, said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar.

By simply posing for a photo op in front of Gandhiji, the Opposition cannot claim the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi. They are insulting his memory, asserted Naidu.

Naidu said that after stalling Parliament for 2 weeks, the Congress was only doing a tamasha in front of the statue.

More than 100 people died post demonetisation. We wanted that they must be paid homage in Parliament, but government refused this. This is the reason why thee Opposition staged a protest at Gandhi statue in Parliament premises today and paid homage to those people, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said.

The Rajya Sabha however was adjourned till 12 noon following ruckus.

Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, earlier said the growth rate has decreased and the problems of the people have increased post demonetisation.

"The people must get relief from this problem. We are observing black day because it's been a month since the implementation of demonetisation and still the people are facing problems. Earlier, the Prime Minister asked for five days then five weeks and now 50 days. This isn't right as not even 50 percent of the situation got better in one month," he told ANI.

"Our image has also ruined at the international platform due to demonetisation. Everyone is affected due to this monumental mismanagement and all are worried. They have failed in this regard," he added.

Highlighting BJP veteran Lal Krishna Advani's concern with regard to repeated disruptions in the Parliament, Kharge alleged that the NDA regime at the Centre is frustrated.

"We want debate and discussion. Don't know how much impact LK Advani's statement had on the government, but we have been trying to carry on with the debate," he added.
The families are still struggling to figure out how the two crossed over into the Indian territory.

New Delhi: The two PoK nationals apprehended by the Army on September 21 for allegedly guiding four Jiash-e-Mohammed terrorists across the border, who subsequently conducted an attack on the Uri Army camp killing 19 soldiers, were just school children who strayed into India, a report claimed on Thursday.

According to a report in the Indian Express, the two boys were identified as Faisal Husain Awan, Ahsan Khursheed, both 16-year-old juveniles hailing from villages situated roughly an hours walk away from the LoC near Uri.

The duo are believed to be school friends. Awans brother Ghulam Mustafa Tabassum, a Lahore based doctor, claimed that the two boys were home on September 17. GPS records procured from the four slain militants indicate that they crossed over into the Indian territory on this day.

In a dossier handed over to Pakistan High Commission, New Delhi claimed that the two teenagers participated in the attack.

The Army concluded the two boys were working for the JeM based on spot interrogation a spokesperson said.

The NIA probing the case however acknowledged that there was not much evidence to link the duo to the Uri attack. Furthermore, the attack has since been ascribed to the Laskar-e-Taiba and not JeM as initially claimed.

The two teenagers also gave varying accounts to different officials. Speaking to a woman doctor from the CRPF, the boys claimed that they had participated in the terror attack, and also described how they used an incendiary substance to burn the tents at the 12 Brigade. Awan also identified one of the four slain militants as Hafiz Ahmed, son of one Feroze, in Dharbang, west of Murree, PoK.

The two teenagers were nabbed by local villagers on September 20 before being handed over to the Army. While being roughed up, the duo claimed that they had crossed over by mistake.

Awans parents Zeero Begum and Gul Akbar have been devastated since they heard of their sons arrest. She wakes up suddenly, crying and asking us to find out how he is. She imagines what he must be going through; how he must be; what he is eating; if he is sleeping. It is very hard on her, because Faisal, being the youngest in the family, is loved the most, his brother claimed.

Ahsan Khurshids mother has not spoken a word since she heard the news, he added.

Terming Awan as an ideal student, his school principal said that he had passed Class IX with a first division.

His behaviour was exemplary, Basharat Husain, the principal of the the Shaheen Model School in Muzaffarabad said.

The families are still struggling to figure out how the two crossed over into the Indian territory.
Page Not Found!

It seems that the page you are looking for does not exist or has been removed.


This was the seventh meeting between Mr Carter and Mr Parrikar, who appear to enjoy a good personal chemistry.

New Delhi: India and the United States finalised a major agreement that seeks to seal the conferment of the major defence partner status on India  just one step short of the final, formal stamp of approval expected to be given by the US Congress some time next week.

A joint statement after an hour-long meeting between a visiting US delegation led by outgoing defence secretary Ashton Carter and a team of Indian officials led by defence minister Manohar Parrikar said: Today we finalised Indias designation as a Major Defence Partner of the United States. The designation... is a status unique to India and institutionalises the progress made to facilitate defence trade and technology sharing with India to a level at par with that of the United States closest allies and partners, and ensures enduring cooperation into the future.

Mr Carter also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in what may be the US officials last formal meeting with the Indian PM. A top defence ministry source told this newspaper: The MDP status for India will be unique in the sense that India will then be the only non-Nato country to share this relationship with the US.

The biggest implication of this enhanced relationship is that it will be much easier for the US to transfer military technology to India as it will be for India to absorb such knowhow, the source added.

This was the seventh meeting between Mr Carter and Mr Parrikar, who appear to enjoy a good personal chemistry. On November 30, a US congressional panel had asked Mr Carter and the US secretary of state to take the necessary steps to recognise India as the US MDP in order to further enhance bilateral security ties. In its report, the panel had also sought an assessment of the extent to which India possesses capabilities to support and carry out military operations of mutual interest of the two countries.

This latest development marks a logical culmination of a progressive enhancement of military ties between the two nations in recent times. The MDA pact follows three major landmarks  the Defence Trade and Technology Initiative (DTII), the lifting of the Missile Control Technology Regime curbs on India, which allows it to acquire previously-restricted military technology, and the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement, a logistics facilitating agreement between the armed forces of India and the US.

Only one area remains to be covered which is the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement. There is a very strong likelihood that BECA will be taken up soon in the Donald Trump administration that will assume office at the White House on January 20, the source said.

BECA provides for a US military official to be posted in Indias military establishment and reciprocally an Indian military official to be posted at the Pentagon in Washington D.C. to enable easier sharing of sensitive information and data relating to navigation, shipping and anti-piracy, among other issues.
TripAdvisor announced that Jodhpur has been ranked third in Asia among the most attractive tourist spots.

Jaipur: Frequented by Hollywood stars, Jodhpur is now among top 10 favourite travel destinations in the world. Famous as the Sun City, it has been ranked 10th in the list of travellers choicest destinations for 2017 globally.

The second largest city in Rajasthan, Jodhpur, has secured the number 10 spot in travel website TripAdvisors global travellers choice awards in the Destinations on the Rise category. TripAdvisor announced that Jodhpur has been ranked third in Asia among the most attractive tourist spots.

The awards recognised 43 destinations around the world selected by an algorithm primarily measured by year-over-year increase in positive TripAdvisor traveller review ratings for accommodations, restaurants and attractions, and increase in booking interest. The travel planning and booking site revealed that Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, bagged the top spot for Asia, while the laid-back local scene of San Jose del Cabo in Mexico earned the number one spot in the world. It is also exciting to see Jodhpur making it to the world list, which only reinstates Rajasthans popularity among the foreign tourists, said Aniruddh Singh of Rajwada travels.

He added Jodhpur caught the worlds eye ever since Jungle Book was shot here.
They chose to bury her inside the MGR memorial to ensure that party loyalists would continue to come in droves to pay their respects.

Chennai: Come February 24, a grand memorial in memory of late chief minister J. Jayalalithaa is likely to stand tall on the Marina Beach where she was buried on Tuesday. The design for the memorial, expected to be a grand structure, is likely to be ready in the next few days after which construction work would start.

Ever since Jayalalithaa was buried some 30 metres away from where her mentor M G Ramachandran lies, thousands of AIADMK cadre and common people have been streaming in to pay their respects to the late chief minister. Senior ministers Edappadi K. Palanisamy, P. Thangamani, M.R. Vijayabhaskar, C. Vijayabhaskar and others visited the memorial and paid their respects too.

Highly-placed sources in the AIADMK government told this newspaper that a grand memorial is likely to be thrown open on February 24, 2017  on what would have been Jayalalithaas 69th birthday. Dedicating the memorial to the nation on Ammas birthday would be the greatest tribute that one can pay to her. All efforts would be taken to ensure that the memorial stands tall on that great day, a senior AIADMK functionary said. Sources revealed a government order regarding sanctioning of the memorial is expected in the next couple of days.

The sources said the design contract of the memorial would be given to a reputed architect and it is likely to be cleared by the top brass of the AIADMK. The AIADMK plans to make the memorial an imposing one.

They chose to bury her inside the MGR memorial to ensure that party loyalists would continue to come in droves to pay their respects. Huge crowds of AIADMK loyalists and common people, especially from southern districts, still make it a point to stop at the MGR memorial to pay their respects.
Akhilesh Yadav has been maintaining a distance from rallies being addresses by his father and party president Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Lucknow: For those who feel all is finally well in the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, there is disappointment in store. Undercurrents of hostilities still continue in the first family and signs of this have been emerging from time to time.

To begin with, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has been maintaining a distance from rallies being addresses by his father and party president Mulayam Singh Yadav. The CM was conspicuous by his absence from the Ghazipur and then the Bareilly rally.

At the Bareilly rally, Mulayam Singh Yadav almost lost his cool and asked the minister to ask the CM why he had not filled up 2.5lakh vacancies in the police department. He also made sure to appreciate the work done by state president Shivpal Yadav and general secretary Om Prakash Singh  both of whom were dismissed by the CM a few weeks ago.

The CM also refused to dismiss his minister Tej Narain Pandey, who had been expelled from the party by state SP president Shivpal Yadav. Mulayam Singh Yadav said he had asked the CM to reinstate the leaders. But I do not wish to dwell on this topic otherwise baat bahut door tak jayegi, he said.

Akhilesh Yadav, who was supposed to embark on his Rath Yatra in November, has stalled his programme after the take off. He will embark on his yatra only when he is given full authority in the ticket distribution, said a source.

The chief minister, sources said, was also upset with the party leadership for not reinstating his loyalist leaders who were expelled two months ago.
About 55 percent said they'd want to access their skin biopsy result through an online portal if it was benign.

If skin biopsy results were abnormal, about 69 percent would prefer to find out about it by telephone. (Photo: Pixabay)

Most people want to learn about their skin biopsy results over the internet - especially when they're benign, according to new research.

People said their preferred method of finding out their skin biopsy results largely relies on the amount of information the clinician needs to relay and the amount of time it takes to receive the results, researchers report in JAMA Dermatology.

"We want to make sure were addressing the needs of the patients as best we can," said senior author Dr. Charles Mitchell, of The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C. "Everyone is a bit different."

Mitchell told Reuters Health that past research looked at how patients would like to receive skin biopsy results, but it largely included people who previously had the deadliest form of skin cancer known as melanoma. Therefore, their preferences may not apply to most people receiving benign results or other abnormal results.

For the new study, Mitchell and his colleagues asked 240 patients over age 18 years attending the dermatology clinic of George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates between January and June for a total body skin examination to complete a survey. Of those, 204 patients participated.

The survey asked about the patient's basic demographic and medical information. The participants were also asked about previous skin biopsies and their preferences for learning the results.

Overall, participants said their top preference for learning their biopsy result was through an online portal, followed by a telephone call. "People who used an online portal before were much more likely to prefer use of a portal in the future," said Mitchell.

A majority of participants said their preference would change based on the results, however. About 55 percent said they'd want to access their skin biopsy result through an online portal if it was benign. If the results were abnormal, about 69 percent would prefer to find out about it by telephone.

The study results are limited, though. They may not translate to other areas of the U.S. since the study only included a small number of educated people from a metropolitan area. Also, they didn't collect information on the participants' races or ethnicities.

Mitchell said he usually asks his patients how they'd like to receive their biopsy results. "For patients who are signed up for the portal, I ask them if they would prefer a phone call or a message on the portal," he said. People diagnosed with melanoma are not notified through the portal, however.
Lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung, in his capacity as the chancellor of the university, will also preside over the convocation ceremony.

New Delhi: The Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD), which will be celebrating its 5th annual convocation on Friday, has invited Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama as its chief guest.

The spiritual leader will address the large gathering of the graduating students, faculty, staff members, and distinguished guests on the occasion.

Lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung, in his capacity as the chancellor of the university, will also preside over the convocation ceremony.

During the convocation, 530 students, who have completed the prescribed requirements during the academic year 2015-16, will be awarded with Ph.D., M.Phil, MA and BA (honours) degrees in various fields of studies such as women and gender studies, environment and development, English, psychology, human ecology, Hindi, literary art and visual art, and social sciences and humanities among others.

Furthermore, 19 students will be awarded postgraduate diplomas in early childhood care and education, development studies, environment and development, and publishing. The female students, who will be receiving various degrees and diplomas during the convocation, constitute 66 per cent of the total students.

The university is presently running seven undergraduate, 17 post graduate, 2 PG diplomas, 5 M.Phil, and 9 Ph.D. programmes (total 40 programmes) through its 9 schools such as business, public policy and social entrepreneurship, design, development studies, human studies, liberal studies, and others.

The university has recently added two new schools namely, School of Vocational Studies and School of Law, Governance and Citizenship. At present, the university has enrolled about 2000 students in two campuses at Kashmere Gate and Karampura. The male-female ratio of students is 2:3. The new campus at Karampura was started in August during the current academic session 2016-17.
The Roberts School library received a $5,000 grant from author James Patterson in late November. The Scholastic Reading Club will match the grant with bonus points that teachers can use to acquire books and other materials for their classrooms.

Roberts School was selected from thousands of applications as part of a larger $1.75 million donation to school libraries. Last year, Roberts won a $1,000 grant from Patterson. Since the grant programs launch in 2015, Patterson has donated $3.5 million to school libraries nationwide.

The school plans to use the money on new shelving, a set of Kindles for checkout and new books, Roberts School's librarian Myrna Lastusky said.

(Students) get so excited anytime I can get new books for the library. But the set of Kindles will also be great for our teachers to do small group reading activities, and it will give them the ability to supplement their lessons with online programs, Lastusky said in an emailed release.

Last years Patterson Pledge showed communities nationwide how important school libraries are, but also how gravely desperate they are for books to fill their shelves in the midst of steep budget cuts, Judy Newman, President of Scholastic Reading Club, said in the release.

Roberts, population of about 360, is one of several Montana communities without a public library. Schools across the state are left to fill the gap, but often have meager funding to do so.

Bigfork Elementary and Middle School also received a grant from the group this year. Last year, schools in Glasgow, Polson, Bozeman and Great Falls got grants, plus McKinley Elementary in Billings.
All the social welfare schemes, including old age and widow pensions, are also going to be transacted through banks only.

New Delhi: Come New Year, the ongoing cash crunch due to demonetisation move is unlikely to hamper the transactions that Delhiites will be having with the AAP government as the latter plans to go digital for various activities ranging from fair price shops, liquor vends as well as DTC depots. The governments major digital push is likely to provide the much needed respite to Delhiites as they will no longer have to pay in cash while availing these services. The government will soon be signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the State Bank of India for large scale purchase of swipe machines for these services.

Directions to this effect were issued by chief secretary Dr M.M. Kutty who asked his officers to ensure swipe machines were in place at all fair price shops, government-run liquor vends and DTC depots for cashless transactions by December 31. Once swipe machines are installed, one can easily purchase subsidised ration through digital transaction.

DTC bus passes will also be made available through digital dealings. Even liquor can be purchased through plastic money from any of the government-run vends. So far, only private liquor vends had been doing digital transactions. All the social welfare schemes, including old age and widow pensions, are also going to be transacted through banks only.

At a meeting with the departmental heads, the chief secretary instructed his officers to ensure that the entire citizen-government transaction mechanism should be made digital by the year end. The government has already decided to computerise all ration shops to check malpractices in the public distribution system. Of 280-odd fair price shops, about 50 have already been computerised.

The finance department had earlier directed all the government-run liquor vends to make arrangements for digital transactions across the national capital. The directions were issued in wake of Cabinet Secretary P.K. Sinhas instructions to all Union Territories, including Delhi, to make all government-citizen transactions cashless by the year-end.

While the government is making all out efforts for digital transactions, some officers are reportedly holding regular meetings with wholesale traders and shopkeepers to do transactions through digital wallets.

A government officer recently suggested to me that I should start accepting money through PAYTM wallet for smooth transaction, a wholesale dealer told this newspaper. Asked whether the officers had been directed to advise shopkeepers to use private wallets for cashless transactions, a senior officer on condition of anonymity said : May be some officers are doing this on their own. Otherwise, why should we promote any private company. We should promote only government operated wallets.

A source said that the governments serious bid to go digital was also in line with its efforts to ease miseries of people struggling for cash outside ATMs and banks. The move is expected to help the banks to focus more on dispensing currency notes to the needy people and ensure maximum transactions are made through the banking system.

Once the entire mechanism for the citizen-government cashless transactions is in place, people will be bound to deposit their water and power bills, traffic challans and stamp duty through the banking system. So far, power companies had been accepting cash payments for bills less than Rs 5,000 only.

A source said that the Cabinet Secretary has made it clear to all UTs, including Delhi, to ensure that all government-citizen transactions are cashless by December 31. Reports suggest that 98 per cent payments of the Delhi government would be made cashless by the year-end. About 95 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) is being collected through banks only. The government is unlikely to accept VAT in the coming year. The Delhi High Court is also working out a mechanism to make cash free court-related transactions. The Delhi traffic police is already finalizing modalities to make chalans through cashless transactions.
The PM report states one or more persons could have raped the victim.

Mumbai: A day after a 25-year-old physiotherapist was found raped and murdered inside her house, the preliminary post-mortem report has termed it a case of suspected gang-rape. The PM report states one or more persons could have raped the victim.

According to a hospital source: There has been brutal, forcible penetration. The veins in her private parts have been ruptured. As part of the investigation, the Vile Parle police has put five persons including the deceaseds boyfriend, her childhood best friend (female), her sister, and her sisters boyfriend under the scanner for clues on the culprits identity. The police is also grilling the alleged male friend of the victims mother who is their next-door neighbour.

The police on Monday night discovered the 25-year-old womans naked body in a Vile Parle chawl. A physiotherapist by profession, she stayed with her parents, younger sister, and grandmother who resided in a room on the ground floor opposite her first floor room. Recalling the scene of crime, an investigating officials told The Asian Age,

The door to the victims room was latched from outside. The perpetrator had formed a pile of books and clothes, and kept it right next to the door before setting it ablaze. The victims body was lying around 15-feet away from the fire and the smoke had caused slight burns on the right side of her face. The officer said that the victim had first been strangled using bare hands and then her jeans. The approximate time of the incident could have been 1.30 pm. Police suspect that more than one person could have carried out the act. We are looking at the possibility of more than one perpetrator being involved. None of the neighbours heard anything or noticed any stranger leaving or entering the house, the source said.

The Vile Parle police has filed a case against unidentified accused, booking them under sections 376 (rape), 377 (unnatural sex), and 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code. The police interrogated the victims boyfriend, who is a sound engineer. He said that he was in the studio from 10 am on Monday till early Tuesday morning. We have been able to verify this but are questioning him further, said an official.

Asked whether the victim was gang-raped, he refused to comment. This information can be provided only by the doctors, an investigating official said. Meanwhile, police on Wednesday started interrogating an alleged male friend of the victims mother who stays next to the victims building. The man is allegedly the paramour of the victims mother. We are checking if was involved, the official revealed.
The animal that was declared 'fit to release' by the veterinarian SGNP on November 15 was a guest to the park in one of its cages.

File picture of the leopard in a trap while being taken to SGNP from Powai on Saturday.

Mumbai: After spending 22 days in a cage at Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), the full-grown leopard which had been trapped early in the morning on November 12 near IT Supreme Park, Powai, was released on December 5 by the Thane forest department.

The animal that was declared 'fit to release' by the veterinarian Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) on November 15 was a guest to the park in one of its cages. Asked about the big cats release, Shree Bhagwan said, The order to release the leopard was sought and permitted as well. Hinting that the animal may have been released in Chandoli in Sangli district, Mr Bhagwan explained, In case the animal cannot be released back into the area from which it was trapped, the place best suited can be chosen for it to be released.

The leopard was trapped in the small hours of November 12 near IT Supreme Park, which, according to forest officials, has nearly 700 people working on its premises. The officials said that though there was no man-animal conflict per se, the big cat was trapped because the frequency of its sightings had increased. On November 15, the animal underwent a medical check-up at SGNP as per standard operating procedure (SOP) and was kept there since. SGNP veterinarian Dr Shailesh Pethe declared it fit for release before December 5.

Range forest officer Santosh Kank, who was part of the five-member team which released the animal, said, The leopard was safely released back into its natural habitat on December 5. However, location of the release of the animal cannot be disclosed.

Meanwhile, Krishna Tiwari, wildlife researcher and conservationist, said, The animal should be released within 30 km from the place where he was trapped. If released in a place farther from his territory, chances of man-animal conflict in that area will increase.
Sanjay Kumar is a professor and currently director of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. The views expressed are personal.

Mr Kumar seems to have moved even in the direction of having a Plan B.

The open and aggressive support to the policy of demonetisat-ion by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar does not signal a realignment of political forces in Bihar. At the most, this could be perceived as an effort on his behalf to fill the void Indian politics is facing at the national level  the absence of a popular leader with a clean image. The discourse on demonetisation has moved in a direction where asking any question on the note ban is seen as an act of supporting corruption. The question is: Whats the reason behind

Mr Kumars newfound love for Narendra Modi?

Initially, Mr Kumar said: Modi is riding a tiger which could damage his alliance, but there is great sentiment in favour of his move and we should respect that. However, later he went on to praise demonetisation and termed it as a saahasi kadam, a move which will benefit the country in any situation. He went on to add: I support demonetisation as I am convinced that it will help in the fight against black money. In early December, he again expressed that notebandi is a positive step which will lead to benefits. It will happen black money is a big sin and festering wounds which must be eradicated. It is a positive beginning. Whenever there is an attack on corruption, I will support it.

His aggressive support for the policy of demonetisation is guided more by practical political considerations. Various Opposition leaders may be popular in their own state like Mr Kumar is in Bihar, but it must be noticed that compared to many others, Mr Kumar has a clean image. He is an honest politician.

Till few years ago, in any discussion about who might lead a non-BJP, non-Congress or an imaginary third front, Mr Kumar was seen as a frontrunner. However, this was hijacked by Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. But Mr Kejriwals opposition to demonetisation has made him stand along with the so-called dishonest politicians.

The space of honest politician seems to have been vacated and Mr Kumar is leaving no stone unturned to occupy that space once again. With his popularity in Bihar, and the praiseworthy development work done during his tenure as chief minister, he seems well placed to capture this space.

The surveys conducted by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies indicate that Mr Kumar is enormously popular in Bihar. A majority of voters (50 per cent) believe that he is genuinely popular, while 34 per cent thinks he resorts to gimmicks.

When compared to other leaders of Bihar, namely Ram Vilas Paswan and Lalu Prasad Yadav, Mr Kumar stands far ahead of them in popularity with a 60 per cent rating, while the rating for Lalu Prasad Yadav is at 26 and for Ram Vilas Paswan at six per cent. Not only does

Mr Kumar seem to be popular, the people of Bihar even praise him for running a somewhat clean and honest government. In varying degrees, 79 per cent of voters in Bihar felt satisfied with his last five years of rule when the survey was conducted before the 2015 Assembly elections.

Rarely is the work of a state government having completed five years of rule rated so high by the voters at large. With his personal image, exceptionally high rating of his performance as chief minister, he seems to be well placed to emerge as a national alternative to Narendra Modi.

Politics is more about image than actual work. An image of an honest politician, an image of commitment to fight corruption is a big asset for any political leader in India. After all, this explains the dramatic rise of Mr Kejriwal in Indian politics. It was his image of an honest politician and his commitment to fight corruption that compelled Delhiites to people vote for him.

In the past V.P. Singh, who had been a minister in Rajiv Gandhis Cabinet, went on to become Indias Prime Minister only after he led the crusade against corruption in the Bofors defence deal.

With people generally seems to be in support of the policy of demonetisation, since they believe it will solve the problem of black money,

Mr Kumars commitment to fight black money may also help him in cultivating a core support base for the JD(U) in Bihar.

While all other parties do have a core base in the state, the JD(U) does not seem to have any core support base. The RJD has a support base amongst the Yadavs and Muslims, the upper castes are sharply polarised in favour of the BJP, dalits in favour of Ram Vilas Paswans Lok Janashakti Party. The JD(U) does have a strong support base amongst the Kurmis, the dominant OBC caste, but are numerically very small. Kurmis are unable to make a significant impact on electoral outcomes. Mr Kumars support for an issue which concerns people cutting across caste, community and class lines may provide an opportunity for him to cultivate a core support base.

But by extending support to the policy of demonetisation, Mr Kumar seems to have moved even in the direction of having a Plan B. There have not been any major friction between the alliance partners JD(U) and RJD, but one would agree there have been some hiccups. One is not sure how long this uneasy marriage between the two parties might last.

The JD(U) for a very long time has been in power in Bihar with the BJP as its ally. With standing on Mr Modis side, Mr Kumar may have been able to keep the option open for BJP support to his government in case a need arises in an event of a breakup of the alliance with the RJD. One cant deny this possibility as well. After all, there are no permanent friends and enemies in politics.

The writer is a professor and currently director of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. The views expressed are personal.
The title given to Sharif in 1997 has been challenged in the Lahore High Court.

Lahore: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been warned by a court after his counsel sought repeated adjournments in submitting a reply on a plea challenging the honourary knighthood title that was given to him by Queen Elizabeth II.

The title given to Sharif in 1997 has been challenged in the Lahore High Court.

Petitioner Javed Iqbal Jaffery has pleaded the court to order the premier to return the title as it was a mark of slavery and against national interest.

Federal government counsel Nadeem Anjum told the court that the government needed more time to reply on the petition.

Irked by repeated adjournment requests by the government counsel, Justice Mamoon Rashid Sheikh asked the government counsel to persuade the prime minister to submit his reply before the court passed any strict order.

He directed the counsel to come up with Sharifs reply on the questions raised in the petition. The court adjourned the hearing till December 19.

The petitioner, Mr Jaffery, said Sharifs decision to receive the title was a violation of the Pakistan Constitution, Articles 2-A and 249, as he should have taken the Parliament and the Cabinet into confidence before agreeing to receive the title.

Sharif has become Prime Minister again and the Lahore High Court has been requested to order him to return the Sir title to the British Queen as he has lowered the dignity of Pakistanis by accepting a title of slavery, Mr Jaffery said.
Over 10,000 soldiers with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Xinjiang Military Area Command participated in a defensive drill.

This is the fist time such exercises were held after the PLA underwent massive restructuring initiated by President Xi Jinping, who is also the head of the military. (Photo: Representational Image/AFP)

Beijing: Chinese army has conducted massive military exercises in the volatile Xinjiang region, the first such drill after it reconstituted area command which looks after the Line of Actual Control in the Kashmir region.

Over 10,000 soldiers with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Xinjiang Military Area Command participated in a defensive drill in a mountainous area rising over 4,000 meters above sea level in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, state- run People's Daily said in brief report with photographs of the drills.

The operation spread across seven hills and included "missions relating to camouflage, intelligence, reconnaissance and counterattack", it said.

This is the fist time such exercises were held after the PLA underwent massive restructuring initiated by President Xi Jinping, who is also the head of the military.

His reforms include retrenchment of three lakh troops to make the force lean and mean. He had also hinted at more downsizing of the army few days ago.

As part of the reforms the Chinese military has also for the first time integrated area commands looking after India and Pakistan.

China has seven military area commands in Beijing, Nanjing, Chengdu, Jinan, Shenyang, Lanzhou and Guangzhou.

Of this, Chengdu looked after security of India's eastern sector in the Tibet region including Arunachal Pradesh while Lanzhou looked after the partly the western sector, including Kashmir region and Pakistan.

As per the new strategic zone plan both Chengdu and Lanzhou gets integrated into strategic command region making it perhaps the biggest areas for the Chinese military.
Tsai plans to stop in the US on her way to Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador, among the islands handful of diplomatic allies.

Beijing: China on Wednesday accused Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen of seeking to use a planned transit stop in the US to score diplomatic points, amid Chinese rancor over an unprecedented phone call between Tsai and US President-elect Donald Trump.

Asked at a briefing whether China has asked the US to cancel the stop planned for next month, foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang reiterated Chinas claim to sovereignty over Taiwan and accused Tsai of political machinations.

Taiwans administration and leader always perform petty moves like a transit diplomacy whose ulterior political intentions are clear for all to see, Lu said.

Tsai plans to stop in the US on her way to Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador, among the islands handful of diplomatic allies.

China, which claims Taiwan as a breakaway province, objects to any nation having formal contact with its government. The island has diplomatic relations with just 22 countries, of which 12 are in Central America and the Caribbean.

The phone conversation on Friday between Tsai and Mr Trump broke a more than 4-decade-old precedent barring such direct communication.

Beijing cut off contacts with Tsais government earlier this year over her refusal to endorse the concept that China and Taiwan remain part of a single Chinese nation despite their present state of division. That brought a shuddering halt to the trend in recent years of warming ties between the former archrivals.

In Taipei, presidential spokesman Alex Huang said on Wednesday that Taiwan considered it of equal importance to maintain good relations with both the US and China, but also took a swipe at Chinas response.

Such overreaction is unnecessary and is also not conducive to the normal development of (Taiwan-China) relations, Mr Huang said.
Ms May is the latest foreign leader to address the GCC as the Gulf deepens ties with major powers beyond long-time ally the United States.

Dubai: Britain will help Gulf states push back against aggressive regional actions by Iran, Prime Minister Theresa May told the Gulf Cooperation Council in Bahrain on Wednesday in a televised address.

Irans alleged interference in the region is a central preoccupation of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council whose most powerful member is Saudi Arabia. The Sunni Gulf monarchies and Tehran are at odds over a range of issues including the wars in Syria and Yemen.

We must continue to confront state actors whose influence fuels instability in the region, Ms May told Gulf leaders at their annual summit. So I want to assure you that I am clear-eyed about the threat that Iran poses to the Gulf and to the wider Middle East.

She added: We must work together to push back against Irans aggressive regional actions. Ms May said she wanted a strategic partnership to help boost security in Gulf countries, including defence investment and military training in Bahrain and Jordan.

The Prime Minister also spoke about discussions to improve trade ties with Gulf countries as Britain prepares to leave the European Union after a shock referendum vote in June to quit the bloc.I want these talks to pave the way for an ambitious trade arrangement after Brexit, she said in Bahrain, which was a British protectorate for 100 years and gained full independence in 1971.

Ms May is the latest foreign leader to address the GCC as the Gulf deepens ties with major powers beyond long-time ally the United States. Britain, too, is seeking stronger global ties before Brexit, finance minister Philip Hammond said on Wednesday.

GCC leaders have expressed concern over an international agreement that lifted sanctions on Iran this year in exchange for guarantees it would not pursue a nuclear weapons capability. Riyadh and its allies fear the pact will lead to more Iranian intervention in a region which, Gulf leaders feel, has suffered from a lack of American involvement under Mr Obama.
Pakistan has claimed that Yadav is a commander-rank officer with the Indian Navy.

Yadav was arrested by the Pakistan authorities during a raid in Balochistan in March this year. (Photo: PTI/ Videograb)

Islamabad: The Pakistan Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said that the statement attributed to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav is 'absolutely incorrect'.

This comes after reports in the Pakistani media quoted Aziz saying that Islamabad does not have enough or conclusive evidence against Yadav.

"In response to a media query regarding the Adviser to the Prime Minister's statement in the full Senate Chamber pertaining to Kulbhushan Yadav, the arrested Indian Intelligence agency RAW's operative, the Spokesperson said that the statement attributed to the Adviser is absolutely incorrect," said the statement.

It added that Aziz had instead said that the investigations regarding the network of Yadav are ongoing and the dossier shall be completed upon conclusion.

"There is irrefutable proof against Kulbhushan Yadav, who had also made a public confession in March this year," it said adding that, "The Adviser also condemned the continued Indian interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan and urged the international community to take immediate notice."

Yadav was arrested by the Pakistan authorities during a raid in Balochistan in March this year.

According to the Pakistan government, Yadav has admitted that he had been directing various activities in Karachi and Balochistan at the behest of RAW since 2013. He also confessed of playing a role in deteriorating law and order situation in Karachi.

The Indian government, on the other hand, has issued at least five to six note verbales to the Pakistan foreign ministry to get consular access to Yadav, but Islamabad has till now showed no signs of allowing it.

Pakistan has claimed that Yadav is a commander-rank officer with the Indian Navy, while India maintains that he retired from the Navy in 2002 and has had nothing to do with the Indian government when he was arrested from Balochistan.

India has denied that Yadav is a spy and maintains that he is a businessman.
The Montana Violent Offender Task Force arrested a man in violation of his parole on Wednesday evening, said Rod Ostermiller, chief deputy of the U.S. Marshals Service.

Christian Nava was discovered at around 5:20 p.m. under a bed box spring in a residence on the 2000 block of Second Avenue South, Ostermiller said.

Nava's parole was granted on a sentence for criminal possession of dangerous drugs, Ostermiller said.

Nava was unarmed at the time of the arrest, and a stolen gun was also recovered in the residence, Ostermiller said.

The Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office assisted in the arrest.
UC Berkeley Creates World's Highest-Jumping Robot

Trending News: Somebody Finally Invented A Parkour Robot

Quick Take

Watch your back, parkour experts making a living from insane YouTube videos. Robotics researchers at UC Berkeley have created a robot that can spring off walls and perform multiple vertical jumps in a row. That's right: They created a robot that can do parkour.

The robot is named Salto (for Saltatorial Locomotion on Terrain Obstacles) and according to researchers Salto has reached the highest robotic vertical jumping agility ever recorded. The secret to Salto's abilities lie in the source material. Engineers based its design off of the galago, the most vertically agile creature found in nature. The galago can jump five times in four seconds, and gain a combined height of nearly 28 feet.

The secret to the galago is power modulation, the ability to store energy in its tendons to achieve jump heights it couldn't achieve with muscles alone. Salto steals those principles by using spring-loaded motors in its joints.

"By combining biologically inspired design principles with improved engineering technology, matching the agile performance of animals may not be that far off," said Ronald Fearing, a professor of electrical engineering at UC Berkeley.

The worst part of watching parkour videos on YouTube is knowing you might see some guy get seriously injured, to the point where it's no longer funny. Salto solves that problem. It could easily be the basis of a parkour-themed episode of Westworld.

The Salto research is supported by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory in hopes of creating a robot that can leap over rubble during search and rescue missions. So the original intent was never parkour. But you can't blame us for getting excited about the possibilities.

Drop This Fact

The farthest-jumping animal is the red kangaroo, with a record leap of 43 feet in a single stride.
For the past decade, the state of Montana has refused to comply with the federal REAL ID Act enacted in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

For all those years, the Department of Homeland security has treated Montanas refusal to comply as a request for an extension of time to comply, thus avoiding sanctioning Montana as the REAL ID Act dictates. That grace period has ended, according to a letter DHS leaders sent Gov. Steve Bullock a few weeks ago: Beginning Jan. 30, Montana drivers licenses will no longer be accepted as identification for persons entering U.S. military bases, nuclear power plants and other federal facilities.

Montana has emphatically rejected the invasion of personal privacy by requiring sharing of private information with the federal government and other states, through the REAL ID Act, and I support that decision, said Tim Fox, the third Montana attorney general to defend the states rejection of the federal mandate. The 2007 Legislature voted unanimously for the state law that forbids Montana officials from complying with REAL ID.

However, Montana has made numerous improvements to the security of its drivers licenses and the process of issuing those licenses. Fox, Bullock and Mike McGrath, their AG predecessor, all argued that Montanas drivers licenses are secure even though they dont follow the letter of REAL ID.

The federal drivers license mandate was prompted by concern about the fact that four of the 9/11 bombers had obtained drivers licenses. Of course, none had been licensed in Montana.

REAL ID needs to be revised to reflect the real security and privacy issues at stake. Fortunately, Montana isnt alone in this battle. Kentucky, Maine, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and South Carolina also have rejected REAL ID, and DHS has said their drivers licenses will be refused in the same locations as Montana licenses. Minnesota, Missouri and Washington already are under sanctions, although enhanced drivers licenses are deemed acceptable from Minnesota and Washington.

For the past 10 years, every member of Montanas Congressional delegation has supported the states rights argument in this dispute. We call on Sens. Jon Tester and Steve Daines and Rep. Ryan Zinke to join forces with lawmakers from those other eight sanctioned states to change federal law and maintain states rights to protect their residents privacy.

Montanans have spoken loud and clear: We dont want REAL ID and we dont want the federal government infringing on our personal privacy, Daines said in a recent news release. Im going to work to pursue every legislative fix I can.

There is a new urgency to that work with the Jan. 30 sanctions looming. Furthermore, on Jan. 22, 2018, the Transportation Security Administration will begin REAL ID enforcement. Then Montana drivers licenses wont be accepted as identification for air travelers.

Lets get REAL ID revised before Montanans need to buy a passport to fly to Denver.
Ashurst has been recognized for gender equality by the WGEA and becomes the only law firm to receive the citation for 16 consecutive years, since its inception.The law firm was first recognized in 2001 by the WGEAs predecessor EOWA.The firm has committed to three gender targets to have (as a minimum) 40 per cent of new partners each year be women, 25 per cent of senior management roles to be held by women and 25 per cent of the firm's equity partners to be women by 2018.As of May 2016, the firm says it is approaching these targets with 38 per cent female partner promotions, 18 per cent women in senior management roles and 16 per cent women as equity partners.Global regulators will be increasing their requirements in 2017 which will bring increased compliance risk for companies. Herbert Smith Freehills has published its key regulatory developments forecast for 2017 which sees global regulators increasingly using technology such as artificial intelligence, which will make them more efficient but require more information from corporates.This will mean an increased burden for companies and they will need to ensure they are meeting regulatory requirements, not just in the jurisdiction they are headquartered but in all the countries they do business, warns HFS Australian head of disputes Luke Hastings.In Australia, the firm sees stronger powers for the ASIC ahead with increased reporting requirements for firms. Corporate culture will be a focus as regulators look at indicators of wrongdoing.Dentons NextLaw has announced an investment in Beagle, a Canadian startup that is using artificial intelligence for self-service legal contract processes.The service allows clients to access a platform which scans documents and highlights key information, reducing the costs for in-house teams. The software will be piloted by Dentons lawyers in Canada and the UK.King & Wood Mallesons European assets have been placed under a second debenture by Barclays Bank according to filings with the UK companies registrar.The European arm of the verein has debts of around 30 million (AU$51 million) but says it has the support of its bankers as it seeks to shore up the business.
Free newsletter

Subscribe to our FREE newsletter service and well keep you up-to-date with the latest breaking news, cutting edge opinion, and expert analysis affecting both your business and the industry as whole.

Please enter your email address below and click on Sign Up for daily newsletters from Australasian Lawyer.
A Pennsylvania state prosecutors office paid nearly $1,400 worth of bitcoins to free up its computer network which was infected from an email that has been traced to Australia.The news comes after the shutdown of the Avalanche cybercrime network by authorities from the European Union and the US, according to a report from The Associated Press.The detail came to light from court filings made by federal prosecutors who did not name the state government office that was among the victims of the malware distribution platform.However, The Associated Press managed to confirm from Stephen Zappala Jr., the Allegheny County district attorney, that it was his office that was victimised.Through the Avalanche malware platform, ransomware  or software that disable a computer until a ransom is paid  infected the computer system of the prosecutors office in January 2015, the report notes.The malware was installed after an employee clicked on a link in an email which was socially engineered to look like it was pointing to a legitimate government agency, the district attorney told the news organisation. According to the report, Zappalas detective traced the email to Australia.The Avalanche group is said to have operated since at least 2010. They have infected at least 500,000 computers worldwide, acting US Attorney in Pittsburgh Soo Song revealed, according to The Associated Press.Zappala said that his offices computer network has been upgraded to protect it from similar attacks.
Fresh produce and even some pastas, markets, queen vic in the city, preston, south melb, footscray or farmers markets. If you eat meat, I would recommend finding your local butcher, higher quality, better prices.



Aldi is ok, I'm not 100% sold that it's THAT much cheaper. Their fresh produce isn't great ie. Fruit veg and meats. Shelf and freezer is alright though.



Cleaning products it depends on how picky you are, reject shop stocks a lot of decent stuff in terms of cleaning for bathroom kitchen and laundry if you're on a tight budget.
In Cincinnati late last week, President-elect Donald Trump took an unexpected swipe at reporters covering his rally. Pointing at the people back there, and calling them the extremely dishonest press, he proceeded to criticize the news media for predicting Hillary Clinton would beat him in the election.

Trump has yet to hold a press conference a month after his election. He has one scheduled for Dec. 15 to talk about a subject of his choosing: his plans to put a firewall between his White House job and his businesses. His last press conference as a candidate was in July.

Trump has repeatedly declared his dislike for the press, which he claims is biased against him. During the campaign, he refused to meet with editorial boards of papers, many of whom had been critical of him. He selectively shut out reporters from those media from getting press credentials to attend his campaign events. And he famously picked fights with journalists who anchored presidential debates, including Megyn Kelly, Anderson Cooper and Martha Raddatz. He continues taking to Twitter to trash some reporters by name.

Last week that distinction went to CNNs Jeff Zeleny, a senior Washington correspondent who was once a colleague of mine at The Des Moines Register. We here know him to be a fair, responsible journalist in dogged pursuit of the facts  such a consummate professional, youd never know what his personal political leanings were. But after he called Trump a sore winner on TV for claiming massive voter fraud had given Hillary Clinton a win in the popular vote, Trump came back at him. In a series of tweets and re-tweets, including from someone who might be a teenager, Trump called Zeleny just another generic CNN part-time wannabe journalist.

To which the ever-polite Zeleny, tweeted back, Good evening! Have been looking for examples of voter fraud. Please send our way. Full-time journalist here still working.

For the record, The Washington Post has found only four documented cases of voter fraud nationwide this presidential election. Clinton won the popular vote by more than 2 million.

Trumps habit of tweeting whatevers on his mind in 140 or fewer characters has complicated the news medias role. If they report on his tweets, they get backlash from other media, as well as from Trump opponents.

At a Des Moines gathering last week in the home of Democratic state Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad, community members of different races, religions and ethnicities who did not support Trump criticized the press for covering his tweets in place of, say, his policies. The same criticism has appeared in major media including from the editor of the left-leaning publication The Nation. Some at the Des Moines gathering blamed the press for giving the election to Trump.

In past elections, the press has been criticized for covering the horse-race aspects of an election to the exclusion of substance. This time its accused of focusing on trivia or on negativity. But should the media be faulted for reporting exactly what Trump said, if it is offensive or trivial? But when a major-party candidate makes broad or inflammatory remarks in speeches, or contradicts his earlier positions, or makes grandiose promises it is hard to imagine him keeping, isnt the press obligated to report them?

Until now, the public has been able to count on informed journalists raising important questions to keep our leaders accountable. But as with everything else, Trump either doesnt understand that or wants to make up new rules based on his ego needs.

If the U.S. president will bypass the press to protect his feelings, while communicating in self-congratulatory one-line quips, it could be the stuff of devastating comedy. It would also put us in league with banana republics rather than leaders of the free world. One can only hope he doesnt go that route, but maybe its not the press that needs to be asking.
There is an ongoing debate in Australia as to how much immigrants give to the country, but now a new report says they should be encouraged as they give far more than many people think.Indeed, some 61% of Australia's top 50 startup businesses were founded by immigrants or children of immigrants, according to a new report from StartupAus, a not for profit organisation working to improve technology entrepreneurship. The 2016 Crossroads report, an annual review of Australia's startup ecosystem, calls for the entrepreneur visa programme to be improved and promoted to attract more people from abroad.'We have the necessary raw ingredients to become a major technology player globally. Currently the administrative challenges associated with obtaining 457 visas are impeding efforts of young Australian tech companies to recruit skilled IT workers,' the report said.According to Alex McCauley, chief executive officer of StartupAus, an improvement in the conditions for entrepreneurship in Australia could see up to $170 billion added to the Australian economy.'It has been a strong year for startups with some solid progress in the transition to a competitive, high tech economy. However, at a time when our traditional industries are under siege by global competitors, it's vital we foster the growth of this powerful new economic segment,' he said.But he pointed out that Australia still records some of the lowest rates of startup formation, and one of the lowest rates of venture capital investment for a developed nation.The report suggests that while Australia can be an attractive destination for foreign startups, internationally there is still limited appreciation of the breadth and depth of startup activity that exists in the country.'In parallel with implementation of an Entrepreneur Visa, an international business development capability would help to inform promising startups from around the world about the benefits of establishing in Australia and encourage them to move here,' the report says.According to the report's author, Colin Kinner, Australia needs to produce a greater amount of entrepreneurs and do everything possible to stack the odds in their favour. 'Startups can be an economic growth engine for Australia, but only if we greatly increase the number of startup founders and equip them with the skills, capital and supportive regulatory environment they need to succeed on a global stage,' he explained.According to Alex Gruszka, head of data and insights at StartupAus, given the young age of the Australian tech ecosystem people with 10 years or more experience of startups need to come from abroad.'We need people with entrepreneurial skills and people with STEM skills, but also people with experience,' he said, adding that currently the wait for an entrepreneur visa is too long, meaning that Australia is not competitive with other countries.
Carmaker is also evaluating developing a limited-run high-performance iteration of its SUV.

Bentley is evaluating an extended Bentayga range in a bid to capitalise on the runaway sales success of the SUV. Plans include launching a coupe-styled version of the car, a long-wheelbase version and possibly a limited-edition high-performance model in a similar vein to the Bentley Continental GT3-R.

The Bentayga coupe is expected to launch around 2019 if it gets the approval of the Volkswagen Group board. This launch would coincide with the facelift of the standard car. The coupe will be broadly styled on the standard car and retain four doors but have a sloping roofline and would be tuned to offer sharper dynamic and performance characteristics.

Im confident that it will happen and our team is working on the case for this car, but it is not yet approved for production, said Bentley CEO Wolfgang Durheimer. We are the first in the luxury SUV space and at the moment unopposed, but there are lots of rivals coming to the sector. The question we need to answer is if there is space for all these different body styles.

It is believed that an extended-wheelbase Bentayga is already in development following the sales success of the Mulsanne EWB model. In the Middle East and China it is almost exclusively what we sell, said Durheimer. Those markets have shown what is possible and it makes business sense; the engineering is not rocket science, but it is expensive because when you change components like the side panels and roof you add a lot of cost.

Bentleys head of engineering, Rolf Frech, revealed that a highly tuned version of the W12 Bentayga was under consideration as well, but stressed that it would only be a limited-edition model. Potential rivals would include the high-performance Range Rover Sport SVR. Frech also stressed that such a car could not impinge on Bentleys traditional values of luxury. We can make dynamically focused cars that are extreme, but only for very special occasions, he said. They cannot impinge on Bentleys core DNA.

The standard, W12-powered Bentayga does 0-100ph in 4.1sec and has a top speed of 301kph.

Despite being one of the most controversial Bentleys ever launched, both as the firms first SUV and now its first diesel model, the Bentayga has been critically acclaimed and has exceeded sales expectations. The firm anticipated making 3600 Bentaygas in 2016 but will end the year having delivered around 5600 as a result of demand.

Durheimer also said plans to launch an SUV smaller than the Bentayga - sized between the Porsche Macan and Porsche Cayenne - were on hold. For now we will go bigger, not smaller, he said. That is the more interesting direction."
NEDC

It looks like GM made it a priority to confuse its potential clients with the names chosen for these two models. If the Bolt is nothing but a Volt with a typo ("B" and "V" are next to each other, after all), the Opel's model follows a similar recipe by adding a hyphen and an "e" to the already existing Ampera Obviously, GM wants to create some sort of connection between this new model and the moderately successful range-extended EVs it launched a few years ago. In reality, they couldn't be more different, and even though GM seems not to realize it, that's actually a good thing. The Bolt appears to have arrested the spotlight, which is probably making the Ampera-e a little jealous. To make things right, the German electric hatchback is counter-attacking with this 30-second commercial.So, what's it like? Well, even though they speak English, it is very, extremely German, but we don't find it that bad. Let me rephrase that: we think it's so bad, it actually starts to become funny. And funny commercials are always good commercials.As expected, the unique selling proposition chosen by the the Opel officials is Ampera-e's remarkable range of 500 km (using therating; it's actually 238 miles according to EPA, which corresponds to 383 km), but its stealth rating also gets a mention.It looks like people have split feelings about it, but we think that's just because everyone wants to be as politically correct as possible these days, and they are looking for every chance they can get to feel outraged by something. "Oh my God, they killed a bug! You, bastards!"Just don't read any of the comments, forget you read this text and see for yourself. Besides, it takes guts to make a spot where you don't show the product - for that alone, Opel deserves to be commended.
EV

However, it proved enough to get our juices flowing. The car looked sleek, futuristic and boldly designed - not exactly a list of atributes you could apply to most carmakers these days without bursting with laughter.Today, Faraday Future followed with another image of their first product, and this one is even more revealing. To maintain some sort of symmetry, this latest teaser focuses on the rear of the unnamed, but in doing so it also reveals a very telling feature of the car.Faraday Future's car does not have side mirrors, replacing them instead with video cameras. That's swell, but there's a reason why other cars haven't used this system so far, and it's not because nobody thought about it: they are illegal.In what seems like a very clear case of resistance to progress, the authorities have deemed the replacement of side mirrors with cameras "unsafe," even though all evidence points to the contrary. Some manufacturers have used them on prototypes, but their venture into the automotive world stopped there.But their presence on FF's electric crossover is a lot more worrying, because this could mean that the car isn't by far production ready, and that's what everybody expects to see. On the other hand, Faraday Future has plenty of time to tinker with the design and features of its first car since work is still underway at its factory in Nevada. And adding a set of side mirrors would be the easiest job for its designers, so there's no need to panic.The same motif of the brand's logo - as seen on the fake front grille - is carried over at the back as well, only this time it looks like all graphical elements light up, acting as one continuous taillight. It's still hard to distinguish the overall shape of the vehicle, but we have the previously released videos for that, so we know it's going to be a pretty squat crossover.The biggest problem Faraday Future is facing - apart from an apparent shortage of cash - is the Tesla Model Y. By constantly pushing back the launch date, FF might lose the advantage of being first on the market, not to mention its EV will likely be more expensive than Tesla's. At this point, though, we don't really know whether it will succeed in bringing a product to market or not. We should find out more in January at CES.
The story comes from Mbooni, Makueni in Kenia, where local news report that a witchdoctor has summoned a swarm of bees to scare off a motorcycle thief and help the owner retrieve it."A few days later, angry bees disrupted normal business at the local market before settling on the stolen bike," mpasho reports on the strange case. "Fearing the dire consequences, everyone avoided getting close to it until the owner came and took it home. It is reported that the thief fled after he saw the bees approaching.That sounds like it's coming straight from the Middle Ages, isn't it? Well, after some digging, it appears that the witchdoctor who allegedly produced a swarm of bees from out of nowhere and send them on the bike took credit for a simple act of nature.According to local Assistant Chief, Patrick Mwanzia, the swarm of bees has most likely arrived on the motorcycle after their queen got caught in the handlebars protecting foam. And that isn't an isolated case, as just days before, a similar event happened with another bike.So, in case you were already looking for witchcraft ads to cast a spell on your bike that will punish a potential thief, we'd suggest you to stop searching and better invest in other deterrents to protect your two-wheeled machine.Nothing will stop a highly-qualified thief from snatching your ride if he has enough time to do it, but at least you can make it harder by using disk locks, chains, and alarms. Ultimately, you can fit a small GPS tracking device to it and even if it gets stolen, you can send the police to the location.
Former astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn is in a Columbus, Ohio, hospital with an undisclosed illness. Glenn, 95, was the first American to orbit the Earth and the last surviving member of the original astronauts in the Mercury program. He was admitted to James Cancer Hospital more than a week ago, and a family spokesman said even though Glenn is at The James that does not necessarily mean he has cancer, according to news reports Wednesday. Glenn underwent heart-valve surgery in 2014 and suffered a stroke afterward, and has had difficulties with his vision.

Glenn is a decorated military pilot who joined the Marine Corps to fly fighters in World War II. During the Korean War, he flew combat missions for the Marines as well as for the Air Force as an exchange pilot. He went on to fly as a military test pilot and in 1957 set a transcontinental speed record from Los Angeles to New York in a supersonic F8U Crusader. He joined NASAs first astronaut program the following year. On Feb. 20, 1962, on board the Friendship 7 spacecraft, he orbited the Earth three times, reaching a maximum altitude of 162 miles. More than 36 years later, in October 1998, Glenn became the oldest astronaut to fly in space when he served as a crew member on the space shuttle Discovery.
There will be no more rocket launches this year for SpaceX, which announced Wednesday it will not be ready to resume flights on Dec. 16 as the company had intended. The delay marks the second time the California company has had to postpone launch operations as the probe into the Sept. 1 rocket explosion at Cape Canaveral is finalized. SpaceX said its still prepping and working on extended testing for what it now hopes to be a January launch of 10 satellites under contract with Iridium Communications. According to a CNNMoney report, the company also iswaiting for the FAA and NASA to complete reviews of the investigation of the Sept. 1 launch-pad burnup during a test, which appears to have been caused by supercooled liquid oxygen fuel solidifying and then reacting with pressurized helium, causing multiple explosions atSpace Launch Complex 40.

We are finalizing the investigation into our September 1 anomaly and are working to complete the final steps necessary to safely and reliably return to flight, now in early January with the launch of Iridium-1, SpaceX said in a brief statement. This allows for additional time to close-out vehicle preparations and complete extended testing to help ensure the highest possible level of mission assurance prior to launch. The companys CEO, Elon Musk, had been optimistic soon after the accident that launches would resume by November. Those plans were put off until the now-cancelled Dec. 16 target date as Musk said the investigation revealed a really surprising problem thats never been encountered before in the history of rocketry. SpaceX rockets have suffered a series of destructive incidents including a post-launch structural failure on a Dragon rocket in June 2015, which delayed further flights for six months.
HELENA  A judge on Wednesday cleared the way for Montana's medical marijuana dispensaries to reopen after a three-month hiatus by ruling that a drafting error in a voter-approved ballot initiative should not delay the measure's implementation.

District Judge James Reynolds of Helena ruled the error that pushed back the effective date of a key portion of the initiative until July 1 should not keep very ill patients from accessing the drug immediately.

"The folks that are maybe the most in need are the least able to provide, to grow their own," Reynolds said in making his ruling. "I think speed is more important than niceties."

The initiative approved by voters last month struck down a law passed by the Montana Legislature in 2011 that limited medical marijuana providers to three patients each. The three-patient limit took effect Aug. 31 after a five-year court battle, forcing the closure of medical marijuana dispensaries across the state and leaving thousands of registered users without providers.

The authors of the ballot measure, the Montana Cannabis Industry Association, had intended for the three-patient limit to be struck down immediately upon passage of the initiative.

But a last-minute flurry of activity between initiative sponsors and state officials resulted in two new sections being added to the measure, changing the numbering of the sections in the initiative, according to the group's lobbyist, Kate Cholewa. The part of the initiative that laid out the effective dates of the various sections of the measure was not updated to reflect the final changes, she said.

The advocacy group took their case to Reynolds, who had twice ruled to block the three-patient limit while the challenge to the 2011 state law was making its way through the courts. Reynolds said the effective date issue was clearly an error, that the advocacy group had meant for the measure to take effect immediately and that the group had publicly campaigned that it would upon passage.

The judge, in an aside, noted that federal and state laws regarding marijuana remain in conflict while the number of states legalizing recreational and pot is growing.

"We're in a morass here," he said of the disparity between federal and state laws. "Folks are speaking with their votes."

Cholewa said it was not clear how much time providers would need to get their operations up and running. She acknowledged that shortages in marijuana supplies, a rush to physicians who refer patients and how the state Department of Public Health and Human Services administers the changes could cause delays.

"The people who work providing marijuana in Montana were, let's face it, they were jerked around quite a bit," Cholewa said. "They are somewhat used to it and very good at coming back. "

One dispensary, The Marijuana Company, posted on Facebook "WE ARE OPEN!!! We are accepting new patients!!!" Its owner, J.J. Thomas, said his company served about 100 patients in Butte and Helena before it shut down in August.

"It's been brutal," Thomas said. "We were forced out of business, and we were trying to hang on until we could re-open. If we had to wait until June, we probably would have had to throw in the towel."

The Marijuana Company will accept the paperwork of any patient who wants to list the dispensary as his designated provider, but it will have to offer marijuana on a first-come, first-served basis until its supplies are replenished, he said.

The state health department did not oppose the advocacy group's effort to change the effective date through the courts, attorney Nicholas Domitrovich said.

"We have the program in place. We have the staff in place," Domitrovich said before the ruling. "We are prepared to act, but we feel we don't have the proper legal cover right now."

The health department immediately saw an increase in applications after the judge's ruling. The department received 70 medical marijuana cardholder and provider applications on Wednesday, spokesman Jon Ebelt said, as well as 150 change request forms. Change request forms can be filed if a registered cardholder wants to change his or her provider.

"We believe well be able to keep up with the workload as we have in the past," he said. "However, we will monitor the situation and will respond accordingly."

While the department is able to process the forms right away, it will still work to set up a framework for the new oversight provisions in I-182, including product testing and licensing procedures.

Another provision of the initiative, allowing people diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder to use medical marijuana, has already gone into effect and was not affected by Wednesday's ruling.

There were 7,558 enrolled medical marijuana patients in Montana in November, and 6,557 without a designated provider, according to health department statistics. There were more than 30,000 people enrolled before state lawmakers in 2011 passed the restrictive law, citing the need to close loopholes that allowed the medical marijuana law approved by voters in 2004 to be abused.
8 December 2016 10:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan has taken serious steps to keep the economic growth rates, create new jobs and diversify the economy to mitigate the adverse impact of a crash in oil prices.

The country is seriously engaged in diversification of the economy, to bring the dependence on oil and gas to the lowest level, and is carrying out major reforms to support doing business in the country.

And a recent decree endorsing Strategic road maps for the national economy and main economic sectors signed by President Ilham Aliyev will allow to define the development goals and priorities and ensure their proper and timely implementation.

The strategic road maps cover almost all sectors of the economy, including, development of the oil and gas industry, the manufacture and processing of agricultural products, the manufacture of small and medium entrepreneurship-level consumer goods, development of heavy industry and machinery, tourism, logistics and trade, vocational education and training, financial services, communication and information technologies and utilities.

MP Musa Guliyev, commenting on the presidential decree, expressed confidence that it will serve for the development of non-oil sector of the economy.

"Revenues and expenditures of the state budget decreased, although they were well-balanced. Of course, to ensure a more prosperous life in the future we will have to think about a budget increase," he said, addressing the plenary session of the Parliament for discussions over the draft state budget for 2017 on December 7.

"I believe that, in this context, it is necessary to pay special attention to the development of agriculture, transport, tourism, ICT, and light industry."

In turn, MP Rufat Guliyev believes that the strategy will ensure am equal and dynamic development of the economy.

Most importantly, according to Guliyev, the "road maps" cover the development of small and medium businesses.

The MP said that many countries pay great attention to the development of SME (small and medium enterprises).

"In this regard, it is important that long-term economic development strategy places special emphasis on SMEs," he said.

MP Govhar Bakhshaliyeva, for her part, said that the "strategic road maps" will contribute to the creation of new jobs and improving the well-being of the population in the future.

Realization of the strategic road map for development of information and communication technologies (ICT) contributes to even better development of the internet community in the country, Sarkhan Hashimov, head of Microsoft Azerbaijan, told Trend.

We believe that preparation of a road map in this direction will allow Azerbaijan to integrate even more to the global innovation area. Digital revolution is already happening, and developing a road map has once again proved that Azerbaijan declares its willingness to move in this direction, he said.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
8 December 2016 11:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan and Kuwait are drafting several agreements on the development of cooperation in the sectors of information and communication technologies (ICT), transportation, finance, humanitarian and others.

Some of these agreements maybe signed as part of the third session of the inter-governmental commission on trade, economic, as well as scientific and technological cooperation, which will probably be held in 2017, Elkhan Gahraman, Azerbaijani ambassador to Kuwait told Trend.

The envoy said that in accordance with the rotation principle, the next meeting will be held in Kuwait, but the exact dates of the meeting are not known yet.

The previous meetings of the commission were held in 2011 and 2013 in Kuwait and Azerbaijan. The two sides signed more than 10 intergovernmental documents on bilateral cooperation after the two previous meetings.

To boost cooperation in various spheres between the two countries, it is planned to carry out a number of mutual visits of government delegations, Gahraman added.

Baku and Kuwait, which established diplomatic relations since 1994 are bond with traditional, historical, religious and cultural ties, as well as the geographical position.

Among the Gulf countries, Kuwait is a country that is located closer to Azerbaijan.

Recently, Azerbaijan and Kuwait signed an intergovernmental agreement on air communication, aiming to remove obstacles for opening of air links between the two countries, which will contribute to further development of bilateral economic and cultural relations between the two sides.

The opening of direct flights between Azerbaijan and Kuwait is expected to lead to a significant increase in trade relations between the two states.

Kuwaitis also show great interest in creation of farms, renting of large areas for breeding cattle in Azerbaijan. Investors of Kuwait already invested in Azerbaijans economy and chose agriculture and favorable recreational tourist areas as priority directions.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Kuwait in January-September 2016 amounted to $2.96 million, according to the State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
8 December 2016 12:22 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Businessmen from Azerbaijan and Iran`s Golestan province will establish mutual cooperation.

The issue was agreed at a meeting between President of the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs (Employers) Organizations of Azerbaijan Mammad Musayev and a delegation of 30 businessmen led by governor of Golestan Province Hassan Sadiq, Azertac reported.

Sadiq hailed relations between the two counties, saying that Golestan Province is very interested in expanding political, cultural, as well as economic and trade relations with Azerbaijan.

He pointed out that trade between Azerbaijan and Iran totaled $1.5 billion.

The Iranian official further mentioned that 90 kinds of products manufactured in Golestan Province. The province, which has 7 climatic zones, is mainly engaged in agriculture and industry. It also produces 1.5 million tons of wheat per year.

President of the Chamber of Commerce of Golestan Province Ramazan Bahrami, in turn, called on Azerbaijani entrepreneurs to build mutual cooperation.

During the meeting, Musayev provided an insight into the measures carried out under President Ilham Aliyev to develop the non-oil sector of economy, especially business sector in Azerbaijan. He underlined the importance of holding regular meetings between businessmen.

They agreed to set up a working group between the Azerbaijani Confederation of Entrepreneurs and Golestan Province with the aim of fostering mutual cooperation.

During the Baku visit, the Iraian delegation also met with Deputy Minister of Agriculture Ilham Guliyev.

Guliyev hailed relations between the two countries in political, economic and agricultural fields. He also spoke about the fruitful condition created in the country for development of agriculture. He said there were good opportunities for making joint investment.

Hassan Sadiq, in turn, said Golestan province has important place in the development of agriculture in Iran.

On importance of such meetings, the governor said there was wide potential for cooperation.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Iran increased by 30 percent in the first quarter of 2016. In 2015, the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $ 123.786 million.

Currently, work is underway to expand ties in the field of agriculture, tourism, banking and transport. Development of transport corridors, including the North-South corridor, will also contribute to the expansion of relations between Azerbaijan and Iran,

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
8 December 2016 13:05 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijan Deposit Insurance Fund (ADIF) reported that it paid compensations worth more than 713.86 million manats to depositors of Dekabank, Kredobank, Zaminbank, Parabank, Caucasus Development Bank, AtraBank, Bank of Azerbaijan, Ganjabank, Texnikabank and Bank Standard.

Below is the list of closed banks and the volume of paid compensations as of December 7:

Banks Paid compensations (million manats) Share of paid compensations in total volume of insured deposits (%) Bank Standard 426.93 97% Zaminbank 52.38 72% Dekabank 3.02 96% Kredobank 27.19 97% Caucasus Development Bank 1.94 92% Atrabank 14.26 97% Bank of Azerbaijan 24.15 97% Ganjabank 0.98 94% Texnikabank 120.12 98% Parabank 42.9 98%

Acceptance of applications from insured depositors of Dekabank, Kredobank, Zaminbank and Parabank began Aug. 1, 2016 and the payment of compensations has been carried out since that day.

Compensations to the insured depositors of Caucasus Development Bank and AtraBank are being paid starting from Aug. 23. Payment of compensations to insured depositors of Bank of Azerbaijan has been carried out since Jan. 29, 2016 at branches of Muganbank and Rabitabank, and since Sept. 8 at ADIFs office.

Clients of Ganjabank receive compensations since Feb. 4.

Payment of compensations to insured depositors of Bank Standard started Oct. 11, 2016 at the banks main office and its branches in the regions of Azerbaijan and will continue for one year.

Depositors of Texnikabank can receive compensations since Feb. 12 at ADIFs office.

The licenses of all the ten banks were cancelled during 2016 as the aggregate capital of these banks didnt meet the minimum requirements [50 million manats]. In general, they havent fulfilled the regulators instructions.

Some 32 banks are currently implementing their activities in the country.

--

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
8 December 2016 14:38 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

The recently approved strategic roadmaps for the development of Azerbaijans national economy provide a good basis for reforms and economic diversification, said Malena Mard.

The head of the EU delegation in Baku noted that the Union always discusses the ways to support the diversification of the Azerbaijani economy.

"The EU wants to be a partner of Azerbaijan and support it in the diversification of the economy and reforms. And 12 road maps create very good foundation for this," Mard told Trend.

President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on December 6 endorsing Strategic road maps for the national economy and main economic sectors, which will allow define the development goals and priorities and ensure their proper and timely implementation.

The strategic road maps cover almost all sectors of the economy, including, development of the oil and gas industry, the manufacture and processing of agricultural products, the manufacture of small and medium entrepreneurship-level consumer goods, development of heavy industry and machinery, tourism, logistics and trade, vocational education and training, financial services, communication and information technologies and utilities.

Mard recalled the mandate issued for the negotiations between the EU and Azerbaijan on November 14 for the new legal framework of cooperation, which will include many areas.



"We look forward to the start of negotiations next year to be able to promote our trade and investment cooperation. Issuance of this mandate is a very positive step," she emphasized.

The European Council has adopted a mandate for the European Commission and the high representative for foreign affairs and security policy to negotiate, on behalf of the EU and its member states, a comprehensive agreement with Azerbaijan.

The new agreement should replace the 1996 partnership and cooperation agreement and should better take account of the shared objectives and challenges the EU and Azerbaijan face today.

-

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
8 December 2016 18:07 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

The railway agencies of Azerbaijan and Russia discussed a number of issues, including Azerbaijans proposal to carry goods at reduced rates through the Samur-Yalama checkpoint.

Azerbaijan Railways reported that the issues were discussed at the meeting between Head of Azerbaijan Railways JSC Javid Gurbanov and President of Russian Railways JSC Oleg Belozerov in Moscow.

Moreover, the sides talked about the work carried out by Azerbaijan in the framework of the project on the North-South International Transport Corridor, the project of construction of Astara-Rasht railway in Iran, as well as attraction of additional freight to the "North-South."

Gurbanov informed about realization of the North-South project, noting that final work on construction of the railway bridge across the river Astarachay on the border with Iran are currently under way.

Belozerov, in turn, praised the work carried out by Azerbaijan on the project, and noted the importance of mobilizing all efforts to attract cargo on this route.

The International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) will connect Northern Europe with Southeastern Asia, as well as link railways of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia. The corridor is planned to transport 6 million tons of cargo per year at the initial stage and 15-20 million tons of cargo in the future.

The corridor is expected to bring huge benefits to the Azerbaijani budget. The route enjoys several advantages compared to other transport corridors, as it is considered to be more profitable for each parameter than other alternative routes, including reduction of the distance and delivery time two or threefold.

---

Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
8 December 2016 17:22 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

The national designers took the shows of Azerbaijan Fashion Week by storm, which was held in late November.

With their fiercely fresh looks, vivid colors and unique designs they captivated the audience during the whole Week.

Azerbaijan Fashion Week 2016 displayed the most magnificent pieces of Azerbaijani and foreign designers, along with some of their craziest styles.

Truly one of the most diverse and colorful fashion shows featured seven national brands: EMILIE ATELIE, LIBAS COUTURE, BO by OKSANA BARKHATOVA, GUNAY MIRZA, DENT'ELLE COUTURE by SHABNAM, YES COUTURE, JAMILYA MELIKOVA.

Spring-summer 2017 collection by Libas Couture featured flying dresses, sparkling organza and finesse laces.

Zemfira Musayeva, inspired by the impressionist paintings of French artist Degas, has created a collection filled with light and ease. This collection will be appreciated by self-assured women, who love life and live with a smile.

Designer Emina Amin, who presented kids fashion collection, demonstrated fantastic women's and children's clothing line "Simplicity".

New collection by Atelier Emilie is a perfect example of that the simplicity is the embodiment of elegance.

The BO collection by Oksana Bakhatova "Spring-summer 2016/17" was created in a very short time. Therefore it reflects only part of the philosophy of brand from talented designer Oksana Bakhatova.

Fashion collection by Gunay Mirza featured Turkish motifs. The models walked down the catwalk under a Turkish melody. Their hairstyles were decorated with traditional Turkish hats.

Fashion collection DENT'ELLE COUTURE by designer SHABNAM featured not only evening gowns, but also casual outfits, interwoven with the elegance and beauty.

Finally YES COUTURE presented collection of breathtaking evening dresses

Azerbaijan Fashion Week is held twice a year in November and May. More than 60 designers from Azerbaijan, Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, France and Spain participated in last three seasons.

The main purpose of the Week is to popularize growing fashion industry in Azerbaijan and give an opportunity to young and talented designers to show their work to the world. It's a place that gathers local and international buyers, press and fashion critics together.

---

Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
CHEYENNE, Wyo.  A former Johnson County prosecutor will spend the holidays behind bars after pleading guilty to a federal contempt of court charge.

Greg L. Goddard of Buffalo pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge Wednesday in Cheyenne.

Goddard told Magistrate Judge Kelly Rankin he failed to disclose that he was aware a client he represented in a federal bankruptcy case last year stood to inherit some money. Goddard said he had no excuse.

Rankin approved a plea agreement with prosecutors that called for Goddard to serve 45 days in jail. Rankin also fined Goddard $500.

Goddard has served more than 30 years as county attorney and deputy county attorney. Casper lawyer P. Craig Silva represents Goddard and told Rankin that Goddard could continue his private law practice from the Johnson County jail.
8 December 2016 13:31 (UTC+04:00)

By Gulgiz Muradova

Azerbaijans pharmaceutical industry is taking a shape as plants on medicine production will appear in the country in the near future.

Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev said that four new pharma plants will operate in the country by 2018, recalling that construction of the first plant has already been launched.

This month, we will also lay the foundation of a joint pharmaceutical plant with Iran. Moreover, we are now considering other two similar projects, he noted.

The Russian private hi-tech pharmaceutical company R-Pharm, Azerbaijan Investment Company and Vita-A LLC (Azerbaijan) signed a deal on the creation of Hayat Pharm Joint Venture on November 2 in Baku, thus founding the countrys first pharmacy plant.

The Azerbaijani-Russian joint pharmaceutical plant will be built in the Pirallahi Industrial Park. It is planned to invest some $74 million into the project, which enable Azerbaijan to manufacture high-quality medicines within two years.

The project envisages creation of a large logistics centre, covering an area of some 5,000 cubic meters in 2016-2018. The formation of the industrial complex, which is to consist of two stages, namely, the establishment of an enterprise for packing the official medicines and production of medications (tablets, capsules and pharmaceutical substances) will be realized in 2017-2020. A quality control laboratory will be established in the country in 2016-2020.

Hayat Pharms share in the Azerbaijani pharmaceutical market is expected to be 6 percent by 2025. The local production will account for $70 million or 0.15 percent of GDP by 2025.

This will allow saving budgetary funds worth $53.6 million thanks to import substitution in medications.

The joint pharmaceutical plant with Iran will also be built in Pirallahi. The enterprise is designed to manufacture dozens of essential drugs for the treatment of heart diseases, contagious diseases, non-communicable diseases, as well as various types of antibiotics and painkillers.

The necessary medicines will be imported from Iran to Azerbaijan within the first stage, while Iran will provide all necessary technology for the production of drugs in the second stage of the project, production of medicines will be launched at the third stage.

Moreover, Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey and some European countries seek to take advantage and enter the pharmaceutical sector of Azerbaijan.

In late 2015, the government announced that Azerbaijan will create own enterprises that will manufacture medicines to cease dependence on imports. Today, the local market of medicines is heavily dependent on imports, while 57 percent of medicines registered in the country are produced in Europe, 26 percent in the CIS countries, including 12 percent made in Russia. The small proportion is produced in Asian countries.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
8 December 2016 12:16 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

Frances new Minister of Internal Affairs Bruno Le Roux, who illegally visited the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia, remains in a list of undesirable persons compiled by the Foreign Ministry.

The remarks were made by the spokesman for Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry Hikmat Hajiyev, according to Report news agency.

Le Roux visited the occupied lands in September 2015 in the status of a member of the French Parliament.

Hajiyev said that regardless of the position of a person, the name of every foreigner who violate Azerbaijani laws, territorial integrity and sovereignty by illegally visiting the occupied Azerbaijani territories, are included in the list of undesirable persons.

The law applies to everyone, he said.

Le Roux is a member of the so-called French-Karabakh friendship circle.

Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions of Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly one million were displaced as a result of the war. Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions are temporarily out of the control of Azerbaijan as a result of Armenias aggression.

Unauthorized visits to Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied regions of Azerbaijan are considered illegal and individuals who pay such visits are included in the ministrys black list.

The list of persona non grata banned from visiting Azerbaijan includes MPs, media persons, businessmen, entertainers, and others, who violated Azerbaijans borders and showed disrespect to the sovereignty and territorial unity of the country.

---

Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
8 December 2016 13:41 (UTC+04:00)

In accordance with the mandate of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, the OSCE mission has today conducted a monitoring on the line of contact of troops located in Azerbaijan`s Agdam region.

Azerbaijan`s Defense Ministry reported on December 8 that the monitoring ended without an incident.

On the Azerbaijani side, the monitoring was held by field assistants of Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Jiri Aberle, Peter Svedberg and Simon Tiller.

On the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenian troops, the monitoring was carried out by field assistants of Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Ghenadie Petrica and Hristo Hristov.

Azerbaijan and Armenia for over two decades have been locked in conflict, which emerged over Armenian territorial claims. Since the 1990s war, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.

The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal, but they have not been enforced to this day.

The OSCE Minsk Group, the activities of which have become known as the Minsk Process, works to find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for over two decades, but in vain.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
8 December 2016 15:27 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is concerned over the recent developments in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the opening of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Hamburg.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains dangerous and it is necessary to hold negotiations to find a solution to this conflict, said Steinmeier, who is also OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, adding that in April, there was an escalation in the conflict zone, which shows that there is a danger of re-ignition of the conflict.

Noting the importance of the humanitarian aspects of the conflicts resolution, Steinmeier added that the ceasefire must be consolidated in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and that there is need to start negotiations on a political solution.

Over the past 20 years of unsuccessful peace talks between the aggressor country Armenia and its suffering neighbor country Azerbaijan was casting a shadow over the security of the region. Once again, the conflict emerged as the real and big danger to the security and development of the region in April 2016  mainly because of the inactivity of the mediators and international community.

The necessity of resolving the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict was also raised by OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier, who stated that the conflict resolution depends on political will of the sides to the conflict.

"The aim of the OSCE is to provide opportunities for negotiations. However each of the parties should take advantage of these opportunities," Zannier said, stressing that the conflict parties need to make efforts to find a solution.

Zannier further highlighted that he supports the position of Frank-Walter Steinmeier on the need to give new impetus to the work of the OSCE Minsk Group.

The OSCE Minsk Group, the activities of which have become known as the Minsk Process, works to find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for over two decades, but in vain.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains a cause of concern for the OSCE member countries, US Secretary of State John Kerry said at the event.

High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini also touched upon the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in her speech.

"EU hopes for progress in the negotiation process on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict following the previously reached agreements," she said at the Ministerial.

Mogherini added that the sides to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should seek to establish a lasting peace in the region.

France has previously proposed to hold a meeting in the format of 3+2 [three co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group and Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers] on the sidelines of the Ministerial in Hamburg.

Soon after that, the Azerbaijani side informed that it backs the proposal on the meeting. However, Armenia hasnt confirmed its consent.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region.

---

Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
8 December 2016 12:05 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

Baku hosted an annual final meeting for military attaches of foreign countries' armed forces accredited to Azerbaijan on December 7.

The high-level meeting was attended by 32 representatives from 30 countries.

In his remarks, head of the International Military Cooperation Department Huseyn Mahmudov highlighted regional military and security challenges, making a special focus on Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan, Azertac reported.

Department Chief told about reforms in the Armed Forces, development prospects, activities carried out as part of international military cooperation.

He answered numerous questions of military attaches.

Dean of the Baku Military Attaches Association, military attache of the Romanian Armed Forces, Colonel Rodin Lazaroiu expressed his gratitude to the leadership of Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry on behalf of his counterparts for holding such an event and expressed hope for effective cooperation in the future.

Azerbaijan, holding the largest army in the South Caucasus, is investing huge efforts to upgrade its military potential.

The army building process is of particular importance for Azerbaijan, as twenty percent of the country's territory is under Armenian occupation and the country is in a state of war with Armenia.

Nowadays, the skills and combat readiness of the Azerbaijani army are growing year by year and the army building process is progressing as well.

Azerbaijani army stands at the 60th place in the world ranking military power Global Firepower Index. Azerbaijans military budget for 2016 is about $1.466 billion. The country's military budget exceeds the overall state budget of occupant Armenia by more than $1 billion.

---

Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
8 December 2016 12:54 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

Azerbaijan spent 6.1 billion manats ($3.47 billion) over the past 23 years for solution of problems of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs).

The remarks were made by the Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the State Committee for Refugees and IDPs Ali Hasanov on December 7 at a meeting of the Milli Majlis (Parliament).

He said the funds are allocated out of the state budget, State Oil Fund (SOFAZ) and humanitarian organizations.

Hasanov noted that 350,000 more IDPs must be settled in new towns.

Vice Premier also added that 115 buildings of IDPs in Baku are in poor condition. The Ministry of Emergency Situations issued a conclusion on 51 buildings, Hasanov said.

Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan laying territorial claims on its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

Due to the ethnic cleansing policy carried out by Armenia and the Armenian occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions of Azerbaijan, the number of refugees and internally displaced persons hit more than 1.2 million.

With a population of over 9.6 million, Azerbaijan is among the countries carrying the highest IDP caseload in the world in per capita terms.

The government does much to solve the problems of IDPs in the country. During the past 13 years, 161,000 able-bodied IDPs were provided with permanent job in budget organizations and in other areas, while 200,000 people were provided with temporary jobs.

---

Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
8 December 2016 12:34 (UTC+04:00)

The opening ceremony of the training center for civil servants was held at the Academy of Public Administration on December 8. The Training Center was established under the joint project funded by EU and implemented by UNDP in cooperation with the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The newly opened Center is expected to set internal procedures and training modules that abide by European standards. The thematic work plan to build capacity of the trainers will be identified by the Academy and will be implemented by the Training Center. The Center consists of Resource Center, Computer and Database Rooms and a Training Hall. Overall, the establishment of Training Center will build internal training capacity of the Academy of Public Administration and will serve as a tool to increase the level of professionalism of civil servants from different state bodies.

The Rector of the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, academician Urkhan Alakbarov, gave detailed information about Azerbaijan's achievements in the area of sustainable development. The speaker underlined that the successes of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the establishment of the constantly developing society were linked to the formation and mobilization of human capacity. Academician Urkhan Alakbarov particularly highlighted the importance of the state and its institutions, especially the role of the professional civil service system in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. In this regard, the rector spoke confidently about the scope and effectiveness of the Training Center established under the joint project.

Stressing the partnership history between UNDP and the Academy, Mr. Ghulam M. Isaczai, UNDP Resident Representative highlighted the importance of the Training Center in improving professional development of civil servants that will eventually assist the Government to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

It is not a secret that the training of civil servants in Azerbaijan can also benefit other countries of the regions that are keen on improving their civil service system. In this sense, supporting the Academy on strengthening civil service training in the country in line with European standards is very important action to support the powerful civil service system established in Azerbaijan, he said.

The Head of the European Union Delegation Ambassador Malena Mard underlined that the EU assists the process of improving capacity building of public administration in Azerbaijan since its independence. "The programmes and projects of the European Union are dialogue driven and fully support the governmental programmes targeting modernization and developing Azerbaijan," she stressed.

With a view to contribute to the further development of a professional and sustainable civil service system in Azerbaijan in accordance with the best European practices the EU has awarded four grant projects, one of these grants is the project being implemented by UNDP.

The Project on Support to Civil Service Training in the Republic of Azerbaijan aims to strengthen the management and coordination of civil servants training and professional development function across state bodies and leading to the development and implementation of training strategy and training policies. The project also focuses on supporting the Academy of Public Administration on strengthening the institutional capacities to lead and coordinate the civil servant trainings and to provide the methodological assistance to state bodies and other training centers.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
8 December 2016 16:49 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

The Peruvian Congress has hosted an event to establish a Peru-Azerbaijan Friendship Group.

The event participants included congressmen, as well as members of the new friendship group, officials of the Peruvian Foreign Ministry and media representatives, Azerbaijan`s diplomatic mission in the country told Azertac.

The new friendship group which includes 13 congressmen was established at the initiative of the head of the Foreign Relations Commission of Peru's Congress Juan Carlos Del Aguila.

The event featured discussions on the strengthening of political ties, prospects of mutual cooperation in the fields of education, culture, economy, domestic and foreign policy, as well as the development of inter-parliamentary relations and expansion of cooperation between the two countries.

The congressmen, addressing the event, also spoke about the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and expressed their hope that the problem will soon be solved through peaceful and diplomatic means and the refugees and internally displaced persons will return to their native lands.

Charge d'Affaires of Azerbaijan's diplomatic mission in Peru Mehdi Mammadov gave detailed information about the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and Khojaly genocide.

In 2013, the Peruvian Congress adopted a resolution condemning the Khojaly genocide and Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan.

Previously, Peru announced about opening of an embassy in Azerbaijan to develop and strengthen the bilateral relations.

Baku welcomed the decision of the Peruvian government.

The diplomatic relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Peru were established on June 25, 1996. Both countries are interested in mutual relations.

The Embassy of Azerbaijan to the United Mexican States is concurrently accredited to the Republic of Peru. In June 2015, diplomatic mission of Azerbaijan was opened in Peru.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
8 December 2016 17:59 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev expressed his condolences to Mamnoon Hussain, President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on December 8.

The message reads:

Dear Mr President,

I was deeply saddened by the news of heavy casualties as a result of a plane crash in your country.

On behalf of the people of Azerbaijan and on my own behalf, I extend my deep condolences to you, families and the loved ones of those who died, and the brotherly people of Pakistan.

May Allah rest the souls of those who died in peace!

All 47 people on board the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight that crashed near Abbottabad on December 7 were killed.

The airline said the plane crashed at 4:42pm local time in the Havelian area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, about 40 kilometres north of Islamabad. Chitral, where the flight originated, is a popular tourist destination in Pakistan.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
8 December 2016 14:31 (UTC+04:00)

By Gulgiz Muradova

Azerbaijan, which earlier unilaterally refused from increasing oil production, will prepare "concrete proposals" for oil output cut talks to be held on December 10 in Vienna.

Azerbaijan, the third-largest producer among ex-Soviet countries after Russia, plans to attend the meeting of the cartel with non-OPEC oil producers to finalize details of coordinated cuts.

The list of the countries that have been invited and are expected to participate in the cuts include Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bolivia, Brunei, Colombia, Russia, Mexico, Turkmenistan, Oman, Trinidad and Tobago, Egypt, the Republic of Congo, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Azerbaijan seeks to determine its oil production quota in accordance with the percentage of reduction referred to Russia and other countries outside of OPEC, Reuters reported citing the countrys energy ministry.

OPEC decided on November 30 to hold production at 32.5 million b/d starting January 1, 2017 -- the first coordinated cut since 2008 -- amounting to an approximate 1.2 million b/d cut from current output levels. The deal exempts Libya and Nigeria and is contingent on key non-OPEC producers also agreeing to cut 600,000 b/d in total. Non-member Russia will cut by as much as 300,000 barrels a day.

The energy-rich Caspian country produces three grades of crude oil - Azeri BTC, Azeri Light, and Urals. Azerbaijan has been producing AZERI LT since 1997 and exports it via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Supsa pipelines, as well as by rail to the Georgian port of Batumi.

BP Azerbaijan earlier announced that the company is going to maintain production of Azeri Light oil in Azerbaijan in 2016 at the level of the previous year.

In 2015, Azerbaijan produced 31.3 million tons of Azeri Light compared to 31.5 million tons extracted in 2014.

The cartel of 14 major oil producers of the world has long insisted it wants non-OPEC producers to properly participate in global output cuts to support prices.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has recently suggested holding of a summit of OPEC's 14 oil producing nations and oil-rich non-OPEC nations to set out a pricing strategy for the next decade.

--

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
CASPER  Fake news, which is believed to have influenced the presidential election, isnt going away. But people can learn to discern fake from legitimate reporting by relying on more than one source for current events and questioning outrageous claims by searching legacy media for similar stories, said history and political science professors Tuesday night at the University of Wyoming Casper.

Social media and fabricated news stories dominated much of the discussion among four professors on a panel to discuss the Nov. 8 election.

Websites on the right and left, some created outside the United States, disseminated fake stories for and against President-elect Donald Trump and Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.

Each time someone clicks on a fake story, advertising generates revenue for the website producers. That creates an incentive for the website to keep creating more fake stories, said Sam Weaver, a Casper College political science instructor.

He recommended people verify fantastical claims made on the sites with mainstream media.

We as citizens have to do more work, and that kind of stinks, he said But again going back to this roll of citizenship and modern American politics. Its our duty.

UW-Casper political science professor Brent Pickett said computer networks in Russia promoted fake news that was flattering to Trump in a way that made it trend on social media. That, combined with hacked emails, made it unsettling how much the Russians were involved in the election, he said.

But not all news on social media is fake, said Tanis Lovercheck-Saunders, a Casper College history instructor. She used a Wyoming election as an example.

Rep. Gerald Gay, a Casper Republican, lost his bid for another term in the state House after news spread that he thought women are responsible for the gender-pay gap by taking maternity leave, among other remarks.

That has a lot to do with social medias response to what happened, she said.

The professors discussed Trumps influence on the Republican Party, whether he will be a one-term president and other topics.

Toward the end of the 90-minute discussion, a man who identified himself as Latino asked whether they thought Trumps pronouncements on the campaign trail about immigrants and Muslims would result in policy that could result in the country treating minorities different.

Pickett noted that after the election, Trump chose media provocateur Steve Bannon, a man accused of being racist, sexist, anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic, as a chief strategist and U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, who opposes much of federal civil rights law, as attorney general.

Both men want minorities to be strong in the United States, Pickett said -- a comment to which a member of the audience objected.

Casper College political science instructor Nathan Blank said he hoped Trump would tone down his message on immigrants. Blank felt heartened that the president-elects Thanksgiving address was one of healing and inclusiveness.

It doesnt change the fact that people are afraid of the rhetoric he used, especially Latinos who are here to work, he said. I feel for you. And I hope its not a concern that becomes a reality.
Dateline: Australia

A concerned beachgoer found what he believed to be a breast implant floating in the surf off the Sunshine Coast. Thinking it might be evidence of a murder, the man bagged the circular object and brought it to the nearest police station. Officers at Maroochydore Station were all hands on deck when, much to their initial alarm, a concerned citizen attended the counter to report a possible homicide, police said. The man was concerned it was a prosthetic implant from someone who may have been murdered or drowned. Officers inspected the mysterious blob and concluded no murder had taken place. Investigations revealed what police suspected. ... The item was indeed a jellyfish! the department announced on its website. Colin Sparkes, from Surf Life Saving Queensland, told the BBC the boob-like sea creature was most likely a blubber jellyfish, common to the waters around Queensland.

Dateline: Canada

The smallest police force on Prince Edward Island is threatening to punish drunk drivers with Nickelback. On Sunday, Nov. 27, Kensington Police Services posted a message on its Facebook page, warning drunk drivers arrested over the holiday season that, on top of a hefty fine, a criminal charge and a years driving suspension, we will also provide you with a bonus gift of playing the offices copy of Nickelback in the cruiser on the way to jail. The tongue-in-cheek post warned potential lawbreakers that, if you are foolish enough to get behind the wheel after drinking, then a little Chad Kroeger and the boys is a perfect gift for you. The post was accompanied by a photograph of an unopened cassette copy of the bands 2001 album Silver Side Up. The post went on to inform local drivers, Please, lets not ruin a perfectly good unopened copy of Nickelback. You dont drink and drive and we wont make you listen to it.

Dateline: Oregon

In other musical crimes against humanity, The Oregonian, reporting on the police blotter for the Forest Grove Police Department, notes that an annoying rendition of Closing Time lead to an altercation in the tiny farm community 25 miles west of Portland. According to the local police department blotter, a verbal altercation occurred on the night of Saturday, Nov. 26, when a woman allegedly told a jackass guy to shut up after he obnoxiously whistled the song Closing Time by the band Semisonic near her driveway. Its not clear if the caller would have been more or less upset if it was a different genre or whether it was just the talent lacking in the whistling, Captain Mike Herb of the Forest Grove Police Department told time.com. Police responded to the womans call, but by the time they got there, the whistler had moved on. Police eventually tracked the man down, and he was apparently still whistling Closing Time. No arrests were made, and the man whistled his way back home.

Dateline: California

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that an oddly persistent vandal spent six hours trashing a single car parked in Koreatown over Thanksgiving while bystanders watched. Stacy Omelianoff told KCBS she left her Buick Lucerne parked in front of a friends apartment on Thanksgiving before heading off to a holiday celebration in Chino. The black sedan soon attracted the attention of a homeless woman, who ripped off one of the cars windshield wipers and proceeded to use the implement to carve letter and scribbles into the cars paint. She then picked up a metal pipe and a piece of wood and used them to scratch, smash and graffiti the doors, hood and roof of the car. The woman was also seen walking on the roof and jumping up and down on the hood of the vehicle. The tires were eventually flattened and the front grill yanked off. A security camera on a nearby apartment captured the entire attack. Several people in the neighborhood witnessed the lengthy attack, but did nothing. They would come by, stop, back up, take pictures, video, and just take off, Omelianoff told KCBS. The driver didnt discover the damage to her vehicle until the next day when she was notified by the LAPD. The homeless woman was eventually arrested and taken in for mental evaluation after a witness called police.
Dates to remember

Dec. 9: Commercial and private pesticide testing, Bismarck State College, 8 a.m.

Dec. 15: Commercial recertification for fumigation certification, 10 a.m., Burleigh County Extension Office

Farm and ranch families fear health care costs will devastate their finances, yet they often overlook long-term care when developing a plan to transition their business to the next generation. Many families do not realize the probability of needing some form of long-term care in their lifetime. The reality is that one in two Americans older than 65 will have an extended nursing home stay.

Also, families have many misconceptions about who will pay for those costs and how business assets can be protected from long-term care costs. Without a long-term health care plan, a farm and ranch business is facing a potentially huge financial risk. Long-term health care costs have skyrocketed. For example, in North Dakota, the cost for a nursing home stay may be more than $99,000 per year.

To assist North Dakotas farm and ranch families in planning for long-term care expenses, NDSU Extension, in cooperation with University of Minnesota Extension, will host an afternoon session at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 14 during the KFYR Agri International at the Bismarck Event Center.

This topic is extremely complicated, said Gary Hachfeld, a University of Minnesota Extension educator. He will be presenting at the Feb. 14 workshop.

Each individual has to decide how he or she will deal with long-term health care costs if the need arises. This is a personal choice, and every individual has a different set of circumstances. Dont leave it to chance; have a plan. Pre-registration is required by calling the Morton County Extension Service at 701-667-3340. There is a cost of $25 for a couple and $20 for a single. Registration is required. Mail your registration fee to Morton County Extension, 210 Second Ave N.W., Mandan, N.D. 58554. Payment is required to hold your reservation for the meeting.
FARGO  North Dakotas new medical marijuana law will not take effect today  the date specified by law  because officials still are grappling with the measures complex and contradictory provisions.

We have not committed to any time frame yet, said Arvy Smith, deputy director of the North Dakota Department of Health, which is working to implement the law passed by voters Nov. 8 election.

Other states that have launched medical marijuana programs have taken 18 months to two, four or even six years, she said. Hopefully we will not be that far out.

Its likely that the medical marijuana program wont be available until after the North Dakota Legislature, which convenes in January, can pass clarifying legislation, Smith said. Officials have found redundant and conflicting language that needs to be addressed.

Wed like to fix the things that arent clear and move forward, she said.

Implementation likely will be rolled out in phases, with no enforcement or regulation until the law is fully implemented, Smith said.

There also are many practical considerations involved in establishing dispensaries (called "compassionate care centers" in the measure), growing operations, and certification of caregivers as well as patients.

For instance, it takes up to nine months for a seedling to become a mature marijuana plant, Smith said.

A leading proponent of North Dakotas medical marijuana law said he understands the need for a delay  up to a point.

Of course were truly disappointed, said Ray Morgan of Fargo, who helped spearhead the initiative. The health department is understaffed and dealing with budget cuts, he said.

I know there are people suffering from ailments who want access to medical marijuana right away, said Morgan, who suffers from chronic pain as a result of back surgery.

Still, he believes they could roll out at least parts of the law, especially the provisions dealing with the application process so patients can become certified. Those patients then would be ready as soon as the program becomes effective, Morgan said.

We really, really think that they are dragging their feet just a little bit, he said.

Most of North Dakotas law was borrowed from Delawares, a program that can serve as an obvious model, Morgan said. A few minor provisions also were gleaned from medical marijuana laws in Montana and Arizona.

There wasnt much mixing and matching, he said. They dont have to reinvent the wheel.

Officials are looking for ways to launch the medical marijuana program as cost-effectively as possible, Smith said. Health officials initially estimated it would cost $8.7 million for the first biennium, including a one-time expenditure of $1.4 million and ongoing costs of $7.3 million.

Funding will be required to hire staff to register qualifying patients and to license designated caregivers and dispensaries. Staff also will be needed to monitor and enforce the law and run an information management system to track data required to be reported annually, as well as a verification system for caregivers and law enforcement.

To begin with, Morgan expects there would be dispensaries in Bismarck and Fargo. The law permits those who are not within 40 miles of a dispensary to grow their own medical marijuana or obtain it from a certified caregiver.

The cost of establishing a couple of dispensaries would be in the $2.5 million range, with each additional site costing around $200,000, said Morgan, a Fargo financial adviser.
The average American has $96,371 in debt, including student loan, mortgage and credit card balances. Whether your debt is more or less than that amount, it can feel difficult to manage. Even if youre [...]

7 min read Oct 31, 2022
GRAND FORKS  Farmers and ranchers need to push aside sentiment and emotion to make sound financial decisions, relying instead on discipline and sound tools, two extension specialists say.

Theres probably more emotion in farming than other business. But it is a business, and you need to be disciplined when you make financial decisions, said Nathan Hulinsky, a Marshall, Minn.-based educator with the University of Minnesota Extension.

He and Pauline Van Nurden, a Willmar, Minn.-based educator with the extension, spoke Wednesday at the annual Prairie Grains Conference in Grand Forks. They led a session on Taking Charge of Your Finances: How to Survive & Thrive even in tough financial conditions.

The two-day event, which ends today, normally attracts about 900 people. It crosses commodity and state lines, drawing people primarily from northeastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota  an area that was pounded by a winter storm this week.

Organizers decided to hold the event anyway, and attendance  scant Wednesday morning  picked up in the afternoon as travel conditions and roads improved, especially in rural areas.

More than 50 people, most of them relatively young farmers, attended the session on financial planning. It was billed as primarily for the next generation of producers. Most of the comments and questions at the session came from older producers.

Hulinsky and Van Nurden used material from the UM Extensions Finpack, a comprehensive farm financial planning and analysis software package. The material features a hypothetical, but representative, Minnesota farm family that raises corn and soybean on 1,250 acres.

The family wants a $500,000 operating loan for 2017  up from a 2016 operating loan of $125,000. It also wants to borrow $27,000 to buy a $30,000 roller: the family would put down 10 percent, or $3,000, of the purchase price. The familys thinking is, a bigger operating loan would provide more breathing space in paying 2017 expenses and a roller would improve soybean yields. In the past, the family had a neighbor custom-roll its soybean ground.

Participants in the session were asked whether they would approve the loans if they were bankers.

Hulinsky and Van Nurden then led the participants through a series of exercises that determined the hypothetical familys balance sheet and income statement, among other financial tools used by bankers.

It all comes back to looking at these decisions from what makes financial sense, not what youd like to do, Hulinsky said.

The material has been used at previous educational events, and participating farmers typically have a mixed response to whether they would approve the hypothetical familys loan requests, he said.

In some cases, the full $500,000 operating loan and the $27,000 roller loan are approved. In others, more than $375,000, but less than $500,000, is approved. Likewise, some participants approve the roller loan, while others do so only if the borrower will do custom-rolling with the equipment to cover part of its cost.

The participants, being mainly farmers, don't necessarily look at the loans the same way way bankers do, Hulinsky notes. But understanding and using the financial tools bankers utilize will help farmers and ranchers make better decisions, he said.
A woman and her dog were treated for carbon monoxide poisoning early Thursday at a Tampa condo complex.

Carbon monoxide scare at Tampa condo

Tampa Fire Rescue responded to Cordoba & Beach Park Condos

Woman and dog treated, expected to be OK

Tampa Police and Tampa Fire Rescue responded to the Cordoba & Beach Park Condos, 114 Beach Haven Lane just after 4 a.m.

Six units were evacuated after a carbon monoxide alarm went off in the building.

Firefighters detected high levels of carbon monoxide and cleared residents from the building. A woman and a dog had to receive medical attention.

The woman was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital, and a neighbor is caring for her dog. They are both expected to be OK.

Carbon monoxide is in fumes produced from burning fuel in cars or trucks, small engines, stoves, lanterns, grills, fireplaces, gas ranges or furnaces.

It can build up indoors and poison people and animals who breathe it.

Officials have not released any other information.
UPDATE: 3:08 p.m. - St. Petersburg Police are now investigating the incident as an apparent suicide. The man was not employed by the company conducting the construction on the site.



A 36-year-old man has died after falling from a building under construction in St. Petersburg.

Man killed after falling from a construction building

The incident happened near All Children's Hospital

St. Petersburg police are investigating

The St. Petersburg Police Department said the incident happened at a building under construction near the All Children's Hospital.

Officials said the man landed on Mound Park Ave S near 6th St. S.

The circumstances surrounding the fall are under investigation. Officials said it is not known whether the man was a worker or someone who gained access to the construction site.

This is a developing story, check back for updates.
Brutal temperatures won't depart the region anytime soon as wind chills continue to dip well below zero through Tuesday.

After that, it will get really cold -- with temperatures far below normal and the wind chill dropping to 40 below zero at least once, according to the National Weather Service in Bismarck.

The 26 inches of snow left by two heavy weather systems is still presenting challenges to snowplows statewide as high winds create deep drifts.

Rick Krolak, meteorologist for the Bismarck office of the National Weather Service, forecast wind chills of 20 to 25 below zero for today. While wind speeds are expected to ebb to 10 mph, single-digit highs and bitter lows will remain in Bismarck and central North Dakota through Wednesday, he said.

Today's high is expected to reach 5 degrees and lows will dip to 15 below zero. Similar temperature fluctuations will be maintained through Tuesday.

Between Friday and Saturday nights, there is a 60 percent chance of further snow accumulation, Krolak said.

April Ulrich, a shift leader at StaMart truck stop, said the business was busy Wednesday as truckers prepared their rigs to move out when Interstate 94 reopened. An estimated 60 rigs waited out the storm there.

"Everybody is getting ready to head out. Half to two-thirds have left. A lot of people are buying here, getting ready for the next storm," she said Wednesday.

The North Dakota Department of Transportation and the North Dakota Highway Patrol have extended a no-travel advisory to include areas in eastern North Dakota due to near-zero visibility with blowing and drifting snow. Motorists in these areas should not travel as driving conditions are hazardous.

A no-travel advisory remained in effect Wednesday for portions of north-central North Dakota, including Minot, Harvey, Bottineau, Crosby, Stanley, Bowbells, New Town and surrounding areas. A travel alert remained in effect Wednesday for Bismarck and surrounding areas.

The long-range outlook for Dec. 15-21 shows highs of zero to 5 degrees and lows below zero. The average high for that time of year is in the low 20s and the average low is about 5.
North Dakota will be fighting in federal court in Wyoming Jan. 6 for a preliminary injunction to be placed on a Bureau of Land Management venting and flaring rule.

Members of the North Dakota Industrial Commission were updated by Department of Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms on the lawsuit because the rule is considered an overreach on state regulations.

The rule would subject industry to more stringent standards for flaring and venting of natural gas on public and native lands.

It requires a gas capture plan on the federal side of our operators of wells, said Helms, adding that BLM is overstepping its bounds since emissions are within EPA jurisdiction.

Its really a states-rights issue, Helms said.

Unless a preliminary injunction is granted, the rule would go into effect Jan. 17.

The motion is being heard by U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl in Wyoming, the same judge who granted a preliminary injunction over BLM hydraulic fracturing rules that North Dakota was among those opposed to in fall 2015.
Christina Crissy Lang, 38, Bismarck, passed away on Dec. 5, 2016, at a Bismarck hospital. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 10, at Sterling United Methodist Church. Burial will be held at a later date. Cremation has taken place.

Crissy was born July 29, 1978, to Randy and Peggy (Bryant) Maluchnik in Casper, Wyo. She moved to North Dakota with her mother in the years following. In 1980, Peggy married Mike Geloff and moved to Sterling. Crissy attended Sterling Elementary and was raised on a farm north of Sterling. She had an option in high school to attend Bismarck or Wing and she chose Wing High School because her dad, Mike, went there. She graduated from Wing in 1996.

She was blessed with two handsome young men, Jared and Chase. She was so proud of her two strapping boys. You can see so much of her in them. Only two other things could bring her as much joy as her Boys, her new husband, Jamie, and her granddaughter, Nevaeh. Nevaeh brought a special light to her face, which couldnt have been stopped by anyone. She cherished that little girl and was so proud.

She was married in 2000 to Nolan Wintermeyer. This marriage lasted five years, before they parted ways. On Sept. 17, 2016, Crissy married Jamie Lang. They were a perfect match, their hands fit when they walked together.

She loved family, animals, fishing and friends. Above all else, family was the most important. She was the protective daughter, sister, mother and grandmother. She loved each relative, which was shown by her greetings. She loved her puppies Penny and Nieko. She would often bring in stray animals and farm animals, for various reasons. Fishing was a passion of hers, along with being in the outdoors. She loved it when she caught more than anyone else. No matter where you saw her, she would stop and talk to you. Talk about life, family and take a vested interest in your life. She remembered you and would drop things to talk to you.

Her smile, her laugh, her life were contagious and are hard to sum up in this article. She meant so much to all her family and friends.

She will be greatly missed by her husband, Jamie, Bismarck; her sons, Jared and Chase, both of Sterling; her granddaughter, Nevaeh; her parents, Mike and Peggy Geloff, Sterling, and Randy and Susie Maluchnik, Minnesota; her mother-in-law, Kathy Barnick, and her father-in-law, Wayne Lang, both of Bismarck; her sister, Missy (Mike) Tengwall, Moorhead; her brother, Rick (Brandy) Geloff, Bismarck; a sister-in-law, Michelle, Bismarck; a brother-in-law, Chad (Katie), Bismarck; eight nephews, Mikey, Dustin, Camrin, Graycin, Romin, Sheldon, Nash and Wyatt, all of Bismarck; three nieces, Sierra, Madison and Bailey, all of Bismarck; one great-nephew, Kaevon, Bismarck; her grandparents, Karen and Ronald Bryant, Bismarck, and Verlla and Thomas Geloff, Sterling; her stepbrothers and a stepsister; and many aunts, uncles and other relatives.

She was preceded in death by three aunts, Heather Bryant, Penny Bryant and Amy Bryant; and her grandparents, Jean and Paul Maluchnik.

Go to www.bismarckfuneralhome.com to sign the online guest book or to share memories with the family. (Bismarck Funeral Home)
New York City-based health insurance startup Oscar Health is moving into providing care. The insurance company opened its first clinic in Brooklyn through a partnership with New York-based Mount Sinai Health System, according to a report from The New York Post.

The Oscar Center looks like a sleek tech startup and is completely paperless. It provides free care for Oscar members for anything ranging from minor illnesses and injuries to mental health, lab testing and yoga and nutrition classes, according to the report.

The move to open a brick-and-mortar clinic is a pivot for Oscar Health, which was struggling financially after losing $128 million in the first three quarters of 2016 and $105 million in 2015, according to the report. The ACA exchanges proved tumultuous for the young company.

Chief Executive Mario Schlosser told The New York Post the company hopes its clinic will help differentiate Oscar Health from its competitors. The facility will serve as a pilot to test different approaches to primary care, as well as to see if the model is popular and could be rolled out at clinics across the country, according to the report.

More articles on facilities management:

Cayuga Medical Center expansion moves forward: 5 things to know

El Camino Hospital to expand Mountain View campus: 4 things to know

Texamo Medical Center begins construction on $50M patient tower: 5 things to know
Last month, MedCity News spoke to Cerner President Zane Burke at the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives Fall CIO Forum in Phoenix.

During the interview, Mr. Burke discussed everything from tech spending to cybersecurity to its biggest competitor.

"We have invested more in research and development than anybody else in the industry," Mr. Burke told MedCity News. "I'm investing more in R&D than anybody else, period. I'm going to keep doing that because I think it's the right thing to do to make Cerner successful in the long term."

He added that much of the investment into research and development is in cybersecurity measures. Why invest there? Mr. Burke said he often describes healthcare as "the biggest house on the block. We've got the prettiest paintings and furniture, yet we don't have a fence or a dog. Not only are we the most desirable place to be, we're also the most vulnerable because we don't do the things we tell our kids to do, which is to lock the doors, don't let strangers in  start with some of the basic things first."

In fact, Mr. Burke stressed that the health IT industry needs more investment in research. "Think about our core competitor. They're coming out and saying, 'I'm going to double down on marketing.' Now is not the time," he said. "We're spending less as a percentage of revenue on marketing than at any time in the history of our company. We're spending more on R&D in absolute dollars and otherwise than we ever have."
To settle a class-action data breach lawsuit, Tampa (Fla.) General Hospital agreed to pay all plaintiffs a total of $10,000 in damages and up to $7,500 to cover attorney fees and litigation costs, according to HIPAA Journal.

The plaintiffs alleged that in May 2014, Tampa General possessed "actual or constructive knowledge that unknown individuals wrongfully accessed and obtained plaintiffs' and class members' [protected health information] and [personally identifiable information] ... which included names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, admitting diagnoses and insurers," according to the report.

The suit also includes multiple examples of data theft at Tampa General between 2012 and 2015 and claims various patients suffered from identity theft. It alleges the hospital's "history of protecting patient information has been poor," according to the report.

To be eligible for a percentage of the settlement, plaintiffs must prove they've been affected and suffered losses due to the breach.

Tampa General claims it is not responsible for the alleged actions of its former workers.
Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II is right to ask protesters to go home. The Dakota Access Pipeline still faces court challenges and a decision by President-elect Donald Trump after he takes office next month.

The Tribune editorial board believes it was a mistake by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to not to grant an easement to bore under Lake Oahe, but a final decision on the pipeline could take months. If protesters continue to camp illegally they put themselves, emergency responders and law enforcement in danger because of winter conditions the camp isn't equipped to handle.

Local and state agencies shouldn't have to handle the costs of housing and feeding those fleeing the cold when they have the option of leaving.

The chairman also is correct when he says the protesters are damaging the land where they are camped just like an oil spill could contaminate the water. They can't accomplish anything by staying as the project is at a standstill. If they stay and continue demonstrations in the Bismarck-Mandan area they threaten to further damage relations between the Standing Rock Indian Reservation and the Bismarck-Mandan area.

A break in the protests will help ease tensions and allow law enforcement to return to normal duties. Whether the chairman can persuade the diverse groups that make up the protests to leave remains to be seen.

Many seem to realize after this week's blizzard that the camp can't cope with the winter conditions. The forecast for the next 10 days calls for bitter cold weather.

The protesters have had more success than most expected in their efforts to stop the pipeline. It makes sense for them to go home now.

Dallas Goldtooth, a protest organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network, indicated it's an individual choice on whether protesters go home. He made his comments from Chicago, safely away from the blizzard.

Goldtooth did indicate his organization plans to clean up the camp and return the land to its original condition when the protests end. That needs to be done.

Archambault also told protesters they not only need to go home, but must avoid conflicts with law enforcement. He stressed illegal action would be counterproductive at this delicate point in a long process. Dakota Access has provided very necessary assurance it will not drill its pipeline under the Missouri River/Lake Oahe without a permit. The protests and disruptions in the Bismarck-Mandan area don't achieve anything. They mostly annoy residents and don't have a positive impact.

All this is overdue. The final decisions, when they come, won't be made on the winter campgrounds. For the safety of all involved, it's best the protesters go home.
Shands Live Oak (Fla.) Regional Medical Center CEO Bayode Omosaiye resigned, according to a Suwannee Democrat report.

Here are four notes:

1. Hospital officials have not revealed the reason for his resignation.

2. Mr. Omosaiye was named interim CEO in February 2016 and permanent CEO in April 2016.

3. He previously served as COO of Bayfront Health Port Charlotte (Fla.) and Bayfront Health Brooksville (Fla.).

4. Rhonda Sherrod, market CEO for Shands hospitals in Live Oak, Lake City and Starke, all based in Florida, will take over as interim CEO of the hospital until a permanent replacement is appointed.
The Senate on Dec. 7 passed the 21st Century Cures Act, a complex legislation that was years in the making, in a 94-5 vote, according to The New York Times.

President Barack Obama, who has supported the bill despite opposition from some liberal Democrats and consumer advocates, indicated he will sign the bill when it arrives on his desk.

The $6.3 billion 21st Century Cures Act would provide the NIH with up to $4.8 billion in additional funding over 10 years. Over the same time period, it would also provide $500 million in new funding for the FDA and $1 billion in grants to states to deal with the opioid crisis and improve mental healthcare.

Here are six reactions from healthcare leaders to the passage of the bill in the Senate.

Bruce Siegel, MD, president and CEO of America's Essential Hospitals.

"America's Essential Hospitals thanks the Senate for its vote today to protect vulnerable patients and underserved communities by helping their hospitals keep urgently needed resources to improve care and expand access.

With their vote, senators have helped level the playing field for essential hospitals, the backbone of the nation's safety net. By risk adjusting readmissions measures that unfairly penalize hospitals for factors outside their control, the Cures Act will help preserve vital services in at-risk communities.

Likewise, the Senate's approval of partial relief from damaging cuts to hospital outpatient department payments will ease the threat to healthcare access for many people. We urge lawmakers to consider additional steps to stop these cuts from eroding access in the nation's healthcare deserts, where vulnerable people already face a severe shortage of services.

Vulnerable patients struggle with daily hardships  homelessness, hunger, financial instability, lack of family support, and others  that can hinder recovery after a hospital encounter. Essential hospitals lead efforts to help them overcome these challenges and avoid readmissions, and the Cures Act will support their success.

We look forward to the president signing this milestone legislation. We also thank our House and Senate champions for their commitment to equity and their tireless work since 2014 to bring risk adjustment to the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program: Reps. Jim Renacci, R-Ohio, and Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., and Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio."

Allan Coukell, senior director of health programs at The Pew Charitable Trusts.

"This legislation makes important progress on pressing public health issues: the growing global threat of antibiotic resistance and the devastating epidemic of prescription drug overdoses that takes the lives of dozens of Americans every day. It also shines a spotlight on patient safety in the implementation of health information technology.

States don't have the financial resources to provide treatment for the millions of people struggling with opioid use disorders. The $1 billion in funding in the Cures legislation will give more people access to the care they need and help states begin to address this epidemic, though Congress must appropriate the funds as quickly as possible.

The bill also authorizes a new approval pathway that will advance the development of new antibiotics. The limited-population antibacterial drug, or LPAD, pathway would allow antibiotics for resistant infections to come to market through streamlined clinical trials and would help ensure that these products aren't used inappropriately in more general populations that can be treated with existing medicines.

The legislation also provides for better data to guide antibiotic selection by allowing for more frequent and timely updating of information about bacterial sensitivities. This will aid in choosing the right drug for patients and will help reduce inappropriate use that can lead to resistance."

Todd Ebert, president and CEO of the Healthcare Supply Chain Association.

"The Healthcare Supply Chain Association and its group purchasing organization members applaud Congress for bipartisan efforts to pass 21st Century Cures legislation and for its commitment to improving patient outcomes and reducing costs across the entire healthcare system. We urge the president to swiftly sign the legislation.

The 21st Century Cures legislation passed today by the Senate includes critical health information technology interoperability requirements that will help healthcare stakeholders safely exchange data and collaborate across different IT systems. Advances in HIT, including data interoperability and electronic health records, are driving a revolution in patient care. For healthcare providers to administer first-class patient care  and for patients to effectively engage in their own care  they must have access to vital patient and device data that are currently locked in system silos across the healthcare supply chain. Comprehensive EHRs with data that are accessible and interoperable across systems  and operating under appropriate privacy safeguards  will allow providers and patients to see a complete patient health picture and have access to all applicable information when making critical care decisions.

We hope that Congress will explore additional common-sense policy solutions to help increase competition in the generic drug market and address the significant price spikes for some generic drugs that are jeopardizing patient access to care. Specifically, we encourage Congress to pass the bipartisan 'Increasing Competition in Pharmaceuticals Act' (S.2615), and to consider mandating priority review for generic injectable drugs with two or fewer manufacturers or in instances where there has already been a significant price spike."

William G. Powderly, MD, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

"The Infectious Diseases Society of America applauds the Senate for passing the 21st Century Cures Act earlier today. The soon-to-be law makes regulatory changes and new investments that will undoubtedly save lives in the years ahead. IDSA is particularly pleased that the legislation contains provisions that help combat antibiotic resistance as well as the opioid epidemic that is spurring a surge in new HIV and hepatitis C infections. The bill also recognizes that our ability to address future public health threats is enhanced by acting now to support young biomedical researchers.

Antibiotic resistance is one of the critically important public health threats addressed by the 21stCentury Cures Act. Across the globe, at least 700,000 individuals die annually from drug-resistant infections. Increased research and development for new antibiotics is a central part of the broader strategy to combat drug resistance.

IDSA has long advocated for the creation of a limited population approval pathway at the FDA for antibacterials and antifungals that treat serious or life-threatening infections with an unmet medical need. The new pathway is essential to reinvigorating R&D in this area as the population of individuals who have a specific antibiotic-resistant infection at any given time is relatively small, which is often an obstacle to populating a traditional large-scale clinical trial. We are pleased that the Cures Act creates this approval pathway and gives hope to future patients suffering from antibiotic-resistant infections.

IDSA also commends Congress for creating the Next Generation Researchers Initiative within the National Institutes of Health as part of the Cures Act. This new effort joined with an increase in the NIH loan repayment maximum, also included in Cures, will help make certain that we have the workforce necessary to combat existing and emerging infectious diseases.

While the next Congress will need to build on the 21st Century Cures Act to realize its goals, the new law is a tremendous contribution to public health and national security."

Matt Zone, president and Cleveland councilmember of the National League of Cities.

"The National League of Cities applauds the passage of the 21st Century Cures Act, which is set to help cities combat the growing opioid crisis that is gripping our nation. As local officials, we are on the frontlines of this health pandemic  one that leads to more deaths than car accidents. We have seen far too many lives lost and families torn apart, and we must put an end to it.

While we are working tirelessly to reverse the trend of substance use disorders, we know that the only way to effectively stop the spread of this crisis is to work in collaboration with our counterparts at the state and federal level. The Cures Act goes a long way to lay the groundwork for strong partnerships at every level of government, and it is our hope that before the 114th Congress adjourns, it will appropriate the necessary funding authorized in the legislation. We look forward to working with Congress and the administration to strengthen the health and safety of our communities."

Behshad Sheldon, CEO of Braeburn Pharmaceuticals.

"Braeburn Pharmaceuticals commends Congress for passing the 21st Century Cures Act. Allocating funds that increase patient access to evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder is of the utmost importance as America works to reduce the opioid overdose and heroin epidemic. It is also our hope that a more streamlined regulatory drug approval process will jumpstart the development of innovative treatments for people with serious health conditions in need of more treatment options. Braeburn remains committed to this effort and looks forward to continued collaboration with FDA to bring long-acting, safe and effective treatments to patients with opioid use disorder, pain and schizophrenia as quickly as possible."
The Senate on Dec. 7 approved the 21st Century Cures Act, signaling a final legislative victory for President Barack Obama, who strongly supports the bill despite staunch objections from many liberal Democrats and consumer advocacy groups, according to The New York Times.

The 21st Century Cures Act, which was years in the making, passed the Senate in a 94-5 vote after it was overwhelmingly approved by the House last week.

The complex healthcare legislation would increase funding for medical research, enhance mental healthcare research, provide more money to fight the nationwide opioid epidemic and significantly change the regulatory system for medical devices and drugs.

Much of the criticism of the bill centers on provisions that will enable faster approval of prescription drugs and medical devices. Although supporters say the new measures will preserve safety standards, opponents  including Sen. Warren, some former FDA officials and national consumer groups  disagree. In late November, Sen. Warren accused Republican legislators of trying to extort Democrats by tying additional funds for medical research to the bill. "I cannot vote for this bill," she said on the Senate floor, according to STAT. "I will fight it because I know the difference between compromise and extortion."

However, President Obama said he will sign the bill. "This is a reminder of what we can do when we look out for one another," said President Obama. "Like Joe Biden and so many other Americans, I've lost people I love deeply to cancer. I've heard often from those whose loved ones are suffering from Alzheimer's, addiction and other debilitating diseases. Their heartbreak is real, and so we have a responsibility to respond with real solutions. This bill will make a big difference, and I look forward to signing it as soon as it reaches my desk."

For more information on the 21st Century Cures Act, read the full New York Times report here.
Philip Ball, from Templepatrick, who served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War and endured the Arctic Convoy. Photo: Peter Morrison

Philip Ball relaxes during the Second World War as he prepares to join a Royal Navy escort ship on an Arctic Convoy. Photo: Peter Morrison

It was, for writer Kate Newmann, a voyage of discovery about hundreds of journeys to hell and back. The Co Down woman knew absolutely nothing about the story of the Second World War Arctic convoys when she was asked to write a book about them three years ago.

But after talking with the Ulstermen who risked their lives on the route to bring vital supplies to Britain's beleaguered ally the Soviet Union, Kate said she felt humbled by the courage, humanity and magnanimity of the veterans, who were all then in their 90s.

And some of their stories were as chilling as the weather they encountered 70 years ago.

"But there was no hatred in them," said Kate, whose book - Nearness Of Ice: Arctic Convoys - is published today and records the veterans' recollections of their ordeals in the Arctic Circle under the most unimaginable pressures - memories which are still clear despite the intervening years and the traumas.

Kate said the book is about the human side of the convoys, which resulted in thousands of deaths.

"Memory is a fraught thing in what it chooses to jettison and what it chooses to hold on to. This project was not about culling the military facts; it was about speaking to people on what they retained from all those years ago," she said.

To understand the book, however, one first has to set the Arctic convoys in the context of the war, when Churchill rejected Stalin's overtures for Britain to send troops to the Soviet Union after the Nazi invasion.

The Prime Minister's compromise came in the shape of the supply convoys, the first of which sailed in September 1941 along the most direct but hazardous route to the top of the world around northern Norway to the ports of Murmansk and Archangel.

But the passage through a narrow funnel between the Arctic ice pack and German bases in Norway presented the convoys of merchant ships and the Royal Navy vessels escorting them with terrifying risks - from the ice, from mountainous freezing waves and fog, as well as from Hitler's submarines, warships and aircraft.

It is little wonder that Churchill described the convoys as "the worst journeys in the world".

Expand Close Philip Ball's Arctic convoy coming under attack from German ships. / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Philip Ball's Arctic convoy coming under attack from German ships.

More than 3,000 sailors and merchant seamen were killed and 100 ships were lost in the 78 convoys, with the worst disaster befalling one codenamed PQ17, which was almost completely wiped out after the order went out during a German attack for the ships to scatter, leaving individual merchant ships without their escorts.

But more than four million tons of supplies were successfully delivered during the four-year campaign to reinforce Stalin, including tanks and planes, food, tractors, trucks, railway engines and clothes.

However, it wasn't until December 2012 - seven decades after the end of the war - that then Prime Minister David Cameron finally recognised the gallantry of the crews in the convoys with specially minted Arctic Star medals, which were delivered through the post to up to 400 surviving sailors and relatives of the men who died.

Later, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded his country's own medals, the Ushakov decorations, to some of the British veterans in Moscow, and his ambassador to the UK, Dr Alexander Yakovenko, presented similar awards to 17 local men, or their relatives, in a ceremony at the Harbour Commissioners' office in Belfast. It was after this event that Newmann, a celebrated poet and writer, was approached by the Duchess of Abercorn, the honorary consul of the Russian Federation here, to compile a book about the Ulster-based heroes.

The Duchess, who had helped organise the Harbour Commissioners' ceremony, is of Russian as well as English descent. She is the great-great-great granddaughter of the famous poet Alexander Pushkin, who is acclaimed as the father of Russian literature.

In 1987 the Duchess set up the Pushkin Trust to bring creativity into the lives of children across Ireland and it was under that organisation's aegis that she commissioned the book, with the backing of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

Some of the men who were interviewed for it have died in the last few years. One of them, William McBride, passed away towards the end of last month. The Shankill Road man had survived not one, but two hazardous wartime missions.

Mr McBride featured in another book by Belfast writer Sam McAughtry titled The Sinking Of The Kenbane Head, a merchant ship that was attacked by the German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer in 1940 during the Battle of the Atlantic. Tthe author's brother, Mart, was killed in the attack.

Only 20 people, including Mr McBride, survived the disaster, and he also lived to tell of the horrors of the Arctic convoys in graphic and moving detail.

He recounted how he saw "plenty of ships being sunk", with the loss of people he knew, but he said he didn't know that he felt lucky, because he was doing a job of his choosing.

He recalled how he had once been stuck in the White Sea for months until winter was over, because the Germans had bombed the two ice-breaking vessels accompanying his ship. But he could never understand why the Germans didn't come back to finish his vessel off.

Referring to the medals' controversy, Mr McBride said: "Putin did the right thing, giving out medals. Britain didn't want us to have anything to do with it. I never understood why that was."

Expand Close Philip Ball, from Templepatrick, who served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War and endured the Arctic Convoy. Photo: Peter Morrison / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Philip Ball, from Templepatrick, who served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War and endured the Arctic Convoy. Photo: Peter Morrison

Another veteran, Tommy Jess, died in 2015 at the age of 92 and his wartime exploits are recorded in the archives of the Somme Heritage Museum near Bangor.

The Lisburn man told how he'd joined the Royal Navy in 1942, because he liked the uniform.

Three years later he was on board HMS Lapwing when it was torpedoed by a German submarine in the waters north-west of Russia, but he managed to swim to safety. Mr Jess's family said he rarely talked about his experiences, but he was almost overcome with emotion after he received his medal from the Russians in Belfast.

Choking back tears, he said at the ceremony that it was "the good day in his life", which contrasted with the bad one when his ship was sunk with the loss of 180 good friends who he said were always in his mind.

He added: "I didn't think I would see this day. The medal is beyond my expectations."

Ballyclare-based Englishman Philip Ball, who's 94 ("and three-quarters"), told me that he would never forget the convoys. He served on HMS Victorious, an aircraft carrier, which was deployed on the periphery of the Arctic convoys to give aerial cover.

His carrier did come under attack, but it withstood them. He said: "We saw a couple of ships going down. And what also really sticks in my head is the bitter cold, the massive waves and the sea freezing over."

Philip, who is set to celebrate his 70th wedding anniversary later this month to his Northern Irish wife Jackie, said he didn't know why it took so long for the service of the convoy crews to be acknowledged.

He said his Arctic Star medal arrived by second-class post in October 2014, but a reception was later held by the Royal Naval Reserve in HMS Hibernia located within Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn, where all the veterans were presented with a pair of cuff-links... and a tot of rum.

He said the Russian medal ceremony was an emotional occasion. He didn't know any of the other veterans, but he discovered that one of them served on the Victorious, but they'd never come across each other on the ship, which had a 2,000-strong crew.

After the war Mr Ball stayed on in the Royal Navy and finished his 35-year service as a Commander.

Newmann said that all but one of the veterans were willing to talk to her about the Arctic convoys.

The reluctant hero hadn't been well, and told her: "It was a long time ago. I don't think I'll bother."

She had initial misgivings about approaching the veterans. She said: "I did wonder if I had the right to be inviting people to re-enter what was, for some of them, a traumatic aspect of their past. But they were very generous with their time. And all the interviews were fascinatingly different in their tone, their humour and their personality.

"They are all fabulously entertaining men and if you have anything to learn from them, it's their great life-force."

Kate, who is the founder of the independent Summer Palace Press, which has published 45 different authors and poets, was also moved after hearing how the veterans had gone to the aid of starving German children at the end of the war.

She said: "One man told me that he went into the naval stores to buy food so that he and his colleagues could distribute it to the youngsters."

Kate, a former junior fellow and editor at the Institute for Irish Studies at Queen's University, Belfast, said that the humanity shown by the seamen to captured Germans was also remarkable.

On more than one occasion they gave men they'd rescued from the sea alcohol and cigarettes and reassured them they would be okay.

Kate, who has facilitated or edited 13 books in her role as a writer within a number of community organisations in Northern Ireland, said that collating the latest work had left a lasting impression.

"It showed me that we live among people who have been places that are quite unbelievable and they carry that experience inside them.

"The men I spoke to mightn't have had a lot in common, but they all have a wonderful nobility about them."
Staying in paid employment or volunteering can help people be physically and mentally active for longer

Baby-boomers should consider staying in work until they are 70 to stay healthier for longer, England's chief medical officer is expected to say.

Staying in paid employment, volunteering or joining community groups can help people be physically and mentally active for longer, Professor Dame Sally Davies will say.

Releasing her latest report on the state of the public's health - which focuses on the health of people aged 50 to 70 - Dame Sally will suggest that the health benefits of staying in work for longer or volunteering "should not be underestimated".

Meanwhile, those entering retirement have a chance to be "more active than ever before", she will add.

The new report will encourage the baby-boomer generation to find ways to stay physically and mentally active to boost their health.

Dame Sally said: "People are living longer than ever and so retirement presents a real opportunity for baby-boomers to be more active than ever before.

"For many people, it is a chance to take on new challenges. It is certainly not the start of a slower pace of life it once was.

"Staying in work, volunteering or joining a community group can make sure people stay physically and mentally active for longer.

"The health benefits of this should not be underestimated."

One in eight (12%) of those older than pension age are also still working, figures suggest.

By 2020, it is estimated that a third of British workers will be aged over 50.

Ahead of the report's release, Saga's director of communication Paul Green said: "For many people, the abolition of the Default Retirement Age was a blessing as it allowed them to work for longer and enjoy the social, physical and mental well-being that it gave them.

"In fact, there are now more than 1.24 million over-65s who have taken advantage of the changes and remain in work, a 48% increase since 2011.

"However, for some, the idea of working until they're 70 fills them with dread. Whilst it might have health benefits for some, we also need to be mindful that for some, working longer may not be an option as they simply may not be physically able to continue in their jobs."

"We should be enabling those that can to do so, and ensuring there is help and support available for those that can't."

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: "We welcome this report by Professor Dame Sally Davies in recognising the untapped potential of older people, and the expertise they possess.

"While not everybody can or wants to work on, many of the older people that we speak to tell us about their desire to stay active, and this should be seen as a massive financial boost for those in later life, for businesses and for society as a whole.

"And let's not forget the many older people who contribute through caring and volunteering.

"Of course, it is crucial that we still also have a state pension and a system of benefits that recognises where some individuals cannot work, and the stark variations in life expectancy and health across the country."

Anna Dixon, chief executive of Centre for Ageing Better, said: "The fact that we are living longer presents a tremendous opportunity to enjoy healthy and fulfilling later lives. But it needs us to stay active. Doing more exercise - even walking - can keep you healthier for longer.

"And we also know that being in fulfilling work for longer can help you keep mentally and physically active as well as help you be more financially secure. But at the moment there are over a million people over 50 who want to work but can't - employers need to listen to the message that being age-friendly is good for business and good for society."
Belfast International Airport managing director Graham Keddie is to be appointed to the board of Tourism Ireland. Last month, Mr Keddie hit out at the organisation, saying it should do more to attract visitors to Northern Ireland.

But he is now set to be one of six new people nominated to the cross-border body by Economy Minister Simon Hamilton.

In a letter to Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Mr Keddie said that Northern Ireland was becoming much more attractive than the Republic as a destination for travellers from Britain because of the strength of the euro.

Mr Keddie also urged Mr Kenny to impress upon Tourism Ireland the need to do much more to improve its work north of the border.
McDonald's is moving its non-US tax base to Britain from Luxembourg as it battles EU regulators over its tax affairs

McDonald's is moving its non-US tax base to Britain from Luxembourg as it battles EU regulators over its tax affairs.

The fast food firm is to create a new UK-based holding company through which its non-US royalties will be routed.

The company said in a statement: "McDonald's selected the UK for the location of its new international holding structure because of significant number of staff based in London working on our international business, language, and connections to other markets.

"This change has a clear business rationale in matching our corporate structure to our new functional structure."

As a result, McDonald's said it will pay UK corporation tax on its international profits.

The group has come under fire from EU antitrust officials who are investigating claims that McDonald's avoided more than one billion euro in tax through the use of a royalties loophole in Luxembourg.

Last year, the European Commission said the European arm of McDonald's has paid virtually no corporation tax in Luxembourg or the US since 2009, despite making significant profits in the division.

But the chain said in its defence: "McDonald's pays a significant amount of corporate taxes. For perspective, from 2011-2015, we paid more than 2.5 billion US dollars in corporate taxes in the EU, with an average tax rate approaching 27%."

The EU's competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager has put the tax affairs of a number of high-profile targets including Amazon and Google under the microscope.

Earlier this year, the EU slapped US tech giant Apple with a 13 billion euro (11.1 billion) tax bill.

Asked about the McDonald's move, Prime Minister Theresa May's official spokeswoman said: "We welcome continued investment from companies around the world into the UK, particularly where that's securing growth and increasing jobs."
GRAND FORKS -- A Grand Forks grandmother faces criminal charges after authorities say she refused to call off her Chihuahua mix when deputies were trying to serve a warrant against her daughter.

Gloria Alicia Corona, 55, has been charged with hindering law enforcement, a misdemeanor, for her alleged actions in obstructing an Oct. 21 arrest.

A warrant was issued for Corona in October, and she was detained on Wednesday, when she made her first appearance.

According to an affidavit filed in district court, deputies with the Grand Forks County Sheriffs Officers went to Coronas home about 2:30 p.m. Oct. 21, to serve a warrant for an attempted theft charge against her daughter, Rita Corona. At first, nobody answered the door, deputies say, but Gloria Corona arrived about 20 minutes later and told deputies to leave her property.

Deputies say Simba, Coronas Chihuahua mix, was barking at deputies and being aggressive. When deputies told Corona they had a warrant and were entering the home, she said she would sic the dog on them. When authorities asked to her to restrain the dog, Corona allegedly refused, and told them they were scaring her grandchildren.

The dog then bit one deputy in the left hand, authorities say.

Rita Corona was located in the home.

-- Forum News Service
McDonald's is "disappointed" that it looks like being refused permission for a new restaurant amid residents' concerns it would fuel a rodent problem.

The US fast food giant wants to open a 24-hour restaurant beside Asda on the Shore Road.

But officials have once again said the project should not get the go-ahead.

They said it should be turned down due to the potential noise impact on residents and that it could affect the building of new homes locally.

Locals had raised concerns about rats in the area, and that the restaurant would exacerbate the problem.

A spokesman for McDonald's told the Belfast Telegraph: "We are disappointed by this decision but fully respect the democratic planning process in place.

"We will take some time to consider our options having looked at all the information available."

It's due to be decided at Belfast City Council's planning meeting next week.

The proposal was due to go before the committee in October, but it was pulled from the agenda at the last minute.

One pensioner previously told the Belfast Telegraph that the new McDonald's beside his home would fuel the area's rodent problem.

George Reid (70) said he'd seen rats in and around his street and back yard within the last few weeks.

Mr Reid's back yard on Oakmount Drive looks on to the empty plot of land McDonald's had earmarked.

He said he was worried that food sales and rubbish could increase the numbers of rodents in the area, and noise levels would impact on his quiet suburban street, where many elderly people live.

"There are two or three causes. The main cause is this... there are rats in this area. I had the men out (from the council) and there was a rat," he said.

"There was another woman down the side of the street, and she had them out for rats."

However, addressing this concern, council planners said that "no substantive evidence was provided that the proposal would result in an increase in rats in the area".

"Environmental Health raised no issues regarding this matter."

Objections lodged over the restaurant included "concerns raised regarding traffic" coming in and out of the area, and with the potential noise impact.

A letter of support was received from North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds indicating that the area would benefit from further investment and jobs, the planners revealed.

While planners said they were initially satisfied the scheme would not have an impact on residents with noise or anti-social behaviour, they said the applicant "failed to demonstrate that the use of the car park can be restricted" after midnight.

"It is considered that there is potential for adverse impact on residential amenity by virtue of noise and disturbance by use of the car park."

Summing up the reasons for turning it down, they said: "The proposal is contrary to the Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan 2015 as the site is zoned for housing, and if permitted would prejudice the delivery of housing in an area of current housing need."
The singer and Melanie Hamrick welcomed a son in New York on Thursday

Sir Mick Jagger has become a father again at the age of 73 with his partner Melanie Hamrick, who - at 29 - is 44 years his junior.

The news of the Rolling Stones frontman's new arrival was confirmed by his publicist Bernard Doherty.

Sir Mick and Ms Hamrick welcomed a son in New York on Thursday.

A statement said: " Melanie Hamrick and Mick Jagger's son was born today in New York and they are both delighted.

"Mick was at the hospital for the arrival. Mother and baby are doing well and we request that the media respect their privacy at this time."

The new addition is Sir Mick's eighth child, and his first with ballerina Ms Hamrick.

The couple began dating after the suicide of fashion designer L'Wren Scott, Sir Mick's partner of 13 years, in 2014.

The rock star has seven children - Karis, Jade, Elizabeth, James, Georgia, Gabriel and Lucas - from previous relationships.

Their ages range from 17 to 46, with his eldest child Karis Hunt Jagger - from his relationship with Marsha Hunt - 17 years older than Ms Hamrick.

He had daughter Jade Jagger, now 45, with his ex-wife Bianca.

Sir Mick had four children with his ex-partner Jerry Hall - Elizabeth, 32, James, 31, Georgia, 24, and Gabriel, 18.

He also had a son, Lucas, 17, following a brief relationship with Brazilian model Luciana Gimenez.

Their liaison ended Sir Mick's 22-year-relationship with Hall, who is now married to media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Sir Mick has five grandchildren and became a great-grandfather in May 2014 when Jade's daughter Assisi gave birth to a baby girl.

It looks set to be a good week for Sir Mick and his bandmates as The Rolling Stones are in line to top the charts with their first studio album in more than a decade.

The veteran rockers, whose last studio album was A Bigger Bang in 2005, are primed to hit number one in the Official Albums Chart with Blue & Lonesome, which was recorded in just three days.

The last time the group reached the top of the charts with a new studio project was in 1994 with Voodoo Lounge.

In addition to their new release, The Rolling Stones have had a landmark year as they performed at a historic free concert in Havana, Cuba in March.

Sir Mick and his colleagues took to the stage after their music had been banned in the country for years because it was considered subversive and blocked from the radio.

The birth of Sir Mick's new son comes six months after his bandmate Ronnie Wood and his wife Sally Humphreys welcomed twin girls, just two days before Wood turned 69.

In an interview given by Wood a month after the birth of his daughters, Wood revealed that Sir Mick was one of the first people to meet them.

He told Hello! magazine: "Mick popped in on the third day. He couldn't wait to see them, I put one in each arm and took a photo."
Two men were arrested after packages containing herbal cannabis from Portugal were seized

Nearly half a million pounds worth of drugs have been seized after border officers intercepted two packages containing herbal cannabis from Portugal.

Two men aged 30 and 32 have been arrested in Northern Ireland on suspicion of offences linked to the importation of drugs, PSNI detective sergeant Denis McGaffin said.

Police searched houses in Ballymena and Portadown on Thursday as a follow-up to the discovery of the parcels from Portugal and the investigation has recovered roughly 450,000 worth of Class B drugs.

Det sgt McGaffin from Reactive and Organised Crime Branch said: "The arrests follow Border Force seizing two packages from Portugal on Monday 14 November which contained a quantity of herbal cannabis."

He added: "I am delighted that these drugs will never make it to the streets of Northern Ireland."
A West Belfast grandmother has been left devastated after an unattended candle caused her home to go up in flames. No one was injured in the blaze, but Anne-Marie McCann's property has been badly smoke-damaged, and "things could have been so much worse", her daughter said.

Anne-Marie (57) had just finished putting up her Christmas decorations and had sat down to watch television on Tuesday evening.

She left the candle burning on the hearth as she "nipped out for five minutes", only to return and find her mid-terrace house on Nansen Street had gone up in flames.

Ms McCann lives close to her daughter Rachael McCann, who was having a Christmas-themed family night and watching The Muppet Christmas Carol while baking with her four children.

Anne-Marie told the Belfast Telegraph: "I just nipped next door to see how the baking was going.

"I was only there for five minutes.

"I didn't even close the door - I was just hovering.

"When I returned to the house and approached the front door the heat was just intense.

"I didn't see any flames, just plumes of thick, black smoke and intense heat."

Rachael called the emergency services but they had already been alerted, possibly by a neighbour.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Damage caused to Belfast house after Christmas decoration catches fire. Damage caused to Belfast house after Christmas decoration catches fire. Damage caused to Belfast house after Christmas decoration catches fire. Damage caused to Belfast house after Christmas decoration catches fire. Damage caused to Belfast house after Christmas decoration catches fire. / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Damage caused to Belfast house after Christmas decoration catches fire.

Two fire engines - dispatched from Springfield Fire Station - were quickly on the scene and the blaze was extinguished within 20 minutes.

Rachael (30) said: "I have four children, the two eldest - Caolan (13) and Megan (7) - always take turns to sleep over at my mum's house.

"Tuesday night was an exception because we were having a family Christmas night, otherwise one of them would have been in the house and would probably have been upstairs in the bedroom at that time.

"It could have been a lot worse, but the kids are still upset.

"They really love going to her house - especially at Christmas.

"It's the house they were born into and they still look at it as home. Mum is Christmas in the head, she collects loads of Christmas ornaments and decorations - this has ruined it for them."

Anne-Marie has lived in the house for 32 years.

Carpets, wallpaper and furniture throughout the property have been destroyed, and Christmas presents have been ruined.

Anne-Marie said: "Along with all the damage there's a lot of sentimental stuff that has been lost, especially stuff that belonged to my parents who are now dead. I am absolutely devastated.

"I don't know what to say, I really don't."

NI Fire Service group commander Geoff Somerville, who attended the scene, said: "The householder had only left the property for a very short time and when she returned she discovered a fire in the ground floor of her house.

"A Christmas decoration had fallen onto a small candle, which had been left burning on the hearth."

The property had been fitted with a smoke alarm, but it wasn't in working condition.

Mr Somerville urged householders to ensure they had a functioning smoke alarm.

"I'm asking people to give priority to fire safety and not to become complacent about it over Christmas. Check that you have working smoke alarms fitted in your house," he added.

He praised Anne-Marie's decision to share what had happened to her.

"Christmas is traditionally a busy time for NIFRS as incidences of fires in the home increase due to extra fire hazards such as candles, fairy tree lights, portable heaters, overloaded sockets and people using fires that have not been lit for some time," he said.

Ms McCann hopes that she can stop the same thing happening to someone else.

"This could happen to anyone," she said.

"It took just minutes.

"I can't imagine what could have happened, this could have been so much worse.

"I hope this will stop someone else from having to go through this.

"There wasn't anything near the candle, I can only assume it was a spark from it.

"I use them all the time. People buy them for me as gifts, but that's the end.

"It's finished."
Judge ruled there was a risk of re-offending and involvement in a "pernicious" trade

A Cookstown man allegedly linked to recoveries of cocaine and cannabis was refused bail on Thursday as a High Court judged ruled there was a risk of re-offending.

Paul Currie was arrested by police investigating seizures in Counties Tyrone and Derry last month.

The 53-year-old, of Limekiln Lane in Cookstown, faces counts of conspiracy to possess Class A and B drugs, and conspiracy to conceal criminal property.

Two other men have also been charged as part of the probe.

Officers recovered 40kg of cannabis resin, 1kg of cocaine and 25kg of a mixing agent on November 12.

They seized the drugs after monitoring a lorry and a car pull into a lay-by between Dungannon and Ballygawley.

Consignments were allegedly taken out of the lorry which had arrived in Northern Ireland from Scotland.

Paul Currie's two co-accused were arrested at the scene.

He was then detained in the Cookstown area.

A previous court was told more drugs and cash were seized in follow-up searches.

In Desertmartin, 11kg of cannabis resin and 3kg of herbal cannabis were found at a house.

Searches at a number of properties in Cookstown led to 82,000 in cash being recovered.

Although the cocaine's street value was put at around 60,000, it was estimated that cutting it with the mixing agent would give it a potential value of 1.5m.

The cannabis seized was believed to be worth more than 500,000 in total, according to police.

Opposing Paul Currie's bail application, prosecution counsel claimed he was a "pivot" in a gang allegedly linked to the drugs.

He also raised a concern about the general trade in illegal substances in the area, pointing to a number of deaths in recent times.

There is no suggestion of any link between Paul Currie and those incidents.

A defence barrister insisted the current case against him appeared to be based on mobile phone traffic, with no physical connection to the drugs.

He argued that evidence will have to be produced to back claims that his client was the "main man".

Denying bail, however, Mr Justice Treacy ruled there was a risk of re-offending and involvement in a "pernicious" trade.

The judge added: "The prosecution have said what police have told them, about the serious problem there is in the Mid Ulster area with the supply of drugs.

"I'm told there's been three drug-related deaths in the relevantly recent past."
Arlene Foster has robustly rejected calls to resign over her handling of a botched green energy scheme.

The First Minister batted away allegations that she did not act appropriately when concerns were first raised about the controversial Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).

Defending her position from China, where she is promoting Northern Ireland, Mrs Foster said she could not have acted differently.

"There really isn't anything more, with hindsight, that I could have done, given the advice that was given to me at the time," she added.

Mrs Foster was Economy Minister when many of the fatal errors in the scheme were made.

She has previously faced claims she did not do enough to pursue whistleblower allegations that sought to expose the flaws in the system.

Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt has gone so far as to call on Mrs Foster to consider her position, while other rivals have demanded she make a statement to the Assembly explaining why the whistleblower claims were not acted upon.

The DUP leader said the concerns were taken "very seriously" and referred to senior departmental officials.

"It has been acknowledged, indeed by the (Civil Service) permanent secretary, that I did all that was appropriate in the circumstances," Mrs Foster added.

"If anyone has any knowledge of the amount of instructions that a minister gives on a day-by-day basis, they would understand it is custom and practice actually, that it is only if there is some issue, if an exception is raised with me by an official, that it would come back to my desk.

"That didn't happen on this occasion. Of course I regret that it didn't happen on this occasion, but that's the reality."

The RHI aimed to cut the cost of green energy to encourage people off fossil fuels, but ended up landing ministers with a massive overspend as no cap was set on the number of claims.

That effectively enabled a business to burn unnecessary heat 24/7 just to make money. Overall, more than 1bn of public money will be paid by 2036 to Northern Ireland-based businesses that signed up to the scheme. Almost half of that will covered by the Executive.

Branding the programme a "squander made in Stormont", TUV leader Jim Allister asked Economy Minister Simon Hamilton: "It might cost him his job, but would the minister agree that at least one of his predecessors, particularly Mrs Foster, was asleep at the wheel in terms of failing to exercise supervision and ensuring that there were adequate cost controls in place?"

However, Mr Hamilton hit back and said previous ministers had been poorly advised by policy officials.
As this week's blizzard shut down roads across the state, the Cannon Ball Pit Stop ran out of gas.

Its owner, Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II, said Wednesday afternoon that blowing snow, hazardous road conditions and a snowbank that formed over his tank's fill site had prevented any successful deliveries over the past couple of days; but he expected a fuel delivery to be made today.

Gas was still available to travelers Wednesday about 8 miles south, at the Prairie Knights Quik Mart.

North Dakota Petroleum Marketers Association President Mike Rud said he had not heard of any similar shortages at other rural gas stations to date, but it is something the association is monitoring closely.

Rud indicated it is likely that truckers are behind schedule after more than a week of adverse weather. With more snow anticipated this weekend, it could exacerbate things further.

Janine Vining, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Bismarck, said another system is expected to hit the southern half of the state starting late Friday and lasting through Saturday. Towns to the north, near Lake Sakakawea, are expected to get 2 inches of new snow. Counties to the south, including Sioux, Lamoure, Logan and McIntosh, could get closer to 5 inches.

The snow is expected to be fluffy, so ice and freezing rain should not be an issue, according to Vining. Winds are also expected to stay relatively low, around 10 to 15 miles per hour.

"It won't be pleasant, but it's not like 30- to 40-mile-per-hour gusts," she said.
A total of 73 UK MEPs will be reallocated to other member states due to the Brexit separation

Ireland should have at least three extra MEPs after Brexit so Northern Ireland is properly represented, Sinn Fein said.

A total of 73 UK MEPs will be reallocated to other member states due to the separation.

Sinn Fein outlined its priorities for upcoming negotiations on an exit which are expected to begin next year. Achieving special status within the EU for Northern Ireland is the party's central aim.

As part of the post-Brexit shake up in political representation in the bloc, the party said: "We should make the case that there should be at least three more MEPs for Ireland when the Six County population is factored into consideration.

"We should also look for additional seats in the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee."

While the Democratic Unionists support Brexit and believe it will free the country from red tape emanating from Brussels Sinn Fein is vehemently opposed over the impact on the economy and peace process.

Brexit proponents have argued there will be no impact on the peace process and an exit will return sovereignty to the people of the UK.

In a policy document published on Thursday, Sinn Fein pledged to argue for the North to remain within the EU and gave examples of similar arrangements in Europe.

It set out the alleged risk to the Good Friday Agreement and the power sharing North/South arrangements as well as the perceived threat to the peace process.

"Over the last number of decades, the EU has shown itself to be flexible in dealing with different forms of integration for member states and non-member states with the EU," it said.

No precedent exists for a jurisdiction to remain an EU member whilst the member state it is linked to ends its membership.

Sinn Fein's paper noted: "However, the inverse of this scenario was Greenland, a Danish dependent territory with limited devolution, who voted to leave the EU in 1985 while Denmark as the member state remained.

"Greenland was then transferred to Overseas Countries and Territories status."

A trilateral declaration agreement has existed between Denmark, Greenland and the EU, which was updated in 2015.

A total of 25 Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT), have a special relationship status with the EU without being member states in their own right and are linked with Denmark, Britain, France and the Netherlands who benefit from access to the single market and other entitlements negotiated between the member state/OCT/EU.

They are, however, all linked to a member state.
A 32-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the murder of a west Belfast father of one.

Joe Reilly, 43, was gunned down at his home in the nationalist Poleglass area of west Belfast in October.

The suspect was detained by detectives in the Newtownabbey area and has been taken to Musgrave police station for questioning.

Police have previously described Mr Reilly's murder as a cold-blooded execution.

The gunmen ordered two others in the house at Glenwood Court to lie down on the kitchen floor while Mr Reilly was held in the living room and shot twice in the chest. He died at the scene.

Detective Inspector Darren McCartney has renewed appeals for witnesses.

He said: "Mr Reilly was shot in his home in Glenwood Court at about 8pm on the evening of Thursday October 20.

"I would continue to ask anyone who has any information about this murder to contact detectives on the non-emergency number 101, quoting reference number 1172 20/10/16.

"Or if anyone would prefer to provide information without giving their details, they can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers and speak to them anonymously on 0800 555 111."
First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon leaves 10 Downing Street after a Joint Ministerial Council meeting which she called "deeply frustrating"

Closer links between the governments in Westminster, Holyrood, Cardiff Bay and Stormont are needed to handle the Brexit process, a Commons committee has said.

The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee warned that the UK Government could not treat the devolved administrations as an "afterthought".

The committee recommended turning meetings between the Prime Minister and the heads of government in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland into full-scale summits, rotating among the four countries.

The cross-party committee said: " The UK's exit from the European Union will require not just diplomacy and effective intergovernmental relations at the EU level but also within the UK.

"It offers both risk and a fresh opportunity, and, therefore, an incentive, to develop more effective intergovernmental relations in the UK."

The existing Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) format for meetings between the administrations " is not, as it is currently organised, set up to cope with this increasingly significant responsibility".

The committee recommended evolving the JMC meetings of the four leaders into an annual summit, with the host country responsible for setting the agenda for the talks.

Theresa May and Scotland's First Minister clashed at the most recent Downing St JMC, which was dominated by the Brexit issue.

Nicola Sturgeon branded a warning from Number 10 that the devolved administrations must not try to undermine the UK's negotiating position as "nonsense" as she called the talks "deeply frustrating".

In their report the MPs said talks with the devolved administrations must be "meaningful" and welcomed the agreement of a new ministerial-level committee for talks on Brexit.

"The onus for facilitating constructive dialogue between the devolved administrations, while negotiating the process of leaving the EU, is on the UK Government," the report added.

"It is, therefore, vital that the UK Government's commitment to engage with the devolved administrations is meaningful and is not simply a tool to allay the concerns of the Scottish and Welsh Governments and the Northern Ireland Executive."

Committee chairman Bernard Jenkin said: " The time pressure of negotiating our withdrawal from the EU now forces the machinery of intergovernmental relations in the UK to be imbued with a sense of purpose.

"We cannot go on with the notion that the devolved administrations are treated as an afterthought by Whitehall, particularly as all the devolved administrations are run by different political parties."
Medics from around the world have expressed serious concerns after it emerged that Northern Ireland's first air ambulance may not have a doctor on board when the service launches.

Flying doctors from leading Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) have warned the Health Minister that the new service risks falling short of the vision of the late Dr John Hinds.

The 35-year-old Tandragee man worked as a consultant anaesthetist at Craigavon Area Hospital and was a leading activist for a regional air ambulance.

After his death in a motorcycle crash while providing volunteer medical cover at the Skerries 100 race in Dublin, his partner Dr Janet Acheson continued his campaigning work.

Dr Hinds was nicknamed the 'flying doctor' of Irish motorcycle racing for the lifesaving emergency support he provided during high speed races such as the North West 200.

But now, in an open letter to Michelle O'Neill ahead of the launch of the long-awaited service next March, medics have warned that the absence of a doctor on the flight could ultimately be unsafe.

"We fear the service will not be capable of providing the best life-saving care possible to the people of Northern Ireland from the outset if a doctor is not on board the helicopter," it read.

"Placing a combative, agitated, head injured or bleeding patient in a helicopter without a general anaesthetic is unsafe, both to the patient and the crew.

"The 'Golden Hour' is then lost, as these patients will have to be transported on sometimes lengthy journeys by road to the trauma centre.

"Sedating head injured patients without a general anaesthetic is a 'solution' from the 1970s and has been shown to cause harm.

"This is what would happen without a doctor on board."

The letter, signed by 26 experts from as far away as Australia, the US, Canada, Hungary, Norway and Slovenia, said that there are excellent paramedics in Northern Ireland who can be trained to work at the highest level in a doctor/paramedic team. "Trauma is the biggest killer and cause of morbidity in those under 40," the specialists added.

"The people of Northern Ireland deserve excellent trauma care.

"Northern Ireland is currently developing a robust trauma system and network.

"A physician-staffed, high performance HEMS will underpin this trauma system," the letter added.

Referring to the proven "economic cost-benefit argument of staffing a helicopter with a doctor" the authors urged Ms O'Neill not to launch "a sub-standard model in haste that has the potential to harm patients".

"There have been numerous international offers of help and assistance with training, education and sharing of operating procedures and clinical governance to ensure this occurs; these offers still stand," they added.

"Dr John Hinds was an advocate of excellence in trauma care. He believed the people of Northern Ireland deserved a world-class HEMS.

"His advocacy has focused the global trauma community's attention on N. Ireland. We sincerely hope you make the right decision."

The service will have two helicopters and is to be based at the old Maze prison site near Lisburn, where an existing building will be converted into hangar space and an operations room.

The Minister has previously indicated there would be an "initial staffing model" and that "ultimately there will be a doctor and paramedic on board the aircraft" - sparking fears over the nature of the service.

A spokeswoman for Mrs O'Neill's department said: "The planning process is not yet complete".

"The Minister will make her final decisions on the HEMS model based on the professional advice which the chief medical officer Dr Michael McBride is assembling following consultation with all key stakeholders, both on HEMS and the Trauma Network.

"While the Minister welcomes views from all interested parties, she will announce her decision after she has had the opportunity to consider the chief medical officer's report."
Hundreds of men in Northern Ireland who were convicted for being in a consensual gay relationship in the past will be able to clear their names within weeks.

Yesterday, 'Turing's Law' was extended to Northern Ireland following a Lord's amendment to the Policing and Crime Bill in Westminster.

The law was named after World War Two codebreaker Alan Turing, who - despite his key role in helping the Allies win the war - was branded a criminal and chemically castrated for being gay.

He died of cyanide poisoning in a suspected suicide, but was posthumously pardoned in 2013.

Homosexuality was not decriminalised in Northern Ireland until 1982. UUP councillor and gay rights campaigner Jeff Dudgeon helped to draft yesterday's amendment with the Conservative peer Lord Lexden.

"We put this into effect a month ago and it was a remarkably seamless operation in the end and wonderful that Northern Ireland has not been left out," he said.

He said he knew people in public sector roles who still had to explain their convictions on job applications.

"There's also a number I know who were jailed and have since died. Their relatives have had to live with a certain badge of shame over the decades. Younger people cannot conceive of how harsh the law was," he said.

"People like Ernie Thompson and Jim Kempson who ran the first gay bar in Belfast, the Chariot rooms, they were jailed in the 1960s."

NIO Minister Kris Hopkins called the amendment "an important milestone for tolerance and equality."

Applications can be made to the Department of Justice early next year.
Police have launched an investigation after a man arrived at an east Belfast primary school falsely claiming he was there to collect children

Police have launched an investigation after a man arrived at an east Belfast primary school falsely claiming he was there to collect children.

Dr John Kyle said school staff at Elmgrove Primary on the Beersbridge Road were alarmed as the man appeared to be under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

The PUP councillor had been visiting the school when the incident occurred on Tuesday at around 1.25pm.

"There is no need for parents to worry - the school responded entirely appropriately and as a result all pupils were kept safe and well," he said.

The individual left the school premises without causing further incident.

Police have said they are following a "definite line of enquiry," on the matter.

PSNI Chief Inspector David Moore added: "The staff followed all the safeguarding procedures and refused access, and the male then left."
The PSNI has re-opened a probe into a serious assault and appointed a new investigating officer after the Police Ombudsman found significant failings in the way the case was initially progressed.

The investigation is into an attack which left a man with a broken nose and fractured cheek.

The victim was punched and kicked after becoming involved in an argument in 2015.

The investigating officer has also been disciplined for failing to progress a series of investigative opportunities before closing the case.

The victim later provided police with relevant evidence, including the registration number of a car and the names of a number of witnesses.

Eight months later, after becoming frustrated by a lack of police contact and an apparent lack of progress on the case, he lodged a complaint with the Police Ombudsmans Office.

A Police Ombudsman investigator obtained all relevant police documentation, as well as statements from the man, a doctor who examined him and other witnesses.

When interviewed, the investigating officer accepted that he had failed to interview any witnesses apart from the injured party.

He said he had been told only one witness could help with identification and he had tried to contact this person but had received no response.

He also admitted that he had not made any enquiries relating to the car registration number, stating that it could have been driven by any one of a number of people.

And he acknowledged that it was unacceptable that the victim had not heard from him for five months after making a statement.

Enquiries also found no record of some of the investigative actions the officer said he had taken.

The Police Ombudsman investigator also considered whether there had been a lack of supervision of the investigation, but recommended no disciplinary action against either of the officers who had overseen the case.

The first had been involved for only a brief period at the outset, and the second had taken appropriate steps given the limited information provided by the investigating officer.

The PSNI has since re-opened the case and appointed a new investigating officer.
A boxer who boasted that he was the "hardest man" in his town has been sentenced to a minimum 16 year life term for the murder of a Northern Ireland soldier on a night out.

Private Matthew Boyd, 20, of the Royal Gibraltar Regiment, died in the barracks town of Brecon, South Wales, in the early hours of May 8.

Jake Vallely, 24, chased Pte Boyd, punched him to the ground and beat him before dragging his body and dumping it in the road.

The amateur boxer admitted hitting the soldier but denied murder. He was convicted of the charge following a trial at Cardiff Crown Court.

Vallely, of Pen-y-Bryn, Brecon, was sentenced on Thursday.

During the trial, Christopher Quinlan QC, told the jury of nine men and three women: "Jake Vallely is the self-proclaimed hardest man in Brecon.

"That was how he described himself an hour or so before the attack that killed Mr Boyd.

"Mr Boyd was punched. He went to the ground and thereafter he was beaten until he moved no more.

"Mr Vallely then dragged and dumped his body and ran off. He ran back to the bar where he continued his night."

The court heard that, following tours in Northern Ireland, Pte Boyd was sent to Brecon and arrived in the town on May 3 this year.

On the evening of May 7, he went out with fellow soldiers but became separated from them at about 11pm.

He arrived at the Cellar Bar, where Vallely and Evans were, at about 12.19am on May 8.

CCTV cameras later captured Vallely's "sustained assault" of Pte Boyd in the street outside the bar, Mr Quinlan said.

"Vallely got the better of Mr Boyd," he told the jury. "He drove him to the ground.

"Once he was on the ground Mr Boyd was no longer - if he had ever been - a threat to this man.

"Once down he was punched repeatedly. You could see Mr Vallely's right arm moving like a piston up and down as he punched him.

"There was also movement of his right leg. He completely overpowered that man. He dragged his still motionless body across the road.

"It was sustained, repeated and unlawful violence delivered with intent to cause really serious harm."

A member of the public discovered Pte Boyd's body. He was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2.40am.

A post-mortem examination found Pte Boyd died as a result of blunt force injuries.
A furious Glyn Roberts with the letter he was sent

A Northern Ireland man has hit out at private car park operators after he was fined a staggering 160 for returning to his vehicle 15 minutes late.

Glyn Roberts parked at North Street in Belfast city centre and used a machine to pay 2 for a ticket he believed would cover a short business and shopping trip.

The Ballyhackamore man ended up exceeding the time limit, but he claims the first and only indication that he had done so came via the post when he received what he described as an "aggressive" demand for money.

The letter, sent by a debt collection agency for "overstayed paid time", informed Mr Roberts that he needed to settle the 160 fine by tomorrow if he wanted to avoid going to court.

It began: "Most people pay their parking charges straightaway, but a small number of people don't. We're writing to you because you've not yet paid our client, and they've now asked us to collect payment."

A furious Mr Roberts, who is chief executive of the Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association (NIIRTA), said he was concerned that "outrageously punitive" fines would put people off coming to Belfast.

"I accept that I outstayed the time I'd paid for and I have no problem with paying an appropriate fine, but 160 is just preposterous," he said. "I'm annoyed that I wasn't given an earlier opportunity to pay - initially you're supposed to get fined 100, which drops to 60 if you settle within 14 days, although that's still far too much.

"But the thing is that I honestly didn't realise I hadn't paid enough to cover parking that day until I opened this letter demanding money a couple of days ago."

He added: "I'm sure there aren't many parents, pensioners, working families or consumers in general who can afford such an astronomical amount of money after making a simple mistake.

"It's difficult not to see this as blatant profiteering, and it's hard to see how it wouldn't put people off coming into the city."

Smart Parking, the firm that runs the North Street car park, said there were 17 signs there "that clearly highlight the terms and conditions of use".

"Mr Roberts accepts that he overstayed, and so correctly received a parking charge," it said.

"We wrote to Mr Roberts twice asking him to pay his charge but he did not respond. At this point we reasonably passed the matter on to a debt recovery service. Mr Roberts then chose to engage with the Press, ignoring the fact that we operate a fully audited appeals process."
A Belfast man who texted a local radio station claiming he was a member of the IRA and that bombs had been left outside Probation Board offices in the city has avoided a jail term.

Stuart Rankin - who Belfast Crown Court heard had mental health issues and learning difficulties - also breached the terms of a previously imposed Sexual Offences Prevention Order by possessing a mobile phone when he was banned from doing do.

The 29-year old, from Glencairn Crescent, was handed a two-and-a-half year sentence by Judge Geoffrey Miller QC, who suspended the sentence for two years.

At the hearing on Thursday, Judge Miller warned Rankin that if he committed any further offences within that two year period, this "would lead to immediate custody".

Prior to sentencing, Judge Miller was told that on January 8 last year a producer and presenter with the U105 radio station at Havelock House, received a text message shortly before noon.

The text sender claimed to be from the IRA and said a bomb had been left outside Probation NI's headquarters in North Street, and also outside Probation offices at Great Patrick Street. The text also said "tell the PSNI now, quick".

Police were contacted, who in turn checked both buildings and surrounding areas. Nothing suspicious was located in either area and the text was later declared a hoax.

The mobile number was subsequently traced to Rankin, who was banned from having a phone under the terms of a SOPO imposed for a previous offence. When the phone was analysed, it transpired that the phone had been used repeatedly to both call and text Rankin's mother.

It also transpired that the text message sent to U105 had been sent from the vicinity of a city centre hostel where Rankin had been stayed at the time.

On April 21, his mother's home was searched but Rankin was not present. She told officers she couldn't get hold of him as he had no phone, but he attended a police station later that day.

He was interviewed, and when the mobile phone analysis was presented to him, he made a 'no comment' response.

Rankin subsequently pleaded guilty to communicating false information causing a belief that a bomb may explode, and also breaching his SOPO by possessing a mobile phone.

Defence barrister Barry Gibson spoke of his client's poor mental health and his social isolation. He also urged Judge Miller to show leniency, telling the court "custody would be a significant challenge for him and would be detrimental to his mental health".

Passing sentence, Judge Miller said that whilst the hoax bomb threat didn't cause too much disruption, it was nonetheless a serious matter.

Regarding Rankin's background, the Judge revealed that Rankin suffered a series of serious head injuries between the ages of two and 16, as well as sustaining further injuries in adulthood. Judge Miller also spoke of Rankin's cognitive and behavioural problems, as well as having a low IQ and a learning disability.

Saying he could see "no benefit" from sending Rankin to prison, Judge Miller handed him a suspended sentence.

Before releasing Rankin, Judge Miller told him: "You are, quite frankly, at a point where any further offending in the next two years will lead to immediate custody."
A petrol bomb has been thrown at a house from a passing car in Co Armagh.

It happened in the Market Street area of Tandragee on Wednesday December 7.

Police have arrested three men

A report was received at around 11.30pm that a petrol bomb had been thrown at the house from a passing car.

It struck a wall causing an external scorch mark but no further damage.

Police enquiries were made and the three men aged 31, 35 and 39 were arrested a short time later.

The men remain in custody at this time assisting officers with their enquiries.

Anyone with any information about this incident is asked to contact police in Lurgan on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Martin said the selling of 12 unused police stations will raise much needed funds for the PSNI

Twelve police stations across Northern Ireland are being sold as part of new cost-saving measures.

The stations at Aughnacloy, Ballyclare, Ballynahinch, Castlederg, Cushendall, Maghera, Moira, Portaferry, Tandragee, Warrenpoint, Willowfield and York Road in Belfast are already closed to the public and do not have officers or staff working in them.

The move will generate an estimated 1.5 million for the Northern Ireland Policing Board which owns the police estate and result in annual savings of about 600,000.

Policing Board chair, Anne Connolly said : " Whilst policing is not about bricks and mortar, an effective police service must have the necessary range of buildings to support its work. Part of our role is to ensure that the PSNI operate efficiently so we need to be satisfied that the plans for the current estate and future investment in it meet policing need and demand.

"The disposal of 12 station sites which are currently sitting closed delivers welcome returns of about 1.5 million back into the pocket of the PSNI with a significant saving each year on running costs."

The three-year strategy for the 445 million estate also includes plans to invest in three new police stations at Armagh, Cookstown and Ballymena; the redevelopment of facilities at the Police College in Garnerville and a new custody provision in Craigavon and the Waterside in Londonderry.

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Martin said: "We are aware that the permanent closure and disposal of stations is an emotive issue and can have an effect on community confidence.

"I'd like to reassure the public that these 12 stations are no longer being used by police operationally and formally disposing of them will save money, such as bills incurred from utility services.

"Times have changed, and due to advancements in modern technology as well as continuing budgetary restraints, the police service continues to look at new ways of providing the most effective service to the public in the most cost efficient way."

ACC Martin said advances in technology mean crimes are being reported online while social media provides an opportunity to interact with officers at all levels.

The PSNI also operates 32 Facebook pages, 35 Twitter feeds as well as YouTube and Instagram accounts with more than 650,000 followers.

ACC Martin added: "The reality is that nearly all policing services are delivered outside of stations. Policing isn't about buildings, it is about officers working with the community in order to protect them, prevent crime and detect criminals.

"The PSNI, like all public services, has faced substantial financial reductions and disposing of these stations will assist us to live within the Police budget.

"The amount of money allocated to the PSNI annually to police Northern Ireland has reduced significantly in recent years. We are now being asked to plan for potential further cuts in 2017/18.

"All routine policing will carry on. We will patrol in vehicles and on foot, carry out searches, arrest criminals and the public will continue to see police on a daily basis."

Meanwhile, West Tyrone MLA Michaela Boyle welcomed news that Castlederg station is among those being sold.

She said: "Sinn Fein has long campaigned for the removal of this station, which has been a massive drain on the public purse.

"This militarised barracks, which has been laying empty, contributes nothing to civic and accountable policing in Castlederg.

"Now that this site is being sold I would like to see it being used in a way that enhances and develops the local community in the village."
Sammy Wilson branded the non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) programme a recipe for wasteful spending after a Audit Office report revealed it was being abused

Poultry farmers are among those who may be affected after the RHI scheme was scrapped

Whistleblower claims on the alleged misuse of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme have led to the Audit Office probe

Simon Hamilton said new measures were being put in place to mitigate any costs to the public purse from the Renewable Heat Incentive

Arlene Foster batted away allegations that she did not act appropriately when concerns were raised about the controversial Renewable Heat Incentive

People were paid to dry pellets - used to fuel biomass boilers - and then also to burn them.

One of the whistleblowers at the centre of the botched 400m renewable heating scheme has said it was obvious to her and many others that the programme was "too good to be true" and asked how government officials could not see it.

The woman was speaking out after it was revealed millions were wasted encouraging people to ditch fossil fuel in favour of sustainable alternatives.

Whistleblowers had flagged the abuse of the system to government officials.

One of them spoke on the BBC's Stephen Nolan show, she said she contacted the then Minister for the Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment (DETI) Arlene Foster and then on three other occasions officials in the department.

She said she owned a home-grown company for saving on heating costs and first noticed problems with the scheme when she visited hotels, care homes and offices who appeared "not interested in saving on heat or energy costs".

The woman described care homes and hotels with heat "blasting" while windows were open and offices with "really warm" workers as the landlord continually ran the heating.

"So I went on to the DETI website to see the tarriffs they were getting and after five minutes of looking I realised it wasn't right.

"It was clear there was opportunity for fraud."

The Renewable Heat Incentive encouraged the installation of costly eco-friendly heating systems by paying a tariff per kilowatt of heat burned over a 20-year period.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close People were paid to dry pellets - used to fuel biomass boilers - and then also to burn them. Arlene Foster batted away allegations that she did not act appropriately when concerns were raised about the controversial Renewable Heat Incentive Simon Hamilton said new measures were being put in place to mitigate any costs to the public purse from the Renewable Heat Incentive Whistleblower claims on the alleged misuse of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme have led to the Audit Office probe Alex Dodd Poultry farmers are among those who may be affected after the RHI scheme was scrapped Northern Ireland Audit Office's auditor general Kieran Donnelly has criticised the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme Sammy Wilson branded the non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) programme a recipe for wasteful spending after a Audit Office report revealed it was being abused / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp

However, unlike in the rest of the UK, in Northern Ireland no cap or payment tier system was placed on the money that could be claimed in proportion to the size of boiler and the hours it was operated.

That effectively enabled a business to burn unnecessary heat 24/7 just to make money.

It has also been revealed that empty barns were heated just to generate more cash for business owners and also that business owners wood pellets, used to fuel biomass boilers, were paid to dry the materials and then paid to burn them.

The whistleblower said she contacted the department and received a response from Mrs Foster and then on three other occasions from department officials, the last being in March 2015, close to the date the scheme was ended.

"I felt ignored," she continued, "They either were naive or chose to ignore it.

"Business owners said they thought the scheme was too good to be true, I just can't understand how those running it couldn't see it.

The claims come as First Minister Arlene Foster has faced calls to resign over the scandal.

The woman said she felt naive after reporting her concerns, adding: "I just assumed I was going the right route and thought someone would be listening.

"When you talk of cash needed for roads, hospitals and people on waiting lists, it's heartbreaking.

"And biomass boilers are a good thing - they are a good source of renewable energy. But they are not good when you are wasting heat. Yes, you can grow more trees, but that's no good when you are just wasting heat.

"I just wish I had been more public about it."

Leader of the opposition Mike Nesbitt, who has called for the DUP leader to resign, has been asked why he voted in favour of the scheme to be kept open.

He said this was because the then minister - Jonathan Bell - described the scheme a "success".

He said: "People had been investing in kit and in boilers in expectation they could avail of the scheme in good faith and they were being cut off at the knees.

"Instead they wanted a phased withdrawal.

"The fault lay with the department. Almost everyone that applied was successful. This was down to the officials not being rigorous enough in assessing the applications.

"It was a proper scandal. People being born today, they will be parents before we have paid off the 400m."

The Department of Economy said "robust action" would be taken against those found to have abused the system.
Clares Rocket has been reunited with his owner after being kidnapped

Kidnappers who took a star greyhound from a kennel while his owner was visiting family in Belfast demanded a ransom, the trainer has revealed.

Clares Rocket was reported to be safe and well following the ordeal and enjoyed a treat of sirloin steak after he was returned to the yard of trainer Graham Holland in Co Tipperary.

The greyhound man said it was fantastic to have been reunited with the two-year-old champion at a garda station on Tuesday evening.

"We have had a great year this year. We were lucky enough to win the derby and it was the same elation over again, it was like winning the derby," Mr Holland said.

Gardai launched an investigation after the two-year-old, who has won over 50,000 in prize money and is being tipped as a favourite for the 2017 English Derby with a prize of about 300,000, went missing from the premises in Athassel Abbey between Sunday evening and Monday morning.

Mr Holland was in Belfast with his wife Nicky visiting one of his sons when the kidnappers struck.

Gardai said four men were arrested in the Tipperary area on Tuesday evening when the dog was recovered.

He was said to be in good condition but a little distressed. Mr Holland revealed a ransom had been demanded but declined to say how much the gang wanted. "People thought they could hold him to ransom," he told RTE Radio's Today with Sean O'Rourke programme.

"It's a bit like Shergar. If they haven't got their identity book they can't do a lot with him. He's only worth money to the people who own him and what he can win for them or stand at stud.

"Obviously it's not the same thing, you do think of Shergar and they never recovered him. You just fear the worst - that whoever stole him would dispose of him and run for the hills. Luckily enough, as I say, the gardai did great work and we are absolutely delighted." Mr Holland said that on his day, Clares Rocket is probably the fastest dog in Ireland but in reality his value at stud is below the one million euro reported in the wake of his kidnap.

"It's not the same as horses. The stud fees aren't as high. I would imagine, not in reality," he said.

The champion dog, winner of the Champion Stakes and the Produce Stakes, was microchipped. He is owned by the Full House Syndicate in the Limerick area. Two of those arrested were held at Tipperary Town Garda Station and two at Clonmel station.
Katie Doherty pictured lying on a giant Christmas plate complete with to-scale cutlery, Brussels sprouts, and gravy. The nearly naked PETA supporter turns heads in Belfast on Wednesday with the message "Try to Relate to Who's on Your Plate. Go Vegan". The action aims to encourage passers-by to consider that turkeys feel pain and terror and value their lives, just as humans do and none wants to end up on our Christmas table. Matt Mackey / Press Eye

Katie Doherty pictured lying on a giant Christmas plate complete with to-scale cutlery, Brussels sprouts, and gravy. The nearly naked PETA supporter turns heads in Belfast on Wednesday with the message "Try to Relate to Who's on Your Plate. Go Vegan". The action aims to encourage passers-by to consider that turkeys feel pain and terror and value their lives, just as humans do and none wants to end up on our Christmas table. Matt Mackey / Press Eye

A Dublin cafe owner who has previously attracted attention for suggesting he would "shoot vegans at point blank range" has once again drawn criticism from the community after stating he would like to eat one for Christmas dinner.

Paul Stenson, owner of The White Moose Cafe in Phibsborough, wrote a status criticising Peta's vegan demonstration on O'Connell Street in Dublin.

A similar demonstration was held in Belfast on Wednesday.

It read: "This girl is lying out on O'Connell street right now as part of PETA's campaign to encourage people NOT to eat animals this Christmas.

"I'm fed up of turkey anyway. Too dry. I can't wait to try roast vegan."

The status in question has since gone viral, with over 1,200 shares. However, the response has been mixed with many vegans taking offence.

One user wrote "I meet you on the street, you're gonna get f**ked up", while another stated that Stenson's "brain is a moronic block of wood."

This is not the first run-in The White Moose Cafe has had with the community, as a status in August last year barred all vegans.

Given the torrent of abuse and unjustified negative reviews we have been receiving from the vegan population over the past 24 hours, all vegans are now barred from our cafe. All vegans entering the cafe will be shot at point blank range, Stenson wrote.

We look forward to never welcoming you vegans into our cafe ever again.

Read more

Read More

This statement drew a barrage of one star online reviews, with one user saying: Any place that makes fun of other people's beliefs is not a place I'd like to go to, while another said: Death threats aren't funny. I'm not a vegan. Your chefs are crap if they can't cook a dish and simply omit the meat.. How childish.

Speaking to Independent.ie Mr Stenson said that these negative reviews don't bother him or his business and added that the company's Facebook page should not be taken as seriously as it is.

He said: "Everything you see on that page is all in jest. Some people lack the sense of humour and take it seriously and to be honest, that has been great for business.

"When dealing with vegans, who can be quite militant, I find they often complain about us, but very often the people they complain to don't agree with them and end up being our customers."
The man who was once the richest man in Russia is to finance democracy campaigns in his homeland

The one-time richest man in Russia has vowed to finance democracy campaigns in his homeland after an Irish court lifted freezing orders on 100 million euro in an investment fund.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky's war chest was ordered to be handed over five years after being withheld as part of investigations into money laundering.

The exiled former oligarch, once the head of the now defunct Yukos oil and gas company, was jailed in 2003 after falling out with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the money was first seized while he was in jail in 2011.

Mr Khodorkovsky, who was pardoned and released from detention in 2013 and now lives in London, said he welcomed the decision of the District Court in Dublin to release the fund.

He said the decision in the case showed the money was not the proceeds of crime.

In a statement he said he had indicated that he will use some of it "to support the work of the Open Russia movement", a campaign founded in 2014 to focus on justice, human rights and free and fair elections.

Mr Khodorkovsky, who claims his incarceration over alleged unpaid taxes was politically motivated, remains one of Mr Putin's foremost critics. He was named a Prisoner of Conscience by Amnesty International.

The multimillion investment fund based in Dublin was first frozen following an application by the fraud squad in Ireland.

Mr Khodorkovsky secured the release of the money after taking a civil case and making an application under the Republic's Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010.

The Yukos energy company was broken up and its assets transferred to a number of state-owned companies following his imprisonment.
A renewable energy firm has submitted planning applications for schemes to generate "green gas" from grass - on sites where fracking is planned

Ecotricity has put in the applications for green gas mills at two sites in Lancashire, Preston New Road and Roseacre Wood, where councillors originally turned down applications for the controversial process of fracking for shale gas.

Preston New Road has since been approved by the Government, while Roseacre Wood looks likely to be given the go-ahead.

Ecotricity, which has just been granted planning permission for its first green gas mill in Hampshire, one of six in development, said communities should be given the choice of hosting the renewable heating source instead of fracking.

The company says its programme uses species-rich grass grown on farmland which is harvested and put through a process known as anaerobic digestion to produce renewable gas for heating homes and buildings.

A report by Ecotricity claims there is enough grassland in Britain to provide almost all of the household gas that is needed, and could create a new industry supporting 150,000 jobs and creating 7.5 billion for the economy.

It will also cut carbon emissions, help create wildlife habitats, improve soils if grass is grown as a "break-crop" on arable land in rotation with food crops and provide income for farmers, the study said.

Dale Vince, Ecotricity founder, said: "Local opposition to fracking is simply being ignored - it's the most unpopular energy source ever, but it's being forced on people by the Government.

"We want to show that there's an alternative to fracking - and start a local debate in the areas directly affected by it, in the same way we want to start a debate at the national level, including the House of Commons.

"It's important not just to oppose fracking, but to have an answer as to where Britain is going to get its gas from as North Sea supplies run out.

"Green gas is the new option - this is something that local communities should be able to choose instead of fracking, and something the Government should now consider."
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has been slapped down by Downing Street over his claim that British ally Saudi Arabia has been "playing proxy wars" in the Middle East.

Theresa May's official spokeswoman said the Prime Minister had "full confidence" in Mr Johnson but told reporters that his comments at a conference in Italy were his own personal view and did not reflect Government policy.

And she pointedly noted that Mr Johnson will have the opportunity to set out official policy - of Britain's desire to strengthen its ties with Saudi Arabia and support for its military involvement in Yemen - when he travels to the desert kingdom for talks on Sunday.

Mrs May spoke with King Salman during her visit to the Persian Gulf this week, when he was able to hear the PM assure him of "her commitment and that of her Government to enhancing and strengthening this relationship", said the spokeswoman.

The Guardian published footage of Mr Johnson's comments to the Med2 conference in Rome last week, in which he lumped Saudi Arabia in with Iran when he raised concerns about "puppeteering" in the region.

Mr Johnson said: "There are politicians who are twisting and abusing religion and different strains of the same religion in order to further their own political objectives. That's one of the biggest political problems in the whole region.

"And the tragedy for me - and that's why you have these proxy wars being fought the whole time in that area - is that there is not strong enough leadership in the countries themselves."

The Foreign Secretary said there were not enough "big characters " in the region who were willing to "reach out beyond their Sunni or Shia" group.

He told the conference: "That's why you've got the Saudis, Iran, everybody, moving in and puppeteering and playing proxy wars."

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "As the Foreign Secretary made very clear on Sunday, we are allies with Saudi Arabia and support them in their efforts to secure their borders and protect their people. Any suggestion to the contrary is wrong and misinterpreting the facts."

Mrs May's spokeswoman told a regular Westminster media briefing: "Those are the Foreign Secretary's views. They are not the Government's position on Saudi and its role in the region.

"The Foreign Secretary will be in the region this weekend. He will be in Saudi Arabia on Sunday and will have the opportunity to set out the way the UK sees its relationship with Saudi and the work we want to do with them and other partners to bring an end to the appalling conflict in Yemen."

Asked whether Mr Johnson was expected to apologise to the Saudi regime on Sunday, the spokeswoman said: "He will have meetings with senior representatives in Saudi Arabia and he will have the opportunity to set out the Government's position."

The spokeswoman confirmed that Mrs May speaks "regularly" to Mr Johnson, but declined to confirm whether they had talked since his comments became public.

"The Prime Minister has full confidence in the Foreign Secretary," she added.

The PM's spokeswoman said the UK had been clear in its support for the action of the Saudi-led coalition seeking to restore control of Yemen to its "legitimate government" after the actions of Houthi rebels threw the country into conflict in 2014.

"Saudi Arabia is playing an important role in Yemen and we support the actions of the coalition there," she said.

By contrast, the PM's spokeswoman said that Iran - which has been accused of supporting the Houthis - was "acting in a destabilising way in the region".

Britain backs investigations into alleged breaches of human rights by the Saudi-backed coalition in Yemen and has urged Riyadh to ensure they are completed and that any lessons learnt are acted on, she added.

the Liberal Democrats described Mr Johnson's comments as "a huge embarrassment" to the Prime Minister.

"For once Boris Johnson is talking sense, but his comments on Saudi's questionable role in Middle Eastern politics are completely at odds with official Government policy," said foreign affairs spokesman Tom Brake.

"This will be a huge embarrassment to May as she returns from her grubby tour of the Gulf, where she did her best to ignore human rights and desperately push trade at all costs."

Former Middle East minister Alistair Burt said Mr Johnson would have to "quickly repair" the damage caused by diverging from the Government position.

He told BBC Radio 4's World At One: "T here's no doubt where the strength of the relationship has to be.

"It has to be a very close one between Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister but ultimately it is the Prime Minister who sets the tone and direction of the Government."

He added: "Your comments made earlier that it is essential that the Foreign Secretary speaks and is seen to speak with the voice of the Government is very important and I expect that relationship will be very quickly repaired, because that's an important one.

"And the Foreign Secretary has to have the full confidence (from) the Prime Minister and those that work with him need to know that."

Mr Johnson is expected to deliver a keynote address at a major international conference in the Middle East starting on Friday.

His speech at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Manama Dialogue event in Bahrain will be closely watched following his comments about Saudi Arabia.

Dr John Chipman, director-general and chief executive of the IISS, said: "Each year, with this regional security summit, we take the temperature, measure the pulse, and analyse the direction of change in the Middle East.

"I am delighted that Boris Johnson has agreed to give the keynote speech and we expect delegates to be keenly interested in his views on the region and on UK strategy towards it."
A lawyer for a group of Northern Ireland politicians has accused the UK government of being "cavalier" over the extent of its prerogative powers to trigger Britain's exit from the European Union.

The submission was made by David Scoffield QC on the third day of the historic Brexit appeal at the Supreme Court in London.

Mr Scoffield, who represents a group of politicians as well as others with close associations with the voluntary and community sector and human rights organisations in Northern Ireland, told 11 justices they are "concerned about how withdrawal from the EU will uniquely effect Northern Ireland".

He told the court they want to "ensure the process of dealing with the referendum result is both lawful and properly considered".

Mr Scoffield said: "In our submission, the UK government's contentions on the extent of its prerogative powers are, with respect, cavalier..."

The Attorney General for Northern Ireland has referred to the Supreme Court the question whether Northern Ireland legislation, when read together with the Belfast Agreement and the British-Irish Agreement, means that an Act of Parliament is required before the UK can validly give notice under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to begin withdrawal from the EU.

The justices heard from Mr Scoffield that the case of those he represents was that the process following the June referendum should comply with the requirements of law - including that Parliament should have the final say on whether an Article 50 notice is given, "and that Northern Ireland's particular circumstances should be recognised and properly taken into account".

Mr Scoffield referred to the importance of international relations between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland which, under devolved powers, involved "agreements and implementation bodies".

He said that in authorising Article 50, the UK government would be "driving a wedge" between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

An Article 50 notification could only be sent by the UK government if authorised by an Act of Parliament.

And he argued that, before Article 50 was authorised, there was "a constitutional requirement" that the UK government should first seek a "legislative consent motion" from the Stormont Assembly.

The justices also heard argument on behalf of Raymond McCord, whose son was murdered by loyalist paramilitaries, and whose Brexit case surrounds the impact on withdrawal on the peace process.

His counsel Ronan Lavery QC said: "We say, as a matter of the constitution of the UK, it would be unconstitutional to withdraw from the EU without the consent of the people of Northern Ireland."

Mr Lavery said: "It would be very disturbing for the people of Northern Ireland to imagine that the terms so agreed in the Good Friday Agreement were not binding and did not have constitutional status."

He added it was "unthinkable" that the will of the people of Northern Ireland could be overturned by Parliament against their wishes.
(FILES) This file photo taken on January 16, 1998 shows US Senator John Glenn speaking to reporters as NASA administrator Daniel Goldin (R) looks on during a press conferencein Washington Glenn, who made history twice as the first American to orbit the Earth and the first senior citizen to venture into space, has died at the age of 95, the Ohio State University's John Glenn College of Public Affairs said on December 8, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / PAUL J. RICHARDSPAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images

FILE - In this Feb. 20, 1962, file photo, astronaut John Glenn sits next to the Friendship 7 space capsule atop an Atlas rocket at Cape Canaveral, Fla., during preparations for his flight which made him the first American to orbit the Earth. Glenn, who later spent 24 years representing Ohio in the Senate, has died at 95. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - DECEMBER 8, 2016: It has been reported that American astronaut John Glenn, who was the first U.S. citizen to orbit the Earth, has died at the age of 95. 31st May 1966: John Herschel Glenn (1921 - ), the first American astronaut to orbit the earth, outside the Savoy Hotel during a lecture tour just beginning in Britain. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)

his NASA file photo taken on October 26, 1998 shows US astronaut and senator John Glenn arriving at the Kennedy Space Center for his 29 October scheduled launch aboard the US Space Shuttle Discovery. AFP/Getty Images

John Glenn, the first US astronaut to orbit the earth, has died at the age of 95.

Hank Wilson with the John Glenn School of Public Affairs said Glenn died on Thursday afternoon at the James Cancer Hospital in Columbus.

Glenn had been in hospital in Columbus, Ohio, for more than a week.

He died surrounded by his children and wife of 73 years.

"John Glenn is, and always will be, Ohios ultimate hometown hero, and his passing today is an occasion for all of us to grieve," said Ohio Gov. John R. Kasich.

"As we bow our heads and share our grief with his beloved wife, Annie, we must also turn to the skies, to salute his remarkable journeys and his long years of service to our state and nation."

"Though he soared deep into space and to the heights of Capitol Hill, his heart never strayed from his steadfast Ohio roots. Godspeed, John Glenn!" Kasich said.

Expand Close This file photo dated February 1962 shows US astronaut John Glenn wearing a Mercury pressure suit during training for his 20 Feburary 1962 space flight aboard Friendship 7 in which he became the first American to orbit the Earth. AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp This file photo dated February 1962 shows US astronaut John Glenn wearing a Mercury pressure suit during training for his 20 Feburary 1962 space flight aboard Friendship 7 in which he became the first American to orbit the Earth. AFP/Getty Images

On Febuary 20, 1962 Glenn flew the NASA mission Friendship 7, becoming the first American to orbit the Earth.

Glenn was the third US astronaut in space and the first of them to get into orbit. He circled the Earth three times.

The Soviet Union had put a man into orbit a year earlier in 1961.

Expand Close FILE - In this Feb. 20, 2012, file photo, U.S. Sen. John Glenn talks with astronauts on the International Space Station via satellite before a discussion titled "Learning from the Past to Innovate for the Future" in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File) AP / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp FILE - In this Feb. 20, 2012, file photo, U.S. Sen. John Glenn talks with astronauts on the International Space Station via satellite before a discussion titled "Learning from the Past to Innovate for the Future" in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File)

Glenn then spent 24 years as a Democrat from Ohio in the Senate and briefly made a run for president in 1984.

He returned to space in 1998, at age 77, aboard space shuttle Discovery.

He was the last survivor of the original Mercury 7 astronauts.
Earlier this year, I was appointed to the Northern Ireland Policing Board, and it has been an interesting six months. For each of the board meetings, members can submit written questions for the Chief Constable, and they receive written answers that are tabled at the meeting.

For the meeting on December 1, Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly tabled a question about the visit by a PSNI officer to Loreto Grammar School in Omagh, and asked: Will the Chief Constable give an explanation of reports that a serving police officer was recruiting for the RAF in a school recently?

The question was prompted by a recent visit to the school by a PSNI officer to talk to the girls about career opportunities, internet safety and good citizenship. Afterwards, the school tweeted its thanks to the officer in question.

Local Sinn Fein representative Barry McElduff MLA  never a man to miss an opportunity and himself the beneficiary of a grammar school education  was quick off the mark.

He claimed that he had been inundated with phone calls from concerned and angry parents and past pupils, and said that the PSNI must answer why it is promoting the British armed forces in school visits.

Our schools should not be used to recruit young people for imperialist conflicts and to be trained in warfare, he added.

It seems that, during the visit, the officer referred to the RAF Air Cadets, an organisation for young people, and this angered critics.

I found that somewhat ironic, in that Barry is clearly concerned about what he terms recruitment, but he didnt show the same concern when some of his party colleagues formally handed out Bobby Sands certificates to children in a secondary school in west Belfast.

Many people will have viewed the handing out of the Bobby Sands certificates by Martin McGuinness on that occasion as a way of recruiting children to republicanism.

In the wake of Barrys statement, the school explained that the officer had spoken to the girls about a range of volunteering opportunities, and, of course, volunteering is of benefit to young people as part of their personal development and also in building up their CV.

Nevertheless, Gerry Kelly tabled his question, and the Chief Constable was able to explain that the officer had visited the school in his police uniform and in his capacity as a police officer.

He also explained that the officer had spoken to the girls about a range of volunteering opportunities, including Outward Bound, the Scouts, the Princes Trust and the Ulster Gliding School, as well as the local RAF Cadets.

But that was not the only question tabled by Gerry Kelly that day, for he also asked the Chief Constable for statistics about the gender and community background of members of the PSNI.

He obviously wants to see more women and more Roman Catholics recruited into the PSNI, and the answer provided the information requested.

His question also asked if there was a positive action plan to address any imbalance or lack of representation.

Now, one of the best ways to increase recruitment from any sector of society is for police officers to visit the relevant secondary school to speak to the children.

That could apply to any of the under-representations, whether women, Roman Catholics, or even Protestants from working-class communities. That third under-representation is one that is sometimes overlooked, in spite of the fact that it was highlighted by a former Chief Constable, Hugh Orde, as far back as 2008.

The visit that was the focus of the Sinn Fein question was to a Roman Catholic school and a school for girls  two of the groups about which they have concerns, so it should have been welcomed by the party.

So, perhaps, as part of their commitment to law and order and support for the PSNI, we can hear less sniping from Sinn Fein as the PSNI seeks to reach out to all communities.

Oh, and well done to the school in Omagh for opening up opportunities for its young people.
Footage has emerged of the Foreign Secretary lumping Saudi Arabia in with Iran when he raised concerns about "puppeteering" in the Middle East

Boris Johnson has been slapped down by Theresa May for his comments on Saudi Arabia's role in the Middle East but the UK Foreign Secretary isn't the first to express such sentiments.

Downing Street said Johnson's comments on Saudi Arabia do not represent "the government's position". The PM's spokeswoman said the comments were the foreign secretary's personal views.

Mrs May's spokeswoman said: "Saudi Arabia is playing an important role in Yemen and we support the actions of the coalition there."

Footage emerged from an event last week at which Mr Johnson said: "There are politicians who are twisting and abusing religion and different strains of the same religion in order to further their own political objectives. Thats one of the biggest political problems in the whole region.

"And the tragedy for me  and thats why you have these proxy wars being fought the whole time in that area  is that there is not strong enough leadership in the countries themselves."

The foreign secretary identified Saudi Arabia and Iran specifically, saying: "Thats why youve got the Saudis, Iran, everybody, moving in, and puppeteering and playing proxy wars."

Mr Johnson told the Med 2 conference: "There are not enough big characters, big people, men or women, who are willing to reach out beyond their Sunni or Shia or whatever group to the other side and bring people together and to develop a national story again.

"That is what's lacking. And that's the tragedy," he said, adding that "visionary leadership" was needed in the region.

Although the Foreign Secretary said Saudi plays a destabilising role in the Middle East, he did not support a ban on British arms sales to Saudi Arabia three months ago. He insisted the alleged Saudi human rights violations in Yemen had not been proven.

Read more

Read More

While the PM has distanced the British government from Mr Johnson's views, his comments are in line with those previously expressed by Hillary Clinton, German intelligence, the United Nations, Medecins Sans Frontieres and other MPs.

Expand Close Prime Minister Theresa May meets King Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud of Saudi Arabia in Manama, Bahrain, where she is on a three day visit to attend the Gulf Cooperation Council summit. PA PA / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Prime Minister Theresa May meets King Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud of Saudi Arabia in Manama, Bahrain, where she is on a three day visit to attend the Gulf Cooperation Council summit. PA

Read more

Read More

Clinton: Saudi 'gives Isis financial and logistic support'

In October WikiLeaks's Podesta emails revealed that Hillary Clinton identified the Gulf states of Saudi Arabia and Qatar as clandestine financial and logistic supporters of terrorist group Isis, despite surface cooperation between the US and the Sunni states on combating the militants and other actions in Syrias multi-sided civil war.

While this military/para-military operation is moving forward, we need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL [Isis] and other radical Sunni groups in the region, Ms Clinton reportedly wrote.

This effort will be enhanced by the stepped up commitment in the [Kurdish Regional Government]. The Qataris and Saudis will be put in a position of balancing policy between their ongoing competition to dominate the Sunni world and the consequences of serious US pressure.

'World's largest source of funds for Islamist militant groups'

In the 2010 Wikileaks released cables signed by Hillary Clinton when she was US secretary of state that said that Saudi Arabia is the world's largest source of funds for Islamist militant groups but the Saudi government is reluctant to stem the flow of money.

"More needs to be done since Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al-Qaida, the Taliban, LeT and other terrorist groups," Clinton wrote in the leaked 2009 memo.

"Donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide."

Read more

Read More

German intelligence: Saudi plays destabilising role

German intelligence service BND warned last year that Saudi Arabia is playing an increasingly destabilising role in the Middle East. The German government distanced itself from the remarks.

Read more

Read More

Saudi removed from UN child killer list after 'financial threat'

Saudi Arabia had been blacklisted for killing and maiming children in Yemen but the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon removed the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen from an annual UN register of childrens rights violators, after the middle-eastern country and its coalition partners threatened to cut off crucial funding to the world body.

Read more

Expand Close Yemeni blind men shout slogans during a demonstration gathering disabled people to protest after a center for the blind was reportedly destroyed by Saudi-led airstrikes in the capital Sanaa on January 6, 2016. AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Yemeni blind men shout slogans during a demonstration gathering disabled people to protest after a center for the blind was reportedly destroyed by Saudi-led airstrikes in the capital Sanaa on January 6, 2016. AFP/Getty Images

Read More

MPs urge halt to UK arms sales over Saudi Arabia 'human rights breaches'

In September last year a parliamentary report called for all sales of UK weapons which could be used in Saudi Arabia's military action in Yemen to be halted until the completion of an independent inquiry into alleged breaches of human rights.

The joint report by the House of Commons Business and International Development Committees said it had been presented with evidence of "clear violations" of international humanitarian law (IHL)

Medecins Sans Frontieres accuses Saudi-led coalition of war crimes in Yemen

International medical aid charity Medecins Sans Frontieres accused the coalition of war crimes for an air strike on its hospital.

Read more
The RPG-7 made a comeback on the streets of Belfast in recent days when masked men from the New IRA posed with one in Ardoyne

There is an urban legend on Belfast's Shankill Road, relating to the first time members of the UDA's so-called "C" Company test-fired their first-ever rocket propelled grenade. In the early-1990s, when Johnny Adair's terror unit was causing mayhem and murder all over greater Belfast and beyond, members of his notorious unit took the RPG weapon to the peace wall dividing the left-hand side of the Shankill from the Falls.

One impeccable source told this author at the time of researching UDA: Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror (co-authored with Jim Cusack) that the RPG testers got a little confused. Instead of pointing the warhead directly at the fortified peace wall, with a view to firing the explosive missile into the Catholic/nationalist side, the man with the RPG on his shoulder somehow imagined the grenade would come out of the rounded back end of the weapon.

Perhaps he had been watching too many Audie Murphy and John Wayne movies about the Second World War, but after directing the circular bottom end of the RPG and pressing the firing mechanism, the grenade shot off in the opposite direction, landing on waste ground close to Protestant homes in loyalist Conway Street and, in effect, almost causing a serious "own goal" against their own community.

To this day, the source of this information swears that the incident, which was both farcical and potentially tragic, actually happened. If true, it stands in stark contrast to the way republicans handled such weapons to such lethal effect as a means of penetrating the armour of RUC Land Rovers and Army vehicles during the Troubles.

Indeed, the RPG became such a frequent weapon of choice in bids to kill soldiers and police officers in one corner of west Belfast that Beechmount Avenue was renamed "RPG Avenue" towards the latter end of the conflict.

Read more

Read More

Of course, both the UDA and UVF also used the RPG in attacks on Sinn Fein advice centres and in a revenge sortie against republican inmates inside Belfast's Crumlin Road jail following an IRA bomb at the prison that killed two loyalist inmates.

Nevertheless, the RPG mainly became synonymous with the IRA's arsenal of weaponry in the Troubles, earning it the ghoulish nickname of the "tin can opener" (given the way the warhead tore strips out of the heavily fortified, battleship-grey armour around RUC Land Rovers).

Yet, for all the boasting, the peacock-like prowess and the machismo surrounding this weapon of destruction, in the end it was like everything else in the "Long War": all for nothing.

The organisation that deployed the RPG ended up participating in a political project not too dissimilar to the one in 1974 - the Sunningdale power-sharing arrangement - that both they and the Ulster Workers Council sought to destroy. It contributed nothing but death, grief, misery and division in a society still unable to heal from such collective wounds.

The RPG and new variant forms of the rocket launcher, including a post-Soviet Russian military-grade weapon, were put to new use by the Real IRA when it attacked MI6's headquarters in Vauxhall, London in 2000.

Home-made versions of the weapon - known in the 1990s as "Prigs" - were seen on the streets of Ardoyne just two years ago when the New IRA issued propaganda pictures of its members holding them, pointing the warheads in the direction of the Crumlin Road where on at least one occasion a rocket-propelled grenade struck the side of a PSNI Land Rover (but resulted in no casualties).

Now, the latest social media video from the New IRA has two masked men in Ardoyne, one whom appears to be holding an assault rifle while the other brandishes what seems to be an RPG of some variety.

The images have, of course, produced outrage and gales of condemnation from all sides of the political divide represented in the Assembly and elsewhere.

Joanne McGibbon, whose husband, Michael, was murdered by dissident republicans in Ardoyne in April, probably summed it up best when she described the spectacle as "sad and desperate".

Her words carry more moral weight and authority than any politician condemning this blurry show of strength.

Michael McGibbon was murdered for the "crime" of merely insulting the relative of one of the "made men" in Ardoyne, who belong to the terror group.

In that, of course, her husband was not granted any judge, legal representation, a jury, or right to appeal; no human rights for him in their particular "justice system".

It is all the more macabre for Joanne McGibbon and her four children that the weapon was filmed in the same alleyway where her husband lay bleeding to death after being shot. This was insult added to the ultimate injury.

Although the McGibbon family have moved out of Ardoyne, Joanne's words, in the end, will be more powerful than the impact of a grenade fired at top velocity across narrow streets and built-up roads in places like north and west Belfast.

Because they speak a truth about the futility as well as the immorality of paramilitary armed campaigns, past, present and future.

Remember, too, that a young Filipino family was almost wiped out in west Belfast just over a year ago when an RPG-style warhead missed a passing armoured police patrol and struck their car without detonating.

No matter how many warheads struck police, or Army, vehicles, causing death and horrific injuries, no matter how upgraded and sophisticated these weapons became during the conflict, the secret war of the shadows always ensured those firing such weapons could never win and, in the end, it was/is the primacy of politics that won through.

No matter how many times recurring IRAs, UDAs, or UVFs, fetishised weapons like these, the carnage they resulted in did not achieve the goals of those who deployed them on the streets.

It was people power, not weapons, that won through in the end.
It's not a particularly tough call, this one. We are being asked to choose between Austin Stack, son of murdered prison officer Brian Stack, and one Gerard Adams, president of Sinn Fein.

The Stack family have campaigned for 30 years for some form of recognition for their husband and father, who was a senior prison officer in Portlaoise Prison at a particularly fraught time in Irish history.

It has been a very hard and lonely road for them, and for a long time their story did not fit with contemporary politics in a changing Ireland amid a quest for some resolution in Northern Ireland.

As the only prison officer in the Republic murdered during what we euphemistically call the 'Troubles', his story could be relatively easily downplayed.

Those familiar with the 1996 killing of Garda Jerry McCabe will see comparisons.

It was expressly forbidden to fire upon a serving member of the security forces in the Republic.

So, there were perfunctory official denials by the IRA in both cases.

These denials later morphed into grudging acceptance they were "unsanctioned operations" and various other forms of weasel words which strain the concept of truth.

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein, which has links with the IRA of the 1970s and 1980s that are personified inside Leinster House, leads the charge for full disclosure and justice for all IRA personnel killed in dubious circumstances by various security forces.

But let's return to our departure point, and focus in on who we might believe in the recounting of a bizarre series of events in 2013 and subsequently.

The major conflict in the two divergent accounts is that Gerry Adams insists that Austin Stack and his brother, Oliver, first told him the identity of their father's killers. Mr Adams says they got their information from security journalists and Garda sources. Not so, insists Austin Stack, who believes the IRA wanted to kill their father to further a major outbreak from Portlaoise Prison.

Read more

Read More

Austin Stack says he never gave those names to Gerry Adams.

Curiously, the four names occur in an email dashed off by Mr Adams to the Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan just days before polling in the Irish general election in February.

That brings us to another conflict in the Sinn Fein account of events.

Just days ago, Mr Adams' deputy, Mary Lou McDonald, said she believed that Mr Adams had given all the information he had without delay.

But this is not in accord with Mr Adams' recall.

The bulk of Adams-Stack contacts - including the surreal journey in a blacked-out van to a locale near the border - occurred in summer 2013, two-and-a-half years earlier.

Recalling that strange encounter with "a senior IRA figure" raises another point. Just who is this person? Mr Adams, challenged by the Taoiseach to avail of Dail privilege to tell all he knew, notably failed to help us on this matter.

The mystery IRA informant upheld the tradition of telling the Stacks their father's killing was not "officially sanctioned".

The renegade who did the killing was subsequently "sanctioned".

We know not who that renegade is and we have no idea what the "sanction" amounted to. But an IRA kangaroo court is another travesty unto itself.

The email which Mr Adams sent Commissioner O'Sullivan before the last election included the names of four people who may have information about the unsolved murder.

Mr Adams said he had spoken to three of those four people, but made it clear in the email that he had no information on the killing.

"There is a live Garda investigation. I am prepared to cooperate with this," Mr Adams told the Dail, slipping easily into the role of the man here to help.

It was an unusual opportunity afforded Mr Adams to make a personal statement in the Dail on the Stack murder and the attendant controversy.

But it came after repeated questions from the Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin.

On the killing, Mr Adams oozed sympathy and concern.

"It was a grievous loss for his family and should never have happened," he said.

But he also defended the anonymity given to former IRA members who supported the peace process and those who worked to recover the bodies of the IRA's Disappeared victims.

And he defended the same approach of anonymity for IRA members involved in decommissioning, the Smithwick Tribunal, secret talks with governments and ceasefires.

"Progress was only possible on the basis of confidentially and trust. That is why no IRA people were named during any of these initiatives and why they should not be named today," he said.

"It is an essential part of any conflict resolution process."

So, it was an easy walk from there to cue his own role as honest broker, trying out of compassion to help the Stack family.

He was not acting out of political convenience, and trying to forestall controversies which could damage his party's political progress in the Republic. Perish that unworthy thought.

The big problem is that Mr Adams has given so little past reason to believe he really cares about people such as the Stacks, who have had to carry 30-plus years of grief and sorrow.

For the longest time he remains insistent he never was in the IRA. That comes in spite the view of all heavy hitting politicians in these islands - and the security forces in at least three jurisdictions.
Mufti Abdul Hannan, left, leader of militant group Harkat-il Jihad al-Islami, is flanked by police officers as he appears in a Dhaka court, June 16, 2014.

The Bangladesh Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld death sentences for an extremist groups leader and two fellow members over a failed assassination attempt on the British ambassador 12 years ago.

Then-British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury survived a grenade attack at an Islamic shrine in the northeastern town of Sylhet that killed three people and injured at least 70 others in May 2004.

A four-member bench of the Supreme Courts appellate division, led by Chief Justice S.K. Sinha, upheld death sentences for Mufti Abdul Hannan, chief of the militant group Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami (HuJI), and two of his aides, Sharif Shahedul Alam (alias Bipul) and Delwar (alias) Ripon. Bangladesh banned HuJI in 2005.

Hannan, who is believed to have fought in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union, is the first top-ranking militant leader to be close to execution since 2007, when authorities hanged the founder of militant group Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Shaikh Abdur Rahman, and his military wing chief, Siddiqul Islam, for terrorism and militancy. Hannans lawyer, Mohammad Ali, told BenarNews that his client respected the courts decision.

Possibly, we will seek a review of the verdict, Ali said.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam expressed relief after the courts decision, saying the defendants were dangerous.

He said they could appeal the apex courts decision, and, if that fails, seek the presidents mercy to avoid the gallows.

If the president rejects the clemency appeal, they would be hanged according to the rules, he said.

Attack at Hazrat Shahjalal shrine

The British High Commission in Dhaka did not issue a statement on Wednesday but is satisfied with the decision, a spokesperson told BenarNews.

On May 21, 2004, Choudhury, who had recently been appointed British High Commissioner to Bangladesh, was targeted in a grenade attack while visiting the shrine of Hazrat Shahjalal in Sylhet, about 200 km (123 miles) from Dhaka.

The Sylhet-born Choudhury, who was critically injured in the attack, became Britains ambassador to Peru in 2014.

On Dec. 23, 2008, the trial court in Sylhet sentenced the three defendants in the case to death and ordered life sentences for two other HuJI members, Mohibullah and Abu Zandal. All remain in prison.

With the exception of Zandal, all unsuccessfully appealed their convictions before the High Court. On Feb. 11, 2016, it upheld the trial courts verdicts, leading to the apex ruling on Wednesday.

Bangladeshs Supreme Court has two wings  the High Court Division and the Appellate Division. Trial court verdicts are appealed before the High Court whose decision can be appealed to the Appellate Division, also known as the apex court.

Analyst: De-radicalization program needed

The trial of the militants is definitely a good step, but trial or execution is not enough to contain militancy. The militants are not ordinary criminals. They are motivated by a distorted ideology, retired Brig. Gen. Sakhawat Hossain, an international terrorism and militancy analyst, told BenarNews.

He said the government should launch a de-radicalization program to contain militancy in Bangladesh.

Hannans brushes with the law began in 2000 when he admitted planting a bomb on a helipad in Gopalganj, where a helicopter carrying Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was due to land.

He was sentenced to death in 2014 for his role in the bombing of the Ramna Ratamul cultural program in Dhaka that killed 10 people on April 14, 2001. The attack, carried out by Shujan, a HuJI member, targeted the program that was part of Pahela Boishakh, the Bengali new years celebration.
Bangladeshs Rapid Action Battalion on Thursday arrested five suspected members of militant group Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islamis (HuJI), saying they planned to launch attacks and help their leader escape from jail.

A day after the Bangladeshi Supreme Court upheld death sentences for HuJI founder Mufti Abdul Hannan and two aides in an attempted assassination on the British High Commissioner in 2004, officers arrested the five during a raid in Chittagong, RAB spokesman Mufti Mahmud Khan told reporters on Thursday.

Hannan and his two aides have been condemned to the gallows over a grenade attack that killed three people and critically injured then-British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Anwar Choudhury. Bangladesh banned HuJI in 2005.

They had been dormant for long after the arrest of their top leaders, but recently they have been trying to reorganize, Khan said of HuJI.

RAB members on Wednesday evening arrested HuJI members Tajul Islam and Nazim Uddin from the A.K. Khan Gate area in Chittagong.

Based on information from the suspects, RAB launched a raid hours later at a house in Colonel Hat area and arrested three more alleged HuJI members  Abujar Gifari, Nure Alam and Iftesham Ahmed. The suspects were in police custody on Thursday.

Khan said HuJI had been planning to steal weapons by attacking law enforcement agencies and later snatching Hannan and his aides when police transported them to court for hearings. Tajul Islam, a disciple of Hannan, had been trying to organize HuJI in the port city of Chittagong.

RAB recovered two handguns, seven magazines of bullets, 12 hand-made grenades and bomb-making materials and explosives, knives, machetes and jihadi books. Khan said the HuJI members destroyed electronic devices and papers before their arrest.

Look, the militants sometimes gather under the banner of the JMB (Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh), sometimes Ansar al Islam, sometimes HuJI, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told BenarNews. But we will crush them at any cost.

They did not mix with anyone

Abdul Alim, a Colonel Hat area resident, told BenarNews that members of the HuJI cell had rented the house a couple of months ago.

They were mysterious in their behavior. They did not mix with anyone, he said, thanking RAB for the arrests.

Shahriar Ahmed, a student at Mirpur Bangla College, said JMB militants in the past had snatched prisoners from a police van while they were being taken to the court from the jail.

This is very usual that they (HuJI) would try to carry out sabotage as their top leaders executions are imminent, Ahmed told BenarNews. Authorities should beef up security of the prison vans.

Bad year for Bangladesh

Bangladeshi authorities have blamed a faction of JMB for a terrorist attack that left 29 people dead at a cafe in Dhaka in July, including 20 hostages who were hacked to death during the overnight siege.

Before the July 1 attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery cafe, Bangladesh had been gripped by a series of deadly-machete attacks by suspected militants, who targeted secular writers and members of religious minorities, among others.

According to the Institute for Economics and Peace, which recently published its 2016 Global Terrorism Index, the year 2015 was the deadliest one for terrorist attacks in Bangladesh in at least 15 years.

As many as 459 attacks killed 75 people in Bangladesh, which accounted for 4 percent of terrorist attacks worldwide last year, the institute reported. As a result, it ranked Bangladesh No. 22 out of 130 countries on its annual terror index. On the previous years index, Bangladesh ranked as the 25th most dangerous country for terrorism.
A Nepalese man who works 12 hours a day at an electronics factory in Malaysia shows his hands during an interview in Telok Panglima Garang, near Kuala Lumpur, Nov. 11, 2014.

Malaysian affiliates of multinational firms McDonalds and Panasonic said they are working to address allegations of exploitation of foreign workers similar to those made in a British newspapers investigative reports.

Spokespersons for the local branches of the hamburger chain and the electronics giant told BenarNews they had taken action toward recruitment companies, which supply them with manpower, to ensure that migrants are not exploited.

The managing director of Golden Arches Restaurants Sdn Berhad, the Malaysian affiliate of McDonalds, said it had terminated its contract with a recruitment firm named in one of the articles published last month by The Guardian.

After several failed attempts to solve such issues with Human Connection HR, McDonalds decided to end its dealings with the manpower supply company several months ago, Azmir Jaafar told BenarNews, adding that Golden Arches would cooperate fully with any government investigations into alleged labor abuses.

One of the articles in The Guardian alleged that Nepalese migrants who work for McDonalds outlets in Malaysia were paid as little as 75 U.S. cents an hour and were cheated out of months of salary. Efforts by BenarNews to contact representatives of Human Connection HR and other recruitment firms were unsuccessful.

Malaysias workforce counts 2 million undocumented workers who come from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal and other countries.

Among them, there are about 700,000 Nepali workers who are mostly employed on plantations and factories and who send home a total of 5 billion ringgit (U.S. $1.1 billion) in remittances each year  about 40 percent of Nepals overall remittance sector  according to an official at Nepals embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

Similar allegations of abuses in supply chains against the Malaysian affiliates of Panasonic and Samsung were made by Nepalese migrants in a separate Guardian article on Malaysias electronics industry  a huge sector of the national economy. Sources cited in the Nov. 20 article complained that they were working 14-hour days, had been deceived about their salaries and had their passports confiscated.

We have also, at times, spoken to the companies involved but the problems keep happening. We would like the Malaysian government to intervene to put a stop to such violations, the Nepal Embassy official told BenarNews. The government should immediately summon companies named in the reports and ask for explanations.

Samsung did not respond to inquiries from BenarNews, but a spokesman for Panasonic said it was investigating the allegations and had found that one of its labor-supply contractors had violated regulations. Panasonic has since ordered the contractor to take immediate corrective action, the spokesman said.

We expect all of our suppliers to strictly comply with our CSR [Corporate Social Responsibility] policy and declaration. These expectations are outlined in Panasonics contracted terms and conditions with each supplier. We do not tolerate breaches of these terms, the spokesman told BenarNews via email.

It is rampant

According to the chairman of a committee that deals with migrant and immigration issues at the Malaysian Bar Council, Malaysia lacks resources to strictly enforce labor laws in protecting workplace rights for foreign workers.

There is definitely lax enforcement of the laws with respect to the rights of migrant workers in Malaysia. There is also endemic corruption with respect to the whole recruitment and employment of migrant workers at all levels, committee chairman M. Ramachelvam told BenarNews.

There is a need for more labor inspectors to conduct spot checks at work sites to ensure workers are not cheated  in terms of their pay and accommodation arrangements, Adrian Pereira, executive director of the North South Initiative (NSI), a local rights and social justice NGO, told BenarNews.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) said it was urging the Ministry of Human Resources to investigate the allegations of exploitation of migrant workers.

It is rampant but does not get highlighted since workers are not aware [about] how to [complain] and there are no specific avenues for them, MTUC Secretary General J. Solomon told BenarNews.

A senior official from the Ministry of Human Resources said it had sent a query to the Labor Department about the allegations and was waiting for a response before it could act on the allegations.
The crisis in western Myanmars Rakhine state and allegations about human rights abuses of ethnic Rohingya Muslims by security forces there have evolved into a diplomatic tit-for-tat between the Southeast Asian country and Muslim-majority Malaysia.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak participated in a rally on Dec. 4 in the capital Kuala Lumpur during which he condemned violence against Rohingya Muslims as genocide and urged other Asian nations to increase pressure on Myanmar to stop the violence.

The move prompted Myanmars Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Kyaw Tin to summon Malaysian Ambassador Mohd Haniff Bin Abd Rahman to express dismay over Najibs remarks against the government and reject accusations of genocide and ethnic cleansing.

The Minister of State also stressed the need for the international community to assist Myanmar in its efforts to maintain peace, stability, and security of the people and to make progress in building better relations between the two communities, instead of making calls based on unverified allegations that will only cause bigger problems than solutions, said a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign affairs on Wednesday.

The statement went on to note the Myanmar governments appointment of the Rakhine Advisory Commission led by former United Nations chief Kofi Annan and a national-level Investigation Commission to examine the situation in Rakhine.

Black journalism

Ethnic Rohingya in Muslim-majority nations in Asia, including Malaysia, have staged protests against a crackdown on Myanmars Rohingya community in the northwestern part of Rakhine by military and border police.

The forces, which have been conducting a security sweep following deadly attacks on border guard stations on Oct. 9, are accused of committing human rights abuses of the Rohingya who live there.

At least 86 people have been killed and about 30,000 displaced in the army crackdown in Rakhine state. More than 20,000 Rohingya have fled the area to neighboring Bangladesh where they have accused Myanmar soldiers of killing civilians, raping women and girls, and burning down their homes.

Meanwhile, an editorial in the government-run Myanmar newspaper The Mirror on Wednesday criticized Najib and the Dec. 4 rally for black journalism  using religious emotion and unreliable information to take advantage of the situation for political purposes, Radio Free Asia, a sister entity of BenarNews reported.

Some in Myanmar believe that Najib is using the Rohingya issue to deflect corruption allegations surrounding his involvement in taking billions of dollars of public money from a state investment fund.

The editorial urges people to condemn the rally for its use of what it called incorrect information about the situation in Rakhine.

No more workers

In a related development, the Myanmar government on Wednesday said it had temporarily stopped sending workers to Malaysia.

Myanmar has temporarily stopped sending workers to Malaysia from Dec. 6, 2016, because of the current situation in Malaysia, it said in a statement with no elaboration, but apparently in response to the two countries falling out over the ongoing military crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine.

We did it because we want to protect our citizens who want to work in Malaysia, said Myo Aung, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Labor and Immigration.

The government has arranged to send 500 to 700 laborers every week to work in Malaysia, and there are now more than 200,000 Myanmar citizens workers who work legally in the country, he said.

On Wednesday, officials from Malaysias Ministry of Human Resources declined to comment to BenarNews, an online news organization affiliated with Radio Free Asia, about Myanmars announcement on migrant workers.

However, Nur Jazlan Mohamed, Malaysias deputy minister of home affairs and internal security, told Malaysias The Sun Daily newspaper that the nation would continue to accept Myanmar nationals who want to work there, and that there was no agreement between the two countries regarding the workforce supply.
Investigators examine the truck of Pradab Ma-inchon after he was shot dead in Yaring district, Pattani province, Dec. 6, 2016.

In the deadliest spate in weeks, suspected insurgents shot dead six people in a series of attacks carried out Tuesday and Wednesday in Thailands Deep South, police said.

The killings over a 24-hour span were the most in the region since three people were killed and four injured in a flurry of gun and bomb attacks on Nov. 2 and Nov. 3.

The latest attacks brought to 29 the number of people killed in Thailands predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking southern border region since Sept. 1, despite ongoing negotiations between the Thai military government aimed at opening formal peace talks with rebel groups. Another 67 people were injured in attacks dating since then, according to data compiled by BenarNews.

Police said the six were killed and two others were injured in separate shootings in Pattani and Narathiwat, provinces in the Deep South.

The shootings began when a militia officer and his wife were killed in Nong Chik, a district of Pattani. Police identified the couple as Thawat Pongsuwan and his wife, Papimon Chaikong. They were gunned down while riding a motorcycle to pick up their daughter.

Later on Tuesday, a village headman in Pattanis Yaring district, Pradab Ma-inchon was shot dead in a pickup truck with his wife, Amphan Ma-inchon, who was treated for injuries at the Yaring Hospital. Police said the couple was heading to the hospital when the shooting occurred, police said.

Soon after, Duan Srirat, 38, an employee of the provincial electricity authority, was killed in Panarae, another district of Pattani.

The last incident on Tuesday occurred when the bullet-ridden body of volunteer ranger Adul Yamyae was found, Saiburi district, Pattani.

At 2 a.m. Wednesday, police at the Yee Ngor police station in Narathiwat province reported that Alfeesa Yima, 25, was injured while driving home in Lubo buesa in Yee Ngor district in Narathiwat province.

Later, in the Janae district of Narathiwat, Abdulachi Dolah, 31, was shot and killed while driving home.

The region has seen more than 15,000 gun or bomb attacks and more than 6,700 people have been killed since the decades-old separatist insurgency re-ignited January 2004, according to Deep South Watch, a local think-tank.
ein Google-Unternehmen

Google-Dienste anzubieten und zu betreiben

Ausfalle zu prufen und Manahmen gegen Spam, Betrug und Missbrauch zu ergreifen

Daten zu Zielgruppeninteraktionen und Websitestatistiken zu erheben. Mit den gewonnenen Informationen mochten wir verstehen, wie unsere Dienste verwendet werden, und die Qualitat dieser Dienste verbessern.

neue Dienste zu entwickeln und zu verbessern

Werbung auszuliefern und ihre Wirkung zu messen

personalisierte Inhalte anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen

personalisierte Werbung anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen

Wenn Sie Alle ablehnen auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies nicht fur diese zusatzlichen Zwecke.

Nicht personalisierte Inhalte und Werbung werden u. a. von Inhalten, die Sie sich gerade ansehen, und Ihrem Standort beeinflusst (welche Werbung Sie sehen, basiert auf Ihrem ungefahren Standort). Personalisierte Inhalte und Werbung konnen auch Videoempfehlungen, eine individuelle YouTube-Startseite und individuelle Werbung enthalten, die auf fruheren Aktivitaten wie auf YouTube angesehenen Videos und Suchanfragen auf YouTube beruhen. Sofern relevant, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auerdem, um Inhalte und Werbung altersgerecht zu gestalten.

Wir verwenden Cookies und Daten, umWenn Sie Alle akzeptieren auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auch, umWahlen Sie Weitere Optionen aus, um sich zusatzliche Informationen anzusehen, einschlielich Details zum Verwalten Ihrer Datenschutzeinstellungen. Sie konnen auch jederzeit g.co/privacytools besuchen.
Mark Dunston presser.JPG

Ocean Springs police chief Mark Dunston speaks to the media about the recent furor over the Ocean Springs nighttime Mardi Gras parade during a press conference Thursday morning inside Ocean Springs Municipal Court. Aldermen Chic Cody is at left.

(Warren Kulo/The Mississippi Press)

OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- Ocean Springs police chief Mark Dunston said Thursday the recent furor over the status of the Ocean Springs Carnival Association Mardi Gras night parade was the result of a "miscommunication" by deputy chief Derek Hoppner and that the entire issue had been "blown out of proportion.

During Tuesday night's meeting of the board of aldermen, Hoppner -- filling in for Dunston, who was in Tupelo serving as an expert witness during a trial -- presented a memo to the aldermen which called for the city to deny a permit for the parade, largely on the basis of assaults on police officers during each of the last three night parades (although he acknowledged no officers were injured).

"It is the recommendation of the Ocean Springs Police Department that the permit not be approved for the Mardi Gras Night Parade," Hoppner wrote in his memo, obtained Thursday by The Mississippi Press. "In addition to personnel cost, this parade creates an unsafe environment with the crowd being too large for this department and assisting agencies to maintain adequate safety,"

More than one alderman expressed surprise at the severity of Hoppner's memo and his statements during the meeting, which included telling the board he had raised concerns about the night parade before and "no one seems to care."

Many of the aldermen indicated they were less than pleased with the accusatory tone of Hoppner's memo, particularly the final paragraph.

"These types of events happen every year," Hoppner wrote, "and the Board continually shows their lack of concern by continuing to approve the night time parade permit. By approving the permit, the Board is condoning the existence of an environment that endangers the lives and health of our citizens, officers and visitors. It also shows the Board's tolerance of widespread and excessive intoxication by the parade goers, to include many juveniles that are drinking under age, as well as numerous crimes that are committed by these subjects."

Hoppner claimed during Tuesday's board meeting he had brought these issues up in meetings with city and parade officials in the past, but both alderman Chic Cody, who serves as the city's liaison for special events, and OSCA Captain Heather Eason said that was not the case, that multiple meetings are held each year and concerns such as those raised by Hoppner Tuesday night had not been discussed.

"There has never been any indication that we weren't doing everything possible to make this parade safe," Eason said Wednesday.

During Thursday morning's press conference, Dunston said Hoppner had not overstepped his authority in issuing the memo, but acknowledged it could have been better worded.

"The deputy chief is an assistant department head and in my absence is allowed to do these things -- including represent me at board meetings," Dunston said. "Yes, he realizes the wording came off wrong. It wasn't intended that way.

"I wasn't aware (the parade) was on the agenda. He was a felt like he needed to get information in there about some of these concerns. It just came across wrong."

Dunston was also asked about Hoppner's statement during the meeting that "no one seems to care."

"I wasn't aware of that part," he said. "But again, it was a miscommunication and we just have to do a better job of it."

As for the parade itself, Dunston said there are always going to be issues and police in general are not fans of these type of events.

"Find me one police officer on the coast who is happy to be working a parade," Dunston said, smiling. "But as long as we're going to have them, we're going to do everything we can to make them safe for everyone."

Dunston outlined several steps which will be taken to reduce problems for the 2017 OSCA parade, set for Feb. 24, including more barricades, more officers, blocking off certain areas along the parade route where unruly groups have gathered in the past, and other measures.

"We're going to make sure we're doing everything we can to address the issues and make sure everyone has a safe, fun time," said Cody, standing with Dunston at the press conference.

After delaying a vote on the night parade permit Tuesday night, the board of aldermen scheduled a special call meeting Thursday evening, at which time it is expected to approve the permit. Included on the agenda for the special call meeting is an executive session to discuss "personnel in the police department."




First up, Joe Biden is thinking about dropping tariffs against China. But theres a spy in prison this morning that helps us understand why he shouldnt. Ill explain.





Your second brief, If youre looking for a good paying job, you might consider being a CEO for a health insurance company. One executive made $142M dollars last year. Let's talk about that.





And as always, Im keeping an eye out for developing stories. Put this one on your radar. Mexican cartels are grooming American kids online and paying them cash to traffic illegals or run drugs across the border. Ill share details.





If you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief, remember to subscribe and listen daily at podfollow.com/pdb.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
-19c1d2e71d92794e.JPG

Revelers enjoy last year's Ocean Springs Carnival Association Mardi Gras night parade. The parade became a hot topic during Tuesday night's board of aldermen meeting after the deputy chief of police recommended the city deny the parade a permit.

(File photo/Gulflive.com)

OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- A day after the deputy chief of police recommended the Ocean Springs board of aldermen deny an event permit for the city's Mardi Gras night parade, cooler heads prevailed and aldermen say there is virtually no chance the parade would be cancelled.

"It's not going away," said alderman Chic Cody, who said he had discussed the issue with most of the other aldermen. "We're going to fix the issues we have. We know where the problem areas are and we're going to address those."

During Tuesday night's board meeting, Deputy Chief Derek Hoppner presented aldermen with a memo which recommended the board deny the special event permit to the Ocean Springs Carnival Association, which has staged the night parade for the past eight years.

Hoppner cited assaults on police officers during each of the last three OSCA parades, although none of the officers involved were injured. Underage drinking and fighting have also been problems, he told the board.

"These aren't what-if scenarios," Hopper said. "These are things that have happened each of the last three years."

For their part, aldermen seemed to be taken aback by Hoppner's statements and recommendation the permit be denied.

Matt McDonnell said it was the first time he's heard of incidents "of this magnitude," adding "I want to hear first from the chief of police before I vote on this."

Cody said he was "hurt" that Hoppner and the police department had not requested a meeting with the board of aldermen to discuss the issue.

"I'm really disappointed, because I thought we worked well together," he said.

Police Chief Mark Dunston has been in Tupelo this week serving as an expert witness during a trial. After the meeting, however, he sent a text to multiple aldermen indicating he had not authorized the memo Hoppner presented to the board.

Dunston will be back in Ocean Springs Thursday and will address the parade issue during a morning press conference.

OSCA Captain Heather Eason said she, too, was "shocked and bewildered" when she learned of Hoppner's recommendation to cancel the parade.

"I've say in meetings with these guys for years," she said, "and by no means has the idea of cancelling the parade been brought up. Now, two months before the parade, it comes out of the blue? I was floored."

Over its eight years, the night parade has grown to where an estimated 25,000 people now attend. Both Cody and Eason said anytime a crowd of that size is brought together, problems will occur.

During last year's parade 24 people were arrested on charges including public drunk, disorderly conduct, possession of alcohol by a minor and public urination.

In addition, two police officers were spit on by parade attendees, with one arrested for simple assault on a police officer (the other could not be identified), and another officer was punched while arresting a suspect in a fight.

Dunston confirmed that two separate fights spilled out into Government Street and forced the parade to come to a stop.

Eason said one solution to problems such as those is to barricade the entire parade route to prevent spectators from coming onto the streets -- a move which would allow police to better monitor crowd activities, rather than focusing on keeping people out of the streets.

To that end, she launched the "Buy-a-Barricade" program through which local businesses donate the money to purchase a barricade in exchange for having signage advertising the business affixed to the barricade.

Other possible solutions are to bring in more officers from other jurisdictions through the existing interlocal agreement and to potentially have the parade roll earlier than the current 7 p.m. start time.

"We're going to do what we have to do to make it a safe environment for everyone," Cody said. "Sometimes people get a little too festive and it puts a damper on things. We want people to come, have a good time and it's a big night for our local businesses."

In the wake of Hoppner's comments Tuesday night, aldermen voted to table a decision on the parade permit until their Dec. 20 meeting. Wednesday, however, they agreed to a special call meeting Thursday night to approve the permit.


For Immediate Release, December 7, 2016 Contact: George Kimbrell, Center for Food Safety, (971) 271-7372, gkimbrell@centerforfoodsafety.org

Jerry Erstrom, Malheur County farmer and weed specialist, (541) 212-9378

Lori Ann Burd, Center for Biological Diversity, (971) 717-6405, laburd@biologicaldiversity.org USDA: Escaped, Highly Invasive GE Grass Poses No Environmental Harm Commercial Approval of Engineered Bentgrass Given Despite Failed Efforts to

Stop Its Spread From Old Experiment Plots PORTLAND, Ore. The Environmental Protection Agency released a final environmental impact statement today giving the green light to genetically engineered creeping bentgrass, a highly invasive grass genetically engineered by Monsanto and Scotts to withstand what would normally be a fatal dose of the herbicide glyphosate. Decades-old outdoor experiments have proven the novel grass impossible to control, as it escaped from controlled plots and invaded irrigation ditches, river banks and the Crooked River National Grassland, crowding out native plants and the wildlife that depends on them. Despite more than a decade of efforts and millions of dollars, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Scotts and Monsanto have been unable to exterminate the escapes. Now USDA has granted the industrys request that it relinquish any authority over the GE grass. USDA's approval of this genetically engineered grass is as dangerous as it is unlawful, said George Kimbrell, a senior attorney for the Center for Food Safety. The agency is giving Monsanto and Scotts a free pass for the harm their product has already caused farmers and the environment, and is irresponsibly gambling future harm on nothing more than their empty promises. The GE bentgrass has already illegally contaminated at least three counties, and the ultralight grass seeds and pollen have proven impossible to eradicate. Farmers and noxious weed experts in eastern Oregon have been outspoken critics of the proposal to approve the grass. In response to widespread contamination, GE creeping bentgrass was declared a noxious weed in Malheur County in 2016. With this approval responsibility for controlling the contamination now shifts from USDA, Scotts and Monsanto to become solely the problem of individual farmers and landowners. It just tears me up to think about the environmental and economic havoc this grass could wreak upon our community, said Jerry Erstrom, farmer and chairman of the Malheur County weed board. The USDA has ignored the concerns of farmers in the areas affected by the existing contamination. I just cant believe that they will turn this loose and let Scotts and Monsanto walk away from what they did here. Unlike USDA the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has recognized the danger of the novel GE grass and its likelihood of spreading out of control, concluding that if approved it is likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the endangered Willamette daisy and Bradshaws lomatuim and harm the critical habitat of the endangered Fenders blue butterfly and Willamette daisy. This outrageous decision by regulators to ignore the ongoing harm to Oregon farmers, endangered species and the precious landscape we all share is a disturbing reminder that federal regulators dont primarily serve taxpayers and citizens, but rather the wishes of corporations like Monsanto and Scotts, said Lori Ann Burd, director of the environmental health program at the Center for Biological Diversity. Those of us dedicated to protecting Oregons natural resources will explore all legal options necessary to place the burden of controlling this invasive weed back where it belongs on the shoulders of the corporate profiteers who brought it into the world. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with 1.1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. Center for Food Safetys mission is to empower people, support farmers, and protect the earth from the harmful impacts of industrial agriculture. Through groundbreaking legal, scientific, and grassroots action, we protect and promote your right to safe food and the environment. Please join our more than 750,000 consumer and farmer advocates across the country at www.centerforfoodsafety.org


For Immediate Release, December 7, 2016 Contact: Randy Serraglio, (520) 784-1504 New Jaguar Photographed in Southern Arizona TUCSON, Ariz. A previously undetected jaguar has been photographed recently in the Huachuca Mountains of southern Arizona, near the town of Sierra Vista. The young male was caught on a Fort Huachuca trail camera and posted on Facebook by the Cochise County Boy Scouts of America. This is the first confirmed jaguar in the Huachucas. Weve been expecting another jaguar to pop up in southern Arizona for some time now, said Randy Serraglio, conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. Congratulations to Fort Huachuca for their good luck in capturing this beautiful animal on film. This is the first jaguar detected in the United States since a mature male created an international sensation when he was captured on video about a year ago. That cat was named El Jefe by Tucson schoolchildren after living in a nearby mountain range for more than four years. Jaguars will keep returning to southern Arizona to repopulate their ancestral homelands, said Serraglio. Jaguars belong here, and if we protect the wide-open spaces they need, they will thrive here again. El Jefe has proven that. Jaguars roamed throughout the southern United States for thousands of years prior to European settlement. Over the past century, they were wiped out by predator control programs, primarily as a subsidy to the livestock industry. Weve lost a lot of jaguar habitat in the U.S. over the past century, but millions of acres of prime wildlands remain, said Serraglio. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.


For Immediate Release, December 7, 2016 Contact: Kathy Albury, Elders Rising, (801) 803-2384, kfa44@yahoo.com

Vaughn Lovejoy, Elders Rising, (801) 598-2344, madtreeplanter@yahoo.com

Valerie Love, Center for Biological Diversity, (510) 274-9713, vlove@biologicaldiversity.org Dozens of Demonstrators Stage Mock Auction in Salt Lake City to

Protest BLM Online Oil, Gas Lease Auction SALT LAKE CITY Demonstrators concerned about their grandchildrens future auctioned off the Great Salt Lake, the Trembling Giant and other iconic Utah and world resources today to call attention to the inevitable impact the Bureau of Land Managements continued sale of oil and gas leasing of Americas public lands will have on our climate, water, land and future. Demonstrators hold a mock auction in Salt Lake City on Wednesday to protest a BLM oil and gas lease auction. Photo by Valerie Love, Center for Biological Diversity. Photos are available for media use. The group gathered at the BLM office in Salt Lake City to protest the auction next week of more than 12,000 acres of Utahs public land or fossil fuel extraction. The parcels up for sale to the fracking industry include more than 1,500 acres in Nine Mile Canyon, an area known as the "worlds longest art gallery, for its rich heritage of ancient Fremont Culture petroglyphs. Were standing here in the cold today to let the BLM know that it is not OK for them to auction off the future of our grandchildren, said Kathy Albury of Elders Rising. It is not OK for them to auction off the very existence of all the creatures who will find life in a warmer, more toxic world impossible. It is not OK for them to auction off the vast oceans becoming more acidic and less able to support life every day. It is not OK for them to enable fossil fuel development that will make the air and water toxic to my grandchildren and all the creatures of the Earth. We participate in this critical movement because the best way to contain pollution caused by carbon is to keep it in the ground, said Kelly Phanco of the Greater Wasatch Chapter of Great Old Broads for Wilderness. Our future generations depend on us to make decisions now that will keep their environment safe. Latter Day Saints in Utah have many concerns about the continual degrading of our air, water, and soil brought about by the mining, processing and burning of fossil fuels. At a time when our national leaders recognize these dangers to our environment and our planet, it is unconscionable and immoral to continue the practice of leasing out our public lands for the benefit of private corporate profits, said Ty Markham, chair of the Mormon Environmental Stewardship Alliance. For the sake of ourselves, our children and our planet we need to move swiftly away from fossil fuels and embrace clean, renewable energy, said Valerie Love of the Center for Biological Diversity. We cant afford to develop new sources of dirty fuels, and we continue to urge President Obama to end the practice of leasing public lands to oil and gas corporations before he leaves office. When we keep dirty fossil fuels in the ground we protect our shared landscape as a valuable asset to pass on to future generations, while addressing one of the main causes of climate disruption, said Marion Klaus, volunteer co-leader for Our Wild America Campaign, Sierra Club. When we become fully present to what is happening in the world, we see that the decisions we make today will impact those living far in the future. Climate change is the predominant issue of our time but the federal oil and gas public lands leasing program doesn't consider climate impacts. In Utah, the Bureau of Land Management and other state agencies have effectively denied climate change is even happening, said Kaitlin Butler of Science and Environmental Health Network Women's Congress for Future Generations. This is a misuse of science that fails to ensure clean air, unpolluted waters, biodiversity and human health needed for a habitable Earth. Background

The American public owns nearly 650 million acres of federal public land and more than 1.7 billion acres of Outer Continental Shelf  and the fossil fuels beneath them. This includes federal public land, which make up about a third of the U.S. land area, and oceans like Alaskas Chukchi Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Eastern Seaboard. These places and fossil fuels beneath them are held in trust for the public by the federal government; federal fossil fuel leasing is administered by the Department of the Interior. Over the past decade, the combustion of federal fossil fuels has resulted in nearly a quarter of all U.S. energy-related emissions. An 2015 report by EcoShift consulting, commissioned by the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Earth, found that remaining federal oil, gas, coal, oil shale and tar sands that have not been leased to industry contain up to 450 billion tons of potential greenhouse gas pollution. As of earlier this year, 67 million acres of federal fossil fuel were already leased to industry, an area more than 55 times larger than Grand Canyon National Park containing up to 43 billion tons of potential greenhouse gas pollution. Last year Sens. Merkley (D-Ore.), Sanders (I-Vt.) and others introduced legislation to end new federal fossil fuel leases and cancel non-producing federal fossil fuel leases. Days later President Obama canceled the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, saying, Because ultimately, if were going to prevent large parts of this Earth from becoming not only inhospitable but uninhabitable in our lifetimes, were going to have to keep some fossil fuels in the ground rather than burn them and release more dangerous pollution into the sky. Download the September Keep It in the Ground letter to President Obama.



Download Grounded: The Presidents Power to Fight Climate Change, Protect Public Lands by Keeping Publicly Owned Fossil Fuels in the Ground (this report details the legal authorities with which a president can halt new federal fossil fuel leases).



Download The Potential Greenhouse Gas Emissions of U.S. Federal Fossil Fuels (this report quantifies the volume and potential greenhouse gas emissions of remaining federal fossil fuels) and The Potential Greenhouse Gas Emissions fact sheet.



Download Public Lands, Private Profits (this report details the corporations profiting from climate-destroying fossil fuel extraction on public lands).



Download the Center for Biological Diversitys formal petition calling on the Obama administration to halt all new offshore fossil fuel leasing.


For Immediate Release, December 8, 2016 Contact: Kristen Monsell, (510) 844-7137, kmonsell@biologicaldiversity.org Oil Company Applies for First New Offshore Fracking Permit in California Federal Approval Would Allow Frack in Wildlife-rich Santa Barbara Channel,

Discharge of Fracking Waste Into Ocean SANTA BARBARA, Calif. Federal officials this week announced receipt of a new permit application to frack an oil well in federal waters off the coast of California. If approved it would be the first offshore frack near the California coast since the federal government lifted a moratorium on the controversial oil-extraction process earlier this year. DCOR, LLC submitted the application to the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, the agency that permits offshore drilling in federal waters. The oil company wants to frack an offshore well in the wildlife-rich Santa Barbara Channel from Platform Gilda and would be allowed to discharge fracking flowback fluid into the ocean. Its disgusting that people at Californias beaches have to worry again about fracking chemicals dumped in the ocean, said Kristen Monsell, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. Federal approval would signal a shocking disregard for offshore frackings threats to marine animals and human health. Green-lighting this plan could encourage a dangerous new wave of fracks off our coast.



Offshore fracking was halted in federal waters off California in January after a Center lawsuit challenged the governments rubber-stamping of fracking permits without any analysis of threats to wildlife and ocean ecosystems. But federal officials lifted the moratorium in May after issuing a cursory environmental review that acknowledged frackings environmental risks yet green-lighted use of the technique. The Center and allies filed another lawsuit last month challenging the legally inadequate review in federal court. Oil companies have permission to dump up to 9 billion gallons of wastewater, including fracking chemicals, into federal waters off the California coast every year. The Environmental Protection Agency recently banned disposal of fracking wastewater at public sewage plants, but continues to allow such waste to be dumped into the ocean. Fracking waste commonly contains toxic chemicals and heavy metals. At least 10 fracking chemicals routinely used in offshore fracking in California could kill or harm a broad variety of marine species, including sea otters and fish, Center scientists have found. The California Council on Science and Technology has identified some common fracking chemicals to be among the most toxic in the world to marine animals. Fracking chemicals raise grave ecological concerns because the waters around Californias offshore oil platforms are important habitat for whales, seabirds, sea turtles and fish. The Santa Barbara Channel, for example, hosts the worlds densest summer seasonal congregation of endangered blue whales. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.


For Immediate Release, December 8, 2016 Contact: Brett Hartl, (202) 817-8121, bhartl@biologicaldiversity.org Rep. Bishops True Intentions Revealed: Invalidate Endangered Species Act WASHINGTON In a moment of candor at a House hearing Wednesday night, Rep. Bishop (R-Utah) admitted that I would be happy to invalidate the Endangered Species Act. His remarks came as the House Rules Committee debated yet another bill, in the 115th Congress that would weaken the Act, this time by rolling back protections for endangered salmon and the Delta smelt in the California Bay Delta. Loading the player ... Video courtesy House of Representatives. Anyone who has carefully watched Rep. Bishop knows that he has long hated endangered species and the Endangered Species Act, said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity. Bishop would gladly see Americas wildlife heritage disappear forever if it helped to siphon dollars to his special-interest patrons. As chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee over the past two years, Rep. Bishop has spearheaded an unprecedented attack on endangered species. During that time congressional Republicans have introduced more than 133 separate pieces of legislation and amendments designed to eliminate protections for endangered species or the Act itself, twice as many attacks as occurred from 2011 to 2014. In total, since the Republican party retook the House of Representatives in January 2011, more than 230 attacks on endangered species have occurred. Dont be fooled next year when Rep. Bishop says that all he wants is to make common-sense reforms to the Endangered Species Act, said Hartl. All Bishop has ever wanted to do is to get rid of the Act completely, and allow our most precious wildlife to disappear for the sake of short-term profits for his donors and political cronies. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
For Immediate Release, December 7, 2016

Contact: Patrick Sullivan, (415) 517-9364, psullivan@biologicaldiversity.org

Trump Nominates Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Oil Industry to Head EPA

WASHINGTON Days after meeting with Al Gore to discuss the threat of global warming, President-elect Donald Trump is preparing to nominate climate change-denier and oil-industry advocate Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

As Oklahoma attorney general, Pruitt turned his public office into an arm of the petroleum industry, working closely with major oil companies to fight federal efforts to reduce pollution from drilling and fracking. Pruitt has sued the EPA over the Clean Power Plan, as well as federal regulations meant to protect Americans from ozone, mercury and contaminated water.

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Pruitt would head an agency critical to protecting America's air, water, climate and health from oil-industry pollution.

Pruitt has accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from oil companies and other fossil fuel interests. Ignoring the scientific consensus on climate change, he has questioned the link between global warming and carbon pollution: That debate is far from settled, he wrote.

Pruitt is a wholly owned subsidiary of the oil industry," said Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity's Climate Law Institute. Nominating him to lead the agency that protects our air, water and climate from pollution is like putting the Swamp Thing in charge of draining the swamp. Any Senator who doesn't fight this nomination is handing corporate polluters a wrecking ball to destroy our future.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
LAGOS, Nigeria - The Guardian newspaper, Nigeria, has launched the Guardian Brand Studio, a multiplatform content marketing solution for advertisers. Following on from the launch of Guardian TV and the overhaul of its digital platforms, this launch demonstrates The Guardian's ongoing commitment to being a leader in the market.

Guardian Brand Studio consists of a team of writers, designers, videographers, developers and researchers that work with advertisers to create branded content to reach influential and well educated audiences in Nigeria, the diaspora and globally. They use journalistic and storytelling skills to work with brand marketing departments to create compelling content that will engage audiences on all platforms and beyond.

Toke Alex Ibru, executive director, The Guardian Newspapers, stated: The media industry is continually evolving and requires publishers to adapt to the ever changing needs of our audience and advertisers. The launch of Guardian Brand Studio continues to build on our vision to become the most progressive and innovative publisher across the region.

Daryn Wober, CEO Ventra Media/Guardian Digital said, The Guardian Brand Studio will allow our advertiser partners to create content and tell stories in partnership with a leading news brand. All the skills that The Guardian has built around multiplatform journalism and content creation can be harnessed for the benefit of their brands.

The studio has already worked with brands such as Zenith Bank, Jumia, Nairabet and United Capital to deliver campaigns using editorial, photography, video, info-graphics and technology. Advertisers provide Guardian Brand Studio with a creative brief and the team deliver a content and distribution strategy before moving to production and syndication. Content is then made available across all of The Guardians platforms including print, online, Guardian TV and social channels. Clients are also then able to utilise content and assets across their own platforms to achieve maximum reach and impact.
FCB Africa - having opened doors in 1926 as E Lindsay Smithers Advertising Agent with the Goodyear Tyre & Rubber Company as its first client - is celebrating 90 years of iconic South African advertising this month.

To mark the milestone, eNCA is paying tribute to FCB with a microsite featuring favourite ads and best memories of several dozen of the agencys most well-known alumni as well some of the current FCB employees.

To take your own walk down memory lane, with some past, recent and current industry legends visit www.enca.com/FCB90, www.facebook.com/FCBAfrica/ or follow @FCBafrica.

Brett Morris

A few of the ads youll get to see include the iconic South African Airways Cost Cutters from 1988, Sasol Super 100 Glug Glug and Toyota Go-Kart both from 1991, Gill Anti-Dandruff Shampoo Bikers from 1995, Beechies Icebreaker  Nipple Stand from 1998, Vodacom 4U Bungee Jumping Baby and Baby Astronaut from the early 2000s, First National Banks How can we help you  Pale toe and more recent favourites such as Klipdrift Friendly Frikkie  Met Eish and Savannas Its dry but you can drink it.

Celebrating with current FCB employees in Cape Town and in Johannesburg, Morris said it was humbling to follow in the footsteps of such giants, and a tribute to the FCB Family that it has remained at the forefront of South African advertising.

I couldnt be more proud of the people who work at FCB today, who so passionately push themselves to the limit to ensure the work they do on our clients behalf truly resonates with ordinary South Africans, he said. And with FCB Joburg and Hellocomputer having just been awarded AdFocus Large Agency of the Year and Digital Agency of the Year respectively, its fair to say theyre still flying the FCB flag very high, he added.

It has been an awesome few weeks watching the ads that the alumni have nominated as their favourites over the years. But more than anything, it made me realise that FCB has always made ads that speak to the hearts and souls of ordinary South Africans, the people who matter most to its clients.

And while the agencys work regularly features on the Millward Brown Most Liked Lists, while we are often awarded Agency of the Year Accolades and come home after creative awards ceremonies with more metal for our trophy cabinets, its important for us to realise that the best part of a brands story is never finished.

Theres part of us that always asks what can we do better? And always wonders whats next? Whats waiting to be discovered? And its not just the story of the brand or an idea. Its the story of all of us. Always moving forward. Always looking back. Always a work in progress.

Im so excited to mark 90 years with the help of our alumni, but Im equally excited to look forward with our clients and new generation of FCB Family to creating new iconic work and new memories.




We so often hear stories of the hardships associated with accessibility to high quality healthcare, but for many the nearest doctor, let alone specialist, can be many hours away.

South Africas health minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, recently pointed out that universal access to quality healthcare can work as an equaliser between the rich and the poor. For that reason, South Africa is looking at technological solutions to resolve the healthcare accessibility gap. The primary example of this is the internet of things (IoT).

Gartner predicts IoT will reach mainstream adoption in Africa in the next two to five years, while we envisage global machine-to-machine connections will grow nearly three-fold from 4,9bn in 2015 to 12,2bn by 2020. Here are several examples of the IoT in action, improving lives and well-being.

Innovative solutions for a thriving healthcare sector

As the healthcare sector embraces the next wave of the internet, digital technological advances can take the sector to the next level. The South African National Blood Service is an excellent example. Until recently, blood was donated anonymously with donors having no knowledge of whether their blood was even used, let alone its final destination.

Now, the actual timeline of the blood from the donors veins right through to the recipients veins can be tracked. At the end of the journey, blood donors would receive a message of whose lives they have helped save. Innovative thinking such as this ensures the continued donation of blood through the personalisation of the service.

Pulling patient records at the click of a mouse

For decades, not much has changed as far as capturing patient data is concerned. We still waste endless hours in our doctors waiting rooms and the records taken of our health are usually handwritten and later placed in the receptionists filing cabinets.

Today the concept of connected healthcare has never been so important and this inefficient, time-consuming scenario may soon be a thing of the past. By storing patient data in a central cloud source, patient records may be kept securely and may be accessed from anywhere at any time. We expect global cloud traffic to rise 3,7-fold, up from 3,9 zettabytes (ZB) per year in 2015 to 14,1 ZB per year by 2020.

Digitising remote diagnosis

Rural patients sometimes have to travel hundreds of kilometres to reach a doctor  often an impossible task. Technology means that patients can see a doctor who practises hours away from them, without leaving their home towns. These technological solutions also connect clinicians in remote areas to experts and information at medical schools, university sites and larger hospitals. Being able to collaborate with onsite specialists and having access to continuing medical education can help increase the knowledge and training of local care teams and improve their decision-making.

Technology has the ability to bring powerful industry solutions to the healthcare sector. Building these solutions requires drawing upon different components to deliver an offering that is simple, agile, and repeatable. Once more advanced technology is deployed, the healthcare sector will never look back.
According to a report by TimesLive , South African startup Onyx Connect is set to become the first to manufacture smartphones in Africa.

Onyx is licensed to load Google software like Android and Chrome onto devices sold under the companys own brand or products. The company raised $10.8 million from investors and is set to begin production in the first quarter of 2017.

The company will become the first ever manufacturer of smartphones in Africa. TimesLive reports that Onyxs plan involves tapping into Chinas strengths. The company sourced circuit-board designs and raw components from China, but its designing the rest of the phones and building them itself from the circuit board up. The plastic cases are being produced locally, and Onyx has its own research and development capability.

According to TimesLive, Google welcomes local production of devices highlighting the need for affordable devices that are easily accessible and can benefit the people. According to the report the drop of the value of the rand has made labour less expensive in Africas most industrialised economy, while making phones imported from China or elsewhere in Asia harder to afford.

With a lot at stake, According to TimesLive Onyxs plan involves tapping into Chinas strengths. The company sourced circuit-board designs and raw components from China, but its designing the rest of the phones and building them itself from the circuit board up. The plastic cases are being produced locally, and Onyx has its own research and development capability.

While some companies in South Africa are already assembling smartphones from imported kit, Onyx is manufacturing the device and saving on import duties.

TimesLive reports that Onyx is setting up a distribution centre in Ethiopia within the next 12 to 18 months they further report that the company can produce a device in Johannesburg for about $30 that includes a camera and 1 gigabyte of memory. According to TimesLive the project will create 600 jobs.
If you are in a quandary for those last minute Christmas gifts or stocking stuffers and if your list includes those who love and have a passion for local history, the Jackson County Historical and Genealogical Society has some gift ideas for you.

The JCHGS is offering the "Cemeteries of Jackson County, Mississippi" at a new sale price. This hardbound deluxe edition of 750 pages, featuring 250 local cemeteries and approximately 45,000 entries, has been reduced from $50 to a holiday price of $25.

Chris Wiggins, M.D., has written two local history books that are a must for any serious local history collector. They are: "A Tale of Two (Mississippi) Cities" and "What You Always Wanted to Know About Ocean Springs and Gautier, but..."

The first book features stories, history and lore about Pascagoula and Moss Point. Wiggins has an unequaled sense of humor in his presentation but gives accurate narratives along with colorful anecdotal stories from our past.

The latter book is a tale full of heroes and scoundrels, explorers and fishermen, people with great ideals, and people on the lam from the law. The story begins in 1699 when Iberville arrived on the Mississippi coast, and ends...yesterday.

Both are sold for $20 each. "A Tale..." is also available in hardback for $30.

Next gift idea is a CD that contains 29 years of the journals of the JCHGS, along with a master index for the entire set of journals. Cost is $20.

Hundreds of family files are also available on CDs at a nominal fee of $10. The JCHGS just asks that you request these two or three days before you want them as they are burned on a demand basis. These are files that contain an assortment of material compiled at the Pascagoula Public Library over the past 20 years or so. Just to name a few of those available are Krebs, Gautier, Ladnier, Cumbest and many more.

In 1986, JCHGS published the "History of Jackson County Mississippi." It sold out many years ago but is available on CD for $20.

And finally, a must have is "Thought You Should Know Revisited," a book of Pascagoula history and collected photos by Betty Oswald published in 2005, reprinted in 2007 and revised in 2010. The original was actually published in 1975 by the Pascagoula Women's Club. Hurricane Katrina destroyed many of the original copies of those who held them dear.

Oswald, a retired college professor, donated all profits from the more recent publication to the JCHGS along with rights to all future printings. This work is available for $15.

All publications may be purchased in the Local Genealogy and History Department at the Pascagoula Public Library or ordered from JCHGS, P.O. Box 998, Pascagoula, MS 39568. Just add a couple of bucks for postage.

Columnist Joanne Anderson may be reached at joandy42@yahoo.com.
Steinhoff could be ready to list its South African operations separately as a retail entity, says Cratos Wealth portfolio manager Ron Klipin.

Integrated retailer Steinhoff could pull a rabbit out of the proverbial hat following the restructuring of its South African operations.

On Wednesday Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste said that in the quarter ended September 2016, the group had closed 84 stores in the local household goods operations.

"It was a very disruptive quarter. We spent 25m of the restructuring budget during the period under review and the remaining 5m is expected to come through during the next three months," he said.

Cratos Wealth portfolio manager Ron Klipin said the closure of the stores could be in preparation for a listing.

"The stores that were closed were probably from the JD Group. Steinhoff could be ready to turn around and list the South African operations separately as a retail entity," said Klipin.

Currently, 61% of the groups revenue is earned in Europe and the UK. Africa  and mostly SA  contributes 32%.

In the period under review, the groups total revenue increased 12.1% to 3.4bn. Approximately 93% of revenue was generated by group retail operations. The retail operations improved sales 15.6%.

Steinhoff reported a 12.5% increase in operating margin to 327m, representing an operating profit margin for the group as a whole of 9.7%. When adjusting for one of restructuring costs, the group increased margin 21.1% to 352m.

Revenue of the household goods retail segment increased 13.6% to 2.2bn.

Klipin said recent acquisitions Poundland in the UK and Mattress Firm in the US would drive growth. Mattress Firm has 3,500 outlets and about 28% market share.

Poundland had the potential to achieve a higher level of profitability through the roll-out of the Pep&Co concept, he said.

Jooste said that so far, the roll-out had proven to be a success, although it was still in its infancy.

"We have taken quite a number of the bigger Poundland stores and introduced some of our best-selling Pep&Co apparel and footwear products. The sales of those products were higher than we ever expected. Management is quite confident that a multiprice point and a different mix of products is definitely in store for the future for those (Poundland) businesses. We are quite excited and confident about the way forward," he said.
Liberty Two Degrees, the highly anticipated new property listing, plans to make significant acquisitions as early as the first quarter of 2017 as it looks to provide strong returns in a slow economy.

The real estate investment trust (Reit) was listed on Tuesday, 6 December, by the Liberty Group, giving investors exposure to portions of some of the best performing and most resilient shopping centres in SA.

The Reit's assets are valued at R8.6bn - R6bn worth of real estate and cash of R2.6bn. The R6bn makes up roughly a fifth of Liberty's R30bn property portfolio. Investors in the fund will have exposure to portions of Liberty's interests in iconic retail assets like Sandton City, Nelson Mandela Square, Melrose Arch and Eastgate.

CEO Amelia Beattie said Liberty was working on various additions for the fund.

"We want to grow this fund while providing consistent returns for investors, and we are going to be active from the get go," she said.

"I think having exposure to such reliable, resilient assets like these is especially desirable in a slow growth economic environment. Listing this portfolio not only unlocks value for existing policyholders but also provides an alternative investment opportunity to investors and policyholders with an appetite for premium property assets in the listed environment."

Investors would receive rewards based on the amount of each asset which Liberty owned. So if the Liberty group owned 100% of an asset, Two Degrees' shareholders would receive 22% of the income paid out from that asset.

This would be the case with Eastgate shopping centre. In the case of Sandton City, where Liberty owns 75%, Two Degrees investors would receive 16.5% of the income paid out from the shopping complex.

On listing, about R3.8bn was raised, comprising R3bn at a listing price of R10 to invited investors, and R780m from the Liberty Group, using new policyholders' funds, who subscribed at a 5% discount to the listing price.

After listing at R10, Liberty Two Degrees' share price closed 5% higher at R10.50.

Larger portions of the properties in the Liberty Group's overall R30bn portfolio and its pipeline, which includes African developments, could be brought into Liberty Two Degrees in the future, according to Beattie.

Garreth Elston of Alternative Real Estate Capital Management said Liberty Two Degrees was a strong addition to the JSE.

"We like Liberty Two Degrees a great deal. We view the company as a collection of exceptional assets managed by a very competent team, that we believe will deliver steady income and measured growth over the long term. Sandton City is arguably the pre-eminent retail property in SA. The rest of its holdings are very good too."

Source: Business Day
As the local chicken industry tightens its belt due to an increase in the dumping of imported chicken on the South African market, workers face retrenchments instead of Christmas bonuses.

Larry Rana via Wikimedia Commons

Local producer RCL Foods joined forces with the Food and Allied Workers Union (FAWU) in a march protesting the ongoing threat to job security, which took place in Pietermaritzburg. Some 350 protesters marched from the Mayors Walk to the KZN Provincial Legislature where a memorandum was handed over to Advocate Linda Zama, advisor to KZN Premier, Willies Mchunu.

It is with a heavy heart that we reduce production at our Hammarsdale plant, when it means one thing  our workforce has to shrink too, which affects breadwinners, families, and entire communities, said Scott Pitman, the MD of RCL FOODS Consumer Division, who showed a united front with FAWU General Secretary Katishi Masemola, along with a number of RCL FOODS Executives.

Pitman confirmed that RCL FOODS will halve production from January 2017 at its Hammarsdale plant and that 1,350 workers are affected so far. The situation will be monitored closely in the coming months and further cutbacks may become necessary should the market situation not improve.

Poultry industry insiders have warned that for every 10,000 tonnes of dumped chicken imported as many as 1,000 jobs may be lost, with as many as 6,000 jobs affected across the industry by the end of 2016. The industry might not survive in its current state for another 12 months.

The South African Poultry Association (SAPA) has pointed out that once the local industry has been forced to shut down, the country will be at the mercy of foreign producers who can raise prices or, if better prices are offered elsewhere, switch their sales to other markets. Chicken is the main source of protein for many South African consumers, and the industry that produces it provides a livelihood for over 130,000 workers. The potential disaster is obvious.

We cant stand by and let a predatory practice like dumping destroy a sustainable, 100% local industry. We support government in its efforts to resolve the challenges facing the chicken industry in South Africa, says Pitman.
Environmental rights advocacy groups are questioning why major banks and state entities are investing in new-build coal-powered power station, when the South Africa is supposedly moving towards clean energy.

A 2016 report by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) showed that, besides being expensive, coal wasnt necessary in South Africas future energy mix. Moreover, any new coal-fired power stations will effectively put the country at odds would with its climate change commitments under the Paris Agreement.

Application to Nersa

On 25 November 2016, Thabametsi Power Company (Pty) Ltd gave notice to interested and affected parties of its application to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa), for a licence to operate 557,3MW of a 1,200MW proposed coal-fired power plant near Lephalale, Limpopo, under the coal baseload independent power producers procurement programme.

High court application

Earthlife Africa (ELA), represented by the Centre for Environmental Rights, has instituted review proceedings in the high court in August 2016 to have the environmental authorisation for this power plant set aside. ELA contends that the environmental authorisation was granted without any serious consideration of the climate change implications of the new coal-fired power plant, and on the basis that the plant would use a significant amount of water in a drought-stricken part of the country.

Not in keeping with Paris Agreement

South Africa has recently ratified the Paris Agreement, committing to pursue global efforts to limit temperature increases to well below 1,5C, a decision which makes a rapid move away from the burning of coal essential. South Africa is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

The CSIR found that having 70% renewables by 2040 was not only technically feasible, but also the cheapest option for South Africa by R90bn per year by 2040, even without taking into account the carbon tax.

Thabametsi is only scheduled to be commissioned in 2021, and plans to burn coal well past the year 2025 (by which date South Africa has committed in its nationally determined contribution (NDC), to peak its carbon emissions). There is therefore a very real risk that Thabametsi will not be able to operate for its full expected lifespan, and will become a stranded asset.

Why are big SA banks investing in new coal?

Thabametsis application to NERSA cites the following banks as among those financing the project:

Absa

Nedbank

Standard Bank

Rand Merchant Bank (part of FirstRand Bank)

Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA)

Speaking for the Life After Coal/Impilo Ngaphandle Kwamalahle campaign (consisting of the CER, ELA and groundWork), attorney Nicole Loser says that the campaign was alarmed to see South Africas Big Banks committing to the financing of a project which entrenches the countrys reliance on coal for decades to come  in circumstances where the burning of coal is a primary cause of climate change, and has far-reaching and devastating effects on the environment and on human health.

Stranded asset

New coal will either mean that we are unlikely to meet our climate change obligations under the Paris Agreement, or projects like this will have to cease operating, and become stranded assets, says Makoma Lekalakala from Earthlife Africa Johannesburg (ELA).

It appears that the banks have either not done a proper risk assessment, or they simply dont care about the implications of climate change, says Robyn Hugo, head of the CERs pollution & climate change programme.

Why is the PIC investing the UIFs money in new coal?

According to the Nersa application, shares in Thabametsi Power Company (Pty) Ltd are held 49% by offshore entities (Axia Power Holdings B.V. (24,5%) and Korea Electric Power Corporation (24,5%)) and 51% by onshore entities (Blue Falcon 253 Trading Proprietary Limited (21%); Jenzoprox Proprietary Limited (15%); Business Venture Investments No 1879 Proprietary Limited (10%); and Mandlalex Proprietary Limited (5%)).

Blue Falcon is wholly owned by the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF). This fund is a statutory entity established in terms of the Unemployment Insurance Fund Act, 2001. According to Thabametsi, as at 30 September 2015, the UIF had existing committed investable capital amounting to approximately R2,3bn, which is managed by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC). Therefore the UIF effectively will have a 21% stake in the power station.

The UIF provides relief to people who have lost their jobs or are no longer able to work due to circumstances such as illness. Is it appropriate to invest these funds in a project that could end up a stranded asset? asks Bobby Peek, director of groundWork.

Furthermore, how can a statutory entity like the PIC invest funds of another statutory entity in a way that will put South Africa in a position where it cannot meet its international obligations? The PIC should also be taking into account the significant detrimental health impacts that this investment will have on surrounding communities.
New technology has been disrupting traditional models of doing business for many years and legislation has struggled to keep up. It often falls to the courts to develop the law in this regard. Uber may have disrupted the taxi industry with their self-employment scheme, but they failed to have any effect on the UK Employment Tribunal.

In the landmark judgment of Aslam & Farrar vs Uber, the UK Employment Tribunal ruled that Uber runs a transportation business and employs driver to that end.

Partnership agreement dismissed

The tribunal pierced the contract veil in a sense and submitted that Uber had gone through great lengths aided by the use of twisted legalese in their contracts and fictions in their documentation to uphold their incorrect assertion that they were only a technology company.

The claim was made against Uber by some of their drivers, who alleged a failure to pay minimum wages, failure to provide paid leave and detrimental treatment on whistleblowing grounds. It was brought in terms of the UK Employment Rights and Minimum Wage Acts. Their case was that in a number of different ways Uber instructs, controls and manages their drivers.

Uber denied that the claimants were at any material times workers entitled to the protection of these legislations. Uber had in place a partner agreement with its drivers which provided that the agreement was governed by the laws of the Netherlands. In the event of a dispute, the agreement provided that these should be referred to arbitration to the International Chamber of Commerce Arbitration.

In October 2015, Uber revised the terms of the partner agreement without consulting or discussing it with drivers. Drivers were informed when logging into the app and had to accept the new terms and conditions before they could receive new customers.

The new terms stipulated that the Uber driver agree that a contract existed between the Uber driver and the passenger (whoever that may be). The tribunal disregarded these contracts on the basis that they were signed based on the unequal bargaining position between the parties.

Some of the behaviours of which the tribunal were scathing include:

Most of the drivers were not English speaking and the tribunal found that the contracts contained dense language couched in impenetrable prose.

Uber contract documentation was designed to reflect that the passenger had contracted directly with the driver and yet the Uber driver was never allowed to know the identity of the passenger or the destination of the passenger, or even the fee to be paid by the passenger. The driver never collects any fee from the passenger and the fee is paid to Uber. The tribunal held that the essential elements needed for a valid contract were not in place and the supposed contract between Uber driver and passenger were pure fiction, which bore no relationship to the real dealings and relationship between the parties; and

The contract stated that Uber works for the drivers and yet this was far from true, the fact was that Uber recruited the drivers to operate is transportation business. The drivers did not market themselves to the world in general. Uber then submitted that if there was an employment agreement, the drivers do not have it with Uber London, but with the company with whom they contracted, which was Uber BV which was a Dutch company. The tribunal lifted the veil on the operations and found that for all purposes the Uber London company was the point of contact for the Uber drivers. It was found that Uber London recruits, instructs, controls, disciplines and if it deems appropriate dismisses drivers.

Working hours determination

The tribunal also looked at working hours and concluded that the period the Uber drivers travel from home to their agreed operating area, are not to be regarded as working hours.

The calculation of working hours will start when the Uber driver arrives for work to his area and switches on his application waiting for instruction, until the end of the day when he switches off the application. In terms of the way Uber operated, they required the drivers to be on standby waiting time to be available to service any bookings made. This was regarded as the start of working hours by the tribunal.

Will Uber appeal?

We will find out in due course whether Uber will appeal this decision. Whatever happens, Uber will have to accept that they are a taxi company which uses technology and not just a technology company that provides transport.

Their competitive edge was obtained in part from circumventing laws to which their competitors had to comply with. They will have to respect the labour laws of the country in which they operate. That is until they can get their driverless taxi model properly off the ground.
The Davis Tax Committee has called for public submissions on aspects of corporate income tax as part of its comprehensive review of the corporate tax regime.

The subjects to be addressed by a dedicated corporate income tax subcommittee include the efficiency of the corporate income tax structure; the average (and marginal) effective corporate income tax rates in the various sectors of the economy; group restructuring; group taxation; dividends tax; and other matters relating to the tax that need to be addressed.

The committee has already examined the subject of base erosion and profit shifting, including the tax bias in favour of debt financing and has submitted a second interim report on the subject to Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan for consideration and approval for publication.

Corporate income tax matters relating to tax incentives as a means of promoting development are being handled by another dedicated subcommittee and mining taxes by a mining subcommittee.

Source: BDpro
Kosi Forest Lodge, owned by Isibindi Africa, is located in the unspoiled wilderness of KwaZulu-Natal and is the only private lodge in the Kosi Bay Nature Reserve. This eco-tourist haven is situated off the beaten track in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a proclaimed World Heritage Site that boasts unrivaled biodiversity and exquisite beauty.

The focal point of the entrance to this beautiful sand forest lodge is a massive Zulu Podberry tree. The lounge, dining room and bar all strategically open up onto a large wooden deck surrounding the tree which offers breath-taking views of this ecological sanctuary.

The lodge comprises eight enchanting bush suites, each accessed through a natural corridor of giant Albizia and Podberry trees with white beach sand underfoot. These suites are neatly tucked away in the forest and are built in such a way that they provide guests a private and intimate experience with the peaceful surroundings and the opportunity to enjoy the serenity of the enchanted forest, undisturbed.

The en-suite bathrooms flow outdoors into a reed-enclosed boma, offering an Out of Africa indulgence where ancient Milkwood trees replace the ceiling and stepping stones and smooth sand make up the floor.

The lodge offers family accommodation in the form of a suite comprising two separate chalets, each with en-suite shower, basin and toilet. These chalets are linked by a short walkway and also share a common outdoor boma bath and shower.

The lodge aims to create as small a carbon footprint as possible and it runs almost completely electricity-free. Gas appliances are used in the kitchen while a small generator powers energy-frugal LED lights in each of the suites. The evenings light is provided by old-fashioned paraffin lamps and flaming torches bordering the pathways of trees light the way to the dining area. Here, visitors can enjoy a three-course meal, with organic vegetables sourced from the locals, by candlelight in the lodges boma.

Guests can make use of the crystal clear pool which overlooks Lake Shengeza while enjoying the throngs of birds in the trees overhead and grunting pods of hippo just metres away. This region is a birders paradise, and with over 420 species recorded in the area, the lodge allows for some exceptional bird watching.

Kosi Bay is a water wonderland of lakes ranging from seawater to fresh water and is the cultural capital of the Tsonga Tembe Kingdom. Guests can experience the beauty of this unique eco-system of intertwined lakes, streams, ancient forests, and grasslands either by canoe, motorised boat or on foot.

Adventurous activities

The lodge offers activities such as guided canoe trips which include a picnic and walk to the Bhanga Nek, a six-kilometre stretch of pristine beach on the Indian Ocean. Adventure enthusiasts can enjoy snorkeling and 4x4 excursions to the Kosi River Mouth  known as the aquarium because of the clarity of the water and abundance of fish species.

There is also an opportunity to participate in early morning or late afternoon guided walks through the Raffia Palm Forest  these magnificent trees can tower up to 16 metres in height and their leaves can reach an astounding 25 metres in length. Here, one might catch a glimpse of the rare palm-nut vulture  the only fruit-eating vulture in the world. Guests travelling to the lodge between mid-November to mid-January will be able to witness the moving centuries-old ritual of giant leatherback and loggerhead turtles making their epic journey back to their birthplace to lay their eggs. Between June and September, guests will be able to watch humpback and southern right whales migrate northwards along the coast.

The Myayiza Initiative

Guests at Kosi Forest Lodge will be pleased to know that their stay contributes to making a positive and lasting impact on the local communities through the Myayiza Initiative  a joint venture between the indigenous Myayiza community and Kosi Forest Lodge.

The Myayiza Initiative created temporary jobs during the building of Kosi Forest Lodge and permanent jobs for the on-going operation of the lodge. It also generated opportunities for countless small tourism-focussed businesses and initiated the building of a mobile clinic providing the local community with access to medical assistance. The lodge also supports the community by purchasing a supply of locally-made products for its curio shop.
SA Express is introducing additional flights on Wednesdays between 14 December 2016 and 4 January 2017 to meet a high demand for flights to Sun City.

SA Expresss first commercial flights to the Pilanesberg International Airport commenced in April 2015. SA Express currently offers return flights into the Pilanesberg International Airport from OR Tambo International Airport and from Cape Town International twice a week on Monday and Friday, with growth on the horizon.

A year and a half since Sun City and airline SA Express linked the skies between Cape Town, Johannesburg and the premium lifestyle resort in the North West province. Passenger volumes have increased steadily and to meet demand over the festive season, there will be additional flights, bringing the number of flights per week to three, says Andrew Irumba, Marketing Manager at Sun City.

The availability of commercial flights to and from Pilanesberg International Airport has opened up the gateway for easier and faster access to Sun City and the numerous things to do in Rustenburg. This has helped to bolster leisure and business tourism in the North West Province.
The Wallonia export investment agency, AWEX, is active encouraging South African businesses expanding into Europe to make the southern Belgian region of Wallonia their home base.

skyfish555 via 123RF - Liege Airport

Wallonia, recently named one of the European Commissions two preferred European Creative Districts because of its strategy to drive innovation, offers a favourable tax regime, grants and commercial property pricing designed to attract foreign investment and expansion into the region.

Several South African companies, including Bidvest, NTP, Sappi, Mondi and The Airplane Factory, operate from Wallonia. A meeting facilitated by AWEX in 2015 has also catalysed the expansion of SA-headquartered IT giant Dimension Data in the region.

Dimension Data, which already has a strong presence in Belgium, has forged a partnership with Belgian firm Win to launch a R105 million data centre in Villers-le-Bouillet near Liege. The new Win Tier III data Centre is now at the heart of Wins Cloud One enterprise service offering. The Dimension Data - Win data centre partnership is the result of a trade mission contact initiated in February 2015, when South Africa was designated as a focus market of AWEX, says Jean-Pierre Muller, head of the Awex office in Johannesburg. Following this initial contact, our IT experts in Wallonia took over the task of identifying opportunities for data centres in Wallonia and will remain the primary contacts for Dimension Data any further developments.

Trade agreements

The AWEX South African focus prompted talks with the South African Department of Trade and Industry organisation Trade and Investment SA (Tisa) last year. Reciprocal trade agreements have also seen businesses originating in Wallonia setting up offices in South Africa in recent years. Among them are Beka-Schreder, CMI, Francois Compressors, Hamon, Magotteaux, Solvay Polymers, Sopura and Swift. AWEX aims to step up its focus on bilateral trade and investment between Wallonia and South Africa next year.

Access to the European market

Declaring itself open to the world, the Wallonia region is situated centrally to multiple European markets, with its logistics expertise and communications network giving businesses access to 65% of the European market in just a few hours. Wallonia is the only region in Western Europe that is accessible to two-thirds of the European Union market within less than a day by road, while access to Liege Airport, Belgiums largest cargo airport, and the fast-developing inland port at Liege, gives Wallonia-based business easy access to the world.

The region is focused on innovation and technical development, supported by 200 business parks, seven science parks directly connected to universities and research centres, nine universities, 300 research centres, 11,000 researchers and 20 centres of excellence.

Businesses in Wallonia benefit from competitive corporation tax, and considerable financial support  factors that have contributed to multinationals such as Google, Microsoft, H&M, GlaxoSmithKline, and Johnson & Johnson establishing a major presence in the region.
The HSUS, with our affiliates, is the number one animal care provider in the nation, and perhaps in the world, among non-profit organizations. Photo by Meredith Lee/The HSUS

505 shares







At The Fund for Animals Wildlife Center in San Diego County, the staff treats a wide range of native animals who are in some kind of trouble. But when a call came in from a hiker who claimed to have found a sick bald eagle in the woods, their bat ears and their skepticism went up. We get a lot of calls about eaglesand its never an eagle, says center director Ali Crumpacker.

But they now know never to say never. A preliminary exam showed the eagle, while lethargic, had no obvious injuries, so our staff transported him to the Pet Emergency and Specialty Center in La Mesa, California. There, he was diagnosed as suffering from the mosquito-borne West Nile virus. Days of intensive, hands-on care followed, with FFAWC staff working with the raptor closely to help him gain strength, flying endurance, and  most important  his wild bird attitude. Our state-of-the art aviary made it possible, and only three weeks later, after a final veterinary exam and with the hiker who rescued him present, the eagle caught the currents high in the air and regained his freedom.

The HSUS and its affiliates work for animals through so many channels  driving lawmaking to protect animals, ensuring that these laws are enforced, negotiating agreements with the biggest companies, calling out cruelty wherever we see it, shaping public attitudes, and elevating the status of animals in society. But we also are, with our affiliates, the number one animal care provider in the nation, and perhaps in the world, among non-profit organizations.

With the new year in sight, The HSUS, Humane Society International, The Fund for Animals, the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association, and South Florida Wildlife Center are closing in on providing direct care and services to 300,000 animals in 2016far surpassing our numbers in previous years. We help wild animals at risk through our wildlife rehabilitation centers, prairie dog and gopher tortoise relocations, and our wildlife response unit. We help extraordinary numbers of free-roaming dogs through our Street Dog Defender programs globally  from India to the Philippines to Bhutan. We come to the aid of animals in crisis when natural disasters strike or when we sniff out animal fighting operations, cruelty and hoarding cases, or delinquent puppy mills. We help companion animals and their families by bringing pet care services to underserved high-poverty areas through our Pets for Life program in 34 cities and through our Rural Area Veterinary Services programs that visit remote Native American reservations.

Our Fund for Animals Wildlife Center treats injured and sick wildlife and releases them into the wild, but it also cares around the year for 30 full-time residents saved from the exotic pet trade and other acts of cruelty. Our South Florida Wildlife Center in Fort Lauderdale rescues and rehabilitates more than 12,000 animals each year. Our Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch in Texas is home to hundreds of animals rescued from research laboratories, circuses, roadside menageries, captive hunting ranches, factory farming, and other situations where they were at risk or in grave danger. Our Duchess Sanctuary in Oregon is a 1,120-acre oasis for about 200 formerly abused, abandoned, neglected, and homeless horses. Our Doris Day Equine Center works with equine rescues around the country to help them better rehabilitate and rehome difficult horses.

Our Pets for Life program is now in its sixth year, and has served more than 120,000 pets in 34 cities across the country. This year alone, in our four direct care cities, our teams helped 14,000 animals, offering veterinary and wellness care to people and pets who live in underserved areas. These include pets like PeeWee, a cat who hurt his front paw earlier this year. PeeWees mom, Patricia, could not afford his treatment, so Pets for Life jumped in to help with a veterinary appointment to assess and treat the injury. PeeWee received a course of antibiotics to prevent an infection, and was also neutered and received his vaccinations, all free of cost to Patricia. Since Patricia does not have transportation and could not make frequent trips to the vet, our PFL staff worked with her to clean his paw and change PeeWees bandage twice a week for two months.

On this blog, Ive shared with you a few of the many remarkable rescues that our Animal Rescue Team conducts throughout the year, saving horses, dogs, cats, and other animals from hurricanes or floods or responding to puppy mills that bring animals to the brink of death. Recently, I wrote about the work were doing to help gopher tortoises and prairie dogs threatened by development, by rescuing and relocating them. A Humane Society International team deployed to Haiti to help animals affected by the hurricane. HSI also helped conduct hundreds of spay and neuter and vaccination clinics in countries around the world, and rescued hundreds of dogs from being butchered for meat in China and South Korea.

The advocacy work of The HSUS and its affiliates improves the fortunes of millions of animals each year. But our hands-on care work is some of the most rewarding because it puts us directly in touch with animals who have no one else to comfort them, and it feels good to be able to do so. It also helps us, as we document abuses and show them to the world, to make the case for reform, so that animals dont get put into situations of distress in the first place. I am proud to celebrate this milestone for the nearly 300,000 animals who are leading better lives, thanks to your support and the hard work of our staff and volunteers in 2016.
NEW YORK: Time magazine on Wednesday named Donald Trump its "Person of the Year" for 2016 for his stunning upset election victory that rewrote the rules of politics, delivering him to the helm of a divided America.

Image via Twitter

The president-elect dialed into NBC television's Today show, welcoming the accolade as a "very, very great honor," denying he was responsible for divisions and praising outgoing Democratic President Barack Obama.

The real estate tycoon, who has never previously held elected office and shocked the political establishment by defeating his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, is featured on Time's cover described as "Donald Trump: President of the Divided States of America."

The magazine said its person of the year, a tradition that began in 1927, "had the greatest influence, for better or worse, on the events of the year."

"So which is it this year: better or worse?" editor-in-chief Nancy Gibbs wrote. "The challenge for Donald Trump is how profoundly the country disagrees about the answer."

She said 2016 had been the year of his rise and 2017 would be the year of his rule, after he is sworn into office on January 20.

"Like all newly elected leaders, he has a chance to fulfill promises and defy expectations," said Gibbs.

Trump won the title, she added, for "reminding America that demagoguery feeds on despair and that truth is only as powerful as the trust in those who speak it, for empowering a hidden electorate by mainstreaming its furies and live-streaming its fears, and for framing tomorrow's political culture by demolishing yesterday's."

In the past Time has showed its editorial teeth by naming sinister figures -- Adolf Hitler in 1938 and Joseph Stalin both in 1939 and 1942.

The president-elect told NBC's Today show that he thought the sub-heading on the front cover about a divided America was "snarky" and denied that it was his fault.

"I'm not president yet so I didn't do anything to divide," he said, despite having inflamed the country by campaign rhetoric disparaging women, illegal immigrants and Muslims among others.

For years he criticized Obama and was instrumental in the so-called "birther" movement that questioned whether the first black president was born in the United States.

"I will say this: I've now gotten to know President Obama, I really like him," Trump told NBC on Wednesday. "I can't speak for him, but we have a really good chemistry together. We talked," he said.

"He loves the country, he wants to do right by the country and for the country and I will tell you, we obviously very much disagree on certain policies and certain things, but I really like him," he added.

The billionaire even said that he discussed some of his possible appointments with the outgoing Democratic president.

"I take his recommendations very seriously and there are some people that I will be appointing and in one case have appointed where he thought very highly of that person," Trump said.

Clinton, the former secretary of state who became the closest in history to becoming America's first female commander in chief, was named the runner-up, with computer hackers in third place.

The former first lady won the popular vote with around 2.7 million more votes than Trump, but the Republican won the crucial Electoral College by 306 to 232.

Trump campaigned hard on a promise of bringing back jobs with the old manufacturing heartland hard hit by companies fleeing overseas and taking jobs to cheaper labor markets in China or Mexico.

Trump told Time in an interview that he asked Apple CEO Tim Cook to build in the United States "a great plant, your biggest and your best, even if it's only a foot by a foot bigger than some place in China."

He also addressed representing working class Americans despite his lavish wealth, living in a luxurious Manhattan penthouse.

"I'm sitting in an apartment the likes of which nobody's ever seen. And yet I represent the workers of the world. And they love me and I love them," he told the magazine.

"I think people aspire to do things. And they aspire to watch people. I don't think they want to see the president carrying his luggage out of Air Force One. And that's pretty much the way it is," he said.

Source: AFP
The highly competitive December holiday marketing has no place for the pliant and weak marketers. It is a war room affair.

Every morning the previous day's sales figures are analysed, marketing performance is objectively scrutinised, new sales targets are set, and marketing campaigns are tweaked and intensified.

The ongoing search is for dramatic actions that will cause consumer excitement and leave a compelling impression that drives consumer spending.

At noon, calls to the stores are made to quiz store managers about how busy the morning has been. Are sales people selling and meeting their daily sales targets? Is the till ringing non-stop? The day does not end until 9pm.

This is the time when the chief marketing officer looks back at the day's sales and marketing events and activities and reflects on the strengths and weaknesses of the day, and finally, just before heading home, plots the next day's strategy about vanquishing perceived threats and taking advantage of ignored opportunities. This is all in a day's work as we enter the peak times of December holiday season. Festive season marketing demands nothing less.

Are you wondering how you can elevate your marketing campaigns above the mundane horizontal levels of current Christmas marketing noise and clutter during this period of heightened consumer spending?

7. Great deals drive action

It is a no-brainer that sale prices influence holiday purchasing decisions. Consumers will pawn their grandmothers for a great deal. This is just how powerful great savings are in driving consumer extra spending. Over 80% of consumers say they would consider going over budget for a great deal. This means coupons, discounts and combo deals are a must. If you have ever doubted just how powerful great deals are in driving consumer spending, you only have to look at all the craze, madness and mayhem during Black Fridays.

6. Black Friday replicas

Creating holiday mayhem for your products does not have to end with Black Fridays. It has to start with Black Fridays as they signal the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Throughout the festive season, continue creating consumers who are vicious for your best deals. Chop and change, mix and match, whilst you continue offering deep discounts.

However, this is not feasible and sustainable for all retailers and brands as it slashes profit margins to the bone in an attempt to keep turnover moving and more customers visiting your stores. In that case, you must do what works best for your profitability. Already a trend has emerged where retailers are stretching Black Friday deals and promotions across December, termed and themed differently of course. Even though the focus has not been removed from one big sales day of shopping such as Black Friday, those shoppers who are still much hungrier for great deals will still have their needs met long after Black Friday has come and gone if you continue offering irresistible great deals throughout December.

5. Elevated digital marketing and active social media presence influence Christmas shopping

To understand just how and when social media influences consumer purchasing decisions brands and retailers must ask the following key questions:

A. Who influences online holiday purchasing decisions?

B. Who are the influencers?

Here are your answers:

Trusted bloggers.

Family and friends.

Brands and retailers' own special offers on Facebook and Twitter.

When brands and retailers share deals, tips and useful ideas via social media as part of their Christmas marketing, they experience a sharp spike in holiday purchases. Trusted bloggers, family and friends pick up on these marketing initiatives and if such deals and special offers are great, they recommend them to their followers, friends and family members. In turn, the followers make favourable buying decisions because their favourite bloggers recommended them.

A few days just before Black Friday I visited a few influential South African bloggers' sites and was so amazed how inundated they were with questions from their followers who wanted to know which South African retailers  online and brick and mortar  were offering Black Friday deals. One blogger, in particular, kept reassuring his followers that he will keep posting Black Friday deals and links-to-deals on his website as they become available.

A strategy on active social media presence requires you to keep working on your traffic-generating activities in order to continue making good sales.

Facebook Ads give brands and retailers the opportunity to reach a wider and active audience. A myriad of online retailers experienced great success with Facebook advertising because of its several major advantages.

The first is the breadth and depth of the targeting options available, allowing you to create incredibly granular custom audiences based on demographic data as well as other metrics such as interests, shopping preferences, and other behavioural identifiers. Secondly, Facebook advertising is cost-effective and astute brands and retailers take advantage of this by capitalising on increased holiday traffic. Remember that digitally savvy shoppers are relentlessly on the lookout for great deals. That means you need to be where they are, right now and always. These well-informed shoppers are as keen on a digital deal as they are for more traditional in-store shopping deals. Use hashtags and giveaways on social media to promote your products.

4. Leverage the power of #Hashtags

Consumers do not want to be left in the dark. Ignorance is not bliss. Shoppers like to follow trends and get their hands on the products that people are talking about. Spread the word about your discounts and holiday promotions with the power of hashtags on Twitter and Instagram. Hashtags make it easier for your campaign to reach more shoppers and gets more consumers talking about your retailer and brands.

Be interactive and engaging with your social media campaigns. Be available and willing to talk with customers who want to engage with you, answer their questions, facilitate campaign debate and solicit some feedback about your special deals. Whilst at it, ask them for suggestions about future deals, promotions and campaigns. You will be so amazed how much consumers want to partake in your brand's decision-making process.

3. Smartphone shopping moments

To have extraordinary marketing campaigns that stand out, brands and retailers must invest in real-time mobile advertising more than ever before this holiday season. This well-considered mobile strategy will target holiday shoppers who are constantly on their mobile devices while walking around a store, on a tea break at work, waiting for or on a train or bus, etc. Research conducted by Google through their platform, Think with Google, and published in September 2015 revealed that 54% of all holiday shoppers say that they plan to shop on their smartphones in spare moments throughout the day, like while walking or commuting.

Google calls these smartphone moments micro-moments. They are shorter mobile sessions that occur throughout the day and are visible in the Google data: shoppers now spend 7% less time in each mobile session, yet smartphones' share of online purchases has gone up 64% over the last year, the Google research revealed. The days of "look on mobile but buy on the laptop" are changing: 30% of all online shopping purchases now happen on mobile phones.

Google describes micro moments as follows:

Micro moments are smartphone moments when consumers are very open to the influence of brands and retailers. These are the moments when shoppers want help informing their choices or making decisions. Theyre the moments when they turn to a device  often a smartphone  to take action on whatever they need or want right now.

"These I-want-to-know, I-want-to-go, I-want-to-buy, and I-want-to-do moments are loaded with intent, context, and immediacy."

For marketers, these moments are an open invitation to engage. And theyre the moments you have to be ready for.

The Google data also revealed that shopping-related searches on mobile have grown more than 120% year-over-year. Consumers are using their smartphones in all parts of the shopping process  starting with inspiration, then on through research and purchase. More and more retailers are finding that their shoppers are using their phones for research before hitting a store.

For instance, Target found that three-quarters of their customers start their experience on a mobile device. In fact, Casey Carl, chief strategy and innovation officer, considers mobile their new front door to the store. And its not just before the store when shoppers turn to their phone. This year, a whopping 82% of smartphone users will consult their phone while in a store. And people are searching 37% more inside department stores than they were last year.

All this Google data points to 2015 holiday shopping trends. It is insightful and actionable research, which marketers and their brands and retailers can use effectively to influence smartphone shopping decisions. Take advantage of the burgeoning shopping-related searches on mobile phones. As shopping decisions are made faster, and consumer expectations grow higher, retailers today have to keep a close watch on how customers find, research, and buy their products. Marketers who understand these new shopper patterns and focus on micro-moments of intent  on both mobile and video  will be more successful with customers this holiday season.

The data from the Google research concludes that today, you have to earn the customers consideration and action, moment after moment. Why?

Because people are more loyal to their need in the moment than to any brand.

Case in point:

65% of smartphone users agree that when conducting a search on their smartphones, they look for the most relevant information, regardless of the company providing the information. That makes micro moments the new battleground for brands and retailers. Here are three essential strategies that can help you win micro-moments:

Be there

Youve got to anticipate the micro moments for users in your industry and then commit to being there to help when those moments occur.

Be useful

Youve got to be relevant to consumers needs in the moment and connect people to the answers theyre looking for.

Be quick

Theyre called micro moments for a reason. Mobile users want to know, go, and buy swiftly. Your mobile experience has to be fast and frictionless.

2. Create a sense of urgency for your deals

This oldest trick in the book still works like a charm. It is a highly effective way to push hesitant prospects over the line and convert.

Limited stock only!

While stock lasts!

Offer ends tomorrow!

This weekend only!

The first 100 shoppers will get !

Offer time sensitive deals and start counting down.

1. Reward shoppers for visiting your brick-and-mortar stores

You have the best deals ever. You have the most incredible offers. But so do your competitors. Perhaps it is high time you incentivised and rewarded shoppers for visiting and purchasing at your stores. This will undoubtedly increase your store visits and purchases. Your campaign will standout and word of mouth will start spreading rapidly.

I am not talking about the current rewards programmes, which no longer appeal to shoppers. This is about immediate till point cash savings, whereby 5 to 10% of the shopper's grand total of their purchases is given back to them as money-back reward. Instant cash, at the till, after each purchase. Not accumulative rewards programmes that take forever before they become something tangible.

In August 2010 Shopkick, an American company based in Silicon Valley, created and launched a shopping app for smartphones and tablets that offer customers rewards for walking into stores. Yes, just for walking into stores.

It was the first mobile application that gave consumers rewards and exclusive deals in return for simply walking into a store.

Shopkicks location technology allows the app to verify the users presence inside any retail partners store. Beacons fixed to the stores ceiling emit an inaudible ultrasound signal at a frequency that can be picked up by a cell phones microphone. The Shopkick app decodes the signal and contacts Shopkicks database to work out where the user is in the store, and if they are eligible for a reward.

Consumers are going to shop anyway, they might as well go and shop where they will be rewarded for doing so. Do not fail to drive traffic to your stores by immediately rewarding shoppers at till point for shopping at your establishments:

"SAVE 10% AS MONEY-BACK REWARD ON YOUR ENTIRE SHOPPING WHEN YOU SHOP WITH US! WE GIVE YOU INSTANT CASH, AT THE TILL, AFTER EACH PURCHASE. Ts & Cs APPLY"

Your terms and conditions could stipulate that in order to be eligible, a minimum acceptable grand total amount must be reached.

Leave nothing to chance this holiday season

Image credit: Pinterest.com

December holidays still present golden opportunities to boost sales and make more profit. It is still the time of the year when people are most willing to spend for year-end celebrations. What you do not want is for your marketing promotions to appear to have reached a plateau.

Retail success is not confined only to weekend sales or one-day sales promotions. It is dependent on seamless daily, weekly and weekend promotions. Ensure that your retailers and brands are top of mind for the shoppers by being present throughout the entire shopper research period and at the time of purchase. Whether you embark on an aggressive promotional pricing, highly promotional and intensely competitive on price, or heavy rotation of holiday ads throughout December, delivering the exceptional value shoppers want is what will really drive consumers to your stores.
Nu Metro will launch its new Scene Xtreme cinema at Canal Walk on Wednesday, 14 December, boasting what is said to be the biggest cinema screen in the Western Cape.

Along with its laser projection technology, the cinema will include a Dolby Atmos sound system which features 360-degree sound, including overhead speakers a complete improvement on the limitations of current cinema sound. Xtreme cinemas also feature luxury recliner seating.

Scene Xtreme at Nu Metro Canal Walk will launch to public with a special pre-release screening of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story on Wednesday, 14 December at 8pm ahead of the films official South African release on 15 December. This means South Africans get an opportunity to see the new blockbuster two days before the US and most other countries internationally.

Showcasing films on a giant screen

Scene Xtreme cinemas are able to showcase films in full 4K ultra high definition (UHD) on a giant screen. 4K UHD is the highest resolution quality, but is even further enhanced by the precision and quality of the laser projector - which also significantly increases the onscreen quality of standard 2K films. Standard movie shows are in 2K HD 4K therefore means double the digital perfection, bringing viewers as close as possible to experiencing what they see onscreen in virtual reality.

Dolby Atmos sound system

Atmos soundtracks condense multiple levels of audio objects and moves away from the concept of channels for stereo or surround. The audio objects are processed with precision through an increased amount of speakers all around the cinema, including overhead speakers, combined with crystal clear digital reproduction enabling sound objects to literally be moved around in 3D space.

This ultra-realistic audiovisual Scene Xtreme-experience is further enhanced through RealDs Precision White Screen-technology (PWS) - delivering a much sharper, brighter and more realistic image compared to other standard cinema screens.

Premium pricing applies to shows in Scene Xtreme; loyalty discounts are not applicable. Bookings for the special pre-release screenings of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story on 14 December at 8pm, as well as all shows from 15 December, are now open.
SVA International Architects are nearing completion of the mammoth two-year, R420m upgrade of the Greenacres Shopping Centre.

The transformation of Port Elizabeth's retail icon is set to wrap up in the first half of next year.

The upgrade is one of the many transformations undertaken by the architectural firm, which has a long relationship with Greenacres, having been at the helm since the design of the original building for OK Bazaars (now Shoprite/Checkers), which opened in 1981.

Since the building of OK Bazaars on the grounds of the former Fairview Racecourse, Greenacres has grown into a 46500m shopping centre, being joined over the years by Shoprite, Woolworths and The Bridge.

Although the four entities are separately owned, they boast a combined gross lettable area of about 90000m.

Jannie Wagenaar, one of the SVA architects heading the project, said the revamp has taken Greenacres from an eighties icon and transformed it into a contemporary attraction with floating cantilevered roofs at its imposing entrances, an abundance of natural light and an airy atmosphere.

"When Greenacres opened its doors, the in-vogue shopping centre design was very much a heavy geometric-patterned style, with low ceilings and narrow passages," Wagenaar said.

"Over the years, shopping centres have developed into very social spaces, with wide, flowing walkways, high ceilings and lots of natural light. This is what the new Greenacres represents."

SVA associate and lead architect on the project, Shadley Ravat, says stores spill onto walkways with much less of a divide between them and the general public areas, which gives the effect of walking down a main shopping street.

"The combination of the relocated food court as a social and commercial connector, the bold entrances, new branding, and creative freedom given to SVA has resulted in a revitalised, contemporary renovation," he said.

Greenacres manager Brent Starr described the transformation as "night and day".

"It is a total overhaul, bringing in a clean, classic look and taking out all the clutter," he said.

Source: Herald
Brands that fail to meet customers' high expectations may see their market share slide.

Marketing is a multi-billion rand exercise in setting expectations. Adverts for efficient service, innovative products, reduced hassle, friendly staff  in all highly competitive markets, big promises (and budgets) abound.

South Africas consumer banking space is no different. Between them, the countrys retail banks spend billions annually on campaigns designed to captivate and delight. In the process, they set consumers expectations high  very high.

It is not enough merely to talk the talk, however. Enduring brand value is no guarantee of future success. Through a deep dive into the experiences and feelings customers shared about their banks on social media, using human verified sentiment analysis, it became clear that the ability to deliver positive customer experiences consistently was key to gaining traction  and possibly even market share.

The customer is king

Looking at a years worth of social media data relating to ABSA, Capitec, Nedbank, Standard Bank and FNB  the banks that dominate South Africas consumer banking space. Customers comments were analysed for both positive and negative sentiment, with service a particular focus.

Negative social sentiment towards SAs top five banks

As in all highly competitive markets, South Africas retail banking customers expected their bank to meet their expectations consistently. When banks failed to deliver, customers called them out.

The graph above plots negative sentiment  expressions of dissatisfaction by customers who were unhappy with their bank. As is clear, dissatisfaction was highly volatile over the period monitored (June 2015 to August 2016). Though the issues varied  including frustrations around card delays to more serious problems with accounts  no bank emerged as a clear leader.

Good vibrations

Data on positive sentiment, on the other hand (coming from customers who praised their banks online), paints a different picture. Looking at the most loved banks below, a single player  Capitec  emerges head and shoulders above its rivals.

Positive social sentiment towards SAs top five banks

Although positive sentiment surrounding other banks spiked in response to specific campaigns  Standard Bank, for example, saw a positive uptick in February off the back of youth-targeted events rolled out during university registration week, while August was positive for Nedbanks #talks4success series  Capitec retained a clear, consistent lead.

While not immune to criticism, Capitec was also the bank that fared best in terms of customer service. Referring to the graph below, Standard Bank and FNB, on the other hand, seem to have struggled in this arena, experiencing by far the most negative sentiment  criticism they were not able to counterbalance with great customer service experiences.

Social sentiment expressed towards banks based on customer service-related topics

Sentiment as a signal

It is possible to dismiss this kind of sentiment-based data as measuring only moment-in-time satisfaction or annoyance. A deeper insight, however, would be to regard it as a leading indicator  a measure of intent.

In competitive markets, customers can, after all, be expected to act. If they are disappointed and think that another company will offer better service, they will switch. Customers new to the market will be swayed too  a great review from a friend or family member might lead them to choose a product or service from provider A over B.

Fascinatingly, data released by the banks shows what appears to be a predictive relationship between social media sentiment and ultimate market share.

Between 2014 and 2015, Capitec, the bank that pleased its customers most over the study period, was also the bank that grew its customer base the fastest  by nearly 18% over a year, a rate that translates into the acquisition of a staggering 100,000 customers per month. Other banks, which were unable to match Capitecs positive regard as consistently, failed to achieve even 5% growth over the same period.

More interesting still, although FNB scooped the an award for strongest brand in South Africa for the fourth year running in 2015, it was found to be the second-worst performer in terms of social media sentiment around customer service. It was also the only bank of the five that actually saw its customer base shrink.

From sentiment to strategy

Understanding the relationship between consumer sentiment and action is a resource that companies can tap. Compellingly, in aggregate, accurate social media data may even be powerful enough to suggest where market share may be headed  possibly months in advance.

For companies, the conclusion is twofold. Not only can marketing efforts (and spending) be hollowed out by a failure to deliver on expectations, but intangible brand value shouldnt be relied upon to carry an organisation. Rather, what matters is brands ability to gain insight into customers wants and needs and to ensure they deliver consistently on those expectations.
STOCKHOLM - Swedish furniture giant Ikea on Wednesday announced a record annual net profit for its fiscal year 2015-2016, on strong sales of kitchen equipment and dining rooms.

The group posted a profit of 4.2 billion euros ($4.5 billion), up 20 percent from a year ago, despite having been taxed more heavily this financial year, which ended in August.

Slammed by Green European lawmakers for its "aggressive tax planning strategy", the Ikea Group said it paid 1.2 billion euros in corporate taxes worldwide, a tax rate of 21.6 percent compared to 18.9 percent the previous year.

The Dutch Ikea Group, which controls most of the brand's retail stores around the world, already reported in September that its turnover had jumped by 7.1 percent to 34.2 billion euros.

In local currencies, growth was 7.9 percent.

In 10 years, sales have almost doubled, while the number of stores has risen by just over half. In the meantime, Ikea has developed an online sales service, which now represents four percent of sales.

With nearly 400 stores in 48 countries, Ikea said it had 915 million visitors between September 2015 and August 2016.

Through a complex business structure, Ikea is entirely controlled by the family of its founder Ingvar Kamprad, a 90-year-old billionaire who started his business in 1943 in the Swedish countryside.

But the group also boasts a policy of profit sharing for its 183,000 employees.

In early December, it announced having invested an additional 108 million euros in company retirement plans for employees with five or more years of service.

Ikea Group has said it will pay 840 million euros of dividends to the Dutch INGKA charity foundation created by Kamprad.
Research is to be conducted to determine the size and structure of the film and media industry in in Cape Town and the Western Cape.

Wesgro and the City of Cape Town have announced the new research project and Grant Thornton will be leading a consortium to conduct the value chain baseline study.

This baseline research will coincide with the recently announced South African Film Industry (SAFI) economic baseline research, commissioned by the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF). Urban Econ will be conducting the Foundations research and, together with Grant Thornton, has been mandated to find ways to assess the national and provincial baselines in an aligned manner.

In a recent joint meeting, each strategised about avoiding interview fatigue by aligning the research teams contact lists in order to allow more companies to be interviewed. This strategy will add to the robustness of the baseline.

Wesgro CEO Tim Harris stated, This research will provide the industry much-needed clarity about its size and identify niches that need to be promoted, or intervention needed to drive growth.

City of Cape Town trade and investment director, Lance Greyling said, The study is also strategically relevant and will inform the City of Cape Town Film policy, which we hope will help drive the growth and transformation of the sector.

NFVF CEO, Zama Mkosi, believes that the research will help create an understanding of the business of film in South Africa and prove the industry as a lucrative contributor to the GDP and attract more investors. The NFVF aims to give a true reflection of the film and audio visual industry through the Economic Impact of the South African Film Industry Research and to ensure strategies and programmes that are responsive and effective, as well as to identify audience trends with a specific focus on local content.

We look forward to seeing the sectors comments and proposals once the research is concluded, and call on all film and media stakeholders to join the study and support these research projects.
EY's third instalment of its Africa Attractiveness programme for 2016 anticipates continued variable economic performance across Africa's sub-regions. This follows from the sharp downward revisions in overall growth forecasts this year, mainly reflecting challenging conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa's (SSA) three largest economies, Angola, Nigeria and South Africa.

Image by 123RF

Outside of these three economies, a number of bright spots remain, particularly in the East, Francophone and North African regions, where growth rates of 4% and above are still being achieved.

In 1H16, greenfield FDI projects in Africa were down 13.4%, but capital flows up 30% on 1H15 levels.

North Africas recovery in foreign direct investment (FDI) flows continues.

Asia-Pacific investors become more prominent, led by China and Japan.

With the upshot of multispeed growth and more discerning investors, a greater degree of unpredictability in FDI flows can be expected. It remains likely that there will be a relative slowdown in investment in SSA over the next 18 months, as investors adjust their investment strategies. This is apparent to some extent in the relatively slower FDI activity in the first half of 2016. There will also likely be shifts in FDI towards the countries that are continuing to grow robustly.

Lower FDI projects in 1H16, but capital and jobs continue growing

In 1H16, greenfield FDI projects in Africa were down 13.4% on 1H15 levels. However, the capital value of total investments across the continent rose 30%, with the average capital investment per project increasing from US97m to US$145m in 1H16. Similarly, job creation in Africa resulting from FDI projects was also up, rising 12.6% from 1H15 levels. This translates into a strong uptick in jobs created per FDI project, from an average165 in 1H15 to 214 jobs in 1H16. These capital- and job-intensive projects were largely directed toward two sectors: transport & logistics and RHC (real estate, hospitality and construction).

Michael Lalor, Africa Business Centre Leader at EY says, Investor sentiment towards Africa as an attractive investment destination is likely to remain somewhat softer over the next few years. This has far less to do with Africas fundamentals than it does with a world characterised by heightened geo-political uncertainty and greater risk aversion. Companies already doing business in Africa will continue to invest, but will probably exercise a greater degree of caution and be more discerning. Some will invest at a slower pace, looking to consolidate operations and drive profitability; while others are likely to double down on their investments, using this period of economic slowdown to further strengthen their positioning in key markets.

North Africas recovery in FDI flows continues

Within North Africa, Egypt remains the largest investment destination, posting a 32.4% increase in FDI projects over 1H15. Egypts FDI accounts for a 43% share of the sub-regions capital investment. During this period, there was notable growth in investment into two sectors, namely business services and RHC. Recent initiatives to allow the currency to float freely (rather than be managed by the central bank) will likely trigger greater investment. In addition, the policy change promises to attract new investments, as the practical realities of foreign exchange shortages disappear, enabling a more business friendly environment.

Asia-Pacific investors become more prominent, led by China and Japan

There has been a surge in investment from Asia-Pacific, with the region becoming the second largest - when measured by FDI projects, capital and job creation.

Chinese-sourced FDI into Africa saw a dramatic increase in 1H16 compared to 1H15. FDI projects were up a remarkable 209%, making China the third biggest investor in the continent. In fact, both capital investment and jobs created in 1H16 surpassed those recorded in any year since 2005.

Overall, however, Western Europe remains the largest regional investor in Africa, contributing 35.1% of FDI projects and 17.8% of capital investment in 1H16. At a country level, the US retained its lead with 13.1% of total FDI projects, focused mostly in TMT (Telecoms, media & technology) and transport & logistics.

Brexit and the US election could impact Africas FDI in the short term

The second half of 2016 remains difficult for Africa, although there are signs that the worst of the economic downturn are over. The commodity cycle remains weak, and both the UKs Brexit decision and the election of Donald Trump in the US have further contributed to uncertainty in investor sentiment. This could further impact FDI into Africa, particularly given the strong role both the US and UK already play, as major investors in Africa. Investors will likely adopt a more cautious approach as they wait for the implications of these events to take hold, and understand what this means for them.

Even so, Lalor concludes, by pointing out that any shorter term shifts in FDI levels will be cyclical rather than structural. We anticipate that FDI will continue to evolve, increasing diversification in terms of sources, destinations and sectors. Over the longer-term, as economic recovery gradually gathers pace, and as many African economies move through the maturity cycle, we anticipate that levels of FDI will remain robust and will continue to grow.
The Ohio bill contains a harmful provision, advanced by the pet store franchise Petland, to ban local governments from prohibiting the sale of puppy mill dogs in pet stores. Photo by Meredith Lee/The HSUS

987 shares







[Update (6/29/2018): Ohio governor signs landmark anti-puppy-mill law]

In Ohio, last night, it was the best of times and the worst of times. As the state legislature closed in on the end of its lame-duck session, state lawmakers gave final approval to a bill that became a veritable Christmas tree of issues, including three key animal-related measures (two of them very good and one very bad).

The bill, sub Senate Bill 331, criminalizes bestiality, the utterly repulsive practices of sexually assaulting animals and the trafficking of animals for sex. The bill also includes a separate provision to make cockfighting a felony offense  upgrading one of the weakest anti-cockfighting laws in a state that, for decades, has had more than its share of fighting enthusiasts and even some major pits. The new anti-cockfighting provision is the final element of a multi-pronged 2010 agreement we reached with the Ohio Farm Bureau, Ohio Poultry Association, and other agricultural commodity groups in the state. That agreement, which called for the phaseout of extreme confinement practices for veal calves and breeding sows, also called for a ban on keeping dangerous exotics as pets, and for felony-level penalties for cockfighting and the possession of fighting birds and paraphernalia. The win was achieved thanks to the leadership of State Rep. David Hall, who offered his cockfighting bill as an amendment in committee and won the vote there, setting the stage for passage of this long-sought provision when the entire package of bills was approved last night. Weve been working around the country to crack down on cockfighting, especially in the so-called cockfighting corridor, and, if Gov. John Kasich signs the bill, Ohio will become the 43rd state to enact felony-level penalties.

The bad news is, that same bill contains a provision, advanced by the Ohio-based pet store franchise Petland, to ban local governments from prohibiting the sale of puppy mill dogs in pet stores. Petland, the largest puppy-selling pet store chain in the country, pursued this bill after local lawmakers in the Ohio town of Grove City passed an ordinance requiring a Petland store to only source dogs from shelters and rescues. This community joined many other jurisdictions around the nation, including Toledo, in restricting the sale of dogs from mills. Rather than working with animal welfare groups to achieve a statewide compromise on common-sense buying standards for pet stores, the pet industry simply worked to block local communities from having any say in the matter. We are urging Gov. Kasich, who has been a supporter of animal welfare and a critic of puppy mills, to issue a line-item veto and strike this provision.

Especially as our successes have increased, weve seen repeated efforts by animal-use industries to disable the fundamental mechanisms of government, and this is just the latest example. In Oklahoma, we just fought off an effort to create a constitutional right to farm last month  a measure that sought to forbid the state and local governments from restricting agricultural practices, except if there is a compelling state interest. There have been repeated efforts to make the ballot initiative process unusable for us and other organizations and individuals; for example, Colorado just made constitutional ballot initiatives almost impossible to advance. At the federal level, Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, has repeatedly tried to preempt state laws to restrict animal cruelty laws. And now, with the Petland bill, we are seeing an attempt to bar local government from protecting dogs at risk from inhumane puppy mill operations. In short, these attempts to restrict democratic decision-making are coming from all angles.

The largest and most successful pet store chains in the country do not sell puppies, but instead partner with shelters and rescues to offer adoptions. Rather than convert to a humane model, Petland and other outliers have been fighting us not just in Ohio but throughout the nation on attempts to restrict the sale of puppy mill dogs. Within the last two years, more than 200 localities have taken action to crack down on puppy mills, partly because state legislatures with the highest concentration of mills wont tackle the problems in a serious-minded way. And while the U.S. Department of Agriculture has taken some important actions  including bringing Internet sellers under its regulatory authority  the federal standards of care for puppy mill dogs are far too weak. Local governments have stepped in to fill the void.

If this pro-puppy-mill provision becomes law, The HSUS will likely work with allies throughout Ohio and launch a comprehensive ballot measure to address puppy mill issues in the state. But we hope that Gov. Kasich exerts his authority and issues that line-item veto. We have thousands of locally elected officials for a reason. Its especially appropriate for them to take action on puppy mill issues, since its local governments that bear the burden of sheltering homeless animals and conducting other animal care and control activities. Local governments spend more than a billion dollars on animal care each year, as a complement to what private animal protection charities do, and its their duty to stem the flow of ill or genetically compromised animals and also to promote adoption, so they can relieve local agencies of the burdens of housing so many homeless animals.

So its great news on cockfighting and bestiality, but bad news for puppy mill dogs. Gov. Kasich, with a surgical signing and line-item veto, can give animal welfare advocates and animals a hat trick.
Every year on January first, the moment I wake up I head to the window to see what my first bird of the New Year will be. My hope is us...
eas rotary laf college.jpeg

Easton Rotarians have been instrumental in supporting a program at Lafayette College that helps students in the island nation of Madagascar.

(Special to Lehighvalleylive.com)

Donovan Rasamoelison, left, a sophomore at Lafayette College, accepts a donation from Easton Rotary Club President R.C. Smith.

The funds will be used to install Wi-Fi in a classroom in Madagascar, where a mentoring program with Lafayette students works with high school students.

The program is called LIME and Easton Rotary has been instrumental in its establishment.

Do you have community or education news to share? To see it posted here and possibly in The Express-Times, send me an email.
Museveni -- U.S.-backed dictator in power since Ronald Reagan was in office

[Black Star Editorial]

The recent massacre in the Kasese countryside and in the palace of as many as 200 unarmed loyalists to the Omusinga Mubembere, the traditional king of the Rwenzururu people in Uganda, can only be understood in the context of the countless mass killings ordered by Gen. Yoweri Museveni since he seized power 32 years ago when Ronald Reagan was still president.

Now "A Brilliant Genocide" a documentary film by Australian filmmaker Ebony Butler about Gen. Museveni's pattern of mass killings is about to be broadcast globally by RT television, on December 9, 10 and 11.

The film has shown at several U.S. and European film festivals and won many awards (see www.abrilliantgenocide.com)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mE-a-fbv_CM

Since coming to power with U.S.-backing and when Ronald Reagan was still in office massacres have been Gen. Museveni's language in politics. There is no need to speak with opposition, including legitimate ones, or to negotiate, when he has the barrel of the gun.

The massacres started early during his regime and extended to when he invaded neighboring countries.

In Uganda the list is long but a short one includes killing fields citizens are familiar with since he has a tendency of bragging about some of them: Corner Kilak; Mukura; Karamoja; and, Kayunga-crisis.

Gen. Museveni then exported the mass killings when his army invaded Rwanda in 1990 and deposed Juvenal Habyarimana who was also assassinated in 1994 when his plane was shot down by a missile that the New York Times reported was provided to the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) by Uganda, which in turn obtained them from the United States.

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/07/world/fateful-crash-in-africa-link-to-...

The Habyarimana assassination sparked the genocidal killings of an estimated 800,000 Rwandans in interethnic violence between the majority Hutus and Tutsis.

Gen. Museveni's army invaded Congo and deposed dictator Mobutu then occupied eastern Congo to plunder resources; massacres were committed in several regions or cities including Ituri and Kisangani. Warfare has never stopped in Congo since then and an estimated six million people have perished. Uganda was found liable for atrocities and resource plunder and ordered to pay $10 billion to Congo by the world court; not a dime has been paid.

Gen. Museveni's troops invaded South Sudan in 2014 and upset the delicate political arrangement that had installed Salva Kiir president and Riek Machar Vice President. Even though Museveni succeeded in forcing Machar into exile in favor of his puppet Kiir, massacres were committed in a Juba and South Sudan has plunged into horrific civil war with mass rapes as a weapon of war.

Although the documentary "A Brilliant Genocide," focuses on the killings by Gen. Museveni's soldiers in the northern part of Uganda beginning in 1986 as the army fought insurgencies the documentary reveals that the elements of the atrocities have been consistent whether the crimes were in Uganda, Rwanda, Congo or South Sudan: mass killings of civilian populations to create fear; rapes of women as well as men to humiliate the families and in the earlier years to spread HIV-Aids; and, forcing people to flee their homes then plundering resources, including land, minerals and livestock.

So far major global media have either downplayed or outright ignored the atrocities committed by Gen. Museveni's regime because he's served Western interests, including deployment of troops in Somalia to support the war against al-Shabab, or the plunder of neighboring Congo's resources.

Now much of the world will get to find out more about the true nature of the regime when "A Brilliant Genocide" broadcasts over a three-day period beginning December 9, 2016 on RT News which has 35 million daily viewers.

In Uganda RT is available in the Sheraton Kampala Hotel and on satellite https://www.rt.com/where-to-watch/Uganda/

Please Check www.rt.com for the broadcast time schedule in your country.

In Britain please follow the link https://www.rt.com/where-to-watch/Great-Britain/

In the United States RT viewing is available through the Channels listed below -- you can also follow the link for additional outlets.

https://www.rt.com/where-to-watch/USA/

Westbay Invest Inc

Comcast Seattle Metropolitan Area

Cablevision Hamilton (via Mind TV)

Cablevision Monmouth Co. (via Mind TV)

Comcast Washington DC Metro Area (via MHz)

Time Warner Cable NYC and Northern New Jerse

Cox Cable Washington DC Metro Area (via MHz)

Channel Master LLC

Comcast Sacramento and Central California

RCN Cable Washington DC Metro Area (via MHz)

Verizon Fios Washington DC Metro Area (via MHz)

Verizon Fios Philadelphia (via Mind TV)

Buckeye CableSystem

Yip TV

Time Warner Cable Greater Los Angeles

Time Warner Cable San Diego and North County

Comcast Chicago and Midwest region

Comcast Philadelphia Metropolitan Area (via Mind TV)

Comcast San Francisco Greater San Francisco Bay Area
Lets start off with what will likely be taken poorly by U.S. workers According to at least one company, you get paid more to be less loyal and show up to work less often than your Mexican counterparts.

Specifically, Gregory Hayes, the CEO of Carriers parent company United Technologies told Jim Cramer of CNBC:

So whats good about Mexico? We have a very talented workforce in Mexico. Wages are obviously significantly lower. About 80% lower, on average. But absenteeism runs about 1%. Turnover runs about 2%. Very, very dedicated workforce.

That turnover rate means almost no retraining and compares to the U.S. rate in manufacturing of between 9% for voluntary and 15% for total turnover.

Put another way, the U.S. is a poor choice for manufacturing for a laundry list of reasons which include taxes, regulation and the workers themselves.

However the U.S. elected Donald Trump on a platform of bringing jobs to the U.S.  especially in the rust belt and he has been making good on this promise like no other president has made good on a promise. And thats before hes even gotten into office.

Specifically, Carrier will keep 1,100 jobs in the U.S. and US Steel could bring 10,000 jobs back.

The logical benefactor of a Trump presidency is Foxconn because U.S. companies will be able to shutter jobs in the U.S. by outsourcing work to this super-successful contract-manufacturer. Its a less obvious way of moving your manufacturing to a lower cost area. Of course Trump would eventually target Foxconn in retaliation  call them out, etc. He would make their life a living hell for being the reason U.S. jobs are disappearing.

This is why it was very smart of the company to be part of the recent Softbank investment in the U.S.  a staggering $50+ billion will be put into the American economy.

Another 50,000 plus jobs will be created as a result!

By making this news and announcement now, Foxconn insulates itself against negative tweets and comments from our new commander-in-chief in the future.

Photo courtesy of CNN

The results will likely be a win for U.S. workers because some new jobs will come back to the U.S. and at the same time Foxconn gets to continue outsourcing globally to lower cost areas.

The biggest winner will be the shareholders at companies who continue to close U.S. factories and use Foxconn instead to make their products less expensively.
Day 6

Tonight we would stay at a small hotel in Urubamba. The reasons we chose this hotel were:

#1. Urubamba is a convenient stop for visiting Sacred Valley.

#2. The hotel had really good reviews, and they helped guests to arrange taxi for sightseeing.

I contacted the hotel through booking.com before the trip, asking if they could arrange a taxi to pick us up at our Cusco hotel and go through Saqsaywaman to Pisac for sightseeing before driving us to Urubamba. The owner of the hotel, Carlos, replied yes, it would cost $55 (cash), and he would come to Cusco to pick us up himself.

So this morning Carlos came to pick us up. He is a really nice guy, speaks enough English to communicate, and would use Google Translate to translate whatever he couldn't say. He drove us to Saqsaywaman, then Q'enqo, Puka Pukara, Tambomachay, and finally Pisac before driving us to his home / hotel in Urubamba.

1. Cusco from Saqsaywaman.

2. Saqsaywaman.

3. We didn't plan to hire a guide at Saqsaywaman. But this man came to us and said he had been a guide for a long time, and his English seemed not too hard to understand, so we hired him for 60 Soles. It was worth it (last about an hour). He showed us things we wouldn't have noticed, answered questions and helped us taking pictures.

4. Our guide said there used to be three buildings here, but now only the foundation stones too large to be easily moved remain. The smaller stones were used for building Cuzco by the Spaniards in the 16th century.

5. Cusco from Saqsaywaman.

6. Saqsaywaman.

7. Saqsaywaman.

8. Saqsaywaman.

9. Saqsaywaman.

10. The largest stone in Saqsaywaman.

11. 11-angled stone, Saqsaywaman.

12. Puma paw, Saqsaywaman.

13. Saqsaywaman.

14. Saqsaywaman.

15. Saqsaywaman.

16. Q'enqo.

17. Q'enqo.

18. Puka Pukara.

19. Puka Pukara.

20. Puka Pukara.

21. Tambomachay.

22. Tambomachay.

23. Sacred Valley.

24. Pisac Ruins.

25. Pisac Ruins.

26. Hiking at Pisac Ruins.

27. Pisac Ruins.

28. Pisac Ruins.

29. Pisac Ruins.

30. Pisac Ruins.

31. Tuk tuk parked at Pisac Ruins parking lot.

32. Eating a late lunch at Pisac main square.

33. We had alpaca ribs and alpaca skewers. They tasted good, but boy alpaca meat is tough, my jaw was tired after eating these.

We finally arrived in Urubamba around 5 pm. Carlos's wife greeted us when we arrived at the hotel. She was really nice too. Their hotel is a 2-story building with 8 rooms total. We were the only guests that night. Carlos said April to October is the high season. November is the low season which is why we came at this time.

34. Carlos's kitchen and dining room from the hotel building. Carlos and his wife live in a house behind the kitchen.

35. Carlos's yard.

(To be continued)
In 1937 the Government of Afghanistan purchased 24 aircraft from Italy. Provision was made for an Italian Air Mission to be deputed to Kabul for the purpose of assembling and maintaining the aircraft, and for training Afghan personnel. The Political (External) Department of the India Office maintained a file to keep track of the situation.

This development placed the Italians in direct competition with Britain and caused concern amongst British policy makers. Hawker Aircraft Limited had recently negotiated the sale of eight Hind aircraft to the Afghan Air Force, and was similarly engaged with supplying its own instructors for the same purpose.

Hawker Hind - British official photographer: Imperial War Museum  IWM (ATP 8882B)

British policy favoured the maintenance of a stable, independent, and friendly Afghanistan as the best means of securing its Indian Empire. Meanwhile, Afghan officials feared being outclassed in the event of war by a larger Iranian Air Force, but lacked the resources and expertise to compete with their neighbour. British policy makers were therefore in favour of the development of a small but efficient air force in Afghanistan for internal security purposes, being both within Afghan means and no threat to India. Their strategy for achieving this lay with encouraging the Afghans to develop their air force along the lines of the Royal Air Force using supplies from British sources.

The Afghan authorities had expressed an interest in purchasing British aircraft as far back as 1935. However, the demands of Britain's own re-armament programme limited the number of aircraft which could be supplied to Afghanistan. Restrictions over the credit which could be provided to Afghanistan by the Government of India provided a further limitation. Thus the British were hardly in a position to object when the Afghans turned to the Italians to fulfil their requirements.

The British feared that the Italians would send out an imposing mission to Kabul in view of the larger number of aircraft being supplied, and considered sending out a senior British officer to bolster the British mission. Such fears turned out to be unfounded, the maximum size of the Italian mission being seven personnel to Hawkers four.

The result was a scene at Kabuls aerodrome described as peculiar by William Kerr Fraser-Tytler, Britain's Minister at Kabul. An Italian delegation was assembling and testing aircraft next to a similarly engaged British contingent, while two German mechanics were busy restoring Junkers aircraft supplied in previous years to serviceable condition.

1938 would however turn the situation entirely to Britain's advantage. The Italian aircraft sold to the Afghans were powered by engines entirely unsuitable for use at high altitude, and were easily outperformed by Hawkers Hinds which were much more suited to Afghan conditions. The Italian supplied aircraft experienced difficulties taking off, and were not able to carry a full load. As a result, crashes and forced landings were common, and the aircraft became unpopular with Afghan pilots.

Hawker Hind - Afghanistan Air Force. Image via Wikimedia (copyright Alan D R Brown)

The Italian Mission was withdrawn in 1939, following the German instructors who had been withdrawn the previous year. Thus Britain was left as the only nation maintaining an air mission at Kabul during the Second World War. Fraser-Tytler was entirely happy with developments and claimed in a dispatch dated 10 May 1938 to the Foreign Office that This practical demonstration of British superiority could not have been achieved had we been alone in the field.

Britain had thus achieved an advantageous position in Afghanistan. However the outbreak of the Second World War, and subsequent restrictions on Britains ability to supply aircraft and equipment, meant this position could not be fully capitalised on.

Robert Astin

Content Specialist, Archivist

British Library / Qatar Foundation Partnership

Further reading:

British Library, Coll 5/48 Afghanistan: Supply of military aircraft to the Afghan Government; Supply of maps etc. to the Afghan Govt. IOR/L/PS/12/2001

British Library, Coll 5/53 Afghanistan: Employment of British nationals in various branches of the Afghan air services; Air instructors contracts IOR/L/PS/12/2006

British Library, Coll 5/53(2) Afghanistan: Employment of British nationals in various branches of Afghan air services; Air instructors contracts IOR/L/PS/12/2007

British Library, Coll 5/55 Afghanistan: Supply of Aircraft to Afghan Govt: Contract between Air Ministry & Hawker Aircraft Ltd IOR/L/PS/12/2009

British Library, Coll 5/55(2) Afghanistan: Supply of aircraft to the Afghan Govt. Supply of spare parts IOR/L/PS/12/2010 IOR/L/PS/12/2010

British Library, Coll 5/55(2) Afghanistan: Supply of aircraft to the Afghan Govnt. Supply of spare parts IOR/L/PS/12/2011

British Library, Coll 5/60(1) Afghanistan: Purchase of aircraft from foreign sources (1) Italy (2) Germany IOR/L/PS/12/2020




In its report on December 6, SHRF said the first incident occurred at about 8am on November 13, when a Burmese army unit, Light Infantry Battalion 119, stopped over in the village of Wan Koong Pao, Ei Nai tract, in the Mong Yen area of Lashio district.

Three villagers  identified as Lung Hla Win, aged 64, Sai Nyunt, 25, and Sai Tun, 16  were accused of trying to pass information to Shan rebels, and were badly beaten.

They were speaking loudly because Lung Hla Win is hard of hearing. They were talking about travelling to Mong Yen, said the report. Some Burmese soldiers accused them of trying to pass information to Shan rebels, detailing the Burmese troops movements so they could lay landmines along the route. So the soldiers beat them up.

Then on November 16, a villager named Sai Ai Hsai, 40, from Mong Yen area, was reportedly shot in the right thigh by a soldier from Burmese army Battalion 69 while he was returning home from the jungle. He was taken to Lashio hospital for treatment.

People here have been oppressed for a long time, said Sai Hor Hseng, the spokesperson for SHRF. When they [the Burmese army] come to these villages, they arbitrarily torture people and do anything they want. They do not protect civilians; instead, they threaten them.

Sai Hor Hseng said that even though the country is now run by a civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyis National League for Democracy (NLD), human rights violations are continuing.

The military continues to abuse villagers in any way they want, he said, while the government appears powerless to stop them.

 These four villagers did not get any compensation, said Sai Hor Hseng. Nor did the soldiers involved receive any punishment.

He added: These four villagers were lucky to survive.

According to a 2015-16 Amnesty International annual report: Members of the [Burmese] security forces continued to violate human rights with near-total impunity. Investigations into human rights violations by the security forces were rare, and when they did occur they lacked transparency and independence.

 Perpetrators were seldom held to account. Victims and their families continued to be denied their rights to justice, truth and reparation.

The report concluded: State officials, including members of the security forces, remained protected from prosecution for past human rights violations by immunity provisions in the 2008 Constitution.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 230,000 people in Burma have become internally displaced across the country since 2015. About 100,000 of these IDPs fled from conflict in Kachin and northern Shan states.

By Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN)
According to Shan State Chief Minister Dr. Linn Htut, MPs will discuss the circumstances and effects of the ongoing conflict, as well as the budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year and development issues.

Speaking at a parliamentary session of the lower house in Naypyidaw on December 2, Home Affairs Minister Lt-Gen Kyaw Swe said that the so-called Northern Alliance  comprising the Arakan Army (AA); Kachin Independence Army (KIA); Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA); and Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA)  should be classified as a terrorist organization in accordance with the law.

The Shan State assembly has begun the discussions on that issue on Monday. Although parliamentary details are yet to be announced, the debate is scheduled to last four days.

The recent conflict was ignited after the ethnic alliance launched coordinated offensives against Burmese army and police outposts on November 20. Thereafter, clashes have broken out in the Muse Township villages of 105-Mile, Mong Koe and Parng Zai, as well as in Namkham and Kutkai townships.

Hostilities have intensified, particularly in Mong Koe, a town on the Shan-China border. According to a statement published on December 5 by the Northern Alliance, the Burmese military launched offensives using heavy weapons including airstrikes by fighter jets in residential areas. The ethnic militias claim that schools, religious buildings and homes were destroyed in the raids.

Four people were killed and two others injured, read the statement.

On December 1, Shan Herald reported that a group of 70 people from Mong Koe had reportedly been arrested by Burmese troops while en route to a wedding.

According to the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services on Sunday, the Burmese army has now retaken control of Mong Koe town from the ethnic rebels.

Since November 23, about 10,000 people have fled their homes to escape the spreading hostilities. Many sought refuge in makeshift shelters in Muse, while others crossed the border into China. Last week, several hundred villagers returned home, though another 700 remain camped inside religious buildings across Muse Township.

By Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN)
By Alyson Klein and Arianna Prothero

Betsy DeVos, President-elect Donald Trumps pick to lead the U.S. Department Education, has a long and controversial record of advocating for school choice nationally, but especially in her home state of Michigan. DeVos and her family members have collectively spent tens of millions of dollars to further the issue.

Whats her win/loss record? What kinds of tactics does she use? And why did she even get involved in education in the first place? We break it down in this timeline.

1980s - Early inspirationBetsy DeVos and her husband, Dick, then the parents of school-aged children, visit Potters House Christian School in Grand Rapids, a private religious school that intentionally serves a diverse student body. Betsy DeVos credits this visit with awakening her to the power of school choice, including for parents who she said were struggling financially. We met parents who were doing everything in their power to have their kids in an environment that was safe, where they were learning, and where the atmosphere was just electric with curiosity, with love for one another, she told the Philanthropy Roundtable in 2013 .

1993 - Charter schools The DeVoses helped support a drive by then-Gov. John Engler to overhaul school funding in the state. The effort, which was ultimately successful, also allowed for the creation of charter schools.

2000 - Voucher amendment defeatedThe DeVoses launched an effort to change Michigans constitution, which restricts public funds from being used for religious purposes . Their amendment would have required the state to pay for tuition vouchers to students in districts where fewer than two-thirds of kids graduate from high school, or in places where local voters approved the idea.

The states Republican governor, John Engler, didnt think the proposal reached enough studentsand he openly worried that it could backfire, driving Democrats to the polls to vote it down and costing Republicans seats in the legislature. The DeVoses spent at least $12.9 million in support of the proposal, more than double the $6 million spent by the teachers unions to defeat it. But it went down, 69 to 31 percent.

The DeVoses though, were undeterred. Later that year, they gave an interview at the Gathering, a conference of wealthy Christians, and cast the struggle for expanding school choice in biblical terms. More on that in a story from Politico, which was the first to release the interview.

After the voucher amendment defeat, the DeVoses created the Great Lakes Education Project, an advocacy organization and political action committee, to continue promoting their education policy goals in Michigan.

2006 - Gubernatorial runDick DeVos, a Republican, ran for governor against Jennifer Granholm, the Democratic incumbent. His platform included greater school choice, but also merit pay for teachers an idea that Trump would pitch on the campaign trail 10 years later. Dick DeVos also embraced a proposalbacked by a number of Republicans nationally at the timethat would have required at least 65 percent of school funding to go directly to the classroom. And he wanted to create alternative-certification programs to help math and science professionals earn teaching certification quickly.

At around the same time, the DeVos family started the All Children Matter political action committee, which sought to support pro-voucher candidates in at least 10 states . Their efforts targeted anti-voucher Republicans in high places such as a moderate state senator in Arizona, Toni Hellon, who chaired her chambers K-12 legislative committee.

And the group didnt necessarily stick to education. At times, they would tie candidates they wanted to defeat to other issues, such as immigration or same-sex marriage. In an interview with Education Week, Greg Brock, All Children Matters executive director, said teachers unions and political parties use similar tactics.

2011 - Charter schools expandedRepublicans captured both the governors mansion and legislature in the 2010 election, and in late 2011, the state passed legislation that lifted the cap on charter schools and create a pilot program for online charter schools. The bill was backed by the Great Lakes Educational Project. Although initially there was a limit of two schools in the cyber charter pilot, lawmakers lifted the cap on that number a year later.)

The legislation included no constraints on the proliferation of poor quality charter schools, said John Austin, a Democrat and the president of the Michigan State Board of Education in an interview with Education Week. He said that the legislation was in part informed by this mania to take down the traditional public school establishment. Those efforts he said are not educating kids but [are] succeeding in sapping the political strength of school districts.

But GLEPs executive director, Gary Naeyaert, pushes back against that characterization, saying neither GLEP nor DeVos believe that school choice will solve every issue.

One of the biggest fallacies out there is that Betsy DeVos would eliminate the traditional system, he said. Were an alternative, not a replacement. We would never stop a parent from choosing a district school. Were for parental choice.

2016 - Detroit districts bailoutEarlier this year, state lawmakers approved a $617 million rescue package for financially-foundering Detroit Public Schools. The legislation did not have the backing of any lawmakers from the Motor City, according to the Detroit Free Press, in part because the final bill rejected a move to create a Detroit Education Commission, which would have had oversight over some charter and public schoolsin particular where charter campuses can locate. GLEP lobbied against that piece of the legislation, calling it unneeded bureaucracy.

What we didnt do was accept an anti-choice Detroit education commission, which was proposed as a mayoral-appointed group that would have tsar-like control of the opening, the closing, and the location of every school in the city, said Naeyaert.

But Austin described GLEP as strong-arming lawmakers who are hesitant to back the organizations prioritieson previous legislation involving charter schools and the most recent rescue package for Detroit.

These legislators were told, if you dont go along with this vote, were gonna finance a primary opponent for you and youre going to be out of a job, said Austin.

How Are Charter Schools Doing in Michigan?

A 2013 national study of charter school performanc e from Stanford Universitys Center for Educational Outcomes found that Michigan charter school students gained an average of 43 days in reading and math compared to their district school counterparts.

But, a 2014 investigation by the Detroit Free Press came to a different conclusion , finding that regular public schools perform slightly better than charters when student poverty is taken into account. And the newspapers investigation found that its extraordinarily difficult to close low-performing charters in Michigan. The Free Press also cited instances of questionable financial managementfor instance, one Michigan charter gave an administrator a severance package worth more than half a million dollars in taxpayer money.

(You can read more about how Betsy DeVos helped shape Michigans charter school sector, and how its doing, here .)

Related stories:
The motion was proposed yesterday by Aung Thu, an MP from the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) representing Lashio Township, and was brought forward for debate and a vote today. The proposal that the ethnic coalition be deemed a terrorist group could effectively disenfranchise it from other parties and armed groups in the region. The motion passed by 63 votes in favor to 45 objections.

Speaking to Shan Herald after the emergency assembly session in state capital Taunggyi, Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) MP Nang San San Aye said, This motion had been proposed at a union level and failed. That is why it was brought before us here [Shan State government] today. It was passed because they [USDP] have more representatives in the parliament. Thats why they won.

She pointed out that 20 MPs did not attend the parliamentary session and therefore did not vote.

As for us [SNLD MPs], we objected to the initial motion to debate the proposal in the state assembly, Nang San San Aye said. However, they could not find an alternative to proclaiming them [Northern Alliance] terrorists.

She concluded: Im afraid that by doing this, it will make things worse.

Deputy Defence Minister Gen. Sein Win had earlier submitted a similar proposal during a lower house of parliament session in Naypyidaw on December 2. The proposal was rejected.

Since November 20, four ethnic armed groups  Arakan Army (AA), Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), and Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA)  began launching coordinated attacks on Burmese military positions in the areas of Muse, Namkham and Kutkai townships. Last week, the coalition began referring to itself as the Northern Alliance.

Khun Tun Oo, the chairman of the SNLD, the second largest political party in the Shan State government, said that labeling the Alliance a terrorist group will ultimately destroy the peace process. He echoed his colleague Nang San San Ayes sentiment that todays decision will only makes things worse.

By Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN)
I never knew the world has different terms for different nationalisms until the 19-25 November issue of The Economist recently reached my hands.

Of course, having been in and out of Thailand for more than 45 years, I know my cousins have their own separate terms: kinship by blood (nati-thang-sailued) and kinship by principles and laws (nati-thang-dhamma) accepted within a diverse and broad community. What the Thais call Chart (Nation) comprises both kinships.

According to Michael Ignatieff, Canadian politician and academic, Ethnic Nationalism and Civic Nationalism can be compared in the following way:

In addition, says The Economist, civic nationalism unites the country around common values, such as freedom and equality, to accomplish things that people could never manage alone. It contrasts with ethnic nationalism, which is zero-sum, aggressive and nostalgic and which draws on race or history to set the nation apart. In its darkest hour in the first half of the 20th century, ethnic nationalisms led to war.

Our present leaders, as well as their predecessors, perhaps with the exception of Aung San, who started out during British rule with ethnic nationalism seem to think they have developed to civic nationalism, by dumping Burma which the pre-Independence legislature had adopted, and restyling the country Myanmar without bothering to ask the nation. They should find out the truth about themselves by allowing the non-Bamars (or, non-Burmans, or non-Burmese) to rule for a while, and re-examine their feelings about being civic nationalists under non-Burmans dominance.

The truth that is going to emerge is not what our leaders may anticipate:

Whatever theyve been saying about Myanmar being an all embracing label for the diverse ethnicities of the country, at heart they themselves are still Bamar

That as long as they are not giving up their own ethnic nationalism, it will not be fair for them to urge the non-Burmans to get rid of their narrow minded racism, like they tried to do at the 21st Century Panglong. Perhaps our leaders still need somebody to remind them a leader only leads by example, not words

Fortunately, our Burmese rulers are not alone. Once again, the world has returned to ethnic nationalisms with leaders like Donald Trump, Narendra Modi, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the likes.

But unfortunately, this resurgence of ethnic nationalism will not guarantee world peace, let alone peace in Burma, but will only push the whole planet toward war and destruction.
Let us look at the whole peace process of this some five years, four under the Thein Sein government and some nine months now under the NLD regime, headed by its de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, that has inherited it from its predecessor.

In order to do this, let us dwell on the premises of NCA, as both the Thein Sein and Suu Kyi governments have made it a cornerstone and guiding principles to achieve the desired result that would usher the country its people to a new harmonious political system that all could live with, fulfilling national reconciliation and most importantly, a durable political settlement along ethnic lines and diverse political aspirations of the major stakeholders.

Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement

The Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) text, agreed on 6 August and signed on 31 October 2015, has a preamble and seven chapters, with 33 clauses and 86 sub-clauses containing 104 specific provisions and running to twelve pages in the English version. Key provisions are: Preamble, Basic principle, Aims and Objectives, Ceasefire Related Matters, Maintaining and Strengthening Ceasefire, Guarantees for Political Dialogue and Future Tasks, and Miscellaneous.

The International Crisis Groups (ICG) report of 16 September 2015, just prior to the signing of NCA, correctly spelled out the challenges which the negotiators would face ahead, which are still valid today after one year of inking the agreement. It said: Finalization of a draft NCA text was a significant step but meant as only the first in the process, with long, difficult political dialogue needed before a comprehensive peace agreement  the Union Accord  could be reached. Many of the most challenging issues, including what form of federalism might be envisaged, how revenue sharing would be done and the future status of the armed groups and their possible integration into the military were deferred to the political dialogue. So too were some technical military issues on ceasefire monitoring and code of conduct

The report further pin-pointed the agreements weakness and difficulties in implementing it on the ground, concluding with perhaps a possible ray of false hope that it might as well succeed. The report stated: Thus the text is neither a classic ceasefire agreement  many of the military issues such as force separation, demarcation and verification are vague, or not included, or would require further agreement to come into force  nor is it a political agreement, as it references many political issues but defers detailed discussion. This hybrid status reflects the genesis of the document and the diverse set of actors and priorities around the peace table, as well as political constraints. As a ceasefire document, this means it is very weak, but as experts have pointed out, this does not mean the peace process cannot succeed, as there are many examples of comprehensive peace accords being negotiated while fighting continued.

In sum, it could be said that the NCA is not only concerned with ceasefire alone but also issues relating to the formation of future political system formation, although nothing is quite clear on how to go about with it, at the moment, given the convoluted nature of the contemporary political landscape.

How NCA is managed

Looking at the chart flow on NCA management, one would see Joint Implementation Coordination Meeting (JICM) is the highest organ that delegates the Joint Monitoring Committee  Union-level (JMC-U) regarding ceasefire implementation and Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC) responsible for political dialogue and directing the whole peace process undertaking.

JICM is made up of two groups with 8 members each. One is the government, parliament and military combined and the other the signatory EAOs.

The JMC-U is made up of three groups. The two groups with 10 members each are the government, parliament and military combined and the other, the signatory EAOs. In addition, 3 civilian representatives each chosen by the military and the signatory EAOs, making 6 altogether also are included.

The UPDJC is made up of three groups, each with 16 members. The three groups are the government, parliament and military combined, the signatory EAOs, and political parties. It is the highest organ in directing the countrys political dialogue, including the convening of Union Peace Conference (UPC) or 21st Century Panglong.

The actual signing of NCA

On 15 October 8 EAOs signed the NCA in Naypyitaw, while the rest that made up 13 others refused to sign. The official count of the EAOs is 21, while the government only recognized 15 altogether.

They are Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), Chin National Front (CNF), Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA), Karen Peace Council (KPC), Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), Karen National Union (KNU), New Mon State Party (NMSP), Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO), and Shan State Progress Party (SSPP), which are Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) members that have signed bilateral ceasefire agreement with the government and invited to sign the NCA.

The only NCCT member that has no ceasefire agreement with the government, but invited to sign the NCA is the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO).

The non-NCCT members that have bilateral ceasefire agreements with the government and invited to sign the NCA are All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF), National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), National Socialist Council of Nagaland  Khaplang (NSCN-K), Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) and United Wa State Army (UWSA).

EAOs that have no bilateral ceasefire agreement with the government and not invited to sign the NCA are Arakan Army (AA), Arakan National Council (ANC), Lahu Democratic Union (LDU), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Wa National Organization (WNO).

These 6 excluded EAOs are members of the UNFC, a 12 ethnic armies alliance, which since the signing of NCA some of its original members like the KNU has opted to suspend  not resign  its membership, while the CNF and PNLO were expelled. In addition, the MNDAA and TNLA have asked for resignation but the UNFC has not taken decision on the issue up to this days. Thus, the actual membership count of the UNFC is not clear, although to date many referred to it as a 7 member ethnic army alliance.

The NCA signatories are ABSDF, ALP, CNF, DKBA, KNLA-PC, KNU, PNLO and RCSS

The NCCT was a negotiation body of the EAOs, prior to the NCA signing, which had 16 EAOs as members.

Reasons for not signing the NCA

The reasons for the UNFC not signing the NCA has been the government rejection to accept 6 of its members, while other non-signatories that are not UNFC members like UWSA, NDAA and NSCN-K have their own doubtfulness and reasons, one way or the other.

The UWSA aspires to achieve the status of a statehood within the union and is not yet satisfied with the recent status of Self-Administrative Division. The NDAA or Mong La, on the other hand, dreams of achieving an Akha Self-Administrative Zone.

The Wa, who already has the highest degree of self-administration in practical sense, where even the governments troops cannot even enter without permission, simply doesnt see more profit to be gained from signing the NCA. Mong La being the UWSA ally, also sees the situation more or less the same.

As for the NSCN-K, its goal is to carve out a political entity from Burma and India and doesnt see any meaningful approach through signing the NCA.

As for the UNFC not going along with the inking of the agreement hinged on the exclusion of its members and explained by the KNU Vice-President Naw Zipporah Sein  oddly enough, whose organization is a leading proponent that signed the NCA  in a written text titled A brief NCA history, the NCAs flaws and failings, dated 14 January 2016, as: The government refused to allow three of the 16 EAOs, represented by the NCCT and the Senior Delegation (SD), to sign the NCA. These three are the Palaung State Liberation Front (PSLF)  also known as TNLA, the Arakan Army (AA), and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA). There was also a second group of three organizations that the government also refused to allow on grounds that they did not have a significant number of troops. They are the Lahu Democratic Union (LDU), the Wa National Organization (WNO) and the Arakan National Congress (ANC). At the time, the three EAOs in the first group were facing governments massive military offensives.

She further wrote: It is clearly stated in the last chapter of NCA that the NCA shall be signed by representatives from the government and representatives from the EAOs, as well as the international representatives and domestic personages, as witnesses. Nonetheless, the government continued to refuse the signing of the NCA by the 6 groups mentioned above. Out of the 7 countries proposed, the government also refused three international would-be witnesses, representing the US, UK and Norway to sign the NCA.

As a result, on the 15th of October 2015, 8 EAOs repudiated the EAOs Summit Meeting decisions and agreed to sign the NCA with the government. The other 7 EAOs refused to sign, and a total of 6 were not allowed to sign.

The majority of the EAOs were irked and felt betrayed by the 8 signatories of the NCA, as the Laiza and Law Khee Lar conferences of the EAOs were to undertake the signing of agreement together.

The following statement from a paragraph of the Conference of Ethnic Armed Resistance Organizations Law Khee Lar, Kawthoolei  from January 20  25, 2014 stated:

This Law Khee Lar Conference, held under the aegis of KNU as the host, in addition to consolidating unity of all the ethnic nationalities, serves as an arena for preparing them, for different stages of political dialogues and negotiations that will come after achievement of nationwide ceasefire. The ethnic armed resistance organizations are to participate in the political dialogues and negotiations, with unity and coordination, and they will have to struggle on until their political goal of establishment of a Genuine Federal Union is achieved.

Ongoing wars on non-signatory EAOs and signatory EAOs

With the EAOs divided between the signatory and non-signatory groups, tension arose politically and militarily.

However, the hardened political stance dissipated as signatory and non-signatory EAOs began to cooperate to position or act as a bloc or group, after the Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) Plenary Meeting in Mai Ja Yang, Kachin Independence Organizations (KIO) controlled town near Chinese border, took place from 26 to 30 July.

Militarily, shortly after the signing of NCA in October last year, the signatory RCSS reinforced its units in northern Shan State, leading to protracted armed confrontation between itself and the TNLA. The TNLA accused the RCSS of intruding into its territories and that it was in league with the Burma Army, but the latter denied that it was the case.

To complicate the matter, the Burma Army attacked the RCSS several times during the year in Kyaukme and Hsipaw Townships and the latest one being this year in October, in Mong Kung Township where the RCSS accused the Burma Army of breaching the NCA.

The on and off military engagements between the EAOs and the Burma Army occurred all through out the year, in Shan and Kachin States, from 2011 until today.

But serious bouts of conflict happened during 2015 and 2016. Outstanding among them were the well publicized conflict in Shan State between the MNDAA and government troops in Kokang area, in February 2015, which was particularly intense from February to June that year and again in October 2015; and the recent 20 November, Northern Alliance-Burma (NA-B) offensives along the Burma-China border against the government positions. By 5 December, the ethnic alliance was said to have withdrawn from its siege of Mong Ko, where the government troops had put up a stiff resistance, using air strikes and artillery bombardment hitting many civilian targets. But elsewhere the fighting goes on in northern Shan State, which might still go on for quite a while.

The NA-B, made up of KIA, MNDAA, TNLA and AA were said to have launched the offensives, to employ the strategy of offensive is the best defensive, as the Burma Army has been conducting heavy attacks on the the KIA and NA-B members in Kachin and Shan States, since three months ago. Other than that they also wanted to send the message that excluding them from the peace process wont achieve the desired political outcome and that they are a force to be reckoned with.

There have also been clashes between government forces and the SSA-North, of particular intensity from October to November 2015 and in August 2016.

In Karen State, clashes in July 2015 and again from August to September 2016 between a renegade faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and government troops together with Border Guard Force soldiers were reported.

In summary, the Burma Army has been in an offensive mode and war-footing against all the non-signatory EAOs in the Kachin and Shan States, but remarkably, also attacking the RCSS an NCA signatory and intruding into the KNU territories, while going after the DKBA splinter group. KNU is also an NCA signatory.

Analysis

Given such circumstances, the whole peace process spanning some five years should be viewed and assessed from the point of NCA implementation organs performance, players or stakeholders political outlook and initiatives, the actual challenges the country is facing and possible remedies to break the deadlock.

The performance of the NCA implementation organs, which are JMC-U and UPDJC could be said as unsatisfactory, even though some might argue otherwise.

The first ever investigation carried out by the JMC regarding the armed clashes between the RCSS and Burma Army, which occurred in Mong Kung Township, said that the troops from both sides have no in-depth understanding of NCA, no contact with each other and no clear understanding on each others operational area.

The JMC investigation team is said to be formed with two civilian, two Tatmadaw and two RCSS representatives. Reportedly, it has suggested that aside from generally promoting better understanding between the RCSS and the Tatmadaw, drugs related crimes should be tackled cooperatively in coordination and the need to draw up demarcation lines for both troops to observe.

Thus it could be said even though JMC State-level could be formed in Shan and Karen states, implementing and understanding NCA for the troops is still rudimentary and on top of that demarcation lines for troops movement and stationing have not even started yet, after one year of NCA signing. In short the JMC still needs a long way to go to be really effective.

The ongoing talks between the UNFC and the governments Peace commission also includes the strengthening of the JMC, where international experts participation in ceasefire monitoring and also enforcement mechanism should be incorporated, which so far has been given a cold shoulder by the military on the proposal.

While JMC covers only the NCA signatory EAOs, the armed engagement with the non-signatories EAOs is solely the domain of Burma Army or defense ministry, which are exacerbating with its offensive wars in northern Shan and Kachin states.

As for the UPDJC performance being unable to conduct the peace process without having an all-inclusiveness is the biggest obstacle, as it would be only able to preside over limited state-level political dialogue, which is supposed to give crucial inputs to the union-level political dialogue or Union Peace Conference  21st Century Panglong, as it is now officially dubbed by the NLD regime.

As areas that have not been covered by the NCA wont be able to conduct political dialogue, the inputs could not be all-encompassing, which in effect would mean the peace conference would only partially represent the population and that is not the intention of the Union Peace Conference.

Aung San Suu Kyi, as chairperson of the UPDJC and as well the National Reconciliation Peace Center (NRPC), is committed to a rigid time-frame and is determined to carry on the peace process with only the 8 EAOs, plus other stakeholders that are already part of the process. Her logic seems to be that in time the remaining EAOs would join in and eventually the idea of excluding the three EAOs would be accepted. But this has already been proven wrong, as could be seen by the recent NA-B offensives on the Burma Army positions.

As for the Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, the military posture of a state within a state, combined with upholding the military-drafted constitution would continue to be the norm and continued military supremacy in political arena would be maintained. People should not be confused with the military making use of Aung San Suu Kyi to gain international acceptance and legitimacy.

The NCA signatory EAOs are torn between having to go along with the powers that be, for whatever purpose the individual members might have in store, and moral conviction to be in solidarity with the non-signatories of the NCA.

The NCA non-signatory EAOs, especially the UNFC, continues to bargain with the government on its 8 point proposal, which centers around, bilateral nationwide ceasefire, tripartite dialogue composition and commitment to the building of the genuine federal union, including all-inclusiveness of all EAOs in the peace process, even though not explicitly mentioned in the proposal.

The recent NA-B offensives on Burma Army positions could now have a negative impact for the UNFC negotiation with the government, as KIA, which is also UNFC leading member, is part of the NA-B.

The actual challenges facing the country are:

Firstly, the ongoing armed engagements and tensions between the EAOs and the Burma Army, including communal violence and the uprising of Rohingya, dubbed as Bengali by the government, in Arakan State;

Secondly, the government of NLD and the military power relation or problematic two-tier administrative structure;

Thirdly, the power and resources sharing within the ethnic states;

Fourthly, due to the ongoing wars and violence some 120,000 refugees fleeing across the borders and more than 662,400 inside the border as IDPs;

Fifthly, from 1962 to 2010, successive military governments confiscation of hundreds and thousands of acres of land from farmers all over the country; and

Finally, the superpower and regional power relationship, among others.

In order to overcome and tackle all the said woes and problems, the best place to start is countering the prevailing depleted trust atmosphere by initiating a trust-building initiative. And to do this the following mindset alteration, specifically from the part of the government and military might be necessary.

The genuine wish and commitment to be equal with all negotiation partners and not a patron-client relationship;

Practicing and believing in a real joint-ownership of the peace process and not just lip-service;

Bridging the differing concept, by accepting a common denominator that the country is a newly formed political entity voluntarily formed between ethnic states as the Union of Burma, after the British left in 1948 and they gained a joint-independence; and

A real political will and belief in peaceful co-existence and durable political settlement.

If the above suggested measures could be accepted, we all will be in a position to stop the ongoing armed ethnic conflict, create a peaceful atmosphere conducive to the peace process and eventually overcome all the woes that the country is now facing. Otherwise, we will be stuck up in a make-believe illusion and false believe of doing a noble deed by holding another 21st Century Panglong Conference, which is neither all-encompassing nor all-inclusive.
The Most Extensive and Reliable Source of Information Related to the Mexican Drugs Cartels.



You will not find this level of coverage anywhere else, join us!





WARNING:

Posts may contain strong violent material, discretion is advised.





COMMENTS:

We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately.




A school-based police officer shot a 14-year-old Reno, Nev., student at school Wednesday after the teenager ignored commands to drop a knife hed used to threaten other students, police officials said.

The student was transported to a local hospital, were he remained in critical condition Thursday. The officer, who works for the district-run police department, was placed on paid administrative leave pending an external investigation by the Reno Police Department.

Procter Hug High School, part of the Washoe County school district, was placed on lockdown for several hours following the 11:30 a.m. incident, the district said, and students were eventually released and sent home. From a report by KOLO TV, an ABC affiliate:

There was a fight earlier in the day between two students, including the 14-year-old, Reno Police Chief Jason Soto said at a Wednesday evening press conference. The 14-year-old then armed himself with two knives and began threatening other students when a police officer shot him once after the student refused to follow the officer's commands, Soto said. That officer then gave the wounded student first aid. No other students were injured."

The Washoe County School Board released a statement after the shooting that said counselors would be available for students and that the district was committed to cooperating fully with the ongoing police investigation into the factors that led to this incident. The statement said in part:

In the course of this incident, safety procedures that are consistently practiced District-wide were followed at both the school level and District level. Officers with the Washoe County School District (WCSD) School Police Department responded immediately, and per the Regional Officer Protocol, contacted other law enforcement agencies for assistance with the case. These agencies include the Reno Police Department, Washoe County Sheriff's Office, and the FBI. Procter Hug High School was immediately placed in a Code Red Lockdown, and officers began a classroom-by-classroom canvass of the school in an effort to find witnesses and any other potential victims in the case. The District reached out to families via the Connect Ed call system with information about the incident, the lockdown, and the fact that the school was secured during the investigation. ... Approximately three hours after the incident, the Code Red Lockdown was lifted, and students were released from the school under controlled, safe conditions. Another Connect Ed call was sent to families with information about reunification processes, and students were sent home from school without further incident."

Few details are known about the incident, but that hasnt stopped it from attracting the attention of groups that have questioned the role of law enforcement in schools. The Dignity in Schools campaign, a coalition of student and civil rights groups, has called for the end of school-based police officers , saying that they are too often involved in routine discipline issues, that they resort to force too frequently, and that schools money would be better spent on personnel like school counselors and social workers. The organization began tweeting out news stories about the Reno incident Thursday with the hashtag #counselorsnotcops.

#CounselorsNotCops : Campus Police Officer Shoots Teen at Nevada High School- Student in Critical Condition //t.co/n1uoNh1BVr pic.twitter.com/u3pxcxdnPK -- Dignity in Schools (@DignityinSchool) December 8, 2016

Reno Police Department officials said some inaccurate rumors are circulating about the shooting and multiple students shot cell phone videos of the incident, according to the Associated Press. They urged the public to withhold judgment.

Theres some very disturbing video out there, Reno Police Officer Tim Broadway told reporters Wednesday afternoon, according to the Associated Press. But there are other events that led up to this incident, so please dont react to those.

Further reading about school police, school resource officers, and school safety:

Follow @evieblad on Twitter or subscribe to Rules for Engagement to get blog posts delivered directly to your inbox.
The U.S. Supreme Court has set Jan. 11 as the date that it will hear a case revolving around the level of benefit that special education is supposed to provide to students with disabilities.

Special education observers have said the case, Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District, has major implications for students and for school districts and centers on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. As I explained in an article on Endrew that ran in October:

In [Hendrick Hudson District Board of Education v. Rowley,] the Supreme Court said that the IDEA requires instruction that is "reasonably calculated to enable the child to receive educational benefit." The court intentionally declined to say just how much benefit would be adequate. "[C]ourts must be careful to avoid imposing their view of preferable educational methods upon the states," Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote for the six-justice majority. But lower courts have grappled with that question and come up with different terms. Should the educational benefit to students be "meaningful"? Are schools required to offer just "some" benefit? Or can the standard be met if educational benefits are little more than trivial? That's the question that the newer case is intended to answer. Endrew, called "Drew" in court briefs, is now a 17-year-old student with autism living in suburban Denver. In 2010, his parents pulled him out of the 66,000-student Douglas County district because they said he wasn't making any meaningful educational progress in public school. The parents argued that the district should be required to pay for Drew's private school tuition. An administrative-law judge, a federal district judge, and the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals all decided against the parents. The appeals-court ruling in August 2015 said that Drew was gaining "some" educational benefit from his individualized education program. Referring to an earlier case in the same circuit, the court also said the IDEA requires that special education only offer a more than "de minimis," or trivial, benefit. While the parents lost at the lower-court levels, they gained a powerful supporter when they appealed to the Supreme Courtthe federal government. "No parent or educator in America would say that a child has received an 'appropriate' or a 'specially suitable' or 'proper' education 'in the circumstances' when all the child has received are benefits that are barely more than trivial," wrote the U.S. solicitor general's office, urging the Supreme Court to take the case. "That is particularly true when a child is capable of achieving much more."

Attention from Interested Parties

A dozen organizations have filed friend of the court briefs related to Endrew F. v Douglas , including members of Congress, disability rights organizations, and former Education Department officials. All but one of the briefs has been in support of the family in this case.

The National Association of State Directors of Special Education said in its brief that the organization supports neither side in the case, but wanted to offer its professional view. We can attest that our educators are prepared to and do provide an education at a level more meaningful than the Tenth Circuits just-above-trivial standard. Our educators tailor their efforts to each individual student to make sure that each students education is meaningful in light of the specific abilities and educational challenges.

More than 100 current and former members of Congress said in their brief that it strains credulity to think that Congress would have expended the time and effort to enact and amend [the IDEA] merely to give each student with a disability any just above de minimis educational benefit.

The National Center for Special Education in Charter Schools and National Alliance for Public Charter Schools wrote a brief stating their belief that the IDEA calls for more than a trivial educational benefit. "[W]e find adoption of a higher standard is the most consistent with the charter school movements emphasis on high expectations for all students and its commitment to serving students with disabilities enrolled in charter schools, the brief stated.
Following a breakneck push by Michigan Republicans to close off the states teacher-pension system to new teachers during the current lame-duck session, legislative leaders have announced that they will not vote on the proposed bills during the waning days of this legislative session, reports the Detroit Free Press.

Last week, the planwhich would have had new teachers enrolled in 401(k)-style retirement plans instead of in a more traditional pension planwas passed out of a senate appropriations committee by a 9-8 vote. Three Republicans joined all five of the committees Democrats in opposition to the bill. And while Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof initially told reporters that he expected the bill to win approval from the full senate that day, a floor vote never occurred.

Governor Rick Snyder, a Republican, vigorously objected to the plan, citing an estimate from the states nonpartisan Senate Fiscal Agency determining that the initial shift could cost the state as much as $4.7 billion over the first five years. Snyder is a proponent of the current system , which has been in place since 2010, where new teachers are enrolled into plans that combine aspects of a 401(k) plan and a traditional state pension plan.

But the fight appears far from over. Amber McCann, a spokeswoman for Meekhof, told the Free Press that legislative leaders just decided they will take another crack at it in the new term.

Steven Cook, the president of the Michigan Education Association, praised the move.

Tabling this discussion rather than ramming this legislation through is the right decision, Cook said in a statement . Education leaders and fiscal experts agree that dismantling the school employee retirement system would have been bad for school employees, parents, kids, and taxpayers.
[CORRECTION (Dec. 9): The original version of this post said that 40 programs meet NCTQs bar; it should have said 40 percent of programs.]

On Thursday, the National Council on Teacher Quality released its review of 875 traditional undergraduate programs preparing elementary teachers in 396 public and 479 private colleges and universities in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The conclusion? Education schools still have work to do, but they are making needed improvements to the way they train teachers.

The councils president, Kate Walsh, says the results of the latest review make her feel hopeful about the future of teacher preparation. We are seeing signs of change, she said. Everyone told us that you cant make higher ed change, they wont listen to anyone, theyre intractable. Now we know that is not the case, and that makes us excited.

She points to the progress elementary programs have made in reading instruction. In 2016, 39 percent (320 programs) earned an A or A+ for their efforts, up from 29 percent earning the same grades in 2014.

These findings are most encouraging, said Walsh. Theres nothing more definitive than the science of how to teach reading and what kinds of instruction kids need in order to optimize their reading success.

Still, there are some programs that reject the science, according to Walsh. Some programs dig in their heels, she said. They say teachers should come up with their own approach to teaching reading. Its so ascientific, its appalling.

The review judged programs based on their coverage of these components of reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Thirteen programs earned an A+, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the University of Texas at Arlington among them, for teaching all five components and using high quality textbooks.

Walsh also noted the reviews findings on selectivity. Some program heads fear that raising the standards for entry into education schools will lead to greater teacher shortages, she said. But research shows that more-selective programs carry a prestige factor that may result in more candidates vying for entry. Half of all the selective programs included in the review, 113 of them, managed to assemble a diverse class of future teachers despite their tougher entry requirements.

Many programs whine and complain that raising selectivity standards is unfair, and they will have to turn away qualified black and Latino candidates, Walsh said. But we find programs that are able to hold candidates to high standards and achieve diversity relative to the college population and relative to the states population even, so its really commendable.

Grading Teacher Prep

The review ranked programs using percentiles based on the letter grades (A+ through F) they earned in these areas: admissions criteria; the teachers knowledge of early reading, math, and other elementary content; student teaching; and classroom management.

While the review did show the improvement that Walsh noted, it also found that quality varied widely from program to program, with some producing standout teachers and others, subpar.

Check out the full list of ranked undergraduate elementary programs . Topping the list are Purdue University and Lousiana Tech University. The 87 programs in the top 10 percent may be the best in the country, the review warns, but they only prepare 13 percent of the 59,000 teachers graduating from the programs the council evaluated.

Overall, Walsh doesnt think the councils standards are high enough, but she says it cant raise the bar just yet. She cites the reading standard as an example. To pass it, a program must show that it provides two lectures and an assignment on each of the components of reading (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension). But Walsh argues that prospective teachers need much more than two classes to remedy the reading problem in this country, which she calls a public health crisis.

Our bar is really low and we still have only 40 percent of programs* in the country meeting it, she said. So we look at what you need to know to be minimally competent, to know that there is such a thing as reading science, to know that it isnt up to candidates to figure out how to teach reading, thats what we settled upon. But do I think its adequate? No. Would the review be a credible indicator of quality if nobody passes? I dont think so.

Here are more of the reviews key findings:



Of the 875 programs reviewed, 26 percent admit most of their teacher candidates from the top half of the college population.

Programs have made gains in selectivity. The number of less selective programs requiring at least a 3.0 GPA for admission has increased from 44 in 2014 to 71 today.

Only 112 programs of the 860 reviewed in math instruction earned an A for requiring at least one methods course and at least three courses covering topics that mathematicians deem critical, including numbers and operations, algebra, geometry, and data analysis. (Many programs require only methods courses.)

Only 5 percent of the 875 programs reviewed ensure their elementary teacher candidates have a good grasp of the science, history, geography, and literature they will one day teach.

Of the 851 programs evaluated for their student teaching, only 7 percent evaluate the qualifications of the teachers who will be mentoring their candidates. Just 3 percent of programs earn an A (and 2 percent a B) for making the effort to match candidates to qualified teacher mentors and requiring program supervisors to observe candidates teaching and provide feedback at least four times. (Five is the minimum needed to be effective, according to research.)

There has been slight improvement in classroom-management instruction since 2014. Of the 382 programs with classroom-management grades in 2014 and 2016, 42 percent received the equivalent of an A or B in 2014, compared to 47 percent today. The number of programs addressing how to respond to misbehavior in class increased by 8 percentage points.

Teacher Prep Pushback

One of the big complaints about the councils reviews of prep programs is over its methodology . To make its determinations, the NCTQ reviews documents, including course syllabi, course catalogues, and textbooks.

Carole Basile, the dean of the college of education at Arizona State University, said much of the criticism came from what programs saw as an antagonistic approach to grading their efforts. People put their backs up and said, '[The NCTQs approach] isnt real research, Basile said. She adds: This isnt the most robust research, but its a way to call attention to some problems in teacher preparation and I think thats whats important.

Arthur Levine, the current president of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation and the former president of Teachers College, Columbia University, agreed that the NCTQs antagonistic approach didnt help. If you thought a study was biased and that the reviewers had a negative view of ed schools from the beginning, you probably wouldnt participate, he said.

Whats more, Levine doesnt trust the methodology. He said syllabi are not always accurate. But his distrust was solidified when he saw in a past review that two education programs received what he thought were entirely incorrect ratings. One program was great and the other was less than mediocre, he said. And the report got them exactly backwards.

In fact, the council did have to correct scores for a handful of programs after the 2013 review of teacher preparation programs was released. This time around, the council has allowed education schools to review their ratings before publishing the report. Programs could then provide evidence to refute the grades, and the NCTQ could make changes when appropriate.

Despite past ire over methodology, the latest review wasnt met with as much resistance from teacher prep programs, at least not at public universities. In order to get course syllabi for past reviews, the council was forced to file open records requests . This time around, the councils fees for open-records requests dropped 80 percent, according to Walsh. For the most part, she said, private institutions still dont cooperate, so the NCTQ enlists help from students who write to the professors to get course syllabi.

Walsh chalks up the past discord to poor communication. We came out very critical of teacher prep without much of an understanding of higher ed, she said of the reviews early years. We saw them as the enemy. We had a very poor understanding of how things work, and what it takes to succeed in higher ed and some of the pressures on them. That doesnt mean that I let higher ed off the hook for not doing a better job of training teachers, but I have a better understanding of how they got to where they are.
Study: 'Drowsy Driving' as Risky as Driving Drunk

You know you're not at your best when you're not well-rested. But being a little off your game when you're behind the wheel can be especially dangerous. A new study found that missing just one or two hours of sleep could double your risk of a car accident, and that getting fewer than four hours of sleep can make you over ten times more likely to crash.

And even if you didn't intend to fall asleep behind the wheel, if you do get into an accident, you could be facing serious criminal charges. Here's a look at "drowsy driving" and the possible criminal penalties.

Driving While Drained

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety reports that 35 percent of drivers sleep less than the recommended seven hours per day, and that drowsy driving is a factor in more than one in five fatal crashes on U.S. roadways every year. "Our new research shows that a driver who has slept for less than five hours has a crash risk comparable to someone driving drunk," said Dr. David Yang, the Foundation's executive director. "You cannot miss sleep and still expect to be able to safely function behind the wheel."

Additionally, many states have "fatigued driving" statutes, criminalizing tired driving. For instance, in Arkansas a person can be convicted of fatigued driving if he or she is involved in a fatal accident after having been without sleep for 24 consecutive hours. Under New Jersey law, a driver who hasn't slept for 24 hours is considered to be driving recklessly, the same class of crime as driving while intoxicated. If police can prove you were sleep-deprived and the lack of sleep led to an accident, you could be charged with a crime.

Sleepy Statutes

But drowsy driving convictions aren't easy to prove. As the New York Times reports, proving a driver was asleep at the wheel presents a unique set of evidentiary challenges:

"A blood-alcohol test can show whether a driver was drunk. Skid marks may betray a speeder. And cellphone records will reveal whether someone was texting right before a crash. But drowsiness is a personal and often fleeting state of mind that leaves no permanent record."

It is also difficult to define an objective standard for tiredness: different people also react differently to fatigue, so determining just how tired is too tired to drive is nearly impossible. Perhaps the recent statistics could provide some more clarity on the issue.

Related Resources:
There is no real cause for failure in this new world of marketing. There are only things we can learn.

There is more data available than ever before to pivot or pursue in real time with messaging, content, and experiences. Failure occurs for those who persevere on pride even when the customer user experience data informs them they should have concluded their experiment months ago. Some schools of thought welcome risk because trends are emerging and transforming at such a fast pace that there are more unknowns than knowns in the business world. We can learn from failure in marketing, but only if marketing involves everyone, not just the marketing department, as shown next.

The Neuroscience Of Screwing Up

In 2009, Wired magazine featured an article entitled Accept Defeat: The Neuroscience of Screwing Up that addressed this very issue. In it, author Jonah Lehrer talked about how two lab teams were given the same problem. One of the teams was made up of single- subject experts; the other was people with different backgrounds and expertise. Which group do you think solved the problem more efficiently?

The group of single-subject experts took weeks to solve the problem by using a traditional method involving tests of various approaches. The diverse group solved the problem in ten minutes in an informal group meeting.

What lesson can we draw from this? For one thing, teams of experts and insiders can be marketings worst enemy. Because they believe there is only one approach to finding a solution, they tend not to accept outlying ideas. When marketing teams represent a cross section of disciplines, the problems are quickly solved and the solutions are often applicable to other areas of business as well. One reason industries are being overthrown is that they dont allow outsiders into their inner circle to provide new ways of thinking.

Marketing is about communicationbut its not communication with people who look, dress, and think in the same way. To succeed in this new era of marketing you have to stop thinking like an MBA in a suit and tie and instead dress down, simplify, and realize that everyone has some tools to help you with your marketing.

You need to find people who arent like you, and be inspired by the things they say, even if those things are weird. Indeed, outsiders shock us out of our cognitive boxes. To succeed in this future world you have to escape the cookie-cutter mindset. You have to think like a prospect, a customer, or the target audience you wish to persuade and inspire.

The moment you place yourself outside the company andfrom an empathetic viewpointthink about how your products, services, and communications will be accepted by others, things will change. This is why its so critical that you uproot the tangles of your professional life every two years. You never want to get too comfortable in one position for too long.

Design Thinking In Disruptive Marketing

Tim Brown, author of Change by Design, describes design thinking as using designer skills to match peoples needs with market opportunity. The goal of design thinking is to reach an improved future state. In this regard, its a form of solution-based or solution-focused thinking: starting with a goal (a better future situation) instead of trying to solve a specific problem.

This approach differs from the analytical scientific method, which begins with a statement of the problem by defining all the parameters in order to create a solution. The design-thinking process stresses the building up of ideas, with few or no limits during a brainstorming phase. This freedom of thought reduces the participants fears of failure and encourages varied participation in idea creation. Think of it as a brainstorming session on steroids.

Hire More Generalists, Fewer Experts

The phrase thinking outside the box was coined to describe the brainstorming session. The practice aids in the discovery of hidden elements, ambiguities, and potential faulty assumptions.

So, if youre a team leader who is a specialist, dont hire only people like you. Hire generalists who can learn quickly a number of subject matter areas and who enjoy conducting marketing experiments. Although in the twenty-first century it will be commonplace for professionals from one industry to take jobs in other industries, twenty years ago such moves were considered anathema. Traditionalists hated when management hired outsiders, but many of those outsiders came with new ways of thinking, new processes, and new efficiencies.

In any business, people spend a long time learning about a particular specialty, with the goal of becoming an expert in that field. Usually we do this because we are rewarded for that expertise. The troubling thing about becoming an expert, though, is that we become entrenched. We put on blinders, rendering us unable to see anything beyond what is happening directly in front of us. This makes sense from a biological perspective; as humans, we find it easier to partake in implementation thinking, which is the ability to organize ideas and plans in a way that they will be effectively carried out.

Implementation thinking, which is tactical, is the crutch of conventional marketers. Entrepreneur and philanthropist Naveen Jain, founder of the World Innovation Institute, doesnt believe in expert theory:

I believe that people who will come up with creative solutions to solve the worlds biggest problems . . . will NOT be experts in their fields. The real disruptors will be those individuals who are not steeped in one industry of choice, with those coveted 10,000 hours of experience, but instead, individuals who approach challenges with a clean lens, bringing together diverse experiences, knowledge and opportunities.

Learn how to keep your brand relevant in the 21st Century in my new book Disruptive Marketing.

Dont let the future leave you behind. Join us in Hollywood, California for Brand Leadership in the Age of Disruption, our 5th annual competitive-learning event designed around brand strategy.

The Blake Project Can Help: Disruptive Brand Strategy Workshop

Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Licensing and Brand Education

FREE Publications And Resources For Marketers
Already have an account? Log in here 

Manitoba Hydro crews are dealing with a number of low-hanging power lines in Westman that may cause outages.

We need your support!

Local journalism needs your support!

As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed.

Now, more than ever, we need your support.

Starting at $4.99/month you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website.

or call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527.

Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community!
Allstate Learns a $600,000 Lesson: No Accident Forgiveness in California

San Diego, Riverside, and Los Angeles District Attorneys prosecuted Allstate as a result of the insurer's 'Accident Forgiveness' advertising campaign. Under California law, auto insurers may not offer consumers accident forgiveness in their insurance policies. Allstate's national advertising campaign reached California consumers and failed to clearly disclose that accident forgiveness was not available to California consumers. Now, they've agreed to pay a $600,000 settlement.

If this sounds familiar, that's because Liberty Mutual learned a $300,000 more expensive lesson at the hands of the same DAs for the exact same thing just over a month ago. While the Liberty Mutual advertisements had a disclaimer, it was deemed to be too small to be an effective one. Both Liberty Mutual and Allstate settled out the claims against them and entered into a stipulated judgment, which, of course, did not admit any wrongdoing.

What Is Accident Forgiveness, and Why's It Illegal in California?

Accident forgiveness is an auto insurance policy term where insurers agree to not raise a policy holder's rates after causing an accident. These policies are illegal because the California voters approved proposition 103 back in 1988. That proposition requires insurers to justify their rates while also prohibiting excessive rates. Accident forgiveness policies just can't be justified.

The way that accident forgiveness policies work is by charging consumers a little more up front, so as to offset the future cost of not performing a rate adjustment after an accident. Under prop 103, these types of insurance policies charge an excessive rate and are not approved.

Why the Big Fines?

Allstate and Liberty Mutual's big fines have been the result of consumer protection false advertising laws. It was reported that Allstate's advertising campaign reached 90% of California households. Like Liberty Mutual, Allstate's disclaimers were also deemed to be ineffective. California law requires that advertisements provide clear information so consumers are not misled. Unreadable disclaimers generally do not cut it.

In addition to the fines, both Allstate and Liberty Mutual are now under a court order to comply with California law. The companies will be required to provide clear disclaimers that the accident forgiveness policies are not available in every state.

Related Resources:
Texas Releases Hundreds of Women and Children From Immigration Detention

Following a district court ruling saying two Texas immigrant detention facilities were unsuitable for housing children and families, the state released over 400 women and children from custody, essentially dumping them at their attorneys' door in the middle of the night.

Busloads of detainees, most of whom migrated from Central American countries and are seeking asylum, were delivered to the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) in San Antonio over the weekend, after a judge ruled that the license under which the two facilities operated "runs counter to the general objectives of the Texas Human Resources Code and is, therefore, invalid."

Detention or Child Care?

The trouble for the Texas detention centers started last year when U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee ruled a federal family detention policy violated a prior court settlement favoring the release of undocumented children, and required them to be housed, if they must be, in the least restrictive setting possible. In response, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services redefined "child care facility" to make it possible for two detention centers to qualify: the public, state-run Karnes County Residential Center in Karnes City, and the federal, privately run South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley.

But Karnes and Dilley detention centers would need to make significant changes even to qualify as child care facilities under previously established Texas law. Currently, the centers were holding multiple families together in a single unit, violating a general practice of prohibiting children from housed with unrelated adults. Also, presence at a licensed child care facility is essentially optional and kids may check out if they wish. But children at the Karnes or Dilley detention centers cannot leave unless ICE or an immigration judge releases them.

Freedom to Go, No Place to Stay

Therefore, Travis County District Court Judge Karin Crump invalidated both facilities' licenses in a ruling on Friday, which critics of the detention policies saw as the motivating factor behind the release of 470 mothers and children on Saturday. Amy Fischer, policy director at RAICES, says the center, which provides legal services to immigrants, was given little notice before the women and children arrived on their doorstep. "They were shoved out in a really rushed manner," Fischer told the Los Angeles Times. "There was no information as to why. Deportation officers said, 'We're bringing a bus.'"

Related Resources:
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 08/12/2016 (2156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An armed gunman walked into a pizza joint in Washington, D.C., Monday and shot the place up. No one was injured.

For the most part, these types of incidents in the United States are so frequent they seldom make the news, particularly all the way up north to Manitoba.

Except this particular pizza joint had been the victim of a fake news report suggesting failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her top campaign aide were running a child-pornography ring on the site. The shooter apparently had come to self-investigate the restaurant for himself.

Welcome to the era of fake news, as media outlets and platforms such as Google, Twitter and Facebook try to figure out how to control their proliferation and what role they played in the ascension of Donald Trumps presidency.

As The Brandon Sun has noted before on this page, the proliferation of fake news sites has become alarming in the United States. This even as trusted news sources that do such fact checking find themselves in financial hardship.

But Canadians shouldnt look down their noses at the gullibility of the American news consumer, given the role fake news is playing in politics in this country.

Take for example the ridiculous and easily fact-checked rumour that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is the love child of Margaret Trudeau and Fidel Castro. According to Snopes.com, this little nugget came from a user on the Donald Trump subreddit /r/The_Donald. This, by the way, would be physically impossible as neither of Mr. Trudeaus parents had visited Cuba prior to the pregnancy.

Regardless, the rumour was embraced and then when discovered played off as satire. Why cant anyone just take a joke?

Except the satire allowed the public to begin taking potshots at not only Mr. Trudeaus mother and her morality but also at his political ideology and his too-close ties to communism. Its bunk, but that didnt stop viewers from piling on the outrage.

Fake news may be laughed off as satire, but it is also propaganda. Its very deliberately set up to support claims that climate change is fake, the media are lying to us all and feminists, Muslims and gay people are denying everyday Canadians/Americans whats rightfully theirs.

Fake news comes from a certain ideological segment, the alt-right. By the way, alt-right is just code. Its a veiled way of talking about values that endorse racism and white supremacy, and it rose to the publics attention, again in the context of the Trump win. Misnaming a viewpoint as alt-right instead of labelling it for what it is  racism  is part and parcel of this propagandist bent.

If theres any doubt the idea of the alt-right with its package of fake news hasnt hit Canada yet, the events last weekend in Edmonton serve as a chilling reminder that it has.

At a rally organized by Rebel Media to protest the carbon tax, Wildrose Leader Brian Jean called the imposition of the tax an attack on our way of life. Protesters chanted lock her up in reference to Premier Rachel Notley, who has been irrationally blamed for the drop in the Alberta economy.

Federal Conservative candidate Chris Alexander, also at the rally, was the impetus for that chant. While of course the facts regarding this story are hardly fake the chants did take place at the rally and Alexander was there  the outrage was stoked upon a false premise.

Another federal Conservative hopeful, Kellie Leitch, has also been criticized for a survey that discussed preventing immigrants into the country who espouse anti-Canadian values.

Sound familiar? In Canada, we have our very own rust-belt outrage being fuelled by propaganda from the alt-right including Rebel Media.

There are, of course, no guarantees in life. And pulling several pages from Trumps election strategy playbook may well blow up in the face of Conservative leadership candidates such as Leitch, who has expressed her support for the president-elect and his many promises.

Nevertheless, this is a disturbing trend in our countrys politics, one that Canadians should guard against.

 Winnipeg Free Press & The Brandon Sun
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 08/12/2016 (2156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Social media is a great place to connect. Social media is a great place to spread information quickly. And social media is a great place to express yourself, and, in doing so, gives you and others a very powerful platform to express yourself to both small and large groups of people.

However, the ability for people to say whatever they want, whenever they want, in a way that pretends to be news and information can be at best inaccurate and at its worst it could get you sued, it could wreck a family or business, and it could even take a life.

Ironically fake news made real news this week in the U.S. after a man from North Carolina entered the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington, D.C., and fired a rifle. The man was arrested, and no injuries were reported. According to police, the man said he was investigating claims of a child sex ring at the restaurant. Those claims are false.

CP This photograph taken in Paris on Dec. 2 shows stories from USA Daily News 24, a fake news site registered in Veles, Macedonia. An Associated Press analysis using web intelligence service Domain Tools shows that USA Daily News 24 is one of roughly 200 U.S.-oriented sites registered in Veles, which has emerged as the unlikely hub for the distribution of disinformation on Facebook. Both stories shown here are bogus.

After a Clinton campaign email revealed a possible fundraiser at the restaurant, without a shred of evidence, a slew of fake stories appeared online. They alleged a child trafficking ring based out of the restaurant. Some posted social media photos of staffers children claiming they were victims.

The stories went viral. Security is now protecting this and other businesses on the street and the FBI is involved. Families and businesses destroyed, over a completely fabricated news story shared on social media.

What makes it ironic was how traditional media  mainly radio stations  had to communicate the information regarding school division closures, buses not running and up-to-date and accurate highway closure information. All stories that happen fast spread virally even faster, and are valuable in getting accurate info to the public in the interest of safety.

Back in 2000, when I first returned to Brandon radio, local school division administration would call the radio station to say schools were closed or buses were not running.

Fast-forward to the Facebook age, and now parents tell us the school division called them. Parents tell us the schools Facebook page says no school. And often its not just parents, but students also share the information. And we need to always give them the benefit of the doubt because parents always want to show up for work and kids always want to make sure theyre in school. Yeah right.

Problem is, back in the old days, we would often get calls from adults pulling pranks, kids who didnt want to write a test, or even the rare teacher who simply wanted a day off. We would ask them who they were and most times they would give a fake name or hang up. In either case, the information would not make it to air, and we could keep the stream of information accurate and true.

Fast-forward to the new social media world, and while some things change, much remains the same. Kids still dont want to go to school and some parents would rather not go to work, so a simply Facebook post regarding a road closure can quickly go viral. A kid behind a keyboard using his schools Facebook page can quickly doctor anything they want to make it look as funny or as sinister as they want. And once it is posted and shared, it is hard to stop it.

To prove that point, on Monday night, after a couple of angry parents continued to share a Facebook post with me regarding an impending school closure, I simply asked for the parent to ask someone in the division to confirm the closure for us, by phone or email. Easy, right? Apparently not.

One parent was very offended we wouldnt trust the screenshot she sent me, while another believed it was terribly unprofessional that we wouldnt repost the picture of the Facebook post that was obviously official.

Well, to prove a point, I took the cancellation, put it into Photoshop  an editing program  and put the same info the parents gave me but added a line. It went like this: In addition to the school cancellation parents please be advised when your children are readmitted back to school, they will be asked to make a snow angel on school grounds before being readmitted. I then commented that parents better make sure kids have snowsuits if they want back into school once the storm passes.

Instantly the post was shared and liked. More than 100 shares and more than a dozen likes. Share, share and share some more. Even though the post was bogus and fun, and not accurate, it was shared.

After one hour, it was shared so many times I removed it so I could sleep. I couldnt go to bed knowing even something meant as a joke was floating around on the web.

But the point is this: We need to understand and teach our children that not everything on social media is to be believed.

Consider the source. Brandon Sun? Fine. CKLQ? Pretty good source. CBC? I dont like them, but theyre credible. Tommy two thumbs news dot com? Not so sure. Your jealous high school friend who had to talk about everyone behind their back? Well, thats really your choice. Being able to differentiate between real and fake news organizations is fairly easy. Keeping on your toes regarding sharing news from an ill-informed friend is a whole new game. Ive seen a simply post from a listener say Vince Li was living in Brandon get shared more than 10,000 times.

Ten. Thousand. Times.

And if an innocent person who looked like him was hurt or worse, killed, then what?

Consider the source. Any time you hear or read anything, you should ask yourself where did this come from? Nobody will argue traditional media needs to get faster. But social media needs to get better. Better as in more accurate. And with so many troublemakers online, time will tell if thats even possible.

Joke

As a trucker stops for a red light, a blonde catches up. She jumps out of her car, runs up to his truck, and knocks on the door. The trucker lowers the window, and she says Hi, my name is Heather and you are losing some of your load. The trucker ignores her and proceeds down the street.

When the truck stops for another red light, the girl catches up again. She jumps out of her car, runs up and knocks on the door. Again, the trucker lowers the window. As if theyve never spoken, the blonde says brightly, Hi my name is Heather, and you are losing some of your load! Shaking his head, the trucker ignores her again and continues down the street.

At the third red light, the same thing happens again. All out of breath, the blonde gets out of her car, runs up, and knocks on the truck door. The trucker rolls down the window. Again she says Hi, my name is Heather, and you are losing some of your load!

When the light turns green, the trucker revs up and races to the next light. When he stops this time, he hurriedly gets out of the truck, and runs back to the blonde. He knocks on her window, and after she lowers it, he says,

Hi, my name is Kevin, its winter in Manitoba and Im driving the SALT TRUCK!

BIRTHDAYS

Sheryl Warkentin Bartram  Sean Dandy  Suzan Waldner  Luis Felipe Cantu  Shauna Keam  Eva Cameron  Jacquie Locklyn MacDonald  Katherine Jans

 Tyler Glen is a radio DJ on Star-FM. He writes a weekly column for The Brandon Sun.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 08/12/2016 (2156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There is hope a largely unknown trading post in western Manitoba will become a tourist attraction next year if the site is further opened to the public.

Four years after the Nature Conservancy of Canada purchased Fort Ellice, with promises to greet visitors again, the trading post is still perceived as inaccessible.

Unbeknownst to many, NCC actually facilitates public requests to tour much of the 1,416-hectare plot near St. Lazare, close to the junction of the Assiniboine and QuAppelle rivers, but only after visitors ask. Thus far, virtually all requests have been approved since NCC purchased Fort Ellice in 2012, according to Kevin Teneycke, director of conservation for NCCs Manitoba region.

Manitoba Archives An artists painting of Fort Ellice gives a sense of what the fort would have looked like in its prime.

Theres been dozens of requests, he said.

However, there is still an agreement that needs to be signed between a private charitable organization and Petite Fourche CDC, which would give the local community development corporation permission to access the land.

The CDC wants to open up the former trading post, erecting wooden posts where the four corners of the forts walls were situated and connect them by boardwalk. There are plans to develop a parking lot, fix the road and include on-site historic information about Fort Ellice.

CDC chairperson Roland Blouin said both organizations are open and willing to sign this agreement  it simply hasnt happened.

I dont know the exact reason because Ive talked to some of the representatives and they said it was just a matter of time, Blouin said. The documents are made up, theyre just waiting on it.

Once an agreement is hatched, and CDC makes improvements, visitors will no longer require NCCs permission to visit the site.

File photo A cairn and plaque marks the historic site of Fort Ellice, a Hudson Bay outpost on the west ridge of the Assiniboine River near St. Lazare.

Blouin believes this can happen at any time, and hes hopeful it will happen next year.

He considers Fort Ellice an attraction tourists dont know about.

Its a hidden jewel. We want to take the opportunity to have it opened to the public again and to start trying to bring it back, he said. There is a lot of history in that place.

The CDC anticipates its initial round of improvements, encompassing the parking lot, fencing around the publicly accessible portions and road upgrades, will cost $20,000. It would be funded largely by grants. While it hasnt priced out the boardwalk, historical markers or other enhancements.

They might build outside walls to the fort in the future, he said.

File photo A solid oak Red River cart, driven by members of the Red River Metis Heritage Group makes their way towards Harmsworth, Man. on the first day of their journey to Fort Ellice.

If its really a good attraction, and if we get good grant money, its very possible.

Blouin added they also want road markers to direct the public where to go and walking trails would likely veer outside the enclosed area.

Fort Ellice was the main trading stop between Fort Garry and Fort Edmonton.

The trading post was built in 1831 and a new fort replaced it in 1862. The Hudsons Bay Company sold the lot privately in 1925.

The property was purchased by NCC from Arthur and Christine Fouillard in 2012, after the former RM of Ellice fought for years to expropriate the land so it could be opened to the public.

The municipality gave up its efforts when their legal costs escalated.

Manitoba Archives A view of Fort Ellice from the north in 1890.

The site is currently commemorated in St. Lazare, which hosts the Fort Ellice Interpretive Centre.

While the Nature Conservancys main intention is to preserve the integrity of the areas biodiversity, it recognizes its historic and cultural significance should be available to all.

We want to be sure that, in the long-run, this is a place where all of the values of Fort Ellice are shared, Teneycke said.

In the years following its purchase, NCC said it has improved the health of the mixed-grass prairie as well as ecosystems associated with the Assiniboine River and Beaver Creek.

They conducted an inventory of the habitats and vegetation, developed control plans to deal with invasive species and annually assessed the habitat conditions following grazing treatments.

File photo Nature Conservancy of Canada's Jean Rosset maps and photographs a portion of the historic Fort Ellice site south of St.Lazare using a Google Earth camera system this summer.

 ifroese@brandonsun.com, with files from the Winnipeg Free Press

 Twitter: @ianfroese
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 08/12/2016 (2156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A quarter-century long battle against bovine tuberculosis in Riding Mountain National Park is finally approaching its conclusion  while ranchers in Alberta prepare for a potentially long fight against the contagious bacterial disease themselves.

Quietly, on-farm testing for bovine tuberculosis in what is referred to as the Riding Mountain Eradication Area (RMEA) wrapped up this year. The Westman region has been on high alert since 1991 when the first TB case was confirmed.

Annual testing was recently reduced to biennial assessments. Four small ranches, which did not receive their scheduled tests in 2015, were completed this year. No tests are planned next year.

File photo A Canadian Food Inspection Agency veterinarian dissects a pair of elk glands removed from a cow that tested positive for bovine tuberculosis during a preliminary blood test several years ago at a laboratory located at the Riding Mountain National Park maintenance compound.

This winter, the capturing of deer and elk to collect additional samples will also cease.

Its a huge sigh of relief for everybody involved, and Ill use that term because it has been a battle, said Allan Preston, coordinator of the Bovine TB Management Program. Weve had tremendous cooperation from everybody to achieve those goals, provided we continue to find negative results on the surveillance tests.

In total, Preston explained the disease infected 14 Riding Mountain area herds since 1991. There was a major breakout in 1997-2003 and the last positive test was in 2008.

From 2000, when RMEA was established, to 2015, more than 250,000 tuberculin tests of livestock have been performed in the area, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Aside from providing stock for regular testing, each ranch took measures to stop the spread of TB.

Barrier fences and guard dogs help keep white-tailed deer and elk away. Bales are better protected since the disease is often spread from wildlife to cattle herds through saliva at areas where bale grazing is common.

Each of these approaches will continue, even while regular TB observation is dialed back, Preston said.

My biggest fear is that we may relax too soon, we may get complacent too soon.

Inspections of all slaughtered cattle will continue and hunters will still be asked to submit samples from elk and deer they shoot in the area.

But the live animal testing will be done, Preston said. That was a very significant imposition on farmers in the area.

File photo On-farm testing for bovine tuberculosis in what is referred to as the Riding Mountain Eradication Area (RMEA) wrapped up this year. The way cattle consume food was carefully scrutinized by farmers and scientists in order to stop cross-contamination of saliva from wildlife.

Preston is carefully watching what happens in southeastern Alberta where several cases of TB were confirmed this fall, he said.

Albertan ranchers are experiencing what their counterparts in western Manitoba went through in the 1990s. Preston said there is a key similarity, with the first TB case in Manitoba and Alberta part of a herd grazing on a public pasture, which increases the likelihood of infection when herds are not confined to one location.

Preston said the TB case in Alberta worries him about possible repercussions from the American government, especially if another TB case is reported in Canada in the next few years.

If you find a second case in the country, it can jeopardize our status in regards to trade with the United States, he said. We kind of sit on pins and needles, worried that a second case might show up somewhere.

In Manitoba, Ray Armbruster, a cattle rancher with approximately 250-head north of Rossburn, said its a relief to see two decades of exhaustive testing come to a close.

There were some days where you werent sure you were going to see the light at the end of the tunnel but we made it.

The costly, stressful battle caused area ranchers to pack it in, but not Armbruster, even after his own herd was wiped out in the late 1990s when TB was confirmed.

Armbruster received the Carl Block Award last year from the Canadian Cattlemens Association for his dedication to the eradication of bovine tuberculosis. He served on a TB committee involving various government levels and departments until last year.

Though there is solace in finishing on-farm testing, all ranchers understand the long-term repercussions the fight against TB caused, Armbruster said.

File photo In 2008, then-health program coordinator for RMNP Ken Kingdon spoke to reporters about testing for bovine tuberculosis.

Riding Mountain has lost, in his estimation, a generation of wildlife, as part of a systematic destruction of the regions wildlife population to ensure livestock safety. Interaction between the remaining wildlife and livestock, once common, is virtually nonexistent.

It is part of a new normal for area ranchers.

I cant overemphasize the amount of testing both in livestock and wildlife, how important it was, Armbruster said. If we wouldnt have done the mitigation efforts, we could have probably tested here forever and not finished.

Preston estimates there are 300-350 herds in the Riding Mountain region.

 ifroese@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @brandonsun
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 08/12/2016 (2156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

FRIDAY, DEC. 9

82 Brandon Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron meets at 6:30 p.m. every Friday from September to June at the Brandon Armoury. Youth ages 12-18. No fees to join. For more info, 204-725-4703 or aircadetleaguemb.ca,

  

Seniors for Seniors offers Rowdy Bunch at 1:30 p.m. for cards and shuffleboard every Friday. Members $3.50; non-members $4.50. Personal Computer Information on the second and fourth Friday of each month at 9:30 a.m. Call 204-571-2050 for more info.

  

SATURDAY, DEC. 10

The Westman Stroke Support Group meets from September until June at Faith Fellowship Baptist Church at 1:30 p.m. For more info, call Marilyn 204-571-9383; Elsie 204-725-4248; Darlynne 204-728-7713.

  

Overeaters Anonymous meet Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. in the John Howard boardroom at 153 8th Street. For more info, call 204-761-7504 or visit oa.org. For more info, call or text 204-730-2993.

  

Zen Tao Chi-Kung Tai Chi at the West End Community Centre, at 9 a.m. every Saturday. Beginners are welcome anytime. For more info, call Sally 204-726-8220; Roger 204-726-5293.

  

SUNDAY, DEC. 11

The Southwest Jam (formerly the Baldur Jam), hosted by Arvid and Allison, is held in the Killarney Legion Hall from 2-5 p.m.

  

Westman Self-Defence Club classes at the Ukrainian National Home every Sunday from 2-4 p.m. 16-years-olds and up. For more info, call Justin at 204-720-9948.

  

Why eat alone? Club 77 members get together for Sunday brunch each week at 11:45 a.m. at the Clay Pot Cafe. Call 204-728-0627 or 204-726-8240 or email club77singles@outlook.com.

  

MONDAY, DEC. 12

Westman Prostate Cancer Support Group, men with prostate cancer as well as spouses, partners, families and friendsmeet at Seniors for Seniors at 2 p.m. Call Ian 204-727-8128.

  

The post partum difficulties support group meets at 7 p.m. at the BRHC, Nurses Residence, West Lounge. For more info, call 204-725-3010. Child care may be available if contacted four days in advance.

  

The Wheat City Lions Club meet at noon at the Victoria Inn. For more info, contact Chris at 204-725-4566.

  

Peace by Piece Quilters meet at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church from 7-9 p.m. New quilters welcome. Yearly membership is $30. For more info, call 204-728-9944.

  

FLK Taoist Tai Chi Beginner and Continuing classes every Monday from 9:30-11 a.m. at St. Matthews Church. Beginners welcome anytime. For more info call 204-571-0684.

  

Brandon ANAF Steeltip Darts League meet Mondays at the Army and Navy. New members welcome. For more info, call Mike 204-720-0388.

  

Meal on Wheels deliver a hot, nutritious meal by noon Monday-Friday to people living in their homes for $9 per meal. Meals for the weekend are available as cold meals and they are sent out on Fridays. Available to anyone in Brandon by calling Prairie Oasis at 204-727-6641 and must be ordered one day ahead.

  

East End Sunshine Club meets Mondays at 1:30 p.m. at the East End Community Centre for card games. Everyone welcome. For more info, call Ann 204-727-1198.

  

Meat draws at the ANAF Brandon Unit #10 every Monday at 5 p.m.- Fridays 5:30 p.m. and Saturdays 5 p.m. Members and guests.

  

The Nearly New Shop open Monday-Saturday, 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. All profits to BRHC. Donations gratefully accepted. For further info, call 204-728-7137.

  

TUESDAY, DEC. 13

Wheat City Womens Institute meets at 7 p.m. Call Donna at 204-728-2714 or Betty 725-4612.

  

The Brandon Board Game League meets every Tuesday. Call 204-724-7295 to register.

  

Overeaters Anonymous meets Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. in the John Howard boardroom at 153 8th Street. For more info, call 204-761-7504 or visit oa.org.

  

We have outgrown our store at Brandon Community Builders and have moved our merchandise to the CMHA Building Re-fit Store at 23 12th Street. All our items will be sold on consignment. Open Tuesdays-Saturdays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. 204-717-9900.

  

Cribbage played at ANAF every Tuesday at 7 p.m. Bring your partner.

  

Ninja Tots classes are held Tuesdays at 5 p.m. and Sunday at 10 a.m. at 126 10th St. Children must be between the ages of 4-6 years. Fun, bully proofing and fitness. For more info, call 204-724-5933.

  

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 14

The Brandon Embroiders Group meets from September to April inclusive at the Art Gallery of South Western Manitoba from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

  

The Kinette Club of Brandon meets at Kin Village, 1511 Rosser Ave. (back entrance) at 8 p.m. Contact Wanda 204-721-1878.

  

The Coffee House Jam in the Shilo Inn at Sprucewoods from 7-9 p.m.

  

Learning Disabilities Association of Manitoba, Brandon and District Chapters Adult Support Group meets at 8 p.m. in the L.D.A.M. Resource Centre at 129 12th St. For more info, call 204-727-4669.

  

Dance classes at Prairie Oasis on Wednesdays from 7-9 p.m. Cost is $25 for five evenings. Must call to register at 204-727-6641. Everyone welcome.

  

Wednesday TOPS 5277 (new chapter) at Trinity United Church. Weigh in 5:30-6 p.m.; meeting to follow. For more info, call Marlene 204-728-7590.

  

71 Bty 2520 Royal Canadian Army Cadets meet every Wednesday from 6:30-9 p.m. at the Brandon Armoury. Open to all youth, 12-18 years of age. For more info, call 204-728-7665.

  

Brandon ANAF Mixed Steeltip Dart League meets on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. at the Army and Navy. No experience needed. League runs September to April. For more info, call Susan 204-724-4282 or Dave 204-727-6983.

  

Prairie Social Singles meet for pool each Wednesday at 7 p.m at the ANAF Hall, followed by coffee at McDonalds on Richmond Ave. For more info, call Elvin 204-729-9001.

THURSDAY, DEC. 15

Coffee house for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, two-spirit people and their allies, takes place at 7 p.m. For more info, call 204-727-0417.

  

Little Bits of Brandon Miniature meets at Parkview Seniors Housing Co-op Ltd. at 7 p.m. For more info, call Marg 204-725-0875 or Beth 204-824-2722.

  

The Brandon Branch No. 3 Royal Canadian Legion offers Veterans afternoon from 2-3:30 p.m. for coffee, conversation and comradery. For RCL members and guests. For further info, call 204-727-3054.

  

Butterfly Kisses Miscarriage Support Group for anyone who is or has experienced the loss of a child through miscarriage. We meet at the Brandon Vineyard Community Church, 7 p.m. For further info, call Thea 204-726-0779.

  

The Brandon Amateur Radio Club meets at 7 p.m. at Forbidden Flavours at 1060 18th St. Call Dave 204-728-2463 for more info.

  

Zen Tao Chi-Kung Tai Chi meet every Thursday at the West End Community Centre, 7:30 p.m. Beginners are welcome. For more info, call Sally 204-726-8220; Roger 204-726-5293.

  

Seniors for Seniors offers every Thursday: cribbage 9:30 a.m. Members $3.50; non-members $4.50. Out to Lunch at noon. Members $10; non-members $12 and must pre-register by Tuesday at noon. Zumba Gold 2:15 p.m. For more info or to register, call 204-571-2050.

  

FLK Taoist Tai Chi Beginner and Continuing classes every Thursday, 1:30-3 p.m. at St. Matthews Church. For more info call 204-571-0684.

HAPPENING THIS WEEK: from Dec. 9 to Dec. 15

Minnedosa Fun Fests second annual Handmade Christmas Market will be held Dec. 10 in the Minnedosa United Church from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Kids can create a Christmas card or craft at the craft table while parents explore the market. Leave gifts to be wrapped at the gift wrap table for a donation (free for kids). Lunch available. Admission is $2 and children under 12 are free. For more info, email funfeststreetmarket@hotmail.com.

  

Join the Prairie Social Singles for a Christmas danceDec. 10 at the Park Avenue Activity Centre at 8 p.m. Dance to the music of Highway 25 and enjoy a turkey/dainty lunch. Pay at the door. $12 for members; $15 for non-members. Dry bar. For more information, call Lorraine at 204-725-2389.

  

Celebrate Christmas at City Hall on Dec. 11. featuring Christmas music by the Brandon Community Orchestra followed by a sing-a-long. Doors open at 12:30 p.m.; concert begins at 1:30 p.m. Everyone welcome.

  

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church Advent service and lunch will be held on Dec. 14 at noon.

  

Brandon and District Chapter Learning Disabilities Association of Manitoba Inc. presents Talking to Your Children About Sexuality, an interactive workshop with open discussions, with guest speaker Kaitlyn White, Sexuality and Reproductive Health Facilitator, SERC Brandon on Dec. 15 at the Elspeth Reid Family Resource Centre at 7 p.m. Call Cheryl 204-727-4669 to confirm your attendance.

  

MISCELLANEOUS

The Womens Resource Centre is seeking Board of Director member volunteers. Provide resources for women who have many different needs, including domestic violence counselling, children and youth counselling, technology use, workshops, group counselling, rental and job postings, and much more. For more info, Lisa 204-726-8632 or program.twc@wcgwave.ca

  

Understanding Mental Health/Public Education Opportunities. Learn how to recognize the signs of developing mental health problems with Mental Health First Aid; SafeTALK is a three-hour workshop that prepares anyone over the age of 15 to identify persons with thoughts of suicide; ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) two-day, highly interactive, practical workshop. Visit prairiemountainhealth.ca or contact Carla 204-578-2400 to register.

  

CMHA Building Re-Fit Store. We accept your building material and furniture donations. Call us at 204-728-2227 to arrange for our free pick-up service in the Brandon area.

  

Do you live outside the city of Winnipeg? Need emotional support? Free and confidential information, counselling, support by calling 1-866-367-3276 or chat with us online at ruralsupport.ca.

  

Brandon Shrine Club offers hall rental for all occasions. For more information, call Cam at 204-728-6090.

  

Brandon Regional Health Centre Auxiliary is a group of volunteers who assist the Brandon Regional Health Authority through fundraising for supporting programs at the BRHC. The Auxiliary is in need of new members, call 204-578-2065.

  

Dont know where to turn? Need someone to talk to: Call Crisis Services at 204-725-4411 or 1-888-379-7699. We can help.

  

Daly House Museum is looking for tour guides for group tours throughout the year. Training is provided. Students can add the experience to their resume. For more info, call Eileen at 204-727-1722 or email dalymuseum@wcgwave.ca.

  

Teen Touch is a safety net for all youth in Manitoba. Our telephone helpline is open 24/7 year round. Call 1-800-563-8336.

  

Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship to share your experience, give strength and hope with each other and help others to recover from alcoholism. For more info, call 204-571-3684.

  

Are you a girl between 9-12 years of age? Want to make new friends and have fun and adventure? Join Girl Guides at Valleyview. For more info, call 204-578-5153.

  

Nearly New Shop, our staff of volunteers will be glad to help you find the perfect item at a bargain price. We are also accept your donations. All profits are given to the hospital to buy needed equipment. Monday-Saturday, 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

  
He discussed how to distribute the allowance to 10 Mon State townships with representatives of the Karen New Year Festival Organising Committee at a meeting held at the Karen Students Hostel in Mawlamyine Technological University on 4 December.

He said: Fifteen million kyats will be spent from the [Mon] State Governments budget to celebrate the Karen New Year. A total of 1.5 million kyats will be given to each township and [the allowance] will be transferred to the committees from each township.

Though the Karen New Year has been celebrated in all Mon State townships for the last ten years this is the first time that the Mon State government has offered to help fund some of the celebrations.

Members of Karen New Year organising Committees in different townships have welcomed the governments offer and see it as a sign that they recognise and accept Karen culture.

Saw Maung Hla, a member of the committee that organises Karen New Year celebrations in Attaran River West in Kyaikmaraw Township explained that they would have to split the townships allowance of 1.5 million kyats with the Attaran River Eastern committee who hold their own New Year celebrations.

He said: Just the prizes for the Don (dance competition) during the festival are two million kyats. We understand the government, it is good that they are contributing.

Saw Tun Win, a member of the Thaton Township New Year Festival told KIC News that he was happy that the government were giving 1.5 million kyats towards their new year celebrations as they cost over 10 million kyats each year.

This year the Thaton Township Karen New Year celebrations will be held at Hpakan Gone Village in the Sa Khan Gyi Village Group.

This year the central government has provided an allowance to each state and region to help pay for Karen New Year celebrations. The money it has donated includes 35 million kyats to the Irrawaddy Region and 15 million kyats to Mon State, it also plans to donate 35 million kyats to the Rangoon Region.

Reporting by Saw Tun Linn for KIC News

Translated by Thida Linn

Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
The son of a murdered prison officer today confronted Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams at a press conference and told him to cooperate with gardai on an investigation into his father's killing, writes Juno McEnroe, Political Correspondent.

Austin Stack called Mr Adams a liar at the party's event at a Dublin city centre hotel and demanded that the party leader give gardai crucial information that might help identify his father's killers.

Son of IRA murder victim Brian Stack confronts Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, calling him a disgrace at a press conference pic.twitter.com/66lDwiXf01  RTE News (@rtenews) December 8, 2016

Mr Stack and his brother Oliver met an IRA figure in a secret meeting on the border in 2013, in which Mr Adams accompanied the two in a blacked-out van. This IRA man knew their father's killers, the two sons of the deceased were told.

The latest dramatic turn in events comes after Mr Adams in the Dail last night called the killing of prison officer Brian Stack in 1983 wrong as he said he had tried to help the Stack family.

But he questioned if giving up the names of IRA officials would help the peace process.

Two Sinn Fein TDs - Dessie Ellis and Martin Ferris - were also named during the Dail exchanges about the Stack murder. Their names were among four given to gardai by Mr Adams earlier this year. Both strongly deny any link to the Stack murder.

Mr Stack today confronted the party leader and said: "Gerry Adams, you have information that is crucial to the investigation of my father's murder.

"Gerry Adams, you took myself and my brother in a blacked-out van to meet with a senior IRA figure, a man you said you trusted.

"Gerry Adams, I want you to give that information to the gardai. I'm not interested any more in hearing your lies and your untruths."

Mr Adams rejected the claims made by Mr Stack (pictured below).
By Ryan ORourke

The mother of a 25-year-old woman stabbed to death along with her friend and two children, has spoken for the first time about the pain of losing her only daughter and grandchildren.

Abina Ring (aged 51) lost her daughter Sarah and her children Reece (aged 3) and five-month-old baby Amy when they were murdered by John Geary at their home in Newcastle West, Co Limerick on November 15, 2010.

The 37-year-old murdered his ex-partner and their five-month-old daughter because she had left him. He also killed Sarahs three-year-old son Reece and her friend Alicia Brough (aged 20) because they happened upon the scene.

In an exclusive interview with the Limerick Voice student newspaper, Sarahs heartbroken mother Abina, spoke for the first time about how she has been coping with her devastating loss.

Ive been living day to day, my children keep me going, said the mother-of-six.

Originally from Milford in Co Cork, John Geary was given four concurrent life sentences for the murders in 2013.

Abina says her grief is compounded by her fear of what might happen when Geary is released.

He will get out; hes probably thinking about it already. How will my boys react? she asked.

Life should mean life. He might be an old man by the time hes free, but he can still hurt someone, she added.

The grieving mother suffered a heart attack after finding out the details of her daughters murder.

The guards told me all the details because they thought John was going to plead not guilty, and they wanted to prepare me for what was going to come up in court. I started getting pains down my arm. It was the shock of what I had been told.

The heartbroken mother has warned how violence can visit anyones doorstep.

You see things like this on the news and think thats not going to happen to me. But it could happen to you, your sister, your daughter, your neighbour, your friend.

I think Sarah would tell people to be careful. If you dont feel safe, get out. If you see someone in an abusive situation, help them.

Its believed Geary became obsessive after the relationship fell apart months before the murder.

He always wanted to know where she was and who she was with, Abina recalled.

She believes more can be done to prevent more tragedies like Sarahs.

There should be a registry for people with a violent history. That way, when you bring someone into your home, you can see who they are, she added.
Jobs Minister Mary Mitchell O'Connor has warned against being too concerned about the UK vote to leave the EU.

She told the Dail that the Government is prepared to respond to any issues sector-by-sector and company-by-company if necessary.
By Fiachra O Cionnaith, Political Correspondent

Labour leader Brendan Howlin has warned there "can't be a separate rule for Gerry Adams" after growing calls were made for the Sinn Fein leader to provide full information to gardai on the 1983 murder of prison officer Brian Stack.

Speaking to reporters after Mr Stack's son, Austin, interrupted a Sinn Fein Brexit press conference to accuse Mr Adams of withholding information on the murder, Mr Howlin said if Sinn Fein wants to be a credible party it must comply with legal norms.

While stopping short of saying Mr Adams' position as a TD and party leader is untenable if he refuses to provide further details to gardai, Mr Howlin said until this takes place Sinn Fein will be "apart from the rest".

And in a clear warning to his opposition rival, he added that there "can't be a separate rule for Gerry Adams" when it comes to knowledge of murders during the Troubles.

"The statement made by Gerry Adams yesterday in the Dail was no surprise to anybody.

"Faced with the grim realities of his own past he often blows smoke, in fact tries to make himself a victim.

"It's crystal clear to all of us who met the Stack family, who are trying to get truth for that family, that Gerry Adams certainly knows the identity of the IRA commander that he tasked in investigating the facts surrounding the murder of Brian Stack and he should give that identity to an garda siochana.

"Those of us who have met with the Stack family believe them. They are entitled to know the truth.

I believe he knows the identity of the murderer, and I think he should bring that identity to An Garda Siochana in addition to all he knows.

"This notion now that somehow this makes the peace process more vulnerable to tell the truth, when he demands the truth from so many other people, is unacceptable and simply unsustainable.

"There can't be a separate rule for Gerry Adams," he said.

Mr Howlin said while Labour remains committed to co-operating with "any progressive parties", the reality is "you cannot be a slightly constitutional party" and that Sinn Fein must now "embrace the parliamentary process and the responsibilities" they have when it comes to transparency in a democracy.

Asked if this means Mr Adams' position as a TD and leader is untenable, Mr Howlin said Sinn Fein needs to "make up their minds" on where the party's future lies.

"If Sinn Fein want to fully embrace the parliamentary process they have to have the same responsibilities as any other leader of a party.

"Can you imagine any other party leader standing up in the Dail yesterday with information on the murderer of a servant of this state and not being required to give full frank and complete information?

"Sinn Fein will have to make up their minds on whether they want to embrace the parliamentary system and all the responsibilities that go with it.

"They're certainly not providing full informationIt is my belief that Gerry Adams certainly knows the identity of the murderer of Brian Stack and he should bring that to the attention of An Garda Siochana immediately, and until such time as the norms of parliamentary activity, the norms of conduct apply to Sinn Fein they will be apart from the rest," the Labour leader said.
The Chief Minister addressed these concerns in his speech on the first day of the fourth regular session of the Mon State Hluttaw conference, held yesterday [December 7].

There has been difficulty implementing some Hluttaw approved proposals, some proposals are influencing the laws that Hluttaw passed. Ultimately, we are in a situation where we are unable to implement them as they disagree with the law, said Chief Minister U Min Min Oo.

The Chief Minister continued that the Hluttaw representatives could also question further other representatives proposals, while the representatives should only allow questions for certain proposals.

We already submitted the proposals and questions to the State Government Office in advance. If they [the proposals and questions] did not match up with the law, they could be turned down. Therefore, there wont be any reasons for why they are rejected after they are at the Hluttaw conference, said U Aung Kyaw Thu, Thaton Township Constituency No. 2.

Since the Mon State Hluttaw held its first conference, 19 proposals were approved and 66 questions were asked at the conferences.

Currently, Mon State has 31 representatives, including 20 Hluttaw representatives and 8 representatives from the military.

The fourth regular session of the Mon State Hluttaws conference will be held for five days, with 20 questions and 3 proposals as well as the salt production industry law draft on the list for discussion.
There has be a slight decrease in the number of homeless families in Dublin.

New figures from the Dublin Region Homeless Executive show the number of families in homelessness in the city dropped by three to 1,023 last month.

It also shows a decrease in the number of homeless adults by 12 to 3,024.

Housing Minister Simon Coveney told the Dail that they will show progress in tackling homelessness.

"We have the November figures today in terms of homelessness in Dublin, and for the first time in a very long time, as I say, the number of adults that are homeless and the numbers of families that are homeless in Dublin has actually reduced, month-on-month," he said.

"That is not to say that we dont' still have a mountain to climb - we do.

"We still have far, far, far too many people without a home to go to or a bed to sleep in."

Homeless charity The Peter McVerry Trust has also given a cautious welcome to news, but said that the government needs to introduce rent regulation and stronger tenants' rights in order to see further reductions.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is recalling Nama to explain why it did not keep notes of its board meetings.

The body is examining the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on the sale of Nama's northern loan book, known as Project Eagle.
Student loans for university fees are not the best way to fund higher education.

The representatives of over half a million students will address the Oireachtas committee on Education and Skills today, on the need for government investment in the sector.
Hundreds of British police officers have been accused of abusing their power to sexually exploit people, including vulnerable victims of crime, a damning report has revealed.

Watchdogs laid bare the scale of the issue they described as the most serious form of corruption - and rebuked forces over their efforts to root out cases.

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) was asked by then home secretary Theresa May earlier this year to investigate the extent of the problem.

HMIC's initial findings identified more than 400 claims of abuse of authority for sexual gain over two years.

But HM Inspector Mike Cunningham said: "It is at least possible, probably likely, that the problem is more serious than the numbers that have been reported back to us.

"It's the most serious form of corruption. It is an exploitation of power where the guardian becomes an abuser.

"What can be worse than a guardian abusing the trust and confidence of an abused person? There can be no greater violation of public trust."

British Home Secretary Amber Rudd said: "It is a matter of profound concern that any police officer should abuse their authority for sexual gain.

"The misconduct discovered in this report is shocking - it undermines justice and public confidence and there is no place in the police for anyone guilty of this sort of abuse."

Data collected by the watchdog identified 436 reported allegations of abuse of authority for sexual gain received by forces in England and Wales in the two years to the end of March.

The allegations covered a total of 334 police personnel, comprising 306 officers, 20 PCSOs and eight police staff.

All but one constabulary had at least one case, while more than a third (39%) of the allegations involved victims of domestic abuse.

Arrested suspects and people with drug or alcohol problems were also thought to be among those allegedly exploited.

While forces acknowledge the seriousness of the problem, some are still failing to recognise it as a serious form of corruption, the report warned.

Less than half (48%) of the 436 reported allegations had been referred to the UK's Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Figures also suggested there was an "apparent disconnect" between the numbers of alleged cases and sackings as a result.

Some counter-corruption units did not have the capability or capacity to seek intelligence on potential abuse of authority for sexual gain, the report warned.

It also found that almost half of forces inspected were unable to audit or monitor use of all IT systems - limiting how much information could be gathered to spot officers or staff who may be accessing databases to identify vulnerable victims.

Mr Cunningham said: "Forces need to become far more proactive in rooting out this most serious form of corruption, rather than only dealing with it once it has been reported."

He said the majority of officers and staff carry out their work with integrity and honesty - and are "appalled" at the corruption of their colleagues.

In the wake of the report, IPCC chair Dame Anne Owers has written to all chief constables in England and Wales urging them to ensure all cases regarding abuse of authority for sexual gain are referred.

She said: "While progress has been made, particularly in preventative and educational work, we are disappointed that a significant number of serious cases are still not being referred."

Mark Castle, chief executive of the charity Victim Support, described the allegations as "deeply concerning".

Elsewhere, HMIC raised concerns about levels of compliance with a national policy for vetting officers and staff.

Backlogs have built up, meaning many forces are failing to conduct regular checks on individuals after changes in their personal circumstances, or when they move from one post to another.

Overall, the watchdog said its police "legitimacy" assessment was positive, with high satisfaction among victims at how they are treated.

Two forces were graded as outstanding, 36 as good and five as requiring improvement.

Stephen Watson, National Police Chiefs' Council lead for counter-corruption, said: "Abuse of powers for sexual gain is a betrayal of our core responsibility to protect people from harm.

"It is the most serious form of corruption and it can never be justified or condoned. In recent years, we have focused on encouraging reporting and pursuing offenders.

"We now need to do more to continue to root out the disease and inoculate policing for the future.

"We are in the process of developing a national strategy to raise the standards of all forces in preventing this form of abuse."
Islamic State militants have seized territory near Palmyra, home to famed Roman ruins, according to Syrian opposition activists.

IS seized Palmyra and held it for 10 months before being driven out by Russian-backed Syrian government forces in March.

During their reign, the extremists destroyed a number of 2,000-year-old monuments and artefacts.

IS launched a two-pronged attack on government forces on Thursday, advancing to within eight kilometres (five miles) of the town, said Rami Abdurrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Palmyra Co-ordination Committee, another opposition group, said IS advanced from the south and north, capturing government checkpoints and a number of small villages, and approaching gas fields and grain silos.

The IS-run Aamaq news agency posted a video of four captured government soldiers.

AP
The remains of the 47 passengers and crew who were killed when a Pakistan International Airlines flight crashed are being sent to Islamabad for identification, a hospital spokesman and the airline said.

Daniyal Gilani, a spokesman for PIA, confirmed that 42 passengers and five crew members were killed in Wednesday's crash, reducing the number from 48.

Junaid Sarwar, a hospital spokesman in the north-western city of Abbottabad, said only five bodies had been identified as the remains of others were burned so badly that the National Database and Registration Authority could not identify them.

"We are sending body parts of all the passengers to Islamabad for DNA tests," he said. The crash took place in a village 45 miles north west of the capital Islamabad. The small twin-propeller aircraft was travelling from the city of Chitral to Islamabad when it crashed shortly after take-off due to an engine fault.

PIA said the plane lost contact with the control tower before the crash.

The passengers included Junaid Jamshed, a famous singer who had become an Islamic preacher, according to PIA.

"There are no survivors. All passengers and members of crew are dead," Azam Sehgal, the PIA chariman told a news conference at Islamabad airport. He said the plane's black box recorder had been found.

Mr Sehgal said the pilot told the control tower that an engine had developed a technical fault. Moments later he made a mayday call shortly before the plane disappeared.

TV footage at the site showed debris from the plane, with villagers collecting the remains of th passengers and covering the bodies with cloths.

Pakistan's air industry had had a mixed record recently. About 150 people were killed in a crash near Islamabad in 2010, and last year a military helicopter carrying several diplomats also crashed in the country's north, killing eight people. And a Bhoja Air passenger plane crashed near Islamabad due to bad weather in 2012, killing all 127 people on board.
Russia is trying to destabilise German society and the state with propaganda campaigns and cyber attacks, Germany's domestic intelligence agency said.

The blunt warning from Germany's BfV agency comes less than a year before the country is expected to hold a general election.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures climbed for a second straight day on Tuesday to close at a near 10-week...
Texas passed a new regulation requiring "cremation or burial" of fetal tissue after a miscarriage or medical abortion, and to hear the lawmakers who passed this idiotic rule, this requires grieving women to dress up minute scraps of tissue in little funeral suits and stand contrite over a tiny casket while a clergyman excoriates them for disappointing god with their selfish uteruses.

The reality is that the Texas regulators do not have the right to reclassify fetal tissue as "human remains" (which is the only kind of tissue that funeral homes can dispose of)  so fetal tissue remains "medical waste." Guess how we get rid of medical waste? It's either incinerated ("cremated") or sterilized and sent to a landfill ("buried").

So, basically, all the chest-thumping about treating fetuses as dead babies is just a snow-job to make the low-information voters cheering on these idiots feel good about controlling women and their naughty reproductive organs.

There's plenty else that's terrible in the rule, but this part is just ugly window-dressing.

Now, on the other hand, Mike Pence's Indiana passed a law that is a genuine horrorshow:



In Indiana, we're not dealing with a regulation, we're dealing with a law, passed by the legislature. (And pushed through by your new vice president elect, Mike Pence.) Indiana did actually take fetal tissue and changed its category to "human remains." This is transparently an anti-abortion statute although the law in Indiana applies to both "aborted fetuses" and "miscarried fetuses." The problem with that change is that we have the same definition ("human remains") for a "fetus" of one-week gestation as we do for a 200 pound, 65 year old adult. By the new Indiana law, within 24 hours, the healthcare center has to give the woman a written form saying she has the right to take the remains to a funeral home. Planned Parenthood filed a federal lawsuit and got a temporary restraining order with respect to the part of the law that has to do with "aborted fetuses." But the law regarding "miscarried fetuses" went into effect on July 1st. Indiana hospitals are currently requiring women who suffered a miscarriage before 20 weeks to sign a form that refers to "my baby's body" multiple times. Nurses have been obviously horrified to give out this new form to woman, but the law requires them to do so. As Tanya said, the Indiana law is "impractical, absurd, and paternalistic." If the woman does not want the "remains," the healthcare centers have to have them buried or cremated. They are allowed to co-mingle, but they do have to deal directly with a cemetery and/or funeral home which is more expensive than dealing with a medical waste company. It's worth noting that Georgia also has very bad laws in this category. Worse than Texas, but not as bad as Indiana. Nobody comes close to how bad Indiana is.

NEW FETAL REGULATIONS IN TEXAS: THE GOOD (AND VERY BAD) NEWS

[Caitlin Doughty/Order of the Good Death]

(Image: Planned Parenthood Rally Austin, TX 3/13/12, Scatx, CC-BY)
ABU DHABI: The United Arab Emirates energy minister said on Monday that OPEC+ is keen on providing the world with...
KUPIANSK: The head of Ukraine's railway vowed to keep trains running and to repair the damage done to the network by...
Le Monde has published a new collection of documents from the whistleblower Edward Snowden, showing that the British spy agency GCHQ targeted the leaders of allied countries in Africa, as well as business executives and employees of telecommunications companies, whose accounts were a means to gaining access to communications infrastructure across the continent.

Beyond France, the disclosures highlight the U.K.'s extensive spying operations across Africa. In 20 countries across the continent, GCHQ monitored current and former heads of state, prime ministers, diplomats, military and intelligence chiefs, as well as leading figures in the business and finance industry, Le Monde reports. Among those who were subject to the surveillance, which involved intercepting communications as they were being beamed between satellites, was a close British ally  Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki and his strategic advisers. Other targets included Nigeria's president Umaru Yar'Adua and his private secretary; Ghana's president John Kufuor; Sierra Leone's leader Ernest Koroma; and the presidential palace in Luanda, Angola. Prominent business figures were also monitored, such as Nigerian billionaire Tony Elumelu, regarded as one of Africa's richest and most influential men, and Chris Kirubi, a wealthy Kenyan businessman and radio-station owner who was described by Forbes in 2011 as the country's "most flamboyant tycoon. "

But not all of the people on the surveillance lists were high-flying corporate and political elites. Le Monde reports that GCHQ spied on the employees of two major telecommunications companies  the South African firm MTN and Kuwait-based Zain. The agency focused in particular on "roaming managers" working for the companies in at least 15 African countries, including Gabon, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Congo, and Mali. Roaming managers who work for cellphone companies organize partnerships between different carriers across the world, ensuring that when you travel overseas on vacation or a business trip you can use your phone to connect to a local network and make calls and receive messages.
PARIS: People with monkeypox can spread the virus up to four days before symptoms appear, with more than half of...
Fremantle midfielder Harley Bennell's car has been impounded by police after he was caught driving without a licence, adding yet another off-feld distraction to the Dockers' crucial off-season rebuilding.

Police stopped Bennell for a routine traffic check on Tuesday and found his licence had recently been suspended over demerit points.

Harley Bennell looks set for a handful of games at WAFL side Peel Thunder before his Dockers debut. Credit:Getty Images

The Docker's car was immediately impounded but he told the club he was unaware of the lost demerit points because he had moved addresses.

The 24-year-old was traded to Fremantle from the Gold Coast in 2015 but is yet to play a home and away game for the Dockers.
Evan from Fight for the Future sez, "Chelsea Manning has already spent more time behind bars than any other whistleblower in U.S. history. She's been systematically mistreated, subjected to torture, and denied access to desperately needed health care while serving a 35 year sentence in an all-male military prison."

"And if we don't do something right now, Chelsea's life is literally in danger. KT Mcfarland, Trump's pick for Deputy National Security Advisor, has repeatedly called for Chelsea to be executed. Her situation is about to go from bad to worse. There are just days left to sign this petition calling for President Obama to commute Chelsea's sentence to time served before he leaves office. Please sign and spread the word. Chelsea risked everything to do what she thought was right. Now she needs our help. Please do your part."

Commute Chelsea Manning's Sentence to Time Served

[CV/We The People]
2. Trump: Time magazine has named Donald Trump person of the year. Angela Merkel made it last year with Barack Obama named in 2012. George Bush Snr made the list in 1990 with George Bush Jnr in 2000. Donald trump overnight vowed to take on the pharmaceutical industry, the immediate reaction was the health care sector lost ground with Merck down 0.75% Pfizer down 1.65%.

1. Renzi: Italy's Prime minister Mario Renzi has officially resigned following the failed referendum. The next scheduled elections are not until 2018. President Sergio Mattarella will ask members of Renzi's cabinet to try and form a new government. Italy's MIB trades into Five month highs at 18254 points following European markets higher before the announcement came through. Following Renzi's resignation European futures have eased this morning on the news with the Italian MIB down 20 points.

The local stock market is set to lift at the open, after a late rally on Wall Street overnight that sent the Dow to record highs.

3. Equities: The DOW30 and the S&P500 set new record highs with financials again leading the way, names like Visa and American express the strongest gainers for the session. Telecoms continue to rally a further 2% on the back of the news that the Softbank investment into the US will bring in 50,000 jobs. US10Y yields eased back to 2.34% in line with markets the German 10Y bund at 0.34%

The ASX is set to break through 5900 today. Credit:Peter Braig

4. Oil: Oil break down below the key $50 a barrel level as doubt creep in about the resolve of the OPEC producers to cut production. US stock piles have risen by 3.8 million barrels so far this week bring additional concerns of oversupply. BHP was held back in UK and US trading as oil came under pressure the ADR suggest an Australian open at $26.06 a 1.3% move higher.

5. Commodities: Iron ore flies higher again as 62% fines trading at $82.25 a continued strong move in this commodities space. The RIO ADR suggests an open at $60.83 which only matches yesterday close. Looking forward with new mines coming on board and the potential for a surplus the expectation is not for a continued rally into 2017. With Gold firmly below the key USD $1200oz level Australian producers will find headwinds as the AUD price for Gold slips under the key $1600oz.



6. ASX: Volatility has eased to the complacent level as the Australian market implied volatility falls to 12.8 generally levels below 18 are bullish for markets, we may be in the early stages of the Xmas move, historically starting around the 2nd week of December.

With global markets remaining buoyant we are looking for a strong open this morning with futures up 44 points pointing to the Index crossing the key 5500 level at 5522 points. We would expect to see profit taking as the week draws to a close.



7. Today's diary:
I had two problems, I had been given a two months' jail sentence for disrupting the racially-selected Springbok tour in 1971 (an infamous crime?) but amongst my other sins I had also been convicted of "assault police" during a particularly violent protest against American Vice-President Spiro Agnew. This was a proscribed crime, and ignorant of possible let out clauses, I endured an anxious waiting period.

The NSW prohibition is slightly different to the Federal one. In NSW the prohibition seems to be "an infamous crime" or a crime for which the penalty is five years' jail or more  later changed to a year or more.

The prohibition federally and in the various states and territories is so loosely worded it is sometimes not clear what an actual prohibited crime is. So, combined with confusion about the prohibition attaching to the judicial process rather than the crime itself, often the decision about whether or not someone is ineligible to stand is made by the party rather than by the courts. This was my problem.

The history of Australian parliaments is littered with famous jail-birds, starting with John Curtin himself and my particular favourite Donald Grant who served four years of a 15-year sentence for arson and sedition and then triumphantly served 16 years in the Senate.

Former Labor MP Meredith Burgmann says voters should be trusted to cast their ballot for whoever they want. Credit:Dean Osland

I had been pre-selected by Labor's left faction with ease but before my name could go on the ticket for the Legislative Council, the right faction had to agree. For many weeks I awaited the decision of the Administrative Committee. In the end the right made the sensible decision that an unholy brawl about our party's anti-Vietnam and anti-apartheid policy would not be politically helpful.

However, that debate should never have had to take place. The party should not be in the business of deciding between "good" criminal acts and "bad" criminal acts. It should not be an issue at all. I would suggest that these sorts of in-house decisions have been made many times within political parties. The problem for One Nation is that these vetting procedures probably do not exist within their structures.

The decision to take action on a conviction prohibition is nearly always a political decision rather than a legal one. I may have been ineligible to be an MP so why did no one challenge my right to be in the Parliament all those years? Because they would have looked silly, that's why.

I was sitting in a chamber with two other jail-bird activists, one was the noted environmentalist Ian Cohen who blithely admitted to the House that, after being busted for marijuana, he couldn't be a teacher so he stood for parliament instead. No one questioned his credentials to be there either.

When I was chairman of the ethics committee I undertook an inquiry into Section 13 and 13B of the Constitution Act, which deals with these problems. The inquiry took three years and produced no further clarity.
"I want a life for myself and I want a job when I get out of cos I'm sick of it. Like, this life we live is not sustainable, if you get what I mean. Like, we can't keep going the way we go. You can't keep on doing crime, cos this is the way we end up, in here."

This is the voice of a young person who at the time was detained at Banksia Hill Detention Centre in Canning Vale.

Colin Pettit is WA's Commissioner for Children and Young People. Credit:David Broadway

When I read this quote I can hear the exasperation in her voice, the deep dissatisfaction about where her life is, and her desire to create a better future.

Recently I have read many similar quotes that are now part of a report on a consultation my office ran with 92 young people in detention or sentenced to a community supervision order, Speaking Out About Youth Justice.
Kristina Photios, the wife of NSW Liberal Party powerbroker Michael Photios, has quit the party to speak out against a "vocal minority" of conservatives she says are preventing any progress on climate policy by the Turnbull government.

The Liberal Party must move "back to the centre" and progressive members should stand up and be heard to ensure Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is not held hostage to the hard right of the party, Ms Photios told Fairfax Media.

Her unvarnished comments, which will likely have internal ramifications for Mr Photios as the longtime leader of the left or "moderate" faction in NSW, have given an insight into the depth of feeling raging inside the party in a week in which Mr Turnbull was again forced to retreat from a public debate under threat of insurrection from within his own ranks.

"Debate in the Liberal Party is being shut down by a vocal minority of conservatives who are subverting the democratic process," Ms Photios said, singling out former prime minister Tony Abbott and South Australian senator Cory Bernardi as among those "ideologically-driven" Liberals who wield disproportionate influence.
Whatever you do, just don't mention recession.

That's the message from Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison, using interviews on Thursday to hit out at language they call alarmist and unhelpful  a day after the end of five continuous years of economic growth for the Australian economy.

Wednesday's national accounts figures for the September quarter showed the economy went backwards by 0.5 per cent, surprising forecasters and sending shock waves through the federal government.

The results were Australia's first decline since March 2011 and the largest fall since the global financial crisis, but economists believe the results could be a one-off.
Lulu Jemimah speaks and writes English better than many Australians.

But the 30-year-old graduate is soon to be forced to return Uganda because, in the words of the decision maker at the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, "I am not satisfied that the applicant has competent English".

Ms Jemimah's case is a striking example of why rigid and inflexible immigration laws do not always serve Australia's interest.

A university graduate, theatre producer, comedian and volunteer worker, Ms Jemimah is the victim of a simple paperwork oversight which has all but put her on a plane to Africa.
One video show the Coffs Coast Pedo Hunter confronting a man in a park after dark and accusing him of grooming a 14-year-old girl. Credit:YouTube The Coffs Coast Pedo Hunter says he poses as a young girl on dating sites, exchanges messages with men and then agrees to meet them. At the meeting, he confronts them on camera. He has uploaded videos showing their full names and faces and says he passes chat logs on to the police. Another video shows him confronting a man in a car park in Coffs Harbour after messaging him and pretending to be a schoolgirl. Credit:YouTube "You've been messaging me the whole time, mate. I do this all the time, mate. I catch paedophiles and ... you're a f---ing deadset paedophile!" he yells at one man who allegedly thought he was meeting a 14-year-old girl for a "sleepover".

In one video, he films a man walking into a police station, apparently after a confrontation, and saying "Ah, I've made a few bad decisions." A screenshot from a video in which the Coffs Coast Pedo Hunter accuses a Taree man of sending explicit photos to a girl he believed was under 18. Credit:YouTube In two others, the men claim they didn't know the girls were underage. Coffs Harbour men Trent Collins, 24, and Nigel McKee, 31, have subsequently been charged with using a carriage service to procure someone under 16 for sexual activity and using a carriage service to send indecent material to a person under 16. However, Coffs/Clarence Local Area Command crime manager, Detective Inspector Darren Jameson, insisted the arrests were not based on the Pedo Hunter's work, much of which would be inadmissable evidence in court.

"Unfortunately the actions of this person, however well meaning, do not assist NSW Police in our causes," he said. "Our focus in this command in relation to suspected paedophiles is about catching them and putting them before the courts. This type of vigilante behaviour ignores those rules of evidence so ... it puts at strong risk the capability for us to obtain a prosecution or conviction in the future." He said the man might be compromising police operations that are already under way or putting himself in danger. "I have concerns over mistaken identities, people using other people's social media accounts, identity theft and fraud ... all these could mean an innocent person is publicly humiliated," he said. East, who is serving a 12-month suspended sentence for a home invasion, said he started posing as an underage girl while "mucking around" on Tinder one night.

He was also motivated by a close family friend, who raised him and carries scars from child abuse. "The numbers that are out there, there's no way the police would keep tabs on them all," he said. "I just want people to be aware." He isn't worried about being sued because "I've got no money" but he was almost run over last Friday during one confrontation. Many comments on his videos express a belief that police are not doing enough to catch paedophiles. However, Michael Salter, a criminologist at Western Sydney University, said three out of four prosecutions involving men soliciting sex with minors involve covert police entrapment.

"That means only one in four times is the man actually speaking to a child online," he said. "This is an area in which the police have a lot of resources and are very active." Dr Salter said civilian vigilantism is growing in the digital age but there is no evidence that it helps keep children safe. The Coffs Coast Pedo Hunter appears to be more about macho grandstanding than protecting children, he said. "When I think about my heroes in this space, they are working really hard, often behind the scenes, trying to get real change for child abuse victims," he said. "They're not the ones painting a big Superman symbol on their chests."
A North Shore carpenter who amassed a staggering collection of homemade bombs and weapons was undone after a pipe he bought at Bunnings was tracked by police.

Marco Annecchini, 44, was arrested in St Ives on Wednesday afternoon and charged with 13 offences including possess, supply or make explosive for unlawful purpose and possess a prohibited weapon.

Carpenter Marco Annecchini pleased guilty to 13 charges involving weapons and explosives.

At his French's Forest home, police found two Tasers, three cross bows, an extendable baton, 10 knuckle dusters, star knives, a slingshot, a laser pointer, a blow gun, 7.9 grams of cannabis and dashcam footage that showed him detonating homemade pipe bombs on a road in the Ku-ring-Gai National Park at night.

The search of his home on Wednesday was considered so serious that the Counter-Terrorism Unit, explosives dogs, the Bomb Squad and Pol-Air were called in, prosecutor Adrian Walsh told Manly Local Court on Thursday.
Yesterday morning, Matthias Kirschner opted out of the "voluntary" full-body scanners at Berlin's Schonefeld, and discovered that "voluntary" means that "if you don't do it, they will barrack you endlessly about your choice, punitively repeatedly perform the same searches over and over, and attempt to delay you so you almost miss your flight."



This is also the case at Heathrow in London: the times I've opted out there, I've been told to sit and wait for a supervisor (fair enough), but then the screeners took it upon themselves, singly and in bunches, to loom over me and tell me how foolish I was being, how the machines were safe and had good information security, etc  insisting at first that this was their duty ("to find out why I was opting out"), and then admitting (after I flashed my National Union of Journalists press-card and started writing down their names) that this was the job of their supervisor and it was merely recreational abuse on their part.

Incidentally, five years ago, German cops dismissed these scanners as "useless."



Then the second officer brought me to my luggage, and asked me to unpack everything to have another scan of my belongings. During that he asked me why I refused the "body scanner" and there was some back and forth. As always I stayed friendly all the time, as I know that for the officers my behaviour meant more work, and that they are following orders. He explaining me they just see the contours and nothing else. I told him, that I do not trust what data of my body shape is saved and where it is stored. During the talk I also told him that what they see on their screens, and what is saved on the disk can be different things, and that just because they cannot access files from before does not mean they are not stored. In the talk he explained me that they have to ask for the reasons why I am not doing the (see above "voluntary") check, and evaluate if this is plausible or if I am covering-up something. Pregnancy or implants would be a plausible reason. When I asked about data protection he said that is not a plausible reason, and that in such cases they would also have to ask the police to check you again. After my luggage was scanned the second time, and I had all my belongings in the bag again they said they will now have to do the testing for signs of explosives. I told them that I was already checked for that, but they said that now my luggage will be checked. Well, so be it, another check and I can assure you that I am now quite sure that neither I nor my belongings I were in contact with explosives recently.

Rejection of voluntary naked scanner at airport

[Matthias Kirschner/K7R]
Transport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe has been forced to again defend Queensland Rail. Credit:Glenn Hunt To compound matters, there was an overhead line issue at the Gloucester tunnel at Dutton Park, causing more delays. On the Gold Coast unit there was also a "failed unit", a broken down train, which had to be moved. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk criticised how the issues were communicated to passengers on Thursday morning. Mr Hinchliffe, who was first briefed at 6.30am, said information did not get out in "as timely a way as I would have thought possible".

"It's not acceptable that people have not had the notice to make changes to their arrangements," he said. "I made it very clear, and in fact I made clear at that 6.30am briefing, that it was very important that we get out on the front foot and make sure that our customers were aware of the impacts and the potential impacts. "I think a very serious lesson has been learnt." Mr Hinchliffe said it "seemed" it was communicated well to customers who were already on the network. To add to the drama, Queensland Rail's Twitter handle sent a tweet at 12.30pm, featuring only a laughing emoji, before it was quickly deleted.

Mr Hinchliffe said no one in the government and "certainly I don't think anyone in QR" regarded the situation as funny. "That's clearly been some sort of breach of the QR communication system - that's being fully investigated," he said. "Measures have been taken to secure that communication network further, I think it's been disappointing that we've seen something like that happen, but I can assure you there's no one within the organisation that I'm aware of that was responsible." But Mr Hinchliffe would not be drawn on whether Queensland Rail's Twitter account was hacked. Mr Hinchliffe said all commuters who travelled on the Citytrain network on Thursday morning, until noon, would receive refunds on their go cards.

He said that would cost TransLink more than $300,000. Refunds could take several weeks to process, but some go card users will receive refunds from Saturday. Paper ticket holders can also request a refund by calling TransLink on 13 12 30. These customers must retain their ticket to be eligible for a refund. Mr Hinchliffe described the delays as being caused by a "confluence of infrastructure issues". Mr Ripper said train crews worked as quickly as possible to fix the issues.

"These are very rare events for our network, we've done a lot of work over the last three years fault-proofing the network so we can provide a reliable and safe service for our customers," he said. Mr Ripper said he thanked commuters for their patience and sincerely apologised for the delays. He said the network would be operating as normal for the afternoon peak. The 26-minute press conference is just the latest time Mr Hinchliffe has had to address the media over train debacles, after more than 100 services were cancelled in October due to a train driver shortage. Opposition leader Tim Nicholls said the train debacle showed the government and Mr Hinchliffe "can't walk and chew gum at the same time when it comes to trains".
A new Queensland project will provide extra support to working women affected by domestic and family violence so they can stay in their jobs and retain financial security.

Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence Minister Shannon Fentiman said the Queensland Working Women's Service would receive $175,000 for its Domestic Violence Work Aware project.

A new $175,000 project will provide extra support to women affected by domestic violence so they can keep their jobs. Credit:Kivilcim Pinar

"We know that a significant number of women affected by domestic and family violence are in employment," Ms Fentiman said.

"Having a job gives women some stability in their lives and financial independence, which is absolutely vital if women want to leave an abusive relationship."
Thousands more cars would use the Go Between Bridge toll road if the Victoria Bridge was closed to private vehicles, according to a recently retired Brisbane transport planner.

Former planner Harry Audus, who in 2009 and 2011 did modelling around closing the Victoria Bridge to cars, says many vehicles would be end up using the nearby toll road.

Brisbane Deputy Mayor Adrian Schrinner has called on the state government to share details of the impact on the road network of the potential closure of the Victoria Bridge. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in July promised to provide the details to council.

Mr Audus, when in private practice, found that by 2021 the nearby Go Between Bridge's morning peak traffic flow would increase by 35 per cent and its afternoon peak would increase by 20 per cent, if the VIctoria Bridge was closed to cars.
The Gold Coast is under-resourced in tackling fare evasion, with only 6341 fines dished out in one year and nine officers stationed in the region, LNP member for Currumbin Jann Stuckey says.

It comes despite figures revealing Surfside bus drivers on the Gold Coast pressed their "fare evasion" count button 425,354 times between April 1, 2015 and April 1, 2016.

More than 6300 people were fined for fare evasion in one year on the Gold Coast. Credit:Glenn Hunt

Between April 1, 2015 and March 31, 2016 there were 291 infringement notices and 1057 warnings notices issued for fare evasion on Surfside bus services.

During the 2014-15 financial year, fare evasion cost honest passengers about $25.8 million across south-east Queensland, government statistics show.
A woman is dead after a reported assault in Townsville, sparking a homicide investigation.

A crime scene was in place at a home in the suburb of Deeragun after neighbours called police 12.15am and reported hearing a disturbance.

Police are investigating the death of a woman in Townsville. Credit:Glenn Hunt

Paramedics treated a woman, 59, for unnamed injuries but she was declared dead at the Innes Drive residence.

A police spokesman said they did not have anyone in custody in relation to the death.
Queensland was not immune from thunderstorm asthma, a prominent respiratory expert has warned, as he called for more research into the pollen responsible for the potentially deadly illness.

With thunderstorms rolling through south-east Queensland almost every afternoon, starting in the grassy west and blowing through to the more populated coastline, the conditions were seemingly perfect.

But Brisbane has not experienced the sort of widespread thunderstorm asthma problems seen in Melbourne recently, where eight died as a result of the illness.

Respiratory medicine expert John Upham said Queensland was less susceptible than Australia's southern states because of a combination of factors, but cautioned those in the Darling Downs, particularly, could still be at risk.
The push for paid leave for domestic violence victims across Australia is back on the agenda ahead of Friday's meeting of state, territory and federal ministers.

On Thursday, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk renewed her call for domestic and family violence leave to be introduced across Australia.

There has been a renewed push for domestic violence leave to be available for women across Australia. Credit:Michele Mossop

"I believe very firmly that there should be a national push to have domestic and family violence leave recognised," Ms Palaszczuk said.

"It's the right thing to do by families, I believe that employers should embrace this and honestly we need to keep issues surrounding domestic violence on the national agenda."
A man has allegedly poured petrol on a police station's foyer before threatening to set himself alight in Melbourne's outer south-east.

The man, believed to be in his 50s, entered the Frankston police station and made the threats about 10.15am on Thursday.

Police have arrested a man after he allegedly tried to set himself alight at a police station. Credit:Cathryn Tremain

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said the man was arrested and taken into custody before being transferred to hospital.

An Ambulance Victoria spokeswoman said paramedics assessed him before taking him to Frankston Hospital in a stable condition.
Well, that's a wrap for Melbourne Express for the week. It's been a quiet morning, with traffic moving relatively easily on major roads. Some major delays for commuters on the Upfield and Belgrave lines though. And everyone is dressed for a 10-degree winter morning even though it is, allegedly, summer.

To recap the overnight news:

*A house in Reservoir was gutted by fire overnight. The blaze has been deemed suspicious.

*A 57-year-old man died in Warrnambool last night after he was assaulted at a property on Wednesday. Homicide squad detectives are investigating the circumstances around the death, and a 44-year-old man and a 43-year-old woman are being interviewed.

Thanks for following along, Melbourne Express is back on Monday morning from 6am. The VCE Results Day blog will be live by 7am. Have a good weekend.
Social scientist/cybersecurity expert Susan Landau (previously) and Cathy "Weapons of Math Destruction" O'Neil take to Lawfare to explain why it would be a dangerous mistake for the FBI to use machine learning-based chatbots to flush out potential terrorists online.



These "Artificial Intelligence Targeting Personas" (ATIPs) have been seriously proposed as a way to find terrorists before they strike, and as nice as it would be to be able to do that, there's every reason to believe that ATIPs would fail to find the bad guys, throw suspicion on the rest of us, and waste a nearly infinite amount of human time trying to investigate their "leads."

The core problem is that machine learning only works when its predictive models can be compared to real-world outcomes and tweaked. If Amazon's ML system predicts that changing the checkout process in a specific way will increase sales, Amazon can test that hypothesis and feed back the results to the system. But terrorism is incredibly rare. Virtually everyone is not a terrorist. A chatbot would be vanishingly unlikely to meet a terrorist, and even if it did, it wouldn't meet a statistically significant number of terrorists (because there isn't a statistically significant number of terrorists). These bots would be reduced to identifying "terrorism-like activity" (whatever that is).

Even if you can make this work (you can't), there's another problem: society is not well served by having everyone under constant state scrutiny and suspicion of terrorism.

To sum up, a single bot will generate an enormous pile of difficult work for humans to resolve. When you scale up, replacing a single human with an army of bots, then that problem skyrockets. You've replaced the limitations of a human with the limitations of multiple weak algorithms with highly correlated errors. This will give the humans more work sifting through the detritus than they'd had before, and very likely looking in the wrong place to boot. It's much better to do a smarter search to begin with For that matter, we've already seen how surveillance and suspicion over-reach can effectively isolate and disaffect a population. One of us helped with the data analysis that led to the court case examining whether New York City's stop-and-frisk program was constitutional (it wasn't). And we are seeing AI and machine learning techniques proliferate world-wide while producing highly inaccurate and distasteful responses.



Why Ghosts in the Machine Should Remain Ghosts

[Susan Landau and Cathy O'Neil/Lawfare]



(Image: Tomy Chatbot, Michele MF, CC-BY-SA)

(via Mathbabe)
Like Alan Kurdi, a 2-year-old Syrian whose drowned body was discovered on a beach in Turkey, and Omran Daqneesh, dazed and bloodied after his home in Aleppo was bombed, Bana has touched a nerve. Bana al-Abed thanks J.K Rowling after receiving an e-book from the author. Credit:Twitter/@AlabedBana But in an era of internet hoaxes, fabrications and the increased use of fake news around the world to further political agendas, Bana's Twitter account has also raised some questions of veracity and authenticity. Her messages are sophisticated for a 7-year-old, for example, particularly for one whose native language is not English. Others have disarming grammatical errors that invite sympathy. Some people have questioned whether the videos in which Bana speaks were rehearsed or altered.

The inaccessibility of much of the Syria conflict to journalists, who often have no way of confirming the provenance of information directly, has amplified those concerns. According to Bana's mother, who describes herself as a 26-year-old teacher of English and who has spoken with The New York Times via Skype and WhatsApp, the Twitter postings originated in eastern Aleppo, where Fatemah said she lived with Bana and her two younger children, Mohamed, 5, and Noor, 3. All appear in photographs and videos posted by the @AlabedBana account. But Bana is the only one who spends significant time on camera or who speaks to the audience in English. She appears in many of the clips to be reading from a card or to have memorised lines. Fatemah, who says she taught Bana to speak English, appears to be digitally astute in photographing and recording her daughter. However, a handful of videos on Bana's account seem to have been filmed by local citizen journalists with better-quality cameras. Bana and family members also were shown in a documentary broadcast in France last month about Aleppo, produced by Sept a Huit, a leading French TV channel.

Her account uses a number of social mesia savvy tools, from hashtags to live Periscope broadcasts. Anti-government activists and doctors working in eastern Aleppo have corroborated, through Skype and WhatsApp, that Bana and her mother are who they say they are. But Bana's Twitter account has also drawn an inordinate number of trolls and voices sympathetic to the Syrian government and its Russian backers, who assail Bana as a fraud. Some have called Bana's father a violent jihadi affiliated with al-Qaeda-linked fighters ensconced in eastern Aleppo. Others have called Bana and her mother fictions created by the United States as a propaganda tool to malign the Syrian and Russian governments. Others fear she may have become a propaganda tool in the search for compelling stories to help engage people to act against the suffering in Aleppo. There is some precedent for such cynicism, and a notable example also had a Syrian connection. In 2011, a woman who described herself as a lesbian blogger using the pseudonym Amina Arraf wrote about political persecution in Damascus, the capital, and suddenly disappeared.

The "gay girl in Damascus," as the blogger came to be known, turned out to be a 40-year-old American man from Georgia. Twitter has designated Bana's account as "verified" - meaning that the company has established the authenticity of the account holder. Besides talking with Bana's mother, The New York Times has been able to verify, through comparisons with satellite maps, that at least some videos posted from Bana's Twitter account were filmed in al-Shaar, a neighbourhood in eastern Aleppo. But it is unclear whether all of her Twitter posts - which could be put online from anywhere, by anyone with Bana's password - originated in eastern Aleppo. Nor is it clear how many posts Bana has composed herself as some of the tweets are of a political nature. Bana's mother did not immediately respond to requests via WhatsApp for clarification on these questions.

International aid advocates have expressed mixed feelings about Bana's fame - satisfaction that she has increased global sympathy for child victims in Syria, but concern that her story, as presented on Twitter, may not be entirely accurate. "Whether it's Bana, or Alan Kurdi, or Omran Daqneesh, they bring attention to an issue in a way that helps people visualise a little more clearly the situation of children," said Sonia Khush, the Syria director of Save the Children. "In the case of this girl, I don't know whether it's true or fake in this age of social media," she said. "But her living as a child in Aleppo is consistent with what we hear. The fear, the sounds of different airplanes and drones. They're terrified and have trouble sleeping at night." Juliette Touma, a UNICEF spokeswoman for the Middle East and North Africa, acknowledged that there was, in Bana's case, "no way to verify where the tweets are coming from, or whether they're coming from the girl or somewhere else".

At the same time, Touma said, "there is something symbolic about the tweets that are coming out from Bana, or that account, in the sense that it highlights the story of children who are caught up in the crossfire - it's not just one girl, it's many boys and girls." Despite the questions surrounding Bana's account, some news organisations have embraced it as a window into the Syria conflict. When the account went dark over the weekend, some outlets reported its absence with breathless urgency. "Her Twitter account was deleted and nobody knows why," CNN said. "Bana al-Abed, the 7-year-old girl whose tweets from rebel-held eastern Aleppo in Syria captivated people around the world, appears to be in mortal danger," CBS News said. Such reports underscore the phenomenon that Bana's social media presence has become.

Abdulkhafi Alhamdo, a prominent eastern Aleppo activist who knows the family, said via WhatsApp on Wednesday that Bana and her mother had temporarily halted their Twitter posts over the weekend for security reasons. "Her father said they are scared of regime revenge," he said. "Regime has got agents here and spies." Some experts on media ethics said that, despite the appeal of such a heartbreaking narrative - and with a young girl at its centre, no less - news outlets had to approach the account with skepticism, and that some had fallen short. "It's always a question of whether a 7-year-old is being used as a propaganda tool, and if so, by whom," said Jane Kirtley, a professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota. "Sometimes we fall in love with a concept and basically ignore things that would undermine that concept, and ignore things that should be red flags." She added, "For me, my antenna always goes up when the story is this compelling."

Kathleen Bartzen Culver, the director for the Centre for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said some news outlets, including morning network news shows in the United States, seemed to have "suspended skepticism". "There are times when I will read or watch something when I will think, 'I just don't think we have our critical thinking hats on at the moment,'" she said. But she said that those questioning or denigrating Bana's account on Twitter should be challenged, as well. Loading "We can't just question this source," she said. "We also have to question the person accusing the source of being part of the propaganda scheme."
Security forces should shoot at the boats of migrants trying to reach the European Union illegally, a member of parliament for the Danish government's main political ally, the Danish People's Party, suggested on national television.

"The only efficient way is to turn the boats and say: 'You cannot sail within this national border and if you do, you will either be shot at or be turned around and sailed back," Kenneth Berth, the EU spokesman for anti-immigrant party, said on broadcaster DK4 on Tuesday.

Kenneth Berth. Credit:Facebook

Berth later softened his statement on Facebook, saying he did not mean that people should be shot at, but that NATO-ships could shoot in the air as a warning.
New York: Workers at a popular Brooklyn pizzeria and restaurant have been harassed twice in the past week after the business was linked in online postings to the so-called Pizzagate conspiracy theory, police said on Wednesday.

Roberta's, a popular dining spot in the Bushwick suburb , has received two threatening phone calls after an online video and other rumours linking it to the conspiracy theory emerged on social media and internet message boards.

The hoax, which has spread widely on websites that disseminate fake news and on social media, has asserted with no evidence that a child abuse ring connected to the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign is linked to a pizzeria in Washington, DC.

Workers at that pizzeria, Comet Ping Pong, have been receiving threats since before the election. This week, a 28-year-old man was arrested after he drove to the restaurant from North Carolina and fired an assault rifle inside, authorities said. The man, Edgar M. Welch, told authorities he planned to help rescue children after reading articles that promulgated the fake news story.
The empty seat, bottom right, of Choi Soon-sil, who is accused of colluding with South Korean President Park Geun-hye to control government affairs and extort companies, is seen during a hearing at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday December 7. Credit:AP She was said to have heard the weekly protests calling for her to leave office. Those protests have grown from 20,000 people in central Seoul six weeks ago to about 1.7 million on Saturday, who came within a few hundred feet of her compound, shouting, "Evict her!" "The president heard the people's voices with a heavy heart," Jung Youn-kuk, Park's spokesman, said after one of the protests, though he did not clarify whether she heard the protesters' shouts through her window or, as one South Korean news outlet has reported, watched them on TV. A protester wearing a mask of South Korean President Park Geun-hye performs during a rally calling for Park to step down in Seoul, South Korea on November 30. Credit:AP Beyond that, her aides have declined to discuss her daily routine or her mood these days, except to say that she was taking the crisis gravely and was doing her best to deal with it.

They said she had invited Christian leaders and a top Buddhist monk to visit her last month to offer advice on the crisis. Her office did not disclose what they told her, except that the monk had quoted Buddhist scripture, saying, "A tree bears fruit when it sheds flowers." South Korean President Park Geun-hye has said that at times, she regrets becoming president. Credit:AP For many in South Korea, the flower has already fallen. As Park's approval rating has plummeted, shop owners across the country have pulled down pictures of her they once hung proudly on the wall. Even in her hometown, Daegu, where she made a brief visit last week, she was confronted by protesters demanding her resignation. After visiting a century-old market that had been heavily damaged in a fire, her office said, she returned to her car and wept. Protesters gather and occupy major streets in the city centre for a rally against South Korean President Park Geun-hye. Credit:Pool

Possibly the last time a South Korean leader was this isolated was in 2008, when massive crowds had rallied in central Seoul for weeks to protest President Lee Myung-bak's decision to lift a ban on US beef imports amid fears of mad cow disease. At the time, Lee said he climbed Mount Bugak, the cool green peak that rises above the Blue House, in the evening, saw the protesters' candlelight filling the city centre and wept. For Park, the Blue House itself is ablaze with memories. She first moved there at age nine, when her father, Major General Park Chung-hee, seized power in a military coup in 1961. At 22, after her mother was killed in an assassination attempt against her father, she became his acting first lady. In 1979, after her father was assassinated amid widespread protests against his dictatorship, she left the presidential palace, only to return as president in 2013. In between, she lived a secluded life in southern Seoul, in a house plastered with photos of her dead parents and adorned with their relics. "Her home was more like a museum for Park Chung-hee," Choi Sang-yeon, an editorial writer at the South Korean daily JoongAng Ilbo, wrote recently of his visit there a decade ago. "It looked as if her clock had stopped in the 1970s and she spent much time communicating with her dead father."

Choi described the atmosphere there as "heavy and dark." In her 1993 memoir, What If I Were Born in an Ordinary Family, Park wrote of her tragic family history and her sadness: "In my life's scale, the worthwhile times have never outweighed painful ones." In the end, Park's cloistered life may have set the stage for her political implosion. She has said she often spends evenings alone reading government reports. She shuns one-on-one meetings with senior aides. Her former cook told a South Korean magazine that she usually ate alone, watching TV. She has said she cut ties with her brother and sister to prevent nepotism, a bane of past South Korean presidents. She has two dogs, white Jindos, a Korean breed prized for its loyalty.

But in an episode that has haunted her presidency, when the ferry Sewol sank in 2014, killing more than 300 people in one of the country's biggest disasters in decades, her chief of staff said he could not locate her for seven hours. Where she was during those crucial hours has been one of the most jealously guarded secrets of her office, spawning lurid rumours. Her office recently said that she was in her residence, not in her main work office, at the time and that she did receive reports about the sinking. In testimony before a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday, her former chief of staff, Kim Ki-choon, said only that he did not know where in the sprawling compound she was. "I only knew that she was somewhere in the Blue House," he said. "I didn't know well what was going on in her personal life in her residence." Her trusted friend and adviser all these years was Choi Soon-sil, whose family had befriended her while her father was still in power.

After becoming president, Park has said that she continued to rely on Choi to look after her wardrobe and other personal affairs. Prosecutors said Choi did far more than that, and they have indicted her on extortion and other charges. While Park cannot be indicted while she holds office, the indictment of Choi identified Park as a criminal accomplice, a first for a president. In her apologies, a grim-faced Park has said she could not forgive herself for letting her guard down with Choi, who she said had helped her during her "lonely" and "difficult times." But she admitted no legal wrongdoing. By this time, few Koreans trusted her. According to opinion polls, she had become the least popular president since South Korea began democratising in the late 1980s. She has tried to restore a semblance of normalcy to her besieged administration by making appointments of ambassadors and deputy Cabinet ministers. Her government also pressed ahead with signing a controversial military intelligence sharing pact with Japan.
Increase US economic growth to more than 4 percent a year. There are only two ways to increase economic growth: Increase the number of workers, or increase productivity, the amount the average worker produces. The news is not good on either front. The growth of the US workforce is slowing as baby boomers retire and families have fewer children. And Trump has promised new restrictions on immigration, limiting another source of workers. At the same time, productivity has increased over the last decade at an average annual pace of just 1.3 per cent - and there is little evidence that faster growth is in the offing. The result is that annual economic growth has averaged 2.1 perc ent in the six full years since the last recession, and is on a similar trajectory this year. There are few obvious means for Trump to deliver on his promise. Invest in infrastructure to create jobs. Trump will find bipartisan support in Congress for his proposal to create jobs and stimulate the economy by building and repairing highways, bridges, water systems and other public works. But many Republicans may balk at a big spending program that adds to the federal budget deficit.

Some Democrats will resist Trump's proposal to offer tax breaks to private companies in return for infrastructure investments, notably because the federal government is able to borrow money at exceptionally low rates. Democrats are also likely to resist efforts to waive environmental rules or prevailing-wage protections for construction projects. Build a border wall. Trump promised to "build a great, great wall on our southern border" and "have Mexico pay for that wall." Fulfilling this promise would be difficult, though perhaps not impossible if Trump stretches the definition of "wall." Fences already exist along hundreds of miles of the border. Mexico has said it will not pay for a wall. And even if it did, Trump would probably need approval from Congress to spend money. Congress might support increased border security and the installation of more fencing, but construction of a wall would meet resistance from both parties. The easier ones

Withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Trump pledged that on his first day in office he would give notice that the United States intends to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement the Obama administration negotiated with other Pacific Rim nations that is awaiting ratification. Though Trump has the authority to carry out this promise, other participants, including Japan and Australia, have expressed hope that he will reconsider. If not, they may pursue regional trade deals that exclude the United States. End the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The program, which President Barack Obama announced to protect undocumented immigrants who entered the country as minors, was created by presidential fiat and it can be ended just as easily. Trump has repeatedly promised to do so. He has not said whether he will deprive current participants of protection, or simply prevent new enrollments.

Allow the Keystone XL pipeline to move forward. Pipelines that run between the United States and Canada must obtain presidential approval. In November 2015, Obama refused to grant permission to the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry oil from the tar sands of Canada to the southern edge of Nebraska, where it would connect to existing pipelines. Trump has encouraged the company behind the project, TransCanada, to submit a new application once he takes office. He also has suggested, however, that TransCanada should share its profits with taxpayers. Nominate a Supreme Court justice. Trump says that in his first 100 days, he will begin the process of selecting a replacement for Justice Antonin Scalia from his list of 21 judges "who will uphold and defend the US Constitution."
A tsunami warning has been cancelled for parts of the South Pacific after a strong earthquake hit off the Solomon Islands in the early hours of Friday morning.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) had initially warned that hazardous waves of up to three metres could have been generated by the 7.8-magnitude quake, which struck at 4.38am AEDT at a depth of 49 kilometres.

The initial tsunami warning covered the coasts of the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Nauru, New Caledonia, Tuvalu and Kosrae.

But three hours after the quake struck, the PTWC said: "Based on all available data, the tsunami threat from this earthquake has now passed."
Latest News MKM Capital becomes MA Money Rebrand designed to align with non-bank's parent company

How to find a good private lender 10 questions brokers should ask to select the right one

The Australian lending market has never been more competitive, with smaller margins, decreased cash rates and the threat of fintech and P2P disruptors. Customer experience is now the biggest differentiator for banks to win over customers and ultimately maximise market share.But this ultimate goal comes with the added pressure of reducing costs via automation while retaining the human element in the midst of digitisation.In an industry snapshot recently conducted for the 12th Annual Loan Origination Excellence conference held 13-15 February 2017 in Sydney, five of Australia's leading banking institutions share insights about their journey to loan process automation, all with the end customer in mind.At the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, automation is being implemented across the banks cross platform services, to ensure customers have multiple channels of choice. The banks head of group lending services, Dan ONeill, states, "About 30% of our customers now access a home loan calculator on a mobile device."He delves into more detail within the full report, mentioning paperless lending and digital signatures are other pet projects at Australias largest retail bank.  CBA has already done this for asset finance and bank guarantees origination, loan origination is next.When asked about loan automation at Suncorp, Stuart Nielsen, head of banking process and optimisation commented, "Businesses are looking to the process side to deliver not only a cost advantage, but also a customer benefit.Suncorp is looking at process engineering as well as quantitative and qualitative customer metrics to help deliver greater value to their customers. The full industry report also highlights the banks same day home loan project as another key advancement leveraged by automation.Meanwhile, Janine Copelin, managing director at Citibank, is focusing on the commercial banks Citi Priority offering. "Customers have needs greater than just a seamless home loan experience  they want to make sure theyve got the bundle, with the cards attached and the right discounts." She also shares the vision behind the banks staff incentive scheme in the report, which ultimately centres around maximising customer experience and value.At Bank Australia, paperless loan contracts has been an exciting and innovative change to the way the mutual bank works. "For customers, the advantages of digitised processes extend across easier process experience, no witnesses, faster receipt and submission times and quicker access to loan funds," states Martyn Norman, head of Lending.A different perspective is offered by John Rolfe, head of home loans at Elders. "As a smaller institution, the challenge is to learn from large institutions, but not to replicate their customer engagement models." Going forward Elders is looking at maintaining the simplified model that saw them through the last decade of change.These loan automation strategies are explored in the full industry report developed ahead of the Loan Origination Excellence conference held 13-15 February 2017 in Sydney.Robotic process automation for banking and practical loan automation strategies for improved customer experience and reduced processing costs will be a key focus at the conference, with a global speaker panel of 16+ experts that includes HSBC, ANZ , India Bulls, Westpac ING Direct , Joust, HashChing, Suncorp and more.
Looking at the world through the eyes of the Web
Latest News MKM Capital becomes MA Money Rebrand designed to align with non-bank's parent company

How to find a good private lender 10 questions brokers should ask to select the right one

Member-owned sub-aggregator Purple Circle has announced solid growth since its foundation in August this year, settling more than $20 million in loans in its first few months of operation.Launching with a write loans, get shares model, more than half of its initial Foundation Member shares have been snapped up by brokers joining the firm.The take-up of our offering has been nothing short of fantastic, said CEO Michael Stephens. We were confident a non-aligned member-owned offering would resonate with finance brokers Australia-wide, but we couldnt have envisaged such a positive and immediate response.Of the initial 20 Foundation Memberships available, we currently have 11 member businesses that have joined, Stephens told Australian Broker. With four, we are in the final stages of completing contracts while with several others we are trying to negotiate exits from draconian handcuff agreements.These member businesses were both individual brokers and broking firms, he added. Foundation members will receive a once off equity in the company as an added early bird incentive.Starting off with zero members, Purple Circle has seen steady growth, welcoming brokers from Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia.When asked how the write loans, get shares model worked, Stephens replied: The shares are held by a unit trust which can issue an infinite number of units. The units are issued at the end of each year in proportion to the value added so the ownership is kept in proportion to the valued added over time.This model works to attract brokers who are disenfranchised with large institutionally-manipulated aggregators, he added.What we keep hearing from brokers is that theyve had enough of being played like puppets by their aggregator partners  from being used as guinea pigs for direct-to-consumer online platforms, which are also broker-excluded, to being manipulated by white-label loans and more, none of which have the brokers interests at heart.With institutions having an interest in aggregation companies, this was not a good thing for both brokers and clients, he said.You only have to look at the carnage thats been caused in the financial planning sector to see that.
Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams

Hes brewing up a statement!

An anti-capitalist artist plans to open a cash-optional coffee shop in Williamsburg this weekend. At the Aridoamerica Winter Plan java joint, opening Dec. 9 in the Museo de Los Sures gallery, caffeine fiends will be able to acquire the black brew via the barter system, or by winning a unique alternative currency in a game of chance. The man behind the four-month art project, presented by the International Studio and Curatorial Program, says that it will show people that there are a latte things more important than money.

I think we have to remember that its not about material things  happiness is something different, said Fran Ilich, a Bronx artist originally from Mexico. I want to tell the story that goods or foods can exist outside of the market.

Patrons will receive a cuppa joe in exchange for goods, services, or an optional cash donation, according to Illich, who said that the barista will be happy to take whatever people have to offer.

We dont have a fixed amount, its whatever people want to give, he said.

The pop-up shop, which is funded in part by the New York State Council on the Arts, can stay afloat with as little as 25 cents per cup, according to Ilich.

Visitors to the shop will also have a chance to play Patolli, an ancient Aztec game that Ilich likened to American classic Parcheesi. The artist has set up two of the hard-to-find boards on tables in the shop, and said that once players start they will find it hard to stop.

Its very addictive. Its a ritual and theres so much randomness involved, he said.

In ancient Mesoamerica, Patolli players would gamble all their belongings on the result, but at the Winter Plan shop, winners will instead receive an amount of Digital Material Sunflower, a type of alternative currency that will be newly minted for the shop.

The shop will serve Zapatista coffee sourced from Mexicos indigenous people, who trade it solely to those, like Ilich, who are part of a special network.

The creative coffee slinger says the project is his most ambitious yet and hopes that coffee drinkers will see the space as a much-needed refuge.

Im seeing a lot of people in New York are looking for a shelter, a safe space to talk, to drink some coffee, eat, cry, he said.

Aridoamerica Winter Plan at Museo de Los Sures (120 S. First St. between Hewes Street and Union Avenue in Williamsburg, www.frani lich.com ). Open Dec. 9March 30, ThuFri, 47 pm; SatSun 10 am2 pm. $Whatever you want.

Reach reporter Lauren Gill at lgill @cngl ocal.com or by calling (718) 2602511. Follow her on Twitter @laurenk_gill
latest news

October 31, 2022

Buddy TV

In November, there are hundreds of new and returning TV showsit can be overwhelming to try and choose what to watch. That's why we've selected some of the best options...
Business / Your Money

by Thobekile Zhou

Chinamasa

Chinamasa

Diaspora remittances to Zimbabwe have become the second highest source of the country's liquidity after exports, constituting about 30% of total external inflows, the 2017 national budget indicate."Remittances of non-residents have become the second largest source of the country's liquidity, constituting about 30% of total external inflows."In 2016, the financial system anticipates formal remittance receipts of US$780 million, a 17% decline from US$935 million recorded in 2015, in part reflecting the impact of the appreciation of the US dollar against the other source currencies, particularly the South African rand" reads part of the budget statement outlined by Finance Minister Patricksaid there is need to further ease of transactions to allow for faster and less costly transfers by non-residents, also to allow for accessible opportunities for our non-residents to undertake domestic investments and participate in business ventures of their choice.The reliance on remittances comes against the backdrop of waning disposable income due to unemployment and company closures.Given the significance of the diaspora remittances, government is now exploring the option of issuing diaspora bonds to entice the diaspora community to inject more money into the economy.Official diaspora remittances have been growing from $300 million in 2009 to more than $800 million in 2014.In 2015 remittances from the diaspora were $935 million, which is more than what the country gets through foreign direct investment (FDI).
News / Local

by Stephen Jakes

Two men of no fixed abode broke into the Seventh Day Adventist Church premises in Paddonhurst Bulawayo and stole four 200litre empty drums before they were caught in the act going away with them.Suit Moyo (57) and Prince Ncube (38) pleaded guilty to they when they appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Tinashe Tashaya. He sentenced them to pay $60 fine each or 40 days in jail.The court was told that on November 30 at midnight the two were seen by police officers pushing four empty drums using a cart. The police officers intercepted them before they confessed that they stole them from the church.The church elder Francis Nyasha Mutamiri was contacted and he positively identified the property leading to the two's arrest.
News / Local

by Stephen Jakes

A man from Old Pumula has been fined $100 with an option of 60 days in jail for possession of illegal drugs.Giyana Sikhosana (30) pleaded guilty to the charge of possession of Broncleer cough syrup when he appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Tinashe Tashaya. He was sentenced to pay a fine of $100 with an option of 60 days in jail.The court heard that on December 3 2014 at 1:30pm police officers were tipped that Sikhosana was in possession of the illegal drugs. They went to his home where they introduced themselves. They conducted a search and recovered 19 X100mls of broncleer leading to his arrest.
Everyone needs a dose of glamour in their lives. Before the curtains fall over the year 2016, we have compiled the year's top search trends across fashion, beauty, and pop culture influencers through a Polyvore's 2016 trend report.
Bhavnagar-based herbal lifestyle products maker Sheth Brothers, popularly known for Kayam Churna, is making its overseas foray, with a manufacturing unit at Dubai. According to the family-based company, the third generation at the firm will take care of its overseas business. Sheth Brothers had grabbed eyeballs with its in-film branding of in the Amitabh Bachchan starrer Piku.
Seeking support of minority shareholders to remove his former protege, Cyrus Mistry, Tata Sons Interim Chairman, on Wednesday said the former chairmans presence on the boards of various Tata group companies was a serious disruptive influence.
Mukesh Ambani's plans to add six times the current number of its cash and carry (wholesaling) stores over the next three years.
Once a week, Racelie Jia goes to a one-room flat in Jalan Kukoh, a neighbourhood located in central Singapore, to take care of 32-year-old Sunny Teo while his mother goes for dialysis.


Zac Atkinson keeps a desk in the corner of the living room of his one-bedroom apartment in Studio City, California. Not that he uses it much: The work-from-home television writer migrates from couch to kitchen table and back again as he churns out scenes for animated childrens programmes. The folks from the generation before me tend to have more of an office, says Atkinson, 32. Most people I know end up sitting on the sofa, and half the time the TV is on when theyre working. Not long ago, someone telecommuting might have needed a desktop computer, ...
As the Winter Session in Parliament witnesses repeated disruptions over the demonetisation issue, President on Thursday slammed parliamentarians asking them to "transact business" as the House is not a "place for protests".
An increased number of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) coupled with revised recruitment plans by recruiters has led to number of offers come down by 10% at placements, even as number of companies at campuses is slightly up this year.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

An MDC-T official Chalton Hwende has said the mobiliasation for people to reject President Robert Mugabe's candidature in the 2018 elections will go into full swing next year.Zanu PF has since endorsed Mugabe as the sole candidature for presidency in the 2018 elections."2017 is the Year to make sure that we mobilize Zimbabweans to reject Mugabe's Candidature in the 2018 Elections. Mugabe rigs elections and when he lost in 2008 he refused to hand over power," Hwende said.He said it will be foolish for Zimbabweans to let such a man participate in Elections again.
The Foreign Ministry has said that the statement attributed to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Kulbhushan Yadav is 'absolutely incorrect'.

This comes after media quoted Aziz, as saying that Islamabad does not have enough or conclusive evidence against Yadav, whom it has accused of being an "Indian spy".

In response to a media query regarding the statement given by Aziz in the full Senate Chamber pertaining to Kulbhushan Yadav, a Foreign Office spokesman said the statement attributed to the Foreign Affairs Adviser is absolutely incorrect.

The Foreign Office spokesman said Aziz had instead said that investigations regarding Yadav and his network are still ongoing and that the dossier on him shall be completed as soon as conclusions are reached.

"There is irrefutable proof against Kulbhushan Yadav, who had also made a public confession in March this year," the Foreign Office said in its statement, adding that, "The Adviser also condemned the continued Indian interference in the internal affairs of and urged the international community to take immediate notice."

Yadav was arrested by the Pakistan authorities during a raid in Balochistan in March this year.

According to the Pakistan Government, Yadav has admitted that he had been directing various activities in Karachi and Balochistan at the behest of India's external intelligence agency, the research And Analysis Wing (RAW) since 2013. Islamabad has also claimed that Yadav has confessed to playing a role in deteriorating the law and order situation in Karachi.

The Indian government, on the other hand, has issued at least five to six note verbales to the Pakistan foreign ministry to get consular access to Yadav, but Islamabad has till now showed no signs of allowing it.

Pakistan has claimed that Yadav is a commander-rank officer with the Indian Navy, while India maintains that he retired from the Navy in 2002 and has had nothing to do with the Indian government when he was arrested from Balochistan.

India has denied that Yadav is a spy and maintains that he is a businessman.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Allahabad High Court on Thursday said that is unconstitutional and it violates the rights of Muslim women.

In an apparent reference to the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) the high court bench said that "no personal law board is above the Constitution".
The Centre on Thursday waived the import duty on within months of lowering it to 10 per cent as retail prices show little signs of abating.
Amonth after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced nearly 86 per cent of Indias cash in circulation by value would lose their status as legal tender, the narrative has shifted from freeing the country of the scourge of black money and counterfeit cash to the need for a cashless economy and encouraging digital transactions.
The Dean of Diplomatic Corps and Dominican envoy, Frank Hans Dannenberg Castellanos, urged the Narendra Modi-led government to review the currency restrictions imposed on embassies pertaining to demonetisation, pointing out that the limit of funds allowed to them is not sufficient.

"Rs. 50,000 for operation of an embassy is not enough on weekly basis. Plus, Vienna Convention states it is our money, it is our funds, we cannot be restricted to accessing our funds," he said.

The Dean of Diplomatic Corps also informed about the action that they have taken so far in this regard.

"On November 11, we wrote a letter to the Chief of Protocol expressing our concern over and how it is affecting the diplomatic community and the tourists coming from our country," Castellanos told ANI.

In another letter addressed to External Affair Minister Sushma Swaraj, he pointed out towards the day-to-day problems which the embassies are facing due to the ban on high-value currency.

"After receiving no response, we wrote another letter to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj explaining in detail the issues faced by embassies on daily basis, especially concerning the pay-roll for our staff at the end of the month," he said.

The Dean of Diplomatic Corps also revealed that several embassies including that of Russia, China and the United States are facing trouble in managing the expenditure of their staff.

"Although the limit for embassy accounts has been increased, it is not enough. Big embassies like America, Russia and China maintain huge staff...managing becomes very difficult for them," he said.

Talking about tourists from different countries, the Dean of Diplomatic Corps said that they have also voiced their concerns over the problems they come across courtesy .

"We are very concerned for tourists in the country. There are many, who came before and got their currency changed. And now, they are facing problems in getting it changed back to their currency," he said.

"We also have issue of countries that do not have access to international credit cards, like Cuba, Sudan, Iran. So, the tourists from these places need to carry cash because foreign credit cards won't be accepted," he added.

The Dean of Diplomatic Corps expressed hope that the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of External Affairs come up with some resolute action to ensure that the tourists in particular do not face any problems.

"We hope both the ministries and the Prime Minister himself make some efforts in realising that our funds cannot be limited," he said.
The fourfold rise in the global index for dry bulk freight shipping, the Baltic Dry Index (BDI), is a missed opportunity for domestic shipping companies.



The BDI stood at 1,162 on Wednesday, from a record low of 290 in February. While scrapping of several dry bulk vessels across the globe is given as reason behind the indexs rise, a conscious decision to use indigenously mined coal and low iron ore export from India is keeping domestic shipping firms away amid this rally.



The government is encouraging use of indigenous coal. Due to this, the coal import business has come down by 25-30 per cent in the past year. Also, India was among the top exporters of iron ore at one point, at more than 50 million tonnes (mt) a year. Today, we have a cap of 20 mt. This change in the bulk trade structure has put the shipping sector into depression, said Kiran Kamat, managing director at Link Shipping & Management.



According to the Indian Ports Association, the countrys major ports during April-October (first seven months of this financial year) imported 56 mt of thermal coal, down six per cent from the same period last year. Import of coking coal was down one per cent in this period. Iron ore traffic in April-October by major ports stood at 20 mt.



Alongside, the Baltic Dirty Tanker Index (for crude oil) and Baltic Clean Tanker Index (for petroleum), saving grace for shipping companies last year, show an adverse trend. Falling oil prices had triggered increased trade in crude and refined petroleum. Vessels were also being used for storage. Due to this, tanker indices had moved up last year. This year, however, there is surplus storage and a fall in these indices, said Hitesh Avchaat, analyst with CARE Ratings.



Since several shipping companies had renewed their oil contracts, now to a lower rate, their earnings will also come down subsequently, said sector officials.



Shipping Corporation of India, Great Eastern Shipping, Essar Shipping, Apeejay Shipping and Varun Shipping have had a tough business climate for some time. Though stress in this sector is not new, falling freight rates could make debt servicing more difficult for these companies, said banking officials.



They add that, in addition to lower shipping rates, many of these companies took loans at the peak of the industry cycle in 2007. Companies were able to service debt comfortably for a few years, backed by contracts, which gave good income. Now, in the downturn, freight rates are weak and since repayment obligations remain, some companies are finding it tough, said an official at a government-owned bank.





.
Amit Mitra, chairman of the Empowered Committee of Ministers on GST, said the Goods and Services Tax (GST) needs to be deferred so the economy is not hit by another disruption after demonetisation kicked in unexpectedly.
Demonetisation is on course to claim yet another victim. The roll-out of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime is set to miss the April 1, 2017 deadline.
Unlock 30+ premium stories daily hand-picked by our editors, across devices on browser and app.

Full access to our intuitive epaper - clip, save, share articles from any device; newspaper archives from 2006.

Curated newsletters on markets, personal finance, policy & politics, start-ups, technology, and more.

Pick your 5 favourite companies, get a daily email with all news updates on them.

26 years of website archives.
News / National

by Mary Charamba

Veteran ruler President Robert Mugabe has no business in tackling bond notes and civil servants bonus saga, Information minister Chris Mushohwe has ruled.According to Mushowe, that is the duty of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and Finance Ministry.On Tuesday, Mugabe (92) gave a state of the nation address and never mentioned the bond notes.That disappointed a majority of Zimbabweans who are failing to access the new bond notes introduced by the central bank last week in an attempt to avert a liquidity crunch that has left the country's money markets and national economy paralysed.Scores of people are now having to brave the wet and sometimes chilly weather to join bank queues at night in order to increase their chances of accessing the limited amounts being offered to depositors by financial institutions.According to reports, Mushohwe suggested that Mugabe could not stoop so low to address bond notes."What crisis is there that warranted his mention of bond notes."Those are questions you must ask the Reserve Bank governor and the minister of finance. Why should the president be the one who would go and see people sleeping in queues?".On bonuses he said "The president made a pronouncement that civil servants will get their bonuses but it is not the function of the president to go and put money in people's hands; there are ministers of finance and minister of labour. That is their function, to work out how the payment should be made."Surely you don't expect the president to go and say 'pay them I am waiting to see you pay them here'".Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa is today expected to make civil servants bonus announced during his 2017 national budget presentation.
The parliament logjam over may end on Friday with segments of the Opposition wishing for a debate to start in the Lok Sabha without any rule.


Dr Jitendra Singh discusses Northeast tourism promotion with Maharashtra Tourism Minister

Maharashtra Minister for Tourism, Shri Jaykumar Rawal called on the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh here today and discussed wide range of issues, including the possible future plans to promote tourism collaboration between Maharashtra and the eight States of the North-Eastern Region (NER).

Dr Jitendra Singh said that among the series of new initiatives undertaken by the Union Government in the Northeast, one of them is the decision to set up a Film & Television Institute in Arunachal Pradesh. He said, the vast scenic beauty of the Northeast remained unexplored by the film industry and this is because of poor facilities for carrying and storing film shooting equipment as well as the constraints of connectivity. With the setting up of local film institute in the region and improvement in connectivity, he said, these constraints can be taken care of to a great extent.

Among the various suggestions made by Dr Jitendra Singh, one was to have exclusive tourist circuits between Maharashtra and the Northeast separately devoted to different themes". For example, there could be a religious tourism circuit enabling the pilgrims to visit religious spots like Shirdi in Maharashtra and Kamakhya in Assam in a single itinerary.

Similarly, the holiday circuit or the heritage circuit could connect spots like Elephanta Caves with some of the popular heritage spots in Meghalaya and Sikkim. At the same time, he said, while the people of Northeast could find it fascinating to explore the different moods of sea while in Mumbai, for Maharashtrians, States like Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya could offer wide range of landscapes, meadows and mountain ranges.

Dr Jitendra Singh also referred to the steps being taken to increase the connectivity and said that the Ministry of DoNER is contributing to upgrade the airstrip at Shillong airport, while the work on Sikkim's Pakyong airport is in progress. Another important connection to which the Ministry of DoNER is also contributing would be the train to Bangladesh from Tripura which will give boost to trade, business and tourism, he added.

Shri Jaykumar Rawal appreciated the keen and focused interest taken by Dr Jitendra Singh for the promotion of tourism and invited him to Mumbai where Government of Maharashtra could organize an event to promote the unknown facets of Northeast. He also agreed to the suggestion to assign the Delhi-based Maharashtra Resident Commissioner and other concerned officers from Government of Maharashtra to sit with the officers in the Ministry of DoNER and work out a long-term collaborative tourism promotion plan for Maharashtra and the Northeast.
I&B Minister Shri Venkaiah Naidu to chair SIMCON 2016 28th SIMCON to focus on Reform, Perform & Transform A New Dimension of Communication

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting is organising the 28th State Information Ministers Conference on 9th and 10th December, 2016 at Vigyan Bhawan. Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, Minister for I&B will chair the conference on 10th Dec, 2016.

The two day conference will promote partnership in the dissemination process between Centre and States, enabling effective communication to the people and on sector specific collaboration in the Films, Broadcasting & Information sector.

Being organized after 2009, the conference will deliberate on key policy issues in the Films & Broadcasting sector and new key initiatives undertaken in the information domain. The conference is being organised on the theme Reform, Perform & Transform A New Dimension of Communication" and is expected to provide a synergy for a robust communication outreach process.

Some of the issues to be discussed with States are Facilitation of Film shooting in the country both Domestic & Foreign, National Film Heritage Mission, Most Film Friendly State award, screening of Public Service Awareness Films, Films Screen Density issue, Copyright & Piracy issues, Roadmap for Digitization of Cable TV, Issues pertaining to Cable TV Network act, Roadmap for Community Radio, Supreme Court directions on Government advertisements and future course of action in this regard, Developing skilled man power for media, Collaboration in Social Media, Coordination & utilization of Directorate of Field Publicity resources among others.

The conference on the first day would have Secretary level discussions pertaining to State related issues and deliberations on future roadmap on various emerging sectors. The heads of various Media Units and senior officials from the Ministry of I&B along with Senior officials from the States & UTs shall participate in the discussions. On the second day, the Ministerial level discussions would take place in continuation with the Secretary level discussions.

CP/GV
Mr. Ashton Carter, US Secretary of Defence calls on Prime Minister

US Secretary of Defence, Mr. Ashton Carter, called on the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today.

Prime Minister appreciated the contribution made by Secretary Carter in strengthening the defence cooperation between India and the United States. Prime Minister recalled his successful visit to the United States in June this year. He reaffirmed Indias commitment to a robust and strong bilateral strategic partnership with the US. Secretary Carter briefed Prime Minister on the progress in taking forward the decisions and understandings reached in June this year. They also exchanged views on regional issues and the developments in the Asia Pacific region.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Number of teachers for disabled students

The Government of India is implementing Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) as the main programme for universalising elementary education for all children from 6-14 years of age. Its overall goals include universal access and retention, bridging of gender and social category gaps in education and enhancement of learning levels of children. The focus of SSA is on providing inclusive education to children with special needs (CWSN), wherein children with and without disabilities participate and learn together in the same class.

CWSN need inclusive teaching strategies, adapted curriculum, adapted teaching techniques and modified evaluation strategies. In line with this, the National Council for Educational Research and Training has developed material for training of regular teachers in curricular adaptation at primary and upper primary level. So far 3.59 lakh regular teachers have been trained on this material.

To further strengthen the skills of regular teachers to teach CWSN, they are given category specific training. 195027 teachers have been trained on low vision, 102961 teachers on disabilities, 227206 teachers on intellectual disability, 151977 teachers on cerebral palsy, 189580 teachers on learning disabilities, 173544 teachers on multiple disabilities and 134240 teachers on Autism have been trained till now in SSA.

In Chhattisgarh till now, 799 teachers have been trained on low vision, 10047 teachers have been oriented to the needs of children with blindness, 1317 teachers have been sensitized to the needs the children with mental retardation, 700 teachers have been given training on cerebral palsy, 923 teacher on learning disabilities, 1044 teachers have been trained on multiple disabilities and 956 teachers have been imparted training on Autism under the SSA.

Besides under SSA, two resource persons are engaged in every Block Resource Centre exclusively for CWSN. Under SSA 18174 such resource persons are engaged.

In Chhattisgarh, 215 such resource persons are engaged. In Chhattisgarh, 25301 regular teachers have been trained on curricular adaptations.

The Inclusive Education for Disabled at Secondary Stage (IEDSS) component of the integrated Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan caters to the needs of CWSN at secondary level of schooling. Under the IEDSS, any school where the number of the children with disabilities is more than 5, should appoint one special educator. In case the number of children is less, the special educator can work for a cluster of schools. In accordance with this ratio, the requisite number of special educators may be appointed in schools (or for a cluster of schools) for children requiring special teacher support. The special educators provide counselling to the parents, help in identifying the needs of CWSN and help in other ways whenever necessary. 3245 special educators approved under IEDSS are in position at present.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development is giving grant to States and UTs for the salary component of special educators, the subject matter of their recruitment and deployment comes within the purview of the States and UTs concerned.

This information was given by the Minister of State (HRD), Shri Upendra Kushwaha today in a written reply to a Rajya Sabha question.
President of India to present Shilp Guru Awards and National Awards for Master Craftspersons at Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre tomorrow

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee will present the Shilp Guru Awards and National Awards for the year 2015 to master craftspersons, at Rastrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre (RBCC), New Delhi tomorrow.

The Union Textiles Minister Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani; MoS, Textiles, Shri Ajay Tamta; Secretary, Textiles, Smt. Rashmi Verma and Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), Shri Alok Kumar would also be present on the occasion.

Shilp Guru Awards

When a skill is pursued with both inspiration and dedication, it creates an enviable tradition. When the human spirit engages body, mind and heart to innovate and to perfect the art with zeal, it leads to the creation of a living legend. Shilp Guru Awards are given to craftspersons who are such living legends.

The Shilp Guru Awards were launched by the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) on 15th November, 2002, to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the resurgence of Handicrafts in India. On the occasion, the then President of India Late Dr. A. P.

J. Abdul Kalam honoured 10 masters of living traditions, responsible for the maintenance of the living cultural heritage of India.

Since 2002 up to 2014, 117 artisans responsible for maintaining craft traditions have been selected for the award. It was decided that the awards should be given a countrywide coverage through the Audio-visual media to make people aware of the importance of recognizing heritage masters for their outstanding contribution in the field of crafts and of the importance of crafts in the socio-economic livelihood of the vast segment of the rural population. While the award is given in recognition of excellent craftsmanship and the major role played by them in continuing craft as a vital part of traditional heritage, it is also necessary to recognize product excellence, keeping in view global market trends.

From the year of its inception the Shilp Guru selection process has undergone some changes and since 2005 the following criteria are being used.

The selection of Shilp Guru is done from amongst those who are hereditary masters, who received the National Award at the very inception of the scheme and who are alive or whose children are carrying on with the tradition and have made a valuable contribution in the development, creativity and expansion of knowledge in their craft.

Selection of Shilp Guru has to be from among some extraordinarily skilled masters whose work has not been recognized and who deserve the title of Shilp Guru because of their contribution in keeping alive the craft skill, reviving a languishing craft, setting up of institutions for training of Master Craftspersons.

Under exceptional circumstances Shilp Guru Award can be presented to a person who may not be a hereditary craftsperson, but who has mastered the technique and has been responsible for the revival of tradition, training of masters and contributing to the development of technology.

Individuals who have not trained masters to carry on the tradition shall not be considered for awarding the title of the Shilp Guru.

One important criterion of selection is the contribution of the Shilp Guru to the welfare and development of crafts community and to craft sector as a whole.

The Award consists a gold coin, Rs.2,00,000/- in cash, a Tamarapatra, an Angavastram and a certificate.

National Awards

The Office of the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) is implementing a scheme of National Awards for Master craftspersons since 1965. The main objective was to give recognition to the outstanding craftspersons in the Handicraft sector. The awardees represent almost all states of the country, apart from different crafts styles of different locations in the country.

The Award consists of Rs.1,00,000/- in cash, a Tamrapatra, an Angavastram and a certificate. Since 1965 to 2014, 1193 National Awards have been given, out of which 189 are women. The main crafts in which Awards have been given are Metal Engaving, Terracotta, Worli Painting, Madhubani Painting, Paper Machie, Punjabi Tilla Juti, Miniature Painting, Gold Leaf Painting, Pichawai painting, Phad Painting, Hand Block Printing, Bone Carving, Sandal Wood Carving, Tie and Dye Clay Modelling, coconut shell carving, Lac work, Stone Dust, Patta chitra paddy Jewellery & Straw craft & Maru Embroidery.

The Shilp Guru Awards, National Awards and National Merit Certificate will be awarded to a craftsperson only once in a lifetime, to encourage master craftspersons to maintain excellence in craftsmanship and keep alive our old tradition.
Visit of Dg Bangladesh Coast Guard to India

The Indian Coast Guard is hosting a four member delegation led by Director General, Bangladesh Coast Guard Rear Admiral Aurangzeb Chowdhury who are on a three day visit to India.

In addition to meeting senior officials in the Ministry of Defence, the delegation will also be discussing issues of mutual cooperation in the field of maritime law enforcement, maritime Search & Rescue and marine pollution response with an Indian Coast Guard delegation headed by Director General Indian Coast Guard Shri Rajendra Singh.

The Bangladesh Coast Guard delegation will also travel to Mumbai and Kolkata for visiting ICG facilities and conducting discussions on operational issues with Coast Guard Commander (Western Seaboard) and Commander Coast Guard Region (North East), respectively.

NAo/DM/RAJ
It started with Carrier. Ford was next. So by the time Donald J Trump singled out Boeing for a Twitter taunt on Tuesday, corporate executives across America had read the writing on the wall: It was time to hunker down.
The centre-left Democratic Party is not afraid of a snap election in the New Year and will meanwhile help head of state Sergio Mattarella solve Italy's political crisis, outgoing Premier said on Wednesday.

"We are not afraid of anything or anyone," Renzi told a meeting of the PD convened after a crushing defeat in Sunday's constitutional reforms referendum forced him to announce his resignation.

"If others want to go and vote, after the (January 24 electoral law) ruling by the Constitutional Court, let them speak out because we all have to act responsibly," Renzi said.

"The PD is not afraid of democracy or votes," he said.

The PD is the largest in parliament and must give Mattarella a hand in solving the government crisis "in the ways that the various parties identify," Renzi said.

The 41-year-old premier also said he was ready to hand over to a new party leader "with a hug and wishing them well".

Renzi then set off for Rome's Qurinale Palace to tender his formal resignation to Mattarella.

Renzi tweeted earlier that he would resign formally after the parliament passed Italy's 2017 budget on Wednesday, as Mattarella had requested.

Mattarella does not favour early elections until Italy has compatible electoral systems for both houses of parliament, although the two main opposition parties, the anti-establishment Five-Star Movement and the rightwing Northern League are pushing hard for early polls.

Italy's constitutional court will on January 24 rule on the legitimacy of the current electoral law, known as the Italicum, which only applies to the lower house of parliament.
The US on Wednesday marked the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii that claimed more than 2,400 American lives.

As many as 2,403 Americans were killed and about 20 US vessels were sunk or damaged and over 300 US aircrafts were damaged or destroyed when over 350 Japanese warplanes launched attacks stealthily, Xinhua reported.

The attack came as a shock to the Americans and directly led to US entry into World War II.

On August 6, 1945, the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Another US nuclear strike was launched on the Japanese city of Nagasaki three days later. Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945.

As the Americans were mourning the colossal loss inflicted by the Japanese, the news came that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would visit the Arizona Memorial at at the end of December.

However, observers said that Abe was not expected to apologise for the attack on .

Abe's decision to visit came about six months after Obama visited Japan's Hiroshima early this year.

Apart from reciprocating Obama's visit to Hiroshima, Abe's upcoming trip to Pearl Harbor was believed to be the latest step by the Japanese government to strengthen the Japan-US alliance before US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration next January.
Where to find non-partisan ballot information Thank you for your non-biased bullet points explaining the three state ballot proposals in "A look at the three state...

Kautman-Jones endorses Davis Please support Meredith Davis in her re-election to the Genesee County Board of Commissioners - 8th District. I have had...
In a symbolic victory, British Prime Minister Theresa May today won a vote in Parliament backing her timetable for negotiating Britain's exit from the European Union (EU).

MPs voted in the House of Commons 461 to 89 in favour of May triggering Article 50 by the end of March 2017, which will begin the formal process of exit negotiations from the 28-member economic bloc.

The win followed a compromise between Opposition Labour and the ruling Conservatives, which saw May committing to revealing the official plan for before the actual process begins, without committing to any detailed account.

The vote also supported a Labour motion calling for Parliament to "properly scrutinise" the government in its proposals for leaving the EU by 448 votes to 75 - a margin of 373.

Labour's spokesman, Sir Keir Starmer, has said his party would continue to challenge the government if its plan was "not detailed enough".

He said: "I think it's got to be pretty detailed, they've got to set out what those objectives are. I don't think it needs to be in a particular form, but if it's not detailed enough they can expect further challenge."



Secretary David Davis responded: "The simple fact is that the mandate (in June's referendum) was to leave the European Union - full stop. We need to keep that in mind when we are going through that process.

"This is a negotiation; it's not a policy statement. And, therefore, where you are aiming for may not be the exact place you end up."



The debate today came after a procedural battle between the parties over the wording of the motion to be put to MPs. Mrs May had been refusing to provide a "running commentary" on Brexit after the UK voted to leave the EU in a referendum in June.

As the Supreme Court in London continues to hear a case to establish the extent of British PM's power in launching into a Brexit without parliamentary approval, Downing Street put forward an amendment agreeing to publish a plan before triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

Starmer described it as "a welcome and hugely significant climbdown", while the government believes receiving this parliamentary backing for the timetable would avoid delays to the Brexit process.

The government's amendment was opposed by 23 Labour MPs and one Conservative - former chancellor Ken Clarke. Five Liberal Democrat MPs, three Welsh Plaid Cymru MPs and 51 SNP MPs also voted against it.
Boeing has pledged to control costs on the redesign of Air Force One after President-elect blasted the aerospace giant for the ballooning expenses, a company spokesman said today.

Boeing chief executive Dennis Muilenburg reassured Trump in a phone call yesterday night about its commitment to keeping a tight rein on costs for the presidential plane, after the president-elect earlier in the day tweeted that the price tag was "out of control."



"Muilenburg congratulated Mr Trump on his election win and committed to working with the new administration to control costs as they establish requirements for the new Air Force One to keep the program as affordable as possible and deliver the best value to American taxpayers," a Boeing spokesman told AFP.

Muilenburg's conversation with the president-elect came after Trump took to Twitter yesterday morning and threatened to cancel the Air Force One contract, saying costs had ballooned to USD 4 billion.

Boeing has not directly addressed Trump's statement, but said yesterday it has a USD 170 million contract "to help determine the capabilities of these complex military aircraft that serve the unique requirements of the President of the United States."



Trump took a tough line with Boeing, as he has with other companies that draw his ire.

"If we don't get the prices down, we're not going to order them, we'll stay with what we have." the president-elect told the "Today" show broadcast today morning.

The legendary Air Force One jets -- light blue and white liveried, with "United States of America" emblazoned on the fuselage and an American flag on the tail -- are a powerful symbol of US might, but the current models are nearing the end of their 30-year lifespan.

The planes are equipped with numerous security and defensive measures, most of which are top secret, as well as the ability to refuel in flight.

Though he has frequently singled out particular companies for criticism, Trump's latest attack-by-tweet came an hour after the Chicago Tribune posted an article on its website quoting Muilenburg expressing concern about the president-elect's protectionist bent, and noting the firm's growing business with China.

It was unclear if Trump was aware of Muilenburg's comments before his outburst, but several US media were raising the possibility of a connection.
American and British spy agencies have tried to intercept data from passengers' mobile phones on including Air France, French media has reported, citing documents from US whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The French flag-carrier was an early target of the US National Security Agency and its British counterpart GCHQ as it was seen as a terrorist target and it carried out tests in 2007 on allowing the use of mobile phones on its aircraft.

"The use of mobile phones with internet connections in the sky gave rise to the creation of specific programs at the NSA and GCHQ," said Le Monde, which has access to Snowden's archive in partnership with news website The Intercept.

While it is not normally possible to make phone calls on planes, some carriers allow passengers to connect to a cabin wifi, allowing them to use internet-based functions on their handsets.

In 2012, at least 27 airlines allowed passengers to use mobile phones on board, including British Airways, Aeroflot, Etihad, Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines.

But Air France was "such a symbol of the surveillance of communications on board airlines that the British spy agency used a drawing of one of their planes to illustrate how the interception worked."



Asked about the British and American surveillance claims, Air France told Le Monde: "We are visibly not the only ones to have been targeted and we know absolutely nothing about these practices."



According to the report, internal documents from the two agencies describe the results of the "impressive" programs - codenamed "Thieving Magpie" and "Homing Pigeon" - which allowed data to be collected "almost in real time".

In order to spy on a telephone, all that was needed was that the aircraft be cruising at an altitude above 10,000 feet, the report said.

Secret aerial stations on the ground could intercept the signal as it transited through a satellite.

"The simple fact that the telephone was switched on was enough to give away its position, the interception could then be cross-referenced with the list of known passengers on the flight, the flight number, and the airline code to determine the name of the smartphone user," the report said.

The mobile phone's function could also be disrupted, it said, forcing the user to input their access codes and thereby allowing the British spy agency to intercept the information.

Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor, leaked thousands of classified documents to the press in 2013 which revealed the vast scope of US surveillance of private data that was put in place after the 9/11 attacks.
rallied 5% to Rs 964, extending its past three days 5% gain on the BSE, after the company said it completed acquisition of Walker Forge Tennessee LLC and PMT Holdings Inc., USA for a total consideration of $14 million. The acquisition was done through its wholly-owned subsidiary, America Inc., USA.
has dipped 9% to Rs 60 on the BSE in early morning trade after the company said that its deal with Pauwels Spaco Ltd-an SPV of first reserve (parties) for sale of its power business in Europe, North America and Indonesia stands terminated.
Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday said that parliamentarians will observe a Black day as tribute to the people who lost their lives due to demonetisation.

"The parliamentarians are observing a Black Day today. There will be no slogans. We will only mourn. But before that, for two minutes we will pay tribute to the people who died by staying in queues for four to five days." Azad said.

Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar told ANI, "It's been 30 days, 85 people have died. Demonetisation is a weapon which people say is used to destroy corruption and black money, but it is killing the poor; workers are losing their jobs and their livelihood,"

Babbar further said, "I think he is proud because of the mandate that he has received in 2014. He said that 'mai to fakir hoon, jhola lekar chala jaunga', the nation did not ask you to go with a bag, but the nation told him to work for society. You must be a watchman, a servant, but he is egoistical and just thinks about himself and not about the poor, not about his old mother." he added.

Another Congress leader, Oscar Fernandes said, "It's been a month, we told the government that people are facing problems.farmers, old people are facing problems. A foreign tourist came from my village and said that we came to know about the situation after landing here. All foreign diplomats are saying that how will we manage and what will we do?"

Fernandes further said there are a lot of problem because of demonetisation for which the government has not done anything and the nation is all messed up.

The Rajya Sabha has been adjourned till 2 p.m. as uproar continued over the demonetisation move.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Congress party on Thursday criticized the Centre for holding the opposition responsible for the deadlock in parliament and said it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence that needed to be blamed for the prolonged impasse.

Congress leader Om Prakash Mishra told ANI, "It is Prime Minister Modi who has been bunking the parliamentary session; it is his party that is refusing to discuss demonitisation under a rule in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha."

"The Prime Minister is an absconder, so he is the one who is undermining parliamentary democracy, he is the one who actually has attempted to question parliament, it is he who actually has been habitual absenting from the proceedings of parliament" he said.

BJP veteran Lal Krishna Advani yesterday expressed his ire over the repeated disruptions in Parliament post the government's demonetisation drive, holding both the ruling dispensation and the opposition responsible for the deadlock.

Advani, who put forth his concerns before Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar, said both the government and opposition benches are party to the repeated disruptions in the parliament.

He demanded that action should be initiated against those lawmakers responsible for the continued deadlock in both houses. He also demanded that there should be a cut in their salaries for their adamant attitude.

The BJP veteran asked the government to find a way out or ensure that Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan asks the protesting lawmakers to leave parliament.

Kumar later met Minister of State for Parliamentary Affair S.S. Ahluwalia to chalk out the future course of action in Parliament. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu was also present in the meeting.

Advani's outburst came as the demonetisation issue continued to disrupt proceedings in parliament.

Since the beginning of winter session of parliament, the opposition has been demanding a debate on demonetisation along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's participation in the same.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
As China recently issued directions to the Tibetans and Chinese pilgrims visiting India to come back before 'Kalachakra' (Wheel of Time) initiations by Tibetan spiritual leader, the 14th Dalai Lama on Thursday dubbed the diktat as "sad", saying it is an indication whether there is religious freedom or not.

After China's diktat, some pilgrims met the Dalai Lama, where he questioned the religious freedom in Tibet.

When asked that China had directed the pilgrims to return before Kalachakra, did he meet such pilgrims, the Dalai Lama told ANI, "I met. They were simply crying...crying...crying... crying; very sad; but there is no other choice. I think this is the indication whether there is religious freedom or not."

The Dalai Lama left for his visit to Delhi; Bengaluru, Mysuru and Mundgod in Karnataka; and Bodh Gaya in Bihar from the Kangra Airport here.

He will give the 34th Kalachakra initiations from January 3-14 in Bodh Gaya.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Veteran actor Dilip Kumar, who was admitted to Lilavati Hospital and Research Centre here on Wednesday morning, is fine and getting better, say doctors.

"Dilip Kumar is fine and recovering, soon he will be shifted out of the ICU," Dr Jalil Parkar told ANI.

The 93-year-old actor was rushed to the hospital by his wife Saira Banu after he complained of swelling in one of his legs.

While the legendary actor, who is days away from celebrating his 94th birthday, too took to his social media on Wednesday to inform his fans that his condition is stable, the recent remark from his doctors are sure to give respite to scores of his fans.

Born as Mohammad Yusuf Khan, Dilip Kumar, in a career spanning over six decades, gave some classics to the Indian cinema, like 'Madhumati,' 'Devdas,' ' Mughal-e-Azam,' 'Ganga Jamuna,' 'Ram Aur Shyam,' 'Karma' and more.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Backing electoral reforms in the Indian political system, President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday asked the government to come up with necessary amendments and hold public debates on a set of recommendations proposed by the Election Commission to hold simultaneous elections in the country.

Acknowledging that the administration is feeling the pinch due to frequent elections hampering the developmental works, he said, "Many of you would aware that frequent elections are a costly affair, putting stain on the administrative e resources and drainage of financial resources for holding and conducting lections. But we are ready to pay this price for the democracy, but it should not be at the cost of development in a developing economy like ours."

He was delivering a lecture on the 4th Defence Estates Day in the capital.

"I do feel that these do not affect the electoral process to that extent that voters would be influenced by the announcement. This is some sort of illusion with which the political activists believe. And here the Election Commission and the government can sit together with political parties to have discussion," he added.

The President also said that President's Rule should be extended to more than a year in a state if general elections are around the corner.

"As per the present constitutional amendment, after 44th amendment of the Constitution, president's rule is only confined to one year subject to the ratification of both Houses of parliament at every 6 months. And if a consensus develops around simultaneous elections, there can be consensus on that as well," he said.

"During general elections, it is imperative that the President's Rule should be extended beyond one year so that it can synchronise with the general elections of the parliament," he added.

President Mukherjee also pressed for the increase in the number of Lok Sabha seats in concomitant with rising population in the country.

"We have 543 members in Lok Sabha, our electors are more than 800 million, a country of having a population of 1.28 billion which is going to much larger very soon, we must think whether we can have larger number of seats and for that constitutional amendment for delimitation is needed. We shall have to think especially under electoral reforms," he said.

The President also raised concern over women's participation in Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies, and called for passage for of the Women's Reservation Bill

"Women's population is almost 50 percent whose representations is abysmally low which is totally unacceptable and with the experience of 16 Lok Saha elections it is being said that whatever be the reason, political parties are not magnanimous enough to give adequate number of representations to the woman in parliament," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India is closely working with the Mongolian government to implement the US$ 1 billion credit line announced during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Mongolia in May 2015 in a manner that is deemed beneficial to the friendly people of Mongolia by its leadership, said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday.

"We are aware of the difficult budgetary situation that Mongolia is facing due to various factors including high cost of servicing of debt raised by them in the past. As a close friend of Mongolia, which regards India as its 'third neighbour' and 'spiritual neighbour', we are ready to work with Mongolian people in this time of their difficulty," said Vikas Swarup, MEA spokesperson, here during his weekly media briefing.

"During the visit of Prime Minister to Mongolia in May 2015, PM had conveyed to the Mongolian leadership that India will extend support to Mongolia in diverse fields. We had announced a credit line of US$ 1 billion during the visit. Mongolian leadership was highly appreciative of this gesture and conveyed that it would help them in obtaining investment and financial resources from their other partners," said Swarup while answering a question on Mongolia's request of assistance from India.

He, however, refused to comment on Mongolia's relationship with China. "In so far as Mongolia's relationship with China is concerned, I would not like to comment," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
With Pakistan Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz yesterday admitting that the government was presented with only insufficient evidence on alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav who is under detention, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday said the government has always maintained that Pakistan's allegations against Jadhav, an Indian and a former Indian Navy officer, were completely baseless and demands immediate consular access to him.

"We have seen conflicting media reports about this issue. This is a pattern we have seen in the past as well. Government has always maintained that Pakistan's allegations against Jadhav, an Indian and a former Indian Navy officer, were completely baseless," said Vikas Swarup, MEA spokesperson, here during his weekly media briefing.

"Even after more than nine months of keeping him wrongfully and illegally in custody, the Pakistani authorities have not found a shred of evidence against him," he said.

"We demand immediate consular access to him in accordance with relevant international conventions and his earliest release from wrongful confinement. We have also sent eight Note Verbales to the Pakistan Foreign Office on this issue," Swarup added.

Addressing a full Senate chamber, Aziz said the dossier on Jadhav contained mere statements. He was quoted by a leading Pakistani news channel as saying that it did not have any conclusive evidence against Jadhav.

Aziz said it is up to the concerned authorities on how long they take to give more matter on the alleged agent.

Jadhav was reportedly arrested in Balochistan after he entered from Iran, and has been accused by Pakistan of planning subversive activities in the country.

Pakistan Army had also released a confessional video of Jadhav, who purportedly said he was the serving Indian Navy officer.

India has acknowledged Jadhav as a retired Indian Navy officer, but denied the allegation that he was in any way connected to the government.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Kerala High Court on Thursday banned women from to wearing salwar kameez and churidars inside the in Thiruvananthapuram.

According to the traditions of the temple, women devotees have to wear a mundu (dhoti) over their waist if they are attired in salwars or churidars.

"Only those women, clad in saris would be allowed inside the temple," said the court.

Earlier on November 30, 2016, temple executive officer K.N Satheesh had allowed women to visit the temple wearing 'churidar'. The decision was protested by a certain section of the temple authority and common devotees as well.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Defence Secretary Ashton Carter on Thursday finalised India's designation as a "Major Defence Partner" of the United States, institutionalising the progress made to facilitate defence trade and technology sharing with India to a level on par with the United States' closest allies and partners, and ensures enduring cooperation into the future.

With regard to technology, both sides welcomed the tremendous progress achieved under the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) and committed to explore new proposals and other innovative opportunities for co-production and co-development, said a statement issued by the Ministry of Defence.

The emergence of DTTI as an integral and enduring component of India-U.S. security cooperation is a sign that the relationship has matured to a level of strategic importance. DTTI will strengthen India's 'Make in India' initiative and both sides committed to convening all new DTTI working groups prior to the next DTTI Group meeting anticipated for February 2017.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Defence Secretary Ashton Carter applauded the deepened scope of India-U.S. military-to-military ties, which includes a dramatic increase in defence trade.

Carter is on an official visit to India at the invitation of Parrikar, marking the seventh interaction between the two leaders. They also reviewed the tremendous progress made in bilateral defence ties and discussed the immense promise for the future of India-U.S. security cooperation.

Parrikar and Carter agreed that the strong partnership between our countries is lasting and will thrive and grow for decades to come.

Both sides exchanged views on regional security issues, including the threat posed by terrorism and agreed to continue further strengthening the bilateral counter-terrorism cooperation and underlined the need to ensure that terror groups receive no patronage from any State.

Citing common values and our shared desire for peace and prosperity in the Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean region, the two leaders reflected on the convergence of interests that have driven the strategic and technological "handshakes" between our nations, and led to historic progress in our bilateral relationship.

The India-U.S. defence relations in recent years have moved along a remarkable upward trajectory. Marked progress on agreements, including the signing of a Defense Framework Agreement in 2015, have laid a blueprint for collaboration between our defense establishments and enabled deeper cooperation. Joint exchange opportunities - in both personnel and training exercises - have expanded and strengthened our bilateral cooperation. The recent signing of the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) has facilitated additional opportunities for practical engagement and exchange.

Carter also called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and briefed him on the progress in taking forward the decisions and understandings reached in June this year.

The Prime Minister, on the other hand, appreciated the contribution made by Secretary Carter in strengthening the defence cooperation between India and the U.S.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Delhi Police Cyber Cell has received a reply from Twitter on Internet Protocol (IP) address used by the suspect, who allegedly hacked the account of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

Sources said the Twitter handle logs show both Gandhi and Congress' account were operated from Sweden, Romania, U.S., Canada and Thailand.

Gandhi's Twitter account @OfficeOfRG (Office of RG) was hacked on November 30.

The hacker posted obscene comments on the timeline.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Freshwater detective, biologist and extreme angler Jeremy Wade has spent three decades traveling the World's waterways in search of man-eaters that lurk beneath the surface of rivers and lakes in some of the most inhospitable locations in the world.

Man-sized piranhas, fish that electrocute, nine-foot river sharks (yes, river sharks) ... take a deep dive with Jeremy Wade and bring out these outlandish creatures to your living room weekdays at 8 PM. The world's greatest angling explorer takes Discovery viewers where no wildlife program has gone before, revealing the creatures that lurk in the murky depths of our planet's inland waterways. RIVER MONSTERS will air Monday to Friday at 8 PM on Discovery.

Get a glimpse of the top 5 catches of Jeremy here: https://youtu.be/1kzsW_z-se8

Jeremy grew up in southeast England on the banks of the Suffolk Stour, where his fascination with the underwater world and the desire to see "what's around the next bend" began. His first overseas trip was to the mountain-rivers of India in1982 and since then, he has increasingly spent his time tracking down large and little-known fish in rivers around the world - particularly in the Congo and the Amazon rainforests. Over the last thirty years, Jeremy has travelled extensively to India in search of elusive fish in Kali (Brahmaputra), Kauvery and other iconic rivers. At the Kali River, he found a little-known catfish species that can grow to a large size - the Goonch or Giant Devil Catfish. His search continued to find the rare fish, a Golden Mahseer.

In the new episodes of River Monsters airing this December, the journey will continue with Jeremy visiting India in search of Goonch and Mahseer. He also tries fly fishing that takes a lot of practice to get right. Will he be able to compare it to catches of his past? Jeremy heads to Southeast Asia in search of the mythological sea serpent. But will his freshwater knowledge be enough to tackle this monster of the deep? He embarks on an epic mission to reveal the real creature behind the world's most famous river monster; the Loch Ness Monster. But what will he uncover? Further in Africa's Rift Valley, rife with killer crocs, hippos and warring gangs, he dives deep for a worthy prize: the Mputa Nile perch. In Papua New Guinea rumours of flesh-eating pacu are haunting locals. How dangerous is this fish and has it really developed a taste for parts of the male anatomy? In the Congo River lurks a super predator. Fast and ferocious, this killing machine has even snatched a local child. Can Jeremy catch this notorious fish?

This December, viewers can join biology teacher and angler turned explorer Jeremy Wade, for an evening of mystery, mayhem and monster wrangling, only on Discovery.

Why River Monsters?

Nearly half the world's fish species live in just 0.01% of the world's water - our lakes and rivers. Yet most people know less about what lives in fresh water than they do about the oceans.

Because some rivers are very hard to get to - and/or too murky to see into, using normal means - many of their inhabitants are rarely or never seen in conventional natural history programs.

River Monsters takes a different approach. Biologist and fishing detective Jeremy Wade starts by examining myths and fishermen's tales, subjecting them to scientific scrutiny to separate fact from fiction. Then he homes in on his targets using a fishing line. The results are some fish of staggering dimensions and appearance, including some spectacular TV 'firsts'.

Jeremy Wade Biography

Biologist, Extreme Angler and Host of River Monsters

The world's most fearless fisherman, Jeremy Wade, is a biologist, teacher, writer and television host who has been traveling (mostly solo) to the world's most remote rivers for 30 years. Wade has encountered some of the strangest andmost terrifying fish out there and has risked his life more than once to document the stories of hundreds of fish and the cultures where they live. Wade holds adegree in zoology from Bristol University and a postgrad teaching certificate inbiological sciences from the University of Kent.

Wade grew up in southeast England on the banks of the Suffolk Stour, where his fascination with the underwater world and the desire to see "what's around the next bend" began. His first overseas trip was to the mountain-rivers of India in1982 and since then, he has increasingly spent his time tracking down large and little-known fish in rivers around the world - particularly in the Congo and the Amazon rainforests.

"I don't see myself as a particularly expert angler," He says, "But I am able to getinto the kinds of places where outsiders don't normally go and seem to have enough energy after I get there to put a line in the water. Teaming up with local fishermen is vital to my success and what's great about this approach is that youget to see and explore diverse human cultures too."

In between catching fish (or, on some journeys, not catching fish), Wade has also managed to catch malaria, be detained as a suspected spy, narrowly escape drowning, avoid gun-toting renegades and survive a plane crash. In 1992, he co-wrote 'Somewhere Down the Crazy River' - a book that is considered to be one of the classics of angling literature. He has also written on travel and natural history for publications including The Times, Guardian, Sunday Telegraph, The Field and BBC Wildlife. His latest book, 'River Monsters: True Stories of the Ones That Didn't Get Away', was published in April 2011.

His first television series, JUNGLE HOOKS, filmed in 2002 for Discovery Europe, was one of the most-watched shows on multichannel television when it was released and has since been seen by audiences around the world.

RIVER MONSTERS, his most recent and most iconic series, is the most-watched series in the history of Animal Planet and has been since its debut in April 2009.

When he's not beside a remote river, Jeremy lives in the countryside of Somerset, England.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
As SAARC celebrates its 31st Anniversary, India on Thursday asserted that unless the cross border terrorism is addressed and unless a mindset which opposes all connectivity initiate is reversed, the "situation will pretty much remain the same".

the fate of Summit will continue to be uncertain until the issue of cross border terrorism is not addressed by Pakistan.

Indirectly targeting Islamabad for scuttling India's chances of building greater regional connectivity and cooperation among SAARC members, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, "The message is very clear; even the Prime Minister addressed to this particular issue on December 2 - that the India's commitment to SAARC remains undiluted. We are all for regional, peace, prosperity and most importantly connectivity. We all know why SAARC has not made progress, because one standout country has consistently opposed all our efforts, initiatives towards promoting greater regional cooperation and connectivity."

Swarup further said that unless cross border terrorism is addressed, unless a mindset which opposes all connectivity initiate is reversed the "situation will pretty much remain the same".

"The ball is in entirely in Pakistan's court. It is for them to re-schedule the Summit. We know the reasons why the summit was postponed because all the SAARC members expressed their views to the chair that the current environment is not feasible for talks," he said.

The 19th SAARC Summit, which was scheduled to be held in November in Islamabad, was cancelled after Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan followed India's decision to stay away from the Summit.

India's decision not to participate in the Summit was in consequence to the Uri terror attack in which 19 Indian soldiers were gunned by terrorists on September 18.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Thursday called on Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Arun Jaitley here.

"CM Sri K. Chandrashekar Rao called on Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Sri @arunjaitley in New Delhi," tweeted official account of CMO Telangana.

Later, the Chief Minister attended the wedding reception of Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari's daughter.

"CM KCR at the wedding reception of Minister of Road Transport & Highways Sri @nitin_gadkari's daughter in New Delhi," CMO Telangana tweeted.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Kadiyam Srihari on Thursday inaugurated the Special officer Annual Conference Meet at Indira Priyadarshini Auditorium at Nampally in Hyderabad.

Speaking to ANI, Srihari said the government intends to strengthen the KGBVs and improve the education standards and improve the Class-10 results.

"In Telangana, we have 391 KGBVs in which nearly 73,000 girl students are studying. We want to strengthen these KGBVs. Though the Government of India is giving financial support up to 8th class, we have extended KGBVs to 10th class. The expenditure of 9th and 10th classes is being borne by the state government," he said.

"We want to strengthen the KGBVs by creating more facilities and by improving the standards. Today, we had a workshop for Special officers of KGBVs and we have given them some instructions, where we have asked them to improve education standards and improve class results," he added.

Under this the Government of Telangana also conducted a conference on Sarva Shiksha Abhyan School Education Department of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya ( KGBV) for special officers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The United States and Cuba held the fifth Bilateral Commission meeting in Havana yesterday and reviewed the achievements of the commission since diplomatic relations were re-established in July 2015.

The U.S. delegation was led by acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Mari Carmen Aponte.

Embassy Havana Charge d'Affaires Jeffrey DeLaurentis and Deputy Assistant Secretary John Creamer also attended for the United States.

The Cuban delegation was led by Foreign Ministry's Director General for U.S. Affairs Josefina Vidal.

The delegations agreed that the Bilateral Commission has provided a framework for discussion of a wide range of issues where U.S. and Cuban interests align, including on counternarcotics, health, and environmental issues.

The United States and Cuba have made important strides for the benefit of both peoples.

The two sides also agreed where the two countries have disagreements, including on human rights.

The two countries articulated those differences in a clear, productive, and respectful manner.

The dialogues and working groups that fall under the Bilateral Commission framework have allowed the United States and Cuba to establish working relationships with counterparts, which are essential to continued bilateral cooperation, advancement of U.S. interests, and progress toward normalization.

The Commission has prioritised and sequenced a number of bilateral initiatives since its first quarterly meeting in November 2015.

The United States and Cuba have established dialogues on law enforcement, claims, human rights, and economic and regulatory issues, and have continued biannual Migration Talks.

The Bilateral Commission has provided a framework to address trafficking in persons and the return of fugitives, as well as to schedule technical exchanges on law enforcement and environmental issues.

In the last 18 months, the United States and Cuba concluded 11 non-binding agreements, including Memoranda of Understanding on health, cancer research, agriculture, environmental cooperation, hydrography, marine protected areas, counternarcotics, federal air marshals, civil aviation, and direct transportation of mail.

In the coming weeks, the United States and Cuba are expected to sign agreements formalizing cooperation on law enforcement, conservation, seismology, meteorology, search and rescue, and oil spill response protocols.

The United States and Cuba have coordinated a number of high-level visits, including that of President Obama in March 2016, seven cabinet-level officials, and Dr. Jill Biden.

Seven U.S. Governors from New York, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Virginia, Missouri, and West Virginia have led trade delegations to Cuba since April 2015.

More than 80 members of the Congress, both Democrats and Republicans have visited Cuba in the last two years, many for the first time.

Purposeful travel by Americans to Cuba increased by approximately 75 percent from 2014 to 2015.

Ten U.S. airlines now provide scheduled service between U.S. and Cuban cities, and Carnival cruises are docking in several Cuban cities, further connecting the U.S. and Cuban people.

Under the Bilateral Commission, the United States and Cuba expanded educational and cultural exchanges.

The number of Cubans studying in the United States increased 63 percent in academic year 2015-16.

More than 2,000 U.S. students visited Cuba as part of their academic program in academic year 2014-15.

The United States welcomed first Cuban Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow to the United States.

Four U.S. cellular providers offer roaming service in Cuba, further connecting Cuba and the United States.

The United States is looking forward to host the next Bilateral Commission meeting in Washington, DC at the earliest opportunity.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and Conference patron Farooq Abdullah on Thursday said he won't apologise for his remarks on the Hurriyat. He added that people of Kashmir are united because they want a final settlement of the state.

"Why should I apologize? don't you want settlement or do you want bombings on the border all the time, do you want innocent people to die. It is the citizen of Kashmir on both the sides who are dying and we are united because we want a final settlement of the state", Abdullah said.

Abdullah said India need to talk to all stakeholders in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.

"How will you resolve the Kashmir issue without talking to Pakistan? The two countries have to talk to each other. Also the Centre needs to initiate talks with the constituents of Jammu, Ladakh and Kashmir to find an amicable solution to the issue," Abdullah added.

Launching attack on the Centre, Abdullah said India should not blame him only because the ruling BJP-PDP is also talking to everybody, including Hurriyat.

"Why blame me only? Ruling BJP-PDP is talking to everybody, in their agenda they have said that Hurriyat must be talked to," he said.

The former chief minister had raked up a controversy on Monday by expressing his willingness to work with Separatists to work for the Kashmir cause.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday criticised Farooq Abdullah for asking the Hurriyat to unite for the cause of Kashmir, saying the opposition could play with anyone's life for the sake of the chair.

"The Conference can go to a limit to get the chair. In the last four to five months, the condition of Jammu and Kashmir.a criminal content has entered in it. It proves from his statement that the Conference was involved in violent activities taking place in the Valley for the last four-five months," she alleged.

Mufti further said the conditions in Jammu and Kashmir are improving with children returning to schools and tourism picking up fast.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday asked the Centre why standing in queues for collecting money from banks is being equated with patriotism.

Addressing a press conference here, he said, "Standing in queues is being equated with patriotism. This is nothing but, making a mockery of patriotism."

"If this is the way to combat terrorism then the entire world should impose a ban on its currency notes," he said sarcastically.

Commenting on senior BJP leader L.K. Advani's expression of ire over the ongoing uproar in parliament, Thackeray said Advani is a senior politician and his voice should be heard.

L.K. Advani had on Wednesday expressed his displeasure with Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar for not "running the House". "Who's running the House? It is running on its own. Neither the Speaker nor the Parliamentary Affairs Minister is running the House," he said on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, the Shiv Sena chief met the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh at the latter's residence in New Delhi to discuss issues pertaining to demonetisation, especially the concerns of farmers in Maharashtra.

Thackeray is also likely to meet Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to discuss the problems being faced post demonetisation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron recently took to social media to tease the trailer for their upcoming film 'Baywatch', which is very hot and steamy.

While The Rock's clip showcases him emerging from the water in his swimsuit, Efron boasts his incredible abs as he removes his shirt and plunges into the ocean water "ready for duty".

Johnson also shared the first official look at the Seth Gordon directed flick. The picture of his "squad" shows the team in hot red and blue swimsuits.

The caption reads, "The Rated R Avengers of the Beach, who are highly dysfunctional while being incredibly cool, tan and ripped VS The Pirates. Gonna be massively fun time at the movies. Can't wait. Bring it on."

The movie follows a lifeguard named Mitch Buchannon (Johnson) and a brash new recruit (Efron), who uncover a criminal plot that threatens the future of the bay.

Also featuring Jon Bass, Alexandra Daddario, Kelly Rohrbach and Ilfenesh Hadera, 'Baywatch' will hit theatres initially in US on May 19, 2017.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Airline industry profits to reach peak of $35.6 billion in 2016, and ease to $29.8 billion in 2017

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that it expects the global airline industry to make a net profit in 2017 of $29.8 billion. On forecast total revenues of $736 billion, that represents a 4.1% net profit margin. This will be the third consecutive year (and the third year in the industry's history) in which airlines will make a return on invested capital (7.9%) which is above the weighted average cost of capital (6.9%).

IATA revised slightly downward its outlook for 2016 airline industry profitability to $35.6 billion (from the June projection of $39.4 billion) owing to slower global GDP growth and rising costs. This will still be the highest absolute profit generated by the airline industry and the highest net profit margin (5.1%).

"Airlines continue to deliver strong results. This year we expect a record net profit of $35.6 billion. Even though conditions in 2017 will be more difficult with rising oil prices, we see the industry earning $29.8 billion. That's a very soft landing and safely in profitable territory. These three years are the best performance in the industry's history - irrespective of the many uncertainties we face. Indeed, risks are abundant - political, economic and security among them. And controlling costs is still a constant battle in our hyper-competitive industry," said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA's Director General and CEO.

"We need to put this into perspective. Record profits for airlines means earning more than our cost of capital. For most other businesses that would be considered a normal level of return to investors. But three years of sustainable profits is a first for the airline industry. And after many years of hard work in restructuring and re-engineering the business the industry is also more resilient. We should also recognize that profits are not evenly spread with the strongest performance concentrated in North America," said de Juniac.

2017

While airline industry profits are expected to have reached a cyclical peak in 2016 of $35.6 billion, a soft landing in profitable territory is expected in 2017 with a net profit of $29.8 billion. 2017 is expected to be the eighth year in a row of aggregate airline profitability, illustrating the resilience to shocks that have been built into the industry structure. On average, airlines will retain $7.54 for every passenger carried.

Expected higher oil prices will have the biggest impact on the outlook for 2017. In 2016 oil prices averaged $44.6/barrel (Brent) and this is forecast to increase to $55.0 in 2017. This will push jet fuel prices from $52.1/barrel (2016) to $64.9/barrel (2017). Fuel is expected to account for 18.7% of the industry's cost structure in 2017, which is significantly below the recent peak of 33.2% in 2012-2013.

The demand stimulus from lower oil prices will taper off in 2017, slowing traffic growth to 5.1% (from 5.9% in 2016). Industry capacity expansion is also expected to slow to 5.6% (down from 6.2% in 2016). Capacity growth will still outstrip the increase in demand, thus lowering the global passenger load factor to 79.8% (from 80.2% in 2016).

The negative impact of a lower load factor is expected to be offset somewhat by a strengthening of global economic growth. World GDP is projected to expand by 2.5% in 2017 (up from 2.2% in 2016). Along with structural changes in the industry, this is expected to help stabilize yields for both the cargo and passenger businesses. This is a welcome development as yields (calculated in dollar terms) have fallen each year since 2012.

There is some optimism over the prospects for the cargo business in 2017. The break in falling yields and a moderate uptick in demand (3.5%) will see cargo industry volumes reach a record high of 55.7 million tonnes (up from 53.9 million tonnes in 2016). Industry revenues are expected to rise slightly to $49.4 billion (still well below the $60 billion level of annual revenues experienced in 2010-2014). Trading conditions remain challenging.

"Connectivity continues to set new records. We expect nearly 4 billion travelers and 55.7 million tonnes of cargo in the coming year. And almost 1% of global GDP is spent on air transport - some $769 billion. Air transport has made the world more accessible than ever and it is a critical enabler of the global economy," said de Juniac.

"Governments, however, do not make aviation's work easy. The global tax bill has ballooned to $123 billion. Over 60% of countries put visa barriers in the way of travel. And the total number of ticket taxes exceeds 230. Billions of dollars are wasted in direct costs and lost productivity as a result of inefficient infrastructure. These are only some of the hurdles which confront airlines. Our aim is to work in partnership to help governments better understand and fully maximize the social and economic benefits of efficient global air links," said de Juniac.

2017 Regional Analysis

North American carriers: The strongest financial performance is being delivered by airlines in North America. Net post-tax profits will be the highest at $18.1 billion next year, although down slightly from the $20.3 billion expected in 2016. The net margin for the region's carriers is also expected to be the strongest at 8.5% with an average profit of $19.58/passenger. In 2017 capacity offered by the region's carriers is expected to grow by 2.6%, slightly outpacing expected demand growth of 2.5%. Recent consolidation continues to underpin the region's strong profitability, even as the region faces upwards cost pressures which include the price of fuel.

European carriers: Airlines based in Europe are expected to post an aggregate net profit of $5.6 billion in 2017 which is below the $7.5 billion for 2016. Nonetheless, carriers there are forecast to generate a 2.9% net profit margin and a per passenger profit of $5.65. There remains a significant gap between the performance of the region's carriers and the performance of North American ones. Capacity in 2017 is expected to grow by 4.3%, ahead of demand growth which is forecast at 4.0%. The region is subject to intense competition and hampered by high costs, onerous regulation and high taxes. And terrorist threats remain a real risk, even if confidence is starting to return after the tragic incidents in recent times.

Asia-Pacific carriers: Airlines in the Asia-Pacific region are expected to generate a net profit of $6.3 billion in 2017 (down from $7.3 billion in 2016) for a net margin of 2.9%. On a per passenger basis average profits are anticipated to be $4.44. Capacity offered by the region's carriers is forecast to grow by 7.6%, ahead of a forecast growth in demand of 7.0%. Improved cargo performance is expected to offset rising fuel prices for many of the region's airlines. The expansion of new model airlines and progressive liberalization in the region is intensifying already strong competition. In addition profitability varies widely across the region.

Middle Eastern carriers: Middle Eastern airlines are forecast to generate a net profit of $0.3 billion for a net margin of 0.5% and an average profit per passenger of $1.56. This is below the $900 million profit expected in 2016. Average yields for the region's carriers are low but unit costs are even lower, partly driven by the strong capacity expansion, forecast at 10.1% this year, ahead of expected demand growth of 9.0%. Threats are emerging to the success story of the Gulf carriers, including increases in airport charges across the Gulf States and growing air traffic management delays.

Latin American carriers: Latin American airlines are expected to post a net profit of $200 million, which is slightly lower than the $300 million forecast for 2016. Profit per passenger is expected to be $0.76 with a net profit margin of 0.7%. Capacity offered by the region's carriers is forecast to grow by 4.8% which is ahead of expected demand growth of 4.0%. Despite some signs of improvement in the region's currencies and economic prospects, operating conditions remain challenging, with infrastructure deficiencies, high taxes, and a growing regulatory burden across the continent. Venezuela continues to block the repatriation of some $3.8 billion of industry funds in contravention of international obligations.

African carriers: Carriers in Africa are expected to deliver the weakest financial performance with a net loss of $800 million (broadly unchanged from 2016). For each passenger flown this amounts to an average loss of $9.97. Capacity in 2017 is expected to grow by 4.7%, ahead of 4.5% demand growth. The region's weak performance is being driven by regional conflict and the impact of low commodity prices.

2016

2016 will be a record year for industry profitability. The expected net profit of $35.6 billion is slightly ahead of the $35.3 billion recorded in 2015, as is the 5.1% net profit margin (slightly ahead of the 4.9% recorded for 2015).

The modest revision from previous expectations largely is owing to two factors:

. Slower global GDP growth: 2.2%, which was below mid-year expectations of 2.3% growth.

. Non-fuel unit costs increased by 2.0% in 2016.

The Business of Freedom

"Air transport is the business of freedom. The safe and efficient global movement of goods and people is a positive force in our world. Aviation's success betters peoples' lives by creating economic opportunity and supporting global understanding. We must stand firm in the face of any rhetoric that would put limits on aviation's future success," said de Juniac.

Some key indicators of the strength of global connectivity include:

. The average return airfare in 2017 is expected to be $351 (2015 dollars), which is 63% below 1995 levels.

. Average air freight rates in 2017 are expected to be $1.48/kg (2015 dollars) which is a 68% fall on 1995 levels.

. The number of unique city pairs served by aviation grew to 18,429 in 2016, a 92% increase on 1995.

. The value of trade carried by air transport in 2017 is expected to be $5.7 trillion, a 4.9% increase on 2015. Air cargo accounts for around 35% of the total value of goods traded globally.

. The global spend on tourism enabled by air transport is expected to grow by 5.1% in 2017 to $681 billion.

. Supply chain jobs supported by aviation are expected to grow by 3.4% in 2017 to some 69.7 million worldwide.

. Airlines are expected to take delivery of some 1,700 new aircraft in 2017, around half of which will replace older and less fuel-efficient aircraft. This will expand the global commercial fleet by 3.6% to 28,700.

. Airlines are expected to operate 38.4 million flights in 2017, up 4.9%.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
At meeting held on 08 December 2016

Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services announced that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on 08 December 2016 has proposed to change the name of the company to Geojit Financial Services. Consequently, the board also proposed to alter the Memorandum of Association and to adopt new set of Articles of Association of the Company.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its ex-post facto approval to the MoU between India and Afghanistan on cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space.

The MoU envisages cooperation between the two countries for application of space technologies in education, agriculture, weather forecasting, telecommunications, rural health, sanitation, urban development, resource mapping navigation, remote sensing and any other areas mutually agreed upon.

The MoU will benefit both countries in the following manner:

1. Development of space sector in Afghanistan;

2. Burnish India's credentials as a nation with advanced space technology, one that can also assist other countries;

3.

Afghanistan will move towards self-reliance in the space sector;

4. Help deepen bilateral ties and mutual understanding and trust between India and Afghanistan;

5. Provide India with a foothold in Afghanistan's strategic space and communication sector.

Further, the MoU will boost high-tech jobs in the two countries in both core Science & Technology and R&D fields, and also the field of implementation. With ushering in of the era of mobile and internet-based applications and commerce, better communication and internet connectivity will boost creation of jobs in diverse fields.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its ex-post facto approval to the MoU between India and United Kingdom (UK) to support Ease of Doing Business in India. The MoU was signed earlier this month.

The MoU shall enable exchange of officials from both the Governments to facilitate sharing of best practises, offering technical assistance and enhanced implementation of reforms. The collaboration shall also cover State Governments in its ambit. The UK government has shown interest to offer expertise in the following areas:

a) Support to small businesses and start ups

b) Starting business and registration

c) Paying taxes and tax administration

d) Insolvency

e) Construction permits

f) Getting electricity

g) Risk based framework for inspection and regulatory regimes

h) Trading across the borders

i) Competition economics

j) Getting credit

k) Drafting of laws and regulations

I) Reducing stock and flow of regulation

m) Impact assessment of regulations

Currently, India is ranked 130th out of 190 economies (as per Doing Business Report, 2017).

The UK Government has achieved phenomenal improvement in Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) rankings in recent years. The beneficiaries include the officials from Central Government Ministries / Departments and State Governments through sharing of best practises, capacity building etc. Each side shall bear the cost of travel and logistics for its officials as well as for co-hosting trainings/ seminar/conferences.

The MoU shall facilitate various agencies of the UK government to offer professional courses on better regulation drafting for officials, capacity-building of frontline inspectors, sharing of best practises, etc. The collaboration is expected to expedite adoption of innovative practises by the Government of India, State Governments and their agencies leading to easing of regulatory environment in the country and fostering of conducive business climate in India.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its ex-post facto approval to the MoU between India and Vietnam on Cooperation in the field of IT.

The MoU aims to develop a long-term and sustainable cooperation on the basis of equality and mutual interest in the areas of IT in line with each country's laws and regulations.

Implementation of the MoU will result in significant mutual benefits in the IT sector, through institutional and capacity-building in the field of IT and Human Resource Development.

The MoU will remain in force for a period of five years and will be renewable by mutual written consent between India and Vietnam. It will be implemented by establishing a Joint Working Group on IT with representatives from both the countries.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the development of Pune Metro Rail Project Phase - 1. The Pune Metro Rail Corridor will be covering a length of 31.254 km comprising with two corridors i.e. Corridor-1 {Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) to Swargate} covering length of 16.589 km (11.57 km elevated and 5.019 km underground) and Corriodor-2 (Vanaz to Ramwadi) covering 14.665 km (fully elevated).

The total completion cost of the metro rail corridor will be Rs.11,420 crore. The population of approximately 50 lakh of Pune Metropolitan Area will be benefitted through this metro corridor.

The project is scheduled to be completed in five years from the date of start of work as per the Detailed Project Report (DPR).

The approved alignments are expected to provide the much needed connectivity to the commuters and would traverse through some of the densest and traffic congested routes in the Pune Metropolitan Area. It will considerably reduce the traffic congestion and will bring in fast, comfortable, safe, pollution-free and affordable mass transportation system in the city, which in turn will contribute to further development and prosperity of the area. Development and prosperity of Pune Metropolitan Area will also contribute to the prosperity and development of the nation.

The Project will be implemented by Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation (MAHA-METRO), which will be a 50:50 jointly owned company of Government of India and Government of Maharashtra. Project will be covered under the legal framework of the Metro Railways (Construction of Works) Act, 1978; the Metro Railways (Operation and Maintenance) Act, 2002; and the Railways Act, 1989, as amended from time to time.

The existing Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation Limited (NMRCL) which is a joint Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of Government of India (GoI) and Government of Maharashtra (GoM), would be reconstituted into Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MAHA-METRO) for implementation of all metro projects including Pune Metro Rail Project Phase-1 in the State of Maharashtra outside Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

The project will benefit from experience and learnings from other Metro Rail projects in Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi, Nagpur etc.

Background:

Pune Metropolitan Area includes Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC). Both the cantonment areas namely Pune and Khadki have witnessed rapid growth of population. The population of Pune Urban Agglomeration was 4.99 million as per 2011 census compared to 3.57 million in 2001 census. This is further projected to increase to 6.90 million in 2021 and 7.73 million in 2031.

Rapid industrialization and intense commercial developments in the past decades have resulted in steep rise in travel demand, putting Pune's transport infrastructure to stress. With the projected increase in the area's population, strengthening and augmenting the existing transport infrastructure has assumed urgency. With the growing economy and inadequate public transport services, the passengers will shift to private modes, which is already evident from the high vehicle ownership trend in the region. This would not only aggravate the congestion on streets but also increase the air pollution. Hence, Metro Rail System has become essential.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Escorts rose 2.19% to Rs 326.80 at 12:39 IST on BSE after the company announced the completion of the divestment of its auto products business to Badve Engineering, Pune.

The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 7 December 2016.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 389.57 points or 1.48% at 26,626.44.

On the BSE, 90,000 shares were traded on the counter so far as against the average daily volumes of 3.79 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock had hit a high of Rs 329.45 and a low of Rs 322 so far during the day.

The stock had hit a record high of Rs 414.20 on 4 October 2016 and a 52-week low of Rs 112.70 on 12 February 2016. It had underperformed the market over the past one month till 7 December 2016, sliding 10.56% compared with the Sensex's 4.45% fall. The scrip had, however, outperformed the market in the past one quarter, declining 5.23% as against the Sensex's 9.3% fall.

The mid-cap company has equity capital of Rs 122.58 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

Escorts had in August 2016, announced the divestment of its original equipment manufacturing (OEM) & export business of auto product division to Badve Engineering, Pune, in an all cash deal, as part of the planned strategic reorientation of the business to focus on core verticals in the agri machinery, construction equipment and railway equipment.

Net profit of Escorts rose 219.6% to Rs 31.29 crore on 21.7% rise in net sales to Rs 990.99 crore in Q2 September 2016 over Q2 September 2015.

Escorts is one of India's leading engineering conglomerates. The company has diversified business interests catering to agri machinery, construction equipment and railway equipment divisions.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for the expansion of the mandate of Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project Implementation Trust Fund (DMIC-PITF Trust) and its re-designation as National Industrial Corridor Development & Implementation Trust (NICDIT) for integrated development of Industrial Corridors with permission to utilize financial assistance already sanctioned and sanction of additional amount of Rs.1584 crore within extended period up to 31 March 2022.

There is an existing approval for expenditure of Rs. 18,500 crore, out of which the unspent balance yet to be released to DMIC-PITF will be utilised by NICDIT. A further sum of Rs. 1584 crore for project development activities of four additional corridors and NICDIT's administrative expenses upto 31 March 2022 has been provided.

The five Industrial corridors presently cover the States, namely, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu.

NICDIT would be an apex body under the administrative control of DIPP for coordinated and unified development of all the industrial corridors in the country. It will channelize Gol funds as well as institutional funds while ensuring that the various corridors are properly planned and implemented keeping in view the broad national perspectives regarding industrial and city development, and will support project development activities, appraise, approve and sanction projects. It will coordinate all central efforts for the development of Industrial Corridor projects and will monitor their implementation.

DMICDC will function as a knowledge partner to NICDIT in respect of all the Industrial Corridors in addition to its present DMIC work, till Knowledge Partner(s) for other Industrial Corridors are in place.

An Apex Monitoring Authority under the chairpersonship of the Finance Minister will be constituted to periodically review the activities of NICDIT and progress of the projects. It will consist of Minister-in-charge of Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Minister of Railways, Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Minister of Shipping, Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog and Chief Ministers of States concerned as Members.

The Board of Trustees of NICDIT will consist of (i) Chairperson - Secretary, DIPP, (ii) Secretary, Department of Expenditure, (iii) Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, (iv) Secretary, Road Transport & Highways, (v) Secretary, Shipping (vi) Chairman, Railway Board, (vii) CEO, NITI Aayog, and (viii) Member Secretary, who will act as full time CEO of NICDIT. CEO, DMICDC will also function as Member Secretary/ CEO of the NICDIT.

The formation of the NICDIT will enable development and implementation of Industrial Corridor Projects across India by bringing in holistic planning and development approach and sharing the learning from development of Industrial Corridors, which will enable innovation in areas such as planning, design development and funding of such projects.

This will help enhance the share of manufacturing in the country, attract investment in manufacturing and service industry sectors, which will have a catalytic effect on up-gradation and development of skills of the workforce and generation of employment opportunities.

Details and progress of schemes already running:

(i) Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) is the first such Industrial Corridor, approved by the Union Cabinet in 2011 with a grant of Rs. 17,500 crore as Project Implementation Fund, and an additional corpus of Rs. 1000 Crore for Project Development activities, to be provided over a period of five years for seven industrial cities in Phase-I of the project, Government of Japan has committed US$ 4.5 billion investment in the first phase of DMIC project.

Construction work in four industrial cities/townships namely, Dholera Special Investment Region (DSIR) near Ahmedabad in Gujarat, Shendra- Bidkin Industrial Park near Aurangabad in Maharashtra, Integrated Industrial Township Project, Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh and Integrated Industrial Township Vila-am Udyogpuri near Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh. Other Projects under DMIC are at different stages of project planning and development.

(ii) Chennai- Bengalutu Industrial Corridor (CBIC): As per initial master planning, three Nodes, namely, Tumkur (Karnataka), Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Ponneri (Tamil Nadu) have been identified for development.

(iii) Bengaluru Mumbai Economic Corridor (BMEC):- State Government of Karnataka has identified Dharwad Node for Development. The Government of Maharashtra has given in principle approval for Development of a node in Sangli or Solapur Districts.

(iv) Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor (AKIC) will use Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) of Railways as the backbone and the highway system that exist on this route. It is planned in such a way that there would be Integrated Manufacturing Clusters (IMCs) in each of the Seven State namely Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

The BMEC and AKIC projects are at early stages of project development.

(v) Vizag Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC):- In compliance of the commitment made by the Central Government in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014, it was decided by the Department of Economic Affairs, Government of India that Asian Development Bank (ADB) which had been getting a feasibility study done in r/o East Coast Economic Corridor (ECEC) will also take up the study of VCIC as Phase I of ECEC. ADB team has since submitted the final report regarding Conceptual Development Plan (CDP) of VCIC. The process of Master Planning of the four nodes namely, Vishakhapalnam, Machilipatnam, Donakonda and Srikalahasti-Yerpedu of Andhra Pradesh, as identified by ADB in their CDP commenced in March 2016 and is likely to be completed by March 2017.

Background

To accelerate the growth in manufacturing and for ensuring scientifically planned urbanization, Government of India (Gol) has adopted the strategy of developing integrated Industrial Corridors in partnership with State Governments with focus on manufacturing. Five Corridors namely, Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC), Amritsar Kolkata Industrial Corridor (AKIG), Bengaluru- Mumbai Economic Corridor (BMEC) and Vizag-Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC) have been planned for development by Government of India.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Gujarat Ambuja Exports was up 5.01% to Rs 89.10 at 10:30 IST on BSE after the company said its board will meet on 13 December 2016, to consider the proposal for buyback of equity shares of the company.

The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 7 December 2016.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 379.10 points or 1.44% at 26,615.97.

On the BSE, 39,000 shares were traded on the counter so far as against the average daily volumes of 59,617 shares in the past one quarter. The stock had hit a high of Rs 92.65 and a low of Rs 87 so far during the day.

The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 103 on 10 November 2016 and a 52-week low of Rs 35.50 on 26 February 2016. It had underperformed the market over the past one month till 7 December 2016, sliding 10.02% compared with the Sensex's 4.45% fall. The scrip had, however, outperformed the market in the past one quarter, declining 0.93% as against the Sensex's 9.3% fall.

The small-cap company has equity capital of Rs 27.67 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2.

Gujarat Ambuja Exports' net profit surged 125.3% to Rs 29.83 crore on 8.9% decline in net sales to Rs 629.04 crore in Q2 September 2016 over Q2 September 2015.

Gujarat Ambuja Exports is principally involved in agro-processing and has focus on exports, competing in the global market.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Indusind Bank gained 1.28% to Rs 1,088.75 at 9:25 IST on BSE after the bank announced that its board of directors passed the proposal for issuance of debentures aggregating Rs 1500 crore.

The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 7 December 2016.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 243.30 points or 0.93% at 26,480.17.

On the BSE, 1,426 shares were traded on the counter so far as against the average daily volumes of 62,699 shares in the past one quarter. The stock had hit a high of Rs 1,092.80 and a low of Rs 1,085 so far during the day.

Indusind Bank announced that its board of directors yesterday, 7 December 2016, passed issuance of senior, unsecured, redeemable, non-convertible, long term bonds in the nature of debentures of face value of Rs 10 lakh each aggregating Rs 1500 crore on private placement basis.

IndusInd Bank's net profit rose 25.8% to Rs 704.26 crore on 24% growth in total income to Rs 4439.72 crore in Q2 September 2016 over Q2 September 2015.

IndusInd Bank is a leading private sector bank in India.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Key benchmark indices were trading higher in early trade, tracking positive leads from Asian markets and overnight rally on the Wall Street. At 9:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 255.05 points or 0.97% at 26,491.92. The Nifty 50 index was up 78.85 points or 0.97% at 8,180.90.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On BSE, 911 shares rose and 155 shares fell. A total of 24 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 0.78%. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 0.83%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

Overseas, except China's Shanghai Composite, all other Asian stocks were trading higher today, 8 December 2016, after Wall Street strode to new records and bonds rallied on wagers the European Central Bank (ECB) would extend its asset buying campaign at a policy meeting later in the session.

US stocks closed higher yesterday, 7 December 2016, with the Dow industrials and S&P 500 notching new records. Investors are bracing for the ECB's policy-setting meeting today, 8 December 2016.

Tata Steel was up 2.33%. Tata Steel UK yesterday, 7 December 2016, reached an agreement with trade unions on a number of proposals that would structurally reduce risks and help secure a more sustainable future for its UK business. The company will next week start consultation with its employees on a proposal to close the British Steel pension scheme to future accrual. Employees would be offered a competitive defined contribution scheme. The proposal on pensions and other changes in the employment terms are part of the ongoing transformation plan that the business is undertaking. As part of agreement all parties will work towards making Tata Steel UK a sustainable business.

The company and trade unions have also agreed on the principle that subject to the structural de-risking and de-linking of the British Steel Pension Scheme fund from the business, Tata Steel UK will continue the existing blast furnace configuration in Port Talbot until 2021. Further, based on achieving the necessary financial performance and cash flows as per the transformation plan of the UK business, the company will continue to invest across the UK sites to enhance the competitive position of Tata Steel UK in the European steel industry. The company has also offered an employment pact until 2021 which supports employees through future changes by investing in their skills to support further plant upgrades, automation and other digital initiatives.

Tata Steel is the UK's largest steel manufacturer. It supplies almost 50% of UK carmakers' steel requirements, including body panels and chassis, and a range of advanced steels for the UK construction industry which help to reduce buildings' energy use.

Separately, Tata Steel also announced that its subsidiary, TM International Logistics (TMILL) has divested entire stake in its wholly owned step down subsidiary TM Harbour Services (TMHSPL) to Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) for a total consideration of Rs 106 crore in an all cash deal. TKM Global GmbH, Germany and International Shipping and Logistics FZE, Dubai, subsidiaries of TMILL, hold 74.18% and 25.82% equity shares in TMHSPL respectively. TMHSPL with an annual turnover of about Rs 29 crore is engaged in the business of providing Tug Services at Dhamra Port and owns 3 tug boats.

Indusind Bank was up 1.49%. The bank announced that its board pf directors passed issuance of senior unsecured redeemable non-convertible long term bonds in the nature of debentures of face value of Rs 10 lakh each aggregating Rs 1500 crore on private placement basis. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 7 December 2016.

Tata Power Company was up 1.14%. The company announced that post Central Electricity Regulatory Commission's (CERC) order dated 21 February 2014 wherein CERC granted compensatory tariff to Coastal Gujarat Power (CGPL), the procurers had approached Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) against the same.

APTEL, while setting aside the order of CERC, ruled that the promulgation of Indonesian regulation is a Force Majeure Event and remanded the matter to CERC to assess the impact of Force Majeure Event on Mundra UMPP of CGPL and give such relief as may be admissible under the PPA.

CERC, in its order dated 6 December 2016 has given a mechanism for assessing the relief under Force Majeure. The arrears for the past period shall be paid in six equal monthly instalments by the procurers in proportion to their share in the contracted capacity, from the date the CERC order is permitted to be implemented by the Supreme Court.

CGPL shall accordingly work out the relief for the past as well as the future period based on the mechanism specified by the CERC and shall bill the same on a monthly basis, which shall be trued up annually.

Further, adjustments for mining profits corresponding to the quantity of coal supplied to Mundra UMPP from the mines in which Tata Power has a stake shall be carried out at the time of annual reconciliation as the principles specified in the order. The order is being studied and the exact benefit would be worked out after detailed reading of the order. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 7 December 2016.

GMR Infrastructure was up 1.96%. The company reported net loss of Rs 700.34 crore in Q2 September 2016 compared with net loss of Rs 7.41 crore in Q2 September 2015. Total income rose 13.19% to Rs 331.22 crore in Q2 September 2016 over Q2 September 2015. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 7 December 2016.

Crompton Greaves was down 6.23%. The company reported consolidated net loss of Rs 10.41 crore in Q2 September 2016 compared with net profit of Rs 10.58 crore in Q2 September 2015. Total income rose 6.78% to Rs 1545.19 crore in Q2 September 2016 over Q2 September 2015. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 7 December 2016.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Gains in metal, auto sector stocks and index heavyweights ITC, Reliance Industries, Infosys, HDFC and HDFC Bank lifted key benchmark indices. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, surged 457.41 points or 1.74% to settle at 26,694.28. The Nifty 50 index jumped 144.80 points or 1.79% to settle at 8,246.85. Strong global cues boosted investors' sentiment. Both the Sensex and the Nifty hit their highest closing levels in nearly 4 weeks.

Bank stocks edged higher. Tata Motors rose after the company said that Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), the UK's leading manufacturer of premium luxury vehicles, reported its best ever November retail sales. Escorts advanced after the company announced the completion of the divestment of its auto products business to Badve Engineering, Pune. Tata Steel rose as Tata Steel UK reached an agreement with trade unions on a number of proposals that would structurally reduce risks and help secure a more sustainable future for its UK business.

Overseas, European stocks and Asian stocks edged higher on expectations the European Central Bank (ECB) would extend its asset buying campaign at a policy meeting later in the session. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite ended 0.21% lower. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng ended 0.27% higher. China's trade balance fell more-than-expected last month, official data showed today, 8 December 2016. In a report, National Bureau of Statistics of China said that Chinese Trade Balance fell to $44.61 billion in November 2016, from $49.06 billion in the preceding month.

US stocks registered strong gains yesterday, 7 December 2016, with the Dow and S&P 500 notching new records. Investors are bracing for the ECB's policy-setting meeting today, 8 December 2016.

The Sensex surged 457.41 points or 1.74% to settle at 26,694.28, its highest closing level since 11 November 2016. The index rose 497 points, or 1.89% at the day's high of 26,733.87. It rose 120.48 points, or 0.46% at the day's low of 26,357.35.

The Nifty jumped 144.80 points or 1.79% to settle at 8,246.85, its highest closing level since 11 November 2016. The index rose 154.20 points, or 1.9% at the day's high of 8,256.25. It rose 49.70 points, or 0.61% at the day's low of 8,151.75.

The BSE Mid-Cap rose 1.49%. The BSE Small-Cap index surged 1.28%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The broad market depicted strength. There were more than two gainers against every loser on the BSE. 1,827 shares rose and 814 shares fell. A total of 167 shares were unchanged.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 2445.148 crore, lower than turnover of Rs 2549.47 crore registered during the previous trading session.

Among the sectoral indices on the BSE, the BSE Auto index (up 2.63%) and the BSE Metal index (up 2.93%) outperformed the Sensex. The BSE Bankex index (up 1.54%), the BSE Capital Goods index (up 1.26%) and the BSE Oil & Gas index (up 1.2%) underperformed the Sensex.

Index heavyweight and cigarette major ITC gained 2.4% at Rs 233.

Index heavyweight and housing finance major HDFC rose 1.71% at Rs 1,287.15.

Software major Infosys gained 1.88% at Rs 984.75.

Bank stocks edged higher. Among public sector banks, Indian Bank (up 1.73%), State Bank of India (up 1.72%), IDBI Bank (up 1.55%), Punjab National Bank (up 1.03%), Bank of Baroda (up 0.41%) and Bank of India (up 0.26%) gained.

Among private sector banks, RBL Bank (up 2.36%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 2.21%), Yes Bank (up 1.97%), HDFC Bank (up 1.59%), ICICI Bank (up 1.45%) and Axis Bank (up 0.44%) edged higher.

Indusind Bank was up 2.03%. The bank announced that its board pf directors passed issuance of senior unsecured redeemable non-convertible long term bonds in the nature of debentures of face value of Rs 10 lakh each aggregating Rs 1500 crore on private placement basis. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 7 December 2016.

Auto stocks edged higher. Bajaj Auto (up 2.77%), Hero MotoCorp (up 2.53%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 2.4%), Ashok Leyland (up 1.76%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.87%), TVS Motor Company (up 1.13%) and Eicher Motors (up 0.1%) edged higher.

Tata Motors rose 3.6% after the company said that Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), the UK's leading manufacturer of premium luxury vehicles, reported its best ever November retail sales. JLR reported 2% rise in total sales to 47,588 vehicles in November 2016 over November 2015. The announcement was made during market hours today, 8 December 2016.

Jaguar recorded its best November ever, with retail sales reaching 14,613 vehicles, up 83% compared to November last year, and driven by continuing strong sales of the new XF and the F-PACE. Calendar year-to-date sales for Jaguar were 132,381, up 75% year-on-year.

Land Rover recorded November sales of 32,975 vehicles, down 14% over November 2015, as continuing solid sales of the Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Sport were offset by lower volumes of the discontinued Land Rover Defender and outgoing Discovery. Calendar year-to-date sales for Land Rover reached 395,556 vehicles, 9% up on the prior year.

Escorts rose 1.64% after the company announced the completion of the divestment of its auto products business to Badve Engineering, Pune. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 7 December 2016.

Escorts had in August 2016, announced the divestment of its original equipment manufacturing (OEM) & export business of auto product division to Badve Engineering, Pune, in an all cash deal, as part of the planned strategic reorientation of the business to focus on core verticals in the agri machinery, construction equipment and railway equipment.

Metal shares were in demand. Vedanta (up 5.15%), NMDC (up 4.13%), Steel Authority of India (up 2.89%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 2.38%), Hindalco Industries (up 2.32%), Hindustan Zinc (up 2.01%), Hindustan Copper (up 1.11%) and JSW Steel (up 0.55%), edged higher. National Aluminium Company fell 2.96%.

Meanwhile, copper price edged lower in the global commodities markets. High Grade Copper for March 2017 delivery was currently up 0.23% at $2.65 per pound on the COMEX.

Tata Steel rose 4.62%. Tata Steel UK yesterday, 7 December 2016, reached an agreement with trade unions on a number of proposals that would structurally reduce risks and help secure a more sustainable future for its UK business. The company will next week start consultation with its employees on a proposal to close the British Steel pension scheme to future accrual. Employees would be offered a competitive defined contribution scheme. The proposal on pensions and other changes in the employment terms are part of the ongoing transformation plan that the business is undertaking. As part of agreement all parties will work towards making Tata Steel UK a sustainable business.

The company and trade unions have also agreed on the principle that subject to the structural de-risking and de-linking of the British Steel Pension Scheme fund from the business, Tata Steel UK will continue the existing blast furnace configuration in Port Talbot until 2021. Further, based on achieving the necessary financial performance and cash flows as per the transformation plan of the UK business, the company will continue to invest across the UK sites to enhance the competitive position of Tata Steel UK in the European steel industry. The company has also offered an employment pact until 2021 which supports employees through future changes by investing in their skills to support further plant upgrades, automation and other digital initiatives.

Tata Steel is the UK's largest steel manufacturer. It supplies almost 50% of UK carmakers' steel requirements, including body panels and chassis, and a range of advanced steels for the UK construction industry which help to reduce buildings' energy use.

Separately, Tata Steel also announced that its subsidiary, TM International Logistics (TMILL) has divested entire stake in its wholly owned step down subsidiary TM Harbour Services (TMHSPL) to Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) for a total consideration of Rs 106 crore in an all cash deal. TKM Global GmbH, Germany and International Shipping and Logistics FZE, Dubai, subsidiaries of TMILL, hold 74.18% and 25.82% equity shares in TMHSPL respectively. TMHSPL with an annual turnover of about Rs 29 crore is engaged in the business of providing Tug Services at Dhamra Port and owns 3 tug boats.

Tata Power Company was up 1.55%. The company announced that post Central Electricity Regulatory Commission's (CERC) order dated 21 February 2014 wherein CERC granted compensatory tariff to Coastal Gujarat Power (CGPL), the procurers had approached Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) against the same.

APTEL, while setting aside the order of CERC, ruled that the promulgation of Indonesian regulation is a Force Majeure Event and remanded the matter to CERC to assess the impact of Force Majeure Event on Mundra UMPP of CGPL and give such relief as may be admissible under the PPA.

CERC, in its order dated 6 December 2016 has given a mechanism for assessing the relief under Force Majeure. The arrears for the past period shall be paid in six equal monthly instalments by the procurers in proportion to their share in the contracted capacity, from the date the CERC order is permitted to be implemented by the Supreme Court.

CGPL shall accordingly work out the relief for the past as well as the future period based on the mechanism specified by the CERC and shall bill the same on a monthly basis, which shall be trued up annually.

Further, adjustments for mining profits corresponding to the quantity of coal supplied to Mundra UMPP from the mines in which Tata Power has a stake shall be carried out at the time of annual reconciliation as the principles specified in the order. The order is being studied and the exact benefit would be worked out after detailed reading of the order. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 7 December 2016.

Bharti Airtel was up 0.85% after the company today, 8 December 2016, launched two new bundled packs for its prepaid customers with free voice calling and substantial data benefits. These two packs add to Airtel's wide bouquet of innovative packs and plans for customers, offering them more flexibility. The announcement was made during market hours today, 8 December 2016.

Cipla was up 2% after the company said it received final approval for its abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) for Entecavir Tablets USP 0.5 mg and 1 mg, from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA).

Entecavir Tablets, USP 0.5 mg and 1 mg, are AB-rated generic equivalents of Bristol-Myers Squibb's Baraclude tablets 0.5 mg and 1 mg and are a Hepatitis B virus nucleoside analog reverse transcriptase inhibitor indicated for the treatment of chronic Hepatitis B virus infection.

Baraclude Tablets and generic equivalents had US sales of approximately $206 million for the 12 month period ended October 2016, according to IMS Health. The product will cater to the US market and will be commercially available in the coming weeks. The announcement was made during market hours today, 8 December 2016.

The Sensex has risen 41.47 points or 0.15% in calendar year 2016 so far (till 8 December 2016). From a 52-week low of 22,494.61 hit on 29 February 2016, the barometer index has risen 4,199.67 points or 18.66%. From a 52-week high of 29,077.28 hit on 8 September 2016, the barometer index has fallen 2,383 points or 8.19%. The Sensex is off 3,330.46 points or 11.09% from a record high of 30,024.74 hit on 4 March 2015.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Effective 06 March 2017

Sterling Biotech announced that the Bank of New York Mellon, in its capacity as Depository to the Global Depositary Receipts ("GDRs") issued by the Company in the year 2003, have issued Termination Notice to the holders of GDRs intimating that they will terminate the Deposit Agreement dated 01 October 2003, and as a result the existing GDR facility will be terminated effective 5.00 p.m. (Eastern Time) on 06 March 2017.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Key benchmark indices extended initial gains and hit fresh intraday high in morning trade. At 10:16 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 370.12 points or 1.41% at 26,606.99. The Nifty 50 index was up 114.40 points or 1.41% at 8,216.45. Positive cues from Asian markets boosted investors' sentiment.

The Sensex and the Nifty, both, hit their highest intraday levels in one week. The Sensex rose 373.42 points, or 1.42% at the day's high of 26,610.29 in morning trade, its highest level since 1 December 2016. The index rose 120.48 points, or 0.46% at the day's low of 26,357.35 in early trade. The Nifty rose 114.05 points, or 1.41% at the day's high of 8,216.10 in morning trade, its highest level since 1 December 2016. The index rose 49.70 points, or 0.61% at the day's low of 8,151.75 in early trade.

The broad market depicted strength. There were more than four gainers against every loser on BSE. 1,614 shares rose and 331 shares fell. A total of 86 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 1.28%. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 1.26%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

IT stocks rose across the board. Infosys (up 1.51%), Oracle Financial Services Software (up 1.45%), MindTree (up 1.05%), Hexaware Technologies (up 1.04%), TCS (up 1.01%), Tech Mahindra (up 1%), MphasiS (up 0.75%), Wipro (up 0.70%), HCL Technologies (up 0.45%) and Persistent Systems (up 0.06%), edged higher.

Metal shares were in demand. Steel Authority of India (up 3.56%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 2.66%), Vedanta (up 2.38%), Hindustan Copper (up 2.22%), Hindalco Industries (up 2.09%), NMDC (up 1.94%), Bhushan Steel (up 1.85%), National Aluminium Company (up 1.08%), Hindustan Zinc (up 0.93%) and JSW Steel (up 0.81%), edged higher.

Tata Steel was up 2.87%. Tata Steel UK yesterday, 7 December 2016, reached an agreement with trade unions on a number of proposals that would structurally reduce risks and help secure a more sustainable future for its UK business. The company will next week start consultation with its employees on a proposal to close the British Steel pension scheme to future accrual. Employees would be offered a competitive defined contribution scheme. The proposal on pensions and other changes in the employment terms are part of the ongoing transformation plan that the business is undertaking. As part of agreement all parties will work towards making Tata Steel UK a sustainable business.

The company and trade unions have also agreed on the principle that subject to the structural de-risking and de-linking of the British Steel Pension Scheme fund from the business, Tata Steel UK will continue the existing blast furnace configuration in Port Talbot until 2021. Further, based on achieving the necessary financial performance and cash flows as per the transformation plan of the UK business, the company will continue to invest across the UK sites to enhance the competitive position of Tata Steel UK in the European steel industry. The company has also offered an employment pact until 2021 which supports employees through future changes by investing in their skills to support further plant upgrades, automation and other digital initiatives.

Tata Steel is the UK's largest steel manufacturer. It supplies almost 50% of UK carmakers' steel requirements, including body panels and chassis, and a range of advanced steels for the UK construction industry which help to reduce buildings' energy use.

Separately, Tata Steel also announced that its subsidiary, TM International Logistics (TMILL) has divested entire stake in its wholly owned step down subsidiary TM Harbour Services (TMHSPL) to Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) for a total consideration of Rs 106 crore in an all cash deal. TKM Global GmbH, Germany and International Shipping and Logistics FZE, Dubai, subsidiaries of TMILL, hold 74.18% and 25.82% equity shares in TMHSPL respectively. TMHSPL with an annual turnover of about Rs 29 crore is engaged in the business of providing Tug Services at Dhamra Port and owns 3 tug boats.

Meanwhile, copper price edged higher in the global commodities markets. High Grade Copper for March 2017 delivery was currently up 0.21% at $2.6495 per pound on the COMEX.

Overseas, except China's Shanghai Composite, all other Asian stocks were trading higher today, 8 December 2016, after Wall Street strode to new records and bonds rallied on wagers the European Central Bank (ECB) would extend its asset buying campaign at a policy meeting later in the session.

US stocks closed higher yesterday, 7 December 2016, with the Dow industrials and S&P 500 notching new records. Investors are bracing for the ECB's policy-setting meeting today, 8 December 2016.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Tata Steel will be in focus. Tata Steel UK yesterday, 7 December 2016, reached an agreement with trade unions on a number of proposals that would structurally reduce risks and help secure a more sustainable future for its UK business.

The company will next week start consultation with its employees on a proposal to close the British Steel pension scheme to future accrual. Employees would be offered a competitive defined contribution scheme.

The proposal on pensions and other changes in the employment terms are part of the ongoing transformation plan that the business is undertaking. As part of agreement all parties will work towards making Tata Steel UK a sustainable business.

The company and trade unions have also agreed on the principle that subject to the structural de-risking and de-linking of the British Steel Pension Scheme fund from the business, Tata Steel UK will continue the existing blast furnace configuration in Port Talbot until 2021. Further, based on achieving the necessary financial performance and cash flows as per the transformation plan of the UK business, the company will continue to invest across the UK sites to enhance the competitive position of Tata Steel UK in the European steel industry. The company has also offered an employment pact until 2021 which supports employees through future changes by investing in their skills to support further plant upgrades, automation and other digital initiatives.

Tata Steel is the UK's largest steel manufacturer. It supplies almost 50% of UK carmakers' steel requirements, including body panels and chassis, and a range of advanced steels for the UK construction industry which help to reduce buildings' energy use.

Separately, Tata Steel also announced that its subsidiary, TM International Logistics (TMILL) has divested entire stake in its wholly owned step down subsidiary TM Harbour Services (TMHSPL) to Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) for a total consideration of Rs 106 crore in an all cash deal.

TKM Global GmbH, Germany and International Shipping and Logistics FZE, Dubai, subsidiaries of TMILL, hold 74.18% and 25.82% equity shares in TMHSPL respectively. TMHSPL with an annual turnover of about Rs 29 crore is engaged in the business of providing Tug Services at Dhamra Port and owns 3 tug boats.

BPCL, Indian Oil Corporation and HPCL have separately informed that they signed a consortium agreement on 7 December 2016 to carry out pre-project activities for setting up of a West Coast Refinery & Petrochemical project of approximately 60 million metric tonne per annum (MMTPA) capacity in Maharashtra through a joint venture company. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 7 December 2016.

Indusind Bank announced that its board pf directors passed issuance of senior unsecured redeemable non-convertible long term bonds in the nature of debentures of face value of Rs 10 lakh each aggregating Rs 1500 crore on private placement basis. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 7 December 2016.

Prestige Estates Projects' consolidated net profit fell 58.23% to Rs 64.51 crore on 29.4% fall in total income to Rs 1173.52 crore in Q2 September 2016 over Q2 September 2015. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 7 December 2016.

Tata Power Company announced that post Central Electricity Regulatory Commission's (CERC) order dated 21 February 2014 wherein CERC granted compensatory tariff to Coastal Gujarat Power (CGPL), the procurers had approached Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) against the same.

APTEL, while setting aside the order of CERC, ruled that the promulgation of Indonesian regulation is a Force Majeure Event and remanded the matter to CERC to assess the impact of Force Majeure Event on Mundra UMPP of CGPL and give such relief as may be admissible under the PPA.

CERC, in its order dated 6 December 2016 has given a mechanism for assessing the relief under Force Majeure. The arrears for the past period shall be paid in six equal monthly instalments by the procurers in proportion to their share in the contracted capacity, from the date the CERC order is permitted to be implemented by the Supreme Court.

CGPL shall accordingly work out the relief for the past as well as the future period based on the mechanism specified by the CERC and shall bill the same on a monthly basis, which shall be trued up annually.

Further, adjustments for mining profits corresponding to the quantity of coal supplied to Mundra UMPP from the mines in which Tata Power has a stake shall be carried out at the time of annual reconciliation as the principles specified in the order. The order is being studied and the exact benefit would be worked out after detailed reading of the order. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 7 December 2016.

PNC Infratech's consolidated net profit rose 22.72% to Rs 27 crore on 25.41% fall in income to Rs 499 crore in Q2 September 2016 over Q2 September 2015. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 7 December 2016.

GMR Infrastructure reported net loss of Rs 700.34 crore in Q2 September 2016 compared with net loss of Rs 7.41 crore in Q2 September 2015. Total income rose 13.19% to Rs 331.22 crore in Q2 September 2016 over Q2 September 2015. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 7 December 2016.

Gujarat Ambuja Exports announced that the meeting of board of directors of the company will be held on 13 December 2016, to consider the proposal for buy back of the fully paid-up equity shares of the company. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 7 December 2016.

Crompton Greaves reported consolidated net loss of Rs 10.41 crore in Q2 September 2016 compared with net profit of Rs 10.58 crore in Q2 September 2015. Total income rose 6.78% to Rs 1545.19 crore in Q2 September 2016 over Q2 September 2015. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 7 December 2016.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
For making Tata Steel UK a sustainable business

Tata Steel UK reached an agreement with trade unions on a number of proposals that would structurally reduce risks and help secure a more sustainable future for its UK business.

The company will next week start consultation with its employees on a proposal to close the British Steel Pension Scheme to future accrual. Employees would be offered a competitive defined contribution scheme.

The proposal on pensions and other changes in the employment terms are part of the ongoing transformation plan that the business is undertaking. As part of the agreement all parties will work towards making Tata Steel UK a sustainable business.

The company and trade unions have also agreed on the principle that subject to the structural de-risking and de-linking of the British Steel Pension Scheme fund from the business, Tata Steel UK will continue the existing blast furnace configuration in Port Talbot until 2021. Further, based on achieving the necessary financial performance and cash flows as per the transformation plan of the UK business, the company will continue to invest across the UK sites to enhance the competitive position of Tata Steel UK in the European steel industry. The company has also offered an employment pact until 2021 which supports employees through future changes by investing in their skills to support further plant upgrades, automation and other digital initiatives.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Messages You have no messages
A month after demonetisation led to unprecedented cash crunch in the country, opposition leaders on Thursday flayed the note ban but Prime Minister Narendra Modi vehemently defended it.

"I always said that the government's measure will bring a degree of inconvenience but this short-term pain will pave way for long-term gains," the Prime Minister said in a string of tweets.

"I salute the people of India wholeheartedly for participating in this yagna against corruption, terrorism and black money," he said. "The decision has several gains for farmers, traders, labourers who are the economic backbone of our nation."

Modi also said the ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes had given "a historic opportunity to embrace increased cashless payments and integrate latest technology in economic transactions".

"Together we must ensure that India defeats black money. This will empower the poor, new middle class and benefit future generations," Modi said.

Modi announced demonetisation on the night of November 8, saying it was meant to fight black money, corruption, fake currency and terror funding.

The opposition observed a "black day" on Thursday with a protest near Mahatma Gandhi's statue inside the Parliament complex to mark one month of demonetisation.

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi said the currency spike was not a "bold but a foolish decision". And the Paytm - an e-wallet service - meant "Pay To Modi".

"It is an experiment conjured by the Prime Minister on individual basis, and every expert who had an opinion about this pushed aside and the Prime Minister took this so-called bold decision," Gandhi said.

"But bold decisions can also be a foolish decision and this was a foolish decision, and it has devastated this country."

CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury agreed, calling demonetisation a "man-made disaster" and saying it had only made the rich richer at the cost of the poor.

He said the government had failed to achieve its four stated objectives when it came up with the note ban.

"Each of these aims has proven to be wrong, both factually and by empirical evidence on ground," Yechury said on Facebook.

He said demonetisation had brought the "economy to a halt in the last month" and said no section of the society had been left untouched from the turmoil, hardship and pain caused by the "Tughlaqi firman".

He also accused the Modi government of writing off Rs 1.12 lakh crore of unreturned bank loans of corporates.

"The Modi government has made the rich richer, all at the cost of the poor and the middle class."

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee too targeted Modi, saying that demonetisation had killed over 90 people.

"One month since demonetisation was announced. More than 90 lives lost. How many more Modi babu?" Banerjee tweeted.

The Trinamool Congress supremo tweeted a list of 90 names who she said had died while standing in bank or ATM queues or committed suicide due to lack of cash after the note ban.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), a BJP ally in Goa, said demonetisation had caused hardship to people.

"While the idea to weed out black money is good, the manner in which demonetisation has been implemented has put people in hardship," said MGP President Deepak Dhavalikar.

--IANS

bns/mr/sar

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Assam Police arrested an Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) for allegedly shooting at two civilians and injuring them, police said on Thursday.

The police said that ASI of Basistha police station, Golap Konwar, fired from his service pistol at the driver and handyman of an excavator -- Rakesh Kumar and Rupesh Kumar respectively -- around midnight on Wednesday after an altercation and fled from the spot.

"The incident took place around midnight on Wednesday when Konwar was on his way home. Eyewitnesses told us that Konwar fired at the driver and handyman and escaped. Based on the FIR, we searched his house on Thursday, seized the pistol and bullets, and arrested him," a senior official of Guwahati (East) district said.

"We have also verified that the bullets that injured the driver and handyman were fired from his service pistol," the official added.

"He was produced in a local court here on Thursday and the court remanded him in police custody. We are interrogating him," the official said.

The locals also alleged that the police officer was inebriated and fired at the civilians without any provocation.

Both the driver and handyman of the excavator received bullet injuries on their hands and they were undergoing treatment at the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital, police added.

--IANS

ah/lok/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The 20-year-old says one of her goals is to appear in movies but insists she won't be sharing any more of her hopes and dreams as she is superstitious, reports femnalefirst.co.uk.

"I think it would be really fun, because it's exciting to be in front of the camera on film instead of just pictures. I have so many goals but most of the time I like to keep them to myself, because I'm really superstitious," Bella told Paper magazine.

Bella was thrilled when she was asked to walk the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show last week as she had been rejected the year before.

"I was really surprised, but definitely excited. I tried last year to be cast in the show but I think everything happens for a reason," she said.

--IANS

ks/nn/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Bihar government on Thursday decided to challenge the bail granted to Usha Sinha, one of the masterminds behind the Bihar education board exam topper scam.

Sinha, former Janata Dal-United legislator, was granted bail by the special court of vigilance-I judge here on November 30, nearly five months after she was arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), along with her husband and Bihar School Examination Board's former Chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh.

Bihar Education Minister Ashok Choudhary told media here that the state government will challenge her bail in the apex court soon.

"The government has made all preparations in this connection to file a petition against her bail in the apex court," he said.

Choudhary said Bihar and its education system was defamed because of the topper scam and "we will not spare anyone accused of topper scam".

He said the government will ensure tough punishment to Usha Sinha and her husband, who is considered kingpin of the scam by the court and currently lodged in a jail here. "There is no question of any relief to them."

Another accused, Amit Kumar alias Bachcha Rai, the mastermind behind the Class 12 board merit list scam in Bihar, is also in jail.

They were arrested for the alleged irregularities in the results in the Class 12 examinations for the arts and science stream this year.

--IANS

ik/sm/vt

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Delhi BJP leader Manoj Tiwari on Thursday said the decision of demonetisation is a well considered step of the central government and its objective is to create a clean economic system by ending black money.

During a meeting with representatives of various traders' organisations, the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unit chief told reporters here: "Since coming to power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has been working for providing a clean atmosphere in the country."

While interacting with the traders, Tiwari elaborated that the government has from time to time implemented new laws and rules since the announcement of demonetisation. "But the steps it has taken will ultimately provide long-term solutions to the problems being faced by the traders and the industrialists."

"The government under the NITI Aayog officers has formed a committee of six departments, including Finance and Commerce departments and a committee of the Chief Ministers, which will soon give suggestions on a cashless and trader-friendly economic system," Tiwari said.

Highlighting the achievements of the BJP-led government, Tiwari said, "The Modi government increased the exemption limit of Income Tax and got the GST Bill passed in Parliament by persuading all parties to provide relief to the traders facing harassment in paying various central and local taxes."

He also said that under the previous governments, Income Tax raids were common during the festive season, including Navratras and Diwali, but the Modi government has put a brake on this.

The traders leaders accused bank employees of creating chaos in trade circles post demonetisation.

Satish Garg, a prominent leader of a trader organisation, said the traders feel that the "bank employees are responsible for the chaos in trade circles because they are facing difficulties in drawing money from their current and savings accounts".

The large numbers of new notes circulating in the market point towards some manipulation by the banks, he added.

Another trader organisation leader Praveen Khandelwal said that traders of the national capital are fully supporting demonetisation.

Khandelwal also said that if the government departments and the banks remain free from corruption, then the traders will be the first ones to adopt e-commerce.

On November 8, Modi announced demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes to curb "black money and corruption". Serpentine lines have been seen ever since outside banks and ATMs to withdraw cash.

--IANS

aks/nir/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President Pranab Mukherjee will host a summit of Nobel laureates and global leaders here on December 10-11 in support of a campaign for child rights, it was announced on Thursday.

Titled "100 Million for 100 Million", the campaign aims to mobilise 100 million youths and children to work for 100 million underprivileged children across the world, the Rashtrapati Bhavan said.

Mukherjee will host the "Laureates and Leaders" summit to deliberate on ways build a strong moral platform for protecting children from violence.

The event is being organised by the Kailash Satyarthi Foundation.

Child rights activist Satyarthi will be one of the five Nobel Prize winners at the summit.

The others are Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, former Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta, Leymah Gbowee (Liberia) and Tawakkol Karman (Yemen).

The Nobel prize winning organisations attending the event are the International Labour Organisation (ILO), ICRC, Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, MSF or Doctors Without Borders and Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet.

The other VIPs who will be coming are Princess Charlene of Monaco, Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan, Princess Laurentien of The Netherlands, former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, former Togo Prime Minister Gilbert Houngbo, The Earth Institute Director Jeffrey Sachs as well as Angel Gurria, Secretary-General, OECD.

A Town Hall meeting will be organized on December 11 when the Nobel Laureates and others will interact with an audience of child and youth leaders, government and business leaders and civil society groups.

A total of 4.52 lakh cases of human trafficking and forced labour were registered in India between 2008 and 2012, according to information provided by the Kailash Satyarthi Foundation.

India is said to be home to some 4.3 million child labourers.

--IANS

vn/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President Pranab Mukherjee will be the chief guest at the valedictory function of the 91st foundation course for All India Services on Friday, his office said on Thursday.

The President will visit the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie in Uttarakhand for the event, which will see the culmination of the three-month course that started on August 29.

The academy is India's premier institution dedicated to training officers of the higher civil service.

--IANS

vn/tsb/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Actress Natalie Portman is craving pineapples and burritos during her pregnancy.

Portman, who is expecting her second child with husband Benjamin Millepied, has revealed that she has been addicted to the sour fruit and the not-so-healthy Mexican food wrap, reports etonline.com.

Talking about her cravings on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" on Wednesday, Portman said: "With (first child Aleph) it was very (different)...

"I wanted cream puffs, anything dessert with cream in it, or just plain cream straight. This time it's, like, healthy - pineapple, cucumbers, burritos, which is maybe less healthy, but delicious."

Portman and Millepied currently have a five-year-old son Aleph.

The actress also said she can't wait to lose her baby weight.

"It does make you look forward to the day when you can just have your own body on the red carpet. It's weird because I'm a small person in general, so you show a lot faster and a lot more when you're small. Everyone thinks I'm about to pop and about to give birth any minute, and I have months to go.

"I went to the store the other day to buy water and the guy at the checkout counter was like, 'Almost, huh?' I was like, 'No! Not at all!"

--IANS

sas/nv/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A major banking sector union on Thursday asked the RBI to supply adequate cash to nationalised bank branches and ATMs or stop cash transactions, otherwise they may resort to agitation and even go on strike.

The All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) however refuted a news report that the unions would strike work next week.

"We will be writing to RBI to ensure supply of adequate cash to all the nationalised bank branches or accept that there is insufficient cash in the system and stop cash transactions," AIBEA General Secretary C.H.Venkatachalam told IANS.

"While there is enough cash with private bank branches and the ATMs run by them, there is no supply of cash to nationalised banks. We also wonder how State Bank of India (SBI) is getting cash to fill in their ATMs 19 times a day in Delhi when other government owned banks do not get any," he said.

Reacting to the news of a strike threat, he said: "As a responsible union we will not resort to any flash strikes. We will have to give 14 days notice before going on strike."

"We will decide our course of agitation after December 12 or 13. Our agitation would include demonstrations and even a strike. We have to discuss with other unions in the banking sector," Venkatachalam added.

Citing the Reserve Bank of India's statements about sufficient cash in the system, Venkatachalam said: "If that is the case, let the RBI remove all restrictions of withdrawals."

He said while the nationalised banks are not getting sufficient supplies of cash, bankers are getting abused by the public for no reason.

"The RBI is testing our patience," he added.
The parliamentary committee probing the act of AAP MP Bhagwant Mann of posting video footage of Parliament on social media, on Thursday recommended that he be suspended for the rest of the current session.

The committee, headed by BJP MP Kirit Somaiya, said: "The committee, after due deliberations, recommends that Bhagwant Mann, MP, be suspended for the remaining period of the current session, i.e. the 10th session of the 16th Lok Sabha."

The committee also said that there were repeated contradictions in his communications, and therefore, it felt that "tendering of his apology before the committee cannot be treated as unconditional apology".

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP had earlier apologised unconditionally after being found guilty.

The committee said: "In view of the findings, conclusions and observations, the committee feels that the conduct of Mann is highly objectionable and exhibits his lack of basic knowledge and etiquette and the responsibilities of the office he holds.

"Through his improper conduct, Mann has put the security of Parliament House and its occupants at risk."

The committee also strongly desired that Mann will refrain from such misdemeanours in the future.

"The committee would also like to impress upon Mann the utmost need for strict adherence to norms and standards of etiquette, due compliance of the rules of procedure and well settled rich traditions of Parliament and the need to uphold the decorum and discreetness," the committee added.

--IANS

ao-sid/nir/bg

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blog spot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

.

..Israel Diaries..07 December '16..Mondoweiss apparently loves to write hate-articles about Israeli border security. I love to read their hate-articles because it means that my country is taking care of me. The article below was written last summer but I am republishing it here now because yesterday there was a report in the news of a pro-BDS activist trying to get into Israel and being detained at the airport and not admitted.* * * * *I am very sorry, George Khoury, that you had to suffer the indignity of being rejected at Ben Gurion Airport and, if your seemingly verbatim script of what transpired between you and the security agent (who you take to be a Shin Bet agent and why wouldnt you, it sounds so grand to be interviewed by none other than the Shin Bet  a lowly airport security agent isnt good enough for you) is true, then I do apologize for her rudeness.
Tajikistan's President Emomali Rahmon will be on a state visit to India December 14-18, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.

This will be the sixth visit of President Rahmon to India. During his last visit to India in 2012, the two countries elevated their bilateral relations to the level of a long-term strategic partnership. Bilateral relations span cooperation in a wide spectrum of areas - political, economic, health, human resources development, defence, counter-terrorism, science and technology, culture and tourism.

President Rahmon will arrive in New Delhi on December 16 after visiting Kerala. His official engagements would be on December 17 in New Delhi, when he will meet the Indian leadership including President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The President will host a banquet on December 27 for his visiting Tajik counterpart, said a ministry statement.

--IANS

and/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Three Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants were killed on Thursday after a six-hour gunfight with security forces in Kashmir, triggering widespread protests across the south of the valley.

Mobile phone and internet services were suspended in parts of south Kashmir to prevent rumours and details of the counter-insurgency operation through social media.

Police said the slain militants were all Kashmiris and apparently belonged to south Kashmir.

"Three local militants of LeT have been killed. But a search operation is still going on," a police officer said.

As news of the killings spread, clashes erupted between security forces and protesters who tried to march towards the gunfight site in Arwani village of Anantnag, some 40 km south of here.

Clashes between stone-pelting protesters and security forces also erupted at various other places in south Kashmir.

Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Abu Dujana, one of the most wanted militants in the state, was earlier rumoured to be among the gunmen holed up in a house where the militants were holed up.

There were conflicting reports about Dujana. Locals said he escaped from the hideout in Arwani which lies close to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's ancestral Bijbehara town.

But security officials neither confirmed nor denied if he was among the militants trapped since Wednesday night.

Police said security forces surrounded the village late on Wednesday following a tip off about the presence of militants inside the hideout.

"As security forces tightened the cordon, some gunshots were heard. But after that there was no exchange of fire," the officer said.

He said the gunfight intensified in the morning after militants started firing at the security forces.

Mobile phone and internet services were suspended in south Kashmir Anantnag district as the gunfight raged.

Although authorities did not formally confirm that the mobile phone operations were suspended, but authoritative sources told IANS the action had been taken to check spread of rumours in the area.

--IANS

sq/sar/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two persons were held and later handed over to Central Bureau of Investigation after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided about 15 bank branches in the city over suspicions that bank officials were involved in money laundering after demonetisation, an ED official said on Thursday.

"Sanjay Jain, a sales tax consultant, and a bank official from a private bank were held and interrogated overnight by our team. It was suspected that two were involved in money laundering. They were handed over to CBI early in the morning," said an official from ED's eastern region office.

"We raided about 14-15 branches of public and private sector banks where crores of rupees were deposited after the announcement of demonetisation," he said.

The agency carried out an enquiry of records of transactions' following allegations that black money was being converted into white after taking commission, he added.

--IANS

bdc/ahm/sac

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A UNESCO report claiming that India will be half a century late in achieving its universal education goals is based on past trends and the goal will be achieved much earlier, Parliament was told on Thursday.

The projections made by the UNESCO in its Global Education Monitoring Report, 2016, are based on past trends and the Ministry of Human Resource Development was not involved in the exercise, Minister of State for Human Resource Development Upendra Kushwaha told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

"The statements and predictions made in the UNESCO Report are based on past linear trends and assumptions. It is expected that in view of the increased emphasis on programmatic initiatives aimed at reducing out of school children, current new policy and targeted interventions India may be able to achieve the goals of universal primary, lower secondary and secondary education much earlier," he said.

The Report also says that India will achieve universal primary education by 2050, universal lower secondary education (classes 6 to 8 in case of India) by 2060 and universal upper secondary education (classes 9 to 12 in case of India) by 2085, he said.

Kushwaha said that near universal access and enrollment has been achieved at the primary and upper primary level while near universal access has been achieved at the elementary level of schooling and 97 per cent and 96.6 per cent habitations have been covered with primary and upper primary schools respectively.

"Overall, there has been substantial growth in enrollment in secondary education in the country. Total enrollment for grades IX and X has increased from 30.7 million in 2009-10 to 38.3 million students in the academic year 2014-15.

"This represents a 24.8 percent increase over a five-year period. There has also been steady improvement in the Gross Enrollment Ratio," he added.

--IANS

and/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
On November 8, when the news broke that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would address the nation at 8 pm, many thought we were going to war with Pakistan. And that view was accentuated by other news reports of a meeting scheduled with the President after the address.
With Tata Steel and trade unions of its UK plants agreeing on shifting to a 'defined contribution' pension scheme, resolution seems close. Importantly, company will be able to focus on profitability of operations, which have been a drag on the consolidated financials of Tata Steel.
The Central Hall of Parliament buzzes with conspiracy theories when the two Houses are in session and members take a break to meet each other across party lines and also with journalists. Whats currently gnawing at the minds of members is the future of Tamil Nadu politics after the passing of J Jayalalithaa and the possibility of a Samajwadi Party and Congress alliance for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. Some members believe that a senior minister in Narendra Modis government was in Chennai to convince superstar Rajinikanth to join politics. According to members, the minister promised Rajinikanth the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party as well as the government if he projected himself as Jayalalithaas successor. However, those who claim to know Tamil politics rubbish the speculation.
At least 21 activists of Nepal's main opposition CPN-UML have been injured in clashes with police and 70 party workers arrested during a protest against the Constitution amendment bill.

The clashes took place yesterday in Kailali district between police and the CPN-UML party members who were protesting against the bill which is aimed at carving out a new province to meet the demands of agitating Madhesis and other ethnic groups.

At least 21 people were injured in clashes with police and 70 arrested.

The opposition parties have been protesting against the bill after the coalition government led by Prime Minister Prachanda registered a motion last week to amend the Constitution to accommodate some of the key demands of the Madhesi parties and other ethnic groups, including citizenship issue and delineation of provincial boundary.

Meanwhile, CPN-UML issued a statement, asking the government to immediately release its party workers arrested during the demonstration.

Nepal opposition parties, UML, CPN-ML, Rastriya Janamorcha and Nepal Workers Peasants Party yesterday obstructed the parliament proceedings against the Constitution amendment proposal.

Nepal has been facing political crisis since the adoption of a new Constitution in September last year that divides the country into seven provinces. The agitating Madhesi parties want the hilly districts not to be mixed with the plains while demarcating the provincial boundaries.

The Constitution promulgated last year could not be implemented due to the agitation by the Madhesis, mostly Indian-origin. The Madhesi Front last week refused to back the Constitution amendment bill, saying it was not acceptable in its current discriminatory form.

The United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) and the Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal (FSF-N) stated that they cannot accept the Constitution amendment bill which has been registered in Parliament by Nepal's government despite opposition.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
At least 40 cadres of the main opposition party CPN-UML have been arrested while protesting against the Constitution amendment bill in Nepal.

Twenty one party activists were injured allegedly by police while demonstrating against the bill that will address the demands of the agitating Madhesi parties and other ethnic groups.

The opposition parties have been opposing the bill registered in the Parliament that aims to divide parts of the Province No 5 and merge them into the Terai region bordering India.

Meanwhile, CPN-UML issued a statement asking the government to immediately release its party workers arrested during the demonstration.

Nepal opposition parties -- UML, CPN-ML, Rastriya Janamorcha and Nepal Workers Peasants Party had also obstructed the parliament proceedings against the constitution amendment proposal.

Speaker Onsari Gharti had then postponed the Parliament meeting until 3 PM today.

Nepal has been facing political crisis since the adoption of a new Constitution in September last year that divides the country into seven provinces.

The agitating Madhesi parties want the hilly districts not to be mixed with the plains while demarcating the provincial boundaries.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Five members of a banned Islamist extremist group were today nabbed in Bangladesh as they were regrouping in a bid to free their arrested leaders, a day after the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of the outfit's chief.

The five were members of Harkatul Jihad al Islami (HuJI) and were arrested in separate operations, police said.

The elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) found bomb-making materials from their three-storey hideout in Chittagong. Three militants were arrested in the operation carried out on the lead provided by two militants arrested from another area in the southern port city.

"The five arrested in separate incidents are HuJI members," RAB media wing director Mufti Mahmud Khan told reporters. "They were trying to regroup after a long period of inactivity," Khan was quoted as saying by bdnews24 online.

He said the militants were planning attacks to free their arrested leaders.

The two suspects caught earlier - Tajul Islam and Nazimuddin - had pistols in their possession, Khan said adding that seven gun magazines, 12 IEDs and bomb-making materials were found in the hideout from the three were arrested later.

"Tajul Islam is HuJI's chief coordinator in Dhaka. His name came up after the arrest of HuJI leader Mufti Mainul Islam. Tajul has been central to their organisation attempts in Chittagong."



"Nazimuddin has close ties to HuJI leaders Mufti Hannan and Rouf who are in prison," he said.

Mufti Abdul Hannan is the chief of HuJI in Bangladesh and his death sentence in a terror case for attacking the British envoy in Bangladesh in 2004 that left three policemen dead was upheld yesterday by the Supreme Court.

The ruling cleared the way for Hannan's execution and the regrouping of the militants could be a desperate attempt by the outfit to free the militant leader.

HuJI is accused of launching a series of deadly blasts targeting a Christian church, an Ahmadi Muslim mosque, and rallies of secular activists. The US several years ago designated HuJi as a foreign terrorist organisation and "specially designated global terrorist." Its involvement is also suspected in several bomb blasts in India.

The militant hideout was seen littered with jihadi books, ball bearings, wires and knives, the report said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Indicating popular support to the government's effort to curb illicit wealth, about 70 per cent of India Inc employees feel demonetisation can help control corruption in the long run, says a survey by EY.

The findings are based on survey of 650 individuals working for corporate houses in India, ahead of International Anti-Corruption Day, which is being observed tomorrow.

Noting that black money and corruption have been the key challenges for global economies, including India, in recent times, EY India Partner Yogen Vaidya (Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services) said, "Broadly, this (demonetisation) is expected to boost India's anti-money laundering efforts and curb the menace of unaccounted illicit wealth, which has been hoarded in the form of cash."



"Though still at an initial stage, the demonetisation move can help banks identify and report suspicious transaction patterns through close monitoring," Vaidya added.

Besides, he said at the macro-level the move can help in the ease of doing business, improve investor confidence and enable a more ethical way of conducting business in India.

Further, on anti-bribery and anti-corruption (ABAC) frameworks adopted by corporate houses, 40 per cent of the respondents said they have never attended training sessions sensitising them on the issue, the survey noted.

However, only 15 per cent of the respondents were found to be "not aware that they may be held personally liable for improper activities, done on behalf of their organisation".

Also, 94 per cent of the respondents believe the private sector should be covered under the amendments proposed in the Prevention of Corruption Act, it added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India has sent eight note verbales to Pakistan for consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav and 42 such communications in case of Nehal Ansari, External Affairs Ministry said today.

Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup also rejected as "completely baseless" Pakistan's allegations against Jadhav, an Indian national and a former Indian Navy officer.

Asked about media reports quoting Pakistan Foreign Advisor Sartaj Aziz as saying there was no "conclusive evidence" against Jadhav which were later denied by the Pakistan Foreign Ministry, Swarup said, "We have seen conflicting media reports about this issue. This is a pattern we have seen in the past as well."



Even after more than nine months of keeping him "wrongfully and illegally" in custody, Pakistani authorities have not found a shred of evidence against him, he said.

"We demand immediate consular access to him in accordance with relevant international conventions and his earliest release from wrongful confinement. We have also sent eight Note Verbales to the Pakistan Foreign Office on this issue," Swarup added.

On another Indian national Ansari, who had reportedly crossed over for his lady love, the spokesperson said Indian Mission is closely following up this matter and has issued more than 42 note verbales to the Pakistan Foreign Office.

"In response to our latest Note Verbale dated November 15, Pakistan responded on November 25 stating that concerned authorities in Pakistan are 'mindful of their responsibilities regarding Ansari who is safe, secure and in good health'. However, it must be noted that Pakistan has yet to provide us consular access to Ansari," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Humanitarian organisations descended on Indonesia's Aceh province today as the government promised tons of emergency aid and officials raced to assess the full extent of damage from an earthquake that killed more than 100 people.

Volunteers and nearly 1,500 rescue personnel concentrated their search on the hard-hit town of Meureudu in Pidie Jaya district near the epicenter of the magnitude-6.5 quake that hit before dawn Wednesday. Humanitarian assessment teams fanned out to other areas of the district.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the death toll had risen to 102 and warned it could increase. Search teams were using devices that detect mobile phone signals within a 100-meter (yard) radius to help guide their efforts as they scoured the rubble, he said.

Aceh's disaster mitigation agency said more than 600 people were injured. Those killed included very young children and the elderly. Mohammad Jafar, 60, said his daughter, granddaughter and grandson died in the quake but he was resigned to it as "God's will."



He was getting ready for morning prayers when the earthquake hit. He said he and his wife managed to push their way out through the debris. Another man said he found his 9-year-old daughter alive beneath a broken wall at his neighbor's house.

Thousands of people are homeless or afraid to return to their houses. Officials in Aceh said more than 8,000 people spent yesterday night in shelters in Pidie Jaya district alone.

Killer quakes occur regularly in the region, where many live with the terrifying memory of a giant Dec. 26, 2004, earthquake that struck off Sumatra. The magnitude-9.1 quake triggered a devastating tsunami that killed more than 100,000 Acehnese.

The Indonesian government said its urgent aid included 10 generators, tents, folding beds, baby supplies and body bags.

The military is setting up an emergency field hospital and sending two dozen doctors, and the Health Ministry is deploying a medical team and sending medicines.

The Red Cross sent aid such as water trucks yesterday and humanitarian group CARE is leading an assessment team of four international aid groups to avoid duplication of efforts. Aid groups and others are also appealing for donations.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
All India Insurance Employees Association (AIIEA) today vowed to oppose any disinvestment move of PSUs including privatization of the Insurance sector.

"We will strongly oppose the government move to privatize the Insurance sector as well as disinvestment of PSUs," AIIEA President Amanulla Khan here.

Khan, who has inaugurated the three-day 4th Triennial General Conference of East Central Zone Insurance Employees Association (ECZIEA), said NDA government has planned to disinvest PSUs including the General Insurance companies - United India, National Insurance, Oriental Insurance and New India Assurance - to earn 60,000 crores this fiscal, which we will strongly oppose.

"We will observe a day-long strike the day the government would float the shares of these companies in the market," Khan said while talking to newsmen.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The airlines are set to add an additional capacity of 20-25 per cent over the next three to four years, even as mounting competition and price war are eating into their yields impacting the bottomlines, says a report.

Despite falling yields, due to increasing competition and the resultant hit on profitability, the airlines' capacity addition is set to clip at CAGR of 20-25 per cent over the next three-four years, domestic rating agency Icra said in a report today.

"The industry-wide ASKMs are slated to grow at a strong CAGR of 20-25 per cent over next 2 to 4 years. This will be driven by sizeable order backlog of the market leader Indigo, and also at GoAir, Jet Airways and SpiceJet coupled with the expected fleet expansion of Vistara and AirAsia.

"The capacity expansion will also be boosted by the launch of two new airlines, Air Carnival and Zoom Air," the report said.

Domestic air traffic continued its healthy growth this fiscal, with an annual growth of 22.5 per cent in the first half of current financial year, making the domestic market the fastest-growing aviation market in the world.

The comparative numbers for the second growth market of Russia is way below half of it at around 10 per cent, while China is at around 6 per cent and the US, the largest market at 3-4 per cent.

Capacity addition by new airlines and rapid capacity expansion by existing carriers have resulted in a 20.4 per cent annualised growth in available seat kilometers (ASKM) in the first half, leading to more intensification in competition, the report said.

One of the major growth drivers is the steep fall in jet fuel prices in 2015-16 had enabled airlines to reduce fares and the resultant spike in passenger growth numbers to 85 million. The industry is expecting the country to cross the century mark for the first time this financial year.

But fuel prices began to climb up again from March 2016 and has since then jumped by a whopping 41 per cent sequentially over the past nine months, which has eroded this cushion.

Though the agency believes that passenger growth



potential remains high in the long-term in the country, it warned that due to the absence of any immediate support from the core growth drivers, the pricing power of airlines will remain limited in the near-term, thereby impacting profitability.

In the first half of the current fiscal year, airlines' yields continued to remain under pressure due to increasing competition and pressure on maintaining utilisation of the enhanced capacities.

Following the massive fall in fuel prices in last fiscal year, the aggregate loss of the industry came down from around Rs 7,500 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 100 crore in 2015-16.

But, as the lower fuel cost benefit almost disappeared, the industry has seen their operating margins falling in the first half of 2016-17, which is an indication of the structural susceptibility of airlines to fuel price risks.

The agency added that still the industry will close the current financial year with a net profit of around Rs 150 crore.

"Capacity addition by incumbents and the entry of new carriers is expected to increase the competitive intensity, resulting in significant over-capacity in next two-three years if the demand growth is not sustained in the event of fare hikes due to increase in fuel prices," Subrata Ray, a senior vice-president at the agency, said.

"This makes it crucial for airlines to remain focused on cost controls by ensuring that they strengthen their liquidity position to insulate from unforeseen shocks such as sudden spikes in jet fuel prices. The challenge to recovery and profitability due to external factors is a failure to maintain pricing discipline by offering deeply discounted fares," he said.

In the near term, the industry balance sheet is expected to remain stressed except carriers reduce debt burden by improving operating performance or by way of equity infusion.

Also, for a sustainable growth, the government will have to address the aviation infrastructure requirements and regulatory matters, which have constrained performance of airlines.

The new civil aviation policy and the regional connectivity scheme are steps in that direction, promising to strengthen the foundation for growth in the coming years, he concluded.
Smartphone maker Alcatel India will expand its retail network to 5,000 stores in five states by March next year as it looks to increase its market share in the country.

"We are going to expand our retail presence to increase our market share. At present we sell through around 700 stores in select states. By March we plan to sell across 1000 stores each in five states -- Delhi, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra," Alcatel India, Regional Director, Praveen Valecha said on sidelines of launch of a new smartphone.

The company launched 4G smartphone Idol 4 for Rs 16,999 which will be sold along with JBL headphone and a pair of Virtual Reality goggles.

"This is the sixth smartphone from Alcatel launched in India. Now we will bring more models next year to expedite our strategy to capture 10 per cent market share in India by 2018. We have around 2-3 per cent share in online space. The offline presence will further help us achieving 3-4 per cent additional share," Valecha said.

He said that the Idol 4 will help company gain traction between among youth in age bracket of 15-34.

The phone has 5.2 inch display, dual 4G SIM slot, 3GB RAM, 16 GB internal memory and expandable storage support of up to 512 GB. The company is exclusively selling it on Flipkart from today.

Valecha said that the company has 400 service centres across country and it is planning to open 100 exclusive service centres in 2017-18.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Alleged pro-Pakistan slogan raised by a student from Jammu and Kashmir at an institute here led to a clash between him and a local student prompting the police to launch a probe into the incident.

Manan, a student of CIMS College here, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir, had a tiff with another student, Vijay, on Monday, SSP Dehradun Sweetie Aggarwal said today.

On Tuesday, Vijay's friends, who did not belong to the college and allegedly had allegiance to Bajrang Dal, created a ruckus at the campus over the issue inflicting minor injuries to Manan, police said.

They also reportedly held a demonstration outside the college with Bajrang Dal flags, provoking stone pelting from inside the campus, the SSP said.

However, she did not confirm whether raising of pro-Pakistan slogan had triggered the tiff.

Three cases have been lodged at the Doiwala Police Station in connection with the incident and investigations are on, the police officer said, adding Manan's mobile has also been seized.

While a case has been lodged by Vijay against Manan, another has been lodged by the director of the college against those created ruckus at the campus. A third case has been lodged by those with reported allegiance to Bajrang Dal against Manan.

Meanwhile, a report from Srinagar said Uttarakhand Police today assured their Jammu and Kashmir counterparts that appropriate action will be taken in the incident of harassment of the student from the Valley studying in Dehradun.

Special DGP Coordination (Law and order) of Jammu and Kashmir Police S P Vaid spoke with Director General of Police Uttarakhand, M A Ganapathy, about the incident, a police spokesperson said.

He said Vaid also spoke to the SSP Dehradun, and sought immediate action.

"Both of these officers have assured appropriate action in the matter," the spokesperson said, adding Jammu and Kashmir Police is in constant touch with authorities in Dehradun.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Nepal's Constitution amendment bill was the official proposal of the Nepali Congress and Parliament will pass it with two-thirds majority, Nepal's Deputy Prime Minister has said.

The government registered the bill in Parliament last Tuesday with an aim to address the demands of the agitating Madhesi parties and other ethnic groups and requires a two-thirds majority in the 594-strong House.

Addressing the claims of the agitating parties that the decision requires further in-depth discussions, Bimalendra Nidhi said that the parties were engaged in deliberations on the amendment for the past one year.

He said the personal views of some party leaders would not change the Nepali Congress' position on statute amendment.

"The bill will be revised and passed if that is required," Nidhi said at a programme organised by Nepal Press Union in Chitwan yesterday.

Noting that the government was preparing to hold local polls within five months, Nidhi refuted the CPN-UML's allegation that the proposal was anti-national.

"When the amendment bill is proposed by KP Oli, it is nationalistic. How come it is anti-national when we propose it?" Nidhi questioned.

"It was political dishonesty on the part of the CPN-UML to term the bill anti-national," he added.

He said the provisions regarding the demarcation of Province 5 were determined when Oli was the Prime Minister.

The Constitution amendment bill aims to address the demands of the Madhes-based parties, mainly over the provincial boundaries, citizenship, language and representation in the Upper House.

However, the parties have not come to an agreement about the amendment bill.

The Madhesi Front refused to back the bill, saying it was not acceptable in its current discriminatory form.

The Constitution promulgated last year could not be implemented due to the agitation by the Madhesis.

The Madhesi parties and ethnic groups have been demanding more rights and representation for the marginalised people.

Re-demarcation of the provincial boundaries and citizenship issue are the two major demands put forth by the Madhesis.

The Madhesis, mostly of Indian-origin, launched a six-month agitation from September last year to February this year in which more than 50 people were killed. The agitation had also crippled the landlocked country's economy as supplies from India were blocked.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
From a childhood as a refugee, Capt Safia Ferozi is now flying a transport plane for Afghanistan's air force as the country's second female pilot, a sign of the efforts to bring more women into the armed forces.

Along the way, the 26-year-old Ferozi also married another pilot, who flies in the same unit supporting army ground forces. They are part of a small Afghan air force that is trying to take a greater role in fighting the Taliban insurgency.

"When I wear military uniform, I really, really feel proud of myself as a woman," Ferozi said while preparing for a flight at the air force base in the capital, Kabul. She flies a C-208, a turboprop plane used as transport for the armed forces.

Nearly 16 years since the collapse of the militant Taliban regime after the US-led invasion in 2001, Afghan women are taking steps to increase their presence in society, including in parliament, government and the military. Still, they face resistance in a deeply conservative society where women are largely expected to stay in the home and where violence against women remains a widespread problem.

When she was a child, Ferozi's family fled from their home in Kabul in the 1990s, during the civil war among Afghanistan's warlords. They took refuge in Pakistan, returning only after the fall of the Taliban.

In high school in post-Taliban Afghanistan, Ferozi saw a TV commercial urging women to join the military. So after graduation she enrolled in the military academy, studying to become a communication officer. Then it was announced at the academy that the air force was looking for women to become pilots.

Ferozi and 12 other women applied, and she was the only one who passed the tests to enter training.

While she was training at an airfield in the western province of Herat, she first met Capt Mohammad Jawad Najafi, the pilot who would later become her husband. They married nearly two years ago, and he has since backed her ambitions. She graduated from training in 2015. She gave birth to their first child, daughter Nergis, now nearly 8 months old, and is back flying missions.

Ferozi is one of only two female pilots in the Afghan air force, but five other women are currently going through training.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Arunachal Pradesh cabinet headed by Chief Minister Pema Khandu decided to give New Year Gift to more than 70499 regular state government employees and 25919 pensioners by implementing the 7th Central Pay Commission recommendations.

The cabinet at its meeting here today decided to implement the 7th Central Pay Commission's recommendation from January 1 this year and would add financial liability of Rs 423.27 crore for 2016- 17 to the state exchequer, government spokesman Passang Dorjee Sona told media persons.

Accordingly, from January 1, 2016 to September 30, the arrears would be paid in next financial year while that from October this year to March 31 next, would be paid during the current fiscal.

The arrears would be paid in cash in two installments - May 2017 and September 2017.

For those employees who want to get their arrears deposited in GPF could do so and their share of arrears would be credited in their GPF account in this financial year only, the spokesman said.

As a mark of respect to Deputy SP Late Bomto Kamdak for sacrificing his life while on line of duty, the cabinet decided and approved for awarding DSP rank to Kamdak's wife Moni Kamdak Basar on compassionate ground.

Taking note of acute shortage of subject teachers particularly in Science and Mathematics in various schools which has jeopardized the education scenario, the cabinet also decided for one time relaxation in recruitment rules.

The cabinet approved to relax the recruitment criteria from existing 90:10 ratio to 50:50 ratio basis for APST and Non-APST in order to facilitate best of subject teachers from across the country.

The cabinet also approved to confer Gazetted status to Post Graduate Teachers (PGTs) under education department.

The state has a total of 701 PGTs.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A man fatally shot one Georgia police officer and wounded a second before fleeing an apartment complex near a college campus that went on lockdown as a precaution, authorities said. They said the suspect is believed to be armed and dangerous.

The shooting took place when the two officers were responding to a domestic dispute in Americus, about 130 miles south of Atlanta, Americus police Chief Mark Scott said.

Americus police Officer Nicholas Smarr, 25, died and Georgia Southwestern State University Officer Jodi Smith was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition, Scott said. Both had been officers since 2012.

"It's a tremendous loss to our family," Scott said of Smarr's death. "It's a tragedy beyond words. One of our family members has been taken from us."



The suspect, 32-year-old Minguell Kennedy Lembrick, was still at large and local, state and federal law enforcement officers were searching for him, Scott said.

Scott urged anyone who sees Lembrick to call police but warned, "Do not attempt to approach him. He is armed and dangerous."



GBI Director Vernon Keenan said his agency and the FBI are offering a USD 20,000 reward for information leading to Lembrick's arrest.

Later Wednesday, the Peach County Sheriff's Office, Byron Police Department and Fort Valley Police Department contributed another USD 10,000 to the fund.

"This is a very dangerous individual. We need to have him off the streets," Keenan said. "We need him arrested so he can face the courts."



Lembrick already had outstanding warrants for kidnapping and other charges related to a previous domestic incident, but the officers didn't know whom they were dealing with when they responded to the 911 call, Scott told reporters.

Shortly after the shootings Wednesday, a message posted on Lembrick's Facebook page read: "other life gone not going to jail."



Also posted to Lembrick's account was a four-second Facebook Live video showing a young man partly concealed by shadows saying, "I'm gonna miss y'all folk, man." The final message on Lembrick's page read: "Love yall."



All three posts had Facebook timestamps between 10:13 a.M. And 10:41 a.M. The video was removed a few hours after it was posted.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Nelly Miles confirmed to The Associated Press that the Facebook page belongs to the suspect.

The university issued an alert on its website saying the shooting occurred off campus but that the campus was on lockdown. University interim President Charles Patterson told reporters the lockdown remained in effect late Wednesday afternoon.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Unable to keep up with model Lopamudra Raut's constant taunts during a press conference inside the "Bigg Boss" house, VJ-actress Bani J walked out of the meet leaving everyone shocked.

Tension between Bani and Lopamudra is not new and it took an ugly turn when latter interrupted Bani every time she answered questions posed to her, at a press meet yesterday at the "Bigg Boss" house.

When asked if Bani is insecure of her, Lopa said that is definitely the case, adding that it may be because "she considers me a big competition."



However, the former Roadies-host shrugged it off saying the model is "too immature" and not worthy of any competition.

Listening to her answer, Lopa started taunting her, which made Bani visibly irritated.

The nail in the coffin was a scribe's question that whether the VJ and Lopa will fight it out like Gauahar Khan and Tanisha Mukherjee competed against each other in "Bigg Boss" season seven.

"It is a huge compliment that you compared me with Gauhar, because she had a big heart. I am here at 'Bigg Boss' only because of her," Bani said.

Lopamudra, however, interrupted her again, which left Bani completely miffed.

The VJ stood up and said she does not want to be a part of any conference where she is not even allowed to talk to the media for "even two minutes" properly.

Bani then walked out of the event almost choked up.

Later, the VJ broke down in the house and locked herself in the bathroom.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
International banks have stepped up their enquiries and talks about switching operations from London to Paris following Britain's vote for Brexit, according to a senior official at France's markets regulator.

"Large international banks... Have already undertaken real due diligences and we have received a lot of practical questions regarding the way they are going to be managed from our perspective, with their relationship with the French regulators," Benoit de Juvigny, secretary general at the AMF, said in an interview with BBC television late yestersday.

He stressed however that the enquiries remained "informal" at this stage, as did similar steps being taken by consultants and lawyers.

Other financial centres said to be in the running include Amsterdam, Dublin, Frankfurt and Luxembourg.

Powerful lobby group the British Bankers' Association (BBA) has warned that international lenders with operations in the UK are ready to transfer some of their activities out of the country from early 2017.

Big banks have publicly voiced their fears about the impact of Brexit, including potential loss of access to the European single market.

However, both the AMF and the BBA declined to comment further on the latest development.

The British government's Treasury did not respond when approached for comment by AFP.

De Juvigny noted that while London possessed "great expertise" in the field, his own city's expertise should not be underestimated, adding that he sees the prospect of regulating banks wishing to move across the Channel as "a welcome challenge".

"Also it is a dangerous challenge because we could see some kind of new competition between countries, between regulators," he said.

Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May has stated that she will formally trigger the two-year EU divorce process by the end of March 2017.

However, Brussels and London face the daunting prospect of gruelling negotiations on future trade deals with the European Union and countries outside of the bloc.

EU "passporting" rights currently allow financial products approved by a single regulator in a member state to be sold in the entire EU.

But firms registered in the UK risk losing this access when Britain leaves, which could push some companies to move at least some of their activities to continental Europe.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The West Bengal government today said that the roll-out of Goods and Services Tax should be deferred in view of the massive 'destabilising' move of demonetisation till the economy was back on track.

"The GST roll-out in itself is destabilising but for a good cause. It is destabilising on the exchequer of all states," West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra told reporters at the state secretariat.

He said that the GST Council had decided that compensation to states would not be provided from the Consolidated Fund of India but from a special fund corpus of Rs 50,000 crore.

Mitra, also the chairman of the empowered committee on GST, said that the onset of demonetisation by the Centre "was a tsunami which hit the country".

"Will the country be able to take the two hits, GST and demonetisation at the same time. Will the companies and the state governemnts be able to restructure themselves?" he asked.

The West Bengal government felt that the implemention of the GST should be deferred and implemented till the economy was able to recover from the demonetisation shock.

"GST is lost in the horrible case of demonetisation. Once implemenented it will be good for the country as happened in Canada, New Zealand Australia and Canada", he said.

The next meeting of the GST Council is slated for December 11-12 .

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BJP today welcomed a Karnataka High Court decision, dismissing a petition against demonetisation and upholding certain restrictions that accompanied the decision.

"While dismissing the petition, the High Court has said it is part of a large mission against black money and upheld restrictions...It has also said when a big decision is taken in the interest of society, then certain measures are taken and they may impact some people. The court's comments are laudable," the party said in a statement.

It also attacked opposition parties, including Congress, saying their stand on the issue is irresponsible and anti-development.

As far as allegations levelled by Mamata Banerjee and Lalu Prasad against the central government are concerned, they underline their frustration and disappointment, it said.

"Congress is mother of corruption. At a time when the government is striking at black money and corruption, its leaders are levelling baseless allegations," the statement said.

In his order, Justice Ashok B Hinchigeri of the High Court observed that "laudable objectives" to tackle the menaces of fake currency notes, black money and terrorism cannot be achieved without imposing restrictions.

"...But in a situation of this nature, no directions, much less time-bound directions, can be given to the government of India and the RBI," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Bombay High Court today asked the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) to hold a meeting with other government agencies by January 5 and take a decision about a comprehensive road repair plan.

A division bench headed by Justice Shantunu Kemkar was hearing a suo motu PIL on the poor condition of roads in Mumbai and the civic body's alleged failure to prevent formation of potholes every monsoon.

The bench asked the civic body to coordinate with other agencies such as Public Works Department, Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA), Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation and Mumbai Port Trust, and decide on a comprehensive road repair plan by January 5.

All these agencies are responsible for maintaining city roads within their respective jurisdictions.

The high court asked the MCGM to inform on February 17 what decision they had taken.

Two months ago, MCGM had assured the court that it would make all roads in the city pothole-free by October 31.

The MCGM lawyer Anil Sakhare had stated that the civic body would take help of experts from the IIT-Mumbai to prepare a preventive plan by February 2017 to ensure that the city did not face the problem of water-logging and potholes during the next monsoon.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A landmark hearing at the UK's Supreme Court over British Prime Minister Theresa May's plan to take Britain out of the European Union (EU) without parliamentary consent came to a close today.

A ruling is expected by mid-January.

The Supreme Court president, Lord Neuberger, closed the hearing by highlighting that the court was not there to "overturn the result of the EU referendum" which favoured an exit from the economic bloc in June 23.

"We are not being asked to overturn the result of the EU referendum, we are being asked to determine the process by which that result can be brought into effect. That raises important constitutional issues and we will now make sure that the many arguments are given full and proper consideration. We appreciate that this case should be resolved as quickly as possible and we will do our best to achieve that," he said.

The hearing ended with the UK government's lawyer arguing that ministers have the authority to trigger Brexit.

May has promised to give notice of the UK's departure from the EU under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty by the end of March 2017 - a timetable that was backed by MPs in the Commons vote last night.

However, Downing Street has said that it would not override the Supreme Court if it rules that legislation is required before notice of Brexit is served.

The government had lost last month's High Court case, leading to the landmark appeal in the Supreme Court heard by all 11 justices of Britain's highest court.

The hearing alsoincluded arguments from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as interested parties in the case.

"I know that around the world people have been amazed at the incredible efficiency shown by the judges, lawyers and all of the parties involved in this case who have shoe-horned around two years of work into six months to ensure the PM can trigger Article 50 before the end of March.

"I hope the Supreme Court will uphold the High Court ruling that Article 50 cannot be triggered using the royal prerogative. Our case is that prerogative powers end where domestic law begins," said Gina Miller, an investment fund manager named as the lead claimant in the legal fight to get Parliament to vote on whether the UK government can start the process of leaving the EU.

The government's top lawyer, James Eadie, told the court rights related to EU membership were created and taken away "on the international plane" rather than by domestic legislation - so a new act of Parliament was not required for Brexit.

He also pointed out that the House of Commons vote last night in favour of invoking Article 50 by March 31, 2017, was "highly significant" and provides "the sharpest of focus" for the court.

"It may not be legally binding but that does not mean it is not legally relevant, because Parliament has given specific approval to the Government to give that notice. Parliament has indicated its view and has done so clearly," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Some 130 years after her grandfather borrowed a book from his school library, a woman in the UK has returned it with an apology letter, saying "your former pupil appears to have stolen" it.

Alice Gillett, 77, came across a copy of 'The Microscope and its Revelations' written by Dr William B Carpenter, while clearing through her late husband's possessions from Taunton, Somerset in England, a media letter said today.

While turning the pages of the 1,000-page book, she discovered a date stamp showing it was borrowed from the library of Hereford Cathedral School in 1886, Metro.Co.Uk reported.

It had been loaned to her grandfather Professor Arthur Boycott who attended the school between 1886 and 1894. He was a distinguished naturalist and pathologist, the report said.

Gillett returned the book to the school along with an apology letter.

"I am sorry to inform you that one of your former pupils, Professor A E Boycott appears to have stolen the enclosed - I can't imagine how the school has managed without it!," she wrote in the letter.

The school does not charge for overdue books but if they had, Gillett could have been landed with a bill of 7,446 pounds (USD 9,463) - based on a 17p-a-day charge at most libraries, the report said.

Gillett said, "As a child, he (Boycott) took great interest in natural history, and his particular passion was snails. At age 15, he published his first paper listing the snail species that could be found in Herefordshire".

He also had a fascination with fauna and flora made him quite a hazardous driver because he was so obsessed with observing the hedgerows, she said.

"My grandmother said he always had snails in his pockets," she said.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the school said, "We are delighted to be reunited with the book and are pleased it is still in such good condition".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BSP MLA B L Kushwaha was today sentenced to life imprisonment by a court here in connection with a murder case of 2002.

The additional district judge also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 and handed out similar sentence to Kushwaha's gunman Satyendra Singh.

The court found Kushwaha guilty of executing the murder of Naresh Kushwaha on December 27, 2012, additional public prosecutor Ajay Gupta said.

He was booked under sections 302 and 120 B of IPC and subsequently arrested by state CID-Crime Branch.

Kushwaha had rubbished the allegation stating that he was being deliberately implicated in the murder case by the then ruling BJP government.

In July, 2014, the Rajasthan High Court had dismissed anticipatory bail application of the Dholpur MLA on the ground that he was charged with a heinous crime.

The body of Naresh Kushwaha was found in Jheel ka Pura village falling under Sadar Thana of Dholpur district. Later, the deceased's brother Than Singh had lodged a case against five persons.

Following preliminary investigation, police had arrested gunman Singh who confessed involvement of MLA Kushwaha in the murder.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
One person was killed and nine others, mostly Indians, were injured after a bus ran over a group of workers waiting on the side of a road in Sharjah in United Arab Emirates, police said today.

The workers -- eight Indians and two Pakistanis -- were waiting on the side of the road in Al Hamriya area for a ride to their accommodation when they were run over by the bus, Khaleej Times reported, citing police.

A 34-year-old worker was killed while the injured were rushed to Khalifa Hospital, it said, without identifying the nationality of the deceased worker.

The police was immediately notified after the accident and a team of patrol, traffic experts and ambulances were rushed to the spot.

The Asian driver of the bus was taken into custody.

The body of the deceased worker was shifted to the morgue, it said.

This is the third major accident involving Indians in Dubai in a week.

A 60-year-old Indian was killed and four others were injured in a massive 26-vehicle pile-up due to dense fog in Ras Al Khaimah city of the UAE this week.

On Sunday, two Indian workers were killed in a bus accident.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Non-banking financial company Capital First today said its Board has approved plan to raise Rs 340 crore through preferential issue.

The special resolution for raising Rs 340 crore on a preferential basis by allotting 47.8 lakh shares to Caladium Investment was passed with majority at the board in its extra ordinary general meeting (EGM), the company said in a BSE filing.

The firm had proposed to raise Rs 340 crore on a preferential basis by allotting 47.8 lakh shares to Caladium Investment, an affiliate of GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund at Rs 712.7 per share.

Capital First had recently said that post this transaction, the total capital (including Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital) of the company will increase to Rs 3,263 crore on a consolidated basis and the capital adequacy will increase to 21.6 per cent.

The company reported a net profit of Rs 57.6 crore for Q2 FY2017, an increase of 40 per cent from Rs 41.0 crore in Q2 FY2016.

Its assets under management (AUM) grew 32 per cent to Rs 17,937 crore as on September 30, on a year-on-year basis, with its retail loan portfolio contributing to 90.1 per cent.

The gross NPA and net NPA of the company stood at 0.98 per cent and 0.45 per cent respectively as on September 30.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Indian embassy in Qatar is "closely monitoring" the case of three jailed Indians, two of whom are on death row, External Affairs Ministry said today, noting that the next hearing is on January 2.

Subramanian Alagappa, Chilladurai Perumal and Shivkumar Achunan were sentenced to death by firing squad in December 2014 after they were found guilty of killing an 81-year-old Qatari woman in her home four years ago.

While Achunan's punishment has been commuted to life sentence, other two are facing death penalty.

Observing that the next hearing was on January 2, 2017, MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the Indian embassy in Qatar mission was in touch with the lawyers and was "closely monitoring" the case.

India had filed an appeal maintaining that the penalty was "too harsh".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
China today refused to comment on a proposal being pushed by India and Russia to swap natural gas between the countries, including Myanmar, saying it was not aware of the details and preferred to know the reactions of other parties involved.

ONGC Videsh Ltd Managing Director Narendra K Verma said yesterday in New Delhi that India and Russia were in talks to swap natural gas with Myanmar and China respectively as an alternative to build a USD 25-billion pipeline, which would be the world's most expensive.

Currently, Myanmar sells gas to China through an existing pipeline. But according to the proposal, if Russia provides equivalent gas to China, then India can reverse the flow of gas from Myanmar to China and bring that gas to India. In effect, Russia will supply gas to China and in return China will give its share of gas from Myanmar to India.

"I have noticed this. But we don't know the details," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters when asked about the proposal.

"I suggest you check with other relevant parties Russia and Myanmar," he said declining to outline China's stand yet.

India and Russia had in October signed an initial pact for building a 4,500-6,000 kilometre-long pipeline from Siberia to the world's third-biggest energy consumer.

But Verma said talks are on with Russian gas monopoly Gazprom for the alternative swap arrangement.

A smaller and economical pipeline from Myanmar will need to be build into eastern India for importing that gas. For the arrangement to see the light of the day would require China and Myanmar to come on board.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Civil rights activist Viola Desmond, often described as "Canada's Rosa Parks," has been chosen to be the first Canadian woman to appear on a bank note, officials announced today.

Desmond's portrait will appear on Canada's 10-dollar bill starting in 2018, replacing the nation's first prime minister John A Macdonald.

Desmond, who died in 1965, was a business woman and beautician who challenged racial segregation at a Nova Scotia movie theater in 1946.

She was jailed, convicted and fined for refusing to leave a lower level whites-only area of the theatre in New Glasgow in Canada's eastern Maritimes region and sit with other blacks in the balcony.

In 2010, she was posthumously pardoned.

"It's a big day to have a woman on a bank note, and it's a really big day to have my sister on a bank note," Viola's sister Wanda Robson told a press conference.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz announced her selection for the 10-dollar bill.

The bank notes are the first in a new series that will reflect themes of social justice and the struggle for rights and freedoms.

The government received more than 26,300 submissions from across Canada after making an open call for nominations last spring, which resulted in 461 eligible candidates.

An independent advisory council whittled the list down to five and Morneau was tasked with making the final decision.

"Today is about recognizing the incalculable contribution that all women have had and continue to have in shaping Canada's story," said Morneau.

"Viola Desmond's own story reminds all of us that big change can start with moments of dignity and bravery," he said.

"She represents courage, strength and determination -- qualities we should all aspire to every day.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Climate change will cause "uncontrollable" escalation in migration in South Asia, including India, three major international organisation working on the issue warned today.

Ahead of the Global Forum on Migration and Development, which is scheduled to start tomorrow in Dhaka in Bangladesh, the study by ActionAid, Climate Action Network South Asia and Bread for the World (Brot Fuer Die Welt) cautioned about the devastating and increasing impact of climate change on migration.

The organisations also underlined the need for action by all different governments of the world to tackle the issue.

The study, 'Climate Change Knows No Borders', looks at climate change and its impact on migration in South Asia, particularly in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

It said the region is particularly vulnerable to climate change events, including droughts, heat waves, cyclones, rising sea levels, heavy rainfall, landslides and floods.

"Unprecedented drought and other climatic events in India have forced millions of people from their homes and traditional occupations, with women being the hardest hit.

"Unless the government helps people prepare for the impacts and implements social protection schemes effectively to tackle agrarian distress and forced migration, climate change will undo the benefits of growth in India," said Bratindi Jena, ActionAid India's Head of Natural Resources.

In the study, the need for South Asian governments to monitor the specific impact of 'climate migration' on women and girls is highlighted as a key concern which the region needs to address.

The report outlines the growing and alarming trend of women and girls trafficked into sexual exploitation as a result of migration, as well as the burden placed upon women at home whose husbands are forced to migrate.

The Warsaw International Mechanism, established in 2013 at the UN and affirmed by the last round of climate talks at Paris last year, does seek to address climate-induced displacement and migration.

However, little has yet been secured to protect the rights of people displaced by climate change, leaving their international legal status uncertain and not akin to the rights of people fleeing conflict who have in some cases similarly lost their homes, families and jobs, the study said.

"The UN's Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage must work to ensure legal protection for people who are forced to migrate or are displaced by climate change," Harjeet Singh, ActionAid's Global Lead on Climate Change, said.

Singh said South Asian countries need support so that



climate change doesn't inevitably translate into alarming levels of unsafe migration and conflict over resources.

"Rich nations must also not fail to recognise their role in causing the climate crisis. They must help fight the flames in South Asia and elsewhere that they themselves kindled through carbon emissions in the first place," he said.

The report said this year people in South Asia are suffering devastation due to extreme weather and they are on the move "like never before".

In May 2016, Cyclone Roanu ripped through Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh causing widespread damage and leaving in its wake reconstruction costs estimated at USD 1.7 billion.

In April 2016, temperatures reached a record-breaking 51 degrees Celsius at Rajasthan in India. 2015-16 brought with it extended drought and crop failure in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and across India. Around 330 million people were affected in India alone and many more across the region.

The report said while the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) anticipates climate change impacts will be felt even more severely in future years, political disputes and cross-border fighting often characterise the reaction to migration across the region more than active solutions and problem-solving.

"The governments of South Asia must recognise that climate change knows no borders. They have a responsibility to use our shared mountains, rivers, history and cultures to seek common solutions to the droughts, sea-level rise and water shortages that the region is increasingly experiencing.

"We urgently need more cross-border efforts to help people cope with the new normal of climate disasters and protect those who are forced to migrate," Sanjay Vashist, Climate Action Network South Asia's Director, said.

The Global Forum on Migration and Development will take place from December 10 to 12 at Dhaka in Bangladesh, where meetings around the theme of a "transformative migration agenda" will be held.

The meetings will bring together government policymakers, civil society and development representatives, UN bodies and migration experts from around the world to agree upon solutions to migration issues.
India today said it is "closely working" with the Mongolian government to implement the USD one billion credit line to help it to meet current difficult budgetary situation arising out of various factors including the recent imposition of border tariffs against it by China.

The Chinese action came after Mongolia hosted the Dalai Lama in November following which the Mongolians wanted India to raise the issue publicly.

"Insofar as Mongolia's relationship with China is concerned, I would not like to comment. However, I can make some observations about our own very strong relationship with Mongolia. We are aware of the difficult budgetary situation that Mongolia is facing due to various factors including high cost of servicing of debt raised by them in the past," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

"As a close friend of Mongolia, which regards India as its 'third neighbour' and 'spiritual neighbour', we are ready to work with Mongolian people in this time of their difficulty," he said and referred to credit line of USD one billion announced during the visit of the Prime Minister's there in 2015.

"We are closely working with the Mongolian government to implement the credit line in a manner that is deemed beneficial to the friendly people of Mongolia by its leadership," Swarup added.

The Dalai Lama's visit to Mongolia, which is China's northern neighbour has riled Beijing as it reportedly put off several meetings and delegation visits, including a trip of Mongolia's Deputy Prime Minister.

Asked about the postponement of the meeting and visits, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang had said "the wrong doing by Mongolia on this issue diminished political foundation between the two countries and brought negative impact to bilateral relations".

"We ask the Mongolian side to respect our major concern and take concrete actions to remove the negative impact and bring China-Mongolia relations on to the track of sound development," Geng said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Congress and JD(U) today raised strong objections to reduction of import duty on wheat from 10 per cent to nil, terming the step as anti-farmer and a conspiracy.

They also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying decisions were being made outside Parliament when it is in session.

Digvijay Singh (Cong) raised objections soon after Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal tabled the notification on import duty cut.

"I want to bring to your notice that the notification reducing import duty from 10 per cent to zero per cent on wheat is primarily against the farmers.

"Wheat is being sold at much lower price in view of shortage of cash after demonetisation. It concerns the farmers. This will affect the farmers. This is a very serious issue. It is a very big conspiracy," Singh said.

Targeting Modi, the Congress leader said, "When Prime Minister goes beyond the point and declares schemes outside when the Parliament is in session, it is a gross violation of conduct."



He was followed by JD-U leader Sharad Yadav, who also said the import duty reduction will adversely affect the farmers and hurt their interests.

"This is a serious issue. Government should think about it. This will destroy those sowing wheat in India," he said.

Chairman Hamid Ansari said, "A paper has been laid. You follow the processs. You raise the issue when the matter comes up for discussion."



He asked the members not to raise the issue as a procedure has been followed and they should raise their issues when the matter is taken up.

"There is a procedure through which you should take it up. There is an established practice of laying papers, which has been followed," he said.

Meghwal earlier tabled a copy of a notification under which the government waived service tax on debit and credit card transactions of up to Rs 2,000.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee today linked the death of a tribal in Palghar district to state government's "insensitive" decision under which beneficiaries of its schemes are getting money in bank accounts only.

The state cabinet had last month approved a policy under which instead of benefits in kind, the cash component will be deposited in the bank accounts of the beneficiaries of different government schemes.

Congress spokesman Sachin Sawant said one Dinsu Jadhav had to travel to Jawhar taluka from his Dhadpad village to claim Rs 900 deposited in his bank account as a subsidy for a sweater for his son under a government scheme.

"Instead of getting sweater for Jadhav's son, Rs 900 was deposited in his bank account. To withdraw money, Jadhav travelled 25 kms form Dhadpad village to Jawhar recently. As he was standing in a queue outside a bank there for long, he fainted and passed away. This is a murder by the government," Sawant said.

He said the Congress had criticised the cabinet decision earlier.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
DR Congo's independent human rights commission has blamed both the government and the opposition for the deaths of 46 people, most of them by gunfire, in clashes in Kinshasa in September.

Scores more were hurt in the capital when "non-identified elements in the police" and "protesters using stolen weapons" clashed September 19 and 20 in opposition protests against President Joseph Kabila, a commission report said yesterday.

The release of the CNDH report, its first since the commission was set up in July 2015, was hailed by the European Union, a major donor to the vast resource-rich nation.

Democratic Republic of Congo has seen months of trouble ahead of the official end of Kabila's mandate on December 20, his second term in office.

He is barred from serving again but has never said he plans to step aside and last month cut a power-sharing deal with fringe opposition politician Samy Badibanga as prime minister in a move that effectively extends his term to early 2018.

The CNDH toll for the September protests, which were organised by anti-Kabila coalition Gathering, was slightly lower than the UN toll of 53 dead.

Gathering brings together mainstream opposition parties that back longtime Kabila rival, Etienne Tshisekedi.

There were signs of an easing of political tension in the country this week when Tshisekedi agreed to join mediation talks headed by the country's bishops, the deputy secretary of Congo's National Episcopal Conference said.

The talks, which aim to agree on a transition ahead of April 2018 presidential elections, showed "there is goodwill all round," said Andre Masinganda.

Tshisekedi's Gathering had snubbed talks involving the authorities up until this week.

The formal talks are set to start "Thursday December 8 2016" at 10 AM in Kinshasa, according to a statement released late Tuesday.

However the UN mission in Congo, MONUSCO, is bracing for violence ahead of December 20, UN Special Representative to DR Congo Maman Sambo Sidikou said in New York on Tuesday.

"MONUSCO has further updated its contingency plans and is further adjusting its posture and deployment to mitigate politically driven violence and to protect civilians," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Congress legislators in Maharashtra, led by former Chief Ministers Prithiraj Chavan and Narayan Rane, took out a protest march at Vidhan Bhawan here over the issue of demonetisation.

During the morcha taken out between Vidan Bhawan's main gate and its main entrance, the legislators of the opposition party were seen carrying placards, which denounced the demonetisation decision.

The placards read that the decision to scrap old currency notes taken by the Narendra Modi government has caused harassment to the commoners, poor, tribals and farmers.

During the march, which lasted for about 20 minutes, the Congress MLAs and MLCs, were seen raising slogans on the notes ban issue.

Demonetisation issue had dominated the debate in the state Assembly yesterday with the Congress-NCP slamming the Centre over the move, saying it has caused severe hardship to people and harmed the rural economy.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A court here has refused to order investigation in a complaint against Indian Air Force officers and employees of Haryana government for allegedly allowing illegal mining on defence land in the state, saying there was no proper sanction to prosecute them.

Special CBI Judge Bhupesh Kumar also dismissed the application seeking a court-monitored probe into the allegation that these public servants allowed illegal land mining in Tilpat Ranges 1 and 2 in Faridabad in Haryana and caused loss of over Rs 29 crore to the exchequer.

"In the absence of valid sanction no directions can be made under section 156(3) (power of magistrate to order probe) of CrPC. The application reflects that no sanction has been obtained by the complainant to prosecute the public servants.

"Hence, the application for monitoring the investigation or to call status report is not maintainable. Consequently, the present application stands dismissed. File be consigned to record room," the judge said.

The court referred to several judgements of the Supreme Court while deciding the matter and also noted that under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, it cannot take cognisance of certain offences allegedly committed by public servants until and unless sanction has been obtained from the authority concerned (Centre or State as the case may be).

A representation was sent on May 26, 2016 to the Prime Minister's Office and the CBI Director for issuing appropriate order for instituting independent inquiry against the officers of Indian Air Force, employees of government of Haryana for allowing illegal mining on defence land situated at Tilpat Ranges 1 and 2 in Faridabad and causing loss of Rs 29,00,33,680 to the exchequer of the government of India.

The application said that the complainant has tried to know the status of investigation regarding the complaint from the office of the Prime Minister and CBI Headquarters but he has not been informed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A special CBI court today dismissed a petition seeking direction to the central probe agency for further investigation into the alleged fake encounter of Sadiq Jamal.

Special CBI judge K M Dave while dismissing the petition observed that the agency was already investigating the case further after having filed the charge sheet in December 2012.

The petition, moved by Jamal's brother Shabbir, soon after CBI filed charge sheet, sought further investigation into the case as the petitioner claimed that conspiracy angle to the alleged encounter was not revealed.

The petitioner wanted investigation into the alleged role of police officials including retired DIG D G Vanzara, who is now out on bail in Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case, P P Pandey, currently serving as in-charge DGP, and Mumbai police officer Daya Nayak, in the crime as also the political motive behind it.

The petitioner had said that the CBI did not probe aspects such as the origin of country-made pistol recovered from Sadiq Jamal after the encounter, or the role of Vanzara, the then DCP (crime) for detaining the deceased, or whether it was a political murder since crime branch had then said that Jamal had come to murder the then Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi.

During the arguments held earlier, the petitioner had sought a court-monitored time-bound investigation, saying that nearly four years after submitting the charge sheet, the agency had not placed any report before the court on further investigation carried by it.

Sadiq Jamal was killed in a police encounter in Ahmedabad in January 2003. Police had then claimed he was a Laskar-e- Taiba terrorist out on a mission to kill Modi.

In its charge sheet, CBI said that the encounter was staged as Jamal was brought to Ahmedabad from the custody of Mumbai police by Gujarat police officials Tarun Barot and seven others.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A 41-year-old Catholic priest was today sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for "remainder of his life" for raping a 14-year-old girl several times with the court saying he had misused his position, had gone to extent of attributing bad character to the victim and betrayed the believers of the Church.

Additional District and Sessions Court Judge K T Nisar Ahammed convicted Edwin Pigarez, the priest attached to the Lourdes Matha Church, Puthenvelikkara in Ernakulam district, under various sections of POCSO Act and Indian Penal Code, and said he deserves maximum punishment prescribed by law which should have a deterrent effect.

In its judgement, the court said the priest has "misused his position as a Vicar for the Church" and sentenced him to double rigorous imprisonment for life "which shall mean imprisonment for the reminder of his natural life".

He has not only assaulted the 14-year-old child "but also betrayed the entire believers of Church. It is pertinent to note that he has gone to extent of attributing bad character to the victim --a small girl," the court said.

The court, which deals with cases related to atrocities and sexual violence against women and children, also imposed a fine of Rs 2,15,000 on Pigarez.

The judgement was pronounced exactly a year after the priest surrendered before the investigation team in Aluva.

"So by considering all these aspects, I am of the opinion that he doesn't deserve any leniency. He deserves maximum punishment prescribed by law and it should have a deterrent effect," said the judge.

The court observed that a Vicar of Church is viewed by general public in high esteem.

"He should be a model for believers and also for general public. He is expected to live a life which could be emulated by others. But contrary to that the first accused has misused his position as a vicar for the church," the judge said. Brother of the priest, 58-year-old Silvester Pigarez, was sentenced to one year simple imprisonment for assisting the accused to abscond after the Kerala High Court rejected the anticipatory bail plea of the priest in May last year.

A gynaecologist, Dr Ajitha, of a government hospital, who examined the girl while she was taken to the hospital by her mother following the incidents of sexual assault, was found guilty of not reporting the crime to police but let off under Section (3) of the Probation of Offenders Act after admonition.

In her complaint to the police, mother of the victim had alleged that her child was sexually assaulted by Pigarez in a church complex between January and March in 2015, mostly when she came for confession.

The girl's mother had alleged that the priest abused her daughter many times when she sought his services for confession.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India and Indonesia are likely to renew their bilateral defence cooperation agreement with enhanced features as Indonesian President Joko Widodo arrives next week and hold talks with the top leadership here.

He will be on a state visit from December 12 to 13 at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

This will be the first visit of President Widodo to India after assuming power in October, 2014.

Jokowi will be accompanied by his spouse, several Cabinet Ministers, senior officials and a 22-member high-level business delegation from Indonesia, a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs said.

Modi had yesterday offered all assistance to Indonesia which was hit by a powerful earthquake this week, killing nearly 100 people and causing widespread destruction.

Hundreds of houses and shops had been levelled by the quake, leaving countless people homeless and in need of basic supplies like food and water.

Joint Secretary (South) in the MEA Jaideep Mazumdar said both countries have deep cooperation in areas of trade, defence and security besides people to people ties.

He said the bilateral defence cooperation agreement is set to expire this month-end.

He said there would be an announcement to the future of this agreement during the visit.

The two navies have been carrying out Coordinated Patrols (CORPAT) on respective sides of the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) twice a year since 2002, with the aim of keeping this vital part of the Indian Ocean Region safe and secure for commercial shipping, international trade and legitimate marine activities.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A month after demonetisation, Rahul Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee today led a fresh opposition offensive against Narendra Modi, calling it a "foolish decision" and "one man-made economic disaster" even as the prime minister hailed the campaign as a 'Yagna' against corruption and black money.

As the exchanges between rival parties escalated both inside and outside Parliament over scrapping of high denomination notes, the BJP hit back at the Congress Vice- President, saying he was levelling baseless charges on almost daily basis to grab "headlines".

Leaders of opposition parties observed a 'Black Day' in Parliament premises in Delhi to mark one month of the announcement of demonetisation by Modi on November 8 with Gandhi launching a scathing attack on the prime minister, saying his "foolish decision" has "devastated" the country.

Besides Congress, leaders of all opposition parties including TMC, CPI(M), CPI, JD(U), Samajwadi Party joined the protest wearing black band on their arms.

"The prime minister took this so-called bold decision. The bold decision can also be a foolish decision. And this was a foolish decision, it has devastated the country. More than 100 people have died. Farmers, fishermen, daily wage earners have been hit hard," Gandhi told reporters.

Facing opposition onslaught, Modi took to Twitter to assert that the "short term pain" will pave the way for "long term gains" and insisted that farmers, traders and labourers stand to gain from this step.

In a series of tweets, Modi spoke about the benefits of demonetization and said the country has a "historic opportunity" to embrace increased cashless payments.

"I salute the people of India for wholeheartedly participating in this ongoing 'Yagna' against corruption, terrorism & black money," he said.

"Together, we must ensure #IndiaDefeatsBlackMoney. This will empower the poor, neo-middle class, middle class & benefit future generations," Modi added.

"I always said that the government's measure will bring a degree of inconvenience but this short term pain will pave way for long term gains," the prime minister added.

He said the decision has several gains for farmers, traders, labourers, "who are the economic backbone of our nation" and "no longer will the progress and prosperity of rural India be curtailed by corruption & black money. Our villages must get their due."



Holding the prime minister solely responsible for the "present economic disaster" in the country caused by demonetisation, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banejee said that the central government got "totally derailed" under the present prime minister.

"The PM doesn't trust anyone. There is no teamwork. He doesn't understand what is good for the country. He did not consult the experts. It is a one-man dictatorship. It is a one man-made disaster. It is a dangerous tendency," the TMC supremo told a press conference in Kolkata.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu hit out at the Congress-led opposition for observing the 'Black Day' against demonetisation, saying they are actually observing a "Black Money Support Day".

BJP National Secretary Shrikant Sharma alleged that Gandhi's charges against the Modi government are borne out of his incompetence and arrogance. "He is competing with Arvind Kejriwal in TRP politics by levelling baseless charges on almost daily basis. He is doing so merely for headlines.

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury held Modi "singularly responsible" for the "mess" in the economy due to demonetization.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Union Health Minister J P Nadda today asked people to dissuade the vendors from using newspapers for packing and serving food items, a day after the FSSAI asked authorities concerned of all states to take steps to restrict such practice.

"I request public to dissuade the vendors from using newspapers in packing and serving food & we have also issued an advisory to this effect," Nadda tweeted.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has asked food safety authorities of all states and Union Territories to take steps for restricting the use of newspapers for storing and packaging food items.

FSSAI also asked state authorities to create awareness among food business operators, especially unorganised ones, as well as consumers about harmful effects of using newspapers as packaging material for eatables.

"Commissioners of Food Safety of all States and Union Territories are requested to initiate a systematic campaign for generating awareness amongt all stakeholders to discourage the use of newspaper for packing, serving and storing of food items," the food safety regulatory authority had said in a letter.

It said use of newspapers for wrapping, packing and serving food, a common practice in India, "is a food safety hazards."



"Food contaminated by newspaper ink raise serious health concerns since the ink contains multiple bioactive materials with known negative health effects.

"Printing ink may also contain harmful colours, pigments, binders, additives and preservatives. Besides chemical contaminants, presence of pathogenic microorganisms in used newspapers also pose potential risk to human health," the letter said.

Informing that newspapers should not be used to wrap, cover and serve eatables or to absorb excess oil from fried food, the FSSAI said, "Suitable steps need to be taken to restrict and control the use of newspapers for packing of food material.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Arguing that ancient India's cosmological calculations were "the nearest" in tune with modern scientific ones, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today claimed earth came into existence 1.97 billion years ago.

There are different theories on when the earth came into existence, but the general belief is the earth was formed formed around 4.54 billion years ago.

Referring to renowned American astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, Carl Sagan, Singh said he also "accepted" that ancient Indian scriptures had information on earth's age.

He also claimed that noted German physicist Werner Heisenberg got the basic concept of theory on 'principles of uncertainty' during his discussion on vedas with Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

"When was the earth created? Some say, (earth came into existence) 25,000 years, some say 20,000 while some say 40,000 years ago).

"When Carl Sagan came up with a coded message...A Pioneer satellite with a coded message was sent to the solar system to know which is the oldest civilisation. So, the work of decoding the code was done by Carl Sagan," Singh said.

He noted that even Sagan once observed that ancient India's cosmological calculations were the nearest in tune with modern scientific calculations.

"(Even) he accepted that it is mentioned in the religious texts and literature of India, the earth came into existence 1.97 billion years ago. Sagan has accepted it," Singh said, adding that in ancient times India was a repository of scientific knowledge and temper.

He was speaking at the inauguration of The 2nd India International Science Festival, backed by the government's Ministry of Science & Technology and RSS-linked Vijnan Bharati.

The Home Minister also said he did not want India to become a 'super power', but a teacher to the world (vishwa guru).

"People get scarred to stand with powerful, but they one only experience love when it comes to standing with guru," the senior BJP leader said.

Singh, who worked as a lecturer of Physics, also said that nobel laureate Heisenberg, got the idea of basic uncertainty of principles while he was discussing vedas with Tagore.

"Heisenberg's friend wrote a book. In that when (Fritjof) Capra asked him from where did he get the concept of 'Principles of Uncertainty' he (Heisenberg) said, 'I got the concept of principles of uncertainty when I was discussing Vedas with Rabindranath Tagore'," Singh added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An Egyptian official says security forces have arrested the son of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

The official says that Osama Morsi was wanted by authorities, without providing further details. The state-run website Al-Ahram reported the arrest, saying Osama is accused of inciting violence.

The official says Osama, one of Morsi's five children, was led away from his house in the Nile Delta today. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to brief the press.

Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president, was overthrown by the military in 2013. He faces a raft of charges in at least four separate cases and has received death sentences from lower courts. He has not received family visits or had any access to lawyers for three years.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A 36-year-old Egyptian woman, believed to be the heaviest in world, is likely to be flown in here within next two weeks, where she will be treated by noted surgeon Muffazal Lakdawala to reduce the flab.

Interestingly, the procedural roadblocks in Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty's treatment were cleared following intervention by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who is herself admitted in AIIMS, Delhi for renal treatment, after Lakdawala tweeted her about the Egyptian's plight.

While Eman is said to be weighing 500 kg, the Guinness world records had listed US national Pauline Potter as weighing 290 kgs in 2010.

She will arrive in Mumbai for weight reduction treatment, hopefully in next couple of weeks.

"I have already received her medical reports and photographs. I think she weighs around 500 kg and her condition is very critical. Her systems would be performing on only 5 per cent efficiency; hence I am very careful with this case," Lakdawala told PTI today.

Another Egyptian national, who had been client of Lakdawala, had approached Eman's family after coming to know the family did not receive any support from national authorities despite request.

"I went through the papers of the woman and released that urgent treatment is required as she is very critical, now," the surgeon said.

About Swaraj's response, he said, "My client failed to get visa because she could not provide impressions of her finger prints as she is bed-ridden. Someone suggested me to tweet to the External Affairs Minister and I did so. To my surprise, I was contacted immediately and necessary documents were processed. Most of the clearances were given within hours."



However, what is worrying him the most is the cost of the treatment.

Being from a poor background, the family has been trying to raise funds for the surgery and travel expenses of Eman.

"All we need now is the arrangement of finances, as her treatment is not only costly but also it is going to take some 2-3 years. Efforts are on to raise funds for her," he said.

Lakdawala had performed bariatric surgeries on senior politicians like Nitin Gadkari and Venkaian Naidu.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Exim Bank (Export Import Bank) has extended a line of credit of USD 35 million to Republic of Guinea for construction and upgradation of hospitals.

Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) has entered into an agreement with the Government of Guinea for a line of credit of USD 35 million for construction and up gradation of regional hospitals at Kankan and Nzerekore in Guinea, RBI said in a release.

The goods, machinery, equipment, and services including consultancy services from India for exports under the agreement are eligible for export under the Foreign Trade Policy of India.

Out of the total credit by Exim Bank under this, goods and services including consultancy services of at least 75 per cent of contract price will be supplied by the seller from India.

The remaining 25 per cent goods and services may be procured by the seller from outside India.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Despite being slammed for his remarks backing Hurriyat Conference, an unfazed National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah today remained unapologetic for the controversial comments and said the people of the state are united for the final settlement of the long-pending dispute.

"Why should I apologize," he replied when asked by reporters here whether he regrets making the remarks asking his party cadres to support separatist Hurriyat Conference.

Abdullah said people of the state want a final settlement to the Kashmir dispute as it is they who are dying on both the sides of the Line of control (LoC) and the International Border (IB).

"Don't you want a settlement or do you want bombing on the border all the time? Do you want the innocent people to die? It is the citizen of Kashmir that is dying on both the sides of the border and we are united as we want a final settlement of the dispute," he added.

Abdullah said for an amicable solution, the government of India needs to hold talks with Pakistan besides all the stakeholders in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.

"How will you resolve the Kashmir issue without talking to Pakistan? The two countries have to talk to each other.The Centre also needs to hold talks with all the stakeholders in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh to find an amicable solution to the issue", he said.

Abdullah said while the BJP-PDP alliance in Jammu and Kashmir was holding talks with everybody including Hurriyat, he was being targeted for advocating holding of dialogues.

"Why are they blaming me? The ruling alliance PDP-BJP is holding talks with everybody. Their agenda of alliance also says that talks need to be held with Hurriyat also," he said.

Addressing his party workers at a function to commemorate the 111th birth anniversary of his father and party founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in Srinagar three days back, Abdullah had asked the Hurriyat leaders not to go separate ways.

"Be united and we are also standing with you. Do not think of us as your enemies, we are not. But we are not ready to tread the wrong path. So, I am telling you from this sacred place that you (Hurriyat) move forward, we are with you till your steps are on the right track and till you take this nation forward in a right manner," he said.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has slammed Abdullah for the remarks, saying National Conference can go to any extent for the sake of gaining power in the state.

(Reopen DES45)



To a question, Abdullah insisted that his remark was never anti-national and he wanted the dialogue process to start.

"Why do you say anti-India sentiment? Why do you blame Farooq Abdullah only? The government that is ruling today in Jammu and Kashmir of BJP and PDP has put in their Agenda of Alliance that Hurriyat has to be talked to.

"So are they anti-national? If BJP and PDP are saying that they (Hurriyat) have to be talked to, then they cannot be taking to anti-nationals. They must be nationalists that is why they are taking too," the former Chief Minister said.

He said all the stake holders, whether on the Indian side of Jammu and Kashmir or in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, have to be talked to.

"Here, India has to talk to all political parties whether in Jammu or Kashmir or Ladakh. There (on Pakistani side), they have to talk to people in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK), Baltistan, Skardu and Gilgit," he said.

With regard to his comment about being with the Hurriyat, Abdullah said, "We are united because we want final settlement of the state. Don't make a mistake about it, the settlement has not taken place. We want to talk to central government and what is wrong in it."



When pointed out that the Modi government has maintained that talks can be held only under the ambit of the Constitution of India, Abdullah said, "Unconditional talks have to be held. How will you hold talks with Pakistan? Are you going to tell them to talk under Indian Constitution? When Shimla Agreement or Tashkent or Lahore Agreement was signed, it was not signed under the constitution of India."



He said he was not worried about people filing cases against him.

Reacting to Mehooba's comments that NC would go to any extent to grab power, Abdullah said, "... I would like to answer it here. It was her father late Mufti Mohammed Sayeed who always played the game of buying and selling MLAs.

"Even in 2002 when we had 22 MLAs and he had 16, he tried to buy our MLAs. Let Mehbooba Mufti prove that NC or Farooq Abdullah ever bought or sold an MLA. We don't believe in turncoats."



He said even recently, 10 of Mehbooba's party MLAs had approached him, expressing keenness to join National Conference but he refused.

Rejecting the allegation that National Conference had a role in the present unrest, Abdullah said that neither he nor any worker of his party had ever pelted a stone or were involved in any bomb attack.

"Did she forget that NC has suffered the most casuality of its leaders and workers? NC workers don't pelt stones or throw bombs," he said.

On the statement of Hurriyat leaders asking the tourists to visit Kashmir, Abdullah said any normal citizen of Jammu and Kashmir would want the tourists to visit the valley as tourism was the backbone of the economy of the state.
Fashion designer and BJP spokesperson Saina N C has expressed wish to work for the development of JHARCRAFT (Jharkhand Silk Textile & Handicrafts Development Corporation Ltd.), an official release said today.

Her offer to work under CSR to take JHARCRAFT to a new height came when Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das met her in New Delhi, the release said today.

Jharkhand Industry and Mines Secretary Sunil Kumar Barnwal and Director of the Industry department K Ravi Kumar were present on the occasion.

During the day, the chief minister also separately called upon President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan in the national capital, the release said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Federal Bureau of Investigation of the USA is set to interrogate arrested ISIS and JMB terrorist Mohammed Musiruddin alias Musa, an NIA official said here today.

The FBI team has already arrived in the city and is scheduled to grill Musiruddin from tonight, the official confirmed on condition of anonymity.

A city court today granted the NIA custody of Musa, who was in judicial custody for two days.

The official said the NIA, having entered the concluding part of their probe, was on the verge of filing a chargesheet in the case.

The West Bengal CID had arrested Musa from Viswabharati Fast Passenger train at Burdwan station in July this year.

According to CID, Musa, a resident of Labhpur in West Bengal's Birbhum district, has links to terror groups Islamic State (ISIS) and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

Musa during interrogation had allegedly admitted to having links with top ISIS leaders and the JMB through e-mails, social networking sites and mobile calls.

During a joint interrogation by the CID, NIA and IB, Musiruddin had reportedly admitted to his connection to Amjad Sheikh, an alleged key member of the JMB, arrested in 2014 in connection with the Khagragarh twin blast case.

A sharp weapon and an air gun were seized from Musiruddin after he was arrested by the Burdwan railway police and the state police on inputs from the NIA.

CID sources said the NIA sleuths had been keeping an eye on Musiruddin for quite some time. The suspected terrorist was residing at Tamil Nadu's Tiruppur district.

Sleuths were of the opinion that Musa was most likely a part of the terrorist attack in Dhaka's Holey Artisan Bakery restaurant in July this year.

Burdwan district entered the terror map in October, 2014 when two suspected JMB terrorists were killed while making improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at a rented house in Khagragarh locality of Burdwan.

The NIA arrested a mechanical engineering student on suspicion of being a terrorist from Durgapur in March, this year. Another person, suspected to be a Bangladeshi militant, was also arrested from Asansol later.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two people were killed and three injured in a mishap caused by low visibility, as a thick blanket of fog enveloped several places in Uttar Pradesh, affecting normal life.

The mishap took place in Mirzapur district when three trucks collided with each other due to poor visibility.

Ateek (30) and Umesh (28) died on the spot while the injured were rushed to a hospital in Mirzapur, police said.

According to the Met department, moderate to dense fog enveloped most places in Uttar Pradesh, affecting normal life.

Moderate fog occurred at most places with very dense fog at isolated places in the state, the department said.

Night temperatures fell in Meerut division, Kanpur, Bareilly and changed little elsewhere.

The lowest minimum temperature in the state was recorded at Meerut where the mercury dropped to 7.5 degrees Celsius.

The Met department has forecast dry weather and dense fog at most places.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The External Affairs Ministry today informed the Madras High court that the formal consecration ceremony of the newly-built St. Anthony's church at Katchatheevu islet in Sri Lanka would take place along with the annual festival next March.

The court's Madurai bench had directed the Centre to file its views on a PIL on permitting Tamil Nadu pilgrims to attend the consecration ceremony, which was scheduled to be held yesterday but had been postponed to a later date on account of the demise of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

Head of MEA Branch Secretariat T Angeline Premalatha submitted that Lankan church officials only proposed to hold thanksgiving service for workers who helped build the church adjacent to the existing one. It was not a formal ceremony and even Sri Lankan pilgrims had not been invited.

"The formal ceremony would be held during the annual St. Anthony's church festival in March 2017. At that time both Indian and Sri Lankan pilgrims will be present," she said.

She also said the list of 20 people who will be attending on behalf of Tamil Nadu fishermen had been proposed by the Rameswaram Bishop, and invitation had been extended by the Jaffna Bishop for thanksgiving function.

The MEA had only provided a 'no objection certificate' to those 20 people for attending the function so that Indian coast guard could liaise with the Lankan navy for arrangements for the visit.

She also said as per the 1974 agreement, Indian fishermen and pilgrims "enjoyed access to Katchatheevu and will not be required to obtain travel documents or visa."



She said for the annual festival, infrastructural arrangements had to be made in the island and the Sri Lankan government would arrange temporary facilities at the time for which funding would be extended by government of India.

Whenever a large group visited the Katchatheevu island, infrastructural arrangements had to be made in advance, at least two weeks before, she submitted.

A division bench of justices A Selvam and P Kalaiarasan asked on what basis 20 people had been selected by the Rameswaram bishop and directed that he be impleaded in the case and posted the case for hearing on December 19.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
As the government and the judiciary exchange barbs over rising vacancies in courts, a Parliamentary committee today recommended increasing the retirement age of Supreme Court judges and fixing a "minimum tenure" for the Chief Justice of India and chief justices of high courts to ease shortage.

In its report tabled today, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Personnel was critical of the government and the judiciary for not sticking to timelines to fill up vacancies in high courts.

Seeking to make the present system of appointment of judges more transparent, the committee said the SC Collegium should inform the candidates whose name it has rejected on a particular ground.

It said the government also rejects the recommendations of the collegium "without furnishing cogent reasons...Such practices are against the principles of natural justice and leads to opaqueness in the appointment process".

On the issue of hiking the retirement age of SC judges from the present 65 to 67 years, it said the retirement age has remained unchanged since India became a Republic. The retirement age of high court judges was increased fro 60 to 62 in 1963.

Referring to the short tenures the CJI and chief justices of high courts often have, the panel said in the last 20 years, 17 Chief Justices of India have been appointed and out of those, only three had tenure of more than two years.

"Many of them had tenure of even less than one year," it observed.

It said chief justice of high courts in most cases get appointed for a less than two years term. Some of the chief justices also get elevated to the bench of Supreme Court, further shortening their tenure in high courts.

"In many cases, the post of Chief Justice are not filled-



up simultaneously and acting Chief Justice, appointed as a stop-gap arrangement, does not often take decision about names to be recommended to the Union Government/Supreme Court collegium for filling-up of vacancies in that High Court," the panel said taking a grim view.

It said that ensuring a minimum tenure may resolve the issue and asked the Law Ministry "to consider ways so that a Chief Justice in the High Courts and in the Supreme Court remains in position for a certain minimum tenure".

It also said that instead of five, a minimum of 11 judges of the Supreme Court should hear cases involving the validity of a Constitutional amendment.

It also recommended the cases involving the interpretation of Constitution should not be heard by a Bench of less than 7 judges.
Patton, a Goldendoodle and an offspring of American military hero canines who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, has emerged as the front-runner to be America's 'first dog'.

Lois Pope, a prominent philanthropist and long-time friend of Donald Trump, told Fox that she is confident her puppy will be picked to serve as a "companion and protector" to the president-elect's 10-year-old son, Barron.

Pope, an advocate for veterans and animal welfare, said she sent Trump a note about the 9-week-old golden retriever and poodle mix and then showed him a photo while at Trump's Mar-A-Lago home on Thanksgiving.

"I walked up and showed him a picture of the dog and he said, 'Show it to Barron, he'll want him,'" Pope was quoted as saying.

Pope then presented the pooch's photo to Trump's youngest child, she said.

"He had the biggest smile. That smile said everything," Pope said of Barron.

"It brought tears to my eyes. I thought this will give him the solace he needs. He has to make a dramatic transition to a new home and new friends in Washington. The dog will be a companion and a protector," she said.

The Trump transition team has said Barron and his mother, Melania, will remain living at their New York City residence through the end of the school year before moving into the White House.

The Goldendoodle -- whose parents served in the U.S. military, according to Pope -- was named after World War II Gen. George Patton, whom Trump has praised as one of the greatest military leaders in American history.

Pope launched an extensive, nationwide search for the best dog to join the Trump family, which she said, to her knowledge, does not own any pets.

"He (Patton) comes from a lineage of hero dogs that served in Iraq and Afghanistan," she said. "And he has the perfect disposition."



US presidents have a long history of keeping pets at the White House. Bo, a playful Portuguese water dog, joined the Obama family in 2009.

Obama's predecessor, George W Bush, had several animals, including Barney, a Scottish terrier, Miss Beazley, a puppy of the same breed, and India "Willie" the cat.

Other presidential pets include Bill Clinton's chocolate Labrador retriever, Buddy, and George H W Bush's Springer Spaniel, Millie.

Though there was no official word from the Trump transition team about whether Patton will join the president-elect's family, Pope said she is optimistic the Trumps will adopt the puppy.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Government today said it has already infused funds to the tune of Rs 23,993 crore in the National flag carrier Air India from 2011-12 till November this year.

Air India is surviving on a Rs 30,231 crore bailout package extended by the previous UPA government in 2012 for a 10-year period and also equity support for payment of principal/interest of the non-convertible debentures.

The financial support approved under the airline's turn around plan/financial restructuring plan include induction of upfront equity of Rs 6,750 crore, equity for cash deficit support of Rs 4,552 crore from FY 2012-13 to FY 2017-18 as well as equity for already guaranteed aircraft loan of Rs 18,929 crore till Fy 2012.

"An amount of Rs 23,993 crore has already been released as equity support to Air India from the period of FY 2011-12 to the end of November, 2016," Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

In reply to another question, the Minister said that the total outstanding loans on Air India were Rs 46,570,35 crore as on September 30 this year.

Replying to another question, Raju said that the gross value of the fixed assets (including surplus assets) of the company (Air India ) as on March 31, 2016 stood at Rs 46,074.07 crore, where as the long-term borrowing were Rs 35,806-crore.

However, the company has been constantly improving its operational and financial performance under the implementation of TAP, he said in reply to a question.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BJP President Amit Shah today welcomed the steps taken by the government to introduce cashless transactions and said these show its long-term vision to curb black money after demonetisation and incentivise digital transactions.

"Government has shown long-term vision with a series of concerted strategic steps taken after demonetisation to strangle corruption and black money.

"The announcements made today by our government will go a long way in incentivising digital transactions and less cash economy. The cashless transactions will increase convenience, make sure that the poor get their right and harness technology for a modern India," he said.

In a statement, the BJP chief said the announcements are a big step towards cashless transactions and economy.

"This shows the government's sensitivity towards according preference to farmers and villages. The party welcomes the steps," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The government and the All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board today hailed the observations of the Allahabad High Court on triple talaq as a welcome step, but the All India Muslim Personal Law Board was dismissive, saying the Supreme Court will deliver the final verdict.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray cautioned that the issue of triple talaq should not go the way of Shah Bano case due to vote bank politics.

Welcoming the judgement, Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said women should get justice and everyone agrees to it.

Shaista Ambar, chairperson of All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board, who had earlier expressed reservations over a uniform civil code, today said the practice of triple talaq was "unjustified".

"It is an atrocity...No law of Allah tolerates atrocity," she said.

Amber hoped that Muslim women will get justice based on the Constitution as well as Islamic laws.

Minister of State for Women and Child Development Krishna Raj said, "Nobody understood the agony of women. Today, the High Court has taken a welcome step. It will help boost the morale of women."



But the AIMPLB seemed dismissive of the high court's observations. Its member Kamal Farooqui said the matter of triple talaq is already before the Supreme Court. "So that will be the judgement."



He said the issue of triple talaq is not restricted to Muslims alone. "It is the question of all those religious entities who have been given guarantee under the Constitution to follow their own faith and religion," he said.

Thackeray said the observations should be respected. "It has a lot of importance for the country. Due to vote bank politics, the issue (of triple talaq) should not go the Shah Bano case way," he cautioned.

The court has observed that "divorce is permissible in Islam only in case of extreme emergency. When all efforts for effecting a reconciliation have failed, the parties may proceed to a dissolution of marriage by Talaq or by Khola".

It has held that triple talaq is "cruel" and raised a question whether the Muslim Personal law could be amended to alleviate the sufferings of Muslim women.

(REOPENS DEL38)



Union minister Naidu said that the Constitution was



"supreme" and justice should be done with the women of the country without discrimination.

"This is a settled fact. Constitution is supreme. Religion is a belief. Law which has been made under the Constitution, everybody should abide by it. I am feeling elated by the observation of the high court. I am satisfied because justice should happen with the women of the country. And there should be no discrimination," he said.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju maintained that it was a "welcome observation".

JD(U) spokesperson K C Tyagi, while welcoming the high court observation, cautioned the government against bringing in the uniform civil code in the light of it.

"We respect the observation of the court. No religious binding is above the Constitution. But our Constitution does allow us to perform our religious rituals according to our own religion. We respect it and we want to warn the government, in the light of triple talaq, they must not impose uniform civil code on the minority community," Tyagi said.

BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj said that India is the largest democracy and discrimination between women and men is injustice.

"I want to express my gratitude to the HC that it has given such an observation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also said that time has come to put an end to triple talaq. I think under no circumstance, saying talaq, talaq, talaq and getting talaq is acceptable," he said.

Asked if this would become a political issue, he said that his party does not want to make it a political issue as its motto is 'sabka saath, sabka vikas'.

"But I am thankful to those Muslim women who have stood up for their own rights and have gone to courts and are demonstrating. We should all support them," he said.

BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi said that it was a "fantastic" observation and noted that the fight is being fought by some women from the Muslim community who are against triple talaq.

"The fight is within the community by the women who are affected by such derogatory practices. All those people who are doing politics in the name of religion and are denying the human rights to the women of their own community, let me reiterate that this is the law which was enunciated by the court before Shah Bano, after Shah Bano and now," she said.

"I really wish that wisdom prevails, as all these people who are running their shops in the name of religion should shut their shops because it is for the betterment of their community, their sisters and mothers," she said.
Greenland may have been ice-free more than a million years ago, with its bare bedrock exposed for 280,000 years, scientists have found.

During this time, the island's overall ice cover may have dropped by more than 90 per cent.

Previous studies suggested that Greenland's ice shrank in the distant past, but for the first time scientists found how long Greenland endured without its usual frozen cover.

The discovery hints that its surface ice was more variable than once thought - which does not bode well for its future stability in a warming world, researchers said.

Researchers gathered data from isotopes, beryllium 10 and aluminium 26, extracted from bedrock minerals.

The isotopes are produced only by cosmic rays, which means that they only occur when the rock that holds them is exposed. These offer clues about when rocks were bare of ice and for how long.

These isotopes originated in the only rocky core ever extracted from land underneath Greenland ice, drilled at the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) summit in 1993.

Minerals from this solitary core are second only to moon rocks in their rarity and importance, as they are the only existing evidence of Greenland's extant bedrock, according to Joerg Schaeffer, from the Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in the US.

When this core was first examined decades ago, researchers were able to detect isotopes in the sediment produced by cosmic rays, but their equipment was not sensitive enough to gather precise climate data, Schaeffer told 'Live Science'.

In order to get to the isotopes, researchers dissolved minerals with acid so they could observe the atoms.

The research was published in the journal Nature.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Refuting allegations by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the purchase of huge tracts of land by BJP ahead of demonetisation, Siddharth Nath Singh today said it was a decision taken by BJP two years ago to buy land for building party offices in each district of the country.

The BJP national secretary also urged Banerjee to stop "harbouring perceptions" about the hardships caused due to demonetisation.

"She should stop hallucinating that hardships are being caused by demonetisation. When the entire country had supported demonetisation, she is opposing it for her vested interests. She should stop blabbering lies, false statements and canards," he said.

Terming the allegations raised by Banerjee that the BJP had brought huge land assets months before demonetisation move as "baseless", Singh said the Chief Minister should first look into the assets of her own party colleagues, who have "amassed fortunes by siphoning off money in chit fund scams".

"The allegations are completely baseless. We have proper papers for everything. Secondly, the decision to buy land was taken by our party leadership two years back. We had then decided that we needed to have party offices in every district of the country. So in order to build a party office, you need to have land," Singh reasoned.

Reacting to Banerjee's claim that a financial emergency had been imposed and that the country was being run in an "arbitrary way", the BJP leader asked, "She is questioning Prime Minister, but what is her credibility?"



Banerjee had demanded a probe by a Supreme Court judge into the assets bought by BJP months before demonetisation was announced. She had said there were "reports and proof" of how the BJP purchased the huge tracts of land and deposited large amounts of money in accounts held by it before ban on old high-value bills was announced on November 8.

The TMC supremo had also staged a sit-in in Delhi on November 23 and met President Pranab Mukherjee on the issue.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Haryana government today signed an MoU with Jaipur-based Narayana Hrudayalaya and Fortis Hospital Mohali to provide children suffering from congenital heart disease (CHD) free quality care and surgical services.

"An agreement was signed today between the Haryana Government, Jaipur-based Narayana Hrudayalaya and Fortis Hospital Mohali," an official release said here.

Children diagnosed with congenital cardiac disease will be provided paediatric cardiac surgeries under the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK), it said.

The MoU was signed by the Mission Director National Health Mission Haryana Saket Kumar on behalf of the state government.

The release quoting Kumar said Gurugram-based Artemis Hospital has been empanelled with the state for this purpose.

To avail benefits under RBSK parents should approach District Early Intervention Centres. The manager or coordinators will support them in screening and confirming health condition of children and if required will process all papers for treatment at state-run and private hospitals, Kumar said.

"The parents will get a permission letter from the health mission against which they will receive treatment on cashless basis at empanelled hospitals," he said.

CHD is the most common birth defect and has substantial contribution in neonatal, infant and under-five mortality rates. Many babies are born with critical CHD succumb in their first year, Kumar said.

He said under RBSK many children with CHD are waiting for treatment at government hospitals as only some have the specialised service.

Therefore, it is expected of private hospitals to provide timely access to surgeries to children and contribute to reducing mortality rates, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Haryana government is finalizing a new Communication and Connectivity Policy in consultation with telecom tower companies with a view to provide a major push to telecom and communication infrastructure in the state.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today held a meeting here to discuss the operational issues and other guidelines concerning the new policy.

He directed officers of the Electronics and Information Technology Department to incorporate the suggestions made by the telecom tower companies while finalizing the new policy.

The meeting was attended by representatives of major telecom tower companies, an official release said.

The chief minister said that the state government was making concrete efforts to encourage the use of latest technology in the telecom and communication sector.

"We want to connect every village of the state with Internet and offer latest technology on a par with the urban areas to facilitate rural citizens," he said.

"Uninterrupted communication system through technology advancements should be developed in the entire state so that people can get all kinds of digital facilities, which would give a big push to cashless transactions in the state," Khattar added.

Khattar directed the officers that permissions and clearances for setting up telecom towers should be made time-bound and given through a single roof system under the ambit of the Electronics and Information Technology Department.

The proposed policy would bring about uniformity in the rules for laying telecom and communication infrastructure in the state.

It was felt that in the absence of policy, various local bodies have been shutting down telecom towers for different reasons, including non-payment of fee and taxes.

The chief minister also said that such towers would not be disconnected until the new policy is finalized.

He sought details of the infrastructure created by the telecom tower companies both in rural and urban areas.

An offer to set up telecom towers on government properties was also made at the meeting, the release said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Calcutta High Court today directed the CBI to constitute a special investigation team (SIT) headed by a joint director to hasten the probe into the murder of a jeweller nine years ago.

Hearing a petition filed by the brother of the deceased seeking directions to CBI, which has been investigating the murder since 2009, for speeding up the probe, Justice Samapti Chatterjee directed the agency to form an SIT.

The SIT would be headed by a joint director of the agency, Justice Chatterjee said.

The court ordered CBI to file a report on progress of the investigation on February 24, 2017, when the matter would be taken up for hearing again.

In 2007, Sukanta Ghosh, a jeweller of Barrackpur in North 24 Parganas district, was murdered. His brother Amit Ghosh moved the high court seeking a CBI probe, claiming that the state police was not properly conducting the investigation.

The matter was handed over to CBI for investigation in 2009.

Amit moved the high court again yesterday praying for a direction to CBI to expedite the probe.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Lt Governor Najeeb Jung today called upon students to help the country in achieving newer heights and said their "dynamism is trusted by the nation".

He congratulated the degree recipients at the annual convocation of Delhi Technological University (DTU), and said, "This country needs services of bright students like you to take it to further heights."



Jung awarded Chancellor's Medals to overall toppers of undergraduate and post graduate courses. A total of 4,167 degrees were awarded to B.Tech, M.Tech and MBA students of 2015-2016 batches.

84 gold medals, including the Chancellor's Medal, the Vice Chancellor's Gold Medal, were awarded to students. Twenty-eight PhD degrees were also awarded.

Vice Chancellor of DTU, Prof Yogesh Singh, told students to "not look outside for role models and be one themselves".

The convocation address was delivered by Professor H P Dikshit, Director General of School of Good Governance and Policy Analysis.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Income Tax officials today said they have post-demonetisation uncovered several cases of fraud including one wherein a syndicate was exchanging old currency notes for 35 per cent commission.

They also found a case in Nagpur where a large sum of money was deposited in a bank account without the knowledge of the account holder and seven accounts were being fraudulently operated by unknown persons to launder Rs 4.25 crore.

Central Board of Direct Taxes said some investigations at Mumbai found that a syndicate of ground level operators was converting banned currency notes into legal tenders for a commission.

As part of the operation, Income Tax Investigation Directorate sent out a few decoy customers seeking to exchange banned currency notes into new notes.

"The syndicate, acting through its mediator, agreed to the exchange for a 35 per cent commission. The mediator was caught red handed and new currency notes aggregating to Rs 29.5 lakh were seized," the CBDT said in a press release.

Another investigation into cash deposits in a bank account in Nagpur revealed that the account holder had no knowledge of the existence of her account where Rs 3.29 crore had been deposited after November 8.

Enquiries by the Department revealed 6 more such accounts in her and her parents' names. The 7 accounts were opened and operated by unknown persons to launder cash of Rs 4.25 crore.

"Evidences gathered suggest that copies of PAN and other personal documents that she handed over to a friend few years back were used to fraudulently open these accounts in Kolkata, which were operated to channel suspicious funds to 8 beneficiaries, who are now being investigated," CBDT said.

In Ahmedabad, the I-T sleuths uncovered 24 cartons in the godown of the transporter meant for transport to Delhi were found. Lorry receipts declared these to contain fire crackers.

When the cartons were opened and examined, two cartons were found to conceal currencies in the denomination of Rs 100 aggregating Rs 27 lakhs.

On interrogation, the consigner claimed that the cash was on account of sale of fire crackers being transported to Delhi for purchase of fire crackers. The cash has been seized, CBDT said.

Post the demonetisation of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes on November 8, the tax department has been extensively conducting search and seizure operations to unearth black money.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The tour guide, who is accused of raping a US national in a five-star hotel in Connaught Place earlier this year, has told police the victim gave "positive feedback" in the tour company form and mentioned nothing about the sexual assault.

However, before she approached an NGO with her complaint, she had brought the matter to the notice of the tour company that had arranged her visit to India and an internal inquiry had found nothing amiss, the tour guide told police during interrogation.

Yesterday, the guide joined investigation after returning from Nepal and denied his involvement in the incident.

"He has given his defence. He told police that she had given a positive feedback in the form given by tour company. Even after the alleged incident, she accompanied rest of the tourists to Agra, Jaipur and didn't mention anything to fellow tourists, he told police during interrogation," said a senior police officer.

She had complained about the incident to the travel agency but their internal inquiry didn't find anything amiss.

Police will contact the company and take the feedback forms and the inquiry report, said the officer.

Police have questioned 11 suspects till now. "The men are in their late thirties. The main accused is the tour guide. We have established the presence of all the suspects in hotel. But there is confusion, as to who among the attendants are the accused since her description is a bit unclear on this. The suspects have been asked not to leave the city," said the officer.

There are also some missing links in her statement and the version given by accused.

"She has agreed to come to India this month. If she returns to record her statement in a court in front of a magistrate, that will help the case and lead to arrests," said the officer.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Young girls of the Kanjar community, a nomadic tribe in Rajasthan, are pushed into prostitution by none other than their parents before they attain adulthood, an exploitative tradition which authorities are now taking up cudgels against.

Under the age-old tradition called 'Chaari Pratha', parents sell off their daughters for lakhs of rupees and at several times even mortgage them for a specific period of time.

Those raising their voice against the custom incur the wrath of 'Panchs' of the community who impose heavy fines amounting to lakhs.

Seeking to put an end to the 'pratha', the district legal literacy cell and anti-human trafficking cell in Rajasthan's Bundi district yesterday held a meeting with around 150 community members, including women and youth, from three Kanjar-dominated villages - Ramnagar, Shankarpura and Mohanpura.

Efforts would be initiated to take action against the 'Panchs' of the community and to check the Chaari Pratha, said Kaniz Fatima, the Circle In-charge at the anti-human trafficking cell of Bundi district.

With their women sold off, mostly in states like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, a large number of males of the socially downtrodden and ostracised community are forced to remain bachelors, the official said.

Fatima said measures would be taken to ensure the marriage of such youths under government schemes.

At least eight women forced into prostitution, most of them underage, were recently rescued from Shankarpura and one other place in Bundi, Fatima said. The rescued girls had been sold for lakhs of rupees by their parents and some of them were even sold twice or thrice, she said.

The fine imposed by the Panchs always amounts to lakhs, Fatima said, making them richer and more powerful.

Jyoti, a BA student of the community present at the meeting, said the its people can be brought to the mainstream if action is taken to check the exploitative practice and 'Panchs' are suitably punished.

According to Chaya Saxena, a counsellor at the women security cell of the women police station in the area, awareness for education and legal remedies is absent among the Kanjar community. She said the Panchs in the Kanjar community are stronger than the Panchs of Khap Panchyats in Haryana.

Circle In-charge Fatima said similar meetings would be organised time to time in Kanjar community populated areas of the district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Aiming to boost economic ties between India and Arab countries, the 5th India-Arab Partnership Conference will be held in Muscat and Oman.

The two-day conference, to be held from December 14, will be organised by the Oman Foreign Ministry, Arab League Secretariat in association with the Ministry of External Affairs in India.

Other collaboration partners include the Federation of Arab Businessmen (FAB) and the General Union of Arab Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Agriculture (GUCCIA).

"The most important part of the partnership conference is economic cooperation and to build business to business links," India's Ambassador to Cairo Sanjay Bhattacharyya said.

The theme of the conference this year is 'Partnership towards innovation and cooperation in Information Technology'.

He said the conference will have ministerial representation both from the Indian and Arab side.

About 500 Arab and Indian government officials, academicians, businessmen and investors are expected to take part in the conference, according to the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) is the coordinating chamber of commerce from the Indian side and their partner will be the Oman Chamber of Commerce, Bhattacharyya said.

The nine other chambers from the Arab States will also participate in the conference.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Thanking the Centre for extending a special package to Made-ups sector, Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF), a textile industry body in the region today said with estimated size of 96 Billion USD of global home textile market, India can outperform China in the coming years with this support measure.

This measure, on the back of the special package for apparel sector, will help to increase the market share of home textile market globally, ITF Secretary, Prabhu Dhamodharan said in a statement here.

For the past few years, Made-Ups exports was in uptrend on year on year basis particularly India's share in USA market increasing steadily with the current share of 17 per cent, he said.

With this enhanced duty drawback rates to cover State levies along with increase in capital subsidy and reforms in labor laws, the industry can expect a solid growth in investments in this sector, Prabhu said.

Stating that the growth of made ups sector was directly linked with the Indian SME weaving sector, he said that many weaving clusters can grow and upgrade to next level of technology parallelly.

"We are extremely happy to witness continuous focus and support by the government to various segments of textile manufacturing sector and industry is confident of creating further huge employment opportunities to many rural youths particularly women and textile sector will be the ideal example for success of "Make In India," Prabhu said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan today accused India of being "defiant and intransigent" to resumption of talks and said any bilateral dialogue should be result-oriented leading to the resolution of the Kashmir issue.

Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said talks with India should not be for the sake of it but result-oriented and sustainable and regretted that despite a number of gestures by Pakistan, "India remains defiant and intransigent to resumption of dialogue," according to a Radio Pakistan report.

Pakistan believes the international community has a role to play in the resolution of the Kashmir dispute and welcomes US Vice President-elect Mike Pence's statement on mediation on the issue.

Pence had told an American network that US President-elect Donald Trump can use his "extraordinary deal-making skills" to lessen tensions and solve problems around the world when he was asked whether Trump can be a mediator in deciding Kashmir.

Pakistan has previously welcomed the statements of Trump, the UN secretary-general and friendly countries such as China and Iran, Zakaria said.

He said India has so far denied undertaking any fact-finding mission to Kashmir but the international community will have to make New Delhi accept such demands.

The Foreign Office spokesperson condemned "blatant human rights violations" by Indian security forces in Kashmir.

On a question of India's focus on purchasing arms for its forces, he said the "consequent conventional asymmetry" due to the action poses threat to regional peace and stability.

He said Pakistan does not want to indulge in arms race and believes scarce resources of the region should be devoted to socio-economic uplift of the people.

About the recently-concluded Heart of Asia Conference in Amritsar, which was attended by Pakistan Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs, Zakaria said India resorted to negativity during the meeting to hide its crimes in Kashmir.

"This also exposed India's claims of commitment to the prospects of peace in Afghanistan as it misused a platform meant for promoting peace and stability in the war torn country," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India is lagging behind in leveraging (IPRs), Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Chairman Najib Shah today said and urged businesses to register their patent rights to fight against the menace of counterfeits and piracy.

He also stressed on cooperation among key stakeholders for better enforcement of IPRs.

"India has been a little behind, perhaps,in leveraging in IPR and it has become an impediment," Shah said addressing an event on 'Illicit cross-border trade in goods: impact on economy and consumers' organised by industry body Ficci.

IPRs help to fight counterfeit and pirated trade, which has affected the entire economy and consumer welfare and safety, he said.

Emphasizing the need to create awareness about IPR, CBEC chief said, "We have repeatedly pointed out about the lack of enthusiasm in registering of IPRs by businesses. They need to take proactive steps. We have been encouraging. Unfortunately, the interest is very sporadic."



In this backdrop, cooperation among key stakeholders is required for better enforcement of IPRs. That apart, there has to be a close cooperation among enforcement agencies within the country and internationally, he said.

"Growth of illicit trade through e-commerce is a new challenge, which also needs urgent attention. Unchecked, it will continue to multiply," he added.

Shah also said that the government has come out with user-friendly online platform for registration of IPRs. So far, 900 registrations have been done.

Noting that counterfeit or smuggling is impacting 'Brand India' globally, Consumer Affairs Secretary Hem Pande said, "However enforcement is a key challenge. There is lack of sufficient resources. It is low on priority by enforcement agencies..."



Addressing these issues cannot be done in isolation. It is a joint responsibility of consumers, enforcement agencies, the industry and the government, he added.

On the occasion, the report on 'Invisible Enemy, a threat to national interests' prepared by Ficci Cascade was released.

According to the report, the seizures by Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) remained highest in five goods -- gold, cigarettes, machinery parts, fabric/silk yarn, and electronic items in last two years.

Ficci Cascade Chairman Anil Rajput said that illicit trade remains a formidable adversary for the nation.

"The root cause of this is sometimes a policy framework that incentivises unscrupulous elements to take advantage and make inroads in the system. This encourages anti-social elements to dictate terms to the supply chain and create havoc for the public at large," he said.

To curb illicit trade, the Ficci report recommended rationalisation of tariffs, better coordination among smuggling enforcement agencies, electronic tracking system and strengthening of risk management capabilities of customs department.

It also suggested stringent punishment, leveraging technology and boosting innovation as also capacity building of human resources at customs.
India imported solar and photovoltaic cells worth about USD 826 million from China in the first six months of the current fiscal, which is over 87 per cent of the country's total such imports.

India's total imports of these cells were worth USD 948.88 million, including USD 825.98 million from China, constituting 87.05 per cent, during the April-September period of 2016-17, New & Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal stated in a written reply to Lok Sabha today.

India had imported USD 2,344.56 million worth of cells last fiscal, out of which USD 1,960.26 million was from China constituting 83.61 per cent of the total.

In 2014-15, the proportion of solar and photovoltaic cells imports from China was 73.49 per cent of the total imports at USD 603.34 million. India imported solar cells and photovoltaic cells worth USD 820.95 million in that fiscal.

Goyal informed the house that India does not have enough manufacturing capacity currently for cells and modules to cover its full demand.

He further said that the development of solar power in the country is taking place with indigenous as well as imported solar equipment and components.

In order to make National Solar Mission (NSM) a success, he said, the government has launched several schemes and is providing benefits to indigenous manufacturers including concessional excise and custom duties.

It is also providing capital subsidy for setting up of manufacturing units for solar cells and modules and the entire value chain under Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (M-SIPS) programme of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

"The government is supporting domestic solar PV manufacturing by various means and incentives. However, there is no exclusive national policy to develop indigenous solar power manufacturing in the country," Goyal said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India and the United States today vowed to expand the bilateral defence cooperation as outgoing American Defence Secretary Ashton Carter met his counterpart Manohar Parrikar here for the record breaking seventh time and termed New Delhi as a "major defence partner".

"Thank you my friend," Carter told Parrikar as both met at the South Block here.

Carter said that this is the seventh meeting that he was having meeting with Parrikar. "He is the Defence Minister with whom I have met for the maximum number of times," he said emphasising the importance that US puts on its ties with India.

During the meeting, which was more of a thanksgiving one, Carter said, "Today our defence relationship takes a major step as we designate India as a major defence partner.

A powerful US Congressional conference committee had on November 30 asked Carter and the Secretary of State to take steps necessary to recognise India as America's major defence partner in a bid to strengthen bilateral security cooperation.

The provision mentioned in the voluminous Congressional conference report, running into more than 3,000 pages, on USD 618 billion National Defence Authorisation Bill (NDAA), also asked the Defence Secretary and the Secretary of State for an assessment of the extent to which India possesses capabilities to support and carry out military operations of mutual interest of the two countries.

It now needs to be formally passed by the two chambers of the Congress -- the House of Representatives and Senate -- before US President Barack Obama can sign it into law.

Meanwhile, Parrikar said he appreciated Carter's strong commitment to defence partnership.

"It is not an exaggeration that our defence relations are a major driver in our bilateral relations," he said adding Carter's conceptualisation of the Defence Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI) shows his interest in bilateral defence cooperation.

Parrikar said he was happy to see conclusion of discussion on major defence partnership.

"During our meeting over the last few years, we have agreed on practical exchanges such as LMEOA," the Defence Minister said.

He added, "I am confident that the defence cooperation will expand on the foundation you have built".

Carter replied saying that both countries have more to do in the years ahead.

"I am proud of what we have achieved my friend," he said.

US President-elect Donald Trump has nominated James Mattis, a retired 4-star Marine Corps general, for the post of the US Defence Secretary.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen today said she sometimes felt that "Indian secularists are very selective."



"..They fight against Hindu fanatics, but very silent about Islamic fanaticism," said Nasreen, who is in the city as part of launching her latest book 'Exile', a memoir, here.

"I think secularism is practised in India. But, sometimes I feel, Indian secularists are very selective...."



"I protest against all types of fundamentalism and I think that is the good way to do it," she said at an interaction with the audience.

Stating that she was forced to leave her country, she said "after long years of exile, now I believe that people who love me, support me, express solidarity, secularists and human right activists are my home and country...You are my home and you are my country," she said, amid cheers from the audience.

Asked about "Islamophobia" in some Western countries, she said the situation was alarming and "I think secular, humanist, peace loving Muslims should fight the extreme right wings and also the Islamic terrorist."



In this regard, the writer said she was against US president-elect Donald Trump, who she said got elected only because of his speeches "against Muslims". "There are many peace loving Muslims and their percentage is much higher than those who advocate Islamic terrorism," she pointed out.

The writer, who resided in West Bengal for a long period after her exile from Bangladesh, said she failed to understand why she was "kicked out" of that state by then Left front government.

"Some writers in West Bengal also wanted me to leave that state. I do not know why they said that. Some time I wonder why do they do that," she said while giving details of her journey from one country to another.

On criticism about her work that it lacked 'literature', she said "my books are read by ordinary people. I am not greedy for any big prize, award..."



Later talking to reporters, she welcomed the Allahabad high court observation on triple talaq and said "it is high time that India abolished it."



The writer also batted for a uniform civil code and said every citizen should follow single law.

To a question on entry of women in Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala, she said women of all age groups should be allowed to have darshan at the hill shrine.

The writer said natural process should not be considered as a reason for preventing women from entering the temple, where women of menstruating age are banned as per tradition.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
It is commonly seen that insurance companies at the time of issuance of policy "keep people in the dark" on terms and conditions but use the same to "thwart the legitimate claim" of the insured, a district consumer forum has said while terming the rejection of an insurance claim as "unfounded".

A consumer forum bench, headed by its president K S Mohi, directed Oriental Insurance Company Limited to pay Rs 2,02,851, along with Rs 5,000 as compensation, to central Delhi-resident Yashvir Singh.

The forum also held that the repudiation of the claim of Singh was highly unjustified, unwarranted and unfounded, therefore, it amounted to deficiency in service.

"It is commonly seen that the insurance companies at the time of issuance of policy keep the people under dark and do not apprise them of any terms and conditions, so that the insured may exercise his right as to whether he should go for insurance or not.

"But once the claim is filed the insurance companies would immediately come out with all kind of defenses including the terms and conditions to thwart the legitimate claim of the hapless insured," the forum said.

On the insurance firm's submission that the claim was rejected relying on certain clauses on terms and conditions of the policy, the forum said that unless terms and condition have been supplied to the complainant before taking a policy, exclusion clause cannot be enforced.

According to the complaint filed by Singh, he took a mediclaim policy for the period from June 30, 2014 to June 29, 2015. It is alleged that the annual premium of Rs 24,268 was regularly paid by him and accordingly the policy is in continuous operation for the last four years.

On May 25, 2015 the mother of the complainant fell ill and was admitted to a hospital in Rajinder Nagar here for which the hospital raised a bill of Rs 2,02,851, but the insurance company rejected the claim.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Islamic State group is calling on its followers to launch attacks in Bahrain, including those targeting American military personnel stationed on the tiny island ahead of a visit by the US defense secretary.

The appeal for violence came in a video that also urges militants to attack the Sunni-ruled island's Shiite majority amid a wider government crackdown on dissent there.

The slickly produced video surfaced as IS propaganda has waned as the extremists continue to lose territory in Iraq and Syria under the onslaught of a US-led coalition campaign against them. Bahrain is part of that coalition.

In the IS video, images of Bahraini fighter jets are juxtaposed to footage of an airstrike hitting an IS-held area. It also shows clips of a Bahrain-based Gulf Air flight, the King Fahd Causeway linking the island to Saudi Arabia and other sites in the capital, Manama.

"Wherever the enemies of Allah are found, there is jihad. Below you are the malevolent (Shiites) and the apostate soldiers of tyranny," one fighter says, according to a transcript provided by the US jihadi-monitoring SITE Intelligence Group.

"The muzzles of your weapons should not miss those American bases where from military aircraft took off to pour their flames on the monotheists in the territories of Islam," the militant adds.

Bahrain is home to the US Navy's 5th Fleet, as well as a British naval base still under construction. Officials with the 5th Fleet did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a statement to The Associated Press on today, Bahrain's government said it "remains vigilant against terrorist activities and extremism."



"Authorities continue to take all necessary steps to preserve security and stability within the kingdom," it read. The video appeared timed for high-level meetings on the island.

A Gulf Cooperation Council conference attended by British Prime Minister Theresa May ended yesterday. Weeks earlier, Britain's Prince Charles and wife Camilla visited the island. This coming weekend, Bahrain will host the Manama Dialogue, where US Defense Secretary Ash Carter is scheduled to give the opening address. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is also due to attend.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Islamic State group jihadists killed at least 26 members of Syrian government forces today in an assault on regime positions in the central province of Homs, a monitor said.

IS launched simultaneous attacks near the Mahr and Shaar oil and gas fields and elsewhere in the desert in eastern Homs where clashes were continuing, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"IS was able to take control of seven checkpoints and other positions held by government forces, who were forced to withdraw amid fierce clashes," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

IS once held several key towns in Homs, including ancient Palmrya, but has been driven from all but the desert in the east of the province.

It now regularly attacks isolated army positions in the area, as well as oilfields under government control.

Some northern parts of Homs are held by various rebel groups, but the government holds the rest of the province.

Elsewhere in the country, the Observatory said at least 22 civilians had been killed in air strikes on several parts of northern Syria under IS control.

The group said 11 people were killed in a strike believed to have been carried out by the US-led coalition fighting IS in the village of Al-Mashrifa in Raqa province overnight.

Another three people were killed in strikes, also believed to have been carried out by coalition aircraft, on the village of Al-Abarah in Raqa, the monitor said.

The Observatory says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to their type, location, flight patterns and the munitions involved.

The US-led coalition says it investigates credible reports of civilian casualties in its strikes and has acknowledged a handful of civilian deaths in Syria since it began raids there in September 2014.

Raqa is home to IS's de facto Syrian capital, Raqa city, though a Kurdish-Arab alliance backed by the US-led coalition began an operation to recapture the city and surrounding province last month.

Elsewhere, the Observatory said eight people were killed in strikes on the IS-held village of Bzaa in northeast Aleppo this morning.

The monitor said it could not confirm who was behind those strikes, but the area is one where both Turkey and the US-led coalition operate.

Turkey began an unprecedented operation inside northern Syria dubbed "Euphrates Shield" on August 22, saying it was targeting both IS but also Kurdish militants that have battled the jihadist group.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Islamic State group jihadists killed at least 34 members of Syrian government forces today in an assault on regime positions in the central province of Homs, a monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported that 22 civilians were killed in air strikes on IS-held areas in northern Syria.

IS launched simultaneous attacks near the Mahr and Shaar oil and gas fields and elsewhere in the desert in eastern Homs, said the Britain-based monitoring group, which earlier gave a death toll of 26 among pro-regime forces.

"IS was able to take control of seven checkpoints and other positions held by government forces, who were forced to withdraw amid fierce clashes," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

IS once held several key towns in Homs, including ancient Palmyra, but has been driven from all but the desert in the east of the province.

It now regularly attacks isolated army positions in the area, as well as oilfields under government control.

Some northern parts of Homs are held by various rebel groups, but the government holds the rest of the province.

Further north, 11 civilians were killed in a strike believed to have been carried out by the US-led coalition fighting IS in the village of Al-Mashrifa in Raqa province yesterday night.

Another three people were killed in strikes, also believed to have been carried out by coalition aircraft, on the village of Al-Abarah in Raqa, the monitor said.

The Observatory says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to their type, location, flight patterns and the munitions involved.

The US-led coalition says it investigates credible reports of civilian casualties in its strikes and has acknowledged a handful of civilian deaths in Syria since it began raids there in September 2014.

Raqa is home to IS's de facto Syrian capital, Raqa, though a Kurdish-Arab alliance backed by the US-led coalition launched an offensive to recapture the city and surrounding province last month.

Elsewhere, the Observatory said eight people were killed in strikes on the IS-held village of Bzaa in northeast Aleppo today morning.

The monitor said it could not confirm who was behind those strikes, but the area is one where both Turkey and the US-led coalition operate.

Turkey began an unprecedented operation inside northern Syria dubbed "Euphrates Shield" on August 22, saying it was targeting both IS but also Kurdish militants that have battled the jihadist group.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The UN human rights chief today slammed a bill in Israel that would legalise some 4,000 settler homes in the occupied West Bank, saying it would clearly violate international law.

Israeli lawmakers voted yesterday to advance the bill, which would retroactively legalise settler homes built on private Palestinian land.

"I strongly urge lawmakers to reconsider their support for this bill, which if enacted, would have far-reaching consequences and would seriously damage the reputation of Israel around the world," said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein.

He pointed out that "in enabling the use of land privately-owned by Palestinians for Israeli settlements without the owners' consent, this legislation would violate international law.

"Israel as the occupying power, must respect the private property of Palestinians, regardless of whether or not compensation is provided," he said in a statement.

Some 400,000 Israeli settlers currently live in the West Bank, excluding annexed east Jerusalem, along with 2.6 million Palestinians.

The United States, UN officials and the European Union have warned that continued settlement building is eating away at the possibility of a two-state solution to the conflict.

All Israeli settlements are viewed as illegal under international law and major stumbling blocks to peace efforts as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state.

Israel differentiates between those it has authorised and those it has not. The bill would legalise nearly 4,000 settler homes built on private Palestinian land, according to settlement watchdog Peace Now.

"All Israeli settlements -- whether outposts built without formal approval but often with the support of the Israeli authorities and which are currently illegal under Israeli law, or settlements approved by Israel -- are clearly and unequivocally illegal under international law and constitute one of the main obstacles to peace," Zeid said.

"They are also the principal cause of a wide range of human rights violations inside the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem," he said.

Fifty-seven members of the parliament, or Knesset, voted yesterday to approve the draft legislation in the first of three readings, while 51 were against it.

Key figures in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, considered the most right-wing in Israeli history, openly oppose a Palestinian state.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett, the bill's main backer, has advocated annexing most of the West Bank, like other Israeli religious nationalists who point to the Jewish connection to the land from biblical times.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The world's most famous fictional spy, James Bond, would not find a job as a real world special agent, the new chief of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service MI6 said today.

Alex Younger said that while Ian Fleming's famous character had helped popularise Britain's secret service brand, it bore no resemblance to reality.

Younger, the 16th chief since MI6 was founded in 1909, is known as "C", rather than "M" as in the Bond films.

"I am conflicted about Bond. He has created a powerful brand for MI6: as C, the real-life version of M, there are few people who will not come to lunch if I invite them. Many of our counterparts envy the sheer global recognition of our acronym," Younger said.

"And to be fair, there are a few aspects of the genre that do resonate in real life: fierce dedication to the defence of Britain, for example. The real life 'Q' would want me to say that we too enjoy - and, indeed, need - a deep grasp of gadgetry. But's that's pretty much where the similarity ends. And, were Bond to apply to join MI6 now, he would have to change his ways," he said in a speech at MI6 headquarters on the banks of the river Thames in London.

C is the only member of MI6 who can be publicly identified.

The 53-year-old former army officer who joined MI6 in 1991also revealed that UK intelligence and security services had disrupted 12 terrorist plots since June 2013.

"The risks at stake are profound and represent a fundamental threat to our sovereignty. They should be a concern to all those who share democratic values," he said in reference to the terror threat faced by Britain.

"In defining as a terrorist anyone who opposes a brutal regime they alienate precisely that group that has to be onside if the extremists are to be defeated. We cannot be safe from the threats that emanate from that land unless the civil war is brought to an end," he added.

The Islamic State (ISIS) group had exploited the situation in Syria to fortify its stronghold in the region and wage a war on the West, he warned.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) today reported a 2 per cent increase in November retail sales at 47,588 units.

The month's performance has been driven by the new Jaguar XF (with the addition of the long wheel base XFL in China) and F-PACE as well as continuing solid sales of the Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Sport.

It was offset partially by the run-out of Land Rover Discovery in advance of the all-new model in 2017, JLR said in a statement.

Commenting on sales performance, JLR Group Sales Operations Director, Andy Goss said: "These are solid results underpinned by encouraging performance in China, where our sales are growing healthily in an incredibly competitive environment."



He further said: "Sales in our Land Rover brand have been affected by the run-out of the Land Rover Defender and the current Land Rover Discovery model, but our growing order bank for the New Discovery gives us confidence for 2017."



The company said its retail sales grew across majority of key regions in November year-on-year, with China up 42 per cent and North America 20 per cent.

It was partially offset by softer sales in the UK (down 13 per cent), Europe (down 6 per cent) and in other overseas markets, which include Russia and Brazil (down 25 per cent), the statement added.

The Jaguar brand recorded retail sales of 14,613 units in November, up 83 per cent, driven by continuing strong sales of the new XF and the F-PACE, JLR said.

Land Rover recorded November sales of 32,975 units, down 14 per cent from November 2015, as continuing solid sales of the Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Sport were offset by lower volumes of the discontinued Land Rover Defender and outgoing Discovery, the company added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In a stepped up campaign in favour of prohibition, the Patna police nabbed 14 persons including a big liquor suppliers last night, a police statement said today.

Acting on a tip off provided to Senior Superintendent of Police Manu Maharaj that a few people were enjoying a booze party in a roadside hotel near Eco Park, a team of Sachivalaya police station reached the spot and nabbed 10 persons, a statement from SSP office said.

The booze party was organised by supplier Santosh Kumar, who was earlier held in Gaya with 640 bottles of foreign brand liquor, the statement said.

The police seized two bottles of Indian Made Foreign Liquor and two empty bottles from the spot, it added.

In another incident, four persons were arrested for consuming alcohol near a petrol pump around Gandhi setu area.

Following directions of the SSP, a team of Agamkuan police station reached the spot and nabbed four persons red-handed.

In the past two weeks, the Patna police as part of stepped up operation has arrested 123 people under liquor law from different parts of the district.

During the period, the police seized 34 bottles of IMFL, 3096 litres of spiced liquor and 156 kg of contraband ganja, the statement said.

The operation was initiated in the wake of SSP warning that action would be taken against Officer in-charge from whose area any information about liquor trade and consumption would come to him (the SSP).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Moscow's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov today denounced the "myth of a Russian threat" and accused Western powers of destabilising Europe, at a meeting in Germany of OSCE nations.

He urged all sides to take "a map of the continent and together look at what's where and what belongs to whom", referring to NATO's enlargement in eastern Europe since the Cold War, which Moscow regards as a threat to its security.

"We are sure such a review will convincingly dismantle the myth of a Russian threat and demonstrate where the real risks are coming from," Lavrov told Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe nation foreign ministers at an annual meeting in the northern city of Hamburg.

"The euphoria the West was in after the end of the Cold War didn't lead to an architecture of security for all in the Euro-Atlantic space," he said, adding that instead "the choice was made for a closed NATO-centred system".

Lavrov also said the Western military interventions in Iraq and Libya had destabilised the region and sparked a surge in refugee, to the point of threatening European security.

"An honest conversation must be held about the causes of the migrant crisis in Europe that are the result of gross interference in the internal affairs of countries in the Middle East and North Africa leading to chaos, terrorism," he said.

On the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Lavrov charged that Kiev had sabotaged peace efforts by refusing a direct dialogue with the pro-Moscow rebels.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin at the same meeting decried "Russian aggression" and reiterated his government's call for the deployment of an OSCE armed police mission in eastern Ukraine and along the Russian-Ukrainian border.

"The stakes are bigger and the price is higher than ever, the death toll from the war of Russia against Ukraine has already risen to 10,000," he said.

Germany, which chaired the meeting of the group created during the Cold War to promote East-West dialogue, noted the dramatic deterioration of relations within the group.

"The pillars of the OSCE are crumbling, the tone is getting harsher between East and West," said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, calling however for "common answers to the new global challenges of terrorism, extremism and cyber attacks".

"Most of all... We need to rebuild trust where it has been lost," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Lawmakers are spending plenty of money and are greasing the way for retired Gen James Mattis to be President-elect Donald Trump's secretary of defence as they race toward adjourning the battle-scarred Congress.

Stopgap spending legislation unveiled Tuesday evening would provide USD 10 billion for overseas military and diplomatic operations, while southern states like Louisiana, North Carolina, and Texas would receive the bulk of a USD 4.1 billion disaster aid package.

The temporary spending measure, scheduled for House and Senate votes later in the week, would keep the government open through April.

First, the Senate yesterday will vote to give final congressional approval to bipartisan legislation to battle cancer and opioid abuse, boost medical research, and speed drug approvals.

The USD 6.3 billion "21st Century Cures" measure would boost medical research and speed drug approvals. That measure also includes a USD 1.8 billion cancer research "moonshot" strongly supported by Vice President Joe Biden, as well as USD 1 billion over two years to prevent and treat abuse of opioids and other addictive drugs like heroin.

The spending bill, meanwhile, would prevent the government from shutting down this weekend and buy several months for the new Congress and incoming Trump administration to wrap up more than USD 1 trillion worth of unfinished agency budget bills.

Under current law, Congress would need to pass legislation next year to grant Mattis an exception from a law that requires a seven-year wait for former members of the military to serve in the post. Tuesday's provision would speed up action on the waiver though Democrats could still filibuster it.

The bill would also deliver USD 170 million in long-delayed help for Flint, Michigan, to fix its lead-tainted water system.

Democrats complained the GOP spending measure shortchanged New York City by giving it just USD 7 million for police overtime costs for protecting Trump, who lives in midtown Manhattan. And they complained that a provision to help retired Appalachian coal miners keep their health benefits for a few months was woefully inadequate.

The bill attracted attention as the final legislative locomotive to leave the station before Congress closes shop this year. Nothing else on Capitol Hill's agenda had the power to tow other unfinished legislation into law.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
After days of paralysis, the Lok Sabha today transacted some business as Supplementary Demand for Grants was passed amid ruckus created by some Opposition parties which continued to attack the government over demonetisation issue.

However, the Rajya Sabha continued to be stalled due to pandemonium, involving even clashes between the ruling and the opposition benches.

The second batch of Supplementary Demand for Grants was passed by the Lok Sabha by a voice vote after a short debate during which members of Congress, Trinamool and some other Opposition parties continuously shouted slogans.

Several members, including Kirit Somaiya (BJP), Jayadev Galla (TDP) and Dushyant Chautala (INLD), participated in the debate.

Replying to the discussion amid din, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley sought to turn the tables on the Congress by daring it to name one decision its government had taken against black money during 10-year rule.

"I today challenge them (Congress) to spell out a single step that they had taken during 10-year of their rule against black money," he said, taking on the Opposition party which has been attacking the government over demonetisation.

Refuting the allegation that government has given additional route to people to convert black money into white by paying 50 per cent tax, Jaitley said the effective liability on them would be about 65 per cent, much higher than 8 per cent under the Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme (VDIS) of 1997.

"It is not just 50 per cent. Out of remaining 50 per cent, 25 per cent would be kept by government for four years. If you calculate interest on that, the effective tax comes out to be 65 per cent," he said.

As per the amendment to the Income Tax Act which is pending in the Rajya Sabha, the unaccounted income declared by black money holders during the 50-day window ending December 30 would attract tax and penalty of 50 per cent while the remaining 25 per cent of such income would have to be deposited with government for four years.

The Supplementary Demand for Grants and related Bills, which were approved by the lower house, authorise government to increase public expenditure by about Rs 60,000 crore though the additional cash outgo would be only Rs 36,000 crore.

The last time any transaction conducted in the Lok Sabha during the ongoing Winter session that began on November 16 was on November 29 when the House passed the Income Tax amendment bill within minutes and without any discussion. That bill too was passed amid din.

While replying to debate on Supplementary Demand for



Grants, Jaitley referred to demonetisation and expressed hope that situation would normalise by the end of this month.

The Finance Minister said every effort is being made to minimise the hardship of the people who have to stand in long queues to get currency.

"I should clarify that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that we will normalise the situation by December 30. We will try and minimise the hardship faced by the people. Every day RBI put money into the system. Efforts are being made to towards less cash economy and digital economy," he said.

After the Supplementary Demand for Grants was approved, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar appealed to the Opposition to shun its protest and agree to a debate on demonetisation under Rule 193 which does not entail voting.

He accused the Opposition of running away from the debate by continuing the protest.

The Opposition members, meanwhile, continued to shout slogans against the government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi while demanding debate under Rule 184 which entails voting.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan then adjourned the House for the day.

Earlier, despite the din, several matters of urgent importance were taken up during the Zero Hour. A number of questions were also taken up during the Question Hour.

As soon as the House assembled for the day, leader of Congress in the House Mallikarjun Kharge wanted to raise some issue but the Speaker did not allow him and started the Question Hour.

Members belonging to the Congress, Trinamool Congress and Left parties then rushed into the Well. Apart from usual English and Hindi slogans, the members also raised slogans in regional languages like Malayalam and Bengali.

"What is this? I am warning you. Please, please, I am repeatedly telling you if you want to debate, debate. But don't disturb the whole House," an upset Speaker told the shouting members.

Members belonging to Samajwadi Party and NCP extended their support to their Opposition counterparts by standing in the aisles along their seats.

Amidst continued din, the Speaker took up five questions before adjourning the House for nearly 20 minutes till noon.

The Congress and Left members were seen wearing black bands on their right arm as a mark of protest against demonetisation, which was announced exactly a month ago.

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, who was recently hospitalised, was present in the House. She was seen engaged in intimate discussions with her son and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and party leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Jyotirditya Scindia and Deepender Singh Hooda.

The Rajya Sabha, on the other hand, saw a washout once



again due to deadlock over demonetisation. It was adjourned twice during the pre-lunch period and then finally for the day a few minutes after it reassembled at 2 PM.

Trouble started soon after the House met for the day.

No sooner were the listed papers laid, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy (Trinamool Congress) said 115 people have lost their lives in 30 days since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced junking of old 500 and 1000 rupee notes. Their death should be mourned in the House, he said.

Even before he could finish, Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu was up on his feet saying "this is politics. Let there be a discussion (on the issue)... November 8 (when the demonetisation was announced) is a historic day."



When Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad was asked by the Chair to speak as requested by him, Naidu protested, saying the Opposition had been using the tactic of slamming the government and then creating ruckus when someone from the government spoke to ensure that its views are not heard.

He asked the Chair to give protection to the ruling side.

Azad then said more than 100 farmers, women, youth and elderly persons have lost their lives in last one month due to hardships caused from wrong policies of the government.

"We wanted this House to mourn their death but the government has refused an obituary reference," he said.

Ruling side members, in turn, shouted slogans demanding resumption of debate on demonetisation which was initiated on the first day of the ongoing Winter session on November 16.

People do not have money and the government says there is enough currency in circulation, Azad said, adding "this is the limit of shamelessness."



He said it was a "shameful" of the government that "it is adding salt to the injury" instead of mourning the deaths.

At this point, Jaitley got up to reply but opposition members began raising slogans. They were countered by slogan shouting from the BJP benches.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the unfinished discussion on demonetisation should resume immediately.

Soon after the House reassembled at noon, Congress started raising slogans and repeated efforts by Chairman Hamid Ansari to restore order in the Upper House did not yield result and he adjourned the House till 2 PM.

When the House met again, Digvijay Singh (Cong) raised objections to reduction of import duty on wheat from 10 per cent to nil. He expressed the reservations soon after Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal tabled the notification on import duty cut.

Sharad Yadav (JD-U) also objected to this step.

Ansari then asked members to continue the debate on demonetisation to which the opposition responded with a resounding no. They then started shouting slogans and the House weas adjourned for the day.
Madhesi activists today held demonstration outside British Embassy here on the bicentennial of the 1816 British-Nepal treaty under which land of Madheshis in Terai region was handed over by the British Government to the King of Nepal.

The protesters were holding banners with slogans like "Void the Treaty - Free Our Land", "Madheshis Want Their Land Back", "200 Years of Slavery - Now Free Madhesh".

Under the British-Nepal treaty of December 8, 1816, the land of Madheshis was handed over by the British Government to the King of Nepal in lieu of paying Rs two lakhs per annum.

The Alliance for Independent Madhesh (AIM) led by C K Raut marked the "day as a black day in the history of Madhesh, when Nepali colonisation and enslavement started."



The alliance further demanded entry of Madhesh into the Commonwealth of Nations, as it was once ruled by the British and the British officials used to collect taxes and revenues from Madhesh/Terai directly.

AIM subcoordinator Kailash Mahato said the British Government through the treaty handed over the eastern part of Madhesh/Terai, between the Koshi and the Rapti rivers, to the King of Nepal instead of paying Rs two lakhs per year.

While doing so, the British Government put a condition explicitly in the treaty stating "the Rajah of Nipal agrees to refrain from prosecuting any inhabitants of the Terai, after its revertance to his rule, on account of having favoured the cause of the British Government during the war."



But the condition, Mahato said, was never complied by the Government of Nepal, and the Madheshis became victims of "Nepali colonisation, discrimination, racism and slavery" from the very first days Madhesh was annexed to Nepal by the British Government.

Therefore, the alliance argued that, as the condition infixed in the treaty has never been complied by the Government of Nepal, the treaty should be void by itself and Madhesh should be independent.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Maharashtra government has directed its Revenue Department to remove names of individuals as owners of Wakf properties and instead name the Board or organisations as the owner.

The state government issued a GR (government resolution) yesterday, in which it ordered the revenue officials to carry out a survey across the state in order to remove the names of individual owners from Wakf lands.

The decision is aimed on curbing possible misuse of Wakf land, whereby part of the land is sold to private entities in violation of the Wakf Board notification, 1995.

In the GR, the government has directed the Settlement Commissioner and Director of Land Records to undertake the survey, granting it permission to hire retired officers for some posts for the purpose.

As per the data available with the Maharashtra State Wakf Board, there are 23,566 listed Wakf properties in the state, ad-measuring 37,330.97 hectares.

All the additional collectors will be part of this survey and will be called as additional survey commissioner along with the tehsildars called as assistant survey commissioner.

Pune and Parbhani districts have been selected for pilot project, for which Rs 1.08 crore have been sanctioned. Six months period has been given for the completion of the pilot project.

The officers have been asked to complete the project by personally visiting sites and documenting their current status.

The state government's move comes in the wake of findings of the A T A K Sheikh committee, appointed in October 2007, which observed that many Wakf properties were illegally sold or given on lease.

Out of these, a maximum of 15,877 Wakf properties ad-measuring 23,121.10 hectares are in Aurangabad division.

According to the Board, 60 per cent of the Wakf land in Marathwada region (Aurangabad division) was found to be encroached upon.

So far, the Chief Executive Officer of the Board has



passed orders in 1,088 cases of encroachment, of which only 21 orders have been executed till June 30, 2007.

There are 250 cases under hearing and over 483 orders have been sent to the sub-divisional magistrates for execution.

As per the data available with the Wakf Board, in Mumbai and Thane district there are 1,571 Wakf properties listed with the Charity Commissioner and 351 Wakf properties listed with the Survey Commissioner's office.

In the rest of the state, Wakf properties and the area in question are as follows: Pune has 2,728 properties and area of 3,724.55 hectares; Nagpur has 470 properties and area of 3,704.25 hectares; in Konkan region there are 1,724 properties covering an area of 2,339 hectares; Nashik has 1,455 properties with area of 3,340 hectares. In Amravati division, there are 1,310 properties with an area of 1,102 hectares.

As per the Central Wakf Act of 1955, all properties declared as Wakf include masjids, dargah, kabrastan, anathalay (orphanage) and others.

The Act provides for appointment of 'Mutawalli' (Wakf trustee) or a management committee to oversee the property.

Despite it, many properties had the names of individuals added on 7/12 extract of land title and it was found to be misused by the people having their names.

Shamshuddin Tamboli, president of Muslim Satyashodhak Mandal said, "It is a welcome move, because wakf land has been misused by several private parties. It has been diverted to builders, schools and even commercial properties as well. The state should also focus on protecting the wakf land and ensure that its usage will be restricted to community only.
A 48-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly murdering his live-in partner of eight years in southeast Delhi and then hacking the body into two parts and dumping them in separate places, as he suspected her of being unfaithful to him, police said today.

The accused, Balram, was apprehended from Astha Kunj Park here on a tipoff yesterday.

"He admitted that he had been in a live-in relationship with Anarkali, a native of Tamil Nadu, for the last seven-eight years. He suspected her of having illicit relationship with other men of late," said the officer.

On the intervening night of December 1 and 2, Balram had an altercation with Anarkali (43), following which he hit her with a heavy hammer on her head and back.

"He then cut her body in two parts. He threw away a part in a nearby 'nala' (drainage), and disposed the other part of the body somewhere else in the area," police said.

A PCR call was received in the morning of December 3 about a body without legs dumped in a nala at Captain Gaur Marg. The following day, another call was received about the remaining parts of the body found lying in a nala in Sri Niwas Puri.

"Thousands of posters of the victim were pasted in the area. The staff of Amar Colony police station also launched a door-to-door drive in Garhi and Jhuggi cluster area to arrest the culprit," Romil Baaniya, DCP (Southeast) said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Philippine defense secretary said today it is highly unlikely his country will allow the US military to use it as a springboard for freedom of navigation patrols in the disputed South China Sea to avoid antagonizing China.

Delfin Lorenzana said US ships and aircraft could use bases in Guam, Okinawa or fly from aircraft carriers to patrol the disputed waters.

Under President Rodrigo Duterte's predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, some US aircraft and ships stopped in the Philippines on the way to patrolling the disputed waters to challenge China's territorial claims.

Duterte, who took office in June, has taken steps to mend ties with China and became hostile toward the Obama administration after it raised concerns over Duterte's deadly crackdown on illegal drugs.

Asked if the Philippines will continue to host US ships and aircraft patrolling the disputed waters, Lorenzana said Duterte will not likely allow that to happen "to avoid any provocative actions that can escalate tensions in the South China Sea. It's unlikely."



"We'll avoid that for the meantime," Lorenzana said. "Anyway, the US can fly over there coming from other bases." US officials did not comment immediately. The commander of US forces in the Pacific, Adm Harry Harris, said last month that despite Duterte's rhetoric, military cooperation with Manila has not changed.

Duterte has publicly threatened to scale back the Philippines' military engagements with the US, including scuttling a plan to carry out joint patrols with the US Navy in the disputed waters, which he said China opposes.

US-Philippine annual combat exercises have been reduced and will be redesigned to focus on disaster response and humanitarian missions. Among the maneuvers to be dropped starting next year are amphibious landing exercises and beach raids aimed at enhancing the country's territorial defense, military officials said.

Duterte's actions have become a hindrance to US efforts to reassert its presence in Asia, although the US military has vowed to continue patrolling one of the world's busiest commercial waterways.

After Duterte met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in October, China allowed Filipinos to fish at disputed Scarborough Shoal. China took control of the rich fishing area in 2012 after a tense standoff with Philippine government ships.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Experts today pitched for greater maritime access and security cooperation between India and Indonesia, in the backdrop of Indonesian President Joko Widodo's visit to the country.

"Both India and Indonesia have not capitalised the promiximity between Andaman & Nicobar and Sumatra. It can be an essential maritime bridge not only because it promotes culture, commerce and trade, but as Malacca Strait is the most important trade route in the world carrying 15 million barrels of oil per day. 60,000 ships pass through the strait every year," said Vice Admiral Anup Singh (Retd) at a panel discussion here.

"Both the countries should act together through maritime forces and other mechanisms to secure the region near Malacca Strait," he added.

Diplomat and former Ambassador to Indonesia, Amb Sudhir Devare said, "India stood by Indonesia during financial crisis and also when the country became a democracy. Commerce, culture, security needs to be developed between the two countries."



Speaking at the event, retired Prof Baladas Ghoshal, Secretary General, Society for Indian Ocean Studies, said, both India and Indonesia have to look for opportunities for co-operation in terms of Maritime security and other concerns regarding strategic issues in both Indian Ocean and South China Sea.

"Though Strategic Partnership was signed between India and Indonesia in a number of areas, it has not progressed much. I hope the recent visit of the president will look into the aspect," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Britain's outspoken foreign secretary has claimed that UK ally Saudi Arabia was engaging in "proxy wars" in the Middle East, comments that Prime Minister Theresa May said do not represent Britain's position.

The Guardian newspaper today published footage of Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson saying there was no strong leadership in the Middle East willing to reach out beyond the Sunni-Shia divide, and "that's why you've got the Saudis, Iran, everybody, moving in and puppeteering and playing proxy wars." Johnson made the comments during a conference in Rome last week.

Downing Street was quick to distance itself from his remarks, which were awkward for the government because officials rarely, if ever, criticize allies in public. May spokeswoman Helen Bower said they were Johnson's own views and do not reflect Britain's policy on Saudi Arabia or the Middle East kingdom's role in the region.

Johnson is scheduled to be in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, when he could set out how Britain wants to boost its relationship with the Saudis and work with regional allies to tackle the conflict in Yemen, Bower added.

Britain backs a Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen, which has been in the midst of a civil war since Shiite Houthi rebels overthrew the government in September 2014.

Johnson had earlier defended UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia for potential use in Yemen, amid calls to stop the sales from British lawmakers who said the weapons were likely used to violate human rights laws.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India today reacted strongly to concerns expressed by top US lawmakers over the alleged curbs imposed by the government on a Christian NGO, saying it is based on "limited understanding of India, its society, Constitution and laws" and asserted that it welcomes lawful operation of foreign NGOs.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said India's credentials as a vibrant democracy and pluralistic society with a strong civil society are well known and need no reiteration.

He also emphasised that the government is fully committed to the Constitutional principles which "underpin the nation of 1.25 billion people as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society with an abiding commitment to inclusion and tolerance".

"Our attention has been drawn to a recent Congressional hearing in the US regarding placing of an American NGO in the Prior Reference Category by Ministry of Home Affairs. The hearing appears to be based on limited understanding of India, its society, Constitution and laws.

"There is a well-established legal framework for NGOs to conduct their operations in India. This is borne out by the presence of over three million NGOs in the country, one of the largest NGO networks in the world. India welcomes lawful operation of foreign NGOs in India.

"Government of India looks forward to continuing to work with the US Congress and Administration to foster mutual understanding and deepen India-US bilateral relations," he said.

Top American lawmakers had yesterday expressed concern over the alleged curbs imposed by India on a Christian charity organisation whose representatives appeared before a Congressional hearing seeking change in New Delhi's policies related to foreign funding of NGOs.

Congressman Ed Royce, Chairman of the powerful House Foreign Relations Committee, joined by some other lawmakers and representations of human rights bodies and Compassion International (CI), had rued that the recent effort to regulate foreign funding and enforce taxation laws had made it impossible for them to carry out work among poor children in India.

CI, a Christian charity organisation has often been accused of being engaged in religious conversions in India.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Under pressure from diplomatic missions facing a cash crunch due to demonetisation, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar today met the Dean of Diplomatic Corp and informed him that banks are being instructed to allow diplomats to withdraw money on priority.

During the meeting with Dean Frank Hans Dannenberg Castellanos, Jaishankar also assured him that the Ministry of External Affairs will look into the basic demand of increased limit for cash withdrawal by the embassies and take it up with the Finance Ministry, MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

"Let's see which all concerns are readily addressable," he said.

The meeting came a day after Castellanos, who as Dean represents the voice of 157 foreign missions, said many nations were contemplating reciprocal measures against Indian missions abroad after a Rs 50,000 a week withdrawal cap was fixed for embassies. He had termed the measure a "serious breach" of the Vienna Convention.

Maintaining that the "buck stops" at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's door, he had sought his intervention to resolve the issue soon.

The Russian embassy here as well as several other missions had voiced their serious concern to the government over the restrictions on cash withdrawal and threatened to take retaliatory action against Indian diplomats posted in their countries. Russian Ambassador Alexander Kadakin had gone public with protest.

Noting that the ministry has received communications from some embassies about the problems they face in the context of the demonetisation of old high-value notes, Swarup said, "The Foreign Secretary has met the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps today. They had a very detailed discussion on the issues raised by foreign missions and how best to address them... We gave them a very sympathetic hearing."



With a view to avoiding inconveniencing them, the MEA has been in discussion with the authorities concerned in the government on this matter and "the Finance Ministry, as a consequence, is being asked to issue directives to banks to allow embassy officials with identity cards to withdraw money on a priority basis".

During the meeting, the Dean also asked for raising the limit of weekly cash withdrawal from the existing Rs 50,000 for embassies, Swarup said, adding, "we have agreed to look into that request and take it up with the Finance Ministry and see what can be done."



When contacted, Castellanos, Ambassador of the Dominican Republic, expressed satisfaction over the meeting.

"Although we are waiting for a formal response to the issues brought up by the diplomatic community, I personally feel very positive and I am very pleased by the time and effort taken by the MEA to listen in detail to all the concerns of my colleagues," he said.

Castellanos hoped solution would be jointly found not



only to the problems being encountered in the day-to-day operations of the diplomatic missions but also the difficulties foreign nationals visiting India as tourists or for medical treatment were facing.

"The diplomatic community is sensitive to the temporary difficulties that affect the whole population of India and hope that the measures bring the expected positive results in the future for (India becoming) a more transparent destination for foreign investments from our countries and a healthier overall economy," he said.

Swarup also said, "We appreciate learning from the Dean that the vast majority of foreign missions understand that the demonetisation exercise is being conducted to combat the menace of black money and tax avoidance.

"We are confident that the missions would bear with the temporary difficulties that arise in that process, even as we seek to address their concerns."



Apart from Russia, other countries which raised the problems being encountered by them due to demonetisation included Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka.

The MEA is part of the inter-ministerial task force, set up by the Department of Economic Affairs, to address various issues pertaining to demonetisation including its impact.

Nepal and Bhutan, two major recipients of developmental aid from India, had also taken up with New Delhi the issue of demonetisation of high-value currency bills and the impact it could have on financial assistance to them.

(Reopens DEL 83)



Swarup also expressed hopes the finance departments of India and Nepal will be able to resolve the issues arising out of demonetisation.

Later, talking on the sidelines of an event, Dalton Sembiring, deputy chief in Indonesian embassy here, said, "Just like other embassies we are also affected. We are facing problems in payments and purchasing materials required by the embassy on daily basis, but we are managing it."



He also said Indian government should have planned before enforcing the decision. "Only a few activities are being done through cash, for the rest we are relying on e-payments," he added.

While embassies can eithdraw as much as Rs 50,000 per week, a diplomat can only take out Rs 24,000 per week.

He also said his country can learn "a very important lesson" from the experience of demonetisation in India.

"Indonesia is very interested to study from the drive in India that is aimed at curbing black money and also the role of e-money," the envoy said.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo is arriving in India next week and the mission is also finding it very difficult to make arrangements for the visit.
The Home Ministry is willing to reconsider its decision to ban a US-based donor from funding Indian NGOs following consistent appeals by American authorities.

"We are ready to reconsider the case of Compassion International, the US donor, which was put under 'prior permission category' for alleged violation of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA)," a senior Home Ministry official said.

Compassion International was put under prior permission category in May last. When a donor organisation is put under prior permission category, it is barred from funding any Indian NGO without the nod from the government.

The US donor works in the field of child rights and is accused of funding non-FCRA registered NGOs.

The Home Ministry took the action after receiving reports that funds from Compassion International were being received by Chennai-based 'Caruna Bal Vikas', which in turn was distributing the aid to non-registered NGOs.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, during a visit to India in September, is said to have asked External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to reconsider the decision to place Compassion International in the prior permission category.

The US Embassy officials too have been following up the issue with the Home Ministry through the Ministry of External Affairs.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The video was unambiguous: A white police officer fatally shot an unarmed black man in the back as the man ran away.

But a South Carolina jury was unable to agree on a verdict in one of the nation's ghastliest police shootings, with a lone holdout forcing a mistrial. The outcome stung many African-Americans and others. If that kind of evidence can't produce a conviction, they asked, what can?



"There's a jury full of people and they cannot decide if it's illegal to shoot someone who is running away from you?" said activist Johnetta Elzie, who is black. "What do you say about a country that feels this way about black people? If you can't see the humanity in that, I don't know what we're talking about anymore."



Prosecutors plan to retry former officer Michael Slager, who is scheduled to be tried separately next year on federal charges that he violated Walter Scott's civil rights.

North Charleston city officials approved a USD 6.5 million civil settlement for Scott's family earlier this year. Slager remains free on bail.

South Carolina's Indian-American Republican Gov Nikki Haley voiced her support for Scott's family, saying in a statement that justice "is not always immediate, but we must all have faith that it will be served."



Scott, 50, was killed in April 2015 after he was shot five times. A barber on his way to work recorded the shooting on his cellphone.

The panel of 11 white jurors and one black juror deliberated for 22 hours. At one point, a juror sent a letter directly to the judge saying he could not "with good conscience approve a guilty verdict" and that he was unlikely to change his mind. As they weighed their decision, jurors also asked the judge to explain the legal difference between fear and passion and inquired whether the self-defense standard was the same for officers as ordinary citizens.

NAACP President Cornell Brooks called the jury's decision "a disappointing delay in the delivery of justice." Hours after the mistrial, a tweet from three Black Lives Matter co-founders said, "Some days the hashtag is too painful to participate in."



Elzie, one of the first protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, after the fatal 2014 shooting of Michael Brown by a white officer, said word of the hung jury left her numb.

"When it comes to justice and black people in America, I don't expect it," she sighed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The three-day winter session of the Mizoram legislature was today adjourned sine die by the Deputy Speaker R Lalrinawma.

The session, which commenced on Tuesday, passed the Mizoram Drugs (Controlled Substance) Bill, 2016 and the Mizoram Fisheries (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

Obituary reference was made on the two former legislators - former Deputy Speaker L.P. Thangzika and former minister J. Lalthangliana.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Assam Police today said more arrests are likely in the cash-for-job scam in APSC and it is hopeful of filing the charge sheet within next two months.

"The investigation is going on. There are more arrests likely in the case," Assam Director General of Police Mukesh Sahay told a press conference here.

The police is currently looking for three persons, who are absconding, for their involvement in the corruption in Assam Public Service Commission, he added.

"Apart from them, four candidates, who have been posted by APSC, are also under our scanner. We have recovered huge number of answer scripts and tabulation sheets from the private press of Rakesh Kumar Paul's brother," Sahay said.

He, however, said no appointments has been made after the scam came to light.

APSC's former Chairman Paul was arrested on November 4, with two members Samedur Rahman and Basanta Kumar Doley arrested subsequently..

The three arrests were followed by the arrest of the Assistant Controller of Examinations of APSC Pabitra Kaibarta.

Talking about the progress of the investigation, Sahay informed that police is working on the right direction at a proper pace.

"We are trying to file the charge sheet within 90 days of the arrest. This has a legal advantage. I'm hopeful about that," he added.

When asked if names of politicians or ministers surfaced during the course of the investigation, the top cop replied in negative.

Sahay also informed that so far Rs 50 lakh cash have been seized from Paul along with identification of some "benami" properties of him.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A women's organisation today welcomed the Allahabad High Court's observation on 'triple talaq', but said personal laws of Muslim community should not be singled out as "anti-Constitutional".

The National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) stressed that personal laws of all religions are discriminatory against women and they all deny rights and justice to women.

"The NFIW welcomes the judgement on triple talaq that it violates the rights of women. However, we feel that Muslim personnel laws alone should not be singled out as anti-Constitutional. It is the case of all personnel laws of all communities," it said in a statement.

"In the name of 'justice' to women, targeting Muslim community should not be allowed," it said.

Coming down heavily on the practice of "triple talaq", the Allahadbad HC today held that this form of "instant divorce" was "cruel" and "most demeaning" which "impedes and drags India from becoming a nation".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said that military operations by Myanmar cannot solve the problems involving the minority Rohingya Muslims, who have been fleeing to Bangladesh to avoid the crackdown by Myanmarese security forces.

"The Rohingya issue is a political problem and it cannot be resolved militarily," Hasina's press secretary Ihsanul Karim quoted her as saying when the newly-appointed Danish Ambassador in Dhaka Mikael Hemnid Winther called on her.

Her comments came as international rights groups including the UN refugee agency UNHCR accused Myanmar of using military force against Rohingyas, forcing them to flee to Bangladesh.

Millions of Rohingyas have been living in Bangladesh for decades after they escaped the alleged atrocities in Myanmar. Dhaka sees the refugees as an economic burden and the presence of the refugees have raised security fears in Bangladesh over Rohingya groups' suspected links with Islamist extremists.

Bangladesh is reeling from a wave of attacks claimed by terrorist outfits such as Islamic State and Al Qaeda on foreigners, rights activists and secular bloggers.

Hasina told the envoy "I understand the problems of refugees very well", according to Karim, as she herself was in exile for six years after the assassination of her father and Bangladesh's founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in a 1975 coup.

Hasina referred to the example of settling Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts insurgency in 1997 through peaceful internal negotiations, Karim said.

UNHCR chief John McKissick last week said the Myanmarese troops were "killing men, shooting them, slaughtering children, raping women, burning and looting houses, forcing these people to cross the river" into Bangladesh.

Bangladesh had sealed its borders with Myanmar with its paramilitary border guards and coastguards intensifying vigil on the frontiers but officials said several thousand Rohingyas took refuge in the bordering villages despite the vigil.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Chief Ministers' committee on digital payments, set up following the demonetisation drive and headed by Andhra Pradesh's Chandrababu Naidu, will submit its interim report to the Centre within the next 2 to 3 days.

Naidu, who is the convener of the committee, met with the Reserve Bank brass and top bankers here to review the ground-level situation following the demonetisation drive launched on November 8.

After the maiden meeting of the panel, that was skipped by all other six Chief Ministers, mostly from the BJP States, a statement from Naidu's office said they have decided to submit an interim report on the ongoing cash recall exercise to the Centre within the next 2 to 3 days.

Asked about Chief Ministers skipping the important meet, an official from Naidu's office told PTI in Amaravati, AP's new capital, that the member-CMs were informed of the meeting but not invited.

Apart from Naidu, the other Chief minister in the 13- member panel are Odisha's Naveen Patnaik, Shivraj Singh Chouhan of MP, Sikkim's Pawan Kumar Chamling, Congress chief minister of Puducherry V Narayanasamy and Maharashtra's Devendra Fadnavis.

The other members/special invitees are NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya, and its Chief Executive Amitabh Kant, Nandan Nilekani, former chairman of UIDAI, Janmejaya Sinha of BCG, Rajesh Jain of netCore, Sharad Sharma of iSpirit and Jayant Varma, professor of finance at IIM- Ahmedabad.

The panel was formed last month-end to outline measures to promote digital payment systems to promote transparency, financial inclusion and also prepare a road-map for the same. The Centre set up the panel to suggest measures to normalise the situation in the wake of demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes.

The statement from Naidu's office said the committee is exploring the possibility of adopting technology to simplify digital payment procedures. He said the best practices followed across the world will be incorporated.

Naidu said this process of consultations is on with all State Governments, banks, engineers, technologists and service providers.

Stating that a large number of cellphone users are using the Internet, Naidu called for making digital payment a mass movement.

Naidu said the main thrust of today's meeting with bankers was how to make it possible to enable the delivery of low denomination currency to the common man.

Naidu admitted there is a problem of connectivity in



rural areas, which should be addressed. The Andhra CM also said the RBI has assured them that new Rs 500 notes will be made adequately available by December 15.

The meeting reviewed the ground-level scenario a month after the high value banknotes were banned.

The bankers who attended the meeting were SBI chair Arundhati Bhattacharya, ICICI Bank's Chanda Kochhar, Aditya Puri of HDFC Bank, Axis Bank's Shikha Sharma and PS Jayakumar of Bank of Baroda. National Payments Corporation chief A P Hota was also present.

Coming out of the meeting, Axis Bank's Sharma told reporters that the panel discussed how to widen the use of existing infrastructure such as Aadhaar-enabled systems, unified payment interface (UPI), points of sale (PoS) and unstructured supplementary service data (USSD), to improve digitisation, apart from building additional infra for a cashless economy at the state-level.
Aiming to reduce Nepal's dependence on India for its internet connectivity, a leading Chinese company and Nepal's state-owned Nepal Telecom have signed an agreement on providing cross-border internet protocol service between the two countries.

The agreement signed in Hong Kong on Tuesday between China Telecom Global and Nepal Telecom (NT) comes after the two countries were connected with optical fibre through the Geelong (Keyrong)- Rasuwagadhi border point in June, ending Nepal's sole dependence on India for connecting it with global telecom and internet services.

Geelong Port (Kerung) of China will be used as the route for providing the internet service, China's state-run Xinhua agency reported, quoting a statement from Nepal Telecom.

"As the two countries have now been connected through terrestrial cable route, it will help Nepal to connect with telecom service providers of other countries too," the statement said.

"It is an alternative for Nepal for international connectivity after the existing connectivity through Indian territory," it said.

With this agreement, access to internet service through the route of China has been possible. As of now, Nepal has access to internet service only through Indian route, the report said.

Currently, Nepal Telecom has been connected with various Indian telecom service providers through bordering southern towns of Bhairahawa, Birgunj and Biratnagar.

After the connectivity was established through optical fibre, Nepal now can be directly linked with China's Hong Kong Data Center, which is one of the two biggest global date centers in Asia, through the Chinese mainland.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Nepalese Supreme Court today summoned Prime Minister Prachanda and Speaker Onsari Gharti Magar and asked them to furnish written clarifications within a week informing the rationale behind the registration of Constitution amendment bill to adress Madhesis' deamands.

A single bench of Justice Jagadish Sharma Paudel ordered the two leaders to furnish written clarifications within a week and set December 20 as the date for next hearing on the case filed against the government move, the Himalayan Times reported.

The ruling Nepali Congress-Maoist coalition government on November 29 had registered the amendment bill at the Parliament Secretariat in order to address demands put forth by the agitating Madhesi parties.

Following the registration, the Ex-lawmakers Forum challenged the Constitution Amendment Bill in the court, seeking a stay on the amendment process.

The amendment bill is aimed at carving out a new province to meet the demands of agitating Madhesis and other ethnic groups whose protests last year left more than 50 people dead.

The bill proposes to address three other key issues -- citizenship, representation in the Upper House and recognition of languages spoken in various parts of the country.

Madhesis, mostly Indian-origin, launched a six-month-long agitation from September last year to February this year in which more than 50 people were killed.

The agitation had also crippled the landlocked country's economy as supplies from India were blocked.

The bill proposes to list all the mother tongues of Nepal in the schedule of the constitution on the recommendation of the Language Commission. It also states that all languages recommended to be official languages by the Language Commission will be listed in the constitution's schedule.

On citizenship, the bill proposes that foreign women married to Nepali men can obtain naturalised citizenship after initiating the process to renounce their citizenship.

The bill does not say anything about the rights of the naturalised citizens and citizens by birth.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The new Indian High Commissioner to the UK, Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha, has taken charge of his post at India House here.

Theseasoned diplomat with a career spanning over 35 yearsholds the rank of Secretary to the Government of India andhas handled several important assignments at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi and at Indian diplomatic missions in South Asia, the Middle East, Europe, South America and the Permanent Mission of India at the United Nations in New York.

Before his current posting, which he officially took over yesterday, Sinha was High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka.

The 58-year-old post-graduate in History from Delhi University, previously as Additional Secretary, headed the important Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran Division at the MEA for almost four years.

He was Ambassador of India to Venezuela from January 2007 to August 2009 and Consul General of India in Dubai from August 2003 to December 2006.

Earlier, he served as Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi (UAE) from March 2002 to July 2003, according to the official profile released on the Indian High Commission website in the UK.

Having joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1981, Sinha has represented India at numerous international and regional conferences and meetings.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A New Zealand lawmaker who has led UN aid efforts worldwide is to be named UN mission chief in South Sudan, one of the world's toughest peacekeeping jobs, diplomats said.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has sent a letter informing the Security Council of his intention to appoint David Shearer as the UN envoy to South Sudan and head of UNMISS, succeeding Ellen Margrethe Loj of Denmark.

Shearer, a 59-year-old member of New Zealand's parliament, served as UN deputy envoy in Iraq from 2007 to 2009, following UN assignments in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Israel, Rwanda, Liberia and the Balkans.

Council members have until tomorrow midday to raise objections, but diplomats expect the appointment to be approved.

The United Nations has some 14,000 peacekeepers in South Sudan, where a civil war has been raging since December 2013.

The peacekeepers have come under heavy criticism for failing to protect civilians, including women who were raped by government soldiers in Jubly, not far from the gates of a UN compound in Juba.

Ban last month warned the council that South Sudan faces a "very real risk of mass atrocities" and that peacekeepers would be powerless to stop such a bloodbath.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 2.5 million, but UN diplomats expect the crisis to worsen.

South Sudan won independence from Sudan in 2011 with strong support from the United States.

The United States is pushing for an arms embargo and sanctions, but Russia and China are opposed to such measures.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Mumbai-based environmentalist has moved the National Green Tribunal seeking execution of its order directing a Panama-based shipping company and its two Qatar-based sister concerns to pay Rs 100 crore as damages for causing an oil spill when a cargo vessel sank off Mumbai coast in 2011, damaging marine ecology.

The petition has prompted the green panel to issue notices to the Ministries of Environment, Forests, Shipping, Defence and Home Affairs, Delta Navigation WLL, Delta Group International, Adani Enterprises Ltd and Astra Asigurari Insurance while seeking their reply by January 3, 2017.

The direction came after the NGT was informed that Adani Enterprises Ltd. Had approached the Supreme Court against the tribunal's August 23 order which the apex court did not put a stay on.

"It is evident from bare reading of the order that Supreme Court of India has not stayed the execution of the judgment of the Tribunal. Issue notice to all the respondents/judgment debtors," a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said.

The tribunal was hearing a plea filed by Mumbai-based environmentalist Samir Mehta seeking execution of its order which asked three companies to pay Rs 100 crore as environmental compensation (EC) to the Ministry of Shipping, and ordered Gujarat-based Adani Enterprises Ltd to pay Rs five crore as EC for dumping on the seabed 60,054 million tonnes of coal, being carried by the ship M V RAK.

The green body had asked Republic of Panama's Delta Shipping Marine Services SA, Qatar-based Delta Navigation WLL and Delta Group International to pay Rs 100 crore to the Ministry, observing that reports showed that the documents in favour of the ship were issued in a biased manner and the vessel was "not seaworthy", right from the inception of its voyage.

The plea, filed through advocate Rahul Choudhary, has also sought directions to the Centre and other authorities concerned to initiate all legal steps for the recovery of the amounts from them.

Mehta has alleged that despite the NGT order, the three shipping companies have "failed and neglected" to pay the amount towards environmental compensation.

The ship, which was sailing from Indonesia to Dahej in Gujarat, sank 20 nautical miles off the South Mumbai coast in the Arabian Sea on August 4, 2011.

The ship was also carrying more than 60,000 metric tonnes of coal for Adani Enterprises Ltd thermal power plant in Gujarat, besides containing 290 tonnes of fuel oil and 50 tonnes of diesel.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Sri Lankan government today said that a recent resolution adopted by the Northern Provincial Council prohibiting the construction of Buddhist temples in the Tamil-dominated North will have no legal standing.

Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe told Parliament that there were no constitutional provisions for provincial councils to introduce such resolutions and that the government would in no way accept such a resolution.

The Northern Provincial Council (NPC) controlled by the Tamil National Alliance has been expressing opposition to erection of Buddhist religious sites by the military in the north since the war with the LTTE ended in 2009. Tamil Hindus dominate the region.

The NPC Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran took exception to the move by publicly raising opposition.

The extreme Buddhist nationalist groups blamed the government of the President Maithripala Sirisena for not safeguarding the Buddhist religious sites in the former conflict zones in its desire to achieve reconciliation with the Tamil minority.

It was only this week that Sirisena said he was to appoint an all religious steering committee to defuse potential religious unrest created by certain extremist elements representing all religions.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Odisha and Chhattisgarh governments have expressed concern over design flood and back water calculations of the Polavaram project, Lok Sabha was informed today.

Design floods are hypothetical floods used for planning and floodplain management investigations. It is defined by its probability of occurrence.

"In an inter-state meeting held on June 2 convened by OSD, Ministry of Water Resources, the Governments of Odisha and Chhattisgarh expressed concerns on design flood, back water calculations etc," Minister of State for Water Resources Sanjeev Kumar Balyan said during Question Hour, amid continued sloganeeering by Opposition members, many of whom were in the Well.

Balyan said the Andhra Pradesh government shared relevant details again with the governments of Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

"There is no further response/query from either of the states as per information provided by the Polavaram projects authority," he said.

The Minister said Odisha and Chhattisgarh have already accepted the reservoir operation schedule through Inter-State agreement between Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa on April 2, 1980.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan and the US have discussed the regional situation, including Kashmir and the escalation of tensions at the Indo-Pak border, with Washington calling for a dialogue to resolve issues.

The issues were discussed during a meeting between Special Assistant to Pakistan Prime Minister (SAPM) Syed Tariq Fatemi and Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken here, a Pakistan Embassy statement said.

"The regional situation including the escalation across the Line of Control and the Working Boundary were discussed during the meeting. The SAPM briefed the Deputy Secretary on the frequency of ceasefire violations by India in recent weeks with particular reference to targeting of civilians across the LoC," the statement said.

Fatemi also accused India of "human rights violations" in Kashmir which he claimed had resulted in "hundreds of casualties and debilitating injuries to the civilians including women and children".

"While expressing concern on the increasing escalation at the LoC, Deputy Secretary Blinken reiterated the US position on the need for reducing tension in South Asia and promoting closer cooperation and dialogue between the two largest countries of the region," the statement said.

During the meeting, Fatemi asserted that Pakistan would be forthcoming in cooperating with new Donald Trump administration, in achieving peace in Afghanistan and improving Indo-Pak relationship for the sake of peace in the region, it said.

Fatemi expressed hope that after the completion of ongoing transition process, the two sides would resume their regular engagement on the bilateral track.

"The two sides expressed satisfaction on several achievements in areas of peace and security, counter terrorism, defence and economic cooperation. It was agreed that Pakistan-US relationship was important to regional as well as global peace and security and should continue to be strengthened under the next Administration," the statement said.

Meanwhile, talking about the meeting, State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner, said, "They discussed a range of bilateral and regional issues, including regional stability and counter-terrorism cooperation."



Fatemi, who is on a US visit, also interacted with mainstream US print and electronic media at the Pakistan Embassy on Monday.

Fatemi apprised the media that he is currently visiting US to have interaction with the current US Administration and to reach out to the officials likely to join the new administration following the recent US Presidential election.

Fatemi stated that Pakistan was looking forward to working closely with the new US Administration and wanted the bilateral relations to be further strengthened in future.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Jordanian pilot may have been suffering from "mental overload" when he crash-landed a plane in the UK, killing three members of Osama Bin Laden's family and himself, an inquiry has found.

The jet overshot the runway at Blackbushe Airport in Hampshire on July 31, 2015 and crashed into a car auction site.

The Air Accidents Investigations Branch (AAIB) said emergency warnings prior to landing may have "saturated the pilot's mental capacity".

The 57-year-old pilot and three passengers survived the crash but died in a severe fire.

Slain Al Qaeda chief Bin Laden's half-sister, Sana Mohammed Bin Laden, her mother, Raja Bashir Hashim, and his brother-in-law, Zuhair Hashim, were killed, along with pilot Mazen Al-Aqeel Da'jah Salem.

The AAIB report said the private Saudi-registered Phenom 300 jet, travelling from Milan, Italy, landed at high speed and touched down with only 438m of runway remaining.

It collided with an earth bank before crashing into a British Car Auctions site, losing one of its wings and bursting into flames among parked cars.

The AAIB said the three passengers appeared to have made an unsuccessful attempt to open the cabin door, the BBC reported.

The report said the pilot may have become "fixated on landing" because of "a very high workload situation" in the final minutes of the flight.

He made an emergency climb to avoid colliding with a microlight, and then came close to a second light aircraft. The jet then began "a very high-speed descent", dropping at up to 3,000ft per minute.

The pilot ignored six "pull up" warnings from the aircraft's Terrain Avoidance and Warning System (TAWS), touching down at a speed of about 135 knots (155mph).

The AAIB said the 66 messages and alarms in the final three-and-a-half minutes of the flight may have created "audio overload" and "mental stressors".

"It is possible that in these circumstances the pilot... fixated on his initial strategy (landing) and lacked the mental capacity to recognise that the approach had become unstable," the report said.

Following the crash, the jet's operators have installed co-pilots on all Phenom 300 flights.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chinese army has conducted massive military exercises in the volatile Xinjiang region, the first such drill after it reconstituted area command which looks after the Line of Actual Control in the Kashmir region.

Over 10,000 soldiers with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Xinjiang Military Area Command participated in a defensive drill in a mountainous area rising over 4,000 meters above sea level in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, state- run People's Daily said in brief report with photographs of the drills.

The operation spread across seven hills and included "missions relating to camouflage, intelligence, reconnaissance and counterattack", it said.

This is the fist time such exercises were held after the PLA underwent massive restructuring initiated by President Xi Jinping, who is also the head of the military.

His reforms include retrenchment of three lakh troops to make the force lean and mean.

He had also hinted at more downsizing of the army few days ago.

As part of the reforms the Chinese military has also for the first time integrated area commands looking after India and Pakistan.

China has seven military area commands in Beijing, Nanjing, Chengdu, Jinan, Shenyang, Lanzhou and Guangzhou.

Of this, Chengdulooked after security of India's eastern sector in the Tibet region including Arunachal Pradesh while Lanzhou looked after the partly the western sector, including Kashmir region and Pakistan.

As per the new strategic zone plan both Chengdu and Lanzhou gets integrated into strategic command region making it perhaps the biggest areas for the Chinese military.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today congratulated Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das on launching the 'cashless Jharkhand campaign'.

The Prime Minister also extended good wishes to the Chief Minister when the latter informed him that the state had launched the campaign on December 2 to encourage cashless system, an official release said.

Calling on Modi in New Delhi during the day, Das invited the PM to lay the foundation stone for a four-lane bridge over the Ganga in Sahibganj in January, to which the Prime Minister gave his consent, the release said.

Approximately Rs 2,000 crore would be spent on the bridge, which would give new speed in the development of Sahibganj and Santhal Pargana region along with giving fillip to industry in Bihar and the eastern region, Das told Modi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "not allowing" the Delhi government to compensate the family of ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal.

He said the AAP government's plan to give Rs 1 crore compensation to the family of Grewal, who committed suicide in the city last month over the OROP issue, has been hindered as Lt Governor Najeeb Jung has sought a report on the issue from the ruling dispensation.

The Chief Minister, however, vowed to provide the compensation "at any cost".

He also sought to know why the Central government had not given Rs one crore to the families of soldiers, who were martyred in Uri terror attack, on lines of the Delhi government's policy.

"They (BJP) go to seek votes in the name of surgical strike, but when the time comes to help families of martyrs, Modi ji neither gives compensation nor allows us to do it," Kejriwal said.

Under the AAP government's compensation policy, the families of martyrs, who are residents of Delhi, are given Rs one crore. Kejriwal has been urging the Prime Minister to implement the same across the country.

The Chief Minister said the Cabinet has decided to compensate the Grewal family and there was "no need to seek LG's consent on the issue."



"There is no need to seek LG's approval on the Cabinet decision. Cabinet is supreme and it can give compensation. Grewal did not commit suicide for himself. He did it for the country's soldiers.

"He committed suicide so that the country's attention move towards soldiers and we recognise their sacrifice," he said.

Kejriwal, however, clarified that he was open to meet the LG on the issue and convince him about the Cabinet decision if he had any reservations about it.

"LG has sought a report on this issue, saying that he will not give approval on it. But, we will request LG. Deputy CM will meet the LG and request him to allow us to release the compensation," he said.

The AAP leader added that Delhi Chief Secretary was preparing the report that will be submitted to the LG office soon.

Ram Kishan Grewal, 70-year-old ex-serviceman, had consumed poison in the lawns behind Jawahar Bhavan, which houses some offices of the Ministry of External Affairs, on 1 November. His suicide had snowballed into a huge political showdown in the capital.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Prime Minister's Office today asked Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge to spell out his "convenience" after December 16 so that a meeting could be convened of the Selection Committee to choose the new CBI Director.

Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh, who is also in-charge of Department of Personnel, wrote to Kharge in response to his letter sent yesterday, sources said.

Singh asked Kharge to indicate his "convenience" after December 16 so that the meeting of the Committee could be scheduled, the sources said.

In his letter, Kharge had asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately convene a meeting of the Selection Committee to select the new CBI Director.

Kharge is a member of the Committee which comprises the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of Opposition or leader of the largest party in opposition in Lok Sabha.

The Congress leader, in his letter, had raised strong concerns over the appointment of Gujarat cadre IPS officer Rakesh Asthana as interim director of CBI and alleged that the process of selection of the new director of the investigation agency has been vitiated.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Amid reports of the lavish wedding of Union minister Nitin Gadkari's daughter in Nagpur, a BJP spokesperson today said public representatives need to be "little cautious" when common people are facing inconvenience, apparently in the wake of demonetisation of high value notes.

"As I have said, whether it is a minister, a businessmen, an employee..As long as they use accounted money, there is no questionto be asked. But yes, at a time when people are experiencing inconvenience, generally we expect all public representatives to be little cautious," GVL Narsimha Rao, National Spokesman of the BJP said responding to a query on the wedding of Gadkari's daughter.

Referring to the controversy surrounding the wedding of former Karnataka minister Janardhan Reddy's daughter last month, Rao said Reddy is not part of the BJP anymore.

Ketki, youngest of three children of Gadkari, tied the knot with Facebook professional Aditya Kaskhedikar on December 4.

A galaxy of political leaders, including Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Venkaiah Naidu, BJP president Amit Shah, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had attended the function.

Rao said, "Let me make it clear that there is no ban on anyone's spending genuine, hard earned money on any event. Somebody has lot of money no one questionsit. But if people are using money through illicit means or unaccountable manner, this is the matter of concern and this has already been taken (up)."



Congress had alleged crores were spent on the wedding of Gadkari's daughter and demanded BJP should make public details of expenses made.

When asked about the pompous marriage of Reddy's daughter in Bengaluru last month, he said, "He (Reddy) is not part of party anymore...You are referring to big fat wedding that happened in Karnataka...It has already been raided..Inquiry is on...Anybody who dares to spend unaccounted money in this manner is onlyinviting troubles for themselves."



The ostentatious marriage marked by opulence has raised a firestorm of controversy against the backdrop of cash crunch, and allegations of money laundering are flying thick and fast.

On the scrapping of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes announced by



Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month, the spokesman said, "In this country, any move which is a pro-people measure instantly gets public support and anything which you consider anti-people definitely results into electoral disaster."



Dismissing speculations that demonetisation exercise will hurt the saffron party in the upcoming elections, Rao said, "Demonetisationhas greatly helped the poor and poor people today believe and the honest people believe that it pays to be honest and cost to be corrupt."



He conceded that the surprise move has caused "inconvenience" to people.

"This had to be a surprise move and not meant to be announced in days or months in advance with preparations. Therefore people aresupporting it despite the inconvenience they are facing because they have understood the spirit of it and they have understood why the PM took this bold move, and they are blessing it," Rao added.
Hardik Patel-led Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) today handed over various documents to the Gujarat government backing their claim that it is possible to give more than 49 per cent reservation despite Supreme Court cap.

The members of the Samiti held a meeting with Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel to resolve the issue of reservation for the Patel community under OBC quota.

The meeting, held at the Secretariat in Gandhinagar between Patel and 11 PAAS leaders, including Dinesh Bambhaniya and Varun Patel, lasted for almost 3-hours, said an official release issued here.

After the meeting, Patel said the government will once again invite PAAS leaders for another round of meeting next week after studying proofs provided by them.

"PAAS leaders gave us various documents, notifications and court orders related to reservation given by other states to some communities. We will study these documents and call them (PAAS leaders) again for another round of meeting after one week," said Patel.

He added that state government is positively looking into the various demands put forward by PAAS and will call some other organisations, such as Sardar Patel Group (SPG), for talks with government on this issue. Both these groups (PAAS and SPG) are fighting for reservation to the Patel community.

The first meeting between PAAS and a group of ministers including Nitin Patel on December 1 had remained inconclusive. On Monday, Patel appealed PAAS to provide proof to back its claim that it is possible to give more than 49 per cent reservation, as some states had done so despite of Supreme Court cap.

Meanwhile, in a message sent from Udaipur, where he is living in exile as part of the conditional bail granted to him by the Gujarat High Court, Hardik Patel gave another ultimatum to the government.

"It seems that government is only passing time instead of bringing a solution. We demand that government clears it's stand in the next five days. If government fails to resolve the issue, no one can stop us from starting the fresh round of agitation" said Patel, whose exile period is ending on January 17.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A special CBI court here today sentenced a bank manager to five years rigorous imprisonment for conspiracy to cheat the PSU lender and under the provisions of the Prevention Corruption Act.

Additional special judge for CBI cases, K Venkatasami, sentenced V Vijayaraghavan, who was working as a manager of Canara Bank during 2001-02 here, to five-year RI.

Another co-accused PA David, a businessman, was also sentenced to five year RI, a CBI release said here.

Other accused in the case-- Jaina Thomas, WV Rajendra Prasad, R Govindarajalu and R Laxmipathy-- were sentenced to undergo three years rigorous imprisonment each.

The court also imposed a total fine of Rs 67 lakh on them.

During trial, another accused, then senior manager of the bank, P Mariappan, passed away and charges against him abated and two others were acquitted.

According to prosecution, during 2001-2002, the two accused bank officers allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy with five individuals running business here and other places to cheat the bank.

In pursuance of the conspiracy, the two officers by abusing their official position, sanctioned secured over draft limit of Rs 25 lakh and open cash credit limit of Rs 20 lakh to two firms associated with the five individuals based on the security of forged title deeds.

Vijayaraghavan had also obtained an illegal gratification of Rs.25,000 from David and Jaina Thomas for sanctioning 'SOD' and 'OCC' limit by violating bank rules and caused a wrongful loss of Rs.69.55 lakh to the bank and wrongful gain to the accused persons.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Stepping up its preparations for the upcoming assembly polls, Bharatiya Janata Party in Punjab has planned conferences of its various fronts in Majha, Doaba and Malwa regions of the state beginning next week.

In the run-up to the polls, Punjab BJP president Vijay Sampla and BJP organisational general secretary Dinesh Kumar today held a meeting with the state office-bearers and leaders of various Morchas at the party headquarters here and took stock of poll preparations and booth-level setup.

Giving out the details, Sampla said a conference of the Yuva Morcha of Punjab BJP will be held in Ludhiana on December 18 while Mahila Morcha conference will be held in Pathankot on December 20.

Similarly, a conference of the SC Morcha would be held in Jalandhar on December 21 and that of the Kisan Morcha would be held on December 23 in Fazilka.

The conference of the party's minority front -- Alpsankhyak Morcha, would be held on 24 December in Mukerian, he said.

Sampla also exhorted the party leadership and cadre to gear up for the elections and ensure a thumping victory for the coalition so that the Akali-BJP combine forms a government in the state for the third consecutive time.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Rahul Gandhi today termed as "foolish" the demonetisation decision as opposition parties stepped up their attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the move, with Congress likening him to Roman emperor Nero, who fiddled while Rome burnt.

On a day when opposition parties observed completion of one month of demonetisation as "Black Day", Congress said the move was implemented without any application of mind as it has put the public to "great hardships".

"There is a saying, Nero fiddled while Rome burned. As the story goes, in the time of a crisis, the Roman Emperor was busy playing the violin. He was both whimsical and ineffectual when Rome needed him the most.

"It has been a month since that fateful day when Modi decided that 86 per cent of the cash in the economy was illegal. Since then, the entire nation has been put through great hardships, whose cost in terms of human lives has been significant", the Congress said.

The Congress vice president, who led the protest outside Mahatma Gandhi's statue this morning said, "This is not a bold decision, it is a foolish decision which has been taken without any due consideration. It has devastated the poor, farmers and daily wage workers."



Gandhi also said, "Demonetisation - a goalless draw" and that "PayTM means Pay To Modi, i.E a few people should get maximum benefit from every single transaction".

He said the Prime Minister is changing his narrative on Demonetisation. "PM is running from one thing to another: black money to counterfeit to cashless. He jumped from black money to terrorism to counterfeit currency and now to cashless economy. We won't let him run inside the House."



Gandhi said,"We want to have a discussion (in Parliament). We want a vote (in Parliament). The government doesn't."



Congress party senior spokesperson Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "There was no application of mind. It was just merely an announcement and that too an announcement without thinking and without visualising what type of disaster ultimately it will lead to."



Azad said it has been one month since Modi announced his demonetisation scheme



"In the last month we have seen that this scheme as failed and has been a total disaster. We are all against Black Money. But, this was an announcement without thinking nor visualising the disaster it would make," he said.

The Congress leader claimed reports have already started coming that shows that lakhs of jobs are being lost as 86 pc of the salaries paid in India are in cash.

"There was selective leakage of the info to BJP leaders. BJP leaders have been purchasing land just prior to Demonetisation.

"This measure has not stopped terrorism. Reports have shown that terrorists captured had new currency," he said.

(REOPENS DEL 97)



Azad alleged that government brought this scheme for the devastation and destruction of the poor, farmers, small businessmen, housewives, labourers as there have job losses on a large scale.

"This scheme has brought destruction and devastation ... people have lost jobs on a large scale due to wrong policies of the government," he said.

Azad also alleged that the demonetisation decision was "selectively leaked" to BJP leaders and said it was the "biggest scam" in the country.

"There was selective leakage of the info to BJP leaders. BJP leaders have been purchasing land just prior to demonetisation. BJP has been on a purchasing spree in Bihar and Odisha for party offices. This is the biggest scam in the country," he claimed.

He claimed that more than 100 deaths were reported in the country due to the decision, with many dying standing in queues and many others died in hospitals after they refused to accept their money.

"Is the Government not responsible? They denied the people access to their own hard earned money. More than 100 people have died.

"A paucity of funds means that daily wage labourers are not getting paid. Reports have already started coming which has shown that lakhs of jobs are being lost," he said.

Azad said banks do not have money and neither have ATMs and common people are suffering, but alleged that many people are getting the money converted by paying off 20, 30 or 40 per cent commission.

"Who is supplying the money to them. Why the government is not catching them, when we are hearing that people are getting their black money converted. Is the government involved in this parallel business, as banks are not having money but middlemen have," he said.

"A study has shown that the negative impact of this decision is to the tune of Rs 1.28 lakh crore to the GDP," he claimed.

Azad also said that Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) with 25 crore accounts received only about Rs 8,000 crore of fresh currency, till November 30, which amounts to each account holder getting a paltry Rs 350.

"We were told that we would have to bear with the Government for only a few days. But, as the extent of the pain across the nation became apparent, Modi began to change the rules around demonetisation. It has been a month and there is still not enough money in the banks. Rules have been changed more than 120 times", the Congres website said.
Nearly a fortnight after signing an agreement with an evangelist NGO to improve nutritional status of children under five years of age in eight districts of Rajasthan, the state government has terminated the MoU, a senior official today said.

The Integrated Child Development Services Department (ICDS) on November 11 had signed the MoU with World Vision India for the next four years to reduce malnutrition in Barmer, Tonk, Baran, Udaipur, Pratapgarh, Alwar, Bundi and Dungarpur districts.

However, in a U-turn, the state government has cancelled it.

"There are various MoUs that government sign with NGOs. Some of them are terminated too. We had signed an MoU with World Vision India too and it has been terminated," Samit Sharma, director of ICDS, told PTI.

The termination letter, signed by additional director of the department, states that the MoU was cancelled as per the clause VII (III) of the agreement.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Ramban district in Jammu region is coming up as a new belt for superior quality of walnuts besides the Kashmir region, known for producing best quality of the nuts.

"No doubt, Kashmir province is well known for producing the walnut but at the same time it is very right to say that district Ramban can also produce superior qualities of walnut", Chief Horticulture Officer, Ramban, Lokesh Bali told PTI.

The walnut is also produced in some parts of district Doda, Kishtwar, Rajouri, Poonch including the hilly regions of district Reasi, but among all these districts, top production of walnut comes from Ramban, Bali said.

The district accounts for Rs 80 crores of walnut sales annually, he said.

Giving further details, Bali said that the major crop grown in this district is walnut. "Around 5,193.70 hectare of land is being used for developing walnut orchards and around 7247.17 metric tons of production was made in 2015-16", he said.

Bali said that to showcase the success of the department a film has been shot on walnut production in the district, which got boost to rural economy.

This clearly vindicates that there is a big potential for growing wide varieties of walnut. Major walnut growing areas are Pogal Paristan, Senabati, Hochak, Panchal, Trigam, Neel and Sangaldan. In these areas the farmers are earning a good livelihood from the walnut cultivation, the official said.

Mohammad Ashraf Khan, who was serving in a bank, resigned from the job and set up a walnut processing unit in Banihal belt of the district and has launched three brands of walnuts.

"He has changed the economy of the farmers in Ramba", Bali said.The walnut processing has employed around 150 people including boys and girls, he said.

The owner of the unit said that walnut worth of crores is purchased every year from local farmers for the markets in Jammu, Delhi, Chennai, Gujarat.

"From Pogal Paristan walnut is sold from the plants which are grown with the help of locally prepared manure," said Bashir Ahmed Naik an orchardist of Maligam, Ramban.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
British Government should remove international students including those from India from the list of immigrants sending out the signal to welcome them, leading NRI entrepreneur Lord Karan Bilimoria has said.

"On the Government's attitude to international students - we continue to include and categorise international students as immigrants in the net migration figures, but this Bill is an opportunity once and for all to sort this out," he said.

"I hope that we will address this and remove international students, sending out the signal that we welcomed them," Bilimoria, Chair of the advisory board of the Cambridge Judge Business School and Chancellor of the University of Birmingham while participating in a debate on Higher Education and Research Bill in the House of Lords, said on Tuesday.

Bilimoria, president of the UK Council for International Students Affairs, said that from India there has been a 50 per cent drop in students coming to the UK since 2010.

At the outset, he said according to the University of UK, the higher education sector is a success story with a global reputation for excellence in teaching and research, supporting over 2.5 million students from the UK and around the world.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
: As part of its plans to optimise production, Renault Nissan Automotive India Pvt Ltd (RNAIPL), a Franco-Japanese auto alliance, would suspend the third shift operations at its Chennai factory, the company said today.

The employees at the factory have been informed that the plant would operate in two shifts instead of three from second week of December, a company statement here said.

Stating that the employees, both permanent and those who are on-roll will keep the jobs, the company said, the third shift was introduced to meet the high demand for Renault Kwid and Datsun redi-GO models.

"Demand for the cars remain strong but waiting times have been successfully brought down. In addition, plant operations have been optimised to maximise the production in two shifts, it said.

"At RNAIPL, we are proud to play our part in Make in India. In making this necessary change we are protecting the jobs of permanent, on-roll employees who will be reassigned to other duties within the plant," RNAIPL, Managing Director, Colin MacDonald said.

"There is a bright future ahead as we develop RNAIPL into even more significant passenger car manufacturing hub for Africa, Middle East and India region," he said.

Renault Nissan Automotive India Pvt Ltd have invested around Rs 5,000 crore at the facility in 2008.

The factory has an annual capacity of 4.80 lakh units.

The alliance operations support 40,000 jobs directly and indirectly,it said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Human Rights Watch today called for an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia over the war in Yemen, and said the United States might be complicit in "atrocities" by supplying bombs.

The New York-based group said more than 160 people were killed in one month, mostly by US bombs sold to the Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen's Houthi rebels. It said the US arms were supplied after earlier violations had been publicized, and were used in airstrikes in September and October.

"The Obama administration is running out of time to completely suspend US arms sales to Saudi Arabia or be forever linked to Yemen wartime atrocities," Human Rights Watch researcher Priyanka Motaparthy said.

A Saudi-led coalition supported by the United States launched an air campaign on behalf of Yemen's internationally recognized government in March 2015. The year before, the Houthis had seized much of northern Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa.

More than 4,000 civilians have been killed in the conflict, and some 3 million have been displaced. The fighting, along with an air and sea blockade by the coalition, has pushed the Arab world's poorest country to the brink of famine.

Rights groups have investigated dozens of airstrikes that targeted weddings, busy markets, hospitals, and schools. They have accused the coalition of committing war crimes and called for an international investigation.

The Human Rights Watch report released today included findings from an investigation into an air raid in Arhab, a town north of Sanaa, on Sept. 10 that killed 31 civilians, including several first responders, and wounded more than 40. HRW said fragments of the weapons used in the attack show they were produced in the US in October 2015, after several rights groups had already reported alleged violations.

Ten days later, warplanes struck a three-story house near a funeral, killing more than 28 civilians and wounding 32 in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida, the group said. "Governments selling weapons to Saudi Arabia cannot with any credibility rely on either coalition or Yemeni-led investigations to determine whether these weapons are being used against civilians," Motaparthy said. "The US, UK, and others selling weapons to Saudi Arabia should suspend these sales until unlawful attacks are curtailed and properly investigated.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Actor Russell Crowe has been cleared in an alleged hotel fight involving Azealia Banks.

The Los Angeles District Attorney would not be pursing prosecution of the "Gladiator" star due to lack of sufficient evidence, reported E! online.

The attendees and other eyewitnesses stated Banks was actually the "assaultive party," not Crowe.

In October, the 25-year-old rapper filed a police report against the Oscar-winning actor following an alleged fight that transpired at a Beverly Hills hotel.

In a since deleted Facebook post, Banks had claimed that Crowe addressed her with a 'N' word and choked her during a party in the actor's suite.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Union Minister M J Akbar today said the SAARC was going through "teething problems", but expressed hope that the university formed by the regional bloc would have a smoother run.

The minister of state for external affairs was speaking on the occasion of SAARC Charter Day organised at the SAARC University here.

"SAARC is itself going through teething problems, which are obvious enough. But I am absolutely sure that the university with its has a much smoother run than the bloc itself," he said.

"South Asian history is a complex history untouched by emotionalism. And very often proximity doesn't lead to clarity. Proximity leads to complexity and problem.

"We have to live through them. We cannot change too much of our past, but we can change substantial amount of future," he said.

The SAARC University was founded in 2010 by eight South Asian Nations. It currently operates from Akbar Bhawan here.

Following the Uri attack in September this year, India pulled out SAARC Summit in Islamabad, which was to be held in November. Bhutan and Bangladesh also pulled out of the summit.

The South Asian bloc has often been affected by tumultuous relations between India and Pakistan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
SAARC nations are keen to further strengthen their trade relations with India by overcoming certain internal challenges.

South East Asia is a major consumer market and India had been the a supporter in all terms to which they always look upon.

These were the sentiments of visiting delegates of SAARC nations during the 'Buyer and Seller Meet on Trade Between South Asian Countries - Opportunities and Challenges' being organised by PHD Chambers under the aegis of PITEX 2016 here.

Afghanistan with delegates of 30 members are taking part in meet. Bangladesh with its 36 while Sri Lanka with 38 delegates are taking part in this five day long expo. Bhutan and Nepal are represented by 12 and 15 delegates respectively.

Welcoming the delegates, R S Sachdeva, Co-Chairman, Punjab Committee, PHDCCI said today the focus of exposition was promotion of bilateral trade relations and strengthening of global economic linkages with the participating SAARC countries.

According to Hassib Rahimi, CEO, Kabul Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Afganistan has a trade deficit of 90 per cent where import is far more than exporting potential.

Country's possesses the consumer economy rather than manufacturing, he said.

Therefore, there is a plenty of opportunities not only for trading but also in form of investment, he said.

"Afganistan expects expertise and technology from India. Also, the recent change in the government policy has made Afghanistan more inclined toward to the economic oriented system than political one," he said.

In his deliverables, Kesang Wangi, Deputy Secretary General, Bhutan Chamber of Commerce and Industry who is participating second time in PITEX realized the importance of such platforms for building the economies of SAARC nations.

Business networking plays an important role in such forums, he said.

Bhutan import edible products to heavy machinery from India lieu of Hydel Power, he said.

"India is biggest business partner with Bhutan and Bhutan always look upon investing on their basic infrastructure," he said.

Wangi appealed fellow nation members for investments as Bhutan is open its economy for SAARC nations.

In his address, Mohd Abu Naser, Director, Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry said, "Bangladesh Govternment's 'Vision - 2021' will take Bangladesh to a middle income country by 2021 and developed country by 2041, therefore nation is keen to build healthy global trade".

Bangladesh has taken the 'Open Door Policy' for promoting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), he said.

The private sector has been identified as the main vehicle for the development of the economy, he said adding that Country is working to establishing 100 Special Economic Zone (SEZs) across the country where investor can target both domestic and export market.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Britain's foreign minister has accused Saudi Arabia and Iran of "puppeteering" and engaging in "proxy wars" in the Middle East, a video reported on Thursday shows.

In the clip, Johnson tells a conference in Rome last week it was a "tragedy" that politicians in the region were "twisting and abusing religion" to advance their political objectives.

Such public criticism of British ally Saudi Arabia was seen by some commentators as a diplomatic blunder by Johnson, who has been on the job less than six months.

His comments, filmed and posted on the Guardian's website, came as British Prime Minister Theresa May returned from a summit in Bahrain where she pledged to strengthen ties with Gulf states including Saudi Arabia.

"There are politicians who are twisting and abusing religion and different strains of the same religion in order to further their own political objectives," Johnson told the Med 2 conference.

"That's one of the biggest political problems in the whole region. And the tragedy for me  and that's why you have these proxy wars being fought the whole time in that area  is that there's not strong enough leadership in the countries themselves."



Johnson said there were "not enough big characters" willing to "reach out beyond their Sunni or Shia" group.

"That's why you've got the Saudis, Iran, everybody, moving in and puppeteering and playing proxy wars," he added.

Britain's foreign ministry stressed that Johnson had voiced support for Saudi Arabia on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show on Sunday.

"As the Foreign Secretary made very clear on Sunday, we are allies with Saudi Arabia and support them in their efforts to secure their borders and protect their people," a spokesman said.

"Any suggestion to the contrary is wrong and misinterpreting the facts."



Addressing a summit of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Bahrain on Wednesday, May reaffirmed British support for traditional allies in the region and said Britain would help "push back against Iran's aggressive regional actions."



In a joint statement, the GCC states and Britain agreed to a "strategic partnership" and said they "oppose and will work together to counter Iran's destabilising activities".
A plea was today filed in the Supreme Court seeking directions to the Centre, CBI and ED to stop Aircel-Maxis from selling allotted spectrum to Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications, claiming it would allow Maxis to "escape law and abscond" with crores of rupees.

The NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation, filed an application in the apex court wherein it has also sought directions to attach the properties and spectrum of Aircel.

Both CBI and Enforcement Directorate have already filed separate chargesheets in the Aircel-Maxis deal case and have named former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi and others as accused.

It has been alleged that Marans had coerced C Sivasankaran, then owner of Aircel, to sell his shares to T Ananda Krishnan, who was the promotor of Malaysian company, Maxis.

A special CBI court has reserved its order on framing of charges against all the accused.

The case against them had arisen during the probe into the 2G spectrum allocation scam which was monitored by the apex court.

The plea, filed through advocate Prashant Bhushan, claimed that promoters of Aircel have started the process of selling the spectrum allotted to them and the equity in December and they are "desperate to complete all the deals as soon as possible".

The NGO has also submitted that their main asset is



spectrum.

"Spectrum, which is a precious natural resource belonging to the people of India, has been allotted to Aircel/Maxis by the government. Today, the company is attempting to quickly sell off its allotted spectrum to Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications for thousands of crores (of rupees), and exit the market with huge sums of money," the plea alleged.

"If the deal between Aircel and Bharti Airtel and the deal between Aircel and Reliance Communications is allowed to go through, then that would allow Maxis to escape the arm of law and abscond with thousands of crores of money," it claimed.

The petition also said that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had attached assets worth Rs 742 crore of the Marans in the court-monitored investigation in the 2G spectrum scam and filed chargesheets.

"On April 2, 2015, ED issued an order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for attachment of assets held by Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi," the plea said.

"Direct the Respondents Union of India, CBI and ED to not allow M/s Maxis to sell stake/equity or spectrum allotted to M/s Aircel, and direct the respondents to attach the property and spectrum allotted to M/s Aircel," it said.
The Supreme Court today decided to examine the Chhattisgarh government's contention that the Delhi High Court has no jurisdiction to entertain a case of a death row convict, who has committed the crime in the state, only on the ground that his mercy petition was rejected by the President who sits in the national capital.

The apex court asked the Chhatisgarh government to file an appeal against the December 6 order of the Delhi High Court by which it had said the rejection of mercy petition by President "does give rise to a cause of action at Delhi".

The High Court order was passed on the state government's petition seeking transfer of the case from Delhi to Chhattisgarh High Court which was listed for hearing today.

The apex court was extremely critical of the Delhi High Court order and questioned its jurisdiction, saying that the offence was committed in Chhattisgarh.

The bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra referred to a five judge bench verdict penned by him as the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court in 2011 dealing with jurisdictional aspect of the High Court and said that it should hold itself back in such matters.

"How come Delhi High Court has the jurisdiction? If that is the case then Bombay, Gujarat and Calcutta High Courts will not have any matter because the President sits in Delhi. Then other High Courts will have nothing to do," it said.

The court was dealing with the transfer petition of Chhattisgarh government which alleged that the Delhi High Court has no jurisdiction to stay the execution of a man held guilty of murder of five persons, including two children, in 2004 in its territory.

The bench, also comprising Justice Amitava Roy, asked the Chhattisgarh government to file an appeal against the Delhi High Court's December 6 order in the case and sought the assistance of Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi during the hearing.

"There has to be 'forum conveniens' (a latin term for a convenient forum or venue) and Delhi High Court should hold back in such matters," it said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Four persons of three schools here have been arrested for allegedly admitting hundreds of students after falsely claiming that the institutes were affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

Krishna Kant Dholakiya of K G Dholakiya School, Rashmikant Modi of Modi School, and Father Paul and Father Wilson of Saint Mary's School were arrested following complaints by parents, Assistant Commissioner of Police Harshad Mehta said.

Parents approached the police following media reports that these schools had no CBSE affiliation, contrary to what they had been led to believe.

The school authorities misled them so as to charge higher fees than the institutes affiliated by Gujarat Secondary Education Board, the parents said.

Dholakiya School claimed to have CBSE affiliation from 2011-12, while Modi School and Saint Mary's School claimed to have it for the last couple of years. However, all the three schools failed to produce any proof, the police officer said.

The schools, in fact, were found to have forged some documents to mislead the parents, he said.

Some of the parents had also met Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani in this regard, who had assured that their children would be accommodated in other CBSE schools.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Seven drug traffickers from the notorious Wa tribe died in a late night shoot-out with a Thai army patrol near the rugged Golden Triangle border region, an officer said today.

The fighting broke out after the seven men, who were travelling through the mountainous region by foot, refused to stop for a search, according to the military officer who requested anonymity.

"The seven dead men, who we suspect were from the Wa tribe, were trafficking drugs to nearby Chiang Rai province," he told AFP, adding the shoot-out took place around 1:00 am (1800 GMT yesterday) close to the border with Myanmar.

The ethnic Wa are mostly based in northwestern Myanmar, where their powerful rebel militia controls a large swathe of territory and is accused of running a narcotics empire.

But some Wa communities have also settled in northern Thailand, which forms part of the notorious Golden Triangle -- a drug-producing zone where the two countries meet Laos.

The Thai rangers seized 554,000 methamphetamine tablets, approximately 30 kilogrammes (66 pounds) of heroine and an AK-47 from the men after the gunfight, according to the officer.

Long a hub for illicit opium trade, the Golden Triangle has more recently become a hotbed of methamphetamine production as demand for the drug soars in Asia.

The latest United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report said global amphetamine seizures reached a new peak of more than 170 tonnes in 2014, with Southeast Asia, East Asia and North America the three major markets.

Decades of harsh drug laws and an attempted "war" on narcotics has left Thai prisons overflowing with offenders, often caught in possession of small amounts of narcotics.

Senior Thai Junta figures have unexpectedly admitted that the country's tough approach has failed to stem the scourge of drug addiction and have floated decriminalisation of meth as a solution.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Amid strong attack by Opposition over demonetization, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today took to Twitter to assert that the "short term pain" will pave the way for "long term gains" and insisted that farmers, traders and labourers stand to gain from this step.

In a series of tweets, Modi spoke about the benefits of demonetization and said the country has a "historic opportunity" to embrace increased cashless payments.

"I salute the people of India for wholeheartedly participating in this ongoing 'Yagna' against corruption, terrorism & black money," he said.

"Together, we must ensure #IndiaDefeatsBlackMoney. This will empower the poor, neo-middle class, middle class & benefit future generations," Modi added.

"I always said that the government's measure will bring a degree of inconvenience but this short term pain will pave way for long term gains," the Prime Minister added.

He said the decision has several gains for farmers, traders, labourers, "who are the economic backbone of our nation" and "no longer will the progress and prosperity of rural India be curtailed by corruption & black money. Our villages must get their due."



He went on to add, "We also have a historic opportunity to embrace increased cashless payments & integrate latest technology in economic transactions."



The tweets came amid strong attack by Opposition against him over demonetization decision.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon will visit India later this month, during which both sides will look at increasing cooperation in the fields of energy, defence and security besides others.

Rahmon will be on a state visit to India from December 14 to 18 and it will be his sixth trip to the country.

During his last visit to India in 2012, the two countries elevated their bilateral relations to the level of a long-term strategic partnership.

Bilateral relations span cooperation in a wide spectrum of areas - political, economic, health, human resources development, defence, counter-terrorism, science and technology, culture and tourism, a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs said.

The Tajikistan President will arrive in New Delhi on December 16 after visiting Kerala.

His official engagements will be on December 17, during which he will have meetings with the Indian leadership, including President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Tajikistan shares a 1,400 km-long porus border with Afghanistan and has immense geo-strategic significance for India which has been providing military assistance to it, including supply of helicopters as part of counter-terrorism cooperation.

India has also developed the Ayni airbase near the Tajik capital Dushanbe, which provided it a foothold in Central Asia.

India had deployed its Army and Border Roads Organisation personnel to upgrade the airbase by extending its runway, constructing an air-traffic control tower and perimeter fencing around the base.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Shares of Tata Steel today settled with gains of nearly 5 per cent after the company announced investment plans for its UK unit and an agreement with worker unions over pension plan.

At close, the stock of the company was quoted at Rs 431.55, up 4.62 per cent on BSE.

During the day the stock had risen by 4.94 per cent to touch an intra-day high of Rs 432.90. The stock saw a spurt in volumes by more than 2 times.

Following the uptick in the counter the market capitalisation of the company improved by Rs 1,850 crore to Rs 41,912.80 crore.

On the NSE, the stock settled at Rs 432.05, up 4.89 per cent. During the day the stock had risen by 5.06 per cent to an intra-day high of Rs 432.75.

Tata Steel yesterday pledged to stay in Britain with a 10-year commitment to a one-billion-pound investment plan as part of crucial talks with steelworkers' unions to save thousands of jobs in the UK.

Tata Steel offered a number of guarantees to its staff at Port Talbot steelworks in south Wales -- the UK's largest steel plant -- including a minimum five-year guarantee to keep both furnaces operational at the site.

Tatas will next week start consultation with its employees on a proposal to close the British Steel Pension Scheme, which has liabilities of over 15 billion pound, and offer employees a "competitive defined contribution scheme" in its place.

The future of its UK business will remain contingent on a solution being achieved to the pension scheme.

The company has termed the agreement between Tata Steel UK and the unions as an important step forward in the journey to develop a "sustainable future for our UK steel business".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Thai authorities have ordered a controversial Buddhist temple to suspend its 24-hour TV channel, as police redouble efforts to arrest the spiritual leader of the scandal-hit sect.

A cat-and-mouse game between investigators and the powerful Wat Dhammakaya temple in Bangkok has staggered on for months over allegations its former abbot accepted illicit funds.

Police are reluctant to raid the super-rich temple's 1,000-acre compound after previous attempts saw thousands of devotees of the breakaway order turn out to defend the 72-year-old monk.

Authorities suspect Phra Dhammachayo of accepting embezzled funds worth 1.2 billion baht (USD 33 million) from the owner of a cooperative bank who was jailed.

Eager to avoid clashing with devotees on temple grounds, police have repeatedly allowed deadlines for the monk's surrender expire.

But the stand-off has heated up in recent weeks, with authorities leveling new accusations against the well-connected monk and moving to target the temple's acting abbot for sheltering him.

Yesterday Thai broadcasting authorities ordered the temple to suspend its television channel for 15 days, citing "inappropriate" content.

The channel appeared to be off the air today.

Colonel Paisit Wongmuang, chief of Thailand's Department of Special Investigations (DSI), accused the temple of using its media arm to lure supporters to the compound and thwart police's attempted raids.

"In previous searches we found that the temple has used television as propaganda to attract people to come for (religious reasons), but instead used people to meditate and block the temple's gates," he said.

The satellite station, called Dhammakaya Media Channel (DMC), broadcasts across multiple continents and airs everything from meditation teachings to cartoons and daily .

It is part of a broader PR arsenal, including print media and active social media pages, that has established Wat Dhammakaya's presence in countries spanning the globe.

In a statement released yesterday, the temple denied the police's allegations and said it was preparing to fight the black-out order.

While the movement says its core focus is on teaching meditation, critics accuse the sect of propagating a cult-like brand of Buddhism that promises benefits in the afterlife in exchange for donations.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
High up on a hillside in the south of Hong Kong, shaded beneath dense green foliage, are the pockmarked remnants of World War II pillboxes, a reminder of the city's failed attempt to fend off a Japanese invasion.

It is 75 years since Hong Kong fell -- less than three weeks after the Japanese first attacked what was then a British colony.

Hours after swooping on Pearl Harbor, bringing a reluctant United States into the war, Hong Kong was an early target in what would become a full-blown Asian campaign for imperial Japan.

Although extra troops had been brought in to bolster its defences, the outpost of the British Empire was crushed under heavy bombardment in the 18-day Battle of Hong Kong.

The brutal confrontation, much less reported upon than other clashes in the Pacific theatre, saw around 1,500 allied troops die trying to defend the territory.

Keen to limit potential losses, the British government had initially been reluctant to send reinforcements in to what they saw as an indefensible position, despite Japan's advance into southern China in the late 1930s as part of the ongoing Sino-Japanese conflict.

But in September 1941, Canadian troops were drafted in to boost defences, joining local, British and Indian soldiers.

It was still a token force -- the 15,000 allied troops were vastly outnumbered by more than 50,000 Japanese who carried out a devastating aerial attack that wiped out RAF planes at Hong Kong's Kai Tak airport on December 8, the first day of the offensive.

The British were relying on Gin Drinkers' Line, an 11-mile (18 kilometre) military defensive cordon that ran across the hills of Hong Kong's northern New Territories, not far from the border with southern mainland China.

A combination of bunkers, trenches and machine-gun posts, it was designed to combat any southward invasion from the Japanese.

But a small group of Japanese forces soon breached a weak point in the line and troops joined them in an all-out assault, forcing the allies to retreat south across the harbour to Hong Kong Island in a matter of days.

As the Japanese pursued them, fierce fighting broke out around the North Point power station on the island's northern shore.

Japanese troops then marched south, battling counter attacks in the connecting hills and valleys.

Hours before they eventually surrendered, the allies tried to defend the island's southern peninsula of Stanley.

Injured troops and medical staff there were attacked at St Stephen's College, which was being used as a military field hospital.

Horrific testimony from eye witnesses tells how nurses were raped and killed, wounded soldiers attacked and mutilated.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Three persons, including two women, were arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) in connection with a 2015 murder case, police said today.

"Bram Singh, who was wanted in 24 cases and was carrying a reward of Rs 50,000, was arrested along with his wife Suman and accomplice Anju last night for the murder of Billu," DSP STF Raj Kumar Mishra said, adding the women were carrying a reward of Rs 5,000 each.

Billu was murdered on November 9, 2015, in Kurthal village, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Iowa Governor Terry Branstad to be the next US Ambassador to China, choosing an "old friend" of Beijing, after upsetting the Communist giant by his protocol-shattering talk with the Taiwanese president.

Branstad, 70, has longstanding with Chinese President Xi Jinping dating back to mid-1980s, when President Xi was a youngcounty officialseeking a closer relationship with Iowa's robust agriculture sector.

"Governor Branstad's decades of experience in public service and long-time relationship with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders make him the ideal choice to serve as America's Ambassador to China," Trump said.

"He successfully developed close trade ties with China while serving as chief executive of the Hawkeye State. That experience will serve him well as he represents America's interests and further develops a mutually beneficial relationship with Chinese leadership," he said.

"After long discussions with my family, I am honoured and humbled to accept President-elect Trump's nomination to represent our great country as Ambassador to China," Branstad said.

"I have known President Xi Jinping for many years and consider him an old friend. I look forward to building on our long friendship to cultivate and strengthen the relationship between our two countries and to benefit our economy," he said.

The longest-serving governor in American history, he has led six trade missions to China meeting with numerous provincial governors,ministerial leadersand local officials.

He is considered an "old friend", a culturally significant title, by President Xi and has a long-standing relationship withtheChinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai.

The announcement was welcomed by China.

"Branstad is an old friend of the Chinese people and we welcome him to play a greater role in promoting Sino-US relations. The US ambassador to China is an important bridge between the US government and the Chinese government," said Lu Kang, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Turkey is subjecting German diplomats to stricter controls at the country's main airport, in a tit-for-tat move after a Turkish MP was held this week, the state-run Anadolu agency reported today.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had the day earlier lambasted German authorities over the treatment of senior MP Ayse Nur Bahcekapili at Cologne airport.

The German ambassador was summoned, in the latest diplomatic row between Ankara and Berlin whose relationship has been eroded by a series of crises in recent months.

The extra controls for German diplomatic passport holders began at Istanbul's main international Ataturk airport Wednesday evening, Anadolu reported.

Four German diplomats who wanted to travel abroad missed their flight on Thursday due to the strict measures, it added.

Bahcekapili, the deputy speaker of the Turkish parliament, was stopped by German police at the Cologne airport on Monday and made to wait, according to Ankara.

Turkey claimed German officers sought to detain her on suspicion of entering the country illegally because she was carrying a temporary travel document.

There has been no comment from the German authorities on the issue, which has added to already strained ties between the two countries especially after the failed July 15 coup in Turkey.

Berlin has urged Ankara to comply with the rule of law while the Turkish government has accused Germany of sheltering Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants.

The German parliament in June also recognised the 1915 killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as a genocide, prompting fury from Ankara.

Erdogan has complained that Turkey has asked Germany for the extradition of some 4,500 suspected militants without receiving any response.

"They take her (Bahcekapili) and make her wait for hours. You take a terrorist in and make them welcome in your country," Erdogan said Tuesday.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A television actor and two others were today found in possession of cash worth Rs 43 lakhs in new currency, police said.

The actor, Rahul Chalani, who features in a popular crime show on the small screen, and two others were on their way to Hoshangabad from Itarsi in an SUV when they were caught with Rs 43 lakh in cash, Kotwali Police Station Inspector Mahendra Chouhan said.

The money consisted of the new currency notes of Rs 2,000, Rs 500 and Rs 100 bills, he said.

The other two accompanying Rahul were identified as Kapil Chalani and Brijesh Choura, who was driving the vehicle, the police official said.

They were detained and subjected to questioning during which Rahul claimed that the cash was legally-earned money and his CA in Mumbai will furnish the detail, Chouhan said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A British lawmaker today recounted during a parliamentary debate on violence against women how she had been raped as a 14-year-old.

Scottish National Party MP Michelle Thomson told colleagues she was attacked by an acquaintance following a youth event, as the House of Commons marked the UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

"It was early evening. He told me he wanted to show me something in a wooded area and at that point, I must admit, I was alarmed," recalled the SNP member.

"I did have a warning bell -- but I overrode that warning bell because I knew him and therefore there was a level of trust in place.

"It was mercifully quick and I remember first of all feeling surprise, then fear, then horror as I realised I quite simply couldn't escape," she added.

Too afraid to tell her parents, the attack left the MP feeling "spoiled and impure", she told the house.

However, 37-years on, Thomson said she now saw herself as "a survivor" and "not a victim".

Holding back tears, parliament speaker John Bercow said her words had "left an indelible impression on us all" as Thomson was comforted by fellow MPs.

Rape Crisis Scotland national co-ordinator Sandy Brindley praised the MP for "sending a strong message".

"It is not uncommon for women to contact rape crisis many years after a rape and tell us this is the first time they have ever spoken about it," she said.

"Someone speaking so publicly about rape can send a strong message to other rape survivors - that the shame is not theirs, and it is okay to talk about it and to seek support."



During the debate, a second MP recounted how she had been the subject of an attempted rape while studying at university.

Tracy Brabin, who was recently elected to the seat vacated by the murdered Jo Cox, said the attack was "the worst thing that I could ever imagine happening to me."



"I was going to be one of those very rare statistics of a woman who is attacked by a stranger, not by someone she knows," she said.

"The man had seen me walk past his car and had waited ahead for me to turn the corner. I was frozen in fear."



After a struggle, Brabin recalled how she was able to escape thanks to the intervention of a neighbour.

More than 70 Labour MPs earlier wrote to Prime Minister Theresa May, calling on the government to ratify the Istanbul convention to end violence against women.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The head of MI6, Britain's international spy agency, is warning that Britain cannot be safe until the war in Syria is brought to an end.

Alex Younger used his first speech since taking the job to say that the British intelligence and security services have disrupted a dozen plots in the UK. In the last three years and are conducting hundreds of investigations. Even so, he says it's not possible "to pull up the drawbridge" in increasingly uncertain times.

Younger says "the scale of the threat is unprecedented." Young described the Islamic State group as a "murderously efficient" organization that is plotting attacks despite facing military pressure in their strongholds in the Middle East.

He says the spy service must take the fight "to the enemy, penetrating terrorist organizations upstream.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
At least 40 cadres of the main opposition party, The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-UML), have been arrested while protesting against the Constitution amendment bill in Nepal's Kailali district.

Twenty one party activists were injured allegedly by police while demonstrating against the bill that will address the demands of the agitating Madhesi parties and other ethnic groups.

The opposition parties have been opposing the bill registered in the Parliament that aims to divide parts of the Province No 5 and merge them into the Terai region bordering India.

Meanwhile, CPN-UML issued a statement asking the government to immediately release its party workers arrested during the demonstration.

Nepal opposition parties -- UML, CPN-ML, Rastriya Janamorcha and Nepal Workers Peasants Party had also obstructed the parliament proceedings against the constitution amendment proposal.

Speaker Onsari Gharti had then postponed the Parliament meeting until 3 PM today.

Nepal has been facing political crisis since the adoption of a new Constitution in September last year that divides the country into seven provinces.

The agitating Madhesi parties want the hilly districts not to be mixed with the plains while demarcating the provincial boundaries.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The UN is scrambling to find enough land to shelter those displaced by the fighting to retake Mosul from the Islamic State group as humanitarians brace for the exodus of as many as 700,000 people from the city, an official said.

Bruno Geddo, the head of the UN's High Commissioner for Refugees in Iraq, told The Associated Press yesterday that there is currently enough space in camps for 180,000 people.

"That is the thing that makes us somehow sleepless at night. You cannot be complacent when you still one million people inside the city. It is bound sooner or later that you may have tens of thousands of people who come out in flash outflow," he explained.

Geddo said he and his colleagues were haunted by the memory of Fallujah where some 65,000 people fled the city over three days during an operation to retake the city from IS in June, quickly overwhelming humanitarian efforts.

He says the UN has learned from that experience and that so far he was pleased that Iraqi forces appeared to be doing their utmost to avoid civilian casualties. The downside of protecting civilians, however, is that slows down operation just as winter is approaching and the prices of water of and fuel are skyrocketing.

"In the end, the choice is theirs. It is a very stark choice. They may be hit by a land mine or a sniper, ISIS has a policy of killing anybody trying to flee. They may be caught in the crossfire, but if they stay they may also be reached by rockets and otherwise they may be facing penury over the full winter," Geddo said, using an acronym to refer to the Islamic State group.

As of Tuesday, some 82,000 people have fled the city since the military offensive began on October 17, Geddo said, adding that 81 per cent of them are currently in camps some 40-80 miles outside the city.

In order to solve the problem, he said, the U.N. Is now considering building camps closer to the city which has the advantage of allowing displaced people to simply walk in.

"Because the camp capacity has now more or less reached its limit, we are now planning to use the fact that the front lines have gotten closer to the city to try and build camps much closer to the city so in the event of a mass outflow, these camps would act as buffers," Geddo said.

Much of the land around Mosul is contaminated with unexploded ordinance and other detritus of war. In other areas, local communities are likely to violently reject the displaced for being Sunni Muslims. And then other potential areas hold mass graves, which make them unsuitable out of respect for the dead, Geddo said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The UN envoy for Syria says he expects to meet with someone President-elect Donald Trump's team in the coming days.

Staffan de Mistura made his remarks on his way to brief the Security Council on the situation in Syria.

"The plan is to meet some people around the team of President Trump," de Mistura told reporters, without offering more details.

It was unclear if any action would result from de Mistura's briefing after Russia and China vetoed a resolution earlier this year calling for a 7-day truce in the Syrian city of Aleppo. It was the sixth time Russia used its veto to block action on Syria.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In a strong message to Pakistan on SAARC Charter Day, India today said it was up to that country whether it wants to stop cross-border terrorism and allow the SAARC Summit to take place.

Today is 31st Anniversary of South Asian Association of Regional Countries (SAARC) and 32nd SAARC Charter Day.

Asserting that the SAARC member countries, while pulling out of the Summit to be held in Pakistan in November, had maintained that the atmosphere was not conducive because one particular country in the region is promoting cross-border terrorism and interfering blatantly, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the conditions remain the same.

"In this case the SAARC Summit cannot happen," he said, adding "it is up to Pakistan to say that it decides not to hold SAARC Summit and is ready to give it up to any country that wants to host it. And the things can go forward."



Amid heightened tension with Pakistan over Uri terror attack in which 18 soldiers were killed, India had announced its decision of pulling out of the Summit in September, citing increased "cross-border" attacks.

Apart from India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan also pulled out of the summit, indirectly blaming Pakistan for creating an environment which is not right for the successful holding of the meet, resulting in its collapse.

However, Swarup reiterated India's firm commitment to the eight-member regional bloc.

In his message, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said, "While SAARC has, albeit survived, it has not triumphed as had been envisaged, falling behind on the commitments and the promises that we had set out to achieve: progress and prosperity for the common good of our people.

(Reopens DEL 105)



Swarup also rejected that India imposed restrictions on Pakistan Foreign Advisor Sartaj Aziz's movement when he came to Amritsar to attend the Heart of Asia conference.

Apart from allowing arrival and departure of Aziz, who led the Pakistani delegation, by air at Amritsar which is not a designated port for entry and exit of Pakistani nationals, Swarup said swift clearance was also given despite a last minute change in his scheduled arrival by a special flight.

In a hurriedly-called press conference after his return from Amritsar on December 4, Aziz had accused India of not treating the Pakistani media properly at the Heart of Asia meeting and said he was not allowed to have a press conference.

"The attitude towards media was not good. I wanted to have press interaction with our own media. But we were not allowed," he alleged.

Pakistan had also claimed that Aziz was not allowed to visit the Golden Temple and speak to Pakistani media at the hotel where he was staying even as India said it was done considering his security.
US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter today called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and briefed him on the progress made in taking forward decisions and understandings reached between the two countries in June this year.

The two also exchanged views on regional issues and the developments in the Asia Pacific region, a PMO statement said.

During the meeting, Prime Minister Modi appreciated the contribution made by Secretary Carter in strengthening the defence cooperation between India and the United States.

The Prime Minister also recalled his successful visit to the United States in June this year. He reaffirmed India's commitment to a robust and strong bilateral strategic partnership with the US, the statement said.

Carter is on an official visit to India at the invitation of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
TV personality Wendy Williams has lashed out at rapper Nicki Minaj for making fun of a mentally ill woman.

During an episode of her show called "The Wendy Williams Show," she blasted Minaj, saying "it was so insensitive of her," reported AceShowbiz.

Minaj posted a video in which she appeared to make fun of a metally unstable lady on the streets of Miami.

To which the host said, "I don't know if Nicki was on wine or what at the time, but you need to be more sensitive to mental illness. We all have our ways where we forget about being sensitive but that was direct."



The 33-year-old "Anaconda" hitmaker has also received criticism from thousands of her Instagram followers as well as from National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI-Miami), which accused her of invading the mentally ill woman's privacy and dehumanising her.

"Nobody would make fun of a cancer patient, and mental illness is an illness like any other," a spokesperson for the organisation said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Ministry of Women and Child Development has released Standard Operating Procedures or SOPs for missing children, three years after the Supreme Court directed the Centre to develop them.

These SOPs are meant for various agencies like Child Welfare Committees, Juvenile Justice Boards, ChildLine as well as local police authorities and details how one should proceed in cases involving missing children.

"Often when a child is recovered from somewhere, the authorities do not know what to do with him or her, what is the process, who will accompany the child, how do you contact other CWCs. As a result, restoration of the child becomes a problem. So, we have prepared a list of steps that can be followed," said a senior official of the ministry.

It lists the various ways in which a report on a missing child can be filed, who can file this report, the responsibilities of the different agencies involved, among others.

Bachpan Bachao Aandolan (BBA), on whose PIL the SC ordered the formulation of a Standard Operating Procedure for cases of missing children in 2013, has welcomed these guidelines.

"The SOP is an excellent first beginning but it needs to be translated into action on the ground by the police and other enforcement agencies.

"The number of missing children has started to decline (1,00,000 in 2008 to 67,000 in 2016) since the SC order of 2013 mandating that a missing child case has to be necessarily investigated as a case of trafficking or abduction, which means deterrent through law is possible.

"If these SOPs are followed properly we believe that the organised crime of trafficking can be combated," said Bhuvan Ribhu, National Secretary, BBA.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Nate Raymond

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lawyers for investors accusing several major banks of conspiring to rig silver prices are seeking to add five new defendants to the case, based what they call "smoking gun" evidence they obtained from Deutsche Bank AG following a settlement.

In papers filed in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday, the lawyers sought to revive previously-dismissed claims against UBS AG and add Barclays Plc, BNP Paribas SA, Standard Chartered Plc and Bank of America Corp as defendants.

The newly cited evidence was produced by Deutsche Bank after it reached a $38 million settlement in the case earlier this year. The plaintiffs said the evidence showed the new defendants engaged in collusive price manipulation.

UBS said in a statement that it believed the plaintiffs' claims had "no merit." Representatives for the other banks either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.

In their proposed revised complaint, the investors claim Deutsche Bank, HSBC Holdings Plc, Bank of Nova Scotia and others rigged prices of silver and silver financial instruments through a secret daily meeting called the Silver Fix.

The plaintiffs, who are seeking court permission to file the revised complaint, said more than 350,000 pages of documents and 75 audio tapes that Deutsche Bank produced, including electronic chats involving silver traders, backed up their claims.

In October, U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni dismissed UBS from the case, saying there was nothing showing it manipulated prices, even if it benefited from distortions. But she allowed the investors to file a revised lawsuit against UBS.

The plaintiffs in Wednesday's filing said the Deutsche Bank evidence showed UBS was a "major participant" in the scheme to manipulate prices and that two of its traders communicated directly with two Deutsche Bank traders.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Saikat Chatterjee

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Swiss private bank Edmond de Rothschild is closing its Hong Kong operations, according to three people familiar with the matter, more than two decades after it opened shop in the former British territory and as costs in the wealth management industry bite.

The Geneva-based bank and money manager, which had 167 billion Swiss francs ($165 billion) of assets under management at end-June 2016, has already surrendered its China operating license and will run its Japan and Korea operations through its Swiss head office.

"This is part of a return to Europe strategy due to rising cost pressures," said one of the people familiar with the matter who declined to be named.

The bank confirmed the closure of its Hong Kong operations in an emailed statement and said it will continue to selectively exploit growth opportunities in Asia through partnerships such as with SMBC Nikko Securities and Samsung Asset Management.

"It also reflects a wider strategy to offer its international clients best of class asset management and private banking expertise from the European market," the bank said.

Two of the people said the Hong Kong operation would close by the end of December with its asset management arm, which opened in Hong Kong in 2007, also shutting shop.

Private banks in Asia are feeling the heat from aggressive tax amnesty programmes in Indonesia and India aimed at bringing offshore wealth home and fear regulators may impose big fines on banks who breach the rules.

Tough market conditions and the need for scale in an increasingly competitive Asian market are forcing some market players to exit the industry.

Assets under management at the top twenty private banks operating in Asia declined 4 percent to $1.5 trillion in 2015, according to a survey published by Asian Private Banker. Market watchers expect 2016 to also be tough with revenues down across business segments.

In particular, western banks, battered after the global financial crisis, have faced growing competition from emerging Asian institutions, which have grown their balance sheets and wealth management operations significantly.

Keith Pogson, a senior partner at accounting firm Ernst & Young in Hong Kong, expects an industry shakedown to continue as Asian names such as Singapore-based DBS Group Holdings and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp grow.

U-TURN

The 63-year-old Edmond de Rothschild opened in Hong Kong in 1992 and was among the first of a wave of boutique private banks seeking to capture the business of a rapidly growing class of affluent Asians. The private bank's eponymous founder was a Swiss-born member of the Rothschild family of industrialists.

The firm embarked on an aggressive expansion plan bringing in six senior bankers in April 2014 to expand its offering to corporate banking and trust planning.

It appointed Jing Zhang Brogle as the new Hong Kong CEO last August, bringing her in from Swiss bank Vontobel where she looked after greater China operations.

It is unclear how many staff will be affected as part of this withdrawal. At end 2015, the group employed 1,771 employees globally with 766 staff in Switzerland and the rest abroad, according to its annual financial statements.

Net income at the group declined 11 percent to 56 million Swiss francs at end-2015 from a year earlier, according to its annual report.

China's banking regulator approved a request by the company to close down its Shanghai representative office in May this year. It was among the first to get a Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor quota in 2006.

(Reporting by Saikat Chatterjee; Additional reporting by Samuel Shen in SHANGHAI; Edited by Sam Holmes)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Polina Devitt and Darya Korsunskaya

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday it sold a stake in oil giant Rosneft for 10.5 billion euros ($11.3 billion) to Qatar and commodities trader Glencore, confounding expectations that the Kremlin's standoff with the West would scare off major investors.

The deal, to acquire a 19.5 percent stake in Rosneft from the Russian state, suggests the lure of taking a share in one of the world's biggest oil companies outweighs the risks that come with Western sanctions imposed on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.

It pointed to a possible reassessment by foreign investors of the risks of dealing with Russia, at a time when the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president has heightened expectations of a thaw between Moscow and Washington.

The deal was announced days after Russia and OPEC agreed to coordinated output cuts to support oil prices, the first time they have cut in tandem in 15 years.

State-owned Rosneft had kept the deal a tightly-guarded secret, with the first word emerging when Russian President Vladimir Putin met Rosneft Chief Executive Igor Sechin on Wednesday evening in Moscow.

"It is the largest privatisation deal, the largest sale and acquisition in the global oil and gas sector in 2016," Putin said in televised remarks from the meeting.

Under the deal, according to Sechin, Glencore and Qatar's sovereign fund will take equal shares of the 19.5 percent stake in Rosneft, which is being sold by the government as part of a privatisation drive.

Rosneft has a market value of $59.17 billion, according to data, which suggests that the deal was done with a 2 percent discount to the market price.

Glencore said in a statement it would finance part of the deal by putting up 300 million euros of its own equity, with the rest financed by banks and by the Qatari sovereign fund, the Qatar Investment Authority.

The Qatari fund, which could not immediately be reached for comment, is one of the biggest investors in Glencore.

Russian officials were jubilant that Rosneft had pulled off a deal which will deliver a large chunk of the cash they need to fill gaps in the state budget caused by an economic slowdown and sanctions.

"Money has no smell," a government source told when asked about the outcome of the deal.

PUTIN'S CONTRIBUTION

Putin congratulated Sechin, one of his closest lieutenants, on the deal and said he hoped that the consortium of new investors would improve Rosneft's governance and transparency and would raise its market value.

"Given the very difficult economic circumstances and the extremely tight deadlines for this kind of project, I can report to you that we were able to land this deal thanks to your personal contribution, your support," Sechin told Putin.

Glencore stands to benefit from the deal by gaining access to Rosneft's crude volumes. It said that under the deal, it would conclude a new five-year offtake agreement with Rosneft giving it an extra 220,000 barrels a day to trade.

To date, Glencore's rival Trafigura has been the biggest long-term buyer of Urals crude oil, the grade of oil produced in Russia.

Qatar, meanwhile, will further establish itself as a major investor in some of the world's biggest businesses. It already owns stakes in such bluechip firms as Volkswagen and Credit Suisse.

Rosneft is subject to U.S. sanctions imposed after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea region in 2014. But since the money from the sale of the stake will go to the Russian state, rather than to Rosneft, the sanctions do not directly apply.

By landing the investors, Sechin will further burnish his standing within Russia's ruling elite. He was already riding high after securing a deal in October to acquire Indian refiner Essar, giving Rosneft a foothold in the world's fastest growing fuel market.

"He said the money would come," said a second source within the government, referring to revenue from the Rosneft stake sale that was promised to the government. "He killed all the birds with one stone. He showed everyone," said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Just a few weeks ago, most industry watchers had written off the chances of a foreign investor being found for Rosneft, and the government signalled that the company would instead buy its own shares.

When Rosneft this week placed $9.4 billion in domestic rouble bonds, market players assumed that was to fund the buyback of its shares, absent an outside investor.

But it now appears that, in parallel, Sechin and his aides were trying to hash out an eleventh hour deal to land a foreign investor. Ivan Glasenberg, Glencore's chief executive, was in Moscow on Tuesday, where he was spotted at a mining conference.

The second government source said the bond issue was a safety net in case the negotiations with the outside investors fell through.

The deal with Qatar and Glencore was so last minute that it appeared it would not close in time to meet the government's deadline for booking money in the budget from the sale.

Asked by Putin when the state budget was going to get the money earned from the sale, Sechin said that it was going to come from Rosneft cashflow and from credit finance, organised by one of Europe's largest banks.

After the deal was announced, the Kremlin said steps would be taken to ensure that the influx of a large volume of foreign currency from the deal would not cause volatility on the Russian forex market.

($1 = 0.9298 euros)

(Additional reporting by Katya Golubkova and Dmitry Zhdannikov; Writing by Christian Lowe and Polina Devitt; Editing by Adrian Croft)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Catherine Ngai

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil rebounded from the week's lows to close above $50 a barrel on Thursday, on growing optimism that non-OPEC producers might agree to cut output following a cartel agreement to limit production.

Both Brent and U.S. benchmarks rallied after the former secretary general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries made comments supportive of non-member production cuts. The benchmarks remain more than $1 below the highs reached Dec. 5 in the wake of the OPEC deal.

Brent settled up 89 cents, or 1.7 percent, at $53.89 a barrel. U.S. light, sweet crude settled up $1.07, or 2.2 percent, at $50.84 a barrel.

Oil producers will meet in Vienna on Saturday to see if non-OPEC countries will cut production to reduce a global supply glut that has pressured prices for more than two years.

At a conference in New York, former OPEC Secretary General Abdalla El-Badri said a non-OPEC production cut of about 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) was "a must."

OPEC has agreed to slash production by 1.2 million bpd in the first half of 2017, a deal that bolstered crude futures despite doubts over whether the amount was enough and whether the cuts would be effectively implemented.

"There will be a significant amount of slippage in the amount of cuts that occur as we get into first part of 2017," said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston.

Russia, which is not an OPEC member, has signalled it was ready to cut production by 300,000 bpd and on Thursday Azerbaijan said it would come to Vienna armed with proposals for its own reduction.

Given the rally to $50 a barrel, non-OPEC members may not be persuaded to cut output, said Tim Evans, energy futures specialist at Citigroup.

"Further effective cooperation between oil producers seems unlikely in our view, as OPEC and Russia have already agreed on policy, reducing the leverage they have with other countries in our view," he said in a note.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday that OPEC members should work with non-OPEC nations to implement the deal reached last month, according to Iran's state TV.

Late Thursday morning, Brent flipped into negative territory while U.S. prices pared gains briefly on reports that Russia saw a risk that the meeting could be moved due to questions that have come up. A Russian energy ministry spokeswoman, however, said the meeting would continue as planned.

(Additional reporting by Sabina Zawadski and Christopher Johnson in London, Jane Chung in Seoul and Keith Wallis in Singapore; Editing by David Gregorio and Richard Chang)

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Commercial Feature is a Business Standard Digital Marketing Initiative.

The Editorial/Content team at Business Standard has not contributed to writing or editing these articles.

For further information, please write to assist@bsmail.in
Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corp on Wednesday signed a pact to build India's biggest oil refinery at a cost of $30 billion on the west coast.



The three firms signed the pact for the 60-million tonne a year refinery in Maharashtra with IOC as leader of the consortium, officials said.

IOC will hold a 50 per cent stake in the project while BPCL and HPCL will have 25 per cent each. The consortium agreement was signed on the sidelines of the Petrotech conference.



Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said oil majors like Saudi Aramco of Saudi Arabia are interested in taking a stake in the project, but nothing has been finalised as yet.



There are other companies also interested. Let's see how talks progress, he said. The 60-million tonne a year refinery and a mega petrochemical complex will be set up in two phases. Phase-1 capacity will be 40 million tonnes (mt) together with an aromatic complex, naphtha cracker unit and a polymer complex. This will cost Rs 1.2-1.5 lakh crore and will come up in 5-6 years from the date of land acquisition. The mega complex will require 12,000-15,000 acres and two-three sites on coast of Maharashtra are being explored.



The second phase, involving a 20-mt refinery, will cost Rs 50,000-60,000 crore. IOC has been looking at the west coast for a refinery as the company found it tough to cater to requirements in West and South with its refineries mostly in the North. HPCL and BPCL too have been looking at a bigger refinery because of constraints they face at their Mumbai units.



The mega west coast refinery will produce petrol, diesel, LPG, ATF and feedstock for petrochemical plants in plastic, chemical and textile industries in Maharashtra. Fifteen-million tonne a year is the biggest refinery any public sector unit has set up at one stage.



IOC recently started its 15 mt unit at Paradip in Odisha. Reliance Industries holds the distinction of building the biggest refinery in India till now.



It built its first refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat with a capacity of 27 mt, which was subsequently expanded to 33 mt. It has built another unit adjacent to it for exports, with a capacity of 29 mt.


Terming Ratan Tata's letter to shareholders of Tata companies a combination "misrepresentation and convenient mischaracterisation", ousted Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus Mistry hit back saying the veteran industrialist is lying.

In a statement, Mistry's office also denied that his sacking was preceded by various attempts to discuss with him.

"Mr Ratan Tata does not speak the truth. His claim that Mr Mistry's treatment at Tata Sons Board on that day was well-deliberated and was preceded by various attempts to discuss with Mr. Mistry is a lie," the statement said.

It claimed that "five minutes before the Board Meeting scheduled on October 24, 2016, Mr. Nitin Nohria and Mr. Tata came to Mr. Mistry's room and told him that on that very morning, the trustees had taken a decision to replace Mr.

Mistry ostensibly because Mr. Tata could not get along with him."

It further said "the fait accompli presented to Mr.

Mistry was that he could leave or face a sacking at the Board Meeting scheduled in the next five minutes."

At the meeting, every legal procedure was "thrown to the wind and the blemish-less history of Tata Sons' was destroyed", it added.

Refuting Tata's claims that there were several attempts to remediate, it said: "Neither was there any deliberation nor was there any prior attempt at remediation as Mr. Ratan Tata now seeks to make out."

Tata's "false statements" are borne out by the fact that just weeks before this event, the Board had accepted the Nomination and Remuneration Committee's endorsement of superlative performance by Mistry and his team, the statement said. "It is evident that Mr. Mistry's professional conduct in the Chairman's Office did not suit the requirements of Mr.

Ratan Tata," it said.

The statement claimed that Tata has "completely failed to offer a single reason for his inexplicable actions" of removing Mistry as Chairman of Tata Sons.

The company has also offered an employment pact until 2021, which supports employees through future changes by investing in their skills to support further plant upgrades, automation and other digital initiatives.

Speaking after meeting with union representatives, Roy Rickhuss of Community Union said: "The past year has been incredibly difficult for steelworkers and their families. When Tata announced in March that they planned to sell the steelworks, no one knew if they would have a job by Christmas.

"This proposal would secure jobs for years to come and bring serious investment not just to Port Talbot but to steelworks across the UK."

"Reaching this stage of the process is a credit to the hard work of our members who never gave up the fight to 'Save Our Steel' it was their jobs on the line and it has been their campaign that has brought Tata to this position."

Unions had been fighting for maintaining Port Talbot s two blast furnaces in talks with Tata management.

The Tata Group employs more than 4,000 at Port Talbot alone, and hundreds more at other sites across the UK at Trostre and Shotton, Corby, Hartlepool and at sites in the West Midlands.

Workers at the Port Talbot plant were today given the opportunity to approve a rescue plan which is likely to have an effect on other major sites as well.

"The commitments made today by our reps must now be followed by a commitment from the government that they will hold Tata to their word and ensure jobs are protected," said Unite's national officer Tony Brady.

Central to the rescue plan is the retention of both of Port Talbot s blast furnaces, which turn iron ore and coke into molten iron.

One was due to stop production in 2018 but unions had been fighting to keep it open.

Earlier this year, Tata Steel announced all of its plants across the UK would be put for sale. But in July the sale came to a halt.

Last month the firm signed a letter of intent with UK-based Liberty House Group to enter into exclusive negotiations for the potential sale of its Speciality Steels business for an enterprise value of 100 million pounds.

Tata Steel is the UK s largest steel manufacturer.

It supplies almost 50 per cent of UK carmakers steel requirements, including body panels and chassis, and a range of advanced steels for the UK construction industry which help to reduce buildings energy use.
Ever since the Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the scrapping of high value currency notes, people have been queuing up outside banks and ATMs to withdraw cash. While the short-term pain of the unprecedented move has been widely spoken about, we take a look at how the economy fared in the last one month.



GDP

The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday cut the economy's expansion forecast for current fiscal to 7.1 per cent, from 7.6 per cent earlier, saying that short-term disruption in economic activity and demand compression arising out of demonetisation have led to downside risks to growth.

Fitch Ratings had earlier lowered India's GDP growth forecast for this fiscal to 6.9 per cent from 7.4 per cent, saying there will be temporary disruptions to economic activity post demonetisation. The US-based ratings agency also revised GDP growth forecast for 2017-18 and 2018-19 lower to 7.7 per cent from 8 per cent earlier.

Real Estate

Government's demonetisation move has come as a reality check for the realty estate market in the National Capital Region with registration of properties dipping by almost 30 per cent while kindling hopes of cheaper flats among prospective buyers.

Transactions in the sector usually involve a significant amount of cash exchange aimed at avoiding tax by under-reporting the value of the deal. But with such hidden money moving out of the market, prices are starting to tumble. With the government scrapping 86 per cent of available currency notes, registration of flats, plots and shops in Delhi has gone down by almost 30 per cent while in Gurgaon, the dip is nearly 25 per cent.

Real estate data and analytics platform PropEquity predicted last month that the cash squeeze will wipe out over Rs 8 lakh crore worth market value of residential properties sold and unsold by developers since 2008 across 42 Indian cities.

Agriculture

In an interview to Business Today, economist and former chairman of the National Statistical Commission, Pronab Sen said, "The disruption can be very large and some of the disruption would not be temporary but permanent. For example, if the Rabi sowing cannot take place because of lack of cash, the situation can be very similar to a drought, so you may well see people selling their lands to survive. And this is a permanent effect."

"If you have disruption, then the impact could be much larger. For example, if 50 per cent of the Rabi crop is disrupted, then the impact could be as high as 3 percentage points because that's going to have a huge multiplier effect. Agriculture accounts for 12 per cent of the GDP, of which half is rabi. So if half the rabi crop is not sown, 3 per cent of your GDP is gone," Sen explained.

Service Sector

Post demonetisation, India's service sector contracted in the month of November.

The Nikkei India Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), that gives data on services sector companies in the country, stood at 46.7 in November, down from 54.5 in October. A score above 50 shows the sector is expanding, whereas a figure below this mark shows contraction.

The index has registered a contraction for the first time since June 2015 and marked the sharpest reduction in output in almost three years.

The Nikkei India Composite PMI Output Index also dropped to 49.1 in November from October's 45-month high of 55.4, pointing to a contraction in entire private sector activity, including the manufacturing sector.

Auto sales

Car shipments to dealers in November declined sharply from the previous month as most car buyers stayed away from new purchases in the aftermath of demonetisation. According to Reuters, analysts expect dispatches to decline further in the coming months as auto makers seek to match supply with slowing demand.

"Mahindra & Mahindra, India's top maker of sport utility vehicles, had domestic sales of 29,814 in November, down 38.8% from October and 24.3% year on year. Domestic sales at Tata Motors, India's biggest auto maker by revenue, fell 28.4% month on month to 33,274 vehicles. TVS Motor Co. reported sales of two-wheelers last month dropped 27.9% from October. Other auto makers also reported double-digit percentage declines from October's sales," the report said.
On November 8, in a surprise address to the nation, PM Narendra Modi announced the recall of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes. Defending the move, the PM said that it will help in the long run for the country and will help the Indian economy to curb black money in the system with the elimenation of the fake Indian currency.

But even after 30 days of the announcement, the nation is still struggling to find the solution for dealing with the huge problem of cash crisis.

The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday, however, has announced that with three weeks left for the December 30 deadline to return the scrapped currency notes, Rs 11.55 lakh crore - out of a value of Rs 14.17 lakh crore notes in circulation at the end of March 2016 - has already come back into the banking system.

But the chaos that is prevailing everywhere has proved why the government's 'bold' decision has backfired.

The never-ending queues

The serpentine queues of millions of people outside the various banks and ATMs, to exchange or deposit the old notes are the 'new normal'.

From day one, people are lining up outside the banks even as banks across public and private sectors have complained of not having enough cash to meet the needs.

People who did manage to withdraw the money said the new Rs 2,000 notes was difficult to spend because hardly anyone had enough change in smaller currency in the absence of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes.

ALSO READ: Here are all the major announcements since demonetisation



Causing the Economic slowdown

With the Reserve Bank of India already slashing 0.5 percentage points off its growth forecast for 2016-17 amid the fact that the the services sector shrinked for the first time in 18 months in November, indicates economic slowdown due to demonetisation. The Nikkei Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 46.7 in November from 54.5 in the previous month, the sharpest reduction in three years. A reading above 50 indicates growth and a reading below shows contraction. This may be an early indicator of deceleration of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the December quarter. The PMI report also stated that the construction, trade, hotels and real estate industries had a higher unorganised component and were more vulnerable to the cash shortage and is negatively impacted in the month of November. Also, Japanese financial firm Nomura, in a research note said that India's GDP growth rate would likely fall to 6.5 per cent in the third quarter and stay subdued at 7 per cent in the subsequent three months with the cash shortage expected to continue till next month.

Government's indecisiveness

Till date, the government has made several changes to the norms which were first announced on November 8 show the government's indecisiveness and gives the impression that the demonetisation decision had been taken with little planning. After reports on crop sowing taking a hit due to non availability of cash, the government allowed farmers to buy seeds with old Rs 500 currency notes. A November 17 announcement allowed farmers to withdraw up to Rs 25,000 per week from their KYC-compliant account. Following reports on abuse of Jan Dhan accounts for stashing money, the RBI capped the withdrawal limit to Rs 10,000 per month. On November 17, the government made more modifications to the existing rules. Families could now withdraw up to Rs 2.5 lakh for weddings. The currency exchange limit was reduced from Rs 4,500 to Rs 2,000 per person. Traders in agricultural mandis were permitted to draw up to Rs 50,000 in cash per week to pay for sundry expenses like wages. Also, government employees up to Group C could draw Rs 10,000 salary in advance in cash.



Political war

The Parliament's winter session is witnessing a deadlock over demonetisation. With the Congress' Vice President Rahul Gandhi calling the move as a disaster, the chorus for PM's address to the house over the issue is gaining momentum. Also, in a sharp attack on the government in the Rajya Sabha, Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has referred the decision as "monumental mismanagement" that might shave at least 2 percentage points off India's economic growth rate. Singh further said that the several deaths and distress among the poor, farmers and small traders convinced him the demonetisation plan led to "organised loot and legalised plunder".

Absence of positive sentiment

Even after the countinuous assurance from the Prime Minister himself, the overall sentiment is not positive. Till now 84 deaths have occured in the demonetisation related incidents.

The Supreme Court also came down hard on the government for not doing enough to ease the cash crunch in the country, warning that the situation is serious and people were still so anxious that there could be riots.

Also, incidents of people arrested with fake currency from different parts of the country and various media reports of people converting black money into a legal entity with the help of persons in the system, show why the government's move has failed the comman man.




Social media companies are taking heat for influencing the outcomes of the US presidential election and Brexit referendum by allowing fake news, misinformation campaigns and hate speech to spread.

But Facebook and Twitter's real sin was an act of omission: they failed to contribute to the data that democracy needs to thrive. While sitting on huge troves of information about public opinion and voter intent, social media firms watched as U.S. and UK pollsters, journalists, politicians and civil society groups made bad projections and poor decisions with the wrong information.

The data these companies collect, for example, could have told us in real-time whether fake news was having an impact on voters. Information garnered from social media platforms could have boosted voter turnout as citizens realized the race was closer than the polls showed - and that their votes really would matter. Instead, these companies let the United States and UK tumble into a democratic deficit, with political institutions starved of quality data on public opinion.

Legally, social media companies aren't obligated to share data in the public interest. And what they can share is always shaped by users' privacy settings, country-specific rules about selling personal information, and the particular deals companies like Facebook and Twitter make with third party businesses.

But they are now the primary platforms for political conversation. As such, they should act in ways that support democratic practices, especially around sensitive political moments like elections.

Facebook and Twitter have the ability to reach, and target, millions of voters. From the minute you sign up on one of these platforms, the companies use data about your behavior, interests, family and friends to recommend news and new social connections. And they sell this data to other companies for even deeper analysis on what you might buy and what you think about important social issues.

By examining data about the connections you make and content you share, social media companies can make powerful inferences about whether you are likely to vote, how you are likely to vote, and what kinds of news or advertisements might encourage or discourage you to engage as a citizen.

Social media firms regularly study the news consumption habits of users, producing fine-grained analysis of the causes and consequences of political polarization on its platform. To that end, only Facebook and Twitter know how pervasive fabricated news stories and misinformation campaigns have become during referendums and elections. They know who clicked on what links, how much time each user spent reading an "article," and where the user was physically located.

If the companies merged user data with other datasets - say, from credit card records or voter registration files - they may even know the user's voting history and which political groups the user has donated to. These companies know enough about voter attitudes to serve up liberal news to liberals and conservative news to conservatives, or fake news to undecided voters.

During the recent U.S. presidential election, there was a worrying amount of false information on both Facebook and Twitter, and research suggests that many users can't distinguish between real and fabricated news. My own research on this "computational propaganda" shows that Facebook and Twitter can be easily used to poison political conversations. Trump campaigners were particularly good at using bots - basic software programs with communication skills - to propagate lies. Bogus news sites were started just to make money for their founders, but undoubtedly influenced some voters' view when manipulated images and false reports went viral.

Several major U.S. tech companies have since announced steps to reign in fabricated news. In response to criticism about the spread of misinformation on Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg described in a post some of the projects the company already has underway, including making it easier for users to report fake news. Facebook has also updated its advertising policies to spell out that its ban on deceptive and misleading content applies to this type of content. Google has said it is working to prevent websites that spread bogus news from using its advertising platform. But more can be done.

While social media use has been on the rise, our systems for measuring public opinion have been breaking down. Telephone- and internet-based surveys are increasingly inaccurate. With so many people on mobile phones, consuming political content that comes to them through friends, family and Facebook, traditional polling companies no longer get a full picture of what the public knows and wants.

For modern democracies to work, three kinds of polling systems need to be up and running. First, nationwide exit polls, which identify mistakes in how elections are run, helping to confirm or refute claims of fraud. For several decades exit polling was coordinated by major news outlets, but the coalition broke down in the United States in 2002 and 2005 in the UK. Today, exit polls are run haphazardly, and are more about predicting winners and outcomes than systematically checking the results.

Second, democracies need a regular supply of public policy polls so that journalists, public policy makers, civic groups and elected officials can understand public opinion before and after voting day.

Third, democracies need "deliberative polls" that put complex policy questions to representative groups of voters who are given time to evaluate the possible solutions. These kinds of polls engage citizens about public policy options through extended conversations with experts and each other. They lead to more informed decision-making.

Companies like Facebook and Twitter manage the platforms over which most citizens in advanced democracies now talk about politics, and they could be the critical new platforms for these polling systems. They could never completely replace existing techniques for measuring public opinion. But our existing polling systems are weakening, and social media platforms have an obvious role to play.

With the data at their disposal and the platforms they maintain, social media companies could raise standards for civility by refusing to accept ad revenue for placing fake news. They could let others audit and understand the algorithms that determine who sees what on a platform. Just as important, they could be the platforms for doing better opinion, exit and deliberative polling.

This year, Facebook and Twitter watched as ways of measuring public opinion collapsed. Allowing fake news and computational propaganda to target specific voters is an act against democratic values. But withholding data about public opinion is the major crime against democracy.
India imported solar and photovoltaic cells worth about $826 million from China in the first six months of the current fiscal, which is over 87 per cent of the country's total such imports.

India's total imports of these cells were worth $948.88 million, including $825.98 million from China, constituting 87.05 per cent, during the April-September period of 2016-17, New & Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal stated in a written reply to Lok Sabha on Thursday.

India had imported $2,344.56 million worth of cells last fiscal, out of which $1,960.26 million was from China constituting 83.61 per cent of the total.

In 2014-15, the proportion of solar and photovoltaic cells imports from China was 73.49 per cent of the total imports at $603.34 million. India imported solar cells and photovoltaic cells worth $820.95 million in that fiscal.

Goyal informed the house that India does not have enough manufacturing capacity currently for cells and modules to cover its full demand.

ALSO READ: How the economy has performed one month after demonetisation



He further said that the development of solar power in the country is taking place with indigenous as well as imported solar equipment and components.

In order to make National Solar Mission (NSM) a success, he said, the government has launched several schemes and is providing benefits to indigenous manufacturers including concessional excise and custom duties.

It is also providing capital subsidy for setting up of manufacturing units for solar cells and modules and the entire value chain under Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (M-SIPS) programme of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

"The government is supporting domestic solar PV manufacturing by various means and incentives. However, there is no exclusive national policy to develop indigenous solar power manufacturing in the country," Goyal said.
In a press conference, held post the bi-monthly Monetary Policy Review, Deputy Governor, R Gandhi stated that customers have deposited Rs.11.5 lakh crores in banks, since the note ban. Government of India (GOI) in consultation with RBI had invalidated currency worth Rs 14.9 lakh crore on November 8, 2016.

Gandhi also said that during the period between, 10 November and 5 December 2016, the RBI has supplied banknotes of various denominations worth Rs 3.81 lakh crore to the public. The pieces of lower denomination notes supplied by the RBI stood at 1,910 crore.

However, it may be noted that the amount replaced so far is just 33 per cent of what customers have deposited with the banks. The notes which were made illegal tender last month were nearly 84 cent of total currency in circulation. According to estimates, the currency brought back only represents 26 per cent of the total invalidated currency.

ALSO READ: A month into demonetisation: How the economy has performed so far

The country is undergoing a huge cash crunch due to the government's decision to withdraw currency notes of largest denomination from the economy and RBI has faced criticism for its unpreparedness. Economists are divided about the move and some have said that it would take 3-6 months for the situation to return to normal.

Deputy Governor, though, clarified that demonetization decision was not taken in haste and that it is expected to deal with the problem of high quality counterfeit notes and also to unearth black money that may be held in cash.

According to data available on National Crime Records Bureau, counterfeit fake currency notes amounted to Rs 28 crore were recovered and seized for the period between Jan 1, 2016 to Sept 30, 2016 from all states taken together. Total amount of fake notes recovered and seized during the period between 2011 and 2016(till 30 September) stood at Rs 155 crores.

Lower Denomination Notes Supply
Enterpryze has today announced the creation of 200 jobs in Co. Dublin.

A sister-company of Milner Browne, which deploys and supports SAP Business One - the worlds most popular ERP solution  Enterpryze will create the 200 posts at its Cherrywood headquarters with recruitment beginning immediately.

The jobs will be in the areas of sales, customer service, technical support and development as the company expands into new regions and emerging markets.

Welcomed by Minister of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Mary Mitchell OConnor, T.D., the expansion will facilitate the companys rapid export-led growth over the next three years, following the successful launch of the SAP partnered solution earlier this year.



The company offers a new affordable and disruptive web and mobile based platform for SMEs.



Founded by Morgan Browne, a 2015 EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalist, the solution includes several separate management applications for as little as 5 per month. They include Service, Deliver, Expense, Purchase, Sell, Timesheet, 360, Credit Control and Pipeline.

The simple interface, in addition to enabling smaller companies run the SAP solution across mobile and web, also allows SAP users to push their solution further into their business by dramatically reducing associated costs.



Speaking today, Minister Mitchell OConnor said, "I very much welcome todays announcement by Enterpryze that they are creating 200 jobs in Cherrywood, Dublin. This is great news from a very young and rapidly expanding company."

She added, "Enterpryze is a model of the type of company that can emerge from the indigenous sector. Home grown entrepreneurs are the backbone of this economy and, with the support of Enterprise Ireland, can start-up and expand and export while creating sustainable jobs."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
There was strong growth in the medtech sector in Ireland during the past ten years with employment increasing by 36% to 30,000, making Ireland the second largest employer for medtech professionals in Europe per capita and number one for FDI.



Irish Medtech CEOs meeting in Galway today heard that the sector is now firmly at the fore of innovation across Europe with 11,000 patent filed to date.

The Irish Medtech CEO Forum which takes place today and tomorrow in the Radisson Blu Galway, will be addressed by industry experts from Ireland and abroad. The event is co-hosted by the Irish Medtech Association, Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland annually.



During today's event, attendees heard how the medtech sector has grown significantly from 50 companies in the early 1990's to a global medtech hub which includes FDI as well as indigenous and related supplier and services.

Last month, saw two significant announcements - West Pharmaceutical Services growing it's Irish capabilities in drug delivery and diagnostic devices with a 60,000 sq foot expansion and 100 new jobs at Mulhuddart and Teleflex's official opening of their Global Operation and International Head Quarters in Athlone.

IDA expects to continue to see significant investment into the Irish medtech sector which will drive growth, innovation and support jobs in the near future.



Speaking today, Irish Medtech Association Director, Sinead Keogh said, "A major growth area for the sector is the 'Internet of Medical Things', This connects expertise from different industries, and empowers patients and clinicians through online networks and new technologies. The Irish Medtech Association is delighted to have been awarded funding to establish an Internet of Medical Things Skillnet jointly with ICT Ireland, the Irish Software Association (ISA), and BioPharmaChem Ireland, to develop niche skills which will be core to delivering healthcare solutions of the future."

She added, "To support growth in the sector and to make the full use of medical advances we need the right infrastructure. Ireland has a dispersed rural population and the speedy implementation of the Government's National Broadband Plan is needed to connect all citizens. This is essential for not just for businesses, but also for patient healthcare."



Source: www.businessworld.ie

About us
In a moment of peace-making with regulators, Airbnb on Wednesday released a set of policy suggestions for governments that are considering new laws for home- and apartment-renting.

The document, which comes on the heels of concessions with cities including New York City, offers suggestions for collecting lodging taxes from Airbnb hosts, strategies to allow residents to rent their home without offending neighbors, suggestions on limiting the number of nights a home can be rented and setting up a permitting system.

The document is "a resource for governments to consider as they draft or amend these rules," the company said in blog post. "We want to work with lawmakers to get this right."

The report is the latest conciliatory gesture from Airbnb, a San Francisco-based online lodging service that investors value at $30 billion. This week, the company also agreed to drop a lawsuit against New York City over a new short-term rental law and enforce rental restrictions in the key markets of London and Amsterdam.

The string of concessions mark an about-face from the startup's previous strategy of either ignoring regulators or outright defying them. That strategy resulted in an intensifying global battle with regulators from which Airbnb now appears to be backing down.

Chief Executive Officer Brian Chesky has said that the company was slow to engage with cities on the business model and potential implications to neighborhoods and rental markets. Critics in cities with tight housing markets such as New York and San Francisco say that Airbnb enables landlords to evict people and convert their apartments into short-term rentals, which takes affordable housing off the market and drives up rental prices.

"The vast majority of activity on Airbnb is by ordinary people making median income," Chesky said in an interview with Reuters last month at an Airbnb conference. "I did not anticipate and appreciate there would be so many property management companies and unscrupulous landlords that would list so many properties (on Airbnb) in some cities. That is a problem." (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie

About us
A weather station similar to this one, located on the campus of Utah State University, will be located near the Logan City Police Station and the Logan City Library.

You could soon be seeing a sophisticated weather station on Logan Citys city block. Mayor Craig Petersen told members of the city council on Tuesday that it would be a replica of the one at Utah State University which is located in the grassy area just south of the Taggart Student Center.

What you would also see there is a little kiosk where people can go and interact, said Petersen, get instantaneous weather data. They can also get archival weather data going back.

Its not just temperature and things like that, its wind speed, CO2 levels, a number of different things.

He said Campbell Scientific has funded the equipment and USU departments have been using it. The company has now offered to do the same for Logan City.

The location would be south of the Logan City Police building and west of the Logan City Library.
After serving 16 years as a member of the Cache County Council, Kathy Robison is stepping down at the end of the year. But not quite.

Cache County Executive Craig Buttars asked Robison to stay on for a while in one capacity: to study the countys library services.

County council members have been trying to decide whether or not to continue to fund the Bookmobile, which Robison says is operated by the state of Utah.

We dont have any control over the situation and what happens with it, Robison says, and yet we are paying out almost $100,000 a year for the Bookmobile.

We would like to have a little more say of what happens and when. So those are some of the issues we will probably bring up to the state library board.

While on the council, Robison was commissioned by the Bear River Association of Governments to study homelessness in the Cache, Rich and Box Elder county area. More details about that study will appear in a future article.
| BY campaignbrief |

Brendan Tansey, CEO of Euro RSCG Australia, announced today the appointment of Rowan Dean to the position of Executive Creative Director.

Dean will be responsible for the creative leadership of Euro RSCG in Australia, taking over from Dale Rhodes, and will commence his new role on Monday, 29 May.

Euros search for their new ECD was quite different to most, beginning with a double page house ad aimed at not only recruiting for the position, but intended for clients too.

As I said in the ad, we are not a traditional agency and we werent looking for a traditional creative. The appointment of Rowan is testament to that I believe, says Tansey.

Born in Australia, Dean began his career in London in the 1980s as a copywriter for Cherry Hedger Seymour where he created the multi-award winning campaign for the UK launch of Fosters Lager. Featuring Paul Hogan, this campaign was hailed as the most successful alcohol launch in Britain.

During his time overseas Rowan won numerous awards including a Gold and Silver Lion, and Silver D&AD for his work on Hamlet Cigars and British Telecom. He also won a Silver D&AD for his copywriting on Shell.

In 1986 Dean switched from copywriting to directing and joined London production company Rose Hackney, as a Director. While there he won a Silver Lion for his German Aids commercial.

Dean returned to Australia in 1988 and became a partner in production company, Ibbetson Cherry Dean. In 1995 he established his own production company, Rowan Dean Films, which apart from winning local and international awards on a wide range of brands for clients such as VB, Pizza Hut, Kellogg, Colgate and Mitsubishi, was also acknowledged as one of the most successful production companies in Australia.

From 2000 -2003 Rowan was Chairman of AWARD where, as well as refocusing the industry on the strength of ideas, he was responsible for initiating the AWARD-for-Clients programme; the first serious industry project aimed at determining and fostering the link between creativity and advertising effectiveness.

Dean is the only Australian director to win Silver at D&AD for copywriting, and also the only Australian copywriter to win Silver at Cannes for directing.

The effectiveness of the creative idea across all facets of business is something I have always believed in. I am looking forward to working with Brendan Tansey because I believe that both he and I represent the full spectrum of integrated skills at the top level of the agency, Rowan said.
| BY Ricki Green |

DB Breweries has announced the appointment of Saatchi & Saatchi Auckland as the lead creative agency on Orchard Thieves cider, following a creative pitch process. The pitch was led by Saatchi & Saatchi in Auckland, with support from its Sydney agency.

Orchard Thieves will launch its Saatchi-created campaign to New Zealand and Australian consumers during 2017.

Says Sean ODonnell, marketing director, DB Breweries: We were really impressed with the thinking and passion the Saatchis team brought us and the way the two offices worked seamlessly throughout the whole process. Were looking forward to launching the campaign to consumers and transforming their perceptions of the cider category.
| BY Lynchy |

BBH Asia Pacific has appointed senior creatives Jac Rodrigo and Chin Weihao to lead the UOB account.

Rodrigo (pictured right) a senior integrated Creative Director brings experience on accounts that include HSBC, Shell and Singapore Tourism Board.

Chin (left) joins the flock as a Senior Art Director. He has worked on regional brands that include Shell, Nikon, BMW and Citibank.

Scott McClelland, ECD, BBH Asia Pacific said, Jac is a true black sheep and has made a big impact on the business and the department since she arrived. Weihao is a wonderfully talented addition to her team and a super nice guy.
Interest rates are rising again. What you need to know to prepare.
Your digital subscription includes access to content from all our websites in your region. Access unlimited news content and The Canberra Times app. Premium subscribers also enjoy interactive puzzles and access to the digital version of our print edition - Today's Paper.
"There have been some factors around these results and others have commentated on the uncertainty following the election and these sorts of things and the good signs are there, particularly in this quarter and, in my own discussions with business, also indicate that yes they did have a tough quarter in September but things have picked up in the following quarter."
Mr Findlay, who is taking legal action to try to get the APVMA moving on his applications, says the Armidale move, which is opposed by all the industry lobby groups, will make a bad situation very much worse and is all about political advantage for Mr Joyce.
The 110km network, which is continuously under expansion, will connect over 30 high-value data centres and enterprise buildings. The network is available for businesses to capitalise on reliable, high-speed and infinitely scalable connectivity solutions, said the company.

Work is also progressing on TKO Express, a component of Superloops total solution. TKO Express will be the first domestic submarine cable linking Hong Kongs major finance and technology centres, Chai Wan and Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate.

Superloop founder and CEO Bevan Slattery said Hong Kong was fundamental to the companys vision to be the leading independent connectivity provider in the Asia Pacific region.

Hong Kong is a major international and regional financial centre. For businesses to succeed, it is crucial they have access to secure, reliable, high-speed infrastructure, said Slattery.

We are delighted to have the opportunity to partner with businesses, and deliver the scalable capacity, geographic diversity and unmatched performance that will enable them to prosper. Superloops network offers carriers, content providers and enterprises a true dark fibre solution. We provide the fibre without any transmission equipment, giving you complete control of your network services."

Slattery added: With the completion of the initial stages of our Hong Kong network, Superloop is the first and only carrier with true fibre ownership across three major markets in Asia, the fastest growing region in the world.

TKO Express, in combination with the wider Hong Kong network, will meet the increasing demand for high-speed, consistent, connectivity solutions to take advantage of bandwidth-intensive apps, content and services such as video and the cloud, said the company.

The 1,728 high-core count undersea cable has arrived in Hong Kong, while construction of the cable landing infrastructure is underway at the Chai Wan site. TKO Express is set to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2017.
LinkAfrica will terminate its fibre-connected residential and business customers at NewTelcos data centre.

Eckart Zollner, head of new business development at NewTelco, told South African media: We are excited to be a part of LinkAfricas expanding network as a breakout point for any LinkAfrica fibre client in Midrand.

LinkAfricas Andre Hoffmann, manager for special projects at the company, told ITWeb: The data centre offers all the benefits we look for in a data centre  good security, excellent cable management and maintenance standards, great uptime and availability, and peace of mind when it comes to power supply  an especially key point in a country not well known for its reliable electricity delivery.

LinkAfrica has already started its fibre rollout and a number of customers are already connected to the data centre.

Frankfurt-based NewTelco has a number of European data centres as well as its business in South Africa.
The company has invested 600,000 into the new international exchange, which will offer cloud, internet and content services.

UNIFI-IXs network connects with four Telehouse data centres in London, an Equinix site in Manchester, and another data centre in Birmingham. The new exchange will be used to link two Equinixs Dub2 and Dub3 sites in Dublin.

It is also set to go live in France, Germany and the Netherlands by the end of January 2017. It is also set to establish points of presence in New York, Dallas, North Virginia and Dubai by the end of May 2017.

It offers switching capacity of 13Tbps and offers a range of speeds, from 100Mbps through copper to fibre 100G.

Our new infrastructure will significantly reduce the number of steps needed to interconnect major cloud, internet and content services, explained Tom Sanders, managing director of UNIFI-IX.

This will provide a huge benefit to consumers, who will see an improvement in the performance of their online applications.
Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.

Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here.

Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing.

You are our people. You Care. We Care2.
With about 700 universities and over 35,000 affiliated colleges in India, there are nearly 7 million graduates and post-graduates passing out each year! The critical question to ponder is how many youth are employable out of them and how many actually get employed?

Though there are various studies and reports stating the employable population of youth being one-third only, the real problem are around building their employability right from the start!

Colleges play a vital role in laying the foundation of an individual's career. Thus it is highly recommended to try out different ways to accomplish the highly anticipated goal of augmenting students' employability.

Following actions will certainly enable colleges and educational institutes to improve students' employability.

Starting Early:

Colleges should venture the process of augmenting students employability skills right from the start.

Distinctive steps should be initiated in this direction encompassing the conduction of seminars, activity workshops and so on.

Counseling:

Colleges should conduct counseling sessions to aid students in building a rock solid foundation of employability skills and assets.

Each student is an asset and needs to be nurtured carefully by understanding and channeling one's mindset in right direction.

Practical exposure:

Hands on experience is a requisite to augmenting the skills of students.

Thus, it is important that students gain some sort of practical exposure to get well versed with the working environment and work culture at offices.

Employability Assessments:

Students of non-premier institutes face the biggest challenge in finding career break. Hence it is important to make the students ready for professional journeys.

Periodic assessments and reports on employability skills prove to be beneficial in gaining an in-depth and comprehensive analysis of performance of students for their preparedness to venture into the industries of their choices.

Students should be encouraged to take assessments to understand the importance of global and peer competition.

Rachit Jain, CEO & Founder of Youth4work says, "We've designed variety of assessments for students to test their mettle on soft-skills, general awareness and core domain knowledge as well. Through our technology platform, when we assess college students for a topic 3-4 times a year with increasing difficulty, we can chart out one's performance of progress as well as comparison with other students. This helps the management to urge students undergo necessary development programs. Students, in turn, not only get to learn the ways of online assessments but also pick up necessary and relevant skills. And when this happens right from the first year of college, imagine what competing levels the students will be at the end of their degree programs!"

Not just employability assessments, Youth4work also has modules for class tests and psychometric tests. The dynamic and integrated assessments reports deliver the much needed insights about the performance of particular branch vis-a-vis others to the college management. Students get ranked and know exactly where they stand in their own college and also among other college students listed on Youth4work. So, as students and college management, get access to the redefined employability solution and be assured of phones ringing off the hook straight after college!

In the light of the above stated points, it won't be exaggeration if it is inferred that Youth4work has emerged as the 21st century tool to decrease unemployment among college graduates!

About Youth4work:

Headquartered in New Delhi, Youth4work is an innovative talent development initiative with a vision - "To be the preferred personal space for every aspiring Youth to introspect, self-assess and improve his/her own skills". The user communities span across domains such as IT, Engineering, Sales & Marketing, Finance, Retail, HR, Design & Creativity, Skill Development verticals, PMKVY and many more. Intelligent assessments and global ranking algorithms help users to 'identify and showcase' their talents whereby a variety of online courses and competitive practice materials help Youth acquire skills, improve their rankings and enhance employability. For more information, visit www.youth4work.com
Missouri State University (MSU), long-established university of mid-west US, has invited applications for Master of Science in Project Management (MPM).The Master of Science in Project Management degree caters accordant graduate education to project management professionals from all disciplines.

About the programme:

The Master of Science in Project Management is an integrative and applied program to educate project management professionals in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The program equips individuals with the various soft and hard skills, to manage projects and keep them within their budget and on schedule, while meeting specifications and achieving customer satisfaction.

Prerequisites:

The program is intended for students who hold a bachelor's degree in Technology, Business Administration, Liberal Arts, Applied and Natural Sciences, or Engineering.

It also caters to the students who are in, or aspiring to be in project management related positions.

Scope of MPM programme:

Masters in Project management cater general education revolving around business organizations.



Students with Masters in Project Management can expect multiple career opportunities such as consultancy, business analysis, business development, operations management, supply chain management and business administration.

Col Stephen Robinette, Associate Vice President, International Programs at Missouri State University while explaining about the program said, "The Master of Science in Project Management (MPM) at MSU is a fully authorized program by the Project Management Institute(PMI) and has global accreditation. The program is also accredited by AACSB -The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. MPM program is designed to provide professionals with knowledge, skills and abilities to lead and manage effectively."

"To meet challenges of global competition, the MPM program at MSU uses a combination of on-campus and distance learning resources. This unique method helps students gain knowledge and prepares them to overcome business challenges prevalent and changing constantly due to the fast developing economic scenario in the world," added ColRobinette.

Who can apply?

Students with a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university can apply. Besides, a GPA of at least 3.00, score of at least 500 on the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) or a comparable percentage rank score (300 or above) on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is required.

How the course would benefit Indian students?

Indian students will get a global overview of the Project Management.

It is designed to benefit their understanding of what it takes to be a successful Project Management professional of tomorrow.

The live projects enable students to deal with various challenges and problems that may arise in the course of managing an enterprise in developing or developed markets.

MPM at MSU gives immense opportunities to make good contacts and good friends overseas that can be of help for Indian students to get a job in foreign land.

Indian students would get invaluable exposure to new cultures at MSU as it has over 1,800 students from over 85 countries which render ample opportunities for cultural exchange and developing networks.

Date of commencement of the programme:

The session of the program will start in Mid-August 2017.

Duration of the programme:

18 Months to 2 Years

Tuition Fee:

Tuition fees for the complete course is approximately US$18500.00

About Missouri State University:

Missouri State University, Missouri, USA established in the year 1905, MSU is the second-largest university in Missouri with over 23,000 students currently studying out of which 1,800 are international students representing over 85 countries worldwide. The Princeton University reviewed it as 'The Best in the Midwest distinction'. MSU has a world-class faculty with over 90% faculty holding a terminal degree in their field of study. The university comprises of a school of agriculture, a graduate college and six academic colleges namely, College of Arts & Letters, College of Business, College of Health & Human Services, College of Humanities & Public Affair, College of Natural & Applied Sciences and College of Education. For more details, log on to: http://international.missouristate.edu/india
ITM Group of Institutions has launched a new course in addition to its existing courses called Post Graduate Program In Digital Media Marketing (PGDMM). The PGDMM curriculum will cover Classroom Training, with a mix of 35% theory & 65 % practicals.

The syllabus is designed to make the students ready for any challenging assignments in the field of Digital Media Marketing.

Eligibility

Graduate in any stream

Duration

Seven Months

Location

Vileparle West

Fees

Rs. 60,000 + Taxes

Key Points Covered

Digital Marketing Intro with useful stats

SEM/PPC- Introduction & clearing myths about SEM/PPC

SEO- Introduction & Clearing Myths about SEO

SMO/ORM- Introduction & Clearing Myths

Email Marketing- Strategy based on data points

Website- Designing Concepts

Web Analytics- Tracking Code/Google Tag Manager/Goal Setting

Effective Digital Strategy with Integrated Approach based on Google analytics & performance data to improve ROI by 25-30% & Digital Marketing Project Management

Website

http://digital-marketing-courses.itm.edu/

At the end of 7 months, students will be job ready. Students will learn independently handling of a search/social campaign for a company/brand. They will be able to go from concept to execution, from planning to reporting and everything in between.

About ITM

In 2008, ITM ventured into engineering education with the acquisition of an engineering college in city of Vishakhapatnam, AP, followed up the launch of another college in Nagpur, MH.

One of the larger Executive Education (EMBA) providers, with a network of Centers in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Nagpur, Navi Mumbai and Pune.

ITM - University, Raipur offers advanced programs in the field of BBA, MBA and Engineering. The programs consist of structured curriculum, modern infrastructure and practical job training to suit industry trends for professional growth.

Started in 2013, ITM second University, ITM - Vocational University, Vadodaraoffers programs in BBA, MBA and Engineering.

MICA Invites Applications For PGDM-C Programme Admissions, Apply Now!
Audi has taken another step towards autonomous driving by launching the Traffic Light Information (TLI) system.



Already available in Las Vegas, which has become the first city to activate vehicle-to-vehicle-infrastructure (V2I), the technology is currently limited to US-spec A4 and Q7 models equipped with Audi Connect, and sees the municipal traffic management centers communicating the traffic-light data to the companys project partner Traffic Technology Services (TTS).

For the first time, our cars are exchanging data with traffic infrastructure in real time. Drivers can adapt their behavior to the situation and move through city traffic in a much more relaxed and controlled way. We increase energy efficiency when we connect our Audi models to smart cities. Further V2I services will follow, making the car into an interactive mobile device. We see autonomous driving as the end of this development, said Audi AGs head of Electronics Pre-Development, Andreas Reich.

Called Time-to-Green, and relying on 4G/LTE connectivity to receive data, the systems first function shows drivers whether they will reach the next light on green, by displaying it in the Audi Virtual Cockpit or HUD. If not, then a countdown is provided of the time remaining until the next green phase. If used properly, the technology can improve traffic flow and save fuel, as tests conducted in Europe have shown.

What happens in Vegas doesnt stay in Vegas, though, as Audi is also planning to launch the TLI in other cities across the United States, and eventually Europe. In Europe, highly diverse traffic technology is in use, as the infrastructure has developed locally and decentrally. We are working on harmonization of the data that have been prepared. After that has been done, we can provide Traffic Light Information in Europe, too, said Audis TLI Project Manager, Michael Zweck.

PHOTO GALLERY

VIDEO

var rootURL=https://audimedia.tv; var dataSourceAuthToken=e25b42847dba18c6c8816d5d8ce94c326e06823ebf0859ed164b3ba169be97f2;
When Sony Pictures Animation released Cloudy with A Chance of Meatballs in 2009, it was heralded for its cartoon sensibilities and stylized animation, so its perhaps fitting that the concept would be transformed into an actual 2D animated series.

Cartoon Network has unveiled a lengthy clip from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: The Series; in it Flint shows off a new invention he created to help him take out the garbage:

Scheduled to debut next year, twenty-six half-hours are being produced by Vancouver, Canada-based DHX Media, using Toon Boom Harmony. Commissioned by Canadian broadcaster Teletoon, CN will air the series in the U.S., while its sister channel Boomerang will host the series across EMEA, APAC, and Latin American territories.
Photo: Contributed

The holidays are right around the corner, and perhaps youve been struggling with what gifts to get the Design Decorista in your life?

Well if you have a decorating maven at home, Ive got the perfect little list  sure to set their eyes all aglow.

1. & 2. Rose Gold Luxury

Chic, shaggy, and glamorous  the Mongolian Lamb Pillow in Rosette from $79-$169, and St. Jude Metallic Foil Pillow in Rose Gold $44 from West Elm are two fabulous items every design aficionado is sure to fall in love with.

3. Sassy Java

Brunette The Label out of Vancouver is a fun and fearless company offering up bold and sassy sayings on numerous accessories and clothing items.

You might not have heard of them before, but youll surely recognize their super popular sweatshirts when you catch them waltzing down the street; Fries Before Guys coffee mug $25.

4. Written In The Stars

Keep all your cards and cash in one safe spot with the extra cute Zodiac Pouch soft leather-alternative with gold metallic font, this little gem can tuck right into existing bags and purses. $20 from Indigo.

5. Coffee Table Fodder

Who doesnt love a sexy looking coffee table book?

The Kelly Hoppen Home  From Concept to Reality hardback isnt just another pretty face: inside youll find never-ending inspiration and design ideas for those with a penchant for contemporary and organic spaces. $44, available at Chapters.

6. Crystal

You cant go wrong with the White Selenite Candle Holder $225 from Vancouvers own 18 carat.

The luminous and opulent piece holds five tea lights, and makes a decadent statement on any table, fireplace mantle, or soaker tub ledge.

7. Gilded Charm

Simple, spirited, and the perfect shelf accessory or office paper weight, the St. Jude Brass Darling Object $29 from West Elm is an easy shoe-in for those who love a little charm in their lives.

8. Shine

When in doubt, candles are always a fail-proof and beautiful gift. This Voluspa Lidded Glass Jar Candle in the scent Branche Vermil has a delicious scent and comes in a speckled mercury glass container. $38 from Indigo.

9. Black & White

Abstract photography is a really hot design trend this year, and I dont see it going anywhere anytime soon.

Art is so subjective, and meant to be played with  so dont worry about trying to match your Decoristas existing style too much.

Staredown by Amy Carroll is a limited edition piece, made for Minted: $212 for the unframed print.

10. Light It Up

OK, so this next item might be perfect if your decorista has already given you a little predetermined list, because the Copper Alchemist Pendant from Anthropologie $325 is one of those wow pieces that is meant to be the feature statement in any room.

11. Cubist

This multi-purpose geometric cube will slip easily into nearly every room scheme and style out there, which is why the Anthropologie Faceted Mirror Side Table $500 is the ultimate piece of classic furniture you can give this glamourous holiday season.

12. 3D Succulents

And last  but definitely not least!  my new and favourite gift of the year is handmade with love and mad design skills by Duo Plant Studio, out of sunny Saskatoon.

3D printed concrete planters; between $32-$62 - house gorgeous groupings of succulents and air plants, and make for a perfectly modern and festive present that will last way into the New Year.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Photo: John Boivin

Its not often a customer will get teary-eyed over a grocery store.

But Pam Kristen welled up as she surveyed the Kootenay Co-ops new Nelson store, which opened Wednesday in the city.

Its fabulous, its really touching that its come so far. I remember when they had dry goods at the back of Gericks Bicycle, said Kristen, a 20-year member of the co-op. Im just so happy for all these people who have worked so hard.

The co-op certainly has come a long way from the back of a bicycle shop. Starting as a coalition of several small local buying clubs in the 1970s, it now boasts 14,000 members in a town of 10,000, making it the largest consumer-owned natural foods co-op in North America.

The new building, in a prime location in downtown Nelson, triples the size of the co-op, and was long needed, says Jaime Frederichs, the co-ops marketing manager.

If you shopped at our old store, you realized how tight and uncomfortable it had become. And it was like that 10 years ago, he says. Its taken the better part of a decade to realize this vision of having a larger and more effective space for our cooperative to grow into the future.

The project, which cost $35 million in total, also sees the co-op become landlord to an upscale 54-unit condominium apartment block, including three units made available as affordable housing, and space for eight other storefront businesses.

Ive think we moved to the next level as a co-op, that weve opened the door for the next 20 years, says general manager Allan Broom. Weve been driven by the community and now we have the opportunity to serve the community even better.

Theres certainly more room for products and specialty goods in the store, which had $14 million in sales annually before the move. Its added a deli restaurant and hired 40 new staff, making it one of the largest employers in Nelson.

The success of the co-op has been a boon to local growers as well. Friederich says the coop sources from nearly 140 local growers, putting about $2 million into local farmers pockets.

But it was one thing in particular that will bring Pam Kristen back.

Finally, they have some parking, she said. But theyll need more for sure. 14,000 members and 37 parking spaces isnt too much!
Photo: Getty Images

As temperatures plummet, electricity bills are climbing.

BC Hydro says the first winter pummelling has increased electricity demand by 12 per cent provincewide.

The utility says electricity demand on Tuesday peaked at 9,345 megawatts between 5 and 6 p.m  1,000 megawatts higher than the peak demand on Tuesday the week before.

The utility says residential energy use can increase, on average, by 88 per cent in the colder, darker months.

"BC Hydro records the highest demand for electricity in the winter months between 4 and 8 p.m. on weekday evenings," BC Hydro says in a statement.

"This is when British Columbians come home, turn up the heat, switch on the lights, do laundry and make dinner."

A similar increase was seen by FortisBC, the Okanagan's other utility.

"The peak load in Kelowna on Tuesday, Dec. 6 was 20 per cent higher than the previous Tuesday," said Nicole Bogdanovic with FortisBC. "On November 30, the peak was 263 megawatts compared to 222 megawatts on December 6. The peak load occurred between 5 and 6 p.m."

Electricity demand is expected to stay high as the cold snap continues.

BC Hydro expects peak loads between 9,400 and 10,000 megawatts this week, while FortisBC expects consumption to increase by 20 to 25 per cent.

The highest peak hourly demand for BC Hydro was on Nov. 29, 2006, when electricity consumption hit 10,113 megawatts between 5 and 6 p.m.

FortisBC saw their highest hourly demand on December 2008, when consumption hit 746 megawatts.

BC Hydro has a few tips for curbing high bills:
Photo: Getty Images

As an Arctic blast grips the Okanagan in a deep freeze, WorkSafeBC wants people to take precautions while working outside.

From 2011 to 2016 year-to-date, 72 workers in B.C. were injured, one fatally, resulting from exposure to cold. Cold-related injuries include frostbite, hypothermia and trench foot. Hypothermia can take hold of a worker gradually and, if untreated, can lead to death.

In extreme temperatures, frostbite can occur in a matter of minutes without the proper clothing and equipment, said Dan Strand director of prevention field services. Construction labourers, trucking and transportation drivers, utility and maintenance workers and ski hill operators are just a few of the many different occupations that require workers to perform their duties outside and employers and workers need to ensure they are ready to work safely in these conditions.

Workers can be affected by frostbite from something as simple as working with wet gloves or removing gloves to put chains on tires.

If workers are going to be exposed to low temperatures, employers need to do a cold stress assessment and implement a cold exposure control plan, to prevent injuries. A cold exposure control plan must determine who is working where, what they will be exposed to and for how long.

Cold stress prevention tips:
Photo: Contributed

I am like a kid at Christmas, anxiously awaiting the arrival of a really, cool surprise.

The present? A play and the arrival of playwright Darrin Hagen from Edmonton.

I am a big fan of Hagen. It all started in the summer of 1993 when my husband, Derek, and I lived in Edmonton and were on The Fringe Theatre board.

We had the most amazing perk  an all-access pass to Edmonton Fringe Festival plays; pretty much the dream for a girl like me.

One warm, summer evening (The Fringe usually marks the end of summer festival season in the Alberta capital), Derek and I went to see a play by Trevor Schmidt and Hagen and then sat in on a drag queen bingo after.

It was then we made Guys in Disguise shows part of every summer Fringe  Tranny Get Your Gun and The Edmonton Queen, Not A Riverboat Story  were well written, fun and pulled at your heart strings, eliciting real emotion. And there were more-so many more.

So now, more than 20 years later, you can understand why I am so giddy to see Hagen, an esteemed Edmonton playwright, sound designer and performer, come to Kelowna this weekend.

With Bells On is the hit play penned by Hagen and directed by Vernon's Logan Mullin that opens Thursday in New Vintage Theatre's studio space, The Hothouse, at Rotary Centre For The Arts.

The comedy is based around the scenario of a quiet businessman who gets trapped in an elevator with a drag queen on her way to a Christmas pageant, possibly her last.

The panic of the two being stuck in a confined space builds a camaraderie between the two when it is apparent no one is coming to rescue them.

The unlikely friendship and amazing experience the audience has with them is what has made the one-act play a hit throughout Canada, with sold out runs in Edmonton and Calgary.

It's the closing show of New Vintage Theatre's busy 2016.

Hagen's fast wit and salty sweetness of With Bells On is what marks him as playwright and has made his shows with his company Guys In Disguise nationally renowned for over 25 years.

Named one of Alberta's most influential citizens in 2005 and Alberta Foundation For The Arts most notable top 25 citizens in 2016, Hagen is one of Canada's most progressive and innovative playwrights with a long list of Fringe Festival and regional theatre hits on his resume.

You can come and see Hagen's play, starring Zachary Fox and Shannon Lester, at The Rotary Centre For The Arts, Studio 100 on Dec. 8, 10, 15-17 at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $20 if reserved at [email protected] or $25 (cash only) at the door. Since this play is in New Vintage Theatre's Studio 100, space is very limited.

Audiences are also invited to come and hear Hagen speak about his groundbreaking work at a talk called Happy Hour with Darrin on Dec.10 from 5:30-6:30 p.m.

Audiences can grab a complimentary drink of wine and listen to Hagen talk about With Bells On and his experience as a drag queen artiste, playwright and designer with New Vintage Artistic Director Bonnie Gratz.

RSVP to [email protected] for free tickets to the talk or to book your for tickets to this great play, perfect for the holiday season. Space is limited.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Photo: CTV

The fates of three people accused of removing girls from Canada so that they could be married to older men are now in the hands of B.C. Supreme Court Justice Paul Pearlman, who is to deliver his verdict on Feb. 3.

Lawyers wrapped up their submissions Wednesday in a case that delved into the polygamous beliefs and practices in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Brandon Blackmore, Gail Blackmore and James Oler  who are, or have been members of the church  are accused of taking girls across the border for a sexual purpose in 2004.

The three are connected to the community of Bountiful in southeastern British Columbia, where the trial heard plural marriage was practised.

The charges against the Blackmores, who are separated as husband and wife, centre on a 13-year-old girl who records show was married to Warren Jeffs, the 60-year-old prophet of the sect who is serving a life sentence in Texas for sexually assaulting two girls he claimed were his "spiritual" wives.

Oler, is accused of bringing a 15-year-old girl across the border to marry James Leroy Johnson, who was 24 at the time of the marriage.

Much of the evidence heard in the judge-only trial came about as a result of the U.S. investigation into Jeffs.

Special prosecutor Peter Wilson drew on records found locked away in a Texas ranch during the trial in an effort to prove the girls' marriages took place within days of the accused receiving instructions from Jeffs.

Wilson also focused much of his case on how sex and marriage were viewed in the church. The court heard from former members who said women were expected to obey their fathers and husbands, have as many children as possible and never turn away their husbands' sexual advances.

Brandon Blackmore's lawyer John Gustafson told the judge on Tuesday that the prosecution failed to prove his client transported the girl across the border or that he knew beforehand that sexual contact with an older man would result.

Gail Blackmore and Oler have chosen to represent themselves during the trial, so an impartial adviser was appointed to assist the court and provide balance.

As amicus curiae, or friend of the court, Joe Doyle's role was not to act as legal counsel to the pair.

Doyle argued in his closing submissions Wednesday that there was nothing that shows Gail Blackmore aided or abetted in the 13-year-old girl's removal from Canada. Wilson described her as a willing participant in his submissions.

"It cannot be said, ultimately, that Gail Blackmore did anything but passively acquiesce at best," said Doyle.

While there is a record that Brandon Blackmore was instructed by Jeffs to bring the girl to the U.S., there is no such information about Gail Blackmore, he told the court.

"There's not a hint (Jeffs) spoke to Gail Blackmore," Doyle said.

He highlighted inconsistencies in priesthood records kept by the church and told the judge that while the records are admissible, they are not as reliable as the prosecution contends.

Doyle added there are no customs record that the girl actually crossed the border into Idaho in the same vehicle as the Blackmores in February 2004 and raised doubts that officers at the border would overlook her presence.

He told the judge that there was no evidence that Oler crossed the border either with the 15-year-old girl who is at the centre of the allegation against him.
Photo: CTV

Fire gutted a power boat near False Creek in Vancouver, Wednesday.

Smoke was billowing from the vessel as firefighters arrived on scene.

They put out the fire before it could spread to other boats, but the interior of the boat was destroyed.

No one was on board at the time, Battalion Chief Jeff Coroliuc told CTV.

A cause of the fire has not been determined and is under investigation.

 with files from CTV Vancouver
Photo: The Canadian Press

Viola Desmond, often described as Canada's Rosa Parks for her 1946 decision to sit in a whites-only section of a Nova Scotia movie theatre, will be the first woman to be celebrated on the face of a Canadian banknote.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau says Desmond will grace the front of the $10 bill when the next series goes into circulation in 2018.

"Today is about recognizing the incalculable contribution that all women have had and continue to have in shaping Canadas story. Viola Desmonds own story reminds all of us that big change can start with moments of dignity and bravery," Morneau told a news conference in Gatineau, Que.

"She represents courage, strength and determinationqualities we should all aspire to every day."

Desmonds sister Wanda Robson, who was instrumental in making Desmond's story more widely known, was on hand for the announcement.

"Its a big day to have a woman on a bank note, but its an especially big day to have your big sister on a bank note," she said. "Our family is extremely proud and honoured."

Others on the short list were poet E. Pauline Johnson; Elsie MacGill, who received an electrical engineering degree from the University of Toronto in 1927; Quebec suffragette Idola Saint-Jean; and 1928 Olympic medallist Fanny Rosenfeld, a track and field athlete.

There were more than 26,000 submissions from the public, which was later whittled down to 461 eligible nominees who had Canadian citizenship and had been dead for at least 25 years.
Photo: The Canadian Press

The small picture of a black toilet on a white background above the word "washroom" has become a big sign of inclusion for a rural school district in Saskatchewan.

Prairie Valley School Division, near Regina, has created all-gender washrooms at all of its facilities, including elementary schools.

Director of education Ben Grebinski says it was important to include elementary schools because transgender children of all ages need support from educators.

"You can't differentiate between a five-year-old and a 17-year-old. When you become familiar and aware of their preference, you have to be able to accommodate that preference," Grebinski says.

The division spent a year creating a diversity policy. There was no human rights complaint to force action. Parents were consulted on the policy.

"There was a little bit of opposition in certain circumstances because people felt kind of uncomfortable with this," says Grebinski.

"And what we found was that as soon as people became aware of the purpose and our intent here was to just provide humanity, with an opportunity to be expressive and to be who they were on an individual basis without any kind of alienation, people were very willing and accepting, so frankly we didn't have any challenges or issues."

Dr. Kristopher Wells, an assistant professor with the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services at the University of Alberta, says elementary schools are becoming the new front lines as parents seek support for their transitioning children.

"It's now not uncommon to be working to support transgender youth as young as six or seven," Wells says. "Ultimately, it comes down to issues of safety and inclusion in schools and if students don't feel safe and they don't feel included, they're not going to be able to learn."

Dale Burgos knows the challenges transgender children face.

His transgender daughter, Bella, wasn't allowed to use the girls' washroom at her Winnipeg school when she was eight. There was a gender neutral washroom, but Bella didn't want to be forced to use it.

"Bella, by using a special bathroom, essentially felt like she was being outed or that she was different and that's not how you want to feel ... and she felt like 'Why do I need to use a special bathroom?'" says Burgos.

Burgos is working for a school district in British Columbia now and says all the schools there have signs that say "this bathroom is for anyone."

"It starts with bathrooms, but there's so much more to it," he said.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Watching their son and daughter play in a home near Vancouver's children's hospital, a couple from northern British Columbia received the news they had been praying for.

The Ministry of Children and Family Development had seized their two children for the second time in October, because their five-year-old son kept suffering unexplained broken bones.

During an interview, the father read an email from their lawyer out loud. It said the ministry was officially returning the kids to their parents' care.

"They state there's no reason for the director's continued involvement," the father read, his voice trembling with excitement. "They are, as of 9:15 a.m. this morning, out of your lives."

His wife began to shake with sobs as the two embraced for several seconds. Their children, normally noisy and rambunctious, fell silent and stared at their parents curiously.

"It's a relief," said the mother through tears. "I was starting to get really bad anxiety ... We feel like we're set up for failure."

The family's joy is also bittersweet  the boy is still being tested for genetic disorders, some serious and frightening.

The boy suffers from a rare genetic disorder, which is the reason for his history of recurring bone fractures, and the breaks are not the result of abuse, the documents say.

The mom said doctors are testing for several possible disorders, including a rare form of brittle bone disease, and a condition called hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy, which inhibits sensitivity to pain.

She also said the hospital is working to get her son tested for autism soon. Autism has long been suspected, but the boy has been stuck for months on a BC Autism Assessment Network wait list.

The province's child representative, Bernard Richard, will review the "quite unusual" case and release findings in the new year.
Photo: Airbus

The federal government says Canada will spend $2.3 billion to replace the military's ancient search-and-rescue planes with 16 new aircraft from European aerospace giant Airbus.

Public Procurement Minister Judy Foote and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan made the announcement in CFB Trenton this morning.

Today's announcement has been a long time coming.

The effort to replace the air force's existing search-and-rescue planes, some of which have been flying since the 1960s, has been mired in controversy and delays for more than a decade.

Sajjan says the new C-295 planes are a game-changer when it comes to the military responding to distress calls and other emergencies around the country.

Foote says the contract will also benefit Canadian industry as Airbus has paired with a number of Canadian companies to provide the planes' engines as well as simulators and long-term maintenance.

The first C-295 will be delivered in 2019, with the last to arrive in 2022.
Photo: The Canadian Press

U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden is to arrive in Ottawa later today on a visit shrouded in secrecy and speculation.

Biden is to address provincial premiers and aboriginal leaders at their Friday meeting in Ottawa.

But there is much speculation about what the Obama administration's second-in-command might have to say to the Trudeau Liberals with the swearing-in of Donald Trump's new Republican administration just weeks away.

Neither the U.S. embassy nor the Prime Minister's Office are adding any substance to the usual bromides that accompanied the announcement of the visit.

U.S. Ambassador Bruce Heyman has said Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will discuss the "strong friendship" between the two countries.

Trudeau has said they will discuss a relationship that is "critical" to the people of both countries.
Photo: Getty Images

Police in Prince Edward Island are warning drivers to stop being so nice to each other, after a number of accidents caused by motorists trying to be kind.

Charlottetown Police Chief Paul Smith says there have been at least two accidents on the city's busy University Avenue in the past week caused by one driver stopping and waving another in.

He says a good Samaritan gesture can sometimes have devastating consequences, when you are looking at t-bone accidents.

He says someone trying to be courteous could be tagged by an insurance company as one of the causes of a crash.

University Avenue is one of Charlottetown's busiest four-lane thoroughfares, with businesses lining both sides of the street.

Smith says if someone stops in the inside lane to allow an oncoming car to cross, they may be unaware of potential traffic in the curb lane.
Photo: Royal Saskatchewan Museum

A Canadian researcher has helped identify a 99-million-year-old dinosaur tail which has been preserved in amber.

The specimen was purchased from a Myanmar amber market in 2015 by a Chinese academic who recognized its potential.

Ryan McKellar, curator at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, worked with his Chinese counterpart to identify the muscles, ligaments and skin of the tail.

The tail, which was long and flexible, was also covered in feathers.

McKellar says feathers have been linked to dinosaurs before, but not this clearly.

The research is published in the journal Current Biology.
Photo: Calgary Zoo

The Calgary Zoo says seven of its Humboldt penguins drowned in their holding area.

Jamie Dorgan, director of animal care, says an investigation has begun to try to figure out what happened.

There were a total of 22 birds in the Humboldt colony.

Humboldts live off the coasts of Chile and Peru, and weigh no more than about six kilograms when fully grown.

The zoo has three other species of penguins, including kings, gentoos and rockhoppers.

The zoo has made headlines in the past over the deaths of its animals, including an otter, a giant capybara, a caribou calf and stingrays.
Photo: The Canadian Press Britain's Queen Elizabeth and Canada's Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King

Losing two of Canada's wartime prime ministers from the country's $50 and $100 bills won't be a step backwards for a country that has plenty to learn about itself, a pair of leading history buffs say.

Soon after the federal government announced Thursday that the faces of William Lyon Mackenzie King and Sir Robert Borden would be dropped from the banknotes, Historica Canada weighed in, saying there will always be ways to pay tribute to the two men.

"We think that history is a moving target," said Anthony Wilson-Smith, CEO of Canada's largest independent organization devoted to enhancing awareness of Canadian history.

"Events only happen once. But there's always a thousand different ways to look at them."

Instead of Borden and King, each revamped banknote will feature the faces of prime ministers Sir John A. Macdonald and Sir Wilfrid Laurier, when they are released in 2018. Laurier is moving from the $5 bill and Macdonald is leaving the $10 bill, to be replaced by Viola Desmond, an African Nova Scotian civil rights pioneer.

With the change, Desmond becomes the first Canadian woman to appear on the face of a Canadian banknote.

Allan Levine, who wrote a 2011 biography about King, said it made sense to give Borden and King the boot.

"It reflects our attitudes today," he said. "The world wasn't only run by white men or politicians. There are other people who are also significant to Canadian history, and Viola Desmond is a good choice."

However, Levine said he believes King would not have approved.

"He was representative of his era, and Canada was a very intolerant place," he said. "King had classic attitudes about black people, about Jews, and his diary is full of this stuff."

King's erasure from the currency will have no impact on his place in history, Levine said.
Photo: The Canadian Press

The estimated cost for damage caused by the Thanksgiving Day floods in Cape Breton could exceed $15 million, says the Nova Scotia government.

Zach Churchill, minister responsible for the Emergency Management Office, said Thursday the total could run even higher because the province is still waiting for more insurance information and final approval from the federal government.

The province later clarified in an email the figure included damage to municipal but not provincial infrastructure, and that it would take time to get a "firm number."

Churchill said the province had also begun meeting with the 18 Sydney-area homeowners who were most affected by the flooding.

He said they will be given compensation to repair the damage, or the assessed pre-flood market value if they choose to move.

"This is specific to the 18 displaced homeowners," said Churchill. "If there's any questions related to the appraisal, the province is willing to fund a second appraisal if they are not comfortable with those numbers."

The province said the homeowners would also be informed of the amount of money available to bring the homes to pre-flood condition and for the coverage of damage to the contents of their home. Test results for oil contamination would also be shared.

It further clarified that homes purchased by the province will be demolished and any contaminants will be remediated to appropriate environmental standards.

Financial support will also continue for homeowners displaced by flood damage until their claims are completed and they are resettled.

The province said to date it had received about 670 claims under its Disaster Financial Assistance program.
If you have just started your journey in an online casino or are looking for a new site to play,...
Tanzania: government supports coal quality complaints

ICR Newsroom By 08 December 2016

A Tanzanian government-commissioned report has confirmed that the quality of locally-produced coal is questionable. The Commissioner of Minerals tasked an independent committee to establish why major coal users in the country, especially cement manufacturers, prefer imported to local coal.

The report follows a government ban on coal imports earlier this year. Minister of Energy and Minerals, Prof Sospeter Muhongo, said recently that the ban would not be lifted because the country produces "enough good-quality coal.

The ban has been criticised by cement manufacturers and the quality of locally-produced coal has come under scrutiny since the Mtwara-based Dangote cement plant suspended production last month.

Major challenges faced by cement manufacturers noted in the report include poor and/or fluctuating quality of coal, damage to kilns and a decrease in overall productivity. According to the report, Tancoal, the only active coal producer in the country, "has no coal processing plant which will produce coal of consistent quality demanded by the market. To date Tancoal has been practising selective mining which does not guarantee consistency in quality".

The report further says that the actual demand for coal in Tanzania and Kenya at that time (September 2015) was about 51,600tpm, which exceeds Tancoal's current production capacity of between 30,000-35,000tpm.

Published under
Taiwan Cement plans to increase exports to China

ICR Newsroom By 08 December 2016

The Taiwan Cement Corporation has said that it expects to ship 1.1Mt of cement to China in the first quarter of 2017, an increase of two per cent on its performance in 1Q16, the Taipei Times reports.

In an earnings statement covering the first nine months of 2016, Taiwan Cement saw its profit increase by 13.7 per cent to TWD4.5bn (US$141m), driven by rising prices and a fall in the cost of coal.

The companys exports to China reached 3.9Mt in the first three quarters of 2016, up 10 per cent on the same period in 2015. The first quarter usually sees slower sales due to the Lunar New Year holiday, but Taiwan Cement believes that Chinese efforts to reduce domestic overcapacity will have a positive impact on both import demand and prices.

Accordding to Macquarie analyst Benson Pan, the average price of cement in the southern Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi increased by CNY60-70 (US$8.70-10.20)/t since September, buoyed up by infrastructure spending and low inventory levels.

Published under
Sign up for our newsletter
10th Sejong International Cartoon Contest SICACO 2021, Korea

: Informed about the sending by e-mail on 23 November 2021

* The 4th International Competition of Cartoons Aleksandar Klas 2017, Serbia: All

whose cartoons are selected in the catalog and the exhibition will receive a free copy of the catalog (

).
United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. MUCTARR JALLOH, Petitioner, v. LORETTA E. LYNCH, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. 15-1094 Decided: December 06, 2016

PRESENT: ROBERT A. KATZMANN, Chief Judge, RICHARD C. WESLEY, PETER W. HALL, Circuit Judges. FOR PETITIONER: Andy Wong, New York, New York. FOR RESPONDENT: Benjamin C. Mizer, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General; Leslie McKay, Assistant Director; Jessica A. Dawgert, Trial Attorney, Office of Immigration Litigation, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.

UPON DUE CONSIDERATION of this petition for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decision, it is hereby ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the petition for review is DENIED.

Petitioner Muctarr Jalloh, a native and citizen of Sierra Leone, seeks review of a March 25, 2015, decision of the BIA affirming a March 5, 2013, decision of an Immigration Judge (IJ) denying Jalloh's application for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). In re Muctarr Jalloh, No. A095 164 602 (B.I.A. Mar. 25, 2015), aff'g No. A095 164 602 (Immig. Ct. N.Y.C. Mar. 5, 2013). We assume the parties' familiarity with the underlying facts and procedural history in this case.

We have reviewed the IJ's decision as modified by the BIA. See Xue Hong Yang v. U.S. Dep't of Justice, 426 F.3d 520, 522 (2d Cir. 2005). The applicable standards of review are well established. See 8 U.S.C.  1252(b)(4)(B); Yanqin Weng v. Holder, 562 F.3d 510, 513 (2d Cir. 2009).

Jalloh raised two claims for asylum, one based on harm he suffered during a civil war in Sierra Leone, and another based on his opposition to female genital mutilation (FGM), which he alleges his daughters would have to undergo if they accompany him to Sierra Leone. Because the agency denied these claims for different reasons, we address them separately.

I. Claim Based on Past Harm

The agency denied on credibility grounds Jalloh's claim based on beatings he allegedly suffered during a civil war in Sierra Leone. In pre-REAL ID Act cases such as Jalloh's, an adverse credibility determination must be based on specific, cogent reasons that bear a legitimate nexus to the finding, and any discrepancy must be substantial when measured against the record as a whole. See Secaida-Rosales v. INS, 331 F.3d 297, 307 (2d Cir. 2003) (internal quotation marks omitted). Nonetheless, our review of the IJ's credibility findings is highly deferential  and the IJ's administrative findings of fact are conclusive unless any reasonable adjudicator would be compelled to conclude to the contrary.  Majidi v. Gonzales, 430 F.3d 77, 79 (2d Cir. 2005) (quoting 8 U.S.C.  1252(b)(4)(B)). Here, the adverse credibility is supported by substantial evidence.

The BIA affirmed the IJ's adverse credibility determination on the basis of two inconsistencies. The first relates to the cause of damage to Jalloh's teeth and nose. Jalloh submitted a medical report from a U.S. doctor which recounted, based on Jalloh's statements, the beating Jalloh suffered at the hands of a rebel political party in 1999. The doctor stated: Patient showed signs of physical abuse that he sustained in Sierra Leone in the following ways  Nose: Patient had nasal bone fracture [;] Mouth: Patient had extensive dental workup at Harlem Hospital as 6 of his teeth had been damaged due to severe trauma. Jalloh testified, however, that the problems with his teeth were due to routine dental issues and that he could not remember how he hurt his nose.

The second inconsistency related to whether Jalloh was beaten once or twice by rebels. Jalloh testified that he was beaten twice and confirmed that the first beating was severe, but his application stated that he was beaten in 1999, while in 1997, rebels merely pushed him out of the way to get to his father. When confronted with this inconsistency, he testified that, in 1997, the rebels were pushing him away and threatening to kill him, and he considered that a beating.

Both of the above inconsistencies are supported by the record, and they undermine Jalloh's account of the only two incidents of past harm he alleged in his application. Zhou Yun Zhang v. U.S. INS, 386 F.3d 66, 74 (2d Cir. 2004), overruled on other grounds by Shi Liang Lin v. U.S. Dep't of Justice, 494 F.3d 296 (2d Cir. 2007); Xian Tuan Ye v. DHS, 446 F.3d 289, 295 (2d Cir. 2006).

As to the inconsistencies regarding Jalloh's injuries, he argues that he never told the doctor that his injuries were due to beatings in Sierra Leone and that the doctor's conclusions were based on the doctor's independent interpretation of the evidence. However, it was Jalloh's burden to establish his claims for relief, and he submitted the doctor's report without further explanation, even though medical records from Harlem Hospital may have confirmed or contradicted the doctor's conclusions. 8 U.S.C.  1158(b)(1)(B)(i) (establishing that alien bears burden of establishing asylum eligibility). Given that the only evidence supporting Jalloh's claim that the doctor incorrectly inferred the cause is Jalloh's own statement, there is no evidence compelling the conclusion that the doctor's report is inaccurate. 8 U.S.C.  1252(b)(4)(B); Majidi, 430 F.3d at 79-80.

As to the inconsistency regarding the severity of the 1997 incident, the IJ was not required to credit Jalloh's explanation that being pushed out of the way even under threat of violence constituted a beating. Majidi, 430 F.3d at 80-81. Jalloh's explanation was inconsistent with his testimony that the 1997 beating was severe.

Given our highly deferential review of the agency's credibility findings, we conclude that there is no evidence compelling the conclusion that Jalloh testified credibly. Majidi, 430 F.3d at 79; 8 U.S.C.  1252(b)(4)(B). Because the inconsistencies identified by the agency concerned the very persecution from which [Jalloh] sought asylum and the injuries caused by the alleged persecution, they provide substantial evidence in support of the adverse credibility determination. Xian Tuan Ye, 446 F.3d at 295 (quoting Majidi, 430 F.3d at 81). Accordingly, with respect to this claim based on past harm, the adverse credibility determination is dispositive of asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT relief because all three claims were based on the same factual predicate. See Paul v. Gonzales, 444 F.3d 148, 156 (2d Cir. 2006).

II. Claim Based on Future Opposition to FGM

The agency also concluded that Jalloh failed to meet his burden of showing an objectively reasonable fear of future persecution based on his opposition to FGM. To establish asylum eligibility based on a well-founded fear of persecution, an applicant must show that he subjectively fears persecution and that his fear is objectively reasonable. Ramsameachire v. Ashcroft, 357 F.3d 169, 178 (2d Cir. 2004). An alien may make this showing either by offering evidence that  he would be singled out individually for persecution  or by proving the existence of a pattern or practice in his  country  of persecution of a group of persons similarly situated to the applicant.   Kyaw Zwar Tun v. U.S. INS, 445 F.3d 554, 564 (2d Cir. 2006) (quoting 8 C.F.R.  208.13(b)(2)(iii)).

There is no error in the agency's determination that Jalloh failed to show a well-founded fear of persecution. He is not eligible for asylum based on the harm that his daughters might suffer. See Tao Jiang v. Gonzales, 500 F.3d 137, 141 (2d Cir. 2007). And there is no evidence in the record that adults who oppose FGM are subject to harm in Sierra Leone. As the IJ pointed out, the 2010 State Department report indicates that FGM is in decline. Moreover, Jalloh alleged that his family was threatening him because of his opposition to FGM, but he also testified that his family was not in Sierra Leone. Given the absence of any objective evidence that Jalloh would be harmed on the basis of his opposition to FGM, the agency reasonably concluded that he did not have a well-founded fear of future harm. See Jian Xing Huang v. U.S. INS, 421 F.3d 125, 129 (2d Cir. 2005).

For the foregoing reasons, the petition for review is DENIED.

FOR THE COURT:

Catherine O=Hagan Wolfe, Clerk
For the past two months, someone has been monitoring the behavior and academic progress of students at the Bethlehem Centers Read to Lead After-School Program in order to reward them with a Christmas shopping spree. That person is not Santa.

Rachel DeVore, educational coordinator of The Bethlehem Center, monitors the attendance, academic progress, and behavior of students in the Bethlehem Centers after-school program on a point system that she turns into Christmas cash. Then on Monday, Dec. 19, from 11 a.m.-1 p.m., students will be able to purchase Christmas gifts with their earnings for themselves and their families at the Walmart on Cummings Highway. It is anticipated 60 students ranging from ages 5-14 will participate.



Students in the Read to Lead after-school program work so hard all year, said Ms. DeVore. This is an opportunity to see those deserving students reap the rewards of all that hard work.



Students will earn between $25 - $100 and they will be able to spend their earnings based upon the following guidelines established by The Bethlehem Center:



 50% on what the student wants

 30% on what the student needs

 20% to purchase gifts for others

Adult volunteers are invited to serve as the students personal shoppers to assist them with this special shopping spree.


The Ringgold Playhouse will hold open auditions next week for the first production of its 2017 Season, the comedy "Southern Fried Funeral."

After closing out its 2016 Season in August with the classic drama "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," TRP is looking to bring the laughs with its first production of 2017.

"We're excited about the new season, and we're really looking forward to opening with such a funny and entertaining show," said Adam Cook, TRP executive director.

The show will be directed by Monica Woodlief, who'll hold auditions at Ringgold's Patriot Hall on Monday and Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script, with call backs to be held later in the week if necessary.

Review for Southern Fried Funeral by Osborne and Eppier:

Dewey Frye is dead and the rest of his family is left to pick up the pieces.that is if they dont kill each other first. Not only does matriarch Dorothy have to contend with sudden widowhood, but shes also faced with church committee harpy Ozella Meeks sticking her nose in the family business, Deweys snake-in-the-grass brother making a grab for her house, and two grown daughters reliving their childhood rivalry. Funerals bring out the worst, the best, and the funniest in people, with the Fryes being no exception. Penned by the duo of Osborne and Eppier, Southern Fried Funeral is a big-hearted comedy about familySouthern-style.

Performance dates are Feb. 23-25 and March 2-4.

Actors only need to attend one evening of auditions, whichever night works best with their schedule. The show has roles available for six women and five men.

Character breakdown

- Dorothy Frye (50s/60s): Dewey Fryes widow and matriarch of the family.

- Sammy Jo Frye-Lefette (30s): Middle child and future president of the Junior League.

- Harlene Frye (30s/40s): The oldest child and prodigal daughter.

- Dewey Frye, Jr. (20s): The youngest child. Not the brightest bulb in the chandelier.

- Dub Frye (50s/60s): Dorothys brother-in-law.

- Atticus "Attie" Van Leer (30s/40s) Family lawyer, and on-again-off-again love interest of Harlene.

- Beecham Lefette (30s) Sammy Jos husband.

- Martha Ann Fox (50s/60s): Dorothys best friend.

- Fairy June Cooper (50s/60s): Contemporary of Dorothy and Martha Ann; theyve all been friends since high school.

- Benny Charles Greenwood (50s/60s): Best friend of Dewey Frye, Sr.

- Ozella Meeks (60s/70s): Chairwoman of the Son Shine Committee at church, a position she doesnt take lightly.

Anyone seeking more information about auditions can email TRP at TheRinggoldPlayhouse@gmail.com, or call 227-9459.
Erwin Davis International is partnering with Chattanooga area businesses and nonprofits such as Cadence Coffee and Mustard Tree Ministries, Inc., in hosting The Great Blanket Banquet 2016 for the less fortunate community of the city.

"I want to be very sincere in my formation of this event," said Erwin M. Davis, II, founder and CEO of EDI. Our goal is to show just how much Chattanooga cares about the homeless in our community and that we want them to succeed. For when they succeed, we all succeed. We need to get to know them, talk to them, and find out who they are and how they got here.

"There is always a solution to a problem, and I want to work with the community to spearhead a movement that is the answer to this problem. We are extending our hand to those in our Chattanooga family who are in need by offering a blanket, a conversation, and most valuable of all, a friend.

"The collection is not limited to just blankets. We will have secondary gifts to offer to the recipients, such as jackets, sleeping bags, socks. So, anything you have that's in good or great condition would be an excellent gift for someone in need.

Mustard Tree has partnered with EDI and Cadence Coffee Co. as part of their Warm for Holidays drive and #Loveyourneighbor campaign.

Items may be dropped off at Cadence Coffee Co. at 11 E. 7th Street during normal business hours.

The banquet will be held at Nicos Salon Downtown on Dec. 22, from 6-9 p.m. Those joining in the event will meet at Cadence before heading out for Nicos.

EDI, Cadence and Mustard Tree are looking for 75  100 volunteers through individuals and partner organizations to help with serving at the event. They would like to distribute 100+ blankets to the homeless community for the Christmas holiday.

For more information on the event and how to be involved, call 400-9303 or visit ErwinDavisInternational.com and www.mustardtreeministries.org.
After what will be a 10-day recovery period from the devastating wildfires that swept through Gatlinburg, Ober Gatlinburg will reopen in two phases. On Friday, Ober Gatlinburgs Downtown Tramway Mall will be open from 9:30 a.m.

The following Monday, Ober Gatlinburgs Mountain location will reopen with regular operating hours to drive up traffic only. There will be free shuttles departing from the Downtown Tramway Mall regularly. Outdoor activities available on Monday will include the Ski Mountain Coaster, Snow Tubing, Wildlife Encounter, Scenic Chairlift, and pending weather conditionsthe Alpine Slide. Indoor activities opening on Monday include the Ice Rink, Carousel, Seasons of Ober Restaurant, The Loft Lounge, Sidewalk Cafe, The Market, The Fudge Shoppe, Ober Snack Bar, Ski Mountain Sports, Slopeside Apparel and Gifts, OBears Playhouse, The Galleria Logo Shop, Family Crests, Jensen Images and The Leather Shop.

The Aerial Tramway will remain closed until all inspections have been completed and have been cleared by all entities involved. A comprehensive plan to inspect the Aerial Tramway was launched immediately after management learned of the impact on Ski Mountain Road. On Wednesday, a cable specialist arrived on Ober Gatlinburgs property to inspect the cables that move the Aerial Tramway. On Friday, a representative from Doppelmayr will inspect the Tram towers and an electronics engineer from Swiss-based company Frey AG Stans will be on property to inspect all electronics in the Aerial Tramway control room. The final inspection will be completed by the State of Tennessee. Ober Gatlinburg will release more information regarding the opening date of the Aerial Tramway as soon as possible.

Ober Gatlinburg would like to thank the all of the firefighters, first responders, disaster relief workers, city employees, utility departments and volunteers who continue to work tirelessly to save the town. The outpouring of relief and support the community has received is unprecedented and appreciated.

For more information and specific information regarding operating hours, contact 865 436 5423, visit www.obergatlinburg.com or email fun@obergatlinburg.com.
Several Signal Mountain High School students were recognized at a regional Model UN conference held on a mid-November weekend at the Chattanoogan Hotel.



Four SMHS students are among 21 All Star Delegates invited to attend the 2017 National High School Model United Nations Conference in March at the real United Nations building in New York.



Isaiah Challen, Meg Corley, Ethan Fell, and Matthew Williams will be among the unified southeastern high school delegation that will represent Kazakhstan at the national conference.



Mr. Williams and Mr. Challen were also part of the Team USA from SMHS that was recognized as Third Best Delegation at the regional conference. Teams from Girls Preparatory School and Ooltewah High School were best and second best, respectively. Other Team USA members were Elizabeth Ortiz, Chris Ragland, Sydney Selman, Caitlin Johnson, Cayman Browder, Michael Cornett, Trinity Donnellan, Ben Lockhart, and Ruston Shome.



SMHS students receiving Committee Awards were: Matheson Wynnemer, UnderSecretary of the 2016 Conference; Hannah Maynor Chair of the DISEC Committee, 2016; Matthew Williams, General Committee Best Delegate; Isaiah Challen, Security Council Best Delegate; Ethan Fell, General Committee Honorable Mention; Rachel Bible, DPC Honorable Mention; Chris Ragland, ECOFIN Honorable Mention; Emily Perez, SOCHUM Honorable Mention; Meg Corley, UNDP Honorable Mention; Isaiah Challen, Best Position Paper; Sydney Selman, Honorable Mention; and Emily Perez, 2017 Chair Ad Hoc Committee.



I am so proud of all of the Signal Mountain delegates, said SMHS Faculty Adviser Lorri Whitney. These students decided that they wanted to do well this year, and they all worked together to make it happen.



I am proud of the awards our students won, Ms. Whitney said, yet I am more proud of the growth mindset of the entire group.



The Southeastern High School Model UN was originally founded as a small conference in Chattanooga that has grown to be one of the largest conferences in the area, officials said.






The United States is a nation of immigrants, but new arrivals to the country are more likely to flock to some states than others. The majority of the nations 42 million foreign-born residents live in California, Texas, New York, Florida, and New Jersey. But as the immigrant population grows  1.4 million new immigrants arrived in the U.S. in 2014, an 11% increase over 2013  states, such as North Dakota, Wyoming, and West Virginia, also are seeing the number of foreign-born residents rise, often by double-digit percentages.

Not everyone is happy about the growing immigrant population. Although close to  of adults Gallup surveyed in 2016 believe immigration is generally good for the country, 38% also believe fewer immigrants should be allowed into the U.S. Many are worried about the effect immigrants have on employment. Forty-five percent of people Pew Research surveyed said immigration hurts American workers, while 42% said it helps.

Fears of job-stealing immigrants might be misplaced. Immigrants dont take jobs away from native-born workers or depress wages for most groups, a report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine found. Although immigration can be costly to local governments in the short-term, immigrants tend to pay back that investment, as their children grow up to contribute more in taxes than either their parents or the rest of the native-born population, according to the report.

Like it or not, immigrants are changing the face of the U.S. While the following 10 states have relatively few immigrants compared to New York or Texas, theyve experienced the greatest percentage change in their immigrant population* between 2010 and 2015, according to the Migration Policy Institute. The No. 1 state saw their immigration population surge 72%.

*This includes naturalized citizens, lawful permanent residents, people in the country on work or student visas, refugees and asylees, and those in country without legal status.

10. Tennessee

Change in immigrant population since 2010: +14.7%

Current immigrant population: 332,000

Tennessees foreign-born population increased 14.7% from 2010 to 2015, going from 289,000 to 332,000. Immigrants now make up 5% of the states total population. Thats a significant increase from 1990, when the states 59,000 immigrants made up just 1.2% of the population.

Immigration is a divisive issue in Tennessee, as it is in many other parts of the country. Following the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, the number of Tennesseans who said immigration should be the countrys top priority nearly doubled from 7% to 13%, according to Vanderbilt Poll-Tennessee. Those who identified with the tea party were much more likely to say dealing with immigration should be the number-one priority for the U.S.

9. District of Columbia

Change in immigrant population since 2010: +16.4%

Current immigrant population: 95,000

The District of Columbias 95,000 immigrants make up 14.1% of the areas total population. In 2011, 41% of all immigrants in D.C. were naturalized citizens, more than half of whom had a bachelors degree or higher.

One-third of all business owners in the greater D.C. metro area were foreign born as of 2013, according to the American Immigration Council. Immigrants make up 17% of the workforce in the District of Columbia.

8. Mississippi

Change in immigrant population since 2010: +17.6%

Current immigrant population: 72,000

Mississippis foreign-born population grew nearly 18% in the past few years. Immigrants now make up 2.4% of the states total population. More than a third are from Mexico, according to the MPI, while Vietnam, India, and China are also common countries of origin.

An estimated 25,000 undocumented immigrants live in Tennessee, according to Pew Hispanic. Since the start of 2017, lawmakers in Mississippi have introduced bills barring cities from declaring themselves sanctuary cities for undocumented residents and requiring companies to only hire U.S. citizens or legal immigrants, Mississippi Public Broadcasting reported.

7. Alaska

Change in immigrant population since 2010: +18.7%

Current immigrant population: 59,000

Alaskas immigrant population was 59,000 in 2015, roughly a 19% increase from 2010, when 49,000 immigrants lived in the state. As of 2013, just under 30% were from the Philippines, which has a long history of sending immigrants to the state. Many others come from Mexico, Korea, and Canada.

In Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska, immigrants make up a significant minority of the workforce in several industries. Nineteen percent of people working in the recreation and accommodation industry are foreign-born, according to the Partnership for New American Economy, along with 14% of health care workers and 14% of retail employees.

6. Minnesota

Change in immigrant population since 2010: +20.8%

Current immigrant population: 457,000

Minnesota has nearly half a million foreign-born residents who make up 8.3% of the total population. The number of immigrants in the state has increased nearly 21% since 2010. Mexico, Laos, India, and Vietnam are the top countries of origin. Roughly 6% of business owners in Minnesota are foreign born, according to Project for a New American Economy.

Minnesota is home to largest Somali population in the United States and the second-largest Hmong population. Undocumented immigrants, who make up 23% of the states immigrant population, are eligible for in-state tuition at Minnesotas public colleges and state financial aid, provided they meet certain requirements.

5. Delaware

Change in immigrant population since 2010: +21.8%

Current immigrant population: 88,000

Delawares immigrant population jumped from 72,000 in 2010 to 88,000 in 2015, an increase of roughly 22%. People born in other countries make up 9.3% of the states total population. Mexico, India, China, and Guatemala are the most common countries of origin.

Delaware is one of 12 states that grant drivers licenses to people regardless of their immigration status. About 45% of immigrants in Delaware are naturalized citizens, just under the 47% of immigrants nationwide who have become U.S. citizens.

4. South Dakota

Change in immigrant population since 2010: +25.2%

Current immigrant population: 28,000

South Dakota doesnt have a lot of immigrants. Only two states  Montana and Wyoming  have fewer than the states 28,000 foreign-born residents. But the immigrant community is growing, and it now makes up 3.2% of South Dakotas population. Mexico, Guatemala, and China are the most common countries of origin.

Of the 28,000 immigrants living in the state, about 5,000 are undocumented, according to Pew Hispanic, and they make up less than 1% of the states total population. Yet South Dakota is the only state where the majority of people dont support a path to citizenship for those in the U.S. without legal status. Only 46% support legalizing undocumented immigrants, compared to 62% of people nationwide, a survey by PRRI found.

3. West Virginia

Change in immigrant population since 2010: +31.1%

Current immigrant population: 30,000

West Virginias immigrant population grew 31% between 2010 and 2015, as the state added 7,000 foreign-born residents. Despite the increase, immigrants still make up just 1.6% of the total population of West Virginia, the smallest share of any U.S. state.

Many West Virginians are skeptical about the cultural impact of immigrants. Only 35% say immigrants strengthen American society, the lowest share of any state, according to PRRI. Nationwide, people are evenly split on the question of whether welcoming people from other countries is good for U.S. society.

2. Wyoming

Change in immigrant population since 2010: +38.9%

Current immigrant population: 22,000

The number of immigrants in Wyoming increased from 16,000 in 2010 to 22,000 in 2015, a 38.9% increase. As of 2013, close to half of immigrants in the state were from Mexico, with smaller numbers coming from Canada, the Philippines, China, and the United Kingdom.

People living in Wyoming are more likely than those in any other state to have a negative view of immigrants. Forty-eight percent say immigrants pose a threat to American culture, and just 38% say people from other countries make U.S. society stronger, PRRI found.

1. North Dakota

Change in immigrant population since 2010: +72.2%

Current immigrant population: 29,000

North Dakota has fewer immigrants than all but four other states. Yet its immigrant population increased more dramatically than anywhere else in the country between 2010 and 2015, rising by 12,000, from 17,000 to 29,000, a 72% increase. Immigrants make up 3.8% of the states population overall. Canada, Mexico, and India are the top countries of origin for North Dakotas immigrants.

In 2014, immigrants added $542.8 million to the GDP of Fargo, the states largest city, according to estimates from the Partnership for a New American Economy. And they helped preserve or create 490 local manufacturing jobs. Fifty-nine percent of North Dakotans supports a path to citizenship for at least some illegal immigrants.

Follow Megan on Facebook and Twitter

More from Culture Cheat Sheet:
Lewa has signed a purchase contract with Seko Middle East FZE (right: Gianluca Minicucci, Director of Seko Middle East FZE), to take effect on December 1, 2016. The object of the agreement was the takeover of the entire plant, all assets and the chemical injection package (CIP) business. Sylvain Latuilerie (left) will manage the new unit.

Lewa GmbH, the manufacturer of metering and process diaphragm pumps based in Leonberg, Germany, has signed a purchase contract with Seko Middle East FZE, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Seko S.p.A., to take effect on December 1, 2016. The object of the agreement was the takeover of the entire plant, including all assets and the chemical injection package (CIP) business for the oil and gas sector, the (petro-) chemical industry and the power plant sector. The acquisition is part of the Lewa Groups strategy of specializing in pumps and integrated systems solutions.

The Lewa Group will not be alone in benefiting from the additional construction and manufacturing capacity in the important Middle East region: As a manufacturer of chemical injection packages, the new unit becomes part of Nikkisos Industrial Division and supplies the companys subsidiaries and parent companies internally. By connecting in-house engineering and production, we control the entire value chain and can ensure high quality. At the same time, we expect an improvement in our competitiveness in this sector, said Peter Wagner, CEO of Lewa GmbH and responsible for Industrial Division.

Since the national oil companies in the region frequently demand a certain level of integration, this offers Lewa an opportunity to be listed, not only for pumps as before, but also for entire chemical injection packages. Global sales are carried out by the entire division. In the process, the companys strength in the form of local know-how in the various markets will be used. A new market is also opening up: supplying products to power plants. Seko has already served customers with CIPs. We intend to further cultivate and expand these contacts, Wagner says.

A smooth transfer of business activities and retention of all staff members is planned for the coming weeks. In addition, the factorys current certifications in accordance with OHSAS 18001, ISO 14001, ISO 9001 and the ASME U-Stamp for the production of pressure vessels will be secured and transferred. Managing Director of the new Lewa Nikkiso Middle East FZE is Sylvain Latuilerie, who previously managed the local Lewa company in Dubai. It will be integrated into the newly established company in stages.
Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander on Wednesday said the most important bill of the year is headed towards the Presidents desk, after the United States Senate passed the 21st Century Cures Act by a vote of 94 to 5.

For the second consecutive year, the senate is sending the President another Christmas miracle for his signature. Last year, it was the Every Student Succeeds Act, and this time, its the 21st Century Cures Acta bill that will help virtually every American family. With its vote today of 94 to 5, the Senate has sent an unmistakable message that the time is now to deliver on the promise of 21st Century Cures.

Senator Alexander said, This bipartisan legislation  which Majority Leader McConnell has called 'the most important legislation Congress will pass this year'  will help us take advantage of the breathtaking advances in biomedical research and bring those innovations to doctors offices and patients medicine cabinets around the country. This legislation will advance Vice President Bidens moonshot to find cures for cancer, President Obamas Precision Medicine Initiative, and the BRAIN Initiative  and it will help states in the fight against opioid abuse and the one in five adults in this country suffering from a mental illness. I look forward to the presidents signature."

Senator Bob Corker said, Passage of this legislation is a testament to Senator Alexanders leadership and will help countless Tennesseans who are directly impacted by cancer, Alzheimers, mental illness and opioid abuse. By streamlining the FDA review process and advancing biomedical research, this bill will encourage innovation and provide quicker access to the lifesaving medications and treatments that so many families need.

This past weekend, President Obama voiced his strong support for this bill, in his weekly address to the nation saying: Like all good legislation, [the bill] reflects compromise. This week, the House passed it overwhelmingly, and in bipartisan fashion. The Senate will vote in the next few days, and I hope theyll do the same. Ill sign it as soon as it reaches my desk, because like a lot of you, Ive lost people I love to cancer. I hear every day from Americans whose loved ones are suffering from addiction and other debilitating diseases. And I believe we should seize every chance we have to find cures as soon as possible. When its your family, hope cant come soon enough.

The 21st Century Cures agreement will:

Help bring safe drugs and devices to market more quickly and at less cost by making needed reforms to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), including: expedited review for breakthrough devices, increased patient involvement in the drug approval process, a streamlined review process for combination products that are both a drug and device, and freedom from red tape for software like fitbits or calorie counting apps.

Provide $4.8 billion to National Institutes of Health, including: $1.8 billion for Vice President Bidens "Cancer Moonshot to speed cancer research; $1.4 billion for President Obamas Precision Medicine Initiative to drive research into the genetic, lifestyle and environmental variations of disease; and $1.6 billion for the BRAIN Initiative to improve our understanding of diseases like Alzheimer's and speed diagnosis and treatment.

Provide $500 million to the FDA.

Provide $1 billion in grants to states to address the opioid crisis.

Address the countrys mental health crisis and help the one out of five adult Americans suffering from mental illness receive the care they need.

Improve electronic health records for doctors and their patients.

Click here for video of Senator Alexander on what this legislation means for Middle Tennessee.
Gift cards seem to be the simple, stress-free ideal of gift-giving: No need to pick a style, size or color. They're not heavy to carry nor difficult to wrap.

But buyers can still run into issues  like getting a card that registers a zero when they try to use it.

Advertisement

Here are some suggestions from the experts on how to gift-card in peace.

Be careful of secondhand cards.

Advertisement

Secondary gift card marketplaces promise lower prices and give consumers and others a way to sell unwanted cards for cash. But the FBI's Internet Crimes Complaint Center has warned consumers about the potential for fraud on such sites.

The Illinois attorney general's office is investigating Chicago-based startup Raise, one of the newer online marketplaces. A spokeswoman for the attorney general's office said it had received multiple complaints about cards that had a value of zero or less than what consumers paid for.

Cards are also sold on eBay, Craigslist and other sites.

But some experts advise only buying gift cards directly from retailers, either at the store or on the retailer's own secure website. Retailers may be more likely to dole out refunds after fraudulent activity if a consumer buys directly through them.

Know the type of card you're buying.

Consumers can buy physical or digital gift cards, and some can be used only in a store or only online. If you're gifting a card, make sure it's in a form the recipient can actually use.

Secondary gift card marketplaces also sell store-issued merchandise credits. Those credits can be legitimate, but can also be obtained when criminals steal items from stores, then return them to a store without a receipt for a store credit. They can then list the credits on online platforms as gift cards  and consumers aren't always able to tell where the card came from. Customers who want to avoid buying those types of credits might be best off buying directly from retailers.

Be careful with physical gift cards, too.

Advertisement

Some criminals target physical gift cards at stores, either writing down numbers or using a device to steal the card's information, said Tony Martin-Vegue, a San Francisco-based information security risk manager. He said thieves can take the information, return the cards to the shelves, keep tabs on the cards, then use them once a customer has legitimately purchased cards and activated them.

"I would never buy gift cards that are displayed out in the public  only from behind the counter," Martin-Vegue said. "There's just so much potential of fraud there."

He advises customers to give cards a quick scan for signs of tampering. If packaging is broken or a PIN is scratched off, don't buy it.

Big savings can be a red flag.

An especially deep discount  think 50 percent off the face value  could be a warning sign of a scam or a stolen card, Martin-Vegue said. His motto: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Use gift cards as soon as you can.

Advertisement

Consumers should use gift cards quickly, said Steve Bernas, President and CEO of the Better Business Bureau of Chicago and Northern Illinois. Consumers can easily forget to use cards altogether, or could lose out on the value if they wait too long and a company goes out of business.

On secondary gift card marketplaces, there's typically a money-back guarantee on cards. But those warranties vary, so buyers should check policies of different sites and determine whether they'll be using the card soon enough.

Read the fine print.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau advises that customers read a card's policies carefully to determine whether a card will incur fees. If a card hasn't been used in over a year, some cards may begin racking up inactivity fees, which are deducted from the card's value.

Keep the receipt handy.

Whether you're giving a gift card as a present or keeping it for yourself, experts advise keeping the receipt in case something goes awry. If a consumer has any problems with fraud on the card, retailers can often track where the card was purchased, activated and used.

Advertisement

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau advises that consumers who give cards as gifts also pass along the sales receipt as well as the terms and conditions information, which is often included in a card's packaging.

mgraham@tribpub.com

Twitter @megancgraham
Swap.com, the Bolingbrook-based online consignment store, has raised $20 million, it announced Thursday.

It lets users buy and sell gently used clothes and other goods and, with the new funding, aims to increase inventory and staff to take over more of the online secondhand market.

Advertisement

The lead investor in the round was eEquity, a Swedish company that invests in ecommerce and other internet companies. Three other unnamed investors also participated. In total, the company has raised $50 million in equity funding.

The company will use the funding to promote its brand through marketing and advertising and to improve efficiency in its Bolingbrook fulfillment center, which spans 360,000 square feet. It moved there from a 66,000-square-foot center, also in Bolingbrook, in September 2015.

Advertisement

It also plans to grow its team of more than 200 to about 300 employees in "a few months' time," said Bolingbrook-based CEO and co-founder Juha Koponen. Swap.com has workers in Bolingbrook and Chicago  seven marketing employees moved to the WeWork office in the Loop earlier this year  and Helsinki, Finland. It hired its first chief marketing officer, former Grubhub vice president of digital marketing Rich Lesperance, in October.

The Swap.com service launched in 2013, after its now-defunct Finland-based parent company Netcycler, a European online swapping site, bought the domain name in 2012. In 2015, it said it processed about 3,300 items per day.

Koponen declined to say how many items it processes daily now, but said Swap.com lists 1.5 million items from 10,000 brands in categories ranging from adults' and children's clothing to toys and sporting goods. It could expand to items such as furniture or home goods in the future, Koponen said.

Swap.com is a player in the bustling online clothing resale market; it also lets users swap items, though Koponen said that feature is less popular than regular shopping.

"What we offer is mainstream brands for everyday life that people need everywhere," Koponen said.

Swap CEO and co-founder Juha Koponen (Swap photo)

ThredUp, a San Francisco-based online consignment site backed by more than $130 million in venture capital, is another major presence in the market. It offers both-low cost and designer items for women and juniors.

Koponen said Swap.com does not directly compete with high-end stores due to its focus on low-cost goods. He suggested the company competes with low-price, fast-fashion companies.

He said items on the site start at $3, with an average price of $7. Unlike some marketplace platforms, Swap.com houses inventory and accepts boxes of gently used items, which it evaluates on-site. It photographs and lists acceptable items online, taking a fee of $1.50 plus 30 percent of price of the sale price of each item sold. In September it increased that fee from $1.50 plus 25 percent of the sale price per item.

Advertisement

Swap.com used to hold unsold items for free for up to nine months. Now, if an item does not sell within 60 days, the company can use a proprietary tool called SurePrice to adjust its price based on a variety of factors.

It also increased the fee it charges sellers to house their items from $8.90 to $11.90 per inbound box, and from $11.90 to $14.90 for sellers who request packaging materials to mail a box to Swap.com. The increases were designed to control how many boxes Swap.com receives, it said on its website.

Koponen said the site's "hundreds of thousands" of customers are interested in value. A secondary concern is sustainability and saving unwanted goods from landfills.

Swap.com operates in the contiguous 48 states. Kopenen said he has experience in international business and that Swap.com could expand to other countries, but he does not yet know when.

In a November report, market research firm First Research estimated the brick-and-mortar used-merchandise market to encompass some 20,000 stores generating about $17 billion in annual revenue. Koponen said internal research suggests the online market, including clothing, toys and sporting goods, could be many times that size.

aelahi@tribpub.com

Twitter @aminamania
On the day President-elect Donald Trump lashed out at Boeing for the cost of replacing Air Force One, mechanics and engineers at the planemaker's South Carolina factory were focused on another challenge: making the first 787-10 Dreamliner.

The manufacturer is counting on the newest and longest Dreamliner to help turn its marquee carbon-fiber jet into a cash machine. So far, the -10 is meeting deadlines and hitting performance targets, a rarity in an industry where delays are the norm. The question is whether a glutted market will crimp profit and sales -- and whether Trump will further dent orders by raising trade tensions with China, a crucial market.

Boeing's newest widebody is central to a plan to erase $27.5 billion in deferred 787 costs that were accumulated over a decade of losses. The first of three planned flight-test planes was loaded onto the final assembly line in North Charleston over the past week, achieving a production milestone ahead of plan.

"I'm very optimistic," said Ken Sanger, a Boeing vice president overseeing development of the 787-10, the third Dreamliner model. "Without going into the numbers, the strategy is working very, very well."

For now, the first -10 lies in sections on the factory floor as workers inspect its spun-fiber frame. A white protective coating makes the segments look like giant larva. Over the next two weeks, mechanics will slide them to the first position on the assembly line, where the longest fuselage barrel will be joined to wings, nose and tail. It will mark the first of five stages of a metamorphosis into a sleek flying machine.

If all goes to plan, Boeing's most technically advanced jetliner will take its first flight over South Carolina's wetlands sometime next year -- Sanger won't say when -- and will be delivered to initial customer Singapore Airlines in 2018.

Boeing is counting on the -10 to mirror the drama-free development of the 737 Max and 787-9 three years ago, all products of a disciplined process it fashioned for new aircraft following the delay-plagued debut of the 787-8 five years ago. The new jet is the most expensive Dreamliner yet, with a list price of $306.1 million, and its market entry should coincide with growing profits for the 787.

Boeing has just started to break even on the jets, and will need to record an average profit of $34.4 million per plane over the next 800 Dreamliners to avoid having to report an accounting loss for the program. Company executives insist they can get there by combining savings from suppliers with higher pricing on the -9 and -10, the Dreamliners with the greatest profit potential.

The effort comes as Boeing's pricing has been thrust into the national spotlight. On Dec. 6, Trump tweeted that "costs are out of control" for planned planes to serve future presidents' extensive security and cyber-communications needs. Costs are "more than $4 billion. Cancel order!" he wrote about Air Force One. Later in the day, the president-elect told reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York that "we want Boeing to make a lot of money, but not that much money."

Trump singled out Boeing days after Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg called on him and Congress to ensure that U.S. companies have the tools to compete in a global economy. The Chicago-based planemaker, the nation's top exporter and a major defense contractor, is under contract to build enhanced 747 jets that can transport presidents for decades.

With the new Dreamliner, Boeing faces turmoil in the widebody market that's already pressuring pricing, and that's before any collateral damage from the trade war that Trump has threatened with China. A glut of used Boeing 777 and Airbus A330 aircraft, fueled by high production rates and cheap oil, is stifling sales of new long-range jets, said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with Teal Group.

"The -9 and -10 are fine machines, but there is competition. It's aggressive too," Aboulafia said. "The twin-aisle market is glutted, pure and simple. There are a lot of programs in exactly the same position."

While the stretched version has garnered only 154 orders -- 13 percent of the Dreamliner backlog -- Sanger said he is confident that -10 sales will gain steam once airlines see the plane in action.

Early indicators are encouraging: Suppliers are keeping pace and building 787-10 components to the same quality standards as the -9, Sanger said. That's crucial if Boeing is to build its newest jet without bogging down the two other 787 models, which combined are being built at a record monthly pace.

The newest 787's weight is on target, also key if Boeing is to deliver the range and fuel-savings it has promised airlines. Workers in North Charleston are already assembling barrels for the second and third test aircraft for a plane whose range of 6,430 nautical miles will be ample to whisk travelers between between Dubai and New York.

"Performance is dead on," Sanger said. "Are we satisfied with where we are? No, but we're on a good path."

The -10 is designed to haul 330 passengers in a frame spanning 224 feet (68 meters). That's 18 feet longer than the -9, which seats 290 people in a two-cabin layout. The two models share about 95 percent of the same design-and-build processes. That means the new jet and its tooling will be familiar to mechanics in North Charleston.

As the first Boeing-designed jetliner built outside the Seattle area, the -10 is also a test of a strategy to diversify the planemaker's manufacturing base. Boeing has steadily expanded since it acquired the campus from struggling 787 suppliers in 2009, and it has room to grow.

"That's a vote of confidence that the South Carolina site has the skill, capability, the workforce, and the leadership to make that happen," said Joan Robinson-Berry, vice president and general manager of Boeing South Carolina. "They believe we're ready to do that job."

Bloomberg's Ben Brody contributed.
A new rule for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will require retailers authorized to accept food stamp benefits to offer a wider variety of healthy food. Retailers will have to stock at least seven varieties in the fruits and vegetables category, for example. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

For the foreseeable future, pizza will continue to count as a staple food item in the federal food stamp program.

In a compromise with political and business interests, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has scaled back its new rule requiring stores participating in the federal food stamp program to carry a greater number of healthy food items. Once the law goes into effect, the more than 265,000 retailers authorized to accept food stamp benefits  including many corner stores in Chicago's poorest neighborhoods  still will be required to carry a greater variety of healthy food, though not as many items as originally proposed.

Advertisement

The final rule filed Thursday by the USDA Food and Nutrition Services, the agency that manages the $74 billion Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, requires 84 food items  half of the 168-item mandate that had been proposed, though still a significant increase from the current minimum of 12.

Other provisions of the proposed rule were eliminated altogether, including one that excluded items with multiple ingredients, such as pizza or chicken pot pie, from counting as a staple food item. And another provision that would have excluded retailers from the food stamp program if they had more than 15 percent of food sales coming from food that's cooked or heated on premise was essentially scrapped and replaced with a more specific threshold intended to close a loophole in the law.

Advertisement

The final rule represents an attempt to balance the goal of increasing access to healthy food alongside concerns that small stores in low-income rural and urban areas wouldn't be able to comply, said Kevin Concannon, USDA undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services.

"These are very implementable changes that are long overdue. ... This is a way of nudging access (to healthy food) in the right direction," Concannon said in a phone interview Thursday with a handful of reporters.

Concannon called the final rule on "a step forward" that will have the most positive impact in small convenience stores in low-income communities with limited access to healthy food. More than 1.9 million people in Illinois receive SNAP benefits via Link cards, the modern version of food stamps.

The vast majority of purchases made with SNAP benefits, more than 80 percent, are made at large grocery stores and supermarkets that will have no problems with the new rule because they already comply. But many owners and operators of small stores felt that the changes initially proposed would be too onerous because of limited space and other constraints.

Currently, retailers are required to carry three varieties in each of the four staple food categories: dairy products; breads and cereals; meats, poultry and fish; and fruits and vegetables. Under the final rule, they'll have to stock at least seven. And retailers will have to stock three of each variety  instead of six as initially proposed.

After the announcement of the proposed rule in February, the National Association of Convenience Stores estimated almost 92,000 convenience stores would be unable to comply. Some business interests and politicians, including the Congressional Black Caucus, criticized the USDA for overstepping what was authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill.

More than 1,200 people, many of them opposed to the proposed changes, weighed in during the public comment period.

Collectively, the changes made in the final rule could go a long way to easing such opposition, though some still expressed lingering concerns Thursday over the new rule's attempt to stop firms legally defined as restaurants from selling hot food for SNAP benefits.

Advertisement

A new rule for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will require the retailers authorized to accept food stamp benefits to offer a wider variety of healthy food. Retailers will have to stock at least seven varieties in the fruits and vegetables category, for example. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)

Under the final rule, a retailer is ineligible to participate in SNAP "if at least 50 percent of its total gross sales come from the sale of hot and/or cold prepared foods cooked or heated by the retailer on-site, before or after purchase."

"We are encouraged by what appears to be significant progress in the final rule, although we remain concerned that (the USDA Food and Nutrition Service) is still trying to penalize retailers for sales of items to non-SNAP customers. We are going through the rule in detail to determine how it will impact convenience stores and the SNAP customers they serve," said Anna Ready, director of government relations for the National Association of Convenience Stores, in a statement Thursday.

The rule goes into effect 30 days after it's published in the federal register, which is likely to happen in the coming weeks. Retailers will then have one year to increase their depth of stock if needed.

gtrotter@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @GregTrotterTrib
The first floor of the former Water Company building at 10th and Lindsay may be put in use for the Tech Hire Program.

The program is under the auspices of The Enterprise Center.

The city has long maintained offices in the building at 1001 Lindsay across from the City Hall block.
Andrew Slavitt, second from left, the head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is seen here in a 2013 file photo when he was executive vice president for Optum/QSSI. (Alex Wong / Getty Images)

Andy Slavitt has been instrumental in building up Obamacare as the head of the federal agency that oversees Medicare and Medicaid .

Now, he faces the prospect of an incoming Donald Trump administration that may tear much of it apart. Still, he wants to give the new administration a chance to improve health care in America  and he thinks you should too.

Slavitt, acting administrator at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, sat down with the Chicago Tribune Wednesday to discuss how the new administration's plans might affect consumers, where he'd like to see health care go in the future, and what he doesn't want to see.

Advertisement

The Tribune interviewed Slavitt, who soon will be replaced by Trump's appointee, at Matter, a nonprofit health care technology incubator where he talked with entrepreneurs.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Advertisement

Q: How concerned should Americans be with Trump's plans for health care?

A: We all ought to take a little bit of a deep breath and recognize there's a difference between what you have to say on the campaign trail and what you have to do when you're actually governing and when you're elected. I think we should give the new administration every opportunity and all the information they need to come to the decisions that are best for the country.

All Americans should look at any replacement plans in the following ways: One, is it indeed (happening in a timely way) because we've had six years to put a replacement plan together. We should not be repealing anything and taking things away from people or saying we're going to take things away from people even a year or two in the future unless we've got something that's right there to replace it. Second, it's just got to meet the smell test. If it insures the same number of people or more, great. If it is as affordable for people, great. If it provides the same level of protection, great, and if it's as fiscally responsible, great.

Q: What are your thoughts about the proposal to fund Medicaid through block grants to states?

A: I think it's a really big mistake. I don't think most people understand what the Medicaid program is. Forty percent of it goes to take care of people with disabilities, people we have an obligation to care for in this county, and I don't think anyone in their right mind would dispute that. It takes care of half of the births in this country. We've brought the (rate of) uninsured children down from 15 percent in the late 1990s to 5 percent. Half of the long-term care we provide for our parents' generation  is paid for out of Medicaid. It's not an urban program. It's very rural as well. It's the most efficient health care program that we have. It provides more health care benefits for less money per capita than commercial health insurance.

What block grants will do is essentially say we're going to find ways to cut the costs of care. Where are you going to cut from? Disabled people? Kids? Seniors? We have to be careful not to go back to try to address a problem that's already been solved.

Q: What do you think of House Speaker Paul Ryan's idea for Medicare, giving seniors money to purchase private plans or use traditional Medicare?

A: You hear people talk about the day they turn 65 and they get their Medicare card as the day they breathe deeply and smile because there's a promise there that we've been able to deliver. I think we have to deliver not just to the current generation. It's got to be there for our kids, so the idea of making sure we have a fiscally sound program is vital, but what I would remind everybody is through the Affordable Care Act we have extended the Medicare trust fund by 10 years.

Advertisement

This is where places like Matter  where people are innovating to find ways to help take care of people in their homes, find simpler ways to take care of people, keep them out of institutions  those are the kinds of thing that the federal government, in my view, should be encouraging and we've been trying to encourage, rather than saying we're going to modernize Medicare when all modernization means is we're going to just play with funding formulas.

Q: You saw the American Hospital Association and Federation of American Hospitals report that said hospitals could lose $165.8 billion from 2018 to 2026 if the Affordable Care Act is repealed without being replaced. How are hospitals going to survive that and what will that mean for patients if there is a full repeal?

A: I think repeal and delay would equal repeal and chaos. We're dealing with a third of the economy and it's not just the hospitals that would be in that type of situation.

Not knowing what's going to happen in two years is incredibly challenging. I think that (uncertainty) will result in people losing coverage. It will result in costs going up. It will result in bad debt, and we'll be dealing with issues we've (already) solved. I will be the first one to support any ideas that take us forward. The ACA was intended to just be the start of things. It wasn't intended to be the ultimate answer.

lschencker@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @lschencker
When President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that Japanese corporate giant SoftBank had agreed to invest $50 billion in the U.S. and create 50,000 new jobs, he presented it as a triumph for American workers. But economists and analysts who have been scrutinizing the announcement suggest it might be a bigger win for the Japanese telecom and Internet conglomerate, SoftBank, and its billionaire founder, Masayoshi Son.

Analysts said the Japanese telecom and Internet conglomerate could be angling for lucrative benefits, including the regulatory approval to carry out one of the largest telecom mergers in recent history, between Sprint, which SoftBank owns, and rival carrier T-Mobile. It could also be cultivating a friendly environment for further technology investments Son is seeking to make in the United States.

"I think Son must have thought how to use Trump and this opportunity" for his business, said Mana Nakazora, chief credit analyst at BNP Paribas Securities.

Shares of SoftBank Group Corp rose 6.2 percent on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Wednesday to close at their highest level in more than a year. Shares of Sprint Corp rose nearly 9 percent on Wednesday, while T-Mobile's stock climbed more than 4 percent. Collectively, the companies added billions of dollars in market value after the announcement.

Trump said on Twitter on Tuesday that Son said he would not have made the investment if Trump had not won the election.

But analysts said that the $50 billion investment would likely come from a $100 billion fund created by SoftBank and the Saudi government - Son said as much to the Wall Street Journal - and that much of the fund might have been destined for the U.S. anyway.

SoftBank announced in October that it would dedicate at least $25 billion toward the $100 billion so-called SoftBank Vision Fund to invest in global technology companies in the next five years. Saudi Arabia's public investment fund pledged to invest up to $45 billion in the same time period, with the additional $30 billion coming from outside investors.

"Son must have intended as much as half of the Vision Fund to go to the U.S., as he's aware that there are great companies in Silicon Valley. But he chose this time to announce it as Trump is now going to be the next president," said Jun Tanabe, a SoftBank analyst at JP Morgan Securities in Tokyo.

"Mr. Son already created the $100 billion fund and chose to invest $50 billion into the U.S. I suspect he would have done this whether the winner was Trump or Hillary," Suzuki Kazuto, professor of international political economy at Hokkaido University, tweeted Wednesday.

A SoftBank spokesperson declined to comment whether the funds would be coming from the SoftBank Vision fund or give further information regarding the investment. Trump's spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.

Analysts suggested it would be difficult to deploy $100 billion in investment in global technology without looking largely to the U.S. and Silicon Valley. In 2015, for example, venture capitalists invested $148 billion worldwide in 8,381 deals, according to consulting firm EY. The U.S. accounted for roughly half of that investment.

"In 2016 so far, about 60 percent of all venture capital in the world has gone to the U.S.," said Jeff Grabow, U.S. venture capital leader for EY. "The U.S. would be the first place anybody would look."

Analysts said Sun may be seeking to improve the chances of a merger between SoftBank's Sprint and T-Mobile, a deal which would create a mobile carrier larger than Verizon and almost as big as AT&T. Sprint and SoftBank abandoned an effort to purchase rival telecom carrier T-Mobile in 2014 - a deal valued at roughly $32 billion - after the Federal Communications Commission signaled the deal might violate antitrust laws.

Trump will be responsible for appointing the next chairman to the FCC. Speaking from the lobby of the Trump Tower on Tuesday, Son said that he wanted to celebrate Trump's election "because he would do a lot of deregulation."

"SoftBank's original plan may come true with the new FCC chairman," Naoshi Nema, analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald, said in a note.

Analysts also speculated the deal could be an effort to smooth the way for other investments in the U.S. in the future, and specifically ward off the suspicion that sometimes surrounds foreign investment.

"It's possible that the SoftBank Vision Fund, the money coming from overseas, will start investing in American companies one after another, so there's a risk that Trump might criticize the move," said Hideaki Tanaka, senior analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co.

Instead, Son first paid his respects to Trump by showing that SoftBank would be investing in American start-ups and hiring locals, said Tanaka. "This could help SoftBank do its business in the U.S. more smoothly. It could give an impression that his company is friendly to the U.S."

In the last two months, Trump has taken an unusual new approach toward companies, negotiating with the air conditioner and furnace manufacturer Carrier to keep hundreds of jobs at an Indiana furnace factory from moving to Mexico, and singling out gear-maker Rexnord on Twitter for plans to offshore facilities. He has threatened American firms that outsource jobs with "retribution," and proposed a 35 percent tariff against U.S. firms that do so.

Some lawmakers and Trump allies have celebrated the deal with Carrier. Peter Wallison, former White House counsel under Ronald Reagan and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said there isn't enough evidence yet to say that Trump will continue to single out companies. "We haven't yet seen a real policy that would suggest to me that is the way he is going to conduct his presidency."

But others have argued that Trump's actions represent the beginning of a policy of negotiating with companies on an individual basis, which in turn will create an incentive for companies to threaten to send jobs overseas in exchange for deals at home. Indiana agreed to $7 million tax subsidies to save the Carrier jobs.

In a Washington Post op-ed last week, former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders criticized Trump for delivering Carrier tax and regulatory favors in return for keeping jobs in the state, arguing that the practice could allow companies to hold Trump "hostage."

"[H]e has signaled to every corporation in America that they can threaten to offshore jobs in exchange for business-friendly tax benefits and incentives. Even corporations that weren't thinking of offshoring jobs will most probably be re-evaluating their stance this morning," Sanders wrote.

Matthew Mitchell, a senior research fellow at the libertarian Mercatus Center, says it's unclear what direct benefits SoftBank may receive from the Trump administration, if anything. But he added that the president shouldn't be involved in the investment decisions of individual companies, because it risks making the U.S. government reliant on the support of companies to carry out its policies.

"I think we're getting into this world now where there's no longer a taboo about picking winners and losers. And to me, that's a big concern, because institutionally that's in some way what has set the U.S. apart from banana republics," he said.

Yuki Oda contributed reporting from Tokyo.
A seven-bedroom, 25,000-square-foot Lincoln Park mansion is on the market at a record asking price of $50 million. (Miller & Miller Architectural Photography)

A seven-bedroom, 25,000-square-foot Lincoln Park mansion went on the market Thursday at a record asking price of $50 million.

United Automobile Insurance Co. Chairman and CEO Richard Parrillo and his wife, Michaela, built the mansion on North Burling Street less than a decade ago after assembling seven city lots. They paid $12.5 million in 2005 to buy the land, which measures six-tenths of an acre, from the Infant Welfare Society.

Advertisement

Then, over the next several years, they erected the mansion. Now, Richard Parrillo, 78, and his wife, 58, have decided to downsize. Listing agent Tim Salm told Elite Street that the couple are "spending more time in Florida," where they have a home, and that "it's just the two of them left in the home. They're not using it."

A seven-bedroom, 25,000-square-foot Lincoln Park mansion is on the market at a record asking price of $50 million. (Chicago Tribune)

Salm told Elite Street that the Parrillos spent $65 million to build the mansion, including land costs, but are asking for $15 million less because of "the reality of the market."

Advertisement

"They're wise enough to understand that you don't get every penny you put into it," he said.

The Parrillos' asking price dwarfs not only all Chicago-area sales records and asking prices, but it also is far more than the Cook County assessor's office believes it's worth. The assessor's office believes the mansion's fair market value is just under $14 million, or less than one-third of its asking price.

A seven-bedroom, 25,000-square-foot Lincoln Park mansion is on the market at a record asking price of $50 million. (Handout)

Salm said the Parrillos "spared no expense" in the mansion, using "1-foot-thick limestone" for the exterior. He also praised the mansion's unusually large lot size, which allows for meaningful light to stream into the home's windows.

"I've never been in a house in the city like that," he said. "It's like a major estate in the city."

No Chicago-area home sales have ever cracked the $20 million barrier, much less the $30 million or $40 million thresholds. The highest-priced sale in Chicago-area history is Groupon co-founder Eric Lefkofsky 's $19.5 million purchase of a mansion in Glencoe in 2014, while the highest-priced sale ever in the city is the $18.75 million sale of a 65th-floor penthouse condo unit in the Park Tower in 2015.

A seven-bedroom, 25,000-square-foot Lincoln Park mansion is on the market at a record asking price of $50 million. (Handout)

The highest-priced sale of an actual single-family Chicago home since the housing crisis is the $13.3 million sale of the 20,000-square-foot, Palladian villa-style mansion in Lincoln Park of Tampa Bay Rays part-owner Tim Mullen and his wife, Alicia, to a trust whose beneficiary is Laurie Wilson. The highest-priced Chicago home sale of all time is J.B. Pritzker's $14.5 million purchase in 2006 of a historic Gold Coast mansion.

Meanwhile, the previous highest asking price of any residential property in the city was $32 million, which the developers of Trump Tower had sought for the full-floor, 89th-floor unit in that building. They ultimately sold it to tech company CEO Sanjay Shah for $17 million. A mansion in Winnetka also once was available for $32 million, although its owners now are seeking $12.999 million for it. Michael Jordan once sought $28 million for his 56,000-square-foot Highland Park spread, which currently is available for $14.855 million.







Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 16 (VHT Studios)

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 5 Billionaire Ken Griffin, Illinois richest man, paid $58.75 million in November for the top four floors in the Near North condominium building at 9 W. Walton St., known as No. 9 Walton. This photo shows a rendering of the lobby. (JDL Development / E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune (inset))

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 12 Built in 1953, the house does not significantly resemble how it looked when the Belushi family owned the home. The reason is that a subsequent owner added a second story in 2006 and reclad its exterior. (Noe Favela)

Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
New York and San Francisco are often cited as leading wine culture in this country, but back in the early aughts, too many wine bars were as pretentious as they were inaccessible.

In New York, wine bars were either too slick to be convivial, or too faux-rustic to take seriously. With the exception of a few spots  such as Webster's Wine Bar  Chicago, with its general affinity for bigger names and brands of wine, wasn't faring much better. In both cities, it seemed that wine was a status symbol, not a beverage for enjoyment. The bartender often knew little about the wine, sometimes serving pinot noir and merlot interchangeably (true story). Malbec that tasted of rubber and chardonnay as thick as a stick of butter made up the wine list, which touted not well-loved vineyards, but places as generic as California or Australia in their entirety  though "terroir" has always been part of the wine conversation, you wouldn't have known it from those lists.

Advertisement

And whereas one could go to any bar and order a drink without fuss, there was always too much attention paid to the ceremony of wine  lots of tasting notes and sniffing and swirling  that wouldn't happen if one ordered, say, Helles or saison beers.

With uninteresting wine lists, uneducated staff and weird vibes, wine bars of the early 2000s were decidedly not fun. People can drink wine anywhere  why go to a wine bar?

Advertisement

Thankfully, a new generation of wine bar is upon us, moving away from the pretension of the past and downplaying wine's association with luxury. Instead, these bars  drop the "wine," thank you  are cribbing notes from their craft beer and cocktail counterparts, pushing for hospitality first, wine geekery second.

Witness three Chicago bars, set to open in the next few weeks  Income Tax in Edgewater, Red & White in Bucktown and The Lunatic, The Lover & The Poet in the West Loop are channeling a passion for people-focused wine service to redefine the drinking experience.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 10 The food at Income Tax will be inspired by the same regions from which the wines are sourced. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune)

"Parts of the wine industry have become more exclusive than inclusive," says Thomas Powers, the managing partner of Lunatic, Lover & Poet (736 W. Randolph St.). "We want a place where it's not so serious  we just want to dial it down, have some fun." LLP is seeking to tap into Chicago's burgeoning wine scene by offering something different, according to Powers, with value offered upfront  of the 24 wines on tap, 10 will cost less than $10 a glass. But these aren't just run-of-the-mill wines. Powers, also LLP's sommelier, handpicked all the selections, a 50-50 spread of American and European wines.

"I'm sensitive to finding the best producers at the best price points, with an understanding about what's happening in Europe and here," says Powers. "Do I choose the lower-priced sauvignon blancs from Quincy and Touraine, or that $45 bottle of California sauvignon blanc? When I see Cal-Ital stuff (lingo for California wines made from Italian varieties), how does it compare to Chianti and Chianti Classico, which offer great value? I think about how my customer feels when they get the check."

Powers uses his vast industry experience to suss out bottles from small producers but also respected winemakers  offering a mix of approachable and geeky wines. "If guests just want to drink, they can do that. If they want an education, we're here for them. Guests should get what they want out of the experience  we don't want to dictate our interactions with them."

The same goes for Income Tax (5959 N. Broadway), an Edgewater wine project owned by Nelson Fitch, and helmed by general manager Collin Moody and chef Ryan Henderson. They'll open their project this month, with a focus on classic wines from lesser known regions, particularly from Germany, France and Italy.

Fitch, who used to work at renowned wine and spirits shop Independent Spirits  just two doors down from Income Tax  saw an opportunity to create a no-frills neighborhood spot that tapped into Edgewater's burgeoning interest in beverages. "It's a really diverse neighborhood in many ways, and we saw a range of customers at Independent Spirits," says Fitch. "People are starting to look at bringing food and wine together on the table  we sold more 'everyday' bottles than expensive ones. I saw lots of people getting excited about sherry, even Burgundy, people gravitating towards these amazing regions."

Fitch and Moody are working in tandem to source the bar's wine selections, often with an eye toward smaller producers dedicated to sustainable, organic, biodynamic or natural viticulture and production.

Advertisement

"We're not checking off boxes, like pinot noir from Sonoma, or a malbec from Argentina," says Moody.

Fitch agrees: "We're advocating for bottles and wines that we're connected to, and what they bring to a table of food and friends."

Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. >

"Our program is personality-driven," says Moody. "We seek out things we love, and where (Fitch) and I meet translates to what ends up on the menu. We like classical wines in the sense that they represent the region really well. For example, Burgundy, but a more aromatic style beyond the telltale earthiness. We'll have white Burgundy, too, but alongside chardonnay from the Jura  even reds, like poulsard, will be alongside Beaujolais. We are instilling balance to the list in a very particular way."

Similarly, Red & White in Bucktown is expanding its retail presence with a next-door wine bar (1861 N. Milwaukee Ave.), as reported in October. Described at the time by owner Nathan Adams as inspired by Parisian wine bars, the operation will offer bottles not stocked in the natural wine-focused store, and will feel more like a cafe than a bar.

These new casual wine dens do have some precedent in Chicago. They're picking up the torch from such spots as Webster's Wine Bar (now at 2601 N. Milwaukee Ave.), originally opened in 1994. It has perfected the model of this neighborhood spot, as has Rootstock (954 N. California Ave.), opened in Ukrainian Village by former employees of Webster's. "When it comes to any kind of bar, whether it's beer or wine, show that you know what you're doing," says Tom MacDonald, co-owner of Webster's. "Having a strong focus, offering something new, geeking out a little bit  it excites people."

For MacDonald, the cornerstone of his success has been his staff. "It's just fermented grape juice. They'll learn what they need to learn in time. It's more important for staff to be comfortable, for them to learn the stories behind the wines we source. Bigger names like Kendall-Jackson and Bud Light  they're fine, but there are other stories to be told, and people are curious."

Advertisement

Back at Income Tax, Moody echoes this sentiment. "So much of the concept of the bar comes from our conversations with wine on the table and in the glass. Wine can so often be about rules and 'what's right,' which comes off as exclusionary and dogmatic  at the end of the day, it is meant to be enjoyed, and that part of the conversation seems to be forgotten."

jbhernandez@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @joeybear85






Beyonce and David Draiman, lead singer of Disturbed, face off at Grammy Awards this year. (Associated Press/Chicago Tribune)

Disturbed frontman David Draiman said "something has gone wrong" with the Grammy Awards that his Chicago band is facing Beyonce in the best rock performance category.

"When did it all become 'rock'? If you look at every other genre, there are so many categories and sub-categories. For rock, this is all we've got, so everything ends up being jammed into these four categories," Draiman told Billboard magazine.

Advertisement

"Is it diverse? Absolutely. It's too diverse! When you can have, with all due respect, a Beyonce and a Disturbed in the same category, something has gone wrong. Not taking anything away from her whatsoever, we're just very different from each other."

Disturbed's March performance of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" on Conan O'Brien's show faces stiff competition from Beyonce's "Don't Hurt Yourself" with Jack White and the title track from David Bowie's final album "Blackstar." Twenty One Pilots and Alabama Shakes round out the rock performance nominees, which were announced Tuesday.

Advertisement

Disturbed, which formed in the '90s, secured its first Grammy nomination eight years ago for its single "Inside the Fire." The band lost to The Mars Volta in the best hard rock performance category.

Draiman said if the band is going to lose to someone this year, "I'd love for it to be Bowie. The nice thing about Bowie is that he's been nominated in five categories, so he can give us this one! It's a pipe dream, dude, but even pipe dreams are worth smoking."

The Grammy Awards is scheduled to air live 7 p.m. Feb. 12 on CBS. James Corden is set to host the event, which will take place at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

RELATED STORIES:

The snubs, surprises and oddities among this year's Grammy nominations

Grammy nominations 2017: Chance the Rapper, Beyonce lead the way

Disturbed frontman recalls auditioning for Chicago band 20 years ago







Watch the latest movie trailers.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 126 Woody introduces the gang to a homemade spork toy with self-esteem issues in "Toy Story 4." Read the review. (Pixar / AP)
Two years ago the writer-director Damien Chazelle, who grew up in Princeton, N.J., visited Chicago promoting his second feature film, "Whiplash."

He came alone. No publicist, no handler. We ate egg sandwiches at the Billy Goat, across the street from the Tribune, and in the back room, away from the tourists and the griddle, we talked about musicals, documentaries, jazz, a bit about his brief 2010 marriage (on the outs by then) to producer and filmmaker Jasmine McGlade, who worked with Chazelle on his first film, a Harvard University thesis project.

Advertisement

Shot for around $100,000, not counting postproduction musical recording costs, that inaugural effort was a melancholy 16 millimeter black-and-white musical romance titled "Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench," its characters' names borrowed from one of Chazelle's favorite musicals, the Jacques Demy classic "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg."

Now he's made his second musical, and the people who like it really, really, really like it. A lot. "La La Land" opens this week in New York and LA, and Dec. 16 in Chicago and other markets. It's terrific. From the Venice Film Festival, Daily Telegraph critic Robbie Collin tweeted: "I'm honestly crying with happiness. That film no one makes any more? Damien Chazelle just made it."

Advertisement

Already "La La Land" has taken top prize at the Toronto International Film Festival, and was awarded best film of 2016 by the New York Film Critics Circle. It got runner-up from the LA critics, just behind its primary Academy Awards competition, "Moonlight," which is gorgeous and heartfelt in different ways.

MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR

A few weeks ago Chazelle returned to Chicago, when "La La Land" opened the Chicago International Film Festival not long after its triumphs at Venice, Telluride and Toronto. He made his movie for around $30 million, shooting on film, in CinemaScope, using as many real LA locations as possible. The idea, though, he told me over breakfast a few blocks north of the Goat at Pierrot Gourmet, was to light the locales "to make them look as fake as possible."

Take "A Lovely Night," for example, one of six songs co-written by composer Justin Hurwitz and lyricists Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. It's a key number for Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, a push/pull tap duet with vocals, staged on a Griffith Park overlook at dusk. Chazelle shot it in long, full, complex takes over two successive evenings. Cinematographer Linus Sandgren lit it to evoke a soundstage interior, in the vein of "Just in Time" from director Vincente Minnelli's "Bells Are Ringing" or, citing one of the film's many lovely visual reference points, the Fred Astaire/Cyd Charisse "Dancing in the Dark" duet from Minnelli's "The Band Wagon."

Also: They faked a lot of lampposts. Chazelle told me he and the designers fell in love with a certain set of old-timey streetlights, so they kept dragging them along on the shoot, reusing them in different locales (a Pacific Ocean pier, various street scenes) where they didn't actually reside in life. Why not? It's a movie, and it's a musical, so you're already in the realm of magical realism.

"We had no luck getting this off the ground before 'Whiplash,'" Chazelle told me. "We had more money this time, but we had to be thrifty and resourceful. It was my first 'big' movie, but we had to treat it like a small movie. For the best, I think."

As with "Guy and Madeline," he deliberately set up a clash of styles and intentions within his movie. "When I was doing 'Guy and Madeline' I was making documentaries, and 'La La Land' is different. But we were shooting as much as possible in real locations, and trying to embrace the spectacle of the musical form but also to fight it at every instance with emotional realism. We wanted to ground it, even puncture it sometimes, so it wouldn't just float away like a balloon."

Practically speaking, he says, that led to a lengthy preproduction period full of U-turns and revisions and costly second thoughts about the validity of some sequences, ultimately scrapped prior to filming.

Advertisement

Once Stone and Gosling joined the project, "we had a lot of conversations about not letting the musical-ness of it infect the acting," he said." Often Gosling and Stone would improvise a scene, and Chazelle would use that improv to rewrite on the fly.

"Sometimes," he said, "it meant reconceiving the characters, or throwing out musical numbers that had already been designed and preplanned. There used to be a big number where Ryan and Emma now reprise 'City of Stars' at the piano; it was a big song and dance, with a different song. It made sense in the original draft, but we started working on the script and the characters changed, and the song ended up not making sense. But by that point locations had been scouted, music had been orchestrated.  In the thick of it, I thought: 'This is why you don't do this. This is why there are movies where everything has to be pre-designed, and these are not actor-centric movies, because they can't be.' And then there are movies where it starts with the actors and grows from there. The difficulty with 'La La Land' was balancing the two (approaches), and trying not to let it combust."

Then, as with most film musicals, Chazelle and company realized they couldn't keep everything they ended up shooting. "The number with Mia and her roommates, 'Someone in the Crowd'  that used to be twice as long," he said with a pained smile. An early edit of the picture opened with a Hurwitz overture and no traffic jam production number; now, as those who've seen "La La Land" can tell you, the movie opens with the traffic jam number, "Another Day of Sun," and it's so astonishingly, fantastically great that it's hard to believe it was ever questioned.

"But there's no number that didn't get cut at some point in the edit," Chazelle says. "Which is good. You want to make sure each one deserves to be there."

He's happy in his personal life (significant other: actress Olivia Hamilton, with whom he has been photographed on a red carpet or two, and who plays "gluten free girl" in one of Emma Stone's barista scenes in "La La Land"). Chazelle remains on good terms with his ex. Now he wants to make different kinds of movies, the way Howard Hawks, one of his protean Hollywood idols, would travel between genres without sacrificing his instincts.

Will audiences embrace "La La Land," with its terrifying lack of brand awareness (it's not based on a Broadway show) and its utter lack of cynicism? We'll see. Back in 2011 I wrote of "Guy and Madeline": "Marvelous  here is a director in love with the musical form, in love with jazz, in love with what a camera can do on the move." Now 31, Chazelle has directed his third excellent movie in a row. And that really is something.

Advertisement

Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.

Movies on the radio: Phillips and film historian Desiree Garcia, who played Madeline in Damien Chazelle's "Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench," join "Filmspotting" host Adam Kempenaar for a "La La Land" show including their favorite musical numbers in movie history. Listen midnight Friday and Saturday on WBEZ-FM 91.5; the podcast edition is available at www.filmspotting.net.

mjphillips@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @phillipstribune

RELATED STORIES

Ryan Gosling sings, dances, reads in margins of Gene Kelly's annotated scripts

Advertisement

Venice audiences enchanted by 'La La Land'

'La La Land' leads the pack with 12 nominations for Critics' Choice Awards







Watch the latest movie trailers.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 126 Woody introduces the gang to a homemade spork toy with self-esteem issues in "Toy Story 4." Read the review. (Pixar / AP)
Theater long has been a safe space for those who, in the immortal words of Jerry Herman, see life from a different angle. And Christopher, the hero of the beautiful Broadway play "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time," certainly belongs in that category. He's an unusual teenager whose condition never is precisely defined. He's a kid who struggles with what most of the world finds easy and excels at what most of the world finds hard. But the story of a braver soul never was told.

A sly reference to the musings of Sherlock Holmes and a mystery that leads inextricably to the future of the protagonist, "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" is the title of a 2003 novel by Mark Haddon. You may have a copy somewhere, especially if you have youngsters, for this was a very widely read best-seller, successfully marketed to both kids and adults. The same could be said of the stage version of the odyssey through life of a boy from Wiltshire, which was dramatized by the British playwright Simon Stephens and first met an audience in 2012 at the Royal National Theatre in London before enjoying great commercial success on Broadway.

Advertisement

This production is the work of a very gifted director named Marianne Elliott, who also created the first production of "War Horse," with which this show shares an emotional vocabulary and a pervasive sense of human triumph in the face of adversity. As was the case with "War Horse," "Curious Incident" has held its own against big Broadway musicals, even competing with them successfully on the canvas of heightened engagement. If planning a family outing, don't be put off that no one sings.

The heart does.

Advertisement

This is the first chance to see this justly lauded original staging in Chicago and, aside from some scenic compromises when the hero heads down into the London Underground, this new touring Equity company is offering the full monty. Still, even though Christopher's psyche is drawn by the designer Bunny Christie on a huge digitized set, the Oriental Theatre is larger than would be ideal for a play with just a dozen or so actors. With "Hamilton" likely occupying its play-friendlier space on Monroe Street for years, Chicago's ongoing need for a 1,000-seat, intimate, fully equipped road house flashed into my head several times on Wednesday night. For the closer you are to Christopher, the better.

Anyone who saw this truly remarkable show on Broadway (including me) also has to get past missing Alex Sharp, the original Broadway star and a hugely gifted actor of palpable vulnerability. On this tour, the tough central role is shared by Adam Langdon and Benjamin Wheelwright. I saw Langdon on Wednesday night, and his energetic and unstinting performance is rich, brave and fully committed to his guy. It is not, however, quite as easy to find a way into Christopher.

What makes us care in the theater is a tricky business.

That said, I think Langdon's character  a boy who cannot vary his own makeup however much he tries  is fully justified by the material. This is a performance of great honesty. Actually, you could well argue that what I was missing actually was the element of contrivance on which so much theater depends. I confess to that. And miss it still. But if Langdon (or Wheelwright) are your first Christophers, they will become him for you.

I'd say much the same of one other crucial performance in the play, Gene Gillette, who plays the boy's father. It's a darker take on the part  the guy is more closed off to the world around him, as so many guys find themselves becoming. It's fair enough but the same dynamic ensues.

Enough of all that. I still consider this production a distinguished piece of international work and, thanks I think to Stephens' own background as a teacher, a piece that functions as a tool to help anyone and everyone better understand those different from themselves. No better moment for that.

Christopher is far braver than the often dysfunctional adults whose world he is forced to circumnavigate, adults who are constantly running in fear from their own minor issues, even though Stephens makes it very clear they truly are trying their best. They're just not kids anymore. And they have stuff.

In the central character whose journey to the core of his family we all watch, you get a jolt of future hope, really. Here is a guy who figures out what he can do, sets about doing it to the best of his abilities and leaves us no doubt that he thus will lead a life of distinction.

Advertisement

Especially if everyone else gets out of his way.

Your kids will buy that. You likely will, too. It's probably the situation at your workplace. So Detective Christopher is a fine guide at a time of year when we're most likely to think about these matters. When else?

By the way: Don't leave before the bows. Christopher has more to do.

Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.

cjones5@chicagotribune.com

Twitter@ChrisJonesTrib

Advertisement

REVIEW: "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" (3.5 STARS)



When: Through Dec. 24

Where: Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St.

Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes

Tickets: $25-$98 at 800-775-2000 or www.broadwayinchicago.com
Education Commissioner Candice McQueen released details Wednesday about how Tennessee is planning to transition to the new federal K-12 education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act. Specifically, the department has published new materials that outline five opportunities and proposed strategies for how Tennessees education system under ESSA will increase equity, share more information with communities, and better support a well-rounded education that prepares all students to be successful after high school.



"Across the country, states are working with their education communities to prepare plans that outline what their policies will look like under ESSA, which replaces No Child Left Behind. In May," officials said.

Comm. McQueen launched a statewide listening tour that gathered input from more than 2,500 Tennesseans to inform the draft ESSA transition plan, which will be out later this month. Ahead of its release, as the department looks toward finalizing the plan next spring, Comm. McQueen has launched a series of town hall discussions beginning this week to share some of the takeaways from the process so far and gather additional feedback in key areas.



ESSA has provided an opportunity to continue the conversation about how we can build on our successes in Tennessee and leverage ESSAs state-centered focus to determine what we want our education policies to be, Comm. McQueen said. Across the state, our educators, parents, and advocates believe we are on the right track, and they want to help us go further in areas like better supporting our historically disadvantaged students, providing more access to early postsecondary opportunities like dual credit and AP classes, and increasing the focus on supporting our whole child. We are taking key steps to do just that.



Last fall, Comm. McQueen released the states strategic plan, called Tennessee Succeeds, which outlined the five-year vision of education in our state. The ESSA state plan will align to Tennessee Succeeds and expand on five specific opportunities, which are outlined in more detail on the departments website today:



1. Set high expectations that align to postsecondary and workforce readiness so all of Tennessees students are able to pursue their chosen path in life.



2. Attend to the needs of all students in pre-K-12especially historically disadvantaged studentsso they can experience success after high school.



3. Provide support, funding, intervention, and innovation for persistently low-performing schools.



4. Focus on strengthening and supporting educators.



5. Empower districts to drive toward student goals.



At the town halls, Comm. McQueen and department leaders will share more details about the policies within each opportunity and ask attendees a series of questions, which are also posted on the departments website Wednesday for the public to read and respond. The questions will be posted through January. In addition, the department will also gather public comments on the draft ESSA state plan once it is released.



Dates and locations for the regional town halls are posted on the departments website, and anyone is welcome to attend. To view the new documents, questions, and other ESSA-related materials, visit tn.gov/education/essa.
Divorce filings jump by nearly one-third following the holidays, according to a recent survey by the law firm Irwin Mitchell Solicitors. (praetorianphoto / E+)

The Christmas season isn't always the happiest time of the year for couples, according to a recent survey by the law firm Irwin Mitchell Solicitors, which found that divorce filings jump by nearly one-third following the holidays.

First comes Thanksgiving, followed by Christmas and New Year's. And then there's Divorce Day: the Monday after Christmas break, when the flood of divorce emails clogs attorney inboxes, said James McLaren, partner with McLaren & Lee, in South Carolina, and former president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

Advertisement

"It always happens the first Monday that we're back in the office, back after the holiday," McLaren said.

Over at the U.K. law firm Slater and Gordon, they're already preparing to deal with the influx of divorce requests.

Advertisement

They normally experience double the number of inquiries the first few days of the new year, but some years, they've seen a threefold increase. It's most acute over the first few days of January, but the spike remains high throughout the entire month, said Amanda McAlister, head of family law at the firm.

It's become such a significant time to divorce that the firm recently studied the reasons behind the trend.

Forty percent of married couples had problems in 2014, with 10 percent having severe issues, according to the study, which polled married Brits right before Christmas.

Twenty-five percent said the holiday break could possibly make or break their marriage, according to the survey, and 10 percent said they were definitely going to decide whether to go forward with their marriage depending on how well the holiday went.

The ways they were planning on rekindling the flame: expensive gifts, cozy nights at home and date nights sans kids.

Even if a struggling couple are putting the entire fate of their relationship on the holiday break, this time of year could be stressful for even happy couples  landing them, too, on the list of people in line on Divorce Day, McAlister said.

"There's also a lot of pressure on families over the festive season to ensure that the day is perfect, so when reality falls short of expectations, it can be very difficult," she said.

If Christmas isn't as #blessed as desired, some couples re-examine their relationships on New Year's, when they decide whether they want to start the year fresh. And that clean slate may not include their plus-one.

Advertisement

"People take stock of their life at the new year, and it's tempting to make one of their New Year's resolutions include getting rid of their spouse, if they have been miserable in their marriage," said Carole Lieberman, a Beverly Hills psychiatrist and relationship expert.

Lieberman said that, rather than running to a lawyer, they should realize that most of these feelings are temporary. Holidays can strain any relationship, but good communication skills coupled with a marriage therapist can help, she said.

It was too late for Cathy Meyer, a certified divorce expert and founder of Divorced Moms, whose ex-husband left her somewhat unexpectedly Jan. 10.

He decided on that date because he wanted to give their children one more intact Thanksgiving and Christmas as a family, Meyer said.

"He had never been one to concern himself with holiday festivities, but that year, he was all about Christmas," she said. "I remember thinking that the change was a positive indication that he had become more invested in the family."

But shortly afterward, he left home, and two days later, he filed for divorce.

Advertisement

While emotions typically play the biggest role in the filing time, some people decide to divorce right after Christmas because of financial incentives, McLaren said.

Since many pre- and post-nuptial agreements have trigger dates of three, five or 10 years, some people will look at their calendar and make the conscious decision to get divorced just before the new year because they don't want alimony to go to the next level, McLaren said.

Others think about their taxes.

"You don't want to be married filing separate Dec. 31 because it's a monetary penalty to file separately if you're still married," McLaren said.

But while you will save money and have a clean break from that person who drove you crazy over the stressful holidays, McLaren advised couples to really think hard before filing on Divorce Day.

"When you pull the trigger and get divorced, you as a family will no longer exist," McLaren said. "Marriage is an 80 percent game, and no one is 100 percent satisfied with their marriage."

Advertisement

Danielle Braff is a freelancer.

RELATED STORIES:

Divorce, and moving from a big house to a tiny apartment

Divorces of rich raise eyebrows, but new laws affect those of more modest means

Divorce in U.S. plunges to 35-year low






When you're getting married, you usually have months to plan, along with a partner and plenty of wedding magazines to help.

But divorce is a lonely place, with room for one plus an attorney who charges per minute. So we rounded up divorce advice from real people who have been there, done that  and made it through to the other side, better than ever.

Advertisement

Here's some advice that your lawyer may not have told you.

Document everything: If you need to go to court to seek out any damages or restitution, it's essential to provide backup to support the case, said Sheri Silver, a New York-based blogger. Silver suggested saving all emails and saving all bills. "It couldn't be easier these days to keep a file on your computer that is designated for this, and the earlier you get into the habit of doing it, the better off you'll be in the event that you have to produce any evidence of some kind," Silver said.

Advertisement

Get financial disclosures: You'll need this as early as possible to make the divorce go quickly and smoothly, Silver said. While you may be tempted to do this yourself, hand control of it over to your lawyer because it removes you from the stress and trauma of the proceedings, Silver said. "Doing it yourself is not always productive," she said.

Find a therapist: "The most important lesson I learned from going through my divorce is that divorce is 45 percent emotions, 45 percent numbers and 10 percent legal," said Sandy Arons, founder of Arons & Associates, a Tennessee-based company that helps clients get financially smart divorces. "My therapist was essential to manage the emotional roller coaster." While friends and family were helpful, Arons said that having an objective third person provided clarity.

Give a price to everything: Since divorce is a numbers game, Arons spent time figuring out the value of her house, the Blue Book value for the cars, the amount of mortgage left on her home, the bank accounts, the amount left in their retirement accounts and student loans, and more. "Gathering these numbers for all your assets and debts is necessary, so your attorney can give you meaningful legal advice," Arons said. And since she did her own research and gathering, she avoided the very expensive formal discovery process, felt more confident and was able to have productive and efficient conversations with her attorney.

Think before getting an attorney: There are some divorces that aren't going to end up in litigation, said Liza Feiler, founder of Divorce Concierge Group, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that helps newly divorced people navigate their way to independence. "When you're finding an attorney, you need to figure out early on if you're going to end up litigating, and if you are, you need to find an attorney who has a fantastic reputation winning their cases in litigation, which is different than doing something that's more cut and dry," Feiler said. "So first, you really need to figure out how this all is going to play out."

Don't make a rash decision: It's important not to make decisions based on emotions, said Jackie Pilossoph, creator of Divorced Girl Smiling, a divorce support website, and a freelance columnist for Chicago Tribune Media Group. "When you make an impulsive decision, you suffer the consequences of saying or doing something you might not have done had you given it more thought," said Pilossoph, who writes the weekly advice and dating column "Love Essentially." The consequences could play out in the courtroom if you send an email in the heat of the moment and your soon-to-be-ex-spouse forwards the angry email to his or her lawyer who routes it to the judge, who decides that you're unfit to parent your children. Instead of making that impulsive decision, Pilossoph suggested venting to friends or family, exercising, meditating or journaling.

Understand the fine print: "When I got divorced, I did not know what I was doing legally because I had never heard any of the terms. I trusted my attorney and did what he said instead of empowering myself, learning the terminology and making a decision based on his advice and my own knowledge," Pilossoph said. The result: You could sign something unknowingly that could make your soon-to-be-ex-spouse upset, which could make the divorce more unpleasant than it needs to be, she said. Your divorce attorney is trying to get you the best outcome but doesn't necessarily know the private agreements made between you. "I have a master's degree, but I don't have an understanding of the law," Pilossoph said, suggesting that you ask your attorney plenty of questions before signing anything. Ask him what everything means in common terms and what it will mean for you.

Engage in good coping mechanisms: When you go through a divorce, you aren't you. "You're a different personality: emotional, frightened, depressed, short-tempered," Pilossoph said. While a glass or five of wine may look tempting at this time, you should avoid alcohol until you go back to being you, because you need to stay away from this and other things that could add to your depression, Pilossoph said, adding that when people are going through a divorce, they're vulnerable to addiction. Better coping mechanisms would include therapy, exercise, a new hobby or anything that would benefit you in a positive way. Avoid jumping into a new relationship right away, drugs, alcohol and giving up on life, Pilossoph said.

Hold it in: As much as you're hurting, your kids are hurting just as much or worse, Pilossoph said. "They shouldn't be your therapist," she said. "Talk about it in front of your girlfriend, not in front of your kids."

Advertisement

Stay on speaking terms: When you have children, you still need to have a partnership with your spouse; it just needs to be a different type of relationship, Feiler said. "You have to figure out how to communicate and have a working relationship," she said.

Outsource: There are businesses out there that make the transition smoother  beyond your attorney  that help you figure out what steps to take, said Feiler, who started one of these companies herself after her own divorce. "I realized how much in need I was, and I didn't want people to feel as lost as I was," she said. If your spouse was the person who handled the bills, the paperwork and the organizing of your daily schedule, then find an assistant or even a local college student who can help with this to make the transition smoother until you get back on your feet, Feiler said.

Her company, Divorce Concierge Group, helps with everything from finding health insurance to selecting a real estate agent, an accountant, a new school for the kids and more. "When I created this four years ago, there was nothing like this out there, but in the last four to five years, they've become a little more available," Feiler said. You can see if there's one in your area simply by Googling your state and "divorce concierge" or asking your attorney if he or she knows of anyone who can help.

Danielle Braff is a freelancer.

RELATED STORIES:

After the holidays, Divorce Day looms

How to tackle finances during divorce

Advertisement

Divorce, and moving from a big house to a tiny apartment
Women and Children First bookstore co-owners Sarah Hollenbeck, left, and Lynn Mooney, right, hosted writer Ann Patchett for an in-store event in October, shortly after her latest novel, "Commonwealth," was published. (Jamie Thomas)

Women & Children First  Andersonville's little bookstore that could (and does)  got an early holiday gift this week when author Ann Patchett included it in a list of her favorite bookstores around the country.

Patchett, the genius behind such gems as "Truth and Beauty," "Bel Canto" and, most recently, "Commonwealth," is also the co-owner of Parnassus Books, an independent shop in Nashville.

Advertisement

"She knows the front end and the back end of getting a book out into the world," said Sarah Hollenbeck, co-owner of Women & Children First. "I consider her a hero, both for her writing and her contributions to indie book selling."

(Hollenbeck and Lynn Mooney took over Women & Children First, known for its delightful selection of books for children and adults and a substantial inventory of lesbian and gay fiction and nonfiction, in 2014.)

Advertisement

Patchett stopped by the North Side shop in October for an event promoting "Commonwealth" and fell immediately under its spell. She was particularly fond of the children's section, Hollenbeck recalled.

So, when she crafted a travel guide for book lovers for The New York Times this week, she gave a shoutout to Women & Children First.

"Before we opened Parnassus, I made a fact-finding tour of American bookstores," Patchett writes. "The best advice I got was this: If you want customers, you have to raise them yourself. That means a strong children's section."

Children's books, Patchett writes, are the foundation of book selling  "the rock on which the church is built."

"There are some knockout stores that sell nothing but children's books, including the Curious George Store in Cambridge, Mass., Wild Rumpus in Minneapolis, Books of Wonder in New York, and Tree House Books in Ashland, Ore.," she writes, "as well as loads of general interest stores that do a particularly great job with their children's section, like Women & Children First in Chicago and Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn."

"It's a very short shoutout," Hollenbeck told me Thursday. "But customers have been congratulating us. When I first saw the article, because we had such an amazing interaction together in October, it just felt like a nice thing a friend said about your store. Then I thought, 'Oh! This is The New York Times; that's huge!' It was a two-part reaction."

I have loved Patchett ever since reading "Truth and Beauty," the 2004 memoir about her friendship with Lucy Grealy, whom she met in college in the '80s. I read Grealy's "Autobiography of a Face" when I was in high school, and I felt an immediate kinship with both women after learning the intimacies and complexities of their bond.

And I have a soft spot for neighborhood bookstores. (So much so that I made my kids, 7 and 11, watch "You've Got Mail" over Thanksgiving break, hoping it would join "Elf" and "Family Man" on our list of annual holiday movies. They were mostly fascinated by how long it used to take to get online.)

Advertisement

Chicago is home to some beauties. I can easily spend a full day in Lincoln Square's Book Cellar or Logan Square's City Lit, and Women & Children First does a phenomenal job attracting and booking talent big and small.

To see the pairing of the two  Patchett's words and Women & Children's space  warmed my soul on an otherwise frosty day and made me grateful to have both at my fingertips.

"It opened my eyes to the fact that I need to take a road trip," Hollenbeck said. "I've heard of most of the bookstores she mentioned, but I really need to take some time off and take a bookstore tour."

That too.

hstevens@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @heidistevens13

Advertisement

RELATED STORIES:

Ann Patchett's 'Commonwealth' contemplates how childhood affects us

Parents of tweens, teens spend 9(!) hours a day staring at screens

Chicagoland best-sellers list






Paul Sanders, left, facilities manager at Union Station, and Marc Magliari, an Amtrak representative, in the former Women's Lounge at Union Station. The lounge has been renovated and is now the Burlington Room. (Chris Walker / Chicago Tribune)

Even without the global spotlight that accompanied last year's first edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, 2016 was rousing year for the art of architecture in Chicago. Among the highlights: Distinguished public spaces, historic preservation victories and exceptional designs that rose above the norm of a mostly-mediocre building boom.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 18 Patrons enjoy the outdoors at City Winery near State Street along the Riverwalk on Sept. 17, 2015. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune)

Riverfront revival: The final stage of Chicago's downtown Riverwalk realized urban planners' dream of a continuous pedestrian and bike path that would extend more than a mile from Lake Michigan to the confluence of the Chicago River's branches at Lake Street.

Advertisement

While the westernmost portion of the last stage looks disappointingly temporary, it likely will be upgraded in the future. The entire project is a sophisticated public space and a major civic achievement, transforming moribund industrial-era docks into a teeming post-industrial amenity. The designers are Chicago's Ross Barney Architects and Sasaki Associates of Watertown, Mass.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 19 Young people enjoy the warm weather during a school outing May 24, 2016, at Navy Pier in Chicago. (Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune)

Less is more at Navy Pier: As it celebrated its centennial, the pier took essential steps toward dialing down the carnivalesque commercialism that alienated many Chicagoans and gave it a hard-to-shed reputation as a tacky tourist trap.

Advertisement

A redesign led by Field Operations of New York ditched the pier's outdated "festival marketplace" look for a cleaner, less cluttered aesthetic that added greenery and a lively interactive fountain in the renamed Polk Bros. Park. While the pier's new Ferris wheel is so-so compared with the iconic London Eye, the project as a whole sets the pier on the right course for anticipated improvements.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 21 Commuters fill one of the platforms as they enter the south concourse at Union Station. (Michael Tercha, Chicago Tribune)

Back on track: Union Station, the nation's third-busiest rail hub, took two small steps to revive its historic luster and become less of a rat maze for commuters.

The first restored majestic flights of stairs within the station; one of them appeared in the 1987 film "The Untouchables." The second revived the station's former Women's Lounge, a richly decorated, high-ceilinged room that is now an events space. Credit for both projects goes to Chicago's Goettsch Partners. Yet much more needs to be done to better the passenger experience.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 5 This is the south view of the new Jeanne Gang-designed City Hyde Park tower at 1501 E. Hyde Park Blvd. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)

Building-boom bright spots: Chicago's high-rise apartment building boom has been long on construction and short on quality design. Two exceptions appeared in Hyde Park: a 14-story apartment high-rise called City Hyde Park and a four-building University of Chicago complex called Campus North Residential Commons. Both, by Studio Gang Architects, were creative essays in sculpted concrete.

Another Hyde Park exercise in squeezing maximum architecture from a minimal budget: Valerio Dewalt Train's Vue53, a 13-story apartment complex that resembles a Jenga game in mid-stream.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 14 Local residents James and Rochelle Anderson are trying the new 35th Street pedestrian and bike bridge over Lake Shore Drive and the Metra tracks in Chicago on on Nov. 10, 2016. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)

Better late than never: The blessings of good design arrived, albeit belatedly, in underserved neighborhoods that have long needed them. The prime example, a curving suspension bridge that crosses Lake Shore Drive and Metra commuter railroad tracks at 35th Street, provided greatly improved access to the lakefront from the mid-South Side and the nearby Ellis Park Field House by Booth Hansen architects. The bridge is by the Chicago office of exp.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 11 Visitors to the 22nd floor rooftop terrace of the LondonHouse hotel take in the stunning views of the Chicago River and the skyline on May 24, 2016. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)

Making the past a part of the future: Chicago's hotel boom has been a boon for historic preservation. Examples of this welcome trend include the transformation of the former London Guarantee & Accident Building, a neo-classical landmark at Wacker Drive and Michigan Avenue, into LondonHouse; the reopening of William Le Baron Jenney's New York Life Building at LaSalle and Monroe streets as The Gray Hotel; and the revival of the Northwest Tower at Milwaukee, North and Damen avenues as The Robey.

The architects for these praiseworthy projects were Goettsch Partners (LondonHouse); Gensler (The Gray Hotel) and Antunovich Associates (The Robey). Interior design firms also contributed to these transformations.

Advertisement

Seen from the east, Studio Gang's Writers' Theatre building will be a glowing magnet on uptown Glencoe's north side. The second-floor superstructure is made of wood, though the artist's conception may make it appear metallic. (Studio Gang Architects rendering)

Suburban standout: Studio Gang's Writers Theatre brought a fresh jolt of modernity to the North Shore suburb of Glencoe, already home to a cluster of houses by Frank Lloyd Wright. Featuring a wood-framed atrium ringed by an outdoor, up-in-the-trees walkway, as well as a spatially dramatic interior, the theater won awards in three categories  distinguished building, interior architecture and divine detail  in the annual awards program of the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 15 A draft rendering of the Lucas Museum on McCormick Place's Lakeside Center site near Chicago's lakefront. (Lucas Museum of Narrative Art)

Small groups, big impact: Chicago's nonprofit groups often play a vital role in championing the good and opposing the bad.

In this year's most prominent example, Friends of the Parks successfully fought off a proposal by "Star Wars" creator George Lucas to build a narrative art museum on lakefront land offered to the movie mogul by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The group used a legal challenge to blunt this land grab, arguing that the deal would effectively convey public space to the privately-owned museum. In June, facing delays in court, Lucas announced he was pulling the plug on Chicago. He now plans to build the museum in Los Angeles or San Francisco.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 12 Architect Bertrand Goldberg (left) with the Marina City model, circa 1960. (Hedrich Blessing Archive)

Marina City protected: Best known for its iconic, corncob-shaped towers, the riverfront complex by architect Bertrand Goldberg finally achieved official city landmark status. This long-overdue recognition, spearheaded by Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, will protect the complex from insensitive alterations that would chip away at the sculpted beauty of its curving concrete. The move marked a rare triumph for preservationists who have failed to stop the demolition of mid-century modernist buildings around the country, including Goldberg's former Prentice Women's Hospital in Chicago.

Tree leaves shade the Ragdale Ring on the Ragdale Foundation campus Thursday, June 23, 2016, in Lake Forest. The temporary art piece and venue will hold one performance each in June, July and August. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

Out of the cocoon: The cultivation of young talent is essential to the continued flourishing of architecture. It happened this year when Greg Corso and Molly Hunker, architecture professors at Syracuse University who formerly taught at the University of Illinois at Chicago, won the fourth annual "Ragdale Ring" competition. Their winning design, called "Rounds," was built at the Ragdale Foundation, the home for visiting artists set on the former country estate of early 20th century Chicago architect Howard Van Doren Shaw. "Rounds" combined architecture, landscape architecture, and sculpture to form a charming open air theater that resembled an inchworm that had grown exponentially in size.

Sidney Epstein, shown in 2006, was the former chairman of the Chicago engineering firm A. Epstein and Sons International, whose Chicago-area projects include everything from runways at O'Hare International Airport to the expansion of the McCormick Place convention center. Epstein died Feb. 3, 2016, in Miami after a stroke. He was 92. Read more. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune)

Fond farewells: We lost Sidney Epstein, who helped grow the Chicago engineering firm started by his Russian immigrant father into a global design player; Gertrude Kerbis, who blazed a trail for women as an architect and developer; and London architect Zaha Hadid, the first woman to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Hadid's death, at age 65, cut short the career of an extraordinary talent, a visionary who explored new aesthetic frontiers with her swooping, sculpted, spatially dramatic designs.

Advertisement

Blair Kamin is a Tribune critic.

bkamin@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @BlairKamin
Edgar Maddison Welch, 28 of Salisbury, N.C., surrenders to police Dec. 4, 2016, in Washington. Welch, who said he was investigating a conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton running a child sex ring out of a pizza place, fired an assault rifle inside the restaurant, injuring no one, police and news reports said. (AP)

Say goodbye, maybe shed a tear for the "yes, but" style of political discourse that once was heard in barroom arguments and candidates' forums. The presidential election of 2016 witnessed its death rattle.

One debater used to say to another: "Do I acknowledge the facts you've stated? Yes, but I ask you to consider these as well."

Advertisement

Most of us shared an assumption that facts had a life of their own, independent of our wishes and dreams. We couldn't call them into existence or stamp them out.

How antique that sounds after a bitter campaign during which partisans simply made up "facts" to support their political position.

Advertisement

That mind-over-matter vision almost resulted in a tragedy Sunday. Edgar Maddison Welch fired shots from a military-style rifle in Comet Ping Pong, a popular Washington, D.C., restaurant. Fortunately, no one was hit.

Welch, an actor and production assistant on movies, told police he had come there to "self investigate" an internet post claiming that Hillary Clinton and Democratic Party officials used the restaurant as a front for a sex-trafficking operation. Phone orders supposedly for pizzas were really coded orders for underage children, he had read.

The theory was widely shared on the eve of the election, despite being highly improbable. Why wouldn't Clinton and her co-conspirators harbor their energies for the campaign?

Sadly, logic and common sense have less force in this Brave New World of conspiracy-theory politics. Welch told police he didn't find any children held hostage there. But even after his arrest, true believers continue to insist that "Pizzagate," as the alleged conspiracy has been dubbed, hasn't been disproved. They remain convinced that if an idea is in cyberspace, there must be something to it.

Sadly, for many Americans the internet has become the arbiter of political disputes. They no longer look to newspapers for guidance in distinguishing fact from fiction.

A reader provided me with an example of that thinking when I wrote a Thanksgiving column. He chided me for not reporting that the Pilgrims were socialists, an idea I traced to the internet.

There, several commentators concluded the Pilgrims were socialists because the land of their Massachusetts colony wasn't divided into individual plots but cultivated communally, like the collective farms of the Soviet Union. In fact, the inspiration for not dividing the land was inspired by a capitalist idea  not proto-Bolshevik ideology.

The London financiers who bankrolled the Mayflower's voyage insisted that the land was theirs  and thus not the Pilgrims to divide  until their investment in the project had been redeemed.

Advertisement

When I explained that to the reader in an email, he responded that no free society has had to build a wall to keep its citizens in. Presumably he was implicitly contrasting that with the Soviets' Berlin Wall.

What does that have to do with the Pilgrims' land holding practice? He didn't feel it necessary to respond to my explanation.

For him, apparently, if the Pilgrims were socialists on the internet, they must have been socialists at Plymouth Rock in 1620.

The current fad of seeing truth as whatever we want it to be was anticipated by Pontius Pilate, the Roman official who sentenced Jesus to death. Jesus said: "I was born and have come into the world to testify to the truth." Pilate responded: "What is truth?"

That attitude is bipartisan, though more prevalent on the right. Probably because President-elect Donald Trump is a master of rewriting history. For years, he claimed that Barack Obama wasn't born in the U.S.  then he dropped his allegation without so much as a "sorry, I blew that."

Still, there are liberal conspiracy theories. Clinton dusted off one of her old ones. As first lady in 1998, she attributed Bill Clinton's political problems to a "vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for president." In 2016, she said that the conspiracy was alive, better financed and no longer afraid of stepping out of the shadows.

Advertisement

When Trump sniffled during a presidential debate, Howard Dean, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, tweeted: "Notice Trump sniffling all the time. Coke user?" He wasn't referring to the soft drink.

There is no denying the appeal of conspiracy theories. Real life is messy. Rewritten history smoothes out the rough spots, but at the cost of playing fast and loose with the truth.

We would all do well  liberals and conservatives  to recall something that was observed 2000 years ago, and is still relevant in these troubled times:

"And ye shall know the truth," Jesus said, "and the truth will set you free."

rgrossman@chicagotribune.com
The Chicago Board of Education on Wednesday signed off on a $5.5 billion operating budget that features a gaping hole left by Gov. Bruce Rauner's veto of legislation that would have provided $215 million in pension help.

While school officials expressed hope the General Assembly would overturn Rauner's veto, they acknowledged the district could be forced to refigure its budget for the third time this fiscal year.

Advertisement

"There's approximately another month in the 99th General Assembly," board President Frank Clark said at Wednesday's meeting. "Until that ends, I expect the state to fulfill its promise and keep its word and provide the necessary funding for Chicago children."

But if "the unthinkable occurs, we are prepared to deal with an amended budget at our next regular board meeting in late January," Clark said.

Advertisement

What Clark described as unthinkable seems well on its way to becoming reality. While the Senate voted to override the governor within hours of his Dec. 1 veto, the House left town without taking action. The House has 15 days to take up the override, but leading Democrats say the votes aren't there for an override. The chamber is not scheduled to return to Springfield until Jan. 9.

Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >

"The bottom line to this is, I'm going to hold the state's feet to the fire. We expect them to treat children in Chicago like they treat children in every other part of the state of Illinois," Clark said Wednesday. "We'll let the legislative process play out, I'll remain optimistic, but we're prepared to deal with an amended budget if we need to at our January board meeting."

CPS CEO Forrest Claypool also declined to concede.

"We are rejecting the Rauner CPS budget and recommending that we adopt a budget that reflects the funding that was promised to Chicago's students," Claypool said. "Gov. Rauner wants a budget that will cut Chicago students' classrooms, so he can push his independent political agenda. We say no to that."

The school board Wednesday also approved a four-year teachers contract reached in October hours before a threatened strike by the Chicago Teachers Union. The district said the contract adds about $55 million in expenses, which is why the budget approved in August had to be redrawn and voted on again.

In addition, the board reapproved plans to use up to $840 million borrowed off a City Council-approved pool of property tax money to pay for a wide array of school construction projects.

jjperez@tribpub.com

Twitter @PerezJr
Critics of changes to special education spending made by Chicago Public Schools took their complaints to City Hall and district headquarters Wednesday, saying the system has cut resources for students.

Community members delivered a letter to Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office that outlined their concerns, and demonstrators organized by the Chicago Teachers Union marched outside CPS offices prior to the Chicago Board of Education meeting Wednesday.

Advertisement

The debate continued throughout the board meeting with a stream of testimony from critics and a lengthy discussion by district officials.

One of the complaints was about the district's move this year to mix special education funding into the amount of money each school gets based on per-pupil funding.

Advertisement

Paying for special needs students' education from a combined pool of money, opponents said, forces principals to choose between meeting legal mandates for a building's special education population and the needs of the other students.

"(What) the funding schools are given is already inadequate," Maggie Baran, a local school council representative at Hitch Elementary School on the Northwest Side, said at a City Hall news conference.

"This co-mingling of funds, combined with the pressure put on principals and (local school councils) to do more with less, is creating a dangerous and noninclusive environment where the requirements for some students are pitted against the needs of all," she said.

A recent letter from Patrick Baccellieri, the top CPS special education officer, asked critics to identify students whose legally mandated individual education plans weren't met as well as services that were not being provided because of a lack of funds.

"The magnitude of challenges in helping diverse learners succeed is enormous," Baccellieri said Wednesday at the board meeting. "We won't succeed overnight, or without the input and feedback of those who are impacted most: principals, parents (and) educators."

CPS ordered principals at the beginning of the school year to pay for special education programming first, prioritizing it over other programs.

CPS has said it is trying to overcome persistently low test scores and a lack of oversight and standards for special education students, even as spending increases. A 14-page district report on special education released this summer concluded CPS spent $900 million on special education last year, up from $791 million in 2010.

Despite dwindling overall enrollment, the report said, the number of students needing special education plans grew to slightly more than 52,000 last year, compared with just more than 49,000 in the 2009-10 school year.

Advertisement

The lump sum that schools received for special education this academic year was a departure from past practice, when special education budgets were paid for through the CPS central office and the district distributed teacher and classroom assistant positions to schools based on legal requirements and the needs of each building.

Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >

CPS has told principals the lump sums schools received are equal to what each building spent on special education in the past year, though the district said it held back 4 percent of each school's special education budget, setting aside roughly $18 million that schools could tap for any unmet needs.

On Wednesday, CPS said $2.8 million from that pool had been distributed to cover 31 appeals.

The CTU, citing an internal survey of special education teachers, said teachers have been pressured to reduce the amount of time in the special education plans provided for special ed students. The union also said hundreds of vacant special education positions are being left unfilled or filled by unqualified staff.

Other teachers, according to the CTU, said they've lost services including access to social workers, speech pathology minutes and clinician services. Gov. Bruce Rauner's recent veto of legislation that would have provided $215 million in pension help to the school system, the CTU said, would worsen the situation.

"We have special education kids who are receiving literally zero services because schools are so short-staffed," union President Karen Lewis said in a statement Tuesday. "This is no way to run a school district, and that's, in part, because we have a governor who has no idea how to run this state."

Advertisement

jjperez@tribpub.com

Twitter @PerezJr
Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke walks by Assistant Attorney General Barbara Greenspan, right, working on behalf of DCFS, to stand in front of Judge Vincent Gaughan at the Leighton Criminal Courts Building in Chicago on Dec. 8. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)

The judge overseeing the murder case against Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke grilled a city lawyer Thursday over whether her request to keep some 240,000 emails from public view violated Mayor Rahm Emanuel's pledge to be more transparent.

The sharply worded questions from Judge Vincent Gaughan led Lisette Mojica, an assistant corporation counsel, to finally admit that as far as she knew, Emanuel hadn't been consulted.

Advertisement

As is his practice, Gaughan then went into his chambers for closed-door discussions with lawyers in the hot-button case that lasted nearly 50 minutes.

After returning to court, Gaughan said a tentative arrangement had been reached over the disputed emails, but he said he was not going to reveal the details because it had not been finalized.

Advertisement

The emails from the Chicago police and the police oversight agency had been turned over to the city's Office of Inspector General as part of its investigation into Van Dyke's fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald and a possible cover-up involving other officers at the scene. A dashboard camera video of the shooting showed Van Dyke opening fire within seconds of exiting his police SUV as McDonald walked away with a knife in his hand, contradicting many of the officers' written accounts that the teen had lunged at police with the knife.

The city sought what is called a protective order that would allow lawyers in the case access to the emails but bar them from making them public. However, in its nine-page motion, the city made it clear it would seek to block lawyers from making the emails public at trial.

The city said the emails contain material protected by attorney-client privilege, attorney work product and personal information that should have been blacked out. Almost all of the emails  more than 115,000 from Chicago police and nearly 125,000 from the Independent Police Review Authority  had been culled with software using "broad" search terms and were irrelevant to the McDonald case, according to the city. The motion did not specify the search terms.

When Mojica raised the issue in court, Gaughan referred to a June statement from Emanuel announcing that he was adopting a new "transparency policy" to more quickly release videos and other evidence from police shootings.

"I don't mean to be facetious, but have you consulted with the mayor?" Gaughan asked. "I just want to be sure that you're not being inconsistent with the mayor's statement."

"Not at all, your honor. Respectfully, the emails that we're seeking to get ..." Mojica began.

"Yeah, but who has consulted with the mayor?" Gaughan interrupted. "I understand what you're talking about, did anyone consult with the mayor to say that this might be undermining his transparency policy?"

"Well, judge, we're certainly ..."

Advertisement

"Please answer the question, counsel," Gaughan said. "Did anybody consult with the mayor?"

"Not me personally, judge, but I can't say for sure," Mojica said. "But these emails that we're talking about judge ..."

"Stop, stop, stop, stop," Gaughan said. "OK, good  appreciate that. So nobody really  to your knowledge has consulted with the mayor that this might undermine his policy on transparency?"

"Well, judge, respectfully these emails ..." Mojica began.

"To your knowledge," Gaughan loudly interrupted.

Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >

"To my knowledge, judge," Mojica said.

Advertisement

Reached by phone later, Bill McCaffrey, the city Law Department's spokesman, said the city's protective order motion does not contradict the city's pledge to be more transparent.

"No, not at all," he said. "These documents are completely unrelated to this investigation."

The video of the white officer shooting the black teen has caused a firestorm of controversy and led to calls for major reforms amid a U.S. Justice Department investigation of police practices in Chicago. The shooting took place in October 2014, but the officer wasn't charged until late last November, hours before a judge ordered the release of the video.

Attorneys have said the city's Office of Inspector General had turned over all 15,000 pages of its investigative files into the shooting.

sschmadeke@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @SteveSchmadeke
Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., gives his farewell speech at the Senate in Washington on Dec. 8, 2016. (C-SPAN2)

WASHINGTON  Sen. Mark Kirk made his final speech from the Senate floor Thursday, saluting the World Series champion Chicago Cubs and praising Illinois as "one of the most industrious states in the union."

In a speech that ran just under 10 minutes, Kirk called Illinois residents innovative and noted that products including the cellphone, electric blanket and zipper were invented in the state. He also singled out the state's bountiful pumpkin harvest.

Advertisement

He thanked Illinois residents and a handful of "critical people," including his old boss, former U.S. Rep. John Porter, R-Ill., and his companion, Dodie McCracken, who he said "is always at my side."

The Highland Park Republican lost a re-election bid Nov. 8 to Rep. Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat from Hoffman Estates.

Advertisement

Kirk opened by recalling his work as a staffer on the House International Relations Committee. He said his work helped trigger a war crimes indictment against a notorious Bosnian Serb, Simo Drljaca, who was killed in 1997.

"I am so proud that we brought this monster to justice," Kirk said.

"The United States is now the greatest force for human dignity that we have ever seen, and to make sure those values are continued has been at the heart of my service here in the Senate and the Congress," said Kirk, who served 10 years in the House before becoming a senator in 2010.

Kirk suffered a major stroke early in 2012. He has declined recent Tribune requests for an interview.

kskiba@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @KatherineSkiba
A Metra train headed toward Orland Park from Chicago struck a car early Thursday, according to an alert from Metra.

Outbound train 841 on the southwest line had been stopped early Thursday near the Wrightwood Metra Station in the Wrightwood neighborhood after it hit a vehicle in the area, according to a Metra alert. The train had been scheduled to arrive at the Orland Park 179th Street Station at 12:44 a.m. Thursday.

Advertisement

Check back for updates.

WGN-TV contributed to this report.
The Eastgate Senior Center, 5600 Brainerd Road will present a "Voices of Christmas" musical play on Wednesday, Dec. 14 at 11:30 a.m.



Officials said, "This Christmas story unfolds, as never before, through the voices of those who witnessed the Messiahs birth. Gabriel 'paced the halls of heaven' as he memorized Gods message to Mary. He wondered what she would say.



"From Gabriel to Mary to Herod to the innkeeper, the monologues are poetic, emphasizing the humanity of each iconic figure.



"After being told that she will deliver the child of God, Mary is waiting to wake from this dream.



"The play retells the Nativity story from several different viewpoints, each one a distinct voice with its own style.



"The story is conveyed, from the announcement of the impending birth by the angel Gabriel to the final song.



"Each character is a real person, with his or her own concerns or fears, and the Nativity story is conveyed through the sum of their individual stories.



"The actors' striking, dramatic illustrations add to the personality of the characters.



"Voices of Christmas tells the story of the Nativity through the voices of Mary, Joseph, the Wise Men, the innkeeper, Herod, and so on. The play depicts intense people in the midst of a momentous event, their glowing faces bowed in reverence or raised to the heavens. These lovely and heartfelt character performances adds a deeper perspective to the oft-told story."
A Chicago police car collided with another car on the South Side Thursday afternoon while answering a call of a man with a gun, sending the officers and the driver to hospitals, officials said.

The accident happened around 12:20 p.m. in the 7900 block of South Yates Avenue in the South Chicago neighborhood as 4th District officers in a marked police car were westbound on 79th Street, police said.

Advertisement

A 31-year-old woman driving north on Yates slammed into the rear driver's side of the squad car, which had its lights and sirens activated, police said.

The officers were taken to Trinity Hospital and the woman was taken to South Shore Hospital. The injuries were described as minor.

Advertisement

The woman was cited for failure to yield to emergency vehicles.
A shot was fired at Chicago police officers in University Village early Thursday, the sixth time in less than two weeks that someone has fired at police, authorities said.



Just before 2 a.m., someone called police to report a person with a gun. Officers from the Near West police district were answering the call when someone fired a shot at them in the 800 block of South Miller Street, according to police.



No injuries were reported, and a subject was taken into custody, police said. Officers walked him to the back seat of a squad car on Miller as he yelled, "I want to go home."



The suspect appeared extremely intoxicated, according to preliminary information from a law enforcement source. A gun and a live round were recovered from the scene, the source said.



The shooting occurred less than a block from the University of Illinois-Chicago campus.



Thursdays incident marks the sixth time since Nov. 27 that someone has fired at police in Chicago.
The growing use of e-cigarettes by American teens "has the potential to create a whole new generation of kids who are addicted to nicotine," the U.S. surgeon general warned Thursday.

In a new report in which he cast "vaping" as an emerging public health threat for young people, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said more research is needed into the effects of e-cigarettes but added that they aren't harmless and too many teens are using them.

Advertisement

Federal figures made public Thursday show that last year 16 percent of high school students reported at least some use of e-cigarettes, even some who said they've never smoked a conventional cigarette.

The statistics on "vaping" mark a threefold increase among the age group since 2013, and e-cigarette use is higher among high school students than adults, according to the report.

Advertisement

While not all contain nicotine, Murthy's report says e-cigarettes can include harmful ingredients like diacetyl, a chemical flavorant linked to serious lung disease, or heavy metals, including lead.

In this Feb. 4, 2014, photo, U.S. Surgeon General appointee Vivek Murthy appears on Capitol Hill in Washington. The U.S. surgeon general is calling e-cigarettes an emerging public health threat to the nation's youth. (Charles Dharapak / AP)

If e-cigarettes drive users to other tobacco products, "then we are going to be moving backward instead of forward," Murthy told The Associated Press.

Battery-powered e-cigarettes turn liquid nicotine into an inhalable vapor without the harmful tar generated by regular cigarettes. Vaping was first pushed as safer for current smokers. There's no scientific consensus on the risks or advantages of vaping, including how it affects the likelihood of someone either picking up regular tobacco products or kicking the habit.

But Victoria Vasconcellos, president of Smoke-Free Alternatives Trade Association of Illinois, called Murthy's analysis "shameful," saying it failed to look at the broader landscape of smoking among adolescents.

"Perhaps the most glaring point missed though is that with this increase in vapor product use, youth smoking rates are at all-time lows," said Vasconcellos, the owner of a chain of vape shops in suburban Chicago. She said the numbers show "vapor products are proving to be a stepping stone away" from traditional cigarettes.

"It continues to amaze and disappoint me that those we look to for public health continue to mislead the public about vapor products armed only with unscientific fear-mongering, and this misinformation is coming from the highest of levels," she said.

For decades, public health officials have crusaded against smoking and in recent years have made major strides, bringing cigarette smoking among high school students to the lowest levels since the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey began in 1991, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration finalized a rule to regulate e-cigarettes and prohibited their sale to minors, though Illinois and other states already had such bans in place.

Advertisement

Illinois went further this year by prohibiting those under 18 from possessing e-cigarettes, just as they are not allowed to have regular cigarettes or other tobacco products. Violators can be fined up to $100 for repeated offenses and be subject to up to 30 hours of community service.

Some communities have tried to curb the risk even more by adding e-cigarettes to their smoke-free ordinances, making it unlawful to vape anywhere smoking is prohibited. Chicago has also imposed a tax on "liquid nicotine products," a move one alderman said was meant primarily to make e-cigarettes too expensive for young people.

The new FDA rules also, for the first time, will require makers of nicotine-emitting devices to begin submitting their ingredients for regulators to review. The vaping industry argues the regulations will wipe out small companies in favor of more harmful products, and likely will lobby the incoming Trump administration to undo the rules.

The spike in e-cigarette use among young people comes as no surprise to James Martinez, a spokesman for the American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest, who pointed to industry marketing aimed at younger people.

"It's Big Tobacco up to their old tricks," Martinez said. "E-cigarettes weren't regulated until a year ago. ... Before that, a 13-year-old or 12-year-old could buy an e-cigarette.

"During those times, the e-cigarette (liquid) would come in flavors like cotton candy and gummy bear. As if that wasn't enough, stores placed them in the candy aisle. It wasn't until all of the health organizations came in that they raised that minimum purchasing age and put it behind the counters," Martinez said.

Advertisement

Popular flavors of e-liquids for e-cigarettes at Smoque Vapours, 537 S. Dearborn St., Tuesday Sept. 15, 2015 include Acango and Graham Cracker. (Michael Tercha / Chicago Tribune)

At the Smoque Vapours in Chicago's Loop, many of the customers are from local universities. But store manager Xalia Marquez, 24, says even older generations are turning to vaping as a cheaper alternative and, to some, a way to wean themselves off cigarettes completely.

Marquez herself switched from traditional cigarettes to vaping two years ago. She agrees more research into e-cigarettes is needed.

"I think it's mostly fear of the unknown," Marquez said of the concerns raised by the federal government. "With cigarettes, we know what we're getting. It's pretty straightforward. Vaping, we don't know the long-term effects, but I can say, I feel a lot better than when I used to smoke cigarettes. I don't have trouble breathing and I'm not hacking up brown stuff."

Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >

Dr. Dean Schraufnagel, a University of Illinois at Chicago medical professor who has written about young people's vulnerability to e-cigarettes, said Thursday's pronouncement could discourage the use of the products, much as the surgeon general's warnings about the danger of smoking did with cigarettes.

"When the surgeon general has indicated this is a dangerous product, then the population takes on the attitude that it's not OK, it's something we should discourage," he said. "The culture of tobacco smoking has changed dramatically from 50 years ago. That's the kind of careful thought we want not just with electronic cigarettes, but any toxic substance people will be tempted to ingest."

Associated Press contributed.

Advertisement

tbriscoe@chicagotribune.com

jkeilman@tribpub.com

Twitter @_tonybriscoe

Twitter @JohnKeilman
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's office has put off a scheduled Thursday morning meeting with legislative leaders, leaving it unclear when the two sides will reconvene talks on a spending plan for state government.

Following a Tuesday huddle in which the two sides emerged with differing ideas about the way forward in negotiations, Rep. Greg Harris, a Chicago Democrat who has been attending the meetings, said Rauner had asked Democrats to provide a budget proposal of their own. Democrats, led by House Speaker Michael Madigan, "did not agree to that," Harris said.

Advertisement

Harris said he reiterated that position Wednesday when the governor's office called and asked if the Democrats were prepared to present a budget proposal Thursday at the meeting.

"I just said that is not the case and we have not even discussed the outcome of these meetings with our caucus yet," Harris said.

Advertisement

Later in the day, Rauner's office postponed the Thursday meeting, saying in a statement that "Democratic leaders continue to discuss internally whether they are prepared to present a budget proposal, so we will schedule the next Four Leaders meeting when we receive confirmation that they are ready."

The request for a budget framework from Democrats is a change of tune from Rauner, who has resisted spelling out how he would like to deal with the state's budget problems and has rejected Democratic proposals in the past.

The governor has vetoed Democrats' budgets because those plans did not provide enough money to pay for the spending  something both sides realize will require a bipartisan deal to achieve. In his February budget speech  an annual tradition in which the governor is expected to lay out his vision for a state budget  Rauner failed to present a fully baked plan, instead asking the opposition party to work with him on his broader legislative goals or allow him to cut roughly $3.5 billion in state spending on his own.

Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said in an email Wednesday: "We are trying to examine and understand the governor's actions. Democrats are working to resolve the budget."

Madigan has been pushing for the two sides to resume working groups of rank-and-file lawmakers. That idea was rejected Tuesday by Republican leaders as a waste of time. Lawmakers spent much of the first half of the year in working group meetings that produced no consensus on Rauner's legislative aims or a budget for state government.

Instead, the two sides cobbled together a stopgap spending plan that allowed them to punt negotiations until after the November election. That plan expires at the end of this month.

kgeiger@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @kimgeiger
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner praised President-elect Donald Trump's choice for education secretary Thursday, saying the Michigan billionaire and school voucher proponent is "a very talented and very passionate education advocate."

Betsy DeVos, whose husband is an heir to the Amway fortune, was named late last month as Trump's choice to head the federal Department of Education.

Advertisement

DeVos is a longtime advocate for voucher programs that allow parents to use taxpayer funds to pay for private or parochial schools. She's also a former chair of the Michigan Republican Party.

"I do know Betsy DeVos, I have great respect for her," Rauner said Thursday when asked about Trump's selection of DeVos. "I think she's a very talented and very passionate education advocate. And I personally am a believer in school choice. And I look forward to working together."

Advertisement

Various DeVos family members contributed a combined $13,000 to Rauner's 2014 campaign for governor, including a $1,000 donation from Betsy DeVos, state campaign finance records show. The DeVos family is one of the nation's biggest donors to the Republican Party and also has spent to promote causes of some Christian churches, including opposition to same-sex marriage.

Rauner's support of DeVos puts him once again at odds with teachers unions, which oppose vouchers and objected to the DeVos choice. Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis referred to DeVos last week as a "nightmare."

Lewis said she was concerned that DeVos might use the post to try to override limits on charter schools. The CTU fought for caps on charter school expansion in its recent contract negotiations. Rauner is an advocate of charter schools.

When Trump selected DeVos he said in a statement that she would "reform the U.S. education system and break the bureaucracy that is holding our children back so that we can deliver world-class education and school choice to all families."

kgeiger@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @kimgeiger
Acehnese women survey the damage after an earthquake in Ulhee Glee, Aceh province, Indonesia, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016. Thousands of people in the Indonesian province of Aceh took refuge for the night in mosques and temporary shelters after a strong earthquake Wednesday killed a large number of people and destroyed dozens of buildings. (Binsar Bakkara / AP)

MEUREUDU, Indonesia  Humanitarian organizations descended on Indonesia's Aceh province Thursday as the local disaster agency called for urgent food supplies and officials raced to assess the full extent of damage from an earthquake that killed more than 100 people.

Volunteers and nearly 1,500 rescue personnel concentrated their search on the hard-hit town of Meureudu in Pidie Jaya district near the epicenter of the magnitude 6.5 quake that hit before dawn Wednesday. But the small number of heavy excavators on the scene meant progress was slow. Humanitarian assessment teams fanned out to other areas of the district.

Advertisement

National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the death toll had risen to 102 and warned it could increase. Search teams were using devices that detect mobile phone signals within a 100-meter (yard) radius to help guide their efforts as they scoured the rubble. The disaster agency said more than 750 people were injured.

"We have to move faster to search and rescue possible survivors," said Iskander Ali, a Pidie Jaya official.

Advertisement

Those killed included very young children and the elderly. Mohammad Jafar, 60, said his daughter, granddaughter and grandson died in the quake but he was resigned to it as "God's will."

Earthquake survivors spend a night at a temporary shelter in Ulim, Aceh province, Indonesia, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016. (Binsar Bakkara / AP)

He was getting ready for morning prayers when the earthquake hit. He said he and his wife managed to push their way out through the debris. Another man said he found his 9-year-old daughter alive beneath a broken wall at his neighbor's house.

Thousands of people are homeless or afraid to return to their houses. Nugroho said more than 11,000 people have been displaced and are staying at shelters and mosques or with relatives. About 10,500 homes were damaged and dozens of mosques and shop houses collapsed.

Killer quakes occur regularly in the region, where many live with the terrifying memory of a giant Dec. 26, 2004, earthquake that struck off Sumatra. The magnitude-9.1 quake triggered a devastating tsunami that killed more than 100,000 Acehnese.

Sulaiman, a Disaster Mitigation Agency official in Aceh, said staple foods for women and babies are most urgently needed. He said medicines are sufficient because assistance is coming from the army, police, state-run companies and local governments.

"What's badly needed now are staple foods such as rice, cooking oil, salted fish and other foods," said Sulaiman. He said people had complained about a lack of clean water, but the problem has been tackled and electricity supply is returning to normal in many areas.

Nugroho, at a news conference in Jakarta, listed as urgent food and clothing, specialist doctors for victims suffering fractures, medical equipment, temporary shelters and heavy excavation equipment.

The Indonesian government sent 50 tons of urgent aid to Aceh, including 10 generators, tents, folding beds, baby supplies and body bags.

Advertisement

"Every aid and civil society organization is piling into the area with as many boxes of rice, instant noodles, blankets and other aid as they can shift," said Paul Dillon, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, which has an assessment team in northern Aceh.

It will take at least two more days before there's a fuller picture of how many people are displaced, he said.

The military is setting up an emergency field hospital and sending two dozen doctors, and the Health Ministry is sending a medical team and medicines. The Red Cross sent aid such as water trucks on Wednesday and humanitarian group CARE is leading an assessment team of four international aid groups to avoid duplication of efforts. Aid groups and others are also appealing for donations.

Pope Francis, who was speaking at St. Peter's Square for a Catholic holiday, said he wanted people to know he was praying for the victims of the earthquake, their loved ones and those left homeless.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was centered about 19 kilometers (12 miles) southeast of Sigli, a town near the northern tip of Sumatra, at a depth of 17 kilometers (11 miles). It did not generate a tsunami. Aftershocks have rattled the area.

The world's largest archipelago, Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. The 2004 quake and tsunami killed a total of 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Aceh.

Advertisement

Associated Press
Military leaders are trying to fix the lengthy, inconsistent process for investigating senior officers accused of misconduct, The Associated Press has learned. They are seeking to change a hodgepodge system in which investigations can drag on for years while taxpayers pay six-figure salaries to officers relegated to mid-level administrative posts.

Trust in the disciplinary system "is strained," the chiefs of the four military services said in a memo to Defense Secretary Ash Carter. The memo was obtained by The Associated Press.

The chiefs said they planned to set up a task force to study the issue. It would be created by the end of the year and likely include former members of the military, lawmakers, and former investigators or inspectors general. The panel would be charged with providing specific proposals within 10 months.

The memo said the service leaders have concerns about "our internal processes to respond promptly and equitably when there are accusations of misconduct."

There are no real policy guidelines or regulations that govern where the officers go and what jobs they can hold while they wait for investigations to end. Instead, decisions are made by commanders on a case-by-case basis that provides little guarantee of equal treatment across the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, or even for those within the same service.

"We are very frustrated by the amount of time it takes for us to process things," said Lt. Gen. Gary Cheek, director of the Army staff. "In many cases this is in fairness to the individual as well as to run the process through the levels of review. But it can take months to adjudicate some of these and we would greatly prefer that to be weeks, not months."

Eugene Fidell, a lawyer who specializes in military cases and teaches at Yale Law School, said the lengthy process wastes money and is particularly damaging for those ultimately found innocent or not charged. And he said it can treat officers differently, even if they committed the same offense.

"There are people who are hung out to dry, and it's extremely unfair because it's virtually impossible to put Humpty back together again," Fidell said.

As an example, for the past year, Army Maj. Gen. Ron Lewis has been poring over older military regulations to see what needs updating. His work, in a small suburban Virginia office as a special assistant to the Army's personnel chief, isn't far from the Pentagon. But it's a universe away from his high-powered job as senior military adviser to Carter  a job he lost amid charges of improper behavior and misuse of a government credit card.

He will stay there until the Army decides on his case and determines at what rank he can retire  a decision that could affect his annual income by tens of thousands of dollars.

The Navy, meanwhile, has officers wrapped up in a lengthy, complicated corruption investigation, involving bribes from Malaysian businessman Leonard Glenn Francis, also known as "Fat Leonard." A total of 16 people, including nearly a dozen current and former Navy officials, have been charged so far in the scandal, which has dragged on for about three years.

In some cases, such as Lewis', the investigation is done by the Pentagon's inspector general. Others are handled by the military services' inspectors general, and in cases like "Fat Leonard," the Justice Department drives the probe.

There are about a half-dozen active duty senior leaders  mainly two- and three-star officers  who are working in administrative jobs now, waiting for final decisions on misconduct investigations. Over the past five years, there have been nearly 30.

Investigators sometimes have to go back and recreate history, months and years after it occurred and after people and commanders have long moved on. There is concern that stretching out the process makes it difficult to send a clear signal to others that bad behavior won't be tolerated.

Cheek, who is responsible for deciding where Army officers go and what they do while under investigation, said it's important to remember that an accused soldier is innocent until proven guilty and he defended the need to handle incidents on a case-by-case basis.

The investigations are largely done the same way, he said, but "they all have different issues they're working through. We have to match it to the individual circumstances."

He said that "when we have someone who has mistreated people or done something wrong, we hold them appropriately accountable. We may not advertise that or announce it from the mountain tops but every case has a process it has gone through very deliberately."

He noted that the officers under investigation are usually at the lowest point of their lives.

"I am dealing with someone who is enormously distraught, many times incredibly embarrassed by what's happened," Cheek said. "I've got to show frankly some compassion toward them no matter what. We're not going to condone what they've done, but we're going to treat them right."

Associated Press
A makeshift memorial with crosses for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting massacre stands outside a home in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14, 2013, for the one-year anniversary of the shootings. (Robert F. Bukaty / AP)

MIAMI BEACH, Fla.  A Florida woman has been charged with making death threats against the parent of a child who died in the Sandy Hook school shooting massacre because she thought the attack was a hoax, federal authorities announced Wednesday.

Lucy Richards, 57, of Tampa, was arrested Monday after a grand jury indictment on four felony counts of transmitting threats, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement.

Advertisement

The threats were made Jan. 10, according to authorities, and included messages that said, "you gonna die, death is coming to you real soon," and "LOOK BEHIND YOU IT IS DEATH."

Another threat said, "there's nothing you can do about it," according to court documents.

Advertisement

The indictment said the threats were made in Palm Beach County to a person identified only by the initials "L.P." Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Schall wouldn't say how the threats were delivered or provide more details, nor would she provide further details about why federal authorities said Richards thought the attack was a hoax.

The messages quoted in the indictment match a series of voicemails released online in January and this week by Lenny Pozner and others who have publicly sought to debunk conspiracy theories surrounding Sandy Hook and other mass slayings. Pozner's 6-year-old son Noah was in first grade when he was killed in the Sandy Hook shootings.

A friend of Pozner confirmed that Pozner was the target of the threats detailed in the indictment released Wednesday.

The friend responded on Pozner's behalf to emails and other messages sent to Pozner, saying the family had been told by federal prosecutors not to talk to the media about the case. He spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of fear of retaliation by people who believe the shootings did not take place.

A year ago, Pozner and his ex-wife called on Florida Atlantic University to fire a professor that the couple said taunted them with blog posts about the Sandy Hook massacre being staged.

"The heartache of burying a child is a sorrow we would not wish upon anyone. Yet to our horror, we have found that there are some in this society who lack empathy for the suffering of others. Among them are the conspiracy theorists that deny our tragedy was real. They seek us out and accuse us of being government agents who are faking our grief and lying about our loss," they wrote in an opinion piece published by the Sun Sentinel.

The professor was fired in January, and he is now suing FAU for violating his constitutional rights.

Others linked to the Sandy Hook massacre also have reported harassment by conspiracy theorists who argue the event was staged to erode support for Second Amendment rights to bear arms.

Advertisement

A New York City man accused of approaching the sister of slain Sandy Hook teacher Victoria Soto and angrily claiming the massacre hadn't happened was sentenced to two years of probation in April as part of a plea deal. A teacher in the Newtown School District told a court in September that he had brought a weapon to school because he feared for his safety after receiving what he said were threats from conspiracy theorists. A Connecticut man was charged in September for allegedly phoning in a threat to the new Sandy Hook Elementary School that replaced the building demolished after the shootings.

Richards' indictment comes nearly four years after the Dec. 14, 2012, shootings in which a gunman with a rifle killed 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown , Connecticut. The man also killed himself and his mother.

Richards awaits an initial court appearance Dec. 19 in Fort Lauderdale. Court records didn't list an attorney for her.

Each felony charge of transmitting threats is punishable by up to five years in prison in event of a conviction.

Associated Press
For eight years, conservatives have portrayed President Barack Obama as a liberal elitist who detests the free market, lacks any understanding of the private sector and tries to push honest business people around.

Here is Ben Shapiro, then an editor-at-large for Breitbart News, in his 2013 book, "Bullies: How the Left's Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences Americans": "Obama is an anti-business bully. That's why, in July, Obama explained to business people that they hadn't really built their own businesses ... Government had built their businesses. And Obama could destroy them."

Advertisement

Sound like anyone in the news? Donald Trump hasn't even taken office and he's already singling out corporations that dare to operate in ways he finds inconvenient and executives who challenge his views.

President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence wave as they visit to Carrier factory, in Indianapolis, Ind., on Dec. 1, 2016. (Evan Vucci / AP)

He used a combination of pressure and incentives to get Indiana manufacturer Carrier to keep some jobs here instead of moving them to Mexico. He sent Boeing stock down with an outburst about the cost of its contract to replace Air Force One  in a tweet that came shortly after CEO Dennis Muilenberg took issue with the president-elect on trade.

Advertisement

If Obama were publicly lashing corporate executives in such a manner, Republicans would be sounding every alarm. Actually, he hasn't done anything nearly so brazen, and yet they've depicted him as an arrogant bully who imagines he knows better than actual business people how to run their companies.

Never mind that under Obama's administration, corporate profits doubled, exports soared and the stock market boomed. Nothing could dissuade the right of the belief that Obama was a closet Marxist out to destroy capitalism.

Now conservatives have an incoming president who actually is an arrogant bully who imagines he knows how every business should be run. I'm guessing most of them will be OK with it.

Steve Chapman, a member of the Tribune Editorial Board, blogs at www.chicagotribune.com/chapman.




The public is invited to join the Walker County Chamber of Commerce at Pie Slinger's Pizzeria, 56A Fieldstone Pkwy. in Rock Spring, Ga. (at Fieldstone Farms Center) for the third annual Christmas Claus for a Cause December luncheon as they celebrate the holiday season while giving back to the students of Walker County."Each year our board chair designates a charity to support during this special event, and for this year, Chair P. R. Cook has selected Backpack Blessings. Backpack Blessings provides Walker County students with free, non-perishable food items each Friday to reduce weekend hunger and help prepare for Mondays learning in the classroom.The luncheon will take place at Pie Slingers Pizzeria next Tuesday.Pie Slingers will be donating 10 percent of lunch purchases from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. to this organization. There will be a pizza, lasagna and salad bar, including drink and dessert set up especially for Chamber attendees at a cost of $12 per person to be paid at the door."The Chamber will be there to greet you. You still need to RSVP to info@walkercochamber.com in order for us to have a headcount. Registration will reserve your seat. Be sure and enjoy the holiday decorations and festive atmosphere that will be in store for you that day at Pie Slingers Pizzeria," organizers said.
Two teenagers have sued Marist High School after they were expelled for their roles in a racist text message conversation, claiming they were used as scapegoats. CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports.

The day after a black man riding in a funeral procession was killed in a confrontation with an off-duty Chicago cop, the first of several ugly standoffs erupted in the city's Mount Greenwood neighborhood. Black protesters chanting "CPD! KKK!" clashed with residents yelling at them to go away. "Racist, killer cops," read one sign. "You Are Animals. Go Home," said another.

So it was disappointing, but not surprising, to learn that some of those sentiments were echoed in a text message exchange among students at Marist High School, a private Catholic school within Mount Greenwood. School administrators came down hard after a screen shot of a profane and racist text  "I f------ hate n------"  was shared widely on Twitter. At least five students were expelled or suspended, according to a lawsuit filed by the fathers of two of them.

Advertisement

There are mixed messages here for the young people who live and learn in Mount Greenwood. The adults at their school have made clear that they won't tolerate racially insensitive discourse. But some adults in the neighborhood are still trading angry outbursts, more than a month after Joshua Beal was shot to death.

Administrators at Marist won't comment about the expulsions, so it's hard to say whether the unidentified girls, both seniors, have been made "scapegoats," as their lawyer says. But it's fair to ask whether they're being held accountable for their behavior in ways that the so-called grown-ups are not.

Advertisement

Their lawsuit asks that they be allowed to return to school so they can graduate; failing that, it seeks reimbursement for three-plus years of tuition and $1 million in damages.

The suit says the text thread, which originated during a religious retreat in September, was supposed to be confidential, and that the students were punished without going through any formal disciplinary process. Their lawyer says the text image shared online had been doctored. "It appeared to be more of an outwardly racially hate-filled statement when the context was removed," attorney Steven Glink told Tribune reporters.

Protesters wait Nov. 11, 2016, outside Chicago Public Schools headquarters, where Black Lives Matter Youth met with city officials and Marist's principal. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)

Mount Greenwood residents who face off with protesters argue that they, too, are misunderstood. The Southwest Side neighborhood, home to generations of Chicago police officers, is mostly white (87 percent) and conservative (13 of its 19 precincts voted 60 percent or more for Donald Trump). Residents identify as pro-law enforcement and object to being characterized as racially hostile. That distinction isn't exactly clear, though, when a crowd of police supporters is egged on by a heckler with a bullhorn calling black protesters "Buckwheat."

Mount Greenwood has a history of racial flare-ups, but residents say the recent protests were about supporting police. The Independent Police Review Authority is still investigating, but cellphone video from the Nov. 5 incident appears to show Beal holding a gun moments before he was shot.

Days later, the Marist text thread was abuzz with talk about the shooting and its aftermath. One student shared a screen shot of a tweet warning that gang members had been summoned to the neighborhood "to kill all white kids in retaliation for the shooting." That provoked the comments that ended up online, which led to a threatened protest by a group of Chicago Public Schools students calling themselves Black Lives Matter Youth. The student group canceled its protest, citing safety concerns; Marist canceled classes for the day for the same reason.

The lawsuit says the girls were expelled without an opportunity to explain themselves. We'd like to think there is room here for a resolution that doesn't call for the students to forfeit their diplomas.

School is supposed to be for learning. Marist has done a lot of things right in this episode: Administrators made clear that racial hostility isn't acceptable. They took steps to protect students as the situation escalated, then acted to defuse it. Instead of a protest, the Black Lives Matter Youth members met for more than two hours with the Marist principal, police officials and Ald. Matt O'Shea, whose 19th Ward includes Mount Greenwood.

The meeting ended with an agreement to hold monthly "workshops" between the BLMY students and Chicago police officers. We expect both groups will learn a lot from those encounters. So here's a suggestion: Why not include the offending Marist students in those meetings instead of kicking them out of school? For that matter, why not include a good number of Marist students? There's an opportunity here to have a conversation on race relations, led by young adults. That could be the way forward for all of Chicago.

Advertisement

Join the discussion on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Board and on Facebook.
A recent Illinois Appellate Court opinion requires the village of Arlington Heights to pay the Cook County Treasurer $300,000 for refunds the county made to taxpayers during the lifetime of two special taxing districts in the village.

Robin Ward, an attorney and the in-house counsel for the village of Arlington Heights, said officials have decided not to petition the Illinois Supreme Court in the case, and will be processing payment to the county in connection with two tax increment financing districts.

Advertisement

The appellate court opinion requires the village to reimburse the county more than $276,000 for TIF District 1, and more than $23,000 for TIF District 2, both of which are located in the village's downtown central business district, Ward said.

Officials are required to pay the county the $300,000 due to property tax appeals that were granted to property owners in two of the local TIF districts that were established in 1983 and 1986, Ward said.

Advertisement

Under state statute, public officials can establish a TIF district in an area that is blighted, or shows signs of becoming blighted, with the assumption that re-development in the neighborhood would not occur without the use of TIF funds, according to the village's website.

In a TIF district, property taxes are frozen at a certain amount. All property taxes above that level  the "increment"  then go into an account that can be spent or borrowed against for certain development projects in the TIF district area.

According to the village's website, during the 23-year tenures of TIF 1 and TIF 2, the village leveraged roughly $50 million in TIF funds to spark $200 million in private investment.

For example, the village says that TIF funds were used for construction of three public parking garages; streetscape and sidewalk beautification of all downtown streets; development of Harmony Park; construction of the train station; acquisition of the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre; loans and grants to renovate the older buildings in downtown; and new sewers and street pavement, among other improvements.

While the village's two downtown TIF districts established in the 1980s expired in 2006 and 2009, Ward said it took the treasurer's office three years to notify the village they needed to reimburse the county due to property tax appeals that were granted.

"We got a letter in 2012 telling us we owed money," Ward said, adding that while the village appealed a decision in the 2013 lawsuit filed by the treasurer's office that ruled in favor of the county, a Cook County Appellate Court opinion on Nov. 10 upheld the lower court's decision.

The village does not need to tap into its general fund reserves, Ward said, as officials had set aside funds previously, in case a situation arose that required them to reimburse the treasurer's office for refunds to taxpayers in the TIF districts, Ward said.

kcullotta@tribpub.com

Advertisement

Twitter: @kcullotta
Greg Moyers, 23, and his girlfriend Sara Adams, 23, build a snowman peppered with leaves in Chicago Sunday during the first snow of the season. The mix of snow and leaves may have been fun for some, but it has caused a headache for towns in the Fox Valley. (Alyssa Pointer / Chicago Tribune)

The collision of winter weather with autumn leaves has left a mess for Fox Valley towns to handle.

The Fox Valley area's first snowstorm of the winter season last weekend made the record books and complicated matters for communities already dealing with leaves still falling from trees.

Advertisement

The snow began to fall lightly around 10 a.m. Sunday morning and then increased with intensity through the day, ending around 6 p.m. Meteorologist Amy Seeley of the Romeoville-based Chicago office of the National Weather Service said Sunday's 6.4 inches recorded at O'Hare International Airport broke Chicago's record snowfall of 5.1 inches for Dec. 4 set in 2010. Seeley said North Aurora had 7 inches of snowfall Sunday, while the Yorkville area had 5.1 inches.

"The timing of the snow could not have been worse," said Jennifer Hughes, Oswego public works director.

Advertisement

The village has suspended its leaf pickup services for the remainder of the year, she said.

Hughes told the Village Board on Tuesday night that crews had been working some weekday nights and weekends to collect leaves that were falling unusually late this year.

"We looked at the historical trends, and this year the leaves fell much later than in the past," she told the Village Board.

Hughes said the village's crews had been in catch-up mode ever since the program began in early November. She said Sunday's snowfall has made it difficult to pick up what's left of the leaf debris.

"When the snow hit, it obviously caused some problems. Our leaf vacuums will not work with this much snow," Hughes said.

"The reality is we will not be able to pull up the leaves," she said.

Oswego is not alone in dealing with a leaf pickup problem. Geneva canceled its remaining special curbside leaf pickup due to the snow cover and freezing temperatures.

"The city was in the process of conducting a special fourth curbside collection for all of Geneva. After the snow Sunday, our contractor attempted to resume operations on the southwest side Dec. 6, but the snow and frost-covered leaves jammed the vacuum equipment in their trucks," said Kevin Stahr, communications coordinator for the city of Geneva. "With the weather expected to get colder in the next week, the city and contractor decided to cancel the remaining curbside program for the winter."

Advertisement

Stahr said the city's curbside collection passed every street three times during October and November as part of its regular annual program. However, after a delayed start to the fall season and requests for residents for an additional pickup, the City Council authorized a special fourth curbside collection throughout the community.

"Our contractor was able to complete the fourth pickup for one-third of the city on the northwest side during the final week of November before the snow arrived," he said. "Work was scheduled to begin this week on the southwest side and east of the Fox River, but the inclement weather halted the curbside collection for the winter. He said leaves in the city's two other zones did not get a fourth pickup. The city will determine in the spring whether a special collection will be needed in those areas."

Residents still needing to dispose of their leaves can do so for free through the city's leaf-bag collection program that runs through December, he said. People can place leaves in brown yard waste bags without a refuse sticker.

Stahr said the City Council authorized the special fourth curbside leaf pickup for the entire city for an amount not to exceed $77,500. However, since work was completed in only one of the three zones, he said, they expect to receive a bill for around $25,000.

The late dropping of leaves has been expensive for some Fox Valley towns. The St. Charles City Council approved $131,661 for a special late leaf pickup. Kramer Tree Services picked up leaves around the city Tuesday and Wednesday, with the city asking residents to dust off snow so piles of leaves could be seen.

City officials said leaves that couldn't be picked up can be disposed of in refuse bags with no sticker through December.

Advertisement

In Aurora, the city has a third-party contractor responsible for its leaf pickup services, according to city officials. They said the leaf pickup was extended through Friday as part of a provision in its waste hauling contract so there was no additional expense to the city for the services.

The contracted crews did resume their work schedule Monday.

As for remaining leaf debris, Aurora city officials said for leaves in the street, the city can run sweepers where applicable, should temperatures climb to an appropriate level to where the leaves thaw. However, any loose leaves on parkways or front yards are the responsibility of homeowners once weather allows for cleanup, city officials said. Division of Property Standards officials will not seek enforcement requiring cleanup during winter weather given the circumstances, city officials said.

The mix of snow and leaves has forced some towns to get creative. Hughes said Oswego changed its tactics and began to pick up leaf debris with front-end loaders.

"We are picking up whatever piles we can in the street. We will not get all of the leaves. I am hoping the snow will melt," she said. "We will try to pick up as many leaves as we can with the front-end loader before worse weather sets in. We won't get 100 percent. We are going to do our best to do what we can."

Hughes said the "bigger issue" is that the leaves complicated matters for the village's snowplow operations.

Advertisement

"We struggled somewhat with snowplowing because we still had trucks (equipped) for leaves. We are going to have to convert those remaining trucks by the end of the week to be ready to salt the streets for the conditions that are coming," she said.

Hughes said Oswego residents can no longer bag their leaves for pickup because that program has already ended.

"The crews have really done everything they can. It's all Mother Nature's fault," Oswego Trustee Pam Parr said.

Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
Two people found dead in a Burbank home Tuesday were a married couple discovered by a relative, officials said.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's office identified the pair as Raymond Fritz, 64, and Susan Fritz, 62, of the 8500 block of South Laramie Avenue.

Advertisement

Police responded to the pair's home at about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday after a family member who did not live there discovered the couple's bodies, Burbank police said.

Police said they arrived to the home and found both people dead with "obvious signs of trauma." A gun was found in the home and police said they believe it was used in the incident.

Advertisement

The medical examiner ruled Raymond Fritz' death a suicide caused by wrist incisions and a gunshot wound to the head. Susan Fritz' cause of death is pending.

Police said there is "no threat to the community" and said the incident was confined to the residence.
Marengo historian Jim Gibbons presented a program titled Pearl Harbor: A Day That Will Live in Infamy on Wednesday, the 75th anniversary of the attack, at the Frankfort Public Library. (Ginger Brashinger / Daily Southtown)

"A day that will live in infamy" was brought to life Wednesday at a presentation by Marengo-based historian Jim Gibbons at the Frankfort Public Library.

The presentation commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that prompted the U.S. to enter into World War II.

Advertisement

Gibbons' animated style and booming voice gave life to a nearly two-hour slide show of statistics, maps and photographs, including some taken by the Japanese on the day of the attack, while others are familiar staples of American history books.

Gibbons wove a tale of intrigue, greed and politics as he educated the mostly "baby boomer" audience on decades of history leading up to the attack.

Advertisement

The climax of Gibbons' historical presentation was an account, ship-by-ship, of the mayhem that began at 7:49 a.m. Hawaiian time, Gibbons said, and lasted approximately two hours. The attack left more than 3,500 civilians and U.S. military wounded or dead, he said.

The presentation ended with the irony of the "unconditional surrender" of the Japanese taking place on the American battleship USS Missouri, and a photo of the USS Arizona memorial on Oahu with its 1,102 interred sailors "guarded" by the USS Missouri.

Gibbons, 63, said his career as a "self-made historian" began in 2012 as the result of his interest in the 1958 Our Lady of the Angels school fire in Chicago. He currently does about 160 historical presentations per year, he said.

Gibbons said Pearl Harbor was "originally just a little hiccup" in his World War II presentation, but it became a full-blown presentation when he began his research. He said audience input adds to the experience for him, and the Frankfort audience was no exception.

Frankfort resident Henry Tumborello said he and his wife, Sandi, attended the presentation out of an interest in history. As a retired Eisenhower High School government and sociology teacher, Tumborello said he felt he knew a good deal about Pearl Harbor but was determined to listen for something new, finding about half a dozen facts he was not aware of, he said.

Frankfort resident Dorothy Chapman, 80, asked audience members if they could recall where they were in 1941 when the attack occurred. Her own remembrance of that day in her home in the Beverly neighborhood of Chicago was that she thought the radio was broken when she was unable to get a regular Sunday favorite program on and ran to tell her parents. Chapman said "little did I know" the impact the day would have on her life as she watched her parents' reaction to the radio news.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

Charles Schutte, 85, said he remembers his mother greeting him and his friends with the news when they returned from a Sunday matinee.

"Obviously, we were little kids and it didn't mean anything to us," he said.

Advertisement

For others, the horror of war would be all too real for years to come.

Frankfort resident Evelyn Co said she was baptized in the Philippines on Dec. 7, 1941. She said her mother told her the party went on despite news of the attack, but afterward the family had to flee to the mountains. Her mother said dead and dying soldiers were "everything they saw" when they later returned.

Gibbons said he loves presenting history's stories to his audiences.

"I love history. I love every part of it. I start to feel these people," he said. "When I'm up there, I don't see the audience. I'm up there with Eisenhower; I'm up there with President Roosevelt; I'm in the classroom with the children."

Ginger Brashinger is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
The Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation received a large donation of toys and $50 recently from S.A.L.T. in Tinley Park. S.A.L.T., which stands for Seniors and Law Enforcement Together, is a joint venture between the Cook County Sheriffs office, the Tinley Park Police Department and the village of Tinley Park to reduce the criminal victimization of senior citizens. (Tinley Park S.A.L.T. photo)

Pullman program focuses on preservation

The Pullman National Monument Preservation Socity, the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and the Pullman State Historic Site present a program, Cultural Heritage Preservation, by Vincent L. Michael, senior director of the Global Heritage Fund from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday at the Hotel Florence in the Pullman National Monument, 11111 S. Forrestville Ave., Chicago. Admission is free but seating is limited and reservations are recommended at http://bit.ly/2g9XBCb. More information is at www.pnmps.org.

Advertisement

Stagg offers musical gift to community

Amos Alonzo Stagg High School will present its annual holiday concert, Spectrum, at 7 p.m. Dec. 14 and at 6 and 8:15 p.m. Dec. 15 at the school's Performing Arts Center, 8015 W. 111th St. The performances are free and open to the public.

Advertisement

2017 Great Read inspires art contest

As part of the 2017 Great Read community literacy program's focus on the Harry Potter series, the White Oak Library is participating in a 20 Years of Harry Potter art contest. Community members are encouraged to read any Harry Potter book and participate in programs at www.greatread.org. In addition, artists from preschool age through adults can submit Harry Potter-inspired art projects in any medium, including digital. Top winners at each local participating library will win $20 gift cards and be entered into a mult-library contest. Entries in the White Oak contest must be dropped off by Feb. 20 at branches in Lockport, Lemont, Crest Hill, Shorewood, Bolingbrook, or Joliet.

Southland fishing club nets toys for kid cancer patients

Fish Tales Fishing Club in Oak Forest netted over 115 toys and $305 in gift cards recently to benefit the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation during the Fishing Club's annual Christmas Party at the Candlelight Banquet Hall in Chicago Ridge. The Orland Park-based non-profit organization provides comfort and distraction from painful treatments to children and teens diagnosed with cancer by providing a toy or gift card in 50 hospitals nationwide.

The organization is still collecting toys. Unwrapped, brand new toys or gifts may be dropped off Dec. 1 through 23 at these locations:

Crestwood Recreation and Wellness Center, 5331 W. 135th St.

Crestwood Village Hall, 13840 S. Cicero Ave.

First Midwest Bank, 13500 Cicero Ave., Crestwood

Advertisement

The Pointe, 14230 Kilpatrick Ave., Crestwood

Charter Fitness, 14726 S. Cicero Ave., Midlothian

Christa McAuliffe School, 8944 W 174th Street, Tinley Park

Country Financial, 7601 W. 191st Street, Suite 2-upper level, Tinley Park

Dunkin Donuts, 7935 W. 171st Avenue, Tinley Park

G-W Publisher, 18604 W. Creek Drive, Tinley Park

Advertisement

Dunkin' Donuts, 19420 S. Harlem, Frankfort

Peace Community Preschool, 21300 S. La Grange Road, Frankfort

FullServ Auto Care, 15436 S. Cicero Avenue

Kerkstra Elementary School, 14950 S. Laramie

Lee R. Foster Elementary School, 5931 W. School Street

Oak Forest City Hall, 15440 Central Avenue

Advertisement

Oak Forest High School, 15201 Central Avenue

Ridge Early Childhood Center, 5151 149th Street

Standard Bank, 15901 S. Central Avenue

Ameriprise Financial, 15030 S. Ravinia Ave., Suite 39, Orland Park

BISA, Bonding and Insurance Specialist Agency, 13841 Southwest

Highway, Orland Park

Advertisement

Dave & Buster's, 49 Orland Square Dr., Orland Park

Evergreen Senior Living, 10820 183rd St., Orland Park

Fernway Park Elementary School, 16600 S. 88th Ave., Orland Park

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

Let's Polka U.S.A., 14500 S. La Grange, Orland Chateau, Orland Park

Orland Park Fire Department Station 2, 15100 S. 80th Ave., Orland Park

Orland Park Fire Department Station 4, 16515 S. 94th Ave., Orland Hills

Advertisement

Orland Park Fire Department Station 5, 8851 W. 143rd St., Orland Park

Thomas Place, 15415 S. Harlem Ave., Orland Park

Treasure Chest Foundation, 15430 70th Ct., Orland Park

More information about the Treasure Chest Foundation is with Colleen Kisel at 708-687-8697 or the foundation's website, www.treasurechest.org
Not every five-year old gets a Twitter account, but then again not every five-year old has served in the United States Marine Corps and the Chattanooga Police Department.

K9 Camie has made it through military and police training, served in Afghanistan and is now ready to take on social media - possibly her most difficult task, to date.

Camie's gregarious, exuberant, love everyone she meets personality is what led to a unanimous decision by her K9 peers to select her as the spokesdog of the group. Camie's duties as a a "bomb" dog take priority, but her love of attention and need to socialize comes in a close second - she's a labrador retriever, after all.

The CPD hopes Camie and her four-legged friends will garner support from our neighbors that officers have already developed relationships with along with creating new partnerships throughout the community.

Be sure to follow @CPDK9Camie to get the canine perspective on CPD news, happenings and developments.
Food City will host a book signing featuring local author, David Carroll. Recently voted the Chattanooga areas Best Columnist/Reporter and Best TV Personality, Mr. Carroll has just published his second book, Volunteer Bama Dawg. The signing will be from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Dec. 17, at the Food City at 5604 Hixson Pike.

Mr. Carroll previously published Chattanooga Radio and Television, a pictorial history of local broadcasting.



The new book is totally different from the first, Mr. Carroll said. While I was out promoting the first book, I spoke to several clubs and churches, telling stories about my career and the people Ive met. People seemed to enjoy it, so Ive put together my best stories, all in one place.



The title, Volunteer Bama Dawg, is based on Mr. Carrolls life, and on one of his most popular stories. It represents the three states Ive loved all my life, he said. I grew up in Alabama, I now live in Tennessee, and I drive through Georgia just about every day. Its who I am. Recently, he found the one spot where a person can stand in those three states at one time. I tell the story of the border that connects Marion, Dade and Jackson counties, he said. You can have your big toe in Tennessee, your heel in Alabama, and your other foot in Georgia. Its become quite the little tourist attraction.



The book includes more than 60 photographs, and stories ranging from comical, to historical, to sentimental. I write about the worst songs ever, fun facts about our local history, my family, famous folks Ive met, and some I never did. I write about my career in radio and TV, covering the schools, and I included more than a few jokes. Some of them are actually funny.



He added, The new book also gives me a chance to follow up on the local personalities who were such a big part of my first book. People love reading about Luther Masingill, Miss Marcia, Tommy Jett, Harry Thornton and his wrestlers, Jim Nabors, and so many others. In this book, I can tell the stories I didnt have room for in the first book.



Mr. Carroll is a longtime radio and TV broadcaster in Chattanooga who anchors the evening news on WRCB Channel 3, and hosts a weekend radio show The Vinyl Express on Chattanoogas Big 95.3 FM.

I hope folks will come by Food City and check out this new book, Mr. Carroll said. If youve been trying to find the perfect Christmas gift for the person who has everything, this just might be it. I love meeting people, and signing the book. Weve had a lot of bad news this year, and the book is filled with humorous, informative, and inspiring stories.



The book is priced at $19.95, and is published by Fresh Ink Press.


Shanghai is home to the regional headquarters of 573 multinational corporations, the Shanghai Municipal Government said Wednesday.

Thanks to the city's growing influence, 38 multinational corporations chose Shanghai for their headquarters in 2016, and 13 of them also serve as the Asia-Pacific headquarters for the companies, according to Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce.

The city has welcomed 13 new foreign investment companies and 12 new research and development centers of foreign enterprises this year.

In addition to creating jobs, the headquarters of multinational corporations contributed taxes of about 41.7 billion yuan (6.06 billion U.S. dollars) in 2015.

According to Shanghai regulations, the headquarters of multinational corporations refer to exclusively foreign-owned enterprises that have multiple functions, including management decisions, fund management, purchasing and marketing, research and development and training. Their total assets should be equal to or more than 200 million U.S. dollars, and they should have set up at least three foreign-invested enterprises in China.
You are here: Home

Chinese authorities are considering revising the country's guidance catalogue for foreign investment, cutting the number of restrictive measures to 62 from the previous 93.

The country's top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, on Wednesday published a revision draft on its website to seek public opinion on the changes.

The easing rules on foreign investment came amid government efforts to push use of the "negative list" approach, which identifies sectors and businesses that are off-limits or restricted for investment.

The "negative list" approach is a common practice adopted in many countries to manage foreign investment. China first piloted the rules in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone in 2013.

Earlier official data showed foreign direct investment (FDI) to the Chinese mainland rose 4.2 percent year on year to reach 666.3 billion yuan (around 96.8 billion U.S. dollars) in the first ten months of the year.
You are here: Home

China's top economic planner said yesterday that it has fined the Chinese unit of US medical device maker Medtronic 118.5 million yuan (US$17 million) for monopoly pricing.

It was the first price fixing case involving a medical device maker investigated by Chinese anti-monopoly regulators.

The National Development and Reform Commission said that since 2014, the company, which supplies cardiovascular, restorative and diabetes-related medical devices, has improperly suppressed competition through monopoly deals with distributors, and set minimum prices.

There is presently no full and open competition in the nation's high-value and implantable medical device market. Medtronic's minimum price deals for medical devices hurt patients, the NDRC said.

The fine represents 4 percent of 2015 sales volume of devices involved in the case. The company has already taken initiatives to correct the problem, the NDRC said.
Pascal Lamy, former director-general of the World Trade Organization. [Photo / China Daily]

The European Union will likely grant China recognition as a market economy soon, former World Trade Organization head Pascal Lamy said.

He made the prediction as the 15th anniversary of China's accession to the WTO approaches on Sunday.

Lamy, who was the WTO director-general from 2005 to 2013, said in Beijing that while the EU is likely to recognize China's market economy status, it will also probably change its anti-dumping regulations in a non-discriminatory way.

As a condition for being admitted to the WTO, China agreed in 2001 that other members could treat it as a "non-market economy" for 15 years ending on Dec 11, 2016. This status has made it relatively easy for aggrieved parties to prosecute anti-dumping claims against China.

Lamy said that changing anti-dumping regulations has long been a subject of debate in the EU, and changes that are made are likely to affect not only China but all other countries that trade with the EU.

"I think the EU will recognize (China's market economy status), but in some way anti-dumping measures will be reformulated."

Lamy, who is now honorary president of the Paris-based think tank Notre Europe, played a key role in negotiating China's admission to the WTO.

Reviewing the past 15 years, he said China has fulfilled the commitments it made. As globalization has proceeded it has also increased the value it adds to the goods it produces, and that has been important in the country's economic growth, he said.

The country has pledged to open up more and wants to proceed with more economic reform, and that is a good signal, Lamy said.

He said he hopes more action will be taken soon, particularly regarding the services sector.

"Better service will come from more competition in the services industry. And, more competition in the services industry will come with more services being imported or foreign service providers establishing themselves within the Chinese system."

The opening up of trade is still the main trend in the world, he said, even if there is opposition in the EU to Chinese steel imports, and there is an anti-free trade backlash in the United States. Protectionism cannot guarantee people's livelihoods and social well-being but is in fact destructive and will not make a return, he said.

"Trade remains open. If you look at trade today, it is more open than yesterday, when it was more open than the day before, so the direction is right," he said.

Reducing obstacles to trade, whether multilaterally, bilaterally or regionally, should be the common goal for all organizations, he said.
You are here: Home

The two astronauts who manned China's Shenzhou-11 mission met the press Wednesday following almost three weeks in quarantine.

Chinese astronaut Chen Dong (R) answers questions during a press conference in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 7, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

Jing Haipeng, 50, commander of the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft, and Chen Dong, 38, appeared in good spirits and shared their experiences with the press.

"Today, we fulfilled our commitment to (making the Shenzhou-11 mission a complete success)," Jing said.

Launched on Oct. 17, Shenzhou-11 docked two days later with China's first space lab, Tiangong-2, where the two astronauts lived for 30 days, the longest time a taikonaut has spent in space.

After safely returning to Earth on Nov. 18, the two astronauts were quarantined to help them readapt to life on Earth.

It was the third space mission for Jing, who also participated in the Shenzhou-7 and Shenzhou-9 missions.

"Compared with previous missions, I really enjoyed and experienced weightlessness during this mission as a result of improved technology and working environment," Jing told reporters.

The two astronauts were able to watch TV programs and enjoy delicious food during their stay in space.

"Listening to music and watching TV made us feel good when we ate," Jing said.

It was Chen's first space mission. He said that at the very beginning, he needed restraining devices for every step, but he gradually adapted to the zero gravity environment.

"I began to enjoy the zero gravity environment and learned new moves such as somersaulting and whirling in space," Chen said.

"I would give Chen a mark of 100 out of 100," Jing told the press while commenting on Chen's performance.

According to Huang Weifen, deputy chief designer of the astronaut system with the Astronaut Center of China, the astronauts' health checks met expectations, although they will continue to be observed for another month to ensure they are completely acclimatized.

The Shenzhou-11 mission is part of China's ambitious plan to build a permanent manned space station.
Chinese education authorities have given the nod to a joint campus in south China's Guangdong Province.

The Guangdong Technion Israel Institute of Technology (Technion Guangdong), located in Shantou City, will draw investment of 4 billion yuan (582 million U.S. dollars) from the provincial and city governments, according to the Guangdong provincial department of education.

The institute, jointly established by Shantou University and Israel Institute of Technology, or Technion, will enroll 2,960 students between 2017 and 2026 to major in chemical engineering and technology, biological technology, and material science and engineering, according to the Ministry of Education.

The establishment of Technion Guangdong is the result of a cooperative agreement signed on Sept. 29, 2013 between Technion and Shantou University, according to Technion's official website.

"The Guangdong Technion Israel Institute of Technology will help to further the advancement of education, research and innovation in engineering," the website cited Peretz Lavie, president of Technion, as saying.

China currently has nine joint campuses, with four located in Guangdong.
A Weibo account registered to a Chinese urologist is stirring up hot debate online after the doctor published a post of him buying a new down coat worth more than 10,000 yuan (around 1,453 USD).

Doctor Ren Liming [Photo: weibo.com]

Ren Liming, surgeon with a hospital in Chengdu, granted an interview with the Chengdu Economic Daily on Tuesday to discuss the online debate.

Responding to those who have blasted him for flaunting a lavish lifestyle, Ren Liming told the newspaper that he loves buying clothes, saying every year he spends more than 200,000 yuan (around 30,000 USD) on clothes.

He says his life changed after he attended a memorial to those who lost their lives in the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. He says he realized life is short, and people need to enjoy their life while they can.

Ren Liming notes his annual salary is around 200,000 yuan. However, he says he can make close to one-million yuan through lectures and investments.

Asked about potential conflicts with patients over salaries, Ren Liming suggests a higher salary for doctors will dissuade medical professionals from over-charging their patients.

And if the web is to be believed, a majority of people in China might agree with that theory.

In a survey launched by Sina.com, more than 70 percent of the roughly 21,000 replies agreed with Ren Liming that higher incomes should help ease doctor-patient conflicts.

More than 90 respondents also say they believe it is Ren's right to use his legal income and post about it on social media.
You are here: Home

All 11 trapped miners were confirmed dead after rescuers retrieved the last two bodies on Wednesday night due to a colliery gas outburst in central China's Hubei Province.

The accident occurred on Monday night in Xinjia Coal Mine in Badong County. Five managed to escape straight after the outburst, leaving 11 trapped.

The cause of the mine accident is being investigated. The Badong government has ordered a safety overhaul and production suspension for all mines in the county.
Qian Renfeng, a former nurse from Southwest China's Yunnan province, has brought out a 1.72-million-yuan compensation (about $250,000) after being wrongly imprisoned for the last 14 years on a murder charge, said Qian's lawyer.

Fourteen years ago, Qian worked as a nurse at a kindergarten in Qiaojia county in Yunnan. One of her duties was to prepare the meals each day for kids.

On February 22, 2002, a child got sick and died of food poisoning, and two others were also hospitalized. Qian was coerced into "confessing" that she had mixed rat poison into the child's food. On September 3, 2002, a local court sentenced her to life in prison. Qian tried to appeal the decision up to the Yunnan Supreme Court, but all appeals failed.

Qian had never given up proving her innocence. In May of last year, the Yunnan procuratorate ruled that there was a lack of evidence to support Qian's conviction, and suggested that the court rehear the case. Finally, Qian was allowed to go free late last year.

Qian requested compensation for her time spent behind bars from the Yunnan Supreme Court in June of this year. As a result, she received 1.72 million yuan compensation for her wrongful conviction and imprisonment.
Trump's diplomacy [By Stephff/China Daily]

Close attention will be paid to Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen's transit via the United States when she travels to Guatemala in early January, for it will shed light on what direction Sino-US relations will take when Donald Trump enters the White House.

Despite Beijing's opposition, the US insists it is a "long-standing practice" since it has given the nod to such transits by leaders of the island many times before.

However, Tsai's transit is taking place soon after she and Trump held a phone conversation, breaking with decades of precedent.

No incumbent or incoming US president has spoken by phone with a Taiwan leader since 1979, when Beijing and Washington established diplomatic relations.

The incident, if indeed by design as reported, could indicate a major US policy shift that would threaten relations, since they are built on the long-standing acknowledgment by the US of one China, which is the sine qua non for healthy relations.

So far Beijing's response to the conversation has remained restrained. It has taken a wait-and-see attitude, giving Trump the benefit of the doubt since he is a novice in foreign policy and won't take the helm until the Jan 20 inauguration. Beijing has demonstrated calmness and confidence again after Trump, in a twitter tirade, lambasted China for its trade, currency and South China Sea policies on Sunday; and even after his economic adviser Stephen Moore went so far as to say "screw them" in a vulgar verbal attack against China.

Such prudence is laudable for the time being, for a good Sino-US relationship serves not only the best interests of people in both countries, but also peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific and beyond.

However, with separatist-minded Tsai due to set foot on US soil, further provocative moves by the US president-elect and his team cannot be ruled out given the reckless and impulsive style of leadership that Trump displays. Especially, as hawks in the US have never given up hope of using Taiwan as part of the US' pivot to Asia aimed at containing the mainland's rise.

Although Beijing has shown that it is willing to keep the bigger picture in mind, this attitude should not be mistaken for weakness.

China has to prepare for the worst, even though it will continue to do all it can to maintain a healthy bilateral relationship. What has happened over the past weeks tends to suggest that Sino-US relations are facing uncertainty as never before, as Trump's words are not necessarily more bark than bite.
While Italy's constitutional referendum heralds a political earthquake that will eventually affect both France and Germany, the immediate result is more uncertainty in economy, political polarization and market volatility.

End of an era in Italy  and Europe

Only hours after Italians had casted their ballot in the referendum on constitutional reforms, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced his resignation after heavy defeat.

Renzi's "Yes" camp included most of his Democratic Party (DP) and centrist allies, and the tacit support of moderate voters, including some from Silvio Berlusconi's Forward Italy (FI). In turn, the opposition lineup featured Beppe Grillo's Five Star Movement (M5S), the regional Northern League (NL) led by Matteo Salvini in alliance with the far-right Brothers of Italy (Fdl) and Berlusconi's Forward Italy (FI), a significant minority of PD allies, a number of small leftist groups.

According to projections, almost 60 percent of voters rejected constitutional changes. "My government ends here," said Renzi from Palazzo Chigi. Moments later, he acknowledged that his pledge to resign if defeated at the polls had been a mistake.

"Democracy has won, the times have changed," concluded Beppe Grillo, the leader of the opposition's Five Star Movement (M5S), calling for elections to take place as soon as possible. In his tweet, NL's Salvini left little doubt about his preferred international partners: "Long live Trump, long live Putin, long live Le Pen, long live the Northern League."

Again, media headlines reflect a "surprise," an "upset," a "disruption." But by now, such views are plain silly. Last summer, I projected that Renzi was about to undermine his rule because of his pledge, which "politicized" the constitutional referendum. Indeed, since the onset of the European sovereign debt crisis in spring 2010, I have argued that the policy solutions at Brussels and the core EU economies  including multiple "bailout" packages and the broad austerity regime  have been misguided, flawed and inadequate . Well before the U.K. referendum, I predicted the Brexit outcome . In effect, the outcome of the Italian referendum was fairly clear already in summer, when I forecasted the demise of the Renzi regime .

The problem is that most mainstream policy observers and media remain far too close to the political class and its financiers in Washington, London, Brussels, Rome and other advanced economies.

Few days ago, Alessandro Di Battista, a rising star of Grillo's M5S issued a call to arms. Renzi's referendum, he told the crowd, was just the latest gambit by a political class determined to insulate itself from the people it should serve. "There are two Italys: on the one side the very wealthy few who look after themselves, and on the other the masses who live every day with problems of transport and public health."

Battista's words were followed by the Five Star chant, "A casa! A casa!" ("Send them home"). M5S got what it wished for.

What next?

Despite neo-liberal dreams of continuity for Renzi's regime, the triumph of Beppe Grillo was only to be expected. The same goes for the rise of government bond yields after the referendum and the relative weakening of the euro. These, however, are likely to prove temporary reactions.

If M5S takes charge of the government, the responses of the financial and currency markets will be more destabilizing and capital outflows are likely to escalate. Italy's volatility could also result in a new sovereign downgrade, which would undermine the perception of stability that the European Central Bank (ECB) has struggled to maintain since the early 2011.

The political future of Italy will be harder to forecast, especially in the near term. First of all, Renzi's constitutional referendum will be followed by Italy's general election, which should take place already by summer 2017. If Renzi had won the referendum, his fragile political victory would have had to cope with the opposition's attacks. Since the opposition won, that could pave way to a new referendum on Italy's Eurozone membership, which, in turn, could result in an "Italexit"  a fatal blow to European integration.

But how likely is this sequence of events?

As Italy has now rejected the constitutional referendum and given the M5S the critical political mandate, the latter should solidify its leadership in the general election while promoting its plan to hold a referendum on the Eurozone. Since almost every third Italian voter today supports M5S, this sounds viable but it will not be easy. After all, the Italian political landscape remains fragmented and fluid. Moreover, unlike its rivals, M5S shuns political alliances, which it would need in the post-referendum transition to consolidate its political might.

Ironically, in the absence of the kind of streamlined governance that Renzi proposed, neither Renzi's PD, nor Grillo's M5S, or any possible third (most likely center-right or radical-right) party will find it easy to manage the post-referendum transition. Indeed, Renzi's referendum, despite its stated objective to make Italy more governable, has made Italy more ungovernable, at least in the short term. And that, in turn, will favor economic uncertainty, political instability and market volatility.

At the regional level, this environment could initiate end-game in Europe. As long as the sovereign debt crisis was limited to small Eurozone economies  Greece, Portugal and the like  which each represented less than 3 percent of the regional economy, bailouts were adequate to delay structural reforms. That period, however, ended in 2011, when the crisis spread to Italy and, to a degree, France. Together, these economies account for almost 30 percent of the regional economy. Today, bailouts are no longer an option. Economic solutions require structural reforms, which the Italy's establishment shuns because these policies are seen as political suicide.

In contrast, opposition has seized the window of opportunity. If the center-left, anti-establishment and Euro-skeptical M5S fails to consolidate political power, it will open the door to radical right, particularly the Northern League, and the center-right opposition party Forza Italia.

Like M5S, the NL strongly opposed the October referendum. Unlike M5S, it represents radical right and is willing to form coalitions. The NL has been reorganizing its ranks to become a national party, with a Euro-skeptic platform. The party's rising star Matteo Salvini perceives himself as Italy's Marine Le Pen.

Salvini sees the euro as a "crime against mankind." He is opposed to illegal immigration. On economic issues, he supports flat tax, fiscal federalism and protectionism. In demonstrations, he dons a Mussolini-style black shirt to court Italy's extreme right group Casa Pound. In foreign policy, Salvini emulates Le Pen's ideas, opposes the international embargo against Russia and supports Italy's broader economic opening to Eastern Europe and Asia. In the U.S., he endorsed Donald Trump whom he met in Philadelphia last April.
 Flash

At least 12 people were killed and 64 wounded when a rebel rocket fire targeted government-controlled areas in the northern city of Aleppo, state news agency SANA reported.

The rockets slammed the neighborhoods of Maysaloun, Masharqa, Martini and Azamiyeh in western Aleppo, said SANA.

It came as the Syrian army has become in control over 80 percent of the rebel-held areas in the eastern part of Aleppo, which explains the retaliatory attack by the rebels on government areas.

The army unleashed its offensive two weeks ago against the rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo, as part of a major offensive launched recently to liberate the eastern part of the city from any rebel presence.

Over 30,000 civilians have fled eastern Aleppo over the past two weeks toward government-controlled areas in the western part of the city. The rebels captured eastern Aleppo in 2012.

Humanitarian organizations sounded the alarm about the situation of 250,000 people living in eastern Aleppo, with the government promising to fix the situation of those relocated in government-controlled areas.
 Flash

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad has been tapped by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to be the next ambassador to China, a Trump spokesperson said Wednesday.

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad receives an interview with Xinhua in Des Moines, Iowa, the United States, on Aug. 10, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

"The governor has a lot of experience and grasp of trade issues, agriculture issues and the understanding of China," Jason Miller said during a routine conference call, adding that official announcement will come out later Wednesday.

"It's very clear that Governor Branstad is someone who'll represent our country well on the world stage," he said.

Branstad, an early supporter of Trump, met with the president-elect in New York Tuesday. He has accepted the offer, according to media reports.

"He's someone who has very much impressed President-elect Trump not just during the meetings but also on the campaign trail," Miller said, "We couldn't be prouder of the selection."

Branstad, 70, has long nurtured a close relationship with China, having visited China multiple times. He served as the governor of Iowa between 1983 to 1999, and again since 2011.

Iowa is now enjoying a tailwind from China's booming market. China is Iowa's fifth largest export market, and the state imported about 1.2 billion U.S. dollars in goods from China in 2011.
 Flash

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Wednesday that the decision to recapture all of Aleppo city in northern Syria from the armed rebels has been taken.

Speaking to the pro-government al-Watan newspaper, Assad said "the decision to liberate all of Syria has been taken, including Aleppo."

Buoyed by the recent progress his troops have made against the armed rebels, the president said that after the armed militants failed in the capital Damascus and the central city of Homs, their last hope was Aleppo.

In a jab on Western countries and their support for the rebels, Assad said after the liberation of Aleppo, neither the West, nor the rebels would have real cards to bet on.

"Aleppo will completely change the course of the battles in Syria, and would mean the failure of the international, regional and foreign schemes," he said.

Regarding a truce in Aleppo as proposed by the Western powers in the UN Security Council, the president said the "United States was begging for establishing a truce because their agents of terrorists have become in a difficult situation."

This comes as the Syrian army has become in control of over 80 percent of the rebel-held areas in the eastern part of Aleppo.

The army unleashed its offensive two weeks ago against the rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo, as part of the major offensive launched recently to liberate the eastern part of the city from any rebel presence.

Over 30,000 civilians have fled eastern Aleppo over the past two weeks toward government-controlled areas in the western part of the city. The rebels captured eastern Aleppo in 2012.

Humanitarian organizations sounded the alarm about the situation of 250,000 people living in eastern Aleppo, with the government promising to fix the situation of those relocated in government-controlled areas.
You are here: Home

 Flash

China and the UK will implement a program to connect young entrepreneurs from the two countries from next year.

Wu Chen, deputy director of The Great Britain China Center, the British partner behind the initiative, told Shanghai Daily yesterday the first steps toward realizing cooperation include talking to potential partners, determining mechanisms of cooperation and working out concrete programs.

The initiative is jointly fostered by the All-China Youth Federation and was announced at the Sixth China-UK Young Leaders Roundtable, an event during the Fourth Meeting of the China-UK High-Level People-to-People Dialogue in Shanghai.

"Encouraging exchanges of entrepreneurs and organizing startup competitions are just some of the ideas at this stage" Wu said.

"We're looking to bring British universities and government organizations working to promote innovation on board because they're interested in cooperating with China."

Pei Huan, deputy secretary-general of the China Foundation for Youth Entrepreneurship and Employment and a panelist at the roundtable, said the foundation's first overseas China Community for Youth Entrepreneurship will open in London tomorrow.

He said the community underlines the growing interest and efforts in establishing incubators benefitting young entrepreneurs from both countries.

Pei said the incubator, run by London-based Cocoon Networks, will help startups access foreign markets and drive international equity investment.

Representatives from politics, NGOs and business at the roundtable discussion also suggested establishing joint venture capital funds between China and the United Kingdom.
 Flash

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, who boasts a 30-year relationship with China, to be the next U.S. ambassador in Beijing, a spokesman for Trump said Wednesday.

"The governor has a lot of experience and grasp of trade issues, agriculture issues and the understanding of China," Jason Miller told reporters.

Branstad, an early supporter of Trump, met with the president-elect in New York on Tuesday. He has accepted the offer, according to media reports.

"He's someone who has very much impressed President-elect Trump not just during the meetings but also on the campaign trail," Miller said. "We couldn't be prouder of the selection."

"It's very clear that Governor Branstad is someone who'll represent our country well on the world stage," he added.

Branstad, 70, has long nurtured a close relationship with China, having visited China multiple times. He served as the governor of Iowa between 1983 and 1999, and again since 2011.

In 1985, Xi Jinping, then party secretary of Zhengding County in the Chinese province of Hebei, led an agricultural delegation to Iowa and stayed with a local family for two days.

Branstad, the Iowa governor at the time, met Xi for the first time and hosted Xi and his colleagues warmly.

During his visit to the United States in 2012, Xi, then Chinese vice president, went to Iowa for a reunion with the family that hosted his delegation 27 years ago. Branstad and Xi met again on the occasion.

During Xi's state visit to the United States in September 2015, Branstad flew to Washington to take part in a welcoming banquet for the Chinese president.

Pundits believed Branstad's expertise on China and friendship with Chinese and U.S. leaders would facilitate him in lubricating the development of the most important bilateral relationship in the global political arena.

His longtime relationship with China could help smooth things out. His personal touch could go a long way in avoiding conflicts caused by miscommunication or misinterpretation.

It is widely believed that the nomination sent a positive signal to the development of the China-U.S. relations amid a mixture of messages from Trump over his attitude toward China.
The Whitfield County Board of Education announce the achievement and status of the Georgia School Boards Associations 2016 Qualitys School Board recognition.



The recognition program was designed to showcase best practices in school governance and leadership. GSBA recognizes good school board governance to foster educational community cultures in order to advance student learning and achievement, officials said.



The Whitfield County school board met and or exceeded the criteria set forth by GSBA to earn this honor of a 2016 Quality Board. Review the criteria for more information.



The GSBA Governance Team Recognition Program was developed by Georgia superintendents and board members based on the state board of educations standards for effective governance to recognize quality leadership.



In 1998, the Georgia School Boards Association was one of the first school board associations in the nation to develop a program of standards for local boards of education.



The GSBA Board recognition program is a three-year, three tiered program. For more information on the program you may visit the GSBA website for awards and recognition or view the criteria for all tiers of the program.
The Dalton Police Department and the Dalton Fire Department will be hosting a community celebration on Monday at 1:30 p.m. at Dalton Fire Station #1 at 404 School Street.

The event is called the "Community Investment Celebration" and is intended to thank the community for voting to approve the recent one cent SPLOST. The event will include an opportunity to show off some of the new equipment the agencies have been able to acquire thanks to the SPLOST, including new fire apparatus and new police cruisers.

Mayor Dennis Mock and members of the city council are scheduled to speak at the event, as are the chiefs of the police department and the fire department.
NEW YORK - Starbucks said on Wednesday that its fast-growing China market could one day eclipse that in the US.

The company unveiled its five-year strategic plan at its biennial investor conference on Wednesday in New York City.

According to the plan, the company eyes to grow revenue by 10 percent, and earnings per share by 15-20 percent as it plans to open approximately 12,000 new stores globally by 2021.

In China alone, the store count will be doubled in the next five years.

Starbucks' China market expansion was emphasized by the company's leadership at the investor conference.

China is Starbucks' fastest growing market and the largest international market. The company now operates approximately 2,500 stores in 118 cities in China, employing more than 30,000 partners (employees) and serving over five million customers every week, said Belinda Wong, chief executive officer of Starbucks China.

To expand its Chinese market, the company reached a strategic partnership with Tencent, a leading provider of internet value-added services in China.

Starting from Thursday, Starbucks will introduce the use of WeChat Pay for purchases in its retail stores across China in an effort to elevate the in-store experience for customers.

In accordance with the company's digital flywheel and mobile system, Starbucks co-created a new social gifting feature on Wechat. Starting from early 2017, the over 800 million global monthly active WeChat users will be able to send Starbucks-branded gifts and products to another person through WeChat. Recipients can redeem their gifts at a local Starbucks store.

The online-to-offline social gifting platform will deepen Starbucks' engagement with its customers and introduce the brand to new customers, said Wong.

"Despite our early success, we are only in the beginning chapters of our growth story," Wong added.

The brand's higher-end Roasteries and Reserve stores will be another driving force for Starbucks' growth. They sell premium coffee and offer customers experience with the craft of roasting and brewing coffee.

The company plans to open its first international Roastery in Shanghai next year.
Employees of Bosera Funds provide consultation services at the company's booth at a finance expo in Beijing. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The first batch of 21 Chinese pension-fund management institutions were approved on Tuesday afternoon. This move is expected to shore up the A-share market greatly.

The National Council for Social Security Fund released on its official website the list of approved companies, including 14 fund management companies, six insurance companies and one securities firm. Among these are China Asset Management Co Ltd, China Life Pension Co Ltd and CITIC Securities. Pension funds previously stayed in bank deposits or treasury bonds, with low yields.

"Based on related regulation, we selected the 21 qualified investment institutions after strict examination and approval processes," said the statement of National Council for Social Security Fund.

Wang Guojun, an insurance professor with the University of International Business and Economics, said it's good to have the option of such managed investments, or the investment return of pension funds cannot be guaranteed.

"It shows confidence in the investment institutions' performances and the release is positive for boosting the A-share market," said Wang.

Wang said the first batch fund of 300 billion yuan ($43.6 billion) is expected to be placed under the management of the qualified investment institutions.

Hong Hao, chief strategist at BOCOM International, said it's positive for the domestic stock market and this approach has been proven by international experience.

According to Hong, pension funds are managed by professional institutions in the United States, and the system is similar in Singapore.

But, Hong said, it does not mean that now is the best time to invest in the A-share market, because these qualified pension managers will start to open positions in the next six months to one year.

In October, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said the first batch of pension fund management institutions would be chosen by the end of this year and would officially launch their operations.

China's pension fund assets totaled 3.99 trillion yuan at the end of 2015, according to data from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

On May 1, the national guideline to regulate the management of the pension funds took effect. It is the first of its kind issued by the central government.

The guideline allows the country's pension funds to invest in more diversified products with higher risks, such as stocks and private equity funds.
Energy reform in Mexico opens market for first time in the nation for almost 80 years

CNOOC, China's largest offshore oil and natural gas producer, has strengthened its investment in Mexico's energy sector by buying two deepwater oil blocks at auction.

China National Offshore Oil Corp has won two of the 10 blocks on offer, one of them just 6.5 kilometers from the maritime border with the US, with bids that far outstripped the minimum required, according to the State-owned company.

The first offer was nearly six times the minimum required, and the second was almost as high, the company said.

The deepwater oil blocks are considered a "jewel in the crown" by the Mexican government. The auction was part of the country's energy reform that is opening a sector that has been closed to private exploration and production for nearly 80 years.

According to Li Li, energy research director with ICIS China, Mexico's energy opening, which is meant to revitalize the country's oil and gas industry, is good news for Chinese companies, as the country is listed as the 12th largest oil producer with rich oil and gas resources.

"Mexico's plan to tender deepwater exploration blocks in the Gulf of Mexico, open to foreign and private companies, is a good outcome for the country, given the low-price environment for oil and gas," said Li.

"It will further help Mexico open up its energy sectors. And, foreign companies, including the Chinese State-owned companies like CNOOC, will have more development opportunities and a more comprehensive strategic layout in South America through the bidding."

CNOOC and other participants have rich experience in offshore oil exploitation, which will help Mexico better drill for the country's rich deep sea resources, she said.

According to the Mexican government, four of the 10 deepwater blocks being auctioned are located in the Perdido Fold belt, near the US side of the Gulf. Six are in the unexplored Salina basin further south.

Pedro Joaquin Coldwell, Mexico's energy secretary, said the Mexican government is delighted that China came to compete and win, saying the move helps boost the two nations' economic ties.

If this contributes to opening a new chapter in Sino-Mexican relations, that will be something else good to have come out of the energy reform, he said.

Mexico abruptly annulled a $3.6 billion high-speed rail contract won by a consortium led by China Railway Construction Corporation in 2014, which strained bilateral relations.

Duncan Wood, head of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington said in an interview with The Financial Times that this is a sign that Chinese firms really want to get involved here, despite China not yet being a major player in Mexico up to now.

In addition to CNOOC, a consortium made up of Norway's Statoil, BP and Total of France also won two contracts. Mexican oil company Sierra was part of consortiums that won two other licenses and a Chevron-led bid scooped another.

Total and ExxonMobil of the US also won one bid. Shell failed to win the only block it bid for.
Senior officials and trade association leaders from China and Iran have called for reinforcing Beijing's role in revitalizing infrastructure and trade in Iran.

China is well positioned for this since the country has been "a friend" during hard times, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said.

Zarif, in an official visit to China, made the remarks late Tuesday at the Iran-China Business Forum, a gathering of more than 300 corporate delegates.

Zarif said Iran is a "safe country" that is "now ready for more Chinese investment". Teheran will offer good terms to boost bilateral corporate exchanges, Zarif added.

The visit was made at a time when China's role has been highlighted in helping the oil-rich Middle Eastern country address the poor condition of its infrastructure after the lifting of international sanctions in January. The sanctions were imposed 10 years earlier over Iran's nuclear program.

In the latest measure of progress in energy cooperation, Iran's Deputy Oil Minister Abbas Kazemi said in Teheran on Wednesday that Iran and China will jointly launch a $3 billion project to develop and improve Abadan Refinery, Iran's Mehr news agency reported.

Jiang Zengwei, chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said the two countries should "expand trade in crude oil and petroleum products and conduct technology transfers and personnel training". Also they should work together more closely in oil exploration and refinery and equipment manufacturing, he said.

China has become Iran's largest trade partner, largest oil buyer and one of its major sources of foreign investment, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

China imported up to 300 million metric tons of crude oil from the country last year.

Chinese firms are well situated to work on infrastructure projects such as railways, roads, ports and power plants in Iran, given that they possess leading technology and ample capital, Jiang said.

China's production capacity cooperation with Iran could also play an important role in the Belt and Road Initiative, according to Jiang

Gholam-Hossein Shafei, chairman of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, said there are opportunities for the countries to work on financial exchanges, capital flow and visa procedures.

The two sides can boost manufacturing cooperation, given that "Chinese companies could shift some of their production operations to Iran" to make goods that could be exported globally, Shafei said.

Chen Qiqi and Chu Yi contributed to this story.
John Hammonds and Perry Massengill have been honored by being named the Fisheries Divisions biologist of the year and fisheries technician of the year, respectively.

Mr. Hammonds is the Reservoir Operations coordinator in TWRA Region IV. Mr. Massengil serves as a Technician 2 for the Region III reservoir fisheries crew.

Mr. Hammonds has been with the agency for 12 years, where he has served as a reservoir biologist prior to moving into his current position. As the coordinator for Reservoir Operations, he is responsible for fisheries programs focusing on fisheries data collection, and habitat improvements.

Mr. Hammonds has made efforts in developing and implementing innovative reservoir habitat management projects and assisting on aquatic nuisance species issues. He has administered and secured reservoir funding opportunities for the agency and addressing habitat permitting for area reservoirs. He has played a key role in securing in funding to assist with cooperative projects regarding reservoir habitat enhancement and shoreline vegetation management in regional reservoirs.

His efforts over the last year have led to the expansion of the habitat enhancement project within TWRA and developed a new level of cooperation in managing East Tennessee reservoirs. He has worked to prevent the spread of the invasive zebra mussels from a quarry used by recreational divers.

Mr. Hammonds has continued to act as the chair for the Outreach Committee of the Tennessee Chapter of the American Fisheries Society. He has always been willing to assist other work units and regularly helps out with harvesting hatchery ponds, stream surveys, public programs, and administrative support. He has also recently been involved with a trout in the classroom project in his hometown of Newport and conducts a stream side ecology program for a local school every year.

Mr. Massengill has served the TWRA for 20 years. In addition to performing a variety of fish survey work, he is also entrusted with the task of entering and organizing most of the data. He displays a sincere commitment to Tennessees anglers which is evident in his willingness to go above and beyond on various projects.



Mr. Massengill works to help educate the next generation of anglers, and has teamed with his colleagues to conduct workshops with local high school fishing teams. These workshops show young anglers how aquatic nuisance species move and how to check their boats.

Mr. Massengill served on an advisory board for Rhea County High School to help develop job descriptions for wildlife and fisheries management careers. He also participated in Earth Day activities in Rhea County. He has an active role with the Annual Chuck Copeland Memorial Fishing Rodeo, which is one of the largest events in the state. He also takes a lead in planning the event, arranges for special guests, and works on prizes and donations.
Foreign companies should carefully study the antitrust law while operating in China, a senior official with the nation's top antitrust enforcer said after it announced on Wednesday the first penalty in the medical instrument manufacturing industry.

The China unit of US company Medtronic, a leading supplier of high-end medical devices such as an insulin pumping system, was fined 119 million yuan ($17.3 million), or 4 percent of the company's annual sales in China last year, for eliminating market competition in the medical industry, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

Investigations found that the company had fixed resale prices through monopoly agreements with its dealers.

Compared with the record-high 6.088 billion yuan fine imposed on Qualcomm in 2014, the amount is at the medium level of the penalty system, which ranges from 1 to 10 percent of the sales of the investigated company in the previous fiscal year.

The company is the first in the medical device industry to face such a fine, which came after the commission investigated several major medical companies before announcing the decision, according to Zhang Handong, director of the commission's Price Supervision Bureau.

The decision was made after nearly one year of investigation and after more than 10 visits for on-site evidence collection, according to Zhang.

"Fixing the resale price is among the leading causes that drive up the prices of high-end medical devices to unusually high levels in China," said Zhang. "We hope the case can become a good example as we strive to promote fair market competition."

Zhang said the commission treats all market players equally, without discrimination toward foreign or domestic companies, while conducting anti-monopoly enforcement actions.

Xu Xinyu, a veteran commission official who was in charge of the investigation in the landmark case against Qualcomm in 2014, said that foreign companies should study local antitrust law and comply with rules while operating businesses in China.

"Some foreign companies violate the law willfully," he said, without revealing any company names.

Xu said the commission had not imposed stricter enforcement on Medtronic to boost growth of domestic companies.

"Setting minimum resale prices is not legal per se in the United States, either," he said.

"Medtronic failed to prove that its conduct could be exempted according to the criteria prescribed by China's Anti-Monopoly Law," he said.

Medtronic said in an email to China Daily that the company accepts the decision.

It also said that it is committed to ensuring that it is in full compliance with local laws and regulations.

Xu said the commission would enhance anti-monopoly enforcement in the future and strengthen pricing supervision.

In a document released earlier this year, the NDRC said it will pay close attention to antitrust investigation of the pharmaceutical, medical equipment, automobile and industrial raw materials industries.

wangyanfei@chinadaily.com.cn
MELBOURNE - Other nations could learn a lot from Australia's willingness to embrace globalization, the Premier of the Australian state of Victoria said on Thursday.

Premier Daniel Andrews told the Boao Forum For Asia that encouraging further globalization in an increasingly "isolationist" political climate was vital to future global prosperity, and that foreign leaders only have to look to Australia's lead to recognize the vast benefits of embracing globalization.

The Boao Forum is an opportunity for economic, business and political leaders to discuss "The Future of Globalization," and Andrews lauded the leading role Australia has played in encouraging the movement, through free trade deals, education opportunities and tourism.

He said the benefits of Australia's free trade deal with China were obvious to see, and multilateral international cooperation could open a lot of doors for further opportunities in the region.

"The China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) is one (positive) example," Andrews told the forum. "If we can get (agreements like this) done in a bilateral way, we can improve partnerships for the benefit of everybody involved.

"They might be stronger if they were of a multilateral nature but ultimately we're committed to making the most of the arrangements we have. I think ChAFTA, and other free trade deals in the region, are a model for what can be achieved."

Andrews said the current political landscape was challenging for proponents of globalization, but added that embracing the global push would help and not hinder the global economy.

"It would seem that while there might have been support for things like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) a year ago, but things have changed," the premier said.

"The important thing is to remember that globalization, open markets, open dialogue and shared investment are critical to prosperity and growth for the future. You simply cannot achieve what we want to achieve if we don't work together.

"It's become fashionable to question globalization, and that's been something under close examination in many parts of the world of recent times."

He believed that this "isolationist" agenda seemed to be quite popular at the moment, but benefited no one.

Meanwhile Secretary General of the Boao Forum Zhou Wenzhong agreed with Andrews' sentiment, telling the forum that "globalization has been an important driving force for the global economy," while former Chinese Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan hailed the relationship between Australia and China.

"Both China and Australia are active promoters of globalization," he said.
BEIJING - Global leading coffee shop chain Starbucks partnered with Chinese internet giant Tencent to make WeChat mobile payment available in all its coffee shops in China, Tencent announced Thursday.

Starting from Thursday, customers can pay by WeChat in about 2,500 Starbucks outlets across China, according to the strategic agreement inked by the two companies.

Before this, customers could only pay in cash, bank cards or Apple pay.

International accounting firm PwC revealed in a recent global survey that nearly one-third of Chinese respondents preferred mobile payment.

Meanwhile, the two companies will roll out a digital gift-giving service on WeChat early next year, allowing WeChat users to send and receive Starbucks digital gifts and then cash in them at offline outlets.

Starbucks will be the first retail brand to use the digital gift-sharing service, supported by the social network's 846 million monthly active users.
SUVA - Fiji on Thursday expressed its appreciation towards China for capacity building assistance, as the Pacific island nation's senior officials are undergoing intensive training at a renowned institution in the Asian country.

The group of Fiji's 19 senior civil servants, led by Sakeasi Waikere, deputy secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister, is currently receiving week-long training tailor made for senior government leaders and top executives from business sectors at the China Executive Leadership Academy Pudong (CELAP), situated in Shanghai.

Other group members include senior officials from Fiji's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, Ministry of Fisheries, Ministry of Forests, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources, as well as senior managers from the Land Transport Authority and Water Authority of Fiji.

"The Fijian government acknowledges the government of the People's Republic of China and its embassy in Suva for facilitating such opportunities to observe China's development with an ongoing theme of leadership building," Fiji's Department of Information said.

"With the current ongoing civil service reforms, such international engagements will not only improve service delivery within the civil service and the people it serves, it will also benefit the livelihood of the Fijian people through the implementation of new initiatives learnt that directly impacts Fijian lives," the department added.

Officially opened in March, 2005, the CELAP is a Shanghai-based national institution in leadership training and development.
China's largest State-owned commercial bank by assets announced on Thursday it will invest 12 billion yuan ($1.75 billion) to set up a wholly owned asset management company specialized in debt-to-equity swaps.

The board of directors of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd approved the proposal, which needs regulatory approval.

The others of the "Big Five" State-owned commercial banks are also planning to establish their own asset management arm, said people with knowledge of the matter.

Last month, Agricultural Bank of China Ltd announced that its board of directors had approved the proposal to set up a wholly owned subsidiary, ABC Asset Management Co, in Beijing with a registered capital of 10 billion yuan.

"After the subsidiaries are established, they will raise funds for debt-to-equity swaps from qualified institutional and individual investors. The sources of money will include insurance funds, pension funds and industrial investment funds that can make long-term investments," said Zhang Minghe, who leads the debt-to-equity swap business of China Construction Bank Corp.
China will further open up the segments of batteries of new energy vehicles and automotive electronics to foreign investment, to level the playing field in the world's largest auto market, according to a revised guidance by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce released on Wednesday.

"Such a policy shows that the government is working to level the playing field and encourage fair economic activity. Local battery manufacturers will have more incentives to innovate and improve the quality of their products," said Wang Binggang, an expert working on the new energy vehicle research project led by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Wang also said local governments need to strike a proper balance when implementing relevant policies.

"It's a positive signal that the government has gradually opened up the industry. Local governments, however, should avoid overreacting to such an adjustment. They shouldn't come up with policies much more preferential to foreign companies than local counterparts. Otherwise, it would hamper the efforts toward creating a fair and competitive environment," Wang said.

The ministry of commerce is seeking public opinion until January 2017 on the revised guidance on industries open to foreign investment. Besides the manufacturing sector, the guidance also offers more foreign investment access to the services sector and the mining industry, and reduces the number of restrictive measures from 93 to 62.

In recent years, the growing new energy vehicle industry has been attracting the attention of manufacturers both in China and overseas.

Mercedes-Benz, a unit of the German company Daimler AG, plans to build a battery plant and make electric cars in China, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

"It's our strategy to localize production in China, and that goes for electric cars too," said Hubertus Troska, head of Chinese operations at Mercedes parent Daimler AG on Monday. "China's government has a strategic goal to fire up electric vehicles, aimed at improving air quality but clearly also at lessening dependence on oil imports."

Carmakers from Volkswagen AG to General Motors Co are boosting production in China as sales make up an increasing share of their bottom line. Mercedes already builds most of its vehicles sold in China locally, including longer versions of the E-Class and the C-Class that are popular among domestic buyers. It also makes a plug-in hybrid C-Class, using batteries made by local suppliers.

Shaanxi J& R Optimum Energy Co Ltd, a listed Chinese company, also made inroads into the lithium-ion automotive battery industry in November by acquiring a 19.9 percent stake in Altura Mining Ltd, an Australian supplier of lithium raw materials, for A$41.6 million ($30.69 million).

In China, the output of lithium-ion automotive batteries was 16.9 GWh in 2015, while the demand is projected to reach 125 GWh in 2020, according to data compiled by Sinolink Securities Co.

Bloomberg contributed to this story
A tourist takes a photograph at a beach in Bali, Indonesia. [Photo/Agencies]

I'm a platinum member of a popular Chinese booking site, spending the equivalent of thousands of dollars on travel for the past 11 months this year alone. Yet I've been excluded from its private clubI may not be able to join it in my lifetime.

Last week, I searched the site for the best affordable package trip I could buy for my family of five for the coming Chinese New Year, a ritual my colleagues and friends do every year around this time. Our destination is Southeast Asia where sun, beach and tropical breeze beckon to people who live in constant worry about smog.

However, finding bargain deals was difficult. As a parent of two young children, aged 7 and 1, I'm picky about flights, connection times and hotels. So hoping against hope, I clicked on the dingjiyou or "top-class tour" button and was directed to a micro site devoted to the rich travelers. I was dumbfounded by how much they pay for their breaks.

While I shied away from an offer of more than 63,000 yuan ($9,150) for a five-night family vacation on Bali Island during the holiday, a luxury four-night package would cost almost four times more.

The perks for the wealthy include business-class flights, upscale hotels, bespoke activities and sweeteners like a massage or a welcome cocktail "Rock My World". In comparison, the deal I was looking at featured red-eye flights, stopovers in Manila and a basic itinerary interspersed with compulsory shopping tours arranged between tour guides and stores.

The eye-popping prices don't seem to have deterred well-heeled travelers with much of the inventory sold out weeks before the traditional Chinese holiday. In recent years, Chinese tourism operators and researchers have gone gaga over luxury travel that caters to a niche demographic, roughly defined as those who make at least 1 million yuan per year and spend more than 50,000 yuan on a single trip.

My booking site, of which I've been a loyal customer for more than a decade, screens potential travelers from its massive member database, offering private tours to tens of thousands who book five-star hotels and travel in business or first class several times a year.

As a frugal traveler, I'm not one of them. Whether I go alone or with my family, I'd put a lot of planning into it and try to get more bang for my buck. For longer leg room, I try to get a first-row seat or one near the emergency exit. We don't dine in luxury hotels abroad. There are many serendipitous discoveries in small restaurants, food courts or even deli shops.

But rich and young Chinese travelers aged 18-36 can now go abroad every 3-4 months, mainly for leisure, with an annual spending of 420,000 yuan and an average hotel budget at 3,100 yuan per night, according to findings by the Hurun Report better known for its annual China Rich List.

Surely, such extravagant travel isn't necessarily a rich man's folly. And not all prestige-seeking travelers ignore the intrinsic utility of their money. In many cases, privileged travelers seek unique experiences that impress their friends and colleagues on WeChat.

Two rich parents from my son's kindergarten class recently wowed us, with updates on their expensive family tour in the US, including a picture of them kissing their two young children, under a giant statue depicting a famous New York Times Square kiss that celebrated the end of World War II.

Yet, these costly experiences often smack of ostentatious spending common among China's nouveau riche. The Hurun Report says about half of rich Chinese Millennials' tourism spending is still on luxury shopping, primarily clothing, bags, watches and jewelry.

We've heard stories about how Chinese tourists abroad have become more discerning and sophisticated, with shifts from snapping up bags to having a coffee or stroll on the beach. Perhaps the luxury travel craze is a phase.

Even the discounted Bali tour looks ridiculously costly to me, since I really don't care what other people think of us.
Chinese astronaut Chen Dong (R) answers questions during a press conference in Beijing, capital of China, Dec 7, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

Staying home for a whole week might seem unbearable to most people, but for astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong, staying in space for a month was not enough.

"We hoped that the mission could last longer because we had so much fun in space," said Jing, commander of the Shenzhou XI mission. "We had a very memorable journey."

Jing, 50, who is now China's most experienced astronaut, and Chen, 37, a first-time space flier, met with reporters on Wednesday at the Astronaut Center of China in Beijing's northwestern suburbs.

Appearing in public for the first time since returning to Earth on Nov 18, following a monthlong mission in orbit, the two were kept at a safe distance from reporters because they were still in quarantine.

The astronauts embarked on the space trip aboard the Shenzhou XI spacecraft from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Oct 17. They entered the Tiangong II space laboratory, which was launched in mid-September from the same center, on Oct 19.

Their 33-day journey was the longest space stay by Chinese astronauts. The longest previous space trip by Chinese astronauts was the 15-day Shenzhou X mission in June 2013.
Xi and African nation's president oversee signing of preferential loan agreements

Chinese President Xi Jinping (2nd R) and his wife Peng Liyuan (1st R) pose for photos with President of the Republic of Gabon Ali Bongo Ondimba (2nd L) and his wife before Xi holds talks with Ali Bongo in Beijing, capital of China, Dec 7, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

China agreed on Wednesday to provide preferential loans to Gabon to support the African country's infrastructure projects.

President Xi Jinping and Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba oversaw the Beijing signing ceremony of four bilateral cooperative documents, two of them including preferential loans.

China would provide preferential loans for a perimeter highway project to be built around Libreville, capital of Gabon, under one agreement. The 11-kilometer road, to be completed by the China Road and Bridge Corp, will be a key link between the new and old downtown areas of the city.

Zhang Ming, vice-foreign minister, told China Daily after the signing ceremony that the two agreements on loans mean China will provide major financial support to Gabon's infrastructure projects.

During the talks with Bongo, Xi said that China supports Gabon's efforts to speed up the country's industrialization and convert the country's resources advantages into development results.

China encourages domestic companies to take an active part in infrastructure projects in Gabon, Xi said, adding that China hopes to support Gabon's development of industries such as tourism, finance and telecommunications.

Xi told Bongo that he was impressed by the African leader surpassing his father's record for visiting China. His father, Omar Bongo Ondimba, former Gabonese president, visited China 11 times from 1974 to 2009.

Bongo is paying his 12th visit to China from Tuesday to Friday. Apart from Beijing, he will also visit Shantou in Guangdong province.
An associate professor of chemistry and three others stood trial on Monday at Wuhan Intermediate People's Court in Hubei province on a charge of manufacturing and smuggling strictly-controlled psychotropic drugs.

The professor, surnamed Zhang, who taught at a renowned university in Wuhan, allegedly started a drug company with his friend to manufacture psychotropic drugs, according to a report by Chutian Metropolis Daily.

The drugs were exported mainly to Europe and the United States, and brought in monthly revenue of about $600,000, it said.

Zhang and the other three, arrested last year, are facing charges of manufacturing and smuggling prohibited drugs after the contraband was intercepted by Wuhan Customs at Tianhe airport in 2014.

The prohibited drugs smuggled by the four amounted to 31.9 kg, the paper reported.

Founded in 2005, Zhang's company began to manufacture psychotropic drugs and develop new forms of drugs, notably methylone, a strong stimulant that can cause delusions, nose bleeds, nausea, skin rashes, anxiety or even death, experts said.

It has been included on China's list of strictly-controlled psychotropic drugs, but tempted by huge profit margins, the group continued to illegally manufacture and smuggle the drug.

The raw materials were obtained through irregular channels and they faked the name of the goods to pass customs inspection. The four have admitted their crimes.

The verdict has yet to be announced.
The Union Gospel Mission of Chattanooga will host its Annual Community Christmas Dinner on Friday, Dec. 23, from 12-2 p.m. (or until the food runs out.) The event will be held at Miller Park, downtown Chattanooga, across from the main Post Office.

The Union Gospel Mission will be providing a free Christmas meal consisting of turkey, ham, potatoes, green beans, corn, roll, dessert, and tea. They will also be giving away blankets, cold weather clothing, and other miscellaneous items.

What better way to celebrate the birth of our Savior than to do something nice for those around us, especially those in need? says UGM Executive Director Rev. Jon Rector. Christmas is such an incredible time to live and give like Christ calls us to do and this is just one small way we can do that."

The Union Gospel Mission, Chattanoogas oldest homeless organization, is dedicated to serving the homeless and needy of Chattanooga and the tri-state area by providing physical, social, and spiritual resources; to meet the true needs of our clients.

For more information please contact Jon Rector via email: mail@theuniongospelmission.org or call the office at 752-4998.




Powerful opioid is variant of chemical that killed musician Prince in April

China hasn't blacklisted carfentanil, a synthetic opioid, as a controlled substance, thus it can still be legally produced by qualified chemical companies, according to a senior official at the Ministry of Public Security's Narcotics Control Bureau, who declined to be named.

He spoke to China Daily in an exclusive interview, responding to recent media reports in Western countries such as the United States and Canada alleging that China-exported carfentanil had caused a rise in overdose deaths there.

"There is no convincing evidence or scientific statistics to show that the China-exported substance has been widely abused in the US or Europe, leading to deaths there," he said.

Carfentanil, one of the most potent opioids known, is a variant of fentanyl, a prescription painkiller that killed US musician Prince earlier this year. US experts said it's 100 times stronger than fentanyl and thousands of times more deadly than heroin.

An National Public Radio report on Sept 2 said carfentanil is being sold on streets in the US, either mixed with heroin or pressed into pills that look like prescription drugs.

That has deadly consequences, it said. The US Drug Enforcement Administration said much of the carfentanil being sold on the streets is illicitly imported from China, without giving further details.

"It is mere speculation, as there is no solid evidence to prove the source, the exact number of victims, or the severity of the problem in these countries," the official said. "There have only been some individual cases of drug addicts in the US dying from using it."

However, he added that the ministry would further tighten management and control over such substances.

"It stimulates the human nervous system and does harm to people's health, while having no medical value," he said.

Melvin Patterson, a staff coordinator with the congressional and public affairs department at the US Department of State, told China Daily in an email that the DEA and China have a sound working relationship.

"The DEA has offices in China and the agents there do a great job working with Chinese law enforcement officials to prevent illegal substances from being shipped to the US," Patterson said.

Facing public health and social stability challenges caused by narcotic and psychotropic drugs, widely known as "lab drugs", the Chinese government issued a regulation last year to improve control and surveillance of such substances, according to Wei Xiaojun, a senior official at the China National Narcotics Control Commission.

"Such 'lab drugs' have become the second-largest abused substance, following marijuana, in Europe and North Africa," he told China Radio International last year.

Under the regulation, China added another 116 synthetic drugs to the controlled-substance list, including acetylfentanyl, a less potent fentanyl variant, previous reports said.

Once "blacklisted", the manufacture, sales, transportation, import/export, stocking and use of a substance is strictly prohibited and severely punished.

Xiao Yingxia, a division director at the Ministry of Public Security's Narcotics Control Bureau, told CRI that some of the newly added substances had, so far, not been found to be abused with in the country.

"But they had been found being produced and marketed in China, and were confirmed to be leading to abuse and overdose deaths abroad," Xiao said, adding that the move to blacklist such substances highlights the global cooperation and responsibility adopted in fighting such issues.

Zhu Qian, an associated professor of the pain medicine department of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital said abuse or overdose of fentanyl can lead to breath depression or even death.

Currently, fentanyl is used clinically as a powerful painkiller for surgery anesthesi or among cancer patients.

"It's under strict control and requires the red colored narcotic drug prescription," he said.

But Carfentanil is usually used as big animal tranquilizers, not for humans, he added.
Ren Liming posts a picture of a down coat worth more than 10,000 yuan on his Weibo account. [Photo/weibo.com]

A Weibo account registered to a Chinese urologist is stirring up hot debate online after the doctor published a post of him buying a new down coat worth more than 10,000 yuan (around 1,453 USD).

Ren Liming, surgeon with a hospital in Chengdu, granted an interview with the Chengdu Economic Daily on Tuesday to discuss the online debate.

Responding to those who have blasted him for flaunting a lavish lifestyle, Ren Liming told the newspaper that he loves buying clothes, saying every year he spends more than 200,000 yuan (around 30,000 USD) on clothes.

He says his life changed after he attended a memorial to those who lost their lives in the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. He says he realized life is short, and people need to enjoy their life while they can.

Ren Liming notes his annual salary is around 200,000 yuan. However, he says he can make close to one-million yuan through lectures and investments.

Asked about potential conflicts with patients over salaries, Ren Liming suggests a higher salary for doctors will dissuade medical professionals from over-charging their patients.

And if the web is to be believed, a majority of people in China might agree with that theory.

In a survey launched by Sina.com, more than 70 percent of the roughly 21,000 replies agreed with Ren Liming that higher incomes should help ease doctor-patient conflicts.

More than 90 respondents also say they believe it is Ren's right to use his legal income and post about it on social media.
11 confirmed dead in central China mine accident

Xinhua | Updated: 2016-12-08 09:28

WUHAN - All 11 trapped miners were confirmed dead after rescuers retrieved the last two bodies on Wednesday night due to a colliery gas outburst in central China's Hubei Province.



The accident occurred on Monday night in Xinjia Coal Mine in Badong County. Five managed to escape straight after the outburst, leaving 11 trapped.



The cause of the mine accident is being investigated. The Badong government has ordered a safety overhaul and production suspension for all mines in the county.
File photo shows Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong (Centre) poses for a group photo with advanced individuals and units at the opening ceremony of the 10th Confucius Institute Conference in Shanghai, China, Dec 6, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

About 2,400 participants from across the world are expected to attend the 11th Confucius Institute Conference in Southwest China's Kunming city over the weekend.

The annual gathering, also called "Davos of the education sector", will invite representatives of universities, diplomats and businessmen from 140 countries.

This year's conference theme is "innovation, cooperation, Inclusion and Sharing". Under the theme, university deans from around the globe will take part in debates in seven sub-forums on such topics as the links between Confucius Institute and "Belt and Road" Initiative.

Chinese vice-premier Liu Yandong will make a keynote speech and present awards at the opening ceremony in the capital city of Yunnan province on Dec 10.
China to punish fraud in rural health insurance

Xinhua | Updated: 2016-12-08 14:30

BEIJING - China is to inspect rural health insurance funds to combat fraud, according to the top health authority.



Some individuals have forged invoices to swindle funds, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission.



Local health authorities are required to conduct self-examinations first and then they are subject to spot check by inspection teams from the National Health and Family Planning Commission and financial, audit and public security departments.



The commission has urged speeding up the sharing of information to prevent such frauds.
URUMQI - No casualties have been reported since a magnitude 6.2 earthquake in Hutubi County in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region at 1:15 pm Thursday.

The epicenter is located at 43.83 degrees north latitude and 86.35 degrees east longitude. The quake struck at a depth of 6 km, and was felt strongly in Urumqi, the regional capital 100 km away, and other parts of northern Xinjiang.

Wang Guiqin who lives on the second floor of a building in Hutubi, told Xinhua "the building was shaking and the lamp looked like it would fall. The balcony door shook open."

Liu Xingguo in Hutubi said he was in his yard when the quake struck. He felt the ground shaking, but his brick house was undamaged. He did not see any other houses collapse in the village.

A Xinhua reporter in Urumqi said his office building shook for more than 10 seconds. Drink cans and bottles fell from shelves in a supermarket in Urumqi.

A county official in Hutubi told Xinhua that no houses had collapsed in the urban area. Officials are checking damage in townships.

In Sangong Township of neighboring Manas County, there were cracks in some houses and some chimneys fell. Residents ran out of their houses.

Students were evacuated from classrooms to safe areas. Some primary schools in Hutubi canceled classes on Thursday afternoon.

A safety check was conducted on railway facilities in Urumqi and Kuytun, according to the Urumqi Railway Bureau.

As of 2 p.m. Thursday, 31 aftershocks have been recorded, including six measuring between 3.0 and 3.9 magnitude.
BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping has said ideological work in colleges should be integrated into the entire education process, underlining the need of firm Party leadership in higher education.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at a two-day meeting on ideological and political work in China's universities and colleges, which concluded Thursday.

Members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli attended the meeting, together with other senior officials and college officials.

As higher education is a key factor in a country's development potential, it is urgent for China to improve the quality of its higher education, Xi said.

China's unique history, culture and national conditions have dictated the development path for higher education and colleges featuring socialism with Chinese characteristics, according to Xi.

As higher education shoulders the major responsibility of cultivating successors for the socialist cause, it must adhere to correct political orientation, Xi said, adding that only by cultivating first-class talent can universities become world-class institutions.

Improving the ability to cultivate talent is the core work of higher education and must be the focus, Xi said.

"China's higher education institutions are under the leadership of the CPC, and are socialist colleges with Chinese characteristics, so higher education must be guided by Marxism, and the Party's policies in education must be fully carried out," said Xi.

The president called for greater efforts to teach Marxist theory to help students lay an ideological foundation for their lives.

Ideological and political work is fundamentally work about individuals, Xi said. The work must focus on students, caring for them, serving them, and helping them improve in ideological quality, political awareness, moral characteristics and humanistic quality to enable them to develop both ability and integrity, according to Xi.

"Students should be educated to be aware of the development trends of China and the world at large," Xi said, adding that they should develop firm beliefs and confidence in lofty communist ideals and socialism with Chinese characteristics.

"Students should be encouraged to integrate their own ideals and pursuits into the cause of the nation," Xi said, urging colleges to educate their students to be bold trailblazers and "translate their ideals into concrete actions."

Xi stressed that colleges should make full use of classroom teaching, strengthening teaching on ideological and political theory through reforms to make ideological and political education more appealing.

Xi urged college teachers to be "disseminators of advanced ideology and culture" and "staunch supporters of governance by the Party," so that they can better guide students in their growth.

Adherence to the Party's leadership is essential to the development of higher education in the country, Xi said, calling for efforts to ensure firm Party leadership in the field and "build colleges into strongholds that adhere to Party leadership."

Xi called on Party authorities to prioritize the ideological and political work in colleges and strengthen their leadership in the field.

Party authorities should increase their contact with intellectuals in colleges, befriend them and sincerely listen to their opinions, Xi said.

Xi stressed the importance of the leadership of college Party committees, asking them to strengthen the construction of grass-roots Party organizations and improve their ability in ideological and political work.

Hailing the contributions made by college staff involved in ideological and political work, the president called for more efforts to foster qualified officials and teachers for colleges.

Liu Yunshan said that Xi's remarks are guidelines on ideological and political work for colleges under the current circumstances, urging authorities to act accordingly.

Liu also called on authorities to realize the significance of improving the ideological and political work and uphold the Party's leadership over colleges.
Xi says goals of higher education must align with development plan for the nation

Students swear an oath as they join the Communist Party of China at China University of Petro leum's campus in Qingdao, Shandong province, in April. YU FANGPING / FOR CHINA DAILY

Colleges and universities should always adhere to the leadership of the Communist Party of China, President Xi Jinping told heads of domestic higher education institutions at a conference held in Beijing on Wednesday and Thursday.

Xi said the Party committees of higher education institutions should always take the helm, be responsible for making decisions and ensure that the institutions are developing in the right direction.

He also said Party committees at all levels across the country should attach great importance to the ideology of colleges and universities and make this one of their priorities. Party chiefs and members should visit the educational institutions frequently, communicate with teachers and students, take suggestions from them and answer their questions.

Xi stressed that China has its own history, unique culture and special current situation, which means that higher education institutions should walk on their own path and make themselves socialist institutions with Chinese characteristics.

He added that the goal of colleges and universities should be consistent with the whole country's development target.

Their work should serve the people, the Party's governance, the development of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and reform and opening-up, as well as the socialist modernization drive.
China will further open up the segments of batteries of new energy vehicles and automotive electronics to foreign investment, to level the playing field in the world's largest auto market, according to a revised guidance by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce released on Wednesday.

"Such a policy shows that the government is working to level the playing field and encourage fair economic activity. Local battery manufacturers will have more incentives to innovate and improve the quality of their products," said Wang Binggang, an expert working on the new energy vehicle research project led by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Wang also said local governments need to strike a proper balance when implementing relevant policies.
Close attention will be paid to Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen's transit via the United States when she travels to Guatemala in early January, for it will shed light on what direction Sino-US relations will take when Donald Trump enters the White House.

Despite Beijing's opposition, the US insists it is a "long-standing practice" since it has given the nod to such transits by leaders of the island many times before.

However, Tsai's transit is taking place soon after she and Trump held a phone conversation, breaking with decades of precedent.
A hoof-shaped ingot, gold cakes, a jade seal and a jade pendant are unearthed from the Haihunhou tomb. [Photo/Xinhua]

A film based on the book which narrates the ups and downs of "Haihunhou" (the Marquis of Haihun) Liu He's life will start shooting in May next year and hit the screens in 2018.

The film, Haihunhou Code, will use bidirectional narration to tell the story, combining modern archaeological findings and the legendary life of Liu He.

Beginning with the archaeological discovery at Haihunhou tomb, the film will interpret the code of Haihunhou and explore real Liu He with archaeologists. The story will then shift and show the archaeologists fighting thieves stealing relics, and gradually reveal the rise and fall of emperor Liu He.

The film will fuse elements of history, archaeology, tomb robbery, suspense, spying, acrobatic fighting, showcase the history of the middle Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 24 AD), and show how difficult it is to excavate and save relics.

The writers are working on the script and it is scheduled to be finished before the Spring Festival of 2017. As it's the first film to be based on Haihunhou, and the first Chinese movie with archaeology as its theme, it will be screened in big theaters in 2018.

The discovery of Haihunhou tomb marked a major event in archaeology. Located in Nanchang, capital of East China's Jiangxi province, the Haihunhou tomb belongs to Liu He (92-59 BC), the shortest reigning emperor during the Western Han Dynasty, who was later given the title of "Haihunhou".

Related:

Excavation on tomb of Liu He's wife to start next year

Construction of Haihunhou Site Museum to start in 2017
A shot of news conference for the upcoming 2017 China-Mexico Culture Year in Mexico, Dec 3, 2016. [Photo/Chinaculture.org]

A news conference for the upcoming 2017 China-Mexico Culture Year was held at the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City, Mexico, on Dec 3.

Chinese Ambassador to Mexico Qiu Xiaoqi and officials from ministries of foreign affairs and education of Mexico attended the conference.

Qiu said China-Mexico Culture Year will be another large-scale event for the two nation's cultural exchange after the 2016 China-Latin American and Caribbean Culture Year. As 2017 marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations of the two countries, the culture year will enhance the mutual communications.

Mexican officials praised the cultural achievements of two countries' cooperation.

In 2017, as Guest of Honor, China will attend the National Potsino Fair FENAPO and a book fair in Mexico. And a series of activities on visual arts, music, literature, cultural relics, films, books and food will be held during the event.

The artists from the China National Traditional Orchestra performed classic traditional Chinese music, including Yellow River and Silk Road, after the new conference.
An item on display at a jade sculpture exhibition in Beijing on Dec 6, 2016, to mark the 80th anniversary of the Long March. [Photo/VCG]

To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the epic Long March, a special jade works exhibition is under way in Beijing from Dec 6 to Dec 10.

More than 380 jade items, collected from all around China, are showcased at the exhibition hall of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, including a sculpture of late Chairman Mao Zedong, replicas of a cap worn by Mao, as well as scenes of trekking and battles, and straw sandals worn by the soldiers.

Using exquisite carving skills, the artworks bring to life the memories of a revolutionary China in the 1930s.

The 12,500-km military expedition of Long March was led by the Communist Party of China to outmaneuver the Kuomintang regime. From 1934 to 1936, an 80,000-strong Red Army force took part in the long trek, which laid an important foundation for the Communist victory in the war.
After returning from the Victoria's Secret Fasion Show in Paris, Chinese supermodel Xi Mengyao (right), joins a Tencent party to celebrate the show's premiere on the online platform on Dec 6, 2016. According to Tencent, more than 10 million people watched the show on the online platform the first day it was released. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
UAE offers HK critical trade opportunities along B Updated: 2016-12-08 07:35 By Dmitriy Frolovskiy(HK Edition)

Dmitriy Frolovskiy writes that the United Arab Emirates with its great oil reserves and transition to a knowledge-based economy offers Hong Kong great scope to do business in the region

Last month, Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah led a trade delegation to Dubai to foster closer trade and economic relations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Despite facing a budget deficit and over-reliance on oil prices, the UAE envisions long-term development goals that offer potential for Hong Kong businesses. The country is at a crossroads involving a gradual transition from a petro-economy to a knowledge-based economic model. Its ambitious diversification program offers great opportunities to overseas partners such as Hong Kong with its own proven track record of economic success.

Hong Kong stands to gain by capitalizing on its ties with the UAE, which is already its largest trading partner in the Middle East and the 13th worldwide. Non-oil exports surged to $15.9 billion-plus last year, almost three times the amount for 2011.

According to HKSAR data the UAE's current share of the total trade equals only 1 percent. Instead of being discouraged, businesses on both sides should be more proactive by seeking to unearth potential across a spectrum of spheres.

Striving for diversification, the UAE is seeking a "big brother" willing to share its expertise for boosting the nation's transformation.

Speaking at the Belt and Road Summit in May, Minister of Economy Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri stressed the UAE's strategic goals for launching industries and innovations. On top of this, the Arab nation has much to do to improve its business appeal; in particular the legislation lags behind while entrepreneurial culture remains unexplored.

This is where Hong Kong's expertise in entrepreneurship and event management could serve as a platform for solidifying reciprocal connections via knowledge transfer.

The UAE is currently focusing on a transition to an oil-free economy with the private sector and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) serving as catalysts for long-term growth. Hong Kong's rich entrepreneurial culture and competitiveness could play a big role with inter-governmental agreements pioneering cooperation in the area and businesses following the pattern.

Hong Kong's experience in the management of large-scale international exhibits and events would prove to be invaluable in the preparation for Dubai Expo 2020 which is aimed at boosting the UAE's global prestige and competitiveness. Hong Kong's Trade Development Council could contribute some of its ample event management expertise, thereby encouraging the participation of Hong Kong businesses across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states and opening doors to other Arab nations.

Located at the crossroads of major trade routes, the UAE plays a critical role as a re-export gateway bridging the Belt and Road Initiative to the Greater Middle East and Africa. Ties with the UAE will be rewarded with entree to other regional countries with more than 2 billion consumers.

The country is a primary re-export hub with 60 percent of all China's goods to the region passing through its ports. Throughout the "fat years" of oil wealth the government invested extensively in transit infrastructure and now can boast modern airports, ports and road networks, as well as the upcoming trans-GCC railway. These high-tech facilities should incentivize Hong Kong's trade expansion in the region.

Discovering new trade horizons in the UAE would have a rejuvenating impact on Hong Kong's economy via augmenting investments and uncovering a reverse knowledge transfer.

In 2015 alone, the UAE invested $7.3 billion in overseas commercial real estate. This followed an earlier decision to broaden its diversification efforts by expanding a number of assets of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) across developed Asian markets.

The results are already tangible for the SAR's economy. According to CBRE, a real estate advisory company, Hong Kong is the fourth most popular destination for real estate investments for SWFs from the GCC, with more than $2.38 billion being invested last year alone.

Hong Kong should consider accruing more information about Islamic finance and potentially challenge Malaysia's position in the area. In the past, Hong Kong tried but did not succeed in entering the world of Islamic finance: In 2014 and 2015 the SAR issued its first sukuk (Islamic bonds) but fell short of its targets in reaching out to investors worldwide.

The Hong Kong government is reported again to be thinking about issuing another sukuk, while Sharia-compliant firm Mawarid Finance and Fullgoal Asset Management are planning to launch an Islamic fund later this year. Therefore, the UAE's financial expertise could play a pivotal role in helping those efforts to succeed.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong's future sukuk issuance might be denominated in renminbi. The UAE is already the most active nation in the Middle East that uses renminbi for direct payments to Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland. According to Reuters, more than 70 percent of payments by value in the previous year were in yuan. Thanks to Beijing's support, Hong Kong is destined to play a major role in the internationalization of renminbi.

Unlike the rest of the region that faces turbulence, the UAE remains a safe country due to its political stability and openness to change. As Belt and Road erases horizons, Hong Kong can spearhead the initiative. Discovering new destinations is critical for expanding trade, and Hong Kong cannot afford to miss this golden opportunity.

(HK Edition 12/08/2016 page7)
European Union (EU) flags fly in front of the European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, December 3, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

Another referendum and another shock for the European Union. By linking his political future to a successful outcome of a plebiscite to amend the constitution, Matteo Renzi was playing for high stakes. Perhaps if he had waited to see the results of the Brexit referendum and the surprising Donald Trump election victory he might have taken a different course. Now Italy and the EU have to deal with the impact of his reckless gamble.

On the plus side, fears of a sharp drop in the euro proved groundless. There was a slight fall after the results then the euro recovered. And Italians are used to short-lived governments. President Sergio Mattarrela has asked Renzi to stay on until the budget is passed. Then he will either appoint a caretaker prime minister or call new elections.

The opposition parties including the Northern League and Five Star Movement are pushing for new elections and calling for a further referendum on whether Italy should remain in the eurozone. Most Italians dislike the government's austerity program which they see as being imposed on Italy by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. They are also angered at the lack of solidarity from other EU members in dealing with the massive inflow of refugees in the past 18 months.

Italians have always been among the most pro-European citizens of the EU but now attitudes are changing. Italy is a founding member of the EU and in a different category from the UK which has always been Eurosceptic. But no one can predict how Italians would vote if there were to be a referendum on keeping the euro. This is what worries other eurozone member states along with the huge debts of Italian banks.

Elsewhere in Europe the populist forces will have been heartened by Renzi's defeat. Marine Le Pen, the leader of the French National Front, said that the result was a blow to the "absurd austerity policy of the EU". She is likely to make it to the second round of the French presidential elections in May but is unlikely to defeat Francois Fillon, the center-right candidate who has been moving steadily to the right and stealing some of her policies.

In Germany the populist Alternative for Germany will certainly make it into the Bundestag following the September elections but both major parties, the Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party, have excluded the possibility of having them as a coalition partner.

Renzi's defeat means that there are now only a handful of socialist leaders in government in Europe. Although millions of workers are calling for social protection against globalization, the traditional socialist parties are struggling to deliver winning policies. Indeed many working class voters are moving to populist right-wing parties such as UK Independence Party in Britain and the National Front in France.

But these parties offer simplistic slogans for dealing with globalization just like Trump's campaign promise to "bring back 25 million jobs" to the US. If Trump does take the US down the protectionist road this will have major implications for the rest of the world, including the EU and China.

Most likely Italy will remain in the eurozone and muddle through as usual. With so many elections in 2017 there is no prospect of any major new initiatives by the EU. The 28 will gather for muted celebrations in Rome at the end of March. There could hardly be a worse time to call such a celebratory gathering as British Prime Minister Theresa May plans to trigger article 50 that same week thus setting Brexit in motion.

The EU will remain in a weak situation until 2018 or 2019 when the UK is due to leave. The question then is whether EU leaders can muster the political will to move the European project forward.

The author is director of the EU-Asia Centre in Brussels.
Xue yaqing, 6, holds her brother on New Year's Day at No 1 Hospital in Xiangyang, Hubei province. The newborn is the second child of a couple from the city in Central China. [Photo/Xinhua]

As the two-child policy approaches its first birthday, commentators and the Chinese government are looking for evidence to see whether it has had the desired effect: an increase in the birth rate in order to mitigate some of the effects of an aging population.

At first glance, the evidence seems to be promising. It is estimated that there will be around 17.5 million births in 2016. At over one million more than in 2015 one might say the two-child policy has been a success. Without doubt, many couples have seized the opportunity to have a second child, realizing both a personal dream and a favorable outcome for the country. However, there are a few words of caution.

Firstly, as the Year of the Sheep, 2015 was widely perceived to be a not-so-good year to have children. Numerous studies have said the influence of the zodiac is still strong among the Chinese. It is likely, then, that many would-be parents may have simply postponed having children in 2015, choosing instead to have babies in the more favorable Year of the Monkey. Indeed, if we look at the longer-term trends, the number of births in 2015 actually fell from 2014.

Secondly, we still do not know the total impact of what demographers call the "tempo effect". As countries develop and, especially, as educational and employment opportunities for women grow, childbearing tends to be postponed. As this has happened in most low fertility countries, we can expect this to have happened in China, too. The problem, however, is that this effect tends to distort the total fertility rate, usually exaggerating both baby busts and baby booms. Also, simply counting the number of births tells us very little about the birth rate, as this is going to be affected by the number who are "at risk" of having children. In China, of course, this is going to be related not just to being of reproductive age, but also to marital status.

Taking these elements together, therefore, we have to conclude that it is just too soon to say whether or not these changes in family planning are having the desired effect. We will know more in a few more years when we have better period data with which we can identify a trend. In reality, though, it is only when the cohorts born in the 1980s and 1990s have completed their childbearing will we see the true demographic impact of the policy change.

Two final notes of caution. The evidence seems to suggest that changing the family planning policy alone will not be enough to make a significant difference to the fertility rate. As elsewhere in East Asia, concerns about jobs, social welfare, cost of living, housing, kindergarten access, gender equity and so on have as much impact upon the decision to limit childbearing as family planning policy. Alleviating these concerns is critical to increasing China's low fertility rate.

Secondly, it is critical to remember that raising the birth rate alone is not the only answer to managing China's aging population. Indeed, in the short term, it would increase the burden on the working age population by necessitating an increased number school places and the withdrawal of parents from the labor market to care for these children. Rather, China needs to take a holistic approach to this demographic challenge, and will have to deal with both the denominator and the numerator. On the one hand, improving labor productivity, moving up the value chain of innovation, increasing labor force participation, further reforming the State-owned enterprises and developing the global labor supply chain through the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road will be critical to maximizing output. On the other hand, reforming and developing better social welfare systems for the elderly as well as making progress in active aging policies will not only decrease the dependence of the older population, but could also free up the monies accrued as a result of high personal savings rates and, hence, spur domestic consumption.

The author is associate professor of social policy at the University of Oxford.
US President-elect Donald Trump speaks at election night rally in Manhattan, New York, US, November 9, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

In January, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. Despite his unpredictability so far, his performance in governing might be a bit easier to speculate on. And for his voters who are eager to see him delivering on his promises, disappointment may be in store.

Riding the high tide of populism to victory, Trump tapped into the anger and resentment of a growing number of disfranchised American white working class. When US manufacturing enjoyed comparative advantage worldwide, trade deals good for American business were also good for American workers. But increasingly outsourcing and off-shoring have allowed transnational capital to move freely around the globe in search of better returns. The promised better and higher paying jobs as a result of globalization and trade liberalization do pop up, but they rarely trickle down to the millions of blue-collar workers in the US' Rust Belt states. The annual American Values Survey of 4,500 Americans finds that nearly half of them no longer believe in the American Dream.

In comes the self-appointed "greatest jobs president", promising a sweeping shake-up to revitalize US manufacturing, create new jobs, rebuild infrastructure and change domestic regulations. In keeping with these inward-looking objectives, Trump has also promised to renegotiate trade and alliance deals and tighten border control. Which explains why many of those people voted Trump on election day.

But will Trump be their savior? The truth is, Trump's "America First" agenda is easier said than done. For a start, which America should come first now that America remains bitterly divided? Despite some cautious optimism, uniting the country alone would be an uphill battle for the incoming Trump administration, not least because Trump himself has fanned the flames of hatred and xenophobia. Although he pledged to be "president for all Americans" in his acceptance speech, a quick glance at his tax plan, for instance, suggests otherwise. Despite his campaign pledge to provide tax relief for "the middle class" and "the forgotten people", his tax cuts overwhelmingly favor the wealthiest few.

Also, it is extremely difficult for the Trump administration to implement the reforms he has promised while trying to wall off his country with protectionist measures. For example, the disappearance of US manufacturing jobs, and indeed many such jobs worldwide, is largely due to technological advances and automation. No amount of punitive tariff on Chinese or Mexican imports would likely bring the lost jobs back soon.

If Trump does follow through on his tariff threats, the prices of many imports will go up and a trade war may ensue. And transnational corporations are likely to put up a good fight against Trump's measures that would add costs to their businesses and eat into their profits.

His aspiration to rebuild US infrastructure is laudable, but he may quickly realize that such a gigantic task needs to heavily rely on foreign finance and materials, such as from China, the very target of his 45 percent tariff threat. In 2013, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority outsourced $34 million worth of steel to China for the upper deck replacement of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Answering critics, MTA Chairman Thomas Prendergast blamed an "absence of domestic steel fabricators capable of satisfying the requirements for a project of this scope and complexity". With such challenges, one wonders how Trump will balance the practical needs of his massive infrastructure plan and his staunch mercantilist stance, let alone how he will finance his trillion-dollar plan with massive tax cuts.

The president-elect may have correctly sensed some of the American (and to some extent, global) ills, but he does not have the necessary cures for them. So, together with his backflips on prosecuting Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, building a wall on the US-Mexico border, and climate change, even the most erratic US president might turn out to be a lot more conventional than he appears to be. Soon enough his working class supporters will find out that Trump's America will not be a working class paradise.

The author is senior lecturer in international relations at Deakin University, Australia, and is currently an Endeavour Research Fellow at Peking University. The views expressed here are his own.
File photo of Wang Huiyao, president of the Center for China and Globalization, China's largest independent think tank. [Zou Hong/China Daily]

Editor's note: With increased participation in global governance, China now has an urgent need for international talent, as Dr Wang Huiyao tells us here in a Q&A with China Daily website.

Dr Wang is the president of the Center for China and Globalization and a counselor to the State Council who focuses on researching China's international talent policy.

Q: As an expert on China's international talent policy, what are the priorities authorities should focus on right now?

A: To set up a comprehensive international talent agency is urgently needed right now under the direction of a more widely-open and inclusive strategy.

Now facing the tremendous economic transition of global governance, China, as one of the strongest advocates of new global co-operation, it is imperative that it woos more talents abroad to meet the talent requirements of promoting or leading multi-national organizations or initiatives like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, G20 or One Belt One Road.

The alien population ratio is now about four out of 10,000 in China which is far below from the world average of 300 out of 10,000, while the figure in India is 15 times more than in China.

For a long period, graduates who study abroad and overseas Chinese have been targeted as the resource of international talent for China. Do you think this trend will change in the future?

A: Yes, this trend will definitely change and it ought to meet China's diverse demand for alien talent to help engage in world affairs more deeply and widely over time. The non-ethnic Chinese group will play a more important role in China's human resource bank in the future.

Q: How can China overcome the obstacles to introducing more foreign talent into government agencies, enterprises and think tanks?

A: Chinese government organs and think tanks should actively send more staff to cross-border organizations as interns or temporary workers in order to strengthen our international governance abilities and uphold our interests during the formation of new global rules. Meanwhile, more intelligent foreigners like those overseas Chinese and professionals should be encouraged to work for the Chinese public bureaus and non-government organizations like think tanks.
Celebrated Investigative News Site ProPublica Is Expanding To Chicago

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Dec 7, 2016 10:19PM

Image via ProPublica.org

The much-lauded investigative newsroom ProPublica, a pioneer in the realm of non-profit journalism, has announced it is expanding to Illinois in the new year.

This means the newsroom, which has been publishing investigative and government accountability journalism since 2008 and won three Pulitzer Prizes in that time, is in the process of hiring a Chicago-based editor. It's also planning a coverage agenda for investigative news pieces on "key issues in Chicago and across the state," according to a news release from the group.

The East Coast-based group cited the journalism industry's ongoing and well-documented business crisis, and how it has decimated local newspaper staffs, as its motivation.

"The collapse of regional and local newspapers, and the drastic cutback of reporting staffs, has left accountability journalism at the state and local levels shrinking and underfunded, weakening democratic governance at a critical moment," the release says.



The effort is being funded in part with seed-funding from the Ford Foundation, which focuses on human welfare issues. The organization plans to hire ten journalists after hiring the Chicago editor, and hopes to expand to other regions in the future. This would give ProPublica one of the larger investigative journalism teams in the Midwest, at a time when newspapers are struggling to fund investigative positions, which require a high degree of skill and time-intensive labor to produce stories.

Our key priority now is building a team with strong local ties and established reputations within the community to lead this exciting expansion," ProPublica editor-in-chief Stephen Engelberg said in a statement. "We look forward also to working with local publishing partners to bring Illinois readers more high-quality accountability reporting."



In the nine years since its founding, ProPublica has established itself as highly effective nonprofit newsroom, using the moral force of investigative journalism to spur change, Richard Tofel, ProPublicas president, said in a statement. We look forward to leveraging our innovative model in Illinois to make a sustained, meaningful difference across the state.
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.

License for publishing multimedia online 0108263



Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349
Photo taken on Dec. 7, 2016, shows a helicopter flying over the site of a plane crash in northwest Pakistan's Havelian. A passenger plane of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) with 47 people onboard crashed in the country's northwest Havelian area on Wednesday, officials said. [Photo/Xinhua]

ISLAMABAD -- Rescue teams have retrieved all 48 bodies from the wreckage of a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane, which crashed in the country's north mountainous area on Wednesday, officials said.

Azam Saigol, chairman of the PIA airline, said the plane was carrying 48 people, including 42 passengers, five crewmembers and one ground engineer.

According to the PIA's website, two Austrians and one Chinese national were also on board the ill-fated plane. The Chinese embassy has confirmed that a Chinese man was killed in the tragedy.

PIA Chairman Saigol said each passenger had an insurance of 5 million rupees (about $47,000) while the airline will bear the expenses of coffin, funeral and give a subsidy of half a million rupees (about 4,700 U.S. dollars).

He said the ATR-42 aircraft operating as flight PK-661 took off from the country's north Chitral airport for the capital of Islamabad at 3:40 p.m. local time (1040 GMT).

"At 4:14 p.m. we received a call from the pilot at Islamabad airport control tower informing us that he lost control over one of the two engines of the plane. We told him to land at the runway once his vision is clear, but at 4:16 p.m. (1116 GMT) we lost the contact with him," the chairman said.

The plane was some 35 miles away from Islamabad airport when the pilot contacted the control room.

Saigol said at about 4:30 p.m. they received the information that local people in the northern Havelian town saw the plane crashing into the hills.

He ruled out the reports of any human error and said that things will be clearer when investigation teams will give their report after completing the probe.

The Franch-made aircraft was manufactured in 2007 and inducted in the PIA fleet in the same year.
Consumer watchdogs announced on Tuesday that they are filing complaints against a clutch of smart toys that can "spy" on children and their homes, for allegedly breaching privacy and data protection laws.

The complaints target smart toys My Friend Cayla, i-QUE Intelligent Robot and Hello Barbie, according to the European Consumer Organisation BEUC and groups in the United States like the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

Complaints are being filed with French and other European authorities as well as the US Federal Trade Commission.

Internet-connected Cayla and i-QUE, manufactured by Los Angeles-based Genesis Toys, hook up with a user via a phone or tablet while Hello Barbie links to the internet through Wi-Fi, said the consultancy Bouvet on behalf of the Norwegian Consumer Council.

Hello Barbie is not sold in Europe.

"By purpose and design, these toys record and collect the private conversations of young children without any limitations on collection, use, or disclosure of this personal information," EPIC and other US watchdogs said in their complaint, which they say "concerns toys that spy".

BEUC, citing the study commissioned by the Norwegian Consumer Council, expressed security concerns.

"With simple steps, anyone can take control of the toys through a mobile phone. This makes it possible to talk and listen through the toy without having physical access to the toy," it said.

It alleged the terms breach the EU Unfair Contract Terms Directive and the EU Data Protection Directive and possibly the Toy Safety Directive.

"Anything the child tells the doll is transferred to the US-based company Nuance Communications, who specialises in speech recognition technologies," it said.

EPIC and the other US groups like The Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood urged the trade commission to investigate the collection, use and disclosure of the data.
Captain Safia Ferozi sits in the cockpit of a C-208 before a flight at a military airbase in Kabul, Afghanistan. [Photo by Rahmat Gul/Associated Press]

From a childhood as a refugee, Captain Safia Ferozi is now flying a transport plane for Afghanistan's air force as the country's second female pilot, a sign of the efforts to bring more women into the armed forces.

Along the way, the 26-year-old Ferozi also married another pilot, who flies in the same unit supporting army ground forces. They are part of a small Afghan air force that is trying to take a greater role in fighting the Taliban insurgency.

"When I wear military uniform, I really, really feel proud of myself as a woman," Ferozi said while preparing for a flight at the air force base in the capital, Kabul. She flies a C-208, a turboprop plane used as transport for the armed forces.

Nearly 16 years since the collapse of the militant Taliban regime after the United States-led invasion in 2001, Afghan women are taking steps to increase their presence in society, including in parliament, government and the military. Still, they face resistance in a deeply conservative society where women are largely expected to stay in the home and where violence against women remains a widespread problem.

When she was a child, Ferozi's family fled from their home in Kabul in the 1990s, during the civil war among Afghanistan's warlords. They took refuge in Pakistan, returning only after the fall of the Taliban.

In high school in post-Taliban Afghanistan, Ferozi saw a TV commercial urging women to join the military. So after graduation she enrolled in the military academy, studying to become a communication officer. Then it was announced at the academy that the air force was looking for women to become pilots.

Ferozi and 12 other women applied, and she was the only one who passed the tests to enter training.

While she was training at an airfield in the western province of Herat, she first met Captain Mohammad Jawad Najafi, the pilot who would later become her husband. They married nearly two years ago, and he has since backed her ambitions.

She graduated from training in 2015. She gave birth to their first child, daughter Nergis, now nearly 8 months old, and is back flying missions.

Ferozi is one of only two female pilots in the Afghan air force, but five other women are currently going through training.

Ferozi says she hopes to inspire other women.

"As a woman you face many challenges, but you have to deal somehow with all those problems," she said.
Michael Asola, Synergy Innovations' chief operations officer (left), exchanges signed agreement with Zhou Shumin, director, Low-Cost Health Solutions Centre at SIAT, during the handover ceremony of general modularized container clinics in Nairobi, Kenya, on December 7. EDITH MUTETHYA/CHINA DAILY

Four modular container clinics donated by the Chinese government will be used to provide healthcare in remote parts of Kenya.

The donation made possible by the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology in the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is valued at 2.75 million yuan ($400, 000) to the Kenyan government.

At the official handover ceremony in Nairobi on Dec 7, Guo Ce, the economic and commercial counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Kenya, said the new clinics would bring medical access to Kenyans, especially those living in remote areas, where health facilities are few.

"The containers have been customized into mobile grass-roots general clinics in order to offer convenient daily healthcare, screening, basic medical treatment and public health-care services for the rural residents," he said.

He noted that the clinics were made using well-established Chinese technology and designed in accordance with the African nation's healthcare needs.

Guo said the donation, was a concrete and practical action taken by the Chinese government to help African countries improve basic medical and healthcare facilities and conditions.

"The project will help to further deepen the scientific and technological cooperation between the two governments," he said.

He added that the project was an important step under the program for healthcare science and technology, as well as a significant step to realize the spirit of the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

According to Lv Jiancheng, the director of Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, said the donation to Kenya followed the handing over of four modularized clinics to South Africa in Dec 2015.

He noted that the institute had also donated 10 similar clinics to Cameroon and seven to Botswana.
Men inspect a collapsed mosque after an earthquake in Pidie Jaya, Aceh province, Indonesia, Dec 7, 2016. [Photo/IC]

PIDIE JAYA, Indonesia - Nearly 100 people were killed and hundreds injured in Indonesia on Wednesday when a strong earthquake hit its Aceh province and rescuers used earth movers and bare hands to search for survivors in scores of toppled buildings.

Medical volunteers rushed in fading evening light to get people to hospitals, which were straining to cope with the influx of injured.

The Aceh provincial government said in a statement 93 people had died and more than 500 were injured, many seriously.

Sutopo Nugroho of Indonesia's national disaster management agency, said a state of emergency had been declared in Aceh, which sits on the northern tip of Sumatra island.

"We are now focusing on searching for victims and possible survivors," said Nugroho. His agency put the death toll at 94.

Aceh was devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami centred on its western coast near the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, on Dec. 26, 2004. That tsunami killed 226,000 people along Indian Ocean shorelines.
Chinese and US officials meeting in Washington on Wednesday for a bilateral cybersecurity dialogue have agreed to expand cooperation, according to Chinese officials.

Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun joined US Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson in co-chairing the third China-US High-Level Joint Dialogue on Cybercrime and Related Issues.

The two sides reached a new consensus in deepening cooperation in cybersecurity. Achievements made in the meeting cover areas such as cracking down on cybercrimes, cooperation in cybersecurity, improving the hotline mechanism, cyber counterterrorism cooperation and information sharing, according to a press release from the Chinese delegation.

The two sides recalled the achievements made since the first dialogue and spoke positively of the importance and necessity of the mechanism, the press release said.

Guo was quoted as saying in the meeting that China and the US established the high-level dialogue mechanism based on the important consensus reached between President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama in September 2015.

He said the two leaders gave important input to the dialogue when they met in Lima, Peru, last month on the sidelines of the APEC Leaders Summit.

"With the high attention and promotion by the two heads of state, the cooperation in cybersecurity between China and the US has advanced rapidly to become a new highlight in bilateral relations," Guo said at the meeting.

The two-day meeting from Dec 7-8 is attended by top officials from multiple government departments in both countries, including China's Ministry of Public Security, Cyberspace Administration, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of State Security and Ministry of Justice and the US' Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, Department of State and Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Guo said the two sides have achieved notable progress in areas such as cracking down on cybercrimes, protecting cybersecurity and sharing information. "(It) has made a positive contribution to ensuring the national security and the safety of the people in both countries," he said.

He noted that it has been an important period for the two countries in carrying out their law enforcement cooperation focusing on cybersecurity. He expressed that the dialogue mechanism should be the main channel for the two countries in communicating cyber-related issues.

Guo also emphasized the importance of focusing on cooperation, managing and controlling differences, and timely and effective responses to each other's concerns as well as the need of achieving no-conflict, no-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation.

"The Chinese side is willing to make continued efforts with the current US government team and the next government team to take the bilateral cooperation in cybersecurity to a new high and to make a contribution to the building of a new type of major country relationship," Guo said.

An official from the Chinese delegation, who prefers not to be identified, said US officials also agree that without such a dialogue mechanism, China and the US could still face confrontation and conflict in cybersecurity, as the situation appeared more than a year ago.

In the past year, China has requested the US for assistance in investigating 10 cybercrime cases while the US has made request for nine cases.

The official also praised the hotline mechanism for helping reduce miscalculation when serious cases emerge.

Both Lynch and Johnson expressed that two countries have shared interest in cracking down on cybercrimes and protecting cybersecurity, according to the Chinese press release.

They described the high-level dialogue mechanism as "a new highlight of China-US cooperation" and "playing an important role in protecting cybersecurity and cracking down cybercrimes" as well as "providing an important platform for the law enforcement departments in both countries to conduct candid exchanges and enhance mutual understanding and trust".

Both Lynch and Johnson hoped that the mechanism could be further developed and more practical cooperation will be carried out in cracking down on criminal activities such as cyber terrorism and email scams. They also hoped to manage the differences constructively to ensure more concrete achievements in US-China cooperation in cybersecurity.

Both sides proposed to hold the fourth round of dialogue in China in 2017.

Contact the writer at chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com
Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba vowed to attract Chinese investors as the country's top priority at a trade event on Thursday highlighting the oil-reach Central African country's potential.

The event gathered more than 300 participants from both countries, and Bongo, who is on an official visit to China, said "Gabon welcomes Chinese investments from all sectors including agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, and the banking industry."

China is Gabon's largest trading partner and an important investment source. Last year saw bilateral trade reaching $1.77 billion while the African country has a trade surplus of $430 million, 41 years after the countries established diplomatic ties, the Foreign Ministry's website said.

Gabon will be more committed to exporting processed products during the country's domestic economic transition when a number of Chinese enterprises have already provided technical and funding support to Gabon, he added.

Calling for more Chinese investors, the president said Gabon has established two special economic zones exclusively for Chinese enterprises. "We will try our best to help Chinese companies develop businesses in Gabon and even the whole of Central Africa", the president said.

Bongo highlighted the significance of economic structures and strategic transformation in bilateral cooperation to boost friendly relations between the two countries.

Six ministers in charge of Gabon's economic, trade, tourism, and industrial departments also delivered speeches at the event, saying the two countries could exploit the potential for cooperation in areas such as timber, optical fibers and infrastructure. They also said political and social stability in Gabon creates a favorable environment for Chinese investment, benefiting production and distribution in Central and sub-Saharan Africa.

The ministers said bilateral cooperation could promote the proposal of Green Gabon, Service Gabon, and Industrial Gabon, three pillars proposed by Bongo in 2009 to diversify its economy.

Two-way cooperation continues to grow despite small challenges and problems and Gabon needs China to realize its goal to become one of the most developed economies in Africa.

Jiang Zengwei, chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said China's advanced facilities and industrial know-how could provide strong support to Gabon's industrialization.

"Enterprises in both countries should seize opportunities, bolstering cooperation in such fields as energy and infrastructure to further benefit both peoples," Jiang added.

Chu Yi contributed to the story.
Water vapour billows from smokestacks at the incineration plant of Ivry-sur-Seine, near Paris, France at sunrise, December 8, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

PARIS - The French capital Paris announced on Wednesday licence-plate based driving restrictions for a third day in a row and plans bans on old cars as the City of Light experienced the worst air pollution in a decade.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Paris banned cars from circulation based on whether their licence plates ended with odd or even numbers. It will now ban half of all traffic again on Thursday.

Other French cities such as Lyon are also planning bans as clouds of pollution hang over many European cities due to a lack of the winds that normally blow in off the Atlantic Ocean.

It is only the fourth time in 20 years that Paris has imposed such a ban and the first time it applies for consecutive days. Municipalities around Paris also imposed the ban.

With its famous Eiffel Tower shrouded in a greyish haze and some Asian tourists donning face masks, the city also made all public transport, residential parking and the Velib' bicycle and Autolib' electric car schemes free.

"Cars are poisoning the air. We need to take preventive measures," said Paris city hall transport official Herve Levife.

Besides instant measures like licence-plate based driving bans, the city also plans to step up its fight against chronic pollution by gradually banning the oldest and most polluting vehicles from the city centre, he said.

"We want these bans to automatically take effect when the pollution exceeds a certain level, not have to negotiate them with the government each time," Levife added.

From mid-January, Paris will become the first French city to launch the new "Crit'Air" vignette system that will require all cars to have a colour-coded sticker indicating their age and pollution level. The stickers will allow police to control which vehicles can circulate in the city centre.

Grenoble in eastern France also plans to use the vignettes and other French cities are looking into banning clunkers from their roads.

Cars 20 years and older have already been banned from Paris roads from July 1, 2016 and some 120,000 stickers have been distributed. But participation in the scheme so far has been voluntary and enforcement scarce.

From July 1, 2017, the city will impose bans on diesel-powered cars and vans first put into circulation in 2001 and trucks first registered in 2006. Between 2018 and 2020, the city will gradually tighten circulation permits.

Paris has no plans to introduce London-style tolls for cars entering the city.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo is on a drive to reduce car traffic. She has increased the cost of parking meters, banned free parking on Saturdays and the August holiday period, and is turning a highway on both banks of the Seine into a riverside park.
Potentially Marijuana-Laced Gummies Send 14 Naperville HS Students To Hospital

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Dec 7, 2016 7:12PM



Gummies via Shutterstock

A group of Naperville students were sent to the hospital Tuesday after eating gummy bears that some believe were laced with marijuana, according to CBS.

The Naperville Police Department said in a statement posted on Facebook that the candy "made the students both uncomfortable and sick, and as a precaution, some have been transported to a local hospital to receive medical attention."

The Naperville School District said in a separate statement posted online that 14 students in total were affected, and 12 were treated by doctors for symptoms that included increased heart rate, dizziness and dry mouth.

As of Tuesday afternoon, "Two students are in stable condition and are undergoing evaluation, while 11 have been treated and released," according to the school district. "We encourage all parents to have conversations with their children about making healthy choices. Our community is fortunate to have a number of resources available through school and other community partners to support the wellbeing of students. We continue to review the specifics of the situation and will address it appropriately. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your school's principal."

A doctor at Edward Hospital, where the students were treated, told CBS that a "non-toxic intoxicant" was the most likely culprit, particularly because the students all said they had eaten just one gummy each. "Why would you want to have just oneunless you know there's something else in the gummy bear?" Dr. Daryl Wilson said to WBBM.
WASHINGTON - An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5 was reported off the coast of Northern California on Thursday but there were no immediate reports of damage in the nearest town, officials said.

The quake was centered about 102 miles (165 kilometers) in the Pacific Ocean west of Ferndale, California, at a depth of 6.2 miles (10 km), the U.S. Geological Survey said.

There was no tsunami warning, advisory or threat in effect following the earthquake, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center of the National Weather Service said on its website.

In Ferndale, which has a population of about 1,300 people, Mayor Don Hindley said in a phone interview that he had not heard of any damage from the quake. He said he felt the temblor for about 15 seconds.

"It wasn't that bad at all," Hindley said.

In the San Francisco Bay area, about 250 miles (402 km) south of Ferndale, the Bay Area Rapid Transit agency said on Twitter it was running its system with a 10-minute delay and with trains traveling at reduced speeds due to the quake. The move was a standard precaution by BART.

The quake was first reported with a 6.9 magnitude but downgraded to 6.5.

Some social media users said they felt the tremor in San Francisco, about 260 miles (418.43 km) south.

"That was a big one," wrote Twitter user Antonis Papatsaras from the Bay Area city.

"Felt 20 seconds of very light shaking," tweeted another San Francisco resident, Lila LaHodd.
Doris Leuthard, born in 1963, takes over one-year presidency of Swiss Confederation from Johann N. Schneider-Ammann on Wednesday. [Photo by by Vanina Moreillon/Inedit Publications]

Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard, who takes over from Johann N. Schneider-Ammann as president of the Swiss Confederation next year, is expected to maintain the European country's ties with China. Both visited China in 2016.

Schneider-Ammann paid a state visit to China in April and during the meeting with President Xi Jinping, agreed on an innovative strategic partnership, which he says gave an added dimension and fresh impulse to Sino-Swiss bilateral relations.

During the visit, Switzerland signed up as an observer of the partnership agreement between China and sixteen Central and East European countries.

Leuthard, who was born in 1963 and was president of the federation in 2010, visited China in August and had a meeting with Vice-President Li Yuanchao to strengthen longstanding relations between Switzerland and China. She was elected this week, and will serve from January next year.

Leuthard underlined the close economic ties between the two countries, which have continued to grow with a bilateral free trade agreement. She noted that Switzerland was very satisfied with the success of the agreement, which came into force in July 2014.

She said that the relations between the two countries will be further strengthened thanks to the innovative strategic partnership agreed in the spring, which will be rolled out by sector.

In charge of environment and energy issues, Leuthard also praised the positive role played by China in concluding the Paris climate agreement.

The Swiss government is made up of the seven members of the Federal Council, each of whom has the same status, rights and obligations and are elected by the United Federal Assembly for a four-year term of office.

Each member of the Federal Council heads one of the seven departments of the Federal Administration and the President of the Swiss Confederation is elected for one year's term.

To contact the reporter: fujing@chinadaily.com
The 11 Best Old School Pasta Spots Around Chicago

By Anthony Todd in Food on Dec 8, 2016 6:48PM

By Jennifer Olvera

Chicago has its fair share of buzz-worthy dining. However, theres nothingand I mean nothinglike a traditional, stick-to-your-ribs bowl of pasta. Fortunately, the city is filled with longstanding, beloved mom and pop spots  the kind with red-checked tablecloths, free-flowing Chianti and servers who treat you and yours like long lost relatives.

So, clear some space in your tummy and get get ready to feel the amore at these forever-faves. And don't forgetthis list is our opinion. If we missed one of your favorites, please comment to let us know!





photo via Club Lago

Club Lago

Youll feel like part of the famiglia when dining at Club Lago, a50s-era River North joint thats frequented for its authentic, unpretentious Old World Italian fare, including mounds of red sauced pasta, chicken Vesuvio and excellent eggplant Parm. The welcoming setting and first-name-basis service only ups the appeal.

Club Lago is at 331 W. Superior St.

La Scarola

Expect heaping portions of Italian comfort food classics  spaghetti and meatballs, meaty lasagna blanketed in cheese and other essentials like fried calamari and sausage and peppers  at La Scarola, a lively, crowded and ever-packed River North institution. Then again, the hearty escarole and bean-laden pasta e fagioli soups are not to be missed.

La Scarola is at 721 W. Grand Ave.



Photo via Francesco's Hole in the Wall

Francescos Hole in the Wall

Francescos Hole in the Wall is a rustic, charming North Shore option for real-deal Italian eats, one where a handwritten chalkboard menu tempts with the likes of toothsome rigatoni topped with Italian sausage-stippled tomato sauce. Not to be overlooked: the fire-roasted artichokes and osso buco, when available. Finish your meal at this intimate spot with an order of warm butter cake. And remember to plan accordingly, as the popular haunt has a no-reservations policy.



Francescos Hole in the Wall is at 254 Skokie Blvd., Northbrook.

Sabatinos

Sabatinos low lighting, romantic, reserve-ahead booths and live piano musicnot to mention solid, traditional Italian lineuphas all the makings of a great date, one that might begin with burrata and prosciutto salad or wisps of salty, air-dried bresaola atop arugula, followed by house-made gnocchi crowned with meat sauce. Or chicken Marsala. Or veal saltimbocca. Finish with cannoli, tiramisu, baked Alaska or a flambA for two.

Sabatinos is at 4441 W. Irving Park Rd.



Photo via Italian Village

Italian Village

Italian Village, a trio of Italian eateries, has been dishing up special occasion eats from the proverbial boot to great acclaim since 1927. Touting itself as the oldest Italian restaurant in Chicago, it features cavernous, cellar-like La Cantina; modern Vivere on the main floor; and Tuscan-inspired The Village on the upper level, with its private booths and twinkling skies. Whichever location you choose, count on the pasta being top-notch. Add in a 1,100 selection-strong wine list and the reason for its unwavering following is clear.

Italian Village is at 71 W. Monroe St.



Photo via Bruna's

Bruna's Ristorante

A mainstay since 1933, the small, mural-lined Brunas Ristorante in Little Village does many things right: for starters, cheesy lasagna, humble-but-mighty carbonara and  as a splurge  Dover Sole, deboned before your eyes. Consider coming for Sunday supper, when legendary roast chicken is served.

Brunas Ristorante is at 2424 S. Oakley Ave.

Tufanos Vernon Park Tap

On the scene in Little Italy since 1930, Tufanos exudes a throwback vibe with welcoming, old-school service to match. Whether you settle on stuffed shells, standout lemon chicken or a massive plate of fried calamari, know it will be expertly executed and dispensed with a smile. Just remember to bring cash since credit cards arent accepted here.

Tufanos Vernon Park Tap is at 1073 W Vernon Park Pl.



Chicken Eggplant Romana over Pasta via Bacchanalia

Bacchanalia

Perched in the Heart of Italy neighborhood, family-owned, cash-only Bacchanalianamed for the Roman festivals of Bacchushas dished up Old Country edibles to loyalists since the 70s. Things you should make a beeline for? The oven-baked pizza bread, tender gnocchi swathed in vodka sauce and veal scallopini. Of course, theres nary a miss on the point-and-pick menu of standards.

Bacchanalia is at 2413 S Oakley Ave.



via RoSal's

RoSals

A must-stop for Sicilian fare on Taylor Street, crowd-pleaser RoSals has garnered a following for its from-scratch approach. That includes everything from breadcrumb-laced fried spaghetti to goat cheese-stuffed ravioli in artichoke-lemon cream or creamy Gorgonzola sauce. Still, its hard to pass by the other menu options, be it veal smothered in rich mushroom gravy, linguine in clam sauce or chicken cacciatore.

RoSals is at 1154 W Taylor St.

Original Ferrara Bakery

With more than a century of expertise under its belt, Original Ferrara Bakery knows how to sate a sweet tooth. Craving cannoli cake, out of this world baba rhum or fancy butter cookies dipped in chocolate? Theyve got you covered. Nevertheless, the rigatoni Bolognese and simple spaghetti topped with marinara seem special, too.

Original Ferrara Bakery is at 2210 W. Taylor St.



Freddy's Pizza

Corner grocer and preparer of Italian fare extraordinaire, Freddys Pizza is seriously special. Bring a fistful of cash and queue up to the counterits there you select from a lineup of prepared dishes, such as meltingly tender gnocchi in vodka sauce and ravioli in rich cherry tomato sauceas well as a changing array of salads, real-deal sheet pan pizza, the best subs around and killer gelato. Then, be sure to grab some house-made pasta and sauces from the freezer for a rainy day.

Freddys Pizza is at 1600 S. 61st Ave., Cicero
(Photo : Getty Images) China's Ministry of Defense denied allegations that the PLA shot down a Myanmar fighter jet.

Advertisement

China's Ministry of Defense on Tuesday come out to strongly refute claims by online media outlets that it shot down a Myanmar Airforce fighter jet, saying the allegations are "purely fictitious."



The online publication of Kachinland News initially reported that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) shot a missile on a Myanmar jet after it flew over China's air, according to DNA India. The fighter jet reportedly crashed in the northeast region of Myanmar in Mongkoe town.



Like Us on Facebook

Advertisement

The report also quoted analysts who claimed that the PLA had fired early warning shots to the fighter jet before finally taking it down.



The defense ministry has, however, condemned the publication, saying that the report was not factual and only aimed to discredit China amidst the ongoing conflict in the northeast region of Myanmar.



On Nov. 30, spokesperson for the Defense Ministry Senior Colonel Tang Yujun addressed the situation of the currently ongoing war between the ethnic armed groups and governmental forces in Myanmar and expressed concern over the security of the citizens in China's neighboring region to the country.



This comes at a time when the war had slowly managed to make its way into China, destroy several properties, and harm Chinese citizens.



"We strongly advise parties to take concrete and effective measures to uphold security and administer the operations in the China-Myanmar border region," Yujun said.



He also added that patrols along the region as well as security and an active emergency team had been set up as a precautionary measure.



Advertisement

Tagschina, Myanmar, Myanmar conflict, PLA, Ministry of Defence
(Photo : DoD) China's A2/AD defense system and its three layers.

Advertisement

China's Anti-Access/Area-Denial (A2/AD) strategy isn't a decisive, long-term threat to the United States or its allies in Asia, argues an in-depth study published by two defense scholars.



Stephen Biddle and Ivan Oelrich, co-authors of the study "Future Warfare in the Western Pacific" published in prestigious peer-reviewed journal, International Security, contend the U.S. shouldn't concern itself that much with China's A2/AD strategy despite advances in reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition (RSTA) technologies.



Like Us on Facebook

Advertisement

The reason for the author's argument is based on the laws of physics such as constraints posed by the curvature of the Earth, and the known limitations of radar, in-orbit satellites, submarines and aerial drones.



Biddle is Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University, and Adjunct Senior Fellow for Defense Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. Oelrich served as Vice President for the Strategic Security Program at the Federation of American Scientists, and is Adjunct Professor of International Affairs at George Washington University.



Biddle and Oelrich argue that "it will be especially difficult for China ... to extend A2/AD's reach beyond about 400-600 km from a friendly coast."



This because airborne radars such as those aboard Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEWC) aircraft can't be safely deployed beyond the reach of land-based air defense systems. To do so in the presence of a U.S. Navy carrier warfare group would be to invite the immediate destruction of Chinese AEWC aircraft, of which China only has a few.



Because of this, China is forced to rely on active radar for targeting data needed by its ballistic missiles such as the DF-16 with a range of 1,000 kilometers. This targeting data, however, is restricted by the Earth's curvature and the physical horizon of 400 km to 600 km from the coast of Mainland China.



Biddle and Oelrich also contend that "only radar can provide the broad-area, day-night, long-range detection essential for A2/AD."



They also said alternatives to radar for A2/AD systems fall short of the requirements needed to guide a long-range missile to a maneuvering target consisting of U.S. Navy warships 1,000 km distant.



Ground-based over-the-horizon (OTH) radar can't extend the range of A2/AD because it operates at frequencies unsuitable for target acquisition. Satellites, on the other hand, are too vulnerable and this vulnerability to countermeasures precludes them from providing the necessary RSTA capability to extend the reach of A2/AD.



Submarines won't be able to extend A2/AD's range, say Biddle and Oelrich. To operate in distant waters under hostile control, submarines must use onboard sonars and operate near the targets they plan to observe or attack. This need makes them more vulnerable to detection.



Advertisement

Tagschina, anti-access/area denial, A2/AD, United States, Stephen Biddle, Ivan Oelrich, Future Warfare in the Western Pacific
After Trump's Latest 'Petty' Tweets Against Union President, Sane Minds Urge Him To Stop

By Stephen Gossett in News on Dec 8, 2016 4:45PM

Stop us if you think youve heard this one before. Donald Trump on Wednesday lashed out on Twitter against someone who had the gall to disagree with him.

Trumps latest target was Chuck Jones, president of United Steelworkers Local 1999, who you might remember for having criticized Trumps deal with Carrier. (But he got up there and, for whatever reason, he lied his ass off, was Jones on-point phrase.) Always the bigger man, Trump graciously let it roll like water off the ducks back, in the manner befitting a president-elect. Just kidding. He blurted out yet more petty:

Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers. No wonder companies flee country!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2016

If United Steelworkers 1999 was any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana. Spend more time working-less time talking. Reduce dues  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2016

My first thought was, Well, thats not very nice,  Jones told The Washington Post on Wednesday night after a friend called with news of the tweet. (Jones has a flip phone, so he mercifully didnt see the tweets.) Then, 'Well, I might not sleep much tonight.

Sure enough, he started getting threatening calls, although he said he kept calm and unperturbed. Nothing that says theyre gonna kill me, but, you know, you better keep your eye on your kids, Jones said on MSNBC. We know what car you drive. Things along those lines.

Ive been doing this job for 30 years, and Ive heard everything from people who want to burn my house down or shoot me, he added. So I take it with a grain of salt and I dont put a lot of faith in that, and Im not concerned about it and Im not getting anybody involved. I can deal with people that make stupid statements and move on.

Earlier this week, Jones called BS on Trumps claim that the Carrier deal would save more than 1,000 jobs that would have otherwise gone to Mexico.

The Post reported:



Carrier, [Jones] said, had agreed to preserve 800 production jobs in Indiana. (Carrier confirmed that number.) The union leader said Trump appeared to be taking credit for rescuing 350 engineering positions that were never scheduled to leave. Five hundred fifty of his members, he said, were still losing their jobs. And the company was still collecting millions of dollars in tax breaks.

As you probably noticed, Trump has a pretty habitual way of publicly shaming and chastising those who press against his policies. Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich certainly noticed. After the Jones debacle, Reich delivered a passionate, full-throated plea for Trump to muzzle the outbursts, also citing Trumps bashing of Alec Baldwin for his Trump impersonation and his lashing out against multiple journalists.

Let me just say with all due respect, Mr. Trump, you are president-elect of the United States, you are looking and acting as if you are mean and petty, thin-skinned and vindictive. Stop this, Reich said.

This is not a fireside chat. This is not what FDR did. This isnt lifting people up. This is actually penalizing people for speaking their minds.

Robert Reich: "Lemme just say, because Donald Trump is probably watching right now..." https://t.co/bD5Iskq7br  Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) December 8, 2016

The emotion was roundly seconded on Thursday morning.

Weirdest thing: I just watched Obama meet journalists who have criticized him A and he simply shook hands and thanked them for their work.  Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) December 8, 2016

The next president of the united states went to twitter war with a guy who uses a flip phone. The guy with the flip phone won #ImWithChuck  Brett Banditelli (@banditelli) December 8, 2016
(Photo : Common Wikimedia) China signed an initial agreement with Russia to purchase 24 Su-35 fighter jets.

Advertisement

An initial sale agreement to purchase 24 advanced Su-35 fighter jets between the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and Russia demonstrated that China is dealing with technological challenges in developing its very own J-20, according to military analysts as reported by the South China Morning Post.



Like Us on Facebook

Advertisement

"We decided to buy the Su-35 because it's a fact that our home-made engines have failed to measure up to the Russian products," a PLA senior colonel who requested to remain anonymous said.



He said that perfecting the engines is the greatest hurdle of all, and China is still catching up. "The purchase of the Su-35s might help our J-20 project, but there are too many deeper problems hiding in our military industrial system that are hindering our research and development."



Meanwhile, Andrei Chang, editor-in-chief of the Kanwa Defence Review, revealed that China likely wants the Su-35 deal to get hold of 117S engines, Russia's most advanced engine for a single-seat, twin-engined fighter jet so far.



Nevertheless, both local and foreign military experts forecast that China's J-20 stealth fighter jets will not enter service until 2018, despite being debuted early this year at the Airshow China 2016.



Russia, which initially expected a 48-unit deal with China, declined the mainland's interest to order only four units of Su-35 because of replicating concerns. It can be recalled that China made several copied versions of Russia's Su-27 called the Jian-11; however, Beijing insisted the aircrafts only stroke some resemblances as they were all indigenous designs.



Although Russia and China have already inked a memorandum this year, Chang noted that both sides are still to determine if they need to discuss and detail their deal more, including specifics like prices, the models to be exported, the kinds of weapons included, to name a few.



Advertisement

TagsRussia, china, Su-35 fighter jets, Su-35 Fighter Jets China, J-20 stealth fighter jet
(Photo : Getty Images) China's strong demand and Argentina's relatively dry weather are driving soybean prices up.

Advertisement

Prices of soybeans remained aloft on Wednesday, thanks to China's second round of purchase of US soybean this week and Argentina's continuous dry weather reports, the AgWeb reported.



USDA announced a 330,000 MT export sale of soybeans to China, including 66,000 MT for 2016-2017 and 264,000 MT for 2017-2018. It followed Monday's 426,000 MT soybean sales to China.



Like Us on Facebook

Advertisement

"I think what is going on today is that another round of soybean sales to China continues to be an underlying supportive factor," Don Roose, president of US Commodities in West Des Moines, Iowa, said.



Iowa Farmer Today noted that Chinese buyers are locking in crush spread with futures. They are also poised to purchase soybeans from the US or South America.



Thus, Angie Setzer, vice president of grain, Citizens Elevator in Charlotte, Michigan, advised farmers to lock in futures as well to capitalize on strong soybean prices, "if not cash prices, for both the old and a portion of the new crop."



"I think we have flipped from a supply-based soybean market to a demand-based market," La Placa said, adding that breaks will be bought and investment funds will pursue the soybean and oil futures markets.



On the other hand, Roose also voiced concern that Argentina's dry weather could cause potential crop losses. Frank La Placa, president of Imperial Futures, Park Ridge, III, said Argentina's forecasts for more dry weather until February have been boosting soybean futures. Although he noted that these forecasts could change, "but if South America gets a short crop, it's hard for any US soybean crop to really cover the worldwide demand."



Advertisement

Tagssoybean, soybean futures, soybean imports, China soybean demands
(Photo : Getty Images) Apple Inc. said on Tuesday that 'external factors' were responsible for causing a number of recent generation iPhones to explode in China and claimed that its products are fully safe to use.

Advertisement

Brushing aside safety concerns, American tech giant Apple Inc. on Tuesday deflected the blame on "external" factors for causing a number of recent generation iPhones to explode in China.



In a statement issued to the AFP news agency, Apple said that these conclusions were based after it retrieved units for analysis and conducted thorough tests on the phones.



Like Us on Facebook

Advertisement

"The units we've analysed so far have clearly shown that external physical damage happened to them which led to the thermal event," the statement said that was issued on late Tuesday. "We treat safety as a top priority and have found no cause for concern with these products."



The tech giant categorically denied that it was slow in responding to the concerns brought forth by Shanghai Consumer Council.



The state-owned consumer council claimed that over the past two months, complaints against Apple has increased sixfold, with many complaining about the abrupt shutdowns of the iPhone 6 and 6s despite enough power stored in the battery.



The council's report quoted one woman saying that her iPhone 6s Plus suddenly caught fire in August, leaving the screen shattered and the battery and the back of the phone blackened.



The barrage of complaints against iPhone comes closely on the heels of Galaxy Note 7 safety fiasco, causing a major embarrassment for Samsung that had to eventually recall the product. The Galaxy Note fiasco had actually helped in bolstering sale of iPhones in China.



The respite in sales came at much needed time, as sales of iPhone units have been flat over the past three quarters. Owing to fierce competition from host local players, Apple is currently facing diminishing prospects in the world's largest smartphone market.



Advertisement

Tagsapple, Apple China, iPhonee, Iphone China, china
(Photo : Getty Images) China's very own Walter White of the hit TV series 'Breaking Bad' has been arrested with 32 kilograms of illegal drugs found.

Advertisement

A Chinese scientist has been found guilty of producing and distributing $600,000 worth of psychoactive drugs every month to the US and Europe. The 46-year-old associate professor, who was only identified by his surname Zhang, is working along three others to produce the narcotics they sell globally.



Like Us on Facebook

Advertisement

Dubbed as China's real-life "Walter White" because of his case's comparison with AMC's hit TV series Breaking Bad, Zhang was found guilty on Tuesday (Dec. 6) for selling 32 kilograms of illicit drugs such as the MDMA-like methylone and the Flakka, or popularly known as the zombie drug, the Time reported. However, authorities believe that the real quantity is at least 10-fold higher than what the suspects confessed.



Zhang and his accomplices reportedly started the illegal business in 2005 and rented an 800-square-meter production plant in a local industrial park to manufacture the illicit substances. Chutian Metropolis Daily noted that Zhang was responsible for changing the drugs' chemical structure based on the client's preference.



They then used Western Union and Bitcoins to facilitate their illegal transactions. The drugs are sold across the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, the Newser noted.



The 46-year-old suspect was first arrested in November 2015 after customs discovered the drugs in a package for export and raided his lab. Authorities, on his initial arrest, said Zhang revealed that he found out about the high demand of psychoactive drugs during his academic visit in Australia. He then decided to gain profit by making drugs after he returned to the mainland, the BBC reported.



Meanwhile, although Zhang along with his two colleagues admitted that they are indeed smuggling, selling, producing, and distributing the drugs, they argued that all of those were used for research purposes only. So far, no date has been announced for their sentence.



Advertisement

TagsChina drug problems, China's Walter White, Breaking Bad China, Chinese drugs online
(Photo : Getty Images) China and Nigeria are looking forward to partner and improve the agricultural sector of Nigeria.

Advertisement

China is seeking to create a trademark in Nigeria's agricultural sector through a partnership between the two countries that aimed at improving food production in the region.



Speaking at the "Zero Hunger by 2030" meeting in Nigeria, Chinese ambassador Zhou Pinjiian promised that the second economic world power would assist in financing small and medium farmers through loans given out by China's Development Bank.



Like Us on Facebook

Advertisement

Pingjian attributed his visit to Nigeria to President Muhammadi Buhari's recent visit to China, adding that more visits and partnerships are to be expected, according to a report by the Nation.



"Agriculture is among the areas we wish to assist Nigeria with," Pingjian said. "The financing will operate just like Nigeria Central Bank's, Anchor Borrowers scheme."



Present in the meeting was Dr. Chiji Ojukwu, the Agriculture and Agro-Industry Director at the African Development Bank, where he said that the "Zero Hunger by 2030" initiative would kick off at the beginning of 2017.



Apart from China's Development Bank, African Development Bank (AFDB) also aims to assist the Ogun, Sokoto, Benue, and Ebonyi region. They are expected to submit two crops and one livestock that they can breed favorably in the region before the year ends.



"We can push these states to run and move ahead with production, processing, and then the community will monitor, provide resources, bring donors like us," Ojukwu said.



The Guardian quoted him saying that the implementation part of the project will be handled by non-governmental firms, whereas the government will be given the mandate to provide an enabling environment.



"Establishment of the mills, production, marketing and processing will be handled by the private sector," he said.



Advertisement

Tagschina, Nigeria, agriculture, African Development Bank, China Development Bank
(Photo : Flickr) Pakistan International Airlines Flight PK 661 crashed near Abbottabad and killed at least 48 individuals.

Advertisement

A Pakistan International Airlines plane with 48 people on board crashed near Abbottabad in northern Pakistan on Wednesday evening.



Traveling to the capital city, Islamabad, from the mountain resort of Chitral, a northern tourist destination near Pakistan-Afghanistan border, flight PK 661 hurtled just 50 kilometers short of its destination. Witnesses saw the craft suddenly tilting and going down before bursting into flames upon impact in Gug.



Like Us on Facebook

Advertisement

Over 40 bodies were taken from the crash site and brought to a hospital In Abbottabad with the aid of hundreds of soldiers and rescue workers, who had to walk for an hour to reach the location.



"What locals from the crash scene are telling us, the passengers are all burned," Saeed Wazir, the deputy inspector general of police in Abbottabad district, said. "Smoke and fire are billowing from the debris. No one can go near it. People are helpless."



The Karachi-based airline released a statement saying 42 passengers, five crew members, and one ground engineer were on the aircraft, an ATR-42 twin propeller plane. The jet went down near the city of Havelian in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province after suffering a failure in one of its two turboprop engines just prior to the crash.



During an interview with the director general of the Civil Aviation Authority, Asim Suleiman, it was reported that minutes before the accident, the pilot radioed to air traffic controllers that the left engine had flared out. He added that they lost contact two minutes after the communication.



The aircraft involved had undergone regular maintenance with an A-check certification in October, PIA chairman Muhammad Azam Saigol said. "I think there was no technical error or human error," Saigol told a news conference.



Among the victims are famous 90s rockstar and Muslim evangelist Junaid Jamshed, two infants, and three foreigners.



In the last six years, Pakistan's air industry has recorded mishaps that stir worries about the safety record of the country's carriers. In 2010, an Airblue crash near Islamabad took 150 lives. Two years after, an accident due to a bad weather involved Bhoja Air during its approach to the city's international airport, killing 127 people on board.



Advertisement

TagsPakistan, plane crash, Pakistan International Airlines, PIA, Junaid Jamshed, islamabad
(Photo : Getty Images) SpaceX's Falcon 9 spacecraft, with the Dragon reusable capsule, sits on the launch pad on May 18, 2012 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Advertisement

SpaceX founder Elon Musk recently confirmed that the firm was forced to delay the launch of its rocket until January 2017. Musk added that an ongoing investigation regarding the incident in September, when one of its rockets exploded on its launch pad, prompted the delay.



SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket was supposed to bring the Iridium-1 satellite into orbit. Iridium even hinted that the launch will push through as early as Dec. 16. However, SpaceX dismissed this rumor saying that the company will be using the extra time in order to prep its rocket and perform some more tests to make sure that the next flight will go according to plan, the Engadget reported.



Like Us on Facebook

Advertisement

It was reported earlier this month that SpaceX is planning to launch a Falcon 9 rocket on Dec. 10 carrying 10 satellites into orbit for Iridium Communications. However, the launch was not approved by the Federal Aviation Administration, the agency that oversees commercial space transportation in the United States.



SpaceX said that the company is also working with investigators to get to the bottom of the issue regarding the September incident, when its rocket exploded on launch.



In a statement, SpaceX said, "We are finalizing the investigation into our September 1 anomaly and are working to complete the final steps necessary to safely return to flight, now in early January."



According to Reuters, one of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets exploded during a routine pre-launch test in Cape Canaveral, Florida. SpaceX said that the explosion came from a fuelling system error in the rocket's pressurized fuel container. The accident destroyed a $200 million satellite owned by the Space Communication, an Israeli communications satellite operator.



Advertisement

TagsSpaceX, Spacex Rocket, spacex falcon 9, Falcon 9, falcon 9 rocket, spacex rockets
H-20 concept

Advertisement

The airing on TV of computer generated images showing China's Xian H-20 stealth bomber by state-owned broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) has apparently triggered a spate of discussions that's revealed more information about this hush-hush bomber.



Some of the most interesting comments about the next-generation H-20 were revealed by Rear Admiral Yin Zhuo, Director of the People Liberation Army Navy's (PLAN) Expert Consultation Committee.



Like Us on Facebook

Advertisement

He said having the H-20 will become one of the symbols of the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) as a strategic service.



Adm. Yin pointed out that China has never developed such a heavy and long-range strategic bomber before. He said China's current heavy bomber, the Xian H-6, isn't a true strategic bomber because it lacks the necessary long-range.



Asked when the H-20 will make it debut, Admiral Yin answered that the Chinese people should have some patience.



He praised the H-20, saying this stealth bomber will certainly be on par with the United States' Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit. He confirmed the H-20 will be a stealth strategic bomber and that it might take 10 years to develop.



He noted China has gained some experience in stealth technology from the development of Chengdu J-20 and the Shenyang J-31 stealth fighters, so the material and design isn't a big problem.



China has also developed the Xian Y-20 heavy transport aircraft, the Comac C-919 jet airliner and other large aircraft. The technical expertise gained with these planes will be useful in developing strategic bombers, he said.



Adm Yin revealed the cruise missiles, nuclear bombs and other weapons that will arm the H-20 are all in place. This means now is the time for China to develop strategic bombers.



In September, General Ma Xiaotian, PLAAF Commanding General, confirmed China is developing the H-20.



"We are now developing a new generation of long-range bomber, and you'll see it in the future," said Gen. Ma.



The H-20 is expected to have a subsonic low-observable "flying wing" configuration similar to the U.S. B-2 Spirit that's been operational since 1997. The H-20 is expected to enter service by 2025.



China's first stealth bomber will be developed and produced by Xi'an Aircraft Industrial Corporation, the same firm that makes the H-6K.



China's decision to go ahead with its own stealth bomber seems to have been triggered by its failure to buy Russia's supersonic Tupolev Tu-22M3 variable-sweep wing, long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber developed by the Tupolev Design Bureau.



This Russian bomber has a combat radius of 2,400 kilometers and can carry up to 24,000 kilograms of bombs and missiles.



Western military analysts said China needs the H-20 to deny the U.S. from entering the "First Island Chain" from Alaska to the Philippines, and to cement its military leadership in Asia.



China's development of the H-2 is being helped along by classified information stolen by Noshir Gowadia, an Indian convicted in 2011 for selling U.S. aerospace secrets to China.



Advertisement

TagsXian H-20 stealth bomber, China Central Television, Admiral Yin Zhuo, People's Liberation Army Air Force
You are here: Home

Many people will remember the moment when a powerless airliner was forced to land on the frigid waters of New York's Hudson River on Jan 15, 2009.

Tom Hanks stars as the hero in Sully, which will hit Chinese mainland theaters on Friday. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Thankfully, all 155 abroad were saved thanks to heroic pilot Chelsey Sullenberger's flying skills.

But, Sullenberger was then investigated by National Transportation Safety Board, as the latter thought his water landing was a mistake.

That became the attraction for Oscar-winning director Clint Eastwood to make Sully, based on the real incident.

Nearly three months after its United States premiere, Chinese audiences can see the biographical feature, starting from Friday.

"It was a positive outcome in a bad situation," says Eastwood, who's known to Chinese moviegoers for his 1995 romance The Bridges of Madison County (1995), in a promotional material tailored for the Chinese market.

Before the incident, the US was a different place, says Eastwood. "It was post-9/11, we had troops in the Middle East, there was the 2008 financial meltdown ... people were worried," he says.

"That happened in Manhattan and we survived it, well, I think it gave people hope."
Donald Trump needs to do more than President Barack Obama did in sending a message to radical Islamists that America is back, Jason Scott Jones says in a column for Stream.org.

Jones says that the National Islamic Front, which is led by President Omar al Bashir, rules the Republic of Sudan. Bashir, Jones says, is the architect of the Darfur Genocide.

Bashirs government is on the verge of bankruptcy, with a suffocating debt of more than $60 billion which it cannot repay, Jones writes. Sudans currency has collapsed, there are shortages everywhere, and recent austerity measures have led to thousands of Sudanese taking to the streets in protest.

Under Obamas presidency, the president had promised more sanctions on the Sudan government and UN soldiers to police the violence, but Jones says he did nothing.

President-elect Trump has a real opportunity to bring American policy towards Islamists in line with the actions and desires of the American people, and his campaign promises to take on the forces of radical Islam, Jones says in the column.

America has endured eight years of morally confused, counter-productive, and indecisive weakness in dealing with radical Islam. We desperately need a leader who can tell the good guys from the villains.

Lets hope that under a bold new Trump Administration, America will take the lead again in standing against terrorism and suppression of religious freedom and basic human rights.

Photo courtesy: Wikipedia

Publication date: December 8, 2016
A recent headline in the New York Times was guaranteed to get readers attention. It said Finding Americas Mother Theresa.

Talk about pressure! Whoever the article described had some huge shoes to fill: Mother Theresa was a beloved humanitarian who was both a Nobel Peace Prize winner and a Catholic saint.

While Annette Dove of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, probably wont win a Nobel Prize, and as a non-Catholic, wont be canonized, theres plenty here to admire and emulate.

Doves story, as told by Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, is a remarkable one. At age 16, Dove dropped out of high school and married a man not only incapable of loving her but who also physically and mentally abused her.

The end of that marriage left her as a single mom and taught her an important lesson: the importance of being equally-yoked with a person who shares your morals and values.

As youve no doubt guessed, Americas Mother Theresa, like her Calcutta counterpart, is a Christian. As she writes in the preface to her book, Birthing the Vision, My prayer is that this book will help those who find themselves in a new place of seeking God for their purpose in life. It is important that you understand that God should always be acknowledged, first.

No journey will be easy, she continues, but if you allow Him to take control, by trusting in Him with your whole heart, and leaning not unto your own understanding; victory will be waiting for you.

In Doves case, victory has taken the form of TOPPS, which stands for Targeting Our Peoples Priorities with Service. Dove started TOPPS after spending several decades as a special education teacher with a decent salary and the security that went along with it.

Today, as Kristof tells his readers, Dove works seven days a week and struggles month to month to pay the bills with donations, foundation support and a state grant; when the money runs out, she prays.

And she has no regrets. At TOPPS, she and volunteer mentors are keeping young people in school, preparing them for college, steering them away from drugs and crime. During the summer, TOPPS feeds 600 people a day. Young men are learning things like how to tie a necktie, and how to look a job interviewer in the eye. At TOPPS meetings, they talk about politics and whats going on in the world. And they talk about personal responsibility: finances, how to make a budget, how to treat girls with respect.

As Kristof says, This training doesnt erase the damage from troubled schools or dangerous neighborhoods, but it helps. Kristof says that men and women like Dove are the ones who keep their fingers in the dike and avert catastrophe.

By force of will, Kristof continued, Dove creates opportunities for kids who have noneand reminds us that whatever happens in Washington, there are miracle workers at the grass roots.

Actually, Dove would hasten to emphasize that the will that matters most at TOPPS is Gods, not her own.

People like Annette Dove, get no headlines, no reward, no glory, and they regularly have their hearts broken, only to soldier on to help the next child. And yet, Kristof says, they help to restore my faith in America.

To which Dove would no doubt reply, what needs to be restored most is faith in the God she serves.

A few years ago, Warren Smith and I wrote a book called Restoring All Things. As the subtitle says, its about Gods extraordinary plan to change the world through ordinary people. We had not heard of Annette Dove and TOPPS back then, but like so many stories we tell in the book, this is what restoration looks like: an ordinary woman going to extraordinary lengths to teach kids how to change their lives for the better.

And of course, how to always put God first.

BreakPoint is a Christian worldview ministry that seeks to build and resource a movement of Christians committed to living and defending Christian worldview in all areas of life. Begun by Chuck Colson in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on todays news and trends via radio, interactive media, and print. Today BreakPoint commentaries, co-hosted by Eric Metaxas and John Stonestreet, air daily on more than 1,200 outlets with an estimated weekly listening audience of eight million people. Feel free to contact us at BreakPoint.org where you can read and search answers to common questions.

John Stonestreet, the host of The Point, a daily national radio program, provides thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.

Publication date: December 8, 2016
A church in Maryland is facing a fine of $12,000 for sheltering the homeless.

I showed up Wednesday morning to find a citation on the door that said we're going to be fined $12,000 and have a court date because we have unhoused homeless people sleeping outside the church at night, said Reverend Katie Grover of the Patapsco United Methodist Church, according to ABC 2 News.

The church received its first warning in June 2015.

Homeless people, who have nowhere else to go, have been sleeping outside of the church. Rev. Katie Grover of the Patapsco United Methodist Church says that by allowing the homeless to stay at the church, the church is fulfilling what she believes to be a mandate from scripture to care for the poor.

This is the business that we conduct carrying for the least, the last and the lost, and the best we can do right now is let them take refuge. I had one woman say this is the only place she felt safe to lay her head down to sleep at night because she has no place else to go. Its an issue with no real good solution, but we as a church believe that Christ has called us to serve the least, the last, and the lost, Grover said, according to KFOR.

However, Chester Bartko, who owns property next door, has complained that the churchs allowance of homeless people on their property is hurting his business.

We have a greenhouse and we sell flowers and shrubbery, and the homeless started camping right next to our retail sales area, Bartko said, according to ABC 2 News.

As a result, the church has been fined a total of $12,000 for running a non-permitted rooming and boarding house and must comply to the code by December 18. Otherwise, they must pay the fine.

The church is scheduled to appear in court on December 21.
Highland Sunshine created by Xu Qinsong in 2001. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

In the Soul, Mountains Art Galloping, an exhibition in the city of Zhengzhou, is now showing dozens of ink paintings by Xu Qinsong, a 64-year-old artist of the classical Chinese style. The display, which is being held at Henan Provincial Art Museum in Central China through Saturday, has a selection of Xu's works that have been inspired by Han Shanzi, a Tang Dynasty (618-907) monk who lived in caves and wrote poems. Art lovers can expect to see the balance between abstract and figurative approaches that Xu has achieved in his paintings of nature.
Assisted Dying Wins Support Even From Evangelical Christians

Nearly seven out of 10 Americans agree that it is morally acceptable for a person to ask for a physician's help in taking his or her own life.

Seven out of 10 also agree that doctors should be allowed to help people in ending their lives.

The surprisingly high support for assisted dying is revealed in new research from the Nashville-based evangelical Christian research company LifeWay.

Young white Americans were more likely to support assisted dying when a person is facing a painful terminal

disease,

Evangelicals were less likely to support it than non-evangelicals. Also, those who attended a religious service once a month or more were less likely to agree with assisted dying.

Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research, told Baptist Press: "Many believe that asking for help in dying is a moral option. They don't believe that suffering until they die of natural causes is the only way out.

"Traditional Christian teaching says God holds the keys to life and death. Those who go to church or hold more traditional beliefs are less likely to see assisted suicide as morally acceptable. Still, a surprising number do."

Physician-assisted dying, or "aid in dying", is legal in six states in the US: Oregon, Washington, Vermont, California, Montana and Colorado. In most of these states, the law is careful to differentiate between assisted dying, which is legal, and enthanasia, which is not.
Assyrian Christians Explain Why They Are Prepared To Form A Militia To Stop ISIS

Assyrian Christians who were forced to flee their homes by Islamic State are now back in Iraq, defending the very town they were made to run from in terror  Qaraqosh.

"This is the land of our fathers, we have to defend it," Mubarak Tuwaya told the Wall Street Journal.

Captain Tuwayo is one of the approximately 500 troops and 300 unpaid volunteers who make up the militia known as the Ninevah Plain Protection Units (NPU). The NPU is now largely responsible for holding Hamandiya, a district east of Mosul and home to Qaraqosh. The NPU helped the Iraqi army retake Hamadiya from ISIS in October. The majority of the militiamen are Christians from the region, many of whom were amongst the 150,000 forced to flee their homes in 2014 when ISIS made its charge through northern Iraq.

In the autumn of that year, some of the displaced Christians decided to form the militia after feeling that Iraqi and Kurdish troops had abandoned them during ISIS's advance. The members speak a modern version of Jesus' language  Aramaic. They now report to and are paid by the government.

While the NPU's capabilities are limited, their member's methods can be brutal. One young member shared with a news source how he had beheaded an ISIS fighter with his pocketknife. He then went on to show a picture of the militant's head on his phone.

As well as protecting the area, the NPU are on a mission to convince their fellow Christians that it is safe to return. Qaraqosh, which was once Iraq's largest Christian town and home to 40,000 people, is now a ghost town. The empty streets are scarred with depictions of the ISIS flag, and churches have been destroyed from the inside out.

The drastic decline in the number of Christians in Qaraqosh and across Iraq follows years of steady decline in the country. Since 2003, the Christian population in Iraq has dropped by around half  from one million to roughly half a million people today.

But the formation of the NPU shows that Christians are not willing to give up on their country and their home that easily. "It's a turning point in our history: to be or not to be in our homeland," said Yunadim Kanna, a Christian member of parliament in Baghdad.

It seems, for the NPU at least, Christians have decided to be.
Christian Couple Rewarded for Their Faith as Their Conjoined Twins Survive Risky Separation Surgeries

"They want life, and they're going to fight for it."

A mother from California said this just before her two-year-old conjoined twins underwent high-risk separation and reconstructive surgeries on Wednesday.

Expressing her strong faith in God, Aida Sandoval, 46, said whatever happened after the operation, it would be God's will. "I have faith in God, and I know that if it's meant to be, it will be," she said as quoted by The Daily Mail.

Aida and her husband Arturo, 51, were subsequently rewarded for their faith when surgeons successfully separated their conjoined twins Eva and Erika after 17 hours of operation at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford in Palo Alto, California on Wednesday, The Sacramento Bee reported.

"They look amazing," Aida gushed upon seeing her twins with two separate bodies for the first time. The two girls were born in August 2014 fused together from the sternum down.

Aida said it feels like a dream seeing her daughters in two different beds. "It's kind of like  'Where's your other half?' It's going to take a little getting used to," she said.

Arturo said he's wondering how his daughters would react when they wake up. "What are they going to do? How are they going to react?" he asked. The twins grew up into "talkative, vivacious girls who danced, jumped and crawled while maneuvering their sprawling, seven-limbed body," as described by The Sacramento Bee.

Lead surgeon Dr. Gary Hartman said the twins "did very well" after his team of about 50 physicians, nurses and operating room staff performed the complex procedure that started at 8 a.m. Tuesday and ended at 1 a.m. Wednesday.

"I'm very pleased; this is as good as we could have asked for," the doctor added.

Before they went into surgery, Erika and Eva shared a bladder, liver and three legs. Now, each girl has portions of their bladder, liver and small intestines. Each has one leg with the third leg removed, the Sandoval couple said on Wednesday.

Doctors at the hospital had calculated only a 30 percent chance of survival for one or both twins before the operation, which has successfully been done only a few hundred times before.

The Sandoval couple and their older children reportedly said a tear-filled prayer around the twins just before they were wheeled into the operating room.

Before Aida gave birth to the girls, the couple was urged to go for abortion when the doctors found out that she was carrying conjoined twins.

However, the Christian couple rejected the doctors' advice even though they knew the difficulties that lie ahead for them once the twins are born. The couple already had three kids in their 20s.
Christians From Egypt Seek Refuge in Cyprus After Experiencing Brutal Persecution

Three Christians from Egypt are currently seeking refuge in Cyprus after they fled their Muslim-dominated nation because of the brutal persecution they had experienced because of their faith.

Egyptian Coptic Christian Maher Elgohary, his daughter Dina and their friend, Rania, are appealing for protection and a safe home from the government of Cyprus after escaping years of persecution in their homeland, the Cyprus Mail reported.

"Please, (Cypriot authorities) we beg you for your protection and mercy," Maher was quoted in the report as saying. "We want to have a relaxed life, to start actually living and not to be persecuted for what we believe."

"We are asking that you keep us safe, that you don't let anyone harm us and that we can finally have a place to call home," he added.

The Coptic Christian man was subjected to physical abuse in Egypt for converting from Islam to Christianity some 20 years ago. He said he had to practice his faith in secret to avoid further persecution.

Just a month ago, three men broke into Maher's home and threatened the lives of his family if he did not follow their instruction. Maher was forced to hold up signs denouncing his Christian faith and saying he and his family had found Islam.

Dina, Maher's 22-year-old Christian daughter, said her father allowed himself to be subjected to this ordeal to protect her. This experience, she said, ultimately prompted them to leave their homeland.

"My father did this for me, he protected me, and he always does," Dina told Cyprus Mail.

The father and daughter's other companion, Rania, also experienced the same persecution in Egypt because of her faith. Her father, also a Coptic Christian, disappeared a year ago while her husband was killed by radical Muslims.

Just like the Elgoharys, Rania also experienced being forced to shun her Christian faith, but chose to stand by it despite living in a community completely surrounded by Muslims.

"They tried to make me convert to Islam, to change my religion and after my husband died, they are trying to make me marry a Muslim," Rania said.

The three Christian migrants are now seeking employment in Cyprus to support their new lives and the freedom to exercise their faith
GAFCON Head Warns The Church Against 'Sleepwalking Into Fatal Compromise'

The Anglican Church is at risk of "sleepwalk[ing] into fatal compromise", the chairman of the conservative grouping GAFCON said in his Advent pastoral letter this week.

Most Rev Nicholas Okoh, Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria and chairman of the GAFCON Primates Council, slammed "the increasing breakdown of church discipline in the Church of England" in reference to clergy who condone gay relationships.

"There are now clergy and bishops who openly take pride in their rejection of biblical preaching and have even launched a website to encourage the violation of the 1998 Lambeth Conference Resolution I.10 on human sexuality," Okoh wrote.

"But more disturbing is the response of the Church of England at its highest level. The Secretary of the Archbishops' Council has written an open letter to Canon [Andy] Lines in which he describes the Lambeth resolution as merely 'an important document in the history of the Anglican Communion'. But this is no ordinary resolution. It has been the standard appealed to again and again in Communion affairs and most recently in the Communique from the Sixth Global South Conference in Cairo which describes it as representing the 'clear teaching of Scripture'."

Okoh said the Communion was "standing at the crossroads", and was at a "critical point" in its history.

"Will it return to the ancient paths or sleepwalk into fatal compromise?" he asked.

He said he was "greatly encouraged" by the voice GAFCON had given to orthodox Christianity, but added "great courage" was needed by members to "re-evangelise the increasingly secular West".

GAFCON-UK was last month accused by William Nye, general secretary to the Archbishop's Council, of being "significantly misleading" in a briefing document.

The UK branch of the conservative group had published a list of names of clergy who were in "violation" of Lambeth 1.10. Nye pointed out the resolution was not legally binding but rather expressed the "view of the attitude of the Communion" at the time.

GAFCON-UK then accused the Church of England of being more concerned about "Twitter mobs" than "what is right before God".

It warned the Church's doctrine on marriage was being relegated to "a museum piece".
Men With 'Homosexual Tendencies' Cannot Become Priests, Says Catholic Church

People with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies" cannot become priests in the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican says in a new document.

People involved or supporting the "so-called gay culture" are also barred from the priesthood, it says.

Pope Francis has approved the document, 'The Gift of the Priestly Vocation', from the Congregation for the Clergy.

Becoming a priest is a "journey of discipleship" which begins at baptism, the document explains. Priesthood is a gift from God to the Church and the world.

Priests should be "missionary disciples". They must be "faithful to celibate chastity" and must cultivate "authentic and filial devotion to the Virgin Mary".

The "possibility of a candidate having homosexual tendencies" must be examined before admission to seminary.

The document says some homosexual tendencies, such as those of adolescence, might be transitory. But these must be overcome for "at least three years" before ordination to the diaconate.

A man who practises homosexuality or has homosexual tendencies must be dissuaded by his confessor. The document says it would be "gravely dishonest" for a homosexual man to pretend not to be gay in order to proceed to ordination.

"The Church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question, cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practise homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called 'gay culture.' Such persons, in fact, find themselves in a situation that gravely hinders them from relating correctly to men and women. One must in no way overlook the negative consequences that can derive from the ordination of persons with deep-seated homosexual tendencies."

In addition to gay priests being banned, most priests cannot marry. Women are also barred from the Catholic priesthood.

The Catholic Church is suffering a serious shortage of priests, in particular in the West. By 2014, nearly 50,000 parishes worldwide were surviving without a priest. There are currently more than 400,000 Catholic priests worldwide. One area of growth however is in "mature" vocations where men who already have a career behind them experience a call to the priesthood.

Every year the Church sets aside Good Shepherd Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Easter, as a day of prayer for more vocations.

The document effectively reiterates the Church's traditional position, last stated in 2005.

Rev James Martin, a Jesuit priest and America magazine editor, told the Washington Post: "Not much has changed. The people who were open to accepting healthy gay men into the seminaries will still do it. It does not negate the fact, nor could it, that there are thousands of healthy and hard-working and holy and celibate gay priests throughout the world."
More People Turning to Christ in Nepal, Which Now Hosts Over 1 Million Believers and 8,000 Churches

More and more people in Nepal are turning to Christianity ever since the predominantly Hindu nation in South Asia went secular in 2008.

Nepal has over one million Christian converts at present, with the number still rising, the Nikkei Asian Review reported, adding that the country also hosts more than 8,000 Christian churches.

In particular, Christianity has found a growing appeal among Nepal's hill tribe minority groups, such as the Kirats and the Dalits, or those belonging to the lowest "untouchables" caste.

Data from the Federation of National Christians in Nepal (FNCN) estimate that 60 percent of all Nepali Christians are Dalits, the caste that makes up the country's population of 30 million.

Dil Maya, a 70-year-old woman from the Dalit, for instance, converted to Christianity following her husband's miraculous healing after she prayed in a church.

"My husband Dhan Bahadur fell very sick once and no doctor could cure him. Someone told me to go to a church and pray, and that was how I first came here," Maya told Nikkei Asian Review.

"It healed my husband, and I felt healed, too because for the first time in my life, I felt accepted by a community. No one accepted me before. I feel accepted here," she said.

Not everyone who is converting to Christianity in Nepal, however, belongs to the lower caste. For instance, M.J. Shah, who came from a royal family, also converted to Christianity after living a life of sin.

"Before, I was a gambler, a fighter, a drinker and a drug user. I used to beat people up. I was terrible," admitted Shah, who found Christ in 2005.

He also shared how he appreciates the sense of belongingness that come with Christianity. "One thing I like about Christians is they believe all Christians belong to one family," he said.

Chandra Man Nepali, FNCN's vice general secretary, meanwhile, said the earthquake that hit Nepal in April last year helped Christianity grow in the country.

"Where the government was not able to reach, there were the Christians. We went to the hard-to-reach districts with food, water and medical supplies. We had funding from the churches outside. In this way, Christians were more helpful to society," Nepali said.
Pastor Bill Johnson Condemns Homosexual Practice As 'Violation' Of God's Design

The charismatic Christian pastor Bill Johnson has condemned homosexuality as a "violating" of God's creation.

Johnson, author of Dreaming with God and senior pastor of California's Bethel church, says God did not design the human body for homosexual love.

He says doing things God's way was never meant to be a punishment or restriction.

In a video on Facebook, he continues: "Homosexuality. It's a violation of design.

"God did not make those human bodies to come together, to fit, in that way. You look all through the issue. Sex outside of marriage. All these things are violation of design. God designed things to release blessing, pleasure, favour, delight, joy, peace  all those wonderful things into the life of an individual."

Johnson preaches that people who lose knowledge of the existence of a creator, lose the concept of design.

Speaking as the Catholic Church released a new document restating its ban on homosexual priests, he says: "When we lose the concept of design, we undermine the discovery of purpose. When we undermine the discovery of purpose, we remove the conviction of accountability.

"When we remove the conviction of accountability, we undermine the fear of God. The Bible says the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom."

One of the by-products of losing the concept of a creator has been to remove boundaries for sin, he says.

"Everything about sin disturbs and disrupts the purpose that God created for us. And he created such a pefect heavenly father, such a loving God who just delights in people, he purposed for us to live without sin so that we could enjoy life to the absolute maximum."

He also spoke out against greed.

"If I get greedy if I start wanting new stuff, I start violating the sense of design. The design is, God wants to reward my life for faithfulness, for following the principles of integrity and of wisdom, and to reward me with blessing, reward me with increase, reward me with prosperity.

"But when I want your stuff I'm violating his design, and I'm violating his process of giving reward. When I want your stuff I'm actually asking or wanting to take something that doesn't belong to me. And in a very strange sense I actually become a thief in my heart to obtain something that isn't God's design for me to have."

Earlier this week, more than 33,000 people signed a petition that defends the conservative view on same-sex marriage taken by the pastor of HGTV stars Chip and Joanna Gaines of the Fixer Upper TV programme. More than 86,000 have signed another petition calling on HGTV to keep airing the show. The couple were the subject of wide comment because their pastor, Jimmy Seibert, supports ex-gay therapy and opposes gay marriage.
Should Protestants Pay More Attention To Mary? And What's The Immaculate Conception Anyway?

On September 8 I was strolling out of Westminster Cathedral having been to vespers. I was attending an event nearby and had decided to go into the mother church of the Catholic community of England and Wales. I hadn't realised that it was a Marian feast day, but sure enough, it was  the Cathedral was marking the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary  the celebration of Mary's birth. This meant that the hymns, prayers and other aspects of the service had a flavour of Mary in all of them.

On the way out, I ran into a friend who's an Anglo-Catholic priest. "There's nothing like a Marian feast...", "Yes, marvelous, wasn't it?" he interrupted. I hadn't had the chance to finish my sentence. What I was going to say was, "There's nothing like a Marian feast to make one realise quite how Protestant one is!" We laughed as we walked away from the glorious Neo-Byzantine building.

The last few years have seen some remarkable moves towards unity between different branches of Christianity. Pope Francis has not only reached out to Lutherans on the eve of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. He's also spoken warmly to Pentecostals in an almost unprecedented move.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has reached out to Eastern (and Oriental) Orthodox leaders, even as the strain shows between the political leaders of Russia, and the West.

In the USA, divisions between Protestant and Catholic which would have been considered unbridgeable a century ago now seem much less serious. Yes, there are still big differences on doctrine, but America no longer has to ask if a Catholic can run for president. It's just assumed that it's OK.

Today marks another of those Marian feasts. December 8 is marked as the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Instead of going to Vespers, this evening I'll be at a Christmas meal followed by a choir practice for my own church.

Yet it's got me thinking. What is it about these celebrations that I find doesn't quite connect with me?

Having grown up in an independent evangelical church, the idea of celebrating any ancient practices seemed a bit alien. Slowly, over the years I've become more acquainted with the historic inheritance of the worship of the Western Church. Ancient practices of praying have become important, the lives of certain saints have become an inspiration, and I've developed a much more rounded view of scripture in relation to tradition and reason.

Having been confirmed as an Anglican when I was in my late 20s, I have explored the breadth of that tradition and what it has to offer. I'm pretty militant, when it comes to the Church calendar  observing Lent and Advent and making sure anyone within earshot knows it ain't Christmas 'til we've started Midnight Mass on December 24.

Today's feast is tricky, though. I'll admit I come with all sorts of Protestant biases, but I don't quite understand the celebration or even the importance of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.

The basic idea is that for Jesus to be perfect and sinless, Mary needed to be without original sin. As this helpful guide in the Telegraph puts it, "From as early as the sixth century, western and eastern Christian traditions celebrated the birth of Mary  daughter of Joachim and Anna, and mother of Jesus. Over time, the date settled at 8 September." Nine calendar months before that is, of course, today  when Mary was conceived, according to Catholic doctrine formalised in 1854 by Pope Pius IX, entirely free of original sin.

It was the fact that this belief was made mandatory for Roman Catholics that separated them from other Christians, rather than the belief itself. Indeed some Orthodox believers, along with Anglo-Catholics and even Lutherans (Luther himself considered Mary to be without sin) would be of similar mind to Roman Catholics on the Immaculate Conception.

In our current age of ecumenical friendship, I don't want to criticise this belief or those who cleave to it. There are parts of the world where this is a national holiday and a cause of fireworks and great celebrations. Mary is clearly one of the most important people in the Bible, indeed in all of history and Protestants have often gone too far in pushing her out of the picture.

Yet, the central Protestant critique of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception remains. It isn't found anywhere within the Bible and was developed after the completion of the canon of Scripture. Jesus' divinity comes not from biological inheritance, it comes from His ontological status  in other words, Jesus is God because of who He is, not whether His mother was clear of original sin or not. There is also a risk of infinite regression with this doctrine. If we say Mary has to be immaculately conceived then what is to say her sinless perfection doesn't need to go back another generation, or indeed several more?

Celebrating and anticipating the incarnation of God himself at Christmas is the main aim of this season. Anything else is a sideshow for me. But, in the spirit of unity and fellowship shown by our leaders in recent years I say to other Christians who are celebrating today  I might be wrong  and I look to you helping me to understand futher.

Follow Andy Walton on Twitter @waltonandy
Stripped, Beaten and Killed: The Christian Mother Who Fell Victim To Mob Violence In India

A Christian mother in India has been stripped, beaten and killed in a mob attack thought to have been motivated by religion.

The mother, Samari Kasabi, was from the village of Dokawaya, in Chhattisgarh. She was stripped naked, beaten to death, then burned by her neighbours, The Daily Express reports. The mob who killed her were looking for Kasabi's son, Sukura, 35, and his family, but then killed Samari instead.

Sukura reported his mother's death to the Sindgarh police, and several arrests have taken place. The village chief was detained for two days but then released without charge.

The mob's motives for the attack are unknown, although it is feared that it may have been motivated by religion.

Christian charity Open Doors reports that the family has previously been abducted by Naxalites, an Indian Communist guerrilla group, because of their Christian faith.

However, the family told the militants they were praying for the sick and the needy in their village, and so were released. The Sukura family have insisted however that they have been continually hounded by the Naxalite militants.

Hoping to escape this violence, other Christians in the village have renounced their faith.

Open Doors sent a team to visit Sukura in Dokawaya. In response to their visit, Sukura said: "Since the day I came to faith no Christian leader from any place has visited us. This is the first time someone has come and prayed for us. Thank you so much."

There are approximately 63 million Christians in India, while 80 per cent of the country's 1.3 billion population identify as Hindu. In five of India's states, is it a criminal offence to convert to Christianity, with anti-Christian restrictions in place in other states aggravating fears about religious oppression and persecution.
Tullian Tchividjian's Brother, Uncle Join Condemnation Of His Behaviour

Another Christian organisation has issued a condemnation of Tullian Tchividjian after revelations from several women about his behaviour towards them  and the organisation includes his brother and uncle.

The board of directors of GRACE  Godly Reponse to Abuse in the Christian Environment  has said it is "deeply disturbed about the revelations of sexual misconduct by Tullian Tchividjian".

Among those listed as board members are Tchividjian's brother Boz and his uncle Emmanuel.

Tchividjian was deposed from ministry at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church after he and his then-wife Kim both admitted extra-marital affairs.

He was hired for a non-ministry post by Willow Creek Church, but it later emerged that as well as the inappropriate relationship to which he confessed, Tchividjian was also involved with another woman.

He was fired by Willow Creek in March 2016.

Women with whom he had relationships have come forward and detailed his behaviour. One accused him of grooming her, while the blogger Nate Sparks has accounts from two women who have given their versions of their relationships with him.

Addressing what it describes as Tchividjian's "victims", the GRACE board's statement says: "You have suffered and we do not want to add our silence to that suffering. Once again, one of God's shepherds used his position of authority, his gift of words, his intellect and personality to draw you in when you were vulnerable and in need of care."

It calls for the Christian community to "put in place long overdue reforms that will limit the possibility of continuing transgressions against the vulnerable".

These include seminary training for pastors about appropriate boundaries, rigorous screening of pastors and developing clear policies for responding to abusive conduct.
What Is The Future Of The Religious Right Under A Trump Presidency?

Four years ago, just after the election of Barack Obama for a second term as US president, I was told the Religious Right was over.

I'd just published research asking whether a British version of the Religious Right existed and was told by an experienced American journalist that I'd missed the point. The Religious Right in America was in terminal decline so there really wasn't much point in comparing the situation in Britain with it.

Four years on, as we rake over the smouldering coals of the 2016 presidential election victory a statistic stands out above all others. The vast majority  81 per cent  of white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump, more than even the 78 per cent who cast their ballot for George W Bush in 2004.

The Religious Right wasn't necessarily dead at all. In fact it had morphed into one of Trump's most reliable voting blocs.

Sure, the Religious Right lacked its charismatic leaders of old, like Jerry Falwell and its large scale membership organisations like the Moral Majority and Christian Coalition. But maybe now it didn't need them. The candidate spoke straight to evangelicals during the debates and social media did the rest.

Despite his obvious unsuitability as a candidate (thrice married, couldn't name a Bible verse, had never asked for forgiveness) Trump was declared the only choice by a series of Religious conservatives. Broadcaster Eric Metaxas, theologian Wayne Grudem, Pastor Robert Jefress, Liberty University's Jerry Falwell Junior and the rest of the white men who comprise the third generation of Religious Right leaders backed their man. The reason? The Supreme Court. Trump promised to appoint only very conservative justices. This meant issues the Religious Right cared about could be back in play  school prayer, LBGT rights and the big one: abortion.

In numerous social media discussions with Trump voters, this was the factor that arose time and again. Trump had promised to fill the court with conservatives who would work to repeal Roe vs Wade, the decision that legalised abortion across every state of the Union.

So what now?

Trump is already backtracking on several campaign promises. Can he afford to do the same with the Religious Right? It's known disappointment before. Despite having George W Bush in the White House and a Republican Congress, the Religious Right didn't manage to secure much in the way of reform to abortion law in the early 2000s. Neither did Bush Snr or even the darling of the right, Ronald Reagan.

In fact, despite abortion being central to the concerns of the Religious Right  a foundational bloc of the Republican base since the 1970s  there has never been a moment quite like this. Trump has made it clear he will pick conservative justices and even offered a pre-approved list. The next four years could see a decisive shift in the make-up of the court. With Antonin Scalia's seat to be filled, there may yet be more vacancies for President-elect Trump. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 83, Anthony Kennedy is 80 and Stephen Breyer is 78. These three liberal-leaning justices are unlikely to choose to retire during a Trump presidency and Republican Congress, but of course there is a realistic chance any of them could die in office.

With some recent decisions ending in deadlock in the court since Scalia's demise, it is clear that another one or two vacancies during the Trump term could spark a radical reform of the court. The so-called Warren Court of the 50s and 60s ushered in the era of civil rights and other liberal reforms which paved the way for the Roe decision in 1973. A conservative majority that would reverse this path is one of the key goals of the Religious Right  restricting abortion has been one of the central planks of its programme since its foundation in the mid 70s.

Trump, like the Brexiteers in the UK, has two options. He can attempt to legislate in favour of the Religious Right  a sort of hard Brexit type option. The much more likely path is that he fills court vacancies as they arise during his term  a sort of soft Brexit option.

If this is indeed the approach he takes (and he showed no interest in pro-life activism until he needed the votes of the Religious Right in primary season) then the future of the Religious Right is up in the air. Success on one of its key goals  the rolling back of abortion rights to the states  will depend on the health of octogenarian liberal justices.

The Religious Right has proven it is far from moribund. Having flexed its muscles to carry Trump to the presidency it now resumes its traditional role while there is a Republican in office  watching and waiting for him to deliver.

Follow Andy Walton on Twitter @waltonandy
Investigators were beginning to get a sense of the final chaotic moments for the 36 people killed in a fire at a converted Oakland warehouse, as they made progress on the search for the cause of the blaze.

Oaklands planning director, meanwhile, admitted that the building had not been inspected for three decades, despite what neighbors said were numerous complaints about accumulated trash, graffiti and other blight.

The search for bodies ended Wednesday after a final run through with cadaver dogs, and the death toll stands at 36, making it the deadliest structure blaze in California since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.

But the investigation inside the building at 31st Avenue near International Boulevard is far from over. As many as 30 fire investigators are scouring every inch of the burned-out hulk of the Ghost Ship, a 160-by-48 foot warehouse-turned-artists-collective where an electronic music event was in progress when the blaze broke out Friday night.

Jill Snyder, the special agent in charge of the San Francisco office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the origin of the fire has been narrowed down to an area in the back of the building on the first floor.

There were no smoke alarms in the building, she said, and two makeshift stairwells led up to the second floor where the party was going on. Neither of the stairwells led to an exit.

When the fire broke out, Snyder said, smoke and flames climbed the stairwells, overwhelming people on the second floor before they had a chance to escape.

There was rapid fire progression, she said. Initial witness interviews have indicated that the fire was well developed by the time the second-floor occupants realized that a fire was going on on the first floor.

Snyder said there is no evidence that the fire was arson, but reports that it started in a refrigerator are not accurate. The refrigerator is among a number of electrical appliances, circuits and wiring in the building that are being looked at, she said.

We are looking at every possible source of ignition, she said, adding that evidence collection would probably continue for a few days and the investigation itself would take several weeks.

Former residents and witnesses described the warehouse as a dangerous environment full of jerry-rigged creations by artists who paid $500 to $1,500 a month to live there. There was a hodgepodge of makeshift electrical hookups and exposed wires, witnesses said.

Darin Ranelletti, Oaklands interim director of planning and building, said inspectors went to the building on Nov. 17 and Nov. 18 in response to complaints about blight and an illegal residential structure in a lot adjacent to the warehouse.

He said an inspector had confirmed the presence of debris on the sidewalk, but was unable to gain access to the warehouse and issued a notice of violation. Records show that no inspector has actually been inside the building in the past 30 years, he said.

We typically work with property owners to get permission to access to property, Ranelletti said. . If they refuse, we would need a warrant from a judge.

However, none of the complaints that the city received over the years about the Ghost Ship involved conditions inside the building, Ranelletti said.

Mark Pazin, the director of the Governors Office of Emergency Services, said he was stunned when he toured the warehouse Wednesday.

It's sobering, Pazin said. Its excruciating to walk through, to possibly relive those last moments when persons knew there was a fire and there was no way out.

Alameda County Sheriff Gregory Ahern said emergency workers who are gathering evidence have been extra careful about removing debris from the back of the structure, where there are telltale signs of extreme heat.

On that back wall, there was a 45-degree-angle burn, and they need to look at that area very carefully, Ahern said.The area contained a toaster, a small refrigerator and a slightly larger refrigerator that looked as if it was from the 1950s, he said.

It is just the type of evidence experts look for when trying to find the source of a fire.

Brian Dunagan, principal consultant for the IFO Group, a Houston company that specializes in fire investigations, said burn patterns normally lead investigators to the source of a fire. He said a V-shaped pattern is a clear sign of origin.

Fire behavior is fairly predictable, Dunagan said. If the place isn't burned all the way to the ground, the burn patterns will take you back. At the origin of the fire, that burn pattern, often a V pattern, will be on a wall above the source.

He said heat is buoyant and fires burn most intensely high up, which is why people caught in a fire are advised to get as low as possible and crawl, with nose to floor.

Fatalities, he said, make the investigation all the more difficult. Before being moved, every body must be photographed and logged, and all nearby evidence collected.

In 2013, Dunagan said, while investigating a methane explosion in Mexico City that killed 37 people, he found the body of a man with the telltale evidence of the blasts cause: The mans hand was still clutching a cigarette.

Its a whole different dynamic when youve got a loss of life in a fire, Dunagan said. For one, you are looking at a potential criminal case that has to be preserved.

Another factor in the spread of a fire is ventilation, so investigators must find out from firefighters which doors or windows they opened or broke when they arrived.

They are lucky they had witnesses. Thats not something you always have, Dunagan said. But to be thorough, you have to check the whole rest of the building to make sure youre not being led down a wrong path  because witnesses are notoriously unreliable.

Also, egos, jealousy and jurisdictional fights can compromise an investigation when multiple agencies are involved, he said.

The forensics investigators findings could become a part of any criminal charges filed in connection with the fire. Alameda County District Attorney Nancy OMalley has said charges could range from involuntary manslaughter to murder, though she has not named any potential targets.

Mayor Libby Schaaf promised Wednesday to take decisive next steps to ensure all Oakland structures are up to code, with proper exits and smoke alarms. She said the citys permitting, reporting and inspection protocols will be reviewed

The mayor said numerous complaints about other structures have come in since the fire. We will learn from this tragedy to make Oakland safer, Schaaf said.

People have been stopping by the disaster scene nonstop since the fire. On Wednesday, a woman wearing a brown hooded jacket sat near the dozens of signs, flowers, and candles at Fruitvale Avenue and International Boulevard. She cried. She wiped her tears. She bobbed back and forth, and bowed her head to the ground for minutes at a time.

An Alameda County sheriff's deputy walked over and tried to comfort her by rubbing her shoulder and briefly standing with her.

A moment later, she was joined by a woman pushing a baby stroller. The two, who were strangers to each other, hugged and cried together. God bless yall, a passerby said as she saw the women embracing.

Peter Fimrite, Hamed Aleaziz and Rachel Swan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: pfimrite@sfchronicle.com, haleaziz@sfchronicle.com and rswan@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @pfimrite @Haleaziz @rachelswan
Bill Montgomery

An estimated 45.2 million people will fly on U.S. airlines in the 21-day period from Dec. 16 to Jan. 5, according to airline industry trade organization Airlines for America.

That's an increase of 3.5 percent from the same period a year ago and equates to 73,000 more passengers per day. Airlines will make 99,000 additional seats available during the period, according to the organization's estimates.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Credit Viceland with this: The network doesn't do boring when it comes to "Payday," the mini-documentary series that focuses on people in their twenties making ends meet with varying degrees of success during a single pay period. After visiting Baltimore, Salt Lake City, Memphis and Reno, "Payday" came to Houston for this Friday's episode.

They found four fascinating Houstonians in four very different lines of work with four very different outlooks for the future.

JimmyBoi is the closest of the four to well-known, a Sharpstown-based jeweler who wears a $120,000 ring and manages to make at least $60,000 during the show's brief vignette. A walk-in buys a $12,000 chain, and JimmyBoi also crafts a $50,000 solid gold winged figure for rapper Killer Mike.

His story involves a pretty big turnaround. The son of Vietnamese immigrants, JimmyBoi informs his nickname was "Pill Gates" back when he was a dealer, work that landed him in prison. Working with metal and stones has proven more lucrative than license plates: JimmyBoi says he did $1.4 million in sales last year.

Sean Lindley's business -- Texas Machine Gun and Ordnance -- is on shakier ground on "Payday." An Iraq War vet, Lindley came home with six-figure savings which he sunk into a weapons shop. "I was bored with the gun market," he says. So he offers more than just firearms. Pipe bombs and flamethrowers are also on the menu.

Yes, flamethrowers. Lindley demonstrates their ability to turn green cacti black. "TXMGO is a stocking dealer for the Throwflame X-15 Flamethrowers," his site says, not referring to Christmas.

Also, did you know this? "In addition to firearms, Texas law permits the use of explosives and explosive Destructive Devices such as Claymore-style devices, to eliminate wild pigs." So there's that service, too.

Lindley's venture on the show is tension-filled as he remains in the reserve and could get called into military service at any time, which would leave his business -- his life's savings -- untended.

Tredante Bias was born without lower arms and with only one leg, none of which stopped him from playing drums. He wants to go to Los Angeles and become a star, building on regional renown generated by some viral videos like "Man with No Arms Killin the Drums!!!!" which has topped 750,000 views on YouTube. He needs $1,000 to get settled in L.A., a modest ask, but still a struggle.

After graduating from Houston Baptist University, Sam Hernandez pursued a calling rather than a career. With Elijah Rising she offers assistance to women and girls caught in the trafficking that leads to the porn and sex trade, where Houston is a hub.

The Houston episode of "Payday" airs on Viceland at 8 p.m. Friday.
Texas will receive $1 million as part of a multi-state settlement with the New York based pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb for improper marketing of its anti-psychotic drug Abilify.

Forty-two states, including Texas, settled deceptive trade practice claims for $19.5 million.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Abilify to treat schizophrenia in 2002. Without regulatory approval, Bristol-Myers Squibb promoted Ailify to treat elderly patients with dementia but did not disclose dementia patients faced a greater risk of death.

"BMS put Texans' lives at risk when it marketed Abilify for uses not approved by the FDA," Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, said in a prepared statement.

Bristol-Myers Squibb denied any wrongdoing and said in a statement that it is pleased to put the matter to rest. The company has not marketed Abilify since 2013.
Dunkin Donuts

Houston and Beaumont are slated to get a share of the sprinkling of new Dunkin' Donuts restaurants planned for Texas.

The company announced Thursday that four franchisees plan 65 new restaurants in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, including dual-branded locations with ice cream eatery Baskin-Robbins.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

The road to recovery is long for Dusty Tousha, the 26-year-old Liberty County man who was run over by a tractor Dec. 3 while working on a ranch in Devers.

"Right now he is still in ICU at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston. He has trachea and feeding tubes but he is getting up and sitting in a chair," his mother, Renee Tousha, told the Cleveland Advocate on Wednesday. "He can't speak because his jaw is wired shut so he is communicating by writing things down on paper."

Tousha suffered fractures to both eye sockets, his checks and jaws, but miraculously his brain and eyesight are intact, his mom said, calling her son "a miracle."

The accident also broke several of his teeth, which will have to be repaired once the more pressing medical issues have been resolved.

"They are just trying to get him well right now. He should be able to come home next week if all goes as planned," his mom said, "but he will be coming home with the tubes and knowing he has more surgeries to undergo to his face."

Initially the cause of the accident was unknown. What was reported is that the tractor had either been left in gear or slipped into reverse.

"He told us he was getting off the tractor at the gate. As he was getting off, he had it in neutral but his foot hit the gearshift and put it into reverse," Renee said.

The tractor lurched backward, knocking Tousha off the tractor and into the path of its front-left tire. The tractor rolled over Tousha's shoulder and head before coming to a stop.

When asked about her son's long-term prognosis, Renee said, "The doctors are saying that if he keeps improving like he is, he could see a full recovery in six months."

Tousha has something special to look forward to when he recovers. His mom said he proposed to his girlfriend, Hunter Lisano, through handwritten notes from his hospital bed, and she accepted.

But first, medical bills must be paid, which is why his family has set up a Go Fund Me account with a goal of $30,000. Tousha has no medical insurance.

"I am just happy my son is alive. We might be stuck in a hospital right now but we could have been in a funeral home," his mom said.

To donate, go online to https://www.gofundme.com/dusty-tousha
SPLENDORA - Fifth-graders Karmen Lucas and Katherine Walker spent Tuesday night dodging creepers and breaking blocks during the annual Hour of Code challenge.

By playing Minecraft, the Greenleaf students used critical thinking skills to guide avatars - using left, right, down, up, repeat commands - through obstacles without setting off an explosion by miscalculating and running into a creeper.

"It's hard when you get to level 13 or 14 because when you get to level 13, it makes you break the blocks without falling in lava," Karmen said with authority. "I started playing it again yesterday, but I played it in third and fourth grade."

Students at Splendora Independent School District all week recognized the annual Hour of Code, a nationwide movement to encourage schools to include coding in their curriculum. Dale Martin, instructional coordinator for technology at Splendora ISD, hosted an after-hours coding event at Splendora High School, and pointed to a Madisonville farm, where he said machines monitor the cotton and give an alert when it's ready for harvest.

"Coding is the foundation of everything that we do," Martin said. "We're in the middle of a technological revolution, and there's about 300,000 coding jobs a year that go unfilled."

The training teaches children critical thinking and problem-solving skills, he said, and the school district now begins teaching it as early as kindergarten.

Martin himself first learned a coding language called BASIC in the 1980s. Back then, he said, kids just wanted a chance to play with Apple computers.

"I didn't realize that computer math was just trig, the same thing I was already taking, but I had to teach a computer how to solve the problem," he said with a laugh. "I felt betrayed."

When he started college, people were learning to code computers using DOS commands. By the time he graduated, they'd moved on to Windows-based platforms. It's only been in the last four or five years Martin has learned "Web 2.0," which includes things like cloud programming.

Splendora ISD is a Google Apps district that equips each of its students with a Gmail address and account to share documents with teachers and classmates. The district has a Bring Your Own Device policy, and more than 30 classrooms have been equipped with Google Chromebooks.

One of the district's biggest challenges, Martin said, is that while students have access to wireless internet at school, some neighborhoods in East Montgomery County lacks the infrastructure to wire their houses with internet.

"How do we overcome that digital divide? Because, really and truthfully, if you can't get online, you're not connected," Martin said. "I mean, how do you apply for a job? How do you check your email? So much stuff is electronic now that it is not a luxury. To me, having the internet is like flushing, you expect it to just go.

"It shouldn't be free, but it should be available."

Martin is working with the East Montgomery County Improvement District to incentivize companies to extend internet access farther into the area. He's also working with New Caney to look at ways to broadcast the wireless internet at the district's campuses into the neighborhoods after hours, similar to a program initiated by Pasadena Independent School District last year.

"There's ways to do that, poles and wireless and things like that, but it's going to cost money," he said. "We couldn't do it everywhere, but maybe where it's most dense."

The issue is identifying the areas where it's most needed. Surveys conducted by the school district in the past have shown 25-35 percent of its students do not have access to the internet, but more recently a survey showed that number was more like 10 percent. Martin said he wasn't sure if it was the wording of the question or if children thought having a cellphone sufficed, "but you can't write a 10-page paper on a cellphone."

Now, the a group of students with the district is working with a teacher well-versed in GIS coding to create a map where students indicated they did not have access to the internet.

"I'll be able to show you, OK, here's an area that is significantly underrepresented, and if somebody was willing to help us, that'd be the place," Martin said. "We have people working on the problem; I don't think we've done a really good job, yet, articulating exactly what direction we want to go to try and solve it."
Wednesday, the world discovered that Ted Cruz has an uncomfortable love for queso and the Twitterverse was quick to jump online to tease the Texas Senator over his admiration.

To offer a bit of backstory, Jordan Rudner, Washington correspondent for The Dallas Morning News, filmed Cruz as he was defending melted cheese during a U.S. Senate battle between Texas queso and Arkansas cheese dip. Other senators were asked to blindly vote for their favorite.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Just weeks ago, Houstonians were lined around the block to purchase their Thanksgiving pies at Houston baking institution Flying Saucer Pie Co.

The longtime shop at 436 W. Crosstimbers has been around since 1967, when freshly baked apple pies cost just 99 cents. It's among Houstonians' holiday go-to spots or to-go pastries.

That's why some locals will be disappointed to learn that they won't be able to pick up their Christmas desserts from there this holiday season. Although there's still time to grab one for the freezer.

(Story continues below.)

HOLIDAY ADVICE: 17 ways to debloat after overeating during the holidays

Flying Saucer Pie Co.'s Facebook page states that they will be closed, after they sell their remaining inventory, until at least Dec. 27, their estimated re-opening date:

"We want to thank everyone for the overwhelming support these last forty-nine years! Without our loyal customer base, we wouldn't exist, and so we are, as always, humbled and grateful to every one of you. Unforeseen circumstances have halted all dough production temporarily. We will be up and running again as soon as possible. Unfortunately, we will not be open for Christmas."

According to KHOU, the temporary closing is a result of an "equipment issue."

The bakery's social media post also explains that they "neither freeze, nor use preservatives, so there are no back-up pies to bake. What we have in house now would go bad before Christmas, so we are baking it all and selling it until there is nothing left to sell!"

Since there's a limited quantity, patrons are encouraged to go by soon.

The store will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. until they sell out.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Jobs resource website Glassdoor has released their yearly rankings of workplaces where staffers are king.

"The Best Places to Work in 2017" is generated from more than 2.1 million company reviews submitted by employees, according to Glassdoor. Staff are encouraged to share the positives and negatives of their jobs; advice to management; how great (or bad) their CEO is; and other minutiae.

GREAT ADVICE: 29 brilliant questions to ask at the end of every job interview

In Texas, four large companies made the list: two from Dallas-Fort Worth and one each from Austin and San Antonio. Each one is a powerhouse in their respective sectors, including air travel and groceries.

Six Texas companies also landed on the list of best small to medium companies to work for: Austin's SailPoint Technologies (4) and Berkshire Communities (36); Plano's Masergy (26); Dallas' Sendero (9) and Pariveda Solutions (30); and Houston's Venterra Realty (46).

WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK: These are Houston's Top Workplaces for 2016

Venterra Realty also landed on Chron.com's ranking of the top midsized companies to work for in Houston.

You can view the full list of the "The Best (Large) Places to Work in 2017" in the gallery above.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Michael Ciaglo/Staff Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Michael Ciaglo/Houston Chronicle Show More Show Less 3 of 3





Houston ISD announced Thursday that it will hold a runoff election Saturday to determine the winner of the HISD Board of Education District VII seat to fill the unexpired term of outgoing Trustee Harvin Moore.

Candidates competing in the runoff are Anne Sung and John Luman. The runoff election winner will serve the remainder of Moores term in office, which runs through 2017.
Before he has even become president, Donald Trump is already wasting the American people's money on lucrative giveaways to big business.

On November 30, Trump bragged he had "kept our companies and jobs in the U.S." This was in relation to the air conditioner company Carrier that had announced last February it would be shutting its factory in Indiana and moving operations to Mexico, resulting in a shift of more than 1,000 jobs.

At the time, Trump pledged he would prevent Carrier from moving. It was one of the big promises of his campaign that he would stop American companies from opening factories in foreign countries.

Trump said a lot of fantastical things on the campaign trail. Now that he has to face the constraints of reality, we are seeing how his style of governance will actually look. The reality, it appears, is far more favorable to those businesses that are "moving jobs overseas" and less favorable to the Americans supposedly "victimized" by the presence of cheap imported goods in their supermarkets. Rather than threats and intimidation, Trump's plan for getting jobs back is bribery.

It is reported that Indiana, whose governor, Mike Pence, just happens to be Trump's pick for vice president, will pay Carrier $7 million in the form of tax breaks. Now, Carrier has announced it will keep 1,000 or so jobs in Indiana indefinitely, while still creating 700 to 1,300 jobs in Mexico.

Essentially, then, Trump is rewarding any big business that threatens to "move jobs" out of his country. Companies that have never thought of closing, and never issued any threats in this regard, didn't get the special tax breaks.

With Trump subsidizing American companies opening up in Mexico, he might just be encouraging others to do the same -- the exact opposite of what he was campaigning on.

However, it works out well for Trump politically, at least in the short term. He can brag about helping American workers and claim credit for a deal. He appeared at an event at a Carrier factory the next day. Carrier, meanwhile, can get tax breaks and good publicity while staying in the good graces of the soon-to-be members of the administration. It's a win-win deal for the elite.

But 1,000 jobs are a pittance in a country where 181,000 new jobs are produced every month. And the millions of Americans who could lose government-subsidized health insurance when the Republicans repeal Obama's healthcare reform bill might wonder why Trump would have the government spend money to provide for unemployed Carrier workers, but not on healthcare for the unemployed and low-wage earners.

Trump and the Republicans even pledged to freeze new hiring by the federal government, partly on the argument that it isn't the government's job to provide jobs. Somehow, though, they think it is the government's job to spend taxpayer money on private companies hiring people.

It does benefit the wealthy investors of Carrier's parent company who will see their company's earnings increase. The general gist of Trump's philosophy is of government doling out corporate welfare to wealthy businessmen.

He was doing this kind of dealing from the other side ever since he developed his first hotel while taking a 40-year tax abatement perk from the city of New York. During the campaign, he bragged (and exaggerated) about how easily he can buy off politicians -- having given hundreds of thousands to both Democratic and Republican politicians, including Hillary Clinton.

It was revealed that, for more than a decade, he paid no income taxes due to creative accounting measures involving such sweeteners as debt forgiveness.

If this is how Trump treats his proclaimed enemies, his longtime friends must be salivating. Trump is known for relying on intense loyalty. Already he has rewarded many of his contributors with advisory roles and cabinet positions. The positions of Energy Secretary and Interior Secretary, which are supposed to keep oversight over oil and other exploitative industries, are reportedly being offered to oil industry executives who contributed to the Trump campaign.

Trump still owns and serves as president of his own company, which owns property and does business in many countries around the world. He has said that he has some kind of mysterious plan that he will unveil later for scaling back the conflict of interest, yet already he has met with foreign business partners and posed for photos used for self-promotion.

He has discussed his business interests with foreign leaders and invited the executive vice president of his company to meet with the Prime Minister of Japan.

The Trump administration is looking like it could be one of the most corrupt American presidencies ever. The Carrier deal is just the start.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/MitchellBlatt.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
The Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District recently showcased the district and welcomed community members and elected officials into its schools and classrooms for its inaugural School Priority Day.

More than 100 community members and several elected officials came out to learn more about the district during the recent event, which was modeled after the "Make Education a Priority" resolution launched by districts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in 2011.

"It was important for the district to have the School Priority Day because there was a lot of misinformation out there about what public schools are doing and accomplishing. It helps people to actually go in schools and see the education that is going on, the technology that is being used, and how the kids are learning," said Bob Covey, CFISD board member. "It dispels a lot of the negatives that seem to be associated with public school education."

The event began and concluded at the Berry Center. During School Priority Day the guests took school buses to and from the facility and were directed by student-led tours of CFISD school buildings.

Since 2000, the Cy-Fair area has seen 273,000 new residents. The number of new residents reflects more residential growth than 21 states around the nation. More than 38,000 housing occupancies are expected to join the district by the year 2025.

CFISD serves approximately 114,000 students and is the third-largest in the state. CFISD has 88 campuses, which includes elementary, middle, and high schools. Additionally, there are five special program facilities.

Community members made visits to Woodard Elementary, A. Robison Elementary School, Cypress Fair High School and Cypress Woods High School.

"We felt it was important to open the doors of our campuses to our community, including elected officials, local businesses, realtors and empty nesters, so they could witness some of the incredible programs offered and the quality of education our students receive in CFISD," said Mark Henry, CFISD superintendent of schools.

The Texas representatives who participated in CFISD's School Priority Day were state Rep. Kevin Roberts, R-Spring, state Rep. Tom Oliverson, R-Cypress, and state Rep. Mike Schofield, R-Houston. Additionally, a visiting group from Sweden were in attendance for the district's event. The international group were able to directly observe, experience, and learn about American schools.

"What I enjoyed most about my time visiting Cypress-Fairbanks ISD was seeing the students in action, and I was amazed at the variety of real world career minded course choices that students have today. I had two wonderful student tour guides who took me around Cy-Ranch to visit the early childhood education class, international economics class, video Editing class, and an AP physics class," Roberts said. "In every classroom I saw our students actively engaged in learning and it was inspiring to see how technology is playing a major role in that process."

The Texas Education Agency awarded CFISD the highest possible rating of "met standard" for the fourth consecutive year in its annual accountability ratings in August 2016. All 83 eligible district schools earned the same distinction, which keeps CFISD as the largest Texas district with all schools receiving "met standard" or "met alternative standard" designations.

CFISD has seen $106 million in reductions in the budget since 2008. The district's 2016-17 budget is $894.5 million with an operating cost per student of $7,744. The district homestead exemption is 20 percent. The district's 2016-17 tax rate is $1.44 per $100 valuation and $1,944 annual taxes on a $200,000 home.

The district's eight new construction projects include Bridgeland High School, Cold Food Storage Warehouse, elementary school No. 55, Matzke replacement campus, Ken Pridgeon Natatorium, Westgreen Ag-Science Center, and the Westgreen Transportation Center.

In 2015-16, more than 5,000 volunteers provided a collective 325,000 hours of support for staff and students valued at more than $7 million. There are more than 5,300 active volunteers in the CFISD community. Volunteers include 598 student mentors and 317 bus buddies.

The district has 51 adopted schools and 358 business partners have contributed nearly $6,000 in advertising, sponsorships, donations, and incentives.

Last year, the Cy-Fair Educational Foundation, a nonprofit raises money to fund a scholarship for high school graduates in the area, awarded $353,000 in scholarships to 106 students. Over the past 46 years, the foundation has awarded millions in scholarships.

"We provide an excellent education for students whether they are going college, technical, or in the service. They are getting an excellent top-rate education in our public schools," Covery said. "We are offering that as it should be, which is free to the public (and) sponsored by the tax payers not looking for anything special except to educate these kids to be community leaders and leaders of tomorrow."

CFISD has more than 25,900 Facebook likes, 16,600 followers on Twitter, 7,000 followers on Instagram, and 6,000 followers on LinkedIn.

The district concluded School Priority Day's events at the Berry Center where guests shared lunch and spoke about their experience during the educational event. The superintendent of schools also shared closing thoughts with the visitors.

"I believe it was truly an eye opener for those who have not been on a campus in decades," Henry said. "The visitors were able to experience the high level of engagement that takes place with our teachers and students and to see many of the changes that have taken place since they were in school, such as the use of technology and the instructional strategies used by our world-class staff."
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Mike Gavin stepped into the Bear Creek Community Center and saw the saturated carpet and walls.

He looked at Sheetrock splitting and sediments scattered across the floor. Furniture and appliances were damaged beyond repair and a gnawing stench filled the air.

It was mid-May, about a month after floods devastated the Houston area on April 18. Gavin, a photographer and assistant with Harris County Precinct 3  which oversees the center  snapped photos of the devastation.

"The community center was a disaster," Gavin said. "Everything was ruined."

More than six months later, Gavin rejoices as his photos now show a rejuvenated center, which re-opened on Monday for the first time since the floods.

"The center offers so many things for the community," Gavin said. "It's a place where everyone can go and meet and be together."

On April 18, various parts of Houston flooded after overnight downpours caused the area's waterways to swell out of their banks. Eight people died in the region due to the floods and federal disaster declarations were announced for several counties.

The Bear Creek area, located in west Houston, was one of the worst hit by the catastrophe, with about 300 homes flooding, according to the Harris County Office of Emergency Management. Area roads shut down as the Addicks Reservoir swelled with water.

About 12-17 inches of rain fell over the Katy area that day. In the city of Katy, hundreds of homes were damaged. Families are still recovering from the event and homes and businesses continue to be refurbished.

The Bear Creek Community Center took in roughly 20 inches of flood water, according to Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack. The flooding caused $750,000 in damage to the center. The county has mostly used funds given by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to pay for costs related to restoring the center, Radack said.

The 8,000-square-foot center, which opened more than 30 years ago and serves thousands of people per year, hosts a range of classes and community meetings and hosts parties, weddings and other get-togethers.

"The community center is vital to this community," Radack said. "It creates camaraderie between people. It's a place for support for some people. It gives the ability for people to live a happier and more prosperous life."

Radack said no major changes were made to the center. Precinct 3 officials discussed possible flood-prevention methods such as raising the center's foundation while the restoration process occurred, but the county did not have enough money from the federal government to make the ideas a reality, according to Radack.

He said returning the center to what it was is an important step for the community to move on from the flood.

"We're glad it could be open in time for Christmas," Radack said.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

For the second day in a row, a Houston-bound Southwest Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing.

Southwest Flight 43 took off from Dallas about 5 p.m. on Wednesday, only to turn around and return to the airport about 45 minutes later.

In a statement, a Southwest Airlines official said the captain was alerted "after receiving a cockpit indication that there was a pressurization issue."

The flight crew turned back to Dallas "following our established protocol and procedures" and made a safe landing. Southwest Airlines officials said the aircraft is being taken out of service for inspection.

"We are working with our customers to get them to Houston on a different aircraft," according to the statement.

On Tuesday evening, a Southwest Airlines flight heading to Houston made an unscheduled landing in Jackson, Miss., after another "pressurization issue," which caused oxygen masks to deploy.

On Wednesday, Southwest said in a statement to the Associated Press that Flight 214 had left Atlanta on Tuesday evening when the problem occurred.

The plane was carrying 118 passengers and five crew members; it landed safely in Jackson and was taken out of service. The AP said passengers were later transferred to another plane that flew them into Houston early Wednesday.

Southwest says the loss in pressure led a flight attendant to be taken to a hospital to be evaluated, but no other details were available, according to the AP.
 Flash

China agreed on Wednesday to provide preferential loans to Gabon to support the African country's infrastructure projects.

President Xi Jinping and Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba oversaw the Beijing signing ceremony of four bilateral cooperative documents, two of them including preferential loans.

China would provide preferential loans for a perimeter highway project to be built around Libreville, capital of Gabon, under one agreement. The 11-kilometer road, to be completed by the China Road and Bridge Corp, will be a key link between the new and old downtown areas of the city.

Zhang Ming, vice-foreign minister, told China Daily after the signing ceremony that the two agreements on loans mean China will provide major financial support to Gabon's infrastructure projects.

During the talks with Bongo, Xi said that China supports Gabon's efforts to speed up the country's industrialization and convert the country's resources advantages into development results.

China encourages domestic companies to take an active part in infrastructure projects in Gabon, Xi said, adding that China hopes to support Gabon's development of industries such as tourism, finance and telecommunications.

Xi told Bongo that he was impressed by the African leader surpassing his father's record for visiting China. His father, Omar Bongo Ondimba, former Gabonese president, visited China 11 times from 1974 to 2009.

Bongo is paying his 12th visit to China from Tuesday to Friday. Apart from Beijing, he will also visit Shantou in Guangdong province.

Xi said he was glad to see that Bongo chose China as the first country outside Africa to pay a state visit after he was re-elected as Gabonese president in August, which Xi said shows Bongo's firm resolution to develop ties with China.

Bongo expressed gratitude toward China's support, adding that Gabon wants to enhance cooperation with China in areas including investment, agriculture, minerals, technology, tourism, finance and infrastructure.

China is Gabon's largest trading partner and an important investment source.

In December last year, Xi and Bongo met ahead of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Bongo told Xinhua News Agency this month that Gabon welcomes more Chinese investment, especially in manufacturing, to create more employment for the country.

Some Chinese companies have already invested in the high-end wood processing industry in Gabon, and such manufacturing and processing industries are important for Gabon, he said.

Mentioning that Gabon's economy is facing difficulties caused by dropping oil prices, Bongo said that Gabon remains an attractive place for investors and has huge economic potential.
A Huntsville man accused of robbing a bank near Montgomery Tuesday was also a suspect in an October drug store theft.

Marvin Eugene Bowden, 30, was jailed Tuesday on a felony robbery charge after allegedly holding up the BBVA Compass Bank in the 19300 block of Texas 105 West near Montgomery. The bank is located in a shopping center just east of Freeport Drive.

Bowden's jail record shows a new felony charge was filed for possession of a controlled substance about eight hours after he was booked in the jail. A misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance charge also was added. Both new charges stem from an incident at a Walgreen's in the 3000 block of College Park Drive in South Montgomery County Oct. 12.

That's when Bowden allegedly hopped over the pharmacy counter and stole prescription drugs, according to MCSO Lt. Brady Fitzgerald. He was never arrested, and a warrant was never issued in that case.

When detectives arrested Bowden Tuesday, they filed felony burglary and possession of controlled substance charges against him. But a judge ruled there was not enough evidence to support the burglary charge during a probable cause hearing Wednesday, Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald said different charges could be filed for the alleged burglary in the near future. The judge allowed the possession charges, as well as the robbery charges for Tuesday's robbery, to move forward.

MCSO detectives believe Bowden was the lone robber who entered the bank Tuesday with a duffle bag, "simulating" that he had a gun, Fitzgerald said. Bowden allegedly jumped across the counter and demanded money from the cashiers, much like the person did during the incident in October.

Bowden allegedly took an undisclosed amount of cash from the bank, got in a vehicle and fled east on Texas 105 West to a home off McCaleb Road near the intersection with Texas 105, which is about 5 miles from the bank. Several people initially were detained at the home, although Bowden is the only one charged at this time.

Bowden suffered a small hand wound and was taken to a local hospital before being booked into the Montgomery County Jail. He is being held on $80,000 worth of bonds.
 Flash

Along with Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, China is launching several pilot projects for poverty reduction at the village level, committing to the "East Asia Cooperation Initiative on Poverty Reduction" proposed by China's Premier Li Keqiang at the 17th ASEAN+3 Summit held on November 13, 2014.

The launch ceremony of the Pilot Project of Poverty Reduction Cooperation in East Asia was held in Vientiane, Lao PDR, on December 7, 2016. [Photo by Jiao Meng/China.org.cn]

As the first Chinese official foreign aid project on poverty reduction, the three-year project selected two typical villages in each country and adopted the poverty reduction experience of China, who has witnessed about 700 million people get out of poverty in the past 30 years.

The Chinese poverty reduction departments will work hand in hand with the three countries' counterparts at all levels, jointly organizing, participating in, and implementing all stages of the project. Together with Agency for International Economic Cooperation, Chinese Ministry of Commerce, the International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC) is managing the project and leading a work team and engaging in exchanges with the related governmental departments.

Mr. Thongvanh VILAYHEUANG, Acting Chairman of the National Committee for Rural Development and Poverty Eradication, delivered the welcome speech, "the poverty rate has been dramatically decreased within ASEAN comparing to other regions, yet there are still remaining big challenges and barriers toward ending poverty for sustainable development goals, particularly latest members of ASEAN i.e. Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar whereby a disparity of development is way different from other 6 ASEAN countries. Thus, the Pilot Project of Poverty Reduction Cooperation in East Asia is considerably very crucial in terms of a better livelihood of multi-people of the three countries and also contributing to key up the reducing disparity within ASEAN."

He believed this pilot project is a vital contribution to implement national strategies and the 8th 5-Years National Socio-economic Development Plan (2016-2020) which emphasizes eradicating poverty to the poor in overall and also graduating a country's status out from a least developed country in 2020. Moreover, this would be a proper platform to demonstrate a long-deep friendship between Laos - China as stated Good Neighbors, Good Friendships and Good Partnerships.

Chinese Ambassador to Laos Guan Huabing said this project intends to carry out targeted poverty alleviation, improve living and production conditions of the community, build up the capacity of self development, diversify the sources of income, and provide example for government of Laos to eliminate poverty and improve people's livelihood. The launch of this project will not only enhance the cooperation and exchanges between China and Laos, but also make contribution to deepening the friendly cooperation between the two governments, building up the friendship between people of the two countries, and promoting regional cooperation.

Counselor of Chinese Ministry of Commerce Wang Qihui said since reform and opening up, the Large-scale Development-oriented Poverty Relief led by Chinese government has realized remarkable achievements. Between 1978 and 2014, over 700 million impoverished people were lifted out of poverty, which is known to the world as a "Poverty Reduction Path of Chinese Characteristics".

"We are willing to share our experience in poverty reduction with the rest of the world and make utmost efforts in helping others; and we are more willing to bring benefits to neighboring countries like Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar with our development so as to realize social stability and economic prosperity in East Asia," he said.

Mr. Wu Min, Deputy Director General of China State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, said China has always been an active advocator, faithful practitioner and influential impeller of the global cause of poverty alleviation. In recent years, for the sake of promoting the share of poverty alleviation concept and experience between China and East Asian countries for common development, China has deepened exchange and cooperation with East Asian countries on poverty alleviation, with institutionalized cooperation platforms being established, including "Global Poverty Reduction and Development Forum", " ASEAN- China Forum on Social Development and Poverty Reduction", "ASEAN+3 Exchange Program on Village Officials" and so on.

Mr. Pheak SOTHEA, Director of Rural Economic Development Department of Ministry of Agriculture of Cambodia, said several investigations have been conducted to learn the local demands. The Chinese side not only funds the project, but also offers technical assistance. We believed this project can improve infrastructure construction and livelihood, and will become a demonstration platform to capacity building.

Mr. Ye Khaung, Deputy Director from the Department of Rural Development, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation of Myanmar, said poverty is one of the pressing issues in Myanmar as well as in the region. Success of poverty reduction policy and program depends on the extent to which we create enabling environment for rural community to take control of and responsibility for development of their living standards and socioeconomic conditions.

"We foresee that this cooperation program is going to provide us an innovative model of Village-level Demonstration Program for Poverty Alleviation focusing on comprehensive and integrated approach to public service delivery and capacity development in poverty alleviation. It is hoped that this innovative and achievable model of poverty alleviation program can be replicated and disseminated into other poverty related projects and programs in our country as well as in our region."

Mr. Tan Weiping, Deputy Director of IPRCC gave detailed introduction of its implementation. It will promote the building of infrastructures such as roads and water facilities, supporting rural industries such as plantation and cultivation, enhancing communal environments, providing supplies, and dispatching experts for training. Meanwhile, it will integrate capacity building with the people's strong desire to shake off poverty in order to increase the endogenous development momentum.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Matthew Hayes attended a "formal event" in downtown Bryan on Monday night.

The next day, the 20-year-old Beaumont native was dead, his body found by friends in his bed inside a College Station fraternity house.

Brazos County investigators on Wednesday tried to piece together what happened in the hours after friends said Hayes slipped off to his room to go to sleep.

Hayes, the 2015 Legacy Christian Academy valedictorian, was last seen early Tuesday morning, according to a news release from the Brazos County Sheriff's Office.

His body was found around 5:45 p.m. Tuesday inside the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity house at 3989 North Graham Road. Hayes' friends decided to check on him when he didn't show up to a function, the release said.

Authorities on Wednesday were awaiting the results of an autopsy, which was completed by the Travis County Medical Examiner's Office.

According to the Texas A&M student directory, Hayes was a sophomore studying general engineering.

"Sigma Phi Epsilon was devastated to learn about the death of a young brother at our Texas A&M chapter. Our deepest sympathies go out to his family, friends and brothers during this time," the fraternity's national organization said in a prepared statement. "We are working closely with the authorities as they investigate, and have offered our full support and cooperation."

According the organization, Sigma Phi Epsilon staff is working with the university to provide grief support and counseling to members of the chapter.

Hayes' death comes just three months after another death at a College Station fraternity house.

Anton Gridnev, 19, was found unconscious and not breathing about 4:40 a.m. Aug. 20 at the Sigma Nu fraternity house at 550 Fraternity Row.

Gridnev, of Frisco, was taken to College Station Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy report showed Gridnev died of an accidental overdose of several different types of opiates.

After finding illegal substances in the Sigma Nu frat house, police arrested several people.

Anyone with information abut Hayes' death is asked to call the Brazos County Sheriff's Office at 979-361-4900 or Crime Stoppers at 979-775-TIPS (8477).

Houston Chronicle reporter Dale Lezon contributed to this article.

SFlores@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/_saraeflores
Police have asked the public's help with identifying a woman they say is harboring a runaway 15-year-old girl.

The unidentified woman was spotted with the runaway teen as she tried to return merchandise to two separate Home Depot stores in the Houston area, the Harris County Sheriff's Office announced.
An index of the more than 5,000 people who've died in police custody in Texas is readily accessible for the first time this week.

The state attorney general's office this week launched the Custodial Death Report database, which includes the report that a police agency files when someone dies in custody. Previously, public records requests had to be filed formally with the office for the information to be released.

Among other things, the online database will make it easier to track deaths in city and municipal jails, which unlike county jails have no minimum standards or oversight from state or federal authorities.

POLICE SHOOTING: HPD kills suspect in north Houston

State officials can't even say for sure how many such jails there are in Texas.

Such deaths were the subject of a Houston Chronicle investigation last year that found state records showed 126 deaths in city jails statewide from 2005 through 2015. Forty-five were ruled suicides, at least two of which took place in Houston Police Department facilities operated independently from the Harris County Jail.

A former director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, which oversees county jails, told the Chronicle last year that municipal police agencies only had to report limited details about an in-custody death to the attorney general's office.

INVESTIGATION UNDER WAY: Inmate found unresponsive in Rosenberg cell dies

"We would only find out through the media," said Adan Munoz, director of the jail commission from 2006 to 2012. "All we could do was shrug our shoulders and say, 'I wonder what happened.' "

The index "just went live and is still being updated," assistant attorney general June B. Harden wrote in an email Monday.

"We want this to be a tool that everyone finds helpful," she wrote.

The index is publicly accessible here: https://oagtx.force.com/cdr/cdrreportdeaths

You can download an index of custodial deaths here: https://texasattorneygeneral.gov/criminal/custodial/report_deaths_csv.php

andrew.kragie@chron.com
Exactly a month after her 3-year-old son was pronounced dead, a west Houston woman is wanted by police on charges of failing to aid her son.

Jasmine Jones, 21, faces a warrant for her arrest on two charges of serious bodily injury to a child by omission.

The child's body showed evidence of extensive physical abuse in the month since he had been returned to Jones from CPS custody, investigators said at a news conference.

Houston paramedics responded on Nov. 8 to the family's Briarcrest-area apartment where Jones lived with her boyfriend, her toddler from a previous relationship, her baby with her boyfriend, and her boyfriend's adult brother, according to court documents.

Paramedics found the toddler, Jaycion Jones, unresponsive. He was transported to a Katy hospital where he was pronounced dead, Houston police said in a news release.

An autopsy ruled Jaycion's death a homicide resulting from peritonitis, an infection of the lining of the abdomen, that was caused by blunt force trauma to the child's buttocks and torso, where he had deep bruising and many cuts.

The medical examiner said the bruising pattern indicated Jaycion was bent over a hard structure and hit on the back, legs and scrotum.

The injuries were so extensive that the autopsy took two days, investigators said at the news conference.

"It's probably one of the worst cases that I've seen," homicide detective Chris Hassig said.

The doctor added that the child "may have been treatable if proper medical attention had (been) timely administered," according to the criminal complaint, which offered this account:

The mother's boyfriend, Andre Young, told investigators he spanked Jaycion with his hand and a belt. She said Young would pull the toddler into the bathroom, close the door and spank him there.

The weekend of Nov. 5, Jasmine Jones said she noticed markings on his bottom and applied cream to help them heal. Then she left him with Young while she worked on Sunday and Monday.

Jaycion complained of a stomachache Monday and started throwing up that evening, Jones told police. She tried to treat the vomiting by giving him salt water, soda and home remedies. She did not seek medical treatment, according to the complaint.

Young found Jaycion unresponsive in his bed Tuesday morning and took him to the shower in an attempt to wake him up, Jones said.

Police found the toddler's bed had apparent vomit stains, dried blood and a pile of vomit on a towel. A white trash bag was in the apartment filled with other towels covered in vomit and blood.

Jones was charged Nov. 18 with two felony counts of causing serious bodily injury to a child by failing to provide adequate supervision.

When asked about charges for Young, HPD spokesman Victor Senties said police expect to file more charges in the case, and possibly higher-level charges.

The 10-month-old baby of Jones and Young has been taken into CPS custody, investigators said.

Houston police ask anyone with information about Jones' whereabouts to call the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8577).
Lawmakers in Washington, D.C., are known for making some questionable decisions, and this one is no different: Senate Republicans have decided Arkansas cheese dip is tastier than Texas queso.

The great debate between the two state's cheese dishes started in November, when the Wall Street Journal wrote a report suggesting Arkansas cheese dip is just as good or better than Texas queso.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

SAN ANTONIO  The Randolph High School student who died Wednesday morning when the SUV she was driving collided nearly head-on with a cement truck on an Interstate 10 access road on the Northeast Side has been identified, officials said.

The driver was Chloe Danielle Shiverdecker, 17, according to the Bexar County Medical Examiner.

Emergency personnel responded at about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday the access road of I-10 near Foster Road and FM 1516, a few miles east of Loop 410, where a silver Ford SUV was eastbound and struck a westbound cement truck, said SAPD spokesman Jesse Salame.

Shiverdecker died at the scene. Salame said it's unknown at this time if she was on her way to school, adding that the girl's parents were notified around 9 a.m.

More Information The driver of the SUV, a teenage Randolph High School student has been identified as Chloe Danielle Shiverdecker, 17, according to the Bexar County Medical Examiner. See More Collapse

"It's very tragic. It's hard to receive that news," Salame said.

RELATED: Sheriff's deputy dead after vehicle swallowed by sinkhole in San Antonio: officials

A statement from Randolph Field ISD, which is located on Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph and serves the children of military families, confirmed "with deep sorrow" that the student attended the school.

"The high school administration acted with expediency, putting into motion the appropriate procedures to ensure the staff and students at their campus have access to adequate counseling and the necessary time and space to heal," the statement said.

The cement truck driver was not injured in the crash but was "very shaken up," by the fatality.

Investigators are looking into what may have caused Shiverdecker to cross into the cement truck's lane, Salame said.

Staff writer Alia Malik contributed to this report.

twhite@mysa.com

Twitter: @TylerLWhite
A 14-year-old high school student is recovering after an incident at Hug High School in Reno, Nev. Wednesday. He has been identified as Logan Clark by his father, Justin Clark.

At roughly 11:30 a.m. Clark was seen on campus brandishing a knife and lunging at fellow students. According to the Reno Gazette-Journal, the boy can be heard saying, "Back up, back up" before school staff alerted students to flee the scene. (Story continues below.)
"Masa, a great guy of Japan, he's pledged that he's going to put $50 billion into the United States because of our victory. He wasn't investing in our country -- $50 billion. Fifty thousand jobs - 50,000 jobs he's going to be investing in. He is a great guy."

--President-elect Donald Trump, speech in Fayetteville, N.C., on Dec. 6, 2016

"Masa (SoftBank) of Japan has agreed to invest $50 billion in the U.S. toward businesses and 50,000 new jobs. . . . Masa said he would never do this had we (Trump) not won the election!"

--Trump, posts on Twitter, Dec. 6, 2016

After a meeting with Masayoshi Son ("Masa"), the chief executive of SoftBank, President-elect Donald Trump celebrated the company's announcement of its plan to invest $50 billion in the United States and create 50,000 jobs over four years. Trump then claimed that Son had promised to invest the money in the United States only because Trump was elected.

This claim is dubious, given the reality of investments in the worldwide technology industry. We took a deeper look at the facts.

---

Let's rewind to October 2016. About three weeks before the U.S. election on Nov. 8, SoftBank announced its plans for a technology investment fund of up to $100 billion, named the SoftBank Vision Fund. SoftBank signed an agreement to make Saudi Arabia's sovereign-wealth fund the lead partner. Over five years, SoftBank plans to contribute at least $25 billion to the fund, with Saudi Arabia's fund investing up to $45 billion and an additional $30 billion from other investors.

"With the establishment of the SoftBank Vision Fund, we will be able to step up investments in technology companies globally," Son was quoted in the Wall Street Journal. "Over the next decade, the SoftBank Vision Fund will be the biggest investor in the technology sector."

After Trump and Son met on Dec. 6, they spoke to reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower. Trump said of Son: "He's just agreed to invest $50 billion in the United States and 50,000 jobs. And he's one of the great men of industry, so I just want to thank you." Son repeated his commitment and said he would create 50,000 jobs by investing in start-up companies in the United States. Son told reporters that he came to celebrate Trump's election and that Trump "would do a lot of deregulation."

Son told the Journal that the $50 billion will come from the $100 billion SoftBank Investment Fund. It's not yet clear how much of the $50 billion headed to the United States would come from SoftBank, the Saudi fund or other investors. SoftBank declined to comment further on whether, or how much, the company planned to invest in the U.S. before Trump's election. A Trump spokesman offered this comment: "President-elect Trump's tweet speaks for itself."

After acquiring Sprint, Son had planned to merge the carrier with German-owned T-Mobile. But he abandoned the plan amid signs that U.S. regulators would reject the deal, the Journal reported. From the Journal: "Some investors and analysts have said he could make another attempt after Mr. Trump's election and when a new chairman is appointed to the Federal Communications Commission. Mr. Son planned to tell Mr. Trump about what happened with T-Mobile, and how he had wanted to invest in the U.S. but the regulatory climate was too harsh so he invested outside the U.S. instead, the person familiar with the matter said."

Analysts in Japan and the United States suggested that Son may have had plans to invest in the United States anyway regardless of the election but decided that Trump's election was the time to announce it, sensing U.S. regulations may change to his favor under the Trump administration. The Mainichi, a major Japanese daily newspaper, wrote that some analysts in Japan believe Son has high expectations for regulatory policies to change under Trump.

But much of the SoftBank Global Fund money might already have been destined for the United States anyway, according to analysts interviewed by The Washington Post.

In 2015, venture capitalist investment in the United States hit its highest point since 1992, according to an analysis by EY. The United States accounted for $72.3 billion in investments through 3,916 deals, comprising about half of the $148 billion in global venture capitalist investments in 2015. Some of the most promising tech companies are located in the United States, particularly in Silicon Valley.

Further, according to EY, the United States in 2015 "saw more companies achieve unicorn status than in any previous year," referring to the status achieved by venture-backed private technology companies under 10 years old that are valued at $1 billion or more.

The Journal noted that SoftBank "announced the $100 billion SoftBank Vision Fund nearly a month before the election, when most pundits expected Mr. Trump to lose. Given its size, the fund was likely to put most of its money in the U.S., still home to the world's most-promising technology companies. Last quarter, 60 percent of the money raised by companies backed by venture capital was in North America, according to a report by KPMG and CB Insights."

"Son must have intended as much as half of the Vision Fund to go to the U.S., as he's aware that there are great companies in Silicon Valley. But he chose this time to announce it as Trump is now going to be the next president," Jun Tanabe, a SoftBank analyst at JPMorgan Securities in Tokyo, told The Post. Tanabe said that it is not rare to invest in the United States but that it was surprising that the announcement committed to specific dollar figures and numbers of jobs.

"I think he was trying to build a good relationship and a good business environment," Tanabe said.

---

We always encourage our readers to check out the facts when something sounds too good to be true. That also applies to Trump's claims of saving American jobs from fleeing or attracting new jobs to the United States because of his election.

Analysts in Japan and the United States say a mix of factors led to Son's announcement of his U.S. investments after Trump's meeting. The United States leads the world in venture capital investments and has some of the most promising tech companies and start-ups. So it is likely that Son already had planned on investing in U.S. companies, no matter who won the presidential election.

After all, the $100 billion SoftBank Vision Fund was announced three weeks before the U.S. elections, when Trump faced a narrow path to victory. The United States outpaces all other countries in venture capital investments, and it is questionable that none of the $100 billion would have gone to the vibrant and promising tech industry in America, regardless of whether Trump was elected.

Still, the election results may have cheered Son. He has said Trump "would do a lot of deregulation" that could favor investors, including himself. And it certainly would not hurt his business aspirations to get on the good side of a politician with an outsize ego.

There are too many unknowns right now for us to issue a rating. Neither Trump nor Son has revealed all the details of the conversation. SoftBank has not yet clarified whether or how much the company intended to invest in the U.S. technology industry before Trump's election. But count us among those who are dubious of Trump's claim that Son attributed the election as the sole catalyst for the company's investment in the U.S. tech industry. We will update if new and relevant information emerges. But, in the meantime, readers should be wary of the spin.
The summers final Live on the Waterfront concert was held Wednesday evening at Prince Arthurs Landing. The popular series in Thunder Bay has completed nine weekly shows that began on July 13. Wednesdays concert was unique as it was held one hour later in the evening to mesh with the 10 p.
Trespassing case might test states pipeline survey law A land surveyor for Summit Carbon Solutions faces a criminal trial in December for allegedly trespassing on land in northwest...

Cherokee Skate Park awaits FEMA okay As opposed to speedy skate board wheels, the wheels of progress grind slowly regarding the citys proposed new skate park...
IRCC Outlines Reasons for Recent Changes to Express Entry Job Offer Duration Requirements CIC News Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

Sans Font Size A

A

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has explained its reasoning behind the recent reform of the required duration of qualifying job offers for candidates in the Express Entry pool. IRCC stated its aim to address perceived disadvantages in the system before improvements were brought in last month.

Under the previous Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) for Express Entry, a job offer was required to be of indeterminate length, except in the case of candidates eligible under the Federal Skilled Trades Class (FSTC), who could be awarded CRS points for a job offer of at least one year in duration. After the changes introduced by IRCC on November 19, the job offer duration requirement has changed from indeterminate to at least one year in duration for all programs, including the Federal Skilled Worker Class (FSWC) and the Canadian Experience Class (CEC).

Since November 19, qualifying job offers are now awarded 200 CRS points if the offer is in the Senior Managerial group of the National Occupational Classification (NOC), or 50 CRS points if the offer is in any other skilled position (levels 0, A and B of the NOC).

Moreover, the definition of a qualifying job offer has been expanded to include certain individuals who would not have qualified for these points previously. Before November 19, a candidate was required to have a job offer supported by a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) if they wished to obtain points for a qualifying job offer.

Since November 19, certain candidates working in Canada may obtain points for a qualifying job offer if they have been working in Canada for the employer named on their work permit for at least one year, and if their current employer makes them an offer of employment of at least one year in duration.

To read more about the recent changes to qualifying job offers, please consult this comprehensive article.

Rationale behind job offer duration reforms

In the most recent Gazette, the Government of Canadas official publication, IRCC explained the reasons behind these changes to the regulations.

IRCC stated that employers could be reluctant to undergo the LMIA process, putting foreign nationals on a LMIA-exempt work permit at a disadvantage, despite many of them having potential to economically establish in Canada.

In a presentation at the Law Society of Upper Canadas Immigration Law Summit in November, an IRCC spokesperson gave the example of a senior executive with a job offer. If a senior executive comes to Canada to work as an intra-company transferee, he or she would not require a LMIA. However, if the senior executive wished to obtain CRS points for a job offer under the previous CRS, he or she would have to obtain a LMIA. In this situation, the employer may not wish to openly advertise such a high-level position that involves sensitive issues such as salary and leadership qualities. Under the new regulations, such an individual may be able to obtain 200 CRS points with a job offer of at least one years duration.

IRCC also explained why the job offer duration has been reduced from indeterminate to one year in duration.

The prior requirement that offers of arranged employment be for an indeterminate (or permanent) length of time had also resulted in barriers to certain foreign nationals who otherwise have similarly demonstrated a strong potential for economic establishment. The contemporary job market, and the reality of highly skilled contract-based employment has meant that permanent job offers are no longer the standard hiring practice in many industries and occupation. [] Highly skilled occupations, including university professors, physicians and graphic artists, were disproportionately affected by the requirement for indeterminate job offers.

In the presentation at the Immigration Law Summit, the IRCC spokesperson gave the example of a tenure-track professor. Previously, an individual working in a full-time tenure track position under a temporary LMIA exemption was not likely to obtain a qualifying job offer as the position is a contract, rather than indeterminate. However, since the regulatory changes, such an individual may now be able to obtain CRS points for a qualifying job offer if the offer of employment is at least a year in duration.

While a job offer does not guarantee an Invitation to Apply (ITA) under the revised CRS, it does significantly increase the chances of being invited to apply.

Objectives of the change

IRCC states that its objective in establishing these new regulations is to better align program requirements with program intent by ensuring job offer points are accessible to candidates who can demonstrate that they have an acceptable job offer. In so doing, IRCC aims to better assess the likelihood of each candidates economic establishment in Canada, and limit those subjected to the LMIA process. It is expected that as a result, offers of arranged employment will better reflect the Canadian job market, and highly-skilled workers will have equal access to the advantages a job offer brings.

To begin your Canadian job search today, try the CanadaVisa Job Search Tool.

To find out if you are eligible to immigrate to Canada permanently, fill out a free online assessment form.

 2016 CICNews All Rights Reserved
PNP-Specific Express Entry Draw Provides Cause for Optimism CIC News Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

Sans Font Size A

A

After Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) conducted an Express Entry draw on November 30 that invited candidates with a provincial nomination only, candidates in the pool are noting how this may benefit them over time.

That draw, the 48th in total since the Express Entry system was first launched nearly two years ago, is the first draw in which only those candidates who had received an enhanced provincial nomination certificate through a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) were issued an Invitation to Apply (ITA). The only other previous program-specific draw took place in February, 2015, when candidates in the pool eligible under the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) were issued an ITA if they met the minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) cut-off threshold.

November 30 Draw

A total of 559 candidates in the pool with a provincial nomination were issued an ITA in the November 30 draw. The minimum CRS score required was 786.

Candidates who obtain a nomination from a province are awarded 600 points under the CRS (out of a possible total of 1,200), making PNPs by far the single most valuable factor under the new CRS that came into force last month. Given this factor, it follows that candidates with core CRS scores as low as 186 were issued an ITA in this latest draw. Core CRS indicates a candidates score without the additional points for a provincial nomination or a qualifying job offer.

It is likely that most, if not all, candidates in the pool with a provincial nomination when the draw was made were issued an ITA. The previous draw, which took place on November 16, saw candidates with 470 or more CRS points issued an ITA. Therefore, a total of 559 candidates updated their profiles over the two-week period between the draws to let IRCC know that they had obtained a provincial nomination and claim the additional 600 points.

Although it had been 21 months since the previous program-specific draw, IRCC stated at the recent Annual Immigration Law Summit, held in November in Toronto, that program-specific draws may be considered in the future. Indeed, it is entirely possible that a program-specific draw that invites candidates eligible under the Federal Skilled Worker Class (FSWC) or Federal Skilled Trades Class (FSTC) could take place at some point.

The reaction

For most candidates, the November 30 PNP-specific draw was unexpected, but nonetheless welcome. On the Canada Immigration Forum, many members reacted positively to the news, even though they may not themselves have been issued an ITA on this occasion. One member posted that This is actually the best thing that could happen . . . This way they clear some of the high score individuals, while another member added that All PNP cases in the pool are now cleared. This means the cut off scores should drop considerably.

That general sentiment is backed up by IRCCs recent statements on how recent improvements to the CRS may benefit candidates with human capital, skills, and experience. IRCC has said that A reduction of points to candidates with arranged employment means the CRS cut-off will decline.

Stakeholders should note that a provincial nomination is not required in order to enter the Express Entry pool or to receive an ITA for permanent residence.

I think the latest draw was a wise move on the part of IRCC, particularly as this was the first draw following the recent improvements made to the Comprehensive Ranking System, says Attorney David Cohen.

Candidates were able to get an idea as to how many individuals in the pool were being issued nominations over a two-week period. Those nominees have now exited the pool and, with their ITA, effectively have one foot already in Canada. Moreover, IRCC has stated on numerous occasions over recent weeks that it expects the CRS cut-off point to decrease over time, allowing more candidates to be invited based on their skills, experience, and human capital factors.

The PNPs: A recent history

2016 has been a breakout year for the PNPs, with Express Entry-aligned streams driving immigration to the provinces in greater numbers. In 2015, around 13 percent of Express Entry candidates who were issued an ITA had obtained a provincial nomination certificate through one of the many PNPs aligned with Express Entry. Over the first nine months of 2016, however, this increased to 23 percent.

These streams may open, reopen, or change at a moments notice, therefore benefiting candidates in the Express Entry pool who maintain an updated profile and have their documentation ready for submission. Many of the documents required to apply for permanent residence through Express Entry are also required to apply for a provincial nomination through a PNP.

Provinces in Western Canada have been particularly active over recent weeks and months. British Columbia continues to invite eligible skilled workers and international graduates to apply to the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP). At the time of writing, a total of 2,693 candidates in the federal Express Entry pool have been invited to apply to the BC PNP so far this year.

Saskatchewans International Skilled Worker  Express Entry sub-category is rather different, operating on a first-come, first served basis. This sub-category, which has a specific in-demand occupations list, has reopened on no fewer than eight occasions since it was first introduced last year. The application intake cap is usually filled within days, or even hours. Consequently, candidates who may be eligible, but who are not prepared, have little to no chance of successfully submitting an application and ultimately being awarded 600 additional CRS points.

Manitoba has also been active, with a portion of its Skilled Workers Overseas sub-category operating in alignment with the federal Express Entry system. The government of Manitoba issues Letters of Advice to Apply (LAA) to the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program (MPNP) in draws that occur around once per month.

Further east, Ontarios main Express Entry-aligned stream, the popular Human Capital Priorities stream, closed temporarily earlier this year. This stream was unique in that it was passive; eligible candidates in the Express Entry pool with at least 400 CRS points could be contacted by the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP), which issues a Notification of Interest (NOI) that allows the candidate to apply for a provincial nomination certificate. When the temporary pause in new NOIs was announced in May, Ontario stated that it expects to be in a position to accept applications for some streams in six months. Therefore, the Human Capital Priorities stream may reopen in the near future.

Meanwhile, other provinces and territories across Canada have issued provincial nomination certificates throughout 2016. It is expected that many provinces will continue to launch or re-open dedicated PNP streams for candidates in the Express Entry pool throughout 2017.

There are also base PNP streams that are not aligned with the federal Express Entry system. These streams have unique criteria that may allow individuals who are not currently eligible to enter the Express Entry pool to submit an application to immigrate to a province or territory in Canada. Candidates in the pool who have yet to receive an ITA may also pursue their immigration options through the base PNP streams.

To find out if you are eligible for immigration to Canada, please fill out a free online assessment today.

 2016 CICNews All Rights Reserved
Processing Times for Family Class Immigration Programs to be Halved CIC News Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

Sans Font Size A

A

Canadas federal Immigration Minister, John McCallum, has announced that processing times for the spousal/common-law partner categories of Family Class immigration programs are to be reduced to 12 months, from the current average of 24 months, with an additional goal to eventually reduce processing times to as low as six months.

The Minister made the announcement in Brampton, Ontario on December 7.

The news is likely to be welcomed by tens of thousands of sponsors and sponsored persons in Canada and around the world who already have an application in processing, as well as by couples and families who are preparing to make an application in the future. Minister McCallum made it clear that the new processing times targets would apply to those who have already submitted an application, as well as those who have not yet submitted, adding that the department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) does not wish to have a two-tier system. The first-in, first-out principle will be retained, so applicants who have already submitted an application are likely to see their file brought to a decision before applicants who apply (or applied) at a later date.

When the Liberal government took office last year, the average processing time for spouses/common-law partners of Canadian citizens and permanent residents in Canada was 26 months. For spouses/common-law partners outside Canada, it was 18 months. The new 12 month target applies to applicants inside and outside Canada.

The proposition I guarantee is that the time is now 12 months, down from 24, said Minister McCallum. The changes were announcing will last, will be permanent. Politicians come and go, governments come and go, but departments are always there. And we have enlisted their enthusiasm, their involvement in creating this new system and so I think Canadians can be confident that these positive changes are here to stay.

We have listened to Canadians and are delivering results. Bringing families together makes for a stronger Canada. Canadians who marry someone from abroad shouldnt have to wait for years to have them immigrate or be left with uncertainty in terms of their ability to stay. What were announcing today is a more efficient, more considerate process to reunite families.

The government of Canada plans on welcoming 64,000 new permanent residents as the spouses, common-law partners, or dependent children of Canadian citizens or permanent residents in 2017.

This will be of benefit to the 64,000 spouses we plan to admit to Canada in the coming year, but it will be of benefit to all Canadians because I think that people are more productive citizens, they do better overall when they are with their families than when they are isolated from their families, said McCallum.

In addition, the government has set a target of 20,000 new permanent residents under the Parent and Grandparent Program (PGP). Although IRCC strives to reduce processing times for the PGP, the 12-month target will not apply to parents and grandparents at this time. The next application intake period for the PGP begins on January 3, 2017.

Minister McCallum outlined three contributory factors that will allow IRCC to achieve its Family Class processing times goals while retaining the mandatory criminality, security, and medical screening of all sponsored persons.

First, the department has received $25 million CAD in additional funding that has been used for hiring and training staff. Second, the existing inventory of submitted applications continues to be reduced. Lastly, IRCC has drawn on its experience and resources to improve efficiency. In particular, it has streamlined its operations having learned from the successful effort to bring in more than 30,000 Syrian refugees in a short period last winter, bringing lessons learned from that project to other categories of the countrys overall immigration strategy.

Minister McCallum added that certain other factors will help IRCC staff and applicants alike in reducing processing times and restructuring the process. For example, documentation attesting to medicals and police background checks will no longer be required up front; rather, they will be required later in the process. In addition, there will be shorter, more concise program guides, fewer evaluation forms, and a single checklist across the board.

Before changes After changes Two application kits for overseas applicants and applicants in Canada One application kit for all applicants 180 pages of guide material 75 pages of guide material in simplified language 14 guides and checklists One checklist Medical and police certificates required upfront Medical and police certificates required later in the process

The new system will be operational online as of December 15, 2016. Since some applicants may have already started filling out their application using the current kit, IRCC will continue to accept new applications using the current kit until January 31, 2017. After this date, only applications using the new kit will be accepted.

In addition, IRCC confirmed that a popular pilot program that allows spouses and common-law partners of Canadian citizens and permanent residents in Canada to work while awaiting permanent resident status has been extended until December 21, 2017.

To find out if you are eligible to sponsor your spouse, common-law partner, or dependent child/children for Canadian permanent residence, fill out a free assessment form today.

To find out if you or your family members are eligible for the Parent and Grandparent Program based on the eligibility criteria for the most recent application cycle, please fill out a free online PGP assessment form.

 2016 CICNews All Rights Reserved
Shorter Work Permit Processing Expected in 2017 under Global Skills Strategy CIC News Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

Sans Font Size A

A

The Government of Canada expects to introduce priority processing times of two weeks for certain visas and work permits in low-risk, high-skilled occupations. This forms part of its Global Skills Strategy initiative, expected to be rolled out through 2017.

The Global Skills Strategy will:

Establish an ambitious two-week standard for processing visas and work permits for low-risk, high-skill talent for companies in Canada;

Create a dedicated service channel for companies looking to make large, job-creating investments in Canada; and

Drop the work permit requirement for very short-term work (for instance, 30 days or less) in low-risk fields. Brief academic stays would also be eligible.

At the beginning of November, 2016, the government released its Fall Economic Statement. The statement argued that In too many cases, long processing times for work permits make it difficult for Canadian businesses to attract the talent they need to succeed. The Global Skills Strategy is a direct response to this need for Canada to attract global talent.

Establishing Canada as a global player

Speaking at the announcement event on November 28, Canadas Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, Navdeep Bains, said, Our governments Global Skills Strategy will make it easier for Canadian companies to recruit highly trained people with in-demand skills.

He voiced his strong support of the Global Skills Strategy, explaining that tapping into a large pool of highly trained people  both in Canada, and abroad  will set this country up for success as a global innovation leader.

Canadas Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, John McCallum, echoed these sentiments. We have great talent in this country, but we need that global talent that is critical to our growth, he said, adding that high talent acquisition accelerates growth.

Key industries in focus

The government states that after the Global Skills Strategy is fully implemented, companies will soon be able to bring in the highly skilled experts they need to grow, flourish and provide good jobs for Canadians faster than ever before. Consequently, Canadas economy is expected to grow, resulting in further job creation and attracting further investment.

At this time, no specific sectors have been identified as potential in-demand occupations that would be eligible for priority visa and work permit processing. However, many stakeholders note that the technology sector in Canada would immediately benefit from such an initiative. Known for its fast pace and rapid change, a responsive and efficient work permit process is required in order for Canadian companies to attract top talent and remain responsive to global trends.

The technology sector is experiencing rapid growth across Canada. Worldwide, the Toronto-Waterloo corridor in Ontario is second only to Silicon Valley in California for number of start-up companies. As of November 2016, the professional, scientific, and technical services sector is the fifth-largest employer in Canada, employing more than 1.3 million people across the country.

The news of the Global Skills Strategy was greeted with enthusiasm by stakeholders in the technology sector. Stephen Lake, Co-founder and CEO of Thalmic Labs, a wearable technology developer in the Kitchener-Waterloo region, stated, Our largest challenge has been the very slow lead times to process [work permits]  sometimes taking us nine months or longer to bring a candidate in. We need a streamlined way to bring in high-skill candidates in the tech sector within weeks. We were thrilled to hear about the Canadian governments plans, which will allow tech companies to hire highly skilled immigrants for key roles through a very fast (two-week) immigration process.

Permit-exempt short-term work

The plan also aims to abolish the work permit requirement for short-term work in low-risk fields. In the Fall Economic Statement, it was announced that in addition to the Global Skills Strategy, the government will introduce a new work permit exemption for short-duration work terms.

The proposed definition of short-term is stays of 30 days or less, or brief academic stays. The goal is to facilitate short-term, inter-company work exchanges, study exchanges, or the entrance of temporary expertise.

A third aim of the Global Skills Strategy is to Create a dedicated service channel for companies looking to make large, job-creating investments in Canada. While this aim has not been elaborated at this time, it is a sign that the government is following through on its previously-stated intentions to encourage the employment of highly-skilled workers from around the world.

The transition to permanent residence

Many individuals who come to Canada on work permits establish themselves and take steps towards Canadian permanent residence. Several permanent immigration programs, including programs run by the provinces as well as the federal government, provide pathways for foreign workers to transition to permanent resident status. Canadian work experience is typically a highly valued factor in these programs.

In the Immigration Levels Plan for 2017, the government announced its intention to increase the number of economic immigrants coming to Canada through the Federal Skilled Worker Class (FSWC), Federal Skilled Trades Class (FSTC), and Canadian Experience Class (CEC) by 23 percent. In addition, the government aims for 51,000 new immigrants to come through the Provincial Nominee Programs. Individuals who come to Canada on a temporary work permit may find themselves in a position to apply for one of these programs.

Government continues to act on its promises

The announcement of the Global Skills Strategy shows once again that the government is serious about its promises with regard to temporary residents and newcomers, says Attorney David Cohen. Stakeholders have been crying out for a more nimble system, and this strategy looks set to provide that.

It simply makes sense that a growing economy like Canadas needs to continue to attract the best talent from around the world. Not only will the economy benefit from new, young workers and families, but the ensuing growth will result in job creation for Canadians. This strategy is a clear example of how an open, progressive immigration policy leads to the benefit of all Canadians.

To begin your Canadian job search today, try the CanadaVisa Job Search Tool.

To find out if you are eligible to immigrate to Canada permanently, fill out a free online assessment form.

 2016 CICNews All Rights Reserved
The Washington, D.C., region has long been considered recession-proof, thanks to the remorseless expansion of the federal government in good times and bad. Yet its only nowas D.C. positively booms while most of the country remains in economic doldrumsthat the scale of Washingtons prosperity is becoming clear. Over the past decade, the D.C. area has made stunning economic and demographic progress. Meanwhile, Americas current and former Second Cities, population-wiseLos Angeles and Chicagoare battered and fading in significance. Though Washington still isnt their match in terms of population, its gaining on them in terms of economic power and national importance.



Illustrations by Arnold Roth

In fact, were witnessing the start of Washingtons emergence as Americas new Second City. Whether thats a good thing for America is another question.

Washington is an artificial capital, a city conjured into existence shortly after the Revolutionary War. Its location was the result of political horse-trading. Virginia congressmen agreed to let the federal government assume the states war debts, even though Virginia itself was already paid up; in exchange, the new capital would be located in the South.

The citys early boosters hoped that its location on the Potomac River would help it grow into a commercial as well as a political capital, but that didnt happen. While other cities got state backing for their business endeavorsa good example is the Erie Canal, built by New York State, which benefited New York City enormouslyWashington was run by a Congress more interested in national affairs than in local ones. The city stagnated at first. Its growth finally picked up during the Civil War, but it wasnt until the Great Depression and World War II, with their expansion of the role of the government in American life, that Washington grew prosperous. During the war, average family income there was higher than in New York or Los Angeles.

It was also a heavily black cityby 1957, the countrys first major city with a black majority. But back in the 1870s, Congress, motivated by racist fears of black votes, had replaced the citys elected mayors with a board of commissioners appointed by the U.S. president. That change, coming just a few years after black males had won the right to vote in Washington local elections, hobbled the citys ambitions and set the stage for its troubled legacy in race relations. It wasnt until 1973, when the civil rights movement had made the disenfranchisement of the citys blacks untenable, that D.C. regained local control. Unfortunately, a number of factorsincluding the 1968 riots after Martin Luther King, Jr.s assassination and a series of disastrous urban policies enacted by the federal governmentset the stage for the emergence of political opportunists, including the infamous Mayor Marion Barry. During his tenure in the 1980s, unchecked corruption, ineptly delivered city services, soaring crime, horrendous public schools, financial chaos, and racial tensions made the city a byword for dysfunction nationally. So did the 1990 video that caught Barry smoking crack in a hotel room.

Nevertheless, the metropolitan area surrounding Washington continued to grow and thrive. And when the 2000s arrived, the expansion of the federal government not only catapulted the region into a new league of success but also transformed the troubled city at its center.

During the first decade of the twenty-first century, the Washington metropolitan area overachieved on a variety of measurements versus its peer metro areasthat is, the rest of the ten largest metros in the country, plus the San Francisco Bay Area (which federal classifications divide into two, neither of which would make the Top Ten on its own). Among these regions, Washington ranked fourth in population growth from 2000 to 2010, trailing only the three Sunbelt boomtowns of Atlanta, Dallas, and Houston (see The Texas Growth Machine). Washington is currently the seventh most populous metropolitan area in America.

The region has performed even more impressively on the jobs front. Since 2001, Washington has enjoyed the lowest unemployment rate of its peer group. Over the course of the entire decade, it ranked second in job growth, trailing only Houston. That wasnt just because of the federal agencies and gigantic contractors of Washington stereotype. The region has also been a hotbed of entrepreneurshipmuch of it, to be sure, dependent on federal dollars. During the 2000s, it had 385 firms named to the Inc. 500 lists of fastest-growing companies in America, according to Kauffman Foundation researchby far the most of any metro area. From 2000 through 2011, according to rankings developed by Praxis Strategy Group, Washingtons low-profile but powerful tech sector had the countrys second-highest job growth, after Seattles. The region is also one of Americas top life-sciences centers.

Then theres economic output. During the 2000s, per-capita GDP grew faster in Washington than in any of its peer regions except the Bay Area. Today, Washingtons per-capita GDP is the countrys second-highestagain, after the Bay Area. Unlike Washington, however, the Bay Area hemorrhaged jobs over the course of the decade. Related to Washingtons impressive output is its astonishing median household income, the highest of any metro area with more than 1 million people. A remarkable seven of the ten highest-income counties in America are in metro Washington. And during the 2000s, per-capita income rose in Washington faster than in any of its peer metros.

Finally, Washingtons population is the best-educated in America. Almost half of all adults in the Washington region have college degrees, the highest proportion of any metro area with more than 1 million people. The same is true of graduate degrees: almost 23 percent of Washingtonians hold them.

The regions success relates to two larger points. The first involves the fact that prosperous urban regions in America are increasingly divided into two kinds. Some, like the Bay Area, embrace a vertical model of success, generating increases in economic output and per-capita income with stagnant or declining population and jobs. Others, like Dallas, are horizontal, featuring growth in population and jobs but stagnant or declining output and income. But Washington is an exception: it is the only metropolitan area with a population of at least 1 million that achieves the best of both worlds, combining Dallas-style population and job growth with the fabulous output and wealth of a San Francisco. In that respect, it is a city without peer in America.

The second point to emphasize is the sheer scale of Washingtons performance. If you consider the claim that its becoming Americas new Second City an exaggeration, note that its huge recent growth has brought its economic size much closer to Chicagosnot just in per-capita terms but in absolute ones, too. Back in 2001, Chicagos economy was 52 percent bigger than Washingtons; by the end of the decade, the gap had shrunk to 24 percent. Similarly, in 2000, total personal income was 62 percent greater in Chicago than in Washingtona difference that had dwindled to 31 percent by the end of 2010. Chicago has just 16 percent more people with college degrees than Washington does. And Washington has more people with graduate degrees than Chicago does and is closing in on Los Angeles.

None of these measurements, by the way, includes nearby Baltimore. The combined Washington-Baltimore area is now the fourth-largest in the country, with about a million fewer people than Chicago. In roughly 15 years, if current growth rates hold, Washington-Baltimore will pass the 10-million-person threshold necessary to be counted as a megacity.

It isnt just the Washington metropolitan region thats thriving. The current boom is accomplishing something that previous ones didnt: transforming the city itself, the District of Columbia. The Districts population grew during the 2000s for the first time since 1950. It suffers less from the problems that once tarnished its image: strained race relations, high crime, ineptly delivered public services, local financial crises. Many city services, such as planning and transportation, have been heavily professionalized and are even touted nationally as innovative models.

True, corruption, especially in real-estate deals, remains alive and well. A parade of local politicians, including current mayor Vincent Gray, is under a cloud, and even Marion Barry is still around as a city council member. But with a torrent of investment, new residents, and prosperity flooding in, it hardly seems to matter. The District grew by more than 1,000 new residents per month between 2010 and 2011. It ended the 2011 fiscal year with a budget surplus of $240 million and the 2012 fiscal year with a surplus of $140 million. In the past, people put up with a dysfunctional city government so that they could be near the federal one. Today, by contrast, the District is a desirable place to live in its own right, much like Manhattan or San Francisco.

This trend is affecting every aspect of urban life. Real estate has been thriving, of course. Washington has the nations lowest office-vacancy rate, along with some of its highest commercial rents. Last January, the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate put Washington in third place on its list of top global cities for foreign investment, behind only New York and London.

Residential real estate is also booming. People seem to have a hidden assumption that every house in the District will eventually be crowding $1 million, wrote Megan McArdle in the Daily Beast in September (adding, however, that this doesnt seem possible to me). Rents are high, with lower-cost apartments disappearing rapidly as investors pay current residents as much as $10,000 to move out so that their apartments can be rented to others at higher rates. In 2011, buoyed by robust demand, builders broke ground on more than 15,000 new apartment units throughout the Washington region. Much of the building is taking place in the District, noted the Washington Post, adding that the vast majority are Class A units aimed at young professionals eager to live in walkable communities near shopping and public transportation.

As that statement implies, the apartment boom is driven by a surge in younger residents, especially in the regions core. The District owes almost all its population growth to people in their twenties and thirties; 48 percent of its households are single-person, a nationwide high. Whats attracting these upscale young? At warp speed, Washington has become a New Yorkstyle urban playground and employment market. As Time recently reported,

every week brings fresh evidence of continuing prosperity: a new restaurant, a new nightclub, another restored 19th century townhouse in a previously dodgy neighborhood selling for $1 million or more. Start-ups are hiring through Craigslist, and just opened lobbying firms have no trouble collaring clients. Storefronts that stood abandoned five years ago fill with pricey gourmet-food shops.

Similarly, Ross Douthat observed in the New York Times that

over the [last] decade. . . . the changes to Washington have been staggering to watch. High-rises have leaped up, office buildings have risen, neighborhoods have been transformed. Streets once deserted after dusk are now crowded with restaurants and bars. A luxurious waterfront area is taking shape around the stadium that the playoff-bound Nationals call home. Million-dollar listings abound in neighborhoods that 10 years ago were transitional at best.

But Washington isnt Portland, a youth mecca where, the quip goes, young people go to retire. Geographer Jim Russell notes that Washingtons young talent is super-ambitious. They are driven to succeed in a very competitive talent market. Jobs on Capitol Hill or in high-profile nonprofits are highly coveted and hard to land. Like New York, Washington is one of the worlds toughest arenas, a place where the best and brightest come to prove themselves.

They arent just white hipsters, either. The Washington metro area is 26.4 percent black, Number Eight in the country among metros with more than a million people. Stereotypes of the city dwell on its black underclass and its history of electing black nationalist politicians like Barry. But the area has a large black middle class as wellabove all, in Prince Georges County, just across the Maryland state line. That county is over 65 percent black, and its median household income is $70,700, making it the highest-income majority-black county in the United States.

Immigrants, too, have been flourishing in Washington. By the end of 2010, nearly 22 percent of the metropolitan areas population was foreign-born, up from 17.3 percent in 2000the biggest increase among the ten largest American metro areas. A lot of these immigrants are Latino, as in many American cities. But Washingtons immigrant base is highly diverse. For example, tens of thousands of Indian immigrants, many of them tech entrepreneurs, live near Dulles International Airport, in an area that the Atlantic has labeled the Silicon Valley of the East. The region also attracts immigrants from East Asian and African countries, such as Korea, Vietnam, and Ethiopia. Many are highly educated. We have a lot of really highly skilled, really highly educated immigrants in technical fields, George Mason Universitys Lisa Sturtevant told the Washington Examiner last year. And, Russell adds, D.C. is a global talent market increasingly on par with New York and London. It is drawing the cream of the crop from around the world, and they are paid top dollar.

The international origins of both talent and investment in Washington signal something new: its becoming an important global city. In a globalizing world, capitals count for less than global business centers, journalist Richard Longworth wrote in 2009, adding that Washington, a one-dimensional company town if there ever was one, never made anyones list of global cities. That view of Washington is increasingly dated. Yes, its still a government town, but its the town of the most important government there is, and that distinction matters. Washington is home to a massive number of embassies and international institutions, of course. Almost 1,500 foreign correspondents from 113 countries are based there, giving Washington a global news-media reach on par with New Yorks. Even domestically, the news media industry has consolidated into Washington, along with New York, writes Matthew Yglesias in Slate. A recent meta-analysis of various surveys by economist Richard Florida ranked Washington the Number Three global city in America, behind only New York and Chicago.

But what solidifies Washingtons emerging status as Americas new Second City isnt its economic performance or its emerging global-city profile. Both of those are secondary effects of the real change in Washington: the increasingly intrusive control of the federal government over American life.

Traditionally, Washington thrived through a leaky bucket model, redirecting some of the gigantic money flow through the federal pipeline to itself. The 2000s were an especially good time for the region, as two wars, plus 9/11-related defense and homeland-security procurement, fueled the boom. These days, about a third of the Washington-area economy depends on the federal government. But with $16 trillion in national debt and large deficits projected as far as the eye can see, the gravy train may be coming to a halt. Some, like Steven Cochrane of Moodys Analytics, think that fiscal retrenchment would spell the end of D.C.s new prosperity. The days of Washington being the leader in terms of job growth and economic strength are really over, Cochrane told the Washington Post in early 2011. I think theres no way that [the pace of job growth] could be kept up any longer, particularly now that the federal government is undergoing pretty strict [budget] scrutiny.

The leaky-bucket model may indeed be nearing its limits. But Washington has discovered a new way to extract value from the federal government, based not just on spending but on an ever-expanding regulatory state. An array of programsthe Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank acts governing finance; the governments auto-industry takeover; the EPAs declaration that carbon dioxide is a pollutanttakes regulation to new levels of detail and intrusiveness, even extending to the micromanagement of particular companies. The trend began long before President Obama took office, but its quintessence is Obamacare, an annexation by the federal government of one-sixth of the American economy via 2,000 pages of byzantine legislation, not counting the thousands of pages of implementing regulations still to come.

All this intrusion emanates from the legislative and especially the regulatory machinery in Washington. The city has become, in effect, the Brussels of America. So a wider and wider variety of businesses and organizations must be located there to lobby the government that decides their fate. (According to the Center for Responsive Politics, total spending on lobbying rose from $1.6 billion in 2000 to $3.3 billion in 2011.) These firms pay local taxes. So do their workers, who also buy houses, patronize stores, pay tuition at private schools, employ local doctors and lawyers, and so on. The regulatory superstate is turbocharging Washingtons local economy.

This new basis for prosperity could pay huge dividends to the region. The model here might be the defense industry, which has already centralized many operations in the area. Northrop Grumman, for example, recently moved its headquarters from Los Angeles to Washington. Boeing shifted its headquarters from Seattle to Chicago to be closer to defense operations and customers in Washington. Other industries, such as health insurance, may follow suit. Even if they dont relocate to D.C. entirely, theyll need to be represented there. City Journal contributing editor Joel Kotkin has speculated that when everything from zoning [to] the location of industrial plants and healthcare is under Washingtons control, the capital could conceivably even emerge as a challenger to New Yorks two century reign as the countrys most important city. The mere fact that such heresy can be uttered illustrates Washingtons new power.

So Washington can boast demographic and economic growth, a highly educated workforce, an emerging elite-global-city profile, and regulatory hegemony that ensures that America will continue to pay it tribute, even if the federal government manages to restrain its spending. This looks like a winning recipe locally, and it gives the region a legitimate claim to be Americas new Second City.

But its a loser for America. Even more than the old leaky-bucket system did, the regulatory superstate depends on inflicting pain on the rest of the country, pain that only Washington itself can relieveif you pay up and have the right connections, that is. Washingtons fortunes and Americas are increasingly at odds. The region is prospering because its becoming something that would have horrified the Founders: an imperial capital on the Potomac.
When she first ran for chancellor of Germany in 2005, Angela Merkel promised zero tolerance in matters of national security; five years afterward, she said that multiculturalism had failed, and failed utterly. But in January 2015, in what seemed a massive U-turn, she proclaimed Islam a part of Germany; and later that year, she welcomed a veritable army of Muslim refugees into the country, a foolhardy act that won her high praise from politically correct elites around the world. Hillary Clinton applauded Merkels bravery in the face of the refugee crisis; in December 2015, Time named Merkel Person of the Year. Just five days later, however, Merkel again slammed multiculturalism, warning that it leads to parallel societies and promising to cut immigration figures. Yetmaddeningly, menacinglyshe kept the floodgates open, explaining that the refugee crisis represented a historic test for Europe and calling on other European leaders to follow her example.

Then came New Years Eve 2015-16. In a chilling illustration of the folly of Merkels policy, hundreds of migrants committed brutal sexual assaultsmost famously in central Cologne, but also in the heart of nearly every other major German city. Since then, Merkel has had more and more to answer for: her country has experienced a rise in gang violence; its acquired more no-go zones; its undergone an epidemic of rapes in public swimming pools; and its seen the murder of German citizens by foreign-born Muslims become increasingly commonplace.

The most high-profile recent homicide victimher body was found on a Freiburg riverbank in Octoberwas 19-year-old Maria Ladenburger, a medical student and daughter of a top European Commission attorney. Ladenburgers October 26 death notice in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung asked for donations to Weitblick Freiburg, a student group under whose auspices shed worked as a volunteer aiding refugees and migrants. On December 3 came news of a DNA report proving that the girl had been raped and killed by an Afghani asylum-seeker, identified by authorities only as Hussein K.

The murder sparked national outrage, as did the decision by ARDthe state-run, license-fee-funded broadcasterto ignore it on its daily newscast, calling the story too regional. Rainer Wendt, chairman of the national police union, spoke for many Germans when he blamed Ladenburgers slaughter on mass immigration and the so-called welcome culture, whose apostles, he charged, had responded to Hussein K.s monstrous act with not a word of compassion, no self-doubt, only arrogant insistence on [their] own noble disposition. For Germans whove had enough of Merkels catastrophic immigration policy, the Ladenburger case has proved a lightning rod, contributing to her sinking approval ratings in the run-up to next years federal elections.

Which may explain why, in a December 6 speech to leaders of her party, the Central Democratic Union, the tough version of Merkel reappeared. Calling for a law against the burka, which is already forbidden in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, as well as in parts of Spain, Italy, and Switzerland, Merkel maintained that the full veil was not appropriate here and should be banned wherever its legally possible. She further insisted that sharia law should never take precedence over German law.

The Washington Post suggested that Merkels latest remarks might signal a pragmatic shift to the right in the wake of Brexit and Donald Trumps victory. The Post might also have cited this weeks constitutional referendum in Italy (the results of which were viewed as a thumbs-down to the EU and euro), the continuing rise of Geert Wilderss Freedom Party in the Netherlands and of Marine Le Pen in France, andmost importantthe blow dealt to Merkel in September when the Alternative for Germany party, which criticizes mass immigration, scored big in regional elections. But before one accepts the idea that Merkel has actually turned over a new leaf, its advisable to keep in mind that shes been playing a double game throughout her tenure, talking tough (sometimes) about Muslim immigration and assimilation even as shes stuck stubbornly to policies that have spelled disaster not only for Germany but also for much of Western Europe.

To be sure, in an attempt to lighten Germanys load, Merkel has tried to force resistant EU members to take in some of the refugees shes admitted; but to the extent that any of them do so, alas, the primary impact will be further to erode stability and order within those nations borders. Merkel also worked hard this year on whats been called a murky deal with Turkey to try to stem the refugee tide, but so far, its main effect has been to embolden that countrys Islamofascist president, Recep Erdogan.

In any case, even if Merkel did come through with a burka ban, such a movehowever positivewould mean little in the long run unless it was part of a broader, tougher approach designed to address effectively Germanys, and Western Europes, ongoing Islamization. Unfortunately, theres no sign of any such drastic policy shift.

Despite Merkels drop in popularity during the last few years, a November poll showed that a remarkable 59 percent of the German electorate still wanted to see her returned to office when federal elections are held sometime between August and November of next year. But already that figure has dropped dramatically: just this week, according to a Deutsche Welle survey, only 36 percent expressed that hope. Certainly, judging by the history of Merkels combination of tough talk and compassionate action on immigration, it seems likely that if German voters truly desire serious reform on this front, they should seek new leadership.

Photo: Volker Hartmann/Getty Images
Fundatia de Binefacere Caritas Moldova solicita oferte de pret de la companii /furnizori de cozonaci de Craciun
Amanda Bright looked around her classroom of journalism students at Eastern Illinois University the morning after the presidential election. The 15 men and women had been up much of the night and were exhausted, unusually quiet. Like journalism students across the country who had been closely following the race, students in Brights newswriting class were not only stunned by Donald Trumps election, but also that their chosen profession had so badly missed the story.

A lot of them needed personally to move through things, says Bright, a journalism lecturer and board member of the Illinois Journalism Education Association.

In the weeks leading up to the election, Bright had given the students a choice of whether to cover an issue related to the presidential race or something else on campus. They didnt want to touch the election, Bright says. They had a lot of election fatigue.

But since the reality of Trumps win has begun to sink in and cabinet appointments have given shape to his nascent administration, the students cant stop talking about what will happen nextto the country, to journalism, and to their future in both. They bring it up in almost every conversation we have, Bright says.

Since the reality of Trumps win has begun to sink in and cabinet appointments have given shape to his nascent administration, the students cant stop talking about what will happen nextto the country, to journalism, and to their future in both.

Sign up for CJR 's daily email

As a journalism professor myself, I know that every election produces teachable moments. Each week brings a new set of headlines, new stories to scrutinize, examples of the best and the worst of what we do. This fall was extraordinary for journalism educators and students, and not just because the presidential race was historic or because fact-checking became its own beat or because social media never, ever goes off air. This fall was extraordinary because it felt like journalism itself was up for a vote.

In the weeks since the election, Ive thrown out the syllabi in both of the classes I teach at Columbia College Chicago. Ive spent every class period for the past three weeks talking to the 99 freshmen in my introductory course on social media storytelling about the echo chambers we create on social media, partisan websites, and how to verify news. This week I showed them where Taiwan was on a map, and we talked about the implications of Trumps tweet to China after his call with the president of Taiwan. That wasnt a lecture I had planned to deliver when we started in September.

We moved on to #pizzagate and the real dangers of fake news after a North Carolina man brought an assault rifle to a pizza restaurant in Washington, DC, and tried to uncover a totally unproven conspiracy theory about a supposed child trafficking ring there. My students groaned as I explained how people were looking through hacked emails for code words like hot dog and walnut to expose the alleged sex ring. It felt so ridiculous and unbelievable that we were actually talking about it, but we had to talk about it because I wanted my students to understand the consequences of sharing stories that are not true. In my basic reporting course, weve discussed (again) why its so important to interview people who dont look or think the way we do to understand how the media missed the depth of Trump voters grievances.

It felt so ridiculous and unbelievable that we were actually talking about it, but we had to talk about it because I wanted my students to understand the consequences of sharing stories that are not true.

For many journalism students in America, the election was a sobering moment that followed months of watching the president-elect and his supporters attack the media. Candidate Trump went after some of the most respected journalists in the business, calling them names, making fun of them, and trying to bully them for doing their jobs. The president-elect encouraged supporters at his rallies to turn on local broadcasters, freelance photographers, and reporters barely making their mortgages. It was a new dose of upheaval and unpredictability in a profession already beset by plenty of both.

Its difficult to be both honest and inspiring in this moment, says Mei-Ling Hopgood, associate professor at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Theres a lot of bummer things happening and things we dont understand. Theres a lot of hate and all kinds of bad emotions as well. While we figure out what happened and how to do things better, it can be challenging to stay positive.

Journalism studentsespecially todays cropare taught about the importance of objectivity and not taking sides. They are grilled on the basic notions of fairness and accuracy. Most journalism programs have a zero-tolerance policy for plagiarism and for inventing facts.

But this election delivered a tricky lesson. We learned that a certain chunk of facts dont matter, says Kelley Benham French, a professor of practice at Indiana Universitys Media School.

Two days after the election, French devoted her entire narrative journalism class to talking about the election. Her students were really upset, she says. A huge piece of it is that they are in legitimate fear for their personal safety. This makes them feel less safe, and the wrong things are being rewarded. On top of that, most of their parents dont want them to become journalists. They are dealing with that at home. Their Trump-supporter uncles are telling them that journalists are corrupt. Its internship application season, and theyre feeling tremendous pressure, and now theyre questioning everything.

Most of their parents dont want them to become journalists. They are dealing with that at home. Their Trump-supporter uncles are telling them that journalists are corrupt. Its internship application season, and theyre feeling tremendous pressure, and now theyre questioning everything.

Luma Khabbaz, whose parents are from Syria, is in Frenchs narrative journalism course this semester. She remembers sitting in the first class after the election, waiting for her professor. Frenchs husband, Tom French, also a professor of practice at the Media School, walked in. Someone asked how he was doing, and he ended up delivering what Khabbaz describes as a sermon on journalism, about how this was a time for journalists, that this is what were here to do. It was emotional.

It was emotional because the profession has been so maligned in recent months, and even though we know why and are trying to self-correct as a profession, fake news is still winning. Clicks and likes are still winning. Its depressing, and yet, this also feels like a unique moment, when journalism schools should be making their case about why theyre needed now more than ever. These days, all of us are delivering a sermon for journalism in our own ways.

That thing you feel, that physical ache or joyis passion, Hopgood says she told her students. Something you hold very dearly is being threatened or being celebrated, so take care of yourself and reflect and do all of these things, but then you go and defend those things that you care about. Turn it around.

Rachel Hinton, a journalism major at DePaul University in Chicago, was in an advanced reporting class with veteran journalist Carol Marin the day after the election. We were shell-shocked, she says. We trusted the data. We trusted the pundits.

Hinton, who is from suburban Plainfield, south of Chicago, knows that places like her hometown put Trump in office. It made me want to talk to more people downstate, she says. I totally agree with the fact that liberals or people in the mainstream media stay in their bubbles. We need to continue to look for varying opinions and perspectives.

Hinton says she was nervous for a few days after the election, wondering what Trumps presidency would mean for her as a black woman in America. But shes since had a chance to reflect and refocus on her own professional aspirations. It emboldens me, she says. My longterm goal is to be an investigative reporter. I want to know what you dont want me to know. She figures there might be no better place to practice her skills than under a Trump administration.

NJema McIntyre, a senior at Northern Illinois University and president of her student chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists, says she also feels empowered by the election results. An aspiring radio journalist and mother of two young men of color, McIntyre says its important for her to get the word out, to get my face out.

Its a ripe time for journalists, she says.

Its a ripe time, and also a complicated one. Many of todays journalism students, cynical already, arent sure what to do.

They see the problems, says Sara Netzley, a journalism professor at Bradley University in Peoria in central Illinois. But they arent so sure they can fix it. At least they can see the problems. I give them that.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Jackie Spinner is CJRs correspondent for Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin. She is an associate journalism professor at Columbia College Chicago and a former staff writer for The Washington Post. Follow her on Twitter @jackiespinner.
In the nine years since its founding, ProPublica has established a sterling reputation and racked up awards for its deeply-reported investigative pieces. Yesterday, the nonprofit newsroom announced the next phase in its evolution: the upcoming launch of an Illinois unit, focusing on stories in Chicago and around the state.

As local and regional newspapers have grappled with the collapse of an antiquated business model, funding for investigative units and accountability journalism has shrunk drastically. ProPublica hopes to fill that voidat least partiallywith a series of regional operations for which the Illinois unit, to start early next year, will serve as a trial balloon.

Seed money for the project comes in part from a larger five-year grant from the Ford Foundation and another committed funder that ProPublica declined to identify. Eventually, the news site hopes the unit will fund itself through grassroots donations. The need for that sort of local support was one of the reasons Illinois was chosen as the pilot location for expansion.

We looked at a couple of factors, ProPublica president Richard Tofel tells CJR. Most important was a place where there are lots of accountability stories to do and a history of having done them. Illinois certainly seemed to be that. Another is that, in the long run, if this idea is to work, we need these operations to be locally funded, so you look at places where that would be possible.

Tofel says ProPublica has a rough idea of the projects budget, but didnt want to discuss it until the outlet hires an editor for the Chicago-based unit, which will eventually comprise about 10 staffers. The unit will operate largely independently, with a regional editor reporting to ProPublica Editor in Chief Stephen Engelberg. Its not a bureau, Tofel says. Its more like a newspaper within a larger company.

With a newsroom of about 45 journalists, ProPublica often produces pieces in conjunction with other organizations. In 2016, T. Christian Miller won the outlets third Pulitzer Prize for An Unbelievable Story of Rape, a piece he wrote in partnership with The Marshall Projects Ken Armstrong. Founded with seed money, and a multi-year commitment, from the Sandler Foundation, ProPublica has also received grants from the MacArthur Foundation and Knight Foundation, among others.

Sign up for CJR 's daily email

Though plans for the Illinois unit were in motion well before the election of Donald Trump, the new venture fits with a set of initiatives that ProPublica has recently launched, including a beat on hate crimes and the so-called alt-right. Although the organizations mission of producing accountability journalism in the public interest remains the same, Tofel tells CJR that the newsroom will also be focusing more on issues like immigration, trade, and the policies of a Trump White House. Our role is unchanged, he says. The question is the tactics of executing it.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Pete Vernon is a former CJR staff writer. Follow him on Twitter @ByPeteVernon.
In 11 years of operating a Greensburg, Pa., pawn shop, Ashley Nicklaus prides herself on the good relationships she has built with police who occasionally call when they suspect customers may be selling stolen merchandise.

When her license to buy and sell gold, silver and precious metals at Pawn & Jewelry Exchange on East Pittsburgh Street changed to require her to enter those transactions and information about sellers into a regional database, she and other gold buyers around the region complied. But as the databases founder works on plans to expand its reach, Nicklaus said its adoption by local police is lagging.

If its used in the right way, it can be a great tool, said Nicklaus, who also uses a separate program to track goods coming and going from her shop. But I havent come across any law enforcement agency that has access to it or uses it.  Im still getting police officers calling in asking me to check my own database.

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. spearheaded the creation of PAPreciousMetals.com in 2015. Licensed dealers in gold, silver, platinum and other precious metals are required to upload photos and descriptions of merchandise people sell them, along with information on the seller. Investigators, in theory, can check the database for jewelry reported stolen and track it to whomever sold it.

The regional database was established under state law that gives sheriffs the authority to license and regulate businesses that buy and sell precious metals and jewels. It covers businesses in Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Lawrence, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

A grant from Zappalas office, used to launch and operate the database for its first year, expires Dec. 31.

Westmoreland County commissioners this month added $200 to the annual $50 fee paid by 52 precious-metal dealers here to support the multi-county database.

Allegheny County passed a similar fee hike on its 125 dealers in December, raising nearly $10,000, Zappala said.

He did not rule out using more grant money from his office if fees are not enough to cover costs for the database.

Well look at the effectiveness of the program. And, if the program continues to operate, well find the money to get it done, he said.

On the surface, Zappala said it appeared to be accomplishing its goal of helping to tackle the issue of stolen jewelry being fenced across county lines.

Instead of visiting individual shops to go over paper records or check recent acquisitions, investigators and insurers can check the database to see who is selling what  usually drug addicts fencing personal items or stolen goods not far from where they were taken, Zappala said.

Within 24 hours, you have the transaction in the system, he said. On paper, if you say gold chain or class ring, that doesnt help me. But having the sellers (identification) in the database and pictures of the merchandise, that gives you all kinds of tools you didnt have before.

Its been a success, and were looking to expand it.

Zappala said he would like to establish a way for the public to be able to search the database and notify police if they see that someone has pawned or sold their stolen property.

About 1,000 officers in 16 Western Pennsylvania counties have signed up to use the system, Zappala said. Other agencies in York County, parts of Virginia and Ohio also have used the system, and Zappala hopes to expand it to counties in the central and eastern parts of the state.

Store owners say they would rather see more local police use the database and enforce compliance from all stores to keep it fair.

(Police) will still come in here and do inquiries, even though Im putting it online, said Rachelle Timarac, manager at GoldNGals on Freeport Road in Natrona Heights. Im telling them about the website.  Its better than them coming into the store when I have customers here.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Better performing workers comp claims organizations utilize key performance indicators, data analytics and an advocacy-based model to successfully manage claims, according to Rising Medical Solutions most recent Workers Compensation Benchmarking Study.

Better performing workers comp claims organizations utilize key performance indicators, data analytics and an advocacy-based model to successfully manage claims, according to Rising Medical Solutions most recent Workers Compensation Benchmarking Study.

The annual study surveyed 492 claims leaders representing national insurers and third party administrators, risk pools and government entities nationwide to highlight the methods that drive success in their organizations.

Weve heard from the claims community about difficulties identifying which best practices actually move the needle because industry data is often limited or unavailable, said Rachel Fikes, vice president and study program director at Rising Medical Solutions. Providing quantitative, primary data to substantiate various methods in claims management was the next logical step in the studys evolution.

According to the study, better performing claims organizations are more likely to:

Link key performance indicators (KPIs) to desired claim outcomes  returning to work at equal or better fitness prior to the injury.

Employ claims decision support tools  such as workflow automation, advanced analytics, and predictive modeling  and use them more frequently throughout the claim lifecycle.

Leverage numerous data sources to develop analytics, like Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM).

Utilize an employee-centric, advocacy-based service model to improve claim outcomes as well as talent retention.

Engage sooner in emerging and/or particularly challenging industry areas, such as adopting value-based care models and implementing formal knowledge transfer programs.

Use pharmacy metrics as a measure of provider quality/outcomes.

Link provider quality/outcome measures to provider contracts & Letters of Agreement.

While more than 50 percent of survey respondents indicated they utilize KPIs, theres still room for improvement, Algire said.

Though functional recovery was noted as a benchmark to success, principal study researcher, Denise Zoe Algire, said it isnt measured because it isnt an easy measurement to execute.

Advocacy Model Emphasized

The study found that an advocacy-based claims model, described as an employee-centric customer service claims model that focuses on employee engagement during the injury recovery process, removes adversarial obstacles, makes access to benefits simple, builds trust, and holds the organization accountable to metrics that go beyond cost containment.

31 percent of respondents have already implemented an advocacy model. Most claims organizations may consider it in terms of the value to the injured workers, but according to the studys participants, the most significant impacts ranked by participants include employee engagement, transforming the image of the claims profession and connecting claims talent strategy to organizational mission.

Industry leaders identified this dual incentive during the studys 2015 focus group research, suggesting organizations elevate claims as a purposeful profession, emphasizing its social factors by rebranding the claims adjuster as an advocate, wrote Algire.

Theres really a dual value because when you empower claims professionals to be advocates and to be focusing on their primary role, which is delivering benefits. Theres historically this cynical view, I think, of claims managementI think this provides an opportunity for the claims examiner to be viewed more in a correct lens and that is as an advocate of delivering benefits to injured workers, Algire added in an interview discussing the study results.

Self-insureds were more likely to have this model than other organizations.

Algire said education and retooling how stakeholders communicate with injured workers are two ways organizations can transition to this model. She offered the example of one well-known large company that changed the way it communicated with its employees. Instead of simply sending out a denial letter if workers comp benefits are not warranted, the company includes options in the letter to ensure the employee is aware of potential coverage elsewhere. Algire said her own company reviewed every way it communicated to employees to re-evaluate its messaging to injured workers.

Claim Outcome Drivers

According to the study, the top four obstacles to positive claim outcomes included:

psychosocial/co-morbidities,

lack of return-to-work options,

Litigation costs,

Employer/employee relationship.

The study found that employee trust was a key predictor of successful return to work.

Employees are more likely to seek legal representation when there is poor communication or lack of trust with the employer and/or claims administrator, the report stated.

Sometimes fear drives litigation and a delay in return to work, Algire explained. She emphasized the value of a proactive approach to communicating with employees to address this.

The impact of psychosocial and comorbidity issues on workers comp claim outcome is just coming to light, she said.

The biopsychosocial model is something that organizations are realizingis a key indicator of claim outcomes or potential delay in either return to work or medical cost escalation in terms of medical treatment, said Algire.

Its something not necessarily driven by physical needs, she added. Psychosocial issues can be driven by anything from anger issues to adverse issues that affected an injured worker in his or her childhood. Workers manage injuries differently, she explained, something that can be seen in workers who sustain similar injuries but have substantially different recovery periods. Knowing that the issue exists is key to organizations being able to address the problem, she said.

Not surprisingly, adjuster caseload can impact workers comp claim outcomes.

The ideal caseload, according to several interviewed claims leaders, is somewhere between 100-120 files in order to achieve desired outcomes, though that figure is affected by the complexity of each claim. Caseload alone isnt a sufficient measure, since claim outcomes can be affected by the level of administrative support adjusters have, the efficiency and number of systems staff need to access to manage claims, as well as the autonomy and settlement authority delegated to claims examiners.

Where a claim is in the U.S. can impact the outcome. The study found regional differences in the length of time a claim remained open. About 20 percent of respondents reported a high percentage of tail claims  those open five or more years.

According to the report, Respondents who manage claims in California and in states classified as the South region report a higher inventory of claims open greater than five years.

Another area that can drive claim outcome is talent management. Survey results reflect that 71 percent of participants have implemented one or more knowledge transfer initiatives to deal with changes in department staffing, including:

Formal learning/training/development; Identify employees with key skills; Formal mentoring programs; Content management repositories; Retirees and senior level claims staff as trainers/coaches.

Predictive modeling was noted to be a key strategic intervention, allowing organizations the ability to identify high-risk factors throughout a claims life cycle. The study found that 35 percent of respondents utilize predictive analytics with the best models run on every claim throughout the lifecycle.
City and state officials fielded years of complaints about dangerous conditions, drugs, neglected children, trash, thefts and squabbles at the illegally converted warehouse where 36 partygoers were killed in a weekend fire, with inspectors knocking on the door as recently as two weeks before the blaze.

With all the attention from police, child welfare authorities, building inspectors and others, some of those who saw what was going on at the underground artists colony say they figured time and again that authorities would shut it all down.

But they never did.

It makes me so sad that all this has been there this whole long time, said neighbor Phyllis Waukazoo. This was an accident waiting to happen. That could have been prevented.

Mayor Libby Schaaf deflected questions about whether more aggressive action by authorities could have prevented the tragedy at the building known as the Ghost Ship. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, and prosecutors said they are looking into the possibility of criminal charges.

On Tuesday, sheriffs Deputy Tya Modeste said the families of 26 of the victims had been notified. She said that an additional nine bodies have been tentatively identified and that officials have been unable to identify one victim at all.

Record searches and interviews by The Associated Press indicate that the couple who leased the warehouse and turned it into living spaces and artists studios, Derick Ion Almena and Micah Allison, were already under scrutiny by several agencies.

Some of those agencies had been told or could have seen for themselves that the family of five and their dozens of artist tenants were living in a warehouse that had no permit to operate as a living space and allegedly had no proper kitchen, electricity, adequate fire exits or solid stairs.

Almena, 46, is on probation for receiving stolen property, an Airstream trailer he was accused of stealing and stashing at the warehouse. The terms of his probation allowed authorities to enter his home to search without a warrant, records show.

Child welfare workers had taken away the couples three children in mid-2015 but returned them by this past summer, despite the illegal conditions at the warehouse and the children being hungry, infested with lice and frequently truant, Micah Allisons father and other acquaintances said.

Almena confirmed in a 2015 document that child welfare workers visited the warehouse at least twice.

Child welfare authorities refused to comment on the family, citing privacy laws.

In returning the children, the authorities set certain conditions, including that the youngsters be out of the warehouse during the many parties held there, according to those who knew the couple.

On the night of the fire, Allison and the three children had checked into an Oakland hotel, according to Almena. All of them survived. Almena said in a TV interview that he had little involvement in the party and had gone to the hotel as well.

Most recently, Oakland city inspectors received complaints on Nov. 13 about the warehouse being remodeled into residences and on Nov. 14 about an illegal interior building structure, city records showed Tuesday.

City officials sent a violation notice for the first complaint and opened an investigation for the second one.

Darin Ranelletti, interim city building chief, told reporters an inspector went to the Ghost Ship on Nov. 17 to follow up on the complaint. But the inspector was unable to enter the building or talk to occupants, and left, Ranelliti said. City officials would not give further details.

Allisons father, Michael Allison, said he is left wondering why officials failed to take quicker, tougher action.

This whole thing, the city giving them warning after warning after warning, strikes me as bizarre. Its been going on for years, he said. I knew something was going to happen  but not this.

Under state and city law, commercial buildings must receive annual fire inspections. Sheriffs Sgt. Ray Kelly refused to say whether fire officials had visited the warehouse before the blaze.

Zac Unger, vice president of the Oakland firefighters union, said the city has about one-third of the fire inspectors of other cities of comparable size.

Its a systematic underinvestment in the fire department and a roll of the dice, hoping theyll get away with it, he said.

Noel Gallo, a city councilman who lives a block away and recalled fruitless conversations with Almena over trash and other nuisances, said he will push for more building inspectors and fire marshals.

But Gallo noted the city has many occupied warehouses and has to be mindful of the desperate housing shortage in the San Francisco Bay area, where the tech boom has driven up prices and rents.

In an interview after the fire, Almena said police also had been in and out of the buildings for years, over thefts and other complaints from the people there.

They would come in and they would walk through our space and theyd always say Wow, what an amazing space, Almena told San Jose TV station KNTV.
pathwaytoresilience.jpeg

Steven H. Rosen (left) and Bassem A. Mansour (right), co-CEOs of Resilience Capital Partners, the (Cleveland-based private equity firm and lead sponsor of Pathway to Resilience.

(Photo courtesy of Resilience Capital Partners)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Boys & Girls Clubs of Cleveland and a local company are launching a program aimed at combating youth violence by mentoring young adults and linking them to job training and employment.

The Boys & Girls Clubs and Resilience Capital Partners, a Cleveland-based private equity firm, are scheduled to announce today the Pathway to Resilience program that will begin in early 2017. The program is targeting at-risk young people from 171/2-years-old to about 26, said Steven Rosen, co-chief executive officer of Resilience Capital Partnership. The pilot will select two sets of 10 participants for a full-time program lasting six months. He said the program would draw from gang intervention research -- including that done by the Department of Justice - by using diverse strategies ranging from those focused on workforce development to those incorporating social services.

Rosen said two factors motivated his drive to address redirecting at-risk youth away from violence to meaningful employment. One was the desire to help in lowering Cleveland's high poverty and violence rates. Cleveland consistently ranks near the top nationally among cities with the highest poverty rates. The violent crime rate in Cleveland is triple the national average, according to a white paper by Cleveland's Collaborative on Youth Violence Prevention.

Rosen's work funding manufacturing companies throughout the industrial Midwest also led him to explore an employment-based solution. He said several of the companies his firm has funded have had difficulty filling openings, such as those for welders. Rosen believes a program that could help in creating skilled workers would not only aid in closing the skills gap, but also in lowering youth violence.

"We want to improve the lives of these young folks so that they can move away from a life of potentially unproductive behaviors to making a contribution to addressing a shortage of skills in the workforce in our Rust Belt area," he said.

Research has shown a link between high youth unemployment and violence rates. For example, an analysis done earlier this year for The Plain Dealer by Claudia Coulton, co-director of the Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development at Case Western Reserve University and a professor of urban social research, found a correlation between youth idleness and youth violence in many Cuyahoga County suburbs and Cleveland neighborhoods. High youth unemployment contributes to youth idleness.

See: Research shows link between joblessness and youth violence: Pathways to Peace

Pathway to Resilience aims to team participants with area business as part of the job training and placement process. Rosen said the program needs for more businesses to be partners and sponsors. For information: pathway@resiliencecapital.com or (216) 360-7254.

Mayor Frank G. Jackson said the support of Cleveland's corporate community is vital to making the program successful.

"Pathway to Resilience is what is needed as an interdiction tool that will lead to prevention and reduction of crime," he said in a news release. "The key to this program is support from local businesses and corporations partnering with Pathway which will lead to employment and better choices for our youth."

The program's collaborative approach, which taps services and resources from throughout the community, means the three-year pilot should cost about $150,000 a year to run, Rosen said. He hopes the program will eventually be expanded locally as well as nationally. The Cleveland Foundation, James Vaughn, III and Cintas Corp. are among the entities supporting the pilot.

Rosen said the Boy & Girls Clubs will screen the candidates for the program.

"We're looking for someone eager to learn and be the best they can be," he said of the ideal participant. "It doesn't matter what has happened (to the person) up to this point. What is in the past is in the past.

"I think it is important for young people to know that you can't change what has happened, but you can certainly change tomorrow and what happens from that point on," Rosen said. "We're gong to help them do that."

On Monday, City Council approved $700,000 for an eight-person Youth Crime and Prevention team. Council also approved a $75,000 grant for a "violence interrupter" at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, whose role will include gathering information about simmering hostilities among young people that have the potential to erupt into violence.

Councilman Zack Reed, whose ward includes Mount Pleasant, had lobbied for Cleveland to implement a comprehensive anti-violence strategy. He believes Pathway to Resilience will be a key component of the approach.

"This program will give us an opportunity to talk to those individuals who are affected by this violence; and hopefully be able to persuade them to give up this violent lifestyle," he said. "(We can tell them) they need to put down these gun, and in return we will give them a positive tool to navigate throughout this society, such as training and a job."

Follow: @OPinfo
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- With Monday's passage of the $43.9 million General Fund budget for 2017, city officials already have some financial bases covered for the coming year.

That includes nearly $2 million in "pre-funding" on health care costs and workers compensation, and still leaves an anticipated $3.3 million cash reserve being carried over into the new year.

The city has also collected about double the amount of local income tax that was projected for 2016 after voters approved an additional quarter-percent rate last November, taking it up to 2.25 percent.

"We have more cash flow, and not because we're collecting a greater overall amount than we projected," City Finance Director Tom Raguz explained Dec. 6. "But we are realizing it at a much quicker rate."

Regional Income Tax Agency officials have not seen the cash flow pace take off as fast as it has in Cleveland Heights, where the full impact of the increase is not expected until 2018, when it's expected to reach $2.9 million.

In the meantime, RITA was projecting $945,000 being collected this year. But so far, the additional collections have totaled about $1.8 million.

The 2017 projections call for $2.3 million in additional income tax collections, expected to reach $25.3 million.

At about 7.5 percent of the city's General Fund budget, the overall projected $3.3 million carryover is still only about half of the amount (16 percent) that the Government Finance Officers Association recommends for municipal government.



Still, the city's budget, which totals $78.6 million in total funds for 2017, shows steady improvement in recent years, noted City Manager Tanisha Briley, who took over in August 2013.



For starters, that total budget figure is about $13.4 million less than this year's, due to the Cleveland Division of Water taking over the city's ailing system in 2017, as well as the billing for the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District.

The city is also budgeting about $1 million less -- $42.9 million -- in expenses for 2017, compared to projected revenues.

And Briley cautioned council Monday (Dec. 5) that the city is "not out of the woods yet," with the economic recovery still tenuous and the constant threat of the state legislature to alter the local income tax formula.

"This surplus is a temporary thing and we need to continue to take fiscally sound measures," Briley told council.

Property tax collections are also down, with the Severance Town Center's revaluation dropping to about $10 million, roughly half of its previous assessment.

City officials also expect a drop in the assessed value of the new MetroHealth Community Emergency Department, formerly HealthSpan and Kaiser Permanente.

"We are happy to have MetroHealth here, but at the same time, they are a county entity, so we're expecting a drop in value there as well," Briley said.

The city is also looking at a 27th pay period in 2017, which happens about every 12th year and will cost the city a little over $1 million.

But earlier this year, City Council created a separate Budget Stabilization Fund, socking away $2.1 million from the 2015 budget carryover.

That will leave about $1 million in the BSF, with no immediate plans to replenish that account until 2018.

City officials also plan to give 2 percent pay raises to the roughly 100 employees not covered by collective bargaining agreements -- their first raise in three years.

That will cost the city an extra $130,000, Raguz said.

The remaining 280-300 city employees who union members will receive pay raises based on their respective labor contracts.

About $535,000 will be saved by leaving 10 positions vacant in 2017, although there are some hires planned, including a public relations position that Briley said should augment the city's economic development and marketing efforts.

There will also be a property investigator hired to give the city's Housing Division more capacity, along with a housing rehab specialist and a Geographic Information System (GIS) specialist.

As for the city's $11.9 million capital budget for 2017, Briley pointed out that 61 percent of that funding comes from outside sources, including Cuyahoga County, the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA), and the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT).

These agencies will provide much of the funding for major repaving projects on Cedar and Noble roads, as well as the Cedar-Fairmount streetscape project slated for next year.

Local street construction funds are set at $1.6 million for 2017, comparable to this year's allocation and coming primarily from gas and auto license tax proceeds.

As for the $1 million pre-funding of the anticipated $5 million in health care and hospitalization costs for 2017, Briley and Raguz said this represents an overall increase of about $500,000.

The budget also includes a preliminary set-aside of $790,000 in workers comp.
Need a few holiday cookie baking tips?

Last week, just off Public Square in Cleveland, they were everywhere in a virtual Santa's Workshop of treats. Instead of green elf caps, though, students in the advanced pastry class of Cuyahoga Community College wore white chef toques. Clustered at stainless tables, they made six different holiday cookies that could draw a squeal from any child at heart - chocolate-frosted rainbow bites layered in shades of aqua and purple, toasted macaroon nubbins, marzipan menageries, Italian fruit and sliced almond bars, and the classic sugar-cookie Christmas stocking, bedecked in polka dots and silver dragees.

Maureen Leonard, assistant professor of pastry arts, worked the room, reminding students of what is required, and what is just plain delightful. She's a John Carroll University grad, veteran of the French Pastry School and Tru restaurant in Chicago, as well as the InterContinental Hotel in Cleveland. And she once appeared on Food Network's "Sweet Genius." If anyone can talk technique non-stop, she can.

We moved with her, scooping up ideas that would help everyone make cookies better, even those of us at home.

1. If you want to be able to work and re-work the dough without it getting tough, use cake flour as a replacement for all-purpose flour. More refined, cake flour has less gluten to stiffen things up.

2. Get yourself some parchment paper. The nonstick surface makes it easy to lift dough into the freezer for a few minutes to make it hold its shape, or to lift cookies off the pan after they are baked.

3. Work at a surface low enough for you to push the cookie cutter or chef's knife straight down. Grab a wooden skewer to delicately pull or poke excess dough away from the smallest crevices of cookie cutters.

4. Use gel food coloring instead of liquid for more vibrant icing colors.

5. To fill your pastry tube, which is a pointed, disposable plastic bag, push the base of the tip apparatus down snugly to the point in the bag. Use scissors to cut a hole in the tip of the bag large enough to let the icing flow. Then add decorative tip and collar to secure. Always keep filled tubes in a plastic container tall enough to hold them, and cover with a damp paper towel. Otherwise the icing dries out irreparably.

6. Use royal icing (see recipe here) in a thicker form to outline a cookie, and the same frosting thinned with a bit of water to "flood" the area between outlines. To form the outline, let the thicker icing drape out of the tube onto the cookie. Touch the tube to the cookie surface to anchor the line before you make a sharp turn. Use thinner flooding icing to fill between the lines, covering about 75 percent of the surface area. Then use another skewer to spread it evenly. Work fast. Once the icing dries, it can't be liquefied again.

7. Instead of turning your wrists to apply icing, you'll have more control if you stand against the table and move your upper body. Don't try to squeeze from the entire bag. Twist off a handful of the icing to an area near the tip, and use the other hand to keep the wide opening of the bag twisted closed. This will also give you more control.

8. Only decorate cooled cookies.

9. Use creativity to display your cookies, reliable flavorings for aromas. It's as important as how they taste.

10. "Bake for those you love," Leonard says. It will make it worth all the effort.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A local food stamp fraudster who pleaded guilty to federal charges in the mid-1990s, fled to the Middle East and was captured again in June was sentenced Thursday to 4 1/2 years in federal prison.

Najeh Ottallah's sentence would likely have been between 21 and 27 months in prison had he stayed in the U.S., accepted his punishment and cooperated with the government, U.S. District Judge Donald Nugent said.

Ottallah is also required to pay more than $3.5 million in restitution to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the IRS as part of his sentence.

The 54-year-old co-owned the Quincy Eagle Super Market on Quincy Avenue in Cleveland. He and his brother Mahmoud Ottallah were charged with illegally redeeming food stamps for cash and other violations.

Najeh Ottallah pleaded guilty to three food stamp fraud charges in one of the first cases brought in federal court in Cleveland that targeted the abuse of the anti-poverty program.

A motion from Aug. 25, 1994 said that after he pleaded guilty, Ottallah wanted to travel to Israel for two weeks to visit his wife's family in Beit Hanina, a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem. Manos granted the request and Ottallah, a U.S. citizen with a home in Lakewood, never returned.

He was arrested on an INTERPOL warrant at a U.S. consulate in Jerusalem May 25 while trying to renew his expired U.S. passport, Assistant U.S. Attorney Karrie Howard said.

Ottallah's family sat in the viewing galley for Thursday's sentencing. Ottallah, clad in an orange jail jumpsuit, waved to them as the U.S. marshals escorted him into the courtroom.

IRS agent Dan Dever sat across from Ottallah. Dever worked on the case in the 1990s.

Defense attorney Kent Minshall said Thursday that his client fled the country because his cousin was killed and he was shot in an ambush in 1994. The shooter called Ottallah an "effing snitch," Minshall said.

"Najeh ran because he was scared for himself and his family," Minshall said. "It's not what he should have done, but it was understandable."

Ottallah also used that as his excuse on Thursday.

Howard said that information runs counter to what Ottallah said in a recent court filing, which said he was shot during a robbery of his store. Howard also said that conflicts with Ottallah's 1994 motion for permission to travel overseas.

"It's deception, deception, deception, deception, your honor," Howard said. "You have everything in here but the kitchen sink."

Nugent took it a step further, reading a letter that Ottallah wrote to Manos in 1999 that said he fled because he didn't want to remain separated from his family while in prison.

"I can't figure out what's true and what's not true with all this information here," Nugent said.

Minshall asked Nugent near the end of the sentencing to allow Ottallah to go free on bond so he could visit with family before he started serving his sentence.

Nugent said, "under these circumstances, it would be inappropriate for me to take another chance."

If you would like to comment on this story, please visit Thursday's crime and courts comments section.
21626475-mmmain.jpeg

Republican federal judges have struck down similar laws to Ohio's proposed "heartbeat bill."

(Robert Higgs/cleveland.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Measures similar to Ohio's "heartbeat bill," tacked on to unrelated legislation and hurried through both houses of the legislature Tuesday, were struck down by federal judges in other states as problematic and antithetical to well-established legal precedent pertaining to abortion.

The judges who ruled against Arkansas and North Dakota's laws were all appointed by Republicans, and the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court also decided to leave the lower court's rulings in place and reinforce existing precedent.

Ohio Senate President Keith Faber said Tuesday that Ohio's laws may be able to survive in the courts due to the election of Republican Donald Trump and the fact that he will be able to appoint at least one conservative justice. The president-elect has said he would place an anti-abortion justice in the seat vacated by Justice Antonin Scalia's death in February.

U.S. Senate Republicans made the unprecedented move of refusing for nearly a year to hold conformation hearings for outgoing President Barack Obama's nominee, D.C. Circuit Judge Merrick Garland.

Republican state senators in Ohio inserted the "heartbeat" language into a bill revising state child abuse reporting laws. The language bans abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which could be as early as six weeks after conception, before a woman might find out she's pregnant.

The Ohio House, along party lines, approved the new language late Tuesday. Should Gov. John Kasich sign the bill, pro-choice activists are guaranteed to file a challenge in federal court.

Judges in the Arkansas and North Dakota cases, which addressed laws that outlawed abortion weeks after conception, deemed the laws unconstitutional because they go against the "viability standard" the Supreme Court used in seminal abortion cases Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The standard says abortions cannot be banned before a fetus can live outside the mother's womb. Doctors say that usually can't occur before a fetus is 24 weeks old.

The proposed Ohio bill is similar to North Dakota's overturned law. Arkansas' overturned law banned abortions after 12 weeks.

Legal analysts say that a conservative appointment to the Supreme Court does not guarantee that abortion will be further restricted or outlawed altogether. And Faber's arguments falter a bit because Scalia was widely viewed as pro-life, so anti-abortion advocates may have to wait for another justice to vacate his or her seat before the court's view on abortion changes.

"I think they have a longer game in mind," B. Jessie Hill, an associate dean at Case Western Reserve University's school of law and an expert on abortion law, said of Ohio's Republican lawmakers. She added that "even in the Supreme Court, I don't think there five votes to overturn Roe."

So in advance of a possible court challenge to Ohio's "heartbeat bill," here are some of the things federal judges said of the Arkansas and North Dakota laws:

Arkansas

Arkansas lawmakers passed their bill in March 2013. Advocates sued to prevent the law from going into effect, and Arkansas federal Judge Susan Webber Wright blocked the law in May of that year.

Wright -- appointed by President George H.W. Bush -- struck down major portions of the law in 2014. Referencing the declaration of a gynecologist and the "viability standard," she wrote:

"The State presents no evidence that a fetus can live outside the mother's womb at twelve weeks, and the State does not dispute Dr. (Janet) Cathey's testimony that 'a fetus at [twelve] weeks is not and cannot be viable' and that viability generally is not possible until at least twenty-four weeks."

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis affirmed Wright's ruling in 2015. A three-judge panel, all Republican appointees, agreed with the federal judge but wrote that the "viability standard" might need to be revisited.

North Dakota

Lawmakers in North Dakota passed their "heartbeat" bill the same month as Arkansas. North Dakota's bill was more stringent, saying abortion was illegal when a heartbeat was detected, which could be as early as six weeks.

North Dakota federal Judge Daniel Hovland -- a George W. Bush appointee -- wrote two opinions with harsher language than Wright's. In a July 2013 order to block North Dakota's law, he wrote:

"A woman's constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy before viability has been recognized by the United States Supreme Court for forty years. The undersigned is bound to follow that precedent and uphold the law. Because the United States Supreme Court has clearly determined the dispositive issue presented in this dispute, this Court is not free to impose its own view of the law."

He was also critical of how North Dakota supported its argument, and saying the state is needlessly racking up legal bills for a pointless fight.

"The State of North Dakota has presented no evidence to justify the passage of this troubling law. The State has extended an invitation to an expensive court battle over a law restricting abortions that is a blatant violation of the constitutional guarantees afforded to all women."

In 2015, the same three-judge panel from the 8th Circuit appellate court that ruled on Arkansas' law heard North Dakota's appeal. It also held that the state's law is unconstitutional.

Because there is no genuine dispute that (North Dakota's law) generally prohibits abortions before viability -- as the Supreme Court has defined that concept -- and because we are bound by Supreme Court precedent holding that states may not prohibit pre-viability abortions, we must affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment to the plaintiffs.

Like they did with the Arkansas case, though, the appeals court said the "viability standard" might need to be revisited.
08DARCY-TRUMP.jpg

The son of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn was fired from the Trump transition team for spreading fake news stories about Hillary Clinton on Twitter.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The son of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn was fired from the Trump transition team for spreading a fake news story on Twitter. The story, dubbed 'Pizzagate', linked the Clinton campaign to a child sex trafficking ring operating out of a popular Washington D.C. pizza & ping pong parlor.

On Sunday, a North Carolina man, who believed the false story, walked into the pizza parlor with a rifle and fired into the floor.

Following the shooting, Flynn's son, who is also named Michael, tweeted: "Until #Pizzagate proven false, it'll remain a story. The left seems to forget #PodestaEmails and the many "coincidences" tied to it."

The younger Flynn was expected to join his father's staff and reportedly was in the process of gaining security clearance to do so.

During the campaign, both General Flynn and his son had repeatedly spread false stories on Twitter, to one degree or another. Even after the election had been won, Flynn's son continued to promote false stories on Twitter.

The younger Flynn may just be a chip off the old block. When he headed the Defense Intelligence Agency, General Flynn had such a penchant for making dubious assertions, that his staff coined them "Flynn facts."

Using the same standard that led to the younger Flynn's firing, General Flynn's appointment as National Security Advisor should revoked and Trump should fire himself for fostering the birther movement.

Unlike father and son Flynn, Trump at least recognizes the election is over and has now had nothing but nice things to say about President Obama. On the "Today" show Trump said, "I've now gotten to know President Obama. I really like him. We have -- I think, I can say at least for myself, I can't speak for him, but we have a really good chemistry together. We talk. He loves the country. He wants to do right by the country and for the country. And I will tell you, we obviously very much disagree on certain policies and certain things, but, you know, I really like him as a person."

Trump also said on "Today" that he has sought and taken Obama's advice on staff appointments. "I have asked him what he would think of this one and that one. I take his recommendations very seriously, there are some people that I will be appointing, and in one case have appointed, where he thought very highly of that person."

It's a safe bet that Lt. Gen Flynn wasn't the Trump appointment that came highly recommended by President Obama.
Hudson police car.jpeg

The man shot and killed during a struggle with a Hudson police officer was an Emirati man studying at Case Western Reserve University, the Ohio Attorney General's Office said.

(Adam Ferrise, cleveland.com)

HUDSON, Ohio -- The Ohio National Lawyers' Guild and Black Lives Matter Cleveland released a joint statement demanding a thorough investigation into a Hudson police officer's fatal shooting of Case Western Reserve Univeristy law student who hailed from the United Arab Emirates.

Saif Nasser Mubarak Alameri, 26, died of a gunshot wound to the head Sunday near an access road off Hudson Aurora Road. His death was ruled a homicide, the Summit County Medical Examiner's Office said.

Investigators said that the officer followed Alameri into the woods after the latter crashed his car. Shots were fired during an ensuing struggle, police said.

The statement released Thursday afternoon questions why investigators have not said whether Alameri had a weapon or whether he posed a threat to the officer.

"In this case, law enforcement agents have not alleged that Mr. Alameri posed such a threat. This raises serious questions about how and why Mr. Alameri was shot, and about whether the shooting can be justified under the law," Jacqueline Greene, co-coordinator of the Ohio National Lawyers' Guild, said in the statement. "Running from the police does not justify the use of deadly force."

The Hudson Police Department asked the BCI to investigate the shooting in order to avoid the appearance of bias within the small department, Chief Dave Robbins said in a statement posted on YouTube.

But Black Lives Matter Cleveland organizer Abdul-Kareem Henton said in the statement that he believes police bias has affected use-of-force investigations elsewhere in Northeast Ohio and the U.S.

"Police bias against people of color and minority people, including Muslim people, Middle Eastern people, and even Emirati citizens specifically, has been a problem in the Cleveland area," Henton said. "Biased investigations into police shootings, granting undue deference to the police involved, are also a serious problem."

This is the second high-profile incident involving an Emirati man this year in Northeast Ohio. In October, a Lorain County grand jury chose not to indict a hotel desk clerk accused of falsely reporting that an Emirati guest pledged allegiance to ISIS. Avon officers who were acting on the report detained the man at gunpoint June 29 at the Fairfield Inn and Suites on Colorado Avenue.



The UAE's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said after the incident that its citizens should avoid wearing traditional garments when traveling abroad.

A BCI spokeswoman said the agency is investigating the Hudson incident, but she has declined to release any additional details while that investigation is ongoing.

The Hudson Police Department will release dashboard camera video, audio recordings and other documents related to the shooting on Thursday afternoon, city officials said in a 12-minute video posted on YouTube.

The officer involved in the shooting has been placed on paid administrative leave during the investigation, police said.

A prosecutor will review the shooting once the investigation has been completed, police said.

If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Thursday's crime and courts comments section.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cleveland father pleaded guilty Wednesday to beating and shaking his 1-month-old daughter to death and attacking her mother inside his West Side apartment in April.

Maurice Quarles, 22, agreed with prosectors to ask a judge to sentence him to life in prison with parole eligibility after 25 years, and pleaded guilty to aggravated murder, felonious assault, endangering children and domestic violence charges, records say.

In exchange for the plea, prosecutors dropped 10 additional charges including felonious assault and kidnapping.

A judge will formally sentence Quarles on Jan. 3.

The plea came the day that Quarles was set to begin trial for the April 5 death of his daughter, Genesis Quarles.

Quarles shook and hit Genesis, and hit the girl's 17-year-old mother during an early morning attack at the West 101st Street apartment where they lived, investigators said.

The attack on Genesis started when Quarles became angry with the mother. Quarles started to hit the baby, and then struck the mother when she tried to intervene, police said.

Genesis was in critical condition when paramedics rushed her to MetroHealth. She was pronounced dead that morning.

The mother was also treated for head trauma at the hospital. She was released.

Police found a blood on a mucous bulb and bed sheet inside the apartment, records say.

Cleveland police arrested Quarles shortly after the incident, and he has been jailed on $1 million bond since.

To comment on this story, please visit Wednesday's crime and courts comments page.
Hudson police car.jpeg

The man shot and killed during a struggle with a Hudson police officer was an Emirati man studying at Case Western Reserve University, the Ohio Attorney General's Office said.

(Adam Ferrise, cleveland.com)

HUDSON, Ohio -- Officials from the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates met with state investigators Wednesday to discuss the fatal shooting of an Emirati man by a Hudson police officer.

Saif Nasser Mubarak Alameri, 26, died of a gunshot wound to the head Sunday near an access road off Hudson Aurora Road. His death has been ruled a homicide, the Summit County Medical Examiner's Office said.

Embassy officials were acting on behalf of Alameri's family when they met with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation on Wednesday, according to a report from the Emirati website The National.

Alameri's body has been sent back to the UAE. His funeral will be held there Friday, The National reported.

The Hudson Police Department and officials from the Ohio Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigation have released few details about the shooting outside initial reports. The department is expected to release more information about the shooting on Thursday, a city spokesman said Wednesday.

Alameri had been living in Cleveland and was a student at Case Western Reserve University. The news of his death led to his name trending on Twitter in his home country.

Investigators have not said if Alamari was armed when the officer shot him.

The officer has been placed on paid administrative leave during the investigation, police said.

The State Highway Patrol received a report of an erratic driver shortly before a car crashed on the turnpike near the Interstate 480 exit. The driver then ran into the woods, police said.

A Hudson officer found the driver near an access road off Hudson Aurora Road. Shots were fired during an ensuing struggle, police said.

A prosecutor will review the shooting once the investigation has been completed, police said.

If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Thursday's crime and courts comments section.
Hudson video on police shooting.png

Hudson police Chief Dave Robbins and City Manage Jane Howington addressed an officer-involved shooting in a video released Thursday on YouTube.

(YouTube screenshot)

HUDSON, Ohio -- The Hudson Police Department will release dashboard camera video, audio recordings and other documents related to an officer's fatal shooting of an Emirati man on Thursday afternoon, officials said.

The personnel file of the still-unnamed officer involved in the shooting will also be among the documents released, Hudson City Manager Jane Howington and police Chief Dave Robbins said in a 12-minute video posted on YouTube.

The video has been included at the bottom of this post.

Saif Nasser Mubarak Alameri, 26, died of a gunshot wound to the head Sunday near an access road off Hudson Aurora Road. The Case Western Reserve University student's death has been ruled a homicide, the Summit County Medical Examiner's Office said.

Investigators have provided little information on the shooting and have not said whether Alameri had a weapon when the officer shot him.

The Hudson Police Department asked the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation to investigate the shooting to avoid the appearance of bias within the small department, Robbins said in the video released Thursday.

"Frankly, I don't know what happened," Robbins said. "I know that's not what the public wants to hear, and that's not what the press wants to hear. I don't want to speculate."

Howington and Robbins referenced a recent Ohio Supreme Court ruling while discussing their decision to release police dash cam video from the shooting. The court ruled Tuesday that such videos are generally public record.

The city asked its attorney to review the ruling before releasing the dash cam video and audio, Howington said in the video.

Howington said the city released the YouTube video so the information could be shared with citizens from the United Arab Emirates. But by placing their statement on YouTube, the city and its police department sidestepped any questions from journalists covering what Howlington called an international incident.

"It's a state issue and it's a local issue," she said in the video.

Emirati Embassy officials were acting on behalf of Alameri's family when they met with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation on Wednesday, according to a report from the Emirati website The National.

Alameri's body has been sent back to the UAE. His funeral will be held there Friday, The National reported.

The State Highway Patrol received a report of an erratic driver shortly before a car crashed on the turnpike near the Interstate 480 exit. The driver then ran into the woods, police said.

A Hudson officer found the driver near an access road off Hudson Aurora Road. Shots were fired during an ensuing struggle, police said.

The officer involved in the shooting has been placed on paid administrative leave during the investigation, police said.

A prosecutor will review the shooting once the investigation has been completed, police said.

If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Thursday's crime and courts comments section.
John O'Donnell

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John O'Donnell under-performed in his home county during his unsuccessful bid for the Ohio Supreme Court this year, a dynamic that can be traced back to a controversial police-shooting case he presided over last year.

(Lynn Ischay, The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John O'Donnell's acquittal of a Cleveland police officer charged in the shooting death of a black couple may have cost him his bid for the Ohio Supreme Court, a cleveland.com analysis of election results has found.

O'Donnell, a Democrat, lost to Republican Pat Fischer, a state appellate judge from Hamilton County, by 22,470 votes, a margin he might have erased had he run stronger in his home county, and particularly among black and more liberal voters living in Cleveland and the county's eastern suburbs.

Final election results for Cleveland and the county's eastern suburbs show O'Donnell actually received 23,433 fewer votes there than the other Democrat running for a Supreme Court seat, Cynthia Rice, a state appellate judge from Trumbull County.

What did the analysis find?

O'Donnell's underperformed badly in the populous, mostly-black wards on Cleveland's East Side, where councilmen Zack Reed and Kevin Conwell were among those who campaigned against O'Donnell because of his acquittal last year of Officer Michael Brelo on voluntary manslaughter charges.

O'Donnell lagged Rice by at least 10 percent in five of the six wards represented by black council members, with his worst totals coming in Ward 9, represented by Conwell. In total, O'Donnell received about 8,500 fewer votes in Cleveland than Rice did, or about a third of the margin O'Donnell lost his race by statewide.

O'Donnell also badly lagged Rice in Beachwood (-10 percent) Cleveland Heights (-18 percent) and in Shaker Heights (-20 percent.) In total, O'Donnell got about 14,800 fewer votes in the eastern suburbs than Rice did.

O'Donnell made up for some his relative weakness in Cleveland and in the eastern suburbs by performing better than Rice in the county's western suburbs. But countywide, O'Donnell still received about 18,100 fewer votes than Rice.

What happened in the Brelo case?

At end of a November 2012 car chase, a total of 13 Cleveland officers fired their weapons at the driver, Timothy Russell, and passenger Malissa Williams, both of whom turned out to be unarmed. Brelo was the only officer to be indicted.

Following a bench trial, O'Donnell last year acquitted Brelo. His ruling was based on the determination that prosecutors could not prove Brelo himself fired the shots that actually killed Russell and Williams, who each were shot by police more than 20 times.

The acquittal resulted in days of protests and dozens of arrests.

Do others think the acquittal hurt O'Donnell?

Michael Dawson, a Republican political consultant in Columbus who is an Ohio elections expert, said O'Donnell's ruling played a "critical factor" in his defeat.

"It's obvious from looking at the numbers... that Justice Fischer made significant inroads into the African-American community, which only can be attributed to Judge O'Donnel's decision, regardless of whether it was right or wrong, in the Brelo case," Dawson said.

Bill Demora, a Democratic political consultant who managed O'Donnell's campaign, acknowledged the Brelo verdict hurt O'Donnell in Cuyahoga County.

"Even if it cost him his election, I don't think he is going to regret making the decision he did," Demora said, "because the decision he made, in his mind, based on the law and the facts, was correct."

Fischer downplayed the impact of the Brelo verdict. Among the other factors Fischer cited was his endorsement by nearly all of Ohio's major newspapers, and his higher level of recommendation from the Ohio State Bar Association.

"Everybody wants to be a father of victory," Fischer said in an interview. "But it's very complicated."

In an interview, Reed, the Cleveland councilman, said he and other council members were responsible for O'Donnell's defeat.

"I knocked on doors. I went to different meetings in my ward. I went to meetings outside of my ward, mostly in the black community, to explain that Judge O'Donnell allowed a killer to go back out on the street, and therefore he should not be rewarded for that," Reed said

What becomes of O'Donnell?

O'Donnell will remain on the Cuyahoga County bench through 2019. He was elected to a six-year term in 2013.
The personal blog of Peter Lee a.k.a. "China Hand"... Life is a comedy to those who think, a tragedy to those who feel, and an open book to those who read. You are welcome to contact China Matters at the address chinamatters --a-- prlee.org or follow me on twitter @chinahand.
Sherrod Brown

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown blocked a resolution commemorating the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor as a way to fight for help for retired coal miners' health benefits.

(Joshua Gunter, The Plain Dealer)

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sen. Sherrod Brown says he has nothing against remembering the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was a cosponsor of such a congressional resolution, in fact.

Yet Brown blocked that very resolution of remembrance Wednesday night, the 75th anniversary of when Japan attacked the American fleet in Hawaii and drew the United States into World War II.

Why would he do that? And was it, as the website blastingnews suggested, a "temper tantrum" thrown by "a couple of Democratic snowflakes," namely, Brown and fellow Sen. Joe Manchin, Democrat of West Virginia?

The two senators say no, not at all. These resolutions are nice, Brown added, but have no force of law. Meantime, while Congress is spending time on these niceties, Brown said it is ignoring a pressing issue: the need to help retired coal miners who are about to lose their health benefits.

To answer some questions and explain it all, here's what happened.

What's mining got to do with Pearl Harbor?

Almost nothing. But the way Congress works, lawmakers sometimes seize any issue than can in order to address other issues getting short shrift.

Mining is one.

The recession and dwindling employment in coal mining have put pensions and retirement benefits for retired miners at risk. There isn't enough money to provide what their union -- and what the United States government under President Harry Truman in 1946 -- once promised.

A fix would be easy, according to colleagues from both parties, including Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman. The federal government has collected money from mining companies in a fund for cleaning abandoned mines, and interest from that fund could be tapped to help out the retirees, the lawmakers say.

But Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican who is the Senate majority leader and therefore gets to pick priorities, refuses to put a bill on the floor for a vote.

What's McConnell's problem?

Brown and others say McConnell is being obstinate because he deeply dislikes the miners' union, the United Mine Workers Union of America. The union's PAC spent heavily in 2014 to back McConnell's unsuccessful reelection challenger, Alison Grimes.

There may be additional reasons. One, mentioned by USA Today last summer, is that the Abandoned Mine Fund gets money from both unionized mining operations and non-unionized ones. Some conservatives don't want non-union mining operators to essentially pay for a bailout of union pensions, saying it would amount to subsidizing unionized mining operations.

If something is not done, more than 16,300 retired miners will lose health benefits at the end of the year.

Is McConnell really going to let that happen?

Brown, Manchin, Portman and others raised protests about that in various forms recently, and then McConnell this week offered what he said was a solution.

He and House Speaker Paul Ryan agreed to extend healthcare benefits to retired miner through April 28 by providing $45 million. They'd do so by making it a provision in a temporary spending bill that would keep the federal government funded through next April 28. After that, a different session of Congress and the new president, Donald Trump, could decide on new priorities.

"I've been touched by the stories of the retired mine workers I've met with, and am working hard to ensure they keep the health care benefits they've long relied on," McConnell said early this week.

So the problem's solved -- yet Brown is blocking Pearl Harbor resolutions?

Brown and Manchin say the problem is not solved. It provides partial, temporary relief, they say, but come April 29, 22,500 retired miners will lose benefits. The numbers grow with each new retirement.

Worse, Brown says, McConnell's solution would not get its $45 million from the Abandoned Mine Fund or its interest. Rather, it would take money held in trust by an account of the mine workers union's health plan itself -- money that's supposed to help future retirees -- and use it now.

That would leave the fund with nothing for the future, and is unnecessary because the Abandoned Mine Fund has all the money to take care of the problem, Brown says.

So has Brown held the Pearl Harbor resolution hostage?

Not exactly. Bills and resolutions in the Senate must go through a set of procedures and votes in order to pass, but noncontroversial bills can sail through if there are no objections. A senator simply goes to the floor and asks for "unanimous consent." That's what was happening Wednesday night on the Pearl Harbor resolution and similar matters.

But Manchin and Brown stepped up to object. That did not mean they killed the resolutions. It meant the measures would have to go through the longer process, first with a vote to move forward on each, then with 30 more hours reserved for debate on each before a final vote.

"Of course I support honoring Pearl Harbor Day and I will call up this resolution myself as soon as Leader McConnell agrees to make sure thousands of American coal miners and their widows don't get kicked off of their healthcare," Brown said. "I'm willing to stay here until Christmas to get all of these important priorities done and I call on my fellow senators to stay here and do their jobs."

How will this end?

That's uncertain.

Current funding for the federal government expires at midnight Friday, and the planned extension to April 28 still appears to be the best way to attach help for the miners. Both sides are playing a game of chicken: The House of Representatives wants to vote today and get out of town for the Christmas holidays, and the Senate had hoped to vote Friday and then leave.

Changing the language to help miners -- beyond what McConnell is offering -- will be tough if the House doesn't agree to it soon. But if Brown persists and keeps blocking passage of measures in the Senate, he could delay everyone's exit.

Brown's view is that if Congress can't hurry home for Christmas and must stick around to help the miners, fine, they should. That's a fair price, he says, for otherwise leaving retirees with lump of coal.
Andy Puzder,Donald Trump

President-elect Donald Trump and Andy Puzder, chief executive of CKE Restaurants, walk from Trump National Golf Club Bedminster clubhouse in Bedminster, N.J., Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016. In the background is Vice President-elect Mike Pence.

(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

COLUMBUS, Ohio--President-elect Donald Trump has picked Cleveland native Andy Puzder as his choice to head the U.S. Department of Labor, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Puzder heads the parent company of the Carl's Jr. and Hardee's hamburger chains. Others up for the position included Cleveland attorney Peter Kirsanow, who met with Trump last month.

Puzder, a supporter of and adviser to Trump's presidential campaign, has spoken out against Obamacare and significantly raising the minimum wage.

He has also criticized the Obama administration's rule that salaried managers making less than about $47,500 per year should receive overtime pay, double the current salary threshold. Puzder wrote in a May op-ed that the change "means reduced opportunities, bonuses, benefits, perks and promotions" for workers.

Born in Cleveland and raised in Russell Township, Puzder dropped out of Kent State University in 1970 to try to become a rock musician. He later graduated from Cleveland State University with an undergraduate degree in history, entered corporate law, and became president and chief executive of CKE Restaurants in 2000.

He currently lives in Franklin, Tennessee.

Puzder met with Trump in New York on Wednesday.

Kirsanow said in an interview Thursday that he thought Puzder is a "great appointment."

"He's a very competent person," Kirsanow said. "I think he's thought about issues related to labor and employment very deeply. He has a certain perspective and experience on them that I think are going to be useful as labor secretary."

Kirsanow said he's heard his name has been floating around for another position within the Trump administration, but he hasn't heard directly from the presidential transition team.
Josh Mandel

Josh Mandel, seen here conceding the 2012 U.S. Senate race, is hoping for different results when he runs again in 2018.

(Mike Munden, the Associated Press)

Not Joshing: Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel is serious about challenging Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown. So serious he's doing it a second time.

Mandel announced his long-expected candidacy on Wednesday with a YouTube video. He's hoping to improve on the 2012 election, when Mandel lost to Brown by 6 points. (That's double President Barack Obama's victory margin over Republican nominee Mitt Romney that year.)

Mandel's Trump card: Mandel's two-minute announcement video, which you can see here, continued a recent trend from Mandel. In it, he pledged to "drain the swamp" on the "rigged system" in Washington, D.C. The verbiage is notable because it signals Mandel is taking cues from Trump's success in Ohio, and further accentuates the growing distance between Mandel and Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a prominent Trump critic.

Mandel's campaign theme "First to Fight," a phrase associated with the Marine Corps, and the video also emphasize his status as an Iraq War and U.S. Marine Corps veteran.

One key difference between Mandel and Trump: Trump's appeal isn't necessarily tied to the fact that he says outrageous things. In fact, there are plenty of Trump fans who don't agree with what he says. But it's the perception that Trump speaks his mind -- for better or worse -- that has helped Trump be viewed as someone who "tells it like it is."

So, it's not a given that the Trump formula will work for Mandel, who is rather scripted and disciplined even by politician standards.

The National Journal's Josh Kraushaar panned Mandel's announcement, saying unlike Brown, Mandel lacks a "populist touch."

David Eden appeared in a story that appeared in The Hill that carried an insightful headline: "Brown-Mandel Ohio senate race will be a brutal referendum on Trumpism."

Here's why Team Mandel thinks they can win: They view Brown as vulnerable, especially in light of Trump's 9-point Ohio victory in November. They say they like their chances given Mandel's fundraising prowess, and the likely different political climate in 2018 -- off-year elections generally are more Republican friendly in Ohio, Obama will not be helping to drive turnout.

The view from the other side: Ohio Democrats say they expect to take every opportunity to paint Mandel, running for the U.S. Senate for the second time before his 40th birthday, as an inauthentic political opportunist. They think Brown in contrast has credibility with Ohio voters, even if they don't agree with him on every issue, as someone who aggressively advocates for people in the state. And they say the 2018 electoral climate could be rough for Mandel or any Republican -- often, political forces favor the opposing party as voters sour on whatever is happening in Washington at the moment.

Roe if true: Mandel has brought on the architect of Ted Cruz's presidential campaign to help with his campaign.

Missouri-based political consultant Jeff Roe and his firm, Axiom Strategies, will serve as the general consultant for Mandel's campaign.

Cruz's campaign, while ultimately unsuccessful, was praised for its intensively data-driven approach.

Not commenting on Mandel: U.S. Rep. Pat Tiberi, a central Ohio Republican who has been angling to run for Senate in 2018. Also quiet was Brown, although his campaign issued a fundraising email to supporters on Wednesday evening that referenced Mandel's announcement.

Who's counting? The 2018 election is 698 days away.

Moving on...

Fight for 15 update: The Ohio House of Representatives on Wednesday moved to block activists from asking Cleveland voters to approve a $15 minimum wage next May, cleveland.com's Jeremy Pelzer reports.

The measure, requested by Cleveland officials and others, was dropped into a bill that otherwise limits the ability communities to block telecommunications upgrades and bans bestiality.

Among House members from Cuyahoga County, the vote split down party lines. All three Republicans voted for the bill, while six of seven Democrats voted no. (Rep. Martin J. Sweeney, the former Cleveland City Council president, did not vote.

It's now headed to the Senate for possible approval.

Trouble in paradise? Cleveland.com's Henry J. Gomez took another look at the still-developing effort to dislodge Matt Borges as the Ohio Republican Party chairman. A lot could ride on how much Kasich is willing to go to bat for Borges, according to Gomez.

Kasich insiders are looking to Kasich to "forge a stronger truce with Trump in an effort to fortify Borges," according to Gomez. That's because of the perception within the Ohio GOP that "keeping Borges around as Kasich's handpicked party boss would hurt the state's political clout in a Trump administration."

Gomez quoted only one on-the-record source in his story: Tiberi, the Columbus-area congressman who could be a primary opponent to Mandel in the 2018 senate race.

"Chairman Borges is in a unique and strong position to bring President-elect Trump and Governor Kasich together for the betterment of our country and our state," Tiberi said.

Sad news: Former U.S. and astronaut Sen. John Glenn has been hospitalized with an illness, cleveland.com's Steve Koff reports.

Glenn, 95, underwent heart-valve replacement surgery in 2014 and has suffered a stroke.

"Anybody who's 95, any illness is always bad," said Hank Wilson, a spokesman at Ohio State University, the home of the John Glenn College of Public Affairs.

A look at sanctuary cities: Trump has vowed to cut off federal funding to so-called "sanctuary cities" -- cities that don't aggressively enforce immigration laws. Cleveland.com's Mary Kilpatrick explored what that could mean to Ohio cities.

Experts told Kilpatrick that Trump could conceivably cut some federal funding, but that he would have to work with Congress to define what a sanctuary city is, exactly.

Kilpatrick's story carried an interesting quote from Bratenahl Mayor Jim Licastro, chairman of the Northeast Ohio Mayors and Managers Association.

"Any reduction of funding from outside sources, be it the federal government, the county government or the state government, that would flow to local communities for any purpose, any cutback in that could have a devastating effect," Licastro said.

Visiting the swamp: More than 50 workers who build washing machines at the Whirlpool factory in Sandusky County visited Washington D.C. on Wednesday to demand that foreign competitors Samsung and LG be punished for unfair trade practices, cleveland.com's Steve Koff writes.

More Whirlpool news: Brown, Republican Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and Tiberi all have urged the Federal Trade Commission to weigh in on accusations that Chinese companies unfairly have dumped washing machines into the U.S. market, the Columbus Dispatch's Jessica Wehrman writes.

Speak softly and carry a bigly stick: Former U.S. Speaker John Boehner compared Trump to former Republican president Teddy Roosevelt during a conversation with a Cincinnati TV station, the Associated Press reports.

Like the 26th president, Trump is "larger than life," Boehner said. That, and he's not interested in just "trimming around the edges."

Boehner also commented on life after politics, according to WCPO.com.

"Every day I'd watch it and was like, 'Thank God I'm not in the middle of this,'" he said. "It was the most bizarre political year that we've seen in 100 years."

Get Battleground Briefing, our FREE politics newsletter, delivered to your inbox: Sign up here. Tips or links? Send here. Follow along on Twitter: @andrewjtobias

This post has been corrected to reflect that Josh Kraushaar writes for the National Journal, not the National Review.
statehouse.jpg

Legislation currently in the Ohio Senate would, if passed, make assisted suicide a third-degree felony in the state.

(File photo)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio lawmakers are considering legislation that would for the first time impose criminal penalties for assisted suicide in the state.

House Bill 470, which may face a final Senate vote on Thursday, would make knowingly assisting in a suicide a third-degree felony in Ohio, punishable by up to five years in prison.

Currently, Ohio law only permits a court to issue an injunction against anyone helping other people to kill themselves.

If the Senate passes the bill on Thursday - expected to be the last day of the legislative session - it would head to Gov. John Kasich for his signature. The measure passed the Ohio House 92-5 last May.

State Sen. Bill Seitz, the Cincinnati Republican who authored HB 470, said the legislation mirrors Michigan's 1998 ban on assisted suicide, which was passed in response to Dr. Jack Kevorkian's well-publicized campaign to help more than 130 terminally ill patients end their own lives.

Seitz said he wasn't aware of anyone in Ohio who has assisted or intends to assist in suicides. But he said HB 470 was introduced partially in response to concerns over a different bill on end-of-life care that some abortion opponents worried would be the first step toward legalizing assisted suicide in Ohio.

"We do believe in the MOLST bill," Seitz said, referring to the other bill, which seeks to create the Medical Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment. "But we also are firmly against assisted suicide. And how can we prove it to you? We're going to make it a felony of the third degree if you do it."
Scott Pruitt

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt arrives at Trump Tower in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016.

(Andrew Harnik, Associated Press)

Democrats prepare to oppose Scott Pruitt, Donald Trump's pick to head the EPA. Chris Christie will probably not be chairman of the Republican National Committee. Hillary Clinton speaks at Harry Reid's portrait unveiling in her first political appearance since conceding the presidential election. Read more in today's Politics Extra.



Climate change: Leonardo DiCaprio met with President-elect Donald Trump Wednesday to discuss climate change, reports CNN. "We presented the president-elect and his advisors with a framework ... that details how to unleash a major economic revival across the United States that is centered on investments in sustainable infrastructure," said Terry Tamminen, CEO of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. The meeting added to the mixed messages coming out of Trump Tower, particularly because on the same day Trump tapped a climate change denier to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

Democrats ready to fight: Senate Democrats are digging in their heels against Trump's choice to head the EPA, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, according to CNN. "This is a four-alarm fire. We are going to do everything we can to stop this nomination," said Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia said he fears Pruitt's installation at the helm of an agency where "virtually every decision they make is a decision that's based on science," adding, "If someone does not accept basic climate science, what other science don't they accept? So I'm very, very troubled by that."

Even if Pruitt doesn't win the votes of Democratic senators in red states whose seats are up for re-election in 2018, the party still won't have enough votes to stop Pruitt's nomination on its own. Some Democrats are pushing Republican senators who have voted for climate change bills in the past or who accept climate science to oppose Pruitt.

Likely labor pick: Trump is expected to name Andrew Puzder, chief executive of the company that operates the fast food outlets Hardee's and Carl's Jr., to be secretary of labor, sources told The New York Times Thursday. Puzder has spent his career in the private sector and has opposed efforts to expand eligibility for overtime pay, while arguing that large minimum wage increases hurt small businesses and lead to job loss among low-skilled workers.

Trump's approval: Americans are less approving of Trump than they were of previous presidents-elect during their transitions into office, according to CNN. A new Pew Research Group poll shows that 41 percent of Americans say they approve of the job Trump has done, while 55 percent disapprove. In December 2008, 72 percent approved of President Obama and 50 percent approved of George W. Bush in January 2001.

Christie won't be chair: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will not be named chairman of the Republican National Committee, two sources with knowledge of the situation told NJ.com. Christie had been lobbying for the position over the last week, but he and Trump decided mutually that he would not assume the job. One source close to Christie said Trump's team is continuing to talk to the governor about various other positions in the incoming administration.

RNC cash: The Republican National Committee raised $36.6 million in the last several weeks of the campaign and the few weeks after, an increase of more than $6 million from the same time frame in 2012, according to numbers provided to Politico. The RNC now says it has $21.4 million in cash on hand and zero debt.

Update on recount efforts: After three days, Michigan's presidential recount was halted Wednesday when a federal judge said he will abide by a court ruling that found that Green Party candidate Jill Stein couldn't seek another look at the vote, reports ABC News. Stein's request for a recount in Pennsylvania must wait at least until a federal court hearing on Friday, just four days before the Dec. 13 federal deadline for states to certify their election results. Wisconsin started its recount last week.

Kaine criticizes Flynn: Sen. Kaine intensified his criticism over Trump's national security advisor Thursday, saying that retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn peddles conspiracy theories that even a young child would dismiss, reports CNN. "Gen. Flynn's trafficking in conspiracy stories that a fourth grader would find incredible suggests either that he's highly gullible or that he's so consumed with malice that he loses his ability to judge what's fact and what's fiction," the former Democratic vice presidential candidate told CNN. "Having a national security adviser who has demonstrated either such gullibility or such malice in charge of offering advice to the president on the critical national security issues of the day, I think, is highly, highly troubling."

Clinton honors Reid: In her first political appearance since conceding the presidential election to Trump, Hillary Clinton on Thursday attended a ceremony for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, who is retiring after 30 years in the U.S. Senate, reports ABC News. "After a few weeks of taking selfies in the woods, I thought it'd be a good idea to come out," Clinton joked as she spoke at Reid's portrait unveiling ceremony. She went on to address the issue of fake news, calling it a "danger that must be addressed and addressed quickly." Clinton said fake news and "malicious false propaganda" can have real impacts and threaten lives, and she is calling on officials in the public and private sectors to take steps to combat them.

Biden reflects on election: "This has been a very tough election," Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday in an address at the inaugural Sidley Austin Forum in Washington, D.C., according to Politico. "It's been ugly. It's been divisive. It's been coarse. It's been dispiriting and was more a battle of personalities than it was ideas, in my view." In discussing the general election battle between Trump and Clinton, Biden listed a number of factors that could have played a role in Clinton's loss to a man with no political experience, including FBI Director James Comey's eleventh-hour letter to Congress reviving her email saga. "But the one thing I think is pretty clear is that there wasn't much of a discussion of the issues, even in the debates," Biden said.
MADISON  Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources leaders on Wednesday announced a major reorganization of the agency that includes dozens of changes to how the state protects air, water and wildlife.

In an interview with the Wisconsin State Journal and meetings with employees, DNR secretary Cathy Stepp and her top deputies said plans for the next 18 months include:

Placing greater reliance on private contractors to write environmental permits including those governing water pollution discharges from animal feedlots.

Exerting closer control over agency research.

Reducing the number of armed rangers with arrest powers in state parks.

Reevaluating state wildlife habitat and the effort that goes into management, selling off aging heavy equipment, and allowing more front-line personnel to specialize in their areas of expertise.

Stepp touted the plan as a first-of-its-kind business plan detailing agency functions in ways that should help shield the department from budget cuts and make the shrinking DNR workforce happier and more efficient.

We are going to continue to move this great organization forward into the future, Stepp told employees at a meeting in the agencys Madison headquarters.

The long-awaited reorganization had been demanded by Republican elected officials who since 2011 have echoed business complaints about red tape in pollution permitting, and cut DNR environmental programs, continuing a 20-year trend in which more than 15 percent of full-time positions have been eliminated.

Some moves will require changes in state law, Stepp said. Gov. Scott Walker and key lawmakers have not voiced any objections to the current version of the plan, but they could call for changes after hearing from the public she said.

Stepp and her top aides acknowledged that employees and conservation groups may have misgivings, but she insisted the plan doesnt weaken environmental standards and isnt a workforce reduction plan, although a limited number of layoffs are possible and some employees may need to apply for new DNR jobs.

She said she doesnt anticipate cuts in the 2017-19 state budget beyond the 9.5 positions she proposed in September. More than 90 of the agencys roughly 2,500 full-time positions were cut in 2015.

DNR deputy secretary Kurt Thiede said a few workers will have different duties or managers, but many will be relieved because they will be given more realistic job expectations.

Our workforce is so passionate about what they do that they are not going to let a ball drop, Thiede said. We owe it to our staff now, whether its in parks or other areas, to allow them to focus on specific areas and to take things off their plate and hand them to others with the expertise so that we have not only a more efficient workforce, but a workforce that doesnt feel as if they are being burnt out.

While elected officials and outside groups gave input, Stepp said many of the reorganization ideas came from DNR employees.

Thats whats been the most fun for me out of this entire process is to watch people excited about contributing to a much more vibrant and sustainable future for this very important agency, Stepp said in the interview. And to see some of their ideas come into being for the first time ever.

Smaller workforce

The reorganization will align the DNR with changing needs, Stepp said. Just as budget cuts, retirements and high job vacancy rates have shrunk the workforce, the agency has had to regulate a booming frac sand mining industry, growing agricultural demand for high capacity wells, expansion of huge dairy feedlots and regular changes in state and federal regulations.

The DNRs record for protecting water quality has been assailed, with staff shortages identified in June by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau as a cause of inadequate enforcement. Since Republicans took control of state government in 2011, environmental regulations have been rolled back in several areas.

Opposition from environmental groups is likely to come from provisions giving political appointees in the secretarys office more control over the topics of research conducted by DNR scientists. In 2015, there was an outcry when elected officials eliminated half of the DNRs senior scientists  none of them funded by state tax dollars  while voicing complaints about research related to climate change and mine pollution.

Under the reorganization, most of the 19 researchers who remain in the Bureau of Science Services will be moved into a new Office of Applied Science within the Fish, Wildlife and Parks Division, while about six will be placed in other programs.

Stepp said that in the past topics of research have been driven by requests from front-line employees, partners such as UW-Madison, or groups that give grants. Greater control of topics by top managers will ensure research matches the agencys highest priorities.

She said she will be able to withstand pressure from lawmakers if they attempt to influence the direction of science research in ways at odds with the DNRs priorities, but she added that elected officials properly will have the last say.

A representative of the state business lobby said early indications are that the plan will be beneficial.

From what weve seen we have been very supportive of the plan, Lucas Vebber, director of environmental and energy policy for Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce.

Secretary Stepp and her team have committed to making the department more efficient while continuing to fulfill their vital mission, and we certainly appreciate their efforts on that end, Vebber said.

Plans to give qualified contractors and consultants authority to write pollution permits  subject to DNR approval  were floated previously as a way to free DNR staff to inspect permitted businesses like animal feedlots to make sure they are complying with permit conditions.

The DNR has come under fire from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for deficiencies in Clean Water Act enforcement and by the audit bureau for failing to follow its own enforcement standards.

Stepp said relieving DNR personnel of permit writing would free them up to work on compliance and enforcement.

Allowing dairy businesses to hire consultants to write permits for feedlot designs and plans for spreading tens of millions of gallons of manure annually could be successful because there are sufficient numbers of experienced private engineers and agronomists available, said Mark Aquino, who directs the DNR Office of Business Support and Science.

The DNR would do spot checks and maintain final authority over every permit, Aquino said.

For about 10 years, the DNR has certified credentials of professionals who are then hired by developers to map wetlands so that disturbance of the important ecosystems can be avoided or minimized. The DNR would like to apply the model to permitting of installation of structures to stabilize shorelines and construction of artificial ponds, Aquino said.

But conservation activists questioned if the wetland program could be applied to feedlot designs and spreading manure on fields without contaminating water supplies, which has been a problem in Wisconsin. Permit conditions are based on complex legal and scientific criteria and can involve computer modeling aimed at predicting conditions in which lakes, streams and groundwater could be polluted by runoff.

Parks, wildlife, forestry

A number of changes are planned in the areas of parks and recreation, wildlife enforcement, forestry and land management aimed at recognizing the specialized technical skills employed by law enforcement personnel and concentrating them in one bureau.

The DNRs 163 park ranger positions will no longer be certified law enforcement officers with badges and guns, because their main jobs are assisting and directing park users, and they seldom use arrest powers, said state parks and recreation bureau director Ben Bergey.

Some 33 parks, forestry and facilities positions will be shifted to the DNR law enforcement bureau, bringing its authorized strength to 230 conservation wardens who already enforce laws governing activities such as hunting, fishing, snowmobiling and environmental regulations. Some of those wardens will be assigned to parks based on expected changing needs at those properties, Bergey said. Law enforcement functions in forestry and facilities and land bureaus will also be handled by the enforcement bureau.

Meanwhile, the DNR forestry division, which oversees timber cutting on state land, will no longer manage campgrounds and other recreation at places like the Northern Highlands-American Legion State Forest. Forestry will transfer 33 positions to a renamed parks and recreation management bureau, which will manage recreation at those properties and handle maintenance of parking lots, signs and gates at all DNR properties.
It was perfect timing.

As temperatures continue to drop this week in Chippewa Falls, the Wisconsin Department of Tourism delivered winter clothing to make the suddenly-colder weather more bearable for local children.

Drew Nussbaum of Travel Wisconsin and his daughter delivered 1,100 winter items to the Chippewa Falls Area Chamber of Commerce Tuesday afternoon, where Tourism Director Jackie Boos said donations were picked up by Chippewa Falls Area Unified School District, McDonell Area Catholic Schools and Chippewa Falls YMCA representatives.

You dont think about that need until its really cold out, so the timing was just perfect, Boos said. We can get the donations in and rolled right back out into the community.

In addition to the items each organization took, Boos said they gave a box of items to the Spirit of Christmas of Chippewa County to take to children they work. She also hopes theyll be able to give some to the Boys and Girls Clubs Chippewa Falls Center to reach children they may have missed.

The donations are from a Minnesota sportswear company that asked to remain anonymous, but Nussbaum said theyve been donating items to Travel Wisconsins Big Bundle Up campaign for five years.

Big Bundle Up is the tourism departments annual charity drive that encourages all Wisconsin residents to donate unused winter clothing items.

Nussbaum has been in charge for four, and said he tries to reach as many communities as possible with the donations each year. This year, hes delivering items to 12 chamber of commerce or tourism locations across the state.

Not only are they helping provide clothing to hundreds of children during the winter months, but Nussbaum added it shows that giving knows no state borders.

Heres a Minnesota company that stepped up and wanted to help out, he said. Its wonderful to be able to distribute all of this clothing to folks who definitely need it.

While Nussbaum chooses which tourism offices receive the donations, he said its up to those offices to partner with local organizations and decide where the needs would best be met.
Indian taxi drivers rest in their taxis at the main railway station in New Delhi on July 26, 2016. Prakash Singh | AFP | Getty Images

After selling out to bitter rival Didi Chuxing in China, Uber now faces a tough fight in India. And analysts tell CNBC that the San Francisco headquartered firm - which revolutionized public transportation since it was founded by Travis Kalanick in 2009 - has to win this time around. "After losing China, Uber can't lose another market to a local player," Jaspal Singh partner at urban transportation consultancy Valoriser said. "Uber will be desperate after the China sale. Globally they are losing big [but in India] the opportunity is immense for Uber to expand," Neil Shah, director at Counterpoint Technology Market Research, said. A Godzilla market The stakes are high. The taxi market in India stands at around $13 billion and is expected to expand to $36 billion by 2020. And the Uber kind of app-based cab hailing companies account for just 1 percent of this market, according to industry estimates. Growth is being driven by technology innovation and smartphone penetration, say experts. The current 250 million smartphone users are expected to grow to 500 million within two years, according to Counterpoint research. Rapid urbanization, a growing young population and limited public transportation options all add up to create a huge unmet demand. Can Uber woo this potentially lucrative market? "India is our single largest market outside of the United States and the merger with Didi has freed up resources for additional focus [on India]," Amit Jain, president of Uber India told CNBC.

watch now

Uber has been in India for over three year and holds second spot on the organised cab hailing market share table. It had a near 13 percent market share, based on number of rides, in 2014, which has grown to over 30 percent in 2016, according to Counterpoint research. While growth in India has been at break-neck speed for Uber, it plays second fiddle to local player Ola, which launched before Uber and leads with a near 50 percent market share. "These [Ola and Uber] are two formidable players and they are expanding crazily," says Shah of Counterpoint. Fierce competition Ola has a far bigger footprint, it is available in more than 100 Indian cities compared to Uber's 29. Both are using every marketing tool - incentives and discounts- to attract drivers and customers. While both players are trying to adapt their model to local needs Ola, say experts, is ahead in this game. It wants to fill "every space" says Singh of Valoriser. So Ola offers auto rickshaws rides, hourly rates on its taxi service plus inter-city cabs. "As a home-grown Indian company, we understand the needs of an Indian customer much better," Pranay Jivrajka, Ola's chief operating officer told CNBC. He added that "Over the next five years, Ola seeks to penetrate into the remotest corners of the country." Ola, one of the most celebrated start-up stories in India can afford this cracking expansion because it is flush with funds, including $1.2 billion from investors over the past four years, according to tracking agency Venture Intelligence. But the big spending Ola may have to pull the reins, say experts if further funding slows down.

watch now
watch now

President-elect Donald J. Trump is considering formally turning over the operational responsibility for his real estate company to his two adult sons, but he intends to keep a stake in the business and resist calls to divest, according to several people briefed on the discussions. Under a plan now being considered by the Trump family and its lawyers, Ivanka Trump, Mr. Trump's elder daughter, would also take a leave of absence from the Trump Organization, in the surest sign that she is exploring a potential move to Washington with her husband, Jared Kushner. Mr. Kushner is discussing an as-yet undetermined role advising his father-in-law, and Ms. Trump plans on being an advocate on issues in which she has a personal interest, like child care. Before deciding how to separate from her father's business, Ms. Trump is also assessing how to disentangle from her apparel and licensing brands, which are named for her, two people briefed on her plans said. She plans on appointing a president of her company to run the day-to-day operations. More from the New York Times:

Wary Corporate Chiefs Keep an Ear Tuned to Trump's Messages

Business Since Birth: Trump's Children and the Tangle That Awaits

Jared Kushner, Cast as Potential Player onIsrael, Is Little Known There The Trumps are exploring what was described by one person briefed on the discussions as a "legal structure" that would give Mr. Trump and his daughter separation from the company. The New York Times spoke to two people involved in the transition process who were granted anonymity to speak candidly about continuing negotiations. None of the plans have been completed, and it remains uncertain precisely what the president-elect will reveal next week at an expected news conference at which he has said he will discuss "leaving my great business in total in order to fully focus on running the country." Aides to Ms. Trump and to Mr. Trump's transition team declined to comment.

watch now

In announcing on Twitter last week that he would hold a news conference, Mr. Trump acknowledged that leaving his business was "visually important, as President, to in no way have a conflict of interest with my various businesses."

Still, the Trump family is facing enormous external pressure to do as much as it can to ensure a bright line between the president-elect's business brand and his role leading the country. And any arrangement in which Mr. Trump derives a financial interest in his business could add to criticism about potential conflicts that could arise from the Trump Organization's global ties. The Office of Government Ethics has told Mr. Trump's lawyers that only a divestiture would resolve ethical concerns, guidance that was made publicin an extraordinary stream of posts on the office's Twitter feed. Officials with the office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the plan under consideration. The federal law that prevents federal employees from making decisions involving their financial interests exempts the president and vice president, though no recent sitting president has maintained foreign financial holdings as extensive as Mr. Trump's. At a meeting with The Times last month, Mr. Trump pointed out the absence of laws governing conflicts of interest for a sitting president. "The law's totally on my side, the president can't have a conflict of interest," Mr. Trump said, defending his decision to remain attached to his business, even with a loosened grip. He said then that he preferred to turn it over to his children, with his elder daughter taking the lead. Some on the transition team have privately expressed concern over how foreign and domestic interests could seek to curry influence with the president by doing business with his adult sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, that ultimately accrues to Mr. Trump's financial benefit.

At least part of Mr. Trump's reluctance to sell off his holdings stems from tax liability concerns, according to a person briefed on the plan. Government officials can defer capital gains taxes on assets they sell to avoid conflicts, providing they reinvest the money in government securities or certain approved mutual funds. But the bill comes due if those assets are sold after a person leaves office.



watch now
Vice President Leni Robredo (left) with President Rodrigo Duterte (right) on July 1, 2016 in Quezon City. Gregorio B. Dantes Jr./ Pacific Press / LightRocket / Getty Images

President Rodrigo Duterte could have an unlikely opposition leader in the Philippines' legislature: one of his own ministers. Philippine Vice President Leni Robredo told local news outlets on Monday that she was ready to head up a new opposition party. Her comments came a day after she resigned as housing secretary, a position she was appointed to in July by Duterte himself; vice presidents are allowed to take on concurrent posts in cabinet if the president chooses, according to the constitution. "I will continue to fight against things I do not believe in. If being an opposition leader entails that, then I will be an opposition leader," local media quoted Robredo as saying on Monday. The 52-year-old's Liberal Party is currently allied with Duterte's PDP-Laban party in congress. But if the Liberal Party left the alliance, it could become an official opposition party, with Robredo at the helm, politician Teddy Baguilat said, according to local news. Unlike other democracies, candidates for the presidency or vice presidency in the Philippines are elected separately so it's possible for the people in the roles to come from different parties.

watch now

The nation currently lacks a strong opposition and the prospect of more powerful resistance to Duterte comes amid fears of growing authoritarianism in his administration. In a statement on Sunday, Robredo said she stepped down due to "major differences in principles and values" with Duterte, and that the "last straw" came on Saturday, when she received a text message from Cabinet Secretary Jun Evasco that instructed her to stop attending cabinet meetings. "Her resignation gives us a strong sense that the president does not like to work with people who criticize him or his agenda," Jean Franco, assistant professor at the University of the Philippines, told CNBC. Franco believes Robredo will be a successful opposition leader mainly due to her untainted public image and charisma. Robredo, a former human rights lawyer, has been a high-profile critic of the president, having called for an investigation into allegations of extrajudicial killings amid the state's five-month old war on drug trafficking. Human Rights Watch estimates the death toll at about 5,000, while police put the number of people killed by officers in self-defense at 2,400, according to a Reuters investigation published this week.



watch now

watch now

watch now
Tech giant Microsoft wants to encourage more children to develop an interest in coding. It's pitch? Try an hour-long online coding tutorial developed by the team behind the popular game Minecraft.



The free online tutorial, called Minecraft Designer, allows a user to program their own Minecraft game in a visual drag-and-drop workspace, where they learn basic concepts such as debugging and repeat loops.



After launching the tutorial, users navigate through a series of tasks - the first couple of tasks make chickens move around a Minecraft map. Users arrange a sequence of commands to make the chickens turn, move forward, drop items and even cluck and then test out their "code."



"The tutorial is a game that children play to learn the principles of computational thinking," Daiana Beitler, Philanthropies lead for Asia at Microsoft, told CNBC by phone.



There are no actual lines of code on the workspace and it does not promote any specific programming language, rather there are "visual illustration of codes so it's easier to understand," according to Beitler.



Microsoft acquired the Swedish company Mojang, the creators of Minecraft, in 2014.



The Minecraft tutorials is one of more than 170 offerings as part of an annual, international movement called Hour of Code, which was started in 2013 by an U.S. non-profit organization Code.org to make coding more accessible to the masses.
Donald Trump used Twitter late Wednesday to slam the union chief who had sharply criticized the President-elect's claims to have saved more than 1,000 jobs at the Carrier plant in Indianapolis, and set off a war of words over who best represents American workers.

Chuck Jones, president of the United Steelworkers 1999 that represents workers at Carrier, apparently attracted Trump's ire for a Dec. 6 Washington Post article that quoted Jones as saying the terms of deal with Carrier parent firm United Technologies were less than originally sought.



Jones also reportedly said Trump "lied his a-- off" about the terms at a press conference on Dec. 1.

In response, Trump used Twitter on Wednesday to call Jones ineffective.

"Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers," Trump tweeted. "No wonder companies flee country!"

Jones had cited comments made by Trump during the presidential campaign in which the President-elect stated that he aimed to save the jobs of 1,350 workers, but instead announced on Dec. 1 that only 1,100 jobs would stay in Indiana.

Jones said that in truth, the deal saved only 730 of the production jobs and that 550 workers would still be fired.



Jones told CNBC late on Wednesday that while he appreciated "everything Mr. Trump did" to save some jobs, "at the same time he misled us into believing something that is not true."

""I was right about calling him (Trump) out. I stand behind what I've said," Jones added. "People got false hope that he saved 1,100 jobs, when that's not the truth. He completely left out the truth that it was only 800 jobs."
Oil wells on Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf, off the coast of Iran. Kaveh Kazemi | Getty Images

Royal Dutch Shell this week became the second major oil company to take steps to re-enter Iran  no matter what Donald Trump says. Iran would seem like a shaky bet for oil companies: The U.S. president-elect has threatened to withdraw from a deal reached last year that lifted international sanctions on the Persian Gulf nation in exchange for Tehran limiting its nuclear program. During his election campaign, Trump called dismantling the deal "my No. 1 priority." But Shell's move toward developing oil and gas fields in Iran suggests at least some of the big, integrated oil companies expect the agreement between Iran and several world powers  including the United States  to stay in place. France's Total last month announced it would develop a massive natural gas field in Iran, and other European energy companies are actively exploring their options in the oil- and gas-rich country. Among the six powers that signed the Iran deal last year were European countries France, Germany, Great Britain and Russia. American oil companies are prohibited from doing business with Iran due to separate, unilateral U.S. sanctions that remain.

Shell declined to comment on Trump's statements, but confirmed that it has signed a deal with the National Iranian Oil Co. "to further explore areas of potential cooperation." Total did not immediately return requests for comment.



The Iranians, as long as they can keep the U.S. isolated in the corner, barking really loud against Iran, but continue to do business with the Europeans and everybody else, they're fine. Scott Modell Rapidan Group managing director

To be sure, the deals announced so far only lay groundwork for potential oil and gas development in Iran. While the companies likely expect the nuclear deal to hold, the provisional nature of the deals allow Shell and Total to explore their options without making huge financial commitments, said Scott Modell, managing director at the Rapidan Group and a former Central Intelligence Agency officer. "They have realized we better not get too far down this road until we figure out exactly what Trump is going to do, and I think that's why they bought six to 12 months with this sort of thing," he said. If Trump decides to pull out of the deal unilaterally, the accord gives him a path forward. It begins with the United States alleging that Iran is not complying with the terms of the deal, and ends with the country using its veto power as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council to kill any continued sanctions relief. But that course of action could have serious ramifications for the United States. When the United States first tried to isolate Iran in 1996 by threatening sanctions on any foreign company that developed Tehran's oil and gas industry, the European Union forbade companies from complying with the U.S. sanctions. Ultimately, the U.S. backed down and declined to enforce the sanctions. The EU finally got on board a decade later after Iran's covert nuclear program came to light. But now, Europe  as well as Russia and China  would not be pleased if the United States sabotaged a hard-won deal that it helped negotiate. The agreement limits Iran's nuclear program and gives international inspectors access to its atomic facilities. High-ranking U.S. officials including CIA Director John Brennan have said that tearing up the Iran deal would be "disastrous," undermining America's credibility and possibly setting off a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.


The Wisconsin Department of Justice highlighted three Chippewa Falls Police Department employees for a selfless act they completed just before Thanksgiving.

Officers Drew Zehm and James Luckey, along with Sgt. Deb Brettingen received Top Cop designation from the state.

The two officers came into contact with a homeless person waiting for a paycheck in late November, after responding to a call of a suspicious person lingering around a closed business.

After calling Brettingen to the scene and with no luck finding housing alternatives, the three paid out of their own pockets to put the person in a hotel room for two nights.

When Attorney General Brad Schimel read their story he thought immediately they deserved to be recognized as Top Cops.

This kind of compassion is incredible, Schimel said. These stories are happening all the time this time of year in communities across the state. There are so many great stories and officers dont get enough credit for those, so were trying to tell them.

The DOJ started Top Cops around a year ago, Schimel said, to recognize officers who are going above and beyond to provide compassion along with their commitment to public service.

They ask local police chiefs and county sheriffs to send in stories, and also look at local headlines to find things that stand out, such as the Chippewa Falls officers.

Schimel hopes it helps return the image of law enforcement to what it is: People who care about their communities and want to serve them publicly.

When there is a problem with someone in law enforcement, those stories catch big headlines, and those are painting the picture of all law enforcement from one bad incident, Schimel said. The vast majority of officers are committed to serving community and they do great things every day. Weve got to get this back in balance and put the negative rhetoric back in perspective.

While she is honored to be recognized with her coworkers, Brettingen said their action was just the right thing to do.

After running a background check on the person and searching for other housing options, she said they really only had one option.

It was a unique circumstance for the individual and we werent going to leave the person out in the cold, Brettingen said. We were happy to help.
Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn said Thursday that Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt will "do the job" as Environmental Protection Agency chief.

Icahn has been a sharp critic of the EPA in the past. He told CNBC's "Power Lunch" on Thursday that the agency is one of the worst-run organizations he's ever seen, and said he initially had doubts about Pruitt.

"I must have met him three or four times because at the first time, I wasn't quite sure that he'd be the perfect guy to really clean that EPA up," he said. "What you have to do here is be very tough."

Pruitt, along with other state attorneys general, is suing the EPA over Obama administration rules, and has repeatedly slammed the agency for what he argues is regulatory overreach. The pick gives a clear signal that Trump could follow through on pledges to roll back climate-related regulations and improve the operating environment for fossil-fuel companies.



Icahn said Donald Trump as president should eliminate "crazy regulations," and lower the depreciation schedule so investment in the U.S. "make sense." In fact, as of September 30, 47 percent of Icahn's portfolio is weighted in the energy sector. Some of his major holdings include CVR Energy and Cheniere Energy .

Regarding the selection of Trump's Cabinet picks, Icahn said he interviewed "four or five very good candidates," and spoke with Pruitt about four times, eventually coming to the conclusion that he was the best candidate. Icahn also said he spoke with Trump's Treasury secretary pick, Steve Mnuchin, and strongly backed him, as well as Wilbur Ross, Trump's pick for Commerce secretary. He wouldn't comment on whether he was interviewing candidates for secretary of state.
William Priest, chief executive and co-chief investment officer of Epoch Investment Partners, said investors may need to temper expectations for big economic growth under President-elect Donald Trump . Priest, whose firm manages more than $40 billion, told Mike Santoli in an exclusive interview: "You're going to have a very difficult time getting real growth to be more than 2 percent except, perhaps, through a cyclical phenomenon. Let's say, for example, you have a huge fiscal program that might run $200, $300 billion a year. That'll move the needle on real GDP. But we're almost a $19 trillion economy. It's not going to move it that much. There may be a multiplier with it, which would help. But the reality is if you get us to 2.5 percent that would be a lot. Four percent, I'm afraid, is impractical if not impossible." On globalization, the investor warned of the risks associated with trying to interfere with free capital markets. As an example, he references the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act in 1930, a law that raised U.S. tariffs on more than 20,000 imported products to record levels. "If you really want to stop global trade, that's analogous to SmootHawley . Smoot-Hawley is often considered a factor that led to the Great Depression. And I'm not forecasting a great depression. But there's a reason why trade works. And it's if it benefits both parties," he said. In this in-depth conversation, Priest, who started his first investment firm in the early 1970s and then later sold it to Credit Suisse, also discusses: Why the end of P/E expansion may be near. Changes in the investment landscape. The factors that could support the stock market. How to succeed in active management. PRO subscribers can also read the entire transcript of the exclusive interview below. (Editor's note: The content below is from a third-party service and there may be some minor transcription errors. Watch the video for the exact quotes.) MIKE SANTOLI: William Priest is chief executive and co-chief investment officer at Epoch Investment Partners, and leads the Investment Policy Group there. Prior to cofounding Epoch in 2004, Bill was co-managing partner at Steinberg, Priest, and Sloan Capital Management for three years. He earlier served as chairman of Credit Suisse Asset Management Americas and was CEO of his predecessor firm, B.E.A. Associates, which he co-founded in 1972. Bill's the author of several papers and books on investing, including the latest book, Winning at Active Management: the Essential Roles of Culture, Philosophy, and Technology. He's a graduate of Duke University and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. And Bill joins us here at the NASDAQ to talk about his investment approach and current outlook. Thanks a lot for being here. WILLIAM PRIEST: Thank you for inviting me, Mike. MIKE SANTOLI: Bill, I was taking a look at your third-quarter letter. And lots of stuff about how, look, we have these kind of large global headwinds toward faster growth. Maybe we're in a slower-growth world at the moment. Also, we had a repricing of equities under the quantitative easing regime that many central banks have put forward. And you actually question, is it time to hand off to some fiscal policy that might help growth. I just wonder currently, now, seeing the market's reaction to the election, a lot of the talk about maybe we're going to get some fiscal help, has anything much changed in your view in terms of the investment landscape? WILLIAM PRIEST: In the long run, I don't think things have changed a lot. But I do think some things have changed from a cyclical-phenomena standpoint. One of the interesting things that's happened is if you went back five years and I told you that the M.S.C.I. Index would appreciate approximately 80% over five years and would not have any earnings growth at all, in fact, earnings would be negative. MIKE SANTOLI: That's the entire world equities? WILLIAM PRIEST: In the entire world. I would've said, "That's impossible." But that is what happened. You basically had this 80 percentage point rise in the M.S.C.I. over the nearly five-year period. Sixty-eight percentage points of the 80 actually came from multiple expansion. The earnings number was a negative number, four to be exact, with the balance being dividends. One of the interesting things with that is what really drilled the market was QE. Because it pulled down the discount rate associated with dividends, earnings, cash flows. And the present value of all financial assets went through the roof. Importantly, the longer the duration of that financial asset, the better. Think of what that meant to a 30-year bond versus a ten-year bond or a two-year bond. The two-year bond went up, but the ten-year bond went up more, and the 30-year bond went up a lot. We may be in a stage where you're going to be witnessing the movie run backward. MIKE SANTOLI: What does that imply? WILLIAM PRIEST: What it means, there are three drivers of returns in the stock market. It's really the change in earnings plus the dividends yields plus the change in PE. And the price-earnings ratio went through the roof. It's up 50% in the last five years. And it really reflected this lower discount rate that's applied to earnings, cash flows, and so on. If you are seeing a shift in interest rates, that they're going to be more likely to rise than fall, they've been falling for over 30 years, if they're now in the space where they're going to be rising rather than falling, the discount rate applied to dividends earnings and cash flows are going to be going up. Other things equal, it's a real headwind for price-earnings ratios. It has to be overcome by earnings or dividends. But you're going to probably see the end of the PE expansion. It probably came to an end with the election, in many ways. MIKE SANTOLI: It's interesting if you look at the kinds of stocks that have performed best in the last several weeks, couple months. It is, though, that the market is at least trying to anticipate might have an upturn in earnings. It's not looking for the very expensive, slow-growth stocks. WILLIAM PRIEST: Absolutely. And one thing when you look at stocks, you can look at value and you can look at growth. And there are various definitions of value versus growth. But the way to think of it, growth equity is a long duration growth equity and value's the other. You've seen a complete reverse of this, where value has substantially surpassed growth in the past several weeks. And I think that had everything to do with what appeared to be a regime change in interest rates and kind of a passing of the torch from QE and monetary policy to what appears to be a fiscal policy set of programs coming up. MIKE SANTOLI: How much does it matter to you just exactly what the shape of those policies look like and what kind of fiscal help the U.S. economy gets, at least? WILLIAM PRIEST: You have to think of what you might like and then what is the realm of the possible. Perhaps the biggest thing would be this concept of tax reform. Because it is possible that with the Congress and president-elect Trump's views that you could see a reduction in both individual rates and the corporate rates. That is actually something that could happen next year. It may or may not be made retroactive to January 1. But it almost doesn't matter because of the marketable present value of the impact of that. And there have been a number of forecasts, whether by Goldman Sachs or Wolfe Research or some of the other respected firms that this could be a significant number in terms of earnings per share. For the S & P 500, a number I saw recently was as much as $10 a share. Even though I think there's a headwind for PEs because the discount rate is going down, it could be offset in part by a step-function rise in the earnings number. But you're going to have this problem of you can have a tax reform in the sense of lower rates. There's also this idea we have roughly $2.4 trillion in cash sitting abroad. There may be a way to bring that back with a modest tax. There may be other conditions put on it. That would also be somewhat helpful. When you get into what can really be done to spur growth, the real news is not so much. And you have to understand what drives real GDP. In fact, this week in the Wall Street Journal there's an excellent front-page article by, I think, Greg Ip's on the subject. But essentially, real GDP is driven by only two components. It's growth in a workforce and growth in productivity. Growth in a workforce is a demographic. You have a population. You have a certain percentage of that population that's in the workforce. What is that rate going to grow at? In the U.S. it's growing pretty well. It's growing 1.5%, 1.8% a year. To that you would add productivity measures, what's called total factor productivity. That number this year is actually close to zero. I think it's mis-measured. But you're going to have a very difficult time getting real growth to be more than 2% except, perhaps, through a cyclical phenomenon. Let's say, for example, you have a huge fiscal program that might run $200, $300 billion a year. That'll move the needle on real GDP. But we're almost a $19 trillion economy. It's not going to move it that much. There may be a multiplier with it, which would help. But the reality is if you get us to 2.5% that would be a lot. 4%, I'm afraid, is impractical if not impossible. MIKE SANTOLI: Sure. And the 4%, of course, is what Trump and some of his folks have been trying to promise. You're talking about real GDP. What about the inflation outlook on top of real GDP? WILLIAM PRIEST: Good question. The most important factor for inflation is labor. There's a way that you can calculate GDP. It's something called the national incomes basis. And when you do that, the number-one factor is the rate of wage growth. How fast can wages grow? Wages are under pressure for a couple of things, mainly technology. And I don't think people totally appreciate this. In fact, technology is the new macro. And what I mean by that, if you were take a very popular formula called the DuPont Return on Equity Formula, it takes proper margins X asset turnover X leverage. If you were going to substitute technology for labor and your revenues are flat to up, your margins are going to go up. Because you have fewer people and your wage bill's lower. Technology will help margins. If you need less bricks and mortar to generate $1 of sales, your asset turnover's going to go up, your sales per dollar of assets. All of a sudden, you put these two things together and as long as your revenues are flat to rising a little, your return on assets are actually going up. And nothing's going to slow this down. You may wish you could slow it down. But in reality, it's going to be very hard to slow the impact of technology. But there's another factor called leverage. And that is the relationship of assets per dollar of shareholder equity. If you don't need the same amount of assets to support the business, what does that tell you about payout ratios? My guess is they're going up. And they're going to go up more than people think. Because you can basically increase the dividend payout ratio because you don't need all the capital in the business. MIKE SANTOLI: It's interesting. You're drawing a picture of very resilient corporate financial positions, profit margins, they have these mechanisms where they can stay relatively high and pay out a fair amount of cash to owners, but not necessarily share as much with labor or at least be slow to increase the share to labor. We have a president coming in who seems like he wants to fight those processes a little bit, to the extent that he can keep the workers here no matter what they cost, that kind of thing, trade restrictions. Where does that filter into the outlook at all? WILLIAM PRIEST: That is important. This is perhaps an unpopular thought today, but it actually is the correct one. Globalization has benefited the world. It has general give rise to a higher standard of living across the board to almost any nation engaged in trading. The problem has been there's always been a small segment of the population of the world that has been injured by this. And in the United States, we did a very bad job of taking care of these people. Inadequate training and, frankly, inadequate compensation for some of these things lost. Arguably, the amount of money we spend on retraining and income support is a fraction of what other countries spend. And there, I think, there's a legitimate criticism that we didn't do enough. But if you really want to stop global trade, that's analogous to Smoot-Hawley. A Smoot-Hawley is often considered a factor that led to the Great Depression. And I'm not forecasting a great depression. But there's a reason why trade works. And it's if it benefits both parties. And this goes back to 1820 and the law of comparative advantage. And Ricardo was the guy that came up with this. And he saw that if you made the argument that if Great Britain, which at the time made clothing, let's say, textiles and they wanted wine from Portugal that you could work out a way in which both sides win. And it's been demonstrated time and time again. In fact, we even have a paper on our website about this. You want global trade to continue. And I think that if you left to the participants it would work. The injured parties, though, the government has to step in and help them. MIKE SANTOLI: Where does all this bring you as we head into next year, in terms of the investment process itself, return assumptions, and areas that you might be moving toward? WILLIAM PRIEST: If you want to build a forecast for the market, I would say you have to look at the three drivers: earnings, dividends, and PEs. Let's start with what you know. The dividend yield on the S & P 500 is approximately 2%. You're going to get that. What might earnings grow? Historically in the long run, earnings grow about the same rate of nominal GDP. As you pointed out, if you take inflation plus growth in the workforce plus productivity, that's a rough measure for nominal GDP. Is there an argument for margin expansion today? I would say yes, but it's modest. Let's say we came up with a nominal GDP growth next year that might be in the order of 3% to 4%. That might be the earnings number before the tax changes. Tax is something that we should revisit. But if earnings were going to go up 4% to 5%, you've got 2%, you have a market outlook of, let's say, 5% to 7% before you deal with the PE problem. And PEs are going to be under some pressure next year, in my view. Then I would say the outlook of the market is in this 5% to 7% with some headwinds on PEs. If you wanted to ask me a different question, like, "I want you to give me a 95% probability of that number, Bill," I would give you this number. I would say it's 5% to 7% plus or minus 35 percentage points. And the reason for that is you take a look at the VIX as a measure of volatility and the VIX is essentially one standard deviation of possibilities. Two standard deviations gives you a 95% range and my forecast isn't worth boo. But it'll be a good one. MIKE SANTOLI: Your most recent book is about active management and how to succeed at it. Obviously, that's going against some of the prevailing currents of the way people have been choosing to invest through indexes. But on the other hand, a lot of folks are now looking at the current environment saying, "Maybe it's a little more fruitful in terms of trying to beat a benchmark." Do you think that might be the case? And what are the keys to trying to succeed at active management? WILLIAM PRIEST: If you took a board history of investing, I think you're going to have active and passive coexisting. Whether the needle points more passive than active or the other way, I don't know. We've clearly had this needle moving very heavily to passive for a number of reasons. Think of how passive actually came about. The very first index fund was from Wells Fargo back in the '60s. But what preceded that index fund was actually a change in the law. You basically could sue somebody if they bought a stock that went to zero. In other words, the Prudent Man Rule looked at investing on a stock-by-stock basis. At some point, that went away and you can look at the whole portfolio. Because that stock by stock essentially was a barrier to creating an index fund. Because some of these things are going to go to zero. Once you got it to the point where you can look at the whole portfolio, this made a lot of sense. When the world was 100% active, what's really going on with active management, you have a whole bunch of players trying to mitigate mispricings. They say, "We think it's worth $20. It's selling at $10. I'm going to buy it." And you'll have some people saying, "It's $20 and it's going to $10." You've got a lot of people in the market basically making it efficient. That is the perfect time to launch a passive fund. The active managers have made the world as efficient as could be expected. Now let's go the other way. If it gets all passive and the passive fund you own the good stuff and you own the bad stuff, that opens up opportunities for active management. Because they can then go short (UNINTEL) or be selling what they feel is overpriced. You're in this period where you're going to continue to see a significant amount of investing being passive and I think others being more of index funds for the most part. The other issue that's aided this quite a bit is going back to the original message that when you have 85% of the market move being PEs, that's beta. If you knew five years ago what is the ideal strategy to own, you'd have to say index funds. Because index funds are fully invested. They carry no cash. The average active manager probably has a cash position of 3% to 5% because he's waiting for a new position or what no. But let's just say it's 3%. If the market's up 80% and you carry 3% in cash, you just left 240 basis points behind you. And all that work you spent on companies and earnings and dividends and understanding how it worked was blown away by, essentially, beta, which was multiple expansion and, frankly, the lower discount rate. I think the setting going forward will be more interesting and hopefully more attractive for active investing. MIKE SANTOLI: The question is how far is the pendulum going to go? By the estimates, you've got maybe a third of the S & P 500, let's say, is indexed. Who knows if that's a correct number? But roughly, it's about doubled in the last ten years. Maybe it could get to half. WILLIAM PRIEST: It could. MIKE SANTOLI: I don't know. WILLIAM PRIEST: I have no idea. I don't have a forecast there. I think it will continue to go there, as long as people are not delivering value added for the fees they pay. At some point, you have an asymmetric payoff curve, though. Would you rather make a dollar or lose a dollar? If you're indifferent, then an index fund is perfectly fine. But if you are less willing to lose a dollar than make a dollar, you need an asymmetric payoff curve. Active management and some active strategists can give that to you. MIKE SANTOLI: In your case, presumably you attempt to mitigate some of that risk. WILLIAM PRIEST: We attempt to. MIKE SANTOLI: By focusing on what? I know you do key off of free cash flow, as opposed to some other accounting-based measures. Is that one of the mechanisms? WILLIAM PRIEST: We formed Epoch in 2004, so it's only been around a dozen years or so. We've written 90 white papers and two books. And some of the white papers I'd probably like to forget we wrote. But some are actually pretty good. One of the things we point out is the arbitrage opportunity between accounting and finance. And we have a couple of examples on our website in a paper. But a very famous paper was that by Modigliani and Miller going way back in the '60s. And they won a Nobel Prize for this, the first Nobel prize given in finance. They basically said the value of a business is driven by its cash flows. Not only that, the balance sheet is irrelevant to it. They pointed out that the mix of debt to equity does not drive the valuation per se. It's cash flow that drives the valuation. And that has been demonstrated time and time again. It is quite conceivable to have a company which generates earnings, high ROE, rising margins, and literally have it grow broke a couple years later. And we cited a case both in the boom that we recently wrote as well as why that can happen. And it's a mismatch mainly of capital costs. Let's say, for example, you build a plant. You think it's going to last for ten years. You might allocate the cost of that plant of $1 million dollars a year. But if that plant never makes anything, you've just sunk $10 million in cash and nothing comes out. The cash is gone, even though your earnings aren't impacted by the $10 million. There are real arbitrage opportunities in those kinds of examples. MIKE SANTOLI: Are there any particular areas or types of (UNINTEL) of stocks or sectors that it takes you to or away from? WILLIAM PRIEST: Not necessary. Cash flow investing and free cash flow investing actually work quite well in many, many sectors except finance. It works less well there. But the finance sector is undergoing a sea change in the last several weeks. And it has everything to do with going back to these components of return on equity, for example. In a bank, you have net interest margins. When rates go up, that's margin expansion. There is loan growth. That's helpful. And everything coming out of the incoming administration is we're going to have less regulation. And that would also mean that you don't have to have quite the shrinkage in leverage that you have. Put all that together, the outlook for banks is actually quite good. And they have had huge increases in the last several weeks. MIKE SANTOLI: Before we finish up, one thing we always like to ask is are there any board lessons that you picked up along the way or things that you feel like you constantly go back to and emphasize, either to your team, your clients, anything like that? WILLIAM PRIEST: One, trees don't grow to the sky. Don't get carried away by any stock or any particular industry. There's always a competing force out there that will mitigate what you think is all upside. The best friend of a client is diversification. There are no geniuses in this business. Maybe Warren Buffet's an exception. But there are very few geniuses. Diversify and make sure that the risk profile of your portfolio is consistent with what you're trying to achieve in terms of it's usually dealing with the liability. It could be retirement, maybe sending a child to school. You need to tie those durations together and make sure they make sense to you. MIKE SANTOLI: You could argue Warren Buffet's pretty diversified himself these days, too, isn't he? WILLIAM PRIEST: Hats off to him. He has been a fantastic investor. And he's a great citizen. MIKE SANTOLI: Absolutely. Bill, thank you very much. Appreciate it. WILLIAM PRIEST: A pleasure, thank you, Mike. MIKE SANTOLI: For CNBC PRO Talks, I'm Mike Santoli.

William Priest, chief executive and co-chief investment officer of Epoch Investment Partners, said investors may need to temper expectations for big economic growth under President-elect Donald Trump. Priest, whose firm manages more than $40 billion, told Mike Santoli in an exclusive interview: "You're going to have a very difficult time getting real growth to be more than 2 percent except, perhaps, through a cyclical phenomenon. Let's say, for example, you have a huge fiscal program that might run $200, $300 billion a year. That'll move the needle on real GDP. But we're almost a $19 trillion economy. It's not going to move it that much. There may be a multiplier with it, which would help. But the reality is if you get us to 2.5 percent that would be a lot. Four percent, I'm afraid, is impractical if not impossible."

On globalization, the investor warned of the risks associated with trying to interfere with free capital markets. As an example, he references the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act in 1930, a law that raised U.S. tariffs on more than 20,000 imported products to record levels. "If you really want to stop global trade, that's analogous to SmootHawley. Smoot-Hawley is often considered a factor that led to the Great Depression. And I'm not forecasting a great depression. But there's a reason why trade works. And it's if it benefits both parties," he said. In this in-depth conversation, Priest, who started his first investment firm in the early 1970s and then later sold it to Credit Suisse, also discusses: Why the end of P/E expansion may be near.

Changes in the investment landscape.

The factors that could support the stock market.

How to succeed in active management. PRO subscribers can also read the entire transcript of the exclusive interview below.


European shares closed higher on Thursday after President Mario Draghi of the European Central Bank (ECB) announced an extension of its bond-buying program - but at smaller monthly purchases - a move seen by some investors as a first sign that the bank is getting ready for tapering.

ECB surprise announcement

European markets



The pan-European Euro Stoxx 600 index moved south immediately after the announcement but bounced back and ended up 1.23 percent. The ECB decided to continue with its quantitative easing (QE) program at the current monthly pace of 80 billion euros ($86.41 billion) until the end of March 2017. However, it announced it was extending the monetary stimulus for nine months at smaller monthly purchases. From April 2017, the monthly purchases would be reduced to 60 billion euros until the end of December 2017. The ECB said it would then assess if QE would need to be further extended. "If, in the meantime, the outlook becomes less favorable or if financial conditions become inconsistent with further progress towards a sustained adjustment of the path of inflation, the Governing Council intends to increase the program in terms of size and/or duration," the bank said in a statement. Banking stocks jumped more than 2 percent on the news and closed among the best performers with all other sectors also closing in positive territory.

Italy asks for more time on BMPS

The ECB decided to keep its deposit and marginal lending facility rates unchanged. Carsten Brzeski, chief economist at ING Germany said in a note: "Even without calling this tapering, the ECB just announced tapering. It is the combination of extending and tapering that we thought would not yet happen as it could risk an unwarranted increase in bond yields." President Draghi said that growth in the euro zone jumped 0.3 percent in the third quarter of this year and that the economy should continue growing in the final quarter of the year. He added that headline inflation should pick up to 1.3 percent in 2017 from 0.2 percent in 2016. Italian authorities have requested more time from the ECB to fix the capital issues of its third largest lender  Banca Monte Dei Paschi di Siena , according to the Financial Times. The bank outlined in a letter to the ECB that the current political instability has made it very difficult to proceed with the recapitalization process, according to the report. Its shares were up by 2.1 percent on Thursday.

Draghi said Thursday that the vulnerabilities of Monte Dei Paschi as well as Italy's banking system as a whole would be resolved by the country's government.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., the pared earlier losses to trade slightly higher at the European close while the broader S&P50 0 was down marginally by around 0.03 percent. U.S. jobless claims fell to 258,000 in the week ending December 3 according to U.S. labor data.

Capita shares plummet
JD.com is one of China's biggest online retailers  second only to Alibaba . Much of the company's success can be attributed to billions of dollars worth of sales of imported goods, from appliances to electronics to apparel to groceries  many of them American.

But the company's billionaire founder, Richard Liu, isn't worried about the prospect of a trade war between the U.S. and China.



"I don't think Mr. Trump would be a big issue for JD.com because we mainly focus on bringing American goods into China, and I believe through cooperation both sides can benefit."

He added: "Technology will not be stopped."



While Liu wasn't concerned about potential changes in U.S. trade policy, he said, "now is the era of a global village, so I believe any major event happening in the world will affect other areas. So what happens in the United States will affect what China thinks."



Each year Liu visits the U.S., he notices different trends. In recent years, he said, it was augmented and virtual reality; now it's artificial intelligence and autonomous cars.



Lius is in San Francisco to meet with start-ups and look for investments in Western technology. According to Dealogic, tech companies are now the third most-likely target for Chinese investors.



After San Francisco, Liu heads to New York. Asked if he would follow the lead of Softbank 's CEO Masoyoshi Son and meet with President-elect Donald Trump, he said: "Not this time."


The current furor over "fake news," while worrying in itself, could reveal valuable insights into the changing media industry, according to acclaimed futurist Mike Walsh. "From the fake news issue, we potentially see the future of news, which is algorithms and human beings working together, where the job of humans is designing the parameters and boundary conditions that drive algorithms," Walsh told CNBC on the sidelines of the inaugural Global Entrepreneurship Community conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Walsh, a consultant who specializes in advising corporate leaders on dealing with disruptive technology, is a leading voice on designing businesses for the 21st century, with two books - "The Dictionary Of Dangerous Ideas" and "Futuretainment" - under his belt.

News outlets needed to strike a balance between delegating jobs to automation and to humans, Walsh said, using Facebook as an example.

watch now

In August, Facebook laid off employees that curated popular news on the network's "trending topics" section, amid accusations that the workers' selections were biased against conservative U.S. news outlets. In their place, Facebook automated trending topics, leaving algorithms to select what stories appeared. But that approach wasn't enough, Walsh warned. "Unless you have humans monitoring them, algorithms can lead to distorted results," he cautioned.

This was what happened to Facebook shortly after the decision to remove human curation of the "trending" list, as fake news stories, including one notable report that claimed Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly had been fired by the network, began surfacing on the section.

During the height of the U.S. presidential election campaign, inaccurate or entirely fabricated reports were widely circulated on digital platforms and promoted on Google through the search engine's algorithm. Many believe the phenomenon influenced the U.S. election result, placing pressure on outlets such Facebook and Twitter  among the most popular networks for media consumption  to combat the issue.


Brace yourselves. The U.S. may be soon experience a severe case of regulatory whiplash.

With the incoming Trump administration and Republican Congress committed to rolling back a wide swath of federal regulations, hundreds of rules covering everything from food labeling to overtime pay could be eliminated in the next few months.

The latest signal that the Trump administration plans to roll back rules and regulatory policies put in place by President Barack Obama came Thursday with the choice of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to serve as head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Pruitt has been a fierce critic of the EPA, and has been tied to the oil and gas industry, which aligns with Trump's signaling of an interest in loosening energy regulations.

"Environmental protection, what they do is a disgrace; every week they come out with new regulations," Trump said during a television interview earlier this year.

Among the Obama administration's major accomplishments was a sweeping series of environmental regulations governing everything from clean air and water to greenhouse gas emissions and auto fuel efficiency.

But those regulations could be just the start of a wave of deregulation not seen since the Reagan administration overturned decades of regulations governing industries from transportation to telecommunications.

Dozens of major regulations, overseen by almost every White House department and affecting millions of employers, consumers, workers, retailers, investors, retirees and other groups, are potentially subject to reversal.

There are several forces shaping up to produce a tsunami of federal deregulation. One is the stark shift in policies advanced by Obama and the campaign pledges of his successor. Trump's promises to roll back regulations are made easily by the GOP control of Congress.

There are also more rules subject to reversal. Thwarted by relentless GOP opposition to implementing policy through legislation, the Obama administration has recently resorted to applying executive rule-making powers to advance its agenda.

That leaves its most recently enacted rules especially vulnerable to reversal, thanks to a relatively obscure provision of the 20-year-old Congressional Review Act than was enacted as part of the Republican led "Contract with America" during the Clinton administration.

Under that law, Congress can undo any regulations that are pending  or have only been finalized within the last 60 "legislative days" (defined as days when Congress is officially in session).

Some on Capitol Hill saw this coming as far back as February, when the Congressional Research Service weighed in with guidance on how the law could be applied

Under the law, there are multiple timelines that create windows of opportunity for a Republican rule rollback, but the CRS said rules finalized as far back as May 31 of this year could be fair game for a regulatory hit list.
Alex Kraus | Bloomberg via Getty Images

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said he is "confident" that the Italian government knows what to do to address the problems in the country's banking sector.

Speaking as he announced plans to curtail the pace of its bond buying program, Draghi said Thursday that the vulnerabilities of Monte Dei Paschi as well as Italy's banking system as a whole would be resolved by the country's government. "They (issues in the banking system) will be dealt with," Draghi said.



Waiting for clarity

Monte Dei Paschi had previously asked the ECB on Wednesday for five more weeks to complete its 5 billion euro ($5.4 billion) rescue plan. The oldest lender in the world has claimed that the ongoing political instability in Italy has not enabled it to raise the money it needs to finance its operations. A deal, that was expected to be concluded in December, may not be ready until a new government is in place. Investors are waiting for clarity on whether the Italian President, Sergio Mattarella, will order a new technocratic government to take over or call for snap elections. Mattarella began talks on Thursday with political leaders in a bid to find a way out of the current political crisis caused by voters rejecting constitutional reforms at the country's recent referendum and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's resignation.
The board of the embattled lender Banca Monte dei Paschi has asked the European Central Bank for more time to move ahead with a 5 billion euro ($5.4 billion) recapitalization process, according to the Financial Times.



The report on Thursday, citing four people close to the process, said that the board wants to postpone improving its capital ratios for five more weeks - until mid-January - due to the political instability in Italy.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi handed in his resignation on Wednesday, raising doubts over whether there will a technocratic government or if there will be fresh elections in the country.



The bank's board  which has the Italian Treasury as its largest shareholder - argued in a letter to the ECB 's supervisory arm that such political uncertainty does not allow a deal to be made before a new government is in place. A spokesperson at the ECB declined to comment on the report when contacted by CNBC.

If the ECB does not approve the extension, a state bailout might be needed in the next couple of days, according to the FT. The supervisory body of the ECB is meeting Thursday afternoon and is likely to reach a decision by Friday.

The request leaves the ECB in a complicated situation with Monte dei Paschi failing the ECB's stress tests twice. The fragility of BMPS has also raised contagion concerns to the wider Italian banking system as well as to other European banks.
The popular notion is that start-ups are born in college dorm rooms and from hoodie-wearing 20-year-olds like Mark Zuckerberg. The reality, however, is quite different. Individuals turn to entrepreneurship throughout their lives. Consider Arianna Huffington. Now 66, the media mogul and entrepreneur launched her first media company, The Huffington Post, in May 2005 in her 50s. She launched her second media company,Thrive Global, a few weeks ago.



Almost a third of startup founders are over 40, according to a recently released survey of more than 700 founders from First Round, a seed stage venture capital firm which also hosts events and offers resources to help startup founders launch their companies.

Arianna Huffington launched her namesake media company in her 50s.

Of the 700 founders who responded to the First Round's recently released survey: Twenty percent are in their 20s.

Three percent are between the ages of 21 and 25.

17 percent are between the ages of 26 and 30.

About half are in their 30s.

32 percent are over 40.



Almost 10 percent are in their 50s. "Myths abound about the young entrepreneurs who dreamed up crazy ideas while in their dorm room, raised millions of dollars in venture capital, and started billion-dollar businesses. But these are just the outliers," says Vivek Wadhwa, vice president of innovation and research at Singularity University, fellow at Stanford Law School, and director of research at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at Duke University, in a piece for PBS Newshour.

The lesson here is that ideas come from need; understanding of need comes from experience; and experience comes with age. Vivek Wadhwa director of research at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at Duke University

In his own research, Wadwa has found that: Twice as many successful entrepreneurs are over 50 as under 25.

Twice as many are over 60 as under 20.



Three-quarters of successful entrepreneurs bring a half-dozen years of related industry experience to the table. Young founders tend to get an out-sized amount of attention from Silicon Valley investors. The average age of an entrepreneur funded by the esteemed Y Combinator is 29, according to the incubator's website.

However, as boomers get older, they are shouldering up the average age of entrepreneurs. In 2015, 24 percent of new entrepreneurs were between 55 and 64 years old, according to the most recent study of the start-up landscape by entrepreneurship organization The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Twenty years earlier, only 15 percent of new businesses were started by members of the same age group.

age, and the experience that comes with it, is correlated with entrepreneurial success.
The city of Chippewa Falls doesnt have any high-rise buildings or a major skyline, but as of Wednesday night it has a restored piece of history to welcome visitors downtown.

City engineer Rick Rubenzer was among the crowd of Chippewa Falls workers and business partners who attended Xcel Energys relighting of the Northern States Power Company sign at the Chippewa Falls Hydro Facility.

Its visible for a long ways so itll be a nice entrance coming in, Rubenzer said. Bigger cities have these kind of things all over, but this is nice for us.

Xcel Energy relit its iconic NSP sign Wednesday night, amid a crowd of cheerful Chippewa Falls residents despite the chilly temperatures.

With all of the new redevelopment going on at the riverfront, Rubenzer said it was a perfect addition to remind the city of its roots as it looks forward to the future.

During a speech before the relighting, Chippewa Falls Mayor Greg Hoffman also noted the blending of past and future. Despite all the growth in the city, it is still grounded in its roots.

What makes us unique is our appreciation for our history, Hoffman said. We have a deep love for the history of Chippewa Falls and I think this sign really ties into that.

Chippewa Falls also celebrated the Marsh Rainbow Arch bridges 100th anniversary this year, will in 2017 will celebrate Leinenkugels 150th anniversary and that of the Lake Wissota hydro plant, also owned by Xcel.

Mark Stoering, president of Xcel Energy Wisconsin-Michigan, estimated it has been around 25 years since the sign was lit. He was excited to be a part of such an historic moment.

Not only was the Xcel team involved, but it was members of the maintenance crew who actually had what was, at the time, the crazy idea to relight the sign after they found it was still capable of being lit.

Its kind of a neat event for us. Im excited for it and I think our team at the plant is very excited to be part of it, Stoering said. To bring the sign back and tie it into the citys downtown redevelopment riverfront initiative is really a terrific thing to be able to do.

The original dam was built in 1928 on the old lumber mill, but Stoering said Xcel Energy  formerly Northern States Power Company  has roots in the Chippewa Valley dating to the 1870s.

Not only is the legendary sign a great addition to Chippewa Falls, but he said its great for the company.

This is a rich part of our corporate history, and now downtown Chippewa Falls history, he said. To be able to have that going forward into the future is a great thing.

Originally, Stoering said the company sent refurbishing bids out for the sign, but when those bids were returned the costs were higher than expected. Xcel Energy workers suggested they could probably do the whole thing themselves, and that is exactly what they did.

The sign, which was originally lit with neon lighting, was replaced with LED bulbs. Stoering said these are at least 80 percent more energy efficient.

He estimates that if the sign is lit from dusk until dawn, 365 days a year, it will only cost Xcel about $200 a year.
The investment in Mexico will not result in any jobs being moved from the United States, Wal-Mart spokeswoman Jo Warner told Reuters.

Retailer Wal-Mart de Mexico said on Wednesday it will invest $1.3 billion in logistics in Latin America's No. 2 economy, in what is perceived as a show of commitment to Mexico at a time of uncertainty after the election of Donald Trump.

Wal-Mart signage is seen in the parking lot of the store on April 23, 2012 in Mexico City, Mexico.

"The investment is funded by Walmex and is necessary for expansion of Wal-Mart's Mexican business," she said.

Warner did not comment on whether Wal-Mart had heard from Trump after it made the announcement in Mexico. She said the investment is not the same as companies moving jobs to Mexico.

Recently, United Technologies Corp 's Carrier unit decided to keep half of the 2,100 Indiana jobs it was to shift to Mexico after the U.S. president-elect worked out an agreement with the company's CEO, Gregory Hayes.



The election has thrown Mexico's business world into uncertainty, as Trump has attacked U.S. companies investing south of the border and threatened to renegotiate or scrap a major trade agreement with Mexico.



A large part of Wal-Mart's investment will be over the next three years, including in back-end infrastructure, said the company's chief executive, Guilherme Loureiro. He said it would create some 10,000 permanent new jobs.



"It will involve the building of new distribution centers, as well as the expansion of ones we already have," he said at an event with President Enrique Pena Nieto at the president's office.



Loureiro said the company had already invested 80 billion pesos ($3.93 billion) in the past four years.
An island outpost, one of several, being built by China in the South China Sea.

Ladd Reef, on the south-western fringe of the Spratlys, is completely submerged at high tide but has a lighthouse and an outpost housing a small contingent of Vietnamese soldiers. The reef is also claimed by Taiwan.

Activity visible on Ladd Reef in the Spratly Islands could anger Hanoi's main South China Sea rival, Beijing, which claims sovereignty over the group and most of the resource-rich sea.

Vietnam has begun dredging work on a disputed reef in the South China Sea, satellite imagery shows, the latest move by the Communist state to bolster its claims in the strategic waterway.

In an image taken on Nov. 30 and provided by U.S.-based satellite firm Planet Labs, several vessels can be seen in a newly dug channel between the lagoon and open sea.

While the purpose of the activity cannot be determined for certain, analysts say similar dredging work has been the precursor to more extensive construction on other reefs.

"We can see that, in this environment, Vietnam's strategic mistrust is total ... and they are rapidly improving their defenses," said Trevor Hollingsbee, a retired naval intelligence analyst with Britain's defense ministry.

"They're doing everything they can to fix any vulnerabilities - and that outpost at Ladd Reef does look a vulnerability."

Reuters reported in August that Vietnam had fortified several islands with mobile rocket artillery launchers capable of striking China's holdings across the vital trade route.

Vietnam's foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

The vessels at Ladd Reef cannot be identified in the images, but Vietnam would be extremely unlikely to allow another country to challenge its control of the reef.

Greg Poling, a South China Sea expert at Washington's Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said it remained unclear how far the work on Ladd Reef would go. Rather than a reclamation and a base, it could be an attempt to simply boost access for supply ships and fishing boats.

Ladd could also theoretically play a role in helping to defend Vietnam's nearby holding of Spratly Island, where a runway is being improved and new hangars built, he said.

"Vietnam's knows it can't compete with China but it does want to improve its ability to keep an eye on them," Poling said.

Vietnam has long been fearful of renewed Chinese military action to drive it off its 21 holdings in the Spratlys - worries that have escalated amid Beijing's build-up and its anger at the recent Philippines legal action challenging its claims.

China occupied its first Spratlys possessions after a sea battle against Vietnam's then weak navy in 1988. Vietnam said 64 soldiers were killed as they tried to protect a flag on South Johnson reef - an incident still acutely felt in Hanoi.

The United States has repeatedly called on claimants to avoid actions that increase tensions in the South China Sea, through which some $5 trillion in world trade is shipped every year.

Vietnam has emerged as China's main rival in the South China Sea, actively asserting sovereignty over both the Paracel and the Spratly groupings in their entirety and undergoing its own naval modernisation. Taiwan also claims both, but its position is historically aligned with Beijing's.

The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, run by the CSIS, says Vietnam has added about 120 acres (49 hectares) of land to its South China Sea holdings in recent years.

Regional military attaches say Vietnam's key holdings are well fortified, some with tunnels and bunkers, appearing geared to deterring easy invasion.

Vietnam's reclamation work remains modest by Chinese standards, however.

The United States, which has criticized China for militarizing the waterway, estimates Beijing has added more than 3,200 acres (1,300 hectares) of land on seven features in the South China Sea over the past three years, building runways, ports, aircraft hangars and communications equipment.

Beijing says it is entitled to "limited and necessary self-defensive facilities" on its territory and has reacted angrily to "freedom of navigation" operations by U.S. warships near Chinese-held islands.

In another image provided by Planet Labs, reclamation work in the Chinese-held Paracel Island chain appears to have been damaged by recent storms.



China began dredging and land filling earlier this year at North Island, about 12 km (7 miles) north of Woody Island, where it has a large military base and this year stationed surface-to-air missiles.

Satellite images in February and March showed dredging vessels working to build a 700 meter (2,300 ft) sand bridge connecting low-lying North Island with neighbouring Middle Island.

But images taken after two powerful storms spun through the region in October show the narrow sand strip has been largely swept away.

The Paracels have been under Chinese control for more than 40 years after a battle towards the end of the Vietnam War, when Chinese forces removed the then-South Vietnamese navy. Analysts say they play a key part in protecting China's nuclear-armed submarine fleet on Hainan Island, to the north.

China has not commented publicly on the work at North Island and the foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
A worker checks the valve of an oil pipe at an oil field owned by Bashneft company near Nikolo-Berezovka, Bashkortostan, Russia.

Russia's government will not order Russian oil companies to cut output as part of a deal with OPEC , RIA News agency cited Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich as saying on Thursday.

"We have no such authority in the government. We don't have any kind of international agreement which would give such a possibility," RIA quoted Dvorkovich as saying.

Russia's oil companies support energy ministry proposals to cap oil output as part of a global deal, a ministry spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
Top-level executives need to stand their ground and commit to their arguments when negotiating with President-elect Donald Trump, Yale's management expert Jeff Sonnenfeld told CNBC on Thursday.

"What Trump responds to very well  and people don't understand this about him  he responds to a different point of view anchored in some research, some facts and some grassroots legitimacy," Sonnenfeld told "Squawk Box."

Sonnenfeld referred to Jim Croce's 1972 folk rock song "You Don't Mess Around with Jim" to make his point. "You really don't mess around with the Donald," the Yale School of Management professor said.

Trump's new administration could mean great things for U.S. businesses, but his criticism of companies moving operations abroad has shaken some top-level executives, who are starting to view him as a threat to business partners abroad, Sonnenfeld contended.



But to negotiate with Trump, CEOs can't come at him with threats, Sonnenfeld said.

"You don't go to President-elect Trump in a position of weakness. You don't go in there groveling. If you're going to negotiate with him, you have to have some strength behind you," Sonnefeld said.



Sonnenfeld was particularly excited about Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase , being put on Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum, which will provide a platform for business leaders to share their insights with the president.

"Jamie's always got his homework done. He'll have counterfacts. He'll also have grassroots support," Sonnenfeld said.
Refrigeration is a crucial part of modern life: It keeps our meat fresh, our vegetables crunchy and our sodas cold. Our love of chilled produce has an environmental cost, however.



Fridges and freezers all over the world contain hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Greenpeace has described HFCs as "highly potent greenhouse gases" that "contribute significantly to climate change."

"In established countries, 70-80 percent of your food gets to your home in a refrigerated cold chain, where 95 percent of homes have refrigeration," Tony Atti, the CEO of Phononic, told CNBC's Sustainable Energy. He went on to state that this required "a great requirement of electricity" and had an impact on the environment.

In October, almost 200 countries agreed to a "landmark deal" to cut emissions from HFCs. The United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, said the deal could help "prevent up to 0.5 degrees Celsius of global warming by the end of the century."

"That legislation, or at least agreement to that legislation, is staggering," Atti said.
Andrew Puzder  an antiregulation, pro-entrepreneurship Labor secretary  will take office as a growing share of Americans earn income from start-ups like Uber and Airbnb, where work is more flexible but less certain than a traditional job.

Donald Trump 's administration is likely to resist new labor regulations, which could be a boon for some start-ups.

President-elect Donald Trump gestures as Andy Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants, departs after their meeting at the main clubhouse at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, U.S., November 19, 2016.

"Far too many politicians believe that government can orchestrate economic activity through regulations and taxation. We beg to differ," Puzder wrote in his book.

Puzder credits start-ups as the driver of the U.S. economic engine, calling "entrepreneurial vision and ambition" the invisible hand of America's economy, according to a book he co-authored. Puzder has advocated the repeal of Obamacare and lambasted campaigns to raise the minimum wage or increase overtime pay.

That would almost certainly ring true to Andrew Puzder, the chief executive of the restaurant company behind Hardee's and Carl's Jr. Puzder has not officially been named as labor secretary, but a source said he would be nominated by Trump.

Proponents of the gig economy, like Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, have urged politicians to look at the thousands or millions of jobs they create, rather than the more stable industries they disrupt.

While freelance jobs have existed for decades, more workers now list their services via on-demand platforms like Postmates or TaskRabbit. Many of these non-W-2 jobs involve working as an independent contractor without employer-sponsored benefits, the so-called "gig economy."

"I hope the secretary thinks about all workers and this trend that people are moving toward more independent arrangements," said Marco Zappacosta, co-founder and CEO of Thumbtack, an online platform that connects customers to local professionals for tasks like house painting, personal training and voice lessons. "The biggest one is basically leveling the playing field in terms of benefits and privileges between W-2 employees and independent workers of all stripes."

Still, while new mandates may not come from the Trump administration, companies will continue to face mounting pressure to provide safety nets for their workers, sharing economy executives told CNBC.

Hotelier Trump, who has also been accused of stiffing some contractors himself, told CNBC last year that he was trying to stop the use of Airbnb in his buildings  but he also said that he wouldn't want to regulate them out.



"A lot of people are happy with [Airbnb]. A lot of landlords are liking it a lot," Trump told CNBC. "And then of course there are some groups  hotels in particular  that aren't. As to whether or not it should be regulated, I don't like regulation. I'm not a person that believes too much in regulation."

Linda McMahon, Trump's pick to lead the Small Business Administration, has also called for more certainty about regulations for entrepreneurs. Elaine Chao, who Trump has tapped as U.S. transportation secretary, was favorably received by Uber and Lyft.

Trump's campaign, as well as his opponents', used Uber to get around this year.

'There needs to be safety nets'

The new administration's comments are a departure from the views of current U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, who told CNBC last year that the gig economy presents "false choices" between regulation and innovation.

"I hear some people who say that, well, we either innovate or we regulate and the best way to help build the 'Ubers' of the world is to make sure that there's no regulation," Perez said. "That's just flat wrong. That's a false choice."



Under the Obama administration, "gig" work has spiked: Over the past decade, contingent workers have increased by roughly one-half and now make up 16 percent of the workforce, according to a study conducted by researchers Larry Katz and Alan Krueger and cited by the Federal Reserve.

But calls for more regulation have threatened to unravel the growth of the freelance economy.



Hundreds of Uber drivers in two dozen cities have campaigned for a hike in the minimum wage, for instance. Workers at Instacart have sued the company over their classification as independent contractors and alleged the company mishandles their tips. Other platforms have faced different regulatory hurdles: New York lawmakers, pressed by tenants' rights groups, have said that Airbnb is breaking the law with its services.

While many of these battles take place at the local level, there needs to be some federal involvement for contractors that work across state lines, said Rishon Blumberg, cofounder of 10x Management, which connects companies to freelance technologists.

"I do think there needs to be some legislation  that there needs to be safety nets," Blumberg said. "I don't want to call it 'benefits,' per se, but if a worker spends a fair chunk of time working for a company, then the company would have to contribute into a benefits pool."

Even without federal intervention, Blumberg said he expects that gig economy companies will begin to self-regulate. One example is Hello Alfred, an on-demand personal assistant platform that treats its workers like regular employees, and was visited this month by Labor Secretary Perez.

"This is a seismic force moving in one direction that transcends administration, that has to do with how successful these business models are," Hello Alfred CEO Marcela Sapone said. "I think the Trump administration will potentially not weigh in on the issue. When you have a growing share of the economy that doesn't have health care built into their employment choice, you have to build that support system yourself."

But battles over benefits also illustrate how "gigs" like driving shouldn't be overemphasized by the new labor secretary, said Zappacosta. Instead, he said, the freelance economy should focus on empowering small businesses or skills-based entrepreneurship, as tasks like driving are replaced by autonomous vehicles.

"It's an unfortunate reflection of the regulatory environment that they want to provide benefits and can't," Zappacosta said. "They want to retain their drivers, but they are worried about the exposure. It's a good example of why we need to evolve what we currently have."

In many cases, this does mean simplifying regulation, Zappacosta said. One such example is Obamacare, which has forced small businesses to battle with convoluted and burdensome regulations, even as it helped younger independent workers stay on their parents' plans and buy from exchanges.



Trump campaigned on repealing Obamacare, but has since softened on some parts of the law.

"As long as there is some form of easy to access, affordable health care, [the freelance economy] will continue to burgeon," Blumberg said. "But obviously the benefits of being at a W-2 position increase."

 Reuters and CNBC's John Harwood contributed to this report.
President-elect Donald Trump's intention to nominate Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not gone down well with campaign groups.

Pruitt is "a national leader against the EPA's job-killing war on coal", Trump's transition team said in a statement on Facebook Thursday morning.

A Republican, Pruitt has been critical of the EPA. According to Reuters, he is a leading figure in a legal effort to get rid of the EPA's flagship Clean Power Plan, which has become the cornerstone of President Obama's strategy on climate change.

Unsurprisingly, Trump's decision has provoked overwhelmingly critical reactions from environmental organisations.

"By appointing Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Donald Trump has made it clear that he intends to wage war on clean air and clean water," Benjamin Schreiber, climate and energy program director for Friends of the Earth, said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Trump has also put our climate in peril and shown he is out of step with the American people," Schreiber added.

The Natural Resources Defense Council was equally negative in its appraisal of Pruitt's proposed appointment.

"The mission of the EPA and its administrator requires an absolute commitment to safeguard public health and protect our air, land, water and planet," its president Rhea Suh said in a statement.

"That's the litmus test," Suh added. "By naming Pruitt, President-elect Trump has flunked. The American people did not vote to return to the country to the dirty old days or to turn a blind eye on dangerous climate change."

By contrast, the Oklahoma Oil and Gas Association welcomed Trump's intention to nominate Pruitt.

"As Oklahoma's Attorney General, Scott Pruitt has proven that he is a legal expert, which is exactly what our nation needs at the helm of the Environmental Protection Agency," the Association said in a statement.

"We are excited about having an Oklahoman in a prominent role of a Trump administration, and we welcome a more measured regulatory approach at the EPA that will give a voice to all," it went on to add.

Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas, was also positive. In a Tweet, Abbott commented that Pruitt was "an excellent choice" and stated that he would "bring needed change."
Police presence missed at grandfathers burial

I recently lost my grandfather, John Jack Kappus. Our family cherished and remembered him as a man who loved both his family and the community of Chippewa Falls, in which he lived his entire life. He not only served his country in the United States Navy, but also served the community he cared so much for, as a deputy in the Chippewa County Sheriffs Department and later as an officer on the Chippewa Falls Police Department.

Our family cherished the presentation of military honors by the Chippewa Falls Patriotic Council of American Legion Post 77, but there was an honor that was withheld from my grandfather and his loved ones as we prepared to lay him to rest. He served the Chippewa Falls Police Department for 20 years, but there was a noticeable absence of the Chippewa Falls Police Department Honor Guard from his burial service.

There was absolutely no presence from the police department at his burial, which was a dishonor to his memory and time of service on the department. The Chippewa Falls Police Department needs to apologize to my family for disrespecting the memory and service of my grandfather.

My grandfather was honored to serve the community that he loved and it breaks my heart to see that he was not given the honors at his burial that he deserved. I am so proud of my grandfather for his years of service on the Chippewa Falls Police Department, and the community of Chippewa Falls should be, too.

Zachary John Peterson,

Bloomer
Atlanta Pregnancy Center Becomes Newest Member of the Human Coalition Family Contact: Lauren Enriquez, Human Coalition, 214-295-7301



ATLANTA, Dec. 8, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- Human Coalition is pleased to announce that Care Net Pregnancy Resource Center of Atlanta is now a member of the Human Coalition family of women's care clinics. This new effort will allow Human Coalition to answer God's call to serve Atlanta in innovative and unprecedented ways. As a part of Human Coalition, this women's care clinic will be equipped to rescue more children and families from abortion that ever before.



As one of the most abortion-dense cities in the nation, downtown Atlanta's need for a pregnancy resource center spoke to the hearts of generous pro-life advocates a few years back. In 2007, Care Net Pregnancy Resource Center of Atlanta opened its doors two blocks away from a busy Planned Parenthood abortion facility. Tom Mason, who has served as chairman of the board of directors for the Atlanta facility since its inception, shared that the location of the center "is literally at the epicenter of the abortion industry for the city of Atlanta and the state of Georgia."



Human Coalition Co-Founder and President, Brian Fisher, described the transition of the center to becoming a division of Human Coalition as being a steadfast pledge, on behalf of both organizations, to the children and families of Atlanta. "Human Coalition," Fisher said, "is committed to rescuing children from abortion, while providing top-quality care for women and families -- something Care Net Pregnancy Resource Center of Atlanta has a long history of providing."



Throughout 2015 and 2016, God orchestrated a powerful series of relationships and events that brought together Human Coalition and Care Net Pregnancy Resource Center of Atlanta for a period of discernment and prayer about the possibility of rescuing more children and families from abortion, through a transition that would make the facility a part of the Human Coalition family. Ultimately, Mr. Mason shared that it was "the unanimous conviction of the board and executive director that this transition would take our mission to a whole new level." Mr. Mason also shared that the mission of the pregnancy center has always been to serve as "a voice for life and for the gospel" in Atlanta.



Matthew Ro, lead pastor of the Journey Church of Atlanta, notes that the protection of human life is paramount in answering the gospel message. Pastor Ro called the transition a game-changer for the city, saying: "I am excited about the platform and potential that Human Coalition and local churches in Atlanta have, as we champion the right to life -- which I believe is the most fundamental of all human rights."



Rev. Dean Nelson, Human Coalition's National Director of Church Outreach, has witnessed the hand of God at work in the city of Atlanta, as the community has united in support of the lifesaving efforts stemming from this transition. "I am excited to see so many community leaders welcoming Human Coalition to Atlanta. This is an answer to prayer. Pastors, doctors, social workers and community activists have all praised Human Coalition's work rescuing children and serving families. I lived in the Atlanta are. It has become a major abortion market. I am convinced Human Coalition's approach will help turn the tide of abortion in this city."



Dr. Alveda King, prominent pro-life leader and a niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, praised the initiative for its ability to reach urban communities in need of compassionate alternatives to abortion. "Human Coalition has a plan to make abortion unthinkable in Atlanta," said Dr. King. "The abortion industry targets black and minority communities in Atlanta, and Human Coalition has come to stand in the gap and empower every pregnant woman in crisis with the support and resources she needs to choose life. Human Coalition will help transform Atlanta into a city that speaks LIFE into the culture of death."



Human Coalition is committed to making abortion unthinkable and unavailable in Atlanta. By welcoming a local pregnancy center into our family of Human Coalition women's care clinics, we bring the city -- and our nation -- one step closer to ending abortion and honoring the dignity of all humans as image bearers of God.



For more information, please contact Lauren Enriquez at lenriquez@humancoalition.org.

Share Tweet
Dennis Gates and new-look Mizzou basketball ready for introduction

It's been an offseason filled with change for Missouri basketball. Now, Dennis Gates and company are ready to get the games underway
Donna James Leads a Bold Plan to Revive Victorias Secret

James has a proven record as a C-suite executive and adviser. Now, shes guiding the lingerie giant toward a more inclusive, financially sound future.
What tech skills are hiring managers looking for most as we head into 2017?

Programming and application development -- always perennial favorites. Security, of course. Even help desk, which doesn't always get the respect it deserves. But wait, there's more.

Those are just some of the in-demand tech skills that emerged from Computerworld's exclusive Tech Forecast 2017 special report, which asked senior IT executives about hiring plans and talent needs for the year ahead.

In this episode, Senior Features Editor Tracy Mayor details the top 10 skills survey respondents said they plan to hire for in 2017: programming/app dev, help desk/technical support, security/compliance/governance, cloud/software-as-a-service, business intelligence/analytics, web development, database administration, project management, big data, and mobile applications/mobile device management.

Mayor and Contributing Writer Mary K. Pratt, who reported our in-depth article on skills, join Executive News Editor Ken Mingis to delve into the results and discuss what they mean for IT workers. While some hiring managers are bullish on the upcoming year, the survey also uncovered data that could signal a rocky road ahead for rank-and-file IT employees.

Pratt discovered, for instance, that even organizations with robust plans to increase head count aren't hiring quickly, so walking into a new IT job quickly won't be easy even with in-demand skills. Sure, hiring managers want those skills, but they also want top candidates to bring a lot more to the table -- strategic thinking, communications skills and a customer-centric mentality.

After all, what good are top-notch skills if no one can work with you?

Another issue to ponder: Whether the best IT jobs are now outside of the enterprise. Some tech pros might work for an IT service provider or a cloud computing company where projects are varied. Others may try to make a go of it in the burgeoning IT gig economy.

Whatever path they take, the survey results underline the main task for job-seekers: "Do your homework!"

A PDF with complete survey results is available as a free download. And as the Tech Forecast 2017 package rolls out in the coming weeks, there's even more to look forward to:

For an audio podcast only, click play (or catch up on all episodes) below.

Happy listening, and please, send feedback or suggestions for future topics to us. We'd love to hear from you.
Bezels are so 2016. And with 2017 knocking on the door, phone manufacturers are itching to do away with the pesky things.

Rumor has it that Samsung is going to be the next company jumping on the bezel-free bandwagon. A few other changes are on the way, also, with its next flagship phone, the Galaxy S8.

In IT Blogwatch, we see edge to edge.

So what is the rumor this time? Mark Walton has the background:

Samsung is planning to launch a...bezel-free version of its flagship Galaxy phone...the Galaxy S8. The S8...would also ditch the physical home button...Instead, the S8 will feature a virtual home button "buried in the glass in the the lower section"...This would allow for Samsung to create a phone with a larger screen without increasing its overall footprint.

For the few who don't know, what does a bezel-free display really mean? Harish Jonnalagadda fills us in:

Samsung...is...creating a panel with a display area ratio exceeding 90%...Samsung will...retain the 5.1-inch and 5.5-inch form factors with the Galaxy S8, and the company will stick to...a combination of Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 and its in-house Exynos SoC for various markets.

Any other tidbits floating around regarding the Galaxy S8? Kris Carlon has some more info:

There have been plenty of other...rumors, including abandoning the 3.5 mm headphone jack and adopting a QHD AMOLED display...USB Type-C seems a lock and...A.I. virtual assistants called Bixby and Kestra are definitely on board. Smart AF for the front-facing camera and stereo speakers have both been bandied about and Force Touch technology is...a possibility.

But is the S8 the only phone out there with a bezel-free display? Not quite. Jungah Lee and Hooyeon Kim fill us in:

Samsung isnt the first to [reduce the size of bezels]. In October, Chinas Xiaomi...showed off its Mi Mix...that has a display covering 91 percent of the front...Apple plans to ship at least one iPhone using OLED next year, featuring a new look that extends glass from the display to the devices back and edges.

When can we expect to see the Galaxy S8? Victor H. is in the know:

The initial...[was] to release the phones in March, but after the Note 7 battery explosion fiasco, Samsung has implemented tougher battery testing standards that might delay the Galaxy S8's release to April. The safety of the device is said to be a top priority, but users...will certainly...buy with caution, after being reassured that the phones are safe.

Speaking of the Note 7 debacle, how does the Galaxy S8 play into the bounce back from that? Matt Swider has some thoughts on that:

Samsung needs a big win...Fallout from the Note 7 recall has put a lot of pressure on it...to come up with a mesmerizing new trick such as an infinity display.

...

No question, it'll be as fast as it is attractive with that all-screen display. But will it be enough to tempt...Note 7 users who...excuse the expression, had their fingers burned to come back to Samsung?

Do what do you think? Are people going to be quick to forget the Note 7's issues? Daniel Hardcastle sure isn't:

"Galaxy S8 is not going to feature a 3.5mm headphone jack."

Why would an explosive device need a 3.5mm headphone jack?
A group of suspected Russian cyberspies blamed for interfering in the U.S. election is also attempting to influence the upcoming vote in Germany, according to the country's domestic intelligence agency.

The Russian hacking group known as Fancy Bear or APT 28 has been targeting political parties in the country, Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) intelligence agency said in a statement Thursday posted online by Politico.

The hacking activities have led to a surge in spear-phishing email attacks directed at German politicians, the agency said.

Fancy Bear is one of the elite Russian hacking teams that allegedly hacked the Democratic National Committee and stole sensitive files that were later leaked online, according to U.S. security firms.

To steal passwords, Fancy Bear has been known to send fake emails, pretending to be from Google, that ask the recipients to type in their login information. Earlier this year, the hacking group directed this kind of attack against aides working for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, according to Dell SecureWorks.

Later, during the presidential race, leaked emails from Hillary Clinton aide John Podesta and former Secretary of State Colin Powell were published online through WikiLeaks and a hacktivist site called DCLeaks  potentially influencing voter opinions about the presidential candidates.

In Germany, Fancy Bear has been attempting to promote propaganda and disinformation under the guise of hacktivism, according to the country's BfV intelligence agency. The objective is to destabilize the government and help support extremist groups, it added.

"We are increasingly finding aggressive cyberspying," Hans-Georg Maassen, head of the BfV intelligence agency, said in a statement. He warned that the attacks will attempt to discredit German politicians by spreading the misinformation over social media.

In October, U.S. intelligence agencies also blamed Russia for sponsoring hacks meant to tamper with the U.S. election. However, the Russian government has denied any involvement.

Despite the denial, Russia will continue to sponsor these kinds of election-influencing hacks in Europe, said Dmitri Alperovitch, CTO at security firm Crowdstrike. The goal has been to prevent tighter integration among countries belonging to the European Union, he said.

"The blueprint Russia has been using for these hacks has been quite successful to further their objectives," he said.
Timothy Stafford is a Research Fellow with Pacific Forum-CSIS, and a former Parliamentary Researcher to Sir Malcolm Rifkind.

Last week, officials in Michigan certified Donald Trumps victory in the state, handing him the last electoral college votes that had yet to be determined. The result underscores a central paradox of the 2016 election: a wide margin for Trump in the electoral college, despite a clear lead for Hillary Clinton in the national popular vote.

Split elections in the United States are not unprecedented. In 1876, Rutherford Hayes polled 250,000 fewer votes than Samuel Tilden, but won the Electoral College by a single vote. Twelve years later, Benjamin Harrison received 65 more Electoral College votes that Grover Cleveland, despite losing the popular vote by 90,000. More recently, George W. Bush won the 2000 election with five more votes than Al Gore, despite 530,000 more Americans voting for the Democratic ticket.

Yet what is unprecedented about 2016 is the scale of the divide. Trump is now over two million votes shy of Clinton, yet enjoys a 74 vote advantage in the Electoral College. In short, the level of correlation between the Electoral College count and the popular vote is as weak as it has ever been.

Commentators dismayed by the prospect of a Trump administration have responded with calls for the Electoral College to be jettisoned. Former Vice-President Gore has stressed that a popular vote system would increase participation, and Democrats on the Hill have already introduced legislation calling for electoral reform at the national level

Others have gone further, outlining and agitating for steps that could overturn the 2016 result itself. Noted Harvard Professor Lawrence Lessig has urged electors to simply ignore the statewide results, and vote for Clinton. Some liberal activists have initiated lawsuits designed to test the obligation of electors to vote as instructed, in an effort to shake loose those committed to Trump. In addition, a collection of pro-Clinton electors have formed a designated non-profit to campaign for an Electoral College coup detat. Their hope is that by throwing their support to a mainstream Republican candidate such as John Kasich, Trump electors might be persuaded to abandon Trump. Their efforts are beginning to show signs of success. Recently, a Trump elector from Texas announced his intention to become a faithless elector by refusing to support him.

Meaningful change in the coming years is not an impossibility. Formal abolition of the Electoral College would require a gruelling campaign to secure passage of a constitutional amendment. Yet it could be brought about in de facto terms should states comprising an Electoral College majority simply decide to award their votes to the winner of the popular vote. This initiative, known as the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact or NPVIC, has already secured the backing of ten, primarily liberal, states.

However, calls to overturn or tamper with the workings of the existing system should be met with caution. Firstly, the wide gap between the Electoral College result and the popular vote is proof that the system designed by the framers of the Constitution is working as planned. The reason the Electoral College was designed in the first place was to preserve the health of the Union, by preventing a highly-localised bloc of voters from steering the affairs of America as a whole. This year, Clinton won just 20 states, fewer than any Presidential victor in the history of the US as a 50-state nation. Perhaps more significantly, she was defeated in the vast majority of individual counties. Whilst the health of the body politic isnt well-served by having the winner of the popular vote lose the Presidency, it also isnt bolstered with the election of a candidate who lacks broad support across the country as a whole, let alone one who wasnt on the ballot in the first place.

In addition, those assuming that a national vote system would have resulted in a different outcome may well be kidding themselves. There is no guarantee that an alternative system would have led to a different result. The Electoral College forces candidates to focus their campaigns on voters in swing states, neglecting parts of the country where the statewide result is a foregone conclusion. Yet under a popular-vote based system, the 2016 campaign would have played out quite differently. For instance, Donald Trump would likely have spent much more time campaigning in the Republican-leaning areas of three of nations five most populous states: rural Illinois, upstate New York, and non-coastal California. He could also have have made a major play for urban-based voters in and around big cities in red states. For instance, two red states host five of Americas eleven largest cities: Arizona (Phoenix) and Texas: (Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Austin). Under a popular vote system, this approach might have been enough to have secure a plurality of voters.

Therein lies the fundamental danger of major change. Moving away from the Electoral College would exacerbate the polarisation that already characterises the US political system. Freed of the need to appeal to moderate or centrist voters, national candidates would invariably turn to 51 per cent strategies that emphasise running up the score amongst core supporters, while paying little attention to expanding their coalition through policy moderation. Given the divisiveness already wrought at the Congressional level due to primary elections and gerrymandered redistricting, would-be reformers should think twice before pushing for electoral reform at the national level.
John Bald is a former Ofsted inspector and has written two books on the teaching of writing and spelling.

After my recent comments on Ofsted, I was pleased to receive a personal invitation from Sir Michael Wilshaw to attend the presentation of his final annual report. On the way, I thought of a late and highly-valued colleague at Hackney, whose son had attended Mossbourne Community Academy, and was now at Cambridge. Several former pupils were present at a gathering that was a celebration of a career spanning almost fifty years, and which Sir Michael rightly saw as part of a process of educational reform that began with James Callaghans speech at Ruskin College in 1976.

The reports messages were blended with Sir Michaels personal views. Things are better now than when he had started in the seventies, when London schools in particular were dire, with many as bad as those that had made national headlines. There are more good schools now than when he had started as HMCI in 2012, and in Coventry, the number of good primary schools has more than doubled. But there are also serious weaknesses, including a threat to the supply of teachers, a growing North-South divide, inadequate Further Education colleges and technical education, and a threat from extremists under the guise of unregulated schools, an issue on which his specialist team of inspectors was struggling to cover the ground.

I asked Sir Michael if this was not true of all of Ofsteds specialist teams, and, if so, if the judgement that a school was good was grounded on sufficient evidence. I had in mind the pupil I wrote about in my last posting, whose school had been rated good despite a significant weakness in maths, not to mention the scandalous mis-teaching of German. My question was preceded by one from FE Weekly, who pointed out that some colleges had not been visited by Ofsted for ten years.

Sir Michael said that he wasnt surprised at the question, as he followed this column. He tended to find that a school that was good or bad in one subject tended to be good or bad in others, and that what mattered was leadership.

A senior Ofsted official added that my insistence on specialist inspection of subjects was no longer needed, as things had improved so much, and that to spend money on it was silly. Silly, did not answer the underlying question  if Ofsted has not visited a school and observed teaching and learning in detail, can we rely on its report? And if not, should it be producing a grade for these schools at all?

I showed the official an example from Sir Michaels report. A school had been reported as doing especially well with its most able pupils in a subject in which Im interested. When Id rung the school to discuss the work, they asked me to help them fix it, as the subject was, in fact, a weakness. When the official asked me how I knew that the able pupils were not doing especially well, I replied that Id been there and observed the work. Ofsted had not.

And what of the German issue? The official said that such abuse was so widespread that Ofsted could not comment on it without criticising all of the schools. But that is the point  data on languages are corrupt, and inspection based on corrupt data is worthless. Ofsted needs to find out what is really happening, and tell us.

All of this leaves a headache for Sir Michaels successor. He agreed with my suggestion that Ofsted was running on empty and said that the budget had been severely cut under the coalition, to 120m. Education alone has a budget of 85 billion, and Ofsted has other services to inspect. Allocating such a tiny amount to quality control, at a time of major change, has been a mistake on the part of the government, and has made it impossible to nip potential scandals in the bud.

Sir Michael is not responsible for the system set up by Labour under the 2006 Education and Inspections Act, and he, like his predecessors, has done his best to play the hand he has been dealt. Ms Spielman needs and deserves better. Ofsted must be put in a position to do its work properly once more, and Labours botched 2006 Act should be repealed.
Daniel Hannan is an MEP for South-East England, and a journalist, author and broadcaster. His most recent book, What Next: How to Get the Best from Brexit has just been published.

Is the European Union prepared to self-harm in order to make Brexit difficult? Might it truly be more interested in deterring states from leaving than in promoting the welfare of its peoples?

If so, there surely can be no further doubt that we were right to opt out. A body that has to threaten departing members is not a club but a protection racket.

For what its worth, though, I have a higher opinion of our European allies than that. I believe they will act in their rational self-interest. Their objective will be to make Brexit as beneficial to themselves, or at the very least as harmless, as they can. They will want to have access to the UK market  which, on the day of our departure, will become their single largest export destination. They will want to preserve our military investment in the defence of Europe at a time when there are questions over Americas commitment to NATO. They will want to avoid the disruption that could lead to a collapse of market confidence in both Britain and the EU.

How, then, are we to explain the noises coming from Brussels? What are we to make of Donald Tusks insistence that the only choices are hard Brexit or no Brexit? Or of Michel Barniers refusal even to discuss a post-EU deal until all the details of the severance have been agreed? Or of Guy Verhofstadts passive-aggressive tweets?

In an elegant Financial Times column this week, Janan Ganesh argued that we should take all such statements literally. Our refusal to believe that EU leaders meant what they said, he averred, had been the root of all our misunderstandings with Brussels over the years. Our domestic arguments about opting in to bits of the single market or keeping elements of free movement were irrelevant, because whatever we wanted, the EU would decree a brutal Brexit.

The flaw in Janans thesis is that the EU is not speaking with a single voice. Most Eurocrats are talking tough, but most national leaders are striking a more emollient tone. Although they regret the referendum result, they dont want to make the process any more disruptive than necessary. The Polish, Danish and Irish prime ministers, for example, have all stressed that they want to preserve the closest possible relations with the UK. They are thinking, quite properly, of the interests of their own citizens.

Why is there a difference between the Brussels institutions and the 27 national governments? Three reasons. First, national politicians are more sensitive to public opinion than Brussels functionaries. They know that at least some of their own voters share the views of Britains 52 per cent.

Second, being accountable at the ballot box, they have every incentive to get the best deal they can for their electorates. A situation in which, for example, fears about barriers to cross-channel trade led to a renewal of the euro crisis, would hurt everyone. In the ensuing downturn, incumbent politicians would suffer.

Eurocrats, by contrast, dont really worry about public opinion. Just as they see the euro crisis as a price worth paying for the goal of a United States of Europe, so they see a painful Brexit as retribution for blaspheming against the doctrine of closer union.

Third, the national leaders, understanding how elections work, have accepted that the UK is leaving. By and large, the Eurocrats have not. The only way to interpret Donald Tusks hard-Brexit-or-no-Brexit shtick is as an attempt to keep us in. The general view in Brussels is that we may yet, as they see it, come to our senses.

When MEPs or EU officials ask me about Brexit, they usually begin along the lines of: If you guys really do decide to leave When I interject that we decided that on 23 June, they smile knowingly.

I realise how odd that must sound to British readers, but look at it from the Eurocrats perspective. They have swatted aside anti-Brussels referendum results in Denmark (twice), France, the Netherlands and Ireland (twice). They still think  and, disgracefully, British politicians like Tony Blair and Nick Clegg encourage them to think  that, if they offer sufficiently harsh terms, we will somehow back down.

In fact, of course, they are provoking precisely the opposite reaction. Nothing toughens attitudes in Britain more than a sense that we are being bullied. If Eurocrats were a little savvier, they might offer a more attractive deal than they put to David Cameron in February, when a Leave vote seemed unthinkable. But they cant bring themselves to do it.

At the beginning of this year, few British people wanted to leave the EU; the majority simply wanted some powers back. When David Cameron came out of the Brussels talks without a single competence repatriated, people correctly concluded that a market-only deal was impossible while we remained members. The EU had shown itself unable or unwilling to reform. The only way to get a looser deal, they correctly saw, was to leave and negotiate one from outside.

What happens now? Will we have an acrimonious divorce, or will we start from the sensible proposition that wealthy neighbours make good customers? Will we be dealing with the Verhofstadt-Barnier-Tusk irreconcilables, or with the 27 heads of government?

The treaties are clear that we should be negotiating with the 27 remaining states. The European Parliament gets a vote only on the final deal, when it is hard to see many MEPs defying the leaders of their national parties.

Then again, Eurocrats have a way of muscling into these talks, even when the treaties give them little locus. From the European Constitution to the TTIP negotiations, MEPs and Commissioners have managed to grab a larger role than envisaged by the treaties, simply because of the imbalance of time and resources. The leaders of the national governments are busy leading national governments. MEPs and Commission officials, by contrast, have little else to occupy them.

It is possible, I suppose, that Eurocrats will vindicate Vote Leaves critique by taking control of the process and making it acrimonious. Frankly, though, it is far more likely that the 27 governments will claim their prerogatives and negotiate a deal guided by economic logic.

No one is expecting special favours for Britain. As Adam Smith put it, it is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest. It is not from the benevolence of our European partners that we expect their trade, but from their regard to their own self-interest.

My guess is that, two years from now, a cordial deal will have been struck. It will maintain many of the market arrangements, including the prohibition on discrimination against the goods or services of another state; it will allow for reciprocal rights to work and study, but subject to regulation; it will probably result in Britain participating in some common initiatives, and paying its share of their cost, though no longer paying for big-ticket items like agriculture and foreign aid; it will mean that our laws are supreme on our own territory.

And heres the bonus: outside the EUs structures, we will have little cause to quarrel with our neighbours. Our relations should become warmer than ever.
Labour is a pro-EU party. It is also the Opposition, with an appetite for Government, at least in some quarters. It follows that it is in its interests to stop Brexit, thereby weakening if not destroying Theresa May, even if Jeremy Corbyn has a soft spot for leaving the Union. (We all knew Jeremy was against [the EU], Alan Johnson has said. Hes not changed his mind on anything since he was 15, why would he change his mind on that?)

None the less, Labour cannot be seen to block Brexit. The electoral perils are too great. Too much of the partys white working-class base voted Leave for it to risk openly defying the referendum result. This is a point that Labour MPs in the Midlands and North are particularly conscious of, and Donald Trumps victory from the outside in Americas presidential election has left them very nervous.

All of this explains why the party both folded and split when the Government put Article 50 to the vote yesterday evening. It folded, because Keir Starmer and its front bench did not dare oppose the move. And it split, because Labours most committed pro-EU members could not bring themselves to support it, especially if their constituencies are in the Remain-trending parts of London and the South.

Rushanara Ali from Bethnal Green and Bow, Helen Hayes from Dulwich and West Norwood, Meg Hillier from Hackney South and Shoreditch, Peter Kyle from Hove and Portslade, David Lammy from Tottenham, Tulip Sadiq from Hampstead and Kilburn, Daniel Zeicher from Cambridge: all these went through the No lobby, together with a handful of Blairites, Remain partisans, MPs with non-English seats and prospective retirees.

There were 23 of them altogether, and a further 56 abstentions, according to the Conservative Whips. Thats a bad result for Keir Starmer: it looks today as though the Government has out-manoeuvered Labour front bench, dividing it in yesterday evenings vote, but conceding little of import in relation to the publication of its negotiation aims. But we will see.

So what could bring the whole party, the SNP, the Liberal Democrats and Conservative pro-EU MPs together against Theresa May? (Only one of the latter voted against the Government yesterday: Ken Clarke.) Amendments to the Great Repeal Bill could do so (as could a full Brexit bill, if the Supreme Court insists on one). During the 1990s, John Smith opposed parts of the Maastricht Bill, which he supported, in order to do down John Major.

Its modern equivalent would thus be a kind of Smith-in-reverse. Any Bill which proposes to freeze current EU regulation in aspic looks especially vulnerable to amendment. So dont presume that last nights sweeping victory for Brexit is anywhere near the end of its Parliamentary story. Before the division took place, the Commons had a pro-EU majority, and so it does afterwards. It dare not kill Brexit, but it will not strive officiously to keep it alive.
CORNWALL, Ontario  In an update sent to the media on Thursday, Dec. 8 the City gave updates on a number of construction projects throughout Cornwall. The bulk of the work on most projects will be done before January, but the Marleau ave. project has been scheduled for a Spring completion.

The lanes on the north side are complete and open for one lane in each direction over winter, reads the Citys media release. McConnell Avenue has also been paved with base course asphalt. The remaining phases of this major road widening project will be completed in the spring. Utility relocation on this project is a significant component, and is still ongoing, it continues to explain.

Fifth Street however, is expected to be mostly completed by Tuesday, but a final layer of sod and asphalt will be put down next year.

The work on Brookdale Ave. is also wrapping up.

The Brookdale Ave. project is being handled by the Federal Bridge Corporation and its contractor Louis W. Bray Construction.

Andre Girard, Vice President of Communications for the Federal Bridge Corporation told the Seaway News that the road should re-open Dec. 19, which is ahead of their projected January schedule.

Girard added that delays that took place while the intersection of Second Street and Brookdale was being worked on did not add to the final cost of the project.

These are critical streets within our traffic network and the work is quite extensive as some include significant sewer and waterworks components that need to be coordinated with various utilities as well, said John St. Marseille, the City of Cornwalls General Manager, Infrastructure and Municipal Works. We recognize that these projects have created inconveniences and we appreciate the continued patience and cooperation or motorists and residents while these projects are completed.
After watching cruise calls decline at the Port of Buenos Aires, Argentinas cruise industry has become a crucial area of development by the Ministry of Transport, backed up by a new administration that has been in office for 11 months under President Mauricio Macri.

The port is expecting just 81 ships for the 2016-2017 season.

This is one of the lowest traffic seasons and it is the result of the lack of long term-policies and improvised actions taken by previous administrations, said Gonzalo Mortola, port administrator, in an exclusive interview with Cruise Industry News.

He said the port was taking a number of steps to rebuild the business, and to portray the port as stable and trustworthy for future calls.

There are ongoing negotiations with Royal Caribbean and Costa. Mortola also said he was planning to meet with MSC Cruises in January.

Among the changes are significant road improvements around the terminal, a new food area inside, bilingual signage, and a mobile app for passengers.

Port fees have been reduced, and will be further reduced for 2017-2018, said Mortola. The port has also imposed a limit of 12,000 passengers per day.

We are working regionally with Uruguay, Brazil and Chile, to incentivize low season cruise traffic. We know that many cruise lines have fleets with small ships that can adapt easily to our low season incentives, said Mortola.

In addition is a new online berth reservation system, which will help allocate berth and pier space.

The goal? Double the business to 160 cruise ship calls per season.

We believe in strategic planning and the need for long-term polices that transcend governments. That is the goal of our modernization plan, Mortola continued. This is just the beginning of our new port development for the industry. In less than one year we have been able to accomplish many requests from the industry. We have a very strong commitment and will continue working together with the industry.
Pearl Seas Cruises will be cruising to Cuba from Florida in January 2017, the company announced today.

The niche line said it would start 10-night cruises from Ft. Lauderdale on Jan. 17, 2017.

Pearl Seas Cruises will circumnavigate the island of Cuba, visiting Havana and a host of ports on the southern coast including Cienfuegos, Trinidad, and Santiago de Cuba on the 210-passenger Pearl Mist.

There is significant demand to visit Cuba on a smaller ship and we are honored to be among the first cruise lines to have access to the country, said Timothy Beebe, Vice President of Pearl Seas Cruises.

The company has 11 cruises planned during January through May 2017.
Its been said that the best way to avoid regulation is to regulate yourself. The United States financial services industry has an opportunity to do just that  and in the process, avoid more onerous rules  by adopting the cybersecurity guidelines put forth last month by the Group of Seven (G-7) industrialized nations.

The G-7 Fundamental Elements, as the guidelines are called, are remarkable for a couple reasons. One is their brevity. The eight elements are contained on just three single-spaced pages, written to be accessible to people who arent security specialists. The language reflects the need to treat security as a business issue rather than a technology problem.

The other remarkable feature is the approach. The elements reframe the security discussion as an issue of risk management rather than absolute prevention. Thats something every financial executive can understand. In fact, the word risk appears 30 times in the three-page document, underlining the fact that security can be managed as just another element of doing business. We focused on having entities understand this as an issue of financial stability, Deputy Secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin of the U.S. Department of the Treasury told The Wall Street Journal.

This is an important break from the traditional approach to cybersecurity, which has been to lock the doors and bar the windows. By treating the issue as one of risk, institutions can make their own decisions about where to deploy resources and how tightly to turn the screws. A risk orientation also allows for the possibility that a breach is not necessarily the end of the world, but can be managed within the broader context of the impact to the business.

Among the procedures the elements cover are how to:

build a security framework

define roles and responsibilities

identify and prioritize at-risk functions

monitor and detect breaches

respond to intrusions

recover from damage.

Each gets two paragraphs: One is a set of recommendations and the second an explanation for why they are important.

Throughout the document, the framers emphasize the importance of communication with stakeholders, public authorities and other institutions. Maintaining trust and confidence in the financial sector significantly improves when entities and public authorities have the ability to mutually assist each other in the resumption and recovery of critical functions, processes, and activities, the document states.

This addresses a critical shortcoming in the way most businesses handle intrusions: They dont tell anybody. The result is that patches arent applied, back doors arent closed and attackers successfully use the same tactics against multiple victims. The G-7 guidelines essentially give security professionals permission to trade information. Once that ice is broken, we will all be better off.

While the G-7 elements arent binding, they could create a foundation of trust that changes the rules of competition in the financial services. In the same way that the FDIC gives banking customers a level of confidence that their money is safe, compliance with the G-7 standard could become a selling point for financial institutions.

The U.S. government is applying gentle pressure to financial institutions to embrace the guidelines, and early indications are that the tactic is working. Thats good, because attacks on banks, brokerages, insurance companies and other money-management institutions are intensifying. The financial services industry is accustomed to complying with a lot of rules. The G-7 elements are an opportunity to write their own rules, and in the process, achieve a level of cooperation and transparency that has been missing from the whole cybersecurity conversation.

Paul Gillin writes, speaks and trains marketers and corporate executives to think like publishers. Gillin specializes in social media for B2B companies. He is a veteran technology journalist with more than 25 years of editorial leadership experience. All opinions expressed are his own. AT&T has sponsored this blog post.
Scott Zulpo is facing stiff competition.

He's adding a senior project manager, a network analyst and a help desk worker to his 55-member IT staff at BCU, a Vernon Hills, Ill.-based credit union where he is vice president of IT. He plans to add even more people in 2017 to keep up with an increasing demand for tech-driven innovations.

"The challenge is twofold -- first finding talent, and then determining if that talent has the skills, experience and personality to thrive in the position," says Zulpo, who's mindful that "the cost and impact of not hiring an 'A' player is huge."

Zulpo has his work cut out for him. He's hiring at time when few IT professionals are out of work, so competition for tech talent is fierce. The unemployment rate for tech workers is about 2%, according to reports on recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Moreover, Zulpo is seeking the same skills that many of his fellow IT leaders also need. Computerworld's Forecast 2017 survey of 196 IT professionals found that both project management and technical support were among the top 10 most sought-after skills among survey respondents who said they plan on adding head count in the new year.

"The IT labor market is still very hot. The candidate is very much in the driver's seat," says Jason Hayman, market research manager for IT staffing firm TEKsystems.

Hayman cites a government report that estimates that 500,000 to 1 million IT jobs go unfilled every year, but notes that some analysts say the figure is closer to 2 million. He says there's a classic supply-and-demand scenario working here, with demand for talent far exceeding supply. "The takeaway is there aren't enough of these workers," he says.

Here's a look at the top 10 most in-demand tech skills, as determined by the 29% of respondents to Computerworld's Forecast 2017 survey who said they plan to increase head count in the next 12 months.

If you're a manager looking to hire people with these skills, be prepared -- it could take a while to find the right person. If you're an IT pro in possession of these skills, congratulations: Your services are in demand. If you intend to refresh your tech skills for 2017, start taking notes -- this is where the action will be in the upcoming year.

Computerworld

Programming/application development

35% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

Developers and programmers continue to be leading players in the IT world, with hiring managers citing programing and application development as the top skills they will be seeking in the upcoming year.

"Companies are still developing software and applications," says Jack Cullen, president of IT staffing firm Modis. Companies need tech pros who can customize off-the-shelf applications, work on APIs and integration points, and even develop proprietary software -- yes, that's still happening, even in the age of software as a service (SaaS). Systems need to be maintained and updated, which further sustains the need for developers and programmers.

Because of the strong demand for these specialists, organizations have to pay top dollar to attract talent. In fact, Cullen says he sees employers trying to entice top candidates to leave their current positions by making them offers that exceed their current salaries by upwards of 15%.

Help desk/technical support

35% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

BCU's Zulpo is looking for a new service desk manager to replace someone who recently left. He says he knows he's competing with many other employers as he tries to recruit help desk talent, but he still has high standards for this hire.

"We're looking for someone who not only can handle tickets coming in but can help us bring in best practices, policies and procedures," Zulpo says.

Help desk staff remains in high demand because technology is so pervasive, says Rafi Khan, the former CIO at Riverside Community Care and now a senior consultant at Open Minds, a health and human services management consultancy.

That's also why it's critical to find the right people for these jobs. Even though support technician is sometimes seen as an entry-level position, Khan says companies often require candidates to have broad knowledge about different hardware and software systems so they can handle requests from all over the organization.

IT staffing firm Robert Half Technology lists help desk and desktop support professionals (especially Tier 2 and Tier 3 personnel) among the most in-demand tech workers for 2017. It says annual salaries range from $36,000 to $51,750 for Tier 1 workers, and from $60,000 to $80,500 for Tier 3 professionals.

Security/compliance/governance

26% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

As manager of information management systems at the Central Pension Fund, Gregory Drauch oversees nine people who support 70 employees at the Washington, D.C., nonprofit organization. He says he's now assessing what skills he needs for the upcoming year but already expects to add security competencies to the mix.

"Security is an ever-evolving threat, and it takes work to make sure your own skills are up to date," he says.

As an IT leader at a small organization with a small tech team, Drauch sees the need for all IT staffers to have security proficiencies so that infrastructure and data security become routine parts of everyone's duties. "If it's not built in from the start, security is much more difficult to incorporate effectively," he says.

Drauch plans to hire a consultant to help him strengthen the organization's security posture and engage a managed security service provider for penetration testing. He hopes to use both to train existing team members in current best practices and security technologies -- because the high salary that a full-time security professional commands in the current market is a stretch for an organization of Central Pension Fund's size.

Karsten Scherer, the global analyst relations lead at TEKsystems, says even companies that are able to pay top dollar have trouble finding seasoned security professionals, particularly individuals with recognized credentials such as the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP). "There are far fewer people in the market than there are jobs for them," he says.

Cloud/SaaS

26% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

Peter Danchak has been in IT for more than 25 years, the past 16 at Data Recognition Corp. (DRC), where he's now a systems administrator. Over the years, he has seen several companies, including his own, migrate more and more infrastructure to the cloud.

Danchak now works mostly with cloud technologies, supporting integration and engineering the architecture needed for a cloud environment. He says he gained the necessary skills through independent study and company-sponsored training -- and those skills have been welcome additions to his resume.

"The cloud environment is growing so fast, it's creating many new opportunities for businesses and workers," Danchak says.

There's no single skill associated with cloud computing or SaaS; rather, companies are looking for a range of experiences and skills in candidates for cloud-related positions, says Sean Dowling, a partner at staffing firm WinterWyman and manager of recruiting strategy in the firm's technology contract staffing division.

"Cloud architects, software engineers with cloud or AWS [Amazon Web Services] experience, DevOps engineers -- you see [ads for those people] all day long," he says, noting that help-wanted posts for system administrators and network engineers who have cloud experience are also plentiful.

Business intelligence/analytics

26% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

As manager of data analytics for North Carolina healthcare system Mission Health, Arun Murugesan has seen his team grow from two people to 35 in just a few years. He expects to hire 15 to 20 people in the next couple of years as his organization seeks to gain greater insights from the data it collects.

"There has been a huge surge in [the number of] people harnessing the power of data," he says. Healthcare companies have put a particularly high premium on BI and analytics skills, but the insurance and financial services industries, the retail sector and other industries are also driving demand for these specialists.

"Companies want to mine their data to gain a competitive advantage," says John Reed, senior executive director of Robert Half Technology, explaining that companies need tech pros who can turn data into insights that senior leaders can use to understand buying patterns and industry trends and ultimately drive business strategy.

Top candidates for BI and analytics jobs often have math, engineering and statistical backgrounds, Reed says. They know how to use specific BI tools and are skilled in data-related programming languages such as SQL. They're also business-savvy and are able to mine the data to show ways to improve revenue or cut costs or otherwise deliver competitive advantages.

Web development

26% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

The internet is the vehicle that organizations use to connect employees, clients, partners and customers, so it's not surprising that the job of web developer remains a staple in the IT team, and that talented web developers continue to be in demand even as companies add social and mobile platforms to their portfolios.

WinterWyman's Dowling says companies are hiring both full-time web developers and contractors at a fast clip. Employers are particularly interested in technologists skilled in front-end development, so they're searching for people with HTML, CSS and JavaScript expertise.

"The website is your storefront; you need a slick interface that supports content and connects with other systems," Dowling says.

Companies are continually updating and innovating in this area, Dowling says, and that's one of the big reasons why web development expertise is among the top 10 most sought-after skills.

According to recent statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, demand for web developers will grow significantly faster than demand for other tech professionals. According to BLS estimates, by 2024 the number of web development jobs is likely to have grown 27% from 2014 levels, translating into 148,500 additional jobs. The average projected rate of growth for all IT jobs in that same time frame is 12%.

Computerworld

Database administration

25% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

Database administration "is a skill set that is not going away," says Kitty Brandtner, who connects Chicago-area companies with IT talent through her role at recruiting firm LaSalle Network. Case in point: Brandtner says there's not a month where her firm doesn't see demand for SQL programmers and other skills related to database administration.

According to the most recent statistics from the BLS, it's a good time to be -- or become -- a database administrator (DBA). The agency has pegged the rate of growth in employment opportunities for these professionals at 11% from 2014 to 2024 -- a pace that would add an additional 13,400 jobs.

Employers expect top DBAs to have a range of skills. Proficiency in data modeling and database design rank high, as does the ability to ensure database performance and data integrity, recruiters say.

DBAs also need to understand the user experience to ensure that data is of good quality from the time it is input, says Michelle Beveridge, CIO at Intrepid Group, an adventure travel company. Beveridge has one database administrator on staff and may hire another in a year or so. She says based on the market for this position, she's already expecting a challenge.

"It's hard to find DBAs who can put themselves in the shoes of the user as a means to improving data quality," Beveridge says. "Many DBAs think in terms of data rules, mandatory input requirements and data structures rather than close examination of the business processes behind the data collection."

Project management

25% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

Over the past 18 months, BCU's Zulpo set up a project management office with a half-dozen professionals to shepherd the credit union's growing number of projects. He says he's now looking to add one more professional to his staff to keep up with the volume of work.

His expectations for this candidate are high: He's looking for someone with a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification, a master's degree and a track record of successfully managing projects, as well as the ability to collaborate with various business partners and juggle multiple projects.

"This is a highly visible person," Zulpo says, and given his lengthy list of desired qualities, he knows he might need three to six months to fill the position. But a lengthy search is worth the trouble because hiring that wrong person would be costly -- a situation that "that applies to all our positions across IT."

Zulpo's comments mirror what other hiring managers are saying about project management, according to TEKsystems' Hayman. They expect candidates to have certifications and solid experience. Moreover, candidates must show they understand the technical and functional elements of the role and that they can communicate with people and lead teams. And on top of that they must be good cultural fits, too.

Computerworld

Big data

25% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

Companies are inundated with information harvested from various sources, and they need experienced people to extract insights and value from the wealth of structured and unstructured data they have amassed, says Matt Leighton, director of recruiting for Mondo.

Leighton says companies want big data pros who are able to build out current data sets and have experience in specific technologies such as Hadoop and Oracle. They're also looking for engineers and architects who know big-data-oriented computer languages, such as Scala. And they want people with experience in specific industries, because industry experience helps big data professionals derive insights and value from the firehose of data.

Mobile applications and device management

21% of respondents with hiring plans said they will be seeking people with this skill in the next 12 months.

Several years into the mobile revolution, mobile initiatives are still top of mind for IT leaders and their companies: Expertise in mobile apps and mobile device management are still among the 10 most sought-after IT skills, and 35% of the respondents to Computerworld's Forecast survey said they plan to increase spending on mobile applications in 2017, making mobile the No. 2 spending priority for the year.

Reltio, a data management firm in Redwood Shores, Calif., doesn't deploy its own mobile apps, yet managers still need staffers who understand mobile, says Ramon Chen, who oversees personnel and recruiting as chief marketing officer and head of product management.

"We want our existing platform and applications to deploy in a browser-responsive manner, meaning the same code knows when it's running on mobile and that it should display in a mobile-friendly way," he says. And for that to happen, he needs IT employees with mobile app development know-how.

Reltio currently doesn't have mobile-only job titles. Instead, it expects all of its developers to have mobile skills as part of their repertoires. Chen is, however, currently seeking two specialists -- a user interface (UI) designer and a senior UI designer -- to help the company carry out its strategy of delivering on mobile and, more specifically, to help create the best user interfaces and user experiences.

"We want someone who doesn't just design [the mobile app] but also manages it once it's built and in use," he says. "These people need to be customer-facing, too, to be able to get feedback about what [users] like and don't like."

Chen's approach to hiring for these positions, and for mobile skills overall, mirrors the strategies of other IT leaders. He says he wants candidates with the required skills, but he also wants people who fit culturally. Yes, he concedes, it's tough to land people like that in a job market where competition for mobile talent is fierce. But he's willing to take upwards of three months to find the right individuals.

Head over to Facebook to add in your comments.

This story, "Security among the hottest tech skills for 2017" was originally published by Computerworld .
U.S. lawmakers are pushing for a government probe into whether Russia may have interfered with the presidential election by hacking high-profile political targets.

On Wednesday, two Democratic representatives unveiled legislation that proposes to form a 12-member bipartisan commission to investigate the electronic means Russia may have used to influence the U.S. election.

"Regardless of whether you voted for Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, or anyone else, Russias attacks on our election are an attempt to degrade our democracy," said Representative Elijah Cummings of Maryland, one of the sponsors of the bill.

Back in October, U.S. intelligence agencies publicly blamed the Russian government for sponsoring several high-profile hacks designed to sway public opinion during the election cycle, however, no specific evidence was provided.

The hacks included a breach at the Democratic National Committee that stole sensitive emails, which were later leaked online. Independent security experts have also blamed the incident on Russian cyberspies, due in part to the malware used, but the countrys government has denied any involvement.

The proposed commission would investigate the DNC breach, in addition to hacking activity that stole emails from Hillary Clinton aide John Podesta and former Secretary of State Colin Powell. It would also look into potential hacking attempts of three state election systems, as well as efforts to promote fake news during the U.S. election.

The panel would also investigate other foreign governments and individuals that tried to influence the election. The commission would provide recommendations on ways to prevent future tampering.

On Tuesday, a group of Democratic lawmakers also sent a letter to President Barack Obama, urging his administration to provide a classified briefing to lawmakers on what U.S. intelligence agencies know about Russian attempts to tamper with this year's election.

However, President-elect Donald Trump voiced doubts that Russia was involved in any election-related hacking.

"I dont believe they interfered," Trump said, according to an interview with Time magazine published on Wednesday.

"It could be Russia. And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey," Trump said.

But despite Trumps skepticism, the calls for a more formal probe into the alleged hacking appear to be growing among U.S. lawmakers. Also on Wednesday, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said he would also lead an inquiry into the suspected Russian election hacking through congressional subcommittees, according to CNN.

"I think Trump should take a real tough tone with Russia," Graham said. "Because if he doesnt, youre going to allow Russia to break apart alliances."

Security experts predict Russian cyberspies will probably carry out similar hacks in Europe to sway elections held there.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Two friends who enjoyed the hobby of cutting and burning wood are now looking to turn everyone into Blazers with their Greenwich-based firewood and lifestyle company.

Were wood-burning freaks  its a part of our fabric, Greatest Blaze Co-Owner Paul Borde said.

For years, Borde and his business partner John Heffernan have shared the common interest. Three years ago, they broadened their pastime into a small business selling their high-quality firewood and delivering it for free.

Now, they still offer free delivery service for Fairfield and Westchester counties, but the business has grown and theyre both looking to make Greatest Blaze their full-time job.

The company began its expansion by selling some fire-related products, such as firewood racks and firestarters and quickly grew into a brand selling a variety of merchandise that fits into its outdoorsy lifestyle.

We are a premium brand and want to be the authority on all the greatest products, Borde said.

Aside from popular custom firewood racks, carriers and blow pokes, Greatest Blaze also offers dog beds, outdoor decorations and apparel for Blazers, its term for people who enjoy burning firewood.

The Greatest Blaze name has gained enough traction that companies have started seeking out the owners to carry their products. This led to Greatest Blaze adding a high-end grill made by a Louisiana company to its lifestyle brand.

The owners want to transition into being an all-encompassing brand, but Borde emphasized their focus will remain on their passion  the firewood.

He described their business plan as a dartboard. The rings encompassing the bullseye represent their apparel and fire accessories, and the bullseye will always depict the firewood at the center of their business.

Borde, Heffernan, and their newest partner Kathleen Long, said because of this they offer top-of-the-line, kiln-dried Pinon firewood.

Pinon firewood comes mostly from the high-altitude areas of Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico and is produced by Alamo Navajo tribe members. Then, its kiln-dried to take out all the moisture. That makes it better for burning and means customers can stack it in their homes without attracting bugs, Borde said.

The other advantage of the Pinon wood is its pleasant aroma. Borde advises Blazers to burn it outside so they can enjoy the smell.

In its most recent partnership, Greatest Blaze began working with Ernie Kneuer, General Manager of The Market at Guss. Inside the market and butchery, a Greatest Blaze display shows off its products and a pile of firewood flanks the doors. Also, The Market at Guss will provide beef, seafood and catering services for joint ventures that including tailgates and charity events.

Greatest Blaze additionally has plans to expand its firewood delivery service to The Hamptons and other parts of Long Island.

To find out more about Greatest Blaze visit www.greatestblaze.com/.

MBennett@hearstmediact.com, 203-625-4411; Twitter @Macaela_
BRIDGEPORT - The city may have gotten rid of a potential terrorist but now hes New Yorks problem.

Necati Harsit, a Turkish citizen, was ordered by a judge to go back to Rochester, N.Y., after she dismissed charges here in connection with Harsit stalking a family.

But WHAM 13, an ABC affiliate in Rochester, is now reporting that Harsit is being investigated as a possible terrorist threat there after he was found with three loaded handguns under peculiar circumstances.

New York authorities said on Dec. 5, the 54-year-old Harsit walked into a bank in rural Irondequoit and began removing loaded handguns from a safe deposit drawer he had rented.

Authorities said Harsit kissed each weapon as he took it out of the drawer, mumbled something in Turkish and then put each gun into a large wheeled cooler.

Harsit then told a witness he was going to a massacre, authorities said. He was later charged with three counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

On Aug. 9, Bridgeport went into a terrorist alert after Harsit was found to have a car loaded with jugs of an unidentified liquid after he was stopped for following a terrified family in their RV.

The situation began, police said, when the family, two parents and four children, contacted police that an older white Chevrolet Impala had been on their bumper all the way from the Bronx. Police said the family did not know Harsit.

The family pulled into a church parking lot off the Route 8/25 Connector and the Impala followed them.

When officers arrived Harsit was sitting behind the wheel of the car with a scarf over his head. When they asked him why he had been following the family police said he replied, Because I want to.

Police said there was about $14,000 in cash in the cars center console and the backseat and floor were filled with jugs containing an unidentified liquid.

The liquid was later determined to be a floral cologne diluted in water.

Prosecutors later said Harsit had been driving from Rochester to Long Island but apparently became lost and ended following the family in the hope they could lead him to his destination.

Harsit was charged with six counts of stalking and six counts of breach of peace and was being held in lieu of $250,000 bond.

Police said they notified Homeland Security of the arrest but no one responded.

On Sept. 22, Superior Court Judge Maureen Dennis dismissed the case against Harsit after prosecutors told her they no longer intended to pursue it.

The judge then released Harsit on the condition that he immediately go with relatives to their home in Rochester.

Harsits former lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Thomas Paoletta, declined comment.
Six top pharmaceutical executives and managers, formerly employed by Insys Therapeutics, Inc., were arrested Thursday on charges that they led a nationwide conspiracy to bribe medical practitioners, including a nurse at a pain clinic in Derby.

In a sweeping indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, federal prosecutors charged the former CEO and president of the Arizona-based company, Michael Babich, two former vice presidents, and three other managers with paying kickbacks to practitioners in several states, many of whom operated pain clinics, in order to get them to prescribe a fentanyl-based pain medication.

The medication, Subsys, is a powerful narcotic intended to treat cancer patients suffering intense episodes of breakthrough pain. In exchange for kickbacks, the practitioners wrote large numbers of prescriptions for the patients, most of whom were not diagnosed with cancer, the indictment says.

Prosecutors also allege that the former executives conspired to mislead and defraud health insurance providers, who were reluctant to approve payment for the drug when it was prescribed for non-cancer patients.

One of the 10 practitioners referenced in the indictment is Heather Alfonso, formerly an advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) at the Comprehensive Pain and Headache Treatment Center in Derby, who has pleaded guilty to accepting kickbacks from Insys, through a sham speakers program, in exchange for prescribing Subsys. She is cooperating with investigators as she awaits sentencing.

According to the indictment, Alfonso signed a speaker agreement with Insys in November 2012 that committed her to engage in speakers program events, intended to promote the benefits of Subsys to other practitioners. At the time, Alec Burlakoff, former vice president of sales and one of those charged Thursday, emailed an Insys manager for Connecticut, urging the manager to get her dates and places lined up.

In June 2013, the Insys sales manager for Connecticut expressed frustration that Alfonso was writing an average of only 0.9 Subsys prescriptions a week and had not motivated any new prescriber as of yet to prescribe Subsys. But by September, the indictment says, Alfonso was averaging three prescriptions a week.

Between December 2012 and April 2015, insurers and pharmacy benefit managers authorized payment for approximately 556 Subsys prescriptions written by Alfonso, according to the indictment. At the same time, Insys paid her about $80,000 in kickbacks for participating in sham speakers programs, many of which were mere social gatherings attended by friends and clinic office staff.

A previous C-HIT story reported that Alfonso and three other former nurses at the clinic were responsible for nearly all of the states Medicare spending on Subsys prescriptions in 2014. None of the other nurses has been charged, and the clinic, located in Griffin Hospital, and a Meriden affiliate remain in operation.

Babich is charged with conspiracy to commit racketeering, conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Law. Along with Burlakoff, of North Carolina, Richard Simon of California, former national director of sales, and former regional sales directors Sunrise Lee of Michigan and Joseph Rowan of Florida are charged with RICO conspiracy, mail fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Law. Michael Gurry of Arizona, former vice president of managed markets, is charged with RICO conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy.

Messages left at Insys offices Thursday were not returned.

This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team (www.c-hit.org).
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

SHERMAN - Robert Stackowitz, who fled a Georgia prison more than 48 years ago and lived quietly for decades in Sherman, died Monday, his attorney confirmed.

Stackowitz, 71, who was known to neighbors as Bob Gordon, was finally tracked down in May after filing for Social Security benefits. He had been running from police since August 1968, when he escaped from the infirmary at the Carroll County Prison Work Camp, where he was serving 17-year prison sentencing for robbery by force.

During extradition hearings, Stackowitz's attorneys argued that he was too ill to make the journey back to Georgia, citing an array of illnesses including heart failure, bladder cancer, diabetes and circulatory problems. They urged state officials not to sign an extradition order.

Georgia parole officials dropped the extradition request in September after reviewing Stackowitz's medical file.

That outcome was a huge relief to Stackowitz, said his attorney, Kevin Smith.

"He was terrified every time we would go to court that it would be the day he was hauled back to a Georgia prison," Smith said. "We always said that kind of trip could have been fatal for him.

"If there were ever any doubters as to his health condition, hopefully this puts that to rest," he said.

In October, a state Superior Court judge dismissed the fugitive from justice charge and state probation officials agreed to supervise his release from custody.

"This is not a granted parole, but a released based on his medical/health condition," board spokesman Steve Hayes said.

It was the first time in more than 48 years that Stackowitz, who was too ill to attend the hearing, could walk down the street without having to look over his shoulder, Smith said.

"He was greatly relieved knowing that he wouldn't have to return to Georgia," Smith said.

Stackowitz's health declined sharply late last week, Smith said, and he was sent to Danbury Hospital over the weekend.

He added that Stackowitz lived in a prison of his own during the final months of his life because of his failing health. He slept in a recliner, Smith said, and rarely went farther than the 15 feet to his kitchen table, which was stacked with medications he took in the course of the day.

"Being incarcerated in Georgia probably wouldn't have been a lot different than his daily existence," Smith said. "Our concern was always that the travel could be fatal."

dperrefort@newstimes.com
File photo

FAIRFIELD  Police sent a letter to school district parents Monday about reports of an increase in rude, intimidating and physically obstructive behaviors by juveniles loitering without legitimate purpose at the Fairfield Woods branch of the towns public library.

Lt. Eddie Weihe, the school safety unit supervisor, wrote in the letter that concerns included vandalism and destruction of property, disruption of elderly patrons, safety risks by the children to themselves and causing of liabilities to the library branch.
Niche.com, an education ranking and review site, released its 2017 findings for the most diverse high schools in the country. Using data from the U.S. Department of Education along with reviews from students and parents, the site ranked 13,357 U.S. public high schools.

Click through the slideshow to see the 10 most diverse high schools in Connecticut. Visit Niche for the full list.
Cuban National Ballet continues work despite sorrow for Fidels passing

Submitted by: Juana

Dance

Havana

Personalities

12 / 05 / 2016



Prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso, director of the Cuban National Ballet, said that, despite the sorrow they feel for the passing of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, the company is working on the traditional January 1st Gala to celebrate the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution.

The performance will take place at the Garcia Lorca hall, in the Alicia Alonso Grand Theater, and includes the production of the Nutcracker, a classic the BNC hasnt done in many years, Alonso said.

Fidel is not gone, we continue with the same spirit he left us, of working and moving forwardwe have many young dancers that are improving really fast and that is the idea,  Pedro Simon, her husband, said

Days after the death of the Cuban leader, the BNC issued a communique where it highlighted his legacy and impact on Cuban culture, For that and for always, we say Thank you, Fidel Alicia wrote in the condolences book.

According to Granma newspaper the prima ballerina had spoken many times on the close relation of Fidel with ballet.

Simon announced that the BNC will tour Central America and Europe, and that four pairs of young dancers will travel to Baja California. (acn)
Cuban and US officials to meet in Havana on Wednesday

Delegations from Cuba and the United States will meet in Havana tomorrow, December 7, for the fifth session of the Bilateral Commission, Cubaminrex site reported. The Cuban delegation is chaired by Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, Director General for the United States in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and its US counterpart is headed by Mari Carmen Aponte, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. The agreements of the fourth meeting, held on September 30 in Washington, will be reviewed and a balance will be made on the results achieved since the creation in August 2015 of the Bilateral Commission as a mechanism to follow up on the ties between the two countries, after the reestablishment of diplomatic relations. In addition, there will be defined actions to be held in coming weeks to progress in the process of improving relations, including high-level visits, new cooperation agreements in areas of common interest, technical meetings and dialogues on issues of bilateral interest. The representatives of Cuba will ratify that the lifting of the financial, economic and commercial blockade; the return of the territory illegally occupied by the Naval Base at Guantanamo; and the elimination of subversive radio transmissions will be essential to normalize relations between Cuba and the United States.
Finally: GOP sees a REAL chance under Trump to cut the size of the federal bureaucracy

(BigGovernment.news) In the modern political era, few serious observers believed there would ever again come a time to dramatically cut the size, scope and power of the sprawling federal bureaucracy. But now with President-elect Donald J. Trump set to take over the Executive Branch, the Republican majority in Congress is eyeing a real opportunity to slash the federal workforce, saving taxpayers hundreds of millions a year in payroll while making ordinary life much less complicated.

As reported by Roll Call, a plan to slash the federal workforce and deregulate our lives is being readied by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, which would include major changes to the federal workforces extremely generous pension programs:

For years, Republicans in Congress have been eyeing an overhaul of the federal workforce  by reducing the number of workers and curtailing benefits and pay while making it easier to fire bad employees.

Now, with a president-elect who has promised to do much the same, 2017 could be the best time in recent memory to make sweeping changes affecting those who work for the bureaucracy.

One major plan is being readied by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The Utah Republican calls it high on our agenda. While details remain sketchy, it would likely mean big changes to the generous retirement benefits given federal workers, mainly by looking to shift new employees from a defined benefit into a market-based 401(k).

He is also interested in making it easier to fire workers who perform badly and wants to reduce the federal civilian workforce, which currently numbers 2.1 million employees, not including U.S. Postal Service employees.

Weve got to deal with budget realities, and while we have good federal workers, we have too many of them, he told Roll Call.

During his campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to take on the burdensome federal bureaucracy, and hell be in a good position to do it, even without congressional help. The federal bureaucracy answers to the Executive Branch  the president, in other words  and policy is carried out according to the presidents wishes. But also, when you have a businessman-turned-president who has actually experienced the negative (and expensive) effects of too much regulation on the private sector, it will be much easier to accomplish the goal of reducing regulatory burdens on small businesses, corporations, industrial operations and the private sector.

As for Chaffetzs plan, he envisions using some form of attrition  not replacing a number of retiring federal workers (with national security positions exempted)  to curtail the size of the federal workforce, Roll Call reported.

With fewer personnel in the workforce and a president who will likely favor deregulation over imposing hundreds of billions of dollars more in rules regulations on an already strangled U.S. economy, Republicans will get another chance to make good on earlier promises of reducing the size of the federal government. Lets hold them to their word.

More:

 2016 USA Features Media.
COLUMBUS  Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce President K.C. Belitz heard from three people looking to move to Columbus on Monday alone.

Thats not an unusual day, he told Columbus City Council members.

The problem theyre running into in their relocation efforts also isnt uncommon here. They simply cant find affordable housing in Columbus.

There are tremendous numbers of people wanting to move here, Belitz said.

The chamber official said Columbus has an extraordinary opportunity to capitalize on manufacturing growth within the city, but thats not likely to happen unless more housing is available.

Weve got to figure out how to take advantage of that opportunity, he said.

There are an estimated 1,100 unfilled jobs in the Columbus area, according to Councilman John Lohr, and approximately 8,000 people commute to the city to work. Many of those people would like to live here, he said.

Lohr, who is active with the League of Nebraska Municipalities, said communities across the state are looking for ways to provide more low- and moderate-income housing.

Yet, a proposal that could spur this construction locally isnt gliding through the city council.

Council members decided Monday night to hold off on a vote that would allow local sales tax revenue to support housing development.

The money would come from the citys economic development fund, which receives one-tenth of the local 1 percent sales tax, up to $300,000 annually, to provide financial support for projects in Columbus. That money is typically issued as a loan to businesses looking to start or expand operations here, but the state Legislature amended the rules for LB840 dollars this year, adding work force housing to the list of acceptable uses.

This includes both single-family housing and market-rate multifamily housing that address a local housing shortage.

While Belitz and Lohr believe the change is needed to combat a labor shortage in Columbus, three local rental property owners showed up Monday night to oppose the plan.

John Curry told the council backing housing projects with sales tax money would create an uneven playing field that could deter existing developers.

Its not fair, he said. Its not balanced.

He also argued that housing projects dont provide an economic benefit for taxpayers. Instead, he believes building more low- and moderate-income housing will only create more competition for local jobs and encourage manufacturers to keep their wages flat.

Long-term, its a negative for our community to just keep growing low-income jobs, he said while urging the council to focus the economic development money on bringing in companies that offer high-paying positions.

Curry said it should be the responsibility of local employers to development this housing, not the city.

According to Lohr, there are some employers here willing to make a major commitment to develop more low- and moderate-income housing.

Its not as though theyre willing to just take the money and run, he said. They want to participate because it is to their benefit.

Lohr also views housing as an important issue for the city because more people likely translates to more sales tax revenue.

Mayor Jim Bulkley noted that the sales tax money would be available to local developers as well as those from out of town, so anybody could take advantage of the opportunity.

Its being presented as a tool for everyone, he said.

The council must amend the citys economic development plan, which was approved by voters in 2006, to make the change. They decided Monday night to push a potential vote back to Feb. 6 so more input from citizens, developers and manufacturers can be gathered.

I think we all still need a lot more information, Council President Charlie Bahr said.

Belitz, who is also a member of the committee that reviews requests for the economic development money, said he welcomes the conversation.

Its not a problem, he said of the demand for housing here. This is an opportunity.
Somerset County Treasurer will 'do what it takes' for best returns
COLUMBUS  There are plenty of hugs and tears every time Dean and Carolyn Athey visit the people of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua.

But their upcoming trip will be extra emotional. It could be the final time the local couple sees the people theyve helped care for and medical professionals theyve worked alongside over the past seven years.

The Atheys have developed strong relationships in the Central American country since they started traveling there with a local medical missionary team in 2010.

You feel like youre going down to see your family again, said Carolyn Athey, who will make her seventh trip in February to the poor, underserved city along Nicaraguas northeast coast. She missed one year following the birth of a grandchild.

Dean Athey has been a constant with the group, which was originally organized by Dr. Nila Novotny and included several local medical professionals and volunteers.

The Columbus Medical Mission Team has since branched out to serve in other locations, including Haiti and Kenya, but the Atheys continue to focus their attention on Nicaragua. Their group is now known as Global Passion Ministries-Nebraska.

Weve accomplished a lot, and there is still a lot to accomplish down there, Dean Athey said.

The Atheys, who are joined by Tamra Boettcher, a registered nurse at the local internal medicine clinic operated by CHI Health; Karl and Sue Tillinghast, former Columbus residents who now live in Lincoln; and Alicia Henderson, have seen plenty of changes in Puerto Cabezas over the years.

Their rooms at the compound now have air conditioning  though there isnt hot water  and electricity is more reliable at the former open-air army barracks that now serves as a hospital.

They have really fixed up the hospital. You can tell that theyre taking more pride, said Boettcher, a member of five of the eight mission trips.

The medical care also has evolved.

The team, which also includes a group from California, used to swoop in, perform medical procedures for a week, then leave. Now physicians and nurses from Nicaragua are part of the effort.

To have seen this evolve into the Nicaraguans helping their own people has really been a highlight, Dean Athey said.

The medical team initially performed a variety of general ear, nose and throat surgeries but has since shifted to predominantly focus on cleft lips and palates. These birth defects are a common occurrence in the poverty-stricken area, where the groundwater is contaminated and pregnant women are exposed to high levels of carbon dioxide while cooking with wood-burning stoves inside unventilated huts.

The malformations can impact a childs ability to eat and cause them to be ostracized by their family or village.

Those (surgeries) have a huge impact on those children and their families and their communities, Dean Athey said.

Because of the lack of access to health care in the region, many people travel for days to see the American medical team.

In addition to health care services, the group also selects a special project each year to benefit the community. Theyve helped out the hospital, a local orphanage and school and provided money to improve a public feeding station that provides meals to hundreds of children each day.

Each project is selected based on the needs they see while serving in Puerto Cabezas.

The need just seems to scream out at you, Dean Athey said. It just becomes very obvious to us, very clear to us as soon as we see it.

The group uses monetary donations and proceeds from fundraisers in Columbus and Lincoln to help pay for the trips and special projects.

Dean Athey said finding local support for their cause has never been difficult, whether its people opening their pocketbooks, donating items or sewing dresses and baby blankets for young patients.

Weve always been surprised on how generous this community has been and continues to be, he said.

The Atheys and Tillinghasts plan to make their final trips to Nicaragua in February.

Dean Athey, who retired from his job as an anesthetist at Columbus Community Hospital earlier this year and works part time at Columbus Surgery Center, said the intensity of the work there led to this decision.

I just feel that this is the time, he said.

Its going to be hard, said Carolyn Athey. Its going to be very hard to say goodbye.

Boettcher, who will continue working with the medical team, hopes to recruit other local volunteers to fill the open spots.

Her involvement extends far beyond the medical services the group provides.

Its a spiritual trip, too, Boettcher said. It strengthens my faith. Its just a renewal every year, for myself especially.
COLUMBUS  In rural Nebraska, 90 percent of businesses have 10 or fewer employees, according to the Association for Enterprise Opportunity. So the ability to start, grow and maintain small businesses is crucial for rural economies.

The Rural Enterprise Assistance Project (REAP), a program under the Center for Rural Affairs, has helped Nebraska small business owners get off the ground since 1990. Every two years since 2007, REAP has conducted a Small Business Needs Assessment so it can better tailor its services.

In the latest assessment, which was released Monday, small business owners across the state agreed on a few necessities: capital, employees and marketing and advertising assistance.

Responses came from 78 of Nebraskas 93 counties, including Platte and every surrounding county except Polk. The majority of respondents were people who have been in business for more than one year. More than 85 percent of the businesses have 10 or fewer full-time employees.

That matches up pretty well with the demographics in Columbus, according to Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce President K.C. Belitz, who said approximately 650 of the chambers members fit this profile. By comparison, only 162 chamber members have more than 10 employees.

When asked what their greatest need was when starting a business, 119 of the 406 survey respondents said startup money, and a majority of those people listed the amount needed at less than $50,000. Those would be considered microloans and are not typically the purview of banks.

Thats where programs like REAP come into play, said Jeff Reynolds, REAP program director. Its upon us to sometimes take a risk.

Reynolds said five years ago REAP granted 60 microloans to small businesses. That number climbed to 123 loans granted in 2016.

Some cities, like Schuyler and Columbus, offer small business loans through economic development funds generated by local sales taxes. But its up to local governments to provide those loans, and they are not available everywhere.

Not all survey respondents said they needed a microloan  19.2 percent gave a number higher than $300,000. Because of federal regulations, Belitz said its become harder for business owners to secure those loans from banks. And Nebraska doesnt have an infrastructure of venture capitalists to fill that gap.

Alongside capital issues, many respondents said the cost of hiring new staff prohibits them from growing their business.

For many employers, that cost stems from the necessary time to train someone for their position. Belitz pointed out that in a market with a low unemployment rate, such as Columbus, theres a higher risk that an employee will leave after a company has invested in training them.

Its terribly expensive to have turnover, he said. But in this labor market you have turnover.

Another factor is the expected salary and growing cost of benefits, especially health care. Belitz said something has to be done legislatively to address the issue because the situation has become unsustainable.

Another need is marketing and advertising. Reynolds said the media landscape has changed so rapidly that small business owners dont know how to find and reach potential customers.

Theres a lot of people like me out there that need to be trained in how to do marketing on the internet, said Reynolds. And its not just enough to know how to do it. You need to have people around you that are proficient in that topic.

Some professional marketers have seized the opportunity by setting up shop in larger cities, but Reynolds said their fees are beyond what most small business owners can afford.

In 2008, REAPs survey found business owners needed help with bookkeeping. In response, the group developed bookkeeping training that Reynolds said is still highly utilized. He suggested that something similar may be developed to address the marketing and advertising need.

Another possible program under discussion is a credit-building loan for business owners who have nonexistent or bad credit. It would allow them to build their credit score and gain access to better financial resources.

After each survey, the REAP team goes on a retreat to work through a two-year plan that will take into consideration the needs given in the survey. The 2017 retreat will be in early March, after which the next two-year plan will be announced.
LINCOLN  A Nebraska lawmaker said he's disappointed by a recently released report about the state's failed attempt last year to purchase execution drugs from overseas.

The report released Monday by State Auditor Charlie Janssen details efforts by the Department of Correctional Services to buy more than $54,000 worth of drugs from a provider in India. Federal agencies blocked the drugs' import, and the broker refused to refund the state.

The report doesn't answer all of the questions posed by Sen. Ernie Chambers, an independent, and Democratic state Sen. Burke Harr.

Chambers said the report doesn't measure up to the standards of an audit and suggested it amounted to Republicans closing ranks. But Harr said he was pleased with the report and that it demonstrated the benefits of openness and transparency about executions.

Janssen, a Republican, defended the report, saying everything his office does is nonpartisan. He also noted that the report was not an audit because it doesn't include comments and recommendations on how agencies can improve operations.

"I was more on a fact-finding hunt," he said.

The corrections department has proposed a new protocol to allow the department director to choose which drug or drugs to use in executions. The plan also would allow the department to keep the drug supplier's identity secret. The current protocol for executions requires the use of three drugs, two of which were part of the failed purchase Chambers and Harr asked Janssen to look into.

One question left unanswered in the report was why the state didn't sue the broker, Chris Harris, for breach of contract by not refunding the money. Corrections officials said the contract did not have a provision for seeking a refund, and Harris said a refund was not possible "as there has been no fault of my company."
Last night's resounding 372 Commons majority calling on ministers to trigger Brexit before the end of March must surely put the matter beyond doubt.

Indeed, it would be perverse in the extreme if the Supreme Court were now to rule that the timing of withdrawal must go back to Parliament, giving die-hard Bremoaner MPs and unelected peers a chance to sabotage a policy backed by 17.4million voters.

As the court's president Lord Neuberger put it before last night's vote, with studied understatement: 'It would be a bit surprising if the Referendum Act and referendum had no effect in law.'

The real mystery is how 89 MPs had the appalling arrogance to dismiss the public's verdict by voting against the Government last night

Acutely, he added that the average person would think it 'a bit odd' if his court ruled that an Act of Parliament was needed to trigger Brexit, after both Houses had, in his own words, 'ceded authority to the people'. Fingers crossed, his fellow judges may yet come to the same conclusion.

Indeed, the real mystery is how 89 MPs had the appalling arrogance to dismiss the public's verdict by voting against the Government last night.

True, with their pretensions to independence  and a Remain majority north of the border  it is perhaps understandable that 51 Scottish Nationalist MPs refused to respect UK voters' demand for Brexit.

But as for the rest, who sit for English and Welsh constituencies, how can they look the electorate in the eye after delivering such an insult to democracy?

Significantly, they include five of the nine Liberal Democrats. Since there is clearly nothing remotely liberal or democratic about them, isn't it high time they changed their name?

A job for Sir Shifty?

When he has settled his debts to BHS pensioners, isn't he just the hard-headed type we need in charge of handling NHS suppliers  someone who can surpass their ruthlessness with his own?

Every so often taxpayers get a shocking glimpse of the way they are ripped off by companies charging extortionate prices to soft-touch public bodies.

Such a revelation came yesterday, when the competition watchdog fined drugs giant Pfizer and one of its distributors a record 89.4million after the firms dramatically overcharged the NHS for an anti-epilepsy treatment.

Disturbingly, the scandal came to light only because of the colossal scale of the rip-off, when an overnight increase of 2,600 per cent sent the bill to the health service rocketing from 2million in 2012 to some 50million in 2013.

Meanwhile, countless lesser swindles pass unexposed, with the NHS paying well over market prices for everything from laptops to lightbulbs.

So the Mail has a suggestion. Six years ago, retail tycoon Sir 'Shifty' Philip Green wrote a brilliant report (ignored by ministers), identifying massive waste in government procurement.

When he has settled his debts to BHS pensioners, isn't he just the hard-headed type we need in charge of handling NHS suppliers  someone who can surpass their ruthlessness with his own?

Indeed, if he managed to achieve anything like the economies of up to 80 per cent he identified in his 2010 report, this paper would be happy to rename him Sir Thrifty.

Our prayer for peace

Whisper it softly, but is it possible that Theresa May is right when she says the days of Islamic State are numbered?

Certainly, a series of reverses for these barbarians in Libya, Syria and Iraq offers strong hope they may be losing control of their last remaining territories.

Of course, their defeat could leave the dictator Bashar al-Assad in charge of Syria, while the humanitarian disaster caused by the war will drag on for years.
Being a peace-loving man, I am not often tempted to throw my radio at the wall. But I came very close on Tuesday morning when listening to an interview with Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, on Radio 4's Today programme.

Grayling was being asked about the latest wave of strikes which have brought Southern Railway trains to a halt, and prevented hundreds of thousands of commuters from getting to their work in London.

His response was that he would be prepared to meet the rail union leaders if they called off the strike. But he reminded listeners it was not his job to negotiate a settlement with the unions. It was a dispute between them and the rail company which runs Southern.

The message to Southern Railway, and its owner, Go-Ahead, should be simple. You've forfeited any right to keep your franchise

Doesn't this say it all? On the one hand, there is a weak and incompetent management which presides over a railway with the worse punctuality record in the country  which is saying something. On the other hand, there are selfish, Luddite trade unions which put interests of their members in front of those of passengers.

If there were ever an occasion when the Transport Secretary should intervene, this is it. Thousands of Southern passengers are being forced to wait for trains which may never come. On Tuesday alone, 1,100 of them were cancelled. People arrive late at work  tired, cross, misused and sometimes tearful  or not at all.

London prides itself on being a 'world city', but I can tell you that the most run-down, chaotic Third World city imaginable would not tolerate the kind of daily disruption that is being organised by the destructive duopoly of Southern Railway and the rail unions.

So it is a dereliction of duty for Mr Grayling to say he'd be prepared to meet the leaders of the Aslef trade union if they call off their succession of damaging strikes, which have been blighting people's lives since April. He should summon each side and tell them that, in a modern developed economy, the Government will not allow them to treat passengers worse than cattle.

The message to Southern Railway, and its owner, Go-Ahead, should be simple. You've forfeited any right to keep your franchise. Even before the latest strikes, Southern offered an inexcusably unreliable service, with fewer than 60 per cent of trains arriving near schedule.

Over the years, its senior executives have pocketed huge salaries and bonuses. Last year, David Brown, the chief executive of Go-Ahead, trousered 2.2 million for delivering the worst train service in Europe, though even he will be forced a take pay cut this year.

It is a dereliction of duty for Mr Grayling to say he'd be prepared to meet the leaders of the Aslef trade union if they call off their succession of damaging strikes

Grayling must tell Southern what his predecessor, Patrick McLoughlin, lacked the courage or nous to. It's over. Almost anyone could run the franchise better, and some rail companies (for example, the efficient and imaginative German-owned Chiltern Railways) would provide a far superior service.

Do not think, by the way, that the suffering of Southern Railway passengers is unique. It is simply the experience of many millions of us writ large. I doubt that my habitual train from Oxford to London arrives punctually more than one time out of 50, and people often have to stand. One way or another, most of us are being let down by a dysfunctional rail system.

So far as Southern is concerned, the crucial point is that even when the present run of strikes ends, as it eventually must, it will still be incapable of operating a proper railway for its 300,000 daily passengers (or 'customers' as they are now idiotically called). That is why the company must be stripped of its franchise.

But it would be idle to suggest that this alone will solve the problem. For Southern, like much of the rail network, is being held to ransom by intransigent, greedy and bloody-minded trade unionists whose mindset is indistinguishable from their predecessors who helped to bring the British motor and shipbuilding industries to a standstill in the Seventies.

The driver's union Aslef has been making the running along with guards belonging to the RMT union. The latter group objects to the introduction of more driver-only operated trains on the spurious grounds of safety, even though independent inspectors have given the new arrangements a clean bill of health.

No jobs are threatened, at any rate in the foreseeable future, and no pay-cut is proposed. But like the obstreperous print unions of the Seventies and Eighties who refused to accept new technology  and practically put the newspaper industry out of business  these myopic dinosaurs stand in the way of progress, serving their own interests rather than those of passengers.

As both unions are pretty Hard Left, it's a fair bet that they also have political motives. Chris Grayling has accused them of mounting 'politically motivated' strikes. Since the constituencies of 16 Tory MPs are affected by the stoppages (which are set to last until Christmas and beyond), he may well have a point.

All the more reason for him and the Government to get tough with these trades unions, whose activities are wrecking the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. However grossly deficient the management of Southern Railway may be, the anarchy unleashed by the unions demands even more urgent action.

Does Mr Grayling have a sensible plan? It seems not. May I therefore put one in his head by reminding him of what President Ronald Reagan successfully did in the United States when his administration was thwarted by over-mighty trades unions?

On August 5, 1981, Reagan fired more than 11,000 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored his order to return to work

On August 5, 1981, he fired more than 11,000 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored his order to return to work. Some 3,000 supervisors were joined by 2,000 non-striking controllers and 900 military controllers to keep the service going. Before long, 80 per cent of flights were operating normally. The strikers never got their old jobs back.

What this episode showed was that no group of workers  regardless of any blackmail tactics  are indispensable if employers are prepared to stand up to them. It is a lesson which the media tycoon Rupert Murdoch showed he had learnt in 1986 when he removed his printing operations overnight to a plant in Wapping, where he employed efficient (and well-paid) non-union labour.

It is outrageous that in a supposedly civilised country, a handful of selfish, politically motivated trade unionists should be allowed to ruin the lives of men and women whose only wish is that they should be able to work in order to provide for themselves and their families.

I accept, of course, that the air traffic controllers in the U.S. were government employees, whereas striking rail workers are employed by a private company. But in both cases we see an abuse of monopoly power. A self-serving minority threatens the interests of the general public.

If Mr Grayling has a better idea, perhaps he could tell us. I fear that at the moment he doesn't know what to do. Here is a man who has often talked the talk in his political life, yet as a Cabinet minister is proving disappointingly ineffectual.

Meanwhile, the Church of England has rather idiotically offered a characteristically anodyne statement about the 'moral duty' of both parties in the dispute to end the 'circle of blame'. But this is surely not a conflict in which God should be expected to intervene when it is within the competence of mere mortals to solve the problem.
There is a new buzz-word at the BBC. It's been bandied about on countless programmes and dominates the pages of the Left-wing papers. The 17 million-plus Britons who voted to leave the EU are described as part of a 'populist' revolution.

When the American public voted for Donald Trump to be their next President, the BBC and other media likewise described it as a triumph of populism.

This week, after the Italian people voted a resounding 'No' in a referendum that led to the resignation of their proEU Prime Minister Matteo Renzi  a result that has shaken Brussels to its foundations  liberal commentators called it a victory for populist parties.

The term populism is being used by the BBC as a sneering, pejorative term to describe the extraordinary social phenomenon sweeping both Europe and the U.S

The dictionary definition of populist is a politician or other person who claims to support the interests of ordinary people.

But, make no mistake, it is now being used as a sneering, pejorative term to describe the extraordinary social phenomenon sweeping both Europe and the U.S. as millions and millions of people express their anger at the ballot box over the indolence, corruption and complacency of their nation's political elite.

People who European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi arrogantly warned last week were a danger to Europe's future, as he talked darkly in an interview about counter-terrorism and border protection, and how populism was wrecking Europe's ability to respond to immigration.

After the Italian people voted a resounding 'No' in a referendum that led to the resignation of their proEU Prime Minister Matteo Renzi  a result that has shaken Brussels to its foundations  liberal commentators called it a victory for populist parties

People about whom Tony Blair is now so concerned that he has decided to set up a new institute specifically to counter the 'explosion' in populist movements across Europe.

And let's not forget Jeremy Corbyn who on Saturday issued a call to arms to fight the 'populist Right', whose parties were 'political parasites' which were 'feeding on people's concerns'.

In all of these cases  and many, many more besides  the way the words populist and populism are used implies menace, accompanied by a hint of demagoguery and an insidious suggestion that the voters defying the West's governing classes have racist sympathies.

Dismissive

To liberals, the word populist indicates these voters are vulgar, ill-informed and under-educated. It suggests a lumpen mass of people  quite different, of course, from the well-informed and well-heeled commentators and political leaders who feel something has to be done about unsavoury views of the general public.

And while Left-wing movements such as Podemos in Spain and Syriza in Greece are occasionally described as populist, the term is almost invariably used to defame the Right.

Imagine if, in June this year, a majority of the British people had voted to remain in the EU rather than leave it. Would the BBC in its wisdom have been described this as a 'populist' reassertion of European power?

If Hillary Clinton had been voted into the White House as President by the American public last month, would her victory have been dismissed as a 'populist' uprising?

If Hillary Clinton had been voted into the White House as President by the American public last month, would her victory have been dismissed as a 'populist' uprising?

Would it have been a victory for populism if the Italian public had 'behaved' and voted as their Prime Minister had asked them to last Sunday? No  all of these things would have been reported as sensible and appropriate responses of a sensible and well-informed voting population.

Though rarely overtly expressed, that is the view of those who throw around the 'p' word. They believe that there is a respectable way of thinking  and then a populist, unacceptable way of thinking.

Historically one of the most defining aspects of populism has been a politics which sees the people in one corner, and the elites  especially the political elites  in another.

Populist movements have almost invariably concerned themselves with the difference between the gilded lives of those in power and the struggle of the people they were meant to represent.

The reason the word populist has especially dark connotations today, however, is that it is so often associated with the rise of fascism in Europe  when megalomaniac dictators such as Hitler and Mussolini climbed to power using crowd-pleasing soapbox oratory during the Great Depression of the 1920s and 1930s.

This is why it is so insidious when politicians and media outlets such as the BBC use the word populist with such abandon to smear views with which they disagree.

It is a play on language that repeatedly suggests it is the people, rather than the political Establishment, who are wrong.

People about whom Tony Blair is now so concerned that he has decided to set up a new institute specifically to counter the 'explosion' in populist movements across Europe

Forget that it was the same Establishment which tried to terrify the voters, with its Project Fear, into staying in the EU.

By dismissing the Brexit vote as 'populist', the Remain camp insinuates that a majority of the British people were in some way gulled into voting the way we did. It suggests that we are malleable, easily-manipulated fools who fell for the sinister charms of Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove.

This is not just nonsense, but sinister nonsense.

Not merely because it insults the general public, but because it stops those who level the claims from ever trying to understand the public at whom they are sneering.

If a majority of voters in a country feel a certain way about something, then it is wise  especially if you are a politician  to at least consider the possibility that the public are right.

Instead of pretending the electorate has been lobotomised by brilliant but dangerous demagogues, it is far wiser to address its genuine concerns.

If you dismiss Donald Trump's success in the U.S. elections as a triumph of populism, you ignore a whole range of reasons behind his victory last month.

Insidious

You ignore the American public's loathing for Hillary Clinton and the corrupt and complacent political elite she represents. An elite, moreover, whose liberal assumptions sometimes openly deplored many of the basic principles  patriotism, belonging, community and job security  on which Western democracies were built.

To dismiss the popular revolution in both America and Europe as populism is to ignore the fact that millions of ordinary people are furious at having seen their incomes fall in real terms while the pay gap between the haves and have-nots has widened to record levels.

It is to ignore the valid and very genuine concerns that the line between legal and illegal immigration is everywhere being blurred, and national identity is being compromised  as was made so abundantly clear, in Britain's case, by the social cohesion tsar Louise Casey this week in her report on the terrifying level of segregation in many of Britain's immigrant communities.

These are not small issues, and it is utterly wrong  and deeply misguided  to dismiss those who are concerned about them as though they suffer from some sort of delusion or mania.

The truth is that it is our political elites and their acolytes in the Left-wing media who are suffering from a delusion.

Desperation

How can they fail to see the disconnect between ordinary people and the governing class in Western democracies?

Why do they not understand the deep anger over the way the people's views are held in contempt by politicians who ignore them?

Yet people such as European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker simply carry on as before, ignoring the earthquake beneath their feet, blaming Brexit on '40 years of British lies' and saying that it showed 'something is wrong in Britain'.

This unelected buffoon glides through his well-paid career as he lectures and berates the general public for daring to make democratically-based decisions. And when millions of us express our disdain for this Eurocrat, we are dismissed as 'populist' rabble-rousers.

To disregard the concerns of the public is a serious mistake for any politician. They may be able to ignore it for a time, but at some point the people will be heard. Using words like 'populist' to insult the public is just a desperate final attempt to put off the inevitable.
Scottish actor Sean Connery smoking a cigar in character as James Bond on the set of the film 'From Russia With Love' in 1963

What was James Bonds middle name? I had been compiling a Christmas quiz, and hit upon the idea of writing a question or two about the first names of famous characters in fiction. What, for instance, was Jeeves Christian name? And what was Captain Hooks?

It was at this point that I found myself wondering about whether James Bond had a middle name.

Like Captain Hook, Bond was an Old Etonian (coincidentally, both were expelled). Etonians tend to have grand middle names. For instance, the middle name of Bonds creator, Ian Fleming, was Lancaster. This made it seem likely that he had come up with something similarly fancy for Bond.

So I did what all researchers do these days: I typed James Bond middle name into Google.

This gave me 2,020,000 results. The first link directed me to a site called Quora, which confidently told me James Bonds middle name is Herbert. He is James Herbert Bond.

A martyr to the truth, I thought I had better double-check, so I clicked on the next site, which was Yahoo Answers. Here, to the question What is James Bonds Middle Name?, the answer came: Bonds middle name was Herbert (Her Majestys Secret Service).

By now, I felt pretty confident that I could offer Herbert as the answer to my general knowledge question. But just to make absolutely sure, I clicked on another site, Theory of Names, which boasted of being set up with the laudable aim of giving parents inspiration and options when making the most important (and happiest) decisions of their adult lives.

We asked ourselves: does the most famous name in British Spy history have a middle name? they announced, then confirmed the seemingly universal opinion that, yes, Bonds middle name was Herbert. Readers were then directed to the original source.

I clicked on the link, just to be certain. To my surprise, the source for the information was named as Craig Brown. It all sprang from an article I had written ten years ago.

I have a terrible memory, not least for my own jokes, so I couldnt remember ever having said that Herbert was James Bonds middle name. But here it was, reprinted in full: a characteristically flippant piece in which I had made up Thirteen Things You Didnt Know About James Bond.

Sean Connery (pictured) during production of James Bond film "Thunderball" in the Bahamas in 1965

Number one was: James Bonds middle name is revealed only once in the entire canon. In On Her Majestys Secret Service (1963), Bond is being held in a raffia-work cage suspended over a pool of piranha fish while the villain, Dr Peevish, taunts him by saying Herbert, Herbert, Herbert over and over again.

Finally, Bond can bear it no longer. Go on  kill me, kill me, PLEASE! he screams.

But at that very moment he spots Dr Peevishs Christian name on the laundry-mark attached to the raffia-work cage and shouts: Do your worst  Dibdin! While Peevish is blocking his ears in anguish, Bond makes good his escape.

I then double-checked all the other sites, and, sure enough, the trail of their original source always led back to me. Somewhere along the way, a joke had been transformed into fact, and now, like the comedian who balances a bucket of water on the top of a door and then forgets it is there, I had fallen into my own trap.

Ever since Donald Trump won the Presidential election, borne aloft by a stream of websites carrying bogus information, commentators have been announcing our entry into a world of Post Truth.

Snowed under by an avalanche of information on the internet, we have lost the means of sifting the true from the false, the reality from the joke.

I still find it hard to believe that anyone who read my original article could have taken it seriously, particularly as other claims I made were equally daft. For instance, one of them read: For the past 40 years, James Bonds older brother, Basildon, has been a leading figure in the stationery business.

And another was: James Bonds sister, Jennie, was the BBC Royal Correspondent from 1989-2003, and later proved her family mettle on Im a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! (2005).

The first full-length Jennie Bond movie, scheduled for release in early 2007, is said to be less aggressively masculine than the usual Bond films, and features the all-action heroine grappling with the Earl and Countess of Wessex in a 6in deep pool of ornamental goldfish.

It now strikes me as perfectly possible that Jennie Bond is the sister of James and Basildon. Why not?
Don't let getting ready for a holiday party (or 12) stress you out this season.

We've boiled down some of our favorite celebrity beauty looks from stars like Olivia Munn and Emma Stone into easy equations that anyone can re-create, even those of us without a glam squad at the ready.

Follow the four hair and make-up formulas below to ensure you'll look festive and gorgeous no matter where the night takes you.

Winning Formula = Slicked Back Hair + Red Lips + Gold Eyeshadow + Mega Lashes

Golden girl: Olivia Culpo, 24, made a statement at the Instyle Awards by pairing a deep red lip with gold eyeshadow and an out-of-her-face hairstyle

Take a cue from Olivia Culpo, 24, at the Instyle Awards in October. After her make-up artist Liz Castellanos perfected her complexion, she used a combination of the Charlotte Tilbury Colour Chameleon Eyeshadow Pencil in Amber Haze, the Spectrum shade of the Natasha Denona Star Eyeshadow Palette and MAC Eyeshadow in Naked Lunch to create Olivia's glimmering gold lids.

Liz used Ardell individual false lashes and several coats of Butter London Double Decker Lashes Mascara to give Olivia mega-watt lashes that read pure glamour.

For Olivia's deep crimson pout, Liz applied applied the ruby red Bobbi Brown Lip Pencil in Sangria and topped it with MAC D for Danger Lipstick. She added Charlotte Tilbury The Queen Lipstick only to the center of the lips.

Hairstylist Justine Marjan prepped Olivia's tresses with R + Co Park Ave Blow Out Balm before blow-drying it into a smooth style with loads of volume at the top with a Ghd dryer. She then brushed Olivia's hair back for a sleek effect.

Winning Formula = Twisted Updo + Twilight Eyes + Pink Lips

Star light, star bright: Emma Stone, 28, matched her blue Prada dress with her twilight-inspired eye make-up for the premiere of La La Land

Swept away! Emma's hairstylist, Mara Roszak, gave the actress a loose, twisted updo

Emma Stone's beauty dream team, comprised of hairstylist Mara Roszak and make-up artist Rachel Goodwin, can do no wrong.

For this week's premiere of the actress' film La La Land, the duo gave the 28 year old a soft yet elegant updo and a make-up look that was inspired by the night sky. The eye make-up also happened to match Emma's embellished Prada dress to a tee.

Rachel used a black liner to give Emma a slight cat eye flick on her top lash line and then used a violet eyeshadow shade on the lid.

But the real magic was on Emma's lower lash line.

Rachel first used a black liner on her waterline. Then, she smudged the same violet color used on the lid under the outer fourth of the lower lash line. Next, she blended a bright blue liner (try Chanel Stylo Yeux in Fervent Blue) across the center of the lash line, stopping just short of the inner corners, which she highlighted in a shimmery white shade.

The pro balanced out the strong eye with a natural flush of peach blush and a pinky coral lip color.

Winning Formula = Romantic Updo + Oxblood Lips + Oxblood Nails

Bohemian holiday: Olivia Munn, 36, matched her nails to the same shade of oxblood that she wore on her lips for a screening of her movie Office Christmas Party

The fact that Olivia Munn, 36, has been out promoting her film titled Office Christmas Party has not escaped us. For a recent screening, the actress fully embraced the holiday theme with her beauty look.

Make-up artist Patrick Ta gave her a statement oxblood lip (try Chanel Rouge Allure in Ultraberry or L'Oreal Colour Riche Lipstick in Raisin Rapture) while keeping the rest of her face clean and her eyebrows perfectly groomed.

The crisp lip was in stark contrast with the romantic updo hairstylist Keith Carpenter gave her. We love the loose bends he put in for texture and the way that he left a few strands out to frame of her face.

The whole look worked with her dreamy Reem Acra gown, and upon further inspection, we noticed that manicurist Tracylee matched Olivia's nails to her lipstick - a small but genius detail that tied the whole thing together. For a similar hue, try Essie Nail Polish in Bordeaux.

Winning Formula = Glitter Lips + ANYTHING

All that glitters...is ready for a holiday party! Full-on glitter lips, seen on everyone from Naomi Campbell (left), 46, and Bella Hadid (right), 20, are arguably the biggest trend of 2016

When legendary make-up artist Pat McGrath debuted glittering red lips on models like Bella Hadid and Taylor Hill, both 20, at the Atelier Versace Haute Couture show in July, we knew make-up was about to get interesting.

Sure enough, Pat launched a series of products she dubbed Lust 004, which were designed to give anyone the most incredible glitter lips of her life, shortly thereafter.

Hollywood hasn't been able to lay off the glitter since. We've seen sparkling pouts on the likes of Naomi Campbell, Jaime King, Jenna Dewan Tatum, Chrissy Teigen, Shay Mitchell, and most recently, Emma Stone.

Lust 004 is sadly sold out, but you can try other glitter pigments like MAC Glitter in Reflects Rust or Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Glitters in Red over a matching cream lipstick or Lip Tar for a similar effect.
George Roussell was understandably distraught the day his beloved wife Brenda went into a care home.

The pair had never spent a night apart during their blissfully happy 50-year marriage and George, a former driving instructor, felt racked with guilt that he was no longer able to care for the love of his life.

But, after taking advice from health professionals, he agreed that Brenda, who was 67 and suffering from multiple sclerosis, would be better off in a nursing home. George comforted himself with the knowledge that he had not made the decision lightly and made a promise: he would visit her twice a day  every day  for the rest of her life.

George Roussell (right) was understandably distraught the day his beloved wife Brenda (left) went into a care home (pictured in 2014)

Yet he was prevented from honouring the pledge in the most upsetting possible way. Up until three weeks before her death last year, at the age of 75, George was effectively banned from his wifes bedside, only allowed to see her in chaperoned visits, a situation which was incredibly difficult for both of them.

The reason? George, 77, says it was because he dared to complain about how poorly she was being treated  being force-fed, left in uncomfortable positions for hours on end, and not given sufficient water. The care home, however, maintains it was because of Georges aggressive behaviour towards staff.

Nevertheless, the last few years of Brendas life were most certainly blighted, and Georges complaints about how his wife was being cared for were almost certainly the trigger.

And far from being an isolated case, stories such as these  of relatives feeling they are being sanctioned for speaking out  are now so widespread, the industry regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), last month saw fit to issue new guidelines advising care homes not to punish relatives who complain.

George, who now lives alone in a flat in Eltham, South-East London, is still raw and bitter from the experience: Those are days I can never get back. Its monstrous, barbaric.

Official figures on relatives being evicted or banned from visiting loved ones do not exist, but campaigners say there are hundreds of cases. The care home industry is worth around 14.3 billion, and predominantly run by private companies. As a result, homes can decide who can and cannot visit, as well as having the power to evict residents without the need for any consultation or notice. Although homes are now mainly run by the private sector, the majority of residents have their care paid for by the taxpayer.

The pair (pictured at their wedding in 1960) had never spent a night apart during their blissfully happy 50-year marriage and George, a former driving instructor, felt racked with guilt that he was no longer able to care for the love of his life

Issuing the new guidelines, Andrea Sutcliffe, the CQCs chief inspector of adult social care, said: Care homes are peoples homes. They, their family and friends should not live in fear of being penalised for raising concerns.

When Brenda first moved in to the Sidcup Nursing and Residential Centre, in South-East London, in May 2007, everything seemed to be going well. George would visit every morning and afternoon, and took Brenda out for a stroll in the wheelchair, bringing comfort to them both.

It still pains George to speak about the woman he married six months after meeting at a friends wedding. She was the love of my life, my best friend. We travelled the world together and had so many wonderful times.

Owned by private health provider Bupa, George paid 300 per month towards the 800-a-week cost of his wifes care (the rest was paid by the local authority).

But before long, he became concerned as a number of managers kept leaving during the seven years his wife was there. Then he started to notice other things, too . . .

George started keeping a diary of complaints, which included staff shortages, buzzers not being answered, and not having sufficient access to water  all of which he raised with the staff.

One incident had him so incensed, he actually called the police. Brenda had difficulty swallowing and was only to be fed with a teaspoon.

Yet George was prevented from honouring the pledge in the most upsetting possible way

But I saw a member of staff feeding a large spoonful of scrambled egg into her mouth. I honestly thought shed choke. Yet the police told me they couldnt take my complaint further as there was no CCTV in the home, says George, disgusted. The home, however, says all of his concerns were independently investigated and it was vindicated.

A few days after the incident, George was shocked to learn Brenda had been issued with an eviction notice. She was to find another care home with immediate effect. Only when he argued she was too ill to be moved (she was receiving end-of-life palliative care), was the decision changed to ban George instead.

He was distraught. Initially he was prohibited from entering the home for three weeks, and then allowed back, just three times a week, for two hours each time, and in the presence of a chaperone.

Brenda used to beg me not to go but I had no choice. No one should ever have to go through what we did, says George.

Bupa insists Brenda was well cared for and what happened was a result of her husbands serious, damaging and unfair attacks on staff, which resulted in some even leaving because of his aggressive behaviour, something which George vehemently denies, insisting all he ever did was complain.

A spokesman said: In January 2014 we reluctantly suggested Mrs Rousell be moved to another home as we could not meet Mr Rousells continued demands. Mr Rousell did not wish her to be moved so we worked with adult social services to arrange accompanied visits. This step was taken to enable his visits to continue while protecting the interests of the staff and other residents.

George Rousell's wife Brenda Rousell (pictured in 1998) with their granddaughter Kay and grandson Casey Ray

We believe that decisions made by our management team have been well-intentioned, carefully considered and appropriate.

Mercifully, the restrictions were lifted in the final three weeks of Brendas life and George stayed by her bedside constantly. But this, he feels, does not make up for all the hours and days they lost.

While both George and the care home will never agree on who should shoulder the responsibility for this upsetting case, campaign group Compassion in Care is contacted by around 60 families a year with similar stories.

Founder, Eileen Chubb, a former care worker, says: Families often only have to raise one thing before they are seen as a problem by staff and denied seeing loved ones.

There is a climate of fear where the care home has all the power. What they say seems to be taken at face value by the authorities.

She believes care homes should be forced to publish figures showing visiting restrictions and eviction notices served.

George goes a step further: he believes eviction notices are tools used by care homes to stifle genuine complaints and he does not believe anything will change until such notices are properly controlled, if not outlawed entirely.

In Somerset, Paul Doolan has an equally upsetting tale of being banned from visiting the care home of his father, Terry, after he made a series of complaints.

Terry, a former salesman who had prostate cancer, was registered blind and used a wheelchair, went into 400-a-week Granada House, Weston-super-Mare in 2010. Though the home maintains it always followed guidelines, Paul says he made a string of complaints about issues including his fathers hearing aids being poorly maintained.

Whenever I went to visit, the first 20 minutes were spent fixing his aids. I had lived with and cared for my father since 2008 and knew they werent being looked after properly.

As he was blind, it was very isolating for him. When I wasnt there, I was concerned he would be sat in total silence.

Paul, 66, a former local authority legal officer, also complained about staff shortages, his father not being taken to the doctors for his cancer medication, his catheter not being changed regularly, and lack of stimulation in the home.

He complained to the council but, as it was paying for his fathers fees, it said it was difficult to find him another home.

One day in the summer of 2012, he again made a complaint after he claims his father was being fed a meal which hadnt been cut up into small enough pieces for him to swallow safely.

Within days, he received an email saying he was to cease visits with immediate effect . . . in view of recent events. It also accused him of unreasonable behaviour towards staff.

Angry: Angela and Mervyn Eastman (left and centre) visit their mother Careena

I panicked and thought I would never be able to see Dad again. It was heartbreaking, he says.

Three weeks later, he received a letter saying he could see his father at the local Conservative Club at 1pm each Friday for two hours, in the presence of a chaperone. I think it was revenge because I had complained. It was incredibly distressing.

This farcical situation continued until his father was moved to a new home in February 2013. He died a few weeks later.

Paul adds: I still feel angry because they deprived me of seeing him. My dad was a sociable man, who didnt like upsetting anyone. In response to Pauls allegations, a spokesman for Granada House said: I can confirm the home followed all regulations set by the CQC and all guidelines set by our local authority.

However, it seems homes may be quick to take action when a family complains.

Twins Mervyn and Angela Eastman, 67, say their mother was asked to leave her Essex nursing home after they lodged a single complaint. Careena, 86, who suffers from Alzheimers, moved into 800-a-week Romford Nursing Centre in July 2013.

Although the family said they had some concerns during her stay (such as a wound on her leg not being treated properly), they were largely happy until a decision to merge their mothers unit with another one a year later. The twins sent an email in September 2014 to management complaining they had not been consulted and their mother was distressed as the new residents, who also suffered from dementia, were behaving aggressively.

Within 48 hours, they received an email saying the centre had thoroughly investigated their complaint but could no longer deal with the family or Careenas needs and gave her 28 days to quit.

Father-of-two Mervyn, a former director of social services in North London, says: We were flabbergasted by this disproportionate response. We had to scramble to find another home.

Angela, a secretary, had cared for and lived with her mother for 20 years after she suffered a stroke, aged 62. She says: On the day they merged the units she was really upset as there were lots of strange people and it was pandemonium. Wed been given no notice. I wouldve taken her out for the day if wed known.

Careena, who used to run a special care unit for young adults while raising Angela and Mervyn as a single mother, is now settled in another home but it has made her children wary of complaining.

Solicitor Jemma Garside says she is coming across an increasing number of similar cases and urges banned families to raise a safeguarding alert under the Care Act

A spokesman for the home, which was rated Good by the CQC in its last two inspections, said: Our duty of care under the Health and Social Care Act is to ensure we are always able to meet individuals needs, and where we cannot, we are compelled to make unenviable and difficult decisions to ensure the individual is supported to relocate to a service where their needs can be met.

Solicitor Jemma Garside says she is coming across an increasing number of similar cases and urges banned families to raise a safeguarding alert under the Care Act, as preventing a resident from having contact with family could amount to emotional abuse.

Former model and TV personality Jayne Connery, 49, who works as a private investigator, knows only too well the power wielded by care homes. Her mother Ellen, 80, who suffers from dementia, has been evicted from two homes, following complaints from her daughter.

Jayne now cares for her mother at home in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, and is campaigning for CCTV to be installed in communal areas of all care homes.

During her time in a string of care homes, Jayne says her mother was left in soiled bed linen, was left alone on her bed with the lights out (even though she is terrified of the dark), and was left for hours without a drink.

On one occasion a staff member phoned her to say they had witnessed her mother being manhandled by three female carers. The police said there was not enough evidence to investigate.

I even resorted to installing a CCTV camera in her room. I was quite naive and placed my trust in the care system. I would never do so again. I know she wouldnt be here if I had left her in a home.

There have certainly been some homes were families concerned have been fully justified.

Former parking attendant Jean Halfpenny, 77, was one of 19 residents to die in unexplained circumstances at the now-defunct Southern Cross-run 3,500-a-month Orchid View care home in West Sussex. Her family, who had made a series of complaints, had their visiting rights restricted to just a few hours in the afternoon in the months before she died, in May 2013.

An inquest heard how the old lady was left hungry and thirsty. Once a social worker who visited in 2010 found her naked in bed, crying and complaining how she was cold.

The coroner eventually ruled institutionalised abuse had led to the deaths of five residents, before the companys collapse in 2011.

Mrs Halfpennys daughter, Linzi, 46, an English tutor, says: If youve got nothing to hide, you dont limit visits. The way Britains elderly are treated is a national disgrace.
A sex-shaming troll has been outed online after posting a naked photo of a female journalist.

Scottish journalist Vonny Moyes named the man on Twitter after he found and shared her nude pictures without her permission.

'What's gone wrong here is an abuse of trust and something ending up in the wrong hands,' Ms Moyes wrote.

'I refuse to be sex-shamed by you or anyone else.'

Brave: Scottish journalist Vonny Moyes has been praised for refusing to shy away from the issue

Abuse of trust: The writer and columnist described the attack as an 'abuse of trust'

Ms Moyes - a writer for Scottish paper The National - said the 'sad' act appeared to be an attempt at some sort of revenge.

'The sad thing is... everyone can see how malicious this is,' she wrote.

'Revenge porn is not an appropriate response to a newspaper column.'

The man had reportedly taken offence in the past at Ms Moyes' writings on gender and society.

Malicious: Ms Moyes said she refused to feel ashamed about the photos

Weaponised: Ms Moyes said she was sick of women's sexuality being used against them

It is understood the troll found the photos on a pornography website, where they had been posted without Ms Moyes' knowledge.

'This is the reality of being a female journalist right now,' Ms Moyes wrote.

'People like you try to use our own bodies against us. All the time.'

Ms Moyes' refusal to shy away from the issue was widely praised on social media.

'Seems to be only men giving you a hard time about this,' one woman said.

'I wonder how they'd feel if it was them, or their mother or sister.'

Pitiful: 'I very consciously wanted to use this incident to deconstruct the victim blaming narrative,' Ms Moyes said

Unashamed: Ms Moyes received many positive comments for speaking out on the issue

Ms Moyes told Mashable: 'I very consciously wanted to use this incident to deconstruct the victim blaming narrative and show other women that they can retain control if they refuse to give the perpetrator power over their emotions.'

'Quite simply, I'm not ashamed. I have every right to enjoy my body, take pictures and make art,' she added.

The Twitter account that posted the pictures has since been shut down.
A mother has shared the heartbreaking story of losing her baby daughter, Evelyn Rose Ryan, just four short hours after giving birth.

Mel Ryan, from the Sunshine Coast, posted about the moment she greeted and said goodbye to her beautiful baby girl, and shared an incredibly moving photograph of their first and last hours together.

Ms Ryan said that she was contacted by her good friend, Bronwyn Delaivuna, who runs the blog and business, Indera Beads to write about Evelyn, who died from TAPVR a fatal heart condition.

Mother, Mel Ryan from the Sunshine Coast, shared her story of the heartbreaking moment she lost her little girl via a blog post, and photo of their final hours together (pictured)

'I didn't hesitate in saying yes, because as time goes on I really don't get to mention Evelyn much, and no one other than my husband brings her up in conversation,' Ms Ryan told Daily Mail Australia.

'I took it as a great opportunity to remember her and tell a small part of her story.'

As time goes on I really don't get to mention Evelyn much, and no one other than my husband brings her up in conversation. I took it as a great opportunity to remember her and tell a small part of her story

In the moving blog, Ms Ryan talked about the moment her daughter was born on 19 February, 2015.

Weighing just two kilograms and measuring just 42 centimetres tall, she said: 'Our little girl gave us four short hours with her, she was struggling but she squeezed our fingers and looked at us the whole time'.

Ms Ryan said that she and her husband, Shane, were sadly soon told that it was just the machines that were keeping little Evelyn alive.

The mother was then given just a few short hours with Evelyn still living, upon which moment one of the midwives, Hannah, took a photograph of the pair together.

Ms Ryan said she decided to share the story because she wanted to use the opportunity to remember Evelyn (pictured with her father and sister) - she wanted to tell her story

'She was then placed on my chest as I admired everything about her. I wanted to remember every detail, her smell, her fingers, her nose. She looked so much like her older sister, but with hair.

'I never thought I could love someone as much as I did in that moment and I wanted to feel the weight of her on my chest for forever,' Ms Ryan said.

'Her first cuddle was her last one, she took her last breath on me as Shane and I kissed her a hundred times trying to be strong for each other,' she continued.

She said that saying goodbye to her little girl after four hours was 'the worst moment of my life', but also said it is a memory of her little girl (the family pictured in the hospital)

While Ms Ryan told Daily Mail Australia that losing Evelyn was totally unexpected, and saying goodbye was 'the worst moment of my life', she also said it is one of her favourite memories of her baby girl.

'I can tell the story without emotion almost like the story isn't mine, which is funny as I cry at anyone's story like this,' Ms Ryan said.

'I do it this way because if I was to let the emotion in I would never be able to tell her story, and honestly it's the only one I have to tell and I like talking about her.'

Meanwhile, the mother-of-two said that even though it's impossible to move on from losing her baby, having her young family around her has been vital:

'My husband and daughter were the greatest helps as he allowed me to just feel whatever I was going through and never judge, and she gave me a reason to keep going.
Under the fading warmth of the winter sunshine Carl Halling watched a boy perched on his fathers shoulders, giggling as they bumped along the path.

He stood, transfixed, as the dad lowered his boy to the ground and planted a gentle kiss on top of his head.

Suddenly, there it was again. That wave of crushing regret and sadness, so great it caused a physical ache in Carls side. Yet again, he was reminded of the child he yearns for; of the years he wasted and of the realisation that, at 61, he has almost certainly left it too late to be a father.

Carl Halling, 61, describes his youth as hedonistic. From university on, he enjoyed a succession of brief flings and relationships - and didn't realise he wanted children until it was too late

Loss of fertility has long been a concern of women. But fertility is becoming a mans issue too  albeit one still mired in secrecy. Statistics from the Human Fertilisation And Embryology Authority find that 49 per cent of IVF cycles carried out in Britain in 2014 were due to male factors  an increase of 31 per cent since 2010.

This seems due in part to men not realising that their fertility also declines. In short, a generation of men may be leaving it too late to have children. According to the Office For National Statistics, the average age of a first-time dad was 33.1 in 2014, nearly four years older than it was four decades ago.

The economic climate may be one reason, but more men are simply refusing to grow up, comfortable in their belief that, as they are not the ones with a limited egg supply, there is no rush to procreate.

Studies show that as men get older  generally in their 40s  their sperm concentration and motility declines, says Kevin McEleny, a consultant urologist at Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, who specialises in male fertility.

Men dont have the same knowledge of their bodies that women do. They have no markers of their fertility, such as a menstrual cycle, and often assume they will be naturally fertile.

Carl describes his youth as hedonistic. From university on, he enjoyed a succession of brief flings and relationships.

Loss of fertility has long been a concern of women. But fertility is becoming a mans issue too  albeit one still mired in secrecy

I craved attention, but I was unable to commit and, when I fell in love, I was frightened by the strength of my feelings, he says.

Behind my bravado, I lacked the emotional intelligence to tell women how I felt and the relationships ended.

Working as a teacher, he spent much of his time trying to break into the acting industry. I was obsessed by becoming famous and going to auditions, he admits.

Scott Barnes, 49, from tried for a baby for four years with his fiancee Claire, 37, before being told they were suffering from unexplained infertility. It was only after IVF that they were able to conceive

Only in his 40s did his mindset change, but a period of depression that lasted much of his 40s put paid to a long-term relationship.

His longing for children started in his 50s when his depression lifted. I suddenly found the time and inclination to meet up with friends Id lost contact with towards the end of my 30s.

I listened to stories of their children getting into university; I saw the bond theyd built with their wives from raising a child and my life seemed meaningless.

He investigated the option of co-parenting without having a relationship. But Carl abandoned the plans. They were selfish, he admits. A child needs a stable family unit. But he is tortured by regret.

Cruelly, he was diagnosed with an enlarged prostate around the same time he decided he wanted to have children. Carl believes his fertility could be compromised.

After that, he investigated the option of co-parenting without having a relationship. But Carl abandoned the plans. They were selfish, he admits. A child needs a stable family unit. But he is tortured by regret.

If Carl were to become a father now, his child would have a higher risk of ill-health. Mr McEleny says fathers over 50 have an increased chance of having children with conditions such as autism.

Michael Ferguson, a 38-year-old probation officer from Leeds, has known for years he cannot father a child  a pain he says is like bereavement.

Carl in 1993. Working as a teacher, he spent much of his time trying to break into the acting industry. I was obsessed by becoming famous and going to auditions, he admits

His problems have already destroyed one long-term relationship and sabotage attempts at forming others. He has azoospermia, which means there are no viable sperm in his semen.

I wanted children who I could raise with manners and morals, he says. Id be a firm but fair dad whod be home in time to read bedtime stories.

But as a graduate, becoming a dad was the last thing on his mind. Only a decade ago, when he met Laura, a 28-year-old nursery worker, did he feel ready. We assumed it would happen quickly, he says. But it didnt.

Carl in 1979. Only in his 40s did he decide he might want kids, but a period of depression that lasted much of his 40s put paid to a long-term relationship

After a year they visited their GP, who took tests. Even when he mentioned my poor sperm mobility I still didnt feel I could be responsible, says Michael.

After being referred to a urologist at Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax, in October 2006, he was diagnosed with azoospermia.

A genetic condition, it can sometimes be treated with steroids or surgery. But after blood tests, Michael was told nothing could be done.

Scott and Claire in 2014. By the time the couple, from Cannock, Staffs, got together in 2011, Scott was 44

When I went home and tol Laura, its me  Im infertile, I collapsed in tears. I felt emasculated. Within a year, their relationship had disintegrated. Laura was supportive, but wanted children I couldnt give her, he says.

He began internet dating in search of a woman to share his life with. I decided to tell women on our first date that I couldnt have children. I feel sick as I do so, but think it best to be honest. None have reacted as he had hoped so far. Some said straight away they couldnt see me if having children wasnt an option. Others ditched me later.

As I approach 40 and nearly all my friends have children, Im more conscious than ever that I cant. Id advise all men who want children to get on with it  they might not have the chance later.

Scott with his grandfather in 1984. He had his sperm tested and the results were 'inconclusive', which made him panic that their trouble having a baby was his fault

Part of the problem with male infertility is that its causes often remain unknown. We look at concentration of sperm in semen, and how well the sperm moves, which affects the chances of impregnation, says Kevin McEleny.

But while lifestyle factors and genetics play a part, a specific reason for poor sperm quality is rarely found.

Its something Scott Barnes, 49, is only too aware of, having tried for a baby for four years with his fiancee Claire, 37, before being told they were suffering from unexplained infertility which he fears has been exacerbated by his age.

In August 2015, they paid 3,200 for a cycle of IVF at Birmingham Womens Hospital. Eight weeks later, Claire, an administration officer for the police, was pregnant

By the time the couple, from Cannock, Staffs, got together in 2011, Scott was 44. Like most men, I didnt think there was any rush. But falling in love with Claire made me realise I wanted to be a dad.

They also assumed pregnancy would happen easily. When it didnt, we cried endless tears, says Scott, who proposed in 2012.

Blood tests and a sperm sample taken in January 2015 proved inconclusive, Scott says: I worried my age was to blame. I felt a huge failure and started to panic.

If Carl were to become a father now, his child would have a higher risk of ill-health - and he will will have to live with his decision not to have children earlier for the rest of his life

In August 2015, they paid 3,200 for a cycle of IVF at Birmingham Womens Hospital. Eight weeks later, Claire, an administration officer for the police, was pregnant.

Louis was born in June. Scott will care for him when Claire returns to work. At 49, he doesnt have the energy of younger dads, but knows how lucky he is. Louis makes me smile every day. I love the way he grips my fingers and falls asleep on my chest and I feel full of unconditional love.
It's the powerful birthing photo that empowers women everywhere.

In the grips of labour, contractions surging through her body, a young mother sits on the hospital bed.

Her two-year-old daughter was brought in to visit, and without hesitation, the mother pulled her in to nurse between contractions.

The tender moment was captured by birthing photographer Maegan Dougherty one week ago, who described the scene to Daily Mail.

Birth photographer Maegan Dougherty shared a powerful photo of a mother breastfeeding her two-year-old daughter while in labour

'Grandma brought big sister to the hospital to spend time with her mum while she was labouring,' Ms Dougherty, who works in New Jersey and New York, said.

'The mum knew her daughter would want to nurse, and she also knew that that may help the labour process.

'Her daughter asked to nurse as soon as she got there, and she said yes.'

The mother and daughter had been apart for a few hours, and the two-year-old asked to nurse straight away

The couple, who are wedding photographers from the U.S, welcomed their second baby girl just hours after the photo was taken

Ms Dougherty said nipple stimulation can help the labour progress

Two hours later the mother, who is a wedding photographer with her husband, gave birth to her second baby, another little girl.

'Nipple stimulation can help the labour progress,' Ms Dougherty said.

'Her baby was born two hours after her daughter nursed. So it seemed to move things along.'

'Her baby was born two hours after her daughter nursed. So it seemed to move things along,' Ms Dougherty said

Joining the couple in the delivery room were their mothers and the woman's sisters

After giving birth the woman cradled her baby on to her chest, her husband watching on

Ms Dougherty shared the photo to her Instagram page, and said it received a positive response from people.

'I think in that photo there's so many special connections,' she said.

'The grandma looking at them, the dad interacting and the mother nursing.

'Mums are amazing, our bodies can grow a baby and nurse another baby at the same time.'

'Mums are amazing, our bodies can grow a baby and nurse another baby at the same time,' Ms Dougherty said

Their daughter, swaddled in a blue-and-red striped wrap, opened her tiny mouth in a yawn

Mrs Dougherty said the photo resonated with people as it showed a number of special connections between a mother and her daughter, husband and grandmother

Also in the birthing suite was the mother's two sisters and mother-in-law.

'They knew exactly what to do, exactly what she needed,' Ms Dougherty said.
LINCOLN  Nebraska's presidential electors are getting deluged with messages trying to sway them before they vote for Republican Donald Trump later this month, but state law has already tied their hands.

If any of the five electors defy the majority of Nebraska voters who picked Trump, a 2014 law would instantly remove them from the position and prevent Secretary of State John Gale from accepting their ballot.

Even so, several of the electors said they've been shocked to receive so many pleas urging them to vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton or even another Republican. The electors, chosen at the state GOP convention, will formally cast their votes Dec. 19 at the Nebraska Capitol.

Elector Craig Safranek of Merna said he received roughly 1,000 emails in a three-day period after his name was posted on an online elector list a few weeks after the election. Now, he receives 40-50 a day. Safranek said he traded emails with a man in Australia and fielded messages from high school students in Michigan.

Most are "copy and paste" notes from groups making a long-shot attempt to defeat Trump through the electoral college, Safranek said. He said he eventually stopped reading them and now sends them to his junk folder.

"My thought is, it's really not up to me," said Safranek, a small-business owner and Trump supporter. "In Nebraska, the people voted for Trump. If any of these electors vote against who their state picked, they're kind of taking away the people's voices. I hope they catch some hell for that."

Elector Chuck Conrad said he has received so many calls that he stopped answering his phone when he sees a number he doesn't recognize. He said he still reads all of his emails, letters and Facebook messages to make sure they don't contain any threats. None have so far.

"It's kind of crazy," said Conrad, a warehouse manager in Hastings and longtime GOP activist. "For you and everyone else, the election ended on Nov. 8. For me, it's still going on until Dec. 19."

Nebraska's 2014 law requires at-large electors to pledge that they will vote for the candidate who received the most statewide votes and district electors to vote for the winner in their districts. The secretary of state then has to inspect each ballot to confirm they followed their pledge. If the ballot is unmarked or violates the pledge, the elector automatically forfeits the office.

Elector John Dinkel of Norfolk said most of the messages urging him to vote against Trump have come from out of state. Roughly one-fourth were from Nebraska residents, he said, while most others originated in California, New York, and other progressive coastal states.

"They range from extremely polite to pretty aggressive," said Dinkel, who owns a farm implement dealership. "Some people are almost hysterical."

Dinkel said he supported Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in the GOP primary but switched to Trump after Rubio dropped out of the race. As an elector, he said he "absolutely, positively" plans to vote for Trump.

"A commitment is a commitment," he said. "Short of some felonious act or something that's way out of left field, we should support the candidate" who won the vote in each state.

Elector Phil Belin said he has fielded calls, emails and letters from 20-25 people, all in Nebraska, urging him to switch his vote. He said he still plans to follow the law requiring him to cast a ballot for Trump, and believes all electors should adhere to what voters in their states decided.

"I've had some good discussions with folks and tried to use this as a launching pad for a more civil discourse," said Belin, an Omaha attorney. "For everyone who's reached out to me, I've tried to reach out in kind. We need to get past the ugliness of this campaign. That was the most discouraging thing to me."

Belin said he didn't support Trump in the GOP primary and still has concerns about the president-elect, but cast a ballot for him in the general election in hopes that he would surround himself with more traditional conservatives. He said he was happy Trump appointed former Republican rival Ben Carson to a cabinet position.

Nebraska's fifth elector, Paul Burger of Kearney, did not return email and phone messages.
They have both vehemently denied being engaged but as Princess Eugenie stepped out with her long-term boyfriend on Wednesday night, she wasn't doing anything to quash rumours.

Indeed, the 26-year-old royal appeared to be wearing a ring on her engagement finger as she left private members' club LouLous with boyfriend Jack Brooksbank, 30.

The Princess, dressed in a figure-hugging black dress and teal coat, was all smiles as she left her favourite haunt hand-in-hand with her boyfriend of six years.

Princess Eugenie appeared to be wearing a ring on her engagement finger as she left private members' club LouLous with boyfriend Jack Brooksbank, 30, but has denied rumours of an engagement

Both Eugenie and Jack have denied rumours that they're getting set to wed after the rumour mill went into overdrive when Eugenie took nightclub manager Mr Brooksbank to Balmoral to meet her grandmother.

It was rumoured that while there, he may have asked the Queen for her blessing for a forthcoming engagement.

It came after the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York and her partner joined other members of the Royal family at the Highland retreat for a shooting party to celebrate Prince Harry's birthday.

Eugenie and Jack, who looked loved-up leaving their favourite club, have denied rumours that they're getting set to wed after the rumour mill went into overdrive after Eugenie took nightclub manager Mr Brooksbank to Balmoral to meet her grandmother

Eugenie and Jack have been together since they were introduced in Switzerland in 2010 and couldn't take their hands off each other on Wednesday night

The pair, who met skiing, held hands as they left the members' club in London after a night out with friends in Mayfair

However, when asked recently by the Mail on Sunday if the rumours were true, Eugenie replied: No. Im not engaged.

And Jack, manager of Londons fashionable Mahiki nightclub, added: Definitely not engaged.

In August, a spokesman for the Duchess of York categorically denied the claim that her daughter was about to get engaged, saying: 'This story is absolutely not true.'

Eugenie, who's eighth in line for the throne, currently an associate director at a modern art gallery.

The Princess was dressed in a figure-hugging black dress and teal coat, which she offset with knee-high boots and a boxy black bag

Eugenie and Jack have been together since they were introduced in Switzerland in 2010.

A family friend said in August: 'Jack is very close to Eugenies family. He is always invited away with them in the summer.

Prince Andrew wants to improve the status of his daughters by persuading the Queen and her heir Prince Charles to allow their future husbands to have earldoms

Sarah sees him as a son-in-law already. She and Andrew adore Jack. He is a lovely boy and he has really fitted into the family.

Eugenie's night out comes after it was reported she and her sister, Princess Beatrice, are at the centre of new royal battle today because their father fears any children they have could be 'commoners'.

Prince Andrew wants to improve the status of his daughters by persuading the Queen and her heir Prince Charles to allow their future husbands to have earldoms.

'Otherwise his daughters' children will be commoners, defined as one of the ordinary or common people, as opposed to the aristocracy or to royalty,' a source told the Mail's Ephraim Hardcastle column.

Royal convention means that all of the Queen's children enjoy the title HRH - but this is only passed on grandchildren born to the monarch's sons.

Princesses Beatrice, 28, is currently single after splitting with boyfriend of ten years Dave Clark while Eugenie, 26, has been in a relationship with nightclub boss Jack Brooksbank, 29, for the past six years.

If they have children with non-aristocrats or non-royals then their offspring will be without title, which Prince Andrew does not want, it was claimed last night.

The latest row came just weeks after the Queen found herself at the centre of a bitter feud between her two eldest sons over whether Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie should become taxpayer-funded working royals.

Prince Andrew has long demanded that his daughters, who receive no public funding, should be given more prominent roles - which Prince Charles has resisted.
This fascinated baby was so mesmerised by his own reflection that he couldn't stop kissing himself in the mirror for half an hour.

One-year-old Dean Ochs spotted his face while tottering around his grandma's home in Lakemore, Ohio, and couldn't tear himself away.

The spellbound youngster can be seen touching the mirror before leaning in to plant a smooch on the glass, in a viral video sweeping the internet.

Mirror mirror on the wall... Dean Ochs spotted his face while tottering around his grandma's home in Lakemore, Ohio, and couldn't tear himself away for 30 minutes

Grinning wildly, Dean can't stop planting soggy kisses on his reflection while his mother Lindsay and his grandma can be heard giggling in the background.

Lindsay, from Lakemore, said: 'This is the first-time Dean has been close enough to a mirror that he could kiss his own reflection.

'Usually after bath time I set him on the counter and he laughs at himself and points.

'He was in the mirror for about 30 minutes playing peek a boo and kissing his reflection.

The youngster couldn't stop planting soggy kisses on his reflection while mother Lindsay and his grandma watch on giggling

The video, entitled 'Dean in the mirror giving his reflection kisses,' was posted on Facebook on December 1 and has already been liked and shared hundreds of times

Dean's mother Lindsay said: 'This is the first-time Dean has been close enough to a mirror that he could kiss his own reflection'. She called the youngster 'a funny little guy'

'I think he thought it was another baby but we just couldn't stop laughing.

'Dean is a funny little guy. He is always happy and laughing and is very curious about anything new.'

Lindsay's video, entitled 'Dean in the mirror giving his reflection kisses,' was posted on Facebook on December 1 and has already been liked and shared hundreds of times.

Facebooker A.I. Hurst commented: 'O my it's so cute I'm gonna die from cuteness overload.'
A woman has vowed to rid schools of deadly asbestos after her teacher mother died from cancer linked to exposure to the substance.

Lucie Stephens, from Crediton in Devon, was overcome with emotion as she revealed on BBC Four Women's Hour that she had promised her late mother Sue she would take action, in a bid to prevent more people losing loved ones 'unnecessarily'.

Lucie, who lost her 68-year-old mother to mesothelioma in June, has launched a petition calling on the government to protect children and staff from asbestos exposure in schools, and it already has nearly 10,000 signatures.

Sue Stephens, 68, died in June this year after being diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma, a cancer that is linked to asbestos

Lucie Stephens is campaigning for the government to take the removal of asbestos from schools more seriously, and has launched a petition in her mother's honour

'We launched the petition just before she died, to try and keep that promise,' said Lucie, who added that her 68-year-old mother was 'incredibly angry' when she was diagnosed.

People have lost loved ones unnecessarily,' Lucie said.

'This disease is only from exposure to asbestos.'

Sue Stephens, who was a grandmother, worked as a primary schoolteacher in Buckinghamshire for 30 years before retiring to Devon in 2008.

The grandmother was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma, which can lie dormant for decades, in 2014 and died in June this year.

WHAT IS ASBESTOS? Asbestos is a fibre once widely used in building materials. When materials that contain asbestos are disturbed or damaged, fibres are released into the air. When these fibres are inhaled they can cause serious diseases. These diseases will not take effect immediately; they often take a long time to develop, but once diagnosed, it is often too late to do anything. Asbestos can be found in any building built before the year 2000 (houses, factories, offices, schools, hospitals etc) and causes around 5000 deaths every year Source: Health and Safety Executive Advertisement

Lucie said: 'Mum was incredibly angry when she got her diagnosis as she was working in a school with asbestos.

'She worked in schools across Buckinghamshire, in primary schools with five-year-olds in reception.

'She hadnt been able to protect them.'

A Great Devon coronor concluded that Lucie's mother's death was linked to the industrial disease.

'It can take years to show itself,' said Lucie.

'Unfortunately its a cancer that has no cure.'

The petition to 'protect children and teachers from asbestos in schools' was launched just before Sue died.

Lucie is now urging the department of education to take the removal of asbestos more seriously, and is encouraging schools to be more transparent with staff and parents about the potential risk of exposure.

'They should produce an annual report to tell parents where it is in the school. In America they have done this for 30 years, if they have been exposed it is put on record,' Lucie said.

Lucie's petition calls for the protection of teachers and pupils in schools (models in stock image) who may be exposed to asbestos

The petition, which now has nearly 10,000 signatures, follows a Freedom Of Information Act request by Lucie that confirmed at least 99 occasions of exposure to asbestos in schools in the UK.

Woman's Hour presenter Jenni Murray read out a statement from Buckinghamshire County Council spokesman which said: 'We would like to express our sympathy to Sue Stephens' family on their sad loss.

'We are, however, unable to make any comment on individual cases.'

The Department of Education also siad that they see 'health and safety of childen as vital', and are pledging 23billion by 2021.

But Lucie pointed out, 'that is not specifically for asbestos that is the total school budget'.
A model who uses wealthy men to travel the world and doesn't pay for a thing has defended her unconventional love life.

Rather than going for a drink on a first date, Alyssa Ramos jets off to exotic locations to meet total strangers - but insists that while she is 'fine' with escorting, what she does is 'not prostitution at all'.

The 20-year-old from Madison, Wisconsin, says she has gone away almost every weekend since signing up to a Tinder-style website five months ago.

Alyssa Ramos on one of her travel dates this year. Since signing up to MissTravel.com she has gone away almost every weekend without paying for a single thing

The model has travelled to Ibiza, London, Cancun, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Dubai and Florida this year alone - all thanks to her travel dates.

Since signing up to Tinder-for-travel website MissTravel.com, Alyssa has gone on a string of luxurious holidays - and has already planned future trips to the Bahamas and Greece.

Alyssa said: 'It makes me feel like a princess. It's awesome. It's really fun. It's nice because I'm getting to experience the world so young. I know people in their thirties who haven't even gotten out of their state.'

As well as getting her flights and accommodation paid for, Alyssa hasn't had to put her hand in her own pocket on a single one of the dates.

Alyssa with her latest date, Oliver, at the Brooklyn Bridge, NYC. The lingerie and bikini model admits she uses the site primarily to travel for free rather than to find romance

Alyssa on a recent holiday. As well as getting her flights and accommodation paid for, Alyssa hasn't had to put her hand in her own pocket on a single one of the dates

Alyssa soaks up the sun in an exotic location. The model has travelled to Ibiza, London, Cancun, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Dubai and Florida - all thanks to her travel dates

She said: 'I have never spent a dime on Miss Travel. Getting everything paid for feels pretty good. I think a lot of girls can take it too far - I'm the kind of person who is thankful for what they get no matter what.

'Every guy I have seen have paid for everything. I mean, if I were to offer they're always like "no, no, no. Let me pay." They are gentlemen about it.'

The lingerie and bikini model admits she uses the site primarily to travel for free rather than to find romance.

Alyssa said: 'You can definitely meet someone in a romantic way. You can fall in love with someone very easily. I know I could easily have a relationship but I'm personally not looking for a relationship right now.'

Alyssa says of her hobby: 'Getting everything paid for feels pretty good. I think a lot of girls can take it too far - I'm the kind of person who is thankful for what they get no matter what'

'Every guy I have seen have paid for everything,' Alyssa says of her dates. 'I mean, if I were to offer they're always like "no, no, no. Let me pay." They are gentlemen about it'

Living in Madison - a town of just 250,000 residents - prior to signing up with the website, Alyssa hadn't even travelled outside of the US. The highlight of her summer vacation were her family's annual camping trip.

Alyssa said: 'The vacations I had were road trips north-west with my family, hiking in Montana. I'm really big into hiking and stuff like that - it's really cool, it's really fun but that was basically it - I'd never been anywhere tropical.'

On her all-expenses paid vacations Alyssa has shared rooms with her dates - but in separate beds and is adamant she won't sleep with them.

She said: 'I always make myself very clear even before we buy plane tickets. When I go to stay with a guy we either have spare rooms or separate beds. There are definitely guys on the site who have intentions to sleep with me but those are the guys I have avoided.

Alyssa soaks of the scenery on one of her travel dates. Living in Madison - a town of just 250,000 residents - prior to signing up, Alyssa hadn't even travelled outside of the US

Alyssa enjoys a date at Disneyworld Florida. She says that while it is 'very easy' to fall in love with someone, she is not currently looking for a relationship and is enjoying dating

'I have kissed the guys and hugged them but I make it clear I'm not going to sleep with them.'

When challenged if there are any parallels between her holiday hook-ups and escort services or prostitution, Alyssa has very clear views.

'It's not prostitution at all. It's completely different. You're not sleeping with anybody. You're going out to a dinner and having a good time,' she said.

'I'm fine with escorting. I mean I have gotten paid a $1,000 (787) to go out on a dinner date. And that was it. I just had to show up for a dinner date. I have done that plenty of times. But no I'll never go home with a guy - that's just too much for me.'

Alyssa came across the travel dating website online, which connects 'travel-seeking-singles' together, and decided to sign up after her previous two-year relationship to a 48-year-old man ended.

Alyssa says that she never sleeps with her dates, adding: 'It's not prostitution at all. You're not sleeping with anybody. You're going out to a dinner and having a good time'

Alyssa paddle boarding in California on a recent date. 'While she is fine with escorting, she says: 'I'll never go home with a guy - that's just too much for me'

Alyssa at home in Madison, Wyoming. She came across MissTravel.com, which connects 'travel-seeking-singles' together, and decided to sign up after her previous relationship ended

The model on one of her 'travel dates' in Mexico. Initially she kept her travel dating a secret from her parents, but after jetting off most weekends she told them what she was doing

She said: 'I was always interested in older guys and I always wanted to travel too. So, it was a win-win.

'I honestly don't see myself with someone of my own age. I always see myself with older guys. They're classy. I like men in a suit and you don't see that with guys my age.

'I'd rather go out on a date with a guy who wants to take me out to dinner and is classy than a guy who wants to Netflix and chill.'

Initially Alyssa kept her travel dating a secret from her parents but after jetting off most weekends she decided to tell them what she was doing.

Alyssa and Oliver on their date in Times Square in November. She says she has always liked older men, adding: 'I always wanted to travel too. So, it was a win-win'

The pair enjoy the view from Brooklyn Bridge. 'I'd rather go out on a date with a guy who wants to take me out to dinner and is classy than a guy who wants to Netflix and chill,' Alyssa says

She said: 'I didn't tell my family what I was doing at first because obviously they weren't going to be happy about it. But they actually know now and they're okay with it and have grown to like it.'

Alyssa's dad even gets her to take a photo of her with her date as soon as they meet and send it to him along with a full address so he can be sure she is safe.

'My dad's like over the top. But it's smart. There is nothing wrong with that,' she added.

In the five months Alyssa has travel dated, she has only gone out with five different men, going on holiday with them multiple times. Her latest date is Oliver Wright, a 36-year old lawyer from LA who she met up with for the first time in New York.

Alyssa and Oliver. The model's dad insists on her taking a photo of her with her date as soon as they meet, and sending it to him along with a full address, for safety reasons

Alyssa, pictured with Oliver in NYC, added: 'I do eventually want to settle down just not right now. I'd rather be travelling right now just living life. I don't want someone holding me down'

Alyssa said: 'I had a great time with Oliver. I definitely want to travel with him again.

'The best travel date I have been to was probably in LA. It was my first time in California and my date was awesome. He was super funny, I felt like I'd known him forever. He was one of those personalities where you click instantly and I thought it was awesome so, that made the trip really.

'There have been people I haven't clicked with all that great but I still have fun - I got to go to Disney World and Disney Land and Universal Studio, for the first time ever. Everybody always did that as a kid and that's something I never got to do.
-old has rejected suggestions that she is a 'gold digger'

The Playboy bunny wife of an 84-year-old Austrian billionaire has claimed the pair have split because she suspected him of cheating with another woman.

Richard Lugner's now ex-wife Cathy, 27, from Germany, filed for divorce after 809 days of marriage, claiming she was devastated after becoming suspicious that the octogenarian was seeing somebody else.

The couple officially divorced last week in court in Vienna, and Cathy, who was Richard's fifth wife, has explained the alleged reason for their split.

Cathy Lugner has filed for divorce from husband Richard, left, after 809 days of marriage - saying that she was devastated when suspected that he was seeing somebody else

Speaking to Bunte.de, Cathy claimed they had been planning a holiday to Rome together but were forced to cancel following a huge row that broke out about Richard's 'lover'.

She said: 'I only know that she must be about my age, a maximum of 30. Because of her, there was an argument between Richard and me in October.'

Mr Lugner told the German publication that his ex-wife was 'spreading rumours' and maintained he had 'no new girlfriend'.

MailOnline has contacted a representative for Mr Lugner for comment.

Former Playmate Cathy, whose maiden name is Catherine Schmitz, said that she had been planning a long future with her OAP husband, including an upcoming holiday.

'I had booked a weekend in Rome for November,' she recalled.

'I am disappointed that Richard did not fight for me': Cathy says her husband did not try to make amends after she raised suspicions about an his alleged infidelity

Cathy told local media that she felt Richard should have been grateful to have such a young woman by his side, who loves and supports him (pictured on This Morning last year)

Cathy claimed that when she had confronted Richard he denied it.

She said: 'I am disappointed that Richard did not fight for me. But ultimately, Richard did not care at all about me.'

And the devastated former Playboy model thinks they could have enjoyed a long and happy future together.

'We got along very well, we laughed a lot when we met, and I did not see his wrinkles anymore,' she said.

'Richard did not care at all about me': Cathy suspected her octogenarian husband was seeing someone else (the pair are pictured during their engagement party)

Cathy insists she has not become a 'millionaire' following the pair's divorce as they had a 'standard marriage contract' and refutes suggestions that she is a 'gold digger'

Cathy told local media that she felt Richard should have been grateful for a young woman by his side, who loves and supports him.

According to Cathy, the pair had a 'standard marriage contract.'

She also rejected suggestions that she was a gold-digger, saying: 'I did not become a millionaire through the divorce, even if my critics suspect this.'
Every year millions of high school students in China sit one of the hardest exams in the world - the National College Entrance Exam.

Also known as the Gaokao, the exam is so gruelling it is spread over two days, and students spend 12 years preparing for it.

Now you can see how well you would fare in the exam, which determines which university students can attend, after a pupil posted some practice questions on the Quora website.

China's National College Entrance Exam is one of the hardest in the world (file photo)

The fiendishly tricky exam tests students on their knowledge of Chinese, maths, English and other subjects.

Scroll down to see some of the answers (and no cheating!)

1.

President Xi Jinping has said that while art is based on imagination, it should still be down-to-earth. There may be hundreds of ways to create art; the best way, however, is to trace back to the people's daily lives and create something based off of that. From a materialism point of view, this is because:

1. Art originates from the daily lives of people

2. Art depends on innovation

3. The way art reflects on society and its style is unified

4. Art is a form of ideology that reflects people's lives while at the same time serving the people

Choose from the below:

A) 1 and 2

B) 1 and 4

C) 2 and 3

D) 3 and 4

2.

Given f (x) = sinx - (2sqrt(3))(sin^2(pi/2)):

A) Find f(x)s smallest positive revolution

B) Find f(x)s smallest value, given that the period is [0,2pi/3]

3.

What happened in Soviet Russia in the 1920s?

A) Private enterprises began to emerge

B) State-run businesses had more autonomy

C) The government prohibited the sale of food

D) Peasants were active in collective farming

Also known as the Gaokao, the exam is spread over two days and requires 12 years of preparation (file photo)

4.

Write an essay on either of the topics in no fewer than 700 words:

A) There are numerous heroes in Chinese history who set examples. Please write an essay with the title 'If I were given a chance to spend a day with my hero.' Select a hero and imagine spending a day with him/her.

B) For what object do you have a 'passion deep in the soul?' You can choose a plant, an animal or a utensil to write about.

5.

Choose one question to answer in 150 words or less:

A) Review a Chinese classic

B) Write a poem on 'circle'

C) Comment on uncivilized behavior in Beijing

ANSWERS

1: B - 1 and 4

2: A) 2pi B) -sqrt(3)

3. C

4. To be marked by an examiner
While meeting Father Christmas is a dream come true for many children for others it is the stuff of nightmares.

The idea of sitting on Santa's lap and sharing what they want for Christmas proves to be too much for these kids who are left in tears after visiting the big man's grotto.

In a hilarious collection of photos shared online the little ones are left inconsolable and wanting their mum after meeting the festive figure.

Hilarious photos show exactly what happens when a child who is scared of Santa meet the big man himself

While some of the children are lucky enough to visit Santa with a sibling others have to go solo and despite the jolly fella's best efforts are left teary eyed.

Those who do visit with a brother or sister usually one of the siblings is less St Nic-phobic than the other but this isn't always the case.

For some children fear runs in the family and all the youngsters in the photo seem just as hysterical as the others making for a less than photogenic finish.

Rather than sitting on his lap and telling him what they want these children are in a hurry to get going

While some of the children are lucky enough to visit Santa with a sibling others have to go solo and despite the jolly fella's best efforts are left teary eyed

While in many of the photos Santa appears to be his merry old self in some cases you can't blame the children for their reactions.

Instead of a warm smile, these sinister-looking Santas had ghoulish stares, Hannibal Lecter-inspired masks and creepy grins.

The laugh-out-loud images have been posted on various image-sharing channels including Reddit Tumblr, and Imgur.

In this particularly horrifying photo this Santa Clause waves a first in the direction of a petrified youngster

Black and white photos prove to be especially creepy with rubber masks and eye patches making these Santas seem rather unfriendly

This young girl tries to make a getaway from a Santa bearing his teeth at her

There is even a website dedicated to comically spooky Santas called Creepy Santa Photos.

A biography on the website reads: 'Nearly everyone has known someone to be scared of Santa Claus or has been that kid wetting their pants on the jolly mans lap.

'This blog is dedicated to collecting photos, videos, etc. that capture the sometimes strange, sometimes scary, always fun interaction people and pets have with Santa Claus.'

For some children fear runs in the family and all the youngsters in the photo seem just as hysterical as the others

It is now wonder that these two youngsters look a little uncomfortable as this man in red wears a rather creepy expression

With a loose fitting beard this Santa Claus isn't the jolliest looking fellow

One Father Christmas appears particularly sinister (left) where as a plastic mask is enough to give anyone shivers (right)

These two sisters appear desperate to escape the clutches of this Santa in his grotto

A young girls looks a tad uncomfortable in the presence of this unsettling Santa

This youngster looks surprisingly unphased by this rather creepy Father Christmas

Parents who are concerned over their children's fear of Santa, shouldn't be according to experts - who say it is a good sign.

Little ones who are too terrified to meet the jolly many in red, are developing a positive sign of stranger danger awareness, a senior occupational therapist has revealed.

With stream of tears or ghoulish stares on the little faces, Mandy Seyfang from South Australia's Department of Education and Childhood Development has described the emotions as a natural fear.

'To have that natural fear of the stranger, of Father Christmas, of Santa, is really a good sign for your children,' she told 891 ABC Adelaide.

Is your child scared of Santa? Send your photos of their terrifying trips to the grotto to Femail@MailOnline.co.uk.

Despite trying to tickle him with a candy cane this child doesn't seem to be enjoying his trip to Lapland

This young girl seems anything but jolly during her visit to the merry man's grotto

Although they incited fear into the hearts of toddlers, photographs of these alarming St Nick's have sparked hilarity after emerging on social media
Jennifer Lawrence thought she was just telling a cheeky story during a recent television appearance, so she might be surprised to find out that people are actually furious about how she playfully discussed itching her derriere on sacred Hawaiian rocks.

The 26-year-old Oscar winner was on The Graham Norton Show in London last week when she recalled how she almost killed a man on set of one of the The Hunger Games films because she was itching her butt on the rocks and actually shook a boulder loose.

And while Jennifer couldn't help but laugh as she explained how the boulder rolled down the mountain and almost hit their sound guy, many people took to Twitter to call out the actress for being blatantly 'disrespectful' to Hawaiian culture.

Scroll down for video

Whoops... Jennifer Lawrence was on The Graham Norton Show last week when she explained how she almost killed a man after shaking a sacred boulder loose with her butt

In hot water: Although Jennifer laughed while telling the story, many people took to Twitter to slam the star for her 'disrespect'

How dare she! Many were outraged that Jennifer 'thought it was cute' that she rubbed her derriere on stones that are spiritually sacred to the Hawaiian people

'Jennifer Lawrence is so ugly. She knew the rocks are sacred to their culture and went out of her way to respect it,' a Twitter user named Nani commented.

'She rubbed her butt on a monument people used to spiritually represent their ancestors [and] she thought it was cute,' Bolu Babalola added.

The show's host was actually the one who brought up Jennifer filming on the rocks in Hawaii, and she knew exactly what story he wanted her to tell.

'Oh god. How do you know about this?' she asked, but she went on to explain that visitors are not suppose to 'expose your genitalia' to the sacred rocks by sitting on them.

'Monument': The stones that the actress was referring to are thought to be similar to these rocks, which are located in Oahu, near where The Hunger Games was filmed

Ready for a chat: Jennifer was joined by her Passengers co-star Chris Pratt and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver when she appeared on the show last Friday

What's worse? This Twitter user was upset with the actress for numerous reasons

Making her point: A woman named Claudia said Jennifer's story is 'a metaphor for white people recklessly s******g on foreign cultures'

Way harsh: Another woman named T.J. shared a series of memes while calling the star 'trash'

Jennifer noted that she was in a wet suit at the time, and she ended up using the rocks as a scratching post. After the rock she shook loose almost crushed someone, she said the Hawaiian locals were convinced it was the curse from their ancestors.

However, she laughed and insisted that she was actually the curse.

Twitter user Alison Willmore pointed out that she actually told a similar tale during an appearance on Live with Kelly and Michael three years ago.

'Jennifer Lawrence loves that sacred rocks story. Here she is telling it back in 2013,' she wrote while sharing the clip.

'Oh God, how do you know about this?' Jennifer was caught off guard when Graham asked her about one incident during filming on The Hunger Games in Hawaii

Of course, not everyone was amused by her story the second time around.

'"Hey Hawaiians, I scratched my a** with your sacred stones, broke one, almost killed a man, and [laughed] at your spirituality." - Jennifer Lawrence,' @LeftSentThis wrote.

'Jennifer Lawrence scratching her a** on those rocks is a metaphor for white people recklessly s******g on foreign cultures,' a woman named Claudia noted, and @theblckestday added: 'That video of Jennifer Lawrence talking about the sacred rocks makes me cringe so hard; I can't watch it.'

TWITTER REACTS TO JENNIFER LAWRENCE'S STORY Advertisement

Multiple people even went as far as calling the Passengers star 'trash.'

'That time Jennifer Lawrence bragged about defiling sacred Hawaiian stones. Been tellin y'all she's TRASH. Stay Canceled. FOH. [sic]' a woman named T.J. wrote, while @bigbearoncampus noted: 'If Jennifer Lawrence didn't know the rocks were sacred until after, she wouldn't have wanted to even bring up the monstrosity. She's trash.'

And a woman named Emma called her an 'a******, explaining that 'using sacred "rocks" to scratch your a** and then laughing about it when they come loose isn't cute.'

Crossing the line? Najah Sameen had no problems tweeting that Jennifer should have been the one that rolled down the mountain

'Not okay': Courtney Ocheltree tweeted that people were going too far with their anger

Team Jennifer: Marco A. Chillen insinuated that the story made him love the actress even more

However, some people thought that some of the more threatening critics were going to far with their violent language.

'What Jennifer Lawrence said about the sacred Hawaiian rocks did sounds ignorant, I'll admit, but wishing death on her is not okay,' Courtney Ocheltree tweeted.

Meanwhile, Marco A. Chillen argued that the blonde beauty did nothing wrong.

'Gotta love #JenniferLawrence,' he wrote. 'Primitive people get a life; rocks are f*****g rocks, unless it's kryptonite.'
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Denmark.

Australian-born Crown Princess Mary has held what is sure to be one of many Christmas receptions at Amalienborg Palace, home of the Danish royal family, in Copenhagen.

The mother-of-four wore a royal blue blouse for the occasion, where she spoke with partners of The Mary Foundation.

Royal in blue: Crown Princess Mary attended the Christmas reception for partners of The Mary Foundation

Princess Mary dressed elegantly in a royal blue blouse paired with hoop earrings.

She paired the blouse with a pair of maroon trousers, her long hair worn loosely over her shoulders.

The Princess spoke with partners of The Mary Foundation, which she founded in 2007.

Christmas reception: The princess, 44, spoke with members of the foundation in Amalienborg Palace, crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling

The Mary Foundation focuses on three main social issues: Bullying and well-being, domestic violence and loneliness.

Throughout the year the Princess, 44, has attended a number of events to support the Foundation's work.

She visited schools and women's shelters, where women are offered guidance and a comfort pack.

Making a difference: The Mary Foundation focuses on the social issues of bullying and well-being, domestic violence and loneliness

Watching the ballet: Mary attended the premier of The Nutcracker in Copenhagen on December 1

Family affair: She attended the ballet with her husband, Crown Prince Frederik, and their children Prince Christian, Princess Isabella, Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine

The event came after Mary and her husband, Crown Prince Frederik, took their four children to see The Nutcracker.

The Tchaikovsky classic ballet was shown in Copenhagen, and Prince Christian, Princess Isabella, Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine dressed in warm coats for the occasion.
New York City restaurants tend to rack up plenty of honors, but these days it's Instagram likes more so than Michelin stars that are the key to success.

In a year of major Instagram food trends, from rolled ice cream to piled-high milkshakes to pizzas inside boxes made of pizza, it may come as a surprise which restaurants actually had the biggest presence on the photo-focused social media platform.

One thing's for sure, though: After an appearance on this list compiled by CNN, these foodie hotspots are sure to see even longer lines and wait times.

Top honor: Sugar Factory in New York City was the most Instagrammed restaurant of 2016

Sugar high! The Manhattan spot is known for its extravagant desserts

Original: Though there are also other locations around the US, as well as one in Dubai, the flagship is the most-shared on social media

Who doesn't love brunch? The mixed weekend meal is definitely an Instagram favorite

Drink up! Sugar Factory is also known for it's candy-colored (and flavored) cocktails

1. Sugar Factory: Meatpacking District, NYC

The flagship location of this small chain restaurant  which has other locations in New York City as well as spots in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, and Dubai  managed to rack up the most Instagram geo-tags in a competitive contest.

It certainly helps that their colorful candy-flavored cocktails are so picture perfect, topped with things like gummy worms, lollipops, and candy necklaces.

While they also serve real food including sandwiches, salads, burgers, and pasta, the most camera-ready orders are those that satisfy a sweet tooth.

Food with a view: Nobu in Malibu is a favorite social media spot on the West Coast

Gorgeous: Diners love to share photos of their drinks and sushi  with a fabulous beach view

Hot spot: Nobu is also a favorite spot of celebrities like George Clooney, Britney Spears, and the Kardashians

Going strong: The pricey Japanese restaurant has been a top destination for years

Jealous! Snaps from here are sure to give followers some serious FOMO

2. Nobu Malibu: Malibu, CA

This classic celebrity hotspot still knows how to attract the trendy set, who give the rest of us a healthy dose of FOMO with their Instagrammed sushi rolls. Mostly, 'grammers post snaps of themselves, the restaurant's killer beach view, and the expertly-prepared food.

If they manage to keep their eyes peeled, though, the lucky ones can find their accounts the subject for tabloid fodder, as Charlize Theron, Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus have all dine there  and that's just this month. The Kardashian-Jenner family, David and Victoria Beckham, George and Amal Clooney, Cindy Crawford, and Rande Gerber are also fans.

Woah! TAO Downtown in Manhattan was the third most-Instagrammed spot

Chopsticks at the ready: The restaurant serves up pan-Asian fare with a setting of Oriental decor

Love it: Cutesy buns (left) and giant fortune cookies (right) make their menu photogenic

Share me! Fancy plating has these dishes begging to be photographed

Party! TAO also attracts celebrities like Victoria Justice (left) and Stephen Curry (left, top right)

3. TAO Downtown: NYC

Another celebrity favorite, this restaurant and nightclub has been going strong since it debuted in 2013 with a Hollywood party that attracted the likes of Katie Holmes, Cameron Diaz, Sofia Vergara, Brooke Shield, Alicia Keys, Olivia Munn, Naomi Campbell, Will.i.am, Lily Aldridge, Emily Ratajkowski, and Priyanka Chopra.

Thanks to its large lounge that's open until 2am on weekends, TAO's racked up extra posts for nightlight.

With a backdrop of Asian-inspired decor, the kitchen offers up a menu with dim sum, yakitori, tempura, and sushi.

I'll have what she's having! Katz's Deli  where Meg Ryan faked an orgasm in When Harry Met Sally  is another popular spot

Don't miss: Open since 1888, their pastrami sandwiches are a classic New York dish

Schtick: Sandwiches here are also served with heaping piles of pickles

Jewish comfort food: In a city with plenty of Jewish delis, this one is arguably the most famous

4. Katz's Delicatessen: NYC

By far the oldest restaurant on this list, Katz's has been open since 1888  but something about its charm keeps it current for the social media set.

Situated on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Katz's brings in customers that can expect a long wait to order from the counter or be seated for table service, where they can order pastrami sandwiches, brisket, matzoh ball soup, and blintzes.

Those pastrami sandwiches in particular make a mouth-watering Instagram picture, though When Harry Met Sally fans have also been known to post snaps of the sign hanging above the table where Meg Ryan's character memorably faked an orgasm.

Viral sensation: The internet went wild over the piled-high milkshakes at Black Tap Burgers & Beer this year

Nom nom nom: Diners come for the shakes  but fill up on burgers, too

Though they serve simple milkshakes, the most Instagrammable orders are the ones topped with things like Pop Tarts and cotton candy

You'll have to wait: The flagship, as well as two other locations that have opened in Manhattan, still has long lines

5. Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer: Meatpacking District, NYC

Black Tap positively exploded onto the scene this year, earning international attention for their seriously stacked milkshakes.

While the burgers are a must-order item too, it's their outrageous dessert drinks that steal the show. Diners can get a traditional shake for just $6, but most go for the $15 jaw-droppers topped with things like whole slices of cake, cookies, brownies, churros and candy.

You'll have to wait, though: All three Manhattan locations now have long lines of hopefuls waiting to get their hands on one of their signature treats.

So pretty! Bottega Louie in Los Angeles is a picture-perfect bakery and restaurant

Snap snap! Their colorful macarons make especially shareable posts

Sit down and eat: In the restaurant, they serve up classic brunch and Italian food

Something sweet: Most people seem to go for the beautiful desserts

On the list: The gourmet market is a must-try in LA, according to social media

6. Bottega Louie Restaurant and Gourmet Market (aka Bottega Louie): Los Angeles, CA

Brunch favorites and Italian fare are served at this West Coast favorite, yet the it seems most people come for the beautiful (and delicious) dessert.

A wide array of pastries are up for grabs in this picturesque spot, with colorful macarons the obvious headliner.

Major: San Pedro Fish Market and Restaurant is known for its jumbo shrimp

What a spread! Diners pig out on seafood at this waterfront favorite

Slurp! The lively restaurant also serves up frozen cocktails and giant bottles of beer

7. San Pedro Fish Market and Restaurant: San Pedro, CA

Situated on a waterfront just south of Los Angeles, San Pedro Fish Market clientele wash down the place's famous jumbo shrimp with their even more jumbo bottles of beer.

The outdoor restaurant also serves up cocktails, calamari, and fries for feasting on while looking out at the harbor.

Say cheese! Thanks in part to the lively nightclub downstairs, LAVO was a seriously shared spot this year

Looks good: The Italian restaurant is another favorite of celebrities

Owned by the same people behind TAO, LAVO also has a location in Las Vegas

The menu includes dishes like the chopped Louie salad (pictured), roasted Chilean sea bass, veal parmigiano, and brick oven pizza

The stars are out: The Kardashians (and friend Jonathan Cheban, pictured) frequent LAVO

8. LAVO: NYC

Owned by the same restaurateurs behind TAO, this Italian eatery has a buzzing nightclub downstairs  and the high-heeled crowd that frequents it likes to document it.

Like it's sister spot downtown, its been known to attract celebrities, too, and has hosted a slew of Hollywood events attended by the Kardashians, Gigi Hadid, and Victoria's Secret models.

Sunset: La Marina, situated on the Hudson River in New York City, has food with a nice view

Impressive: The restaurant is only open during the warmer months but still ended up in the top ten

What to order: Pretty cocktails, seafood, and steak dominate the menu

Diners can enjoy the river view as well as a look at the nearby George Washington Bridge

9. La Marina: NYC

This uptown waterfront spot is only open during the warmer months, but it still managed to rack up more posts than most of the restaurants in America.

Customers are treated to an incredible view of the Hudson River and George Washington Bridge while they dine on steak, grilled chicken, and plenty of seafood options.

LA at night: Perch in Los Angeles is perched on a ritzy rooftop

The best meal: Brunch is an obvious favorite here, where diners can order eggs Benedict and French toast

The super trendy spot rounds out the list of the ten most Instagrammed restautrants

Yum: The French menu includes burgers, baked brie, and Boeuf Bordelaise

The restaurant also has an extensive cocktail list with drinks like the My Fair Lady or French Maid

10. Perch: Los Angeles, CA

Perched  get it?  on a rooftop, this locale gets as many social snaps for its sweeping city views as its food and cocktails.

In fact, a favorite photo for 'grammers here is the top of a cocktail, like the My Fair Lady or French Maid, with LA's lit-up skyline in the background.




1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.

4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.

8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.

9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.

10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.

11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)

12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand.

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.

43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.

44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.
Schizophrenic sufferers may actually have a treatable immune disorder, new research suggests.

Patients are currently given anti-psychotic medication or forms of psychotherapy as treatment.

But scientists at Oxford University found up to one in 11 psychosis cases may involve a condition where antibodies attack the brain.

The new findings could open up a different route to tackle mental illnesses in a very different way, experts say.

New research suggests that schizophrenic sufferers may actually have a treatable immune disorder - not the mental disorder

Researchers analysed blood sample from 228 patients in the study, published in The Lancet.

They discovered around nine per cent had antibodies that may be relevant to their mental illness.

Antibodies were found to attack the 'NMDA receptor' - which have previously been shown to cause encephalitis, a life-threatening inflammation of the brain.

This receptor allows brain cells to communicate with each other.

But encephalitis can usually be overcome by prompt recognition and treatment, whereas schizophrenia requires long-term management.

The discovery offers fresh hope in terms of new treatment possibilities for people experiencing psychosis, the researchers say.

This is because the rapid identification and removal of the same antibodies associated with encephalitis leads to a dramatic improvement, and often complete a cure from the illness.

Scientists found up to one in 11 psychosis cases may involve a condition where antibodies attack the brain - similar to that of encephalitis (stock)

All patients displaying signs of psychosis should be screened for levels of antibodies, according to lead researcher Professor Belinda Lennox.

She told the BBC: 'The implications of this are that there are patients in mental health services now who will have these antibodies and could potentially be treated in a very different way.

'I think this is a really exciting advance for psychiatry as a whole, and every psychiatrist and patient with psychosis needs to be aware of this and to look for it and treat it assertively when we find it.'

However some are doubtful that there are large numbers of patients in institutions who have been misdiagnosed.

Josep Dalmau, from the University of Barcelona, told the BBC: 'The large majority of patients develop other symptoms, for example seizures or abnormal movements.
A mother-of-two who thought her backache was due to giving birth discovered she actually had sepsis.

Victoria Walker, 28, from Southampton, assumed her discomfort, shivering and extreme thirst was a result of having her second child.

But three days after she returned home, her friend, Alice Flood, 26, noticed she was so dazed that she was unable to talk properly.

She was rushed in to hospital before being given blood tests which revealed she had sepsis - a deadly blood infection.

Doctors warned that if she didn't seek medical advice when she did that she could have fallen into a coma and died.

Victoria Walker, 28, from Southampton, assumed her discomfort, shivering and extreme thirst was a result of having her second child, Tommy (pictured). But blood tests at hospital revealed she actually had sepsis

Ms Walker said: ' I cant stop thinking about how lucky I am to be alive. The thought that I could have left my boys is the scariest thing.

'I assumed my symptoms were because Id just given birth and that it was normal to get backache.

'If it wasnt for Alice, I wouldnt be here, as I would have just gone to sleep. Im so grateful to her.'

Ms Walker was allowed to go home five days after giving birth to Tommy, now 22 months.

But after going straight to bed, she later woke her partner, James Hocking, 29, complaining of a painful back.

She then spent an hour in the bath trying to warm herself up as she had began to shiver.

Doctors warned that if she didn't seek medical advice when she did that she could have fallen into a coma and died (pictured with Tommy)

After going back to sleep, when she woke up she had no appetite and was constantly thirsty.

At one point, her stomach was hurting so much that she collapsed on her bedroom floor in pain.

Mr Hocking said that she needed to go to hospital, but she was adamant that she would be fine.

However, her condition continued to deteriorate.

Ms Flood came to visit her on the third day after giving birth and she convinced her to phone the hospital with her symptoms.

Phone handlers told her she needed to come in for medical treatment immediately.

Her mother, Helen Everett, 53, drove her to hospital where she had blood tests, two chest X-rays, kidney and heart scans.

Feeling severely depleted, she also needed a four hour blood transfusion and was given oxygen, intravenous antibiotics and had a catheter fitted.

Ms Walker said: ' I cant stop thinking about how lucky I am to be alive. The thought that I could have left my boys is the scariest thing' (pictured with her partner, James Hocking, 29)

On her first night back in hospital, she was diagnosed with sepsis, caused by an abscess on her left kidney, which had developed because of a urine infection.

Ms Walker added: 'I didnt have the foggiest idea what sepsis was, but doctors explained it was blood poisoning.

SEPSIS: THE SILENT KILLER Sepsis can be triggered by any bacterial or viral infection and causes the immune system to go into overdrive - affecting more than 19 million people worldwide. Doctors and nurses in the UK must treat sepsis with the same urgency as heart attacks, the NHS watchdog ordered in July. They must ask themselves 'could this be sepsis?' whenever they see patients with a rash, high temperature or raised pulse. Anyone suspected of having the deadly condition  also known as blood poisoning or septicaemia  must be sent to hospital via emergency ambulance and be seen immediately by a senior doctor or nurse. NICEs first-ever guidelines for diagnosing and treating sepsis follow a damning report into the death of one-year-old William Mead in 2014 which exposed a string of NHS failures. NICE confirmed that Williams death had resulted in the guidelines being published far earlier than planned. The watchdog started drawing up the recommendations early in 2014, before William died, amid concerns that thousands of patients were dying needlessly. Advertisement

'When I researched it, I read that people often mistake sepsis for common flu and that it can be fatal, which was so scary.

'Every night I went to bed I was frightened I would die.'

She spent 11 days in hospital being closely monitored by nurses, who said she woke up most nights shivering.

Nurses had to look after Tommy as Ms Walker was too weak to care for him herself.

Once her infection was under control enough for her to be allowed home, she still had to return as an outpatient every day for three weeks, to receive intravenous antibiotics.

She suffered from post-traumatic stress for about a year after her ordeal and panicked that she may develop sepsis again in the future.

But now back to her 'normal self', she still thinks about her experience every morning when she wakes up, and before going to bed at night.

Ms Walker said: 'I have to remember to be grateful Im here. I just think about my boys and I feel OK.

'Its important people are aware of the symptoms, because sepsis is so easy to miss.'

Dr Ron Daniels BEM, chief executive of the UK Sepsis Trust and global sepsis expert said: 'Stories like Victorias remind us of the devastating human cost of sepsis.

'Individuals and families have their lives torn apart each day in the UK by this condition, and a quarter of survivors suffer lasting consequences.
A medical detection dog has prevented a woman from suffering more than 5,000 potentially fatal seizures.

Alice Halstead, from Embsay, North Yorkshire, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was just 15.

She spent three years in hospital to cope with her repeated fits, which were caused by her body's fluctuating blood-sugar levels.

Doctors didn't expect her to live past 18 as they battled to keep a grip of her condition.

But after her condition began to improve six years ago, she began to look into the possibility of getting a medical detection dog.

She eventually adopted Holly, who is able to predict seizures by smelling a change in her blood sugar levels, who has helped transform her life.

Alice Halstead was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was just 15 and spent three years in hospital battling to stay alive. When she was released, she adopted a medical detection dog, which she says has prevented more than 5,000 deadly seizures

Miss Halstead, now 25, who was released just before Christmas five years ago with no GCSEs and needing a full-time carer, said: 'I'd never liked animals, but as soon as Holly came into my life we were best friends.

'In five years of having her, I've had zero paramedic call outs, and I've managed to finally complete my GCSEs.

'I had so much doom and gloom in my life, but Holly changed all that.'

She added: 'I t was difficult at first, learning to trust Holly.

Holly, a six-year-old Labrador, is trained to nudge Miss Halstead on the hand whenever she notices her blood sugar levels are either too high or low

'But she was persistent - if I ignored her alerting me, she'd run upstairs to get my mum, or bring me my blood-sugar kit.

'She's my best friend, and I'm so thankful for her! With Holly at my side, I was able to sit my GCSEs this year, achieving an A in English and B in Maths.

'It's been overwhelming and emotional, and my four-legged friend has changed my life. I'm so thankful to Holly.'

A nurse from her ward at Leeds Children's Hospital was the first to tell her about medical detection dogs.

Holly is trained to nudge her on the hand whenever she notices her blood sugar levels are either too high or low.

This enables her to be proactive and she can either eat something or inject insulin to restore her levels and prevent a seizure.

She spent three years in hospital to cope with her repeated fits, which were caused by her body's fluctuating blood-sugar levels

But Miss Halstead was initially hesitant about having a medical detection dog as she had never been an animal lover.

However, on their first walk together, Holly instantly began nudging her hand to inform her that her levels were low.

WHAT ARE DIABETIC SEIZURES? A diabetic seizure happens when blood sugar levels drops dangerously low. This is called hypoglycaemia  or hypo for short. It is potentially serious and can even be fatal. A number of situations can cause this to occur: Too much insulin or too many diabetes tablets

Delayed or missed meals

Eating less starchy foods than usual

Unplanned or strenuous activity

Drinking too much alcohol or drinking alcohol without food. Symptoms include: sweating, shaking, dizziness, fatigue, blurred vision, trembling or shakiness, going pale, difficulty concentrating and confusion. If you recognise that you or your partner is having a hypo, you should treat it immediately with something that will raise your blood glucose quickly. The best way to prevent a seizure is through monitoring of blood sugar levels, healthy living and having a source of sugar available. Source: The Diabetes Times Advertisement

The six-year-old hound was one of four finalists in the 'hero pet' category of the Charles Holland Awards for Brave Britons recently.

The award, hosted by hearing specialist Amplifon, celebrated animals who transformed the lives of their owners.

Simon Weston, head of the judging panel, said: 'When I read Alice and Holly's story it was truly touching. They have both shown a great deal of courage and selflessness.

'It's wonderful to see the unsung heroes in our midst - the truly remarkable people and animals who are an inspiration to us all - finally given the recognition they deserve.'

When Miss Halstead was diagnosed with diabetes, she said she was left stunned as her only symptoms had been some weight loss, and going to the toilet more often than usual.

For ten months after her diagnosis, she coped by monitoring her blood-sugar levels - but it was then discovered that her body was fighting off the insulin she was injecting.

She suffered frequent seizures as her levels fluctuated, and eventually doctors revealed the condition was becoming life-threatening.

She was admitted to Leeds Children's Hospital in 2007, and had to drop out of school.
Refusing to give IVF to couples struggling to conceive is 'unacceptable', the public health minister warns.

Thousands of childless couples are being denied NHS fertility treatment as more and more health cut funding, Freedom of Information data shows.

Only one in six clinical commissioning groups - 16 per cent - offer couples the three IVF cycles recommended by the NHS.

And only 2 per cent - just four health boards across England - follow NHS guidance to the letter and fund IVF until a woman is 40, even if her partner has a child from a previous relationship.

Nicola Blackwood, minister for public health, said refusing to give IVF to couples struggling to conceive is 'unacceptable'

Nicola Blackwood, minister for public health, said last night: 'Fertility problems can have a serious and lasting impact on those affected.

'It is important that the NHS provide access to fertility services for those who need clinical help to start a family.

'I am very disappointed to learn that access to IVF treatment on the NHS has been reduced in some places and it is unacceptable that some clinical commissioning groups have stopped commissioning it completely.'

Her intervention comes after several years in which fertility treatment has been gradually rationed by clinical commissioning groups, which decide how to spend NHS funds locally.

NHS watchdog NICE sets out clear guidance on the issue  but because it is not mandatory, standards differ wildly across the country.

The number of clinical commission groups in England which offer all three IVF cycles dropped from 24 per cent in 2013 to 18 per cent in 2014, 17 per cent in 2015 and 16 per cent this year.

Thousands of childless couples are being denied NHS fertility treatment as more and more health cut funding, Freedom of Information data reveals today

Most women undergoing IVF do not conceive on their first attempt, with only 30 per cent of first cycles resulting in a live birth.

But the odds of success increase with repeated attempts, with 45 per cent of women who have two cycles and 54 per cent who have three cycles having a baby.

One in six British couples have difficulty conceiving, and for many IVF offers the only hope of a child, with around 50,000 couples undergoing the procedure each year.

IVF CALCULATOR PREDICTS THE SUCCESS CHANCES An 'IVF calculator' can predict a couple's success of conceiving a baby, scientists claimed last month. The tool, called Outcome Prediction in Subfertility, gives a percentage score of how successful it is likely to be based on multiple factors. It takes into account the age of a woman, how many years she has been trying to conceive and whether she has an ovulation problem. Experts believe the calculator could 'help to shape expectations' of whether the fertility treatment could work for many couples. The tool, which can be used by doctors or people seeking IVF, is based on data from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) which collects information on all licensed fertility treatments in the UK. Advertisement

The latest data, gathered by the Fertility Fairness charity using FoI requests, reveals 60 per cent of health boards now offer only one round of IVF.

And 2 per cent - four boards all in Essex and Norfolk - have stopped offering IVF at all.

Yet health officials across the country are cutting down on the number of cycles they will fund, with couples forced to pay an average of 5,000 per IVF cycle in private clinics or give up their dream of a family.

Susan Seenan, co-chair of Fertility Fairness, said: 'This is cruel and unethical, and a national disgrace for the country that pioneered IVF.

'Infertility is a disease and women and men who cannot become parents without medical help are as deserving of healthcare as people with other medical conditions.'

Professor Adam Balen, chairman of the British Fertility Society, said the figures lamented the 'stark reality' of IVF provision.

'It is shocking that only four out of England's 209 CCGs follow NICE guidance on access to NHS fertility treatment fully,' he said.

'Current access to treatment is a postcode lottery and these health inequalities people face are unacceptable.
Certain microbes in a woman's uterus could scupper her chances of becoming pregnant through IVF, a ground-breaking study claims.

For years, the so-called 'uterine cavity' was believed to be a sterile environment, free from bacteria.

But for the first time, research has found the existence of so-called 'harmless' germs - non-Lactobacillus.

However, experts discovered having high levels could actually hamper the success rate of fertility treatment.

They say antimicrobial treatment may be an option in the future to improve the chances of conceiving through IVF.

Experts discovered having high levels of a 'harmless' bacteria could actually hamper the chances of success during fertility treatment

Dr Roberto Romero, editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, commented on the findings.

He said: 'Colonisation of the uterine cavity with some bacteria - non Lactobacillus-dominated - affects the success of in vitro fertilization, pregnancy rates, and live births.

'This brings hope that diagnostic tests to examine the microbial composition of the uterine cavity may be valuable in assessing the likelihood of success of IVF.

'Moreover, it raises the question of whether targeted treatment with antimicrobial agents or probiotics may be useful in improving reproductive success.'

He added that the findings also suggest successful reproduction may depend on levels of bacteria in the endometrial cavity, unknown before this time.

Researchers from the University of Valencia, Spain, compared the microbiota of 35 fertile women and 35 infertile women undergoing IVF.

They found women with high levels of non-Lactobacillus had a significantly lower rate of implantation, pregnancy and live birth rates.

However, they are unsure as to why it reduced the success rate and said more research is needed.

Numerous studies over the past 10 years have discovered increasing diversity between bacteria levels in humans.

For years, the so-called 'uterine cavity' was believed to be a sterile environment free from bacteria. But for the first time, research has found the existence of non-Lactobacillus

Dr Luciano Nardo, who was not involved in the research, said the findings could have important repercussions for IVF success.

The founder of Cheshire's Reproductive Health Group said: 'The adequate characteristics of the endometrial environment are central to successful embryo implantation.

Colonisation of the uterine cavity with some bacteria - non Lactobacillus-dominated - affects the success of in vitro fertilization, pregnancy rates, and live births. Dr Roberto Romero, editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology

'It is known that a multitude of factors may affect the endometrium, making it receptive or selective.'

He's calling on sperm and reproductive eggs donors in the UK to be given the right of anonymity in order to halt a chronic shortage of donor stocks.

Speaking about the so-called 'right to know' law introduced in 2005, he said: "There is a national shortage of sperm and egg donors in the UK.

'The law change is undoubtedly to blame for the decline in the number of people willing to donate.

'As happy as some people are to help those without children to realise their dreams of becoming a parent, it becomes a little less appealing once they realise that as soon as the child reaches 18, they can track them down.
It was one of the riskiest separation surgeries ever performed.

But the 50-surgeon team that divided two-year-olds Eva and Erika Sandoval today appeared at a press conference beaming.

The Californian girls shared a digestive system, a uterus, a liver, a bladder, a pelvis, and a third leg with a seven-toed foot.

Just two days after the grueling 18-hour operation, the girls are still being closely monitored in the intensive care unit.

However, lead surgeon Dr Gary Hartman gushed that both are doing far better than expected.

Most excitingly, Erika - the smaller twin who was getting smaller, weaker, and more sickly ahead of surgery - is seeing the most significant improvements.

The team has also released photos from inside the operation, and pictures of the 3D-printed models of the girls' shared body parts, which they used to practice for months.

Weeping at the press conference with their father Arturo, mother Aida said: 'It's been a dream come true.'

SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO

'It's been a dream come true': Aida Sandoval wept next to her husband on Thursday as they thanked the surgical team that separated their two-year-old daughter Eva and Erika

Before surgery: Eva (left) and Erika (right) pictured arriving at the hospital on Tuesday

During surgery: 'The twins did very well,' lead surgeon Dr. Gary Hartman said on Wednesday (pictured during the operation on Tuesday)

Ready for reconstruction: One of the girls is wheeled out of the OR for hours of reconstruction

Mammoth task: The 50-strong team had been preparing for more than a year (pictured during the surgery on Tuesday)

The team said they could not have effectively separated the pelvis without such advanced radiological scans, used during surgery (pictured) and also before to make 3D plastic models

After surgery: Aida, Arturo, and two of their three adult children embrace with joy after the operation

'We're so happy they did well during the actual separation procedure and it went smoothly,' Gail Boltz, clinical professor of anesthesiology, said.

Matias Bruzoni, Dr Hartman's co-surgeon who made the final cut of the skin in the separation, explained how the team working 'little by little' from the upper chest down to the shared leg.

The surgery was challenging because they shared much of their lower body and had one liver, one bladder and three legs.

In the procedure conducted on Tuesday into early Wednesday, the team divided the bladder into two separate organs. It also split their liver to give half to each child.

It doesn't matter if you get them separated if you cant get them reconstructed and get them closed. The reconstructive guys are really the heroes Lead surgeon Dr Gary Hartman

The girls each have one leg, with doctors using a third leg for reconstruction, taking its skin and muscle to close one child's abdominal wall.

And it was the reconstruction that really determined whether the girls would recover well.

Dr Hartman explained: 'It doesn't matter if you get them separated if you cant get them reconstructed and get them closed.

'Matias and Jim [Gamble, the orthopedic surgeon who guided the separation of the pelvis] got us through the pelvis and cut the skin.

'As Matias says, it's the most anticlimactic thing. You've been through the whole separation then you just have to cut that last bit of skin, and they're the heroes.

'The reconstructive guys are really the heroes.

'And the proof of that is Erika, who was and is the smaller twin. We were very concerned about her pre-surgery because she kept getting smaller. The more calories we gave her, Eva would get bigger.

'But because of the way she was reconstructed, she is getting stronger and moving faster than her sister.

'That is down to the creativeness of the reconstructive surgeons.'

The girls are expected to remain in the intensive care unit at the hospital for two weeks. They are sharing a hospital room in separate beds.

Aida, 46, said: 'Seeing them now in the ICU, you look at them and think 'You're missing your other half' but we know that this is the right path for them: to be independent, have the chance to succeed and explore on their own everything the world has to offer.'

These are the intricate 3D-printed models showing the girls' entangled skeletal structures, which the surgeons used to make a game plan ahead of the surgery. The pelvis (left) was the biggest obstacle, since it was entwined and tangled with many shared blood vessels

Going to hospital: Arturo, 51, carries the girls as Aida, 46, and their relatives follow en route to Lucille Packard

Before surgery: Erika and Eva look at each other before their operation

Eva and Erika were attached from the sternum to the pelvis. They shared a digestive system, a uterus, a liver, a bladder, and a third leg with a seven-toed foot. Now they are separate

As they grew, they were experiencing more and more health concerns. They were hospitalized with dozens of urinary tract infections and countless cases of dehydration

Prior to the surgery, Dr Hartman said Eva would likely keep their bladder, while Erika would get a colostomy bag.

Erika, the weaker twin, was expected to keep their third leg while Eva would get the other two.

Both were expected to be missing vital body parts; and both needed significant reconstruction of their lower bodies.

The surgeons estimated the operation carried a 30 percent risk that one or both of them would die - largely due to the fact that they shared a tangled skeletal system, with many shared and tangled blood vessels.

'This is a worrisome number because in most cases doctors only perform with a tenth of a percent chance of fatality,' their parents Aida and Arturo wrote on their Facebook page before the surgery.

'It's hard to see the numbers and find comfort on the odds.

'But ... from the beginning our girls have superseded the doctors expectations of life and will continue to show us their strength.'

Ahead of the operation, Dr Hartman told the Sacramento Bee the biggest concern was preventing blood loss when severing the liver and the pelvic bone.

Aida and Arturo made the painstaking decision to attempt separating them last year, as it became clear that with every month more issues arose.

From the beginning our girls have superseded the doctors expectations of life and will continue to show us their strength Parents Aida and Arturo Sandoval

They have been hospitalized with dozens of urinary tract infections and countless cases of dehydration.

And it gets worse with time.

Their operation is one of the most complicated procedures surgeons at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford have ever faced - so complicated that the operation keeps getting pushed back.

After originally planning to perform the surgery in January this year, the team decided on the first week of December.

Surgeons spent the last few months inserting tissue expanders, a common tactic in separation of conjoined twins.

It was a way of stretching the skin gradually so that, when it came to the reconstruction surgery, they have more to move and manipulate.

Aida was urged to abort the girls when she and Arturo surprisingly fell pregnant two years ago - when she was 44 and he 49. Without hesitating, the couple - who already have three kids in their 20s - went ahead with the pregnancy

Like all two-year-olds, twin sisters Eva and Erika Sandoval are excitable, playful, and beginning to develop mentally and physically. But that brings health challenges

Aida said last month that she was confident the surgery would be a success, and that it would allow Erika - the smaller and weaker of the two - to grow into her own person

While Arturo continues his construction work near their home in Antelope, California, Aida has been forced to move to Palo Alto to live close to the hospital with the girls

In a lengthy profile of the family, the Sacramento Bee last month described how the cost and scale of the operation - and pre-surgery - has taken such a heavy toll on the family.

Aida was urged to abort the little girls when she and Arturo surprisingly fell pregnant two years ago - when she was 44 and he 49.

Without hesitating, the religious couple - who already have three kids in their 20s - went ahead with the pregnancy.

But life was becoming insurmountably difficult for the girls.

Aida has been forced to move to Palo Alto to live close to the hospital with the girls while Arturo continues his construction work near their home in Antelope, California, the Bee reported.

Nonetheless, Aida told the paper she maintains her faith: 'You just have to remember that doctors tell you the worst.

'I have faith in God, and I know that if it's meant to be, it will be.

'They want life, and they're going to fight for it .'

It was one of the most complicated procedures surgeons at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford have ever faced - so complicated that the operation kept getting pushed back

She said she was confident that the surgery would be a success, and that it would allow Erika - the smaller and weaker of the two - to grow into her own person.

The Bee calls Eva 'the larger and more dominant twin' and describes how she carries them both around.

'She thrust forward with two arms and one thick leg, while her sister scrambled to support herself on spaghetti-thin limbs, sometimes giving up entirely and letting herself be dragged along,' reporter Sammy Caiola writes.

Aida told the paper: 'In moments where one is tired or she's sick, and the other wants to go play, I want her to be able to do that.

'That's something they'll get when they're separated  their individual limelight.'
JAMIE OLIVER'S CHRISTMAS COOKBOOK

(Michael Joseph 26)

Jamie Oliver has been a mentor for an entire generation of young cooks who were inspired by his passionate belief that cooking with fresh ingredients could be tasty, fun and a bit irreverent. Here, he tackles that most daunting of culinary prospects: Christmas food.

Christmas doesnt have to be stressful, he announces  a claim that might raise a hollow laugh from cynics.

Jamie Olivers Christmas Cookbook (Michael Joseph 26)

But if you take his advice, plan ahead and delegate some of the hard work to friends and family, you might just find your Christmas turning out as jolly as the cheery photos of Jamies festive gatherings.

His mum, wife Jools and their adorable sprogs are pictured lending a hand to prepare such seasonal delights as cracker ravioli stuffed with chestnuts and ricotta, turkey wellington and Jamies mums retro trifle  a dayglo spectacular of trifle sponge, orange jelly, strawberry blancmange and tinned mandarin segments.

Rick Steins Long Weekends (BBC Books 25)

RICK STEIN'S LONG WEEKENDS

(BBC Books 25)

Rick Steins latest book is based around the appealing concept of a weekend city break.

His intention, he explains, is to inspire his readers to go to Bordeaux, Berlin, Reykjavik, Vienna, Bologna, Copenhagen, Cadiz, Lisbon, Thessaloniki and Palermo, because these are cities he loves, with culinary traditions as rich as their cultural life.

As a souvenir of your travels he suggests you bring back not knick-knacks or bottles of obscure liqueurs, but the authentic flavours of Portugal, Italy or Iceland.

With this in mind, he offers a selection of recipes to match the buzzy excitement of Friday night, or the relaxed ambience of a long Sunday lunch.

A Sicilian dish of pasta with cauliflower, anchovies, currants and pine nuts is a fine way to get the weekend started; Viennese Goulash with spatzle is a sustaining dish for Saturday dinner; and what better Sunday breakfast than cinnamon churros with spiced chocolate sauce?

Vegetables by Antonio Carluccio (Quadrille 25.00)

VEGETABLES BY ANTONIO CARLUCCIO

(Quadrille 25.00)

Chef, restaurateur and TV presenter Antonio Carluccio has written an entire library of cookbooks, and his latest volume has a distinguished ancestry.

As he explains in the introduction, in 1611, Giacomo Castelvetro, an Italian living in England, wrote The Fruit, Herbs And Vegetables Of Italy in the hope of persuading the British to eat more fruit and veg.

Four centuries later, Carluccio is on a similar mission with an appetising selection of recipes ranging from a rustic panzanella salad of toasted bread and tomatoes to a luxurious dish of truffled potato puree and Carluccios personal favourite, an intensely flavoured mushroom risotto.

Not that meat is overlooked: carnivores will relish a warming winter dish of sausages and borlotti beans or a Pugliese lamb and aubergine pie.

To follow, he suggests pistachio ice cream, with a tiny glass of a powerful home-made green walnut liqueur as a digestif.

The Indian Cookery Course by Monisha Bharadwaj (Kyle Books 30)

THE INDIAN COOKERY COURSE

by Monisha Bharadwaj (Kyle Books 30)

The special relationship between British and Indian food has its roots deep in our countries joint history. But our passion for curry has not always been matched by our expertise in preparing it.

When Monisha Bharadwaj first came to England from Mumbai in the Eighties, she found the grocery shops offering mostly parsnips, swedes and Brussels sprouts, and she struggled to find the spices she needed.

Thirty years on, the ingredients for Indian food are readily available, and Monishas cookery course offers a personal one-to-one lesson in creating the perfect Indian meal.

If further persuasion were needed, she points out that in India, the highest demonstration of love is to feed someone. A family that sits down to share her crisp garlic prawns, fragrant lentils with spinach or spicy, golden grilled cauliflower steaks with mint and coriander chutney will find that Monishas food satisfies more than just hunger.

Ottolenghi: The Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi with Tara Wigley (Ebury Press 27)

OTTOLENGHI: THE COOKBOOK BY YOTAM OTTOLENGHI & SAMI TAMIMI WITH TARA WIGLEY

(Ebury Press 27)

It takes a while for a novel to earn the status of a classic, and the same is true of cookery books. Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimis first cookbook was originally published in 2008, and this revised edition reveals it to be one of those volumes that no serious food-lover should be without.

The two restaurateur-authors are endearingly self-critical in their introduction. Why, they wonder, did they ever think it a good idea to garnish everything with pomegranate seeds? And whats with the picture of the (very sweet) dog that was always parked outside their Notting Hill deli?

But every recipe in this splendid book makes you want to get your apron on.

I have made their roast chicken with saffron, hazelnuts and honey and their superb meatballs with tahini and kosheri (lentils, rice and vermicelli) so often that my copy is covered in stains and splashes  the unmistakable sign of a true classic.

Simple by Diana Henry (Mitchell Beazley 25)

SIMPLE BY DIANA HENRY

Mitchell Beazley 25)

Everyone needs at least one cookbook that doesnt demand top chef-style techniques, hard-to-source ingredients or elaborate kitchen equipment, but simply offers a selection of quick-to-make recipes that are exactly what you feel like eating for supper. Diana Henrys Simple is that book.

Theres no one who cant cook, she writes bracingly in her introduction, and this book will convince even the most reluctant cook that she is right,

Her uncomplicated but sophisticated dishes include linguine allamalfitana  punchy flavours of anchovy, chilli, garlic and walnut  or a one-pot dish of Moroccan-spiced chicken with dates and aubergines, where you tip all the ingredients into a casserole and 40 minutes later a fragrant, nearly effortless meal emerges from the oven.

An almost instant pudding of hot cherries with grappa and ice cream is a stylish finish from this most appetising of everyday cookbooks.

FRESH INDIA BY MEERA SODHA (Penguin Fig Tree 20)

FRESH INDIA BY MEERA SODHA

(Penguin Fig Tree 20)

As a keen carnivore, I regarded Meera Sodhas book of Gujerati vegetarian recipes with scepticism, finding it hard to believe that a meal without fish or meat could be truly satisfying.

But in a very short time, Sodhas Fresh India has become one of our most-used family cookbooks.

The fragrant spinach, tomato and chickpea curry is a suppertime favourite, while the aubergine fesenjan with walnuts and pomegranate seeds, and the crisp and delicate fennel and apple chaat salad with caramelised almonds, have been elegant centrepieces of celebration lunches. The chestnut mushroom and walnut samosas vanish as though by magic.

This is real soul food: alongside beautiful photographs of the dishes are charming pictures of Meeras grandma and mother, from whom she learned to cook. Every recipe is infused with the mixture of enthusiasm and precision that make this book as easy to love as it is to use.

PERFECT PLATES IN 5 INGREDIENTS by John Whaite (Kyle Books 18.99)

PERFECT PLATES IN 5 INGREDIENTS

by John Whaite (Kyle Books 18.99)

Its rare to find the great fashion designer, Coco Chanel, cited as the inspiration for a cookery book.

But former Great British Bake-off winner John Whaite has applied her dictum  that before you go out you should remove one item of clothing  to his cookbook, which limits its recipes to five main ingredients. Not that simplicity means austerity. Whaites menu begins with brunch ideas from the hearty (crashed breakfast eggs with peppers and sausage) to the indulgent (affogato monkey bread with coffee syrup and vanilla ice cream).

Everyday Plates include supper dishes such as mushroom and sage gnocchi, while Posh Plates offer such showstoppers as asparagus and leeks braised in Riesling and tarragon with prosciutto.

THE SAFFRON TALES BY YASMIN KHAN ( Bloomsbury 26.00)

THE SAFFRON TALES BY YASMIN KHAN

( Bloomsbury 26.00)

Yasmin Khan was born in Croydon, but her childhood memories are infused with the flavours of Iran, where her grandparents lived.

Iranians love to eat, and sharing food is part their culture. So for her debut cookbook, Yasmin travelled around Iran, exploring the riches of traditional Persian cuisine and discovering some intriguing modern twists along the way.

The Saffron Tales is a beautifully illustrated cooks tour of a country whose love of food has survived conflict and turmoil.
GOODBYE PET & SEE YOU IN HEAVEN by Bel Mooney (Robson, 12.99)

GOODBYE PET & SEE YOU IN HEAVEN

by Bel Mooney (Robson, 12.99)

If youve ever been grief-stricken by the death of a pet, then this is the book for you.

Bel Mooney is well aware that some of her reactions to the death of her beloved Maltese pug Bonnie will strike sceptical readers as somewhere between a bit silly and completely batty.

Yet, to her great credit, that doesnt stop her from acknowledging them: describing, for example, how Bonnie appeared to her in dreams, or sent her messages from the canine beyond. Fortunately, she also discovers that such reactions are far more widespread than those sceptics might like to think.

The result will make anybody suffering from the unexpected intensity of a pet bereavement feel less alone  and prevent those around them from using the phrase But it was only a dog ever again.

NIGEL: MY FAMILY & OTHER DOGS by Monty Don (Two Roads, 20)

NIGEL: MY FAMILY & OTHER DOGS

by Monty Don (Two Roads, 20)

In theory, Monty Dons own doggy memoir should represent a stark contrast to Mooneys. Whereas she happily  indeed, defiantly  attributes human-style thoughts and emotions to pets, he sternly warns us how unscientific this is.

Yet, as a true dog fan, its a warning that he often ignores, insisting that dogs can truly, in any sense of the word, love their owners.

As contradictions go, this one is not only endearing, but cuts to the heart of human-canine relationships  where logic comes a poor second to something much deeper.

HORSES, HEIFERS & HAIRY PIGS by Julian Norton (Michael OMara, 12.99)

HORSES, HEIFERS & HAIRY PIGS

by Julian Norton (Michael OMara, 12.99)

Not surprisingly, the shadow of an earlier Yorkshire vet hangs heavily over Julian Nortons autobiography. As he regularly reminds us, Norton works in the same veterinary practice as James Herriot once did, and his book is an unashamed Herriot-like bundle of largely breezy anecdotes.

Admittedly, Norton does lack his predecessors gift for comedy.

On the other hand, he has the same essential decency, the same obvious love of animals and, above all, the same winning ability to conjure up a long-vanished era.
ALL THAT MAN IS by David Szalay (Cape 14.99)

ALL THAT MAN IS

by David Szalay (Cape 14.99)

Deservedly shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Szalays collection of nine virtually unconnected stories somehow manages to read like a novel.

The unifying force is the theme of what it means to be a man in the 21st century, whether you are a twentysomething French loser alone in a hell-hole Cyprus tourist resort, a ruined Russian oligarch on the verge of suicide, or a Hungarian former soldier who finds himself falling in love with the prostitute he is paid to mind on a visit to London.

What these very different tales also have in common is their ability to seize you by the heart strings and not let go.

Funny, sad, terrifying, all life is here. In the end what we are left with is the terrible reality of the human condition, which is that nothing lasts  neither the individual nor the particular world into which he or she is born. A compelling masterpiece. JH

HAG-SEED by Margaret Atwood (Hogarth 16.99)

HAG-SEED

by Margaret Atwood (Hogarth 16.99)

Hogarths idea of having Shakespeares plays rewritten by well-known novelists has mainly proved a bit of a damp squib, with Anne Tylers retelling of The Taming Of The Shrew an entertaining if not exactly profound exception.

Until, that is, they let Margaret Atwood loose on The Tempest.

In her reworking, ousted theatre director Felix, famous for his innovative productions, gravitates towards putting on an annual Shakespeare production performed by prison inmates.

Deciding The Tempest will be his swansong, Felix plots to combine a lifetime ambition to stage the play with a plan to avenge himself upon his enemies.

Whats impressive here is not just 77-year-old Atwoods undimmed brilliance but the sheer effort she puts into the project, immersing herself in Shakespeares original so that the novel becomes not simply an absorbing read but also an erudite examination and explanation of the plays themes.

Not to be missed. JH

THE LESSER BOHEMIANS By Eimear McBride (Faber 16.99)

THE LESSER BOHEMIANS

By Eimear McBride (Faber 16.99)

THIS might not be a million miles removed from McBrides debut, A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing, but in view of its magnificence that scarcely matters.

At its tormented heart is Eily, Irish-born and an innocent of 18 when she arrives in Nineties London for drama school.

Her feet have barely touched the boards before she meets an older actor and the two embark on a torrid, mutually-lacerating affair that spans the whole of this three-act novel, one whose ups and downs unashamedly put the reader through the wringer (though not without reward).

As has been pointed out, McBrides headlong Joycean style is suited to descriptions of sex, of which this book has plenty. But it also makes for a portrait of London thats as vivid and intoxicating as the city itself, overwhelming in its assault on the senses. SC

DAYS WITHOUT END Sebastian Barry (Faber 17.99)

DAYS WITHOUT END

Sebastian Barry (Faber 17.99)

Yes, this Costa prize nominee is a full-throttle, rifles-blazing, gore-steeped, Civil War-era Western.

But its also perhaps the sweetest, most tender (and unexpected) romance of the year.

Our hero is Thomas McNulty who, having fled the Irish famine, finds himself in the mid-west scarcely better off: when he meets his brother-in-arms John Cole he has only a wheat sack to cover his modesty. What to do? Don a dress and rustle up a drag act, of course. But even after the men enlist (ending up, by virtue of a number of fateful twists, adopting a native American daughter), McNulty finds life in womens clothes preferable.

A book thats backdrop is often one of terrible natural beauty, it doesnt flinch from mans inhumanity to man.

But Barrys real daring lies in his celebration of small happinesses and long love  youll be weeping buckets by the end, I promise. SC

TRANSIT by Rachel Cusk (Cape 16.99)

TRANSIT

by Rachel Cusk (Cape 16.99)

For the past few years its been the women who have been producing the most stylistically interesting and inventive new fiction, be it Elena Ferrante, Eimear McBride or the heart-soaringly playful Ali Smith.

And then there is Rachel Cusk, much maligned in some quarters for daring to write the truth, as she saw it, about motherhood and marriage in her two memoirs, but to my mind one of our most original novelists.

This is a sequel of sorts to its predecessor Outline and is narrated by the same woman, Faye, mother to two boys, estranged from her partner and in the middle of a tricky refurb job on a newly bought London flat.

It consists simply of a series of encounters, with builders, ex-boyfriends and fellow writers. Yet beneath its pellucid surface, themes of displacement and the desire for transformation and authenticity rumble like small earthquakes.

Its also gruesomely funny. How it escaped the attention of this years Man Booker prize judges is beyond me. CA

Cove by Cynan Jones (Granta 9.99)

Cove

by Cynan Jones (Granta 9.99)

Ill be popping this very short book into several stockings this Christmas: its one of the most haunting novels Ive read in years.

A man takes to the sea in a kayak to scatter his fathers ashes and perhaps catch a fish or two. Then lightening strikes the boat, and when the man comes to, his arm is badly injured, his memory is shot and he has no obvious way of getting back to shore.

Joness exquisitely turned sentences  more poetry than prose  force the reader to slow right down, confronting us with every tiny sinew of the mans determined efforts to survive.
But state officials and women's rights groups are are calling for action

Surge in figures could also reflect willingness to report the crimes

It followed changes which meant police record the killings

So-called honour killing cases registered in India have soared by nearly 800 per cent in the last year, prompting calls for action from leading state officials and women's rights groups.

According to a statement this week by Junior Home Minister Hansraj G. Ahir to India's Parliament, police registered 251 cases of honour killings in 2015, compared with just 28 a year earlier when India began counting them separately from murder.

However, the spike in numbers could partly reflect more willingness by people to report such crimes, which many still consider just punishment for women and men who defy communal customs by marrying outside of their religion, clan or caste.

Gowsalya Sankar and her husband of eight months Sankar Valusamy were viciously set upon by three men in a shopping centre Udumalpet town, in Tamil Nadu, in a suspected honour killing earlier this year. Sankar didn't survive

PREGNANT WOMAN SHOT IN 'FAILED HONOUR KILLING' Susheela Kumar and her unborn baby miraculously survived the attack Heavily pregnant Susheela Kumar was shot three times while she slept in an 'attempted honour killing' Mahavir Colony in Haryana, on November 18. She was attacked by the gunmen alongside her husband Pradip and his parents as they slept in their home. But while her husband and his parents died, nine-month pregnant Susheela managed to survive and delivered the baby with the bullets still inside her. One bullet had sliced her arm, the other passed through her mouth and the third bullet had pierced through her pancreas. Susheela was an upper cast Jat and had married Pradip, also 27, four years ago against her family's wishes. The couple fled their village to start a new life, but returned to Pradip's family home when she became pregnant. Authorities suspect the incident was an attempted honour killing. Advertisement

Often, the perpetrators are relatives seeking to punish young couples for bringing 'shame' to the family.

Women's rights activists say the government must pass legislation to recognise the crime as unique in order to target perpetrators for prosecution.

'These figures show that the government has to take this as a priority,' said Sudha Sundararaman, head of the All India Democratic Women's Association.

MAN ACCUSED OF KILLING MOTHER AND SISTER Sumit and his friends were arrested on allegations relating to his mum and sister's death The bodies of Sunita, 35 and sister Ritika, 15, were found on September 12 this year in Mansesar. Police suspect that Sunita's son Sumit killed his two relatives because he suspected them of being involved in prostitution. The Gurugram Crime Branch arrested Sumit alias Bhim and friends Dharamvir and Pradeep Kumar, both residents of Najafgarh in Delhi, who are suspected of assisting him. Advertisement

Though police are now asked to count honour killing separately, the lack of a separate law defining such crimes means that some officers still record them in the larger murder category and do not investigate the cases further, she said.

India's Supreme Court in 2011 ruled that those involved in honour killings should face death penalty but in many cases, the crimes are covered up.

Honour killings are still common enough among Hindus and Muslims to regularly make newspaper headlines in a country where most marriages are arranged by families.

WOMAN 'VOICED FEARS' FAMILY WOULD KILL HER IN VIDEO A video of the unidentified woman showed her voicing fears of attack In August a video purportedly showing a woman days before her mysterious death took social media by storm, amid allegations that she was a victim of so-called honour killing. Authorities exhumed the unidentified 26-year-old's body at her village in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras district on August 25 after the clip filmed inside a train washroom showed her saying she was afraid her family was going to murder her. 'I am an adult and want to marry Munna (name changed). But my father, brother and relatives are forcibly taking me back to my native village to kill me,' the woman is seen saying in the video. Advertisement

Most cases are reported in northern states such as Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, where caste councils wield enormous power in village life.

The highest number of honour killings recorded last year was in Uttar Pradesh, where police counted 131 killings compared with just two cases in 2014, Ahir said, citing data from the National Crime Records Bureau.

State police officers were skeptical. Such a jump 'is astronomical' and needs to be looked into, Deputy Inspector General D. K. Chaudhary said.

FIVE DEAD AFTER SUSPECTED HONOUR KILLINGS Five young people died in one month in July in Uttar Pradesh in suspected honour killings Five young people in Uttar Pradesh are believed to have been murdered by their families or partner's relatives in suspected honour killings, in three separate incidents in July, this year. Police arrested the father and brother of a 19-year-old Hindu woman on suspicion of murdering her and her 23-year-old lover, both from the lowest Dalit caste. It's claimed that they admitted the killing as the couple had 'brought the family into disrepute'. The killing came days after another Hindu couple in their 20s were found dead in the nearby Saharanpur district, also in Uttar Pradesh. Their families also allegedly objected to their relationship. But police did not immediately ruled out suicide after the couple were found hanging inside the man's house. In each case, the couples belonged to the same 'gotra' - or kinship group -something considered incestuous by many Hindus despite the lack of biological links, and which can be a cause for such killings. In a third case, police found the body of a 16-year-old Muslim boy buried near an edible oil factory in the neighbouring Muzaffarnagar district, after he earlier went missing from his home. Police said the teenager was in a relationship with the niece of the factory's Hindu owner, adding her relatives strangled him to protect the 'honour of the family'. Advertisement

Women's activists say that's missing the point, and that having 279 honour killings recorded over two years still vastly underestimates the actual numbers.

One 2011 study suggested about 900 people are murdered in honour killings every year in India.

The study by the All India Democratic Women's Association was based on surveys conducted nationwide.

PARENTS CHARGED WITH KILLING THEIR DAUGHTER-IN-LAW S. Sumathi was found dead in June In June, two Tamil Nadu parents were charged with killing their daughter-in-law by cutting her throat after they 'pretended to accept their son's inter-caste marriage for eight years'. For eight years, P. Santhosh is said to have lived a contented life in Namakkal with his wife S. Sumathi, whom he had first met in Coimbatore while she was completing her studies. The couple belonged to different castes, and tied the knot without their parents consent. It is alleged that Santoshs parents, Palanivel and Madheswari, planned and executed the murder of their daughter-in-law. Advertisement

'There is severe under-reporting of such honour crimes. Families are often ashamed to report such crimes,' said Annie Raja of the National Federation of Indian Women.

Raja said the situation had worsened in the last few years, noting an increasing trend in village councils run by unelected elders promoting conservative, anti-women values in the name of preserving Indian culture and tradition.

Some observers also noted that social changes were creating friction in communities, as more women step away from traditional home-making roles to join the work force. That makes them more likely to want to delay marriage, while also increasing the chance of finding partners outside of their community.

COW TRIES TO STOP THUGS STABBING GIRL TO DEATH In May, the incredible moment a cow interrupts an alleged honour killing attempt was captured on video. The girl, named as Seema Gujjar, was stabbed multiple times and killed in Gwalior, India, in what was believed to be an 'honour killing'. In the 26-second video clip, the cow becomes angry after it saw the men and tried to prevent the dreadful attack from continuing by pouncing on the pair. It knocked them both to the ground and a parked motorbike fell over as the protective animal tried to force the men to flee the scene. The youngster managed to run from the scene, but tragically collapsed and later died. Her father, Kalyan Singh, and her uncle Lakhan Singh, allegedly carried out the attack after Seema was believed to have angered them by running off with a 22-year-old man known as Sonu in January. Advertisement

'There has been a backlash of conservatism,' Raja said. 'Young people are facing violence and attacks from their families if they fall in love.'

Analysts say that even as politicians push for better health care and education for girls, they have been unwilling to act against village councils that influence large numbers of voters.
Locals call him a 'monster'.

A day after Mail Today reported about Dwarka resident Pramod sawing off a puppy's legs, fellow tea sellers in the area recounted how he caught pigeons in the past and then roasted and ate them.

Neighbours were wary of the 34-year-old because of his violent and cruel behaviour towards animals as well as his wife and six children.

A day after Mail Today reported about Dwarka resident Pramod sawing off a puppy's legs, fellow tea sellers in the area recounted how he caught pigeons in the past and then roasted and ate them

'Usually in the afternoon, Pramod would come to the park and catch pigeons. Later in the evening, he would roast them and have them with a few drinks,' said Sanjay, a 35-year-old tea vendor.

An animal rights activist told Mail Today that according to Pramod's wife, he had brought home a monkey a few months ago and then chopped it up.

The accused admitted to this reporter that he had severed the puppy's legs.

Pramod decided to hurt the puppy after it scratched his leg while trying to get at the food he was offering

'I chopped off the legs of the dog because I was drunk. I had beaten my wife that day because she was trying to protect it,' he said casually.

'Please forgive me.'

Pramod also confessed that he has been booked in another case after a relative alleged that he had stolen some clothes and utensils from his house in Dwarka. Pramod is currently out on bail.

The puppy has been sent to a foster home and is up for adoption

While recalling the December 2 incident when he crippled the puppy, Pramod rushes inside his one-bedroom house to find the weapon that he used to cut off its legs.

He displays the blade that still has a bloodstain on its edge.

Later, during the conversation, he chops an onion with the very knife he claims to have used on the puppy while preparing an omelette for a customer.

After a few minutes cutting, Pramod says the knife wasn't sufficient, so he used a hacksaw to cut through the puppy's bones.

Dwarka is one of the most holy sites in India

Needless to say, Pramod's animal abuse is worrying for those close to him.

Research in psychology and criminology shows that people who commit acts of cruelty toward animals often move on to harming humans,' said Poorva Joshipura, CEO of PETA India.

When asked how he planned to provide for his six children, Pramod blames his wife for not stopping him, or for considering family planning.

While the couple's eldest child is nine years old, the youngest is just six months old.

Sources say Pramod earns Rs 400- 500 (5) per day and consumes alcohol daily.

He once worked as a bus conductor but was dismissed because of violent behaviour.

Then, he took up a job as a labourer, but was forced to leave again for the same reason.

Hindu pilgrims take a holy bath in the river Gomti

He is currently unemployed but he sometimes helps his wife at their tea stall inside their rented house.

The couple's nine-year-old daughter told Mail Today that every time she wants to play, her father forces her to work and wash utensils.

'If I don't, he threatens to kill me,' the daughter said.

'When my brother and I asked my father that what had happened to the legs of the puppy, he told us that it was run over by a car.'

A fresh complaint was given to the station house officer at the local police station asking cops to file an FIR under Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and perhaps also under Section 429 of the Indian Penal Code.

Mail Today has a copy of the complaint filed on Wednesday by animal rights activist Gaurav Sharma and the FIR was finally registered last night.

'We will take action against the accused,' said Surendra Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of police (south-west).

More dog news from India...
The Centre's demonetisation move has come as a reality check for the realty market in the national capital region with the registration of properties dipping by almost 30 per cent.

Transactions in the sector usually involve a significant amount of cash exchange aimed at avoiding tax by under-reporting the value of the deal.

But with such hidden money moving out of the market, prices are starting to tumble.

The Centre's demonetisation move has come as a reality check for the realty market in the national capital region with the registration of properties dipping by almost 30 per cent

With the government scrapping 86 per cent of available currency notes, registration of flats, plots and shops in Delhi has gone down by almost 30 per cent. In Gurgaon, the dip is nearly 25 per cent.

Real estate data and analytics platform PropEquity predicted last month that the cash squeeze will wipe out over Rs 8 lakh crore worth market value of residential properties sold and unsold by developers since 2008 across 42 Indian cities.

According to Delhi government's revenue department, a total of 7,028 properties were registered in the Capital in October, but the number came down to 4,417 in November.

In Gurugram, the registries - of both commercial and residential real estate - has dropped from nearly 4,000 a month to less than 3,000, an official said.

'The revenue from registration of properties in Gurugram was nearly Rs 20 lakh a day before November 8 but since then the collection has declined to Rs 10-12 lakh per day.

'This is mainly because such transactions are made in cash,' he said.

A senior official from Delhi's revenue department said there was a noticeable difference between the months of October and November.

'It is certainly due to demonetisation, but that cannot be the only thing. To some extent, there might be general down-slide in real estate,' he said.

Experts said this would bring down housing prices in NCR.

Anoop Khari, a builder and real estate holder from Mehrauli, said, 'Almost a third of transactions in real estate is made through black money.

'With the big currency notes banned, the market has taken a hit.

'The legal financing channels accounted for only a small part of all transactions in this space as Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes as transactions in this segment involved lots of cash payments.'

Khari added that demonetisation will make it very difficult for any purchaser to pay in cash and for the seller to accept the old currency.

Is cash, king? A senior official from Delhi's revenue department said there was a noticeable difference between the months of October and November

'If the seller is not accepting old money or through legal channels, this will automatically bring down sale and purchase of properties.'

Anshuman Magazine, chairman of Commercial Real Estate Services, struck a different note.

'While it may cause some worry in the near future, it looks positive in the long term,' he said.

As properties remain unsold, prices will begin to fall

'It will certainly help the real estate industry move towards transparency. Several steps taken by the Government in recent times - from the Real Estate Regulation Act and GST, to Real Estate Investment Trust - combined with this announcement, will further improve transparency and increase investor confidence in the real estate market in the long run.'

With the Modi government also making its intentions clear of acting against benami properties, experts feel prices may cool further in the coming months.

A real estate consultant said the only hope now is that once the demonetisation drive stabilises, banks will extend more housing loans.

Industry insiders said the currency ban is expected to give a sales push as banks would be willing to lend more at attractive rates to those keen to buy flats and properties.

This, however, will take at least four to six months, they said.

'We all know that large numbers of transactions are made in cash in the real estate sector,' said property dealer Ravi Kumar from south Delhi's Jasola area.

'At present, there is a shortage of cash and sellers are not accepting old currency. So, there would be a decline in the sale and purchase of property.' Hemant Sharma, a real estate dealer from south Delhi, said: 'If a 3BHK flat costs Rs 2 crore and the buyer wants to take it with new currency notes, he can easily get the apartment for Rs 1.70 crore, with a discount of 15 per cent.
Manohar Parrikar is in charge of India's army; India's army has a nuclear arsenal

He directed the media to undergo the same process to make sense - and get the flavour - of his statements

On his recent 'misconstrued' speeches, Parrikar said that vegetarians in Goa often pick out the fish from their curry because the

'India is not a warmonger, we are for peace.

'However, nations which step back for the fear of battles, are called cowards, and India is not one,' Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said at the 5th Agenda Aaj Tak in Taj Palace Hotel in Delhi.

Referring to the 'surgical strikes', on which the audience was eager to hear from the minister, Parrikar reiterated the views of two ex-chiefs of army staff who spoke here on Tuesday.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said at the 5th Agenda Aaj Tak in Taj Palace Hotel in Delhi: 'Nations which step back for the fear of battles, are called cowards, and India is not one'

The Defence Minister said: 'Such military operations may have taken place before, but this time we gave them a free hand. We told them, 'Go, do it!' It is sad that some people could not digest its success and got jealous.

'I did not sleep the whole night when it was on and I am glad we did it.'

Parrikar claimed that he was capable enough to take any decision because of his background.

'I have been associated with the RSS, I am a BJP man and was an IIT student. But these are not related to the decision regarding the surgical strikes,' he said.

On the Indian Army's raw nerve - weapon and equipment acquisitions - Parrikar said that after 30 years India will be purchasing new guns.

'The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has cleared the purchase of 145 BAE M777 Ultra Light Howitzers. It is a 155mm 39 calibre towed howitzer with a range of 30 km.

'At under 4,000 kg per unit, it is lighter than any other howitzer due to the use of titanium. The Bofors guns of India weighed in at about 11,000 kgs,' he said.

It is seen as a principal weapon for India's new Mountain Strike Corps.

On the Indian Army's raw nerve - weapon and equipment acquisitions - Parrikar said that after 30 years India will be purchasing new guns

On the issue military purchases, he said: 'Those who are aware of the cycle of acquisitions know that even when we do them speedily they take at least two-and- a-half years.

'We first bring out an AOL, then RFP (Request for Proposal), then winter trials, summer trials and finally, the order.

'That's why, our Army is now promoting IIDM (Indian Designed, Developed and Manufactured). Several Indian companies like Mahindra, L&T. have shown interest.'

On Monday's INS Betwa accident at the Mumbai dockyard, he said: 'A board of inquiry has been constituted under a Rear Admiral to look into it.'

He indicated that one of the reasons for tipping over of guided missile frigate INS Betwa during un-docking at Naval Dockyard in Mumbai could be miscalculation of balance.

Parrikar, who has been briefed by Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, spoke about the importance of a centre of gravity.

He explained that when a ship undergoes refit, a lot of machines and fixtures like propeller, engine are removed due to which the balance gets disturbed.

'You are supposed to maintain it. Something must have gone wrong in that,' he said.

On his recent 'misconstrued' speeches, Parrikar did not forget to take a dig at the media.

'In my state Goa, people who are vegetarian are often given fish curry and the fish pieces are taken out. But the flavour of the fish is actually in the curry,' he said.

'Similarly, my dialogues are picked out like fish pieces but the flavour remains in the speech.'

The minister said the Modi government was not politicising the armed forces.

Without naming West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, he accused her of dragging the Army into politics.

'I had said this in Parliament that the Army should not be dragged into politics,' he said.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal brought down the curtain at Delhi's Taj Palace Hotel with a litany of rebuttals directed at comment made by BJP leaders during the two-day '5th Agenda Aaj Tak'.

The AAP supremo said: '(IT Minister) Ravi Shankar Prasad said on this show that we squandered or wasted the mandate given to us by Delhi.

'The truth is that BJP could never respect it. They could never digest the fact that we won 67 out of 70 seats in the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections.'

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal brought down the curtain at Delhi's Taj Palace Hotel with a litany of rebuttals directed at comment made by BJP leaders during the two-day '5th Agenda Aaj Tak'

Anchor Rajdeep Sardesai, consulting editor, India Today Group, introduced the leader as the 'angry young man' of Indian politics as embodied by Amitabh Bachchan in Bollywood in the 1970s.

'Why does even the mention of Modi or demonetisation make you so angry?' Sardesai asked Kejriwal. The former Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer replied, 'Main nahi, janata naraaz hai (the public is angry)'.

'I went to Punjab recently and learnt that an old man, who had deposited Rs 5 lakh over years for his daughter's marriage, had to commit suicide.

'The bank manager told him that he had received only Rs 2 lakh from RBI, so how could he give Rs 5 lakh to the poor man,' Kejriwal added.

'If at all they had to punish anybody, why not Robert Vadra over whom Modi won the Lok Sabha elections?' asked Kejriwal.

'The Central government has a list of black money holders and those having accounts in Swiss banks. What about taking action against them?' he further queried.

The CM also said that demonetisation is a scam of Rs 8 lakh crore.

'Due to big industrialists not returning money, the banks have huge Non-Performing Assets (NPAs).

'Mallya himself borrowed Rs 9,000 crore and fled to London.

'While Modiji keeps talking about deporting him, only a few days back, they waived off Rs 1,200 crore in his name,' he said.

At this point, Sardesai corrected him that it was not a waive-off but a kind of entry, to which Kejriwal retorted, 'Toh kisan, driver, sabki aisi entry karwa do (Give this offer to all).'

The CM also blamed the Centre on why he has not been able to jail former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on the CWG Scam as he had promised Delhi before the elections.

'The Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) has been snatched from us. These files are in Modi ji's almirah now, not mine,' he said.
The writer is the founding editor of a progressive Islamic website, NewAgeIslam.com

Now Germany too has banned full-face veils. France had done that earlier.

Switzerland banned minarets in 2010. Islamophobic politicians are gaining acceptance in most European countries.

Donald Trump has already been elected President of the United States. Muslims, however, don't get it.

They just refuse to understand why fear of Islam is deepening in every society, India being no exception.

Now Germany too has banned full-face veils. France had done that earlier

They just take bans on veils or minarets as attacks on their religious freedom. They never worry about the lack of religious freedom in Muslim societies, not even for Muslims from minority sects or those considered heretic.

They do not understand that religious freedom is indivisible.

Demolition

Indian Muslims have just observed the 24th anniversary of the demolition of Babri mosque. But only recently so many Hindu temples were vandalised in next door Bangladesh. Hindu girls are routinely kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam and raped in the name of marriage.

'Hindu girls are routinely kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam and raped in the name of marriage'

But one doesn't hear a word of condemnation from ulema or Muslim institutions.

Does Islam allow freedom of religion? Saudi Arabia doesn't allow building of temples or churches in its land. If there is one jihad that would be permissible according to the Quran's teachings it would be a jihad against Saudi Arabia, forcing it to allow worship places of other religions.

When Muslims were permitted to defend themselves with arms 13 years after the advent of Islam, it was to protect freedom of religion per se, not just that of Muslims.

In the words of the Quran (22:40): 'And had it not been that Allah checks one set of people with another, the monasteries and churches, the synagogues and the mosques, in which His praise is abundantly celebrated would have been utterly destroyed.'

But how come, we feel concerned only when it is a matter concerning a mosque or a supposedly 'Islamic' veil being banned and do not bother if Muslim and avowedly Islamic states do not allow religious freedom to other groups. Not only that.

We have scholars who claim that while non-Muslims have perfect freedom to practice their religion in an Islamic state (not quite true, of course), Muslims do not have that freedom at all.

Once born to a Muslim parent, you are doomed for ever to be a Muslim or else. Well, your throat will be slit, no less.

Indeed, there are 'revered' ulema in various schools of thought who say that if someone is seen so much as not attending Friday prayers, his throat should be slit.

Scholar

Writes Salman Tarik Kureshi, a noted Pakistani scholar: 'A person greatly admires Hazrat Maulana Rashid Gangohi, the outstanding scholar who was one of the founders of the Deoband madarsa.

The gentleman to whom I refer is a kindly soul, who can be depended upon for help by others.

However, when in the course of conversation I chanced to remark that the most basic virtue lay in kindness towards others, he contradicted me. Kindness, he contended, was reserved for 'pious, practising Muslims'.

Muslim girls with Islam's holy book the Quran Koran at a Madrasa Islamic school in rural north India Uttar Pradesh India (photo for representation only)

As for others, they should be given a chance to mend their ways, after which 'they would be Wajibul Qatal (liable to be killed)'.

Another person I chanced to meet - a finance man, no less - feels that people who do not attend Friday prayers 'should simply be killed. Slit their throats!'

Religion

Denying freedom of religion to Muslims and ex-Muslims, not to speak of non-Muslims, indeed has a long and gory history.

The Quranic dictum (2: 256) la ikraha fid Deen (Let there be no compulsion in religion) did not leave an impact beyond the life of Prophet Mohammad (pbuh). Forcible conversions started with the first Caliph Hazrat Abu Bakr (RA) fighting Ridda (apostasy) wars against the tribes who had left Islam after the demise of the Prophet. They were all brought back to the fold of Islam or killed.

Similar is the case of Khwarij in the time of the fourth caliph Hazrat Ali (RA) and beyond to neo-Khwarij today, also known as Wahhabi or Salafi.

These groups mostly kill Muslims whom they consider 'heretics' including Shias and Ahmadis.

We Muslims need to be reminded of this history to be able to understand our present.

Until we start respecting and accepting other religions and the human right of someone born a Muslim to leave the faith, we should not expect respect from others.

We should not confuse their magnanimity with our right. Rights always have corresponding duties. Let us Muslims discard Islam supremacism and accept for a change that Islam is a spiritual path to salvation, one of the many.
A fringe religious group created a ruckus, vandalising paintings and allegedly assaulted an artist at the Jaipur Art Summit on Thursday.

The 'activists' reportedly belong to a fringe group called Lal Shakti and attacked the gallery to protest the display of semi-nude paintings that depict women 'indecently'.

The Lal Shakti group claim that 90 per cent of its members are women and that the artwork offends them.

A fringe religious group created a ruckus, vandalising paintings and allegedly assaulted an artist at the Jaipur Art Summit on Thursday

The mob reached Ravindra Manch, where the 4th edition of the high-profile art fair is being held, and argued with the artists displaying their works in the exhibition.

They allegedly also removed a number paintings that were on display at the venue.

'We wanted artists to remove the controversial paintings from there, but they refused to do so... We for some time had a heated argument with the artists present there for depicting women in an indecent way and finally we deposited the paintings in nearby Lal Kothi police station,' said Hemlata Sharma, a member of Lal Shakti.

You're nicked: The artists at the summit are also not happy with the police action and questioned why the cops kept the paintings in their custody.

Police said that the culprits have been identified and an investigation is being carried out. However, an FIR has not been registered so far.

The artists at the summit are also not happy with the police action and questioned why the cops kept the paintings in custody for such a long time.

Police said that the culprits have been identified an investigation is being carried out. However, an FIR has not been registered so far.

Shailendra Bhatt, the founder of the Jaipur Art Summit, said, 'It is an attack on our freedom of expression.

'How can anyone become a judge and give order... You should have knowledge about art before you decide what is right or wrong... It really is an attack on freedom of expression. We also went to the police station and got the paintings back,'
Forest officials in Gurugram found themselves in the midst of a leopard conflict on Thursday with a big cat and its cubs straying near to a human habitat on the foothills of the Aravalli mountains.

The incident reported from a Harchandpur villager comes days after residents of neighbouring Mandawar hacked a three-year-old leopard to death and paraded its body around the village, as wildlife department officers and police watched on powerless to intervene.

The area is on the front-line of an escalating human-animal conflict as both often compete for the same natural resources.

Facing the ruthless crowd, the big cat had instinctively attacked the villagers

Residents of Harchandpur, located next to the Sohna-Ballabhgarh expressway and about 30km away from Gurugram city were in a state of panic after spotting a fully-grown female leopard and two cubs near human population around 7am on Thursday.

Villagers equipped with traditional arms were raring to take on the felines but the family managed to escape into the forests.

Officials from the wildlife and forest departments, who were informed by villagers, were camping in the area to prevent any man-animal conflict.

'We were told by the villagers that a leopard and its cubs were sighted near the village.

Villagers beat a leopard that ran amok on the streets of Mandawar village causing panic among people, near Gurugram

'We immediately reached the village to prevent any untoward incident between the big cats and villagers,' said Shyam Sundar Kaushik, divisional forest officer of Gurugram range.

'We have spotted pug marks of leopards on the outskirts of the village. There is no doubt about leopard presence in the vicinity. They may stray into human settlements in search of food and water.'

The DFO pointed out that as the leopard was seen with cubs, the adult animal was likely a female.

They generally reside in their own territorial jurisdictions marked by themselves and intrude into each other spaces only after the demise of one of them.

The wildlife officials were also relieved that the situation did not take a violent turn like Mandawar on November 25 when over a thousand locals equipped with axes and batons cornered a male leopard in a house.

They did not allow the big cat to escape into the forest and killed it brutally.

Leopard steals piglet in latest Planet Earth

The wildlife department recommended to the Gurugram police commissioner that an FIR be lodged against unknown people, but sources say this has been ignored.

The incident took place at Mandawar village under Sohna tehsil in Gurugram district.

The ill-prepared officials of the wildlife department failed to rescue the three-year old leopard from the wrath of the villagers even as the animal tried to escape from the human settlement for over three hours.

The 'victory march' that followed also disrupted traffic on the Sohna-Faridabad Expressway for about 20 minutes.

The conservator had added that the leopard required an open space and it kept trying to escape from the village.

But facing the ruthless crowd, the big cat had instinctively attacked the villagers. The leopard's postmortem was conducted in the presence of three doctors and it was later cremated.
Over a hundred ticketing agents using malicious software to speedily book railway tatkal across the country have come under the police radar.

The revelation came after Mail Today exposed how common rail travellers are cheated by ticketing agents by booking tatkal tickets using software, which breach the security features added by IRCTC website.

On November 26, Mail Today reported that paid software is available on the internet in which the agents only need to fill passenger and train details along with mode of payment, and the rest of the booking happens automatically.

Over a hundred ticketing agents using malicious software to speedily book railway tatkal across the country have fallen under the police radar. The news comes after a Mail Today revelation.

Investigators have found that advanced software even bypasses security features like CAPTCHA fields that are added to a website to check if a user is human or an automated programme.

Probing the leads, Uttar Pradesh - Special Task Force (STF) arrested five persons from Gonda city. Among them is class VIII dropout Rameshwar Pandey (27) alias Avinash who is physically challenged.

Avinash had worked with Salman and Hamid, the two youths from eastern UP who were arrested by CBI earlier for the same offence.

On accessing Pandey's laptop, STF sleuths came across some incriminating online tools.

'These gangs have their major set ups in metro cities and are connected with agents through WhatsApp.

'They have made several groups based on city and softwares they use. As soon as the police team conducted raid, they sent a message in all the groups to avoid using the software as it has come under the police scanner,' said Triveni Singh, a cyber crime investigator and additional superintendent of police with STF.
A critical UK gas pipeline supplying 11m homes and businesses has been sold for 13.8billion to a consortium of investors from Australia, China and Qatar.

The sell-off of a majority stake in the National Grid gas network will trigger a bumper payday for shareholders, who will split 4billion from the deal.

And it will mean a massive payout for investment bankers and lawyers involved in the deal, who will share millions.

The sell-off of a majority stake in the National Grid gas network will be a bumper payday for shareholders, who will split 4bn from the deal.

But the sale has raised huge concerns about a major part of UK infrastructure being sold to foreign investors.

It comes months after Prime Minister Theresa May said she wanted the Government to be able to intervene in foreign investment in crucial industries, and announced a review into relevant law.

Yesterday, though, asked whether the proposed takeover of the National Grid by a Chinese firm raised concerns, the PM's official spokesman said: 'I don't have anything specific to say on that case.

'There are already a number of processes and checks in place and we have set out how we will strengthen those.'

Concerns have been raised about the investors involved in the deal.

The consortium that has taken a 61 per cent stake in National Grid includes Australian investment bankers Macquarie; China's sovereign wealth fund, the China Investment Corporation; and Qatari wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority.

The rest are financial services group Allianz Capital Partners, UK-based Hermes Investment Management and British fund managers Dalmore Capital and Amber Infrastructure Limited/International Public Partnerships.

A stretch of national grid gas pipeline winds it way across the countryside near Skipton, Yorkshire

Particular worries are related to China's stake in the UK's power networks, and the intentions of Macquarie, which already owns Thames Water.

Its ownership of that firm has been heavily criticised because it has been accused of stripping millions of pounds of dividends from the business while failing to properly invest in infrastructure.

In 2013 alone, despite achieving a turnover of 1.8billion and profits of 550million, it paid no corporation tax.

The Unison union said its ownership had led to poorer customer service and higher bills, and officials fear the same at National Grid.

Thames Water said under current ownership 1billion had been invested every year for the past ten years.

Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, said: 'Once again the Government's done nothing to encourage a transfer to British hands.'

John Pettigrew, chief executive of National Grid, stressed that the consortium 'has a long-term commitment to the UK with significant experience in owning infrastructure assets'.
British shoppers are the second most likely in the world to have a loyalty card in their purse or wallet, but are among the least likely to use the benefits, a comprehensive global study suggests.

A raft of retailers offer loyalty cards which shoppers sign-up for to then rack up points they can use against their shop and to get sent 'special' offers.

Popular ones include Boots, Tesco Clubcard, Nectar, while middle-class favourite Marks and Spencer launched its Sparks card last year  but one expert says Britons are 'drowning in a sea of loyalty cards'.

Loyalty cards: The majority of Britons have at least one loyalty card, such as Nectar, pictured - but rarely see the benefits, a study suggests

According to data of 63 countries by market research firm Nielsen, shoppers in the UK are second only to those in Finland in the likelihood of having at least one loyalty card, with 89 per cent holding at least one.

Worldwide, a smaller two thirds of shoppers are members of some sort of retail loyalty scheme.

It found that on average, Britons have an average of nearly four cards per person, behind only Japan and Lithuania.

However, loyalty cards are much less likely to influence purchasing in Britain than around the world, which will come as a frustration to retailers who offer them.

For instance, 51 per cent of British loyalty card holders will buy from a retailer with a scheme over one without, if all other factors are equal  this is the second lowest figure globally, behind Denmark.

Poll Do you use a loyalty card? Yes No Do you use a loyalty card? Yes 445 votes

No 49 votes Now share your opinion





Furthermore, only 55 per cent of British loyalty scheme members say they shop more at retailers with schemes  noticeably below the global average of 67 per cent.

Mike Watkins, Nielsen's UK head of retailer and business insight, said: 'Most UK retailers are likely to be surprised and disappointed to learn loyalty schemes only cause half of members to choose them over a competitor, and that's if all other factors are equal.

'Whether it's because loyalty schemes aren't offering the right rewards, are too difficult to redeem or there are simply too many of them to make a competitive difference, retailers need to be addressing it.'

Across all 23 statements around behaviour, attitudes and potential benefits of loyalty schemes, Britons show less positivity than the global average.

Mike Watkins adds: 'This is a paradox, considering how popular they are here. This suggests Britons simply like the idea of signing up rather than actually using them  a 'tick-box' exercise  but the schemes aren't personalised enough to keep them engaged.

'The result being UK retail is drowning in a sea of loyalty cards.'

The research, of 30,000 consumers worldwide, found that the most valued benefits of loyalty schemes in Britain are cashback, free products and recognition as a valued customer.

Mike Watkins adds: 'Britons are nearly twice as likely as the global average to value being seen as an important customer, pretty much the only element of loyalty schemes Britons over-index on.

'So, retailers need to consider more non-financial rewards as a way to narrow the large gap between the number of schemes people are enrolled in and the number in which they actively participate.'

He anticipates that retailers will increasingly use data to make offers that are personalised for individual members.
British drinkers quaffed record amounts of gin this year, with sales topping the 1billion mark for the first time.

Sales of gin in pubs, bars and restaurants across the UK in the past year increased by 19 per cent on a year ago, the Wine and Spirit Trade Association said.

In supermarkets, shops and off-licenses, gin sales climbed by 13 per cent to around 437million over the last 12 months.

Popular: British drinkers quaffed record amounts of gin this year, with sales topping the 1billion mark for the first time

Around 40million bottlees of gin have been sold in the UK in the past year, the equivalent of 1.12billion gin and tonics, the WSTA said.

Compared to 2012, this year's gin sales have gone up by the equivalent of an extra 7million bottles.

Miles Beale, chief executive of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, said: 'There are many reasons why people may not feel like celebrating 2016 but the WSTA are pleased to give you something happy to reflect on - 2016 can now be remembered as the "Great British Gin Take Off.

'We hope that government supports our innovative gin makers who have driven an extraordinary increase in UK exports, up 166% since 2000.'

He added: 'The UK spirit industry is one of the most heavily taxed in Europe with 76% of a bottle of spirits accounted for by tax, the 4th highest duty rate for spirits in the EU.

'Lets make sure gin continues to boom in 2017.'

Surging sales: British gin exports to the US have increased by 553 per cent in the past decade

Gin  which is also known as mothers ruin  now comes in an ever-expanding range of flavours including rhubarb, cocoa and raspberry.

The WSTA said it had seen gins made using 'conkers, skins, acorns, ants and seaweed' this year.

According to HM Revenue & Customs data, 40 new distilleries opened in the UK between January and November, a rapid expansion from the 116 in operation in 2010.

British gin exports to the US have increased by 553 per cent in the past decade, reaching 159million in 2015, the WSTA said.

But, an industry expert, who does not wish to be named, told This is Money the WSTA's claim of a 553 per cent increase in UK gin exports is 'open to question.'

The UK's alcohol industry is worth around 39billion in sales and there are currently roughly 470 vineyards and 135 wineries across the country.




A chilling video has been released online which shows the moment a woman is executed in broad daylight by her ex-lover who fired five bullets into her head.

Annelene Pillay was murdered in cold blood by her 'evil' lover of ten years as she left work  exactly as she feared she would be, her family said today.

In a final phone call to her mother just minutes before she was killed, the 27-year-old confessed, 'Mummy, Im scared, her sister told MailOnline.

In disturbing CCTV footage captured in South Africa, the last terrifying minute of Annelenes life is played out in graphic detail, showing her fleeing for her life as she is pursued by gun-obsessed Tyrone Pillay, 31.

Murdered: Annelene Pillay, 27, pictured, was shot five times in the head by her ex-boyfriend as she was leaving work, moments after she called her mother

Killer: Tyrone Pillay, 31, pictured, came to Annelene's workplace and shot her in broad daylight with a 9mm handgun. The shocking scene was caught on CCTV footage

Abusive relationship: Pillay and Annelene, from Durban, South Africa, were together for ten years when Annelene broke off the relationship, despite Pillay's threats to kill her if she left him

Gruesome: The disturbing CCTV footage, pictured, shows Pillay get out of his car and shoot his former girlfriend as she tried to run away. The video has gone viral in South Africa

An hour before, the dark-haired customer care assistant had been warned that Pillay, had tried to trace her cars location.

Annelene had changed her phone number and tried to break off the abusive ten-year relationship, causing Pillay to explode with rage, her sister Shantal Naidu said.

Only a few minutes before she left work, she spoke to our mum, Mrs Naidu said.

Annelene had a tracking device on her car and Tyrone had phoned the tracking company to find out where she was and they had let her know that, so she was worried he was on his way to find her.

She said to our mum, "Mummy, Im really scared", she was worried that he would be waiting for her by her car, that he was coming for her.

Fearful: Annelene, a customer care assistant, had changed her phone number and tried to avoid Pillay as much as she could after they broke up, but feared he was coming after her

A step too far: Pillay, pictured left, was abusive to Annelene, pictured right. He threatened her multiple times and even hit her but her family never thought he would take it this far

'Our mum tried to reassure her, tell her to come home quickly, that everything would be fine. It is horrible that she predicted what was going to happen to her.

'He had threatened to kill her if she left him and she had been too scared to break things off with him properly, but in the last few months she had changed her phone number and gone out of her way to avoid him, but he wasnt taking it.

Afraid: Annelene's sister, Shantal Naidu, pictured, said Annelene called their mother just a few moments before she left work

'I think she must have finally told him to that it was over between them for good  I think he just exploded, he couldnt handle it. She must have said something this time that made him realise she meant it.

In the graphic footage, which has gone viral in South Africa, long-haired Annelene, from the coastal city of Durban, is seen descending a fire escape from her first floor office of a logistics company and walking towards her silver VW Polo.

As soon as she opens the car door, she recognises the dark vehicle coming fast into shot and immediately begins to run back upstairs in obvious panic.

The vivid film shows the haste and determination of jobless Pillay, who strides quickly towards his moving target, aiming his 9mm hand gun at her head before pumping five bullets into it, sending her crashing backwards down to the ground.

As her body lies in a broken heap at the bottom of the stairs, a colleague is seen emerging through the first-floor door before flying down the stairs in pursuit of the killer, now speeding away in his car.

Stalker: Annelene had a tracking device on her car and Tyrone, pictured, called the tracking company to find out where she was before he killed her

Mourning: Annelene's parents had to go to the scene and identify her. Her sister said: My father cant handle it, they were so close, so similar, Annelene was a mini-Dad - he is broken

Annelene's mother, Charmaine Pillay, told her local newspaper The Post: 'There was something in the tone of her voice that sounded like she knew he was coming after her. I told her to be brave.'

Police called Mrs Pillay shortly after and said her daughter had been involved in an accident at work.

'During the drive to her workplace, I sat in the car reassuring myself that she may have only been hurt, she said.

As we drove into the parking area, the first thing I saw was the foil covering her body and I broke down.

Shantal added: He had threatened her many times - we never thought he would take it this far. Obviously we now really wish she had done something about him a long time ago.

My poor parents had to go to the scene and identify her. My father cant handle it, they were so close, so similar, Annelene was a mini-Dad - he is broken.

Avoidance: Annelene kept Tyrone away from her family and friends because she knew they didn't approve of him. She defended him to her family until recent months

Though Tyrone and Annelene shared a surname, they were not married. Pillay is a common name in the Indian community based in Durban

In court: Pillay was arrested the day after he killed Annelene and appeared in court last week. He was charged with murder

Shantal said that Annelene had kept her boyfriend away from the family, knowing they did not approve of him.

Annelene and her killer shared a surname, but were not married  Pillay is a common name in the Indian community based in Durban.

No one in the family or among her friends liked him - he had this evil persona about him, and was so possessive,' Shantal said.

'He had hit her in the past and used to phone the home landline to check up on her when they werent together.

'We dont know what she loved about him, but she was very defensive of him for a very long time. But in recent weeks before she died, she was more honest about who he really was, that there wasnt anything good about him.
Glenn Chappell was speeding, had a history of previous crashes and had a seizure a week before the fatal November 1 crash, national investigators said

The driver of a Baltimore school bus that careened into a transit bus, killing him and five others, was speeding, had a history of previous crashes and had a seizure the week before, investigators said.

Glenn Chappell struck a Ford Mustang from behind before colliding with an oncoming Maryland Transit Administration bus last month, according to the National Transportation Safety Board's initial report.

At the time, he was going about 57mph in a 30-mph zone  nearly twice the speed limit, the report said.

Chappell was driving the school bus for AAAfordable LLC of Baltimore, which held a contract with Baltimore City Public Schools until November 21 of this year.

No children were on board at the time of the crash.

The transit bus driver and four passengers were also killed while eleven others were injured.

Reports referencing Chappell's previous crashes and other incidents said Chappell had 'seizure-like episodes.'

Chappell had an actual seizure just a week before the November 1 crash.

Fire department and rescue officials work at the scene of the crash in Baltimore on November 1

A member of the Baltimore Police Department walks past the Ford Mustang which was rear-ended by the school bus driven by Chappell

In addition, while Chappell had a medical certificate allowing him to drive the school bus, he had not filed it with the Maryland Vehicle Administration, which made it illegal for him to be driving the bus, the report said.

Chappell's wife told investigators after an earlier crash that he had been taking medication for seizures when he got into an accident two years ago.

Chappell had been driving buses since 2008.

He began working for AAAfordable in 2014, but took a break between April and August of this year, during which time he drove for other bus companies.

Shawn Braxton, who was behind the wheel of the Ford Mustang, was shocked to learn that Chappell had both a history of car crashes and a known medical condition.

'That's just crazy,' Braxton said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday.

'I'm upset about it, and saddened because he felt the need to continue to drive the bus even though he had a medical condition, and I'm saddened that the bus company kept him hired because he had a medical condition and they should have been monitoring him,' he said.

The NTSB is also investigating a school bus crash in Chattanooga, Tennessee in which six children died and 12 others were admitted to the hospital.

The bus was carrying 37 children at the time of the wreck.

The driver, Jonathan Walker, has been charged with multiple counts of vehicular homicide.

Six people were killed and elven were injured in the crash which took place just outside the National Cemetery Loudon Park, in Southwest Baltimore

Officials approach the scene of the fatal collision between a school bus and a commuter bus in Baltimore

Records showed that students had complained about Walker's driving, and that he'd been in an accident just two months before the wreck.

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, who was sworn in Tuesday morning, said in a statement that she is 'very concerned about the way bus drivers are cleared for duty.'

'We entrust the lives of our children to these public servants, so we need to make sure they are up to the task,' Pugh said.

Dr. Stephen Richards, director of the Southeastern Transportation Center at the University of Tennessee, who reviewed the preliminary report, said the lack of communication between the MVA and the school system about Chappell's outdated medical certificate could be an area that needs attention.

'The fact that no certificate had been turned in, and the public agency that kept track of that certificate... had recognized that he should not be driving, that's where the breakdown occurred,' Richards said.

'If there's lag time before the entire system caught it with that, they may need to look at that and enact some safeguards.'

An injured female passenger is stretchered away from the scene by emergency responders

George Bogris, an attorney representing AAAfordable, did not immediately return a call and email seeking comment.

Del. Kumar Barve, who chairs the Maryland House Environment and Transportation Committee, said the report reflected 'a failure of the school system,' and added that he planned to have the legislative committee briefed on the NTSB report.

Baltimore schools spokeswoman Edie House-Foster said in a written statement that the school system is 'continuing to work diligently to review and tighten processes and practices' related to bus contracts.

'The safety of our students, the adults who staff school buses and other drivers and passengers is our top priority,' she said.
Up to 1,750 ISIS jihadists have returned to Europe with orders to carry out attacks, an EU report has warned.

About 5,000 European fanatics have travelled to Syria and Iraq with between 15 to 20 per cent dying on the battlefield.

Up to 35 percent have returned - some with 'specific missions' - and 50 percent remain in the battle theatre, which amounted to between 2,000 and 2,500 Europeans.

Scroll down for video

Up to 1,750 ISIS jihadists have returned to Europe with orders to carry out attacks, an EU report has warned (file picture)

Belgium expressed concern last month that jihadists were increasingly returning to Europe as US-backed coalition forces drive ISIS from territory in the terror-group's self-declared caliphate across Syria and Iraq.

As many as 1,750 may have returned, based on the percentages listed in the report which EU counter-terrorism coordinator Gilles de Kerchove will present to EU interior ministers on Friday.

The report said there were two types of 'foreign terrorist fighters' returning.

'Those in the majority that will drift back, and those who will be sent back on specific missions, which are of most concern,' the report warned.

It said even some European women and children born or raised in the so-called caliphate declared by ISIS in Iraq and Syria could pose a security threat as they may have been radicalised.

Without giving figures, it said some returnees have been convicted and serving prison sentences, while others are being monitored and some are free in their communities.

Belgium expressed concern last month that jihadists were increasingly returning to Europe as US-backed coalition forces drive ISIS from territory in Syria and Iraq (file picture)

It recalled that foreign fighters who have returned to Europe have staged both foiled and successful attacks, including the slaughter in Paris in November last year and this year's bombings in Brussels in March.

Both sets of attacks were claimed by ISIS, which is also known by its Arabic acronym Daesh.

'There is also a significant foreign terrorist fighter contingent with Daesh in Libya which might attempt to use their nationality or family connections to return to Europe,' the report said.
Germany's highest court ruled that ultra-conservative Muslim girls must take part in mixed swimming classes at school (file photo posed by model)

Germany's highest court ruled that ultra-conservative Muslim girls must take part in mixed swimming classes at school.

It comes after an 11-year-old pupil who had argued that even wearing a burkini, or full-body swimsuit, breached Islamic dress codes.

The Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe rejected an appeal by the girl's parents that she should be excused the classes because a burkini did not conform with Islam's ethic of decency, German media reported.

A spokesman for the court could not be reached for comment.

Germany is in the grip of a heated public debate about the role of Islam in society as it seeks to integrate more than a million mainly Muslim asylum seekers fleeing war and persecution who have entered this year and last.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose conservatives have been punished at the polls in regional elections by voters angry at her open-door policy, on Tuesday proposed a ban on full-face Muslim veils.

Her Christian Democrats, who have been bleeding support to the AfD, a populist party that says Islam is incompatible with the constitution, toughened their tone on integrating migrants at a party conference this week.

Wednesday's ruling could give more credibility to future attempts by the government to ban the full-face veil after a parliamentary election next year.

The girl had argued before lower courts that swimming in a burkini revealed the shape of her body, something that goes against her religion.

The Constitutional Court noted that lower courts had found this to be untrue, and further found there were 'no binding rules in Islam' to define appropriate clothing.
Michael Bistreich is suing his former employer New York City councilman Vincent Gentile for $10 million because he claims he was mocked and humiliated over his Asperger's syndrome

A man who has Asperger's syndrome claims he was mocked for his disability, had his teddy bears decapitated and was locked in a basement while working for a New York City councilman.

Michael Bistreich claims he was subjected to such cruel bullying working for Brooklyn City Councilman Vincent Gentile that he had to quit and is now suing him and the city for $10 million.

Bistreich claims in the lawsuit filed on Tuesday that he was ridiculed by Gentile and his former chief of staff, John Mancuso, over his disability for the two years he worked as a legislative aide in the office.

On one occasion, someone decapitated the teddy bears and other stuffed animals Bistreich kept on his desk.

One bear's head was mounted on a small flagpole.

A stuffed dog 'was gutted and impaled and had red coloring around its slit stomach, mouth and eyes to resemble blood,' the lawsuit said.

Bistreich said he was subsequently told that Mancuso was behind the beheadings.

Michael Bistreich claims in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday that someone in his office decapitated the teddy bears and other stuffed animals he kept on his desk

One bear's head was mounted on a small flagpole, while a stuffed dog was gutted had red coloring around its slit stomach to resemble blood

The suit also alleges that Mancuso once locked Bistreich in the building's basement for an extended period when he went there to retrieve something.

Bistreich also claims Gentile laughed when a person on his staff compared him to Avonte Oquendo - a New York City boy with severe autism who was found dead after he left school through an unattended door. The staffer allegedly suggested Bistreich 'test the doors.'

His attorney, Brian Heller, said the harassment occurred throughout Bistreich's two-year stint as Gentile's legislative and budgetary director.

But he said it became more severe this year when Bistreich began dealing more with the public. Gentile allegedly told Bistreich his twitching was 'unnerving' and asked him to increase his medication.

Bistreich claims in the lawsuit filed on Tuesday that he was ridiculed by Brooklyn City Councilman Vincent Gentile over his disability during the two years he worked for him

'They didn't want him to be seen by anybody,' said Heller.

Bistreich, who has a bachelor's and master's degrees from St. John's University, said he quit his job in June after he was demoted and a recent pay raise was cut.

Gentile represents parts of Brooklyn. His office didn't' respond to a request for comment but told the Daily News that he wouldn't comment.

Mancuso now works as a community relations official for the city's sanitation department and also said he was not allowed to comment on the allegations.
More than half of all adult Australians are now overweight or obese, according to shocking new research.

In 2014/15 there were 11.2 million adults, or 63.4 per cent, who were overweight or obese, with Australia now recording some of the highest rates in the world.

Men are more overweight than women, with 70 per cent of males overweight or obese, compared to 56 per cent of women.

In 2015/15 there were 11.2 million adult Australians, or 63.4 per cent, who were overweight or obese, with Australia recording some of the highest rates in the world (stock image)

The percentage of adults who were overweight also increased with age - the rates were highest for people aged between 55-64 years with almost 75 per cent.

This was followed by the 65 years plus age group with 72 per cent overweight or obese.

The lowest rates recorded were for adults in the 18-24 years group, with almost 40 per cent.

The results were published in a report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, which was published on Thursday.

In the past 20 years the number of overweight and obese Australians has increased by more than 12 per cent.

The rates of obesity are also higher in regional areas than cities.

The results showed men were more overweight than women, with 70 per cent of males overweight or obese, compared to 56 per cent of women (stock image)

Statistics revealed that in 2014/15 regional areas generally had higher rates of adult obesity than metropolitan areas, with 68 per cent of adults in regional areas overweight compared to 60 per cent in metropolitan areas.

The overweight and obesity levels in the report are measured using the BMI (Body Mass Index) measurement, which divides weight in kilograms by height in metres squared.

There has been some criticism of this method of measurement in the past because it doesn't take into account people's gender, age, ethnicity and body composition.

WHAT IS BMI AND HOW DO YOU CALCULATE IT?

BMI stands for Body Mass Index and is a measurement that is calculated by dividing your weight in kilograms by your height in metres squared. It gives you an idea of whether youre underweight, a healthy weight, overweight, or obese for your height. BMI is one type of tool health professionals use to assess risk for chronic disease. Another important tool is waist circumference. However, it is only an estimate and it doesnt take into account gender, age, ethnicity and body composition. Underweight: >18.5 Healthy weight: 18.5 to >25 Overweight: >25 to <30 Obese: >30 Source: The Heart Foundation Advertisement

Professional athletes have also criticised using BMI as a measurement, as rugby players and other well-built athletes who are fit and have a healthy lifestyle are classified as obese.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare spokesperson Michael Frost told the Herald Sun the levels of people who were overweight but not obese had generally stayed the same, but it was more a growth in the population that was obese.

Obesity Policy Coalition executive manager Jane Martin said the norm in our society was to be overweight or obese.

'This (the results) shows that current approaches are not working and that we need to do a lot more, not just in particular communities that are at higher risk,' she said.

'This is not going to solve itself - and what we are doing now is just not enough.'
This is the Islamic cartoon Muslim parents want to watch instead of Peppa Pig because they feel 'guilty' allowing their children to watch a show 'all about pigs'.

Barakah Hills encourages Muslim children to be good to their neighbours, respect elders, be honest, and donate to those less fortunate.

While Barakah Hills is yet to be made, its characters have featured on a children's television show called Zaky & Friends, made by Sydney company One4Kids.

In an episode on YouTube, children are taught not to waste water, 'smiling is better', 'to never be unkind' and 'be honest all the time'  'because that's what Muhammad said'.

Scroll down for video

The Islamic alternative to Peppa Pig, Barakah Hills, encourages Muslim children to smile

Barakah Hills has not yet been made, but its characters have featured in an episode (pictured) of children's television show Zaky & Friends by the same Sydney company, One4Kids

The episode features a song of some of the things Muhammad teaches.

'Be nice to my father, because that's what Muhammad says. Better to my mother, because that's what Muhammad says,' the song goes.

'Never lose my temper, because that's what Muhammad says.'

'I always pray on time ... Fast through Ramadan.

'To never be unkind ... be honest all the time.'

The episode, available on YouTube, encourages children 'to never be unkind'

THE BARAKAH HILLS EPISODES BEING MADE A Great Day for a BBQ All the Boys Love Camping Building a Park for the Masjid Counting in Arabic Daddy Gives His First Khutbah The Fundraiser Gardening with Grandma Grandpa & Grandma's Grocery Store Honey Goes Missing Imam's Tae Kwan Do Class Milk & Cheese Mummy Gets Sick The Early Birds The First Jumuah The Little Bird Advertisement

A fundraising campaign has been launched for the program, which tells the story of the Abdullah family in a small town with a predominantly Muslim population.

'The Masjid is the central hub of the town with Imam Nouradeen as the community leader and role model,' the fundraising page reads.

A trailer for the childrens' program was posted on Facebook in November as one of One4Kids' 'many Peppa Pig alternatives'.

'Barakah Hills represents an ideal Muslim community and is targeted to a post-toddler, pre-school demographic of children.

'The show's main objective is to show children what it is like to be a practicing Muslim as well as a good citizen in their community.

'Children will learn everything from how to have good manners, to how to get actively involved with community projects.'

'I always pray on time ... because that's what Muhammad said,' a song in the episode went

The children's program encouraged children to give 'to those less fortunate'

In another Facebook post on Zaky & Friends, fans slammed Peppa Pig's 'moral values'.

'Peppa pig is very rude. Yes please create a cartoon that teaches kids good moral values ie sharing, neighbour rights, when it is time for prayer, they should stop everything and go and pray five times,' one user commented.

'No lying, no hitting, no shouting, getting dressed, obey parents, fasting. Everything that features the life of a Muslim.'

Another user said they felt guilty for allowing their children to watch a show 'all about pigs'.

But One4Kids producer and director Subhi Alshaik told The Australian the alternative to Peppa Pig had nothing to do with Islam's view of pigs as unclean.

'We just don't eat them, that's all, like the Jews and the rest. I've patted pigs, I've watched Babe, we just don't eat them.'

Children's Islamic television character Zaky, of Zaky & Friends, is pictured

Anti-gay Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman (pictured), head of the Australian National Imams Council, has featured in a promotional video for the production company

Mr Alshaik said Peppa Pig was a 'great show'.

Anti-gay Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman, head of the Australian National Imams Council (ANIC), has featured in a promotional video for the production company.

On Thursday, he said he had never heard of Peppa Pig, despite media reports he described it as 'corrupting'.

'Who is Peppa Pig?' ANIC told Daily Mail Australia in a statement.

'Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman was shocked to learn from media sources today that he had called the British cartoon Peppa Pig a corrupting influence.

'Today is the first time I came to know of the program,' he said.

Sheikh Alsuleiman said he had merely endorsed 'the concept of producing religious alternatives while stating clearly that children should not be stopped form watching different cartoons'.

He called the apparent misrepresentation of his comments 'sensationalist propaganda'.

Sheikh Alsuleiman had dined with Malcolm Turnbull at a Ramadan function at Kirribilli House earlier in the year. Mr Turnbull later said he regretted inviting the Sheikh when his anti-gay comments were revealed

Sheikh Alsuleiman had dined with Malcolm Turnbull at a Ramadan function at Kirribilli House earlier in the year.

Mr Turnbull later said he regretted inviting the Sheikh when it was revealed he said Allah will give gay people 'diseases that they have never experienced before'.

'And most of the diseases these days  if you speak to a doctor  he'll tell you the most terrifying disease come from what?' he said in a video uploaded to YouTube in 2013.

Many conservative politicians oppose marriage equality and other LGBTQI rights because of their faith. Malcolm Turnbull has not yet allowed a free vote in parliament on marriage equality.

A fundraising campaign has been launched for Sydney company One4Kids to make Barakah Hills

Barakah Hills (pictured) tells the story of the Abdullah family living in a Muslim community

Grand Mufti Ibrahim Abu Mohammed had defended the Sheikh's comments and said he had 'simply conveyed a religious ruling'.

'That which Sheikh Shady has said regarding homosexuality is simply a conveyance of a religious fact which is known to every practicing person in the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths.'

Sheikh Alsuleiman later said in a statement he doesn't condone punishment of gay people.

'As an Australian and a Muslim I unreservedly condemn the vilification and oppression of any group of people based on race, religion, gender, sexuality, or any other criteria for that matter.'

Daily Mail Australia has contacted One4Kids and Sheikh Alsuleiman for comment.

Islamic leaders encouraged parents to embrace a Muslim alternative to popular British television show Peppa Pig (pictured)
A friend of the slain bikie enforcer known as 'Lizard Man' took a sawn-off rifle from Bronson Ellery's home a week before he killed his girlfriend and then himself.

Ellery, 24, was found dead alongside his girlfriend Shelsea Schilling at a Southport unit in Queensland on November 11, after he bashed and suffocated the 20-year-old then took a lethal dose of drugs.

Ellery's friend Michael Warburton, 26, was sentenced on Wednesday to 12 months in prison for possession of firearms and explosives and other charges, The Courier Mail reported.

Bronson Ellery, 24, was found dead alongside his girlfriend Shelsea Schilling (both pictured) at a Southport unit in Queensland on November 11

His lawyer told told Southport Magistrates Court the gun and ammunition found at his home was taken from his heavily tattooed friend's home about a week before the murder-suicide.

'His plan was to get rid of the rifle, to destroy it  it was never used in a crime,' Warbuton's lawyer, Dave Garrett, told the court.

'Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to stop that tragedy from happening.'

Ellery's friend Michael Warburton, 26, was sentenced on multiple charges at the Southport Magistates Court on Wednesday and said a gun found at his home belonged to Ellery (pictured)

Police allege Warburton was one of several witnesses to the suspected murder-suicide and said he evaded questioning by detectives.

His lawyer said he is the father of a young child with special needs and chose to be with his son instead of going to the station for questioning.

Investigators raided his home in Pimpama, on the Gold Coast, and found the gun, ammunition and a pair of nunchakus.

He was charged with possession of a weapon, possession of a restricted item, possession of explosives as well as an unrelated driving offence and failure to appear in court.

Warburton was sentenced to 12 months jail with his parole release date set for December 22.

A friend of 'Lizard Man' (pictured with Ms Schilling) took a rifle from his home to stop him using it in a suspected murder-suicide

Ellery was found dead alongside Ms Schilling (both pictured) last month and had allegedly positioned several firearms in such a way to suggest the incident had been 'planned for some time'

Ellery allegedly wrote a letter saying sorry to Shelsea's family after the brutal attack

After his release, he will be subjected to a 12-month probation order.

Ellery was dubbed 'Lizard Man' by police due to his confronting head-to-toe tattoos.

Ellery was dubbed 'Lizard Man' by police due to his confronting head-to-toe tattoos

The Gold Coast man's face, arms and fingers were already half-covered with ink in his late teenage years when he fell in with a band of 'renegades' associated with the Bandidos bikie gang.

He was found dead alongside Ms Schilling last month and had allegedly positioned several firearms in such a way to suggest the incident had been 'planned for some time'.

'It clearly was a murder investigation. He had laid out all his guns. He's bashed her senseless,' a source told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

A witness told she was in the Southport unit on Johnson Street and watched as the former bikie enforcer killed Ms Schilling.

Ellery allegedly wrote a letter saying sorry to Shelsea's family after the brutal attack.

'He said I'm apologising for killing your daughter. I loved her,' Ms Schilling's mother Bonnie Markwell Mobbs told Daily Mail Australia.

Bronson Ellery: As a young man - presumably in his late teenage years - the Bandidos bikie already had an arm sleeve and the words 'committ' and 'lover' etched across his face
A family of four were treated for shock after their home in the Gold Coast suburb of Miami was struck by lightning twice in one night.

Meanwhile in the nearby suburb of Tallai, a five-year-old boy was hospitalised after he was injured by a lightning strike as he was holding on to a tap.

Paramedics were called to the Miami home about 4.43pm on Wednesday.

None of the patients required transport to hospital, according to the Queensland Ambulance Service.

A family of four were treated for shock after their home in the Gold Coast suburb of Miami was struck by lightning twice, medical officials said. Meanwhile, a boy in nearby Tallai was hospitalised and treated for injuries sustained in a separate lightning strike. File photograph

The five-year-old boy was holding on to a tap when lightning struck his home, and was hospitalised for his injuries, medical officials say. File photograph

The stricken family members were identified as sisters Cathy McIntosh and Lee Squires, the latter's husband Mike Squires, and the sisters' 82-year-old mother, the Gold Coast Bulletin reported.

The twin strikes shattered a cement floor and left burn marks on a wall, the Bulletin reported.

McIntosh, 53, described the sound of the bolts as 'louder than bombs' and said she felt 'sick' and 'shook up' from the experience.

The boy in Tallai who was injured in a separate strike was transported in stable condition to Robina Hospital at about 4.40pm.

He was treated 'very briefly' for electric shock injuries and was discharged later on Wednesday, according to a spokesperson for Gold Coast Health.

The injuries came a day after an American tourist was killed by a lightning strike while camping on nearby Mount Warning near Byron Bay on the NSW north coast.

Sam Beattie, 24, of New York, was camping with his partner Michele Segalla, 23, at the top of the mountain when lightning struck their tent early on Tuesday morning.

Officials believe Beattie was instantly killed by the strike, while Segalla suffered head and neck injuries.
He rammed a police car and fled after officers tried to arrest him on Tuesday

A heavily-tattooed and suspected member of the Comancheros motorcycle gang has taunted officers by posing for a photo outside a police station almost two months after going on the run.

Police warned members of the public not to approach Raymond Jones, 30, after he rammed a police car and fled when officers tried to pull him over in Craigmore, a suburb in Adelaide's north, on Tuesday afternoon.

Jones has been on the run since he failed to show up to court on October 19 when he was found guilty of aggravated assault for stabbing a man multiple times through a car window as his seven-year-old daughter sat in the rear seat last year, The Advertiser reported.

Comancheros bikie Raymond Jones (pictured) posed for a picture outside a Elizabeth Police Station almost two months after going on the run

He posted a picture of himself standing outside Elizabeth Police Station - the same one his victim fled to with serious chest and arm wounds last year - on Monday before police spotted him cruising around in a green Ford Falcon the next day.

'Hey guys stopping in to sign in hahaha,' he captioned the image of himself, according to Ten News.

Police scoured the Craigmore area on Tuesday after Jones fled from a lime green Ford Falcon sedan on Yorktown Road - even calling in police dogs and a helicopter - but the violent criminal still managed to evade capture.

The suspected bikie was granted bail after his arrest and put on house arrest for the duration of his trial.

Police warned members of the public not to approach Raymond Jones, 30, after he rammed a police car and fled when officers tried to pull him over on Tuesday

Jones has been on the run since he failed to show up to court on October 19 when he was found guilty of aggravated assault

Jones stabbed a man multiple times through a car window as his seven-year-old daughter sat in the rear seat last year

Police scoured the Craigmore area on Tuesday after Jones fled from a lime green Ford Falcon sedan - even calling in police dogs and a helicopter - but the criminal still evade capture

Jones had previously shared images of the Comancheros logo on his Facebook account

Jones is described as Caucasian, 171cm tall, 100kg, with blonde hair and blue eyes.

He is heavily tattooed across his face and body, including a distinctive tattoo reading LOGAN which is etched across his neck, and words inscribed above and beneath each eye.
A mixed martial arts fighter who bashed his ex-fiancee because she brought home the wrong noodles for dinner will not spend a day in jail.

Julian 'Julz the Jackal' Wallace walked free from Newtown Local Court on Wednesday after a magistrate handed him two suspended sentences for the April 28 assault.

The heavily tattooed 28-year-old was sentenced to 15 months jail for assault occasioning actual bodily harm and seven months for intentionally choking with recklessness.

Mixed martial arts fighter Julian 'Julz the Jackal' Wallace, who brutally bashing his ex-fiance because she got the wrong noodles for dinner, wil not spend a day in jail

The beating left the victim Jessy Jess with a cut lip and bruising on her neck and face

Wallace, who pleaded guilty in October, winked and blew a kiss to the media as his sentence was read out, and said before the hearing the victim Jessy Jess was 'to blame', according to the Daily Telegraph.

The beating left Ms Jess with a cut lip and bruising on her neck and face.

Magistrate Margaret Quinn said Wallace, whose legal name is Julian Rabaud, had a 'very difficult background' and appeared to be a person of 'good character'.

Wallace own a hipster barber shop in Sydney's inner-western suburb of Newtown, and made national headlines earlier this year for banning women from entering the store and accepting only men as customers.

He had previously posted naked photos of Ms Jess online and threatened to release a sex tape in retaliation for her revealing details of the assault.

Wallace walked free from Newtown Local Court on Wednesday with a pair of concurrent suspended sentences for the April 28 assault

The hipster barber shop owner posted naked photos of Ms Jess (pictured together) online and threatened to release a sex tape in retaliation for her revealing details of the assault

Wallace posted the images to Facebook on October 3, claiming he was a victim in the 'violent' relationship, and that he only pleaded guilty to 'save money'.

He also posted screenshots of private conversations between the couple, before deleteing the posts and his account amid a heavy backlash.

Wallace fled to the U.S. soon after, where Ms Jess had moved after the attack to start a new life, leading police to be concerned he was avoiding justice.

The heavily tattooed 28-year-old got 15 months jail for assault occasioning actual bodily harm and seven months for intentionally choking with recklessness

Ms Jess, also an MMA fighter, said the sentencing was a 'slap on the wrist'

Wallace's MMA contract was torn up after he admitted to the assault, and he was widely ridiculed for being knocked out in 20 seconds during a bout in a fight two years ago that resurfaced in the wake of his trial.

The month before his guilty plea, Wallace defended the 'men only' policy at his Newtown barber shop, claiming his policy was 'not sexist'.

'No women can come into the premises because we only cater to men,' he told Sunrise. The policy has been in place for about five years.

'It is not a discrimination thing, it is something that we provide a service for men, we protect their comfort, we protect their insecurities. We protect their privacy.'

Wallace's contract with a fight promoter was canned after the charges were laid

Wallace said the shop did not even have magazines for women and suggested they have a coffee at a nearby cafe or 'go shopping' while waiting for children or partners.

'We have catered to something from a bygone era, providing a service and most importantly an experience,' he said.

'It is like when the women go and get their nails done. It is not catered for men, that kind of environment.'

Ms Jess, who is also a professional MMA fighter, told the Telegraph she was 'heartbroken' her life was 'only worth a slap on the wrist'.

Wallace fled to the U.S. soon after, where Ms Jess had moved after the attack to start a new life, leading police to be concerned he was avoiding justice

'There are almost no ramifications for the man that caused emotional, mental and physical pain, not only to me but to women before me,' she said.'

Ms Jess told Daily Mail Australia in October she had been running 15 minutes late on her way home from work on the night of the assault after she stopped to pick up some noodles for Wallace.

When she arrived at their apartment, he flew into a rage at her having brought the wrong food, grabbing her and accusing her of being unfaithful.

'He started attacking me, it went on for about 20 minutes, he kicked me in the head with timberland boots on,' Ms Jess said.

'He got me in a muay thai headlock in the kitchen and was elbowing me in the face.

'He was holding my head in one hand and hitting me with the other,' she added.

The month before his guilty plea, Wallace defended the 'men only' policy at his Newtown barber shop (pictured), claiming his policy was 'not sexist'

Wallace then kicked Ms Jess in the face, and tried to tear off her engagement ring while threatening to break her fingers.

As she was desperately trying to break free from her former fiance's grasp, Ms Jess said she could feel herself losing consciousness.

'I was terrified, I really was, I've never been knocked out and I've never passed out before,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'I remember seeing stars and getting dropped onto the bed.

'When he was chocking me I could feel myself losing consciousness.'
Advertisement

Melbourne residents have woken up to a bout of unusual weather with temperatures plunging ten degrees in just an hour after a relatively balmy night.

Across the city, the temperature hovered at about 21 degrees for majority of the night before rising to 25.7 degrees at 4.30am and then plummeting to 16 degrees at 5.20am as a strong cold front swept through at dawn.

A severe weather warning is in place for the rest of Thursday with gale force winds expected to reach 110 km/hr and heavy rain.

Melbourne residents have woken up to a bout of unusual weather with temperatures plummeting ten degrees after a relatively balmy night

Across the city, the temperature hovered at about 21 degrees for majority of the night before rising to 25.7 degrees at 4.30am and then plunged ten degrees as a strong cold front swept through at dawn

On Thursday, Melbourne residents took to social media to complain about the 'dreadful weather'

The stormy weather set in by 6.30am and the city is only expected to reach a top of 23 degrees.

Residents in Horsham, Warrnambool, Seymour, Maryborough, Ballarat, Geelong and Melbourne have been warned of damaging winds. A gust of 93 km/h was recorded at 4.30am in Mt William.

Emergency services have advised people should move their vehicles under cover and away from trees as well as securing large outdoor items.

The cold spell is set to continue on Friday with temperatures so low there may be snowfall on elevated areas.

The pollen count is high for Melbourne and Geelong and classed as 'extreme' in Melbourne's east. This has triggered fears of further thunderstorm asthma cases.

Last month, eight people were killed by thunderstorm asthma with emergency services and hospitals sent into meltdown after struggling to find enough supplies to treat 1,900 triple-0 calls.

Rain shrouded the city on Thursday morning and many residents opted to stay indoors after the unexpected dumping

Some decided to stay in bed after waking up to the icy conditions and dumping of rain

The cold spell is set to continue on Friday with temperatures so low there may be snowfall on elevated areas

On Thursday, Melbourne residents took to social media to complain about the 'dreadful weather'

One woman posted a picture snuggled up under a blanket with her dog and said it was the perfect morning to stay in and cuddle

The overnight temperatures were relatively high overnight after a warm day on Wednesday (pictured)

On Thursday, Melbourne residents took to social media to complain about the 'dreadful weather'.

'Melbourne weather: Rain, wind, sun, rain, wind, rain.. oh and sun,' one man wrote, clearly unimpressed with the city's 'four seasons in one day'.

'Wow really Melbourne? Sunny and warm yesterday and pissing down rain this morning!' another woman observed.

Some decided to stay in bed after waking up to the icy conditions and dumping of rain. One woman posted a picture snuggled up under a blanket with her dog and said it was the perfect morning to stay in and cuddle.

A severe weather warning was also issued for the Snowy Mountains in NSW on Thursday morning with gales of 110 km/h expected to thrash alpine areas above 1800 metres.

Across the city, the temperature hovered at about 21 degrees for majority of the night before rising to 25.7 degrees at 4.30am and then plummeting to 16 degrees at 5.20am as a strong cold front swept through at dawn

On Thursday, some enjoyed the dumping of rain from the comfort of Melbourne airport, but were concerned the wild weather may cause delays

The unexpected rain made it difficult for this Melbourne resident to continue excavator work around his pool

The cold spell is set to continue on Friday with temperatures so low there may be snowfall on elevated areas

Ominous clouds rolled across the city before midday and thunderstorms were expected in the afternoon

FORECAST: WHAT THE WEATHER LOOKS LIKE AROUND AUSTRALIA SYDNEY Thursday : Min 14, Max 29. Late showers Friday: Min 19, Max 26. Sunny Saturday: Min 17, Max 24. Possible shower Sunday: Min 18, Max 27. Possible shower BRISBANE: Thursday : Min 22, Max 30. Showers. Possible storm Friday: Min 25, Max 31. Showers. Possible storm Saturday : Min 21, Max 26. Possible shower Sunday: Min 20, Max 27. Possible shower ADELAIDE Thursday : Min 12, Max 21. Possible shower Friday : Min 12, Max 22. Partly cloudy Saturday : Min 10, Max 25. Sunny Sunday: Min 12, Max 30. Sunny DARWIN Thursday: Min 25, Max 35. Possible shower Friday : Min 26, Max 35. Possible shower Saturday : Min 25, Max 35. Possible storm Sunday: Min 25, Max 34. Shower or two MELBOURNE Thursday : Min 12, Max 23. Rain easing. Windy Friday : Min 11, Max 17. Shower or two Saturday : Min 11, Max 21. Cloudy Sunday: Min 13, Max 22. Partly cloudy CANBERRA Thursday : Min 14, Max 30. Showers developing Friday : Min 8, Max 21. Mostly sunny Saturday : Min 5, Max 24. Sunny Sunday: Min 8, Max 27. Mostly sunny PERTH Thursday : Min 14, Max 31. Sunny Friday : Min 18, Max 37. Sunny Saturday : Min 20, Max 36. Mostly sunny Sunday: Min 18, Max 31. Partly cloudy HOBART Thursday : Min 12, Max 24. Rain at times Friday : Min 8, Max 15. Shower or two Saturday : Min 10, Max 19. Shower or two Sunday: Min 12, Max 20. Possible morning shower Advertisement

The National Parks Service of NSW recommended people postpone their travel from the Snowy Mountains until conditions improve, according to the Bureau of Meterology.

Meanwhile, southeast Queensland will have a third straight day of storms after an early-morning showing of thunder-and-lightning.

Relatively rare early morning storms rolled over the state's southeast on Tuesday and Wednesday, leaving thousands without power.

'Most people got a nice awakening around 2-4 o'clock this morning (Wednesday) and there is a potential for more activity like that north of the Gold Coast,' BoM forecaster Andrew Bufalino told AAP.

'We've got an upper trough moving over the area in combination with a coastal trough, and in combination with that we have some very moist and unstable weather conditions, and that's driving a lot of shower and thunderstorm activity across the region.'

The stormy weather is expected to ease by Friday, with more volatile conditions moving north of the Sunshine Coast.

'Wow really Melbourne? Sunny and warm yesterday and pissing down rain this morning!' another woman observed

A severe weather warning was also issued for the Snowy Mountains in NSW on Thursday morning, but Sydney had a forecast of 29 degrees
Hundreds of police officers are exploiting crime victims and witnesses for sex, a report reveals.

At least 334 officers have been accused of abusing their power for sexual gratification in the past two years, but this is believed to be the tip of the iceberg.

Predatory personnel taking advantage of vulnerable women by getting them to perform sex acts was the most serious corruption issue facing forces in England and Wales, according to a police watchdog.

HM Inspectorate of Constabulary rebuked forces over their efforts to root out depraved officers and ordered chief constables to get a grip before public trust is corroded.

At least 334 police officers have been accused of abusing their power for sexual gratification in the past two years (file picture)

Domestic and sexual violence victims, witnesses, arrested suspects and drug and alcohol addicts were among those targeted by officers, said todays study.

HM Inspector Mike Cunningham said: Its the most serious form of corruption. It is an exploitation of power where the guardian becomes an abuser.

What can be worse than a guardian abusing the trust and confidence of an abused person? There can be no greater violation of public trust.

'This is the most significant corruption challenge for the police, as it betrays the trust of the public  particularly some of the most vulnerable people in society.

In the 24 months to the end of March, HMIC identified 436 reports of officers and police staff  up to the rank of inspector  being investigated for sexual misconduct.

The accusations involved 334 police personnel  306 officers, 20 Police Community Support Officers and eight civilian staff.

Figures also suggested there was a disconnect between the numbers of alleged cases and sackings as a result, HMIC warned.

Mr Cunningham said inconsistency in recording statistics meant it was probably likely the problem is more serious than the numbers that have been reported back to us.

Disturbingly, more than a third of the allegations  39 per cent  involved victims of domestic abuse.

Officers had taken advantage of battered women when they most needed someone to trust.

All but one constabulary had at least one case of an officer abusing their authority for sexual gain.

PC RAPED UP TO 30 WOMEN AT POLICE STATION Former constable Stephen Mitchell, pictured, was jailed after admitting rape, indecent assault and misconduct in a public office In one high-profile case of predatory sex abuse by a police officer, rapist PC Stephen Mitchell attacked up to 30 women during a five-year reign of terror in Newcastle. He assaulted drug addicts in cells and interview rooms in a police station, knowing that if they complained they were unlikely to be believed. One of them, who was 19 when he first struck, estimated she had been abused 100 times as he kept track of her using the police computer. But the 42-year-old officers colleagues ignored a series of warnings about his behaviour  some of them from his wife. They were unaware he had already stood trial for sex offences before he was recruited to Northumbria Police. When he was finally stopped, he was offered a get out of jail free card if he agreed to resign. He refused, opting to take his chances in court. He was found guilty of two rapes, three indecent assaults and six charges of misconduct in a public office, involving a total of seven women. In January 2011, he was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum seven years. In another case, Scotland Yard PC James Evans, 26, was jailed for four years for having sex with a child rape victim he met via a dating app. The 15-year-old schoolgirl performed a sex act on him in his car as he drove her home from a session with child mental health services. Despite knowing she was under 16 and a rape victim, Evans later took her to his flat in west London, where they had sex. Evans, now of Pontypridd, Wales, pleaded guilty to six counts of sexual activity with a child. He was sacked from the Met last month. Advertisement

Forces need to become more proactive in actively seeking out those who preyed on crime victims and suspects in an attempt to root out the problem, HMIC warned.

Fewer than half of the reported allegations were referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, even though all cases of sexual misconduct should be automatically flagged up with the watchdog.

Inspectors said this was disappointing as sexual corruption had been highlighted as a major issue in reports in 2012 and 2015.

Half of forces were unable to monitor IT systems, limiting how much information could be gathered to spot officers accessing databases to identify vulnerable victims.

Many personnel did not understand the boundaries over pursuing relationships with vulnerable people.

HMIC suggested forces should profile staff to see if they would potentially exploit victims.

Clear guidelines should also be set out to officers about what is inappropriate, for instance handing out personal mobile numbers.

In the 24 months to the end of March, HMIC identified 436 reports of officers and police staff  up to the rank of inspector  being investigated for sexual misconduct (file picture)

Mark Castle, chief executive of the charity Victim Support, said: These allegations are deeply concerning.

The victims involved are some of the most vulnerable people in our society who have been exploited by the people they should be able to trust the most, the police.

Stephen Watson, the National Police Chiefs Council spokesman for counter-corruption, said: Abuse of powers for sexual gain is a betrayal of our core responsibility to protect people from harm.

It is the most serious form of corruption. We now need to do more to continue to root out the disease and inoculate policing.

Detective Superintendent Ray Marley, the College of Policings spokesman on integrity and professional standards, said the code of ethics handed to all officers and staff had guidelines on avoiding improper relationships.

But he added: This report has highlighted unacceptable cases which have a significant impact on victims and public confidence.

IPCC chairman Dame Anne Owers has written to the 43 chief constables in England and Wales urging them to ensure that all cases involving abuse of authority for sexual gain are referred.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said: The misconduct discovered in this report is shocking  it undermines justice and public confidence.

'The first step in tackling a problem is exposing it  that is what this report does and why it was commissioned by the Home Office.

Officer became a key player in drug gang

By Richard Marsden for the Daily Mail

A corrupt police officer who became a key player in a drugs gang has been jailed.

Afghanistan-born Hemayat Enayat, who came to Britain after fleeing the Taliban, colluded with four men to grow cannabis at a house he owned.

Cannabis with a street value of 26,000 was found at the house, along with drugs paraphernalia and growing equipment.

Hemayat Enayat, pictured, worked at Greater Manchester Police in a prisoner processing unit but was jailed after admitting conspiracy to produce cannabis

Enayat, 30, worked at Greater Manchester Police in a prisoner processing unit, Manchester Crown Court heard.

He was imprisoned for four years after admitting charges of conspiracy to produce cannabis and misconduct in public office.

Deputy Chief Constable Ian Pilling said: Enayat was a key player in this group, allowing his house to be used for criminal activities, and he abused his position and the trust placed in him as a police officer for criminal gains.

Enayats misconduct came to light when anti-corruption officers investigated last November.

Officers found Enayat had accessed the forces computer database numerous times without a lawful policing purpose and for the benefit of an organised crime group. After his Renault Clio car was bugged in November last year, Enayat was recording discussing his crop.

The officer was also recorded saying he had researched a rival on the police system, adding: I think we should target him. Im gonna check him, get any cars on him. Mate he just needs filling, doesnt he, he needs catching.

Officers raided the house in Manchester  one of two Enayat owned  in February and seized 47 cannabis plants plus cultivation equipment.

The officer, who joined the force in 2009, was dismissed in April.

Gary Woodhall, defending, said Enayat turned to crime as he had spiralling debts.
Millie Bobby Brown is already proving one of the most influential figures in Hollywood

Standing 4 foot 10 inches, she is hardly the most imposing of characters.

But aged just 12 years old, British actress Millie Bobby Brown is already proving one of the most influential figures in Hollywood.

Following a stand-out performance in Netflixs hit series Stranger Things  a role which required her to shave her head - the young star is already the toast of both the fashion and film worlds.

Now, after being tipped as Teen Vogues Breakout Star of 2016  and revealed as one of movie website IMDBs most searched for celebrities - the actress is now able to command in excess of 3 million per movie.

Indeed, after her parents sold up in the UK to move to LA, she already has three Los Angeles-based agents, and an American agent, and has already been signed up for a second series of the 1980s set Netflix show.

According to the industry bible Variety, the starlet has the kind of presence some actors take a lifetime to acquire [and] is about to be cast in a lot of projects.

British actress Millie Bobby Brown, 12, at Disney World, left, and pictured at the Emmys with James Corden, right

Stranger things have happened: Millie Bobby Brown and Stranger Things co-star Winona Ryder pose for a portrait during the 2016 Television Critics Association Summer Tour

Last night a production source said: Millie has that unquantifiable star quality.

She is also extremely talented and hard-working but, above all else, exceedingly driven, ambitious and determined. She may only be 12 but Millie, and her team, have a very focused career plan in place, and the world really is her oyster.

As of 2017, Millie can expect to earn in excess of 3 million per film  and this will shoot up once she hits 16.

Comparisons to Harry Potter actress Emma Watson have already been made and, like Miss Watson, who appeared on the cover of Teen Vogue aged 15 after landing the coveted role aged 11, Miss Brown is already very fashion conscious.

She got her big break starring in Netflixs hit series Stranger Things, which saw her shave her head to take on the role of Eleven

A nine-year-old Millie, pictured with Jaden Smith, left, and a more recent picture with Holly Willoughby, right

Although her mother still chooses her outfits, she cites Burberry and Stella McCartney as her favourite designers.

Earlier this year she was interviewed by Vogue magazine proper [i.e. not youth vogue], and also sat front-row at New York Fashion Week show alongside her great friend, and co-star Winona Ryder.

Stranger Things, a nostalgic, sci-fi drama based around a boy who mysteriously disappears, had 8.2 million viewers in the first 16 days since its release in July - making it more popular than Kevin Spaceys House of Cards. In it, Miss Brown plays Eleven, a telekinetic runaway from a sinister government agency.

Phenomenon: Stranger Things was universally praised upon its release

Millie Bobby Brown pictured with her father Robert in 2014, and more recently with her sister

Stephen Spielberg hailed it as the best show of the year, and fans have been quick to heap praise on the star.

The more devoted/fool-hardy even have her character name tattooed onto various body parts, whilst she already has almost two million followers on Instagram (700,000 more than Sir Paul McCartney).

Born in Marbella, Spain, to English parents Kelly and Robert Brown, Millie is the third of four children. Her older sister Paige, 23, works for the Nationwide building society and she has a brother Charlie, 18, and younger sister Ava, four.

Young talent: Born in Marbella, Spain, to English parents Kelly and Robert Brown, Millie is third of four children

The family moved back to their native England when Millie  a Liverpool FC supporter - was four years old.

Her parents then sold everything to support their youngest childs dreams of stardom, and moved to LA to help her audition for parts.

At eight, her family moved again, this time to Florida to launch a tooth-whitening business.

Millie says: I was annoying my father one Saturday and he said: We need to find you something fun to do.

So she was enrolled in a weekend stage school: It was acting, dancing, singing four hours every Saturday. There was a showcase and an agent said she wanted to represent me.

Co-stars: Winona Ryder (left) and Millie have formed a close bond after working together on Stranger Things

When the agent said they needed to move to Hollywood, the family headed west in an extraordinary act of faith.

But after a succession of minor roles, the family moved back to the UK last summer on the brink of bankruptcy. Within weeks she was left in tears after being told by a casting agent that she was too mature.

But, later that same day, she auditioned for Stranger Things and landed the part. The family have since moved back to America since her career took off.

Of her success, she recently said: Its crazy.

I never in my wildest dreams thought this would happen.

Mega-hit: Stranger Things, a nostalgic, sci-fi drama based around a boy who mysteriously disappears, had 8.2 million viewers in the first 16 days since its release in July

Impressive: Stephen Spielberg hailed it as the best show of the year, and fans have been quick to heap praise on the star

Her father recalled: My other children would watch cartoons, but Mill watched musicals  Chicago, Moulin Rouge, Annie and Bugsy Malone. Shed belt out a tune. She was performing from day one.

Millie, who attended Pokesdown Community Primary School in Bournemouth, said: I did a lot of school plays. I was a drama queen.'

The young talent has been inundated with offers of work and a second series of Stranger Things seems likely, but  even after all the family sacrifices  her father says hes determined to keep her feet on the ground.

Its important for Millie not to feel under pressure, he says. Shes a kid. She has to do her homework and chores. Everything else is a bonus.
A lunch-box sized device feared to be an explosive has been removed by bomb squad officers after officials warned it could have taken out the power at a nearby hospital had it detonated.

Police were called to the Kingswood electricity substation on Smith Street in Penrith, a suburb in Sydney's west, after an employee found a device believed to be a petrol bomb just before 9am on Thursday, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The fire department, paramedics and bomb squad officers in heavy suits of body armour swarmed the scene and attempted to determine what was inside the 'unattended object'.

An official warned the device was 'strategically' placed in an area of the power grid which had the potential to affect a large area of Penrith, including the local hospital.

Scroll down for video

An explosive device 'strategically placed' to take out the power at a nearby hospital has been found at an electrical substation in Sydney

Fire crews in hazmat suits and bomb squad officers in heavy body armour attended the scene

'If it [the device] goes up it'll take Penrith Hospital and the private hospital,' the source told the Daily Telegraph.

Employees were evacuated shortly after the discovery and an exclusion zone was set up closing nearby roads as police carefully assessed the box.

The device was reportedly the size of a lunch box and appeared to be filled with petrol.

A 'detonator' that resembles a mobile phone was also attached to the box with wires.

Officers examine an unattended object at an electrical substation in Sydney's west

The bomb squad were called to the Kingswood electricity substation on Smith Street in Penrith, a suburb in Sydney's west, on Thursday morning

Police speak with a concerned local after an exclusion zone is set up in Sydney's west

Officers in protective gear were seen assessing a device outside an electrical substation

Paramedics and fire crews were also called to the scene after an employee found the device

The bomb is reportedly the size of a lunch box and appears to be filled with petrol

Witnesses said wires attached a detonator which resembled a mobile phone

A member of NSW Fire and Rescue removes a hazmat suit on Thursday

Police said they could not safely determine what was inside the object without taking it from the scene.

They removed the device and have taken it for forensic testing.

'We apologise for any inconvenience and thank residents and motorists for their understanding,' a police spokesperson said.

Officers were still on the scene at around 1pm on Thursday but roads had been reopened.
Advertisement

A house building firm has developed a bungalow that can be built in just one day.

The innovative one or two bedroom single-storey homes have been designed so families can move in the same day their house is built.

All the bungalows, which come with the option of furniture already included, need is to be dropped on their foundations, connected to gas and electricity and they are ready to live in.

The two-bedroom version costs 60,000 while a one-bed set-up costs just 55,000.

The innovative one or two bedroom single-storey homes have been designed so families can move in the same day their house is built

All the bungalows, which come with the option of furniture already included, need is to be dropped on their foundations, connected to gas and electricity and they are ready to live in

The firm now hopes to construct the prefab bungalows, which are designed to last a minimum of 60 years, on disused Council-owned sites across the UK

The prefab homes are being built by Willerby Innovations in Hull, East Yorkshire, and can comfortably fit a family-of-four, with the company able to provide bunk-beds for the children's bedroom.

The bungalows also have a large galley kitchen, spacious living and dining room as well as a family-sized bathroom.

They can also be delivered across the country as far as a lorry or wagon can reach.

The firm now hopes to construct the prefab bungalows, which are designed to last a minimum of 60 years, on disused Council-owned sites across the UK.

It is hoped the homes will also help to reduce the housing crisis across the country.

Phil Parks, lead commercial manager at Willerby Innovations, said: 'The latest government initiatives continue to focus heavily on long-term goals including its ambitious target to build one million new homes by 2020.

'But even with initiatives in place to help housing associations and developers build more homes, it still doesn't address today's pressure on local authorities to meet the immediate social needs. Action needs to be taken now.

'There are thousands of people at risk of homelessness in the UK with this predicated to rise sharply creating a growing demand for housing from the elderly, the vulnerable and the temporary homeless.

The prefab homes are being built by Willerby Innovations in Hull, East Yorkshire, and can comfortably fit a family-of-four, with the company able to provide bunk-beds for the children's bedroom

The bungalows also have a large galley kitchen, spacious living and dining room as well as a family-sized bathroom

Phil Parks, lead commercial manager at Willerby Innovations, said: 'The latest government initiatives continue to focus heavily on long-term goals including its ambitious target to build one million new homes by 2020'

The popup bungalows have already been trialed by The Wrekin Housing Trust in Telford, Shropshire

'The Urban Bungalow gives local authorities a cost-effective and immediate solution to a problem that just isn't going to go away.

'It also helps bring back into use, smaller, derelict or unprofitable sites whilst transforming these neighbourhoods with minimum disruption.'

The popup bungalows have already been trialed by The Wrekin Housing Trust in Telford, Shropshire.

Wayne Gethings, managing director at The Wrekin Housing Trust, said: 'It is predicted that 27,500 homes will be needed across Shropshire before 2026. There is also high demand for bungalows as there will be 100,000 people over 65 in Shropshire by 2030, accounting for 30% of the population.

'My hope is that homes like this might be a way of addressing the need for more affordable housing in the immediate term.
First Lady Michelle Obama was in the giving spirit on Wednesday.

The stylish Mrs. Obama appeared at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, DC, where she helped hand out gifts donated by White House staff to military families.

Mrs. Obama arrived looking very relaxed in a blunt cut gray sweater.

First Lady Michelle Obama was in the giving spirit on Wednesday for the annual Toys for Tots gift drive

Obama took part in the event, which was made possible by donations from White House aides to benefit the children of US Marine Corps reservists

Obama came bearing gifts for children at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, DC

Here Obama is seen handing a young girl a Trolls toy. The First Lady went with a casual look for the event

Mrs. Obama appeared to be in good spirits on Wednesday, the last time that she will appear at a Toys for Tots event as first lady

Obama looks thrilled to be handing a Nike soccer ball to a lucky child

The event was made possible by the Joining Forces initiative, a nationwide project launched by Obama and Dr. Jill Biden in 2011

Joining Forces' goal is to 'rally around service members, veterans, and their families and support them through wellness, education, and employment opportunities'

The first lady was carrying a red gift sack full of presents to hand out to the children of Marine Corps reservists.

She was joined at the event by stars from Disney Channel shows Descendants 2, Sofia Carson and Cameron Boyce as well as Bizaardvark stars Madison Hu and Olivia Rodrigo.

Alex Aiono and Doc McStuffins of Radio Disney also made an appearance.

The event was made possible by the Joining Forces initiative, a nationwide project launched by Obama and Dr. Jill Biden in 2011.
Half of the country  50 percent  now view President-elect Donald Trump favorably, up 17 points from August, a new Bloomberg National Poll shows.

The survey also gives Trump a glimmer of good news as two-thirds of U.S. adults believe Trump needs to choose between being president and a businessman, though a higher percentage, 69 percent, believe it's a step too far to force him to sell off his businesses to become president of the United States.

Another 51 percent say they believe the billionaire will put what's best for the country ahead of his own individual interests.

Scroll down for video

Fifty percent of the country now holds a favorable view of President-elect Donald Trump, according to a new Bloomberg National Poll

Sixty-nine percent of respondents said that Donald Trump shouldn't have to sell off his businesses completely to become president of the United States

Americans are also giving the president-elect some wiggle room on issues, with three-quarters saying it's OK for him to re-calibrate some of his campaign pledges, including one to 'lock up' his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.

'The public seems to be giving him a long leash,' said pollster J. Ann Selzer, whose in charge of the survey. 'Most Americans don't seem concerned about him changing positions that were the core of his campaign.'

Respondents did say, however, they'd like to see Trump be less confrontational, with 79 percent saying they'd like to see the president-elect tone it down.

When looking at just those who voted for him, the number remains at 65 percent.

Fifty percent of those polled believe he'll be able to pull off the $1 trillion in infrastructure projects he promise, while 44 percent say no.

Flipping those numbers, 45 percent say he'll be able to make inner cities better, while 51 percent said no.

Even more people, 57 percent, don't think Trump will actually deport the millions of immigrants living in the United States of America.

And 65 percent said they don't expect him to build the Mexican border wall.

Looking at the broader Republican Party, Trump's White House win has given the GOP a boost.

Those riding Trump's coattails including House Speaker Paul Ryan, who jumped from 40 to 47 percent favorability since August. Vice President Mike Pence went from 43 percent to 48 percent.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's favorability sits at 47 percent, higher than that of Mitt Romney, whose at 42 percent.

Both are vying to become Trump's secretary of state.

The current Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, who will become Trump's White House chief off staff, isn't a familiar name yet to most Americans, with 32 percent viewing him positively, 28 percent viewing him negatively and 40 percent saying they're not sure.

While incoming Trump advisor Steve Bannon is not a well known name, he's viewed more negatively than positively, with 37 percent saying they don't like him, versus the 27 percent who view him favorably. Another 36 percent don't have an opinion on the ex-Brietbart chief.

The Republican Party as a whole is viewed slightly more favorably than Democrats  44 percent to 42 percent.

While the Democrats' number remained consistent since August, the Republicans' bounced up from 35 percent.




Ann Marie Anastasi (pictured), who was allegedly in a love triangle with her husband and their live-in mistress, has pleaded guilty to her role in their brutal slayings

A woman who was allegedly in a love triangle with her husband and their live-in mistress has pleaded guilty to her role in their brutal slayings.

Ann Marie Anastasi pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder during an appearance in the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court on Wednesday.

Anastasi, 43, entered Alford pleas to both murder counts - meaning she pleaded guilty because of evidence against her but without admitting any guilt.

The charges stem from an October 5, 2015, incident where police found 40-year-old Anthony Anastasi Jr. fatally shot and 25-year-old Jacqueline Riggs stabbed to death in the basement of the home they shared with Anastasi in Lothian, Maryland.

The 43-year-old initially told police her husband committed suicide, however a gun found next to his body did not match a shell casing at the scene.

Prosecutors say the three were in a relationship, but Riggs and Anthony Anastasi moved together into the basement.

Jacqueline Riggs, 25, (pictured) was living with Ann Anastasi's husband, Anthony, in the basement of their home

Ann and Anthony had been married for 18 years.

Gabriel Struss, 18, pleaded guilty to murder in June, after being accused of plotting with Anastasi to commit the murders

Investigators say Ann Anastasi plotted with a 13-year-old girl and the girl's boyfriend, 18-year-old Gabriel Struss, to kill Anthony Anastasi and Riggs.

Police discovered texts between all three suspects discussing a handgun.

There were also messages talking about transportation and how an individual would be concealed at the property.

Struss pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in June.

Friends of Riggs created a GoFundMe page to raise money for the 25-year-old's family.
Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier

Those who habitually put items in their recycling bins that don't belong there are the target of the ordinance amendment, not those who make an occasional, accidental mistake, said Public Works Director Jeff Demers.
The remains of 16-year-old David Grunwald were discovered in a remote location in Palmer, Alaska last Friday after he was reported missing almost a month ago

A missing Alaskan teenager was allegedly beaten, kidnapped and forced to walk into remote woods where he was shot dead execution style.

The horrific details of 16-year-old David Grunwald's death were revealed after his remains were discovered in a remote location in Palmer, Alaska last Friday.

Erick Almandinger, also 16, has since been charged with his murder and kidnapping but he has denied pulling the trigger that killed him.

Grunwald was reported missing by his father on November 13 after he failed to return home. He had told his girlfriend he was going to see Almandinger after he dropped her at her house.

The teenager's car, a 1994 Ford Bronco, was found burnt out a day after he was reported missing - about 20 miles away from his home, according to court documents seen by KTVA.

Police said an acquaintance told authorities Almandinger had confessed to killing the 16-year-old and that he needed advice.

Almandinger allegedly told police Grunwald had come to his house to drink and smoke in a trailer behind his home.

Erick Almandinger, 16, has been charged with Grunwald's murder and kidnapping but he has denied pulling the trigger that killed him

Grunwald's car, a 1994 Ford Bronco, was found burnt out a day after he was reported missing - about 20 miles away from his home

The horrific details of 16-year-old David Grunwald's death were revealed after his remains were discovered in a remote location in Palmer, Alaska last Friday

He said another teenager, who has only been identified as D.J., was also there and claims he asked Almandinger to bring a .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun to the trailer.

Almandinger told police D.J. bludgeoned Grunwald with the gun before they both put him in the back of his Bronco as he was drifting in and out of consciousness.

'Almandinger said he provided driving directions to D.J. towards the Butte,' the court documents said. 'Almandinger said that as they drove towards the Butte he knew they were going to kill (Grunwald).'

He said they forced Grunwald to walk into the woods where Almandinger claims D.J. shot him dead.

Almandinger admitted to torching the victim's vehicle to destroy evidence.

Almandinger admitted to torching the victim's vehicle to destroy evidence after he and an acquaintance allegedly drove Grunwald to a remote location to kill him

Police had interviewed Almandinger several times in the weeks after his friend's disappearance but he lied to authorities about details.

Authorities searched the trailer at the back of Almandinger's home on November 29 and investigators reported smelling bleach.

They allegedly found evidence of blood on the floor, walls and in the toilet.

D.J. told authorities where to find Grunwald's body last Friday, according to police.
A Sydney doctor has been found guilty of the gruesome murder of his wife after injecting her with a lethal dose of insulin.

Brian Kenneth Crickitt, 63, had denied murdering his wife Christine Crickitt, 58, on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day in 2010 at their Woodbine home in Sydney's southwest.

But at NSW Supreme Court on Thursday morning, Justice Clifton Hoeben - who heard the trial without a jury- found the GP guilty of murder by giving his wife a fatal dose of insulin in her left buttock.

Brian Kenneth Crickitt, 63, (pictured in November) has been found guilty of the gruesome murder of his wife after injecting her with a lethal dose of insulin

Christine Crickitt died on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day in 2010 at the Woodbine home in Sydney's southwest she shared with the GP

The Crown alleged the GP was motivated to murder his wife so he could claim her life insurance, their shared assets and have a future with his secret lover, Linda Livermore.

However, Crickitt's legal defence team disputed the prosecution claims, The Age reported.

After initially lying to police, saying he had driven around for a few hours early in New Year's Day after arguing with his wife, he admitted he had spent the rest of the night with Ms Livermore.

Crickitt had seen a diabetic patient on December 31 and carried out internet searches on insulin overdoses, the court heard.

The judge found Crickitt had used a prescription he wrote for the patient to improperly obtain fast-acting insulin from a local pharmacy.

An autopsy could not conclude the cause of death, but the judge found it was from an overdose of insulin.

The judge on Thursday revoked Crickitt's bail.

Julie Crickitt, the wife of Dr Brian Kenneth Crickitt, departs the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney on Thursday

It was alleged Crickitt was motivated to murder his wife so he could claim her life insurance, their shared assets and have a future with his secret lover, Linda Livermore (not pictured)
Lucy Richards, 57, was arrested for allegedly making death threats against a parent who lost a child in the Sandy Hook massacre

A Sandy Hook denier is behind bars after she allegedly sent death threats to a parent who had lost a child in the horrific 2012 massacre.

Lucy Richards, 57, believes the Sandy Hook school shooting that left 26 people dead, including 20 first-graders, in Newtown, Connecticut is a hoax, authorities said.

Richards, of Tampa, allegedly sent the parent messages that included 'you gonna die, death is coming to you real soon' and 'LOOK BEHIND YOU IT IS DEATH'.

Another of the January 2016 threats allegedly read, 'there's nothing you can do about it', according to court documents.

Richards was charged on Wednesday with four felony counts of transmitting threats. Each count carries a maximum term of five years in prison.

The unidentified parent now lives in South Florida. The threats were made in Palm Beach County, according to the indictment.

Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Schall wouldn't say how the threats were delivered or provide more details, but the indictment indicates all four were sent on the same day.

Richards was charged just a week before the four-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

There has long been a fringe conspiracy theory that the massacre was staged in order to pass gun control legislation.

Lenny and Veronique Ponzer, who lost their son Noah in the shooting, brought the pain of the Sandy Hook parents to light last year as they detailed the onslaught of harassment they had faced from Florida Atlantic University Professor James Tracy.

Noah Ponzer was the youngest child to be murdered on December 14, 2014, but Tracy continued to demand that his parents prove the little boy ever existed.

Richards, 57, believes the Sandy Hook school shooting that left 26 people dead, including 20 first-graders, in Newtown, Connecticut is a hoax, authorities said (file photo of memorial)

There has long been a fringe conspiracy theory that the massacre was staged in order to pass gun control legislation (file photos of distraught parents on the day of the massacre)

'The heartache of burying a child is a sorrow we would not wish upon anyone. Yet to our horror, we have found that there are some in this society who lack empathy for the suffering of others,' the Ponzers wrote in an op-ed for the Sun Sentinel.

'Among them are the conspiracy theorists that deny our tragedy was real. They seek us out and accuse us of being government agents who are faking our grief and lying about our loss.'

The Ponzers said Tracy was 'chief among the conspiracy theorists', using his own professional credentials 'in an attempt to lend credence to their allegations'.

'In fact, Tracy is among those who have personally sought to cause our family pain and anguish by publicly demonizing our attempts to keep cherished photos of our slain son from falling into the hands of conspiracy theorists,' they added.

Tracy was fired from FAU after the family's op-ed was published, but the Sandy Hook conspiracy theory has an even more public supporter.

Talk radio host Alex Jones, who was a vocal support of Trump during the president-elect's campaign, has frequently discussed the theory on his show.

Jones denied last month that he ever said the shooting was a hoax, only to add: 'I don't know what the truth is. All I know, the official story of Sandy Hook has more holes in it than Swiss cheese.'

The host has undoubtedly helped popularize the theory, and his friendship with the president-elect was enough to make one Sandy Hook victim's daughter speak out.

Last week Erica Lafferty, whose mother Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung was the school's principal, publicly called on Trump to denounce Jones.

Lafferty wrote in an op-ed for USA Today that Jones 'has been bolstered' by Trump, who has promised to appear on his show again.

Erica Lafferty, whose mother Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung was the school's principal, has publicly called on Trump to denounce Alex Jones, a prominent promoter of the theory

'Even after an election that exposed deep divisions in our country, surely we can all agree on this: The mass shooting at Sandy Hook happened,' she wrote.

'Twenty-six families, including mine, were torn apart and will never be the same. Any preposterous ideas to the contrary cannot be allowed to seep into our countrys mainstream discourse. They must be swiftly and publicly refuted.'

'Surely, the newly elected leader of the free world can see that.'

'Yet Donald Trump has promised to again appear on Jones program  to chat with a man who claims that one of the worst mass shootings in American history was a hoax.'

'President-Elect Trump has praised Alex Jones "amazing" reputation and promised he wont let him down.'

Lafferty then asked all Americans to join in telling Trump that 'Alex Jones represents the worst of our country'.

'Ive faced the cold, hard truth of the murder of my mother, and its time for Trump to face one of his own.'

'American presidents are held to higher standards than reality television stars, and our new president-elect must learn that.'
Holden has angered Australian customers by dropping the iconic 'ute' nickname for the American term 'truck'.

The car brand, owned by U.S. company General Motors, refers to its new utility vehicle model, the Colorado, as a truck in an ad on Australian TV, and in all its marketing material.

One particularly irate customer wrote to Holden demanding they 'fix their ads' and restore the 82-year-old Australian term.

Scroll down for video

Holden has angered its Australian customer base by dropping the iconic 'ute' name for the American term 'truck' in its new Colorado (pictured)

One particularly irate customer wrote to Holden demanding they 'fix their ads' and restore the 82-year-old Australian term

'It's a f**king ute, not a truck! This is Australia, not the U.S., get that seppo bulls**t out of this beaut country,' he wrote in an email shared online.

'Get your s**t together, fix your ads and never try something like this again, cheers.'

The email was titled 'Have we as a country, really fallen this far?'

The ad features Australians driving competing utes like the Toyota Hilux arriving at a 'truck swap', a word play on truck stops, to exchange them for the Colorado.

The ad features Australians driving competing utes like the Toyota Hilux arriving at a 'truck swap', a word play on truck stops, to exchange them for the Colorado

The Colorado is built in Thailand following Holden's decision to shut down all its Australian factories by the end of 2017 and move production offshore

The Colorado is built in Thailand following Holden's decision to shut down all its Australian factories by the end of 2017 and move production offshore.

Other users replied to the post with similar colourful language agreeing with the customer and condemning Holden's marketing choices.

'F**kin seppo bulls**t needs to die in the a**e,' one said, using a slang term for Americans derived from 'septic tank', which rhymes with Yank.

'Tru blue c**t, next thing they'll put us all in Volvos,' another wrote.

When launching a the new Colorado, Holden admitted it was deliberately dropping the term to 'reposition' the vehicle, saying there was 'no better truck on the market'.

The single cab version of the Colorado featuring the iconic metal tray

The crew cab version with a built-in tray

'It seems fairly straightforward to us. A ute is a body style. As in the same way a wagon is a body style. So whether we call the Commodore [wagon] a Sportwagon or an ultra wagon, thats the name of the vehicle as opposed to the body style,' spokesman Sean Poppitt said.

'GM has enormous pedigree in pick-up trucks and you only have to look at the success and the quality and what theyre doing with their trucks in the US, and thats certainly something we want to leverage.'

Marketing manager Ben Lasry said customers would think of it as a truck, before ominously implying the term might disappear from all its vehicles.

'A typical customer will say "Ive got a Colorado truck" versus "Ive got a Commodore ute or an SS ute. Theyll distinguish that body style and then call this a truck,' he said.

When launching a the new Colorado, Holden admitted it was deliberately dropping the term to 'reposition' the vehicle, saying there was 'no better truck on the market'

The three different models of the new Colorado

'And a ute still seems, to a degree, to hold a place as a traditional Australian ute, at least while weve got them in the market.

'The days of a car-based ute are well and truly gone, to be honest.'

Holden still has a model of Commodore marketed as the 'Holden Ute', but it is due to be retired at the end of next year when the company closes its Australian factories.

Customers were also unhappy with the newly-unveiled 2018 model Commodore, saying it looked like the Japanese-made Mazda and was stripped of its 'Aussie identity'.

Customers were also unhappy with the newly-unveiled 2018 model Commodore (pictured), saying it looked like the Japanese-made Mazda and was stripped of its 'Aussie identity'

'Just one of the others, it doesn't even have "Aussie Pride" to sell it. [It's] a big slab of meh that does nothing to get people excited about it,' one wrote.

'Do not like. Been completely stripped of its Aussie identity. Just another run of the mill import. Sad,' another wrote.
Boris Johnson will not say sorry for criticising Saudi Arabia despite getting an an angry dressing down from Theresa May.

The Foreign Secretary made another diplomatic blunder by breaking with the protocol of not attacking the UK's key allies.

Speaking at a conference in Rome, Mr Johnson accused Saudi Arabia of being a 'puppeteer' and said powers in the region were 'twisting' Islam.

But No10 effectively cut the Foreign Secretary off at the knees today by disowning his remarks.

The PM's spokesman also hinted that Mr Johnson may have to apologise when he visits the country this weekend. But it is understood he has no intention of doing so.

Mr Johnson told a conference in Rome last week that Saudi Arabia was pulling the strings in the 'proxy wars' in the Middle East

It is the latest in a series of humiliations for Mr Johnson, who has found himself rebuked over issues from removing foreign students from immigration figures to calling for an amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Addressing the conference last week, Mr Johnson said: 'There are politicians who are twisting and abusing religion and different strains of the same religion in order to further their own political objectives. That's one of the biggest political problems in the whole region.

'And the tragedy for me  and that's why you have these proxy wars being fought the whole time in that area  is that there is not strong enough leadership in the countries themselves.'

In the comments, which have only just emerged, he added: 'That's why you've got the Saudis, Iran, everybody, moving in, and puppeteering and playing proxy wars.'

Mr Johnson also said: 'There are not enough big characters, big people, men or women, who are willing to reach out beyond their Sunni or Shia or whatever group to the other side and bring people together and to develop a national story again. That is what's lacking. And that's the tragedy.'

Aides to the Foreign Secretary insisted he had been referring to Syria and Iran with the comments on 'twisting' Islam.

The Prime Minister's spokeswoman said Mr Johnson was speaking in a personal capacity and not representing the Government's position.

'Those are the Foreign Secretary's views, they're not the Government's position on, for example, Saudi and its role in the region,' she said this morning.

His remarks are at odds with Theresa May's praise for the Saudi royal family's visionary leadership under King Salman, pictured

The PM's spokesman hinted that Mr Johnson may have to apologise when he visits Saudi this weekend - but it is understood he has no intention of doing so

Asked if Mrs May expected Mr Johnson to apologise to the Saudis, the spokeswoman said: He will be in the region this weekend, hell have meetings with senior representatives in Saudi Arabia on Sunday and he will have the opportunity there to set out the Governments position.

The No10 spokeswoman added: 'The Prime Minister has been in the region this week, she met with the King of Saudi Arabia and had the opportunity to set out very clearly the Government's view on our relationship with Saudi Arabia, which is that it's a vital partner for the UK, particularly on counter terrorism.

'We want to strengthen that relationship and when you look at what is happening in the region, we are supportive of the Saudi-led coalition that is working in support of the legitimate government in Yemen against Houthi rebels.'

Mr Johnson's remarks were in stark contrast to Theresa May's praise for the Kingdom in an interview for TV channel Al Arabiya

The spokeswoman said the PM still had full confidence in the Foreign Secretary.

It is understood Mr Johnson feels there is 'no need' for an apology as he was merely repeating points that have been made directly to the Saudis.

Mr Johnson's remarks are in stark contrast to Theresa May's praise for the Saudi royal family's visionary leadership.

She stressed Britain's long standing friendship with the Kingdom during her visit to the Gulf this week.

In an interview with TV channel Al Arabiya, Mrs May said: 'There is information provided by Saudi Arabia that has saved Britain from terrorist operations, and there are opportunities we must use with our friends in the Gulf GCC security is also UK security.'

She added: 'It's important that we build on the relationships we have with the Gulf states. I think that is - can be done in a number of areas.

'Yes, on security, but also on the prosperity agenda, on looking at the trade relationships that we can build on. We already see significant exports from the UK into the Gulf states, and significant investment from the Gulf states in the UK. I want to take that further.'

SO WHAT IS THE ROW ALL ABOUT? Boris Johnsons comments about Saudi Arabia fighting proxy wars in the Middle East could hardly have been more diplomatically controversial. This is the background to the row. The main conflict the Foreign Secretary was referring to is the war in Yemen, where the Saudis back the opposing side to their regional rival, Iran.

The Yemeni civil war began in 2015 and has so far resulted in 10,000 deaths.

In this war, Saudi Arabia supports the UN-recognised government of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, while the Houthi rebels who have overthrown President Hadi are backed by Iran.

The Houthi rebels adhere to a branch of Shia Islam. Iran, their backer, is 95 per cent Shia. President Hadis government represents Sunni Islam  the same as the Saudi royal family.

At its most simple, the Yemen war can be seen as a conflict between Sunni and Shia branches of Islam.

Saudi Arabia leads a coalition of 11 Arab states in the war, with air superiority due to arms bought from the US and Britain.

Mr Johnsons comments were unusual because the Foreign Office would not normally voice criticism of a foreign power like this in such a complex situation.

Public slurs against the Saudis could risk damaging British trade deals.

6,000 UK firms export 7bn in goods and services annually to the kingdom.

It is the UKs biggest arms market, with 4bn in sales in the past five years. Advertisement

Ministers have refused to stop controversial arms sales to Saudi despite campaigners warning that the war in Yemen, where it is trying to defeat an Iranian-backed rebellion, is leading to deaths and famine.

Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman Tom Brake said: 'Boris Johnson has now been slapped down almost as many times as Baldrick in Blackadder.

'Hes right to criticise Saudi Arabia's record, but will be deservedly branded a hypocrite if he now toes the government line this weekend.
Lib Dem leader Tim Farron uncovered the statistics that two thirds of fines issued to firms hiring illegal immigrants have gone unpaid

Two thirds of fines issued to firms for hiring illegal immigrants go unpaid, official figures reveal.

Since 2009 the Home Office has written off, cancelled, reduced or simply failed to collect more than 120million in penalties.

The new statistics  which were revealed in Parliament  sparked outrage on Wednesday night.

The Home Office said an increase in penalties issued last year showed it was 'working hard to tackle illegal working'.

But critics said if fines weren't collected they wouldn't act as a deterrent to firms hiring illegal migrants.

Lib Dem leader Tim Farron, who uncovered the statistics, told the Mail: 'This is the irresponsible face of capitalism and businesses who do things like this give every other business a bad name.

'But the government should not be failing like this. They are at fault.

'They are not doing their job and collecting the penalties that we are all owed.

'Obviously fines change on appeal but the agencies are not up to the task and it's ministers fault. The blame lies firmly their door, they need to get a grip.'

The statistics showed that since 2009 a total of 179.1 million worth of fines have been issued by immigration officials.

Since 2009 the Home Office has written off, cancelled, reduced or simply failed to collect more than 120million in penalties

But in the same period only 57.4 million were actually paid. That means two thirds of the total  or 121.7million  have not been paid.

Ministers pointed out that the penalties can be reduced or written off for a series of reasons especially if firms cooperate with Home Office investigations or pay promptly.

They can be 'reduced, cancelled, increased or reissued at the objection or appeal stage', immigration minister Robert Goodwill said.

Firms are required to keep copies of passports or visa documents showing their staff have the right to work in the UK.

If they are found to be hiring undocumented migrants, or cannot produce the documents following a raid by the immigration authorities, they face being fined.

Last year, 46.2m of penalties were initially issued to firms for employing illegal immigrants, whereas only 12.5m was collected.

Figures for the current financial year to September show 24m in fines have been imposed, with 8.5m collected.

The lowest level of fines came in 2012/13, when 10.8m in initial penalties were imposed and 6.3m taken in payment.

Overall, there were 15,115 penalties issued from financial year 2009/10 to September 2016 for firms employing illegal immigrants.

It is understood that the spike in the number of penalties last year, when 2,594 fines were issued, followed a major government crackdown.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson reportedly renewed his call for illegal immigrants who have escaped detection for 10 years to be granted the right to stay in the UK following Brexit

Ministers have introduced measures such as working with insolvency companies to disbar directors who employ undocumented migrants in a bid to deal with the problem. The 2016 Immigration Bill also grants powers to close down businesses who are found to be hiring illegal immigrants.

In November Boris Johnson reportedly renewed his call for illegal immigrants who have escaped detection for 10 years to be granted the right to stay in the UK following Brexit.

The Foreign Secretary suggested to ministers that allowing those who entered Britain illegally the right to stay could generate funds for the treasury as tax income would rise.

A Home Office spokesman said: 'Illegal working cheats the taxpayer, undercuts honest employers and denies legitimate job seekers employment opportunities.

'The increase in the number of penalties issued to employers in 15/16 shows we are working hard to tackle illegal working across the country, and those who abuse the UK's immigration system.

'We robustly pursue debts owed by employers of illegal immigrants, and last year collected more than 12 million.
But the man's lawyer has accused the victim of making up stories out of jealousy

One victim claims he forced her to kiss his penis and

The man, who cannot be named, allegedly assaulted them during acting classes

New Zealand actor is accused of sexually violating four women

A prominent New Zealand actor is accused of sexually violating four young models and encouraging one of them to kiss his penis during secretive acting classes.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, allegedly sexually assaulted the women between 2010 and 2013 while they were students in his one-on-one acting classes in an Auckland modelling agency.

The man's lawyer has accused one of the alleged victims of making up stories about his client because their relationship fell apart, according to Stuff NZ.

A prominent New Zealand actor is accused of sexually violating four young models during secretive acting classes

One of the alleged victims claims the actor coerced her into kissing his penis and forcibly pulled off her pants to put his mouth on her genitals, the Auckland District Court heard.

Lawyer Ron Mansfield asked why the woman reported his client's alleged sexual offending after the pair parted ways.

'You're not an eight-year-old child. You were a 21-year-old in her third or fourth year of university.'

He accused her of laying the allegations against him as revenge for learning he was romantically involved with other students.

'You knew the difference between what was appropriate and was not appropriate both morally and legally.'

But the woman told the court she had been manipulated into a false sense of security and that he strategically masked the assaults as part of the lessons.

One of the alleged victims claims the actor coerced her into kissing his penis and forcibly pulled off her pants to put his mouth on her genitals

But the man's lawyer accused the victim in the Auckland District Court of making up stories about him out of jealousy

'[The assaults] started small and it built [up], and I was told that it was all part of my acting progressions, and I believed him,' she said.

The actor, who had been granted an interim name suppression order, denied fondling the woman's genitals and said the contact was part of the acting classes.
Theresa May has blasted the robotic nature of the Whitehall machine and criticised civil servants for trying to second-guess her.

She said there was a tendency in the system to try to interpret what they think you want, and to deliver that.

Instead, it should be civil servants duty, she said, to speak their mind. Mrs May added: From the officials point of view, what they owe to the minister, and what the minister expects, is the best possible advice.

'Dont try to tell me what you think I want to hear. I want your advice, I want the options. Then politicians make the decisions.

Laying bare the frustrations of her first months in No 10, the Prime Minister also delivered a stinging rebuke to the civil service over its attitude to helping hard-working families.

Theresa May last night delivered a stinging rebuke to the civil service over its attitude to helping hard-working families

Mrs May has told senior officials in the Treasury and other departments to make families who are just about managing a priority.

To her irritation, the civil service nicknamed this group  earning between 18,000 and 21,000  the Jams.

Mrs May told the Spectator magazine: Honestly, I get a bit frustrated when the system wants to box everything in and produce an acronym that they can use. Im talking about ordinary working people, for whom life is a bit of a struggle.

They may be holding down two or three jobs in order to make ends meet. In a job, but worried about job security. Owning a home, but worried about paying the mortgage ... you cant just box them into a simple descriptor category.

Dont try to tell me what you think I want to hear. I want your advice, I want the options. Then politicians make the decisions.

I get frustrated when Whitehall tries to do that.

In what could be seen as a dig at her predecessor, David Cameron, Mrs May vowed never to neglect the Tory grassroots. She said: Im only Prime Minister because Im an MP, and Im only an MP because the electorate in Maidenhead elect me.

The Prime Minister also confirmed she had done away with the practice from the Cameron years of having the Chancellor attend the key 8.30am meeting in No 10.

In the same Christmas edition of the magazine, ex-chancellor and passionate Remainer George Osborne said he had reached a truce with colleagues who voted to quit the EU. Pictured: delivering his Budget statement to the House of Commons

She said: I think one of the important differences [from Camerons time] is that the morning meetings are not about policy development but are about what Im doing during the day. We do policy development in the cabinet sub-committees. So I have reinstated what might be described as a more traditional way of doing government.

GEORGE OSBORNE: I'VE REACHED A TRUCE WITH BREXIT COLLEAGUES Passionate Remainer George Osborne has said he has reached a 'truce' with colleagues who voted to quit the EU. In the Spectator's Christmas edition he wrote of his friend Michael Gove  although there was no mention of fellow Brexiteer Boris Johnson. The MP, who also confirmed he was writing his first book, said: Ive decided that theres no point bearing grudges about the referendum campaign and its aftermath. Life is too short. Mr Osborne revealed he had bet another Tory MP, Simon Burns, 50 that Mr Trump would win the US election. He said: I saw too many similarities with the Brexit campaign. The ex-Chancellor also said the one thing he would not miss about Government was Christmas card season. '2,056 Christmas cards to be exact,' Mr Osborne wrote. 'That was the number I had to sign every year. The recipients included 87 FTSE chief executives, 209 foreign dignitaries, six EU commissioners and one shadow chancellor. 'They all added up, and it involved several days of signing, and sore wrists.' Advertisement

Mrs May also made a pointed reference to the fact she is against protectionist trade policies  which US president-elect Donald Trump has been seen as wanting to implement.

She said: I want the UK to be the global leader in free trade.

Mrs May added that she would be attending the World Economic Forum next year to make this point, saying: I think there genuinely is a real opportunity for us. We should be around the world, promoting that message of free trade. Seeing what we can do outside [the EU].

In the same Christmas edition of the magazine, ex-chancellor and passionate Remainer George Osborne said he had reached a truce with colleagues who voted to quit the EU.

He wrote of his friend Michael Gove  although there was no mention of fellow Brexiteer Boris Johnson.

The MP, who also confirmed he was writing his first book, said: Ive decided that theres no point bearing grudges about the referendum campaign and its aftermath. Life is too short.

Mr Osborne revealed he had bet another Tory MP, Simon Burns, 50 that Mr Trump would win the US election. He said: I saw too many similarities with the Brexit campaign.

The ex-Chancellor also said the one thing he would not miss about Government was Christmas card season.

'2,056 Christmas cards to be exact,' Mr Osborne wrote. 'That was the number I had to sign every year. The recipients included 87 FTSE chief executives, 209 foreign dignitaries, six EU commissioners and one shadow chancellor.
Officials reviewing Sgt Alexander Blackman's murder conviction have upgraded his case to a 'top priority' to define what constitutes a war crime

Jailed Royal Marine Alexander Blackman is to be a legal test case that could spare UK soldiers who face Iraq war crimes allegations.

Officials reviewing his murder conviction upgraded his case to a top priority so troops know 'what constitutes a war crime and what does not'.

The outcome was deemed 'potentially landmark' as it could give 'clarity' on charges faced by other soldiers being investigated by the Iraq Historic Allegations Team.

Iraq war veterans are the subject of 1,686 abuse claims being pursued by ambulance-chasing lawyers.

Sgt Blackman, known as 'Marine A' at his court martial, was jailed for life in 2013 for shooting a dying Taliban insurgent in Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, he won a momentous step towards freedom  following a Daily Mail campaign for justice  when he was granted the right to a fresh appeal.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission said there was 'a real possibility' the murder conviction would be quashed on the basis of fresh psychiatric evidence that the 42-year-old was suffering combat stress disorder when he pulled the trigger in 2011.

Now it can be revealed the commission concluded almost a year ago that the case had wider implications for hundreds of British soldiers being investigated by Ihat.

The CCRC's Sally Berlin told the Marine's lawyers in a letter dated January 8: 'As a relatively recent 'war crimes' conviction, arising from an incident in a relatively recent conflict, the safety of this conviction and outcome of the case has a potential to be 'landmark'.

'The investigations currently being carried out by Ihat may lead to UK soldiers who fought in the Iraq war being prosecuted for war crimes. It is important this case be resolved as early as reasonably possible as it has potential to impact on decisions in that context.'

Another reason, she said, was that British servicemen and women were currently involved in active operations.

'It is important that those personnel are clear as to what constitutes a war crime and what does not,' she wrote. 'The outcome of this case, whatever that will be, will assist with that clarity.'

Yesterday lawyer Hilary Meredith, who represents soldiers under investigation by Ihat, said: 'Direction should have come from the Ministry of Defence before we set a foot in Iraq, on what does or does not constitute a war crime.

'If it was found that there was a lack of direction from the MoD, then Blackman and many others cannot be to blame  and these prosecutions would be dropped.'

Miss Meredith's firm  backed by 200 British troops  has threatened to take the MoD to court for 'hanging soldiers out to dry'.

She added: 'What is and isn't a war crime has to come from the MoD  The MoD has failed these men and women including Sergeant Blackman and should hang their heads in shame.'

Sgt Blackman, pictured marrying wife Claire, was jailed for life in 2013 for shooting a dying Taliban insurgent in Afghanistan

Colonel Richard Kemp, who commanded UK forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, added: 'There is no question in my mind that the Blackman case will highlight, and maybe set a precedent, that when investigating the actions of a soldier on the battlefield, the psychological stresses on him must always be taken into account.

'And not simply used as a defence  but indicate that he shouldn't necessarily be prosecuted in the first place.'

Three eminent psychiatrists have agreed Sgt Blackman was suffering combat stress disorder when he shot the Taliban, following months of gruelling battles.

It came as lawyer Phil Shiner who has spent more than a decade hounding soldiers  will today face a disciplinary tribunal over claims he drummed up cases against troops.
Manufacturers will no longer be allowed to use Disney films, cartoon mascots such as Tony the Tiger (pictured), and stars of sport and music to advertise unhealthy products

Junk food giants will be banned from advertising to under-16s, to help tackle childhood obesity.

It means manufacturers will not be allowed to use Disney films, cartoon mascots such as Tony the Tiger, and stars of sport and music to advertise unhealthy products.

Existing controls on TV adverts for foods high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) are to be extended to cover websites, games, apps, social media and magazines.

The rules, which cover products including sugary drinks, burgers, cereal and sweets, will also stop the adverts on posters near schools.

Companies cannot be stopped from using popular characters on packs and boxes, but they will be banned from using these images in advertising and marketing.

For example, Kelloggs could not show a pack of Frosties with Tony the Tiger on the front in any form of marketing aimed at children.

Films such as Frozen, Star Wars and the Marvel superhero movies, could not be used to promote junk food under the measures.

And McDonalds would be barred from using the Ronald McDonald clown to sell burgers. Similarly, website promotions for the chains Happy Meals featuring childrens characters would be outlawed.

Several cartoon characters are facing the axe including Coco the Monkey, Ronald McDonald and the Minions

But such mascots can be used to promote healthy food alternatives.

The rules, published today by the Committee on Advertising Practice (Cap), will come into effect next summer. Cap chairman James Best said: Too many children in the UK are growing up overweight or even obese  These restrictions will significantly reduce the number of ads for high, fat, salt or sugar products seen by children.

More than a fifth  22.6 per cent  of four and five-year-olds are overweight or obese. This rises to 33.5 per cent for those aged 10-11 and 35.1 per cent of those aged 11-15.

More than a fifth  22.6 per cent  of four and five-year-olds are overweight or obese. This rises to 33.5 per cent for those aged 10-11 and 35.1 per cent of those aged 11-15

Cap said the extension of the controls to non-broadcast media reflects the fact that many children now spend hours online, rather than watching TV.

Malcolm Clark of the Childrens Food Campaign said: They have finally listened to the voices of parents and health professionals, after years of resisting calls for stronger rules to reduce childrens exposure to junk food marketing online.

But he added that parents will be disappointed that the restrictions do not extend to packaging.

The Obesity Health Alliance  more than 30 charities, Royal Medical Colleges and campaign groups  said: Children aged 5-15 spend up to 15 hours a week online  Research shows advertising greatly influences the food children choose to eat  we need to protect them from relentless junk food marketing in all walks of life.

Sarah Toule of the World Cancer Research Fund said shielding children from junk food advertising would have the effect of reducing their risk of developing a number of health conditions.

THE NEW CAP RULES STATE:  Adverts promoting HFSS products cannot appear in childrens media or media where they are over 25 per cent of the audience;  Marketing for HFSS food will not be allowed to use promotions, licensed characters and celebrities popular with children. Advertisement

The Food & Drink Federation, which speaks for manufacturers, backed the rules. Director general Ian Wright added: As young people move away from traditional media towards new and social media, we feel its important that ad rules keep up with this change.

But the Advertising Associations Stephen Woodford said: We also know the effects of advertising are relatively small, so  lets now grab the opportunity to put our collective energy into tackling the big drivers of obesity.
Alexander Blackmans ex-commanding officer spoke for the first time yesterday of the acute stress the sergeant was under when he killed a Taliban fighter.

Colonel Oliver Lee said the court martial that condemned the Royal Marine to a life sentence for murder was not balanced, and demanded he be treated justly at a new hearing.

Last year the Mail revealed how Col Lee, the youngest Royal Marine to hold the rank of colonel since the Second World War, had resigned his commission in disgust at the way Sgt Blackman was treated.

He became the sergeants commanding officer just days before the 2011 shooting of the Taliban insurgent in Afghanistan.

Col Oliver Lee, pictured, has called for jailed Royal Marine Alexander Blackman to be given a 'fair' appeal and said the soldier was under 'acute stress' when he killed a dying Taliban insurgent in Afghanistan

Col Lee had offered to give mitigating evidence in support of the commando at his trial, but was blocked from doing so by top brass.

He quit the military in response, privately branding it a failure of moral courage by the chain of command, but did not speak publicly about his decision until yesterday.

I took a view that the proceedings against Sgt Blackman hadnt been balanced and that in order for him to be dealt with justly  I dont seek to condone his behaviour or exonerate him from his responsibilities  but in order for him to be dealt with justly, not leniently, a much more balanced and full picture  needed to be presented to those who were making fundamental decisions surrounding his future, Col Lee told BBC Radio 4s Today.

I think the stresses to which he was subjected at the time were very acute indeed and I think those things should have been considered very carefully.

The ex-officer added: What should happen to him now  and its why Im extremely pleased about the outcome of yesterdays CCRC announcement  is that his case is considered in the round, in the broadest sense, such that he is dealt with in a fair manner.

Had he not been prevented from doing so, Col Lee would have told Sgt Blackmans court martial about Operation Herrick 14 in Helmand.

Sgt Blackmans troop had been left at breaking point manning a remote outpost during the six-month tour in which seven Marines were killed and some 45 maimed.

The isolated commandos were supposed to pursue Downing Streets hearts and minds strategy  but were shot at every time they left their compound.

The Taliban taunted them by displaying body parts of their comrades in a tree.

Col Lee (left) resigned his commission after being blocked from giving mitigating evidence in Sgt Blackman's (right) murder trial

Col Lee told the Mail: This episode has been tragic for an organisation so special and distinguished. I have always felt it imperative that he be dealt with justly.

I do not believe that the proceedings against him to date have allowed him to be dealt with justly, as they have not considered a series of highly material factors that are well known to influence conduct on the battlefield.

'It is for this reason that I decided with great sadness to leave the Royal Marines.

Col Lee and Regimental Sergeant Major Steph Moran have both expressed support for Sgt Blackmans appeal, having been barred from giving crucial evidence to his trial  a scandal which the MoD later tried to cover up.

Yesterday ex-soldier Richard Drax MP, who has visited Sgt Blackman in jail, said: I think Al was under huge pressure.
A sign welcoming students, parents and friends to a school in Melbourne contained a rather embarrassing spelling error.

The message appeared outside the entrance to Resevoir High School in Melbourne under the school's motto 'Diversity. Excellence. Success'.

A passerby took the photo and sent it into radio station 3AW after noticing it on Thursday.

A sign welcoming students, parents and friends to a school in Victoria (pictured) was found to include a glaring grammatical error

The sign read: 'Welcome to our new family's' when it should have read 'Welcome to our new families'.

The school, which is about 30 minutes north of the city centre, is a co-educational secondary school for students in years seven to 12.
The deadly red fire ant is expected to be the most destructive pest ever introduced into Australia, making picnics, playgrounds and barbecues too dangerous.

The introduced species, originally from South America, has been plaguing south-east Queensland and must be stopped from marching across the country, a report obtained by ABC found.

But there is 'only a small window of opportunity left' to eradicate the red fire ant, an independent review of the National Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication Program said.

The deadly red fire ant (pictured) is expected to be the most destructive pest ever introduced into Australia

The red fire ant can consume small livestock like lambs and chickens (skeletal remains pictured)

Invasive Species Council chief executive Andrew Cox said the impacts of the pest would be worse than all other feral animals combined.

'The impacts of red fire ants if allowed to spread will exceed the combined impacts of all of our current feral animals. The cane toads, the feral cats, the wild dogs, the camels  so the impacts are enormous,' Mr Cox told ABC.

'We won't be able to walk around on our grassy lawns with longs.

'We won't be able to have picnics. Our playgrounds won't be able to be used without baiting.'

The red fire ants would be the worst pest ever introduced to Australia if allowed to spread (bites pictured)

Red fire ant mounds are pictured across a paddock

South of Brisbane, the Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale said the city had been forced to close a park.

The Federal Government is being urged to double its investment and spend $380 million over the next 10 years to wipe out the ant.

Otherwise, the infestation would end up costing the country $1.6 billion, and impact at least 20 sectors.

If they are not eradicated, the ants could cause up to 3,000 anaphylactic reactions each year in Australia.

Odour detection dogs can find nests undetectable to the human eye

A mound is pictured at a footpath. An independent review has recommended the government spend $380 million over the next decade to eradicate the ant

Analphylactic shocks are serious allergic reactions which can cause death.

Red fire ants are also destructive to agriculture, with super colonies that can consume lambs and chickens.

Agriculture ministers from across the country are expected to discuss the infestation early next year.

Barnaby Joyce said they will consider a future eradication program in a statement to ABC.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Agriculture Department for comment.
Over 60 Democratic members of Congress are urging President Barack Obama on Wednesday to declare a blanket pardon of hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who signed up for his deferred action initiative that allowed them to stay in the United States.

In a letter signed by the Democratic lawmakers, Obama is being pressured to shield the so-called DREAMers  the children of parents who entered the country illegally at a young age and who have enrolled in American schools  from the threat of deportation that immigrant advocates fear could materialize in a Donald Trump administration, Yahoo! News reported.

'You have pardoned hundreds and hundreds of people convicted for drug offenses,' Luis Gutierrez, a Democratic congressman representing Illinois, told reporters in Washington on Wednesday.

Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez (left) is one of 60 Democrats to sign a letter urging President Barack Obama (right) to shield 750,000 undocumented migrants from deportation

'We want you to use that same pardon power for hundreds of thousands of young people who came forward because you asked them to come forward. You asked them to come forward.'

'With that comes responsibility, Mr. President,' the Illinois congressman said.

Despite the latter, the White House told the Democrats that the president's clemency power 'could not give legal status to any undocumented individual.' That is something that only Congress has the authority to do.

Gutierrez is referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which was introduced by Obama in June 2012.

The initiative, which Obama signed into law by way of executive action, grants undocumented immigrants who entered the country as minors a renewable two-year period of protection from deportation as well as legal authorization to work on condition that they meet 'good citizenship' requirements and are enrolled in school.

During his presidential campaign, Trump vowed to do away with DACA as well as other Obama initiatives that were signed into law 'illegally' by way of executive action.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (left) met with President-elect Donald Trump (right) on Wednesday, urging him to allow children of illegal immigrants to remain in the US

Thus far, at least 740,000 applications for entry into the DACA program have been approved, with over half of those living in California and Texas.

Despite his anti-immigrant rhetoric during the campaign, Trump appears to be showing signs of softening his stance.

Trump said in a Time Magazine cover story that came out today that his administration would 'work something out' for the DREAMers.

'I want Dreamers for our children also. We're going to work something out. On a humanitarian basis it's a very tough situation,' he said.

'We're going to work something out that's going to make people happy and proud. But that's a very tough situation.'

Mayors from the largest US cities warned Trump on Wednesday of the potential economic harm he might cause if he wipes out DACA.

They warned in a letter that as much as $9.9billion in tax revenue would be lost over four years and $433.4billion in US gross domestic product would be wiped out over 10 years if he cancels the policy.

The mayors asked for the program to allow for initial applications and renewals to continue until 'Congress modernizes our immigration system and provides a more permanent form of relief for these individuals.'

'This program helps foster economic growth and enhances public safety and national security,' said the letter, written by the Democratic Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, and signed by mayors of other major US cities including New York, Los Angeles, and Houston.

'We are clear as mayors that these are dreamers who are seeking the American Dream, and we should embrace them rather than do a bait-and-switch,' Emanuel said after presenting Trump the letter at a meeting in New York.

DACA is part of the broader immigration issue of municipalities that offer themselves up as 'sanctuary cities,' where local law enforcement refuse to report to federal authorities undocumented immigrants they encounter.

Trump has threatened to cut off federal funding for those municipalities. While he would have the authority to cut some kinds of funding, mayors of those cities have said they will not be pressured to report migrants to federal agents.

Santa Ana city council voted on Tuesday to declare their community in Southern California of 325,000 people, half of whom are foreign born and 80 percent of Hispanic descent, a sanctuary city.
A man who bashed his seven-month-old nephew so badly he left the boy a quadriplegic with lasting brain damage has been sent to prison for eight and a half years.

Andrew Nolan earlier this year pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm to Bobby Webber, whose parents were on their honeymoon when he was beaten in September 2014.

The little boy's mother cried as District Court Judge Philip Ingram detailed the injuries inflicted on her son, including broken ribs, skull fractures, a bite mark and forehead injuries.

The infant's parents were left devastated following the sentencing claiming 'there was no justice served' as the man who gave 'no viable reason' as to why he hurt their son shouted profanities at them.

'Hes claiming to be remorseful but on the way down the stairs he decided to yell out profanities and tell us that hell see us in 12 years,' the boy's mother said.

Scroll down for video

Little Bobby Webber was just seven months old when his non-biological uncle severely beat him up on the New South Wales Central Coast

Andrew Nolan has been sentenced to minimum eight -and-a-half years in jail for torturing and leaving Bobby Webber to die

A man in the Sydney courtroom's public gallery called Nolan a 'f***ing dog', as the 34-year-old criminal was led away on Thursday.

Delivering the sentence via an audio visual link, Judge Ingram said the 'offence involved a grave breach of trust of the victim, who was especially vulnerable due to his tender age'.

The judge said Nolan, the boy's non-biological uncle, had given numerous accounts of what happened on the night the boy was bashed in September 2014 at his family's home on the New South Wales Central Coast, north of Sydney.

Bobby's injuries were consistent with severe shaking, motor vehicle accidents or falls from a great height.

Bobby Webber, now aged two, needs a walking frame after a bashing he suffered as a seven-month old baby left him with a quadriplegic needing constant care

Bobby Webber opens his eyes in hospital as he is treated for severe brain injuries

Nolan had claimed an intruder must have entered the house as he slept on the couch but later admitted to putting his foot on the child's back with force and rubbing him along the ground.

He also said he hit the child twice with an open hand and threw him into his cot.

But Judge Ingram did not accept the account, given that it was not sworn on oath and did not account for the infant's fractured ankles.

A doctor said it was more like the baby's head injuries were caused by punches and his parents Elise and Barry were told blood in his lungs was consistent with shaking.

Bobby's parents Barry and Elise (pictured) made the heartbreaking decision to switch off their son's life support but he managed to keep breathing

Mother Elise, who is now Bobby's full-time carer, held a bedside christening for her son

Parents Barry and Elise (pictured) made the unenviable decision to farewell Bobby and turn off his life support several days after the attack

Bobby was taken off life support but managed to continue breathing independently, despite his four-hour bashing which left him a quadriplegic with cerebral palsy.

The court heard Nolan denied hurting the child in a walk-through with police in the days after the bashing.

'Whoever did this, I hope you find them before I do,' the court heard he said to officers.

'What has happened here is disgraceful.'

Now aged two, Bobby Webber needs constant care for his acquired brain injuries

Bobby's family have moved to western Sydney to be closed to Nepean Hospital at Penrith

Nolan was left alone with the child as his partner, who is Bobby's maternal aunt, went to a drive-in movie.

Bobby's two older sisters Gabrielle, 11, Olivia, six, were at the movies with their aunt Casey when the abuse occurred.

A month after Bobby was horribly assaulted, Nolan - who was engaged to Mrs Webber's sister and had been a family friend for 12 years - was arrested and charged with grievous bodily harm with intent.

Bobby's family had to move to western Sydney to be close to Nepean Hospital at Penrith and his mother is now Bobby's full-time carer.

They have never been given a reason for the assault on their son.

Friends set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money to help them with continuing therapy equipment, medication and medical costs.

The boy's parents do not believe justice was served following the sentencing as Nolan is sentenced to the minimum eight-and-a-half years
More than 330 animals, including snakes, rats, birds, pigs and mice have been seized from a New York home.

Dozens of creatures were found dead when officials from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Niagara raided the home in Wilson on Tuesday.

At least 100 snakes, 200 rats and mice, 40 to 50 birds, 15 cats, and two miniature pigs were taken from the home, according to SPCA Executive Director Amy Lewis.

The property owners have been identified as Thomas and Robyn Dawe. Their daughter Maria Dawe, 21, was operating an exotic animal business in the home.

WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES

More than 330 animals, including snakes, rats, birds, pigs and mice (pictured at the SPCA in Niagara) have been seized from a home in Wilson, New York

At least 100 snakes, 200 rats and mice, 40 to 50 birds, 15 cats, and two miniature pigs were taken from the home. Pictured is one of the caged birds being taken during the SPCA raid

SPCA officials arrived at the home after they received a tip from a witness that the animals were living in deplorable conditions and found dozens of dead animals

Lewis said SPCA officials arrived at the home after they received a tip from a witness that the animals were living in deplorable conditions.

Dead birds were found in the water dishes and snakes were discovered in small Rubbermaid tote containers.

Lewis said the Dawe family will face misdemeanor charges for failing to provide proper sustenance and veterinary care.

But the couple have also been charged with three counts of endangering the welfare of a child, according to police.

Child Protective Services removed four children aged 14 to 17 from the home during the SPCA raid, Lewis said.

Robyn Dawe has since come out to defend her family, saying the animals were left over from her daughter's exotic animal business.

The property owners have been identified as Thomas and Robyn Dawe. Their daughter Maria Dawe, 21, (pictured) was operating an exotic animal business in the home

Child Protective Services also removed four children aged 14 to 17 from the home (pictured)

Maria Dawe ran a business called 'Maria's Birds & Exotics', writing on her official site that she specialized in breeding parrots and other types of birds.

'All my babies are hand raised and come with health guarantees,' she wrote.

Maria claimed she was 'not a breeder who focuses on sales' but rather one who wanted to 'ensure forever homes'.

'I educate potential buyers on the proper care habits and the needs of their new babies,' she wrote.

Maria said her business had 'slowed down' in the past year after her business partner allegedly stopped taking care of his animals.

'I just got those animals back from him, which were the snakes and a lot of birds,' she told The Buffalo News.

'I was trying to get back on my feet, trying to take care of them as best I could,' she added.

'It was a little overwhelming, that's why it was very unorganized, but I was taking care of them to the best of my ability. Nobody was underfed, nobody was underwatered.'

Maria claims that the SPCA has exaggerated the number of animals that were found in her home, saying the story 'got pretty twisted around'.

The SPCA released a dozen of disturbing images from the Dawe's home, including this dead bird that was found lying next to cups

The SPCA said a number of dead birds were found, some discovered in water dishes

Maria Dawe ran a business called 'Maria's Birds & Exotics'. She claimed all her birds were 'hand raised and come with health guarantees'

She also claims her neighbor 'has the SPCA in his back pocket' and threatened that he would get her animals taken away from the house.

Meanwhile, the SPCA released a dozen of disturbing images from the Dawe's home that shows dead snakes shriveled up in tanks and skeletal birds next to Big Gulp cups from 7-Eleven.

Lewis said Robyn Dawe initially spoke with SPCA investigators and allowed them on the property.

'Once we began asking too many questions, she told my investigator she had to leave,' Lewis told the Niagara Gazette.

'At that point, we had enough to get a warrant to get on the property to examine the rest of the animals.'

Lewis said the SPCA spent more than three hours removing the animals from the home on Tuesday night.

A number of dead snakes were also discovered inside the home on Tuesday

She said it was one of the more disturbing sights she has seen on the job.

'I have never gotten a frantic call from an investigator before,' she told WGRZ.

'She called me and said, "We need you here right now. Because this is really bad."'

Dawe signed over the seized animals, including pythons, corn snakes and boa constrictors, to the organization, which then took them to the shelter to be treated.

Lewis said most of the snakes were 2-footers long, but a few were as long as eight feet.

The SPCA did allow Dawe to temporarily keep four parrots she said her husband, who has serious heart problems, plays with every day.

Dawe said the SPCA will make another visit on Friday to see if conditions at the home have improved before deciding whether she can keep the birds.

Lewis said the animals that do not have health issues will be immediately made available for adoption.

The SPCA Niagara is also looking for donations for aquariums and terrariums to house the animals, as well as heat tape and bedding and food for rats and mice.
If you've ever dreamed of owning your own beach, this is the real estate opportunity for you.

A 500-metre stretch of beach - along with nine hectares of land - is for sale for $1.95 million.

The property is located on Patchs Beach Road, Patchs Beach on the NSW North Coast, south of Byron Bay.

Scroll down for video

Fancy a walk on the beach? Consider spending $2 million on this beachfront property near Byron Bay

The 500-metre stretch of beach is attached to nine hectares of farmland. The property is located near South Ballina, NSW

The bright spot on the right has been cleared for building a five-bedroom, two-story home

Sydney investor Andre Dalton is selling the land because he and his wife, Alexandra, are not using it enough.

'The idea was to build a beach front holiday home there, but circumstances changed. I married someone who's Colombian, and we spend our holidays overseas now,' Mr Dalton told Daily Mail Australia.

Mr Dalton called the beach 'a haven for swimming, surfing and fishing'.

'It's has the real Australiana feel, with surf and sand on one side, and on the other side, beautiful sugar cane farmland,' the investor said.

The private driveway down to the beachfront property is nicely tucked away amidst forest and sugar cane fields

Sydney investor Andre Dalton is selling the land because he and his wife Alexandra aren't using it enough

'What is rare about this property is the elevation,' said Harcourts Northern Rivers agent Steve Leslie.

'It's not a flat block, but quite elevated. You do get good ocean views and with a two-story development, you would get a 360 degree view, which is most unusual for a beach property like this.'

The property has been approved by Ballina Shire Council for a five-bedroom, two-story home, according to the listing.

'[The property] is attracting a lot of interest at the moment,' Mr Leslie said, adding that a few people have already been shown the beach.

'Strike fast - very good opportunity,' was Mr Leslie's advice to prospective buyers.

'It's has the real Australiana feel, with surf and sand on one side, and on the other side, beautiful sugar cane farmland,' current owner Andre Dalton said
Patronising: Ken Clarke was basting in his own self-importance during the referendum debate. He later rebelled against the government

Of all the powdery potatoes who wanted to block the EU referendum result, none was more roasted in gravyish oil, more basted in self-importance, than Ken Clarke.

For years the old liverspot (Con, Rushcliffe), who nowadays wears the band of his trousers some inches above the navel, has been given a gentle ride. It has become poor form to take a pop at him. He wears suede shoes, drinks beer, likes jazz. He also recently lost his wife, and that quite properly makes us feel sorry for him.

But his patronising pomposity yesterday was worthy of a majordomo in the court of the pre-revolution Bourbons.

Pooh-poohing Brexit, he said the Government should bring a White Paper (ie setting out detailed proposals for legislation) before it even started to extract us from the EU. Deciding such matters was up to the Commons, he claimed. He deplored  this former member of a Thatcher Cabinet!  the tendency of Cabinets to roll over and do what a bossy prime minister wanted.

He compared Theresa May's behaviour to that of Tony Blair when he took us to war in Iraq. And he claimed that before the referendum, the 'serious arguments' he had made had not been reported. See? You, the little people, might have voted differently had you only heard the 'serious' arguments made by runny-Camembert Kenneth.

Clarke compared Theresa May's behaviour to that of Tony Blair and deplored the tendency of Cabinets to roll over and do what a bossy prime minister wanted

MPs were taking part in a Labour debate which had been hijacked by No 10 and effectively turned into a show of hands for cracking on with Brexit. Yikes. That wasn't what Labour wanted at all.

The Opposition's case had been opened by Sir Keir Starmer, Shadow Brexit Secretary. Humourless Sir Keir was once director of public prosecutions but he is no parliamentary orator.

Blinkily hesitant, he lacks the personality to over-ride heckles and respond winningly to interventions. He is worse at a despatch box than Chris Grayling, a sentence I never thought I would write.

Hesitant: The Labour case was opened by Sir Keir Starmer, but he is no parliamentary orator

Sir Keir kept demanding (perhaps 50 times) 'a plan' from the Government. Crispin Blunt (Con, Reigate), ex-Army, used the military dictum that 'no plan survives engagement with the enemy'. Uproar! Blairite women sucked in their cheeks and squawked 'oooh, he called the EU our enemy!' Sir Keir gave Mr Blunt a moist lecture about language. Senior Labour MPs Pat McFadden and Andy Burnham later denounced Mr Blunt for using the word 'enemy'. Oh for God's sake! He had only used a well-known old saw.

David Davis, Brexit Secretary, said the House would be given its say but the Government would not 'telegraph' its detailed intentions to the EU before negotiations.

To do that would damage the national interest. Interesting support came from Oliver Letwin (Con, W Dorset), previously a Cameroon Europhile. Ed Miliband (Lab, Doncaster N) argued that John Major laid down detailed plans before Maastricht. 'Yes!' said Letwin, 'and it was a catastrophe!'

Anna Soubry (Con, Broxtowe-by-Brussels) twitched.

Mike Gapes (Lab, Ilford S) thought it a 'democratic outrage' the Government was being secretive. James Cartlidge (Con, S Suffolk), previously a Remainer, pointed out that it was standard business-negotation tactics to keep your options broad.

After an unusually fiery speech from Sir Bill Cash (Con, Stone), Mr Clarke claimed that Eurosceptic Sir Bill never accepted the 1975 referendum on Europe.

David Davis, Brexit Secretary, said the House would be given its say but the Government would not 'telegraph' its detailed intentions to the EU before negotiations

Sir Bill flattened Mr Clarke by saying that in 1975 he had in fact been an Inner. Bernard Jenkin, chairman of the public administration committee, hinted that the meddling judiciary might need reforming.

Tom Brake, for the Lib Dems, said he would not support triggering Article 50 because it was a 'parliamentary stitch-up'. As so often in politics, you should believe the exact opposite. Brake wants to use Parliament to prevent the voters' verdict being enacted.

Jacob Rees-Mogg (Con, NW Somerset) said the House should obey its 'liege lords, the British people'.
Thousands of students were left devastated after they were accidentally sent their Year 12 exam results five days early, but there was one teenager who was celebrating.

James Allan, from the prestigious Wesley College in Melbourne, found he was in the top one percentile of the country after he sent a text message to the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC) when his peers revealed there was a glitch in the system.

The 18-year-old returned an ATAR of 99.05, with a perfect score of 50 in maths and is still waiting for the result on the university-level mathematics subject he completed as an extra credit.

Mr Allan told Daily Mail Australia his girlfriend of three-months, Tully Mauritzen, was the first person he told of his success, but when she tried to have her own score SMS-ed, the glitch in the system had been fixed.

James Allan (pictured with a friend at her formal) found he was in the top one percentile of the country after he sent a text message to VTAC when it was revealed there was a system glitch

The 18-year-old returned an ATAR of 99.05, with a perfect study score of 50 in maths

Mr Allan said he believes he is the only student at his school and among his friends who got their results early in the VTAC text message glitch.

'I screenshot to some of my friends saying they should do it,' he said. But by the time they tried to do it they had fixed it'.

Mr Allan, from Sandringham in Melbourne's southeast, scored a 37 in chemistry, 37 in English, 42 in specialist maths, 44 in physics and a perfect 50 in mathematics methods.

Each score is a ranking of how the student has performed in a particular subject in relation to other students across Australia.

The maximum for each subject is 50, with the mean study score set at 30. Only 2 per cent of students manage to return a score of above 45 for each subject.

'I was actually relieved (to get the results early) as I find waiting for results frustrating and it builds up a lot of anxiety and stress,' Mr Allan said.

'To get my results early took away that anxiety that other students will be feeling on Sunday night'.

Mr Allan said he believes he is the only student at his school and among his friends who got their results early in the VTAC text message glitch

Mr Allan said he has not let studying get in the way of his social life and has been pictured at a number of schools formals with female friends (pictured at his formal with a friend)

Mr Allan attended the prestigious Wesley College in Melbourne. He is pictured here at his Valedictory

While he was concerned the text message may have been a hoax, he said his worries lessened after he realised the scores were almost on par with what he had predicted.

'I wasn't sure whether to accept the results or not as it wasn't confirmed by VCAA and VTAC so I was freaking out a bit,' Mr Allan told Daily Mail Australia.

'But my results were basically exactly what I was predicting so I would've been quite surprised if they weren't accurate'.

Mr Allan said after he told Ms Mauritzen of the glitch, she took her time to decide whether she also wanted to get her results early, but they had fixed the issue by the time she applied.

Although the couple have only been dating for a few months, he said she was the first person he told of his 99.05 score and then his mother.

Mr Allan said he has not let studying get in the way of his social life and has been pictured at a number of schools formals with female friends.

Mr Allan told Daily Mail Australia his girlfriend of three-months, Tully Mauritzen (pictured), was the first person he told of his success

Mr Allan (pictured with his parents) said there are is a total of two other students he sees as competition in his running for school Dux

Mr Allan (pictured with his father) hopes his high score will allow him to get into a Science course at Melbourne University

He has also had two girlfriends before Ms Mauritzen during his VCE studies.

Mr Allan said there are is a total of two other students he sees as competition in his running for school Dux, but will have to wait until Monday to find out their results.

Although his score was in the one per cent of the country, Mr Allan said he was still slightly disappointed with his B+ in English, bringing his overall subject result to 37.

He rang his English teacher after the shock of receiving the results early had settled, who told him she hoped he would have returned a higher score.

'But I wasn't too bothered, I was expecting a 37,' Mr Allan said.

Mr Allan hopes his high score will allow him to get into a Science course at Melbourne University, where he would major in maths and eventually become a physicist.

On Wednesday night, h ordes of students and parents took to social media on Wednesday night to complain their ATAR results had been sent via text message five days early.

The next morning, the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority confirmed both the ATAR and VCE result were accurate.

Mr Allan said after he told Ms Mauritzen (both pictured) of the glitch, she took her time to decide whether she also wanted to get her results early, but they had fixed the issue by the time she applied

Victorian students have received their final year 12 exam results almost a week early after a 'significant error' by VTAC (stock image)

Hordes of students and parents took to social media on Wednesday night to complain about the glitch including one mother who revealed her daughter was 'sobbing in her bedroom'

Many students were pleased after discovering their ATAR was higher than expected.

VTAC and the VCAA will contacting schools and each of the students affected to confirm the accuracy of the information and provide further support

'This has caused utter chaos in my home,' one mother wrote to Facebook. 'All of my daughter's friends have their ATAR and mine is sobbing in her bedroom'.

More than 2000 students received the text message on Wednesday night and the rankings had not been due to be released until 7am on Monday.

The Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) is a score between 99.95 and zero determined by a student's Year 12 exam results and shows their ranking against their peers in the rest of the country.
Advertisement

Gun shop owner Steve Ballas (pictured) was at work this week when a friend called asking why he was bulldozing his home in Bankstown, in Sydney's south-west

A Sydney man whose home was demolished in a shocking case of mistaken identity has described the moment he realised his property had been destroyed.

Steve Ballas, from Bankstown in Sydney's west, was at work this week when he received a phone call from a friend asking why he was knocking his house down.

'My friend drove past and saw them demolishing the house,' Mr Ballas told Daily Mail Australia.

'He called me and asked me about the demolition work.

'I said are you sure it is my place - not the place next door.'

His friend was adamant.

'I believed him because he is not the kind of person to make these things up so I went to the house.'

Mr Ballas said he didn't know what to do so he called police and the council before speaking to the men hard at work tearing down his house.

After police arrived, he spoke to the demolition company's boss who said he had been 'hired by Steve to demolish 200 Marion Street'.

'I told him I am Steve, the owner and I didn't give anyone permission to knock down my house.'

Scroll down for video

Totally annihilated: Here stand the ruins of 200 Marion St, Bankstown - which was accidentally demolished by a wrecking crew in a catastrophic case of mistaken identity

All that was left standing of the three-bedroom, one-bathroom home was its back wall and two corners - with the remains left strewn across the ground

Daniel's Demolition workers tore down Mr Ballas property (left), which he believed was number 200. But the property he owns is actually number 198, while his neighbour owns number 200, rather than 202 as thought

Prior to its destruction, Mr Ballas said he was doing up the quaint suburban home. He was planning to put it up for rent in the new year and had ripped out the carpet

The home's destruction was said to be an 'honest mistake' - with workers confused by the street numbers, which did not reflect the titles

The businessman said he had been doing he property up and planned to rent it out in the new year and there was no furniture in the property at the time of its destruction

The owner of the demolition company responsible was said to be 'upset and embarrassed' by the catastrophic incident

The council cleared up some of the confusion.

The numbers in the street do not reflect the titles - Mr Ballas' home is actually 198 Marion Street - but the letter box is marked with the number 200.

The property which was supposed to be knocked down was marked 202.

Mr Ballas said the home and land have been in his family for more than 55 years.

He purchased what he thought was number 200 over 15 years ago.

The family had previously owned a few properties in a row along the same strip - including the home which was supposed to be demolished.

But the estate was broken up years ago.

Mr Marion said the manager of the construction company was 'upset and embarrassed' following the incident.

'When he came to the site he didn't look happy.

'The workers didn't say anything - but from what I could see it was an honest mistake.'

The businessman said he had been doing he property up and planned to rent it out in the new year.

'It was supposed to be painted this week.

'I had ripped up the carpet and done the floors.'

'I didn't give anyone permission to knock down my house': Mr Ballas rushed to the property - only to discover the home he had owned for 15 years completely destroyed

Until this week, Mr Ballas believed he owned 200 Marion Street. But in actual fact, his property was 198 Marion Street. And the wrong property was subsequently destroyed

The property that was meant to be knocked down (above) was numbered 202. The neighbour appears to have put up a new number

The neighbouring property will also likely be knocked down in the near future - as planned

Going to need a few bins to clean that up: The scene at the property on Thursday

All that stands of the home now is a single back wall. A haunting reminder of the critical mistake which led to the investment property being destroyed.

Decorative window bars sit untouched on a side section of the house - but the pretty metal frames couldn't protect the home from the wrecking ball.

A neighbour told Daily Mail Australia he watched as the home was flattened.

'No one lives in the house which is lucky,' he said.

'From what I saw the guy from the demolition company was pretty upset.'

Mr Ballas, however appears almost indifferent to his stroke of bad luck and said he had a solicitor to help him navigate the unknown waters ahead.

'I survived cancer,' he said when he was asked if the loss of the home was devastating to him.

'Not much devastates me.'

Police confirmed they are not investigating the incident.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Daniel's Demolitions for comment.
Leonardo DiCaprio made a secretive visit to Trump Tower to meet with the President-elect and his daughter Ivanka to discuss how green jobs can boost the economy

Leonardo DiCaprio made a secretive visit to Trump Tower to meet with the President-elect and his daughter Ivanka to discuss how green jobs can boost the economy.

The Oscar-winning actor went to New York for the meeting along with Terry Tamminen, the CEO of the Leonardo Di Caprio Foundation.

However, he was not pictured entering the lobby of Trump Tower and the meeting was only confirmed after it had taken place.

The 42-year-old has been a strong advocate of fighting climate change and preserving wildlife while his recent documentary 'Before the Flood' addresses the peril that he claims the world faces due to global warming.

In a statement today, Tamminen confirmed the meeting yesterday and said he and DiCaprio gave a presentation on how to focusing on renewable, clean energy could create millions of jobs.

He said: 'We presented the President-elect and his advisers with a framework - which LDF developed in consultation with leading voices in the fields of economics and environmentalism - that details how to unleash a major economic revival across the United States that is centered on investments in sustainable infrastructure.

'Our conversation focused on how to create millions of secure, American jobs in the construction and operation of commercial and residential clean, renewable energy generation.'

The meeting is believed to have lasted for about 90 minutes and DiCaprio gave Trump a copy of his documentary.

A source says the President-elect then promised the actor he would watch the program.

And Tamminen, who was secretary of California's Environmental Protection Agency under former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, said Trump was receptive and suggested they meet again next month.

Scroll down for video

DiCaprio gave a presentation to Trump, pictured, and his daughter Ivanka on how to focusing on renewable, clean energy could create millions of jobs

He added: 'We look forward to continuing the conversation with the incoming administration as we work to stop the dangerous march of climate change, while putting millions of people to work at the same time.'

The meeting came as a surprise as Trump has previously dismissed climate change as an 'expensive hoax' and has threatened to scrap the Paris accord on reducing greenhouse gases.

However, he has recently promised that he would keep a more 'open mind' on the issue.

The meeting has also raised eyebrows because DiCaprio did not endorse Trump during the election campaign and was instead a supporter of his rival Hillary Clinton.

At the Hollywood Film Awards the night before the election, he urged people to vote for Clinton and not Trump.

He told the audience that night: 'Let's all use our power as citizens and do the right thing. Please vote... vote for people who believe in the science of climate change.'

DiCaprio's meeting at Trump Tower also comes just a day after fellow climate change campaigner Al Gore met with the President-elect.

DiCaprio's meeting at Trump Tower comes just a day after fellow climate change campaigner Al Gore also met with the President-elect

Gore, among the most outspoken and wealthiest climate warriors, was scheduled to meet with Ivanka, pictured, but ended up spending more time with her father

Gore, among the most outspoken and wealthiest climate warriors, was scheduled to meet with Ivanka but ended up spending more time with her father.

He told a pool reporter in the Trump Tower lobby that he 'had a lengthy and very productive session with the President-elect. It was a sincere search for areas of common ground.'

He did not say what the subject was - and he is also a board member of Apple.

Gore last surfaced during a mid-October campaign rally for Hillary Clinton, calling her 'one of the world's foremost leaders on climate change.'

He warned that America was headed for an environmental 'catastrophe' if Trump were elected.
Two Democratic members of Congress want to create a bipartisan national commission similar to the one which investigated the September 11 terrorist attacks to probe alleged Russian interference in the presidential election.

The Democratic lawmakers  Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland and Rep. Eric Swalwell of California  say that the intelligence assessments which point to Russian involvement in cyberattacks against the Democratic National Committee and other Democratic targets make this an urgent matter which requires bipartisan attention, Yahoo! News reported.

'Regardless of whether you voted for Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton or anyone else, Russia's attacks on our election are an attempt to degrade our democracy and should chill every American  Democratic, Republican or independent  to the core,' Cummings said.

'Like the 9/11 commission, this commission will conduct a truly bipartisan and comprehensive review of these attacks and offer specific recommendations to prevent future attacks on our electoral process.'

House Democrats Elijah Cummings (left) and Eric Swalwell (right) want Congress to form a bipartisan commission to investigate alleged Russian hacking during the election campaign

Cummings and Swalwell want to form a 'National Commission on Foreign Interference in the 2016 Election' that would be independent, like the 9/11 commission.

Its members would be appointed by both Republicans and Democrats and it would have a mandate to conduct a full-scale investigation into the mysterious hacks perpetrated against the DNC as well as other political organizations.

The chances of such a commission coming into being are not high, since President-elect Donald Trump has gone on record rejecting the conclusions of US intelligence that Russia was behind the hacks.

'I don't believe it,' Trump told Time Magazine when asked about Russia's alleged role in the hacking.

'I don't believe they interfered,' he said.

Two prominent Republican leaders  Senators Lindsey Graham (left) and Marco Rubio (right)  said that they believe the issue of foreign interference in the election needs to be probed

When asked if the intelligence agencies were politically motivated in blaming Russia, Trump replied: 'I think so.'

Two prominent Republican leaders  Senators Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio  said that they believe the issue of foreign interference in the election needs to be probed.

'Here's what I would tell Republicans,' Graham told Yahoo! News.

'We cannot sit on the sidelines as a party and let allegations against a foreign government interfering in our election process go unanswered because it may have been beneficial to our cause.'

Democrats have been putting pressure on President Barack Obama to openly accuse Russia of meddling in the election to help Trump.

The formation of a 9/11-style commission is unlikely since Donald Trump (left) said he doesn't believe the hacking came from Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on the right

Senior party figures sent a letter to the president last week imploring him to publish classified information which they believe proves the Kremlin interfered to boost Trump's chances of winning.

In October, intelligence committees issued a report suggesting Russian figures were behind the hack of thousands of emails from Hillary Clinton's inner circle.

Their motive was to undermine America's democratic process, it said, and not to intentionally help either of the candidates.

'These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process.'

'Such activity is not new to Moscow  the Russians have used similar tactics and techniques across Europe and Eurasia, for example, to influence public opinion there.'
A man charged with killing his three-year-old daughter has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

But lawyers for Matthew Lee Williamson said he accepted only that he did not get medical help for his toddler, Kyhesha-Lee Joughin, not that he caused the injuries that killed her.

Scroll down for video

Matthew Lee Williamson admitted on Thursday to killing his toddler, Kyhesha-Lee Joughin (pictured), in March 2013

The Brisbane Magistrates court last year heard Kyhesha (pictured) suffered deliberate and protracted physical and sexual assault in the week leading up to her death from an infected internal injury

'At this stage it's just a plea of guilty to the offence of manslaughter,' Peter Shields, Williamson's lawyer, told reporters outside Brisbane Supreme Court.

'It's a matter for her honour to consider at a contested sentence whether it's on the basis he failed to provide the necessaries of life in obtaining medical treatment or whether he caused the injuries.'

The Brisbane Magistrates court last year heard Kyhesha suffered deliberate and protracted physical and sexual assault in the week leading up to her death on March 13, 2013, from an infected internal injury.

She suffered a stomach injury consistent with a blow from a fist or foot, or an adult falling on her.

Williamson's supporters are pictured leaving the Brisbane Supreme Court in a group after the trial on Thursday

She also had bruising on her face, lacerations on her ear as if she had been pulled, an injury to her temple and cuts to her lip from possible blows.

During the hearing, Crown prosecutor Todd Fuller QC said a rope was tied to Kyhesha-Lee's bedroom door to keep her trapped inside and so she was forced to go to the toilet where she slept, The Courier-Mail reported.

Mr Fuller said there was also evidence Kyhesha-Lee had been sexually abused.

During Williamson's sentence, Crown prosecutor Todd Fuller QC said a rope was tied to Kyhesha-Lee's bedroom door to keep her trapped inside and so she was forced to go to the toilet where she slept

'Every movement, including breathing and vomiting, would have caused severe pain,' he said.

'She would have survived had she received treatment.'

Justice Roslyn Atkinson remanded Williamson in custody for sentencing on February 23.

Mr Shields said it would be a contested sentence hearing which he expected to last about three days.
The horrific moment three men armed with a gun violently attacked and robbed a man has been caught on camera.

Police are searching for the three men after they attacked the man on a street in Washington D.C. last month.

Surveillance footage captured from nearby cameras shows the victim being approached by his attackers at about 3am on Saturday, November 26.

Scroll down for video

A man was violently attacked and knocked unconscious by three men on a street in Washington D.C. in the early hours of November 26

The attack took place outside a row of stores in the 500 block of Morse Street.

The men can be seen shoving the victim as they try to reach into his pockets as one man, dressed in a yellow hooded jacket, brandishes a gun.

The victim is then thrown to the ground before two of the men take turns viciously hitting him in the face.

When the victim appears to have been knocked unconscious, the men raid his pockets before fleeing in a nearby getaway car.

Police said the three men approached the victim outside a row of shops and demanded money as one of them pointed a gun at him

Surveillance footage shows the men trying to reach into his pockets before throwing him to the ground and punching him in the face

The victim was knocked unconscious before the men raided his pockets and escaped in a nearby getaway car

Police said the men had initially approached the victim and demanded money.

Following the violent attack they stole his phone, debit card and an identification car from the victim's pockets.

The Metropolitan Police Department said they currently offer rewards of up to $10,000 to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest and conviction of people involved in violent offenses.

Anyone who has information regarding this case should call police at 202-727-9099.

The injured man was left lying unconscious on the street as the men fled in the black car

Police are now hunting for the three men involved in the attack. The man in the yellow jacket could be seen holding a gun in surveillance footage
A teacher who was caught on camera dragging a special needs student across the floor by her hair has been barred from teaching in her home state of Mississippi.

A three-commissioner panel ruled on Wednesday that Linda Winters-Johnson, who was filmed pulling a student at Greenville High School in Mississippi by her ponytail in September, will not be permitted to teach for 12 years.

Winters-Johnson admitted Wednesday that she'd been wrong to drag a special education student by the hair across the gym floor at Greenville High School.

'I am an imperfect human who has made a grave mistake,' she told Mississippi's Teacher Licensure Commission.

Footage of the shocking incident emerged on social media and it quickly went viral, drawing over 6million views on Facebook.

Scroll down for video

Linda Winters-Johnson (pictured) has been barred from teaching in Mississippi for 12 years after video emerged showing her drag a student around by the hair

A state Office of Educator Misconduct investigator accused Winters-Johnson of 'grabbing, hitting in the head and dragging of a special-needs student during P.E. class at Greenville High School' around Sept. 21.

Raina Lee, a lawyer who handles educator misconduct proceedings for the state, said the 12-year suspension was the longest such sanction she'd seen.

Mississippi has no legal provisions for permanently revoking a teacher's license, although department officials say they plan to ask lawmakers for that power.

The move means Winters-Johnson can't even ask for her license back until the suspension is over, while the commission could have allowed the teacher to seek reinstatement after half the penalty.

'Yes, you can wipe out 20 years of experience in a minute, 20 seconds, because it doesn't take but one,' Lee told the commission, rebutting Winters-Johnson's pleas.

A Washington County grand jury indicted Winters-Johnson on a misdemeanor charge of abusing a vulnerable person.

The shocking incident took place Greenville High School in Mississippi (pictured) last month, and footage emerged earlier in October

Winters-Johnson tried to argue that videos watched by millions were only part of the story, begging the commission to balance the act against her long years of service.

She said she was trying to prevent the student from harming herself and that parts of the video were misleading.

Winters-Johnson testified she did not forcefully strike the student with a metal cup, saying she only brushed the student's head 'in an exaggerated motion.'

'I was there and I know I didn't hit her with the cup,' Winters-Johnson said.

She told the panel that she would accept its decision, but her lawyer said she'd consider an appeal to the state Board of Education.

The daylong hearing ended with a withering cross-examination of Winters-Johnson by Lee, after the teacher said she acted after the student had been jumping on bleachers, digging through Winters-Johnson's belongings, and leaning on an exit door.

'Do you have any remorse for your actions?' Lee asked at one point.

'I do,' Winters-Johnson replied.

'Would you like to start sharing that with the commission?' Lee responded.
A gunman said he just 'wanted to do some good' but 'went about it the wrong way' when he fired a rifle inside a Washington, D.C. pizzeria while trying to 'self-investigate' a fake-news conspiracy about Hillary Clinton running a child sex ring.

Edgar Maddison Welch, 28, of North Carolina was arrested on several charges after storming pizza joint Comet Ping Pong on Sunday.

Speaking in his first news interview since his arrest, he told The New York Times he had acted in haste and regrets how he handled the situation.

Scroll down for video

Edgar Maddison Welch, 28 of North Carolina is pictured on December 4 as he surrenders to police. Welch, who said he was investigating a conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton running a child sex ring out of a pizza place, fired an assault rifle inside the restaurant

Police shut down Connecticut Avenue outside Comet Ping Pong after Welch opened fire. The pizza restaurant was the subject of a fake news story claiming it was the center of a child sex ring orchestrated by Hillary Clinton and her campaign chief, John Podesta

'I just wanted to do some good and went about it the wrong way,' he told the Times during a video conference on Wednesday.

Welch, the father of two daughters, said when he woke up on Sunday morning, he told his family he had things to do before leaving Salisbury and heading for D.C.

His plan was to give the restaurant a 'closer look' before returning home later that day, he said.

But as he made the 350-mile drive to Washington, he felt his 'heart breaking over the thought of innocent people suffering,' according to the Times.

The plan quickly changed once he arrived at Comet Ping Pong - so named because patrons can play Ping-Pong on tables in the back.

Speaking in his first news interview since his arrest, Welch (pictured in a Facebook photo) told The New York Times he had acted in haste and regrets how he handled the situation

However, Welch did not say why he had carried an AR-15 assault rifle into the restaurant and opened fire, according to the Times.

Court records state he fired the rifle in the restaurant multiple times but later walked out with his hands up, leaving his rifle and other weapons inside.

No one was injured in the shooting.

He told police he had 'read online that the Comet restaurant was harboring child sex slaves and that he wanted to see for himself if they were there,' authorities said.

Welch, who said he has grown religious in recent years, said he 'was armed to help rescue them,' police said.

After finding 'no evidence that underage children were being harbored in the restaurant,' Welch 'surrendered peacefully,' according to authorities.

Welch told police he had 'read online that the Comet restaurant was harboring child sex slaves and that he wanted to see for himself if they were there,' authorities said

Police surround Comet Ping Pong, a popular neighborhood restaurant that has endured weeks of threats since the fake news story, referred to as 'Pizzagate', began appearing on websites

'The intel on this wasn't 100 per cent,' Welch told the Times, while refusing to deny outright the claims in the fake news articles.

He only said no children 'were inside that dwelling' and added that child slavery was a world-wide phenomenon, according to the Times.

The origins of the conspiracy theory are still unclear.

Some elements trace back to hacked emails from Clinton chief of staff John Podesta that were released by Wikileaks and refer to pizza parties, with online commentators speculating that 'pizza party' is code for something nefarious.

By November 3, Comet Ping Pong had been pulled into the conspiracy, which the restaurant's owner has flatly denied.

'Let me state unequivocally: These stories are completely and entirely false, and there is no basis in fact to any of them,' owner James Alefantis said in a statement on Sunday.

Welch is the father of two young girls. He was arrested on several charges, including assault with a dangerous weapon

Welch, who said he does not like the term fake news, told the Times he had learned about the conspiracy theory centering on Comet Ping Pong through word of mouth

'What happened today demonstrates that promoting false and reckless conspiracy theories comes with consequences.'

Welch, who said he does not like the term fake news, told the Times he had learned about the conspiracy theory centering on Comet Ping Pong through word of mouth.

And after he recently had internet service installed at his house, he was 'really able to look into it,' he said.

He was left with the 'impression something nefarious was happening' from substantial evidence from various sources, he said.

He told the Times he does not believe in conspiracy theories, according to the Times.

Welch said the September 11 terrorist attacks need to be re-examined and that he has listed to Infowars founder Alex Jones' radio show that outlines some of the controversial radio hosts' outlandish conspiracy theories.

'He's a bit eccentric,' Mr. Welch told the Times of Jones. 'He touches on some issues that are viable but goes off the deep end on some things.'

Welch, who was once a registered Republican, also added that he was not political and did not vote for either President-elect Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.

One of Welch's friends told The Washington Post she doesn't think he intended to shoot anyone.

'He most likely really believes the conspiracy theory,' said Kathy Sue Holtorf, who lives in California and works as a film producer.

'He's a good guy with the best of intentions. He probably saw himself as more on a hero mission to save children than anything else.'

Welch told the Times he misses his daughters, adding 'they are in my thoughts every second of the day' and that he wishes he could have done things differently.

'I regret how I handled the situation,' he said.

Following Sunday's incident, he was arrested on several charges, including assault with a dangerous weapon.
A hard-working barber has been hailed hero in his village by keeping his prices the same for 25 years.

Wang Chengjian, from Jiaozuo city in central China's Henan Province, charges his loyal customers 1 Yuan (AUD 20 cents) for haircuts in his thriving ten-square-meter barber shop.

He works gruelling hours from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. every day, and even offers free cuts to some elderly citizens and disadvantaged families, reports Shanghaiist.

Wang Chengjian has charged his loyal customers a fixed price of 1 Yuan (AUD 20 cents) for 25 years

Speaking to local media, Wang said his mentor taught him to charge his poverty-stricken customers within their means.

''The villagers are not rich. We would rather earn a little less than make more dishonestly,' my master used to say that. And I always bear it in mind.'

One elderly customer, 80, said Wang visits his home to offer bedside cuts since he fell bedridden.

'I've been bed-ridden for years, so I can no longer make it to Wang's shop myself. However, he visits me and gives me a haircut for free.'

After being covered by local media Wang has been praised on Chinese social media, where commenters hailed his generous business model.

'He has helped a lot of people. Don't talk about money, more love and devotion are what we need in society,' wrote one Weibo user.

Wang claims his mentor taught him to charge his low-income customers within their means.

He works gruelling hours from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. every day inside his ten-square-meter barber shop




Advertisement

Gangs of out-of-work fishermen have turned to a life of piracy and have killed dozens who still venture into the sea in Venezuela, as the country's economic crisis worsens.

Once home to the world's fourth-largest tuna fleet, now the fishing trade has collapsed and those who continue to fish are falling prey to the vicious bandits.

Many have been tied up and thrown overboard by pirates, as those with boats opt for illegal ways of making money, such as smuggling and piracy.

Villagers carry the remains of nine slain men from a fishing family to the cemetery in Cariaco, Sucre state, Venezuela. Five law enforcement officers were charged with storming the village and killing these men, who were widely thought to have belonged to a gang

Members of the Marval family, who have fallen victim to bandits - who killed three relatives after taking them captive - fish at night in the sea, in an increasingly dangerous trade

Members of the Marval family, who patrol at night while other members of their family fish at sea, respond to what appeared to be the start of an attack by pirate gang leader 'El Beta' in Punta de Araya

Robberies on the sea have happened daily, leaving scores of fishermen dead.

'People can't make a living fishing anymore, so they're using their boats for the options that remain: smuggling gas, running drugs and piracy,' said Jose Antonio Garcia, leader of the state's largest union.

Teenager Flaco Marval has lost a brother and two cousins to pirates, and has been told they were coming for the rest of the family.

The skinny 17-year-old and his relatives ran to grab the guns they'd soldered together from kitchen pipes, smoked an acrid-smelling drug to boost their energy, and went out into the night to patrol the sandy village streets.

He said: 'We just have to kill these thugs, and then we can go back to fishing like we always did.'

Retired fisherman Victor Duran, 75, from the Marval family, poses for a portrait. Duran's children and grandchildren are carrying on the fishing tradition but facing a phenomenon his generation would have never fathomed - pirates stealing boat motors and killing them out at sea

Family members bring their boat to shore after fishing all night. Dozens of fishermen have been killed by pirates as Venezula's economic crisis worsens

The catch is down to less than a third of the 120,000 tons of tuna Venezuela produced in 2004. In June, Sucre was the epicenter of food riots that swept through the country.

Punta de Araya families got through the summer by eating 'dog soup,' a broth made from seawater and the small fish that are usually thrown back.

'Those little sardines saved all our lives,' library administrator Efren Pares said.

Desperate, Venezuelans are stealing what remains from fatter times, robbing fishing boats of their nets, power generators and outboard motors. The warm Caribbean sea is increasingly becoming a grim free-for-all.

A member of the Marval fishing family who goes by the nickname 'El Chukiti' holds a homemade gun as he guards against a possible pirate attack as fishermen unload their catch in Punta de Araya

Emergency room doctor Norka Patino treats a man who was shot in Cumana, Sucre state, Venezuela. Patino, who's been working at the hospital for over 20 years, said she has to use the same needle on various patients and that many die unnecessarily of heart attacks, diarrhea, asthma and from bacterias picked up at the hospital

Suspects of violent crimes ask police for food, as one holds out money, from inside a holding cell at the municipal police station in Cumana, Sucre state

Seven members of the Marval clan were preparing to return home one night in September when they heard shots.

'There's no way to run when you're stopped dead in the water, so I just started praying, "God, let them leave without hurting us,"' 42-year-old Edecio Marval said.

Instead, after stealing the boat's motor and the night's catch, the men shot dead Edecio's oldest child, who had kept the group laughing all night with cheesy jokes, and two others.

Fishermen rest after selling their catch at the fish market in the port of Cumana, Sucre state, Venezuela. Here on the coast, the tuna catch is down to less than a third of the 120,000 tons Venezuela produced in 2004

Fishermen from the Marval family get some sleep before waking up early to push out to sea before sunrise, at their home in Punta de Araya, Sucre state, Venezuela. Depending on the tide, the men wake around 2am and fish all night until sunrise

As they prepared to kill Edecio's teenage nephew, one pirate shouted for the others to stop. 'No, that's my friend,' he said. They had fished together until last year.

So the group sped off, leaving the surviving Marvals to send flashes of light into the darkness. They wept as the bodies of their loved ones grew cold beside them.

Back home in the village of Punta de Araya, they told police they had recognized the pirates' leader: It was El Beta, a 19-year-old killer with 40 men at his command, who lived a half mile down the road.

El Beta began calling Flaco Marval, threatening to come back and wipe out the whole clan.

Many private fishing companies have left Venezuela for other countries because the government requires them to sell half of their catch for virtually worthless bolivars

Children from the Marval family eat breakfast before going to school in Punta de Araya, Sucre state, Venezuela. After a pirate gang threatened to kill the entire Marval family, some of the clan started keeping their children home from school

'Your brother cried like a little b**** when I killed him. Now I'm coming for all of you snitches,' he said in a taunting voice message the family turned over to police.

Fearful of the gangster, the family, along with their neighbors, gave up going to the state-run hospital up the hill because that area was controlled by El Beta. They also stopped sending their kids to school. And they started nightly patrols.

'It's not safe to leave the house,' said Tibisay Marval, whose son was killed.

'El Menor,' a member of 'Los Cainos' self-defense group formed by the Marval fishing family, holds a homemade gun before starting a night patrol to help protect fishermen from pirate attacks in Punta de Araya

Children play 'pirates' on a fishing boat in Cumana. 'You hear piracy and you think of guys robbing container ships in Africa. But here it's just poor fishermen robbing other poor fishermen,' said Sucre lawyer Luis Morales

Women argue with a National Guard, saying they've detained the wrong men while cracking down on pirates in Punta de Araya

A municipal police officer stands amid stolen engines seized from pirates, at the police station in Punta de Araya

One of Venezuela's poorest states, Sucre had been a bastion of support for the socialist revolution launched by the late President Hugo Chavez. That support is waning since the government nationalized the region's largest fishing company, Pescalba, in 2010, with mostly disastrous results.

On a recent workday, more than half of the company's fleet bobbed uselessly at the dock, holes gaping where the ships' decks and sides had rusted open.

Many private companies have decamped to other countries because the government requires them to sell half of their catch for Venezuela's virtually worthless currency, the bolivar.

A dead dog lies outside deteriorated government-built homes, put up during former President Hugo Chavez's presidency, painted in Venezuela's flag colors in Punta de Araya

Relatives of nine men from a fishing family, who were shot in the head while on their knees, mourn them at the cemetery in the Sucre state. Five law enforcement officers were charged with killing these men, widely thought to have belonged to a gang

The corpses of seven of nine men who were shot in the head while on their knees lie at the morgue in Cariaco, Sucre state, Venezuela

Fishermen from the Marval family give instructions to a skiff towing their boat to sea as they head out for a night of fishing in Punta de Araya

'We fishermen know the meaning of labour, but we can't work if we have nothing to work with,' said 57-year-old Fernando Patino.

In October, pirates left Patino and his brother bound with twine in their small motorized skiff, miles from shore.

Patino managed to wriggle loose, and the men spent seven hours rowing home with a plank of wood torn from the boat's side.

On the night they prepared to face down El Beta, Flaco spotted a soldier darting beneath a streetlight with a Kalashnikov rifle. Soon, the streets were filled with villagers hoping the coast guard had caught a group of pirates.

Suspects of violent crime crowd a holding cell at the municipal police station in Cumana. Police are reluctant to make mass arrests of pirates robbing and killing fishermen at sea because the jails are already packed full

Bit it turned out they had arrested the wrong group, and soldiers let the innocent fishermen go.

Five officers have been charged with storming a nearby village and killing nine members of a fishing family widely thought to have belonged to a gang. State security forces also killed three suspected pirates at sea this year, and arrested one of El Beta's men for the Marval murders.

But officers are reluctant to make mass arrests because the jails are already packed full, with prisoners sleeping in shifts at night.

Mariela Cabello, right, grieves after her brother was killed along with eight other villagers in Cariaco, Sucre state, Venezuela. Five law enforcement officers were charged with storming the village and killing the nine men

'You hear piracy and you think of guys robbing container ships in Africa. But here it's just poor fishermen robbing other poor fishermen,' said Sucre lawyer Luis Morales. 'It's the same kind of crime we've seen in the streets, but spreading to the sea. Tomorrow, it will be taking over life on the farms or in the mountains.'

Shortly after the soldiers left Punta de Araya, the Marval women started getting warnings from friends in El Beta's neighborhood that 15 members of his gang were preparing to attack.

The women debated whether to call back the coastguard and risk being labeled rats. Just as they decided to make the call, the village's power and cell service went out, as if cut by a hostile force. Panicked, they went to alert Flaco and the others.

Jorge Marval naps in his boat under a plastic sheet after fishing all night, as the sun rises off Punta de Araya. The fishing trade has collapsed, along with virtually every industry across Venezuela

The cousins rushed to their armory of homemade handguns and rifles, hidden in a cinderblock hut with a sheet hung for a door.

Laughing at each other's coughing fits, they smoked cocaine-laced marijuana through a long glass pipe they'd fashioned out of a fluorescent light bulb. They tried to psych themselves up for battle by listening again to El Beta's threatening message, crowding around a half-broken flip phone.

'Remember how we used to take naps on the beach with money in our pockets?' one cousin said.

'This isn't going to be over until someone kills that guy,' said another.

Children play inside a depot used by fishermen to store their nets and repair boats in Punta de Araya, Sucre state, Venezuela

Suddenly, the dogs began to bark. The young men shot out to the street to see if the gang was on its way. They kept up their patrol for hours, pausing every once in a while to smoke from the glass pipe.

Eventually, the barking died down. The power came back on. El Beta did not show up.

The Marval women stayed awake until dawn, playing dominos near a shrine to the three slain men. Flaco's aunt Petra Marval said they worry about the cousins, but see no other option.
A mother and her teenage daughter whose bodies were found dumped together in a well were allegedly stabbed to death by the woman's estranged husband.

The bodies of Dawnn Ward, 40, and Taylor Carroll, 14, were found in a well in Williamston, North Carolina last Thursday.

Autopsy results have revealed Ms Ward was stabbed once in the chest, while her daughter was stabbed in the chest multiple times.

Dawnn Ward, 40, and her 14-year-old daughter Taylor Carroll were allegedly stabbed to death by her estranged husband in Williamston, North Carolina last Thursday

Their bodies were found about 10 miles from their home three days after they were reported missing.

Ms Ward's 25-year-old estranged husband Jeffrey Todd Ward was arrested and charged with their murders.

Ward is not the 14-year-old girl's father.

His 24-year-old brother Jerrett Ward has also been charged with being an accessory to murder.

Autopsy results have revealed Ms Ward was stabbed once in the chest, while her daughter Taylor Carroll, 14, (pictured) was stabbed in the chest multiple times

Ms Ward's estranged husband Jeffrey Todd Ward, 25, (left) was arrested and charged with their murders. His brother Jerrett Ward, 24, was charged with being an accessory to murder

Their bodies were found about 10 miles from their home (pictured) three days after they were reported missing

Authorities have not yet released a motive for the double homicide.

The brothers are being held at Bertie-Martin Regional Jail in Windsor and have not yet entered pleas to the charges.

Ms Carroll was in the eighth grade and a cheerleader at Bear Grass Charter School in Williamston.

The school cancelled classes last Friday after her body was found and held a memorial for her on Saturday.
Paula Broadwell, the woman whose affair with then-CIA director David Petraeus cost him his job, says that she is the victim of a sexist double standard since Petraeus' image has largely been restored while she has not been allowed to fully move on with her life.

Broadwell says that while Petraeus has been largely redeemed and is in the running to serve in a high-position post in the incoming Trump administration, she continues to face disciplinary action from the military even though she has asked to resign from the service, CBS News reported.

'As I woke up to the news, it was a bit of a shocker that [Petraeus] is being considered for a cabinet position,' she said.

'I was both shocked that I'm still in this tenuous position and yet happy because I think he should be able to go on with his life,' she said.

Paula Broadwell gave her first national television interview to CBS News since the 2012 scandal broke

Broadwell told CBS News that she believes she is the victim of a sexist double standard since David Petraeus' public image has been restored while hers has not

'He's earned it, and so should his family,' Broadwell said.

'But then that begs the question: Why shouldn't I be able to go on?'

'I need to fight back for my life,' she said.

Broadwell and Petraeus' affair began in 2011, shortly after he retired from the Army and began his new job at the CIA, and ended in 2012, a friend of the former general said when the affair first came to light.

The pair had met in 2006, when Petraeus came to speak at Harvard, where Broadwell, who is also a West Point graduate, was studying.

Broadwell (right, seen here with Petraeus in this 2011 file photo) says that Petraeus is 'unequally qualified' to serve in Donald Trump's cabinet

She wrote her PhD dissertation about Petraeus' leadership skills and later penned a biography of the Army man, titled 'All In: The Education of General David Petraeus'.

Petraeus resigned as head of the CIA and then pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour charge of mishandling classified materials.

He was given two years' probation and a fine of $100,000.

As a result of her role in the scandal, Broadwell was denied a promotion to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Earlier this year, Defense Secretary Ash Carter recommended that the military take no further action against Petraeus.

She wrote her PhD dissertation about Petraeus' leadership skills and later penned a biography of the Army man, titled 'All In: The Education of General David Petraeus'

During her interview with CBS, however, Broadwell said that just as recently as last month she was reprimanded by the Army.

'I'm really just asking on principle to be treated with dignity and also to be treated by the same standard with the military,' the married mother of two young boys told CBS.

'And to be able to move forward and not have this sort of potential cancer hanging over my head,' Broadwell said.

'I mean, it's really been what it's like for the last five years, thinking and living with cancer, and I don't know if it's going to metastasize and get worse or will it go away.'

On her Twitter account, Broadwell said on Monday that she would head to New York to 'set the record straight' while decrying what she called a 'double standard'

'It's probably a very poor analogy, but when you don't know - when there's uncertainty, constant uncertainty, it's - it's kind of soul-eating.'

Broadwell, who holds the rank of major in the Army reserves, says that the military has yet to grant her approval to resign from the service.

She says that she initially submitted the resignation this past summer.

Petraeus has since emerged as a potential candidate for the prestigious secretary of state job in Trump's administration.

He was spotted at Trump Tower last month and has received praise from the president-elect.

But if he does get the job, Petraeus will have to check with his parole officer before accepting the position - within three days.

When asked if she thought Petraeus should be permitted to serve as secretary of state, Broadwell told CBS: 'I think he's unequally qualified for many positions, but that's not my position to say.'

'I think that's something the president-elect would have to decide and members of the Senate.'

Since the scandal, Broadwell co-founded a foundation focused on addressing gender bias in the media and society.
A woman gave birth while on a flight traveling from Philadelphia to Orlando on Sunday night.

Her son, a baby boy named Jet, was born 14 weeks early and is in critical condition, the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Children's Hospital said in a Tuesday statement.

Southwest Airlines flight 556 ended up having to make an unscheduled landing in Charleston, South Carolina, because of the arrival of the extra passenger.

The flight from Philadelphia diverted to Charleston after the pregnant woman gave birth (file)

The hospital said Tuesday: 'Believe it or not, "Jet" was on mom and dad's baby name list even before his unexpected arrival on their way home to Orlando from a family baby shower in Pennsylvania.'

The hospital's statement said: 'Jet was born at 26 weeks' gestation, so 14 weeks early, weighing 1020 grams, or slightly more than two pounds.

'Once the plane landed in Charleston, he was then brought to the MUSC Pediatric Emergency Department and ultimately the [neonatal intensive care unit].

'Jet was placed on a ventilator and given a medicine called surfactant to help with his breathing.

'So far his blood pressure has been stable, and he is being treated for a possible infection at the time of birth.

A nurse was on board to assist with the deliver of the baby on Southwest Airlines flight 556 from Philadelphia to Orlando

'He was a little bit colder than a baby born inside the hospital when he arrived here, and it is remarkable that he was able to go for some time without some type of respiratory support while on his way to us.

'He is in critical condition at this time, surrounded by his parents' and family's love, and the 24/7 expert care of his neonatal health care team.'

The plane was about an hour into its flight from Philly when the woman went into labor.

Dr. Bhasker Patel (pictured) was on board the plane. He and a nurse also on board delivered the baby

Luckily, there was a nurse on board the plane who was able to provide some assistance to the birthing mom who was seated in the first row of the plane.

Also on board was Dr. Bhasker Patel, of Palm Bay, Florida, who told Action News Jax: 'They made an announcement to see if there was any medical personnel on board.'

He and the nurse together delivered the baby, the Post and Courier reports.

The flight, which left Philadelphia at 2.46pm, was diverted to Charleston, South Carolina, where medics took the parents and the baby.

The flight then continued onto Orlando, with 132 passengers just an hour behind schedule.

Journalist Izzy Gould for AL.com who happened to be on the flight tweeted his praise for everyone involved.

'A woman went into labor. Flight crew did a great job,' he wrote. 'It was a memorable flight. Can't say enough about the crew, and the medical peeps that delivered the baby. True pros.'
Three Texas teenagers allegedly kidnapped an 18-year-old classmate from their high school so they could take it in turns having sex with her.

The 18-year-old girl said she was dragged from a hallway at Cypress Springs High School in Houston by a male student last month when she was walking to class.

Imanuel Rizig and Justin Broadway, both 18, and Ryan Jeng, 17, were all charged last week with aggravated kidnapping over the November 28 incident.

Imanuel Rizig, Justin Broadway and Ryan Jeng (left-right) are accused of kidnapping an 18-year-old classmate from Houston, Texas so they could have sex with her on November 28

The victim told investigators she was walking in the school hallway when someone grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the building and into a car, KHOU reports.

Court documents state the men drove her to a house and when she was placed in a room asked her if she wanted to have sex.

The girl declined but told investigators she was thrown on a bed and asked again.

She said she was able to flee the home and ran to a nearby elementary school for help.

The girl did not know her alleged attackers but told authorities she did recognize them from her high school.

The 18-year-old girl said she was dragged from a hallway at Cypress Springs High School (pictured) in Houston by a male student last month when she was walking to class

A student who was interviewed by police said he heard discussions about 'flipping' the teenage girl,' KTRK reports. Flipping means having sex with someone and then passing the person on to someone else so they too can have sex.

The three suspects were arrested by authorities after they reviewed surveillance footage.

Broadway and Rizig are being held on $30,000 bail. Jeng was freed after posting bail for the same amount.

Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District officials said they were cooperating with law enforcement during the investigation.

'We are extremely concerned by the serious nature of the charges that lead to the arrest of three Cypress Springs High School students,' officials said in a statement.
A man who allegedly tasered a pregnant woman during a home invasion has been arrested at the same home he raided.

Police found the 36-year-old man hiding at the Morphett Vale property, south of Adelaide, on Thursday morning, The Advertiser reported.

On Wednesday, officers arrived at the property just 9.30pm after reports of a break-in and assault.

Scroll down for video

A man, 36, has been arrested after he allegedly tasered a pregnant woman during a violent home invasion

The man allegedly forced his way into the house, while two women he knew were inside.

He allegedly stole two mobile phones and a purse, before tasering the pregnant woman and fleeing the property.

The victim was not seriously injured, but was taken to the Flinders Medical Centre to be checked and discharged later that evening, 7News reported.

It is alleged he returned early in the morning and hid at the property.

Investigators returned to the property the following day to search the house, but were refused entry.

In their second attempt, additional police were called to secure the premise.

The man was arrested and taken to the Christies Beach police station where he was charged with aggravated serious criminal trespass, assault, breach of bail and theft.

He faced the Christies Beach and was refused bail.

It is believed he stole two mobile phones and a purse, before tasering the pregnant woman and fleeing the Morphett Vale house

The following morning, police raided the home and found the man. He was arrested and taken to the Christies Beach police station where he was charged with aggravated serious criminal trespass, assault, breach of bail and theft

A woman, allegedly present during the invasion, was also arrested by police and released on bail.

She will face court in February.
A man has been arrested after dropping his pants in the middle of a busy street and flashing his genitals at passing vehicles.

The 41-year-old, who police described as 'cheeky', was caught on CCTV as he whipped off his underwear and gestured towards cars outside a nightclub.

The flasher was arrested following the incident, which took place on Mitchell Street, Darwin, and fined $432.

Chilly night? Police preserved the man's modesty with a small Christmas present

Security cameras captured the moment the grown man took off his trousers just before 1am today.

'After a skinful of Christmas cheer this 41-year-old thought it was a good idea to stand in the middle of the road, pull down his pants and moon passing vehicles,' Northern Territory Police duty superintendent Louise Jorgensen said.

'No one was impressed with his antics. The cheeky male was apprehended and conveyed to the Watch house,' she added.

Northern Territory Police edited the CCTV images, adding a Christmas present and a 'Ho Ho Ho' banner over the man's private parts, before releasing them to the public.

The man spent the early hours of this morning in a police cell before he was fined $432 for indecent behaviour.

His name has not been released.
Advertisement

Today Brooklyn is both beloved and teased for being a so-called hipster capital, home to some of New York's cutest coffee shops, artisanal pizzerias and even the infamous Rainbow Bagel.

But rewind 10 years ago and much of the borough, specifically in the Bushwick, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Queensbridge neighborhoods, only made headlines when it came to shootings and gang violence.

It was a world that seemed impenetrable to outsiders, until a Serbian photographer befriended a gang that gave him an inside look into the streets - and the criminals, cops, children and crack addicts who inhabited them.

Boogie's gripping black and white photographs are now being re-released in an updated 10th anniversary edition of It's All Good.

Photographer Boogie's gripping black and white photographs of the Bushwick, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Queensbridge neighborhoods in the early 2000s are being re-released in an updated 10th anniversary edition of It's All Good

The Serbian photographer was given incredible insider access to the Brooklyn gangs after befriending them one day in 2003. Pictured here is a shotgun named 'The Terminator', with Bloods members' bandannas covering it

But Boogie didn't just document the gangs. He took to the streets to chronicle the lives of both the drug pushers and the people who got addicted to their stash. Pictured here is a woman named Christie lighting up a crack pipe

The updated edition harks back not only to a different time in much of Brooklyn, but also one in Boogie's own career.

Although he now shoots major campaigns for Nike, Puma, and HBO, in the early 2000s Boogie was still new to New York and taking pictures on the side as he picked up any work he could find.

The very first time he found himself walking through Bedford-Stuyvesant in 2003, Boogie - whose real name is Vladimir Milivojevich - met some gang members who struck up a conversation with him.

'I guess it was my accent - I don't sound like anyone they hate,' Boogie told Vice as he recalled the chance encounter.

Just 10 days later the group asked Boogie to take some pictures of them posing with their guns, an experience he said was 'insane'.

'We were running around the hallways with guns, loaded guns, pointed at my face,' he said. 'I couldn't sleep that night, but the next day I went back for more.'

It was this photo that started it all. A group of gang members befriended Boogie and asked him to take pictures of them holding loaded guns, which they pointed right at his face as he snapped the shutter

Boogie wanted to build trust with his subjects, who in return gave him incredible access to their inner-lives

Pictured here is a warning sign from the Latin Kings' to a snitch. Boogie said he later heard the guy was killed

Among the pictures of violence and drugs were moments of love. These two have a child but are no longer together

Boogie wanted to build trust with his subjects, who in return gave him incredible access to their inner-lives.

They took him into their homes and safe houses where they kissed their loved ones, counted their money and shot up drugs.

'People always say you shouldn't cross certain lines, but the deeper you go the better shots you take, and no one can tell you where those lines are,' he said.

'Then, all of a sudden, you're in the middle of madness and it becomes very interesting.'

There are pictures warning of violence: A dangling dead rat left by the Latin Kings' to warn a snitch, a massive shotgun dubbed 'The Terminator', a once white floor now streaked with blood.

But there are also photographs that capture the sadness of these neighborhoods, the children who are being babysat by Boogie while their mother buys drugs or a 23-year-old woman shooting up in a bathtub.

There are plenty of pictures of guns and cash, but Boogie doesn't think his pictures glamorize what life is like on the streets

Boogie documented the stark reality of drug addiction, admitting he was especially haunted after watching a 23-year-old girl shoot up drugs in a bathroom

Boogie said he was surprised to learn that only the 'top guys make serious money' in the drug business, and that many of the 'kids' on the streets are 'killing each other over $20'

And his photographs show the reality of that, such as this picture of a blood-stained floor

There are also plenty of pictures of guns and cash, but Boogie doesn't think his photographs glamorize what life is like on the streets.

'One thing that surprised me was the amount of money people were actually making,' he said.

'They would probably make more money working at McDonald's than selling crack on the street. Only the top guys make serious money. These kids are killing each other over $20.'

'I think it's rough, it's hard, and it's s****y that people die over $20.'

The updated edition also includes new pictures that Boogie took after he gained even more access with the gang members following the first book's release.

'After the first edition of It's All Good came out, I took it to the gangsters and they loved it,' he said. 'They took me to some safe house and showed me all kinds of other shit.'

'When I said, "Dudes, I needed this for my book, why are you showing me this now?" they were like, "Man, you could have put us all in prison man.'"

'"Now you can see it all.'"

The updated edition also includes new pictures that Boogie took after he gained even more access with the gang members when the first book came out, when they fully trusted he wouldn't send them to prison

Boogie said one of the worst things he saw while shooting was a pit bull killing a cat

Boogie said he believes his photos show the 'rough and hard' reality that many of these neighborhoods live every day
Donald Trump has reacted angrily to a union leader who questioned figures the President-elect gave to workers - saying he had done a 'terrible job'.

Trump hit out at Chuck Jones, president of United Steelworks 1999, on Twitter last night.

Jones had accused the Republican of lying about the number of jobs saved when air conditioner firm Carrier Corp scaled back a move from Huntington, Indianapolis, to Monterrey in Mexico.

After Trump's tweets, he said, he has received threatening calls from strangers, while former Labor Secretary Robert Reich has described the President-elect as 'mean and petty, thin-skinned and vindictive'.

Scroll down for video

Donald Trump, who visited the Indianapolis Carrier factory with Vice President-elect Mike Pence last week, has been accused of running a 'dog and pony show'

Trump hit out at union leader Chuck Jones on Twitter, claiming he had done a 'terrible job'

The union leader had said Trump was taking credit for rescuing 350 jobs which were never under threat.

Speaking to the Washington Post on Tuesday, Jones said Trump was wrong to tell workers at the Indiana plant that parent company United Technologies had made a deal and agreed to keep 1,100 jobs in the US.

The deal was struck between Carrier and the Indiana governors office, which is run by Vice President-elect Mike Pence.

Trump and Pence visited the company's plant on December 1, but Jones accused them of running a 'dog and pony show' around the deal.

He said the company had agreed to save 800 jobs in Indiana, but 550 of his union members were still losing their jobs.

Chuck Jones, pictured having coffee with Bernie Sanders in May, accused Trump of lying about the number of jobs that had been saved

Trump blasted Chuck Jones on Twitter, saying he was doing a 'terrible job', but has been accused of bullying

In response, Trump tweeted: 'Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers.'

In a second tweet, Trump suggested Jones should 'Spend more time working - less time talking', and said the union should 'reduce dues'.

The union leader said he had received a number of calls after Trump blasted him on Twitter.

He told MSNBC: 'Nothing that says theyre gonna kill me, but, you know, you better keep your eye on your kids. We know what car you drive. Things along those lines.'

.@RBReich calls out Trump on union boss tweet: Stop acting 'thin-skinned and vindictive' https://t.co/4XN0vS8QQmhttps://t.co/gGC3t4Zh6j  Anderson Cooper 360 (@AC360) December 8, 2016

Trump came under fire from former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, who accused Trump of 'bullying'.

He said to Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN: 'With all due respect, Mr Trump, you are our President-elect of the United States.
Funding: In 2014 the Department for International Development (DfiD) paid 26,000 to hire Channel 4 News presenter Krishnan Guru-Muthy to host a session at a two-day aid conference in Mexico.

Aid spending on consultants has doubled to 1billion in just four years including huge bills to hire broadcasters from the BBC and Channel 4, it emerged last night.

The vast spending also included 1million for Nigeria, which was shared with US bank JP Morgan and a law firm to advise the African nation on how to spend its vast oil wealth.

Aid to Nigeria has been particularly controversial as the oil-rich country has its own space programme.

In 2014 the Department for International Development (DfiD) paid 26,000 to hire Channel 4 News presenter Krishnan Guru-Muthy and 14,000 to hire BBC broadcaster Zainab Badawi to host sessions at a two-day aid conference in Mexico.

Last night Mr Guru-Muthy promised to give his fee to an international development charity - minus the tax he paid - claiming had no idea it was funded by the Government but Ms Badawi declined to comment, The Times said.

Analysis of 70,000 financial transactions revealed consultancy spending has increased sharply since 2012. Almost half the spending goes to just ten British companies.

The newspaper also reported extraordinary lavish spending on individual contracts.

2015: Britain's overall foreign aid budget is now so swollen it accounts for 1 in every 7 given by rich countries. A global study shows the 28 leading industrialised nations handed out 86billion between them last year

In another case two consultants were separately paid 12,000 to produce a single six page 'how to' note on disaster resilience.

Another two were paid 15,100 to write a 30-page discussion paper.

Last night Mr Guru-Murthy said he would give his fee to an international development charity, and claimed he was not aware at the time that Dfid was funding the project.

Dfid (headquarters pictured) gave half of its spending to just ten British companies since 2012

Miss Patel is thought to have said privately she will not 'tolerate the profiteering by those who have created an industry out of the suffering of the world's poorest.'

The revelations will increase controversy over Britain's ballooning international aid budget, which now tops a staggering 12billion.

It is due to increase every year as long as the economy grows, after David Cameron passed a law forcing the government to spend 0.7 per cent of GDP on foreign aid every year.

Backbench Tory MPs critical of the law say it prioritises how much is spent over choosing good projects or avoiding waste and corruption.

Earlier this year it emerged the UK could be sued after building a useless 285 million runway on the remote island of St Helena.

Strong cross winds make it impossible for planes to land - but local investors have already spent a fortune preparing for new tourists and want to claim their money back.

On taking the job, Miss Patel - who had previously called for the department to be scrapped, admitted aid money was being wasted and stolen.

And she promised to pour hundreds of millions into immigration hotspots to try and deter mass migration to the UK and Europe.

A DfID spokesman said: 'DfID is one of the most transparent development agencies in the world and we expect the sector to adhere to the highest standards to achieve the best results for the world's poorest and value for money for the British taxpayer. UK Aid has a life-changing impact on the ground, but DfID can and will do more.
A woman has been charged following the deaths of three Aboriginal people who died after drinking toxic moonshine brewed in northwest New South Wales.

Roger Adams, 37, his long-term partner Sandra Boney, 40, and her brother Norman Boney, 46, lived near Collarenebri when they died within two months of each other in early 2015 after drinking contaminated alcohol.

Mary Miller, 56, was on Tuesday charged with four counts of selling liquor without a licence and three counts of selling at an unlicensed premises.

Mary Miller, 56, (pictured) was on Tuesday charged with four counts of selling liquor without a licence and three counts of selling at an unlicensed premises.

A woman has been charged following the deaths of three Aboriginal people who died after drinking toxic moonshine (pictured) brewed in northwest New South Wales

Roger Adams, 37, his long-term partner Sandra Boney, 40, and her brother Norman Boney, 46, lived near Collarenebri when they died within two months of each other in early 2015 after drinking contaminated alcohol

A coronial inquest last month found the trio had died in hospital from pneumonia, but it was the ingestion of methanol that caused them to become ill and contributed to their deaths.

Medical and police records before the inquest showed Mr Adams, Ms Boney and Mr Boney were alcoholics.

But the evidence overwhelmingly supported the fact that prior to the introduction of the moonshine, all three were relatively healthy and participating in life on the reserve, NSW Coroner Helen Barry found.

Lavinia Flick, the chief executive executive of the Aboriginal Land Council in Collarenebri, told the ABC the community are happy someone has been charged.

'I have spoken to the residents and they were smiling and high-fiving.' Ms Flick said.

Miller is due to appear at Walgett Local Court in January.

Evidence overwhelmingly supported the fact that prior to the introduction of the moonshine (pictured), all three were relatively healthy
A triple killer is to launch a complaint against seven prison guards who he claims failed to stop an attack by notorious armed robber Charles Bronson.

Bronson, 64, reportedly launched a bottle filled with human waste at murderer Kevan Thakrar as he was escorted past his cell in HMP Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

He also allegedly hurled racist abuse at Thakrar, 32, who is serving three life sentences for executing two men and a teenager in cold blood.

A source told the Sun that Thakrar is now planning to take action against the guards who were with him at the time, claiming they failed to intervene.

Charles Bronson, 64, left, reportedly launched a bottle filled with human waste at murderer Kevan Thakrar, 32, right, as he was escorted past his cell in HMP Wakefield, West Yorkshire

The source said: 'He is saying that the prison officers allowed this incident to take place because he was with seven of them and it still happened. But that is not the case. It was just one of those unsavoury things which happen all the time in jail.'

The source added that Bronson, dubbed 'Britain's most violent prisoner', is also being investigated over the attack and might lose some of his privileges.

Thakrar has made at least 16 claims since he was jailed in 2008.

His grievances have included the loss of a mug, milk going missing from his cell, not being given adequate footwear and shampoo being squirted over his CDs.

In four cases, the Ministry of Justice has had to pay out a total of 1,950 in compensation for lost or damaged property.

Kevan Thakrar, pictured, has made at least 16 claims since he was jailed in 2008

The cost to the MoJ of fighting 11 completed cases was 60,911 and five ongoing legal battles have taken another 37,370 from the public purse  a total of 98,281.

Thakrar was jailed for life in 2008 after he and his brother Miran used a submachine gun to kill Keith Cowell, 52, his son Matthew, 17, and Tony Dulieu, 33, in a drug-related revenge plot.

He was cleared of attempted murder after attacking three guards with a glass bottle at HMP Frankland in County Durham in 2010.

A Prison Service spokesman said: 'On 24 November, two prisoners at HMP Wakefield were involved in an incident. Investigations continue to be underway and it would be inappropriate to comment further.'
The son of Sopranos actor Michael Imperioli has been arrested for spray-painting a swastika in a dorm at SUNY Purchase College.

Vadim Imperioli, 19, was charged with criminal mischief in the fourth degree and has an arraignment scheduled for January 17.

The incident took place on November 20, when the swastika was discovered on a billboard.

A second incident around the same time involved the scrawling of 'Black Lives Don't Matter' somewhere on campus. That incident is still being investigated, according to The Journal News.

Budding comedian Vadim Imperioli (left), 19, was charged with criminal mischief in the fourth degree for allegedly drawing a swastika on college dorm wall. His father, Michael (right), rose to fame playing Christopher Moltisanti, the protege of mobster Tony Soprano on HBOs 'The Sopranos'

Michael Imperioli won best supporting actor Emmy Award in 2004 for his role as Christopher Moltisanti (left) in The Sopranos

In an email to students on November 29, campus Police Chief Dayton Tucker wrote: 'I am pleased to announce that the NYS University Police has made an arrest in one of last weeks graffiti cases involving the rendering of swastikas.'

Imperiolis Facebook profile lists him as a film student at Purchase, but his attorney told the judge on Tuesday: 'I dont believe hes still going to that school'.

He did not say whether Imperioli was expelled or left by choice.

His father Michael rose to fame playing Christopher Moltisanti, the protege of mobster Tony Soprano on HBOs 'The Sopranos' - a role that won him a best supporting actor Emmy Award in 2004.

The younger Imperioli graduated from Santa Barbara High School in California and was a cinema-studies undergraduate at Purchase, likely a freshman.

In a stand-up routine recorded when he was at Santa Barbara High School, and viewable on YouTube, Imperioli joked: 'They say you are what you eat. I dont remember eating a huge letdown to my parents.'

A swastika was found spray-painted in a dorm at SUNY Purchase College (pictured here). Son of actor, Michael Imperioli, Vadim, was arrested for the incident and charged with criminal mischief

He appeared at Harrison Town Court on Tuesday to answer an unrelated petit larceny charge involving the unauthorized use of a car on October 13.

Assistant District Attorney Catalina Blanco Buitrago asked a judge to double Imperioli's $5,000 bail due to his outstanding charge and a 'disregard for the property of others'.

Imperiolis bail was raised to $6,500.

This is not the first time swastikas have appeared on the Purchase campus. In March 2015, a similar incident occurred when swastikas were found painted in a dorm room.

Raymond Turchioe, 18, was arrested by Purchase College police and charged with first-degree aggravated harassment - a felony.
Chris Ostwald, 54, was shocked when his 'Really British' store became the centre of a racism storm after it opened in Muswell Hill, north London

A shopkeeper has been branded 'racist' after opening a store that celebrates being British.

Chris Ostwald, 54, was shocked when his 'Really British' shop became the centre of a racism storm after it opened in Muswell Hill, north London.

Mr Ostwald wants to back our businesses and sells nostalgic British goods - but instead of creating national pride, he caused a furore.

Locals were furious with the businessman's patriotic message and he has suffered such an onslaught of criticism that he was forced to take down his Union flags.

Mr Ostwald also said that one of his female assistants, a Spanish national, walked out after just one day after being subject to a barrage of abuse.

Many of his critics, in the largely pro-Remain borough of Haringey, have accused him of being insensitive during a period of heightened cultural tension.

Mr Ostwald said: 'The shop is in no way meant to be 'political' or 'pro Brexit', but we have had a lot of complaints saying it is or we are 'racist'!

'A guy came in the other day and said, 'what's this, a charity shop?'

'We said, 'no, not at all', and he said, 'well it's racist', and stormed out.'

He added: 'People have been coming in and just tut tutting and walking out again.'

Mr Ostwald has set up his shop selling British-themed gifts, homeware and kitsch in a bid to promote and publicise the best the United Kingdom has to offer.

Mr Ostwald said he was not making a political statement by opening his Really British store

His eclectic range of products include condiments, such as brown sauce, London underground tea towels and 'Muswell Hillbillies' mugs, hailing iconic local band the Kinks album.

He also sells suffragette aprons as well as stocking fillers like old-fashioned compasses.

But his bold decision to call his store 'Really British' has triggered fury on social media.

Mr Ostwald's shop sells British-themed gifts, homeware and kitsch in a bid to promote and publicise the best the United Kingdom has to offer

Michael Wright wrote on public Facebook group Muswell Hill and Friends: 'Chris, while I applaud you setting up a business in Muswell Hill and employing local people I'm curious as to why you decided to call your shop 'Really British' (besides the obvious point that you will sell British-made goods)?

'Like many people I live in London because of its international nature, and for me personally having a big sign on the Broadway saying 'Really British' makes me feel you're implying that other local businesses in the area are therefore somehow 'not really British'.

'Some will no doubt say I'm over-sensitive.

'But I can't help thinking that given the recent divisive referendum and the current political climate you might have chosen a more inclusive name in 2016.'

Criticism: A number of people on the Muswell Hill and Friends Facebook group took issue with the name of the store and suggested it was insensitive

Another person on the group asked: 'Do you have to be really British to work in the shop?'

James Walpole wrote: 'Really British" is a bit of an odd choice so soon after the referendum in a area that voted remain, and I think it will put a lot of people off.

Poster Bridget Rudder said: I think the name is fine providing the shop is selling British made goods? Which are Made in Britain fabrics and raw materials sources in Britain... very unlikely unless they are wares sold by the owner, given our industry is all about importing cheap and selling high, which means if the shop doesn't it is just cleverly playing on the political climate and not supporting British industry... hmm not so British...'

However, while some were outraged, others supported Mr Ostwald.

Liz Waterhouse wrote: Haha I knew someone would soon moan about the name. Errr what country are we in? Get a life!

Wendy Hosford said: He can call his shop want he wants.

Support: Some on the Muswell Hill and Friends Facebook group have defended Mr Ostwald's new best of British shop

Mario Demetriou fumed: Here we go again! Get a grip!! The very best Chris Ostwald, no doubt I will be popping in to support you.

Gary Bennett said: The name is just right. Most people that come to this country love and embrace the British culture. I'm sure this shop will do well with all nationalities.

Mr Ostwald insisted he's simply backing Britain rather than making controversial political statements.

He said: 'When the idea came to me, it was kind of around Brexit time.

Critics have accused Mr Ostwald of being 'racist' and he has been forced to take down his Union flags

'I just thought well now is the time when importing things from Europe is going to cost more money.

'Let's look to our own resources a bit and buy more things from England, promoting our own products,'

'When you go to Sainsbury's, it's all about eat Indian, eat Chinese, eat Italian.

'You have to find the roast dinners somewhere at the back at the bottom shelf.

'They've been pushing continental things for so many years that I feel like we've lost our identity and need to get it back.'

Mr Ostwald has also received critical online reviews, including one querying if his goods are Chinese imports rather than British-made.

But he retorted: 'We intended the shop to be a celebration of 'Englishness' and want to sell things that are quintessentially British.

'A lot of English designers have things made abroad due to the cost of manufacture here in the UK.

'So we think it's OK to sell them as we are promoting the British way of life, if you like, rather than just strictly 'made in the UK' items.'

Haringey is an 'exceptionally diverse and fast-changing borough', according to the hardline Labour-ruled council's website.

It boasts about 270,000 people. Almost two-thirds of the population, and over 70% of young people, are from ethnic minority backgrounds.
A six-year-old was left rather cross by a spelling mistake on a Poundland Christmas decoration after correctly writing the word in a school test.

Maisie Hastings compared the spelling of mistletoe on the decoration her mother Sharon had bought at a store in Norwich with the one in her exam.

And the family then found all the festive hanging heart decorations at another Poundland shop in the city also wrongly read misteltoe kisses.

Unimpressed: Maisie Hastings, of Wymondham, Norfolk, compared the spelling of mistletoe on the decoration her mother Sharon had bought at a store in Norwich with the one in her test

Ms Hastings said the store originally offered her a refund but they will now be sending some gifts to the Year Two pupil from Wymondham, Norfolk.

The mother told the Eastern Daily Press: We checked my daughters spelling test and we all laughed about it as even Maisie whos six could spell it properly.

I checked the spelling online to see if it was American, but no. They are even selling them on their website with the wrong spelling.

Spelling mistake: The family found all the hanging heart decorations at a Poundland store also wrongly read misteltoe kisses

Its unbelievable but incredibly funny. I know things are only a pound but someone should be checking their dictionary and suppliers spellings.

She also told Mirror Online: Maisie was rather cross when we noticed all of them in Poundland were wrong. We laughed - after all it's Poundland - but to a six-year-old its sacrilege.

'We had to listen to her all Sunday evening going on about the incorrect spelling while testing her.

She got ten out of ten by the way. I posted her sad face on Facebook. We find the whole thing very funny. Think the MD should be checking spellings.

Poundland was founded in 1990 and has opened more than 700 stores in Britain.

A spokesman told MailOnline that the company had 'sent Maisie a spelling game to ensure she keeps those cracking spelling skills up'.
A high school student who lunged at his classmates with a knife in the schoolyard before being shot by police snapped after he had been bullied for days, it has been claimed.

The 14-year-old, who has been named locally as Logan Clark, was captured on camera wielding a large blade at fellow students at Procter R. Hug High School in Reno, Nevada, before refusing to put it down.

He was then shot by a school police officer after he failed to follow orders and is currently in a critical condition in a Reno hospital.

Scroll down for video

The teenager can be seen brandishing what looks like two knives at classmates who stand nearby

Blood can seen on the face of the angry teen as he swipes at his peers with huge knife

And now a Facebook post appearing to be from the boy's father, Justin, claims the incident happened because his son was being bullied.

He wrote online: 'To idiots that think Logan was wrong know he was being bullied he is not the kind to back down.

'He brought the knives because he was gonna b jumped and he was the school knew of this and failed to act.' (sic)

During the incident, the school was placed on lock-down prompting many concerned parents to rush to the school gates

One of the parents, Demick Laflamme claimed his son Demick Jr was a friend of the wounded student.

And he told the Reno-Gazette Journal that he believed that Logan had been bullied in the days leading up to the incident.

He explained: 'He is my son's best friend. He's a victim and he's only 15 years old. He is over at my house almost every day.

'He's a good kid. All of his friends like him. Hell, even I love him and I don't like kids.

The teen was shot by a cop and fell to the ground before being taking to hospital

'The kids take bullying into their own hands, and he was shot for it.'

Mr Laflamme also criticised police for their handling of the situation and for shooting the teenager.

He added: 'How could they shoot a kid in front of a bunch of other kids? My kid was right there. He could've been hurt. My son tried to go help (his friend) and the police told him to back off.'

Police had initially declined to confirm reports immediately after the 11.30am shooting that the teen had been armed with a knife.

But Police Chief Jason Soto said that the boy was 'armed with at least one knife and threatening other students' during a fight at the high school in a working class neighborhood on the city's north side.

The armed student failed to comply with the school police officer's verbal commands to drop the knife, and the officer ultimately fired his service weapon, 'striking the student and ... stopping the threat,' Soto said.

Shots fired: Procter R. Hug High School in Reno, Nevada, was put on lockdown after a police-involved shooting

The local school district tweeted that Hug High School was on a 'code red' lockdown

'Once the threat was stopped, the officer immediately began to provide medical aid to the student until emergency medical assistance arrived,' Soto said. He refused to take any questions.

Earlier, one high school freshman Robert Barragan first told the Reno Gazette-Journal that an officer shot a student in the shoulder after the teen pulled a knife and stabbed a classmate during a confrontation outside the school library.

Barragan, told the Gazette-Journal that two male students were fighting outside the school library when the campus officer shot the knife wielding teenager.

However there were no reported injuries other than to the teenager with the knife.

Hug High School was placed under lockdown and the 14-year-old was taken to Renown Regional Medical Center where he was in critical condition with a gunshot wound.

The lockdown was lifted by mid-afternoon and students were released to their parents.

A regional officer-involved shooting team led by Reno police interviewed the campus officer, who was placed on routine paid administrative leave, Reno police officer Tim Broadway said.

Broadway told reporters earlier on Wednesday that more than 40 students witnessed the incident, including many who shot cellphone video that police want to see before the public.

'There's multiple videos out there,' said Broadway, the department spokesman. 'There's some very disturbing video out there. But there are other events that led up to this incident, so please don't react to those.'

Parents wait outside Hug High School after the officer-involved shooting Wednesday

Video courtesy of KOLO

School district officials said classes would resume as scheduled on Thursday.

'Counselors will be available for any student or staff member who needs assistance,' School Superintendent Traci Davis said in a statement.

Several videos have since emerged on social media purporting to show the chaotic moments leading up to the shooting and its bloody aftermath. Daily Mail could not confirm the authenticity of the recordings in question.

In one video, a teenage boy dressed in a T-shirt is seen brandishing a large knife during what appears to be a school fight.
A eight-year-old girl is fighting for life after allegedly being stabbed at a 1million home by a woman who thought the child was possessed by Jesus.

The girl is said to have been in bed asleep when she was knifed in the heart at a five-bedroom townhouse in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, in the early hours of yesterday.

She was taken to the citys Royal Hospital for Sick Children, where her family are being supported by specialist detectives. Reports said she had been stabbed.

An eight-year-old girl is in a critical condition after she was allegedly stabbed by a 48-year-old woman at a 1million home in Edinburgh. Forensic officers are pictured at the home today

A source told The Scottish Sun: 'Its really touch and go. This was an awful incident.

'Its claimed the woman thought the girl was possessed by Jesus.

'There was lots of blood in the house as the woman also suffered some injuries.'

The woman, who cannot be named, was taken to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for treatment.

Yesterday, forensic teams and police could be seen entering the house in Danube Street in the upmarket area of the capital.

One neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: I dont know whats happened there but it must be very serious, the police and forensic team have been there all day and night.

I know the house was sold recently and Ive seen a woman coming and going from the place but I dont know who she is.

Another neighbour said that the woman moved to the large house in June this year.

The girl is said to have been in bed asleep when she was knifed in the heart at a five-bedroom townhouse in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, in the early hours of yesterday

When Ive seen her on the street shes always been very friendly, she said.

She moved in around June and completely gutted the place and I mean gutted it. She replaced everything.

I know that she is a very famous interior designer and designs for hotels and stuff like that. Ive not heard anything about whats happened, Ive been looking on the news all night to see if anything comes up.

The police have not told us anything and it has been quite scary not knowing.

Another local, who was visibly shocked by the incident, said: I really cant believe what has happened, this is such a friendly street.

Other residents said they would see the woman and a little girl walking a dog.

Incident: The woman and child were discovered by police inside the five-bedroom townhouse in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, in the early hours of yesterday

One said: I dont know her very well but Ive spoken with her a couple of times because she has a similar dog to mine.

She seemed friendly but a little shy. She moved in earlier this year and I think it took around six months to renovate the house, it was a major job.

She added: Its such a friendly street, nothing like this ever happens.

A spokesman for Police Scotland said: Police in Edinburgh were called to an address in Danube Street where an eight-year-old girl was found with serious injuries.

She was taken to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children where she remains in a critical condition and specialist detectives are currently supporting her family.

A 48-year-old woman was taken to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary after being found with serious injuries within the address.
A growing number of Muslim migrants are abandoning their religion after arriving in Europe, according to reports from Sweden.

According to a report on a Kurdish news website, Iranians are the most likely to jettison their religion when they move abroad, but many Kurds - whether from Iraq, Turkey or Syria - are also turning away from Islam, as were some Arabs and Afghans.

'Religion is normally inherited among Christians, Jews and Muslims. It is, therefore, usually not viewed as a choice. I abandoned my religion when I felt freed here,' said a Kurdish woman living in Sweden.

An imam gives a sermon during Friday prayers at Stockholm's largest mosque. Around five percent of Sweden's population is now of Muslim origin

HOW MANY MUSLIMS ARE IN EUROPE? As of 2010, there were 4.8 million Muslims in Germany (5.8 percent of the countrys population) and 4.7 million Muslims in France (7.5 percent). In Sweden around 4.8 percent of the population was Muslim, while in Finland it was only 0.8 percent. But those figures and percentages are believed to have risen since 2010, as the migrant crisis has worsened. Europe's biggest Muslim populations are in Russia - 14 million Muslims (10 percent) - while Bulgaria, which has a large Slavic Muslim population (known as Pomaks), dating back from the Ottoman Empire has 13.7 percent Muslims. Source: Pew Research Center Advertisement

The Kurdish woman told Rudaw: 'Many people would renounce their religion if they had the freedom, which we have here. The time has come that we ourselves determine what faith to hold.'

Alan, a Kurd who recently obtained Finnish citizenship, said: 'I didn't fill out information about religion on my son's identity card. He himself can decide what faith to hold when he turns 18 - whether he becomes a Muslim, a Christian or a disbeliever is up to him.'

But an imam's assistant at a mosque in Stockholm told Rudaw: 'We have information that diaspora people abandon their religion, some of them do it for financial gains.'

Humanist organisations in Scandinavia have denied they actively try to turn people away from their religion.

Hans Enderman, a humanitarian activist, said: 'Encouraging people to abandon their religion is not our business. However, we work on systems that restrict individual liberty and impose religion on people.'

Among those who commented on the report was Louie, who posted on Rudaw: 'It would only seem natural that people who have fled Iran, Afghanistan, and more recently Syria and Iraq would question their faith where there has been so much unspeakable evil in the name of religion?'

But Nihad wrote in, responding to the comments of Alan in the story: 'What kind father are you man shame on yourself let you kids decide their choices just wonder if you die and you join the devil in hell.'

And a social media user called Beetleking claimed: 'They are not giving up. They are faking to be Christian so they get asylum easier. I live in Finland and we know this phenomenon.'
Major banks are already planning to shift operations from London to Paris amid fears over Brexit, France's top financial regulator has claimed.

Benoit de Juvigny risked further inflaming tensions ahead of the looming negotiations by boasting about the prospects of business moving across the channel.

He said 'large international banks' have been making detailed preparations, and 'many other companies' have lodged informal inquiries about moving post-Brexit.

Benoit de Juvigny has risked further inflaming tensions ahead of the looming negotiations by boasting about the prospects of business moving across the channel

Mr de Jugivny, secretary general of the AMF, also suggested similar talks are going on across Europe as countries look to raid the City of London's prized assets.

Authorities in Frankfurt, Luxembourg and Amsterdam have said they would welcome banks moving operations from London for when the UK leaves the EU.

Under our current membership terms, British-based financial services companies can operate throughout Europe using so-called passporting rights.

But it is unclear whether that system will be replaced by a similar agreement after Brexit.

In an interview with the BBC's Newsnight, Mr de Jugivny said the French authorities had received a large number of 'informal inquiries' from financial companies.

'But in other cases, especially regarding large international banks, it is a normal informal inquiry but they are already conducting real due dilligence.

'We also receive real practical questions about how they are going to be managed.'

Mr de Jugivny also warned that competition to attract banks could weaken regulation - which has been significantly beefed up around the world since the credit crunch.

'The danger is the race that we could have for a more lenient regulation with a more lenient regulator,' he said.

'I don't believe that [lenient regulation] should be the choice of the UK, but nobody knows.'

The intervention came as Theresa May delivered a stark warning that delays in triggering Brexit would mean people 'lose faith in politicians' as rebels in a key Commons vote denied trying to block the will of the public.

But the Prime Minister indicated she was already looking ahead to the negotiations with the EU - admitting that she expected

'What I've been saying to people is I want to see as smooth and orderly a process as possible,' she said.

'Of course, it's going to be complex because there's a lot to deal with.

Financial services companies in the City of London (pictured) can operate throughout Europe using so-called passporting rights under our current membership terms

'You're not a member of something for 40-odd years and then it's easy.'

Mrs May said voters would become convinced the Westminster establishment was trying to 'pull the wool over their eyes' if quick progress is not made towards implementing the result of the historic referendum.

The message came after the government secured an overwhelming endorsement in parliament last night - with 461 MPs backing Mrs May's determination to trigger Article 50 by March.

Remarkably, 89 MPs voted against the timetable despite June's referendum delivering a record 17.4million people in favour of cutting ties with Brussels.
Passengers on a packed British holiday jet have complained after they were herded off the plane and held for four hours in Tenerife without food or water after the jet took off with a suitcase which did not belong to any of those on board.

Spanish bomb squad officers were called to check out the suspicious package, after it was diverted to Tenerife while flying back to Britain from the Cape Verde Islands.

But holidaymakers on their way home from the idyllic island of Sal have complained after being put in a holding lounge with no drinks or assistance.

Robert Webster, a road surfacing contractor from the Isle of Wight, told Mail Online: 'It was pandemonium. We were treated like terrorists.'

The plane was forced to land at Tenerife on its way back to Britain from the Cape Verde Islands after an apparent mistake with counting the luggage

The Thomas Cook Airlines Airbus A321 landed at Tenerife South airport around 6.30pm last night, just over two hours into its flight to London Gatwick from the Cape Verde Islands, off the west coast of Africa.

Mr Webster, who had been on a 3,000 holiday with his wife, Katie, three-year-old son Hayden and his in-laws, described what happened on board the plane.

He said: 'We had a brilliant holiday. But two hours into the flight we realised something was wrong. All the cabin crew were called up to the front of the plane and the curtains were closed.'

Robert Webster, his wife Katie, and son Hayden (pictured) were not impressed by their treatment by the Spanish authorities but are thankful to be alive after the security breach

Mr Webster, 32, said he was sat close to the curtain and distinctly heard a member of the cabin crew say: 'Oh my God!' as they discussed what had happened.

'You don't want to hear that when you are 35,000 feet up,' he told Mail Online.

Eventually the captain announced they were going to have to land at Tenerife because, after two head counts, they had realised a passenger whose luggage was on the plane was not on board.

Mr Webster said: 'How could the people in Cape Verde allow that to happen? They put us in the air, that could have been absolutely anything in that suitcase. I might not even be sat here talking to you.'

How could the people in Cape Verde allow that to happen? They put us in the air, that could have been absolutely anything in that suitcase. I might not even be sat here talking to you Robert Webster

He said when the plane landed all 212 passengers were taken off and herded to the airport building as the Spanish authorities put a full security operation into place.

'We were held in a room which had no roof, it was freezing cold, and we were not given anything to drink. It took three hours and 45 minutes just to get some bottles of water,' said Mr Webster.

He said: 'It was pandemonium, it was crazy. We were all treated like terrorists. One of the women passengers wanted to storm out of the building and walk across the runway back to the plane because she was so fed up.'

Police bomb disposal experts with sniffer dogs surrounded the plane after it touched down and was taken to an area by the airport fire station out of public view before searching the aircraft and the suspicious suitcase and sounding the all-clear.

Eventually the passengers were allowed back on board and Mr Webster said: 'To be fair to the cabin crew they were all very apologetic and we were given cheese and ham rolls and a complimentary drink. But they insisted it was not their fault and blamed Spanish protocol.'

The plane eventually landed at Gatwick five hours late at just after 3am today.

Mr Webster said it was nearly 6am before his family only checked into their hotel at Gatwick for a few hours' sleep before they had to get up and travel back to Alvertsone on the Isle of Wight.

It is thought the delay was caused by a suitcase being loaded onto the plane but the passenger failing to board

Passenger Sarah Smith complained in a tweet: 'Thomas Cook Airlines flight from Sal with a suitcase onboard but no passenger. Took two hours 30 minutes before we were advised and diverted.'

'Complete security breach both on the ground and on board. Do they not know how to count?'

Spain is currently on terror alert level 4, the second-highest of a scale of five.

A Tenerife South airport official confirmed the pilot of flight MT1157 had asked to land after a 'suspicious package' had been detected in the luggage hold which is though to have belonged to a passenger who failed to board the flight.

It is routine procedure for suitcases to be taken off planes if the passenger who they belong to fails to board.

This procedure was introduced after the Lockerbie disaster in 1988, which was caused by a bomb in a suitcase belonging to a passenger who disembarked at Frankfurt airport without taking the case, which exploded as the Pan-Am jet flew on to New York.

A spokesperson for Thomas Cook Airlines, said: 'Flight MT1157 from Cape Verde to London Gatwick diverted last night as a precautionary measure to Tenerife to investigate a possible discrepancy in the number of bags it was carrying.
A vigilante has claimed an alleged paedophile he was hunting down tried to run him over and kill him as he escaped during a sting.

A man calling himself the 'Coffs Coast Pedo Hunter' travelled to meet a man who allegedly thought he was going to see a 14-year-old girl for sex.

The vigilante's video shows a slew of sickening messages that he claims the man sent, asking who he thought was a teenager to send him explicit images and to meet him for oral sex.

A vigilante has claimed an alleged paedophile (pictured) he was hunting down tried to run him over and kill him as he escaped during a sting

A man calling himself the 'Coffs Coast Pedo Hunter' travelled to meet a man who allegedly thought he was going to see a 14-year-old girl for sex

The video starts by showing the messages, in which the vigilante twice states that he is 14 years old.

The man repeatedly replies asking the supposed teenager to send him pictures of herself, before he sends over two images showing his own face.

The pair discuss oral sex and one of the messages also suggests that the man had previously sent the girl a picture of his genitals.

After discussing a meet up by a jetty somewhere on the Coffs Coast, the video cuts to the vigilante waiting to meet the man in a car park.

'That [car] over there is our potential predator,' the man filming says. 'That's the third time he's driven past me now.

'He's done 30 laps and he's come back because he's a filthy f***ing paedo.'

A car which was supposedly driven by the alleged paedophile drove straight into the vigilante

The man allegedly discussed oral sex with the teenager and is claimed to have tried to meet up with her

The 'paedo hunter' runs across the road as the grey Volkswagen pulls away, shouting for the driver to stop.

But the car continues and drives into the man, smashing him aside.

The video captures a glimpse of the alleged paedophile before the car drives away.

The vigilante claims that the man had attempted to kill him.
Amateur footage of a group of confused fishermen inspecting their latest catch has become an unexpected hit on Chinese social media.

The shaky video, which has been viewed over 150,000 times since it emerged on Tuesday, showed a square fish with a large pout.

It was posted with the caption 'who does this look like' and it took no time at all for web users to point to president-elect Donald Trump, adding to the long list of animals and things that are said to resemble the billionaire.

Chinese netizens have spotted the likeness between US president elect Donald Trump (left) and a square-shaped fish(right) caught in local waters

In the footage, the fishermen were seen picking up and discussing the square-shaped fish they caught.

The fish had yellow markings, a large pout and a nose-like nub on its face.

It kept flipping its fins and its gills and mouth stayed open throughout the one-minute video.

The fish (above) kept flipping its fins and its gills and mouth stayed open throughout the one-minute video

It's not known where and when the fish was caught. Some netizens suggested that the fishermen were conversing in dialect of Taizhou city in eastern China

The clip was posted to Miaopai, a video sharing platform in China, on December 6 and has attracted over 150,000 views so far.

The video was captioned: 'A strange fish captured by fisherman, who does this look like?'

Qi Di Shi Bao, who posted the video, told MailOnline that the answer to his question was 'obviously Trump' and his view was echoed by comments from viewers.

The uploader said he received the clip from other web users on December 5.

It's not known where and when the fish was caught.

Hairstyle of 'Little Red'(left) in a Hanzhou zoo is said to resemble that of Donald Trump(right)

A number of animals and items have been said to look like the billionaire, including an ostrich

Nicknamed the 'Donald Trump Caterpillar', this creature is actually a flannel moth. They are found in Mexico, southern parts of the US, and some parts of central America. This one was found in the Amazon rainforest

A peculiar feline: Hes wearing a wig . . . the cat, that is, not the next President of the USA

Some netizens suggested that the fishermen were conversing in the dialect of Taizhou city in eastern China.

The fish is one of a number of animals and items said to look like the billionaire.

In November, MailOnline reported a golden pheasant named 'Little Red' became popular in China after local media said it looked like the property tycoon.

Previous reports also pointed out the likeness of the businessman to animals such as a caterpillar, cockerel, cat, bunny, groundhog and lion.

Even objects like red pepper and corn were compared to the president-elect.

Funny bunny: A swish with the hairbrush and a long-haired rabbit becomes the perfect Apprentice

Itll be all bite on the night: On the gruelling Republican campaign trail every day is like Groundhog Day

Dogged determination: Thats how Trump has managed to take US politics by storm
A former school cleaner, 63, is accused of sexually abusing children between the ages of 10 to 15 going back to 1995.

Warren Endycott, who worked at Briar Road Public School and Airds High School in the Campbelltown District, Sydney, met his victims socially - not through the schools - detectives allege.

Five men and women have come forward claiming they were assaulted and at least one of his alleged victims is intellectually and physically disabled, Nine news reported.

Scroll down for video

A 63-year-old former school cleaner allegedly sexually assaulted a number of children

I will be alleging that the behaviour used by this man is what we deem to be serial and repeat behaviour which was used to groom and then commit sexual acts upon children., Detective Sergeant Bob Brisby said.

The 63-year-old is also accused of luring the children with alcohol, cigarettes and even money before the assaults took place.

Police allegedly seized a number of items from his Bradbury home including a mobile phone which had 80 child porn photos, after a year long investigation.

A document tendered to the court alleges Endycott told a 10-year-old victim to stay quiet.

Dont tell anyone what happened, because no one will believe you. Youre a child and Im an adult and children lie, the document said.

We know there are more people in the community with information, Detective Sergeant Bob Brisby said.

The accused worked at Briar Road Public School and Airds High School in the Campbelltown District, Sydney, but his victims are not believed to be from the schools
The former Health Secretary - who was forced to quit after he was caught flouting his own Covid lockdown rules with his married aide Gina Coladangelo - has sparked a storm which has seen him ridiculed and even booted out of the parliamentary Tory party. Justifying his decision to fly Down Under, landing in Brisbane this morning, Mr Hancock denied he had 'lost his marbles'. He insisted it was so he can 'go to where the people are - not to sit in ivory towers in Westminster' - and claimed that he will 'promote his dyslexia campaign' and make a donation to a hospice - although not his entire estimated 350,000 pay deal from ITV. But millions are set to punish him for his decision, including MPs. One former minister has threatened 'to vote for him to eat armadillo c**k every night'. Transport Secretary Mark Harper said today that he should 'step down' and didn't deny he would also vote for Hancock to face Bushtucker Trials, smiling as he said: 'That will be between me and my phone'. In Mr Hancock's West Suffolk constituency, Andy Drummond, the cheesed off deputy chairman of the local Conservative Association, said: 'I'm looking forward to him eating a kangaroo's penis'. Incredibly the now independent MP insists that he will still be doing his job as an MP, meaning he will not forego his taxpayer-funded salary for the duration of his trip. He said: 'As an MP, my first priority is to my constituents. I have agreed with the show's producers that I can be reached at any point on any urgent constituency matters'. Yesterday the Prime Minister said he was doing the opposite. The former health secretary also revealed he had twice asked to appear on the show before but accepted the third offer because the government is now 'stable'. Many have pondered whether he made up his mind when he was snubbed by new PM Rishi Sunak at his victory rally last week, which was tacit confirmation his career as a senior MP is over.
Theresa May has delivered a stark warning that delays to Brexit would be catastrophic for trust in politics as rebels in a key Commons vote threatened a rearguard action against the process.

The Prime Minister said the public would become convinced the Westminster establishment was trying to 'pull the wool over their eyes' if quick progress is not made towards implementing the result of the historic referendum.

The message came after the government secured an overwhelming endorsement in parliament last night - with 461 MPs backing Mrs May's determination to trigger Article 50 by March.

Remarkably, 89 MPs voted against the timetable despite June's referendum delivering a record 17.4million people in favour of cutting ties with Brussels.

Scroll down for video

Theresa May (pictured in the Gulf this week) has hailed the outcome of the Brexit debate as a 'welcome step'

Nearly 90 MPs voted to block Brexit last night in the first ever Commons motion calling for the EU divorce process to start by the spring

It came after a bitter debate on Brexit in the Commons chamber that lasted more than six hours.

Downing Street hailed the outcome as a 'welcome step'. 'The vote last night was a welcome step in the sense of we are now in a clear position where Parliament are behind getting on and delivering Brexit and we should focus now on how we get the best outcome for our country,' a spokeswoman said.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mrs May said: 'It's important that we don't leave it for too long, otherwise people will lose faith in their politicians, they'll think that we're trying to pull the wool over their eyes.'

The government is also fighting a legal battle in the Supreme Court over whether the PM has the power to trigger Brexit without a binding vote in both Houses of Parliament and possibly even primary legislation.

But Mrs May indicated she was already looking ahead to the negotiations with the EU - admitting that she expected

'What I've been saying to people is I want to see as smooth and orderly a process as possible,' she said.

'Of course, it's going to be complex because there's a lot to deal with.

'You're not a member of something for 40-odd years and then it's easy.'

Former Tory attorney general Dominic Grieve (left) accused Brexit hardliners of pursuing a 'fantasy' Brexit and ignoring the need to tackle the real issues while Labour ex-cabinet minister Ben Bradshaw (right) said he did not believe promises of a Brexit plan

Speaker John Bercow announced last night that 461 MPs had voted in favour of the Government's plan to trigger Article 50 by the end of March and 89 voted against

Tory grandee Ken Clarke led the resistance against the referendum result in a high profile Commons debate.

He was the only Conservative MP to vote against the motion, joining 23 Labour MPs, five Lib Dems, 51 SNP MPs and 10 others in trying to block the Government's plan to trigger Article 50 by the end of March.

The former Chancellor mocked Theresa May's 'red, white and blue Brexit' slogan and said ministers had no idea what they were doing.

A string of Labour MPs stood up to say they would vote against the majority last night, insisting they would not give the Government a 'blank cheque' on Brexit.

Former Cabinet minister Ben Bradshaw said today that he had not been convinced by Mrs May's concession that she will publish a Brexit 'plan' before triggering Article 50.

The Prime Minister (pictured choosing a design for her Christmas card) was not present for the vote as she was visiting the Gulf

Ken Clarke, pictured during today's debate, mocked the Prime Minister: 'We will be told the ''plan'' is for a ''red, white and blue Brexit''... we need a white paper.'

He suggested there would be a concerted effort to limit the impact of Brexit if issues came before parliament, potentially forcing votes on questions such as whether to leave the single market and customs union.

'We'll see in January what the Government comes up with and I suspect when they come up with not very much, more people, including quite a number of Conservatives may be prepared to vote differently,' Mr Bradshaw told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Tory former attorney general Dominic Grieve said there was a 'fundamental misunderstanding' of the process, agreeing that the Commons vote and the referendum were no more than opinion polls and that the legal position has not changed.

Asked if the vote and the referendum were 'grand opinion polls', Mr Grieve said: 'Yes, that's a very good way of putting it.

'But of course both have great political force, but it doesn't change the law of the land.'

The run-up to the debate on a Labour opposition motion was dominated by the U-turn from Mrs May.

Mr Clarke, pictured left in the Commons today, gave the first signal of serious dissent, accusing ministers of having no idea how to go about delivering Brexit. Nicky Morgan, right, urged the Prime Minister to 'inspire' with a vision of Brexit would look like

THE 89 REMAIN REBELS WHO VOTED TO BLOCK BREXIT Conservatives(1): Ken Clarke Labour (23): Helen Hayes Meg Hillier Peter Kyle David Lammy Chris Leslie Ian Murray Barry Sheerman Tulip Siddiq Angela Smith Catherine West Daniel Zeichner Rushanara Ali Graham Allen Ben Bradshaw Ann Coffey Neil Coyle Stella Creasy Geraint Davies Louise Ellman Jim Dowd Chris Evans Paul Farrelly Mike Gapes Lib Dems (5): Nick Clegg Sarah Olney Mark Williams Alistair Carmichael Tim Farron SDLP (2) Alasdair McDonnell Mark Durkan Plaid Cymru (3) Liz Saville Roberts Hywel Williams Jonathan Edwards Green (1): Caroline Lucas Independent (2): Michelle Thomson Natalie McGarry Labour MP Stella Creasy SNP (51): Hendry, Drew. Stewart Hosie George Kerevan Calum Kerr Chris Law Angus MacNeil John Mc Nally Callum McCaig Stuart McDonald Anne McLaughlin Carol Monaghan Paul Monaghan Roger Mullin Gavin Newlands John Nicolson Brendan O'Hara Kirsten Oswald Steven Paterson Margaret Ritchie Angus Robertson Alex Salmond Tommy Sheppard Chris Stephens Alison Thewliss Mike Weir Catherine West Eilidh Whiteford Philippa Whitford Corri Wilson Pete Wishart Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh Hannah Bardell Mhairi Black Ian Blackford Kirsty Blackman Philip Boswell Deirdre Brock Alan Brown Lisa Cameron Chapman. Douglas Joanna Cherry Ronnie Cowan Angela Crawley Martyn Day Martin Docherty-Hughes Stuart Blair Donaldson Marrion Fellows Margaret Ferrier Stephen Gethins Patricia Gibson Patrick Grady Peter Grant Advertisement

The Prime Minister will now provide a 'plan' to MPs on her Brexit strategy - but in return has demanded the Commons endorse her planned timetable of invoking Article 50 of the EU treaties to start Brexit before the end of March.

Mrs May missed the vote - which was not legally binding but has political weight - because she was in the Middle East on Government business.

Before the main debate began, Commons leader David Lidington - standing in for Theresa May at PMQs - warned rebels opposing the motion would 'thwart the outcome of the referendum in most undemocratic fashion'.

He told MPs the plan would include some detail on the 'negotiating strategy and objectives' of the Government.

Grandee Mr Clarke gave the first signal of serious dissent, slamming a lack of 'proper Cabinet government' and warning: 'Ministers have no idea what the strategy is anyway and disagree with each other.'

He mocked the Prime Minister telling MPs: 'We will be told the ''plan'' is for a ''red, white and blue Brexit''... we need a white paper.'

Mr Clarke slammed the 'pathetic level of debate on both sides of the referendum'.

He said: 'The public did vote by a majority to leave the European Union. They did not vote for anything on the subject of replacements for the European Union.'

Former Labour leader Ed Miliband slammed the Government for wrapping support for Brexit into 'patriotism'

Arch-remainer Nicky Morgan, the former Tory education secretary, said she would vote for the amendment but warned the Government it had to be open in its negotiations.

She said: 'We need ministers from the Prime Minister downwards to inspire as well as engage on this issue and to be clear what 2019 and onwards will look like for this country.'

SNP MP Angus MacNeil (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) warned the Government would be leading a 'cowardly Brexit' if it failed to give answers.

He said: 'No answers is not a black Brexit or a white Brexit. It's not a red, white and blue Brexit.

'No answers is a yellow Brexit. It's a cowardly Brexit.'

Standing in at PMQs, David Davis (pictured during the debate last night) said the entire Commons should get behind the Prime Minister

Mr Davis said all MPs should back a Government amendment that promises a plan for quitting the EU in return for supporting starting talks before the end of March

Mr MacNeil said such an approach would show the Government has 'absolutely no idea' what it is trying to do.

But opening the debate for the Government, Mr Davis said: 'Our amendment lays out an important challenge to opposition MPs who say they respect the result of the referendum but whose actions suggest they are looking for every opportunity to thwart and delay it.

'We will see today if they are willing to back the Government in getting on with implementing the decision made by the people of the United Kingdom.'

As the Commons debate began, shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer set out his demands for what Mrs May must provide in her plan for quitting the EU

In his speech, Mr Davis said it was 'inevitable' MPs would get a vote on the final Brexit deal - but said a rejection of it would not reverse Brexit.

But he warned 'the most destructive thing' to hopes of a good deal would be to promise a second national referendum on the deal.

Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer warned the Government it must publish its outline for Brexit well ahead of any vote, to allow any amendments to be considered from both sides of the House.

But he was forced to insist Labour did not intend to delay the process beyond the end of March, amid pressure from a number of Tory MPs.

Commons leader David Lidington - standing in for Theresa May at PMQs - warned rebels opposing the motion would 'thwart the outcome of the referendum'

MPs will vote at 7pm following the conclusion of today's debate

Former Labour leader Ed Miliband slammed the Government for wrapping support for Brexit into 'patriotism'.

He said those who backed Remain had done so for patriotic reasons, insisting: 'We are not seeking proper scrutiny because of a lack of patriotism.

'We believe in the unity of this country.

'We believe this country has got to be brought together.'

Theresa May, pictured today addressing the Gulf Cooperation Council, has confronted rebel Tory MPs head-on by announcing a surprise vote on her timetable for triggering Article 50 today

Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir said Labour will accept the Government's amendment, meaning the revised motion will be easily passed by MPs at 7pm.

He hailed the 'hugely significant climb down from the Government' as a victory for Labour.

And writing in The Times, he said: 'We will also push for a plan to be published by January 2017 so that the House of Commons, the devolved administrations, the Brexit select committee and the British people have a chance to scrutinise it.'

Mrs May herself missed the vote as she was not back from her visit to the Middle East.

The Liberal Democrats have vowed to oppose it and senior Labour MP Ben Bradshaw revealed unease within the opposition on endorsing Article 50 before a plan is published.

In return for a vote on Article 50, Mrs May had to concede to publishing a plan for Brexit

The wording of the amendment, which calls on the Government to invoke Article 50 and start the Brexit process before the end of March, is significant as this statement could potentially aid the Government's case at the Supreme Court.

Government lawyers are trying to overturn a High Court ruling that said Mrs May does not have the power to trigger official Brexit talks without Parliament's consent.

While the new amendment will not be law, if passed it could be seen as an expression of the 'will' of Parliament.

Downing Street said this was not the intention of the amendment.

If the Supreme Court does demand legislation to trigger Article 50, an agreed Commons motion would be politically useful with it comes to a vote.

Labour's motion says 'there should be a full and transparent debate on the Government's plan for leaving the EU.

It also calls on the Prime Minister to ensure this House is able properly to scrutinise that plan for leaving the EU before Article 50 is invoked'.

Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer is set to press a motion that 'calls on the Prime Minister to commit to publishing the Government's plan for leaving the EU before Article 50 is invoked'

The motion, tabled by leader Jeremy Corbyn and shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer, was carefully drafted to maximise Conservative support and is certain to be backed by the SNP, Liberal Democrat and the vast majority of Labour MPs.

WHAT WERE MPS VOTING ON? MPs voted on two motions in Labour's Opposition Day debate on Brexit yesterday. Labour's motion, tabled by leader Jeremy Corbyn and shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer, read: 'That this House recognises that leaving the EU is the defining issue facing the UK; 'Notes the resolution on parliamentary scrutiny of the UK leaving the EU agreed by the House on 12 October 2016; 'Recognises that it is Parliament's responsibility to properly scrutinise the Government while respecting the decision of the British people to leave the European Union; 'Confirms that there should be no disclosure of material that could be reasonably judged to damage the UK in any negotiations to depart from the European Union after Article 50 has been triggered; 'And calls on the Prime Minister to commit to publishing the Government's plan for leaving the EU before Article 50 is invoked.' A total of 448 MPs voted in favour of this motion, with 75 against - a majority of 373. The Government moved at the last minute to avoid a Tory rebellion by accepting the Labour motion but added a key condition that Article 50 must be triggered by the end of March. Its amendment read: 'Consistently with the principles agreed unanimously by this House on 12 October; 'Expects that this House will respect the wishes of the UK as expressed in the referendum on 23 June; 'And further calls on the Government to invoke Article 50 by 31 March 2017.' A total of 461 MPs voted in favour of the Government's timetable, with 89 voting against. Advertisement

A Downing Street spokesman stressed the amendment was 'a separate issue' from the Government's Supreme Court battle to overturn a ruling that it should obtain Parliament's approval before triggering Article 50.

The spokesman added: 'The Prime Minister has been clear that we will set out our plans in due course. That remains the position.

'We won't be showing our negotiating hand until we have to, but we have not suggested we will not set out the position. That's what the amendment goes to.'

Welcoming the significant climb down from No 10, Mr Starmer said: 'For the last two months Labour have been pushing the Government to put their plan for Brexit before Parliament and the public.

'Without that plan, we have had unnecessary uncertainty, speculation and a running commentary on the Government's likely approach.

'The Government have now agreed to publish that plan, and to do so before Article 50 is invoked.'

He added: 'Labour will hold the Government to account on this. We will also push for a plan to be published no later than January 2017 so that the House of Commons, the devolved administrations, the Brexit Select Committee and the British people have a chance to scrutinise it.'

Senior Tory MP and leading Eurosceptic Steve Baker urged all MPs to back the amendment.

He said: 'Every MP should respect the result by voting with the Government for this excellent amendment to trigger Article 50 on the Prime Minister's schedule.'

Ex-Tory minister Anna Soubry - who backed Remain in June - on Monday broke cover and said she could see nothing in the Labour motion she 'could not support' - raising fear pro-EU Tories could join forces with Labour to defeat Mrs May.

The Government retreated from a Commons battle over another motion in October, allowing a motion demanding 'proper' Parliamentary scrutiny to pass unopposed.

The new motion went significantly further and a first Commons defeat on the issue would have been acutely embarrassing and politically damaging for Mrs May.

Remain campaigner Anna Soubry, pictured last week, said she could see little in the motion she could not support

NOW TORY MP GRANT SHAPPS CHANGES HIS MIND ABOUT BREXIT Tory MP Grant Shapps has become the latest Remain campaigner to change his mind about Brexit. The former Conservative party chairman said he is now 'backing Brexit all the way, as hard as you like' and is 'bullish about the UK's future'. He follows Niall Ferguson, one of Britain's most influential historians, in going public about how he was wrong about Brexit. Mr Ferguson was one of the most vociferous supporters of Britain staying in the EU before the referendum but yesterday admitted he was wrong and admitted he - and the rest of the elite - had failed to listen to voters concerned about immigration. Today Mr Shapps explained that he had decided to vote for Remain in the referendum because 'divorce can be one of the most stressful things in life' and said he backed staying in the EU to avoid the uncertainty it would cause business. Writing in a blog post for the Brexit Central website, he said that since June's Brexit vote his 'natural caution has given way to a feeling of optimism'. 'I've come up with a new hobby of spotting the Brexit dividends where some commentators can only see doom and gloom,' he writes. Advertisement

Referendum is dismissed as just an opinion poll

By Jason Groves, Deputy Political Editor

Kenneth Clarke became the sole Tory MP to vote against the Government's Brexit timetable last night  as he dismissed the referendum as an 'opinion poll'.

The Tory former chancellor, who campaigned for years for Britain to join the euro, led opposition to the triggering of Brexit, saying ministers had 'no idea' what they were doing.

In an extraordinary swipe at Theresa May, he said even Tony Blair had held a Commons vote on the Iraq War rather than trying to bypass parliament by using powers of the royal prerogative.

Mr Clarke said it was time to 'return to proper cabinet government'  and MPs should be given a binding vote on the Government's detailed plans before the Brexit process is triggered.

The Tory former chancellor, who campaigned for years for Britain to join the euro, led opposition to the triggering of Brexit, saying ministers had 'no idea' what they were doing




A Sydney court has detailed how a young woman died after her boyfriend gave her three MDMA capsules at DJ party.

Jordan Duffy, 19, who has previously pleaded guilty to drug supply appeared in Newtown Local court on Thursday.

A statement of agreed facts tendered in court outlined how Duffy's girlfriend Janie Panton Roberts started vomiting when she returned home from a party at the Petersham Inn, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

A statement of agreed facts tendered in court outlined how Duffy's girlfriend Janie Panton Roberts (pictured left with Jordan Duffy) Roberts started vomiting when she returned home from a party at the Petersham Inn

The couple arrived at the Petersham Inn shortly before 9pm on June 4.

At about 10.30pm a work college of Duffy's, who had invited him to the party, arrived and supplied him with seven MDMA capsules throughout the course of the night.

The facts state Duffy had four himself and gave three capsules to his girlfriend 'without financial gain.'

The pair left the party at 2.30am before Ms Roberts vomited both outside the venue and when they got home to an Addison Road unit at 3am.

When his girlfriend fell asleep Duffy left the house. He returned home at 5.30am to find her still asleep, he told police.

Duffy saw his girlfriend 'gasping for air' when he woke up at 8.45am on June 5, according to the facts.

Duffy performed CPR on Ms Roberts (pictured) while he was waiting for the ambulance, but when paramedics arrived she could not be revived

The 21-year-old woman took drugs at the music event the day before she died

He yelled out to a friend who was sleeping in the lounge room. The friend then ran to a cafe to borrow a phone to call an ambulance.

Duffy performed CPR on Ms Roberts while he was waiting for the ambulance, but when paramedics arrived she could not be revived, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel has insisted a record influx of refugees has not led to a surge in violent crime, despite a spate of high profiles cases.

She said the rape and murder of a German student allegedly committed by a teenage Afghan asylum seeker and the arrest of a 31-year-old Iraqi asylum seeker over sexual assaults on two Chinese students were 'terrible isolated incidents'.

Merkel, whose CDU party is holding its annual conference in the city of Essen, called for 'tough sentencing' where people were convicted of serious crimes.

Angela Merkel (pictured, speaking at the CDU conference in Essen) faces a surge in the polls for the anti-migrant Alternative fur Deutschland party ahead of next year's elections

But she said she had faith in 'the response of Germany's rule of law' and said there was no reason to suspect all refugees.

Merkel, who is planning to run for a fourth term as Chancellor in next year's elections, said: 'We have looked closely at the crime rate among refugees and the picture is varied. That is also the right answer: that you have to differentiate.

'The fact that some people want to exploit that is something we have to withstand and defend ourselves against.'

Iraqi asylum seeker Zaid K (pictured) has been arrested in Germany for sexually assaulting two Chinese students

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, a close Merkel ally, said an official report about crimes committed by refugees, published this week, showed it was unfair to tar all newcomers with the same brush.

He said there were various anomalies in the report - asylum seekers from Georgia, for example, were more likely to be convicted of property crimes.

Merkel is facing growing alarm among Germans about migrant numbers after more than a million asylum seekers were allowed to enter the country last year.

She has been furiously backtracking on some policies in the face of opinion polls which shows a surge in support for the right-wing populist party, the Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD).

On Monday she did a U-turn and said the burka should be banned in Germany 'wherever that is legally possible'.

The AfD this week directly linked Merkel's 'open door' policy on migrants to the sex crimes against the three students.

Earlier this week the German media was full of stories about a 31-year-old Iraqi asylum seeker Zaid K, who has been arrested for sexually assaulting two Chinese students.

The man was seized five days after illegal Afghan migrant Hussein Khavari, 17, was apprehended for the rape and murder of medical student Maria Ladenburger in Freiburg.

Zaid K came to Germany in 2015 and lived with his wife and two children near the scene of the two attacks in the city of Bochum.

Hussein Khavari (right), 17, has been linked by his DNA to the murder of Maria Ladenburger (left), 19, a medical student whose father is a legal adviser to the European Commission in Brussels

Prosecutors say he struck twice: once in August when he seriously injured a 21-year-old student after he attempted to rape her, and again in November.

In the second attack a 27-year-old Chinese woman reported that she was attacked and raped.

Police say the boyfriend of victim number one took photos of the suspect lingering at the crime scene days later. These led detectives to the refugee home where he lived.

Police murder squad chief Roland Wefelscheidt said: 'The photos were pin sharp and we had no trouble identifying him at the asylum centre.'

DNA evidence from both crime scenes has linked him to the attacks, according to police and prosecutors.

The man is now being investigated for other unsolved sex crimes in the area.

The killing of 19-year-old Maria Ladenburger (pictured) has enraged people in Freiburg

Yesterday it was revealed that migrants committed 1,576 sex crimes in Germany in 2015. In the first half of this year the figure already stood at 1683.

The most notorious sex attacks occurred in Cologne on New Year's Eve when mobs of North African men sexually assaulted and robbed hundreds of women.

Internet abuse against migrants is rising since the arrest last Friday of the Afghan teen accused of murdering Maria Ladenburger in October.

Maria, daughter of a high-ranking EU bureaucrat, was ironically a refugee helper in her spare time. She was taped then drowned in a river after her attacker ambushed her as she rode home on her bicycle from a party.
A doctor who was convicted over the death of a six-year-old boy has lost her appeal.

Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba was convicted, along with agency nurse Isabel Amaro, of the manslaughter of Jack Adcock at Nottingham Crown Court in November last year.

Jack, who had Down's syndrome and a heart condition, died at Leicester Royal Infirmary in February 2011, hours after being admitted with sickness and vomiting.

Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba (right) was convicted, along with agency nurse Isabel Amaro, of the manslaughter of Jack Adcock (left)

Bawa-Garba argued before three senior judges in London that her trial was unfair because the judge misdirected the jury.

But Sir Brian Leveson ruled today: 'We have come to clear conclusion that none of the grounds of appeal are, in fact, arguable'.

Jack's parents, Nicky and Vic, who live in Glen Parva, Leicestershire, were not in court to hear the decision.

Zoe Johnson QC, for Bawa-Garba, told he court Jack was 'extremely ill' when he was admitted to the hospital.

He arrived at hospital at about 10.25am and his condition deteriorated, before he eventually went into cardiac arrest at about 8pm.

The barrister added that it was unclear whether Jack would have survived even with correct and timely treatment.

And she argued that the judge, Mr Justice Nicol, had given jurors wrong instructions on how to assess whether Jack's death was caused by negligence.

'We submit that there is a difference between accelerating death and prolonging life,' said the barrister.

Jack, who had Down's syndrome and a heart condition, died at Leicester Royal Infirmary in February 2011, hours after being admitted with sickness and vomiting

'The Crown had to prove that treatment would have prolonged life and, therefore, failure to treat accelerated death'.

But Sir Brian, sitting with Mr Justice Openshaw and Mr Justice Males said they were 'merely different sides of the same coin'.

Criticism of an analogy the judge drew between Jack's death and the 'unlawful shooting of a mortally wounded prisoner' were also rejected.

Andrew Thomas QC, for the Crown, earlier told the court Jack 'didn't even flinch' when he had a cannula inserted into his hand.

He added that, as well as having pneumonia, it should have been 'perfectly obvious to any competent doctor' that he was in shock.

Jack's parents, Nicky and Vic said medics did 'pretty much everything wrong' on the day of their son's death

'A negligent failure to provide treatment can either be described as accelerating death or a failure to provide treatment that would have prolonged life.

'For all practical purposes, they are the same,' the barrister argued.

Sir Brian said Bawa-Garba's complaints had been given a detailed hearing because of the case's importance to her and Jack's family.

But he ruled that the trial judge's directions to the jury could not be faulted and refused permission for a full appeal.

During earlier hearings, the court heard there were many red flags to Jack's condition while in hospital  which developed into septic shock  that were ignored or missed.

Pictured: Jack Adock and his mother Nicky, who was not present at the Appeal hearing

Abnormal blood results were overlooked. X-rays were not followed up. His nursing care was, the court heard, 'truly exceptionally bad'.

It took four weeks for the court to unravel the minutiae of Jack's final day.

His parents had previously told the Daily Mail their chilling account.

His mother Nicky said: 'They did pretty much everything wrong.

'He had blood tests that came back as abnormal, so more were requested. When we asked what was going on, they said the pathology results computer system was down, but there was no sense of urgency about it.

'They were giving him fluids  but not monitoring how much was going in or out, which we know now is vital.

In an earlier hearing, the court was told that Jack's nursing care had been 'truly exceptionally bad' (left, Bawa-Garba and right, Amaro)

'At one point, they tried to get his vital statistics but because of his cold hands and feet, they couldn't get a reading, so they just turned the machine off.'

She added: 'He had cold hands and feet, but his body was burning up. There are posters up in every GP surgery warning that cold hands and feet are a flag to something more serious. Even I knew that. I pointed it out.'

The court had also heard how medics had got Jack's vital test results mixed up with that of another boy - a patient who was the subject of a Do Not Resuscitate Order.

Nicky told the Mail: 'It's not even as if they looked alike. That [other] boy was pale and fair. Jack was dark and stocky. But the biggest difference was that Jack had Down's.
Lord Neuberger today insisted they are 'not being asked to overturn the referendum' - but dismissed the Commons' overwhelming support to Brexit last night

The Supreme Court's top judge today insisted they are 'not being asked to overturn the result of the EU Referendum' - but dismissed the Commons' overwhelming support for Brexit last night.

MPs have supported a Government motion by 461 votes to 89 - a clear majority of 372 - committing the Prime Minister to invoke article 50 by the end of March next year.

Her QC James Eadie told Supreme Court judges today that it was 'legally significant that Parliament has indicated its view' and urged them not to force MPs to vote again on triggering Brexit.

He said: 'It provides the sharpest of focuses. The House of Commons has given specific approval to the government to give that (Article 50) notice and indeed has called on them to do so by a particular date.'

But President Neuberger hit back and told him a Commons vote was 'not the legal word of Parliament' while Lord Sumption told him: 'If this is enough for your purposes, you wouldnt be proceeding with this appeal'.

The drama came on the fourth and final day of the most important appeal case in British legal history.

In a message to the public Lord Neuberger said at the end of the day: 'I t bears repeating that we are not being asked to overturn the result of the EU Referendum. The ultimate question in this case concerns the process by which that result can lawfully be brought into effect.

'We will now take time to ensure that the many arguments are given full and proper consideration', adding: 'We appreciate that this case should be resolved as quickly as possible, and we will do our best to achieve that'.

The 11 judges are expected to start considering their ruling next week and are expected to return in mid to late January.

Theresa May's QC James Eadie told Supreme Court judges today that it was 'legally significant that Parliament has indicated its view' and urged them not to force MPs to vote again on triggering Brexit

Court battle: Star Remainer Gina Miller leaves with a team of bodyguards after the fourth and day of the most important appeal case in British legal history

Mr Eadie told the court the EU Referendum Act 2015 had set up the June vote.

The use of the prerogative was "consistent with the legislative scheme" to give effect to the outcome of the vote to leave the EU.

Mr Eadie acknowledged that if primary legislation were required to trigger Brexit, it would have to be by way of an Act of Parliament.

GINA MILLER: 'I'll GO DOWN IN HISTORY - BUT MAYBE FOR THE WRONG REASONS' Mrs Miller has given an interview on her case after evidence ended today Gina Miller today admitted her battle to delay Brexit will see her name go down in legal history, but she said it could be for the 'wrong reasons'. The millionaire businesswoman, 51, also revealed that she required bodyguards because of specific threats ahead of the Supreme Court case. Now 11 judges will decide whether to uphold her High Court win forcing Theresa May to pass a law through Parliament to trigger Brexit rather than do it using the royal prerogative. When asked if she would go down in legal history she said: 'Yes, but maybe for the wrong reasons. Hopefully for the right reasons'. She also expressed her pride that the 'Miller case' - and her name - would be synonymous with the battle over when to trigger Article 50 and 'set a precedent' about whether a 'government can take away rights on a domestic plain', she said. When asked about claims she has faced rape and death threats she said she had needed 'protection while entering and leaving the court and while being here'. She said: 'I have had threats about the case and they became quite serious just before'. 'The police and I discussed this and I decided this (having bodyguards) was the best route to take'. Ms Miller has said previously she has spent 60,000 on security since the case but Scotland Yard has refused to say if it is paying for additional protection'. Advertisement

Attorney General Jeremy Wright QC MP said aftewards: "The country voted to leave the European Union, in a referendum approved by an Act of Parliament. The Government has argued throughout that no further Act of Parliament is needed to begin the process of leaving the European Union.

"As I said in court, there was a universal expectation that the referendum result would be honoured.

"Parliament will be closely involved in the process of the UK's withdrawal from the EU over the coming months and years. Only yesterday MPs debated a Brexit motion in the House and the Prime Minister has committed to publishing the Government's plans for leaving the EU.

"We have argued that the Government can use the powers it has to enact what the public has decided. The judges will now decide if they agree."

Earlier top QCs blasted Theresa May at the Supreme Court today and said a 'child of six could understand' she cannot just trigger Brexit and compared her case to the hunt for the Loch Ness Monster.

Richard Gordon QC, representing the Welsh government, said arguing that Parliament gave the Prime Minister a mandate because it agreed to a referendum in 2015 was like 'trying to revive a corpse by tearing up the death certificate'.

He added: 'We have absolutely no quarrel with the vote' but 'it must be parliament' who decides when to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

Helen Mountfield QC, who was paid for by donations by various pro-EU fans, said the Government's case is like saying 'because none of the attempts to catch the Loch Ness Monster have succeeded, the Loch Ness Monster still roams free'.

The lawyers were setting out their cases on the final day of the explosive Brexit Supreme Court battle where Wales, Scotland, Gibraltar and ex-pats will argue why Mrs May should be stopped.

Star Remainer Gina Miller again arrived with a team of bodyguards for the fourth day of the most important appeal case in British legal history.

The Government is trying to overturn a High Court ruling that demanded the Prime Minister asks MPs to vote to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

Mrs May believes the June 23 referendum result is all that should be needed.

The Supreme Courts top judge yesterday said the public would find it odd that a simple parliamentary vote in favour of Brexit was not enough to begin the process of leaving the EU.

In an apparent boost to the Government, Lord Neuberger said it could be argued that the authority to leave had been ceded to the people by the referendum.

Richard Gordon QC, pictured, representing the Welsh government, said arguing that Parliament gave the Prime Minister a mandate because it agreed to a referendum in 2015 was like 'trying to revive a corpse by tearing up the death certificate'

Helen Mountfield QC, who was paid for by donations by various pro-EU fans, compared the Government's case to hunting for Nessie

On the third day of Theresa Mays Supreme Court appeal, Britains 11 most senior judges debated the significance of Parliament passing a motion in support of triggering Article 50  the formal EU exit process.

Mrs Miller came into court flanked by bodyguards. Yesterday a man from Bath, 55, was arrested on suspicion of making racist threats against her

Last night, MPs voted 461 to 89 in favour of beginning the two-year process by the end of March.

Before the result was known, Lord Neuberger said: To the average person on the street it sounds a bit odd if one says to the Government, You have to go back to Parliament and have an Act of Parliament passed to show what Parliaments will is, when you have already been to Parliament and had a motion before both houses which serves the notice. It does seem a bit odd, doesnt it?

The suggestion was dismissed by lawyers for the two lead claimants, investment manager Gina Miller and hairdresser Deir Dos Santos. They say Parliament must pass a legislative act on Brexit.

The pair won the explosive High Court case against the Government last month that set up what is considered the most important legal appeal in recent history.

A motion is a simple vote in the Commons, declaring that it is in favour of something. It is a one-off and usually symbolic. This is different to an Act of Parliament, which goes through full scrutiny and a series of votes before becoming law.

Dominic Chambers QC, for Mr Dos Santos, said of the idea that a second vote would be required by Parliament, in addition to last nights motion: It might seem strange to the man on the Clapham omnibus but not for lawyers. Lord Pannick QC, for Mrs Miller, said nothing would be altered by a motion.

He added: Only an Act of Parliament could lawfully confer power on the appellant to notify. Why is that? Well, because notification will nullify statutory rights and nullify a statutory scheme. The law of the land is not altered by a motion in Parliament. This is a basic constitutional principle.

As the court knows a motion may be approved in the House of Commons today. Our submission is that a motion in Parliament cant affect the legal issues in this case.

He also said Brexit would frustrate or render insensible a large number of UK laws, and this is a reason why Parliament must be involved. Scotlands top legal officer said the Scottish Parliaments consent was also needed before the UK triggers Brexit.

Lord Advocate James Wolffe said he was not arguing Holyrood had a veto, but that its consent was required because of the significant changes Brexit would make to its powers.

Battle: Nicola Sturgeon's top QC Lord Wolffe yesterday admitted Scotland cannot veto Brexit

The case will finish today. A final verdict is due in mid-January.

Whitehall insiders say that, if the Government loses, a one-line Bill will be published immediately asking Parliament to give authority for the Prime Minister to trigger Article 50.
Avoided jail: Robert White, 34, pictured outside court yesterday, subjected Salem the cat to the 'barbaric and inhumane' attack

A man who tortured his girlfriend's kitten by making it inhale cannabis smoke before stubbing a joint out on its face has avoided jail.

Robert White, 34, subjected Salem the cat to the 'barbaric and inhumane' attack because he thought it would be funny to get the animal 'stoned', a court heard.

He tried to make the kitten inhale the cannabis smoke before singeing its face and paws with a lit joint at his flat in Birmingham on May 16.

The cat was left with such severe third-degree burns that he later had to be put down by a vet.

White pleaded guilty to a charge of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal at Birmingham Magistrates Court on November 21.

Yesterday he was sentenced to four months in prison, suspended for 18 months.

The court heard White admitted during interview that he had tried to get Salem 'stoned' while 'messing around' and smoking cannabis with friends.

Magistrates were told White made no attempts to get veterinary assistance for the suffering animal and that Salem was only taken to a vet the next day.

Rafe Turner, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said by that point the kitten 'was in a collapsed and cold state and smelt of dirty water.

In pain: Salem the kitten, pictured, was left with such severe burns that he later had to be put down by a vet. White burnt the cat with a joint, which he later stubbed out on its face

'He had dried candle wax on his nose and head and what looked like burns on his face The prognosis was such that sadly the cat had to be put to sleep.

'There were third degree burns to 70 to 80 per cent of the right-hand side of his face.'

Daniel Wayne, defending, said his client has severe mental health issues and was addicted to amphetamine.

He said: 'Sometimes he doesn't really know where or what is going on.

'This is a person who does not have previous convictions of a similar nature and is plagued by mental health issues.'

The court also heard he had felt remorse over what happened.

Suffering: Magistrates were told White made no attempts to get veterinary assistance for the suffering animal and that Salem, pictured, was only taken to a vet the next day

White was banned from owning animals for life and was ordered to pay 350 costs and a 150 victim surcharge.

He was also ordered to complete a 15-day rehabilitation course to address his drug and alcohol issues.

After the hearing RSPCA inspector Beth Boyd said: 'It was just horrific. It is one of the worse cases I have had to investigate.
The 'Coffs Coast Pedo Hunter' lures in alleged paedophiles by posing as underage girls - and he's motivated by a family friend who raised him and was abused as a child.

Based on the New South Wales mid-north coast, he sets up a meet after texting the alleged offenders - claiming to often receive explicit images and requests - then carries out a kind of 'bust' which he records and posts online.

His name is reported to be Cameron East and he's a father on the dole, serving a 12-month suspended sentence for home invasion, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

It began one night while he was 'mucking around' around on Tinder and decided to pretend to be an underage girl, he told the newspaper.

Scroll down for videos

The 'Coffs Coast Pedo Hunter', unemployed father Cameron East

An image East allegedly received from a man who he claimed to have identified as a paedophile

An image of one of the men East has 'exposed', and what he alleges are messages from him (right)

Messages East alleges were part of a conversation with a paedophile

Since September, he has posted seven videos online alleged to exposed paedophiles.

The identities of the men were not obscured in any.

East said he wanted to raise awareness of the issue of paedophiles in the area and that: 'the numbers that are out there, there's no way the police would keep tabs on them all.

'I'm probably the only person on the dole that Australia likes.'

However, police said his actions, while well intentioned, did not assist them.

Coffs/Clarence Local Area Command crime manager Detective Inspector Darren Jameson said most of East's material would be inadmissible in court.

'Our focus in this command in relation to suspected paedophiles is about catching them and putting them before the courts. This type of vigilante behaviour ignores those rules of evidence so ... it puts at strong risk the capability for us to obtain a prosecution or conviction in the future,' he told The Sydney Morning Herald.

Another of the men East has targeted and claimed was a paedophile, along with messages they allegedly exchanged (right)

East has posted seven videos online alleging them to be of paedophiles

Despite East's actions, police said most of his material would be inadmissible in court

An image of a vehicle East claims belongs to a paedophile. In his latest video, the man driving it appears to drive at East

Of further concern was potential cases of mistaken identity involving those in the videos and innocent people being targeted.

He added that East could be compromising existing police activities or risking himself - and Easts latest video appears to show a man attempting to hit him in his car.

Despite that, East's videos have thousands of views and hundreds of comments in support - even those who have said he should be paid.

East said being sued for his actions was not a concern to him because he had no money.

Criminologist Michael Salter

Western Sydney University criminologist Michael Salter called East's behaviour more 'macho grandstanding' than child protection, the Herald reported.

Although vigilante action by civilians was increasing, no evidence existed to show it protected children.

Mr Salter also said catching paedophiles in a manner similar to East was an area where police were active and had 'a lot' of resources.

Det. Insp. Jameson previously told The Advocate: 'The actions of community members in being vigilantes against crimes, even those that are highly deplorable like sexual assault, cannot be supported'.

Two Coffs Harbour men have been charged with using a carriage service to procure someone under 16 for sexual activity, as well as using a carriage service to send indecent material to a person under 16.

However, police said the arrests of Trent Collins, 24, and Nigel McKee, 31, were not related to East's activities, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Another man confronted by East in one of the videos he has posted to the internet
A girl got more than she bargained for when she found her royal doppelganger during a school trip.

Twitter user Yuki took a selfie in front of a portrait, which showcased her resemblance to a 'Mongolian princess', and shared it on the social media site

The post from the Japanese student, who has less than 1,000 followers, was a surprise hit and has been retweeted around 50,000 times since it was posted on Saturday.

It's a match: Japanese student Yuki took a selfie with a portrait of a Mongolian princess of the Yuan dynasty which ruled China for more than 100 years

Yuki traveled to Taiwan on a class trip that included a visit to the National Palace Museum in Taipei.

When she went to the exhibition 'Elegant Gathering of the Princess: The Culture of Appreciating and Collecting Art at the Mongol Yuan Court,' she noticed a familiar face, China Times reported.

It was a Mongolian princess from the Yuan Dynasty, which was officially established by conqueror Kublai Khan in 1271 and lasted until 1368.

The princess bore a striking resemblance to the girl, who took a selfie and then shared a laugh about it with friends.

A striking resemblance: One enterprising Twitter user superimposed Yuki's face on the portrait to show their similarity

She then decided to tweet the photo with the caption 'Its me from a previous life way, way, way back.'

The tweet has been retweeted more than 47,000 times and one user even created a gif morphing their faces together.

The image was also shared on Reddit

One commentator said: 'Lol reddit is full of white people comparing themselves with European paintings. This is nice for a change.'

Another added: 'Aren't you glad that the silly hat thing went out of style?'

And another chimed in: ' I want to squeeze your cheeks, like an old granny.'

Yuki, however, is not the only person to resemble a famous Chinese person and similar photographs also resurfaced on Chinese social media site Weibo.

Many were of ordinary people posing next to historical paintings or statues but some also featured Chinese Olympic athletes according to Huanqiu.

Striking: A woman poses in the same manner as the painting and looks almost exactly alike

All smiles: A Chinese olympic athlete looks rather similar to an old statue of another man

Onward march: An athelete looks eerily similar to a Chinese army general (left) and a man poses with a statue of an old monk (right)

He'd need to part his hair but this man nonetheless looks quite similar to the man in the picture
China's terracotta warriors are marching back to the UK for the first time in ten years.

The 2,200-year-old artefacts will be exhibited at Liverpool's World Museum and are expected to attract vast crowds when they are showcased in 2018, reports the Guardian.

During their last UK show at the British Museum in 2007, the warriors attracted 850,000 visitors and became the second most popular exhibit in the museum's history after the Tutankhamun in 1972.

Scroll down for video

China's terracotta warriors are marching back to the UK for the first time in ten years

The Terracotta Army is a form of funerary art and was buried with the First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, in 210 to 209 BC. Their purpose was to protect the emperor in his afterlife.

One of the most famous archaeological sites in the world, the warriors were discovered by chance in Xi'an, central China, by villagers in 1974.

Culture Secretary, Karen Bradley, revealed the warrior exhibition while she visits China and said she hoped the exhibition would 'encourage an ongoing culture exchange'.

She said: 'The terracotta army represents one of the most significant archaeological excavations of the 20th century, and I am delighted that a selection of the warriors will be coming to Liverpool for the first time in 2018.

'I am sure that the exhibition will be very warmly received by the people of Merseyside and beyond as Britain welcomes back the terracotta warriors.'

Since their discovery, experts have questioned whether the life-size models of soldiers were based on real warriors or whether they came off a production line.

The 2,200-year-old artefacts will be exhibited at Liverpool's World Museum and are expected to attract vast crowds

Pictured: Thousands of the ornately decorated ancient sculptures are stored in formation at a warehouse

The warriors were discovered by chance in Xi'an, central China, by villagers in 1974

In October a BBC documentary, The Greatest Tomb on Earth: Secrets of Ancient China', suggested the inspiration for the Terracotta Warriors may have come from Ancient Greece.

Experts have also pondered the question.

Archaeologist Li Xiuzhen, from the Emperor Qin Shi Huang's Mausoleum Site Museum, said: 'We now have evidence that close contact existed between the First Emperor's China and the West before the formal opening of the Silk Road.

'This is far earlier than we formerly thought.'

ANCIENT TREASURES: CHINA'S TERRACOTTA WARRIORS The figures could have been influenced by Greek sculptors, who may have visited the site to train the locals The Terracotta Army is a form of funerary art buried with the First Emperor in 210 to 209 BC and whose purpose was to protect the emperor in his afterlife. Arguably the most famous archaeological site in the world, it was discovered by chance by villagers in 1974, and excavation has been on-going at the site since that date. An extraordinary feat of mass-production, each figure was given an individual personality although they were not intended to be portraits. The figures vary in height according to their roles, with the tallest being the generals. Current estimates are that there were over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which are still buried. Since 1998, figures of terracotta acrobats, bureaucrats, musicians and bronze birds have been discovered on site. They were designed to entertain the Emperor in his afterlife they are of crucial importance to our understanding of his attempts to control the world even in death. Advertisement

'We now think the Terracotta Army, the Acrobats and the bronze sculptures found on site have been inspired by ancient Greek sculptures and art.'

Professor Lukas Nickel from the University of Vienna said statues of acrobats recently found at the same tomb also support this theory.

These could have been influenced by Greek sculptors, who may have visited the site to train the locals.




Jake Vallely had threatened to rape a woman in a pub on the night he viciously beat a soldier to death in his home town of Brecon

A boxer who claimed he was 'the hardest man in Brecon' has been jailed for life for murdering a young soldier on an off-duty night out.

Jake Vallely was 'out looking for trouble' when he set upon Private Matthew Boyd, a 20-year-old private in the Royal Gibraltar Regiment.

Pte Boyd was in the Welsh town - a base for the SAS - for infantry training and was on his way back to barracks when he was attacked.

Vallely, 23, had proclaimed himself 'the hardest man in Brecon' just hours before the killing, when he threatening to rape a reveller following a row in a pub.

Judge Mr Justice Clive Lewis said Vallely must serve a minimum of 16 years and told him: 'This was a sustained, savage and senseless attack.'

He said: 'Matthew Boyd was a young soldier in a new town, simply having an evening away from camp with his colleagues.

'You were also out in Brecon that night. You however, were aggressive, confrontational and threatening throughout the whole evening.

'I am in no doubt that you were ready for trouble and indeed you were looking for trouble that night.

'You were aggressive and confrontational to Matthew Boyd as you had been to others that night.'

Vallely had told a reveller he was 'the hardest man in Brecon' shortly before the murder

Private Matthew Boyd, of the Royal Gibraltar Regiment, was in the Welsh town for training

The judge added: 'Matthew Boyd attempted to get away and walk off, then you followed him and then ran after him and chased him down the street.'

'When you did catch up with him, a struggle ensued and the last 47 seconds of that struggle were caught on CCTV.

'During those 47 seconds you can be seen punching Matthew Boyd repeatedly. You hit him at least twice.

'Then when he was on the ground you punched him repeatedly, time and time again until he wasn't conscious. It was a sustained and savage attack

'You showed no remorse for your actions then, and you have in my judgement, shown no remorse for your actions since.

'Your sole concern has been to minimise your actions and escape the consequences.'

Flowers were left at the scene where the soldier was savagely beaten to death in May

Describing the row earlier in the evening, prosecutor Christopher Quinlan QC told the court: 'He was volcanic. He went from calm to angry suddenly. He erupted or exploded, and became aggressive, intimidating, threatening.

'He asked [the woman] 'who the f*** are you?', he told her to f*** off.

'He said: 'I've raped worse than you. I will f***ing rape you. I'm the hardest man in Brecon'.'

Pte Boyd was originally from Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, but had moved to Gibraltar. Just four days earlier, he started a training exercise at the infantry battle school in Brecon which is regularly used by the SAS.
that he was initially ready to convict Slager of murder

The foreman in the Michael Slager manslaughter case spoke about the deadlocked jury and the deliberations that led to a mistrial.

Dorsey Montgomery sat down with Matt Lauer and Tamron Hall on Today Thursday morning and revealed that despite what has been reported in the press, half of the jury was undecided about Slager's guilt in the shooting death of unarmed black man Walter Scott.

'That's why I'm here to correct that for my jurors who were with me in the deliberation room because I come to find out that the media misconstrued that letter,' said Montgomery, who was the lone black juror.

'When that letter was submitted on that Friday it was because we had one individual who was just deadlocked that he wasn't changing, and yet we had five other individuals who were undecided.'

When pressed further about the one juror who said he could not be swayed, Montgomery said: 'He just had his own convictions, and I'll leave that right there.'

Scroll down for video

Speaking out: Dorsey Montgomery (above), the foreman in the Michael Slager manslaughter trial, spoke about the jury's inability to come to a unanimous decision

Breakdown: Montgomery revealed that half of the jury was undecided about whether or not convict Slager (above leaving court on Monday) of manslaughter

Montgomery also admitted that he was initially ready to convict Slager on a charge of murder at the start of the trial

'Not knowing everything we know now of course we can speculate, but after seeing the video and sharing the evidence of course we can understand just a little bit better now,' said Montgomery.

'Initially it was going to be murder, but after we looked at the evidence and read that laws and looked at the things that were presented to us by the judge we had to come to find out that he didn't do anything malicious.

'He had manslaughter he had a brief disturbance in reason for that moment so based on the law that would be classified as voluntary manslaughter.'

Lauer then asked Montgomery what role he believes race played in the deliberations.



'Due to the society that we live in race will always be a factor,' said Montgomery.

'At that point in time I do believe that some jurors may have had that in their mind, but a majority of them did not have anything in reference to race in their mind that may have played a factor in the decision.'

To close out the interview Lauer asked Montgomery what message he had for thr family of Scott.

'At that this point in time I believe that justice shall come forth, and whatever the outcome is is what the outcome shall be,' said Montgomery.

Circuit Judge Clifton Newman declared the mistrial after a jury said Monday that it was unable to unanimously agree on a verdict.

Slager was standing trial for shooting dead 50-year-old Scott in North Charleston after stopping him for having a broken taillight in April 2015.

Scene: Montgomery was the lone black person on the jury, but said he did not think race played a role in most of the juror's opinions about the case (shooting still above)

Grief: Slager shot dead Walter Scott, a 50-year-old unarmed black man from North Charleston, South Carolina last April (Walter Scott's mother above)

Following news of the mistrial, solicitor Scarlett Wilson said she planned to retry Slager as soon as possible.

'While I cannot overstate our disappointment that this case was not resolved, I commend those who sacrificed so much time, energy and effort to serve on this jury,' Wilson said in a statement.

'We will try Michael Slager again.'

Scott's mother Judy said outside court that she knows justice will be served.

'God is my strength and I know without a doubt that he is a just God and injustice will not prevail,' she said.

'I don't care how it looks, it's not over - you all hear me - it's not over, until God says it's over.'

The jury had been deliberating for about 22 hours over four days before the mistrial was announced on Monday.

The judge had told jurors they could also consider a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.

Scott's murder in April 2015 was captured on a cellphone video taken by a bystander, which showed him being shot in the back.

The footage, which was widely shown in the media and online, shocked the country.

After the video went public, Slager was fired by the police department and charged with murder. Scott's family called for peace in the North Charleston community.

Their calls for calm are believed to have helped prevent the kind of violence that erupted elsewhere when black men were killed in encounters with law enforcement.

Not over: The solicitor in the case has revealed that they will be trying Slager (above) again as soon as possible following the mistrial

The video in the Scott slaying renewed debate over how blacks are treated by white law officers. There have been similar debates over race and policing in places from New York to Ferguson, Missouri and from Tulsa, Oklahoma to North Carolina.

Scott was pulled over in North Charleston for having a broken taillight on his 1990 Mercedes and then fled the car, running into a vacant lot.

Family members have said he may have run because he was worried about going to jail because he was $18,000 behind on child support.

Last year, the city of North Charleston reached a $6.5 million civil settlement with Scott's family. In the wake of the shooting, the city also asked that the U.S. Justice Department conduct a review of its police department policies with an eye toward how the department can improve its relationship with residents.

Slager also faces trial next year in federal court on charges of depriving Scott of his civil rights.
Britain's first headteacher to change sex while in post has told how she 'faked being a man' for decades.

Transgender Claire Birkenshaw, 48, returned to her desk three weeks ago after taking a six month break to begin changing from a man to a woman.

Claire, formerly known as Michael, is the head of Ashwell Academy in Hull, a specialist school with 58 pupils aged 11 - 16.

Britain's first headteacher to change sex while in post Claire Birkenshaw (left) says she 'faked being a man' for decades. Claire, formerly known as Michael (right), is head of a school in Hull

Yesterday she told how she started experiencing gender dysphoria when she was just four, but spent decades feeling shameful and guilty that she was an 'imposter to masculinity'.

She said: 'I've had a lifetime of fear about being "found out", like I was an imposter to masculinity.

'It was an age where there was little knowledge about transgender.

'I learned to mask my true self and fit in as best as I could.

'However, maintaining something you are not is not an easy thing to do.

'Shame is a very powerful emotion, and the guilt, too. I constructed this picture to the world out of it.'

She said her teaching career provided a 'white noise' that helped to block out her deep-seated anxiety and unhappiness about her gender.

Claire said: 'I am quite a determined person, so I think I would always have been as successful as I have been.

Claire (pictured) told how she started experiencing gender dysphoria when she was just four, but spent decades feeling shameful and guilty that she was an 'imposter to masculinity'

'But teaching is such an intense, pressured environment it meant it could become like a white noise behind what I was feeling.'

However she admits it was her career that became a barrier to her making the transistion sooner.

She said: 'Schools are very complex organisations and I just wasn't sure if the industry was ready for it.

'But I just thought of all the children who might be experiencing what I went through.

Claire considered moving away from Ashwell Academy and beginning somewhere new, but the fear of being 'discovered' proved the motivation to be open about the change

'I don't want any child to feel what I felt.'

She said she considered moving away from Ashwell Academy, in Hull, East Yorkshire, and beginning somewhere new, but the fear of being 'discovered' in fact proved the motivation for her to be open about the change.

Claire said: 'I accepted that my journey would not be easy and there would be numerous hurdles to cross, but I also knew that if I did not transition I would not be being true to myself.

'I also know that, if I did nothing, then as an educationalist that believes in helping all children to feel that their life has meaning and purpose, I would be letting those transgendered children down who share those thoughts, feelings and fears I had when I was growing up.

'After living so long feeling invisible, I wanted to make myself visible.

'It's like I'm taking everyone on this journey with me.

'And it's not been easy. Some people say it can be a difficult thing to get their head around, and for some people there is a bereavement for Mike, I think.

'To say I am happier would be an understatement. Things seem more vivid and real now.'

She added that she wanted to be seen as a role model for children experiencing gender dysphoria to show them it shouldn't be a barrier to their happiness.

She said: 'What I think was pivotal was looking at the statistics for suicide in transgender young people.

'And wanting to tell these young people they should feel proud of themselves, and happy in themselves.
The head of MI6 today warned that 'highly organised' Islamic State cells are exploiting the chaos caused by Vladimir Putin in Syria to plot deadly attacks against the UK.

In an extremely rare public speech, Alex Younger said the threat facing Britain was 'unprecedented' with 12 major plots foiled in the past three years.

Mr Younger said: 'As I speak, the highly organised external attack planning structures within Daesh (IS), even as they face military threat, are plotting ways to project violence against the UK and our allies without ever having to leave Syria.'

The man known as 'C' delivered his bleak assessment in the first ever speech delivered from inside the MI6 HQ by a serving chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, during which he accused Putin of trying to turn Syria into a 'desert'.

In an extremely rare public speech, Alex Younger said the threat facing Britain was 'unprecedented' with 12 major plots foiled in the past three years

He told an invited audience: 'The scale of the terrorist threat is unprecedented.

'The UK intelligence and security services have disrupted 12 terrorist plots in the UK since June 2013. And MI5 and the police continue to run hundreds of investigations into those intent on carrying out or supporting terrorist atrocities against our citizens.

'As I speak, the highly organised external attack planning structures within Daesh (IS), even as they face military threat, are plotting ways to project violence against the UK and our allies without ever having to leave Syria.'

IS fanatics are feared to be directing attacks in the UK, in the way Al Qaeda did in the past.

They are also pumping out the propaganda which inspires people based in the UK to plot attacks in the IS name.

So-called 'lone-wolf' attackers in Britain are also being urged to strike in Britain using social media and the internet.

Mr Younger was blistering in his condemnation of Vladimir Putin's actions in Russia  which he suggested were making a terrorist attack in the UK more likely.

Security officials believe Russia's bombing attacks are fuelling extremism and turning the country into a failed state from which terrorist attacks could be plotted.

Theresa May warned ISIS its days as an occupying force were numbered while on a high profile trip to Bahrain yesterday, pictured

He said: 'I believe the Russian conduct in Syria, allied with that of Asad's discredited regime, will, if they do not change course, provide a tragic example of the perils of forfeiting legitimacy.

'In defining as a terrorist anyone who opposes a brutal government, they alienate precisely that group that has to be on side if the extremists are to be defeated.

'Meanwhile, in Aleppo, Russia and the Syrian regime seek to make a desert and call it a place. The human tragedy is heart-breaking.'

Yesterday, Prime Minister Theresa May said mass migration had become a more 'pronounced' global security threat in the past year.

Unveiling the latest national security strategy, she said: 'British leadership is at the forefront of the world's response to the greatest challenges of our time.

'Now, as we leave the European Union, we will be more prominent than ever  an outward-facing, global partner at the heart of international efforts to secure peace and prosperity for all our people.

Chaos inspired by Vladimir Putin's military campaign in Syria is allowing ISIS to plot terror attacks, Mr Younger warned (file picture)

The PM said the 'phenomenon of mass migration has become more pronounced in the last 12 months' with the world appearing 'more uncertain and challenging than it has for many years.'

She added: 'It is Britain that is in the vanguard of the fight against global terrorism.'

The report warns that the 'threat from terrorism is more acute and more complex than ever before.'

It also makes pointed reference to US President elect Donald Trump as Mrs May looks to build alliances with him.

The document says the 'UK and US will remain strong and close partners on trade, security and defence under President-elect Trump, with our enduring and special relationship based on the values of freedom, democracy and enterprise.'

He may be a superspy, but James Bond would never make it into MI6 now

James Bond (pictured played by Daniel Craig) would not make it into MI6 nowadays, Alex Younger said

Fictional stereotypes that spies operate outside a moral code are a 'pernicious myth', the head of MI6 has said.

Alex Younger said the Secret Intelligence Service carries out actions that would 'not be justifiable' in pursuit of private interests but are legal and necessary to keep the country safe.

In a speech at the organisation's headquarters in London's Vauxhall, he dismissed suggestions there is an 'ends justifies the means' approach.

Mr Younger, known as 'C' has previously joked that the world's most famous fictional spy James Bond would fail to make the grade if he applied for job with the service today.

But the spy chief, the real life version of 'M' in the books and films, told journalists that 007 has created a 'powerful brand'.

Although Mr Younger has taken part in expert panel discussions, he gave his first public speech since taking up the post in 2014, to give an insight into the way the modern service works.

He said: 'There is a pernicious myth that, somehow, intelligence services are moral equivalents. That the end justifies the means, whatever the cost.

'Much of the fictional portrayal of us is along those lines and it is wrong.

'We do things for our country that would not be justifiable in pursuit of private interests. But they are necessary, proportionate and legal in pursuit of national security.

'Every single officer here understands and respects the heavy responsibility and has the integrity required, to utilise these powers.

'We are a human organisation and we will make mistakes. We will have the courage to learn from them.

'But, fundamentally, we understand that if we undermine the values we defend, even in the name of defending them, then we have lost.'

Mr Younger said he wanted to end the perception that MI6 officers were all Oxbridge recruits or skilled in 'hand-to-hand combat' and urged people from all backgrounds to consider a career with the service.

The Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war found that MI6 was gulled into believing that Saddam Hussein was continuing to produce weapons of mass destruction by a false agent.

Mr Younger said: 'A vital lesson I take from the Chilcot report is the danger of group think. I will do anything I can to stimulate a contrary view, to create a culture where everyone has the confidence to challenge, whatever their seniority.'
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said today the children of illegal immigrants should be refused school places and free healthcare.

The leader of the Front National (FN) party told a conference in Paris: 'I've got nothing against foreigners but I say to them: if you come to our country, don't expect that you will be taken care of, treated (by the health system) and that your children will be educated for free.'

'That's finished now, it's the end of playtime,' she added.

Scroll down for video

Marine Le Pen (pictured, right) is widely tipped to make it into the second round of the French presidential elections in the spring

Polls currently show her qualifying for the second round of May's election where she is forecast to face - and be defeated by - the conservative candidate Francois Fillon, but she is hoping for renewed momentum after the victory of Donald Trump in the United States.

After her speech she clarified her views, saying she only wanted to block education for immigrants who are in the country illegally, not all foreigners.

But she said any foreigner using the public education system without paying tax in France should have to contribute.

Marine le Pen patted a horse on a visit to the annual Horse Fair in Villepinte, outside Paris, last week. She is proving popular among many voters in rural France

'We're going to reserve our efforts and our national solidarity for the most humble, the most modest and the most poor among us,' Le Pen told the conference.

Le Pen falsely claimed today that anyone aged over 65 could arrive in France and start claiming old-age social security payments.

The BBC reported that France's Education Secretary Najat Belkacem - a Socialist, who was born in Morocco - wrote on her blog that Ms Le Pen had not demonstrated a 'total indifference to the terrible plight of many migrant children' and was ignorant of French values and laws.

The FN sees itself as part of a global revolt against immigration, established political parties and globalisation epitomised by Trump's victory last month.

It regularly criticises the use of France's chronically over-budget social security system for foreigners, arguing French-born people should be prioritised.

Few analysts see her as likely to take power, but the last 12 months has been an unpredictable year in politics and France's sickly economy and immigration are top issues for voters.

Le Pen wants to withdraw from the eurozone and has even called for a referendum on membership of the European Union in France, one of the community's founding members.

Fillon has also taken a tough line on immigration recently, promising to reduce it to a 'strict minimum' and calling on newcomers to adapt to French culture.
An Audi driver pulled in front of him and then

Richard Carey, 57, (pictured) was driving his van in Pitsea, Essex, when he was attacked

A father was left in a 'bloody mess' after an Audi driver punched him through the window of his van during a vicious road rage attack.

Richard Carey, 57, pulled out of a junction after thinking he had been given right of way by the motorist, who had left a gap in queuing traffic.

But the angry driver pulled in front of him before getting out and shouting abuse in his face.

Shockingly, the man, believed to be in his 40s, then reached through Mr Carey's window and punched him in the face before driving off in Pitsea, Essex.

Mr Carey, a delivery driver, takes blood thinning medication for his serious heart condition which is why he bled so profusely at the scene.

He said: 'A lot of what he said would have needed to be bleeped out.

'My window was down and he smashed me in the face and then got back into his car and drove off. I just fell out of the van and some passers-by stopped to help me.'

Mr Carey has to take Warfarin medication to thin his blood. His injuries led him to bleed all over the pavement as he waited for an ambulance following the shocking incident.

Paramedics struggled to stop the bleeding on Monday and he had to spend seven hours in A&E as he underwent scans to check for fractures.

Mr Carey, a delivery driver, takes blood thinning medication for his serious heart condition which is why he bled so profusely at the scene (pictured)

Richard Carey, 57, pulled out of the junction of Pope's Crescent and High Road in Pitsea after thinking he had been given right of way by the motorist

He added: 'I still can't believe someone would do that.

'You see about these unprovoked attacks on Crimewatch but you never think that while you are on your way to deliver items it will happen to you.

'I am still shaken up by what happened. It is awful.'

Mr Carey is now recovering at home but doctors are still unable to tell whether his nose is broken as it is so badly swollen.

But he told how police appear 'uninterested' and added: 'I still haven't spoken to a policeman.

'It would make it a bit better if I know that he is going to be caught, but he is driving around a free man.'

The driver is described as being white British, stocky and with thinning brown hair.

He had a golden Labrador in his car, as well as a male and female passenger.

An Essex Police spokesman said: 'We assess every call based on threat, harm, risk and vulnerability and prioritise them accordingly.

'However, a number of factors could affect response times. For example, there may be significant incidents happening elsewhere in the district, or within the county, that require a high level of resource.
Malcolm Turnbull says Australia will not ban the burqa, but One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and Senator Malcolm Roberts claim the prime minister will change his mind  'he just doesn't know it yet.'

Mr Turnbull's comments on Thursday follow a surprising U-turn from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who told her party, the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, earlier this week the 'full veil is not appropriate.'

She called for the burqa to be outlawed 'wherever it is legally possible,' but Mr Turnbull told 3AW radio the situation in Europe is different to Australia.

Malcolm Turnbull (pictured) says Australia will not ban the burqa, but One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and Senator Malcolm Roberts claim the Prime Minister will change his mind

Mr Roberts (pictured) disagreed with the prime minister's comments on Thursday

Mr Roberts claimed Mr Turnbull will back a ban of the burqa, he 'just doesn't know it yet' (pictured)

'What you're seeing in Europe is the consequences of uncontrolled irregular migration, I mean the Europeans regrettably lost control of their borders,' he said.

'When I was in the UN recently talking to a lot of European leaders, they all talked about the way this large scale irregular migration posed a real threat to their societies, to the stability of their democracies.

'That is why it is vital for us to maintain the security and the integrity of our borders.'

One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts disagreed with Mr Turnbull's comments.

'Of course he will, he just doesn't know it yet,' Mr Roberts posted on Twitter.

Mr Turnbull's comments on Thursday follow German Chancellor Angela Merkel's (pictured) remarks to her party, the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, urging a partial ban of the burqa

'When Parliament resumes next year in Canberra, I will be pushing for a ban on the burka in Australia,' Ms Hanson posted on Facebook

His party's leader, Pauline Hanson, also joined in on social media.

'When Parliament resumes next year in Canberra, I will be pushing for a ban on the burka in Australia,' she wrote on Facebook.

'Germany has just announced its plans to ban it also. I honestly don't see how anyone on either side of the house would disagree with this law coming into effect.'

The full-face burqa was banned from schools and hospitals by Dutch MPs last month.
McDonald's has said it will set up a holding company in the UK for most of its income outside of the US

Fast food giant McDonald's is moving its European base to the UK in a dramatic vote of confidence in Brexit.

The firm is to establish a new holding company in this country where it will pay tax on most of its income outside of the US. The Treasury could rake in hundreds of millions of pounds a year as a result.

The shift, which will begin in the New Year, comes after the EU launched a probe into the company's tax arrangements at its current base in Luxembourg.

It represents a significant turnaround, as McDonald's warned in the run-up to the historic EU referendum that Brexit would be damaging and drive up unemployment.

In July the company announced it was creating 5,000 jobs after franchise managers made a 600million investment to overhaul the 1,250 restaurants in the UK.

In a statement today the company said: 'McDonald's pays a significant amount of corporate taxes.

'From 2011-2015, we paid more than $2.5billion in corporate taxes in the EU, with an average tax rate approaching 27 percent.'

The news will be a welcome boost to Theresa May, who has made attracting major firms to Britain a key part of her post-Brexit strategy.

Chancellor Philip Hammond declared last month that the government is still determined to bring down corporation tax to 17 per cent - among the lowest rates in the world.

Major banks are already planning to shift operations from London to Paris amid fears over Brexit, France's top financial regulator has claimed.

Benoit de Juvigny risked further inflaming tensions ahead of the looming negotiations by boasting about the prospects of business moving across the channel.

He said 'large international banks' have been making detailed preparations, and 'many other companies' have lodged informal inquiries about moving post-Brexit.

Mr de Jugivny, secretary general of the AMF, also suggested similar talks are going on across Europe as countries look to raid the City of London's prized assets.

Authorities in Frankfurt, Luxembourg and Amsterdam have said they would welcome banks moving operations from London for when the UK leaves the EU.

Under our current membership terms, British-based financial services companies can operate throughout Europe using so-called passporting rights.

But it is unclear whether that system will be replaced by a similar agreement after Brexit.

Theresa May, pictured on a visit to the Gulf this week, has made attracting major companies to the UK a key part of her post-Brexit strategy

The intervention came as Theresa May delivered a stark warning that delays in triggering Brexit would mean people 'lose faith in politicians' as rebels in a key Commons vote denied trying to block the will of the public.

But the Prime Minister indicated she was already looking ahead to the negotiations with the EU - admitting that she expected

'What I've been saying to people is I want to see as smooth and orderly a process as possible,' she said.

'Of course, it's going to be complex because there's a lot to deal with.

'You're not a member of something for 40-odd years and then it's easy.'
The names of three places in New Zealand's South Island will be changed because they contain the word 'N*****'.

The names reflect 'a time when attitudes towards this word were markedly different to what they are now,' Land Information Minister Louise Upston told The New Zealand Herald.

N***** Stream will be officially changed to Pukio Stream, named after a grass native to the region.

The names of three places in New Zealand's South Island will be changed because they contain the word 'N*****' (South Island pictured)

N***** Head will become Tawhai Hill, named after a species of tree found in the South Island, and N**** Hill will be renamed Kanuka Hills.

Ms Upston said she was pleased with the decision as the word was 'clearly offensive to most people. '

'In a society like ours that is multicultural and where most New Zealanders do not go out of their way to be offensive or exclude others,' she said.

'I do not believe this word has a place in our official names.'

Any member of the public can propose name changes. They are then considered by the New Zealand Geographic Board.

The new names will be listed next Thursday in the Gazetteer- the official record of New Zealand place names.

The old names will remain on public record.
Historians examining an underwater wreck in the Black Sea believe they may have found a missing British ship that sunk 160 years ago carrying '30 barrels of gold'.

The wreckage is believed to be that of the Black Sea Prince, which was one of a number of ships from a British flotilla that was lost off the Crimean Peninsula during the siege of Sevastopol in the 1850s.

The ship is believed to have been carrying money to pay the wages of soldiers fighting in the Crimean War and also to help fund the British battle in the region.

Historians examining an underwater wreck in the Black Sea believe they may have found a missing British ship that sunk 160 years ago carrying '30 barrels of gold'

The wreckage is believed to be that of the Black Sea Prince, which was one of a number of ships from a British flotilla that was lost off the Crimean Peninsula during the siege of Sevastopol in the 1850s

Work is now taking place to recover the ships and any artefacts will be moved to a museum of underwater archaeology

But unable to dock in the harbour, it is believed that in total 34 British ships went down.

Experts say that they have found five ships while working on reconstruction of the waterfront in the city of Yevpatoria in the eastern part of the Crimean Peninsula.

They are believed to have been lost during a storm.

The city is located in the Crimean region disputed by Ukraine and Russia and annexed in March 2014, and was badly damaged in 1854 by British, French and Turkish troops.

The ship is believed to have been carrying money to pay the wages of soldiers fighting in the Crimean War and also to help fund the British battle in the region

Local media has said that excited locals believe one of the ships might be the legendary 'Black Sea Prince'. Items found on the ship are shown above

The harbour itself is named after V. Tereshkova, the first female cosmonaut, and archaeologists have confirmed that the wreckage of the five ships had been located under a mile from the shore.

They have also confirmed that three of the five discovered ships bore British imperial insignia.

Local media has said that excited locals believe one of the ships might be the legendary 'Black Sea Prince'. The other two ships are thought to be French.

Specialist Viktor Vahoneev said: 'We believe that these ships sank after a storm on 14th November 1854.'

Analysis of the wreckage indicates that all of them were lost because of storm damage with no indication that they had been damaged in fighting.

Work is now taking place to recover the ships and any artefacts will be moved to a museum of underwater archaeology.
Advertisement

Experts are trying to save a 300-year-old tree that starred in a Harry Potter film because it is in grave danger of collapsing on visitors to Blenheim Palace.

Thousands flock to see the iconic Lebanon ceder in the grounds of Winston Churchill's Oxfordshire birthplace every year - including many fans of JK Rowling's much-loved series of books and movies.

The specimen has a distinctive gaping hole in the middle of its huge hollow trunk and appeared in the fifth Harry Potter film, The Order of the Phoenix.

Professor Severus Snape endures a flashback to being bullied by Potter's father James and godfather Sirius Black who cast a spell that dangles him upside down from the top of the tree.

But now it could collapse at Blenheim, considered Britain's Versailles, and it may even have to be cut down.

Fears: Experts are trying to save a 300-year-old tree that starred in a Harry Potter film because it in grave danger of collapsing on visitors to Blenheim Palace

Beautiful: The specimen has a distinctive gaping hole in the middle of its huge hollow trunk and appeared in the fifth Harry Potter film, The Order of the Phoenix

Professor Severus Snape endures a flashback to being bullied by Potter's father James and Sirius Black who cast a spell that dangles him upside down from the top of the tree, pictured

The tree's appearance in the 2007 movie has made it a favourite with Harry Potter fans who travel from all over the world to marvel at it.

Arboriculturalists are giving the grand tree emergency treatment to stop it falling over.

The trunk of the 55ft tall tree is 20ft in diameter but the large hole is its undoing as it is making it so weak it could topple over tomorrow.

The rescue plan now underway involves a team of tree surgeons using climbers and a cherry picker to fix cables to its larger upper branches and attach them to nearby trees.

This will give the cedar added support and take the weight off and reduce the chances of it collapsing.

Roy Cox, head of estates at Blenheim Palace, said: 'Our forestry team are working with specialist heritage tree experts to stabilise the tree, give it the best chance for the future and importantly keep it open for our visitors.

'Cedar of Lebanons of this age are a risk and if we do not take decisive action the tree will have to be permanently fenced off from our visitors and be lost for future generations.

'The large hole which is it defining feature is also its weakness and like any of us it is getting old.

'If we were to do nothing the tree could fall down tomorrow.

'It may still do that but at least we have done everything we can and if it does fail it will be controlled.

'We engaged national experts in heritage tree conservation to secure the tree back to others nearby and reduce the weight of the upper crown.

'As it is still alive it could live for many more decades we just don't know.

'We could have ignored it and let it fall of its own accord but it's important we do everything we can for such impressive trees.

'It's as significant to Blenheim Palace as it is to Harry Potter fans.'

Delicate: The trunk of the 55ft tall tree is 20ft in diameter but the large hole is its undoing as it is making it so weak it could topple over tomorrow

First aid: Arboriculturalists are giving the grand tree emergency treatment to stop it falling over onto people

Majestic: The tree is as much part of the Blenheim scenery as the palace and the 'Great Lake' it sits over looking

Saving the tree: The rescue plan now underway involves a team of tree surgeons using climbers and a cherry picker to fix cables to its larger upper branches and attach them to nearby trees

The cedar of Lebonan originates in Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, northwest Jordan, western Syria, and south central Turkey.

It is unknown when the first cedar of Lebanon was planted in Britain, but it dates at least to 1664.

Mr Cox added: 'The tree would have been planted around the time of the famous landscaper Capability Brown who created the parkland at Blenheim.

'It is an iconic feature sitting next to the famous Grand Bridge in full view of the palace and our many thousands of visitors.'
As romantic settings go, it's hardly the Eiffel Tower or New York's Central Park.

But that did not stop this drug trafficker from proposing to his girlfriend outside court - immediately after he was freed from jail.

Mahmoud El-Zayat got down one knee and proposed to his girlfriend Claudette Tannous after he was freed from remand for trafficking drugs.

The father-of-eight had just been sentenced to a year-long correction order after he and Tannous were caught with a stash of meth, cocaine, cannabis, a homemade gun were found on him - as well as a grenade that was discovered in his car.

Mahmoud El-Zayat got down one knee and proposed to his girlfriend Claudette Tannous after he was freed from remand for trafficking drugs

The father-of-eight had just been sentenced to a year-long correction order after he and Tannous were caught with a stash of meth, cocaine, cannabis and a homemade gun in his car

Magistrate John O'Callaghan told the court in Wodonga, Victoria, that the couple had been involved in a large number of drug deals while staying at a hotel in the city in July.

El-Zayat did not have a job while they stayed at the hotel, but did have enough cash to afford a $1,000 week drug and alcohol habit, the Border Mail reported.

The pair also regularly posted images of their lavish lifestyle of new clothes, designer shoes and wads of cash on Facebook.

El-Zayat also had no trouble affording an engagement ring for his fiancee.

The Bonnie and Clyde-style couple were filmed as they got engaged outside the court today, with both El-Zayat and Tannous unable to conceal their joy.

In a series of loved-up Facebook posts, they spoke of their adoration for one another.

Magistrate John O'Callaghan told the court in Wodonga, Victoria, that the couple had been involved in a large number of drug deals while staying at a hotel in the town

The pair regularly posted images of their lavish lifestyle of new clothes, designer shoes and wads of cash on Facebook before they were caught

A grenade and a wad of cash were discovered in his car after he was arrested back in July

'The whole world can judge us but our love will always stand strong, our smile will always shine, our love will always be. Rely on our trust & loyalty we will always be one that you can't break. I love u Claudette Tannous always & forever, we will always fight for our love,' one of the posts from El-Zayat reads.

Another says: 'My queen she is so amazing. Yes she f*** with my head at time [and] makes me go crazy

'But no matter what's going on in our life she will always be there to have my back.

'She will always drop anything or anyone to be there for me. Her loyalty to me is so amazing.

'I trust you boo with my life & Claudette Zayat I will always love u & be there for u & I will go all the way for u I will go to the end of the world for u & I will bring the world back to u with all the stars in the world.'

Tannous wrote that her new fiance would 'take a bullet straight to my heart for him'.

'I would kill for him I would stop everything for this man,' she added.

'I love you so much Mahmoud Zayat you do not understand how much love I have for you and what I am going and willing to go through for you is inexplicable.

'You still make my heart skip a beat and you still give me butterflies in my tummy you are my rock my world my life my all.....
Bipin Desai was arrested after a probe into the death of his 85-year-old father

A respected pharmacist has admitted helping his elderly father to commit suicide at their 1.3m home by using large dose of stolen morphine, a court heard.

Bipin Desai was arrested after a police investigation into the death of his 85-year-old father whose body was found at their family home.

The arrest was made two days after the discover of his father Dhirajlal Desai in Dockenfield, near Farnham, Surrey.

Desai, 58, was charged with two counts of the theft of pharmaceuticals, a charge of murder and an alternate charge of assisting suicide.

He admitted at Guildford Crown Court intentionally preparing a lethal dose of morphine capable of encouraging or assisting the suicide of his father.

Desai also admitted stealing the morphine in May last year and stealing a quantity of insulin around three months later. He spoke only to confirm his guilty pleas.

The pharmacist, who shared his 1.3million detached home with his father in Dockenfield, still faces the charge of murder but this was not put to him in court.

A formal application to dismiss it is to be made later.

Desai's body was found at the family's 1.3million home in The Street, Dockenfield (pictured)

The arrest was made two days after the discover of his father Dhirajlal Desai in Dockenfield, near Farnham, Surrey (pictured)

Bipin Desai is an active member of the affluent village, where he has lived since 2009, and has been a community warden and former member of the parish council. He also ran a successful pharmacy in nearby Farnham.

A large crowd of friends and family supported him in court from the public gallery.

Paul Bogan QC, defending, said there would be an application to dismiss the murder charge which will be heard by a High Court judge.

Desai arrived at court having been granted bail at an earlier hearing after a surety of 200,000 was agreed.

He was given a curfew between 7pm and 7am and had to wear an electronic tag.

William Boyce QC, prosecuting, said the Crown Prosecution Service would not try to prevent the pharmacist being granted bail again.

Judge Robert Fraser allowed Desai continued bail on the same conditions he was given at the earlier hearing.

He added: 'It was not unexpected that there may well be pleas to those matters when the bail application was heard - it doesn't in my mind change the circumstances.

'I'm not going to interfere with what is in place.'

Desai admitted at Guildford Crown Court (pictured) intentionally preparing a lethal dose of morphine capable of encouraging or assisting the suicide of his father

Desai, 58, was the former owner of Vaughan James Chemist in Farnham, Surrey (pictured)

The judge told Desai he would have to appear at court again in March when the application on his murder charge is heard.

'The next hearing is likely to be held at the Royal Courts of Justice in London,' he said.

'You have entered pleas of guilty to counts one, two and four - there remains count three.

'There will be an application to dismiss and the next hearing will be for that application to dismiss.

'That date will be, I hope, in the last two weeks of March. The date will be confirmed to you closer to the time. You will remain on bail on the same conditions I set on the last occasion.'
After Tiffany Trump graduated from from UPenn in May, many wondered if The Donald's youngest daughter would follow in her half-siblings' footsteps and join the family business.

But it looks like Tiffany is planning to forge her own way with plans to study law - and it looks like she may have her heart set on Harvard.

The 23-year-old was spotted touring Harvard Law School on Tuesday, accompanied by Secret Service agents.

Scroll down for video

Tiffany Trump, President-elect Donald's youngest daughter, was spotted touring Harvard Law School on Tuesday, accompanied by Secret Service agents

It appears Tiffany is planning to forge her own way with plans to study law - and it looks like she may have her heart set on Harvard

'We were sitting in the lounge area in the student center, and I saw a tall blonde girl walking through and I recognized her,' one student told Politico.

Another student claimed to have snapped a picture of Tiffany entering the library. The picture, which does not show her face, shows a blond woman, wearing all black, walking the halls with two others.

The university declined to comment on the visit as did a spokesman for the Trump Organization.

Career goals: Tiffany, 23, took to Instagram over the summer to post a photo of her LSAT study books as she revealed she is applying to law school

Ivy League: Tiffany, who is pictured with her father Donald and her half-siblings Ivanka and Barron, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in May

Students at Harvard University (pictured) say they spotted Tiffany Trump taking a tour, flanked by Secret Service agents

While her siblings, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jnr., threw themselves into their father's presidential campaign this summer, Tiffany has mostly kept out of the political limelight.

Instead, the 23-year-old, who is Donald Trump's only child with his second wife Marla Maples, has been hard at the books as she recently revealed that she was hoping to become a lawyer.

It may not come as a complete surprise that Tiffany has chosen not to follow in her father and step-siblings' footprints.

Although she followed Trump tradition by graduating from the the University of Pennsylvania, unlike her father, and step-siblings, Tiffany had ditched finance and economics to major in sociology and urban studies.

Then over the summer, Tiffany took to Instagram to reveal that she is studying for the Law School Admission Test by sharing a photo of her LSAT study books and practice tests.

Ivanka Trump, her husband Jared Kushner and Tiffany Trump smile as Republican presidential elect Donald Trump speaks during election night at the New York Hilton Midtown in New York

The snapshot also features a Bitmoji avatar of Tiffany, along with the words 'I Got This' splashed across her open study guide.

The photo, which was liked thousands of times, earned her more than one comparison Tiffany to Elle Woods, Reese Witherspoon's beloved character in Legally Blonde who decides to she wants to become a lawyer and go to Harvard.

Sources told AbovetheLaw that Tiffany, who has interned for Vogue and released a single, 'Like a Bird', took her LSAT law exam as recently as Saturday at The City University of New York in Long Island City.

But if she's already touring law schools she must feel pretty confident she aced it.
Democratic members of the U.S. Senate are hearing new levels of criticism from liberal activists who see 'soft bigotry' in a sea of senior staffers' lily-white faces.

It's usually Republicans who bear the brunt of complaints about a lack of black and Hispanic hiring.

But the only black chief of staff in the upper chamber of Congress works for South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott, the first black Southerner elected to the Senate since Reconstruction.

And it's Scott who has emerged as a leading voice on Capitol Hill diversity hiring.

Matt House, center, and other aides to Senate Democrats, are emblematic of what some diversity activists are calling a lily-white hiring culture on Capitol Hill

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott has the only black chief of staff in the Senate, and he's a Republican who regularly offers colleagues help identifying qualified minority job hopefuls

'If you can't find a talented qualified person that diversifies your office, give me a call,' Scott told the Roll Call newspaper last week. 'I can help you find those people.'

Democrats have found themselves on the defensive.

'It's not that anybody's racist,' one staffer said. 'It's just that there's a lack of experience, there's a lack of knowledge because you don't have that set of employees sitting at the senior table.'

A group of black activist organizations has asked the six new senators  five of whom are Democrats  to prioritize hiring minorities as they build out their staffs.

Two of the three Senate Hispanics are Republicans, Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida.

The only incoming Hispanic senator, Nevada Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto, will have a senior staff that doesn't include any Hispanic women.

An illegal immigrant who advises Sen. Bernie Sanders reacted with scorn after Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto, an incoming Latina senator, unveiled a senior staff that included no Hispanic women

Immigration activist and Bernie Sanders aide Erika Andiola, an illegal immigrant herself, reacted on Facebook.

'Oh, look at all those Latinas she hired in her senior staff! A grand total of ... 0. No pos wow,' she wrote.

The result is what some consultants, activists and Black Lives Matter leaders are calling 'soft bigotry' among Democrats, reports Politico.

Hawaii Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz said his party needs 'an uncomfortable conversation' about why its hiring practices don't line up with the values its candidates boast when they campaign for public office.

'I don't think anybody is nefarious,' he told Politico. 'But we're just not getting it done.'

One former senior Democratic aide said it's 'bull***t' to cast Caucasian-heavy staffing as the product of a thin minority bench.

It's 'something a lot of people have been sounding alarm bells on for years and nothing has changed,' the former Capitol Hill staffer said.

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, is considering a push for a rule that would require senators to interview minority candidates for senior jobs.
Gayle King has scored an impressive payday after re-upping her contract with CBS for another three years.

The popular morning show host has agreed to a three-year deal that will pay her $5.5 million per year for a total of $16.5million to stay on at CBS This Morning, reports Page Six.

King, 61, began anchoring the show in January of 2012 alongside Charlie Rose, and in the five years since joining the program ratings have consistently grown for the morning show.

Norah ODonnell later joined the program in July of 2012, and all three have remained in their positions since.

Scroll down for video

Gayle King (above in September) has signed a three-year deal to stay on as the anchor of CBS This Morning

She joined the morning news show in January 2012 and the ratings for the program have increased every year (CBS This Morning Co-Hosts Norah O'Donnell, Charlie Rose and Gayle King and Executive Producer Ryan Kadro above)

'Gayle is a huge asset to the show, and her chemistry with Charlie is great. Shes here for the long term,' said one source.

CBS meanwhile would not confirm the contract details but did admit to signing King to a long-term deal.

CBS This Morning offers more hard news than its competitors, Good Morning America and Today, and is currently pulling in just under 4million viewers on average.

King and O'Donnell were two of the select few anchors who were invited to meet with Donald Trump last month at his now infamous media summit.

Trump spent a majority of that meeting criticizing those in attendance for their coverage of him, and King was one of the few who asked any questions of trump, with the New York Post later reporting she asked the President-elect how best the media could cover him moving forward.

Prior to joining CBS This Morning, King had been working for her good friend Oprah Winfrey, joining the staff of O, The Oprah Magazine in 1999 as an editor.
The wife of a convicted Islamic State recruiter could be the first person in New South Wales charged for refusing to stand in court.

Moutia Elzahed - the second wife of Hamdi Alqudsi who recruited people to fight in Syria - refused to stand when the judge entered the courtroom because 'she won't stand for anyone except Allah'.

Ms Elzahed, her husband and their two teenage sons are suing the Commonwealth of Australia and New South Wales for the assault and battery which allegedly occurred during the 2014 counter-terrorism raids.

Scroll down for video

The wife of a convicted Islamic State recruiter - Moutia Elzahed (pictured)- could be the first person charged in New South Wales for refusing to stand for the judge in court

Ms Elzahed and her family claim the police officers who raided their Revesby home assaulted them.

But she has caused a stir in court by refusing to take off her niqab to testify and most recently, refusing to stand for the judge when she appeared in Sydney District Court on Wednesday.

And now she could be charged for it.

NSW Attorney-General Gabrielle Upton urged NSW Solicitor-General Michael Sexton SC on Thursday to determine whether Ms Elzahed should be charged for disrespectful behaviour in court, the Daily Telegraph reports.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of $1100 fine or 14 days prison time.

Ms Elzahed (left and right) is facing charges for refusing to stand for the judge when she appeared in Sydney District Court on Wednesday

The woman is the second wife of convicted Islamic State recruiter Hamdi Alqudsi (pictured)

A spokesperson for the Attorney-General confirmed confirmed Ms Upton had written a letter about the Muslim woman's disrespectful behaviour.

The letter highlights her refusal to stand and asks whether it warrants charges laid.

The letter comes after Ms Elzahed's barrister told Judge Audrey Balla his client refused to 'stand for anyone except Allah'.

Ms Elzahed (pictured) is suing the state over the 2014 counter-terrorism raid at her Sydney home

'She's a Muslim, Your Honour, a strict Muslim and according to my instructions she won't stand for anyone except Allah which i'm not particularly happy with, Your Honour,' Clive Evatt said.

The disrespectful law charge Ms Elzahed is facing, was introduced by the NSW government on September 1 this year following a number of other cases where defendants also refused to stand.

Most notably, Islamic extremist Milad bin Ahmad-Shah al-Ahmadzai refused to stand while on trial for attempted murder in 2014.

Islamic extremist Milad bin Ahmad-Shah al-Ahmadzai (pictured) refused to stand while on trial for attempted murder in 2014

Milad bin Ahmad-Shah al-Ahmadzai (left and right) refusal to stand prompted a possible charge of contempt of court, but no action was taken

His refusal to stand prompted a possible charge of contempt of court, but no action was taken.

Muslim extremist Wassim Fayed, and rumoured Brothers 4 Life gang member, also refused to stand in 2014.

But when the judge threatened contempt of court charges he conceded and stood up.

Issai Isssaka also refused to stand during a stand-off with a magistrate in 2013 but later tearfully apologised when he was also threatened with contempt of court charges.
Ronald Bert Smith Jr (pictured), an Alabama man convicted of murdering a store clerk 1994, is set to be executed on Thursday night

An Alabama man convicted of murdering a store clerk 1994 is set to be executed on Thursday night.

Ronald Bert Smith Jr, 45, is scheduled to be given a lethal injection at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Altmore at 6pm.

He was served his last meal of three pieces of fried chicken, fries and a drink at 2.30pm.

A jury had ruled 7-5 not to execute Smith Jr and instead opted to sentence him to life behind bars, however Judge Lynwood Smith overruled the decision.

Smith's attorneys asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the execution, claiming a January ruling raises legal questions about Alabama's allowance of judicial override.

'Alabama is alone among the states in allowing a judge to sentence someone to death based on judicial fact finding contrary to a jury's verdict,' lawyers wrote on Wednesday.

'There is a societal consensus, and Alabama is on the wrong side of it.'

However, the state's lawyers argued this week that the execution was legally sound.

'A juror's sentencing decision is likely to be the only decision about criminal punishment he or she will ever make, and it will come at the end of an emotionally draining trial, which will often be the first and only such trial a juror will have seen,' they wrote, according to Fox News.

The 45-year-old still has an appeal and a request for stay of execution pending before the Supreme Court.

Smith was convicted in the 1994 slaying of Huntsville convenience store clerk Casey Wilson.

Lawyers for the state said Smith pistol-whipped Wilson when he wouldn't open the cash register and then shot him through the head.

Ronald Bert Smith Jr (left) is scheduled to be given a lethal injection at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility (right) in Altmore at 6pm

When Smith Jr is killed at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility (pictured) he will become the second person executed in Alabama this year

The 45-year-old's life spiraled out of control due to his reliance on alcohol and abuse he suffered at home, according to Fox.

He was a freshman in college when the killing occurred, and at the time he was reportedly downing a pint of vodka in one go while living in a 'haze'.

Smith will be the second person Alabama has executed this year, after Christopher Eugene Brooks was killed.

There were meant to be two more executions this year, however they were stayed at the final moment by federal appeals.
Laura Michelle Lozano (pictured), 46, was arrested after police found her 'nude from the waist down' with an undressed male student

A Texas teacher was arrested Tuesday after police discovered her partially nude with an undressed teenager on the backseat of her car.

Laura Michelle Lozano, 46, who is an English teacher at Cigarroa High School, was charged with indecency with a child by exposure, police told the Laredo Morning Times.

Lozano was caught on Monday night around 10pm when police responded to a report about a suspicious vehicle.

Joe E Baeza, the Laredo Police Department spokesman told the newspaper that Lozano was 'nude from the waist down'.

They then found an undressed 16-year-old male student laying down in the backseat of the white sport utility vehicle, after Lozana claimed to be the only occupant.

The teenager turned out to be one of Lozano's students.

Lozano and the teen were then taken to Doctors Hospital for a sexual assault examination, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Laredo Independent School District (LISD) released a statement saying it was notified of her arrest on Tuesday morning.

'The district followed our administrative procedures by immediately placing the employee on administrative leave (with pay), pending the outcome of an investigation,' the statement reads.

The school district said it is cooperating with the Children's Advocacy Center as well.

Lozano, 46, who is an English teacher at Cigarroa High School (pictured), was charged with indecency with a child by exposure. Investigators determined the 16-year-old was Lozano's student. She is out on bond from the Webb County Jail

LISD spokeswoman Veronica Castillon told the Times in an email that the 'safety of our students is a priority,' adding that 'misconduct involving children is not tolerated'.

Castillon said the school has been in contact with the teen's guardians.

Lozana is out on bond from the Webb County Jail.

Police said the investigation is ongoing.
Police investigated the incident and 'are planning no further action'

by a friend of the student

Pembroke School, was told of the alleged

He is accused of sending

A senior teacher at an elite private school was fired after he was accused of sending inappropriate message to a student after school hours.

Health and physical education teacher Jamie Holland from Pembroke School, Adelaide, was dismissed for allegedly breaching professional boundaries and misconduct.

The alleged incident came to light when a friend of the student was made aware of the messages and reported it to the school, 7 news reported.

Health and physical education teacher Jamie Holland was dismissed from Pembroke School, Adelaide, after he was accused of sending inappropriate text messages to a student

Mr Holland was also the Dean of Student Welfare and conducted one-on-one counselling sessions with students.

The Principal Luke Thomson informed parents about the teacher's dismissal on Tuesday via email.

'All responsibilities required to be discharged by the school have been actioned, supported by appropriate legal and professional advice.

'The police were informed and following preliminary investigations are planning no further action in relation to this matter.'
A huge cloud of dust and rain blew up along the border between Israel and ISIS last week, sparking online claims that it was a biblical storm.

Four days after ISIS fighters attacked an Israeli patrol in the Golan Heights, a plateau in Syria which the Jewish state has occupied since 1967, the bizarre meteorological phenomenon suddenly appeared.

Eyewitnesses said the storm seemed to stop at the boundary and be unable to enter the Golan Heights, which tower above the rest of Syria.

The cloud seemed to almost hover over the fence which the Israelis have constructed in occupied Syria, along the 1967 ceasefire line

Footage of the dust barrier was uploaded onto Facebook by Israel News Online.

They wrote: 'A weather phenomenon occurred at 8am Thursday on the other side of the Syrian border, in the same place where ISIS attacked Israel.

This strange storm of what appears to be dust, cloud and rain did NOT cross the border fence into Israel. It sat like a barrier between ISIS and Israel.'

Underneath Deborah Van Dam posted: 'Absolutely the divine intervention of God protecting Israel. Amen!'

Anna Rider Pollutro added: 'That is God. Israel is the Apple of His eye. Those who hate Israel God hates, those who love Israel God loves. He will defend Israel at all times. Nothing can tear her down. When God is for you nothing can stand against you.'

Israeli Defence Force soldiers can be seen staring in amazement and taking photographs of the huge duststorm cloud

On November 27 Israeli forces in the Golan Heights were attacked for the first time by ISIS fighters. Four days later the mysterious dust cloak appeared along the frontier

But the biblical bubble was burst by Matt Hingley who wrote: 'Actually, sorry to be boring, but it's simply a weather phenomenon.'

Obed Adore added: 'These dust clouds are normal and common phenomenona across the deserts of the Middle East and Africa.'

He went on to point out that in April 1980, six months before a presidential election, eight US servicemen were killed when a duststorm in the Iranian desert ruined the attempted rescue of 52 US Embassy staff during Operation Eagle Claw.

Eric Crane posted on Israel News Online's Facebook page: 'It's a long shelf cloud. Nothing more. Saw it more times than I can count while living in Kansas'

And another cynic, Adam Labaton, pointed out that large areas of northern Israel were recently devastated by forest fores: 'Has everyone already forgotten the fires? Seriously, last week half the country burnt down....no protection there.'

Eric Crane went even further: 'It's a long shelf cloud. Nothing more. Saw it more times than I can count while living in Kansas. Why some of you idiots stretch things for more than they are is the unbelievable. It's either race, gender, politics, religion, and now you can add weather to the list.'
Internet troll Joshua Bonehill-Paine, 24, was found guilty of the racially-aggravated harassment of Labour MP Luciana Berger

A racist serial internet troll was today jailed for two years for harassing an MP in a string of anti-Jewish rants sent after the jailing of a fellow far-right extremist.

Joshua Bonehill-Paine wrote five hate-filled blogs about Luciana Berger, the Labour MP for Liverpool Wavertree, after Garron Helm was sent to prison for four weeks in October 2014.

The jury at the Old Bailey in London deliberated for about 75 minutes yesterday before finding Bonehill-Paine guilty of racially-aggravated harassment.

Bonehill-Paine's prison term will run consecutively with the jail sentence of three years and four months he is already serving for inciting racial hatred.

Sentencing today, Mr Justice Spencer told him he had amassed a formidable record of hate crime at the age of just 24.

The judge criticised Bonehill-Paine for smirking throughout the trial and said he plainly enjoyed Ms Berger's discomfort in giving evidence.

He told Bonehill-Paine, who turned 24 yesterday, that he was responsible for a cruel campaign of vile racist abuse on his obnoxious online newspaper.

The judge described Ms Berger's evidence in court as restrained and dignified.

She told jurors that online abuse does not always stay online - a truth illustrated by the tragic death of her fellow MP Jo Cox, the judge said.

He told Bonehill-Paine: This was gravely oppressive racially aggravated harassment of the worst kind.

Statement: Labour MP Luciana Berger (centre) spoke outside the Old Bailey in London yesterday after Bonehill-Paine has been found guilty, calling his rants 'horrific crimes'

Mr Justice Spencer took into account he was due for release on April 28, 2017 but said a consecutive sentence was fully justified.

He also imposed a criminal behaviour order which carries a penalty of up to five years in jail to curb his internet activities.

Under the order, to be enforced by police upon his release, he cannot directly or indirectly contact Ms Berger, her former assistant and other named people.

The judge said: It is abundantly clear from all the evidence in the case and the material I have been provided with that he is tenacious in his use of the internet as a retaliatory weapon against anyone with whom he wishes to pick a dispute.

Bonehill-Paine's prison term will run consecutively with the jail sentence of three years and four months he is already serving for inciting racial hatred

The order gives officers the power to monitor his online activities for the next five years.

Prosecutor Philip Stott summarised a victim impact statement from Ms Berger in which she described the effect on her work and personal life as well as on her worried partner, staff and colleagues.

He said: She states that before this happened she was an active, busy person who went about her daily life without concern.

She deals with it very much in the context of receiving thousands of anti-Semitic and Nazi tweets and messages since the imprisonment of Garron Helm in October 2014.

She described it as very difficult emotionally to view the messages depicting her as devils, rats, witches and aliens as well as clothed as a Jewish concentration camp prisoner.

As well as being called many disgusting names, she had also received death threats during the course of the hate campaign led by the Daily Stormer.

Mr Stott said she did not feel safe to travel and her partner had been left feeling worried and helpless in the face of the barrage of abuse.

Ms Berger described herself as a proud Brit who was particularly upset at being labelled anti-British by the Filthy Jew Bitch campaign.

She told how she had to cancel events because of the fear factor of being out by herself while just going through all the messages was time-consuming.

Mr Stott said she had reduced her presence on social media, even though it is an important aspect of her work as an MP.

He told the court: Now when she posts things, she is worried she will receive anti-Semitic abuse as a result.

Bonehill-Paine slouched back in the dock smirking during the sentencing, occasionally scribbling in a notebook.

Speaking yesterday outside the Old Bailey, Ms Berger called the verdict a reminder that those who 'perpetrate these horrific crimes can and will be brought to justice'.

Garron, then 21, from Merseyside, had admitted sending a picture on Twitter depicting Ms Berger, 35, with a holocaust-era Star of David on her forehead and the hashtag Hitler was right.

Over the next four months, Bonehill-Paine posted articles online calling her a dominatrix and an evil money-grabber with a deep-rooted hatred of men.

In one, he claimed the number of Jewish Labour MPs was a problem. Bonehill-Paine also compared her with a rodent.

He illustrated his posts with offensive pictures, including the anti-Jewish cliche of a rat with Ms Berger's face superimposed on it.

Bonehill-Paine hailed the Filthy Jew B**** Campaign led by US white supremacist site Daily Stormer as fantastically successful after the MP was sent 2,500 tweets.

Throughout, Bonehill-Paine, of Yeovil, Somerset, was on bail awaiting sentence for making claims on Twitter that several people were paedophiles.

The MP said: 'I hope that it will send a strong signal to anyone experiencing harassment - you do not have to suffer in silence'

Giving evidence, Ms Berger said she felt sick at the blogs and very much under attack.

She told jurors she feared for her safety because what happens online does not always stay online.

The MP said: It's fair to say I was the most concerned I have ever been about my personal safety since I was elected.

It was in the midst of this 'Filthy Jewish B**** campaign the police were in constant contact with me. They were in my office and home and assisted my personal safety.

James Palfrey, for Bonehill-Paine, described the posts as satire and pathetic puerile rubbish as he argued that they fell within the right to freedom of speech.

The MP's parliamentary assistant, Eve Byrne (pictured), reported the blogs to police

But prosecutor Philip Stott said that the defendant had refused to face questions in the witness box because he had no sensible answer to the charge.

The jury was not told that the defendant, a former hospice worker, is currently serving three years and four months in jail over a conviction in December last year for posting anti-Semitic material ahead of a planned neo-Nazi rally.

He was found guilty of inciting racial hatred in a flyer featuring a picture of Auschwitz saying the rally in Golders Green - home to many London-based Jews - would be a gas.

Speaking outside the Old Bailey following the verdict yesterday, Luciana Berger MP said: 'Every day up and down our country, people suffer harassment and racial abuse.

'Today's verdict demonstrates that under British law those who perpetrate these horrific crimes can and will be brought to justice, and it recognises that the British values of equality, tolerance and mutual respect that we hold dear, apply as much on the internet as they do offline.

'The protracted campaign of vitriol and hate had a deep impact on me and on the people around me, my family and my fantastic team.

'I would like to thank the Police and the Crown Prosecution Service for all their excellent work to ensure that Joshua Bonehill-Paine will be held to account.

'If any good can come from this awful experience, I hope that it will send a strong signal to anyone experiencing harassment - you do not have to suffer in silence.

'I'd encourage everyone to report these crimes. Together, we can show, that they are not, nor will they ever be tolerated.'

Major concerns: Ms Berger (left) said she felt sick at the blogs and very much under attack

Sarah Jennings, Special Casework lawyer from CPS London, said: 'The highly offensive, hateful and racist articles written by Bonehill-Paine in his online campaign against Ms Berger are indefensible.

'He claimed that the posts were appropriate within the bounds of free speech and freedom of political expression. However, the whole point of his posts was to aim anti-Semitic hostility towards Luciana Berger.

'Everyone has the right not to be harassed or subjected to racist abuse, no matter what position they hold in public life.'

Bonehill-Paine's conviction comes days after neo-Nazi Thomas Mair, 53, was handed a whole life term at the same court for the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox.

Earlier this year, another internet troll, John Nimmo, 28, from South Shields, was convicted of making a death threat against Ms Berger by saying she would get it like Jo Cox.

She said she feared for her safety because what happens online does not always stay online

In his first email of July 6, he told Ms Berger: Justice for Joshua Bonehill-Paine will be sweet, he has friends everywhere. Watch your back Jewish scum, regards your friend the Nazi.

He then followed it up two days later with You will get it like Jo Cox did, you better watch your back Jewish scum just as Ms Berger was leaving her office in the early evening.

Nimmo was previously jailed in 2014 for eight weeks for sending abusive messages on Twitter to feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez and Walthamstow Labour MP Stella Creasy.

Bonehill-Paine nodded to people gathered in the public gallery but made no reaction when he was found guilty.

Ms Berger sat in the well of the court as the jury delivered its verdict.

Yesterday, Mr Stott outlined the defendant's long criminal history which dated back to when he was aged just 15.

The court heard he was on bail over the harassment campaign against Ms Berger when he committed the Golders Green offence which landed him in jail last year.

Recent case: Bonehill-Paine's conviction comes days after neo-Nazi Thomas Mair (left), 53, was handed a whole life term at the same court for the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox (right)

Yesterday, when the judge adjourned sentencing until today, he said to jurors: 'The internet is a great blessing but there is a dark side.'

After yesterday's verdict, Stephen Silverman, director of investigations and enforcement at the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, said: Joshua Bonehill-Paine conducted a vile campaign of harassment against Luciana Berger based exclusively on the fact that she is Jewish.

In so doing, he abused her with many well-worn anti-Semitic tropes that have been employed across centuries to justify the persecution of Jews.

These included the Jew as Christ killer, the Jew as sexually deviant, the Jew as vermin and the Jew as a grasping money-grabber.
A new theme park has been opened by the Iranian government, where young children learn to be revolutionaries and fight against the country's enemies.

Youngsters as young as eight are able to don military uniforms and fight 'battles' against the US and Israel at the new attraction in the city of Mashad.

The park is named The City of Games for Revolutionary Children.

Visitors are kitted out with military gear and given guns, so they can learn how to fight the country's enemies

A young boy holding a weapon at what looks like a mock military checkpoint at the theme park

Visitors are split into 'squads' of up to 10, the World Tribune reports, and go through 12 stages - including sections dedicated to the Iran-Iraq war, defending holy shrines, and walking through minefields.

They also learn about the battle in Syria against ISIS, and throw balls at effigies of the terror group.

And The Sun reports that they are encouraged to fire plastic bullets at an effigy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Among the shrines children are required to save are the Shrine of Zaynab in Damascas, Syria.

Visitors are taught that the most important elements in war are 'wisdom and intelligence'

They are also taught about Iranian leaders, including Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who founded the Islamic Republic.

Theme park boss Hamid Sadeghi said: 'At the final station, the children learn that the most important elements for attaining victory are wisdom and intelligence for fighting the enemy.'

Speaking to Raja News in Iran, he said the park has been in 'great demand'.

The war-themed attraction has opened in Mashad, the second biggest city in Iraq

GAMES FOR REVOLUTIONARY CHILDREN: WHAT VISITORS DO AT THE THEME PART Some of the stages which the children pass through at the theme park: Stage one - Youngsters are taught about the Mahdi, the Shi'ite messiah Stage two - They are taken to the station of the Rule of the Jurisprudent Stage three - The children are taught about the Islamic Revolution and how the Shah's dictatorship was vanquished Stage four - They enter the first station of the Holy Defence, where they simulate fighting the enemy and learn about combat methods, including firing plastic bullets. They shoot at effigies of the Israeli Prime Minister and the US flag. Stage five - The children go to the station of defence of the Shrine of Zaynab and learn about the fighting in Syria against ISIS Stage six - Children have a contest throwing balls at effigies of ISIS and the Saudi royal family Stage seven - They watch a video about the defence of the Shrine of Zaynab Stage eight - The children receive a souvenir gift Stage nine - Children are blindfolded and asked to stage thow a ball at an Israeli flag in the form of a puzzle and knock it down, and then assemble a puzzle of an Israeli flag Advertisement
Speaking out: Eddie Carter, 18, has revealed in a recent interview that he had been locked up in a basement and deprived of food while in the care of his adoptive parents

The brother of a 14-year-old Alabama boy who was rescued from the basement of his adoptive parents weighing only 55lbs last month has shed light on the horrific abuse he and his sibling allegedly suffered.

Eddie Carter, 18, revealed that he was deprived of food and water and kept in isolation underground, while he also said that the parents would pour salt into open wounds..

Richard and Cynthia Kelly, of Helena, were charged with aggravated child abuse after their 14-year-old adoptive son was hospitalized on November 12, suffering from severe and chronic malnutrition, dehydration, hypothermia and acute respiratory problems.

At 55lbs, the victim weighed less than half of what a boy his age should weigh and was on the brink of death, authorities said at the time of the Kellys' arrest.

As the 14-year-old continues his recovery at a hospital, his brother Eddie opened up about the nightmare he and his sibling had lived through inside the basement of Cynthia and Richard Kelly's home in Helena, which they shared with the couples 19-year-old adopted daughter and her boyfriend.

Carter said he was 11 years old and his brother was about seven when the Kellys adopted them through a Christian agency after spending years bouncing from one foster home to the next.

Scroll down for video

Carter and his brother's adoptive parents Richard and Cynthia Kelly, of Helena, have been charged with aggravated child abuse

The two brothers entered Alabamas foster care after their mother was stripped of her parental rights for some unspecified reason. Having been deprived of parental guidance, Carter emerged as his brother's protector and caretaker, changing his diapers, making sure he was well-fed and healthy.

When he was sleeping, I'd check his chest to make sure he was breathing,' Carter told Al.com. My little brother was like my golden egg. I just had to keep him safe. It was my main goal not to be separated ever.

When Richard and Cynthia Kelly agreed to adopt both siblings, Carter said he thought it was their big break - a chance to have a normal family life like other children.

But Carter said within months, their adoptive parents began locking him up in the basement for long periods of time without access to the most basic necessities as punishment for minor infractions.

'It gets to that point where you're like an animal, well, you kind of feel like an animal,' Carter said.

He recalled that the longest stretch was a couple of months trapped in the pitch-black cellar with no light, no bathroom and only little to eat.

They would say, Jesus survived off bread and water, so you can too,'' he said. It was like a torture method. They were upstairs eating pizza and Chinese, and I'd be eating bread and water.

Whenever he needed to relieve himself, Carter said he would do so in the corner. After a while, the entire basement reeked of urine.

Carter developed a nervous habit of chewing his lips until they bled. To punish him, he said, Richard and Cynthia would pour salt into the open wounds.

The 18-year-old described how he would hear his adoptive parents laughing and going about their day upstairs while he was locked in the basement.

'You're down there and nobody knows you're down there except the people in the house,' he said.

Authorities said the boy spent much of the past two years locked in the basement of his Alabama home (above, file photo)

When Eddie began acting out at home, the Kellys had him removed 18 months after his adoption. The teen says he was upset to part with his younger brother but was not overly worried for his well-being because he had never seen their parents mistreat the younger boy.

After going from one treatment program to another all over Alabama, in 2013 Carter was adopted by Arizona rapper Nick Carter, known by his stage name, Murs.

At one point, Murs and Eddie drove down to Alabama to check up on his younger brother, but Eddie never got out of the car and only caught a glimpse of his sibling lurking in the doorway. He noted the boy appeared really skinny, but he thought nothing of it at the time.

It was not until he learned of the 14-year-old's rescue and the Kellys' arrest on abuse charges last month that the awful truth was revealed to Carter.

The things that happened to me when I was there, you just say a prayer and keep your head up high and hope that same thing doesn't happen to someone you really love and care about that you know is still there, he said.

To see it did happen is very disheartening. Your brother is all you have. I blame myself.

Police in Helena launched an investigation into the alleged abuse after the Kellys took the ailing, malnourished teenager to the hospital.

Its the worst case of neglect that I have ever seen, Helena Police Chief Pete Folmar said at the time.

The 14-year-old victim remains at Children's of Alabama, where his condition has been improving. He has been taken off the ventilator, but Carter said the boy is still weak and so far has refused to meet with any family members.
An engineer is forced to flee his Vauxhall Corsa when it bursts into flames, in this shocking video.

The footage, filmed in Bridlington, Yorkshire shows fierce orange flames coming out of the passenger side of the car.

Plumes of white smoke are initially seen spewing from under the bonnet before getting thicker as the fire takes hold.

The footage, filmed in Bridlington, Yorkshire shows white smoke initially seen spewing from under the bonnet before fierce orange flames start coming out of the passenger side of the car

The driver's window then dramatically shatters due to the intense heat inside the Corsa and flames are seen to billow through.

When the fire brigade turns up the entire car in engulfed in flames. The inferno is just one of dozens of car fires reported involving Vauxhall Corsa across the country.

Security alarm engineer Josh McKaig, 25, was driving the 2008 Corsa when it burst into flames.

He said: 'It just sort of took off on its own. It came completely out of the blue.

'I was driving along Kingsgate and I got a little whiff of burning. I looked down at my dials and nothing was lighting up.

'About three seconds later smoke started billowing out of my dashboard. I was panicking. The whole cab was well hot.

'It was difficult to breathe. I have never seen anything like this before.

The driver's window then dramatically shatters due to the intense heat inside the Corsa and flames are seen to billow through. Security alarm engineer Josh McKaig, 25, was forced to flee the car

'There were no warning signs, no indication light. There was nothing at all to tell me there was something wrong.

'I pulled over and jumped out of the car and ran round to the passenger side and the fire was coming out from underneath the glove box.

'I was trying to get as many tools as I could out of there but it was just too hot.

'It took about 20 seconds from the smoke starting to come out of the dashboard to the car becoming engulfed in flames.

'The seat took straight away with the flames and it just spread from there.'

Up to 865,000 of the cars could have a similar wiring fault to the one that forced a recall of a quarter of a million Zafira models last December.

Experts fear that all Corsa D and E models built since 2006 are a potential fire risk, with some motorists reporting flames seeping through their dashboards.

The Corsa, which is Britain's second best-selling car, could have heater wiring susceptible to heat damage, like the Zafira.

Mr McKaig, from Filey, North Yorkshire, said he had had a long-running problem with the heater in the Corsa he was driving for Intruder Alarm Services. The firm bought the car last year for 4,200.

He said: 'It was something wrong with the heater anyway.

'It would just cut out and stop working and then would start working again. I think it must have been a loose connection or something.

'We had taken it to a garage last winter to be fixed and they came back and said it was up and running again.

When the fire brigade turns up the entire car in engulfed in flames. Experts fear that all Corsa D and E models built since 2006 are a potential fire risk, with some motorists reporting flames seeping through their dashboards

'Because it was a company I didn't ask too many questions about it.

'The car seemed to be back up and running but the heating remained temperamental.'

Mr McKaig said he didn't realise that Vauxhall had problems in the past with faulty heating units.

He added: 'I didn't even realise there was a problem with Vauxhalls until it happened to us.

'Safe to say I'm never buying a Vauxhall again.'

The Sun commissioned research by GBB, an automotive forensic investigation firm, after several Corsa owners reported their cars had caught fire.

In a report, lead engineer Philip Hoyes said 'resistive heating' associated with failure in the Zafira B 'has also been identified in the heater wiring harnesses of Vauxhall Corsa D models'.

'A fire-damaged Corsa D, with a history of wiring harness damage, was examined to reveal an origin of fire in the region of the heater system,' the report also said.

Iain Stewart, a Tory MP on the Commons transport committee, said: 'Vauxhall should either immediately arrange for a recall and fix of affected cars or be upfront and demonstrate beyond doubt why there are no grounds for concern.

'I shall be discussing these allegations with my colleagues on the committee and we may decide to reopen our inquiry into this matter.'

In a statement regarding the report Vauxhall said yesterday: 'Vauxhall confirms that there is a different vehicle heating and ventilation system configuration in Corsa D/E to the Hummer H3, inclusive of a different connector.

'This is why the risk assessment applied to the Hummer H3 cannot be applied to Corsa D/E.
Paula Broadwell, the woman whose affair with then-CIA director David Petraeus cost him his job, has accused him of having her 'thrown under the bus' over their illicit relationship.

The former intelligence officer said she felt 'betrayed' by Petraeus after news of their affair broke in 2012.

'I was in such a state of mental shock and quickly spiraled into a depression,' she told Vanity Fair.

Scroll down for video

Paula Broadwell. the woman whose affair with then-CIA director David Petraeus cost him his job, has accused him of having her 'thrown under the bus' over their illicit relationship

Paula Broadwell gave her first national television interview to CBS News since the 2012 scandal broke on Thursday

'My husband, I thought, was going to leave me. I was cut off from this mentor and someone I cared for very much, David Petraeus, who also did nothing to stand up for me and in fact, empowered his surrogates to throw me under the bus, and that was devastating.

'To have them completely abandon you and betray you is something that's very hard to talk about.'

Broadwell and Petraeus' affair began in 2011, shortly after he retired from the Army and began his new job at the CIA, and ended in 2012, after another military employee tipped off the FBI.

The pair, who were both separately married with children, met in 2006, when Petraeus came to speak at Harvard, where Broadwell, who is also a West Point graduate, was studying.

Broadwell says that coverage of the scandal from the time unfairly painted her as a having been 'on this mission to seduce him.'

' I was portrayed as having gotten my claws into him,' she said. 'The reality is, it was two people who were at difficult crossroads in their own lives.'

Broadwell admitted she'd began to feel unsettled in her marriage, and felt growing resentment towards her husband who left all the domestic chores to her while she balanced a busy career and two children.

The intelligence officer said she felt 'betrayed' by Petraeus after news of their affair broke in 2012 (Broadwell and Petraeus pictured together in this file photo)

Broadwell admitted she'd began to feel unsettled in her marriage, and felt growing resentment towards her husband who left all the domestic chores to her (Paula Broadwell with husband and radiologist Scott Broadwell)

Eventually, she'd found comfort in her 'mentor.'

'My husband and I each had careers and two babies at home. They just demand everything from you. All the domestic duties fell to me and this resentment builds,' she said.

The secret relationship was already over by the time it was exposed by the FBI probe.

But the scandal cost Petraeus his job while Broadwell is still suffering the fallout.

Petraeus resigned as head of the CIA after he admitted sharing classified notebooks with Broadwell, who was writing his biography, during their affair. He pleaded guilty pleaded guilty to mishandling classified materials and was given two years' probation and a fine of $100,000.

Petraeus has since bounced back from the scandal, becoming a partner at a New York private equity firm and is even being considered for secretary of state by the Trump administration.

He found out in January that he won't face any military discipline.

Yet Broadwell - who was never charged - has been unable to recover since the scandal.

After serving 21 years in the U.S. military and 13 years in the Army Reserves, she was demoted from lieutenant colonel to major and lost her top secret security clearance - a debilitating loss for an intelligence officer.

And just last month - five years after the affair - Broadwell received an official reprimand by the Army.

Broadwell admits seeing her former partner being considered for a cabinet position, while her own career languished, it 'felt like a kick in the gut'.

'As I woke up to the news, it was a bit of a shocker that [Petraeus] is being considered for a cabinet position,' she told CBS News.

She said she was incredulous that after five years, she was still in 'limbo' and unable to find herself a job, or even publicly defend herself.

Petraeus has since emerged as a potential candidate for the prestigious secretary of state job in Trump's administration. He was spotted at Trump Tower last month (pictured) and has received praise from the president-elect

US Army General David Petraeus gives a thumbs-up after presenting his wife Holly with a bouquet of roses during an Armed Forces Farewell Tribute in 2011 - before news of the affair broke

In one instance, she was denied a position in a prominent bank - something she was more than qualified for - after being told by a military recruiter that if she was hired, it would be front page news and the bank 'wouldnt want to deal with that.'

Yet she said she was still 'really happy' to see Petraeus succeed.

'I think he's the best person for the job,' she said of his consideration for secretary of state. 'He's exceptionally talented.'

'He's earned it, and so should his family,' Broadwell said. 'But then that begs the question: Why shouldn't I be able to go on? I need to fight back for my life,' she said.

Broadwell is still married to her husband Scott, with whom she shares two young children, who stayed by her side after her affair.

The 44-year-old said she owed her life to her family who had supported her through the scandal.

She says the kids were too young to understand what happened. They simply told them that mom 'had made a mistake.'

Broadwell wrote her PhD dissertation about Petraeus' leadership skills and later penned a biography of the Army man, titled 'All In: The Education of General David Petraeus'.

The Army reserves major says that the military has yet to grant her approval to resign from the service. She says that she initially submitted the resignation this past summer.

Broadwell (pictured with Petraeus in this file photo) says she hopes to be able to move forward - just as her former partner has

She is now hoping to put the last five years behind her.

'It's time to move on,' Broadwell said

'I'm really just asking on principle to be treated with dignity and also to be treated by the same standard with the military,' the married mother of two young boys told CBS.

'And to be able to move forward and not have this sort of potential cancer hanging over my head,' Broadwell said.

'I mean, it's really been what it's like for the last five years, thinking and living with cancer, and I don't know if it's going to metastasize and get worse or will it go away.'

'It's probably a very poor analogy, but when you don't know - when there's uncertainty, constant uncertainty, it's - it's kind of soul-eating.'

Petraeus has since emerged as a potential candidate for the prestigious secretary of state job in Trump's administration. He was spotted at Trump Tower last month and has received praise from the president-elect.

But if he does get the job, Petraeus will have to check with his parole officer before accepting the position - within three days.

Broadwell, who says she's faced a double-standard after the affair, has since co-founded a foundation focused on addressing gender bias in the media and society.
This is the moment Russian special forces used a machinegun robot during an operation to kill an ISIS warlord behind a wave of deadly bombings in the country.

Dramatic footage shows anti-terror officers firing into a building after cornering Rustam Aselderov at a secret compound in the North Caucasus city of Makhachkala.

Moments later, a weaponised robot trundles into view and is manoeuvred to face the building before opening fire.

Russian special forces used a machinegun robot (pictured) during an operation to kill an ISIS warlord behind a wave of deadly bombings in the country

A weaponised robot trundles into view and is manoeuvred to face the building before it opens fire

Dramatic footage shows anti-terror officers firing into a building after cornering Rustam Aselderov at a secret compound in the North Caucasus city of Makhachkala

Rustam Aselderov was thought to have been involved in blasts in the southern Russian city of Volgograd which killed 34 in 2013. He was fighting for another Caucasus insurgent group at the time. It also linked him to twin car blasts in Dagestan in 2012 that killed 14 and injured at least 120

Soldiers can be seen securing the area after the robot's machinegun had ripped holes in the wall in a hail of bullets.

Aselderov, also known as Sheikh Abu Mohammad al-Qadari, and four of his henchmen were 'neutralised' in the raid.

Russia's FSB security service revealed on Sunday that it had killed an ISIS 'emir' in the operation.

The FSB said in a statement that 'among the neutralised bandits was the head of the Caucasus region's branch of the Islamic State Rustam Aselderov, and four of his close associates.'

Aselderov, also known as Sheikh Abu Mohammad al-Qadari, and four of his henchmen were 'neutralised' in the raid. The robot is pictured firing into the building

Soldiers can be seen securing the area after the robot's machinegun had ripped holes in the wall in a hail of bullets

The FSB said that 35-year-old was involved in blasts in the southern Russian city of Volgograd which killed 34 in 2013.

He was fighting for another Caucasus insurgent group at the time. It also linked him to twin car blasts in Dagestan in 2012 that killed 14 and injured at least 120.

The FSB said he also organised a foiled attack that was to take place on Moscow's Red Square on New Year's Eve 2010 involving two female suicide bombers.

The warlord pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in December 2014, the first major militant to do so in the Caucasus.

ISIS named Aselderov the governor of a new Caucasus province. The terror group has since claimed responsibility for a number of attacks on police in Dagestan.

Aselderov previously fought with the local Caucasus Emirate insurgent group, taking over as leader of its Dagestan branch in 2012, the FSB said.

Russia's FSB security service revealed on Sunday that it had killed an ISIS 'emir' in the operation

The warlord pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in December 2014, the first major militant to do so in the Caucasus

In 2015 the US Department of State imposed sanctions on Aselderov as a 'foreign terrorist fighter' after the jihadist group appointed him leader of its North Caucasus franchise.

Russia in October offered a 5 million ruble ($78,000) reward for information on Aselderov's whereabouts.

The FSB said a joint operation with the interior ministry had cornered Aselderov and his fighters in a private house in the city of Makhachkala, where they found 'automatic weapons and a large amount of ammunition and explosives.'
Advertisement

Stunning photos have given an eerie tour of an abandoned Islamic school once at the centre of a terror alert.

Jameah Islameah in Mark Cross, East Sussex, allegedly hosted Britain's first home-grown jihad training camp.

Testimonies given by Al Qaeda suspects at Guantanamo Bay referred to terror camps there in 1997 and 1998.

These were advertised at Finsbury Park Mosque in London and were attended by the notorious Abu Hamza.

It also emerged that extremist Omar Bakri Mohammed had visited the school for two camping weekends.

A raid in 2006 saw police round up a network of alleged terrorist recruiters after spying on them at the school.

Officers established a three-mile exclusion zone at the time around the secluded former Legat ballet academy.

The swoop came amid claims Islamic fundamentalists were using the school to train teenage Muslim boys.

The school opened in 2003 in a former convent set in 54 acres of woodland, but was closed by Ofsted in 2007.

Jameah Islameah School in Mark Cross, East Sussex, allegedly hosted Britain's first home-grown jihad training camp

This is an eerie insight into an abandoned Islamic school which was once at the centre of a terror alert

Testimonies given by Al Qaeda suspects at Guantanamo Bay referred to terror camps there in 1997 and 1998

Terror camps were advertised at Finsbury Park Mosque in London and were attended by the notorious Abu Hamza

It has also emerged that extremist Omar Bakri Mohammed had visited the school for two camping weekends

A raid in 2006 saw police round up a network of alleged terrorist recruiters after spying on them at the school

Officers established a three-mile exclusion zone at the time of the raid around the secluded former Legat ballet academy

The police swoop in 2006 came amid claims Islamic fundamentalists were using the school to train teenage Muslim boys

A shocking number of dead bees in one of the former rooms of the school near Crowborough in East Sussex

The school opened in 2003 in a former convent set in 54 acres of woodland, but was closed by Ofsted in 2007

Concerns were raised about the school at the time of the police raid in 2006 but no one there was held

The school in East Sussex was closed in February 2007 by Ofsted, meaning it is now illegal for it to operate

The Islamic school was located in a former 100-room convent in the quiet village of Mark Cross

Groups of around 30 of Hamza's followers were allegedly taught to use certain guns at the camp at the school

The school in East Sussex was not operating at the time of its closure in 2007 because of a lack of pupils

The school opened 13 years ago as an independent day school for Muslim boys aged between 11 and 16

People living at the school when the police raid happened were put up in alternative accommodation, police said at the time

The school had once said it provided pupils with 'an opportunity of a lifetime in the form of Islamic teacher training'

The school used to aim that its 'trained individuals will then be qualified enough to teach in local Masajeds and Madares'

Ofsted inspectors reported that the school had a 'significant number of major weaknesses'

The school's imam has previously said that he was immediately worried about Hamza's behaviour on the site

Pupils or people associated with the school were said to have been rarely seen in the village where it was located

Some people at the school were said to have done more to integrate into the local community in the years before the raid

The school in East Sussex used to charge an annual fee of 900 and was set in 54-acre grounds
Institute said it's the color of '

Amid social, political and environmental tumult around the world, the Pantone Color Institute on Thursday plucked fresh and zesty 'greenery' as the color of the year for 2017.

The vibrant green with yellow undertones is an answer, of sorts, to bruising 2016, signaling a yearning to rejuvenate, and to reconnect to both nature and something larger than oneself, said Laurie Pressman, the institute's vice president.

'It's a realization for many people,' she said in an interview Wednesday.

'This country is politically divided, and we see that around the world. It's not just us. There's a real division in terms of globalization and this desire to pull back from globalization. It's Brexit. It's what we just saw in Italy.'

Scroll down for video

Amid social, political and environmental tumult around the world, the Pantone Color Institute on Thursday plucked fresh and zesty 'greenery' (pictured) as the color of the year for 2017

The company describes the color as a 'fresh and zesty yellow-green shade that evokes the first days of spring when nature's greens revive, restore and renew'. For the kitchen, Pantone spotted its shade in appliances, including a Keurig coffeemaker, and in cookware

The company describes the color as a 'fresh and zesty yellow-green shade that evokes the first days of spring when nature's greens revive, restore and renew', CNN Money reported.

The experts at the institute, which advises a variety of industries on the use of color from fashion and home design to packaging and product development, have been choosing a color of the year since 1999.

It's a way to conjure the emotions that colors evoke. The team at Pantone, based in Carlstadt, New Jersey, scouts trends through the year in media, on runways and at trade shows around the world.

The color 'greenery,' similar to chartreuse, is well represented in the first buds and grass blades of new spring.

Leatrice Eiseman, the executive director of the institute, told the New York Times that the color is one 'of hopefulness, and of our connection to nature'.

Leatrice Eiseman, the executive director of the institute, told the New York Times that the color is one 'of hopefulness, and of our connection to nature'. The color has really made impact on the fashion industry as well as green accessories have become more common

But it also plays out in history at times of major cultural shifts, including the suffrage movement and flapper era of the 1920s and the war and racial justice protest movements and psychedelia of the '60s and '70s.

'It's been there during times of bold change, when people are exploring,' Pressman said.

The hue is in contrast to the soft, serenity-inducing dual choices of 'rose quartz' and 'serenity' blue as the colors of the year for 2016.

In addition to the emerging recycle-and- share economies, we have green rooftops, green spaces and indoor vertical farming.

In home decor, there's a trend to connect with the elements outside through open spaces and vast windows, and a desire to bring nature inside through forestry murals and living moss walls, Pressman said.

On the industrial side, both Skoda and Mercedes showed bright green cars for 2017.

Menswear (left) designers have played into the idea of gender fluidity through prints and of bright greens, along with the creators of womenswear (right) and beauty products, ranging from embellished gowns to bright green shades for eyes, nails and lips

On the industrial side, both Skoda and Mercedes (pictured) showed bright green cars for 2017

For the kitchen, Pantone spotted its shade in appliances, including a Keurig coffeemaker, and in cookware.

And in fashion, menswear designers have played into the idea of gender fluidity through prints and accessories of bright greens, along with the creators of womenswear and beauty products, ranging from the couture of Oscar de la Renta in a leaf-embellished gown to bright green shades for eyes, nails and lips.

Katy Perry, Kylie Jenner and Lena Dunham have all taken turns dying their hair bright green. Last year, a cologne from the Diana Vreeland brand came in green and was dubbed 'Bold'.

The shade also symbolizes the organic and health frenzy in cleaning products and food  hello matcha!  coupled with efforts to rethink food waste in restaurants and processing plants.

In the tech and digital spaces, the color pops up in products like earbuds and in logos and advertising for apps and startups, Pressman said.
A mother-of-three's severed head and her necklace was found wrapped in a pair of black bin bags and packed into a green suitcase which was hidden in a shower cubicle, a court was told.

Glasgow High Court heard that Kimberly McKenzie's body had been dismembered following her death on October 27, 2015, and placed into a number of different bags.

Her remains were recovered by police in November 2015 inside the house on William Phillips Drive in Montrose.

Kimberley McKenzie's dismembered body was found inside this house in Montrose in 2015

Detective Constable Victor Whyte told the High Court in Glasgow that the suitcase and a pink rucksack were discovered in a shower cubicle at a house in Montrose in November 2015.

He was giving evidence at the trial of Steven Jackson, 40, and Michelle Higgins, 29, who deny murdering the 37-year-old victim in Montrose on October 27, 2015, before chopping up her body.

Prosecutor Ashley Edwards QC asked DC Whyte: 'Did you attend Dundee police mortuary to look at the contents of a green suitcase and a pink rucksack,' and he replied: 'That's correct.'

Ms Edwards then said: 'Had they been recovered from 73 William Phillips Drive, Montrose,' and the police officer replied: 'Yes.'

The court had earlier heard that murder accused Higgins had keys to the house at 73 William Phillips Drive.

The jury was shown photographs of the suitcase and its bagged up contents.

There were three separate packages bagged in black bin bags which had been knotted.

DC Whyte said: 'Within the bin liners there were body parts.'

Judge Lady Rita Rae, pictured, warned members of the public about the graphic photographs which were about to be shown to the jury featuring Ms McKenzie's body parts

The court heard that the three packages contained the head of Kimberley MacKenzie and her two thighs.

Inside the pink rucksack the jury heard was Kimberley's left knee and lower leg and her left hand and arm. Each limb was wrapped inside knotted black bin bags.

Her left hand and arm and right upper arm were wrapped inside an Asda bag.

At one point a photograph was shown in the courtroom which showed a body part.

Prior to its showing Ms Edwards told judge Lady Rae: 'In one of these images there will be a body part. It would be advisable to alert members of the public.'

Lady Rae then warned those sitting in the public benches about what was going to be shown.

The jury earlier heard that five other body parts were found in four bins.

Glasgow High Court heard Steven Jackson, 40, and Michelle Higgins, 29, deny all charges

Defence QC Mark Stewart, representing Higgins, said: 'The ladies and gentleman may have heard of an alleged admission about the packaging of Kimberley MacKenzie's thighs that they had been wrapped in black bin bags. Were they wrapped in black bin bags,' and DC Whyte replied: 'Correct.'

Earlier in the trial witness Barbara Whyte, who is Jackson's ex-wife claimed that he confessed to cutting up her body.

Defence QC Mark Stewart, who is representing Higgins, cross examined police witnesses

She told the jury: 'He was sort of joking and said it took two black bins bags to cover up her thighs.'

Detective Sergeant Murdo MacDonald said that he went to 73 William Phillips Drive on November 11, 2015, taking keys that he been found in Higgins handbag.

He was asked if these keys fitted the lock and said that they did.

Jackson, and Higgins, are accused of murdering Ms MacKenzie by repeatedly striking her on the head, neck and body with a hammer or similar instrument at 40a Market Street, Montrose, on October 27, last year.

They are also accused of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by dismembering her body using a saw, knives and a screwdriver and wrapping parts of her body in bin liners and bags and hiding them in bins at 40 Market Street, Patons Lane, Chapel Street and 73 William Phillips Drive, all Montrose, between October 27 and November 4, 2015..

Both deny the charges against them.
Russia has tested a terrifying new 'drone' submarine capable of carrying nuclear warheads unmanned within range of the US, it has emerged.

The top-secret nuclear-capable sub, code-named Kanyon by the Pentagon, is feared to have a range of up to 6,200 miles with top speeds of 56 knots.

US security officials detected the test on November 27 after it was launched from a separate Sarov-class submarine though the location has not been revealed.

Russia has tested a terrifying new 'drone' submarine capable of carrying nuclear warheads unmanned within range of the US. Russian president Vladimir Putin is pictured

The top-secret nuclear-capable sub, code-named Kanyon by the Pentagon, is feared to have a range of up to 6,200 miles with top speeds of 56 knots (artist's impression picture)

Rumours of the development of the weapon first emerged in September amid fears it could carry megaton-class warheads - the largest weapons in existence, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

It comes after pictures emerged of Vladimir Putin's 50ft underwater 'robot' that can imitate any submarine in the world and carry out 600-mile spying missions 1,800ft below the surface.

Russian military designers say their 'submarine imitator', called Surrogat, will be capable of travelling at speeds of up to 24 knots for hours on end.

Powered by lithium-ion battery, it will be able to imitate both conventional and nuclear-powered submarines thanks to its 'modular design' which allows it to 'change its functionality'.

OIt comes after pictures emerged of Vladimir Putin's 50ft underwater 'robot' that can imitate any submarine in the world and carry out 600-mile spying missions 1,800ft below the surfac

It comes as Russia continues to build up its forces on Europe's borders amid heightened tensions between president Vladimir Putin (pictured in a submarine last year) and the West

It comes as Russia continues to build up its forces on Europe's borders amid heightened tensions between president Vladimir Putin and the West.

It would be used to help Russian navy training but could also be used for 'mapping and reconnaissance' trips, according to Russia's Rubin Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering.

State media agency TASS reported the bureau as saying the sub's 'ability to carry towed sonar arrays for various applications will help realistically reproduce an enemy submarine's physical fields - acoustic and electromagnetic.

'Today, combat submarines have to be involved for exercises or tests and this practice distracts them from carrying out their basic missions.

'The use of an unmanned imitator will help avoid this and cut the cost of drills. Besides, a submarine without a crew reduces risks while keeping simulated scenarios realistic,' Rubin CEO Igor Vilnit told TASS.

Powered by lithium-ion battery, it will be able to imitate both conventional and nuclear-powered submarines thanks to its 'modular design' which allows it to 'change its functionality'. The Royal Navy's submarine Vanguard, which carries trident missiles, is pictured

'This apparatus will be distinguished by its simplicity in operation and the low cost of its maintenance and upgrade.

'Now we're holding consultations with Navy representatives to make the imitator fully meet the Navy's requirements,' he said.

In training, the provides for up to 15-16 hours of naval exercises and is capable of 'reproducing an enemy submarine's manoeuvring, including at high speed, over this time', TASS reports.

The unmanned sub will have a displacement of about 40 tons, a cruising range of about 600 miles at a speed of 5 knots and a maximum speed of moire than 24 knots.

It is also being designed to withstand a maximum immersion depth of 600 meters.

While negotiations are taking place with the Russian Navy, the design bureau has not ruled out selling the submarines to foreign customers in the future.

The Kremlin under Vladimir Putin (pictured) is set to equip its tanks with advanced new reconnaissance drones, which will be able to circle up to 100 metres and stay in the air indefinitely

It comes days after it emerged that the Kremlin is set to equip its tanks with advanced new reconnaissance drones, which will be able to circle up to 100 metres and stay in the air indefinitely.

The devices, named 'Pterodactyls', increase Russian ground forces' capabilities at a time when it is building up troops on Europe's borders.

Russian Armata tanks will be equipped with the drones, which will be powered by a cable, and will increase the distance at which they can identify targets.

It comes at a time of heightened tensions between Russia and Ukraine, after the latter began two days of missile tests near Crimea.
Two thugs face lengthy jail terms for shooting and torturing a millionaire businessman during a raid on his countryside mansion.

Charlie Simms and Christopher Bergin mistakenly thought Timothy Mardon was using his Grade II listed Georgian home in the village of Sible Hedingham as a cannabis factory.

Mr Mardon, who is in fact a 51-year-old insurance company president, heard the raiders breaking into his property and phoned 999, whispering what was happening to a police call handler.

Charlie Simms and Christopher Bergin face lengthy jail terms after carrying out a terrifying armed raid on a businessman's country home

The businessman locked himself behind a bedroom door and was blasted in the leg with a shotgun.

An audio recording of his 999 call was played to the trial, including the moment Simms counted down from 10, telling Mr Mardon he would kill him unless he told them where the safe was.

The married millionaire and father-of-two was heard on the tape pleading with the gunman, who demanded to know where 'the drugs money' was kept.

Mr Mardon was left bleeding on the ground and the burglars escaped with just a Tudor Heritage Watch worth $3,000 and a few hundred pounds worth of foreign currency.

Timothy Mardon was shot in the leg after the pair burst into his home

Simms, 23, and Bergin, 27, denied a string of charges after the early hours raid but were found guilty following a seven-week trial at Chelmsford Crown Court. A third man - Kalebh Shreeve, 24, was cleared of involvement.

During the trial it emerged Simms and Berin had been at a house party in the village and drank heavily and smoked drugs before deciding on a whim to raid the mansion.

Simms, who wore a stocking mask during the raid, was convicted of attempted murder against the businessman, who suffered life-changing injuries as a result of the shotgun wound to his leg and now walks with the aid of a stick.

Mr Mardon bravely took to the witness stand to re-count the shocking events which unfolded on February 6, telling the jury he had pleaded for his life to be spared after he was blasted in his leg from behind the locked bedroom door.

He said: 'The person started screaming at me and pointing the gun at my head and threatening me. He was very, very aggressive. He was yelling at me in a very threatening fashion.

'The first thing he started yelling was "where is the weed money?" I think I said "I don't deal weed, I work for an insurance company".

'He was pointing the gun directly at my head and threatening me. He basically said he would kill me if I did not talk.'

Mr Mardon was shot through his bedroom door as he was threatened by the two raiders

After his arrest, Bergin blamed Simms for forcing him into the raid and requested a new secret life for himself and his family members.

The officer in charge of the investigation hit out Simms and Bergin who had drank heavily and smoked drugs at a party before the doomed raid.

DCI Leighton Hammett of Essex Police said: 'This was an extremely violent crime which left a man fighting for his life.

'Charlie Simms and Christopher Bergin are violent, dangerous men and Essex will be a safer place with them off the streets.

'This was not a premeditated attack but one conjured up on a whim following a night of heavy drinking and smoking drugs.

'It was an attack based on the fictional notion drugs were being grown at the victim's house.'

Police outside Mr Mardon's home in the pretty village of Sible Hedingham following the raid

Speaking after today's verdict, Mr and Mrs Mardon said: 'Firstly we would like to extend our thanks to all the officers, paramedics and emergency services who responded on the night of the burglary, and medical staff at Colchester and Addenbrooks hospitals who saved both Tim's life and his leg.

'We would like to thank all of DCI Leighton Hammett's team, in particular DC Christopher Sedgwick, for their diligent and extensive work in prosecuting this case, and also the jury and officers of the court for their time and deliberations.

'We are satisfied that Simms and Bergin have been found guilty. They directly caused harm to our family, and they will serve appropriate prison terms.'

The jury unanimously found Simms, of Great Yeldham, guilty of attempted murder, aggravated burglary, and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
Harry Butler was twice the drink-drive limit as he ran across the A303 dual carriageway

A teenager died as he crossed a dual carriageway just a day after he found out that he would not be prosecuted over an alleged attack on his love rival.

Harry Butler was twice the drink-drive limit when he ran across the A303 dual carriageway in Andover, Hampshire, an inquest in Winchester heard.

He was trying to cross the road when a motorhome, travelling at 70mph, slammed into him and one of his friends on September 15.

Harry was on his way to the party after being told he would not face charges over the alleged attack of his former girlfriend Hannah Simmons' boyfriend.

A coroner heard that 18-year-old Harry, who had had a history of self-harming, had been drinking beer and lager before he was hit.

The college student was killed when he was run over by an elderly couple returning home from a European holiday.

A Hampshire police spokesman refused to comment but the force previously told MailOnline: 'No action is to be taken against an 18-year-old youth who was released without charge. We consulted with the CPS.'

Fellow Andover College student and friend, Gabrielle Jacobs - who described herself as more like a sister - was with him and Ashley Giles as Harry attempted to lead the group across the road.

She explained how they had been using a phone's torch as they tried to cross.

'Harry said "when I say go just keep going and don't look back until you get to the other side",' she told the inquest.

'He said "go" but I remember thinking Ashley and Harry were hesitating.

'When I got to the other side I saw a large vehicle, bigger than a car, just behind me by about three metres. I then heard a noise I can only describe as a gunshot.

'I turned around and saw Harry tangled up in the lane nearest to where I was. '

She also told the inquest that the driver was not to blame for her friend's death.

'I've thought about the driver a bit since then,' she said.

'It's not their fault at all. We were trying to cross the road, a main road, which was not sensible at all.'

The college student was killed when he was run over by an elderly couple returning home from a European holiday, on the A303 road (stock image) near Andover, Hampshire

The elderly couple in the Fiat Chausson motorhome were returning from Dover, having been on a European holiday, and had just overtaken a Vauxhall when they hit Harry and Ashley.

Driver Richard Pugh told the court he was in the 'wrong place at the wrong time' when the group ran out in front of him as he drove back to their home in Sherborne, Dorset.

Mr Pugh was travelling just under 70mph and did not have chance to brake when he saw the group.

'The figures were there and then there was an almighty bang immediately,' he said.

Mr Butler, from Walled Meadow, Andover, was pronounced dead at the scene on the A303

'You just can't imagine that you could have hit anyone. I must have braked but because it was immediately there wasn't any time to do anything at all.'

A post-mortem examination carried out by Dr Adnan Al-Badri revealed that Harry suffered numerous bone fractures and organ damage as a result of the crash.

He also had injuries to his arms 'probably the result of self-harming,' the pathologist wrote in a statement read out during the hearing.

He wrote: 'There were also injuries to his arms. There were older injuries that were there because I think are probably the results of him having self-harmed. It looked like he had self-harmed, yes.'

A toxicology report found Harry had 162mg/100ml of alcohol in his bloodstream when he died. The legal limit is 80 milligrammes of alcohol.

He continued: 'He was under the influence of alcohol which could have affected his reaction time, his co-ordination and his judgement. The cause of death was severe multiple injuries caused by a road traffic collision.'

The group crossed the road despite the fact that there was a subway just 130m further up the dual carriageway

The inquest heard how the group had been drinking at Harry's flat before attempting to reach a party on the other side of the A303, crossing the road despite there being a subway 130m further up the dual carriageway.

Mr Giles, who was also hit by the motorhome remains in hospital with 'life-changing' injuries.

Mid Hampshire Coroner Grahame Short said: 'I find that the cause of death was from the severe multiple injuries that we have heard.

'It's all very clear that it was a very bad idea to cross a road like the A303 in these circumstances particularly at night and when they were wearing dark clothing.

'All three of the group successfully reached the central reservation and then jumped over the crash barrier and attempted to cross the eastbound carriageway.

'Gabby Jacobs was able to cross the road. She unbelievably had great faith in Harry to take his word and cross without looking herself.
A 14-year-old Ohio girl has been charged with murder in the shooting death of her 15-year-old brother.

Toledo police found Tommie Thomas, 15, with at least one gunshot wound to the chest when they were called to 1040 Woodland Ave around 9pm on Wednesday.

He was rushed to the Toledo Hospital, but died of his injuries.

His younger sister, Tyanna Thomas, was arrested and charged with murder in his death.

Toledo police found Tommie Thomas (above), 15, with at least one gunshot wound to the chest when they were called to 1040 Woodland Ave around 9pm on Wednesday

The teenager was rushed to the Toledo Hospital, but died of his injuries. His younger sister, Tyanna Thomas, was arrested and charged with his murder

Their father, Antonio Thomas Wiggins III, has no clue about what caused the shocking incident.

'I don't know what happened,' he told WTOL. 'I'm just frustrated... I can't even explain it. I'm shook; I'm puzzled.'

The victim's oldest brother, Robert Cavitt, said that he was a freshman at Scott High School where he played football.

'Tommie also was active. He was funny. He liked to get into stuff, have a good time, joke. He had a dance he used to always do for us,' Cavitt told The Blade.

The sibling's father, Antonio Thomas Wiggins III, has no clue about what caused the shocking incident. He said: 'I'm just frustrated... I can't even explain it. I'm shook; I'm puzzled.' Tommie is pictured above

The victim's oldest brother, Robert Cavitt, said that Tommie (above) and Tyanna would occasionally have arguments as brother and sister, but he was shocked to learn about the shooting

He shared that Tommie and Tyanna would occasionally have arguments as brother and sister, but he was shocked to learn about the shooting.

'I miss everything about him,' he said.

Tyanna was arraigned on Wednesday in Lucas County Juvenile Court before Judge Denise Navarre Cubbon.

She is currently being held at the Juvenile Detention Center and is scheduled to appear in court for a pretrial hearing on December 15.

Authorities are continuing to investigate the shooting and are asking anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 419-255-1111.

The victim's death is the 35th homicide in the Toleda area this year so far.
At least three people have died and others are hurt following a 30-40-vehicle pileup on a snowy, icy Michigan interstate near the state capital of Lansing.

Michigan State Police are blaming slippery conditions for the Thursday morning crash on I-96 near Fowlerville. The pileup forced the closure of the highway in both directions.

Several crashes also have been reported on Detroit-area freeways.

Scroll down for video

Treacherous conditions: Emergency crews work the scene of a multiple car pileup on I-96 between Webberville and Fowlerville, Michigan

'Bands of lake-effect snow are streaming through the Great Lakes region as arctic air flows over the relatively warmer lake waters,' said weather.com meteorologist Chris Dolce. 'Those snow squalls can lead to visibility that deteriorates quickly, along with slick roads.'

Michigan State Police said the third fatality is a driver who had to be extricated from a vehicle.

MSP Lt. Mike Shaw told CBS Detroit: 'We're just trying to tell people I know it's the first snowstorm, I know it's the first time we've seen snow in a long time, but you gotta slow down and you gotta take a look at those closing distances between the cars in front of you.'

Forecasters say cold air that's moved into the region is boosting conditions for lake-effect snow Thursday. Mid-Michigan is expected to get a few inches and southeastern Michigan, including the Detroit area, could get an inch or less depending on the location.

Meanwhile in Wyoming, the temperature in Casper plunged to 31 degrees below zero overnight. It got so cold that the traveling Moscow Ballet couldn't start their buses.

The dreaded polar vortex is set to return to the north of the US next week, bringing in snow and plunging temperatures.

Winter Storm warnings have been issued for the Portland, Oregon and Seattle areas, according to the Weather Channel. Winter Storm Caly is then expected to sweep through the Rockies, Plains, Midwest and Northeast into early next week.

As of late Thursday morning there was snow in northwest Oregon, including around Salem and Portland. This Saturday, Caly will then spread into the Plains and upper Midwest, while on Sunday, snow will spread into the Northeast, potentially hitting cities including Detroit, Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

Totaled: Emergency crews tow away a smashed up SUV on the I-96; it is unclear if the driver of the car is one of the two casualties

Perilous: Emergency crews work the scene of the multiple car pileup; in this picture, it is unclear where the cars and trucks begin and end, such was the force of the collision

Unsafe: Drivers wait in traffic along the interstate; the conditions have made driving a tough task along the icy Michigan interstate

Chain gang: Chains are attached to semi-tractor rig as another rig gets set to try and pull it out of a ditch along Interstate 96
A second wild jaguar may have been spotted in the United States.

A photo taken on December 1 in a southern Arizona mountain range appears to show a new wild jaguar - an animal rarely seen in the country after its habitat was lost.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department says a preliminary analysis suggests the cat is new to the area and is not 'El Jefe,' a jaguar that was captured on video in a nearby mountain range last year.

Scroll down for video

Spotted: A camera belonging to Fort Huachuca Army installation has captured what is likely the second wild jaguar to be spotted in the US in recent years

Until now, El Jefe was believed to be the only jaguar in the U.S., although he hasn't been seen in over a year.

The jaguar in question was seen on a camera belonging to Fort Huachuca, the Army installation about 75 miles south-east of Tucson.

Mark Hart, a spokesman for the Arizona Game and Fish Department, said jaguars migrate from Mexico to southern Arizona about every five to 10 years but that a female jaguar hasn't been spotted in the US since the 1940s.

'So the quality of life isn't here for the jaguar,' Hart said.

'El Jefe' - Spanish for 'the boss' - has been living in the Santa Rita Mountains about 25 miles south of downtown Tucson for over three years

But Arizona, New Mexico and other parts of the South-West were home to jaguars before habitat loss and predator control programs aimed at protecting livestock eliminated them over the last 150 years. A hunter shot and killed the last verified female jaguar in the US in 1963 in northern Arizona.

'It's so exciting that in the last 30 years or so, five or six males have shown up in the US and are starting to re-establish themselves in the historical range,' said Rob Peters, a Tucson-based biologist.

Peters says that although there haven't been any female jaguars in the area, the fact that males are establishing habitats is a good sign that they could come in the future.

It could be days before experts determine whether the jaguar seen in the most recent photo is new.

Hart says analysts will study the jaguar's rosettes, the spots within the spots on the cat's fur, to figure out if it's been seen before.

El Jefe was seen roaming around a creek in southern Arizona. He hasn't been spotted since last year

Peters says his organization is anxiously awaiting a report by the federal government that is expected to outline a jaguar recovery plan for the area.

'They were once found in Arizona as far north as the Grand Canyon. There were females and cubs in the Southwest,' Peters said.

But protecting the big cats has been fraught with legal challenges.

In March 2014, the US Fish and Wildlife Service set aside nearly 1,200 square miles along the US-Mexico border as habitat essential for the conservation of the jaguar.

The New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau, New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association and New Mexico Federal Lands Council filed a lawsuit nearly a year later, saying the decision was 'unlawful, arbitrary and capricious'. That lawsuit is ongoing.

Only El Jefe has made numerous appearances in the US in several years. He first popped up in the Whetstone Mountains in 2011 when he was about three years old and showed up again in video in the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson around September 2015.
Sally Butters was heartbroken when her beloved poodle Gigi was stolen from her Sacramento home in a robbery nine years ago.

But, in a stroke of amazing luck, Gigi has been returned to Butters after she was found wandering the streets of Roseville, 20 miles from where was taken.

'I'm shocked. Because you always hope you'll get your dog back,' Butters told Pix11.

'But you know, nine years, and at 13 years old, she's still alive. What a Christmas present.'

Scroll down for video

Together again: Sally Butters had her poodle Gigi stolen from her home in August 2007, however the dog was returned to her recently after being found 20 miles away

Butters still even has the missing posters that she put up all over her neighborhood nine years again, offering a reward for Gigi's return

Gigi went missing on August 8, 2007.

Butters' home was burglarized, and the thieves either stole Gigi, or she got out during the robbery.

Butters was not bothered by the goods that were stolen, but was devastated to have lost her dog.

She posted missing dog posters all over the neighborhood, and still has copies of the posters to this day.

In a stroke of amazing luck, Gigi was returned to Butters after she was found wandering the streets of Roseville, California, 20 miles from where was taken in 2007

Butters' Sacramento home was robbed in August 2007 and Gigi was either stolen or got out during the robbery

Gigi had belonged to Butters' mother. She recalls sneaking the poodle into the hospital so that Gigi could sit on her lap before she died.

The other day, a passerby found Gigi on a street in Roseville. The Good Samaritan took Gigi to a vet, who then checked her microship.

Miraculously, Butters' information was all there.

Then she got a call that she will never forget - her dog had been found, almost a decade after she had gone missing.

Butters said she doesn't even care that the people responsible were never caught, because now she has her dog back.
President Barack Obama says the color of his skin has 'absolutely' contributed to white Americans' negative perceptions of his time in office.

The president said in a Wednesday special looking back on his legacy, 'I think there's a reason why attitudes about my presidency among whites in Northern states are very different from whites in Southern states.

'Are there folks whose primary concern about me has been that I seem foreign, the other? Are those who champion the "birther" movement feeding off of bias? Absolutely,' he told CNN's Fareed Zakaria.

President Barack Obama says the color of his skin has 'absolutely' contributed to white Americans' negative perceptions of his time in office

David Axelrod, a senior advisor to Obama at the White House who now runs the Chicago Institute of Politics, concurred.

'It's indisputable that there was a ferocity to the opposition and a lack of respect to him that was a function of race,' Axelrod told CNN, where he's also paid to work as a contributor.

According to Axelrod, at least one powerful Republican was personally disrespectful to Obama.

'He said to him, we don't really think you should be here but the American people thought otherwise. So we're going to have to work with you'.

Obama's successor, President-elect Donald Trump, promoted birther arguments, encouraging hackers to look into Obama's place of birth in 2014.

Trump said in an August 2012 tweet: 'An "extremely credible source" has called my office and told me that @BarackObama's birth certificate is a fraud.'

The Republican said this fall that he no longer believes Obama was born in Kenya.

'President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period,' he stated. 'Now, we all want to get back to making America strong and great again.'

He made no apology for his previous statements and claimed that Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign began the birther movement in 2008.

Clinton's campaign accused him of having connections to white nationalists - an argument her former communications director has continued to hound him with, saying in the Washington Post today that he needs to 'own up to it.'

Obama took Trump's about-face in stride, joking at a September Congressional Black Caucus Gala, 'If theres an extra spring in my step tonight' it's because 'I am so relieved that the whole birther thing is over.'

The president told Zakaria in the special on his legacy that aired Wednesday but was taped in September that he doesn't mind being defined as the nation's first black president. He's seen here with his grandparents, Stanley and Madelyn

He also told attendees he would consider it 'a personal insult, an insult to my legacy' if they did not vote for Clinton.

The president told Zakaria in the special on his legacy that aired Wednesday but was taped in September that he doesn't mind being defined as the nation's first black president.

Obama was raised by 'three white people,' Zakaria noted: his mother, Ann Dunham, and his grandparents, Stanley and Madelyn Dunham.

'And an Indonesian, you can throw in there,' Obama offered, making reference to his stepfather Lolo Soetoro after Zakaria raised the point.

Obama told him, 'The concept of race in America is not just genetic, otherwise the one-drop rule wouldn't have made sense.

'It's cultural. It's this notion of a people who look different than the mainstream, suffering terrible oppression, but somehow being able to make out of that a music and a language and a faith and a patriotism.'
President-elect Donald Trump is being compared to another moneyed New Yorker who took on the status quo in Washington  Rough Rider and progressive leader Teddy Roosevelt, although there are plenty of cracks in the analogy.

'I think Donald Trump sees himself larger than life,' former House Speaker John Boehner said in a radio interview with WCPO in Cincinnati.

'He kind of reminds me of Teddy Roosevelt, another guy who saw himself larger than life,' Boehner said.

'You look at what Teddy Roosevelt did, he came in to do big things,' Boehner continued, adding: 'Donald Trump isn't there to kind of trim around the edges and occupy the White House.'

Roosevelt was an avid hunter who shot and killed countless animals and collected specimens

Daddies' girls: Roosevelt dispatched his daughter, Alice (right), on a world tour, while Trump leans on daughter Ivanka for advice and put her on his transition

Trump spends his down time at Trump Tower and Mar-a-Lago (right), while Roosevelt had Sagamore Hill (left)

It's a comparison that Trump himself invited during a speech in North Carolina this week, where he invoked Roosevelt.

'Honoring the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, believe it or not, one of our great environmentalists, we will also conserve and protect our beautiful natural resources for the next generation, including protecting lands, and anglers, and hunters and all of those who enjoy the outdoors,' Trump said.

'Like my sons, Don and Eric. They enjoy the outdoors. They enjoy it, they love it,' Trump added.

Even as he has vowed to protect air and water quality, Trump has called climate change a 'hoax' created by the Chinese, and announced the intention of nominating a head of the Environmental Protection Agency a state attorney general who has sued the agency over rules for power plants.

Roosevelt was an avid hunter who helped preserve precious monuments like the Grand Canyon and Yosemite by creating parks and declaring national monuments.

Incoming first lady Melania Trump is Donald's third wife - First Lady Edith was Roosevelt's second

TEDDY VS. TRUMP Famous Phrase: Teddy: Bully! Trump: Make America Great Again Age when reached the White House: Teddy: 42 Trump: will be 70 Well-known relatives: Teddy: Cousin Franklin Roosevelt, first lady Edith, daughter Alice and son Kermit Trump: wife Melania, children Ivanka, Eric, Donald Jr., Tiffany, and Barron Background: Teddy: Rich New Yorker who rattled Washington Trump: Rich New Yorker who rattled Washington Time in the Great Outdoors: Teddy: African safari Trump: 18 holes at Turnberry Homestead: Teddy: Sagamore Hill in Oyster Bay Trump: Trump Tower, Mar-a-Lago Weapon of choice: Teddy: Hunting rifle Trump: Twitter Biggest trophies: Teddy: African Elephant, Buffalo Trump: Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush Launch pad: Teddy: Governorship of New York Trump: The Apprentice In the Navy: Teddy: Sent the Great White Fleet around the world Trump: Wants big military build-up Family First: Teddy: Sent daughter Alice on global tour Trump: Put Ivanka on his presidential transition Environmental legacy: Teddy: Created national parks and monuments Trump: EPA pick is suing the agency Big Business: Teddy: Trust-buster Trump: Threatens companies that offshore, grows Trump Org. Diplomacy: Teddy: Speak softly, carry big stick Trump: To be determined Advertisement

He departed on an African safari in 1909 after leaving office where he bagged elephants, travelled with his son Kermit, and got the Smithsonian to stuff many of his prizes.

Trump is calling for a $1 trillion investment in infrastructure, while Roosevelt is identified with the push for the Panama Canal.

Both men, despite coming from privilege, had reputations for blunt talk and taking on powerful opponents in the establishment and within their own party.

Trump is calling for a major military buildup. Roosevelt sent the 'Great White Fleet' around the world as a show of U.S. strength.

Like Trump, Roosevelt married more than once - his second wife becoming First Lady Edith.

They both also lost brothers to alcohol. Donald lost older brother Freddy in 1981 when he was 42 years of age. Roosevelt lost his younger brother Elliot at the age of 34. Elliott attempted suicide by jumping out a window; he survived the initial fall, but suffered a seizure and died a few days later. At the time of his death, his alcoholism had escalated such that he was consuming numerous bottles of Champagne and brandy each day.

But there are limits to any comparison.

Trump has called for disentangling the U.S. from the Middle East and complains of $6 billion spent there. Roosevelt established a policy that set up the U.S. as essentially the policeman of the hemisphere, a role Trump rejects in the world.

Roosevelt enthusiastically joined the Spanish American war, and relied on some of his fellow 'Rough Riders' to shake up Washington.

Trump didn't serve in the military, getting deferments from Vietnam, though he went to military school and is stacking his administration with tough-talking generals like retired Marine Gen. James 'Mad Dog' Mattis.

Roosevelt's tenure saw a slew of new progressive reforms and relentless efforts to break up trusts.

He battled John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil for its outsized influence on the U.S. economy, and took on railroads and financial trusts.

Trump is vowing to slash regulations on business. He is threatening to slap 35 percent tariffs on companies that ship jobs overseas  but also putting powerful CEOs in his cabinet and promoting tax cuts that would be a boon for business.

If he follows the impulses of the GOP-led Congress, Trump may end up overseeing a consolidation of business power, although he has already rattled companies like Boeing with his tweets about their business practices.

Trump's own business is a sprawling real estate and branding empire that the president-elect values at $10 billion. He hasn't yet revealed to what extent he will remove himself from the business, although his transition says he sold $40 million in stocks this summer.

Trump came to office driven partly by fed up voters who blasted entrenched interests.

Roosevelt also railed against powerful interests, prompting some observers to compare him to Trump last year.

Trump relies on a circle of close advisors that includes family members like daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Roosevelt dispatched his daughter, Alice, on a global tour that took her to Japan, China, and the Philippines.
More than 650,000 men said they were victims of domestic abuse over the last year, latest figures revealed today.

Women are more likely to say they have experienced domestic violence but the difference between the number of male and female victims is at its lowest level on record.

Overall, around one in 10 crimes recorded by police are linked to domestic abuse, according to Office for National Statistics released today.

In the year to the end of March forces logged a total of 1.03 million incidents in the category, a report from the Office for National Statistics found.

Women are more likely to say they have experienced domestic violence but the difference between the number of male and female victims is at its lowest level on record, Office for National Statistics figures revealed today. In the adult population as a whole, six in 100 people reported being the victim of domestic abuse in the year to March. This increases to 7.7 per cent of women, while 4.4 per cent of men said they experienced domestic violence in the 12 month period

Following investigations, police concluded that a domestic-abuse related criminal offence was committed in 421,000, or approximately two in five (41 per cent), of the incidents.

This means that 11 per cent of all crimes recorded by constabularies in England and Wales, excluding fraud, were flagged as domestic abuse-related.

There were an estimated 1.2 million female victims compared with 651,000 male victims, the report said - a difference of 506,000.

In the adult population as a whole, six in 100 people reported being the victim of domestic abuse in the year to March.

This increases to 7.7 per cent of women, while 4.4 per cent of men said they experienced domestic violence in the 12 month period.

Violence against the person offences were the most likely to be domestic abuse-related, with such cases making up a third of all recorded violent crime.

Domestic abuse is officially defined as any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are, or have been, intimate partners or family members.

It can also involve psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional abuse.

Today's figures included the new criminal offence of coercive and controlling behaviour for the first time.

DOMESTIC ABUSE FIGURES AT A GLANCE In the year ending in March, there there were seven domestic abuse-related offences recorded by the police per 1,000 population across England and Wales.

This varied by police force area from four offences per 1,000 population to 13 offences per 1,000 population

A decision to charge was made for 70 per cent of domestic-abuse related cases referred to the Crown Prosecution Service by police.

There were a total of total of 432 domestic homicides recorded by the police in England and Wales between April 2012 and March 2015. Advertisement

Findings from the Crime Survey for England and Wales show an estimated 1.8 million adults aged 16 to 59 said they were a victim of domestic abuse in the last year.

Lucy Hastings, of charity Victim Support, said: 'It is harrowing to learn that last year, nearly two million adults experienced domestic abuse, including one in eight women aged 16 to 19.

'That prevalence is so high among this age group demonstrates the importance of high-quality sex and relationships education being available to equip young people with the tools they need to understand healthy relationships, make safe choices and know how to seek advice and support.'

Louisa Rolfe, National Police Chiefs' Council lead on domestic abuse, said: 'The better our data, the better we understand domestic abuse as a crime and the more we can do to support victims and prevent harm, which is what really matters.

'However, this is only the first phase of a wider project and caution must be taken when interpreting the data or trying to make direct comparisons across different organisations, methodologies and points in time.

'For now, it should be used to stimulate thought rather than draw conclusions.'

She said the statistics 'do not currently represent the extent of our commitment to tackling domestic abuse and the scale of the challenge we face', adding: 'It is still far too acceptable in society.

'Reports to the police are continuing to rise and the gap between experienced crime and recorded crime is narrowing.

'It is good to see more victims having the confidence to come forward and start to take back control from those who seek to control and intimidate them.

'Domestic abuse is a serious crime and never the fault of the victim. We are here to help.'

Michelle Thomson, MP for Edinburgh West, spoke for the first time about the horrifying memory 37-years ago

Speaker John Bercow was reduced to tears in the Commons chamber today as a Scottish MP revealed how she was raped as a 14-year-old girl

Today's figures came as MPs debated domestic violence in the Commons.

Scottish MP Michelle Thomson used the debate to speak publicly for the first time about how she was raped as a 14-year-old girl.

The Edinburgh West MP reduced MPs and Speaker John Bercow to tears as she recalled her horrific experience 37 years ago.

She explained how she was walking home after a social event with someone she knew, who then took her into the woods and raped her.

Ms Thomson, 51, told MPs that it was 'mercifully quick' but she struggled to come to terms with the incident and had only sought private help after turning 40.

She finished her speech by telling colleagues: 'I'm not a victim, I'm a survivor'.

Her emotional, eight minute speech left colleagues wiping away tears, including Mr Bercow, whose voice was broken with emotion as he thanked her for bravery in sharing such a sensitive memory with colleagues.
The second police officer shot by man outside Georgia apartment complex has died - one day after his best friend and fellow officer died at the scene.

Georgia Southwestern State University Officer Jody Smith was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition on Wednesday and succumbed to his injuries Thursday afternoon.

He was shot by Minquell Lembrick, 32, who also shot and killed Americus police officer Nicholas Smarr, 25, before going on the run.

Smarr and Smith were best friends, having graduated from Americus-Sumter High School in 2009 before becoming police officers.

Scroll down for video

Minguell Kennedy (pictured), who opened fire and killed two police officers on Wednesday, has been shot dead during a manhunt

Police spokeswoman Phyllis Banks confirmed Thursday the body of Lembrick had been recovered after a SWAT team went into a home following a tip-off.

'It's confirmed that the suspect is dead,' Banks said.

She would not provide any additional information, including whether police had shot Lembrick or merely found his body.

Smarr and Smith had both responded to a domestic violence call on Wednesday morning, with Smith deciding to help his friend Smarr who was on his way there.

Fellow officers who knew them werent surprised that Smith, who worked on a college campus near the shooting scene, went to assist Smarr. The two men had been lifelong friends.

'Theyve been close friends since grade school', said Lt. Chuck Hanks of the Sumter County Sheriffs Office, where both officers had previously worked as deputies. Hanks said the two men were still roommates, sharing a home in the county.

A $70,000 reward was being offered for information leading to the arrest of the 32-year-old alleged cop killer.

Nick Smarr, 25, (right) and Jody Smith (left) were both shot in the head and died from their injuries

Slain officer Smarr is pictured left in military uniform. He died after trying to apprehend Lembrick on Wednesday

Lembrick, who already had a warrant out for his arrest when the officers encountered him, continued to post on social media while he was hiding out from officers on Wednesday night.

He wrote 'love yall' and 'I'm not going to jail' after Smarr was fatally shot.

Photos on the Facebook page appeared to show Lembrich with three children: two young girls and a boy.

Police confirmed on Thursday that Lembrick was dead, but would not say how he had died or if officers killed him

Lembrick had continued to post on social media after the shooting on Wednesday when he was hiding from police

The violence unfolded after Smarr arrived outside an apartment complex near the Griffin Bell Golf Course south of the university to, investigate the domestic disturbance call, Americus Police Chief Mark Scott told press.

The complex was not on university grounds, but it was located so close to the south end of the main campus that campus officer Smith stepped in to provide backup.
Samantha Martinez (pictured), 20, confessed to staging her abduction as revenge against her boyfriend, police said

A Florida woman, who police believed was kidnapped by a drug dealer, staged her abduction as revenge against her cheating boyfriend.

Miami detectives worked 'around the clock' to locate Samantha Martinez, who was reported missing by her boyfriend, Jonathan Johnson, after he hadn't heard from her in four days, The Washington Post reported.

In a bid to find the 20-year-old, who police believed had been taken by a violent drug dealer, authorities reached out to local media outlets about her abduction, Officer Christopher Bess told the newspaper.

But on Tuesday, police took Martinez to jail after learning her disappearance was staged just to get back at her boyfriend for cheating.

Johnson reported Martinez missing on Saturday, telling police that he hadn't heard from her in four days.

He told police that he did receive a text from a man who identified himself only as 'Skeet'.

Johnson said Skeet wanted $300 for a drug deal that had gone awry.

Martinez's boyfriend, Jonathan Johnson reported her missing on Saturday, telling police that he hadn't heard from her in four days. Police put out a bulletin (left) on Martinez (right) while she was 'missing'

Johnson said Skeet wanted $300 for a drug deal that had gone awry and was going to keep Martinez captive and do physical harm if he didn't get the money. Police later found out that that was all a lie and arrested Martinez after she 'admitted' that she faked her abduction

In the message, Skeet said he was 'going to keep her captive and do physical harm to her unless [Johnson] paid the money he owed,' The Post reported.

Not long after, Johnson received a voice message from Martinez telling him 'not to anger' the drug dealer and 'just to pay him the money' so she wouldn't be harmed.

Johnson and Martinez were homeless and he didn't have the money to pay the suspect.

He then was afraid Martinez would get hurt, so he came forward to the police.

On Tuesday night, Martinez called Johnson and told him that she had been raped and was at a hospital.

Johnson and detectives met her at the hospital, where she confessed, Bess told the Post.

Everything from the rape, to the man named Skeet and her abduction had been made up.

Martinez told detectives she was angry because Johnson had cheated on her so she decided to have sex with a friend.

Martinez told detectives she was angry because Johnson had cheated on her so she decided to have sex with a friend. She and the friend made up the story about the abduction. Martinez was charged with filing a false police report on Wednesday morning

She and the friend made up the story about the abduction.

And it wasn't until she saw her face on the news, that she realized her plan had gone terribly wrong.

The police report said that Martinez contacted Johnson 'in order to clear things up'.

Martinez was charged with filing a false police report Wednesday morning.

She was also taken into custody after attacking an NBC cameraman when she was released from jail Wednesday night.
The Washington Post has appended its story accusing 'Russia of spreading fake news', saying it does not vouch for its 'experts' findings. Vladimir Putin (pictured) has been repeatedly accused of trying to interfere with the US election

The Washington Post has appended its story accusing 'Russia of spreading fake news', saying it cannot vouch for the research of its independent 'experts.'

The newspaper had reported claims from anonymous group PropOrNot which said it had identified more than 200 websites as 'routine peddlers of Russian propaganda during the election season' - some knowingly and others as 'useful idiots.'

While The Post did not name the 'peddlers', a link to PropOrNot's website listed media outlets such as The Drudge Report and Zero Hedge among those responsible.

The article, - the newspaper's most read story the day it was published - was met with fierce backlash and even threats of legal action from some of the websites that felt they had been unfairly labelled.

PropOrNot has since removed several of those outlets from its original list.

Now, a lengthy editor's note has appeared on the top of The Post's November 24 article, titled ' Russian propaganda effort helped spread 'fake news' during election, experts say.'

It appears to try and distance the newspaper from its source.

'The Post, which did not name any of the sites, does not itself vouch for the validity of PropOrNot's findings regarding any individual media outlet, nor did the article purport to do so,' the note stated.

THE WASHINGTON POST'S EDITOR'S NOTE IN FULL The Washington Post on Nov. 24 published a story on the work of four sets of researchers who have examined what they say are Russian propaganda efforts to undermine American democracy and interests. One of them was PropOrNot, a group that insists on public anonymity, which issued a report identifying more than 200 websites that, in its view, wittingly or unwittingly published or echoed Russian propaganda. A number of those sites have objected to being included on PropOrNots list, and some of the sites, as well as others not on the list, have publicly challenged the groups methodology and conclusions. The Post, which did not name any of the sites, does not itself vouch for the validity of PropOrNots findings regarding any individual media outlet, nor did the article purport to do so. Since publication of The Posts story, PropOrNot has removed some sites from its list. Advertisement

'Since publication of The Post's story, PropOrNot has removed some sites from its list.'

The amendment also stated that a number of the websites on PropOrNot's propaganda peddler list have objected to their inclusion while some of the outlets, along with several others who were never included on that list, 'have publicly challenged the group's methodology and conclusions.'

Those challengers include Eliot Higgins of Bellingcat, a well-respected researcher who has investigated Russian propaganda for years, who branded PropOrNot's research 'an amateur attempt.'

'I think it should have never been an article on any news site of any note,' he told the New Yorker's Adrian Chen who branded the report 'a mess.'

Russian journalist Alexey Kovalev, an expert on Russian propaganda, even suggested the possibility PropOrNot could be working on behalf of the Ukraine in their own propaganda war against Russia.

'The most striking issue is the overly broad criteria used to identify which outlets spread propaganda,' he warned. 'To PropOrNot, simply exhibiting a pattern of beliefs outside the political mainstream is enough to risk being labelled a Russian propagandist.'

The Naked Capitalism blog threatened to sue the Washington Post earlier this week and demanded a retraction.

While newspaper declined to issue a retraction, the editor's note distances it from the claims made by the researchers.

The newspaper had reported claims from anonymous group PropOrNot which said they had identified more than 200 websites as 'routine peddlers of Russian propaganda during the election season' - some as 'useful idiots' (file picture)

The Post's article went onto say that Russia was hoping the spread of 'fake news' would swing the US election for Donald Trump.

Among 'fake' stories peddled by accounts with alleged links to Moscow was one focused on Clinton's apparent ill health after she fell ill at a 9/11 memorial event in September.

Speculation grew over her condition after she appeared to faint on camera while getting in to her car. A string of stories ensued after the Democratic candidate appeared at other events fighting a lingering cough.

It was later revealed she was battling pneumonia. Some outlets, however, picked up on claims she was suffering Parkinson's disease or Syphilis.

The unfounded reports were then shared thousands of times on Twitter, said the experts.
Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed he will be able to unite the country, but college campuses are becoming increasingly divided since his election win.

A University of Michigan student said she saw the growing backlash from Democrats immediately after Trump's win, and tried to fight back.

Amanda Delekta, a sophomore and political director of the school's College Republicans group, said her joy with the win faded after other students started holding 'vigils' to mourn the result and when a professor cancelled one of her classes because students would be 'upset' with Trump's win.

University of Michigan student Amanda Delekta (pictured) said college campuses have become divided since Donald Trump's win

Delekta fired off a letter to the school's principal saying the university needed to be a safe space for conservatives, and started a petition to condemn protests across campus.

'It is shameful to live in a nation where individuals are afraid to voice their beliefs for fear of being shamed,' she wrote in the letter.

'The Universitys response to President-elect Trumps victory is perpetuating a hateful climate that makes students feel ashamed for voting for Donald Trump.

'I saw postings on Facebook for a vigil where students could mourn the results. When I received President Schlissels email endorsing the vigil, I was appalled.

Delekta (pictured) said she saw the backlash from Democrats immediately after Trump's win, and tried to fight back

Delekta (third from right, with other conservative students) fired off a letter to the school's principal saying the university needed to be a safe space for conservatives, and started a petition to condemn protests across campus

The University of Michigan College Republicans shared this picture on Facebook after a Donald Trump event

'Nobody has died, the United States has not died; democracy is more alive than ever. Simply put, the American people voted and Trump won.

'To encourage students on campus to grieve over the results is fear mongering and creates an even more polarized campus.'

She then went on in the letter to explain why she voted for Trump - because his policies will 'foster much needed economic growth, improve health care, strengthen foreign policy' - before taking another shot at the university for allegedly helping left-leaning students create hate.

'The response on campus has only perpetuating a polarized campus climate and I am appalled at the University of Michigan for condoning the hateful rhetoric,' she said.

Students are seen protesting against Donald Trump's election win in Boston on December 5

A student protester holds a sign that reads, 'Love Trumps Hate' during a demonstration against Donald Trump in Boston on Monday

Protesters march towards the Massachusetts State House during a protest by Boston area school students against President-elect Donald Trump on Monday

The petition posted along with the letter has been signed almost 400 times. Many of those who added their names called for 'safe spaces' for conservatives.

However, Democratic supporters on the same campus hit back at Delekta's call for safe conservative spaces.

Ibtihal Makki, a Muslim senior studying neuroscience, said the calls made after Trump's win by some students were laughable.

'To turn around and say that they need safe spaces after their candidate won I think is ironic and hypocritical,' Makki told the Times.

Ibtihal Makki (pictured) said it is 'ironic and hypocritical' for conservative students to call for safe spaces on campuses after Trump's win

President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a "USA Thank You Tour 2016" event in the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, NC on Tuesday, December 6

She went on to criticize conservatives for denying the need for safe spaces in the past, 'because they never needed it, because they dont have any of the identities that made them feel that way.'

Makki also said students like Delekta were not as vulnerable as minorites on campuses, because there was no way to tell she was a conservative or Trump voter based on her appearance alone.

Protests on college campuses since Trump's win have been common, with thousands of students demonstrating against the Republican.
This is the incredible moment a firefighter rescued a baby from a burning building.

Amazing video footage from Buenos Aires, Argentina, shows a firefighter scaling the building with a baby in his arms in the dramatic rescue.

Using a harness, the man crosses over the wall of the balcony and lowers himself down the side of the building.

The firefighter is harnessed as he is handed the baby from a parent or relative inside the flat

The firefighter lowers himself down the building, holding onto the small child in his arms

Smoke can be seen billowing from inside the flat.

The child can be seen being handed over to the firefighter by a parent or relative who is still in the flat. It is not clear how they got out of the building.

Smoke can be seen billowing out of the building as the man makes his way out, saving the baby's life

The baby, wearing a nappy, holds on to the firefighter as he gingerly steps down from floor to floor.
President-elect Donald Trump is said to be weighing the possibility of maintaining ownership of at least part of his company while he is president.

The New York Times cited two sources, without naming them, who said Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, the president-elect's two adult sons, will take over day-to-day operational control of The Trump Organization, his real estate corporation.

Trump transition spokesman Jason Miller dodged a question Thursday morning about his boss's plans, saying during a conference call with journalists: 'Regarding the Trump Organization and the president-elect's transfer away from that, that will be something that will be talked about in some more detail in a week.

Trump announced Nov. 30 in a series of tweets that he would hold a press conference on Dec. 15 to lay out his plan for 'leaving my great business in total in order to fully focus on running the country.'

Scroll down for video

President-Elect Donald Trump will hold a Dec. 15 press conference to describe his plan for detaching from his real estate company while he is president; sons Don Jr. (left) and Eric (2nd left) are expected to take over the firm's day-to-day operations

Trump Organization lawyer Michael Cohen said Thursday that he wouldn't get ahead of his boss, telling reporters they would have to wait another week to find out how Trump plans to handle concerns about financial conflicts of interest his wealth might present

Trump's extensive real estate holdings are all owned by The Trump Organization, the company that he is expected to leave before he takes office

'While I am not mandated to do this under the law, I feel it is visually important, as President, to in no way have a conflict of interest with my various businesses,' he added.

'Hence, legal documents are being crafted which take me completely out of business operations. The Presidency is a far more important task!'

No one in Trumpworld is saying what those documents will show, or how much distance they will put between the president-elect and his reported 11-figure wealth.

'I'd rather not talk about it at the moment, if that's alright,' Trump Organization Executive Vice President and Special Counsel Michael Cohen said Thursday in the lobby of Trump Tower.

'I know everybody's concentrating on what he's going to do with the business. They're going to find out on December 15. I believe he said he's going to make a statement and he's going to describe how the business will be run in the future once he takes the White House.'

Asked if the Times story was accurate, Cohen said: 'I'm not going to comment on that. Again, Mr. Trump is going to talk about it on December 15 when he has his press conference.'

Some critics have suggested that he put his assets into a blind trust while he is president. Others have demanded that he liquidate the Trump Organization entirely.

'The law says that the President of the United States can't have a conflict of interest, so there's a specific carve-out for the president,' Trump communications chief Sean Spicer told NPR

Trump laid out the basics of his plan in a series of tweets on the last day of November

'Thats a really hard thing to do, because I have real estate,' he told the Times last month.

'My company's so unimportant to me relative to what I'm doing,' Trump said.

But he chafed at the idea of putting unnecessary distance between himself and members of his family: 'If it were up to some people, I would never, ever see my daughter Ivanka again.'

Trump transition communications director Sean Spicer told National Public Radio's 'Morning Edition' on Thursday that there is no need to worry about the president-elect having divided loyalties, because federal law makes the question moot.

'The law says that the President of the United States can't have a conflict of interest. So there's a specific carve-out for the president,' Spicer said.

Like Cohen and Miller, he refused to preview what Trump will say next week.

Incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus said Nov. 30 that Trump's transition team is 'working on making sure that all those conflicts are taken care of'

'He's going to lay out exactly how his business interests will be handed off to the kids' during the Dec. 15 press conference, Spicer insisted.

The president-elect has indicated a preference to leave The Trump Organization intact and step away, passing control to his adult children.

He could elect to legally sell the Trump Organization to them  reaping a tax break in the process.

Trump in the past has chafed at the idea that breaking off from his company was 'a big deal'

Trump's real estate holdings include several golf courses and country clubs, which would be hard to sell off.

Federal law provides for a tax incentive for officials to sell off assets if it's done specifically to eliminate the possibility of conflicts of interest.

The loophole lets government officials defer their capital gains taxes when they sell the assets  as long as they invest the proceeds in government securities or any of a long list of mutual funds that the government has pre-approved, within 60 days.

That tax break would apply to any portion of the company he should decide to sell to them.

However Trump and his attorneys hash it out, his incoming chief of staff told MSNBC on Nov. 30 that 'we're working on making sure that all those conflicts are taken care of.'
A powerful 7.7-magnitude quake struck off the Solomon Islands tonight, but there were no reports of any serious damage.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre initially warned of possible 'widespread, hazardous' tsunami waves and villagers rushed to higher ground.

But within three hours the warning was downgraded after the threat passed without serious incident.

A warning of 'widespread, hazardous' tsunami waves had been issued after a huge earthquake off the Solomon Islands

The 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit close to the island of Makira, also known as San Cristobal

The quake was centred about 120 miles south-east of Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands.

The epicentre, close to the island of Makira, was relatively deep at 30 miles below the surface. Deeper quakes generally cause less damage on the ground.

Electricity supplies were cut in some areas and there were reports of thatched houses collapsing.

Donald Tehimae, an officer at the Kirakira police station, said: 'Some houses have been damaged but no one was hurt.'

Tali Hong, a resident of Honiara, said: 'The earthquake was one of the biggest and longest I have ever felt. I was born here in Honiara and lived here most of my life.

'I'm located in central Honiara, in one of the big urban areas. Just checked with my neighbors and surrounding area; there is not visible damage. However, we have no electricity at the moment.'

She said there had been no tsunami sirens.

Witness Tali Hong said the Solomon Islands' capital of Honiara just felt the 'biggest earthquake'

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 hit off the Solomon Islands at 1738 GMT on Thursday

The US Geological Survey said earlier some casualties and damage were possible from the quake, warning waves reaching 1-3 metres above tide level could occur along parts of the Solomons.

It had also warned some coasts in Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Nauru, New Caledonia, Tuvalu and Kosrae, as well as Hawaii, were at risk, before saying the threat had passed.

The Solomon Islands are often rocked by powerful earthquakes and are part of the Pacific 'Ring of Fire', a zone of tectonic activity known for frequent quakes and volcanic eruptions.

It is one of the most seismically active parts of the world.

Minutes after the major quake, another - magnitude 5.5 - hit in the same area.

In 2013, a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 8.0 struck the Solomons, generating a tsunami up to 1.5 metres (5ft) high that damaged dozens of homes and left at least nine people dead.
Advertisement

Some students in Russia were still required to attend school today - even though the temperature dropped to a bone-crushing minus 53C.

The coldest day of the winter so far in Batagai, population 4,369, saw lessons cancelled for pupils up to age 15, but older students were still expected to attend classes.

This region, called Yakutia, is famed for the hardiest children in the world.

It is the largest entity in Russia and the coldest inhabited region in the world.

Today was the coldest day of the winter so far in Batagai. In this village in the Russian region of Yakutia, temperatures dropped to minus 53C

Despite the arctic temperatures, some students in Yakutia still had to attend classes

Yakutia is the coldest inhabited area in the world, where even wearing glasses is a potential health hazard

Temperatures plunged to the lowest of the winter in many parts of Yakutia, which covers almost one-fifth of Russia

Yakutia is the largest region in Russia and almost the size of India. The territory is so vast it could fit the UK into it 13 times

Policies in the region, known for diamonds and woolly mammoths, varied around the vast territory as to who was expected for classes

A cold snap saw temperatures plunge to the lowest of the winter in many but not all parts of Yakutia.

In regional capital Yakutsk, children up to age 12 were told to stay home when the temperatures hit minus 45C, where even wearing glasses poses a problem; the metal can stick to cheeks and tear off skin when removed.

Older pupils had no excuse for absenteeism in this remote city in Eastern Siberia, population 269,601.

Policies in the region, known for diamonds and woolly mammoths, varied around the vast territory as to who was expected for classes.

In the regional capital Yakutsk, children up to age 12 didn't have to attend school today

A woman sells frozen fish in Yakutia, an area known for its Arctic cisco, whitefish, maksun, salmon, sturgeon and carp

A cold snap saw temperatures plummet to the lowest of the winter in many areas of Yakutia, nicknamed the Kingdom of Cold

The road to Yakutsk is like a solid block of ice during the winter. Locals habitually leave their engines running all day

In the city of Verkhoyansk, it plunged to minus 51C but lessons were only cancelled for children below 13.

Despite the deep freeze in many areas, there was 'a strange anomaly' that saw one town Chersky, above the Arctic Circle, an astonishing 57C degrees warmer than the coldest location some 680 miles away, revealed The Siberian Times.

Locals, used to colder winters than anywhere on the planet, say the contrasts in temperature are 'surprising'.

Driving in Yakutia is dangerous because of the fog, which is partly caused by overworked exhaust engines

Any bridge built close to Yakutsk, the region's capital, must be built on permafrost. The city is the largest to built on this

A woman walks across a bridge in Yakutia, wearing a jacket and boots. Banks will lend to enable people to buy warm gaments
Advertisement

Draped in diamonds, the Duchess of Cambridge made a rare outing in a tiara tonight for the annual Diplomatic Reception at Buckingham Palace.

Shown as she left Kensington Palace for the yearly event  one of the highlights of the royal calendar  it is only the fifth time that Kate, a future Queen, has been seen wearing one of the Queens heirlooms - the first being at her wedding.

Kate sparkled as she posed alongside the Queen and the most senior members of her family as they posed for an unprecedented and very unique photograph tonight.

The historic image of the magnificent six, which includes the monarch and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh, her direct heir, Prince Charles with his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, and, of course, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, was taken at Buckingham Palace just before the annual Diplomatic Reception earlier this evening.

Draped in diamonds, the Duchess of Cambridge teamed a Jenny Packham dress - previously worn during the State Visit by President Xi of China - with the Cambridge Lover's Knot tiara

The Magnificent Six: Draped in some of the most breath-taking diamonds from the royal vaults, the Queen and the most senior members of her family posed for an unprecedented and very unique photograph tonight

The Duchess of Cambridge looked stunning in the the Cambridge Lover's Knot tiara - so beloved by Williams late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales

It is the first time a photographer has been allowed to photograph the Royal Family at an event normally shrouded in secrecy, for reasons that no-one in the royal household can quite remember.

But now, in the Queens 90th birthday year, officials have decided to release an image of the family group as they prepare to welcome more than a 1,000 guests into the palace  and what an impressive sight they are.

Each of the three women are wearing evening gowns and tiaras from the Queens collection.

Last year Kate was spotted en route to the same reception in the diamond and pearl Cambridge Lovers Knot tiara so beloved by Williams late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.

The Queen and the Duchess of Cornwall are also wearing The Royal Family Order of Queen Elizabeth II, an honour bestowed on female members of the British Royal Family by the monarch and worn on formal occasions.

It depicts the Queen as a young woman in evening dress wearing the ribbon and star of the Order of the Garter.

The miniature, painted on ivory, is bordered by diamonds and surmounted by a Tudor Crown in diamonds and red enamel. Its reverse, in silver-gilt, is patterned with rays and depicts the royal cypher and St. Edward's Crown in gold and enamel.

According to tradition, the Order is worn pinned to the dress of the recipient on the left shoulder with a watered silk ribbon in chartreuse yellow, formed into a bow.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge beamed as they posed for a portrait ahead of the evening reception

Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, pictured arriving at the Diplomatic Reception

Kate (pictured this evening) was spotted en route to the same reception in the diamond and pearl Cambridge Lovers Knot tiara

The Duchess of Cornwall wore a white, beaded, Bruce Oldfield gown, with a Boucheron tiara, pearl choker and diamond earrings

The incredible tiara worn b the Duchess of Cambridge was originally made by Queen Mary in 1914 to her own design from pearls and diamonds already in her family's possession

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge leave Kensington Palace to attend the diplomatic reception at Buckingham Palace

The Duchess of Cambridge pictured arriving at the Diplomatic Reception in 2015 (left) and in 2016 (right) - wearing the same tiara

The Prince of Wales - wearing his diplomatic medals - and the Duchess of Cornwall pictured leaving Buckingham Palace

HRH wore the Most Noble Order of the Garter, the Most Honourable Order of the Bath and his diplomatic medals

The Duchess completed her outfit with the Cambridge Lover's Knot tiara, which she was pictured wearing for the first time at the same event last year. The diamond and pearl tiara was a wedding gift to the Duke of Cambridge's late mother Diana and was one of her favourites

The women currently entitled to wear the order aside from the Queen are: Camilla, Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Princess Anne, the Queens cousin, Princess Alexandra, and the Duchess of Gloucester, married to her first cousin.

The Queen can also be seen wearing the miniature given to her by her late father, King George VI.

As befitting one of the most important dates in the royal calendar, the gentlemen present  Philip, Charles and William  are wearing knee breaches with the Garter of the Order of the Garter insignia  rarely seen in public  attached just below their left knees.

The Order of the Garter is the most senior and the oldest Order of British chivalry.

Its companions are personally chosen by the sovereign for their outstanding contribution to national life or the monarchy.

The Queen can also be seen with her insignia pinned to her dress.

As for her husband, the impressive set of 17 medals Philip is wearing comprise his service medals from the Second World War and the various Jubilee and Coronation medals he has acquired through sheer longevity.

COULDN'T BE BOTHERED TO SHAVE, WILLIAM? The Duke of Cambridge The Duke of Cambridge sported a rather unshaven look as he arrived at the Diplomatic Reception at Buckingham Palace. While his wife dazzled beside him in precious jewels and a breathtaking evening gown, Prince William seemed to have misplaced his razor. Perhaps he was attempting to copy the look his younger brother Prince Harry has been favouring in recent years? Advertisement

The red and blue cross worn on a red and blue ribbon around his neck is the Order of Merit, a dynastic order in the personal gift of the Queen and restricted to 24 members.

Below his medals the prince is wearing his Order of the Garter star.

Charles is also sporting his Order of the Garter star and garter and his medals from left to right, are: the Queen's Service Order, the Queen's Coronation Medal, the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal, the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Canadian Forces Decoration and the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.

Williams medal collection is far smaller, with two medals - the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal, awarded to all military personnel serving at the time of the jubilees, depending on length of service.

Like his father and grandfather, he wears his Order of the Garter insignia below his medals.

The white tie Diplomatic Reception is the main social event of the year in London for the diplomatic community and reflects the Queens importance in terms of the UKs international relations.

It is also the largest reception held at Buckingham Palace, requiring hours of intricate planning by the Master of the Household and the Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps, as well as the commandeering of almost every member of waiting staff.

More than 1,000 people from around 130 countries, including members of the British government, past Prime Ministers and the Archbishops of Canterbury and York attend the gathering.

Most notable, however, are the many hundreds of ambassadors and embassy staff officially accredited to the Court of St James, often in brilliantly coloured and eye-catching national dress.

St James's Palace is still the official residence of the sovereign and the most senior royal palace in the United Kingdom and all ambassadors and high commissioners to the United Kingdom are still accredited to its Court.

The Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps, who acts as the link between the British monarch and foreign diplomatic missions, is permanently based there.

In 2015 175 foreign missions were accredited to the Court of St James's  47 High Commissions from Commonwealth countries and 128 embassies from non-Commonwealth countries.

REGAL BLING: WE REVEAL THE TIARAS, GARTERS, GOWNS AND MEDALS THE ROYAL FAMILY TURN TO WHEN IT'S TIME TO GET DRESSED UP FOR DIPLOMATIC RECEPTION The Duchess of Cornwall, the Prince of Wales, Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh, and Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrive for the annual Diplomatic Reception at Buckingham Palace - but what are they wearing? Camilla 1. The late Queen Mothers magnificent Boucheron tiara, also known as the Greville tiara after the socialite who left it to her in 1942 2. The Royal Family order, a diamond encrusted miniature of the Queen given to senior female royals. Camilla is also wearing her Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, a personal gift of the Queen, attached to her RVO sash. 3. White beaded Bruce Oldfield dress, pearl choker and diamond earrings. Charles 4. Garter sash. The Order of the Garter is the most senior and the oldest Order of British chivalry. 5. Diplomatic medals  includes the Queen's Service Order, the Queen's Coronation Medal, the Canadian Forces Decoration. 6. Charles (as well as Philip and William) is wearing knee breaches with the garter of the Order of the Garter insignia  rarely seen in public  attached just below his left knee. 7. Insignia of the Most Noble Order of the Garter and the Most Honourable Order of the Bath on left-hand side of jacket. Queen 8. Sapphire and diamond tiara. 9. Diamond and sapphire bracelet, necklace and earrings from the George VI sapphire collection. 10. The Royal Family Orders featuring portraits of both herself and her late father, King George VI (pinned to her Garter sash). Also the Garter Star (pinned to her dress). 11. Dress by the Queens Personal Assistant and Senior Dresser, Angela Kelly LVO. Philip 12. Order of the Garter star  Philip is a Knight of the Order - and garter, attached to his breeches. 13. Philips left breast groans under the weight of 17 medals which range from his own service medals from the Second World War to the various Jubilee and Coronation medals he has acquired through sheer longevity. Red and blue cross worn on a red and blue ribbon around the neck is the Order of Merit, a dynastic order in the personal gift of the Queen and restricted to 24 members. William 14. William has just two medals - the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal, awarded to all military personnel serving at the time of the jubilees, depending on length of service. 15. Order of the Garter insignia (on the left of his jacket) with 16. Garter Sash and garter on breeches. Kate 17. The diamond and pearl Cambridge Lovers Knot tiara also worn by Diana, Princess of Wales, with a favourite pair of chandelier diamond earrings. 18. Red Jenny Packham dress first worn for the Chinese state banquet last year. 19. Diamond bracelet, believed to be a wedding present from the Prince of Wales Advertisement

Kate beamed as she left Buckingham Palace following the white tie Diplomatic Reception - the main social event of the year in London for the diplomatic community

The Duchess happily smiled for the cameras, looking simply stunning in her red gown and glittering jewels

Prince Charles looked a tad weary following the event, as his wife Camilla took off her ivory satin gloves after leaving the venue
Sometimes it's hard getting used to living with a new housemate.

This panda has bypassed the passive aggressive notes on the fridge door and gone straight for a direct message, which will ensure his new housemate knows he is not like.

Footage from Chengdu, Sichuan Province in China shows a panda defecating on another panda's head.

The panda moves over to the edge of the ledge and observes his sleeping cellmate before acting

He decides this is the perfect place to relieve himself, and doesn't worry about the panda below him

Qiqiao drops about seven faeces on the head of Mao Mei while she's asleep below him

The mind-boggling video shows Qiqiao, sitting on a wooden ledge before relieving itself on the other panda, called Mao Mei, while she's asleep on the floor.

The panda drops seven number twos on his cellmate's head while sitting on the ledge, but Mao Mei does not stir.

Amazingly, the panda remains fast asleep during the whole thing, and doesn't wake up despite the falling faeces around her

The panda lies asleep during the whole ordeal, filmed during the summer in China.
Sadiq Khan is considering removing ladies and gentlemen from announcements on Transport for London vehicles after a transgender woman was mocked by staff.

Aimee Challenor, 19, claims she was told she didnt sound like a miss during a call to the organisations over her Oyster card.

Miss Challenor, equalities spokesperson for the Green Party, has since called on Mr Khan to do more to ensure TfL improve their training around gender equality.

Aimee Challenor, pictured, said she was told she 'didn't sound like a miss' on a call to a Transport for London helpline

She told the Independent: I knew it wasnt right. London is massively diverse and its something we should be incredibly proud of so I knew it had to be raised, if it affected me it could affect anyone.

Mr Khan has apologised for the incident and said while TfL does not offer trans specific training, he had asked for a review of its methods to ensure staff put equality and fairness first.

He also confirmed TfL had launched an investigation into the incident.

Speaking at a Question Time event last month in London, he said:

'TfL and I unreservedly apologise for the inappropriate remark made to a customer earlier this month.

'I have asked TfL to investigate this incident to ensure this does not happen again, as well as to apologise directly to your constituent.

'The lessons learnt here will be applied to all the functional bodies that make up the GLA family.

'TfL's approach is centred on treating everyone equally, while understanding the specific needs of different customers.

'Under this approach it does not offer trans-specific training, but rather ensures that all staff put equality and fairness first.

'I have asked for a review of training and procedures to ensure that TfL is always providing a professional, respectful service that is inclusive and sensitive to the needs of all Londoners.'

He added: 'TfL's LGBT+ staff network group, OUTbound, raises awareness of the needs of the LGBT+ community - customers and staff - at TfL.

'TfL also works with charity groups who represent the trans community, to foster understanding and encourage open dialogue to improve transport services.

'For example, it is working on implementing gender-neutral announcements across its network.'

Miss Challenor was represented at the Greater London Authority by Green Party member Sian Berry, who told the Independent many people would welcome the removal of ladies and gentlemen from announcements.

Sadiq Khan, pictured, could potentially remove 'ladies and gentlemen' from TfL service announcements to promote gender equality

She said: Gender neutral announcements will make a difference not just to trans people but to everyone who thinks being greeted as ladies and gentleman is out of date.

Ms Challenor told the paper she welcomed Mr Khans response but there was more work to be done.

It is understood the Mayor pointed to TfLs work with LGBT charities during National Trans Awareness Week in November as one of the ways the organisation is dedicated to providing an equal service.

Mark Evers, Director of Customer Strategy at Transport for London, said: 'London is a diverse city and we want every customer to feel welcome on our network.
How many major Hillary Clinton donors does it take to fill the Plaza ballroom?

The ornate space won't fill them all, according to a new report, leaving some contributors venting that they are being excluded from an upcoming 'thank you' party for backers of the Democrat's ultimately doomed effort against Donald Trump.

Among the major donors expected to attend are Anna Wintour, Harvey Weinstein, Marc Lasry, Alan Patricof, Page Six reported.

But other donors who helped Clinton and pro-Clinton superpacs raise more than $1 billion aren't all making the grade.

Some of them are calling Clinton staffers to complain about not being included, The Washington Post reported.

HIllary Clinton is holding a 'thank you' event for donors of her failed campaign at the Plaza Hotel in New York

The event, top be held at the Plaza Hotel's grand ballroom, is for the upper echelon of donors, like those who raised in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for Clinton's effort.

The elegant ballroom is 6,800 square feet, and dates to 1907. It was home to the storied 'black and white' ball that Truman Capote hosted for 540, the hotel boasts on its web site.

Many of Clinton's donors believed they were investing their time in a venture that was bound to be successful. In the weeks before the elections, a number of stories appeared about potential cabinet officials who would serve in a Clinton administration.

Hillary Clinton is holding a 'thank you' event for major donors in New York December 15

Clinton finance chair Dennis Cheng credits major donors with raising up to half of the $1 billion brought in for Clinton's ultimately unsuccessful effort

Holiday decorations at The Plaza Hotel on November 24, 2016 in New York City

The web site OpenSecrets.org complied a list of 1,129 bundlers who raised more than $112 million for Clinton.

Trump didn't disclose the people who bundled funds for his campaign.

Invitations went out last week. Left-out donors were told that space constraints were the problem, the Washington Post reported.

Clinton has kept a low profile since she lost the November 8 election. She has been spotted on hikes and in stores by supporters who took selfies and posted them online.
Meghan Markle was spotted wearing her Prince Harry love bracelet as went to her yoga class today.

The Suits actress proudly wore the accessory as she stepped out in a long coat, hat and scarf in Toronto.

It has not been confirmed Prince Harry gave Meghan the bracelet but she has suggested they may have matching 'his and hers' accessories in photo posts on Instagram in which she was wearing a blue and white bracelet identical to the one sported by the royal.

The Suits actress proudly wore the accessory as she stepped out in a long coat, hat and scarf in Toronto

Prince Harry sent rumours swirling about their relationship when he wore his own before the cameras last month

Actress Meghan Markle, 35, inadvertently dropped a hint about her rumoured relationship with Harry by posting a photo in which she's wearing a blue and white bracelet almost identical to one sported by the royal, right. Weeks later, it was confirmed they are dating

Prince Harry sent rumours swirling about their relationship when he wore his own before the cameras last month.

Gifting jewellery is something that Prince Harry is known to do.

When he dated South African socialite Chelsea Davy, it was reported that he gave her jewellery as a token of his affections.

Prince Harrys relationship with TV star Meghan came to light at the end of last month when fans spotted the matching love bracelets the couple have been wearing for months.

Meghan, who is 35, shared a picture of herself wearing her bracelet during a stay at Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire earlier this year, sparking rumours that she was close to the young royal.

The besotted royal, 32, had made a 1,700-mile detour to visit the American actress on the way back home from an official tour of the Caribbean on Sunday.

He had been scheduled to fly directly to London from Barbados but instead stopped off in Toronto, where Miss Markle, 35, is based while filming US TV legal drama Suits.

Blossoming romance: After almost three weeks apart, Harry, left in London today, and Miss Markle enjoyed a low-key weekend inside Miss Markle's apartment. The actress appeared to spend Saturday preparing for her boyfriend's arrival the following day, pictured right

Breaking cover: Covering his head with a hood, Prince Harry dashed out of girlfriend Meghan Markle's Toronto apartment and bundled into a waiting car, pictured, yesterday afternoon. The couple spent two nights holed up together after Harry made a detour to visit her at home

Holed up: The couple are believed to have spent the weekend inside the apartment. They last saw each other when Miss Markle visited Harry in London during a break from filming last month. Pictured, the car waits outside the actress' flat before Prince Harry emerges yesterday

The couple spent two nights holed up together before Harry broke cover yesterday afternoon and darted out to a waiting car and headed for the airport.

The prince took a 6.30pm British Airways flight from Toronto to London arriving at 6.25am - in time for an official engagement in the City less than four hours later.

While Harry will reimburse the public purse for the cost of his flights, the security officers seen with him outside Meghan's apartment are thought to be Canadian, and funded by Canadian taxpayers.

Less than four hours after landing in London, he arrived bleary-eyed at the annual ICAP charity day, which sees traders donate all of their profits to a series of charities, including his own, Sentebale, which supports orphans and children affected by the HIV/Aids epidemic in Lesotho.

The Suits actress was in high spirits after spending two nights with boyfriend Prince Harry

Jet set: Following his tour of the Caribbean, Harry had been scheduled to return immediately to Britain on a commercial flight funded by the taxpayer. However he later took a different flight to Toronto, where Miss Markle is based while filming US legal drama Suits

After almost three weeks apart, Harry and Miss Markle enjoyed a low-key weekend inside Miss Markle's apartment.

Security staff were positioned around the property and guards with earpieces patrolled the area, a witness said.

On Tuesday afternoon, a male figure with a hood over his head ran out of Miss Markle's home and bundled into a waiting car. The vehicle sped away, followed by a security truck.

Following his 15-day tour of the Caribbean, Harry had been scheduled to return immediately to Britain on a commercial flight funded by the taxpayer.

Security: A man who appears to be a bodyguard was seen standing next to a 4x4 near Miss Markle's Toronto home on Sunday, the day Harry is believed to have arrived

On duty: Security staff were positioned around the Toronto property and guards with earpieces patrolled the area during Harry's stay, a witness said. Pictured, a man who appears to be a bodyguard is seen outside the apartment on Sunday - the day Harry arrived

In the hours before Harry was due to leave, aides maintained the prince would be returning to London. However he later took a different flight to Toronto.

An official said that in any situation costs incurred to taxpayers as a result of altered plans or extra flights taken would be met 'privately'.

Buckingham Palace has previously stated that members of the royal family should be 'actively discouraged' from combining official and personal trips.

Following a 2004 investigation into visits by Harry's uncle, Prince Andrew - who earned the nickname Air Miles Andy for his 'excessive' foreign travel - the Royal Household told the National Audit Office: 'Members of the Royal Family are entitled to grant-in-aid for official travel, as are their staff and, where capacity permits, other officials.

'They meet their own costs, however, for private travel. In order to avoid confusion, combining private and public engagements in the same trip is actively discouraged.'

Beaming: Meghan Markle was seen buying fresh flowers in Toronto on Saturday, just 24 hours before Prince Harry boarded a plane to see her. She was also seen stocking up on groceries during a supermarket trip ahead of her boyfriend's romantic two-night stopover

Besotted: The couple have yet to make an official appearance together but Meghan continues to drop subtle hints about the budding relationship. She has been spotted wearing a personalised gold necklace that appears to be subtly decorated with the letters M and H

Despite the guidance, royals do on occasion mix personal trips with official engagements.

It is unlikely that Harry's change of plans was made at the last minute because the prince has security with him at all times. As he was visiting a Commonwealth realm, local authorities would also have needed to be notified in advance.

Harry and his girlfriend are also believed to be planning a pre-festive getaway together before he returns to Sandringham in time for Christmas.

The couple have yet to make an official appearance together but Meghan continues to drop subtle hints about the budding relationship.

She has been spotted wearing a personalised gold necklace that appears to be subtly decorated with the letters M and H.
A Florida man and his son have been arrested and charged with trying to hire a homeless man to murder the older suspects mother with a massive dose of insulin.

Suraj Narine, 44, and his 20-year-old son Christopher Narine were taken into custody at a Vero Beach McDonalds on Tuesday.

Indian River deputies also arrested 55-year-old Michiel Shorty Hamons, who they say was paid $5,000 to kill Suraj Narines 73-year-old mother, Magdalene Narine.

Plot thwarted: Deputies in Florida have arrested (L to R) Suraj Narine, 44, his son Christopher, 20, and a homeless man named Michiel 'Shorty' Hamons, 55, in connection to a foiled murder-for-hire plot targeting the elder Narine's 73-year-old mother

According to investigators, Hamons planned to kill Mrs Narine Thursday by injecting her with a lethal dose of insulin, but another vagrant who had also been solicited in the murder-for-hire plot tipped off the authorities.

The informant went to the Vero Beach McDonald's with a hidden audio and video recorder on Tuesday to meet with the Narines and taped a conversation about the plot on Magdalene Narines life.

Target: Officials say Suraj, who was unemployed, wanted his 73-year-old mother, Magdalene Narine (pictured), killed with a lethal dose of insulin so he could get her death benefits

Officials learned of the murderous plan, which reportedly had been months in the making, on Monday when Richard Thompson Jr flagged down a deputy and told him that Suraj and Christopher Narine wanted him and Michiel Hamons to kill Magdalene Narine.

As part of the thwarted plot, Thompson said Hamons, whose wife is diabetic, was supposed to procure the insulin, which they were to inject into the elderly woman on Thursday after her 74-year-old husband left for work.

Thompson was then to load Mrs Narine's lifeless body into her car and ditch it in a canal near her work to make it look like a natural death, according to CBS12, citing sheriff's officials.

Christopher Narine cast the blame for the homicidal scheme on his father, claiming that he was pressured by Suraj to go along with the plot targeting his grandmother, adding that his father had struck him in the past and he was scared of him, reported Treasure Coast Newspapers.

Investigators said the motive behind the foiled plot was greed: both Suraj and his son were unemployed and living in Magdalenes home, and the two allegedly had set their sights on the womans death benefits.

Sting operation: Indian River County Sheriff's deputies arrested the Narines and Hamons Tuesday at this Vero Beach McDonald's as they were allegedly discussing the details of the murderous plot

Sheriffs officials also have suggested that the Narines might have been angry with Magdalene because she insulted them and called them lazy.

Suraj and Christopher Narine have been charged of first-degree solicitation to commit murder and conspiracy to commit murder. They remained jailed Thursday in the Indian River County Jail on $500,000 bail each.

Michiel Shorty Hamons was also charged with first-degree conspiracy to commit murder and jailed on $250,000 bail.
An Arizona mom has been ordered to spend the holidays in jail after she admitted assaulting a police officer while she was pregnant and on illegal drugs.

Pinal County Superior Court Judge Lawrence Wharton said he wanted to teach Kristi Schmidt a lesson, as he sentenced her to spend Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the following day behind bars.

Schmidt, 33, of Pinal County, Arizona, was arrested last July during a confrontation with police who were trying to evict her and her husband Carl Schmidt from their home.

Kristi Schmidt (pictured left and in her mugshot, right) has been ordered to spend the holidays in jail after she admitted assaulting a police officer while she was pregnant and on illegal drugs

The situation rapidly escalated when Carl pulled a gun on a Pinal County Sheriff's deputy while Kristi became increasingly aggressive.

Prosecutor Kristen Sharifi told the court how Kristi Schmidt - who had been pregnant and under the influence of illegal drugs - had managed to evade officers when they arrived at her home.

When deputies tried to entered the home, she had slammed the door on one officer, catching his shoulder in the doorway, the court heard.

Schmidt's actions were captured on her own cell phone footage after she decided to film the encounter.

Wharton added that the video had helped inform his sentencing.

Schmidt, 33, of Pinal County, Arizona, was arrested last July during a confrontation with police who were trying to evict her and her husband Carl Schmidt (pictured together) from their home

Schmidt pleaded guilty in October to attempted aggravated assault, interfering with judicial proceedings and attempted hindering of prosecution

Schmidt pleaded guilty in October to attempted aggravated assault, interfering with judicial proceedings and attempted hindering of prosecution.

Her attorney, Matt Long, asked for Schmidt to serve jail time over the New Year instead, but Wharton declined the request and said he picked Christmas for a reason.

He also sentenced Schmidt to three years of supervised probation.

Schmidt apologized for her actions during the hearing.

'This has been a really scary event for me,' she told the judge. 'I want to prove myself during probation that I'm going to do what I have to do,' Pinal Central reports.

Prosecutor Kristen Sharifi told the court how Kristi Schmidt - who had been pregnant and under the influence of illegal drugs - had managed to evade officers when they arrived at her home (pictured is their street in Pinal County)

Her husband Carl Schmidt had pointed his gun at deputies but was disarmed before any shots were fired.

He faces two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, one count of attempted second-degree murder and one count of interfering with judicial proceeding.

His next hearing is scheduled for January 30.
Police have released the dashcam video of a traffic stop in which a white officer shot and paralyzed an unarmed black motorist.

The November 1 shooting of Jerime Mitchell by officer Lucas Jones has sparked protests in Cedar Rapids.

A grand jury declined Monday to charge Jones, marking the second time since last year that Jones has been cleared after using deadly force.

The investigation revealed that Jones pulled over Mitchell near Coe College because both light bulbs on his license plate were burned out.

Police have released the dashcam video (pictured) of a traffic stop in which a white officer shot and paralyzed an unarmed black motorist

Jerime Mitchell remains hospitalized in Lincoln, Nebraska, with a bullet lodged in his neck

The footage shows Jones on his patrol when he comes across Mitchell's truck.

Jones then pulled Mitchell over and asked him to step out of the car before attempting to put him in handcuffs.

Linn County Attorney Jerry Vander Sanden said Jones smelled a strong odor of marijuana.

Mitchell was angry about being stopped and cursed at Jones, then eventually heeded orders to get out of the truck after locking himself in it, the prosecutor said.

Jones told Mitchell he intended to detain him and reached for his handcuffs before the two began to scuffle, Vander Sanden said.

The two men fell to the ground before Jones called his K-9, which attacked Mitchell, out of the vehicle.

The November 1 shooting of Jerime Mitchell by officer Lucas Jones has sparked protests in Cedar Rapids. This still image shows the two men during a scuffle before Mitchell is shot by Jones

A grand jury declined Monday to charge Jones. The two men are pictured during the struggle in front of Jones' patrol car

Mitchell's (left) supporters have criticized the decision because the grand jury never heard testimony from Mitchell, who disputes the officer's version

Mitchell tried to get back into his truck, with Jones clinging to his body and yelling at him not to drive.

As the vehicle began to move, Jones grabbed his service weapon and fired three close-range shots. One bullet immediately paralyzed Mitchell, causing him to lose consciousness.

The county prosecutor defended that decision, saying Jones fired in self-defense during a scuffle in which Mitchell was trying to drive away.

Mitchell's supporters have criticized the decision because the grand jury never heard testimony from Mitchell, who disputes the officer's version.

The Iowa-Nebraska NAACP, along with Mitchell's family and concerned citizens, plan to host a news conference 'to address numerous concerns raised after the viewing of the video,' according to The Gazette.

It's scheduled to take place at 5.30pm at the African-American Museum of Iowa in Cedar Rapids.

Mitchell was angry about being stopped and cursed at Jones, then eventually heeded orders to get out of the truck after locking himself in it. In this still image the two men can be seen during the scuffle as Mitchell attempts to get back in his vehicle

Jones then calls his K-9 from his patrol car. The dog starts to attack Mitchell before he makes it into his truck with the officer still clinging onto him

The officer can be seen in this still image holding on to the truck as Mitchell drives down the street. Jones let off three close-range shots, one of which struck Mitchell in the neck, paralyzing him immediately and causing him to lose consciousness

In a statement Wednesday, Mitchell said Jones was combative.

Mitchell says he got back in his truck to try to get away from an attacking police dog before Jones jumped on him and shot him.

The decision infuriated supporters of Mitchell, who had questioned whether the shooting was justified and called for Vander Sanden to appoint a special prosecutor.

Mitchell, 37, remains hospitalized in Lincoln, Nebraska, with a bullet lodged in his neck.

His attorney, Paula Roby, criticized Vander Sanden for concluding the investigation without interviewing her client, who regained the ability to talk in recent weeks.

She had arranged to have Mitchell's statement taken next week and said Mitchell's family was 'shocked and disappointed' by Tuesday's announcement.

Vander Sanden confirmed investigators haven't spoken with Mitchell but said they tried to do so.

Mitchell tried to drive away after being shot but crashed into a nearby car

After being shot, Mitchell drove away and crashed into this unmarked police SUV. The officer had to be pulled from the vehicle.

He said the grand jury made its decision after hearing testimony Monday. He called on the public to accept the outcome, which he called fair.

The prosecutor said Jones was trying to defend himself against a confrontational Mitchell during a routine traffic stop.

A backpack in Mitchell's truck contained a pound of marijuana and text messages suggested he was on his way to deliver it when stopped, Vander Sanden said.

Mitchell will not face charges 'in the interest of justice,' despite having marijuana in his system, the prosecutor said.

Rosevelt Milam, a brother of Mitchell's, called Tuesday's announcement 'ridiculous.'

'I think people will be protesting all over the city,' he said, adding that Vander Sanden should have stepped aside given his role clearing Jones in a shooting last year.

Jones, an officer since 2011, has been on leave since the shooting.

In October 2015, Jones and another officer shot and killed 21-year-old Jonathan Gossman, who allegedly pointed a loaded gun at them during a foot chase.
Donald Trump's attack dog Corey Lewandowski made a bold claim about the country's new president earlier this week.

'Look, Donald Trump in the first four weeks of his presidency has done more to help this county than I think Barack Obama has done in the last four years,' Trump's former campaign manager said.

Lewandowski, no longer working for CNN, sat down with Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity earlier this week and touted Trump's Carrier and SoftBank deals, which the president-elect is taking credit for.

Scroll down for video

Donald Trump's original campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said on Hannity this week that Trump has done more since the election than President Obama did in four years

Sean Hannity (left) welcomed Corey Lewandowski (right) back to Fox News, as Lewandowski was employed by CNN after his stint with the Trump campaign ended

He told the Fox News host that he knew it was a brazen claim.

'But what we see is a commitment to our military again, a commitment to our businesses to reduce the amount of government regulations so that they can continue to and grow our economy,' Lewandowski began.

'Not at 1 percent, not at 2 percent, but at 4 percent, 5 percent, lower the corporate tax rate so that our country can be competitive in the global marketplace,' Lewandowski said.

'That's what we have  look, his presidency is summed up in two words, America first,' the former aide pointed out. 'I love it!'

The former top Trump aide touted the Carrier deal and said it made for a 'great Christmas.'

'Which you can say again, "Merry Christmas," because Donald Trump is now the president,' he added. 'You can say it again.'

'It's OK to say. It's not a pejorative word anymore,' Lewandowski added.

For years, Fox News reporters have covered a 'War on Christmas,' suggesting that political correctness has led to a cultural transition from 'Merry Christmas' to 'Happy Holidays.'

Lewandowski made it clear that Trump is solidly in the 'Merry Christmas' camp.

He referenced this twice in talking to Hannity.

Lewandowski, who was fired from the Trump campaign in June, had been quickly hired by CNN to be a political commentator for the rest of the cycle.

He quit that job on November 11 after his old boss won the White House and has been spotted at Trump Tower since.

Hannity relished the fact that Lewandowski was back on the right-leaning news network.

'We going to  by the way, Corey, isn't this a much better experience than CNN?' Hannity asked. 'You've got to admit it's much better.'

'Well, the good news  you know, look, it's not eight on one, which I appreciate,' the former campaign manager answered, noting how a majority of CNN's talking heads didn't support Trump.

Hannity publicly supported Trump by the end of the campaign.

Besides already having a more successful record than President Obama, Lewandowski also praised Trump's 'thank you tour' for being 'so smart.'

'Not just going out and seeing the people and reminding them that the power is not in Washington but is out in the states, but saying thank you for the support that they gave Donald Trump in this election,' he remarked.

'What he said was, we're going to unite everybody,' Lewandowski added, noting how 'powerful' Trump's speech was that the president-elect delivered in North Carolina last night.
The words 'rush hour' bring thoughts of cramped, sweaty trains to most people in London.

Spare a thought for these commuters in Tokyo, who risk losing limbs in the battle to get to work on time.

Amazing mobile phone footage of peak time on the rail line in Tokyo has emerged showing commuters cramming into a train which is fit to burst.

If it seemed this train carriage was full, think again. The video shows more commuters packing onto a train already fit to burst

Two girls seem to debate whether there is room for them on the train before trying to make their way on, surprisingly successfully

A businessman dressed in a sharp suit and carrying a briefcase also tries to get onto the carriage. One tactic appears to be to get in backwards as the crowds try to move

The video shows what appears to be a full carriage with people still determined to get on board.

One girl, wearing a face mask to keep her lungs protected from the air pollution in the Japanese capital, sees the crammed carriages and moves further down the line to try her luck.

But she's forced back to the original carriage, where she gets on backwards, slowly shuffling inside.

As passengers jostle for a space, a businessman desperately forces his way inside.

The commuter is not quite inside the train when the doors start to close, and a guard comes along to help pack him inside

As the passenger manages to squeeze himself and his case inside, the guard is forced to close the doors by hand to ensure they are properly shut

Holding on to the roof of the train, he places one foot inside in the hope of getting enough space to travel.

Remarkably, although he doesn't appear to be able to fit inside, he's not the last passenger, as another man tries to sandwich himself in the carriage.

The two keep trying to squeeze in forcing passengers to get even closer.

As the train doors start to close, the businessman is still not quite tucked inside.

His briefcase gets stuck as the doors shut, and so do his shoes.

A guard comes along to help pack him inside the door, pushing him back and urging him to get his feet in properly.
Actor Judge Reinhold has been arrested after causing a disturbance in an airport security line at Dallas' Love Field.

The Beverly Hills Cop star was reportedly belligerent when he was selected by Transportation Security Administration agents for a random pat-down on Thursday at about 2pm.

Reinhold refused, even after security guards offered to do the search in a separate room, TMZ reports.

Actor Judge Reinhold, 59, was arrested at Dallas' Love Field airport on Thursday after causing a disturbance in the security line

Reinhold was arrested after he allegedly refused to be given a pat down in the security line

A source told WFAA that Reinhold took off his shirt and used explicit language.

Officers had tried to calm him down but he again became belligerent.

Police arrived on the scene and arrested him for disorderly conduct, which is a misdemeanor that carries a fine.

Reinhold was reportedly on his way to New Mexico where he has a home in Santa Fe.

He was transported to Dallas County Jail.

His attorney, Steve Stodghill, said Reinhold was stopped after his bag set off an alarm. He had already successfully passed through the scanner, Dallas News reports.

Reinhold was arrested on Thursday at Dallas Love Field airport

The Beverly Hills Cop star was reportedly belligerent when he was selected by Transportation Security Administration agents for a random pat-down at about 2pm

Police arrived on the scene and arrested Reinhold for disorderly conduct. It is a misdemeanor that carries a fine. Reinhold was transported to Dallas County Jail

Stodghill said his client could understand why TSA agents needed to pat him down after he had already gone through the scanner without any incident.

The attorney said Stodghill would release a statement later on Thursday.

In addition to Beverly Hills Cop, the 59-year-old has also started in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Ruthless People and Gremlins.

He more recently appeared in Arrested Development and alongside Tim Allen in the The Santa Claus movie franchise.

Judge Reinhold (pictured in March 2015) was arrested on Thursday after causing a disturbance at the Dallas Love Field airport

He is best known for his role in the Beverly Hills Cop movies. Pictured above with Eddie Murphy in a promotional image for Beverly Hills Cop III
The alleged leader of an infamous Chicago gang has testified he did not order a hit on an associate-turned police informant.

Gregory 'Bowlegs' Chester, 39, took the stand for a second day on Thursday and said he had no motive to kill Keith Daniels - a federal informant who was gunned down in front of his family in April 2013.

Daniels, 27, had been arrested on drug charges just days earlier and agreed to testify against the notorious Hobos street gang.

Gregory 'Bowlegs' Chester (left), the alleged leader of an infamous Chicago gang has testified he did not order a hit on an associate-turned police informant, Keith Daniels (right)

Asked why he wouldn't have sought Daniels' death, the 39-year-old Chester answered that Daniels was 'like family' to him.

'His mother is like my mother. I mean, I felt her pain. I know what she went through, and I wouldn't ever want to see her go through anything like that again,' he told the court.

Prosecutors argue hit man Paris Poe took out Daniels, saying he stepped out from behind some nearby bushes and shot at the 27-year-old 25 times as children screamed nearby.

Prosecutors argue hit man Paris Poe (pictured) took out Daniels in April 2013

They also have phone calls to Poe while he was being held Kankakee County Jail - where he was being held after his arrest.

Police believe the conversations contain coded messages from Chester, encouraging Poe to take out Daniels, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Chester denied the allegation and said they were standard calls.

The 39-year-old is one of six alleged leaders of the gang on trial at one of Chicago's biggest racketeering trials in years.

Paris Poe (pictured) has a back tattoo with the Hobos' slogan: 'The Earth Is Our Turf'

Paris Poe (pictured, front left wearing a black White Sox hat) and Gregory Chester (second right) are alleged members of the Hobos street gang

Prosecutors call the six 'an all-star team of the worst of the worst' who 'terrorized the city.'

Prosecutors allege they are responsible for at least nine killings.
Advertisement

Russia's soldiers of tomorrow swapped the parade ground for the ballroom as they attended the annual International Kremlin Cadet Ball in Moscow.

Around 1,000 troops donned their finest dress uniforms as they accompanied partners in glamorous gowns at the Gostiny Dvor, the city's old merchant court.

Male and female cadets can be enrolled as young as eight, with many of the children looking far older than they are due to their sophisticated uniforms.

The ball began in 2012 and many of the cadets who attend are orphans who are encouraged to join up and pledge their allegiance to the 'Motherland'.

Cadets are mainly from Russia but are also from other parts of Europe as far as Spain and Greece, as well as Eastern Europeans closer to home.

There are cadet schemes in major cities throughout Russia and those who enroll can choose to pursue a career in the military or the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Young men and women danced the night away as they performed a series of classic routines while promoting patriotism and the continued development of Russia.

The event is a nod back to the lavish dances of Tsarist Russia where the elite of society would wear bejewelled costumes and perform dances alongside ballets and operas.

Although there was much censorship of some forms of music during the Soviet Union, including jazz, pop and rock, classical music was often encouraged, although evening dances such as these were few and far between for typical citizens.

Balls during the Soviet Union years were permitted, but much more tightly organised and supervised so there were no signs of 'hedonism'.

But these photographs show those restrictions appear to have disappeared alongside Communism, with young men and women seen laughing and engaging in public displays of affection.

This year's ball featured more modern entertainment in the form of Russian crooner Iosif Kobzon, 79, who was a favourite of Leonid Brezhnev's during his time as leader of the Soviet Union and has been performing concerts around Russia since 1959.

Around 1,000 male and female Russian cadets lined up in a much more enjoyable way than usual as they attended the International Kremlin Cadet Ball, pictured

Boys and young men donned their finest dress uniforms while girls and young women wore glamorous ball gowns as they danced the night away

Many of them enjoyed the night at Moscow's Gostiny Dvor - the old Merchant Court - although it was difficult to tell if some of the men were due to the stoic looks on their faces

Many of the invited guests were orphans who were asked to pledge their allegiance to 'the Motherland' of Russia

Girls wore tiaras and long white gloves as they and their male dates ditched their day to day clothes for the glitzy event

Many traditional dances were performed while the ball was also attended by many dignitaries of Russian society

The ball, pictured, began in 2012 and is a way of fostering patriotism among the young people of Russia

It was not just cadets who enjoyed the evening but also medal-wearing veterans, pictured, who were accompanied by beautiful young women

All eyes were on the centre of the venue where the dancers made the occasion resemble lavish celebrations over the centuries

Although they were dressed to the nines and at an official occasion, the attendees still found time to laugh and joke as young people should

Boys and girls enroll in the Russian cadets from age eight in cities across Russia to prepare them for roles in the military and the Ministry of Internal Affairs

The ball recalls memories of Russian noblemen and ladies who would dance the night away during similar celebrations in the country's imperial era

But like youths at many dances across the world, there were some who inevitably sat down at one side of the room

The cadets made their way slowly down huge staircases and onto the dancefloor to begin the night of revelry

Many girls could not keep the smiles off their faces as they walked out on to the polished dancefloor accompanied by fine young men

Girls and young women were adorned in dresses of many colours, although white was one of the most popular

Cadets, pictured, are not just Russian but come from all over Europe, from the Eastern bloc to as far as Spain and Greece

Russian singer Iosif Kobzon, pictured, known for his crooning style, performed for the youngsters and the invited guests

As well as the dancing, guests were treated to delicious meals and fine wine as they sat around tables watching the youngsters enjoy their evening

Many of the cadets invited to the event looked far older than they actually are due to their sophisticated uniforms, pictured

The dancing got so intense for some of the young men and women that they had to take breaks from the action, pictured

As with any event that has young men and women attending, some of the cadets could not stop the passion overflowing with public displays of affection, pictured

The Gostiny Dvor was lit up not only by the bright lights but also the look of joy on the faces of the youngsters

Some of the ladies got even luckier as they were accompanied around the grand building by two young men in uniform
Nearly two in five people have not seen a police officer patrolling their neighbourhood in the past year.

A further 23 per cent had witnessed a bobby on the beat where they lived only 'once or twice' in that period.

For the first time, a force-by-force breakdown shows stark disparities across England and Wales's 43 constabularies  fuelling claims that households face a postcode lottery when it comes to being protected.

Nearly two in five people have not seen a police officer patrolling their neighbourhood in the past year. Officer numbers have fallen from 161,000 to 140,000 since 2010

Sixty per cent of people in Bedfordshire have not seen an officer on foot patrol in the last year, while it was 52 per cent in Norfolk and 51 per cent in Wiltshire.

Best for police visibility was South Wales where only one in five people had seen a bobby in the last week.

The force was followed by the Metropolitan Police (18 per cent) and Dyfed-Powys (14 per cent).

Critics say the damning statistics sound the death knell for traditional Dixon Of Dock Green-style bobbies pounding Britain's streets.

The figures coincide with a fall in the number of police officers and police community support officers (PCSOs) from 161,000 to 140,000 since 2010.

Last year, Sara Thornton, who leads the National Police Chiefs' Council, and Craig Mackey, Met deputy commissioner, said the era of routine patrols was at an end.

The statistics for each constabulary were uncovered by Nextdoor, a new online social network for communities  dubbed 'Facebook for neighbourhoods'.

It is being used so people can form virtual neighbourhood watch groups, so they can, for instance, warn each other when there has been a spate of burglaries and thefts and post photos of suspects.

Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said he thinks seeing a patrolling beat bobby shouldn't be a postcode lottery

The data was compiled by pollsters Ipsos on behalf of HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, which wanted to assess public opinion towards the police.

It found that 36 per cent of people had not seen a police officer on patrol over the previous year.

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said: 'Seeing a bobby on the beat should never be a postcode lottery. I don't think many people can remember the last time they saw their local police officer on their street or patrolling in their village.

'These Tory cuts to the police have slashed the police's ability to combat crime. It's changed policing as we know it.

'We are now talking about very serious crimes potentially going un-investigated and people getting away with crimes as police forces are overstretched and lack the manpower to cover everything.'

Steve White, chairman of the Police Federation, which represents 122,000 officers, said: 'Neighbourhood policing is a fundamental part of British policing, but it continues to suffer the impact of reducing budgets and reducing resources.

'Building community links, through visible neighbourhood policing, is the basis for helping identify and tackle crime and must be protected.'

Police forces have been criticised for failing to tackle 21st century threats while still giving the public something they value - officers on the street.

But they still receive annual central Government funding of around 7.5billion and were spared further cuts in last year's spending review.
Artificial intelligence can now construct 3D models of human faces with photo-realistic textures based on a single 2D image.

Researchers have revealed a new system that uses deep neural networks to generate facial details, including skin tone and finer features, from a high-resolution face database.

Theyve so far demonstrated this by creating the eerie face models for a number of people, including a young Muhammad Ali, Donald Trump, and Hillary Clinton.

Scroll down for video

Researchers have revealed a new system that uses deep neural networks to generate facial details, including skin tone and finer features, from a high-resolution face database

HOW IT WORKS When an input image, the system will first conduct initial face model fitting, creating a low-frequency albedo map estimation. Then, they run a texture analysis, with information from the face database, to extract the partial high-frequency components from the visible areas. The deep convolutional neural network extracts any feature correlations, which are then reconstructed to create the complete map through texture synthesis. Advertisement

In the paper, published to arXiv, researchers from the University of Southern California explain that the method has many possible applications, from gaming to education.

Creating digital, photorealistic faces typically requires a professional studio setting, with controlled lighting and sophisticated measurement devices.

But, the ability to build high-end 3D face models from a single unconstrained image could widely impact new forms of immersive communication, education, and consumer applications, the authors explain.

With virtual and augmented reality becoming the next generation platform for social interaction, compelling 3D avatars could be generated with minimal efforts and puppeteered through facial performances.

To create the models, the researchers have developed a textural inference framework, allowing them to fill in the fine details of a complete face even with just a partial, 2D view.

When an input image, the system will first conduct initial face model fitting, creating a low-frequency albedo map estimation.

Then, they run a texture analysis, with information from the face database, to extract the partial high-frequency components from the visible areas.

The deep convolutional neural network extracts any feature correlations, which are then reconstructed to create the complete map through texture synthesis.

'The ability to build high-end 3D face models from a single unconstrained image could widely impact new forms of immersive communication, education, and consumer applications, the authors explain

Creating digital, photorealistic faces typically requires a professional studio setting, with controlled lighting and sophisticated measurement devices

The study shows that fitting a convex combination of feature correlations from a high-resolution face database can yield a semantically plausible facial detail description of the entire face, the authors wrote.

A complete and photorealistic texture map can then be synthesized by iteratively optimizing for the reconstructed feature correlations.

With the high-resolution textures, they can then create 3D face models that are visually comparable to those obtained with state-of-the-art multi-view face capture systems.

According to the researchers, the goal is to create these detailed models that can be rendered into any virtual environment.
Giraffes and African Grey parrots are being pushed to extinction, a shocking wildlife report reveals.

The worlds tallest mammals are coming close to being wiped out  with giraffe numbers down 40 per cent in the last three decades, conservationists warn.

And the African Grey parrot population has been reduced by up to 99 per cent in Ghana compared to 1991 levels and is now classed as endangered.

Giraffes have now been classed as vulnerable to extinction on the latest global Red List of Threatened Species  with experts blaming loss of habitat to farming and development, illegal hunting for meat and trophies and war in the African countries where it lives.

Giraffes, pictured, are being pushed towards extinction according to the latest global Red List of Threatened Species

African Grey parrots, pictured, are also under threat with the population of the birds in Ghana reduced by 99 per cent since 1991

Ornate ground snakes, pictured, have been made extinct on their former home of St Lucia

It was previously classed as of least concern, the lowest category of conservation.

Giraffe numbers have declined from around 151,702 to 163,452 animals in 1985 to 97,562 individuals in 2015, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature said.

The African Grey Parrot, is now classed as endangered while previously it was vulnerable.

Between 1975 and 2013, up to 3.2million African greys were captured from the wild.

A study in Ghana found that in 1991 the countrys parrot population numbered 30,000 to 80,000 birds, which in turn is likely to be a shadow of numbers previously.

But trips to locations that in 1992 hosted between 700-1200 Greys were now home to less than ten, according to Stuart Marsden, Professor of Conservation Ecology at Manchester Metropolitan University, and co-author of a study on the bird.

Meanwhile in Kenyas Kakamega forest, where the birds were also once a common sight, fewer than ten birds are thought to remain.

The IUCN said that the birds, able to mimic human speech, have been trapped for trade  particularly as pets - and habitat loss.

More than 700 newly recognised bird species have been assessed for the new update of the Red List, produced by the IUCN, with more than one in 10 found to be at risk of dying out.

A subspecies of the African Grey, the Timneh, found in Sierra Leone and Liberia, countries ravaged by war and Ebola is even more vulnerable in terms of extinction risk, the report said.

Scarlet breasted lorikeet (pictured), a bird found in Indonesia, is under threat because of trappers who are after its feathers

An additional 1.75 million from the Government has been announced to save UK endangered birds including the Tristan albatross, pictured, found on Gough Island in the South Atlantic

The Gough bunting, pictured, also found on the Gough Island, is another bird which the RSPB is trying to protect

Trade in the parrots has been banned, under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered species, but Professor Marsden said: We cant just say that because CITES has banned trade, everythings going to be okay. Its not  trade management is far from effective in many parts of its range.

Julian Fennessy, co-chair of the IUCN SSC Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group.

Whilst giraffes are commonly seen on safari, in the media and in zoos, people  including conservationists  are unaware that these majestic animals are undergoing a silent extinction.

With a decline of almost 40 per cent in the last three decades alone, the worlds tallest animal is under severe pressure in some of its core ranges across East, Central and West Africa. As one of the worlds most iconic animals, it is timely that we stick our neck out for the giraffe before it is too late.

IUCN director general Inger Anderson said: Many species are slipping away before we can even describe them.

This IUCN Red List update shows that the scale of the global extinction crisis may be even greater than we thought.

EINSTEIN OF THE BIRD WORLD: THE AFRICAN GREY PARROT African greys are native to the West African and Central African rainforest, where they can live until they are 80. They have been called the Einstein of the parrot world for their intelligence. Considered the best mimics of all parrots, they can imitate phones, fire alarms and running water, as well as articulating words and phrases. The cognitive development of the African grey is so advanced it has been likened to that of chimpanzees  or even toddlers. One parrot, called NKisi, is reported to have a 950-word vocabulary. African greys, pictured, are considered the best mimics of all the parrot species Advertisement

She urged governments at the latest meeting of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, which aims to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of nature, to step up their efforts to protect the planets wildlife.

There are now 85,604 species assessed for the Red List, of which more than a quarter - 24,307 - are threatened with extinction, being classed as critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable.

Other animals included on it are the Ornate Ground Snake, a 'critically endangered' reptile that is now extinct on the Caribbean island of St Lucia, while only 100 remain on the neighbouring island Maria Major.

The Scarlet Breasted Lorikeet, a bird found in Indonesia, is under threat because of trappers who are after its feathers.

The Antioquia wren is also endangered despite only being discovered in Colombia, with its population of 8,000 threatened by the planned construction of a dam which could wipe out half its habitat.

Another bird, the Comoro Blue Vanga, is at risk in its native Madagascar again due to loss of habitat to agriculture and degradation by invasive plants.

An additional 1.75 million from the Government has been announced to save the UK's only remaining critically endangered birds, the Tristan albatross and Gough bunting, both of which are found on Gough Island in the South Atlantic.

The latest Red List also includes the reassessment of all bird species, including 742 newly recognised birds, 11 per cent of which are under threat.

In better news, the Montserrat oriole, pictured, one of two of the world's rarest birds, is no longer critically endangered

The St Helena plover, pictured, is another rare bird to have come back from the brink of extinction

The St Helena plover and the Montserrat oriole - two of the world's rarest birds found in UK Overseas Territories - have been brought back from the edge of extinction, the new assessment shows.

Wild oats, barley, mango and other wild relatives of crops that humans rely on have been assessed for the first time for the Red List.

The species are increasingly important to food security, as they could provide new varieties that are more resilient to extreme conditions such as drought.

The assessment listed four mango species as endangered and the Kalimantan mango was classed as extinct in the wild.

A wild relative of the chickpea that is native to Iran and Turkey has been listed as endangered due to the conversion of its habitat for agriculture.
In-vitro fertilisation expert Dr Simon Fishel said doubling the limit to experiment on human embryos may help scientists to explain why women who have fertility treatment fail to become pregnant

Scientists are calling for the 14-day limit to experiment on human embryos to be doubled to 28 days.

For the first time this year, human embryos were kept alive in the laboratory for 13 days - double what was previously possible.

But some scientists want the 14-day limit to be changed.

A conference in London yesterday heard that embryos kept for 28 days, known as the 'black box' of clues on human development, could help scientists to understand why women miscarry or babies die from genetic defects.

But scientists risk jail if they go any further.

IVF expert Dr Simon Fishel, backing a 28-day limit for embryo research, said we know more about salamanders and fruit flies than how human life begins.

By examining embryos kept out of a womans body, in a laboratory, could help explain why up to 70 per cent of women who have fertility treatment fail to become pregnant because the embryo does not implant in their womb.

But the proposal to extend the limit was rejected by Baroness Warnock, who originally advised the UK Government in 1984 to cap it at 14 days.

She said: Not on scientific grounds, purely on political grounds, I hope there will be more time allowed within which the research can continue on days between five and 14.

She warned of a potential backlash from opponents of the existing law which could set back progress, adding: The minute someone can go beyond 14 days, they will say a slippery slope has come into effect.

Baroness Warnock admitted her recommendation was somewhat arbitrary, with no real reason why embryos could not be kept for 13 or 15 days.

But the limit needed to be set in days, rather than a stage in cell development, so it could be enforced easily.

A two-day-old human embryo at four cell stage of development

However, some religious groups believe day 14 is when someone becomes a person, as this is the point at which an embryo can no longer split into twins.

In a debate held by the Progress Educational Trust in London, David Jones, a visiting professor of bioethics at St Marys University Twickenham, called destroying an embryo after research an act of homicide.

But Dr Fishel, founder of CARE Fertility, said examining embryos for 28 days would allow scientists to understand how stem cells with the ability to become any part of the body turn into these differential cells - whether normally or abnormally.

He said: Those two areas are really important for understanding human health.

This critical information could probably satisfy us for the next 40 years of medical science from that particular period of time.

In response to the scientific belief that 14 days is the point at which the precursor of the central nervous system, the primitive streak, begins to form, he said the evidence suggests embryos kept for up to 28 days experience no pain or suffering.

Dr Fishels 28-day proposal has also been backed by Professor Robin Lovell-Badge of the Francis Crick Institute.

The debate has been reignited since the 14-day limit became law in 1990, as scientists have come close to it for the first time.

Scientists from Cambridge University were announced in May to have more than doubled the amount of time an embryo is kept alive outside its mothers body from six to 13 days, using a soup of chemicals.

Even in a laboratory, these embryos showed early signs of being able to form a placenta and body parts, making them suitable for research.
The hidden secrets of Egyptian mummies up to 3,000-years-old have been virtually unwrapped and reconstructed for the first time using cutting-edge scanning technology.

Three-dimensional images of six mummies aged between 900 BC and 140-180 AD from ancient Egypt have been held at the British Museum but never physically unwrapped.

Now the scans give an insight into what it was like to live along the Nile river thousands of years ago.

The hidden secrets of Egyptian mummies up to 3,000 years old have been virtually unwrapped and reconstructed for the first time using cutting-edge scanning technology

WHAT THE SCANS REVEALED The researchers were able to look at whether the mummies were suffering from diseases which many people are suffering from today, (such as) cardiovascular diseases The scans found that one of mummies, Tamut, a priest's daughter from about 900 BC, had plaque in her arteries. Three-dimensional printing was also used to recreate amulets found during scans of her mummified remains. Advertisement

'We are revealing details of all their physical remains as well as the embalming material used by the embalmers like never before,' the British Museum's physical anthropology curator Daniel Antoine said, at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney on Thursday.

'What we are showing to the public is brand-new discoveries of their insides.'

Two of the travelling mummies were previously exhibited at the British Museum in 2014, with the other four being revealed to the world for the first time in the Sydney show that opens on Saturday.

A dual-energy computed tomography (CT) scanner at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London was used to obtain thousands of slices of images of the mummies.

A young visitor looks at a 3D image of a CT scan of an Egyptian mummy, during a preview for a joint British-Australian exhibition in Sydney. Two of the travelling mummies were previously exhibited at the British Museum in 2014

Co-Curator Marie Vandenbeusch looks at a three-dimensional image. A dual-energy computed tomography (CT) scanner at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London was used to obtain thousands of slices of images of the mummies

A 3D image of a CT scan of an Egyptian mummy is projected next to its sarcophagus. The mummies are due to travel to Asia next year. Volumetric software was harnessed to create the 3D models

A BRIEF HISTORY OF EGYPT Prehistoric Egypt pre3100 BC Ancient Egypt Early Dynastic Period 31002686 BC Old Kingdom 26862181 BC 1st Intermediate Period 21812055 BC Middle Kingdom 20551650 BC 2nd Intermediate Period 16501550 BC New Kingdom* 15501069 BC 3rd Intermediate Period 1069664 BC Late Period 664332 BC Classical Antiquity Achaemenid Egypt 525332 BC Ptolemaic Egypt 33230 BC Roman & Byzantine Egypt 30 BC641 AD Sassanid Egypt 621629 Middle Ages Arab Egypt 641969 Fatimid Egypt 9691171 Ayyubid Egypt 11711250 Mamluk Egypt 12501517 Early Modern Ottoman Egypt 15171867 French occupation 17981801 Egypt under Muhammad Ali 18051882 Khedivate of Egypt 18671914 Modern Egypt British occupation 18821953 Sultanate of Egypt 19141922 Kingdom of Egypt 19221953 Republic 1953present Advertisement

Then, volumetric software was harnessed to create 3D models, Antoine said.

Only a handful of these machines are in operation around the world.

It effectively allows visitors to virtually peel back the layers of history through interactive 3D visualisations of the CT scans.

'I've been able to image the arteries of the mummies, the ones that have been left, and I'm able to look at whether they are suffering from diseases which many people are suffering from today, (such as) cardiovascular diseases,' Antoine added.

He believes the mummies can be rescanned in a decade's time using the latest technology to find out more about their state of health, what diseases they were suffering from and the nature of their deaths.

'We hope in the future to image the soft tissues at the cellular level to look at whether there's any changes or to find evidence, for example, of cardiovascular diseases but also things like cancer.'

The scans found that one of mummies, Tamut, a priest's daughter from about 900 BC, had plaque in her arteries.

Three-dimensional printing was also used to recreate amulets found during scans of her mummified remains.

The earliest evidence of mummification in Egypt suggests the practice of wrapping bodies to preserve them after death dates back as far as 4,500 BC.

The mummies are due to travel to Asia next year.

Last month, a pair of dismembered legs uncovered in an Egyptian tomb finally gave up their secrets.

First found during excavations in the Valley of Queens more than a century ago, the mummified limbs have lain in a museum in Turin ever since.

But last month, archaeologists analysing the 3,000-year-old remains said they could belong to Queen Nefertari, a royal wife of Pharaoh Ramesses the Great.

The scans found that one of mummies, Tamut, a priest's daughter from about 900 BC, had plaque in her arteries. Three-dimensional printing was also used to recreate amulets found during scans of her mummified remains

In 1904, Italian archaeologists excavated the tomb of Queen Nefertari  thought to be the favourite wife of Ramesses II, the empires most powerful pharaoh  finding only remains left by looters.

Among the ruins of the plundered tomb, they recovered three sections of mummified legs which were thought to belong to Nerfertari.

But analysis carried out by an international team, including researchers from the University of York, used modern scientific techniques to confirm the identity of the legs.

The researchers found the legs belong to a middle-aged to older woman who was around 5 feet 5 inches (165cm) tall and may have had arthritis.

They believe the person was between 40 and 60 when they died - the same age range as Nefertari.
could be an especially risky task, concluded the study

You're sitting in a driverless car, catching up with your to do list for the day when all of a sudden you're alerted that you need to take back control of the wheel.

But the adjustment may not be so simple, as scientists have found that the transition back to controlling the car is risky and can compromise driving performance.

Researchers found that drivers who experienced changes in conditions since their last time at the wheel struggled to adjust their steering properly, even when given advance warning.

Scroll down for video

Even when drivers were given advanced warning of the steering changes and had some time to test the changes on the straight track, the steering manoeuvres of the drivers changed significantly compared to before the conditions where modified (stock image)

Holly Russell from Stanford University, the lead author of the study, said:

'Many people have been doing research on paying attention and situation awareness. That's very important.

'But, in addition, there is this physical change and we need to acknowledge that people's performance might not be at its peak if they haven't actively been participating in the driving.'

The researchers tested 22 drivers on a driving track for a 15-second test-course, which had a straight section of road and a lane change.

The X1 test vehicle used was developed by Stanford.

The participants started driving the vehicle, and then stopped steering after the car took control, taking them back to the start of the course.

Holly Russell led the Stanford study on handover control from an autonomous car to a human driver. The researchers used Stanford's own X1 experimental vehicle for the tests (pictured)

HOW THEY DID THE STUDY - The researchers tested 22 drivers on a driving track for a 15-second test-course, which had a straight section of road and a lane change. - The participants started driving the car, and then stopped steering after the car took control of the driving, taking them back to the start of the course. - The drivers went through this four times - They then drove the course ten times, while the researchers changed driving conditions such as speed or steering, which could happen after a period when the autonomous car takes control. - The researchers changed the steering to make it more sensitive to drivers, which happens when driving at higher speeds. - The drivers also drove the course another six times with the original conditions restored. - Again, drivers who experienced the steering change showed a period of adjustment, underestimating the steering wheel turning required to complete their lane change. Advertisement

The drivers went through this process four times.

They then drove the course ten times, while the researchers changed driving conditions such as speed or steering, which could happen after a period when the autonomous car takes control.

The researchers changed the steering to make it more sensitive to drivers, which happens when driving at higher speeds.

When driving at high speeds, less steering movement is needed to change lanes than when turning in heavy traffic at lower speeds.

Although the drivers were given advance warning of the steering changes and had some time to test the changes on the straight road, the steering manoeuvres of the drivers changed significantly compared to before the conditions were modified.

Lene Harbott, a co-author of the study, said: 'Even knowing about the change, being able to make a plan and do some explicit motor planning for how to compensate, you still saw a very different steering behaviour and compromised performance.'

The drivers also drove the course another six times with the original conditions restored.

Again, drivers who experienced the steering change showed a period of adjustment, undershooting the steering wheel turning required to complete their lane change.

Ilana Nisky, another co-author of the study, said that even though the participants were warned of the changes, this adjustment was a well documented neuroscience phenomenon involving a difference between explicit and implicit learning.

Even when a person is aware of a change, their implicit motor control is unaware of what that change means and can only figure out how to react through experience.

Although none of the drivers drove off course when adjusting to the changes, the compromised performance during transition is still significant.

There are so many factors to consider when driving that anything that affects driving performance could lead to a car accident.

The study analysed just one aspect of transition from autonomous to human controlled driving, but the team say that more research needs to be done to find out how people respond in other circumstances.
A spacecraft is currently on its journey towards an asteroid, where it will collect and return samples that experts believe may hold the building blocks of life.

The asteroid, Bennu, crosses Earth's orbit once every six years and is set to pass between the moon and our planet in 2135.

Scientists are worried the 0.3 mile (500-metre) wide asteroid's orbit could be tweaked by Earth's gravity as it passes by, causing it to smash into our planet later in the century.

Now Nasa has explained exactly how the spacecraft is built to be able to see the asteroid from as far away as a million miles (1.6 million km) and as close as just a few feet.

Scroll down for videos

A spacecraft is currently on its journey towards an asteroid, where it will collect and return samples that experts believe may hold the building blocks of life. Nasa's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will be travelling for two years to reach Bennu, and plans to return to Earth in 2023

OSIRIS-REX: CAMERAS Three cameras on the spacecraft will point towards Bennu, giving OSIRIS-REx a clear view from all distances. PolyCam is a high-resolution camera that will acquire the first images of Bennu and perform an initial mapping of the asteroid. MapCam is a medium-resolution camera that will map the asteroid in colour and search for satellites and dust plumes. SamCam will document the sampling process. The spacecraft will store the images captured by OCAMS and send them to the OSIRIS-REx team every few days. Advertisement

Nasa's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which launched in September, will be travelling for two years to reach Bennu, and plans to return to Earth in 2023.

Fitted with sensors, the craft will map out the surface of the asteroid in order to address basic questions about the composition of the very early solar system.

'When you have a critical mission like this, you want redundancy,' said Christian d'Aubigny, OCAMS deputy instrument scientist at the University of Arizona, Tucson.

'The cameras have some amount of overlap in their capabilities.

'They're not exact copies of each other, but if one fails, they can still get the job done.'

OSIRIS-REx will reach its asteroid target in 2018 after travelling an incredible 4 billion miles (6.5 billion kilometres) through space.

Bennu is one of more than 700,000 asteroids travelling through our solar system at the moment and was chosen as the target for this mission because it is the closest carbonaceous asteroid.

The asteroid, set to narrowly miss Earth in over a hundred years, could cause 'immense suffering and death' years later if its orbit is changed when it passes dangerously near to our planet.

'That 2135 fly-by is going to tweak Bennu's orbit, potentially putting it on course for the Earth later that century,' Dante Lauretta, professor of planetary science at Arizona University, said earlier this year.

'It may be destined to cause immense suffering and death,' he added.

It is hard for astronomers to predict how the close run-in between Earth and the moon will affect Bennu's orbit, but Lauretta estimates that it could shift it onto a collision course with our planet.

PolyCam (pictured) is a high-resolution camera that will acquire the first images of Bennu and perform the initial mapping of the asteroid. Named after a polymath, a human skilled at doing several different things, PolyCam can perform a wide range of optical tasks

Fitted with sensors, the craft will map out the surface of the asteroid in order to address basic questions about the composition of the very early solar system. Three cameras on the spacecraft will point towards Bennu, giving OSIRIS-REx a clear view from all distances

HOW WILL THE MISSION WORK? OSIRIS-REx is the first US mission designed to return a piece of an asteroid to Earth. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch on September 8 at 19:05 EST aboard an Atlas V rocket. The University of Arizona-led mission has a 34-day launch window beginning on that date. After a careful survey of Bennu to characterize the asteroid and locate the most promising sample sites, OSIRIS-REx will collect between 2 and 70 ounces (about 60 to 2,000 grams) of surface material with its robotic arm and return the sample to Earth via a detachable capsule in 2023. To capture samples on the surface, the craft will hover over a specific area and 'will be sent down at a very slow and gently' 4 inches (10 cm) per second. The spacecraft will also carry a laser altimeter, a suite of cameras provided by the University of Arizona, spectrometers and lidar, which is similar to radar, using light instead of radio waves to measure distance. Advertisement

But Nasa's spacecraft hopes to capture the asteroid long before this time.

Three cameras on the spacecraft will point towards Bennu, giving OSIRIS-REx a clear view from all distances.

PolyCam is a high-resolution camera that will acquire the first images of Bennu and perform the initial mapping of the asteroid.

Named after a polymath, a human skilled at doing several different things, PolyCam can perform a wide range of optical tasks.

It can refocus from infinity to about 500 feet (0.15 kilometres), which provides PolyCam the ability to switch from detecting stars and asteroids from far away to resolving small pebbles on the surface of the asteroid.

Once PolyCam performs an initial mapping of the asteroid, scientists will use the camera to identify a site where the spacecraft might collect a sample of Bennus surface that is as free of hazards as possible, such as boulders and dramatic slopes.

'Already, at about 2 miles (3.5 kilometers), we're dividing the surface of the asteroid into "go" and "no go" places,' said Bashar Rizk, OCAMS instrument scientist at the University of Arizona.

'If a place is covered with hazards, we're just not going to go there because we don't want to risk damaging the spacecraft.'

The second camera to get a glimpse of Bennu is called MapCam.

MapCam is a medium-resolution camera that will map the asteroid in colour and search for satellites and dust plumes.

'Asteroids are exposed to a lot of solar radiation because they have no atmosphere,' Rizk said.

Bennu has been described as an Armageddon-style asteroid because there is a chance it may hit Earth. Pictured is a scene from the film Armageddon

OSIRIS-REx will reach its asteroid target in 2018 after travelling an incredible 4 billion miles (6.5 billion kilometres) through space

To capture samples on the surface, the craft will hover over a specific area and 'will be sent down at a very slow and gently' 10 cm per second. It will only be in contact with the surface for five seconds as it vacuums up the targeted area. Pictured is the craft in April

Mapping the surface will not only help scientists sample rocks that could hold clues about the origin of our solar system, but it will also help them better predict the asteroid's future movements and plan ways to deflect it away from Earth

'Theyre just mercilessly tortured by the sun every time they go around it.'

Because of a lack of water on the surface, the scientists predict Bennus regolith, a layer of loose material, including dust, soil and broken rock, is very dry, similar to the surface of the moon.

The surface material can easily stick to things, increasing the risk of contaminating the spacecraft during sampling.

'We tried to think of everything that the spacecraft might be subjected to and account for that,' Rizk said.

'Its a multi-step process of simulations, testing and design to ensure that the cameras work properly and that we get the best images we can.'

SamCam will document the sampling process.
Dinosaurs had feathered, chestnut brown tails with a pale underside, a newly found specimen reveals.

The tip of the tail was found preserved in an ancient blob of amber tree resin.

It belonged to a small, flightless dinosaur that lived in the mid-Cretaceous period around 99 million years ago.

Dinosaurs had feathered, chestnut-brown tails with a pale underside, a newly found specimen (pictured) reveals. The tail was found preserved in an ancient blob of amber tree resin

WHAT THE SPECIMEN TELLS US CT scanning and microscope investigations revealed that the tail had a chestnut-brown colouring and a pale underside. It also provided insight into feather evolution, as the specimen's feathers lack a well-developed central shaft or 'rachis'. Their structure suggests that the two finest tiers of branching in modern feathers, known as barbs and barbules, arose before a rachis formed. A chemistry analysis of the tail showed the soft tissue layer around the bones retained traces of ferrous iron, a relic left over from blood-haemoglobin proteins that were also trapped in the sample. Advertisement

And the rare find sheds light on the evolution of feathers from dinosaurs to modern birds, which cannot be gleaned from normal fossil remains.

The incredible discovery  plucked from a market in Myanmar  reveals the feathered tail of a non-avian theropod that perished approximately 99 million years ago.

Dr Paul Barrett, from London's Natural History Museum, described it as a 'beautiful fossil'.

While the feathers aren't the first to be found in amber, earlier specimens have been difficult to definitively link to their source animal.

Dr Ryan McKellar, Curator of Invertebrate Palaeontology at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Canada, said: 'The new material preserves a tail consisting of eight vertebrae from a juvenile.

'These are surrounded by feathers that are preserved in 3D and with microscopic detail.

'We can be sure of the source because the vertebrae are not fused into a rod or pygostyle as in modern birds and their closest relatives.

'Instead, the tail is long and flexible, with keels of feathers running down each side.'

Dr McKellar added that the feathers are definitely those of a dinosaur and not a prehistoric bird.

The amber was discovered by lead author Dr Lida Xing from the China University of Geosciences at an amber market in Myanmar in 2015.

It was initially thought to be plant remains and was destined to become a piece of jewellery until Xing rescued it.

CT scanning and microscope investigations revealed that the tail had a chestnut-brown colouring and a pale underside.

It also provided insight into feather evolution, as the specimen's feathers lack a well-developed central shaft or 'rachis'.

This image shows an artist's impression of the small species of dinosaur that the tail may have belonged to. The rare find sheds light on the evolution of feathers from dinosaurs to modern birds, which cannot be gleaned from normal fossil remains.

Their structure suggests that the two finest tiers of branching in modern feathers, known as barbs and barbules, arose before a rachis formed.

A chemistry analysis of the tail showed the soft tissue layer around the bones retained traces of ferrous iron, a relic left over from blood-haemoglobin proteins that were also trapped in the sample.

'Amber pieces preserve tiny snapshots of ancient ecosystems, but they record microscopic details, three-dimensional arrangements, and tissues that are difficult to study in other settings,' Dr McKellar said.

'This is a new source of information that is worth researching with intensity and protecting as a fossil resource.'

He hopes future finds from the region 'will reshape our understanding of plumage and soft tissues in dinosaurs and other vertebrates.'

The amber was discovered by lead author Dr Lida Xing from the China University of Geosciences at an amber market in Myitkyina, Myanmar, in 2015. It was initially thought to be plant remains and was destined to become a piece of jewellery until Xing rescued it

He concluded: 'The theropod tail reported here is an astonishing fossil, highlighting the unique preservation potential of amber.

'Importantly, in the context of bird origins, feathers and flight are key elements contributing to the success of the clade.

'With preservation in amber, the finest details of feathers are visible in three dimensions, providing concrete evidence for feather morphologies and arrangement upon the tail, as well as supporting an important role for barbs and barbules in feather evolution.'
Smallpox was thought to have struck terror into helpless populations, including the ancient Egyptians, thousands of years ago.

But a child mummy dating from the 17th Century may help rewrite the history of the 'red plague', which killed millions of vulnerable people before it was eradicated in 1980.

Analysis of the mummy, found in a crypt underneath a Lithuanian church, revealed it harboured the oldest known sample of the variola virus that causes small pox, suggesting the infectious disease may have appeared in humans more recently than previously thought.

A child mummy dating from the 17th Century may help rewrite the history of the 'red plague', which killed millions of vulnerable people before small pox was eradicated in 1980

Before it was eradicated, small pox was one of the most lethal viral infections known to man, leaving its victims with painful blisters, scarring and sometimes deformities.

While previous evidence found traces of the variola virus in Egyptian mummies, some estimates point to its emergence as early as 10,000 BCE.

But researchers believe the findings in their Lithuanian mummy could change that.

'Scientists don't yet fully comprehend where smallpox came from and when it jumped into humans,' explained Hendrik Poinar, an evolutionary geneticist at McMaster University and senior author of the study.

Researchers gathered disintegrated variola virus DNA from the mummified remains of the child who is thought to have died between 1643 and 1665, a period in which several smallpox outbreaks were documented throughout Europe

SMALLPOX VIRUS Smallpox is one of the most devastating viral diseases ever to strike humankind. It had long been thought to have appeared in human populations thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt, India and China. Some historical accounts suggest that the pharaoh Ramses V - who died in 1145 BCE - suffered from smallpox. But the new study questions whether this is correct. Researchers found samples of the virus, collected from the 17th century, mid 1900s and 1970s shared a common viral ancestor that originated sometime between 1588 and 1645. 'This study sets the clock of smallpox evolution to a much more recent time-scale.' said evolutionary biologist Eddie Holmes, a professor at the University of Sydney, Australia. 'Although it is still unclear what animal is the true reservoir of smallpox virus and when the virus first jumped into humans.' Experts still don't know when smallpox first appeared in humans but the new study adds to them understanding the evolution of the infectious and deadly disease. Advertisement

'This research raises some interesting possibilities about our perception and age of the disease.'

First author Ana Duggan, a postdoctoral fellow at the McMaster University Ancient DNA Centre in Canada said: 'There have been signs that Egyptian mummies that are 3,000 to 4,000 years old have pockmarked scarring that have been interpreted as cases of smallpox.'

'The new discoveries really throw those findings into question, and they suggest that the timeline of smallpox in human populations might be incorrect.'

The researchers gathered disintegrated variola virus DNA from the partially mummified remains of the child who is thought to have died between 1643 and 1665, a period in which several smallpox outbreaks were documented throughout Europe with increasing levels of mortality.

They reconstructed the entire genome of the ancient strain of the virus, comparing it to versions of the variola virus genome dating from the mid-1900s and before its eradication in the late 1970s.

It is one of the oldest viral genomes to date, but there was no indication of live virus in the sample and so the mummy is not infectious.

The experts concluded that these samples shared a common viral ancestor that originated sometime between 1588 and 1645.

These dates coincide with a period of exploration, migration, and colonisation that would have helped spread smallpox around the globe.

Co-author Henrik Poinar, director of the Ancient DNA Centre said: 'Now that we have a timeline, we have to ask whether the earlier documented historical evidence of smallpox, which goes back to Ramses V and includes everything up to the 1500s, is real.

Analysis of the mummy, found in a crypt underneath a Lithuanian church (pictured), revealed it harboured the oldest known sample of the variola virus that causes small pox

'Are these indeed real cases of smallpox, or are these misidentifications, which we know is very easy to do, because it is likely possible to mistake smallpox for chicken pox and measles.'

As well as adding to the timeline for the evolution of smallpox, the study, published in the journal Current Biology, also identified distinct periods of viral evolution.

One of the clearest instances of this occurred around the time that Edward Jenner famously developed his vaccine against the virus in the 18th century.

During this period, the variola virus appears to have split into two strains - variola major and variola minor - which suggests that vaccination, which led to eradication of smallpox, may have changed the selection pressures acting on the virus and caused it to split into two strains.

Experts have said the virus (pictured) could resurface in one of two ways - via DNA of infected corpses buried in Siberia, and by acts of bioterrorism

The researchers hope to use this work to identify how the sample they discovered in Lithuania compares to others proving smallpox was sweeping throughout other countries in Europe at the same time.

They are also optimistic their work will provide a stepping stone to allow virologists to continue to trace smallpox and other DNA viruses back through time, as many questions about the historically devastating virus remain.

Co-author Edward Holmes, a professor at the University of Sydney in Australia said: 'Now we know all the evolution of the sampled strains dates from 1650, but we still don't know when smallpox first appeared in humans, and we don't know what animal it came from, and we don't know that because we don't have any older historical samples to work with.

'So this does put a new perspective on this very important disease, but it's also showing us that our historical knowledge of viruses is just the tip of the iceberg.'
British satellite company Inmarsat will switch to using Arianespace from rival SpaceX to launch a new satellite to provide broadband connectivity to air passengers, it said on Thursday.

The S-band satellite had been scheduled to launch with technology billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX but Inmarsat said setbacks to SpaceX's launch schedule prompted it to turn to Arianespace instead.

Inmarsat said on Thursday that European-owned Arianespace will launch the S-band satellite in mid-2017.

Scroll down for video

On September 1, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket (pictured) exploded as it was being fueled for a routine pre-launch test at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Musk now says this was caused by a fueling system issue that created solid oxygen in the supper stage tank

A $10M BACKLOG The Sept. 1 accident was the second for SpaceX in 29 flights of the Falcon 9. The company, owned and operated by Tesla Motors Inc. Chief Executive Officer Musk, has a backlog of more than 70 missions for NASA and commercial customers, worth more than $10 billion. Advertisement

SpaceX has been forced to delay December rocket launches until January as an investigation continues into why one rocket burst into flames on Sept. 1.

SpaceX has a backlog of more than 70 missions for NASA and commercial customers, worth more than $10 billion.

No-one at SpaceX was immediately available to comment on the loss of the contract, the value of which was not revealed by Inmarsat.

Inmarsat said that it still planned to launch a different satellite, the Inmarsat-5 F4, with SpaceX during the first-half of 2017, adding that it looked forward to working with SpaceX in future.

Inmarsat plans to use the S-band satellite for providing air passengers with connectivity, as part of the European Aviation Network project with Deutsche Telecom.

It comes just after it was announced that Elon Musk's SpaceX has been forced to delay the return of its rockets to flight until January as an investigation continues into a launch pad explosion earlier this year.

SpaceX has been forced to delay December rocket launches until January as an investigation continues into why one rocket burst into flames on Sept. 1. CEO Elon Musk is pictured

The company had hoped to launch a Falcon 9 rocket on Dec. 16 to put 10 satellites into orbit for Iridium Communications Inc., but did not receive a required license to fly from the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees U.S. commercial space transportation.

'We are finalizing the investigation into our September 1 anomaly and are working to complete the final steps necessary to safely and reliably return to flight, now in early January,' SpaceX said in a statement on Wednesday.

SpaceX suspended flights after one of its rockets burst into flames on Sept. 1 as it was being fueled for a routine pre-launch test in Florida.

The company traced the explosion to a fueling system problem that caused a pressurized container of helium inside the rocket's upper stage to burst.

The accident destroyed a $200 million satellite owned by Israel's Space Communication Ltd.

In a separate statement Iridium said it remained 'confident as ever in (SpaceX's) ability to safely deliver our satellites into low-Earth orbit.'

SpaceX on Wednesday declined to comment about what measures it will take to ensure the problem will not reoccur.
The era in which we live is now officially described as an atomic Anthropocene or the 'age of humans', an epoch defined by humans' impact on the planet  and one of its most distinctive features is radiation.

The fallout (both literal and figurative) from international nuclear weapons testing, nuclear energy and nuclear disasters are embedded in our environment, but also in our society.

And this year, they've all suddenly become rather more noticeable, confronting us with some alarming questions we never thought we'd have to answer.

Scroll down for videos

Researchers wonder if Will world continue moving towards nuclear weapon abolition, or will the nuclear powers keep up and grow their stockpiles instead? Pictured is a sculpture of a bomb remains by the Black Hole of Los Alamos

A 'NUCLEAR ERA' Experts are investigating how political powers could either strengthen policies or force us into a new Cold War. The uranium mining and production sector has been faltering ever since Fukushima - 2016 was the 'worst-performing raw material'. Debates rage over the future of the only current operational uranium mill in the US and proposed developments at sacred and ecologically fragile zones  the Grand Canyon, the Aboriginal Kakadu National Park in Australia, and the Karoo in South Africa. There has also been a shift in attitude towards the abolition of nuclear weapons this year; a UN referendum on nuclear disarmament on October 27 saw 128 nations vote to ban nuclear weapons altogether. But the motion was opposed by the UN's nine nuclear states, including the US, Russia, and the UK. Advertisement

Will Donald Trump's election victory improve nuclear defence policy or plunge us into a new Cold War?

Will the world continue moving towards nuclear weapon abolition, or will the nuclear powers keep up and grow their stockpiles instead?

How should the world deal with North Korea's repeated violations of the Test Ban Treaty?

And do we really understand how the nuclear age has affected the survivors of nuclear accidents?

In retrospect, 2016 was always going to bring these questions to the fore, marking as it did significant anniversaries of two of the world's worst nuclear disasters: Fukushima (five years ago) and Chernobyl (30 years ago).

While the health consequences of both incidents are still debated, their psychosocial effects and economic impact are beyond doubt.

Five years after the Fukushima accident, Japan is still working to decontaminate the affected area.

It's cost five trillion yen (about 35 billion) so far and demanded the labour of 26,000 clean-up workers  many of them vulnerable to exploitation and social exclusion.

Forced and so-called 'voluntary' evacuees from Fukushima are still adjusting to life away from home.

There are 100,000 of these 'nuclear refugees' still displaced; two thirds have reportedly given up hope of ever returning.

With the Tokyo 2020 Olympics looming, and compensation costs spiralling, the Japanese government recently declared more areas as officially safe  despite evacuees being reluctant to return.

Their fears were stoked in November when an aftershock from the original Fukushima earthquake hit Japan.

We also saw the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, which continues to effect a wide swathe of Ukraine and Belarus. Many people flock to a memorial site to remember those that were lost in 1986 (A women holds a picture of her husband that died in the disaster)

HOW MANY NUKES DOES EACH COUNTRY HAVE? RUSSIA: 7,300 USA: 6,970 FRANCE: 300 CHINA: 260 UK: 215 PAKISTAN: 125 INDIA: 115 ISRAEL: 60-400 (suspected, undeclared) NORTH KOREA: 15 (suspected, undeclared) Advertisement

Thankfully, there wasn't a second catastrophe.

We also saw the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, which continues to effect a wide swathe of Ukraine and Belarus.

Dealing with the consequences of the disaster consumes around 6% of Ukraine's national budget, and 2.15m Ukrainians still live on territory that's officially considered contaminated.

Around 350,000 people were forcibly evacuated from the Chernobyl region, but some refugees illicitly returned.

This year marked the release of Babushkas of Chernobyl, a documentary that revisited the derelict Exclusion Zone, to discover elderly women feasting on home-grown produce, supping moonshine and singing lewd songs about the boyfriends of their youth.

COULD RUSSIAN LAUNCH NUCLEAR ATTACK FROM SPACE? Russia is readying itself to become a leader in the construction of hypersonic aircraft, a new report reveals. Kremlin-backed media claim engineers in the Federation are among the first in the world to work towards new materials for planes capable of reaching hypersonic speeds. The move could help Russia produce a new fleet of aerial war machines that could launch nuclear attacks from space. Aviation researchers are reportedly working to develop the materials which can withstand the stress and high temperatures of travelling many times the speed of sound. Advertisement

While life in these regions is still tarnished by tragedy and pollution, recent research reveals the intricate coping tactics that these communities use to survive, by continuing life as usual and talking about the experiences and challenges they have faced.

It's also been a bad year for uranium.

The uranium mining and production sector has been faltering ever since Fukushima, and this year's international overproduction further depressed prices.

Global production and extraction activity stalled, earning it the dubious distinction of 2016's 'worst-performing raw material'.

As the industry waits for the market to recover, debates rage over the future of the only current operational uranium mill in the US and proposed developments at sacred and ecologically fragile zones  the Grand Canyon, the Aboriginal Kakadu National Park in Australia, and the Karoo in South Africa.

The uranium mining and production sector has been faltering for the past 5 years, and this year's international overproduction was the worst. Global production and extraction activity stalled, earning it the dubious distinction of 2016's 'worst-performing raw material'

THE MANHATTAN PROJECT: HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI The Manhattan Project was set up midway through the Second World War and began work on developing the U.S' nuclear technology. In May 1945 Germany signed a surrender agreement with the Allies to signal the end of the war in Europe, however, the war in the Pacific carried on and the Allies were contemplating invading Japan. They asked Japan to surrender but the Japanese government ignored the Potsdam Declaration on July 26, 1945. By August 1945, the Manhattan Project had developed and tested atomic bombs at its Los Alamos base and on 6 August, a Little Boy atomic bomb, left, was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, followed by a Fat Man bomb,right, on Nagasaki three days later. The blasts are said to have killed a total of 245,000 deaths by November 1945 and the effects from radiation are still reported to this day. On 15 August, Japan surrendered and signed the Instrument of Surrender on September 2, officially ending World War II. Advertisement

Meanwhile, precarious states such as the Ukraine and Kazakhstan have agreed to jointly produce uranium, also betting the industry will recover.

An emerging nuclear energy renaissance may improve the economic situation for uranium, exemplified in the UK by government approval this year of a new nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point C.

Anticipated developments in China alone could mean a five-fold increase in demand.

Low-carbon nuclear energy, and therefore uranium, may again become big business as the Paris Agreement on climate change starts to curb fossil fuel use.

But nuclear energy's byproducts still have major environmental impacts, and we still have no solution for managing nuclear waste in the long term.

In the US, a potential revival of the repository project in Yucca Mountain has been posited by Trump's advisors.

Meanwhile, Australia is unwilling to provide long term storage, and the long term outcomes remain to be seen.

2016 also marked the 20th anniversary of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), an international agreement to end the era of nuclear weapons testing and help bring the Cold War to a close.

Meanwhile, precarious states such as the Ukraine and Kazakhstan have agreed to jointly produce uranium, also betting the industry will recover. Pictured is the Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor 26 years later after the disaster

There has been a shift in attitude towards the abolition of nuclear weapons this year; a UN referendum on nuclear disarmament on October 27 saw 128 nations vote to ban nuclear weapons altogether.

But the motion was opposed by the UN's nine nuclear states, including the US, Russia, and the UK.

The British parliament took a clear step in the other direction in the summer when it voted to expand the operational lifespan of the Tridentdeterrent to 2042, at a cost of approximately 23 billion.

A UN referendum on nuclear disarmament on October 27 saw 128 nations vote to ban nuclear weapons altogether. But opposed by the UN's nine nuclear states, including the US, Russia, and the UK. Pictured is the closed town, Prypyat to the Chernobyl Reactor 26 years later

But at the same time, the British government at last moved to protect the well-being of its nuclear test veterans, providing funding for pioneering research into the inter-generational effects of nuclear weapons testing.

This study will have international implications for our understanding of the culture and society that surrounds the families of the men who tested nuclear weapons.

That world may yet be getting more dangerous.

2016 also saw global nuclear policy openly violated by North Korea, which defied the CTBT to further its nuclear proliferation programme with tests in January and September.

Unfortunately, nuclear technology cannot be un-invented.

While there's scant evidence that sanctions have changed North Korea's behaviour, new ones were nonetheless imposed after the latest tests, meaning the country is unlikely to join a peacekeeping dialogue.

As Experts try to understand the meaning of our atomic era, they are beginning to realise that the social and cultural impacts of nuclear technology have not only defined a new geological era, but will eventually determine the vulnerability or resilience of our human world

We cannot foretell what the future holds for the nuclear world order, and the world's most powerful leaders don't have any answers.

When prompted in an interview to opine on global nuclear risks, Donald Trump remarked that: 'It's a very scary nuclear world. Biggest problem, to me, in the world, is nuclear, and proliferation.'
The most expensive destroyer ever built for the Navy has finally arrived at its home port - after breaking down on the way.

The stealthy USS Zumwalt docked today in San Diego, where it will begin installation of combat systems and further testing and evaluation.

The ship was commissioned in October in Baltimore and encountered some hiccups on its way to California.

Scroll down for video

The stealthy USS Zumwalt finally arrived in San Diego today, where it will begin installation of combat systems and further testing and evaluation. The ship was commissioned in October in Baltimore and encountered some hiccups on its way to California.

That included losing propulsion in the Panama Canal, necessitating a tow and repairs.

The USS Zumwalt arrived in San Diego to a welcoming ceremony that included the commander of naval surface forces, Vice Adm. Tom Rowden.

The ship has a crew of 147 officers and sailors, and its commanding officer is Capt. James Kirk.

'We have looked forward to pulling into San Diego for a long time,' Kirk said.

The US Navy's new guided missile destroyer DDG 1000 USS Zumwalt is moored to a dock on October 13, 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland. It has suffered an engineering problem in the Panama Canal Monday, Nov. 21, 2016, and had to be towed to port

The Zumwalt departed Maine shipbuilder Bath Iron Works in September before being commissioned into service in Baltimore in October. It made several additional port calls en route to its final destination.

Earlier this month it suffered an engineering problem in the Panama Canal and had to be towed to port.

U.S. Third Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Ryan Perry said a vice admiral directed the USS Zumwalt to remain at ex-Naval Station Rodman in Panama to address the issues, which arose on Monday.

The ship was built at Bath Iron Works in Maine and is on its way to San Diego.

'The schedule for the ship will remain flexible to enable testing and evaluation in order to ensure the ship's safe transit to her new home port in San Diego,' Perry said in a statement.

The 610-foot destroyer once headed out for sea trials in a snowstorm, and hundreds of people gathered to watch as it headed into the remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine while leaving Maine for good

The ship had been scheduled to arrive in San Diego by the end of the year to start the activation of its weapon system, the website reported.

USNI News, a publication of the U.S. Naval Institute, reported on its website that the ship was in the canal when it lost propulsion.

'The ship was in the midst of a southbound transit through the canal when it suffered the casualty,' it said.

'Under orders from U.S. 3rd Fleet commander Vice Adm. Nora Tyson, Zumwalt is now stopped for repairs at the former U.S. Naval Station Rodman.'

The ship lost propulsion in its port shaft during the transit, it has been confirmed.

Crew saw water intrusion in two of the four bearings that connect to Zumwalt's port and starboard Advanced Induction Motors (AIMs) to the drive shafts, a defense official told USNI News on Tuesday.

The AIMs are the massive electrical motors that are driven by the ship's gas turbines and in turn electrically power the ship's systems and drive the shafts.

USNI News also reported that the Zumwalt suffered minor cosmetic damage.

A defense official told USNI News on Tuesday the repairs could take up to ten days.

The 610-foot-long warship has an angular shape to minimize its radar signature and is regarded as the most technologically sophisticated destroyer ever built for the Navy.

One of its signature features is a new gun system that fires rocket-powered shells up to 63 nautical miles.

The Zumwalt cost more than $4.4 billion and was commissioned last month in Maryland.

The latest problem follows an incident in September following the ship's transit from shipbuilder General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, Maine to Naval Station Norfolk, Va. in which the crew discovered 'a seawater leak in the propulsion motor drive lube oil auxiliary system for one of the ship's shafts,' the Navy told USNI News at the time.

USS ZUMWALT: EQUIPPED TO DOMINATE THE SEAS FOR DECADES Displacement: 14,564 long tons (14,798 t) Length: 600 ft (180 m) Beam: 80.7 ft (24.6 m) Draft: 27.6 ft (8.4 m) Propulsion: Two Rolls-Royce Marine Trent-30 gas turbines driving Curtiss-Wright generators and emergency diesel generators, 78 MW (105,000 shp); two propellers driven by electric motors Speed: Over 30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph) Weapons: 20  MK 57 VLS modules, with a total of 80 launch cells RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM), four per cell Tactical Tomahawk, one per cell Vertical Launch Anti-Submarine Rocket (ASROC), one per cell Two  155 mm/62 caliber Advanced Gun System 920  155 mm rounds total; 600 in automated store with Auxiliary store room with up to 320 rounds (non-automatic) as of April 2005 70100 LRLAP rounds planned as of 2005 of total Two  Mk 110 57 mm gun (CIGS) Future versions of the radical design are expected to be used to test a futuristic 'Star Wars' railgun (advanced gun system) that uses electromagnetic energy to fire a shell weighing 10kg at up to 5,400mph over 100 miles Advertisement

A service official told USNI News the most recent incident is similar.

The service has narrowed down the likely problem to lube oil coolers leaking.

The service replaced all four lube oil coolers following the September casualty.

Following its Oct. 15 commissioning, Zumwalt also suffered additional unspecified engineering trouble around the time arrived at Naval Station Mayport, Fla. and spent extra time repairing and testing the propulsion system, USNI News understands.

It also suffered a leak in its propulsion system before it was commissioned.

The leak required the ship to remain at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia longer than expected for repairs.

The ship is part of the first new class of warship built at Bath Iron Works in more than 25 years.

The Zumwalt, the most expensive destroyer ever built for the U.S. Navy, suffered an engineering problem in the Panama Canal Monday, Nov. 21, 2016, and had to be towed to port. Third Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Ryan Perry said a vice admiral has directed the ship to remain at ex-Naval Station Rodman in Panama to address the issues.

The second Zumwalt-class destroyer, which also cost more than $4.4 billion, was christened in a June ceremony during which U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin called it an 'extraordinary machine of peace and security.' The third ship is expected to cost a bit less than $3.7 billion.
A ferocious giant beast that roamed Earth 255 million years ago would have had terrible toothache - thank to a cancerous tumour in its jaws, according to new research.

The prehistoric creature was suffering from a dental tumour - making it the world's oldest cancer case.

When paleontologists cut into the gorgonopsid's fossilised jaw they got more than they bargained for - a benign growth made up of miniature, tooth like structures.

Scroll down for video

When paleontologists cut into the gorgonopsid's fossilised jaw they got more than they bargained for - a benign growth made up of miniature, tooth like structures.

WHAT IS AN ODONTOMA? In humans and other mammals, a compound odontoma is a mass of small "toothlets" combined with tooth tissues like dentin and enamel. This type of tumor grows in the gums or other soft tissues of the jaw. It can cause pain and swelling and disrupt the positions of teeth. Doctors consider odontomas benign tumors because they do not metastasize and spread throughout the body. But given the disruptions they cause, surgeons often opt to remove them. Advertisement

Known as a compound odontoma, it is common to mammals today.

Professor Christian Sidor, of the University of Washington, said: 'We think this is by far the oldest known instance of a compound odontoma.

'It would indicate this is an ancient type of tumour.'

Gorgonopsids were the largest predators of the late Paleozoic, the era just before dinosaurs.

Featured in the BBC's Walking With Monsters they became extinct 250 million years ago.

Also known as 'gorgons', they grew as large as 10 feet long and were among the most ferocious predators ever.

Their heads appeared somewhat dog like, with razor sharp teeth up to four inches long.

Their eyes were set at the sides like those of a lizard, and the body was probably covered with scales rather than hair.

The 'gorgons' would have resembled a cross between a lion and a huge monitor lizard - leading to the name science has given them.

'Gorgons' are mythical monsters with such a horrible appearance that gazing upon them turns an observer to stone.

THE GIANT 'GORGONS' Gorgonopsids were the largest predators of the late Paleozoic, the era just before dinosaurs. Featured in the BBC's Walking With Monsters they became extinct 250 million years ago. Also known as 'gorgons', they grew as large as 10 feet long and were among the most ferocious predators ever. Gorgonopsids were the largest predators of the late Paleozoic, the era just before dinosaurs, and featured in the BBC's Walking With Monsters. Their heads appeared somewhat dog like, with razor sharp teeth up to four inches long. Their eyes were set at the sides like those of a lizard, and the body was probably covered with scales rather than hair. The 'gorgons' would have resembled a cross between a lion and a huge monitor lizard - leading to the name science has given them. Advertisement

Before the discovery published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Oncology, the earliest known evidence of odontomas came from the Ice Age in fossilised mammoths and deer.

Dr Judy Skog, programme director in the US National Science Foundation's Division of Earth Sciences which funded the research, said: 'Until now, the earliest known occurrence of this tumour was about one million years ago, in fossil mammals.

'These researchers have found an example in the ancestors of mammals that lived 255 million years ago.

'The discovery suggests that the suspected cause of an odontoma isn't tied solely to traits in modern species, as had been thought.'

Family Tree Showing the Relationship of Gorgonopsians (in blue) and Mammals to Other SynapsidsThe mammalian and reptilian lines diverged approximately 320 million years ago, with the group that included extant mammals appearing approximately 165 million years ago.

In humans and other mammals, a compound odontoma is a mass of small 'toothlets' amalgamated together along with tooth tissues like dentin and enamel.

They grow within the gums or other soft tissues of the jaw and can cause pain and swelling, as well as disrupt the position of teeth and other tissues.

Since odontomas do not spread they are considered benign.

But given the disruptions they cause, surgeons often opt to remove them.

Graduate student Megan Whitney made the discovery by chance while examining the specimen Prof Sidor had dug up in southern Tanzania to study its mammal like features.

In humans and other mammals, a compound odontoma is a mass of small 'toothlets' amalgamated together along with tooth tissues like dentin and enamel.

She said: 'Most reptiles alive today fuse their teeth directly to the jawbone. But mammals do not.

'We use tough, but flexible, string like tissues to hold teeth in their sockets. And I wanted to know if the same was true for gorgonopsians.'

Fellow undergraduate Larry Mose sliced into the fossilised jaw looking at thin sections under a microscope to see how the tooth was nestled within its socket.

Each only about as thick as a sheet of notebook paper he and Ms Whitney immediately noticed something unexpected when they were mounted onto slides.

Embedded next to the root of the canine were irregular clusters of up to eight tiny, round objects.

At higher magnification Ms Whitney discovered they resembled small, poorly differentiated teeth, or toothlets.

The toothlets even harboured distinct layers of dentin and enamel.

She said: 'At first we didn't know what to make of it. But after some investigation we realised this gorgonopsian had what looks like a textbook compound odontoma.'

'This discovery demonstrates how the fossil record can tell us a lot about our present day lives, even the diseases or pathologies that are part of our mammalian heritage.
It appears Facebook hasnt given up on being a Snapchat clone just yet.

The social media giant is now testing custom location-based camera filters that overlay pictures and videos  similar to Snapchat's geo-filters.

Users build frames on any design platform, submit them to Facebook and then friends nearby will have access to the creations.

Scroll down for videos

Facebook is testing custom location-based camera filters that overlay pictures and videos  similar to Snpacht's geo-filters. Users build frames on any design platform, submit it to Facebook and friends nearby will have access to the creations

HOW DOES IT WORK? Users build a frame using any tool and export it as a PNG image file with a transparent background from each element. The design is uploaded to Facebook, where users can preview it in different sizes or add other details. Users are asked to submit their frames for review, which takes up to a week to complete. Once the frame is approved and active, people can add it to photos and videos they share on Facebook. Advertisement

Users can choose from a range of frames themed after causes, neighborhoods, events and more, reports TechCrunch.

This new addition is part of Facebooks master plan to convince users to share more, as it was reported earlier this year that personal stories dropped 21 per cent year-on-year across the platform.

Facebook has made it very easy for its members to use the web tool, however it is only available in Colombia, Mexico, Taiwan, the U.K. and Ireland.

To create your unique frames, simply build one in your favorite design tool and export it as a PNG with a transparent background from each element.

Then upload the frame to Facebook, which is where you can preview it in different sizes or add other details.

Users are asked to submit their frames for review, which takes up to a week to complete - the firm wants to make sure there isn't any offensive or illegal content being passed around the site.

Once your frame is approved and active, people can add it to photos and videos they share on Facebook.

Frames designed by a certain Facebook page, such as a business, can be seen by everyone nearby.

If you dont fall into this category, then only your friends will be able to see the frames when they are in the area.

Facebook has made it very easy for its members to use the web tool, however it is only available in Colombia, Mexico, Taiwan, the U.K. and Ireland. To create your unique frames, simply build one in your favorite design tool

This feature will roll-out on Facebook's in-app camera.

Ireland was the first market to receive Facebooks in-app camera, which was released to users in October.

Facebook purchased Masquerade (MSQRD) in March, an app that overlays silly live filters on selfies.

DOES FACEBOOK WANT TO BE A SNAPCHAT COPYCAT? In August, Facebook rolled out Stories on Instagram, which lets users create 10-second video clips and share them with a select group of followers. Users can now apply filters, type text and doodle over the clips. And videos will appear on someone's profile for 24 hours. These creations can be saved or posted to the Instagram feed, where they will become permanent like normal Instagram videos. Stories appear at the top of the Instagram feed. When someone has an unseen story, their profile picture will be circled with a colorful ring. Then just a month later, Facebook began testing what it calls Messenger Day for some users in Poland, which aims pique the interest of those who have yet to get hooked on its rival, Snapchat. This feature works just like Snapchat Stories  users add lively elements and it disappears in 24 hours. And just earlier this month, Facebook added Snapchat-like animated filters to Facebook Live in Ireland. Again, users selfies and videos and add lively filters, effects and masks that vanish within 24 hours. Facebook did offer to buy Snapchat in 2013 for $3 billion and was turned down, so 'borrowing' features may be the social media giant's way of getting revenge. Advertisement

This acquisition was part of Facebooks move to make its photo features more playful with stickers, doodles and filters  but until now, MSQRD's technology has only been used with the Rio Olympics and the recent Halloween-themed masks, reports Endgadget.

'After becoming integrated into the larger Facebook family in March, Facebook has been working to leverage MSQRDs imaging technology for video across a wide range of Facebook apps, a Facebook spokesperson told DailyMail.com in an email.

Then export it as a PNG with a transparent background from each element and upload the frame to Facebook, which is where you can preview it in different sizes or add other details

'Weve been able to showcase their best in class technology through Facebooks new camera.'

MSQRD has been combined with Prism-like features that are more advanced blending options than the original image in the new camera.

The camera has yet to be given a formal now and is only being tested in Ireland at the moment, reports Mashable.

This feature will roll-out on Facebook's in-app camera. Ireland was the first market to receive Facebooks in-app camera, which was released to users in October, which lets users take selfies and videos and add lively filters, effects and masks

'For the initial launch, we have selected dozens of creative effects like masks and to give you the opportunity to play with a broad range of formats, said a Facebook spokesperson.

'Over time, the effects will be personalized and expand to include artwork based on your location, the weather, or a holiday or an event celebrated in your country.'

The camera has yet to be given a formal now and is only being tested in Ireland at the moment. If are one of the some 2.2 million people in the testing group, there should be a camera icon in the top left corner  the same place the Messenger symbol is positioned

If are included in the testing group, there should be a camera icon in the top left corner  the same place the Messenger symbol is positioned for everyone else.

Users either tap the icon or swipe right to launch the new camera, which may look very familiar to those who use Snapchat.

Once you've added the silly masks or action filters, either share it on your wall or privately with a feature called Direct  a messaging area that looks like Instagram's Direct messaging.

Here, your friends can view and respond, and the comments appear as an overlay on the creation instead of a text box.

Each image can only be viewed once and then again as a 'replay' within a 24 hour time-span.

Once you've added the silly masks or action filters, either share it on your wall or privately with a feature called Direct. Here, your friends can view and respond, and the comments appear as an overlay on the creation instead of a text box

However, if your image or clip doesn't receive a response and goes without using 'replay', the conversation and your content disappears  another familiar feature.

On Thursday, Facebook rolled out a similar feature in Facebook Live that lets users superimpose a selection ghoulish masks, just like the filters on Snapchat.

Facebook says the temporary seasonal updates are to help people celebrate Halloween online. The masks will be rolled out over the next few days to Facebook Live users on iOS in the US, UK and New Zealand.

The feature will be rolled out to other countries and to Android users in the coming months.
Apple has been granted another patent for a folding phone, fueling rumours it could be preparing a radical new type of device.

Some claim the Cupertino brand's future iPhone could be influenced by 1990s flip phones, made popular by Motorola.

The new patent illustration shows how a hinge in the middle of the handset's display would enable it to bend in half.

The 'open' phone looks remarkably similar to today's iPhone - but actually has a flexible hinge allowing it to be folded.

One version of the design leaves the screen hidden when the phone is folded in two, similar to clamshell phones of the past.

The patent document suggests a flexible nitinol, a nickel and titanium alloy for the handset's support structure on one of several variations listed in the patent.

One version of the design leaves the screen hidden when the phone is folded in two, similar to clamshell phones of the past.

The patents have led to rumours that Apple could be taking inspiration from 'clamshell' design phones that were popular in the 1990s. Pictured is the Motorola StarTAC handset, which was first released in 1996

Another, leaves the screen visible, but reduced to half its size.

The new design represents one of 39 patents that Apple has been granted today by the US Patent and Trademark Office, reports Patently Apple.

The patents have led to rumours that the Cupertino brand's upcoming iPhone 8 could be influenced by 90s flip phones, made popular by Motorola.

When it was launched in 1996, the pocket-sized StarTAC, at just 93g (3.1 ounces), was the world's smallest phone and the first to operate continuously with dual detachable batteries

Earlier this month, it emerged that Apple had been awarded a new patent for a foldable iPhone concept.

Apple first began researching this technology in 2013, but the new patent suggests the firm is still serious about making foldable phones a reality in the future.

The patent document suggests a flexible nitinol, a nickel and titanium alloy for the handset's support structure on one of several variations listed in the patent

The new patent illustration shows a hinge in the middle of the handset's display that would enable it to bend in half.

While the iPhone 7 only came out in September, rumours are already circulating about what Apple could have in store for future devices. Today it has emerged that the firm has been awarded a new patent for a foldable iPhone concept

FOLDABLE IPHONES The patent suggests that the future iPhone will be made of glass, ceramic, fibre, aluminium or plastic  materials that are all currently used in devices. But the patent also introduces a new material in the form of 'carbon nanotubes', that would allow the device to be folded down the middle. The patent says: 'Conductive carbon nanotube paths can form signal paths that are flexible and resistant to cracking.' The tubes could be used in various parts of an iPhone, including portions of touch sensors, or in the camera. Advertisement

The patent was filed on August 28, but was officially awarded to Apple on 2 November.

According to Patently Apple, Apple was able to keep the patent a secret by using an engineer's name during the filing process.

But the patent itself uses the iPhone name, and shows several images depicting the iconic iPhone design, including the distinctive home button.

The patent suggests that the future iPhone will be made of glass, ceramic, fibre, aluminium or plastic  materials that are all currently used in devices.

But it also introduces a new material in the form of 'carbon nanotubes', that would allow the device to be folded down the middle.

The patent says: 'Conductive carbon nanotube paths can form signal paths that are flexible and resistant to cracking.'

The tubes could be used in various parts of an iPhone, including portions of touch sensors, or in the camera.

It also states that the device 'may have a hinge or other bendable joint.'

Samsung  one of Apple's biggest rivals  has also been looking at foldable phone technology, and has a large number of patents for similar devices.

Apple was able to keep the patent a secret by using an engineer's name during the filing process. But the patent itself uses the iPhone name, and shows several images depicting the iconic iPhone design, including the distinctive home button

Earlier this month, reports also suggested that future Apple devices will have wireless charging.

Foxconn Technology Group in New Taipei City, Taiwan is making wireless charging modules to go with Apple's next iPhone, due for release in 2017, according to an industry source familiar with the matter, Nikkei has reported.

Apple is expected to unveil the most radical redesign ever of its flagship handset for the iPhone's 10th anniversary in 2017. Pictured are two concept drawings

'But whether the feature can eventually make it into Apple's updated devices will depend on whether Foxconn can boost the yield rate to a satisfactory level later on,' the source told Nikkei.

It is not clear whether Apple would offer a wireless charging plate, along the same lines as the one made by Samsung for its Galaxy S smartphones.
Advertisement

An amateur photographer has revealed a new perspective to taking photos - by using puddles.

Guido Gutierrez Ruiz, a 27-year-old from Canada, relies only on his smartphone and his surroundings to capture breathtaking shots from all over the world.

He said: 'It all started when I was standing on the street waiting to cross when I noticed a puddle right below me with the reflection of a cloud, and I had the curiosity to see what would happen if I put my camera close to the puddle and capture its hidden parallel world.

Taken in Seville, Spain, Ruiz used a puddle to capture the reflection of a horse-drawn carriage

Ruiz captioned this 'The power of Mums' on Instagram and posted it especially for Mother's Day

Ruiz uses only his smartphone to capture stunning travel photos, proving that a fancy camera is not necessary

Taken in Bordeaux, France, Ruiz turns a regular travel photo into something special by capturing its reflection

'I have never studied photography. I have always liked taking pictures all my life but it was never a big thing for me until I created my Instagram account @guigurui in 2013 and started using only my Google Nexus 5 as my only equipment.'

Ruiz, who now lives in Madrid, already has nearly 28,000 followers.

He said: 'The number of followers simply started to grow by itself.

This hotel is reflected flawlessly in a puddle. Like all pictures by Ruiz, it was taken using a Google Nexus 5

Ruiz's Instagram page, @guigurui, was started in 2013, and has quickly grown in fame

Like a mirror on the floor, Ruiz posts the breathtaking photos to his Instagram page, which has nearly 28,000 followers

He uses regular city elements and angles to create truly beautiful photos

His photos reveal travels around the world, in places such as America, Spain, France, Italy, Serbia and the UK

One of the photographer's top tips is to head out in the rain to capture photos. These images are proof that it can lead to eye-catching imagery

@Guigurui's Instagram followers love his shots, which show some of the world's most famous landmarks in a never-before-seen style

'I started taking many pictures of my travels and people seemed to enjoy them, which was the motivation to always update my Instagram and have people enjoy my captures.

'When I created my Instagram account three years ago, I decided to pack light during my travels.

'That meant leaving my DSLR camera and taking pictures only with my Google Nexus 5 smartphone and no Photoshop or other tools other than those available on Instagram.'

When talking about his inspirations, he said: 'The world of tourism itself is my true inspiration, making me want to travel the world and capture it with different perspectives.

'Many companies dedicated to inspiring travel such as Conde Nast Traveler are also one of my favourite sources.'

Ruiz experiments with photography and angles, finding unique perspectives for his photos

Ruiz said: 'It all started when I was standing on the street waiting to cross when I noticed a puddle right below me with the reflection of a cloud'. This image shows Rome's Colosseum

Ruiz created his instagram account three years ago when he decided to pack light during his travels, which meant leaving his DSLR camera behind and taking pictures only with his Google Nexus 5 smartphone

The Canadian photographer has never studied photography, but said that he has always enjoyed taking pictures

Ruiz, who encourages other amateur photographers to use the rain, said in the caption to this photo 'enjoy the rain, my friends'

Born to Spanish parents, many of the Canadian photographer's photos showcase different cities around Spain. Pictured left is Spain's Royal Palace in Madrid

Speaking to MailOnline travel, he said: 'I had the curiosity to see what would happen if I put my camera close to the puddle and capture its hidden parallel world'

Ruiz doesn't use a fancy camera for his travel photos, and doesn't have any Photoshop tools apart from those already available on Instagram
A tourism poster that makes no effort at all to gloss over how awful Helsinki is in the winter  and simply congratulates visitors for simply being brave enough to turn up  has taken the internet by storm.

The banner reads Nobody in their right mind would come to Helsinki in November. Except you, you badass. Welcome.'

And why do you have to be a badass for visiting Helsinki in November? Well, the temperature is hovers around 1 degree Celsius and you can only enjoy about seven hours of daylight.

The banner was designed to welcome delegates to a tech conference, Slush, held in the capital last month

Images of the poster hanging in the centre of the Finnish capital were quickly circulated on Twitter, with user Pablo Tikkanen saying 'best motto ever'.

Twitter user Dr Frederic Caufrier called it 'the best tourism poster ever made' while others in the online community applauded the sentiment.

During the winter temperatures in Helsinki can plummet to -15 degrees Celsius with the coldest day ever recorded in the capital a biting -34.3 degrees Celsius in 1987.

Locals acknowledge the challenging and chilly conditions but have appealed to thrill-seekers with the amusing sign.

According to VisitFinland's website: 'Even if the thermometer reads -20 degrees Celsius, it doesnt feel as cold as you might think.

'The dry continental climate here doesnt feel as cold as the damp cold of central Europe.

'Finns are also used to this kind of weather, so everything runs smoothly and punctually.'

A VisitFinland spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Finland is traditionally seen primarily as a winter destination  and for good reasons. Finnish winter varies greatly between timing and destination in winter, so November in Helsinki is very different from February in Rovaniemi.

'Regardless, winter in Finland offers amazing activities such as hunting for northern lights, Christmas markets, husky and reindeer safaris, walking on the frozen sea and so on. All seasons are good for visiting Finland (even november with slush on the ground), but winter is definitely magical.'

The banner was designed to welcome delegates to a tech conference, Slush, held in the capital last month.
Tourists visiting Rio de Janeiro may soon have to pay a tax - to help secure compensation in the event they're mugged.

The idea was floated by the mayor-elect Marcelo Crivella at a meeting of business leaders.

Mr Crivella, an evangelical pastor due to take up office on January 1, thinks the move would boost tourism to the notoriously dangerous city.

Scroll down for video

Mr Crivella, an evangelical pastor elected as mayor in October, thinks the move would boost tourism to notoriously dangerous city

The 59-year-old, who was elected in October, told the audience that he wants to 'shatter Rio's negative image' and that his immediate goal was to double tourism in Rio from one million tourists per year to two million.

His idea, which he called a 'bold proposal', is to levy a new tax on plane tickets bought by tourists and use the proceeds to reimburse them should they become a victim of crime.

'This is something we need to discuss,' he said.

'Rio de Janeiro cannot continue treating its tourists as if they were an afterthought.'

Crivella, who'll take up office January 1, proposed the idea at a meeting of businessmen in Rio

People in Rio have been bemused by the idea of taxing tourists to pay for their misfortune.

'Creating such a tax makes no sense, unless the aim is to discourage tourism in Rio de Janeiro,' Mario Beni, a scholar of the global tourism industry who has served on the United Nations' World Committee on Tourism Ethics told the New York Times.

The proposal was also mocked on Twitter by Brazilian comedian Jose Simao, who said crime was so rife in Rio extra funding would be needed.

Comedian Jose Simao said crime was so rife in Rio extra funding would be needed

'They'll have to print money,' he joked on Twitter.

Meanwhile the locals are left wondering where their compensation is - especially since they're on the receiving end of much of the city's crime.

'I was in the room when he proposed the idea,' Alfredo Lopes, president of Rio's hotel association and its convention and visitors bureau, told the New York Times.

'The first thing that came to mind is, if you're going to reimburse tourists, then as a citizen of Rio, I want my reparations, too.'

Meanwhile the locals are left wondering where their compensation is - especially since they're on the receiving end of much of the city's crime

Despite hosting the Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro was plagued with crime this year

A Travel Risk Map for 2017 has deemed Brazil to be a 'medium risk' country in 2017

Despite the Olympic Games being held in the city this summer there have been countless incidents of violent crime in Rio this year.

A soldier on protection duty was killed and at least two of his comrades wounded when their car was sprayed with bullets after mistakenly entering a drug lord-controlled slum in August.

A gang of child criminals were even captured on camera robbing holidaymakers.

TOP TIPS TO AVOID PICK-POCKETS

1. Keep your wallet, purse or phone in a zipped-up pocket  not in the back-pocket of your trousers. 2. Use a handbag with a strap that goes across your body and over the shoulder  muggers can quickly snatch a shoulder bag. 3. Put your purchases in a back pack  it's easy to put down shopping bags and forget to pick them up. 4. Put your camera on a strap around your neck. 5. Avoid carrying large amounts of cash  share it out so it's not in one place. Advertisement

However, despite crime being rife in Brazil, it's not ranked as one of the most dangerous countries in the world.

A Travel Risk Map for 2017 has deemed Brazil to be 'medium risk', with Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, Darfur, Somalia and Timbuktu deemed the most dangerous.

A spokesman for Medical and security specialists International SOS and Control Risks, who designed the map, explained medium risk: 'Periodic political unrest, violent protests, insurgency and/or sporadic acts of terrorism occur.

'Travellers and expatriates may face risk from communal, sectarian or racial violence and violent crime.

'Capacity of security and emergency services and infrastructure varies. Industrial action can disrupt travel.'

Insurance company Aviva has offered advice on how to avoid being mugged.

A spokesman said: 'It's very distressing to have something stolen or worse, to be confronted by a mugger.
Chris Pratt revealed he got jealous when his wife Anna Faris did a love scene with Chris Evans in the 2011 romantic comedy What's Your Number?

'He's so hot! He's so handsome and cool!' the 37-year-old action star told Sway in the Morning on Tuesday.

'[Evans] just embraced me and was like, "Hey, man, this is weird." We hung out, we got together, we became friends, and immediately any weirdness that was there disappeared.'

Scroll down for video

Chris Pratt revealed he got jealous when his wife Anna Faris did a love scene with Chris Evans in the 2011 romantic comedy What's Your Number?

The Magnificent Seven star has been married to the 40-year-old Mom funnywoman since 2009, and they're parents of four-year-old son Jack.

Chris met Anna at an early 2007 table read for Take Me Home Tonight, and shortly after she filed for divorce from her love interest in Lovers Lane, Ben Indra.

So it's only natural the charismatic couple would get suspicious about on-set love affairs.

Captain America: The 37-year-old action star told Sway in the Morning on Tuesday, 'He's so hot! He's so handsome and cool!'

He added: '[Evans] just embraced me and was like, "Hey, man, this is weird." We hung out, we got together, we became friends, and immediately any weirdness that was there disappeared'

Family-of-three: The Magnificent Seven star has been married to the 40-year-old Mom funnywoman since 2009, and they're parents of four-year-old son Jack

Suspicious about on-set affairs: Chris met Anna at an early 2007 table read for Take Me Home Tonight, and shortly after she filed for divorce from her love interest in Lovers Lane, Ben Indra

Luckily, Pratt has gone out of his way to crop his Passengers love interest Jennifer Lawrence out of Instagrams during their promotional duties.

'The same thing happened with Jen and Anna,' the Minnesota-born heartthrob said.

'Jen was like, "Hey man," and gave [Faris] this nice Dior handbag and called her and texted her and appeared on her podcast and stuff. It's like you just have to make an effort to un-weird the situation.'

Globetrotting castmates: Luckily, Pratt has gone out of his way to crop his Passengers love interest Jennifer Lawrence out of Instagrams during their promotional duties

The Minnesota-born heartthrob said: 'The same thing happened with Jen and Anna. Jen was like, "Hey man," and gave [Faris] this nice Dior handbag and called her and texted her'

The Jurassic World hunk added: 'We have an understanding of what we do for a living...and the sacrifices you have to make'

The Jurassic World hunk added: 'We have an understanding of what we do for a living, and I think that if I was married to somebody who was like a schoolteacher or a different job, maybe it'd be a little harder for them to comprehend what exactly goes down or the sacrifices you have to make.'

Chris while promoting Passengers on Good Morning America on Wednesday was asked via a video link by Jennifer to name his favorite thing about her.

'Be specific,' she joked.

Lip lock: Catch Chris as mechanical engineer Jim Preston alongside the 26-year-old Oscar winner in the sci-fi romance, which hits US theaters December 21 and UK theaters December 23

'Thankfully, she's beautiful on the inside,' Chris replied and then was pressed for a better answer.

'Her sense of humor. She's really, reall funny. She totally rolls with the punches. She's genuinely hilarious. We laughed all day, every day making this movie,' Chris revealed.

Catch Chris as mechanical engineer Jim Preston alongside the 26-year-old Oscar winner in the sci-fi romance, which hits US theaters December 21 and UK theaters December 23.

The spacecraft-set movie about two passengers who wake from cryogenic sleep 90 years early features Andy Garcia, Michael Sheen, and Laurence Fishburne.
She walked the Victoria's Secret runway wearing dramatic makeup and showgirl-inspired lingerie last week.

Now Kelly Gale, 21, has travelled to the other end of the spectrum by posing completely makeup-free for an editorial collaboration with G-Star Raw and Leica Camera.

Posing in front of a neutral backdrop, the Australian-Swedish model boldly showcased her flawless complexion and enviable jawline in a series of striking expressions.

Raw beauty: Kelly Gale, 21, has posed completely makeup-free for an editorial collaboration with G-Star Raw and Leica Camera

In one photo, she is seen wearing an over-sized pin-stripe business shirt and a pair of denim jeans, while holding a Leica camera in her hands.

In another image, she is pictured wearing head-to-toe denim while perching with her legs astride on the stool and an exuberant expression on her face.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, the exotic stunner said: 'In a fake world where photoshopping apps reign supreme and Instagram filters are used to the max, the G-Star X Leica shoot was refreshingly real.'

Chic: Posing in front of a neutral backdrop, the Australian-Swedish model boldly showcased her flawless complexion and enviable jawline in a series of striking expressions

She's a stunner! n one image, she is pictured wearing head-to-toe denim while perching with her legs astride on the stool and an exuberant expression on her face

Kelly recently revealed the secrets behind her camera-ready complexion in an interview with Vogue, telling the publication: 'My skin gets really dry in the cold, so to keep it soft and hydrated, I spread avocado oil all over my body every day after I shower.'

Last year Kelly was named number one of the '50 best things in the world' for GQ India.

She broke into the modelling industry after being discovered outside a Gothenburg coffee shop when she was just 13 years old.

'I spread avocado oil all over my body': Kelly recently revealed the secrets behind her camera-ready complexion in an interview with Vogue

She received her big break in 2012 after being asked to walk in Chanels pre-fall fashion show.

She has since modeled for the likes of H&M, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, Jean Paul Gaultier.

She has also walked the runway for Victoria's Secret there times - in 2013, 2014 and 2016.

Making waves: Last year Kelly was named as number one of the '50 best things in the world' for GQ India
Being awarded the AACTA Trailblazer award wasn't the only thing Isla Fisher celebrated on Wednesday night.

It was also the same day 15 years ago she met her husband, Sacha Baron Cohen, at a Sydney party.

The comedy couple have gone on to have one of the longest-lasting relationships in Hollywood, but rarely answer questions about their private life.

Scroll down for video

'Tonight is a very special night': While receiving the AACTA Trailblazer award in Sydney on Wednesday, Isla Fisher revealed it was the same day 15 years ago that she first met husband Sacha Baron Cohen

On Wednesday night, Isla took to the AACTA stage in Sydney to accept the Trailblazer award.

'I need to thank my beautiful husband and our three gorgeous children,' she told the crowd.

'It is actually our 15 year anniversary and we met here in Sydney this time 15 years ago.

'So this is a very special night.'

Ali G days: When Isla and Sacha began dating, the British funny man was making waves with his on-screen persona Ali G (pictured in 2003 at an Emmys afterparty)

The two crossed paths at a Sydney party on December 7, 2001.

A then 30-year-old Sacha was in Australia, hot on the heels of his successful television character Ali G.

Meanwhile, Isla, 15, was best known for a three year stint during the 1990s on Home and Away, however would make her international film debut a year later with a minor role in Scooby Doo.

The fateful meeting led to the pair dating in 2002 and they became engaged two years later.

Up and comers: The couple made their public debut at the premiere of Ali G Da Movie in London in March 2002

Shy: From the beginning, the couple has been notoriously private about their relationship (pictured at Heathrow airport in December 2002)

But the besotted pair had to wait for Isla to convert to Judaism as Sacha is devoted to the religion's customs.

The red-haired actress was happy to oblige.

'I will definitely have a Jewish wedding just to be with Sacha,' she gushed to the Evening Standard in 2004.

'I would do anything - move into any religion - to be united in marriage with him.

'We have a future together, and religion comes second to love as far as we are concerned.'

Supportive: While private about their relationship the two have been public in celebrating each other's professional successes (pictured in 2007)

Isla studied for three years and converted to Judaism in 2007 - the same year their first child, daughter Olive, was born.

During that time the flame-haired actress had become one of Hollywood's rising comedic talents, starring in Wedding Crashers in 2005.

Sacha had also made the leap to international recognition with new controversial persona Borat in 2006.

They married in utmost secrecy on March 15, 2010, in a Jewish ceremony in Paris attended by just six other guests, People reported.

Comedic pairing: Over the years the couple have gained notoriety as two of the funniest actors in Hollywood

Later that year they welcomed another daughter, Elula Lottie Miriam.

While they speak rarely about their relationship, Isla told News Corp in 2012 that her marriage to Sacha was like 'winning the lottery'.

'Choosing to be together every day is incredibly romantic. I love marriage. I think it's a wonderful institution and it's the most important decision you make,' she gushed.

In 2015, they welcomed their first son Montgomery Moses Brian.

While based in Los Angeles, the Nocturnal Animals star travels regularly back to her native Australia.

But she continues to be tight-lipped about her family, as evidenced in an April interview on Sunrise when host Sam Armytage questioned her about her husband.

'I dont like talking about my private life,' the 40-year-old responded bluntly.
He's the Australian playwright and director seen being affectionate with actress and long time friend Harriet Dyer, 27, during an outing with friends in October this year.

Now 50-year-old Andrew Upton has been spotted in a rare appearance with his Academy Award-winning wife, Cate Blanchett.

The married couple stepped out of their hotel together on a grey Wednesday afternoon in New York City.

Scroll down for video

Step by step: In a rare appearance together, Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton walked out of their hotel on Wednesday afternoon in New York City wearing suitably matching winter ensembles

With her husband in tow, the makeup free actress wore multiple layers of clothing to keep warm in the frigid weather.

The mother of four - Dashiell, 14, Roman, 12, Ignatius, eight, and 20-month old Edith - looked trendy with her hair in a bun while wearing sunglasses, a dark button-up vest, a grey blazer, a grey wool trench coat, white slacks and chunky loafers.

Her husband walked behind her wearing a grey wool pub cap, a burgundy vest, dark jeans and leather shoes while carrying a silver case.

Chilly: The Oscar winner looked trendy with her hair in a bun while wearing sunglasses, a dark button-up vest, a grey blazer, a grey wool trench coat, white slacks and chunky loafers

The Hollywood A-lister is filming Ocean's 8 in New York with an all-star cast including Helena Bonham Carter, Dakota Fanning, Anne Hathaway, Rihanna and Sandra Bullock.

The high-profile couple, who will celebrate their 19th wedding anniversary this month, are rarely seen together in public.

They split their time between their Los Angeles mansion, a countryside manner in East Sussex, England and a Sydney apartment in the historic Astor building.

Happy times: A gushing Cate holds her husband's beaming face as the married couple attended the 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles in 2014

Andrew recently spent a night out in Sydney with a group of friends including actress, Love Child's Harriet Dyer.

The smiling pair were seen with their arms around each other inside a bar and then holding hands before leaving the pub together to hail a taxi.

Following the outing, Andrew explained their relationship as strictly platonic: 'We've been friends for years. She's a good friend.'

Getting close: In a range of photos captured by photographers in October, Harriet and Andrew were seen holding hands before leaving a Sydney bar together to hail a taxi

Holding hands: Following the recent outing, he explained their relationship as strictly platonic and she called him a 'notorious party boy'

According to New Idea, Harriet told a group of fellow Australian actors: 'He's [Andrew] a notorious party boy, everyone knows that.'

She revealed she had reached out to Cate upon the release of the images to explain it was all 's***'.

'I sent through an email to Cate and said: "This is all s***",' she said. 'She wrote back, "We're cool, babe".'

'We're cool, babe': The Hollywood A-lister wrote back to Harriet to let her know she wasn't flustered at reports her husband had been seen out with the 27-year-old actress




They've had a tempestuous relationship in the jungle.

And Martin Roberts and Larry Lamb couldn't hide their feelings about each other as they were reunited after Martin left the jungle.

In scenes aired on Wednesday night's Coming Out show of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Outta Here, viewers were left in hysterics over their awkward reunion scene.

Scroll down for video

Fake smiles? Martin Roberts and Larry Lamb couldn't hide their feelings about each other as they were reunited after Martin left the jungle

'He called you a lower middle class snob', Martin's wife revealed of Larry as they rode towards the hotel together, having left the jungle.

'He said what?' Martin responded, flabbergasted.

And as he entered the Versace hotel he excitedly greeted his former campmates with bear hugs and squawks of delight.

Uneasy truce: In scenes aired on Wednesday night's Coming Out show of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Outta Here, viewers were left in hysterics over their awkward reunion scene

'He called you a lower middle class snob', Martin's wife revealed of Larry as they rode towards the hotel together

However it was a different story when it came to Larry, with them embracing him in an awkward hug.

'Welcome to the outside world,' he bellowed as Martin thanked him.

'Yeah thank you mate,' he replied, patting his back just a little harder than normal.

'It's nice to be here in reality, how are you,' he added backing away.

'Very good', Larry responded, also backing off.

'Welcome to the outside world,' he bellowed as Martin thanked him

'Yeah thank you mate,' he replied, patting his back just a little harder than normal

'Lovely,' Martin replied.

'Good', Larry concluded.

And viewers quickly took to Twitter to share their laughter over the moment.

'Was that the most awkward moment on tv in 2016- Larry Lamb and Martin's wife at the hotel entrance', one viewer tweeted.

'How two faced is Larry Lamb am dead', another responded.

'Martin's wife looked like she wanted to knock Larry out lmao', another added.

Awks! Viewers quickly took to Twitter to share their laughter over the moment

Last week Martin claimed his I'm A Celebrity co-star Larry was out to 'destroy' him in the jungle.

The Homes Under The Hammer star, who regularly clashed with the EastEnders actor on the show, alleged that his rival called him a 'porker' and a 'f*****g t**t' in shocking unaired scenes.

Martin, 53, told the Daily Star: 'Whenever he could, Larry tried to put me down. He tried to undermine me and he tried to turn people against me.'

Shocking: Martin Roberts has claimed his I'm A Celebrity co-star Larry Lamb was out to 'destroy' him in the jungle

The father-of-two added: 'During that trial when we were fishing, he said, "Get out of the way you f*****g t**t".

'I was like, "Why are you doing this? What is your end game here? Are you trying to destroy me like the bullies used to try to destroy me?"'

Martin, who was bullied in school every day for five years, was convinced Larry, 69, was determined to make their fellow campmates dislike him.

MailOnline has contacted a representative of Larry and Martin for comment.

Tension: The Homes Under The Hammer star, who regularly clashed with the EastEnders actor on the show, alleged that his rival called him a 'porker' and a 'f****** t***' in shocking unaired scenes

Turmoil: Martin, 53, told the Daily Star : 'Whenever he could, Larry tried to put me down. He tried to undermine me and he tried to turn people against me'

The TV property expert also claimed his co-star made jibes about his weight in scenes which were not screened by ITV.

He told The Daily Mirror: 'I lived a long time in the jungle with Larry and it turns out a lot of the stuff that he did to me wasnt shown.

'One thing that hurt most was when he was interviewed after a challenge and I heard him say: "He doesnt need to win, because hes a porker and he doesnt need the food".

'The day before, I talked about how I was badly bullied because I was fat, so Larry heard all of that.'

The pair had an explosive row last week, with Larry taking exception to Martin loudly weighing in on who would be taking part in the next Bushtucker Trial.

Explosive claims: The TV property expert also claimed that his co-star made jibes about his weight in scenes which were not screened by ITV

Harsh words:The pair had an explosive row last week, with Larry taking exception to Martin loudly weighing in on who would be taking part in the next Bushtucker Trial

After Martin had suggested drawing straws to decide whether Sam Quek or Wayne Bridge should take part in Panic Pipeline, Larry immediately turned around and snapped: 'They're sorting it out between themselves.'

After Martin attempted to push forward with the suggestion, he was dismissed by various campmates - who then ultimately decided that pulling straws was in fact a good suggestion.

Attempting to clear the air after the dispute, Martin approached the Gavin and Stacey star and said: 'I'm sorry if I antagonise you with my suggestions, I don't mean to, ever.'

Trouble brewing: The spat began when celebrities tried to decide who would be put forward for a task called Panic Pipeline

Tension: The former EastEnders actor, 69, took exception to Martin loudly weighing in on who would be taking part in the next Bushtucker Trial

'Look, everyone plays it off the back foot. Everyone has a suggestion "let's do this, let's do this, let's do this" nobody is trying to seize control,' Larry replied. 'Everyone assumes a role in it and your tendency if I may say...'

'You may say,' said Martin. 'You go wallop in like that,' Larry shot back.

Discussing the incident, Larry recalled: 'I told him that hes like the kid in class whos always sticking his hand up and going, "I know that, I know that."

'Every time something happens hes always worried about him, more than anything.'

As Wayne reasoned 'Martin is harmless,' Larry shot back: 'Hes harmless because hes rendered harmless. Hes a f***ing lower middle class snob thats what he is.'

Pointing at the Bush Telegraph, Wayne smiled and said: 'I feel like going in there, slating him and get him voted off.'

Decisions, decisions: Wayne and Sam were talking between themselves to try to decide whilst Martin kept suggesting doing it via short straws

Turmoil: 'I've got two straws here, one short, one long,' said Martin, to which Larry replied: 'Yeah, we'll get you something to drink through them, don't worry about that'
She was noticeably absent from the AACTA awards in Sydney on Wednesday night, despite her starring role in Mel Gibsons smash-hit film Hacksaw Ridge.

But as the glitz and glamour of the awards show unfolded, heavily pregnant Teresa and her husband, Mark Webber, both shared Instagram snaps of the stars bulging baby bump from a more low-key locale.

The 30-year-old actress, who is 40 weeks pregnant, looked ready to pop in the pics, with her second child due any day.

Scroll down for video

'Ready to pop': Teresa Palmer looked lovingly at her burgeoning belly and son Bodhi Rain in a candid snap posted to Instagram on Wednesday, as the actress missed the AACTA Awards, while awaiting the birth of her second child

In Marks Instagram post Theresa stood before the camera cradling her ballooning stomach, in a pose reminiscent of Demi Moores iconic Vanity Fair cover shoot from 1991.

The star- who is known for keeping things carefree - looked au naturel in the pic, posing against a bush backdrop.

She wore a loose-fitting strapless floral dress, with her wavy blonde locks adding to the relaxed look.

'Magic': Teresa looked at one with the word as she cradled her baby bump and leaned back into the arms of son Bodhi Rain

American-born Mark, an actor and activist, and Teresa met in 2012 and married in Mexico in 2013. Son Bodhi Rain was born the following year.

At the same time, Teresa also took to social media to upload her own pregnancy pic.

In her snap, which was shot from above, Teresa sat barefoot and cross-legged on the floor, highlighting her bulging belly.

She closed her eyes, as Bodhi Rain leaned in from behind.

Contrast: The star's intimate pregnancy pics marked a contrast from the more glamorous looks Teresa sports on the red carpet

Wearing another loose-fitted tie-dye outfit, Theresa went make-up free.

She looked fresh faced and at one with the world.

Some magic here waiting for the littlest love to join our tribe. #40weekstoday, Teresa captioned her photo.

Her time to shine: Teresa is garnering acclaim for her role in Mel Gibson's new smash Hacksaw Ridge.

She then posed a question to her fans. What are your birthday guesses? she asked her 354,000 followers.

The two photos were a stark contrast to the glamorous red-carpet looks Theresa has sported during promotional duties for Hacksaw Ridge.

The star plays Andrew Garfields love interest in the critically-acclaimed film, which is already garnering Oscar buzz.
It's not quite an ugly Christmas sweater, but it's on the right track.

Kate Upton added a festive touch to her look on Wednesday with a heavy green sweater.

The 24-year-old looked in top spirits as she arrived for a business meeting in downtown Los Angeles.

Scroll down for video

Going green: Kate Upton added a festive touch to her look on Wednesday with a heavy green sweater

The model/actress rocked a pair of dark grey skinny jeans with a pair of backless black loafers.

The blonde beauty left her signature locks down around her shoulders, finishing the look off in a pair of shades.

Either taking a hands-free call or just listening to some tunes, she arrived with phone in hand and earphones in place.

Of course, the most eye-catching aspect to her outfit was the massive $1.5million eight-carat diamond on her ring finger.

Upton girl: The model/actress rocked a pair of dark grey skinny jeans with a pair of backless black loafers

Bling: Of course, the most eye-catching aspect to her outfit was the massive $1.5million eight-carat diamond on her ring finger

The sparkler came courtesy of her fiance, Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander, when the two got engaged earlier this year after five years of dating.

After announcing the engagement in May, the two then splashed out almost $5.5million on Kenny G's former mansion in Beverly Hills.

This year was Kate's busiest for her film career so far, with a main role in William H Macey's yet unreleased comedy The Layover Alexandra Daddario.

She also has a part in James Franco's The Masterpiece, a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Tommy Wiseau's 2003 'worst movie of all time', The Room.

Before that she had a cameo in Ben Stiller's 2011 comedy Tower Heist, and a supporting role in the 2012 reboot of The Three Stooges, before her first main part opposite Leslie Mann and Cameron Diaz in 2014's The Other Woman.
She's the former Popstars winner who found fame in 1999 after joining the girl-band Bardot.

But Sophie Monk, 36, has revealed she's closed the door on her past by cutting ties with the band's former members.

Appearing on Today Extra this Thursday, the charismatic radio host was quizzed about whether she would get back with the Bardot girls to reform the group.

Scroll down for video

'Might have to find them on Facebook': Sophie Monk, 36, has revealed she's closed the door on her past by cutting ties with her former Bardot band-mates

'I don't know. I was thinking about it if we had a good song maybe. I'd have to check with the other four,' she responded, referring to former band-mates Belinda Chapple, Sally Polihronas, Chantelle Barry and Tiffani Wood.

When asked whether she keeps in contact with the girls, Sophie laughed: 'No, I'm not actually. Might be a bit hard. Might have to find them on Facebook.'

Earlier in the interview, Sophie set the record straight about her rumoured 'feud' with fellow KIIS FM host Kyle Sandilands at the recent ARIA Awards.

'Might be a bit hard': Appearing on Today Extra this Thursday, the charismatic radio host was quizzed about whether she would get back with the Bardot girls to reform the group

Fell out of touch? When asked whether she keeps in contact with the girls, Sophie laughed: 'No, I'm not actually. Might be a bit hard. Might have to find them on Facebook'

'We were joking,' she explained.

'No real dramatic fight. He was saying get back together [with Bardot] or something like that. It was just a joke. It's been blown out of proportion to be honest,' she went on.

The day after the ARIA Awards earlier this month, Kyle revealed on KIIS FM radio that Sophie had allegedly attacked him backstage after he made fun of her music career.

'We were joking': Earlier in the interview, Sophie set the record straight about her rumoured 'feud' with fellow KIIS FM host Kyle Sandilands at the recent ARIA Awards

Australian idols! Sophie rose to fame in 1999 after winning Popstars and joining the show's spin-off band Bardot

During the on-stage proceedings, the 45-year-old shock jock had asked her how many ARIAs Bardot had won and whether they were considering a comeback.

On his breakfast show, Kyle explained that Sophie had saved her retort for when they were off the stage.

'Sophie went mad at me after that,' he said, adding: 'Shes like: "Put me on the spot about putting the girls back ... we never got on!"'

He went on to say it came as a shock to find out that the girl band never liked each other.

'We all thought they were loving each other,' Kyle said. 'I thought they were doing pillow fights.'
She is pregnant with baby number three.

And Vanessa Lachey put her growing baby bump on full display during a Wednesday shopping outing in Beverly Hills.

The 36-year-old pregnant star is expecting a son - due in Spring 2017 - with husband Nick Lachey.

She's glowing! Vanessa Lachey put her growing baby bump on full display in a fitted black dress during a Wednesday shopping outing in Beverly Hills

The actress stepped out in a knee-length black fitted frock that hugged her pregnant belly.

Vanessa styled the long-sleeved dress with matching heeled cowboy boots.

The former MTV host carried a large Saint Laurent gold chain handbag, adding a large black hat.

She wore several dazzling bracelets, a silver watch and her diamond ring.

Baby number three: The 36-year-old pregnant star is expecting a son - due in Spring 2017 - with husband Nick Lachey

The mother of two styled her long brunette tresses in waves.

Vanessa, who shielded her eyes with aviator sunglasses, added pink lip gloss and rosy blush on her cheeks.

Vanessa and Nick are parents to son Camden John, four, and daughter Brooklyn Elisabeth, who turns two in January.

Stunning: The actress stepped out in a knee-length fitted frock that hugged her pregnant belly

Beaming: Vanessa styled the long sleeved dress with black heeled cowboy boots

Vanessa and Nick started dating in 2006 and became engaged in November 2010; they married in July 2011.

She shared a sweet family photo in November while at Disneyland in Anaheim, California.

The brunette beauty held daughter Brooklyn while Nick carried Camden; she captioned it: 'Thank you @Disneyland for a magical day!!! The "5" of us had a blast! Can't wait to take littlest Lachey next time!'

Gorgeous: The former MTV host carried a large Saint Laurent gold chain handbag, adding a large black hat
On Tuesday, Philipp Plein's Instagram unleashed three eye-popping publicity shots for his spring/summer 2017 line Alice In Ghettoland.

In the first caption, he trumpeted its star as 'the one and only HIP HOP' - followed by emojis of a crowned head and then a crown itself - '@fergie !!!!'

Fergie herself appeared in one of the photos wearing a pair of leggings made of turquoise straps held together by intricately designed purple studs.

Scroll down for video

'Bringing this fantasy world to life': On Tuesday, Philipp Plein's Instagram unleashed three eye-popping publicity shots for his spring/summer 2017 line Alice In Ghettoland starring Fergie

In that image, she was stood at the front, treading on and mangling an old-fashioned bicycle. Her black cleavage-baring top was festooned with gold chains.

A heavily beaded turquoise jacket was flung over her shoulders, matching a pair of tiny shorts that showcased her legs.

Behind her, a male model whose open jacket revealed his sculpted abs lay back on a car that had got its headlights on.

The goal: In his captions to the pictures, the designer described his aesthetic as 'creating a sensorial reality that stretches out of its wonderfully imagined limits'

Their setting included a large grey statue of a gnome, a smaller sculpture of an ice cream cone and part of a tinsel-strewn Christmas tree against the night sky.

In the caption to that photo, the designer described his aesthetic as: 'Bringing a fantasy world to life by creating a sensorial reality that stretches out of its wonderfully imagined limits' and credited Steven Klein for the pictures.

The photographer's subjects have included names as famous as Brad Pitt and Madonna, and he shot the cover of Britney Spears' 2001 album Britney.

Shoulders of giants: The photographer was Steven Klein, whose subjects have included names as famous as Brad Pitt and Madonna

In another photo, her leggings had the same style as in the bicycle photo, but the straps were black and the studs silver.

A black jacket streaked with images of gold chains was closed over a matching miniskirt, and she stepped over a male model sprawled on the ground.

In the background was a vine-choked house with a white picket fence, as well as an extravagant carousel with what appeared to be stuffed animals hanging from it.

When Fergie posted that picture to her own Instagram, she cheekily wrote in her caption: 'mood: c u next tuesday'.

A penchant for purple: Among his high-profile gigs, Klein's shot the cover of Britney Spears' 2001 album Britney

The tables were turned in the third photo, and the male model stood over her, an open jacket baring his chiseled torso once again.

This time, Fergie had got on a full-sleeved black top splashed with gold baroque designs and hemmed high enough to expose her enviably flat midriff.

Plein also posted a behind-the-scenes video of the photo-shoot to Instagram, in which Fergie's new single M.I.L.F.$ played in the background as she effused: 'I've always wanted to work with Steven Klein as a photographer, and him and Philipp together just created this fantastical world.'
She made a showstopping appearance while honoring Carolina Herrera in New York City the night before.

But on Wednesday Emmy Rossum opted for a low-key look when she was spotted arriving at LAX airport.

The 30-year-old actress dressed in all black and kept concealed behind dark shades as she made her way through the terminal.

Flying under the radar! Emmy Rossum opted for a low-key look when she was spotted arriving at LAX airport on Wednesday

Despite her attempts to lay low, the Shameless star looked chic nonetheless in a black wool double-breasted coat.

She layered the jacket over a black and white striped turtleneck top.

A pair of relaxed-fitting dark trousers and polished black leather ankle boots completed the New York native's ensemble.

Monochrome magnificence! The 30-year-old actress dressed in mostly all black as she made her way through the terminal

Pricey purse: The Shameless star added a pop of colour with a bright blue leather designer handbag

The beauty - who scored a Golden Globe nomination at just 17 for her role in Phantom of the Opera - added a pop of colour with a bright blue leather designer handbag.

The brunette stunner stayed glued to her phone as she chatted while being escorted to her ride home.

Meanwhile on Tuesday night Emmy attended An Evening Honoring Carolina Herrera in the Big Apple.

Designer diva: Despite her attempts to lay low, the Golden Globe nominee looked chic nonetheless in a black wool double-breasted coat

Multi-tasker: The brunette stunner stayed glued to her phone while being escorted to her ride home

During the event where the celebrity designer was presented with the Women's Leadership Award, Emmy revealed that her wedding dress will be designed by Herrera.

'Yeah, shell be making it. Thats all Ill say!' Rossum told E! News.

The actress is engaged to Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail, 39, after accepting his proposal in August 2015.

'Thats all Ill say!': On Tuesday night Emmy attended An Evening Honoring Carolina Herrera where she told E! News that the designer would be making her wedding dress for her upcoming nuptials to fiance Sam Esmail
Muhammad Ali, Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris; there are plenty of star fighters on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

But the famous street got its biggest one yet on Wednesday when an X-Wing landed smack bang in the middle of Hollywood Boulevard.

The rebel starfighter pulled up outside the Pantages Theater in preparation of Saturday's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story premiere.

An X-wing rebel starfighter from Star Wars was spotted in the middle of Hollywood Blvd on Wednesday in Los Angeles

It pulled up outside the Pantages Theater in preparation for the red carpet world premiere of Rogue One on Saturday

The fighter is a life-size replica of the T-65 X-Wing. Pictured here is a file image of an X-wing from Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Although the premiere is still two days away, there was no chance this would be kept a secret from Star Wars fans.

Pictures of the life-size replica quickly spread across social media after Los Angelenos spotted the starfighter on the street.

While some couldn't hold back their excitement, there's no doubt some LA residents won't be thrilled to hear the city's notorious traffic is about to get even worse.

Hollywood Blvd and Vine St, along with many of the surrounding streets will be shut down the entire weekend of the premiere, essentially closing off a 20-block section in the heart of Tinseltown.

In formation: The life size replica was just one of the props being brought in for the event

No agro: Despite being armed to the teeth, its s-foil were not locked in attack position, so it didn't not appear to be expecting trouble

Ahead of The Force Awakens premiere last December, city officials implemented a bigger street closure operation than it ever has for the Academy Awards.

And with the appearance of the X-wing, this year's red carpet premiere looks like it will be even greater and grander than ever before.

Road closures due to the event will last all the way until 6am next Tuesday.

As with the Force Awakens premiere, the Rogue One premiere will be live-streamed to Star Wars fans around the world.

For those who didn't score invites to Hollywood, the film will premiere across the country on December 16.

While preparations were in full swing on Wednesday, the cast were in Japan on the tail end of the press tour.

Out of commission: Also missing from the ship were its pilot and its astromech droid, so it didn't appear to be ready for flight either

Gridlock: Taking up three lanes of traffic, its owner seemed unperturbed by the hefty parking fines Hollywood is notorious for

Busy: Hollywood Blvd and Vine St, along with many of the surrounding streets will be shut down the entire weekend of the premiere

Felicity Jones looked sensational in striped satin dress as she joined co-star Diego Luna and director Gareth Edwards on stage in Tokyo.

Set before the events of 1977 film Star Wars: A New Hope, Rogue One sees the Rebel Alliance enlist Felicity's Jyn Erso to help steal the blueprint of the Galactic Empire's planet-vaporising Death Star, which her father helped to build.

Luna, 36, recently revealed that he kept his casting a secret - even from his children - for months.

'I didn't tell my best friends. I did tell my father, because I knew [it was safe],' the Y Tu Mama Tambien star told E!.

Seen it before: Ahead of The Force Awakens premiere last December, city officials implemented a bigger street closure operation than it ever did for the Academy Awards

'If my father says to someone, "Oh, my son is doing Star Wars," everyone would be like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah." No one would believe him. No one would get it from him.'

'And my kids, I told them when they saw me packing and I had to explain we were going to London for the summer.'

'But that was like a month and a half after [I was cast]. I did keep the secret for a quite a long time.'

Luna also revealed his trick for easing the pain from the very physical shoot.

'Tequila is very good,' he said. 'One of two at night, and it's very good.'

'You just have two tequilas and you can fall asleep, and when you wake up and you know you're going to go shoot, everything works.'

Plan your route: the premiere will essentially close off a 20-block section in the heart of Tinseltown

Last stop: While preparations were in full swing on Wednesday, the cast were in Japan on the tail end of the press tour
In Plain Sight

Rating:

Six Wives

Rating:

However closely they recreate the clothes and hairstyles of bygone decades, most period dramas retain a whiff of the dressing-up box. Characters display modern sentiments, or use current jargon.

Downton Abbey was notorious for letting scraps of 21st-century idiom slip into the script, with talk of relationships and sucking it up. Even the sublime Mad Men, with vast budgets lavished on costumes and decor, always felt archly stylised.

In Plain Sight (ITV), based on a real-life murder inquiry in Lanarkshire, Scotland, achieved the remarkable feat of transporting us back to the mid-Fifties as vividly as a time machine. The period detail was eerily accurate, but the real magic lay in the performances, from Martin Compston as the swaggering killer and Douglas Henshall as the detective pledged to catch him.

Douglas Henshall (pictured left) as Muncie, and Martin Compston (right) as Peter Manuel in ITV's In Plain Sight

The story did not feel at all far-fetched, largely because it was true: a resentful local man, who has served nine years for a series of sex attacks, returns home to resume his crimes, and to taunt the detective who sent him to jail. The police know what he intends to do, but to stop him they have to catch him.

For an audience used to forensic scientists, psychological traumas, DNA evidence and nationwide manhunts, this story could have seemed pedestrian. Instead it felt shockingly truthful and recent, despite being a testimony to how much British life has changed in less than a lifetime.

Peter Manuel, the 30-year-old psychopath whose parents still treated him like a gifted schoolboy, stalked his victims as they walked home from Saturday dances at the youth club, where girls drank fizzy pop and jived in unison to skiffle bands.

This was a world of going steady and addressing the father of your young lady as sir, a world where missing the last bus home meant a five-mile walk in the dark and the rain with no mobile phone to call for help.

And it was a world where unmarried women had little protection. If they walked out with a feller, they risked all kinds of dirty name-calling  and if a man assaulted them, they would be expected to confront him at a police identity parade, and to pick him out by touching him on the shoulder.

The story started with a surprise birthday party for Inspector William Muncie (Henshall) whose cake was iced with a detectives magnifying glass. He was 40  barely an adult in todays terms, but a grizzled veteran by Fifties reckoning.

MIRROR IMAGE OF NIGHT: Some of the doppelganger duos in Finding My Twin Stranger (C4) were spookily similar, while others only because of their hairstyles. But Neil and John, a retired vicar and ex-headmaster, were like twins, in character as well as looks. How bizarre. Advertisement

The remaining two episodes will hold few surprises. We know Manuel will mock the police and Muncie will pursue him grimly, until one is rewarded by dogged attention to duty and the other is undone by his deluded self-confidence.

But thats not the attraction of the drama. Its the way it conjures a Britain weve left behind, one that is still so close we can feel its breath on the back of our necks.

Lucy Worsley was using costume to retell the well-worn saga of King Henry VIIIs marriages, in Six Wives (BBC1). Of all the telly historians, Dr Lucy is the one who cant resist a ruff and a velvet bodice, so it was no surprise that within minutes she was dressed as a Tudor servant, sidling next to the actors in the recreations of royal spats and peeping through keyholes into the palace bedrooms.

BBC One's Six Wives with Lucy Worsley (pictured) saw the historian, who has carved out a unique furrow in the genre of costume documentary, cast an eye back on the horrible marital history of Henry VIII

The cast didnt notice her, probably because they were all acting in Wolf Hall gloom with a single candle to light castle chambers. Every now and then, a courtier would sweep across her and when Dr Lucy reappeared she was back in her designer blue dress with the three-inch scarlet heels.

When the play-acting stopped, there were moments of interest. She travelled to Rome, where the original love letters from Henry to Anne Boleyn are kept in the Vatican library.

But she can never resist those odd, theatrical flourishes, such as driving round with portraits of the king and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, on the back seat, like children being ferried to a music lesson.
As her wedding looms closer, Sylvia Jeffreys seems to have made it her mission to continue to stay in shape for the big day.

On Wednesday, the bubbly media personality and avid runner flaunted the fruits of her labour, cutting a slender figure in tight leather trousers.

The Today Show news presenter was spotted letting her hair down let at Nova's Red Room Coldplay gig in Sydney, beaming on the red carpet in a off-shoulder blouse.

Scroll down for videos

Trim: Today Show new presenter Sylvia Jeffreys cut a trim figure at Nova's Red Room Coldplay gig in leather trousers (L) as she continues her fitness regime in the lead up to her wedding

The breakfast television anchor wore brown sandals for the event and appeared to be sporting a red pedicure and matching manicure.

She accessorised the outfit with gold hooped earrings and appeared to be wearing minimal make-up, letting her sun-kissed complexion beam through.

Sylvia is yet to post a picture on social media from Coldplay's performance, but has posted pictures from another gig - after attending Crowded House last week.

Taking to Instagram, Sylvia showed Sydney's night sky lit up by fireworks as she watched the Australian band at Sydney's iconic Opera House.

Could this be the end? Coldplay are on the Australia leg of their global tour for their album A Head Full Of Dreams and played Nova's Red Room on Wednesday night (pictured)

She captioned the brilliant picture: 'Magnificent night, Crowded House.'

The 30-year-old recently got engaged to fellow journalist Peter Stefanovic after he proposed during a romantic trip to Europe.

The brother of Today Show host Karl Stefanovic got down on one knee and proposed to the blonde beauty back in July.

He shared a snap of the pair standing in a vineyard in France, with Sylvia showing off her ring.

'Magnificent night': Sylvia is yet to post a picture on social media from Coldplay's performance, but posted a picture after she attended Crowded House last week (pictured)

'Asked my missus to be my wife and she said yes,' he gushed in the caption.

And Sylvia was quick to spill all the gossip on her engagement to her Today Show colleagues while calling in to the morning program.

'We ended up in some vineyards, having drunk so much wine,' she explained.

Happy couple! The 30-year-old recently got engaged to fellow journalist Peter Stefanovic

'He tricked me into taking some photographs and then I turned around and there he was, on one knee.'

Peter and Sylvia started dating in 2013 after co-hosting the weekend edition of the Today show.

They spent the beginning of their union in a long distance relationship with Peter heading overseas as a foreign correspondent for the Nine Network.
They've been inseparable since being linked together in October.

And Lottie Moss and Alex Mytton appeared to be taking their relationship to the next level as they arrived in Barbados on Wednesday.

The model, 18, and the Made In Chelsea star, 25, coordinated in matching grey ensembles as they arrived at the airport ready for a romantic sun-soaked holiday ahead of Christmas.

Scroll down for video

Loved up: Lottie Moss and Alex Mytton appeared to be taking their relationship to the next level as they arrived in Barbados on Wednesday

Kate Moss' younger sister worked casual elegance in fitted grey jeans and matching over-the-knee boots.

Wearing a loose light grey sweater over the top of her outfit, she was surely sweltering in the island's heat.

With her hair in a casual high bun and covering her pretty face with reflective sunglasses, her ensemble was complete.

Partner look: The aspiring model, 18, and the Made In Chelsea star, 25, coordinated in matching grey ensembles

Meanwhile Alex rocked black skinny jeans and a fitted T-shirt, layering with a grey hoodie.

Matching his sunglasses to Lottie's, the duo strolled through the airport bringing an impressive amount of luggage.

Despite only having been linked to each other for a few months, they appeared eager to get their sun-soaked holiday underway, perhaps marking a more serious turn in their relationship.

Winter sun: They arrived at the airport ready for a romantic sun-soaked holiday ahead of Christmas

Effortless: Kate Moss' younger sister worked casual elegance in fitted grey jeans and matching over-the-knee boots

Lottie and Alex have been linked since early October when it was falsely believed that she had rekindled the flame with ex-boyfriend Sam Prince.

Sam, with whom Lottie broke things off two years ago when he supposedly strayed, mingles with the same Chelsea set as Alex and his MIC pals.

They were reportedly spotted cosying up at Embargo nightclub in Chelsea in July but it seems the reunion was short-lived.

Sloane rangers: Matching his sunglasses to Lottie's, the duo strolled through the airport bringing an impressive amount of luggage

Lottie has since been regularly spotted on the arm on Binky Felstead's ex Alex and was seen holding his hand at Winter Wonderland earlier this month.

Last month, The Sun reported that Lottie and Alex shared a tryst in the toilets of a top London club, amid rumours they were in the throes of a steamy new romance .

The publication claimed she and Alex snuck away for some alone time in the club toilets, only to be caught by staff.

Fun in the sun: Lottie and Alex have been linked since early October when it was falsely believed that she had rekindled the flame with ex-boyfriend Sam Prince

A source told the paper: 'They were told off by Tape bosses who found them in the toilets.

'They looked thoroughly embarrassed but are at the stage where they can't keep their hands off each other. Lottie isn't afraid to keep their romance secret anymore. They kiss publicly at Alex's DJing gigs.'

The blonde beauty has been linked to several very different suitors in the past - having enjoyed lunch in June with pop star Conor Maynard, and flirted with Geordie Shore star Ricci Guarnaccio on Twitter.
Former Biggest Loser contestant Fiona Falkiner, 32, knows how to work a wetsuit, as seen when she flaunted her gorgeous curves at Bondi Beach for a surf lesson recently.

But what the popular television presenter brought on land was in drastic contrast to her clumsy manoeuvres at sea.

While attempting to stand on her surfboard, Fiona made a splash at the Sydney beach, only making it to a half-squat before tumbling into the ocean.

Wipeout! Former Biggest Loser Australia contestant Fiona Falkiner was spotted falling off her surfboard during surf lessons at Sydney's Bondi Beach

Pictures from the lesson showed the television personality working hard with her surf instructor to master the sport.

Fiona beamed as she made her way into the ocean, determined to stand up on her red, white and black rimmed board.

Lying on her stomach while wearing a figure-hugging black wet suit, Fiona appeared to be enjoying the lesson.

Wading out from the breakers, the 32-year-old lifted herself, but wasn't able to stand up as she attempted to surf the small wave.

Determined: Pictures from the lesson show the television personality working hard with her surf instructor to master the aquatic sport

Surf's up: Wading out from the breakers, the 32-year-old lifted herself, but wasn't able to stand up as she attempted to surf the small wave

Cannonball: In bird-like fashion, the reality star spread her arms as she rocketed from her board into the water as the waves splashed her face

In bird like fashion, the reality star spread her arms as she rocketed from her board into the water as the waves splashed her face.

Despite her many attempts and failures to stay on board, Fiona continued to practice standing up and at one point falling backwards into the surf.

Her once perfectly tied up hair, which sat in a neat bun, had become messy and undone as she continued to be thrown from the board.

Blonde babe: A black wetsuit hugged Fiona's enviable curves as she crashed through the water during her surf lesson

Up we go! Fiona was seen attempting to stand on her surfboard several times - each time landing back in the ocean in a spectacular dive

Oh no! Despite her many attempts and failures to stay on board, Fiona continued to practice standing on the board at one point falling backwards into the surf

Although pictures didn't see Fiona succeed in completely standing on her board, she did manage to get into a half-squat position before returning to shore.

What Fiona lacked in the ocean, she made up for on land when unzipping her sleek black wetsuit to reveal a white bikini top underneath.

Ten years ago, Fiona famously dropped from a size 20 to size 10 after appearing on The Biggest Loser Australia.

Focused: The former reality star stared at the ocean as she walked back with her red, white and black rimmed board

Third times a charm: Although pictures didn't see Fiona succeed in completely standing on her board, she did manage to get into a half-squat position before returning to shore

Messy: Her once perfectly tied up hair, which sat in a neat bun, had become messy and undone as she continued to be thrown from the board

Earlier this year, Fiona revealed she's not interested in slimming down her frame any more after she lost a whopping 30 kilograms.

'I don't train now to become thinner, or skinny, I train for the way it makes me feel  it's for my mind,' she told lifestyle website Body & Soul.

'I'm never going to have rippling abs - I know that,' she explained.
After a devastating auction - in which no one placed a bid - Rebecca and Chris Judd have FINALLY sold their four-level Melbourne townhouse.

The Prahran property failed to sell at an auction on the weekend, but has since been purchased by a local investor for $2million, according to Realestate.com.au.

It is believed that the buyer has plans to rent out the stunning luxury home, which included artworks, bedding, childrens toys and big screen TVs in the selling price.

Sold! Rebecca and Chris Judd have sold their Melbourne townhouse for $2 million to a local investor, who hopes to rent it out after failing to sell the property at an auction on the weekend

The news comes as a welcome surprise after the couple failed to sell the estimated $1.9 million home after no-one placed a bid at an auction at the weekend.

According to the Herald Sun, more than 30 people attended the sell-off, despite no-one actually putting in an offer.

The opening bid placed by the auctioneer was $1.85 million.

McGrath real estate principal Michael Townsend told the newspaper Rebecca and Chris were left disappointed when they failed to sell.

Disappointed: McGrath real estate principal Michael Townsend said Rebecca and Chris were left disappointed when they failed to sell their newly renovated home for a high price

Walking through: More than 30 people attended the sell-off despite no one actually putting in an offer on the house

'Like any vendor they woke up hoping to sell but were well aware of what the response was every step of the way,' he explained.

'Chris is disappointed like anyone would be not to sell at auction but were confident it will be pretty soon.'

Rebecca and Chris put their refurbished four-level Melbourne townhouse on the market for a whopping $1.9 million last month.

At the time, they revealed all contents inside the home would be included in the sale and that they will donate the proceeds to a local Victorian-based charity.

Classy: The couple put their refurbished four-level Melbourne townhouse on the market for a whopping $1.9 million last month

Smart: At the time, they revealed all contents inside the home would be included in the sale and that they will donate the proceeds to a local Victorian-based charity

Situated in Prahran, south-east Melbourne, the stylish property has four large bedrooms, with the main taking up the whole of the top floor.

It also features a private outdoor terrace, walk-in wardrobe and ensuite.

The home's second floor has been dedicated to a long open-plan living area, including a stunning all-white kitchen.

The area features new marble island benches and white timbered cupboards that are decked around integrated appliances, including a self-cleaning oven.

Parent's retreat! The stylish property has four large bedrooms, with the main taking up the whole of the top floor, featuring a private outdoor terrace, walk-in wardrobe and ensuite

Sleek: The gold accents on the marble and rose coloured en suite gives it a decadent look

Premium features: With three bathrooms throughout the home, they all 'boast with premium fixtures and floor-to-ceiling tiles

With three bathrooms throughout the home, they all 'boast with premium fixtures and floor-to-ceiling tiles,' according to Realestate.com.au.

The classic grey-toned living area can be heated up for a cool winter's night via the feature fireplace that is built into a panelled wall in the centre of the room.

The family home has hardwood oak flooring throughout and provides a view like no other through its floor-to-ceiling windows and bi-folding doors.

All proceeds of the sale will be given to a St Kilda drug and alcohol charity in Windana to buy a rehab centre.

Pastel: A young girl's bedroom, no doubt once two-year-old Billie's, is styled to perfection
They were rumoured to be planning a beach wedding in the summer of 2017.

But a magazine has claimed there may be trouble in paradise for Miley Cyrus, 23, and her fiance Liam Hemsworth, 26.

According to an OK! Magazine source, the pair have been fighting constantly.

'Things are so bad between them that friends fear [the wedding] might not happen': An insider has claimed that there may be trouble in paradise for Miley Cyrus, 23, and her fiance Liam Hemsworth, 26

'Things are so bad between them that friends fear [the wedding] might not happen,' the insider claims in the publication.

Miley is upset, the source claims, because 'she thinks Liam's been very flirty with other girls lately.'

The insider also claimed that Liam had become frustrated with Miley 'secretly texting people behind his back.'

Will they make it down the aisle? The insider also claimed that Liam had become frustrated with Miley 'secretly texting people behind his back'

It comes four months after UsWeekly reported Miley has been changing her mind about where the two will tie the knot.

It was alleged that she wasn't sure about getting married on the beach despite originally agreeing to the location.

The duo - who called off their engagement in 2013 - sparked rumours in January that they were dating again when they were spotted getting cozy at the Falls Music Festival in Byron Bay.

Unsure? It comes four months after UsWeekly reported Miley has been changing her mind about where the two will tie the knot

Second thoughts: It was alleged that she wasn't sure about getting married on the beach despite originally agreeing to the location

Miley has since been seen sporting a sparkler not unlike the engagement ring Liam had given her back in 2012.

Though neither have confirmed the news, E! News reported back in January that the engagement was, in fact, back on.
Young Thug by name, young thug by nature.

The 25-year-old posted an Instagram video of himself scorning two female airport workers after he missed his flight on Wednesday night.

The rapper, whose real name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, was trying to get to Seattle to perform a show, but had to cancel it after he arrived to Atlanta Airport late.

Scroll down for video

By name and by nature: Young Thug posted an Instagram video of himself scorning two female airport workers after he missed his flight on Wednesday night

After recording himself insulting the women, calling them 'ants', 'bums' and 'peasants', claiming their hair was 'nappy as a motherf*cker' and that they looked like 'Africans that done got deported'.

He then took his obnoxiousness up a couple of levels by producing a bag filled with stacks of cash, offering the pair $15k to quit their jobs.

'These two ants are so rude. They're peasants,' he spat. 'Your manager is a peasant, y'all are ants.'

The two helpless Alaska Airlines employees asked him to stop filming and step away from the counter, which he ignored, and continued to have the phone pointed at them.

Charming: After recording himself insulting the women, calling them 'ants', 'bums' and 'peasants', claiming their hair was 'nappy as a motherf*cker' and that they looked like 'Africans that done got deported'

Nice guy: 'These two ants are so rude. They're peasants,' he spat. 'Your manager is a peasant, y'all are ants.'

Can't buy class: He then took his obnoxiousness up a couple of levels by producing a bag filled with stacks of cash, offering the pair $15k to quit their jobs

The workers were forced to stare at the wall as he continued his tirade, while an airport police officer stood idly by and did absolutely nothing.

'Look at, get their hair, sync in on their hair... their hair is nappy as a motherf*cker,' he said. They look like Africans that done got deported .'

'I'll give y'all bums 15,000 apiece to quit your job,' he said waving around the pile of cash. 'I'm giving you bums one more chance.'

Despite his show of bravado in front of the two girls, he was quick to delete the video from his Instagram afterwards.

Carry on: 'I'll give y'all bums 15,000 apiece to quit your job,' he said waving around the pile of cash. 'I'm giving you bums one more chance.'

Sorry: He then uploaded a second clip of a very different tone, as he apologized to his fans for cancelling the show

Blame: 'Unfortunately I cannot make my show because i got into an altercation at the airport with two civilians,' he said

He then uploaded a second clip of a very different tone, as he apologized to his fans for cancelling the show.

'Unfortunately I cannot make my show because i got into an altercation at the airport with two civilians,' he said.

'I'm so sorry, it won't ever happen again,' he continued, vowing to perform for an extra hour during the postponed show next Monday.
As a former Victoria's Secret Angel, she makes a showstopping appearance wherever she goes.

And Wednesday was no different for Karolina Kurkova who hosted the official opening of luxury British jewellery brand Monica Vinader's boutique in New York City.

The 32-year-old Czech model was a ray of sunshine in a bright yellow Lela Rose lace dress as she attended the exclusive affair.

Model behaviour: Karolina Kurkova hosted the official opening of luxury British jewellery brand Monica Vinader's boutique in New York City

The Vogue cover girl flaunted her impeccable figure in the skintight number by designer Lela Rose from her Spring 2017 collection.

Her feminine frock included a sheer lace neckline, sleeves and hemline which showcased the stunner's lengthy legs.

She stepped out in a pair of gold stilettos which added extra height to her already statuesque 5ft 11in frame.

Not so mellow yellow! The 32-year-old Czech model was a ray of sunshine in a bright lace dress as she attended the exclusive affair

Fancy footwear! The former Victoria's Secret Angel stepped out in a pair of gold stilettos which added extra height to her already statuesque 5ft 11in frame

Gemstone goddess! Karolina discussed some pieces with designer Monica Vinader

Karolina wore a pair of large emerald green drop earrings from Monica's SS17 Siren collection.

The blonde bombshell oozed old Hollywood glamour with her silky tresses swept back in a low chignon and soft bangs coiled to frame her face.

Gossip Girl actress Kelly Rutherford, 48, also made an appearance at the launch party for the US flagship boutique in Soho.

A-list affair: Gossip Girl actress Kelly Rutherford, 48, also made an appearance at the launch party for the US flagship boutique in Soho

Vintage vibes: The ageless beauty went boho chic in a multi-coloured crochet skirt which included shades of mocha, cream, burgundy, navy and mustard yellow

Details: A large vintage silver Southwest-style medallion hung from her neck and stood out against the black blouse she wore

The ageless beauty went boho chic in a multi-coloured crochet skirt which included shades of mocha, cream, burgundy, navy and mustard yellow.

A large vintage silver Southwest-style medallion hung from her neck and stood out against the black blouse she wore.

Kelly opted for minimal makeup, allowing her youthful appearance and natural beauty to shine through.
He's the Modern Family star who admitted to having a leisurely five-hour lunch 'date' at Matt Morans famed Chiswick restaurant with Samantha Armytage in 2014.

And Eric Stonestreet couldn't speak more highly of Australian people as he reflected on his Sydney visit, when shooting episodes of the sitcom on location.

The 45-year-old actor revealed to Yahoo!7 on Thursday that he loved Australian people and feels like a local in the metropolitan city.

Scroll down for video

'I just love coming back': Modern Family's Eric Stonestreet says he loves Australian people when reflecting on his Sydney visits on Thursday, perhaps also thanks to his lunch date with Sunrise's Samantha Armytage on his last trip Down Under

'I just love coming back and when we shot the episode... I was sort of like the tour guide for all the cast and crew,' he said, proudly declaring he feels like a local in Sydney.

The American star said he was confident in recommending cafes for good coffee or restaurants for dinner, as he had visited Sydney many times for his Big W collaboration.

'I love the people of Australia, I think our senses of humour really jive together,'he added.

Tour guide! Eric revealed when Modern Family shot the Australian episodes for the sitcom, he acted like a tour guide for all the cast and crew, recommending places to eat and drink

'Im an Aussie fan': The actor says he loves a lot about our country and wishes to explore more

'I just enjoyed being down there. Im an Aussie fan, theres no doubt about it. Theres a lot of great things about your country and I want to explore more, unfortunately I havent been able to see most of the country,' Eric said.

However, when he was in the country for his brief visit in 2014, he spent five hours with single TV host Samantha Armytage on a lunch date.

It was reported that the unlikely pair had struck up a romance after hitting it off during Modern Familys Australian location shoot.

He addressed the rumour on KIIS FM last year: 'It was well documented. She tweeted me and I said you organise it and I'll be there and we had lunch.'

Lunch date! When he was in the country for his brief visit in 2014, Eric spent five hours with single TV host Samantha Armytage, with rumours a long-distance flirtation might ensue

Beforehand he laughed as he teased the co-hosts with a response to whether they 'were doing it': 'I can tell you 100 per cent that...we had lunch.'

It was also rumoured that a long-distance flirtation might ensue, as Eric spends several weeks in Sydney every year due to commercial obligations with Big W.

It's unsure whether the pair have stayed in touch over the years or if they plan to meet up again on his next visit to Sydney.
Another day, another tattoo for Paris Jackson.

The teen daughter of the late Michael Jackson showed off her latest inking on social media - a Standing Rock tattoo.

The image she got inked on her ankle showed her support for the anti-Dakota Access Pipeline protesters.

'#noDAPL': Paris Jackson, 18, showed off her latest inking on social media - a Standing Rock tattoo on her ankle

Paris, 18, documented the process on Snapchat and showed off the inking on Instagram.

She also shared a screen grab of the tattoo design on a GoFundMe page set up to benefit DAPL protesters camping out at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota.

The page explains that the artwork was designed by Stephanie Big Eagle, who is a descendant of the Oceti Sakowin - the Great Sioux Nation - and a NoDAPL movement participant.

For a good cause: The daughter of the late Michael Jackson shared a screen grab of the tattoo design on a GoFundMe page set up to benefit DAPL protesters at Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota

Stephanie explained: 'Thunderbird represents Great Spirit, who watches over and guides all of the protectors at Standing Rock. The thunderbird, or wankiyan, is very sacred to our people because its arrival in spring brings with it the gift of life: Mni Wiconi, or the life-giving waters which rain down from the sky.'

'In the heart of the thunderbird is a circle which represents all the nations who have come together as one to stand with Standing Rock,' the artist added. 'The tail of the thunderbird is a tipi, which represents the woman (life-giver), the gathering place of tribal leaders, and the birthing place of future generations. Beneath the tail flows the river of life, carrying within it the seven bands of the Oceti Sakowin (Great Sioux Nation), whose ancestors foretold of a time when all nations would heal and unite as one after many generations of suffering.'

'Together, the thunderbird, the tipi, and the river of life embody the new path of the No DAPL Movement: one of unity, peace, transformation, and especially the power of the spiritual path over one of greed, abuse, and brutality.'

Social media experience: Paris documented the process of getting her newest tattoo on Snapchat and showed off the inking on Instagram

Meaningful: The thunderbird with a tipi tail over water was designed by Native American Stephanie Big Eagle

The latest inking joins Paris' growing collection that she started after turning 18 in April.

She got twenty tattoos in two months earlier this year, including an image of her father's album cover for his 1989 hit Dangerous, as well as 'Queen of my heart' in the King of Pop's handwriting on her wrist.

Paris opened up about her decision to get so many tattoos, explaining that they remind her of her journey in life.

'They represent strength for me,' she explained in an Instagram post in June.
Nadia Bartel and her ex-AFL star hubby Jimmy have had their hands full since welcoming their first child last year.

But on Thursday, the brunette beauty took time out to share a playful snap of herself and one-year-old Aston, as they enjoyed a day at the beach in Queensland.

The 31-year-old stunned in the photo, showing off her golden glow in a revealing one-piece swimsuit.

Bronzed beauty! WAG Nadia Bartel has flaunted her incredible figure in a revealing one piece swimsuit during a day at the beach with one-year-old son Aston

Her incredible figure and extremely pert derriere were on full display in the high-cut number.

Accessorising with a floppy sun hat, Nadia appeared content and at ease as she watched Aston play in the sand.

She appeared makeup-free and wore her tousled locks loosely over her slender shoulders.

Family holdiay! Nadia, Aston and her recently retired Geelong Cats star husband have been soaking up the in Noosa this week

Nadia, Aston and her recently retired Geelong Cats star husband have been soaking up the sun in Noosa this week on a family holiday.

'Can't believe we go home tomorrow,' Nadia wrote alongside the snap she shared with her 363,000 Instagram followers.

'Going to miss these beach days,' the beauty added.

Happy family! Nadia and Jimmy married in 2014 in a stunning countryside wedding, welcoming their first child last November

Nadia gave birth to Aston last November and she later revealed she applied fake tan in the early stages of labour - as well as shaving her legs.

'I lay there awake all night,' she wrote on her blog, Chronicles of Nadia.

'At 5am I got up and had a shower, shave my legs and decided to apply some spray tan.

'Beach bums': On Wednesday, Nadia posted an adorable photo of husband Jimmy and son Aston playing together at the beach

'Errr, so I know applying spray tan because you think you are going into labour isnt normal, but I couldnt handle anyone (apart from Jim) seeing my bumpy, fluid retentive and hairy legs.

'And yes before you comment to say the doctors wouldnt notice and I need to get my priorities right. You are probably right, but I blame those pregnancy hormones.'

Nadia met Jimmy in 2008 at the Melbourne F1 Grand Prix and the pair married in 2014 in a stunning countryside wedding.

Jimmy recently announced his retirement from the AFL after an illustrious career at Geelong.

He won the 2007 Brownlow Medal and played in three premierships. He kicked 202 goals during his 15-year career.
The Sunrise presenter has achieved a lot in her time as a journalist, from newsreading to hosting a hugely popular breakfast show.

But Sam Armytage took a load off on Wednesday evening as she stepped out to celebrate the year that was at a Women in Media event in Melbourne.

The 40-year-old flaunted her curves in a tight black dress which highlighted her hourglass figure.

Scroll down for video

Flirty figure: Sam Armytage flaunted her classic hourglass frame at a Women in Media event on Wednesday in a tight black dress with gold button detailing

Her dress featured gold buttons, which attached a flap of material over her chest to the rest of the dress.

Sam wore her flaxen locks swept back off her face and secured at the back of her head in a ponytail.

She finished off the look with a pair of strappy black stilettos, a rose gold bracelet and a watch.

Friends in frocks! She was joined by comedian Julia Morris, who turned heads in a flattering floral number

The journalist and presenter was seated at the event between WAG Bec Judd and the organiser, Ann Peacock, the general manager of corporate and public relations at Crown.

Also in attendance at the event was comedian Julia Morris, who turned heads in a flattering floral frock and a pair of colourful wedges with bows.

Sam's appearance at the event comes just days after she teased fans by sharing a photo to Instagram of herself and a mysterious man.

Mystery man: Sunrise co-host Sam Armytage posted a work Christmas party photo on Monday with her tall, dark and handsome friend who turned out to be her co-worker Shaun White

She furthered the prank by captioning the image: 'This'll get them talking'.

Sunrise presenter Edwina Bartholomew decided to join in the fun, leaving a comment underneath the photo: 'You two are so good together'.

It was later revealed, to the disappointment of many of her followers, that the man pictured was reporter for the hit breakfast show Shaun White.
Gavin Rossdale had a boys night out with two of his sons, Kingston and Zuma, on Wednesday.

The 51-year-old not only had his eldest sons by his side at the Wishing Well Winter Gala in Hollywood, but he made sure they all were dressed to impress for the occasion.

All three looked extremely sophisticated as they rocked nearly identical outfits.

Suits them! Gavin Rossdale had a boys night out with two of his sons, Kingston and Zuma, at the Wishing Well Winter Gala in Hollywood on Wednesday

Gavin, Kingston, 10, and Zuma, 8, wore the exact same black jackets, trousers, and slight variations of a white shirt.

The only major difference in their outfits was their footwear, with all three opting to sport sneakers.

Proud dad Gavin wrapped his arms around his sons, who are from his previous marriage to Gwen Stefani.

The former couple are also parents to two-year-old son Apollo.

Looking good! Gavin, Kingston, 10, and Zuma, 8, wore the exact same black jackets, trousers, and slight variations of a white shirt

Gavin split from Gwen last year amid claims he was unfaithful with their children's 24-year-old nanny, Mindy Mann, but Gavin says it is time to put all that in the past.

'It's, like, enough already. I've got to move on. Everyone has got to move on,' he said in an interview published by British newspaper The Sunday Times Style Magazine in October.

'For me, it's just thinking about the boys and how to prioritise them. That's the driving force behind everything.

Proud dad: Gavin wrapped his arms around his sons, who are from his previous marriage to Gwen Stefani

'You just have to ... I don't know. Somehow you have to put one foot after the other and make it happen.

'I have an incredible life with them, and that's what matters. You can't keep up with all the vitriol. Just don't get into all that.

'[I like Twitter] and I want to be active, but it's a case of not worrying about the miscellaneous 15-year-old from Ohio with an opinion. It doesn't matter.'

Gavin is also the father of model Daisy Lowe, 27, from a brief fling with her mother Pearl Lowe. He only found out about her 13 years ago and the pair are now extremely close.
She's nearing the end of her pregnancy, currently at 32 weeks.

And Phoebe Burgess took to Instagram on Thursday to show off her large baby bump, as she eagerly awaits the birth of her first child with NRL husband Sam Burgess.

The 27-year-old was pictured on the beach in Queensland's Noosa, caressing her extended stomach, while sporting a bikini and a round-rimmed beach hat.

Scroll down for video

Ready to pop! Phoebe Burgess took to Instagram on Thursday, showing off her large baby bump at 32 weeks pregnant in a bikini while at the beach in Queensland's Noosa, as she eagerly awaits the birth of her first child with NRL husband Sam

'Can't wait to meet the little gymnast chilling in here #32 weeks,' Phoebe captioned the snap.

The black and white image saw the Channel Nine commentator wearing a bikini set with high-cut briefs, that revealed not only her large baby bump, but also her toned legs and lithe arms.

A round-rimmed hat worked as a stylish accessory, while her mid-length locks fell effortlessly around her face and shoulders.

Bliss: Phoebe and husband Sam have been enjoying a quiet getaway on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, for the wedding of Sam's brother George and his expectant partner Joanna Burgess (nee King) (left)

Phoebe and husband Sam have been enjoying a getaway on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, where they celebrated the wedding of Sam's brother George and his expectant partner Joanna Burgess (nee King).

Phoebe and Sam are expected to return to Sydney as of tomorrow.

A previous snap shared to Instagram saw Phoebe reveal that the couple would be enjoying their last day at resort Maison La Plage, at Noosa Heads.

Soaking up every last minute: A previous snap shared to Instagram on Thursday, saw Phoebe reveal that her and husband Sam (left) would be enjoying their last day at resort Maison La Plage, at Noosa Heads

'Beach Bump and Books': Meanwhile Sam, 27, took to Instagram earlier this week, to share a precious snap of him and Phoebe soaking up the Queensland sun

Bumping along nicely: Phoebe often takes to Instagram to share snaps of her burgeoning baby bump on full display

Sam, 27, beamed as he took the candid selfie, while Phoebe, who donned the same bikini and round-rimmed hat, placed a hand on her beau's shoulder.

This time, her blemish-free visage was on show, drawing attention to her striking eyes and defined cheekbones.

The genetically blessed pair are excited for the birth of their first child in early 2017.

At the end of this month, they will celebrate their first anniversary, after tying the knot at Phoebe's parents' lavish Bowral estate last December.
She's engaged to be married to her fiance Joshua Sasse, but Kylie Minogue revealed the big day could still be a way off.

Talking to Jonathan Ross, the pint-sized pop star, 48, said she and her 28-year-old partner have agreed to wait until same sex marriage has been legalised in Australia.

She explained: 'We were on vacation in Italy and something came up in the news about same sex marriage still not being legalised in Australia.

Scroll down for video

Sticking to their guns: Kylie Minogue, 48, reveals she won't wed her fiance Joshua Sasse, 28, until same sex marriage is legalised in Australia

'He said, "Is that right?"That doesnt seem to make any sense to most of us because Australia is a forward thinking country and we have one of the biggest mardi gras there

'He said, "Well we should do something about it"... To his credit, something clicked in him and he said "Im going to find out about this"

She continued: 'We had these T-shirts made up and it kickstarted with Margot Robbie wearing it on [Saturday Night Live].

She said: 'My fiance is the motor of this and I support him wholeheartedly and so many people have jumped on board but to come from a straight guy I think it says a lot'

'We were at a Dolly Parton concert in Los Angeles with this message coming through saying "Margot has worn the t-shirt" and we were photographed with Dolly Parton.'

On how long they think it will be before marriage is made legal in Australia, she said: 'It depends who you listen to, it still could be a long way off.

'My fiance is the motor of this and I support him wholeheartedly and so many people have jumped on board but to come from a straight guy I think it says a lot.

On how long they think it will be before marriage is made legal in Australia, she said: 'It depends who you listen to, it still could be a long way off'

Christmas treat! Kylie performed on the show to a jam-packed crowd

Kylie said: 'It doesnt seem like news coming from me but coming from a foreigner who just couldnt believe that its not yet legalised. So hopefully it wont be long'

'It seems more powerful than coming from me, everyone knows me, my audience is largely a gay audience.

'It doesnt seem like news coming from me but coming from a foreigner who just couldnt believe that its not yet legalised. So hopefully it wont be long.'

Kylie was joined by Great British Bake Off judge, Paul Hollywood; Homegrown Hollywood star, Keira Knightley; Comedian, childrens author and TV judge, David Walliams and actress, comedienne and writer, Miranda Hart.

The Jonathan Ross show is set to air on Saturday December 10, at 10:05pm on ITV.

Woo! She was joined by Great British Bake Off judge, Paul Hollywood; Homegrown Hollywood star, Keira Knightley; Comedian, childrens author and TV judge, David Walliams (right)

Off they go: David picked his friend up and lifted her in the air to the delight of the other guests
With her endless limbs and jaw-dropping features, you'd be forgiven for thinking that model Taylor Hill nailed her Victoria's Secret audition back in 2014.

But the Illinois born beauty, 20, confessed that it wasn't all smooth sailing after she found herself swearing her way through the casting process two years ago.

'I was just winging it. I didnt train or do any prep, because youre always being told, "Dont get your hopes up, VS is a tricky client"', she recalled to ES Magazine.

Scroll down for video

Potty mouth: Taylor Hill, 20, confessed that it wasn't all smooth sailing landing the Victoria's Secret Show after she found herself swearing throughout the casting process two years ago

Fearing she had missed out on her chances on becoming an Angel, the striking brunette relayed her shock when her agent called up to tell her the good news.

'I thought they were going to say Id messed up and said the F-word too much. Sometimes when Im nervous it just comes out!' Taylor explained.

But it was clear to see why the lingerie company wanted her to appear in the show as she showed off her phenomenal figure in a dazzling photoshoot.

She's got her wings! Fearing she had missed out on her chances on becoming an Angel, the striking brunette relayed her shock when her agent called up to tell her the good news

Fresh off the Victoria's Secret runway, Taylor was back in her lingerie as she posed in a lacy lilac bra and tights.

Showing off her enviably lean legs she reclined in a chair with her pins outstretched whilst she added some extra height to her frame with a pair of buckled heels.

For another stunning shot she showed off her perky assets in a lace bralet, whilst a white midi skirt aided in accentuating her tiny waist.

Angel material: It was clear to see why the lingerie company wanted her to appear in the show as she showed off her phenomenal figure in a dazzling photoshoot

Leggy lady! Taylor showed off her enviably lean pins as she reclined on a sofa clad in just a brown bodysuit that clung to her impeccably toned figure

But despite looking every inch the brunette bombshell, Taylor claims she's more of a 'loser tomboy type.'

She told the magazine: 'Im very nerdy, I love to read - Im not necessarily a girls girl.'

But she explained that it was this dichotomy that makes her love the show so much.

'It really challenges who I am as a person,' she admitted. 'Im standing there in underwear, but Im just like "Hey guys!"'

Wild thing! For another shot, Taylor donned a matching leather jacket and trousers set with a strip of animal print running along the seam of the garments

Call me maybe: Taylor's final look was an all-red ensemble, as she teamed a furry coat with tights that clung to her never-ending legs

One of her closest bonds, however, is with Behati Prinsloo - who did not walk in the show this year after welcoming daughter Dusty Rose with husband Adam Levine in September.

Discussing her best friend, Taylor said: 'Shes a weirdo. I love her. Shes just loud and clumsy and she laughs a lot.

'The first time we met, she was touching my face and being like, "Youre so cute". And Im just like, "I love you!"'

BFFs: Taylor said her best friend of the Angels is Behati Prinsloo - who did not walk in the show this year after welcoming daughter Dusty Rose with Adam Levine in September

Dazzling: Taylor is always a welcome addition to the Victoria's Secret runway

'I was just winging it!' The 5 ft 10 in model confessed she didn't train or prep for the coveted runway spot as she was told not have her 'hopes up'

The 5 ft 10 in beauty, who walked an impressive ten runways for the Spring 2017 season this year, was discovered at the tender age of 14.

The in-demand model, who bagged a Topshop campaign this year, confessed she was stunned when she was approached by a photographer during her early teen years.

'This guy who said hes a photographer came over and asked if we were models. We were like, "What the f***? No!" (He then said to her mother): "Oh my God, your daughter should be a model".'

Nervous habit: Taylor revealed her utter shock when her agent called to say she had bagged a spot on the VS show, despite her use of expletives in the casting

Early start: Taylor (pictured during her Victoria's Secret debut in 2014) was discovered at the age of 14 by a photographer and has gone on to front campaigns for the likes of Topshop, Miu Miu and Marc Jacobs

The former gymnast also credits her mum on becoming her support system during her early casting days - giving her crucial advice on navigating her way through airports, hotels and tubes.

The advice paid off as Taylor has now fronted high-profile campaigns for the likes of Miu Miu, Anna Sui and Marc Jacobs.

And last week Taylor proved the VS bosses had made a good decision in taking a chance on her as she strutted down the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show at Grand Palais in Paris for the second year running.

Mum's the word: The former gymnast also credits her mum on becoming her support system during her early casting days

Model success: Taylor's model profile is continually on the rise after she walked an impressive ten runways for the Spring 2017 season this year

With the eyes of the world on her, she sizzled in a Gothic-inspired skimpy black lace number which complemented her thigh-high leather boots.

The full interview with Taylor appears in this week's issue of ES Magazine.

For her second look, she flaunted her sensationally flat abs in a minuscule pink two-piece and printed coat, alongside pastel blue boots.

Joining her on the runway were veteran angels Alessandra Ambrosio and Adriana Lima.

As well as Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid and Bella Hadid, who made her big debut for the show.

The Parisian show marks the Victoria's Secret catwalk's 21st year, having first launched in New York in 1995.

The show has grown in size every year and scoring higher profile names with it.
They're the international superstars who share a close friendship.

And Ruby Rose and Gigi Hadid weren't afraid to let it show at Reebok's promotional event for their Perfect Never line in New York on Wednesday.

In one snap, the 30-year-old Australian actress was seen planting a kiss on the lips of a portrait of the American supermodel.

Scroll down for video

'It's always about this girl for me': Ruby Rose gushed over supermodel Gigi Hadid as they attended Reebok's promotional event in New York City on Wednesday

Later, Ruby took to social media to share a photo of the two stars at the event, which was held at Skylight at Clarkson Square.

The pair were seen putting their arms around each other, flashing broad smiles as they stared into each other's eyes.

'It is always about this girl for me,' Ruby wrote alongside a snap she shared with her nearly 10million Instagram followers.

'Forever proud of everything you do': Ruby and Gigi were seen putting their arms around each other, flashing broad smiles as they stared into each other's eyes

'The beautiful, kind, hard working, gracious and amazing Gigi. Forever proud of everything you do.'

In another snap, Ruby was seen posing for the cameras with model Zoe Kravitz, daughter of rock legend Lenny.

Arriving at the star-studded event, Ruby sported a bizarre technicoloured fur coat.

In good comapny: Ruby was seen posing for the camera with model Zoe Kravitz, daughter of rock legend Lenny

'Thank you for a wonderfully inspiring day': Ruby shared several snaps on social media taken at the event

And while the outfit may have missed the mark, she was back to her edgy, androgynous self once inside the product launch.

The Orange Is The New Black star sported grey activewear from head-to-toe, while flaunting a pair of fresh white Reebok kicks.

Underneath her fitness-focused one piece outfit, Ruby wore a white criss-crossed crop top which had her famous tattoos on full display.

Striking a pose: Ruby poses with Jessica Mendoza, Lena Dunham, Zoe Kravitz, Gigi Hadid and Aly Raisman

That style: Ruby wore very little makeup for the outing and styled her short hair in a quiff

The recording artist wore very little makeup for the outing and styled her short hair in a quiff.

Meanwhile, Ruby recently appeared in the music video for The Veronicas' new single On Your Side.

She's now enjoying a romance with one half of the pop group, Jessica Origliasso, after the former lovers rekindled their romance on the set of the steamy video.

Loved-up! Ruby recently rekindled a romance with The Veronicas' singer Jessica Origliasso after appearing in the music video for their new single On Your Side
She's been busy promoting her new film Live By Night.

But Sienna Miller, 34, sported a comfortable look as she arrived at LAX following a photocall for the film on Wednesday.

In a tawny tweed trench to hide her slender frame, the Burnt actress smiled her way through the airport as she headed to her flight.

Scroll down for video

Layered: Sienna Miller, 34, sported a comfortable look as she arrived at LAX following a photocall for Live By Night on Wednesday

Underneath, the blonde beauty was clad in a red and black checkered top and wore sleek raven leggings with off white trainers.

Donning two oily black bags, Sienna was in a hurry to make it to her next destination.

Complementing her look with a rock-star pair of sunglasses, the American Sniper star wore a natural face with the exception of a light pink lip.

Keep it casual: Underneath, the blonde beauty was clad in a red and black checkered top and wore sleek raven leggings with off white trainers

Sienna and her co-star Zoe Saldana were very much modern day fashionistas as they attended a Los Angeles press conference for the forthcoming movie.

The Layer Cake beauty wowed in a chic striped gown with a small cut out while the Star Trek actress, 38, showed more skin than her co-star in a chic knitted slip dress complete with a ruffle around her hips.

Sienna, who plays Emma Gould, the mistress of a powerful mobster in the movie, showed off her unique flare for fashion in the ensemble which made the most of her petite physique.

Striking pair: Sienna and her co-star Zoe Saldana (left-right) were very much modern day fashionistas on Wednesday as they attended a Los Angleles press conference for the forthcoming movie

As ever, the natural beauty was cutting edge in her look, as she wowed in the striped gown complete with red and blue animal print alongside black stripes.

The top was styled into a crossover at the bust before nipping into a skirt at the base which featured a jagged asymmetric hem.

The mother-of-one, who shares daughter Marlowe Ottoline Layng with her ex-fiance Tom Sturridge, looked phenomenal in the flirty getup.

Cut me out: The 34-year-old Layer Cake beauty wowed in a chic striped gown with a small cut out while the Star Trek actress, 38, showed more skin than her co-star in a chic knitted slip dress complete with a ruffle around her hips

Golden girl: Sienna, who plays Emma Gould, the mistress of a powerful mobster in the movie, showed off her unique flare for fashion in the ensemble which made the most of her petite physique

Blonde beauty: As ever, the natural beauty was cutting edge in her look, as she wowed in the striped gown complete with red and blue animal print alongside black stripes

Sienna's bouncy blonde tresses were worn in loose waves which were perfectly layered to add volume.

Her make-up was flawlessly applied, with fluttering false eyelashes accentuating her wide eyes while a dab of pink gloss plumped her pout.

Zoe meanwhile looked sensational in her knitted dress which boasted flimsy straps in a mustard colour with a navy body. while her slender hips were surrounded with a thick frill.

She kept her beauty look totally natural as she wore her hair in loose waves while pulling tendrils off her face to make the most of her glowing complexion.

Slinky: Zoe meanwhile looked sensational in her knitted dress which boasted flimsy straps in a mustard colour with a navy body. while her slender hips were surrounded with a thick frill

Natural beauty: Zoe looked sensational for the conference

The stunning pair were joined by their co-star and director Ben Affleck, 44, who looked dashing in a crew-neck red jumper.

His famously handsome good looks were enhanced by his salt and pepper coloured beard and hair - proving he is ageing with grace.

Ben plays a 1920s gangster in upcoming crime drama in where he used a Boston for the prohibition-era flick.

In a teaser trailer released on last month, he is seen playing Joe Coughlin, the son of the Boston police superintendent, who chooses to live the life of an outlaw, turning his back on his strict upbringing.

Chris Cooper, Brendan Gleeson and Chris Messina also star in movie based on the book by Dennis Lehane.

Striking: She had nothing but kind words for Ben, who's also written, starred in and co-produced the adaptation of Dennis Lehane's eponymous 2012 novel

Hey Ben! The stunning pair were joined by their co-star and director Ben Affleck, 44, who looked dashing in a crew-neck red jumper

Ben directs and also adapted the screenplay for the movie which is slated for release January 13 2017. He also produced the flick along with Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson Killoran.

In a promotional interview, Zoe explained her choice to star in the film: 'I would never have considered gangster movies.'

But as she told Los Angeles Confidential, which she's covered for its Awards Season Special issue, she wound up asking herself: '"Why not do that?"'

Per her description, 'I just told myself: "Why not just work with Ben Affleck? Why not just play an Afro-Cuban that sells molasses to make rum in the 1920s in Florida?"'

Star: Ben directs and also adapted the screenplay for the movie which is slated for release January 13 2017. He also produced the flick along with Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson Killoran

She had nothing but kind words for Ben, who's also written, starred in and co-produced the adaptation of Dennis Lehane's eponymous 2012 novel.

'He just has a great deal of empathy for what we go through as actors,' she effused, 'so his dynamic on a set is much friendlier, much more relaxed, more levelled.'

As she reminisced, 'Every day, every scene, every conversation I would have with Ben, I just felt really hooked. Like: "Okay, whatever input Im adding, hes really considering it."'
She wowed on stage for the New York leg of her festive concert series.

And Mariah Carey dressed to impress for her stage door exit from the city's Beacon Theater on Wednesday night.

The pop diva showed off her famous curves in a tight corset and fishnets as she headed to her car.

Scroll down for video

Making a grand exit: Mariah Carey dressed to impress for her stage door exit from New York's Beacon Theater on Wednesday night after her Christmas gig

Ignoring the chilly NYC weather Mariah turned heads in her black zip-up number with a very low neckline to flaunt her ample assets.

She teamed the corset with a large buckle belt at the waist and fishnet tights, while making some concession to the cold with her jacket and ankle boots with a towering heel.

A dazzling diamond necklace was the finishing touch, with the singing superstar still rocking a full face of makeup and glossy locks after her stage performance.

Racy: The pop diva showed off her famous curves in a tight corset and fishnets accessorised with a dazzling diamond necklace as she headed to her car

Mariah performed on Wednesday with John Legend in an extremely sexy silver frock that left little of her curvy physique to the imagination.

The 46-year-old had audience members glued to the stage as she worked the Beacon Theater stage alongside John, 37, as part of her concert series, Mariah Carey: All I Want For Christmas Is You.

John was a surprise guest that night, and together the pair performed their collaboration, When Christmas Comes.

And Mariah took to Instagram to share a video and a snap from their epic duet.

Baby it's not so cold outside! Mariah got everybody talking as she performed alongside John Legend in an extremely sexy silver frock that left little of her curvy physique to the imagination as part of her concert series, Mariah Carey: All I Want For Christmas Is You

Jaw dropping: Mariah looked in her element as she commanded the stage in her glittering metallic frock, which barely contained her ample cleavage

The hit-maker looked in her element as she commanded the stage in her glittering metallic frock, which barely contained her ample cleavage.

Much like anything she wears, the sleeveless number fit her hourglass physique like a glove.

John rocked a sophisticated and shimmering black jacket, matching shirt, and trousers.

Look who's here! Mariah's beau and back-up dancer Bryan Tanaka grinned enthusiastically as he waved his hands in the air

Together the pair had audience members in the palm of their hand as they performed alongside Mariah's back-up dancers, including her new beau Bryan Tanaka.

The back-up dancer smiled enthusiastically as he poured his heart into his dance.

While Mariah's romance with the dancer has only just been confirmed, Bryan recently professed his love for the popstrel while attending a premiere party for her reality show, Mariah's World.

When asked about the songstress, the dancer, 33, told E! News that 'I've always had a thing for Mariah. I love her so much.'

Mariah's World airs Sundays on E!
He returned to the show after having a year off - and Dermot O'Leary revealed he disagreed with Simon Cowell over the format of X Factor.

The 43-year-old spoke to Lorraine on Thursday, where he admitted he doesn't like the six-chair challenge which is featured on the show.

He said: 'We were talking about my contract and I told him I didn't like it. He said he loves that I don't like it and he told me he's still going to do it.'

Scroll down for video

'He's happy to see me unhappy': Dermot O'Leary revealed he clashed with Simon Cowell over the X Factor show format but says his boss has 'relaxed over time'

Talking about his boss Simon, he said: 'He has relaxed over time. He's happy to see me unhappy.

'He rarely says anything mean these days or in the last five years. He's a warmer beast than people think. His reputation is unfair.'

Dermot also let slip that he never actually watches the ITV talent show.

Talking about his boss Simon, he said: 'He has relaxed over time. He's happy to see me unhappy'

Dermot continued: 'He rarely says anything mean these days or in the last five years. He's a warmer beast than people think. His reputation is unfair'

He said: 'I never watch it back because it already takes up four days a week out of my life so I don't want to watch it on my day off.

'Sometimes you think something went well and then when you watch it back, you realise that it actually didn't go that well.'

Dermot talked about flying to Helsinki, Finland over the weekend to join Saara Aalto for filming.

He said: 'She performed out in the square and ten thousand people turned up to watch it. It was baltic.

'When we got to the airport, there were loads of people there and because the show is played out there, people even recognised me.'

The cheeky chappy also spoke about his time away from the show, with Lorraine saying: 'It feels like you've never been away.'

'Oh it does,' he quipped.

'It's nice to be back. It's really fun this year. I feel energised after having the time away.'

Loves it: Dermot said: 'It's nice to be back. It's really fun this year. I feel energised after having the time away'
She typically graces the covers of magazines around the globe.

Yet Joanna Krupa moved away from her spot behind the camera, to enjoy a night out in her native Warsaw in Poland, where she appeared at a Martini bash to celebrate the new design of the iconic brand's Asti bottle.

The 37-year-old Playboy model looked sensational in a structured silver gown which flaunted both her cleavage and legs due to the perilous neckline and high rise hem.

Scroll down for video

Plunging: Yet Joanna Krupa moved away from her spot behind the camera, to enjoy a night out in her native Warsaw in Poland, where she appeared at a Martini bash to celebrate the new design of the iconic brand's Asti bottle

Joanna looked dazzling as she attended the Martini Asti Vintage event at the La Grande Bellezza, where she posed among hundreds of bottles of the booze.

Draping her incredible figure in a silver mini, the stunning star exhibited her tiny waist through what appeared to be a boned corset beneath the metallic material.

After fronting a bevy of magazine covers and nabbing many modelling contracts, Joanna has soared to prominence of late due to her many reality TV appearance.

In recent years she has scooped roles on Dancing with the Stars, Poland's Next Top Model and The Real Housewives of Miami.

Legs eleven: The 37-year-old Playboy model looked sensational in a structured silver gown which flaunted both her cleavage and legs due to the perilous neckline and high rise hem

Bold beauty: Joanna looked dazzling as she attended the Martini Asti Vintage event at the La Grande Bellezza, where she posed among hundreds of bottles of the booze

Silver sensation: Draping her incredible figure in a silver mini, the stunning star exhibited her tiny waist through what appeared to be a boned corset beneath the metallic material

With her blonde tresses styled into flawless waves falling from a centre parting, Joanna looked nothing short of sensational with her gently ombre colouring descending from an off blonde to a bright coloured tip.

She enhanced her plump pout with fuchsia lipstick while the rest of her skin was dewy and dazzling with the assistance of highlighter.

The stunning star was dripping in jewels, with the most stand out item being her eye-popping engagement and wedding rings from her husband, nightclub owner and businessman Romain Zago.

Joanna's appearance at the bash comes shortly after she spoke to the Express.co.uk about her love of showing off her hard-earned body.

Blonde beauty: With her blonde tresses styled into flawless waves falling from a centre parting, Joanna looked nothing short of sensational with her gently ombre colouring descending from an off blonde to a bright coloured tip

Proud: She said: 'I'm very proud of my body, I work really hard, I workout and try to stay in shape and eat healthy. I'm super proud of it and I believe if you have it you flaunt it! No matter what shape or size you are you should feel confident'

Beautiful: 'You should feel like a beautiful woman, no matter what and what I do on my Instagram is my business. It's my personal Instagram, if somebody feels like they shouldn't be looking at the photos that I'm posting then they shouldn't be following me'

She said: 'I'm very proud of my body, I work really hard, I workout and try to stay in shape and eat healthy. I'm super proud of it and I believe if you have it you flaunt it! .

'You should feel like a beautiful woman, no matter what and what I do on my Instagram is my business. It's my personal Instagram, if somebody feels like they shouldn't be looking at the photos that I'm posting then they shouldn't be following me.

'I'm a model, that's my background, if you look at the biggest top models in the world they've all posed super sexy and naked and in lingerie, so I just think it's part of the industry we are in.'

Eye-popping: The stunning model boosted her cleavage with the saucy mini
She graces screens four days a week looking impeccable.

Yet Good Morning Britain presenter Susanna Reid apparently failed to impress on Thursday morning, as her co-host Kate Garraway made an acerbic remark about her choice of dress on the show.

The 45-year-old star looked stunning in a pink and black shirt with a splattered detail, yet her co-star, 49, appeared less than impressed by her sartorial choice as she deemed the getup 'messy' and akin to her seven-year-old son's painting skills.

Susanna's daily ensembles are often the subject of much chatter and praise as she favours fitted gowns, typically in a floral print with a high neck and 3/4 sleeves.

Thursday's ensemble was certainly an edgier choice for the classic beauty, with the pink and black shirt dress featuring a much bolder pattern than her typical garb.

Co-host Ben Shepherd pointed out that Kate, Susanna and weather girl Laura Tobin were sporting an eclectic mix of styles - leading to the jibe.

Pointing out the various ensembles, Kate said: ' It looks a bit like when my son has a messy play session... Do you know what I mean, with paint?'

Oh dear: Yet Good Morning Britain presenter Susanna Reid apparently failed to impress on Thursday morning, as her co-host Kate Garraway made an acerbic remark about her choice of dress on the show

Pointing out: The 45-year-old star looked stunning in a pink and black shirt with a splattered detail, yet her co-star, 49, appeared less than impressed by her sartorial choice as she deemed the getup 'messy' and akin to her seven-year-old son's painting skills

While the atmosphere on Good Morning Britain is typically playful, Susanna remained stoic after Kate's observation, as she merely glanced at the camera straight-faced without cracking a smile.

She then spoke the viewers through her own monochrome dress comprising of thick horizontal stripes, when she likened herself to a pedestrian crossing.

Kate held her arms out and said: 'And I'm just indicating safe crossing of a road', before cheeky Ben said that Laura's embroidered skirt made her look like a member of Michael Flatley's Irish dancing troupe Riverdance.

Not cool: While the atmosphere on Good Morning Britain is typically playful, Susanna remained stoic after Kate's observation, as she merely glanced at the camera straight-faced without cracking a smile

Stripes: Kate held her arms out and said: 'And I'm just indicating safe crossing of a road', before cheeky Ben said that Laura's embroidered skirt made her look like a member of Michael Flatley's Irish dancing troupe Riverdance

Not amused: Susanna was much more animated later in the programme as she joined Ben on the sofa to talk through the morning's events

Great guests: Also on the sofa that morning was Dame Kelly Holmes who, like Susanna, opted for a bold patterned dress for her appearance. She also showed of her Pride Of Sport award

Three's company: Petula Clark also appeared on the sofa and made the startling revelation that she once turned down the offer of a date from Elvis Presley

Aside from her sartorial eye, Kate then made the shocking claim that she had once kissed a giraffe during a trip to Kenya, while staying at Giraffe Manor.

She revealed: 'I have fed a giraffe from my mouth," she explained. "They have got incredibly long black tongues.

'I was eating a lovely croissant and I put it in my mouth, and the giraffe came down and whipped it out. Taking food from me is a risk but even I didnt mess with giraffe!'

Ben weighed in on the situation by stating: 'You snogged a giraffe!' He then joked about extinction, saying: 'Is that because you have been snogging giraffes?'
As a couple they have persistently tried to establish themselves in the US.

And Mark Wright has beaten his wife Michelle Keegan to the post as he is set to star in two episodes of E!'s The Royals, where he will play a talk show host in the Elizabeth Hurley-fronted show.

The 29-year-old former TOWIE star is set to make his US debut in the show, just a months after his actress wife, also 29, revealed she is headed to LA for meetings - although Mark appears to have beat out the start of her TV career across the pond.

Scroll down for video

Pipped to the post: Mark Wright has beaten his wife Michelle Keegan to the post as he is set to star in two episodes of E!'s The Royals, where he will play a talk show host in the Elizabeth Hurley fronted show

In June, Mark made a brief appearance in BBC Three comedy Murder In Successville and it seems his presence on the show worked as an audition reel.

In a clip from The Royals, he is seen standing in a lavish looking TV set, as he introduces two of the characters from the show.

Dressed in a sharp suit, Mark says: ' You know them, you love them and you send them your taxesPlease welcome HRHs Prince Liam and Princess Eleanor.'

Mark started his career on TOWIE in 2010, yet turned his back on reality TV following his stint on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here in 2011.

Onwards and upwards: The 29-year-old former TOWIE star is set to make his US debut in the show, just a months after his actress wife, also 29, revealed she is headed to LA for meetings - although Mark appears to have beat out the start of her TV career across the pond

Royal behaviour: Elizabeth will star opposite Mark in the show

He now focuses on TV presenting, with his most prominent role being his part on Take Me Out's sister show, Take Me Out: The Gossip.

It seems his role on The Royals could open new doors, particularly as the couple have been eyeing a stateside move for some time, following their trip to Los Angles in August last year.

Despite Mark's humble acting CV, Michelle has a whopping eight years experience in the field through her career on Coronation Street, leading to her recent admission that they were eyeing a move.

In her blog for Hello! magazine last month, she wrote: ' So, Im off on my travels again. By the time you read this I will be in the the city of angels! Yes Im over in Los Angeles for a few days on business...

The agent calling? In June, Mark made a brief appearance in BBC Three comedy Murder In Successville and it seems his presence on the show worked as an audition reel

'During my few days in LA I will be doing a really cool photo shoot and having a couple of meetings. Cant say any more than that Im afraid!'

In light of her potential move to Hollywood, Michelle's colleague and stunt coordinator on the show Paul Pieterse revealed: 'The Hollywood interest has all come out of her performance in Our Girl 2. Shes very good.'

He then insisted : 'Michelle for Hollywood, absolutely. No doubt she can make it there, the right part and shes awayI am working with top Hollywood stars and Michelles of that calibre. I know good when I see it.'
She gave birth in February.

And as Rose Byrne returns to work, she recently gushed about making a movie that her 10-month-old son Rocco will be able to enjoy.

The 37-year-old actress will star as lead character Bea in the forthcoming animated movie Peter Rabbit and she told The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday that she's 'thrilled' to show little Rocco her work.

New gig: Peter Rabbit star Rose Byrne, 37, recently gushed about making a movie that her 10-month-old son Rocco will be able to enjoy

'It is one for Rocco so I'm thrilled and I feel very lucky to be home and working,' she said at the AACTAs.

'It starts late January and I'll be filming Peter Rabbit with my friend Will Gluck and Domhnall Gleeson is in the cast, which I'm really excited about because I'm a fan, I loved (his film) Ex Machina so much so I'm a big fan.'

The Australian beauty, who shares baby Rocco with her partner Bobby Cannavale, will make the transition into children's films, starring alongside Carpool karaoke star James Corden, for the newest rendition of Beatrix Potter's classic tale.

Thrilled: 'It is one for Rocco so I'm thrilled and I feel very lucky to be home and working,' she said at the AACTAs

Starring role: Rose is currently in Australia to start filming for the live-action animation hybrid of Peter Rabbit set to hit cinemas in 2018 with co-star James Corden

The Will Gluck-directed project is slated for relelase in 2018.

Deputy Premier and Arts Minister Troy Grant confirmed that American director Will's Peter Rabbit will be a blend of live-action and animation and is set to be shot in Sydney.

He revealed that the film being produced by Animal Logic will create jobs for 55 local actors and more than 600 crew, according to Fairfax.

Children's Classic: The adaptation of Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit is set to bring over 655 jobs for actors and crew members

This production, secured for New South Wales through the government's new $20million Made in NSW fun will create jobs  as well as showcase our state to the world,' he added.

President of production administration at Columbia Pictures, Andy Davis, told Fairfax that New South Wales had everything the studio needed for their movie.

'The region is famous for verdant beauty that will provide Peter Rabbit with a warm and impressive backdrop and we are excited to be working with the talented live-action crews in NSW and the animation wizards at Animal Logic.'

The film is currently in pre-production and will start live-action filming in January 2017 and will be the most recent adaptation since the CGI-animated children's television show which premiered in 2012.

This wouldn't be the first time that Corden and Byrne were seen acting together when the pair performed a live skit of The Lion King in the middle of a pedestrian crossing in Los Angeles in May.

Dressed in costumes from the children's Disney animated feature the pair are seen playing characters Nala and Simba in the street.

At one point in the production, James started having a mini-meltdown from the pressure of the show, leaving Rose no choice but to slap some sense into him.

At it again! This wouldn't be the first time that Corden and Byrne were seen acting together when the pair performed a live skit of The Lion King in the middle of a pedestrian crossing

'Relax!' she screamed. 'Hakuna matata, it means take it easy!'

Meanwhile also in May, Byrne made headlines when she revealed on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, that she was stopped at an airport recently because of breast milk she carried in her bag. The new mother had more than three ounces of breast milk with her, exceeding the maximum amount of liquid allowed in a carry-on bag.

'They wave this weird thing over the top of it, and there's a whole production going on. They take it very seriously that it could be something,' she said.

'I just stand there and smile and tell them that's it's really breast milk, and that it's nothing.'
She's not one to take Christmas lightly after putting up her first tree in November and eyeing up a potential second tree last week.

And Holly Willoughby continued her love for the festive season in an eye-catching ensemble as she hosted ITV's This Morning on Wednesday.

The 35-year-old presenter dressed to flatter her buxom figure in a tight turtleneck top which was neatly tucked into a glitzy gold skirt.

Scroll down for video

All eyes on her: Holly Willoughby, 35, looked festive in an eye-catching ensemble as she hosted ITV's This Morning on Wednesday alongside Phillip Schofield

Standing alongside her co-host Phillip Schofield, the blonde beauty stole the spotlight in the statement Zara skirt which fell at a stylish midi-level.

The diagonal metallic gold panelling, which met in the middle, drew attention to her impressive figure while her busty cleavage was tamed by the chic Jigsaw top.

The former Storm Model Management signed beauty boosted her height in a pair of classy pointed black heels as she engaged in her hosting duties for the show.

With her glossy blonde locks sexily tousled upon her shoulders, framing her pretty features, Holly spoke to guest Martin Roberts about his recent feud with Larry Lamb in the I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! jungle.

Festive inspiration: The presenter dressed to flatter her buxom figure in a tight turtleneck Jigsaw top which was neatly tucked into a glitzy gold Zara skirt

Jolly holly: Standing alongside her co-host Phillip, the blonde beauty stole the spotlight in the statement number which fell at a stylish midi-level

Statement style: She donned a pair of pointy black heels as she spoke to Martin Roberts about his feud with Larry Lamb in the recent I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!

The Homes Under The Hammer star said: 'I got in the car with my wife after the jungle and she told me some of the things that Larry had said that I didn't know about, like the middle class snob thing and was really trying to get the rest of the group against me.

And when asked by Holly if he would accept Larry's apology, he revealed: 'Of course, of course. I think Larry said if wed met at a party or some social event wed probably get on fine, but youre thrown into that environment...'

The mother-of-three also giggled her way though the magic segment with forensic mind reader Colin Cloud and a cooking segment where chef Theo Michaels whipped up the perfect Christmas meals.

On the 23rd November Holly made the proud declaration that she had already started the Christmas festivities and was met with a wave of surprise from viewers.

Curvaceous: The diagonal metallic gold panelling, which met in the middle, drew attention to her impressive figure

Stunner: Holly's glossy blonde locks sexily tousled upon her shoulders, framing her pretty features

Sexy star: Her busty cleavage was tamed by the chic Jigsaw top

Holly seemed to divide ITV viewers, and her co-presenter Phillip was awe-struck when she admitted the tree went up 11 days before the start of December.

If youre going for it, you might as well go for it, a defiant Holly said as she showed a picture of her tree, covered in faux snow.

And just last week, the bubbly star was spotted eyeing up another tree in London.

Holly also sent fans wild after she posted a behind-the-scenes selfie with The Queen on This Morning on Tuesday.

The star caused a social media storm thanks to the candid snap, with her followers querying whether it was the actual monarch.

Stirring it up: The mother-of-three also giggled her way though a cooking segment with chef Theo Michaels

Xmas fun: Holly couldn't contain her delight as Theo demonstrated the perfect Christmas meals

Starting early: Holly seemed to divide ITV viewers, and her co-presenter Phillip was awe-struck when she admitted her Christmas tree went up 11 days before the start of December

Holly captioned the Instagram picture: 'Favourite selfie!!! #savethechildren #christmasjumperday xxx'

'Is this the actual queen ?', one fan posted, while another enthused, 'The Queen!'

However, most of the star's followers had a more rational response, clarifying that it was in fact a waxwork.

'Like the queen would actually tune up at the itv studios! Come on people, it's either a look a like or it's her wax figure (sic)', one of Holly's followers chastised.

The mystery was solved when it was revealed the Queen model was part of Save the Childrens Christmas charity appeal.
Elle Fanning looked out of this world on her last day filming Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled in New Orleans on Wednesday.

The 18-year-old actress - who relies on stylist Samantha McMillen - appeared to carry wrap presents while clad in a black astronaut-landing-on-the-moon jacket.

The Neon Demon starlet finished off her casual ensemble with ripped blue jeans featuring cheeky Mickey Mouse gloves patches on her rear end.

It's a wrap! Elle Fanning looked out of this world on her last day filming Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled in New Orleans on Wednesday

Berry nice! The 18-year-old actress - who relies on stylist Samantha McMillen - appeared to carry wrap presents while clad in a black astronaut-landing-on-the-moon jacket

Back it up! The Neon Demon starlet finished off her casual ensemble with ripped blue jeans featuring cheeky Mickey Mouse gloves patches on her rear end

Fanning's co-star Kirsten Dunst shared a snap of the pair snuggling in 1860s-era dresses crafted by costume designer Stacey Battat and plaited hairdos by Odile Gilbert.

The 45-year-old Oscar winner previously directed the Georgia-born blonde in Somewhere (2010) and it's her fourth collaboration with the 34-year-old Golden Globe nominee.

In July, Kiki announced she'd be making her feature directorial debut with an adaptation of Sylvia Plath's 1963 novel The Bell Jar starring Elle's sister Dakota.

The Good Morning video vixen plays a student at an all-girl Confederate boarding school in the Civil War drama, which hits US/UK theaters June 23.

'Last day!' Fanning's co-star Kirsten Dunst shared a snap of the pair snuggling in 1860s-era dresses crafted by costume designer Stacey Battat and plaited hairdos by Odile Gilbert

Former child stars: The 45-year-old Oscar winner previously directed the Georgia-born blonde in Somewhere (2010) and it's her fourth collaboration with the 34-year-old Golden Globe nominee

Due out in 2018: In July, Kiki announced she'd be making her feature directorial debut with an adaptation of Sylvia Plath's 1963 novel The Bell Jar starring Elle's sister Dakota

The Beguiled is not a remake of the 1971 Clint Eastwood flick, but rather an adaptation of Thomas P. Cullinan's 1966 Southern Gothic novel.

Golden Globe winner Colin Farrell plays a seductive Union soldier held captive in the school, while Oscar winner Nicole Kidman portrays headmistress Martha Farnsworth.

Fans can catch Elle - born Mary - as Julie in Mike Mills' 20th Century Women, which hits US theaters December 25 and UK theaters February 10.

'With Sha Sha on the last day!' The Good Morning video vixen plays a student at an all-girl Confederate boarding school in the Civil War drama, which hits US/UK theaters June 23

Based on the book: The Beguiled is not a remake of the 1971 Clint Eastwood flick, but rather an adaptation of Thomas P. Cullinan's 1966 Southern Gothic novel

Started filming on Halloween: Colin Farrell plays a seductive Union soldier held captive in the school, while Nicole Kidman portrays headmistress Martha Farnsworth

'I play a girl who goes to high school in the late seventies in Santa Barbara,' Fanning explained to C Magazine last month.

'But I have never, you know, stood in the hall of a school, doing high school things.'

The mother-son dramedy also features Annette Bening, Billy Crudup, Greta Gerwig, and Lucas Jade Zumann.

Set in 1970s Santa Barbara: Fans can catch Elle - born Mary - as Julie in Mike Mills' 20th Century Women, which hits US theaters December 25 and UK theaters February 10
Karl Stefanovic is reportedly evading the paparazzi with the help of billionaire friend James Packer, according to The Daily Telegraph.

The TV personality headed to his food blogger pal Sofia Levin's hometown of Melbourne this week to escape the media spotlight, days after the pair were spotted together in Sydney.

Enjoying the trip to Melbourne with his mother Jenny, Karl, 42, is being helicoptered in an out of Crown Resorts in a chopper owned by the casino mogul, the newspaper claims.

Scroll down for video

Flying high? Karl Stefanovic is reportedly being ferried around in James Packer's helicopters to avoid paparazzi while on holidays in Melbourne

According to the publication, the Today show host enjoyed a trip to the Yarra Valley with his mother Jenny, on Wednesday.

They were said to have been transferred from the resort, where they are staying, to the region's famous vineyards via one of Packer's Crown helicopters.

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Crown for comment.

James, the son of the late media mogul, Kerry Packer, and Karl are very close, with James once describing the breakfast show host as 'one of my best friends in the world.'

Old pals: Casino mogul James, second from right, and Karl, far right, have long been good friends

Meanwhile, Sofia and Karl became friends after the pretty brunette appeared as a guest on Today.

In an interview with Woman's Day, Sofia said she and Karl text and FaceTime each other several times a week, but are not more than friends.

'Yes, we FaceTime and text each other, but I don't believe my relationship with Karl is at all inappropriate - I didn't known him when he was with his wife,' Sofia said.

Denial: Popular food blogger Sofia Levin insists she and Karl are no more than friends

'We're just friends. I'm in the middle of planning my wedding!'

Sofia is engaged to Matt John, who owns Sydney eatery Epic Pizza, and has denied rumours of a romance between herself and Karl.

Longtime partner Matt, also laughed off claims of a romance between Sofia and Karl saying: 'I've hung out with Karl and Sofia together.'

Long term romance: Sofia is engaged to Matt John, who owns Sydney eatery Epic Pizza

New Idea had claimed Karl had developed a crush on Sofia after she made a guest appearance on the Channel Nine breakfast program several weeks ago.

The story was strongly denied by his representative.

Karl split from his wife of 21 years Cassandra Thorburn earlier this year, and is currently taking a break from his television duties over the summer.
Will Smith has some wild new neighbors that he wants relocated.

On Thursday, the 48-year-old actor stopped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show to talk about his new film Collateral Beauty and tell the comedienne about the lions that live in his backyard.

Unfortunately, Ellen, 58, wasn't buying it.

Scroll down for video

Lion king: Will Smith, 48, stopped by the Ellen DeGeneres Show to talk to the comedienne, 58, about his new film and the lions that are terrorizing him and his family

'I think you're confused,' the hilarious blonde said as she initiated the conversation, 'You say there's a lion loose in your neighborhood...Do you know what a lion looks like?'

She proceeded to share a photo of a sub-Saharan lion and then compared it with the mountain lion found in Smith's driveway.

'Now what is that? That's a LION Ellen!' The actor said excitedly, 'You see one of them jokers in Kenya!

'Ellen, that looks like Mufasa walking around.'

'That looks like Mufasa!': The actor excitedly tried to convince Ellen that the creature in his backyard is a lion

Ellen went on to ask what one would do in a situation like this.

'You immediately put the kids on punishment, you call the ranger, and the ranger comes out and says you have a lion,' Smith answered.

'You have to buy lion urine, and he just happened to have some. Lion urine is $38.99 a gallon,' the actor explained hilariously.

He continued, 'They sprinkle the lion urine in a circle around your house, and apparently that keeps the lions away.'

The Men In Black veteran had another idea for dealing with his dangerous new neighbors: 'I thought he should have at least been able to relocate it to Denzel's house!'

Holiday cheer: Smith described his new movie, Collateral Beauty, as being a 'beautiful Christmas story'

Sentimental: Smith and DeGeneres went on to discuss his new film, Collateral Beauty, and the touching connection it had to Smith's personal life

Smith and DeGeneres went on to discuss his new film, Collateral Beauty, and the touching connection it had to Smith's personal life.

'You're playing a guy that experiences a loss and your dad,' DeGeneres said, 'You just lost your dad.'

'What was really interesting is that I got the screenplay right when my father was diagnosed,' Smith divulged.

Man of the people: Ellen had Will play a game where he had to see how many selfies he could take with the audience in 60 seconds

They love him: The crowd went wild as he jumped from spot to spot snapping selfies

'It turned out to be such an amazing thing to have to work through and go through all of this. But my father and I were sharing it during that time so, you know, the performance for me, and the movie for me, and the ideas are so deeply personal.'

He continued, 'My father, he actually lived for four months beyond that point, they gave him six weeks, and what happened is every day because so beautiful beyond the six weeks...'

'So this film for me, is the most personal and beautiful journey,' Will said sentimentally, 'When art and life comes together in that way and when you create something that could potentially help people get through difficult times.'

The movie touches on dealing with tragedy and how even loss can reveal moments of meaning and beauty.

Collateral Beauty is set to hit US theaters on December 16.
Just because she makes people laugh do not expect this star to not be willing be very serious.

Tina Fey sat down with David Letterman for a special issue of The Hollywood Reporter.

The two comedic powerhouses were on opposite ends of the table to celebrate the 46-year-old actress being honoured with the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award, recognizing her as one of the female powerhouses of Hollywood.

Fierce female: Tina Fey sat down with David Letterman for a special issue of The Hollywood Reporter after she was honoured with the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award

Tina stars on the cover of this week's issue and did not hold back when discussing the state of the country in the wake of Donald Trump's election.

The pair of comedic legends immediately dealt with the elephant in the room that is America - Trump.

Not a laughing matter: Tina stars on the cover of this week's issue and did not hold back when discussing the state of the country in the wake of Donald Trump's election

David, who confessed he has been struggling to deal with his emotions without a show to vent them on, asked if Tina fears for her daughters - Alice, 11, and Penelope, 5 - in a Trump world.

The Mean Girls creator said: 'I worry, [but] I have confidence that they are both strong enough to fight back, and I think they will feel empowered to call attention to any wrongdoing in their lives.'

She does, however, have fears about the seeming increasing levels of misogyny once again being accepted in our society.

'It feels like we were on the precipice of things getting pretty good, and now we're in a bit of a throwback moment. I definitely came out of last month feeling misogyny is much more real than two years ago.

'But the thing I worry about [more] than actual human interaction is the internet. Because that's just despicable: people just being able to be awful to each other without having to be in the same room.

'It's metastasizing now, thanks to our glorious President-elect who can't muster the dignity of a seventh-grader.'

Has faith: David asked if Tina fears for her daughters - Alice, 11, and Penelope, 5 - in a Trump world, to which the actress said, 'I worry, [but] I have confidence that they are both strong enough to fight back'

'We're in a bit of a throwback moment': The 46-year-old does have fears about the seeming increasing levels of misogyny once again being accepted in our society

Tina said she needs to try to find a way to show dignity in the world in opposition to the President-elect's behaviour and said she hopes other artists will avoid just going with it much like Leni Riefenstah.

Leni was one of the greatest videographers and directors of our time and a pioneering woman but she 'rolled with the punches' and worked for Adolf Hitler creating some of his greatest propaganda tools.

One person who cannot be accused of doing that at the moment is Alec Baldwin, who has been upsetting President-elect with his spot-on parody of him on Saturday Night Live. The pair have since been engaged in a Twitter feud, which is concerning, Tina said.

'At one level, it just makes me feel sick for the state of the world because it's so beneath a president, but also my feeling is: ''You think you're good at being a jerk on Twitter? You will now face the grandmaster of being a jerk on Twitter.'''

The Trump effect: Tina said the hate people write on the internet is 'metastasizing now, thanks to our glorious President-elect who can't muster the dignity of a seventh-grader'

Don't just sit there: The star said she hopes those in the entertainment industry will not just let things slide. One person who cannot be accused of doing that at the moment is Alec Baldwin, who has been upsetting President-elect with his spot-on parody of him on Saturday Night Live

Grandmaster of being a jerk on Twitter: The pair have since been engaged in a Twitter feud, which is concerning, the star said

Be better: Tina accused Trump (pictured Tuesday) of being a 'chump of a manager'

'She told Dave, Trump needs to learn from SNL icon - and her longtime boss - Lorne Michaels especially after the soon-to-be President demanded an apology for Mike Pence after the cast of Hamilton called him out last month

'Immediately, my brain went to Lorne Michaels. I thought, our president-elect is a chump of a manager because don't put yourself in a position where you're asking for something and you're going to be told no. I learned that from Lorne.

'You're the president. You demanded an apology that you can't get. Bad management skills.'

Support system: The funny lady revealed she talks to some of her former SNL co-stars every day on the computer including Maya Rudolph, Emily Spivey, Paula Pell, Amy Poehler, Ana Gasteyer and Rachel Dratch

Tina, of course, owes a great debt to SNL not just for her career, but also for her friends and support system.

'I have a group of women that I worked with at SNL - Maya Rudolph, Emily Spivey, Paula Pell, Amy Poehler, Ana Gasteyer, Rachel Dratch - and we talk as a group through the computer every single day. Dozens of times a day. And it's very nice.

'It's something we've come to in our 40s. It was easy when we worked at SNL: You're on top of each other 60 hours a week. So it's nice that we are maintaining this friendship.'
She's a four-time Golden Globe Award winner.

But on Wednesday night, Claire Danes was a spectator as she and husband Hugh Dancy enjoyed a night out at The Public Theater in NYC.

The 37-year-old actress and her 41-year-old husband got gussied up for the opening night of the well-received Off Broadway play Tiny Beautiful Things, starring Nia Vardalos.

Date night: Claire Danes, 37, and husband Hugh Dancy, 41, are all smiles as they enjoy a night out at NYC's Public Theater

Claire cut a chic figure as she posed with her husband before the event, wearing a white satin blazer with a mesh white and black floral embellishment over a black top.

The Homeland star paired the sophisticated top with wet-look black pants and black pumps.

Her blonde tresses were styled straight and grazed her shoulders fashionably.

For an accessory, the three-time Emmy Award winner opted for silver dangling earrings.

Sophisticated look: Claire posed with her husband before the event, wearing a white satin blazer with a mesh white and black floral embellishment over a black top

She completed the look with a swipe of bright red lipstick, leaving the rest of her face bright and fresh.

Her handsome beau wore a gray tweed blazer over a darker gray button down, black pants and black patent leather dress shoes.

The Hannibal actor's signature facial hair was grown out a bit longer than usual.

The couple deserved a night out, as they have an almost-four-year-old running around at home.

Lady of the night: Cheryl Strayed, 48, is the woman behind the play. She wrote the novel Tiny Beautiful Things based on her 'Dear Sugar' advice column

Night out: Saturday Night Live's Rachel Dratch made an appearance at the opening night of the Off Broadway show

Also in attendance were Cheryl Strayed - the author of Tiny Beautiful Things, the book which the play is based on, and the bestselling novel Wild - and Saturday Night Live's Rachel Dratch.

Some of the cast got together and posed for the cameras around Vardalos, who looked stunning in a little black dress that featured a mesh lace insert down the front, exposing her black undergarment, and black lace bell sleeves.

The My Big Fat Greek Wedding starlet also opted for a red lip for the evening.

Proud moment: Some of the cast got together and posed for the cameras around Vardalos

Skinny mini: Vardalos, 54, looked stunning in a little black dress that featured a mesh lace insert down the front, exposing her black undergarment, and black lace bell sleeves

The play is directed by Tony Award winner Thomas Kail and is based on Strayed's novel, which was inspired from her 'Dear Sugar' advice column.

The moving story is about 'reaching when you're stuck, healing when you're broken, and finding the courage to take on the questions that have no answer,' according to the theater's website.
Advertisement

She's been living it up in the Australian jungle for the last month as one of the presenters of I'm A Celebrity's spin off show, Extra Camp.

But Stacey Solomon was straight back into action upon her return to the UK, as she made her debut as Fairy Bowbells in panto Dick Whittington on Thursday - less than 24 hours after her flight home.

After enduring a jam-packed schedule Down Under, the former X Factor hopeful, 27, clutched onto her script to her remind herself of her lines as she took to the stage for the 1pm matinee in Milton Keynes - having only landed from Australia at 5:30pm the previous day.

Scroll down for video

Happy Script-mas! Stacey Solomon reads her lines onstage during first performance of Dick Whittington in Milton Keynes on Thursday

Soldiering on: After enduring a jam-packed schedule Down Under, the former X Factor hopeful, 27, clutched onto her script to her remind herself of her lines as she took to the stage for the 1pm matinee

Helping hand: Her lines on the clipboard were clear to see, having embarked on the performance in front of a full paying audience after landing in the UK at 5:30pm on Wednesday evening

It is no wonder the star was in need of her script to succeed in her first show for a paying audience - having taken to the stage less than a day after touching back down in the UK.

Representatives of Stacey confirmed to MailOnline that the star had been unable to attend any rehearsals for the pantomime, due to her presenting role on I'm A Celebrity Extra Camp in Australia.

She was sent the songs, script and a video while away in the Gold Coast, but she had little time to practice in isolation from her co-presenters due to such a busy filming schedule.

Straight back into action: The former X Factor hopeful was unable to attend any rehearsals for the panto, due to filming commitments Down Under

Bedazzling: The star still put on an enchanting performance despite her lack of rehearsal time, flashing a winning smile at the crowds

Doing her best: She was sent the songs, script and a video while away in the Gold Coast, but had little time to practice due to such her busy filming schedule

Style Queen: Her glittering silve gown as well as her performance was enough to captivate Thursday's audience

Her spokesperson said: 'She arrived at the theatre this morning jet lagged and shattered, and got straight on with it.'

'After 2 hours prep with the director and cast she went on and performed in front of a packed theatre. I could not be prouder of this woman right now. She's an absolute fighter.'

'She didn't want to let one person down so she went on, clipboard in hand, and smashed it.'

He added in support: 'Stacey should be proud of herself right now and I have nothing but admiration for her and the rest of the cast and crew who welcomed her with open arms, consideration and patience to put on a show.'

Like a pro: Stacey handled the extra prop - which aptly matched her outfit with glittering gold stripes on the back - like a pro, keeping it mostly behind her and out of sight at all times

Getting on with it: Her spokesperson said of her efforts: 'She arrived at the theatre this morning jet lagged and shattered, and got straight on with it'

Handling the extra prop with ease, the Dagenham native still dazzled onstage for her first show - singing and acting her heart out in a shimmering silver gown.

The blonde looked every inch the Fairy queen in the costume, which featured feminine off-the-shoulder straps and a sweetheart neckline.

Cinching in at her waist with a belt, the bedazzling outfit then skimmed her figure to its hem, which was emblazoned with sequinned flowers and leaves.

'Absolute fighter': Her spokesperson also confirmed that she performed for the packed theatre after just 2 hours prep with the director and cast

Stacey then added a chunky crown to her soft fishtail braid to complete her magical and mystical look, and completely enchanting the exciteable audience.

Not wanting to detract from the panto's fairytale world, Stacey's trusty clipboard even matched her costume with a thick stripe of gold glitter on the back.

Flashing her famous dazzling smile at the crowds, the TV personality looked comfortable and confident as she belted out song after song, despite having to glance at her lines every so often to keep up.

She was joined by EastEnders actor Samantha Womack for the fun-filled family show, who took on the role of Evil Rat Queen.

Getting the job done: Her rep added: 'She didn't want to let one person down so she went on, clipboard in hand, and smashed it

Confidence: Stacey looked over the moon as she belted her heart out alongside her energetic co-stars for the first show

The bubbly blonde will be appearing in the beloved panto until 15th January - embarking on the extensive run and continuing her hectic schedule immediately after her big presenting job.

Stacey fronted the ITV2 spin off show with boyfriend Joe Swash, former Geordie Shore star Vicky Pattison and stand-up comedian Chris Ramsey.

Stacey, who has also appeared on Loose Women since making her fame on the X Factor in 2009, was chosen for the role alongside Vicky and Joe as past winners of the popular jungle-based reality show.

The comic chat show was filmed at 8am every morning in Australia - airing live in the UK at 10pm immediately after the main show on ITV, for a solid three weeks.

Star-studded: She was also joined by EastEnders actor Samantha Womack for the fun-filled family show, who took on the role of Evil Rat Queen

Devil woman: The actress, known for playing Ronnie in the long-running BBC soap EastEnders, looked almost unrecognisable as she donned green body paint and a long tail
She is expecting her second child with partner Guillaume Canet.

And pregnancy clearly suits Marion Cotillard who positively glowed as she arrived at the Assassin's Creed photocall on Thursday.

The 41-year-old Oscar winner dressed her baby bump in a loose fitting sparkling silver top teamed with a white shirt and black lacy draped train.

Scroll down for trailer

Glowing: Marion Cotillard dressed her baby bump in a shimmering silver top and leather trousers at the Assassin's Creed Photocall at Claridges, London on Thursday

Tight fitting black leather trousers and strappy black heels added to the look.

Joined at London's Claridges Hotel by co-star Michael Fassbender, the French actress wore her brown hair in loose tousled waves around her shoulders.

A deep pink lipstick and brown eye make-up completed the look.

She happily posed with Michael who looked casual in a blazer, jeans and a white shirt, with the pair sharing a chuckle on the carpet.

Coiffed: French actress wore her brown hair in loose tousled waves around her shoulders

Perfectly preened: A deep pink lipstick and brown eye make-up completed the look

Rubbing shoulders: Michael Fassbender joined his co-star at the photocall

Marion already has one child with Guillaume - a five-year-old son named Marcel.

She announced the news of her second pregnancy via Instagram back in September after being erroneously linked to Brad Pitt following his split with Angelina.

'Many years ago, I met the man of my life, father of our son and of the baby we are expecting. He is my love, my best friend, the only one that I need,' she wrote.

Big announcement: She announced the news via her Instagram back in September after being erroneously linked to Brad Pitt following his split with Angelina

Lovely in lace: Marion's ensemble included the addition of a black lacy train

Getting along: The pair also worked together on a film version of Macbeth last year

Cling when you're winning: The actress sported tight leather trousers showing off her slim legs

All smiles: Michael and Marion put on their best cheesy grins for photographers

Michael and Marion's latest project sees them tasked with bringing Ubisoft's award-winning game series of the same name onto the big screen.

Michael plays Callum Lynch, who explores the memories of his ancestor Aguilar and gains the skills of a Master Assassin thanks to a machine called the animus.

Cal discovers he is a descendant of the secret Assassins society thanks to the machine, and through this he is able to explore the genetic memory of his ancestor.

Team assassin! Michael and Marion posed for snaps with director Justin Kurzel

Babay no two: pregnancy clearly suits Marion who positively glowed

Casual: Michael sported a black blazer, white shirt and jeans

Meanwhile, Michael dismisses talk of a 'curse' on films inspired from video games.

'It's only a curse until somebody makes a good one, and then it's a different story,' he told IGN in a recent interview.

'For me, I just found this universe to be fascinating and I thought there was so much in it that would lend itself so well to cinema experience.
Real Housewives of Orange County star Heather Dubrow took to Instagram to share a sweet post commemorating the 20th anniversary of her first date with husband Terry Dubrow.

Heather, 47, and Terry, 58, went back to the restaurant where they met and snuggled up to each other for the snapshot, all smiles, as Heather flashed her impressive engagement ring.

20 years later: Heather Dubrow, 47, and Terry Dubrow, 58, went back to the restaurant where they first met and snuggled up to each other for the snapshot on Wednesday

The heartfelt accompanying caption reads, '20 years ago tonight I walked into this restaurant, had a blind date with this man and my life was changed forever.'

The plastic surgeon, however, doesn't see eye-to-eye with his wife when it comes to the special day, as he expressed on the couple's podcast.

On this week's episode of Dr. and Mrs. Guinea Pig, Heather and Terry's weekly podcast, the couple discussed how they met and why Heather feels like that day should be celebrated.

Partners: On this week's episode of Dr. and Mrs. Guinea Pig the couple discussed how they met and why Heather feels like that day should be celebrated

'The day we met was December 7th, two and a half years before [we got married],' the reality starlet began to make her case, 'It's the day we met, we went on a blind date, our friends set us up.'

She then let Dr. Dubrow explain why he thinks that celebrating the day of their first date isn't important.

'I don't think it's an anniversary that's worth celebrating,' Terry started, 'Because already when you're married for a long time, almost every single month of the year there is an opportunity that a husband has to do something celebratory for his wife - Christmas, birthday, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, wedding anniversary...'

No more holidays!: Terry complained that there are enough 'official' holidays that drain the bank account, and that it's pointless to add another 'arbitrary' one

'I mean, there's enough draining of the bank account to do it for holidays that are ingrained into society, that are not negotiable. And plus, I think the day we met is pretty arbitrary,' he finished.

'I think it's important because you and I are people who like to reflect, we like to look at where we started and our journey, and how far we've come,' Heather retorted when it was her turn to explain her reasoning.

'I don't think that every occasion needs to be about a gift, I like celebrating because it gives me things to be excited about.'

Happily ever after: The couple were married in 1999 and have four children together

Sweet: The duo posed for a picture with three out of four of their picture-perfect children

She continued, 'And I love the fact that 20 years ago on December 7th, I walked into a restaurant and it changed my life.'

It seems Mrs. Dubrow got her way, as the couple celebrated their 20th anniversary at Ivy at the Shore, the restaurant where they had their first blind date.

The couple were married in 1999 and have four children together.
This star certainly knows how to ring in another year.

Nicki Minaj celebrated turning 34 with a very steamy swimwear photograph on Thursday.

The rap star marked her special day with a vacation to Turks and Caicos and an impromptu photo shoot.

Happy birthday indeed: Nicki Minaj celebrated turning 34 with a very impromptu photo shoot in Turks and Caicos on Thursday

Nicki was not exactly beach ready but she was ready for her close up as she reclined on a sun lounger.

For her birthday snap, the Anaconda star wore daring red one piece with gold studs which was very low cut on the side.

The suit made sure to show off Nicki's impressive chest and its high cut style also highlighted her famous behind.

The songstress wore the look with a pair of stiletto peep toe booties.

Curves for days: For her birthday snap, the Anaconda star wore daring red one piece with gold studs which was very low cut on the side showing off lots of sideboob

His queen: Beau Meek Mill wished his lady love a happy birthday on social media

The birthday girl also rocked a new hair style with her locks braided and piled up on the top of her head.

Posting the picture of Instagram, Nicki said: 'Lord, I thank you for another year of life. #TurksAndCaicos Birthday vibes.

'Thanks for the [love] u guys. Right back atcha.'

Busy week: The couple have been celebrating a lot recently, with the pair partying it up in Atlanta and Miami over the weekend to celebrate Meek's new album DC4

Beau Meek Mill also posted a snap of the birthday girl saying, 'On a island wit a pretty lil hitta on her bday'.

The rapper also his lady love a happy birthday on social media also, saying: 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY QUEEN @nickiminaj $tay Bad & Ble$$3d u.'

The couple have been celebrating a lot recently, with the pair partying it up in Atlanta and Miami over the weekend to celebrate Meek's new album DC4.
He's the Hollywood star who's back in Australia ahead of the Christmas season.

And Russell Crowe was spotted taking a stroll with pals in Sydney after a workout on Wednesday.

The 52-year-old's outing comes immediately before he was cleared of battery charges filed by rapper Azealia Banks following their scuffle on October 15.

Scroll down for video

Feeling zen? Russell Crowe was spotted enjoying a post-workout stroll in Sydney on Wednesday as he was cleared of battery charges filed by Azealia Banks

Cutting a sporty figure in a tank top with the slogan 'Zen Master' emblazoned on the front, shorts and trainers, the Nice Guys star kept a low profile as he stepped out in Wooloomooloo.

Showing off his burly build in the tank top, Russell looked relaxed as he enjoyed the leisurely stroll.

His salt-and-pepper beard glistened in the sunlight while his curly locks were worn in a tousled style.

Keeping fit: The 52-year-old cut a rugged figure as he strolled through Wooloomooloo

The New Zealand-born star wore dark sunglasses to shield his eyes from the sun during the outing.

On Wednesday, the LA County District Attorney's office stated that the Oscar winner was justified throwing the 25-year-old rapper and out of his Beverly Hills Hotel suite, where the altercation occurred.

They rejected filing a battery charge against Crowe due to 'lack of sufficient evidence.'

Claims: Azealia filed a report with the Beverly Hills Police Department against the Australian actor alleging he choked her, spat on her, and called her the N-word, during a party in October

Multiple party attendees described Azealia as 'erratic' and 'verbally aggressive.'

Prosecutors determined that a jury would likely 'find the physical escort out of the room was justified to prevent the imminent violence threatened by Banks.'

The controversial rapper had filed a report with the Beverly Hills Police Department against the Australian actor alleging he choked her, spat on her, and called her the N-word.

'Justified': The LA County District Attorney's office stated that the Oscar winner was justified throwing the 25-year-old rapper and out of his Beverly Hills Hotel suite

The DA even felt the spitting - which didn't actually land on her - was 'incidental to preventing more serious threatened violence.'

And as for the N-word, Russell's The Man with the Iron Fists director RZA confirmed in an October 20 Facebook post that the actor did not utter a racial slang.

'I did not hear Russell call her a n*****,' the 47-year-old rapper - born Robert Diggs - wrote.

'I did not hear Russell call her a n*****': Russell's The Man with the Iron Fists director RZA confirmed in an October 20 Facebook post that the actor did not utter a racial slang

'Before the night is over Azealia is insulting half the room she becomes loud and obnoxious...Azealia threaten to cut a girl in the face with a glass, then actually grabs a glass and physically attacks for no logical reason...I felt a little embarrassed because she was my guest.'

Before Twitter suspended her account on May 12, the Donald Trump supporter was better known for her social media beef with Zayn Malik, Sarah Palin, and Skai Jackson.
Guests to Jennifer Newman's surprise birthday party got more of a show than expected at the celebration.

Former MythBusters star Grant Imahara proposed to his long-time girlfriend, Jennifer Newman, at Clifton's Cafeteria in downtown Los Angeles early Thursday morning.

TMZ reported that the ring he popped the question with was a 1.56-carat vintage piece from an antique dealer in San Francisco that cost the science buff $20,000.

More than yes: Former MythBusters star Grant Imahara proposed to his long-time girlfiend, Jennifer Newman, at Clifton's Cafeteria in downtown Los Angeles early Thursday morning

After Grant asked his love for her hand in marriage in front of the crowd of party-goers, Jennifer grabbed the microphone and asked him her own question.

She asked: 'Are you sure?' When her man assured he was, she didn't just say yes.

She said: 'F**ck yeah!'

What a sparkler! The couple who got engaged with a $20K diamond on Thursday attended the Streamy Awards together on October 6 in Los Angeles

And she made a point of making that distinction clear in her social media post announcing their engagement.

The costumer designer wrote: 'For the record, after asking if he was really sure, I didn't just say yes... I said "F**K YEAH!" #HolyS**tImEngaged.'

Her happy new fiance shared his excitement by live-tweeting the moment so his fans could share in the good news.

Social media savvy: The host live-tweeted his own engagement, letting his many followers share in their exciting moment

He wrote at 12:48 AM, pacific time, on December 8: 'WE HAVE A YES. Just got engaged to @Jennernugen!!!'

The tweet had been liked over 100 times and retweeted nearly 3,500 times by the robot builder's many followers by the next day.

In a lot of ways, it's a great time to be Grant Imahara.

Nerdy together: The TV personality and his lady attend the Sharknado 3 Party during Comic-Con International 2015 at Hotel Solamar on July 10, 2015 in San Diego, California

Even though the television personality and actor hasn't appeared on MythBusters, the show that made him famous, since August 2014, those who loved his brand of teaching science in new ways have something to be excited about.

Imahara will rejoin his former fellow hosts who were also ousted from the show for a new project.

Netflix has officially ordered his unscripted series, White Rabbit Project.

In the new show he and his co-hosts, Kari Byron and Tory Belleci, will 'head down the rabbit hole' to explore the weird and wonderful things that make up our world.

Back at it: Grant and his co-hosts, Kari Byron and Tory Belleci, will 'head down the rabbit hole' to explore the weird and wonderful things that make up our world in White Rabbit Project




Foxtel are underfire after they enlisted Canadian Larysa Kondracki to direct their TV remake of Aussie classic Picnic At Hanging Rock.

The news left homegrown directors 'amazed' and 'astonished', with actress Rachel Ward saying the snub was a 'bitter pill to swallow' for females in particular.

Larysa, who helped direct hit American series The Walking Dead, will direct three of six one-hour episodes of the 1975 film adaption, and Rachel told Daily Review on Thursday that the rejection of Australian directors is a big blow.

Scroll down for video

Bemused: Rachel Ward spoke of her disappointment that Foxtel had chosen to enlist the help of Canadian Larysa Kondracki to direct the TV remake of Aussie classic Picnic at Hanging Rock

She said: 'It's ultimately just sad that those of us who have committed so many years as Australian filmmakers are thought so little of by some production teams and broadcasters here that we must import someone to do the job for us.'

Outrage spread through the Australian Directors' Guild with CEO Kingston Anderson equally riled up about the decision to employ the Toronto native.

In a statement, he said: 'Australian directors are amazed and astonished at the choice of a foreign director to work on a classic  especially as it is not a co-production and is being fully financed in Australia.'

Imported: Larysa, who helped direct hit American series The Walking Dead, will direct three of six one hour episodes of the 1975 film adaption

Classic: The cult Aussie film was released in 1975 as a movie adaption of Joan Lindsay's novel which came out eight years earlier

Outrage: The decision to snub homegrown directors left Australian Directors' Guild CEO Kingston Anderson 'astonished'. Anne Louise-Lambert pictured as Miranda in the film

Snub: Kingston acknowledged that while Australian directors working overseas had been approached, he says no homegrown females currently working in the country were consulted

Set to air on Foxtel in 2017, the drama series is being made by FremantleMedia and funded by Screen Australia - with Melbourne director Michael Rymer overseeing the other three episodes.

Kingston acknowledged that while Australian directors working overseas had been approached, he says no homegrown females currently working in the country were consulted.

And British-born Rachel, who has been an Australian citizen for over 30 years, believes the snub may be due in part to a perceived lack of pulling power when it comes to getting big names involved.

New twist: Set to air on Foxtel in 2017, the drama series is being made by FremantleMedia and funded by Screen Australia - with Michael Rymer overseeing the other three episodes

X factor: Rachel believes that the snub may in part be due to a perceived lack of pulling power when it comes to getting big names involved

She told Daily Review: 'Apparently Australian directors are not thought highly enough by international casts to lure them to work in our country on Australian stories for Australian audiences. Particularly female ones.'

The perceived snub to female Aussie directors follows a demonstration by women dressed as sausages at Wednesday night's AACTA Awards.

A group known as Women in Film and Television staged the protest, which they hoped would raise awareness of current gender inequality within the industry.

Kingston said that the decision to entrust the remake of the classic film to a foreigner - particularly a female - was a 'slap in the face to all the good work being done in the industry to redress the balance' of male dominance.

Sausage party: The perceived snub to female Aussie directors follows a demonstration by Women in Film and Television against gender inequality at Wednesday night's AACTA Awards

The CEO also took issue with the Australian Government for granting The Whistleblower director a 420 Visa - as it didn't meet the 'Net Employment Benefit Test' required for the visa.

Kingston said: 'It is clear to the ADG that the government has no interest in supporting Australian creative talent by not upholding their own rules when it comes to Visa approvals.'

The series has been written by Aussies Alice Addison and Beatrix Christian, and is said to be 'a trailblazing re-imagining of the iconic and timeless' story.

Larysa is already in the country to begin pre-production for the miniseries - with the cast for the TV adaption yet to be announced.
She strode around the streets of King's Landing in an array of dramatic, yet rather medieval style gowns on Game Of Thrones.

But Natalie Dormer was flashing a little more flesh on Thursday as she stepped out at the Evening Standard Film British Awards at London's Claridge's Hotel.

The 34-year-old actress arrived in a dramatic wine-coloured halterneck dress which showed off her slim figure to the maximum.

Scroll down for video

Girl in red satin: Natalie Dormer cut a striking sight in a sleeveless halterneck dress as she stepped out at the Evening Standard British Film Awards on Thursday night

The satin draped number was tied at the neck and was otherwise completely backless.

Natalie wore her blonde hair in a loose curled style teased back on one side of her head, and accessorised with strappy silver heels and a tiny boxy clutch.

Her pink and brown make-up made her blue eyes pop, while a slick of cerise lipstick completed the look.

Bringing the drama: Her pink and brown make-up made her blue eyes pop, while a slick of cerise lipstick completed the look

She's got the look: Natalie wore her blonde hair in a loose curled style teased back on one side of her head, and accessorised with strappy silver heels and a tiny boxy clutch

Back to back: Natalie showed off a wrist tattoo and a dark red manicure as she posed for snaps

She happily posed for a bank of photographers outside the venue, before signing a few autographs for waiting fans.

Natalie mingled with guests including Kate Beckinsale, Liv Tyler and Hugh Grant while Ricky Gervais, Suki Waterhouse and Tom Daley also joined the party.

Natalie was on hand at the annual event to present the Best Supporting Actor gong, with other star presenters including Sir Bob Geldof, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, Ed Balls, and Luke Treadaway.

Strike a pose there's nothing to it: Natalie strutted her stuff in front of a bank of photographers outside the venue

New projects: Natalie's character Margaery Tyrell was killed off at the end of the last season of Game Of Thrones

Meet and greet: Natalie signed autographs for waiting fans

The ceremony was hosted by IT Crowd star Richard Ayoade with British film nominees including Bridget Joness Baby and Ken Loach Palme dOr winner I, Daniel Blake.

The film's star Dave Johns goes up against Dev Patel, Hugh Grant and Russell Tovey in the Best Actor category.

For Best Actress, The Girl ON The Train's Emily Blunt, competes with Kate Beckinsale, Dame Helen Mirren and Tilda Swinton.

Glam arrival: Natalie cut a sophisticated figure at the bash
She bagged the Best Actress prize for her role in period comedy Love & Friendship.

So it is no wonder Kate Beckinsale wanted to be the centre of attention at the London Evening Standard British Film Awards at Claridge's Hotel on Thursday night.

The actress, 43, looked effortlessly stunning in an intricate Gothic-style Marchesa gown with as she put on a giggly display with her co-star Tom Bennett on the event's red carpet.

Scroll down for video

True friends: Kate Beckinsale, 43, put on a cosy display with her co-star Tom Bennett on the carpet of the London Evening Standard British Film Awards on Thursday

Lace dream: The actress looked absolutely stunning a Gothic-style textured Marchesa gown by Marchesa as she posed up a storm at Claridge's Hotel

The actress and her co-star appeared to be getting on like a house on fire as they cosied up together on the carpet.

Showing their winning film chemistry extended to off-screen, the pair could not stop laughing as they posed for cameras - with Kate even leaning into the PhoneShop actor's shoulder to steady herself.

In doing so the actress revealed more of her show-stopping gown, which featured a raunchy semi-sheer lace panel all the way down her side to flash a sexy hint of skin.

Don't make me laugh! Showing their winning film chemistry extended to off-screen, the pair could not stop laughing as they posed for cameras

Stealing the show: Kate wowed in her dress, which featured saucy semi-sheer lace panels on the skirt and at the sides, as she posed with Tom and co-star Emma Greenwell (L)

Funny guy: Kate and Tom were spotted giggling even more once the wine at the event began to flow

Natural beauty: Sweeping her hair into an effortless ponytail, the Underworld star left her gorgeous clear and ageless complexion on display for all to see

Champion! Kate was the leading lady of the evening as she went home with the Best Actress prize for Love & Friendship

The incredibly detailed gown was formed by a black bodice and a ruffled skirt of see-through chiffon and lace, which gave a glimpse of her toned and tanned pins beneath as well as the dress volume.

Cutting into a sweetheart neckline the dress teased at her cleavage, before the plunging top was then lined with chic black lace to allude further to her bust.

Adding a hint of glitz the frock, the bodice was then emblazoned with chunky gems and sparkling flowers to break up the various textures and black colour, as she accessorised it with Messika jewellery.

Striking: The detailed gown was formed by a black bodice and a ruffled skirt of see-through chiffon and lace, which gave a glimpse of her tanned pins beneath

Chic: Cutting into a sweetheart neckline the dress teased at her cleavage, before the plunging top was then lined with chic black lace to allude further to her bust, accessorising her number with Messika jewellery

Sweeping her hair into an effortless ponytail, the Underworld star left her gorgeous clear and ageless complexion on display for all to see, which she let speak for itself with minimal make-up.

The mother-of-one posed comfortably and confidently alongside her co-star Tom, who cut a dapper figure in a navy three-piece suit complete with pocket chain and vibrant floral tie.

Kate was the winner of the New West End Company Award for Best Actress at the event, for her role in period comedy Love & Friendship.

Brunette beauties: Kate later posed alongside Liv Tyler at the bash, who opted for a statement formal suit with diamante embellishments

Leading lady: The Best Actress winner was the star of the night as she greeted endless people at the event, including Evgeny Lebedev, owner of the Evening Standard

Based on the Jane Austen novel Lady Susan, the film follows Kate as the eponymous character, who tries to arrange a marriage between her daughter and the wealthy but unfortunate Sir James (Bennett) - but ends up marrying him herself.

Released in January of this year, the funny flick also starred Chloe Sevigny, Xavier Samuel and Stephen Fry.

Talking of the film, which was met with praise from critics and fans alike, the British beauty admitted to The Hollywood Reporter that she fell in love with the character straight away.

She said of the moment she read the script: 'I just felt, 'Oh, this is so exactly my kind of humour.'

'I love that kind of humor where the character's got kind of a blind spot and could be just the most awful person in the world, but actually is somehow charming and likeable.'

Woman of the hour: Kate won the Best Actress award for her role as Lady Susan in Love & Friendship
Diane Rehm, 80-year-old radio star, hangs up the mic

She never went to college and a neurological disorder almost silenced her, yet Diane Rehm persevered to find her voice again as the celebrated host of one of America's longest running radio programs.

Nearly four decades after stumbling into the radio business, Rehm is hanging up the mic on December 23 at the humble age of 80.

"I am 1,000 percent ready to step away," she said in a wide-ranging interview with AFP at the offices of radio station WAMU 88.5 in Washington.

Radio host Diane Rehm speaks during the broadcast of her show at the offices of WAMU 88.5 station in Washington, DC, on November 28, 2016 Nicholas KAMM (AFP/File)

"I was born in 1936, so why not? And I'm frankly tired of getting up at 5:00 am every weekday. I am really, really ready not to do that anymore."

Rehm's guests have included top political leaders, actors and thinkers. More than two million people tune in every weekday to her eponymous live call-in program, distributed nationally by National Public Radio (NPR) and carried by some 200 stations.

On January 2, it will be replaced by "1A," hosted by Joshua Johnson, co-creator of a radio series on America's troubled race relations.

The first journalist to interview a sitting president -- Bill Clinton -- in the Oval Office, Rehm has received a slew of honors, including the prestigious Peabody Award.

Her distinctive voice is halting and strained due to a condition known as spasmodic dysphonia.

But Rehm is all steely determination, with hair blown out, red nails, and a navy blue dress hugging her slender body over knee-high black leather boots.

"My spasmodic dysphonia came as a huge shock to me, something I thought would end my career," Rehm told AFP, recalling her 1998 diagnosis.

"I feel extraordinarily fortunate that... listeners would accept such a flawed voice."

To treat the disorder, Rehm gets Botox injections straight into her vocal cords three times a year, which takes her off the air for an average of 2.5 weeks.

- Personal tragedy -

The radio host dubbed a "national treasure" by her adoring fans has been open about the deeply personal hardships and struggles that have marked her life.

Raised in a strict household by Syrian Christian parents who immigrated in the early 20th century, Rehm was molested when she was only nine years old, divorced her first husband after marrying at 19, and lost her second husband of 54 years to Parkinson's disease.

"I'm just as human and have had as many failures as anyone else," said Rehm, who has written three autobiographies.

Donald Trump's lewd boasts about groping women, which became public just weeks before last month's US presidential election, brought back "horrific memories" from a fateful day some 70 years ago.

"For a president of the United States to say those things, and to brag about those things, and to have his supporters say it doesn't matter, shocks me more than I can tell you," she said.

Rehm never even told her husband the name of her abuser, a congressman who had told Rehm's parents she had the makings of a "Hollywood star," before taking her to his hotel room and molesting her.

"It was a terrible experience, a traumatic one in terms of the fear it generated in me in the years following," Rehm recalled. "I was afraid I might see him again, somehow, somewhere, and be taken away."

Rehm's frankness about her personal hurdles sometimes caused friction with NPR's top brass.

After her husband refused water, medication and food to end his painful battle with Parkinson's, Rehm became a vocal advocate for the right to choose to die, speaking at fundraising dinners for lobbying group Compassion & Choices.

That eventually earned her a stern rebuke in February 2015 from NPR ombudsman Elizabeth Jensen, who said she had gone "a step too far."

"It took my husband 10 days to die, and I felt that that was so inhumane, something we do not allow to happen to even the dogs or cats or horses or creatures we love," said Rehm, who plans on stepping up her activism after ending her show.

- Trappings of the internet -

When Rehm first volunteered for what was then a tiny local radio station in 1973, she was a stay-at-home mom with no broadcast experience.

The host of the program was sick, and Rehm was thrust into her chair, asking tough questions of a representative of the dairy council -- for 90 minutes.

Six years later, she began as full-time host of the program, which was renamed "The Diane Rehm Show" in 1984 and nationally syndicated in 1995.

"I think the reason I've hit the mark that I have is because the questions I want answered are the same ones everybody else wants answered," she said.

"They are not highfalutin, they are not so well educated or so well thought out; they are coming from my own curiosity."

The venerated veteran faced one of the most difficult moments of her career during the recent presidential campaign when she was tricked by an internet rumor -- one of many in a campaign rife with untruths.

In a June 2015 interview with Senator Bernie Sanders, who is Jewish and was then running for the Democratic nomination, Rehm told him he had dual citizenship with Israel and kept pressing him even after Sanders denied the allegation -- which stemmed from a listener's Facebook post.

"I felt so terrible," Rehm said, taking "personal responsibility" for the incident that triggered accusations of anti-Semitism.

"Check, check, check, check... that is the way you and I as journalists must be with the proliferation of these websites and this fake information that's out there."
Trump stacks top government posts with retired generals

He's not yet finished picking, but President-elect Donald Trump already has named three retired generals to top posts, raising questions as to why there will be so much military brass in cabinet-level jobs.

Trump on Wednesday named retired four-star Marine general John Kelly to head the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees several critical areas including immigration and border control -- signature issues for Trump.

If confirmed by the Senate, Kelly would join retired Marine general James Mattis as defense secretary and retired Army lieutenant general Michael Flynn as national security adviser. Mattis also needs Senate approval.

US President-elect Donald Trump meets with retired Marine Corps general John Kelly, his pick to head the Department of Homeland Security, on November 20, 2016 DON EMMERT (AFP/File)

While the men bring broad depth of knowledge to the cabinet and considerable expertise, some worry their numbers threaten a cornerstone of American democracy -- that civilians control the military and the government.

"If you have a significant number of (former military members) in your cabinet, you begin to bring into some question whether you actually are maintaining full civil control of a nation," David Barno, a retired general who once led the US war effort in Afghanistan, told AFP.

Yet another retired general, David Petraeus, has been floated as a possible pick for secretary of state, and retired admiral Michael Rogers has been rumored to be in the running for director of national intelligence.

"One more three or four-star general given a senior appointment, and we can start referring to a Trump junta rather than a Trump administration," retired Army lieutenant colonel and military scholar Andrew Bacevich told Time magazine.

Trump was outspoken during his campaign against the generals currently serving under President Barack Obama's administration, boasting he knew more about the Islamic State group than they did, and claiming the White House had reduced the four-stars to "rubble."

- Impressed by generals' 'gravitas' -

One possible reason Trump is drawing so deeply from the military well now is because officers typically keep their political views private, meaning few generals were openly critical of Trump's divisive campaign, while a slew of experienced lawmakers and civilians sharply disagreed with him.

Trump also was likely wowed by the breadth of experience he had seen in the generals, Barno said.

He "is very impressed by the seriousness and the experience and the gravitas that a number of retired generals have brought into interviews with him," he said.

"They are very different kinds of people from many of the people he has surrounded himself with for the other parts of his career, to include through most of his campaign."

Timothy Hagle, who teaches political science at the University of Iowa, said the generals have qualities Trump appreciates: an ability to be "straight talking, very blunt" and to "focus on the mission regardless" of political leanings.

A major concern about a military-heavy cabinet is that Trump might begin to see all world problems through a military prism without giving sufficient voice to other forms of influence, such as diplomacy.

But retired major general Charles Dunlap, who formerly was a top Air Force lawyer and who now teaches at Duke University, said the opposite was often true -- military members who understand the horrors of war are less likely to be hawkish than civilian leaders.

"Retired generals don't clamor for war; they are typically the voices urging that all other avenues be exhausted before turning to force," Dunlap said in an opinion piece published on Vox.com.

How hawkish the new Trump administration will be remains to be seen, but the incoming president has already upset China by taking a call from Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen, breaking with decades of tradition.

And Mattis, who is highly regarded by politicians of many stripes, is outspoken on Iran and has publicly called it the "single most belligerent actor in the Middle East."

Having retired in 2013, Mattis needs a special waiver to serve, as US law bans uniformed military officers from being secretary of defense for seven years after leaving active duty.

Barno, now based at American University, echoed Dunlap's view that more retired generals don't necessarily equate to more foreign military interventions.

"The military leaders that (Trump) has selected will bring a very sober voice about the risks of using military power," he said.

"So I think the military people will bring a cautionary note to a number of these campaigns, in some cases more than some civilian leaders might in the past."
A US Marine Corps pilot whose F/A-18 crashed into the Pacific Ocean has been confirmed dead, a US official said Thursday.

Japanese rescuers earlier said they had found the missing pilot, whose plane crashed off the coast of Japan on Wednesday, but they would not say if he was alive.

Marine Corps spokeswoman Captain Sarah Burns said the pilot had been 'pronounced deceased,' and she identified him as Captain Jake Frederick.

The crashed F/A-18 plane is assigned to the US Marine Corps Air Station in Iwakuni, one of the main US military bases in Japan Brett Clashman (US AIR FORCE/AFP/File)

'Our deepest condolences go out to the family and friends of the pilot. The cause of the crash is still unknown,' Burns said.

Earlier Thursday, Japanese and US rescuers said they had expanded their search following the accident, which happened some 90 kilometres (56 miles) off the coast of southwestern Kochi prefecture.

Japan dispatched four ships and eight planes to assist in the rescue operation, it said.

Another jet was also flying on the same mission, Japan's defence ministry said.

The crashed plane was assigned to the US Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, one of the main US military bases in Japan, which hosts tens of thousands of US military personnel.
Urgent appeal for supplies after strong Indonesia quake

Aftershocks rattled the survivors of a devastating Indonesian earthquake that killed more than 100 people, as officials urgently appealed on Thursday for medicine and doctors to treat the hundreds injured.

The shallow 6.5-magnitude quake levelled hundreds of homes, mosques and businesses across Aceh province, one of the areas worst affected by the devastating 2004 tsunami.

Search and rescue crews using advanced life-detecting devices have been combing the rubble for any sign of movement, as hopes fade of finding any more survivors more than a day after the quake.

Residents rescue an earthquake survivor from rubble in Pidie Jaya, Indonesia's Aceh province, on December 7, 2016 CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN (AFP)

"These scan through the rubble to see if anyone's alive or dead," national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told AFP.

The death toll stands at 102 but is expected to rise, he added. The figure has fluctuated as authorities identify the dead across the region.

Thousands of soldiers and emergency personnel have been using excavators to clear rubble in the worst-hit areas, with volunteers -- equipped with little more than hoes and their bare hands -- also chipping in.

President Joko Widodo asked all Indonesians to pray for their countrymen in the disaster-stricken province.

"Aceh is not alone," he posted on his official Twitter account.

But attention is shifting to caring for those injured and homeless.

The army has established kitchens, shelters and a field hospital in the hard-hit town of Meureudu, Aceh military chief Tatang Sulaiman told AFP.

"Our priority today is to re-check all the buildings to ensure no more victims are trapped, and to help the refugees," he said.

- "We need surgeons" -

Medical supplies and other essentials are lacking, officials said, with the region's ill-equipped hospitals overwhelmed.

More than 700 people were injured in the quake, many seriously, according to the disaster agency.

Said Mulyadi, the deputy chief of the worst-hit Pidie Jaya district, said they were in desperate need of medicine and extra hands to treat the injured.

"We need surgeons and orthopaedics, because many victims have fractures," he told AFP.

Most victims spent the night outdoors, either unable to return to their homes or terrified of the aftershocks rattling the region, he added.

Aid has begun trickling into the region, with emergency shelters erected to house those left with nowhere to go.

But more was needed for the 4,000 people evacuated to shelters, said local disaster agency chief Puteh Manaf.

"They really need food, clean water, medication and blankets," he told AFP.

Many fled for higher ground when the quake struck, fearing a tsunami, though no alert was issued.

A huge undersea earthquake in 2004 triggered a tsunami that engulfed several countries around the Indian Ocean, killing more than 170,000 people in Indonesia alone, the vast majority in Aceh.

Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide.

Aceh lies on the northern tip of Sumatra island, which is particularly prone to quakes.

In June a 6.5-magnitude quake struck off the west of Sumatra, damaging scores of buildings and injuring eight people.

Regional map showing the area hit by a 6.5-magnitude quake in Indonesia's Aceh province on December 7, 2016 -, - (AFP Graphic)
Finance minister presumptive New Zealand PM as challenges fade

New Zealand Finance Minister Bill English became the presumptive prime minister on Thursday as his two challengers pulled out of the race to succeed John Key.

His confirmation as leader-in-waiting came as he highlighted infrastructure spending as a priority and downplayed the possibility of tax cuts which Key had only two weeks ago hinted were possible ahead of next year's general election.

As the numbers mounted in favour of English, who Key named his prefered successor when he resigned suddenly earlier this week, Police Minister Judith Collins and Health Minister Jonathan Coleman withdrew their nominations.

Deputy Prime Minister Bill English speaks to the media during a press conference at Parliament in Wellington, on December 5, 2016 Marty Melville (AFP/File)

Local media organisations had earlier reported 54-year-old English had majority support within the ruling National Party caucus.

"At least 30 MPs have committed to backing English, meaning he has half of the votes of National's 59-vote caucus," the New Zealand Herald said, listing the names of the pro-English camp.

"It is clear to me that 50 percent of the caucus support Bill English as the leader and therefore as far as I'm concerned he has won," Collins said.

A caucus vote on the leadership is still scheduled for Monday.

Should he become prime minister, English has named Steven Joyce, currently economic development minister, the new finance minister and handed him a positive set of surplus forecasts.

In one of his last duties in the finance role, English opened the government books for the half-yearly economic update, showing forecast strong growth of around 3.0 percent over the next five years with falling unemployment and rising incomes.

It said a forecast budget surplus of NZ$473 million for the current financial year was expected to rise to NZ$8.5 billion in 2020/21.

"The more positive outlook for the economy is driven by high levels of construction activity, exports -- particularly tourism -- a growing population and low interest rates," he said.

English said the update "does not make an explicit provision for tax reductions", adding that a recent devastating earthquake highlighted the importance of paying off debt when the going was good so the government could support communities in challenging times.

Government estimates have put the cost of the quake, and its thousands of aftershocks, at NZ2.0 billion-NZ$3 billion (US$0.72 billion-$1.44 billion).

English, a farmer with degrees in commerce and literature, has been in parliament since 1990 and was previously leader of the National Party in 2002 when it suffered its worst election defeat.
HIV alert for male-to-male sex in Philippines

HIV infections among men having sex with men in the Philippines have surged 10-fold in five years, with authorities largely ignoring the problem, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Thursday.

The Catholic country has one of the fastest-growing epidemics of HIV in the Asia-Pacific because successive governments have failed to promote contraceptives and give sex education to gay or bisexual men, it said.

"National education on effective HIV prevention methods is non-existent, and laws prohibit condom access and HIV testing to people under 18 without parental consent," the report said.

Activists carry signs during a protest march marking World AIDS Day, in Manila TED ALJIBE (AFP/File)

Out of the 35,000 cases of HIV documented in the Philippines since 1985, 81 percent were from men having sex with men, HRW said, citing government data.

The problem is quickly getting worse, with 25 new cases of HIV being documented in the Philippines every day, according to HRW's study of the government data.

"There is a very real risk of this spreading into the wider community, but authorities are doing very little about it," HRW Philippine researcher Carlos Conde told AFP.

One of the biggest barriers is the Catholic Church, a very powerful institution in the Philippines.

About 80 percent of the Philippine population is Catholic, and its influence has ensured abortion, divorce and same-sex marriages remain illegal.

The Church has also fought previous government efforts to make contraceptives more easily available to the general population, and for sex education to be taught in schools.

The five-month-old government of President Rodrigo Duterte has said it is prepared to take on the Church on the issue of safe sex.

Last week it announced that it planned to start distributing condoms in schools and was considering giving away HIV self-testing kits, triggering an angry reaction from Church leaders.

Conde said the announcements by the Duterte administration were positive signs but cautioned the Church had successfully stymied efforts by previous governments, so it was too early to tell if Duterte's plans would be fully implemented.
Palestinian tries to stab Israeli police, shot dead: Israel

An 18-year-old Palestinian threatened Israeli border police with a knife at a flashpoint junction in the occupied West Bank on Thursday and was shot dead, Israeli authorities said.

The incident occurred at the Tapuah junction near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, where a number of attacks have taken place in recent months, police said.

Police said: "A suspect approached border police suspiciously.

Israeli security forces gather near the Tapuah junction, also known as the Zaatara junction, south of the city of Nablus in the Israeli occupied West Bank JAAFAR ASHTIYEH (AFP/File)

"The border police called upon him to identify himself," spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said in a statement.

"He continued towards them and then pulled out a knife. Border police responded and the terrorist was neutralised. No injuries to officers at the scene."

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the Palestinian had been killed and identified him as an 18-year-old from the West Bank city of Qalqilya.

A wave of Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming attacks erupted in October 2015, but the violence has greatly subsided in recent months.

Since October 2015, 242 Palestinians, 36 Israelis, two Americans, a Jordanian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese have been killed, according to an AFP count.

Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to Israeli authorities.

Others were shot dead during protests or clashes, while some died in Israeli air strikes on Gaza.

The vast majority of attacks have been carried out by lone wolves, many of them young.

Israel says incitement by Palestinian leaders and media is a leading cause of the violence.
Saudi, Iran engaging in 'proxy wars': UK foreign minister

Britain's foreign minister has accused Saudi Arabia and Iran of engaging in "proxy wars" in comments that forced the prime minister's office to deny Thursday this was the government view.

Boris Johnson told a conference in Rome last week it was a "tragedy" that politicians in the Middle East were "twisting and abusing religion" and said Saudi Arabia and Iran were "puppeteering".

Such public criticism of British ally Saudi Arabia was seen by some commentators as a diplomatic blunder by Johnson, who has been in the job less than six months.

Britain's foreign minister Boris Johnson has accused Saudi Arabia and Iran of "puppeteering" and engaging in "proxy wars" in the Middle East Tiziana Fabi (AFP/File)

"Those are the foreign secretary's views. These are not the government's position on, for example, Saudi Arabia and its position in the region," Prime Minister Theresa May's spokeswoman said, adding that she has "has full confidence" in Johnson.

The comments were made public at an embarrassing time as May had pledged to strengthen ties with Gulf states including Saudi Arabia at a summit in Bahrain earlier this week.

In a video posted on the Guardian's website, Johnson told the Med 2 conference: "There are politicians who are twisting and abusing religion and different strains of the same religion in order to further their own political objectives.

"That's one of the biggest political problems in the whole region. And the tragedy for me -- and that's why you have these proxy wars being fought the whole time in that area -- is that there's not strong enough leadership in the countries themselves."

Johnson said there were "not enough big characters" willing to "reach out beyond their Sunni or Shia" group.

"That's why you've got the Saudis, Iran, everybody, moving in and puppeteering and playing proxy wars," he added.

The foreign ministry stressed that Johnson had voiced support for Saudi Arabia in a BBC show on on Sunday.

"As the foreign secretary made very clear on Sunday, we are allies with Saudi Arabia and support them in their efforts to secure their borders and protect their people," a spokesman said.

"Any suggestion to the contrary is wrong and misinterpreting the facts."

Addressing a summit of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Bahrain on Wednesday, May reaffirmed British support for traditional allies in the region and said Britain would help "push back against Iran's aggressive regional actions."
Russia says Syria army halts Aleppo attacks as rebels cornered

Syria's army has halted its attacks in Aleppo to allow trapped civilians to be evacuated, Russia's foreign minister said, after advancing regime forces cornered rebels in the city.

Immediately after the announcement, AFP correspondents in Aleppo said air strikes ceased and artillery fire was far less intense, but later reported that the army was continuing to shell two rebels districts, Kalasseh and al-Maadi.

The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights monitoring group also reported sporadic clashes with new raids and artillery fire late Thursday and said at least 18 civilians had been killed during the day in rebel zones by regime raids and artillery.

Syrian residents fleeing the violence gather at a checkpoint, manned by pro-government forces, in the Maysaloun neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo on December 8, 2016 Youssef KARWASHAN (AFP)

The situation on the ground seemed somewhat at odds with comments by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier Thursday after talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry in the German city of Hamburg.

"I can tell you that today combat operations by the Syrian army have been halted in eastern Aleppo because there is a large operation under way to evacuate civilians," Lavrov said. "There is going to be to a column of 8,000 evacuees."

In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Lavrov's announcement was "an indication that something positive could happen".

The UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said after Lavrov spoke that talks to end the nearly six-year war should resume soon.

"Now is the time to actually look seriously at the possible renewal of political discussions," he said after a closed-door meeting of the Security Council.

The General Assembly was to vote Friday on a draft resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire and access for humanitarian aid, although the British ambassador described the measure as "too little, too late".

A senior State Department official said Lavrov and Kerry "agreed to continuing having discussions about establishing a framework for a ceasefire".

There was no immediate reaction from Damascus.

- 'There has to be a pause' -

Moscow is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and launched an air war in support of his forces last year, while Washington and other Western nations have supported rebel forces.

Russia this week suggested a deal was in the works for rebels to be allowed to withdraw from Aleppo to other opposition-held territory.

On the strength of his army's latest gains in territory of east Aleppo held by the rebels, Assad said in a newspaper interview Thursday that victory for his troops would be a turning point in Syria's five-year war.

Three weeks into a major offensive to retake all of Aleppo, government troops have captured about 85 percent of territory rebels controlled in the city's east.

AFP correspondents in the city said rebel areas faced intense bombardment on Thursday before Lavrov's announcement.

Cornered in a shrinking enclave in Aleppo's southeast, the rebels have asked for a five-day ceasefire. Western countries have backed the call.

The UN renewed its call for an immediate ceasefire in Aleppo, warning that as many as 500 sick and injured children desperately needed to be evacuated.

"There has to be a pause," said Jan Egeland, head of the UN-backed humanitarian taskforce for Syria.

"At the moment, those who... try to escape are caught in crossfire, they are caught in shelling, (and) risk being hit by snipers."

In his interview with Syrian daily Al-Watan, Assad predicted victory for his forces in Aleppo, though he admitted that would not end the country's conflict entirely.

"It's true that Aleppo will be a win for us," Assad said.

"Let's be realistic -- it won't mean the end of the war in Syria," he said. "But it will be a huge step towards this end."

- 'I feel reborn' -

Rebels seized control of large parts of Aleppo in 2012, dividing Syria's former commercial hub into an opposition-held east and government-controlled west.

For years Aleppo was a key battleground and important rebel stronghold, but Assad's forces have recently made a concerted push to retake the city.

In the last week, government forces steadily gained ground until on Wednesday -- after a highly symbolic retreat from the Old City -- the rebels called for the ceasefire to allow thousands of civilians to evacuate.

Assad's government has said a truce is only possible after a full rebel withdrawal, and opposition fighters have rejected any talk of abandoning Aleppo.

On Thursday the army, backed by fighters from Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, continued to advance, said the Britain-based Observatory.

All rebel areas had been under heavy bombardment, it said, with opposition forces returning fire with rockets into government-controlled west Aleppo.

Around 400 civilians have been killed in east Aleppo during the offensive, while rebel fire into the west has killed another 100 people, the Observatory has said.

The assault has prompted a mass exodus from east Aleppo where at least 80,000 people have fled their homes, according to the monitor.

On Thursday, hundreds of families, most of them from the Salhine district, arrived in the city's southeastern suburb of Aziza.

"I feel reborn," said Yasser, a 40-year-old father of four as he tugged at a cart carrying his ailing mother and stacked with luggage.

It is unclear how many civilians remain in rebel territory, but there were an estimated 250,000 in east Aleppo prior to the latest offensive.

Rebels in Aleppo have called for a truce Sophie Ramis, Simon Malfatto, Valentina Breschi, Frederic Bourgeais (AFP)

Syrian troops are seen inside the citadel of the northern city of Aleppo, on December 7, 2016 George Ourfalian (AFP)

Syrian rebels have called for a five-day truce and the evacuation of civilians from eastern Aleppo George Ourfalian (AFP)

Syrian residents fleeing the violence in the eastern rebel-held parts of Aleppo evacuate from their neighbourhoods through the Bab al-Hadid district after it was seized by the government forces, on December 7, 2016 GEORGE OURFALIAN (AFP)
Catholic Church leads 'reconciliation' talks in deadlocked DRC

Democratic Republic of Congo's Catholic Church launched "reconciliation" talks on Thursday aimed at ending a political stalemate threatening to push the country back into civil war.

President Joseph Kabila triggered a political crisis in October by agreeing a deal with a fringe opposition group that effectively lets him extend his hold on power for at least another year. He would otherwise have been due to step down in two weeks' time.

The crisis has led to outbreaks of violence, but the Catholic Church says it hopes to broker a deal to resolve the political standoff.

DR Congo has been going through a prolonged political crisis which deepened in October after the presidential election, which had been due before the year's end, was postponed until April 2018 Eduardo Soteras (AFP/File)

"We are here for inaugural political discussions on a wider consensus to the electoral process," Archbishop Marcel Utembi said as he welcomed 30 participants to DR Congo's national episcopal conference, which brings together negotiators for Kabila's ruling party and the main opposition group.

Utembi said the discussions, which could last until Tuesday, would lead the country to "peace, reconciliation, the holding of peaceful elections aimed at obtaining a transfer of political power, as prescribed by the constitution".

The prelate reiterated a call from Pope Francis to "build bridges not walls" in the mineral-rich DRC.

He also warned that the current "stalemate" could provoke "incalculable consequences".

However, he took a positive tone claiming that Kabila had given "strong and very encouraging signals" matched by the main opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi.

Kabila has been in power since his late father Laurent Kabila was assassinated in 2001.

The younger Kabila has won two elections since then but is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term of office.

Violence flared following the last election in 2011, with Tshisekedi never accepting the official results which he branded as rigged.

He has called himself the president-elect ever since.

But the DR Congo, which was ravaged by two wars from 1996 to 2003, has seen an upsurge in violence over the last few months.

Anti-Kabila protests in September claimed 53 lives, according to the UN.

Pygmy-Bantu clashes over a caterpillar collection tax -- the insects are a common food staple for the hunter-gatherer Pygmy people -- left 20 dead in October while 34 civilians were killed in ethnic violence in the country's restive east last month.

And last week another 31 people died in clashes, sparked by a tribal rivalry, between soldiers and police on one side and militia fighters on the other.
Malawi police arrest exiled Rwandan genocide convict

Malawian police on Thursday said they had arrested a Rwandan who was convicted of genocide crimes back home but has been living in the country for 13 years.

"Yes, we effected the arrest of Vincent Murekezi today on instructions from the director of public prosecutions," police chief spokesman James Kadazera told AFP.

Murekezi was sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia after being found guilty of genocide, according to a Rwandan official source cited by the Malawian media on Thursday.

The 1994 Rwandan genocide was a four-month slaughter that left 800,000 people dead. It was triggered by the shooting down of the plane of then president Juvenal Habyarimana in April 1994 GIANLUIGI GUERCIA (AFP/File)

Kadazera confirmed that Murekezi, who has been living in Malawi since 2003 and holds a Malawian passport, was wanted in Rwanda on "genocide issues".

The 1994 Rwandan genocide was a four-month slaughter that left 800,000 people dead. It was triggered by the shooting down of the plane of then president Juvenal Habyarimana in April 1994.

It was not immediately clear if or when Murekezi, now a businessman, would be extradited to Rwanda.

Dalitso Kabambe, a top official in Malawi's foreign affairs ministry, said in a statement that his country had received "several requests for extradition" from Rwanda, but was not sure whether Murekezi's name was amongst them.
Israeli bill to legalise settler homes 'unequivocally illegal': UN

The UN human rights chief on Thursday slammed a bill in Israel that would legalise some 4,000 settler homes in the occupied West Bank, saying it would clearly violate international law.

Israeli lawmakers voted Wednesday to advance the bill, which would retroactively legalise settler homes built on private Palestinian land.

"I strongly urge lawmakers to reconsider their support for this bill, which if enacted, would have far-reaching consequences and would seriously damage the reputation of Israel around the world," said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein.

All Israeli settlements are viewed as illegal under international law and major stumbling blocks to peace efforts as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state AHMAD GHARABLI (AFP/File)

He pointed out that "in enabling the use of land privately-owned by Palestinians for Israeli settlements without the owners' consent, this legislation would violate international law.

"Israel as the occupying power, must respect the private property of Palestinians, regardless of whether or not compensation is provided," he said in a statement.

Some 400,000 Israeli settlers currently live in the West Bank, excluding annexed east Jerusalem, along with 2.6 million Palestinians.

The United States, UN officials and the European Union have warned that continued settlement building is eating away at the possibility of a two-state solution to the conflict.

All Israeli settlements are viewed as illegal under international law and major stumbling blocks to peace efforts as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state.

Israel differentiates between those it has authorised and those it has not. The bill would legalise nearly 4,000 settler homes built on private Palestinian land, according to settlement watchdog Peace Now.

"All Israeli settlements -- whether outposts built without formal approval but often with the support of the Israeli authorities and which are currently illegal under Israeli law, or settlements approved by Israel -- are clearly and unequivocally illegal under international law and constitute one of the main obstacles to peace," Zeid said.

"They are also the principal cause of a wide range of human rights violations inside the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem," he said.

Fifty-seven members of the parliament, or Knesset, voted Wednesday to approve the draft legislation in the first of three readings, while 51 were against it.

Key figures in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, considered the most right-wing in Israeli history, openly oppose a Palestinian state.
Russian FM announces halt in Syrian strikes on Aleppo: news agencies

The Syrian army has halted its attacks on Syria's Aleppo to allow for the evacuation of civilians, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday.

"I can tell you that today, combat operations by the Syrian army have been halted in eastern Aleppo because there is a large operation underway to evacuate civilians," he said in Hamburg, Germany, cited by Russian news agencies.

"There is going to be to a column of 8,000 evacuees" travelling five kilometers (3 miles), added the Russian minister, attending a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Syrian residents fleeing the violence in the eastern rebel-held parts of Aleppo evacuate from their neighbourhoods through the Bab al-Hadid district GEORGE OURFALIAN (AFP)

In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the announcement was "an indication that something positive could happen".

Lavrov meanwhile announced that US-Russia military and diplomatic discussions would take place in Geneva on Saturday "to end the work... to define the means of resolving the problems of east Aleppo".

The discussions would notably study plans to evacuate rebel fighters and civilians who want to leave, according to the Russian minister.

Lavrov and his US counterpart John Kerry briefly talked Thursday in the sidelines of the OSCE meeting, but a US official said there was no progress or conclusions on Aleppo.

The two men had seen each other the previous evening in Hamburg, but were unable to make any progress on a plan for a cessation of fighting and evacuation of rebels and civilians in Aleppo.

Rebel fighters are on the verge of losing control of their last strongholds in the face of Syrian troops backed by Russia and Iran.
Blood and bodies: Charleston jurors see church carnage

Jurors in the federal hate crimes trial of the white man accused of killing nine black parishioners in a Charleston church got a glimpse Thursday of the blood-soaked crime scene -- carnage one former agent called "overwhelming."

Dylann Roof, the self-described white supremacist who prosecutors say carried out the attack in cold blood in June last year during Bible study at the "Mother Emanuel" church, could face the death penalty if convicted.

Bodies everywhere, the walls spattered with blood, shell casings and bullet fragments strewn around a room in the church basement -- that was the scene described and shown to jurors on day two of Roof's trial in South Carolina.

Investigators said the crime scene at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina, seen in July 2015, one month after Dylann Roof is accused of shooting and killing nine people, was "chaotic" JOHN MOORE (Getty/AFP/File)

The packed courtroom remained mostly silent as 3D images of the scene were displayed, ABC television affiliate WCIV reported. During the testimony, Roof did not look up, keeping his gaze on the table in front of him.

"It was very overwhelming," said Brittany Burke, who was a crime scene special agent for the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division at the time, describing what she found upon entering the church.

"My initial impression was it was very hectic. There were multiple victims, multiple items of evidence," she said, according to WCIV.

She described a scene "so chaotic" that it was hard to tell whether emergency first responders, police and firefighters had stepped in the blood that had pooled on the ground.

Many relatives of the victims and survivors chose to stay to see the harrowing images, despite an earlier warning from US District Court Judge Richard Gergel that they would see a "very graphic" scene.

In one angle of the scan, the body of Tywanza Sanders can be seen, covered in blood and his shirt ripped open after first responders tried unsuccessfully to revive him.

There were bullet holes in the walls, on the floor and through tables.

Over the next eight or nine hours, investigators worked through the night collecting about 117 pieces of evidence -- including cartridge cases, bullets and bullet fragments, magazines, a black messenger bag and a belt, Burke said.

Dots showing where evidence was found filled a diagram of the room.

In all, the team recovered 74 casings and four live rounds at the church, the oldest African Methodist Episcopal place of worship in the US South.

The live rounds were found in a magazine that was left on a table. All other magazines were emptied.

Burke said 54 bullets were removed from the bodies during autopsies. The body with the most bullets was that of 87-year-old Susie Jackson, who had 11 of them lodged in her.

Jurors were also shown surveillance footage of Roof as he left the church holding a .45 Glock semi-automatic handgun.

- Mistrial motion denied -

At the start of the day, Roof's defense team filed a motion for mistrial -- quickly denied by Gergel -- after emotional testimony from a survivor, Felicia Sanders, who called the shooter "evil" and said he belonged in "the pit of hell."

"The witness was crying so hard that the government was compelled to request a recess at that moment," read the filing, referring to Sanders's tearful testimony on the trial's opening day Wednesday.

Sanders told the court that she lay in a pool of her son and her aunt's blood while cradling her granddaughter as the massacre unfolded.

"Many spectators and even court personnel -- including members of the prosecution and defense -- were crying with her," the defense motion read.

Roof's own mother experienced a heart attack during the testimony and had to be hospitalized, it added.

Federal prosecutors are seeking to put Roof to death, and have rejected his offer to plead guilty to the 33 federal charges against him -- including hate crime violations that could carry the death penalty -- in exchange for a life sentence.

The accused gunman is also facing state murder charges in South Carolina, though that trial is not due to begin until January 17. State prosecutors also are seeking the death penalty.

Roof's trial is taking place with the city on edge after a mistrial was declared in the case of a former South Carolina cop who shot dead an unarmed black suspect in neighboring North Charleston.
Ghana's opposition candidate 'confident' he's won

Ghana's opposition candidate Nana Akufo-Addo told a cheering crowd on Thursday he was "confident" he's won the presidential election, despite the official results not yet being released.

Speaking to a rowdy crowd of New Patriotic Party (NPP) supporters gathered at his private residence, Akufo-Addo said he believed he had defeated long-time rival and incumbent John Mahama.

"We the NPP are quietly confident that we have won a famous and historic victory," Akufo-Addo said, calling for his supporters to be patient and peaceful while the electoral agency tallies the results.

Presidential candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party, Nana Akufo-Addo arrives to meet his suporters while official results are being awaited in Accra, on December 8, 2016 PIUS UTOMI EKPEI (AFP)

"It's going to be an anxious time, I know, until the results are formally declared, but we have been through this before and we should be able to go through it again," Akufo-Addo said.

"We will await the electoral commission to give us the formal, final details.

"This is a time we will have to remain very calm and very focussed -- the eyes of the world are on us."

The election had been blighted by sporadic outbursts of violence in a country otherwise known as a beacon of freedom and democracy in Africa.

Ghana closed most of its voting stations on Wednesday evening, but the Electoral Commission has been slow to release the results, with local media reporting that the NPP has secured the lead over Mahama's National Democratic Congress (NDC) party.

The Electoral Commission said on Thursday evening that they had received preliminary results from 90 of out 275 constituencies, but only published the results for 25 of them.

"Please be patient," commission head Charlotte Osei said at a press conference. "Accuracy is more important than speed."

Both PeaceFM and CitiFM claimed Akufo-Addo was leading the vote count.

Election observers have called on the commission to publish the results faster in order to lay to rest suspicions that the vote may be rigged.
Liberia asks UN to extend mission for another year

Liberia's government has asked the United Nations to extend its peacekeeping mission in the west African country for another year, until the next president takes office.

"Liberia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Lewis Brown, on behalf of his Government, is proposing one year for the extension of the United Nation's Mission in Liberia (UNMIL)," the president's office said in a press release sent to AFP on Thursday.

Liberians will be going to the polls next year to elect a new president, as Ellen Johnson Sirleaf ends her second and final term.

UN peacekeepers, first deployed in October 2003, largely ensured Liberia's security until the end of June when they handed over responsibilities to retrained domestic forces Zoom DOSSO (AFP/File)

Government forces and rebel groups raped, maimed and massacred hundreds of thousands of people during two conflicts between 1989 and 2003.

UN peacekeepers, first deployed in October 2003, largely ensured the country's security until the end of June when they handed over responsibilities to retrained domestic forces.

Only 1,800 of the UNMIL forces, which peaked at 15,000, remain ahead of a UN Security Council decision in December on whether to pull out its remaining personnel.

"The country has made substantial progress but there is still a long way to go," Brown said in the government statement.
Actress Sofia Vergara sued on behalf of own embryos

TV star Sofia Vergara is facing a bizarre lawsuit brought on behalf of two frozen embryos she created with an ex-boyfriend, the subject of a year-long legal battle.

The embryos are listed as plaintiffs "Emma" and "Isabella" in papers filed with a Louisiana court, the New York Post reported. Louisiana is a pro-life state where embryos are given rights as people.

The surprise filing by a trust apparently established for the embryos comes as Vergara's ex-fiancee Nick Loeb this week sought to end another lawsuit he had filed against her.

Actress Sofia Vergara, seen in February 2016, says she is "doing the right thing" by not signing over two of her embryos to ex-fiance Nick Loeb Frazer Harrison (Getty/AFP)

In that suit, the businessman had tried to gain custody of the two fertilized eggs he and Vergara created via in-vitro fertilization with the aim of bringing them to term.

According to the new lawsuit, not allowing the embryos -- currently frozen at a California fertility clinic -- to be born is depriving them of their inheritance.

The Colombian-born actress has said she wants to keep the embryos frozen indefinitely.

"A woman is entitled to bring a pregnancy to term even if the man objects," Loeb wrote in April in a New York Times op-ed. "Shouldn't a man who is willing to take on all parental responsibilities be similarly entitled to bring his embryos to term even if the woman objects?"

But the 42-year-old "Modern Family" star insisted last year that she's "doing the right thing" by refusing to sign over custody of the embryos to Loeb.

"Can you blame me?" she said on the "Howard Stern Show."

A child brought into the world needs "more than a mother, it needs a loving relationship of parents," she added.

Loeb, 39, signed an agreement with Vergara -- America's top-earning TV star -- in November 2013 before they proceeded with IVF, stipulating that nothing would be done with the embryos unless both agreed.

However, Loeb sued the actress for custody after their breakup, saying the agreement did not clearly state what would become of the embryos if he and Vergara were to split.
US approves $7 bn in aircraft sales to Arab allies

The United States on Thursday approved a series of deals worth more than $7 billion to supply military helicopters, planes and missiles to four of its Arab allies.

The green light, announced by the State Department, will mark another windfall for plane maker Boeing and other large US defense manufacturers.

But it may face opposition from critics of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates' controversial role in Yemen's ongoing civil war.

Among the military helicopters, planes and missiles set to be sold to US Arab allies, Qatar has requested eight C-17 military cargo jets, a model of which is seen here, and spare engines in contracts totaling $781 million JUNG YEON-JE (AFP/File)

The biggest agreement announced Thursday was for the $3.51 billion sale to the Saudi kingdom of 48 CH-47F Chinook cargo helicopters with spare engines and machine guns.

Boeing and Honeywell Aerospace will be the main contractors. Up to 60 Americans -- both private and government employees -- will work in Saudi Arabia to maintain the aircraft.

Next, the United Arab Emirates want to spend $3.5 billion on 27 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters plus support equipment, made by Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Qatar, meanwhile, has requested eight C-17 military cargo jets and spare engines in a pair of contracts totaling $781 million.

And Washington has also approved a contract to sell Morocco 1,200 TOW 2A anti-tank missiles made by US arms giant Raytheon for $108 million.

Although the State Department has approved the sales, after consultation with the Pentagon, Congress could still block them in theory.
Pentagon works to ease Kurdish-Turkish tensions in Syria

The US military is working to ease simmering tensions between Syrian Kurdish rebels and Turkey, both fighting the Islamic State group in northern Syria, US defense officials said Thursday.

A US-led coalition has trained and armed the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces -- most of whom are Kurdish -- to attack the IS group.

Turkey, a key NATO ally, has also entered Syria, where it, too, is fighting the jihadist group.

Most of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces fighting the Islamic State group in Syria are Kurdish DELIL SOULEIMAN (AFP/File)

But Turkish troops are positioned behind the Kurdish YPG -- considered by Ankara to be a terrorist offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been waging an insurgency inside Turkey since 1984.

Turkish troops have attacked Kurdish forces multiple times since Ankara entered Syria in August.

"This week, we're facilitating joint discussions with Turkey, the SDF and other coalition partners to promote deescalation in the area," coalition spokesman Colonel John Dorrian said.

"Every party to these discussions has an overriding interest in common -- this is the defeat of ISIL, an enemy that threatens us all," he added, using an alternate acronym for the IS group.

Turkey, which has also sent troops into northern Iraq, is focused on preventing the Kurdish peshmerga there and the YPG in Syria from linking up and forming a contiguous proto-state along the Turkish border.

Ankara has repeatedly said it would not allow a "terror corridor" on its southern frontier and that it wants to prevent the joining of the Kurdish "cantons" of Afrin and Kobane.

A senior US military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Kurdish forces had slowed their advance on the IS Syrian stronghold of Raqa because they are worried the Turks will attack them.
S. Korea lawmakers cast votes on impeachment motion

South Korean lawmakers began voting Friday on an impeachment motion to strip President Park Geun-Hye of her sweeping executive powers over a corruption scandal that has paralysed her administration and triggered massive street protests.

Members of the 300-seat national assembly cast anonymous, paper ballots that will be counted manually, with a two-thirds majority required for the motion to pass.

"We have to make a historic decision while the whole nation is watching," opposition MP Kim Kwan-Young told the chamber as he introduced the motion.

Protesters in Seoul are urging the impeachment of South Korea's President Park Geun-Hye, December 9, 2016 STRINGER (YONHAP/AFP)

"President Park forgot her calling as the president... and violated the power bestowed upon her by the people of this country," Kim said

Adopting the motion would result in the immediate suspension of Park's authority, with all powers transferred to her prime minister.

She would be allowed to retain her title pending a ruling by the Constitutional Court, which has up to six months to decide whether or not to ratify the impeachment and formally end her presidency.

- Fall from grace -

Whichever way the vote goes, it marks a startling fall from grace for a politician who had run for the presidential Blue House as an incorruptible candidate, declaring herself beholden to nobody and "married to the nation".

With more than a year of her term left to run, she now confronts the prospect of going down as the first democratically-elected South Korean president to be kicked out of office.

The opposition-sponsored impeachment motion accused Park of constitutional and criminal violations ranging from a failure to protect people's lives to bribery and abuse of power.

It was filed last week with the 171 signatures of all opposition and independent lawmakers -- leaving it 29 short of the two-thirds majority.

Its passage will depend on the backing of an anti-Park faction within the Saenuri party -- more than 30 MPs who have shifted position several times but now look set to back Park's ouster.

The entire opposition has threatened to resign their seats immediately if the motion is defeated.

"This impeachment is a road to salvation for the country and the people," said Chu Mi-Ae, president of the main opposition Democratic Party.

- Mass protests -

The push for impeachment has been driven by huge protests that have seen millions take to the streets of Seoul and other cities in recent weeks, demanding that political parties remove Park if she refuses to step down.

As the lawmakers voted, hundred of protesters gathered outside the national assembly, holding banners that read: "Give our country back" and "Impeach Park".

"It's really hard to predict which way the vote will go," Saenuri legislator Hong Moon-Jong told MBC radio.

"It may fall slightly short of 200 or just scrape over the line," Hong said.

The scandal that has engulfed Park has focused on her friendship with long-time confidante Choi Soon-Sil.

Choi has been charged with meddling in state affairs and using her Blue House connections to force dozens of conglomerates to donate around $70 million to two foundations she controlled.

In a first for a sitting South Korean president, Park has been named a "suspect" by prosecutors investigating the case.

- History of corruption -

High-level corruption has long been a stain on South Korea's democratic credentials and the presidential Blue House is no stranger to allegations of cronyism.

Since South Korea's first free and fair election in 1987, every president has faced graft investigations after leaving office and one -- Roh Moo-Hyun -- committed suicide as a corruption probe closed in on his family.

Their cases often involved family members who were able to leverage links to the president in a society where political influence has traditionally had a very close and unhealthy rapport with business success.

Park, the daughter of military strongman Park Chung-Hee who led the country from 1961 to 1979, was meant to be different.

Both her parents were assassinated and, estranged from her two siblings, unmarried and childless, she promoted herself as invulnerable to nepotism.

"I have no family to look after nor children to inherit my property... I want to devote myself to the nation and the people," she said in a speech during the 2012 presidential campaign.

After a series of protests, South Korea's parliament votes on a motion to impeach President Park Geun-Hye, December 9, 2016 JUNG Yeon-Je (AFP)

South Korea politics Park John SAEKI, Laurence CHU (AFP)
Gambia's new leader claims military's support

Gambia's President-elect Adama Barrow vowed Thursday to set up a South Africa-style truth commission as he claimed the army's support after his surprise election in the west African nation.

Barrow, whose shock victory this month ended the 22-year rule of Yahya Jammeh, said the country's chief of the defence staff had called to pledge the army's backing.

"He said the security of this nation is assured by the armed forces," said the 51-year-old estate agent. "He said he was loyal to President Yahya (Jammeh) because he was the elected president.

Gambia's President-elect Adama Barrow gestures to the crowd following his victory in the polls in Kololi on December 2, 2016 Joe Sinclair (AFP)

"He said now that I am elected in to office by the Gambian people, he will support me," he added.

Barrow was elected as president of the smallest country in West Africa after he beat incumbent President Yahya Jammeh in the December 1 polls.

Asked if he will prosecute those accused of human rights violations over the last 22 years, Barrow said: "We will look at what was happening in the past.

A "Truth and Reconciliation Commission is very important here and we have seen it happened in South Africa. We will establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to look at the past."

The UN envoy to West Africa Mohamed Ibn Chambers said last week that the United Nations will help the incoming government to establish such a commission.

Barrow said he had not yet met the outgoing president, but said his officials were working on the arrangements.

"This transition issue is a new thing in Gambia and both teams (the ruling party and opposition) are not experienced on it," he said, adding that he hoped to set a date for his inauguration "very soon."

Latest official figures gave Barrow 43.29 percent of the votes in the presidential election, while Jammeh took 39.64 percent. The turnout was at 59 percent.

Meanwhile Thursday a Gambian appeal court granted bail to 11 political activists detained since April for holding rare protests, a judicial source said.

Their lawyer Antouman Gaye noted that they were members of the United Democratic Party (UDP), of which Barrow was the presidential candidate.
Latest: Lawyer: Police 'dropped ball' in officer shooting

DETROIT (AP)  The Latest on the fatal shooting of a Wayne State University police officer in Detroit (all times local):

4:45 p.m.

A defense attorney says authorities "dropped the ball" while investigating the fatal shooting of a Detroit college police officer, which led to charges being filed and dropped against her client.

Nicole James says in a statement that police and prosecutors rushed to judgment when they arrested and charged DeAngelo Davis with murder in the Nov. 22 death of Wayne State University officer Collin Rose. Prosecutors dropped those charges on Wednesday.

James says Rose's death was "a tragic loss," but she added it's "also wrong" that police arrested Davis without evidence.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy didn't say why authorities no longer consider Davis a suspect. She didn't take questions from reporters during a news conference.

The 29-year-old Rose died a day after the shooting.

___

10:35 a.m.

Murder charges have been dropped against a man in the killing of a Detroit college police officer who was shot in the head last month.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Wednesday that charges against DeAngelo Davis have been dropped. The 31-year-old Detroit man was accused of shooting Wayne State University Officer Collin Rose on Nov. 22. Davis had been jailed without bond since his arrest that night. He faced charges of first-degree murder and murder of a police officer.
Judgment in Rolling Stone defamation case put on hold

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP)  Enforcement of a jury's decision in a defamation case against Rolling Stone has been put on hold while a judge considers the magazine's challenge to the verdict.

Jurors found in November that the magazine, its publisher and a reporter defamed University of Virginia administrator Nicole Eramo with its botched story "A Rape on Campus." Eramo was awarded $3 million.

Attorneys for the magazine asked the judge Monday to overrule the jury's verdict.

Judge Glen Conrad said Wednesday that the enforcement of the jury's verdict is on hold while he considers the magazine's request.
Review: 'Office Christmas Party' throws a holiday rager

Movie-wise, the office Christmas party is the great dismantler of white-collar worker-bee life. Set out the booze, turn down the lights, and suddenly the cubicle walls around staid office life are blown away by heartbreak ("The Apartment") or Hans Gruber ("Die Hard"). '

The only things to burst forth when the egg nog starts flowing in "Office Christmas Party," though, are slow-motion party montages that exist for nothing but the film's trailers, and further reflections on the sad state of the studio comedy.

Directors Will Speck and Josh Gordon ("Blades of Glory," ''The Switch") have assembled many key ingredients to a successful Christmas shindig, or as it's called in the film, a "non-denominational holiday mixer." A holiday sweater-clad Kate McKinnon (who plays a nervous human resources administrator), alone, should be enough to cater any party. But there's also T.J. Miller, Courtney B. Vance, Vanessa Bayer, Randall Park and two "Veep" players, Matt Walsh and Sam Richardson. Who wouldn't want to carol with such a crew?

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows, from left, Kate McKinnon, Jason Bateman, T.J. Miller and Olivia Munn in a scene from "Office Christmas Party." (Glen Wilson/Paramount Pictures via AP)

But "Office Christmas Party" and its filmmakers have little feel for how to utilize its funny cast, or for what it wants to unleash. Speck and Gordon, who handsomely set their film in a Chicago high-rise, have a movie with all the trimmings, but none of the jokes.

The cast is also titled toward the wrong people. It stars Jason Bateman as an executive at Zenotek, a computer company that is run by its budget-cutting CEO, Carol Vanstone (Jennifer Aniston). The Bateman-Aniston combo has been trotted out so often in mediocre comedies (including "The Switch") that it has lost whatever appeal is once had.

The fresh blood in "Office Christmas Party," though, is Miller, the "Silicon Valley" star. His HBO show is a far more pointed and smarter parody of internet company culture. But in his biggest big-screen role yet, he's lost little of his swagger. Here, he's the head of Zenotek's Chicago branch, a position inherited from his late father. The bigger job went to his sister, Carol, whom he resents for her more corporate management.

Given two days to turn the branch's profits around before his sister drastically cuts the staff, he desperately organizes an extravagant holiday party to court a lucrative client (Vance). The early scenes, pre-romp, are the film's best. Since television has largely given up the workplace sitcom, there's space for a movie to pick up the slack.

But "Office Christmas Party," cobbled together by six writers, doesn't have the confidence to build its story through the interplay of its employees, and it soon tires of office politics. As things ramp up, a prostitute (Abbey Lee) and a pimp (Jillian Bell) are brought in, as is a far-fetched plot involving Olivia Munn's inventor. The film seems to be hanging together purely to accommodate enough scenes of "Project X"-style mayhem as the party careens out of control, complete with already stale Uber and 3-D printer gags. Even when today's comedies go crazy, there's not an ounce of danger.

It's just nearly enough to make a movie, despite the considerable spiritedness of Miller, an arched-eyebrow force of nature. The best that can be said for "Office Christmas Party" is that at least it doesn't underuse him.

"Office Christmas Party," a Paramount Pictures release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for "crude sexual content and language throughout, drug use and graphic nudity." Running time: 105 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.

___

Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows T.J. Miller as Clay Vanstone, left, and Jason Bateman as Josh Parker in a scene from "Office Christmas Party." (Glen Wilson/Paramount Pictures via AP)

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Jennifer Aniston and T.J. Miller in a scene from "Office Christmas Party." (Glen Wilson/Paramount Pictures via AP)
US envoy nominee Branstad member of Masons, banned in China

OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  If Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad becomes the next U.S. Ambassador to China, he may want to leave any Masonic symbols at home.

That's because the Freemasons group that Branstad belongs to has been banned in mainland China for decades.

Masonic lodges still exist in Taiwan, but not in China. All the other chapters were eliminated after the communist revolution there in 1949.

FILE - In this Feb. 15, 2012 file-pool photo, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping and Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad raise their glasses at the beginning of a formal dinner in the rotunda at the Iowa Statehouse in Des Moines, Iowa. Branstad, President-elect Donald Trump's choice for U.S. ambassador to China, can boast a 30-year relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the most powerful Chinese leader in decades, especially amid escalating talk of a trade war with the U.S.s largest trading partner? (AP Photo/The Des Moines Register, Andrea Melendez, Pool, File)

"Freemasons believe in freedom of thought, freedom of speech and freedom of action, and I don't think that's what the communist Chinese government is about," said Tim Anderson, who is deputy grand secretary of the Grand Masonic Lodge of Iowa.

Masonic groups usually run into trouble in Communist countries because of their secret meetings, said Brent Morris, who wrote "The Idiot's Guide to Freemasonry." It doesn't help that Freemasonry was brought to China by the British when they were colonizing the area.

"You've got a dual-edged problem: part of it is the residue of colonialism and part of it is the meeting in private," said Morris, who is a Master Mason himself. He wrote his book partly to debunk conspiracy theories about the group that were highlighted in "The Da Vinci Code" book and movie.

Branstad accepted President-elect Donald Trump's job offer Wednesday, but he'll have to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate before taking the post.

The Iowa Lodge said Branstad is listed as a member of a chapter in Des Moines. His spokesman Ben Hammes declined to discuss Branstad's membership in the Masons.

Branstad accepted the position days after Trump caused a diplomatic stir by speaking to Taiwan's president on the phone.

Taiwan split from China in 1949, but China still considers the island part of its territory and would consider it unacceptable for the U.S. to recognize Taiwan's leader as a head of state.

Branstad isn't new to China. He has led several trade missions there during his six terms as Iowa governor, and he has a relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping that began during a 1985 diplomatic trip Xi took to Iowa.

Xi returned to Iowa in February 2012 for stops in Muscatine and the Des Moines area.

Branstad, 70, is finishing up his 22nd year at the helm of Iowa government and is the nation's longest-serving governor.

Don't expect other Masons to discuss Branstad's appointment at their next meeting because politics and religion are divisive topics that aren't supposed to be discussed, said Simon LaPlace, executive secretary of the Masonic Service Association of North America.

Masonic groups focus on helping members improve themselves, and many chapters also undertake community service projects. Women are not allowed to join although they are permitted to join affiliated groups. LaPlace said each chapter and state organization varies.

"Masonry flourishes in those countries where freedom and individual rights are permitted," LaPlace said. "That's why in a lot of totalitarian countries, masonry is not permitted."
French ex-budget minister sentenced to 3 years

PARIS (AP)  A former French budget minister was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison in one of the biggest political scandals of President Francois Hollande's government.

A Paris court found Jerome Cahuzac guilty of tax fraud and money-laundering for hiding his wealth in tax havens around the world.

The judges said Cahuzac committed "a criminal offense of an exceptional seriousness, destructive of the social bond," describing a man in "a total loss of his bearings."

FILE - In this Sept. 14, 2016 file photo, former French budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac leaves the courthouse, in Paris. Cahuzac has been sentenced Thursday Dec. 8, 2016 to three years in prison in one of the biggest political scandals of French President Francois Hollande's government. A Paris court ruled that Cahuzac was guilty of tax fraud and money laundering for hiding his wealth in tax havens around the world. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

Cahuzac, a 64-year-old former cosmetic surgeon who was also banned from running for office for five years, looked stunned, remaining for a long time sitting in his chair after the verdict was read.

His lawyers said they're appealing the verdict. As a result, the former minister will remain free in the meantime.

Cahuzac and ex-wife Patricia Menard have acknowledged owning illegal foreign bank accounts for two decades. They have already paid 2.3 million euros ($2.5 million) in back taxes to French authorities. Menard was sentenced to two years in prison for tax fraud.

As budget minister, Cahuzac hid his wealth at the same time as he was leading the government's fight against tax evasion.

The hidden wealth of the couple was estimated at 3.5 million euros ($3.8 million) in 2013, when Cahuzac was forced to resign after only 10 months in office. But the real value likely was much higher because the money helped the couple finance a lavish lifestyle over the years, prosecutors have said.

The fortune was concealed in bank accounts in Switzerland, Singapore and the British tax haven of the Isle of Man, after transiting sometimes through dummy companies in Panama and the Seychelles, according to court documents.

During the trial in September, prosecutors blamed the former minister for making France "the laughing stock of the entire world" and called the couple "among the biggest fraudsters" of whom French authorities have been aware.

Before becoming a prominent Socialist politician, Cahuzac built his wealth on his professional activities as a plastic surgeon in the hair transplantation clinic he operated with his ex-wife, a 61-year-old dermatologist, and as a consultant for big pharmaceutical laboratories.

On trial alongside Cahuzac and his ex-wife were a banker, a legal adviser, and the Reyl bank, a respectable but little-known Swiss establishment, all three convicted of money-laundering for helping Cahuzac conceal his assets in tax havens.

When media reports first revealed the scandal in December 2012, Cahuzac was sponsoring a bill to reinforce the fight against tax evasion and fraud.

After strongly denying any fraud for months and publicly lying to Parliament, on television, to the French people and to his government colleagues, Cahuzac eventually admitted his wrongdoing in a statement in April 2013, saying he had been "trapped in a lying spiral." French law doesn't sanction perjury.

With the French presidential election less than five months away, Thursday's verdict is sure to revive voters' memories of the scandal that tarnished Hollande's mandate from the start. The case fueled public mistrust of traditional politicians and demands for more transparency, issues that are surfacing in the electoral campaign.

France has since tightened its legal arsenal to fight tax fraud and evasion.
Chicago officer convicted of perjury, 2 officers acquitted

CHICAGO (AP)  A Cook County judge has found a Chicago Police officer guilty of perjury for lying under oath during a drug trial but acquitted his supervisor and a suburban officer.

When he handed down his verdicts on Wednesday, Judge Matthew Coghlan said that he found Officer William Pruente guilty of felony perjury because he knew that that the police report he filed and his subsequently testimony during a 2014 trial weren't correct. The 55-year-old Pruente was also found guilty of obstruction of justice and official misconduct.

Coghlan acquitted Chicago Police Sgt. James Padar and former Glenview patrol officer James Horn after concluding that they had relied on Pruente's report and summary.
Jury finds man guilty in fatal 2-by-4 beating

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  A jury has found a Rhode Island man guilty of beating a junk car dealer to death with a two-by-four over a deal gone wrong.

The Providence County Superior Court jury on Thursday found 50-year-old Daniel Lastarza guilty of second-degree murder after seven hours of deliberation that followed a six-day trial.

Prosecutors say the July 2014 altercation that led to the death of 34-year-old Jonathan Stack started as an argument over a bogus sale at Stack's North Providence car dealership that involved Lastarza and another man.

Prosecutors say Stack and his employee confronted Lastarza's friend at a bar. They say the altercation moved outside and Lastarza struck Stack and his employee with a two-by-four.
Russia says Aleppo combat suspended, residents say no let-up

BEIRUT (AP)  Russia said the Syrian army was suspending combat operations in Aleppo late Thursday to allow for the evacuation of civilians from besieged rebel-held neighborhoods, but residents and fighters reported no let-up in the bombing and shelling campaign on the opposition's ever-shrinking enclave.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking in Germany after talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, said military experts and diplomats would meet Saturday in Geneva to work out details of the rebels' exit from Aleppo's eastern neighborhoods, along with civilians who were willing to leave the city.

Lavrov said the Syrian army suspended combat action late Thursday to allow some 8,000 civilians to leave the city in a convoy spreading across a five-kilometer (three-mile) route. However, opposition activists said there was no halt to the government offensive.

In this Monday, Dec. 5, 2016 photo, a Syrian girl walks amid the wreckage of damaged buildings and shops in the western city of Aleppo, Syria. Aleppo shakes with explosions and gunfire day and night in both the government and rebel sides. But for supporters of President Bashar Assad at least, there is comfort in the growing sense of imminent victory in the city. A rebel defeat in Aleppo, Syrias largest city and former commercial center, is likely to reverberate across the war-torn country, where opposition forces continue to hold out in smaller, more disconnected areas. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

"Battles are intense," said a message from a rebel operation room shared with The Associated Press. Other residents reported warplanes firing from machine guns at rebel positions and artillery shells falling in the remaining rebel-controlled districts.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said the U.S. was focused on de-escalating the violence in Aleppo to allow aid into the city and enable people wishing to stay in their homes to do so.

She said Kerry and Lavrov continued talks on Thursday with the goal of securing a cease-fire and the "safe departure of those who wish to leave the city." She said details of Saturday's U.S.-Russian technical discussions in Geneva were still being worked out.

Earlier, in Geneva, U.N. special adviser Jan Egeland said efforts to evacuate hundreds of wounded people from eastern Aleppo had stalled following a deadly attack this week on a Russian military hospital that left two Russian nurses dead and a doctor seriously wounded.

"It is with bitterness and frustration that we have to report that we have not been able even to evacuate the wounded," Egeland said. "The member states that are supposed to help us get access to civilians in the cross-fire are poles apart in how they regard what is happening in Syria."

He said Syrian President Bashar Assad's government had authorized U.N.-organized aid shipments into eastern Aleppo for the first time. However, he provided no details about how the aid might get in or where it would go, and past agreements have fallen through before any aid could be delivered.

Medical officials in the enclave issued a passionate plea for a cease-fire.

"Aleppo is finished. There is nothing left except a few residents and bricks," Mohammed Abu Jaafar, the head of the eastern Aleppo forensic authority, said in a recorded message shared with reporters. "This may be my last call."

By early afternoon, Abu Jaafar said 14 bodies had arrived at his facility from all over eastern Aleppo, although a comprehensive death toll for the day was not possible because of the intense fighting. Residents described streets littered with bodies as ambulances and rescue workers struggled to keep up.

The rebel defenses have buckled amid the wide-ranging government offensive, which opened a number of fronts at once and was preceded by an intensive aerial campaign. More than three-quarters of the rebel sector has now fallen, including the symbolically important ancient Aleppo quarters. More than 30,000 of the estimated 275,000 residents of the besieged eastern enclave have fled to western Aleppo.

The Syrian government has dismissed a proposal for a cease-fire put forward by the rebels Wednesday.

In comments published Thursday in the state-owned al-Watan newspaper, Assad in said he would no longer consider truce offers, adding that such proposals, particularly by the Americans, often come when the rebels are in a "difficult spot."

"That is why we hear wailing and screaming and pleas for truces as the only political discourse now," Assad said.

He said that while a victory by Syrian government forces in the battle for Aleppo would be a "big gain," it will not end the country's civil war.

"Liberating Aleppo from the terrorists deals a blow to the whole foundation of this project," he said. But he added, "to be realistic, it doesn't mean the end of the war."

On Thursday, opposition activists reported intensive bombing in the al-Sukkari and Kallaseh neighborhoods still under rebel control.

Al-Sukkari is in the southern part of eastern Aleppo, an area that has become home to the majority of the displaced civilians who stayed behind; Kallaseh is near the Old City. Footage by the Syrian military showed intensive shelling of Bustan al-Qasr, a frontline neighborhood that links the rebel-held eastern and government-controlled western parts of the divided city.

The International Committee for the Red Cross said that it had evacuated 148 disabled civilians and others in need of urgent care from a facility in Aleppo's Old City after fighting calmed down there.

The evacuation, undertaken jointly with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, was completed late Wednesday, the Red Cross said in a statement. The people had been trapped in a facility that was originally a home for the elderly and included mentally and physically disabled patients, as well as injured civilians who had sought refuge there.

"They were forgotten," said Pawel Krzysiek, the agency's communication coordinator in Damascus. The evacuees were taken to a hospital and shelters in the western, government-held part of Aleppo.

___

Isachenkov reported from Moscow. Associated Press writers Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow, Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Bradley Klapper in Washington contributed to this report.

In this photo, courtesy of Wissam Zarqa, a Syrian English teacher and vocal anti-government critic, men walk past damaged buildings and shops in the eastern Aleppo neighborhood of al-Mashhad, Syria, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016. Government troops and allied militiamen have been advancing swiftly into the once rebel-controlled eastern Aleppo enclave as defenses of the opposition fighters buckle. (Courtesy of Wissam Zarqa, via AP)

FILE -- In this Monday, Dec. 5, 2016 file photo, a ball of fire rises following an air strike hits insurgents positions in eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo, Syria. Aleppo shakes with explosions and gunfire day and night in both the government and rebel sides. But for supporters of President Bashar Assad at least, there is comfort in the growing sense of imminent victory in the city. A rebel defeat in Aleppo, Syrias largest city and former commercial center, is likely to reverberate across the war-torn country, where opposition forces continue to hold out in smaller, more disconnected areas. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)
Attorney: Dylann Roof's mom had heart attack during trial

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP)  Dylann Roof's mother suffered a heart attack not long after prosecutors described how her son planned a cold and calculated killing of nine black church members in a racially motivated attack, the white man's attorney said in court documents Thursday.

Roof's mother collapsed and said "I'm sorry" several times on Wednesday as family members and court security came to help her during the opening of her son's federal death penalty trial.

Roof's attorney mentioned the heart attack in court documents asking for a mistrial, saying a survivor's testimony was so emotional that "spectators and even court personnel  including members of the prosecution and defense  were crying with her."

FILE - In this June18, 2016 file photo, Dylann Storm Roof is escorted from the Sheby Police Department in Shelby, N.C. The trial for Roof, a white man accused of killing nine black people at the church, started Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016, at the federal courthouse in Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton, File)

The documents didn't give the mother's current condition.

Later Thursday, in an eerily silent courtroom, 360-degree computer images of the crime scene were shown to the jury. The pictures showed the victims lying in pools of blood on the beige tile floor of the fellowship hall at Emanuel AME Church. Most were clustered around circular tables where they had been holding a Bible study.

Shell casings and cartridge magazines were scattered around as were Bibles and purses. One of the 15 scans showed a wall poster with the words "Faith, Hope and Love." Several people in a courtroom area for family members of the victims comforted each other while others dabbed tears from their eyes.

Roof's attorney David Bruck argued in the motion for the mistrial that Wednesday testimony from shooting survivor Felicia Sanders was inappropriate because it seemed to contain a statement on what Roof's sentence should be.

Sanders told jurors about the horror of seeing her son and her aunt shot to death and sheltering with her granddaughter beneath a table. At one point, she looked across the courtroom toward Roof and called him "evil, evil, evil."

Bruck asked her on cross-examination whether she remembered Roof saying anything in the aftermath of the shootings.

"He said he was going to kill himself," she said. "I was counting on that. There's no place on Earth for him other than the pit of hell."

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel denied the mistrial request and said he interpreted Sanders' testimony as "a religious comment." He instructed jurors that any decision on guilt or a sentence is up to the jury  not the attorneys or witnesses in the case.

Also Thursday, jurors watched surveillance footage of Roof leaving a Charleston church with a gun in his hand. Charleston police Sgt. Dan English showed the jury more than 20 video clips taken from cameras at the church on June 17, 2015.

The clips showed many of the victims and Roof entering the church. Roof is seen leaving the church 52 minutes later, and a final clip taken about 25 minutes after that showed one of the victims carried out on a stretcher.

Roof is charged with 33 federal counts, including hate crimes in the case. He sat again Thursday just staring down at the defense table. But instead of the striped prison jumpsuit he had worn during previous court appearances, he was wearing a gray sweater and light-colored slacks.

The defense has said Roof is willing to plead guilty if the death penalty is taken off the table. They have made a similar offer in state court where Roof is charged with nine counts of murder and faces another death penalty trial next year.

Homeland Security patrol the streets outside the Federal Courthouse Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016, in Charleston, S.C., during Dylann Roof's trial. Roof, a white man, is accused of killing nine black people at a church. (Grace Beahm/The Post And Courier via AP)

Homeland Security patrol the streets outside the Federal Courthouse Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016, in Charleston,S.C., during Dylann Roof's trial. Roof, a white man, is accused of killing nine black people at a church. (Grace Beahm/The Post And Courier via AP)

FILE- In this June 18, 2015 file photo, two Charleston police officers stand in front of the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C. The trial for Dylann Roof, a white man accused of killing nine black people at the church, started Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016, at the federal courthouse in Charleston, SC. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton, File)
The Latest: Pope prays for victims of Indonesia quake

MEUREUDU, Indonesia (AP)  The Latest on a magnitude 6.5 earthquake that hit Indonesia's Aceh province on Wednesday (all times local):

___

7:30 p.m.

In this image made from video, rescuers use an excavator to search for victims in the rubble of collapsed buildings following an earthquake in Pidie, Aceh province, Indonesia, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016. Humanitarian organizations descended on Indonesia's Aceh province Thursday as the government in Jakarta promised tons of emergency aid and officials raced to assess the full extent of damage from an earthquake that killed more than 100 people. (AP Photo)

Pope Francis has prayed for victims of the Indonesian earthquake.

Speaking to faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square on Thursday for a Catholic holiday, Francis said he wanted people to know he was praying for the victims, their loved ones and for those left homeless by the quake that struck Aceh province on the island of Sumatra.

More than 100 people were killed by the quake.

Francis also prayed that God would give strength to the population and rescue workers.

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation and has a Christian minority numbering several million people.

___

7:00 p.m.

The spokesman for Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency says thousands of homes were damaged in Wednesday's earthquake and 11,000 people have been displaced.

Announcing updated figures on Twitter, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho says more than 10,500 homes were damaged and 55 mosques collapsed. About 11,100 people have taken refuge in temporary shelters and mosques or are staying with relatives.

Separately, an official in Pidie Jaya district near the quake's epicenter says search and rescue efforts have intensified with more excavators deployed in devastated areas.

"We have to move faster to search and rescue possible survivors within a week," Iskander Ali says.

___

4:30 p.m.

A disaster agency official in Aceh says staple foods for women and babies are most urgently needed for the relief effort.

Sulaiman, from the Disaster Mitigation Agency, says medicines are sufficient for the time being because assistance is coming from the army, police, state-run companies and local governments.

He says what's most needed is rice, cooking oil, salt fish and other foodstuffs, as well as blankets and baby diapers. He says many people complained about lack of clean water, but the problem has been tackled as electricity supply is returning to normal in many areas.

The agency's national spokesman told a news conference in Jakarta that urgent needs are food and clothes, orthopedic doctors for victims suffering fractures, medical equipment, temporary shelters and heavy equipment for evacuation.

___

3:50 p.m.

The Australian government, which has a sometimes testy relationship with its northern neighbor Indonesia, says it's ready to help with the response to Wednesday's strong earthquake.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told reporters Thursday the government hopes Indonesia will be able to quickly ascertain the numbers of people affected.

"The search and rescue operations are still underway, but we have offered the technical assistance and the ability to assess damage," she said.

Japan, a major investor in Indonesia, has said it's ready to provide assistance if requested.

___

11:10 a.m.

A spokesman for Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency says the death toll from Wednesday's earthquake has risen to 102, spread across three districts in northern Aceh but concentrated in Pidie Jaya near the epicenter.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said at a press conference Thursday that 136 people are severely injured and more than 600 have light injuries.

The death toll "probably will increase," he says, despite the agency only counting one person as officially missing. "A joint rescue team is still continuing to search for the victims."

___

10:15 a.m.

Hajj Yusri Abdullah, owner of a shop in Meureudu town's crumpled market, says he isn't holding out much hope survivors will be found as backhoes and rescuers, worked on the rubble.

He says nearly two dozen bodies were pulled from the market debris on Wednesday including a group of eight made up of a newlywed couple and family members holding an ornate celebration known as Antar Dara Baro.

Local TV reported that about 40 shop houses in the market collapsed.

Nearly 100 people died in the shallow and powerful quake that struck northeast Sumatra before dawn on Wednesday.

A man surveys a damaged mosque after Wednesday's earthquake in Meureudu, Aceh province, Indonesia, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016. Thousands of people in the Indonesian province of Aceh took refuge for the night in mosques and temporary shelters after the strong earthquake killed a large number of people and destroyed dozens of buildings. (AP Photo/Heri Juanda)
Israel police say knife-wielding Palestinian shot and killed

JERUSALEM (AP)  Israeli police say security forces have shot and killed a knife-wielding Palestinian at a West Bank junction.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri says an 18-year-old Palestinian disembarked from a bus at the Tapuach Junction, north of Jerusalem, and approached border policemen stationed there in a suspicious manner on Thursday.

She says when the policemen asked him to halt, he pulled out a knife and charged toward them. They then opened fire, killing him.
Journalist in Crimea charged with extremism

MOSCOW (AP)  The lawyer for a Crimean journalist says his client has been charged with extremism for allegedly undermining Russia's territorial integrity, which could put him in prison for five years.

Emil Kurbedinov said late on Wednesday that Mykola Semena, who works for a local website of Radio Free Europe, has been formally charged with extremism. In April, a local court issued an order barring Semena from leaving the regional capital, Simferopol.

Shortly after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014, the Russian parliament passed a law making it a criminal offense to question Russia's territorial integrity  in this case, by opposing the occupation of the Crimean peninsula.
Military targets handling of misconduct cases

WASHINGTON (AP)  Military leaders are trying to fix the lengthy, inconsistent process for investigating senior officers accused of misconduct, The Associated Press has learned. They are seeking to change a hodgepodge system in which investigations can drag on for years while taxpayers pay six-figure salaries to officers relegated to mid-level administrative posts.

Trust in the disciplinary system "is strained," the chiefs of the four military services said in a memo to Defense Secretary Ash Carter. The memo was obtained by The Associated Press.

The chiefs said they planned to set up a task force to study the issue. It would be created by the end of the year and likely include former members of the military, lawmakers, and former investigators or inspectors general. The panel would be charged with providing specific proposals within 10 months.

FILE - In this June 30, 2016 file photo, Defense Secretary Ash Carter speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon. Top military leaders are trying to fix the lengthy, inconsistent process for investigating senior officers accused of misconduct, The Associated Press has learned. They are seeking to change a hodgepodge system in which investigations can drag on for years while taxpayers pay six-figure salaries for senior officers relegated to mid-level administrative posts. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

The memo said the service leaders have concerns about "our internal processes to respond promptly and equitably when there are accusations of misconduct."

There are no real policy guidelines or regulations that govern where the officers go and what jobs they can hold while they wait for investigations to end. Instead, decisions are made by commanders on a case-by-case basis that provides little guarantee of equal treatment across the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, or even for those within the same service.

"We are very frustrated by the amount of time it takes for us to process things," said Lt. Gen. Gary Cheek, director of the Army staff. "In many cases this is in fairness to the individual as well as to run the process through the levels of review. But it can take months to adjudicate some of these and we would greatly prefer that to be weeks, not months."

Eugene Fidell, a lawyer who specializes in military cases and teaches at Yale Law School, said the lengthy process wastes money and is particularly damaging for those ultimately found innocent or not charged. And he said it can treat officers differently, even if they committed the same offense.

"There are people who are hung out to dry, and it's extremely unfair because it's virtually impossible to put Humpty back together again," Fidell said.

As an example, for the past year, Army Maj. Gen. Ron Lewis has been poring over older military regulations to see what needs updating. His work, in a small suburban Virginia office as a special assistant to the Army's personnel chief, isn't far from the Pentagon. But it's a universe away from his high-powered job as senior military adviser to Carter  a job he lost amid charges of improper behavior and misuse of a government credit card.

He will stay there until the Army decides on his case and determines at what rank he can retire  a decision that could affect his annual income by tens of thousands of dollars.

The Navy, meanwhile, has officers wrapped up in a lengthy, complicated corruption investigation, involving bribes from Malaysian businessman Leonard Glenn Francis, also known as "Fat Leonard." A total of 16 people, including nearly a dozen current and former Navy officials, have been charged so far in the scandal, which has dragged on for about three years.

In some cases, such as Lewis', the investigation is done by the Pentagon's inspector general. Others are handled by the military services' inspectors general, and in cases like "Fat Leonard," the Justice Department drives the probe.

There are about a half-dozen active duty senior leaders  mainly two- and three-star officers  who are working in administrative jobs now, waiting for final decisions on misconduct investigations. Over the past five years, there have been nearly 30.

Investigators sometimes have to go back and recreate history, months and years after it occurred and after people and commanders have long moved on. There is concern that stretching out the process makes it difficult to send a clear signal to others that bad behavior won't be tolerated.

Cheek, who is responsible for deciding where Army officers go and what they do while under investigation, said it's important to remember that an accused soldier is innocent until proven guilty and he defended the need to handle incidents on a case-by-case basis.

The investigations are largely done the same way, he said, but "they all have different issues they're working through. We have to match it to the individual circumstances."

He said that "when we have someone who has mistreated people or done something wrong, we hold them appropriately accountable. We may not advertise that or announce it from the mountain tops but every case has a process it has gone through very deliberately."

He noted that the officers under investigation are usually at the lowest point of their lives.
Michael Williamson, who was caught on a Walmart surveillance camera (above) after escaping prison, was recaptured on Thursday

An escaped prisoner has been captured after sneaking out of a maximum security jail in a food truck and stabbing a female police officer at a Walmart 75 miles away.

Michael Williamson escaped from McCormick Correctional Institution in South Carolina on Wednesday at around 8.50pm.

The 47-year-old was serving a life sentence for armed robbery and assault and battery with intent to kill from a 1997 offence.

It's not clear why he chose Wednesday as the day to escape.

On Thursday morning he was arrested on Sunset Boulevard in Columbia, South Carolina, four miles from a Walmart where he stabbed Ashley Hardesty the previous night.

Hardesty, a 26-year-old police officer with a year of service, is recovering in hospital from two stab wounds.

She was wearing a protective vest at the time of the attack.

Williamson was caught after parent at a school in the West Columbia called police after seeing him lurk in the area.

He tried to break in to the school to hide when police began chasing him but the doors were locked, said officers.

While his escape is still under investigation, police believe Hardesty hid in a food truck to get out of the jail.

He then visited the Walmart and was seen trying to steal merchandise, prompting staff to call police.

Surveillance footage from inside the Walmart taken at 9.27pm showed a man police said was Williamson.

In it, he is seen wearing plain dark clothes and a baseball hat and appears to be smirking towards the camera.

Hardesty was preparing to arrest him for shoplifting in a room at the store when he turned on her, stabbing her twice. It's not known where he obtained the knife from.

The 47-year-old was serving a life sentence for armed robbery and assault and battery with intent to kill. He stabbed 26-year-old police officer Ashley Hardesty (right) on Wednesday night as she attempted to arrest him for shoplifting. Hardesty will make a full recovery

Williamson was able to travel some 76 miles from the prison (left) to the Walmart store

She chased him but he fled on foot, sparking a manhunt through the night.

At 10.30am on Thursday, police found him on Sunset Boulevard while searching. He admitted to fleeing the prison and was taken back into custody.

Authorities had offered a reward to anyone who knew of the fugitive's whereabouts.

'SDDC has escape warrants for Williamson's arrest. Now wanted for questioning by CPD investigators in connection with assault on an officer.

'We are grateful for your prayers and well-wishes for our officer. She is recovering from her injuries,' Columbia Police Department said in a flurry of tweets.

It's not clear if they believe Williamson had help escaping the jail. A spokesman for the Department of Corrections told DailyMail.com it was something they were investigating.

They are also looking in to how Williamson got around and whether he stole any vehicles.

He will not be returned to the prison which he escaped from, authorities said on Thursday.

'This was obviously a very critical incident for us. We're happy the officer is OK and that this came to a successful conclusion,' Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook said at a press confernence.

Police believe Williamson escaped from McCormick Correctional Institution in South Carolina (above) in a food truck at around 8.50pm
Not the first: Abe predecessor visited Pearl Harbor in 1951

TOKYO (AP)  The news media widely reported this week that Shinzo Abe will be the first Japanese prime minister to visit Pearl Harbor when he goes later this month  but he won't be.

In 1951, then-Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida made a brief visit during a stopover in Hawaii on the way home from San Francisco, where he had signed a peace treaty with the Allied powers and other nations.

An Associated Press story dated Sept. 13, 1951, says Yoshida "yesterday paid the first official Japanese call on Pearl Harbor since Dec. 7, 1941." It says he spent about 20 minutes there, and posed for photos with Adm. Arthur W.R. Radford, commander of the U.S. Pacific fleet.

FILE - In this May 3, 1962 file photo, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, right, meets with former Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida in his White House office in Washington. The news media widely reported this week that Shinzo Abe will be the first Japanese prime minister to visit Pearl Harbor when he goes later this month _ but he might not be. A 1951 article in Japans largest newspaper says that then-Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida went to Pearl Harbor during a stopover in Hawaii on the way home from San Francisco, where he had signed a peace treaty with the allied powers and other nations. (AP Photo/William J. Smith, File)

Yomiuri, Japan's largest newspaper, noted on Tuesday that it had written about Yoshida's visit to Pearl Harbor in 1951.

The Japanese government confirmed that Yoshida was in Honolulu, but said there was no official record of him going to Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy base attacked by Japan in 1941.

The confusion sent officials scrambling to set the record straight. Experts at Japan's diplomatic archives went through huge volumes of microfiche Thursday, looking for any evidence that Yoshida had set foot in Pearl Harbor, but came up empty.

Abe announced Monday that he would visit Pearl Harbor with U.S. President Barack Obama on Dec. 27 to pay respects to the war dead and send a message of reconciliation.

Both Japanese and international media, including The Associated Press, reported that it would be the first-ever visit by a sitting Japanese prime minister.

A Honolulu-dated Yomiuri article from 1951 says Yoshida looked "deeply moved when he visited Radford at Pearl Harbor."

The same day, he also met Hawaii's deputy governor and army commander, went for an afternoon walk and enjoyed souvenir shopping, the newspaper said.

En route to San Francisco, Yoshida also stopped in Hawaii and laid flowers at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, a military cemetery better known as Punchbowl, said Motosada Matano, a deputy Cabinet secretary for public affairs.

What exactly is first about Abe's upcoming visit to Pearl Harbor, a reporter for the rival Asahi newspaper asked at a Foreign Ministry briefing Wednesday.

The USS Arizona Memorial hadn't been built in 1951, so the official line is that Abe will be the first serving prime minister to make a visit to the Pearl Harbor memorial, Matano said.
Lawyer: FBI agent who shot at Michigan officer felt paranoid

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP)  A lawyer for an FBI agent arrested in western Michigan for firing his gun at a police officer outside a fitness club says the agent was feeling paranoid and only vaguely recalls what happened.

No one was injured in the shooting early Tuesday at the Planet Fitness in Grand Rapids, and Ruben Hernandez was quickly arrested. Authorities say Hernandez, of Las Vegas, was in Michigan for an investigation. He was arraigned Wednesday on charges including assault.

Attorney Larry Willey says Hernandez has only a "vague, hazy" recollection of what happened and alcohol maybe played a role.

In this Dec. 7, 2016 photo, Ruben Hernandez, an FBI agent, appears via video screen from Kent County Jail as he's arraigned before Judge Michael Distel at the Kent County Courthouse in Grand Rapids, Mich. Hernandez was arrested in western Michigan for firing his gun at a police officer outside a fitness club on Tuesday, Dec. 6 and was arraigned Wednesday on charges including assault. (Kent County Courthouse/MLive.com-The Grand Rapids Press via AP)

Police responded to 911 calls about a man brandishing a gun inside the fitness club. An officer tried to make contact with the man when he was fired upon.
Leaders of Poland, Hungary to discuss EU future, migration

WARSAW, Poland (AP)  Poland's prime minister met Thursday with her Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban for informal talks on the European Union's security, economy and migrant policy.

Orban and Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo are among the most vocal critics of EU policies and opponents of its plan assigning migrants to member nations for relocation. They are also pushing for changes to give EU members more autonomy.

They met in Poland's southern city of Krakow for talks ahead of the European Council summit Dec. 15 that is to debate the 28-nation bloc's economy and future.

Szydlo greeted Orban at the National Museum, where they proceeded to see an exhibition on the "Golden Age of Hungarian Painting" from 1836-1936. They were then heading to dinner.

Orban's two-day visit to Poland includes an address Friday to a conference of Central European historians and researchers co-hosted by the Jagiellonian University and Hungary's Consulate.
UK spy chief: Britain not safe until Syrian war ends

LONDON (AP)  The head of MI6, Britain's international spy agency, is warning that Britain cannot be safe until the war in Syria is brought to an end.

Alex Younger used his first speech since taking the job to say that the British intelligence and security services have disrupted a dozen plots in the U.K. in the last three years and are conducting hundreds of investigations. Even so, he says it's not possible "to pull up the drawbridge" in increasingly uncertain times.

Younger says "the scale of the threat is unprecedented."

Young described the Islamic State group as a "murderously efficient" organization that is plotting attacks despite facing military pressure in their strongholds in the Middle East.
Decolonization discussions slated for western Guam

HAGATNA, Guam (AP)  A community in western Guam will host a series of village discussions about the island's political relationship with the United States.

Adelup announced Wednesday that the government's Commission on Decolonization will hold meetings beginning next week to educate villagers about Guam's political options: independence, statehood or free association, reported The Pacific Daily News (http://bit.ly/2gFnurl ). The first meeting is scheduled for December 14.

"The commission is inviting all Guamanians to this meeting because it is important that we all understand what the self-determination movement means," said Ed Alvarez, the commission's executive director, in a news release. "It's about time that the native inhabitants of Guam had a voice in determining their future."

The island's native Chamorro inhabitants are expected to vote on the issue in a non-binding referendum, but the vote has been delayed since 1998.
Hungary's leader urges Hungarian minority to vote in Romania

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP)  Hungary's prime minister urged the Hungarian minority in Romania to vote in Sunday's parliamentary election there and "speak up for their own interests."

Prime Minister Viktor Orban spoke Thursday during a visit to western Romania, home to a large Hungarian minority. He said Romania's government wasn't doing everything it could to help the 1.3 million local Hungarians who he said "do not always receive the respect they deserve."

The minority group's rights have long been a contentious issue between the neighboring countries and Orban's government has stepped up the rhetoric recently.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is greeted by Chairman of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania party Hunor Kelemen, left, as he visits candidates of the party for the upcoming Romanian general elections in Satu Mare, Northwestern Romania, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016. (Zsolt Czegledi/MTI via AP)

Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto banned Hungarian diplomats from participating in Romania's national day celebrations on Dec. 1, commemorating the 1918 incorporation into Romania of Transylvania, an area long dominated by Hungary.

The ban drew a sharp rebuke from former President Traian Basescu, now running for a Senate seat, who told Orban not to provoke Romania "because we also have our limits." Additionally, Basescu called for the expulsion of Hungary's ambassador to Romania.

Orban recently praised the Foreign Ministry's more confrontational tone, saying Hungary was now ready "to give as good as we get."

Orban met Hungarian minority leaders in Satu Mare, Romania, where he praised Hunor Kelemen, head of the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, for creating "the widest possible unity for this election."

Despite the praise, Orban's own Fidesz party has often resorted to divisive policies with the parties representing Hungarian minorities.

"It was common practice for Fidesz to create parties in neighboring countries to compete with those which did not support Fidesz, but these often were not successful," said analyst Botond Feledy, a fellow at the Center for Euro-Atlantic Integration and Democracy think tank in Budapest.

Feledy noted that Fidesz was already preparing for April 2018 elections in Hungary, where support for the Hungarian minorities could help attract votes away from the far-right Jobbik party, its strongest challenger.

"Fidesz wants to reach out to Jobbik voters through the issue of Transylvanian Hungarians," Feledy said.
Appeals court hears case over cross memorial on state land

RICHMOND, Va. (AP)  The constitutionality of a Maryland war memorial in the shape of a cross is being challenged in federal court.

The Washington Post reports (http://wapo.st/2haueyn) the issue of whether the 40-foot-tall cross violates the First Amendment was debated Wednesday in the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The monument honoring 49 men who died in World War I stands in a state-owned highway median in Bladensburg, Maryland, just outside Washington.

A federal judge ruled last year that the so-called Bladensburg Cross doesn't violate the U.S. Constitution after an atheist group claimed in a 2014 lawsuit that it amounts to unconstitutional government sponsorship of religion.

Two judges suggested Wednesday that changing who owns the land, moving the site of the cross or even stripping its arms could resolve the issue.

___
Harry Reid bids farewell to Senate after 30 years

WASHINGTON (AP)  Sen. Harry Reid bid farewell to the Senate Thursday after 30 years in the chamber and more than a decade as top Democrat, a remarkable run during which he shepherded key Obama administration legislation including the sweeping health care law.

But Reid leaves with his Democrats stuck in the minority despite his best efforts, and Republicans and President-elect Donald Trump making plans to repeal President Barack Obama's signature law as their first order of business next year.

In an uncharacteristically lengthy and personal farewell speech on the Senate floor, Reid warned of "a new gilded age" ahead and lamented how the Senate has changed. He cautioned colleagues to "temper" use of the filibuster, "otherwise, it will be gone."

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, left, smiles as Senate Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., poses her for a photograph during a ceremony to unveil a portrait of Reid, on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

"I hope that everyone would do everything they can to protect the Senate as an institution," he said. "As part of our Constitution, it should be given the dignity it deserves."

Later, at a ceremony to unveil his portrait, Reid was lauded by Vice President Joe Biden and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, as well as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Reid's successor as Senate Minority Leader, New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer. The audience was full of political leaders past and present, from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obama's first chief of staff, to former Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, who retired after criticism for supporting the health care law.

Reid recognized both as he spoke of a high point of his Senate career, that first congressional term under Obama, when Democrats briefly commanded control of the House and a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. That allowed them to push through a raft of legislation including the economic stimulus, the health care bill and a financial overhaul.

Reid declared it the most productive legislative session in history. "We worked so hard. We delivered big-time," he recollected.

One by one, Biden, Clinton and the rest paid tribute to the soft-spoken, stoop-shouldered Reid, a taciturn master of the inside game, whose legislative prowess was responsible for all those victories and more.

"That's you, Harry  always, always, there," Biden said.

Clinton, making her first visit to Capitol Hill since losing the presidential race, said of Reid's new portrait: "The more fitting portrait will be the one that goes in the dictionary next to the word 'fighter.'"

And an emotional Schumer added: "I am telling you there is no one, no one, no one, better to have in your corner."

The portrait, painted by a young artist, Gavin Glakas, who once worked on Reid's staff, shows the senator in a typical posture: seated at his desk at work.

Earlier, the 77-year-old gold miner's son from tiny Searchlight, Nevada, reminisced about rising from a hardscrabble beginning to the heights of Capitol Hill and his "dream job" serving as Obama's point man in Congress.

Reid's mother took in laundry from the town's brothels; his father shot and killed himself. Yet Reid said there was happiness in his childhood, even if he and his siblings' games included tossing rocks at the tin siding on the latrine when his mother was inside.

He boasted of graduating in the top third of his elementary school class  of six  and of his proudest moment  buying his mother a new set of teeth.

Reid never mentioned Trump, whom he had railed against endlessly in the run-up to the election. Earlier Thursday, in an interview on NPR, Reid remarked of Trump: "I have to say this  he's not as bad as I thought he would be."

Reid brought home major benefits to Nevada, funding countless projects, blocking a nuclear waste dump and helping protect many thousands of acres of wilderness. Thanks to Reid, Nevada was a bright spot in Democrats' electoral wipe-out last month. Clinton won the state, and Reid ensured a Democratic successor, Catherine Cortez Masto, who will be the first Latina senator.

Reid talked about doing battle with coal companies trying to expand operations in Nevada, and in a line that could sum up many of his encounters, he said: "They tried. I won. They lost."

"I love the Senate, I care about it so very, very much," Reid said with his wife, Landra, and many of his five children and 19 grandchildren looking down from the gallery.

Following him on the Senate floor, Reid's home-state colleague Republican Dean Heller said: "It's been said that it's better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both. And as me and my colleagues here today and those in the gallery probably agree with me, no individual in American politics embodies that sentiment today more than my colleague from Nevada, Harry Mason Reid."
UN concerned about upswing in Libya violence

UNITED NATIONS (AP)  The U.N. Security Council says it is concerned by the recent escalation of violence between armed groups in Tripoli.

The clashes have raised fears of another mini-civil war erupting around the oil fields and in a statement issued Thursday, the council called on the parties to cease fighting.

The council also welcomed progress in the fight against the Islamic State group, al-Qaida and their affiliates, particularly in Sirte and Benghazi, but warned that IS fighters may have dispersed to other parts of the country and urged Libyans across the political divide to unite in the fight against extremists.
Debris in Alaska lake possibly from plane carrying 4 people

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)  Debris believed to be from a small plane carrying four people that's missing in Alaska was found Thursday in a lake near where the aircraft took off from, an official said.

Searchers in a boat found the debris floating on Lake Clark, National Park Service spokesman John Quinley said,

He said the items are believed to belong to the occupants of the Piper PA-28 Cherokee, which took off from Port Alsworth Wednesday. The community is situated on the banks of the 50-mile-long lake.

File - In this July 5, 2013, file photo is a glacier in Lake Clark Pass near Port Alsworth, Alaska. Authorities were searching Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016, for a small plane with four people on board missing in the narrow, mountainous valley believed to be part of the airplane's flight path. (AP File Photo/Mark Thiessen)

In an interview with The Associated Press, Quinley didn't describe the type of debris, but he said no wreckage of the aircraft had been found.

He said he had no new information on the status of the missing occupants.

Crews early Friday were to resume their search of the site, situated in Lake Clark National Park and northeast of Port Alsworth.

Quinley said the families of the missing have been notified.

Earlier Thursday, Nate Sobie, manager of the True North Aviation flight school in Port Alsworth who rented the plane to the party, declined to identify those on board. Sobie said he has been assisting in the search.

"The one comment I would have is, just let me ask everyone for prayers at this time as we search for the missing people and that they can return safely home," he said.

The plane left Port Alsworth about 10 a.m. Wednesday and was due around noon in Anchorage 170 miles to the northeast.

Responders say the search has been hampered by fog and darkness at Lake Clark Pass, a narrow river valley believed to be part of the aircraft's flight path.

The plane is owned by Glen Alsworth Sr. and his family, but it's on loan to the aviation business. Alsworth said the community of about 200 was named after his family, adding that his father homesteaded there in 1944.

Responders also have not released the names of the people on board.

Searchers found no indication of any emergency locator beacon being activated in the area, Alaska Air National Guard Staff Sgt. Edward Eagerton said.

Night was falling when the search was launched late Wednesday with an HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter and two C-130 transport planes, he said.

Beside the darkness, searchers ran into fog at Lake Clark Pass.

"Imagine you're flying in a valley between mountains that are covered in snow and then it's foggy," he said. "Eventually, you lose the ability to know how close you are to things. It makes it dangerous to fly in those conditions to get low enough."

In a separate incident in Alaska, former Republican state Rep. Mike Kelly of Fairbanks was killed Wednesday in a plane crash in the airplane-reliant state.

Kelly's wife, Cherie Kelly, told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner that her husband's body would be flown to Anchorage before being returned to Fairbanks.

Mike Kelly, 74, was the only person on board the private plane, which crashed 17 miles southeast of Fairbanks.

Kelly, who served in the state Legislature from 2004 to 2010, was the brother of state Sen. Pete Kelly of Fairbanks.

Officials of both the state House and Senate issued statement honoring Mike Kelly and his work in the Legislature. On Thursday, Gov. Bill Walker ordered state flags to be lowered to half-staff in honor of Kelly.

___

Seavey reported from Phoenix.

___

Follow Rachel D'Oro at https://twitter.com/rdoro

___
President-elect Donald Trump will add another business person and elite donor to his Cabinet, with fast-food executive Andrew Puzder as labor secretary.

Puzder heads CKE Restaurants Holdings, the parent company of Carl's Jr., Hardee's and other chains. In 2010, he published a book called 'Job Creation: How it Really Works and Why Government Doesn't Understand It.'

The Trump transition team made the announcement Thursday afternoon.

Scroll down for video

CEO of CKE Restaurants Andy Puzder will be Donald Trump's secretary of labor, according to sources familiar with the decision

President-elect Donald Trump (left) walks with CKE Restaurants CEO Andy Puzder from Trump National Golf Club Bedminster clubhouse

Andy Puzder was one of Donald Trump's early meetings - traveling to the president-elect's Bedminster, New Jersey golf club on Nov. 19 to talk about an administration job

'Andy Puzder has created and boosted the careers of thousands of Americans, and his extensive record fighting for workers makes him the ideal candidate to lead the Department of Labor,' Trump said in the release.

'Andy will fight to make American workers safer and more prosperous by enforcing fair occupational safety standards and ensuring workers receive the benefits they deserve, and he will save small businesses from the crushing burdens of unnecessary regulations that are stunting job growth and suppressing wages,' Trump continued.

The Californian was one of Trump's earliest campaign financiers, serving as a co-chairman of his California finance team and organizing fundraisers well before most major donors got on board with the eventual Republican nominee.

'I am honored to be nominated by President-elect Trump for Secretary of Labor,' he said in a statement today. 'I look forward to the opportunity to help President-elect Trump restore America's global economic leadership.'

'The President-elect believes, as do I, that the right government policies can result in more jobs and better wages for the American worker,' he added. 'I'm proud to be offered the chance to serve in his administration.'

Together with his wife, Puzder contributed $150,000 in late May to Trump's campaign and Republican Party partners, fundraising records show.

As one of Trump's most outspoken defenders, Puzder frequently appeared on cable news and Twitter to talk up the benefits of having a business leader in the White House.

A week after Trump's election, Puzder said he agreed with Trump's aim to ease business regulations.

'We've reached the point where overregulation is doing meaningful damage to our businesses,' he said last month at the Restaurant Finance & Development Conference in Las Vegas, citing high labor costs, increased health care costs and 'political and social' policies as hindrances.

Donald Trump's choice of Andy Puzder signifies the administration will favor management over labor. Puzder is against a $15 minimum wage

Trump's pick of Puzder signifies that the administration will likely favor management over labor.

Puzder is against a $15 minimum wage.

Trump's recent appointments have reflected his desire to turn to business leaders  who also were campaign donors.

Trump tapped former WWE chief executive and top campaign contributor Linda McMahon to lead the Small Business Administration. He also selected his campaign's national finance chairman Steven Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs executive and hedge fund investor, as Treasury secretary.

Puzder has visited with Trump several times since the election, including a meeting Wednesday afternoon at Trump Tower.

Puzder has long been a reliable GOP donor. He was a major financier for 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney and has remained close to him.

Union members are already pushing back against Donald Trump's pick for labor secretary, as they try to push for a higher minimum wage

At Romney's annual donor summit in June, Puzder was one of just a few attendees who aggressively promoted Trump to the dozens who were more squeamish about their party's new star.

He told The Associated Press at the Republican National Convention in late July that he enjoyed the challenge of raising money for Trump, saying he often sought common ground with reluctant GOP donors by talking up Trump's children.

'If he's such an evil villain,' Puzder said he would tell would-be donors, 'how do you explain the kids?'

The Puzder pick is already receiving criticism from unions.

Kendall Fells, the organizing director for the Service Employees International Union's Fight for $15, a project to get the minimum wage lifted told the American Prospect in late November that: 'Puzder as labor secretary is like putting Bernie Madoff in charge of the Treasury.'

Andy Puzder's Karl's Jr. and Hardee's brands use scantily clad women, like model Charlotte McKinney (pictured), to sell giant burgers

'I like beautiful women eating burgers in bikinis. I think it's very American,' said Andy Puzder, Donald Trump's pick for labor secretary

Puzder's restaurant industry past could haunt him during Senate confirmations as well, Politico pointed out, as half of the Labor Department's Wage and Hour division enforcement cases in 2015  4,787 out of 11,184  came out of the restaurant industry.

Even closer to home, 60 percent of all Labor Department investigations of Carl's Jr. restaurants found them to be in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

However, most of these restaurants were privately-owned franchises as opposed to being owned by CKE.

Women's groups may also not be fond of Trump's labor pick, as commercials for Carl's Jr. and Hardee's often depict scantily-clad women, gnawing on giant burgers.

Celebrities including Paris Hilton, Heidi Klum, Audrina Patridge and Kate Upton have starred in the controversial commercials in the past.

Puzder has vehemently defended the spots, saying they're meant to be talked-about, and arguing they've done great things for the brand.

'I like our ads. I like beautiful women eating burgers in bikinis. I think it's very American,' he told Entrepreneur last year.

'Something that other brands are having a problem doing, particularly McDonald's, is nobody knows who they are anymore,' he continued. 'One thing about us: everybody knows who we are.'

He also admitted that it's probably true that the brand has taken on the personality of its CEO to some degree.

Along the same lines, when Puzder was asked in November on Fox Business whether he would take a job in Trump's cabinet he gave a resounding yes.
The Latest: 2nd Georgia officer dies day after being shot

AMERICUS, Ga. (AP)  The Latest on the shootings of two police officers in Georgia (all times local):

___

5:50 p.m.

CORRECTS NAME TO MINQUELL FROM MINGUELL - This undated photo released by the Americus Police Department shows Minquell Kennedy Lembrick. Georgia authorities said they are looking for Lembrick, who they believe is armed and dangerous, in connection with the fatal shooting of one police officer and the wounding of another. (Americus Police Department via AP)

A second Georgia police officer has died a day after being shot alongside a fellow officer while responding to a domestic dispute report.

Charles Patterson, president of Georgia Southwestern State University, said in a statement Thursday evening that campus police Officer Jody Smith died from his injuries. Smith had been airlifted to a hospital after the shootings Wednesday in Americus, about 130 miles south of Atlanta.

Also killed in the attack was Americus police Officer Nicholas Smarr. Fellow officers said the two men had been close friends since boyhood.

The suspected gunman, Minquell Lembrick, was found dead Thursday morning at a home where he was hiding. A telephone tip led police to the residence. Americus Police Chief Mark Scott said it appeared Lembrick shot himself as the first officers arrived.

___

1:45 p.m.

Police say a man wanted in the fatal shooting of a Georgia police officer and the wounding of another apparently killed himself as authorities arrived at a home where he was hiding.

Americus Police Chief Mark Scott said at a news conference that 32-year-old Minquell Lembrick was found dead by a SWAT team. Scott said the suspect died from what "appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound." He added the officers heard a gunshot inside the home where Lembrick's body was found before the SWAT team entered.

Lembrick was suspected in the slaying Wednesday of Americus police Officer Nicholas Smarr and the shooting of Georgia Southwestern State University police Officer Jody Smith, who remained in critical condition Thursday.

Scott said police received a tip Thursday morning that led them to Lembrick.

___

1 p.m.

Two police officers who were shot responding to a 911 call in southwest Georgia had been lifelong friends.

Americus police Officer Nicholas Smarr was killed Wednesday and Georgia Southwestern State University Officer Jody Smith was critically wounded after arriving at an apartment complex where a domestic dispute was reported. The shooting took place not far from the university's campus and prompted officials to lock down the school in Americus, a rural city about 130 miles south of Atlanta.

After SWAT officers stormed a home in Americus on Thursday, police announced that the suspected gunman, 32-year-old Minquell Lembrick, was dead.

Lt. Chuck Hanks of the Sumter County Sheriff's Office has known both officers for years. He says they once worked at the sheriff's department.

Hanks said Thursday that Smarr and Smith had been friends since grade school and were roommates, sharing a home in the county. He said Smith was engaged to be married next year.

___

12:15 p.m.

Police say a man suspected of shooting two Georgia police officers is dead.

Phyllis Banks, a police spokeswoman in Americus, told The Associated Press on Thursday: "It's confirmed that the suspect is dead." That was after a SWAT team went into a home where authorities had received a tip that 32-year-old Minquell Lembrick was hiding.

Banks declined to give further information, including whether police had shot Lembrick or merely found his body. Police planned a 1 p.m. news conference.

Lembrick was wanted in the slaying Wednesday of Americus police officer Nicholas Smarr, who was shot outside an apartment complex along with Georgia Southwestern State University officer Jody Smith. Smith survived the attack but was critically wounded.

___

12 p.m.

Authorities say a SWAT team is staking out a home where a man suspected of shooting two Georgia police officers may be hiding.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Nelly Miles said police received a tip Thursday from a citizen claiming to know the whereabouts of 32-year-old Minquell Lembrick. Miles said a SWAT team was dispatched and "we believe we have him barricaded in a home."

Lembrick is wanted in the slaying Wednesday of Americus police officer Nicholas Smarr. Also shot was Jody Smith, a police officer at Southwest Georgia State University. Smith was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition.

A $70,000 reward was being offered for information leading to Lembrick's arrest.

Authorities initially gave different spellings for the first names of both Smith and Lembrick, but said Thursday they had confirmed corrected spellings for each.

___

6 a.m.

The reward for information leading to the arrest of a man suspected of shooting and killing a south Georgia police officer and critically wounding another has been raised to $50,000.

Authorities say Americus police Officer Nicholas Smarr died Wednesday and Georgia Southwestern State University Officer Jodi Smith was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition. Both had been officers since 2012.

The suspect, 32-year-old Minguell Kennedy Lembrick, is still at large and considered armed and dangerous. Local, state and federal law enforcement officers are searching for him.

The FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation initially offered a reward of $20,000 for information leading to Lembrick's arrest. The GBI announced Thursday that the U.S. Marshals Service and local law enforcement agencies have kicked in an additional $30,000.
US official: 50,000 Islamic State killed in wars to date

WASHINGTON (AP)  A senior U.S. military official for the first time says the U.S.-led coalition has killed 50,000 Islamic State militants in the last two years in Iraq and Syria.

The official said it was a conservative estimate, but it's a bit more than what others have stated before. U.S. leaders have expressed reluctance to disclose specific numbers, and note that IS has been able to replace fighters rapidly, particularly early on.

In August, Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland said about 45,000 combatants have been taken off the battlefields.
Italian tourist killed in favela in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP)  An Italian tourist was killed Thursday in a shantytown near the center of Rio de Janeiro in an area fought over by rival drug trafficking gangs, police said.

Authorities identified the dead man as Roberto Bardella and said another Italian tourist, Rino Polato, was found unharmed at an entrance to the Morro dos Prazeres favela early in the day.

The men were touring South America on motorcycles that were found in the favela, officials said. Investigators believe the Italians got lost in the favela.

The city's pacification effort has a police station in the slum, but the program has been deeply affected by budget cuts amid a financial crisis for the Rio de Janeiro state government.
'Rogue One' moves 'Star Wars' forward by going back

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there were more stories than those of the Skywalker family. That was the idea Disney was counting on when it purchased George Lucas's empire Lucasfilm for $4 billion in 2012, and the rights to everything in the "Star Wars" universe. Sure, they'd continue chronicling the trajectory of the Skywalkers, but what else was out there?

It was 30-year Lucas veteran John Knoll who thought of telling the story of the rebels who stole the plans for the Death Star, only alluded to in the opening crawl of the original 1977 "Star Wars." And with that, "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" was born. It hits theaters next week, kicking off Lucasfilm and Disney's spinoff gamble. There are already two more in the works, including a young Han Solo standalone for 2018. The plan is to release the spinoffs in the gap years between the next two installments of the main saga (Episode VIII comes out next December.).

If Marvel can have a universe, after all, why can't Star Wars? The idea of "spinning off" Star Wars, though, has existed about as long as the idea of Star Wars, but three decades ago, that was more of a TV-special or straight-to-video proposition. Now, the spinoffs are as important as the main films and are being given the full blockbuster treatment  big budgets (reports say $200 million), burgeoning stars and hefty marketing expenses. Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy has promised that they'll run the gamut in size, scope and genre, too.

This image released by Lucasfilm Ltd. shows Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso in a scene from, "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story." (Jonathan Olley/Lucasfilm Ltd. via AP)

For "Rogue One," they chose British director Gareth Edwards, known for the indie "Monsters" and the 2014 "Godzilla" reboot. He lived and breathed "Star Wars"  a requirement for executives who want "caretakers" for the franchise.

Edwards' film is set in a time of conflict and unrest, as the Empire grows and various rebel factions assemble in resistance, introducing a whole batch of new characters: The heroine Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones); her scientist father, Galen (Mads Mikkelsen); a rebel spy, Cassian (Diego Luna) and his sarcastic droid K-2SO (Alan Tudyk); an extremist, Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker); and a pilot for the Empire, Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed).

Inspired by WWII classics like "The Guns of Navarone," and shot by "Zero Dark Thirty" cinematographer Greig Fraser, "Rogue One" promises to be a grittier film, putting the war back in "Star Wars."

"We tried to feel embedded like a real film crew in a war zone and give it that kind of flavor," said Edwards, who was sometimes literally in the trenches with the cast.

Ben Mendelsohn, who plays Imperial Officer Orson Krennic, said it's "pretty intense."

"There is a lot of battle," Mendelsohn said. "This is a tougher Star Wars film, in certain respects, than any of its predecessors."

"The Force Awakens" and its $2 billion in worldwide earnings was always going to be a tough act to follow, but "Rogue One" has had a particularly bumpy ride  at least in the public imagination. There were rumors about expensive reshoots. The production had also hired veteran scribe Tony Gilroy, of "The Bourne Identity," to help with the script, which didn't assuage fears that there was something deeply wrong that needed "fixing." While reshoots are a common practice for any blockbuster, it nonetheless made fans nervous. Would this be another underwhelming prequel situation? Or would they knock it out of the park as with "The Force Awakens"  a production that, even when Harrison Ford broke his leg on set, never seemed to exhibit any weaknesses.

Edwards said "Rogue One" ''just grew."

"We shot the movie in a very realistic way, a lot of handheld, a lot of documentary-style stuff," he said. "We showed it to the studio and they were very supportive and they said 'look, whatever you need to do just do it.' The visual effects shots went from like 600 to 1,600, which was great for me. It felt like 'this is exactly what it needs to be.'"

What that means for audiences is another thing. "Rogue One" is being treated with a secrecy similar to that of "The Force Awakens." The cast has seen it, but few others will until the film's premiere in Los Angeles on Dec. 10.

For Diego Luna, this is as it should be. Watching "The Force Awakens" and knowing precious little about it let him experience cinema as he did in childhood.

"You sat down and let the film happen to you and those answers come to you through the voice of a director  not through the voice of a blogger and a reviewer and then the trailer and then the song and the toy," Luna said. "Because of the secrecy and because of all these filters, they're managing to go back to that time where cinema happened inside of the cinema."

Now, everyone is waiting to see how big of an appetite there will be for the spinoffs. "Rogue One" is tracking to open to over $130 million  the second-highest ever for December  but still a far cry from "The Force Awakens'" $248 million. And then there's the question of how it will holdup.

"Obviously there's a lot riding on this. But what does that mean?" Edwards wondered. "The riskiest thing you could do with Star Wars is not take a risk."

Or, never tell a Star Wars fan the odds.

___
Judge in polygamous child labor case orders $200k payment

SALT LAKE CITY (AP)  A federal judge has ordered a company with ties to a polygamous sect to pay at least $200,000 in back wages to children who were sent to work picking pecans for long hours in the cold.

U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell handed down the sharply worded order after deciding that Paragon Contractors sent kids as young as 6 to the 2012 harvest, sometimes with little food and few bathroom breaks.

"Behind a veil of secrecy in Southern Utah's desert country the defendants profited from the labor of a religious community's children," Campbell wrote in Tuesday's order. She also ordered the company to pay the cost of being monitored by an independent overseer for five years.

Defense attorneys have said the children were glad to get a break from schoolwork to gather nuts for the needy. They called sanctions first proposed by prosecutors overreaching and unfair. Paragon lawyers didn't immediately return calls seeking comment Thursday.

The U.S. Department of Labor asked for the $200,000 to be set aside so children who didn't get paid could submit their hours and be reimbursed. Paragon worked closely with leaders of the secretive Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints along the Utah-Arizona border to funnel children to the harvest, attorney Karen Bobela said.

The company has deep connections to the sect led by Warren Jeffs, who is serving a life sentence in Texas after being convicted of sexually assaulting girls he considered brides. The company was under pressure to make money for its leaders when it sent children to the fields, she said. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints doesn't have a spokesman or contact where it can be reached.

Prosecutors also asked for the independent overseer, arguing that there's one federal labor investigator in the region and he can't keep an eye on Paragon while completing his other responsibilities.

Paragon lawyers pushed back against those proposals at a September hearing, saying the company's financial situation has changed since it reported revenues of $4.5 million in 2011 and there haven't been any new allegations over the last few years.

The case is one of several aimed at reining in the group tied to abuses ranging from underage marriage to discrimination against non-members. Labor lawyers also filed a case against another company linked to the group over underage labor allegations, though that case has now been settled.

Meanwhile, an Arizona jury found this spring that the twin polygamous towns of Hillsdale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, violated the constitutional rights of nonbelievers by denying them basic services such as police protection.
The Latest: Debris in lake may be from missing Alaska plane

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)  The Latest on missing Alaska plane with four on board (all times local):

7:30 p.m.

An official says debris believed to be from a small plane carrying four people that's missing in Alaska has been found in a lake near where the aircraft took off from.

National Park Service spokesman John Quinley says searchers found the debris floating on Lake Clark Thursday.

He says the items are believed to belong to the occupants of the Piper PA-28 Cherokee.

The plane on Wednesday took off from Port Alsworth, which is situated on the 50-mile-long lake.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Quinley didn't describe the type of debris, but he said it was not wreckage of the aircraft.

He says he has no new information on the status of the missing occupants.

Crews early Friday are resuming their search of the site, which is in Lake Clark National Park.

He says the families of the missing have been notified.

___

2:40 p.m.

A small plane that's missing in Alaska with four people on board was rented by a pilot described as a man who makes good decisions.

That's according to Nate Sobie, the manager of the True North Aviation flight school in Port Alsworth who rented out the single-engine Piper PA-28 Cherokee to the party on Wednesday.

Sobie declined to identify those on board because the search is continuing.

The plane left Port Alsworth about 10 a.m. Wednesday and was due in Anchorage 170 miles to the northeast around noon.

Responders say the search has been hampered by fog and darkness in at Lake Clark Pass, a narrow river valley believed to be part of the aircraft's flight path.

The missing plane is owned by Glen Alsworth Sr. and his family, but it's on loan to the aviation business. Alsworth says the community of about 200 was named after his family, adding his father homesteaded there in 1944.

___

11:30 a.m.

Responders in Alaska say the search for a missing small plane with four people on board has been hampered by fog and darkness in a narrow river valley believed to be part of the aircraft's flight path.

Alaska Air National Guard Staff Sgt. Edward Eagerton says the single-engine Piper PA-28 Cherokee left Port Alsworth about 10 a.m. Wednesday and was due in Anchorage 170 miles to the northeast around noon.

Eagerton says night was falling when the search was launched late Wednesday afternoon with an HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter and two C-130 transport planes. He says that beside darkness, searchers ran into fog at Lake Clark Pass.

The search was resumed at first light Thursday. Eagerton says searchers include a helicopter, C-130 and Civil Air Patrol aircraft.

In a separate incident this week, former Republican state Rep. Mike Kelly of Fairbanks was killed Wednesday in a plane crash in Alaska's interior.

___

8:25 a.m.

A single-engine airplane with four people on board is missing on a flight in Alaska.

Anchorage television station KTUU (http://bit.ly/2gf5Utm) reports a search is underway for the single-engine plane that left Port Alsworth on Wednesday morning. The plane was due in Anchorage around noon.

The airplane's flight path called for transiting Lake.

The Alaska Air National Guard is searching for the missing airplane.

Members of the California Air National Guard are in Alaska for training operations and are assisting in the search.

The names of the people on board have not been released.

Port Alsworth is within Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. The community is about 170 miles southwest of Anchorage.

___
UN Syria envoy say time may be right for negotiations

UNITED NATIONS (AP)  Russia's announcement that Syria was suspending combat operations in Aleppo may mean the time is right to restart negotiations for a peace deal, the U.N. envoy for Syria said Thursday.

Staffan de Mistura said he was encouraged by planned discussions between the U.S. and Russia on Saturday in Geneva to discuss the withdrawal of all opposition fighters from the city.s

"Perhaps now is the time to actually look seriously at the possible renewal of looking at when how we can have political discussions, because there is an awareness that military victory is not peace because peace has to be won separately," de Mistura said following a closed-door Security Council session on Syria.

De Mistura said that he hoped the just announced truce would come to pass and allow some 8,000 people trapped in the besieged city a chance to leave. He said over 30,000 people had already left the city, but the total number of how many remained within remained a mystery.

U.N. officials have long stated that over a quarter of a million people were besieged in eastern Aleppo but now de Mistura said he doubted that there were more than 100,000 people.

Earlier, de Mistura told reporters he expected to meet with members of Donald Trump's in the coming days.

"The plan is to meet some people around the team of President Trump," de Mistura told reporters. He said he expected the meeting to take place Tuesday or Wednesday, but provided no other details.

Security Council action on Syria has been repeatedly blocked by Russia and Western diplomats continued to search for ways around the veto that Syria's close ally enjoys as one of the five permanent members of the Security Council.

Many looked to a Canadian resolution calling for a ceasefire that is expected to be voted on in the 193-member General Assembly on Friday.

Britain's Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said he feared the resolution may be "too little, too late."

"But what I hope that it will do is to demonstrate that there is a moral majority here, there are states who are not on the Security Council but have very strong views about peace and security, and who are distressed that through a series of vetoes the Security Council has failed to provide the unity necessary to change the situation in Syria," Rycroft said.
'Godspeed, John Glenn': Public hails hero of space, politics

Tributes poured in for former astronaut and U.S. Sen. John Glenn, who died Thursday at age 95. Politicians, astronauts, educators and others called him a hero, with many mentioning the phrase that first sent him into orbit: "Godspeed, John Glenn."

Here's a look of some of the reactions:

___

FILE - In this Tuesday, May 29, 2012, file photo, President Barack Obama awards the Medal of Freedom to former astronaut John Glenn during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth who later spent 24 years representing Ohio in the Senate, died Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016, at the age of 95. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

"When John Glenn blasted off from Cape Canaveral atop an Atlas rocket in 1962, he lifted the hopes of a nation. And when his Friendship 7 spacecraft splashed down a few hours later, the first American to orbit the Earth reminded us that with courage and a spirit of discovery there's no limit to the heights we can reach together. ... The last of America's first astronauts has left us, but propelled by their example we know that our future here on Earth compels us to keep reaching for the heavens. On behalf of a grateful nation, Godspeed, John Glenn."  President Barack Obama

___

"Today we lost a great pioneer of air and space in John Glenn. He was a hero and inspired generations of future explorers. He will be missed."  President-elect Donald Trump, on Twitter

___

"By his inspirational leadership spearheading our space program, John helped push back the horizon of discovery."  Former President George H.W. Bush, on Twitter

___

"With the news today I'm saddened again to hear that we have lost the pioneer of space flight for the United States, second only to Yuri Gagarin, and he will always go down in history as certainly one of the most influential officers in the Marine Corps and of course as one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts."  Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon

___

"Glenn's extraordinary courage, intellect, patriotism and humanity were the hallmarks of a life of greatness. His missions have helped make possible everything our space program has since achieved and the human missions to an asteroid and Mars that we are striving toward now."  NASA Administrator Charles Bolden

___

"The Corps lost a legend today. Col. John Glenn  an astronaut, a senator, a Marine  died at the age of 95. Semper Fi, Sir."  U.S. Marine Corps, on Twitter

___

"On top of paving the way for the rest of us, he was also a first-class gentleman and an unabashed patriot."  U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who also flew in space

___

"You look at John Glenn and his is really a life of service and we don't see enough of that. He is an honest-to-God hero in all kinds of ways."  Roger Launius, National Air and Space Museum associate director

___

"John Glenn is, and always will be, Ohio's ultimate hometown hero, and his passing today is an occasion for all of us to grieve."  Ohio Gov. John Kasich

___

"The Ohio State University community deeply mourns the loss of John Glenn, Ohio's consummate public servant and a true American hero."  Ohio State President Michael Drake

___

"What made John Glenn a great senator was the same quality that made him a great astronaut and an iconic American hero: He saw enormous untapped potential in the nation he loved and he had faith that America could overcome any challenge."  U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio

___

"John Glenn was an American hero. He flew 149 combat missions in two wars. He was the first American to orbit the Earth, and the longest-serving United States Senator in Ohio history."  U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio

___

"John Glenn's enduring commitment to public service, devoted patriotism, and tremendous courage embody the very best of the American spirit."  House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

___

"No one in this country epitomized the nobility and patriotism of public service more than Ohio's John Glenn."  Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper

___

"All of us in the commercial space industry seek to honor John Glenn by advancing further along the path he blazed for humanity in space."  Eric Stallmer, president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation

___
New York governor met with feds on ex-aide's corruption case

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP)  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (KWOH'-moh) says he has met with federal authorities about a corruption case against a former top aide.

Cuomo said Thursday the meeting took place following the September announcement of criminal charges against longtime adviser Joe Percoco and several other men, including a former State University of New York Polytechnic Institute president.

Cuomo says he was not under oath during the meeting. He says he doesn't know if he'll be called as a witness during Percoco's trial.

FILE - In this Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016 file photo, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during an economic development awards ceremony in Albany, N.Y. Cuomo says he has met with federal authorities about a corruption case against a former top aide. He said Thursday the meeting took place following the September announcement of criminal charges against longtime adviser Joe Percoco and several other men, including a former State University of New York Polytechnic Institute president.(AP Photo/Mike Groll)

Percoco and the others have pleaded not guilty. The case alleges bid-rigging and bribery related to state economic development projects.
Trump puts new spotlight on Long Island gang killings

MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP)  As he sat down for an interview with Time magazine for his "person of the year" profile, Donald Trump explained his tough view on illegal immigration by retrieving a copy of the Long Island newspaper Newsday and pointing to a blaring headline: "Extremely Violent Gang Faction."

The article focused on the killings of five teenagers from the same New York City suburb and suspicions that the slayings were the work of a street gang, MS-13, that has roots in El Salvador and has been linked to at least 30 killings on Long Island since 2010.

"They come from Central America. They're tougher than any people you've ever met," Trump told the magazine. "They're killing and raping everybody out there. They're illegal. And they are finished."

FILE - In this Oct. 24, 2016 file photo, a poster displayed at a Suffolk County police precinct in Bay Shore, N.Y., offers a $15,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person(s) responsible for the slayings of 15-year-old Nisa Mickens and her lifelong friend 16-year-old Kayla Cuevas. Just months ago, advocates for immigrants were lamenting publicly that a string of disappearances of Hispanic high school students in Brentwood, New York, hadn't gotten enough attention from authorities while they were happening. Now, they are worried that the president-elect's attention will mean a crackdown that goes far beyond gangs. (AP Photo/Michael Balsamo, File)

That tough talk was welcomed  and created new worries  in the suburban community plagued by the gang violence.

Just months ago, advocates for immigrants were lamenting publicly that a string of disappearances of Hispanic high school students in Brentwood, New York, hadn't gotten enough attention from authorities while they were happening.

Now, they are worried that the president-elect's attention will mean a crackdown that goes far beyond gangs.

"It's not a good thing," said Maryann Sinclair Slutsky, executive director of the immigrant advocacy group Long Island Wins. "I don't know why he's picking Long Island. The entire immigrant community is terrified. All immigrants in that community feel uncomfortable. There's profiling going on and whether they are totally upstanding citizens, they are going to feel targeted in some way."

Gang-related violence in Brentwood got renewed attention in September when best friends Nisa Mickens, 15, and Kayla Cuevas, 16, were found beaten to death in a residential neighborhood near an elementary school.

Within a few weeks, the skeletal remains of three other Brentwood teens were found hidden in secluded areas of the hamlet. Miguel Garcia-Moran, 15, disappeared in February. Oscar Acosta, 19, was reported missing in May. Jose Pena-Hernandez, 18, vanished in June.

Police suspect all the killings were committed by members of local offshoots of the MS-13 street gang, which has already left a trail of corpses on Long Island.

Some of the people accused in those crimes were in the U.S. illegally.

In one of the most heinous killings, in 2010, three teenage MS-13 members shot a 19-year-old woman and her 2-year-old son in the woods over an imagined slight of the gang's honor. Two were El Salvadoran citizens who were illegally in the U.S. at the time they killed the pair, as was Heriberto Martinez, the MS-13 leader convicted of authorizing the murders. Another of the killers was a U.S. citizen.

In July, four MS-13 members were charged with killing four men in Brentwood and neighboring Central Islip between 2013 and 2015. Two of them were citizens of El Salvador. One had illegally re-entered the U.S. after previously being departed. A second was in proceedings to be deported.

Suffolk County Sheriff Vincent DeMarco, whose office is involved in the probe of this year's killings in Brentwood, said there is "no question" that gangs were recruiting young immigrants who had crossed into the U.S. without authorization. Brentwood, he said, "is becoming a border town."

"I don't think anyone would argue with the president-elect and Homeland Security removing criminal alien gang members from the streets of Brentwood. I think the residents of Brentwood deserve it," DeMarco said.

Trump has called for increased border security and deportations of undocumented immigrants with criminal records, but he hasn't unveiled specific details yet on his plan.

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Tim Sini said as part of a local law enforcement crackdown on the gang, six MS-13 members have been taken into federal custody and are expected to be charged under racketeering statutes. More than 50 others have been charged in state courts.

Sini won't identify any of the more than four dozen suspects, or say what they did. He insists the sweeps have resulted in a drop in violent crime.

He wouldn't comment on Trump's remarks.

__

Associated Press Writer Frank Eltman contributed to this report.

__

Follow Michael Balsamo on Twitter @MikeBalsamo1.
UPS driver killed when he stops for food; suspect surrenders

ITHACA, N.Y. (AP)  A UPS driver who had stopped for something to eat was shot and killed early Thursday in a Wal-Mart parking lot by a motorist who then ran over him and later surrendered to authorities after an hourslong standoff at a nearby home, police and company officials said.

Ithaca police said driver William Schumacher, 52, was shot around 12:50 a.m. outside a 24-hour superstore in the city in upstate New York. Thirty-eight-year-old Justin Barkley surrendered about nine hours later, and police said they were still trying to determine a motive for the shooting.

Both men lived near Ithaca in central New York  Schumacher in Candor and Barkley in Dryden. But police said they did not know each other and had no prior interaction with one another.

Barkley was charged with second-degree murder and sent to jail without bail.

Susan Rosenberg, a spokeswoman for the Atlanta-based package delivery company, said the driver was a seasonal employee who had stopped to get something to eat during his overnight shift. She said he was about four weeks into his second stint as a seasonal driver of a tractor-trailer hauling packages between UPS processing hubs.

"We're very saddened by the situation," Rosenberg said.

When officers arrived at the scene, they found Schumacher on the pavement and a vehicle fleeing the scene, police said. Other police officers spotted a car that matched the description of the vehicle, and attempted to pull the car over. Ithaca Police Chief John Barber said the driver didn't stop until reaching a driveway at a home in Dryden, just east of Ithaca.

Barkley exited the vehicle, fired a shot at police and ran into the house, believed to be his own, officials said. No one was hit by the gunfire. No one else was inside the home when the suspect barricaded himself inside, police said.

A police negotiator and SWAT team arrived as officers surrounded the house and evacuated nearby homes. Barber said the suspect surrendered at around 9:45 a.m. after the negotiator spoke with him through a robot the SWAT team inserted into the home.

"The community is a safer place with this man off the streets," Barber said.
Giraffes in danger of extinction as population plunges by up to 40%

Giraffes are being pushed towards extinction, with the global population plummeting by up to 40% over the past 30 years, conservationists have said.

The world's tallest land mammal has been classed as vulnerable to extinction on the latest global Red List of Threatened Species, following declines driven by habitat loss, illegal hunting and civil unrest in the African countries where it lives.

The assessment also revealed a worsening situation for African grey parrots, regularly kept as pets and with the ability to mimic human speech, which are now classed as endangered because of unsustainable trapping for trade and habitat loss.

The giraffe, the world's tallest land mammal, has been classed as vulnerable to extinction

More than 700 newly recognised bird species have been assessed for the n ew update of the Red List, produced by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), with more than one in 10 found to be at risk of dying out.

IUCN director general Inger Anderson said: "Many species are slipping away before we can even describe them.

"This IUCN Red List update shows that the scale of the global extinction crisis may be even greater than we thought."

She urged governments at the latest meeting of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, which aims to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of nature, to step up their efforts to protect the planet's wildlife.

There are now 85,604 species assessed for the Red List, of which more than a quarter - 24,307 - are threatened with extinction, being classed as critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable.

Giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis), widespread across southern and eastern Africa with smaller sub-populations in west and central Africa, are now considered to be at risk.

Numbers have declined from around 151,702 to 163,452 animals in 1985 to 97,562 individuals in 2015, the IUCN said, with a growing human population having a negative impact.

The loss of habitat through expansion agriculture and mining, illegal hunting, increasing conflict between people and wildlife and civil unrest are all taking their toll.

The latest Red List also includes the reassessment of all bird species, including 742 newly recognised birds, 11% of which are under threat, including the Antioquia wren which is endangered as a single dam project could wipe out half its habitat.

Wild oats, barley, mango and other wild relatives of crops that humans rely on have been assessed for the first time for the Red List. The species are increasingly important to food security, as they could provide new varieties that are more resilient to extreme conditions such as drought.

The assessment listed four mango species as endangered and the Kalimantan mango was classed as extinct in the wild.

A wild relative of the chickpea that is native to Iran and Turkey has been listed as endangered due to the conversion of its habitat for agriculture.
Saudi Arabia 'playing proxy wars' in Middle East, says Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson has accused British ally Saudi Arabia of "playing proxy wars" in the Middle East.

Footage has emerged of the Foreign Secretary lumping the state in with Iran when he raised concerns about "puppeteering" in the region.

Mr Johnson was addressing a conference in Rome when he talked of politicians "twisting and abusing religion" to further their political aims.

Footage has emerged of the Foreign Secretary lumping Saudi Arabia in with Iran when he raised concerns about "puppeteering" in the Middle East

The video, published by The Guardian, from the Med 2 event last week comes as Prime Minister Theresa May arrives back from a visit to the Gulf where she attended a dinner with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.

Mr Johnson said: "There are politicians who are twisting and abusing religion and different strains of the same religion in order to further their own political objectives. That's one of the biggest political problems in the whole region.

"And the tragedy for me - and that's why you have these proxy wars being fought the whole time in that area - is that there is not strong enough leadership in the countries themselves."

The Foreign Secretary said there were not enough "big characters " in the region who were willing to "reach out beyond their Sunni or Shia" group.
Hundreds of police accused of abusing power for sexual gain, watchdog reveals

Hundreds of police officers have been accused of abusing their power to sexually exploit people, including vulnerable victims of crime, a damning report has revealed.

Watchdogs laid bare the scale of the issue they described as the most serious form of corruption - and rebuked forces over their efforts to root out cases.

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) was asked by then home secretary Theresa May earlier this year to investigate the extent of the problem.

A report has identified more than 400 claims of police officers abusing their authority for sexual gain over two years

HMIC's initial findings identified more than 400 claims of abuse of authority for sexual gain over two years.

But HM Inspector Mike Cunningham said: "It is at least possible, probably likely, that the problem is more serious than the numbers that have been reported back to us.

"It's the most serious form of corruption. It is an exploitation of power where the guardian becomes an abuser.

"What can be worse than a guardian abusing the trust and confidence of an abused person? There can be no greater violation of public trust."

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said: "It is a matter of profound concern that any police officer should abuse their authority for sexual gain.

"The misconduct discovered in this report is shocking - it undermines justice and public confidence and there is no place in the police for anyone guilty of this sort of abuse."

Data collected by the watchdog identified 436 reported allegations of abuse of authority for sexual gain received by forces in England and Wales in the two years to the end of March.

The allegations covered a total of 334 police personnel, comprising 306 officers, 20 PCSOs and eight police staff.

All but one constabulary had at least one case, while more than a third (39%) of the allegations involved victims of domestic abuse.

Arrested suspects and people with drug or alcohol problems were also thought to be among those allegedly exploited.

While forces acknowledge the seriousness of the problem, some are still failing to recognise it as a serious form of corruption, the report warned.

Less than half (48%) of the 436 reported allegations had been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Figures also suggested there was an "apparent disconnect" between the numbers of alleged cases and sackings as a result.

Some counter-corruption units did not have the capability or capacity to seek intelligence on potential abuse of authority for sexual gain, the report warned.

It also found that almost half of forces inspected were unable to audit or monitor use of all IT systems - limiting how much information could be gathered to spot officers or staff who may be accessing databases to identify vulnerable victims.

Mr Cunningham said: "Forces need to become far more proactive in rooting out this most serious form of corruption, rather than only dealing with it once it has been reported."

He said the majority of officers and staff carry out their work with integrity and honesty - and are "appalled" at the corruption of their colleagues.

In the wake of the report, IPCC chair Dame Anne Owers has written to all chief constables in England and Wales urging them to ensure all cases regarding abuse of authority for sexual gain are referred.

She said: "While progress has been made, particularly in preventative and educational work, we are disappointed that a significant number of serious cases are still not being referred."

Mark Castle, chief executive of the charity Victim Support, described the allegations as "deeply concerning".

Elsewhere, HMIC raised concerns about levels of compliance with a national policy for vetting officers and staff.

Backlogs have built up, meaning many forces are failing to conduct regular checks on individuals after changes in their personal circumstances, or when they move from one post to another.

Overall, the watchdog said its police "legitimacy" assessment was positive, with high satisfaction among victims at how they are treated.

Two forces were graded as outstanding, 36 as good and five as requiring improvement.

Stephen Watson, National Police Chiefs' Council lead for counter-corruption, said: "Abuse of powers for sexual gain is a betrayal of our core responsibility to protect people from harm.

"It is the most serious form of corruption and it can never be justified or condoned.

"In recent years, we have focused on encouraging reporting and pursuing offenders.

"We now need to do more to continue to root out the disease and inoculate policing for the future.
Aid department examining contractor spending after figure soars to 1bn

The foreign aid department has said it is considering how to increase scrutiny of contractor spending after a newspaper investigation found it had soared to 1 billion a year.

Analysis of financial records from the Department for International Development (DfID) by The Times found spending on contractors from the foreign aid budget had doubled since 2012.

The newspaper said it found examples that included consultants being paid more than 1,000 a day, a UK think tank that quoted more than 10,000 to write a single blog post, and another that was given 23,000 to write a two-page document on policy.

The UK is one of only five countries to commit to a UN target of donating 0.7% of its GDP to foreign aid

One bank and a law firm shared 1 million to advise on Nigeria's sovereign wealth fund, while 40,000 was paid for celebrity speakers to appear at an aid conference in Mexico, The Times found.

The UK is one of only five countries to commit to a UN target of donating 0.7% of its GDP to foreign aid, totalling around 12.2 billion in 2015.

The surge in contractor spending is likely to raise concerns that taxpayers' money is flowing into private sector pay packets and projects that are bad value for money rather than helping the world's poorest people.

A DfID spokesman said: "DfID is one of the most transparent development agencies in the world and we expect the sector to adhere to the highest standards to achieve the best results for the world's poorest and value for money for the British taxpayer. UK Aid has a life-changing impact on the ground, but DfID can and will do more.

"The department is examining how we can increase scrutiny of contractor spending because if we want to defeat poverty for good, we need to improve value and impact across the aid system."

The Times analysed more than 70,000 documents disclosed by DfID that showed 38 billion of aid payouts between 2011 and 2015.

Consultancy spending reached 3.4 billion over the period, with two-thirds of contracts going to UK companies.

Justine Greening, now education secretary, was in charge at the department from 2012 to this year.
Andy Murray and Johanna Konta head list of six British stars at Australian Open

Great Britain have a guaranteed six players in the main draw of the Australian Open next month.

New world number one Andy Murray, Kyle Edmund and Dan Evans will all be in the men's first round in Melbourne while Johanna Konta, Heather Watson and Naomi Broady will compete in the women's singles.

Murray will be heading to his first grand slam as the top seed and will be hoping to finally win a tournament he has finished runner-up of five times, while Edmund and Evans, ranked 45th and 66th respectively, both head into 2017 on the back of their best-ever seasons.

Andy Murray will be top seed at a grand slam for the first time in Australia

Konta, born in Australia, will return to the scene of her first grand slam semi-final ranked in the top 10 after a stellar 2016 season saw her surge up the listings.

Watson (76th) and Broady (90th) also get in the main draw due to their ranking inside the top 100.
Control of National Grid gas pipe network sold to overseas consortium

National Grid has agreed to sell a 61% stake in Britain's 13.8 billion gas pipe network to a team of global investors including Chinese and Qatari buyers.

The deal will see a consortium led by Australian investment bank Macquarie - and including China's sovereign wealth fund - take control of the network serving 11 million homes and businesses.

UK power network operator National Grid pledged to return 4 billion to shareholders after the deal and will hand out a 150 million payment to benefit British energy customers.

National Grid will return 4 billion to shareholders after the gas pipe network deal

It will receive 3.6 billion cash for the stake in its gas arm, as well as a further 1.8 billion in debt financing.

National Grid will retain a 39% stake in the business, but said it was also in talks with the consortium over the sale of a potential further 14% shareholding.

It comes after the Government launched a review in September of how overseas investment in UK infrastructure is scrutinised and whether ministers should have stronger powers to intervene.

National Grid chief executive John Pettigrew sought to allay fears over security of supply and said the Government and energy regulator Ofgem had been closely involved in the sale process.

He told the Press Association: "The consortium will have exactly the same obligations going forward in terms of security, reliability and safety as National Grid has had.

"It involves a group of investors who have a long track record of investing in critical infrastructure in the UK."

National Grid has around 82,000 miles (more than 130,000km) of pipeline, which delivers gas to regions including London and the East of England, the West Midlands and north-west England.

It employs nearly 5,700 staff.

Mr Pettigrew said the gas network management team will remain in place, while staff will see their terms, conditions and pension rights remain the same.

Following the deal, National Grid plans to return most of the 4 billion to shareholders through a special dividend in the second quarter of 2017.

It will also work with Ofgem to decide how best to use the 150 million payout to benefit energy customers.

The auction for the gas network has been running for just over a year and saw the Macquarie consortium fight off a raft of competitors, including a team led by Chinese investors.

For the bid, Macquarie teamed up with China Investment Corporation - a subsidiary of China's sovereign wealth fund - as well as the Qatar Investment Authority, financial services giant Allianz Capital Partners, UK-based Hermes Investment Management and British fund managers Dalmore Capital and Amber Infrastructure Limited/International Public Partnerships.

Macquarie and China Investment Corporation will hold the two largest stakes, at 14.5% and 10.5% respectively, followed by Allianz with a 10.2% stake.

The Qataris will hold an 8.5% stake.

Macquarie owns Thames Water, but is currently looking for a buyer to take on the utility giant, while others in the consortium have also invested in the Tideway Tunnel and Heathrow.

But trade union Unison claimed Macquarie was an "unsuitable" owner given its track record with Thames Water.

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: "Macquarie has poor form already - in building up huge company debt, repatriating massive dividends to the southern hemisphere and charging customers more for a much poorer service.
Johnson's Saudi Arabia 'proxy wars' comment a personal view, not policy - May

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has been slapped down by Downing Street over his claim that British ally Saudi Arabia has been "playing proxy wars" in the Middle East.

Theresa May's official spokeswoman said the Prime Minister had "full confidence" in Mr Johnson but told reporters that his comments at a conference in Italy were his own personal view and did not reflect Government policy.

And she pointedly noted that Mr Johnson will have the opportunity to set out official policy - of Britain's desire to strengthen its ties with Saudi Arabia and support for its military involvement in Yemen - when he travels to the desert kingdom for talks on Sunday.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson

Mrs May spoke with King Salman during her visit to the Persian Gulf this week, when he was able to hear the PM assure him of "her commitment and that of her Government to enhancing and strengthening this relationship", said the spokeswoman.

The Guardian published footage of Mr Johnson's comments to the Med2 conference in Rome last week, in which he lumped Saudi Arabia in with Iran when he raised concerns about "puppeteering" in the region.

Mr Johnson said: "There are politicians who are twisting and abusing religion and different strains of the same religion in order to further their own political objectives. That's one of the biggest political problems in the whole region.

"And the tragedy for me - and that's why you have these proxy wars being fought the whole time in that area - is that there is not strong enough leadership in the countries themselves."

The Foreign Secretary said there were not enough "big characters " in the region who were willing to "reach out beyond their Sunni or Shia" group.

He told the conference: "That's why you've got the Saudis, Iran, everybody, moving in and puppeteering and playing proxy wars."

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "As the Foreign Secretary made very clear on Sunday, we are allies with Saudi Arabia and support them in their efforts to secure their borders and protect their people. Any suggestion to the contrary is wrong and misinterpreting the facts."

Mrs May's spokeswoman told a regular Westminster media briefing: "Those are the Foreign Secretary's views. They are not the Government's position on Saudi and its role in the region.

"The Foreign Secretary will be in the region this weekend. He will be in Saudi Arabia on Sunday and will have the opportunity to set out the way the UK sees its relationship with Saudi and the work we want to do with them and other partners to bring an end to the appalling conflict in Yemen."

Asked whether Mr Johnson was expected to apologise to the Saudi regime on Sunday, the spokeswoman said: "He will have meetings with senior representatives in Saudi Arabia and he will have the opportunity to set out the Government's position."

The spokeswoman confirmed that Mrs May speaks "regularly" to Mr Johnson, but declined to confirm whether they had talked since his comments became public.

"The Prime Minister has full confidence in the Foreign Secretary," she added.

The PM's spokeswoman said the UK had been clear in its support for the action of the Saudi-led coalition seeking to restore control of Yemen to its "legitimate government" after the actions of Houthi rebels threw the country into conflict in 2014.

"Saudi Arabia is playing an important role in Yemen and we support the actions of the coalition there," she said.

By contrast, the PM's spokeswoman said that Iran - which has been accused of supporting the Houthis - was "acting in a destabilising way in the region".

Britain backs investigations into alleged breaches of human rights by the Saudi-backed coalition in Yemen and has urged Riyadh to ensure they are completed and that any lessons learnt are acted on, she added.

the Liberal Democrats described Mr Johnson's comments as "a huge embarrassment" to the Prime Minister.

"For once Boris Johnson is talking sense, but his comments on Saudi's questionable role in Middle Eastern politics are completely at odds with official Government policy," said foreign affairs spokesman Tom Brake.

"This will be a huge embarrassment to May as she returns from her grubby tour of the Gulf, where she did her best to ignore human rights and desperately push trade at all costs."

Former Middle East minister Alistair Burt said Mr Johnson would have to "quickly repair" the damage caused by diverging from the Government position.

He told BBC Radio 4's World At One: "T here's no doubt where the strength of the relationship has to be.

"It has to be a very close one between Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister but ultimately it is the Prime Minister who sets the tone and direction of the Government."

He added: "Your comments made earlier that it is essential that the Foreign Secretary speaks and is seen to speak with the voice of the Government is very important and I expect that relationship will be very quickly repaired, because that's an important one.

"And the Foreign Secretary has to have the full confidence (from) the Prime Minister and those that work with him need to know that."

Mr Johnson is expected to deliver a keynote address at a major international conference in the Middle East starting on Friday.

His speech at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Manama Dialogue event in Bahrain will be closely watched following his comments about Saudi Arabia.

Dr John Chipman, director-general and chief executive of the IISS, said: "Each year, with this regional security summit, we take the temperature, measure the pulse, and analyse the direction of change in the Middle East.
Italian PM Renzi resigns, president to consult with parties

By Gavin Jones and Steve Scherer

ROME, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi resigned on Wednesday after a bruising referendum loss at the weekend, with most parliamentary factions pushing for an early election in a few months' time.

The 41-year-old's decision to quit after less than three years in office dealt a new blow to Western governments still in shock from Britain's vote to leave the European Union and the election of outsider Donald Trump as U.S. president.

Underscoring the financial risks that heavily indebted Italy faces, Moody's changed its outlook on the country's bond rating to negative from stable, saying prospects for much-needed economic reform had shrunk after Italians rejected Renzi's proposals to revise the constitution and streamline parliament.

Renzi tendered his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella, who said he would consult with political parties to decide the next steps. He asked Renzi to carry on in a caretaker capacity until a solution is found.

After the consultations, which will begin on Thursday at 1700 GMT and end on Saturday afternoon, Mattarella is widely expected to ask a member of Renzi's cabinet, or a politician from his Democratic Party, to try to form a new government.

Elections are due in 2018 but many politicians are calling for them to be held earlier.

The political crisis sparked by the referendum coincides with a crisis in Italy's debt-laden banks, especially at its third-biggest lender Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which looks likely to require government intervention to survive.

Two sources told Reuters on Tuesday that Renzi's administration was preparing to take a 2-billion-euro ($2.15-billion) controlling stake in the bank by purchasing junior bonds.

On Wednesday, a Treasury spokesman denied Italy was poised to ask for a loan from the European Stability Mechanism to support its banking sector.

QUICK VOTE

Renzi addressed his Democratic Party (PD) before meeting the president, saying the party would only participate in a government intended to last until 2018 if it was backed by all the main forces in parliament, a prospect which seems remote.

Otherwise early elections should be held as soon as possible, he said, after the Constitutional Court has ruled early next year on the legitimacy of the current electoral law.

"The PD is not afraid of going to early elections," he said.

Most opposition parties, including the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and the right-wing Northern League, are clamouring for a quick vote.

Northern League leader Matteo Salvini said on Wednesday his party would "take to the streets" if a clear indication of the timing of the next election had not been given within a week.

Infrastructure Minister Graziano Delrio, a close ally of Renzi, said an interim government should change the electoral law quickly so an election could be held "in the Spring".

Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia and a left-wing minority inside Renzi's PD want a new administration to be formed with the backing of the current parliament, perhaps to last until 2018, to give them time to resolve internal party battles.

Markets have reacted calmly to the political tensions, with the gap between Italian and German bond yields hitting 155 basis points on Wednesday, the tightest in about a month, having climbed as high as 193 points before Sunday's vote.

Although Moody's maintained its rating at Baa2, just two notches above junk status, it said the outlook had dimmed, with the chances of meaningful economic and fiscal reform receding.

"(There is) the rising risk that the stabilisation and reduction in Italy's large debt burden will be further deferred," the ratings agency warned.

It said it might consider cutting the rating at a future date, citing as one possible trigger "the need for a significant recapitalisation of banks by the government".
Retailer Wal-Mart de Mexico to invest $1.3 bln in Mexico

By Joanna Zuckerman Bernstein and Nandita Bose

MEXICO CITY/ CHICAGO, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Retailer Wal-Mart de Mexico said on Wednesday it will invest $1.3 billion in logistics in Latin America's No. 2 economy, in what is perceived as a show of commitment to Mexico at a time of uncertainty after the election of Donald Trump.

The investment in Mexico will not result in any jobs being moved from the United States, Wal-Mart spokeswoman Jo Warner told Reuters.

"The investment is funded by Walmex and is necessary for expansion of Wal-Mart's Mexican business," she said.

Warner did not comment on whether Wal-Mart had heard from Trump after it made the announcement in Mexico. She said the investment is not the same as companies moving jobs to Mexico.

Recently, United Technologies Corp's Carrier unit decided to keep half of the 2,100 Indiana jobs it was to shift to Mexico after the U.S. president-elect worked out an agreement with the company's CEO, Gregory Hayes.

The election has thrown Mexico's business world into uncertainty, as Trump has attacked U.S. companies investing south of the border and threatened to renegotiate or scrap a major trade agreement with Mexico.

A large part of Wal-Mart's investment will be over the next three years, including in back-end infrastructure, said the company's chief executive, Guilherme Loureiro. He said it would create some 10,000 permanent new jobs.

"It will involve the building of new distribution centers, as well as the expansion of ones we already have," he said at an event with President Enrique Pena Nieto at the president's office.

Loureiro said the company had already invested 80 billion pesos ($3.93 billion) in the past four years.

Wal-Mart has been looking to double sales in Mexico by 2024 by boosting its core business of running discount retail and membership stores, and expanding its fresh food business.

In August it sold its Suburbia clothing chain to El Puerto De Liverpool for about $852 million in order to streamline operations in the country.

At Wal-Mart's shareholder meeting in June, David Cheesewright, head of the overseas division, singled out the Mexican market as a top priority. Mexico has Wal-Mart's largest number of stores outside the United States.
Argentina gov't maintains 2017 growth forecast as banks cut theirs

BUENOS AIRES, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Two senior Argentine government officials reiterated on Wednesday a forecast for 3.5 percent economic growth next year, despite recent reductions in projections below that level by banks and consultants.

Latin America's third-largest economy remains in recession one year into center-right President Mauricio Macri's term, as a promised return to growth in the second half of 2016 has failed to materialize despite Macri's market-oriented reforms.

The government has projected a return to growth in 2017, which is crucial for Macri's coalition to avoid losing ground in legislative elections next year. While private economists agree the economy will rebound, they have cut their growth forecasts in recent weeks as indicators show continued sluggishness.

"We have a projection for 3.5 percent growth for next year," Finance Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay said in an interview on Argentina's Radio La Red. "In general, it's a projection shared by almost all economists and almost all consultants."

In a Nov. 18 note, Goldman Sachs & Co forecast 2017 growth at 2.7 percent. JPMorgan Chase & Co revised its projection down to 3.2 percent growth from 3.4 percent growth in a Nov. 10 note.

Last Friday, a monthly central bank survey of 58 economists showed median expectations for 2017 growth at 3.0 percent, down from 3.2 percent in the previous month's survey.

The economists also projected a median contraction of 2.3 percent in 2016, down from 2 percent the prior month, compared with the government's forecast for a 1.5 percent decline.

Cabinet Chief Marcos Pena told reporters certain factors, such as recession in neighboring Brazil, had been worse than expected.

"The 3.5 percent (for 2017) we maintain... and we still don't have the official number for this year," Pena said.

In the radio interview, Prat-Gay noted that the agriculture sector, which has benefited from Macri's lifting of export taxes on corn and wheat, showed signs of dynamism. He said construction activity had grown in November from a year earlier. Official data for November has not been released.

Public spending on infrastructure projects ahead of the elections is also expected to help the economy rebound, Pena said, noting that Macri inaugurated an airport in Mendoza on Wednesday and that more works are under way.
Czech Republic - Factors To Watch on Dec 8

PRAGUE, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Czech financial markets on Thursday. ALL TIMES GMT (Czech Republic: GMT + 1 hours) =========================ECONOMIC DATA========================== Real-time economic data releases.................... Summary of economic data and forecasts........... Recently released economic data.................. Previous stories on Czech data............. **For a schedule of corporate and economic events: http://emea1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/Apps/CountryWeb/#/2E/events-overview ==========================EVENTS================================ UNEMPLOYMENT - November unemployment data at 9 a.m. (0800 GMT). Market expects stagnation at 5.0 percent. PARLIAMENT - The lower house continues session. The main item was the 2017 budget which was approved on Wednesday. ECB - ECB's decision at on the future of its asset-buying programme will be watched for possible impact on Czech policy decisions on scrapping a floor for the euro/crown exchange rate next year (1.45 p.m. 1235 GMT). ==========================NEWS================================== BUDGET APPROVED: The Czech lower house of parliament gave final approval on Wednesday to the 2017 central state budget plan with a deficit of 60 billion crowns ($2.38 billion) after an unexpected surplus this year. Story: Related stories: CENTRAL BANK INTERVENTIONS HIT HIGH: The Czech central bank bought foreign currency worth 3.96 billion euros in the market in October to keep the crown weak, it said on Wednesday, the highest monthly amount since launching its weak-currency policy in 2013. Story: Related stories: POOR OUTPUT DATA FOR OCTOBER: Czech industrial output fell 1.7 percent year-on-year in October and missed expectations for a slight rise, hit by a drop in the car sector and electronics production, data from the Czech Statistics Bureau (CSU) showed on Wednesday. Story: Related stories: ECB NOT MAIN ISSUE FOR CZECH POLICY: The Czech National Bank will take into account mainly the domestic economy and not just European Central Bank actions in its decision-making on when to end its crown intervention regime, Vice-Governor Mojmir Hampl said on Wednesday. Story: Related stories: CEE MARKETS: Central European sovereign bonds firmed on Wednesday with investors anticipating more stimulus from the European Central Bank, while the Polish zloty firmed as the central bank kept rates on hold and looked set to maintain its hawkish outlook. Story: Related stories: ---------------------- MARKET SNAPSHOT ------------------------ Index/Crown Currency Latest Prev Pct change Pct change close on day in 2016 vs Euro 27.035 27.052 0.06 -0.14 vs Dollar 25.087 25.452 1.43 -0.91 Czech Equities 894.24 894.24 -0.07 -6.49 U.S. Equities 19,549.62 19,251.78 1.55 12.19 Pvs close or current levels vs prior domestic close at 1600 GMT ======================PRESS DIGEST============================== SALES REPORTING: The Finance Ministry will give away 65 million crowns in prizes every year in a lottery of shopping receipts. Under a new law, a receipt that can be cross-checked with tax office database must be issued for all purchases from pubs, restaurants ad hotels, and in the future from nearly all retail outlets. Pravo, page 3 AIR DEFENCE: The Slovak government approved a treaty under which the Czech Republic and Slovakia will intensify cooperation in protecting their airspace. Air forces will be able to operate in the other treaty country. Pravo, page 4 PENSIONS: Half of Czech pensioners get pensions below 11,230 crowns per month. Ten percent have income below 8,522 crowns. Lidove Noviny, page 4 CEFC: The anti-monopoly office approved China's CEFC acquisition of Florentinum, an office building in Prague, from Penta Investments. Price was not revealed but has been reported at around 283 million euros. Hospodarske Noviny, page 17 (Reuters has not verified the stories nor does it vouch for their accuracy.) For real-time stock market index quotes click in brackets: Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX For updates on CEE currencies TOP NEWS -- Emerging markets Prague Newsroom: +420 224 190 477 E-mail: prague.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com ($1 = 25.4510 Czech crowns) (Reporting by Prague Newsroom)
PRESS DIGEST - RUSSIA - Dec 8

MOSCOW, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The following are some stories in Russia's newspapers on Thursday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

VEDOMOSTI

www.vedomosti.ru

- Igor Sechin has sold a stake in Rosneft, the oil major he runs, for 10.5 billion euros in a deal that looks like a profitable one, the daily says.

- Russia has expanded a list of foreign-made medicines which the state is prohibited from buying, despite protests from doctors and patients.

- Rosneft has increased capital in its own bank, the mid-sized Russian Regional Development Bank, by four times to 116 billion roubles ($1.83 billion) by investing 88 billion roubles ($1.39 billion), the daily says.

- Russia's anti-monopoly watchdog has allowed an agricultural holding linked to the family of Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev to purchase the Parus Agro Group, one of the five leading agricultural companies in southern Russia.

KOMMERSANT

www.kommersant.ru

- The privatisation of a stake in Russian oil major Rosneft has taken place despite pessimistic forecasts, the daily says, adding that the companies involved in the deal may enjoy some special privileges to compensate them for their expenses.

- Aeroflot has cancelled 128 flights from Moscow in the last few days due to bad weather, but experts suspect there may be some commercial reasons for the action too, the daily says.

IZVESTIA

www.izvestia.ru

- Russia will send the "Vostok" and "Zapad" military units, which are mostly made up of Chechens, to guard its Hmeymim air base in Syria, the daily says, citing its sources.

NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA

www.ng.ru

- Russians are increasingly buying cheap food products, the daily says, referring to official statistics and opinion polls.

ROSSIISKAYA GAZETA

www.rg.ru

- The government has drafted a bill that envisages up to 10 years in prison for hackers who take part in cyber attacks.
Hong Kong stocks up for 3rd day, China concerns limit gains

Dec 8 (Reuters) - Hong Kong stocks rose for the third straight session on Thursday, drawing some support from Wall Street although demand was tempered by weakness in mainland shares after China's falling foreign exchange reserves deepened capital outflow concerns.

The benchmark Hang Seng index pared some early gains and added 0.3 percent at the close, to 22,861.84 points, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index gained 0.7 percent, to 9,896.82 points.

Wall Street surged overnight, with the Dow Industrials and S&P 500 both hitting fresh records, extending their gains since Republican Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential vote last month.

Still, the upside was limited by a softer close for mainland shares after China's foreign exchange reserves fell far more than expected in November to the lowest level in nearly six years.

The reserves data also seemed to have offset any enthusiasm from solid trade numbers for the world's second-biggest economy.

Most sectors in Hong Kong rose, with industrial and resource shares leading the gains.

Trade remained thin as investors were looking ahead to the outcome of a European Central Bank policy meeting later in the day.
PRESS DIGEST - Bulgaria - Dec 8

SOFIA, Dec 8 (Reuters) - These are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Thursday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

-- The Bulgarian Socialist Party returned the mandate to form a government. The president will hand a mandate to the Reformist bloc on Monday in his last attempt to have a government within the current parliament. If the third attempt fails, the president will have to appoint an interim government. (Trud, 24 Chasa, Capital Daily, Monitor, Sega, Standart, Duma)

-- Three companies have expressed interest to build Bulgaria's nuclear power project Belene, deputy prime minister Tomislav Donchev said. The outgoing government wants to privatise the project without offering long-term power purchase agreements. If that option fails, Bulgaria may see the sell the nuclear equipment it will pay to Russia's Rosatom by the end of the week, he said. (Trud, Duma, Monitor, Sega, Standart, 24 Chasa)

-- Joining the euro zone will be among the priorities in the work of the central bank in the next years, Central Bank Governor Dimitar Radev said. (24 Chasa, Capital Daily, Standart, Trud)
TUI Group forecasts profit growth of 10 pct a year until 2019

By Sarah Young

LONDON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - TUI Group, Europe's largest travel company, announced an extended profit forecast on Thursday in a show of confidence after posting 12.5 percent annual core earnings growth despite disruption as holidaymakers avoided destinations such as Turkey.

TUI said it was extending its guidance for profit to rise by at least 10 percent a year to its 2018/19 financial year from the 2017/18 period, citing its strong outlook, and future investment in hotels and cruises.

"The transformation of the business from a trading company into a integrated company with hotels and cruises at the core of the business will deliver the results," Chief Executive Fritz Joussen told reporters.

Barclays analysts called TUI's profit guidance "robust in a challenging environment".

Looking to its new financial year, TUI said winter bookings were up 5 percent, while for the summer season, when it makes the bulk of its profit, bookings from the UK market were up 9 percent, TUI said, driven by demand for holidays to long-haul destinations in the Caribbean, Mexico and United States.

That growing appetite for holidays further afield helped TUI post core earnings growth of 12.5 percent in its 2015/2016 financial year, despite a difficult geopolitical backdrop.

Holidaymakers turned their backs on formerly popular Turkey in 2016 after a series of bombings and a failed coup, forcing travel companies to shift customers to Spanish and Portuguese destinations in the western Mediterranean.

TUI was less impacted by the Turkish issue than its smaller rival Thomas Cook, the market leader in that country.

Both companies, however, also had to contend with Britain's vote in June to leave the European Union, which sent the value of the pound plunging, and led to worries that Britons would have less money to spend on holidays.

But to date, British holidaymakers have not been affected.

"If you think about Brexit, I would say I don't see a negative impact," Joussen said.

"The early bookings are indicating that it will be a good summer also next year despite Brexit."

TUI said that at constant currency rates, core underlying profit (EBITA) came in at 1.030 billion euros ($1.11 billion) in the 12 months ended Sept. 30, up 12.5 percent compared to the year before, and in line with its forecast for growth of between 12 and 13 percent.

Shares in TUI, which also said a plan to sell its Travelopia arm was on track, traded up 0.6 percent to 1,072.5 pence at 0920 GMT.
Airlines to see profit fall in 2017 as oil rises - IATA

GENEVA, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Airlines will make less profit in 2016 than previously expected and profits will fall in 2017 with oil prices rising and demand slowing, the International Air Transport Association said on Thursday.

IATA, representing some 265 airlines accounting for 83 percent of global air traffic, is now forecasting they will make a collective net profit of $35.6 billion this year, against a previous forecast for $39.4 billion.

For 2017, it expects profit will fall to $29.8 billion, breaking a streak of five years of profit growth.

However, at a predicted 7.9 percent, the industry's return on capital is also expected to exceed the cost of capital in 2017 for the third year in a row, a boost for investors in the sector.
Brussels recommends sending asylum-seekers back to Greece from March

By Gabriela Baczynska

BRUSSELS, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The European Union's executive said on Thursday that member states should be allowed to send some asylum-seekers back to Greece from mid-March, in a step Brussels hopes will help restore the bloc's migration policies, which collapsed under a mass influx last year.

Under EU rules, the first country of entry is responsible for handling an asylum claim, but that system broke down last year in Greece, the main gateway to Europe for more than a million refugees and migrants.

Unable to cope, Greece let many of them pass through on their own to Germany and other wealthy EU states in defiance of the bloc's rules. That led countries along the route gradually to close their borders, stranding many in Greece, which struggled to offer them proper shelter.

The European Commission on Thursday said Greece has improved in hosting and registering arriving asylum-seekers.

It recommended that EU states be allowed to send back to Greece asylum-seekers who enter the bloc that way and make it deeper into Europe from mid-March onwards. The recommendation does not apply to those who have already made that journey.

"This will provide further disincentives against irregular entry and secondary movements, and is an important step for the return to a normally functioning ... system," the Commission's deputy head, Frans Timmermans.

The bloc's asylum policy and its zone of internal free travel both collapsed last year as an uncontrolled flow of migrants and refugees triggered bitter disputes between EU states on how to handle them.

These disputes remain unresolved and more than 62,000 people are still in Greece, even though an EU agreement with Turkey in March reduced the arrivals to a trickle.

The failure is in large part due to reluctance by EU states to take in people from Greece and Italy to help process their asylum requests and ease the burden on the two frontline states.

So far, fewer than 8,200 people have been moved from these two Mediterranean countries to other EU states under a plan that was supposed to cover 160,000 people and which expires next September. The Commission called on EU states to step up.

"Our aim is to relocate all those in Italy and Greece who are eligible for relocation within the next year," said the bloc's migration chief, Dimitris Avramopoulos.

Brussels put additional conditions on returning people beyond March, saying Greece should give individual assurances of fair treatment for any returnees and that unaccompanied children not be sent back at all.

Obligatory quotas on refugees are now the focus of a tug of war between EU states seeking to reform their troubled common asylum rules.

The Commission said arrivals from Turkey to Greece stood at an average of 92 people a day since March, compared to thousands that were making at times making it in a single day before the deal with Ankara. It said 1,187 people have been deported from Greece to Turkey since March 2016.
Egyptian women's rights advocate Azza Soliman freed on bail

CAIRO, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Egyptian women's rights advocate Azza Soliman was freed on bail late on Wednesday after being accused by an investigating judge of establishing an illegal entity and receiving foreign funding to harm Egypt, her foundation and fellow activists said.

Soliman, founder of the Center for Egyptian Women's Legal Assistance (CEWLA), was freed after paying a 20,000 pound ($1,000) bond, the organisation announced on Twitter. She had been detained by police earlier in the day.

There was no immediate comment from the Interior Ministry. Soliman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Egyptian human rights defenders say they face the worst government clampdown in their history, with active members and groups accused of fomenting unrest during the 2011 uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak's 30 years in power.

Several non-governmental organisations (NGOs), most involved in rights work, are embroiled in the long-running investigation, accused of receiving foreign funds to destabilise the country.

Fellow activists who attended proceedings said Soliman was accused of tax evasion, establishing an illegal entity and receiving foreign funds to harm Egypt.

In September, a court froze the assets of five prominent human rights activists and three NGOs on similar grounds, paving the way to a criminal trial that could lead to life sentences.

NGOs say they have felt exposed since late 2011, when authorities raided 17 pro-democracy and rights groups.

In 2013, a court ordered the closure of several foreign groups, including U.S.-based Freedom House, and gave jail sentences to 43 NGO staff including 15 Americans who fled.

A case against dozens of Egyptian NGOs and lawyers was never closed but was largely dormant until this year.

Soliman was one of a number of activists, lawyers and journalists banned from leaving Egypt in the last month alone.

She said last week that she was turned back on Nov. 19 at Cairo airport. Soliman later discovered that her assets and those of her group had been frozen.

The escalation comes amid moves to restrict the activities of civil society.

In November, parliament passed a law to regulate NGOs, which rights groups say effectively bans their work and makes it harder for development groups and charities to operate.

The bill bans domestic and foreign groups from political activities or doing anything that harms national security, public order, public morals or public health - a means, critics say, to stifle dissent.
Italian bank Intesa to help fund Rosneft deal for Glencore and Qatar - sources

By Dmitry Zhdannikov and Darya Korsunskaya

LONDON/MOSCOW, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo is expected to provide a consortium of Qatar and commodities trader Glencore with sizeable funds to help finance their purchase of a stake in Russian oil company Rosneft, two sources familiar with the transaction said.

Intesa declined to say whether it was helping finance the deal, announced by the Kremlin, which said on Wednesday it had sold a 19.5 percent government stake in Rosneft for 10.5 billion euros ($11.3 billion) to Qatar's sovereign wealth fund and Glencore.

The bank, Italy's biggest retail lender, has deep ties in Russia and advised state-owned Rosneft on the sale of the 19.5 percent stake.

Wednesday's announcement showed the Kremlin can lure big foreign investors to its oil sector despite political risks associated with Russia, which is locked in a stand-off with the West over conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

"Russia's upstream is now firmly back on the map as an attractive place to invest despite more than two years of EU/US sanctions," said Michael Moynihan, Research Director for Russia at Wood Mackenzie.

But some Russian financial and industry sources raised questions about the deal. The sale valued Rosneft's assets at considerably less than it paid to acquire similar assets in the past, according to Reuters calculations.

It is also unclear exactly what Glencore's status in the Rosneft ownership structure will be and there are questions about where Rosneft will find the volumes of oil it agreed to sell to Glencore as part of the deal.

Italy has maintained close ties with the Kremlin despite European Union sanctions on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.

Glencore stands to benefit from access to additional Rosneft volumes for its trading business and this should help it compete with rival Trafigura, which has been Rosneft's preferred trading partner.

Glencore, whose stock rose 3 percent on Thursday to an 18-month high, said it would finance part of the deal by putting up 300 million euros of its own equity.

It also said that other than its modest equity injection, it would not have any economic exposure to the shares in Rosneft, Russia's top oil producer. It did not say who would have the exposure instead.

VALUE FOR MONEY?

Several oil market participants told Reuters that for Rosneft to provide Glencore with the additional 220,000 barrels a day set out in the deal, it would probably have to reduce volumes going elsewhere.

"Since Glencore has become a shareholder, it will definitely want preferential rights to buying oil and oil products," said a trader on the Russian oil market. "It's very possible Trafigura will have to give up its leading position."

Rosneft declined to comment on the allocation of volumes.

The deal was announced days after Russia and OPEC -- dominated by Saudi Arabia and its allies Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait -- agreed on coordinated output cuts to support oil prices.

Rosneft had been under pressure to secure a sale of the stake to help replenish the state budget, hit by an economic slowdown worsened by the international sanctions.

But this meant selling at a time when, with world oil prices low, the value of oil assets is far below historical levels.

Russia sold its share in Rosneft's oil production for about half the price at which Rosneft has previously acquired domestic oil production assets, according to Reuters calculations based on publicly-available data.

The amount which Qatar and Glencore paid per barrel of production can be earned back by selling that production in about a year, the calculations showed.

When Rosneft bought Russian producer TNK-BP in 2013, it paid a price that would have taken just over two years to earn back, according to the calculations.

"The way it works out is that the state, in the shape of Rosneft, buys expensive assets, and then sells off the combined assets for several times less. It's clear there's a strategic miscalculation," said a source close to the Russian government, on condition of anonymity.
As solar power expands the work day, incomes rise in eastern Kenya

By Kagondu Njagi

EMBU, Kenya, Dec 8 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Violet Karimi spends her days as she always has, attending to household chores and working on her farm.

But when the sun goes down, she now has a second job, thanks to the arrival of solar lights in this town in eastern Kenya.

Each evening the widow leaves her three children studying at home by the light of a solar lantern and takes fruit and vegetables harvested on her farm to sell in Embu's open air market.

"I collect my stock and head to the market where I trade until late in the evening," said the 36-year-old. "This is possible because the solar lights in the market and the rest of Embu town are switched on the whole night."

On a good day, she said, she can bring home as much as $30 - at least three times as much as she could sell in a shorter evening, before the lights made longer trading hours possible.

"Customers want to shop in the evening because that is when they leave work," she said. "The solar lighting has encouraged them to stay and buy as long as they like."

Solar energy - for lighting and to power businesses - is gaining a foothold across rural Kenya. In towns like Embu it is opening the way for new businesses, or new business hours, and giving families a chance to boost their incomes.

SAFER, RICHER

Karimi says the solar lights that shine over the Embu market each evening have other benefits as well. Even after working late into the evening at the market, she feels comfortable hiring a motorbike taxi to take her home.

"The streets are well lit with solar energy and so I am not afraid of traveling at night because there is security," she said.

Others in Embu County have seen benefits for their businesses from the installation of the small solar grids, which collect solar energy, store some of it in batteries for use at night, and distribute it to customers.

Joe Njiru pays $10 a month to the Embu County solar micro grid, but makes five times as much from his bar business, he said.

The bar's eight light bulbs and satellite TV help keep customers chatting, debating local politics, and buying his beer past midnight.

Two years ago, few customers would stay past 8 pm, he said. The bar had a power connection to the national grid, but was often beset by power outages.

"Every day there were blackouts in the evening because that is when people with illegal connections would interfere with electricity as they tried to switch on," said Njiru. "Customers could not stay long because they feared to be mugged on their way home."

Energy company officials also sometimes visited to disconnect his power, saying he had not paid his monthly bill, Njiru said.

Now he uses a mobile phone banking system, M-Pesa, to top up his monthly credit.

"For us, investing in the solar project is a double win," said Embu County Governor Martin Wambora. "Solar energy is cheaper to maintain in the long term and puts us in solidarity with the world's push for a global green economy."

HIGH COSTS FOR POWER HUNGRY

That's not to say solar energy is working for everyone. Susan Muthoni, for instance, would like to invest in a laundry business.

But to power a washing machine and a refrigerator for serving soft drinks to customers she would have to pay as much as $150 every month in energy costs to the Embu County micro grid because of the large amount of energy the items consume.

A typical solar energy customer, who uses the power to light up their home and run a welding business, pays about $10 a month, said Francis Muchiri, the communication and knowledge management officer with Advocacy for Gender and Energy in Kenya.

"This is where development partners should come in and support solar micro grids with finances so that they can be able to expand their generation and storage capacity," said Lois Gicheru, the chief executive officer of Solafrique Ltd., an enterprise that works with African communities to help them access renewable energy.

Solar advocates say that with solar lighting established, Kenya's counties should now focus on generating enough power to run businesses.
BRIEF-Chinese nuclear group CGN buys part of Gaelectric's Irish wind portfolio

BEIJING, Dec 8 (Reuters) - China General Nuclear Power Corp (CGN) announced on Thursday that its French subsidiary has acquired part of Irish renewable energy company Gaelectric's wind portfolio:

* Paris-based CGN Europe Energy SAS (CGNEE) bought 230MW of wind energy assets from Gaelectric Holdings plc, CGN said in a statement.

* It did not disclose how much it had paid, but claimed the deal was the biggest investment by a Chinese company in Ireland by far.

* The wind assets comprise 10 operating wind farms with capacity of 184 MW. A further four wind farms, or 46 MW, is set to operate by mid-2017, Gaelectric said in a separate statement.

* "The portfolio is sufficient to meet the electricity needs of around 120,000 homes, avoiding greenhouse gas emissions of the equivalent of around 250,000 tonnes of CO2," said Gaelectric's CEO Barry Gavin.

* CGNEE has made several moves in the renewable energy market this year. In July, it won the tender, along with French group Eolfi, for a floating offshore wind power project off the island of Groix, in Brittany, France. In September it bought Belgium's largest onshore wind farm, Esperance, and in November CGNEE bought 90 percent of shares in a 44MW Senegal solar project from Malicounda.
Iraqi troops pull out from Mosul hospital after fierce battle

By Ahmed Rasheed, Saif Hameed and Isabel Coles

BAGHDAD/MOSUL, Iraq, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Iraqi troops who briefly seized a Mosul hospital believed to be used as an Islamic State base were forced to withdraw from the site, but managed to establish a base for army tanks nearby after days of fierce back-and-forth fighting, residents said.

The rapid advance into the Wahda neighbourhood where the hospital is located marked a change of tactic after a month of fighting in east Mosul in which the army has sought to capture and clear neighbourhoods block by block.

The ferocity of the fighting reflects the importance of the army's push from southeast Mosul towards the centre, their deepest advance in a gruelling seven-week offensive to crush Islamic State in Iraq's largest northern city.

The soldiers seized Salam hospital, less than a mile (just over 1 km) from the Tigris river running through central Mosul, on Tuesday but pulled back the next day after they were attacked by six suicide car bombs and "heavy enemy fire", according to a statement by the U.S.-led coalition supporting Iraqi forces.

Coalition warplanes, at Iraq's request, also struck a building inside the hospital complex from which the militants were firing machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, it said.

The soldiers involved in the action are at the spearhead of a U.S.-backed, 100,000-strong coalition of Iraqi forces including the army, federal police, Kurdish peshmerga fighters and mainly Shi'ite Popular Mobilisation forces battling to crush Islamic State in Mosul.

In another part of Mosul already recaptured by government troops, Iraqi police fired shots in the air and threatened to whip crowds with a hose as residents tried to overrun the first distribution of aid by UN agencies inside the city.

The distribution aimed to reach 45,000 people in total at several locations. As word of the aid spread, residents of the Zuhour neighbourhood flocked to a boys' primary school chosen as a distribution point.

Hundreds surged forward against just a handful of men pushing to close the gate. They burst through, and began climbing over the walls and pushing in through the exit until the police, firing shots in the air and wielding long sticks, managed to regain control.

Saad Salih, 56, came in an electric wheelchair, pushed by a neighbour because there was no electricity in Mosul to charge it. "We need everything," Salih said.

"GATES OF HELL"

Defeating the militants in their Iraq stronghold would mark a major step in rolling back the caliphate declared by the jihadists in parts of Syria and Iraq when they took over Mosul in mid-2014.

But with two years to prepare themselves, retreating fighters have waged a lethal defence, deploying hundreds of suicide car bombers, mortar barrages and snipers against the advancing soldiers and exploiting a network of tunnels to ambush them in residential areas.

Soldiers from the army's Ninth Armoured division were left exposed on Tuesday after punching into the Wahda neighbourhood.

"When we advanced first into Wahda, Daesh (Islamic State) showed little resistance and we thought they had fled," an officer briefed on the operation told Reuters by telephone. "But once we took over the hospital, the gates of hell opened wide."

"They started to appear and attack from every corner, every street and every house near the hospital," said the officer, who declined to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media. He said insurgents may also have used a tunnel network reaching into the hospital complex itself.

A nurse at the hospital said that when the Iraqi army approached on Tuesday, Islamic State guards removed the militants being treated there, including some field commanders. Staff and civilian patients took shelter in the basement as fighting erupted around the hospital half an hour later.

A resident who lives just 300 metres away, a veteran of Iraq's eight-year war with Iran in the 1980s, said he had never seen such fierce fighting.

"It was very violent warfare - they used all sorts of weapons, it's not traditional war. There were explosives, suicide attackers, mortar barrages and planes, everything," he told Reuters by telephone.

After three days of fighting, Iraqi tanks and armoured vehicles had managed to assemble at a site in the Wahda neighbourhood, a resident said.

"LIKE GHOSTS"

The statement by the coalition said Iraqi troops "fought off several counter-attacks and six VBIEDs (car bombs) ... before retrograding a short distance, under heavy enemy fire".

The Iraqi officer said that when the troops were inside the hospital complex, fighting off the militants, they came under attack from suicide bombers who he said either infiltrated through tunnels or had been hiding in the hospital grounds.

"We don't know, they were like ghosts," he said.

Iraq does not give casualty figures or report on its equipment losses, but the officer said 20 soldiers were killed and around 20 armoured vehicles were destroyed or damaged.

Those figures could not be confirmed. Islamic State's Amaq news agency said more than 20 military vehicles were destroyed and dozens of soldiers killed. It showed a picture of a smouldering tank, its turret blown off, next to a crater.

Around 280 km (175 miles) southwest of Mosul dozens of people, mainly civilians, were killed on Wednesday in air strikes which hit a western Iraqi town close to the border with Syria, local parliamentarians and hospital sources said.

They said the strikes hit a busy market area in the Islamic State-held town of Qaim, in the overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim province of Anbar. Among the victims were 12 women and 19 children.

An Iraqi military statement said Iraqi air force planes conducted air strikes "on a terrorist hideout" in the area shortly after noon on Wednesday, as well as a second attack on an unspecified location.
Iraq's parliament speaker demands inquiry into deadly Qaim air strikes

By Saif Hameed

BAGHDAD, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Iraq's parliament speaker called on Thursday for a government inquiry into air strikes on an Islamic State-held western border town which local politicians said had killed around 60 people, mostly civilians.

Hospital sources and two parliamentarians said the air strikes killed dozens of civilians, including 12 women and 19 children on Wednesday in a market district of the town of Qaim, close to the border with Syria.

Parliament speaker Salim al-Jabouri, the most senior Sunni Muslim politician in mainly Shi'ite-ruled Iraq, said the air strikes targeted "civilian shopping centres, causing the martyrdom and wounding of dozens", and called for the perpetrators to be punished.

"The speaker holds the government responsible for such mistakes, asking them to open an immediate inquiry to find out the truth of the incident and to guarantee that civilians are not targeted again," his office said.

Iraq's joint military command, responding more than 24 hours after the incident, criticised media and politicians for telling what it said was a "fake story" from Qaim. It said the town, and all information coming from it, was controlled by Islamic State.

Iraqi air force planes carried out two missions shortly after midday on Wednesday, it said, targeting buildings where around 50 terrorists and suicide bombers, all foreigners, were sheltering.

It said the air force took great efforts to protect civilians and the targets "were determined based on accurate intelligence and verified by our sources in the area".

Qaim, and the western province in which it is located, is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim. The town lies on the Euphrates river, northwest of Baghdad, part of a remote region near the Syrian border which remains under the control of ultra-hardline Sunni Muslim Islamic State fighters.

Wednesday's air strikes took place as Iraqi forces wage a seven-week-old campaign to crush the Islamic State militants who control the city of Mosul, about 280 km (175 miles) northeast of Qaim.

Amaq, a news agency linked to Islamic State, released video footage showing what it said was the aftermath of the attacks.
Locals fearful as mega-projects drive rush for land on Kenya's coast

By Sophie Mbugua

WITU, Kenya, Dec 8 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Too poor to buy land where they grew up on Kenya's palm-fringed southern coast, Sylvester Jefua and his wife migrated 300 kms northwards to Witu Forest, where they felled seven acres of trees and built a mud and thatch house for their family.

Ten years later, Jefua, 36, still does not feel secure.

Land prices in Lamu County where he built his home are soaring as the government buys up thousands of acres for a new road, port, coal plant, airport and railway line -- and Jefua doesn't have a title deed.

Last year, an unknown developer served him and other villagers in Witu, some 75 km (47 miles) southwest of Lamu town, with eviction notices.

"It was a nightmare," he said. "Where do you settle your family after almost 10 years of what they have called home?"

The government intervened to protect them, and promised, yet again, to issue the villagers with title deeds.

But Jefua is still waiting for the precious document, which he wants to use to get a loan for a motorbike taxi business.

A title deed would also give him security to invest in a well to irrigate his cassava, maize and cashew nut fields and save his wife a lengthy trek into the forest to fetch water.

"The government knows that a group of people live in this area but recognising that it is our land and granting us title deeds has been the problem," said the father of five, sitting under a tree, watching a hen tend to her chicks.

Since coming to power in 2013, the government has issued tens of thousands of title deeds to squatters on the coast, like Jefua, to reduce landlessness.

But the process is being complicated by a flurry of infrastructure projects, which are driving up property prices, attracting an influx of speculators and exacerbating long-simmering tensions over land ownership.

SPECULATORS

Untitled land on the coast has long been traded informally, with buyers and sellers signing agreements in the presence of a government official.

The urgent need to formalise ownership has been brought into sharp focus with construction of the Lamu Port and the Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET).

The $25 billion project aims to improve Kenya's links with neighbouring South Sudan and Ethiopia via a high-speed rail line, port, oil pipeline, highway, fibre-optic networks and three new airports.

After the government announced the project in 2008, people -- known locally as commercial squatters -- started clearing untitled land, putting up fences and selling it, often to speculators.

Many poor coastal residents have also sold their land to savvy speculators from other parts of Kenya, often armed with wads of cash, said Amina Rashid Masoud, Lamu County lands executive.

The new owners have acquired title deeds from the lands ministry in Nairobi, increasing its value tenfold to more than 1 million shillings ($9,800) an acre, raising concerns about where local people will farm, experts say.

They also point to the risk of further conflict in the future between investors and locals who are likely to remain landless after selling all their land.

DISPOSSESSED

Despite being a major tourist destination, development of Kenya's coast has lagged behind since independence in 1963.

Many residents are illiterate, unemployment is high and few have electricity or running water in their homes.

Before colonialism, Kenya's Muslim-dominated coast was owned by the Sultan of Zanzibar, who enslaved Africans to work on plantations, while local Mijikenda inhabitants fled inland.

The British colonialists introduced laws recognising those who registered their land, mostly Arab and Swahili people.

Many Mijikenda were dispossessed of communally-owned land and rendered squatters as the British ruled that all unregistered land belonged to them.

"Before independence, only a small portion of land was allotted and assigned title deeds," said Mohamed Mbwana, chairman of the Shungwaya Welfare Association, a civil society group campaigning for residents to be issued with title deeds.

The British forced Africans off prime agricultural land and into native reserves, to make way for white settler farmers.

While post-independence governments have settled squatters on public land and private land that they have bought, this has not solved the problem, experts say.

Much of the coast is still owned by wealthy foreigners and politically-connected Kenyan elites who, as absentee landlords, struggle to keep squatters off their land.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has issued more than 60,000 title deeds to coastal squatters since 2013, including giving away 2,000 acres of his family's land.

But many coastal people feel they are still being exploited by richer and more powerful outsiders.

COMPENSATION

Joyce, who declined to give her real name, is one of the new breed of migrants who have moved to Lamu County to take advantage of LAPSSET.

Wearing a floral dress and a blue jacket, she sat outside her well-stocked hardware shop in Hindi, 26 km from Lamu, that supplies construction materials to several nearby towns.

Joyce moved here from Kenya's capital, Nairobi, last year and has bought three parcels of land, totalling eight acres, half of which is titled.

"I plan to construct commercial houses for lease as well as sell some land to these investors," she said, adding she has also helped friends from Nairobi invest in land in Hindi.

The government has already paid compensation to acquire land from some Hindi residents living along the route of a road which will run 254 km inland from Lamu to Garissa.

Negotiations over compensation are ongoing for other LAPSSET development projects.

The county government is surveying land and drawing up a spatial plan, designating areas suitable for conservation, settlement, farming, herding and future development projects.

This will help to speed up the issuance of title deeds, Masoud said, and reduce landlessness.
"Syrian-Iranian grip" on Lebanon will tighten after Aleppo -Jumblatt

By Lisa Barrington

BEIRUT, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's imminent victory in Aleppo will increase Syrian and Iranian influence in Lebanon, the leading Lebanese Druze politician said on Thursday, as Assad said Lebanon could not remain unscathed by regional conflicts.

The Syrian army and allied forces have made rapid gains against anti-Assad rebels' main urban stronghold in Aleppo in the past two weeks, and look closer than ever to taking the city at the heart of a conflict now in its sixth year.

"Assad will win in Aleppo, benefiting from the fact that most of the international community has given up on the Syrian people. Then he will destroy Idlib," said Walid Jumblatt, the main political leader of the minority Druze community in Lebanon and head of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP).

Idlib province is the rebels' largest remaining patch of territory in heavily populated western Syria.

"This means that (Assad's) influence in Lebanon will increase, and the Iranian-Syrian grip on (Lebanon) will strengthen," he told As-Safir, a Lebanese daily close to the Iran-backed Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah, which is fighting on Assad's side in neighbouring Syria.

Syria dominated Lebanese government and politics for years and had a military presence in the country until 2005, when it withdrew following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri and months of anti-Syria protests.

Jumblatt is seen as a weathervane of Middle Eastern politics and his stance towards Syria has shifted more than once in recent years. He was a leading voice in the anti-Syrian movement but then moderated his attitude after a rapprochement with Syria's allies in Lebanon, including Hezbollah.

Early in the Syrian conflict, Jumblatt called for Assad to be removed from power. But he told As-Safir he has no plans to mend relations with the Syrian leader. "I will not end my political life repairing a relationship with Assad ... Even if the regime achieves total victory," he said.

Lebanon, which suffered its own 15-year civil war, is caught up in regional rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Despite a 2012 declaration that Lebanon would disassociate itself from regional and international conflicts, the regional tensions have paralysed internal decision-making and raised fears for Lebanon's stability.

After a 2-1/2 year presidential vacuum, former army commander and Hezbollah ally Michel Aoun was elected in October.

In an interview published on Thursday in Syria's al-Watan newspaper, Assad said Aoun's election was a victory for Lebanon and Syria, and that Lebanon could not disassociate itself from Syria.

"When the person (elected) is somebody like General Michel Aoun, who knows the danger terrorism around Lebanon poses for the Lebanese, this will also be a victory for both Lebanon and Syria," Assad said. "Especially when the president knows Lebanon cannot remain unscathed by the fires raging around it."

Assad added that Lebanon cannot continue with its "politics of no-policy", referencing the disassociation policy.
Bangladesh panel finds insiders negligent in central bank heist

By Serajul Quadir

DHAKA, Dec 8 (Reuters) - A Bangladesh government-appointed panel investigating the cyber-heist of $81 million from its central bank in February found five officials at the bank were guilty of negligence and carelessness, the head of the panel told Reuters on Thursday.

In his first detailed comments on the inquiry since a report was submitted to the government in May, former central bank governor Mohammed Farashuddin said the officials were low to mid-level and were not directly involved in the crime.

"They were negligent, careless and indirect accomplices," he said in an interview in his office. "The committee came to the conclusion that the heist was essentially committed by external elements."

Bangladesh has so far refused to make the inquiry report public saying it wanted to deny perpetrators knowledge of the investigation into one of the world's biggest cyber-heists.

It was not immediately known if Bangladesh had shared the report with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the main agency investigating the crime.

Farashuddin did not name the officials he found were negligent. A senior central bank official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said no action had been taken against any employee since the inquiry report had not been made public.

Bangladesh Bank spokesman Subhankar Saha declined comment.

Although over 10 months have passed since the heist, there have been no arrests and no word on who carried out the complex heist.

Hackers used stolen credentials to try to transfer nearly $1 billion from Bangladesh Bank's account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York through the SWIFT transaction system. Many of the transfer orders were blocked or reversed but $81 million was sent to accounts in a branch of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) in the Philippines.

The money eventually went into the sprawling casino industry in the Philippines and most of it remains untraced.

Like Bangladesh police investigators, Farashuddin said the inquiry panel also found the hackers may have exploited loopholes in the bank's online security when technicians hooked up the central bank's local money transfer system with SWIFT's international payments network late last year.

SWIFT has denied charges that its technicians were responsible for exposing Bangladesh Bank's systems to hackers.

Reuters has reported earlier that Bangladesh Bank had not protected its computer system with a firewall, and used second-hand $10 electronic switches to network computers linked to SWIFT, weaknesses that the hackers may also have exploited.

Farashuddin said that RCBC was responsible for allowing the stolen funds to be withdrawn and disbursed into the casino industry. Bangladesh has said it wants RCBC to compensate it for its losses.

RCBC has said Bangladesh Bank was "negligent" in letting the initial security breach take place there, and hence the Manila-based bank need not pay any compensation. So far only about $15 million of the stolen funds have been recovered.

Farashuddin said his personal opinion was it would be better to make the inquiry report public, since it would make clear that some local officials were negligent but not responsible for the heist.

"If the government would publish, then Bangladesh Bank's position would be strengthened," he said.

Bangladesh's law minister said earlier this week that his government would share the findings of the inquiry with Philippine authorities.
Magnitude 6.5 quake strikes off Northern California coast

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 8 (Reuters) - An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5 was reported off the coast of a sparsely populated area of Northern California on Thursday but there were no reports of damage in the nearest town, officials said.

The quake was centered in the Pacific Ocean about 102 miles (165 kilometers) west of Ferndale, California, at a depth of 6.2 miles (10 km), the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The coastal area nearest the quake is sparsely populated.

There was no tsunami warning, advisory or threat in effect following the earthquake, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center of the National Weather Service said on its website.

In Ferndale, which has a population of about 1,300 people, Mayor Don Hindley said in a phone interview that he had not heard of any damage from the quake. He said he felt the temblor for about 15 seconds.

"It wasn't that bad at all," Hindley said. He added that he felt more shaking from another quake earlier this week.

The area near Ferndale had a 4.3 magnitude earthquake right on the coastline on Monday, according to the USGS.

The earthquake on Thursday was the largest off the U.S. West Cost since 2014, said USGS seismologist Annemarie Baltay.

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the Solomon Islands on Friday in that region's time zone which is several hours ahead of the continental United States, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

While the two large quakes occurred within a short amount of time, they were not related, Baltay said.

The Humboldt Bay Fire department in Eureka, California, had received no calls related to the quake off the state's coast, said Ashleigh Jordan, administrative assistant at the department.

The quake was also felt at least as far away as the San Francisco Bay area, about 250 miles (400 km) south of Ferndale.

"Felt 20 seconds of very light shaking," tweeted San Francisco resident Lila LaHodd.
Brazil regulator Cade fines foreign banks for currency manipulation

SAO PAULO, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Brazilian antitrust watchdog Cade said it has fined five international banks a combined 183.5 million reais ($54 million) as part of a settlement of charges they rigged the country's currency market.

In a statement late on Wednesday, Cade said it signed an accord with Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc, Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Holdings Plc and JPMorgan Chase & Co. The watchdog said it will continue a probe of potential currency market violations involving other banks.

In July 2015, Cade accused a total of 15 banks of colluding to influence benchmark currency rates in Brazil by aligning positions and pushing transactions in a way that deterred competitors from the market between 2007 and 2013.

Deutsche Bank and Barclays declined to comment on the settlement. Media representatives for JPMorgan, Citigroup and HSBC did not immediately comment.

According to Cade's statement, the five banks agreed to admit to anti-competitive practices and cooperate with the watchdog in revealing how they manipulated exchange rates published by financial information companies and monetary authorities.

Cade's probe alleged that traders from the 15 banks probably front-ran client orders and pushed through trades that affected the way benchmarks like Brazil's PTax and WM/Reuters rates were set. They might have also colluded to fix spreads on client trades, unveil spot and future trades that should have been kept confidential and even deal flow volume data, it said.

The watchdog plans to open a separate probe into possible collusion and currency rate-manipulation across several exchanges by some banks and other firms.
GRAINS-Soybeans fall most in 3 months on profit-taking before USDA data

By Michael Hirtzer

CHICAGO, Dec 8 (Reuters) - U.S. soybean futures declined by more than 2 percent on Thursday, on pace for their largest losses in three months, on profit-taking tied to lower vegoil prices and extended weather outlooks for rainfall in Argentina, traders and analysts said.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to run the nation's Environmental Protection Agency also sparked worries of reduced support for corn-based ethanol and soy-based biodiesel.

U.S. renewable fuel credits fell sharply following the EPA news.

Chicago Board of Trade January soybean futures were off 24 cents at $10.25 per bushel at 10:55 a.m. CST (1655 GMT), reversing three straight days of gains.

Brazil's government crop supply agency estimated the country's soy harvest at a record 102.45 million tonnes. Dry parts of Argentina may see rains within the next two weeks, agriculture meteorologists said.

Also, the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday is expected to boost supply expectations for Brazil and Argentina soybean production and narrowly reduce U.S. soy ending stocks, according to Reuters' analyst poll.

Price declines for soyoil and palm oil added to pressure on soybeans, according to EFG Group analyst Tom Fritz.

The USDA soybean data will "be a reminder that we have the supply to meet what is really good demand, and then some," Fritz said.

CBOT March wheat jumped 1.3 percent, or 5 cents, to $4.06 per bushel, while CBOT March corn was down 6-1/2 cents at $3.51-1/2.

Wheat climbed after Saudi Arabia said it was seeking global offers for 715,000 tonnes of hard wheat for delivery between Feb. 1 and April 10.

India also scrapped its 10 percent import duty on wheat on Thursday after droughts in the past two years depleted stocks and raised prices. Traders said the move could lift import purchases to their highest in a decade.

"The Indian government's decision is likely to generate more wheat imports at a time of generally weak global demand," said Matt Ammermann, commodity risk manager for INTL FCStone. "Now the question is all about timing on how much wheat and when India will import.

"Ukrainian wheat is still looking good, but U.S. wheat is looking competitive against Russia and Argentina in FOB terms."
Four demonstrators killed in clashes with police in Cameroon

By Sylvain Andzongo

YAOUNDE, Dec 8 (Reuters) - At least four people were killed when police in Cameroon fired on demonstrators in one of the Central African nation's minority anglophone regions, the scene of sometimes violent protests over the past month, police sources said.

A Reuters reporter saw the police open fire on the crowd, which had continued to grow in numbers despite police attempts to disperse it with teargas.

One officer said the police had acted in self-defence.

"Some of our elements were surrounded by thugs," the officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to reporters. "They had come to kill. The police defended themselves."
No respite for Libya after Islamic State driven from coastal city

By Aidan Lewis

TUNIS, Dec 8 (Reuters) - As Islamic State's last defences crumbled this week in their Libyan bastion Sirte, dozens of women and children used as human shields stumbled dazed and dust-caked from the rubble.

Fighters from the armed groups that defeated the jihadists feted the end of a punishing six-month battle by flying Libyan flags over the Mediterranean city, once known mainly as the home town of late dictator Muammar Gaddafi, more recently as the main stronghold outside Syria and Iraq of Islamic State's caliphate.

But the campaign has been far from the unifying event some had hoped for. Celebrations have been muted by the risk of jihadist counter attacks and the potential for renewed war among Libya's military factions.

The past week's developments give a measure of the chaos still enveloping Libya, five years after the NATO-backed uprising that overthrew Gaddafi.

Just hours after the last district in Sirte was cleared, fighters in a newly formed force swept up from the desert south of the city towards Libya's Oil Crescent, looking to recapture ports that had changed hands three months before.

Tripoli has seen its worst clashes for more than a year as the capital's militias rolled tanks onto the streets in a feud infused with ideological and political disputes.

And in the main city in the east, the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) continued to suffer heavy casualties as it struggles to secure parts of Benghazi against Islamist-led rivals after more than two years of warfare.

A half-formed, U.N.-backed government based in the capital looks increasingly helpless to stop the turmoil - though Western powers insist that it represents the only path towards peace.

U.N. Libya envoy Martin Kobler told the Security Council this week that while a peace plan signed a year ago had stalled, weapons were still being delivered into Libya, the economy was facing "meltdown", and the country remained a "human marketplace" for migrants trying to reach Europe.

Gains against militants in Sirte and Benghazi were "not irreversible", he added.

The campaign in Sirte was led by brigades from Misrata, an influential port east of Tripoli. They launched their offensive in May when militants advanced up the coast towards their city.

The U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) scrambled to take command, but only ever had nominal control over fighters on the ground, some of them with different agendas beyond the campaign in Sirte.

The brigades hoped the battle would be finished in weeks, but their progress was halted by Islamic State snipers, suicide bombers and mines. By mid-summer, with casualties mounting and an official request from the GNA, they called in the help of U.S. air support. Nearly 500 strikes were carried out over Sirte between Aug. 1 and early December.

After the last buildings in Sirte's Ghiza Bahriya neighbourhood were secured on Tuesday, jubilant fighters paraded through the streets, chanting that the deaths of more than 700 men from within their ranks had not been in vain.

But there have been no such scenes in Misrata, a city whose fighting force was forged in the 2011 uprising and string of military campaigns in the years that followed.

COMEBACK?

"Every time after we win a war we celebrate," said Ahmed Algennabi, a 28-year-old salesman in a Misrata perfume shop. "But now I don't think that it's the end of this war, and I expect more fighting against Islamic State."

Fear of an Islamic State comeback or insurgent campaign is the stated reason for not declaring an official end to the operation in Sirte.

Libyan security officials say a significant number of militants left Sirte before the battle or in its early stages, and that Islamic State has cells along Libya's western coast as well as in the hinterlands. Even as the fighting continued in Sirte's residential neighbourhoods, the group carried out attacks from behind the front lines, including suicide bombings and a major ambush.

Military officials say they will now move to deal with this threat by securing the desert valleys south of Sirte and chasing down fugitive militants.

But they are also nervous about Khalifa Haftar, the commander of the LNA in the east, who has fought on the side opposed to Misrata's brigades in a stop-start national conflict since 2014, and has recently been boosted by his own military advances.

In September, with Misrata's fighters still tied up in Sirte, Haftar's forces moved to seize the Oil Crescent ports, some of them just 200 km (125 miles) to the east, and many see him edging towards national power.

State control is still absent, and any patriotic feeling fostered by the campaign in Sirte is likely to dissipate soon, said Libyan analyst Tarek Megerisi.

"Now it's over it's just back to business as usual, because none of the divisions have been healed, none of the drivers of conflict have been stopped or put on hold," he said.
Residents take to the hills as powerful quake hits Solomon Islands

By Tom Westbrook and Charlotte Greenfield

SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Residents of the remote Solomon Islands rushed into the hills after a powerful 7.8 earthquake struck early on Friday, with some reports of small tsunami waves as aftershocks rattled the South Pacific nation.

Authorities in the Solomons, where several significant naval battles were fought during World War Two, did not find any evidence of casualties or widespread damage by sundown, although communication can be difficult across the archipelago of some 900 far-flung islands.

The huge underwater quake triggered a tsunami warning for a wide swath of the South Pacific. While that warning was later cancelled by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC), the threat of aftershocks and unusual waves, abnormal high tides and currents meant many villagers near the epicentre were preparing to spend the night in the relative safety of the hills.

Life appeared to be back to normal for most people on the Solomons' six main islands within hours of the quake, although residents in southern Makira province closest to the epicentre remained cautious. The province on San Cristobal island, about 200 km (120 miles) east of the capital, Honiara, was still being rattled by aftershocks more than 12 hours after the first quake.

"We are quite safe up the hill from the sea," John Pirimare, a resident on Nafinua Island, told Reuters by telephone from the hills to where he and up to 600 other villagers had evacuated immediately after the quake.

Constable Abel Muri from the Kirakira police station in Makira said there were no reported casualties.

"Some people are beginning to come back in to town, but others have stayed at the higher ground," Muri told Reuters.

"We are now just experiencing the smaller earthquakes."

The U.S. Geological Survey originally recorded the pre-dawn quake with a magnitude of 8.0 but later downgraded it to 7.8.

There was a modest rise in the sea level in the region, with a 43 cm (17 inches) lift recorded in neighbouring New Caledonia, south of the epicentre, according to the Hawaii-based PTWC.

While the PTWC cancelled its warning of a potentially hazardous tsunami for the Solomons and neighbouring island chains, authorities in New Caledonia ordered people on the east coast and in the Loyalty islands to move to higher ground.

Martin Karani, a politician who represents Makira in the Solomons parliament, said the southern parts of the province were the most affected.

"Waves have come in to the villages and taken away the dugout canoes that were on the shore and also some houses that were down near the beach, but when it came through all of the villagers had already taken off," he told Reuters.

He said he had heard on short-wave radio, the only means of contacting the remote, worst-hit areas, that around 25 houses were washed away on the western side of the island.

The Solomons, perched on the geologically active "Pacific Ring of Fire", were hit by a devastating tsunami following an 8.1 magnitude quake in 2007. That disaster killed at least 50 people, left dozens missing and destroyed 13 villages.

Lyndene Wan from the charity group Plan International Australia said residents in the capital were largely unruffled.
Cameroon police shoot dead 4 protesters in anglophone region

By Sylvain Andzongo

YAOUNDE, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Police in Cameroon shot dead four anti-government demonstrators in one of the Central African nation's minority anglophone regions on Thursday, police sources said, after a month of sometimes violent protests in the area.

The protesters were marching on a meeting of the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (RDPC) in Bamenda, a city in the northwest that is a traditional opposition stronghold when they were confronted by police.

Officers initially tried to scatter the demonstrators using tear gas. A Reuters reporter then saw the police open fire on the crowd, which had continued to grow in size.

Protests first broke out in early November in Bamenda when lawyers and teachers demanded better working conditions in a rare act of defiance against President Paul Biya, 83, who has ruled Cameroon since 1982.

Some demonstrators were armed with steel bars and stones, said one police official, adding that officers had acted in self-defence. One police officer was wounded in the unrest, he said.

"Some of our elements were surrounded by thugs," the officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to reporters. "They had come to kill. The police defended themselves."

"Four hostile targets were neutralised. It's possible there were more," the police source said.

A second officer confirmed four deaths.
Iran's Rouhani says OPEC's cooperation to stabilise oil market - TV

ANKARA, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday that members of OPEC should work together to secure implementation of a deal reached last month aimed at stabilizing the oil market, Iran's state TV reported.

"Close cooperation among OPEC and non-OPEC countries is key to stabilizing the oil prices and their increase," Rouhani said in a telephone conversation with Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, according to Iran's state TV.

"It will pave the way for implementation of deals reached during meetings in Algiers and Vienna this year."
Iran's Rouhani says OPEC cooperation key to stabilising oil - TV

By Parisa Hafezi

ANKARA, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday that members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) should work together to secure implementation of a deal reached last month aimed at stabilizing the oil market, Iran's state TV reported.

Oil rebounded from the week's lows and hovered above $50 a barrel on Thursday ahead of a meeting on Saturday in Vienna between OPEC and non-OPEC producers that may result in an agreement to cut crude output further.

Rouhani said Tehran backed measures aimed at stabilising the market that could led to an oil price increase.

"Close cooperation among OPEC and non-OPEC countries is key to stabilizing the oil prices and their increase," Rouhani said in a telephone conversation with Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, according to Iran's state TV.

"It will pave the way for implementation of deals reached during meetings in Algiers and Vienna this year."

OPEC agreed last month in Vienna to reduce output by around 1.2 million bpd from January 2017, a move that bolstered crude prices.

Iran was exempted from the cut, being allowed to boost production slightly from its October level - a victory for Tehran, which has long argued it needs to regain market share lost under Western sanctions.

The sanctions were lifted in January under a nuclear deal reached in 2015 with six major powers aimed at curbing the country's nuclear programme.

Oil producers in Vienna will see whether those outside OPEC will cut production to reduce a global supply glut that has pressured prices for more than two years.

Non-OPEC countries are expected to contribute a reduction of 600,000 bpd as part of the wider agreement. Non-OPEC Russia has signaled it was ready to cut production by 300,000 bpd.

Venezuela's oil minister said on Wednesday OPEC was aiming for a moderate but not too high oil price.
U.S. aquarium aids in release of rescued penguins in South Africa

Dec 8 (Reuters) - Twenty-three rescued African penguins that had been abandoned several weeks ago along the coast of South Africa were released back into the wild on Thursday, according to officials at the U.S. aquarium who helped rehabilitate them.

Experts from the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta and the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds, which treats threatened seabirds, transported the penguins in cardboard boxes to the coast near Cape Town where they waddled on the sand before swimming out to sea.

As many as 900 African penguins are rescued and need rehabilitation each year due to environmental factors such as oil spills, food shortages and habitat degradation, according to the aquarium.

Experts from the Georgia Aquarium, which has a colony of African penguins and a breeding program, have been traveling to South Africa since 2009 to help in rescue efforts, a spokesman for the aquarium said.
Risking Beijing's ire, Vietnam begins dredging on South China Sea reef

By Lincoln Feast and Greg Torode

SYDNEY/HONG KONG, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Vietnam has begun dredging work on a disputed reef in the South China Sea, satellite imagery shows, the latest move by the Communist state to bolster its claims in the strategic waterway.

Activity visible on Ladd Reef in the Spratly Islands could anger Hanoi's main South China Sea rival, Beijing, which claims sovereignty over the group and most of the resource-rich sea.

Ladd Reef, on the southwestern fringe of the Spratlys, is completely submerged at high tide but has a lighthouse and an outpost housing a small contingent of Vietnamese soldiers. The reef is also claimed by Taiwan.

In an image taken on Nov. 30 and provided by U.S.-based satellite firm Planet Labs, several vessels can be seen in a newly dug channel between the lagoon and open sea.

While the purpose of the activity cannot be determined for certain, analysts say similar dredging work has been the precursor to more extensive construction on other reefs.

"We can see that, in this environment, Vietnam's strategic mistrust is total ... and they are rapidly improving their defences," said Trevor Hollingsbee, a retired naval intelligence analyst with Britain's defence ministry.

"They're doing everything they can to fix any vulnerabilities - and that outpost at Ladd Reef does look a vulnerability."

Reuters reported in August that Vietnam had fortified several islands with mobile rocket artillery launchers capable of striking China's holdings across the vital trade route.

Vietnam's foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

The vessels at Ladd Reef cannot be identified in the images, but Vietnam would be extremely unlikely to allow another country to challenge its control of the reef.

Greg Poling, a South China Sea expert at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said it remained unclear how far the work on Ladd Reef would go. Rather than a reclamation and a base, it could be an attempt to simply boost access for supply ships and fishing boats.

Ladd could also theoretically play a role in helping to defend Vietnam's nearby holding of Spratly Island, where a runway is being improved and new hangars built, he said.

"Vietnam's knows it can't compete with China but it does want to improve its ability to keep an eye on them," Poling said.

Vietnam has long been fearful of renewed Chinese military action to drive it off its 21 holdings in the Spratlys - worries that have escalated amid Beijing's build-up and its anger at the recent Philippines legal action challenging its claims.

China occupied its first Spratlys possessions after a sea battle against Vietnam's then-weak navy in 1988. Vietnam said 64 soldiers were killed as they tried to protect a flag on South Johnson reef - an incident still acutely felt in Hanoi.

BUILDING BURST

The United States has repeatedly called on claimants to avoid actions that increase tensions in the South China Sea, through which some $5 trillion in world trade is shipped every year.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, Anna Richey-Allen, said it was aware of reports of reclamation work by Vietnam and said the United States regularly raised concerns about such activity by claimants.

"We've consistently warned that reclamation and militarization in contested areas of the South China Sea will risk driving a destabilizing and escalatory trend," she said. "We encourage all claimants to take steps to lower tensions and peacefully resolve differences."

Vietnam has emerged as China's main rival in the South China Sea, actively asserting sovereignty over both the Paracel and the Spratly groupings in their entirety and undergoing its own naval modernisation. Taiwan also claims both, but its position is historically aligned with Beijing's.

The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, run by the CSIS, says Vietnam has added about 120 acres (49 hectares) of land to its South China Sea holdings in recent years.

Regional military attaches say Vietnam's key holdings are well fortified, some with tunnels and bunkers, appearing geared to deterring easy invasion.

Vietnam's reclamation work remains modest by Chinese standards, however.

The United States, which has criticised China for militarising the waterway, estimates Beijing has added more than 3,200 acres (1,300 hectares) of land on seven features in the South China Sea over the past three years, building runways, ports, aircraft hangars and communications equipment.

Beijing says it is entitled to "limited and necessary self-defensive facilities" on its territory and has reacted angrily to "freedom of navigation" operations by U.S. warships near Chinese-held islands.

CHINESE RECLAMATION WORK DAMAGED

In another image provided by Planet Labs, reclamation work in the Chinese-held Paracel Island chain appears to have been damaged by recent storms.

China began dredging and land filling earlier this year at North Island, about 12 km (7 miles) north of Woody Island, where it has a large military base and this year stationed surface-to-air missiles.

Satellite images in February and March showed dredging vessels working to build a 700-metre (2,300 ft) sand bridge connecting low-lying North Island with neighbouring Middle Island.

But images taken after two powerful storms spun through the region in October show the narrow sand strip has been largely swept away.

The Paracels have been under Chinese control for more than 40 years after a battle towards the end of the Vietnam War, when Chinese forces removed the then-South Vietnamese navy. Analysts say they play a key part in protecting China's nuclear armed submarine fleet on Hainan Island, to the north.

China has not commented publicly on the work at North Island and the foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
North Korea still struggling with nuclear missile re-entry - U.S. official

By Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - North Korea appears able to mount a miniaturized nuclear warhead on a missile but is still struggling with missile re-entry technology necessary for longer range strikes, a senior U.S. military official said on Thursday.

"I think they could mate a warhead with a delivery device. They're just not sure (about) re-entry," said the official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity.

"They're endeavoring to overcome that."

North Korea has carried out repeated nuclear and missile tests this year in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions and sanctions and claims it has the capability to mount a nuclear warhead on a missile.

Asked whether North Korea could mate the warhead to the missile, the official said: "I think they can."

North Korea's advancing nuclear weapons program is one of the major national security challenges that awaiting President-elect Donald Trump when he takes office on Jan. 20.

Trump has urged Beijing to do more to rein in its neighbor and told Reuters in May he was willing to talk to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to try to stop Pyongyang's nuclear program, in what would be a major shift in U.S. policy toward the isolated nation.

There are about 28,500 U.S. troops based in South Korea helping to defend the country against nuclear-armed North Korea, which has remained in a technical state of war with the South since the 1950-53 Korean conflict.

The official said the U.S. military was always reviewing potential responses to threats from the North, acknowledging greater attention on the issue in recent months.

"We're preparing for everything that might evolve based on (Kim's) very, very provocative behavior," the official said.

The U.N. Security Council, which includes China, unanimously voted to impose new, tougher sanctions on North Korea a week ago.

But neither sanctions, imposed by Washington since 1950, nor the so-called six-party talks with Pyongyang to suspend its nuclear program in return for diplomatic rewards and energy assistance, have stopped North Korea from testing nuclear devices.

Earlier this year, Admiral Bill Gortney, the officer responsible for defending U.S. air space, told a Senate panel it was "prudent" for him to assume North Korea had the ability to miniaturize a nuclear weapon and put it on an intercontinental ballistic missile that could target the United States.

The U.S. missile defense system is in the process of expanding its missile interceptors to 44 from 30 by the end of 2017. Forty will be at Fort Greely, Alaska, and four at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The All Ceylon General Ports Employee Union staged a protest at the Colombo Port against the signing of the agreement to sell Hambantota Port to a Chinese company. Pix by Pradeep Pathirana
On November 22, the Cabinet approved a Bill focusing on elephants kept domestically, which also included banning young elephants being used for work. The regulations proposed by Sustainable Development and Wildlife Minister, Gamini Jayawickrama Perera are also reported as including a set of guidelines that should be adhered to by those seeking to rear domestic elephants. Some of the main areas of focus underlined include the responsibilities of the caretakers and owners towards the elephants kept domestically, regulations on elephants being used for work and the use of elephants in processions. This proposal also falls under amendments to Flora and Fauna Act No.22 of 2009.



While due appreciation is given to the positive change towards the treatment of elephants by seeking to prevent them from being subjected to cruelty, it also needs to be noted that it has been almost a year since the Cabinet approval for the draft Animal Welfare Bill was received. Unfortunately the Bill still remains at the Legal Draftsmans office, while many animal welfare activists eagerly await its enactment. Almost a decade in the making, the draft bill was approved by the Cabinet following the public consultation that was last held in 2015. Following the proposed changes received by the public consultation, the Cabinet approval for the Bill was received on January 13, 2016. From this point, the Bill was passed to the legal draftsman for the changes to be incorporated into it and for it to be drafted with the changes included.



The last amendment to the law addressing cruelty to animals in Sri Lanka was made in 1955. The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance of 1907, under which the welfare of animals is taken into consideration is over a century old, with outdated fines and implemented on rare occasions and therefore in need of urgent reform.



Attorney-at-Law, Vositha Wijenayake, Convener of Animal Welfare Coalition of Sri Lanka said, The AWC is appreciative of the changes proposed to safeguard elephants from being subjected to cruelty which were approved by the Cabinet. It is equally important to know when the proposed law on animal welfare will be enacted. This Bill has been on its way to get to this point for a very long time. I think everyone is eager to know when this could turn into law which will help uphold animal welfare in Sri Lanka.



Civil Society Organisations and actors have highlighted the need for more humane animal welfare laws in the country for many years. As a result of these calls, the draft Animal Welfare Bill was tabled in Parliament. The Bill was presented to Parliament in October, 2010 by Venerable Athuruliye Rathana Thera as a private member bill. The new legislation proposed has as its objective the replacement of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance of 1907 and to recognise duty of care for persons in charge of animals to treat animals humanely, to prevent cruelty to animals, to secure the protection and welfare of animals, to establish a National Animal Welfare Authority and Regulations and Codes of Practice and to raise awareness on animal welfare.



In order to have a good animal welfare system in Sri Lanka, it is important to have duty of care for persons in charge of animals to treat animals humanely, as well as having strong laws for those who cause cruelty to animals, said Ms. Wijenayake. We hear stories of cruelty to animals but without a law that is robust, it is not always helpful to take legal actions against the perpetrators who behave inhumanely and in a cruel manner towards animals, she added.



The Animal Welfare Coalition of Sri Lanka which was set up with the objective of advocating and lobbying for a new animal welfare bill consists of numerous animal welfare organisations and volunteers keen on seeing the Animal Welfare Bill enacted. The member organisations and volunteers seek to actively engage in taking action to ensure that laws on animal welfare are efficient and effective and to protect animals from being subjected to cruelty.



It is important that the Animal Welfare Bill is enacted to ensure effective and efficient laws on cruelty to animals in Sri Lanka. The current law dates back to 1907 and lacks in deterrent effect which prevents the protection of animals against cruelty. It is time we changed these laws and made sure that the long- overdue Animal Welfare Bill is passed for efficient action against cruelty to animals, said Vositha Wijenayake.
With anti-corruption measures being a key issue in Sri Lanka, International Anti Corruption Day today will be of special significance to our country. According to the United Nation the 2016 theme is united against corruption for development, peace and security.

Figures show that every year about US dollars 1 trillion is paid in bribes while an estimated US dollars 2.6 trillion is stolen annually through corruption  a sum equivalent to more than 5 per cent of the global GDP. In developing countries, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), funds lost to corruption are estimated at 10 times the amount of official development assistance. Corruption is a serious crime that can undermine social and economic development in all societies. No country, region or community is immune, the UN says.



This year, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and UNDP have developed a joint global campaign, focusing on how corruption affects education, health, justice, democracy, prosperity and development. The 2016 joint international campaign focuses on corruption as one of the biggest impediments to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The UNs outgoing Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in a message says we need to reaffirm our commitment to ending the deceit and dishonesty that threaten the 2030 Agenda and our efforts to achieve peace and prosperity for all on a healthy planet.



UNODC Executive Director, Yury Fedotov in a message says, the G20 estimates that 90 trillion US dollars in infrastructure investment will be required between 2015 and 2030 to support global growth and development. To protect this investment, corruptions destructive impact should not be ignored. There needs to be a wholehearted and determined contribution to global anti-corruption efforts from the worlds public and private sectors. Mr. Fedotov, a high level Russian diplomat says corruption is a direct threat to infrastructure investment. It does not discriminate and impacts rich and poor countries alike; but it is the vulnerable and the weak who suffer most.

If we do not unite to successfully eliminate corruption, we risk economic growth being slowed and prosperity muzzled. Corruption also corrodes much needed credibility and trust in the rule of law and criminal justice systems and wastes valuable resources. In Sri Lanka, the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government was elected in January last year, with one of its main election pledges being to effectively tackle corruption which, it said had been rampant during the former regime. But as we come close to the second anniversary of the national government and its commitment to good governance, democracy, accountability, transparency and social justice, serious questions are being raised as to how effectively it is tackling corruption.



The Voice against Corruption one of more than 40 civic action movements that played a major role in the dramatically historic events of January last year, in one of its latest reports says

that soon after the Central bank bond scam, deputy governors and directors at the Central Bank, increased their salaries by about 110 per cent. The movements convener, the outspoken Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna activist Wasantha Samarasinghe, says they recently visited the office of the Police Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) to inquire into the progress on the bond issue. Mr. Samarasinghe said the pay hike for top CBSL officials could be seen as an alleged bribe.



In an earlier statement Mr. Samarasinghe alleged the 2017 budget had provided incentives to financial institutions that were alleged to be operating unethically. He said Rs.7,500 million had been allocated from the budget for the Housing Development Finance Corporation Bank of Sri Lanka and Rs.3,000 million for investors of the Golden Key Company. He alleged that these financial institutions that went into disarray due to malpractices were being rebuilt with the peoples money. He charged that the government, instead of taking legal action against those involved in malpractice, was providing incentives to them.

On a day like this we would like to remind the national government that the people acted in a courageous way to change the former regime largely because of the rampant corruption or the plunder of public money by VIP politicians, top officials and political lackeys. This must not happen again.
A 38-year-old person had been killed and another was injured due to a fire that broke out at a cafeteria in the premises of Colombo Harbour early today.

The injured was admitted to the Colombo National Hospital.

The fire, which broke out at 4 a.m today was doused with the assistance of the fire brigade and the Police.

The amount of loss due to the fire was not yet calculated, sources said. The cause of the fire is also not yet known.
Higher Education and Highways Minister Lakshman Kiriella was again in the limelight last week when he defended Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujith Jayasundere, who was caught apparently submitting to political pressure by answering a telephone call while speaking at a public meeting.



The IGP was submissively answering the caller addressing him as sir and giving an assurance to him that a Nilame would not be arrested. Kiriella replying to a question on the incident by the JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake in Parliament stated that the sir referred to in Police Chiefs telephone call might be anybody, even a teacher of the IGP.



He ignored fact that it was highly unethical for the IGP to give anybody even to one of his teachers-an assurance that somebody would not be arrested.

Especially this was inappropriate under a government that claimed to have dedicated itself to bringing in good governance in the country. This was the third time Kiriella made such remarks that ran counter to the governments main pledge given at the last Presidential and General elections.



Kiriella seems to be an interesting person in that his realization of much talked about yahapalanaya or the good governance seems to be totally different from that of others. And he dares to openly say what many people think ridiculous or ridicules what many people consider serious.

During the height of the war between the armed forces and the LTTE and when the former had recaptured the latters administrative capital Kilinochchi in January 2009, he ridiculed the entire war efforts of the security forces by saying Ona Gonekuta Yudda Karanna Puluwan (Any bull can fight a war).



In last March he justified a letter issued by him to the Head of the Department of Political Science at the University of Kelaniya requesting him to employ a person known to him as a temporary lecturer in Political Science.

He first argued that he had asked the university authorities to appoint his supporter only if the latter was qualified, which was correct according to the initial reports. Then he challenged his adversaries questioning them on what was wrong in issuing such a letter on behalf of a supporter and later he argued that he was authorized to issue such letters under the Universities Act. He simply did not understand that political patronage in appointments, especially in the education field was unethical and wrong.



Then again responding to a question by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) MP Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa in Parliament in July on the appointment of a large number of consultants and public relations officers to the Road Development Authority (RDA) the Minister had said that they were the people who had supported the United National Party (UNP) to come to power at the last Presidential and General elections.

Wenasak (A difference) was a household slogan that had been floated among the voters by the grass-roots level activists of the good governance campaign during the last Presidential election.

It made a significant impact on the ordinary voters as they wanted a government different from that of President Mahinda Rajapaksa after being fed up of corruption and highhanded activities of that regime. That was a time when dissent was not tolerated. Many journalists and media institutions were attacked. Upali Tennakoon, Keith Noyahr, Poddala Jayantha were some of the journalists attacked.



Sunday leader editor Lasantha Wickramatunga, was murdered. Sirasa and Siyatha media houses were also attacked. Some of the provincial and local politicians had the liberty to kill people and rape women in broad daylight with impunity. Questions regarding the controversial transactions running into billions of rupees, such as the Hedging Agreement, Greek bond Agreement and ruination of the National Carrier SriLankan Airlines are still to be answered.

Army Commander Sarath Fonseka who spearheaded the successful war against the dreaded LTTE was humiliated and incarcerated when he had politically challenged President Rajapaksa.

Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake was impeached after she had ruled that the Divineguma Bill had to be approved by all Provincial Councils.



Mattala airport and the Hambantota harbor built during that regime still stand as the symbols of monumental waste of public funds. The 18th Amendment to the Constitution was introduced in such a manner that Rajapaksas could rule the country for life. Therefore, peoples craving for a change or a wenasa had been natural, in spite of the absence of open agitations against the Rajapaksa government for obvious reasons then.

In fact the new government led by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe took steps to show that their government was different by introducing several key changes in the country.

Main among them was the 19th Amendment to the Constitution which reintroduced the Constitutional Council and the Independent Commissions that were meant for the curtailment of the Presidents executive powers. The Constitutional Council and the Independent Commissions had first been introduced by the Chandrika Kumaratunga led Parivasa government in 2001 through the 17th Amendment and were abolished by the Rajapaksa regime through the infamous 18th Amendment in2010. President Sirisena has been repeatedly saying that he wanted to totally abolish the Executive Presidency.

Right to Information Bill (RTI) was incorporated in the 19the Amendment and a separate Bill was later passed this year for its detailed implementation. The ban imposed on several websites including the pro-LTTE Tamilnet was lifted soon after the present government came to power.



Actions taken by the new government were able to win the praise of the powerful countries which had in turn refrained from presenting any resolution on/against Sri Lanka in the UNHRC, allaying fears of possible international sanctions against the country.

However, the government is now fast losing its credibility in the field of good governance not only due to its failure or incredible delay in taking action against the people involved in large-scale corruption during the past regime, but also owing to the allegations of corruption against the leaders of the new government itself by the same civil society organizations that were in forefront in ousting Rajapaksas.

The audacious and shameless attempts by several Ministers including Kiriella to defend the Central Bank bond scam, even after the COPE had accused former Central Bank governor Arjuna Mahendran for it are frustrating and disgusting.



The very anti-corruption movements that helped President Sirisena to come to power were furious after his controversial speech on October 12 which they allege discouraged the whole campaign against corruption.

The IGPs assurance to the sir that the Nilame would not be arrested comes in the wake of these controversies that had already begun to shatter the hopes of the people in respect of good governance. Adding insult to injury racism and extremism have raised their ugly heads again with impunity, making the differences between the governments of Rajapaksa and Sirisena diminish further.
Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake making a sudden inspection tour of the Inland Revenue Department, the official tax collector in the country, said the government is keen to relieve the public from the current tax burden.



He said to achieve such targets, government bodies such as Inland Revenue Department, which collects revenue for the government should be strengthened.

We all know what had been done to this country by the previous regime which ruled for several years. The annual loss of Hambantota port itself is Rs.37, 000 million. We are compelled to repay such huge loans with the income generated by Colombo Port.

In the meantime, certain people question us the way we are gradually correcting their economic blunders. We should tell openly that we are not going to put any of these encumbrances on the shoulders of the people, the minister stressed.

Minister Karunanayake visited several vital sections of the department and inquired from the employees about their career difficulties.



Facilities for new technology which are currently available inside the head office building and availability of opportunities for the workers to use them were especially discussed by the minister during his visit yesterday.



The minister pointed out the necessity to expand the hotline center of the department for the customer convenience. He also said that some people are scared of the Inland Revenue Department, and such unfounded fears should be eliminated from their minds.
Sri Lanka has topped the list of countries which searched for the word sex using Google in 2016, with 100 percent search interest.

According to the Google Trends database, Sri Lanka continued to top the list as it has done every year since 2011.

Ethiopia came second on the list, followed by Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Tunisia, Bolivia and Lebanon.

The Western Province had the most number of searches for the word sex in the country. The North Western Province had the second largest number of searches followed by the Central, North Central and Northern Provinces. Uva Province had the least number of such searches.

In the Western Province, Homagama had the highest number of searches, followed by Panadura, Wattala and Colombo.
Prison Reforms, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs Minister D.M. Swaminathan has called for an explanation from the prisons authorities regarding MP Hirunika Premachandras allegations that former MP Duminda Silva, who is on death row had been provided with special facilities.

She alleged in Parliament on Tuesday that some influential prisoners including Mr. Silva were enjoying special privileges, while the poor prisoners were neglected.

"Mr. Silva's medical report says he is suffering from a chronic headache, loss of consciousness, loss of memory and dizziness but all his relatives visited him at the Prisons hospital for his birthday on December 3 and threw a party," Ms. Premachandra said.

Ministry sources said the Minister had asked the Welikada Prison authorities to submit a report after an inquiry into the matter.

The minister said action would be taken against the prison authorities who had allowed such incidents to take place as claimed by her. (Darshana Sanjeewa)
Despite volumes of research and recommendations for reform, Sri Lankas Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) of 1951 and the Quazi court system remain untouched and continue to oppress Muslim women. Muslim women face domestic violence, exploitation and child marriage and the prospect of their husbands taking multiple wives, all without means for legal recourse. Although Sri Lanka is a party to human rights treaties like CEDAW, CRC, ICESCR and ICCPR that ban discrimination against women and protect the rights of the child, Muslim women are not afforded equal protection. Article 16(1) of the 1978 Constitution allows discriminatory provisions under the MMDA to remain in effect despite inconsistencies with fundamental rights provisions.



This article discusses the flaws of the Quazi court system from the perspective of women who have been silently suffering. I interviewed 38 Muslim women who took their cases to Quazi courts and 12 Quazis for this article. The womens stories revealed a consistent pattern of Quazi courts tolerating violence and injustice against Muslim women. The women I spoke to highlighted the following concerns:



Quazis lack legal training.



The MMDA allows any male Muslim of good character and position and of suitable attainment to be appointed to serve as a Quazi in a territorial jurisdiction for a specified period. Initially, Quazis were mostly older, educated individuals with standing in their communities. Today, it is not the case; those with social capital rarely seek this office and some do for recognition and power.

Most Quazis lack formal legal training. A legal education is not required and there is no requirement for Quazis to understand the MMDA. Unlike District court judges who begin as lawyers with legal education and training under a senior lawyer and learn through experience how formal court judges dispense justice, Quazis lack training both before and after appointment. They receive only a day or two of cursory training by the Judicial Service Commission. Despite their lack of training, Quazis are usually reluctant to refer difficult cases to Magistrates Courts or to the Board of Quazis.



The tradition of appointing lay-persons instead of lawyers as Quazis flows from the notion that Quazis serve as mediators rather than judges in informal proceedings. However, the consequence is that Muslim women are denied access to their legal remedies such as the Domestic Violence Act (DVA) of 2005. Indeed, none of the 12 Quazis I interviewed had any knowledge of the DVA. To improve the Quazi system, some community activists have suggested that only lawyers should be appointed as Quazis or that Quazis should receive adequate legal training in areas affecting the rights of Muslim women.



Quazi courts are hostile spaces for women.



Quazi courts are intended to function as informal, friendly and non-threatening forums for dispute resolution. In practice, however, Muslim men have used the flexible family-focused system to get away with their criminal behaviour in the private sphere. Many women described Quazi courts as extremely unfriendly spaces where women are not allowed to talk. This purported justice space is thus used to control womens private lives and conceal domestic violence.



Quazi courts have no jurisdiction to deal with domestic violence as provided for under the DVA. However, in practice, many women seek redress for domestic violence from Quazis and when they do, are told that they invited such violence by raising in public a normal aspect of married life. In many cases, Quazis have told women to go back to their husbands, while their husbands are gently told to treat their wives well, irrespective of the severity of abuse.

The Quazi system is male-dominated. Women are barred from holding any position of authority as Quazis, jurors, marriage registrars, or on the Board of Quazis (BOQ). There was a strong demand from many Muslim women and community activists I interviewed for women to sit as jurors and judges in the Quazi courts and BOQ. The women felt this would lead to fairer hearings and verdicts.

Half of the women I interviewed highlighted privacy concerns with the open community court system. Men can listen in as women describe their intimate relationships and cruel and degrading treatment by their husbands. A couple of the women said that after they had discussed private issues before Quazi courts, men who listened later tried to sexually exploit them.



Some women said their husbands stopped and blackmailed them when they tried to go to a Quazi court with complaints. Despite informing the Quazi courts about these threats, Quazis did not take any action against these men.



Quazis delay proceedings to deny womens claims.



If a complaint originates from a woman, especially in relation to a man taking another wife, Quazis often delay giving a verdict. Quazis postpone hearings and fail to provide maintenance settlements in writing, in effect forcing women to accept their husbands second or third marriages. In cases where women have filed for divorce, the final settlement is sometimes prolonged for many years. The cases in this study that were settled promptly were those in which men filed for divorce to marry another woman. Many women struggled to get a Fasah even against men who were known in the community to be criminals; by contrast, men accusing women of unacceptable behaviour could secure divorce (Talaq) within six months.



Enforcement of Quazi verdicts is also a challenge. Women report that their husbands fail to make maintenance payments for many years, with Quazi courts, the Board of Quazis and Magistrates Courts ineffective in enforcing payment. Quazis lack power to enforce or monitor their rulings. Though Magistrates issue warrants to apprehend the men, police seem to ignore these cases. Women often have to find out their husbands whereabouts and inform police themselves.



Quazis pressure women to accept their husbands conduct.



Quazis pressure women to accept their husbandsconduct, such as a second or third marriage, rather than help the affected woman get a divorce with compensation and maintenance. Some women have been accused of not fulfilling their wifely duties (could be as trivial as not cooking on time), thereby justifying the husband marrying another woman. Quazis have told women that if they are unwilling to accept their husbands second or third marriage, they cannot ask for compensation or maintenance. The women I interviewed questioned how Quazis could be expected to challenge their husbands behavior when they themselves had multiple wives.



Several women I interviewed said they would not seek divorce despite facing severe domestic violence and instead sought reconciliation or maintenance from the Quazi courts. Among their reasons, these women feared that if they initiated divorce, they and their children would lose the right to maintenance and compensation. When women do seek divorce, Quazis have on several occasions advised them to take Fasah, a type of divorce that disqualifies them from compensation or maintenance.



Quazi mechanisms lack accessibility



All districts except Killinochchi and Mullaitheevu have at least one Quazi and Puttalam has a specially appointed Quazi for the evicted Northern Muslims. Now that Northern Muslims are returning, Muslim women in Killinochchi and Mullaithivu have to travel to Vavuniya or Puttalam for Quazi court hearings. In Mannar Island, Quazi hearings are conducted only thrice a month, while in Jaffna, they are conducted fortnightly. This renders the justice system inaccessible and expensive for returnee women, who are already struggling to restart their lives. Women with children find it particularly difficult to leave their children and travel alone to Quazi courts.



Women also face difficulty accessing the Board of Quazis (BOQ) for appeals and thus cannot remedy incorrect or unfair Quazi court rulings. Women find it difficult and cost-prohibitive to travel alone to Colombo to access the BOQ. As a result, the women I interviewed said it was mostly men who were able to use the BOQ and that they used it to drag on cases and avoid a final settlement, delay maintenance payments, and delay divorce agreements. To increase accessibility, one community leader suggested mobile BOQs to service each district every three months. Alternatively, there is a circuit sitting of the BOQ in Kalmunai to hear the appeals from the Eastern Province, which the writer feels should be extended to other districts.



Conclusions



Muslim women are doubly oppressed by the legal system. As has been written elsewhere, the MMDA facilitates discrimination against Muslim women. The Quazi system sharpens the blow, with Quazis lacking proper legal training or gender sensitivity to make the pronouncements that deeply impact Muslim womens lives.

The women I interviewed felt that women in other communities had better access to relief under general Sri Lankan laws, particularly the DVA than they did in Quazi courts. They stressed that Muslim women should be given legal assistance to challenge Quazi verdicts and avail of protections under the DVA rather than be compelled to live in violent relationships and life-threatening environments.



The women I interviewed welcome reform initiatives to the MMDA and Quazi courts that are currently being debated at the local and national levels. Their stance dispels any notion that reforms are being driven by the international community rather than by Muslim women themselves. However, as the group most-affected by the proposed reforms (and the ones that have to live with the future system), the women I spoke to demanded that Muslim women be consulted in shaping reforms. As stakeholders, they seek a system that is fair, easily accessible, efficient, procedurally flexible and sensitive to their needs. With careful reforms informed through consultations, Muslim women can finally gain equal legal status and access to justice in Sri Lanka.



Shreen Abdul Saroor is womens rights activist and founder member of Mannar Womens Development Federation and Womens Action Network.
The cyclonic storm Vardah is located around 1,200 km away from Trincomalee coast but it would have no impact to the inner areas of the country, the Meteorology Department said today.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror, Duty Meteorologist Srimal Herath said cyclonic storm Vardah was likely to intensify and move north-westward of the country.

The cyclonic effect will likely cause showers or thundershowers at several places in the sea areas. Winds will be north-westerly in direction over the sea areas off the coast extending from Galle to Pottuvil via Hambantota, he said.

He said the sea areas off the coast extending from Kankasanthurai to Batticaloa via Mannar, Galle and Hambantota could be fairly rough at times as the wind speed would be increased up to 50 kmph.
Sri Lanka and the Principality of Andorra, a European microstate co-administered by Roman Catholic Bishop of Urgell in Spain and the President of France, have formally established diplomatic relations by signing the Joint Communique on November 30.

Issuing a statement, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said the mutual understanding and friendship between the two countries would be enhanced by establishing bilateral diplomatic relations.

It will also help to explore new avenues of bilateral cooperation in the fields of trade, culture, tourism, and investment, it said.

The Joint Communique was signed at the Sri Lanka Permanent Mission in New York between Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, Rohan Perera and Permanent Representative of the Principality of Andorra to the United Nations, Elisenda Vives Balmana.

Andorra, with a population of approximately 85,000, is situated between Spain and France. It is the sixth-smallest nation in Europe.
Sri Lanka is looking at the possibility of building naval craft in collaboration with Japan, said State Minister for Defence Ruwan Wijewardene yesterday.

Speaking during the committee stage debate on the budget in Parliament, he said this was one of the steps the government intended taking in order to upgrade the Sri Lankan armed forces.

Sri Lanka will acquire one offshore naval craft from India next year and another will be acquired by the year 2019, he said.

He added that the Air Force would acquire multi combatant jets.

The State Minister said the intention of the government was to strengthen the armed forces while trying to being about reconciliation between the communities. The government will always give top priority to national security, he said.

He said this was the reason why a sum of Rs.231 billion was allocated for defence though there was no war on. President Maithripala Sirisena has always instructed us to give top priority to the countrys security, he said. (Yohan Perera)
REUTERS: Sri Lanka will take part in a joint venture with China Merchants Port Holdings Company Limited to develop a port in its South, where China has also been offered an investment zone.

The Cabinet approved a plan under which Sri Lanka will lease 80 percent of the Hambantota port to Hong Kong-based China Merchants Port Holdings Company for 99 years for US $1.12 billion, a government document showed.



China Merchants Port Holdings Company will make a US $5 million payment as a security deposit upon signing the agreement, which the government expects to do on January 7.

The company will pay 10 percent of the US $1.12 billion within one month, and the remaining 90 percent within six months of signing the transaction documents.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had offered during a visit to China in April to swap equity in Sri Lankan infrastructure projects against some of the US $8 billion in debt the Indian Ocean island owes to China.



The port was built with the help of Chinese loans and contractors in 2010 under former, China-friendly President Mahinda Rajapaksa, as part of efforts to develop the countrys infrastructure after ending a 26-year war in 2009.

But the port and a nearby airport, also built with Chinese finance, are seen as white elephants because they are not proving financially viable, the government has said.

Chinas interest in the port may reflect its ambition to build a Maritime Silk Route to the oil-rich Middle East and onwards to Europe.

That makes some countries, including India and the United States, nervous, with Sri Lankasitting near shipping lanes through which much of the worlds trade passes en route to China and Japan.

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake in October said the government was in final talks with Chinese investors over setting up a 15,000-acre (6,100 hectare) investment zone near the port.

President Maithripaala Sirisena had suspended most Chinese infrastructure projects, including a US $1.4 billion luxury property deal, allegedly because proper procedures had not been followed or costs had been inflated under his predecessor.

But faced with a debt and balance-of-payments crisis, the new government eventually allowed all the projects to go ahead.
Thailand stock exchange listed digital finance company, Group Lease Public Company Limiteds (GLPCL) Singaporean subsidiary, Group Lease Holdings (GLH), yesterday completed the acquisition of 95.4 million shares or 29.99 percent stake in Sri Lankas Commercial Credit and Finance PLC (CCF), a licenced finance company, in deal valued at a whopping Rs.10.6 billion.

The sellers of the shares were, BG Investments Private Limited, Creations Investment Sri Lanka LLC and an individual named Stephen L. Lafrance Jr., who sold 6.98 percent, 22.26 percent and 0.74 percent of CCF, respectively.

Prior to the acquisition of shares by GLH, BG Investments, controlled by CCF CEO Roshan Egodage, held 58.44 percent of CCF, while Creation Investments held 28.66 percent and L. Lafrance Jr. held 0.74 percent.

Yesterdays deal valued the CCF share at Rs.111, much higher than its current trading price and the book value of Rs.28.40. The CCF share ended at Rs.60.60, losing Rs.3.80 or 5.90 percent, at yesterdays market close.

The deal will not trigger a mandatory offer as per the SECs Takeovers and Mergers Code, as the acquisition remains less than 30 percent of the issued shares of CCF. This is the second such large equity investments made into the company within a matter of three years as Creations Investment Sri Lanka LLC invested Rs.1.68 billion in CCF two years ago marking, the biggest foreign investment into a finance company, the CCF said in a statement.

According to CCF Chief Operating Officer, Rajiv Casie Chitty, after yesterdays deal the company foresees many avenues opening up for future capital raising amid opportunities for synergies and growth. The acquirer also shared the similar sentiments over the deal, which marked its first major expansion outside of the ASEAN region.

GL has operations in Cambodia, Laos, and Indonesia. We look to combine our efficient digital finance platform with CCFs very successful track record in the field of finance, to grow our businesses in all markets where we are and will be present, while CCFs need to access to capital can easily be met by our capability to raise funds internationally, said Group Lease Public Limited (GL) Chairman/CEO Mitsuji Konoshita in a statement released after the deal.

CCF in a separate deal also disposed of its 28.1 percent stake held in BG Myanmar Microfinance Limited (BGMM) to GLH for a consideration of US $ 2.248 or Rs.330 million.

CCF said the deal has realized a gain on disposal of shares to the tune of Rs.277 million, demonstrating significantly higher valuations.

The 100 percent stake held in concert by BG Investments (Pvt.) Ltd and related companies along with CCF is valued at US $ 8.0 million.

In an earlier occasion BG group of companies controlled by CCF divested its71.9 percent stake in BGMM for an undisclosed amount.

The deals were completed just two days after the shareholders of GL, the parent company of GLH, which is listed in the Stock Exchange of Thailand, gave their green light for the company to go ahead with the two deals, among others.

On October 3, CCF announced that the company had signed two share purchase agreements (SPAs) to dispose of its 28.1 percent stake held in BGMM to GLH and also to sell 29.99 percent stake in CCF to the same buyer.

However, just days before the EGM on November 26, the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) warned the shareholders of GL on the multiple deals as they were both connected transactions and had been valued at significantly higher prices than the fair values of the shares.

In fact, Patrick GLPCL director Patrick Fisher is also the founder and managing partner of Creations Investment Sri Lanka LLC, one of the sellers of CCF shares. He is also a director of CCF.

However, the Board of Directors of GL thinks that the purchasing of shares in BGMM will enable them to expand their businesses into Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam region while the acquisition of CCF will give them an adequate foothold in the countrys burgeoning micro-finance business.

Post divestment, Egodage controlled BG Investments Private Limited and related parties now hold 51.5 percent stake in CCF still being the CCFs controlling shareholder.

CCF operates with an asset base of Rs.76.5 billion and during the six months ended September 30, 2016, the CCF group made a net profit of Rs.1.37 billion or Rs.4.30 a share, an increase of 22 percent from a year ago.

Shares gain on foreign buying

REUTERS: Sri Lankan shares rose yesterday as a stake buy in Commercial Credit and Finance Plc by a unit of Thailands Group Lease Plc lifted the mood while foreign investors bought domestic stocks and turned net buyers so far in the year.

Group Lease Holdings Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of Thailands Group Lease Plc purchased 95.4 million shares or 29.99 percent in Commercial Credit And Finance Plc, Asia Securities, which was directly involved in the deal, said in a disclosure to the bourse.

The transaction was valued at Rs.10.59 billion ($71.31 million), according to a statement by Group Lease Holdings Pte Ltd.

Foreign investors bought a net Rs.11.7 billion ($78.79 million) worth of shares yesterday, reversing the year-to-date net foreign outflow to Rs.996.68 million worth of net investment in shares.

Turnover was Rs.12 billion, its highest since March 16, 2012, compared with this years daily average of Rs.748.9 million.

Shares of Commercial Credit and Finance Plc, however, ended 5.90 percent weaker. The Colombo stock index ended 0.17 percent at 6,337.82, edging up from its lowest close since Dec.2 hit on Wednesday. The bourse gained 1.17 percent last week, recording its first weekly gain in four weeks.

It was a fairly dry year, but todays trade will give a bit of confidence to the investors, said Kanishka Perera Head of Research at Asia Securities.

There could be a slight boost to the turnover levels in the coming days and this shows that still there is investor confidence in the market.

The deal, according to brokers, is a positive as it assures investors of continuing foreign appetite towards Sri Lanka at a time of worries over the proposed increases in various taxes and fees affecting growth.

The government aims to boost its 2017 tax revenue by 27 percent to Rs.1.82 trillion year-on-year to meet a commitment given to the International Monetary Fund in return for a $1.5 billion loan in May.

Shares of conglomerate John Keells Holdings Plc rose 2.58 percent while Hemas Holdings Plc rose 2.08 percent.
Actors talk too much nowadays. Maybe it is do with the fact that contemporary Hindi films are a big, long picnic. So, it does not make much sense to talk about my journey - running away from home, joining the National School of Drama (NSD) in Delhi to studying acting at Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune.

I think holding an elaborate retrospective of all my bad films would be perfect. And believe me, there are many films that can be included - Tridev, to start with.

Surprisingly, journalists expect me to comment on the 100-crore club. I know the kind of response they expect. Tell me, how are the producers responsible for the content that is being fed to the audiences?

Don't the people realise that the former treat them with contempt? They know the masses will accept nonsense that will be fed to them. Have you not seen Shivaay or Ae Dil Hai Mushkil? People will keep abusing such films, but still stand outside cinema halls to grab a ticket. Such a hopeless situation!

And then there is so much talk about contemporary, low-budget cinema in Indian languages, which seems to be the favourite at all film festivals in the country. Of course, we are witnessing some good films being made by young directors willing to work with different content and adopt new styles, but it is too soon to be optimistic. When the parallel cinema movement of the '80s was at its peak, everyone thought the world of films had changed forever in India.

But see what happened after a few years - everything collapsed and mediocrity peaked. Things have only taken a turn for the worse. Let's not rejoice too soon, and keep our fingers crossed.

"I don't have many friends in the film industry. Their company is not stimulating at all."

Saying anything has suddenly become so dangerous. Not only because we Indians are a touchy lot who take ourselves too seriously and can be offended at the slightest provocation, but also for other reasons. Look at all the uproar over Pakistani film actors working in Indian film industry. So disgusting! The whole issue was uncalled for and unnecessary.

It was really craven of Karan Johar to apologise and give in to the extortion demand when it came to Fawad Khan in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil.

It is so annoying that anyone supporting art across barriers should invite questions over his/her patriotism. When it comes to terrorism, the problem lies with the political and military establishment on the other side of the border, and not the ordinary Pakistani.

I have done several film projects there and staged my plays in Pakistan, and it has always been a warm experience. But wait, how can I say that? Wouldn't I be termed an anti-national then? Wouldn't newspapers make a headline out of this?

By the way, if India's political establishment has such a problem with Pakistan, why not snap all diplomatic relations and stop all business transactions with that country? None of that has happened, right? Why target only artists? Just because they can be hounded easily?

Now let's come to my statement on Twitter wherein I called Rajesh Khanna a poor actor. First things first - I never took that statement back.

Yes, I did apologise to the family for hurting their feelings. However, what I don't really get is the reaction of those who are in no way related to the deceased actor. They seem to be more disturbed than even Dimple Khanna. And what respect are we talking about? What respect did the industry have for him when he ceased to be a moneymaking machine for the producers? He was all-alone in his last years, no?

Coming back to films, I really enjoyed being part of Adhiraj's Bose' long short-film Interior Night Cafe.

It is an interesting format that keeps in mind the diminishing attention span of the audience. Of course, the problem is that ever since I have done this film, people have started bombarding me with mediocre scripts of short films, thinking I would be open to anything. Many forget that it is a very complicated format - your script has to be powerful enough to say everything in ten minutes.

Frankly, I am too tired of discussions that revolve around "what is a good film". The only thing that matters is truthful cinema. A David Dhawan film's aim is to make you laugh, and you know that. If the movie manages to do that, it is a good one. Period.
Now Germany too has banned full-face veils. France had done that earlier. Switzerland banned minarets in 2010. Islamophobic politicians are gaining acceptance in most European countries. Donald Trump has already been elected president of the United States.

Muslims, however, dont get it. They just refuse to understand why fear of Islam is deepening in every society, India being no exception. They just take bans on veils or minarets as attacks on their religious freedom.

They never worry about the lack of religious freedom in Muslim societies, not even for Muslims from minority sects or those considered heretic. They do not understand that religious freedom is indivisible.

Demolition

Indian Muslims have just observed the 24th anniversary of the demolition of Babri mosque. But only recently so many Hindu temples were vandalised in next-door Bangladesh. Hindu girls are routinely kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam and raped in the name of marriage.

But one doesnt hear a word of condemnation from ulema or Muslim institutions. Does Islam allow freedom of religion? Saudi Arabia doesnt allow building of temples or churches in its land.

Indian Muslims have just observed the 24th anniversary of the demolition of Babri mosque.

If there is one jihad that would be permissible according to the Qurans teachings, it would be a jihad against Saudi Arabia, forcing it to allow worship places of other religions. When Muslims were permitted to defend themselves with arms 13 years after the advent of Islam, it was to protect freedom of religion per se, not just that of Muslims.

In the words of the Quran (22:40): And had it not been that Allah checks one set of people with another, the monasteries and churches, the synagogues and the mosques, in which His praise is abundantly celebrated would have been utterly destroyed.

But how come, we feel concerned only when it is a matter concerning a mosque or a supposedly "Islamic" veil being banned and do not bother if Muslim and avowedly Islamic states do not allow religious freedom to other groups. Not only that. We have scholars who claim that while non-Muslims have perfect freedom to practice their religion in an Islamic state (not quite true, of course), Muslims do not have that freedom at all.

Once born to a Muslim parent, you are doomed for ever to be a Muslim or else. Well, your throat will be slit, no less. Indeed, there are "revered" ulema in various schools of thought who say that if someone is seen so much as not attending Friday prayers, his throat should be slit.

Scholar

Writes Salman Tarik Kureshi, a noted Pakistani scholar: A person greatly admires Hazrat Maulana Rashid Gangohi, the outstanding scholar who was one of the founders of the Deoband madarsa. The gentleman to whom I refer is a kindly soul, who can be depended upon for help by others. However, when in the course of conversation I chanced to remark that the most basic virtue lay in kindness towards others, he contradicted me. Kindness, he contended, was reserved for 'pious, practising Muslims'. As for others, they should be given a chance to mend their ways, after which 'they would be Wajibul Qatal (liable to be killed)'. Another person I chanced to meet  a finance man, no less  feels that people who do not attend Friday prayers 'should simply be killed. Slit their throats!'

Religion

Denying freedom of religion to Muslims and ex-Muslims, not to speak of non-Muslims, indeed has a long and gory history. The Quranic dictum (2: 256) "la ikraha fid Deen" (Let there be no compulsion in religion) did not leave an impact beyond the life of Prophet Mohammad.

Forcible conversions started with the first Caliph Hazrat Abu Bakr (RA) fighting Ridda (apostasy) wars against the tribes who had left Islam after the demise of the Prophet. They were all brought back to the fold of Islam or killed.

Similar is the case of Khwarij in the time of the fourth caliph Hazrat Ali (RA) and beyond to neo-Khwarij today, also known as Wahhabi or Salafi. These groups mostly kill Muslims whom they consider "heretics" including Shias and Ahmadis.

We Muslims need to be reminded of this history to be able to understand our present. Until we start respecting and accepting other religions and the human right of someone born a Muslim to leave the faith, we should not expect respect from others.

We should not confuse their magnanimity with our right. Rights always have corresponding duties. Let us Muslims discard Islam supremacism and accept for a change that Islam is a spiritual path to salvation, one of the many.

I know looking within and finding out how we are contributing to the growing Islamophobia is difficult, but we have no option but to do so.
The best of you are those who are the kindest to their wives - Prophet Muhammad

The Allahabad High Court has finally got the clock of judicial activism ticking by saying that triple talaq is unconstitutional. It was no surprise and the liberal strands in Muslim thought had already stood out clear.

Indeed, one of the reasons triple talaq has remained legal so long is the fear, propounded by Muslim community leaders, that if the government is allowed to tamper with Islamic personal laws, it might one day scrap them completely, and the majority will swallow them up. But judicial verdicts apart, we are still missing the key issues in the reformist discourse on Muslim family laws and practices.

The survey of 4,500 Muslim women by the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (Muslim Womens Welfare Movement or BMMA) earlier this year showed that 91 per cent of them were against polygamy. This was reported with great excitement in the media though actually it should not have surprised us, given that the data shows that over 90 per cent of Muslims are in monogamous marriages.

Incidentally, a statement by the same group on October 15, that Muslim women want codification of Muslim family law and not uniform civil code, was reported with less enthusiasm.

The solution to gender issues in Muslim society lies less in reformation of personal laws and more in addressing the entire spectrum of issues confronting women. Islamic feminists insist that Islam, at its core, is progressive for women and supports equal opportunities for men and women alike.

Deeply religious, profoundly determined and modern in every way, these women are challenging not only the unjust restrictions placed on them by their own societies, but also the tired stereotypes and empty generalisations placed on them by the West.

They are arguing for womens rights within an Islamic discourse. Some of the leading proponents are actually men - distinguished scholars who contend that Islam was radically egalitarian for its time and remains so in many of its texts.

There is a long list of hadiths (Prophets sayings) and Quranic verses to support women's rights: the right to education; the right to work and their right to keep the money they earn.

Women are on the frontlines of our most critical human rights struggles today, particularly in war-torn countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan. Muslim women - and men - are driving social justice by promoting cultural change from within their own societies.

Reform is an unruly horse that can go berserk unless it is properly saddled.

Their advocacy for womens rights based on more progressive interpretations of Islam are critical to bridging the conflict between those championing reform and those seeking to oppress women in the name of religious tradition.

Socially, culturally, economically, and politically, the future hinges on finding ways to accommodate human rights, and in particular womens rights, with Islamic law. These reformers - and thousands of others - are the people leading the way forward.

The depressing condition of Muslim women is a phenomenon among the underprivileged. In the economically-improved strata of Muslims the sort of oppressive practices which are being talked about are a rarity.

Poverty is the root cause of obscurantism in Muslim families. Economic empowerment is one tide that lifts all the boats. It enables you to provide better education for kids, better healthcare for the household and better housing. It is a virtual cycle that transforms your worldview.

A common civil code is being oversold as a silver bullet for gender justice which it is not; it is in fact a magic bullet for maiming Muslim identity and culture. What is urgently required is draining the swamps of Muslim poverty that are breeding unrest and frustration leading to both physical and mental violence.

Unlike revenge, justice is not a dish best served cold. The more it is delayed, the greater the risk India runs of alienating further nearly a fifth of its population.

The Quranic institution of polygamy was a piece of social legislation. It was designed not to gratify the male sexual appetite, but to correct the injustices done to widows, orphans, and other female dependants, who were especially vulnerable.

Polygamy was designed to ensure that unprotected women would be decently married, and to abolish the old loose, irresponsible liaisons. Polygamy is not the rule, but an exception.

A New York Times review of the book in 1994 described the views of Robert Wright, the celebrated author of The Moral Animal, in this way: Monogamy, Mr Wright says, does not favour the interests of most women, particularly lower-status women. Most human cultures throughout history have been mildly polygynous, with wealthier men attracting several wives. Though women in these cultures are often less than eager to share a man," he writes, typically, they would rather do that than live in poverty with the undivided attention of a neer-do-well. Monogamy instead favours lower-status men who in a polygynous society would be frozen out of the marriage market by a wife-collecting elite. It is no coincidence that Christianity has advocated monogamy and pitched its message to poor and powerless men.

It is much easier for the media to reduce the complex debate on the Uniform Civil Code to a series of cliches, slogans and sound-bites, rather than examining root causes; easier still to champion the most extreme and bigoted critics of Islam while ignoring the voices of mainstream Muslim scholars, academics and activists.

It is equally important for the Muslim theocracy to understand their proper role: call it religious policing, cultural policing, guardian policing, family policing and community policing. The many names share one vision: humane, compassionate, culturally refined with a mindset of respect and a demonstrable concern for improving the wellbeing of women, particularly when they have been assigned a very exalted position both by the Prophet and the Quran.

Treating women with the inherent dignity that they were created with, ensuring that they are given equitable opportunities to succeed is necessary to uphold the Quran's vision, "O you who have attained to faith! Be ever steadfast in upholding justice." (Q4:135).

Reform is an unruly horse that can go berserk unless it is properly saddled. The path ahead lies in importing some of the progressive reforms so that our personal laws regain vibrancy and are able to effectively respond to new realities. The Indian Muslim leadership should allow the winds of reforms in Islamosphere to blow in.

To those opposed to reformist ideals, let us remind them of legendary poet Muhammad Iqbals assertion: [T]he teaching of the Quran that life is a process of progressive creation necessitates that each generation, guided but unhampered by the work of its predecessors, should be permitted to solve its own problems.
The Boeing Company is the worlds largest manufacturer of airplanes and commands more than 50% of the market in some channels and categories. The company and its family of subsidiaries design, develops, manufacture, sell, service, and supports commercial jetliners, military aircraft, satellites, missile defense, human space flight, and related services worldwide. The company operates through four segments including Commercial Airplanes; Defense, Space & Security; Global Services; and Boeing Capital providing products and services to end-users in 150 countries.

Boeing got its start in 1910 when William E. Boeing developed a love for aircraft. Soon after he takes his first plane ride which leads him to build a hangar and begin construction of his first plane. The onset of WWI helped spur the companys growth but business was cut drastically in its wake. The start of WWII was another milestone for the company and one that led to its current position of dominance. The company was incorporated in 1916 and is based in Chicago, Illinois. Boeing employs over 140,000 people in 65 countries making it one of the most diverse employers on the planet.

The Commercial Airplanes segment is built around the iconic 7-series which includes the 737, 747, and 787. The segment provides commercial jet aircraft for passenger and cargo requirements, as well as fleet support services for regional, national, and international air carriers and logistics and freight companies. In terms of global volume, the company estimates about 90% of all air freight is carried aboard one of its jets. This segment also includes the Dreamliner family of planes. The Dreamliner is a game-changing airplane for many carriers as it opens up the potential for new one-stop destinations because of its capacity and range.

The Defense, Space & Security segment develops and manufactures a range of systems including manned and unmanned aircraft, missiles, missile defense systems, satellites, communications equipment, and intelligence systems for governments. Among the many iconic brands within this segment are the AH-64 Apache, Air Force One, B-52, C-17 Globemaster, Chinook, F/A-18, and the V-22 Osprey VTOL aircraft used by the Marines.

The Global Services segment offers a range of products and services that include supply chain and logistics management, engineering, maintenance, upgrades, conversions, spare parts, pilot and maintenance training, technical and maintenance documents, and data analytics to its commercial and defense customers.

Boeing is also a leader in innovation, leveraging its many decades and avenues of experience to further aerospace and defense technology. Among the many innovations is the MQ-25 Stingray which will be the worlds first autonomous aircraft. The Stingray is only one of many areas of research that also include drones and undersea vehicles.
The following companies are subsidiares of NOV: APL France SAS, APL Norway AS, APL do Brasil Ltda., ASEP Otomotiv Sanayi Ticaret Ltd., Acker Holdings LLC, Ackerman Holdings C.V., Ackerman Holdings GP LLC, Advanced Production and Loading, Advanced Wirecloth S. de R.L. de C.V., American Pipe and Construction International, Ameron B.V., Ameron International, Ameron International Corporation, Ameron Pole Products LLC, Ameron Polyplaster Industria E Comercio de Tubos Ltda., Ameron Singapore Holding LLC, Andergauge Limited, Andergauge Redback LLC, Arabian Rig Manufacturing Company, Big Red Tubulars Limited, Bondstrand Ltd., Brandt Oilfield Services (M) Sdn. Bhd., C.M.A. Canavera S.R.L., CJSC Fidmash, CJSC Novmash, Chemineer Inc., Coil Services Middle East LLC, Cooperatie Intelliserv Holding U.A., Cooperatie NOV NL U.A., Danco AS, Elmar Far East Pty Ltd, Enerflow Industries, Environmental Procedures LLC, Fiber Glass Systems (Qingdao) Composite Piping Co. Ltd., Fiber Glass Systems L.P., Fiber Glass Systems Oman L.L.C., Fiberspar, Fiberspar Australia Pty. Ltd., Fibra Ingenieria y Construccion S.A., FidService LLC, Fjords Processing (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Fjords Processing AS, Fjords Processing Australia Pty Ltd, Fjords Processing France SAS, Fjords Processing Korea Co. Ltd., Fjords Processing Limited, Fjords Processing Middle East DMCC, Fjords Processing UK Ltd., Fryma S.a.r.l., GPEX L.P., Grant Prideco (Jiangsu) Drilling Products Co. Ltd, Grant Prideco (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Grant Prideco III C. V., Grant Prideco Inc., Grant Prideco Jersey Limited, Grant Prideco Mauritius Limited, Grant Prideco Netherlands B.V., Grant Prideco PC Composites Holdings LLC, Grant Prideco S. de R.L. de C.V., Grant Prideco de Venezuela S.A., GustoMSC B.V., Hebei Huayouyiji Tuboscope Coating Co. Ltd., Hydralift AmClyde Inc., Hydralift France SAS, Inspecciones y Pruebas No Destructivas S. de R.L. de C.V., IntelliServ Norway AS, Intelliserv GP Holdings LLC, Intelliserv Inc., Intelliserv International Holding Ltd, Intelliserv LLC, JiangYin Tuboscope Tubular Development Co. Ltd, Keystone Tower Systems Inc., MSI Pipe Protection Technologies UK Limited, Merpro Group Limited, Midsund Bruk AS, Mono Group Pension Trustees Limited, Mono Pumps New Zealand Company, Monoflo NOV S.A.I.C., Moyno Inc., NKT Flexibles I/S, NOV (Asia) Inc., NOV (Barbados) Holding SRL, NOV (Barbados) SRL, NOV (Caymans) Ltd., NOV (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., NOV - Oil Services Angola LDA., NOV APL Limited, NOV Africa Pty Ltd, NOV Australia Pty Ltd, NOV Azerbaijan LLC, NOV Brandt Europe France, NOV Brandt Oilfield Services Middle East LLC, NOV CAPS Pte. Ltd., NOV CV1 GP LLC, NOV CV2 GP LLC, NOV Canada ULC, NOV Completion Tools LLC, NOV Completion and Production Solutions Korea Ltd., NOV Denmark Cooperatief U.A., NOV Downhole Argentina LLC, NOV Downhole Bolivia S.R.L., NOV Downhole Colombia LLC, NOV Downhole Comercializacao de Equipamentos para Petroleo Ltda., NOV Downhole Congo LLC, NOV Downhole Eurasia Limited, NOV Downhole Italia S.R.L., NOV Downhole Kazakhstan LLC, NOV Downhole Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., NOV Downhole Pty Ltd, NOV Downhole Thailand LLC, NOV EU Acquisition SNC, NOV Elmar (Middle East) Limited, NOV Eurasia Holding LLC, NOV Expatriate Services Inc., NOV FGS Malaysia Sdn Bhd, NOV FGS Singapore (Pte.) Ltd, NOV Flexibles Equipamentos E Servicos Ltda., NOV Flexibles Holding ApS, NOV Fluid Control B.V., NOV GEO GP LLC, NOV GEO LP1 C.V., NOV GEO LP1 LLC, NOV GEO LP2 C.V., NOV GEO LP2 LLC, NOV Gabon SARL, NOV Germany GmbH, NOV Germany Holding GmbH, NOV Ghana Limited, NOV Grant Prideco Drilling Equipment Manufacturing LLC, NOV Grant Prideco Drilling Products Middle East FZE, NOV Grant Prideco L.L.C., NOV Holding Danmark ApS, NOV Holding Sub UK 1 Limited, NOV Holding UK 1 Limited, NOV Holding UK 2 Limited, NOV Holdings B.V., NOV India Private Limited, NOV Intelliserv UK Limited, NOV International Holdings C.V., NOV International Holdings GP LLC, NOV International Holdings LLC, NOV Intervention & Stimulation Equipment US LLC, NOV Intervention and Stimulation Equipment  Aftermarket Comercio de Equipamentos e Servicos Ltda., NOV Kenya Limited, NOV Kostroma LLC, NOV Kuwait Light & Heavy Equipment Repairing & Maintenance Co., NOV LP (Trading) LLC, NOV MFG India Private Limited, NOV Mexico Holding LLC, NOV Middle East FZCO, NOV Mozambique Limitada, NOV NL Mexico Holding B.V., NOV Oil & Gas Services Egypt (S.A.E), NOV Oil & Gas Services Senegal S.A.R.L., NOV Oil & Gas Services Uganda Limited, NOV Oil and Gas Services Ghana Limited, NOV Oil and Gas Services Namibia (Proprietary) Limited, NOV Oil and Gas Services Nigeria Limited, NOV Oil and Gas Services South Africa (Pty) Limited, NOV Oilfield Services Tanzania Limited, NOV Oilfield Services Vostok LLC, NOV Oilfield Solutions Ltd., NOV Park II B.V., NOV Process & Flow Technologies AS, NOV Process & Flow Technologies Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., NOV Process & Flow Technologies Pte. Ltd., NOV Process & Flow Technologies UK Limited, NOV QFZ LLC, NOV Rig Solutions Pte. Ltd., NOV Romania LLC, NOV Saudi Arabia Co. Ltd., NOV Saudi Arabia Trading Co., NOV Services Ltd., NOV Servicios de Personal Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., NOV Tanajib Kuwait for Services and Maintenance of Oil Rigs Refineries and Petrochemicals W.L.L., NOV Tuboscope Italia S.R.L., NOV Tuboscope Middle East LLC, NOV Tuboscope NL B.V., NOV Tubulars and Connectors Ltd., NOV UK (Angola Acquisitions) Limited, NOV UK Finance Limited, NOV UK Holdings LLC, NOV UK Holdings Limited, NOV UK Korea LP, NOV Wellbore Technologies Norway LLC, NOV Wellbore Technologies do Brasil Equipamentos E Servicos Ltda., NOV Wellsite Services Germany GmbH, NOV Worldwide B.V., NOV-BLM SAS, NOVM Holding LLC, NOW International LLC, NOW Nova Scotia Holdings LLC, NOW Oilfield Services LLC, NQL Holland B.V., National Oilwell (U.K.) Limited, National Oilwell Algerie, National Oilwell Varco (Beijing) Investment Management Co. Ltd., National Oilwell Varco (Thailand) Ltd., National Oilwell Varco Algeria, National Oilwell Varco Almansoori Services, National Oilwell Varco Bahrain WLL, National Oilwell Varco Belgium SA, National Oilwell Varco Denmark I/S, National Oilwell Varco Egypt LLC, National Oilwell Varco Eurasia LLC, National Oilwell Varco Guatemala Limitada, National Oilwell Varco Guyana Inc., National Oilwell Varco Hungary Limited Liability Company, National Oilwell Varco Korea Co. Ltd., National Oilwell Varco L.P., National Oilwell Varco MSW S.A., National Oilwell Varco Mexico S.A. de C.V., National Oilwell Varco Muscat L.L.C., National Oilwell Varco Norway AS, National Oilwell Varco Peru S.R.L., National Oilwell Varco Petroleum Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., National Oilwell Varco Poland Sp.z.o.o., National Oilwell Varco Pte. Ltd., National Oilwell Varco Rig Equipment Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., National Oilwell Varco Romania S.R.L., National Oilwell Varco Solutions S.A. de C.V., National Oilwell Varco UK Limited, National Oilwell Varco Ukraine LLC, National Oilwell Varco de Bolivia S.R.L., National Oilwell Varco de Chile - Servicios Limitada, National Oilwell Varco do Brasil Ltda., National Oilwell de Venezuela C.A., National-Oilwell Pte. Ltd., National-Oilwell Pty. Ltd., PT Fjords Processing Indonesia, PT H-Tech Oilfield Equipment, PT NOV Oilfield Services, PT National Oilwell Varco, PT PROFAB INDONESIA, Pesaka Inspection Services SDN.BHD., Pipex Limited, Pipex PX Limited, Pridecomex Holding S. de R.L. de C.V., R&M Energy Systems Australia Pty Ltd, R&M Energy Systems de Argentina S.A., R&M Energy Systems de Venezuela C.A., R&M Singapore Holding LLC, RE.MAC.UT. S.r.l., RHI Holding LLC, ReedHycalog International Holding LLC, ReedHycalog L.P., ReedHycalog LLC, ReedHycalog UK Limited, Robannic Overseas Finance A.V.V., Robbins & Myers B.V., Robbins & Myers Foundation, Robbins & Myers GP LLC, Robbins & Myers Holdings LLC, Robbins & Myers Holdings UK Limited, Robbins & Myers Inc, Robbins & Myers Inc., Robbins & Myers Italia S.R.L., Robbins & Myers N.V., Rodic S.A. de C.V., Romaco S.a.r.l., STAR Sudamtex Tubulares S.A., STSA, Screen Manufacturing Company Unlimited, Slip Clutch Systems Limited, South Seas Inspection, Subseaflex Holding ApS, T-3 Energy Preferred Industries Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., T-3 Energy Services Cayman Holdings Ltd., T-3 Energy Services Cayman Ltd., T-3 Energy Services LLC, T-3 Energy Services Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., T-3 Investment Corporation IV, T-3 Mexican Holdings Inc., Telluride Insurance Limited, Tianjin Grant TPCO Drilling Tools Company Limited, Tuboscope & Co. LLC, Tuboscope (Holding U.S.) LLC, Tuboscope Brandt de Venezuela S.A., Tuboscope Norge AS, Tuboscope Vetco (France) SAS, Tuboscope Vetco (Osterreich) GmbH, Tuboscope Vetco Capital Limited, Tuboscope Vetco Moscow CJSC, Tuboscope Vetco de Argentina S.A., Tubular Coatings Solutions Ltd., Tucom Composites Polyester Sanayi Ticaret Ltd., Urban WLY LP, Varco BJ B.V., Varco CIS LLC, Varco International de Venezuela C.A., Varco L.P., Varco US Holdings LLC, Vetco Enterprise GmbH, Vetco Saudi Arabia Ltd., Visible Assets Inc., Wilson International, Woolley Inc., XL Systems Antilles N.V., XL Systems Europe B.V., XL Systems International Inc., voestalpine Tubulars Corporation, voestalpine Tubulars GmbH, and voestalpine Tubulars GmbH & Co KG.

Read More
AutoZone, Inc. retails and distributes automotive replacement parts and accessories. The company offers various products for cars, sport utility vehicles, vans, and light trucks, including new and remanufactured automotive hard parts, maintenance items, accessories, and non-automotive products. Its products include A/C compressors, batteries and accessories, bearings, belts and hoses, calipers, chassis, clutches, CV axles, engines, fuel pumps, fuses, ignition and lighting products, mufflers, radiators, starters and alternators, thermostats, and water pumps, as well as tire repairs. In addition, the company offers maintenance products, such as antifreeze and windshield washer fluids; brake drums, rotors, shoes, and pads; brake and power steering fluids, and oil and fuel additives; oil and transmission fluids; oil, cabin, air, fuel, and transmission filters; oxygen sensors; paints and accessories; refrigerants and accessories; shock absorbers and struts; spark plugs and wires; and windshield wipers. Further, it provides air fresheners, cell phone accessories, drinks and snacks, floor mats and seat covers, interior and exterior accessories, mirrors, performance products, protectants and cleaners, sealants and adhesives, steering wheel covers, stereos and radios, tools, and wash and wax products, as well as towing services. Additionally, the company provides a sales program that offers commercial credit and delivery of parts and other products; sells automotive diagnostic and repair software under the ALLDATA brand through alldata.com; and automotive hard parts, maintenance items, accessories, and non-automotive products through autozone.com. As of August 27, 2022, it operated 6,168 stores in the United States; 703 stores in Mexico; and 72 stores in Brazil. The company was founded in 1979 and is based in Memphis, Tennessee.
A North Carolina man was sentenced Thursday to three and half years in federal prison for his part in a Charlottesville methamphetamine conspiracy, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office.

Ramon Gabriel Jr., of North Carolina, previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine. In Charlottesville Federal Court on Thursday, Gabriel was sentenced to 42 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He also will have to pay a fine of $500.

In September, Gabriels co-defendant, David Valencia, of Madison Heights, was sentenced to 38 months in federal prison after he was convicted of the same charge in June.
The University of Virginia contributed about $5.9 billion to the state economy in fiscal year 2015, according to a report from an outside consulting firm.

UVa contributed about $3 billion in direct spending on goods and services in the commonwealth, according to an economic impact study conducted by Tripp Umbach, a Pittsburgh consulting firm specializing in higher education.

The rest of it came from indirect spending  defined as spending by companies and people who do business with the university  and induced impact, which includes household spending by employees.

The study also found that UVa generated about $240 million in tax revenue. Though UVas academic and research facilities are exempt from property tax, spending by the university does generate revenue.

UVa employs about 28,450 people, but the firm found another 23,208 jobs statewide that are supported as a result of UVa, employee, student and visitor spending.

The numbers provided by the report are a conservative estimate of UVas impact on the region, said Paul Umbach, CEO of the firm, who presented the findings to the Board of Visitors on Thursday.

The release of the report marks the beginning of a new public relations campaign  titled A University of the Commonwealth  as UVa faces spending cuts from the state General Assembly.

The university commissioned the study in May.

We hope this helps people understand what an important mission we have, said Patrick D. Hogan, UVas chief operating officer.

The last economic impact study of UVa was conducted nearly a decade ago by the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. This time around, UVa hired an outside consultant using unrestricted philanthropic funds, Hogan said.

The administration plans to provide updated economic impact studies every three years, he added.

The latest study comes about a month before the next General Assembly session. Legislators will need to make some difficult funding decisions, as the state faces a $654 million shortfall due to lower-than-expected tax revenues.

Institutions of higher education across the state  including UVa and Piedmont Virginia Community College  face a 7.5 percent cut proposed by Gov. Terry McAuliffe.

Hogan said the timing was incidental  the study was commissioned before the cuts were announced  but that he hopes legislators take the report into consideration.

Wed love to get more support from the commonwealth on startup [companies] and research, he said.

State funding accounts for 10 percent of UVas $1.4 billion academic budget. The universitys $7.6 billion endowment is the fifth-largest among public universities in the U.S., according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

More detailed results from the Tripp Umbach report are available at virginia.edu/economicimpact.

Tuition and fee increases

The boards Finance Committee on Thursday voted to increase the universitys mandatory comprehensive fee by $66.

If the full board approves the increase in final session on Friday, in-state students will pay $2,670 next fall, an increase of 2.5 percent. Out-of-state students would pay $3,352 under the proposal, an increase of 2 percent.

The fee covers a wide range of student services, including health care, student recreation, security and transportation.

Health care was the main driver of the increase, said President Teresa A. Sullivan. Long wait times for health care  especially psychological care  are one of the most common complaints from students, she said.

There is a lot of demand, Sullivan said.

Students in the universitys schools of law and business will likely see tuition increases in the thousands next fall.

The committee approved an across-the-board tuition increase of $2,300 for the MBA program in the Darden School of Business. If the full board gives its final approval on Friday, that would be a 3.6 percent increase for non-Virginia students and a 3.8 percent increase for Virginians.

The committee also approved $2,000 in tuition and fee increases for students at the School of Law.

Doctoral programs in many schools  including the schools of engineering, nursing, architecture and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences  will adopt a new fee structure next year.

Students in those schools will pay a higher base tuition for the first three years of their study, then pay a reduced rate in their fourth year, during which they spend most of their time working on research and dissertations.

In the Graduate School, for example, in-state students would pay about $18,280 for each of their first three years, then pay $7,576 in their final year.

Tuition for out-of-state students under the plan would be $29,460 for the first three years and $8,258 in the final year.

The board will vote on undergraduate tuition rates in March.
RICHMOND  A federal appeals court appeared skeptical Wednesday of a constitutional challenge that seeks to allow candidates for local office in Virginia to be identified by political party on official ballots.

The three-judge panel likely wont rule until early next year, but the case could have significant ramifications for how democracy works at the ground level in Virginia.

The challenge centers on the question of whether the state has a rational basis for requiring nonpartisan ballots for local races but identifying candidates for federal, statewide and General Assembly offices as Republican, Democrat or any other political party.

During oral arguments Wednesday in Richmond, the appeals judges seemed to lean toward upholding the ballot rules as furthering a legitimate public purpose.

The local dogcatcher  it doesnt matter if hes a Republican or a Democrat. It matters if he can catch dogs, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer said.

A group of Powhatan County Republicans challenging the law have argued that the ballot rules serve little real purpose because, in many cases, local races are nonpartisan in name only and nothing in state law prevents political parties from nominating local candidates or making informal endorsements.

The lack of party affiliation on the ballot, the plaintiffs claim, sows confusion and allows multiple candidates to pitch themselves as having a stamp of approval from the party.

Pat McSweeney, an attorney and Powhatan GOP leader representing the plaintiffs, said publishing party affiliation on the ballot is a helpful cue to voters that signals which candidates share their political values.

It makes no sense to deny voters relevant information, McSweeney said.

The plaintiffs, the Powhatan Republican Committee and four candidates it endorsed in a 2015 Board of Supervisors election, claim the law violates constitutional rights to freedom of association and equal protection.

A federal judge already has rejected that argument.

In March, U.S. District Judge M. Hannah Lauck sided with attorneys representing the State Board of Elections who argued the state has a legitimate interest in tamping down partisanship in races for city councils, county boards and constitutional offices such as prosecutors and sheriffs.

The plaintiffs appealed after Lauck issued her opinion in March.

Joshua Heslinga, a state lawyer from Attorney General Mark R. Herrings office, said the law is meant to avoid the ills of partisanship generally, saying voters shouldnt think of their local sheriff first and foremost as a Republican or a Democrat.

McSweeney said partisan policy issues often have a real impact in local races, such as gun control in sheriffs races and relationships with law enforcement in elections for commonwealths attorneys, whose offices prosecute crimes and deal with cases of police misconduct.

Studies have shown that roughly two-thirds of municipalities nationwide have nonpartisan elections. Virginia has not listed party affiliation for local candidates since the state adopted the written ballot in 1870.

It wasnt until 2000 that the law was changed to identify statewide, General Assembly and non-presidential federal candidates by party, but the practice has not been extended to local races.

The General Assembly narrowly passed a bill this year that would allow localities to include partisan identifiers without forcing it on cities and counties that didnt want it. Gov. Terry McAuliffe vetoed the bill, saying party affiliation is not useful information when making decisions about purely local matters and would only serve to increase divisiveness in local government.

Richmond Mayor-elect Levar Stoney, a former McAuliffe aide, got a firsthand taste of local ballot confusion in this years mayors race.

Stoney was endorsed by the city Democratic committee, and his campaign joined legal action to stop competitor Joe Morrissey from distributing sample ballots implying that Morrissey, not Stoney, had the Democratic endorsement.

On Election Day, Morrissey supporters also handed out fake GOP sample ballots that listed candidate Jack Berry, who identifies as a Democrat, as a Republican alongside presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Though Richmond races allow for Democratic endorsements, city elections dont involve formal party nominations.

McSweeney said his argument focuses mainly on races in which parties nominate their candidates but cannot communicate that choice to voters through the ballot.

Niemeyer questioned the premise that candidates or parties have rights to use government ballots to convey information.

Can they put on their age? Can they put on their color? Their affiliations? What church they go to? Neimeyer said.

Judge Pamela A. Harris said that even though Virginia doesnt seek to outlaw all forms of partisanship in local races, removing it from the act of voting can encourage voters to choose based on the person and not the party.

Because we actually hope that their behavior in office will not be partisan, Harris said.

The laws defenders also have said nonpartisan local elections allow federal employees to run for local offices and avoid a ban on partisan political activity under the Hatch Act.

McSweeney said the Hatch Act still would prohibit federal workers from participating in a partisan nomination process, even if party affiliation isnt published on the ballot.
Santa will make appearances all over Culpeper this weekend as various other special holiday events take place including the Nutcracker Suite Ballet, a free matinee screening of Mr. Magoos Christmas Carol, a cheesy beer event at a local brewery, a big country breakfast and a peek inside a historic manor by candlelight.

A childrens Christmas program and holiday party for adults are among the areas other weekend activities along with high school band concerts and poetry at the library.

Heres a look at whats happening:

SATURDAY

Country breakfast

Eat all you can 8 to 11 a.m. Saturday at the Jeffersonton Community Center hosted by the Ruritan Club. Eggs, pancakes, sausage, bacon, fried apples, biscuits & gravy, pastries, orange juice & coffee. $8 for adults, $5 for children 6-12 and younger than 6 east free. Carry-outs available with all proceeds benefiting scholarships, local public service organizations and charities and maintaining the community center. 540/937-5119 or jeffersonvaruritanclub.org.

Poetry to Art

At the Culpeper Library 10:30 a.m. to noon Dec. 10. Parents and children can drop in to read a poem together and talk about its meaning. Then, children will express their interpretation making a craft.

The Nutcracker Suite

The Charlottesville Ballet presents a 60-minute version of this classic holiday tale with 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. performances Dec. 10 at Culpeper Baptist Church on West Street. $15/adults, $12 child or $30 per child for the 1 p.m. performance and Class With Clara immediately following. 434/227-7592.

Mr. Magoos Christmas Carol

This 1962 animated musical version of the Dickens holiday classic screens for free at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Library of Congress Packard Theater in Culpeper. Reservations not required. 202/707-9994.

Free pictures with Santa Claus

Noon to 2 p.m. Saturday at Lollipop Station, 179 E. Davis St. You supply the cute kid and the camera and they supply Santa.

Soul-Melting event

Far Gohn Brewing Company hosts Culpeper Cheese Company for this culinary celebration 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 10. Enjoy craft beer & Raclette cheese dishes prepared on site at Far Gohn, 301 S. East St. in Culpeper.

PresquIsle by Candlelight

This circa 1815 manor house in Remington hosts an evening opening 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Dec. 10 to celebrate the holidays with music and refreshments in the parlor. $15. 540/272-1071 or info@presquisle.com

A Stranger for Christmas

Culpeper Presbyterian Church presents a Childrens Christmas Program at 6 p.m. on Saturday in the sanctuary at 215 S. Main St. All are welcome.

Country Christmas Gala

At the Culpeper Moose Lodge 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday featuring dinner, dancing, live auction, Christmas tree and ugly sweater contests and Secret Santa gift exchange. $14 per person with proceeds to support the Moosehaven Centennial Project. Bring an unwrapped gift for a local child in need to get $3 discount on admission. 540/825-4570.

Ace in the Hole

This 1951 Oscar-nominated film starring Kirk Douglas in one of the finest performances of his career screens for free at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 10 in the Library of Congress Packard Theater in Culpeper. Reservations not required. 202/707-9994.

The Frank Vignola Trio

Plays a concert at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Little Washington Theatre in Rapphannock County. $25 for adults, $10 for 17 and younger. 540/675-1253

SUNDAY

Family and Friends Day

At Mount Calvary Baptist Church at 11:15 a.m. Sunday with a message by the Rev. Ludwell Brown and lunch to follow. There will be no afternoon service.

Big Christmas- Big Promise

Is the topic of the sermon at Mountain View Community Church in Culpeper for services at 8:30, 10 and 11:30 a.m. Sunday. Childrens programs for birth to fifth grade.540/727-0297.

Santa Visits Gray Ghost Vineyards

In Amissville 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. Children of all ages are invited to bring their wish lists to pose with Santa. Free gift for each child. Cameras encouraged. Free.

Christmas Band Concerts

At 2 p.m. Sunday in the Culpeper County High School auditorium featuring the musicians of CCHS and Culpeper Middle School. The Eastern View High School Band will present its annual Christmas Concert at 4 p.m. in the EVHS Auditorium. Free.

Lions Club bingo fundraiser

Every Sunday night at Peppers Grill in Culpeper sponsored by Mid-Day Lions. Doors at open at 5 p.m., bingo starts at 6:30. Three progressives, $1,0000 jackpot, food available.
G.I. Jobs, a magazine for military personnel making the transition to civilian life, has named Germanna Community College to its 2017 military friendly school list.

More than 500 Germanna students are currently taking advantage of G.I. Bill benefits, according to retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Bob Dixon, Germannas Veterans Counselor, including some military dependents.

Germanna President David A. Sam noted that many of the military personnel stationed at Quantico Marine Corps Base, Fort A.P. Hill and the Dahlgren Naval Surface Warfare Center and their families live in the Fredericksburg area and many commute to the Pentagon and Fort Belvoir.

Some have chosen to make the area their home after retiring from the military, noted Sam, adding that many veterans fighting in the Middle East are returning home. We owe themand all veteransa debt of gratitude, Sam said. The least Germanna can do is to help ease their transition back to civilian life, to make them feel welcome and appreciated, and to prepare them for careers in fields that are hiring and pay well. Were proud of our veteran students and of our veterans program.

The criteria set by the magazine include efforts to recruit and retain active military and veteran students and success in recruiting and retaining military and veteran students. Germanna has a Veterans Center, a Veterans Club, a counselor whose duties include assisting veterans, and a veterans-based web page and a newsletter. It also has a grant program that helps veterans get the credit they deserve for prior learning and matches them with mentors in the business community.

According to the magazine, more than 1,700 colleges participated in the Military Friendly survey, with 1,273 earning the designation.

Ratings were determined by combining each colleges survey scores with the assessment of the institutions ability to meet thresholds for student retention, graduation, job placement, loan repayment, persistence (degree advancement or transfer) and loan default rates for all students and, specifically, for student veterans.

According to Daniel Nichols, a Navy Reserve veteran and chief product officer at Victory Media: Military Friendly helps military families make the best use of the post-9/11 G.I. Bill and other federal benefits while allowing us to further our goal of assisting them in finding success in their chosen career fields.

G.I. Jobs magazine has been published by Victory Media, a veteran-owned business headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pa., since 2009.

GCCs Veterans Center is located in Dickinson Building room 108A at the Fredericksburg Area Campus in Spotsylvania. For more information about Germannas commitment to attracting and supporting military students, visit germanna.edu.

Active duty military personnel, veterans and military dependents seeking information about Germanna should contact Bob Dixon at 540/834-1927 or rdixon@germanna.edu.
Renault Nissan Automotive India Pvt Ltd have invested around Rs 5,000 crore at the facility in 2008.

Chennai: As part of its plans to optimise production, Renault Nissan Automotive India Pvt Ltd (RNAIPL), a Franco-Japanese auto alliance, would suspend the third shift operations at its Chennai factory, the company said today.

The employees at the factory have been informed that the plant would operate in two shifts instead of three from second week of December, a company statement here said.

Stating that the employees, both permanent and those who are on-roll will keep the jobs, the company said, the third shift was introduced to meet the high demand for Renault Kwid and Datsun redi-GO models.

"Demand for the cars remain strong but waiting times have been successfully brought down. In addition, plant operations have been optimised to maximise the production in two shifts, it said.

"At RNAIPL, we are proud to play our part in Make in India. In making this necessary change we are protecting the jobs of permanent, on-roll employees who will be reassigned to other duties within the plant," RNAIPL, Managing Director,Colin MacDonald said.

"There is a bright future ahead as we develop RNAIPL into even more significant passenger car manufacturing hub for Africa, Middle East and India region," he said.

Renault Nissan Automotive India Pvt Ltd have invested around Rs 5,000 crore at the facility in 2008.

The factory has an annual capacity of 4.80 lakh units. The alliance operations support 40,000 jobs directly and indirectly,it said.
Sun Pharma was earlier issued a warning letter by the USFDA for its Halol facility in December 2015.

New Delhi: Drug major Sun Pharmaceutical Industries today said that the US health regulator made nine observations after the completion of inspection of its Halol facility in Gujarat.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) inspected the Halol facility from November 17, 2016 through December 1, 2016, Sun Pharma said in a BSE filing.

"At the conclusion of the inspection, the USFDA issued a Form-483, citing nine inspectional observations. None of those observations were characterised by the USFDA as repeat observations," it added.

However, the company did not disclose the observations made by the USFDA. The company is preparing responses to the observations, which will be submitted to USFDA within 15 business days of receipt of the Form-483, Sun Pharma said.

"The company intends to implement promptly any corrective actions and improvements that may be necessary as a result of the observations and to continue to work cooperatively with USFDA," Sun Pharma said.

Sun Pharma was earlier issued a warning letter by the USFDA for its Halol facility in December 2015.

The letter followed inspection of the facility in September 2014 by FDA inspectors. The company has been making efforts to make the Halol plant CGMP-compliant again.

As per the USFDA, observations are made in Form 483 when investigators feel that conditions or practices in the facility are such that products may become adulterated or render injuries to health.

The FDA Form 483 notifies the company's management of objectionable conditions. Shares of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries were today trading at Rs 675.85 per scrip in the afternoon trade on BSE, up 1.79 per cent from its previous close.
Bengaluru: On its way to complete two billion transactions this year surpassing its own expectations, digital payments platform Paytm today said it aims to become universal payments app across every bank account. The company also said it aspires to enter the US market in the long run as it sees an opportunity there.

"Today Paytm is on the way to complete 2 billion transactions this year. I personally did not expect 2016 to end on such number. Our numbers are at 2 billion transactions this year, which in turn will enable us to become really the transaction layer on top of every bank account," Paytm Founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma told reporters here.

He said, "With connectivity with the UPI (Unified Payment Interface) we will become the payment app for every bank account. With UPI support Paytm is staking to become the payment layer on top of bank account out there."

Noting that at the time when banks are launching UPI app, there are consumer experience concerns, Sharma said while banks are busy with rupee demonetisation and rupee disbursement process, there is need and demand for "incredibly" built UPI app that can work across all banks.

He said, "Paytm wants to actually become the universal payments app across every bank account that exists there with partnership UPI."

Stating that this is the time when country needs technology companies to rise to the occasion, he called upon the tech startups to make solutions to India's problems today so that they can become world problems solutions company tomorrow.

He said, "Yes, we (Paytm) will one day go to the US and I?say this very clearly we will do. We will hit them in their own market. That is what the aspiration is."

Pointing out that what Paytm has done in India, no company has done in the US, he said, "We started by online payment, and by doing something which traditionally every technology company in the payments industry has done, but in the short time we moved it to the offline world with POS solution and QR code POS solution which is pervasive today, which is nowhere in the world."
In a setback to incumbent telecom operators, sector regulator TRAI in October suggested imposing Rs 3,050 crore penalty on Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea for allegedly denying interconnectivity to Reliance Jio.

New Delhi: Concerned that call failure rate at points of interconnect is still "way above the benchmark" set, telecom regulator TRAI today said it will hold next week a review meeting with mobile operators Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance Jio on the issue.

"According to the data...in case of Idea Cellular there was no call failure in any of the circles. There were seven circles in which call failure rates were greater than 0.5 per cent benchmark with regard to Airtel, and 11 circles out of 22 in which call failure was beyond the benchmark, in case of Vodafone," TRAI Chairman R S Sharma told PTI.

He said call failure rates are "way above the benchmark", and added that TRAI will continue to consider it "unsatisfactory and violative" if benchmarks are not met.

TRAI had called a meeting in November to emphasise that for customer convenience and consumer protection, it was important that benchmarks pertaining to call drops were met as "soon as possible" and that violation should not continue any further, he pointed out.

According to the current regulations, not more than five calls out of 1,000 can fail at PoIs. "There has been a substantial improvement...and this improvement has been going on...Still, the figure of 7 and 11 (number of telecom circles where benchmarks are being breached) is worrying.

So we have again decided to call meeting of Vodafone, Reliance Jio and Airtel sometime middle of next week to review the situation and look at roadmaps," Sharma said.

The purpose of the upcoming meeting will be to "understand the issues involved", he said. "We have maintained a position that our assessment is outcome-based, which means that percentage of call failures is our measurement, and we are not going into the issue of number of Points of Interconnect (PoIs).

However, certain issues have come up on assessment, and how many PoIs are needed...there are many issues that are there," he said. New entrant Reliance Jio has accused incumbent operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular of not providing it sufficient PoIs leading to massive call failures, while the operators have blamed the free calls offered by the newcomer for tsunami of network traffic.

RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani recently accused incumbent operators like Bharti Airtel of anti-competitive behaviour by delaying providing points of interconnection that had led to blocking of nearly 900 crore voice calls from Jio to other networks.

"Benefits of Jio's superior technology have been denied to customers due to anti-competitive behaviour of incumbent operators," Ambani had said while adding that the call block rate has come down to nearly 20 per cent from over 90 per cent.

In a setback to incumbent telecom operators, sector regulator TRAI in October suggested imposing Rs 3,050 crore penalty on Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea for allegedly denying interconnectivity to Reliance Jio.

TRAI, in its recommendation to the Department of Telecom, had said it has found the trio to be non-compliant with licence conditions and service quality norms given the high rate of call failures and congestion at interconnect points for RJio.

"People sometimes think we reviewed, took some action and made some recommendations to the Government and that is the end of the story...it is not the end of the story...It is a continuing problem...So as the problem continues, our efforts to solve the problem will also continue," the TRAI Chairman said.
New Delhi: The Government today said it has already infused funds to the tune of Rs 23,993 crore in the National flag carrier Air India from 2011-12 till November this year.

Air India is surviving on a Rs 30,231 crore bailout package extended by the previous UPA government in 2012 for a 10-year period and also equity support for payment of principal/interest of the non-convertible debentures.

The financial support approved under the airline's turn around plan/financial restructuring plan include induction of upfront equity of Rs 6,750 crore, equity for cash deficit support of Rs 4,552 crore from FY 2012-13 to FY 2017-18 as well as equity for already guaranteed aircraft loan of Rs 18,929 crore till Fy 2012.

"An amount of Rs 23,993 crore has already been released as equity support to Air India from the period of FY 2011-12 to the end of November, 2016," Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

In reply to another question, the Minister said that the total outstanding loans on Air India were Rs 46,570,35 crore as on September 30 this year. Replying to another question, Raju said that the gross value of the fixed assets (including surplus assets) of the company (Air India ) as on March 31, 2016 stood at Rs 46,074.07 crore, where as the long-term borrowing were Rs 35,806-crore.

However, the company has been constantly improving its operational and financial performance under the implementation of TAP, he said in reply to a question.
New Delhi: The GST Council may in future decide to reduce the tax slabs under the Goods and Services Tax regime after analysing the revenue garnered and the compensation payouts to states, a top official said today.

With industry demanding lowering of proposed GST rates of 5 per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent and 28 per cent post the demonetisation, CBEC Chairman Najib Shah said the Centre and the states at present collect Rs 8 lakh crore from indirect taxes, minus customs duty, and the same level of revenue has to be collected in the GST regime.

Any change in tax slab is possible after assessing the revenues and the effect of exemptions and deductions given in the new tax regime and analysing it with the expenditure.

"Once we see how much money is collected from these taxes, we can certainly look at the rates. It is not cast in stone. GST Council has complete flexibility to do so and will do so I am sure," Shah said at an Assocham event here.

In November, the GST Council, which is headed by Union Finance Minister and has state representatives, agreed on the four-slab structure along with a cess on luxury and 'sin' goods such as tobacco.

"The Central government has committed to compensating the states for five years. Now it is a huge burden which Central Government has cast upon itself. The underlying theme is GST will increase revenues and the need for compensation perhaps will be lesser," he said.

Shah said that the GST Council has to take into consideration the range of products under GST and the political compulsion of every state while taxing them. Currently VAT and excise duty on commodities ranges from 6 per cent to 300 per cent on sin goods.

"Where do we get the money from if we don't have the flexibility to have rates. That the task of fitting a product to a rate is easier said than done. How do we still give money after giving exemptions...

"The multiplicity of rate is a necessity both economic and political. Now should we reduce that number from 5 to 3 to 2 Once we see how much money is collected from these taxes, we can certainly look at the rates," Shah said.

He said the officers committee has already started work on which goods is to be placed in which tax bracket and the final call would be taken by the GST Council.

Dismissing suggestion of having single rate GST as in EU, he said the wide range of products and their varied taxation rates make it imminent to have multiple tier tax structure.

"How can you possibly have one rate for edible oil and car or for atta and computers. We cannot have one rate. We can reach one rate 20 years down the line. EU, several countries have one rate of 18/20 per cent, will that be acceptable to us It would not be acceptable for us. We have to have multiple rates," Shah said.
The shares of Tata Motors ended in the positive territory with gains of 3.60 per cent at Rs 461.30 on the BSE.

New Delhi: Shares of Tata Motors today settled for the day with over 3 per cent gains after Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) reported solid retail sales growth across majority of key regions in November on a year-on-year basis.

The Jaguar brand recorded retail sales of 14,613 units in November, up 83 per cent, driven by continuing strong sales of the new XF and the F-PACE, JLR said. The month's performance has been driven by the new Jaguar XF (with the addition of the long wheel base XFL in China) and F-PACE as well as continuing solid sales of the Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Sport, it added.

Reacting to the numbers, the shares of Tata Motors ended in the positive territory with gains of 3.60 per cent at Rs 461.30 on the BSE. During the day, the stock had surged 4.39 per cent to an intra-day high of Rs 464.80.

On the NSE, the stock ended the day at Rs 461.25, up 3.57 per cent. The stock had jumped 4.27 per cent to an intra-day high of Rs 464.40. Commenting on sales performance, JLR Group Sales Operations Director, Andy Goss said: "These are solid results underpinned by encouraging performance in China, where our sales are growing healthily in an incredibly competitive environment."

The company said its retail sales grew across majority of key regions in November year-on-year, with China up 42 per cent and North America 20 per cent. It was partially offset by softer sales in the UK (down 13 per cent), Europe (down 6 per cent) and in other overseas markets, which include Russia and Brazil (down 25 per cent), the statement added.
New Delhi: Tata Teleservices Ltd, the unlisted Tata Group firm, has called a shareholders' meeting on December 14 to consider holding company Tata Sons' proposal to ouster Cyrus Mistry as director.

"Notice is hereby given that an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of the members of Tata Teleservices on requisition of Tata Sons Limited which holds 36.17 per cent of the paid up equity share capital of the company, will be held on Wednesday, December 14, 2016 at 11 AM...," Tata Teleservices (TTL) said in a notice.

The meeting will held to remove Mistry as Director, it added. "Resolved that pursuant to Section 169 and other applicable provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 and the rules framed thereunder, Mr Cyrus P Mistry...be and is hereby removed from the office of Director of the company with effect from date of this meeting," the notice said.

Mistry was sacked as Chairman of Tata Sons on October 24 and was replaced by Ratan Tata, from whom he had taken over the reins of the over USD 100 billion salt-to-software conglomerate four years ago.

Since then, Tata Sons - the holding company of the USD 103 billion salt-to-software conglomerate - has sought to remove Cyrus from its group operating companies.

Following special resolution moved by Tata Sons to remove Mistry as director, TCS has called an EGM on December 13, Indian Hotels Co Ltd on December 20, Tata Steel on December 21, Tata Motors on December 22, Tata Chemicals on December 23 and Tata Power on December 26.

Since then there has been a continuing war of words between Mistry and the Tatas, even as the latter now seeks his removal as Director of other Group companies.

Ratan Tata camp has alleged Mistry mishandled dealing with TTSL's Japanese partner NTT Docomo, which led to the matter reach an international arbitration tribunal in London with an adverse verdict.

Tata Group is now entangled in a legal tussle with Japanese firm NTT DoCoMo. Mistry, however, has denied allegation levelled by Tata's camp. In its explanatory statement, TTSL said that the requisitionist (Tata Sons) has said subsequent to his replacement as Executive Chairman of Tata Sons, Mistry has made certain unsubstantiated allegations which cast aspersions not only on Tata Sons and its board of directors but also on Tata Group as a whole of which TTSL is an integral part.

"The communication which was marked as confidential was made public. Mr Mistry's conduct has caused enormous harm to Tata Group, TTSL and its stakeholders including employees and shareholders.

Consequently the board of directors of Tata Sons by its resolution dated November 9 has resolved to propose the removal of Mr Mistry as director of TTSL," the statement said.

It also said, "TTSL, of which Tata Sons is a promoter, forms an integral part of the Tata Group and enjoys the right to use Tata brand by virtue of Tata brand equity and business promotion agreement entered in to between TTSL and Tata Sons. Substantial goodwill and benefits accrue to TTSL by such usage and association with Tata Group."
This is the fourth time director Milan Luthria and Ajay Devgn have teamed up for a movie, the last one being 'Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai'.

Mumbai: The superstar took to social media to announce the release date of his upcoming action thriller Baadshaho. He was at his innovative best in revealing the release date.

The actor shared an on-set picture while engaged in an intense conversation with co-stars Esha Gupta and Emraan Hashmi, captioning it: Every saint has a past... Every sinner has a future. @Baadshaho. 1st September.

Set in the 1970s era, most parts of this film has been shot in Rajasthan.

Earlier, several media organisations had reported that Baadshaho will clash with Ayushmann Khurrana-Parineeti Chopra starrer Meri Pyaari Bindu. In fact, Baadshaho Wikipedia page claims that the film is slated for a May 12, 2017 release, same day Meri Pyaari Bindu releases.

With this announcement, it is pretty evident that those reports were mere speculations.

The film is directed by Milan Luthria and produced by T-Series.
Ali Fazal has just returned from a long spell of shooting for Stephen Frears Victoria & Abdul, where he plays the title role alongside the legendary Dame Judi Dench. The 81-year-old Judi, who is best known for playing M in the James Bond series, is a legend in her own lifetime. Though it was secretly a dream-come-true for Ali to be playing a pivotal part with Dame Judi, he didnt approach the part and his co-star with awe.

That wouldve killed the comfort level. If Id gone to England as an open-mouthed fan of Judis, wed never have been able to hit it off the way we did, says Ali, reminiscing about the life-long friendship hes formed with the actress.

At 30, Ali is 50 years younger than the ageless Judi, but thats done little to deter them from being close. We were friends from day one. Every morning, Id go to her van playing songs from Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, and would dance with her. Whether it was Mehendi lagake rakhna or Mere khwabon mein, it had to be Judi, DDLJ and me each morning, he recalls.



Dame Judi Dench

Judi, on her part, has been a frequent visitor to India and loves the countrys food, cinema and culture. Says Ali, Her spirit, zest and energy were highly inspiring. No matter what she did, or the fun we had, she never forgot her work. She was always looking at her lines. Wed be out shopping and she would suddenly break into Urdu lines. What I learned from Judi was a renewed sense of commitment to my work. Before doing the movie with Judi, I had only heard of actors living their roles. During the film I was actually living my role, thanks to the level of commitment I saw in Judi.

The friendship between Queen Victoria and her Indian man Friday was unique, explains Ali, talking about the movie. Its hard to define and was even harder for people to accept in those times. I could say the same about my friendship with Judi. Were bonded for life now.

He recounts the time when he was shooting at the Taj Mahal and video-called the British actress to show her around. She loves India and the Taj Mahal, and she wanted to see it. I had promised Id show it to her when I was shooting for the film there, and I did, he says.
Mumbai: Looks like Kylie Jenner, this time, is letting go one of her homes, but not before adding another million to her bank account prior to the holidays.

The 19-year-old reality star just put one of her Hidden Hills, California homes on the market for a whopping 5.4 million dollars, reports E! Online.

Jenner originally purchased the four beds-four bathrooms home for 4.5 million dollars in August. Built in 2012, the house lays on 3.3 acres, tucked into hills and local vineyards and surrounded by a seasonal creek lined with oak trees.

Reportedly, the kitchen comes complete with stainless steel appliances and granite counter-tops, which are surrounded by sleek white and cappuccino brown cabinetry.

The dining area additionally boasts beamed ceilings and a large fireplace, while the master bedroom comes complete with a walk-in closet, a movie theatre, a pool, a spa and a large patio with a fireplace and a BBQ area.

A source informed that Jenner originally purchased the property to use it as a home office as it is right next to one of her other homes.
Vidhu Vincent was in her apartment with friends when the call came. Her film Manhole  the film they all made together  had made it to the competition category of the 21st International Film Festival of Kerala. Moments later Vidhu was on television screens, and a day later on newspaper headlines, hailed for being the first woman filmmaker from Kerala to come in the competition category. And when the schedule for the IFFK was put out, there were three women filmmakers in the competition category  Vidhu and Santwana Bardoloi from India and Yesim Ustaoglu from Turkey. Quite a few others from around the world had also made it to the world and Indian cinema categories.

The IFFK begins today with its 185 films from 62 countries and it would be interesting to see if this trend is a reflection of whats happening in world cinema. Right from the beginning, I have been sort of campaigning the fact that this is a totally gender-neutral kind of place, says Bina Paul, who, after a little break, is donning the hat of the festival artistic director. We are as encouraging of men, as of women and other sexual identities. I think it comes as a result of how we do films that a lot of women directors have come in this year.

Still from Manhole

I am also very pleased that for the first time there is a woman from Kerala whose film has come in competition  Vidhu. She is my student too. While the whole story in Hollywood is that there are only four percent women behind the scenes, we show that in world cinema, there is a lot of female presence. In Indian cinema too, we have Vidhu and Santwana in the competition category. It is quite interesting because Santwana is actually a doctor and doesnt make films full time. Overall, yes, I think it is a reflection  there are more women coming behind the camera. In Kerala too, slowly but surely it is happening.

Vidhu, while happy to have achieved this rare status, is not sure if there really is progress in the number of women coming to work behind the camera. What is stopping their entry? Is it patriarchy? Is it family? There could be a number of constraints. I have heard producers ask how far they can trust women filmmakers, how long will they stay. There is that stereotype of a woman that stops many from entering the field. Many times even when they do come, their films are put into women packages. Rarely do you find a presence in the general categories. It is good that there are female film festivals to encourage more women to make films. But while we celebrate one woman coming to the field, there might be a hundred more men coming.

The other Indian filmmaker in the list  Santwana Bardoloi from Assam  has made her second film Midnight Keteki, 20 years after her Adajya that won the national award for the best regional film. Not that I was away from films. I have been a regular film watcher attending festivals, a serious film lover. I had tried to motivate myself to make another film but it did not happen. Then, three or four years ago, I started, encouraged by my friends and especially my daughter, Santwana says. Her first film was part of a novel written by Indira Goswami. The second, Midnight Keteki, is about a writer. Most of us have secrets we wouldnt like to talk about. But when a writer writes, it touches parts of your lives and parts of other people you have met. You need a lot of courage to write painful truths. On told of the number of women directors at the IFFK this time, Santwana says she will be happy if it is a reflection of realities. But it could be just this year, she says. It is a hard job, behind the camera.

Ana Cristina Barragan from Ecuador whose film Alba is featured in the world cinema category at the festival, says: There were many challenges, yes. Money is one of them, but also the access to knowledge. But I think it has been a good challenge. She has directed three short films, all of them exploring pre-adolescence. In Alba I wanted to take a step forward and talk about the entire stimulus we as women have at that age, to explore the mixture between tenderness and pain of little girls that grow up, and to talk about two very shy characters that didnt fit in the normal parameters of society. She feels that there are great women filmmakers today, but it is still difficult to face a society that is not completely used to women directors. But I think this is changing fast. In Ecuador, we have plenty of woman directors.
London: Even as Islamophobia and rising number of hate crimes in Europe and the US have been a cause for concern in the wake of controversies like the burkha ban, there are efforts to get rid of the negativity and bring people together, like Amazon tried to do with a Christmas advertisement showcasing a priest and an imam exchanging gifts.

Now a Muslim owned restaurant in London is making news for its heart warming gesture for Christmas, as it has announced that homeless people and the elderly will be treated to a three course meal free of cost on the festival.

You won't find this in Daily Mail.



Muslim restaurant will not let you eat alone on Christmas Day. Free 3 course meal for homeless & elderly pic.twitter.com/4QKxpQPZ4r  Naveed (@Seditious_medic) December 4, 2016

The Shish Restaurant is issuing fliers and posting on social media to reach out to as many people as possible with one message, that theyll be there to sit with the visitors on Christmas day, because no one eats alone.

Help us to make sure that no-one is alone this Christmas !!  Shish restaurant (@shishsidcup) November 18, 2016

The gesture is receiving a lot of praise on the social media and across the city, as it is a crucial one in reducing resentment and mistrust when many are propagating a negative and violent image of Islam and Muslims.
London: Britain's advertising regulator announced new rules on Thursday banning advertising of food or drinks high in sugar, fat or salt in children's non-broadcast media, bringing standards in line with what is already required for television.

Following a public consultation, the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) said that ads promoting such products can not appear in children's media or other media where children make up over 25 percent of the audience.

It also said that such ads will not be allowed to use licensed characters or celebrities popular with children, which it defines as below the age of 16. It will use the Department of Health nutrient profiling model to classify which products fall into that category.

The model assigns scores to foods based on the amount of specific nutrients they contain, with the ban essentially applying to products above a certain score threshold.

The new rules, which come into effect on 1 July, 2017, apply to print media as well as cinemas and online content and social media sites.

Similar rules already apply to television, and are an example of the increasing pressure being placed on makers of processed food and drinks such as Nestle, Coca-Cola and Mondelez International to play a role in fighting obesity and improving health.

The UK will also introduce a levy on sugary soft drinks.

CAP, which is responsible for writing and maintaining the UK Advertising Codes, admitted the health impact of the advertising ban will be modest, saying available evidence shows the effect of advertising on children's food preferences to be relatively small.
Needless to say, our authorities havent the faintest idea how to keep track of these suppliers, leading to a stark rise in cases of water-borne illnesses like typhoid and gastroenteritis

Do you feel fatigued even after a hearty meal? If so, check the water you drink! Illegal supply units have mushroomed across the city, taking consumers for a deadly ride by supplying improperly treated drinking water in well-packaged cans and bottles. Needless to say, our authorities havent the faintest idea how to keep track of these suppliers, leading to a stark rise in cases of water-borne illnesses like typhoid and gastroenteritis.

Unlicensed packaged drinking water units have always thrived in the city and now with the storage in all Cauvery dams falling, they could cash in on the water shortage even more come summer.

With neatly labelled cans, the unlicensed units con consumers with catchy phrases like '100 percent safe', 'UV treated' and 'RO purified safe water,' lulling them into a false sense of security when the water could actually be harmful to health.

Water expert, S Viswanath explains that a unit must have a Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) 10500 certification to supply drinking water to people as it is given based on 35 parameters including the units water storage facility, its lab for testing the water, and its space for packaging and loading and unloading. The unit is also expected to get its water samples regularly checked at labs to ensure it is maintaining the desired quality, he explains.

But with the cost of setting up such a drinking water unit running into lakhs, many small players tend do short cuts and send unsafe drinking water into the markets.

The solution could be for the government to encourage the small players by providing them technical know-how and offering them loans to do the right thing, he believes.

Mr Selvanathan, director of Peacock Group, which runs a certified drinking water unit , Peacock Rock Agua, in Chamrajpet regrets that the government does not have a specific mechanism to tackle illegal drinking water units.

So many illegal units have entered this sector as the business is huge in cities like Bengaluru. Most of the illegal units simply fill groundwater in the bottles and cans and sell it as treated and purified water. Sadly, people believe that all that comes in bottles and cans is healthy. But there are hardly a few units which really follow the BIS and ISI protocol. If consumers saw the conditions under which water is packed in these illegal units, they would be shocked," he adds.

Mr Selvanathan believes the number of illegal units could run into hundreds and he is afraid that come January when the water shortage could begin with the Cauvery reservoirs drying up, their numbers could rise even more.

"My advice to people is that before they drink the packaged water, they must see who the manufacturer is, verify his credentials, check the seal of the can and question the seller," he underlines.

Water from BWSSB more hygienic than packaged variety?

Magnesium and potassium are necessary supplements for the human body. While potassium maintains electrolyte balance, magnesium balances energy levels. Both are derived from the water we drink. But health experts say these necessary supplements are often absent in illegal packaged drinking water.

Dr Ravi Kumar V N, consultant, internal medicine, Columbia Asia Referral Hospital, Yeshwanthpur, cautions that not all packaged drinking water is safe. We regularly see patients who come to us suffering from typhoid, diarrhea , lung infection or gastroenteritis caused mainly due to consumption of impure packaged drinking water. People,who seem tired and exhausted the whole day for no reason to check the water they drink. If necessary supplements like potassium and magnesium are absent in the water they drink, people tend to lose their muscle and nerve strength, leading to weakness.

And prolonged consumption of impure water can even lead to formation of kidney stones, he warns, underscoring the need for a proper mechanism to check the illegal units in the city that are harming the health of people.

In his view a safer alternative would be for people to boil the drinking water supplied by the BWSSB for over a minute, filter it using a cotton sieve and then drink it.

Water expert and senior scientist with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Dr T V Ramachandra regrets that even the educated are taken in by the marketing strategies of packaged drinking water units. "The water supplied by the BWSSB is far better (expect in a few areas) than any packaged drinking water. The main issue with the illegal water units is that the water they supply is not purified and is drained of necessary minerals like calcium , magnesium and potassium. If this water lacking crucial minerals is consumed for long, people could end up losing bone strength and get brittle bone disease or arthritis, he cautions, demanding that the government wake up and crack down on the illegal units for the sake of peoples health.

BBMP collecting info on illegal water units: Padmavathi, Mayor

What has the BBMP done to monitor illegal drinking water units operating in the city?

Our officials are collecting information about such illegal drinking water units.

Besides collecting information on these units, what do you plan to do?

The idea behind collecting this information is to pay surprise visits to such units and conduct raids on them. Stringent action will be taken against all illegal units operating without valid certification.

Some of the illegal units come up only during summer, make quick money and then disappear. How can such units be tackled?

The BBMP has set up RO water purifying units in all 198 wards for the benefit of the people. If they make use of the water supplied from these RO units, they will not have to depend on the illegal units. Also we charge only Rs 5 for a can of 20 litres. The notion that only private agencies can supply good quality water has to go and people should use our services too.
Bengaluru: The Cottonpet police on Tuesday arrested a 21-year-old paramedic student who had allegedly sedated her boyfriend and set him ablaze for refusing to marry him. The incident reportedly happened at a city lodge on November 28.

The victim, identified as Mansour, 27, was admitted to a government hospital where he later succumbed to injuries. Mansour was a native of Kerala, and ran a tea and snacks shop at the city railway station, while Shruthi was a student at a private medical college in Jalahalli and stayed at a paying guest accommodation there. Shruthi hails from Mysuru and got in touch with Mansour as she used to travel by train to Mysuru every weekend, the police said.

On November 28, they rented a room at Sri Krishna lodge near Shanthala circle. Around 11.30 am Shruthi allegedly set fire to the room and came out running in a state of panic. She had also consumed some sleeping pills. Police rushed her to the hospital. She initially told police that they had attempted suicide, but three days later she confessed to the crime during an interrogation.

Police said Shruthi and Mansour were in a relationship and six months ago she became pregnant. She wanted Mansour to marry her, but he refused and told her to undergo abortion instead. Shruthi was upset and in a bid to take revenge, she booked a room in the lodge and took Mansour.

She mixed sleeping pills with a juice and once Mansour became unconscious, she set him on fire after dousing petrol. Then she ran out of the room and cooked up the suicide story, police stated. She confessed that she killed her boyfriend as he was not willing to marry her, police added. Cottonpet police have registered a case and remanded Shruthi to judicial custody.
Ernakulam: A catholic priest on Thursday was handed out a double life imprisonment by a special court in Ernakulam for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl multiple times.

According to a report in the Indian Express, this is the first time that a priest from Kerala has been punished under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The accused had been identified as 41-year-old Edwin Figarez, who was working for the Kottappauram Catholic diocese in Ernakulam.

A popular preacher in his community, Figarez was very active in musical events and had composed several devotional Christian songs. The young girl was also very interested in music and Figarez convinced her to take music lessons from him. He soon started sexually abusing the girl at his parsonage.

The court was informed that Figarez raped the girl several times since January this year and continued to do so until March. The matter came to light only after the traumatised victim mustered enough courage to share her ordeal with her mother.

It was the victims mother who took swift action and reported the sexual abuse to the police. A case was registered against the priest in April, which which Figarez went under hiding.

He later surrendered himself and was thrown behind prison bars. His brother has also been sentenced to one year in prison for helping him hide from the law. A government doctor has also been charged in the case for failing to report that sexual assault after she medically examined the rape victim.

Besides serving a double life term, Figarez had also been asked pay a fine of Rs 2.15 lakh.
The State Government has decided to give promotion to all of them at one stroke.

BENGALURU: A New Year gift awaits 11,000 police personnel in the state working in various ranks. The State Government has decided to give promotion to all of them at one stroke.

This was decided at the review meeting of home department chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and attended by Home Minister Dr G Parameshwar and other senior police officers here on Wednesday.

All the 11,000 personnel would be getting their promotion letters at a time from their respective superintendents of police. Accordingly, constables would be getting promotion as head constables; head constables as assistant sub-inspectors and assistant sub-inspectors as sub-inspectors. At any cost, the promotion of any officer should not be held without valid reasons, the CM told officers.

For the first time, the government had earned a rare distinction of recruiting 26,702 police personnel of various ranks in the last three years. In addition, the home department had been given various facilities since 2013.

While 1,445 posts had been sanctioned to 31 new police stations in 2014-15, 1,356 personnel were posted to 30 stations in 2015-16. 220 posts have been sanctioned to five new all women police stations. 30 were sanctioned in the sub-divisions of Ramdurga, Athani, Hoskote and Shorapur.

76 posts were sanctioned to Kangrali KSRP training school, 322 to Anti-Corruption Bureau, 468 to six training schools, 309 to Forensic Sciences Laboratories, 45 personnel to six new police outposts, 1,557 to traffic division in Bengaluru City and 1,559 to Belagavi Commissionerate of Police.
Chennai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi comforted new Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and Sasikala Natarajan following Jayalalithaas death, but this gesture of the PM may have had more to it than meets the eye.

According to a report, Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said that when Modi spoke to Panneerselvam, it reflected the the Centres, indeed the BJPs, attitude towards the AIADMK.

Naidu was quoted as saying that Jayalalithaas party was ideologically near to the BJP, a hint that the ruling party at the Centre intends to draw closer to the AIADMK.

The report said that the Centres obliging stance was evident from the fact that on Tuesday morning, as Jayalalithaas body lay in state at Rajaji Hall, the state government realised that there was no gun carriage for the funeral. I was there since early morning Tuesday and found that the administration was in a quandary. There was a gun carriage in Coimbatore, but it would take six hours to reach Chennai, and another in Hyderabad which would take longer. Finally, I made a call to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar who got one flown down to Chennai on a special flight. It was 11.30 a.m. by the time that flight took off, Naidu said.

While Naidu brushed off suggestions that the BJP was eyeing political inroads into Tamil Nadu due to the void left by Jayalalithaas death, he said that the BJP have always had good relations with the AIADMK. He added that when Modi comforted Panneerselvam, the PM also told the Chief Minister that he could rely on the Central government for any help.

The report said that Naidu revealed the BJP had attempted to forge an alliance with AIADMK ahead of the Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu earlier this year. But while Jayalalithaa was sympathetic to the suggestion, she said that an alliance with the saffron party might come in the way of her getting the support of certain groups.

However, Naidu indicated that the AIADMKs abstention from the vote on the GST Bill revealed the partys inclination towards the BJP.
The court said the petition was "half hearted" and contained allegations which were "vague and bald statements not supported by material facts". (Photo: PTI)

Allahabad: Upholding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's election from Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency, the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition by his Congress opponent challenging it.

Passing the order, Justice Vikram Nath also rapped petitioner Ajay Rai, Congress MLA and the party's candidate from Varanasi in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, for approaching the court with an election petition that was "half hearted" and contained allegations which were "vague and bald statements not supported by material facts".

The court also allowed the preliminary objection raised by the team of counsel representing Modi, led by Additional Solicitor General of India and Law Commission member Satyapal Jain.

The court, which began dictating orders in an open court on Monday, rejected the petitioner's objection to Modi's writing "not known" in his nomination papers against the column relating to his wife Jashodaben's assets and liabilities.

The court said it was "mandatory" on part of the petitioner "to say clearly and establish that the respondent had knowledge of assets and liabilities of his wife Jashodaben and he deliberately chose not to do so".

"In the absence of any such specific and detailed pleading, no case is made out for interference on this ground," the court ruled.

Regarding allegations about election expenditure, the court remarked that the petitioner had made "vague and bald statements" like "more than Rs 50 crore" having been spent on Modi's campaign which involved booking of several rooms in posh hotels for more than a month and hiring of about 400 vans, equipped with LED screens.

The court was of the view that even if the amount spent on campaign exceeded the limit fixed by Election Commission "in the absence of material facts, it would be difficult to make the issue triable".

Rai, who had finished third and forfeited his deposit in the high-voltage electoral battle of Varanasi, had filed the petition barely a month after results for the general elections were announced on May 16, 2014.

Jain, who is also a member of the BJP's national executive and a former Lok Sabha MP from Chandigarh, had prayed that the petition be "dismissed in limine without being put on trial" since it "lacked material facts".

According to Jain, Modi's election was "initially challenged on seven grounds - discrepancies in nomination papers, spending more than permissible amount on the election, bribing of voters, using undue influence on the electorate, appealing in the name of Hindu religion, creating hatred among people belonging to different communities and violation of various provisions of the Constitution and election laws".

"However, following our rebuttal on each of these points, the petitioner's counsel Umesh Narain Sharma said that he was willing to press only the first two charges, i.e., those relating to nomination papers and expenditure on the election campaign," he said.
CHENNAI: Cho Ramaswamy, the editor of the satire magazine Thuglak breathed his last at 4 am on Wednesday. The 82-year-old was a lawyer, actor, journalist, political commentator and an adviser to several politicians.

The fearless commentator, born on October 5, 1934, and named as Srinivasa Iyer Ramaswamy had shared confidences with the likes of the late Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar and incumbent Narendra Modi.

His fierce opposition to Emergency of the 1970s made the man with forthright political views a very prominent figure.

He had been suffering from acute breathing problem for a very long time and admitted to hospitals several times. He was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital on December 3 after he complained of chest pain after having been admitted with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder, a chronic lung disease.

He was on ventilator since Tuesday evening and he suffered a cardiac arrest in the small hours of Wednesday. But he could not be revived and he passed away at 4 am, sources said.

Cho  a friend, philosopher and guide to the late J. Jayalalithaa  was at the ICU of the same hospital where she died. Just two days later, he breathed his last at the same ICU barely 50 metres away from where Jayalalithaa had breathed last. He watched Jayalalithaas funeral procession from his hospital bed few hours before his death added a poignant touch to their long-lasting friendship.
Kolkata: BJP on Thursday accused the TMC-led West Bengal government of trying to "subvert federal structure" of the country after Vice Chancellors of the state universities were barred from attending a video-conference by Union HRD minister on digital economy.

"They (Bengal government) behave as constitutional experts, while giving lectures on federal structure. But when it comes to preaching what they say, they are the first to back out," BJP National Secretary Rahul Sinha told PTI.

"By preventing the VCs to attend the conference on digital economy held by Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar, they are trying to subvert the federal structure of the country. While the TMC themselves will not respect the federal structure, they will not hesitate lecturing others," he said.

"The country has given a mandate to BJP for five years. The TMC government has to follow the rules of the federal structure where the Central government is the pivot holding the entire country. Thus, TMC should not behave as a separate country or entity," Sinha said.

In the wake of the Centre's demonetisation move, the HRD Ministry is planning a month-long campaign, beginning December 12, to spread awareness about digital transactions among university students and teachers across the country.

The Union HRD Minister on Thursday held a meeting through video conferencing with nearly 670 Vice Chancellors and senior officials dealing with higher education in states.

The VCs from West Bengal gave it a miss after state Education Minister Partha Chatterjee on Wednesday directed them not to attend the programme, citing the ongoing examinations and preparations of students elections in state universities.
New Delhi: The Prime Minister's Office on Thursday asked Congress leader in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge to spell out his "convenience" after December 16 so that a meeting could be convened of the Selection Committee to choose the new CBI Director.

Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh, who is also in-charge of Department of Personnel, wrote to Kharge in response to his letter sent on Thursday, sources said.

Singh asked Kharge to indicate his "convenience" after December 16 so that the meeting of the Committee could be scheduled, the sources said.

In his letter, Kharge had asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately convene a meeting of the Selection Committee to select the new CBI Director.

Kharge is a member of the Committee which comprises the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of Opposition or leader of the largest party in opposition in Lok Sabha.

The Congress leader, in his letter, had raised strong concerns over the appointment of Gujarat cadre IPS officer Rakesh Asthana as interim director of CBI and alleged that the process of selection of the new director of the investigation agency has been vitiated.

Kharge alleged that the transfer of Special Director R K Dutta, the senior-most officer after the Director, as Special Secretary to the Ministry of Home Affairs, appears to have been "deliberately done" to facilitate giving charge of the post of CBI Director to an officiating junior officer.

"It thus gives rise to apprehensions that the process of selecting the Director, CBI, has been vitiated and is being manipulated to pre-empt the decision to be arrived at in the meeting of the Selection Committee," he said.

Kharge also pointed out that the credibility of the premier investigating agency demands that a meritorious and experienced officer of requisite seniority is selected for appointment as Director, CBI, without any delay.

Drawing the attention of the Prime Minister for appointment of a regular director of CBI after superannuation of Anil Kumar Sinha on November 30, 2016, Kharge said it was essential to complete the process of selection and appointment of Director CBI in time, for a smooth transition.

"Unfortunately, this was not done and this delay has raised serious concerns," he said, adding, "The government failed to convene a meeting that was to be chaired by yourself to finalise the selection of the Director."

The Congress leader added, "I request you to convene the meeting to deliberate upon this matter, urgently."
New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Thursday said that it would hear on December 15 the pleas challenging the Narendra Modi government's demonetization move after it was informed that the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear tomorrow the petitions which are pending there.

As the hearing commenced, a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal asked the petitioners, "What has happened in the Supreme Court?"

The counsel appearing for the RBI told the bench that the Supreme Court would tomorrow hear the pleas challenging the November 8 decision to demonetize high-value currency notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 and also the petition filed by the government seeking transfer of matters pending before various high courts to either the apex court or one of the high courts.

To this, the bench said, "Then we will take up these matters on next Thursday (December 15)".

The bench was hearing two separate pleas, one of which has sought discontinuation of the new Rs. 2,000 currency note.

The other petition has sought a direction to the Centre to ensure that all the ATMs are dispensing cash and people do not suffer.

One of the petitioners, Pooja Mahajan, who runs a designer showroom, has questioned the government allowing certain public utilities including hospitals and petrol pumps to use the old notes.

In her plea, she has also claimed that the government has taken a dual stand as on the one hand it was encouraging people to deposit old notes in bank accounts and on the other hand, it was threatening them of prosecution for depositing over Rs. 2.5 lakh.

She has also urged the high court to quash various notifications with regard to demonetization which were issued on and after November 8, alleging that they are in contravention of the Constitution of India and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act.

Another petition, filed by Birender Sangwan, has sought direction to the government to ensure that all the ATMs are dispensing cash.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on November 8 announced the demonetization of Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 500 notes.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that he salutes the people of India for wholeheartedly participating in the ongoing Yagna against corruption, terrorism and black money.

Addressing the problems caused by demonetisation, Modi said on Twitter that the governments measures would cause some inconvenience, but would be beneficial in the long run.

Pushing for the progress of rural India, Modi said, No longer will the progress & prosperity of rural India be curtailed by corruption & black money. Our villages must get their due.

The Government's decision has several gains for farmers, traders, labourers, who are the economic backbone of our nation, he added.

We also have a historic opportunity to embrace increased cashless payments & integrate latest technology in economic transactions. Together, we must ensure that India defeats black money. This will empower the poor, neo-middle class, middle class & benefit future generations, Modi added.
New Delhi: Slamming lawmakers for continuously disrupting Parliament over the demonetisation issue, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Thursday that such disruption is not acceptable at all.

Speaking at a meeting of Defence Estates Organisation, Mukherjee said addressing MPs, "For God's sake, do your job. You are meant to transact business in Parliament.

I have no intention of accusing any individual, but disrupting Parliament has become a practice, Mukherjee lamented.

Parliamentary freedom should not be misused by causing disruptions, he added.

At the event, Mukherjee also pitched for passage of Women's Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha.

"Women's Reservation Bill is pending for a long time in Parliament representation of women is abysmally low. It is totally unacceptable," he said according to ANI.

The Opposition has held up both Houses of Parliament since the beginning of the Winter Session demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi speak on the issue in Parliament. However, it has unitedly continued to create ruckus even when Modi has been present.

On Thursday, Congress and other Opposition parties observed 'Black Day' by protesting against demonetisation at Gandhi statue outside Parliament. Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi claimed Modi was 'laughing and having a good time' while poor people suffered due to the ban on old notes.

He alleged that the PM kept changing his tone on demonetisation, first claiming that it was done to root out corruption, then terrorism, and finally pitching for a cashless economy. Rahul also labelled the endeavour towards digitisation as a deliberate move of the Modi government to concentrate money in the hands of a few people. He challenged Modi to participate in a debate in Parliament on the issue instead of 'running away' from it.
New Delhi: Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will have a four-day break from Saturday with both Houses on Thursday giving their nod to recommendations made by their respective Business Advisory Committees (BAC) to declare December 12 a holiday.

After one working day on Friday, Parliament will now meet on December 14, as December 13 has already been declared a holiday on account of Eid-e-Milad-un Nabi.

Leaders of some major parties had raised the issue, as in some southern states the Prophet's birthday was being observed on Monday.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan sought the approval of the House in this regard during the Zero Hour and members supported it.

In the Rajya Sabha, Chairman Hamid Ansari declared in the House that the BAC in its meeting on December 8 had decided that the sitting of the House on December 12 may be cancelled.

"There will be no sitting of the House on that day," he announced in Rajya Sabha.

The BAC also decided to fix two hours for consideration and passage of NIT 2nd Amendment Bill, 2016, after it was passed by Lok Sabha.

Ansari said the BAC also decided that the House should sit beyond 6 pm, if necessary, for transacting legislative and government business.
Chennai: Income Tax department officials on Thursday raided eight locations in Chennai including Anna Nagar and T Nagar and recovered Rs 90 crore in cash of which 70 crore were in new notes.

According to an ANI source, the officials had also seized 100 kgs of gold worth Rs 29 crore during the raids on the homes of jewellers in the city.

The Income-Tax department had revealed that it found undisclosed income worth Rs 2,000 crore during nationwide raids and searches that also yielded Rs 130 crore in cash and jewellery after the Centres demonetisation decision a month ago.

The department has conducted swift investigations into more than 400 cases after the November 8 decision to scrap Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has found serious irregularities beyond the purview of the I-T Act, and decided to refer such cases to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI to examine criminal conduct and ensure immediate and necessary action.

Over 30 such references have already been made to the ED, and cases are also being sent to the CBI. The Centre got information of several places where the old currency notes were being exchanged at a discount and are even being used to purchase gold.
New Delhi: Dismissing the petition against demonetisation, Karnataka High Court has upheld certain restrictions that accompanied the decision saying they are matters for central government and RBI to decide.

In his order, Justice Ashok B Hinchigeri observed that "laudable objectives" to tackle the menaces of fake currency notes, black money and terrorism cannot be achieved without imposing restrictions.

"But in a situation of this nature, no directions, much less time-bound directions, can be given to the government of India and the RBI," he said.

The order was issued by the Karnataka High Court in a writ petition seeking removal of cap on withdrawal imposed by government and RBI following demonetisation of Rs 500/1000 currency notes effective November 9.

"In the larger interests of the society, when a comprehensive mission is being accomplished, certain regulatory measures during the period of transition are bound to affect the interests of some sections of people," the order said.

"There cannot be any dispute that the collateral damage, if any on any section is to be minimised, if it cannot be avoided. What steps are to be taken, are the matters for the central government and RBI to decide," it added.

Observing that the menaces of black money, fake currency and terrorism are "hydra-headed monsters", the order said, "when one head of the monster is chopped off, it would raise its other ugly heads. Stamping them out is indeed a Herculean task."

The order dated December 6 also noted that it is impossible for any policy maker to anticipate all the difficulties and contingencies.

"As and when the difficulties are noticed in the course of implementing the policy, the necessary remedial measures have to be taken," it said.

The administrators and legislators are entitled to frame policies and take such administrative decisions, as they think necessary in the public interest.

"The courts should not ordinarily interfere with the policy decisions unless they are manifestly illegal and arbitrary," the Judge observed.

The order recorded that the petitioners' appreciation of demonetisation policy is discernible and it is a major initiative to eradicate black money.

"While petitioners welcomed the scheme of demonetisation, their only grievance is over the limitation imposed on withdrawing the amount from the banks," it said.
New Delhi: Raising strong concerns over the appointment of Gujarat cadre IPS officer Rakesh Asthana as interim director of CBI, Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging that the process of selection of the new director of the investigation agency has been vitiated.

In his letter, Kharge has asked Prime Minister Modi to immediately convene a meeting of the Selection Committee to select the new CBI Director.

The CBI Director is selected by a Selection Committee comprising Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India and Leader of Opposition or leader of the largest party in opposition in Lok Sabha.

Kharge alleged that the transfer of Special Director R K Dutta, the senior-most officer after the Director, as Special Secretary to the Ministry of Home Affairs, appears to have been "deliberately done" to facilitate giving charge of the post of CBI Director to an officiating junior officer.

"It thus gives rise to apprehensions that the process of selecting the Director, CBI, has been vitiated and is being manipulated to pre-empt the decision to be arrived at in the meeting of the Selection Committee," he said.

Kharge also pointed out that the credibility of the premier investigating agency demands that a meritorious and experienced officer of requisite seniority is selected for appointment as Director, CBI, without any delay.

Drawing the attention of the Prime Minister for appointment of a regular director of CBI after superannuation of Anil Kumar Sinha on November 30, 2016, Kharge said it was essential to complete the process of selection and appointment of Director CBI in time, for a smooth transition.

"Unfortunately, this was not done and this delay has raised serious concerns," he said, adding, "The government failed to convene a meeting that was to be chaired by yourself to finalise the selection of the Director."

The Congress leader added, "I request you to convene the meeting to deliberate upon this matter, urgently."

At the AICC briefing, party spokesperson Sushmita Dev said, "We are deeply disappointed at the appointment of the CBI Director."

"It is yet another blow to an important institution, because the NIA chief is also continuing on an ad hoc basis and the Lokpal is yet to be appointed. So these are all a big blow to important institutions which ensure accountability," she said.
Srinagar: BJP leader Ram Madhav and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today sparred on the social media over the presence of UN Military Observers Group (UNMOG) office in Srinagar, with Madhav calling it an "unnecessary provocation" for the separatists in the Valley.



Omar responded by asking the BJP General Secretary to have the UMNMOG office relocated as his party was in power both in the state and at the Centre.



Madav took to twitter on Thursday to question the presence of UNMOG office here.



"UN office at Srinagar is an unnecessary provocation 4 (for) separatists 2 (to) organize marches. Pak has it in Rawalpindi. Why do we have it in Srinagar," Madhav, who is BJP's pointsman in Jammu and Kashmir, tweeted apparently referring to the call given by separatist groups asking people to march to the local UN office on December 10.



To this, the NC leader replied, "Jenab, not to put too fine a point on it but please correct what we failed to do in that case as you are in power in Centre and in the state."



Hinting at National Conference being part of the NDA government led by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Madhav then quipped "We didn't do it when 'WE' were in power some 15 years ago either."



However, Omar told Madhav that no one had called for such a thing when NC and BJP were alliance partners at the Centre.



"Touche' but in 'our' defence, I don't recall anyone in a position of authority calling for UNMOGIP removal from Srinagar," he said.
New Delhi: The Opposition on Thursday staged a black day in protest against the government at Gandhi statue outside Parliament, on the issue of demonetisation of old notes.

Demonetisation has devastated the poor, farmers and daily wage workers. We want to have a discussion. We want a vote, but the government doesnt, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi said at the protest.

This is not a bold decision, it is a foolish decision which has been taken without any due consideration, he alleged.

Claiming that the Prime Minister had changed his narrative on demonetisation, the Gandhi family scion said that Modi started by saying the move was aimed against black money, then he shifted to terrorism, then to counterfeit currency and finally began to talk of a cashless economy.

PM Modi is running away. If he comes to the House for debate, we won't let him run, Rahul said.

He alleged that Modi was laughing and having a nice time while the people of the country are suffering due to demonetisation.

Imputing dishonest motives behind the push towards a cashless economy, Rahul claimed it was intended to ensure that a few people must get maximum benefits from these transactions.

In an indirect reference to veteran BJP leader LK Advanis remarks on Wednesday, Rahul further asserted that it is the responsibility of the government and Speaker, not the Opposition to ensure that Parliament runs smoothly.

He also made a curious claim that if allowed to speak in the Lok Sabha, he would expose how Paytm actually means Pay to Modi.

Hitting back at the Opposition, Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu said that the Black Day was not being held against demonetisation but in support of black money.

Invoking Mahatma Gandhi, Naidu said, Gandhi ji gave call for Satyagraha to see that victory of truth prevails. What are so-called namesake Gandhis doing? Observing a protest.

Opposition is staging protest only to garner media space. Government is ready for discussion in the house, said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar.

By simply posing for a photo op in front of Gandhiji, the Opposition cannot claim the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi. They are insulting his memory, asserted Naidu.

Naidu said that after stalling Parliament for 2 weeks, the Congress was only doing a tamasha in front of the statue.

More than 100 people died post demonetisation. We wanted that they must be paid homage in Parliament, but government refused this. This is the reason why thee Opposition staged a protest at Gandhi statue in Parliament premises today and paid homage to those people, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said.

The Rajya Sabha however was adjourned till 12 noon following ruckus.

Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, earlier said the growth rate has decreased and the problems of the people have increased post demonetisation.

"The people must get relief from this problem. We are observing black day because it's been a month since the implementation of demonetisation and still the people are facing problems. Earlier, the Prime Minister asked for five days then five weeks and now 50 days. This isn't right as not even 50 percent of the situation got better in one month," he told ANI.

"Our image has also ruined at the international platform due to demonetisation. Everyone is affected due to this monumental mismanagement and all are worried. They have failed in this regard," he added.

Highlighting BJP veteran Lal Krishna Advani's concern with regard to repeated disruptions in the Parliament, Kharge alleged that the NDA regime at the Centre is frustrated.

"We want debate and discussion. Don't know how much impact L.K. Advani's statement had on the government, but we have been trying to carry on with the debate," he added.
The stamp ensures that the baggage has been thoroughly checked and is safe to be carried in the plane. (Photo: Representational Image)

New Delhi: Passengers flying from six major airports in the country will soon travel hassle-free as the mandatory practise of getting a security stamp on their hand baggage is being done away with by the CISF as part of a pilot project to smoothen air travel.

A decision in this regard was on Thursday firmed up during a high-level meeting between the airport security brass of the security force and top executives of over a dozen major airlines operating in the country.

"Starting December 15, we are beginning a pilot project at six major airports where passengers will not be required to get the security stamp on the tags on their hand baggages.

They can get their other security checks done and board their flights. This is a passenger friendly measure that we have initiated," CISF Director General O P Singh told PTI after the meeting in New Delhi.

The pilot project will be started at airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. The CISF DG added that the initiative will be extended to other airports too, based on the feedback received.

As per rules now, a passenger flying to a destination, either within the country or abroad, has to get a security stamp on the tag put on his or her hand baggage, that they take with them in the aircraft.

The stamp ensures that the baggage has been thoroughly checked and is safe to be carried in the plane.

Central Industrial Security Force officials, however, said that with the increase of technology by way of scanning a bag through x-ray, CCTV and a trained CISF security personnel on the spot, such a tag is not anymore required and hence is being done away with by way of a pilot project.

Passengers had also made numerous complaints in the past not only with the CISF but also with airport authorities that in case a passenger forgets to get that stamp, he or she, irrespective of their age or medical condition, had to go back and get the authorisation embossed which was a time taking and nagging affair.

This issue, CISF officials said, had also led to altercations between security personnel and passengers and hence the force was wanting to do away with it.

"Keeping several issues in mind we proposed to start this project which we are sure will be successful," Singh said.

During the meeting, called to enhance cooperation between the operators and CISF and also to strengthen security of these sensitive facilities, the DG also flagged the number of instances of thefts taking place from registered baggages of fliers even as he suggested deploying of more CCTV cameras and enhanced surveillance of the loading staff.
Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala): The Kerala High Court on Thursday banned women from to wearing salwar kameez and churidars inside the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram.

As per the traditions of the temple, women devotees have to wear a mundu (dhoti) over their waist if they are attired in salwars or churidars.

"Only those women, clad in saris would be allowed inside the temple", said the court.

Earlier on November 30, 2016, temple executive officer K.N Satheesh had allowed women to visit the temple wearing ' churidar'. The decision was protested by a certain section of the temple authority and common devotees as well.
Sasikala, the close aide of Tamil Nadu's former Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa near her mortal remains kept at Rajaji Hall for public viewing in Chennai. (Photo: PTI)

Chennai: Sasikala Natarajan, Jayalalithaas close friend and confidante who performed the former CMs last rites on Tuesday, on Monday manoeuvred the party's transition from Jayalalithaas leadership into a leadership that has her approval.

According to a report in NDTV, Sasikala Natarajan sprung into action even before Jayalalithaa was dead. She called a meeting of all ministers and legislators of the AIADMK early morning on Monday, while Jayalalithaa lay in the ICU. There, the ministers and legislators were made to sign next to their names on three otherwise blank A-4 sheets of paper.

Each signed next to their name, said the report. No information was provided on how the signatures would be used. They were also made to sign a register that would establish that a party conclave had been held.

The report claims that Jayalalithaa actually died at 2 pm on Monday, after which a meeting was called for 6 pm. This meeting was known to the media, but it was not attended by five of the most senior ministers, including Chief Minister O Panneerselvam.

Instead, the meeting was attended by a coterie of heavyweights in AIADMK known to Sasikala, who deftly negotiated the transfer of power.

Some news channels reported at about 5 pm that Jayalalithaa had died, but this was suppressed later. Though the hospital clarified that was not the case, the legislators were not allowed to leave the party office for the hospital. Shortly after 11 pm, the five missing ministers arrived, said the report.

The party chairman, Madhusudhanan, was handed a one-line statement to read out - it established that Panneerselvam would be the next Chief Minister.

Almost 30 ministers were then packed into buses that left for Raj Bhavan for the oath-taking ceremony.

All officials needed for the formalities had been organised at the Governors mansion, said the report. At 11:30 pm, Jayalalithaa was declared dead, causing many ministers to weep openly. O Panneerselvam took oath as the new CM of Tamil Nadu at 1:30 am.

Sasikala Natarajan has never held any government or party post but derived power from being Jayalalithaa's long time companion since the 1980s. She is from the same community as Panneerselvam, who emerged as Jayalalithaa's right hand man with Natarajans support. Sasikala, 59, now seems set to exercise considerable influence over the seat of power.
AIADMK cadres and her ardent followers tonsure their heads on Wednesday, to mark respect to their deceased leader, J Jayalalithaa. (Photo: DC)

Chennai: Darkness engulfed the Marina beach, but the steady stream of devoted cadre and die hard supporters was endless.

Dusk and the dawn did not matter for these people as they converged there to pay their respects by recollecting their leaders schemes and some, by even tonsuring their heads.

For Sibajidheen, an auto-driver at Marina Beach, Jayalaithaa is a woman of justice and soft heart.

Appreciating her schemes, he said, She had made the metre fare mandatory for the auto rickshaws, making many to use autos. Since morning, there has been a good flow of people coming from the state.

Fear of riots and violence has been an element of scare for some, who is grieving Jayalalithaas death from their own residences. V. Tamilarasan, an 88-year-old senior citizen who had come from Ambur said, I was cautioned by my family to not go to Chennai, fearing disturbances. As the city is peaceful, many people would come in the next two days.

V. Tamilarasan had tonsured his head, as a token of respect to the Iron Lady. I have done it when MGR died. This is my way of paying homage, said Tamilarasan, appreciating the city police for maintaining law and order in the city.

The determination to see the memorial stays so strong among the loyalists that they did not mind the obstacles that came through.

A youngster from Madurai had stayed the Tuesday night in a small hotel, to visit the burial site on Wednesday. Her presence was just all around in my house. Amma mixie, Amma Laptop and what not? If not for her schemes, I would not have completed my engineering, said M. Balaji from Madurai.

Balaji, who failed to get a final glimpse of Amma on Tuesday, was satiated after mourning her loss at the Marina burial site. I was glued to the television set and was wailing along with my family, the whole day. I have no strength to see the burial site, said Vijaya, a Triplicane resident, who was seen with her relative at the Marina bus stop.
Bengaluru: Mr Nandan Nilekani, former chairman of UIDAI and co-founder of Infosys, on Wednesday said he is not an economic expert to comment on whether demonetisation had resulted in RBI forecasting a drop in growth rate for 2017 fiscal, but stated that the bulk of merchant payments should turn cashless, which could result in getting the country's economy on the right track.

Speaking at the Global Technology Summit, he termed demonetisation a "complex task" and that the country is crying for a shift towards a modern digital financial economy.

Mr Nilekani, who recently joined a special 13-member committee set up by the government to foster digital payments systems, said, "There is a strong political will to accelerate digital cashless transactions. We have created a policy window to bring the government, regulators, markets, technology and innovation together to create a modern digital financial economy."

He said the infrastructure built by the government in the past seven years has now become a tool to create digital financial economy quickly. "We need to focus on putting together all the pieces of the puzzle, such as Aadhaar number, Unique Payment Interface (UPI), micro-ATMs and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) to transact digitally," he said.

Aadhaar, being a digital identity, allows the government to verify authenticated users online. It has helped the government verify nearly 14 million of authentications a day. Apart from verifying authentications, Aadhaar also allows us to know the name and address of the user, which will act as eKYC (know your customer). It is sufficient for opening bank accounts, buying mutual funds, insurance policies and even SIM cards," he said.

He said Reliance Jio adopted eKYC to distribute SIM cards and called it the "intersection of technology and regulation". Airtel Payments Bank too is using eKYC to help customers set up bank accounts within minutes.

"We are going see the acceleration in deployment of financial technology. We have built everything and now it's time for us to deploy it rapidly," said Mr Nilekani.
New Delhi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday assured that the government will launch the rescue operations immediately after the intensity of the cyclone reduces and evacuate the tourists stuck in Andaman's Havelock island.

"Spoke to Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dr. Jagdish Mukhi who apprised me of the situation in Havelock Islands. All the tourists who are stranded in Havelock Island are safe. The government has made all the preparations to evacuate them," Singh tweeted.

Singh also appealed to the family members of the stranded tourists not to panic.

"The government will launch the rescue operations immediately after the intensity of the cyclone reduces. The teams are ready in Port Blair. I appeal to the family members of stranded tourists that they should not panic as everyone in the Havelock Islands are reported to be safe," he added.

Andaman and Nicobar Islands Governor Jagdish Mukhi on Wednesday confirmed that 1,400 tourists are stuck on Havelock Island and added that the administration has asked them to stay indoors till the weather gets normal.

The Indian Navy on Wednesday informed about their ships reaching Havelock Island and the evacuation of tourists from there to Port Blair to start as soon as the weather gets normal.

Tourists were stranded at Havelock Island after heavy rains lashed the region.

The Andaman and Nicobar Disaster Management, which speculated cyclonic storm to hit the area, contacted Indian Navy and requested for an evacuation process be initiated.

Havelock Island is the largest chain of Islands and is a famous tourist destination.
The Centre said women in India should not be denied their constitutional rights even as several Muslim countries have undergone extensive reforms. (Photo: Representational Image)

Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court on Thursday ruled that triple talaq was unconstitutional as it violated the rights of Muslim women.

According to ANI, the high court said the triple talaq practice, sanctioned under Muslim personal law that governs marriage, property and divorce, is a violation of womens rights.

The court added that, no personal law is above the Constitution.

The Narendra Modi government had in October informed the Supreme Court that triple talaq form of divorce is not an essential religious practice in Islam.

In its affidavit in response to a batch of petitions questioning the validity of triple talaq, the Centre said that the validity of triple talaq and polygamy has to be seen in the light of gender justice, equality and dignity of women. It said women in India should not be denied their constitutional rights even as several Muslim countries have undergone extensive reforms.

It said practices like triple talaq are against the principles of equality and dignity enshrined in the Constitution and there is no reason that women in India should be denied their constitutional rights. The sanctity of triple talaq is completely misplaced in a secular country and is unfair, discriminatory and unreasonable.

It said gender equality and the dignity of women are not negotiable and pointed out that even theocratic states have undergone reforms in this area of law which reinforces that these practices cannot be considered an integral part of practice of Islam.
Chennai: The Chennai Police continued to earn praise from people of all walks of life. Union ministers to actors to multimedia journalists, all were uniformly in praise of its management of the crowds and the law and order situation during J Jayalalithaa's funeral. Twitter was filled with photographs and praise for the police for handling the emotionally charged atmosphere with utmost care.

'Kudos to the people, cadres and the police of TN for showing restrain n giving a very fitting goodbye to our late honourable CM. She would have loved this and smiled," says actor turned politician Khushbu in her twitter account.

Union minister Venkaiah Naidu, who was in Chennai since Monday evening, acknowledged the fact that the police maintained peace. "Commendable job done by Tamil Nadu Police. Handled lakhs of people in an emotionally charged atmosphere. My compliments to them," he said in his handle.

With the history of violence in the past in TN whenever a senior leader passed away, media persons were expecting a series of violence incidents in the state following the demises of Jayalalithaa. But the police managed the state without any untoward incidents from Monday night to Tuesday night till the last rites of Jayalalithaa were over. The state started functioning normally from

Wednesday morning with people queuing up the banks and ATMs again for change.

Salute to TN police for organising final journey of Jayalalithaa with such efficiency, to people of TNfor their discipline, says well-known TV journalist Rajdeep Sardesai in his twitter account.

Actor Suriya and family members had to walk nearly 1 km on Tuesday while attending the funeral of former CM. The crowd was cordial and excellent arrangements by TN police, the actor noted in his twitter handle. Actor GV Prakash conveyed his immense respect for TN police for their sincere selfless efforts and hard work during these hard times, on his post.

The warning by the US consulate to its citizens in Tamil Nadu was way off the mark. The US Consulate General in Chennai, the only extra-territorial on Mount Road, had sent out a forewarning to its citizens touring the State suspending routine services, soon after the news of the deceased Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa's health condition deteriorating trickled out, on Sunday.

The forewarning asked US citizens to take appropriate steps to enhance their personal security. U.S. citizens are reminded that even gatherings intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and escalate into violence. You should avoid areas of demonstrations, and exercise caution if in the vicinity of any large gatherings, protests, or demonstrations, it read.

Like the predictions of many journalists and pundits went wrong, the US consulate warning too was way wide of the mark.
New Delhi: In a strong message to Pakistan on SAARC Charter Day, India on Thursday said it was up to that country whether it wants to stop cross-border terrorism and allow the SAARC Summit to take place. Today is 31st Anniversary of South Asian Association of Regional Countries (SAARC) and 32nd SAARC Charter Day.

Asserting that the SAARC member countries, while pulling out of the Summit to be held in Pakistan in November, had maintained that the atmosphere was not conducive because one particular country in the region is promoting cross-border terrorism and interfering blatantly, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the conditions remain the same.

"In this case the SAARC Summit cannot happen," he said, adding "it is up to Pakistan to say that it decides not to hold SAARC Summit and is ready to give it up to any country that wants to host it. And the things can go forward."

Amid heightened tension with Pakistan over Uri terror attack in which 18 soldiers were killed, India had announced its decision of pulling out of the Summit in September, citing increased "cross-border" attacks.

Apart from India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan also pulled out of the summit, indirectly blaming Pakistan for creating an environment which is not right for the successful holding of the meet, resulting in its collapse.

However, Swarup reiterated India's firm commitment to the eight-member regional bloc.

In his message, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said, "While SAARC has, albeit survived, it has not triumphed as had been envisaged, falling behind on the commitments and the promises that we had set out to achieve: progress and prosperity for the common good of our people."
New Delhi: The two PoK nationals apprehended by the Army on September 21 for allegedly guiding four Jiash-e-Mohammed terrorists across the border, who subsequently conducted an attack on the Uri Army camp killing 19 soldiers, were just school children who strayed into India, a report claimed on Thursday.

According to a report in the Indian Express, the two boys were identified as Faisal Husain Awan, Ahsan Khursheed, both 16-year-old juveniles hailing from villages situated roughly an hours walk away from the LoC near Uri.

The duo are believed to be school friends. Awans brother Ghulam Mustafa Tabassum, a Lahore based doctor, claimed that the two boys were home on September 17. GPS records procured from the four slain militants indicate that they crossed over into the Indian territory on this day.

In a dossier handed over to Pakistan High Commission, New Delhi claimed that the two teenagers participated in the attack.

The Army concluded the two boys were working for the JeM based on spot interrogation a spokesperson said.

The NIA probing the case however acknowledged that there was not much evidence to link the duo to the Uri attack. Furthermore, the attack has since been ascribed to the Laskar-e-Taiba and not JeM as initially claimed.

The two teenagers also gave varying accounts to different officials. Speaking to a woman doctor from the CRPF, the boys claimed that they had participated in the terror attack, and also described how they used an incendiary substance to burn the tents at the 12 Brigade. Awan also identified one of the four slain militants as Hafiz Ahmed, son of one Feroze, in Dharbang, west of Murree, PoK.

The two teenagers were nabbed by local villagers on September 20 before being handed over to the Army. While being roughed up, the duo claimed that they had crossed over by mistake.

Awans parents Zeero Begum and Gul Akbar have been devastated since they heard of their sons arrest. She wakes up suddenly, crying and asking us to find out how he is. She imagines what he must be going through; how he must be; what he is eating; if he is sleeping. It is very hard on her, because Faisal, being the youngest in the family, is loved the most, his brother claimed.

Ahsan Khurshids mother has not spoken a word since she heard the news, he added.

Terming Awan as an ideal student, his school principal said that he had passed Class IX with a first division.

His behaviour was exemplary, Basharat Husain, the principal of the the Shaheen Model School in Muzaffarabad said.

The families are still struggling to figure out how the two crossed over into the Indian territory.
New currency notes of Rs 2000 denomination recovered from militants killed in Bandipora District of North Kashmir. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: In what appears to be a clear fallout of the demonetisation move  which is hampering terror activities in the Kashmir Valley  suspected militants looted a bank in Pulwama area on Thursday. This is the second time in a fortnight terrorists have targeted banks in the Valley.

Security agencies are warning that repeats of such incidents cannot be ruled. The Home Ministry has asked for a detailed report on the bank robberies from the state government.

On Thursday, militants attacked a branch of Jammu and Kashmir Bank in South Kashmirs Pulwama area and managed to escape with Rs 10 lakh after firing several rounds in the air.

Earlier, on November 21, militants managed to steal Rs 13 lakh from a bank in the Charar-e-Sharief area of central Kashmirs Budgam district.

Sources said the Home Ministry has once again urged the Centre to deploy adequate security cover for banks and vehicles transporting the new notes.

Earlier, officials from various intelligence agencies, in a detailed report to the Home Ministry, had claimed that the demonetisation drive had severely crippled the hawala network  one of the biggest sources of funding for terror activities in Kashmir Valley.
According to eyewitnesses, around 9.30 pm the woman was jogging along the road of the gated community, when a drunk man who was stalking her suddenly came towards her and started touching her inappropriately. (Representational image)

Bengaluru: A woman in her early 30s, who was allegedly groped and molested by a drunk man in the National Games Village, chased the man and handed him over to the police. After she raised an alarm the public came to her rescue and assaulted the molester, before handing him over to the police. However the woman, a single mother, declined to file a police complaint against the molester citing she didn't want to get involved in legal tangles.

According to eyewitnesses, around 9.30 pm the woman was jogging along the road of the gated community, when a drunk man who was stalking her suddenly came towards her and started touching her inappropriately. The shocked victim raised an alarm and the man started running. She chased him and soon crowd gathered and they also chased and caught the molester. The gated community of NGV is home to several high profile government officials, including judges, senior military officials, bureaucrats and police officials. As the woman has refused to file a complaint the Koramangala police, who has the drunk pervert in their custody, are now in a fix whether to pursue the case or not.
GUNTUR: Ayyappa devotees demanded arranging cash for completion of their pilgrimage. The demonetisation of currency notes disturbed the lives of the public in various forms and now the Ayyappa devotees are hit by the shortage of liquid cash.

The angry Ayyappa devotees staged Vanta Varpu (cooking and serving food) protest in front of Central Bank of India against absence of liquid cash at Gotti-padu in Prattipadu mandal of Guntur district on Thursday. The devotees lamented about facing difficulties due to the absence of small currency notes.

As many as 100 Ayyappa devotees went to the Central Bank of India seeking currency notes for their pilgrimage to Kerala. They explained that they are going to complete their Ayyappa Deeksha to holy Pamba and sought arrangement of currency notes.

They lamented that devotees are making rounds of the bank for the past one week in vain. Ayyappa devotees, D Nageswara Rao, K Venkateswarlu and others said that they need at least `10,000 per head to complete the deeksha.
Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Thursday told the Centre to consider the severe hardships that the people were facing in TS and AP due to the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.

A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice A. Shankar Narayana was hearing three separate petitions by advocate K. Srinivas, city resident S. Venkateswara Rao and former minister M.V. Mysoora Reddy against the currency demonetisation.

When additional solicitor-general K.M. Nataraj sought two weeks to file a counter affidavit, the bench told him that the Centre had to recognise the problems that people were facing for the past month. It has to take steps in accordance with the situation, the judges said.

Mr Y. Balaji, counsel appearing for Dr Mysoora Reddy, opposed the plea for time. People have been deprived of bread and butter with this notification, he said.

He said that the Centre, neither in Parliament nor outside, was disclosing the details of currency that it had supplied to banks after the demonetisation. He said that while the people were suffering even to get Rs 5,000 a week, big players were taking away currency through backdoor methods.

While saying that people were looking to the judiciary as their last, counsel alleged that the Centre was running away from Parliament. While asking counsel not to make political remarks in the court, the bench said it was aware of the inconvenience being faced by the people and was considering what best it could do in this difficult situation.

The bench granted time till December 14 and made it clear that if the Centre and the RBI did not file their counter affidavits by that date it would continue its hearing.

Farmers woes move judges

The High Court expressed deep concern at the difficulties and hardships being faced by farmers in repaying their agricultural loans after demonetisation. It did so while dealing with a petition moved by Mr Boda Mangiah and seven other farmers of Jaggaiahpeta and Penuganchiprolu villages in Krishna district during the lunch session of the court.

The petitioners urged the court to direct the authorities to allow them to repay their loans using demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 till January 2017. The petitioners said they had taken agricultural loans from the primary agriculture cooperative societies in their villages and had to repay the loans before December.

They said that from November 14, PACS were prohibited from receiving the demonetised notes, and they were helpless. Reacting to the submissions, the bench said, this is a difficult situation but cautioned of misuse if the PACS were allowed to deal with money at this time.

Counsel for the petitioners told the court that petroleum outlets, airline ticket counters were permitted to receive old currency till this week. He contended that farmers could be put to this hardship which would lead to farmers rushing to private money lenders and all will land in debt trap and cycle of poverty. Asking the Reserve Bank of India and the Centre to respond to the serious issue, the bench said that it will hear the case on Friday.
Hyderabad: In a tit for tat move, the Telangana state government has objected to the construction of the Polavaram project in Andhra Pradesh, following the objections it faced from Amaravati to certain river projects.

The state government alleged the national project was constructed without permission and would submerge the famed Sitaramaswamy temple in Bhadrachalam and affect lakhs of Adivasis if its height was not reduced.

TRS MP Prof. Seetaram Naik raised the issue in the Lok Sabha amid the din over demonetisation on Wednesday, and requested the Centre to at least see that the height of the dam was reduced. The AP government in the past has objected to the Palamur lift irrigation scheme and other projects in TS.

We are not against project, but we want the height of the dam be reduced as it will submerge the Ram mandir at Bhadrachalam and affected lakhs of Advasis in seven mandals which were merged with AP. The AP government was going ahead with the project and wanted to complete the project by hook or crook, he said.

Prof. Naik said though it was labelled a national project, it had not got permission and the issue was pen-ding with the National Green Tribunal. BJD MPs from Odisha objected to the construction of the project since it displaces 2 lakh Adivasis in that state. They alleged that the project was taken up without holding grama sabhas in Chhattisgarh and Odisha villages.

The Rs 30,000-crore multipurpose Polavaram project is designed to provide irrigation to 4.36 lakh hectares annually. The planned height of the project is proposed to be increased from 150 ft to 186 feet and will submerge 57,461 hectares in three Andhra Pradesh (38,694 hectares) and the rest in Chhattisgarh and Odisha and displace 44,574 families.

The Centre said the project would be taken up. Union minister Y.S. Chowdary said the National Agriculture Bank for Rural Development will release first installment of the loan amounting to Rs 2,981 crore for the project, which is slated to be completed by 2018.
Alappuzha: At a time when rubber farmers in Kerala are struggling, Sister Rose Kayathinkara, a Catholic nun popularly known as 'rubber sister', who introduced Kerala's rubber cultivation in remote Garo Hills, Meghalaya, remains an unsung social worker who has empowered hundreds of villagers including women.

Originally from Bharananganam, Kottayam, Sister Rose, a trained X-Ray technician, ventured to Meghalaya with the idea of 'rubber plantation' in 1987 and has now pioneered the Mendipathar Multipurpose Co-operative Society Ltd (MMCS) helping out tribals to market their products.

Talking to Deccan Chronicle over phone from Garo Hills, Sister Rose described the success story she scripted in a very remote village in the hilly part of India. When she reached Garo Village in the eighties, there was a huge debate among villagers about the disadvantages of Jhuming (Shifting cultivation) as it was not eco-friendly. In addition, due to the increase in population, the people were starving to death without a proper livelihood. Sister Rose then hit upon the idea of growing rubber plants and encouraged the villagers to take up rubber cultivation.

She won the confidence of villagers and then contacted the Rubber Board for assistance. She managed to bring a bogie-full of rubber plants in the train from Kerala to Meghalaya and taught villagers to cultivate plantations. Initially, villagrs wondered what they would eat if they worked on the plantation. But, when the plantations began to reap benefits, there was renewed interest among them.

Rubber is always in my blood because my father was a planter, she said. Here villagers have no education, no bank account, and no knowledge of the outside world. The recent demonetisation has shattered these poor people's life because MMCS is unable to pay them, she points out.

It was in 1998, this nun belonging to the Medical Mission Sisters established MMCS in Mendipathar.

She did not stop her noble journey with rubber plantations, but explored it by giving tips on poultry in 2003, piggery farming in 2008 and Coconut farming last year. She plans to go in for coconut plantation in around 265 hectares of land in Garo Hills.

She has studied medical technology and has got a Bachelor's Degree in social services. She was also associated with Caritas India's North East Regional Forum as its coordinator and focused on the empowerment of women.

At 74, when she looks back on her service to society, her encouragement to the new generation is that "every person has the power to change the world."
They were caught while they were operating in the crowd near Rajaji Hall where Jaya's body lay in state for people to pay their respects.

Chennai: Two thieves, who were on a pickpocket spree during former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's funeral, were caught by people who gave the duo a sound thrashing before handing them over to the cops, on Tuesday evening.

The duo was identified as M. Suresh (36) and M. Dinesh (26), comrades-in-arms residing in Gudiyatham, Vellore district. They were caught while they were operating in the crowd near Rajaji Hall where Jaya's body lay in state for people to pay their respects.

The duo had managed to pocket nearly Rs 30,000 and as many as 10 mobile phones. The stolen property was recovered and retained by the cops. As many as four victims who dialled their own numbers got the information that their devices were with Triplicane Police. The said victims were asked to produce the bill copies of their mobile phones and they were returned after verifying the EMI numbers. Similarly, the rest of the stolen mobile phones were kept switched on so that the owners can reclaim it by contacting their own numbers.

The duo has a history of crime in Vellore and other areas in the vicinity. They would shift their operations to crowded venues like this. They had no proper jobs to make ends meet. The funeral, which saw the attendance of lakhs of people, turned out to be their gold mine location, as emotional participants will be less vigilant towards their belongings. They are being remanded to judicial custody, said a senior police official.

Another man who was speaking only in Telugu and believed to have come to pocket valuables from the crowd was handed over to the cops. Some cash were recovered from him and he is being interrogated.
Malappuram: The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in Malappuram has directed the Oman Air to pay a compensation of Rs 15.2 lakh to Mannoorkara Moideen, an expatriate who lost his job due to the deficiency of service on the part of the airline. Moideen, a native of Kalikavu in the district who has been working in Saudi Arabia over two decades, lost his job in 2013 as his visa expired because of the last minute cancellation of the Omani flight from Karipur International Airport to Jeddah.

Mr Moideen was returning to the kingdom after his annual vacation on December 24, 2013, a day before the expiry of his job visa. Hours after obtaining the boarding pass from the airline at the Karipur airport the passengers of the flight including Moideen were informed about the cancellation of the service due to some technical snag. Though Mr Moideen approached the airline authorities expressing the urgency and pointing out the expiry of visa they didnt heed. Instead, they asked Rs 21,000 rupees for an alternate arrangement. At the same time, the airline had offered seats for nine other passengers on another flight.

Mr Moideen approached the Forum through a lawyer with the complaint in 2014. The Forum has ruled that the airliners approach caused enormous damage to the passenger and directed to pay Rs 10 lakh as compensation for the loss of job, Rs 5 lakh for mental agony and Rs 13,200 as ticket charge together with the cost of Rs 10,000. The airline has to pay this amount within a month failing which they have to pay the same with 12 percent interest per annum, the order states.
Chennai: With his mentor J. Jayalalithaa no more to advice, counsel and instruct, O. Pannerselvam faces an ardent task as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu of maintaining his position in the Cabinet and presenting himself as the Captain of the ship by ensuring that no divergent opinion comes out in public domain.

And with the question that who will take over the reins of the AIADMK still unanswered, challenges for OPS, as he is popularly known among friends and partymen, is plenty.

And the dual leadership  one heading the government and another the party  is quite new to Tamil Nadu politics, which has always been highly personality-oriented and sycophantic.

Unlike his previous tenures, which was mostly a stopgap arrangement, OPS has to assert his authority from day one, display his leadership qualities and make every member of his government  be it ministers or bureaucrats  fall in line to have a smooth sailing, political commentators said.

And another challenge that OPS might have to deal is to handle bureaucrats and former officers who are advisors to the government, they said. Mr O Pannerselvam facing valiant task of heading a government that will no guidance from Jayalalithaa. He is no more the acting, interim or a stopgap Chief Minister, but a democratically elected CM to run the administration of the state. He has to speak out his views, political commentator Bernard D Sami told DC.

He says Mr Pannerselvam has to come out of the shell and ensure that everyone tows his line and demonstrate his leadership qualities. If an impression that the AIADMK or the government is a divided house goes out, it would end up in the collapse of the government. And the strength of the AIADMK in the Assembly is not as big as the last time, he said.

Political analyst S. Ravindran Duraisamy says the dual leadership would not augur well for the party and the government. The state has been used to leadership. If dual leadership is implemented, then the longevity will become a question mark, he said.

He also agrees that OPS has to make his mark by coming out of the shadows and show his real leadership if the transition has to be smooth.
Kashmirs Hurriyat Conference, that is basically a conglomeration of outfits run by Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and JKLF supremo Yasin Malik, which unites in certain types of actions as it has done these days, is having to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. This extraordinary situation has obliged it to issue a call earlier this week to urge tourists and pilgrims to visit the beautiful Kashmir valley and assure them they will be completely safe. The bizarreness of this situation is underlined by the fact that it continues to issue weekly protest calendars, whose aim is to curb everyday commercial and social activity, though exemptions are made from time to time. More and more people have begun to disregard the instructions and violations are consciously overlooked by Hurriyat bosses.

This pattern of behaviour makes it plain to the secessionist leaders that people have had just about enough. It is now urging people to visit Kashmir, something which the secessionists havent done before, considering it to be the governments job. Five months have gone by since Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed by J&K police on July 8. The reaction in the first few days, which saw an outburst of protest, shook not just the government but also the Hurriyat, which reckoned that its leadership of controlling protests in Kashmir had come under open challenge from a new generation of youth, many of them without party tags. Therefore, protest calendars began to be issued. The Pakistan factor also came in. The Hurriyat had to persuade Islamabad that its relevance had not altogether vanished, and it was still the only common and coherent platform of anti-India protest. This is of course under challenge now.

The key reason is that people have lost their livelihood completely in the past five months. The Valley relies almost exclusively on tourism, handicrafts and fruit-farming. These got disrupted in the Hurriyat-led protests. If the Hurriyat hadnt jumped in to underline its so-called legitimacy in the eyes of the people, it is likely that the spontaneous protest would have died down in the normal course and ordinary people would have returned to their everyday lives, though perhaps in a sullen mind. The state government remained irrelevant for five months and real power swung to the Hurriyat. In light of that, the separatist bloc is now having to answer peoples questions. But New Delhi should do everything it can to engage with various sections of society to rebuild bridges.
The term karma yoga is generally translated and understood as the path of action  the yoga of action. Different people have many misconceived notions about karma yoga. What is not karma yoga: Some think that if a person is engaged in action throughout the day, he is a karma yogi. According to this yardstick, those who put in several hours of hard work in illegal activities like gambling and smuggling or those who work for hours motivated by greed, maximum profits or more power would be karma yogis! Doing a lot of karma (actions) for many hours a day may be a part of karma yoga, but it is not its essential nature.

Others believe that karma yoga refers to performing actions, skilfully. Thus, a person who deftly picks the pocket of another can be considered a karma yogi. There were two skilled pickpockets who met, fell in love and got married. They were very happy when they were blessed with a son. They hoped that he would excel them in pick pocketing. To their horror, they found the child would not even open his fist. How, would he ever become a pickpocket? Finally, with some effort, they opened the babys fist. In it, the couple saw the gold ring worn by the nurse who had assisted in the delivery. This story may be an exaggeration, but it demonstrates an important point  to do things skilfully or with dexterity is, no doubt, an important part of karma yoga, but merely doing things skilfully does not make one a karma yogi.

Another popular misconception is that one should do karma without any desire for results. People question: If all actions are to be done without desire for the fruits of action, how will there be any karma? Actions are performed only to fulfil desires. They also stipulate that all prosperity in the world is because of desires. Karma yoga is dismissed as impractical. It is true that there can be no action without a desire, or some motive but why should a desire be merely for materialistic gains? Actions can also be performed for a higher purpose.

People generally ask: What will I gain, materially, from this action? But one can also ask: How can this action bring material benefit to somebody else? In karma yoga, there is a desire, but not for material comforts and enjoyment. Even if it is for material gain, it is to benefit somebody else, not the doer. There are many householders who work extremely hard for the benefit and prosperity of their children. Their gain is not material, but it is the joy they experience when their children accomplish great goals. A karma yogi asks: Will this karma purify my mind? How will it benefit another or the community?
Nellore: For the first time, Isro scientists could watch the entire flight of the rocket from launch until orbit placement, thanks to five high performance cameras placed on each rocket stage. The cameras, fitted on the PSLV-C36 which placed the 1,235-kg Resourcesat-2A in orbit after a textbook launch on Wednesday, beamed back high quality footage. The excitement of watching the visuals was reflected in the faces of senior scientists at mission control, especially when the satellite solar panels deployed 90 seconds after it was ejected into orbit.

Scientists were so far relying on electrical signals to study the sequence of separation. For the first time we used our Navic guidance for the navigation of the rocket by installing a receiver and processor on the launch vehicle. We used to depend on other countries for the navigation of the launch vehicle in the past, senior scientist Dr M. Annadurai told this newspaper. He said fuel-filling operations in the fourth stage were carried out via remote control, which helped cut the countdown time by more than 24 hours.

Another achievement was that the fourth stage fired without any oscillation, unlike in the past. The PSLV-launched Navic satellites and Navic is guiding PSLV now, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre director Dr Sivan said in a lighter vein. He said the Vikram processor, which was fabricated in the Semi-Conductor Laboratory of ISRO, was responsible for the navigation and control of PSLV-C36 through on-board computers.

Some Isro-made avionics systems were flown on board for preliminary tests to develop new technologies. There were also microelectomechanical sensors for performance evaluation of the launch operations. Earlier, in its 38th flight, the Indian Space Research Organisations workhorse PSLV-C36 effortlessly placed the 1,235-kg Resourcesat-2A in its intended orbit on Wednesday. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle took off on schedule from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Srihari-kota, in Nellore district.

The data sent by Resourcesat2A, which has three cameras, will be used for agricultural applications like crop area and crop production estimation, drought monitoring, soil mapping, cropping system analysis and farm advisories generation. After a flight of 17:05 minutes, the rocket reached the polar sun synchronous orbit at 824 km above the earth and released the satellite 47 seconds later. The satellites two solar arrays deployed automatically and Isros Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network at Bangalore took over the control of the satellite. ISRO chairman A.S. Kirankumar described it as a perfect launch. The PSLV as so far placed 122 satellites in orbit, 43 Indian and the rest from abroad.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Even if you have cellular on just briefly, tons of data-hungry messages could still flood in while the gate is open.

It's a sure-fire way to dampen the holiday cheers: Spend a week on a dream vacation abroad, then come back to find an additional several hundred dollars on your cellphone bill.

Although some US phone plans cover international travel, especially to Canada and Mexico, many don't. Leaving your phone off isn't practical these days . But you don't have to pay a fortune if you follow these tips. You might find some of these steps annoying, but they're surely less painful than an unexpected data bill. Start planning well before you leave.

GET A PLAN ABROAD

This is the most economical choice, but also the least practical for many people. With the exception of Verizon , carriers typically block your phone from other carriers' plans until you've paid off the hardware, typically after two years. They might make a temporary exception if you're travelling, but it's on you to get that set up. You might have an old phone to use instead, or you can rent or buy a cheap one for your trip.

This route gives you a lot of data at competitive prices. Upon arrival in Bangkok, for instance, I got 2.5 gigabytes of data for just less than $13. Two more gigabytes would have cost just $3 more.

Just visit a kiosk at the airport when you arrive, or stop by a cellphone or convenience store in town. You'll be assigned a phone number for that country, though, so friends and family will need that to call or text. But Facebook, email accounts and messaging services such as Apple's Facetime should work just as they do in the US

If you're visiting multiple countries, you'll need a separate local plan for each.

STEP UP YOUR US PLAN

Check with your carrier on an international package. For instance, Verizon offers 100 megabytes of data for $25. Ten minutes of streaming video can wipe that out. But it'll get you email and basic messaging, and it's much cheaper than the $205 Verizon would charge for 100 megabytes without an international plan. You keep your US number.

You might find this adequate for emergencies, such as when you need directions back to the hotel. Use your hotel's Wi-Fi as much as possible; your Instagram pictures can wait, especially if your friends are asleep anyway. For a two-week trip to Italy, I had plenty of data left after taking additional data-saving measures. Verizon even refunded me nearly $16. But I got socked with another $25 because I wasn't careful on a separate trip to Barcelona, Spain.

This option is good for multi-country trips. You can still get a local plan for the country where you'll spend the most time.

LEAVE CELLULAR DATA OFF MOST OF THE TIME

Turn off "Cellular Data" under the "Cellular" settings on iPhones, or "Mobile data" on Android (the location in the settings varies by device). In Italy, I turned cellular back on for the brief times I needed it. You can go further by enabling airplane mode, but that also blocks incoming calls and texts, as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

LIMIT DATA USE

Even if you have cellular on just briefly, tons of data-hungry messages could still flood in while the gate is open. To prevent that, you can prevent apps from using cellular data at all.

On iPhones, go to "Cellular" in the settings, then turn off as many items as possible in the list of apps. Also turn off "Wi-Fi Assist." In Italy, I turned off all apps. When I needed to check or send Gmail, I just turned that app back on temporarily. Otherwise, the phone waited until I got back to the hotel's Wi-Fi. Notifications still came through, but they don't use much data.

On most version of Android, turn on "Restrict background data" to blocks apps from using cellular data while running in the background. To let certain apps override that, you need "Data saver" on the latest version of Android, Nougat, which isn't yet available on most phones.

While you're at it, disable automatic video play on Facebook's app. Tap the three horizontal bars. On iPhones, choose "Settings," then "Account Settings," then "Videos and Photos." For "Autoplay," choose Wi-Fi only or never. On Android, check under "App settings."

And be sure to disable automatic app updates over cellular. It might already be set to Wi-Fi only, but double check in the "iTunes & App Stores" settings on iPhones and the Play Store settings on Android.

DOWNLOAD BEFORE YOU GO

Get and set up apps for museums and other places you're visiting before you leave home or the hotel. Using the apps will consume data, but not as much as starting from scratch.

Likewise, download map data for Google Maps ahead of time. You can get driving directions and basic information on businesses without a data connection. The offline mode isn't meant for walking directions, though what I got for driving was often close enough (The exception was Venice, where cars are banned). Also, there's no offline transit support, but I got transit directions by enabling cellular briefly and used offline mode to get to my stops. Otherwise, Google Maps alone would have eaten up my 100 megabytes with Verizon.

You can also download any video you've bought or rented through iTunes, Amazon or Google Play. Amazon's Prime members can also download up to 25 of the videos available for free streaming. Netflix recently updated its app to offer similar downloads for offline viewing. You'll want to do this before leaving home, even if you plan to use Wi-Fi, as streaming rights for many titles don't extend outside the US A service called PlayOn Cloud also lets you download video from various services for 99 cents each (iPhones only).

TRACK YOUR USAGE

Check the settings regularly to see how much data you're using and adjust accordingly. On iPhones, check "Current Period Roaming" in the "Cellular" settings. Hit "Reset Statistics" at the start of your trip. On Android, check "Data usage." Android also keeps track of which apps use how much data, so you can identify culprits more easily. These are estimates, though, and your phone company might measure differently.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Pokemon Go players can go to Sprint, Boost and Sprint at RadioShack locations to recharge phones, get data plans, collect in-game items, including Poke balls and eggs, and battle with their favorite characters.

Sprint Corp said on Wednesday it would partner with the developer of Pokemon Go, Niantic Inc, in a bid to pull fans of the wildly popular location-based game into more than 10,500 of its stores in the United States.

Pokemon Go players can go to Sprint, Boost and Sprint at RadioShack locations to recharge phones, get data plans, collect in-game items, including Poke balls and eggs, and battle with their favorite characters.

The blockbuster game developed by Niantic, in which Japan's Nintendo Co has a large stake, uses augmented reality and GPS mapping to make animated characters appear in the real world. Players see creatures overlaid on the nearby landscape that they see through a mobile phone camera.

Sprint's shares were up nearly 3 percent at $8.41 in early trading.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Smart toys have surely the changed the way children intermingle with the world by injecting some life into kids playtime. However, the smart toys also raise big privacy concerns when an internet connection is involved.

Over 18 privacy concerned groups have filed complaints with both the US Federal Trade Commission and the European Union alleging that Genesis Toys, and its tech partner Nuance are violating deceptive practices and privacy laws through the way certain toys record kids' voices.

Toys such as i-Que and My Friend Cayla reportedly captured kids voices without any permission and sent it to Nuance. The groups claimed that the information could be used in the databases that Nuance sells to intelligence agencies or the police.

The privacy groups also accused Genesis of failing to prevent unauthorised Bluetooth devices from connecting to the smart toys. They claim that someone could eavesdrop on conversations, raising the threat of "predatory stalking and physical danger." Bluetooth usually requires being within 33 feet in order to connect, but it can still allow someone at a playground or any other place outside home to spy on unaware kids.

It is still uncertain whether or not the EU and FTC will take any action addressing the complaint. There is a huge possibility that this will prompt few companies to rethink how they make their smart toys, especially those that use camera sensors that can capture kids activity.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Cairo: Egyptian police on Thursday arrested the son of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi on charges linked to a protest against his father's ouster that resulted in hundreds of deaths, officials said.

Osama Morsi's lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maksoud said police arrested him at his home in the Nile Delta city of Zagazig, and security officials confirmed the arrest.

Osama Morsi, a lawyer himself, has been charged in a mass trial already under way over the bloody dispersal of an Islamist protest camp in August 2013 in which police killed hundreds of demonstrators, Abdel Maksoud told AFP.

About 10 policemen were also killed by protesters during the dispersal of the sit-in in Cairo.

It was the bloodiest day in a relentless crackdown on Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement after the army, spurred by mass protests, ousted the Islamist president in July 2013.

Osama Morsi is due to appear on Saturday at the next session of the mass trial, which began in late 2015, Abdel Maksoud said.

Some of the charges can lead to the death sentence. Egyptian courts have sentenced hundreds of Islamists to death.

But appeals courts have overturned many of the convictions, including one for Mohamed Morsi on charges of taking part in a prison break in 2011 when he was an opposition leader.
Los Angeles: The encounter had seemed promising enough, but the couple brought together by an online dating site failed to connect because of one glaring, irreconcilable difference: He was a Donald Trump supporter, she was not.

It's a scene played out again and again in the dating world: In an increasingly partisan and polarized country, similarity in political viewpoints has become a major criterion when choosing - or weeding out - prospective love interests.

But now, new dating websites are cropping up to take the guesswork out of pinning down political leanings.

One site, TrumpSingles.com specifically caters to fans of the divisive real estate billionaire.

Adored by millions of Americans, Trump is reviled by at least as many, some of whom are still mourning his election in November as America's next president and the defeat of his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

A similar site was set up for supporters of Bernie Sanders, the tousle-haired Vermont senator whose fiery rhetoric and embrace of environmental causes earned him a fervent and loyal following among liberals and voters under the age of 30.

Making Dating Great Again

TrumpSingles says it has registered 12,000 people with a goal of "Making Dating Great Again" - a riff on Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan.

Unlike conventional dating sites such as Match.com and OKCupid, the site screens its users to ensure they are not trolls seeking to make trouble, but truly supporters of the President-elect, who takes the oath of office in January.

"I thought it was actually a nice idea because I've heard so many stories of people going on dates and everything is going fun and the political talk starts and kills any chance of a relationship happening," TrumpSingles creator David Goss says.

Some 15% of Americans use online dating sites, mostly singles under the age of 24, according to the Pew Research Center.

Many have no interest in hooking up with those who support Trump, whose retrograde views on immigrants and women are widely rejected.

"No Trump supporters" has even become a common refrain on Tinder, Happn and other dating apps.

But some subscribers to the TrumpSingles website can be loud and proud in their support for the billionaire businessman.

Others may be "in the closet" over expressing support for Trump, perhaps after years of voting for Democrats or because they live in Democratic cities such as Philadelphia.

A cursory look at the site shows the majority of those registered are white - similar to the broad swathe of the American electorate that carried the Republican to power.

Some of the site's online profiles feature photos showing supporters wearing Trump-themed campaign hats or T-shirts.

On different dating sites, such displays would often be deal breakers. Not so on TrumpSingles, says Goss, who describes his site as open to Trump supporters of all stripes.

"It doesn't matter your sexual preference, religion, anybody is allow to come and be on the site as long they are for the right reasons," the 35-year old television producer says.

Hillary is not Bernie

BernieSingles.com started as a Facebook group and quickly mushroomed to 30,000 users in just six months.

Its founders say they are in the process of retooling the site, which will be re-christened as ProgressivesMeet.com early next year.

"It's a platform that takes advantage of the passion for politics," says Chase Dimond, 24, who created the platform with Jared Stephens, also 24, and Jill Crosby, 50.

And why no dating site for supporters of Hillary Clinton?

The key point is tapping into deep-felt love for a candidate, with hopes of setting off sparks between supporters.

"There's no passion or fire behind Hillary," Crosby says.

"There's a lot of questioning about her -- her ethics and her morals," she adds. "It's not the same movement Bernie uncovered."
Washington: US President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate professional wrestling magnate and former Senate candidate Linda McMahon as his choice to head the Small Business Administration, transition officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

The announcement was expected later on Wednesday.

McMahon, 68, is a co-founder and former CEO of the professional wrestling franchise WWE, which is based in Stamford, Connecticut.

She ran unsuccessfully for a US Senate seat in Connecticut in 2010.

She was an early supporter of Trump's presidential campaign.

The SBA, which has at least one office in every US state, provides support to small businesses such as extending loans and making sure they get a percentage of federal contracts.



Trump's announcement, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, said McMahon would be a key player in his effort to generate stronger job growth and roll back federal regulations. He said she had helped the WWE grow from a 13-person operation to a publicly traded global enterprise with more than 800 employees worldwide. Donald Trump is a WWE Hall of Fame member.

"Linda has a tremendous background and is widely recognised as one of the country's top female executives advising businesses around the globe," Trump said in the announcement.

McMahon said her goal as the SBA chief would be to promote small businesses and help them grow and thrive.

"Our small businesses are the largest source of job creation in our country," she said.
Witness accounts stated that Rampersaud had slapped and choked Rajwantie before stabbing her in the chest with a knife. (Representational image)

New York City: A man was arrested for beheading his wife on a street in New York City as several onlookers watched in horror.

According to a report in the Mirror, Prem Rampersaud accused his wife, Rajwantie Baldeo of cheating with her on another man, following which he attacked her.

Onlookers said that they could literally hear the sound of steel coming in contact with the victims bone as the accused tried to decapitate the victim.

Witness accounts stated that Rampersaud had slapped and choked Rajwantie before stabbing her in the chest with a knife.

The matter was reported to police when a passerby saw Rampersaud kneel over his wifes body. At first, the passer-by thought that the man was trying to pull her up and went to help him out. However, as he went close to the couple, he realised that Rampersaud was not helping his wife, but was in fact beheading her.

He immediately sought help from other people and informed the police who arrested Rampersaud and charged him with murder and possessing weapon.

The victim was rushed to the Jamaica Hospital where she was pronounced dead upon arrival.

Following Rampersauds arrest, shocking details of his relationship with his wife emerged. His daughter said that he was a monster who often threatened them. She also said that her parents did not live together.

My dad was a very bad person. My mum didnt deserve to die like that. He would say things. He always threatened he would kill mum, she added.
The victim was rescued from the house of Wanda Sue Larson and her boyfriend Dorian Harper in North Carolina in 2013. (Representational Image)

North Carolina: A 15-year-old US teenager, who was tortured, abused and chained up with a dead chicken around his neck, has sued his foster parents for years of abuse they inflicted upon him.

According to a report in the Daily Mail, the victim was rescued from the house of Wanda Sue Larson and her boyfriend Dorian Harper in North Carolina in 2013.

After his rescue, the victim told investigators how he was abused by his foster parents. He told them that the accused burned his face with electrical wires, kept him in dirty blankets on the floor that was infested with animal faeces and even broke his fingers with pliers.

The victim, who has turned 15 now, has filed a lawsuit against his parents as well as Union County officials who had initially placed the boy in the accuseds care in 2005. Prior to the care, the victim stayed with his aunt after being separated from his mother when she moved to another state.

After staying with his aunt for a brief period, the victim was placed in Larson and Harpers care where the couple began abusing him.

In his statement, the victim also said that Harper had once injured him with needles and electric wires in order to teach him a lesson.

He also said that he was recently accused by the couple for the death of one of their chickens  and as punishment he was made to tie the dead chicken around his neck.

Larson was jailed for 17 months after confessing to four counts of child abuse while Harper was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison for child abuse, child cruelty and inflicting serious injuries on the victim with a weapon.

In an interview after the accuseds arrest, the victim said that he still had nightmares that at some point he would be forced to live with the couple again.
Meureudu, Indonesia: Humanitarian organizations descended on Indonesia's Aceh province Thursday as the government in Jakarta promised tons of emergency aid and officials raced to assess the full extent of damage from an earthquake that killed more than 100 people.

Search efforts involving volunteers and nearly 1,500 rescue personnel were concentrated on the hard-hit town of Meureudu in Pidie Jaya district near the epicenter of the magnitude 6.5 quake that hit before dawn Wednesday. Humanitarian assessment teams were fanning out to other areas of the district.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the death toll had risen to 102 and warned it could increase. Search teams were using devices that detect mobile phone signals with a 100-meter (yard) radius to help guide their efforts as they scoured the rubble, he said. Aceh's disaster mitigation agency said more than 600 people were injured.

Thousands of people are homeless or afraid to return to their homes. Aceh officials said more than 8,000 people spent Wednesday night in shelters in Pidie Jaya district alone.

Killer quakes occur regularly in the region, where many live with the terrifying memory of a giant Dec. 26, 2004, earthquake that struck off Sumatra. The magnitude 9.1 quake triggered a devastating tsunami that killed more than 100,000 Acehnese.

The Indonesian government said its urgent aid would be flown out of Jakarta early Thursday afternoon and will include 10 generators, tents, folding beds, baby supplies and body bags.

The military is setting up an emergency field hospital and sending two dozen doctors, and the Health Ministry is deploying a medical team and sending medicines. The Red Cross sent aid such as water trucks on Wednesday and humanitarian group CARE is leading an assessment team of four international aid groups to avoid duplication of efforts.

"Every aid and civil society organization is piling into the area with as many boxes of rice, instant noodles, blankets and other aid as they can shift," said Paul Dillon, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, which has an assessment team in northern Aceh.

It will take at least two more days before there's a fuller picture of how many people are displaced and the relief effort required, he said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was centered about 19 kilometers (12 miles) southeast of Sigli, a town near the northern tip of Sumatra, at a depth of 17 kilometers (11 miles). The agency had initially placed the epicenter undersea. It did not generate a tsunami. As of 9 a.m. Thursday, some 36 aftershocks had rattled the area.

The world's largest archipelago, Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. The 2004 quake and tsunami killed a total of 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Aceh.

John Ebel, professor of earth and environmental sciences at Boston College, said there is a risk that even weak aftershocks could cause further damage to buildings, particularly because modern building codes aren't consistently enforced in Indonesia.

Scores of rescuers were crawling over a market in Meureudu, the hard-hit town, where many shop houses collapsed.

One shop owner, Hajj Yusri Abdullah, didn't hold out much hope of finding survivors. He said nearly two dozen bodies were pulled from the market debris the day before. They included a group of eight made up of a newlywed couple and family members holding an ornate celebration known as Antar Dara Baro.

Siti Rukiah, a mother of four, was among the many people who took refuge for the night in local mosques. She and about 100 other people from Pante Raja, a seaside village, fled to Nur Abdullah Mosque located on higher ground in a nearby hamlet.

She said the quake felt so powerful she had to grab onto a table to keep from falling down. She was sure a tsunami was coming.

"I'm really scared about a tsunami," said Rukiah, whose brother and neighbors died in the 2004 disaster. She said she didn't want to return home "not only because my house is damaged, but I am still afraid an aftershock could cause a tsunami."

The national disaster agency said nearly 600 buildings were severely damaged or destroyed in the districts of Pidie Jaya, Pidie and Bireun. Most were shop houses or dwellings but mosques, a hospital, boarding schools and a shopping center also sustained damage. Roads also cracked and power poles toppled over.
The Department of Health said it recorded 38,114 cases of HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, from January 1984 to October 2016 - less than 1 percent of a population of more than 100 million. (Photo: AFP)

Manila, Philippines: A human rights watchdog says the Philippines is facing one of the fastest growing epidemics of HIV in the Asia Pacific, fueled by government policies that restrict intervention, including access to condom by men who have sex with men.

Human Rights Watch said in a report released Thursday that HIV prevalence among men who have sex with men has increased tenfold in the last five years, but the government has failed to adequately target prevention measures on that population.

It said HIV prevention education in Philippine schools is woefully inadequate, commercial marketing of condoms is nonexistent, and barriers to condom access and HIV testing - particularly those below 18 who are required by law to have parental consent- have contributed to the worsening epidemic.

The report said the problems found in national and local government policies are compounded by longstanding resistance of the Roman Catholic church to contraceptives. More than 80 percent of Filipinos are Catholic.

Peter Mosende, a country officer of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS or UNAIDS, said the Philippines has the highest rate of new HIV infections in the Asia-Pacific region, with new cases increasing by more than 100 percent from 2001 to 2015.

The Department of Health said it recorded 38,114 cases of HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, from January 1984 to October 2016 - less than 1 percent of a population of more than 100 million. But the rate of increase has been alarming, with 32,099 of the cases recorded from 2011 to 2016. Officials estimate there could 55,000 cases by the end of 2016.

For the first 10 months of this year, 7,756 new HIV cases were recorded. From one new case a day in 2008, today 26 new infections are recorded daily.

Beginning in 2010, the transmission trend shifted from male-female sex to male-to-male sex, which this year accounts for 87 percent of new infections, the health department said. More than half of those infected men are 25 to 34 years old, and nearly 30 percent are aged 15 to 24.

"The government had a pretty good track record of fighting HIV-AIDS, but basically they are fighting the last war," Phelim Kine, HRW deputy director for asia, said in an interview. "They are still focusing on female sex workers and their clients when actually the epidemic has changed, but the government's approach is not changing and it needs to or else this will really get out of control."

He said while President Rodrigo Duterte has earned criticism for his bloody war on drugs, government action on the HIV problem is "something we can reasonably hope for" given Duterte's expressed support for public health and rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial last week said her department plans to distribute condoms in schools after coordination with the education department and school authorities. She said her office is considering making HIV self-testing kits available to the public.

Carlos Conde, HRW's Philippines researcher, welcomed Ubial's announcement, but said the government needs to overcome expected opposition from the church, Catholic schools, and parents.

The report is based on field research between February and October, and interviews with 82 people across eight cities, including two where officials have prohibited the sale or distribution of condoms and other contraceptives.

The research found that young gay men have been subjected to ridicule when they buy condoms from drug stores and have faced stigma when they go to social hygiene clinics that provide free condoms to sex workers.

The report recommended abolishing legal restrictions that bar youth under 18 years of age from buying condoms or getting HIV tests without parental consent, better sex education in schools, and imposing penalties on municipalities that refuse to comply with the laws that guarantee the public distribution of contraceptives, including condoms.
London: Some 130 years after her grandfather borrowed a book from his school library, a woman in the UK has returned it with an apology letter, saying "your former pupil appears to have stolen" it.

Alice Gillett, 77, came across a copy of 'The Microscope and its Revelations' written by Dr William B Carpenter, while clearing through her late husband's possessions from Taunton, Somerset in England, a media letter said on Thursday.

While turning the pages of the 1,000-page book, she discovered a date stamp showing it was borrowed from the library of Hereford Cathedral School in 1886, Metro.co.uk reported.

It had been loaned to her grandfather Professor Arthur Boycott who attended the school between 1886 and 1894. He was a distinguished naturalist and pathologist, the report said.

Gillett returned the book to the school along with an apology letter.

"I am sorry to inform you that one of your former pupils, Professor AE Boycott appears to have stolen the enclosed? I can't imagine how the school has managed without it," she wrote in the letter.

The school does not charge for overdue books but if they had, Gillett could have been landed with a bill of 7,446 pounds (or Rs 6,36,284) based on a 17p-a-day charge at most libraries, the report said.

Gillett said, "As a child, he (Boycott) took great interest in natural history, and his particular passion was snails. At age 15, he published his first paper listing the snail species that could be found in Herefordshire".

He also had a fascination with fauna and flora made him quite a hazardous driver because he was so obsessed with observing the hedgerows, she said.

"My grandmother said he always had snails in his pockets," she said.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the school said, "We are delighted to be reunited with the book and are pleased it is still in such good condition".
Germany is in the grip of a heated public debate about the role of Islam in society as it seeks to integrate more than a million mainly Muslim asylum seekers fleeing war and persecution who have entered this year and last. (Representational Image/ AFP)

Berlin: Germany's highest court ruled on Wednesday that ultra-conservative Muslim girls must take part in mixed swimming classes at school, finding against an 11-year-old pupil who had argued that even wearing a burkini, or full-body swimsuit, breached Islamic dress codes.

The Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe rejected an appeal by the girl's parents that she should be excused the classes because a burkini did not conform with Islam's ethic of decency, German media reported.

A spokesman for the court could not be reached for comment.

Germany is in the grip of a heated public debate about the role of Islam in society as it seeks to integrate more than a million mainly Muslim asylum seekers fleeing war and persecution who have entered this year and last.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose conservatives have been punished at the polls in regional elections by voters angry at her open-door policy, on Tuesday proposed a ban on full-face Muslim veils.

Her Christian Democrats, who have been bleeding support to the AfD, a populist party that says Islam is incompatible with the constitution, toughened their tone on integrating migrants at a party conference this week.

Wednesday's ruling could give more credibility to future attempts by the government to ban the full-face veil after a parliamentary election next year.

The girl had argued before lower courts that swimming in a burkini revealed the shape of her body, something that goes against her religion.

The Constitutional Court noted that lower courts had found this to be untrue, and further found there were "no binding rules in Islam" to define appropriate clothing.
Johnson tells a conference in Rome last week it was a "tragedy" that politicians in the region were "twisting and abusing religion" to advance their political objectives. (Photo: AP)

London: Britain's foreign minister Boris Johnson has accused Saudi Arabia and Iran of "puppeteering" and engaging in "proxy wars" in the Middle East, a video reported on Thursday shows.

In the clip, Johnson tells a conference in Rome last week it was a "tragedy" that politicians in the region were "twisting and abusing religion" to advance their political objectives.

Such public criticism of British ally Saudi Arabia was seen by some commentators as a diplomatic blunder by Johnson, who has been in the job less than six months.

His comments, filmed and posted on the Guardian's website, came as British Prime Minister Theresa May returned from a summit in Bahrain where she pledged to "There are politicians who are twisting and abusing religion and different strains of the same religion in order to further their own political objectives," Johnson told the Med 2 conference.

"That's one of the biggest political problems in the whole region. And the tragedy for me -- and that's why you have these proxy wars being fought the whole time in that area -- is that there's not strong enough leadership in the countries themselves."

Johnson said there were "not enough big characters" willing to "reach out beyond their Sunni or Shia" group.

"That's why you've got the Saudis, Iran, everybody, moving in and puppeteering and playing proxy wars," he added.

Britain's foreign ministry stressed that Johnson had voiced support for Saudi Arabia on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show on Sunday.

"As the Foreign Secretary made very clear on Sunday, we are allies with Saudi Arabia and support them in their efforts to secure their borders and protect their people," a spokesman said.

"Any suggestion to the contrary is wrong and misinterpreting the facts."

Addressing a summit of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Bahrain on Wednesday, May reaffirmed British support for traditional allies in the region and said Britain would help "push back against Iran's aggressive regional actions."

In a joint statement, GCC states and Britain agreed to a "strategic partnership" and said they "oppose and will work together to counter Iran's destabilising activities".
Paris: Former French budget minister Jerome Cahuzac was sentenced, on Thursday to 3 years in prison in one of the biggest political scandals of President Francois Hollande's government.

A Paris court ruled that Cahuzac was guilty of tax fraud and money-laundering for hiding his wealth in tax havens around the world. The court said Cahuzac committed irregularities "of an extraordinary and rare seriousness."

Cahuzac, 64, who has also been banned from running for office for five years, can appeal the ruling and will remain free in the meantime.

Cahuzac and his ex-wife Patricia Menard have acknowledged owning illegal foreign bank accounts for two decades. They have already paid 2.3 million euros (Rs 16,70,52,220) in back taxes to French authorities.

Menard was sentenced to 2 years in prison for tax fraud.

As budget minister, former cosmetic surgeon Cahuzac hid his wealth at the same time as he was leading the government's fight against tax evasion.

The hidden wealth of the couple was estimated at 3.5 million euros (Rs 25,42,09,900 ) in 2013, when Cahuzac was forced to resign after only 10 months in office. But the real value likely was much higher because the money helped the couple finance a lavish lifestyle over the years, prosecutors have said.

The fortune was concealed in bank accounts in Switzerland, Singapore and the British tax haven of the Isle of Man, after transiting sometimes through dummy companies in Panama and the Seychelles, according to court documents.

During the trial in September, prosecutors blamed the former minister for making France "the laughing stock of the entire world" and called the couple "among the biggest fraudsters" of whom French authorities have been aware.

Before becoming a prominent Socialist politician, Cahuzac built his wealth on his professional activities as a plastic surgeon in the hair transplantation clinic he operated with his ex-wife, a 61-year-old dermatologist, and as a consultant for big pharmaceutical laboratories.

On trial alongside Cahuzac and his ex-wife were a banker, a legal adviser, and bank REYL, a respectable but little-known Swiss establishment, all convicted of money-laundering for helping Cahuzac conceal his assets in tax havens.

When press reports first revealed the scandal in December 2012, Cahuzac was sponsoring a bill to reinforce the fight against tax evasion and fraud.

After strongly denying any fraud for months and publicly lying to Parliament, on television, to the French people and to his government colleagues, Cahuzac eventually admitted his wrongdoing in a statement in April 2013, saying he had been "trapped in a lying spiral." French law does not sanction perjury.

With the French presidential election less than five months away, Thursday's verdict is sure to revive voters' memories of the scandal that tarnished Hollande's mandate from the start. The case fueled public mistrust of traditional politicians and demands for more transparency, issues that are surfacing in the electoral campaign.

France has since tightened its legal arsenal to fight tax fraud and evasion.
Vladislava Podchapko is believed to be pregnant with her third child by her boyfriend (Photo: Facebook)

Kiev: A toddler aged 23 months, starved to death and his two-year-old sister was left with her baby brothers body for three days after their mother abandoned them in their flat to spend time with her lover for nine days.

According to a Daily Mail report, Vladislava Podchapko, 20, the mother of two, has been detained and faces up to eight years in prison for child neglect.

Her toddler son died of hunger six days after his mother left him with his two-year-old sister alone in their flat without any food.

The frightened children tried to escape from the flat, pulling and tearing at the front door. The neighbours were alarmed when they heard the children crying in the morning and evening, and called the police who failed to respond. The abandoned children could get no help and are believed to be found when their mother finally return and officers arrived.

The girl was rushed to the hospital soon and was miraculously saved on the point of death from starvation.

'The girl was exhausted, she was very weak. She was immediately taken into hospital where we started intravenous feeding, said a doctor involved in her treatment. 'She is better now and we can say that she will live. We have started her on tiny amounts of solid food.'

When police questioned about her neglect towards her own children, she said, 'I didn't know that children could die.' Podchapko, is believed to be pregnant with her third child by her boyfriend, or already a mother-of-three.

Podchapokos social media accounts are full of pictures of her children and messages of love to them. People on her Facebook have expressed their intense loathing for her neglect towards her children, calling her a 'sadist', 'evil' an 'animal' and telling her to 'burn in hell'

She did not appear to have been short of money, boasting about owning an iPhone 6. Nikolay Kuleba, Ukrainian children rights envoy said Podchapoko had taken her children out of kindergarten, but social services were reported to have failed to follow-up on any problems.

The children were from her previous marriage. Podchapokos two year old daughter, Annas future will be decided by social care workers. 'Perhaps she will be sent to an orphanage, or given for adoption, or if her father can look after her, she may go to him,' said a source.
Lancashire, England: A man has been arrested for smothering his seven-month-old son to death after physically abusing the toddler at their home in Lancashire, England.

According to a report in the Mirror, the accused identified as Kane Kennedy was in a bad temper when he hit the child. The report also stated that Kennedy often fought with the childs mother.

While the case was under trial at the Preston Crown Court, prosecutors said that Kennedy got hold of his son, Oskars genitals and pinched or twisted them. He is also accused of pushing his fingers down the toddlers throat.

The court heard that Kennedy then put his hand over Oskars mouth and smothered him to death.

The autopsy report of Oskar claimed that he had several non-accidental injuries on his body along with 13 marks on his face and neck. The report also stated that there were bruises on his genitals. The type of bruises Oskar had on his private parts might have caused him terrible pain, said doctors.

During the trial, Kennedy pleaded not guilty to murder and tried to put the blame on the childs mother Tia Jobey. However, the court refused to believe that Jobey would have killed Oskar, but it did not rule out her involvement in the crime.

Jobey later pleaded guilty to allowing the death of Oskar. Sentencing her to 30 months in prison, Justice Davis said: "You had identified occasions in the past that he had suffocated Oskar. He put his hand over Oskar's mouth. He had shoved his fingers down Oskar's throat. Those are the two things that immediately happened before Oskar died. In my judgment you must have appreciated that conceivably could be the consequence.

Kennedy will be sentenced on December 15 at the next hearing.
London: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has told authorities investigating him over a rape allegation that his accuser "made it very clear" she wanted to have sex, according to testimony he released Wednesday.

His statements are the first he has made to investigators since taking refuge in Ecuador's embassy in London over four years ago to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning in the matter.

He has said he fears Sweden would then hand him over to the United States to answer for the leaking of diplomatic cables and other classified documents by his whistleblowing website.

"I want people to know the truth about how abusive this process has been," the 45-year-old Australian said in a statement he released with the testimony.

Swedish prosecutors dropped a sexual assault probe into Mr Assange last year after the five-year statute of limitations expired.

But they are still investigating a 2010 rape allegation, which carries a 10-year statute of limitations.

An Ecuadoran prosecutor grilled him last month over the rape claim with questions supplied by Swedish prosecutors.

Mr Assange told the prosecutor he met the woman who has accused him of rape at a 2010 talk in Stockholm, where he was based after WikiLeaks released 75,000 secret Pentagon documents about the war in Afghanistan.

The woman, known as SW in the documents, "appeared to be sympathetic to my plight and also appeared to be romantically interested in me", adding that she invited him back to her home.

She "made it very clear that she wanted to have sexual intercourse with me," he added. "During that night and again in the morning we had consensual sexual intercourse on four or five occasions."

In a copy of her testimony seen by AFP, she said she woke up the next morning to find Mr Assange having unprotected sex with her and decided to file a complaint after talking with friends.

Elisabeth Fritz, the lawyer for Mr Assange's alleged victim, said last month it was "time for this to go to trial" after six years of legal battles.

"We are expecting that the prosecutor will announce charges after this questioning and that these charges lead to a trial in a Swedish court," she said.

WikiLeaks's public profile dwindled while its mastermind remained holed up in the embassy.

But it recently returned to prominence with the leak of tens of thousands of emails from the US Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton's campaign in the final weeks of the race for the White House.

Mr Assange denied influencing the shock election result and rejected claims he had links with Russia.
London/ Damascus: The boss of the British spy service, the MI6, has issued a warning that Russia's continued military intervention in war-torn Syria was creating more terrorists who posed a serious threat to most of the free world. In a rare speech for an intelligence chief, Alex Younger said British teams had already foiled 12 terrorist plots since June 2013 and warned that the murderously efficient Islamic State group was still plotting attacks from Syria, despite recent military reverses. The plight of the Syrians continues to worsen, Younger told journalists in his first public comments since taking up the post of C in 2014.

He slammed Russia's tactics and philosophy used while suppressing the rebels. "In defining as a terrorist anyone who opposes a brutal government, they alienate precisely the group that has to be on side if the extremists are to be defeated I cannot say with any certainty what the next year will bring; but I know this we cannot be safe from the threats that emanate from the land unless the civil war is brought to an end. In Aleppo, Russia and the Syrian regime seek to make a desert and call it peace," he said. Back in Syria, President Bashar al-Assad said victory in Aleppo would be a huge step towards ending Syria's five-year civil war, ignoring pleas for a truce as rebels in the city lose more ground.

In a blistering three-week offensive, Syrian government forces have seized about 80 per cent of east Aleppo, a stronghold for rebel groups since 2012, with increasingly cornered opposition factions calling for an immediate five-day humanitarian ceasefire. The United States, Britain and France have also called for a truce, warning of a humanitarian catastrophe. US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov were set to meet on Thursday in Germany's Hamburg after talks the previous day failed to achieve a breakthrough on efforts to halt the fighting in the devastated city.
Islamabad: SAARC has "survived" but not "triumphed" as had been envisaged, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday said while lamenting the postponement of the eight-member grouping's Islamabad summit.

In his message on 31st Anniversary of South Asian Association of Regional Countries (SAARC) and 32nd SAARC Charter Day, Sharif felicitated the regional grouping's member states and their citizens.

"While SAARC has, albeit survived, it has not triumphed as had been envisaged, falling behind on the commitments and the promises that we had set out to achieve: progress and prosperity for the common good of our people," he said.

Sharif said as its founding member, Pakistan stands steadfastly by the principles of the SAARC Charter.

"I take this opportunity to reaffirm Pakistan's commitment to the objectives of SAARC and our journey together towards achieving our shared objectives under its umbrella," he said.

Sharif, without naming any country for the postponement of the 19th SAARC Summit, said Pakistan had made all the preparations for the event.

Amid heightened tension with Pakistan over Uri terror attack in which 18 soldiers were killed, India had announced its decision of pulling out of the Summit in September, citing increased "cross-border" attacks.

Apart from India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan also pulled out of the summit, indirectly blaming Pakistan for creating an environment which is not right for the successful holding of the meet, resulting in its collapse.

"However, the postponement of the Summit has deprived our people, once more, of the prospects of development, prosperity and regional cooperation," Sharif said, adding that Pakistan continues to believe in the viability of SAARC.

"We are convinced that only through adhering to the principles of sovereign equality and mutual respect among member states, would we be able to guide SAARC to our cherished goal of a prosperous and developed South Asian region," Sharif said.

He also paid tribute to the leaders who played a role in creating the regional grouping.

"We celebrate, today, the spirit with which our leaders, entrusted by the people, worked towards the culmination of the SAARC Charter, and the subsequent establishment of SAARC. More than three decades ago, they committed to engage in a collaborative regional effort, geared towards delivering on the promise of a better life for their people," he said.
Kulbhushan Yadav was arrested by the Pakistan authorities during a raid in Balochistan in March this year. (Photo: PTI/ Video grab)

Islamabad: The Pakistan Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said that the statement attributed to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav is 'absolutely incorrect'.

This comes after reports in the Pakistani media quoted Aziz saying that Islamabad does not have enough or conclusive evidence against Yadav.

"In response to a media query regarding the Adviser to the Prime Minister's statement in the full Senate Chamber pertaining to Kulbhushan Yadav, the arrested Indian Intelligence agency RAW's operative, the Spokesperson said that the statement attributed to the Adviser is absolutely incorrect," said the statement.

It added that Aziz had instead said that the investigations regarding the network of Yadav are ongoing and the dossier shall be completed upon conclusion.

"There is irrefutable proof against Kulbhushan Yadav, who had also made a public confession in March this year," it said adding that, "The Adviser also condemned the continued Indian interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan and urged the international community to take immediate notice."

Yadav was arrested by the Pakistan authorities during a raid in Balochistan in March this year.

According to the Pakistan government, Yadav has admitted that he had been directing various activities in Karachi and Balochistan at the behest of RAW since 2013. He also confessed of playing a role in deteriorating law and order situation in Karachi.

The Indian government, on the other hand, has issued at least five to six note verbales to the Pakistan foreign ministry to get consular access to Yadav, but Islamabad has till now showed no signs of allowing it.

Pakistan has claimed that Yadav is a commander-rank officer with the Indian Navy, while India maintains that he retired from the Navy in 2002 and has had nothing to do with the Indian government when he was arrested from Balochistan.

India has denied that Yadav is a spy and maintains that he is a businessman.
Former president A P J Abdul Kalam wanted to witness Mangalyaan mission's launch on September 24, 2014 but had to leave Bengaluru with "childlike reluctance" the day before as he had a university convocation to address, says the then ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan in his memoir.



"On 23 September, a day before the D-day, we had a very pleasant surprise - Kalam Sir decided to take a detour from his Chennai-Delhi trip and join us at Bengaluru. He spent a couple of hours at ISTRAC, greeted everyone present there and listened to a briefing by mission director Kesava Raju at MOX," says Radhakrishnan in "My Odyssey: Memoirs of the Man behind the Mangalyaan Mission".



"Kalam Sir, our first mission director of SLV-3 in 1979-80, appeared satisfied with our preparations. I could guess that he was in two minds, whether to stay back with us for the next day or honour his commitment for a convocation address at a university in north India.



"With childlike reluctance, he left for the airport to catch the last flight to Delhi but reminded me to keep him posted on the progress because he wanted to mention it during the convocation address the next afternoon," he recalls.



India scripted space history that day by successfully placing its low-cost Mars spacecraft Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) in orbit around the red planet in its very first attempt.



Like many of his fellow space professionals, Radhakrishnan, who was ISRO chief till December 2014, too was enamoured by the idea of an interplanetary probe to Mars while he was the director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.



"The possibility of an Indian Mars probe had been discussed in our weekend sessions with V Adimurthy, the then associate director of VSSC, and his brilliant engineers led by R V Ramanan," he says.



"After taking over as the chief of ISRO in November 2009, I wished to pursue this with passion and professionalism. Adimurthy superannuated in May 2010, and I did not lose a minute in inviting him to the headquarters as a Satish Dhawan professor to contribute as our adviser on the interplanetary mission.



"Within three weeks of his taking over, we had a deliberation involving all centre directors of ISRO and the director of the Physical Research Laboratory at Antariksh Bhavan. We discussed the possibilities and constraints of a spacecraft mission to Mars that could just fly by the planet for a short while or be manoeuvred to orbit Mars several times (it was too premature then to even think of a lander mission to Mars)," he writes.
A Kerala Catholic priest, accused of raping a minor girl, has been awarded a double life term by a special court.





Fr Edwin Figarez was also slapped with a fine of Rs 2,15,000.



His brother was sentenced to one year on charges of helping the priest go into hiding.

According to prosecution, Fr Figarez exploited the minor girl, who was also a member of the same parish which the priest served as the Vicar.



In April last year, girl's mother complained to the police following which the priest went into hiding and was arrested later.
Pakistan and the US have discussed the regional situation, including Kashmir and the escalation of tensions at the Indo-Pak border, with Washington calling for a dialogue to resolve issues.





The issues were discussed during a meeting between Special Assistant to Pakistan Prime Minister (SAPM) Syed Tariq Fatemi and Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken here, a Pakistan Embassy statement said.



"The regional situation including the escalation across the Line of Control and the Working Boundary were discussed during the meeting. The SAPM briefed the Deputy Secretary on the frequency of ceasefire violations by India in recent weeks with particular reference to targeting of civilians across the LoC," the statement said.



Fatemi also accused India of "human rights violations" in Kashmir which he claimed had resulted in "hundreds of casualties and debilitating injuries to the civilians including women and children".



"While expressing concern on the increasing escalation at the LoC, Deputy Secretary Blinken reiterated the US position on the need for reducing tension in South Asia and promoting closer cooperation and dialogue between the two largest countries of the region," the statement said.



During the meeting, Fatemi asserted that Pakistan would be forthcoming in cooperating with new Donald Trump administration, in achieving peace in Afghanistan and improving Indo-Pak relationship for the sake of peace in the region, it said.



Fatemi expressed hope that after the completion of ongoing transition process, the two sides would resume their regular engagement on the bilateral track.



"The two sides expressed satisfaction on several achievements in areas of peace and security, counter terrorism, defence and economic cooperation. It was agreed that Pakistan-US relationship was important to regional as well as global peace and security and should continue to be strengthened under the next Administration," the statement said.



Meanwhile, talking about the meeting, State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner, said, "They discussed a range of bilateral and regional issues, including regional stability and counter-terrorism cooperation."



Fatemi, who is on a US visit, also interacted with mainstream US print and electronic media at the Pakistan Embassy on Monday.



Fatemi apprised the media that he is currently visiting US to have interaction with the current US Administration and to reach out to the officials likely to join the new administration following the recent US Presidential election.



Fatemi stated that Pakistan was looking forward to working closely with the new US Administration and wanted the bilateral relations to be further strengthened in future.
A 30-year-old man strangled his friend after a fight broke out between the two while they were drinking together in southwest Delhi's Najafgarh area.





The man's throat was first choked with a turban and then the accused Naresh pressed his neck with a big stone until he died. Naresh alias Shera was arrested by the police next day on Tuesday.



The incident happened on Monday night when the victim Sumit Sharma, 24, had gone out with his three friends for a drink. Sumit was a small-time financier, said police.



Sumit's body was found the next morning by some passersby lying in a vacant plot.



Sumit's elder brother Amit told police that he had last seen his brother roaming with his three friends on Monday evening. Amit further said when his brother didn't return in the night he had called him on his phone and asked him to come back home soon.



When Sumit didn't return even late in the night, his family members started searching for him in the area.



On the statement of Amit, police registered a case against Naresh, Lavish and Suresh and started searching for the three.



On Tuesday evening, Naresh was arrested from his sister's house in a village in Chhawla.

Naresh told police that an argument had broken out between him and Sumit over the mention of a person.



The argument soon turned violent and in a fit of rage Naresh first choked Sumit's neck with his turban, and then dragged him to the ground. He then picked up a stone and pressed it on his neck until he died, said a police officer investigating the case.



Naresh also allegedly smashed Sumit's face with the stone so that his body couldnt be recognised.



Police said the other two men didn't intervene as they feared that Naresh would kill them also. Naresh is a criminal of this area. Three cases of murders are pending against him. He scared the two men off, and they run away, said the police officer.



Naresh told police that while drinking together, Sumit was talking about a person whom Naresh knew. Naresh warned Sumit to not talk about the person over which an argument broke out between the two and Naresh killed Sumit.



Police said the other two friends of the victim are also being questioned but prima facie it looks like that they were not involved in the incident.



Sumit has survived with his brother and parents. His body has been handed over to them after postmortem, said police.
Fifteen new castes have been included in the central list of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) with the government issuing notification in this regard.





The National Commission of Backward Classes (NCBC) had recommended a total of 28 changes in respect of eight states -- Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand.



Out of these 28, 15 castes, including Gadheri/itafarosh in Bihar, Jhora in Jharkhand and Labana in Jammu and Kashmir, were new entries, nine were synonyms or sub-castes of the castes which were already in the list and four were corrections.



"The central government has considered and accepted the aforesaid recommendations of the NCBC and recommendation of Government of Jammu and Kashmir and have decided to notify inclusion/amendment in the Central List of Other Backward Classes of the aforesaid States," according to the notification signed by Joint Secretary B L Meena.



Last month, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had approved the proposal of NCBC. These changes in the central list will enable the persons belonging to these castes/communities to avail the benefits of reservation in government services and posts as well as in central educational institutions as per the existing policy.



They will also become eligible for benefit under various welfare schemes, scholarships, etc., being administered by the central government, which are at present available to persons belonging to Other Backward Classes, it added.



On the NCBC recommendation, a total of 2,479 entries for inclusion, including its synonyms, sub-castes, etc. in the central list of OBCs have been notified in 25 states and six Union Territories. The last such notification was issued in September, 2016.



NCBC examines requests for inclusion of any class of citizens as a backward class in the lists and hear complaints of over-inclusion or under-inclusion of any backward class in such lists. Its advice is binding upon the central government. The government is also considering relaxing the creamy layer norms.
On its way to complete two billion transactions this year surpassing its own expectations, Digital payments platform Paytm today said it aims to become universal payments app across every bank account.





The company also said it aspires to enter the US market in the long run as it sees an opportunity there.



"Today Paytm is on the way to complete 2 billion transactions this year.

I personally did not expect 2016 to end on such number.



Our numbers are at 2 billion transactions this year, which in turn will enable us to become really the transaction layer on top of every bank account," Paytm Founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma told reporters here.



He said, "With connectivity with the UPI (Unified Payment Interface)we will become the payment app for every bank account.



With UPI support Paytm is staking to become the payment layer on top of bank account out there."



Noting that at the time when banks are launching UPI app, there are consumer experience concerns, Sharma said while banks are busy with rupee demonetisation and rupee disbursement process, there is need and demand for "incredibly" built UPI app that can work across all banks.



He said "Paytm wants to actually become the universal payments app across every bank account that exists there with partnership UPI."



Stating that this is the time when country needs technology companies to rise to the occasion, he called upon the tech startups to make solutions to India's problems today so that they can become world problems solutions company tomorrow.



He said, "Yes, we (Paytm) will one day go to the US and I say this very clearly we will do. We will hit them in their own market. That is what the aspiration is."



Pointing out that what Paytm has done in India, no company has done in the US, he said, "We started by online payment, and by doing something which traditionally every technology company in the payments industry has done, but in the short time we moved it to the offline world with POS solution and QR code POS solution which is pervasive today, which is nowhere in the world."


Patton, a Goldendoodle and an offspring of American military hero canines who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, has emerged as the front-runner to be America's 'first dog'.





Lois Pope, a prominent philanthropist and long-time friend of Donald Trump, told Fox News that she is confident her puppy will be picked to serve as a "companion and protector" to the president-elect's 10-year-old son, Barron.



Pope, an advocate for veterans and animal welfare, said she sent Trump a note about the 9-week-old golden retriever and poodle mix and then showed him a photo while at Trump's Mar-A-Lago home on Thanksgiving.



"I walked up and showed him a picture of the dog and he said, 'Show it to Barron, he'll want him,'" Pope was quoted as saying.



Pope then presented the pooch's photo to Trump's youngest child, she said.

"He had the biggest smile. That smile said everything," Pope said of Barron.



"It brought tears to my eyes. I thought this will give him the solace he needs. He has to make a dramatic transition to a new home and new friends in Washington. The dog will be a companion and a protector," she said.



The Trump transition team has said Barron and his mother, Melania, will remain living at their New York City residence through the end of the school year before moving into the White House.



The Goldendoodle -- whose parents served in the U.S. military, according to Pope -- was named after World War II Gen. George Patton, whom Trump has praised as one of the greatest military leaders in American history.



Pope launched an extensive, nationwide search for the best dog to join the Trump family, which she said, to her knowledge, does not own any pets.



"He (Patton) comes from a lineage of hero dogs that served in Iraq and Afghanistan," she said. "And he has the perfect disposition."



US presidents have a long history of keeping pets at the White House. Bo, a playful Portuguese water dog, joined the Obama family in 2009.



Obama's predecessor, George W Bush, had several animals, including Barney, a Scottish terrier, Miss Beazley, a puppy of the same breed, and India "Willie" the cat.



Other presidential pets include Bill Clinton's chocolate Labrador retriever, Buddy, and George H W Bush's Springer Spaniel, Millie.



Though there was no official word from the Trump transition team about whether Patton will join the president-elect's family, Pope said she is optimistic the Trumps will adopt the puppy.
Jet Airways today announced a daily direct flight to Colombo from Bengaluru from January 5. With this, Bengaluru will be the second city after Mumbai to be connected to Colombo and Jet's third daily service to the Sri Lankan capital, the private carrier said in a statement.





Jet flight 9W 278 will depart from the Kempegowda international airport at 0040 hrs and arrive in Colombo at 0210 hrs. The return flight 9W 277 will leave Colombo at 0310 hrs and arrive in Bengaluru at 0435 hrs.



In 2015, air passenger traffic between the two nations was close to 1 million, Jet's Chief Commercial Officer Jayaraj Shanmugam said.



With higher economic growth in both India and Sri Lanka and given the expansion of their bilateral trade ties, air traffic movement between them is bound to increase every year, he added.
One person was killed and nine others, mostly Indians, were injured after a bus ran over a group of workers waiting on the side of a road in Sharjah in United Arab Emirates, police said today.





The workers -- eight Indians and two Pakistanis -- were waiting on the side of the road in Al Hamriya area for a ride to their accommodation when they were run over by the bus, Khaleej Times reported, citing police.



A 34-year-old worker was killed while the injured were rushed to Khalifa Hospital, it said, without identifying the nationality of the deceased worker.



The police was immediately notified after the accident and a team of patrol, traffic experts and ambulances were rushed to the spot.



The Asian driver of the bus was taken into custody.The body of the deceased worker was shifted to the morgue, it said.This is the third major accident involving Indians in Dubai in a week.



A 60-year-old Indian was killed and four others were injured in a massive 26-vehicle pile-up due to dense fog in Ras Al Khaimah city of the UAE this week.On Sunday, two Indian workers were killed in a bus accident.
Prashanth Swaminathan discovered his interest in photography during a college competition. He tagged along with a friend who had a camera, without knowing the basics of how to work the gadget. After college, he decided to try his hand at wielding the camera and thus his journey began.





He speaks to Anila Kurian about his expeditions and plans.



Why did you choose photography?

My friend was into wildlife photography and I just tagged along with him. But when I decided to try my hand at it, I joined a photography group that taught me everything. I joined them on photo walks and travelled places with him. It was their interest in observing others and learning the technique that led me to where I am now.



Tell us about your genre of photography.

I love travel photography. When I completed college, I did a few documentaries. One my favourite is the transgender festival that takes place in Tamil Nadu. Though it is an annual festival, I wanted to focus on how it is losing its charm. It used to be a festival to assert the transgenders lives and pride. But since a lot of people know about it now, it has become more of a tourist location. People are diluting the authenticity of the festival. That was my focus and travel photography has helped me do that.



Some of the places you have travelled to.

Ive been to Varanasi, Kerala, Shivamogga, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Like any other photographer, I want to visit Leh and learn about the culture there.



A dream location you want to visit?

I want to visit Cambodia one day. Many become a fan of the place after going there, but with the research I have done, I am already in love with it.



Some of the difficulties you have faced while travelling.

Ive realised that local people ask a lot of questions when we go for photo walks, especially if you travel to North India. Not everyone understands that we are freelance photographers who want to capture different aspects of the location. Thankfully, we will have someone along who can speak the language to calm the situation.



Your favourite picture.

Many consider this picture a street photography picture but this happened during one of my expeditions with my camera.



At Marina Beach, I saw a fisherman who was back on shore, separating the fishes from the net. It is a picture where the fish looked like they are popping out of the sea and pulling at the hook. I love this picture because I know this moment can never be recreated.



What are your plans for the future?

I am completing my Visual Communication course right now. I want to work as a content writer and with whatever money I make, I want to travel the world.



One thing that you practise every day.



Ive learnt this from another photographer I met during photo walks. You might go out for pictures twice, thrice a week, but it is important to post process a couple of pictures every single day. Its good to inculcate that habit so that it makes your work easier in the

future.


PRESS RELEASE:

UNITED NATIONS PROCLAIMS JUNE 30 AS INTERNATIONAL ASTEROID DAY

NEW YORK, NEW YORK (December 07, 2016) -- The founders of Asteroid Day announced today that the United Nations General Assembly has officially recognized the annual event, declaring 30 June International Asteroid Day to observe each year at the international level the anniversary of the Tunguska impact over Siberia, Russia, on 30 June 1908 and to raise public awareness about the asteroid impact hazard.

The UN Press release can be found at:

http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/en/pressrels/2016/unisos478.html

We are extremely proud of the UN recognition as we founded Asteroid Day to raise awareness of the asteroid threat and the opportunity for the human species to unite around a single goal: protect our planet from asteroid impacts, stated co-founders Dr. Brian May, Danica Remy, Grig Richters and Rusty Schweickart. Asteroid impacts are the only natural disaster we know how to prevent if we, as the crew of Spaceship Earth work together towards a global solution. Early in 2016, the ASE Committee on Near-Earth Objects introduced a formal recommendation in Vienna with the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) that the General Assembly adopt Asteroid Day as an annual global event.

The UNs Committee has had a long-standing interest in improving its knowledge of the distribution and characterization of potentially hazardous near-Earth objects, and in predicting and mitigating the threat of a NEO impact, especially for developing nations through its two advisory bodies the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) and the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG).

Through the leadership of the Association of Space Explorers (ASE), an international organization of astronauts, cosmonauts and taikonauts, and B612, a private organisation to protect Earth from asteroid impacts, the first Asteroid Day was held on June 30, 2015. During Asteroid Day 2016, more than 500 asteroid-related educational events were held in 72 countries, involving more than 150,000 participants and reaching over one million people through live online activities.

At the official announcement of Asteroid Day on December 03, 2014, the organization launched the 100X Asteroid Declaration, which contained three principal goals:

1. Employ available technology to detect and track Near Earth Asteroids that threaten human populations via governments and private and philanthropic organisations.

2. A rapid hundredfold (100x) acceleration of the discovery and tracking of Near Earth Asteroids to 100,000 per year within the next ten years.

3. Global adoption of Asteroid Day, heightening awareness of the asteroid hazard and our efforts to prevent impacts, on June 30, 2015.

Today, the Declaration has been signed by hundreds of scientists and planetary experts, leaders in business and government and more than 40,000 private citizens. With the UN recognition, one of our three proposed actions has been fulfilled just two years after our initial launch. Dr. Ed Lu, three time Shuttle Astronaut and CEO, B612: The United Nations declaration of Asteroid Day is a testament to the importance of the international work by scientists and engineers around the world to protect the Earth from asteroid impacts. If we do our job properly, the Earth should never be hit again by another large asteroid! Jan Worner, ESA Director General: This international recognition shows how the subject of asteroids is becoming more and more of a global endeavour. Romanian Astronaut Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu: ASE is proud of the important role it has played in originating, promoting, and supporting Asteroid Day and seeing it now recognized by the United Nations.

British astronaut Tim Peake: All the best for Asteroid Day. We only have one Earth so lets do all we can to protect it.

About Asteroid Day

Asteroid Day is a global movement to increase public awareness of potential asteroid collisions and the means to protect Earth. It was co-founded in 2014, by Dr. Brian May, astrophysicist and lead guitarist for the rock band Queen, Danica Remy, B612 Chief Operations Officer, Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart, and German filmmaker Grig Richters. Asteroid Day is held on 30 June each year to mark Earths largest asteroid impact in recorded history, the Siberia Tunguska event, which devastated over 2000 square km, the size of any major metropolitan city.

Media Contact: Diane Murphy; pr@asteroidday.org; +1.310.658.8756. You can also call Grig Richters in Europe: +49 15225672398.
Striking a conciliatory note amid rising tension in ties, Pakistan today said it does not want to live in "perpetual hostility" with India, noting time has come for the two neighbours to decide whether status quo should continue or a new beginning be made.



Calling for an "uninterrupted and uninterruptable" bilateral engagement, Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit said the two countries must overcome the differences in order to embark on a "irreversible trajectory" of cooperative relationship.



Maintaining that Pakistan was ready for comprehensive talks with India, Basit, however, said the desire for engagement was missing from the Indian side, adding his government has patience and was ready to wait for resumption of dialogue.



"I think we have wasted 70 years of our existence. Time has now come to make up our mind on what do we want. Whether we would like to continue with the status quo or we want to make a new beginning in our ties," Basit said.



His comments at a discussion on Indo-Pak relations came amid escalating tension between the two countries over a number of cross-border terror attacks, including at army establishments in Uri and Nagrota, and India's surgical strikes across the LoC in September.



"Pakistan does not wish to live in perpetual hostility with India. We remain positive and constructive but it takes two to tango. There are serious problems between the two countries. We cannot shy away from them but at the end of the day we can engage in purposeful diplomacy, we can realise results for mutual satisfaction and make a good beginning," he said.



At the same time, he said, for Pakistan Jammu and Kashmir was the core issue between the two countries and finding a solution to it could bridge the trust deficit them.



"We need to move from conflict management to conflict resolution and that obviously cannot happen unless we talk to each other with sincereity and seriousness of purpose," Basit said.



Holding that talks may bring down tension, Basit said Islamabad was "positive and constructive" in its attitude, adding the engagement should be meaningful and address the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir.



"Whenever there is any desire in New Delhi to engage with us, Pakistan would respond positively and constructively provided the engagement is meaningful and does address the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir," he said, pitching for diplomacy to be given a "fair chance" to deliver.



At the same time he said," At present, unfortunately we do not see much desire in New Delhi to engage with us in a comprehensive manner. We are ready to wait, we have patience. We will wait and see how things unfold in months and years ahead." The Pakistan envoy said it was essential for the two countries to overcome the differences in order to embark on an "irreversible trajectory of cooperative relationship.



Holding that SAARC summit in Islamabad could not be held due to differences between India and Pakistan, he said good relations and peace between the two sides will benefit the entire region.



"The developments since July in Jammu and Kashmir yet again very clearly show that Jammu and Kashmir is the main issue. Islamabad's feeling is that unless we move towards finding a just and fair solution to this problem, it will continue to be very difficult to bridge the trust deficit between the two countries.



"It is in our mutual interest to have peace and also in the interest of the region. We have seen what happened to SAARC summit. It could not take place primarily because of the differences between the two countries," he said. In this context, he said Pakistan was ready to move towards projects relating to regional connectivity and integration.



Basit also rejected observations at the deliberations, attended by top diplomats, representatives from Jammu and Kashmir and foreign policy experts, that Pakistan may be "balkanised".



"I think Pakistan has a very, very bright future. It is a very confident country. We are moving ahead. People of Pakistan are very confident. We are destined to become a regional economic hub. We do not have any doubt about our future. Pakistan is not going to be balkanised," he said.



Speaking at the event, Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar slammed government's Pakistan policy, saying engagement with Islamabad is the only way to stop terror. It should be left to Pakistan to solve its internal problems, he said apparently referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reference to trouble in Balochistan. Aiyar also said no country was isolating Pakistan as claimed by New Delhi.



He questioned the efficacy of the surgical strikes launched by the Indian army in PoK in containing terror. India must accept the significance of Pakistani army's role in that country, he said, adding Pakistan has also suffered a lot due to terrorism.


Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and outgoing US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter today finalised the "major defence partner" status to India which will fast-track cooperation and sharing of high-end American defence technology. Both sides also vowed to expand the bilateral defence cooperation as Carter met Parrikar here for the record breaking seventh time.



"Today we finalised India's designation as a 'Major Defence Partner' of the US. The designation as a Major Defence Partner is a status unique to India and institutionalises the progress made to facilitate defence trade and technology sharing with India to a level at par with that of the US's closest allies and partners, and ensures enduring cooperation in the future," a joint statement after the meeting said. Carter also called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.



Officials explained that details regarding US licensing rules among other have been finalised. The statement added that both sides exchanged views on regional security issues including threat posed by terrorism. "They agreed to continue further strengthening the bilateral counter terrorism cooperation and underlined the need to ensure that terror groups receive no patronage from any State," it said.



Citing common values and shared desire for peace and prosperity in Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean Region, the two leaders reflected on the convergence of interests that have driven the strategic and technological "handshakes" between both nations and led to historic progress in bilateral ties, the statement added. It said that bilateral defence ties have in the recent years moved along a "remarkable upward trajectory".



"Thank you my friend," Carter told Parrikar as both met at the South Block here. Carter said that this is the seventh meeting that he was having with Parrikar. "He is the Defence Minister with whom I have met for the maximum number of times," he said emphasising the importance that US puts on its ties with India. During the meeting, which was more of a thanksgiving one, Carter said, "Today our defence relationship takes a major step as we designate India as a major defence partner.



It now needs to be formally passed by the two chambers of the Congress -- the House of Representatives and Senate -- before US President Barack Obama can sign it into law.



Marked progress on agreements, including the signing of a Defence Framework Agreement in 2015, have laid a blueprint for collaboration between our defence establishments and enabled deeper cooperation, the statement said. Parrikar and Carter applauded the deepened scope of India-US military-to-military ties, which includes a dramatic increase in defence trade.



With regard to technology, both sides welcomed the tremendous progress achieved under the Defense Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) and committed to explore new proposals and other innovative opportunities for co-production and co-development.



The emergence of DTTI as an integral and enduring component of India-US security cooperation is a sign that the relationship has matured to a level of strategic importance, the statement said.



DTTI will strengthen India's 'Make in India' initiative and both sides committed to convening all new DTTI working groups prior to the next DTTI Group meeting anticipated for February, 2017.



Parrikar and Carter agreed that the strong partnership between our countries is lasting and will thrive and grow for decades to come. Meanwhile, Parrikar said he appreciated Carter's strong commitment to defence partnership.



"It is not an exaggeration that our defence relations are a major driver in our bilateral relations," he said adding Carter's conceptualisation of DTTI shows his interest in bilateral defence cooperation. Parrikar said he was happy to see conclusion of discussion on major defence partnership.



"During our meeting over the last few years, we have agreed on practical exchanges such as LMEOA," the Defence Minister said. He added, "I am confident that the defence cooperation will expand on the foundation you have built". Carter replied saying that both countries have more to do in the years ahead.



"I am proud of what we have achieved my friend," he said. US President-elect Donald Trump has nominated James Mattis, a retired 4-star Marine Corps general, for the post of the US Defence Secretary.


The century-old University of Mysore has made all necessary arrangements to host its 97th convocation on December 13. Vice-chancellor K S Rangappa said around 65% of the candidates securing degrees in the undergraduate category at the convocation are women. A total of 10,798 women will receive degrees in a total of 16,675 candidates. In the postgraduation category, around 3,889 women (53%) will be conferred degrees in a total of 7,388 candidates. The university is also conferring 300 PhD degrees and only in this category, women are a bit behind men with 46% 138 out of 300 candidates. Overall, the percentage of women securing various degrees is 61% (14,825).



About 312 medals and 180 cash prizes are being shared by 201 candidates in all five faculties  Arts, Commerce, Education, Law and Science and technology  and among them, 139 (69%) are women.



Toppers all

In the undergraduate category, S Kavya has topped the list with three medals and three cash prizes in Arts. In Commerce, G Rashmi Prabhu has topped with three medals and five cash prizes. In Science and Technology, Maseera Khanum is the topper with 89.66% and has won two medals and two cash prizes.



In the postgraduate category, Vedavathi has topped in Arts with seven medals and four cash prizes. Varsha M Kaushik is the topper in Commerce with five gold medals. Vinod Kumar has topped in Education with three gold medals and three cash prizes. Neha Saran has topped in Science and Technology with 16 medals and four cash prizes.



Second convocation

Prof Rangappa said the university has obtained special permission to conduct two convocation ceremonies in the same calender year and it does not violate the statues of the Universities Act. This will be the second convocation of the university in the same calender year as the 96th convocation was held on April 17.



Social science meet

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to grace the Indian Social Science Congress scheduled for December 18. All arrangements are being made for the three-day congress, he said.



The ceremony to release the centenary commemoration coins  in Rs 5 and Rs 100 denomination  will be held shortly. The programme scheduled for December 3 had to be postponed due to some reasons. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Reserve Bank of India officials will participate in the event, he said.



Reacting to a query on the cancellation of the recruitment process in the university, Rangappa said, the governor had approved the appointment of 205 teaching faculty. However, the state government stalled it.



Out of 660 teaching faculty posts in the university, whose departments have increased to 76, there are only 127 permanent staff. In 2017, the number of teaching faculty will reduce to 30%. If the teacher, student ration in the university drops below 1:40, the University Grants Commission will cancel the affiliation, he said.
With 362 flights delayed at the Delhi airport due to bad weather, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday made it clear to airlines that no flights should be planned during zero visibility and only CAT III aircraft be scheduled in fog.



The DGCA said the airlines should strictly adhere to its advisory on operating aircraft in low visibility. It also wants the airlines to reschedule non-CAT III aircraft between 10 am and 8 pm.



The regulators directions came a day after 362 flights were delayed on Wednesday, besides the cancellation of 38 flights and diversion of three others during the low-visibility period.



In a letter to all airlines and Delhi airport officials, the DGCA said, Once again, all are directed to obey (its) instructions in letter and spirit. The airlines should closely monitor and plan the flights as per weather forecast with proper coordination with dedicated teams of India Meteorological Department, Delhi International Airport Ltd, DGCA and Airports Authority of India.



In case of low visibility/fog forecast exists, flights should not to be planned for Delhi during zero visibility conditions and flights may be scheduled from point of origin. Besides, only CAT III aircraft must be scheduled during the fog period along with CAT III-qualified flight crew, including the co-pilot, as per the visibility/runway visual range, the DGCA said.



Prior information should be given to passengers regarding change of flights or schedule, it said, adding that in case of flight delays, passengers should be taken care of according to the provisions of the civil aviation requirements.


The University Grants Commission (UGC) has restricted higher educational institutions (HEIs) from keeping in its custody the original mark sheets, school leaving certificates and other documents of students.



It has also strictly prohibited the HEIs from charging tuition fees in advance for the entire programme of study or for more than one semester or year, which a student is enrolled to, notifying a new set of rules for the universities, colleges and other institutions.



The HEIs shall physically verify the originals at the time of admission of the student in his/her presence and return them immediately after satisfying themselves about their authenticity and veracity, keeping the attested copies for their record. The HEIs shall charge fees in advance only for the semester/year in which a student is to engage in academic activities, the UGC rule stated.



The commissions rules provide for a four-tier system for the refund of fees remitted by students in case of those choosing to withdraw from the programme after enrolment.



Refund rules

The higher educational institutions will now have to refund 100% fee on serving of notice of withdrawal of admission by a student 15 days before the formally-notified last date of admission. The refund is 80% within 15 days after the last date of admission. Between 15 to 30 days, the refund will be 50% of the fee. No money will be refunded to a student who submits a withdrawal notice after 30 days of the last date of admission, according to the rules.



The UGC has formulated the rules to prohibit coercive and profiteering institutional practices by the universities and colleges. Let me apprise you that the UGC has taken a serious view of the complaints brought to its notice by students and other stakeholders and will take strict action against universities and their affiliated/constituent colleges breaching the provisions of this notification, UGC Secretary Jaspal S Sandhu said in a letter to all universities, colleges and other higher educational institutions.



A considerable number of complaints, grievances, court cases and other references were received by the commission on various coercive and shady dealings carried out by the HEIs, which reflected that profiteering motivations still drove the operation of quite a few institutions in India, he said.


Yoga reduces blood pressure in patients with pre-hypertension, according to a study that investigated the impact of hatha yoga on blood pressure in such patients who were otherwise healthy.



Although the reduction in blood pressure was modest, it could be clinically very meaningful because even a 2 mm of Hg (mercury) decrease in diastolic BP has the potential to decrease the risk of coronary heart disease by 6% and the risk of stroke and transient ischaemic attack by 15%, said Ashutosh Angrish, a cardiologist at Sir Gangaram Hospital in Delhi.



The heart specialist presented the findings at the annual conference of the Cardiological Society of India in Kochi on Thursday. Hypertension (high blood pressure) is defined as a systolic blood pressure of 140 mm of Hg while the diastolic BP is 90 mm of Hg. Clinically, pre-hypertension (slightly elevated blood pressure) is defined as a systolic BP 120-139 mm of Hg or a diastolic BP 80-89 mm of Hg.



Patients with pre-hypertension are likely to develop hypertension unless they improve their lifestyle, said Angrish. Thats where yoga comes handy. This study investigated the impact of hatha yoga on blood pressure in 60 patients.



Patients were randomised to two groups of 30 each to assess the effect of three months of yoga in addition to conventional lifestyle changes. They were compared with another group who only underwent conventional lifestyle changes.



In the yoga group, both 24 hour diastolic blood pressure and night diastolic BP significantly decreased (by approximately 4.5 mm of Hg). Also, 24 hour mean arterial pressure significantly decreased (by around 4.9 mm of Hg). The control group did not show any significant change.



Our research suggests that patients with pre-hypertension should be advised to practice hatha yoga (a combination of asanas, pranayam and meditation) for one hour daily. It may prevent the development of hypertension and in addition, give a sense of well-being. The exact mechanism, however, is not clear, Angrish said.



Yoga is a part of traditional Indian culture and has shown clear benefit in cases of pre-hypertension. Yoga can go a long way in improving the overall health of the country, as hypertension is affecting a large number of young Indians. Yoga can turn out to be just the correct answer for people at risk, said Shirish Hiremath, president elect and chairman of the scientific committee of the Cardiological Society of India.
Three local Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) militants were killed in an ongoing encounter in south Kashmirs Anantnag district on Thursday. A civilian was also killed when clashes erupted between security forces and stone-pelting protesters near the site.



Sources said that the most-wanted militant and LeT Kashmir chief Abu Dujana was one of the many people trapped in a house in Hassanpora village, which lies close to Chief Minister Mehbooba Muftis ancestral Bijbehara town, when security forces launched an operation in the area after they received information about the presence of four-six militants on Wednesday evening.



A meeting of militants of LeT and Hizbul-Mujahideen was underway when the security forces cordoned off the area. Dujana, who was presiding over the meeting, might have escaped, taking advantage of the clashes, they said. However, the police and the army refused to confirm or deny Dujanas presence in the house.



Director General of Police (DGP) SP Vaid said that the body of one of the militants was seen near the gunfight site. (But) we have not recovered the body as the other militants holed up in the building are firing. The encounter is still on, he told reporters.



Reports said a civilian was killed and another critically injured in the firing. Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir SJM Gilani confirmed the killing of a civilian in the area saying he was hit by a stray bullet. Police appealed to people not to assemble or come close to the encounter sites as there are chances of the stray bullets hitting them.



Soon after the news of a civilian being killed spread, hundreds of youth clashed with the security forces, who had to then resort to teargas shelling and pellet firing to disperse the protesters, in which scores of people were injured.



Due to the apprehensions of protests, authorities on Thursday morning directed telecom operators to shutdown mobile and internet services in Anantnag and Kulgam districts to prevent rumours and leaking of details of the counter-insurgency operation through social media.



Train services were also suspended in south Kashmir, which was affected the most due to the unrest triggered by the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani on July 8.


At a time when the government and the Supreme Court are engaged in a tussle over judges appointment, a parliamentary panel has called for glasnost in the selection of top judicial officers. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice emphasised that neither the executive nor the judiciary have primacy in the appointments as it is a shared responsibility.



However, the report, Inordinate Delay in Filling Up the Vacancies in the Supreme Court and High Courts, by the panel headed by senior Congress MP Anand Sharma, also found fault with the governments plans to decline Collegiums recommendations on the ground of national security and larger public interests, saying it was tantamount to giving veto power to the executive.



Arguing for bringing more transparency in the appointment process, the panel has said details like eligibility criteria, method of selection and other details should be made public.



The reasons for rejection of a particular candidate by the collegium are not disclosed now and the panel wants that the grounds for not selecting him should be conveyed to the person, it said. The panel noted that the government also rejects the Collegiums recommendations without giving reasons.



Need of the hour

Emphasising that such practices were against the principles of natural justice and leads to opaqueness, the report said, The committee feels that glasnost in the process of appointment of Judges is the need of hour.



Glasnost was a policy initiated by the then USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985 which stood for more open consultative government and wider dissemination of information.



Concerned at the present standoff over the finalisation of Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) that is leading to delay in filling the vacancies, the committee said it expects a quick resolution in larger public interest. It wanted the appointment of judges to continue through the existing practice as an ad hoc measure till the MoP was finalised.



As on November 1, there were 461 vacancies of Supreme Court and high court judges. Four high courts are working under acting chief justices. The sanctioned strength of the Supreme Court and high court judges is 1,079 while there are only 618 judges in office now.



Another recommendation was in the increase in the retirement age of judges in higher judiciary. The panel is for increasing the superannuation age of Supreme Court judges from 65 to 67 and that of high court judges from 62 to 65 years.
A united Opposition on Thursday observed black day on Parliament premises to mark one month of Prime Minister Narendra Modis announcement of the decision to scrap Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes. Sporting black bands and carrying placards, Opposition leaders observed a silent protest in front of both the Houses of Parliament convened for the day.



It has been 30 days since demonetisation was announced. We will not make any slogans today, only hold a Black Day. It will be a silent protest, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters here.



First, the prime minister asked for five days, then five weeks and now he wants 50 days. This isnt right as not even 50% of the situation got better in the last one month, Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha told reporters.



The Opposition does not have any personal benefits in this. It is after taking into account the interest of 90% of the people that we have observed black day, BSP chief Mayawati said.



The entire Opposition is staging a protest in front of Parliament against the suffering caused by demonetisation, N K Premachandran of the RSP said. Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha failed to transact any substantive business as the opposition parties continued to protest, leading to early adjournments of the two Houses. The government rejected the Oppositions protest.



This is not a black day. This is their support to black money day, Minister for Information & Broadcasting Venkaiah Naidu said. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said the government was ready for discussion in Parliament. The Opposition is staging the protest only to garner media space. The government is ready for discussion in the House, he said.
Amid a raging debate on the practice of triple talaq, the Allahabad High Court has held that this form of pronouncing instant divorce is unconstitutional and cruel. In a judgement delivered a few days ago, after hearing two petitions, the court observed that the personal law could not be above the Constitution.



In one of the petitions, a 53-year-old Muslim man, who married a woman 30 years younger than him after divorcing his first wife through triple talaq, had approached the court seeking protection. The court dismissed the petition, stating that divorcing the first wife, who had two children, to marry the other could not be held proper.



In the second petition, a Muslim woman, who had married her lover, had claimed that her first husband had divorced her over the phone from Dubai where he worked. The first husband, however, claimed that the woman had lied about the divorce so that she could marry her lover.



A single bench of the court comprising Justice Suneet Kumar said the Holy Quran prescribed that talaq should be given only as a last resort when all other avenues of compromise failed. The court also observed that changes could be made in the laws governing the society in secular countries under the Constitution.



The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), an apex body of the Muslims, however, maintained that triple talaq has the sanction of the Shariat (Islamic law) and the courts observations were akin to interfering with the same.



We have freedom under the Constitution to follow our personal laws, said senior AIMPLB member and Sunni cleric Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangimahali here, while reacting to the court judgement.



The Board has also launched a signature campaign to muster support for the practice and its opposition to uniform civil code. We will not tolerate any attempt to interfere in the Shariat, he said.



Shia clerics, however, supported the observations. We do not support the AIMPLB on the issue of triple talaq, said senior Shia cleric Maulana Yasoob Abbas. All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board chairperson Shaista Amber also welcomed the observations of the court and said that triple talaq should be abolished.


Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials on Thursday searched the premises of T N Chikkarayappa and S C Jayachandra, the two officials suspended by the government after the Income Tax Department found a huge stash of new banknotes in their homes earlier this month.





The ACB said it seized several incriminating documents from the possession of Chikkarayappa, the managing director of Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Ltd, and Jayachandra, the chief project officer of State Highway Development Project. The searches were conducted simultaneously on nine premises in Bengaluru and Kolar. The houses of their relatives were also raided.



An official said that some additional documents pertaining to the properties, in addition to the seizure made by the Income Tax Department, were recovered from the raided premises. The searches are going on, and details of the seizures will be known in a day or two. Bank lockers and other property documents will have to be examined, an official said.



This is not the first time that Jayachandra was raided for having amassed illegal wealth. The Lokayukta police had raided him in 2008 when he was chief engineer at Hemavathy Irrigation Project in Gorur, Hassan district. The Lokayukta police had prepared a final report and the investigation concluded that he possessed Rs 2.02 crore worth of assets disproportionate to his known sources of income on the date of the raid. The state government, however, is yet to give the Lokayukta police the Prosecution Sanction Order to file the charge sheet against Jayachandra.



There were similar complaints with the Lokayukta against Chikkarayappa. Whats more, the government disregarded the adverse reports against him by giving him a key post in the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA).
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday accused the BJP of destroying the city using Lieutenant General (L-G) Najeeb Jung. Kejriwal, however, said he would request Jung to allow vacuum cleaning of the streets after objections were raised by the latter.





We are not taking over the functions of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. There are four objections which have been raised by the LG. I have directed Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to request the L-G in taking a neutral decision and allow the vacuum cleaning of the roads in the city, Kejriwal told reporters here.



He claimed that the objections raised by the LG do not hold ground and have no substance. The objections raised are also a contempt of court as the Supreme Court had directed for vaccum cleaning, he added. Kejriwal also said the L-G had sought a report on the compensation announced by the Delhi government to family of ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal, who committed suicide last month.



Kejriwal said, The Centre has still not given compensation to the families of martyrs who lost their lives in the Uri attack. Modi ji is not giving the amount and neither is he allowing us to give it.
Customs officials seized demonetised currency to the tune of Rs 1.40 crore from two passengers at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) on December 1.





On a tip-off, the Customs officials frisked two persons who arrived from Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, and found to be in possession of Rs 1.40 crore, in scrapped Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes.



On interrogation, one of them revealed that they were in Bengaluru to exchange them for new currency. The other traveller claimed that they were carrying cash to purchase material for their business. However, both failed to furnish valid documents.



The Customs officials alerted the Income Tax department who arrested the duo and seized the cash. An officer said that the duo might have come to exchange cash for commission.


A three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice T S Thakur admitted the appeals filed by a group of builders against the NGTs order of May 4, 2016, and tagged them with similar ones against the tribunals decision.



The court had earlier stayed an NGT order that imposed a penalty of Rs 117 crore on Mantri Techzone Pvt Ltd and Rs 13.5 crore on Core Mind Software and Services Pvt Ltd for encroaching on water bodies in Bengaluru. But it had refused to interfere in the tribunals other directions.



On Thursday, senior advocate P V Shetty, appearing for the builders, urged the court to stay the NGT judgment. He contended that the order should not be extended to the petitioners who had bought the land and planned construction before the NGT ruling.



Senior advocate Abhishek M Singhvi, representing the NGO Forward Foundation and others, opposed the petition for staying the NGT ruling. He argued that the tribunal had passed general directions that were essential for sustainable development. A group of landowners around Lingadheeranahalli lake in Bengaluru said the NGT ruling had changed the real estate landscape in the city as the 30-metre buffer zone as mentioned in the Revised Master Plan 2015 was increased to 75 metres.





The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to stay an order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that increased the buffer zone around lakes in Bengaluru from 30 metres to 75 metres. The NGT order means no construction can be carried out in the extended buffer zone around lakes.
The Mandya district police have formed three teams to investigate the suicide of Ramesh Gowda, the official driver of Bheema Naik, special land acquisition officer, Bengaluru Urban district. Gowda had made startling revelations in this regard in a death letter on Tuesday.



Speaking to reporters in Mandya, Superintendent of Police C H Sudheer Kumar Reddy said the police were collecting CCTV footage from Samrat Lodge on the Mysuru-Bengaluru highway, where Gowda had committed suicide.



As Gowda has accused Naik of money laundering and corruption, the police have also alerted the Income Tax and Anti-Corruption Bureau sleuths.



According to Gowdas death note, he was facing death threats from Naik and his personal car driver Mohammed, as he knew all the secrets of the officer.



Family members of Gowda have demanded a thorough investigation and stringent punishment for Naik and Mohammed. Speaking to DH, Mahendra, brother of Gowda, said he committed suicide as Naik and Mohammed harassed him. According to Mahendra, Gowda had told his friends that he had booked a room in Samrat Lodge for the guests of his boss.



Gowdas mother Sakamma said that three months ago, he had told her that Naik was harassing him. Naik should be held responsible for the death of Gowda and punished, she said. However, Naik had appreciated Gowda for his work, Sakamma said.



Intelligence sleuths on Thursday visited the office of the tahsildar in Ballari to collect details of Naiks service here.



Former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa on Thursday demanded a detailed probe into the charges made against Naik.



The suicide note tells many stories. The state government must probe it, to bring the culprits to book, he told reporters in New Delhi.



If any politician, including former minister G Janardhana Reddy, is involved in converting black money into white, they must be punished without succumbing any pressure, he said.



Pointing out the recent incident of two officials being caught with huge amount of cash and gold, Yeddyurappa said this indicated how the state government was functioning. Most of the funds allocated for development works had been swindled by officials and people in power in the state, he said.

Naik had tainted past as tahsildar

Controversy is not new to KAS officer Bheema Naik, reports DHNS from Gangavathi in Koppal district.



The KAS officer was under suspension between July 21, 2010, and July 20, 2011, when he was the Gangavathi tahsildar, for harassing his subordinates. He was also accused of involvement in illegal mining. Naik was later transferred from Gangavathi. Cases pertaining to this are still pending against Naik in a local court. He also faced charges of giving cultivation chits in violation of rules. A few other officials had been suspended along with him. The FIR had been filed on August 18, 2011. Naik has been accused of pressuring the staff to give out various certificates. There was also a case of assault on an employee by name Hyder against the officer. The employee had tried to commit suicide.
The illegal issuance of e-khatas for properties and their subsequent cancellation have become a money-spinner in five gram panchayats in Bengaluru North taluk. Thousands of properties were registered, but their khata documents cancelled later, leaving gullible buyers high and dry. As many as 6,510 such cases have been found in Bengaluru North taluk alone, where property prices are high.



The illegal transactions run into at least Rs 300 crore, and this has been going on for the last few years, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister H K Patil told reporters on Thursday.



The modus operandi is simple. Form 9 documents (khata extract) are issued for sites developed illegally in private layouts. Officials manipulate the e-swathu software for this purpose. Immediately after the properties are sold by registering the sale deeds, the gram panchayat cancels Form 9 and instead issues Form 11B (demand extract issued to illegal properties or B khata properties). Form 9 is issued only if properties are developed legally by obtaining the necessary permissions, Patil said.



Enquiry

An enquiry has revealed that records have been created only to allow illegality. The purchase of sites does not become legal despite possessing records. The scam could run into Rs 300-400 crore going by the guidance value. The minister said the government had suspended 15 people, including the Bengaluru North taluk panchayat executive officer S R Babu, the presidents and secretaries of five gram panchayats.



Patil said land developers, sub-registrars, panchayat presidents, panchayat development officers (PDOs) and secretaries had colluded to defraud property buyers. He said criminal action would be taken against all those involved in the scam.



Committee formed

Following a complaint about irregularities in issuance of e-khatas, the government formed a committee headed by retired IAS office R B Agawane. The committee has submitted a report which reportedly names those involved in the scam. The minister said another committee headed by retired IAS officer Gopalakrishna Gowda had been set up to suggest measures to give relief to owners of 6,510 sites. The aggrieved can file complaints before the committee. The government would go by the committees recommendations, he added.




In another setback to the state governments ambitious steel flyover project, the defence ministry has refused to part with its land on Ballari Road in northern Bengaluru for the contentious bridge from Basaveshwara Circle to Hebbal.



Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Independent MP, had raised a question in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, seeking to know whether the state government had sought any clearance from the Centre to get land belonging to the Air Force Training Command transferred to it to facilitate the proposed steel flyover. Replying to this, Minister of State for Defence Dr Subhash Ramrao Bhamre negated the claim that transfer of land was already in process and the Defence Ministry disagrees to hand over the land.



Bengaluru Development Minister K J George had earlier said that the state government had held meetings with the defence ministry on land transfer. Later, his claim was denied by the defence ministry stating that it had not received any communication from the state government.



George, however, had said that Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had told the state government that the ministry will cooperate in parting with land for infrastructural works.



The land transfer issue would further delay the governments plan to start work on the flyover. The National Green Tribunal has already stayed the project. Citizen Action Forum, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) run by Chandrasekhar, along with former additional chief secretary to the Karnataka government, V Balasubramanian, have moved the National Green Tribunals (NGT) Chennai bench questioning the project.



Besides, the state government is yet to get clearances from the National Highways Authority of India and the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority.



Endless troubles

The steel flyover project will be stuck for many years and the public, including airport travellers will be put to endless troubles. There are also several procedural lapses: the master plan was not discussed, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) did not seek approval from the Bengaluru Metropolitan Planning Committee and did not hold public consultation. So, how can the BDA call for tenders for the project when land acquisition process is not yet complete, Chandrasekhar demanded.






Tomorrow marks 20 years since September 11, 2001one of the most tragic days in our nations history. On that day, America fell victim to unprovoked terrorist attacks which took the lives of nearly 3,000 Americans and injured another 6,000, including firefighters, paramedics, and police officers.

Many of us can vividly remember the events that unfolded at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the heroic story of Flight 93. We watched many brave men and women running into danger in service of others, representing the true American spirit. Across our nation, we pause to remember the impact of 9/11 and how it forever changed our country.

But this years anniversary is even more significant, as it comes just days after the end of Americas longest war. The past two decades have not been an easy chapter, nor have they been without setbacks and sacrifices. While I have strong views about the unraveling that weve seen in the last few weeks, my message today is this: Our country is forever grateful to the nearly 800 thousand Afghanistan war veterans, those who volunteered to wear our nations uniform and fought to defend the freedoms we hold dear. Their mission has not been in vain. We honor the heroism of over 24 hundred service members who made the ultimate sacrifice during this war and we pay special tribute to their families and loved ones who carry on their memory.

On this day, officially known as the National Day of Service and Remembrance, my heart is with all of the families, loved ones, friends and allies whose lives were changed on 9/11 and the 20 years that followed. Let us continue to honor and thank all of those who sacrificed so much by coming together as neighbors, as volunteers, to embody that spirit of service and community on this national day of unity. Let us not forget that we area United Statesand in our darkest moments, our common bonds are stronger than any fears. We are friends and neighbors, mothers and fathers, sons and daughtersand our politics ought not divide us.

Fulfilling the promise America provides, not just to its citizens here at home, but to those suffering oppression across the world, requires each and every one of us to be better to each other, for each other. God Bless.

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski

Washington, D.C.

Im running to create a brighter future, strong rural communities

I want a brighter future for all Alaskans, wither Rural or Urban. Thats why Im running for Governor. We have a state thats been so neglected that people have been leaving for a record four years in a row.

Like many of you, I grew up with hurdles in my way. My father was killed by a robber who broke into his office when I was six. Twelve years in foster care taught me that everyone deserves a fair chance in life.

We can do better than a Governor whos tried to raise high rural power costs by stealing $1 billion from our Power Cost Equalization (PCE) Fund. And we can do better than the loss of thousands of good-paying jobs, threats to our fish, harmed communities, closed small businesses and less opportunity to for people to succeed.

That means an economy with good paying jobs and good wages. It means good schools, real and equal opportunity, and treating elders with dignity  things I always fought for as a legislator.

Governor Dunleavy has taken a wrecking ball to these things.

As a legislator I stood up for all Alaskans. Thats why one angry urban legislator called me the Rural Representative from Anchorage. He meant it as an insult. It was a compliment to me, as I was fighting to get needed help to Rural communities, not his and not mine.

Governor Dunleavy has done the opposite.

Hes violated almost every campaign promise he made. He tried taking $1 billion from our PCE fund his first year in office, and again this year until a court stopped him.

He campaigned on education, then tried to cut a staggering quarter-billion dollars from our public schools. Eliminating 2,500 teachers and educators, and leaving students behind, isnt a plan. Its neglect.

Hes done nothing to improve Rural internet, and its embarrassing that the only help well get will come from the President and Congress.

Lower cost energy matters. The Governor has left this energy state energy poor. We can save money for people in rural and urban communities with needed renewable and other cost-saving energy projects. The cost of diesel is too high and too unpredictable, and we need to act.

We can bring back 6,000 good-paying jobs across Alaska by supporting the state construction budget we had before this budget crisis. Alaska has $2 billion of neglected, ready projects on our state and University deferred maintenance lists. The Governor has let buildings and infrastructure decay. Hes kept thousands of people out of work for three years.

I enjoy fishing like many of you. Commercial, subsistence and sportfishing are bedrocks for our economy. Our common interest in protecting our fish binds us. We should find solutions for communities where king, chum and silver runs have crashed.

Ive supported our responsible oil development and mining jobs, including the mine at Red Dog Mine. But the toxic Pebble Mine threatens the greatest wild salmon runs in the world. Unlike Governor Dunleavy, who still stands with the foreign Pebble Mine owners, Ill stand with you to prevent this toxic catastrophe.

Governor Dunleavy temporarily backed off some of his radical agenda to survive a Recall. But his push for devastating cuts to schools and elders, and his decimation of a University thats also the biggest vocational education provider in the State, will all continue if hes re-elected.

Ill never pit Rural and Urban Alaskans against each other. Im on my way to Igiugig this week, just got back from Nome where Kelly and I visit a lot, and have loved my time travelling Rural Alaska from Dillingham to Bethel to Goodnews Bay to Kobuk to Kotzebue, and many communities in between. Our First Alaskans, and our Rural communities deserve an equal voice.

Then theres the main job he promised to do, and never did. Hes ducked Alaskas seven-year budget deficit, and spent away $16 billion in savings as a legislator since 2013, and now as Governor. Hes tried grabbing our savings, our scholarship and PCE funds because he has no plan.

In December he said he wanted $1.23 Billion in taxes he wouldnt identify. In April he shifted to a $3 billion raid on the Permanent Fund, the biggest raid in Permanent Fund history. Taking an extra $3 billion from the Permanent Fund means lower annual Fund earnings to pay for PFDs, schools, construction, police, and roads.

You never received his promised Statutory PFD because it was a false promise he used to get votes, and has never delivered. The statutory PFD he falsely promised would be $3,860 this year.

Now he says he wants a 40% smaller non-statutory PFD. We need a real PFD you can bank on with revenue to pay for it, not endless fights and empty campaign promises. We can grow the Permanent Fund faster with options like letting people who dont need the PFD know that if they decline it, their share will go to grow the Permanent Fund to help others.

We need fair revenue to solve the deficit. That requires ending unaffordable oil company subsidies Governor Dunleavy voted for in 2013, and that I voted against. His oil tax credits are corporate welfare we cant afford. I support the oil industry, but we should partner with it, but not be junior partners.

Alaska cant afford four more years of this. Ill work for you so we can build a brighter future, together. Please visit www.lesgara.com for more information.

Les Gara is a candidate for Governor, a former Alaska State Legislator and Assistant Attorney General. Hes lived in Alaska with his wife Kelly since 1988.

Les Gara

Juneau, AK

Share this:

Tweet

Email


Search our site Search for:

Instagram Feed

Donate

Classifieds

Facebook Feed
By Alister Doyle; editing by Mark Heinrich 8 December 2016 OSLO, Norway (Reuters)  Giraffe numbers have declined by as much as 40 percent since the 1980s in a silent extinction driven by illegal hunting and an expansion of farmland in Africa, the Red List of endangered species reported on Thursday. Populations of the worlds tallest land creature fell to about 98,000 from an estimated 152,000-163,000 in 1985, according to the List compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The Red List rated the giraffe vulnerable to extinction on current trends for the first time, against a previous rating of least concern. It said the plunge in numbers in large parts of sub-Saharan Africa had gone largely unnoticed. Whilst giraffes are commonly seen on safari, in the media and in zoos, people  including conservationists  are unaware that these majestic animals are undergoing a silent extinction, Julian Fennessy, an IUCN giraffe specialist, said in a statement.[ more ]

Giraffes suffer silent extinction in Africa: Red List report

CANCUN, Mexico, 8 December 2016 (IUCN)  Over 700 newly recognised bird species have been assessed for the latest update of The The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and 11% of them are threatened with extinction. The update also reveals a devastating decline for the giraffe, driven by habitat loss, civil unrest and illegal hunting. The global giraffe population has plummeted by up to 40% over the last 30 years, and the species has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Todays IUCN Red List update also includes the first assessments of wild oats, barley, mango and other crop wild relative plants. These species are increasingly critical to food security, as their genetic diversity can help improve crop resistance to disease, drought and salinity. The update was released today at the 13th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP13) in Cancun, Mexico. The IUCN Red List now includes 85,604 species of which 24,307 are threatened with extinction. Many species are slipping away before we can even describe them, says IUCN Director General Inger Andersen. This IUCN Red List update shows that the scale of the global extinction crisis may be even greater than we thought. Governments gathered at the UN biodiversity summit in Cancun have the immense responsibility to step up their efforts to protect our planets biodiversity  not just for its own sake but for human imperatives such as food security and sustainable development.

Birds: Newly recognised, already threatened

This IUCN Red List update includes the reassessment of all bird species. Thanks to a comprehensive taxonomic review compiled by BirdLife International, working in collaboration with the Handbook of the Birds of the World, the overall number of bird species assessed has reached 11,121. A total of 742 newly recognised bird species have been assessed, 11% of which are threatened. For example, the recently described Antioquia wren (Thryophilus sernai) has been listed as Endangered as more than half of its habitat could be wiped out by a single planned dam construction. Habitat loss to agriculture and degradation by invasive plants have also pushed the striking Comoro blue vanga (Cyanolanius comorensis) into the Endangered category. Thirteen of the newly recognised bird species enter the IUCN Red List as Extinct. Several of these have been lost within the past 50 years  such as the Pagan reed-warbler (Acrocephalus yamashinae), Oahu akepa (Loxops wolstenholmei) and Laysan honeycreeper (Himatione fraithii). All of these species were endemic to islands, and were most likely wiped out by invasive species. Unfortunately, recognising more than 700 new species does not mean that the worlds birds are faring better, says Dr Ian Burfield, BirdLifes Global Science Coordinator. As our knowledge deepens, so our concerns are confirmed: unsustainable agriculture, logging, invasive species and other threats  such as the illegal trade highlighted here  are still driving many species towards extinction. IUCN Red List assessments also reveal that some of the worlds most popular birds may soon disappear in the wild if appropriate action isnt taken. Iconic species, such as the African grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus)  a prized pet with the ability to mimic human speech  are facing extinction in the wild due to unsustainable trapping and habitat loss. Native to central Africa, the grey parrot has seen its conservation status deteriorate from Vulnerable to Endangered. A study led by BirdLife International discovered that in some parts of the continent numbers of grey parrots have declined by as much as 99%. The situation is most pressing in Asia, with the rufous-fronted laughingthrush (Garrulax rufifrons), scarlet-breasted lorikeet (Trichoglossus forsteni) and Straw-headed bulbul (Pycnonotus zeylanicus) among a suite of species being uplisted to higher threat categories as a result of the impacts of illegal wildlife trade. There is now evidence that unsustainable levels of capture for the cagebird trade, largely centred on Java, are driving the deteriorating status of many species. However, there is good news for some of the rarest and most vulnerable birds on our planet  those that exist only on small, isolated islands. The Azores bullfinch (Pyrrhula murina), St Helena plover (Charadrius sanctaehelenae) and Seychelles white-eye (Zosterops modestus) are among the island endemic species to move to lower categories in this IUCN Red List update, as their populations recover from the brink of extinction thanks to tireless conservation efforts.

Giraffe

The iconic giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), one of the worlds most recognisable animals and the tallest land mammal, is now threatened with extinction. The species, which is widespread across southern and eastern Africa, with smaller isolated subpopulations in west and central Africa, has moved from Least Concern to Vulnerable due to a dramatic 36-40% decline from approximately 151,702-163,452 individuals in 1985 to 97,562 in 2015. The growing human population is having a negative impact on many giraffe subpopulations. Illegal hunting, habitat loss and changes through expanding agriculture and mining, increasing human-wildlife conflict, and civil unrest are all pushing the species towards extinction. Of the nine subspecies of giraffe, three have increasing populations, whilst five have decreasing populations and one is stable. A resolution adopted at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in September this year called for action to reverse the decline of the giraffe.

Crop wild relatives

With this update, the first assessments of 233 wild relatives of crop plants such as barley, oats and sunflowers have been added to the IUCN Red List. Habitat loss, primarily due to agricultural expansion, is the major threat to many of these species. The assessments were completed as part of a partnership between Toyota Motor Corporation and IUCN, whose aim is to broaden the IUCN Red List to include the extinction risk of many species that are key food sources for a significant portion of the global population. Crop wild relatives are a source of genetic material for new and existing crop species, allowing for increased disease and drought resistance, fertility, nutritional value and other desirable traits. Almost every species of plant that humans have domesticated and now cultivate has one or more crop wild relatives. However, these species have received little systematic conservation attention until now. Four mango species have been listed as Endangered, and the Kalimantan mango (Mangifera casturi) has been listed as Extinct in the Wild. These species are relatives of the common mango (Mangifera indica) and are threatened by habitat loss. Native to South Asia, mangoes are now cultivated in many tropical and sub-tropical countries and they are one of the most commercially important fruits in these regions. A relative of cultivated asparagus, hamatamabouki (Asparagus kiusianus), which is native to Japan, has been listed as Endangered due to habitat loss caused by urban expansion and agriculture. Loss of habitat is also the main threat to the Anomalus sunflower (Helianthus anomalus) which has been listed as Vulnerable and is a relative of the sunflower (H. annuus). Cicer bijugum, native to Iran and Turkey, is a wild relative of the chickpea (C. arietinum); it has been listed as Endangered due to habitat conversion to agriculture. Crop wild relative species are under increasing threat from urbanisation, habitat fragmentation and intensive farming, and probably climate change, says Mr. Kevin Butt, General Manager, Regional Environmental Sustainability Director, Toyota Motor North America. To conserve this vital gene pool for crop improvement we need to urgently improve our knowledge about these species. Toyota is pleased to provide support for the assessment of these and other species on The IUCN Red List.

Freshwater species  Lake Victoria

All freshwater molluscs, crabs, dragonflies, and freshwater fishes native to Lake Victoria in central Africa are included in this update. Key threats to Lake Victoria  known as Darwins dream pond due to its high biodiversity  include invasive species such as the Nile perch (Lates niloticus), overharvesting, sedimentation due to logging and agriculture, as well as water pollution from pesticides and herbicides.

Contact

Goska Bonnaveira, IUCN Media Relations, m +41 79 276 01 85, e-mail goska.bonnaveira@iucn.org Ewa Magiera, IUCN Media Relations, m +41 76 505 33 78, e-mail ewa.magiera@iucn.org
Are you saying that commissioners DiFilippo and I somehow got employees to buy into a plan and that somehow they are part of some kind of payola on this? Foschi asked Eichelberger.
New collaboration to transform security of the Internet of Things

LONDON, UK  December 8, 2016  The prpl Foundation and the IoT Security Foundation (IoTSF), two influential not-for-profit organizations working to promote security and openness in the Internet of Things (IoT), today announced that they have entered into a formal agreement to cooperate on projects that put security by design into the IoT. One element of the collaboration, around the IoTSF Self Certification Working Group, will be discussed tomorrow in London at the IoTSF Conference 2016 entitled Building an Internet of Trust.

The prpl Foundation and the IoTSF share a belief that security is a fundamental requirement to the enablement and adoption of connected devices, said Art Swift, president of the prpl Foundation. We are delighted to work together to advance the many aspects of IoT security to make its widespread use less risky so consumers can use the IoT to its full potential safely.

IoTSF members will be invited to participate in the prpl Security and Virtualization Working Group which explores the application of hardware virtualization to create security by separation at the most basic level: the hardware itself. prpl members will be invited to take part in the IoTSFs Self Certification work which is focused on determining a comprehensive security assurance framework for firms throughout the IoT supply chain which is accessible to all and readily actionable.

With digital and communications technologies permeating all aspects of modern life, the IoT is considered by many to be the next evolution of the Internet, said John Moor, Managing Director of the IoT Security Foundation. Yet there are many challenges ahead and industry must work together to agree on ethics as well as standards. Both IoTSF and prpl agree that security must be forged into the design of embedded computing devices and therefore collaborating on joint projects and complementing each others work can only be viewed as a positive for society as a whole.

Both parties will work continually to increase the span of influence and establish a supply chain of trust in which all IoT stakeholders can play a part towards creating a more secure IoT. This will be achieved through mutual cooperation and participating in each others closely aligning projects and working groups as well as industry events and activities. The organizations have also agreed to work to a mutually agreed code of ethics based on trust and collaboration.

As a participant in both prpl and the IoTSF, I look forward to the progress that we can help make towards securing connected devices at a time when it has never been more important, said Majid Bemanian, Director of Networking & Storage, Segment Marketing at Imagination, who sits on the Board of Directors for the IoTSF and co-chairs the Security Group at the prpl Foundation. As an industry, we are on the cusp of a crucial tipping point, so the time is now to leverage the power of open source and community collaboration to make security an instrumental aspect of IoT from SoC inception to full operation, rather than an afterthought.

The IoTSF Conference 2016 will take place on Tuesday, 6th December at the IET Savoy Place in London. Cesare Garlati, chief security strategist for the prpl Foundation will show a live demo of the prplSecurity Framework during the session entitled In Silicon we Trust: How to Fix the Internet of Broken Things; and Art Swift, president of the prpl Foundation will take part in a panel discussion called United We Stand; Addressing the Bigger Challenges of IoT Security with Collaboration.

About the prpl Foundation

prpl (pronounced Purple), is an open-source, community-driven, collaborative, non-profit foundation targeting and supporting the MIPS architecture  and open to others  with a focus on enabling next-generation datacenter-to-device portable software and virtualized architectures. prpl represents leaders in the technology industry investing in innovation in efficiency, portability and compatibility for the good of a broad community of developers, businesses and consumers. Initial domains targeted by prpl include datacenter, networking & storage, connected consumer and embedded/IoT.






Palo Alto, Calif. - November 28, 2016 - Silexica, the industry leader in multicore software design automation addressing complex, multicore platforms, today announced they have completed an $8 million Series A round of financing. Merus Capital led the investment round with participation from new investor Paua Ventures as well as current investors Seed Fonds Aachen and DSA Invest. Silexica will use the funding to expand its engineering capacity to quickly adapt the technology to additional market segments and strengthen its international presence.

Although Silexica is only two years old, it has enjoyed rapid adoption of its SLX Tool Suite. The software tools use a compiler paradigm to analyze code coupled with a deep understanding of how hardware platforms behave with actual production workload. Global customers like Huawei and Fujitsu are already using these solutions and companies across multiple industries are now embracing the SLX Tool Suite.

"It's clear that as Dennard's Scaling Law breaks down, the computing industry must embrace heterogeneous and specialized multicore designs. To fully exploit this change requires a wholesale shift to concurrent software development and design automation. Silexica's unique technology enables software and hardware designers and developers to maximize utilization, optimize for various design goals and to deal with issues of 'dark silicon' and other upcoming challenges of the multicore era," said Salman Ullah, Managing Director of Merus Capital, a leading Silicon Valley venture fund focused on early stage enterprise companies. He added that, "Silexica is a perfect reflection of Merus Capital's strategy, investing in real software solving real problems."

"Silexica's world-class team has uniquely delivered disruptive software tools to address complex multicore designs and software problems. We look forward to partnering with Silexica as they help their customers improve the quality of their products and dramatically reduce time to market," said Georg Stockinger, Partner at Paua Ventures.

"We are excited to work with such experienced investors who understand our products and share our vision. As we penetrate markets where demand for high performance computing is thriving, such as Wireless Baseband, Autonomous Driving, and Embedded Vision, the SLX Tool Suite will be the critical component in driving the next wave of multicore design adoption," said Johannes Emigholz, COO of Silexica.

About SLX Tool Suite

Today's software applications addressing complex, advanced products such as Wireless Baseband Processing, Edge Computing, Autonomous Driving and Embedded Vision are driving the demand for more and more processors leading to large multicore architectures. However, the techniques to efficiently program the heterogeneous multicore environment largely remains a time consuming, inefficient manual process. Building on multicore research conducted over the last ten years, Silexica began solving this problem with the SLX Tool Suite about two years ago, and Silexica is seeing rapid adoption by hardware and software system architects and designers. Today, the SLX tools, SLX Mapper and SLX Generator, together, deliver fully automated mapping of software tasks and processes onto multicore platforms, optimized for throughput, latency, or power. They leverage native programming toolchains via a source-to-source translation approach to automatically generate architecture aware and middleware-specific C codes. The SLX Explorer guides the selection of the best target hardware by providing insights into software performance/power prediction of the target application. Conversely, the SLX Parallelizer helps customers migrate legacy C, C++ applications into the multicore world giving deep insights into parallelization possibilities based on the target platform.

About Silexica

Silexica is the leading provider of software design automation tools addressing the increasingly complex multicore platforms required to build today's embedded vision, automotive, edge computing and wireless baseband processing products. SLX tools from Silexica help embedded software developers, system architects and semiconductor providers to design and build multicore systems faster and better than before. Silexica licenses its technology to renowned electronic companies around the globe and supports its customers from local offices in Germany, U.S., Japan and China. For more on Silexica, visit www.silexica.com






Wow! This Bollywood Actor Will Have His Wax Statue In Paris Museum
A cash injection of $60,000 has been granted to an Australian research project looking at type 1 diabetes and how to prevent it.

The money has been given to a team from the countrys oldest medical research institute, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute.

Led by Dr Esther Bandala Sanchez they want to investigate whether sugar-coated proteins called CD52 could help form a test for the condition and preventative treatment.

A previous study has already shown how some immune cells can provide protection against the disease.

Dr Sanchez said: We discovered how good T cells deploy a sugar-coated protein or immune modulator called CD52, which seeks out bad T cells to suppress their function.

Using its sweet, sticky exterior, CD52 is able to stick like toffee to these disease-causing T cells, stopping them from causing harm.

Sanchezs team discovered that without CD52, the activity of bad T cells increases, leading to a depletion of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas.

We hope one day preventing type 1 diabetes will be as simple as taking regular tests and that CD52 could be used as a biomarker for a persons risk of developing this disease, added Sanchez.

The grant was awarded to the research unit by the Diabetes Australia Research Trust.

Chief executive officer of Diabetes Australia, associate professor Greg Johnson said: It is a long road but this research is a critical step down the road towards clinical trials in humans, he said.

This research project is one of 14 studies across Victoria in Australia which has received a grant by Diabetes Australia.
It would make a perfect clickbait ad Learn this one simple trick to stop worrying about Donald Trump and Make America Great Again.

Whats the trick? All you have to do is take Trump seriously, but not literally.

The formulation is credited to reporter Salena Zito, who, in an article for the Atlantic last September, noted that the news media take Trumps more outlandish statements literally but not seriously, while his supporters do the inverse.

Even the president-elects team has declared this a kind of Rosetta Stone for deciphering Trumpspeak.

This is the problem with the media, Corey Lewandowski, Trumps first campaign manager, said recently at a post-election conference at Harvard. You guys took everything Donald Trump said so literally. The American people didnt.

Peter Thiel, a major Trump backer, made the same point at the National Press Club in October. The media always is taking Trump literally. It never takes him seriously ... I think a lot of the voters who vote for Trump take Trump seriously, but not literally.

Trump has hinted that he buys this heuristic as well. Last week, he explained that he never really meant it when he said in April were not going to let Carrier leave.

I said, Carrier will never leave, he admitted. But that was a euphemism. I was talking about Carrier like all other companies from here on in.

As a defense of some of candidate Trumps statements, this distinction is not bad, and as an indictment of the media, its pretty good. The press treated Trump as a joke, not appreciating the fact that for many voters the medias scorn is a badge of honor.

Of course, Trump isnt the only politician to expect non-literal status. Vice President Joe Biden has said some absolutely ludicrous things over the years. He said FDR went on TV after the stock market crash of 1929, when FDR was not yet president and TV did not yet exist. No one took him literally. Nor does anyone take him literally when he, literally, asks to be taken literally. He told a group of students, You are the keystone to East Africa  literally, not figuratively  you are the keystone. In 2010, Biden said, Before we arrived in the West Wing, Mr. Boehners party ran the economy literally into the ground.

The non-literal approach to Biden is safe for two reasons. Because he is a well-known character in the Washington establishment, the public knows more or less what to expect from him. And, as a vice president, theres only so much harm he can do. (In other words, we dont have to take him too seriously.)

Trump is different. On his own terms hes an outsider and a disrupter who claims that political elites range from stupid to malevolent. He also has zero experience in foreign or domestic policy. What he says  and how he says it  takes on greater importance precisely because he lacks a track record in public office to put his language in context.

This seriously-not-literally thing is a great analytical insight into how then-candidate Trump communicated with his supporters. But it is fairly ridiculous hogwash as a prescription for how to treat an actual president, or president-elect, of the United States.

When Trump says millions of people voted illegally, how should the news media go about taking that indefensible claim seriously but not literally? Should reporters assume that some number of people voted illegally, but not millions? Or that millions of people voted, but not illegally?

When Trump says he spoke on the telephone with the president of Taiwan, should China be expected to take what it sees as a grave violation of diplomatic norms seriously but not literally? What does that even mean?

Perhaps we shouldnt take the literally-seriously distinction too literally. Perhaps what Trump supporters really mean is that he should get a free pass whenever his mouth gets him in trouble?

Trump has said, I know words, I have the best words. Hes also said he could be more presidential than anybody, except maybe Abraham Lincoln. Hed be well advised to take his own words seriously, if not literally.

What a president says matters. And credibility  with citizens, allies, enemies and markets  is a finite resource, easily depleted when you think youll never be held to account for what you blurt out.
In the three months ending October, iOS grew 7 percentage point year-over-year in the US

Apple's iOS registered year-on-year growth across most regions thanks to strong sales of iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The latest quarterly data from Kantar shows Apple's iOS grown registered everywhere except Germany and Urban China. The failure of Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 meant that iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus were the most popular handsets in the US.

In terms of share, Apple's iOS has grown to 40.5 percent in the US and has more than 50 percent smartphone OS share in Japan. Android, on the other hand, also saw similar growth but declined marginally in the US and Japan.

In the three months ending October, iOS grew 7 percentage point year-over-year from 33.5 percent to 40.5 percent in the US. This is the strongest growth for the OS in more than two year and it comes at the expense of Android but the next quarter maybe different on the back of Google's introduction of Pixel and Pixel XL.

The lack of the headphone jack has proved to be a non-issue for US iPhone consumers, as iPhone 7 was the top selling device in the three months ending October 2016, achieving 10.6% of smartphone sales, despite not being available for the full three month period. iPhone 7 Plus was the 4th best-selling device at 5.3%, behind the iPhone 6s and Samsung Galaxy S7, said Lauren Guenveur, Consumer Insight Director for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

"Google achieved 0.5% of smartphone sales, a strong showing given that the Pixel was only widely available from October 20th. In that short time, Google has reached market parity with more established brands like Huawei and Microsoft, who are also at 0.5%."

Apple and Samsung are the two most dominant brands in the smartphone industry. With Samsung having lost on a flagship for the second-half, Apple has reaped benefits by registering better sales growth.

However, Apple's iPhone 7 continues to face stiff competition from local smartphone makers in China. The iPhone 7 was the second best selling phone in Urban China in the 3 months ending October 2016. Apple's iOS has gained in China but it still trails behind Android by a significant margin. The Kantar report also notes that Oppo has been gaining in Urban China with its custom OS accounting for 11.8 percent share. Oppo R9, the latest cameraphone remains the top selling device in the region.

Android continues to stay dominant in the mobile OS segment topping at 75 percent across the globe. Android has reached a level of penetration that won't be easy to replicate but Apple continues to be the most desirable brand in the world.
MPs voted in favour of scrutinising Prime Minister Theresa Mays Brexit plan before she triggers Article 50 by the end of March 2017.

On Wednesday evening MPs voted for Labours motion to properly scrutinise the government's plan to leave the European Union before Article 50 is triggered, which starts a two-year clock on negotiations, by a margin of 373 votes - 448 in favour and 75 against.

A second vote also passed the government's amendment to the motion that its timetable for activating the clause by March should be respected. This was voted with a margin of 372 votes, with 461 in favour with 89 against.

Former Chancellor Ken Clarke was the only Conservative MP to vote against the amendment along with about 23 Labour MPs, five from the Liberal Democrats, 51 from the SNP, three SDLP, three Plaid Cymru, two independents and one Green.

Labours motion was opposed by nine of its own MPs.

May was facing a revolt from Conservative backbenchers, after repeated calls from businesses and politicians for greater clarity over Brexit. She conceded to Labours motion on Tuesday and added the amendment for her timetable to be respected.
Markets in Asia rose on Thursday, with Japans benchmark reaching its highest level since January, following on from a bumper session in New York overnight.

The Nikkei 225 appeared to ignore a stronger yen, adding 1.45% to finish at 18.765.47.

Against the greenback, the yen was last 0.25% stronger at JPY 113.49 per $1.

Japans economic growth reading for the third quarter was slashed in a revision, down to 1.3%, compared to the preliminary reading of 2.2%.

That was well off the Reuters-polled forecast for a 2.4% uptick.

Electronics maker Sony saw its shares rise 1.94% after it confirmed 11 new smartphone games for the Japanese domestic market in 2017, and indicated companion hardware would be part of it.

SoftBank shares were also still on the rise, pushing 5.48% higher after they leapt on Wednesday, following a meeting between its CEO and US President-elect Donald Trump.

The telecoms and technology conglomerate pledged to invest $50bn in the US and create up to 50,000 jobs during the meeting.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.2% at 3,215.72, while the Shenzhen Composite Index lost 0.62% to 2,077.37.

Dollar-denominated imports into China in November grew by 6.7% year-on-year, according to fresh data from Beijing, while exports in dollars were up 0.1%.

It was the fastest annualised growth for imports in more than three years.

Analysts were well off the mark, with those polled by Reuters picking a 5% drop in exports and a 6.2% decline in imports.

South Koreas Kospi finished 1.97% higher at 2,031.07, while Hong Kongs Hang Seng Index added 0.27% to 22,861.84.

Hong Kong-listed shares in HSBC were on the comedown from a 6% spike on Wednesday, losing 0.61% during Thursdays session.

The surge dame after an upgrade to overweight from Morgan Stanley, with the report citing improving revenue outlook as a Federal Reserve rate hike looked increasingly likely.

Its widely understood that a rate hike stateside would be beneficial to most of the banking sector in Hong Kong, and a move in December was last read as 92.7% probable according to CME Groups 30-day Fed Fund futures.

Oil prices were up during Asian trading, turning around from softness seen in the US overnight.

Concerns arose stateside over whether the OPEC and Russia-backed output cuts would actually eventuate, alongside downbeat crude inventory data domestically.

Brent crude was last up 0.68% at $53.36 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate was 0.6% firmer at $50.07.

Australias S&P/ASX 200 managed a 1.2% jump to 5,543.60, with the hefty financials subindex adding 1.69% and materials 1.48% higher.

The countrys trade balance data for October was released during the day, showing a deficit of AUD 1.51bn - significantly wider than the AUD 800m forecast.

In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 was up 0.4% at 6,916.01 at the close, led higher by local insurance giant Tower, which was up 5.2%.

The companys stock had risen 13% since 29 November, when it announced it was separating its liabilities and receivables from the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes into a bad bank structure, kept at arms length from the main accounts.

It also said it would aggressively pursue NZD 101m in receivables from the Earthquake Commission - the government provider of mandatory disaster insurance - and reinsurer Peak Re.

Both of the down under dollars were stronger on the greenback, with the Aussie last 0.13% ahead at AUD 1.3348 and the Kiwi strengthening 0.55% at NZD 1.3880 per $1.
Anglo-Swiss commodities giant Glencore is part of a consortium that is poised to buy a 19.5% stake in Russias largest oil company Rosneft for 10.2bn, as part of the Kremlins strategy to raise funds after a fall in commodity prices.

Glencore and the Qatar Investment Authority are in the final stage of negotiations to buy the interest, joining oil giant BP, which already owns a 19.75% interest, while Moscow will maintain a controlling stake.

Glencore will pay 300m in equity and the rest will be paid in shares from Qatar Investment Authority and by a non-recourse bank financing.

As part of the deal, the company will have a new five-year offtake agreement for an additional 220,000 oil barrels per day for the Glencore marketing business, and also have opportunities for further partnerships in infrastructure, logistics and global trading.

Russia needs to plug a hole in its budget after low oil prices and economic sanctions sent its economy into a two-year recession.

Glencore has also been dealing with low commodity prices which left it in $30bn in debt and it only recently announced it will resume paying dividend payments in the first half of 2017 after suspending them in 2015.

Other than a 0.54% indirect equity interest in Rosneft, the company will not have any economic exposure to its interests in the shares.

The deal has a limited liability structure and is fully ring-fenced and non-recourse to the company, apart from the 300m equity contribution.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch's rough calculation foresaw around $80m in annual trading profits from 220,000 barrels per day for Glencore from the deal.
A report that hinted at a potential government crackdown on fixed odds betting terminals sent shares in bookmakers Ladbrokes Coral and William Hill tumbling on Thursday.

FOBTs should have their maximum stake cut from 100 per spin to as low as 2, a group of Conservative and Labour MPs has suggested, according to The Times.

A report by the fixed odds betting terminals all-party parliamentary group stated there was a prima facie case to cut the maximum stake slow the speed with which bets can be made and the number of terminals that can be housed in each bookmaker's shop.

Based on the evidence of its research, group chairwoman Carolyn Harris said: From the evidence presented to us . . . the group sees a strong case for the stake being set at 2. This call is supported by many members of parliament, from all political parties and in both houses. It is also supported by a significant majority of the public.

At the very least, the stake should be reduced on FOBTs on a precautionary basis. The government has a duty to protect the most vulnerable in our society and to act in the public interest.

Ladbrokes was down 7% to 118.4p and Hills was down 8% to 286.6p.
Motor finance and specialist lender S&U announced its trading update for the period from 1 August to 7 December on Thursday, with its Grimsby based specialist car finance provider Advantage Finance continuing to grow to record levels of profitability and customer volume.

The London-listed firm said applications were at near record levels, which its board said was testament both to a robust labour market and to increasingly close interaction with its broker introducers.

Live customer numbers were up 34% on last year, and were now approaching 42,000.

Net receivables at Advantage were now over 189m, with transaction numbers showing a 16% increase on the comparative period last year.

Monthly collections were at record levels, the board said, and now exceeded 8m per month.

Although the companys rolling 12 months impairment to revenue ratio increased from 17.7% to 18.5% during the period, that was still in line both with the same ratio measured over the last five years of 19.1%, and with the boards own expectations.

As part of its strategy for long term sustainable growth, Advantage continued to develop its underwriting systems as well as the speed and flexibility of its customer service systems with its broker partners.

Following the introduction of the new FCA Licensing Regime, Advantage was recently granted its full Consumer Credit Permission.

With regard to funding, having obtained a further 15m of bank facilities during the period, the group now had facilities of 85m, sufficient for the growth the board anticipated at Advantage Finance over the next year, and for the launch in January of pilot bridging finance business Aspen Finance.

The board said it anticipated concluding further loan facilities as its businesses require.

The current dearth of supply in the housing market and long term unmet residential demand, provide secure and profitable opportunities for property backed bridging lending, the board said of the launch of Aspen Finance.

The UK bridging market grew from around 2bn in 2012 to 5bn now, and is forecast to reach nearly 10bn by 2020.

The board said it continued to believe that this presented a very good opportunity for S&U to diversify its revenue streams, and preparations for the launch of its previously announced and rigorous pilot, Aspen Bridging Finance, were now well advanced.

Despite widespread assumptions of post Brexit gloom, consumer appetite for credit, partially reflecting a robust labour market, continues unabated, said S&U chairman Anthony Coombs.

This apparent contradiction has been recently reflected, for both S&U and for others in the speciality finance sector, in what I view as an unjustified decoupling of S&U's performance and prospects and our stock market valuation.

I am confident that our ambition and constant striving for the highest standards of service for our customers will be reflected in the growth, performance and value of the group.
Barack Obama had just beaten John McCain by a margin of 10 million votes and 7.2 percentage points  the biggest Democratic win since 1964. Democrats also won both congressional chambers. And yet, despite this decisive pro-Democratic mandate to govern, congressional Republicans resolved, at a private dinner on day one, not to offer a scintilla of cooperation. They resolved to thwart Obamas efforts to fix the Great Recession, hoping that his failures would grease a Republican comeback in the 2012 race. Newt Gingrich, a dinner guest, reportedly told his former colleagues, You will remember this day. Youll remember this as the day the seeds of 2012 were sown.

Heres where we are today: Trump has lost the popular vote (as of Wednesday) by a whopping 2.66 million. His losing share of the popular vote (46.2 percent) is the worst for an Electoral College winner since John Quincy Adams in 1824. Even his winning electoral vote margin (74) is a pittance compared to Obamas winning 2808 margin (192). So why should Democrats on Capitol Hill give Trump the cooperative deference that Republicans denied to Obama?

As Michael Corleone said in The Godfather II movie, My offer is this: Nothing.

Cooperating with Trump, behaving as if he were just another Republican, would lend legitimacy to his authoritarian bent. Cooperating with Trump would normalize his racist populism and his serial lies. Such a strategy  tantamount to surrender  would be disastrous for a Democratic Party that has spent decades fighting for tolerance and diversity.

Democrats have buckled in the past. Even though George W. Bush lost the popular vote in 2000, they acted as if the guy had a mandate to govern. Lots of Democrats voted for Bushs deficit-cratering tax cuts. They voted for his Iraq war resolution, despite the dearth of evidence that Saddam had WMDs. They supplied enough votes to put John Roberts in charge of the Supreme Court.

Republicans reciprocated by foiling Obama on a regular basis, blocking everything from his 2011 American Jobs Act (which couldve put as many as two million people back to work) to his last Supreme Court nominee (the radical refusal to even hold hearings on Merrick Garland was unprecedented).

David Faris, a political science prof at Roosevelt University, said it well in a column the other day:

[Cooperation] is the first instinct of the Democratic Party even after a crushing, incomprehensible defeat ... The urge to minimize the damage in defense of the public interest is broadly shared, and understandable. It must make many Democrats proud to support a party that truly believes in the public good, even at the expense of winning.

On the other hand, no. Its time for Democrats to say no. To everything ...

It helps that the Republicans  led by a man who rage-tweets fake news in the middle of the night  are about to embark on a long voyage of turning every single thing they touch into garbage. There should be no Democratic fingerprints whatsoever on the coming catastrophe ... Hand Trump the keys and let him drive into a tree.

That sounds harsh. But, lest we forget, Republicans paid virtually no political price for their eight years of anti-Obama obstruction. Voters didnt seem to care that Republicans thwarted a president who twice won elections with a majority of the popular vote. Why would they punish Democrats for standing in steadfast opposition to an unqualified poseur who was rejected last month by 53.8 percent of all voters? Chuck Schumer, the new Senate minority leader, is indeed warning that when Trump gets too extreme, well go after him with everything weve got.

Senate Democrats can set the tone by putting Trumps Cabinet picks through the wringer, because a number of them deserve to be seriously slow-walked  most notably, attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions (rejected for a federal judgeship 30 years ago, due to his racist remarks), Treasury nominee Steve Mnuchin (who made piles of money foreclosing on homeowners during the Great Recession), and Health and Human Services nominee Tom Price (who wants to kill Obamacare, a move that would nix coverage for 20 million people). And what remotely qualifies Ben Carson to be housing secretary, beyond the fact that he lives in a house?

Fortunately, Democrats are indeed vowing to combat those nominees. Hey, its a start. My unsolicited advice is simple: Grow a pair.
Save my User ID and Password

Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site. To activate this function, check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section. This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site.

Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site.
Inflation, abortion on voters' minds ahead of upcoming election

What are the most important issues for Ohio voters? We canvassed the state as the midterm election nears. Here's what we learned.
Union Cabinet approves MoU between India and UK to support Ease of Doing Business in India

Published: December 8, 2016

The Union Cabinet has given its approval to Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and United Kingdom (UK) to support Ease of Doing Business in India.

The MoU was signed between both countries earlier in November 2016 during the official state visit of UK Prime Minister Theresa May to India.

Key Facts

The MoU will facilitate exchange Government officials from both countries to facilitate sharing of best practises, technical assistance and enhanced implementation of reforms.

The beneficiaries include the officials from India will include Central Government Ministries / Departments and State Governments.

It will facilitate various agencies of UK government to offer professional courses on capacity-building of frontline inspectors, better regulation drafting for officials, sharing of best practises, etc.

The collaboration is expected to expedite adoption of innovative practises by the India leading to easing of regulatory environment in country and fostering of conducive business climate in India.

Background

Currently, India is ranks 130th out of 190 economies in Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) as per Doing Business Report, 2017. On the other hand UK has achieved phenomenal improvement in EoDB rankings in recent years.

MoU for Cooperation in the Field of Intellectual Property

The Union Cabinet also approved to the MoU between India and UK for Cooperation in the Field of Intellectual Property (IP) signed in November 2016. The MoU seeks to facilitate establishment of wide-ranging and flexible mechanisms for cooperation in the development of automation, new documentation and information systems in the field of IP. It provides an opportunity for collaboration in training programmes, exchange of experts and technical exchanges and outreach activities. Its implementation will enhance capacity of the Office of Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trademarks (CGPDTM) to examine patent applications, which in turn will impact innovation positively.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2016

Topics: Cabinet Decisions  Ease of Doing Business  India-UK  Intellectual Property  National

Latest E-Books
WSU holds STEM competition Jan. 11

Washington State University on Jan. 11 will host the Future City STEM school competition in Pullman for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students from Washington, Idaho and Montana.

Future City Competition is a national program sponsored by the engineering community to promote technological literacy and engineering to middle school students. The goal is to foster an interest in math, science and engineering through hands-on, real-world applications.

Teams that win at WSU qualify for the sectional competition in Seattle. From there, winners go on to the nationals in Washington, D.C., where over $10,000 in prizes will be awarded.

For more information, go to http://tiny.cc/5efchy/.




Subscriber content preview

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. (AP)  Springfield-based wood products manufacturer Rosboro has sold its manufacturing business to an Illinois-based investment firm.

The Register-Guard reports that Wynchurch Capital has purchased Rosboro's seven manufacturing plants across Oregon, including its main facility in Springfield. Financial details of the sale have not been disclosed.





. . .
Union Cabinet approves Pune Metro Rail Project Phase  1

Published: December 8, 2016

The Union Cabinet has approved the development of Phase  1 of the Pune Metro Rail Corridor Project.

It will be covering a length of 31.254 km comprising with two corridors Corridor-1 (Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation to Swargate) and Corriodor-2 (Vanaz to Ramwadi).

Key Facts

Corridor-1 will be covering length of 16.589 km of which h11.57 km elevated and 5.019 km underground. Corriodor-2 will be covering 14.665 km and will be fully elevated.

The project is scheduled to be completed in five years from the date of start of work as per the Detailed Project Report (DPR).

The Project will be implemented by Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MAHA-METRO). The total completion cost of the metro rail corridor will be Rs.11,420 crore.

MAHA-METRO will be a 50:50 jointly owned company of Union Government and Maharashtra Government.

The project will be covered under the legal framework of the Metro Railways (Operation and Maintenance) Act, 2002; the Metro Railways (Construction of Works) Act, 1978; and the Railways Act, 1989.

Comment

The metro corridor will benefit approximately 50 lakh population of Pune Metropolitan Area. It will provide much needed connectivity to the commuters to traverse through some of the densest and traffic congested routes of the city. It will considerably reduce the traffic congestion and will bring in fast, safe, comfortable, pollution-free and affordable mass transportation system in the city.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2016

Category: Places in News Current Affairs

Topics: Cabinet Decisions  National  Places in News  Public Transportation  Pune Metro

Latest E-Books
Subscriber content preview

Kenneth Hatzenbeller was indicted for making false statements about restaurants in Idaho and Washington.



GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP)  The former president of a regional restaurant group has denied four federal charges including allegations that he made fraudulent statements in applying for $1.1 million in loans for the struggling business.

Kenneth Hatzenbeller of Great Falls pleaded not guilty on Nov. 29 to two counts of bank fraud, one count of money laundering and one count of false oath in a bankruptcy proceeding. His trial is set for Feb. 6 before U.S. District Judge Brian Morris in Great Falls.





. . .
Subscriber content preview

A contractor who renovated Sam Walton's Arkansas store in 1960s kept the doors in his garage for many years.



BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP)  Two doors from the first store owned by Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton have been donated to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington and The Walmart Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas.

The doors from Walton's first shop, opened in 1945 in Newport, Arkansas, were stored for years by Ivy Brother Construction co-owner Gene Ivy, who renovated the store in the 1960s, according to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.





. . .
Iran signs agreement with Royal Dutch Shell to evaluate three oil, gas fields

Iran yesterday signed an agreement with Royal Dutch Shell to assess three of its largest oil and gas fields. Shell will evaluate the Azadegan and Yadavaran oil fields near the Iraqi border, and the Kish gas deposit in the Persian Gulf, according to Gholam-Reza Manouchehri, deputy director of the National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC).

''We're happy to resume working in Iran,'' Hans Nijkamp, Shell's vice president for Iran, said at the ceremony, Bloomberg reported. ''We are hoping to have a fruitful cooperation with NIOC on these fields.''

International oil companies had started re-establishing contact with Iran following the lifting of sanctions in January. However, no final contracts to develop oil fields had yet been signed. Meanwhile, Total SA concluded a non-binding $4.8-billion agreement to develop a natural gas field last month.

According to Homayoun Falakshahi, and industry analyst at Wood Mackenzie Ltd, who spoke to Bloomberg on phone from London, the fields were some of Iran's most attractive. ''If you had a look at the list of the three or four biggest fields to be awarded, you have three of them here.''

Netherlands-based Royal Dutch Shell was the largest energy company to venture back into Iran since sanctions were lifted after the implementation of a nuclear deal in January. According to commentators the move could signal the controversial deal would remain intact despite threats to renegotiate or scrap it by president-elect Donald Trump, who had called the deal, signed by six world powers in late 2015, a "disaster" and the "worst deal ever negotiated."


Russia sells 19.5-per cent stake in oil giant Rosneft

Russia said yesterday that it had sold a stake in oil giant Rosneft for 10.5 billion ($11.3 billion) to Qatar and commodities trader Glencore.

The deal for a 19.5-per cent stake in Rosneft from the Russian state-owned firm, suggested that the risk of sanctions imposed on Russia by the West, was weighing less with investors, according to commentators.

The deal comes days after Russia and OPEC agreed to coordinate output cuts to support oil prices, the first time they had acted in tandem in 15 years.

The state-owned company had kept the deal under wraps with the first word emerging when Russian president Vladimir Putin met Rosneft chief executive Igor Sechin last evening in Moscow.

"It is the largest privatisation deal, the largest sale and acquisition in the global oil and gas sector in 2016," Putin said in televised remarks from the meeting.

According to Sechin, the deal would see Glencore and Qatar's sovereign fund take equal shares of the 19.5 per cent stake in Rosneft, which was being sold by the government as part of a privatisation drive.

Rosneft had a market value of $59.17 billion, according to Reuters data.

According to commentators, the deal suggested that investors were reassessing the sanctions after the election of Donald Trump, who had advocated improving relations authorities in Moscow and was considering the chairman of Exxon Mobil, Rex W Tillerson, as a candidate for secretary of state.

The deal which would net Russia $11.3 billion would help Moscow narrow an increasing budget deficit, with Russia fighting two wars, in Syria and Ukraine, they added.

The agreement comes as surprise twist in the privatisation of Rosneft, with the end of the year deadline looming, no buyers coming forward for the 19.5 per cent share in the world's largest publicly traded oil company, as measured by production and reserves.
Germany's Merkel vows to ban full-face veil, curb refugee influx

As German Chancellor Angela Merkel launched into election campaign mode on Tuesday, she seemed to bow to the populism that is sweeping the world by setting down a tough line on integration - including a ban on the full-face veil - and vowing there would be no repeat of last year's record refugee arrivals.

Outlining a strategy to counter the populism that has consumed key allies abroad and lashing those seeking to exploit Germany's refugee influx, Merkel stressed it was legitimate for Germany to expect newcomers to integrate, and this included a rejection of the niqab full-face veil.

"The full veil must be banned wherever it is legally possible," she told the annual gathering of her centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), urging them to back her bid for a fourth term.

Merkel was rewarded with a standing ovation that lasted more than 11 minutes as the majority of the 1,001 delegates present rallied behind her.

"She took on a new tone, she signalled that in the future, refugee and immigration policies will be more restrictive," AFP quoted Wolfgang Reinhart from the south-western region of Baden-Wuerttemberg as saying.

But dissenters made their voices heard when delegates were asked to re-elect Merkel as chief for the next two years, as the congress gave her just 89.5 per cent - her second worst score, and the worst since she became chancellor in 2005.

Her lowest was in 2004, when she was approved by 88.4 per cent.

National media had suggested that a score below 90 per cent would be a slap in the face.

Merkel, who has led Germany for 11 years, last month confirmed she would run for a fourth term but acknowledged that the election would be "more difficult" than any other she has contested.

Merkel's CDU and its Bavarian sister party CSU sailed to a decisive win of 41.5 per cent at the last election in 2013 - its best result since national reunification in 1990, on the back of strong approval for her tough stance on austerity for debt-stricken EU nations.

Three years on, there are rumblings of discontent - even within her own party - following her September 2015 decision to admit refugees fleeing war in mostly-Muslim nations, a move that deeply polarised Europe's biggest economy.

There have also been questions about whether the 62-year-old has fresh ideas to offer in a world upended by Brexit, the surprise election of Donald Trump and the departure of Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi following a crushing referendum defeat championed by populists.

The CDU has seen setbacks in five consecutive state polls as voters punished Merkel for her liberal refugee policy, with more than a million people seeking asylum in Germany since 2015.

Merkel reiterated that next year's poll will "not be a walk in the park" as Germany is deeply polarised, but urged the population to remain "sceptical about simple answers".

"Rarely is it the simple answers that bring progress to our country," she said, in a clear reference to the upstart anti-Islam and populist AfD, which Merkel had previously criticised as offering no solutions to problems.

Party members are particularly anxious to halt a haemorrhage of support to the AfD, which now enjoys around 12 per cent support, according to opinion polls. At the last general election it fell short of the five-per cent threshold to ensure representation.


Thomas Pringle, independent TD, has called on Transport Infrastructure Ireland to approve for tender the five-kilometre stretch along the N56 from Mountcharles to Inver Bridge so that works can commence.

The scheme entails an upgrade for this stretch of road starting from the Mountcharles bypass and up to the Inver Bridge, with 50 per cent online/offline improvement so that half will be completely new road while the other will be upgraded.

Deputy Pringle said the scheme was ready for tender but urgently needs to be signed off by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), formerly the National Roads Authority.

Its been years since the compulsory purchase was made and now that the design process is completed theres really no excuse for any further delays, he said.

Funding was a major issue in the past but now that the upgrade of the road was approved as part of the Governments Capital Investment programme announced last year, theres no reason why the tendering process cant begin now," Deputy Pringle said. Considering that its taken years for the process to move along, the condition of that stretch of N56 is worsening. Works need to commence to prevent further degrading of the road.

This project is really needed. Its been proven that upgrading this stretch of N56 will improve journey times to the port of Killybegs and improving access to the port there. An upgrade would benefit the many towns serviced by this road infrastructure," Deputy Pringle said, calling on TII "to sign off on the tendering process without delay.
        : 30        ; 7    
A Sellafield accident would pose no immediate health risk but strong food controls would be necessary, says the EPA.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has today published a report on the potential radiological impact of a severe accident at the Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessing plant. While previous studies showed that the likelihood of a severe accident at Sellafield is low, the accident scenarios studied were those identified as having the greatest potential to have an impact on Ireland. This report complements the recently published ESRI report into the significant economic consequences of such an event.

The study assessed the potential exposure to radiation for people and contamination of the environment for a year following an accident. For each of the worst case scenarios considered, the predicted radiation doses were found to be below the levels which would require measures such as sheltering, relocation or evacuation of people. However, without appropriate food controls, significant radiation doses could be incurred in the year following the accident through the consumption of contaminated foods. Irelands National Emergency Plan for Nuclear Accidents provides for the introduction of food controls and on-farm measures, to reduce radiation doses from this pathway and ensure food for sale is safe to eat. This study again highlights the importance of the introduction of effective food controls as envisaged in the National Emergency Plan for Nuclear Accidents.

This report concludes that severe radiological effects in Ireland are unlikely as a result of an accident at the Sellafield reprocessing plant, but food controls would be a key priority in order to protect the public, said Dr Ciara McMahon, Programme Manager in the EPAs Office of Radiological Protection.

She continued,



This assessment was carried out as part of EPAs role to advise the Government and the public on radiation risks. It is an important piece of research as it allows us focus emergency arrangements on the actual risks we could face in the event of a severe accident at Sellafield.

This work studied in depth the consequences of the most severe accidents that were identified in the Sellafield risk assessment combined with weather conditions that carried the radioactive plume across Ireland with rain depositing material on the ground.

While protective actions have been shown to be very effective in ensuring food for sale is safe to consume, and hence controlling radiation doses to people, they do have significant socio-economic implications and costs.
Yes, you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 5 days to transfer the domain.

Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred.

For transfer instructions to GoDaddy, please click here.
Over the last eight years, the United States has lost credibility with its allies, failed to deter her enemies and seen the security of American families suffer in an increasingly dangerous world. More often than not the cause were actions or inactions taken by the Obama administration through their inability to stand with our friends or take a stand against regimes that want to inflict harm against the United States. As we close the chapter on the failure of President Obamas last 8 years and ready for new leadership, there are already positive signs about the direction President Elect Trump will take our National Security.

His choice for CIA Director, Mike Pompeo, a Congressman and colleague of mine from Kansas has received strong bipartisan support because of his extensive defense background with real firsthand experience and knowledge of the issues and threats we are facing. Pompeo graduated first in his class at West Point and even patrolled the Berlin Wall during his service. In Congress Pompeo serves on the House Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Select Benghazi Committee; charged with uncovering the truth behind the terrorist attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Libya.

President-elect Trump has also named Lt. General Michael Flynn to be his National Security Advisor and 4-Star General James Mattis to be the Secretary of Defense. These gentlemen have had distinguished military careers and been recognized for their intellect, strategic thinking, and experience with combat operations. Their knowledge and expertise will help guide the President-elect and our country as we prepare and plan to keep our citizens and soldiers safe both home and abroad, while always putting America first.

While Mr. Trump has recruited some of the best and brightest military minds to his administration he is also nominating very skilled diplomats, like South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as ambassador to the United Nations. Haley will be responsible for working with our next Secretary of State to articulate American positions to our friends, to take strong lines against our enemies and will make providing for the security of American families a priority once again.

In addition to these strong appointments by the new Trump Administration, Congress passed legislation this week to improve our national security programs. The Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, provides support for national security programs that are critical to protect our country at a time when we face the most significant threat level since 9/11. The legislation allows the National Counterterrorism Center to better track and report on the emergence and movements of any terrorist network and also increases scrutiny of activities of countries like Russia. Cyber warfare and secret cyber intelligence-gathering operations by the Russians pose a major threat to America, a danger that President Obama and his administration have failed to highlight.

With strong leaders like Mike Pompeo, Michael Flynn, James Mattis and Nikki Haley who are dedicated to Americas success, I am confident the United States will return to its place as world leader and become a safer place. I look forward to working with all of them to take strong stances against countries like North Korea and Iran and wipe groups like ISIS from the face of the earth. The last eight years have taught us that trying to lead from behind is simply not leading at all and only allows others to chart a course we are destined to follow, fortunately it looks like we are on our way to putting America first once again.
State regulators are holding hearings in eight Missouri counties this week and next week to hear from citizens regarding the proposed Grain Belt Express project, a high-voltage, direct current transmission line. If it seems like deja vu, thats because this is the second time in as many years that Clean Line Energy, the company proposing to build the transmission line, has tried to get it through.

Clean Line Energy wants the Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC) to approve the power of eminent domain for this project. The commission rejected their request the first time. Clean Line Energy is a consortium of private investors based in Texas. They want to sell electricity generated by Kansas wind farms to East Coast buyers. With eminent domain power, the company could condemn property in order to force landowners across the state to sign over easements regardless of how landowners use of their property would be affected. Condemnation of private property under eminent domain statutes is a drastic measure used only as a last resort to provide necessary services, such as roads, schools and utilities that serve the public. In contrast, the Grain Belt Express project is a private marketing venture.

This year the first American off-shore wind power plants were built off the coast of Rhode Island. More are in the works along the eastern seaboard. Clearly Missouri landowners do not have to give up their rights so East Coast ratepayers can have wind power.

The hearings underway will provide an opportunity for public input as the PSC reviews the project again. Early next year, the review process will continue with attorneys representing proponents and opponents, including Farm Bureau, filing legal briefs and presenting testimony.

Farm Bureau and hundreds of affected landowners are among those urging the commission not to change course.
NEW INFORMATION 10:51 A.M.:

St. Francois County Sheriff Dan Bullock reported that on Wednesday law enforcement in Jefferson City, sighted the white pickup truck believed to be the one used by the suspects involved in the shooting, axing and stabbing of a Leadwood man on Tuesday.

A pursuit began, but was ended due to bad weather before the pickup was stopped. The suspects are still being sought.

ORIGINAL STORY:

The St. Francois County Sheriffs Department is asking for the publics assistance in the search for a man and woman suspected in the early Tuesday morning stabbing, shooting and axing of a Leadwood man.

The assault took part at the victim's home at 221 Fifth St. where all three lived together, along with the victim and female suspects four children.

Sheriff Dan Bullock said his office took over the case Tuesday night at the request of the Leadwood Police Department.

The suspects are Angela Laycock, 34, the wife of the critically injured victim, Silas Laycock, 43, and her boyfriend, Timothy Perkins, 37.

The assault included stabbing of the victim with a knife, striking him multiple times with an ax and shooting him with a shotgun, Bullock said. Its believed that the victim, the two suspects and the four children were all at the home at the time of the assault.

Laycock was transported by ambulance to a St. Louis hospital Tuesday afternoon after he drove himself to a Leadwood convenience store seeking help. Bullock reported that the man underwent surgery on Tuesday, but his condition as of press time was unknown.

According to Bullock, Leadwood Police Chief Will Dickey responded around 1:30 p.m. to a call from an individual at the Leadwood BP gas station and convenience store reporting that someone there had been shot and stabbed.

Upon his arrival, Dickey reportedly found Laycock laid over in the seat of a pickup truck and was told by the victim that his wife and her boyfriend had stabbed him and shot him.

Bullock said its believed that after attacking Laycock, the suspects  along with the four children  left the home in a white 2006 Chevrolet pickup truck, possibly with Montana plates, although the plates may have been removed. The license plate number on the vehicle is unknown.

Asked if any charges have been filed against the suspects, Bullock said, Right now we have a stop and hold out on this vehicle and these people and we want to talk to them before we go any further with that.

Although the sheriff said his department had no previous contact with the suspects, his deputies had spoken with several law enforcement agencies that have had prior dealings.

The pickup truck is thought to be occupied by the two suspects and the four children. The suspects may be armed with a .38 caliber handgun and a 20 gauge shotgun.

Bullock asked anyone spotting the vehicle to call the St. Francois County Sheriffs Department at 573-431-2777. The suspects should not be approached as they are considered to be armed and dangerous.

The Daily Journal will continue updating the story as new details become available.
PRESS RELEASE

Statement by European Commission and European Central Bank staff following the Fifth Post-Programme Surveillance mission to Portugal

Staff from the European Commission and from the European Central Bank visited Portugal from 29 November to 7 December to conduct the fifth post-programme surveillance (PPS) mission. This visit also served as specific monitoring by the European Commission in the framework of the EU Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure. The mission was coordinated with the IMF's fifth post-program monitoring mission. Staff from the European Stability Mechanism also participated in the mission on aspects related to its Early Warning System.

The Portuguese economy continues its moderate recovery since the end of the adjustment programme in June 2014. Despite some positive developments, the recovery continues to be held back by elevated levels of debt in the private and public sector, high non-performing loans and rigidities in product and labour markets. In line with the Portuguese authorities commitments to fiscal consolidation, continued efforts to ensure sustainable debt reduction remain necessary. The pursuit of prudent fiscal policy and ambitious growth-enhancing reforms is key to improving Portugal's potential growth and its resilience to shocks, in particular amidst volatile sovereign yields and high financing needs in the medium term.

Macroeconomic growth in 2016 has been overall subdued. Economic activity in the third quarter was strong due to exceptionally buoyant net exports, only partly offsetting the weak developments in the first half of 2016. Growth for the first nine months of 2016 amounts to 1.1% of GDP and annual growth is projected to end up lower than initially forecast in early 2016. So far, private consumption has been the main driver for growth while investment remains subdued, although in the third quarter investment in machinery and equipment rebounded. A sustained strengthening of the recovery would depend on a continued positive external environment, including tourism, as well as on strong domestic demand, in particular stemming from business investment and from an increased absorption of EU structural funds.

Since the last PPS mission, the authorities took effective action in the form of a freeze in intermediate consumption in order to correct the excessive deficit in 2016, following the 8 August decision by the Council of the European Union. The authorities now expect to close the year with a deficit of 2.4% of GDP. The mission projects a final deficit somewhat higher than that, but still appreciably below 3%. On 29 November, the budget for 2017 was approved by Parliament. It shows only minor changes to the Draft Budgetary Plan which had been assessed by the European Commission as at risk of significant deviation from the adjustment effort required under the preventive arm of the Stability and Growth Pact. The risks seem contained if the budget is implemented as planned. The very high level of public debt and the associated high interest payments call for a clear consolidation strategy for the short and medium term. In particular, there is scope to enhance the efficiency of public spending in Portugal.

The Portuguese banking sector continues to be weighed down by low profitability, thin capital buffers as well as high and still increasing ratios of non-performing loans. In this context, continued efforts by banks to improve their soundness indicators as well as governance mechanisms are essential. Banks are actively looking for ways to strengthen their capital base and reduce costs through various measures. A more ambitious approach to enhance the tax, legal and judicial framework for corporate debt reduction and improved access to non-bank financing would help to strengthen the resilience of the financial sector. Some measures have already been taken; however, a comprehensive and targeted approach is still to be designed and implemented. The mission urges the authorities to decisively move forward on this matter by establishing an ambitious timeline with clear objectives.

Recent developments in the labour market are positive. This is evidenced by a decline in the unemployment rate and increases in job creation and in the labour force. The authorities aim to improve the effectiveness of public employment services, which is important as the share of long-term unemployed remains high. It is important to ensure an efficient working of the labour market by keeping successful measures in place. The main challenges are to tackle labour market segmentation more effectively through increased incentives to offer permanent jobs and to ensure that increases in the minimum wage take into account productivity growth and their impact on the overall wage structure.

Increasing potential growth and competitiveness remain central tasks for economic policy. This calls for further measures to increase the skills level in the economy and to tackle rigidities in product markets. As regards network industries, this includes more forceful measures to reduce the energy tariff debt. Renegotiations of port concessions have started again, and it is essential to ensure that these will actually translate into reduced costs for port users. The mission acknowledged the authorities' efforts to continue improving the business environment and to help the economy to become more attractive for investors. Nevertheless, policy gaps persist, in particular in the judicial system, that hamper a more flexible and efficient allocation of resources.

Overall, the mission recalled the need for a sustainable improvement of growth conditions, implying a consolidation strategy, a comprehensive approach to reduce corporate debt and weaknesses in the financial sector as well as a clear plan to boost potential growth and competitiveness. To underpin recognisable positive trends, it remains important to tackle internal risks, also to increase resilience and reduce vulnerabilities to adverse external developments.

The mission would like to thank the Portuguese authorities and the IMF for their constructive and open discussions.
The next decisive battles for the soul of the country will take place in Michigan and Ohio, again

One big reason Republicans want to wait three years before actually passing an Obamacare replacement is that they have a real chance of putting together a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate come 2018. That and they no motherpupping idea how to replace Obamacare.

To make this wet dream come true, the GOP will have to take out two of the best incumbents in the upper house  Debbie Stabenow and Sherrod Brown.

And thats the plan.

A new group that may be lead by Trumps Anne Sullivan  Kellyanne Conway  is planning on targeting 10 vulnerable senators, including Michigans Debbie Stabenow, pressuring them to support the new presidents appointments and agenda.

The Trump group could potentially target each senator by mobilizing followers to call their offices or target the lawmakers on Twitter, Facebook and other social-media platforms, the Washington Post reports. Hand-picked leaders in each of the counties Trump won across the country could also apply more direct pressure by calling state or district offices.

All of this is just building up a case and movement for the 2018 elections.

Michigan hasnt sent a Republican to the U.S. Senate since 1994. Trumps narrow victory in the state should give them some new hope, though he was blown over the finish line with the help of the cool breeze of 5 percent of state voters picking a third-party candidate or not voting in the presidential race at all.

So Senator Stabenow begins 2017 on a balance beam.

She cant write off the 2,279,543 Michiganders who voted for Trump yet she also has to represent her 2,268,839 constituents who voted for Clinton, whom she backed and aligned with on nearly every issue.

The success of the strategy she chooses will tell us a lot about Democrats hopes for competing in the state in 2020 or whether a better path to 270 lies in more diverse states like Arizona, North Carolina and Georgia.

As we learned in our interview with Rep. Debbie Dingell last month, state Democrats will likely feel obliged to work with Trump on at least one issue  trade. Even the United Automobile Workers have backed Trumps call to renegotiate NAFTA, despit its being obvious that the new presidents agenda includes decimating whats left of the labor movement.

On the day after the election, Senator Stabenow told CNN that she would work with Trump if he would embrace her Bring Jobs Home Act. And if Trumps grandstanding on outsourcing is backed by some decent legislation, shell likely back it  possibly even bigly.

But if he wants to just divide people in our country or keep the system rigged for the wealthy and the well-connected, count us out, she told NPR.

Given Trumps win, Stabenow will likely not be blessed with a hapless opponent, as Senator Gary Peters was with Terri Lynn Land in 2014.

Youll know Stabenow isnt a top-tier target if Republicans end up with placeholder-type nominees like former House Speaker Jase Bolger (R-Marshall) or Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof (R-West Olive), who Michigan voters couldnt pick out of a police lineup, Eclectablogger Susan J. Demas wrote.

If Stabenow is able to shake off a strong opponent, well be able to focus on Ohio, which could end up being the most interesting and expensive race in the nation.

When Josh Mandel lost to Senator Sherrod Brown by 6 points in 2012, he never stopped running. Its not even 2017 but Ohios boyish State Treasurer is already declared his intention take on Brown again in a 2018 rematch.

The Senate Conservative Fund and Marco Rubio have already endorsed him and hell likely be backed by the more than $30 million in outside spending he had on his side last time. But hell still be Josh Mandel  a transparently opportunistic boilerplate conservative who opposed the auto rescue and backs big cuts to future Medicare and Social Security beneficiaries, like you.

If Mandel survives the primary, hell face an incumbent with an authentic appeal to workers and progressives that makes him the Democrat most likely to survive an off-year election in a Midwestern state thats trending red.

The seat is crucial for the GOPs plans but defeating that seats occupant may be even more crucial for the party, which is why you may see a much more adept Republican than Mandel  possibly even Ohio governor John Kasich, whom conservatives may be trying to box out with their early Mandel endorsements  enter the race.

Because if Brown can win Ohio two years after Democrats lost the state by 8 percent, hed be a helluva position to take on Donald Trump in 2020.

[Photo of Senator Stabenow by the great Anne Savage.]
Blog Archive June 2021 (1) May 2021 (77) April 2021 (77) March 2021 (82) February 2021 (68) January 2021 (64) December 2020 (67) November 2020 (66) October 2020 (66) September 2020 (67) August 2020 (74) July 2020 (83) June 2020 (92) May 2020 (86) April 2020 (104) March 2020 (105) February 2020 (74) January 2020 (75) December 2019 (75) November 2019 (70) October 2019 (89) September 2019 (69) August 2019 (81) July 2019 (77) June 2019 (73) May 2019 (110) April 2019 (110) March 2019 (102) February 2019 (85) January 2019 (123) December 2018 (116) November 2018 (112) October 2018 (121) September 2018 (107) August 2018 (150) July 2018 (163) June 2018 (190) May 2018 (145) April 2018 (112) March 2018 (124) February 2018 (113) January 2018 (164) December 2017 (150) November 2017 (144) October 2017 (169) September 2017 (171) August 2017 (135) July 2017 (131) June 2017 (147) May 2017 (160) April 2017 (138) March 2017 (156) February 2017 (143) January 2017 (203) December 2016 (208) November 2016 (185) October 2016 (173) September 2016 (194) August 2016 (232) July 2016 (225) June 2016 (238) May 2016 (231) April 2016 (215) March 2016 (246) February 2016 (226) January 2016 (252) December 2015 (230) November 2015 (250) October 2015 (234) September 2015 (222) August 2015 (253) July 2015 (275) June 2015 (279) May 2015 (223) April 2015 (226) March 2015 (243) February 2015 (258) January 2015 (281) December 2014 (292) November 2014 (296) October 2014 (413) September 2014 (472) August 2014 (506) July 2014 (483) June 2014 (488) May 2014 (512) April 2014 (497) March 2014 (531) February 2014 (482) January 2014 (535) December 2013 (482) November 2013 (441) October 2013 (416) September 2013 (491) August 2013 (521) July 2013 (491) June 2013 (470) May 2013 (457) April 2013 (426) March 2013 (420) February 2013 (414) January 2013 (489) December 2012 (433) November 2012 (504) October 2012 (469) September 2012 (430) August 2012 (427) July 2012 (360) June 2012 (336) May 2012 (362) April 2012 (322) March 2012 (263) February 2012 (224) January 2012 (291) December 2011 (295) November 2011 (325) October 2011 (330) September 2011 (319) August 2011 (333) July 2011 (318) June 2011 (387) May 2011 (373) April 2011 (389) March 2011 (375) February 2011 (335) January 2011 (400) December 2010 (445) November 2010 (395) October 2010 (312) September 2010 (262) August 2010 (277) July 2010 (323) June 2010 (386) May 2010 (360) April 2010 (333) March 2010 (351) February 2010 (336) January 2010 (384) December 2009 (353) November 2009 (300) October 2009 (308) September 2009 (350) August 2009 (298) July 2009 (255) June 2009 (203) May 2009 (193) April 2009 (186) March 2009 (197) February 2009 (173) January 2009 (148) December 2008 (181) November 2008 (197) October 2008 (236) September 2008 (304) August 2008 (314) July 2008 (273) June 2008 (27) May 2008 (1) April 2008 (6) October 2007 (1) May 2007 (1) April 2007 (6) March 2007 (2) February 2007 (1) October 2006 (1) September 2006 (1) August 2006 (4) July 2006 (4) June 2006 (1) July 2005 (1) May 2005 (2) March 2005 (1) June 2004 (2) May 2004 (1) April 2004 (4) March 2004 (2) February 2004 (2) July 2003 (2) June 2003 (5)
Leonardo DiCaprio and Terry Tamminen, the CEO of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation (LDF), met with Donald Trump and his advisors including daughter Ivanka Trump on Wednesday at Trump Tower in New York to discuss how green jobs can revitalize the economy.

We presented the President-elect and his advisors with a frameworkwhich LDF developed in consultation with leading voices in the fields of economics and environmentalismthat details how to unleash a major economic revival across the United States that is centered on investments in sustainable infrastructure, Tamminen said in a statement to EcoWatch. Our conversation focused on how create millions of secure, American jobs in the construction and operation of commercial and residential clean, renewable energy generation.

Actor and environmental advocate Leonardo DiCaprio Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation

These programs are attainableand include energy efficiency upgrades that pay for themselves with savings, waste reduction projects that can turn every city into a source of new materials and fuels, and transportation projects that will support global trade while reducing traffic and air pollution and make America a leader in sustainable fuel and vehicle technologies, he added.

The meeting took place on the same day that Trump announced his controversial choice of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Trumps pick was met with unprecedented criticism by environmental and health organizations nationwide, who consider Pruitt a puppet of the fossil fuel industry. Pruitt, who believes the science behind climate change is unsettled and believes the EPAs regulations are a war on energy, has spearheaded numerous lawsuits against the Obama administration and the agency he will likely be heading.

Trump Picks Scott Pruitt, 'Puppet of the Fossil Fuel Industry,' to Head EPA https://t.co/qPkff6DtIS via @EcoWatch  EWG (@ewg) December 8, 2016

Pruitt falls in line with Trumps other cabinet nominees who have close ties to Big Energy and deny the overwhelming scientific consensus that human activity is causing climate change. The commander in chief to-be is a notorious climate change denialist himself who has made plans to exit the Paris climate accord, revitalize the coal industry and axe many of President Obamas environmental initiatives, including the historic Clean Power Plan that reduces emissions from power plans.

Although the president-elect will not be able to completely nix Obamas Clean Power Plan, having Pruittan experienced legal officeras EPA head can help substantially weaken, delay or slowly dismantle them, as the New York Times noted.

But Tamminen, who served as Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, said Trump was receptive during their meeting and a follow-up will take place next month.

Climate change is bigger than politics, and the disastrous effects on our planet and our civilization will continue regardless of what party holds majorities in Congress or occupies the White House, he said. The President-elect expressed his desire for a follow up meeting in January, and we look forward to continuing the conversation with the incoming administration as we work to stop the dangerous march of climate change, while putting millions of people to work at the same time.

DiCaprio is a prominent environmental advocate who said in October during a sit-down with President Obama and climate scientist Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, that If you do not believe in climate change you do not believe in facts or science or empirical truths, and therefore in my opinion, you should not be allowed to hold public office.

Well, we all know what happened on Nov. 8.

Perhaps DiCaprio is now using his clout to push the incoming administration towards a more sustainable economy. In one part of DiCaprios climate change documentary Before the Flood, the Oscar-winning actor toured the Tesla gigafactory in Nevada with founder and CEO Elon Musk, who is also a big proponent of green jobs.

If governments can set the rules in favor of sustainable energy, then we can get there really quickly, Musk told DiCaprio about transitioning the world to sustainable energy.

Trump recently said he had an open mind with regards to climate change science and policies although many environmentalists are skeptical.

Talk is cheap, and no one should believe Donald Trump means this until he acts upon it, Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, said.

Daughter Ivanka, however, is purportedly planning on using her new mantle to address climate change. Earlier this week, Trump and the future First Daughter met with former VP Al Gore at Trump Tower to discuss the topic.

I had a lengthy and very productive session with the president-elect, Gore said after the meeting. It was a sincere search for areas of common ground.

DiCaprio also reportedly gave the Trumps a copy of his climate change documentary at a recent meeting.
Missouris largest peach grower is suing

Monsanto over claims that dicamba drift caused widespread damage to the farms peach trees. This is Monsantos first lawsuit over the illegal spraying of the herbicide on its genetically modified (GMO) cotton and soy thats suspected of causing extensive damage to non-target crops across Americas farm belt.

Peach tree damaged by dicamba drift Kade McBroom

The lawsuit, Bader Farms, Inc., et al v. Monsanto Company, Case No. 16DU-CC00111, was filed in Dunklin County, Missouri on Nov. 23. Bill Bader of Bader Farms in Campbell, Missouri claims that more than 7,000 peach trees were damaged by the drift-prone and extremely volatile herbicide in 2015, amounting to $1.5 million in losses. This year, the farm said it lost more than 30,000 trees, with financial losses estimated in the millions.

The complaint accuses Monsanto of knowingly selling dicamba-tolerant cotton and soybean seeds to farmers before securing federal approval for the herbicide designed to go along with it. Bollgard II XtendFlex cotton was introduced in 2015 and Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans was introduced earlier this year. However, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency only

approved the corresponding herbicide, XtendiMax with VaporGrip Technology, last month.

Even though the biotech company warned growers against illegal dicamba use on the crops, many farmers allegedly sprayed older versions of dicamba on the crops anyway to stop weeds. However, while Monsantos crops are genetically engineered to tolerate sprays of dicamba, other crops cannot. And since dicamba is extremely prone to drift, it can be picked up by the wind and land on neighboring fields, crops and native plants. In the fall,

10 states reported horrific damage on thousands of acres of peaches, tomatoes, cantaloupes, watermelons, rice, cotton, peas, peanuts, alfalfa and soybeans.

.@EPA Approval of Monsanto's Dicamba Will 'Massively Increase Use of Toxic Pesticides' on GMO Crops https://t.co/AfYsMUFOyH @CenterForBioDiv  EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) November 10, 2016

Bader said in

August that 400-500 farmers in his region have been affected: If they dont get compensation 60 percent will be out of business in two years.

We need to go after Monsanto. These farmers are being hung out to dry, Bader added.

Baders lawsuit alleges that Monsanto chose to sell its Xtend cotton and soybean seeds knowing that such destructive spraying would be inevitable.

Monsanto chose to sell these seeds before they could be safely cultivated, Bev Randles of Randles & Splittgerber, the Kansas City, Missouri law firm representing Bader Farms, said in a statement. We believe it is against Monsantos own practice, not to mention industry standards, to release a seed without a corresponding herbicide to protect the crop from destruction. But Monsanto chose greed over public safety and made farms in Southeast Missouri and Northeast Arkansas unwilling test labs for their defective seed system.





The law firm expects similar lawsuits to follow. Our firm continues to be contacted to help farmers who have been harmed by Monsantos actions, Randles said. They are folks who have supported Monsanto by purchasing their products for years, only to have been betrayed in the end. We expect more farmers to file suit in the coming weeks.

In response, Monsanto said that the responsibility lies with the growers who illegally applied dicamba.

Both prior to and throughout the 2016 season, Monsanto took many steps to remind growers, dealers and applicators that dicamba was not approved for in-crop use at the time, and we do not condone the illegal use of any pesticide, the company said in a statement to

Brownfield. While we sympathize with those who have been impacted by farmers who chose to apply dicamba illegally, this lawsuit attempts to shift responsibility away from individuals who knowingly and intentionally broke state and federal law and harmed their neighbors in the process. Responsibility for these actions belongs to those individuals alone. We will defend ourselves accordingly.

Monsanto developed its Xtend system to address superweeds that have grown resistant to glyphosate, the main ingredient in the companys former bread-and-butter, Roundup. The firm expects to see 15 million Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybean acres and more than 3 million acres of Bollgard II XtendFlex cotton in 2017. According to AgWeb, the technology is also licensed to more than 100 additional brands. The company has invested more than $1 billion in a dicamba production facility in Luling, Louisiana, to meet the demand it predicts.

Critics, however, are worried about the herbicides potential threat to biodiversity, that it forces growers to switch to the Xtend system and that it only creates another round of superweeds. Dicamba-resistant weeds have already been found in

Kansas and Nebraska.

We cant spray our way out of this problem. We need to get off the pesticide treadmill, Dr. Nathan Donley with the Center for Biological Diversity said. Pesticide resistant superweeds are a serious threat to our farmers, and piling on more pesticides will just result in superweeds resistant to more pesticides. We cant fight evolutionits a losing strategy.
With its Arctic climate and desolate, rocky landscape, icy Greenland isnt a typical travel destination. That is precisely what drew award-winning explorer and photographer Paul Zizka to camp out on an ice cap and capture one of Greenlands natural phenomena, the Aurora Borealis, aka Northern Lights.

Ilulissat gave us the traditional green welcome tonight. Its so good to be back in Greenland! Paul Zizka

Another crazy night in Greenland, as the aurora pours down onto the ice giants below. Paul Zizka

According to NASA, all auroras are caused by energetic particlestypically electronsspeeding down into Earths atmosphere and colliding brilliantly with the atoms and molecules in the air. Although auroras can be spotted in an array of colors, pink and pale green lights are seen most often.

More than 80 percent of Greenland is covered by an ice cap that is almost two and a half miles thick, although it is melting 7 percent faster than previously thought. This remote nation is the worlds largest island and the superb air quality may also enhance its auroras.

Heads up! A self-portrait from Greenland. Paul Zizka

The Aurora dances above a winter wonderland during a spectacular night in Yellowknife, Canada. Paul Zizka

Zizka has said this job as a photographer requires a great deal of patience. Shooting the Northern Lights almost always means waiting for your moment of magic, he explained.

As an adventurer, Zizka is drawn to under-documented locales. Between balmy French Polynesia and back to his hometown of Banff, Canada, landscape photography has brought him around the world. From Greenland to northern Minnesota to the bitter cold of Northern Canada to Iceland, Zizka has followed the trail of the Northern Lights across multiple countries, with more to come in the future. He has trips planned to Antarctica and the Faroe Islands.

Exploring the shores of Iceland as we try to take in the indescribable scene unfolding before our eyes! Paul Zizka

Looking back to one of my most memorable nights spent in the Canadian mountains. Paul Zizka

On his website, Zizka states, I believe there is in all human beings a deep connection with the natural environment. In these times, however, that link is often obscured by the capitalistic, hectic, materialistic and anthropocentric nature of our societies. My hope is that through my photography people will rediscover the precious connection they can have with the wonders of our planet. 

To keep up with Zizka, you can read his blog or follow him on Instagram and Facebook .
For the third day in a row, air pollution blanketed Paris, which authorities called the worst bout for at least 10 years. The city imposed driving restrictions and made public transit free.

#Paris aujourd'hui. La preuve de la necessite de reduire la place de la voiture en centre-ville #pollution pic.twitter.com/R10Tdu4o2Y  Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) December 6, 2016

Unusually calm air failed to disperse vehicle emissions and particulates from wood fires, creating conditions that have veiled the Eiffel Tower in a gray haze.

Paris has instituted a system based on alternating odd or even license plate numbers to ban certain vehicles from city streets, effectively cutting traffic in half each day. This is just the fourth time in 20 years that Paris has taken this step, and the first time it has been in place for consecutive days.

Cars are poisoning the air, Paris city hall transport official Herve Levife told Reuters. We need to take preventive measures.

We want these bans to automatically take effect when the pollution exceeds a certain level, not have to negotiate them with the government each time, Levife added.

More than 1,700 drivers were issued tickets for violating the ban on Tuesday, which carries a fine of 35 Euros, or about $37.42. Hybrid and battery electric vehicles, as well as those carrying three or more passengers, are exempt.

All public transit was made free, putting a strain on commuter systems as crowds piled onto trains and buses. The citys bike-share system was also free to use.

Along with Paris, the French cities of Lyons and Villeurbanne were expected to impose similar measures.

Air quality index readings reached or exceeded 150 on Thursday, considered a critical level. Air Pollution in Paris: Real-time Air Quality Index Visual Map

Readings of particulate matter exceeded 80 micrograms per cubic meter. The European Union has set a maximum daily average of 50. Particulate matter, due to its small size, can be inhaled deeply into lungs. High exposure can cause asthma, lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, respiratory diseases, birth defects and premature death.

Beginning July 1, Paris banned all cars 20 years or older. Longer-term, Paris and three other citiesAthens, Madrid and Mexico Citywill ban diesel engines by 2025 as announced earlier this week. Diesels area major emitter of particulate matter pollution.

In March 2015, the air quality index in Paris briefly made it the worst polluted city in the world.
(Photo: Reuters / Thomas Peter)Activists carry placards during a protest against a proposed amendment of a German law about medically assisted suicide in front of the Reichstag building in Berlin November 29, 2012. The German parliament is due to debate on Thursday an amendment to paragraph 217 of the criminal code that deals with euthanasia, drawing criticism of activists, who say the proposed changes signify a concealed move towards legalising medically assisted suicide, a press release issued by the organisers of the protest said. The placards read: "Lonely," "Demented," "Suffering from eating disorders," "Ill."

The bishop of Chur in Switzerland has told priests not to allow those seeking assisted suicide the last rites.

Bishop Vitus Huonder made his comments in a pastoral message for Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, and his message comes at a time that the number of euthanasia deaths in Switzerland has risen by more than one third in 2015.

Huonder said, "The readiness of a suffering patient to commit suicide with help from a bystander places any priest in an impossible situation if called to administer sacraments," Premier News reports.

"Under such conditions, their reception is impossible - all a priest can do is offer a prayer of intercession and commend the dying to God's mercy."

The last rites are the final prayers and ministrations given to many Catholics when possible shortly before death.

Bishop Huonder notedthat the teaching of the Church is clear on euthanasia and that medical treatment should not "impair the natural process of dying."

"But from a Christian viewpoint, life and death are in God's hands - we do not decide about them for ourselves," he said, "suicide, like murder, contradicts the divine world order."

Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland and the German language national daily newspaper Neue Zurcher Zeitung reported that it has noticeably increased in recent years.

The newspaper cited 999 euthanasia deaths as legally recorded in 2015, up 35 percent from the previous year, reporting that a "change of values in society" has made the practice "a new normality."

"Medicine's modern possibilities have made us increasingly dependent, especially if no longer capable of judgment, on qualified persons in the last stage of our existence," said Bishop Huonder, who is also apostolic administrator of Zurich, Catholic News Service reported.

He said, "But from a Christian viewpoint, life and death are in God's hands - we do not decide about them for ourselves. Suicide, like murder, contradicts the divine world order."

Catholics account for some 38 per cent of Switzerland's 8.1 million inhabitants, with Protestants making up some 29 percent and other Christians making up for around 5.6 percent.
(Photo: REUTERS / Adnan Abidi)A man takes part in a religion conversion ceremony from Christianity to Hinduism at Hasayan town in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh August 29, 2014. Picture taken August 29, 2014.

The Indian government's decision to clamp down on Colorado-based Christian charity organization Compassion International has raised questions from American lawmakers belonging to both the Republican and Democratic parties.

Members of non-governmental organization appeared before a Congressional hearing to appeal before it to persuade India to change its policies on foreign funds of NGOs after it faces governmental accusations of converting people to Christianity.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is considered by many Indians to be a Hindu fundamentalist party.

Congressman Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee said, "It is my hope that by bringing attention to this issue, as were doing here today, the 145,000 children will not be tragically denied the services they desperately need, and that American families....can continue to send the $38 a month for food and education fees to the poorest of the poor."

Compassion's website defines its mission: "Our three Cs distinguish us. Christ Centered. Child Focused. Church Based," Z News reports.

Fund transfers to Compassion International in India were stalled after the Indian government made it mandatory for all NGOs to get permission before financially supporting local groups, The American Bazaar reported.

The action came after the authorities said they found that the NGO was using foreign funds for religious conversions.

In its plea to the Congressional members of the House of Foreign Affairs Committee, Compassion International said it will be forced to stop its India operations soon. This follows from the current severe policies proposed India's government, which has barred the transfer of funds to 580 partner organizations.

CI official Stephen Oakley told the Committee that the organization is willing to work with the Indian government to address concerns regarding conversions.

Compassion started operating in India operations in 1968 and over the last 48 years it has worked among children to break the cycle of poverty.

The U.S.-based NGO has made fund transfers worth $50 million a year in humanitarian aid to India, funding nearly sponsored children in some of Indian's most impoverished and remote regions.

It has a few hundreds of staff members and more than 580 child development centers in the country.

Compassion claims that its model of working is unique from other NGOs.

It works exclusively with local churches it sees best equipped to understand and meet the unique needs of children in their communities.

The reason the NGO does this is due to the moral and spiritual values that the worldwide church shares with those of Compassion and its donors.

Compassion has accused the Indian government of wrongly interpreting the functioning of the NGO.

It says the "government has wrongly accused Compassion of engaging in illegal conversions.
NEW INFO: Police sources say Katie Clover has been located and is safe.

Lt. Jeff Crites with the Farmington Police Department said the teen contacted the Farmington Police Department on Thursday night and spoke with a supervising officer.

"She called from another city and the officer asked her to make contact with that local police department to confirm face-to-face that she is alright, which she did," he said. "They were able to determine she was OK and not in any harm."

Contact was made with her family and friends once it was confirmed.

ORIGINAL STORY: A local police department is asking for the communitys help in locating a missing teenager.

Late Wednesday afternoon the Farmington Police Department asked on their Facebook page for information related to the location of Katie Clover, age 17.

According to the posting, Clover was reported missing on Tuesday, but was last seen around 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 4 in the Quarry Street area of Farmington  located between South Middle Street and KREI Boulevard.

Clover is described as 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighing 120 pounds with brown eyes and reddish brown hair. She was last seen wearing a yellow hoodie, jeans and cowboy boots.

The posting said the department has no information or evidence to suggest that Katie is in imminent danger or that there is any foul play suspected.

The department also made a plea to Clover saying it is important for her to know she is not in trouble with the police department if she reads the post or hears about it from a friend.

We just need to make sure you are safe and are where you want to be, the posting reads. We need for an officer to make face-to-face contact with you to ensure you are okay.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Farmington Police Department at 573-756-6686.
Country

Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Canada Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cuba, Republic of Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Dominican Republic Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Haiti, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Jamaica Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Mexico, United Mexican States Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu US Virgin Islands Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland United States Minor Outlying Islands United States of America Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
Ramsey social housing records largest deficit



Ramsey Town Hall

Social housing in Ramsey cost the Government more than any other area of the Island last year.

Figures revealed in a written answer in this week's sitting of the House of Keys showed a 1.1m deficiency was claimed by the Ramsey housing authority for the 2015-16 financial year.

3.5m was claimed by housing authorities across the Island, with Castletown, Malew and the Royal British Legion the only authorities not needing additional funds from the Department of Infrastructure.

However, Douglas's deficit dropped from 720,000 to just short of 350,000 last year, with the total bill coming in at over 700,000 less than in 2014-15.

Infrastructure Minister Ray Harmer revealed last week that he expects this year's public sector housing shortfall to be around 4.1m, resulting in the need for a 2% rise in rent from April next year.
Shareholders are advised that on 6 December 2016, Mara Delta, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Delta International Mauritius Limited, entered into a share sale and purchase agreement (Acquisition Agreement) with, inter alia, Sericea Holdings Limited (Sericea) and Transformers Investment Limited (Transformers) (collectively referred to as the Sellers), in terms of which Mara Delta will purchase 100% of the issued share capital of Gerania Limited (Gerania) (Sale Shares) held by the Sellers (Acquisition).

Gerania holds 99.9% of the issued ordinary share capital of Mall de Tete Limitada (Propco), which, in turn, has the right of use and development of a property in Tete, Mozambique (Land) on which the retail shopping centre, known as Mall de Tete (Mall de Tete), is located (collectively referred to as the Property).

Mall de Tete, which has been developed by McCormick Property Development (McCormick Property) officially opened on 1 December 2016. McCormick Property has pioneered the development of retail centres within the emerging market of South Africa since its inception in 1983 and more recently in Southern Africa. Mall de Tete is its 59th successfully completed development.

The remaining 0.1% of the issued ordinary share capital of Propco is owned by local minority shareholders who will dispose of their shareholding to Commotor Limitada, an indirectly whollyowned subsidiary of Mara Delta (Commotor), at a nominal price, upon conclusion of the Acquisition.

Commotor has advanced a loan in the amount of USD 575,300 to Propco on 4 August 2016, which loan plus accrued interest thereon is refundable or convertible upon conclusion of the Acquisition (Commotor Loan).

RATIONALE

The Property is in line with Mara Deltas investment strategy to acquire rural retail centres in under-serviced markets which meet the rigid investment criteria of strong counterparties, underpinned by long-term dollar-based leases.

The following salient points should be highlighted: a three year net rental income guarantee is in place from the Sellers for 100% of the gross lettable area (GLA); the Property will be the dominant retail offering in Tete and the surrounding region; 95% (by rental) of secured leases are indexed to the USD; the tax incentives associated with the investment enhance the dividend yield accretion in Mauritius; and

Mall de Tete will be managed by McCormick Propertys management division for an initial three year contract period. McCormick Property, who have significant insourcing experience, currently manage 27 shopping malls and centres within SADC totalling over 500,000 square meters of GLA and are well placed to provide a quality service to the Property and valuable support to the Mara Delta management team.

Tete is considered as a major hub for economic growth in Mozambique. The region is currently experiencing a significant economic boost after major international mining companies (including global giants Vale and Rio Tinto) have injected billions of USD into developing one of the worlds largest unexploited coking coal basins. The Japanese group Mitsui & Co. recently announced that it will contribute up to USD 450 million for 15% of Vales 95% stake in its Tete coal mine.

It has also been announced that Mitsui & Co. will also contribute USD 348 million for 50% of Vale's 70% stake in the Nacala Logistics Corridor and provide the Nacala Logistics Corridor project with a USD 165 million long-term loan. The project involves the construction and rehabilitation of 912km of railway from the Moatize coal mines in Tete province to the new coal terminal and deep-water port in Nacala.

In addition to the above, the Beira Rail Corridor freight route, which links Tete province to Beira Port is also currently being upgraded to accommodate increased coal production capacity.

Vale and Mitsui & Co. also have a minority investment in a power station project that will produce 300 MW of electricity using thermal coal from Vales Moatize mine in Tete. ACWA Power of Saudi Arabia is the majority shareholder with a 56.5% investment in the project. Construction is set to commence in the first half of 2017.

A major steel plant is planned for Tete province that will cost approximately USD 50 million and will produce 1.5 million tonnes of steel a year. Due to the enormous potential of this project and the large number of business opportunities that will follow, the government recently approved the creation of the Rovubue Industrial Free Zone in the Moatize and Chiuta districts. In addition to steel production, the project includes construction of a coal fired power station capable of generating 250 MW of electricity.

With the significant investments and expansion that are currently taking place, and future expected projects, economic growth prospects are robust for the province as a whole, but with specific benefits for Tete city as the hub.

EFFECTIVE DATE

Subject to the Conditions Precedent (as defined in paragraph 6 below) being fulfilled, the effective date of the Acquisition will be 1 December 2016 (Effective Date).

PURCHASE CONSIDERATION

The total purchase consideration due by Mara Delta to the Sellers in respect of the Acquisition amounts to USD 24,994,000 (Purchase Consideration), which shall be settled in the manner stated below  the Commotor Loan (including interest accrued thereon as at the Effective Date) will be converted to share capital in Propco on the Effective Date;

USD 12,497,000 will be settled in cash (Cash Payment), which will be applied as follows:

USD 4,500,000 will be used to settle a loan between Gerania and Nedbank Limited (acting through its Corporate and Investment Banking division) (Nedbank) including any interest and fees outstanding thereon; and

USD 7,997,000 will be used to settle loans to Sericea or a related entity of Sericea including any interest and fees outstanding thereon, the above Cash Payment will be settled from a new Bank of China debt facility entered into between Gerania and Bank of China, Johannesburg Branch with effect from the Effective Date, which has been facilitated by Mara Delta and secured through a Mara Delta guarantee; and

the balance of the Purchase Consideration of USD 11,906,077 will be settled, subject to the necessary approval and compliance with the listing rules of the Stock Exchange of Mauritius

Ltd (SEM) and the Listings Requirements of the JSE Limited (JSE), by the allotment and issue of 7,350,338 new Mara Delta ordinary shares (Mara Delta Shares) to the Sellers at an issue price of USD 1.6198 per Mara Delta Share (representing the current Mara Delta net asset value per share), in the following proportion: 788,683 Mara Delta Shares will be issued to Transformers; and 6,561,655 Mara Delta Shares will be issued to Sericea, with the Mara Delta Shares to be issued within 10 business days from the Effective Date, unless the parties agree otherwise.

PURCHASE PRICE ADJUSTMENT

The Sellers have agreed to adjust the Purchase Consideration should the basic rental income payable in terms of the final lease agreement between Propco and Shoprite (Shoprite Lease) reduce to less than USD 19.0/m2 (Shoprite Price Adjustment). The Shoprite Price Adjustment will place Mara Delta in the same position it would have been in had the basic rental income payable in terms of the Shoprite Lease remained at USD 19.0/m2.

The Sellers shall be jointly and severally liable for payment of the Shoprite Price Adjustment within 30 days of finalisation thereof, in proportion to their shareholding in Gerania immediately prior to the Effective Date.

The John McCormick Family Trust shall secure payment of the Shoprite Price Adjustment by providing a guarantee in favour of Mara Delta or a nominee of Mara Delta.

CONDITIONS PRECEDENT

The Acquisition is subject to the fulfilment of the remaining conditions precedent (Conditions Precedent), that  the Sellers providing the municipal tax certificate evidencing registration of the Property with the necessary tax department in Mozambique; the Sellers providing an updated real estate registrar office certificate concerning the Property and describing the buildings and infrastructure erected thereon; approval from the Central Bank of Mozambique to mortgage the Property in favour of a foreign lender; and

Nedbank have released the Sellers unconditionally from the pledge and cession that Nedbank has over the Sale Shares.

Unless the Conditions Precedent have been fulfilled or waived by not later than 15 December 2016 (or such later date as may be agreed in writing between the parties before the aforesaid date), then the Acquisition Agreement will cease to be of any further force.

WARRANTIES AND OTHER TERMS

The Acquisition Agreement contains representations and warranties by the Sellers in favour of Mara Delta that are standard for a transaction of this nature.

Mara Delta has granted the right to the Sellers to develop any future income-generating development on the Property, subject to a separate agreement being entered into by the parties and subject to certain conditions.

In terms of the Acquisition Agreement, the Sellers have guaranteed the projected net operating income for 100% of the GLA of the Property for a period of 3 years from the Effective Date (NOI) in favour of Mara Delta. The Parties have agreed that in the event that there is a shortfall between the projected NOI and the actual NOI (Shortfall), the Sellers will be jointly and severally liable for payment thereof and such payment will be secured by the Sellers as follows:

Sericea pledging and ceding 25% of its Mara Delta Shares; and Transformers pledging and ceding 100% of its Mara Delta Shares, in favour of Mara Delta in terms of a share pledge agreement to be concluded between the parties.

THE PROPERTY

Details of the Property are as follows 

Property Name and Address Geographical Location Sector GLA (m2 ) Weighted Average Gross Rental/m2 (USD)

Mall de Tete

Plot no. 1.190B located in the second Tete City, Mozambique Retail 11,571 17.81

phase plant, located at Bairro Chingodzi

Secured leases at Effective Date only.

Details regarding the Property, as at the anticipated Effective Date, are set out below 

Property Acquisition Yield Dividend Yield Attributable to Shareholders Weighted Average Escalation Weighted Average Lease Duration (years) Vacancy % by GLA

9.5%1 7.8%1 3.7%2 7.72 27.0%3

Based on the guaranteed projected net operating income.

Secured leases at Effective Date only. year net rental income guarantee in place on 100% of GLA.
Vivek Kumar has attempted (How Egalitarian Is Indian Sociology?, EPW, 18 June 2016) to demolish Indian sociology/social anthropology in one stroke by asserting that it has been dominated by the twice-born castes at all the levels from schools to colleges to universities and even classrooms. His allegation is that upper-caste sociologists have been indulging in this game to preserve and enhance their control on the discipline in every possible way. Such a view is not only erroneous, it is also biased and prejudiced. There are several factual errors in the article.

Let me take my own case in this regard. Kumar writes about domination at school sociology. He mentions my book Indian Society and me as the editor of the book; I am the author of the book, it was published in 1987 and not in 1986 as mentioned. The book was not edited by a committee but by a review group of 15 members, drawn from different universities and schools. One member belonged to the Other Backward Classes (s). In the second review group meeting, scholars of the stature of S C Dube and Yogendra Singh, and a scholar from a minority community participated. The book contains four chapters on Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) and the OBCs.
Nacogdoches, TX (75965)

Today

A shower or two around the area in the morning, then partly cloudy in the afternoon. High 82F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies during the evening will give way to cloudy skies overnight. Low 64F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.
The judgment of the Supreme Court in Extra Judicial Execution Victim Families Association Manipur (EEVFAM) and Another v Union of India and Another1 is an important milestone in the struggle of families of persons extrajudicially executed by the police and security forces in Manipur. On 8 July 2016, the Court held that armed forces cannot claim blanket immunity from prosecution, and that criminal proceedings can be instituted against armed forces personnel in cases of use of excessive force resulting in the death of any person.

EEVFAM, a registered trust of the mothers and widows of the victims, was formed when the victims united in their grief. Neena Ningombam, whose husband, Nongmaithem Michael, was murdered in 2008, in a killing later described as an encounter, recalls how EEVFAM was born: On 11 July 2009, some 30 of us got together, shared our stories and cried the whole day on each others shoulders (2012). EEVFAM was thus formed to reclaim mourning by a public display of their private, and often unrecognised, grief and to chart a way towards collective healing.
As Slovakias EU presidency is slowly coming to its end, Malta, who will take over the EUs helm in January, has announced its strategy to focus on social issues. Maltas anticipated shift towards social issues will mean a sharp departure from the agenda that the Central European country has had during the second half of this year. During the six months of Bratislavas first EU presidency, the country has faced criticism for its negative stance towards migration and procurement rules. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico even resorted to calling journalists dirty anti-Slovak prostitutes for bringing the attention to these allegations.

Malta, the tiny Mediterranean island, is also new to the presidency but its agenda for the upcoming half a year is rather unconventional compared to most previous presidencies. Vallettas priorities include, for example, LGBT rights and gender issues with the emphasis on getting more women into work. The tiny country has just made history by becoming the first EU country to ban gay conversion therapy whose aim is to cure people of their homosexuality.

The island country also wants to focus on migration and it has pledged to shift its attention to the implementation of the EUs notorious refugee quota program. The Maltese social agenda comes at a good time when the EU has seen a number of positive developments such as a decrease in youth unemployment  an EU-wide issue that Brussels has been addressing by taking a variety measures. Malta, whose population of 423,000 constitutes only 0.08 percent of the EUs population, has largely rejected Euroscepticism and decided to focus on social issues including civil liberties.
MUNICH, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

First patient enrolled in EMIT-AF/VTE study (NCT02950168), a European registry to

assess edoxaban management in patients undergoing medical procedures[1]

Daiichi Sankyo Europe GmbH (hereafter, Daiichi Sankyo) today announced that the first patient has been enrolled in the EMIT-AF/VTE (Edoxaban Management In diagnostic and Therapeutic procedures) study. This registry will collect real-world clinical data on the use of once-daily LIXIANA(R) (edoxaban) with regard to diagnostic and interventional procedures in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) or venous thromboembolism (VTE).[1]

Limited information is currently available regarding the use of edoxaban in patients undergoing medical procedures. Patients who are treated with non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs), such as edoxaban, undergo diagnostic and therapeutic procedures at a rate of 10% a year, and if the surgical interventions carry a bleeding risk, NOAC treatment must be temporarily discontinued. The EMIT-AF/VTE study will provide further insight into the use of edoxaban in patients undergoing diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.[1]

Patients will be enrolled from primary and secondary care settings, as well as other specialty settings. The primary objective of the study is to document the peri-procedural management of edoxaban and collect data on safety and other outcomes in these patients. The primary safety outcome is the rate of major bleeding (within 30 days post intervention) using the ISTH definition.[1]

"The EMIT-AF/VTE registry is part of the extensive clinical research programme undertaken for edoxaban," said Dr. Juan-Carlos Jaramillo, Head of Market Access and Medical Affairs at Daiichi Sankyo Europe GmbH. "This registry will provide important information that expands our knowledge on the use of edoxaban and will ensure healthcare professionals are equipped to achieve the best possible outcomes for NVAF and VTE patients undergoing medical procedures."

The EMIT-AF/VTE registry will comprise approximately 2,000 patients over the next two and a half years. Data will be collected from patients treated with edoxaban for 2,000 planned or unplanned procedures[1] across 500 sites, including hospitals and office-based sites, in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, and the UK. Daiichi Sankyo is also reviewing options to expand the EMIT-AF/VTE registry to clinical sites beyond Europe.

To access the latest news, media backgrounders, images, and videos please visit http://pressportal.lixiana.com. Please note that the press portal is not intended for UK media.

About EMIT-AF/VTE

EMIT-AF/VTE is a real-world, multinational, multicentre, prospective observational, non-interventional study. The registry will include data from NVAF and VTE patients until 2,000 procedures have been documented over a period of around two and a half years. The study is being conducted across seven European countries, and Daiichi Sankyo is evaluating the inclusion of additional countries, beyond Europe. The primary objective of EMIT-AF/VTE is to collect data on the usage pattern of edoxaban in the context of diagnostic or interventional procedures in unselected patients with NVAF or VTE. The primary safety outcome is the rate of major bleeding within 30 days post-procedure. Secondary objectives include assessing efficacy outcomes as a composite of major cardiovascular events and collecting details on the types of diagnostic or therapeutic procedures.[1]

About Edoxaban

Edoxaban is an oral, once-daily, direct factor Xa (pronounced "Ten A") inhibitor. Factor Xa is one of the key components in the coagulation cascade responsible for blood clotting. Inhibition of factor Xa reduces thrombin generation, prolongs clotting time and reduces the risk of thrombus formation.

Edoxaban is currently marketed in Japan, the U.S., Switzerland, the U.K., Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, South Korea, Taiwan, Italy, Spain, Hong Kong, Belgium and other European countries.

Edoxaban is approved in Europe for the prevention of stroke and systemic embolic events in adult patients with NVAF with one or more risk factors, such as congestive heart failure, hypertension, age greater than or equal to 75 years, diabetes mellitus, prior stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA) and for the treatment of DVT and PE and prevention of recurrent DVT and PE in adults.[2]

The edoxaban Summary of Product Characteristics can be viewed here: enlace

About Edoxaban Clinical Research Programme (ECRP)

Daiichi Sankyo is committed to expanding scientific knowledge about edoxaban, as demonstrated through our research programmes evaluating its use in a broad range of cardiovascular conditions, patient types and clinical settings in atrial fibrillation (AF) and venous thromboembolism (VTE). The edoxaban clinical research programme includes multiple RCTs (randomised, controlled trials), registries and non-interventional studies, with the goal of generating new clinical and real-world-data regarding its use in AF and VTE populations. Daiichi Sankyo expects that more than 100,000 patients will participate in the edoxaban clinical research programme, including completed, ongoing and future research.

The RCTs include:



- ENSURE-AF (EdoxabaN vs. warfarin in subjectS UndeRgoing cardiovErsion of Atrial

Fibrillation), in AF patients undergoing electrical cardioversion

- ENTRUST-AF PCI (EdoxabaN TReatment versUS VKA in paTients with AF undergoing PCI), in

AF patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention

- Hokusai-VTE Cancer (Edoxaban in Venous Thromboembolism Associated with Cancer), in

patients with cancer and an acute VTE event

- ELDERCARE-AF (Edoxaban Low-Dose for EldeR CARE AF patients), in elderly AF patients in

Japan

- ELIMINATE-AF (EvaLuatIon of edoxaban coMpared with VKA IN subjects undergoing cAThEter

ablation of non-valvular Atrial Fibrillation)

- ENVISAGE-TAVI AF (EdoxabaN Versus standard of care and theIr effectS on clinical

outcomes in pAtients havinG undergonE Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) -

Atrial Fibrillation)

In addition, global and regional registry studies will provide important real-world data about the use of edoxaban and other oral anticoagulants in everyday practice, and include:



- ETNA-AF (Edoxaban Treatment in routiNe clinical prActice in patients with non

valvular Atrial Fibrillation)

- ETNA-VTE (Edoxaban Treatment in routiNe clinical prActice in patients with Venous

ThromboEmbolism)

- EMIT-AF/VTE (Edoxaban Management In diagnostic and Therapeutic procedures-AF/VTE);

- Prolongation PREFER in AF (PREvention oF thromboembolic events - European Registry) in

patients with AF

- ANAFIE (All Nippon AF In Elderly) Registry in Japan

We are committed to adding to the scientific body of knowledge around edoxaban in a variety of AF and VTE patients, including those who are vulnerable.

Daiichi Sankyo Fights Thrombosis

(CONTINUA)
Among US President-elect Trumps campaign statements on international issues, his intention to renegotiate the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran (JCPOA)  qualified as the worst deal ever negotiated- is a cause of great concern. Trump did not specify the reasons for his hostility and, subsequent to his victory, he has not, for the time being, come back to this issue. But it is worth reflecting on the prospects when he does so.

The Iran deal is a major success story for the non-proliferation process. Through negotiations, without the use of force, it has prevented Iran from getting anywhere near a nuclear military capability, a goal the international community was unable to reach in the cases of the nuclear programs of India, Israel, Pakistan and the DPRK. Last years deal closed a dispute which had lasted for over a decade. The deal has become a key element in maintaining strategic stability in the region. Europe and the US, working hand in hand to accomplish the deal, strengthened transatlantic cooperation in the process.

Furthermore, as set out by Lord Hannay and Tom Pickering in a recent ELN joint article, the provisions of the JCPOA can serve as a model to address the never-resolved issue of how to deal with uranium enrichment and reprocessing in an international framework. Indeed, some of the Plan of Actions provisions (establishing a link between the production of enriched uranium and the countrys actual non-military requirements; keeping uranium stockpiles permanently low; discouraging reprocessing; re-exporting the spent fuel; enhancing verification) could become a general golden rule for dealing with uranium and plutonium world-wide (see ELN article of June 2 2015).

Since implementation day on 16 January 2016, the terms of the agreement have been respected by all sides. In its latest report, the IAEA certified that Iran has continued to abide by the Plans provisions and the Agency continues to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material and to judge that there are no undeclared nuclear materials or activities. The EU Council lifted all nuclear-related economic and financial EU sanctions against Iran. The United States issued equivalent guidelines with respect to the lifting of U.S. sanctions. Russia and China, the other members of the E3/EU+3 negotiating team, are also strongly committed to implemention and so is the overwhelming majority of UN member states.

Should the US back out of its commitment, the international community would enter unchartered territory. One can only speculate on the consequences. Some believe that this would automatically provoke the collapse of the whole deal. Others are of the opinion that the deal could survive even without US participation but would cause seriously divisive effects especially among western states.

Withdrawing from the JCPOA would not be easy. As recently indicated by EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, the deal is not a bilateral agreement between the US and Iran. It is a multilateral agreement that we have negotiated . The Plan is enshrined in Resolution 2231, unanimously adopted by UN Security Council, which must be implemented by all UN member states. A cancellation of this Resolution would not obtain the approval of the UNSC. Not abiding by its provisions would amount to a violation of a legally binding commitment which would be difficult to explain to domestic and international audiences and would be stigmatized world-wide. A renegotiation of the JCPOA would find no consensus. The rest of the world, including US allies, would refuse to abandon the political, economic and financial benefits of the JCPOA. The US would remain on its own in renouncing the advantages deriving from the deal, which others would be more than happy to grab. The export of passenger aircraft is only one of the benefits the US would lose to the advantage of its competitors. Unless Iran openly violates its part of the deal, introducing additional US national sanctions and secondary sanctions against countries and companies maintaining their trade with Iran, would provoke general uproar.

In a bold decision adopted a few days after the US elections, the Council of the European Union reiterated its resolute commitment to the JCPOA.and the commitment to support its full and effective implementation, including by the lifting of nuclear related economic and financial sanctions. It is clear from this statement that the EU has no intention of abandoning the JCPOA and wishes to maintain its dialogue with Teheran. This does not mean that all outstanding problems have been solved. The EU underlined its expectation for progress on other critical issues: human rights, the death penalty, missile programmes, equal rights, and regional responsibilities. To this list the EU should add the acknowledgement by Iran of the Israeli reality. However, the JCPOAs sole and most urgent priority is the nuclear issue. The other outstanding problems will continue to be pursued but cannot realistically all be resolved from one day to the next. The other problems cannot be a justification for not implementing the nuclear agreement.

Once in charge Trump and his team will have to confront a situation in Tehran that has changed since the populist Ahmedinejad was in charge. A new more moderate, in some cases American-educated, leadership is part of the ruling establishment and played a key role in achieving last years nuclear deal. There is no doubt that withdrawal or non-implementation of the JCPOA would pave the way for the return of the extreme conservatives in Teheran. Like the critics of the deal in the West, the opposition in Iran strongly counters the JCPOA. Should the arrangement collapse, the present moderate leadership in Teheran could be swept away and, with the radicals at the helm, there would be no legal way to counter a resumption of Irans previous nuclear program. This would re-open the option of additional sanctions, including the possible threat or use of force which, in turn, would allow Iran to invoke the withdrawal clause foreseen by Article 10 of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). We have witnessed this scary scenario on the Korean Peninsula. Three years after withdrawing from the NPT, the DPRK exploded its first nuclear weapon. This year, we witnessed its fifth nuclear test and probably the first steps towards the establishment of a rudimentary nuclear arsenal.

Europe must prevent a repetition of the Korean scenario in the Middle East. EU leaders must continue to support and implement the JCPOA and to strongly encourage the incoming US Administration to do the same.

The opinions articulated above represent the views of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Leadership Network or any of its members. The ELNs aim is to encourage debates that will help develop Europes capacity to address the pressing foreign, defence, and security challenges of our time.
Sometimes when our worldview is wrong, we miss important things. The Darwinian point of view in particular may lead to false assumptions. A doctor, Alan B. Richards, who teaches at the Health Sciences Center at Louisiana State University, writes to us with an example. He describes a part of the eye that many consider to be vestigial, that is, an evolutionary holdover from the past that now supposedly serves no function. He points out that viewing the tissue in question as vestigial can lead to serious mistakes. Because it actually serves a purpose, surgeons who are ignorant of that purpose can inadvertently cause damage.

Writes Dr. Richards:

Here are a couple of observations from the world of medicine regarding the dangers of a purely Darwinist approach.

I have read several sources about the plica semilunaris in the eye, and even among intelligent design advocates, no one seems to explain this misunderstood part of the body.

I am a pediatric ophthalmologist and I teach residents how to perform eye muscle surgery. The plica semilunaris is the curvilinear pinkish tissue in each persons eye nasally. According to neo-Darwinian advocates, the tissue is a useless holdover from evolution, a vestigial tissue of the nictitating membrane in other mammals. Residents, who are generally a bright bunch, routinely quote this truth to me each year. Thus, residents tend to be careless with this tissue unless taught properly.

When performing surgery for esotropia (crossed eyes), one must be very careful with the plica semilunaris. The tissue can easily be improperly attached too far temporally, as at the end of surgery the plica looks much like the normal conjunctiva that covers the eye (plica is modified conjunctiva).

I explain to the residents that the plica is needed to allow the eye to move outward or temporally, and sewing the plica in the wrong location can not only result in a dreadful red appearance to the eye, but the eye can be drawn inward.

In the first few years of my practice, I saw an unfortunate Vietnamese gentleman, who had immigrated to the USA during the upheaval in Southeast Asia (boat people). He had a benign growth on the nasal portion of his eyes (a pterygium). The operation to remove this lesion is usually straightforward, but whoever performed his surgery neglected the plica and sewed the plica semilunaris too far temporally, resulting in very crossed eyes and double vision. Understandably upset, I had to perform eye muscle surgery (strabismus surgery) to restore his vision to normal.

Since the residents may not consider me an authority on the subject of ocular anatomy, I give this this quote from Dr. Darlene A. Dartt, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School in Duanes Clinical Ophthalmology, a well respected standard text on all aspects of ophthalmology, the first comprehensive ophthalmology text in the USA. (Thomas Duane, the editor, was chairman of ophthalmology at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia, where I trained, the second-ranked ophthalmology program in the USA. Also, he was a former chairman of the American Medical Associations ophthalmology section and edited two standard reference works, Clinical Ophthalmology and The Biomedical Foundations of Ophthalmology.)

These words are from Chapter 2, The Conjunctiva-Structure and Function:

The plica semilunaris is a crescent-shaped fold of conjunctiva that is situated medially and conjoins the bulbar conjunctiva with the caruncle and lacrimal portion of the eyelids (Fig. 3). It is located in the superior fornix at the junction of extending downward, surrounding the limbus to end in the inferior fornix. It extends 3 to 6 mm laterally from the caruncle. The nictitating membrane present in some animals is the counterpart to the plica, and is a partial or complete third eyelid. Although humans do not have a nictitating membrane, occasionally smooth muscle fibers may be present that are innervated with sympathetic nerves. Goblet cells are present in the plica either singly or in clusters. In humans, the plica functions as the opposite of a fornix; that is, if the conjunctiva were to directly join the eyelids to the globe, the globe and eyelids would both be restricted in movement. The fornix provides for a fold of conjunctiva that may be extended or retracted as the globe moves. Extension occurs because of fibrous slips that connect the fornix to its extra ocular rectus muscle. As the muscle contracts, the globe rotates and the adjacent conjunctiva is retracted. This occurs above, laterally, and below the globe, but not medially, which would not allow the lacrimal puncta to drain the lacrimal lake. On abduction the plica tends to unfold and flatten, whereas on adduction it is drawn posteriorly and is unfolded by the fibrous slips that extend to the plica and caruncle from the medial rectus. While it never completely unfolds, extreme adduction of the plica causes it to form a true fornix. As this occurs, a small movement of the globe occurs as a result of the retraction of the medial canthal tendon. This keeps the lacrimal puncta properly positioned with the lacrimal lake. The puncta now dips into the lacrimal strip to allow continuous drainage despite the position of the globe. In addition, the plica helps to maintain the lacrimal lake in its proper position and location in the puncta.

The bold type and underlining are my emphasis: properly the nictitating membrane is the counterpart or analog to the plica; calling the plica vestigial ignores its function. (How does one prove an organ has no function, without very, very careful study?) While the plica is not as important as some other portions of the eye (e.g., the retina, the optic nerve), the structure still serves an important function.

Thus, a design approach (whether or not one accepts common ancestry, directed theistic evolution (highly recommend Evolution of Living Organisms by Pierre-P Grasse), or sudden or progressive creation) results in clearer thinking than the approach that man is a result of random accidents and full of useless organs.

Alan B. Richards, MD

Clinical Assistant Professor

LSU Health Sciences Center

Shreveport, LA
Yesterday, we considered the pre-Darwin views of the towering physicist, who lived from 1831 to 1879, thus straddling Charles Darwins own period of scientific activity and publishing. The Origin of Species appeared in 1859. In 1860, Maxwell returned to London for a professorship at Kings College, where he met Faraday. For the next decade, he devoted himself to his great work on undergirding Faradays empirical work with solid mathematical physics, climaxing in his 1873 Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. In the following years, he developed the Cavendish Laboratory for Cambridge University until his death from cancer at age 48.

His field being physics instead of biology, Maxwell may have been out of the loop somewhat in the Darwin controversy swirling about him, though he was certainly aware of it. It does not appear he engaged the Darwinians directly as did Lord Kelvin. Perhaps it was against his nature to be confrontational. References to Darwin by name are non-existent in his extant letters; the only reference is in a letter to him from his longtime friend Cecil J. Monro in 1871, where Monro refers with mild sarcasm to Darwin: I can easily believe, as Darwin would say, that before we were tidal ascidians we were a slimy sheet of cells floating on the surface of the sea (emphasis added). From the context, it appears they both shared this dismissive attitude about Darwins evolutionary views and his propensity for wild speculations.

Maxwell also criticized the theory of Pangenesis devised by Darwin. This shows in his Encyclopedia Britannica entry on Atom (see Campbell, pp. 280-281). The design inference he draws in this pre-DNA era is quite remarkable, presaging Thaxtons writings on configurational entropy:

Some of the exponents of this theory of heredity have attempted to elude the difficulty of placing a whole world of wonders within a body so small and so devoid of visible structure as a germ, by using the phrase structureless germs. Now, one material system can differ from another only in the configuration and motion which it has at a given instant. To explain differences of function and development of a germ without assuming differences of structure is therefore to admit that the properties of a germ are not those of a purely material system.

Maxwells best-known design argument from the period is his statement that molecules have the character of a manufactured article. He said this in September 1873 in his Discourse on Molecules to the British Association.

No theory of evolution can be formed to account for the similarity of molecules, for evolution necessarily implies continuous change, and the molecule is incapable of growth or decay, of generation or destruction. None of the processes of Nature, since the time when Nature began, have produced the slightest difference in the properties of any molecule. We are therefore unable to ascribe either the existence of the molecules or the identity of their properties to any of the causes which we call natural. On the other hand, the exact equality of each molecule to all others of the same kind gives it, as Sir John Herschel has well said, the essential character of a manufactured article, and precludes the idea of its being eternal and self-existent. Thus we have been led, along a strictly scientific path, very near to the point at which Science must stop,  not that Science is debarred from studying the internal mechanism of a molecule which she cannot take to pieces, any more than from investigating an organism which she cannot put together. But in tracing back the history of matter, Science is arrested when she assures herself, on the one hand, that the molecule has been made, and, on the other, that it has not been made by any of the processes we call natural.

When he says Science must stop, is he calling design a science stopper? No. Speaking from a time before subatomic physics, Maxwell envisions future scientific investigation of the internal mechanism of a molecule; that would be as legitimate as dissecting an organism, a scientific activity that had been engaged for centuries. Hes using a logical argument here that works today: you cant create a thing by intelligent design then say it appeared in the beginning by natural causes. Science only stops at trying to explain the origin of an eternal and self-existent entity. Nevertheless, as Stephen Meyer would say, we can make an inference to the best explanation by appealing to causes now in operation to explain phenomena whose origin we did not witness. Maxwell agrees:

Science is incompetent to reason upon the creation of matter itself out of nothing. We have reached the utmost limits of our thinking faculties when we have admitted that because matter cannot be eternal and self-existent it must have been created. It is only when we contemplate, not matter in itself, but the form in which it actually exists, that our mind finds something on which it can lay hold. That matter, as such, should have certain fundamental properties,  that it should exist in space and be capable of motion, that its motion should be persistent, and so on,  are truths which may, for anything we know, be of the kind which metaphysicians call necessary. We may use our knowledge of such truths for purposes of deduction, but we have no data for speculating as to their origin. But that there should be exactly so much matter and no more in every molecule of hydrogen is a fact of a very different order. We have here a particular distribution of matter  a collocation  to use the expression of Dr. Chalmers, of things which we have no difficulty in imagining to have been arranged otherwise.

These statements fit well with the fine-tuning arguments in cosmology. The properties of matter are contingent; they could have been otherwise, he says. The particular arrangement of the properties of molecules, and their fitness for function, distinguish them as manufactured articles.

Subsequent paragraphs show that Maxwell believes the designer is the Christian God, but that is not necessary to the logic of his design argument. Natural causes, as we know, are at work, which tend to modify, if they do not at length destroy, all the arrangements and dimensions of the earth and the whole solar system, he argues. Speaking as an authority on thermodynamics, he knows the laws of nature can modify or destroy order but not create it.

Three years after this discourse, in 1876, Maxwell elaborated on what he meant. In a reply to C. J. Ellicott, Lord Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, Maxwell mentions that Monro had criticized his argument about molecules in Nature, pointing out that one could draw a very different possible inference: that uniformity among manufactured articles is evidence of want of power in the manufacturer to adapt each article to its special use. Maxwell responds,

What I thought of was not so much that uniformity of result which is due to uniformity in the process of formation, as a uniformity intended and accomplished by the same wisdom and power of which uniformity, accuracy, symmetry, consistency, and continuity of plan are as important attributes as the contrivance of the special utility of each individual thing.

Monros criticism is theological; Maxwells is empirical. We see ID critics doing that in our day. Their argument is basically, It cant be designed because God wouldnt do it that way. Maxwell responds that the properties of things we know are designed (e.g., uniformity, accuracy, symmetry, consistency, and continuity of plan) allow us to make the same causal inference when we see those properties in things we did not observe coming into being.

Another design inference Maxwell made in this period concerns his famous thought experiment later dubbed Maxwells demon. Campbell recognizes in his description that such a demon would be contrary to the principle of dissipation of energy (i.e., natural law, the second law of thermodynamics), requiring that the law be circumvented by intelligence (p. 280). Last year we noted a real-world biological case of Maxwells Demon in the cells selection of left-handed amino acids. Such selection would be prohibitively improbable by natural law. As in the Maxwell case, we said, it doesnt have to be a living agent; it can be a robotic system able to separate out molecules against the laws of thermodynamics. That requires intelligence, else it would be unnatural.'

So far we detect significant prescience about intelligent design in Maxwells thought. He all but uses the phrase himself. Readers may wish to investigate essays from his mature years at Cambridge (1873-1878), reprinted by Campbell:

Does the progress of Physical Science tend to give any advantage to the opinion of Necessity (or Determinism) over that of the Contingency of Events and the Freedom of the Will? (1873), a discussion of metaphysical systems in relation to what science has discovered about physics.

On Modified Aspects of Pain (1876), an essay on pain and punishment.

Psychophysik (1878), a witty critique of various naturalistic theories of the self. It includes some mild sarcasm in reference to Evolutionists: I have now to confess that up to the present moment I have remained in ignorance of how I came to be, or, in the Spencerian language, how consciousness must arise. I was dimly aware that somewhere in the vast System of Philosophy this question had been settled, because the Evolutionists are all so calm about it; but in a hasty search for it I never suspected in how quiet and unostentatious a manner the origin of myself would be accounted for.

Maxwells views on intelligent design were also communicated in a most unusual way: through poetry. He was a chronic poet, distributing rhymes to his friends and colleagues throughout his life. Some were just for fun, but others are profound. We posted one of his most important anti-evolutionary poems earlier, Notes of the Presidents Address, in response to Tyndalls 1874 speech to the British Association calling for scientists to pursue the path of methodological naturalism (read it here). But there were others. Some require scholarly analysis to understand; see, for instance, Daniel Silvers article on Maxwells last poem, To Hermann Stoffkraft, Ph.D., A Paradoxical Ode After Shelley.

Out of the dozens of surviving poems reproduced by Campbell, here is one, letting the reader draw any applications to modern intelligent design theory. Since this was written in the same year as Tyndalls address, Maxwell probably intended a bit of levity directed against Tyndalls advocacy of methodological naturalism. (Note: British Asses is a nickname for members of the British Association. Red Lions was a club formed by Members of the British Association, to meet for relaxation after the graver labours of the day.)

MOLECULAR EVOLUTION.

Belfast, 1874. AT quite uncertain times and places,

The atoms left their heavenly path,

And by fortuitous embraces,

Engendered all that being hath.

And though they seem to cling together,

And form associations here,

Yet, soon or late, they burst their tether,

And through the depths of space career. So we who sat, oppressed with science,

As British asses, wise and grave,

Are now transformed to wild Red Lions,

As round our prey we ramp and rave.

Thus, by a swift metamorphosis,

Wisdom turns wit, and science joke,

Nonsense is incense to our noses,

For when Red Lions speak, they smoke. Hail, Nonsense! dry nurse of Red Lions,

From thee the wise their wisdom learn,

From thee they cull those truths of science,

Which into thee again they turn.

What combinations of ideas,

Nonsense alone can wisely form!

What sage has half the power that she has,

To take the towers of Truth by storm? Yield, then, ye rules of rigid reason!

Dissolve, thou too, too solid sense!

Melt into nonsense for a season,

Then in some nobler form condense.

Soon, all too soon, the chilly morning,

This flow of soul will crystallize,

Then those who Nonsense now are scorning,

May learn, too late, where wisdom lies.

Photo: Statue of James Clerk Maxwell, Edinburgh  Ad Meskens via Wikicommons.
NVIDIA, the AI computing company, has launched the NVIDIA Inception program in India, in recognition of the countrys potential for artificial intelligence innovation. Inception is a virtual incubator program to support start-ups with revolutionary ideas in AI. Members will receive a custom set of benefits, from hardware grants and marketing support to training with deep learning experts.

The Inception Program was launched in India at the inaugural NVIDIA Emerging Companies Summit India, part of the GPU Technology Conference (GTCx), aimed at bringing together the brightest minds and greatest ideas in GPU computing.

Such is the momentum around AI among Indian innovators that, at launch, the Inception Program already has close to 100 Indian start-ups as members.

The NVIDIA Emerging Companies Summit India, which was used as the platform for launching the NVIDIA Inception Program, is the only event in India aimed at start-ups specializing in artificial intelligence. The event brought together 12 visionary start-ups in AI, virtual reality, autonomous vehicles and robotics with leading tech investors, including Rajan Anandan, Vice President for South East Asia and India at Google. Healthcare start-up Qure.ai won the Social Innovation Award at the Emerging Companies Summit. The Best of Show award was presented to intelligent HR solutions start-up Edge Networks.

Vishal Dhupar, Managing Director - South Asia, NVIDIA said, Artificial Intelligence has gone from science fiction to reality thanks to a new computing model: graphics processing unit (GPU)-accelerated deep learning. We believe the next generation of breakthroughs in technology and business will be driven by the AI start-up community. Young Indias aspirations, ideas and potential are global in scale, and we are excited to amplify the imagination and intelligence of the countrys brightest minds through the Inception Program and the Emerging Companies Summit.

Inception provides innovative GPU start-ups with key support to help grow their businesses and bring revolutionary products to market faster. Custom benefits include access to:

The latest NVIDIA deep learning technologies - early access to the latest GPU hardware, as well as the NVIDIA Deep Learning SDK, the NVIDIA DIGITS deep learning GPU training System, the NVIDIA GPU Inference Engine and more. Deep learning expertise - access to NVIDIA's deep learning experts and world-class engineering teams, which include computational mathematicians who specialize in designing algorithms for GPU-accelerated computing platforms. NVIDIA's global network - customers, partners and suppliers and NVIDIA marketing reach. Technical training - online and in-person courses via the NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute. Funding - qualified companies may be eligible for funding through NVIDIA's GPU Ventures Program.

Read more news about (internet advertising India, internet advertising, advertising India, digital advertising India, media advertising India)
Hi, my first post on this forum.



I am a Chef with many years of experience and have worked in several different countries and positions, including Head Chef. With a working permit for Canada, will arrive soon, and am mainly targeting Toronto or Vancouver.



I am travelling at the moment, and have two possible dates of arrival, either the Friday before Christmas, or a month later in January.



If I came at the start of the Christmas and New Year period, would there be lots of Sous chef work available? I was thinking it might be a good time to get my foot in the door due to people taking time off.

Or should I just aim for late January?

Or perhaps early January just after NY?



Thanks for your help.
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Thursday, December 8, 2016

Introduction

After World War II America had emerged as the hegemonic power in the world. Hegemonic is the polite term, the academic term, for empire. Empire defines the need for large armed forces and high military spending. High military spending is the principal internal condition for the long-term self-destruction of empire. Empire Economics or Peace Economics are my trademark names for explaining the scientific political and mechanical processes that collectively unfold over time when high levels of military spending have caused the manufacturing decline, the rise of crime rates, and the political corruption of a declining empire society. I have called this paper "Total Warfare Politics" to begin to explain how the current dysfunctional political system in the United States is a direct function of increasing pressures from the forces of empire and militarism over time.

Political Corruption

Thanks to the weakened economy that results from high levels of military spending, conservative arguments are made stronger. Restraint in spending seems the logical answer to more limited resources. Military spending correlates well with crime murder and corruption rates. High military parts of the country are more corrupt than low military parts of the country. High military nations are more crime ridden than low military nations among the advanced economies. A prolonged state of high military spending empire tends to increase the political rigidity of the system. Constrained systems are prone to corruption and control.

Total Warfare Politics

Total warfare politics grows out of several traditions of militarism and has been taken to the extreme by the party closest to the military budget in its loyalties. Because of the concept of unconditional surrender, coming out of the Second World War, extremism began to be seen as patriotic. The nature of militarism, treating others as enemies, creates an atmosphere of depersonalization and lack of concern for others. All this makes it easier for those leaning towards criminality to take the next step. When you have less concern for others, it is easier to commit crimes against them. Wartime tactics of demonizing your enemy can then start to creep into more and more of the culture. With the rise of hate radio in the culture, especially so-called conservative radio, political opponents are ever more easily vilified, including demonizing the very concept of liberalism. When women, immigrants, blacks, Muslims, gays, and abortionists are all demonized routinely, by the far right, political disagreement has gone over the edge to the dark side. Starting with Barry Goldwater's states rights, and subsequent campaigns of the political right, dog whistles were the way to divide and conquer, but along came Trump who did away with the dog whistles and other political correctness to tell it like it is, as the right has come to see the world.

Balkanization of the Culture

Ever since Ronald Reagan abolished the equal time standard in 1987 for media that used the airwaves, we have moved into a more and more divided society. We can now choose the news we want to follow, reinforcing our beliefs. The internet has reinforced these tendencies. The production of fake news stories has made open lying more acceptable. Polls show that 74% believe the fake news compared to 83% who believe the mainstream news. Politifact, a nonpartisan group that evaluates political claims, found that 72% of Donald Trump claims were false, compared to 28% of Bernie Sanders claims, and 27% of Hillary Clinton claims. The other Republicans were all in between these extremes.

Current War on the Democrats

Although Goldwater and Nixon started things out with states rights and the Southern Strategy respectively, Reagan began the modern right wing movement. Reagan fired the striking PATCO aircraft controllers in 1981 that had supported him in his 1980 election. Reagan also stacked the labor regulatory institutions with people determined to destroy unions. Since unions were an important part of the Democratic Party election machinery, this was a direct attempt to disarm the Democrats politically. Likewise, the school choice movement was designed to diminish teachers unions and increase Republican contributors. Indeed, prison privatization and all privatization attempts are trying to eliminate funding for Democratic support groups and replace it with funding for Republican support groups. Voter ID laws and restrictions are direct attempts to stop more Democrats than Republicans from voting. Court cases have described some of these efforts as having surgical precision. These efforts all contributed to the rightward swing in the key Republican controlled swing states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Ohio and Florida. Only Virginia, controlled by Democrats, resisted this tide.

Supreme Court Sweep

Since 1969, for 47 years, the Supreme Court has become more conservative. This all out assault against the left wing began with in the Bush v Gore decision to install George Bush as president in 2000. The Citizens United decision of 2010 allowed unlimited campaign spending the year Republicans took control of most states just in time to redistrict and lock in their majorities for ten years. And the voting rights partial repeal in 2013 had lead to changes in voting laws that allowed Trump to carry the Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Ohio and Florida swing states. Redistricting was so extreme that Republican majorities are locked-in in congress and about 30 state legislatures until at least 2020. Fair play has gone out the window whenever the pendulum tries to swing back. Abuses under Clinton have gotten much worse under Obama. The concept of a presidential honeymoon has all but disappeared. The filibuster requiring a 60% vote in the Senate has gone from rare to routine to block Obama in congress. This extended to an unprecedented delay in filling the Supreme Court vacancy last February.

Conservatives Aren't Conservative Anymore

Conservatives are not the party of resistance to progress, they are determined to roll things back and destroy the Democratic Party at all costs. They have routinely added to the size of government and the deficit, by increasing the military far more than any domestic cuts and cutting taxes despite record deficits. Carter slowed the deficit, and then Clinton and Obama have lowered the deficit. Reagan tripled the deficit, quadrupled if you include the Bush term after Reagan. Bush doubled the deficit, tripled if you include the recession started by Bush that carried over into Obama's first year. Conservatives take the free ride of tax cuts without spending decreases, while Democrats try to be responsible and end up paying a price for their responsibility, getting little or not credit from the media for sacrificing.

Dynamics of the military presidency:

https://www.academia.edu/20604100/POLITICAL_Military_Presidency_1999_7p

Power Point of the Stages of Empire:

https://www.academia.edu/5415354/STAGES_of_EMPIRE_Twelve._15_ppt._3_p._2007
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Bexar County Probate Judge Kelly Cross issued an order for the arrest of embattled San Antonio attorney Todd Prins after he failed to appear for a court hearing today.

Prins was supposed to appear for a hearing on whether he should be held in contempt for disobeying a Sept. 28 order issued by Cross directing Prins to turn over $360,902 that is reportedly being held in his law firms trust account for a deceased clients estate. The check Prins originally sent the estate bounced in May, according to a court filing.

Prins was at risk of being jailed or fined if he had appeared in court.

Cross order marks the latest tumult for Prins. He filed for bankruptcy in September, was sued in October by former clients who alleged he fabricated court documents and forged judges signatures, and shut down his law office last month.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Craig Gargotta said at a Nov. 21 hearing that if Prins falsified court documents and judicial orders as he is accused, thats probably a crime. An FBI agent and federal prosecutor attended that hearing.

Representatives of the Bexar County district attorneys office were at todays hearing.

Prins would not address the allegations against him following a Tuesday bankruptcy proceeding.

Cross order directs authorities to deliver Prins to her courtroom. She previously ordered him to appear for todays contempt hearing. But the hearing on the contempt motion couldnt be heard without Prins being present.

Glenn Deadman, Prins lawyer, told Cross he didnt know of Prins whereabouts. Deadman has filed papers seeking to withdraw as Prins attorney, though the request hasnt been heard by the judge.

Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Carlos Solis, a former Bexar County prosecutor who also is representing Prins, didnt immediately return a request for comment.

The Prins Law Firm is reportedly holding in its trust account $362,092 that belongs to the estate of Jose Oleszcovski Wasserteil. Prins represented Oleszcovski, a Mexican resident, before his death in 2013.

During todays hearing, Cross indicated she would issue an order allowing the estates attorney, Michael Flume, to subpoena the Prin Law Firms bank records for the trust account in an effort to track down the money.

When Flume asked about the money during Tuesdays bankruptcy proceeding, Prins exercised his right not to incriminate himself. He would exercise that right more than 25 times during the proceeding.
Just a few weeks ago, Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress were talking about how Obamacares insurance markets were floundering, and how insurance companies were fleeing while prices were spiraling out of control.

The failure of those markets, they argued, was the reason the Affordable Care Act should be repealed.

Now, Republican leaders are considering a legislative effort to roll back major provisions of the health law, but the plan theyre considering would keep the current system in place for at least two and possibly three more years.

The nickname for the plan is repeal and delay, and the assumption underlying it is that the current system will be sustainable for as long as it takes Congress to pass and the White House to install a new health plan.

The plan might be better described as zombification. It is not at all clear that Republicans can easily time the expiration date of the Obamacare markets. Insurance experts say the resulting zombie market  not dead, but not alive either  would suffer from many of the maladies of the existing system, and quite a few more. The result on the books might look like the status quo, but millions of Americans could lose their insurance and others could pay much higher prices to keep their coverage.

Obamacare was devised as a market system rather than a government program like Medicare. Private insurers compete to offer health plans to customers who dont get insurance from their jobs or the government. It sets up rules and establishes federal subsidies to help encourage people to buy insurance. But it relies on the voluntary participation of insurance companies to function.

Theres nothing in the health law that forces insurance companies to sell insurance if they dont want to  as we learned this year, when several major carriers exited the market. And theres good reason to think that, with the death of the Affordable Care Act looming, many more companies would rethink their decision to sell policies in the zombie interval.

Why go through the hassle for something thats going away anyway? said Jon Kingsdale, who teaches at Boston University and is a director at the actuarial firm Wakely Consulting Group.

Kingsdale, a former insurance executive, said that insurance companies had tended to weigh the short-term pain of remaining in the Obamacare markets against their long-term hope that markets would stabilize, grow and prove profitable. That calculus would change in an instant if the law were repealed, he said.

This is the perfect excuse to get out, he said.

In an interview with The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel this week, Speaker Paul D. Ryan promised that the transition would ensure that no one is worse off. That promise could be as hard to keep as President Barack Obamas statement that, under the Affordable Care Act, if you like your health plan, you can keep it.

One important part of Obamacare would hold steady during the zombie period, however: The Medicaid expansion, now underway in a majority of states, does not rely on a private market for insurance companies. States would be able to continue offering coverage to poor Americans through Medicaid, even if Obamacares end were inevitable. Medicaid expansion is responsible for about half of the health laws recent reductions in the uninsured.

The Obamacare markets are a different beast. They were never as troubled as their most vociferous critics argued. Trump was fond of saying that prices were rising by 100 percent or more. That was true in 10 counties, but the typical increase was around 22 percent  high, but not stratospheric. Competition among insurance companies had diminished as many carriers had either failed or exited markets where they had lost money. But every place in the country had at least one insurer offering coverage. Enrollment in the markets was lower than forecast but was growing slowly.

But even the laws defenders acknowledged that the markets were rickety and vulnerable. Obama, in an article published in The Journal of the American Medical Association this summer, suggested major policy changes to backstop the markets. Hillary Clintons campaign included a laundry list of new programs meant to address the Affordable Care Acts recent troubles.

Those changes, which would have involved extensive new spending on the existing system and the entrance of a government-run backup insurer, sometimes called the public option, are now off the table.

More modest fixes might have a better chance of passing. As The Hill reported last week, some Republicans in Congress are discussing a package of smaller short-term changes that would make the Obamacare markets more appealing to insurance companies during the zombie period.

Christopher Condeluci, who was a Republican finance committee council when the Affordable Care Act passed and now runs a policy consulting business, said he had spoken with current staffers considering such options. Over the past few years, Republicans have resisted changes that would make Obamacare work better, but Condeluci said that the election had shifted the outlook.

Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot.

If theres disruption, even in a wait for repeal and replace, Republicans are going to look terrible, he said. And the Democrats are going to rightly blame them.

The package of sweeteners might include rules that make it harder for sick people to buy insurance in the middle of the year, and changes that would raise prices for older customers while lowering them for younger ones. Democrats in Congress might even vote for such a package in order to help the Obamacare markets survive.

But those fixes, long requested by insurance companies expecting an enduring Obamacare market, may not be enough once a repeal deadline looms. A repeal and delay approach means that even a propped-up market would exist for only a few more years.

For insurers that are losing money now as the market finds its legs and that are well established in other lines of business, there is less incentive to stick around. The motivation for health plans, particularly large, national for-profit companies, had always been that Obamacare was a long-term growth opportunity, worth some headaches and losses early on. With the programs end in sight, that hope would be gone, and insurers might balk at the effort required to change products and comply with new, more generous rules.

Marilyn Tavenner, the president of Americas Health Insurance Plans, a large insurer trade group, told The New York Times this week that the current law needed to be improved. Her group has not come out against a repeal and delay plan, but it has not guaranteed that insurers would stay put if one passed.

Things will probably stay stable through the end of next year. Insurance companies have signed contracts to offer health plans, and people have already signed up for them.

After that, the future may be less certain than the Republican plans nickname suggests. Exits might not happen everywhere, but just as the Obama administration has struggled to keep reluctant insurers in the market, there would be little the Trump administration could do to prevent further insurer flight.

The result could be bare patches around the country  places where no company is selling insurance, and where no one can get access to tax credits to buy it. That might look a lot more like a quick repeal plan than a carefully planned delay.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

SEATTLE - Starbucks plans to add 12,000 stores around the world, expand its high-end drinks and stores, and build on its mobile offerings  including being able to place orders by voice command or messaging - as part of the companys five-year plan to grow sales and profit.

The Seattle-based company presented a three-pronged approach to its next five years at a meeting in New York City with Wall Street investors Wednesday.

The overall approach had been outlined by the company before, but executives provided more details in Wednesday mornings presentation.

Starbucks chairman and CEO Howard Schultz, who last week announced he would be handing over the CEO reins to company president Kevin Johnson next spring, reassured investors that he would remain "deeply engaged" with the company.

"Im not leaving," he said. "I love this company. Its so personal to me."

Schultz reiterated that he would be leading the companys premium businesses, focusing on the design and development of its expansive, showpiece Roasteries and expansion of its Reserve retail stores, which sell and brew the companys small-lot premium coffees.

His, and the companys, focus on the high end of the coffee market does not indicate trouble with the traditional core Starbucks stores, he said. Sales at such stores in the U.S. that have been open at least a year  or comparable sales  had seen growth slow down earlier this year.

"I know some of you are concerned about the slowdown in U.S. comps which, candidly, I do not share," Schultz said. "Our core business has never been stronger in the U.S. and around the world."

The company aims to increase its sales by 10 percent and its earnings per share by 15 to 20 percent over the next five years. Its projecting mid-single digit growth in annual comparable sales  sales in stores open at least a year.

Its planned addition of 12,000 stores will bring the companys total store count to 37,000 by 2021.

In addition, the company, as previously announced, plans to open 20 to 30 Roasteries and 1,000 Reserve stores over time.

Starbucks opened its first Roastery in Seattle two years ago: a 15,000-square-foot showplace where the company roasts its small-lot premium Reserve coffee beans and where it features a Reserve bar, which employs five methods of brewing: manual, Clover, pour-over, French press and siphon.

The Seattle Roastery "is a runaway success any way we would measure it," with an average ticket four times larger than the typical Starbucks store, Schultz said.

The company plans to open its second Roastery, about twice the size of Seattles, in Shanghai next year, with others planned for Tokyo and New York in 2018, and a fifth at a location in Europe that the company plans to announce next year.

Its Reserve stores will be about 3,000 to 5,000 square feet, landing between the size of its traditional core stores and the Roasteries. Such stores will feature the Reserve bar and beans, as well as food from high-end Italian bakery firm Princi, which Starbucks invested in earlier this year. The first Reserve stores will open in Seattle and Chicago in the second half of next year.

Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot.

The company also plans to open standalone Princi stores in Seattle, New York and Chicago in late 2017 and early 2018.

The Princi partnership is part of Starbucks plan to elevate its food game. Food now represents 20 percent of the companys U.S. retail sales, Johnson said. But while its breakfast sandwich sales have grown strongly, its still looking to gain more customers for its lunch offerings, he said.

On the mobile front, Starbucks plans to roll out My Starbucks Barista, a feature on its app that will allow customers to place orders by voice command or messaging interface. The feature will be released in beta form to a limited number of iOS users starting in early 2017, with more iOS and Android users added later on, the company said in a news release.

The company has boosted use of its mobile app and has used its mobile app to increase business by tying its loyalty rewards system to use of the app. Currently, there are more than 12 million Starbucks Rewards members, up 18 percent year over year, the company said.

Of the 8 million mobile customers, one out of three use the apps mobile order-and-pay feature, which allows them to place an order and pay via the app, bypassing lines.

The company also reiterated its plans for growth in China, saying it currently operates 2,500 stores there and remains on track to open more than 5,000 stores there by 2021.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

AUSTIN  In a case with little direct precedent, the Supreme Court of Texas on Wednesday seemed keen on understanding both sides reasoning in a wrongful death case against the University of the Incarnate Word.

The family of 23-year-old Cameron Redus, a senior who was fatally shot by then-campus police officer Christopher Carter in an off-campus traffic stop in December 2013, has sued the university over his death. The university is seeking immunity for its police department as a governmental unit under the Texas Tort Claims Act because its officers are licensed by the state. The Redus family argues that as a private, Catholic university, UIW has no claim on protection as a public entity under the act.

In Wednesdays arguments before the high court, Amy Warr, an Austin attorney representing the university, said the state had granted the school sovereign power in allowing it to commission a department of peace officers licensed by the state.

Warr said that police officers, including those employed by universities, have the authority to maintain public safety and must adhere to regulations, including licensure by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. They also face the same dangers as regular police officers, Warr said, referencing last weeks attacks at Ohio State University.

Universities such as UIW are public in regard to their police forces, Warr argued, but she acknowledged that for other functions, private universities remain private.

Justice Jeffery Boyd indicated that Warrs argument seemed to be requiring the court to write immunity into the statute. When he asked her about that, she responded that those express words arent necessary. She pointed to a statute amended in 2007 that expanded the jurisdiction of private university police to cover areas off campus that are within the county. She said that change more clearly defined campus police as a governmental unit.

Boyd didnt seem to agree.

Im just not sure how granting that function or authority turns them into an agency of the government, he said.

Brent Perry, attorney for the Redus family, dismissed Warrs logic as primarily emotional.

It is the idea that peace officers are the ones that put themselves in harms way, Perry said. The peace officer is the one who had a weapon, and Cameron Redus is the one who was in harms way.

Perry said that merely being licensed by the state shouldnt grant the university immunity since many professionals are licensed by the state.

Justice Eva Guzman noted that security officers are licensed by the state but dont share the same authority as a peace officer.

Additionally, Perry said UIW has tried to claim both charitable and government immunity in the case, arguments he said were inconsistent with each other. No case law or statute expressly allows for a single part of a larger entity to be considered a public entity, Perry said.

Guzman asked Warr if any taxpayer money went toward the university. Warr said that while no public money is at risk, if the case moved forward schools might decide to disband their police departments, shifting the burden back onto local police agencies.

When Guzman asked Perry to respond to that argument, he called it a red herring. If that issue was key to the formation of campus police departments, he said, it would have been brought before the legislature for consideration.

Two lower courts have sided with the Redus family, ruling that the university has no claim on immunity from a lawsuit as a governmental entity. The high court will have the final say; its decision isnt expected until some time next year.

On Dec. 6, 2013, Carter, then a corporal with the university police force, said he began following Redus car for erratic driving in Alamo Heights. A struggle between the honors student and the officer, who claimed Redus wrested his baton away from him and charged at him with a raised fist, ended with Carter shooting Redus five times.

An autopsy later confirmed Redus had been driving drunk, his blood alcohol content almost twice the legal limit. In an audio recording of the altercation released last year by authorities, Carter tells Redus to stop resisting arrest dozens of times and warns the student he will shoot if he failed to comply. In an amended petition, attorneys for the Redus family disputed Carters version of events, identifying 10 discrepancies between the recording and previous statements made by the university.

Redus parents, Valerie and Mickey, filed the wrongful death suit in May 2014 after a Bexar County grand jury declined criminal charges against the officer. Carter, who resigned from the UIW force, was not included in Wednesdays appeal.

Redus father said it was a relief to have the Supreme Court hearing over with, but called the process taxing. The parents and their close friends drove from their home in Baytown to attend the vigil and arguments.

Its just another dip in the roller coaster, he said.

lcaruba@express-news.net
/Photo courtesy of SAPD

Matthew Luckhurst, the San Antonio police officer who was fired for providing a feces sandwich to a homeless man in May, admitted to doing so, according to SAPD documents released Tuesday.

Previously, Luckhursts attorney Ben Sifuentes told the San Antonio Express-News that his client joked about providing a sandwich to a homeless man but didnt actually do it and that his client was the subject of unfair persecution.
AUSTIN  Texas most emotionally troubled foster-care children would be moved from treatment centers and hospitals to less restrictive specialty housing designed to improve their chances of succeeding in life under a plan announced Wednesday.

Gov. Greg Abbott has approved $8 million in startup funding for the initiative in partnership with the state Department of Family and Protective Services, which operates the states troubled foster-care system.

Four areas of Texas will be chosen for the new initiative, and officials said they likely will include major urban centers such as San Antonio, Houston, Dallas and Austin.

The states foster-care system faces federal court supervision after a judge last December determined that many foster-care children were being subjected to continuing abuse and neglect because of chronic staffing shortages and operational issues. The states Child Protective Services program also is facing criticism for similar issues.

Facing an upcoming court hearing that could bring parts of the states foster-care system under a judges control, state officials have been scrambling to implement new programs to address myriad problems facing the system. They insisted Wednesday, however, that the new plan has nothing to do with the legal case.

In a related development, legislation was filed Wednesday to make sweeping reforms to improve and expand foster-care services, just a week after legislative leaders approved an additional $150 million in emergency funding to address critical shortages of caseworkers and a lengthy backload of abuse and neglect investigations.

Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman Charles Schwertner, a Georgetown Republican who is the author of the reform bill, called for Gov. Greg Abbott to make the foster-care crisis an emergency agenda item for the Legislature in January, allowing for expedited passage of the proposed reforms.

State officials said one goal of the program announced by Abbotts office Wednesday is to find permanent foster care homes for the children with the highest needs, rather than having them move repeatedly from one placement to another.

Other states have implemented similar programs through specialized group homes where children live individually with house parents or in individual foster homes where treatment services are close by. Foster children can remain in state custody until they turn 18.

It is crucial that the most vulnerable Texans under the states care receive the highest quality treatment so that they may be freed from an unacceptable cycle of crisis, Abbott said in a statement. By better coordinating the care of our highest needs children in the foster care system, we will begin to unwind the abuse and trauma they have endured. I am confident that this new partnership will help advance meaningful and stable reforms to Texas current foster care system and help provide these children the future that they deserve.

Officials said up to 500 of the 1,000 foster-care children in Texas who have the highest needs for mental health, emotional and behavioral therapy will be included in the pilot program. Most of those children have been hospitalized several times in the past year, they said.

State officials said funding for the plan was to be made available immediately, and that the search for the new foster-care providers would start in the coming days. Those new sites for foster-care children will have to be developed utilizing existing organizers and new ones, a roll-out that likely will take several weeks or months at a time when the state is hundreds of beds short of its needs.

The pilot program will develop new placement options for the children with the highest needs, many of whom are now housed with other foster care youths in residential treatment that are unable to provide therapy or in mental hospitals.

Officials say the goal of the new initiative, which will be funded through a federal Victims of Crime Act grant, is to serve the children in the least restrictive and most appropriate setting to facilitate increased placement stability and ability of the child to thrive.

If the pilot program is successful in coming months, officials said it will be expanded to include additional foster care children.

The model will also ensure coordination among all services, providers, foster care parents, involved kinship and any other significant individual in the childs life in order to reduce fragmentation of services and increase placement stability, said a statement from Abbotts office.

Madeline McClure, founding CEO of TexProtects: The Texas Association for the Protection of Children, a leading child-advocacy organization, applauded the new plan.

I say bravo, she said. It will keep kids out of institutions and move them into places much more appropriate. It also uses a funding stream that is not often used.

And while she and other advocates acknowledge that Texas faces the challenge of developing new housing sites for the highest-risk foster children, they say the outcomes will be much better for the children than if they remain in residential treatment centers and mental-health centers.

Abbott aides said one goal of the new program is to keep foster children in one home, stopping the current practice of moving them from one site to another during their time in the foster system.

For several years, Texas has faced a chronic shortage of foster-care homes or even enough residential treatment centers to hold all the children who had to be taken into state custody because of abuse and neglect.

Schwertners Senate Bill 11  tagged by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick as a priority for passage in the Senate  would aim to ensure that abused and neglected children get timely access to support services to improve their safety, beef up the child-protection investigation process, and focus additional prevention resources to areas of Texas with the highest need.

It also would require key foster care vendors in the reform initiative to be nonprofit organizations with a mission related to child welfare, in a bid to keep out for-profit companies.

The measure also is sponsored by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, and Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, both of whom have advocated in the past for foster-care reforms.

We have children going unseen for months at a time, we have children sleeping in office buildings because theres nowhere else for them to go, we have children dying, Schwertner said. If this doesnt qualify as an emergency, frankly, I dont know what does.

mike.ward@chron.com

twitter.com/ChronicleMike
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

At 94, Richard Anderson is blind. His hearing aids amplify sounds but often make them harder to understand.

He sat quietly with family and friends Wednesday at a luncheon honoring survivors of Pearl Harbor, marking 75 years since Japans attack thrust the United States into World War II.

Its not just that he grew tired as the conversations of nearly three dozen people bounced off the walls of the Little Red Barn steakhouse. Anderson is a quiet, stoic man by nature, those who know him said.

He never spoke about it until my youngest son was in high school and wrote a report about Pearl Harbor. And I knew he had been there, I just didnt know the details of it, said his daughter, Sharon Gregory, 70.

On Pearl Harbor Day, she and others saluted Anderson and six other known San Antonio veterans of the battle who are still alive.

Kenneth Lee Platt, John Buchanan, Virgil Lee Ward and Anderson were on hand, surrounded by well-wishers and loved ones. Two others attended a ceremony in Hawaii and another, William St. John, was too ill to make it to either event.

The luncheon, organized by Irene Hernandez and her brother, Ron Botello, also honored local Pearl Harbor veterans whove died, among them Johnnie Singleton, Alex George Prochnow and Salvie Reid. Guests scanned newspaper clippings that chronicled their lives, then the lunch began with a moment of silence.

Pearl Harbor not only changed the lives of the veterans and their families, but the country itself, retired Air Force Gen. Eugene Habiger, who once headed the U.S. Strategic Command, told the crowd.

It did two things: No. 1, it brought us into the international stage as a world leader, he said. And No. 2, it taught us and the people around the world that you dont mess around with a sleeping giant.

The attack drew lines of young men to recruiting stations. Before the war was over, 16 million Americans were in the military. Pearl Harbor veterans were feted through the decades with others who served in the conflict, but such appearances are increasingly rare.

The Pearl Harbor Survivors Association's San Antonio chapter had 64 members a quarter century ago. They were down to six this year but Ward brought it back up to seven. Before this week, he didnt know about the group.

Believed to be 97, which would make him their oldest, Ward grew up in Tarpons Holler, Tennessee. Anderson is the youngest. He was 19 when he entered the military with his best friend in Homer, Michigan.

Airplanes fascinated Anderson and he joined the Army Air Corps. His friend Eugene Whitcomb joined the Navy, thinking the uniform would help him pick up girls. Both wound up in Hawaii.

Anderson was asleep in his barracks when an explosion destroyed Whitcombs ship, the USS Arizona. His body was never recovered, and is presumbed to be at rest with about 1,100 others entombed in the memorial that the battleship became. The night before the attack the two had seen the movie, A Yank in the RAF, which Andersons daughter said fired up both of them.

Then a private, Anderson vowed vengeance in a letter to his parents, saying, If hes gone, Ill make them pay for what they did.

Six months later, he was flying gliders. Anderson became an officer and flew B-24 bombing runs over Italy until being shot down on June 6, 1944  the day before his 22nd birthday and the day the Allies landed in France as the tide of war turned. Injured in his bail-out, he spent eight months in a military hospital.

That was his third war wound, the first coming at Pearl Harbor when he suffered burns while trying to save pilots from their planes at Hickam Field. The second occurred when the glass windshield in his glider was shot out, an incident that is thought to have contributed to his eventual blindness.

Ever quiet, Anderson didnt put in for a Purple Heart for his wounds. After receiving treatment at a dispensary on Dec. 7, 1941, surrounded by bodies burned or covered in oil, he left without a word. The medals would come much later, with help from then-U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.

In the meantime, Anderson made good on his vow to get even.

He was a confused kid. I think it just gave him the incentive to go and fight, to protect America, Gregory said. It was, I guess, for all of those guys, though, a dramatic wake-up call and I think it colored the rest of their lives. I look at the children of the survivors and we all have a moral compass that was instilled by our parents, and I think they got that by living in World War II.

sigc@express-news.net
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

San Antonios monthly housing rents are rising at a sharper rate than the states or the nations  and the citys housing market is attracting a bigger share of renters than in years past, U.S. Census Bureau data being released today show.

The median monthly rent for occupied housing inside San Antonios city limits rose to $856, according to the 2011-2015 American Community Survey Five-Year Estimates to be unveiled this morning. Thats a 14 percent increase from the median rent of $748 reported for 2006-2010.

Median rental prices for housing also increased across Texas and across the nation, but not as dramatically.

Statewide, the median monthly rent rose 12 percent to $882, census figures showed. Nationally, the median rent jumped 10 percent to $928.

In Austin, where the housing market has been more strained by demand, the median rent surged even more sharply than in San Antonio, leaping nearly 19 percent to $1,047.

Houston and Dallas had less profound increases than Austin or San Antonio.

Im fairly certain that rental rates have gone up simply because the demand is there, said State Demographer Lloyd Potter, who is based in San Antonio. People are willing and able to pay more per square foot of leased or rented housing.

The rising rental prices are partly due to occupancy rates. The new census data show San Antonio and Austin have higher occupancy rates than Houston and Dallas for all types of housing  not just rented properties.

In San Antonio, 91.3 percent of all housing is occupied, while Austin has an occupancy rate of 92.4 percent. Houstons and Dallas housing occupancy rates are in the upper 80s.

The price of rent is going to be a simple function of demand and how many units are vacant, Potter said Wednesday. If a lot of units are vacant, you can bet that the prices are going to slide some. And if the demand is there and theres a low vacancy rate, the prices are going to go up until people stop renting.

Despite the upward trend in rents, people still pay less for housing here in the Alamo City, San Antonio Board of Realtors Chairman Bob Jacobs said in an email.

While its true that home prices and rents have increased in recent years, San Antonio continues to remain more affordable than other large cities around Texas and the United States, said Jacobs, who has not seen the new census data and was speaking from his experience in the housing market.

The American Community Survey is the largest household survey in the country. It collects data from residents at 3.5 million randomly selected addresses each year. One in 38 U.S. households are invited to participate every year. The surveys questions focus on housing, economics, social characteristics and demographics.

The survey is conducted in all 3,142 counties nationwide. It encompasses more than 578,000 geographic areas down to specific tracts and street blocks.

The new census data also revealed the San Antonio housing market has attracted an influx of renters in the past five years.

The share of housing units occupied by renters rose to 45.6 percent during the 2011-2015 time frame  up from 41.4 percent in the 2006-2010 survey. Thats an increase of nearly 32,000 rental housing units.

A similar increase occurred in Dallas during the same time period.

Meanwhile, the number of owner-occupied homes in San Antonio declined by more than 4,000 housing units. Owner-occupied housing in the city limits fell to 54.4 percent, down from 58.6 percent.

Potter, a demography professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio, suspects that might be due to construction of new apartment complexes around the city.

All you have to do is drive around San Antonio and look at what kind of housing is being built  a tremendous amount of a multifamily units have been going up pretty much all over the city, Potter said.

I look at how many multifamily housing units are being built, and Im kind of like, Are they going to fill that up? And its like as soon as they build them, the For Lease sign seems to go down. And they seem to lease them pretty quickly. Developers are aware of the demands for the different types of housing, and theyre simply responding to that.

Multifamily structures like apartment complexes accounted for nearly a third of San Antonios housing, while single-family homes accounted for two-thirds.

The median monthly mortgage payment for housing in San Antonio rose marginally to $1,258, the new census data showed. Thats a 1.9 percent increase from the median monthly mortgage payment of $1,234 recorded during the 2006-2010 survey.

Home values also increased. In San Antonio, the median value of owner-occupied homes rose to $117,000, an 8 percent increase from the median value of $108,600 recorded during the previous five-year survey.

San Antonios education rates also continue to improve, as do the states and the nations education rates, according to the new census data released today. Larger shares of people are getting bachelors degrees or completing more advanced levels of higher education, while high school dropout rates are declining.

In San Antonio, 81.4 percent of people 25 years old or older at least graduated from high school, the new data shows. Of those, 25 percent went on to earn a bachelors degree, graduate degree or professional degree. Those percentages have improved since the census 2006-2010 survey.

The high school dropout rate in San Antonio declined to 18.5 percent in the most recent census data, down from 20.5 percent.

But San Antonios population is not as educated as the populations of Texas as a whole or the nation as a whole. In Texas, 27.6 percent of people 25 years old or older earned bachelors degrees or higher degrees, the new data show. Nationwide, 29.7 percent of people 25 years old or older earned such degrees.

pohare@express-news.net
Time magazine, unsurprisingly, has named President-elect Donald Trump its person of the year for 2016, calling him the president of the divided states of America.

Trump was not happy about that title, but called his selection a tremendous honor.

As NBC was building suspense for the magazines carefully staged announcement on the Today show, Trump posted on Twitter at 7:18 a.m. that he would appear shortly on the program.

The annual marketing gimmick has, since the 1920s, attempted to select a single figure or a group that has influenced the years events.

Trump beat out 10 other finalists announced on Monday, including Hillary Clinton; Simone Biles, the Olympic gymnast; Beyonce; Mark Zuckerberg; and the Flint, Michigan, whistleblowers, the residents and civil engineers who sounded the alarm on lead-poisoned water in the city.

The magazines No. 2 person of the year was Clinton, who is on track to win the popular vote but lost the Electoral College in the presidential election to Trump.

In a phone interview with Matt Lauer, a host of Today, Trump said: Time is a very important magazine. Ive been lucky enough to be on the cover many times this year and last year.

But he added: When you say divided states of America, I didnt divide them. Theyre divided now. I mean theres a lot of division, and were going to put it back together, and were going to have a country thats very well healed.

It was unclear if Trump had seen the Time cover yet and knew that it was the magazine, and not Lauer, that had called the United States divided.

The magazines annual selection is more of an exercise in self-promotion than covering the news, but Trump actually gave Today some news during the announcement.

In a wide-ranging interview, the president-elect told Lauer that he expected to announce his choice for secretary of state next week. He also addressed his apparent decision in June  announced Tuesday  to sell all of his stock holdings.

Nancy Gibbs, Times editor, said Trumps selection this year was one of the more straightforward choices the magazine had made.

Trump has been on the magazines cover many times in 2016 for features that were both positive and negative. In January, he called its profile of him one of the best Ive ever had. In August, Time featured an illustrated likeness of him melting down, as rumors swirled that his campaign was faltering; two months later, it revisited that image to show him in full meltdown.

Last year, Trump complained when Time chose Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and not him as its person of the year. They picked the person who is ruining Germany, he said then.

In 2013, he called its list of influential people a joke and said the magazine would soon fail.

Time has occasionally chosen controversial figures, among them Adolf Hitler (in 1938) and Josef Stalin (twice: in 1939 and 1942).

In 1969, it chose The Middle Americans for the honor, celebrating them for continuing to pray in public schools in defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court and electing Richard M. Nixon (who himself would become the person of the year in 1971) to the White House.

Nearly 40 years later, the magazine plastered a mirror on the cover of the magazine and named You its person of the year for 2006. In 1982, there was a machine of the year: the computer.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

WASHINGTON - In choosing retired Gen. John Kelly to head the Homeland Security Department, President-elect Donald Trump is sending another signal that he intends to follow through with the aggressive border security proposals that helped propel him to victory last month.

Kelly, 66, a Boston native who led the U.S. Southern Command until he retired earlier this year, is a 45-year Marine Corps veteran who carved out a reputation as a border hawk while overseeing military operations throughout South America, Central America and the Caribbean.

He holds the distinction of being the highest ranking military officer to have a son killed in combat. He spoke of that wrenching loss in a Memorial Day speech in San Antonio in 2013

Trump has not formally offered the job to Kelly but multiple news outlets and congressional sources reported that Trump settled on the four-star general after meetings last month.

Kellys confirmation by the GOP-run Senate would be unlikely to present problems, but Trumps choice of another general could generate debate about the inclusion of retired military leaders in the new administration. Trump selected James Mattis, another retired four-star general, to lead the Pentagon and Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as national security adviser.

The nomination of Kelly echoes Trumps promise to bolster security with a border wall, limitation on immigration and a stronger focus on removal of undocumented immigrants.

Mark Jones, a Rice University political science professor who conducts research on Latin America, observed that Kelly offers a different profile than previous Homeland Security heads.

It suggests that were going to see a Department of Homeland Security that is going to operate more along military lines than in the past, Jones said.

U.S. Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Austin, who has the reputation as a moderate on immigration, was believed to be the leading candidate to head the massive Homeland Security agency and its 240,000 employees. But immigration critics waged a public campaign against McCaul in recent days, recalling his past support of proposals that included a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

Kellys selection drew praise from immigration critics while pro-immigration advocates said they were hopeful that Kellys experience in Central America could foster a better understanding in the Trump administration of causes of migration. Tens of thousands of Central Americans fleeing violence in their countries have surged across the border into Texas since 2014. Their asylum cases have overwhelmed immigration courts.

Jessica Vaughn, of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates immigration curbs, called Kellys choice a great pick and a 180-degree turn from present Homeland Security leadership.

Its a real refreshing change to have someone whose focus will be the safety and security of our nation rather than someone who is tasked with the agenda of relaxing enforcement of our immigration laws and accomplishing immigration expansion, she said.

Similarly, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which has been strongly critical of Obama administration policies, said Kelly would bring an unwavering commitment to protecting the border.

Federation president Dan Stein said in a statement that Kelly fully understands the critical role border security plays in protecting the country from the threats of terrorism, uncontrolled illegal immigration, and drugs.

Pro-immigration groups were alarmed by Trumps choice of Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general and they feared that Trump might pick Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a noted immigration hawk, to lead Homeland Security.

Frank Sharry, founder of Americas Voice, an alliance of pro-immigration groups, said he was intrigued by Kellys involvement in combating gang violence and problems in El Salvador and other Central American nations from which people are fleeing northward.

Two years ago, Kelly helped broker the Alliance for Prosperity agreement with a commitment to spend nearly $1 billion to address problems in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. Speaking to a Senate committee last year on behalf of increased aid to Central America, Kelly remarked: Addressing the root causes of insecurity and instability is not just in the regions interests, but ours as well.

Sharry said: To have someone who understands that migration doesnt start on our border but starts in the sending communities perhaps opens the door to a more realistic understanding of complicated migration issues. From what were seeing, were less worried about Kelly than about his boss.

Like Mattis and Flynn, Kelly is outspoken, suggesting the potential of friction within the Trump administration. He has been critical of Obama administration plans to open combat roles to women and pointedly rejected complaints by human rights advocates about treatment of Guantanamo Bay detainees.

In an interview with Military Times last year, Kelly said: We have a right to protect our borders, whether theyre seaward, coastlines, or land borders.

U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-San Antonio, said Kelly has the experience and tenacity to serve our nation well.

U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, said Kelly can take reasonable, effective steps to protect our nation without giving in to fear-driven rhetoric. Im hopeful Gen. Kelly decides not to deport millions of people who contribute to our nation, not to subject immigrants to a religious test, and not to build a costly wall that does little to make our border more secure."

Lt. Robert Michael Kelly, 29, one of two Kelly sons to follow him into the military, was killed in Afghanistan in 2010 while leading a patrol.

In a Memorial Day address at USAA in San Antonio three years ago, Gen. Kelly spoke of the pain his family has endured.

Every casualty call is a little different but in the end the result is the same: A family is brought to its knees in a grief that is unexpectedly physical in its impact on the body, unbearable to the mind and agonizing to the heart, a grief that never goes away, not even with the passage of time.

bill.lambrecht@hearstdc.com
Army investigators arrested a government contractor at San Antonio Military Medical Center on Wednesday and accused her of taking more than $100,000 meant for wounded soldiers from the foundation she volunteers for  the Air Warrior Courage Foundation.

Opal Charles, 66, of Cibolo, made an initial appearance in a federal court, charged with wire fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 30 years imprisonment.

According to a complaint filed by an investigator with the Army Criminal Investigation Division, foundation funds were deposited into Charles personal account, which she then diverted to pay personal living expenses from April through October of this year.

Much of that money she withdrew as cash from automated teller machines at the Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino in Eagle Pass, according to the complaint.

Gary Baber, director of the San Antonio chapter of the foundation, personally delivered checks to wounded soldiers for years, but began approving emailed requests for financial assistance a few years ago, writing the checks directly to Charles for her to pay them with cash, the complaint states.

The foundation aims to financially help disabled or needy war veterans and their families. According to financial records required of 501(c)(3) organizations, it received almost $1.8 million in contributions and paid out $825,359 in grants in 2014.

Baber conceded the process of writing a check to Ms. Charles may appear out of the ordinary but said his confidence in Charles was due to her job at the Warrior Transition Brigade, which provides services to wounded service members, according to the document.

It seemed like a good arrangement, Baber said in an interview Wednesday. We had no reason not to trust her, because we had been working with her for 11 years.

Neither Baber nor Charles were paid for their work with AWCF, Baber said. Charles has worked either as a Department of Defense contract employee or a U.S. Civil Service employee for the Warrior Transition Brigade since 2004, according to the complaint.

The Army probe was triggered by unusual financial transactions this year. From April to October about 127 foundation checks totaling more than $100,300 were deposited into Charles bank account. Over that time period the account had 25 withdrawals totalling more than $105,800, the complaint said.

Personal living expenses far exceed wages, retirement and other sources of legitimate income, the complaint states.

And none of the personal checks written by Charles were to wounded service members, according to investigators. They cited one case of an email requesting $525 for sperm banking for a soldier with a traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder and lung cancer. Investigators identified it as coming from Charles own work email account.

Investigators said they interviewed the soldier, who said he never met Charles and never requested or received any financial assistance through her. According to the complaint, the soldier said he did have a diagnosis for Lymphoma cancer but not the other conditions listed in the email, and never visited a sperm bank.

Four other soldiers similarly said they hadnt been contacted by Charles to receive any help, the complaint stated.

We were acting in good faith to try to meet what we thought were needs for these wounded warriors, and if this case proves to be true, we were hoodwinked, Baber said.

Released on bond, Charles is due back in court Dec. 21 and is not allowed to visit any gambling establishments. She declined to comment.

jlawrence@express-news.net
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

This year, whenever Jennifer Falcon saw videos of violent clashes between police and protesters of an oil pipeline being built near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota, it hit home  literally.

Falcon, who works at City Hall as chief of staff for Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales, is a member of the Assiniboine Sioux nation; her paternal grandfather is from Standing Rock.

For months, the protesters, who prefer to be called water protectors, have sought to block the 1,170-mile Dakota Access Pipeline from crossing near the reservation under the Missouri River, the primary source of drinking water for the tribe. The pipeline already had been diverted at least once  away from Bismarck, toward the reservation, because federal regulators saw it as a threat to that citys water supply.

On Sunday, the protesters scored a tentative victory when the Department of the Army announced it would not approve the crossing of the pipeline there.

The news followed months of conflict, much of it captured on video and shared on social media.

In one recording, Falcon saw her 5-year-old niece standing nearby as security guards unleashed dogs on protesters.

In another, she watched a cousin caught in a clash with police, who tossed grenade-like objects and shot water cannons in 23-degree weather, injuring nearly 200 people, according to the Oceti Sakowin medical team. Protesters were trying to push past a bridge to the pipeline construction site.

Watching these things on Facebook was so traumatic to me because thats my family, Falcon said. My cousin was shot (with rubber bullets) three times that night. He was standing next to the woman who got her arm blown off.

(Sophia Wilansky, 21, suffered a severe arm injury from an explosion; police disputed accounts she was targeted by law enforcement.)

Falcon, 34, added, Its like watching a war.

Her reaction was to go to war.

Last month, Falcon, the first in her family born off of a reservation, spent six days at the campsite. On Thanksgiving Day, she and about 150 others occupied Turtle Island, land owned by the Army Corps of Engineers but sacred to the tribe, building a bridge to allow people to cross and pray there.

She said officers were continually threatening to hose us down in freezing temperatures. They avoided conflict, but the next day Falcon found the bridge destroyed, the island surrounded by razor wire.

They completely militarized it, she said.

Back in San Antonio, Falcon mobilized with friends, including local artist Cruz Ortiz. At the King William restaurant Frank, Ortiz offered screenprints of original art in his signature jagged style depicting a Native woman, a turtle and a chopped-up black snake with the words Agua es Vida, or water is life.

I told people, Ill print on your face, I dont give a damn. Just bring 10 bucks, Ortiz said.

He told Falcon why he was offering his time and talent: I want to help your family.

Along with funds from Austin, Falcon and friends raised about $11,000. They bought supplies for protesters: blankets for medics, tents for Native journalists and more.

I literally gave a brand new pair of winter boots to a Vietnam vet who was kind of head of camp security there, said Blayne Tucker, a local attorney who made the 1,400-mile trek to Standing Rock with four others in a pickup.

Falcon was at Standing Rock when the good news hit on Sunday.

Back in San Antonio, Falcon wasnt celebrating. She was planning her next trip to the lands of her grandfather to deliver more supplies.

After centuries of broken promises, the water protectors of Standing Rock are staying put.

Its not over, Falcon said. Theyre not leaving.

bchasnoff@express-news.net
Truth, civility, and honesty took a hard beating in the brutal 2016 election season, but global trade, the campaigns daily whipping boy, actually grew in the July-September quarter.

Moreover, reports the CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, an international group that tracks trade, the late summer surge means global trade may rise over the year as a whole.

That rise, of course, could end during a Trump Administration if the president-elect honors any of the anti-China, anti-NAFTA, anti-TPP, and anti-T-TIP promises that became the bedrock of his Make America Great Again stump speech.

Since his win, Trumps anti-trade tone has moderated but no one believes it has completely faded.

Ag needs exports

Farmers and ranchers, who pollsters say voted overwhelmingly for Trump, remain wary, because 20 percent of all U.S. farm production is sold overseas.

In 2015, U.S. agriculture exported $133 billion of bulk commodities and food to over 100 countries around the world. (American ag exports topped $150 billion in 2014, a record.)

Even more worrisome is that Trumps toughest trade talk is aimed at deals that involve our very best food buyers  Canada and Mexico (the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA), China (that the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, isolates), and the European Union, or EU, (through the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or T-TIP).

These four customers  Canada, China, Mexico, and the EU  bought, respectively, $21 billion, $20 billion, $18 billion, and $12 billion of U.S. ag exports in 2015.

Thats a staggering 53 percent of all American farm and ranch goods sold abroad. That fact bears repeating: 53 percent of all 2015 U.S. ag exports went to just four buyers now in the crosshairs of the incoming Trump White House because of what he calls the worst trade deal ever, NAFTA, and two other, all-but-dead regional deals, T-TIP and TPP, he says are terrible.

Obama failed

Trump isnt alone in condemning current or pending trade deals. Not long ago, one presidential candidate openly complained that NAFTAs shortcomings were evident when signed and we must now amend the agreement to fix them.

That candidate was Barack Obama in 2008, recalls Timothy Wise of the Small Planet Institute, in a Nov. 22 blog post on BillMoyers.com.

Obamas failure to amend or fix NAFTA, Wise adds, helped Trumps anti-trade message gain traction on his opponent, Hillary Clinton, an Obama acolyte.

NAFTA does have shortcomings, says Wise: weak environmental and labor standards, outdated regulations for immigration, and rules that empower corporations to sue nations over actions that impede profits to name but a few.

Will a President Trump fix those problems? No, believes Wise, because Trumps trade view, as he often said throughout the campaign, is America first.

In NAFTA that means a nationalist version of anti-worker, pro-corporation trade deal, which will be a disaster for the working class Americans who gave him their votes.

If that NAFTA stance becomes the Trumps template for other trade negotiations, disaster awaits American farmers and ranchers who export 75 percent of all the cotton they grow, 50 percent of all their rice and wheat, over 40 percent of all soybeans, and nearly 25 percent of all pork.

In short, we have an ag policy  for better or worse  built on trade. As such, trade isnt just a big deal to most farmers and ranchers; its the whole deal.

Anti-trade rhetoric might be red meat to blue-collar voters but it wont go down well with cash-paying foreign food buyers that the U.S. ag sector has grown absolutely dependent on.

Pay attention

Still, it would be a serious mistake to sell this president-elect short. Sixteen Republican challengers and one cant-lose Democratic opponent made that mistake in just the last year. All were vanquished; most easily.

So, when Donald Trump says hes going to renegotiate Americas rotten trade deals, expect him to try. Then pray he quickly learns that American ag exports arent rotten and theyre not broken.

Not yet, anyway.
JEFFERSON, Ohio  OSU Extension will host a farm success and estate planning workshop called Planning for the Future of Your Farm, Jan. 18, from 9:30 a.m.- 4 p.m. at the Ashtabula County Extension office.

This workshop is designed to help farm families develop a succession plan for their farm business. Attend and learn ways to successfully transfer management skills and the farms business assets from one generation to the next.

Learn how to have the crucial conversations about the future of your farm. This workshop will challenge farm families to actively plan for the future of the farm business.

Farm families are encouraged to bring members from each generation.

The featured speakers include Robert Moore, attorney at Wright & Moore Law Co., and David Marrison, extension educator for Ashtabula County.

The fee is $20 per person with a registration deadline of Jan. 11.

The class will be limited to the first 40 registrants. The fee includes lunch and program materials. For more information call 440-576-9008 or visit http://go.osu.edu/ne-events.
More than 1,000 hill farmers could be facing a very bleak winter after still not receiving BPS payments for last year according to the NFU.

They said that some of the most vulnerable farm businesses are being put at risk due to the failure of the Rural Payments Agency to make payments owed to them.

Those particularly at risk are those farming common land who rely on the payments to survive. Commons farmers, most of whom are marginal hill farmers, play an important role in managing the land and further delays to payments could hamper their ability to do this.

In a poll undertaken by commons farmers at a meeting in the North East recently 90% said they were still awaiting on last years payments.

Richard Findlay, a hill farmer in North Yorkshire

Richard Findlay, a hill farmer in North Yorkshire, said that the delay is putting considerable strain on farmers finances. He went on to air his frustration that there doesnt seem to be any mechanism in place to find out what is holding up last years payments.

Mr Findlay spoke to FarmingUK at his farm in North Yorkshire, he said: Most hill farmers would like to know what is happening, we are still owed a considerable payment from last year. What is holding up last year's payments? In the North Yorkshire moors, 90% of commoners are still waiting for a balance of last year's payment.

Despite the criticism the RPA has been facing, chief executive of the agency Mark Grimshaw has insisted he is 'the right man for the job' to deliver an improved support payments service for farmers.

Mark Grimshaw answered questions about his agencys performance at an Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee hearing last week, and vowed that the last 1,000 or so of unsettled 2015 Basic Payment Scheme claims would be closed by early January at the latest.

'Struggling enough'

Phil Stocker, National Sheep Association (NSA) Chief Executive, said the types of farms affected by later payments are those often living 'hand to mouth', with struggles 'enough already' without the issue of settlement payments still not being made.

He said: This is creating real hardship amongst farming families, some of whom we have heard are turning to charities to put food on the table.

To make matters worse we are hearing of cases where statements have not been received indicating the monies due, which means getting support from banks or credit from suppliers is difficult. As the year end approaches, so too does the time of year many businesses will be looking at end of year accounts and budgeting.

It is simply unacceptable for the government to expect them to be able to do this without the financial information provided by the statements.
Farmers have warned milk processors must not use winter bonuses or other payment structures as an alternative to a 'meaningful' increase in the base milk price.

Ulster Farmers Union (UFU) dairy chairman, William Irvine, has urged processors to ensure milk price increases reflect stronger global dairy markets.

For the past 18 months farmers have struggled with returns well below the cost of production. After such a deep recession, it will take more than a few price increases to get farm businesses back on track and for farmers to feel ready to plan ahead in a still fragile market, said Mr Irvine.

The UFU dairy committee recently renewed its call for greater transparency about how prices paid for milk are calculated. It sees this as a policy priority and a potential 'win, win' for farmers and processors because it could build trust and better relations in the industry.

Mr Irvine continued: Back in 2012 the EU Milk Package was launched to strengthen the position of farmers within the supply chain. Four plus years on there is little evidence of that happening here, so we have to find new ways to deliver the greater strength farmers need. More trust between farmers and processors would help create a better and fairer supply chain  and that would benefit all players in the dairy industry, said Mr Irvine.

The UFU dairy committee has set out a number of key priorities for 2017, on top of the continuing drive to secure better milk prices and transparency. These include a review of the 2012 Voluntary Code of Practice, a call for retailers to be open on pricing, more information from processors on their production costs and completion of the dairy industry supply chain review.

In the context of Brexit we will also focus on what outcome would best suit dairy farmers, and on how a risk management approach to supporting the industry might work in practice, said Mr Irvine.
Northern Ireland has announced a review of the process by which farmers can ask the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) to reconsider a decision of an area-based payment.

The introduction of the CAP Reform area based schemes has led to an unprecedented increase in the number of Review of Decisions applications received by the Department.

Review of Decisions is an important part of the decision making process that provides farmers and farm businesses with the opportunity to seek a reconsideration, where they believe the Department did not reach the correct decision in respect of an area-based payment.

Agriculture Minister Michelle McIlveen said: Whilst the current Review of Decisions process has been meeting objectives, I am nevertheless concerned by the time taken to issue final decisions.

I have therefore asked my officials to review our current provision and put in place a process which better meets the needs of farmers for the 2017 Scheme year. This work will be taken forward in consultation with our stakeholders over the coming months.

However, my immediate priority is to address the timeliness of final decisions for those already awaiting reviews arising from the introduction of CAP Reform area-based schemes. Therefore, my officials will shortly engage with Stakeholders to determine a means by which Review of Decisions can be streamlined and made more efficient.

'Farmers are frustrated'

The Ulster Farmers Union (UFU) says it welcomes the announcement by Miss McIlveen, saying the current review process has been an 'on-going issue' for farmers.

UFU president Barclay Bell said: Farmers are frustrated by the time it takes for a final review decision to be taken, with some cases still not closed even after a few years. In most cases this not only impacts on the year in question but also has consequences for subsequent years.

He added: These payments are vital to farm businesses and any delay creates a great deal of uncertainty for those who have bills to pay and a business to run.

The UFU has been pressing for some time for the introduction of a Charter of Farmers Rights similar to that which already exists in the Republic of Ireland and we welcome the opportunity to feed into the review process so that a positive outcome can be achieved and implemented as quickly as possible.

He added that the Unions aim will be to ensure the process is as efficient and meaningful as possible, so that both the farmer and DAERA benefit.
Farmers in Scotland have provided evidence to the Scottish Parliament surrounding issues with Scottish Water and Scottish Water Business Stream over bad business practices, including issues with aggressive debt collection.

Members of farming union NFU Scotland provided evidence to the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee, and has now submitted a list of case studies collated from farmers' experiences.

Gemma Cooper, NFU Scotlands Legal and Technical Policy Manager commented: NFU Scotland has been working with Scottish Water for some time now on member issues. Whilst our experience with Scottish Water is not perfect, we have certainly seen improvements from having a dedicated point of contact which we can refer member issues to.

We were pleased that a good number of members came forward to speak to us about issues they had experienced with Scottish Water or Scottish Water Business Stream, and we thank them for this.

Disappointingly, our members have easily been able to give us a range of examples of where they feel Business Stream is falling short and providing a very poor level of service.

Scottish Water Business Stream is a licenced provider of water in Scotland, and supplies many farms. Our members have reported they have experienced issues in having problems resolved, often for months or even years, despite the fact they have spent a considerable amount of time attempting to remedy their particular issue.

Problems with meter reading, having money refunded, poor communication, and aggressive debt collection tactics have also been reported to us. We are hopeful that we can work with Business Stream not only to resolve these issues, but also to try to ensure that in future they do not reoccur.
Members of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) have held a conference to discuss how a minority of rich individuals operate on most land around Europe.

The conference, titled 'Access to land for farmers in the EU' took place on 7 December in Brussels at the EESC headquarters and at the European Parliament.

Brendan Burns, President of the EESC NAT section, referred to his own country of Scotland, where 50% of the land is in the hands of only 500 people, who mainly live outside Scotland. This results in 'dying villages, deserted landscapes and a weakening economy', Mr Burns explained.

Since 1999, Scotland has been trying to change this situation and has faced obstacles in the process. For example, when communities want to buy land from owners living far away from Scotland. "The situation in Scotland has prevented the country from gaining sustainable rural development and societies, it should be a warning example for Europe," said Mr. Burns.

Concentrated land distribution in Europe 'alarming'

Sylvia Kay, from the Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute (TNI), has been monitoring the situation of farming and land access in Europe for many years.

She has produced some figures: in Europe, 3% of the farms control 52% of the land, or 11% of the big farms (over 100 ha) are controlling 75% of the European farming land. In Bulgaria, 83.5 % of the farmland is in the hands of only 2% of the farmers.

All over Europe the tendency towards big farms is increasing, the conference heard: in Finland large farms have increased more than fivefold (5.5) and the farmland they control six-fold. In the Netherlands large farms have tripled.

At the same time Europe is facing a decline of small scale farms (up to 10 ha): of the 12 million in operation in 1995 until 2013 only 8 million have survived, which equals a 33% reduction. In Estonia the situation is worse: in only 10 years  between 2003 and 2013 - 62% of small farms vanished.

The EESC explains that the high concentration of ownership and the trend towards fewer but larger farms are causing problems in the upstream and downstream economy, cutting many jobs and hollowing out rural areas.
Wheat: Net sales of 503,100 metric tons for delivery in marketing year 2016/2017 were up 4 percent from the previous week, but down 22 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for Taiwan (125,300 MT, including 38,000 MT switched from unknown destinations), Japan (103,400 MT), China (57,700 MT, including 55,000 MT switched from unknown destinations), Mexico (57,600 MT, including decreases of 14,200 MT), and Nigeria (39,200 MT, including 15,100 MT switched from unknown destinations and decreases of 100 MT). Reductions of 89,100 MT were reported for unknown destinations. For 2017/2018, net sales of 24,100 MT were reported for Mexico (23,400 MT) and Guatemala (700 MT). Exports of 555,500 MT were up noticeably from the previous week and 59 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Morocco (91,900 MT), Japan (89,800 MT), China (57,800 MT), the Philippines (49,500 MT), and Chile (45,600 MT).

Exports for Own Account: The current exports for own account outstanding balance of 24,900 MT is for Canada.

Corn: Net sales of 1,495,400 MT for 2016/2017 were up 96 percent from the previous week and 12 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were for Peru (426,000 MT, including decreases of 7,700 MT), Japan (320,800 MT, including 147,900 MT switched from unknown destinations), Mexico (218,800 MT, including 28,000 MT switched from unknown destinations, 20,000 MT switched from Canada, and decreases of 12,800 MT), South Korea (206,100 MT), and Saudi Arabia (182,000 MT, including 176,000 MT switched from unknown destinations and decreases of 1,600 MT). Reductions were for unknown destinations (469,800 MT) and Canada (16,400 MT). For 2017/2018, net sales of 1,000 MT were reported for Nicaragua. Exports of 1,366,400 MT were up 69 percent from the previous week and 94 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Japan (292,000 MT), Mexico (256,700 MT), Taiwan (214,000 MT), Saudi Arabia (182,000 MT), and Peru (72,800 MT).

Optional Origin Sales: For 2016/2017, options were exercised to export 65,000 MT to Taiwan from the United States. The current optional origin outstanding balance of 546,000 MT is for unknown destinations (274,000 MT) and South Korea (272,000 MT).

Barley: No net sales were reported for the week. Exports of 900 MT were reported to Japan.

Sorghum: Net sales reductions of 10,400 MT for 2016/2017--a marketing-year low--were down noticeably from the previous week and from the prior 4-week average. Increases reported for China (44,600 MT, including 55,000 MT switched from unknown destinations and decreases of 17,300 MT) and Nigeria (100 MT), were more than offset by reductions for unknown destinations (55,000 MT) and Mexico (100 MT). Exports of 232,900 MT--a marketing-year high--were up noticeably from the previous week and from the prior 4-week average. The destinations were China (210,200 MT), Mexico (22,100 MT), and Nigeria (700 MT).

Rice: Net sales of 61,300 MT for 2016/2017 were up noticeably from the previous week and 4 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for Mexico (43,100 MT), Guatemala (7,800 MT, including 3,900 MT switched from unknown destinations), Jordan (4,500 MT, including decreases of 100 MT), Taiwan (4,000 MT), and Saudi Arabia (3,500 MT). Reductions were reported for unknown destinations (11,100 MT). Exports of 55,100 MT were down 10 percent from the previous week and 3 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Japan (14,100 MT), El Salvador (11,300 MT), Guatemala (10,100 MT), Jordan (4,900 MT), and Saudi Arabia (4,400 MT).

Exports for Own Account: Exports for own account to Canada (100 MT) were applied to new or outstanding sales. The current outstanding balance of 100 MT is for Canada.

Soybeans: Net sales of 1,461,700 MT for 2016/2017 were up 10 percent from the previous week and 5 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for China (1,566,900 MT, including 693,000 MT switched from unknown destinations and decreases of 17,800 MT), Pakistan (76,000 MT), the Netherlands (70,100 MT), Vietnam (67,700 MT, including decreases of 2,100 MT), and Mexico (63,300 MT, including decreases of 600 MT). Reductions were reported for unknown destinations (501,400 MT), Singapore (3,000 MT), Burma (1,000 MT), and Cuba (800 MT). For 2017/2018, net sales of 6,000 MT were reported for unknown destinations. Exports of 1,869,700 MT were down 19 percent from the previous week and 31 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were China (1,431,800 MT), Japan (91,400 MT), the Netherlands (70,100 MT), Vietnam (67,700 MT), and Mexico (59,100 MT).

Optional Origin Sales: For 2016/2017, the current optional origin outstanding balance of 180,000 MT is for China.

Exports for Own Account: The current exports for own account outstanding balance of 20,300 MT is for Canada.

Export Adjustments: Accumulated exports of soybeans to China were adjusted down 70,836 MT for week ending November 24th. This export should have been reported by another exporter and is included in this weeks report.

Soybean Cake and Meal: Net sales of 222,500 MT for 2016/2017 were up 48 percent from the previous week, but down 8 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for Thailand (57,800 MT, including 55,000 MT switched from unknown destinations), Canada (44,800 MT), Mexico (38,800 MT, including decreases of 100 MT), the Philippines (32,700 MT), and Guatemala (29,600 MT, including 7,600 MT switched from unknown destinations). Reductions were for unknown destinations (61,500 MT) and Taiwan (1,300 MT). Exports of 201,000 MT were up 40 percent from the previous week and 2 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Thailand (57,800 MT), the Philippines (46,700 MT), Mexico (30,000 MT), Canada (12,200 MT), and Saudi Arabia (11,900 MT).

Soybean Oil: Net sales of 13,400 MT for 2016/2017 down 75 percent from the previous week and 52 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for South Korea (10,000 MT), Mexico (1,700 MT), and the Dominican Republic (1,500 MT). Reductions of 100 MT were reported for Colombia. Exports of 28,600 MT were up noticeably from the previous week and 40 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Colombia (20,900 MT), Mexico (4,800 MT), and Nicaragua (2,500 MT).

Cotton: Net upland sales of 405,200 RB for 2016/2017--a marketing-year high--were up noticeably from the previous week and 93 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for Vietnam (103,200 RB, including decreases of 500 RB), Turkey (74,600 RB), China (60,800 RB, including 1,100 RB switched from Thailand, 800 RB switched from South Korea, and decreases of 100 RB), Japan (58,500 RB, including decreases of 500 RB), and Bangladesh (50,200 RB). Reductions were reported for Thailand (34,910 RB) and Mexico (100 RB). Exports of 229,700 RB--a marketing-year high--were up 75 percent from the previous week and 85 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were China (67,700 RB), Vietnam (52,200 RB), Turkey (17,300 RB), Pakistan (13,500 RB), and Thailand (13,200 RB). Net sales of Pima totaling 4,200 RB for 2016/2017 were down 14 percent from the previous week and 40 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported primarily for Hong Kong (2,400 RB), China (800 RB), Thailand (400 RB), and Japan (300 RB). Exports of 8,000 RB were down 44 percent from the previous week and 42 percent from the prior 4-week average. The destinations were primarily India (3,300 RB), China (2,200 RB), Pakistan (900 RB), and Vietnam (600 RB).

Exports for Own Account: New exports for own account totaling 19,600 RB were reported to China (11,400 RB) and Indonesia (8,100 RB). Exports to China (900 RB) were applied to new or outstanding sales. The current outstanding balance of 66,300 RB is for China (25,600 RB), Indonesia (18,400 RB), Taiwan (10,200 RB), Vietnam (4,600 RB), South Korea (3,500 RB), Bangladesh (1,800 RB), India (1,400 RB), Pakistan (500 RB), and (Thailand 300 RB).

Hides and Skins: Net sales of 486,100 pieces for 2016 were up noticeably from the previous week and 49 percent from the prior 4-week average. Whole cattle hide sales of 484,200 pieces were for China (338,400 pieces, including decreases of 9,500 pieces), South Korea (84,800 pieces, including decreases of 4,900 pieces), Mexico (32,700 pieces, including decreases of 300 pieces), Thailand (13,500 pieces), and Taiwan (5,400 pieces, including decreases of 500 pieces). Reductions were reported for Vietnam (100 pieces) and Indonesia (100 pieces). Exports of 386,500 pieces were up 2 percent from the previous week, but down 8 percent from the prior 4-week average. Whole cattle hide exports of 382,700 pieces were primarily to China (239,100 pieces), South Korea (80,700 pieces), Mexico (22,500 pieces), Taiwan (15,200 pieces), and Thailand (11,600 pieces).

Net sales of 9,100 wet blues for 2016 were up 18 percent from the previous week, but down 94 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for Mexico (33,700 grain splits), China (21,500 unsplit), Vietnam (10,700 unsplit), and Italy (8,800 unsplit). Reductions were reported for China (50,400 grain splits), South Korea (8,500 grain splits), Taiwan (3,600 unsplit), India (1,600 unsplit), the Dominican Republic (1,100 unsplit), Thailand (200 unsplit), and Hong Kong (200 grain splits). For 2017, net sales of 101,200 wet blues were primarily for China (58,200 grain spilts and 15,800 unsplit) and Italy (9,000 unsplit). Exports of 151,200 wet blues were up 41 percent from the previous week and 1 percent from the prior 4-week average. Exports were primarily to China (46,600 unsplit and 12,000 grain splits), Taiwan (21,000 unsplit), Vietnam (17,100 unsplit), and Italy (16,400 unsplit and 3,600 grain splits). Net sales of splits totaling 666,000 pounds for 2016 were reported for China (569,200 pounds), Vietnam (525,200 pounds), and Taiwan (44,400 pounds). Reductions were reported for Hong Kong (437,600 pounds) and Italy (35,300 pounds). For 2017, net sales of 618,400 pounds were reported for Hong Kong (401,600 pounds) and China (216,900 pounds). Exports of 593.800 pounds were up 58 percent from the previous week and 74 percent from the prior 4-week average. The destinations were Hong Kong (285,100 pounds), Vietnam (168,000 pounds), China (126,700 pounds), and South Korea (14,000 pounds).

Beef: Net sales of 4,500 MT for 2016 were down 79 percent from the previous week and 72 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for Japan (1,800 MT, including decreases of 1,500 MT), Mexico (1,400 MT), Canada (500 MT, including decreases of 100 MT), Taiwan (300 MT, including decreases of 100 MT), and Hong Kong (100 MT, including decreases of 100 MT). For 2017, net sales of 10,900 MT were primary for Japan (6,000 MT), Hong Kong (2,800 MT), South Korea (700 MT), and Taiwan (600 MT). Exports of 16,400 MT were up 9 percent from the previous week and 4 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were South Korea (4,700 MT), Japan (4,500 MT), Hong Kong (2,200 MT), Mexico (1,800 MT), and Canada (1,300 MT).

Pork: Net sales of 11,400 MT for 2016 were up 29 percent from the previous week, but down 35 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for Mexico (2,700 MT), South Korea (2,300 MT), Hong Kong (1,700 MT), Canada (1,400 MT), and Japan (1,400 MT). For 2017, net sales of 11,800 MT were primarily for South Korea (7,200 MT), Colombia (1,800 MT), Japan (900 MT), and Australia (700 MT). Exports of 24,400 MT--a marketing-year high--were up 8 percent from the previous week and 10 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Mexico (10,500 MT), Japan (4,000 MT), South Korea (3,300 MT), Canada (1,800 MT), and Hong Kong (900 MT).

Source : USDA
Warrenton, VA (20186)

Today

Some clouds in the morning will give way to mainly sunny skies for the afternoon. High 68F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

A mostly clear sky. Low around 45F. Winds light and variable.
Voter Guide: Everything Cumberland County voters need to know

Early voting is underway, with local, state and federal races on the ballot in Cumberland County.
Robert Oesterlund via FacebookThe New York Times published a great article last week by Nicholas Confessore called How to Hide $400 Million.

Its about a successful Finnish businessman who filed for divorce from his wife in Canada.

The businessman, Robert Oesterlund, told a Canadian court his immediately calculable net family property totaled just a few million dollars.

But his wife, Sarah Pursglove, didnt believe it. She didnt know much about Oesterlunds current business  he was an internet entrepreneur  but she knew there was a 165-foot yacht christened the Deja Vu, and a $30 million penthouse at the Toronto Four Seasons, among other homes they owned.

Pursglove hired Miami divorce lawyer Jeffrey Fisher to help her. Oesterland had run some of his businesses from Florida and the couple had lived in Palm Beach.

Fisher discovered that Oesterlunds accountants had once estimated his wealth at about $300 million. In a loan application, Oesterlund himself had said he was worth just over $400 million.

Through pictures Pursglove took with her phone of mail that came for Oesterland, Fisher realized there was a Cook Islands asset protection trust. From the timing, it looked like Oesterland had set up the trust and transferred most of his business assets into it around the time he and Pursglove started talking about a divorce.

Pursglove also found a statement from a bank in Luxembourg showing an account with at least $30 million in cash. She had never seen it before.

There were corporations in the Caymans and Nevis, the Times said. And there were other Cook Island trusts.

Fisher found evidence Oesterlund had forged Pursgloves signature when he transferred some of the assets.

Fisher filed a civil suit in Florida saying Pursglove was at risk of being defrauded. A judge issued an order freezing Oesterlands assets everywhere. But first, Fisher had to find the assets and tie them to Oesterland.

That started a years-long battle of attrition between Fisher and Oesterlunds lawyers, including Squire Patton Boggs Miami office.

Fisher has been trying to prove one of the Cook Island trusts was a sham and use that to defeat all the trusts. Oesterfund claimed all the trust documents were privileged.

The legal battle is still going on. But Fisher is more confident these days his client will prevail.

In July 2015, the Squire Patton Boggs team quit the case after Oesterfund told them to ignore a court order to produce some of the documents.

And Fisher has had some good luck.

A paralegal in his office was looking for Oesterlunds yacht, the Deja Vu.

Using public webcams at ports around the French Riviera, she discovered the Deja Vu anchored in the middle of the harbor in Saint-Tropez, the Times said. Soon after, Fishers partner photographed Oesterlund near the yacht.

How to Hide $400 Million by Nicholas Confessore is here.

_____

Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog.
One of the most interesting non-Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement actions was announced Friday by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

It involved a clear quid pro quo benefit paid by United Airlines to David Samson, the former Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the government entity with authority over United Airlines operations at the companys east coast hub at Newark, New Jersey.

The thing of value was the reinstitution of a United route to South Carolina so Chairman Sampson could fly to his weekend cottage. In return, United wanted approval of a new maintenance hangar at the Newark airport.

The case involved not foreign but domestic corruption and therefore wasnt subject to the FCPA. But its easy to see some potential application to FCPA enforcement.

Samson pleaded guilty in July to criminal bribery charges. United entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the New Jersey U.S. Attorneys Office requiring it to cooperate, to reform its compliance program, and to pay a $2.25 million penalty.

At the time of the offenses, the SEC said Friday, Uniteds Code of Conduct prohibited United employees from directly or indirectly making bribes, kickbacks or other improper payments to government officials, civil servants or anyone else to influence their acts or decisions and that [n]o gift may be offered or accepted if it will create a feeling of obligation, compromise judgment or appear to improperly influence the recipient.

Only the United Board of Directors could grant a waiver to the Code and none was sought or obtained by United CEO Jeff Smisek, who personally ordered or approved the reinstitution of the air route service.

The SEC Order (pdf) concluded, The [Chairmans] Route was initiated in violation of Uniteds Policies.

The company had a Code of Conduct, which was violated by the CEO and this caused the company to violate Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. It would be easy enough to see this resolution in the FCPA context but this was all domestic conduct and jurisdiction. This may be the first time the violation of a Code of Conduct resulted in an enforcement action by the SEC around domestic bribery and corruption.

United was also sanctioned for not having internal controls in place to prevent such actions as those taken by Smisek, with the SEC also finding this was a violation of Section 13. The Order stated, In particular, United had insufficient internal accounting controls in place to prevent approval of the South Carolina Route in derogation of Uniteds Policies.

So there was the equivalent of a FCPA internal controls failure leading to a violation as well.

This might well be a new enforcement theory to use inside the United States, for domestic bribery allegations. Now imagine if Uniteds profit estimates of $47.5 million had been used as the basis of a profit disgorgement order.

____

Tom Fox is a Contributing Editor of the FCPA Blog. He has practiced law in Houston for 30 years. He is now the Compliance Ambassador for the Red Flag Group. Hes the creator of the award winning FCPA Compliance and Ethics website. His best-selling seminal book, Best Practices Under the FCPA and Bribery Act: How to Create a First Class Compliance Program (available from Amazon here) is widely viewed as one of the top volumes on the nuts and bolts of compliance.
Natalie Portman is craving pineapples and burritos during her pregnancy.

Natalie Portman

The 'Black Swan' star is expecting her second child with husband Benjamin Millepied - with whom she also has five-year-old son Aleph - and has revealed this time round she's been addicted to the sour fruit and the not-so-healthy Mexican food wrap.

Talking about her cravings on 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show' on Wednesday (07.12.16), she said: "With (first child Aleph) it was very (different) ...

"I wanted cream puffs, anything dessert with cream in it, or just plain cream straight. This time it's, like, healthy - pineapple, cucumbers, burritos, which is maybe less healthy, but delicious."

The 35-year-old actress also admitted she can't wait to lose her baby weight.

She said: "It does make you look forward to the day when you can just have your own body on the red carpet. It's weird because I'm a small person in general, so you show a lot faster and a lot more when you're small. Everyone thinks I'm about to pop and about to give birth any minute, and I have months to go.

"I went to the store the other day to buy water and the guy at the checkout counter was like, 'Almost, huh?' I was like, 'No! Not at all!"

Natalie revealed her pregnancy in September when she rocked up to the premiere of her film 'Planetarium' at the Venice Film Festival in a pink one-shoulder dress.
Meghan Markle will never miss out on trying "great pasta" when she's travelling.

Meghan Markle

The 35-year-old actress - who is currently dating Britain's Prince Harry - has admitted she loves nothing more than sampling new tasty treats, the popular Italian dish, when she is jetting around the globe.

Speaking to PEOPLE about her holiday rituals, the brunette beauty said: "When I'm traveling, I won't miss an opportunity to try great pasta."

And the 'Suits' actress has revealed "every year" without fail she returns from her vacation with a "food baby" because she has over indulged, and the star has admitted she is so used to the growing stomach after her trips she has named it.

She explained: "I come back from vacation every year with a food baby, and I've named her Comida (Spanish for food). I get to the set and I'm like, 'Hey, Comida's here, and she's kicking.'"

And Meghan has admitted she has two particular "vices", which she claims have their own food group in her mind.

Meghan - who has her own lifestyle blog titled 'The Tig' after her all-time favourite red wine Tignanello - explained: "French fries and vino are my vices.

"It's its own food group for me."

Meanwhile, Meghan has been spotted wearing a 14 karat gold necklace with her and the flame-haired royals initials on whilst out in Toronto, Canada, which was made by Los Angeles-based designer Maya Brenner.

A spokesman for the company confirmed the 35-year-old actress was in fact wearing one of their pieces.

The couple have also proved their devotion for one another by sporting matching beaded bracelets.

And the 32 year old is said to be "absolutely besotted" with the actress, who he met in May.

A friend of the star said: "It's just another sign of how head-over-heels he is about her.

"He is absolutely besotted. We've never seen him so happy - it's great."
In order to boost the competitiveness of the domestic textile industry, the Indonesian government is likely to ease procedures for importing raw materials. President Joko Widodo has instructed the relevant ministries to take necessary steps in this regard. Textile raw materials entering Indonesia currently attract import duty of 5-20 per cent.

The government must simplify import procedures for import of raw materials used in the textile and apparel industry, to lift the burden off businesses, Widodo said at a Cabinet meeting, a leading Indonesian daily reported.

The Indonesian textile and clothing industry is facing severe global competition and its exports dropped by nearly 4 per cent to $3.3 billion in 2015.

In order to boost the competitiveness of the domestic textile industry, the Indonesian government is likely to ease procedures for importing raw materials. President Joko Widodo has instructed the relevant ministries to take necessary steps in this regard. Textile raw materials entering Indonesia currently attract import duty of 5-20 per cent.#

Indonesian regional competitors like Vietnam impose no import tariff on textile raw materials. (RKS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Sharing several initiatives laid out by the government in R&D, textile parks, branding, marketing, and skilling, textile commissioner Kavita Gupta has said that the textile industry needs to create one crore new jobs over the next three years. She said, The textile industry needs to think of quantum growth using innovation and technology.

Sharing several initiatives laid out by the government in R&D, textile parks, branding, marketing, and skilling, textile commissioner Kavita Gupta has said that the textile industry needs to create one crore new jobs over the next three years. She said, The textile industry needs to think of quantum growth using innovation and technology.#

The textile machinery manufacturing in India needs to catch up with the world level, said Gupta while addressing the textile engineers from SASMIRA at the ongoing India ITME 2016 in Mumbai on Thursday.

Sharing several initiatives laid out by the government in R&D, textile parks, branding, marketing, and skilling, textile commissioner Kavita Gupta has said that the textile industry needs to create one crore new jobs over the next three years. She said, The textile industry needs to think of quantum growth using innovation and technology.#

Encouraging the Indian textile industry to grab the domestic as well as global opportunity, she said, it is only in the textile industry where a single unit is eligible for all incentives. On display at India ITME 2016 are world's best innovations and technologies. 1,050 manufacturers of textile machinery from across 38 countries are showcasing their products. The world's best names are looking into India as one big opportunity. It is an opportune time that we start exploiting the opportunity ourselves. Strengthening of domestic industry will ensure that we create more jobs for ourselves said Gupta.

Sharing several initiatives laid out by the government in R&D, textile parks, branding, marketing, and skilling, textile commissioner Kavita Gupta has said that the textile industry needs to create one crore new jobs over the next three years. She said, The textile industry needs to think of quantum growth using innovation and technology.#

Organised by the India ITME society, the six-day exhibition is witnessing dozens of product launches and is proving to be an effective platform for joint ventures and collaborations between the stakeholders of textile industry in India and overseas.

Sharing several initiatives laid out by the government in R&D, textile parks, branding, marketing, and skilling, textile commissioner Kavita Gupta has said that the textile industry needs to create one crore new jobs over the next three years. She said, The textile industry needs to think of quantum growth using innovation and technology.#

The governments of Gujarat and Karnataka are participating in this event as state partners. The idea of Make in India in textile engineering is being promoted to the visiting foreign business visitors. Government schemes and incentives for the textile industry in India are also being propagated.

Sharing several initiatives laid out by the government in R&D, textile parks, branding, marketing, and skilling, textile commissioner Kavita Gupta has said that the textile industry needs to create one crore new jobs over the next three years. She said, The textile industry needs to think of quantum growth using innovation and technology.#

The textile sector is one of the largest contributions to India's exports accounting for approximately 11 per cent of total exports. India's overall textile exports during FY 2015-2016 stood at $40 billion. (RKS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Pakistan exporters should focus on increasing textile exports to Argentina while efficiently competing with their counterparts from India and China, said Argentinean ambassador Ivan Ivanissevich. He added that the country should also look out for opportunities to increase their share in the Argentina market by focusing on branding as well.

Argentina imports 60 per cent of its textile products and produces the remaining locally. In the first quarter of 2016, there was 27 per cent rise in the import of textile products, said Ivanissevich at a meeting during his visit to the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI).

China and Brazil are Argentina's biggest textile supplier nations while a major portion of Argentina's textiles and garments are exported to Brazil and Chile.

Talking of improving business relations between both the countries, Ivanissevich said that Pakistan should also increase the efficiency of its agriculture sector as it is not as developed when compared with Argentina's agriculture. Argentina can help Pakistani farmers by teaching them techniques to improve their yield. The embassy is also thinking of sending the farmers to Argentina to improve their skills, according to a leading daily.

For the FY 2015-16, Pakistan's total exports to Argentina were around $52 million, which is 17 per cent more than exports of previous year. Similarly, there was 37 per cent rise in Pakistan's imports from Argentina which stood at $194 million during FY 2015-16. KCCI intends to promote good business relations between both the countries, said KCCI president Shamim Firpo at the meeting. Trade and investment delegations, trade fairs, exhibitions, seminars and meeting will help in the development of Pakistan-Argentine business and investment cooperation, according to Firpo. (RR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
The Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Mr. Tao Zhang, has praised the Fijian Governments reconstruction efforts following Cyclone Winston as quick and admirable following a meeting with Attorney-General and Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum.



Mr. Zhang credited Fijis projected economic growth rate of nearly 3 per cent to Governments recovery and reconstruction policies that kept Fiji on the right track. During his meeting with the Attorney-General, Mr. Zhang was updated on the progress of Cyclone Winston rehabilitation and other ongoing efforts by Government to diversify the Fijian economy.



At the meeting, held in Suva, the Attorney-General outlined potential investment opportunities in tourism-related activities in Fiji, such as recreational parks and high-end shopping, along with in health, housing and ICT development.



The AG also called for more tailored training under IMF programmes in the Pacific. He said the geographic and economic differences between Pacific and Asian countries should be considered, regardless of the fact that these countries fall under the same groupings within the IMF.



Mr. Zhang will also visit school reconstruction sites in Ba before leaving for Vanuatu.
Evelyn Sharma surely knows how to raise the temperatures higher in this cold windy December month. The model cum actress took to her social media handle and posted a pictute of herself wearing a bikini by the pool and who wouldn't love to see a picture like that?

The gorgeous Evelyn was in Dubai for a photoshoot by the pool and captioned the image as, "Busy day at the office #lifeisabeach #lovemyjob #mydubai #evelynsharma," well we love her job as much as she loves it too!



On the work front, Evelyn Sharma is currently shooting for the star studded Imtiaz Ali's upcoming film 'The Ring'. The film stars the Baadshah of Bollywood, Shahrukh Khan and Anushka Sharma in the lead roles. The Ring is being shot at various locations across Europe such as Prague, Amsterdam, Lisbon and Budapest.

This Is How Vaani Kapoor Felt While Kissing Ranveer Singh!

The film's storyline has not been revealed by the film-makers but sources reported that the film would see Shahrukh Khan playing the role of a tourist guide in Europe and would meet and fall in love with a tourist and she is none other than his co-star Anushka Sharma. The Ring would hit the theatres during the second half of 2017.

The War Begins! Rakesh Roshan Slams Shahrukh Khan For Deciding To Release Raees On January 25
Celebrated Hollywood actors Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone have left their permanent marks on Hollywood by placing concrete hand prints at the TCL Chinese Theater.

Stone and Gosling, who have featured in the critically acclaimed movie "La La Land", have joined the likes of Hugh Jackman, Marilyn Monroe, Shirley Temple, and many others, in the rank.

"I moved to Los Angeles when I was 15 and came here, and my hands are an exact match for Jane Russell, so if you're looking for a Jane Russell hand double, I'm your girl," said Emma Stone jokingly.

The President of the TCL (Chinese Theatre) Alwyn Hight Kushner, stated that the hand-print ceremony would be into "creating an everlasting homage to Hollywood and its legendary artists."

"This is embarrassing -- I thought this was maybe the kind of a thing where you come and put your hand prints in cement and then they take them away and put them up somewhere. I was just told that they were going to stay here, so I cried a little bit inside." Said Stone.

"This is an incredible experience and making this movie was an incredible experience. What a place to get to commemorate that." She added.

Gosling stated,"I'm still not completely convinced that we're not going to be arrested for vandalism, but I'm going to take your word for it that we're allowed to do this."

"We had an opportunity to shoot in most of Los Angeles' iconic locations except for this (the Chinese Theater) so I guess this is the final piece to the puzzle. It's a beautiful way to end this experience." The actor added further.
Hollywood writer and director Ryan Murphy, feels that film industry has been too cold to female directors. Murphy moreover, in an attempt, have apologized to all female directors in Hollywood and said the industry should have provided them with more opportunities.

The American Horror Story maker feels that there is an urgent need to change the scenario. He feels that the women directors in Hollywood are more capable than their male counterparts if not equal.

"I'd like to tell the women in this room a few things I am guessing no man in your life or in Hollywood has ever said to you lately, or in combination: I am sorry. It was my fault. I could have done better. I am going to do better." Said Murphy.

"And I have no interest in sleeping with you, I just like you a lot," Murphy added.

The Glee creator said he felt ashamed on thinking over that the industry have done injustice to the female directors.

"I felt I had failed. I have always had female directors on my shows, but why here didn't I feel I had a roster of women around me who I could turn this important episode over to? Why weren't these women on speed-dial?" Stated Murphy.

"Why did I make the choice that was easier for me, but not for the material or the world in general?" He added further.
The most famous celebrity chat show, Koffee With Karan is already in news for its celebrity lineup this year. The show, which is currently in its fifth season began with a bang on November 6, 2016.

Bollywood Celebs such as Shah Rukh Khan, Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor and Ranveer Singh to name a few have already graced Koffee With Karan 5 and many A-listers are expected to turn up this year. This time, Comedian and successful TV host Kapil Sharma will be making an appearance for the first time on KWK and it will be a solo appearance.

The duo has already shot for the episode and Kapil was honoured to be a part of it. Kapil took to twitter to thank Karan for inviting him to be a part of his popular show.

The latest buzz is that actress Priyanka Chopra will appear on the show! The actress is busy with her Hollywood projects of late and is currently in the US shooting for the American television series Quantico season 2.

During a recent twitter chat with her fans, one of them asked her, if she will appear on this season of KWK. Her answer was rather surprising and she even hinted at appearing on this season.

She tweeted, "Yes looks like I will...not sure.You should ask @karanjohar !! Lol." Well, what does this mean? Wait and watch.

In the last season, she graced the show along with Deepika Padukone. We can hope PeeCee appears on this season too.

Stay tuned for more updates of the show...
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - December 7, 2016) - Veritas Pharma Inc. (CSE: VRT) (OTC Pink: VRTHF) (FSE: 2VP), an emerging discovery and IP development company, is pleased to announce that as of December 7th, 2016, its common shares are accepted for continuous trading on the electronic trading platform XETRA on the Frankfurt Exchange under the symbol 2VP. Veritas Pharma's management expects that a listing through Xetra will provide higher liquidity and more efficient market pricing for the company's common shares.

Veritas CEO, Dr. Franciosi, stated "this is a very exciting development and we are proud to be accepted for trading on the Xetra platform. Xetra is a more senior European trading venue and I believe that this will be an important step in introducing our company to a wider range of qualified retail and institutional investors."

About Xetra

Xetra is an all-electronic trading system based in Frandkfurt, Germany. It was launched in 1997 and is operated by the Deutsche Borse. Eventhough Xetra was originally designed for the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, it has since expanded to various European exchanges. Xetra trading venue supports more than 90 percent of all shares trading within Germany.1 Xetra, through its platform, offers increased visibility for order depths and offers trading of stocks, funds, bonds, warrants, and commodities. "In addition to the Frankfurt trading platform, international partner exchanges also use its trading technology, including the Bulgarian Stock Exchange, the Irish Stock Exchange and the Malta Stock Exchange and Wiener Borse AG. The world's largest exchange network connects 4,000 traders from 16 European countries plus Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates."1

About Veritas Pharma Inc.

Veritas Pharma Inc. is an emerging-stage pharmaceutical and IP development company, who, through Cannevert Therapeutics Ltd. (CTL), is advancing the science behind medical cannabis. It is the Company's aim, through its investment in CTL, to develop the most effective cannabis strains (cultivars) specific to pain, nausea, epilepsy and PTSD, solving the critical need for clinical data to support medical marijuana claims. CTL's unique value proposition uses a low-cost research and development model to help drive shareholder value, and speed-to-market. Veritas investment in CTL is led by a strong management team, bringing together veteran academic pharmacologists, anesthetists & chemists. The company's commercial mission is to patent protect CTL's IP (cultivars & strains) and sell or license to cancer clinics, insurance industry and pharma, targeting multi-billion dollar global markets.

About Cannevert Therapeutics Ltd.

CTL is a private company owned by a unique group of chemists, pharmacologists, and other medical professionals. With offices located on the campus of the University of British Columbia, CTL has obtained permission from Health Canada to conduct research on cannabis strains. CTL has entered a funding agreement with Veritas where, upon advancing $1.5 million to CTL, Veritas will earn an 80% ownership interest in CTL. Although Veritas has advanced $750,000 to CTL, no ownership interest will be earned by Veritas until the entire $1.5 million is received. CTL has also entered a licensing agreement with Veritas, licensing Veritas to market all products developed by CTL.

Veritas Pharma Inc. is a publicly traded company which trades in three countries including Canada, on the Canadian Stock Exchange under the ticker VRT; in the United States, on the OTC under the ticker VRTHF; and in Germany, on the Frankfurt exchange under the ticker 2VP.

For more information, please visit our website: www.veritaspharmainc.com

On behalf of the Board of Directors; Veritas Pharma Inc.

"Dr. Lui Franciosi"

Dr. Lui Franciosi

Chief Executive Officer

1. Xetra, Deutsche Borse. "Deutsche Borse Xetra - Reference Market". www.xetra.com. Retrieved 2016-12-07.



Further information about the Company is available on our website at www.veritaspharmainc.com or under our profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the CSE website at www.thecse.com

Investor and Public Relations Contact

Veritas Pharma Inc.

Sam Eskandari

Telephone: +1.416.918.6785

Email: ir@veritaspharmainc.com

Website: www.veritaspharmainc.com

The CSE has not reviewed, nor approved or disapproved the content of this press release.
PUNE, India, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The report"Acrylic Processing Aid Marketby Polymer Type (PVC), Fabrication Process (Extrusion, Injection Molding), End-Use Industry (Building & Construction, Packaging, Automotive, Consumer Goods) - Global Forecast to 2026", published by MarketsandMarkets, the global market size was USD 645.4 Million in 2016, and is projected to reach USD 1,173.6 Million by 2026, registering an of CAGR of 6.2% between 2016 and 2026.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 )



Browse 105 market data Tables and 59 Figures spread through 159 Pages and in-depth TOC on"Acrylic Processing Aid Market"

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/acrylic-processing-aid-market-50725911.html

Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.

The rapid growth of building & construction industry and increasing demand for various applications such as pipes, flooring, roofing, windows & doors, containers, and trimboard in the Asia-Pacific region, and growth of other industries such as packaging, automotive, and consumer goods have led to the growth of the APA market.

Polyvinylchloride (PVC) polymer type projected to be the largest market for APA between 2016 and 2026

Polyvinylchloride (PVC) is projected to be the largest polymer type of the APA market between 2016 and 2026. It provides flexibility which is helpful in making modern automotive cost-effective, safe, and of high quality. It helps in reducing the weight of vehicles owing to the lightweight of its components in comparison to other materials. PVC is also less expensive as compared to other plastics.

Download PDF Brochure @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=50725911

Extrusion to be the fastest-growing fabrication process for APA between 2016 and 2026

The fabrication process is used to process the plastic materials with APA. Some of the major fabrication processes for APA includes extrusion, injection molding, and others. Extrusion is expected to be the fastest-growing fabrication process of the APA market between 2016 and 2026. Extrusion is used to process high volume of plastics. The pellets, granules, flakes, or powders are fed into the extrusion machine and melted under high temperature (depending upon the type of plastic to be extruded).

Asia-Pacific to be the fastest-growing market for APA between 2016 and 2026

Asia-Pacific is projected to be the fastest-growing Acrylic Processing Aid Market between 2016 and 2026. The market for APA in Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at a high rate owing to investments in various industries, such as building & construction, packaging, automotive, and consumer goods. The increasing purchasing power of the middle class is also an important factor that drives the Asia-Pacific APA market. Emerging industries in developing countries of this region are creating opportunities for the APA market.

Make an Inquiry @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=50725911

Currently, the APA market is dominated by various market players such as LG Chem Ltd. (Korea), Kaneka Corporation (Japan), Arkema SA (France), The Dow Chemical Company (U.S.), and Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd. (Japan), 3M Company (U.S.), BASF SE (Germany), Shandong Ruifeng Chemical Co. Ltd (China), Akdeniz Kimya A.S. (Turkey), and Shandong Rike Chemicals Co., Ltd. (China).

Browse Related Reports:



Polymer Processing Aid Market by Polymer Type (Polyethylene (LLDPE, LDPE, HDPE), Polypropylene), Application (Blown Film & Cast Film, Extrusion Blow Molding, Wire & Cable, Pipe & Tube, Fibers & Raffia) - Global Forecast to 2021

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/polymer-processing-aid-market-262874414.html

Additive Masterbatch Market by Type (Antimicrobial, Antioxidant, Flame Retardants), Carrier Resin (PE, PP, PS), and End-use Industry (Packaging, Building & Construction, Consumer Goods, Automotive, Agriculture) - Global Trends & Forecasts to 2021

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/additive-masterbatch-market-227086700.html

Subscribe Reports from Chemicals & Materials Domain: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Knowledgestore.asp

About MarketsandMarkets

MarketsandMarkets is the largest market research firm worldwide in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors.

M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers.

We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository.



Contact:

Mr.Rohan

MarketsandMarkets

701 Pike Street

Suite 2175, Seattle,

WA 98101, United States

Tel: +1-888-600-6441

Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com

Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog @http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/chemical

Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets


LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Tata Steel UK said it reached an agreement with trade unions on a number of proposals that would structurally reduce risks and help secure a more sustainable future for its UK business.



The company noted that it will next week start consultation with its employees on a proposal to close the British Steel Pension Scheme to future accrual. Employees would be offered a competitive defined contribution scheme.



The proposal on pensions and other changes in the employment terms are part of the ongoing transformation plan that the business is undertaking. As part of today's agreement all parties will work towards making Tata Steel UK a sustainable business.



The company and trade unions have also agreed on the principle that subject to the structural de-risking and de-linking of the British Steel Pension Scheme fund from the business, Tata Steel UK will continue the existing blast furnace configuration in Port Talbot until 2021. Further, based on achieving the necessary financial performance and cash flows as per the transformation plan of the UK business, the company will continue to invest across the UK sites to enhance the competitive position of Tata Steel UK in the European steel industry.



The company said it has also offered an employment pact until 2021 which supports employees through future changes by investing in their skills to support further plant upgrades, automation and other digital initiatives.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
Figure 1: How the piezoelectric device applies stress to the test-material plate

Figure 2: Compact instrument measures magnetic properties of materials with stress applied. A schematic (left) and an instrument photo (right)

Figure 3: Vector magnetic hysteresis measured under compressive stress using this instrument



Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. Monozukuri Technologies Laboratory E-mail: vec-hys@ml.labs.fujitsu.com Fujitsu Limited Public and Investor Relations Tel: +81-3-3215-5259 URL: www.fujitsu.com/global/news/contacts/

TOKYO, Dec 8, 2016 - (JCN Newswire) - Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. today announced the development of technology for measuring the magnetic properties of materials when force (stress) is applied. This will be vital to enabling more advanced large-scale simulations of the kinds of magnetic fields found in the motors of electric vehicles (EV).EV engines, which have numerous operating conditions, such as their rotational speed, need to be prototyped and tested repeatedly under these different conditions. Computer simulations could help make the design process more efficient and increase motor performance, but the simulations need to be able to accurately model energy losses arising from the magnetic fields of different materials, which can change considerably when stress is applied. This creates a need for a technology that can accurately measure the effects of stress.By attaching a piezoelectric device to an electromagnetic steel test plate to create various states of stress, Fujitsu Laboratories developed the world's first technology that measures the magnetic property called vector magnetic hysteresis(1) - which reduces motor efficiency - in the presence of stress.Fujitsu Limited will be able to use this technology to obtain a wide variety of measurement data that are vital to the large-scale, multi-scale magnetic-field simulator(2) that it is currently developing. This technology promises to promote the design of high-efficiency electric motors with low energy loss, and the development of material informatics, which is the development of materials with computer simulations.Details of this technology were presented at the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan's Joint Meeting on Magnetics & Linear Drive, opened December 5 in Nagasaki, Japan.Development BackgroundMotors are said to account for some 40-50% of worldwide electric-power consumption. When motors are running, energy loss occurs due to the properties that the motor's constituent materials exhibit in relation to magnetism; improving the efficiency of all the electric motors in Japan by 1%, for example, would result in energy savings equivalent to the energy produced by one thermal-generation power plant. In addition, not only from an environmental perspective, but as electric motor-driven EV become more prevalent, there is a growing demand for technologies that can improve motor efficiency.IssuesEV engines, which have numerous operating conditions, such as their rotational speed, need to be prototyped and tested repeatedly under these different conditions. Computer simulations could help make the design process more efficient and increase motor performance.The materials used in electric motors undergo a process in manufacturing called shrink-fitting, in which they are joined using heat and force; this process creates stress inside the material that persists. Simulations need to be able to accurately model the energy loss arising from the magnetic properties of a material, but it is known that those magnetic properties can change significantly when stress is applied, so there is a need to be able to accurately measure the effects of stress. But because existing measuring devices for applying stress are large - about one meter square - and perform measurements on a large scale, a more compact and convenient measurement device that could gather a wide range of data more easily would be desirable.About the TechnologyFujitsu Laboratories has developed the world's first technology that measures a magnetic property called vector magnetic hysteresis, using a piezoelectric device with a shape that can change with the application of voltage and that can produce force in a specific direction to flexibly control the stress on the material being measured (see Figures 1, 2, 3).Key features of the technology are as follows:1. Technology to apply uniform stress to test material being measuredWith this technology, a piezoelectric device - which changes form when voltage is applied - is attached to the test material being measured, and by controlling the voltage applied to the piezoelectric device, the magnetic properties are measured while modulating the stress applied to the test material plate. By attaching the piezoelectric device to the test material being measured using an adhesive, direct stress is applied to the area being measured. Because the test-material plate is a thin sheet, piezoelectric devices can be mounted to both sides, and by applying an equal stress to both sides, the test material's warpage can be controlled. In this way, stress is applied uniformly and with fine control based on voltages to the entire area being measured.Figure 1: How the piezoelectric device applies stress to the test-material platehttp://www.acnnewswire.com/topimg/Low_FujitsuMagnetic1281.jpg2. Compact instrument measures magnetic properties of material with stress appliedThe common motor, known as an induction motor, can generate an internal electric field. Fujitsu Laboratories developed a Round Rotational Single Sheet Tester (RRSST) that measures vector magnetic hysteresis using a common, compact induction motor. The instrument has a simple structure and is small, measuring 30 cm square. By incorporating a structure in which it was possible to apply stress to the test materials and equipping it to the measuring instrument, Fujitsu Laboratories was able to easily measure vector magnetic hysteresis under a variety of stress conditions. This marks the world's first time that it was possible to measure vector magnetic hysteresis of stress conditions applied by a piezoelectric device. This technology was developed in collaboration with Professor Tetsuji Matsuo of Kyoto University.Figure 2: Compact instrument measures magnetic properties of materials with stress applied. A schematic (left) and an instrument photo (right)http://www.acnnewswire.com/topimg/Low_FujitsuMagnetic1282.jpgFigure 3: Vector magnetic hysteresis measured under compressive stress using this instrumenthttp://www.acnnewswire.com/topimg/Low_FujitsuMagnetic1283.jpgResultsThis newly developed technology is capable of obtaining a variety of measurements needed to implement accurate magnetic-field simulations that account for stress applied to materials. Implementing accurate magnetic-field simulations promises to greatly accelerate the development process of EV motors, and, for example, to reduce the number of prototypes - each of which incur high costs and a great many man hours - needed to develop such equipment, from the current figure of around five to only one or two.Future PlansFujitsu is developing FUJITSU Manufacturing Industry Solution EXAMAG LLG Simulator(3), magnetic-field simulation software package that uses massively parallel computation, and is currently working on next-generation magnetic-field simulations that can model the vector magnetic hysteresis properties of magnetic materials.Fujitsu Laboratories plans to continue refining the capabilities for measuring vector magnetic hysteresis and will move forward on work on gathering different kinds of measurements, with the goal of incorporating the benefits of this technology into the next version of EXAMAG LLG Simulator being developed at Fujitsu and due out in 2018. This technology also promises to advance material informatics, which uses computer simulations in material development, and promises to contribute to less wasted energy as more efficient motors gain widespread adoption.(1) Vector magnetic hysteresisA quality that expresses the relationship between a rotational magnetic-field vector and a magnetic-flux density vector in magnetized materials. This expresses a property called magnetic hysteresis, which is affected not only by the strength of a current magnetic field, but also by past history.(2) Large-scale, multi-scale magnetic-field simulatorBy combining Fujitsu's and Fujitsu Laboratories' extensive experience in massively parallel computing with micro-magnetics techniques that analyze magnetic states in a magnetic material on a fine-grained level, and with finite-element analysis, a numerical analysis technique, this simulator is able to analyze magnetic fields with complex shapes over a range of scales from macro to micro.(3) FUJITSU Manufacturing Industry Solution EXAMAG LLG Simulator"Fujitsu Releases New Version of EXAMAG LLG Simulator, Magnetic-Field Simulation Software," (press release dated March 24, 2015: http://www.fujitsu.com/global/about/resources/news/press-releases/2015/0324-01.html)About Fujitsu LaboratoriesFounded in 1968 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujitsu Limited, Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. is one of the premier research centers in the world. With a global network of laboratories in Japan, China, the United States and Europe, the organization conducts a wide range of basic and applied research in the areas of Next-generation Services, Computer Servers, Networks, Electronic Devices and Advanced Materials. For more information, please see: http://www.fujitsu.com/jp/group/labs/en/.About Fujitsu LtdFujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company, offering a full range of technology products, solutions, and services. Approximately 159,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702; ADR:FJTSY) reported consolidated revenues of 4.7 trillion yen (US$41 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2016. For more information, please see http://www.fujitsu.com.* Please see this press release, with images, at:http://www.fujitsu.com/global/about/resources/news/press-releases/Source: Fujitsu LtdContact:Copyright 2016 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Figure 1: Communication platform that Fujitsu offers

Figure 2: Digital Global Communication Service system diagram

Pricing and Availability



Fujitsu Limited Public and Investor Relations Tel: +81-3-3215-5259 URL: www.fujitsu.com/global/news/contacts/

TOKYO, Dec 8, 2016 - (JCN Newswire) - Fujitsu today announced that it has systematized the services that offer total support-from planning to design, implementation, operation, and usage promotion-for communication platforms(1) that change the ways customers work. Available in Japan from today, the services will be provided under the name FUJITSU Enterprise Application Digital Global Communication Service.In order to quickly respond to the increasing diversification in the ways people work, in 2015 Fujitsu consolidated its communication platform for its approximate 160,000 employees around the globe. This year it began migration of the platform to a multi-cloud environment, in order to be able to continually apply the latest cutting-edge technologies. Based on the experience Fujitsu gained from this internal implementation, such as the issues that were raised in the process and the methods used to resolve them, this new service offers total support for everything from planning the transformation of how people work to implementing and operating a communication platform, and promoting its usage. Customers who use the service can rapidly implement the optimal communication platform for their business. The process from planning to communication platform deployment can be completed in as little as three months.Fujitsu will continue to provide communication platform services with global support going forward, while aiming to expand related services.BackgroundThe Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is promoting reforms to the ways people work, with the goal of resolving issues in society, such as the declining birthrate, the aging population, and crisis management during disasters. Fujitsu has contributed to transforming the ways people work by providing communication platforms to customers representing about 1.5 million people, using the knowledge and experienced gained in implementing a communication platform internally.Figure 1: Communication platform that Fujitsu offershttp://www.acnnewswire.com/topimg/Low_FujitsuDigital1281.jpgIn implementing communication platforms for companies, there is an accelerating trend to migrate from existing on-premises systems to systems in multi-cloud environments, which combine cloud services provided by a variety of vendors. As part of this trend, Fujitsu itself this year decided to adopt a communication platform in a multi-cloud environment that combines services such as Microsoft's Office 365 integrated information sharing cloud service and Azure Active Directory Premium cloud authentication platform, the VMware AirWatch mobile device management service, and Box's content management platform, with global migration currently ongoing.Features of the Digital Global Communication ServiceThis service provides total support for everything from planning the transformation in how the customer works, to designing, implementing and operating a highly secure and stable communication platform optimized to achieve that transformation quickly, and even entrenching the system within the company and promoting its usage. In order to quickly create the customer's communication platform, Fujitsu offers this service based on a "Ready Concept," in which a series of processes are grouped into models for each phase, based on the knowledge and experience gained from implementing Fujitsu's internal global communication platform, as well as implementing platforms for customers representing 1.5 million people.Figure 2: Digital Global Communication Service system diagramhttp://www.acnnewswire.com/topimg/Low_FujitsuDigital1282.jpg1. Digital Global Communication Service Approach (Planning)Using the design approach method(2), this service supports the establishment of a concept of how the customers want to transform the ways they work, and the basic design of a communications platform. It also provides support for issues such as the establishment of policies dealing with legal regulations outside Japan, which must be considered when implementing a global communication platform. In addition, the service supports the evaluation of the potential return on investment from implementing a communications platform.2. Digital Global Communication Service Made (Design and implementation)This service completes the system design and implementation of a highly stable communication platform, based on the concept established in the planning phase, in half the time of previous methods, using system design templates prepared in advance.3. Digital Global Communication Service Managed (Operational design and operations)To enable the users and system administrators of the communication platform to use and manage the system without keeping in mind the individual services in the multi-cloud environment, this service offers options such as system operation by an agent and help desk services. For the help desk services, support is offered in multiple languages, including Japanese, English and Chinese.4. Digital Global Communication Service Collaboration (Entrenchment and usage)This service will quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate the usage status of the communication platform post-implementation, and offer support and proposals to promote usage suited for each user department's level of activity.Comment from Toru Fukushima, Managing Executive Officer, General Manager, Enterprise and Partner Group, Microsoft Japan Co., Ltd."Through the strategic partnership between Microsoft Japan Co., Ltd. and Fujitsu Limited, we have promoted the implementation of multi-cloud solutions that transform the ways people work, especially with Office 365 and Azure ADP, which have been well received by numerous customers. In September this year, we jointly announced the enhancement of this partnership to accelerate the digital transformation of customers. I now enthusiastically welcome Fujitsu Limited's launch of the Digital Global Communication Service, providing the rich experience Fujitsu gained from its global-scale internal implementation, and implementing Office 365, Azure ADP, and Enterprise Mobility + Security for customers, supporting their rapid implementation and usage by an even broader range of customers."Comment from Jon Robertson, President, VMware K.K."With the increasing demand for high-performing business solutions that enable working-on-the-go in Japan, Fujitsu's 'Digital Global Communication Service' enterprise mobility application, powered by VMware AirWatch, enables comprehensive mobile management under a unified platform, providing a consumer-simple, enterprise-secure experience across all end-user devices. We look forward to further collaboration with Fujitsu to deliver a truly 'Digital Workspace' vision, enabling our mutual Japanese customers to work from anywhere, any time and on any device."Comment from Katsunori Furuichi, President and managing director, K.K. Box Japan"We're thrilled to be working with Fujitsu to identify ways of creating transformative software for Japanese businesses in every industry. Our intended partnership will help more organizations to benefit from entirely new ways of working by providing technology which enables secure collaboration and content management."Pricing and Availabilityhttp://www.acnnewswire.com/topimg/Low_FujitsuDigital128Pricing.jpgSales TargetCumulative sales of 150.0 billion yen by the end of fiscal 2018 for all communication platform services, including the Digital Global Communication Platform Service.(1) Communication platformA communication platform including systems such as ID authentication, email, portal sites, document management, web conferences, telephones, messaging, and video.(2) Design approach methodAn approach that establishes concrete policies through relevant personnel gathering to share ideas and describe the future shape of the issue (vision), and studying and evaluating issues such as the specific ways of working to achieve that vision, and ways to employ solutions.About Fujitsu LtdFujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company, offering a full range of technology products, solutions, and services. Approximately 159,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702; ADR:FJTSY) reported consolidated revenues of 4.7 trillion yen (US$41 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2016. For more information, please see http://www.fujitsu.com.* Please see this press release, with images, at:http://www.fujitsu.com/global/about/resources/news/press-releases/Source: Fujitsu LtdContact:Copyright 2016 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Intelsat S.A. (NYSE:I), operator of the world's first Globalized Network, powered by its leading satellite backbone, today announced that its newly-formed wholly-owned subsidiary, Intelsat Connect Finance S.A. ("ICF"), has commenced, subject to the terms and conditions set forth in a confidential offering memorandum (the "Offering Memorandum"), two private offers to exchange (the "Exchange Offers") certain outstanding notes issued by Intelsat (Luxembourg) S.A. ("Intelsat Luxembourg") for (1) up to $421 million aggregate principal amount of new 12.50% Senior Notes due 2022 issued by ICF (the "ICF Notes") and (2) up to $150 million aggregate in cash.

ICF is making the following Exchange Offers:

(1) an offer to exchange (the "2018 Lux Notes Exchange Offer") 6.75% Senior Notes due 2018 issued by Intelsat Luxembourg (CUSIP No. 458204 AN4) (the "2018 Lux Notes") held by Eligible Holders (as defined below) for (i) up to an aggregate principal amount of $77 million of ICF Notes and (ii) up to $131 million aggregate in cash; and

(2) an offer to exchange (the "2021 Lux Notes Exchange Offer") 7.75% Senior Notes due 2021 issued by Intelsat Luxembourg (CUSIP No. 458204 AP9) (the "2021 Lux Notes" and together with the 2018 Lux Notes, the "Lux Notes") held by Eligible Holders for (i) up to an aggregate principal amount of $344 million of ICF Notes and (ii) up to $19 million aggregate in cash.

For each $1,000 principal amount of 2018 Lux Notes and 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, validly tendered at or before the Early Delivery Time (as defined below) and not validly withdrawn, Eligible Holders of 2018 Lux Notes and 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, will be eligible to receive the applicable Total Offer Consideration set out in the table below, which includes the applicable early tender premium.

For each $1,000 principal amount of 2018 Lux Notes and 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, validly tendered after the Early Delivery Time and prior to the Expiration Time, Eligible Holders of 2018 Lux Notes and 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, will be eligible to receive only the applicable Exchange Offer Consideration set out in the table below.

For each $1,000 Principal Amount of 2018 Lux Notes or

2021 Notes Validly Tendered and Not Withdrawn(1) Total Offer Consideration if at or Prior to the Early Delivery Time Exchange Offer Consideration if After the Early Delivery Time(2) Security CUSIP Outstanding Principal Amount Cash Principal

Amount of

ICF Notes Cash Principal Amount of

ICF Notes 2018 Lux Notes 458204 AN4 $475,000,000(3) $600 $350 $575 $350 2021 Lux Notes 458204 AP9 $2,000,000,000 $30 $550 $5 $550

(1) Eligible Holders whose Lux Notes are accepted in the Exchange Offers will also receive a cash payment equal to the accrued and unpaid interest in respect of such Lux Notes from December 1, 2016, which is the most recent interest payment date, to, but excluding, the Early Settlement Date or Final Settlement Date, as applicable.

(2) Aggregate cash payments to Eligible Holders who tender their Lux Notes after the Early Delivery Time and who in exchange receive ICF Notes on the Final Settlement Date, will be reduced by the amount of interest accrued on the ICF Notes received by them from the Early Settlement Date to, but not including, the Final Settlement Date.

(3) Excludes $25 million principal amount of 2018 Lux Notes held by Intelsat Luxembourg.

The maximum principal amount of 2018 Lux Notes that will be accepted for exchange in the 2018 Lux Notes Exchange Offer will be $217 million (the "Maximum 2018 Exchange Amount"). The maximum principal amount of 2021 Lux Notes that will be accepted for exchange in the 2021 Lux Notes Exchange Offer will be $624 million (the "Maximum 2021 Exchange Amount").

Tenders of 2018 Lux Notes and 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, received at or before the Early Delivery Time will receive priority for application against the Maximum 2018 Exchange Amount and Maximum 2021 Exchange Amount relative to tenders received thereafter. If the aggregate principal amount of 2018 Lux Notes and/or 2021 Lux Notes tendered and not validly withdrawn in an Exchange Offer at or before the Early Delivery Time exceeds the Maximum 2018 Exchange Amount or the Maximum 2021 Exchange Amount, as applicable, then ICF will accept the 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, so tendered on a pro rata basis, regardless of whether ICF chooses to have an Early Settlement Date. In such case, no tenders of the 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, following the Early Delivery Time will be accepted in the applicable Exchange Offers.

If the aggregate principal amount of 2018 Lux Notes and/or 2021 Lux Notes tendered and not validly withdrawn in an Exchange Offer at or before the Early Delivery Time does not exceed the Maximum 2018 Exchange Amount or the Maximum 2021 Exchange Amount, as applicable, but the total 2018 Lux Notes and/or 2021 Lux Notes tendered and not validly withdrawn in an Exchange Offer at or before the Expiration Time does exceed the Maximum 2018 Exchange Amount or the Maximum 2021 Exchange Amount, as applicable, then ICF will accept all of the 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, tendered at or before the Early Delivery Time and will accept the 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, tendered after the Early Delivery Time on a pro rata basis, regardless of whether ICF chooses to have an Early Settlement Date.

The ICF Notes will mature on April 1, 2022. Interest on the ICF Notes will accrue at the rate of 12.50% per annum and be payable semi-annually in arrears on December 15 and June 15, commencing on June 15, 2017. On or after June 1, 2018, ICF may redeem all or a portion of the ICF Notes at any time at a price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the ICF Notes redeemed, together with accrued and unpaid interest to but excluding the redemption date. In addition, prior to June 1, 2018, ICF may redeem all or a portion of the ICF Notes at any time at a price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the ICF Notes redeemed plus a customary make-whole premium as of, and accrued and unpaid interest to but excluding, the redemption date.

ICF was formed by Intelsat Luxembourg in connection with the Exchange Offers. As a condition precedent to consummation of the Exchange Offers, ICF is required to be capitalized with 100% of the equity interests currently held by Intelsat Luxembourg in Intelsat Jackson Holdings S.A. ("Intelsat Jackson"), $25 million principal amount of 2018 Lux Notes presently held by Intelsat Luxembourg in treasury, and approximately $300 million in cash, such that less than approximately $50 million will be retained by Intelsat Luxembourg. In the near term, ICF expects to hold the Lux Notes obtained by it in the Exchange Offers and to use the income received on such notes to finance interest payments on the ICF 2022 Notes.

The ICF Notes will be ICF's senior unsecured obligations, ranking equally in right of payment with all of its existing and future senior indebtedness and senior to its existing and future subordinated indebtedness. The ICF Notes will be effectively subordinated to ICF's existing and future secured indebtedness to the extent of the assets securing such secured debt. The ICF Notes will also be structurally subordinated to all of the existing and future liabilities of ICF's subsidiaries, including the liabilities of Intelsat Jackson under Intelsat Jackson's Secured Credit Agreement and existing notes, and structurally senior to all indebtedness of Intelsat Luxembourg, including Lux Notes not accepted in the Exchange Offers. On the issue date, Intelsat Luxembourg, the direct parent of ICF, will irrevocably and unconditionally guarantee the ICF Notes on an unsecured senior basis.

The Exchange Offers will expire at 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on January 5, 2017, unless they are extended or earlier terminated by ICF. In order to be eligible to receive the Total Offer Consideration, Eligible Holders must validly tender their 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, at or prior to 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on December 20, 2016, unless extended by ICF (such date and time, as the same may be extended, the "Early Delivery Time").

The following table sets forth certain key dates of the Exchange Offers. Further information may be found in the Offering Memorandum:

Key Date Calendar Date Launch Date December 7, 2016 Early Delivery Time 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on December 20, 2016, unless extended or earlier terminated by ICF. Early Settlement Date Promptly after the Early Delivery Time, and expected to be the third business day after the Early Delivery Time. The Early Settlement Date is currently expected to be December 23, 2016. ICF reserves the right but is under no obligation to elect to have an Early Settlement Date. Withdrawal Deadline 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on the date of the Early Delivery Time, unless extended or earlier terminated by ICF. Exchange Offers Expiration Time 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on January 5, 2017, unless extended or earlier terminated by ICF. Final Settlement Date The final settlement date is currently expected to be January 10, 2017.

ICF reserves the right, but is under no obligation, to elect an Early Settlement Date. However, if so elected, "Early Settlement Date" refers to the date on which ICF Notes will be issued and the applicable cash payment will be paid to holders in exchange for 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, accepted in the Exchange Offers that are validly tendered and not validly withdrawn prior to the Early Delivery Time. The "Final Settlement Date" refers to the date on which ICF Notes will be issued and the applicable cash payment will be paid to holders in exchange for 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, accepted in the Exchange Offers and not settled on the Early Settlement Date.

Subject to applicable law and the terms set forth in the Offering Memorandum, ICF reserves the right to waive any and all conditions to the Exchange Offers, in whole or in part, and may do so, subject to applicable law, without reinstating withdrawal rights. In addition, ICF expressly reserves the right to extend or terminate the Exchange Offers and to otherwise amend or modify the Exchange Offers in any respect. Each of the Exchange Offers is independent of and not conditioned on the other, and ICF may waive conditions to, extend, terminate or otherwise amend or modify, or make determinations under (including, without limitation, electing an Early Settlement Date), one Exchange Offer without taking the same action with respect to the other.

On December 2, 2016 (and thereafter by joinder on December 5, 2016), certain holders of 2018 Lux Notes (the "2018 Supporting Holders") entered into a support and exchange agreement (the "2018 Support Agreement") with Intelsat S.A., Intelsat Luxembourg and ICF, whereby such 2018 Supporting Holders agreed to exchange with ICF, separate from the 2018 Lux Notes Exchange Offer, their 2018 Lux Notes for $600 in cash and $350 in principal amount of ICF Notes per $1,000 principal amount of 2018 Lux Notes substantially simultaneously with the Early Settlement Date of the 2018 Lux Notes Exchange Offer. The 2018 Supporting Holders collectively held, as of December 2, 2016 (and as of December 5, 2016 for the joining holder), approximately $144 million aggregate principal amount of 2018 Lux Notes (approximately 30% of the aggregate principal amount outstanding).

On December 5, 2016, certain holders of 2018 Lux Notes, 8.125% Senior Notes due 2023 issued by Intelsat Luxembourg (the "2023 Lux Notes") and 2021 Lux Notes (such holders, the "2021/2023 Supporting Holders", and together with the 2018 Supporting Holders, the "Supporting Holders") entered into a support and exchange agreement (the "2021/2023 Support Agreement", and together with the 2018 Support Agreement, the "Support Agreements") with Intelsat S.A., Intelsat Luxembourg and ICF. Pursuant to the 2021/2023 Support Agreement, the 2021/2023 Supporting Holders agreed to exchange with ICF, separate from the 2021 Lux Notes Exchange Offer, their 2018 Lux Notes for the same consideration that will be received by the 2018 Supporting Holders pursuant to the 2018 Support Agreement and their 2021 Lux Notes and 2023 Lux Notes for $30 in cash and $550 in principal amount of ICF Notes per $1,000 principal amount of 2021 Lux Notes or 2023 Lux Notes, as the case may be, substantially simultaneously with the Early Settlement Date of the 2021 Lux Notes Exchange Offer. The 2021/2023 Supporting Holders collectively held, as of December 5, 2016, approximately $355 million aggregate principal amount of 2021 Lux Notes (approximately 18% of the aggregate principal amount outstanding), approximately $112 million aggregate principal amount of 2023 Lux Notes (approximately 11% of the aggregate principal amount outstanding) and approximately $67 million aggregate principal amount of 2018 Lux Notes (approximately 14% of the aggregate principal amount outstanding).

The Maximum 2018 Exchange Amount and the Maximum 2021 Exchange Amount were determined in light of the obligations of ICF under each of the Support Agreements, and the exchange by the Supporting Holders of their 2018 Lux Notes and 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, pursuant to the applicable Support Agreement will not be subject to pro-ration whether or not the 2018 Lux Notes Exchange Offer or the 2021 Lux Notes Exchange Offer, as applicable, is over-subscribed.

Shortly after the launch of the Exchange Offers, Intelsat Luxembourg intends to commence an exchange offer for the 2018 Lux Notes pursuant to which participating holders will be entitled to receive an equal principal amount of new 12.50% Senior Notes of Intelsat Luxembourg due 2024 (the "2024 Lux Exchange Offer"). Tendering notes in the 2018 Lux Notes Exchange Offer will preclude tendering those notes in the 2024 Lux Exchange Offer unless they are validly withdrawn from the 2018 Lux Notes Exchange Offer. ICF intends to tender the 2018 Lux Notes acquired by it in the 2018 Lux Notes Exchange Offer into the 2024 Lux Exchange Offer and thereby acquire, in exchange for 2018 Lux Notes, a like principal amount of new 12.50% Senior Notes due 2024 of Intelsat Luxembourg. Following such exchange, it is anticipated that the Lux 2018 Notes so acquired by Intelsat Luxembourg will be cancelled.

The ICF Notes have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or any other applicable securities laws and, unless so registered, the ICF Notes may not be offered, sold, pledged or otherwise transferred in the United States or to or for the account or benefit of any U.S. person, except pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act. ICF does not intend to register the ICF Notes under the Securities Act or the securities laws of any other jurisdiction. The ICF Notes are not transferable except in accordance with the restrictions described more fully in the Offering Memorandum.

The Exchange Offers are being made, and the ICF Notes to be issued pursuant to the Exchange Offers are being offered and issued, only (a) in the United States to holders of 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, who are "qualified institutional buyers" (as defined in Rule 144A under the Securities Act), (b) in the United States to holders of 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, not resident in Arkansas who are institutional "accredited investors" (within the meaning of Rule 501(a)(1), (2), (3) or (7) of Regulation D under the Securities Act) and (c) outside the United States to holders of 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, who are persons other than U.S. persons in reliance upon Regulation S under the Securities Act. The holders of 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, who have certified to ICF that they are eligible to participate in the Exchange Offers pursuant to at least one of the foregoing conditions are referred to as "Eligible Holders." Only Eligible Holders are authorized to receive or review the Offering Memorandum or participate in the Exchange Offers.

The Exchange Offers are being conducted pursuant to the Offering Memorandum, this press release and Intelsat S.A.'s or ICF's other press releases related to the Exchange Offer (collectively, the "Exchange Offer Materials").

Guggenheim Securities acted as Intelsat's financial advisor for these transactions and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen Katz served as legal advisor.

Questions regarding the Exchange Offers may be directed to ICF at the following email address: Attn: Investor Relations, Email: investor.relations@intelsat.com.

The complete terms and conditions of the Exchange Offers, as well as the terms of the ICF Notes, are set forth in the Offering Memorandum. The Offering Memorandum will only be made available to holders who complete an eligibility letter confirming their status as Eligible Holders. Holders of 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes who wish to receive a copy of the eligibility letter for the Exchange Offers may contact Global Bondholder Services Corporation (the "Information and Exchange Agent") at 65 Broadway Suite 404, New York, New York 10006, Attn: Corporate Actions, (212) 430-3774 (for banks and brokers) or (866) 470-4200 (for all others). Holders may also obtain and complete an electronic copy of the eligibility letter on the following website maintained by Global Bondholder Services: http://gbsc-usa.com/eligibility/intelsat

ICF is making the Exchange Offers only by, and pursuant to, the terms of the Exchange Offer Materials. None of ICF, the Information and Exchange Agent, nor their respective affiliates makes any recommendation as to whether Eligible Holders should tender or refrain from tendering their 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable. Eligible Holders must make their own decision as to whether or not to tender their 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, as well as with respect to the principal amount of the 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, to tender. The Exchange Offers are not being made to any holders of 2018 Lux Notes or 2021 Lux Notes, as applicable, in any jurisdiction in which the making or acceptance thereof would not be in compliance with the securities, blue sky or other laws of such jurisdiction.

This press release does not constitute an offer to purchase securities or a solicitation of an offer to sell any securities or an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase any new securities, nor does it constitute an offer or solicitation in any jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation is unlawful.

About Intelsat

Intelsat S.A. (NYSE: I) operates the world's first Globalized Network, powered by its leading satellite backbone, delivering high-quality, cost-effective video and broadband services anywhere in the world. Intelsat's Globalized Network combines the world's largest satellite backbone with terrestrial infrastructure, managed services and an open, interoperable architecture to enable customers to drive revenue and reach through a new generation of network services. Thousands of organizations serving billions of people worldwide rely on Intelsat to provide ubiquitous broadband connectivity, multi-format video broadcasting, secure satellite communications and seamless mobility services. The end result is an entirely new world, one that allows us to envision the impossible, connect without boundaries and transform the ways in which we live.

Intelsat Safe Harbor Statement

Statements in this news release, including statements regarding the Exchange Offers, constitute "forward-looking statements" that do not directly or exclusively relate to historical facts. When used in this release, the words "may," "will," "might," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "project," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "intend," "potential," "outlook," and "continue," and the negative of these terms, and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements and information.

The forward-looking statements reflect Intelsat's intentions, plans, expectations, anticipations, projections, estimations, predictions, assumptions and beliefs about future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside of Intelsat's control. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements include known and unknown risks. Known risks include, among others, market conditions and the risks described in Intelsat's annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2015, quarterly report on Form 6-K for the quarters ended June 30, 2016 and September 30, 2016, and its other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and risks and uncertainties related to our ability to consummate the Exchange Offers.

Because actual results could differ materially from Intelsat's intentions, plans, expectations, anticipations, projections, estimations, predictions, assumptions and beliefs about the future, you are urged to view all forward-looking statements with caution. Intelsat does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161207006438/en/

Contacts:

Intelsat

Dianne VanBeber, +1 703-559-7406

Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications

dianne.vanbeber@intelsat.com

or

Michele Loguidice, +1 703-559-7372

Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications

michele.loguidice@intelsat.com
CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. dollar weakened against the other major currencies in the Asian session on Thursday. The U.S. dollar fell to a 3-day low of 113.13 against the yen, from yesterday's closing value of 113.74. Against the euro and the Swiss franc, the greenback dropped to 2-day lows of 1.0784 and 1.0054 from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.0752 and 1.0067, respectively. The greenback edged down to 1.2664 against the pound, from yesterday's closing value of 1.2624. Against the Australian and the Canadian dollars, the greenback slipped to more than a 3-week low of 0.7508 and nearly a 2-month low of 1.3209 from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.7481 and 1.3233, respectively. If the greenback extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 109.00 against the yen, 1.13 against the euro, 0.98 against the franc, 1.31 against the pound, 0.76 against the aussie and 1.29 against the loonie. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
- VENCLYXTO' (venetoclax) monotherapy is indicated for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) in the presence of 17p deletion or TP53 mutation in adult patients who are unsuitable for or have failed a B-cell receptor pathway inhibitor1

- VENCLYXTO monotherapy is also indicated for the treatment of CLL in the absence of 17p deletion or TP53 mutation in adult patients who have failed both chemoimmunotherapy and a B-cell receptor pathway inhibitor1

- In a Phase 2 clinical trial of VENCLYXTO in 107 patients with previously treated CLL with 17p deletion, overall response rate (ORR) was 79 percent1

- In a second Phase 2 clinical trial of VENCLYXTO in 64 patients with CLL who had been previously treated with and failed ibrutinib or idelalisib, combined ORR was 64 percent1

- VENCLYXTO is the first approved BCL-2 inhibitor in Europe

NORTH CHICAGO, Illinois, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV), a global biopharmaceutical company, today announced the European Commission (EC) has granted conditional marketing authorization for VENCLYXTO' (venetoclax) monotherapy for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) in the presence of 17p deletion or TP53 mutation in adult patients who are unsuitable for or have failed a B-cell receptor pathway inhibitor; and for the treatment of CLL in the absence of 17p deletion or TP53 mutation in adult patients who have failed both chemoimmunotherapy and a B-cell receptor pathway inhibitor.1 The EC approved VENCLYXTO as a first-in-class, oral, once-daily medicine that selectively inhibits the function of the BCL-2 protein.1 BCL-2 prevents the natural death of cells, including CLL cells.1 VENCLYXTO is being developed by AbbVie and Genentech, a member of the Roche Group. It is jointly commercialized by the companies in the U.S. and by AbbVie outside of the U.S.

"The European approval of VENCLYXTO is an important step forward for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia in Europe," said Richard Gonzalez, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of AbbVie. "AbbVie has led the way in researching ways to block BCL-2 activity, and, as the first approved BCL-2 inhibitor in Europe, VENCLYXTO delivers on AbbVie's promise to develop cancer medicines where an unmet need exists."

CLL, a cancer of the bone marrow and blood, is typically a slow-progressing cancer.2 The 17p deletion, a genomic alteration in which a part of chromosome 17 is absent, is found in 3 to 10 percent of previously untreated CLL cases and up to 30 to 50 percent of relapsed or refractory CLL cases.3 A TP53 mutation occurs in 8 to 15 percent of patients at first-line treatment and up to 35 to 50 percent of cases in refractory CLL.3Those with the 17p deletion or TP53 mutations often have a particularly poor prognosis3 and a median life expectancy of less than two to three years with current standard-of-care regimens.4

Conditional marketing authorization is granted to medicines that address an unmet medical need, where the benefit of its immediate availability to patients outweighs the risk of limited data availability, and where comprehensive data will be provided.5

"Results from the clinical trial program show that VENCLYXTO provides significant overall response among both patients with previously treated CLL with 17p deletion and patients with CLL who had been previously treated with and failed a B-cell receptor inhibitor," said Stephan Stilgenbauer, M.D., Ulm University, Germany, investigator in the VENCLYXTO clinical trial program. "While advances in treatment over the past few years have been meaningful for patients in Europe living with CLL, new options are still needed."

"The approval of VENCLYXTO represents an innovation in treatment options for people living with CLL who may harbor the 17p deletion or TP53 mutation and typically have a poor prognosis," said Michael Severino, M.D., executive vice president of research and development and chief scientific officer, AbbVie. "With this approval, we are pleased to be able to bring a new treatment option to patients in more countries around the world with this difficult-to-treat cancer."

In October 2016, AbbVie announced the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) granted a positive opinion for the conditional marketing authorization of VENCLYXTO.6 Additionally, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) granted Orphan Drug Designation to VENCLYXTO for the treatment of multiple myeloma,7 a type of cancer that forms in plasma cells in bone marrow,8 and for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL),9 an aggressive type of lymphoma and the most common form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).10 Previously, the EMA granted Orphan Drug Designation to VENCLYXTO for the treatment of CLL6 and for the treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML),11 the most common type of acute leukaemia in adults.12 Orphan Drug Designation is granted to therapies aimed at the treatment, prevention or diagnosis of life-threatening diseases that affect no more than five in 10,000 persons in the EU and for which no satisfactory therapy is available. The medicine must also provide significant benefit to those affected by the condition.13

VENCLYXTO Clinical Trial Program

Study 1: Previously treated patients with CLL harboring 17p deletion

The safety and efficacy of VENCLYXTO was evaluated in a Phase 2, single arm, open-label, multi-center study in 107 patients (main cohort) with previously treated CLL with 17p deletion, with an additional 51 patients in a safety expansion cohort. Patients followed a 4- to 5-week dose-titration schedule starting at 20mg and increasing to 50mg, 100mg, 200mg and finally 400mg once-daily. Patients continued to receive VENCLYXTO 400mg once daily until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity was observed. The median time on treatment at the time of evaluation was 12months (range: 0 to 22months) for the main cohort. The median time on treatment for the combined cohort (main cohort plus safety expansion cohort, N=158) was 25 months (range: 0.5 to 50 months). The main cohort was assessed by an independent review committee, while the combined cohort was assessed by the investigators. Results showed:1

The primary efficacy endpoint, overall response rate (ORR), was 79 percent (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 70.5, 86.6) in the main cohort and 77 percent (95% CI: 69.9, 83.5) in the combined cohort.

Median duration of response (DOR) was not reached in the main cohort and was 27.5 months (95% CI: 26.5, NR) for the combined cohort.

Median progression-free survival (PFS) was not reached in the main cohort and was 27.2 months (95% CI: 21.9, NR) for the combined cohort.

Complete remission (CR) plus complete remission with incomplete marrow recovery (CRi) was achieved in 7 percent of patients in the main cohort and 18 percent of patients in the combined cohort.

Partial remission (PR) was reached in 69 percent of patients in the main cohort and 53 percent of patients in the combined cohort.

Nodular partial remission (nPR) was reached in 3 percent of patients in the main cohort and 6 percent of patients in the combined cohort.

Minimal residual disease (MRD) was evaluated in 93 of 158 patients who achieved CR, CRi or nPR with VENCLYXTO. MRD negativity in peripheral blood was achieved in 27 percent (41/158) of patients, including 15 patients who were MRD negative in the bone marrow. MRD negativity is an exploratory endpoint.

Study 2: Patients with CLL who have failed a B-cell receptor inhibitor

The safety and efficacy of VENCLYXTO was evaluated in a Phase 2 open-label, multi-center, non-randomized study in patients with CLL who had been previously treated with and failed ibrutinib (median number of prior oncology treatments was 4 [range: 1 to 12]) or idelalisib (median number of prior oncology treatments was 3 [range: 1 to 11]) therapy. Patients received VENCLYXTO via a recommended dose-titration schedule. Patients continued to receive VENCLYXTO 400 mg once daily until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity was observed. At the time of data cut-off, 64 patients were enrolled and treated with VENCLYXTO. Of these, 43 patients had received prior ibrutinib therapy (Arm A) and 21 had received prior idelalisib therapy (Arm B). Of the patients, 91 percent (39/42) in Arm A and 67 percent (14/21) in Arm B had relapsed on or were refractory to ibrutinib and idelalisib, respectively. Chromosomal aberrations were 11q deletion (30%, 19/62), 17p deletion (36%, 23/61), TP53 mutation (26%, 16/61) and unmutated IgVH (86%, 36/42). At the time of evaluation, median duration of treatment with VENCLYXTO was 11.7 months (range: 0.1 to 17.9 months). Results showed:1

The primary efficacy endpoint, ORR, was 67 percent (95% CI: 51.5, 80.9) in Arm A, 57 percent (95% CI: 34, 78.2) in Arm B and 64 percent (95% CI: 51.1, 75.7) in the total study population based on investigator assessment. The efficacy data were further evaluated by an IRC demonstrating a combined ORR of 67 percent (Arm A: 70 percent, Arm B: 62 percent).

The ORR for patients with 17p deletion/TP53 mutation was 71 percent (15/21) (95% CI: 47.8, 88.7) in Arm A and 50 percent (1/2) (95% CI: 1.3, 98.7) in Arm B.

For patients without 17p deletion/TP53 mutation, the ORR was 68 percent (15/22) (95% CI: 45.1, 86.1) in Arm A and 63 percent (12/19) (95% CI: 38.4, 83.7) in Arm B.

Median PFS and DOR were not reached with median follow-up of approximately 12 months for Arm A and 9 months for Arm B.

CR plus CRi was achieved in 7 percent of patients in Arm A, 14 percent of patients in Arm B and 9 percent of patients in the total patient population, per investigator assessment.

PR was reached in 56 percent of patients in Arm A, 43 percent of patients in Arm B and 52 percent of patients in the total patient population, per investigator assessment.

nPR was reached in 5 percent of patients in Arm A, zero percent in Arm B and 3 percent in the total patient population, per investigator assessment.

The safety of VENCLYXTO is based on pooled data of 296 patients treated in two Phase 2 studies and one Phase 1 study. In all, the studies enrolled patients with previously treated CLL, including 188 patients with 17p deletion and 92 patients who had failed a B-cell receptor inhibitor. The most commonly occurring adverse reactions (20 percent) of any grade in patients receiving VENCLYXTO were neutropenia/neutrophil count decreased, diarrhoea, nausea, anemia, upper respiratory tract infection, fatigue, hyperphosphatemia, vomiting and constipation. The most frequently reported serious adverse reactions (2 percent) were pneumonia, febrile neutropenia and tumour lysis syndrome (TLS). Discontinuations due to adverse reactions occurred in 9.1 percent of patients. Dosage adjustments due to adverse reactions occurred in 11.8 percent of patients.1

About VENCLYXTO' (venetoclax)

VENCLYXTO' (venetoclax), an oral B-cell lymphoma-2 (BCL-2) inhibitor, is indicated for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) in the presence of 17p deletion or TP53 mutation in adult patients who are unsuitable for or have failed a B-cell receptor pathway inhibitor; and for the treatment of CLL in the absence of 17p deletion or TP53 mutation in adult patients who have failed both chemoimmunotherapy and a B-cell receptor pathway inhibitor.1 It is also being evaluated for the treatment of patients with various blood cancer types.1,14,15,16,17 The BCL-2 protein prevents apoptosis (programmed cell death) of some cells, including lymphocytes, and can be overexpressed in CLL cells.1 VENCLYXTO, which is given once-daily, is designed to selectively inhibit the function of the BCL-2 protein.1

VENCLYXTO is being developed by AbbVie and Genentech, a member of the Roche Group. It is jointly commercialized by the companies in the U.S. and by AbbVie outside of the U.S. Together, the companies are committed to BCL-2 research with venetoclax, which is currently being evaluated in Phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of relapsed/refractory CLL, along with studies in several other cancers.

In April 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval of VENCLEXTA' (venetoclax) tablets for the treatment of patients with CLL with 17p deletion, as detected by an FDA-approved test, who have received at least one prior therapy.18 The FDA approved this indication under accelerated approval based on overall response rate, and continued approval may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in a confirmatory trial.18 Venetoclax is also currently approved in Argentina, Puerto Rico and Canada. AbbVie, in collaboration with Roche and Genentech, is currently working with regulatory agencies around the world to bring this medicine to eligible patients in need.

Important EU Safety Information

Contraindications

Concomitant use of strong CYP3A inhibitors at initiation and during the dose-titration phase due to increased risk for tumour lysis syndrome (TLS). Concomitant use of preparations containing St. John's wort as VENCLYXTO efficacy may be reduced. Hypersensitivity to the active substance or to any of the excipients is contraindicated.

Special Warnings & Precautions for Use

Tumour lysis syndrome (TLS), including fatal events, has occurred in patients with previously treated CLL with high tumour burden when treated with VENCLYXTO. VENCLYXTO poses a risk for TLS in the initial 5-week ramp-up phase. Changes in blood chemistries consistent with TLS that require prompt management can occur as early as 6 to 8 hours following the first dose of VENCLYXTO and at each dose increase. Patients should be assessed for risk and should receive appropriate prophylaxis for TLS.Blood chemistries should be monitored and abnormalities managed promptly. More intensive measures (including hospitalization) should be employed as overall risk increases.

Neutropenia (grade 3 or 4) has been reported and complete blood counts should be monitored throughout the treatment period.

Live vaccines should not be administered during treatment or thereafter until B-cell recovery.

Drug Interactions

CYP3A inhibitors may increase VENCLYXTO plasma concentrations. At initiation and dose-titration phase : Strong CYP3A inhibitors are contraindicated and moderate CYP3A inhibitors should be avoided.If moderate CYP3A inhibitors must be used, physicians should refer to the SmPC for dose adjustment recommendations. At steady daily dose : If moderate or strong CYP3A inhibitors must be used, physicians should refer to the SmPC for dose adjustment recommendations.

Avoid concomitant use of P-gp and BCRP inhibitors at initiation and during the dose titration phase.

CYP3A4 inducers may decrease VENCLYXTO plasma concentrations. Avoid coadministration with strong or moderate CYP3A inducers.

Co-administration of bile acid sequestrants with VENCLYXTO is not recommended as this may reduce the absorption of VENCLYXTO.

Adverse Reactions

The most commonly occurring adverse reactions (>=20%) of any grade were neutropenia/neutrophil count decreased, diarrhoea, nausea, anemia, upper respiratory tract infection, fatigue, hyperphosphatemia, vomiting and constipation.

The most frequently occurring adverse reactions (>=2%) were pneumonia, febrile neutropenia and TLS.

Discontinuations due to adverse reactions occurred in 9.1% of patients and dosage adjustments due to adverse reactions occurred in 11.8% of patients.

Specific Populations

VENCLYXTO may cause embryo-fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman. Advise females of reproductive potential to avoid pregnancy during treatment. Advise nursing women to discontinue breastfeeding during treatment.

This is not a complete summary of all safety information.See VENCLYXTO full summary of product characteristics (SmPC) at www.ema.europa.eu. Globally, prescribing information varies; refer to the individual country product label for complete information.

About AbbVie in Oncology

AbbVie is striving to outsmart cancer by working with scientists, physicians, industry peers, patient advocacy groups and most importantly patients, to discover, develop and provide new therapies that will have a remarkable impact on the lives of people around the world affected by cancer. Our goal is to provide medicines that make a transformational improvement in cancer treatment and outcomes for cancer patients. By exploring and investing in new pathways, technologies and approaches, AbbVie is breaking ground in some of the most widespread and difficult-to-treat cancers. We are also exploring solutions to help patients obtain access to our cancer medicines. With the acquisition of Pharmacyclics in 2015 and Stemcentrx in 2016, and through several collaborations, AbbVie's oncology portfolio consists of marketed medicines and a pipeline containing multiple new molecules being evaluated worldwide in nearly 200 clinical trials in 20 different tumor types. For more information about AbbVie Oncology, please visit http://abbvieoncology.com.

About AbbVie

AbbVie is a global, research-based biopharmaceutical company formed in 2013 following separation from Abbott Laboratories. The company's mission is to use its expertise, dedicated people and unique approach to innovation to develop and market advanced therapies that address some of the world's most complex and serious diseases. Together with its wholly-owned subsidiary, Pharmacyclics, AbbVie employs more than 28,000 people worldwide and markets medicines in more than 170 countries. For further information on the company and its people, portfolio and commitments, please visitwww.abbvie.com. Follow@abbvieon Twitter or view ourFacebookandLinkedInpages.

AbbVie Forward-Looking Statements

Some statements in this news release may be forward-looking statements for purposes of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "project" and similar expressions, among others, generally identify forward-looking statements. AbbVie cautions that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, challenges to intellectual property, competition from other products, difficulties inherent in the research and development process, adverse litigation or government action, and changes to laws and regulations applicable to our industry. Additional information about the economic, competitive, governmental, technological and other factors that may affect AbbVie's operations is set forth in Item 1A, "Risk Factors," in AbbVie's 2015 Annual Report on Form 10-K, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AbbVie undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to forward-looking statements as a result of subsequent events or developments, except as required by law.

1 Summary of Product Characteristics for VENCLYXTO.

2 American Cancer Society (2015). Leukemia - Chronic Lymphocytic. http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/cid/documents/webcontent/003111-pdf.pdf. Accessed December 2016.

3 Schnaiter A, et al. 17p deletion in chronic lymphocytic leukemia: risk stratification and therapeutic approach. Hematol Oncol Clin N Am. 2013; 27:289-301.

4 Stilgenbauer S, et al. Understanding and managing ultra high-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Hematology Am Soc Hematol Educ Program. 2010; 1:481-488.

5 European Medicines Agency. Conditional Marketing Authorisation. http://www.ema.europa.eu/ema/index.jsp?curl=pages/regulation/general/general_content_000925.jsp. Accessed October 2016.

6 European Medicines Agency. VENCLYXTO Opinion. http://www.ema.europa.eu/ema/index.jsp?curl=pages/medicines/human/medicines/004106/smops/Positive/human_smop_001041.jsp&mid=WC0b01ac058001d127. Accessed October 2016.

7 European Medicines Agency. Public summary of opinion on orphan designation. Venetoclax for the treatment of multiple myeloma. http://www.ema.europa.eu/docs/en_GB/document_library/Orphan_designation/2016/11/WC500216111.pdf. Accessed November 2016.

8 Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. Learn the basics about multiple myeloma. https://www.themmrf.org/multiple-myeloma/. Accessed October 2016.

9 European Medicines Agency. Public summary of opinion on orphan designation. Venetoclax for the treatment of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. http://www.ema.europa.eu/docs/en_GB/document_library/Orphan_designation/2016/11/WC500216112.pdf. Accessed November 2016.

10 Lymphoma Research Foundation. Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL). http://www.lymphoma.org/site/pp.asp?c=bkLTKaOQLmK8E&b=6300153. Accessed October 2016.

11 European Medicines Agency. Public summary of opinion on orphan designation. Venetoclax for the treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia. http://www.ema.europa.eu/docs/en_GB/document_library/Orphan_designation/2016/04/WC500204479.pdf. Accessed October 2016.

12 National Cancer Institute. Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatment (PDQ)-Patient Version. Accessed October 2016. https://www.cancer.gov/types/leukemia/patient/adult-aml-treatment-pdq.

13 European Medicines Agency. Orphan Designation. http://www.ema.europa.eu/ema/index.jsp?curl=pages/regulation/general/general_content_000029.jsp. Accessed October 2016.

14 Clinicaltrials.gov. NCT01889186: A study of the efficacy of ABT-199 in subjects with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia with the 17p deletion. Accessed October 2016.

15 Clinicaltrials.gov. NCT01994837: A Phase 2 Study of ABT-199 in subjects with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML). Accessed October 2016.

16 Clinicaltrials.gov. NCT01794520: Study evaluating ABT-199 in subjects with relapsed or refractory Multiple Myeloma. Accessed October 2016.

17 Clinicaltrials.gov. NCT01328626: A Phase 1 study evaluating the safety and pharmacokinetics of ABT-199 in subjects with relapsed or refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. Accessed October 2016.

18 Venclexta [Package Insert]. North Chicago, Ill.: AbbVie Inc.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160706/386913LOGO
Boston Healthcare Associates, Inc. (Boston Healthcare), a global life sciences consultancy, and Data Information Intelligence GmbH (dii) today announced a new partnership to develop and commercialize life sciences data and analytics for biopharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostic companies.

Boston Healthcare and dii will provide a joint offering for clients who need access to data and analytics across Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. The offering includes access to data from over 7,000 hospitals and labs, with a focus on detailed insights on installations from over 2,400 hospitals and labs, and clinical diagnostics testing volumes, trends, systems, and reagents used for Molecular and IVD tests in over 1,500 labs.

"We are excited to announce this new agreement with dii, which will not only expand our global market analytics offering, but more importantly will deliver highly granular insight into how diagnostic tools are adopted by treating clinicians and laboratories globally," said Joseph Ferrara, president of Boston Healthcare.

Clinical diagnostics are increasing in importance and value as the development and demand for targeted, precision medicines grow. The partnership between Boston Healthcare and dii will provide biopharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostic companies with unparalleled access to detailed datasets and customizable reports regarding the global market for diagnostic tests.

"Our research institute aggregates and analyzes a unique and centralized dataset that provides a comprehensive understanding of key country-specific life science market dynamics and clinical practice approaches", said Kathrin Franke, managing director of dii. "This level of analysis leads to deep comparative insights across key global markets."

To learn more about Boston Healthcare's partnership with dii, as well as the company's strategic consulting services to biopharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostics clients worldwide, visit www.bostonhealthcare.com.

About Boston Healthcare Associates, Inc.

Boston Healthcare Associates, Inc. (Boston Healthcare) helps biopharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostics companies unlock the value of innovation in the global health care marketplace. Boston Healthcare provides reimbursement and market access strategy services, health economics and outcomes research, market analytics and pricing strategy, and business development support to innovative life sciences clients worldwide.

With offices in Boston, Berlin, and Shanghai, our unique approach, combining strategic consulting with a broad understanding of the evidence-driven value environment, gives clients a real-world edge in assessing and capturing global market and business development opportunities.

About Data Information Intelligence GmbH (dii)

Headquartered in Leipzig, Germany, Data Information Intelligence GmbH (dii) is a leading provider of market research and business intelligence for global diagnostics and medical device industries in Europe. In addition to custom-tailored projects, dii provides detailed data reports for market size and market trends of diagnostic tests and laboratory installations.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170531005142/en/

Contacts:

Boston Healthcare Associates, Inc.

Kylie Ullmann, 617-482-4004
ASCHHEIM, Germany, April 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Chinese tourists can shortly pay with Alipa y at checkouts and online shops

Quick and easy integration into Rossmann's central checkout system

Wirecard AG has secured Dirk Rossmann GmbH, one of the largest drugstore chains in Germany, as a customer: Rossmann will soon offer Alipay as a new payment method in all branches with immediate effect. This means that Chinese tourists can shortly use their familiar Alipay App to pay at all of the merchant's checkouts and online shops. In order to do this, Wirecard has integrated Alipay Barcode Payment into Rossmann's till system and will assume the processing for these payments.

In future, mobile Alipay Barcode Payment will be available at over 2,000 Rossmann branches in Germany. Additionally, the new Alipay payment method will now also supplement the payment choices in the online shop at http://www.rossmann.de. This means that Rossmann is the first major German merchant to tap into the booming Chinese tourism market. Two million Chinese tourists travel to Germany every year. On average, they spend EUR 3,000 on shopping alone during their holidays. Wirecard often records hundreds of Alipay Barcode Payment transactions at individual merchants.

CEO Raoul Romann: "For us, Chinese tourists are an increasingly important target group - they have a particularly high demand for baby products, cosmetics and organic products. This is why we are delighted to introduce Alipay as a new payment method together with Wirecard, both at all of our points of sale and also for our e-commerce platform."

Christian Reindl, Executive Vice President Sales Consumer Goods at Wirecard, adds: "We are proud to have Rossmann as a customer. Our ConnectedPOS platform enables us to quickly and easily implement acceptance for Alipay payments in Rossmann's central till system and also make it available for online customers. This is a prime example of the omnichannel approach, which means that customers can pay easily and securely across channels. Technical integration at Rossmann has been carried out so as to facilitate further developments in the field of alternative payment procedures."

Wirecard has been offering this innovative POS payment acceptance at retailers across Europe through the Alipay app since December 2015. For more information on Wirecard's Alipay solutions, please visit: https://www.wirecard.com/alipay.

Wirecard media contact:



Wirecard AG

Jana Tilz

Tel.: +49(0)89-4424-1363

Email: jana.tilz@wirecard.com



About Wirecard:

Wirecard AG is a global technology group that supports companies in accepting electronic payments from all sales channels. As a leading independent supplier, the Wirecard Group offers outsourcing and white label solutions for electronic payments. A global platform bundles international payment acceptances and methods with supplementary fraud prevention solutions. With regard to issuing own payment instruments in the form of cards or mobile payment solutions, the Wirecard Group provides companies with an end-to-end infrastructure, including the requisite licences for card and account products. Wirecard AG is listed on the Frankfurt Securities Exchange (TecDAX, ISIN DE0007472060, WDI). For further information about Wirecard, please visit http://www.wirecard.com or follow us on Twitter @wirecard.

Rossmann media contact:



Dirk Rossmann GmbH

Stephan-Thomas Klose

Tel.: +49(0)5139-898-4444

Email: dialog@rossmann.de



About Rossmann:

Dirk Rossmann GmbH is the second largest drugstore chain in Germany and is one of the ten most important grocery retailers in Germany by sales. ROSSMANN is placed 111th out of the 250 largest retailers worldwide. In 1972, Dirk Romann opened his first store in Hanover. Dirk Romann GmbH is still an owner-managed company, the majority of which is owned by the Romann family. The company is headquartered in Burgwedel near Hanover.
Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc / Index: AIM / Epic: EOG / Sector: Oil & Gas

8 December 2016

Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc ('Europa' or 'the Company')

Annual General Meeting Statement

Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc, the AIM quoted UK and Ireland-focussed oil and gas exploration and production company, is holding its Annual General Meeting ('AGM') later today. At the meeting, CEO Hugh Mackay will make the following statement:

"Against a backdrop of low oil prices, 2016 saw excellent progress made in delivering on Europa's twin strategies: growing its licence base in our chosen markets of offshore Ireland and onshore UK; while at the same time actively managing our existing projects to maximise value for our shareholders. Most notably, Europa has become a leading explorer in Atlantic Ireland with one of the largest licence positions and a strong and diversified portfolio. Atlantic Ireland is a rapidly emerging exploration hotspot which this year saw the arrival of majors including ExxonMobil, Nexen and Statoil in the latest Irish licence round. Meanwhile in the UK, we secured two sales and a farmout which will enable us to fund our share of the costs associated with bringing the Wressle discovery into production and drilling the Holmwood well in the Weald basin in 2017.

"Following the best licensing round ever in offshore Ireland, earlier this year the Irish Government awarded 28 licences to 14 groups/companies, five of which went to Europa. Today, our Irish portfolio of seven operated licences covers an area of 5,818 sq km, six play types, three basins and twenty prospects and leads. The portfolio potentially holds gross mean unrisked resources of 4 billion barrels of oil equivalent (Europa estimates) and 1.5 TCF of gas (Europa estimates). We already have two prospects which are drill ready and our objective is to generate six drill ready prospects, any one of which could deliver a company maker for Europa. For a company with a 12 million market capitalisation, Europa, in our view, punches well above its weight in terms of our potential exposure to high impact exploration success, an impressive achievement considering the blue-chip names which have recently entered the region.

"Our new licences provide Europa with exposure to all the various play types which have attracted the majors to the region: Paleocene, Cretaceous Shelf, Cretaceous Fan, Syn-rift, Pre-rift and Triassic gas. In particular the Syn-rift play, which yielded Statoil's Bay du Nord discovery in the Flemish Pass, offshore Newfoundland in 2013 and recently attracted exploration investment of over C$2 billion, is hoped to be developed in Atlantic Ireland. Europa has a range of prospects from deepwater high risk frontier exploration to shallow water, lower risk infrastructure led exploration next to the Corrib gas field. We are currently focused on securing farm-out partners for our South Porcupine licences and at the same time conducting technical work across all the licences to mature leads to prospects and prospects to drill ready. By being exposed to all the major plays and basins currently being targeted in the region, Europa stands to benefit from the success of other operators and not just our own. With Providence Resources looking to drill in 2017, Woodside Petroleum the following year, and with newly arrived majors having already acquired seismic on their licences, we predict an increase in exploration drilling in Atlantic Ireland over the next five or six years. Europa is therefore well placed to benefit from any exploration success.

"Activity is also picking up onshore UK. Following two separate sales totalling a combined 13.34% interest in PEDLs 180 and 182, our share of the costs associated with bringing the Wressle discovery into production in 2017 is fully funded, and we will therefore not need to seek external funding to fund our share of these costs. Once brought on stream we expect our existing UK production to increase by 100 boepd to 220 boepd. At this level, we expect Europa will have a positive cash flow from operating activities at oil prices above US$30 per barrel. Aside from generating funds for reinvestment, the two farm-outs highlight the value attributed by the industry to UK onshore production or near production assets compared to the value ascribed by the market. Following the sales we value our remaining 20% interest in the two licences at 3.7 million. Combined with the consideration for the sale of a 13.3% interest in both licences, we believe more than half our current market capitalisation is accounted for by PEDLs 180 and 182 alone.

"The read across is that the other half of Europa's market capitalisation comprises the above-mentioned industry leading position in Atlantic Ireland, as well as our other UK onshore licences. These include three fields which produced 123 boepd in the year ended 31 July 2016; a 32.5% interest in the Holmwood prospect, which we rank as one of the best undrilled conventional prospects onshore UK and that we intend to drill in 2017; a 25% interest in the Hardstoft oil field PEDL299 on which gross 2C contingent resources of 3.1 million boe and gross 3C contingent resources of 18.5 million boe were identified in a CPR issued by our joint venture partner Upland Resources; and a 45% interest in PEDL343, which contains the Cloughton gas discovery. As we continue with our strategy to monetise our asset base through the drillbit, farm-outs and other corporate activity, we are confident the inherent value of our portfolio of multistage licences will be realised."

* * ENDS * *

For further information please visit www.europaoil.com or contact:

Hugh Mackay Europa + 44 (0) 20 7224 3770 Phil Greenhalgh Europa + 44 (0) 20 7224 3770 Matt Goode finnCap Ltd + 44 (0) 20 7220 0500 Simon Hicks finnCap Ltd + 44 (0) 20 7220 0500 Frank Buhagiar St Brides Partners Ltd + 44 (0) 20 7236 1177 Susie Geliher St Brides Partners Ltd + 44 (0) 20 7236 1177

Notes

Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc has a diversified portfolio of multi-stage hydrocarbon assets that includes production, exploration and development interests, in countries that are politically stable, have transparent licensing processes, and offer attractive terms. In 2016 Europa produced 123 boepd. Its highly prospective exploration projects include the Wressle development (targeting production start-up in early 2017 at up to 500 bopd gross) in the UK and seven licences offshore Ireland with the potential to host gross mean un-risked prospective and indicative resources of more than 4 billion barrels oil equivalent and 1.5 tcf gas across all seven licences.

Qualified Person Review

This release has been reviewed by Hugh Mackay, Chief Executive of Europa, who is a petroleum geologist with 30 years' experience in petroleum exploration and a member of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain, American Association of Petroleum Geologists and Fellow of the Geological Society. Mr Mackay has consented to the inclusion of the technical information in this release in the form and context in which it appears.
Blog Hinangai

While there is much discussion in Guam about the economic benefits of increasing the islands military presence, the damages/dangers that they represent are rarely mentioned. This blog, a supplement to the Peace and Justice for Guam Petition, is meant to counter that by providing information about the US military in Guam, with the hopes of steering policy away from a dangerous unilateralist course to more sustainable notions of regional development and a strengthening international solidarity.
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 12/08/16 -- Dalradian Resources Inc. (TSX: DNA) (AIM: DALR) ("Dalradian" or the "Company") announces results from a third test stope at its Curraghinalt Gold Project in Northern Ireland. Stope 3 is located on the V-75 vein complementing two previous test stopes in the same area. The third stope was used to validate the long-hole mining method on a relatively shallow dipping (50-55 degrees ) portion of the vein in comparison to Stopes 1 and 2, which had dips of 73 degrees and 76 degrees respectively. Stope 3 attained an average width of 1.80 metres, with estimated dilution to the designed stope of 64% and removal of an estimated 303 ounces of gold at a grade of 9.41 g/t from 1,001 tonnes of material.

Eric Tremblay, Chief Operating Officer of Dalradian commented,

"I am particularly pleased with the results from the third stope. This demonstrates our ability to long-hole stope veins at the shallow end of the range that we are likely to encounter at this deposit. The dilution was lower than predicted by the model and resulted in a diluted grade of 9.41 g/t of gold. With the exception of a single wedge failure in the footwall at the end of mining, Stope 3 remained open without support for several weeks. This indicates that we can easily manage dilution from the footwall by using simple low cost methods such as cable bracing."

Table 1: Comparison of contained ounces of gold between resource model and test stoping results

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contained gold -------------------------------- Resource model Test stoping estimation results ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stope 3 (oz) 224 303 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Increase from resource model estimation (%) 35% ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Table 2: Comparison of stope design vs. actual results

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Estimated Estimated Average Estimated contained dilution width Dip grade gold on (m)(i) (degrees) Tonnes (g/t)(ii) ounces design(iv) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stope 3 Design(iii) 1.1 55 655 10.63 224 N.A. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Actual results 1.8 55 1,001 9.41 303 64% ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

(i)True widths

(ii) Design grade is based on the 2016 resource model; actual results grade is based on extensive muck sampling

(iii) Design width is the minimum width necessary to recover all of the mineralized material predicted

(iv) Post-mining volume was corrected to reflect removal of a single 190 tonne non-dilutory slab which fell into the stope void in the absence of normal operational ground support methods and after mucking

The third test stoping area is in close proximity to the first two test stopes, approximately 60 metres below the surface on the V-75 vein at the deepest point of the current development (see figures 1-3 for location; all figures referenced in this news release can be accessed at http://www.dalradian.com/news-and-events/news-releases/news-releases-details/December-8-2016-News-Release-Figures/default.aspx). This location was selected as it contained shallower dipping veining than in Stopes 1 and 2, thereby testing long-hole mining in a more broadly representative manner.

Stope 3 was 15 metres long and 14.1 metres high (see figures 4 and 5). Orica Mining Services aided in the design of the test stoping program, while CMAC-Thyssen worked alongside Dalradian staff in drilling and blasting the test stopes. The design of the stopes was based on 100% recovery of the vein using zipper drilling to reduce the amount of drilling, the powder factor and minimize dilution. The dilution anticipated by the preliminary geotechnical model was 85% on Stope 3 with a length of 15 metres, whereas actual results were 64% dilution with a 15 metre length.

Qualified Persons

Eric Tremblay, P.Eng., Chief Operating Officer, and Greg Hope, MSc, MAIG, Chief Consulting Geologist, Dalradian Resources, are the Qualified Persons who supervised the preparation of the technical data in this news release.

Underground development along the veins was sampled by the Production Geologist via chip panel sampling, across the full width of the face for each round on advance. Distinct geological zones were sampled separately (vein separate from wall rock), with a general minimum-maximum horizontal sample width of 0.10 metre to 1 metre and chip sizes approximating 3-4 centimetres. Four to five kilograms of material was chipped with a rock hammer from two thirds the height of each face down to the sill, in volumetric proportion based on relative abundance of mineralization versus gangue. Sample locations were measured from a surveyed control point. Channel samples were saw-cut into the sills of the 170 and 150 western sublevels along the V-75 vein for comparison with face and drill hole sampling. Samples were submitted to ALS Laboratories in the Republic of Ireland.

Muck samples were taken continuously throughout the mucking process of each stope, at a frequency of 1 sample taken every two scoop buckets from the stope (each scoop bucket contains an estimate of 2.6 tonnes of muck). Sampling was done by the scoop operator, using a shovel to put muck into the individual sample bags, which allowed a representative sample of both coarse and fine rock fragments to be collected. Sampling was done by the same three individuals over the whole period of the program for consistency and the Production Geologist performed regular audits of the sampling technique. Sample bags were numbered in sequence representing the scoop bucket from which they were taken. The sample bags were tagged and secured by the Production Geologist and samples were submitted to ALS Laboratories in the Republic of Ireland. 367 muck samples were taken from Stope 3, totalling 1.8 tonnes of ore, or an average of 5 kg per sample.

Quality assurance and quality control procedures identified no material issues. Face, channel and muck samples were analyzed by a 50 gram gold fire assay with either an atomic absorption, or a gravimetric finish for samples initially reporting over 100.0 g/t gold.

ALS Laboratories is accredited by the Irish National Accreditation Board (INAB) to undertake testing, including for Ores and Minerals (INAB P9 703), as detailed in the Schedule bearing the Registration Number 173T, in compliance with the International Standard ISO/IEC 17025:2005 2nd Edition "General Requirements for the Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories".

About Dalradian Resources Inc.

Dalradian Resources Inc. is a gold exploration and development company that is focused on advancing its high-grade Curraghinalt Gold Project located in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The Company is completing a work program in support of a planning (permitting) application for construction of an operating mine at Curraghinalt. Components of the program include a feasibility study, an environmental and social impact assessment and underground exploration (960 metres of development with associated test stoping).

In May 2016, Dalradian announced an updated mineral resource estimate for Curraghinalt, including a 109% increase in gold ounces contained in the Measured and Indicated categories compared with the 2014 resource. The current resource consists of 2.1 million ounces of contained gold in the Measured and Indicated categories (5.61 million tonnes at 11.61 g/t) and 2.3 million ounces of contained gold in the Inferred category (7.13 million tonnes at 10.06 g/t gold). For further information, see the NI 43-101 technical report entitled, "Technical Report for the Northern Ireland Gold Project, Northern Ireland", dated June 17, 2016 and prepared by Dr. Jean-Francois Couture, P. Geo. (APGO#0197) and Dr. Oy Leuangthong, P. Eng. (PEO#90563867), both of SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. and Stacy Freudigmann, P. Eng. (APEGBC #33972) of JDS Energy & Mining Inc.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains "forward looking information" which may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the future financial or operating performance of the Company and its subsidiaries and its mineral project, the future price of metals, test work and confirming results from work performed to date, the estimation of mineral resources, the realization of mineral resource estimates, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production, capital, operating and exploration expenditures, costs and timing of the development of new deposits, costs and timing of future exploration, requirements for additional capital, government regulation of mining operations, environmental risks, reclamation expenses, title disputes or claims, limitations of insurance coverage, the timing and possible outcome of pending regulatory matters and the realization of the expected economics of the Curraghinalt gold deposit. Often, but not always, forward looking statements can be identified by the use of words and phrases such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved.

Forward looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made and are based on various assumptions such as the continued political stability in Northern Ireland, that permits required for Dalradian's operations will be obtained on a timely basis in order to permit Dalradian to proceed on schedule with its planned exploration and development programs, that skilled personnel and contractors will be available as Dalradian's operations continue to grow, that the price of gold will be at levels that render Dalradian's mineral project economic, that the Company will be able to continue raising the necessary capital to finance its operations and realize on mineral resource estimates and current mine plans, that the assumptions contained in the Company's Technical Report are accurate and complete, that the results of the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment and the Feasibility Study will be positive and that a permitting application for mine construction will be approved.

Forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Dalradian to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward looking statements. Such factors include, among others, general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the actual results of current and future exploration activities; the actual results of reclamation activities; conclusions of economic evaluations; meeting various expected cost estimates; changes in project parameters and/or economic assessments as plans continue to be refined; future prices of metals; possible variations of mineral grade or recovery rates; the risk that actual costs may exceed estimated costs; failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; political instability; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities, as well as those factors discussed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the Company's annual information form. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Forward looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, except as may be required by applicable securities laws. There can be no assurance that forward looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward looking statements.

Contacts:

Marla Gale

Vice President Communications

+1 416 583 5622

investor@dalradian.com



Grant Thornton UK LLP (Nominated Adviser)

Philip Secrett / Richard Tonthat / Harrison Clarke

+44 (0)20 7383 5100



Canaccord Genuity Limited (Broker)

Henry Fitzgerald-O'Connor / Martin Davison

+44 20 7523 8000




-- Boasts Best Price-quality Ratio

GUANGZHOU, China, June 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - With the coming of swimming pool heat pump selling seasonin the Eastern Europe market, some of PHNIX's new series of pool heat pumps and house heating heat pumps featured with high cost-effectiveness are in short supply. "PHNIXis aware of the increased demand. We are respondingquickly by taking effective measures to enhance production capacity," said Peter Wang, Deputy General Manager in charge of PHNIX global overseas business.

Currently, there is a large demand for the PHNIX pool heat pump Comfort seriesin some Eastern European countries including Poland and the Czech Republic. So far, the model of cooperation between PHNIX and its European business partners is OEM, according tothe PHNIX senior product manager in charge of pool heat pump products.

About PHNIX Comfort Series of Swimming Pool Heat Pump

Highly Customized Some kinds of galvanized steel and plastic casings are optional. And it's really easy to do maintenance for PHNIX series pool heat pump. Just remove one screw and the cover can be easily removed.

COP as high as 5.8 Comfort series strives to deliver perfect swimming experience with exceptional performance at the lowest cost. Its COP can go as high as 5.8+ at 27oC/24.3 oC (DB/WB).

Thread Titanium Heat Exchanger PHNIX proprietary 9.52mm twisted Titanium coils ensure maximum heat transfer surface, resulting in increased output, and 30% higher efficiency in contrast with standard heat exchangers.

About PHNIX Hero Series of House Heating DC Inverter Heat Pump

PHNIX DC inverter heat pump can work efficiently through floor heating, water fan coil or radiator for heating/cooling. The monobloc design makes it easy for outdoor installation. This series of unit utilizes advanced heat pump technology to achieve high efficiency with a COP of up to 5.0. The energy consumption of Hero Series is 30% less than that of standard heat pump units.

About PHNIX

PHNIX, a leading manufacturer of heat pumps inChina, is an international enterprise specializesintheR&D, production of heat pump products and energy-saving solutions. Nearly 50% of PHNIX products are exported toEurope,theUnited Statesand other overseas markets. Headquartered inGuangzhou, China, PHNIX has been namedaChina High-quality BrandandGuangzhou High-tech Enterprise. For more information about PHNIX and its products, please visitwww.phnix-e.com.

John Zhu

+86 20 39067742

john_zhu@phnix.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/519439/PHNIX_Swimming_Pool_Heat_Pump.jpg
LONDON (dpa-AFX) - National Grid plc (NG.L, NGG) announced it has entered into an agreement to sell a 61% equity interest in its UK gas distribution business to a consortium of long-term infrastructure investors. National Grid will receive a payment of 3.6 billion pounds in cash from the Consortium. National Grid will also receive 1.8 billion pounds from additional debt financing. National Grid will own a 39% minority equity interest in a new holding company for gas distribution business, GasD HoldCo. National Grid and the Consortium have also expressed an interest in relation to the potential future sale and purchase of an additional 14% of equity in GasD HoldCo on broadly equivalent financial terms to the announced transaction. Following completion of the transaction, National Grid intends to return 4 billion pounds of net proceeds to shareholders through the combination of a special dividend and share buy-backs. The Group said, at least 75% of the net proceeds are expected to be returned via a special dividend in second quarter of calendar year 2017. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Regulatory News:

Skanska (STO:SKAB) has signed a contract with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to renovate their lab and office space in Upper Providence, Pennsylvania, USA. The contract is worth USD 45M, about SEK 380M, which will be included in the order bookings for Skanska USA Building in the fourth quarter 2016.

The project includes the demolition of four floors of existing laboratories and new build out of about 9,300 square meters of SMART Lab space, supporting GSK R&D's Upper Providence facility investments. This project follows the successful completion of a similar renovation completed in September 2016.

Construction is scheduled to start in December 2016 and to be completed in October 2017.

Skanska USA is one of the leading development and construction companies in the country, consisting of four business units: Skanska USA Building, which specializes in building construction; Skanska USA Civil, specialized in civil infrastructure; Skanska Infrastructure Development, which develops public-private partnerships; and Skanska USA Commercial Development, which develops commercial projects in select U.S. markets. Headquartered in New York, Skanska USA has more than 10,000 employees and its 2015 revenues were SEK 54.5 billion.

This and previous releases can also be found at www.skanska.com

The information provided herein is such as Skanska AB is obligated to disclose pursuant to the EU market securities act (EU) no. 596/2014.

Skanska is one of the world's leading construction and project development companies, focused on selected home markets in the Nordic region, other European countries and North America. Supported by global trends in urbanization and demographics, and by being at the forefront in sustainability, Skanska offers competitive solutions for both simple and the most complex assignments, helping to build a sustainable future for customers and communities. The Group currently has 43,100 employees in selected home markets in Europe and North America. Skanska's sales in 2015 totaled SEK 155 billion.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161207006454/en/

Contacts:

Skanska USA

Michael Iacovella, Communications

tel: +1 917 438 33 77

or

Skanska AB

Andreas Joons, Press Officer

tel: +46 (0)10 449 04 94

or

Direct line for media

tel +46 (0)10 448 88 99


Regulatory News:

Scandi Standard (STO:SCST) is pleased to announce that is has agreed the main terms relating to two five-year credit facilities of in aggregate SEK 2,200m (the "New Facilities"). The New Facilities are subject to signing of a facilities agreement.

The purpose of the New Facilities is to refinance Scandi Standard's existing bank facilities and to secure a robust, flexible and long term financing tailored to match the Group's ambitions for organic and strategic growth. The New Facilities will comprise a SEK 1,450m multicurrency term loan facility and a SEK 750m multicurrency revolving loan facility and allows for a future increase of the facilities of up to SEK 1,250m subject to agreement with lenders.

Scandi Standard is pleased to include reputable banks with a strong and diverse skill set in its banking group. The terms of the New Facilities are advantageous compared to Scandi Standard's existing financing.

As a result of the refinancing, Scandi Standard will expense its remaining capitalised costs relating to the existing bank financing, as well as certain costs relating to the New Facilities, in Q4 2016. Such costs are expected to be about SEK 9 million, and will be booked under financial items. The remaining up-front costs relating to the New Facilities will be capitalised and amortised over the tenor.

A binding facilities agreement for the New Facilities is expected to be signed in December 2016, and the New Facilities are expected to become effective in January 2017.

This information is information that Scandi Standard AB (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 0830 CET on 8 December 2016. Scandi Standard is the largest producer of chicken-based food products in the Nordic region with leading positions in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. The company produces, markets and sells ready to eat, chilled and frozen products under the brands Kronfagel, Danpo, Den Stolte Hane and Naapurin Maalaiskana. For more information, see www.scandistandard.com

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161207006457/en/

Contacts:

Scandi Standard

Leif Bergvall Hansen

CEO

+45 221 005 44

or

Henrik Heiberg

Head of M&A, Financing IR

+47 917 47 724
Regualtory News:

Sales in the Swedish ICA (STO:ICA) stores increased by 2.9% in November 2016 compared with the corresponding month last year. Sales in like-for-like stores increased by 2.4%.

November 2016 January November 2016 Store sales, excl. VAT SEKm Change all stores Change

like-for-like SEKm Change all stores Change

like-for-like Maxi ICA Stormarknad 2,728 2.5% 2.5% 30,362 2.9% 2.3% ICA Kvantum 2,173 3.3% 2.2% 24,265 2.4% 2.0% ICA Supermarket 2,682 2.8% 2.2% 30,596 1.9% 1.7% ICA Nara 1,287 3.0% 2.7% 15,214 2.8% 3.0% Total 8,870 2.9% 2.4% 100,437 2.5% 2.1%

In November 2016, sales in the Swedish ICA stores totalled SEK 8,870 million excluding VAT, which is an increase of 2.9% compared with the same month in the previous year. Sales in January-November 2016 amounted to SEK 100,437 million, an increase of 2.5% compared with the previous year.

ICA Gruppen estimates the calendar effect for November to be 0.2%.

At 30 November 2016, the number of ICA stores in Sweden was 1,297. Store sales for December will be published on 10 January 2017 at 08.45 CET.

To see all publication dates in 2017, please visit ICA Gruppen's website http://www.icagruppen.se/en/investors/calendar.

This information is such that ICA Gruppen AB is obligated to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation and the Swedish Securities Market Act. The information was submitted for publication at time 08:45 on Thursday December 8, 2016.

ICA Gruppen AB (publ) is a leading retail company with a focus on food and health. The Group includes ICA Sweden and Rimi Baltic which mainly conduct grocery retail, ICA Real Estate which owns and manages properties, ICA Bank which offers financial services and Apotek Hjartat which conducts pharmacy operations. The Group also includes Hemtex. For more information see icagruppen.se

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161207006465/en/

Contacts:

ICA Gruppen press service

Telephone number: +46 10 422 52 52




Nokia's game-changing Passive Optical LAN delivers Gigabit speeds to each user and enables smooth evolution to 20x more capacity

LONDON, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --Nokia beat back stiff competition in the local area network (LAN) market to take home the 2016 European New Product Innovation Award at Frost & Sullivan's Excellence in Best Practices Awards gala on 9 November 2016. This two-part exclusive event celebrates the success of innovators, visionaries, and leaders from a cross section of industries in Europe. Monika Maurer, COO of the Fixed Networks Business Group, became part of an exclusive list of winners when she accepted the award on behalf of Nokia at a banquet hosted at the Westin in Paris, France.

Click here for the full multimedia experience of this release - http://bit.ly/2h77PSJ

Nokia's Passive Optical LAN (POL) solution is a more cost-effective way for organisations to deploy LAN while gaining significant benefits like unlimited bandwidth, security, reliability, longevity, and energy and space savings. Nokia's POL solution can help achieve more than 50% cost savings than traditional copper-based Ethernet LAN.

POL employs Gigabit passive optical network (GPON) technology and features single centralised active equipment, a simpler network, and thin-client end-point devices that are centrally managed.

Nokia's POL solution is based on the centralised access node 7360 ISAM FX, a variety of end-user devices and advanced management systems. It delivers Gigabit speeds to each connected device and facilitates the smooth evolution to 20x capacity, reusing the same cabling and access node. Another key benefit of Nokia's POL solution is its management system, the 5571 POL Command Center (PCC), a highly intuitive tool for easy configuration, auto-activation, fault reporting, proactive network monitoring, and troubleshooting of a LAN.

"Nokia's POL solution provides military-grade security and data encryption," said Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Priya Sharma. "As optical fibres are resistant to electromagnetic interference, POL is ideal for use in sensitive environments such as hospitals, where cameras and machines can interrupt data transmission."

Nokia continues to experience strong demand for its POL solution worldwide. GPON is a field-proven and mature technology designed for simplicity and efficiency, and Nokia's successful fibre projects and partnership programs have helped it cater to companies of all sizes.

"Nokia's primary focus is not on delivering the most inexpensive solution to customers but to present value-added solutions at competitive prices," noted Sharma. "For instance, while Ethernet-based LAN lasts nearly 5 to 7 years, the POL solution lasts at least 50 years, translating to greater lifetime cost savings."

For understanding customer needs in the LAN market and for developing a novel product to address those needs, Nokia deserves the 2016 European Local Area Network New Product Innovation Award. Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has developed an innovative element in a product by leveraging leading-edge technologies. The award recognises the value-added features/benefits of the product and the higher return on investment (ROI) it offers customers, which in turn improves customer acquisition and overall market penetration potential.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognise companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.

To learn more about Nokia's POL solution, you can download their free whitepaper titled "Addressing Issues In The Local Area Network" or visit its solution page.

About Nokia

Nokia is a global leader in the technologies that connect people and things. Powered by the innovation of Nokia Bell Labs and Nokia Technologies, the company is at the forefront of creating and licensing the technologies that are increasingly at the heart of our connected lives.

With state-of-the-art software, hardware and services for any type of network, Nokia is uniquely positioned to help communication service providers, governments, and large enterprises deliver on the promise of 5G, the Cloud and the Internet of Things.

https://networks.nokia.com/

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, collaborates with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that could make or break today's market participants.

Frost & Sullivan's Growth Partnership supports clients by addressing these opportunities and incorporating 2 key elements driving visionary innovation: the Integrated Value Proposition and the Partnership Infrastructure.

The Integrated Value Proposition provides support to clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation, including research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation, and implementation.

provides support to clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation, including research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation, and implementation. The Partnership Infrastructure is entirely unique as it constructs the foundation upon which visionary innovation becomes possible, including 360 degree research, comprehensive industry coverage, and career best practices as well as Frost & Sullivan's global footprint of more than 40 offices.

For more than 50 years, Frost & Sullivan has been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector, and the investment community. Is your organisation prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics, and emerging economies?

Contact Us: Start the discussion

Join Us: Join our community

Subscribe: Newsletter on "the next big thing"

Register: Gain access to visionary innovation

Contact:

Chiara Carella

P: +44 (0) 207.343.8314

F: 210.348.1003

E: chiara.carella@frost.com






VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 12/08/16 -- Urban Select Capital Corporation (TSX VENTURE: CH) (the "Company" or "Urban Select") announces that John King Burns has tendered his resignation from the board of directors of the Company effective December 6, 2016. Mr. Burns resigned from the Board of Urban Select in order to focus his efforts on his other commitments. The Company does not intend to fill the vacancy until the next annual general meeting of shareholders.

ABOUT URBAN SELECT

Urban Select Capital Corporation is an investment issuer focused on investing growth capital into private and public companies in a broad range of sectors including natural resources, healthcare, and agriculture and consumer retail services. Urban Select's management team is composed of investment professionals combining an Asian background with Western education and extensive experience in investment banking, venture capital and fund management in Canada, China and the U.S.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:

Urban Select Capital Corporation

David Yoo

Chief Financial Officer and Managing Director

(604) 689-0618

www.urbanselect.com




AUGA group has sold investment units of investment fund Fixed Yield Invest Fund controlled by the fund management company Synergy Finance to selected financial institutional investor.Value of transaction -. EUR 7.2 million. The disposal of long term investment asset allows Company to attract new funds and finally divest of such investment asset .Funds from transaction will be used for development of newly acquired business (formerly agricultural subsidiaries of KTG AGRAR) and for development of other ongoing projects, related to introduction of sustainable organic farming technologies in existing agricultural locations and farms.Company has transferred shares of the companies which controlled land operating subsidiaries (managing around 6.4 thousand hectares of land) in December 2015.By selling investment units of investment fund the consolidated long term assets decrease by EUR 24.8 million and consolidated liabilities also decrease by EUR 17.6 million (amongst it - financial liabilities of EUR 14 million).This transaction will not affect Company's net result and EBITDA of year 2016.This transaction does not change anything in the daily business of AUGA group as the group continues to rent the land owned by the transferred companies and will carry out its agricultural activities there while paying the market rent price. The term of land rent reaches 10 years (with prolongation rights).Vladas BagaviciusAUGA group, AB Member of the Boardtel. +37061031807

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
STOCKHOLM (dpa-AFX) - Ericsson (ERIC) said the workforce reductions in Sweden, which was announced on October 4, 2016, are progressing ahead of plan, resulting in an increase in estimated restructuring costs for 2016 of 5.5-6.5 billion Swedish kronor, compared to the previously communicated estimate of 4-5 billion kronor. The company expects restructuring charges for 2017 to somewhat decrease as a consequence of faster implementation of the Swedish reduction activities. Ericsson noted that, currently, no further forced staff reductions are planned in Sweden beyond what has already been announced relating to production sites. Ericsson said the global cost and efficiency program is tracking towards the previously communicated target to: reduce the annual run rate of operating expenses, excluding restructuring charges, to 53 billion kronor in the second half of 2017; make cost of sales reductions visible in the gross margin in the second half of 2017, compared to full year 2016. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 12/07/16 -- Brookline Public Relations (Brookline) continues to dominate the Alberta market, securing new clients, both on a local and national scale. The recent success continues to solidify Brookline's position as one of Canada's leading boutique PR agencies.

New client partnerships include campaigns with TELUS Spark, Calgary's reimagined science centre; Advertiise, an innovative advertising start-up; Calgary Co-op, a leading Calgary grocer and the launch of the new Calgary Airport Marriott In-Terminal Hotel. With a mix of both regional and national clients, Brookline continues to demonstrate the breadth of knowledge the agency brings to client campaigns.

"Calgary Co-op is so pleased to be working with the Brookline team," comments Danielle Bussieres, VP Marketing & Member Relations, Calgary Co-op. "When our team decided that we were ready to work with an agency, we wanted to choose a local agency that was dynamic and relevant. We put Shauna and her team at the top of our list of agencies to consider as we had heard great reviews of the Brookline team. Our teams are off to a wonderful start and we are excited to be working with Brookline into the future."

To accommodate Brookline's increasing national footprint in the PR landscape, the agency has made several recent hires. Jerrica Goodwin and Angela Cabucos have joined the team as Account Executives, Shama Walji as Administrative Coordinator and Elyse Nabata as Assistant Account Specialist. Both Goodwin and Cabucos have national agency backgrounds and bring a multitude of public relations experience to the agency. Walji applies years of administrative skills in her new role and Nabata brings a background in in provincial public affairs to the team.

"Brookline has shown an incredible amount of growth and success over the course of 2016," said Shauna MacDonald, Brookline Principal and Founder. "We continue to work hard for our clients and bring forward fresh, creative ideas that attract new companies and top public relations talent."

Additionally, Brookline was awarded four Stevie Awards for Women in Business, including Gold for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in Canada, Bronze for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in Business Services, Bronze for Woman of the Year in Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations and Bronze for Women-Run Workplace of the Year. The team at Brookline is thrilled to share this news and wants to congratulate all other nominees and award recipients.

About Brookline Public Relations, Inc.

Brookline Public Relations, Inc. is a strategic public relations and marketing communications firm dedicated to helping organizations build awareness, profile and credibility worldwide. Our core purpose is to support our clients' goals with fresh and creative communications strategies by implementing a solid and professional approach while enthusiastically challenging the status quo. We want our clients to be recognized as industry leaders. Our services include: Media Relations, Corporate Communications, Crisis Communications and Issues Management, Integrated & Digital Marketing, Event Management and Social Media. For more information, please visit www.brooklinepr.com.

Contacts:

Shauna MacDonald

Principal & Founder

Brookline Public Relations, Inc.

403-538-5645; 403-585-4570

smacdonald@brooklinepr.com




LONDON, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Guinness Asset Management has completed the sale of its Guinness Renewable Energy EIS 1 and 2 portfolio companies to Aviva Investors. Both funds have exceeded the target return of 1.20 per 1 invested with capital returned in the timeframe anticipated at the time of investment.

The Investee Companies built and operated rooftop solar assets located across the UK for both domestic and commercial customers. Commercial customers include National Express and Kingspan Group Plc. Sites were installed between November 2011 and late 2012 and benefit from the UK's Feed-in-tariff subsidy program. The companies were acquired in April 2016 by funds managed by Aviva Investors with final sale conditions discharged in Q4 2016.

Shane Gallwey, EIS Fund Manager at Guinness said: "I am very pleased that we have successfully completed the exits for our Guinness Renewable Energy EIS investors, and surpassed our target return levels. This result demonstrates our capability through the investment cycle including completing an exit with a credible and rigorous buyer. This validates our investment process and was achieved without any debt, minimising risks for our investors."

Chris Villiers, who managed the sale on behalf of Guinness said: "we received approaches from a number of high quality bidders, and we were delighted to complete this transaction with Aviva, whose experienced and professional team are market leaders in the acquisition and management of small-scale solar PV installations."

For further information please contact:

Shane Gallwey / Edward Guinness

Tel: +44(0)20-7222-3475

shane.gallwey@guinnessfunds.com

Guinness Asset Management

http://www.guinnessfunds.com/EIS
MALMO, Sweden, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Orkla Foods Sweden and Pacifical are proud to announce their cooperation to supply sustainable MSC certified skipjack tuna from the PNA waters through the Swedish brand Abba; 100 percent wild tuna, certified as sustainably caught and fully traceable to all consumers from sea to shelf.

Orkla Foods Sweden's bold step is a reflection of the company's leadership towards seafood sustainability, marine ecosystem conservation and economic development in regions mostly dependent on tuna. This announcement is in line with a solid commitment made by Orkla Foods Sweden to have all their fish products MSC-certified and/or ASC-certified by the end of 2020.

"We are proud that we now can offer consumers full knowledge and traceability for all of our canned tuna, from store shelves back to the actual captain on the fishing boat. For us it is important to work for increased transparency in the value chain and help consumers to make sustainable choices easy in everyday life", says Cecilia Sajland, Marketing Director at Orkla Foods Sweden.

The MSC certified tuna by Abba is caught in the pristine waters of the 8 PNA island nations in the Western Central Pacific Ocean by a method called "purse seining". Pacifical sets nets on free swimming schools of adult tuna since schools of fish predominantly consist of tunas from the same species and same size because they have the same hunting skills, behavior and velocity. Through the Pacifical method, very few baby tunas are caught in the net and almost no juvenile bigeye and yellowfin.

The Pacifical logo on Abba's MSC certified tuna products represents Orkla Food Sweden's direct commitment to the PNAIslandpeople. By choosing Pacifical Tuna, Orkla Foods Sweden reaffirms its support to sustainability of this vast ecosystem, as well as the people who depend on it on a daily basis.

"We are excited to announce our partnership with Orkla Foods Sweden, this is a company that truly cares about sustainability, social accountability and traceability, fully dedicated to present to their customers only an independently verified and sustainable certified choice - nothing less than that. We look forward to continue our great cooperation with Orkla Foods Sweden." Says Henk Brus, Managing Director at Pacifical.

Orkla Foods Sweden has given traceability and transparency an extremely important role by making all MSC canned tuna products by Abba carrying the Pacifical logo 100% traceable online at http://www.abba.se. In the beginning of 2016, customers will be able to find out where their tuna was caught, the name of the vessel and captain that caught it, where it was processed and many other interesting facts.

Independent MSC trained onboard observers monitor and record all fishing operations according to the strictest MSC chain of custody (COC) standards. The PNA MSC COC provides assurance that the tuna was caught in a sustainable way. Around 50 percent of the world supply of skipjack is caught in PNA waters, which includes a substantial supply of sustainably caught free-school MSC tuna, making Pacific island nations the single most important source of raw material for the global tuna industry.

Orkla Foods Sweden's commitment to healthy oceans is in line with consumer expectations and will build further trust in their brand. By committing to MSC, Orkla Foods is helping to secure a sustainable future for our oceans and the fishing industry." says MSC Program Director for Scandinavia Minna Epps.

About Orkla Foods Sweden Orkla Foods Sweden prepare food and beverage in Sweden, with care for people, land and sea. Our brands are Abba, Abba Middagsklart, Kalles, FELIX, BOB, Anamma, Frodinge, Ekstroms, Risifrutti, Grandiosa, Onos, Mrs Cheng's, Kung Gustaf, FUN Light, Grebbestads, JOKK, Den Gamle Fabrik, Ejderns, Svennes, Hallo, Lucullus, Limfjord, Liva Energi and Pauluns. With 1500 employees and a turnover of about 5 billion SEK, we are one of Sweden's leading food companies. Our head office is located in Malmo, but we have several production facilities throughout the country.

About Pacifical Pacifical is the global marketing company jointly set up by 8 Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) in 2011 to promote the PNA region and actively trade their MSC certified sustainably caught free school skipjack and yellowfin tuna to consumers around the world. Pacifical MSC certified skipjack and yellowfin tuna from PNA waters is available in 12 different countries around the world and all products carry the Pacifical logo as clear representation of the end market's commitment with the PNA region and recognition to those nations managing the tuna stocks in their waters on a daily basis. [http://www.pacifical.com]

About the PNAThe Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) control the world's largest sustainable tuna purse seine fishery. PNA Members, located within the Western Central Pacific Ocean, are Federated States ofMicronesia,Kiribati,Marshall Islands,Nauru,Palau,Papua New Guinea,Solomon IslandsandTuvalu. In 2011, the PNA skipjack tuna caught without using FADs was certified by the Marine Stewardship Council as sustainable, creating the world's largest sustainable tuna purse seine fishery. PNA yellowfin tuna caught without using FADs was added to the certificate inFebruary 2016. The PNA countries together have 25% of the world tuna stocks in their watersand together manage the largest sustainable tuna purse seine fishery in the world. In 2016 the PNA have been named the winner of the Seafood Champion Award for Vision 2016 at the global Seafood Summit. [http://www.pnatuna.com]

About Marine Stewardship Council

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is recognized as the world's leading certification program for sustainable, wild-caught seafood. In collaboration with fisheries scientists and marine experts, the MSC has developed two global, science-based standards. The MSC Fishery Standard evaluates the sustainability of fisheries and the MSC Chain of Custody Standard ensures that any seafood carrying the blue MSC ecolabel is traceable to a certified fishery.

Media Contacts:

Cynthia Asaf

Marketing and Sales Manager

Ph Direct:+31-162-71 4041

cynthia@pacifical.com
LONDON, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The Economist Events' second annual War on Cancer 2016, held in London on Tuesday, was host to some of the highest profile leaders in oncology from across the field and around Europe. Discussions at the summit explored innovative approaches to cancer prevention and treatment, solutions to overcome shortcomings in delivery and examples of best practice and opportunities for cross-sectoral collaboration.

The event gathered over 150 global influencers, government ministers, private sector CEOs, academia, healthcare professionals and high-level national and international media from around Europe.

Andreas Penk, regional president oncology, international developed markets, Pfizer commented: "We see more and more possibilities on the horizon to cure specific cancers. Personalized medicine and immuno-oncology will lead the way and bridge until the next generation of medicine is ready. Curing is a game changer. All involved parties should start to work together on innovative solutions in care, contracting, pricing, and regulatory to make sure we translate the possible into reality."

Mahiben Maruthappu, co-founder, NHS Innovation Accelerator, said: " Whilst great technological advancements have already been made in the war against cancer, it is of great importance that research and development continues in order to continue to deliver innovative new treatments.This event provides a platform for global leaders from across the industry to discuss what the future might hold and ensure health care systems are prepared."

Speakers offered contrasting and thought-provoking commentary on how to deal with the most pressing of sector trends leading to lively debate amongst the delegates. Topics covered included optimising national cancer control plans, cancer in the context of health care systems, the promise and peril of health-tech convergence and mobilising action and inspiring change.

Key speakers at the summit included:

Matti Aapro , b oard m ember, European Cancer Organisation

Cary Adams , c hief e xecutive o fficer, Union for International Cancer Control

Tit Albreht, c oordinator, Cancer Control Joint Action (CanCon); h ead, National Institute of Public Health of Slovenia

Kathi Apostolidis , v ice-president, European Cancer Patient Coalition (ECPC); p resident of Executive Committee, Hellenic Cancer Federation - ELL.O.K

Frauke Becker , r esearch a ssociate, Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University

John Bell , r egius p rofessor of m edicine, University of Oxford ; c hairman, Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research (OSCHR)

Jurgi Camblong, c hief e xecutive o fficer and c o-founder, Sophia Genetics

Josep Figueras , d irector, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies; h ead, World Health Organization European Centre on Health Policy

George Freeman , m ember o p arliament for Mid Norfolk and c hair, Prime Minister ' s Policy Board

David Khayat , h ead of the d epartment of Oncolog y, Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital and p rofessor of Oncology, University Pierre and Marie Curie

Bryony Kimmings, c reator of the musical ' A Pacifist ' s Guide to the War on Cancer '

Jane Maher , c hief m edical o fficer, Macmillan Cancer Support

Lydia Makaroff , d irector, European Cancer Patient Coalition

Mahiben Maruthappu, c o-founder, NHS Innovation Accelerator

Maya Martinez - Davis, s enior v ice-president, Global Head of Oncology Franchise, Merck KGaA

Vivek Muthu , c hair, Economist Intelligence Unit Healthcare

Annie Pannelay , h ealthcare p rincipal, Economist Intelligence Unit

Terje Peetso , p olicy o fficer, d irectorate- g eneral c ommunications n etworks, c ontent and t echnology, European Commission

Andreas Penk, r egional p resident o ncology, i nternational d eveloped m arkets, Pfizer

Jem Rashbass, n ational d irector for d isease r egistration, Public Health England

Gunnar Saeter , p rofessor and h ead of i nstitute, Institute for Cancer Research - Olso University Hospital

Katherine Smith , r eader- g lobal p ublic h ealth u nit, University of Edinburgh

Zhen Su , v ice-president, US Oncology Medical Affairs, EMD Serono

Richard Sullivan , p rofessor of c ancer and g lobal h ealth, King ' s College London; Director, Institute of Cancer Policy

Frans van Houten , c hief e xecutive and c hairman, Philips

Paul Workman ,chief executive officer and president, The Institute of Cancer Research London; Harrap Professor of Pharmacology and Therapeutics

Tweet via @EconomistEvents WaronCancer

Press enquiries

Lindsey Neville

Email: waroncancer2016@consilium-comms.com

Tel: +44 (0)20 3709 5700



-ENDS-



For general queries or further information about the event please call +44 (0) 207 576 8118 or e-mail emeaevents@economist.com



Want more from The Economist Events?

Join us on Twitter: @EconomistEvents



About The Economist Events

The Economist Events' philosophy is to tackle issues with a forward-looking, uniquely global perspective. We aim to create events for the intellectually curious: people who enjoy ideas and who are passionate about the issues that define our world.



Attend our events: http://www.economist.com/events-conferences/emea



Founding sponsor: Bristol-Myers Squibb

Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. We are committed to changing survival expectations in hard-to-treat cancers and the way patients live with cancer through our pioneering, comprehensive Immuno-Oncology portfolio and clinical program as well as research collaborations with academia and biotech companies.



Founding sponsor: Merck

Merck discovers, develops, manufactures and markets prescription medicines of both chemical and biological origin in specialist indications. We have an enduring commitment to deliver novel therapies in our core focus areas including oncology and immuno-oncology; supporting patients with cancer. Merck has a robust pipeline of potential therapies in oncology, immuno-oncology and immunology.



Gold sponsor: Pfizer Oncology

Pfizer Oncology is focused on helping to redefine life with cancer. By maximizing our internal scientific resources and collaborating with other companies, government and academic institutions, we bring together the brightest and most enterprising minds to take on the toughest cancers, helping speed breakthrough treatments to patients around the world.



Silver Sponsor: Novartis

Novartis Oncology is a global leader in providing a broad range of innovative therapies to help improve the lives of cancer patients.



Silver Sponsor: Varian Medical Systems

Global manufacturer of medical devices and software for treating cancer with radiotherapy, radiosurgery, proton therapy and brachytherapy.



About Consilium Strategic Communications

Consilium Strategic Communications is a global leader in providing trusted, healthcare-focused strategic IR and financial PR counsel to corporations, Boards, senior decision makers and executives. From offices in Europe and USA, Consilium Strategic Communications' senior team provides cross-border comprehensive financial and corporate healthcare communications advice to some of the world's most prominent corporations around-the-clock. For more information, please visit our website at http://www.consilium-comms.com
BUCHAREST, Romania, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Liviu Dragnea, leader of the Social Democratic Party of Romania (PSD), today outlined a series of budget proposals designed to raise revenues but leave more in the pockets of ordinary Romanians. The budget unveiled by Mr. Dragnea puts into concrete terms the electoral program that has spearheaded the PSD campaign of the past several months, focusing on a robust set of pro-growth fiscal measures and branded under the slogan "Dare to Believe in Romania."

Mr. Dragnea also announced a major increase in defence spending, in keeping with commitments by Nato members to spend at least 2% of GDP on military preparedness, to join just five other member states currently meeting that target. This would be a significant policy change for Romania, representing a 40% increase in expenditure.

Despite continued economic growth arising from the pre-2016 PSD government's programs, national revenues under the current caretaker government have actually declined, the first time this has occurred since 2009. In recent weeks, in the run-up to parliamentary elections this Sunday (Dec. 11), Mr. Dragnea has made a series of announcements intended to convert the country's growth into genuine benefits for Romanian citizens.

"This budget shows with clear figures that our proposals will put the economic growth into people's pockets, through higher wages and pensions as well as investments in education, health and infrastructure, so that Romanians can enjoy a better life as part of the growing middle class," Mr. Dragnea told a Bucharest press conference today.

He said the next PSD government's priorities would be higher incomes for Romanians, investments in education, health and infrastructure and lower taxes.

The plan anticipates budgetary revenues of 254 billion lei (approximately EUR 56.5 billion at current rates), an increase of about 10% from the current year. Main sources would be VAT, excise taxes, other service charges and income tax revenues. In addition, funds from the European Union are forecast to increase to 21 billion lei in 2017. The PSD has been highly critical of the current government's failures to draw down funds from the EU having failed to meet administrative requirements.

The plan released today proposes expenditures of 276 billion lei, including:

A 20% average rise in wages for the public employees.

An increase in pensions of 14.7%, with the minimum pension rising to 520 lei/month from 400 lei.

A 6.8-billion lei increase in public investment (local development, modernization and construction of medical facilities, modernization of schools, infrastructure, etc).

Mr. Dragnea proposed budget cuts for the ministries of finance, energy and communications, a 20.9% cut in the budget of the Senate and 17.9% cut in the budget of the Chamber of Deputies.

"Our priorities will be to increase spending on health, education, wages, pensions, agriculture and defense while cutting wasteful spending in Parliament administration and the government ministries," he said.

By setting defence spending at 2% of GDP, Romania will be joining the US, Greece, Poland, Estonia and the UK as the only NATO members currently meeting or exceeding member countries' commitments, agreed to at NATO's 2014 summit in Wales. "As a strategically located state, we have a responsibility to meet our obligations to our defence partners and to invest in our own security," Mr. Dragnea said.

In several pre-election announcements, Mr. Dragnea has already announced the main elements of the PSD economic plan. These include a major investment program, dramatic tax changes, steps to attract desperately needed medical professional back to Romania and a program to give bootstrap support for new businesses.

A national reindustrialization program is designed ultimately to generate 45,000 new jobs. Linchpin of the plan is a EUR 10 billion (45 billion Romanian Leu) state investment fund, the Sovereign Fund for Development and Investment or SFDI (Fondul Suveran de Dezvoltare si Investitii, or FSDI), which is to be created from the assets owned by the state in 200 companies. The fund is expected to generate revenues of over 50 billion leu in the next four years, as dividends from those companies are reinvested, and private investments are attracted.

About the Social Democratic Party of Romania

The PSD, in Romanian Partidul Social Democrat, was originally formed in 1992 as a party of the center-left and is currently the largest grouping in both lower and upper houses of the nation's parliament, while also controlling more than half of the mayoralties and over 65% of local and county councils, including the capital of Bucharest. The PSD paved the way for Romania's historic accession process into the EU in 2007, and today holds 16 of the country's 32 MEPs. Its 2012-15 government was considered one of Romania's best, leading the country's emergence from the economic crisis and achieving rapid growth, together with a sharp increase of people's living standards. Liviu Dragnea, the PSD's current president, was elected party leader in 2015 and has since led a series of reforms that have positioned the PSD to form Romania's next government. Mr. Dragnea is a former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Regional Development.

For further information: Steluta Negoita, +40 730 650 545, presa@psd.ro in Bucharest or Zhenya Harrison, +44 (0)20 3397 2825 or zhenya.harrison@belgravestrategic.com in London.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 26, 2017) - YDreams Global Interactive Technologies Inc. (TSXV: YD) (FSE: APYYD) ("YDreams Global" or the "Company"), a creative and technical supplier for Fortune 500 brands such as Cisco, Qualcomm, Intel, and Coca-Cola, as well as recently being invited as a member of the prestigious VR/AR Association would like to announce that it has signed an MOU with CRTV International Media (Beijing) Company Ltd (CRTV).

Under the MOU, YDreams and CRTV are collaborating to develop virtual reality/ viewer immersion entertainment projects that will be centered within the movie and entertainment industry. CRTV owns 76 cinemas and has affiliations with 2000 theatres and cinemas in China.

Daniel Japiassu, director of YDreams, stated "We are very pleased to have entered into this MOU with a highly regarded Chinese state owned company such as CRTV. They have deep and wide reaching ties within the Chinese entertainment community and we look forward to building a mutually beneficial relationship."

About YDreams Global

YDreams Global Interactive Technologies Inc. (www.ydreamsglobal.com), is a technology company with offices in Vancouver, Sao Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro that combines both Augmented and Virtual Reality Technology, Design, and Intelligence to respond to the challenges and demands of today's users and consumers.

YDreams Global works as a partner for companies and brands to reframe their strategy through relevant human-centred ventures that integrates digital experience with the physical presence and venues. YDreams Global anticipates future challenges and connects them with the needs of the market, building innovative concepts and delivering them with international excellence.

YDreams Global have developed over 1,000 projects for clients all over the world, such as Adidas, Cisco, Nokia, Nike, Mercedes Benz, Coca-Cola, Santander, AmBev, Qualcomm, Unilever, City of Rio and Fiat.

YDreams Global recently announced (December 20, 2016) that YDreams has retained acclaimed international law firm of Foley & Lardner LLP. YDreams will to be working directly with two Foley partners: Mr. Robert DuPuy and Mr. Peter Eccles. Mr. DuPuy brings more than three decades of broad legal experience to his clients, including his tenure as chief legal counsel and as president and chief operating officer of Major League Baseball. He is a member of the firm's Sports Industry Team. Mr. Eccles has spent much of his career advising clients on cross-border transactions involving Brazil, where he lived as a youth. He has worked as both outside and in-house counsel to U.S. and international clients on a wide range of issues involving investments in emerging markets throughout Latin America, Asia and Africa.

YDreams Global continues discussions with professional sports teams. It is the Company's intention to push into the major league sports sector during 2017. At this stage no deal has yet been finalized.

On December 8, 2016, YDreams Global announced it was contracted to use its Virtual Reality ("VR") technology in the United States. The first project sold in the United States was released in December in New York City.

Recently (December 1, 2016), the Company announced a plan to create a virtual reality platform to be used by the military and other government agencies such as police departments, fire departments and emergency medical services that could use VR as a training experience. By using this technology for training, for example, the military, police and fire services would be able to experience accurate real-life situations that would be impossible to replicate in physical world exercises.

More Information:

James Nelson

Director, Canada

Tel: 604-646-6910

hey@ydreamsglobal.com | www.ydreamsglobal.com | www.youtube.com/ydreamsglobal

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia, Dec. 8,2016 /PRNewswire/ --Registration is now open for World ATM Congress 2017. The show returns to Madrid, 7-9 March 2017, with a conference programme featuring international air traffic management (ATM) thought leaders, a vibrant exhibition, free education theatres, and exclusive networking opportunities to connect professionals from over 125 countries, spanning the entire ATM industry.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446757

The conference of World ATM Congress 2017 considers how best to 'create the right culture' that will facilitate quicker, desired change in this complex industry. It will start with an airline view - not just of the airline requirements but how airlines have coped with and facilitated major changes and how they seek to respond to geopolitical changes and events. The conference will then look at achieving better performance through people and how multiple stakeholders can more effectively collaborate. It will take a fresh look at a specific challenge of change in ATM - how to integrate unmanned aircraft systems safely into airspace.

The conference programme will be split into four informative sessions, each addressing different aspects of creating the right culture and adapting to change in ATM, including:

Responding to geopolitical and other changes

How do we create an innovation and people performance culture in ATM?

The IT culture and multi-stakeholder collaboration

Airspace and unmanned aviation systems traffic management (UTM): Will we develop the right approach or will the future just happen to us?

Registration is open. The early bird rate expires 31 January 2017.

About World ATM Congress

World ATM Congress (www.worldatmcongress.org) combines a large-scale exhibition with attendees from over 125 countries, a world-class conference and networking opportunities for aviation professionals to learn the latest air traffic trends and developments. World ATM Congress is organised for the industry, by the industry. Operated by CANSO in partnership with ATCA, it is backed by leading air navigation service providers and industry suppliers.
BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Croatia's producer prices declined at a faster pace in November, figures from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics showed Thursday. The industrial producer prices fell 2.9 percent year-over-year in November, which was worse than the 2.3 percent drop in the previous month. The measure has been falling since March 2013. Domestic market producer prices dipped 3.1 percent annually in November and foreign market prices slid by 2.6 percent. Month-on-month, producer prices decreased 1.0 percent from October, when it rose by 1.1 percent. It was the first decline in three months. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
OTTAWA (dpa-AFX) - Cenovus Energy Inc. (CVE.TO, CVE) announced the company plans to invest between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion in 2017, a 24% increase compared with the forecast capital spending for 2016. Cenovus plans to direct approximately 70% of its 2017 capital budget towards sustaining its oil sands production and base production at its other operations. The remaining 30% is primarily planned for growth projects at the company's existing and emerging oil sands assets as well as at its tight oil assets in southern Alberta. The company plans to increase its total oil production in 2017 by 14% compared with its forecast average production for 2016. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
CHICAGO, IL -- (Marketwired) -- 12/08/16 --Methode Electronics, Inc. (NYSE: MEI), a global developer of custom engineered and application specific products and solutions, announced financial results for the second quarter and first-half of Fiscal 2017 ended October 29, 2016.

Second Quarter Fiscal 2017

Methode's second-quarter Fiscal 2017 net sales increased $0.9 million, or 0.4 percent, to $209.3 million from $208.4 million in the same quarter of Fiscal 2016. Year over year, currency rate fluctuations decreased net sales $0.7 million.

Net income increased $3.7 million to $24.9 million, or $0.66 per share, in the second quarter of Fiscal 2017 from $21.2 million, or $0.54 per share, in the same period of Fiscal 2016.

Year over year, Fiscal 2017 second-quarter net income benefitted from:

higher sales in the Automotive and Power Products segments;

favorable commodity pricing of raw materials and a favorable currency impact on material and labor expenses;

overhead cost reductions in the Power Products segment;

International government grant of $1.5 million; and

lower travel expense of $0.7 million.





Year over year, Fiscal 2017 second-quarter net income was negatively affected by:

lower sales volumes and unfavorable data solutions products sales mix in the Interface segment;

higher stock award amortization expense of $1.5 million;

increased bonus expense of $0.9 million;

increased income tax expense of $0.5 million; and

higher legal and other professional fees of $0.3 million.





Consolidated gross margins as a percentage of sales increased to 26.6 percent in the Fiscal 2017 second quarter from 24.4 percent in the Fiscal 2016 period. Gross margins improved primarily as a result of favorable commodity pricing of raw materials and a favorable currency impact on material and labor expenses, as well as overhead cost reductions in the Power Products segment. Gross margins were negatively affected by unfavorable data solutions products sales mix in the Interface segment.

Selling and administrative expenses as a percentage of sales increased to 12.7 percent for the Fiscal 2017 second quarter compared to 11.8 percent in the same period last year. Selling and administrative expenses increased $2.0 million, or 8.2 percent, to $26.5 million in the Fiscal 2017 second quarter compared to $24.5 million in the prior-year second quarter due primarily to higher stock award amortization, increased bonus expense and increased legal and professional fees, partially offset by lower travel expense.

In the Fiscal 2017 second quarter, income tax expense increased $0.5 million to $6.2 million compared to $5.7 million in the Fiscal 2016 second quarter. The Company's effective tax rate decreased to 19.9 percent in the Fiscal 2017 period from 21.2 percent in the previous second quarter.

Segment Comparisons

Comparing the Automotive segment's Fiscal 2017 second quarter to the same period of Fiscal 2016,

Net sales increased 2.1 percent, or $3.4 million, attributable to: a 6.2 percent sales improvement in North America due to higher General Motors' center console and transmission lead frame assembly product volumes, partially offset by pricing concessions and lower Ford center console product volume; and a 5.7 percent sales increase in Asia due to improved transmission lead frame assembly and interior light and switch assembly product volumes, partially offset by decreased brake switch assembly and steering angle sensor product volumes; partially offset by a 9.1 percent sales decline in Europe due to decreased customer funded tooling and design and development services, partially offset by higher integrated center panel, ignition and steering wheel switch product volumes.

Gross margins as a percentage of sales improved to 28.6 percent from 26.9 percent due to favorable commodity pricing of raw materials and a favorable currency impact on material and labor expenses.

Income from operations increased 9.4 percent as the result of increased sales, favorable commodity pricing of raw materials and a favorable currency impact on material and labor expenses as well as lower travel and general administrative expense, partially offset by higher stock award amortization and bonus expense.





Comparing the Interface segment's Fiscal 2017 second quarter to the same period of Fiscal 2016,

Net sales decreased 9.2 percent, or $3.3 million, percent attributable to: a 30.0 percent sales decrease in Asia due to lower legacy product volume; and a 11.5 percent sales decline in North America driven by lower data solutions, radio remote control and appliance product volumes; partially offset by a 7.7 percent sales improvement in Europe as the result of higher radio remote control product volumes.

Gross margins as a percentage of sales declined to 19.1 percent from 26.3 percent due to lower sales, specifically in data solutions, partially offset by favorable commodity pricing of raw materials and a favorable currency impact on material and labor expenses.

Income from operations decreased as the result of lower sales and higher stock award amortization expense, partially offset by favorable commodity pricing of raw materials and a favorable currency impact on material and labor expenses, as well as lower bonus, commission, travel, advertising and general expenses.





Comparing the Power Products segment's Fiscal 2017 second quarter to the same period of Fiscal 2016,

Net sales increased 5.9 percent, or $0.7 million, attributable to: a 40.0 percent sales increase in Asia due to higher PowerRail and other busbar product volumes; and a 9.1 percent sales improvement in Europe driven by higher busbar product volumes, partially offset by lower bypass switch product volume; partially offset by a 14.9 percent sales decrease in North America as the result of lower busbar product volumes.

Gross margins as a percentage of sales increased to 24.0 percent from 9.3 percent due to higher sales, overhead cost reductions, favorable commodity pricing of raw materials and a favorable currency impact on material and labor expenses.

Income from operations improved 320.0 percent as the result of increased sales, overhead cost reductions, favorable commodity pricing of raw materials and a favorable currency impact on material and labor expenses, partially offset by higher bonus expense.





First-Half Fiscal 2017

Methode's first-half Fiscal 2017 net sales decreased $10.6 million, or 2.6 percent, to $401.1 million from $411.7 million in the same period of Fiscal 2016. Year over year, currency rate fluctuations decreased net sales $1.4 million.

Net income increased $1.1 million to $45.9 million, or $1.23 per share, in the first-half of Fiscal 2017 from $44.8 million, or $1.15 per share, in the same period of Fiscal 2016.

Year over year, first-half Fiscal 2017 -net income benefitted from:

favorable commodity pricing of raw materials and a favorable currency impact on material and labor expenses;

International government grant of $1.5 million;

decreased income tax expense of $1.4 million;

lower travel expense of $1.3 million;

commodity pricing adjustments in the Automotive segment of $1.0 million;

the one-time reversal of accruals related to customer commercial issues in the Automotive segment of $1.0 million;

the absence of costs associated with the move of manufacturing from the Philippines to Egypt in the Fiscal 2016 first quarter of $1.0 million;

lower bonus expense of $0.2 million and

overhead cost reductions in the Power Products segment.





Year over year, first-half Fiscal 2017 net income was negatively affected by:

lower sales across all segments;

higher stock award amortization expense of $4.8 million;

increased legal and professional fees of $3.1 million;

the absence of a tariff refund of $1.3 million.





Consolidated gross margins as a percentage of sales increased to 27.3 percent in the Fiscal 2017 first-half from 25.4 percent in the Fiscal 2016 period. Gross margins improved primarily as a result of commodity pricing adjustments and the one-time reversal of accruals related to customer commercial issues in the Automotive segment, favorable commodity pricing of raw materials and a favorable currency impact on material and labor expenses, the absence of costs associated with the move of manufacturing from the Philippines to Egypt, as well as overhead cost reductions in the Power Products segment.

Selling and administrative expenses as a percentage of sales increased to 13.5 percent for the Fiscal 2017 first-half compared to 11.6 percent in the same period last year. Selling and administrative expenses increased $6.4 million, or 13.4 percent, to $54.0 million in the Fiscal 2017 first-half compared to $47.6 million in the prior-year period due primarily to higher stock award amortization expense as well as increased legal and professional fees, partially offset by lower travel and bonus expense.

In the Fiscal 2017 first-half, income tax expense decreased $1.4 million to $11.7 million compared to $13.1 million in the Fiscal 2016 first-half. The Company's effective tax rate decreased to 20.2 percent in the Fiscal 2017 period from 22.7 percent in the previous period.

Segment Comparisons

Comparing the Automotive segment's Fiscal 2017 first-half to the same period of Fiscal 2016,

Net sales decreased 0.8 percent, or $2.5 million, attributable to: a 9.4 percent sales decline in Europe due to decreased customer funded tooling and design and development services, partially offset by higher integrated center panel, ignition and steering wheel switch product volumes; and a 1.7 percent sales decrease in Asia due to reduced transmission lead frame assembly product volume, partially offset by higher interior light and switch assembly product volumes; partially offset by a 3.3 percent sales improvement in North America due to higher General Motors' center console and transmission lead frame assembly product volumes, partially offset by pricing concessions and lower Ford center console product volume.

Gross margins as a percentage of sales improved to 29.4 percent from 27.8 percent due to commodity pricing adjustments and the one-time reversal of accruals related to customer commercial issues as well as favorable commodity pricing of raw materials and a favorable currency impact on material and labor expenses, partially offset by the absence of a tariff refund.

Income from operations increased 4.8 percent as the result of commodity pricing adjustments and the one-time reversal of accruals related to customer commercial issues, favorable commodity pricing of raw materials and a favorable currency impact on material and labor expenses, as well as lower travel and bonus expense, partially offset by lower sales and higher stock award amortization expense.





Comparing the Interface segment's Fiscal 2017 first-half to the same period of Fiscal 2016,

Net sales decreased 6.3 percent, or $4.4 million, attributable to: an 8.3 percent sales decline in North America driven by lower data solutions and appliance product volumes; and a 0.8 percent sales reduction in Europe; partially offset by an 18.8 percent sales improvement in Asia due to higher legacy product volume.

Gross margins as a percentage of sales declined to 21.2 percent from 23.7 percent due to lower sales, specifically in data solutions, partially offset by favorable commodity pricing of raw materials and a favorable currency impact on material and labor expenses.

Income from operations decreased as the result of lower sales and higher stock award amortization expense, partially offset by favorable commodity pricing of raw materials and a favorable currency impact on material and labor expenses, as well as lower salary, fringe, bonus, commission, travel, and advertising expenses.





Comparing the Power Products segment's Fiscal 2017 first-half to the same period of Fiscal 2016,

Net sales decreased 13.4 percent, or $3.8 million, attributable to: a 27.3 percent sales decline in Europe driven by lower bypass switch product volume partially offset by higher busbar product volume; and a 24.5 percent sales decrease in North America as the result of lower PowerRail and other busbar product volumes; partially offset by a 9.5 percent sales increase in Asia due to higher PowerRail and other busbar product volumes.

Gross margins as a percentage of sales increased to 26.1 percent from 18.4 percent due to overhead cost reductions and favorable commodity pricing of raw materials and a favorable currency impact on material and labor expenses.

Income from operations improved 28.6 percent as the result of overhead cost reductions as well as favorable commodity pricing of raw materials and a favorable currency impact on material and labor expenses, partially offset by decreased sales and higher bonus expense.





Share Repurchase

In the first-half of Fiscal 2017, the Company purchased approximately $9.8 million, or 280,168 shares, of its outstanding common stock at an average purchase price of $34.96 under its board of directors-authorized $100 million repurchase plan, which terminates September 1, 2017. Approximately $28.0 million remains under the repurchase plan. The program may be suspended or terminated at any time.

Guidance

Methode updated Fiscal 2017 guidance. The Company maintained sales guidance in the range of $820 million to $845 million, however it believes full-year sales will likely be at the low end of this range, with the potential to be slightly below the range should weakness in its data solutions group extend further. The Company maintained guidance for income from operations in the range of $102 million to $117 million but increased earnings per share to a range of $2.30 to $2.45 from $2.11 to $2.35 due to productivity improvements and the award of an international government grant.

The guidance ranges for Fiscal 2017 are based upon management's expectations regarding a variety of factors and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the following:

the price of commodities, including copper and resins;

currency exchange effect of the operations of foreign businesses;

the sales volumes and timing thereof for certain makes and models of pickup trucks, sports utility vehicles and passenger cars;

an effective tax rate in the low- to mid-twenty percent range with no significant changes in tax valuation allowances, tax credit movement or enacted tax laws.

the effect on earnings per share of the repurchase of shares in Fiscal 2017;

sales mix within the markets served;

the uncertainty of the European economy;

continued ability to realize manufacturing efficiencies;

no significant supplier issues or manufacturing quality events;

no unusual or one-time items; and

no acquisitions or divestitures.





Management Comments

President and Chief Executive Officer Donald W. Duda said, "Year over year, we delivered strong earnings in our second quarter and first-half despite nearly flat sales, which reflects our commitment to continuous manufacturing improvement as well as the successful investments we have made in vertical integration."

Mr. Duda concluded, "With over 6,000 surgeries performed utilizing our Dabir Surface with no known tissue injury, we remain focused on gathering scientifically based clinical evidence and educating healthcare communities that Dabir can become a transformative solution to address the significant need for the prevention of pressure ulcers, commonly known as bed sores."

Conference Call

The Company will conduct a conference call and Webcast to review financial and operational highlights led by its President and Chief Executive Officer, Donald W. Duda, and Chief Financial Officer, John Hrudicka, today at 10:00 a.m. Central time.

To participate in the conference call, please dial (877) 407-9210 (domestic) or (201) 689-8049 (international) at least five minutes prior to the start of the event. A simultaneous Webcast can be accessed through the Company's Web site, www.methode.com, by selecting the Investor Relations page, and then clicking on the "Webcast" icon.

A replay of the conference call, as well as an MP3 download, will be available shortly after the call through January 8 by dialing (877) 481-4010 (domestic) or (919) 882-2331 (international) and providing Conference ID number 10166. On the Internet, a replay will be available for 30 days through the Company's Web site, www.methode.com, by selecting the Investor Relations page and then clicking on the "Webcast" icon.

About Methode Electronics, Inc.

Methode Electronics, Inc. (NYSE: MEI) is a global developer of custom engineered and application specific products and solutions with manufacturing, design and testing facilities in China, Egypt, Germany, India, Italy, Lebanon, Malta, Mexico, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. We design, manufacture and market devices employing electrical, electronic, wireless, safety radio remote control, sensing and optical technologies to control and convey signals through sensors, interconnections and controls. Our business is managed on a segment basis, with those segments being Automotive, Interface, Power Products and Other. Our components are in the primary end markets of the automobile, computer, information processing and networking equipment, voice and data communication systems, consumer electronics, appliances, aerospace vehicles and industrial equipment industries. Further information can be found on Methode's Web site www.methode.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, which reflect management's expectations regarding future events and operating performance and speak only as of the date hereof. These forward-looking statements are subject to the safe harbor protection provided under the securities laws. Methode undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in Methode's expectations on a quarterly basis or otherwise. The forward-looking statements in this press release involve a number of risks and uncertainties. The factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations are detailed in Methode's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, such as our annual and quarterly reports. Such factors may include, without limitation, the following: (1) dependence on a small number of large customers, including two large automotive customers; (2) dependence on the automotive, appliance, computer and communications industries; (3) investment in programs prior to the recognition of revenue; (4) timing, quality and cost of new program launches; (5) ability to withstand price pressure, including pricing concessions; (6) currency fluctuations; (7) customary risks related to conducting global operations; (8) ability to successfully market and sell Dabir surfaces; (9) continued economic challenges in Europe including the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union; (10) dependence on our supply chain; (11) income tax rate fluctuations; (12) ability to withstand business interruptions; (13) dependence on the availability and price of raw materials; (14) fluctuations in our gross margins; (15) location of a significant amount of cash outside of the U.S.; (16) ability to keep pace with rapid technological changes; (17) a breach of our information technology systems; (18) ability to avoid design or manufacturing defects; (19) ability to compete effectively; (20) ability to protect our intellectual property; (21) ability to successfully benefit from acquisitions and divestitures; (22) the recognition of goodwill impairment charges; (23) costs and expenses due to regulations regarding conflict minerals; and (24) the effect of the Presidential election on NAFTA and other international trade agreements.

METHODE ELECTRONICS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (Unaudited) ($ in millions, except per share data) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended ----------------------- ----------------------- October 29, October 31, October 29, October 31, 2016 2015 2016 2015 ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- Net sales $ 209.3 $ 208.4 $ 401.1 $ 411.7 Cost of products sold 153.7 157.5 291.5 307.2 ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- Gross profit 55.6 50.9 109.6 104.5 Selling and administrative expenses 26.5 24.5 54.0 47.6 ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- Income from operations 29.1 26.4 55.6 56.9 Interest income, net (0.1) (0.3) (0.1) (0.5) Other income, net (1.9) (0.2) (1.9) (0.5) ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- Income before income taxes 31.1 26.9 57.6 57.9 Income tax expense 6.2 5.7 11.7 13.1 ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- NET INCOME ATTRIBUTABLE TO METHODE ELECTRONICS, INC. $ 24.9 $ 21.2 $ 45.9 $ 44.8 =========== =========== =========== =========== Amounts per common share attributable to Methode Electronics, Inc.: Basic $ 0.66 $ 0.55 $ 1.23 $ 1.15 Diluted $ 0.66 $ 0.54 $ 1.23 $ 1.15 Cash dividends: Common stock $ 0.09 $ 0.09 $ 0.18 $ 0.18 Weighted average number of Common Shares outstanding: Basic 37,353,423 38,972,930 37,337,985 38,913,836 Diluted 37,541,250 39,077,839 37,494,219 39,031,424 METHODE ELECTRONICS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS ($ in millions) As of As of October 29, April 30, 2016 2016 ----------- ----------- (Unaudited) ASSETS CURRENT ASSETS Cash and cash equivalents $ 249.6 $ 227.8 Accounts receivable, net 172.0 175.5 Inventories: Finished products 11.6 11.9 Work in process 7.3 9.6 Materials 41.7 44.7 ----------- ----------- 60.6 66.2 Deferred income taxes -- 11.8 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 14.9 14.9 ----------- ----------- TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS 497.1 496.2 PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT 326.6 325.9 Less allowances for depreciation 237.8 232.9 ----------- ----------- 88.8 93.0 GOODWILL 1.6 1.7 INTANGIBLE ASSETS, net 7.8 8.9 PRE-PRODUCTION COSTS 16.0 9.5 DEFERRED INCOME TAXES 36.3 27.7 OTHER ASSETS 18.9 18.9 ----------- ----------- 80.6 66.7 ----------- ----------- TOTAL ASSETS $ 666.5 $ 655.9 =========== =========== LIABILITIES AND EQUITY CURRENT LIABILITIES Accounts payable $ 75.9 $ 68.2 Other current liabilities 38.0 49.7 ----------- ----------- TOTAL CURRENT LIABILITIES 113.9 117.9 LONG-TERM DEBT 49.0 57.0 OTHER LIABILITIES 2.4 2.9 DEFERRED COMPENSATION 8.4 8.0 SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY Common stock, $0.50 par value, 100,000,000 shares authorized, 38,090,262 and 38,181,985 shares issued as of October 29, 2016 and April 30, 2016, respectively 19.0 19.1 Additional paid-in capital 121.2 112.3 Accumulated other comprehensive income (23.1) (8.4) Treasury stock, 1,346,624 shares as of October 29, 2016 and April 30, 2016 (11.5) (11.5) Retained earnings 387.2 358.6 ----------- ----------- TOTAL EQUITY 492.8 470.1 ----------- ----------- TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY $ 666.5 $ 655.9 =========== =========== METHODE ELECTRONICS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Unaudited) ($ in millions) Six Months Ended ----------------------- October 29, October 31, 2016 2015 ----------- ----------- OPERATING ACTIVITIES Net income $ 45.9 $ 44.8 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities: Provision for depreciation 10.5 10.8 Amortization of intangibles 1.2 1.2 Amortization of stock awards and stock options 7.0 2.2 Changes in operating assets and liabilities (1.0) (9.9) Other 0.1 -- ----------- ----------- NET CASH PROVIDED BY OPERATING ACTIVITIES 63.7 49.1 INVESTING ACTIVITIES Purchases of property, plant and equipment (9.5) (9.5) ----------- ----------- NET CASH USED IN INVESTING ACTIVITIES (9.5) (9.5) FINANCING ACTIVITIES Taxes paid related to net share settlement of equity awards (1.1) (7.6) Purchase of common stock (9.8) (22.8) Proceeds from exercise of stock options 1.5 0.4 Tax benefit from stock option exercises 0.5 4.0 Cash dividends (6.6) (6.9) Proceeds from borrowings -- 25.0 Repayment of borrowings (8.0) (8.0) ----------- ----------- NET CASH USED IN FINANCING ACTIVITIES (23.5) (15.9) Effect of foreign currency exchange rate changes on cash (8.9) (5.2) ----------- ----------- INCREASE IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS 21.8 18.5 Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 227.8 168.1 ----------- ----------- CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS AT END OF PERIOD $ 249.6 $ 186.6 =========== ===========

For Methode Electronics, Inc.

Investor Contacts:

Kristine Walczak

Dresner Corporate Services

312-780-7205

kwalczak@dresnerco.com




MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 12/08/16 -- Lumenpulse Inc. (TSX: LMP), the parent company of the Lumenpulse Group, a leading manufacturer of high performance, specification-grade LED lighting solutions, released today its second quarter of Fiscal 2017 results for the period ended October 31, 2016.

We are very pleased with our second quarter results which represent a milestone in financial performance for our business. Our year-over-year revenue performance highlights the strength of our combined product portfolio strategy. Together our product portfolios, including our acquired product portfolios, generated significant year-over-year growth underscoring the breadth of lighting applications we now cover," said Francois-Xavier Souvay, President and CEO of the Lumenpulse Group.

"Our North American sales teams, which now have access to four of our five brands including Fluxwerx, delivered solid revenue growth. Outside North America, our growth was tempered by the financial underperformance in the U.K. At this time, the financial performance of our experienced UK sales team does not truthfully reflect the performance of this team in building our presence, developing pipeline of specified projects, and the key role they play in developing various project specifications that originate in the UK but are delivered elsewhere in the world. We have noticed that new UK based specifications are taking a longer time to convert. While economic uncertainty in the UK persists, we remain cautiously optimistic about our future prospects in the region. Other regions are performing in line with expectations.

"We continue to execute on our product road map. During the second quarter, we successfully introduced the new Lumenalpha collection, which adds 30 new luminaires for commercial, retail, institutional and hospitality markets. We also launched the latest generation of the Lumencove Nano and new optics for Lumenline. Furthermore, we are realizing synergies across our portfolios, with orders that include several brands for the same project.

"We are pleased with our Adjusted EBITDA margin performance of 12.0% for this quarter. Our Adjusted EBITDA performance demonstrates the operating leverage we are working to deliver for this fiscal year. As we have consistently said, quarterly performance is not necessarily an indicator of annual performance however, Q2 Fiscal 2017 is a strong indicator of the expected future financial performance of our business. We remain focused on delivering our full fiscal year targets as quarterly results always remain subject to short-term variability. We continue to grow our pipeline and backlog and remain focused on execution to achieve our Fiscal 2017 guidance. At this time, we are reaffirming our long-term guidance for revenues and Adjusted EBITDA and our Fiscal 2017 Financial Outlook," concluded Mr. Souvay.

Financial Highlights(1,2)

(Unaudited, in millions of Canadian dollars, except per share amounts)

For the second quarters ended October 31, 2016 and 2015

Q2 2017 Q2 2016 Change YTD 2017 YTD 2016 Change ============================================================================ Revenues - Consolidated 56.3 37.4 18.9 101.6 69.3 32.3 Growth 51% 47% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gross Profit % 49% 49% 0 pts 48% 48% 0 pts Adjusted Gross Profit %(1) 50% 50% 0 pts 49% 49% 0 pts ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operating income 3.2 2.7 0.5 3.4 2.5 0.9 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adjusted EBITDA(1) 6.7 4.2 2.5 10.8 6.2 4.6 Adjusted EBITDA %(1) 12% 11% 1 pts 11% 9% 2 pts ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Net Income 2.0 2.6 (0.6) 1.7 4.0 (2.3) Adjusted Net Income(1) 4.6 3.1 1.5 7.4 5.7 1.7 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- EPS - Diluted(2) 0.08 0.10 (0.02) 0.07 0.16 (0.09) Adjusted EPS - Diluted(1,2) 0.17 0.12 0.05 0.28 0.23 0.05 ============================================================================

Revenues

For its second quarter ended October 31, 2016, Lumenpulse's revenues increased by $18.9 million, or 51%, to $56.3 million compared to $37.4 million for the corresponding period last year. The 51% increase reflects Acquisition Growth(3) of 29%, Organic Growth(4) of 24% reflecting year-over-year revenue growth across all product portfolios, including acquired product portfolios, which were offset by negligible foreign exchange impact of 2%.

For the second quarter ended October 31, 2016, revenues in Canada increased by 61% to $11.3 million, of which 45% was driven by Organic Growth when compared to the same period last year. The revenues for the quarter include the delivery of a significant project previously delayed in the first quarter of Fiscal 2017. Revenues in the United States increased by 57% to $35.1 million, of which 29% was driven by Organic Growth. Revenues outside North America increased by 24% to $9.9 million. This growth rate takes into account the financial under performance of the UK region as the sales team continues to build the pipeline of specified projects.

For the six-month period ended October 31, 2016, consolidated revenues increased by 47% to $101.6 million from $69.3 million compared to the same period last year.

(1) Please refer to our definitions and reconciliations of these non-IFRS financial measures at the end of this document.

(2) The calculations for the Earnings per share - Diluted and Adjusted Earnings per share - Diluted for the second quarter and the six-month period ended of October 31, 2016 include the effect of 1,184,672 and 1,174,154 stock options, respectively, which are deemed to be dilutive.

(3) Acquisition Growth reflects the period-over-period increase in revenues attributable to the revenues of the acquired product portfolios realized for the commensurate period prior to their acquisition.

(4) Organic Growth reflects period-over-period growth of all our product portfolios including the growth of acquired product portfolios over their existing revenues for the commensurate period prior to their acquisition.

Gross margin and Adjusted Gross Margin

For the second quarter ended October 31, 2016, gross margin decreased slightly to 48.7% from 49.0% the preceding year, driven primarily by the lower gross margin of our acquired product portfolios. For the six month period ended October 31, 2016, our gross margin increased to 48.2% from 47.8%, primarily due to a favorable product mix combined with manufacturing efficiencies which were partly offset by lower margin contribution of Fiscal 2016 Acquisitions and an unfavourable foreign exchange impact.

For the second quarter and the six-month period ended October 31, 2016, the Adjusted Gross Margins were 49.5% and 49.3% respectively.

Operating Income and Adjusted EBITDA

For the second quarter ended October 31, 2016, operating income increased to $3.2 million from an operating income of $2.7 million for the comparable period last year. For the six month period ended October 31, 2016, operating income increased to $3.4 million from $2.5 million in comparison to the same period last year. These increases are due to the improvement in gross profit partly offset by higher operating expenses.

As a percentage of total revenues, Adjusted EBITDA increased to 12.0% compared to 11.2% and to 10.6% compared to 8.9%, respectively, for the second quarter and the six month period ended October 31, 2016 in comparison to the same periods last year. The improvements of Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of revenues demonstrate the operational leverage of our cost structure.

Net Income and Adjusted Net Income

For the second quarter and six month period ended October 31, 2016, net income decreased to $2.0 million from $2.6 million and to $1.7 million from $4.0 million, respectively, compared to the same periods last year. These variances were primarily caused by an increase in net financing costs and income taxes, partly offset by the improvement in operating income.

For the second quarter and six month period ended October 31, 2016, Adjusted Net Income increased to $4.6 million from $3.1 million and to $7.4 million from $5.7 million, respectively, compared to the same periods last year. For the second quarter, the variance was primarily caused by an increase in Adjusted EBITDA partly offset by an increase in income taxes, and depreciation and amortization, net of their adjusting items.

Financial Position

Net cash flows generated from operating activities were $5.3 million for the second quarter of Fiscal 2017 compared to $5.1 million for the same period last year. The Company also had, as at October 31, 2016, cash and cash equivalents of $16.9 million and a $40.0 million revolving credit facility of which $5.0 million was used.

Conference Call

Lumenpulse scheduled a conference call to discuss these results on Thursday, December 8, 2016, beginning at 11:00 A.M. (ET). This conference call will be broadcast live on the Internet at the following link: Q2 2017 Earnings Conference Call. A slideshow presentation intended for real-time viewing with the conference call will also be available. Alternatively, investors may join by dialing in North America: 1-844-825-4409 (conference ID: 11898330). The webcast will be archived at www.lumenpulsegroup.com/investors/financial-information/quarterly-results.

Non-IFRS Measures

This press release makes reference to certain non-IFRS measures. These measures are not recognized measures under IFRS, do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Rather, these measures are provided as additional information to complement IFRS measures by providing further understanding of the Company's results of operations from Management's perspective.

The non-IFRS measures permit the assessment of the results generated by the Company's core business, prior to consideration of how the activities are financed, how the results are taxed or the non-cash impact associated to the volatility of the Company's share price. Unusual or other items of a non-recurring nature, that could make the period-over-period comparison of the Company's underlying business less meaningful or not representative of future performance, are further excluded from adjusted non-IFRS measures. Although amortization of acquired intangible assets, professional fees related to business acquisitions, acquired profit on finished goods inventory, change in fair value of contingent consideration, non-cash share-based compensation, relocation expenses, employee termination costs, expenses for unrealized gains or losses on revalued cash share-based compensation, depreciation of leasehold improvements and unusual deferred income tax asset recognition have been recognized in prior periods and could reoccur in future periods, Management excludes these charges, net of taxes, during internal reviews of performance, operational analysis, decision making, and other activities. These measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our financial information reported under IFRS. Management's definition of these measures may differ from similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

We use non-IFRS measures, including Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income (Loss), Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted Earnings (Loss) per share-basic and diluted, to provide investors with supplemental measures of our operating performance and thus highlight trends in our core business that may not otherwise be apparent when relying solely on IFRS financial measures.

Glossary of Adjusted Non-IFRS Measures

Adjusted EBITDA is defined as earnings before net financing (income) costs, income taxes (recovery), and depreciation and amortization, employee termination costs, professional fees related to business acquisitions, acquired profit on finished goods inventory, non-cash share-based compensation, relocation expenses and unrealized gains or losses on revalued cash share-based compensation.

-- Unrealized (gains) or losses on revalued cash share-based compensation is defined as gains or losses on revalued cash share-based compensation which have been expensed and are unexercised at the end of the reporting period. These unrealized gains or losses are driven by the fluctuation of the Company's common share price during the reference period.

Adjusted Net Income (Loss) is defined as net income (loss) before employee termination costs, professional fees related to acquisitions, acquired profit on finished goods inventory, non-cash share-based compensation, relocation expenses, unrealized gains or losses on revalued cash share-based compensation, amortization of acquired intangible assets, unusual deferred income tax asset recognition, change in fair value of contingent consideration and additional depreciation expense on leasehold improvements caused by the reassessment of their useful life as a result of the upcoming relocation of the Montreal facility, net of taxes.

-- Unusual deferred tax asset recognition is defined as the deferred income tax asset recognized by assessing the measurement and recoverability of operating tax losses. -- Change in fair value of contingent consideration is related to the achievement of certain financial performance targets in specific periods following the acquisitions of Exenia and Fluxwerx.

Adjusted Gross Profit is defined as gross profit less non-cash share-based compensation, acquired profit on finished goods inventory, unrealized gains or losses on revalued cash share-based compensation and depreciation and amortization.

Adjusted Earnings (Loss) per share - basic is defined as the Adjusted Net Income (Loss) on the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding during the period.

Adjusted Earnings per share - diluted is defined as the Adjusted Net Income on the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding during the period and all potentially dilutive stock options.

Reconciliation of Non-IFRS measures

Quarters Ended Six Months Ended October 31 October 31 ------------------------------------------------ 2016 2015 2016 2015 ------------------------------------------------ (in thousands of Canadian dollars) Gross Profit 27,411 18,323 48,967 33,134 Gross margin % 48.7% 49.0% 48.2% 47.8% Non-cash share-based compensation 58 11 116 23 Acquired profit on finished goods inventory(1) - - 219 - Unrealized (gains) or losses on revalued cash share-based compensation (5) 1 (4) 1 Depreciation and amortization 434 213 849 414 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adjusted Gross Profit 27,898 18,548 50,147 33,572 Adjusted Gross margin % 49.5% 49.6% 49.3% 48.5% Operating Income 3,208 2,746 3,354 2,494 % of revenues 5.7% 7.4% 3.3% 3.6% Relocation expenses(2) 80 - 318 - Employee termination costs - - - 877 Professional fees related to business acquisitions(3) - - 17 - Acquired profit on finished goods inventory(1) - - 219 - Depreciation and amortization 3,025 1,207 5,968 2,339 Non-cash share-based compensation 528 207 1,020 461 Unrealized (gains) or losses on revalued cash share-based compensation (95) 20 (79) 8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adjusted EBITDA 6,746 4,180 10,817 6,179 % of revenues 12.0% 11.2% 10.6% 8.9% Net Income 2,043 2,569 1,749 4,026 % of revenues 3.6% 6.9% 1.7% 5.8% Relocation expenses(2) 80 - 318 - Employee termination costs - - - 877 Professional fees related to business acquisitions(3) - - 17 - Acquired profit on finished goods inventory(1) - - 219 - Unusual deferred income tax asset recognition(4) - - - (277) Non-cash share-based compensation 528 207 1,020 461 Unrealized (gains) or losses on revalued cash share-based compensation (95) 20 (79) 8 Change in fair value of contingent consideration(5) 812 - 1,638 - Amortization of acquired intangible assets 1,536 299 3,085 561 Depreciation of leasehold improvements(6) 182 - 363 - Tax effect of normalization adjustments(7) (439) - (959) - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adjusted Net Income 4,647 3,095 7,371 5,656 % of revenues 8.2% 8.3% 7.3% 8.2%

(1) Acquired profit on finished goods inventory related to Exenia.

(2) Relocation expenses related to the new Montreal facility.

(3) Professional fees related to the business acquisitions of Fluxwerx, Exenia, SDL Lighting Inc., Ariane Controls Inc. and asset acquisition of Projection Lighting Limited.

(4) Certain Fiscal 2016 comparative figures have been reclassified to be aligned with the Fiscal 2017 definitions.

(5) Refer to "Other Liabilities (including current portion)" in our MD&A filed for the Second Quarter Fiscal 2017 for more details on Change in fair value of contingent consideration.

(6) Additional depreciation expense on leasehold improvements caused by the reassessment of their useful life as a result of the upcoming relocation of the Montreal facility.

(7) Tax impact of the adjusting items in order to present them net of taxes.

Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, information with respect to our objectives and the strategies to achieve these objectives, as well as information with respect to our beliefs, plans, expectations, anticipations, estimates and intentions. This forward-looking information is identified by the use of terms and phrases such as "may", "would", "should", "could", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "outlook", "target", "goal", "guidance", "anticipate", "plan", "foresee", "believe", or "continue", the negative of these terms and similar terminology, including references to assumptions, although not all forward-looking information contains these terms and phrases. Statements with respect to potential benefits and synergies resulting from completed transactions and to future accretion to earnings per share constitute forward-looking information. Forward-looking information includes statements relating to annual targets, outlook, guidance and updates. See Assessment of the Company's Performance against Long-Term Guidance and Fiscal 2017 Financial Outlook in the Company's Management's Discussion & Analysis filed for the Second quarter Fiscal 2017 with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities, which is available on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.

Forward-looking information is provided for the purposes of assisting the reader in understanding the Company's financial performance, financial position, cash flows, its business, operations, prospects and risks at a point in time, and to present information about Management's current expectations and plans relating to the future and therefore the reader is cautioned that such information may not be appropriate for other purposes.

Forward-looking information is based upon a number of assumptions and is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those that are disclosed in or implied by such forward-looking information. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risk factors discussed under "Risk Factors" in the Company's Management's discussion & Analysis filed for the Second Quarter Fiscal 2017.

Although the forward-looking information contained herein is based upon what we believe are reasonable assumptions, investors are cautioned against placing undue reliance on this information since actual results may vary from the forward-looking information. These assumptions, risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risk factors identified in and the assumptions used in preparing our Fiscal 2017 financial guidance found under the section "Fiscal 2017 Financial Outlook" of the Company's MD&A filed for the Second Quarter Fiscal 2017 with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities, which is available on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.

Consequently, all of the forward-looking information contained herein is qualified by the foregoing cautionary statements, and there can be no guarantee that the results or developments that we anticipate will be realized or, even if substantially realized, that they will have the expected consequences or effects on our business, financial condition or results of operation. Unless otherwise noted or the context otherwise indicates, the forward-looking information contained herein is provided as of the date hereof, and we do not undertake to update or amend such forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable law and the Company reserves the right to change, at any time at its sole discretion, its current practice of providing annual targets and guidance.

About Lumenpulse Group

Founded in 2006, the Lumenpulse Group designs, develops, manufactures and sells a wide range of high performance and sustainable specification-grade LED lighting solutions for commercial, institutional and urban environments. The Lumenpulse Group is a leading pure-play specification-grade LED lighting solutions provider and has earned many awards and recognitions, including several Product Innovation Awards (PIA), three Next Generation Luminaires Design Awards, two Red Dot Product Design Awards and a Lightfair Innovation Award. The Lumenpulse Group now has 653 employees worldwide, with corporate headquarters in Montreal, Canada, and offices in Vancouver, Quebec City, Boston, Paris, Florence, London and Manchester. Lumenpulse Inc., the parent company of the Lumenpulse Group, is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol LMP. For more information, visit www.lumenpulsegroup.com.

Contacts:

Elisabeth Hamaoui

Investor Relations / M&A

(514) 937-3003 ext. 388

ehamaoui@lumenpulse.com

www.lumenpulsegroup.com




WELLESLEY, Massachusetts, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The increasing incidence of cancer, unavailability of efficacious treatments, and need to reduce the global burden of cancer are driving the global market for cancer vaccines. BCC Research reveals in its new report that cancer vaccines are considered an attractive and profitable domain due to unique characteristics such as fewer side effects, low toxicity and high specificity.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140723/694805 )

Cancer immunotherapy research incorporates a variety of technological approaches, including cancer vaccines, which are designed to promote tumor-specific immune responses. Various vaccine platforms such as short peptides, full-length proteins, viruses, dendritic cells, tumor cells, tumor lysates and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) are being tested for the development of cancer vaccines.

The global market for cancer vaccines, valued at nearly $4.0 billion in 2015, is expected to decline from nearly $3.5 billion in 2016 to $3.4 billion in 2021, demonstrating a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of -0.4% (2016-2021). However, the North American market should grow from $1.7 billion in 2016 to almost $1.9 billion in 2021 at a five-year CAGR of 1.4%. The European market is expected to total $777.4 million and $847.3 million in 2016 and 2021, respectively, at a five-year CAGR of 1.7%. Emerging markets as segment, with almost $1.2 billion in sales in 2015, is expected to total $713.1 billion by 2021, a decline attributable to adverse event reports associated with Human papillomavirus vaccinations (HPV).

Cancer vaccines that currently compose a minor share of the oncology industry should become one of the most profitable businesses for the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. Government initiatives in various countries also are encouraging researchers to develop cancer immunotherapies.

"For example, the U.S. government revealed it will invest $195 million in fiscal year 2016 as part of a proposed nearly $1 billion budget initiative for the Cancer Moonshot," says BCC Research analyst Shalini Dewan. "But because the market is in its infancy, a limited number of products exist. The market also faces considerable hurdles of high manufacturing costs and competition from comparatively low cost therapies."

Cancer Vaccines: Technologies and Global Markets (PHM173B) analyzes the cancer vaccines arena including diverse therapeutic platform technologies, immune-stimulating agents and approved vaccines for cancer. The report also examines market dynamics, specifically growth and restriction factors, acquisitionsand collaborations, and products in Phase I-IV clinical trials. Global market drivers and trends, with data from 2015, estimates for 2016, and projections of CAGRs through 2021 also are provided.

Editors and reporters who wish to speak with the analyst should contact Steven Cumming at steven.cumming@bccresearch.com.

About BCC Research

BCC Research is a publisher of market research reports that provide organizations with intelligence to drive smart business decisions. By partnering with industry experts worldwide, BCC Research provides unbiased measurements and assessments of global markets covering major industrial and technology sectors, including emerging markets. For more information about BCC Research, please visit bccresearch.com. Follow BCC Research on Twitter at @BCCResearch.

Contact:

Steven Cumming

Tel: 978-870-3345

Fax: 781-489-7308

Email: steven.cumming@bccresearch.com


DUBLIN, Dec 08, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global Coconut Milk Market 2016-2020" report to their offering.

The global coconut milk market to grow at a CAGR of 15.4% during the period 2016-2020.

Global Coconut Milk Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from the sales of coconut milk to individual consumers.



One of the positive trends that will affect the growth of the market during the forecast period is the increasing investments by the players in the market. The players in the market are investing in increasing their production capabilities and improving their distribution networks.

According to the report, one of the main growth drivers of the coconut milk market is the health benefits associated with the consumption of coconut milk. Coconut milk helps in improving the immune system of the body, thereby helping to prevent diseases. The lauric acid found in coconut milk is easily absorbed by the body and used by the body for energy. Also, this fatty acid helps in lowering cholesterol levels, improving blood pressure, and preventing heart attacks or strokes.

Further, the report states that sourcing of tender coconuts is one of the main challenges faced by the global coconut milk market. The players in the market used to source their coconuts from Brazil initially, however due to the increase in demand, the supply from Brazil was not able to meet the demand. Hence, they have shifted to Asia to source the coconuts from countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, and India, which are the largest coconut producers as of 2012.

Key vendors



Goya Foods

McCormick

Pureharvest

Theppadungporn Coconut

WhiteWave Foods

Other prominent vendors



CHI

Ducoco

Edward & Sons

iTi Tropicals

Pacific Foods

Thai Agri Foods

Turtle Mountain

Key Topics Covered:

Part 01: Executive summary



Part 02: Scope of the report



Part 03: Market research methodology



Part 04: Introduction



Part 05: Market landscape



Part 06: Market segmentation by distribution channel



Part 07: Geographical segmentation



Part 08: Key leading countries



Part 09: Market drivers



Part 10: Impact of drivers



Part 11: Market challenges



Part 12: Impact of drivers and challenges



Part 13: Market trends



Part 14: Vendor landscape



Part 15: Appendix

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/pjv45p/global_coconut



Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716






HAMBURG, Germany, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Today and on Friday, 50 foreign-ministers and 1,300 representatives of 57 delegations of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) member-states are meeting at the Hamburg exhibition grounds for their Ministerial Council. The event is being hosted by Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Due to its international character, Hamburg is the ideal location and will be in the international limelight for two days.

Hamburg's First Mayor Olaf Scholz welcomes the event: "The OSCE conference is an honour for our cosmopolitan city. We are currently witnessing that peace is repeatedly threatened and that wars such as the Syrian war have an impact on us all. Especially in unsettled times it is important that leading politicians get together and talk. Hamburg is well suited for this: as a trading hub it has always had an international focus. Just think of the Hanseatic League, which represented peace and security in Europe for centuries."

According to German Foreign-Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Hamburg is predestined for this due to its cosmopolitan, open-minded character and its international links. He also stressed the proverbial Hanseatic spirit that has promoted a culture of participation for centuries.

Topics of the Ministerial Council in Hamburg - which will be attended e.g. by John Kerry (USA) and Sergei Viktorovich Lavrov (Russia) - include the OSCE's commitment in the Ukraine as well as terrorism, arms control and means of strengthening the OSCE.

Next summer, the world will once again gather in Hamburg as the OSCE conference will be followed by the G20 summit on 7 and 8 July 2017. In 2017, the rotating chair will be held by Germany. Following a suggestion by Chancellor Angela Merkel, the G20 summit is scheduled to take place in Hamburg (http://www.hamburg.com).

Contact:

Hamburg-Marketing

Guido Neumann

guido.neumann@marketing.hamburg.de

Phone: +49(40)30051580

Mobile: +49(160)97298302


VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 12/08/16 -- Southern Arc Minerals Inc. (TSX VENTURE: SA) ("Southern Arc" or the "Company") announces that further to its news release dated November 21, 2016 it has completed the purchase of 14,653,966 existing ordinary shares in Tethyan Resources PLC (AIM: TETH) ("Tethyan") from Newmont Ventures Limited for C$0.036 per share, as part of the Company's strategy to become a strategic investor in Tethyan. Tethyan is an AIM quoted junior exploration company exploring for copper and gold within the Western Tethyan Orogenic Belt in the European Balkan Region. Southern Arc currently owns 29.15% of Tethyan's issued and outstanding ordinary shares.

As previously announced, Southern Arc has agreed to subscribe for an additional 12.5 million new ordinary shares in Tethyan at a price of C$0.036 per share (the "Additional Subscription"). The closing of the Additional Subscription remains subject to Tethyan obtaining shareholder approval at a meeting of its shareholders scheduled for December 12th, 2016. On closing of the Additional Subscription, Southern Arc will own 29.9% of Tethyan's issued and outstanding ordinary shares.

On behalf of the Board of Southern Arc Minerals Inc.

"John Proust"

Chairman & CEO

About Southern Arc

Southern Arc Minerals Inc. is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on gold and copper-gold exploration. The Company holds an interest in the West Lombok project in Indonesia, a resource-stage property with several gold-rich copper porphyry and epithermal gold vein prospects. Southern Arc holds a 42.9% interest in Japan Gold Corp., which has applied for 80 prospecting rights licenses in Japan in an area with known gold occurrences and a history of mining. Southern Arc also holds an investment in Osisko Mining Inc. (TSX: OSK), which is advancing a number of gold projects in Canada's Abitibi Gold Belt, including the high-grade Windfall Lake Gold Project in Quebec, Canada. More information is available at www.southernarcminerals.com or by email at info@southernarcminerals.com.

Cautionary Note

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as such term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities legislation (collectively "forward-looking statements"). The use of any of the word "will", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements should not be unduly relied upon. This news release contains forward-looking statements and assumptions pertaining to the Company's proposed ownership percentage in Tethyan. Actual results achieved may vary from the information provided herein as a result of numerous known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors. The Company believes the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct.

Contacts:

John Proust

Chairman & CEO

604-609-6147

info@southernarcminerals.com




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 12/08/16 -- Scorpio Gold Corporation ("Scorpio Gold" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: SGN) reports results from the 2016 delineation drilling program in the Bunkhouse Hill area of the Mary LC pit at its 70% owned Mineral Ridge project, located in Nevada.

The Bunkhouse Hill area extends northeast of the Mary LC pit. Drilling in 2015 intersected significant mineralization extending 250 meters northeast of the Mary LC pit at vertical depths of 50 to 150 meters (see June 29, 2015 news release). Fifteen RC holes were drilled in 2016 to further test and delineate the economics for extending the Mary LC pit into this area.

Geologically, the Bunkhouse Hill target is the immediate down-dip extension of the mineralization present in the Mary LC pit. The mineralization at Bunkhouse dips at 39 degrees NE vs. the more typical 25-30 degrees NE dip of the Mary LC mineralization. This dip change is spatially related to a change in geology, whereby the mineralized zone transitions from being hosted in felsic intrusive rocks to sedimentary rocks of the Wyman formation. Mapping work has shown how important this rheological contrast is in the formation of ore zones. The Bunkhouse target is currently defined over a approx. 150 x 450 meter area and mineralization remains open down dip to the northeast. Additional drilling is slated for 2017.

Highlights from 2016 RC drilling in the Bunkhouse Hill area include:

-- MR162080: 5.15 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold over 5.98 meters true width -- MR162081: 9.64 g/t gold over 6.86 meters -- MR162088: 4.30 g/t gold over 5.61 meters -- MR162096: 4.53 g/t gold over 4.27 meters -- MR162100: 5.13 g/t gold over 6.72 meters

Map Links:

Drill hole location plan: DH Plan

Drill hole trace plan with gold projected vertically: DH Trace

Cross Section Center: XS Center

Cross Section +150 ft: XS +150

Cross Section -150 ft: XS -150

Table 1. Bunkhouse Hill Target Area - Significant Drill Results

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hole Azm Dip From To TW From To TW Gold Gold No. (deg.) (deg.) (ft) (ft) (ft) (m) (m) (m) (OPT) (g/t) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MR162079 223 -74 140 145 4.6 42.67 44.20 1.38 0.012 0.41 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MR162080 205 -48 175 195 19.6 53.34 59.44 5.98 0.150 5.15 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MR162081 227 -76 235 260 22.5 71.63 79.25 6.86 0.281 9.64 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- incl 235 240 4.5 71.63 73.15 1.37 1.178 40.39 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MR162082 229 -68 120 125 4.8 36.58 38.10 1.44 0.023 0.79 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 160 170 9.4 48.77 51.82 2.87 0.049 1.66 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MR162083 74 -69 380 390 6.0 115.82 118.87 1.83 0.033 1.13 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MR162088 255 -68 225 245 18.4 68.58 74.68 5.61 0.126 4.30 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 265 275 9.1 80.77 83.82 2.78 0.136 4.65 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 445 450 4.5 135.64 137.16 1.35 0.019 0.65 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MR162089 335 -73 265 305 28.8 80.77 92.96 8.78 0.018 0.63 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 335 340 3.7 102.11 103.63 1.11 0.162 5.55 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MR162090 38 -70 315 320 3.0 96.01 97.54 0.90 0.015 0.51 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 365 375 6.1 111.25 114.30 1.86 0.02 0.62 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 395 415 12.2 120.40 126.49 3.72 0.101 3.47 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 425 435 6.2 129.54 132.59 1.89 0.031 1.06 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MR162094 144 -90 295 300 3.9 89.92 91.44 1.17 0.049 1.68 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MR162096 323 -61 285 290 3.5 86.87 88.39 1.06 0.035 1.20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 300 320 14.0 91.44 97.54 4.27 0.132 4.53 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- incl 305 310 3.5 92.96 94.49 1.06 0.453 15.53 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 400 445 32.0 121.92 135.64 9.74 0.128 4.38 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- incl 405 410 3.5 123.44 124.97 1.06 0.757 25.95 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MR162097 194 -51 240 245 4.7 73.15 74.68 1.41 0.129 4.42 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MR162100 106 -62 390 425 22.1 118.87 129.54 6.72 0.150 5.13 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MR162103 138 -70 255 260 3.7 77.72 79.25 1.12 0.020 0.69 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 275 300 18.8 83.82 91.44 5.72 0.033 1.15 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MR162105 210 -58 0 5 4.9 0.00 1.52 1.49 0.017 0.58 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20 30 9.8 6.10 9.14 2.99 0.015 0.51 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 135 140 4.9 41.15 42.67 1.49 0.023 0.79 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 160 165 4.9 48.77 50.29 1.49 0.047 1.61 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 190 205 14.7 57.91 62.48 4.48 0.040 1.37 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 250 255 4.9 76.20 77.72 1.49 0.027 0.93 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MR162106 191 -50 5 10 4.6 1.52 3.05 1.40 0.019 0.65 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 220 230 9.2 67.06 70.10 2.81 0.043 1.47 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

All holes presented in Table 1 were completed by reverse circulation (RC) drilling. Estimates of true width ("TW") range from 59% to 98% of actual downhole width. Scorpio Gold utilizes the analytical services of ALS Minerals (Reno, Nevada), an ISO/IEC 17025:2005 (CAN-P-4E, CAN-P-1579) accredited testing laboratory, and Bureau Veritas (Reno, Nevada), an ISO 9001 certified testing laboratory that operates in compliance with ISO/IEC 17025:2005 standards. External check assays to verify lab accuracy are routinely completed. Further details are presented in the Company's quality assurance and quality control program for the Mineral Ridge project, available at: MR QAQC.

About Scorpio Gold

Scorpio Gold holds a 70% interest in the producing Mineral Ridge gold mining operation located in Esmeralda County, Nevada with joint venture partner Elevon, LLC (30%). Mineral Ridge is a conventional open pit mining and heap leach operation. The Mineral Ridge property is host to multiple gold-bearing structures, veins and lenses at exploration, development and production stages. Scorpio Gold also holds a 100% interest in the advanced exploration-stage Goldwedge property in Manhattan, Nevada, with a fully permitted underground mine and 400 ton per day mill facility. The Goldwedge mill facility has been placed on a care and maintenance basis and can be restarted immediately when needed.

Scorpio Gold's Chairman, Peter J. Hawley, PGeo, is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the content of this release.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD, SCORPIO GOLD CORPORATION

Brian Lock, Interim CEO

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

The Company relies on litigation protection for forward-looking statements. This news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on the Company's current expectations and estimates. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "suggest", "indicate" and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur, and include, without limitation, statements regarding the Company's plans with respect to the exploration, development and exploitation of its Mineral Ridge project, including potential further exploration or extension of the Mary LC pit into the Bunkhouse Hill area. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results implied or expressed in such forward-looking statements, including risks involved in mineral exploration and development programs and those risk factors outlined in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis as filed on SEDAR. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty thereof.

Contacts:

Scorpio Gold Corporation

Chris Zerga

President

(819) 825-7618

czerga@scorpiogold.com

www.scorpiogold.com



Investor Relations: JNS Capital Corp.

Jag Sandhu

(778) 218-9638

jagjns@outlook.com








Company will message customers privately when shipments are sent.

SHENZHEN, China, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Rosewholesale is the first in its class to offer wholesale prices with no memberships. The company can do this by leveraging its manufacturers for the cheapest prices imaginable and then passing these prices with almost no markup to customers. Customers love Rosewholesale for both its cheap prices and for its commitment to selling high quality products. The company is always looking to evolve with new features. Recent customer feedback has shown that package tracking has been need of an overhaul, today Rosewholesale is proud to announce tracking messages. These messages will allow customers to see the status and place of their order right from the Rosewholesale website.

After an order has been made or a package has been returned customers want to know their status. Having a tracking number helps, but logging into multiple sites to get information about shipping can cause huge headaches. To make things more simple Rosewholesale is introducing a "My message" function. This new function will alert customers when a product has been shipped or when it has successfully been returned. Customers can access the "My Message" function on the Rosewholesale website, this function is available to all shoppers. Customers who use the mobile app will also get real time alerts. The company is currently testing mobile notifications for U.S customers using the app. When a product is shipped out the mobile user will get a notification straight to their phone. Both mobile and desktop users will get real time alerts now.

Rosewholesale is excited for customers to try the newest feature, to get feedback sooner on the new "My message" function the company is looking to generate more sales. Rosewholesale is looking to get more sales through a Christmas promotion. For each sale in December Rosewholesale will enter customers into a Christmas lottery. The winner of the lottery will win prizes like coupons, gift cards, and even products from Rosewholesale. The lottery is available at both Rosewholesale and its sister site Twinkledeals who is also offering a Christmas preview sale. The Christmas preview sale will offer all selected products for $19.99 or less. Rosewholesale's other sister site Dresslily is planning a later sale. Customers are encouraged to get shopping now if they want their gifts in time for Christmas!

Related link:

http://www.rosewholesale.com?lkid=10247855

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rosewholesale.com/id1148841444?mt=8
SINGAPORE, Dec. 23, 2016 Extended Stock Exchange Notice: EMAS Offshore Limited

1. INTRODUCTION

The Board of Directors (the "Board") of EMAS Offshore Limited (the "Company" or "EOCL", and together with its subsidiaries, the "Group") refers to the announcements released by the Company dated 4 October 2016, 11 October 2016, 13 October 2016, 19 October 2016, 28 October 2016 and 18 November 2016 in relation to, among others, the acquisition of shares in SJR Marine (L) Ltd ("SJR") from Perisai Petroleum Teknologi Berhad ("PPTB", and the initial acquisition of shares in SJR, the "Initial Acquisition"). Reference is further made to the announcements released by the Company dated 25 November and 1 December 2016 in relation to the extension of the put option (the "Put Option") held by PPTB to sell to the Company all of its remaining 51.0% equity interest in SJR (the "Put Option Shares"), and to the announcement released by the Company dated 8 December 2016 in relation to, amongst others, the Company's termination of the Put Option.

2. THE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT

By a share sale agreement dated 30 November 2012 (the "Principal Agreement"), PPTB had inter alia agreed to dispose and the Company had inter alia agreed to acquire 50% of the equity interest in SJR upon the terms and conditions contained therein. An extended stock exchange announcement was released to the market upon signing of the Principal Agreement. As announced by the Company on 28 March 2013, the parties later agreed to reduce the said equity stake from 50% to 49%.

The Company and PPTB entered into supplemental agreements on 5 December 2012, 28 March 2013 and 28 June 2013, to vary the terms of the Principal Agreement (the Principal Agreement and such supplemental agreements collectively referred to as the "SSA"). The sale of the said 49% equity stake was completed on 26 December 2013.

As announced by the Company on 3 October 2016, the Company and PPTB were in discussions and working towards resolving various issues amongst themselves, including in relation to the Put Option. On 1 December 2016, the Company announced that it had reached an interim agreement with PPTB to defer the exercise of the Put Option to after close of business on 8 December 2016.

Despite efforts made by the parties, the Company and PPTB had yet to fully resolve the various issues amongst themselves. As announced by the Company on 8 December 2016, the Company on the same date issued a notification of termination of the SSA. On 8 December 2016, PPTB issued a letter to EOCL disputing the issuance of the termination notice and further issued a put option notice to EOCL seeking to exercise its Put Option rights, requiring EOCL to acquire the Put Option Shares. EOCL disputed PPTB's exercise of its Put Option rights.

Accordingly, the parties had actual and potential disputes, differences, claims and counterclaims against each other arising from or in connection with the SSA and/or the Put Option rights (the "Disputes").

On 23 December 2016, the Company and PPTB entered into a settlement agreement (the "Settlement Agreement") to achieve a full and final settlement of the Disputes. The Settlement Agreement inter alia includes the following main terms:

At the Completion Date (as defined below) PPTB shall sell, and EOCL shall purchase, the Put Option Shares, and against delivery of the Put Option Shares EOCL shall pay part of the Consideration (as defined below) amounting to an aggregate amount of US$20,000,000 in cash to PPTB ("Completion").





in cash to PPTB ("Completion"). Subject to Completion, the total consideration ("Consideration") for the Put Option Shares shall be US$43,031,406.55 and the accrued Deferred Payment Interest (as defined below).





and the accrued Deferred Payment Interest (as defined below). The completion date (the "Completion Date") shall be the next business day, or any other business day as the parties may agree, following fulfilment (or waiver) of the last Condition Precedent (as defined below), which shall be within a period of up to four months from the date of the Settlement Agreement, or at the request of each party and with the consent of the other party at its absolute discretion, such consent not to be unreasonably withheld, further extension of a period of one month per request, subject always to a maximum of four months in aggregate of extension (the "Long Stop Period"). Where PPTB requires any further extensions beyond the four months extended period, such further extensions may be granted with the consent of EOCL (which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld in the case where such further extension is being sought to dismiss an appeal envisaged in the scenario of the Scheme (as defined below)).





Completion is inter alia conditional upon satisfaction of the following conditions precedent within the Long Stop Period by PPTB and/or EOCL (as the case may be) (the "Conditions Precedent"):





PPTB shall provide EOCL with evidence that PPTB has obtained the approval of its board of directors and shareholders inter alia in respect of the sale of the Put Option Shares to EOCL.





PPTB shall provide EOCL with evidence of the binding agreement of its noteholders and financial lenders in respect of the restructuring of the S$125 million 6.875% Notes due 2016 issued by Perisai Capital (L) Ltd (the "Bond Restructuring"), and the restructuring of any outstanding indebtedness it owes to any such financial lenders or, in the alternative to any such approval or agreement, if a creditors' scheme of arrangement is required in relation to PPTB, PPTB shall provide EOCL with evidence that PPTB has obtained an order granted by the High Court of Malaya sanctioning a creditors' scheme of arrangement for the Bond Restructuring, or the restructuring of any outstanding indebtedness owed to any of its financial lenders ("Scheme").





6.875% Notes due 2016 issued by Perisai Capital (L) Ltd (the "Bond Restructuring"), and the restructuring of any outstanding indebtedness it owes to any such financial lenders or, in the alternative to any such approval or agreement, if a creditors' scheme of arrangement is required in relation to PPTB, PPTB shall provide EOCL with evidence that PPTB has obtained an order granted by the High Court of Malaya sanctioning a creditors' scheme of arrangement for the Bond Restructuring, or the restructuring of any outstanding indebtedness owed to any of its financial lenders ("Scheme"). EOCL shall provide PPTB with evidence that EOCL has obtained a US$20,000,000 secured term loan facility from an existing bank lender ("Existing Bank Lender") for the purpose of part financing and purchase of the Put Option Shares and a US$1,500,000 secured term loan facility from the Existing Bank Lender for the purpose of working capital (" US$21.5M EOCL Loan"), to be secured by way of a first ranking charge ("First Ranking Share Charge") over EOCL's interest in all of issued share capital of the shares of SJR.





secured term loan facility from an existing bank lender ("Existing Bank Lender") for the purpose of part financing and purchase of the Put Option Shares and a secured term loan facility from the Existing Bank Lender for the purpose of working capital (" EOCL Loan"), to be secured by way of a first ranking charge ("First Ranking Share Charge") over EOCL's interest in all of issued share capital of the shares of SJR. PPTB shall inter alia provide EOCL with a duly executed deed of waiver and subordination in relation to (i) the waiver of a US$13,815,579.71 shareholder's loan (the "PPTB Shareholder's Loan") with respect to an aggregate value of US$8,449,230.17 (the "PPTB Partial Shareholder's Loan"), unless PPTB elects to capitalise the PPTB Partial Shareholder's Loan no later than 10 days before the Completion Date, and (ii) the subordination of the PPTB Shareholder's Loan with respect to an aggregate of US$5,366,349.54 payable to PPTB (the "PPTB Remaining Shareholder's Loan") granted in favour of the Existing Bank Lender , which subordination rights shall be valid for a period of fifteen (15) years only or until such time the indebtedness in favour of the Existing Bank Lender has been fully settled, whichever is earlier.





shareholder's loan (the "PPTB Shareholder's Loan") with respect to an aggregate value of (the "PPTB Partial Shareholder's Loan"), unless PPTB elects to capitalise the PPTB Partial Shareholder's Loan no later than 10 days before the Completion Date, and (ii) the subordination of the PPTB Shareholder's Loan with respect to an aggregate of payable to PPTB (the "PPTB Remaining Shareholder's Loan") granted in favour of the Existing Bank Lender , which subordination rights shall be valid for a period of fifteen (15) years only or until such time the indebtedness in favour of the Existing Bank Lender has been fully settled, whichever is earlier. PPTB shall provide EOCL with a duly executed deed of priority and subordination in favour of the Existing Bank Lender where (i) EOCL's payment obligations in respect of the Deferred Payment Amount (as defined below) will be subordinated to EOCL's payment obligations owing to the Existing Bank Lender under the US$21.5M EOCL Loan) and all of EOCL's other outstanding loans or other indebtedness owing to the Existing Bank Lender; and (ii) the Second Ranking Share Charge (as defined below) will be subordinated to the First Ranking Share Charge over the shares in SJR granted by EOCL to the Existing Bank Lender as security for the US$21.5M EOCL Loan, and which subordination rights shall be valid for a period of fifteen (15) years only or until such time the indebtedness in favour of the Existing Bank Lender has been fully settled, whichever is earlier.





EOCL Loan) and all of EOCL's other outstanding loans or other indebtedness owing to the Existing Bank Lender; and (ii) the Second Ranking Share Charge (as defined below) will be subordinated to the First Ranking Share Charge over the shares in SJR granted by EOCL to the Existing Bank Lender as security for the EOCL Loan, and which subordination rights shall be valid for a period of fifteen (15) years only or until such time the indebtedness in favour of the Existing Bank Lender has been fully settled, whichever is earlier. PPTB shall provideEOCL with one or more duly executed deed(s) of subordination in favour of the certain other existing lenders of EOCL ("Other Existing Lenders") where EOCL's payment obligations in respect of the Deferred Payment Amount (as defined below) will be subordinated to EOCL's payment obligations in respect of certain other existing EOCL loans of not more than US$545,000,000 ("Existing EOCL Loans") owing to such Other ExistingLenders, which subordination rights shall be valid for a period of fifteen (15) years only or until such time the indebtedness in respect of the Existing EOCL Loans owing to such Other Existing Lenders have been fully settled, whichever is earlier. For the avoidance of doubt, the subordination of EOCL's payment obligations in respect of the Deferred Payment Amount as envisaged under this condition will not be applicable in the case where marine vessel Enterprise 3 is sold by SJR.





("Existing EOCL Loans") owing to such Other ExistingLenders, which subordination rights shall be valid for a period of fifteen (15) years only or until such time the indebtedness in respect of the Existing EOCL Loans owing to such Other Existing Lenders have been fully settled, whichever is earlier. For the avoidance of doubt, the subordination of EOCL's payment obligations in respect of the Deferred Payment Amount as envisaged under this condition will not be applicable in the case where marine vessel is sold by SJR. PPTB shall provide SJR with a duly executed deed of subordination in favour of the Existing Bank Lender where, the SJR's payment obligations in respect of PPTB's Remaining Shareholder Loan will be subordinated to (i) SJR's payment obligations owing to Existing Bank Lender under the existing US$20,500,000 loan granted to it by Existing Bank Lender and the additional US$3,500,000 loan to be extended to it by Existing Bank Lender and all of SJR's other outstanding loans or other indebtedness owed to Existing Bank Lender and (ii) EOCL's payment obligations owing to the Existing Bank Lender under the US$21.5M EOCL Loan, which subordination rights shall be valid for a period of fifteen (15) years only or until such time the indebtedness in favour of Existing Bank Lender has been fully settled, whichever is earlier.





loan granted to it by Existing Bank Lender and the additional loan to be extended to it by Existing Bank Lender and all of SJR's other outstanding loans or other indebtedness owed to Existing Bank Lender and (ii) EOCL's payment obligations owing to the Existing Bank Lender under the EOCL Loan, which subordination rights shall be valid for a period of fifteen (15) years only or until such time the indebtedness in favour of Existing Bank Lender has been fully settled, whichever is earlier. EOCL shall inter alia provide PPTB with a duly executed deed of waiver in relation to a US$8,449,230.17 shareholder's loan (the "EOCL Shareholder's Loan"), unless EOCL elects to capitalise the EOCL Shareholder's Loan no later than 10 days before the Completion Date.





shareholder's loan (the "EOCL Shareholder's Loan"), unless EOCL elects to capitalise the EOCL Shareholder's Loan no later than 10 days before the Completion Date. EOCL and PPTB shall execute a second priority ranking charge over the shares in the SJR (which ranks after the First Ranking Share Charge as security for the Deferred Payment Amount).





Subject to Completion, EOCL shall pay the remaining part of the Consideration in the following instalments:





on the date falling on the 15th year anniversary from the Completion Date or the date on which EOCL's payment obligations owing to the Existing Bank Lender under the US$21.5M EOCL Loan and all of EOCL's other indebtedness or where applicable, other indebtedness owing to the Existing Bank Lender and to the Other Existing Lenders under the Existing EOCL Loans have been fully repaid, whichever is the earlier ("Maturity Date"), EOCL shall pay an aggregate amount of US$23,031,406.55 (the "Deferred Payment Amount") and procure SJR to repay (i) the PPTB Remaining Shareholder's Loan and (ii) interest at the rate of one per cent. per annum of the PPTB Remaining Shareholder's Loan which shall accrue from the Completion Date to the date of actual payment of the PPTB Remaining Shareholder's Loan (the "PPTB Remaining Shareholder's Loan Interest"); and





EOCL Loan and all of EOCL's other indebtedness or where applicable, other indebtedness owing to the Existing Bank Lender and to the Other Existing Lenders under the Existing EOCL Loans have been fully repaid, whichever is the earlier ("Maturity Date"), EOCL shall pay an aggregate amount of (the "Deferred Payment Amount") and procure SJR to repay (i) the PPTB Remaining Shareholder's Loan and (ii) interest at the rate of one per cent. per annum of the PPTB Remaining Shareholder's Loan which shall accrue from the Completion Date to the date of actual payment of the PPTB Remaining Shareholder's Loan (the "PPTB Remaining Shareholder's Loan Interest"); and on the Maturity Date, EOCL shall pay to PPTB interest at the rate of one per cent. per annum of the Deferred Payment Amount which shall accrue from the Completion Date to the date of actual payment of the Deferred Payment Amount (the "Deferred Payment Interest").





If Completion does not occur by Completion Date:





the Settlement Agreement shall terminate in its entirety and the obligations of EOCL and PPTB shall cease provided always however that such termination shall not release EOCL or PPTB from any liability which at time of such termination has already accrued to any other party or parties or which may accrue thereafter in respect of any act, omission or breach prior to such termination, nor compromise any rights of the parties which have accrued to the parties; and





the rights and obligations under the SSA remain unchanged and the rights and obligations of EOCL and PPTB prior to the date of execution of the Settlement Agreement shall be restored to their respective position as if the Settlement Agreement was never executed by the parties.

3. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT SJR

SJR is incorporated in the Federal Territory of Labuan, Registration Number LL05378, with its registered office at Level 1, Lot 7, Block F, Saguking Commercial Building, Jalan Patau-Patau, 87000 Federal Territory of Labuan, Malaysia.

SJR is a single purpose company which owns the marine vessel Enterprise 3 (the "Vessel"). Currently, the Vessel is not on contract.

The current board of directors of SJR are:

Dato' Dr Mohammed Ariffin Bin Hj. Aton

Adarash Kumar A/L Chranji Lal Amarnath

Datuk Zainol Izzet Bin Mohammed Ishak

Lee Chye Tek Lionel

SJR does not have any employees and all management functions have been carried out by EOCL and PPTB.

As at the date of this announcement, SJR has a total issued and paid-up share capital of US$ 4,000,000, comprising 4,000,000 ordinary shares of USD1.00 each.

Please find below certain key financial figures (all in US$mil):

Year ended Revenue Profit/ (Loss) Total Assets Total Debt









31-Dec-13 16.4 6.1 78.3 39.6 31-Dec-14 - -5.3 77.3 43.8 31-Dec-15 - -4.5 72.4 43.4

Source: Audited financial statements

4. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT TO THE COMPANY

Subject to Completion, the entering into of the Settlement Agreement enables the Group to avoid a protracted legal dispute with PPTB which can be expected to be time consuming for the management and costly to the Group. It also seeks to remove market and operational uncertainties which would then allow the Group to focus on the business development opportunities such as procuring contracts for the Vessel. The commercial terms of the settlement, especially with the Deferred Payment Amount, also significantly reduces the cash upfront vis-A -vis what would have been under the previous terms of the put option.

5. AGREEMENTS WITH SENIOR MANAGEMENT OR BOARD OF DIRECTORS

There are no agreements entered into, or that are planned to be entered into, in connection with the Settlement Agreement for the benefit of senior employees or members of the board of directors of the Company or for the senior employees or board of directors of SJR, save for potential appointments in the ordinary course of business necessary for EOCL being the 100% owner of SJR upon Completion.

This notice is made pursuant to the Oslo Stock Exchange's Continuing Obligations section 3.4 and is subject to disclosure in accordance with the Norwegian Securities Trading Act section 5-12.

The Company is dual listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange and the Singapore Stock Exchange.

For further information, please contact:

Mr. Hsu Chong Pin

EMAS Offshore Limited

Tel: +65 6800 1202

investor_relations@emasoffshore-cnp.com

23 December 2016

CONTACT:

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

http://news.cision.com/emas-offshore-limited/r/emas-offshore-enters-into-settlement-agreement-with-perisai-petroleum-teknologi-berhad,c2156428

The following files are available for download:
ATLANTA, GA -- (Marketwired) -- 12/08/16 -- New America Energy Corp. (OTC PINK: NECA), through its wholly-owned subsidiary Title King, LLC, proudly announces the third step of The Company's new three-step investor-confidence program: The Company will transition into a Holdings Company.

The Company is pleased to make this strategically-timed business move, since a Holdings Company entity immediately positions NECA to fully realize current growth endeavors and now burgeoning opportunities in exciting new sectors. NECA has begun the legal process to become a Holdings Company simultaneous with The Company recently naming a Director of Acquisitions.

NECA CEO Jeffrey Canouse elaborated: "I personally believe that this third step in our investor-confidence program is by far the most exciting and poignant. After NECA's past several weeks of corporate developments and now with a Director of Acquisitions joining our executive management roster, we have determined that The Company should become a Holdings Company. This action will better capitalize on the many opportunities The Company is exploring in emerging sectors. My goal is to begin delivering acquisitions that immediately reflect a rapid increase in NECA's top and bottom-line revenues. By making NECA a true Holdings Company we believe that our ability to utilize our capital structure resources will give us far more flexibility to consummate acquisitions."

The Company also provided updates concerning all three stages of the recently implemented investor-confidence program.

Stage 1: The Company commits to a One Billion shares reduction and a 90-day standstill agreement with creditors. All paperwork has been submitted to the Nevada SOS to complete the One Billion share reduction. Our creditors remain committed to the agreement. Beyond the 90-day time-period The Company is hopeful to lean on non-dilutive revolving-credit financing for the majority of funding needs.

Stage 2: The Company commits to retiring 111,000,000 shares from the O/S. We have been working with our Transfer Agent to return these shares back to treasury. Our Transfer Agent remains open and ungagged and the O/S should soon reflect the retirement. Additionally, The Company's window to buy back shares on the open market remains open.

Stage 3: The Company will soon be a legal Holdings Company. The Company believes this strategic move to become a Holdings Company complements our existing business model while expanding beyond it.

Investors can continue to expect regular updates as The Company is committed to establishing investor-confidence while building shareholder value.

About New America Energy Corp.

Based in Atlanta, GA, through its title loan subsidiary, Title King, LLC, provides short-term loans to consumers through the collateral use of car and truck titles. The Company operates in the alternative financial services industry, providing automobile title loans to consumers who own their vehicle free and clear and need convenient and simple access to funds. Other products offered in this industry include other forms of consumer loans, check cashing, money orders and money transfers. Consumers who use alternative financial services are often referred to as "underserved" or "underbanked" by banks and other traditional financial institutions. The Company is also exploring additional business opportunities including joint-venture partnerships and acquisitions. www.titlekingloans.com

Apple App Link

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/best-title-deal/id1171797070?ls=1&mt=8

Google App Link

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.besttitledeal.app

Photos of our Title Loan store can be viewed on our Twitter account at

https://twitter.com/titlekingloans

Photos are also available on the Company Facebook account at

https://www.facebook.com/titlekingloans/?fref=ts

Safe Harbor Statement:

Except for statements of historical fact, the matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking, and are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements made herein regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of New America Energy Corp. are forward-looking statements that reflect numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, and any of which could cause our actual future results to differ materially from our stated expectations today. Prospective investors are cautioned that our forward-looking statements are never guarantees of future performance. Important factors currently known to management that could cause our actual future results to differ materially from those indicated in our forward-looking statements today include our limited operating history, fluctuations in our operating results, our ability to compete successfully and our ability to attract necessary capital on satisfactory terms. Except as required by applicable law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise our forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated future events or changes in our future operating results.

CONTACT:

New American Energy Corp

Jeffrey Canouse

President

Ph: 470-767-8794

Email: jeff@titlekingloans.com




The Minneapolis City Council on Wednesday approved a $1.3 billion budget for 2017 that will raise the citys tax levy at a rate not seen since the recession.



The city expects to collect an additional $16.3 million through property taxes next year, a 5.5 percent increase over 2016. The levy increase is the largest since Mayor Betsy Hodges took office in 2013.



. More than half of the new money is needed to help cover rising employee pay and benefits set in labor contracts. The city also plans to add police officers, a small-business initiative and provide better parks maintenanc
ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR -- (Marketwired) -- 12/08/16 -- Altius Minerals Corporation (TSX: ALS) will release its fiscal 2017 second quarter results on Wednesday, December 14, after the markets close.

A conference call will be held on Thursday, December 15, 2016, starting at 9:30 a.m. EST to further discuss the second quarter results. To participate in the conference call, use the following dial-in numbers and conference ID, or join the webcast on-line as detailed below.

Fiscal 2017 Second Quarter Financials Call Information:

Time: 9.30 a.m. EST on Thursday, December 15, 2016 Dial-In Numbers: +1 (844) 473-0974 (Canada) +1 (480) 696-7316 (International) Pass code: 33465345 Conference Title: Altius Q2 - F2017 Webcast URL: http://edge.media-server.com/m/p/8bkueney

The call will be webcast and archived on the Corporation's website for a limited time.

About Altius

Altius' diversified royalties and streams generate revenue from 14 operating mines located in Canada and Brazil that produce copper, zinc, nickel, cobalt, precious metals, potash and thermal (electrical) and metallurgical coal. The portfolio also includes numerous pre-development stage royalties covering a wide spectrum of mineral commodities and jurisdictions. It also holds a large portfolio of exploration stage projects which it has generated for deal making with industry partners and which will result in third party funding, equity and minority interests and newly created royalty interests.

Altius has 43,335,654 shares issued and outstanding that are listed on Canada's Toronto Stock Exchange. It is a member of both the S&P/TSX Small Cap and S&P/TSX Global Mining Indices.

Contacts:

Altius Minerals Corporation

Chad Wells

1.877.576.2209



Altius Minerals Corporation

Ben Lewis

1.877.576.2209




WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The beer industry in Colorado, Oregon and Washington is facing dull sales as the three states legalized recreational marijuana. According to brewbound.com, the beer business is under-performing in these states after the legalization. Beer volumes in these states declined two percent and stand behind all other beer markets in the U.S. Anheuser Busch-InBev and MillerCoors were affected by popularity of legal marijuana. According to reports, sales of premium beers such as Coors Light and Bud light were down by 4.4 percent, and that of regular beers like Budweiser or Coors declined by 2.4 percent. Traditionally, young males are attracted to marijuana than females. While, senior citizen are the beneficiaries of cannabis pain killers. According to a Headset survey, 68.9 percent of the customers are male and range from 21 to 95 years of age. People spend $25 to $50 per trip to a marijuana store, while 8.2 percent spend more than $100 per trip. On average, cannabis smokers spend $645 in a year. 24.9 percent of the users spend $1000 to $2500, 22.8 percent between $500 and $1000. 7.5 percent of the customers are ready to spend $2500 to $5000, while 2.2 percent of legal weed customers spend $5000 or more per annum. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
LONDON, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has confirmed its selection of data from ICIS to calculate its price cap for prepayment customers.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160408/353056LOGO )

The price cap is one of the most high-profile measures introduced as part of the CMA's two-year investigation into Britain's energy markets.

The cap regulates the amount that suppliers can charge customers on prepayment tariffs out to the end of 2020. The CMA expects the price cap to reduce bills for the 4 million customers in this sector by 300 million a year.

Rob Kolkman, Managing Director at ICIS, said:



The Competition and Markets Authority's choice of ICIS data reflects its quality and its widespread usage amongst both regulatory bodies and industry participants.



As the most trusted provider of real UK wholesale energy market data, our price references will help to ensure the UK markets function effectively for all stakeholders.



The CMA chose to use price assessments from leading energy market intelligence provider ICIS to calculate wholesale energy prices, to ensure that the price cap reflects the real cost of supply to these customers.

The cap will be updated every six months to reflect changing market conditions.

The CMA's investigation into the functioning of the UK's energy markets began in 2014. The price cap will be in place from 1 April 2017.

About ICIS

ICIS is the world's largest petrochemical market information provider and has fast-growing energy and fertilizer divisions. Our aim is to give companies in global commodities markets a competitive advantage by delivering trusted pricing data, high-value news, analysis and independent consulting, enabling our customers to make better-informed trading and planning decisions. We have more than 30 years' experience in providing pricing information, news, analysis and consulting to buyers, sellers and analysts.

With a global staff of more than 800, ICIS has employees based in Houston, Washington, New York, London, Montpellier, Dusseldorf, Karlsruhe, Milan, Mumbai, Singapore, Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Yantai, Tokyo and Perth. Some 350 of ICIS's staff are journalists engaged in reporting market prices and news, and ICIS is fully committed to upholding the highest journalistic principles of verification, corroboration and authentication. ICIS has a compliance framework that along with its methodologies and business processes adheres to the requirements of the IOSCO PRA Principles.

ICIS is a division ofReed Business Information, part ofRELX Group.

About Reed Business Information

Reed Business Information provides information, analytics and data to business professionals worldwide. Our strong global products and services hold market-leading positions across a wide range of industry sectors including banking, petrochemicals and aviation where we help customers make key strategic decisions every day. RBI is part of RELX Group, a world-leading provider of information and analytics for professional customers across industries.

http://www.reedbusiness.com

About RELX Group

RELX Group is a world"leading provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. The group serves customers in more than 180 countries and has offices in about 40 countries. It employs approximately 30,000 people of whom half are in North America. RELX PLC is a London listed holding company which owns 52.9% of RELX Group. RELX NV is an Amsterdam listed holding company which owns 47.1% of RELX Group. The shares are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX and RENX. The total market capitalisation is approximately 26.6bn GBP / 31.3bn Euro / 33.5bn USD

http://www.relx.com

Media contacts

Tara Sabanandan, Marketing Manager, ICIS

Email:tara.sabanandan@icis.com

Direct: +44(0)207-911-1713



Rosie Williams, Aspectus PR

Email:rosie.williams@aspectuspr.com

Direct: +44(0)207-092-8127


ATLANTIS JAPAN GROWTH FUND LIMITED

("AJGF" or the "Company")

(A closed-ended investment company incorporated in Guernsey with registration number 30709)

Interim Results for the six months ended 31st October 2016

8th December 2016

The financial information set out in this announcement does not constitute the Company's statutory accounts for the period ending 31st October 2016.

The financial information for the period ended 31st October 2016 is derived from the financial statements delivered to the UK Listing Authority.

The interim report and financial statements period ended 31st October 2016 will shortly be posted to shareholders and will also be available on the company website: www.atlantisjapangrowthfund.com

Introduction

INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE

Atlantis Japan Growth Fund Limited (the "Company") aims to achieve long term capital growth through investment wholly or mainly in listed Japanese equities.

INVESTMENT POLICY

The Company may invest up to 100 per cent of its gross assets in companies quoted on any Japanese stock exchange including, without limitation, the Tokyo Stock Exchange categorised as First Section, Second Section, JASDAQ, Mothers and Tokyo PRO, or the regional stock exchanges of Fukuoka, Nagoya, Sapporo and Osaka Securities Exchange.

The Company may also invest up to 20 per cent of its Net Asset Value (the "NAV") at the time of investment in companies listed or traded on other stock exchanges but which are either controlled and managed from Japan or which have a material exposure to the Japanese economy.

The Company may also invest up to 10 per cent of its NAV at the time of investment in securities which are neither listed nor traded on any stock exchange or over-the-counter market.

In general, investment will be through investments in equity shares in, or debt issued by, investee companies. However, the Company may also invest up to 20 per cent of its NAV at the time of investment in equity warrants and convertible debt.

The Company will not invest in more than 10 per cent of any class of securities of an investee company. The Company will not invest in derivative instruments save for the purpose of efficient portfolio management.

The Company may not invest more than 10 per cent in aggregate, of the value of its total assets in other listed closed-ended investment funds except in the case of investment in closed-ended investment funds which themselves have published investment policies to invest no more than 15 per cent of their total assets in other listed closed-ended investment funds, in which case the limit is 15 per cent.

The Company may borrow, with a view to enhancing capital returns, up to a maximum of an amount not exceeding 20 per cent of NAV at the time of borrowing.

Investment Policy for the Redemption Pool

At each redemption point the Company may (a) notionally allocate assets and liabilities into a separate pool (the "redemption pool") for the purpose of funding valid redemption requests for that redemption point or (b) fund the valid redemption requests from available cash. With regard to the redemption pool, the Company aims to liquidate the necessary assets to meet qualifying redemption requests in a timely manner, and to minimise the impact that such redemptions will have to existing shareholders and the Company as a whole.

INVESTMENT MANAGER AND INVESTMENT ADVISER

Tiburon Partners LLP is the Investment Manager and Alternative Investment Fund Manager pursuant to the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive.

Atlantis Investment Research Corporation ("AIRC"), established in Tokyo, is the Investment Adviser.

AIRC, through Taeko Setaishi and her colleagues, advise the Investment Manager on the day-to-day conduct of the Company's investment business, the role it has played since the launch of the Company in May 1996.

Investment Adviser's Interim Report

For the six months ended 31st October 2016

PERFORMANCE

During the six month period ended 31st October 2016 most of the major indices moved lower during May and June but then recovered and moved higher during July to October which resulted in the Topix climbing 7.18% and the Second Market advancing 11.67%. The Company's Net Asset Value per share fared less well, declining 1.2% during the same period. This was due in part to the dilutionary effect (2.7%) of the increase in the number of shares created from the successful exercise of the shareholder Subscription Right. Note all figures calculated in USD and on a total return basis.

The Company remained concentrated on medium sized and smaller growth companies and cyclical growth companies, all of which underperformed during the period under review. Many of the best performing companies were cyclical lower quality recovery stocks, an area where the Company has little or no exposure.

Aggressive buying by the Bank of Japan and the Government Pension Fund has pumped trillions of JPY into the market. However a lot of the buying has concentrated on Exchange Traded Funds ("ETFs"), especially Nikkei 225 ETFs, which of course buy only bigger stocks. This had a negative impact on both our relative and absolute performance since, as stated above, we are holding and buying mostly medium sized and smaller stocks.

The Company's holdings are concentrated in some of the following sectors: service/retail, technology including software and electronics, healthcare and medical equipment, trucking, machinery, real estate including Real Estate Investment Trusts ("REITs"), and semiconductor manufacturing equipment. The Company has little or no exposure to heavy industry including iron and steel, non-ferrous metals, shipping, construction, oil, electric power, shipbuilding, autos, or the major trading houses.

It should be noted that some of the best performing sectors this calendar year include construction, other manufacturing, gas, paper and pulp, all sectors which we find unattractive and where the Company has little or no exposure.

At the end of October 2016 borrowings totalled 600 million and cash stood at around 666 million which means the Company has no net gearing. The JPY ended the period at 104.95 against the USD, a gain of 2.1% from the closing rate of 107.13 at the end of April 2016.

The Company ended the period with 73 holdings compared with 64 holdings at the end of April and has no exposure to convertible bonds, or derivatives of any kind. It has no foreign exchange hedges and, excluding cash, is invested entirely in listed Japanese companies including three REITs.

MARKET COMMENT AND INVESTMENT STRATEGY

Some of our investors have asked us why the Company has recently been underperforming and what measures are we taking to improve performance? Our investment style is to find and buy growing companies selling at reasonable prices, especially based on projected earnings for the next 2-3 years or more.

However, there may be times when the market is concentrating on areas which the Company tends to be underweight including lower quality stocks or companies that are not expected to grow earnings much if at all over the longer term, where management is below average, and the investment risk is above average. We are not momentum investors, we are not fashion investors, and we plan to continue to concentrate primarily on growth companies and cyclical growth companies.

At times our strategy may result in periods of underperformance. However, assuming that our earnings projections prove accurate for the companies in which we invest, over the longer term we would hope to outperform the major indices.

Due in part to the stronger JPY, slower than expected economic growth, flat consumer spending, weak exports and lower than expected earnings growth for the six month period ended October, there has been net selling by overseas investors in most months. It should be noted that overseas investors account for 60-70% of daily trading, and many domestic investors including individuals have remained on the sidelines and have in some months been on the sell side.

We think the economy is likely to strengthen progressively over the next 12 to 18 months and project rising corporate earnings for fiscal 2017 ending March 2018. Since Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election, the JPY strength has been substantially reversed which should aid a recovery in Japanese exports. We expect overseas investors to move to become buyers, the government buying to spread to smaller and mid-cap stocks (which is already happening) and we expect corporations to continue to remain on the buy side. Given the above we are cautiously optimistic and plan slowly to invest some of the available cash the Company holds into attractive stocks, but only very selectively.

There are of course possible challenges including the JPY, disappointing earnings, slower than expected GDP growth, geopolitical events, and slower than expected recovery in the world economy.

Atlantis Investment Research Corporation

November 2016

Directors' Interim Report and Statement of Directors' Responsibilities

The Directors are pleased to present their Interim Report and the Unaudited Financial Statements of the Company for the six month period ended 31st October 2016.

In the opinion of the Company's Directors, the condensed Directors' Interim Report and Unaudited Financial Statements enables investors to make an informed assessment of the results and activities of the Company for the period.

The Interim Report and Financial Statements are unaudited.

STATEMENT OF DIRECTORS' RESPONSIBILITIES

The Directors confirm, to the best of our knowledge, that:

the condensed Interim Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with IAS 34 Interim Financial Reporting;

as required by DTR 4.2.7R of the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules, the Directors' Interim Report and Investment Adviser's Interim Report include a fair review of important events that have occurred during the first six months of the financial year and their impact on the condensed Interim Financial Statements, and a description of the principal risks and uncertainties for the remaining six months of the financial year; and:

the Interim Financial Statements include a fair review of the information concerning related party transactions required by DTR 4.2.8R.

CAPITAL VALUES

At 31st October 2016 the value of net assets available to shareholders was $97,552,059 (30th April 2016: $86,957,813) and the Net Asset Value per share was $2.14/1.76 (30th April 2016: $2.16/1.48).

PRINCIPAL RISKS AND UNCERTANTIES

As an investment trust, the Company invests in securities for the long term. The financial investments held as assets by the Company comprise equity shares (see the Schedule of Investments for a breakdown). As such, the holding of securities, investing activities and financing associated with the implementation of the investment policy involves certain inherent risks. Events may occur that could result in either a reduction in the Company's net assets or a reduction of revenue profits available for distribution.

Set out below are the principal risks inherent in the Company's activities along with the actions taken to manage them. The Directors conduct robust reviews of these risks and agrees policies for their management. These policies have remained substantially unchanged since 30th April 2006.

Performance

The Directors regularly monitor the Company's investment performance against a number of indices and the AIC Japanese smaller companies sub-sector peer group.

Discount

A disproportionate widening of the discount relative to the Company's peers could result in loss of value for shareholders. The Directors review the discount level regularly. The introduction of the Redemption Facility has improved the liquidity in the Company's shares and helps to narrow the discount to the NAV at which the shares trade.

The Company operates a shareholder approved discount control mechanism whereby the Company will hold a continuation vote if the shares have traded, on average, at a discount of more than 10% to the Net Asset Value per share during any rolling 90 day period, in normal market conditions. If the obligation to hold a continuation vote is triggered, the vote will be held no later than the next practicable annual general meeting of the Company. As of the date of this report, the continuation vote has not been triggered. In any event, shareholders will be given the opportunity to vote on whether or not the Company should continue at the Annual General Meeting in 2019.

Regulatory

The Company operates in a complex regulatory environment and faces a number of regulatory risks. Breaches of regulations, such as Section 1158 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010, The Companies (Guernsey) Law, 2008 and the UKLA Listing Rules, could lead to a number of detrimental outcomes and reputational damage. Section 1158 qualification criteria are continually monitored. The Directors rely on the services of the Administrator, Northern Trust International Fund Administration Services (Guernsey) Limited and its professional advisers to ensure compliance with The Companies (Guernsey) Law, 2008, the UKLA Listing Rules, Prospectus Rules, Disclosure Transparency Rules and the rules of the London Stock Exchange.

Operational

Like most other investment trust companies, the Company has no employees. The Company therefore relies upon the services provided by third parties and is dependent on the control systems of the Investment Manager, Investment Adviser and the Company's Administrator. The security, for example, of the Company's assets, dealing procedures, accounting records and maintenance of regulatory and legal requirements depends on the effective operation of these systems. These are regularly tested and monitored.

Market risk

Market risk arises mainly from uncertainty about future prices of financial instruments used in the Company's business. It represents the potential loss the Company might suffer through holding market positions in the face of price movements.

The market risk is monitored by the Directors on a quarterly basis and on a daily basis by the Investment Manager.

Currency risk

The Company's results for the period and net assets could be significantly affected by currency movements as most of the Company's assets are denominated in Japanese yen ("JPY"). In order to reduce this risk the Company may hedge its exposure to the JPY. The Company did not have any hedging arrangements in place at the period end.

Borrowing and interest rate risk

The Company finances its operations mainly through its share capital and retained profits, including realised and unrealised capital profits. Additional bank borrowings may be used with a view to enhancing capital returns. However, the Company's Articles of Incorporation provide that borrowing levels should not exceed 20% of Net Asset Value at the time any borrowing is effected. The level of net borrowing as at 31st October 2016 and 30th April 2016 was effectively Nil.

The credit facility for  600,000,000 was rolled over every three months in accordance with its terms most recently on 7th October 2016.

Liquidity risk and cash flow risk

Assuming a normal market environment, the majority of the Company's assets comprise readily realisable securities, which can be sold to meet funding commitments as necessary. As at 31st October 2016 based on the assumption of one third of the volume for the last 3 months average volume, 89.9% of the Company's assets can be realised within two weeks and 10.1% can be realised in between two weeks and one month.

GOING CONCERN

The Directors believe that the Company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Whilst the Company may be obliged to hold a continuation vote in accordance with its discount control mechanism, the Directors do not believe this should automatically trigger the adoption of a non-going concern basis in line with the Association of Investment Companies ("AIC") Statement of Recommended Practice ("SORP") which states that it is more appropriate to prepare financial statements on a going concern basis unless a continuation vote has already been triggered and shareholders have voted against continuation. Therefore, the Directors believe the use of the going concern basis is appropriate as there are no material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt about the ability of the Company to continue to meet its ongoing obligations.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS COMPOSITION

Andrew Martin Smith and Eric Boyle retired from the Board of Directors on 31st July 2016 and 14th October 2016 respectively.

Richard Pavry was appointed to the Board of Directors on 1st August 2016.

There were no other changes to the Board of Directors during the period.

SUBSCRIPTION RIGHTS ISSUE

The Directors have reviewed the five year programme and believe it should be allowed to continue for the current year.

Eligible applications received from shareholders in respect of the exercise of the 2016 Subscription Right amounted to 3,678,856 new ordinary shares. Accordingly, 3,678,856 new ordinary shares were issued, at an exercise price of 143.76 pence per ordinary share raising gross proceeds of approximately 5.3m. The new ordinary shares rank pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinary shares in issue.

In accordance with the Company's Articles of Incorporation, the Company appointed a trustee (the "Subscription Trustee") to determine whether all or any of the unexercised Subscription Rights in respect of the 3rd October 2016 Subscription Date should be exercised on behalf of the holders of such rights. Having taken account of the subscription price payable to the Company and all costs and expenses of exercise from the sale of ordinary shares arising on the exercise of the unexercised Subscription Rights, the Subscription Trustee determined that there would be net proceeds and, as a result, the Trustee exercised all such unexercised Subscription Rights. Consequently, the Company issued and allotted a further 3,935,590 ordinary shares as a result of the exercise of all of the unexercised Subscription Rights outstanding on 3rd October 2016. These new ordinary shares were issued at the exercise price of 143.76 pence raising gross proceeds of approximately 5.7m and also rank pari passu with the existing ordinary shares.

Applications were made for all 7,614,446 new ordinary shares to be admitted to the Official List of the UK Listing Authority and to trading on the main market of the London Stock Exchange ("Admission"). Admission became effective, and dealings in the new ordinary shares commenced, on 11th October 2016.

7th December 2016

Details of Ten Largest Investments

As at 31st October 2016 the ten largest investments comprise a fair value of $24,592,487 (30th April 2016: $25,068,297) representing 25.3% of Net Asset Value (30th April 2016: 28.8%) with details as below:

Nidec (37,000 shares)

Nidec is the dominant global supplier of the small precision motors that find application in hard disc drives (HDD), automobiles, appliances, and industrial products. Sustained growth over the medium term will be driven by organic expansion into new product areas (mid/large sized motors) and new demand from the auto (EV, ADAS) and appliance sectors. Nidec's healthy cash flow underpins its aggressive global strategic merger and acquisition program. Nidec's highly regarded management targets JPY2tr in sales by 2020 and expects to boost ROE from 12% to 18%.

Fair value of $3,585,251 representing 3.7% of the Net Asset Value (30th April 2016: 2.7%)

Trusco Nakayama (56,000 shares)

Trusco is a specialised distributor to factories and outdoor work sites of machine parts, cutting tools, and other industrial consumable items. Upon receipt of an order the company makes a rapid delivery from its extensive inventory. Growth has been achieved through expansion of its customer base and product offerings including Trusco's private brand. Japan's industrial recovery provides a strong tailwind to the company's growth.

Fair value of $2,897,242 representing 3.0% of the Net Asset Value (30th April 2016: 2.6%)

Japan Material (80,000 shares)

Japan Material dispatches engineers who oversee and manage the flow and use of special gases/chemicals and ultra-pure water in semiconductor and flat panel display production facilities. The company also sells these consumables and related supply equipment. Japan Material's client base is mainly domestic but its Taiwanese and Chinese subsidiaries are making significant inroads into their respective markets. Despite the cyclical nature of the technology sector Japan Material has consistently generated annual earnings growth.

Fair value of $2,839,312 representing 2.9% of the Net Asset Value (30th April 2016: 2.4%)

Nihon M&A Center Inc (80,800 shares)

Nihon M&A Center occupies an attractive growth corner of Japan's financial sector. The company is an independent M&A advisory firm targeting SMEs seeking either an acquisition to boost their growth potential or a buyer to take over a business without a successor. Deal size is a modest $1m-$5m and acts as a barrier to entry by large investment banks. Nihon M&A can, and frequently does, advise both sides. Nihon M&A has tapped into this steady rise in SME M&A activity by expanding its number of consultants (258) and increasing its referral partner financial institutions (958). Given the steady growth prospects for Nihon M&A the Investment Adviser regards the company as a key holding over the medium term.

Fair value of $2,629,051 representing 2.7% of the Net Asset Value (30th April 2016: 2.4%)

SBS (250,000 shares)

SBS is a holding company specializing in food and low temperature logistic and ancillary support services. A consolidation is underway in the Japanese logistics industry. SBS has been aggressively expanding its businesses through the acquisition of existing regional companies. SBS also has a property management segment and a development business line which are largely self-financing through property sales and lease back arrangements. SBS had to absorb a capital loss with the 2015 sale of an Indian subsidiary and remains circumspect regarding external acquisitions.

Fair value of $2,217,617 representing 2.3% of the Net Asset Value (30th April 2016: 1.8%)

Ichigo (500,000 shares)

Ichigo is a Japanese real estate asset manager which operates and adds value across the full spectrum of real estate asset management including private funds, several specialised J-REITS (hotels, offices), property management, and building maintenance. Ichigo, in its infrastructure fund, has 116MW of solar generating capacity which is among the largest in the real estate sector. An off-shore wind farm project is under study.

Fair value of $2,172,360 representing 2.2% of the Net Asset Value (30th April 2016: 3.8%)

Yumeshin (300,000 shares)

Yumeshin provides on a project basis contracted engineering and technical white collar personnel to construction companies. The national shortage of qualified engineers and managers is expected to tighten further over the medium term due to projected Tokyo office and 2020 Olympic related construction activity. Yumeshin has recently expanded into blue collar placement and technical training. The company pays out 90% of net profits as dividends providing shareholders an approximate 5% yield.

Fair value of $2,123,767 representing 2.2% of the Net Asset Value (30th April 2016: 2.7%)

Stanley Electric (75,000 shares)

Stanley is one of Japan's major automobile/motorcycle headlight manufacturers and it also assembles a wide range of other vehicle lighting fixtures. The company has been a leader in introducing LED headlamps to the auto sector and data releases indicate that Stanley LED headlights are being adopted in an increasing number of global auto assemblers' models. Given the 3x premium LED headlights command over halogen lights the Investment Advisor believes a sales mix shift in favour of LED headlights will have a positive impact on Stanley's earnings over the medium term .

Fair value of $2,067,315 representing 2.1% of the Net Asset Value (30th April 2016: 2.1%)

Star Mica (121,700 shares)

Star purchases pre-owned occupied apartments in the greater Tokyo area. The company collects rents from the tenants who typically move out within a few years. This allows Star Mica to refurbish and then resell the unit. Renovation is done within a very short period of time and costs are low since the company has good relations with construction companies and suppliers. The company is also benefiting from the low cost of money. Although a cyclical business, for the next few years Star should be able to grow earnings given the strong demand for moderately priced apartments in the greater Tokyo area.

Fair value of $2,046,596 representing 2.1% of the Net Asset Value (30th April 2016: 2.0%)

Mitsubishi Chemical (305,900 shares)

Mitsubishi Chemical was created through combining the major chemical companies of the Mitsubishi group. The product line-up is extensive and includes but is not limited to, pharmaceuticals, plastics, petrochemicals, and medical equipment. Many of the businesses are cyclical but management is actively pruning low margined petrochemicals from the product list and focus investments on strategic globally competitive businesses. The Investment Adviser is looking for widening profit margins and rising earnings over the next few years.

Fair value of $2,013,976 representing 2.1% of the Net Asset Value (30th April 2016: 1.9%)





Unaudited Schedule of Investments

As at 31st October 2016

Fair Value Holdings Investments held at fair value through profit or loss $'000 % of NAV Advertising: 0.78% (30th Apr 2016: 0.66%) 120,000 Tow 762 0.78 Auto Parts & Equipment: 2.12% (30th Apr 2016: 2.09%) 75,000 Stanley Electric 2,067 2.12 Building Materials: 0.00% (30th Apr 2016: 0.31%) - - Chemicals: 7.22% (30th Apr 2016: 7.95%) 50,000 Daicel 659 0.68 305,900 Mitsubishi Chemical 2,014 2.06 30,000 Stella Chemifa 1,056 1.08 90,000 Teijin 1,743 1.79 70,000 Tri Chemical Laboratories 1,571 1.61 Commercial Services: 6.27% (30th Apr 2016: 4.27%) 40,000 Benefit One 1,159 1.19 120,000 Creek & River 860 0.88 90,000 Gakujo 977 1.00 80,800 Nihon M&A Center Inc 2,629 2.69 50,000 Toppan Forms 498 0.51 Computers: 4.84% (30th Apr 2016: 4.65%) 60,000 Fujitsu Frontech 717 0.73 80,000 Fusion Partners 723 0.74 140,400 Information Development 1,799 1.84 40,000 SCSK 1,494 1.53 Distribution/Wholesale: 3.59% (30th Apr 2016: 3.57%) 47,800 Sanyo Trading 605 0.62 56,000 Trusco Nakayama 2,897 2.97 Diversified Financial Services: 5.26% (30th Apr 2016: 8.69%) 180,000 Financial Products 1,578 1.62 500,000 Ichigo 2,172 2.23 350,000 Jaccs 1,374 1.41 Electrical Components & Equipment: 5.60% (30th Apr 2016: 4.94%) 37,000 Nidec 3,585 3.67 105,000 W-Scope 1,881 1.93 Electronics: 4.17% (30th Apr 2016: 4.14%) 13,000 Iriso Electronics 716 0.73 2,000 Keyence 1,469 1.51 80,000 Macnica Fuji Electronics 1,005 1.03 146,700 Panasonic Industrial Devices SUNX 882 0.90 Engineering & Construction: 4.04% (30th Apr 2016: 3.94%) 30,000 Besterra 1,245 1.28 120,000 Nittoc Construction 567 0.58 300,000 Yumeshin 2,124 2.18 Environmental Control: 0.00% (30th Apr 2016: 0.09%) - - Food: 1.65% (30th Apr 2016: 0.00%) 44,000 Kenko Mayonnaise 1,614 1.65 Hand/Machine Tools: 1.24% (30th Apr 2016: 0.46%) 10,000 Disco 1,210 1.24 Healthcare-Products: 3.44% (30th Apr 2016: 7.01%) 41,000 Asahi Intecc 1,777 1.82 85,000 Cyberdyne 1,277 1.31 23,900 Shofu 305 0.31 Healthcare-Services: 2.81% (30th Apr 2016: 1.91%) 13,000 Ain 878 0.90 36,000 PeptiDream 1,859 1.91 Home Furnishings: 2.99% (30th Apr 2016: 2.56%) 62,000 Foster Electric 1,141 1.17 170,000 Panasonic 1,777 1.82 Insurance: 2.26% (30th Apr 2016: 3.99%) 60,000 Anicom 1,347 1.38 80,400 Newton Financial Consulting 863 0.88 Internet: 0.95% (30th Apr 2016: 5.60%) 45,000 Designone Japan 915 0.94 1,800 Morningstar Japan 5 0.01 Iron/Steel: 0.77% (30th Apr 2016: 0.00%) 70,000 Daido Metal 756 0.77 Leisure Time: 2.91% (30th Apr 2016: 0.45%) 40,000 Tosho 1,734 1.78 25,000 Yonex 1,104 1.13 Lodging: 0.00% (30th Apr 2016: 0.36%) - - Machinery-Construction & Mining: 3.12% (30th Apr 2016: 3.13%) 100,000 Mitsubishi Electric 1,355 1.39 150,000 Tadano 1,686 1.73 Machinery-Diversified: 5.04% (30th Apr 2016: 1.15%) 70,000 Daifuku 1,269 1.30 70,000 Freund 1,128 1.16 100,000 Nissei Plastic Industrial 792 0.81 140,000 Nittoku Engineering 1,727 1.77 Miscellaneous Manufacturing: 0.00% (30th Apr 2016: 0.29%) - - Real Estate: 5.48% (30th Apr 2016: 6.13%) 80,000 Mitsubishi Estate 1,587 1.63 148,000 Pressance 1,706 1.75 121,700 Star Mica 2,047 2.10 REITS: 3.79% (30th Apr 2016: 4.88%) 860 Ichigo Hotel REIT Investment 979 1.00 500 MCUBS MidCity Investment 1,625 1.67 1,100 Tosei Reit Investment 1,095 1.12 Retail: 3.77% (30th Apr 2016: 4.93%) 25,000 Balnibarbi 762 0.78 51,100 G-7 654 0.67 92,000 Qol 1,453 1.49 60,000 Yossix 807 0.83 Semiconductors: 4.73% (30th Apr 2016: 2.44%) 80,000 Japan Material 2,839 2.91 40,000 Lasertec 777 0.80 11,000 Tokyo Electron 994 1.02 Software: 3.47% (30th Apr 2016: 3.04%) 40,000 Cresco 871 0.89 70,000 FINDEX 661 0.68 174,100 Jastec 1,841 1.90 Telecommunications: 1.41% (30th Apr 2016: 0.00%) 15,000 Hikari Tsushin 1,378 1.41 Textiles: 1.20% (30th Apr 2016: 1.34%) 100,000 Seiren 1,172 1.20 Transportation: 4.28% (30th Apr 2016: 4.54%) 70,000 Hamakyorex 1,305 1.34 30,000 Sakai Moving Service 650 0.67 250,000 SBS 2,218 2.27 Total Japan: (30th Apr 2016: 99.51%) 96,768 99.20 Total Listed Equities: (30th Apr 2016: 99.51%) 96,768 99.20 Total Investments held at fair value through profit or loss 96,768 99.20 Cash and cash equivalents (30th Apr 2016: 6.22%) 7,036 7.21 Other net liabilities (30th Apr 2016: (5.73%)) (6,252) (6.41) Net assets attributable to equity shareholders 97,552 100.00



Unaudited Statement of Comprehensive Income

For the six months ended 31st October 2016

31st October 2016 31st October 2015* Revenue Capital Total Revenue Capital Total Notes $'000 $'000 $'000 $'000 $'000 $'000 Income 4 Net gains/(losses) on investments held at fair value through profit or loss - 16,633 16,633 - (1,592) (1,592) Net (losses)/gains on foreign exchange - (480) (480) - 95 95 Dividend income 783 - 783 728 - 728 783 16,153 16,936 728 (1,497) (769) Expenses 6 Investment management fees (444) - (444) (461) - (461) 7 Depositary fees (38) - (38) (65) - (65) 8 Administration fees (71) - (71) (74) - (74) Registrar and transfer agent fees - - - (12) - (12) 9 Directors' fees and expenses (106) - (106) (146) - (146) Insurance fees (7) - (7) (10) - (10) Audit fees (26) - (26) (22) - (22) Printing and advertising fees (20) - (20) (31) - (31) Legal and professional fees (157) - (157) (115) - (115) Listing fees (7) - (7) - - - Miscellaneous expenses (26) - (26) (31) - (31) (902) - (902) (967) - (967) Finance cost Interest expense and bank charges (72) - (72) (81) - (81) (Loss)/profit before taxation (191) 16,153 15,962 (320) (1,497) (1,817) Taxation (118) - (118) (116) - (116) (Loss)/profit for the period (309) 16,153 15,844 (436) (1,497) (1,933) Other comprehensive income 3 Exchange losses on translation - - (14,380) - - (804) Total comprehensive income/(loss) for the period - - 1,464 - - (2,737) Basic and diluted (deficit)/earnings per ordinary share 10 $(0.008) $0.397 $0.389 $(0.011) $(0.037) $(0.048)

*Where applicable, the comparative Statement of Comprehensive Income has been restated and does not correspond to the Financial Statements for the six months ended 31st October 2015 (refer to Note 3 for more details).

In arriving at the result for the period, all amounts above relate to continuing activities.

The total column in this statement represents the Company's Statement of Comprehensive Income, prepared in accordance with IAS 34. The supplementary revenue and capital columns are both prepared under guidance published by the Association of Investment Companies.

The Notes form an integral part of these Financial Statements.



Unaudited Statement of Changes in Equity

For the six months ended 31st October 2016

Ordinary Share capital Share premium Revenue reserve Capital reserve/

realised Capital reserve/unrealised Capital reserve/

exchange Accumulated other comprehensive income Total Notes $'000 $'000 $'000 $'000 $'000 $'000 $'000 $'000 Balances at 1st May 2016 - - (26,737) 85,380 39,919 (20,579) 8,975 86,958 Movements during the period 16 Subscriptions - 13,387 - - - - - 13,387 17 Redemptions - (3,751) - - - - - (3,751) Shares bought into treasury - - (506) - - - - (506) Transfer from capital reserve - (9,636) - - - - - (9,636) Transfer to share premium - - - 9,636 - - - 9,636 4 Net realised gains on investments held at fair value through profit or loss - - (1,576) 1,576 - - - - 4 Net unrealised gains on investments held at fair value through profit or loss - - (15,057) - 15,057 - - - Net losses on foreign exchange - - 480 - - (480) - - Exchange losses on translation - - 14,380 - - - (14,380) - Total comprehensive income - - 1,464 - - - - 1,464 Balances at 31st October 2016 - - (27,552) 96,592 54,976 (21,059) (5,405) 97,552

The Notes form an integral part of these Financial Statements.



Unaudited Statement of Changes in Equity

For the six months ended 31st October 2015*

Ordinary Share capital Share premium Revenue reserve Capital reserve/

realised Capital reserve/

unrealised Capital reserve/

exchange Accumulated other comprehensive income Total Notes $'000 $'000 $'000 $'000 $'000 $'000 $'000 $'000 Balances at 1st May 2015 - - (25,995) 75,941 49,031 (19,576) 14,108 93,509 Movements during the period 16 Subscriptions - 574 - - - - - 574 17 Redemptions - (1,163) - - - - - (1,163) Transfer from capital reserve - 589 - - - - - 589 Transfer to share premium - - - (589) - - - (589) 4 Net realised gains on investments held at fair value through profit or loss - - (5,530) 5,530 - - - - 4 Net unrealised losses on investments held at fair value through profit or loss - - 7,122 - (7,122) - - - Net gains on foreign exchange - - (95) - - 95 - - Exchange losses on translation - - 804 - - - (804) - Total comprehensive loss - - (2,737) - - - - (2,737) Balances at 31st October 2015 - - (26,431) 80,882 41,909 (19,481) 13,304 90,183

*Where applicable, the comparative Statement of Changes in Equity has been restated and does not correspond to the Financial Statements for the six months ended 31st October 2015 (refer to Note 3 for more details).

The Notes form an integral part of these Financial Statements.



Unaudited Statement of Financial Position

As at 31st October 2016

31st October

2016 30th April

2016 Notes $'000 $'000 Non-Current Assets 14 Investments held at fair value through profit or loss 96,768 86,526 Current Assets Due from brokers 496 455 Dividends receivable 478 711 Prepaid expenses and other receivables 5 - Cash and cash equivalents 7,036 5,413 8,015 6,579 Current Liabilities Due to brokers (1,177) (39) Payables and accrued expenses (337) (508) 11 Loans payable (5,717) (5,600) (7,231) (6,147) Net Current Assets 784 432 15 Net Assets 97,552 86,958 Equity Ordinary share capital - - Share premium - - Revenue reserve (27,552) (26,737) Capital reserve 130,509 104,720 Accumulated other comprehensive income (5,405) 8,975 Net Assets Attributable to Equity Shareholders 97,552 86,958 Net Asset Value per Ordinary Share* $2.14 $2.16

*Based on the Net Asset Value at the period/year end divided by the number of shares in issue: 45,624,358 (30th April 2016: 40,182,900) (See Note 15).

Approved by the Board of Directors on 7th December 2016.

The Notes form an integral part of these Financial Statements.

Unaudited Statement of Cash Flows

For the six months ended 31st October 2016

31st October 2016 31st October 2015* $'000 $'000 Notes Cash flows from operating activities Profit/(loss) before taxation 15,962 (1,817) Adjustments to reconcile profit/(loss) before taxation to net cash flows from operating activities Interest expense and bank charges 72 81 (Increase)/decrease in investments held at fair value through profit or loss (10,242) 3,626 Increase in due from brokers (41) (195) Decrease in dividends receivable 233 332 Increase in prepaid expenses and other receivables (5) (49) Increase/(decrease) in due to brokers 1,138 (721) (Decrease)/increase in payables and accrued expenses (171) 6 Taxation paid (118) (116) Net cash inflow from operating activities 6,828 1,147 Cash flows from financing activities Interest paid (68) (81) 16 Subscriptions 13,387 574 17 Redemptions (3,751) (1,163) 13 Shares bought into treasury (506) - Net cash inflow/(outflow) from financing activities 9,062 (670) Net increase in cash and cash equivalents 15,890 477 Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 5,413 1,374 Effect of exchange losses on cash and cash equivalents (14,267) (953) Cash and cash equivalents at end of period 7,036 898

*Where applicable, the comparative Statement of Cash Flows has been restated and does not correspond to the Financial Statements for the six months ended 31st October 2015 (refer to Note 3 for more details).

The notes form an integral part of these financial statements.



Notes to the Unaudited Financial Statements

For the six months ended 31st October 2016

1. GENERAL INFORMATION

Atlantis Japan Growth Fund Limited (the "Company") was incorporated in Guernsey on

13th March 1996. The Company commenced activities on 10th May 1996. The Company is an authorised closed-ended investment scheme registered in Guernsey. The Company's equity shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange.

As an investment trust, the Company is not regulated as a collective investment scheme by the Financial Conduct Authority. However, it is subject to the UKLA Listing Rules, Prospectus Rules, Disclosure Transparency Rules and the rules of the London Stock Exchange.

The Company's investment objective is to achieve long term capital growth through investment wholly or mainly in listed Japanese equities.

2. SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of preparation

The condensed interim Financial Statements for the six months ended 31st October 2016 have been prepared in accordance with IAS 34 Interim Financial Reporting and the Association of Investment Companies ("AIC") Statement of Recommended Practice ("SORP") for Investment Trust Companies and Venture Capital Trusts to the extent it is not in conflict with IAS 34 and the Principal Documents.

The condensed interim Financial Statements do not include all of the information required for annual financial statements, and should be read in conjunction with the Company's Financial Statements as at and for the year ended 30th April 2016 which were prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union ("IFRS").

The significant accounting policies adopted in these condensed interim Financial Statements are consistent with those applied by the Company in its Financial Statements as at and for the year ended 30th April 2016.

3. CHANGE IN FUNCTIONAL CURRENCY

As a result of the adjustments relating to the change in functional currency from USD to GBP set out in more detail in the Financial Statements for the year ended 30th April 2016, the prior period comparatives have been restated to correct errors over certain amounts which were reflected on a USD functional currency basis previously. There has been no impact on the Net Asset Value of the Company.

As a result of these adjustments, $14,108,281 has been reclassified from the capital reserve to accumulated other comprehensive income in the Balances at 1st May 2015 per the Statement of Changes in Equity for the six months ended 31st October 2015.

The impact of these adjustments on each line item of the Statement of Comprehensive Income affected for the six months ended 31st October 2015 are shown below.

Statement of Comprehensive Income

31st October 2015 (Prior Period) Restatement 31st October 2015 (Restated) Revenue Capital Total Revenue Capital Total Revenue Capital Total $'000 $'000 $'000 $'000 $'000 $'000 $'000 $'000 $'000 Income Net losses on investments held at fair value through profit or loss - (1,709) (1,709) - 117 117 - (1,592) (1,592) Net (losses)/gains on foreign exchange - (599) (599) - 694 694 - 95 95 728 (2,308) (1,580) - 811 811 728 (1,497) (769) Loss before taxation (320) (2,308) (2,628) - 811 811 (320) (1,497) (1,817) Loss for the period (436) (2,308) (2,744) - 811 811 (436) (1,497) (1,933) Other comprehensive income Exchange losses on translation - - - - - (804) - - (804) Total comprehensive loss for the period - - (2,744) - - 7 - - (2,737) Basic and diluted deficit per ordinary share $(0.011) $(0.057) $(0.068) $0.000 $0.020 $0.020 $(0.011) $(0.037) $(0.048)

4. NET GAINS/(LOSSES) ON INVESTMENTS HELD AT FAIR VALUE THROUGH PROFIT OR LOSS

31st October 2016 31st October 2015* $'000 $'000 Realised gains on investments held at fair value through profit or loss 4,179 6,900 Realised losses on investments held at fair value through profit or loss (2,603) (1,370) Net realised gains on investments held at fair value through profit or loss 1,576 5,530 Unrealised gains on investments held at fair value through profit or loss 18,575 5,542 Unrealised losses on investments held at fair value through profit or loss (3,518) (12,664) Net unrealised gains/(losses) on investments held at fair value through profit or loss 15,057 (7,122) Net gains/(losses) on investments held at fair value through profit or loss 16,633 (1,592)

*Where applicable, certain comparative numbers have been restated and do not correspond to the Financial Statements for the six months ended 31st October 2015 (refer to Note 3 for more details).

5. RELATED PARTY DISCLOSURES

The Investment Manager, Depositary, Administrator and Directors are considered related parties to the Company as they have the ability to control, or exercise significant influence over, the Company in making financial or operational decisions. (See Notes 6 to 9 for details of transactions with these related parties during the period ended 31st October 2016.)

Certain Directors had a beneficial interest in the Company by way of their investment in the ordinary shares of the Company.

The details of these interests as at 31st October 2016 and 30th April 2016 are as follows:

Ordinary

Shares Ordinary

Shares 31st October

2016 30th April

2016 "Andrew Martin Smith - 30,000 Noel Lamb 10,000 10,000 Philip Ehrmann 24,000 - Richard Pavry 20,000 -

"Andrew Martin Smith retired on 31st July 2016.

The above interests of all Directors were unchanged as at the date of this report.

As at 31st October 2016, a family member of the President of the Investment Adviser held 946,000 ordinary shares of the Company (30th April 2016: 946,000).

6. INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT FEE

Under the terms of the Investment Management Agreement, the Investment Manager, Tiburon Partners LLP, will continue in office until a resignation is tendered or the contract is terminated. In both circumstances, a resignation or termination must be given with a notice period which must not be less than three months, and be in accordance with the Investment Management Agreement. Fees payable to the Investment Adviser are met by the Investment Manager.

The Company pays to the Investment Manager a fee accrued daily and paid monthly in arrears at the annual rate of 1 per cent of the weekly Net Asset Value of the Company.

Redemption Pool Investment Management Fees

The Investment Manager shall also be entitled to receive a fee from the Company of 1 per cent per annum of the daily Net Asset Value of any redemption pool together with transaction charges.

For the six months ended 31st October 2016, total investment management fees were $443,974 (31st October 2015: $461,262) of which $77,323 (30th April 2016: $68,926) was due and payable as at that date.

In addition to investment management fees, Tiburon Partners LLP, as Marketing Agent, earned fees of $14,049 during the six months ended 31st October 2016 (31st October 2015: $Nil) of which $5,185 (30th April 2016: $Nil) was due and payable as at that date.

7. DEPOSITARY FEES

Under the terms of the Depositary Agreement, fees are payable to the Depositary, Northern Trust (Guernsey) Limited, monthly in arrears, on the Gross Asset Value of the Company as at the last business day of the month at an annual rate of:

Gross Asset Value Annual Rate Up to $50,000,000 0.035% $50,000,001 to $100,000,000 0.025% Thereafter 0.015%

The Depositary is also entitled to a global custody fee of 0.03% per annum of the Net Asset Value of the Company, subject to a minimum fee of $20,000, and transaction fees as per the Depositary Agreement.

Redemption Pool Depositary Fees

The Depositary shall also be entitled to receive a fee from the Company of the Gross Asset Value of any redemption pool, together with transaction charges, at an annual rate of:

Gross Asset Value Annual Rate Up to $25,000,000 0.035% $25,000,001 to $50,000,000 0.025% Thereafter 0.015%

For the six months ended 31st October 2016, total depositary fees were $38,208 (31st October 2015: $64,737) of which $14,720 (30th April 2016: $29,365) was due and payable as at that date.

8. ADMINISTRATION FEES

Under the terms of the Administration Agreement, the Company pays to the Administrator, Northern Trust International Fund Administration Services (Guernsey) Limited, a fee accrued weekly and paid monthly in arrears at the annual rate of:

Net Asset Value Annual Rate Up to $50,000,000 0.18% $50,000,001 to $100,000,000 0.135% $100,000,001 to $200,000,000 0.0675% Thereafter 0.02%

Redemption Pool Administration Fees

At each redemption date a charge in respect of the preparatory work for the set-up and calculation of investment and redemption prices of 7,500 will be payable.

An additional fee will be payable on the fair value of the assets of that redemption pool of:

Net Asset Value Annual Rate Up to $25,000,000 0.18% $25,000,001 to $50,000,000 0.135% Thereafter 0.0675%

For the six months ended 31st October 2016, total administration fees were $70,838 (31st October 2015: $73,535) of which $13,004 (30th April 2016: $45,744) was due and payable as at that date.

9. DIRECTORS' FEES AND EXPENSES

Each of the Directors is entitled to receive a fee from the Company, being 30,000 per annum for the Chairman, 27,500 per annum for the Chairman of the Audit Committee and 25,000 per annum for each of the other Directors. In addition, the Company reimburses all reasonably incurred out-of-pocket expenses of the Directors.

For the six months ended 31st October 2016, total directors' fees and expenses were $106,298 (31st October 2015: $146,334) of which $42,876 (30th April 2016: $58,413) was due and payable as at that date.

10. BASIC AND DILUTED EARNINGS/(DEFICIT) PER ORDINARY SHARE

The basic and diluted earnings/(deficit) per ordinary share figure is based on the profit/(loss) for the period of $15,843,690 (31st October 2015*: $(1,933,221)) and on 40,742,696 being the weighted average number of shares in issue during the six months ended 31st October 2016 (31st October 2015: 40,403,459).

The earnings/(deficit) per ordinary share figure can be further analysed between revenue and capital, as below.

31st October 2016 31st October 2015* $'000 $'000 Net revenue loss (309) (436) Net capital (loss)/profit 16,153 (1,497) Net total profit/(loss) 15,844 (1,933) Weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the period 40,742,696 40,403,459 $ $ Revenue loss per ordinary share (0.008) (0.011) Capital profit/(loss) per ordinary share 0.397 (0.037) Total profit/(loss) per ordinary share 0.389 (0.048)

*Where applicable, certain comparative numbers have been restated and do not correspond to the Financial Statements for the six months ended 31st October 2015 (refer to Note 3 for more details).

11. LOANS PAYABLE

Loan Interest Maturity 31st October 2016 30th April 2016 Amount Rate Date $'000 $'000 3 year committed variable rate credit facility 600,000,000 1.34% 8th Jul 2016 - 5,600 600,000,000 1.33% 9th Dec 2016 5,717 - Loan due for repayment within one year 5,717 5,600

The credit facility is provided by Royal Bank of Scotland International Limited ("RBS"). As at 31st October 2016, the Company had drawn down 600,000,000 ($5,716,736) (31th April 2016: 600,000,000/$5,600,411) of the 1,500,000,000 borrowable under the terms of the facility agreement.

Under the terms of the facility agreement, the Company is required to comply with the following financial covenants:

the Company's portfolio must contain at least 60 investments, of which at least 50 must be in investments quoted on the Tokyo Stock Exchange or any other equivalent exchange approved by RBS, at all times;

the amount of the credit facility drawn down must not exceed 25% of the value of the Company's portfolio at any time; and

the Company's NAV must not fall below $58,000,000 at any time.

The Company complied with all of the above the financial covenants during the six months ended 31st October 2016 and the year ended 30th April 2016.

(Losses)/gains on foreign exchange on the Company's loan amounted to $(1,105,124) during the six months ended 31st October 2016 (31st October 2015: $69,954).

12. FORWARD CURRENCY CONTRACTS

There were no forward currency contracts held during the six months ended 31st October 2016 (31st October 2015: None).

13. SHARE CAPITAL AND SHARE PREMIUM

Authorised

The Company is authorised to issue an unlimited number of ordinary shares of no par value.

The Company may also issue C shares being a convertible share in the capital of the Company of no par value. The holders of C shares shall not have the right to attend or vote at any general meeting of the Company. The holders of C shares shall be entitled, in that capacity to receive a special dividend of such amount as the Directors may resolve to pay out of the net assets attributable to the C share class and from income received and accrued attributable to the C share class for the period up to the conversion date payable on a date falling before, on or after the conversion date as the Directors may determine. There are no C shares currently in issue.

The rights which the ordinary shares confer upon the holders thereof are as follows:

Voting rights

On a show of hands, every Member who is present shall have one vote; and on a poll, a Member present in person or by proxy shall be entitled to one vote per ordinary share held.

Entitlement to dividends

The Company may declare dividends in respect of the ordinary shares. Treasury shares do not confer an entitlement to any dividends declared.

Rights in a winding-up

The holders of ordinary shares will be entitled to share in the Net Asset Value of the Company as determined by the Liquidator.

Issued Ordinary Shares

Number of Shares Share Capital Share Premium $'000 $'000 In issue at 31st October 2016 45,624,358 - - In issue at 30th April 2016 40,182,900 - - Reconciliation of number of shares Number of Shares Number of Shares 31st October 2016 31st October 2015 Shares of no par value Issued shares at the start of the period 40,182,900 40,455,909 Re-issue of treasury shares - - Subscription of shares 7,614,446 296,903 Redemption of shares (1,910,488) (569,912) Purchase of shares into Treasury (262,500) - Number of shares at the end of the period 45,624,358 40,182,900 Shares held in Treasury Opening balance 2,701,686 2,701,686 Shares bought in to Treasury during the period 262,500 - Treasury shares re-issued - - Number of shares at the end of the period 2,964,186 2,701,686

Shareholders are entitled to receive any dividends or other distributions out of profits lawfully available for distribution and on winding up they are entitled to the surplus assets remaining after payment of all the creditors of the Company. The shares redeemed in the current period were cancelled immediately.

14. FAIR VALUE HIERARCHY

The fair value of investments traded in active markets (such as publicly traded derivatives and trading securities) are based on quoted market prices at the close of trading on the Statement of Financial Position date. The quoted market price used for investments held by the Company is the last traded price; the appropriate quoted market price for financial liabilities is the current asking price.

A financial instrument is regarded as quoted in an active market if quoted prices are readily and regularly available from an exchange, dealer, broker, industry group, pricing service, or regulatory agency, and those prices represent actual and regularly occurring market transactions on an arm's length basis.

For instruments for which there is no active market, the Company may use internally developed models, which are usually based on valuation methods and techniques generally recognised as standard within the industry. Valuation models may be used primarily to value unlisted equity, debt securities and other debt instruments for which markets were or have been inactive during the financial year. Some of the inputs to these models may not be market observable and are therefore estimated based on assumptions.

The following table sets out fair value measurements using the IFRS 13 fair value hierarchies:

At 31st October 2016 Investments at fair value through profit or loss Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Total $'000 $'000 $'000 $'000 Equity Investments 96,768 - - 96,768 96,768 - - 96,768 At 30th April 2016 Investments at fair value through profit or loss Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Total $'000 $'000 $'000 $'000 Equity Investments 86,526 - - 86,526 86,526 - - 86,526

Categorisation within the hierarchy has been determined on the basis of the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement of the relevant asset as follows:

Level 1 - valued using quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.

Level 2 - valued by reference to valuation techniques using observable inputs other than quoted prices included within level 1.

Level 3 - valued by reference to valuation techniques using inputs that are not based on observable market data.

15. NET ASSET VALUE

31st October 2016 30th April 2016 Net Asset Value $97,552,059 $86,957,813 Number of Shares in Issue 45,624,358 40,182,900 NAV per Ordinary Share $2.14 $2.16

16. SUBSCRIPTION RIGHT

Shareholders have the opportunity to subscribe for one new ordinary share for every five ordinary shares held on 1st October in each year. The following subscriptions were made during the period:

Subscription date Shares issued $'000 31st October 2016 31st October 2016 03/10/2016 7,614,446 13,387 7,614,446 13,387 Subscription date Shares issued $'000 31st October 2015 31st October 2015 01/10/2015 296,903 574 296,903 574

During the six months ended 31st October 2016, a total of $13,386,514 was paid by subscribing shareholders (31st October 2015: $574,416).

17. REDEMPTION FACILITY

Shareholders have the opportunity to make redemptions of part or all of their shareholding on a six-monthly basis subject to the Directors' discretion to decline any redemption requests. The following redemptions were made during the period:

Redemption date Shares redeemed $'000 31st October 2016 31st October 2016 30/09/2016 (1,910,488) (3,751) (1,910,488) (3,751) Redemption date Shares redeemed $'000 31st October 2015 31st October 2015 30/09/2015 (569,912) (1,163) (569,912) (1,163)

During the six months ended 31st October 2016, a total of $3,750,733 was paid to redeeming shareholders (31st October 2015: $1,163,129).

18. DIVIDENDS

All amounts held in the Company's revenue reserve are distributable to shareholders by way of dividends.

There were no dividends declared by the Directors during the six months ended 31st October 2016 (31st October 2015: $Nil).

19. EXCHANGE RATES

The following exchange rates were used to translate assets and liabilities into the reporting currency (USD) at 31st October 2016 and 30th April 2016:

31st October 2016 30th April 2016 USD USD GBP 0.8211 0.6844

The following average exchange rates were used to translate transactions into the reporting currency (USD) during the six months ended 31st October 2016 and 31st October 2015:

31st October 2016 31st October 2015 USD USD GBP 0.7480 0.6456

20. CHANGES IN THE PORTFOLIO

A list, specifying for each investment the total purchases and sales which took place during the six months ended 31st October 2016 may be obtained, upon request, at the registered office of the Company.

21. EVENTS DURING THE REPORTING PERIOD

On 4th May 2016, Edmond de Rothschild Securities (UK) Limited resigned as Financial Adviser and the Company appointed Cantor Fitzgerald Europe as its Financial Adviser.

On 1st June 2016, Aravis Partners LLP resigned as Marketing Agent and the Company appointed Tiburon Partners LLP as its Marketing Agent.

Andrew Martin Smith retired from the Board of Directors on 31st July 2016.

Richard Pavry was appointed to the Board of Directors on 1st August 2016.

Eric Boyle retired from the Board of Directors on 14th October 2016.

There were no other significant events during the period ended 31st October 2016 which require adjustment to or additional disclosure in the Financial Statements.

22. EVENTS AFTER THE REPORTING PERIOD

There were no significant events subsequent to the period ended 31st October 2016 which require adjustment to or additional disclosure in the Financial Statements.
SAN MATEO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 12/08/16 -- SIOS Technology Corp. (www.us.sios.com), the industry's leading provider of software products that help IT ensure the performance, efficiency, and high availability protection of business-critical applications, today announced SOIS iQ has been named a silver winner in Most Innovative Product, Enterprise Category -- in Best in Biz Awards, the only independent business awards program judged by members of the press and industry analysts.

SIOS iQ Machine Learning-based IT Analytics Solution is designed to be the first stop for answers to VMware infrastructure questions. Used for instantaneous issue identification and resolution, SIOS iQ employs a big data approach to the problem of IT operations analysis. It acquires a broad set of metrics in real-time for all objects across the infrastructure and then applies patented machine learning analytics technology to automatically identify abnormal behavior to precisely identify an issue, its root cause and a recommended solution.

The sixth annual program in North America garnered more than 600 entries, from an impressive array of public and private companies of all sizes and from a variety of industries and geographic regions in the U.S. and Canada. Best in Biz Awards 2016 honors were presented in 60 categories, including Company of the Year, Fastest-Growing Company of the Year, Most Innovative Company of the Year, Best Place to Work, Technology Department of the Year, Executive of the Year, Most Innovative Product of the Year, Best New Product of the Year, App of the Year, PR Campaign of the Year and Website of the Year.

"We are proud to receive this prestigious recognition from Best in Biz as it further validates SIOS iQ's approach to using big data/machine learning to the problem of IT operations analysis, optimization, and performance resolution," said Jerry Melnick, president and CEO, SIOS Technology. "With SIOS iQ, users now have a product that automatically diagnoses and recommends, and models the outcomes of recommended solutions to application performance issues in virtualized environments."

Winners of Best in Biz Awards 2016 were determined based on scoring from an independent panel of 50 judges from widely known newspapers, business, consumer and technology publications, TV outlets, and analyst firms. In addition to numerous judges returning from the 2011-2015 judging panels, this year's panel included several worthy additions to the high-profile group. The panel included Accounting Today, AdWeek, Associated Press, Atlanta Tribune, Business News Daily, CNET, Computerworld, Consumer Affairs, Entrepreneur, eWeek Channel Insider, Forbes, Healthcare Innovation News, Inc., Information Week, InfoWorld, Investment Advisor Magazine, MediaPost, Multifamily Executive, Network World, Portland Business Journal, Security Products Magazine, South Florida Business Journal, Wall Street Journal, Wired, WLRN and ZDNet.

"There were tons of great entries this year -- it was especially difficult to pick the most worthy candidates out of the many submissions," said Christopher Null, Wired, returning to the Best in Biz Awards judging panel for the fourth year.

For a full list of gold, silver and bronze winners in Best in Biz Awards 2016, visit: http://www.bestinbizawards.com/2016-winners.

About Best in Biz Awards

Now in its sixth year, Best in Biz Awards recognizes companies for their business success as judged by established members of the press and industry analysts. Best in Biz Awards honors are currently conferred in two separate programs: North America and International, and in more than 60 categories, including company, team, executive, product and PR and media. Entries for Best in Biz Awards 2017 International are currently being accepted until the final deadline on April 28, 2017. For more information, visit: http://www.bestinbizawards.com.

About SIOS Technology Corp.

SIOS Technology Corp. makes software products that provide the insights and guidance IT managers need to manage and protect business critical applications in large, complex data centers. SIOS iQ is a machine learning analytics software that helps IT managers optimize performance, efficiency, reliability, and capacity utilization in virtualized environments. SIOS SAN and SANLess software is an essential part of any cluster solution that provides the flexibility to build Clusters Your Way to protect your choice of Windows or Linux environment in any configuration (or combination) of physical, virtual and cloud (public, private, and hybrid) without sacrificing performance or availability. Founded in 1999, SIOS Technology Corp. (http://us.sios.com) is headquartered in San Mateo, California, and has offices throughout the United States, United Kingdom, and Japan.

SIOS, SIOS Technology, SIOS iQ, SIOS DataKeeper, SIOS Protection Suite, Clusters Your Way, SIOS PERC Dashboard, and associated logos are registered trademarks or trademarks of SIOS Technology Corp. and/or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Contact:



Beth Winkowski

Winkowski Public Relations, LLC for SIOS

978-649-7189

Email Contact




IRVINE, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 12/08/16 -- AerServ, a mobile video supply side platform providing high quality, mobile-first video mediation, today announced a partnership with Mediaocean, the leading software provider for the advertising world. This partnership provides local broadcast buyers a mobile device audience extension that reaches millions of mobile smartphone and tablet users. AerServ is the first in-app SSP to support this offering, providing campaigns with premium video inventory, high-viewability inventory and true visibility.

Local broadcast buyers are now able to access unique and premium inventory through one source. Current viewability for in-app videos running on AerServ showcase that more than 98 percent of video impressions are being seen by target audiences with a 100 percent share-of-voice. Additionally, AerServ's extremely high video completion rate of over 80 percent is much greater than most industry average benchmarks.

"Primetime viewership has naturally declined due to program content being available on multiple screens. Traditional TV, by itself, is no longer attracting huge volumes of viewers across a specific broadcast. Mobile apps have increased to the point that they now have the same reach, if not more, as mainstream TV," said Dan Mauch, EVP of AerServ.

Today, over 2,000 publishers plug into AerServ and more than 100 brand advertising firms purchase quality mobile advertising. AerServ expands a buyer's broadcast brand message to reach the right users at the right times in the right places as they interact with their mobile devices, allowing the individual users to be targeted based upon their demo and/or lifestyle category.

"AerServ's ability to deliver guaranteed, verified audiences who actually view through the creative is unprecedented. Enabling buyer and seller automation in the Mediaocean local buying systems gives spot buyers easy access to AerServ's millions of engaged consumers," said Cordie De Pascale, VP of Partnerships of Mediaocean.

Mediaocean's Connect Partner Platform brings together the largest advertising agencies in the world with the latest tools and technologies designed to support them. As a Connect Partner, AerServ will help deliver the correct commercial video message when an easy to access, guaranteed, and verified audience is needed. Marketers are given access to purchase AerServ media electronically via Mediaocean Spectra local broadcast.

The way brands have traditionally addressed potential customers in primetime slots is changing in today's mobile era. Partnerships such as AerServ and Mediaocean are a prime example of how to reach millions of mobile devices and deliver to consumers a brand advertisers message via premium video at scale, with market-leading performance.

About Mediaocean

Mediaocean is the world's leading media software company that automates every aspect of the advertising workflow -- from planning, buying and selling, to analyzing and optimizing, to invoicing and payments. Mediaocean's open cross-media platforms power $125 billion in global media budgets, and have unmatched reach and bridge traditional and digital media. Mediaocean serves more than 80,000 users across agencies, advertisers, broadcasters and publishers worldwide. The company employs 800 people worldwide and is part of the Vista Equity Partners portfolio of software companies. Mediaocean is headquartered in New York with ten offices worldwide. Learn more at mediaocean.com, or connect with Mediaocean on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.

About AerServ

AerServ is a leading mobile video supply-side platform (SSP) whose proprietary technology serves full-screen premium in-app video inventory. With over 60 billion ad opportunities each month, AerServ's advertising platform provides marketers and advertising agencies cost-effective, direct access to high-quality mobile video through 1,000's of premium apps and mobile web publishers. AerServ is a privately held company with offices in Los Angeles, Irvine, Chicago, New York, and San Francisco. Visit AerServ at www.aerserv.com

CONTACT INFORMATION

Press Contact:

Hollis Guerra

Blast PR on Behalf of AerServ

805-403-0705




Munich (ots/PRNewswire) -First patient enrolled in EMIT-AF/VTE study (NCT02950168), a European registry to assess edoxaban management in patients undergoing medical procedures[1]Daiichi Sankyo Europe GmbH (hereafter, Daiichi Sankyo) today announced that the first patient has been enrolled in the EMIT-AF/VTE (Edoxaban Management In diagnostic and Therapeutic procedures) study. This registry will collect real-world clinical data on the use of once-daily LIXIANA (edoxaban) with regard to diagnostic and interventional procedures in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) or venous thromboembolism (VTE).[1]Limited information is currently available regarding the use of edoxaban in patients undergoing medical procedures. Patients who are treated with non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs), such as edoxaban, undergo diagnostic and therapeutic procedures at a rate of 10% a year, and if the surgical interventions carry a bleeding risk, NOAC treatment must be temporarily discontinued. The EMIT-AF/VTE study will provide further insight into the use of edoxaban in patients undergoing diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.[1]Patients will be enrolled from primary and secondary care settings, as well as other specialty settings. The primary objective of the study is to document the peri-procedural management of edoxaban and collect data on safety and other outcomes in these patients. The primary safety outcome is the rate of major bleeding (within 30 days post intervention) using the ISTH definition.[1]"The EMIT-AF/VTE registry is part of the extensive clinical research programme undertaken for edoxaban," said Dr. Juan-Carlos Jaramillo, Head of Market Access and Medical Affairs at Daiichi Sankyo Europe GmbH. "This registry will provide important information that expands our knowledge on the use of edoxaban and will ensure healthcare professionals are equipped to achieve the best possible outcomes for NVAF and VTE patients undergoing medical procedures."The EMIT-AF/VTE registry will comprise approximately 2,000 patients over the next two and a half years. Data will be collected from patients treated with edoxaban for 2,000 planned or unplanned procedures[1] across 500 sites, including hospitals and office-based sites, in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, and the UK. Daiichi Sankyo is also reviewing options to expand the EMIT-AF/VTE registry to clinical sites beyond Europe.To access the latest news, media backgrounders, images, and videos please visit http://pressportal.lixiana.com/. Please note that the press portal is not intended for UK media.About EMIT-AF/VTEEMIT-AF/VTE is a real-world, multinational, multicentre, prospective observational, non-interventional study. The registry will include data from NVAF and VTE patients until 2,000 procedures have been documented over a period of around two and a half years. The study is being conducted across seven European countries, and Daiichi Sankyo is evaluating the inclusion of additional countries, beyond Europe. The primary objective of EMIT-AF/VTE is to collect data on the usage pattern of edoxaban in the context of diagnostic or interventional procedures in unselected patients with NVAF or VTE. The primary safety outcome is the rate of major bleeding within 30 days post-procedure. Secondary objectives include assessing efficacy outcomes as a composite of major cardiovascular events and collecting details on the types of diagnostic or therapeutic procedures.[1]About EdoxabanEdoxaban is an oral, once-daily, direct factor Xa (pronounced "Ten A") inhibitor. Factor Xa is one of the key components in the coagulation cascade responsible for blood clotting. Inhibition of factor Xa reduces thrombin generation, prolongs clotting time and reduces the risk of thrombus formation.Edoxaban is currently marketed in Japan, the U.S., Switzerland, the U.K., Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, South Korea, Taiwan, Italy, Spain, Hong Kong, Belgium and other European countries.Edoxaban is approved in Europe for the prevention of stroke and systemic embolic events in adult patients with NVAF with one or more risk factors, such as congestive heart failure, hypertension, age >= 75 years, diabetes mellitus, prior stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA) and for the treatment of DVT and PE and prevention of recurrent DVT and PE in adults.[2]The edoxaban Summary of Product Characteristics can be viewed here:http://www.ema.europa.eu/docs/en_GB/document_library/EPAR_-_Produc t_Information/human/002629/WC500189045.pdfAbout Edoxaban Clinical Research Programme (ECRP)Daiichi Sankyo is committed to expanding scientific knowledge about edoxaban, as demonstrated through our research programmes evaluating its use in a broad range of cardiovascular conditions, patient types and clinical settings in atrial fibrillation (AF) and venous thromboembolism (VTE). The edoxaban clinical research programme includes multiple RCTs (randomised, controlled trials), registries and non-interventional studies, with the goal of generating new clinical and real-world-data regarding its use in AF and VTE populations. Daiichi Sankyo expects that more than 100,000 patients will participate in the edoxaban clinical research programme, including completed, ongoing and future research.The RCTs include:- ENSURE-AF (EdoxabaN vs. warfarin in subjectS UndeRgoing cardiovErsion of Atrial Fibrillation), in AF patients undergoing electrical cardioversion - ENTRUST-AF PCI (EdoxabaN TReatment versUS VKA in paTients with AF undergoing PCI), in AF patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention - Hokusai-VTE Cancer (Edoxaban in Venous Thromboembolism Associated with Cancer), in patients with cancer and an acute VTE event - ELDERCARE-AF (Edoxaban Low-Dose for EldeR CARE AF patients), in elderly AF patients in Japan - ELIMINATE-AF (EvaLuatIon of edoxaban coMpared with VKA IN subjects undergoing cAThEter ablation of non-valvular Atrial Fibrillation) - ENVISAGE-TAVI AF (EdoxabaN Versus standard of care and theIr effectS on clinical outcomes in pAtients havinG undergonE Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) - Atrial Fibrillation)In addition, global and regional registry studies will provide important real-world data about the use of edoxaban and other oral anticoagulants in everyday practice, and include:- ETNA-AF (Edoxaban Treatment in routiNe clinical prActice in patients with non valvular Atrial Fibrillation) - ETNA-VTE (Edoxaban Treatment in routiNe clinical prActice in patients with Venous ThromboEmbolism) - EMIT-AF/VTE (Edoxaban Management In diagnostic and Therapeutic procedures-AF/VTE); - Prolongation PREFER in AF (PREvention oF thromboembolic events - European Registry) in patients with AF - ANAFIE (All Nippon AF In Elderly) Registry in JapanWe are committed to adding to the scientific body of knowledge around edoxaban in a variety of AF and VTE patients, including those who are vulnerable.Daiichi Sankyo Fights ThrombosisDaiichi Sankyo is your partner in antithrombotic therapy with the discovery and development of innovative products, to help patients with a wide range of cardiovascular conditions. These include EFIENT (prasugrel) for acute coronary syndromes and LIXIANA (edoxaban) for non-valvular atrial fibrillation, deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. Daiichi Sankyo's ongoing commitment in this field is demonstrated by their continued investment into patient-relevant clinical development activities that aim to advance the care and improve the lives of people suffering with these diseases. For more information, please visit: www.daiichi-sankyo.eu.About Daiichi SankyoDaiichi Sankyo Group is dedicated to the creation and supply of innovative pharmaceutical products to address diversified, unmet medical needs of patients in both mature and emerging markets. With over 100 years of scientific expertise and a presence in more than 20 countries, Daiichi Sankyo and its 16,000 employees around the world draw upon a rich legacy of innovation and a robust pipeline of promising new medicines to help people. In addition to a strong portfolio of medicines for hypertension and thrombotic disorders, under the Group's 2025 Vision to become a "Global Pharma Innovator with Competitive Advantage in Oncology," Daiichi Sankyo research and development is primarily focused on bringing forth novel therapies in oncology, including immuno-oncology, with additional focus on new horizon areas, such as pain management, neurodegenerative diseases, heart and kidney diseases, and other rare diseases. For more information, please visit: http://www.daiichisankyo.com.Forward-looking statementsThis press release contains forward-looking statements and information about future developments in the sector, and the legal and business conditions of DAIICHI SANKYO Co., Ltd. Such forward-looking statements are uncertain and are subject at all times to the risks of change, particularly to the usual risks faced by a global pharmaceutical company, including the impact of the prices for products and raw materials, medication safety, changes in exchange rates, government regulations, employee relations, taxes, political instability and terrorism as well as the results of independent demands and governmental inquiries that affect the affairs of the company. All forward-looking statements contained in this release hold true as of the date of publication. They do not represent any guarantee of future performance. Actual events and developments could differ materially from the forward-looking statements that are explicitly expressed or implied in these statements. DAIICHI SANKYO Co., Ltd. assume no responsibility for the updating of such forward-looking statements about future developments of the sector, legal and business conditions and the company.References1. Edoxaban Management in Diagnostic and Therapeutic Procedures (EMIT-AF/VTE), ClinicalTrials.gov, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/ show/NCT02950168?term=edoxaban&rank=1. [Last accessed December 2016]. 2. LIXIANA. Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC), 2015. Available at: http://www.ema.europa.eu/docs/en_GB/document_library /EPAR_-_Product_Information/human/002629/WC500189045.pdf . [Last accessed December 2016].ContactLydia Worms (Europe)Daiichi Sankyo Europe GmbHEdoxaban Communications & Product PR Europe+49-(89)-7808751ots Originaltext: Daiichi Sankyo Europe GmbH Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de
DUBLIN, Dec 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global Military GPS Device Market 2016-2020" report to their offering.

The report forecasts the global military GPS device market to grow at a CAGR of 3.69% during the period 2016-2020.

The report has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. It covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.

The use of GPS technology has revolutionized modern warfare. Military forces are highly dependent on satellite technology for accurate positioning, timing, and communications. However, these GPS signals that are received by both military and civilians are weak and extremely susceptible to atmospheric interference and intentional jamming.

According to the report, with transforming war strategies, several countries are largely developing or procuring unmanned vehicles to be deployed in war zones. These vehicles not only augment a country's combat capabilities but also substitute a soldier's direct involvement in a battleground, thus cutting down on casualties. These unmanned vehicles are designed to perform daily as well as specialized tasks with high levels of efficiency and precision. They can withstand hazardous chemicals and dangerous situations that can potentially harm or threaten the life of soldiers.

Key vendors:

BAE Systems

Lockheed Martin

Northrop Grumman

Raytheon

Rockwell Collins

Key Topics Covered:

Part 01: Executive summary

Part 02: Scope of the report

Part 03: Market research methodology

Part 04: Introduction

Part 05: Market landscape

Part 06: Market segmentation by application

Part 07: Geographical segmentation

Part 08: Market drivers

Part 09: Market challenges

Part 10: Impact of drivers and challenges

Part 11: Market trends

Part 12: Vendor landscape

Part 13: Appendix

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/3h3nsx/global_military

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716
LONDON, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

OnApp has released v5.2 of OnApp Cloud, the leading cloud management platform for service providers and enterprises. OnApp v5.2 introduces Cloud Motion, which enables enterprises to move cloud workloads across the OnApp Federation - a global network of public and private cloud infrastructure with more than 55 locations in 43 countries. Cloud Motion brings unprecedented flexibility to companies hosting applications in the cloud, by enabling them to move workloads easily between suppliers and regions, and across infrastructure with different price, performance, compliance characteristics.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150723/240725LOGO )



Cloud Motion launches today in Beta with OnApp v5.2, which is available now as a free upgrade to existing OnApp clients, and via a range of packages for new customers. More information is available at http://onapp.com/v52 .

"The way enterprises have to buy cloud infrastructure today just isn't that smart," said Ditlev Bredahl, CEO of OnApp. "You have to make a lot of sequential decisions that narrow down your choices at every step. You want this server type, at this physical location - ok, so this supplier looks good - but then, you also need these compliances at the datacenter? No can do - back to square one. You want this level of performance, at this price - ok, we could use those guys - but then, you need to host your apps in this specific country? Back to the beginning again. Why is it easier to buy shoes than buy the infrastructure you need?"

"What we've done is to create true abstraction of the workload from the infrastructure it runs on," he said. "With the OnApp Federation, we provide a global network of clouds with many different price, performance and compliance characteristics. We provide a transparent marketplace for buying that infrastructure, with independently measured performance and uptime. And with Cloud Motion, we're now making it possible to migrate workloads fluidly around that global cloud. Choosing a supplier, a server type, a performance level and a location are now totally independent decisions - which enables enterprises to easily source, buy, use and change the infrastructure they need, through any OnApp cloud provider."

Other new features in OnApp v5.2 include initial support for OVA import, automation tools for VMware vCloud Director and a range of UI, alert and template enhancements.

For the full text of this release, visit http://onapp.com/2016/12/08/onapp-launches-cloud-motion-move-workloads-across-worlds-biggest-public-cloud
Kaspersky Lab today announced the winning collegiate teams in its Cybersecurity Case Study Competition, hosted by The Economist's Which MBA? site. The grand prize winner was New York University, second place was awarded to University of Maryland, College Park and Newcastle University received third place.

Over the past few weeks, 19 teams from universities in the U.S. and UK were challenged to create a blockchain technology solution for securing digital voting systems. Participants provided written and video submissions detailing their proposals on blockchain-compliant systems that addressed specific security challenges, including voter privacy, undecided voters, voter fraud and more.

"I want to wish congratulations to New York University for their victory in the 2016 Cybersecurity Case Study Competition," said U.S. Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY). "Today, STEM education is more important than ever as Americans face increased competition from abroad for the well-paying, high-skill jobs of tomorrow. America has always been at the forefront of technological innovation and it is higher education programs, like the one at NYU, that will ensure we remain there."

U.S. Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD) also offered his congratulations to the Maryland-based finalists: "I'm proud that the University of Maryland, College Park, has been recognized as one of the leading centers for cybersecurity research in the country. In Congress, I've worked closely with President Loh, state leaders and federal education and national security agencies to highlight the benefits of investing in cybersecurity research in Maryland, which boasts a top-notch education system and proximity to critical defense, intelligence, and homeland security infrastructure. As our nation faces new and challenging cyber threats to our security and to our businesses' intellectual property, we must continue to invest resources in developing cutting-edge cyber defenses such as those being designed and tested at the University of Maryland, College Park, in Maryland's Fifth District."

Kaspersky Lab experts served as the judging panel, selecting the top three proposals out of the 19 submissions. Additional information for each award-winning submission is below:

New York University : In first place, and recipient of the $10,000 grand prize, was New York University. The university's submission proposed the usage of a "permissioned blockchain" configuration, in which a central authority admits voting machines to the network prior to the start of the election, followed by voting machines acting autonomously to build a public, distributed ledger of votes. In addition to addressing threats to the integrity of the system, NYU's plan allows voters to tell if their individual vote was counted.

: In first place, and recipient of the $10,000 grand prize, was New York University. The university's submission proposed the usage of a "permissioned blockchain" configuration, in which a central authority admits voting machines to the network prior to the start of the election, followed by voting machines acting autonomously to build a public, distributed ledger of votes. In addition to addressing threats to the integrity of the system, NYU's plan allows voters to tell if their individual vote was counted. University Of Maryland, College Park's Maryland Cybersecurity Center: Second place and $5,000 was awarded to the University Of Maryland, College Park's Maryland Cybersecurity Center, which proposed a solution rooted in global public keys that encrypt ballots and provide voter receipts using randomly generated numbers. The university's proposal also features cryptographic tree data structures that allow citizens to check if their vote was counted.

Second place and $5,000 was awarded to the University Of Maryland, College Park's Maryland Cybersecurity Center, which proposed a solution rooted in global public keys that encrypt ballots and provide voter receipts using randomly generated numbers. The university's proposal also features cryptographic tree data structures that allow citizens to check if their vote was counted. Newcastle University: Winner of $3,000 and third place was Newcastle University, which proposed a solution rooted in three protocols: the Open Vote Network, DRE-i and DRE-ip.

"The competition was very interesting and I was very impressed with the submissions," said Eugene Kaspersky, Chairman and CEO of Kaspersky Lab. "There was a lot of good work there! The challenges of cybersecurity mean the next generation of experts face a changing frontier there will be plenty of things to work on and securing digital voting systems for national elections is just one example. If cybercriminals exploited one small vulnerability, it could potentially change the course of a nation's history, and these young scholars are bringing us one step closer to making secure digital voting a reality."

To access the award-winning submissions from the Kaspersky Lab Cybersecurity Case Study Competition, please visit The Economist's Which MBA? site.

About Kaspersky Lab (kaspersky.com

Kaspersky Lab is a global cybersecurity company founded in 1997. Kaspersky Lab's deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe. The company's comprehensive security portfolio includes leading endpoint protection and a number of specialized security solutions and services to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. Over 400 million users are protected by Kaspersky Lab technologies and we help 270,000 corporate clients protect what matters most to them. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com.

About Which MBA? (economist.com/whichmba

Which MBA? is a division of The Economist Newspaper Group which offers a suite of online products serving both prospective MBA students and business schools. Our consumer products for prospective students include a GMAT preparation course, annual MBA rankings, and content on Economist.com. Which MBA? offers multi-media advertising solutions for business schools ranging from online MBA fairs, to traditional online and print mediums, to custom white-label lead generation tools.

About The Economisteconomist.com

With a growing global circulation (more than 1.5 million including both print and digital) and a reputation for insightful analysis and perspective on every aspect of world events, The Economist is one of the most widely recognized and well-read current affairs publications.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208005130/en/

Contacts:

Kaspersky Lab

Jessica Bettencourt, 781-503-7851

Jessica.Bettencourt@kaspersky.com
REDONDO BEACH, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 12/08/16 -- SECFilings.com, a leading financial news and information portal offering free real time public company filing alerts, announces publication of an article covering Hispanica International Delights of America's (OTCQB: HISP) growth strategy in a consumer foods industry that is going through a major acquisition and consolidation phase.

3G Capital is seeking to raise $8 billion to $10 billion for a new buyout fund targeting an acquisition in the consumer sector, according to the Brazil Journal. Last year, the private equity fund purchased Kraft Foods Group Inc. and merged it with H.J. Heinz in a $46 billion deal with Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. The new funding sent shares of U.S. packaged food companies higher as investors speculated that they would be the next big targets.

As consumer preferences evolve from processed to fresh foods, many of these potential target companies have struggled with slowing revenue and narrowing profit margins. 3G Capital is well known for pressuring companies to cut costs and increase margins using zero-based budgeting and other techniques. At the same time, the firm looks for acquisition targets to create larger companies capable of realizing significant economies of scale.

Hispanica International, an ethnic food and beverages company that distributes fruit juices, nectars, and milk based products, as well as teas, carbonated drinks, dried goods, preserves, and bakery products, is taking a growth-oriented approach to the market rather than taking temporary cost-cutting actions.

The Hispanic population accounts for nearly 20% of the U.S. population or approximately 56.6 million citizens, according to the U.S. Census. By 2020, the government organization believes that Hispanics will account for nearly 30% of the population at about 120 million citizens, representing a significant growth rate over the coming years. These families are increasingly seeking out ethnic foods categories that are underserved by packaged food giants.

Ethnic foods are also becoming increasingly popular among the general population. According to Mintel Research, 90% of all 25 to 34-year-old adults have prepared ethnic foods at home over the past month. This compares to less than 70% of adults over the age of 65 that have cooked ethnic foods at home over the past month. The palates of all Americans appear to be evolving to include ethnic foods rather than traditional U.S. staples.

Capitalizing on the Trends

Hispanica aims to capitalize on these trends by building a fully integrated ethnic food and beverage business through a combination of organic growth, mergers, and exclusive distribution agreements with some of the top retailers and brands in the country.

The company began by establishing a $7.5 million credit facility with TCA Global Credit Master Fund LP ("TCA") in early July 2016 that would be used to provide operating capital and funding for acquisitions and expansions within the ethnic food industry. With the funding in hand, the company differentiates itself from many development-stage competitors that don't have the flexibility to execute on their business plans and grow quickly.

Just days later, the company used the capital to acquire Energy Source Distributors ("ESD"), which provided $3 million in annual revenue, a 15,000 square foot warehouse, and distribution channels into more than two thousand locations, including 7 Eleven, Safeway, Nob Hill, Lucky's, Walmart and others. The company plans to leverage these channels to launch its own proprietary products in a bid to increase revenue and profit margins over time.

Investors should watch for a number of upcoming catalysts, including a second strategic acquisition that will expand its footprint, as well as increased distribution to over 5,000 retail locations over the coming months. By accelerating its revenue and improving margins, management will bring the company closer to a positive cash flow that will put it on stable financial footing as it looks to become a leader in the ethnic foods industry.

Follow the link to read the full article: http://analysis.secfilings.com/articles/135-hispanica-hisp-an-attractive-play-in-a-consolidating-industry

About SECFilings.com

Founded in 2004, SECFilings.com provides free real time filing alerts to over 600,000 registered members and offers services to help public companies grow their audience of interested investors.

Disclaimer:

Except for the historical information presented herein, matters discussed in this release contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Emerging Growth LLC, which owns SECFilings.com, is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority, and does not provide nor claims to provide investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release. Emerging Growth LLC may from time to time have a position in the securities mentioned herein and may increase or decrease such positions without notice. For making specific investment decisions, readers should seek their own advice. Emerging Growth LLC may be compensated for its services in the form of cash-based compensation or equity securities in the companies it writes about, or a combination of the two. For full disclosure please visit: http://secfilings.com/Disclaimer.aspx.

SECFilings.com

Paul Archie

406-862-2242

parchie@secfilings.com




- Cybersecurity Ventures ranks EY 15th out of all global cybersecurity organizations

- Highest consulting organization ranked by Cybersecurity Ventures

LONDON, Dec. 8,2016 /PRNewswire/ -- EY has been named one of the world's top cybersecurity consulting organizations to watch in 2017 by Cybersecurity Ventures, a global research and publishing company focused on the cybersecurity industry.

Of the 500 global companies listed in the Cybersecurity 500 report, the EY organization was ranked number 15 overall, ahead of other consulting organizations that provide cybersecurity products and services.

Paul van Kessel, EY Global Advisory Cybersecurity Leader, says:

"We are proud to be one of the highest ranked cybersecurity consulting companies in the report. Our ranking reflects our deep understanding of cyber threats and our close collaboration with clients worldwide. Cybersecurity Ventures' recognition is testament to EY's industry-leading approach, which is focused on clients' entire cyber ecosystem, including the 'human element,' which is so critical to addressing cybersecurity challenges. This acknowledgement by Cybersecurity Ventures confirms the hard work of the EY cybersecurity and risk teams and the recent investments we have made in these services."

Chad Holmes, Principal of Ernst & Young LLP in the U.S and. Cybersecurity Leader, says:

"Cybersecurity breaches are always a matter of 'when', not 'if.' That requires an enterprise-wide approach with experienced people, efficient processes and innovative technology. The launch of our Managed Security Operations Center in June 2015 and the US-firm's alliance with the US based Los Alamos National Laboratory, formed in August 2015, have been significant investments over the past year."

The EY risk and cybersecurity group has more than 14,500 practitioners in member firms of more than 150 countries. They advise on large, transformational cybersecurity improvement programs that focus on cyber threat management, identity and access management, data protection, privacy and "post-incident" services. EY services are end-to-end - from assessments to managed services - and underpinned by robotics and analytics capabilities.

Notes to Editors

About EY

EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The insights and quality services we deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies the world over. We develop outstanding leaders who team to deliver on our promises to all of our stakeholders. In so doing, we play a critical role in building a better working world for our people, for our clients and for our communities.

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

This news release has been issued by EYGM Limited, a member of the global EY organization that also does not provide any services to clients.

To download a copy of Cybersecurity Ventures' Cybersecurity 500 report, please visit: cybersecurityventures.com/cybersecurity-500

To learn more about EY's global cybersecurity practice, please visit: ey.com/gl/en/services/advisory/ey-cybersecurity

Barbara Burgess Aparna Sankaran EY Global Media Relations EY Global Media Relations +1 212 773 1652 +1 44 748 024 5082 barbara.burgess@ey.com aparna.sankaran@ey.uk.com

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160620/381362LOGO
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 12/08/16 -- Teranga Gold Corporation ("Teranga" or the "Company") (TSX: TGZ)(ASX: TGZ) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded the 2017 Environmental and Social Responsibility Award from the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada ("PDAC"). Selected by PDAC's board of directors, this award recognizes an organization that demonstrates outstanding initiative, leadership, and accomplishment in establishing and maintaining good relations with local communities and in protecting and preserving the natural environment during an exploration program or operation of a mine.

Teranga will be honored at an awards dinner to be held on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 during PDAC's annual convention in Toronto.

"We are very proud to receive the PDAC Environmental and Social Responsibility Award," stated Richard Young, President and Chief Executive Officer of Teranga. "Since our initial public offering in 2010, we have made it a priority to set the benchmark for responsible mining in West Africa."

Added Mr. Young, "As guests in the countries in which we operate, we understand that we must earn the trust of our hosts. To achieve this, we have taken a transparent, consultative and collaborative approach with government and communities to develop initiatives that will make long lasting contributions within the region around our Sabodala mine in the priority areas of food security, youth education and training, and sustainable economic growth. In addition to providing a safe workplace, we invest in infrastructure, medical facilities, training, schools, food security and agricultural programs in the immediate areas around the mine. Our goal is to deliver on our shared vision of success with our communities to maximize long-term sustainable value in the communities in which we operate."

Teranga has received several awards for its CSR efforts to-date. Most recently, in June 2016, the Company received the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Award by Global Compact Network Canada in recognition for its efforts in advancing the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals within its core business strategy. Additionally, Teranga has been acknowledged by Corporate Knights Future 40 Responsible Corporate Leaders in Canada for three consecutive years and in 2015 was ranked 17th.

About Teranga Gold

Teranga is a multi-jurisdictional West African gold company focused on production and development as well as the exploration of more than 5,000km2 of land located on prospective gold belts.

Since its initial public offering in 2010, Teranga has produced more than 1.2 million ounces of gold from its operations in Senegal where it is uniquely positioned with the only commercial gold mill in country. Following its recent acquisition of Gryphon, the Company is fast-tracking the development of Banfora, which is expected to commence production in 2019. Concurrent with its production and development activities, exploration programs are underway to increase the Company's reserve base through resource conversion and making major new discoveries. Teranga has a strong balance sheet and the financial flexibility to continue to grow its business.

Steadfast in its commitment to set the benchmark for responsible mining, Teranga operates in accordance with the highest international standards and aims to act as a catalyst for sustainable economic, environmental, and community development as it strives to create value for all of its stakeholders. Teranga is a member of the United Nations Global Compact and a leading member of the multi-stakeholder group responsible for the submission of the first ever Senegalese Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative revenue report. The Company's 2015 responsibility report, which is available at www.terangagold.com/2015responsibilityreport, is prepared in accordance with its commitments under the United Nations Global Compact and in alignment with the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines.

Contacts:

Teranga Gold Corporation

Trish Moran

Head of Investor Relations

+1 416-607-4507

tmoran@terangagold.com




DUBLIN, Dec 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global Nanorobotics Systems Market 2016-2020" report to their offering.

The report forecasts the global nanorobotics systems market to grow at a CAGR of 6.06% during the period 2016-2020.



The report has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.

One of latest trends in the market is mind-controlled nanorobots trial. A lot is happening in the nanorobots technology industry, which will drive the demand for nanorobotics systems. Scientists and researchers from Israel have tested a contraption in September 2016, involving the use of a person's brain waves to control the DNA-based nanorobots placed inside the shell of a cockroach. The experiment was a success and changed the physiology of cockroach as the nanorobots were triggered by a mere human thought. The trial has opened new dimensions of controlling the nanorobots with the brain. The trail is the next step in specific therapeutic use, especially if the medicine or drug has to work at difficult locations such as inside the brain for treatment of mental disorders.



According to the report, one of the primary drivers in the market is development of technologies for medical use. One of the factors affecting the adoption of micro- and nanorobots is the increasing number of its applications. Universities such as Chonnam National University (South Korea) have been consistently providing breakthroughs in microrobotics that can be commercialized.

In March 2015, the Chonnam National University's R&D center developed an active endoscope. The university also signed a contract for $8.27 million with Woo Young Medical, a medical device manufacturer, for the transfer of technology. The center will receive 2% from the sales of the endoscopes as a license fee.

Key vendors:



Agilent Technologies

Bruker

Electrovac

EVG

FEI

JEOL



Key Topics Covered:



Part 01: Executive summary



Part 02: Scope of the report



Part 03: Market research methodology



Part 04: Introduction



Part 05: Market landscape



Part 06: Key leading countries



Part 07: Geographical Segmentation



Part 08: Market drivers



Part 09: Impact of drivers



Part 10: Market challenges



Part 11: Impact of drivers and challenges



Part 12: Market trends



Part 13: SWOT analysis



Part 14: Vendor landscape



Part 15: Key vendor analysis



Part 16: Research Institutes involved in nanorobotics development



Part 17: Appendix



For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/x34g8x/global

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716


CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stocks advanced Friday led by a rally in Japanese shares after U.S. President Donald Trump promised a 'phenomenal' tax plan to lower the burden on American businesses.



Trump also issued belated well-wishes to China for the Lunar New Year and sought to work with President Xi Jinping to 'develop a constructive relationship' that benefits both countries, the White House said in a statement, potentially alleviating concerns about a major shift in Washington's relations with Beijing.



While Trump's promise to announce 'something phenomenal on taxes in the next 2 to 3 weeks' lifted the dollar to a 1-1/2-week high versus the Japanese yen, gold extended overnight losses and Treasuries retreated for a second day. Oil futures added to overnight gains after China's January exports and imports easily beat expectations.



China's January exports rose an annual 7.9 percent in dollar terms on stronger global demand, rebounding from the previous month's contraction, while imports rose by 16.7 percent, preliminary data showed.



The Shanghai Composite rose 13.52 points or 0.42 percent to 3,196.70 as investors cheered trade data and Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed his readiness to take part in the 'One Belt, One Road' summit in Beijing in May this year.



The benchmark index gained 1.8 percent this week, marking its biggest weekly gain in more than two months. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up 49 points or 0.21 percent at 23,574 in late trade.



Japanese shares rallied as the yen weakened against the dollar ahead of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's meeting with Trump. Media reports suggest that Abe will put forward an economic co-operation package including a $150 billion five-part investment package in U.S infrastructure when they meet later today.



The Nikkei average surged 471.26 points or 2.49 percent to 19,378.93 while the broader Topix index closed 2.18 percent higher at 1,546.56. Exporters were among the best performers, with Honda, Toyota and Panasonic climbing 3-4 percent as the yen hit its lowest level against the dollar since February 1.



Banks Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Financial rose 2-3 percent, while oil majors Inpex, JX Holdings and Japan Petroleum rallied 3-4 percent.



Australian shares rose for a fourth straight session, with positive Wall Street cues and higher oil prices supporting underlying sentiment. In its quarterly statement on monetary policy, the Reserve Bank of Australia slashed its economic growth forecasts but flagged a possible return to above-trend growth by the end of 2017.



The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index rose 56 points or 0.99 percent to 5,720.60, taking this week's gains to 1.76 percent, its biggest gain in nine weeks. The broader All Ordinaries index closed 53.90 points or 0.94 percent higher at 5,771.60. Banks ANZ, Commonwealth and Westpac rose over 1 percent each.



Oil Search, Origin Energy and Santos climbed 1-3 percent as oil prices held steady in Asian deals ahead of the IEA and OPEC monthly reports due on Friday and Monday, respectively. Health insurer Medibank Private rose 1.4 percent on saying it has received federal approval to hike its premiums by an average 4.60 percent.



Mining giant Rio Tinto advanced 1.1 percent after announcing a board shake-up. Rival BHP Billiton gained 1.8 percent and Fortescue Metals Group added 1.9 percent. News Corp soared almost 7 percent despite the company reporting a $US219 million loss for the December quarter.



Gold miners Evolution, Norther Star, Regis Resources and Newcrest dropped 2-3 percent as gold extended overnight losses of nearly 1 percent. Property portal REA Group fell 1.3 percent after announcing its half-year results.



Seoul shares followed global peers higher after Trump said long-awaited details on promised tax cuts would emerge within weeks. The benchmark Kospi finished up 9.20 points or 0.45 percent at 2,075.08, led by automakers.



New Zealand shares closed a tad lower, with the benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index ending down 17.20 points or 0.24 percent at 7,104.43. Chorus shares fell as much as 3.6 percent after Communications Minister Simon Bridges unveiled details of the government's new approach to regulating fixed line communications services.



Malaysia's KLSE Composite index was moving up 0.7 percent even as data showed the country's industrial output growth moderated at the end of the year.



India's Sensex was marginally higher ahead of December industrial production data due out later in the day.



Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index was gaining 0.4 percent and Singapore's Straits Timex index was adding 0.7 percent while the Taiwan Weighted climbed 0.8 percent.



Overnight, the major U.S. averages rose about 0.6 percent to notch record closing highs after Trump promised a major tax announcement and a Fed official said U.S. interest rates can remain low throughout at least 2017.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
TRENTON, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 12/08/16 -- Government of Canada

Search and rescue is an essential public service for Canadians from coast to coast to coast. That's why the Government of Canada is building a more agile, better-equipped military, while ensuring the best value for Canadians.

Following a rigorous, open and transparent competition, the Government of Canada today announced the awarding of a contract for $2.4 billion to Airbus Defence and Space to replace Canada's fleets of CC115 Buffalo and legacy CC130 Hercules aircraft. The company has partnered with Newfoundland-based PAL Aerospace for maintenance and support services.The contract will provide a complete, modern and technologically advanced search and rescue solution, including maintenance and support services up to 2043.

As part of this contract, Airbus will provide 16 C295W aircraft, equipped with advanced technology systems, to support Canada's search and rescue operations, construct a new simulator-equipped training centre in Comox, British Columbia, and provide ongoing maintenance and support services. The contract also includes options to extend the maintenance and support services for an additional 15 years. Should Canada choose to exercise these additional options, the contract value would increase to $4.7 billion.

The new technology being acquired includes state-of-the-art communications systems that will allow search and rescue personnel to share real-time information with partners on the ground. Using integrated sensors, crews will be able to locate persons or objects, such as downed aircraft, from more than 40 kilometres away, even in low-light conditions.

As part of its proposal Airbus Defence and Space has committed to make investments in the Canadian economy equal to the value of the contract, creating and maintaining good middle class jobs. Through Canada's Industrial and Technological Benefits Policy, the company will incorporate many of Canada's leading aerospace firms into its global supply chain and establish strategic partnerships with Canadian companies to ensure the aircraft are supported in Canada by Canadians. This work will help grow Canada's innovative and strong aerospace sector, while providing well-paying jobs for the middle class and those working hard to join it.

Quotes

"In a country as large as Canada, our search and rescue personnel must have the right equipment to face the varying challenges they encounter every day. Working closely with partners through a fair, open competition, we have selected aircraft and advanced technology that will ensure the safety of Canadians from coast to coast to coast while providing good middle class jobs."

- The Honourable Judy M. Foote, Minister of Public Services and Procurement

"Members of the Royal Canadian Air Force search and rescue community are among the best trained in the world and respond to incidents in every type of environment, whether in the Arctic, over the Rockies or in the middle of the ocean. Canadians in distress can count on them to give their very best to save lives. With this technology, we are giving our women and men in uniform the tools they need to continue to deliver effective and essential search and rescue operations."

- The Honourable Harjit S. Sajjan, Minister of National Defence

"Through the Industrial and Technological Benefits Policy, 100 percent of the contract value will be invested into the Canadian economy. Airbus Defence and Space will ensure that the maintenance, training, repair and overhaul work of the aircraft are performed in Canada which will create high-value, well-paying jobs for middle class Canadians and generate sustainability and growth for Canada's aerospace and defence sector."

- The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development

Quick Facts

-- The Canadian Armed Forces is responsible for providing aeronautical search and rescue operations. In collaboration with federal, provincial/territorial and municipal governments, as well as local search and rescue organizations, the Armed Forces respond to Canadians in distress across the country and at sea. -- The initial contract for a period of 11 years is valued at $2.4 billion (plus applicable taxes) and includes 6 years of acquisition and set up, including the construction of a new training centre in Comox, British Columbia, as well as the first 5 years of maintenance and support services. -- The contract is performance-based, which means the contractor will only be paid when equipment and services are delivered and accepted by Canada. -- The contract also includes options to extend the maintenance and support services for an additional 15 years. Should Canada choose to exercise these additional options, the contract value would increase to $4.7 billion (plus applicable taxes). -- A fairness monitor was engaged to oversee and report on the openness and transparency of the procurement process. The fairness monitor's report identified no fairness-related issues. -- Canada's CC115 Buffalo and CC130 Hercules have served Canada well over the last 20 to 40 years. These aircraft perform over 350 missions annually and are responsible for saving thousands of Canadian lives every year. -- During the transition the existing fleets will continue to be maintained and operated to ensure search and rescue responsibilities.

Related Products

Backgrounder: A modern and effective search and rescue solution for the Canadian Armed Forces

Backgrounder: Fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft procurement process

Infographic: Procuring Canada's future fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft

Infographic: Capability

Associated Links

Public Services and Procurement Canada: Fixed-Wing Search and Rescue Aircraft Replacement

National Defence: Investing in Equipment

Royal Canadian Air Force: Search and Rescue

Search and Rescue in Canada: A shared responsibility

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada: Industrial and Technological Benefits

Follow us on Twitter.

Follow us on Facebook.

Contacts:

Media Relations

Public Services and Procurement Canada

819-420-5501

media@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca



Media Relations

Department of National Defence

613-996-2353 or Toll-Free: 1-866-377-0811

mlo-blm@forces.gc.ca



Annie Trepanier

Office of the Honourable Judy M. Foote

819-997-5421



Jordan Owens

Press Secretary

Office of the Minister of National Defence

613-996-3100

jordan.owens@forces.gc.ca




OAK BROOK (dpa-AFX) - A McDonald's employee in Kansas has been fired and is facing criminal charges after the worker put mustard in an official's beverage. Two officers with the Topeka Police Department said that on Friday, they bought a Dr. Pepper at a McDonald's drive-thru in the city and found that the drink tasted strange. The opened the lid and found mustard mixed in the soft-drink. A picture of the tainted drink was posted by Kansas Going Blue, a police support organization, on its official Facebook page. The Topeka Police Department said it has decided to open a criminal investigation into the case and added that the restaurant is cooperating with them. Tom Dobski, the franchisee owner of the north Topeka McDonald's, said he was shocked by the isolated actions of a single employee and added that the employee no longer worked for the organization. Dobski also said that the company launched an internal investigation after it learned of the complaint. Just two weeks earlier, a Kansas Highway patrol officer reported a similar incident involving mustard in his soda. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
LEBANON  Officials with Blue Zones Project Oregon say they expect to announce their second and only other Blue Zones city before the end of December, with Lebanon still in the running.

The winning demonstration community will receive a funded healthy living program valued at about $1.2 million per year for three years. Through the program, Blue Zones Project Oregon will pay to hire people and to organize, in partnership with the community, the kinds of activities that create and sustain healthful lives.

The selected community also must contribute $200,000 to $400,000 per year during those three years to offset the costs of that effort, although Lebanon officials said they believe it's possible that a community that couldn't raise that amount might still be chosen.

Klamath Falls is currently Oregon's only Blue Zones Project demonstration community. Lebanon is one of eight communities being evaluated for a second spot. Other contenders are Prineville, The Dalles, Douglas County, Grants Pass, Tigard/Tualatin and Coos Bay/North Bend/Coquille.

Only cities with populations between 10,000 and 175,000 were eligible to apply.

"Our original intention was to only visit two or three communities, but the applicant pool was so strong that we ended up choosing to visit eight," said Lee Collinge, statewide engagement and marketing lead for the Blue Zones Project.

"Together with lead funder Cambia Health Foundation, we are finalizing our deliberations and hope to be making an announcement in the next few weeks."

The Blue Zones Project comes from an attempt by researchers with National Geographic to answer why some people live longer, healthier lives.

Researcher Dan Buettner traveled the world and found five regions where, statistically, people lived longer and healthier lives than their counterparts elsewhere. They are Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Icaria, Greece; and among a population of Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda, California.

In all five regions, people had, statistically, a much higher rate of longevity and fewer instances of illness, dementia and other health problems. In all five, researchers found, people exercise regularly, take in a moderate level of calories, have opportunities for family and community connections and believe they fulfill a purpose in society.

The Blue Zones Project is a research attempt to see whether those factors can be replicated elsewhere with the same effect.

Cambia Health Foundation brought the Blue Zones idea to Oregon in support of Oregon Healthiest State, Collinge said. That organization is an overarching health and well-being initiative focused on making Oregon the healthiest state in the nation.

Lebanon was named a finalist in September, and officials with Blue Zones Project did a site visit Oct. 5.

At the site visit, community representatives pointed to a number of health-related initiatives Lebanon has begun on its own, such as Build Lebanon Trails and the conversion of a former mill pond into the recreational area known as Cheadle Lake.
HELSINKI, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Investments will Accelerate Global Rollout of the Company's 5G-Ready Network Slicing Platform

Cloudstreet, the Nokia spin-off specialized in delivering SLA-assured mobile Internet connectivity on-demand is pleased to announce that it has secured its 2ndVC funding round with principle investorsVersoVenturesandFinesco Capitalalong with a grant from theEU's Horizon 2020SME Instrument, Phase 2. The public funding grant of 1.6M from the EU, along with earlier public grants, brings this combined public/private round to 2.6M and total Cloudstreet investments to date to 3.2M.

These investments come at an ideal time for Cloudstreet's market-ready technology, and at a critical moment for telecom as it looks to agile innovators to help deliver on the promise of 5G. Levering the network slicing framework, Cloudstreet's patented core technology, theDynamic Profile Controller' (DPC')provides precisely the modular, scalable, software-defined solution needed to address connectivity requirement of multiple customer segments with assured quality of experience.

The EU's recognition of Cloudstreet provides one of the world's strongest endorsements of a company, its technology and global market potential. Focused on bringing disruptive technologies to market, H2020's SME Instrument and Cloudstreet's private equity partners will provide the necessary resources, support and runway for the company to achieve full-scale global commercialization.

"We are thrilled to have been recognized by these investors and a world-leading market force like the EU in our pursuit of a better, faster, smarter and more user-centric mobile network", said Mika Skarp, Founder & CTO of Cloudstreet. "Now past proof-of-concept, Cloudstreet is today poised to deliver on the promise of 5G well in advance of its arrival."

"Cloudstreet embodies precisely the target innovators that today's public and private equity investors seek to discover, support and promote," said Mika Suomela of VersoVentures. "Their solution not only addresses the immediate challenges of capacity management and monetization faced by mobile operators, but provides the kind of modular, flexible, software-defined approach that allows for virtually infinite new services and business models at very low costs."

Cloudstreet's DPC' identifies the precise data need for each mobile-internet connected device or application on-the-fly and enablesinstant and fully-automated network optimisationto serve each end-user's precise data requirements at any particular moment, without affecting other users' connections. This will be a new paradigm in mobile network management.

About Cloudstreet

Founded in 2010, Cloudstreet is a cloud-based service platform for telecom operators, combining business and network layer technologies to provide SLA-assured bandwidth-on-demand. Aligned with the principles of net-neutrality, Cloudstreet directly addresses the need for operators to manage the delivery of customer-oriented, application-aware quality-of-service within their networks, while ensuring an open and equal access Internet. From streaming HD Video-on-Demand to data-intensive apps and the emerging Internet-of-Things, Cloudstreet bridges the gap between the digital services we all use, need and enjoy and the network infrastructure that serves them.

Brendan Tully Walsh, Horse & Cart Agency Inc., Brendan@horseandcartagency.com , +1-(514)-802-6099
Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE: AXTA), a leading global supplier of liquid and powder coatings, today released its Global Automotive 2016 Color Popularity Report which confirms a continued global preeminence by white, while hints of colorful hues enliven traditional neutral colors to bring color back into the mainstream.

"We are seeing a clear preference for the neutral shades, but there is a catch," explains Nancy Lockhart, Axalta's Color Marketing Manager. "We are seeing colorful hues being added to these neutrals to create eye-catching tones. Watch for tints and effects to add depth and beauty to these neutrals in the future."

Regional highlights from Axalta's 2016 Color Popularity Report include:

Worldwide : White stays in first place on nearly four of every 10 new vehicles.

: White stays in first place on nearly four of every 10 new vehicles. Africa : Light colors are most favored here: silver and white combined make up 63 percent of new purchases.

: Light colors are most favored here: silver and white combined make up 63 percent of new purchases. Asia: In China, more than half of vehicles sold are white. Solid white is more popular than pearl white by more than 39 percentage points. Conversely, Japan prefers pearl white (27 percent) to solid white (seven percent).

In China, more than half of vehicles sold are white. Solid white is more popular than pearl white by more than 39 percentage points. Conversely, Japan prefers pearl white (27 percent) to solid white (seven percent). Europe: At 17 percent, gray is more popular here than any other region. Black is declining and now seven percentage points behind first place white.

At 17 percent, gray is more popular here than any other region. Black is declining and now seven percentage points behind first place white. North America : Gray is making a mark rising two percent in popularity and lengthening its lead over silver.

: Gray is making a mark rising two percent in popularity and lengthening its lead over silver. Russia : Beige/brown is at eight percent, just as in China. No other region reaches that mark.

: Beige/brown is at eight percent, just as in China. No other region reaches that mark. South America: Green comes in at five percent, tied with Russia for green's most popular regions.

According to Elke Dirks, Automotive OEM Color Designer for Axalta's Europe, Middle East and Africa region, Axalta uses the color popularity data to assist customers in decision making. "Our trend reporting enables Axalta to be nimble as we work with automakers on future colors," she said. "Understanding consumer preferences and trends provides insights that help us forecast where consumer choices may be heading in the years to come."

"Consumer appreciation of color nuances such as the differences between solid and pearlescent white across Asia reflects the subtle differences among consumer preferences," added Annie You, Axalta OEM Color Designer based in China. "Awareness of these differences provides a constant reminder that we need to continually review our color palette to keep pace with discerning car buyers and with the automakers who rely on Axalta for color choices."

Axalta's full Global Automotive 2016 Color Popularity Report can be viewed and downloaded here: axaltacs.com/colorreport.

About Axalta Coating Systems Celebrating 150 Years in the Coatings Industry

Axalta is a leading global company focused solely on coatings and providing customers with innovative, colorful, beautiful and sustainable solutions. From light OEM vehicles, commercial vehicles and refinish applications to electric motors, buildings and pipelines, our coatings are designed to prevent corrosion, increase productivity and enable the materials we coat to last longer. With 150 years of experience in the coatings industry, the approximately 12,800 people of Axalta continue to find ways to serve our more than 100,000 customers in 130 countries better every day with the finest coatings, application systems and technology. For more information visit axaltacoatingsystems.com and follow us @Axalta on Twitter and on LinkedIn.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208005786/en/

Contacts:

Axalta Coating Systems

John Wray, +1 586 789 7463

John.W.Wray@axaltacs.com

axaltacoatingsystems.com
With the acquisition of Partner, Lineage expands its facility network internationally and becomes global leader in automated cold storage warehousing

Lineage Logistics, LLC ("Lineage"), one of the world's largest temperature-controlled warehousing and logistics companies, announced today it has acquired Partner Logistics ("Partner"), Europe's leading cold storage provider and world's largest automated cold storage company. The transaction marks the first international acquisition by Lineage, an organization backed by investment firm Bay Grove, LLC ("Bay Grove"), and represents significant growth in the Company's warehouse automation strategy. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170615005438/en/

Lineage Logistics, one of the world's largest temperature-controlled warehousing and logistics companies, announced today it has acquired Partner Logistics. Operating one of North America's largest and most diverse warehouse networks, Lineage creates high-impact logistics solutions through value-added services including managed transportation, customs brokerage, processing and manufacturing. (Photo: Business Wire)

"This transaction is a great opportunity for our company and our customers," said Duco Buijze, CEO of Partner Logistics. "We are excited to join Lineage and to increase the resources we have for growth and to expand our service offerings."

Lineage specializes in supply chain transformation for the world's leading food, retail and distribution brands. Operating one of North America's largest and most diverse warehouse networks, Lineage creates high-impact logistics solutions through value-added services including managed transportation, customs brokerage, processing and manufacturing. The Company has grown through major acquisitions and new construction since its founding in 2008, with its domestic U.S. facility footprint reaching over 100 locations and 609 million cubic feet of temperature-controlled capacity.

With the acquisition of Partner, Lineage adds over 101 million cubic feet of temperature-controlled capacity and expands its operations to include six state-of-the-art, fully automated warehouses and one conventional warehouse in the Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom. Headquartered in Netherland's Bergen op Zoom, Partner's network of cold storage facilities has a total capacity of over 500,000 pallets and is designed to maximize the efficiency and cost effectiveness of their customers' supply chains.

"Our acquisition of Partner Logistics represents Lineage's ongoing commitment to serving our customers' global supply chains by delivering dynamic, sophisticated cold chain logistics solutions," said Greg Lehmkuhl, Lineage's President and CEO. "We are thrilled to welcome the Partner team and are confident their incredible industry expertise, particularly in automation, will accelerate Lineage as a thought leader in this area with existing and new customers."

The deal marks an important step in Company's broader automation strategy, which has been in development for over three years. Earlier this year the Company announced plans to construct its first automated cold storage facility in the Dallas/Ft. Worth market and will use the acquisition of Partner as an additional platform for new automated projects in U.S. and European markets. Lineage intends to combine its existing expertise in automation with the intellectual property and best practices of Partner to further reduce product damage, enhance efficiency and improve customer experience.

"The vision of Lineage Logistics is to be the world's most dynamic temperature-controlled logistics company, and our expansion into Europe is a significant milestone in achieving that goal," said Adam Forste, Managing Partner of Bay Grove. "This transaction also highlights our commitment to automation as a critical pillar of our growth strategy globally."

About Lineage Logistics, LLC: Lineage Logistics is one of the largest temperature-controlled warehousing and logistics companies in the world. The company was founded through the combination of premier, temperature-controlled warehousing companies, some of whose roots date back to the early 1900s. Lineage is committed to confidently driving supply chain transformation by serving the world's leading food, retail, agriculture and distribution companies. (www.lineagelogistics.com)

About Bay Grove, LLC: Bay Grove is a principal investment firm dedicated to partnering with strong management teams to invest in and build long-term platform investments. Since 2008, Bay Grove has built Lineage Logistics through acquisitions and investments completed in partnership with entrepreneurs, customers and employees. The firm has deep experience in the warehousing and logistics industry and also seeks to make investments in other attractive sectors. Bay Grove is based in San Francisco. (www.bay-grove.com)

About Partner Logistics: Partner Logistics is a market leader in Europe for the provision of state-of-the-art, highly automated warehousing primarily for frozen foods. It operates six facilities two in the UK, three in the Netherlands and one in Belgium. Established in 1998, Partner Logistics works innovatively with transport partners to provide an integrated supply chain solution for clients that include Lamb Weston, Birds Eye, Pinguin and many other leading names in the frozen food industry. (www.partnerlogistics.eu)

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170615005438/en/

Contacts:

Lineage Logistics

Megan Hendricksen, 949-247-5172

mhendricksen@LineageLogistics.com
TRIGO Aerospace Business Line has delivered comprehensive quality solutions worldwide for more than 25 years.

TRIGO is continuously developing its quality services for the aerospace sector to help address supply chain challenges such as the constant increase of demand, introduction of new designs, limitation on resource capacity, and rising cost pressures.

Already being present in Europe, Asia and North America, the TRIGO aerospace team of more than 800 carefully selected professionals are making the TRIGO Aerospace Business Line an effective and reliable operation that is capable of addressing the toughest quality challenges without geographical restriction.

"While TRIGO Aerospace is expanding rapidly, we have to make sure that our management consists of the best possible talent around the world," says Emmanuel Marquis, Executive Vice President of TRIGO Aerospace Heavy Transportation Business Line. "It is my pleasure to welcome Michael and James to TRIGO."

Michael Yocumjoins TRIGO as a new International Sales Key Account Manager of the Aerospace Heavy Transportation Business Line in Toulouse, France.

Mr. Yocum has 25 years' experience working in aerospace with major Tier-1 manufacturers in engineering and operations, flight test support, customer facing technical and commercial positions in field services, and international sales supporting aircraft manufactures and operator customers.

James Leejoins TRIGO as the new Director of Aerospace Business Development in North America.

Mr. Lee supported the Aerospace Defense industry for more than 12 years in the selling, implementation, and on-going execution of supply chain quality services. He is experienced with helping customers solve performance issues at every level of the supply chain.

ABOUT TRIGO GROUP

Founded in 1997, TRIGO is a multinational company providing operational Quality Management solutions for the manufacturing sector, especially in the transportation industries. With a team of more than 7,000 professionals present in 20+ countries across 4 continents, TRIGO offers a comprehensive portfolio of Quality Inspection, Engineering and Management Services all along the supply chain.

For more information, please visit www.trigo-group.com!

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208005867/en/

Contacts:

TRIGO Group

Mercedesz TRUM, +36 30 485 83 53

Group Marketing Manager

mercedesz.trum@trigo-group.com
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN -- (Marketwired) -- 12/08/16 -- Editors Note: There are three (3) photos associated with this news release.

BMO Harris Bank announced today plans for a 360,000-square-foot new office tower in downtown Milwaukee, to be called the BMO Harris Financial Center. The new 25-story building, targeted for completion in late 2019, will be constructed next to BMO Harris Bank's present location at 770 N. Water Street.

"Milwaukee represents a critically important market for us. This new tower - which will add to the beauty of Milwaukee's skyline - exemplifies our commitment to the city, and to the state of Wisconsin," said David Casper, President and CEO, BMO Harris Bank. "2017 marks BMO's bicentennial - two centuries serving the needs of our customers and helping businesses grow - and we're thrilled to mark this significant milestone in our own history with a major investment in the economic development of Milwaukee."

"This announcement is an affirmation of downtown Milwaukee's place at the center of the region's economy. The BMO Harris Financial Center at Market Square is a great addition to the City," Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said. "This new investment by BMO Harris will add vitality and activity, and reflects its commitment to Milwaukee. It also continues the remarkable growth downtown Milwaukee has experienced in recent years."

"As a major local employer, with approximately 3,000 employees in the Milwaukee area, having a modern, spacious office tower was a big priority for us," said Jud Snyder, President, BMO Harris Equipment Finance Company. "Many of BMO's major businesses are based in Milwaukee, including our U.S. Global Asset Management group and our Equipment Finance business."

The transformational new office space is being designed to reflect the future of BMO Harris Bank, one that provides an exciting, vibrant environment for our customers to conduct their banking and for our employees to work. The property will be built by property developer Irgens; the law firm Michael Best & Friedrich LLP will occupy three floors in the building.

The construction will take place in phases. In the summer of 2017, the existing parking lot situated immediately north of 770 N. Water St. will be demolished; the new tower will be constructed on that site.

Plans call for the 20-story, 300,00-square-foot building at 770 N. Water Street to be redeveloped into a Class A multi-use building, beginning in 2020.

"The Irgens team has been working with BMO Harris, Michael Best, Colliers International and JLL to advance this project to where we are today. The new BMO Harris Financial Center at Market Square will be a significant new anchor to the central business district in downtown Milwaukee," said Mark Irgens, CEO of Irgens Partners, LLC. "It's a perfect location to conduct commerce and provides building occupants an enriching environment for team member recruitment and retention."

BMO has had its Milwaukee headquarters presence on Water Street for over a century, beginning in 1913 when the location was 721 N. Water St. From 1968 to the present day, the headquarters has been at 770 N. Water St.

"Our plans for a new office tower are a reflection of our positive outlook for the future of the area," added Casper. "We see Milwaukee, and indeed the state of Wisconsin, as well positioned for future growth - brimming with energy, innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit that will carry it confidently into the future. We look forward to being a big part of that future."

About BMO Harris Bank

BMO Harris Bank provides a broad range of personal banking products and solutions through nearly 600 branches and approximately 1,300 ATMs in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, Arizona and Florida. BMO Harris Bank's commercial banking team provides a combination of sector expertise, local knowledge and mid-market focus throughout the U.S. For more information about BMO Harris Bank, go to the company fact sheet. Banking products and services are provided by BMO Harris Bank N.A. and are subject to bank and credit approval. BMO Harris Bank is a trade name used by BMO Harris Bank N.A. Member FDIC. BMO Harris Bank is part of BMO Financial Group, a North American financial organization with approximately 1,500 branches, and CDN $688 billion in assets (as of October 31, 2016).

About Irgens

As an owner-operator since 1983, Irgens has been an innovator in achieving customer, investor, employee and community goals by creatively providing professional, results-oriented real estate solutions. This commitment has led to hundreds of successful healthcare and commercial real estate development projects. Irgens has offices in Milwaukee, Chicago and Phoenix. Irgens leadership and staff perform as a seamless team that delivers industry expertise and insight, single-source accountability on projects and value-added services to clients in the commercial and healthcare market sectors across the nation.

To view the photos associated with this news release, please visit the following links:

http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/bmoharris_1.jpg

http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/bmoharris_2.jpg

http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/bmoharris_3.jpg

Contacts:

Media contacts:

Patrick O'Herlihy, Chicago

312-576-7503

patrick.oherlihy@bmo.com




DALLAS, TX -- (Marketwired) -- 12/08/16 -- Budcube Cultivation Systems (BCS), a subsidiary of Cherubim Interests, Inc. (OTC PINK: CHIT) ("the Company"), an expansion-stage alternative construction and real estate development company, along with venture-partner United Cannabis Corp (OTCQB: CNAB) releases conceptual designs of their mobile testing and extraction laboratories to service the cannabis sector.

The image(s) can be viewed here:

The companies expect to begin construction and assembly of the laboratory next week, and should begin shipment of the first unit by year-end.

United Cannabis Corp. has teamed with Jamaica-based Cannabis Research & Development and initiated a pilot program in collaboration with the Rastafari Studies Centre for Cannabis Research, University of West Indies, Mona, to establish protocols for the development of Ital Standards which will be used as a guide for the processing, cultivation and consumption of cannabis.

United Cannabis will work in collaboration with the Rastafari Studies Centre to support the activities of the DHAPA Association in accord with their broader objective of establishing an infrastructure for licensed Rastafari farmers and trainees to participate in the Jamaican marijuana industry. The Joint Venture's initial task will be to document and verify the genetics of the Centre's preliminary plantings, as well as provide guidance in the development of appropriate standards and training methods for future activities.

"The delivery of the laboratory to our partners at Cannabinoid Research and Development will be a large step in United Cannabis's plans to make medicinal products in Jamaica," said CNAB CEO Earnie Blackmon. "The Cannabis Licensing Authority has made major strides towards the implementation and launch of the Jamaican cannabis program, and we feel now is the time to move our project forward. We at UCANN look forward to working with CRD to provide safe and legal access to cannabis medicines across the country," he said.

"We are excited to enter into this niche market as we believe the long-term demand for these laboratories will be significant," said CHIT CEO Patrick Johnson.

IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE: Cherubim Interests, Inc. (OTC PINK: CHIT) and BudCube Cultivation Systems USA is planning execution of its stated business objectives in accordance with current understanding of State and Local Laws and Federal Enforcement Policies and Priorities as it relates to Marijuana (as outlined in the Justice Department's Cole Memo dated August 29, 2013), and plan to proceed cautiously with respect to legal and compliance issues. Potential investors and shareholders are cautioned that the companies will obtain advice of counsel prior to actualizing any portion of their business plan. Advice of counsel with regard to specific activities of the companies, Federal, State or Local legal action or changes in Federal Government Policy and/or State and Local Laws may adversely affect business operations and shareholder value.

About United Cannabis Corporation

United Cannabis Corporation was formed to advance the use of cannabinoids in medicine through research, product development and education. The Company is dedicated to improving the lives of patients through the creation of products using only the highest quality genetics, purest extractions and most effective protocols possible. The Company's A.C.T. Now Program and patent-pending Prana Bio Nutrient Medicinals provide a comprehensive solution designed to enable physicians and patients to design, implement and monitor effective therapy protocols.

For further information, please visit www.unitedcannabis.us

About BudCube Cultivation Systems

BudCube Cultivation Systems USA ("BCS") has developed a proprietary, fully portable and scalable, Controlled Environment Cultivation Technology that serves as a turnkey solution for cultivators of legal medical and recreational cannabis, as well as any other plant species. Coupled with a real estate development and property management business model, BudCube Cultivation Systems can position itself anywhere in the world where the cultivation of cannabis is legal. BCS provides cultivation solutions for commercial application. It offers cultivators quick entry into a fast growing market at a price point that is very attractive when compared to the traditional construction and cultivation solution. BCS features a business model unparalleled in the industry and stands to benefit greatly as more and more market participants seek to gain entry into this sector.

For more information, visit www.budcube.com

About Cherubim Interests Inc.

Cherubim Interests specializes in alternative construction projects, as well as covering the entire spectrum of real estate development: due diligence, acquisition, planning, construction, renovation, and management; providing complete beginning-to-end development programs for mixed use, single, and multifamily projects and properties.

For more information, visit: www.cherubiminterests.com

Safe Harbor Statement

This release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E and/or 27E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that are based upon assumptions that in the future may prove not to have been accurate and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, including statements as to the future performance of the company and the risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in reports filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements contained in this release that are not historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain. Although the company believes that the expectations reflected in its forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations or any of its forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Factors that could cause results to differ include, but are not limited to, the company's ability to raise necessary financing, retention of key personnel, timely delivery of inventory from the company's suppliers, timely product development, product acceptance, and the impact of competitive services and products, in addition to general economic risks and uncertainties.

Cherubim Interests, Inc.

Patrick J. Johnson

Chief Executive Officer

(844) 842-8872

pjohnson@cherubiminterests.com




Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc / Index: AIM / Epic: EOG / Sector: Oil & Gas

8 December 2016

Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc ('Europa' or 'the Company')

Result of Annual General Meeting

Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc, the AIM listed oil and gas exploration, development and production company focused on Europe, held its Annual General Meeting today.

All resolutions were passed on a show of hands.

Details of the votes For and Against for each resolution are detailed in the table below:

Resolution No. For (% of votes cast) Against (% of votes cast) 1 99.97 0.03% 2 99.97 0.03 3 99.97 0.03 4 99.97 0.03 5 99.19 0.81 6 99.94 0.06 7 99.94 0.06

* * ENDS * *

For further information please visit www.europaoil.com or contact:

Hugh Mackay Europa + 44 (0) 20 7224 3770 Phil Greenhalgh Europa + 44 (0) 20 7224 3770 Matt Goode finnCap Ltd + 44 (0) 20 7220 0500 Simon Hicks finnCap Ltd + 44 (0) 20 7220 0500 Frank Buhagiar St Brides Partners Ltd + 44 (0) 20 7236 1177 Susie Geliher St Brides Partners Ltd + 44 (0) 20 7236 1177

Notes

Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc has a diversified portfolio of multi-stage hydrocarbon assets that includes production, exploration and development interests, in countries that are politically stable, have transparent licensing processes, and offer attractive terms. In 2016 Europa produced 123 boepd. Its highly prospective exploration projects include the Wressle development (targeting production start-up in early 2017 at up to 500 bopd gross) in the UK and seven licences offshore Ireland with the potential to host gross mean un-risked prospective and indicative resources of more than 4 billion barrels oil equivalent and 1.5 tcf gas across all seven licences.
High-End Bourbons to Be Distributed by NY-Based Pernod Ricard USA

NBV Investments Inc. ("NBVI"), a subsidiary of Austin, Nichols Co. Incorporated (d/b/a Pernod Ricard North America) and an affiliate of New York-based Pernod Ricard USA LLC, today announced that it has signed an agreement to take a majority stake in Smooth Ambler Spirits Co., the award-winning West Virginia distiller and producer of Smooth Ambler Contradiction Bourbon, Old Scout Single Barrel Bourbon and other high-end spirits. The transaction is currently subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in early 2017.

Smooth Ambler Spirits Co., founded in 2009, is located in the Greenbrier Valley of West Virginia. It uses regional natural resources and ingredients to produce gins, vodkas, rums and whiskeys, including the Old Scout Single Barrel Bourbon, which was recognized recently as the "Best Single Barrel Bourbon in the World" at Whisky Magazine's 2016 World Whiskies Awards.

"We are very impressed by Smooth Ambler's successful track record, and we are excited to partner with that team as they continue to produce high quality American Whiskeys," said Jeff Agdern, President of NBVI.

"Smooth Ambler is committed to making great spirits, using the best American ingredients," said John Little, Smooth Ambler's Co-Founder and Head Distiller. "The investment from NBVI will enable us to introduce our premium craft spirits to many more consumers." Smooth Ambler plans to increase production capacity and further expand its local team in West Virginia, Little said.

Under the terms of the transaction, John Little will assume the role of CEO and continue to operate the company with same culture and commitment to quality. John Foster will also remain as Director of Sales and Marketing.

Alexandre Ricard, Chairman and CEO of Pernod Ricard commented: "This investment illustrates perfectly our strategy of partnering with rising entrepreneurs sharing the same passion for authentic, high-quality brands. It represents a strong opportunity to enter the fast-growing, high-end bourbon market extending even more our fantastic portfolio of genuine brands in our number 1 market."

About Smooth Ambler Spirits Co.

Founded in 2009, Smooth Ambler Spirits Co. set out to produce fine artisan spirits by combining patient Appalachian know-how with the finest of American ingredients. Located in the rural Greenbrier Valley of West Virginia, Smooth Ambler produces world-class spirits with state-of-the-art distillery equipment in conjunction with the natural resources of the region; high-valley mountain air, crisp, clean water, ideal temperature variations, and friendly folks. Complementing its exceptional line of WV-made Appalachian Spirits is that of their Artisan Merchant Bottled products. From time to time in the Smooth Ambler team's travels they come across great spirits not of their making, but of their liking that might not otherwise be brought to market. In homage to the centuries-old Scotch Irish practice of independent bottling, Smooth Ambler takes these exceptional products under their care and once in West Virginia, they are further cultivated and then bottled faithfully and honestly. The finest in Appalachian Whiskey Spirits, Smooth Ambler is "The Spirit of WV"!

About NBV Investments Inc.

NBV Investments Inc. is a New York-based company whose aim is to invest and develop emerging brands in the US spirits and wine industry while preserving the entrepreneurial spirit and authentic brand story of its founders. The company is a subsidiary of Austin Nichols Co., Incorporated and an affiliate of Pernod Ricard USA LLC.

About Austin, Nichols Co. Inc.

Austin, Nichols Co. Incorporated (d/b/a Pernod Ricard North America), is a Delaware-based holding company that is part of the Pernod Ricard family of companies.

About Pernod Ricard USA

Pernod Ricard USA is the premium spirits and wine company in the U.S., and the largest subsidiary of Paris, France-based Pernod Ricard SA. The company's leading spirits and wines include such prestigious brands as Absolut Vodka, Chivas Regal Scotch Whisky, The Glenlivet Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Jameson Irish Whiskey, Malibu, Kahlua Liqueur, Beefeater Gin, Seagram's Extra Dry Gin, Martell Cognac, Hiram Walker Liqueurs, Pernod, Ricard and Avion Tequila; such superior wines as Jacob's Creek, Kenwood Vineyards and Brancott Estate; and such exquisite champagnes and sparkling wines as Perrier-Jouet Champagne, G.H. Mumm Champagne and Mumm Napa sparkling wines. Pernod Ricard USA is based in New York, New York, and has roughly 850 employees across the country. Pernod Ricard USA urges all adults to consume its products responsibly and has an active campaign to promote responsible drinking. For more information on this, please visit: www.responsibility.org.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208005985/en/

Contacts:

Media Contact Pernod Ricard

Amandine Robin, 212-824-1712

SVP, Communications CSR

Amandine.robin@pernod-ricard.com

or

Investor Contact Pernod Ricard

Julia Massies, +33 (0)1 41 00 41 07

VP, Financial Communication Investor Relations

or

Media Contact Smooth Ambler

John Foster, 304-497-3123

Director of Sales and Marketing.

Jfoster@smoothambler.com
GATINEAU, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 12/08/16 -- Department of Canadian Heritage

The Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage, today announced the end of the public component of the cross-Canada consultations on official languages. The Minister will be holding a meeting in Ottawa to review the situation with organizations that work in official-language minority communities and promote linguistic duality.

The consultations, which took place from June through December 2016, consisted of round table discussions held in each of the provinces and territories. The public also had an opportunity to complete an online questionnaire.

All of the round table discussions were led by the Minister or her Parliamentary Secretary, Randy Boissonnault. Several ministers and members of Parliament also participated in the discussions to become more familiar with official languages issues and the realities of official-language minority communities.

The consultations were open to Canadians from all walks of life. The online questionnaire gave them a chance to express their views on Canada's language policy and the realities of their communities.

The data gathered online and during round table discussions will give the Minister food for thought on the key issues and actions to focus on in developing a new multi-year action plan for official languages.

Minister Joly would like to thank Canadians who took part in the consultations.

Quotes

"These consultations gave me a chance to see just how much Canadians across this country care about our two official languages, which are fundamental to our Canadian social contract. The stories, experiences and challenges may vary from one region to the next, but there is no doubt that our official languages are an integral part of our identity. I will continue to reflect on the situation so that I can come up with a new action plan in 2018."

- The Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage

"Citizens raised important issues, like French education in early childhood, bilingualism, the situation of English speakers in Quebec, and engagement between speakers of English and French. Our official languages remain an area where issues affect people in their everyday lives."

- Randy Boissonnault, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage

Quick Facts

-- A total of 22 round table discussions were held in all of the provinces and territories, during which more than 350 leaders and stakeholders were heard. -- Nearly 6,400 people completed the online questionnaire, which is double the number of the previous cross-Canada consultations. -- The media were invited to all of the round table discussions as observers, and the public was able to view webcasts of some of the discussions from start to finish. -- A total of 90 briefs were submitted by organizations and individuals. -- A report will be posted soon on the Consultations webpage.

Associated Links

Cross-Canada Official Languages Consultations 2016

Roadmap for Canada's Official Languages 2013-2018

Mandate letter for the Honourable Melanie Joly

Stay Connected

Follow us on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Flickr.

Contacts:

Pierre-Olivier Herbert

Press Secretary

Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage

819-997-7788



Media Relations

Canadian Heritage

819-994-9101

1-866-569-6155

pch.media-media.pch@canada.ca




DUBLIN, Dec 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Aircraft Landing Gear Market by Type (Main, Nose), Platform (Fixed Wing, Rotary Wing), Application (Commercial, Business, Military), Aircraft Type (NBA, WBA, VLA, RTA), and Region - Global Forecast to 2021" report to their offering.

The global aircraft landing gear market is projected to grow from USD 9.71 Billion in 2016 to USD 13.14 Billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 6.23% from 2016 to 2021.

The increasing demand for new aircraft from regional airline companies in the Asia-Pacific and Middle-Eastern regions, procurement of fighter aircraft and unmanned aerial systems in military programs across the world, are the key factors driving the demand for aircraft landing gear across the globe. China, Canada, Brazil, and Japan are the key countries expected to witness significant growth in the global market during the forecast period.



The North American region is estimated to lead the global market during the forecast period, owing to technological advancements taking place in aircraft landing gear and the presence of key aircraft manufacturers, such as The Boeing Company (U.S.) and Bombardier Inc. (Canada).

Increasing aircraft orders from these manufacturers by the regional airline companies in the Asia-Pacific and Middle-Eastern regions is driving the growth of the North American aircraft landing gear market. Growing military modernization programs, which include the increased procurement of advanced fighter jets, and unmanned air vehicles, among others is also expected to drive the North American market during the forecast period.



Existing aircraft production backlog is a key factor expected to restrain the market growth during the forecast period. The global aircraft landing gear market is a diversified and competitive market with a large number of players operating in it.



The key players operating in the global market are, Safran S.A. (France), Liebherr-International AG (Switzerland), CIRCOR International, Inc. (U.S.), Heroux-Devtek Inc. (Canada), UTC Aerospace Systems (U.S.), and Triumph Group, Inc. (U.S.), among others

Key Topics Covered:



1 Introduction



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Premium Insights



5 Market Overview



6 Industry Trends



7 Aircraft Landing Gear Market, by Type



8 Aircraft Landing Gear Market, by Platform



9 Aircraft Landing Gear Market, by Application



10 Aircraft Landing Gear Market, by Aircraft Type



11 Regional Analysis



12 Competitive Landscape



13 Company Profiles



AAR Corp.

Circor International, Inc.

GKN Aerospace Services Ltd.

Heroux-Devtek Inc.

Liebherr-International AG

Magellan Aerospace Corporation

Safran S.A.

SPP Canada Aircraft, Inc.

Triumph Group Inc.

United Technologies Corporation

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/rtdh2s/aircraft_landing

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716
Although Pearl Harbor survivor Harry Scott of Sweet Home died in 2002, his spirit was present Wednesday morning at the American Legion Post 10 as mid-valley residents commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base in Hawaii.

Scotts granddaughter, Charee Gelatt-Fielders of Scio, wore a sweatshirt featuring photos of Scott and brought a scrapbook filled with newspaper clippings following the attack. With her was Scotts great-grandson, Hunter Fielders.

Before the ceremony, attended by about 50 people, Gelatt-Fielders greeted USS Oklahoma veteran David Russell, 96, of Albany, the last known Pearl Harbor survivor in the mid-valley. Russell survived by leaping from the Oklahoma to the nearby USS Maryland and pulling himself away from the burning oil in the harbor waters on a rope.

Both Russell and Scott served on the USS Oklahoma that was severely damaged and capsized in the bay during that Sunday morning attack that drew the reticent United State into World War II.

Post 10 Commander Steve Adams said he promised his father 65 years ago after attending a Pearl Harbor memorial service that I would never forget this day. We must all remember the sacrifices made that day by members of the Greatest Generation.

He introduced Russell, who was greeted with hearty applause.

Six decades after he made that promise, Adams has come to fully realize why those young soldiers and sailors earned the title "Greatest Generation." He noted that 1,177 sailors died on the Arizona, 429 on the Oklahoma and 64 on the Utah.

In all, 2,008 sailors perished, along with 109 marines, 218 Army soldiers and 68 civilians.

I recently learned that from that single battle, there were 15 Medal of Honor recipients, 51 Navy Crosses, 53 Silver Stars, four Navy/Marine Crosses, one Distinguished Flying Cross, four Distinguished Service Crosses, one Distinguished Service Medal and three Bronze Stars. That is amazing and tells the story, Adams said. It is a tribute to the Greatest Generation.

Retired Navy SEAL Don Armstrong of North Albany, who was the featured speaker at Wednesday's ceremony, said his family has a long history of military service, starting with his father, a World War II pilot who flew everything from a glider to a cargo plane.

Armstrong said the Japanese had six aircraft carriers 300 miles offshore of Hawaii and launched 350 aircraft.

Our warships sitting in the harbor were incinerated, but all but three returned to active duty in time, he said. It was the single largest loss in U.S. Naval history.

Armstrong said 23 sets of brothers lost their lives due to the sinking of the USS Arizona.

On that day, the United States was ranked 14th in the world in the terms of military power, he said. We were even behind Sweden.

But, Armstrong said, galvanized by the Pearl Harbor attack, the United States morphed into the worlds greatest military power.

We put on our big boy pants and by the end of the war, we had chased down and sunk every one of the Japanese carriers that had participated in the Pearl Harbor attack, he said.

Armstrong said that, sadly, as we lose members of that Greatest Generation, many members of a younger generation of Americans don't even know what World War II was about, or why the United States was so united by the attack at Pearl Harbor.

Armstrong said it is up to groups like the American Legion to ensure the memory and knowledge about both the war and Pearl Harbor are not forgotten.

He said President Franklin D. Roosevelts speech after the attack, calling Dec. 7 a date which will live in infamy, is on par with President Abraham Lincolns 1863 speech at Gettysburg as the two greatest speeches in Americas history.

For FDR it was the worst day of his presidency, Armstrong said. It was a transition day. The United States went from being isolationist to a global super power.
OTTAWA, CANADA -- (Marketwired) -- 12/08/16 -- Canada Revenue Agency

Canadians work hard for their money and the vast majority pay their fair share of taxes. But there are still too many wealthy Canadians who continue to find ways to not pay what they owe. This is not fair and robs all Canadians of the resources necessary to support the valuable social programs available in this country. That is why the Government of Canada is working hard to crack down on tax avoidance and tax evasion, in order to ensure a tax system that is more responsive and fair for all Canadians.

The Honourable Diane Lebouthillier, Minister of National Revenue, this week received the Offshore Compliance Advisory Committee's (OCAC) first report, on the subject of the Canada Revenue Agency's (CRA) Voluntary Disclosures Program (VDP). The Committee supports the VDP as an integral part of the CRA's administrative and enforcement regime and offers recommendations to enhance it and improve it for the benefit of Canadians. Minister Lebouthillier welcomed the overall tightening of the VDP to ensure fairness of the tax system, notably in order to limit the repeated use of this program by sophisticated taxpayers who wish to minimize what they owe and restrict the circumstances in which it can be used. The Minister and the CRA will leverage the OCAC's recommendations to review the VDP parameters. Changes will be communicated in late 2017.

The VDP, which provides Canadians with an opportunity to correct their tax affairs, was identified as the initial area of focus for the OCAC. In the course of its study, the Committee met with CRA officials to more fully understand the breadth of the program currently in place in Canada and also reviewed literature from other countries where similar programs exist.

Minister Lebouthillier also took the opportunity to thank the OCAC members for their contributions and highlighted their unique experience and viewpoints. As the Government of Canada prepares its response to the House of Commons' Standing Committee on Finance's report, "The Canada Revenue Agency's Efforts to Combat Tax Avoidance and Evasion," the insight provided by the Committee is timely. It will help inform the CRA's next steps, including evaluating the scope of the program, the circumstances surrounding disclosure and how much relief individuals may be entitled to receive.

Announced by Minister Lebouthillier on April 11, 2016 to build on the measures announced in Budget 2016, the OCAC, an independent panel of experts with legal and tax backgrounds, was established with the mandate to advise the Minister of National Revenue and the CRA on current and future administrative strategies to tackle offshore tax evasion and tax avoidance.

Quotes

"I welcome the Offshore Compliance Advisory Committee's first report and wish to thank the committee for its unique insight and for providing its invaluable experience to help improve the tax system for the benefit of hard-working middle class Canadians."

"Our government has made it a priority to make the tax system fairer for middle class Canadians and to crack down on those who cheat and who do not pay their share. That is why we created the Offshore Compliance Advisory Committee - to advise us on the best ways to improve our tax system. We will continue with our efforts to crack down on tax cheats. My message is clear: the trap is closing."

- The Honourable Diane Lebouthillier, P.C., M.P., Minister of National Revenue

Quick Facts

-- With the investment of $444 million over 5 years announced this past spring, the CRA is increasing its resources and tools to crack down on tax cheats both in Canada and abroad. That includes the implementation of a new strategy in which it reviews all international electronic funds transfers (EFTs) over $10,000 between Canada and four foreign jurisdictions in a given year. -- The first two jurisdictions that were reviewed were the Isle of Man and the island of Guernsey. The reviews for these two jurisdictions are almost complete. -- The reviews of two more jurisdictions are underway and will be completed by the end of March 2017. -- As of the most recent quarterly update on September 30, 2016, over 20,000 EFTS have been examined, worth a total of about $7 billion. -- Work is ongoing and the CRA is on track to recoup the additional $2.6 billion in revenue it had targeted when the investment was announced.

Associated Links

Report on the Voluntary Disclosures Program

Statement from the Honourable Diane Lebouthillier, Minister of National Revenue

Government of Canada cracks down on tax evasion

Backgrounder: Offshore Compliance Advisory Committee

Cracking Down on Tax Evasion and Tax Avoidance

Stay connected

To receive updates when new information is added to our website, you can:

Follow the CRA on Twitter - @CanRevAgency.

Subscribe to a CRA electronic mailing list.

Add our RSS feeds to your feed reader.

You can also watch our tax-related videos on YouTube.

Contacts:

Chloe Luciani-Girouard, Press Secretary

Office of the Minister of National Revenue

613-995-2960



Media Relations

Canada Revenue Agency

613-952-9184




HOUSTON, Texas, Dec.8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Mexico's energy market liberalisation has taken a step forward, with the first transparency on forward energy pricing published by ICIS.

Market participant EKTRIA, a subsidiary of Fisterra Energy, chose the ICIS Mexico Energy Report to publish the first power swap contract offers for Mexico's power market.

The offers provide Mexican and foreign energy companies with the first transparency on energy price valuations for forward delivery - a key factor in building liquidity and creating strong investment signals as the energy markets liberalise.

"We wanted to help the market gain some pricing transparency, and chose to work with the Mexico Energy Report because it's well regarded and seen as the leading source of information for the energy industry in Mexico," said Enrique Gimenez, Managing Director at Fisterra Energy. "The story has led to a lot of enquiries - everyone wants to learn about this market."

EKTRIA offers provide a forward curve of contracts for baseload swap volumes of between 1-20MW, depending on the product, to be traded on a bilateral basis over the counter for financial settlement.

The US dollar-denominated contracts will be based on the hourly national energy component of the local marginal price for the Sistema Interconectado Nacional power grid, published daily by grid and market operator CENACE on its website.

ICIS provides global pricing and market information on power, gas and the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) markets.

The ICIS Mexico Energy Report provides exclusive news and in-depth analysis on the latest projects, prices and legislation affecting the Mexican energy sector. The report is the first English-language publication to provide the insight that global businesses and investors need to evaluate opportunities in Mexico's emerging power and gas markets.

To learn more about the EKTRIA power swap contracts click here

More information on the ICIS Mexico Energy Report can be found here.

To learn about ICIS click here.

About ICIS

ICIS is the world's largest petrochemical market information provider and has fast-growing energy and fertilizer divisions. Our aim is to give companies in global commodities markets a competitive advantage by delivering trusted pricing data, high-value news, analysis and independent consulting, enabling our customers to make better-informed trading and planning decisions. We have more than 30 years' experience in providing pricing information, news, analysis and consulting to buyers, sellers and analysts.

With a global staff of more than 800, ICIS has employees based in Houston, Washington, New York, London, Montpellier, Dusseldorf, Karlsruhe, Milan, Mumbai, Singapore, Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Yantai, Tokyo and Perth. Some 350 of ICIS's staff are journalists engaged in reporting market prices and news, and ICIS is fully committed to upholding the highest journalistic principles of verification, corroboration and authentication. ICIS has a compliance framework that along with its methodologies and business processes adheres to the requirements of the IOSCO PRA Principles.

ICIS is a division of Reed Business Information, part of RELX Group.

About Reed Business Information

At Reed Business Information we provide information and online data services to business professionals worldwide. Customers have access to our high-value industry data, analytics, information and tools. Our strong global brands hold market-leading positions across a wide range of industry sectors including banking, petrochemicals and aviation where we help customers make key strategic decisions every day. RBI is part of RELX Group Plc, a leading global provider of data, information and solutions for professional customers.

About RELX Group:

RELX Group is a world-leading provider of information solutions for professional customers across industries. The group employs about 28,000 people of whom half are in North America. RELX PLC is the London Stock Exchange listed vehicle for holding shares in RELX Group. Shareholders in RELX PLC own a 52.9% economic interest in RELX Group. RELX NV is the Amsterdam Stock Exchange listed vehicle for holding shares in RELX Group. External shareholders in RELX NV own a 47.1% economic interest in RELX Group. The total market capitalisation of the two parent companies is approximately  27.1bn/31.8bn. Its shares are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RUK and ENL. www.relx.com

Further information about ICIS can be found at www.icis.com.

For further information about this release, please contact:

Amy Holland

Marketing Manager, ICIS

Email: amy.holland@icis.com

Direct: +1 (713) 525 2673

Logo- http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160408/353056LOGO











To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/icis-publishes-first-mexico-energy-price-transparency-300375576.html
The global computer numerical control (CNC) solutions marketis expected grow at a CAGR of close to 6% during the forecast period, according to Technavio's latest report.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208005430/en/

Technavio publishes a new market research report on the global computer numerical control (CNC) solutions market from 2017-2021. (Graphic: Business Wire)

In this report, Technavio covers the market outlook and growth prospects of the globalCNC solutionsmarketfor 2017-2021. The market is further categorized into three components segments, including servo drives, servo motors, and controllers, of which the servo drives segment dominated the market with more than 37% of the overall market share in 2016.

"Increased demand from end-user industries for high-quality products with low turnaround times is driving the market for CNC solutions market. End-user industries like automotive and industrial machinery, due to the rising need for improving productivity in facilities, form the major shareholders in the global CNC solutions market," says Bharath Kanniappan, a lead automation research expert from Technavio.

Request a sample report: http://www.technavio.com/request-a-sample?report=54831

Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report including the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more.

Technavio's research study segments the global CNC solutions market into the following regions:

Americas

APAC

EMEA

In 2016, with a market share of over 34%, APAC dominated the global CNC solutions market, followed by EMEA with close to 34% and the Americas with almost 32%.

APAC: largest market for CNC solutions

APAC is rapidly progressing as a market that promises high potential for growth of CNC solutions due to the rapid industrial development across countries like China, India, South Korea, Indonesia, and Taiwan. Automation requirements will subsequently see high levels of adoption in the respective industrial segments. The modernization of plant facilities has become a new tool in gaining an advantage over rival companies.

"China, Japan, and South Korea are emerging as the dominant countries for CNC solutions market. These countries are characterized by a wave of industries that employ modern equipment and advanced machinery to enhance the process output," says Bharath.

Growth in research initiatives by EU fueling the faucet market in EMEA

European countries like Germany and Italy are at the forefront of industrial development with automation technologies forming the backbone of the growth in respective segments. The European market is characterized by the strong automotive and industrial machinery sectors. The machine tools market in Europe is expected to record an average annual growth of 4% during the forecast period.

The automotive industry forms 4% of Europe's GDP. The automotive industry is the largest end-user of CNC solutions in Europe. Under the CARS 2020 Action Plan, the EU is planning to invest USD 2.2 billion to support and modernize the automotive sector.

The Americas to post a CAGR of close to 6% during the period 2017-2021

Growth in investments made by Latin American companies in the automobile, electrical and electronics and heavy machinery industries has enhanced the adoption rate of the CNC solutions in the Americas. Developing economies like Mexico and Brazil are driving the market growth on the backdrop of a strong automotive sector.

Auto-manufacturers because incorporating precision and accuracy in the final product are adopting CNC solutions in their product lines. Low availability and the high cost of manual labor are other factors that are propelling the need for advanced CNCs that can perform multiple operations efficiently over a short period at a low cost.

The top vendors in the global CNC solutions market highlighted in the report are:

Delta

FANUC

Haas Automation

Mitsubishi Electric

Siemens

Browse Related Reports:

Global Metal Cutting Machine Tools Market 2016-2020

Global Metal Forming Machine Tools Market 2016-2020

Global Machining Centers Market 2016-2020

Do you need a report on a market in a specific geographical cluster or country but can't find what you're looking for? Don't worry, Technavio also takes client requests. Please contact enquiry@technavio.com with your requirements and our analysts will be happy to create a customized report just for you.

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies.

Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users.

If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161208005430/en/

Contacts:

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media Marketing Executive

US: +1 630 333 9501

UK: +44 208 123 1770

www.technavio.com
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 12/08/16 -- Augusta Industries Inc. (TSX VENTURE: AAO) (the "Corporation") is pleased to provide an update on the Trans Africa Pipeline ("T.A.P.") group project pertaining to the construction of a fresh water pipeline, associated solar power plants and desalination of sea water facilities to move potable water from the coast of Mauritania, as previously announced in its press release of June 1st 2016.

On October 24th Trans Africa Pipeline Inc. (TAP) hosted a meeting in Toronto with the Delegation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Cooperation of Mauritania, responsible for Maghrebian and African Affairs and Expatriate Mauritanians, Her Excellency Mdm. Khadijetou Mbareck Fall.

Discussions included but was not limited to TAP's progress and the review of how the Mauritanian government can collaborate to implement TAP as soon as possible. TAP has established an office in Nouakchott to liaise with the government.

TAP will be negotiating MOUs with Sudan in early next year to start construction of the desalination plant on the Red Sea coast. Further MOU negotiations will take place next year with Djibouti and Senegal to discuss building the other two desalination plants. TAP plans to have 4 desalination plants with supporting infrastructure, two on each coast, to provide 800,000 cubic meters of water per day when TAP is fully operational.

The Corporation, thru its wholly-owned subsidiary, FOX-TEK Canada Inc., intends to submit a proposal to T.A.P. based on the specifications provided by the contractor and will collaborate with the Project design company with respect to the monitoring of the pipeline.

The Corporation will be providing T.A.P. with non-intrusive sensing equipment which will verify the integrity of the pipeline composite at key locations. In addition to the non-intrusive sensing equipment will provide a number of optical based sensing technologies which would allow T.A.P. to monitor the right of way zones from possible third-party intrusions.

"The Corporation is very excited to be considered for such large scale projects," said Allen Lone, President of the Corporation. "The Corporation is looking forward to partnering with T.A.P. and being able to provide T.A.P. with the technologies and solutions."

TAP is a Toronto-based not-for-profit organization (http://transafricapipeline.org) which has worked for over 10 years on the design and plans for implementation of an 8,000 km water pipeline across the Sahel Region of Africa. The TAP desalinated sea water through the pipeline will permanently solve the drought crisis across this regional part of the African continent.

About the Corporation:

Through its wholly owned subsidiaries, Marcon International Inc. ("Marcon") and FOX-TEK, the Corporation provides a variety of services and products to a number of clients.

Marcon is an industrial supply contractor servicing the energy sector and a number of US Government entities. Marcon's principal business is the sale and distribution of industrial parts and equipment (Electrical, mechanical and Instrumentation.) In addition to departments and agencies of the U.S. Government, Marcon's major clients include International (Oil & Gas, Refining and Petrochemical Plants).

FOX-TEK develops non-intrusive asset health monitoring sensor systems for the oil and gas market to help operators track the thinning of pipelines and refinery vessels due to corrosion/erosion, strain due to bending/buckling and process pressure and temperature. The Corporation's FT fiber optic sensor and corrosion monitoring systems allow cost-effective, 24/7 remote monitoring capabilities to improve scheduled maintenance operations, avoid unnecessary shutdowns, and prevent accidents and leaks.

The TSX Venture Exchange has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

This press release contains forward-looking statements based on assumptions, uncertainties and management's best estimates of future events. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements are detailed from time to time in the Corporation's periodic reports filed with the Ontario Securities Commission and other regulatory authorities. The Corporation has no intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contacts:

Allen Lone

President, CEO

Augusta Industries Inc.

Tel: (905) 275-8111 Ext 226

Email: atlone@fox-tek.com




Toronto, Ontario and New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - December 8, 2016) - Micromem Technologies Inc. (CSE: MRM) (OTCQX: MMTIF) ("Micromem") ("the Company") through its wholly owned subsidiary Micromem Applied Sensor Technologies Inc. (MAST), is pleased to announce that Castrol Innoventures ("Castrol") has issued a US $100,000 purchase order for 10 evaluation units. The Company has received payment. This initial commercial order for the evaluation units will be used for field deployment, additional orders to follow.

Our partnership with Castrol began September 3rd, 2014 to jointly develop technology that will improve client experience with Castrol. This is the beginning of the commercial phase for this project and as such will be reported as revenue.

Micromem is in discussions with other corporations as adopters for this technology in market verticals other than those Castrol are focusing on.

About Micromem and MASTInc

MASTInc is a wholly owned U.S.-based subsidiary of Micromem Technologies Inc., a publicly traded (OTCQX: MMTIF) (CSE: MRM) company. MASTInc analyzes specific industry sectors to create intelligent game-changing applications that address unmet market needs. By leveraging its expertise and experience with sophisticated magnetic sensor applications, MASTInc successfully powers the development and implementation of innovative solutions for oil & gas, utilities, automotive, healthcare, government, information technology, manufacturing, and other industries. Visit www.micromeminc.com www.mastinc.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. In particular, factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include: our inability to obtain additional financing on acceptable terms; risk that our products and services will not gain widespread market acceptance; continued consumer adoption of digital technology; inability to compete with others who provide comparable products; the failure of our technology; the infringement of our technology with proprietary rights of third parties; inability to respond to consumer and technological demands; inability to replace significant customers; seasonal nature of our business; and other risks detailed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made and are not guarantees of future performance. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. When used in this document, the words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "project," "plan," "should," "intend," "may," "will," "would," "potential," and similar expressions may be used to identify forward-looking statements.

The CSE or any other securities regulatory authority has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release that has been prepared by management.

###

Shares issued: 203,802,378SEC File No: 0-26005info@micromeminc.com; Tel. 416-364-2023Subscribe to receive News Releases by Email on our website's home page. www.micromeminc.com


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - With lawmakers looking to finish up their work for the year, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to approve a $618.7 billion defense policy bill.



The Senate voted 92 to 7 in favor of the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which provides a blueprint for defense spending in the current fiscal year.



Following a 375 to 34 vote in favor of the bill in the House last week, the legislation now heads to President Barack Obama's desk.



The bill includes $3.2 billion more than Obama requested as well as a provision preventing the closing of the military prison at Guantanamo Bay.



However, the strong support for the bill in both the House and Senate suggests that lawmakers would have the votes needed to override any potential veto.



The legislation includes funding for the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and against the Islamic State as well as the biggest pay raise for U.S. troops in six years



The bill also blocks reductions in the size of the Army and Marine Corps as well as Pentagon plans to close some military bases.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
DUBLIN, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Association for Information Systems will honor Atish Banerjea, Chief Information Officer for Facebook, with the inaugural Association for Information Systems Leadership Excellence Award on December 12, 2016 at the 37th Annual International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS).

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446790LOGO

Banerjea is being recognized for his distinguished leadership and innovation in the use and development of information systems. Renowned for his extensive experience in adapting to succeed in the rapidly-changing technology landscape, his new role puts him in charge of Facebook's global IT functions.

"Atish is at the forefront of the ongoing digital revolution that is transforming both business and higher education," said AIS President, Jason Thatcher. "He is a fantastic role model for IS students and his success in digital transformation resonates with the research focus of much of the IS academic community."

The AIS Leadership Excellence Award was created to recognize the achievements of industry leaders and recipients are selected by a committee consisting of a chairperson, the current, immediate past, and elected presidents of AIS, the AIS executive director, and the ICIS conference chair.

Banerjea has previously served as Executive Vice President and CIO for NBCUniversal where he leveraged digital technologies to drive change, constructing a networked infrastructure that positioned IT as a partner capable of substantively contributing to the company's strategic aims.

Banerjea also served as the Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of Dex One Corporation, where he led a major redesign of that company's IT functions, helping to transform Dex One from a print-centric business to a digital media marketing company. Prior to that, Mr. Banerjea served as Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Pearson, where he was responsible for the global planning and management of IT. He currently serves on the boards of directors for Hibu, Inc, a digital marketing firm, and Nelson Education, Canada's leading educational publisher, and is also a member of the Fox IT advisory board at Temple University.

He was recognized in 2015 as a Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leader, was the recipient of the 2013 Fox Information Technology Award for Distinguished Alumni from Temple University, and received the 2012 ValueHonors Award for Best Emerging Technology: Enterprise Mobility. Mr. Banerjea holds a Master of Science degree in Computer Information Systems from Temple University, and a Bachelor of Commerce (with honors) from University of Delhi.








ESCONDIDO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 12/08/16 -- Brandywine Homes announced today that it has purchased 3.2 acres of vacant land at 2319 Cranston Drive in Escondido's Kit Carson neighborhood and will build 586 self-storage units totaling on 1.74 acres and four custom homes on 12,602- to 14,000-square-foot lots. This is Brandywine's first ground-up self-storage development project.

"We're excited about moving into a new, up-and-coming arena of real estate with this project," said Mark Whitehead, principal in charge of construction for Brandywine. "We chose this property because of its convenient location with easy accessibility for many residents, and we're confident it will add value to the neighborhood."

With housing developments to the north and east and commercial centers surrounding it, the self-storage project will consist of two contemporary stucco buildings totaling 78,067 square feet is broken down as follows: a 66,831-square-foot two-story building over a basement and an 11,236-square-foot one-story facility. The development will include 24 parking spaces with loading areas, six-foot-high masonry screen/noise walls along the eastern and southern boundaries, and a six-foot-high masonry block wall and wrought-iron fencing along the western boundary. Ornamental landscaping will include a 20-foot landscape buffer along property boundaries adjacent to residents.

Escondido is located in San Diego County's North County region, 30 miles northeast of Downtown San Diego, Calif. The city is growing at a rapid rate and is one of the oldest cities in San Diego.

About Brandywine Homes

Brandywine Homes is a private homebuilder based in Irvine, Calif., with over two decades of experience in developing challenging infill sites, revitalizing some of Southern California's oldest and most established neighborhoods. Founded in 1994, the family-owned and operated company has built or developed over 60 communities totaling $1.1 billion in revenues. The company builds homes that respect and complement the heritage, values and architectural integrity of existing neighborhoods and the people who live there -- making a positive contribution to the community. www.brandywine-homes.com. Social media: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Brandywine Blog.

Media Contacts:

Anton Communications

Vanessa Showalter

vshowalter@antonpr.com

Genevieve Anton

ganton@antonpr.com




ATLANTA, GA -- (Marketwired) -- 12/08/16 -- Zywie, a medtech company that uses technology to improve the early detection and precise remote monitoring of patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD), was honored as the winner of the Intel Innovation Award competition and was also named Startup Company of the Year by the Metro Atlanta Chamber.

The Intel Innovation Award recognizes companies developing leading-edge technology and unique approaches to improving health, as well as healthcare delivery and processes. "This year's entries were very competitive, showing how technology can improve virtually every aspect of healthcare," said Intel Industry Sales Director Dan Rivera. "Zywie's commercialization of an innovative technology that has actually saved lives won over the judges."

Zywie also received the prestigious Phoenix Award as Startup Company of the Year. "The Metro Atlanta Chamber Bioscience-Health IT Leadership Council is pleased to recognize Zywie as the Startup Company of the Year recipient," said Robert Hendricks, SVP and CIO/CTO of McKesson Technology Solutions and chair of MAC's Bioscience-Health IT Leadership Council. "By creating a team dedicated to innovation, Zywie's next generation technology solution is helping physicians work in a more timely, accurate and cost-effective way."

The Phoenix Award represents the iconic "rising from the ashes" of the Phoenix -- a symbol of strength, tenacity and leadership. Each year, four awards are presented by the Metro Atlanta Chamber in the following categories: Start-up Company of the Year, Emerging Company of the Year, Hospital of the Year and Community Leader of the Year.

"We were excited to be one of the four finalists for the Intel Innovation Award, but I never dreamed we would win and receive the Phoenix Award," said Latha Ganeshan, President and CEO at Zywie. "It is so gratifying to know that we are helping physicians provide better patient care every day. Receiving these honors for our work is amazing, and I'm incredibly grateful to both the Metro Atlanta Chamber and the Intel Award judges. My hope is that this recognition helps us bring the solution to more physicians and their patients."

Zywie is revolutionizing cardiac remote monitoring with its innovative solution that improves patient care and value to the physician.

About 610,000 people die of heart disease in the United States every year -- that's 1 in every 4 deaths. With the growing number of CVD patients every year, a better system needed to be created to support not only these ever increasing numbers but also to provide a better tool for physicians and their staff.

Zywie helps physicians efficiently and accurately diagnose and treat their patients' many heart-related problems. ZywiePro, the next-generation cardiac remote monitoring solution, leverages mobile and cloud technology to facilitate detection of cardiovascular arrhythmias in patients in a more timely, accurate and cost-effective manner than alternative monitoring solutions allow. By giving physicians detailed diagnostic insight into the cardiovascular health of their patients, ZywiePro empowers physicians to provide more personalized and effective patient care.

About Zywie

Zywie (zi-wee) is a medtech company focused on the early detection and precise remote monitoring of patients with cardiovascular disease. The company's end-to-end platform, the ZywiePro solution, uses FDA cleared technology to provide physicians with a trusted, cost-effective solution for remote electrocardiogram monitoring. www.zywie.healthcare

About the Health IT Leadership Summit

Now in its 7th year, the Health IT Leadership Summit brings together leaders from across the healthcare continuum to discuss how the industry can drive innovation to enable better healthcare delivery to more people at lower cost. Supported by a founding partnership that includes the Georgia Department of Economic Development, the Metro Atlanta Chamber, and the Technology Association of Georgia's Health Society, the event offers attendees a full day of informational sessions, innovative exhibits, and networking opportunities. Key presentation topics focus on interoperability, IT security, clinical applications, and funding. www.HealthITLeadershipSummit.com

Media Contact:

Alex Armstrong

Alex.armstrong@zywie.healthcare

678-514-3159




Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - December 8, 2016) - Abattis Bioceuticals Corp. (OTCQB: ATTBF) (CSE: ATT) (the "Company" or "Abattis"), is pleased to announce that the Company entered into a non-binding agreement for a draw-down equity facility of up to $5,000,000 CAD. The agreement provides for equity private placement offerings (the "Offerings"), to be conducted between Abattis and Alumina Partners (Ontario) Ltd. ("Alumina Partners"), a subsidiary of Alumina Partners LLC, a New York based private equity firm, in draw down amounts at the sole discretion of the Company, of up to $200,000.

Pursuant to the terms of the Offerings, Alumina Partners will commit to purchasing up to $5,000,000 worth of units of the Company (the "Units"), consisting of one common share (the "Shares") and one common share purchase warrant (the "Warrants"), at discounts of 23% of the market price of the Shares, with each Offering occurring at the option of the Company, throughout the 18-month term of the agreement. The exercise price of the Warrants will be at a 25% premium over the market price of the Shares.

The Company completed the first tranche of the Offering today by issuing 649,350 Units at an issuance price of $0.1155 per Unit as well as the issuance of 166,667 Common Shares representing a portion of the commitment fee in respect of the equity facility.

The purpose of the Offerings is to provide the Company with financial flexibility and unilateral control over the financing of its working capital requirements, and provide access to capital as deemed necessary by the Board of Directors of the Company.

"We are very pleased to be entering into this agreement with Alumina Partners. The purpose of the Offerings is to provide the Company with a strong funding partner and to allow Abattis to focus on growth and potential acquisitions", commented Rene David, interim CEO and CFO.

In addition, Abattis is undertaking a private placement of up to $500,000 CAD by way of issuing 4,329,004 units (with each unit consisting of one common share and one common share purchase warrant) of which Alumina Partners may form part of in addition to other investors.

The Company also issued 300,000 common shares to a consultant of the Company for services rendered.

Lastly, the Company also issued shares for debt to EROP Capital, LLC ("EROP"), in order to settle some of the Company's payables. The parties agreed that the Company shall issue to EROP shares of the Company's common shares ("Common Shares") until EROP's total gross sales of such Common Stock equal $115,881.89, as well as 60,600 shares of Common Shares to cover certain fees and expenses incurred by EROP during the settlement process (collectively the "Settlement Shares"), that when issued hereto, the Settlement Shares shall be freely tradable without legend or restriction pursuant to Section 3(a)(10) of the Securities Act of 1933 and shall be validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable shares.

About Abattis Bioceuticals Corp.

Abattis is a specialty agricultural technology and biotechnology company which aggregates, integrates, and invests in agricultural technologies and biotechnology services for the legal cannabis industry developing in Canada. The Company has successfully developed and licensed natural health products, medicines, extractions, and ingredients for the biologics, nutraceutical, bioceutical, and cosmetic markets. The Company also is also seeking to acquire exclusive intellectual property rights to agricultural technologies to be employed in extraction and processing of botanical ingredients and compounds. The Company follows strict standard operating protocols, and adheres to the applicable laws of Canada and foreign jurisdictions. For more information, visit the Company's website at: www.abattis.com.

About Northern Vine Canada Inc.

Northern Vine Labs is licensed by Health Canada for the possession of Cannabis and related active ingredients, as well as the production of extracts for the purposes of analysis. Northern Vine Labs product certification and quality assurances programs incorporate global best practices and procedures for application in the Canadian market.

About Vergence Visionary Bioceuticals Corp.

Vergence Visionary Bioceuticals, dba Vergence Sales and Marketing Group, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Abattis Bioceuticals Corp. based in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. The Vergence team are bioceutical marketing specialists focused on health products to penetrate the fast-growing market for natural, safe and effective natural products that meet unmet wellness needs.

About Green Nature Health Care Products

Green Nature Health Care Products Inc. (http://www.green-nature.ca/en/) was established in 2012 by Jasmine Guan. The main market is the local travelers and immigrants, wholesalers. Over 400 customers have been obtained in China since the end of 2012 on dried blueberry and cranberry dried products, including the Wal-Mart chain supermarket and more than 200 to import and export food-based industry chain supermarkets. Green Nature has customs clearance through six cities in China: Shanghai, Nantong, Qingdao, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Hong Kong.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Rene David"

Rene David, CFO, Acting CEO

For further information, contact the Company at (604) 336-0881 or at news@abattis.com.

NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATIONS SERVICES PROVIDER HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.
Although Pearl Harbor survivor Harry Scott of Sweet Home died in 2002, his spirit was present Wednesday morning at the American Legion Post 10 as mid-valley residents commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base in Hawaii.

Scotts granddaughter, Charee Gelatt-Fielders of Scio, wore a sweatshirt featuring photos of Scott and brought a scrapbook filled with newspaper clippings following the attack. With her was Scotts great-grandson, Hunter Fielders.

Before the ceremony, attended by about 50 people, Gelatt-Fielders greeted USS Oklahoma survivor David Russell, 96, of Albany, the last known Pearl Harbor survivor in the mid-valley. Russell survived by leaping from the Oklahoma to the nearby USS Maryland and pulling himself away from the burning oil in the harbor waters on a rope.

Both Russell and Scott served on the USS Oklahoma that was severely damaged and capsized in the bay during that Sunday morning attack that drew the reticent United State into World War II.

Post 10 Commander Steve Adams said he promised his father 65 years ago after attending a Pearl Harbor memorial service that I would never forget this day. We must all remember the sacrifices made that day by members of the Greatest Generation.

He introduced Russell, who was greeted with hearty applause.

Six decades after he made that promise, Adams has come to fully realize why those young soldiers and sailors earned the title "Greatest Generation." He noted that 1,177 sailors died on the Arizona, 429 on the Oklahoma and 64 on the Utah.

In all, 2,008 sailors perished, along with 109 marines, 218 Army soldiers and 68 civilians.

I recently learned that from that single battle, there were 15 Medal of Honor recipients, 51 Navy Crosses, 53 Silver Stars, four Navy/Marine Crosses, one Distinguished Flying Cross, four Distinguished Service Crosses, one Distinguished Service Medal and three Bronze Stars. That is amazing and tells the story, Adams said. It is a tribute to the Greatest Generation.

Retired Navy SEAL Don Armstrong of North Albany, who was the featured speaker at Wednesday's ceremony, said his family has a long history of military service, starting with his father, a World War II pilot who flew everything from a glider to a cargo plane.

Armstrong and his brothers all served in various branches of the military, including in the Army, Marine Corps and Air Force.

Armstrong said he served three tours of duty in Vietnam and was severely wounded on the last tour. I died twice and they brought me back to life.

Armstrong said the Japanese had six aircraft carriers 300 miles offshore of Hawaii and launched 350 aircraft.

Our warships sitting in the harbor were incinerated, but all but three returned to active duty in time, he said. It was the single largest loss in U.S. Naval history.

Armstrong said 23 sets of brothers lost their lives due to the sinking of the USS Arizona.

On that day, the United States was ranked 14th in the world in the terms of military power, he said. We were even behind Sweden.

But, Armstrong said, galvanized by the Pearl Harbor attack, the United States morphed into the worlds greatest military power.

We put on our big boy pants and by the end of the war, we had chased down and sunk every one of the Japanese carriers that had participated in the Pearl Harbor attack, he said.

Armstrong said that, sadly, as we lose members of that Greatest Generation, many members of a younger generation of Americans don't even know what World War II was about, or why the United States was so united by the attack at Pearl Harbor.

Armstrong said it is up to groups like the American Legion to ensure the memory and knowledge about both the war and Pearl Harbor are not forgotten.

He said President Franklin D. Roosevelts speech after the attack, calling Dec. 7 a date which will live in infamy, is on par with President Abraham Lincolns 1863 speech at Gettysburg as the two greatest speeches in Americas history.

For FDR it was the worst day of his presidency, Armstrong said. It was a transition day. The United States went from being isolationist to a global super power.

Armstrong believed the United States is facing many new challenges such as the disintegration of families and skyrocketing drug and sexual abuse.

And, he noted, many secularists are trying to not only separate church and state, but to obliterate church from our basic structure of life. Armstrong pointed out that the pilgrims set sail across the treacherous seas to enjoy freedom of religion and that our Constitution emphasizes that freedom as well.

It would not hurt the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals or U.S. Supreme Court justices to drop to their knees and ask almighty God what He wants us to do as a nation, Armstrong said.

Post 10 Chaplin Floyd Bacon gave the opening and closing prayers and the Honor Guard presented military honors with a 21-gun volley and the playing of taps by Glen Hunter.
NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 12/08/16 -- Korea Equity Fund, Inc. (NYSE: KEF) (the "Fund") announced that it would make a short-term capital gains distribution of $0.0989 per share and a long-term capital gains distribution of $0.1166 per share, payable on December 23, 2016 to shareholders of record on December 19, 2016. The ex-dividend date is December 15, 2016.

The amounts and sources of distributions reported in this press release are only estimates and are not being provided for tax reporting purposes. The actual amounts and sources of the amounts for tax reporting purposes will depend upon the Fund's investment experience during the entirety of its fiscal year and may be subject to changes based on tax regulations. The Fund intends to send a Form 1099-DIV for the calendar year concerning the tax treatment of the dividend distributions that were paid to shareholders of record during the year ending December 31, 2016.

About the Fund

The Fund primarily invests in the securities of companies domiciled in Korea and is designed for investors seeking long-term capital appreciation. Nomura Asset Management U.S.A. Inc. ("NAM USA") acts as the Manager of the Fund pursuant to a management agreement. Pursuant to such management agreement, NAM USA has retained its parent company, Nomura Asset Management Co., Ltd., to act as investment adviser to the Fund, and Nomura Asset Management Hong Kong Limited and Nomura Asset Management Singapore Limited, as investment sub-advisers to the Fund.

Forward Looking Statements

Certain information discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States federal securities laws. Although the Fund and NAM USA believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, the Fund and NAM USA can give no assurance that its expectations will be achieved. Forward-looking information is subject to certain risks, trends and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected.

Past performance is not indicative of future results. There is a risk of loss.

Maria Premole

Nomura Asset Management U.S.A. Inc.

Worldwide Plaza

309 West 49th Street

New York, NY 10019-7316

(800) 833-0018




TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 12/08/16 -- Darnley Bay Resources Limited ("Darnley" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: DBL), announces that, further to its press release dated November 22, 2016 previously announcing a non-brokered private placement financing (the "Offering"), the Company is increasing the Offering to: (i) up to 25,000,000 non-flow through units (the "Units") at a price of $0.20 per Unit for gross proceeds of up to $5,000,000; and (ii) up to 20,000,000 flow-through common shares (the "FT Shares") at a price of $0.25 per FT Share for gross proceeds of up to $5,000,000. The total proceeds to be raised under the Offering is now up to $10,000,000.

Each Unit will consist of one common share of the Company (a "Common Share") and a one-half Common Share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each whole Warrant will entitle the holder to acquire one additional Common Share (a "Warrant Share") for a period of twenty-four (24) months from the date of closing of the Offering at an exercise price of $0.30 per Warrant Share.

The funds shall be used to complete the acquisition of the Pine Point property, to complete a preliminary economic analysis, for exploration and drilling on the Pine Point property, and for working capital purposes. PowerOne Capital Markets Limited and others will act as finders in connection with a portion of the private placement. Certain directors and officers of the Company will acquire securities under the Offering.

The completion of the offering is subject to completion of the definitive agreement with respect to the Pine Point transaction, court approval of the Pine Point transaction and Offering approval from the TSX Venture Exchange.

About Pine Point

The former producing Pine Point assets contain 42 known zinc-lead deposits over a strike length of approximately 68 kilometres, 10 of which (one underground and nine open-pittable) were subjected to a National Instrument 43-101 technical report in 2014 prepared for Tamerlane Ventures Inc. The lead-zinc mineralized trends begin 42 kilometres east of Hay River, NWT, and have been identified over an 86-kilometre distance to the northeast. The property holds considerable potential to expand the life of the mine. As provided in the 2014 report, several of the remaining 32 deposits have historical grade and tonnage, which make them potential additions to a long-term mine plan. Furthermore, large portions of the property on the favourable trends remain unexplored. A geophysical survey conducted by Tamerlane in 2005 outlined 34 untested anomalies, using electromagnetic and magnetic surveys, none of which have been drill tested. To fully understand the summary information set out above, the summary technical report that is filed on SEDAR should be read in its entirety.

John Key, mining engineer and qualified person under NI 43-101, reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information presented in this press release.

Forward-Looking Information

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address future production, reserve potential, exploration drilling, exploitation activities and events or developments that Darnley Bay expects are forward-looking statements. Although Darnley Bay believes the expectations expressed in such statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the statements. There are certain factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. These include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on Darnley Bay, investors should review registered filings at www.sedar.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:

Jamie Levy

President and CEO

(416) 567-2440

(416) 361-2515 (FAX)

jlevy@darnleybay.com

www.darnleybay.com




Fhoosh, a Miami, Fla.-based cybersecurity company, secured $2m in funding.

Volta Global made the investment.

The company intends to use the funds to accelerate product development.

Founded in late 2012 by Eric Tobias, CEO, and Linda Eigner, President, Fhoosh provides corporations, institutions and governments with a cybersecurity software platform to protect and power valuable stored digital information at certified speeds without compromising data security for speed.

The companys solution is applicable to secure use of any cloud, enterprise protection, secure backup, ransomware safeguarding, secure IoT, user and key management and end-to-end data protection.

FinSMEs

07/12/2016
Early-stage investors Michael Blakey and William Klippgen have joined forces to set up Cocoon Capital, a new SGD10m seed venture capital firm in Singapore.

After co-investing in a number of deals together, with companies like Nugit, Tickled Media and PropertyGuru in their portfolio, Blakey and Klippgen have launched Cocoon Capital, which will focus on early-stage investments ranging from SGD350k to SGD1m to fill the pre-series A funding gap in Southeast Asia and India.

They plan to invest in no more than five founding teams and their companies per year by leveraging a network of close to 30 investors from around the world.

Founding teams can get access to experienced investors in a global network built over 15 years and including 28 family offices and active angel investors such as Magnus Grimeland, co-founder of Zalora; Karan Thakral, Chairman of the Singapore Angel Network; and Salman Niaz, Portfolio Manager at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

The investment focus is on B2B or B2B2C digital businesses with a main focus on SaaS, e-commerce and fintech.

FinSMEs

08/12/2016
Nitesh Tiwari's biopic on Haryanvi wrestler Mahavir Phogat, Dangal has been passed with no cuts and given a 'U' certificate by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

The lead actor and producer Aamir Khan, who plays Mahavir in the film, had stated that he was expecting a 'U' certificate from the CBFC since his film was essentially about a family. "Its a universal film, it is about children, kids, its the story of a family. Ours will be more of a family film. I think it will be a 'U' film," he said, according to Hindustan Times.

Sakshi Tanwar plays Mahavir's wife Daya Shobha Kaur in the film while Fatima Saina Shaikh and Sania Malhotra play his daughters Geeta and Babita respectively, whom Mahavir trains so that they can represent India in wrestling at the Olympic level.

We didnt even have to weigh any pros and cons. We were unanimous in our decision that it should get a U certificate without cut. Dangal is about the empowerment of the girl child. Not only do we feel it should be seen by every man, woman and child we also feel it should be granted tax exemption so that more people would be able to watch it," said a member of the CBFC, according to Bollywood Hungama.

The report by Hindustan Times suggests that even Khan was looking for a tax exemption on Dangal in Maharashtra. "I think it does fall in this category (of films that can get tax exemption). It is not for me to decide, it is up to the state government to decide. We will apply for 'tax free' status before the release of the film, its a process and it may or may not happen. I cant predict how much time it will take," says Khan.

Dangal is slated to release on 23 December
Three nights ago, fashion designer Manish Malhotra celebrated his 50th birthday like most celebrities do  with the whos who of the glamour industry air kissing each other over aperitifs and appetisers. Like other Bollywood parties, newspapers and blogs squeezed and stretched (and even shutterbugged) to cover the story. Mumbai Mirror did so too, though they tried to pull a different angle. Then ran the story like everyone else, adding their four-word spin to the headline: '50 Shades Of Gay', they called it.

It was simple. It was out there. It did what it was supposed to do.

The headline was distasteful, and if the double meaning stands  its a desperate attempt to sensationalise the rumours of someones alleged sexuality. But when it comes to newspapers like Mumbai Mirror, the allegations are always as ambiguous as the next Paulo Coelho book  We didnt mean it that way, they would say, We meant it the other way; Why do you have to think of the double innuendo? the blame game continued, but so did the speculation.

It was supposed to be a click-baiter, and thats precisely what it did. It laid out the cards, and the rest of the world played along. And the worst bit?

We played right into their hands, just like they wanted us to. What the newspaper did was wrong  they took a poor mans birthday, and tried to make an inside joke at the edit table  probably guffaws were exchanged, and one bright sub-editor was patted on their back for coming up with the clever jape, a raise was promised and forgotten soon after. Nothing was said, nothing was spelled out  it was only heavily implied, just like the child back in school who doesnt complain, but still surreptitiously points out to the classmate who is cheating in the exam.

Manish Malhotra's 50th birthday bash: All the pics from inside the designer's big celebration

The Twitter tantrums piled on soon after, but then again, thats what Twitter is for  to let people point fingers and shout their throats hoarse, in 140 characters or less. We do it from the confines of our couches, our cars, from under our desks and while we sit on the pot  we pull people down, we show our dissent, we roar out with discord  typing furiously on our touchscreens.

How could they say it?

I cannot even

So distasteful, what are you implying, Mumbai Mirror?

Not cool, media. Not cool

Who uses Gay as happy anymore? Its not the 1980s anymore.

As people, we feel at ease with the semblance of an opinion  it makes us feel safe and important, we love having them. Is demonetisation good? What do I feel about the Syrian refugee crisis? Has the beef ban affected me? Whats with section 377 anyway? Can a high profile actor really get away with murder? How did Donald Trump become Time magazines Person Of The Year? But as a nation, weve thrived on blind items, gossip columns and what the sex expert has to say in our daily tabloids  we love the drama, and if someone ever made a movie about it, wed throng the movie screens so that we could laugh about all the juicy details on Facebook the very next day. And as the story built up and spread like wildfire, so did lurid (but mostly exaggerated) details about the designers life. As the story grew, so did the allegations.

After all, when we are trudging through our boring desk jobs and post-lunch doldrums, nothing charges us up more than the lives of the rich and the famous. Implications of a celebritys sexuality have always been thrown around casually  Did you hear that the countrys leading director is dating the beautiful boy that he debuted last year? or Remember that actress whos not been seen in a movie since the past decade? I heard shes never been married, shes clearly a lesbian, not to forget my personal favourite, Oh sure, hes married, but hes having an affair with that hunky actor. Its never stopped them before, has it? u we litter the roads with these rumours ourselves, laughing over them at house parties and office water coolers.

We know that sex sells, but gay jokes sell even more  its such a disposable word to throw around. We strengthen the stereotypes, and hide them behind sniggers and hushed whispers. Why get affected by something that doesnt even offend me? said TBBT star Johnny Galecki, when asked if he was bothered by the constant questions regarding his sexuality. In India, however, being gay (whether you are out and about, or safely tucked into the closet) is still looked as an object of ridicule  simply a tool to raise eyebrows and sell newspapers. We treat it with disdain, with mock agitation and use it as a slur  one that leaves a bad taste in everyones mouth. Theres no handling it as an every day thing as it should be  full of charm, impeccable taste and great, moisturised skin. Thats how the world gets a movie like Dostana, or breaking news like last nights headline.

We feed it, and weve been doing so for the past few decades.

Is there light at the end of this dark, depressing tabloid-driven tunnel?

Yes, there is. We slowly begin to understand that not all headlines are black and white; sometimes they are also grey, all fifty shades of it. Thats how it is. So what do we do after?

Its simple. We turn to the next page.
Auto refresh feeds

Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denominations are equal to piece of paper from tonight midnight (8 November 2016).

"You have 50 days to return the old notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 to your respective bank from 10 November 2016 to 30 December 2016. The banks, however, will have a cap on how much cash can be withdrawn  Rs 10,000 daily and Rs 20,000 weekly."

New Rs 2,000 note that will be soon issued

New Rs 2,000 note that will be soon issued

"And no one should blame me if I take tough decisions after the 30th. This money belongs to the countrys poor. No one has the right to loot this. This is my commitment. I am working with full force and will continue the effort," he had said.

Apparently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given a fair warning to all the black money hoarders in this interview with CNN-News18 in September this year. Replying to a question on if he intended to carry forward his tough line on curbing black money, Modi had urged those with undeclared wealth to take advantage of the disclosure scheme before the deadline of September 30 and return to into the mainstream.

A lawyer by profession, Kamboj said that he understands the legal consequences of doing any such thing. "I know I can land up in big trouble if I do something so foolish. What Kejriwal is doing is nothing more than dirty politics. He will see what will happen to him in Punjab."

There were various news reports about the probable introduction of new notes. What was new in that? Kamboj added.

Rubbishing Kejriwal's claims, Kejriwal said: I had only written that new notes would soon be introduced. But nowhere I had talked about or even mentioned banning of the old notes.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday alleged that BJP had informed its 'friends' beforehand about its decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, to help them fix their black money.

Firstpost reporter Amitesh Singh spoke to Sanjeev Kamboj, co-convener of BJP's law and legal affairs department in Punjab, who had tweeted the picture of Rs 2,000 notes on 6 November.

Only tweeted about new notes, not ban on Rs 500, Rs 1,000: BJP leader Sanjeev Kamboj tells Firstpost

The step is being taken after it was observed that same people have been withdrawing money, again and again, misusing the facility and not giving a chance to others to exchange their money. 

The government has decided to use indelible ink to mark people who exchange cash over the counter in the banks.

Indelible ink to be used to mark people who exchange cash in the banks: Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das

Are you willing to give PM Modi 50 days to make good on his promise?

"Government should allow old Rs 500 notes to remain in circulation along with the new notes. Also, Rs 100/50/10 notes must be made easily available. Rs 1,000 notes may be withdrawn when circulation improves by 30 December, or at your discretion. No need for anymore faltu, action-less announcements. Sometimes blunders lead to more more blunders," says the West Bengal Chief Minister.

In a series of tweets on Friday, Mamata Banerjee said that there are ways that the government can restore normalcy and help people.

"Such tax evasion activities can be made subject to income tax and penalty," ANI reported. The ministry added that thos who allow their accounts to be misused will be prosecuted."However, genuine people having their own household savings in cash and depositing the same will not be questioned," the ministry was quoted as saying by ANI.

Announcing that small deposits made in banks of artisans, workers, housewives will not be questioned by Income Tax Department, the finance ministry said that there are reports that a few people were "using other's accounts to convert their black money into new denomination notes."

The Opposition parties are not wrong  this could have been planned better and the government is not giving us all the facts. The truth is the government did have a plan. Not for recalibration  for which it has come under severe attack  but for the preemptive calibration of ATMs. If this plan had run its course, it could have considerably smoothened the currency exchange at ATMs. But the plan ground to a halt even before it took off. But more on that later.

And the answer is yes and no.

An entire population of 1.25 billion is living in misery, craving something they already have: A strange contradiction of shortage in abundance. The only question that everyone is asking is: Did Prime Minister Narendra Modi send a country into war against black money without planning?

"What is the difficulty? " the bench asked Rohatgi. The AG explained the situation by stating that after printing, the currency has to be moved to thousands of centres across the country and ATMs have to be re-calibrated. "There is no shortage of funds," he said.

At the outset, the bench questioned the relief measures undertaken by the Centre by saying, "Last time you said there will be relief for people in the coming days but you have squeezed the exchange limit to Rs 2,000 only."

"It's a political attempt in the court. I have seen your (Sibal's) press conference also. You are not appearing for a political party, but for an advocate. You are turning the apex court into a political platform," Rohatgi said.

The Attorney General (AG) Mukul Rohatgi in his response, said there is no dispute, but the queues are getting shorter and even suggested that the Chief Justice of India can go out during lunch and himself look at the queue. "Kindly go in the lunch time," the AG told the bench and took objection to senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for a private party, for allegedly exaggerating the situation.

"We have also come to know that corruption through new notes has already started. Such reports are surfacing in newspapers and especially on the social media," he said, claiming the goal of unearthing black money and weeding out fake currency notes will not be achieved.

On the Centre's stand that demonetisation will check corruption, Akhilesh said cases of graft involving new currency notes are already making news in some parts of the country.

Talking to reporters in Lucknow on Friday after presiding over a Cabinet meeting, Akhilesh Yadav said, "The meeting was of the opinion that farmers should get relaxation in use of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes...cooperative banks to which farmers are directly linked should get relaxation as money is not promptly reaching bank branches."

SC made the remarks as Attorney General (AG) Mukul Rohatgi submitted that any matter relating to challenge to the demonetisation issue be heard by the apex court only.

"Some measures are required. See the kind of problems people are facing. People have to go to the high court. If we shut them from going to the high court, how can we know the magnitude of the problem. People going to different courts indicates the magnitude of the problem," the bench said.

"It is a serious issue which requires consideration," a bench comprising Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice A R Dave said, while asking the parties to be ready with data and other issues in writing. The apex court also refused Centre's request to put on hold petitions pending in various high courts challenging the decision to demonetise.

Coming down heavily on the Narendra Modi government for not taking the issue seriously, the Supreme Court on Friday questioned the move to reduce the exchange limit of old notes from Rs 4,500 to Rs 2,000. The apex court added that the situation was serious and there are possibilities of riots breaking out.

"We are not against demonetisation. We are against the hardships being faced by poor people due to mismanagement in implementing this scheme," Ravat said, when he was detained and taken away by police.

Those who have been detained include Vadodara Congress president Prashant Patel and General Secretary of Gujarat Congress Narendra Ravat.

In Vadodara, at least 100 Congress workers were detained from different parts for trying to block the roads. While two Congress workers were detained for setting fire to tyres on Ahmedabad-Vadodara highway on the city outskirts, around 100 have been detained for blocking an internal city road at Dandiya Bazar area.

Slamming the Centre over faulty implementation of the demonetisation drive, Mayawati said that the government has unleashed an Economic Emergency on the nation and the party does not care how people of the nation are suffering.

Just like Samajwadi Party, BJP is digging its own grave before Uttar Pradesh elections: Mayawati

He then said that India trusts its citizens who will make the country emerge successful after "this test of fire".

"But I see your support. Despite so many attempts to dissuade you, you have understood this move for the welfare of this nation," said the Prime Minister. "The entire world is watching this move. Every economist is analysing this move. The world is watching whether 1.25 crore Indians, despite difficulties, will achieve success."

"But for 70 years, we have been tolerating the disease of corruption and black money. The cure to that disease cannot be simple," he said.

"When I had taken this decision, I had said that this is full of difficulties. And the implementation of this decision was also bound to be difficult. I knew about the kind of difficulties people would have to face," Modi said. "I knew that it will definitely take 50 days to come out of the effect [of demonetisation]," he added.

"A lot of people have asked me to talk more about the currency ban," said the Prime Minister, as he began talking about demonetisation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday talked about the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on the radio programme 'Mann Ki Baat' and appealed to the people of India to help him create a "less-cash society".

Sources have told CNN-News18 that the central government has stepped up the printing of the new Rs 500 notes. The news channel also reported that the shortage in Rs 500 notes will be over by the end of December.

Old Rs 500 notes at petrol pumps and for airline tickets will be accepted till 2 December as against 15 December announced earlier, reports PTI.

Exactly a month ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced scrapping of high denomination notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. On Thursday, Opposition parties and Members of Parliament protested outside the Parliament House.

Modi said, "The government's decision has several gains for farmers, traders, labourers, who are the economic backbone of our nation. I always said that the government's measure will bring a degree of inconvenience but this short term pain will pave way for long term gains. No longer will the progress and prosperity of rural India be curtailed by corruption and black money. Our villages must get their due. We also have a historic opportunity to embrace increased cashless payments and integrate latest technology in economic transactions."

In a series of tweets, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the government never denied that the demonetisation drive will not be inconvenient, but "this short term pain will pave way for long term gains."

I always said that the Government's measure will bring a degree of inconvenience: Modi

Slamming the government, West Bengal Chief Minister on her Facebook page slammed the move and said, "One month of harassment, pain, hopelessness, financial insecurity and utter chaos."

Leading members of Opposition took to social media to speak on demonetisation. 8 December marks one month since the Modi government scrapped high-denomination notes and introduced the new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes.

The Opposition parties will meet with BJP leaders as well at around 12 pm on Thursday to discuss demonetisation.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has announced that it will hold a party meet at 9.30 am on Thursday. According to CNN-News18, the party meet will discuss demonetisation and will be broadcast live. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing the nation as well, the news channel said.

PM said Congress had chance to clean the system in 1971, but it didnt | ANI

'It's a pity that this opposition party, who fought against the Congres both inside the Congress and outside the Congress are ready to work with Congress. Trinamool Congress, CPI (M) are with Congress. Even DMK who had taken talaq from Congress are rallying behind it. They don't even know what their leader is going to talk about. The congress regime was filled with scams. They will have to explain it to the people," he added.

'It's ironic to see that government is fighting corruption, and the opposition is opposing it. Many people are shaken because vested interests are shaken. They are trying to create panic in the public. And therefore, they are trying to tarnish Prime Minster's image,' Venkaiah Naidu said.

It's ironic that parties which opposed Congress are now supporting it: Venkaiah Naidu

Unlike Gandhi, who in a letter dated 24 August, 1974, to all chief ministers, sought selective action against bigger people that could be publicised to counter the perception in the public mind and in Parliament, Modi and his officers were well prepared in advance to scrutinise the shades of unaccounted stash in the country, even if that meant severe criticism of his government.

Modi is not Indira Gandhi and 2016 is not 1974 when TA Pai, the then Union Minister for heavy industry told Gandhi: "Currency has no complexion and it is neither white nor black." (Declassified black money files of prime ministers office, no 37 (465)/74 PMS).

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a televised address on 8 November, told the nation that the existing Rs 500 and 1,000 notes can no longer be used for transactions and they are now mere pieces of papers, he very well knew that a huge number of zero-balance accounts were going to witness sudden activity from the very next morning.

Narendra Modi did what Indira suggested was not for her to do

This means that these notes will not be acceptable for transactions from midnight onwards. The 500 and 1,000 rupee notes hoarded by anti-national and anti-social elements will become just worthless pieces of paper.

To break the grip of corruption and black money, we have decided that the 500 rupee and 1,000 rupee currency notes presently in use will no longer be legal tender from midnight tonight, that is 8th November 2016.

As (Narendra) Modi gets ready to address the nation on 31 December in a stock-taking speech, sober watchers of the game may find no nail-biting finish or clear winner. We might need to use something resembling the Duckworth-Lewis method that cricket scorers use when rains or disruptions mar a match.

As time to submit demonetised notes comes to a close today, people queue up outside RBI offices across India

The government is also planning to come out with an Ordinance making possession of old Rs 500/1,000 notes beyond a specified limit for numismatic purposes illegal and punishable.

People, however, will still have time to exchange the currency notes at designated RBI counters till 31 March after giving valid reasons for not depositing defunct notes in their accounts by 30 December.

The 50-day deadline to deposit the old Rs 500/1,000 notes in banks comes to an end today, but the cash crunch and queues before ATMs are likely to continue for some more time as currency printing presses have failed to meet the huge demand for new bills.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address the nation on Saturday after his self-imposed deadline of 50-days for the situation to return to normal ends. While some people are hoping for an extension in the deadline, the government maintained it had no plans to do so.

The deadline to deposit old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in banks ends today. From next week onward, those still holding the scrapped currency can deposit it only with the Reserve Bank of India till 31 March, 2017. After 31 March, holding demonetised notes would be illegal and could invite hefty fines and even jail, according to an ordinance passed by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday.

Post #DeMonetisation Govt. to roll out massive campaign. PM's address to the nation on Dec 31st will be beginning of this campaign: Sources

PM Modi could launch massive campaign in his address on New Year

Meanwhile, the RBI's image seems to have been dented significantly during the period. Post the announcement, the action mostly happened in Delhi and the central bank was relegated to the background. Moreover, the frequent rule changes, mostly dictated by the political bosses in Delhi, unfairly affected the central bank's image.

The man who is complaining the most is the one who is affected and that is not the common man, believes Bijoor. He places Modis popularity on a ratio of 80:20 with 80 percent having welcomed the bold move of the PM.

The common man is in the mood to forgive the prime minister as he realises that demonetisation is a big task that irritants like more than 60 policy flip-flops after the announcement of the scheme can be tolerated, says Harish Bijoor, chief executive officer of brand and business strategy firm Harish Bijoor Consults Inc.

The brand Modi might have received a good boost after the demonetisation drive, however, the brand RBI, the monetary authority in charge of the Indian currency, may have taken a huge drubbing, brand experts told Firstpost's Sulekha Nair .

The cash crunch in cities seems to be easing. Just for a lark i went to 5-10 different ATMs on diff days and all yielded cash Queues shorter

(Cont) to deposit the same in any Issue Office of Reserve Bank or a currency chest on December 31, 2016 itself: RBI

SBNs (Specified bank notes) cannot form part of banks cash balances from the close of business as on December 31, 2016: RBI

Specified bank notes (SBNs) cannot form part of banks' cash balances from the close of business as on 31 December, 2016 to deposit the same in any Issue Office of Reserve Bank or a currency chest on 31 December, 2016 itself, RBI said.

Bihar: Tattered demonetised notes of Rs 500 found by locals in Gopalganj. Police on the spot for further investigation #DeMonetisation pic.twitter.com/QmYMDbFRsF

As time to submit demonetised notes comes to a close today, people queue up outside Reserve Bank of India's Kolkata branch #DeMonetisation pic.twitter.com/Ct3HHxhoMP

Delhi: Today being the last day to submit demonetised notes, people seen queuing up outside RBI #DeMonetisation pic.twitter.com/LjhkeRdacC

As time to submit demonetised notes comes to a close today, people queue up outside RBI offices across India

Fearing a jump in footfalls to deposit or withdraw cash following the demonetisation of Rs 500 and 1,000 banknotes, banks will remain open this Saturday and Sunday and its staff will do overtime till 9 pm for the next three days to clear the rush.

Banks also announced a slew of measures, including extension of banking hours, doing away with ATM charges and expanding credit limits to handle the expected huge rush to tender now defunct Rs 500 and 1000 notes.

Bankers have also been advised not to take additional leaves for the next one month, during which the government has asked holders of over 22 billion currency notes that are no longer legal tender, to deposit them in bank accounts.

For public convenience, banks will remain open on coming Saturday and Sunday, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das tweeted.

The Reserve Bank also came out with an order instructing all the banks to be open for business on the coming weekend, including Sunday. RBI also said ATMs will remain shut tomorrow as well.

The nation's largest lender State Bank of India was among the first to announce an extension in banking hours, till 6 pm tomorrow and also said each of its branches will be having a dedicated 'exchange counter' to change the currency notes.

ICICI Bank Managing Director and CEO Chanda Kochhar said the bank's branches will be open till 8 pm on Thursday and Friday. The bank also introduced a slew of relaxations on the electronic payments or withdrawals front.

All charges pertaining to cash deposit into one's accounts will be waived till 30 November and the fees for

transacting at ATMs will also be scrapped till 31 December, ICICI Bank said in a statement.

It has also doubled the daily usage limit of debit cards for use at merchant ends as well as online transactions.

Axis Bank has also waived cash handling charges, and done away with the five free transactions a month limit on its own ATMs and extended banking hours, its president Rajiv Anand told PTI.

While making the announcement to discontinue Rs 500 and 1,000 banknotes yesterday, the government had also announced closure of bank branches and ATMs today. It also announced the launch of newer notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 from 10 November.

People holding to the older notes will be very keen to do away with them and also get the newer series banknotes of higher denomination when the bank branches reopen tomorrow. ICICI Bank said it is ensuring that Rs 2000 and the existing notes of Rs 100 notes are available at its 'main branches' from tomorrow.

It also announced an expansion of up to 20 per cent in the credit limits for 'worthy' customers using its credit cards.

Anand said there is no need for the customers to panic and appealed them to defer their visits to branches, pointing out that there is a 50-day limit to change the older notes.

Anand said the bank also expects a significant jump in alternate channels like the newly introduced UPI, points of sale terminals and mobile and online banking because of the RBI moves.

Kotak Mahindra Bank joint managing director Dipak Gupta said apart from the cultural change in adopting digital faster, we should also see a surge in activation of new bank accounts.

In the biggest-ever move to curb black money, and crime funding Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last night announced that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 bank notes would become illegal tenders from last midnight and massively curbed cash withdrawals through ATMs and from bank counters.

"In order to meet the anticipated heavy demand from members of the public to conduct their banking transactions, it has been decided that banks shall remain open for public transactions on Saturday, 12 November, and Sunday, 13 November, 2016," RBI said in a statement.

Banks are advised to keep all their branches open on 12 and 13 November, 2016, as regular working days for

transacting all business, it said.

RBI also asked banks to give due publicity to the availability of banking services on these days.

As per the normal schedule, the coming Saturday being the second would have been an holiday, but keeping in view the expected rush at the branches, it was decided otherwise. It is, however, not clear whether post offices would be open or not on the weekend. There are about 1.25 lakh post offices across the country.

At the same time, the government and RBI are yet to take a call on keeping banks open on Monday, 14 November, which is a holiday.

There are about 149 scheduled commercial banks, including 56 regional rural banks, with branch network of about 1.30 lakh across the country. Besides, the cooperative banks have also been asked to take deposit and exchange the old with the new one.

The first demonetisation happened under the British rule in 1946 and the first one after the Independence on 16-17 January, 1978 when the Morarji Desai government demonetised bank notes of Rs 1000, 5000 and 10,000 notes.

The news triggered panic and people started queueing up at all ATMs or CDMs to either withdraw money or deposit Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

The banned Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes account for over 86 per cent of the total Rs 16.42 lakh crore value of bank notes in circulation as of 31 March, 2016, according to Reserve Bank's latest annual report.

For convenience of customers, Financial Services Secretary Anjuly Chib Duggal said banks will be working extra hours.

Meanwhile, SBI said all branches will remain open tomorrow with extended business hours up to 6 pm.

Kochhar said branch timings will be extended by two hours on 10-11 November and branches at prominent locations will remain open from 8 am to 8 pm.

Many other banks like HSBC and PNB has also announced extension of working hours.
Ever since the Narendra Modi-led NDA government announced the demonetisation exercise early last month to drive out corruption from the system, the focus has since then shifted to making India a cashless economy through faster implementation of digital mode of payments system across the country.

Aiming to make cashless transactions a success story, Prime Minister Modi has roped in former UIDAI chairman and Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani as the government's digital advisor. His appointment comes in the backdrop of the government's decision to ban Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes from the system in November, and encourage masses to switch from cash-based transactions to digital payments platform going ahead.

Although the government's intention seems to be exciting for the country's future growth, implementation remains a key challenge, especially at a time when pressure is mounting on the Centre to improve cash flows at the ATMs and bank branches.

Nilekani along with his 13-person committee will be meeting soon to work out a strategy on how to get more Indians to move to digital payments through smartphones and point-of-sale machines in local villages, a Bloomberg report said.

"India has the underlying digital financial architecture in place to get this going," Nilekani said in an interview after the committee's first meeting. "How quickly the government can reach everyone is a question of execution and speed," according to the Bloomberg report.

Spotting an opportunity in the government's cashless drive, several startups such as Paytm, MobiKwik and Freecharge are pushing their digital wallets to lakhs of smartphone users. However, the committee will focus on two important things; to get more merchants to accept the government's United Payments Interface and procure more point-of-sale devices, the report added.

"There is a sense of urgency," said Nilekani. "All the strategies have to be deployed at the same time to aim for universal coverage," Bloomberg report said.

The ex-Infosys top honcho had openly supported the government's demonetisation move, saying the economic slowdown will be short-term in nature and the country's growth would soon bounce back on the back of government's thrust on digitisation and adoption of technology.

Besides his ability to execute key important projects in the past, few may still construe that Nilekani may have been awarded this post for supporting Modi's demonetisation drive.

As the government intends to link governmental banking services directly to its employees, including the army, judiciary and paramilitary forces, Nilekani's expertise could come handy.

Nilekani's journey so far

Nandan Nilekani has had a fairly successful career at Infosys, as the company's topline grew six-fold under his stewardship when he was the CEO between March 2002 to April 2007.

After leaving Infosys in 2009, Nilekani accepted the invitation of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to steer the implementation of Unique Identification Authority of India or UID card project across the country. This was aimed at providing a unique identification number for all residents of the country, and will be used primarily as the basis for efficient delivery of welfare services.

He is also a member of the board of governors of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and the president of NCAER (the premier independent applied economics research institute in India).

A sour point in his otherwise successful career has been the dismal show on the political front. After joining Congress party in 2014, he contested from the Bangalore South constituency but lost the Lok Sabha election by a wide margin.

Nilekani is currently a chairman of a non-profit literacy and numeracy platform called EkStep, which help children in improving their learning outcomes quite early in their life.

With his wealth of experience in the field of information and technology, one hopes the digitisation project would be implemented successfully during his tenure.
Wells Fargo & Co, the fourth-largest US bank by assets, is looking to move some jobs outside the United States as it pushes forward with a company-wide cost-cutting programme, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

The bank is considering sending work in its retirement division, technology areas and other business lines to India and the Philippines, spokeswoman Bridget Braxton said. She declined to say how many jobs could be lost.

The Charlotte Observer reported earlier on Wednesday that Wells Fargo was preparing to outsource jobs in its institutional retirement division to India and the Philippines, citing an internal memo sent to employees.

Braxton said the San Francisco-based bank could also shift positions within the United States and is examining which markets are the most "economically attractive."

A global workforce could also help it meet the demands of clients worldwide who want round-the-clock service, she said.

Wells Fargo had about 265,000 full-time employees at the end of the first quarter. The vast majority will continue to based in the United States, Braxton said.

Wells Fargo has told investors it aims to reduce quarterly expenses by about $1.7 billion to $11.25 billion by the end of this year.

The bank has said it would consolidate technology units and streamline staff functions as part of the efficiency initiative, called Project Compass.

David Carroll, Wells Fargo's head of wealth management, brokerage and retirement services, told Reuters in February his business was looking at areas where it could use less expensive workers overseas, mostly for back-office processing tasks.

His business has about 35,000 employees, with about 500 in India and Chile, he said at the time. Financial services firms often shift technology and processing tasks offshore.

In 2006, Wells Fargo opened a "technology resource center" in Hyderabad to provide software development. Wachovia, which Wells Fargo acquired in 2008, began partnering with Indian outsourcing firms such as Genpact Ltd in 2005.

Reuters
On 8 November, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the biggest-ever demonetisation exercise India has ever seen by abruptly withdrawing Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes from public use in a bid to clamp down on black money, fake currency menace, terror funding and corruption. The PM said there are certain exemptions for the first 72 hours, including permission to use old currency in government hospitals, for buying fuel, medicines, train tickets, airline tickets, in government buses and for paying utility bills. Exchange of notes were initially allowed up to Rs 4,000 while cash withdrawal at ATMs was capped at Rs 2,000 per card per day and withdrawal at banks were allowed with a limit of Rs 10,000 per day and Rs 20,000 per week. Since then, rules have changed many times.

After a month of demonetisation, the country is still reeling under the cash crunch as banks branches and ATMs are still struggling to meet the cash demand from common people. The demonetisation-resulted cash crunch has hit the economy hard, especially in the rural areas. The Narendra Modi-government and opposition parties are still fighting in Parliament over the merits and demerits of the note ban. The stated long-term gains are still unclear, while the immediate challenge for the government is to ensure cash shortage eases in the minimum time.

Here is a timeline of how the days have passed in the last one month of the note ban:

9 Nov: Banks and ATMs remained closed for the public on the first day of demonetisation

The BSE Sensex ended the day about 339 points lower

The rupee plummeted 19 paise to 66.43 against the US dollar

Govt announced deposits above Rs 2.5 lakh to face tax, penalty on mismatch

Govt suspended highway toll till November 11 midnight

Major banks extended working hours till 8 pm; waived ATM charges.

10 Nov: Long queues to exchange and deposit annulled notes witnessed at banks across India which opened for public while ATMs continued to remain shut

Bank stocks surged up to 12 percent as analysts speculated that banking sector is expected to benefit when more money flows into the formal sector.

11 Nov: ATMs open for the first time after demonetisation announcement. But, after opening, most ATMs went dry in a few hours with people drawing the maximum possible amount; long queues beginning to see across the country

RBI assures public that enough currency is available with banks for exchange

Govt extends exemptions for using old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes till 14 November midnight

Toll waiver on national highways extended till 14 November midnight by the govt.

12 Nov: PM Modi hints at more steps to unearth black money.

Week-end rush adds to woes; anger, impatience at banks; ATMs ran dry on cash.

13 Nov: Queues gets longer at banks, ATMs Sunday sees no let up in rush; long queues continue outside banks, ATMs

For the second time in a week, RBI assures public that there is no need to be anxious and enough cash is available with banks. But that assurance isn't reflecting on the ground

Exchanged limit increased from Rs 4,000 to Rs 4,500

ATM withdrawal limit increased from Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500

To augment cash supplies, newly printed hard-to-fake Rs 500 notes were released in market

The weekly limit of Rs 20,000 for withdrawal from bank counters has been increased to Rs 24,000. The maximum limit of Rs 10,000 per day on such withdrawals has been removed.

14 Nov: Government extended acceptance of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes for public utility and fuel payment till 24 November

Banks were closed on account of Guru Nanak Jayanti; queues gets longer at ATMs

Cash withdrawal for current account holders increased to Rs 50,000 per week

Note ban has led to 'financial chaos', said bank unions

Charges on ATM transactions waived till 30 Dec

Cash crunch continued; Parliament House ATMs too ran dry.

15 Nov: No respite from long queues at banks, ATMs

Government asks banks to put indelible ink on the right hand finger of those exchanging banned 500 and 1,000 rupee notes

SC refused to stay Centre's move to demonetise currency notes.

16 Nov: Chaos continue at banks; most ATMs ran out of cash

SBI collected Rs 1,14,139-crore in deposits in last 7 days.

17 Nov: Government lowers the exchange limit for now-defunct 500 and 1,000 rupee notes to Rs 2,000 from the existing cap of Rs 4,500

Cash withdrawal of Rs 2.5 lakh from bank account were allowed for wedding ceremonies

Government eases cash withdrawal limit for farmers by allowing them to withdraw up to Rs 50,000 cash per week from bank.

Don't hoard currency, sufficient notes in supply, RBI tells public

Govt extended toll exemption on National Highways till November 24 midnight.

Select petrol pumps allowed to dispense cash up to Rs 2,000 through debit card swipe.

Some banks cut fixed deposit rates up to 1 percent.

18 Nov: No respite from queues, chaos; ATMs still fight cash shortage.

Demonetisation to lower GDP growth by 0.3-0.5 percent, CARE Ratings says.

Congress party alleges 55 died due to demonetisation, seeks PM's apology

Proceedings in Parliament were washed out for the second consecutive day.

19 Nov: Queues got shorter at banks; long wait at ATMs continued.

20 Nov: With banks closed on Sunday, longer queues at ATMs

21 Nov: Farmers allowed to use old Rs 500 notes for buying seeds

Bank received Rs 5.12 lakh crore of deposits and exchanged Rs 33,006 crore, RBI said in a release

Demonetisation effect: GDP to fall by up to 80 bps, said DBS Bank.

22 Nov: 82,500 ATMs out of 2.2 lakh ATMs recalibrated to dispense new notes

Some relief for cash-starved public, queues shortened as about 40 percent of total ATMs have started dispensing new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes.

RBI doubles Prepaid Payment Instruments limit to Rs 20,000.

23 Nov: Goldman forecasts deceleration in GDP growth to 6.8 percent in FY17

Rs 1.20 lakh crore deposited in SBI.

24 Nov: Government extends toll exemption on NHs till 2 Dec mid-night

Notes ban to significantly disrupt economic activity, Moody's said in a release

Government withdraws exchange facility of old currency notes and extends deadline for exemptions of using old Rs 500 notes up to 15 December midnight

Queues get shorter at bank branches but continues at ATMs.

25 Nov: RBI says the facility to exchange old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes will continue to be available at its counters

India growth to slow to 6.5 percent on notes ban, Deutsche Bank said

Demonetisation to slow down personal computers, phone sales in Q4, according to research firm IDC

Notes ban to have negative impact on growth in short run, Fitch says

Queues at banks thin, but some branches still faces cash pain.

26 Nov: Deposits in Jan Dhan accounts soars sharply by around Rs 27,200 crore to Rs 72,834.72 crore in just 14 days after the announcement of ban on old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes

27 Nov: Rs 32,631 cr deposited in post offices since demonetization

28 Nov: Banks get about Rs 8.45 lakh crore worth of scrapped notes, RBI says

After 3 weeks, queues at banks, ATMs shrinks but cash crunch remained.

29 Nov: Queues outside ATMs eases, but customers throng banks

RBI relaxes withdrawal norms, nudges retailers to deposit cash.

30 Nov: RBI limits withdrawal from Jan Dhan accounts to Rs 10,000 a month

Queues at ATMs, banks grow shorter but wait for cash continues.

1 Dec: Government says that old Rs 500 notes are valid till 2 Dec for fuel, air ticket purchase instead of 15 December announced earlier.

Demonetisation takes a toll on manufacturing sector growth in November, according to PMI survey.

BofA cuts FY17 growth forecast to 6.9 percent amid demonetisation

Pay day rush: Banks resort to rationing of cash in order to handle the huge pay day rush at branches

1.80 lakh ATMs re-calibrated to dispense Rs 500, 2,000 notes

Cash shortage may slow down GDP to 6.5 percent in Oct-Dec quarter, Nomura says.

2 Dec: India Ratings lowers GDP forecast to 6.8 percent post demonetization.

3 Dec: Queues for cash on, toll collection resumes.

6 Dec: Tax dept seizes Rs 130 crore cash, jewellery and Rs 2,000 crore of undisclosed wealth has been admitted by taxpayers post demonetisation

7 Dec: RBI defends note ban and plays down its impact on economy. Demonetisation was not done in haste, says RBI Governor during the monetary policy presser

Note ban impact on GDP growth only 15 bps, says RBI

Rs 11.55 lakh crore or 76 percent of junked notes have come back into the system, RBI said.
The currency demonetisation scheme of 2016 has invalidated approximately Rs 14,180 billion worth of high value currency, which is almost 86 percent of the total currency in circulation (31 March 2016: total currency in circulation Rs 16,454 billion).

The immediate effects of the demonetisation scheme are significant and manifold. The banks are raining deposit collections, which will eventually have a positive cascading effect on the economy as a whole. However, the unexpected and sudden announcement of the 'demonetisation scheme' has had a 'knee jerk' reaction on the level of economic activity in the country. All the cash dependent consumption led sectors, such as retail, wholesale, jewellery, hospitals, healthcare, diagnostics, trading, restaurants, transport, logistics are severely affected. Real estate/construction transactions, which are partly done in cash, have been affected jeopardising millions of construction jobs. A large proportion of the countrys labour force is employed in these sectors collectively. Therefore, the biggest concern of the demonetisation exercise is its far reaching consequences on Indias cash economy.

Cash economy

India is a cash intensive economy with a whopping 12 percent of GDP existing in the form of currency notes and coins in circulation. The ratio of money held in currency notes and coins to the

amounts held in bank deposits is 51:49. Indian citizens and businesses still prefer cash to other modes of payment. Cash transactions are free, final, irrevocable and instant. Cash is the preferred mode of payment due to habits, poverty, illiteracy and most importantly, lack of easy access to the banking system. Most Indians lack the means to use non-cash payment alternatives due to the low penetration of banking facilities in the country.

As per the World Bank estimates, approximately 35 percent of the Indian population above the age of 15 years have an account with a bank. Population having debit/credit cards are way below 10 percent of the total. These ratios further go down in case of 'rural' population and 'female' population segments. Within the 35 percent having an account with the bank, many are dormant accounts as the distance to travel to the bank branch; the travel time and the cost thereof are significant.

Year 2015 statistics suggests that 87 percent of the total transactions in India were in cash. This just suggests that we have sucked out most of the cash from the economy, leaving the cash economy gasping for breath.

Not all transactions in cash have a colour. It acquires colour only when cash is exchanged for illegal or contentious transactions or for undisclosed factor income (mostly to evade taxes). The cash economy, although highly susceptible to transforming into black, is extremely low cost and efficient and thus vibrant. The beauty of cash economy is in its speed and resiliency. Much of the rural and semi urban India thrives on cash economy, which gives them extremely efficient options of earning their livelihood despite lack of infrastructure. For example, the key source of cash transactions in India is its 10 million plus retail outlets. A very small percentage of these retailers have 'Point of Sales' (PoS) systems. Much of them neither have internet connectivity nor can they afford the transaction fees of operating the financial cards and hence prefer cash as a mode of payment.

Effects of demonetisation

The question is, can we risk putting the cash economy on a halt, although temporarily, in view of the fact that significant amount of labour force is employed therein and does not have access to banking services? If we are depriving the tiny retail stores, roadside vendors, low paying job workers without employment contracts, of currency and demanding them to undertake minuscule transactions through financial institutions on digital media, we are taking away their source of daily income and slowing down the economy significantly making it highly inefficient. Are we ready for a digital transformation? Even if our political ambition says we are, it will take a very high amount of time and costs to get them all on the digital banking platforms and educate them on the transactions, which may far exceed the benefits. Also, there are no alternative arrangements for the survival of the population.

The administration has claimed that the demonetisation scheme is intended to combat tax evasion, counterfeiting, wide spread corruption and the resultant black economy. But what quantum are we talking about?

As per the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, counterfeit currency in circulation is estimated to be Rs 400 crore, 0.028 percent of the demonetised currency. As per the World Bank estimates, Indias black economy is in the range of 21 percent to 23 percent of its GDP (World Bank estimate 2007: 23.2 percent). In present GDP terms, the black economy could be approximately Rs 6,800 billion (2016 3rd quarter estimate of GDP Rs 29,628 billion). However, approximately 70 percent of the black assets, Rs 4,800 billion are estimated to be parked overseas, leaving approximately Rs 2,000 billion in the country, of which 5 percent to 6 percent are held in cash (data compiled from Income Tax raids).

Through 'demonetisation', we have targeted the minuscule of the big whole, disturbing the natural flow of the cash economy in the country, which is very much a part of the main economy. We also need to understand that currency demonetisation is a monetary tool, which will drain off existing stock of counterfeits and cash hoardings at one time but is incapable of targeting the structure and source of corruption and counterfeiting. As widely understood, black money is not equal to corruption; it is the result of corrupt activities, which are very wide in nature.

Demonetisation will not prohibit people from undertaking corrupt activities unless the tendencies and opportunities are rooted out. Corruption will continue with resultant assets merely changing their form and destination. Therefore, demonetisation of the currency at the cost of cash economy is not the most effective strategy to eliminate or control black economy. Instead, the Government should consider establishing infrastructure to track large financial transactions in key sectors, create a robust mechanism to identify and arrest tax evasion and focus efforts on penetration of the banking infrastructure in the country along with proper education. The key is to reduce the cash intensity of the economy not to suffocate it!

(The author is Partner ASA & Associates LLP. Views are personal)
New Delhi: It has been a month since the Prime Minister announced the decision to render Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes worthless. Some have called this the PMs 8/8 strike, since it was delivered on 8 November at eight pm, thereby insinuating that the move is some sort of a surgical strike on black money. This sudden demonetisation, which sucked out over 80 percent of the currency in circulation, has hurt the Indian economy with the RBI itself downgrading the growth forecast for this fiscal to 7.1 percent from 7.6 percent earlier. It has also led to a severe cash crunch, translating into untold woes for the aam aadmi even as its goal of extinguishing black money remains hazy.

Demonetisation has invalidated approximately Rs 14,180 billion worth of high value currency, which is almost 86 percent of the total currency in circulation ( total currency in circulation Rs 16,454 billion as on 31 March 2016).

The unexpected and sudden demonetisation has had a 'knee jerk' reaction on the level of economic activity. All the cash dependent consumption-led sectors such as retail, wholesale, jewellery, hospitals, healthcare, diagnostics, trading, restaurants, transport, logistics are severely affected.

Real estate/construction transactions, which are partly dealt with in cash, have been affected jeopardising millions of jobs in construction. A large proportion of the countrys labour force is employed in these sectors collectively. Therefore, the biggest concern from the demonetisation exercise is its far-reaching impact on Indias cash economy.

Heres an assessment of how this single significant move has impacted some major sectors:

Real estate: A Crisil analysis says demonetization is highly negative for this sector. Cities/ micro markets such as Delhi-NCR with high investor demand has been severely impacted and residential real estate demand has declined more severely in micro markets with high share of unorganised developers (where practice of cash transactions was prevalent). Developers will face serious fund crunch in the short to medium term, which will further delay ongoing projects, it said. Land prices are expected to fall. The combined impact of this announcement, Real Estate Regulatory Bill and continuous monitoring of circle rates/ ready reckoner rates by states will reduce the gap in prices in the primary and secondary market transactions.

Cement: Crisil has again dubbed the impact of demonetisation on the cement sector as negative. Its analysts have pointed out that 60-65 percent or two-thirds of consumption of cement is by the real estate sector, so near-term demand will be affected. There will be pressure on already low prices.

Steel: This will be marginally negative since 30-35 percent of consumption or just a third emanates from the real estate sector. Near-term demand will be affected. There could be marginal pressure on long steel prices.

Agriculture: One sector of the economy which has been bearing the brunt of demonetisation is agriculture.

This piece in Mint says cash is the primary mode of transaction in agriculture sector with formal financing in many parts, especially Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala coming significantly from cooperative banks. These have been barred from exchange-deposit of demonetised currency. Agriculture is impacted through the input-output channels as well as price and output feedback effects. Sale, transport, marketing and distribution of ready produce to wholesale centres or mandis, is dominantly cash-dependent. Disruptions, breaks in the supply chains feedback to farmers as sales fall, increased wastage of perishables, lower revenues that show up as trade dues instead of cash in hand and when credited into bank accounts with limited access affect the sector.

Telecom: According to analysts at CLSA, demonetisation has impacted the mobile industry with a slump in prepaid recharges, smartphone sales and data adoption. But the cash crunch for prepaid recharges has been partly mitigated by a move to allow the use of old Rs 500 notes. Meanwhile, with demonetisation and a slump in smartphone sales, Reliance Jio has extended promotions beyond December. Consequently, the analysts have lowered the FY17-19 forecast revenue and Ebitda for incumbents by 1-8 percent. This means Bharti Aitel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular -- the big three telcos -- will get impacted the most. While the impact on voice revenues is likely to be short-lived, data revenues  which are more discretionary  are likely to see a larger impact. Demonetisation has already lead to a 50-70 percent fall in over-the-counter smartphone sales, as per channel checks by CLSA.

Automobiles: Analysts at Kotak Institutional Equities say retail sales of two-wheelers have been severely impacted, down by 30-50 percent year-on-year in various regions in India due to lack of adequate cash in hand for customers. But, they say, since cash circulation will improve over the next few months, there will be a recovery in scooter and commuter bike demand by next fiscal.

Etailing, online cabs: An analysis by RedSeer consulting says business was down 15-20 percent for e-commerce companies in November whereas the impact on online cabs was a reduction of 3-5 percent. Both these new economy sectors have seen an increase in non-cash transactions too.

Consumer products: Kotak analysts have assessed the impact on this sector at three levels: (1) shortage of cash in the hands of the consumer, forcing her to consume less and at some level, consume only the most basic necessities; (2) shortage of lower denomination currency notes creating a change problem in the cash economy and hurting transaction volumes and, (3) shortage of cash at the retail and wholesale level leading to de-stocking across the chain; this factor means that the primary sales impact across most categories is disproportionately higher than the off-take impact, at this point. The analysts have said that the liquidity impact is a temporary issue and should get sorted over the next 2-3 months. On wholesalers having to reset their business model towards cashless transactions, they said this could take a while. Overall, demand recovery to normal levels could take 12-18 months.

Logistics: The All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) -- a representative body for 9.3 million truckers, and more than five million bus operators, tourist taxis and maxi cabs -- says 70 percent of the vehicles of their members are already off the roads. With the government's curbs on withdrawal of money and exchange of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, the motor transport business is suffering, since 80 per cent of the business is cash-based. The association warns that if the situation is allowed to persist not only the supplies of essential commodities like milk, fruits, vegetables and medicines will get increasingly affected but it will also cripple the lives of 200 million people directly or indirectly dependent on this industry.
Mumbai: Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel's second media meet on Wednesday created a controversy with a section of the Mumbai media corps complaining they were either not invited or deliberately kept out of the briefing.

Some even took to the social media networks to vent their grouse over being ignored for the much-anticipated event here on Wednesday afternoon.

Among those media persons denied entry to the venue and aggrieved by it was The Economist's correspondent Stanley Pignal who tweeted: "Amazing stuff. The Economist US no longer invited to the RBI policy meeting press conferences. Won't let me in. Sad day for transparency."

Even the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, BBC and certain other global agencies/television channels were allegedly not invited or kept out.

At least one news agency, which has always been invited barring this time, is understood to have formally raised the matter with the RBI.

Mincing no words, Pignal said: "I've been critical of the new Governor not speaking to the press, did not expect RBI to freeze us out of press conference. It's their call obviously."

He quoted a RBI spokeswoman as saying that the decision to exclude him had nothing to do with The Economist's critical coverage of demonetisation.

Pignal added it was amazing that from being granted interviews of the (former) RBI Governor in June, it came down to being excluded from press conferences in November without warning or explanation.

Despite repeated attempts by IANS, members of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s official team of spokespersons were not available to give their version of the incident.
London: Indian giant Tata Steel made a 10-year commitment to a one-billion-pound investment plan as part of its crucial talks with steelworkers' unions to save thousands of jobs in the UK.

The Indian steel giant has reportedly offered a number of guarantees to its staff at Port Talbot steelworks in south Wales, the UK's largest steel plant, including a minimum five-year guarantee to keep both furnaces operational at the site. "We are seeking a positive future for the UK business and during discussions with the trade unions we made substantial assurances to achieve this," a Tata Steel statement said.

Details of the deal include a guaranteed, minimum five-year commitment to two blast furnaces, a 10-year 1-billion-pound investment plan to support steel making at Port Talbot, and a consultation on replacing the current British Steel Pension Scheme with a "defined contribution scheme" with maximum contributions of 10 per cent from the company and six per cent from employees.

Speaking after meeting with union representatives, Roy Rickhuss of Community Union said: "Reaching this stage of the process is a credit to the hard work of our members who never gave up the fight to 'Save Our Steel'." Unions had been fighting for maintaining Port Talbots two blast furnaces in talks with Tata management.

The Tata Group employs more than 4,000 at Port Talbot alone, and hundreds more at other sites across the UK at Trostre and Shotton, Corby, Hartlepool and at sites in the West Midlands.

On Wednesday, workers at the Port Talbot plant were given the opportunity to approve a rescue plan which is likely to have an effect on other major sites as well. Central to the rescue plan is the retention of both of Port Talbots blast furnaces, which turn iron ore and coke into molten iron. One was due to stop production in 2018 but unions had been fighting to keep it open.

Earlier this year, Tata Steel had announced that all of its plants across the UK would be put for sale. But, in July the sale came to a halt. Last month the firm signed a 'letter of intent' with UK-based Liberty House Group to enter into exclusive negotiations for the potential sale of its Speciality Steels business for an enterprise value of 100 million pounds.
By Serajul Quadir

| DHAKA

DHAKA A Bangladesh government-appointed panel investigating the cyber-heist of $81 million from its central bank in February found five officials at the bank were guilty of negligence and carelessness, the head of the panel told Reuters on Thursday.In his first detailed comments on the inquiry since a report was submitted to the government in May, former central bank governor Mohammed Farashuddin said the officials were low to mid-level and were not directly involved in the crime. "They were negligent, careless and indirect accomplices," he said in an interview in his office. "The committee came to the conclusion that the heist was essentially committed by external elements."Bangladesh has so far refused to make the inquiry report public saying it wanted to deny perpetrators knowledge of the investigation into one of the world's biggest cyber-heists.It was not immediately known if Bangladesh had shared the report with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the main agency investigating the crime.Farashuddin did not name the officials he found were negligent. A senior central bank official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said no action had been taken against any employee since the inquiry report had not been made public.Bangladesh Bank spokesman Subhankar Saha declined comment.

Although over 10 months have passed since the heist, there have been no arrests and no word on who carried out the complex heist. Hackers used stolen credentials to try to transfer nearly $1 billion from Bangladesh Bank's account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York through the SWIFT transaction system. Many of the transfer orders were blocked or reversed but $81 million was sent to accounts in a branch of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) in the Philippines.The money eventually went into the sprawling casino industry in the Philippines and most of it remains untraced.

Like Bangladesh police investigators, Farashuddin said the inquiry panel also found the hackers may have exploited loopholes in the bank's online security when technicians hooked up the central bank's local money transfer system with SWIFT's international payments network late last year. SWIFT has denied charges that its technicians were responsible for exposing Bangladesh Bank's systems to hackers.Reuters has reported earlier that Bangladesh Bank had not protected its computer system with a firewall, and used second-hand $10 electronic switches to network computers linked to SWIFT, weaknesses that the hackers may also have exploited.Farashuddin said that RCBC was responsible for allowing the stolen funds to be withdrawn and disbursed into the casino industry. Bangladesh has said it wants RCBC to compensate it for its losses.

RCBC has said Bangladesh Bank was "negligent" in letting the initial security breach take place there, and hence the Manila-based bank need not pay any compensation. So far only about $15 million of the stolen funds have been recovered.Farashuddin said his personal opinion was it would be better to make the inquiry report public, since it would make clear that some local officials were negligent but not responsible for the heist."If the government would publish, then Bangladesh Bank's position would be strengthened," he said.Bangladesh's law minister said earlier this week that his government would share the findings of the inquiry with Philippine authorities. (Writing by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
NEW DELHI Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday announced incentives ranging from 0.75 percent to 10 percent on retail purchase of products like petrol, diesel and insurance products from state-run companies to encourage digital, cashless transactions.Prime Minister Narendra Modi scrapped 500-rupee and 1,000-rupee banknotes on November 8 in a bid to flush out cash earned through illegal activities, or earned legally but never disclosed. Citizens could redeem their money only by depositing it with banks, to be paid out over a period of time. Since coming to power in 2014, Modi has pledged to crack down on so-called black money with new measures including 10-year jail terms for evaders."The incentive scheme has the potential of shifting at least 30 percent more customers to digital means which will further reduce the cash requirement of nearly 2 trillion rupees ($29.69 billion) a year at the petrol pumps," Jaitley told reporters.He said state-run insurance companies would offer discount of up to 10 percent on payment of insurance premium through digital means.

Government officials are worried 90 percent of the discontinued notes could yet come back into the financial system, deposited in banks to be converted into valid lower or new higher-denomination notes. This would put a question mark on meeting Modi's aim of flushing out untaxed money. Banks have so far received nearly 12 trillion rupees in discounted currency since the government decided to abolish high value bank notes.

Opposition parties stalled the parliament for the 14th day on Thursday seeking a probe into the mismanagement of supply of new currency to the public. Modi has called for patience until December 30 by when he has promised the cash situation would stabilise, and urged the people to shift to electronic transactions.

($1 = 67.3675 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Manoj Kumar; Editing by Malini Menon and Ralph Boulton)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Dmitry Zhdannikov and Darya Korsunskaya

| LONDON/MOSCOW

LONDON/MOSCOW Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo is expected to provide a consortium of Qatar and commodities trader Glencore with sizeable funds to help finance their purchase of a stake in Russian oil company Rosneft, two sources familiar with the transaction said.Intesa declined to say whether it was helping finance the deal, announced by the Kremlin, which said on Wednesday it had sold a 19.5 percent government stake in Rosneft for 10.5 billion euros ($11.3 billion) to Qatar's sovereign wealth fund and Glencore.The bank, Italy's biggest retail lender, has deep ties in Russia and advised state-owned Rosneft on the sale of the 19.5 percent stake. Wednesday's announcement showed the Kremlin can lure big foreign investors to its oil sector despite political risks associated with Russia, which is locked in a stand-off with the West over conflicts in Ukraine and Syria."Russia's upstream is now firmly back on the map as an attractive place to invest despite more than two years of EU/US sanctions," said Michael Moynihan, Research Director for Russia at Wood Mackenzie.But some Russian financial and industry sources raised questions about the deal. The sale valued Rosneft's assets at considerably less than it paid to acquire similar assets in the past, according to Reuters calculations.It is also unclear exactly what Glencore's status in the Rosneft ownership structure will be and there are questions about where Rosneft will find the volumes of oil it agreed to sell to Glencore as part of the deal.Italy has maintained close ties with the Kremlin despite European Union sanctions on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.Glencore stands to benefit from access to additional Rosneft volumes for its trading business and this should help it compete with rival Trafigura, which has been Rosneft's preferred trading partner.

Glencore, whose stock rose 3 percent on Thursday to an 18-month high, said it would finance part of the deal by putting up 300 million euros of its own equity.It also said that other than its modest equity injection, it would not have any economic exposure to the shares in Rosneft, Russia's top oil producer. It did not say who would have the exposure instead.VALUE FOR MONEY?

Several oil market participants told Reuters that for Rosneft to provide Glencore with the additional 220,000 barrels a day set out in the deal, it would probably have to reduce volumes going elsewhere."Since Glencore has become a shareholder, it will definitely want preferential rights to buying oil and oil products," said a trader on the Russian oil market. "It's very possible Trafigura will have to give up its leading position."Rosneft declined to comment on the allocation of volumes.The deal was announced days after Russia and OPEC -- dominated by Saudi Arabia and its allies Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait -- agreed on coordinated output cuts to support oil prices.Rosneft had been under pressure to secure a sale of the stake to help replenish the state budget, hit by an economic slowdown worsened by the international sanctions.

But this meant selling at a time when, with world oil prices low, the value of oil assets is far below historical levels.Russia sold its share in Rosneft's oil production for about half the price at which Rosneft has previously acquired domestic oil production assets, according to Reuters calculations based on publicly-available data.The amount which Qatar and Glencore paid per barrel of production can be earned back by selling that production in about a year, the calculations showed.When Rosneft bought Russian producer TNK-BP in 2013, it paid a price that would have taken just over two years to earn back, according to the calculations."The way it works out is that the state, in the shape of Rosneft, buys expensive assets, and then sells off the combined assets for several times less. It's clear there's a strategic miscalculation," said a source close to the Russian government, on condition of anonymity.Rosneft declined to comment on the value of the deal. (Additional reporting by Gleb Gorodyankin and Olga Yagova in MOSCOW, Karin Strohecker in LONDON, Andrea Mandala Silvia Aloisi and Stephen Jewkes in MILAN, Writing by Dmitri Zhdannikov and Christian Lowe, Editing by Timothy Heritage)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Relatives of a Malaysian financier at the centre of the 1MDB fund scandal were dealt a setback in their efforts to claim assets seized by the U.S. government when a federal judge denied a motion that would have given them time to try their luck in overseas courts.Earlier this week four relatives of Low Taek Jho filed a motion to delay the Dec. 12 hearing to Jan. 23 so they could go to courts in New Zealand and the Cayman Islands to try and get real estate and other assets transferred to a new trustee.In a one-sentence ruling, U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer denied both the motion to postpone the hearing and a separate request to extend the deadline for filing a claim. No reason was given in the filing, dated Wednesday.Federal prosecutors had opposed the delay, noting in a filing on Wednesday that almost five months had transpired since the Department of Justice launched a series of lawsuits alleging more than $3.5 billion was misappropriated from the 1MDB fund.Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak established the IMDB fund in 2009 and chaired the advisory board until recently.

Low Taek Jho is among the people named in civil lawsuits aimed at seizing $1 billion in assets allegedly siphoned off from 1MDB and diverted into luxury real estate in New York, Beverly Hills and London, valuable paintings and a private jet.Low Taek Jho's relatives had wanted to try courts in New Zealand and the Cayman Islands, hoping those venues would be more hospitable to their requests. The ruling to go ahead with the hearing on Monday could thwart those plans.

The relatives' lawyer, Daniel Zaheer of Kobre & Kim, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.In addition to Low, the Department of Justice has named Riza Aziz in its lawsuits. Aziz is the stepson of Najib, the Malaysian prime minister, and founder of Red Granite Pictures, which produced the 2013 Hollywood blockbuster "The Wolf of Wall Street."

The lawsuits do not name Najib, but say more than $700 million of misappropriated funds flowed into the accounts of "Malaysian Official 1," whom U.S. and Malaysian officials have identified as Najib.Najib has denied any wrongdoing and said Malaysia will cooperate in the international investigations. (Reporting by Nathan Layne in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
ISLAMABAD None of the dozens of people on board a Pakistan International Airlines (PIAa.KA) aircraft that crashed into a mountain in northern Pakistan on Wednesday survived the accident, the airline's chairman said."There are no survivors, no one has survived," Muhammad Azam Saigol told a press conference late on Wednesday, about five hours after flight PK661 from Chitral to the capital, Islamabad, crashed near the town of Havelian, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.The airline had earlier announced 48 people were on board the aircraft.

Saigol said the ATR-42 aircraft had undergone regular maintenance and had in October passed an "A-check" certification, conducted after every 500 hours of flight operations."I think that there was no technical error or human error ... obviously there will be a proper investigation," he said.

(Reporting by Asad Hashim, editing by Larry Kign)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Alex Lawler and Rania El Gamal

| LONDON/DUBAI

LONDON/DUBAI Only five of 14 non-OPEC oil producers have agreed so far to meet the group on Saturday for talks aimed at widening a deal to reduce output, casting doubt on whether OPEC will secure the full cuts it is seeking, two OPEC sources said.The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which finalised its first oil output cut in eight years last month to prop up prices, is to hold talks with non-member countries in Vienna in the hope that they will also limit supply.The last time non-OPEC countries joined the organisation in cutting output, in late 2001 as prices dropped in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, non-members promised cuts of 462,000 barrels per day, not quite the 500,000 bpd OPEC then sought.Currently, Russia has said it will cut 300,000 bpd, meaning other non-OPEC producers combined will need to pledge the same amount to lower output by the 600,000 bpd OPEC wants - half the reduction OPEC is making.Some OPEC sources familiar with discussions were reasonably sure the outside producers would deliver enough commitments.

"I think they will," said one. "It should not be that difficult."Other OPEC sources were sceptical a pledge for the full amount would be made this time. Among the 14 non-OPEC countries invited to attend Saturday's meeting, only Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Oman, Mexico and Russia have accepted."It's not clear," a second source said. "Wait until Saturday."

A third OPEC source said cut pledges amounting to 500,000 bpd were more likely.Besides Russia, only Oman has publicly stated it is willing to cut production. In public comments, Azerbaijan has indicated it will lower supply, while Kazakhstan has said it is undecided.

OPEC President Mohammed al-Sada, speaking at the Nov. 30 news conference after OPEC finalised its output reduction, was confident that non-OPEC would deliver the 600,000 bpd.Saturday's meeting at OPEC's Vienna headquarters will start at 10:00 a.m. local time (0900 GMT) and be chaired jointly by Sada and Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, according to a draft copy of the agenda seen by Reuters.OPEC will still implement its cut of 1.2 million bpd even if Russia becomes the only non-member to contribute, OPEC member Nigeria said on Wednesday. (Editing by Dale Hudson)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Oxford: It was a long wait, but Aung San Suu Kyi has finally received her honorary degree from Oxford University.

The leader of Myanmar's opposition is being honored on Wednesday at the university's Encaenia ceremony, in which it presents honorary degrees to distinguished people.

Suu Kyi, who is making her first visits outside of her native country in 24 years, was awarded the honorary doctorate in civil law in 1993 but was unable to collect it under house arrest in Myanmar.

She studied philosophy, politics and economics at St Hugh's College in Oxford between 1964 and 1967. After a time working in New York and Bhutan, she lived in Oxford for many years with her late husband, the Tibet scholar Michael Aris, and their sons Alexander and Kim.

Suu Kyi smiled as she received the degree while hundreds applauded. She celebrated her 67th birthday on Tuesday.

AP
Port Blair: Around 1,400 tourists are stranded at Havelock and Neil islands in the Andamans due to cyclonic weather conditions and four ships have been pressed into service by the Navy to evacuate them.

The two islands, approximately 40 kms from Port Blair, have been hit the most by the cyclonic weather conditions caused by a severe depression over the south-east Bay of Bengal which led to heavy rainfall, strong wind and rough sea conditions, officials said.

The administration has already declared the cyclonic weather as 'L1 Disaster'.

Neil and Havelock are two of the most popular tourist attractions in Andamans and the only means of transportation from them are vessels and choppers which have stopped operation since Monday last due to bad weather.

"About 1,400 tourists, who had visited the islands, are now stranded and unable to return to Port Blair to fly back home," South Andaman's deputy commissioner Udit Prakash Rai said.

The local populace of 10 villages of Havelock and Neil islands have also been hit severely by the cyclone which has hampered the movement of essential supplies.

Indian naval ships Bitra, Bangaram, Kumbhir and LCU 38 have been deployed for evacuation, which has not yet begun because of unfavourable weather conditions.

"The ships are waiting outside the harbour. Adequate food, fresh water, medicines and doctors besides divers and local administration personnel are being ferried on board to provide succour and relief," a Defence official said.

Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh also said the rescue teams are ready in Port Blair.

Spoke to Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dr. Jagdish Mukhi who apprised me of the situation in Havelock Islands.  Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) December 8, 2016

All the tourists who are stranded in Havelock Island are safe. The government has made all the preparations to evacuate them.  Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) December 8, 2016

The government will launch the rescue operations immediately after the intensity of the cyclone reduces. The teams are ready in Port Blair.  Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) December 8, 2016

I appeal to the family members of stranded tourists that they should not panic as everyone in the Havelock Islands are reported to be safe.  Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) December 8, 2016

Andaman administration officials said the cyclonic weather has uprooted trees, disrupted power supply and caused flooding in some low-lying areas of Port Blair.

Mobile and internet connectivity have also been snapped in many areas.

There is, however, no reason to panic, the officials said adding the administration is fully geared up to tackle any situation.

At a high-level meeting in Raj Niwas, Lieutenant Governor Jagdish Mukhi reviewed the situation and relief operations being carried out by the administration.

He has directed all departments to ensure timely response and coordinated action so that quick relief reaches the people.

The tourism department has also set up help desks at the Port Blair airport, Havelock and Neil islands.

With inputs from PTI
Port Blair: With the cyclonic weather condition persisting in the Andamans, around 1,400 tourists remained stranded in two islands on Thursday and naval ships deployed for evacuation were unable to enter the habour due to strong winds.

There were, however, no reports of any casualty from either Havelock or Neil islands hit by the cyclonic weather since Monday.

The rains have stopped since morning but the wind is still blowing hard.

"The weather continues to be bad. Navy ships which were deployed for evacuation have not been able to enter the harbour because of strong winds and choppy seas," a Defence official told PTI.

In the morning, two ships from the administration had sailed from Port Blair but could not berth in the jetty of the islands due to strong winds and rough seas, administration officials said.

Speaking to the media after a meeting with Lt Governor Jagdish Mukhi, Deputy Commissioner of South Andamans Udit Prakash Rai said, "A decision has been taken that hotels where tourists are stranded will not take any room rent from them, besides giving them food and water for free."

"The administration will make all arrangements to send tourists back home once they are rescued," he said.

Flight operations are normal since morning on Thursday.

"Today we are hopeful that the stranded tourists will be brought back to Port Blair. There is no need to panic as everyone is safe," the administration official said.

The official said that there was no report of any loss of life or major damages to property.

However, trees in the islands have been uprooted and electric posts twisted.

Besides the tourists, 600 of whom are from West Bengal, local population in ten villages of Havelock and Neil islands has been affected due to limited supply of essential commodities.

Mobile and internet connectivity have snapped in many areas while transmission faults are hampering power supply.

Officials said they are also coordinating with all airlines for the smooth and timely return of the tourists.

The tourists have been requested to stay in their rooms till weather conditions improve. They have also been asked to stay away from coastal areas.

The administration has asked all tour operators not to take any tourists towards north and middle Andaman as a precautionary measure.

The Lt Governor is himself monitoring the situation.

All the emergency operation centres across the islands are functioning round the clock and are on high alert.

Meanwhile, Air India has waived the cancellation and refund charges for travel to and fro from Port Blair.

Air India spokesperson said in Kolkata that flight operations by the airlines were normal on Thursday.

He said that applicable penalties of re-issuance, date change, no-show, cancellation and refund charges for travel to and from Port Blair stand were waived on all tickets issued to the stranded tourists on or before 7 December for travel during the period between 6 December and 9 December.

The two islands, approximately 40 km from Port Blair, have been hit the most by cyclonic weather conditions caused by a severe depression over southeast Bay of Bengal which led to heavy rainfall, strong wind and rough sea conditions.

The MeT department has predicted that the weather condition in the archipelago is likely to improve with the centre of depression likely to move towards north-westward direction from Friday.

"The depression is very likely to intensify into a deep depression during the next 24 hours and into a cyclonic storm in subsequent 24 hours," officials said.

Neil and Havelock are two of the most popular tourist attractions in Andamans and the only means of transportation from them are vessels and choppers.
New Delhi: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said all tourists at Havelock Island in the Andamans, who are stuck due to cyclonic conditions, are safe and efforts are on for their early evacuation.

Singh on Thursday called up Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands Jagdish Mukhi and enquired about the status of the stranded tourists.

Mukhi briefed the Home Minister about the situation and the steps taken for rescue of the stranded tourists.

"All the tourists in Havelock Island are safe and the government has made all preparation to evacuate them.Government will launch rescue operations after the intensity of cyclone reduces," Singh said in a statement.

The Home Minister said that rescue teams are ready at Port Blair and appealed to family members of the stranded tourists not to panic as all in the Havleock Island are reported to be safe.

Havelock and Neil islands, approximately 40 kms from Port Blair, have been hit the most by the cyclonic weather conditions caused by a severe depression over southeast Bay of Bengal which led to heavy rainfall, strong wind and rough sea conditions, officials said.

Neil and Havelock are two of the most popular tourist attractions in Andamans and the only means of transportation from them are vessels and choppers which have stopped operation since Monday last due to bad weather.

South Andaman's deputy commissioner Udit Prakash Rai had said on Wednesday, "About 1,400 tourists, who had visited the islands, are now stranded and unable to return to Port Blair to fly back home."

The local populace of 10 villages of Havelock and Neil islands have also been hit severely by the cyclone which has hampered the movement of essential supplies.

Indian naval ships Bitra, Bangaram, Kumbhir and LCU 38 have been deployed for evacuation.
Mumbai city will see two of its important landmarks being renamed in the near future. The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, commonly known as CST, which is one of Mumbai's busiest railway stations, and the Mumbai international airport, known as Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport will be renamed.

The names of the railway station and the airport won't be drastically different. The word 'Maharaj', which means king in Marathi will be added after Shivaji. Mumbai's international airport will now be called Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport and CST will be renamed as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminal.

Mumbai Int'l Airport to be renamed as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Int'l Airport. CST to be renamed as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminal  ANI (@ANI_news) December 8, 2016

Before 1995, the airport was called Sahar International Airport and the railway station was called Victoria Terminus. They were renamed after the BJP-Shiv Sena came to power in 1995.

The demand for renaming of places across India gathered steam after the BJP-led NDA swept to power in 2014. In April 2016, the Haryana government under ML Khattar renamed Gurgaon to Gurugram in honour of Guru Dronacharya, The Hindu reported.

In October 2014, the NDA government cleared the way for renaming 12 cities in Karnataka. As a result, Bangalore became Bengaluru, Mangalore became Mangaluru and Mysore became Mysuru, in line with their Kannada pronunciation.

According to a report in DNA, the RSS has also demanded that Gujarat's Ahmedabad, Telangana's Hyderabad and Mahrashtra's Aurangabad be renamed Karnavati, Bhagyanagar and Sambhaji Nagar respectively.
If there is one place in the country where demonetisation had little to no effect, it is in Kashmir. Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes ceased to be legal tender in the wake of the announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi  as part of an effort 'to weed out black money from the economy'. And while the rest of country is grappling with the cash crunch with serpentine queues outside ATMs, such mayhem has not been witnessed in Kashmir.

Experts say that although the ongoing unrest is partially responsible for this phenomenon, there are other factors that have contributed to demonetisation having a limited effect in the state. When the armed insurgency erupted in the Valley in the early 1990s, there were widespread allegations of money being looted by forces as well as militants from the homes of people, said noted businessman and economist, Shakeel Qalender.

Rather then keeping money in their homes during the turmoil, it became a habit for people to deposit it in banks, Qalender said.

Although in the three initial days of demonetisation, a mild rush was witnessed in banks across the Valley and in Jammu, the Jammu and Kashmir Bank was quick to issue a notification, asking officials to deal in available cash for the time being, something to which they happily agreed.

All employees are being credited salaries online and new schemes like NREGA and others also credit money into people's accounts. Contractors get their money deposited into their accounts through online mechanisms. Most people in Jammu and Kashmir have banks accounts, Qalender said.

Jammu and Kashmir has a working force of an estimated 42.5 lakh (out of the total population of 1.34 crore); a third of this is associated with agrarian activities while the rest is in the public and private sector. The state has around 2,000 bank branches which means one bank branch for every 6,500 people. In the first few days after the demonetisation announcement, one branch was dealing with at least 2,000 customers, besides having post offices and other financial institutions. Nearly 1,200 branches are operated by the Jammu and Kashmir Bank and the rest by other public and private sector banks. A majority of the state's banking business  at least 65 percent  is conducted by the Jammu and Kashmir Bank while another 10 to 20 percent is with other public sector banks.

Outside the state, many people, including Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, had said that because of demonetisation, stone-throwing incidents in Kashmir had reduced. Government figures and the measures taken to control the protests suggest otherwise. But, said Irshad Ahmad, a PhD student of economics at Kashmir University, The number of stone-pelting incidents came down drastically in September, not due to demonetisation, but following a general pattern of weariness and the crackdown on protesters.

In fact, the data released by the government shows that there was a general declining trend in the incidents of stone-pelting in Kashmir following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. In July, when Burhan was killed, the Valley witnessed 820 incidents of stone-pelting incidents which came down to 747 in August.

In September, the incidents further reduced to 535. From September to October, the number of stone pelting incidents decreased from 535 to 157, witnessing a 41.53 percent fall. Today, there has been an overall decrease of 87 percent in such incidents since July.

Former member of the board of directors, Jammu and Kashmir Bank, and noted economist, Professor Nisar Ali said the state's economic activity in terms of routine transactions had been put on hold for several months due to the ongoing unrest. He said consumers had deferred their expenditure because shops were not open and choices were not available.

Black money has already been converted into assets here. First, it is the land that is why land prices in Kashmir are higher than in Mumbai. Most of the black money got into the hands of the land mafia. The second is the real estate and the third is gold. So the liquidity with a black money-holder wasn't enough to generate panic, Ali said.

The ongoing conflict in the Valley is the reason that people with black money were able to evade the law for decades. Although in recent years, tax collection has significantly increased in the state, during earlier years, a majority avoided paying taxes.

During the 2015-16 Financial Year, the Commercial Taxes Department's collections alone stood at Rs 5,515.96 crore. Ali, however, is not impressed. How may times have I-T people carried out raids here? Not a single instance in the past two decades. The function of such organisations is literally zero here.

Now the money, which you keep at your home as a safety cushion, has been spent because of the five months of unrest. The money ended and it circulated from retailers to wholesalers and distributors. It went into the banks much before demonetisation forcibly brought it there," Ali said.
Teams of professionals are assisting the Indian Navy salvage INS Betwa, a naval frigate that tipped over at the Mumbai docks while it was being undocked on Monday.

According to The Asian Age report, "Teams of professional salvers, including from abroad, have reached the accident site to assess the damage with more teams expected to arrive later."

The Navy said that it's determined to salvage the frigate and make it fighting-fit by 2018. Come what may, INS Betwa will be salvaged. The Indian Navy is looking at first to make the flipped ship stand upright, then to assess the damage and to undertake salvage operations and finally to make it battle-ready by 2018. Every equipment that the ship had can be made indigenously, Indian Navy spokesperson Captain DK Sharma told the newspaper.

According to a report in Free Press Journal, the team is expected to complete its initial assessment within a couple of days on the extent of damage the battleship has suffered and chalk out plans to make the 126-metre frigate upright.

INS Betwa, a Brahmaputra-class guided missile warship (F-39), slipped on the dock blocks during a refit at about 1.50 pm on Monday. Weighing around 3,850-tonne, with a length of 126 metres, the ship fell sideways while it was being undocked for return to water thus breaking the main mast of the frigate. The accident claimed two lives and injured 15 others.

Mortal remains of sailors consigned to flames

The mortal remains of sailor Ashutosh Pande, who lost his life in the mishap were consigned to flames with full military honours at his hometown in Sagar, Madhya Pradesh.

His body was brought by a Navy plane to Dhana airstrip near here and then was taken to his home in Sadbhavna Nagar in a military vehicle for the last rites. His kin and a large number of people were present for the cremation which took place on the 10th Battalion cremation ground on Wednesday.

However, reportedly no senior official from the district administration attended the cremation.

A "miscalculation of balance"

Meanwhile, Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar has called the incident a "miscalculation of balance". Parrikar explained that when a ship undergoes refit, a lot of machines and fixtures like propeller, engine, etc are removed due to which the balance gets disturbed.

"You are supposed to maintain it. Something must have gone wrong in that," he said on Wednesday while responding to a question as to whether the INS Betwa accident showed Navy's inability to absorb high technology.

He also said that a Board of Inquiry is on and it will pinpoint the reasons.

The Board of Inquiry, formed on Tuesday, is headed by rear Admiral Deepak Bali and Flag-Officer Offshore Defence Advisory Group.

The ship had run aground in January 2014 and collided with an unidentified object which led to a crack in its sonar system, and had also seen salt water ingress into sensitive equipment.

Named after the river Betwa, the frigate has been in service for over 12 years. It was indigenously designed and built with the capability to operate at extended ranges, with speeds up to 30 knots.

It is one of the key warships of the Western Naval Command. It is armed with Uran anti-ship missiles, Barak 1 surface-to-air missiles and torpedoes.

With input from agencies
Bhopal: Congress MLAs created ruckus in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly today demanding discussion on their adjournment notice on the alleged corruption in the month-long Simhastha-Kumbh mela held in Ujjain this year following which the House was adjourned till 3 PM.

The Congress members including, acting Leader of Opposition Bala Bachchan and others, had given a notice for discussion on the alleged Simhastha scam and demanded constitution of a joint committee of MLAs to probe it.

Congress MLA Jitu Patwari raised the issue during the Question Hour and continued with their protest in Zero Hour also. The party legislators rushed to the well of the House and raised slogans against the government and Speaker Sitasaran Sharma on the issue.

They alleged that the government has provided different figures related to budgetary allocation and expenditure on Simhastha and it smacks of corruption.

Patwari said the previous session of the Assembly was told on July 19 this year, that the total budgetary allocation for Simhastha was Rs 2,771.65 crore whereas the total amount spent was Rs 2,000.93 crore.

"However, in reply to my today's question on the same issue, the House was told that the budgetary allocation for Simhastha was Rs 2,344.28 crore, while the expendture was Rs 2,150.63 crore," he said.

"This means there is a difference of Rs 427.37 crore in the budgetary allocation and Rs 149.7 crore in expenditure," Patwari said and demanded a discussion on the issue.

To this, the state Home Minister and the in-charge minister for Simhasta, Bhupendra Singh said if the Opposition has any evidence regarding corruption in Simhastha, it should table it in the House, instead of creating ruckus.

The Urban Administration and Development Minister Maya Singh said all information related to Simhastha was already given to members.

"It (Simhastha) had been organised in such a good manner that it was lauded by the people at national and international level," she said.

However, Patwari alleged that even the government has given different figures in Parliament on the issue and insisted that a discussion should take place on the matter.

When the Speaker did not budge and asked them to come to his chamber to discuss the matter, Congress members rushed to the well of the House raising slogans against the government and the chair.

Amid uproar, the Speaker first adjourned the House for 10 minutes and later when the same situation prevailed during the Zero Hour, the chair adjourned it till 3 PM.
The debate on validity of triple talaq intensified after the Allahabad High Court on Thursday termed the system as unconstitutional. The court added that it is the Constitution of India that is supreme and not the Muslim Law Board. The high court bench said that Triple Talaq violated human rights and that personal law of any community cannot be above the Constitution.

#FLASH Allahabad High Court says "triple talaq is unconstitutional, it violates the rights of Muslim women"  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) December 8, 2016

"No Personal Law Board is above the Constitution," says Allahabad High Court  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) December 8, 2016

The observation comes in the wake of discussion and debate getting vocal about the validity of Muslim Law Board and this statement by Allahabad High Court is a boost for women petitioners involved in the case of triple talaq.

Coming down heavily on triple talaq, the court called it instant divorce, and said it's "most demeaning" and "impedes and drags India from becoming a nation". "The question which disturbs the court is  should Muslim wives suffer this tyranny for all times? Should their personal law remain so cruel towards these unfortunate wives? Whether the personal law can be amended suitably to alleviate their sufferings? The judicial conscience is disturbed at this monstrosity," a single judge bench of Justice Suneet Kumar said.

"Muslim law, as applied in India, has taken a course contrary to the spirit of what the Prophet or the Holy Quran laid down and the same misconception vitiates the law dealing with the wife's right to divorce", he said.

"The purpose of law in a modern, secular state...is to bring about social change. The Muslim community comprise a large percentage of Indian population, therefore, a large section of citizens, in particular women, cannot be left to be governed by archaic customs and social practice under the garb of personal law purportedly having divine sanction", the court observed.

"India is a nation in the making, geographical boundaries alone do not define a nation. It is to be adjudged, among others, on the parameter of overall human development and how the society treats its women; leaving such a large population to the whims and fancies of a personal law which perpetuates gender inequality and is regressive, is not in the interest of the society and the country. It impedes and drags India from becoming a nation", the court remarked.

The court observed, "Divorce is permissible in Islam only in case of extreme emergency. When all efforts for effecting a reconciliation have failed, the parties may proceed to a dissolution of marriage by talaq or by 'khola'. The view that the Muslim husband enjoys an arbitrary, unilateral power to inflict instant divorce does not accord with Islamic injunctions.It is a popular fallacy that a Muslim husband enjoys, under the Quranic Law, unbridled authority to liquidate the marriage."

"The whole Quran expressly forbids a man to seek pretexts for divorcing his wife, so long as she remains faithful and obedient to him," the court said in an order dated 5 November.

"The Islamic law gives to the man primarily the faculty of dissolving the marriage, if the wife, by her indocility or her bad character, renders the married life unhappy; but in the absence of serious reasons, no man can justify a divorce, either in the eye of religion or the law", the court said.

The court made the observations while dismissing the petition of Hina, a 23-year-old woman, and her husband who was

30 years her senior and had married her "after effecting triple talaq to his wife".

Speaking with CNN-News18 Kamal Farooqui of All India Muslim Personal Law Board said, "This is not a judgment, just an observation." Adding to that Congress' Rashid Alvi said, "This view of the Allahabad High court won't stand in the Supreme Court. I don't agree with what the Allahabad HC has to say. No one is above the Constitution and nobody should interfere in the practises of any community."

Other ministers reacted to High Court's observation:

Islam is 1 of most progressive religions about women's rights. Talaq is part of Sharia law, no interference should be there: Kamal Faruqui pic.twitter.com/210VRuTkzn  ANI (@ANI_news) December 8, 2016

Constitution gives me right to follow my religion. Its observation by court, not decision: Kamal Faruqui All India Muslim Personal Law Board pic.twitter.com/kqxLiEvtT8  ANI (@ANI_news) December 8, 2016

It is a progressive move by the court (on triple talaq). Only some orthodox people are objecting to it: R.K Singh, BJP pic.twitter.com/kbttCb4FRq  ANI (@ANI_news) December 8, 2016

It is a progressive decision (triple talaq) by court, should be welcomed by all regardless of political affiliations: Meenakshi Lekhi, BJP pic.twitter.com/awRjMb24Xa  ANI (@ANI_news) December 8, 2016

There is no Sharia law in country, if there was people's head/hand would be cut off Decision will benefit Muslim community: Meenakshi Lekhi pic.twitter.com/UdbbpzzByH  ANI (@ANI_news) December 8, 2016

This should have happened long ago, I am happy that my Muslim sisters will have more rights in life: Renuka Chowdhury, Congress pic.twitter.com/m8dDRJb7ZF  ANI (@ANI_news) December 8, 2016

I am happy that my Muslim sisters have a little more security, dignity to their lives: Renuka Chowdhury,Congress on Triple talaq pic.twitter.com/UUMrcibyQo  ANI (@ANI_news) December 8, 2016

Its an idea that has come of age;Happy my Muslim sisters have more security to their lives: Renuka Chowdhury on verdict on triple talaq pic.twitter.com/bhnEfivKmc  ANI (@ANI_news) December 8, 2016

The Muslim Law Board has announced that it will file a petition against the order. The issue is expected to gain more ground and the matter of arbitrary divorce debated upon after this order. The controversial Shah Bano maintenance case in 1986 raged a debate on the rights of Muslim women and their exploitation on the grounds of Triple Talaq, a personal law that allows muslim man to divorce his wife by uttering the word 'talaq' three times.

This order will also embolden the advocates of Uniform Civil Code and bring the personal law boards under pressure. Considering the upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, this decision gains more significance. On 23 November, Union home minister Rajnath Singh had said that muslim women cannot be treated like second class citizens in a developing country like India and he termed the Triple Talaq as a burning issue.

On the issue of 'triple talaq', the Centre had in an affidavit in the Supreme Court last month opposed the practice. The AIMPLB and various other outfits have objected to the affidavit and Law Commission's questionnaire on Uniform Civil Code and announced their boycott of the move, accusing the government of waging a "war" against the community.

In an appeal issued on 7 October, the Commission had said the objective of the endeavour was to address discrimination against vulnerable groups and harmonise various cultural practices.

In the appeal, it has assured the people that the "norms of no one class, group or community will dominate the tone and tenor of family law reforms". Indicating need for wider consultation before taking a call on Uniform Civil Code, the government had in June asked the Law Commission to examine the issue.

The move asking the law panel to examine the issue assumes significance as the Supreme Court had recently said it would prefer a wider debate, in public as well as in court, before taking a decision on the constitutional validity of triple talaq, which many complain is abused by Muslim men to arbitrarily divorce their wives.
New Delhi: Opposition leaders on Thursday observed a 'Black Day' in Parliament premises to mark one month of the announcement of demonetisation, with Rahul Gandhi launching a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying his "foolish decision" has "devastated" the country.

Leading the protest, Gandhi accused Modi of shying away from having a discussion on the issue in Parliament, but stressed that opposition parties will "not let him run away" from both Houses, where "everything will become clear" once the Prime Minister takes part in debate.

Speaking to reporters in Parliament premises, he said the Prime Minister is "having nice time" and has over the past one month "changed his narrative" on the issue while people are reeling under hardships.

Besides Congress, leaders of all opposition parties including TMC, CPI(M), CPI, JD(U), Samajwadi Party joined the protest wearing black band on their arms.

"The Prime Minister took this so-called bold decision. The bold decision can also be a foolish decision. And this was a foolish decision, it has devastated the country. More than 100 people have died. Farmers, fishermen, daily wage earners have been hit hard.

"He (the Prime Minister) is laughing. He is having a nice time, while the people of the country are suffering," Gandhi said.

"So, he is switching from one issue to another. And we are going to catch him inside the House. He is not going to be able to run inside the House," he said.

Referring to the Prime Minister's cashless economy talk, Gandhi said, "There is this concept of PayTM. Pay to Modi, that's the idea behind cashless economy. That's few people should get maximum benefit from cash transactions."

Gandhi once again demanded a debate in Lok Sabha on demonetisation under a rule which entails voting and claimed some BJP MPs too will support the opposition's demand.

"We know people in BJP will vote in our favour if such debate is allowed. If he (Modi) speaks inside...doodh ka doodh aur pani ka pani ho jayega (everything will become clear)," he said.

On his "Pay to Modi" jibe, Gandhi said he will explain on his allegation inside Lok Sabha if allowed to speak.
Exactly a month after the Rs 1,000 note, lovingly known as "Ek Hazaar" and its younger brother the equally loved "Panch Saw" were taken into custody by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), it is believed that the older brother has met its end under mysterious circumstances.

Tight-lipped RBI officials declined to give any details of what occurred and attempted to divert the attention by underscoring their success in releasing a slimmer and more robust avatar of the younger brother into circulation.



Since Panch Saw has refused to make any statement, what transpired behind the closed doors is not known, but the sad, if yet unconfirmed demise of the highly loved Ek Hazar has sent a wave of sorrow through its supporter and fans.

A weeping businessman said that the bringing in of a muscleman twice the size of Ek Hazaar and then falling back on the weak younger brother of the deceased was a dreadful situation. Asking not to be identified, he confided that the inside story indicates there are irreconcilable differences between the newly inducted bully called "Do Hazaar" and the popular Panch Saw, the gap between them being literally unbridgeable.

They are not even on speaking terms, he said, But dont quote me on it.

It is believed that Panch is deeply upset about the way his older brother was treated and sees Do Hazaar as an impostor and a nuisance.

Official RBI sources rejected the theory that there had been a bungling within its premises leading to the death of Ek Hazaar.

Even now the RBI spokesman was not prepared to confirm the passing away of the once powerful leader of the fiscal party whose influence had been all pervasive.

When confronted with the fact that not a single bulletin had been issued over the past thirty days with regard to the health of the Rs 1,000 note and the public's right to know what exactly the position was, the RBI spokesman said Ek Hazar was in custody as a precautionary measure against corruption, and was hale and hearty and would soon be released.

But exactly thirty days after being stripped of its powers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Arvind Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi were seen making a beeline for the RBI main office. The RBI governor was closeted with them on the top floor leading to the speculation that something had gone wrong.

If Rahul Gandhi had gone there it could only mean the note had gone to its heavenly abode.

As people began to gather outside the RBI one staunch supporter of Ek Hazaar said, If the news is true we now have no second line of defence. No economic pyramid. The people have been left in the lurch and no one is telling us what has happened."

According to sources Ek Hazaar, once the bulwark of the Indian financial system was a victim of shortsightedness and poor medical treatment. Seeing as how the younger brother was resurrected it is pretty much inconceivable that the older sibling is allegedly dead.

A famous economist who had been flown in from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said he believed this was a case of eco-medical malpractice because nowhere in the world is the top currency followed by one worth 25 percent in value.

The trauma is so massive, he added, That an amputated currency totem pole will forever limp along despite any prosthetic that may be recommended. If Ek Hazaar is actually dead, it is indeed a very sad day for the Indian economy."
The Allahabad High Court on 8 December delivered its judgment on the very sensitive issue of triple talaq, a judgment that's sure to have legal as well as political implications, and will have a lasting impact on the future of gender equality in the country. The court said that the practice of triple talaq is unconstitutional, and is by all means, a violation of rights of Muslim women.

Triple talaq or talaq-ul-biddat is a patriarchal Islamic practice of divorce where the man has a right to obtain divorce, instantly, by the mere unequivocal statement of the word "talaq" three successive times. The practice grants men the unbridled power to dissolve a marriage with a single word, without the consent of the wife.

For years, this form of divorce has been debated by legal experts as well as academicians. In addition, women's rights activists have also called for the reform of the Muslim personal law that discriminates against women, contributing to violence and abuse, and is against the right to equality.

The order of the Allahabad High Court, calling the practice cruel and demeaning to Muslim women, declared: "No Personal Law Board is above the Constitution." A single judge bench of Justice Suneet Kumar, who passed the order while hearing the petition of an aggrieved woman whose husband had arbitrarily divorced her, stated: "The personal laws of any community cannot claim supremacy over the rights granted to the individuals by the Constitution."

He also stated that, "Muslim law, as applied in India, has taken a course contrary to the spirit of what the Prophet or the Holy Quran laid down and the same misconception vitiates the law dealing with the wife's right to divorce [...] it is a popular fallacy that a Muslim male enjoys, under the Quranic Law, unbridled authority to liquidate the marriage."

Several previous Supreme Court judgments have also attempted to invalidate the infamous practice of triple talaq. In 2002, Shamim Ara v. State of UP and Anr. held that talaq-ul-biddat, though, instantaneous, does not dissolve a marriage nor end the liability of a husband to pay nafaqah or maintenance. In essence, the landmark ruling invalidated arbitrary triple talaq, and became precedent for numerous high court rulings involving Muslim divorce law.

In Bombay High Court judgments such as Najmunbee v S.K. Sikander S.K. Rehman (2004) and Dagdu Pathan v Rahimbi Pathan (2002), it was held that a husband does not have the unrestrained and arbitrary power to repudiate a marriage at will.

Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahali of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) said the practice cannot be unconstitutional, as "...the practice is a part of Islamic law. The personal law is an integral part of Islam and the two cannot be seen in isolation."

He has said that he will appeal against this decision.

At this point, there is another plea, of Shayara Bano's, pending discussion and judgment at the Supreme Court. Bano has challenged the constitutional validity of three rules relating to a Muslim nikah: Triple talaq or talaq-ul-biddat; nikah halala  a practice by which a divorced couple can remarry each other only if the wife marries a second time, consummates this marriage, and then the second marriage is dissolved through death or divorce; and a Muslim man's right to have four wives (polygamy). Shayara Bano was subjected to an instantaneous triple talaq by her husband after 15 years of marriage, last October. Her plea moves the apex court to declare these repulsive practices as illegal as they clash with fundamental rights under Article 14 (equality before the law), 15 (prohibition of discrimination), 21 (right to life) and 25 (freedom of religion).

The Shayara Bano case will change the way religious personal law interacts with the Constitution, and in all likelihood, will reform Muslim Personal Law in India as well. Nevertheless, this Allahabad High Court judgement paves the road to gender justice and the dismantling of patriarchal tenets by Muslim clerics.
The burning issue of triple talaq is back again with the Allahabad High courts observation that the Muslims practice of divorcing their wives by uttering the word "talaq" thrice is unconstitutional, as several media outlets have reported.

"Personal laws of any community cannot claim supremacy over the rights granted to the individuals by the constitution," the high court stated.

Court and Constitution

A strongly-worded article in Firstpost has commented on the high courts observation: "The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and some other Muslim organisations which have been aggressively defending triple talaq, citing the holy Quran, may not like the courts judgment but it's better they understood that the Indian Constitution makes itself very clear on the rights of individuals and no amount of creative interpretation of the concession to communities would change that."

AIMPLB and Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind

Indeed, it is for the Supreme Court to look into the intricacies of such a fragile matter and come with a verdict which is in compliance with the Indian Constitution and, at the same time, with the Quran so that it may be acceptable to all Muslims. However, we cannot leave the issue to the desecration of the self-imposed custodians of Islam and Muslims in India like the or the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind (JUH). For, these self-proclaimed apex bodies of the Indian Muslims make use of such serious issues only to maintain their political hegemony over Muslims in the country. An earlier article in Firstpost has candidly exposed how the religiopolitical wings like the AIMPLB maintain its monopoly over the Muslim affairs in India using issues like the triple talaq as a political ploy.

In this political gimmick, both the AIMPLB and the JUH enjoy a huge support of the two diametrically-opposed Muslim sects  the Muqallids (those who follow any of the four Islamic schools of law) and the Ghair Muqallids or the Ahle-Hadisi/Salafis who dont follow any of them.

Since its inception, the AIMPLB has been dominated by the males. But now it has also created a women wing which is nothing short of a group that supports the misplaced patriarchy in the name of Islamic Shariah. Isnt it a great irony that the AIMPLB has decided for the first time in its long history, to form its women wing only to support the patriarchal power of executing triple talaq? Why didnt it take cognizance of the need for a female-oriented body to go into other issues concerning Muslim women? After the creation of the AIMPLBs women wing, it has been directed only to engage with the pro-personal-laws signature campaign in order to tackle the Law Commissions questionnaire.

As for the JUHs take on triple talaq, it has been good for nothing. Worst of all, it has confused the entire Muslim community in India which looks up to the JUH as a body of the high-profile Deobandi clergy. Recently, the JUH held its 33rd annual conference in Ajmer, where it clearly castigated the triple talaq as un-Islamic, while at the same time opposing any proposals for a Uniform Civil Code.

But, on the contrary, the JUH showed completely different colors when it proclaimed in clearer words that "triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy are well rooted and that there cannot be any room for the states interference in the personal laws. In its counter affidavit, the JUH stated that the Muslim personal law has an element of certainty and is not local or regional in operation. "There is no scope for interference with the Muslim Personal Law, which is based on primarily the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad, explained and applied by various scholars of great antiquity and authority after thorough research," it said.

Quran vs Constitution?

Much against the prevailing perception in the community, the Quran is full compliance with the Constitution on matters of talaq (divorce) and zawaj (marriage). In a very coherent and logical manner, the holy Quran prescribes a three-month waiting period for a woman undergoing the divorce process (2:228). The Quran issues an injunction for a divorce-giver man to formally articulate his intention at least twice over the period in the presence of witnesses (2:229). Moreover, in a couple of verses, Quran also stresses that there should be time-framing (2:231, 65:2).

Many Quran exegetes have noted that it was a rampant custom in the pre-Islamic Arabia, in the era of ignorance (jahiliyyah), that men could abandon their wives simply declaring, You are to me like my mothers back, as the Quran itself narrates (58:2). In a stark contradiction to the Quranic pronouncements, triple talaq has been a nefarious instance of pre-Islamic Arabian patriarchy. Heres is what the Quran pronounces in so many words and verses. A few instances:

"Divorced women shall wait by themselves for three monthly periods, for it is not lawful for them, if they believe in God and the Last Day, to conceal what God has created in their wombs. (2:228). (O men, you must) pronounce the divorce over two occasions. Thereafter live together (with your mates) honourably, or part with (Tasrihu) them honourably. (2:229).

"And if you divorce women, and they reach (the end of) their term, then either live together honorably, or part with (Sarrihu) them honorably, but do not keep them to injure them, (or) to exceed limits. Anyone who does that merely wrongs his own soul" (2:231).

"And when they reach (the end of) their term, then either live together honourably, or part with (Fariqu) them honorably, calling to witness two just members from among yourselves and uphold the evidence (as) before God. This is to instruct anyone who believes in God and the Last Day. (Remember,) God will find a way out for anyone who heeds Him" (65:2).

An in-depth and objective probe into the above Quranic injunctions clearly reveal that the Quran is compatible with the Constitution. This compliance becomes more patently clear in the operative part of the high court's latest observation:

"Muslim law, as applied in India, has taken a course contrary to the spirit of what the Prophet or the Holy Quran laid down and the same misconception vitiates the law dealing with the wife's right to divorce. The divorce is permissible in Islam only in cases of extreme emergency. When all efforts for effecting a reconciliation have failed, the parties may proceed to a dissolution of the marriage by 'Talaq' or by 'Khola'. The statement that "the whimsical and capricious divorce by the husband is good in law, though bad in theology" cannot be approved as the correct law. The correct law of talaq as ordained by the Holy Quran is that talaq must be for a reasonable cause and be preceded by attempts at reconciliation between the husband and the wife by two arbiters- one from the wife's family and the other from the husband's; if the attempts fail, talaq may be effected. (Ref: Pathayi v. Moideen 1968 KLT 763; A. Yousuf Rawther Vs. Sowramma, AIR 1971 Kerala 261; referred to with approval by the Supreme Court in Shamim Ara vs State Of U.P. & another : 2002 (7) SCC 518)."

However, the problem with common Muslims in India is that they buy the misconstrued Quranic texts from the rapacious mullahs and self-serving maulvis. An earlier article in Firstpost has shown how the concept of Halalah (marriage of his former wife to another person in a bid to reclaim his reunion with her), which has fully different connotation in the Quran (2: 230), is grossly misconstrued and ill-practiced in the Muslim society.

But the JUH still seeks to rescue those who stage-manage the nikah-e- halala. Such ill-designed statements degrade women even in the 21st century India. Similar is the brazen violation of the Quranic verses (4:2, 3 and 127) which pertain to polygamy. Any insight into the Quran unravels that polygamy in Islam was validated under strict conditions. It was primarily institutionalised to safeguard women and orphaned children living in an intolerant Arabian society. But it is quite difficult for the short-sighted minds of the mullahs to comprehend it today. The related verses in the Quran permitted a restricted polygamy under the exceptional circumstances only.

Those with perverted minds will have to go back by 1,400 years to perceive the context under which polygamy was permissible. Since the pro-polygamy verses in the Quran were contextual, they cannot be given primacy over the universal Quranic verses which are always applicable to us. Needless to say, most verses in the Quran enjoin gender justice, equality, egalitarianism and a women-friendly Islam. Azizah al-Hibri has rightly put it: "The fundamental notion in the Qur'an is that of justice, and justice is gender equality."

MJ Akbar, the Union minister who has been a member of the Forum of Islamic Scholars, has masterly stated: "You cannot deny gender equality to any being. Denial of gender rights is against the Sharia [read Islam]. Anyone who has a deep understanding of the Quranic law will never have the courage to argue. He will simply not."

The author is a scholar of comparative religion, classical Arabic and Islamic sciences, cultural analyst and researcher in media and communication Studies. Views are personal. He tweets at @GRDehlvi.
The Indian Constitution makes some concession for minority communities, religious and otherwise, alright, but it certainly does not say that it would be exercised to the detriment of individuals within the community. It allows every Indian a set of rights, as individuals, not as part of any larger group. Any conflict between the rights of the individual and the privileges of the community has to be viewed from the perspective of the former. The Allahabad High Courts ruling on Thursday, which says that the practice of triple talaq violates the rights of Muslim women, is thus in perfect agreement with the spirit of our Constitution.

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and some other Muslim organisations which have been aggressively defending triple talaq, citing the holy Quran, may not like the courts judgment but it's better they understood that the Indian Constitution makes itself very clear on the rights of individuals and no amount of creative interpretation of the concession to communities would change that. It is possible they would provide a communal spin to the judgement but the fact is Constitution is a neutral document. Its principles apply as much to Muslims as to Hindus and other communities.

In reaction to the Supreme Courts observation on the issue earlier, the AIMPLB had said that the court was 'trying to rewrite personal laws in the name of social reform'. Now, if the court did not come to protect the individual, then who would? And what is so wrong with social reform in the first place? Societies evolve by making continuous adjustments to emerging situations within and without. Forces of conservatism accommodate new views while trying their best to keep the core of the faith intact.

That the Muslim community in India has been a spectacular failure in evolving with the times has a lot to do with organisations like the AIMPLB, which do not even think it is ridiculous to openly defend polygamy and the practice of triple talaq. The trouble with the community has been the virtual silence  call it indifference if you please  of its intellectual class on the institutionalised injustice and unfairness within. The absence of debates inside the community on matters society and individual are curiously invisible. How come, for example, no one raised this question on triple talaq: If so many countries have changed to make it woman-friendly what is the problem of the AIMPLB with making a similar change in India?

With the community not ready to address their problems it is obvious that the aggrieved would move courts. The latter would not be guided by the laws of the community but the Indian Constitution. In this case, the community has no reason to cry foul. The organisations unhappy with the judgement have decided to approach the Supreme Court for justice. It is within their rights, but a better idea would be to sit back and introspect.

They cannot resist change forever  the access allowed to women inside Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai is a case in point. They also cannot afford to be in conflict with rights of individuals under the pretext of protecting faith forever. It is for their own survival that they need to be wiser.
Visakhapatnam: Former bureaucrat EAS Sarma has sought the de-registration of the BJP and the Congress for violation the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) by accepting donations from foreign sources.

In a letter to the Election Commission, the former Secretary said if the Commission failed to initiate proceedings to deregister both the parties forthwith, he would be forced to seek judicial intervention.

"Since both BJP and INC (Indian National Congress) have violated FCRA (1976) and FCRA (2010) by accepting donations from foreign sources, thereby infringing the Proviso to Section 29B of the Representation of the People Act (RPA) of 1951, they should be deemed to have violated the conditions precedent to their registration under Section 29A of RPA (1951)," he wrote.

The former IAS officer, who has been fighting against the deficiencies in the Indian democratic system, referred to the judgement of the Delhi High Court of 28 March 2014.

The court had asked the government and the Election Commission to act against the two political parties for accepting foreign funds.

It had directed the Home Ministry and Election Commission to "relook and reappraise the receipts of the political parties and identify foreign contributions received by foreign sources" and act within six months.

Sarma, who was petitioner in the case along with the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), pointed out that both the BJP and Congress filed Special Leave Petitions (SLPs) in the Supreme Court.

The apex court on 29 November this year dismissed the petitions as both the parties withdrew their petitions.

Sarma said the government did not comply with the High Court for for more than 26 months, thereby prima facie committing contempt of the court directive.

"I have separately issued a notice to the Union Home Ministry that it should comply with the above cited court direction within 15 days failing which I will approach the Delhi High Court to intiate contempt of court proceedings," he added.
Srinagar: Alleging some policemen had assaulted him in Anantnag district last week, Jammu and Kashmir Independent legislator Sheikh Abdul Rashid on Thursday said he would move a privilege motion in the Assembly in this regard.

"There was an attack, a murderous assault, on me on 2 December by some police officials... It was not just a physical attack but it has also destroyed my ego and self-respect. I have decided to file a privilege motion in the Assembly against the attack," Rashid told reporters in Srinagar.

The legislator, who represents north Kashmir's Langate in the Assembly, said the incident took place when he was on way to Dooru area of Anantnag for offering condolences to the family of Sajad Ahmad Malik.

Police had claimed that Malik was a history-sheeter and had decamped with a rifle from a police station after which he fired towards an army patrol where he was killed in the exchange of firing.

However, Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) has claimed that Malik was an ex-sarpanch belonging to the party and termed the killing as a "politically motivated custodial murder".

Rashid said on the way to Dooru, he was stopped by police at Khanbal, Anantnag and told that he cannot go further.

"I was manhandled, my clothes were torn, they abused me, kicked me and hit me with gun barrels. They then took me in their vehicle to Bijbehara police station, where a senior police was apologetic about the attack," he said, adding the Deputy Inspector General of Police concerned told him that the Station Head Officer and a sub-inspector have been placed under suspension.

The legislator said he has also approached Chief Judicial Magistrate, Anantnag for filing a case.

"We have approached the CJM, Anantnag. He took cognizance of the matter and received my application. He has fixed 24 December as the date of hearing in the matter," he said.

He said his Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) would take out a peaceful march on the occasion of World Human Rights Day on 10 December in Srinagar.
This is a picture that would haunt the Congress in Tamil Nadu.

Party vice president Rahul Gandhi and senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad were caught by the cameras smiling during the funeral ceremony of AIADMK leader and former chief minister J Jayalalithaa on 6 December while the crowds around them were wailing. The photo, which also had newly appointed state Congress chief S Thirunavukkarasar in the frame, not surprisingly, went viral.

The photo may turn out to be an albatross round the state units neck each time it makes an effort to mark its presence.

As it is the state Congress has been in somnolence  some would call it coma  in Tamil Nadu, the southern state that elects 39 MPs to Lok Sabha and 234 legislators to the state assembly. Even Rip Van Winkle, the fictional character in Washington Irvings story, woke up after two decades  only to find that the people and the landscape around him had dramatically changed. But five decades after it was overrun by the Dravidian parties in 1967, the 130-year-old party has failed to shake itself out from its deep slumber.

The tell-tale photo, notwithstanding will it be able to do so now?

State of flux

Tamil Nadu is presently in a situation of flux  notwithstanding the veneer of stability  following Jayalalithaas death on 5 December. Parties have already started to reposition themselves in an effort to carve out a slice of the vast space left behind by the 68-year-old charismatic filmstar-turned-political leader who was revered as Amma by lakhs of followers. Jayalalithaas man for all crises, O Panneerselvan is once again chief minister and her confidante Sasikala may continue to call the shots, with the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for one, trying to ensure that the AIADMK is not disturbed, destabilised, split or poached upon as its 138 legislators and 51 MPs would be critical for it in the mid-2017 presidential and vice-presidential polls.

At the same time, the other major force in the state, the DMK has been in the process of overhauling itself as its supreme leader, the wheelchair bound 92-year-old ailing M Karunanidhi has still to sort out the internecine succession battle in the family though his son MK Stalin is tipped to take over from him. Stalin seems to have established his credentials by ensuring that the DMK emerged as a strong opposition force in 2016 with 89 MLAs in the AIADMK dominated Tamil Nadu assembly. But a divided family bodes ill for the DMK.

In a way, the state is going through a crisis of leadership.

Can the Congress stand up and make itself be counted in the new situation? Can it inveigle its way into the reckoning?

Factionalism and infighting

As in any other state, the Congress is Tamil Nadu is riven with dissensions, infighting and factionalism, with the central leadership unable to deal with it. Ever since its debacle in 2014, it has been seized with convulsions that bled the party further. Former Union minister GK Vasan split from the Congress and veteran leader Jayanti Natarajan quit the party after the 2014 polls. So did it its former state unit chief BS Gnanadesikan. In June 2016, EVKS Elangovan resigned as state Congress chief when the party got only eight seats and 6.4 percent votes in the assembly polls  three seats more and three percentage points less than its 2011 show.

"We do not have a leader or an organisation in the state which can tap the opportunity," wailed a senior Congress leader. Though the party has national leaders from Tamil Nadu in the likes of P Chidambaram and Mani Shankar Aiyar, it has a limited pool in selecting its state chief.

Indeed, the Congress high command took almost three months to choose Elangovans successor. But instead of papering the cracks or inspiring the cadres, the appointment of 66-year-old Thirunavukkarasar added to the heartburning. Seen as a late comer and a party hopper, he had hobnobbed with the undivided DMK, the AIADMK and the BJP and even floated his own outfit, the MGR All India Anna DMK before joining the Congress in 2009. He was also a minister in the Vajpayee government.

What the Congress construes as an advantage is also perhaps its disadvantage in the state. As a national party with a long history, the Congress name and flag are easily recognised across the state. It has its own offices in different districts even if many of its workers have switched their loyalties or quit the scene as the partys fortunes dipped and those of regional forces rose. But along with this is the negativity of an aged party which failed to reinvent or rebrand itself in accordance with changing times, scenarios and demands, lost out in the popularity stakes and chose the soft option of surrendering its identity to regional forces so that it is now considered an outsider.

Shrinking base

For 50 years, Tamil Nadu has elected home-grown parties like the DMK or the AIADMK to power, reducing the once powerful Congress to an appendage that has been shrinking over time. And if this continues, as part of the non-adaptive evolutionary process, the Congress may soon wither away unless it wakes up to the herculean challenge of somehow reversing the trend that has even started corroding its Lok Sabha performance in the state.

Until now the Congress has been drawing comfort from the fact that even if it rode piggyback on the DMK or the AIADMK in the state, the alliance paid it dividends in the Lok Sabha polls. Barring five of the 16 general elections, the Congress benefited from it in Tamil Nadu.

While no party can be written off completely, there are ominous signs that this trend may not hold for long. In 2014, the Congress got a mere 44 Lok Sabha seats across the country and drew a blank in 19 states and Union Territories, including Tamil Nadu. Jayalalithaas party had walked away with all the 39 seats, much like the DMK- UPA had done in 2004. In the 2016 state elections, while the DMK won 89 seats, the Congress could rustle up just eight.

The big question is whether the Congress be able to use the changing situation in Tamil Nadu to arrest and reverse its decline? Not many would bet on it.
In a move that could bring cheer to the faces of many home-buyers, Maharashtra is all set to become the first state in India to implement the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, which has many provisions that will help new buyers, while penalising non-complying real estate developers.

The bill was passed in both Houses of the Parliament in May 2016. While the law has been passed by the Central government, the states have the power to amend rules and regulations. On Thursday, the Maharashtra government asked the common man for suggestions to the draft law  which has been uploaded to the government's official website. Suggestions for the draft bill will be accepted until 23 December.

"We will be the first state to implement this law. We are always there for the consumers. Any consumer who feels that he or she is facing any kind of injustice can approach the tribunal to address their grievances," Prakash Mehta, the housing minister said.

Some key features of the bill are:

1) Upto now, a builder usually sells the property based on the build up area. Built-up Area is the carpet area plus the outer walls. Once the new rules are implemented, builders have to instead sell the property on carpet area. Carpet Area is the area enclosed within the walls, actual area to lay the carpet. This will help customers to pay only the amount for the area they will be occupying.

2) Charges for parking area have to be shown in the official agreement.

3) The onus of completing a project within a particular time frame lies on the real estate developer, failing which the developer would face penalty and also be sentenced to three years in jail.

4) To protect customers from being fleecing by estate agents, every agent has to register himself with the government.

5) To tackle the problem of increasing ghettoisation in urban India, the law prohibits builders from barring any potential customer on the basis of religion, caste, cultural or food preferences.

6) A builder cannot change the layout plan of building without the written approval of about 66 per cent of the buyers.

7) To enable more transparency in property transaction, the builder has to give every detail regarding the project to the prospective buyer.

8) If there is any delay in delivering the property, or if the buyer is not satisfied with the property, then he or she can claim a full refund within 15 days of buying it. The builder can be penalised too.

To address the grievances of property buyers, the law mandates the formation of a Maharashtra Regulatory Authority Board as a tribunal. The tribunal will comprise of the chief justice of the high court, the law and judiciary secretary and the housing secretary.

Here's a more detailed look at the draft rules:

Key Features of the Draft Rules by Firstpost on Scribd
Auto refresh feeds

As the Parliament Winter Session reconvenes after a four-day break, it looks like the Opposition may finally get the debate on demonetisation it has been asking for, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi likely to attend all the remaining parliamentary proceedings, reports said on Wednesday.

According to The Indian Express, both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress has instructed their Member of Parliaments (MPs) to be present in both Houses for the rest of the session.

The news story, however, indicated that the government seems to have managed to convince the Opposition to forego its demand of a discussion under Rule 193, a primary demand of the Opposition  mostly Congress and Tirnamool Congress  that had lead to a deadlock in both the houses of Parliament since the beginning of the session. It will now be a no-rule discussion, it said.

As for the Opposition's second demand, which was that Prime Minister Modi should answer questions from the Opposition, CNN-News18 said that Modi is likely to attend the parliamentary proceedings. However, whether or not he will speak, remains unclear.

However, according to an NDTV report Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu said that Prime Minister Modi will be present in Parliament for the three remaining days of the Session and can participate in proceedings for either of the House depending on the need.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a meeting with key ministers before Parliament convenes this morning to decide their strategy," the report said.

The Opposition will discuss its strategy during the parliamentary proceedings on Wednesday in an Opposition party's meet at 9.30 am, CNN-News18 reported.

The Parliament's Winter Session has been facing a deadlock on demonetisation ever since it began on 16 November. While the Lok Sabha has managed to conduct two legislative actions  pass the Income Tax amendment bill and approve the Supplementary Demand for Grants  the Rajya Sabha, on the other hand, functioned normally only on the first sitting of the session when a debate on demonetisation took place for five hours.

While three bills related to Goods and Services Tax (GST), are unlikely to be cleared on Wednesday, The Indian Express said, "Rajya Sabha is likely to pass the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2014 in a brief remission of hostilities."

However, apart from the listed topics of business, the Parliamentary proceedings are likely to attract heated discussions on the arrest of former Air marshal, SP Tyagi, in relation to the AugustaWestland VIP chopper scam as well as BJP leader Kiren Rijiju's alleged corruption in the Arunachal Hydro Power project.
The President of India does not usually speak on contemporary domestic political situations; nor is he expected to. When he does speak on any such issue, however, it becomes all the more important for all Indians  more so the political class and the executive  to pay due attention.

So when President Pranab Mukherjee decided to vent his mind on Thursday, one can assume that his reasons were quite compelling. In an open attack on the Opposition over the Parliamentary paralysis, he said 'the House is not a place for dharna' and disruption which amounts to "gagging of majority" by the minority.

When both Houses of Parliament have been rendered useless and turned into an extension of Jantar Mantar (a popular protest site in New Delhi), the reasons behind his attack are not incomprehensible. He is, after all, the Head of State and the custodian of the Indian Parliament.

It is to be noted here that Mukherjee is one of the most respected political leaders in the country, a living Encyclopaedia and a man who has seen all kinds of political weathers  in government, in organisation, and in the Opposition. It was thus only appropriate that he intervened; not through a diktat, but through his sage counsel, which included admonition of the political class.

After watching daily disruptions of both Houses of Parliament over the demonetisation issue, Mukherjee decided to speak up at a function in New Delhi. His message was tough and he did not mince his words in expressing his anguish.

"For demonstration, you can choose any other place. But for God's sake, do your job. You are meant to transact business. You are meant to devote your time for exercising the authority of members, particularly Lok Sabha members over money and finance...Disruption means you are hurt, you are gagging majority. Majority never participates in this disruption. Only minority comes to the well, shouts slogans, stops the proceedings and creates a situation in which the Chair has no option but to adjourn the House," Mukherjee said.

"Disruption is totally unacceptable in Parliamentary system. People send representatives to speak and not to sit on dharna and not to create any trouble on the floor," he added. He made it clear that his intent was non-partisan and that it was meant for all concerned: "Fact remains that this (disruption) has become a practice which should not be acceptable at all. Whatever be the differences, we have the opportunity to speak our mind, to speak freely and no court can interfere in what I say on the floor of the House."

Incidentally, the President chose to convey his feelings on a day when the Opposition parties, led by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, staged yet another dharna in front of the Gandhi statue in Parliament; before disrupting the proceedings in both Houses of Parliament. Just a day before, veteran BJP leader LK Advani had expressed his anguish over the continued disruptions in Parliament.

Exactly a year ago in December 2015, in the midst of a similar winter session of Parliament that was disrupted by the Opposition on a daily basis, the President had come spoken strongly against the paralysis. While delivering the keynote address in memory of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in Kolkata, Mukherjee had said: There are three Ds through which Parliament functions. These are debate, dissent and decision. I never heard of the fourth D, which is disruptionParliamentary proceedings should not be disrupted by creating ruckus, there are several other places to do so.

Disruptions, once considered an extreme measure of parliamentary protest, has over the years become a trend. It seems that the Opposition thinks that a debate would effectively extinguish the issue in a day or two, and that continued disruptions over days, weeks or even for the entire session can help reap political dividend and compel the media to cover their protests on prime time debates and in newspapers.

They are, however, unmindful of the fact that unless the public mood is aligned with their stance on a subject, it builds a negative public perception about the party or the parties which force the daily adjournments.

For the sake of democracy, one can only hope that Congress, Trinamool Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, the Left Front, as well as the ruling BJP listen to and address the concerns of the President.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said that the constabulary being the backbone of police should be better trained and inculcated with the right attitude towards the public.

"The constabulary is the mainstay of our police forces, constituting 87 percent of the total strength. Improving the image of the constabulary is, therefore, critical to building public trust in the police," Singh said in his speech at the three-day Directors General and Inspectors General conference organised by the Intelligence Bureau.

He said a constable's job is arduous and hazardous besides the force is overstretched and performs multifarious duties without getting basic facilities.

"Many of them find it difficult to get a suitable accommodation and are even forced to live in slum areas. All our police stations do not provide basic facilities for women constables. It is not realistic to expect high levels of efficiency unless proper attention is paid to the living and working conditions of our men and women," the Prime Minister said.

Singh said police personnel must also be "adequately trained to upgrade their professional skills and inculcate the right attitude towards public. Promotions could be linked with training as is done in the Army."

Highlighting their role in the present security scenario, the Prime Minister said human intelligence capabilities need to be improved.

"The grassroots information and intelligence collection systems that have traditionally been a part of policing have languished or felt into disuse in some places.

"The role of a vigilant and effective beat constable can be vital in checking the activities of networks, which otherwise operate under radar. Some reorientation in the functioning at these cutting edge levels is necessary and the role of community policing should be emphasised," he said.

PTI
The Allahabad High Court on Thursday passed a judgment declaring triple talaq as 'unconstitutional' and said that it 'violates the rights of Muslim women.' The judgment has reignited the contentious debate around Muslim women rights and the divorce practices in the community.

The judgment itself has sparked off a huge debate on the legality of the order, which forms part of the judgment on a matter where the issue of triple talaq was not directly in contention. In judicial parlance, this is called 'Obiter Dictum', a Latin term that basically means that a judge's expression of opinion uttered in court or in a written judgment, which is not essential to the decision, is not legally binding as a precedent.

The issue of triple talaq, or oral talaq, is still being deliberated in the Supreme Court.

Legality of the issue notwithstanding, the fact that a judge of the Allahabad High Court has said in his judgment that triple talaq is 'unconstitutional' will have its own bearing. It has surely given a huge fillip to Muslim women, who had petitioned the apex court, saying that triple talaq violated their basic rights  of life, dignity and equality.

Their movement is bound to get further momentum, making it difficult for Muslim clerics and other proponents in the community to defend this controversial practice.

More importantly, this will spark off a fresh political debate on the issue. The high court's judgment comes just weeks ahead of the expected announcement of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly poll schedule by the Election Commission, and is this bound to figure in political narrative during electioneering.

While the BJP has made its position clear  reflected by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement in Mahoba and Bundelkhand, and by filing an affidavit in the Supreme Court  three other players in Uttar Pradesh politics, Samajwadi Party, BSP and SP, have so far chosen to not take a stand on the matter. With an eye set on Muslim community votes, these parties have been treading a cautious path; basically, they had declared that triple talaq was a community issue. Now, it could be difficult for them to revive a narrative on the issue, for the BJP would constantly hammer them.

The BJP has played smart. Though there are sensitivities around the issue, the party is not fearful in taking a categorical position as the Muslim community at large is not a part of its support base. If it succeeds in striking a cord with a section of Muslim women as a result of their gamble, it would be a significant achievement for the party.

The party, thus, has been making efforts to delink the triple talaq issue from the Uniform Civil Code debate. At the same time, a wider debate between the leaders of the Muslim community and analysts in the media suits its purpose.

Speaking at a public rally, Modi had said: If any Hindu kills a female foetus, he would have to go to behind the bars. Similarly, what is the crime of my Muslim sisters that somebody (their husbands) utters talaq thrice over a telephone and their lives are destroyed. Should the rights of Muslim daughters, sisters and mothers not be protected? Should they not get equal rights? When some Muslim sisters fought for their rights, the Supreme Court asked us what was the view of the government of India. We said in clear words that injustice should not be done against Muslim women and sisters. There must not be any discrimination on basis of community,"

"I am surprised that some political parties of the country, in their lust for vote bank, are hell-bent upon committing injustice to women in the 21st century. What kind of justice is this? Politics and elections have their own place but getting Muslim women their rights as per the Constitution is the responsibility of the government and the people of the country, Modi said.

It should be noted that the practice of instant divorce by oral words has been banned in more than 20 Muslim countries, including neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh. This raises a pertinent question: Why should Muslim women in India continue to be discriminated against?

But Congress, Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have so far remained unmoved. Both Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati have maintained that it is up to the Muslim community leaders to resolve the issue. Congress too has a similar position. The Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and Congress' Muslim face, Ghulam Nabi Azad, had earlier said, "Triple talaq is a matter of Muslim minorities, leave it to them, they will decide...The matter is in the Supreme Court and we do not want to get into any controversy. BJP's policy is to divert from the real issues concerning people."

The problem for Congress, SP and BSP is that if they take a position against triple talaq, they would antagonise influential Muslim clerics, community leaders and a large number of the male Muslim population. If they publicly come out in support of triple talaq, they might antagonise progressive elements in the Muslim community. The other problem, particularly for the Congress, is that it would be taken as a hugely regressive position on the issue, one which is not approved by over 20 Islamic countries.
When a petite Agatha Sangma took oath as India youngest ministers, even political battle hardened leaders like Sonia Gandhi couldn't help but smile. But now as her father PA Sangma tries to fight an uphill battle with little support for the post of President, she might be the only casualty of his insistence to fight a battle that has cost him most of his political career.

According to a Times of India report, Agatha may join her father and resign from the NCP and her ministry to continue backing her father's presidential campaign.

A minister of state for rural development Agatha has largely maintained a low profile throughout and hit the headlines after she accompanied her father to meet Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and later to meet Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik , moves that earned her the censure of her party the NCP.

"I dont think I would be in dilemma . I am pretty sure that such a situation would not arise," Sangma said in a recent interview with Northeast Today, was asked the uncomfortable question on whether she would prefer to remain a MP in the UPA or would prefer to campaign for her father.

But now that the situation has arisen, can she extricate herself from it?

The NCP is likely to maintain the same strictures for her as her father and is unlikely to let Agatha campaign for him given that they party will be backing Pranab Mukherjee's nomination for the post of president. And now that Sangma is a candidate being supported by the BJP and some NDA allies, it is even less likely that Agatha will be allowed to be seen campaigning or even supporting her father's candidature

While not inviting any controversies, Agatha has not exactly been a trailblazer either and doesn't hold a crucial ministry. If she does decided to part ways with the NCP, given her political clout in Meghalaya she can always look to join back after the presidential poll but whether she will be given a ministry again is debatable.

Sangma for his part has washed his hands off her decisions and said his daughter is mature enough to take her decision. Time will tell how Agatha will handle her first political test and whether she will put ministry before family or the other way around.
The speculations just got confirmed.

The Winter Session of Parliament began on 16 November. On 8 December, both the Houses  Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha  met for 17th day but within minutes of commencing, both the Houses were adjourned. The deadlock over demonetisation has led to wastage of the Winter Session so far and considering that just one more week is left for the session to wrap up, there is little hope that the Houses will be able to pass, introduce or even debate the Bills that have been listed for consideration.

Parliament Session Alert Winter 2016 by Firstpost on Scribd

Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha failed to conduct any substantive business as Opposition continuously created pandemonium, leading to early adjournment of the two Houses on multiple occassions. This has been the scene since the Winter Session began. The Narendra Modi government was expecting a stormy Session with the Opposition presenting a united face in seeking to corner the government over the demonetisation issue calling it a "currency scam" that needs to be probed. However, such low productivity was unexpected.

Analysis by Delhi-based think tank PRS Legislative, which tracks the functioning of the Indian Parliament, found that productivity of Lok Sabha this Winter Session was 14 percent whereas productivity of Rajya Sabha was 20 percent. PRS data also showed that Rajya Sabha spent zero hour on questions, whereas, the Lok Sabha spent 5.1 hours. Rajya Sabha spent 11.8 hours on non-legislative issues while the Lok Sabha spent 4.3 hours on the same.

Question Hour, considered the most crucial hour of Parliament  it is the first hour of a sitting session of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha devoted to questions that MPs raise about any aspect of administrative activity. The concerned minister is obliged to answer to Parliament, either orally or in writing, depending on the type of question raised. PRS data tells us that Rajya Sabha's productivity in Question Hour has been zero percent compared to Lok Sabha's 33 percent. In Lok Sabha, ministers replied to 37 questions orally, while in Rajya Sabha only one question was answered. It is important to keep in mind that Winter Session constitutes of 22 sittings  17 of which are over. Therefore, in the remaining days, these numbers are not expected to change too much.

From the day Winter Session began till Thursday, only two topics were debated in Lok Sabha  demonetisation of currency notes to weed out black money and delay in landing of a private aircraft carrying Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee and other passengers due to air traffic at Kolkata airport. In comparison, Rajya Sabha discussed "delay in landing of flight at Kolkata Airport carrying Mamata Banerjee and other passengers." If PRS data is any indication, the Rajya Sabha, which is supposed to be the House which reviews the bills presented in the Lok Sabha, has been the biggest failure of the Winter Session. See the image below for daily time breakup in Rajya Sabha. From 17 November till 6 December, the Upper House has spent zero hours doing anything productive. Instead, spent 0.72 hours discussing 'other' issues.

As far as business is concerned, Lok Sabha did four percent legislative business compared to Rajya Sabha's one percent. But figures get bold when it comes to non-legislative business that the Houses did  Lok Sabha conducted 32 percent of non-legislative business while Rajya Sabha conducted 64 percent.

Ahead of the Winter Session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met Opposition leaders and sought their cooperation in the fight against black money and corruption for which, he said, the demonetisation exercise was undertaken. The government is willing to discuss all issues and answer the questions raised by the opposition, Modi had said, hoping for a fruitful session as he recalled the passage of the GST Bill in the last session with the cooperation of all parties. An unrelenting Opposition, however, had decided to step up and put up a strong fight against the government.

The thing that our MPs forget here is that the time wasted in Parliament is not theirs to waste.

While our MPs and legislators waste slinging mud at each other, it is also important to remember that the legislators argue and counter-argue at the cost of the exchequer and eventually taxpayer. As of 2012, each minute of running Parliament during sessions costs the exchequer Rs 2.5 lakh. "In one year, Parliament runs for eighty days during sessions. Each day, business in both Houses are transacted for around six hours. If we take into account the total annual expenditure on Parliament, then for each minute of running the House costs Rs 2.5 lakh," then parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had told reporters back in 2012.

But its wrong to view the cost of parliamentary disruptions in monetary terms. The stakes are much larger.

But we should get used to this by now. The Winter Session of 2015 was similar. The Opposition, led by the Congress, did not let the government function. The BJP lacked the political precision to thwart the rivals.

Result: This session witnessed the lowest number of bills being passed since the Winter Session of 2010. This figure will soon change since the Winter Session of 2016, as PRS data suggests, has passed just one bill so far.

To sum it all up, here's what JD(U) MP and member of Rajya Sabha Harivansh said about functioning of Parliament:

"I ask myself every day before I head to the Rajya Sabha about what I would do in the House. As an MP how do I repay the people for the privileges and facilities I enjoy if I am not able to raise their issues in the House? Is it not an unnecessary and unacceptable burden on the exchequer if we are not able to raise the problems of the people in the House? I can only hope that the great parliamentary traditions of this country are restored and as Members of this privileged House we recognise our responsibilities and accountability to the people of this great country."
GENEVA More than 800 people have been killed and 3,000-3,500 wounded in Syria's besieged eastern Aleppo in the past 26 days, while the remaining trapped civilians await an effective death sentence, the president of the Aleppo local council said on Thursday."Today 150,000 people are threatened with extermination. We are calling for a halt to the bombing and guarantees of safe passage of all," Brita Haji Hassan said during a trip to Geneva, where he will meet U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura on Monday.

Tawfik Chamaa, a representative of the Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organisations (UOSSM), said 1,500 people needed medical evacuation, but any evacuation should have international observers to prevent them being "executed or diverted on the way to hospital".

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay, editing by Tom Miles)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei called an appeal hearing against a tax fine unfair after police warned him to stay away and blocked journalists from approaching the cramped court room which only had five seats.

Beijing's Chaoyang District Court agreed last month to hear the appeal brought by the company that markets Ai's work, that in itself a departure from the consistent refusal by the strictly controlled courts to give dissidents any hearing.

Tax authorities are demanding the company that markets Ai's work pay a 15 million yuan penalty for tax evasion. His supporters say the case has been trumped up, part of a drive to muzzle the outspoken social critic.

The hearing , which did not deliver a verdict, lasted about eight hours a nd was held behind closed doors. D ozens of police and cars blocked journalists from approaching the court, saying they did not have permission to be there.

After the hearing, Ai, 55, criticised the measures taken against him and his supporters as "perverse".

"The situation we're facing now is the judiciary is not independent," he said. "The police, the tax agency and the courts are all fundamentally entwined together."

Ai said that despite the courts' consenting to hear the appeal, police warned him not to attend and sent several patrol cars to park outside the studio where he lives.

"'You can never make it. Don't even try,'" Ai said police told him. They gave no reason, he said.

"This nation can have anything, they can have a satellite that goes to the sky and the moon, but they can never give you a clear reason why," he said. "This is ridiculous, right? There's no conversation, no discussion. Maybe they don't even know the reason. It's a really mysterious nation."

The company's lawyer, Pu Zhiqiang, also said the hearing was grossly unfair. He said the courtroom had only five seats - an unusually small number - and the court r e fused to produce any original documents showing evidence of tax evasion.

He also said that the court gave him very limited time to make his case and only one minute to make his closing argument.

"I'm furious," Pu told reporters later at Ai's home. "This day will go down as an ugly one in legal history."

Pu said the court is likely to announce a verdict in about a month.

The bearded artist has been a persistent irritant to authorities and has parried efforts to silence him, communicating with his supporters on Twitter and calling for a public forum to discuss his tax case.

"From a certain perspective we already won the lawsuit early on as we have won over public opinion," Ai said.

"But within this system, we can never win. Because when a system rejects interaction, rejects adjustment and refuses to own up to its own mistakes, you can never prevail over it."

Ai said that even if he eventually loses his case, Chinese citizens can at least use it as an example to debate and hold government bodies to account.

Ai was detained without charge in April 2011 and held mainly in solitary confinement until his conditional release last year. He stayed away from the hearing, but he said his wife Lu Qing, who is also the firm's legal representative, had attended.

Ai's legal consultant, Liu Xiaoyuan, was instructed by state security officers to depart Beijing immediately on a flight to his home in the southern province of Jiangxi and not to meet Ai, the artist said. Earlier, Liu was unr eachable after he was told to meet state security officers on Tuesday, according to Ai and Liu Yanping, a worker in Ai's studio.

Liu Xiaoyuan did not answer calls to his mobile phone.

Security officers have instructed prominent dissidents to remain in their homes and stay away from the hearing.

But government efforts to muzzle Ai have frequently backfired, as demonstrated by an outpouring of public sympathy - and cash - in response to the tax penalty. About 30,000 people donated money to help Ai cover an 8.45 million yuan bond required to contest the tax charges.

China's official media has not reported the lawsuit. But the Global Times, a popular tabloid owned by the People's Daily, said in a commentary on Monday that the recognition given to Ai by the West "is not acknowledged among the majority of Chinese". (Editing by Nick Macfie)
By Ayman al-Warfalli

| BENGHAZI, Libya

BENGHAZI, Libya Eastern Libyan forces said they thwarted an attempted advance on some of Libya's major oil ports on Wednesday, hitting a rival faction with air strikes and capturing some of its commanders.The violence raised the prospect of a fresh struggle for control of the oil ports and for overall power between the many armed factions in anarchic Libya that have competed with each other in shifting alliances since a 2011 uprising.It came a day after forces led by brigades from the western city of Misrata completed a near seven-month battle to oust Islamic State militants from their erstwhile North African stronghold in Sirte, the hometown of late dictator Muammar Gaddafi and less than 200 km (125 miles) northwest of the oil ports. A spokesman for the Libyan National Army (LNA), as the eastern forces are known, said rival fighters had withdrawn after briefly occupying the town of Ben Jawad, 30 km (19 miles) west of the port of Es Sider, and were being pursued in the surrounding area. Four LNA troops were killed and seven wounded in the clashes, a medical source in nearby Ras Lanuf said.

The National Oil Corporation (NOC) said it had not suspended any loadings, but was monitoring the situation carefully. One eastern security official said the groups that advanced towards the ports in Libya's Oil Crescent were linked to the Benghazi Defence Brigades, which tried this year to launch a counter-attack against the LNA. The LNA is commanded by Khalifa Haftar, who has become a figurehead for factions in the east while waging a military campaign against Islamist militants and other opponents over more than two years.

In September his forces seized control of four Oil Crescent ports from a rival faction, allowing the NOC to end blockades at three of the ports and double national oil production to about 600,000 barrels per day (bpd).Speculation had risen about a possible counter-attack against the oil ports by forces including the faction that was ousted in September, Islamist militant-leaning brigades with support from Misrata, and a Haftar rival who was named as defence minister by a U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli.

A statement published by Libyan media and purporting to come from the defence ministry in Tripoli said a unit had been formed to "liberate the oil fields and ports from mercenaries" and return Libyan oil resources to national institutions "without restrictions or conditions".But the GNA's leadership, or Presidential Council, said in a statement that it had "no link with what is happening in the Oil Crescent", denying reports that it had given instructions to any force in the area. (Additional reporting and writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Jonathan Oatis)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Lincoln Feast and Greg Torode

| SYDNEY/HONG KONG

SYDNEY/HONG KONG Vietnam has begun dredging work on a disputed reef in the South China Sea, satellite imagery shows, the latest move by the Communist state to bolster its claims in the strategic waterway.Activity visible on Ladd Reef in the Spratly Islands could anger Hanoi's main South China Sea rival, Beijing, which claims sovereignty over the group and most of the resource-rich sea. Ladd Reef, on the southwestern fringe of the Spratlys, is completely submerged at high tide but has a lighthouse and an outpost housing a small contingent of Vietnamese soldiers. The reef is also claimed by Taiwan.In an image taken on Nov. 30 and provided by U.S.-based satellite firm Planet Labs, several vessels can be seen in a newly dug channel between the lagoon and open sea. While the purpose of the activity cannot be determined for certain, analysts say similar dredging work has been the precursor to more extensive construction on other reefs."We can see that, in this environment, Vietnam's strategic mistrust is total ... and they are rapidly improving their defences," said Trevor Hollingsbee, a retired naval intelligence analyst with Britain's defence ministry."They're doing everything they can to fix any vulnerabilities - and that outpost at Ladd Reef does look a vulnerability."Reuters reported in August that Vietnam had fortified several islands with mobile rocket artillery launchers capable of striking China's holdings across the vital trade route.Vietnam's foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment.The vessels at Ladd Reef cannot be identified in the images, but Vietnam would be extremely unlikely to allow another country to challenge its control of the reef.Greg Poling, a South China Sea expert at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said it remained unclear how far the work on Ladd Reef would go. Rather than a reclamation and a base, it could be an attempt to simply boost access for supply ships and fishing boats.Ladd could also theoretically play a role in helping to defend Vietnam's nearby holding of Spratly Island, where a runway is being improved and new hangars built, he said.

"Vietnam's knows it can't compete with China but it does want to improve its ability to keep an eye on them," Poling said.Vietnam has long been fearful of renewed Chinese military action to drive it off its 21 holdings in the Spratlys - worries that have escalated amid Beijing's build-up and its anger at the recent Philippines legal action challenging its claims.China occupied its first Spratlys possessions after a sea battle against Vietnam's then-weak navy in 1988. Vietnam said 64 soldiers were killed as they tried to protect a flag on South Johnson reef - an incident still acutely felt in Hanoi. BUILDING BURST

The United States has repeatedly called on claimants to avoid actions that increase tensions in the South China Sea, through which some $5 trillion in world trade is shipped every year.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, Anna Richey-Allen, said it was aware of reports of reclamation work by Vietnam and said the United States regularly raised concerns about such activity by claimants."Weve consistently warned that reclamation and militarization in contested areas of the South China Sea will risk driving a destabilising and escalatory trend," she said. "We encourage all claimants to take steps to lower tensions and peacefully resolve differences." Vietnam has emerged as China's main rival in the South China Sea, actively asserting sovereignty over both the Paracel and the Spratly groupings in their entirety and undergoing its own naval modernisation. Taiwan also claims both, but its position is historically aligned with Beijing's. The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, run by the CSIS, says Vietnam has added about 120 acres (49 hectares) of land to its South China Sea holdings in recent years. Regional military attaches say Vietnam's key holdings are well fortified, some with tunnels and bunkers, appearing geared to deterring easy invasion.Vietnam's reclamation work remains modest by Chinese standards, however.

The United States, which has criticised China for militarising the waterway, estimates Beijing has added more than 3,200 acres (1,300 hectares) of land on seven features in the South China Sea over the past three years, building runways, ports, aircraft hangars and communications equipment. Beijing says it is entitled to "limited and necessary self-defensive facilities" on its territory and has reacted angrily to "freedom of navigation" operations by U.S. warships near Chinese-held islands.CHINESE RECLAMATION WORK DAMAGED

In another image provided by Planet Labs, reclamation work in the Chinese-held Paracel Island chain appears to have been damaged by recent storms.China began dredging and land filling earlier this year at North Island, about 12 km (7 miles) north of Woody Island, where it has a large military base and this year stationed surface-to-air missiles.Satellite images in February and March showed dredging vessels working to build a 700-metre (2,300 ft) sand bridge connecting low-lying North Island with neighbouring Middle Island.But images taken after two powerful storms spun through the region in October show the narrow sand strip has been largely swept away. The Paracels have been under Chinese control for more than 40 years after a battle towards the end of the Vietnam War, when Chinese forces removed the then-South Vietnamese navy. Analysts say they play a key part in protecting China's nuclear armed submarine fleet on Hainan Island, to the north.China has not commented publicly on the work at North Island and the foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment. (Additional reporting by Martin Petty in Hanoi, Ben Blanchard in Beijing and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Alex Richardson and Leslie Adler)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Ernest Scheyder and Terray Sylvester

| CANNON BALL/FORT YATES, N.D.

CANNON BALL/FORT YATES, N.D. U.S. veterans, thousands of whom last week helped stop a contested oil pipeline running through North Dakota, could become important partners of activists on the environment, the economy, race and other issues that divide Americans.Several academics said the effort to support the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and others opposed to the pipeline project was likely the biggest gathering of its kind of former military personnel since the early 1970s when U.S. veterans marched against the Vietnam War.That so many veterans mobilized in less than two weeks to rural North Dakota speaks to the power they may have on public opinion, because of their status as having put their lives on the line for their country, veterans and academics said."The sense that vets are distinctively American figures, regardless of political beliefs, always seems to have currency, even when they are working on different sides of an issue," said Stephen Ortiz, a history professor at the State University of Binghamton in New York.Many veterans who went to Cannon Ball, North Dakota, to join the months-long protests by Native Americans and environmentalists against the 1,172-mile (1,885-km) Dakota Access Pipeline, said they were already looking for their next issue to support."Militarily-trained soldiers have now discerned, on their own, a genuine, just cause for which to promote and defend, and this time without being under orders to do so," said Brian Willson, whose 2011 memoir "Blood on the Tracks: The Life and Times of S. Brian Willson", described how after serving in the Vietnam War, he became a non-violent protester for social change in the United States.Law enforcement tactics, particularly the use of water cannons, against the protesters had been considered extreme by some. Veterans said in interviews they felt galvanized to act as a human shield, providing a respite for those who had been at the protest camp for months.The pipeline owned by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP.N), is routed adjacent to the Standing Rock Sioux's reservation. Protesters have said the $3.8 billion project could contaminate the water supply and damage sacred tribal lands.The veterans at Standing Rock were led by former Marine Michael Wood Jr and Army veteran Wes Clark Jr, son of retired U.S. general Wesley Clark, former commander of NATO. The group raised $1.1 million through online crowdfunding to help transport, house and feed veterans at the camp.

BATTLE RESUMES WITH TRUMP PRESIDENCY

On Sunday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it turned down a permit for the pipeline's completion, handing a victory to the protesters.But the saga will not end there. Republican President-elect Donald Trump has said he wants the pipeline built; his team said he would review the decision when he takes office.Even though the fight is not over in North Dakota, some see this as a way forward on other issues."There's a lot of these pipelines being built around the county. Flint (Michigan) has a water crisis. So we're going to see if we can keep this movement going and really change some things in America," said Matthew Crane, 32, from Buffalo, New York, who served in the U.S. Navy from 2002 to 2006.

Clark's group, called Veterans Stand With Standing Rock (VSSR), asked for 2,000 volunteers but said twice as many arrived. Comments on the VSSR Facebook page criticized Clark for a lack of planning and for not having contingencies in place for North Dakota's harsh winters. As a blizzard blew in on Monday, many hunkered down at the main protest camp. Hundreds more slept in the pavilion of the Prairie Knights Casino in Fort Yates, roughly 10 miles away on the Standing Rock reservation. Clark, who himself was snowed-in at the casino, said in a Facebook video posted Wednesday night that the response meant "a huge tax on the supply chain and on accommodations."ASKING FORGIVENESS

As part of their journey to North Dakota, many veterans asked forgiveness in two ceremonies for what they considered crimes and mistreatment of Native Americans by the U.S. government and military over the past 150 years.One ceremony took place Monday on Backwater Bridge near the camp, the site of two heated confrontations with law enforcement earlier this fall. Thousands of veterans and tribal members prayed, emoting war cries on the bridge's southern cusp.One veteran, wearing a flak jacket and a Veterans for Peace flag, yelled to the crowd from atop a horse."We didn't serve this country to see our brothers and sisters here persecuted," said the man, whose name was inaudible in the fury of the arriving blizzard. "Are we not all human?" Some veterans said they planned to remain in North Dakota, unwilling to trust that Energy Transfer Partners would abide by the federal government's decision. Most had left by Wednesday, however, said Heather O'Malley, a U.S. Army veteran who monitored news for the group. She said it was unclear if they would return to the area in January if needed. Clark and others said this was a way for veterans to address other efforts around the country. "This is a small battleground in a larger war that is developing in our country that has to do with race, the economy and the powers that be taking advantage of those who really don't have a voice," said Anthony Murtha, 29, from Detroit, who served in the U.S. Navy from 2009 to 2013. (Reporting by Ernest Scheyder and Terray Sylvester in Cannon Ball and Fort Yates, N.D.; additional reporting by Tim Mclaughlin and Andrew Cullen; writing by David Gaffen; editing by Grant McCool)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
TOULOUSE, France (Reuters) - French police shot and wounded a man claiming to be a member of al Qaeda on Wednesday after he took four hostages in a bank in the southwestern city of Toulouse, prosecutor Michel Valet said.

The hostage-taker, known by police to have a record of psychological problems, was shot after he emerged from the bank with one hostage, prompting him to return inside for shelter, police sources said.

Elite police units then stormed the bank and arrested him, freeing the last two of the four hostages he had taken after an almost seven-hour stand-off.

"The man was overpowered ... he has two significant injuries one on the left hand and the other on the right thigh," Valet told reporters.

The man had earlier released two female hostages after receiving food and water in the early afternoon. All four hostages were in good health, Valet said.

The 26-year-old took the hostages, who included the bank manager, in a branch of CIC bank around mid-morning. He fired two rubber bullets from his gun earlier in the day, Valet said.

"His demands were muddled. We have elements to make us think that we are dealing with someone who was suffering from serious psychological troubles and this act was linked to that. It is difficult to say what made him do this given his religious claims were poorly defined," the prosecutor said.

It was the latest drama to hit the Toulouse region after a young al Qaeda-inspired gunman shot dead three soldiers, a rabbi and three Jewish children in March.

SYMBOLISM

The hostage-taker had asked for the elite RAID commando unit to come to the scene - the same squad which shot dead 23-year-old gunman Mohammed Merah in March after a long standoff at his home, which was just metres from the site of Wednesday's siege.

"By choosing to carry this out where the Merah affair took place, it shows that this makes sense for him and has a particular symbolism," said Christophe Caupenne, a former commando at the RAID unit. "The Merah affair was a psychological trigger for him so at some point he would act."

Toulouse, a university town which does not have a reputation as a hotbed of religious or militant tension, has seen a number of short-lived hostage situations in recent weeks, including a drama last week at a local weather forecasting office, but none resulted in casualties.

Anti-terrorist police were brought in from the nearby cities of Bordeaux and Marseille and the area was sealed off.

A bomb disposal team had been sent to the scene at one stage after the man told them he had explosives.

Britain and Spain have been hit by al Qaeda attacks over the past decade, following the U.S.-led NATO intervention in Afghanistan, but France has not seen a major attack on its soil since the mid-1990s.

At that time the Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA) carried out a spate of attacks, including the bombing of a commuter train in 1995 which killed eight people and injured 150.

The rise of al Qaeda has posed a new challenge to French security services more used to watching Algerian-related militants. France raised its terrorism alert in late 2010 after al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden singled the country out as one of the worst offenders of Islam.

There have been a number of kidnappings of French citizens abroad, and officials say several plots to launch attacks on French soil have been foiled by intelligence services.

(Additional reporting by Gerard Bon and John Irish; Writing by John Irish; Editing by Brian Love and Sophie Hares)
SAN FRANCISCO An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5 was reported off the coast of Northern California on Thursday but there were no immediate reports of damage in the nearest town, officials said.The quake was centered in the Pacific Ocean about 102 miles (165 kilometers) west of Ferndale, California, at a depth of 6.2 miles (10 km), the U.S. Geological Survey said.The coastal area nearest the quake is sparsely populated.There was no tsunami warning, advisory or threat in effect following the earthquake, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center of the National Weather Service said on its website.In Ferndale, which has a population of about 1,300 people, Mayor Don Hindley said in a phone interview that he had not heard of any damage from the quake. He said he felt the temblor for about 15 seconds."It wasnt that bad at all," Hindley said. He added that he felt more shaking from another quake earlier this week.

The area near Ferndale had a 4.3 magnitude earthquake right on the coastline on Monday, according to the USGS. In Eureka, which is less than 20 miles (32 km) north of Ferndale, Twitter user Wanda Cloud reported that she felt a "jolt." The Humboldt Bay Fire department in Eureka had received no calls related to the quake, said Ashleigh Jordan, administrative assistant at the department.

The quake was also felt at least as far away as the San Francisco Bay area, about 250 miles (400 km) south of Ferndale. The Bay Area Rapid Transit agency said on Twitter it was running its system with a 10-minute delay and with trains traveling at reduced speeds due to the quake. The move was a standard precaution by BART.Thirty minutes later, the transit agency tweeted that it was getting back on schedule.

"That was a big one," Twitter user Antonis Papatsaras of San Francisco wrote on the social media site in reference to the quake."Felt 20 seconds of very light shaking," tweeted another San Francisco resident, Lila LaHodd.The quake was first reported with a 6.9 magnitude but downgraded by the USGS to 6.5. (Reporting by Dan Levine and Peter Henderson in San Francisco, Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles and Melissa Fares and Gina Cherelus in New York; Editing by Bill Trott and Frances Kerry)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Laila Bassam and John Davison

| ALEPPO, Syria/BEIRUT

ALEPPO, Syria/BEIRUT The Syrian army's advance in Aleppo slowed on Thursday but a victory was still firmly in sight after President Bashar al-Assad vowed that retaking the nation's second city would change the course of the six-year civil war in his favour.Lightning gains in recent days in which government forces and their allies recaptured Aleppo's historic Old City lost some momentum in the face of stiff rebel resistance but the Syrian leadership was confident.Assad has long sought to seize divided Aleppo which would put him in control of Syria's major cities, the south, central spine and western flank bordering the Mediterranean, dealing a devastating blow to rebels who have fought to unseat him.Outside of Aleppo, the government and its allies are also putting severe pressure on remaining rebel redoubts. Assad said in an interview with a Syrian newspaper that victory in Aleppo would be a landmark, but not the end of the war.The rebels on Wednesday called for an immediate five-day ceasefire and the evacuation of civilians and wounded, but gave no indication they were ready to withdraw, as demanded by Damascus and its ally Moscow."In the past several days an intensive document exchange on the situation in Aleppo has taken place," the Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying."We are close to reaching an understanding, but I want to warn against high expectations," he said.U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said after meeting his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov he was not confident but "hopeful" about reaching an agreement, and was still waiting for "certain feedback and input" from Moscow.The U.N. assessment for a possible deal, which would see civilian evacuations from besieged rebel-held areas of eastern Aleppo and help aid delivery, was bleak.Russia and the United States were "poles apart" in trying to agree on terms for evacuations from east Aleppo, U.N. Syria humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland said.Five months of negotiations over aid plans had all failed and produced "nothing", Egeland said, adding that it was up to Moscow and Washington to agree an evacuation from east Aleppo, where the U.N. Syria envoy has said more than 100,000 people may still be living. More than 800 people have been killed and 3,000-3,500 wounded in eastern Aleppo in the past 26 days, while the remaining trapped civilians await an effective death sentence, the president of the Aleppo local council said."Today 150,000 people are threatened with extermination. We are calling for a halt to the bombing and guarantees of safe passage of all," Brita Haji Hassan said during a trip to Geneva.

'WAR WILL NOT END'

As the Cold War foes struggled to agree, fighting raged on around the Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with the Syrian army trying to push into the few remaining rebel-held Aleppo neighbourhoods.A Reuters journalist said government forces were shelling rebel-held areas of southwestern Aleppo into the afternoon. Columns of smoke were seen rising from rebel-held areas.Pro-Damascus media reported that Syrian government forces and their allies had launched attacks against insurgents in the Sukkari, Kalasa and Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhoods, west and south of the ancient citadel.An opposition activist in Aleppo said insurgents had staved off the attacks on the latter two districts.

Monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported heavy clashes in those areas, but said there was no new government advance on Thursday.Government forces have in the past two weeks seized more than two-thirds of rebel-held eastern Aleppo, which had been in insurgents hands for years.Assad said the army advances will completely change the course of the war, and vowed to fight on after recapturing Aleppo. He described Aleppo as the "last hope" of rebels and their backers, "after their failure in the battles of Damascus and Homs"."Aleppo will completely change the course of the battle in all of Syria," Assad said, speaking in an interview with the Syrian newspaper al-Watan."The battle of Aleppo will be a gain, but ... it doesn't mean the end of the war in Syria. It is a significant landmark towards the end of the battle, but the war in Syria will not end until terrorism is eliminated."Terrorists are there in other areas, so even if we finish in Aleppo, we will carry on with the war against them," he said.Damascus says all insurgents it is fighting are terrorists.

'MAKE A DESERT AND CALL IT PEACE'

Retaking Aleppo would also be a success for President Vladimir Putin who intervened to save Moscow's ally in September 2015 with air strikes, and for Shi'ite Iran, whose elite Islamic Republic Guard Corps has suffered casualties fighting for Assad.The war has killed hundreds of thousands of Syrians and made more than 11 million homeless, creating the world's worst refugee crisis, and allowed for the rise of the ultra-hardline Islamic State group, which still controls areas of eastern Syria.The head of Britain's MI6 foreign intelligence agency Alex Younger warned on Thursday that Islamic State was plotting attacks on the West "without ever having to leave Syria"."Russia and the Syrian regime seek to make a desert and call it peace. The human tragedy is heart-breaking," he added.The scale of death and destruction, and lack of access has made it difficult for humanitarian organisations to reach hundreds of thousands of besieged people in Syria.Nearly 150 civilians, most disabled or in need of urgent medical care, were evacuated overnight from a hospital in Aleppo's Old City, the first major evacuation from the eastern sector, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.It urged "all parties to allow a humanitarian pause," adding that the situation in east Aleppo "is known to be catastrophic".Tawfik Chamaa, a representative of the Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organisations (UOSSM), said 1,500 people needed medical evacuation, but any evacuation should have international observers to prevent them being "executed or diverted on the way to hospital". (Reporting by Laila Bassam in Aleppo, John Davison in Beirut, Jack Stubbs in Moscow, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman; Writing by John Davison, editing by Peter Millership)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Lisa Barrington

| BEIRUT

BEIRUT Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's imminent victory in Aleppo will increase Syrian and Iranian influence in Lebanon, the leading Lebanese Druze politician said on Thursday, as Assad said Lebanon could not remain unscathed by regional conflicts.The Syrian army and allied forces have made rapid gains against anti-Assad rebels' main urban stronghold in Aleppo in the past two weeks, and look closer than ever to taking the city at the heart of a conflict now in its sixth year. "Assad will win in Aleppo, benefiting from the fact that most of the international community has given up on the Syrian people. Then he will destroy Idlib," said Walid Jumblatt, the main political leader of the minority Druze community in Lebanon and head of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP). Idlib province is the rebels' largest remaining patch of territory in heavily populated western Syria. "This means that (Assad's) influence in Lebanon will increase, and the Iranian-Syrian grip on (Lebanon) will strengthen," he told As-Safir, a Lebanese daily close to the Iran-backed Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah, which is fighting on Assad's side in neighbouring Syria.Syria dominated Lebanese government and politics for years and had a military presence in the country until 2005, when it withdrew following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri and months of anti-Syria protests.

Jumblatt is seen as a weathervane of Middle Eastern politics and his stance towards Syria has shifted more than once in recent years. He was a leading voice in the anti-Syrian movement but then moderated his attitude after a rapprochement with Syria's allies in Lebanon, including Hezbollah.Early in the Syrian conflict, Jumblatt called for Assad to be removed from power. But he told As-Safir he has no plans to mend relations with the Syrian leader. "I will not end my political life repairing a relationship with Assad ... Even if the regime achieves total victory," he said.Lebanon, which suffered its own 15-year civil war, is caught up in regional rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Despite a 2012 declaration that Lebanon would disassociate itself from regional and international conflicts, the regional tensions have paralysed internal decision-making and raised fears for Lebanon's stability. After a 2-1/2 year presidential vacuum, former army commander and Hezbollah ally Michel Aoun was elected in October. In an interview published on Thursday in Syria's al-Watan newspaper, Assad said Aoun's election was a victory for Lebanon and Syria, and that Lebanon could not disassociate itself from Syria.

"When the person (elected) is somebody like General Michel Aoun, who knows the danger terrorism around Lebanon poses for the Lebanese, this will also be a victory for both Lebanon and Syria," Assad said. "Especially when the president knows Lebanon cannot remain unscathed by the fires raging around it."Assad added that Lebanon cannot continue with its "politics of no-policy", referencing the disassociation policy. This week Aoun received Syria's Grand Mufti Ahmed Badr al-Din al-Hassoun, who congratulated him on his election. (Editing by Mark Heinrich)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Samsung introduced the Galaxy S7 edge smartphone in Black Onyx, Gold Platinum, White Pearl and Silver Titanium colors back in February, later it introduced the Pink Gold version in select markets, most recently it introduced Blue Coral version that was launched in India yesterday. After several rumors, the company has finally made the Black Pearl Galaxy S7 edge official. This has a glossy finish

Regarding the new color, Samsung in the official release, said:

While those (Blue Coral and Pink Gold editions) were largely inspired by calming, natural hues, Black Pearl was designed to be modern and striking. The sleek black finish blankets the entire device  edges and all  and adds depth to its glass design. The result is a stylish all-black aesthetic that captures the essence of the color in its purest form.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 edge Black Pearl will be available exclusively in 128GB version and will debut in select markets globally, including its home-ground Korea on December 9. In Korea it is priced at 10,12,000 won (US$ 873 / Rs. 58,990 approx.).
Microsoft and Qualcomm just announced at the WinHEC (Windows Hardware Engineering Community) event in Shenzhen, China that Windows 10 is coming to the next-generation of Snapdragon mobile processors, years after it failed to bring Windows to ARM chips in the form of Windows RT with Surface with Windows RT and Nokia Lumia 2520.

Hardware partners will be able to build a range of new Qualcomm Snapdragon-powered Windows 10 PCs that run x86 Win32 and universal Windows apps, including Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Office and popular Windows games, said Microsoft.

It also showed a preview of Windows 10 (Enterprise edition) running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon Processor at the event.

Microsoft said that it is looking forward to seeing these new devices with integrated cellular connectivity and experiences like touch, pen and Windows Hello.

The first PCs running Windows 10 based on Snapdragon processors are expected to be available as early as next year.

Commenting on the new partnership, Terry Myerson, executive vice president of the Windows and Devices Group at Microsoft, said:

We are excited to bring Windows 10 to the ARM ecosystem with Qualcomm Technologies.We continue to look for ways to empower our customers to create wherever they are. Bringing Windows 10 to life with a range of thin, light, power-efficient and always-connected devices, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon platform, is the next step in delivering the innovations our customers love  touch, pen, Windows Hello, and more  anytime, anywhere.

Cristiano Amon, executive vice president, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., and president, QCT, said:

Qualcomm Snapdragon processors offer one of the worlds most advanced mobile computing features, including Gigabit LTE connectivity, advanced multimedia support, machine learning and superior hardware security features, all while supporting thin, fan-less designs and long battery life. With compatibility with the Windows 10 ecosystem, the Qualcomm Snapdragon platform is expected to support mobility to cloud computing and redefine how people will use their compute devices.

Source
It looks like Apple iPhones 2017 are going to dazzle in a new color next year. The iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus are expected to come in a new bright red color variant, according to latest report from Japanese blog Mac Otakara. The next generation iPhones will still retain the existing Black, Jet Black, Silver, Gold and Rose Gold options, added the report.

The report, citing sources within Apples Taiwanese supply chain also said that 2017 iPhones will retain the same aluminum design as the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. This contradicts all the previous reports which suggested that being the 10th anniversary, Apple will give bring radical changes to iPhones in 2017, one of them being curved OLED display. The report goes on saying that althought there will be no major design changes, Apple will upgrade the next iPhone with a more powerful A11 chipset.

Previous reports have suggested that 2017 iPhones will will feature a 5-inch screen while iPhone 8 Plus will sport a 5.8-inch display.

Source | Via
Major tech companies like Google, HTC, Oculus, Samsung, Sony have joined forces to form Global Virtual Reality Association (GVRA). The VR industry consortium is a non-profit organization which will promote the growth of the global virtual reality (VR) industry.

GVRA notes in a press release,

The goal of the Global Virtual Reality Association is to promote responsible development and adoption of VR globally. The associations members will develop and share best practices, conduct research, and bring the international VR community together as the technology progresses. The group will also serve as a resource for consumers, policymakers, and industry interested in VR.

It is interesting that Valve, which makes the Steam store and SteamVR platform for the HTC Vive and others, is not a part of the GVRA. The main reason for creating GRVA is basically for all these companies have teamed up to establish standards for VRs development.

Source
Xiaomi under its sub-brand Mi Ecosystem, which is also known as MIJIA has scheduled an event on December 12th to introduce a new gadget, which could be the companys first electric car or an electric bike. The teaser has car tire mark, which confirms its a vehicle. Text in the teaser says that it will have E-ABS anti-lock braking system, brake energy recovery, cruise control, perforated brake discs and one-piece die cast motors.

The first teaser said it will have hot-melt pneumatic tires, but it was removed and a new teaser was released without it. Back in June Xiaomis MIJIA introduced QiCycle, its first folding electric bike in China with IPX5 water resistant body.

Last year Xiaomis CEO Lei Jun said that the company will not make electric cars for the next three to five years. So it is not clear if the company has changed its mind, or it might introduce a concept like the LeEco LeSEE driverless electric car concept and release the car later.

We should all the details when the company officially introduces the gadget next Monday.

Source
What happened

Investors would be hard-pressed to find an energy stock that sank last month. That is because OPEC finally reached an agreement to cut its output, which should bring stabilization and higher prices to the oil market. The announcement of a deal sent oil prices off to the races on the month's final day, which took energy stocks up with it. This rising tide lifted nearly all boats, including QEP Resources (QEP), Contango Oil & Gas (MCF), Southwestern Energy (SWN -2.21%), Consol Energy (CNX 0.65%), and Newfield Exploration (NFX):

So what

While the OPEC stole the show, QEP Resources did have some good news for its investors last month, announcing that it reached an agreement with a third-party midstream provider to resolve a commercial dispute relating to the company's South Antelope acreage. Because of that, QEP Resources can complete the 23 wells it drilled in the region that are awaiting completion. While those wells will not add any production volumes this year, they will boost output in early 2017 when they come on line. That could be perfect timing for the company because oil prices might be even higher as the OPEC agreement takes effect, enabling it to earn more money from these wells and those it drills in the future. In fact, after keeping its output roughly flat this year, QEP could boost production next year should prices rise as a result of the deal, which is something investors clearly anticipate.

Contango Oil & Gas, meanwhile, released third-quarter results in early November, but they were not all that great, with the company recording a loss of $12.4 million, or $0.55 per share, which was $0.27 per share worse than analysts expected. On a more positive note, Contango Oil & Gas said that it started drilling its first Southern Delaware Basin wells in mid-October, which should start producing by early next year. Again, those wells could come on at the perfect time because the OPEC deal should lead to steadily improving oil prices over the next few months.

Newfield Exploration also reported its third-quarter results early last month. All things considered, they were pretty good, with the company recording adjusted net income of $89 million, or $0.45 per share, which sailed past the consensus estimate by $0.22 per share. Furthermore, the company increased its full-year production outlook and said it would add drilling rigs at the end of the year, with an eye toward boosting production in 2017. In fact, it has the liquidity and optionality to add even more rigs next year should commodity prices improve, which is now much more likely as a result of the OPEC deal.

Southwestern Energy did not have any news-driven catalysts last month other than an upgrade from BMO Capital. Analysts moved it from market perform to outperform while setting an $18 price target due to its valuation compared to other natural gas-focused drillers. Speaking of which, Southwestern Energy's focus on gas might suggest that it has less to gain from the OPEC agreement. However, the company's NGL production will benefit from higher oil prices because they typically sell for a percentage of the price of crude instead of trading off the price of gas. Because of that, Southwestern Energy stands to collect higher cash flow for that output, as well as what little oil it does produce, thanks to the agreement.

Consol Energy is also primarily a natural gas producer, so it will also benefit from higher NGL prices, which is one reason its stock rallied last month. That said, the company also produces quite a bit of coal, which should benefit from Donald Trump's White House triumph in November. Another catalyst driving Consol higher last month was its agreement with an affiliated midstream company to sell a stake in the Anchor System for cash and units. That deal increases liquidity, which gives it the flexibility to take advantage of higher commodity prices resulting from the twin November catalysts.

Now what

All five of these companies are now in a much better position to thrive going forward after OPEC stepped in to support the oil market. That decision will likely enable these producers to ramp up spending to boost output, which should drive earnings and cash flow growth. Investors certainly see that happening, which is why they went on a buying spree the day OPEC finalized its agreement.
BlackRock Inc is making leadership changes to its biggest mutual fund.

The world's largest asset manager is replacing one of the top leaders on its $42 billion BlackRock Global Allocation Fund and adding three new portfolio managers, a move that comes as the fund's performance has lagged its rivals.

Aldo Roldan, a managing director and portfolio manager, is stepping down as portfolio manager on the fund because he wanted to reduce his day-to-day responsibilities, a BlackRock spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Roldan will continue to work on the Global Allocation team as a "senior investor," focusing on research and analysis, she said.

Three other investors will get top billing, including Russ Koesterich, the fund's head of asset allocation, as well as David Clayton and Kent Hogshire, who already assist on the fund.

The changes take effect Jan. 1.

Koesterich is particularly well known outside the company as its former global chief investment strategist, a role in which he traveled widely and spoke to the press about the asset manager's investment views.

The company announced he was shifting to a new role supporting Global Allocation in March. The fund is a "multi-asset" portfolio of stocks, bonds and other investments.

New York-based BlackRock has been working to boost the investment performance of its stockpicking funds by introducing more data mining and rules-based investment techniques to its traditionalist teams, such as Global Allocation, which started in 1989.

Much of the investment management industry has been wrestling with a move from active funds to passive ones that merely track an index because those funds often perform better and charge less.

BlackRock is a major manager of index funds through its iShares exchange-traded funds business.

Relatively low-cost institutional shares of Global Allocation are up 3.7 percent this year, trailing 72 percent of its peers, according to Thomson Reuters Lipper. Over 10 years, the fund is in the top 20 percent.

Investors pulled $8.1 billion from the fund this year, through November, according to the research service.

Roldan joined the Global Allocation team in 2006. He has been one of three lead managers overseeing a sprawling collection of analysts, traders, marketing personnel and other staff who focus on the fund, alongside Dennis Stattman and Dan Chamby.

A specialist in emerging markets who holds a doctorate in economics and econometrics from the University of Pennsylvania, Roldan joined BlackRock when it acquired the team's former employer, Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, in 2006.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in New York; Editing by Jim Finkle and Alan Crosby)
OPECs plan to cut production ignited a strong rally in oil prices, and analysts now say any hope of seeing $2 gasoline nationwide by Christmas is all but dashed.

Last week, the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries revealed a plan to cut production by 1.2 million barrels a day starting January, sending oil prices above $50 a barrel. Prices at the pump, which tend to rise faster than they fall, quickly followed suit. The national average for regular gasoline jumped to $2.19 a gallon as of Thursday. U.S. gasoline prices are 17 cents higher than last year and 4 cents more than pump prices a week ago, based on GasBuddy.com data.

Drivers have continued to benefit from cheap gasoline this year amid a global glut of oil, and December is often a good month for commuters. Less demand and the switch to cheaper winter-blend gasoline typically allows prices to drop.

In the wake of OPECs decision, prices across the country will trend in the opposite directionjust in time for the busy holiday travel season.

The $2 national average is all but guaranteed not to happen now. It was a possibility before [OPECs meeting], Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy.com, told FOXBusiness.com.

Eleven states began the week with average gas prices below $2 a gallon, but that number has already dwindled to just four states. GasBuddy expects few states, if any, to remain in the $2 club by next week.

Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Delaware, Illinois and West Virginia saw gasoline prices surge at least 10 cents during the week of OPECs production deal, AAA noted in a report published Monday.

States With Sub-$2 Gas

Statewide averages for regular gasoline (per gallon):

Oklahoma ($1.95)

Arkansas ($1.97)

Texas ($1.98)

Missouri ($1.98)

Data source: GasBuddy.com

But theres still hope for motorists looking to save money at the pump. Some OPEC members have a history of pumping more oil than they pledged, raising questions about the strength of the new agreement. Also, higher oil prices will likely encourage American shale producers to revive idle rigs, which will help fill the void from lost OPEC crude.

The U.S. rig count edged higher by 4 rigs to 597 in total, according to Baker Hughes (NYSE:BHI). However, the industry continues to operate fewer rigs than the same time last year. In Canada, 200 rigs are operational, 23 more than a year ago.

I dont know that I would believe the cuts will hold up, DeHaan said. Gas prices should be incrementally higher in 2017 versus 2016. Prices will be higher, but were still far removed from those record prices that we saw in 2008 and 2012.

Traders are already expressing skepticism that OPECs cuts will have a lasting impact.

During the week of OPECs meeting, U.S. crude posted its best weekly percentage gain since early 2009. But prices have reversed course, dropping below the $50 milestone. NYMEX West Texas Intermediate oil settled at $49.77 a barrel on Wednesday, a decline of $1.16 a barrel, or 2.3%, versus the prior session.
A media outfit with ties to President-elect Donald Trump is making plans to disrupt the planned merger between AT&T (NYSE:T) and Time Warner (NYSE:TWX), charging that the combination will create a monopoly that could silence conservative commentary on the airwaves, the FOX Business Network has learned.

Newsmax, a conservative news and opinion website with a growing television component, is looking to short circuit the $85.4 billion merger as it plans an all-out public affairs war to convince Congress and the President-elect to nix the deal, its chief executive Chris Ruddy said in an interview with FOX Business.

Ruddy is voicing some of the same concerns levied by Trump during his presidential campaign. As an example of the power structure Im fighting, AT&T is buying Time Warner and thus CNN, a deal we will not approve in my administration because its too much concentration of power in the hands of too few, Trump said at a rally in October.

During his successful yet contentious presidential campaign, Trump often feuded with CNN over its coverage. Since being elected president, Trump hasnt voiced an opinion on the merger.

I hear AT&T and Time Warner have hired most of the meaningful lobbyists in Washington to get this deal done, Ruddy told FOX Business. But I know Trump has concerns and many in Congress will agree that AT&T has too much power to decide what content Americans can watch.

Part of the allure of the deal, of course, is the marriage of AT&Ts cable and wireless distribution services with content supplied by Time Warner, which owns cable news network CNN and HBO.

But Ruddy said given AT&Ts size and scope, it has the ability to squeeze out competing voices in favor of what he considers the liberalism of CNN, which will ultimately hurt consumers.

He pointed to his own negotiations with AT&T involving getting Newsmax television on AT&Ts DirectTV satellite distribution system. Ruddy said talks between the two sides to have Newsmax get back on the system recently became strained after AT&T announced the Time Warner deal in October.

A spokesman for AT&T didnt return a call for comment.

On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committees Subcommittee on Antitrust held a hearing on the proposed deal. The committee oversees various federal agencies such as the Federal Communications Committee and the Justice Departments antitrust division, which will render a verdict on the transaction.

Lawmakers at times appeared skeptical about the deals merits; some appeared to see justification in the notion that the combination will give AT&T too much power as a monopoly to set higher prices for consumers and possibly limit the distribution of content to favor Time Warners programming.

That said, it was unclear whether lawmakers or even Trump, now that hes been elected president, will expend political capital to kill the merger. At least one witness during the hearing, internet entrepreneur Mark Cuban, said cable companies like AT&T no longer have a monopoly on the distribution of information since consumers get so much of their content on websites like Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL).

But Ruddy believes he and his team will have Trumps ear on the issue. The two met during Thanksgiving at Trumps Mar-a-Lago Palm Beach estate as part of an informal gathering of people.

Ruddy says he will discuss the matter with Trump at some point soon and he will continue to press key lawmakers on the Judiciary Committee to kill the deal.

A spokeswoman for Trump didnt return calls for comment.
Mexican and U.S. business leaders will share information on cross-border economic integration as they seek to build a case for free trade under the government of President-elect Donald Trump, a top industry group said on Wednesday.

Trump has threatened to renegotiate or withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), prompting concern in Mexico about the future of the economy, trade and foreign investment.

During a two-day meeting in Mexico City, the executives agreed to share data on trade, including the geographic areas where exports and imports have generated jobs, said Juan Pablo Castaon, president of Mexican group Consejo Coordinador Empresarial (CCE).

"We will find points of synergy that allow us to have arguments to convince our respective governments, in particular the incoming government of the United States," Castaon told reporters.

During the run-up to the signing of the trade accord in the 1990s, lobbyists also worked to explain the benefits of free trade to domestic politicians and lawmakers in the United States.

Mexicans involved in those lobbying efforts say data linking job creation in the United States to bilateral trade with Mexico helped make the case for NAFTA.

(Reporting by Joanna Zuckerman Bernstein and Dave Graham; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
A woman who said she was complying with a court order to take a hair follicle drug test claims the experience has left her with a bald spot after she went to the only lab the court would pay for. Jenn Christiansen, of Denver, Colorado, is an admitted marijuana user who is trying to regain custody of her kids, KMGH-TV said.

Christiansen said the case required her to submit a drug test and went through BI Incorporated in Lakewood, Colorado, but the lab technicians took too much hair.

Theres no reason they needed that much, she told KMGH-TV. Anbody whos had their hair pulled knows you can feel how much is being pulled. I could tell that they had too much and that there was going to be a bald spot on my head.

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not respond to the news stations request for a comment about hair follicle drug testing, a BI spokeswoman said she would look into it.

Im very proud of my hair, Christiansen told KMGH-TV. Im a very vain person, and they destroyed my confidence.

Christiansen is calling for more oversight of lab technicians so others avoid the same fate.

I have to wear my hair up now, to cover the spot, she told the news station.
The consensus in Israel is that the relationship between the Jewish state and the United States is going to improve in a Trump administration, says former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Zalman Shoval.

On a recent visit to Washington, D.C., Shoval told me that he believes Donald Trump and his cabinet picks so far have a more realistic view of the Middle East than President Obama, who from his first days in office, perhaps before, believed it was his calling to fix once and for all, all matters between the U.S. and the Arab and Muslim worlds, as expressed in his Cairo speech.  This gives Trump in the hearts and minds of more than a few Israelis a head-start.

Shoval said he believes the issue of a Palestinian state  the objective of U.S. foreign policy over several administrations  has become less concerning than the regional and international threat posed by a nuclear Iran. He likes recent statements by secretary of defense-designate Gen. James Mattis about the way forward in dealing with an unstable Iran, believing Mattis recognizes that as important as it is to defeat ISIS, the real threat in the Middle East is Iran.

Its not only the nuclear deal that bothers Shoval, though he believes Iran will eventually have a bomb, unless it is stopped. It is also bothersome that Iran continues with its terrorist activities, subsidizing anti-American and anti-Israel groups around the world because radical mullahs think their god has ordered them to do so. That makes any kind of diplomatic agreement with nations Iran regards as infidels impossible.

Even when the battle for Mosul is over and victory has been declared over that ISIS stronghold, Shoval believes, what it really will mean is that the Iranians and the Shia are going to be the real victors. They will continue their attempts to build a territorial corridor all the way to the Mediterranean along with Hezbollah, which is not only a threat to Israel, but also something the so-called moderate Arab states look at with a great deal of concern.

Shoval says he hopes the incoming Trump administration realizes that Iran cannot be a partner with the United States in the Middle East even if from time to time it seems like that because of whats happening in Syria. Ultimately, Iran is a great danger.

People like former President Jimmy Carter have a different worldview. In a recent op-ed for The New York Times, Carter called on President Obama to recognize a Palestinian state before he leaves office. Carter also called on the UN to pass a resolution setting the parameters for resolving the conflict.

I believe in miracles, but for the UN, or anyone else, to resolve a conflict in which one side thinks it has a heavenly mandate to destroy the other is not where most people would see as a good starting point for conflict resolution. Carter continues to trade off his one success  the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel. But getting one thing right with a unique combination of leaders, one of whom  Anwar Sadat  was assassinated by Islamic fanatics for making peace with Israel, is like an astrologer wanting credit for one prediction that came true while ignoring hundreds that didnt.

Shoval disagrees with those who think the Israel-Palestinian status quo is not sustainable. He believes it is, otherwise a Palestinian state would mean Hamas and Hezbollah would be just 20 minutes away from Jerusalem and in a position to overwhelm Israel.

In his book, The Field of Fight, Michael Flynn, Trumps pick to head the National Security Council, writes about President Obama: I find it simply incredible that an American president should believe a strategic alliance with Iran to be more attractive than our traditional embrace of Israel. Our new leaders need to reverse that, pronto. We will need Israel if were going to defeat the radical Islamists, and above all, the Iranians.

This is the opposite of wishful thinking.
President-elect Donald Trump's first decisions were exciting. His new team seems to include good people like Betsy DeVos, Andy Puzder and Paul Atkins.

It's refreshing to watch Trump mock the media and political correctness. How dreary the world would be today if we faced four more years of condescension from Hillary Clinton and her apparatchiks.

But I worry.

Many of Trump's supporters like him because they say he's a leader who will "get things done."

That's not necessarily a good thing.

Recently, my Twitter feed contained Trump saying: "Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag -- if they do, there must be consequences -- perhaps loss of citizenship or a year in jail!"

Yikes! Mr. President, burning a flag is free speech. And don't we have property rights? If I buy the flag, it's mine. No one has a right to tell me what I can do with it.

Recently, Trump bullied and bribed executives from the Carrier air conditioner company into withdrawing plans to move a factory to Mexico.

"Like a despot drunk and delirious with power," wrote economist Don Boudreaux, Trump "bellowed that '(c)ompanies are not going to leave the U.S. anymore without consequences.'"

Those are the kind of things socialist dictators say.

Trump's no socialist. He is obviously a businessman who loves making money. But that doesn't mean he understands the conditions necessary for other people to prosper.

Trump proposes some bad socialist policies: a $10 minimum wage, restrictions on imports and travel, and tougher libel laws.

These are terrible ideas.

I think about how "strongmen" leaders have worked for other parts of the world.

Venezuela voted in a strong leader. Now the country's collapsing into economic chaos: looting, shortages of food, riots. That's what an autocrat can do.

Venezuela was once the most prosperous country in South America. Then Venezuelans elected Hugo Chavez. He promised to throw out the establishment and make Venezuela ... well, better, if not "great."

American celebrities loved Chavez.

Oliver Stone made a movie praising him and then invited the tyrant to join him at the film's premiere. After Chavez's death, Stone released an even more absurd documentary called "My Friend Hugo."

Stone's other friend, actor Sean Penn, called Chavez a "fascinating guy" who does "incredible things." Model Naomi Campbell called Chavez an "angel." A hack at Salon wrote about Chavez's "economic miracle."

This was ludicrous, as the chaos in Venezuela now makes clear.

But many Americans still want a leader who offers similar solutions.

Thousands backed Bernie Sanders' call for a socialist America. Celebrities led the way. Actors Will Ferrell and Mark Ruffalo, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, comedian Margaret Cho, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Jackson Browne and many others got behind Bernie's plan for "democratic socialism."

Why?!

I naively assumed that the collapse of the Soviet Union would make it obvious to everyone that socialism kills both prosperity and freedom. If that didn't, then the poverty in Cuba, Cambodia, Tanzania, Somalia, North Korea, etc. would convince them.

But no! People still think socialism will make a country more "fair" or "equal" by punishing the rich.

British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn praised Venezuela's strongman, saying he was "conquering poverty by emphatically rejecting the neoliberal policies of the world's financial institutions."

By "neoliberal," Corbyn didn't mean left-wing. He meant support for global trade. Donald Trump wants to rein that in, too.

In Venezuela, Chavez cut off foreign trade. When shortages occurred, his successor blamed an "economic war" waged by capitalists.

Trump often blames China -- although economists estimate 12 million U.S. jobs depend upon our trade with China. He mocks NAFTA, our trade agreement with Mexico and Canada, but economists call that a job creator, too.

What Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders don't realize is that commerce is not zero-sum -- trade with China does not mean China wins and we lose. In most cases, we both win.

Wealth is created when governments get out of the way and let people trade as they please, within borders or across borders.

I don't want a "strong leader." I want a president of this constitutional republic to preside over limited government and leave us free to lead our own lives.
Last week, President-elect Donald Trump re-emphasized the approach he will take in enforcing the nations immigration laws, which is much different from the manner of enforcement utilized by President Barack Obama. The latter pointedly declined to deport the 5 million undocumented immigrants in the United States who are the parents of children born here -- children who, by virtue of birth, are American citizens. Trump has made known his intention to deport all undocumented people, irrespective of family relationships, starting with those who have committed crimes.

In response to Trumps stated intentions, many cities -- including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco -- have offered sanctuary to those whose presence has been jeopardized by the president-elects plan. Can they do this?

Here is the back story.

Under the Constitution, the president is the chief federal law enforcement officer in the land. Though the presidents job is to enforce all federal laws, as a practical matter, the federal government lacks the resources to do that. As well, the president is vested with what is known as prosecutorial discretion. That enables him to place priority on the enforcement of certain federal laws and put the enforcement of others on the back burner.

Over time -- and with more than 4,000 criminal laws in the United States Code -- Congress and the courts have simply deferred to the president and permitted him to enforce what he wants and not enforce what he doesn't want. Until now.

Earlier this year, two federal courts enjoined President Obama -- and the Supreme Court, in a tie vote, declined to interfere with those injunctions -- from establishing a formal program whereby undocumented people who are the parents of natural-born citizens may lawfully remain here. It is one thing, the courts ruled, for the president to prioritize federal law enforcement; it is quite another for him to attempt to rewrite the laws and put them at odds with what Congress has written. It is one thing for the president, for humanitarian reasons or because of a lack of resources, to look the other way in the face of unenforced federal law. It is another for him to claim that by doing so, he may constitutionally change federal law.

Trump brilliantly seized upon this -- and the electorates general below-the-radar-screen disenchantment with it -- during his successful presidential campaign by promising to deport all 13 million undocumented immigrants currently in the United States, though he later reduced that promise so as to cover only the 2 million among them who have been convicted in the United States of violating state or federal laws.

Enter the sanctuary cities. These are places where there are large immigrant populations, among which many are undocumented, yet where there is apparently not a little public sentiment and local governmental support for sheltering the undocumented from federal reach. Trump has argued that these cities are required to comply with federal law by actively assisting the feds -- or at least not aggressively resisting them.

Thus the question: Are state and local governments required to help the feds enforce federal law? In a word: No.

The term sanctuary cities is not a legal term, but it has been applied by those in government and the media to describe municipalities that offer expanded social services to the undocumented and decline to help the feds find them -- including the case of Chicago's offering undocumented immigrants money for legal fees to resist federal deportation. As unwise as these expenditures may be by cities that are essentially bankrupt and rely on federal largesse in order to remain in the black, they are not unlawful. Cities and towns are free to expand the availability of social services however they please, taking into account the local political climate.

Enter the Supreme Court. It has required the states -- and thus the municipalities in them -- to make social services available to everyone resident within them, irrespective of citizenry or lawful or unlawful immigration status. This is so because the constitutional command to the states of equal protection applies to all persons, not just to citizens. So the states and municipalities may not deny basic social services to anyone based on nationality or immigration status.

The high court has also prohibited the federal government from commandeering the states by forcing them to work for the feds at their own expense by actively enforcing federal law. As Ronald Reagan reminded us in his first inaugural address, the states formed the federal government, not the other way around. They did so by ceding 16 discrete powers to the federal government and retaining to themselves all powers not ceded.

If this constitutional truism were not recognized or enforced by the courts, the federal government could effectively eradicate the sovereignty of the states or even bankrupt them by forcing them to spend their tax dollars enforcing federal law or paying for federal programs.

Thus the Trump dilemma. He must follow the Constitution, or the courts will enjoin him as they have his predecessor. He cannot use a stick to bend the governments of sanctuary cities to his will, but he can use a carrot. He can ask Congress for legislative grants of funds to cities conditioned upon their compliance with certain federal immigration laws.

All of this is part of our constitutional republic. By dividing powers between the feds and the states -- and by separating federal powers among the president, Congress and the courts -- our system intentionally makes the exercise of governmental power cumbersome by diffusing it. And since government is essentially the negation of freedom, the diffusion of governmental powers helps to maximize personal liberty.
To their Advent prayer list, Republicans should ask that Rep. Keith Ellison (D., Minn.) is elected the Democratic National Committees chairman early next year.

There are two reasons. The first is that Mr. Ellisons selection would mean the Democratic Party would be led by a left-wingers left-winger, handing an early assist to the GOP and the Trump administration for the 2018 midterms.

After cataloging every vote cast by every congressman, the nonpartisan National Journal ranks the five-term Minnesota Democrat as among the Houses most left-wing members during his 10 years in Congress, and tied for the most liberal congressman in 2013 , 2011and 2008.

Thats why he went all-out for Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential primary. In return Mr. Ellison earned the backing of the avowed democratic socialist, as well as support from Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Harry Reid.



To continue reading Karl Rove's column in the Wall Street Journal, click here.
Pres. Trump must act fast to save Iraqs Christian genocide victims; Obama policies have been epic fail

By Nina Shea, Director of Hudson Institutes Center for Religious Freedom. This piece is adapted from remarks given at the Anglosphere conference at the NY Catholic Archdiocese Sheen Center, on December 5.

Iraqs Christian genocide survivors are hanging on with hope and the help of a fraying thread of private aid. The US government acknowledged the ISIS genocide suffered by these Christians, Yizidis and other minorities, last March. Since then, the Obama administrations humanitarian response toward them has been epic fail.

As Iraqs post-ISIS reconstruction phase now comes into focus, the Christians stand to lose out again. Unless President Trump acts fast to reverse the current practices and policies, Iraqs ancient Christian communities, with direct ties to the earliest Church and who speak Aramaic, the same tongue as Jesus of Nazareth, will disappear completely.

Most of these Christians have been effectively shut out of the $1.1 billion American humanitarian aid program for Iraq since ISIS seized their hometowns in Iraqs northern Nineveh province, in 2014. The Chaldean Catholic Church leaders who assumed responsibility for them after they fled to Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan, testified to Congress in September that American aid has systematically and completely by-passed them: Stephen Rasche, a lawyer for the Erbil Chaldean Archdiocese, attested that apart from some tents and tarps in August 2014, the Christian community in Iraq has received nothing in aid from any US aid agencies or the UN.

Iraqs churches have scoured the West for private donations to feed and shelter some one hundred thousand indigent refugees from ISIS. In its third year, this private effort is foundering from donor fatigue.

Nor have the persecuted Christians been able to find shelter in the refugee camps of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, an agency heavily supported by the US, anywhere in the region. Monsignor John Kozar of the pontifical Catholic Near East Welfare Association, run by the NY Archdiocese, told a New York conference on Dec. 5 that Christians dont dare enter UNHCR camps for they would be targeted by Islamic gangs within them. John Pontifex, a director of the papal agency Aid to the Church in Need, emailed me that he visited a UNHCR registered camp in Lebanon, from where, he discovered, all the Christian refugees had fled in fear, opting instead for the cramped but safer quarters of a nearby Christian home.

Now, as the UN Development Program plans for the distribution of US and other funding to rebuild Iraqi towns devastated by ISIS, that agency, expected to receive billions of dollars in US aid, has released a plan that fails to list a single funding distribution center in the Christian areas of Nineveh among the some 20 facilities approved for the distribution of reconstruction aid in Iraq. ISIS has left Nineveh in ruins, notwithstanding recent headlines of church bells ringing there again. Careful reporting by CBNs Chris Mitchell reveals widespread destruction of civilian homes and businesses in the largest of the Christian towns, Qaraqosh. Iraqi Catholic nun Diana Momeka wrote to me last month that troop reports from three predominantly-Christian towns estimate damage affecting up to 80 per cent of the buildings and historical site.

Sinjar, the Yizidis center, stands as a warning for other Nineveh towns. It was recaptured from ISIS last year but its residents have yet to return from camps in Kurdistan because it lies in rubble. Sinjars Yizidis now have reason for hope, since one of the UNDP facilities for funding reconstruction is to be located there. Unfortunately, the same cant be said for the Christians.

American reconstruction funds largely failed to reach Iraqi Christians during the Bush years, as a July 2012 US Government Accountability Office report verified. Continued US indifference all but ensures this will occur again.

To say in this context of religious genocide and sectarianism, as the Obama administration sometimes does in trying to explain why Iraqi Christians are being excluded from US assistance programs -- that there should be no religious test for US assistance -- is unconscionable. In fact, the administration has not been able to offer any coherent explanation as to why the Christians are being systematically left out of these key US funded aid programs in Iraq.

Each month, more Christians leave Iraq to resettle in the West. In four years, they could all be gone, warns the Knights of Columbus, a prominent private donor to the displaced Nineveh Christians.

As president, Donald Trump should immediately issue instructions to every relevant US department to end the marginalization of the genocide minorities in all U.S. aid programs; and a demarche along the same lines to the United Nations and the Iraqi government  both of which receive generous American support.

Otherwise, these communities are soon likely to become extinct, and the term genocide, itself, morally meaningless.
One of the most poignant scenes in A Charlie Brown Christmas is when Linus stands on a stage and recites a passage from the Holy Bible describing the Christmas story.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior which is Christ the Lord. Thats what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown, Linus said.

Click here for a FREE subscription to Todds newsletter: a must-read for Conservatives!

It really does sum up the true meaning  the true reason for the holiday season  the birth of our Lord.

Dedra Shannon, a staffer at Patterson Middle School in Killeen, Texas, was so inspired by the scene she decided to use images to decorate the door to the nurses office.

The decorations included a picture of Linus, the scrawny Christmas tree and that classic passage of dialogue about the true meaning of the holiday.

The decorations were installed on December 5. On December 7, Ms. Shannon was confronted by the schools principal.

She said, please dont hate me, but unfortunately youre going to have to take your poster down, Ms. Shannon said. Im disappointed. It is a slap in the face of Christianity.

The principal went on to explain that the poster violated the U.S. Constitution.

She said my poster is an issue of separation of church and state, Ms. Shannon told me. She said the poster had to come down because it might offend kids from other religions or those who do not have a religion.

Ms. Shannon was told she could keep Linus on the door  but the Bible passage had to be removed.

I just took the entire thing down, she said. I wasnt going to leave Linus and the Christmas tree without having the dialogue. Thats the whole point of why it was put up.

Besides, there were plenty of other posters promoting all sorts of events and clubs on campus  so why target the Christmas-themed poster?

Throughout the school there are talks about diversity. Well, you arent being very diverse if you are not allowing the Christians to put something up that refers to a Christian holiday, she said.

Thats a really good point. And dont forget  Christmas is a federal holiday.

Danny Brey is the pastor of the Soldiers of the Cross Cowboy Fellowship near Fort Hood. He is also Ms. Shannons father.

Pastor Brey was the one who first alerted me to the Yuletide Grinches at Patterson Middle School.

People want us to be tolerant for everything  but they dont tolerate Christianity, he said. They bow down to everything else  but when it comes to Christianity

Yes sir, pastor. Thats a spot-on analysis.

Those who holler about tolerance are the least tolerant of all.

Its not the first time A Charlie Brown Christmas has caused holiday controversy. Last year, a school canceled a stage performance of the Christmas classic over similar constitutional concerns.

I hope the Killeen Independent School District will reconsider their decision to censor Ms. Shannons lovely Christmas decorations.

Public schools are supposed to be in the education business and Ms. Shannon was simply educating students about the true meaning of Christmas.

And boys and girls really do need to know what Christmas is really all about. Right, Charlie Brown?


The political elites of Washington are not President-elect Donald Trump's friends and they never will be.

Trump, has been meeting with the likes of Mitt Romney, Chicago Mayor Rahm "Rambo dead fish" Emanuel and even Al Gore. My advice to the president-elect tonight is, be very careful. In the case of Romney, Trump should remember all of the vicious, nasty and horrible things the 1012 GOP presidential nominee said about him earlier this year when he sought to sabotage Trumps campaign.

TRUMP WANTS TO BE "PRESIDENT OF ALL THE PEOPLE"

If we Republicans choose Donald Trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished, Romney said. Now, Donald Trump tells us that he is very, very smart. I'm afraid that when it comes to foreign policy, he is very, very not smart.

Dishonesty is Donald Trump's hallmark, Romney continued, before calling Trump a phony, a fraud, whose promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University.

Mr. Trump, do you really want him in your Cabinet?

Then there's Emanuel, the mayor of Chicago. He has deep political ties to President Obama, and of course, the Clintons. Yet, there he was at Trump Tower this week, playing nice only a few weeks after declaring he will oppose Trumps plan to enforce federal law by ending sanctuary cities.

And what exactly was global warming alarmist and former Vice President Gore doing at Trump Tower earlier this week? In October, Gore warned us all that Trump would take us toward a climate catastrophe. He has long accused Republicans of being racists who want the poor to drink dirty water and breathe polluted air.

Finally, what are we to make of Trump telling the "Today" show Wednesday about his budding relationship with the current commander-in-chief?

I've now gotten to know President Obama, Trump said. I really like him. We have, I think I can say at least for myself -- I can't speak for him, but we have a really good chemistry together. We talk. He loves the country. He wants to do right by the country and for the country. And I will tell you, we obviously very much disagree on certain policies and certain things, but you know, I really like him as a person.

The office of president deserves respect, but the fact is, President Obama has been one of the worst presidents in American history. Trump is taking the high road to bring the country together. But it is pretty obvious to me that President Obama is putting on a front. Fox News Ed Henry reported that Obama is planning a farewell tour in mid-January, with major speeches in up to three cities. The likely goal: To undermine Donald Trump before the inauguration.

Obama has been harsh in his criticism of Trump, and theres no doubt that will continue long after he leaves office. He is a divisive, radical left-wing ideologue, always was, always will be.

This is somebody who's spent 70 years on this earth showing no respect for working people, Obama said of Trump during the campaign. This is somebodies who vilifies minorities, vilifies immigrants, vilifies people of Muslim faith. If you disrespect women before you are elected president, you will disrespect women when you're in office.

The Republican leadership in Washington is finally coming around to supporting Donald Trump. But I'm an old Reagan guy, and I think it's worth remembering his admonition, his famous line, "Trust but verify."

Washington might seem like a nice place, but as Trump has said, it's really a swamp. And as soon as things get even a little bit tough, these newfound friends from the political class will turn on him on a dime.

President Harry Truman is often quoted as saying, If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog. President-elect Trump is reportedly set to get a first pup named Patton. That will make one friend. If he wants another, he should get Patton a playmate.

Adapted from Sean Hannitys monologue airing on Hannity Dec. 7, 2016
I will be among those voting for Marine Gen. James Mad Dog Mattis to be the next Secretary of Defense. President-elect Donald Trump has picked the right man for right now.

Gen. Mattis has the record and reputation we need in a Secretary of Defense. He is a tried-and-true leader who has proven himself time and again on the battlefield, having commanded Marines during some of the most significant operations of the Persian Gulf War, the War on Terror, and the Iraq War. He is known for approaching difficult decisions with mettle and measure  bringing a deep devotion to the study of military history to his leadership roles.

One look at the military decorations awarded to Gen. Mattis and it is evident he has dedicated his life to the service of our country. But the praises and loyalty of his troops and peers convey another honor: genuine respect and admiration.

Who better to make decisions about how to keep our troops safe and prepared than the former commander of the United States Central Command, a position directly involved in some of the most pressing situations facing our military in the Middle East and North Africa?

Gen. Mattis held that instrumental position for nearly three years, during which he demonstrated his willingness to speak truth to power  taking a particularly aggressive stand on Iran that differed from that of the Obama administration.

After eight years of foreign policy missteps, President-elect Trumps bold choice is a welcome change. He understands that, as commander-in-chief, he needs an honest assessment of the threats we face.

Gen. Mattis would bring this candor. Our friends and enemies abroad would not question where America stands if he is at the helm of the Pentagon.

We know the repercussions of letting a brutal dictator cross a red line without consequence and withdrawing troops in Iraq before stability is guaranteed.

We face a reality that includes a new brand of terrorism, waging barbaric campaigns in cities that American troops fought and died to liberate.

Gen. Mattis understands where military strategy and foreign policy intersect. He recognizes that long-term military success does not happen in isolation.

I strongly believe the presidents national security team should be in place on Day One. Gen. Mattis may need a special waiver from Congress in order to be confirmed, but this decision is a no-brainer for lawmakers.

Our vote on the government funding bill includes a measure to expedite this waiver and avoid a needless delay.

President-elect Trump has the authority and responsibility to nominate the person he thinks best for this position, and he has picked a commander who exemplifies former President Reagans belief in peace through strength. I will fight any attempt by Democrats to slow-walk Gen. Mattiss nomination.

Gen. Mattis is an exceptional leader who understands our nations long tradition of civilian control over our countrys military.

The last time a congressional waiver was granted to a nominee for Secretary of Defense was during the Truman administration, on behalf of World War II hero George Marshall. Doing the same for Gen. Mattis is a justified and, quite frankly, a necessary step.

Our world is too unstable and dangerous not to put the best person in charge.
Sean Hannity currently serves as host of FOX News Channel's (FNC) Hannity (weekdays 9-10 PM/ET). Based in New York, he joined the network in 1996 and this year achieved the title as the longest-running current primetime host in cable news in television history.Read More

As one of the most prominent and influential conservative voices in the country, Hannity showcases his candid, provocative style and conservative commentary on politics and the American agenda. The show also features Hannity's signature monologue where he opens the hour breaking down hot topics of the day.

Throughout his tenure with the network, he has secured interviews with numerous key newsmakers and political figures, including: former President Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then-President George W. Bush, then-Vice President Dick Cheney, former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Zimmerman, former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, Reverend Jesse Jackson, as well as Sylvester Stallone, Roseanne Barr, Kim Kardashian, Mel Gibson, Michael Moore, Michael Phelps, Richard Petty, Charlie Daniels, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, and most recently award-winning actor and director Sean Penn. In the spring of 2021, Hannity secured the first national television interview with former Olympian and reality television star Caitlyn Jenner since announcing her candidacy for Governor of California and recently conducted Jenners debut interview as a FOX News Media contributor.

Hannity also sat down with Wendy Rittenhouse, the mother of Kyle Rittenhouse who was acquitted after shooting three men during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin in August 2020. In 2018, he contributed to FNC's coverage of the U.S. summit with North Korea live in Hanoi, Vietnam on his weeknight primetime show. During his on-site coverage, he presented an interview with then-President Donald Trump following his meeting with Kim Jong Un to discuss the latest news surround the summit. In addition, he presented the first interview with Trump following his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland. In 2018, Hannity contributed to FNC's live coverage of the United States and North Korea summit that took place in Singapore. Hannity's coverage of the historic meeting between Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un delivered 5.9 million viewers, making it the highest-rated program across broadcast and cable primetime that evening. Following the North Korea summit, Hannity presented an interview with former President Trump that dominated the cable news competition, averaging 4.1 million total viewers.

Previously, he co-hosted Hannity & Colmes with the late Alan Colmes, which became a ratings hit and overtook Larry King after just five years of its existence, ranking as top-rated program in its timeslot beginning in 2002 in the key demo and in 2003 with viewers. His eponymous program since has dominated the cable news landscape, ranking number one in its time slot with both viewers and in the 25-54 demographic for 13 consecutive years since launching as a solo hour in January 2009, according to Nielsen Media Research. From 2017 to 2019, Hannity reigned as the most-watched program in all of cable news in the coveted Adults 25-54 demo and marked four consecutive years as the most-watched show in total viewers (2017-2020). Most recently, Hannity ended 2021 as the top-rated program airing at 9 PM/ET, besting the competition on CNN and MSNBC by double digits in both categories. Currently averaging more than 3.1 million viewers each night, the program routinely ranks in the top five programs in cable news.

Known for his provocative style and free-wheeling, passionate commentary on politics and the American agenda, Hannity has become one of the most popular radio personalities nationwide. As host of Premiere Radio Networks' The Sean Hannity Show, syndicated to more than 675 stations and heard in all of the top 50 markets, he has a loyal listenership of 20 million. Hannity currently ranks as No. 1 in Talkers Magazine's Top 100 Talk Host in America and was listed as No. 72 on Forbes' "Celebrity 100" list in 2013. In October 2003, Hannity received two NAB Marconi Radio Awards for Network Syndicated Personality of the Year and is a three-time consecutive winner of the Radio & Records National Talk Show Host of the Year Award.

Prior to his roles with WABC and FNC, Hannity hosted a radio talk show in Atlanta on WGST-AM and was a frequent substitute for fellow talk show host, Rush Limbaugh on WABC in New York. He is also the author of four New York Times bestsellers, "Live Free or Die," "Let Freedom Ring: Winning the War of Liberty over Liberalism," "Deliver Us from Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism" and "Conservative Victory: Defeating Obama's Radical Agenda."
It's not every Pearl Harbor Day when a U.S. senator objects to honoring Pearl Harbor Day. But that's exactly what unfolded on the Senate floor Wednesday as two Democrats went to the mat to force the Senate to cut a better health care deal for coal miners.

Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.,and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, both vulnerable senators facing re-election in 2018, took to the Senate floor to block a host of bills and resolutions that usually sail through unnoticed.

Manchin and Brown want a longer guarantee of health benefits for miners beyond April 28. The miners' health care issue has emerged as a flashpoint on a bill to fund the government through next spring. Funding for the government expires Friday night.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-NC, repeatedly tried to get clearance from Manchin and Brown on a panoply of non-controversial bills Wednesday night. But the Democrats repeatedly objected, effectively blocking each item.

At one point, Tillis tried to advance a measure observing the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Stunningly, Brown objected as he and Manchin had done on all other measures.

Brown said on the Senate floor, "They're like resolutions that don't mean anything. But they're nice. But they don't mean anything to a widow..(who won't get health care)."

Brown said," I suppose we could go all night. I don't mind working late tonight. I don't mind working late tomorrow."

At one point, Brown groused about his GOP colleagues demanding "certainty for corporate America."

"But it's working for mine workers to jack them around...pardon my language."

Brown added, "We're not leaving...if it means a session on Christmas Day."

Off the floor, Manchin said, "Does the Senate Democratic stand and fight for working people? We'll know tomorrow morning."
Ever since Republican Donald Trump won the presidential election, Chicago-area politicians like Mayor Rahm Emanuel and U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, both Democrats, have vowed to fight his proposal to deport millions of people living in the country illegally.

Now they are taking into action. On Tuesday, Emanuel, Gutierrez and Sen. Richard Durbin announced a new task force called Chicago Is With You that will work to protect and assist immigrants in the city.

At a time when the anti-immigrant rhetoric is at a fever pitch, Chicago is going to do everything we can to make sure that we keep families and communities safe, Gutierrez said in a press release, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The 23-member group will be co-chaired by the three politicians and will include aldermen, immigration advocates as well as union, business, religious and community leaders.

According to officials, the task force will collaborate on mental health, legal services, diversity training for employers and education [in an attempt to offer] comprehensive services to immigrants, refugees and other disenfranchised communities.

More On This... Jeff Sessions choice as attorney general draws both applause and anger

Emanuel has vowed to maintain Chicagos status as a so-called sanctuary city that doesnt cooperate with immigration agencies on deporting undocumented migrants. While Trump has threatened that any sanctuary city won't receive federal funding, the mayor said that there has been a tremendous show of support for his position, with a number of organizations pledging their support and expertise in the endeavor.

The task force brings all of those resources together under a common goal to ensure we are delivering comprehensive services to these communities in need, Emanuel said, according to the Sun-Times.

The "Chicago Is With You" initiative includes a website that will provide information to immigrants and people who entered the country illegally and are protected from deportation by Barack Obamas Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

Gutierrez has said that an effort to revoke DACA would constitute a declaration of war.

For his part, Durbin was quoted in the statement as saying that he was proud to be part of the task force.

History will judge where we stood when families feared being ripped apart by deportation or turned away as they fled terrorism or violence around the world, he said.

Earlier in the week, Trump called Emanuel, who served as Obamas first chief of staff, reportedly to ask advice about the transition to the White House. They were scheduled to meet in New York City on Wednesday morning.

About their conversation, Emanuel told reporters, We talked about a range of things that he was interested [in] and a range of things that I wanted to be clear about, according to the Sun-Times.

Im also not a shrinking violet, he said.

Like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter & Instagram
A federal judge who ordered Michigan to begin its recount effectively ended it on Wednesday, tying his decision to a state court ruling that found Green Party candidate Jill Stein had no legal standing to request another look at ballots.

The ruling seals Republican Donald Trump's narrow victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton for Michigan's16 electoral votes.

U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith agreed with Republicans who argued that the three-day recountmust end a day after the state appeals court dealt a blow to the effort. The court said Stein, who finished fourth in Michigan on Nov. 8, didn't have a chance of winning even after a recount and therefore isn't an "aggrieved" candidate.

"Because there is no basis for this court to ignore the Michigan court's ruling and make an independent judgment regarding what the Michigan Legislature intended by the term 'aggrieved,' plaintiffs have not shown an entitlement to a recount," Goldsmith said.

It was the judge's midnight ruling Monday that started the recount in Michigan. But Goldsmith's order dealt with timing  not whether a recount was appropriate. More than 20 of 83 counties already were counting ballots again. They reported minor changes in vote totals, although many precincts couldn't be examined for a second time for a variety of reasons.

Earlier Wednesday, the Michigan elections board voted, 3-1, to end the recount if Goldsmith extinguished his earlier order.

State Republican Party Chairman Ronna Romney McDaniel and Attorney General Bill Schuette said it's a victory for voters and taxpayers. Stein now is left with asking the Michigan Supreme Court to intervene, which is a long shot.

"Jill Stein, who received only 1.07% of the vote in Michigan, is not legally entitled to hijack the will of voters and drag them into an arduous and expensive publicity stunt," McDaniel said.

Stein got about 1 percent of the vote in three states where she's pushed for recounts  Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Trump narrowly won all three.

She insists she's more concerned about the accuracy of the election, but Goldsmith said Stein's legal team presented only "speculative claims" about vulnerable machines, "not actual injury."

The judge said a recount to test the integrity of the voting system "has never been endorsed by any court."

A court hearing will be held Friday on a possible recount in Pennsylvania. Wisconsin's recount, which started last week, has increased Trump's margin of victory over Clinton thus far.

Clinton needed all three states to flip in order to take enough electoral votes to win the election. Trump has 306 electoral votes to Clinton's 232; 270 are needed to win. Michigan has 16 electoral votes, Pennsylvania has 20 and Wisconsin has 10. Electors convene Dec. 19 across the country to vote for president.
President-elect Donald Trump has picked Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad for the key post of U.S. Ambassador to China, the transition team announced Wednesday

Branstad met with Trump at Trump Tower in New York Tuesday afternoon.

Governor Branstads decades of experience in public service and long-time relationship with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders make him the ideal choice to serve as Americas Ambassador to China, Trump said in a statement.

"After long discussions with my family, I am honored and humbled to accept President-elect Trumps nomination to represent our great country as Ambassador to China," Branstad said. "I have known President Xi Jinping for many years and consider him an old friend. I look forward to building on our long friendship to cultivate and strengthen the relationship between our two countries and to benefit our economy."

Trump's offer was first reported by Bloomberg.

Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence will hold a "Thank You" rally for supporters in Des Moines on Thursday. In last month's presidential election, Iowa voters backed the Republican ticket for just the second time since 1984.

Branstad, 70, was an early and staunch supporter of Trump, and his son, Eric, served as the state director for Trump's campaign in Iowa.

Branstad would assume the post at a pivotal moment in U.S-China relations, following Trump's Dec. 2 phone call with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.

The conversation broke nearly four decades of U.S. diplomatic protocol. Trump followed that with a series of Twitter posts over the weekend challenging China's trade and military policies.

As a presidential candidate, Trump repeatedly accused China of manipulating its currency and trying to "rape our country" with unfair trade policies.

Bloomberg reported that Branstad has a longstanding relationship with President Xi. Branstad first met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 1985, when Xi, then a provincial agricultural official, visited Iowa.

More recently, Brandstad gave a dinner for Xi in Des Moines in 2012 and has visited China four times in the past seven years.

At a campaign rally in Sioux City Nov. 6, Trump called Branstad up to the stage, saying the governor "would be our prime candidate to take care of China."

Trump has pledged to be more "unpredictable" on the world stage, billing the approach as a much-needed change from President Barack Obama's deliberative style and public forecasting about U.S. policy. But Trump's unpredictability is likely to unnerve both allies and adversaries, leaving glaring questions about whether the foreign policy novice is carrying out planned strategies or acting on impulse.

China's authoritarian government likes predictability in its dealings with other nations, particularly the United States. The U.S. and China are the world's two largest economies with bilateral trade in goods and services reaching nearly $660 billion last year.

While there have been sharp differences between Beijing and Washington on China's island building in the South China Sea and over alleged Chinese cybertheft of U.S. commercial secrets, the two powers have cooperated effectively on climate change and the Iran nuclear deal.

Fox News' Serafin Gomez and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Im starting to see a pattern here.

Donald Trump makes an aggressive move, breaking with the usual practice or protocol, and the media do their rain dance: Why, this is deeply troubling! Things simply arent done this way. People are getting nervous. How can you run a government like this?

Then they round up people for suitably negative or skeptical quotes.

The underlying message: Trump keeps making blunders and really doesnt understand this job.

Now its the business worlds turn.

Trump, seemingly out of the blue, fired off a tweet that could ground a federal project: Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!

This prompted a Washington Post story saying such incidents had left many wondering whether this would be the unusual and unpredictable way that Trump will govern when he takes office next month.

That style, including his opaque personal financial dealings and his sudden shots at certain companies, has helped unnerve a corporate America that traditionally craves stability. Some business leaders and economists have worried whether executives can speak their minds about the president-elect or his policies without fear of facing Trumps rage.

I cant tell you how sad I am that corporate America may not have the stability it craves.

Some media reports suggested that Trump was responding a few minutes after the Chicago Tribune posted an article quoting Boeings CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, as challenging Trumps overarching election theme as involving apprehension about free and fair trade.

But Trump denied that yesterday on the Today show, saying he was talking about only the planes, because I didnt see an article where he was critical of trade policies and my trade policies are going to be terrific. Trumps tweet initially drove down Boeing stock by almost $2 a share.

These things are, as always, complicated. Boeing, at the moment, has only a $170-million contract to determine the capabilities of two new planes that would serve the president. The Pentagon has budgeted $3.2 billion for the two planes, so its not clear where the $4-billion figure comes from. Boeing has been building these planes since FDR was president and is the only American manufacturer capable of doing so. The company has now told the Trump team that the cost could be lowered if the feds lower their requirements for the planes.

We saw similar tactics when Trump vowed to save hundreds of jobs at Carrier that were slated to move to Mexico and then got a deal with the help of tax breaks. He followed that up by calling out another Indiana company, Rexnord, saying it is moving to Mexico and viciously firing all of its 300 workers.

Now theres a very strong role for the media here in scrutinizing the facts as well as the tactics. Should a president be negotiating company by company? Are these good deals for the taxpayers? Is this the government picking winners and losers? Did Trump oversell what he had achieved?

But what rankles a bit is the media hand-wringing over Trumps style, that he does all this colorfully and publicly rather than through quiet negotiations that is the preferred style inside the Beltway.

Times Person of the Year has been at the center of the political universe for a year and a half. This is how he operates. Trump makes snap decisions, pushes the boundaries, attacks on Twitter, personalizes everything, and has little patience for process and procedure.

Thats how he got elected. It may prove to be an effective style of governing or it may be a mess. But the press, and the country, may as well get used to it.
Well, its not quite a priest, a minister and a rabbi walking into a bar.

But heres a riddle for you.

What do the Flint, Mich., water crisis; a drought in California; retired Gen. James Mattis; miners health benefits; the Oakland warehouse fire; Pearl Harbor Day and efforts to avoid a government shutdown have to do with when Congress can adjourn for the holidays?

Everything.

And each component hinges on the other as Congress tries to wrap its work for the year.

We always try to have a little drama for you guys, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

The question is when lawmakers will try to bail on Washington for the rest of the year.

Dont expect high-wire drama about a government shutdown. Thats out of the question. But lawmakers must unravel a Gordian knot before they tie a bow around 2016.

The government is funded through Friday at 11:59:59 pm ET. The House plans to vote Thursday on an interim spending bill (called a Continuing Resolution, or CR) which runs the government through April 28, 2017. But the Senate could be another enterprise. The CR includes a controversial framework provision to expedite a bill next year to help James Mattis become Defense secretary. Legally, Mattis cant serve as Pentagon chief unless Congress grants him a waiver. National security law stipulates that former active duty military personnel must be off the job for seven years before qualifying for the Defense secretary post. Mattis retired in 2013.

There was some initial consternation about the Mattis provision in the CR. Some senior House Democrats claimed the Mattis effort poisoned the entire legislation. But reservations dissipated Wednesday.

More substantial problems linger over an effort by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to address Californias drought in a separate water infrastructure plan. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., could block that bill over environmental concerns and the Endangered Species Act. Such a maneuver could hold consequences for Flint.

The CR itself includes $170 million for Michigans water programs -- but not explicitly money tagged for Flint. The wild card is the water infrastructure measure. Congress must approve that bill in order to expressly direct $100 million to Flint. In other words, congressional leaders bifurcated the Flint process. This dares Democrats to vote no on both bills. If Boxer succeeds on the drought, Flint fails to receive money for the water crisis. Thats because the trigger mechanism to send the money to Flint lives in the water infrastructure bill -- not the CR.

So even as the House is poised to okay the CR, the Senate could be a day or more away.

By Wednesday evening, health care programs for retired miners emerged as perhaps the biggest issue threatening immediate passage of the CR. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., led the charge to delay passage of the stopgap spending bill. Manchin argues the CR offers miners a four-month Band-Aid to maintain their health care. He wants a longer package.

Not every Pearl Harbor Day presents senators the opportunity to object to a resolution marking the attack  especially on the 75th anniversary of the raid. But that's exactly what unfolded on the Senate floor Wednesday. Manchin and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, blocked a number of non-controversial resolutions which usually slip through the body without much fanfare. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., repeatedly tried to earn clearance from Manchin and Brown on a panoply of measures. But the Democrats alternated in their objections on the grounds that they werent budging until the miners found justice.

The Ohio Democrat noted that his GOP colleagues often demand certainty from Congress for corporate interests.

But it's alright for mine workers to jack them around. Pardon my language, said Brown. Were not leaving.

Tillis tried to advance separate measures honoring those killed in the recent Oakland warehouse fire and the Pearl Harbor resolution. But those plans ran into the Manchin/Brown buzzsaw.

Until we have that long-term solution included in the Miners Protection Act, I am going to have to object, said Manchin when Tillis tried to move the Oakland fire resolution.

Brown stalled the Pearl Harbor observance.

Im for these resolutions, said Brown. But they're not resolutions to provide college to the children of the people who died in the fire. Not to the grandchildren of the people who died at Pearl Harbor. They're resolutions that don't mean anything except they're nice.

Democrats stumbled in the election to connect with working-class voters. Manchin said blocking the CR over miner benefits could resonate with the very people who supported President-elect Donald Trump.

People felt they were abandoned, said Manchin. This gives them a chance to stand for them.

So what happens if the House approves the CR and the Senate fails?

The House and Senate would simply okay an even shorter CR. This would keep the government lights on through early next week. The House would obviously have to approve the package before adjourning.

Its possible the Senate could remain in session through Monday. If the Senate alters anything okayed by the other body, the House could have to return to sync up.

However, these issues have a way of last-minute resolution around Christmastime. Brinkmanship is a tactic.

Thats because lawmakers face an almost unfathomable pressure to wrap up quickly from the most-powerful group of people in the country: Congressional spouses.

Capitol Attitude is a weekly column written by members of the Fox News Capitol Hill team. Their articles take you inside the halls of Congress, and cover the spectrum of policy issues being introduced, debated and voted on there.
A small Washington state city spent more than $100,000 on three windmill-like turbines  but any hopes for big savings appear to be blowing in the wind.

The Peninsula Daily News reported that the Port Angeles turbines, which havent yet been turned on, are expected to generate $1.39 per day in electricity, or roughly $42 per month.

The turbines were meant to help illuminate a local park. Now, some city council members are having second thoughts about their unanimous approval for the project.

I did not realize they would produce so little energy. I wouldnt have voted for it knowing it was that little, City Councilwoman Sissi Bruch told The Peninsula Daily News.

I did not realize they would produce so little energy. I wouldnt have voted for it knowing it was that little, City Councilwoman Sissi Bruch told The Peninsula Daily News.

Bruch later told Foxnews.com she was disappointed the project was not as efficient as intended, but says she remains supportive of the project.

Bruch said the purpose of the designers was to let people see how wind works. Asked if the intent of the project was to provide a cost-efficient means of electricity, she said it was not the primary reason.

It is a piece of art, she added.

The city, though, challenged some details in the newspaper report.

Nathan West, director of Community and Economic Development for the city, told FoxNews.com in an email that daily savings could be as high as $5.44 at peak windspeed but cautioned that determination of actual benefit in dollars at this time would be speculative because the spires are not yet operational.

He also defended the citys investment in the turbines, saying: [T]he City did not purchase these spires for the purpose of energy creating infrastructure but rather as a park element. There are however many other thoughts that went into the decision making regarding purchase of the spires. He said they add to a positive aesthetic in the park and symbolize energy creation.

The city council voted in October 2015 to approve $107,516 out of a total $285,952 county funding grant to purchase the turbines from Urban Green Energy.

While they were supposed to be turned on two months ago, a dispute over safety inspection of the project has resulted in delays.

The electricity that is produced would be used to power 31 lights in the newly built Waterfront Park.

The lower-than-anticipated savings could be even lower depending on the eventual cost of maintaining the turbines in the harsh and salty environment, Port Angeles Deputy Power Systems Manager Shailesh Shere told the newspaper.

Though some members of the council may not be sold on the alternative energy initiative, there were those who never bought into the promised cost savings in the first place.

My fundamental objection to these is that they are not cost-effective and its a waste of money, former deputy director of power systems Phil Lusk told the paper.
President-elect Donald Trumps decision to tap retired Gen. John Kelly for secretary of Homeland Security has immigration hawks cautiously optimistic the incoming president is holding to campaign vows to tighten border security -- even as he dials back his rhetoric.

The four-star general is known for a tough approach on drug cartels, human trafficking and other scourges along the southern border. When he served as head of U.S. Southern Command from 2012-15, he cited border weaknesses as a security and terror threat, and complained he had the authority to watch drug dealers head to the border by sea but could not intercept them.

While there is not yet any indication that the criminal networks involved in human and drug trafficking are interested in supporting the efforts of terrorist groups, these networks could unwittingly, or even wittingly, facilitate the movement of terrorist operatives or weapons of mass destruction toward our borders, potentially undetected and almost completely unrestricted, he said in testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee in 2015.

Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, gave a full-throated endorsement of Kelly in a statement Wednesday.

"General Kelly has spent his life defending our nation and fully understands the critical role border security plays in protecting the country from the threats of terrorism, uncontrolled illegal immigration, and drugs. He will bring a renewed commitment to controlling our borders and ensuring the safety of the American homeland," Stein said.

The DHS secretary would oversee several immigration-related agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Some immigration hardliners had been hoping Trump would nominate for the DHS post Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach -- the architect of Kansas voter identification laws, including a 2013 requirement for new voters to provide papers documenting their U.S. citizenship when registering.

In the same statement, Stein called for Trump to appoint Kobach to another key position in the administration.

Others questioned where Kelly stands on immigration issues that go beyond border security.

Our bigger issue has been the overall immigration picture, how are numbers of immigrants affecting American workers  and we dont have any idea of where he is on that, Rosemary Jenks, director of Government Relations for NumbersUSA, told FoxNews.com.

We would have liked someone like Kris Kobach, as we know where is he is where he is on issues. But we will work with Kelly and try to help bring him up to speed, she said.

Anti-illegal immigration groups were perhaps more enthusiastic about the pick of Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., for attorney general. Sessions has played a key role in Republican proposals to secure the border and limit the number of immigrants coming into the country.

Sessions was also an early supporter of Trump during the 2016 campaign, as the unconventional presidential candidate made immigration a signature issue, vowing to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and make Mexico pay for it, in addition to stepping up deportations and cracking down on so-called sanctuary cities.

Not all signs are pointing to a tough line on immigration from the incoming Trump administration. Sources confirmed Thursday that Trump will pick CKE chief executive Andrew Puzder for Labor Secretary. Puzder has advocated repeatedly for immigration reform bills and said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that deporting 11 million immigrants was unworkable.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, told FoxNews.com that Puzder is probably the worst person you could think of for this job.

Jeb Bush may have blushed picking this guy, he said.

We are very concerned about the labor secretary, agreed Jenks.

Trump also has adopted a softer tone toward Dreamers  those who were brought to the U.S. illegally at a young age.

"We're going to work something out that's going to make people happy and proud," Trump said in an interview with Time magazine. "They got brought here at a very young age, they've worked here, they've gone to school here. Some were good students. Some have wonderful jobs. And they're in never-never land because they don't know what's going to happen."

To understand the jumpiness of those in the immigration wing of the party, it is necessary to understand their central concern with the status quo  that political elites in both parties have pledged to toughen enforcement, only to appease corporate donors in seeking broader legalization.

For decades, the American people have begged and pleaded for a just and lawful system of immigration that serves their interestsbut their demands are refused, Sessions wrote in a 2015 policy handbook sent to GOP members.

At the same time, "amnesty" advocates still have not succeeded in passing a broader reform package that includes a pathway to legal status or citizenship for illegal immigrants.

Im not resigned," Krikorian said when asked about the state-of-play with immigration overhauls in the Trump administration. "I think were going to achieve some constructive measures, but its much more touch-and-go than other areas like environmental regulations or corporate taxes or Supreme Court justices, where the outcome is more likely to be the right one.

Fox News Jennifer Griffin and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Donald Trump may meet his match when he goes toe-to-toe with another world leader whos showing prowess at strong-arming American companies into helping make his country great again.

Lockheed Martin and Boeing are the two major companies involved in discussions to build fighter aircraft production plants in India as part of that countrys Make in India initiative, which is essentially a mirror-image of President-elect Trumps aggressive desire to keep manufacturing jobs within the United States. Trump has made retaining blue-collar jobs a post-election priority, and hes already had a high-profile success in preventing the loss of several hundred jobs at Indianas Carrier plant.

The U.S. is going to substantially reduce taxes and regulations on businesses, but any business that leaves our country for another country, fires its employees, builds a new factory or plant in the other country, and then thinks it will sell its product back into the U.S. without retribution or consequences, is WRONG! Trump said in a series of Sunday tweets.

BUDGET CUTS LEAVE MARINE CORPS AIRCRAFT GROUNDED

Trump earlier this week also showed a willingness to go after jet maker Boeing, in particular, when he publicly sparred with the company over the cost of a new Air Force One fleet.

The Make in India program, which is the brainchild of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, aims to eventually increase the countrys manufacturing base to a quarter of the gross domestic product. So when the Indian government required new jets to replace its aging fleet, any corporation that wanted to be involved knew the planes  an F-16 by Lockheed or F/A-18 by Boeing  would have to be built in India.

But this is not oursourcing socks here, this is outsourcing military fighter jets, said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice.

Sekulows group has already started a Petition to Stop Giving Control of our Fighter Jets to Foreign Nations, and he plans to deliver the demand to Congress later this week. Sekulow told FoxNews.com his office has already received calls from Lockheed workers in Fort Worth whove said theyre being given notice, offered severance packages or told they can apply to work on the F-35 program  though, with no guarantee of being accepted.

A Lockheed spokesperson, however, told FoxNews.com the Fort Worth plant was ramping down production anyway as the U.S. Air Force moved on from the antiquated F-16 and switched to the newer F-35 jet.

So if you look at the big picture here, thousands of jobs have already gone away as we close out the building of F-16s. Thats a given at this point; theres nothing we can do to change this, said Randy Howard, the director of business development for Lockheeds integrated fighter group. So what our offer does is seek to mediate that. To remedy that. To bring back those jobs as much as possible. It adds jobs in India, but it also brings back jobs in Fort Worth and across the U.S.

Howard said opening up a plant in India would actually reinstate about 500 Lockheed staff positions that support F-16 production, predominantly in the United States. He also guaranteed all F-16 workers will have a job available to them on the F-35 production line.

Boeing, too, told FoxNews.com that its F/A-18 production line in St. Louis continues to have a solid future.

Our proposal to meet the needs of the Indian Air Forces fighter requirements entails creating a separate new Super Hornet production facility in India where Boeing has had a presence for more than seven decades, Boeing said in a statement. Were optimistic about the opportunity to continue our work in St. Louis and add a new production line in India which would also create more opportunities for our entire Super Hornet supply chain.

The Make in India program is supported by President Obamas outgoing administration, which is looking to strengthen ties with India. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter on Thursday visited India and an official statement said the two countries continued cooperation will strengthen Indias Make in India initiative. A Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment more specifically on the program.

Sekulow, who said he was first alerted to the India news by former military officers who are a part of his groups national security team, said he was all for increasing trade and relations with India, but that military manufacturing was a step too far.

President [Obama] is not very good with lines in the sand, Sekulow said. But heres one he should draw.
Outgoing Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid delivered his farewell address Thursday after more than three decades in Congress  leaving in his wake a trail of gaffes and gloves-off political punches that wont soon be forgotten.

Despite Reids reputation for rhetorical warfare, he and his adversaries set aside their differences for Thursdays sendoff.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., introduced Reid, D-Nev., highlighting a rarely seen friendship between the two.

Go ahead and make up all the stories you want, but the truth is we dont [despise one another], Reid said. Heres one you can write: thank you, Mitch.

Reid told stories from his childhood, explaining how his upbringing shaped his ideology and the agenda he pursued  namely, helping pass ObamaCare and focusing on suicide prevention. Reid's maneuvers on President Obama's behalf were also responsible for the passage of bills ranging from the economic stimulus package to the financial regulation overhaul. At the same time, Reid brought home major benefits to Nevada, funding countless projects, blocking a nuclear waste dump and helping protect many thousands of acres of wilderness.

He acknowledged how much the political climate has changed over his time in Congress and closed by urging the next generation to uphold the integrity of the chamber.

I hope that everyone would do everything they can to protect the Senate as an institution. As part of the Constitution, it should be given the dignity it deserves, Reid said.

But Reid has played his own part in the coarsening of American politics. Heres a look back at his more memorable and controversial comments from a 34-year congressional career.

Romney tax claim

During the 2012 general election season, Reid took to the Senate floor and boldly declared that GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney had not paid taxes in 10 years.

The former Massachusetts governor, though, had released two years of tax returns, from 2010 and 2011, showing he had, in fact, paid close to $5 million in taxes in both years combined.

Fact-checkers were quick to call out Reid for his claim.

Reid never retracted the accusation, instead suggesting ends justified means.

He remarked, Romney didnt win, did he?

Kennedy death upside?

At the height of Senate deliberations over ObamaCare in 2009, Reid openly discussed the political implications  and even upsides  of Sen. Ted Kennedys death. Health care reform had been one of Kennedys highest priorities throughout his career, and Reid bluntly told the Reno Gazette-Journal, "I think it's going to help us."

Hottest member

In one of his more cringe-worthy moments, Reid in 2010 reportedly described fellow Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand as the hottest member during a fundraiser she attended.

At the time, her office said Reid was merely referring to Gillibrands high ranking on The Hills most beautiful list. But some analysts still accused Reid of going well over the line by commenting on her looks.

Light-skinned Obama

In their book on the 2008 presidential campaign Game Change, journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann wrote that Reid described Obama as the kind of African-American president America was ready for  a light-skinned figure with no Negro dialect unless he wanted to have one.

Reid apologized for the remarks, following their publication.

Hispanic Republicans, really?

During his re-election campaign in 2010, Reid told a room of predominately Hispanic voters he didnt know how any could be Republicans:

"I don't know how anyone of Hispanic heritage could be a Republican, okay? Do I need to say more?"

Smell the tourists

Reid had high hopes for the opening of the Capitol Visitor Center in 2008  but apparently a low opinion of tourist hygiene.

Speaking about how the new center would improve the environment on the Hill, he said at a dedication ceremony:

"My staff has always said, 'Don't say this,' but I'm going to say it again because it's so descriptive because it's true.  In the summertime, because [of] the high humidity and how hot it gets here, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol."

Parting shot at Trump

As other top Democrats ranging from Nancy Pelosi to President Obama congratulated Donald Trump on his White House win last month, Reid took another direction.

He issued a 473-word statement saying Trumps win has emboldened the forces of hate and bigotry as the country is overcome by tears and fear.

"White nationalists, Vladimir Putin and ISIS are celebrating Donald Trump's victory, while innocent, law-abiding Americans are racked with fear -- especially African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Muslim Americans, LGBT Americans and Asian Americans. Watching white nationalists celebrate while innocent Americans cry tears of fear does not feel like America, the retiring Nevada senator said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Aides and supporters of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are searching for an alternative to Rep. Keith Ellison, the early favorite in the race to head the Democratic National Committee, amid growing resistance to his bid.

The liberal Minnesota congressman has faced vocal criticism from prominent Democrats, Jewish groups and some union leaders, who have questioned his comments about Israel, his defense of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and his commitment to the Democratic Party.

Hoping to assuage some of the concerns, Ellison said Wednesday that he'll resign his seat in Congress if he's picked as chairman by DNC members at the late February elections.

"Whoever wins the DNC chair race faces a lot of work, travel, planning and resource raising," Ellison said in a statement. "I will be 'all in' to meet the challenge."

But that promise may not be enough to save his bid.

The race to replace chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is taking shape as a proxy war for the future of the party, with backers of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders throwing their support behind Ellison as some supporters of Hillary Clinton search for an alternative.

The contest has divided top Democratic leaders, placing Obama's team at odds with Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid and his replacement, Chuck Schumer, whose early support for Ellison was seen as an effort to shore up the liberal flank in Congress.

Part of the issue is personal: Ellison has, at times, broken ranks to criticize Obama, the head of the party he now hopes to lead.

"Keith deserves the level of respect and deference he gave to Barack Obama for the last four years," said David Brock, a prominent Democratic activist and longtime Clinton ally.

While White House aides say that Obama is unlikely to publicly comment on the race, behind the scenes his backers have been speaking with top Democratic donors and potential candidates to see who else might be persuaded to run, said several Democrats familiar with the discussions.

High on the White House's list of preferred candidates is former Labor Secretary Tom Perez, who's weighing whether to run for DNC chair or for Maryland governor, said the Democrats, who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations. A vocal contingent is pushing for a Latino leader, arguing that the growing demographic group is crucial to the party's future and should be represented at the highest levels of its leadership.

Others, including former DNC Chair Ed Rendell, have been trying to draft Vice President Joe Biden, who's ruled out a bid. Biden spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield said he's "not interested" in the job but plans to stay heavily involved in shaping the party's future.

Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who would have been a prime contender for the post had Clinton won and has been quietly floated by some in the White House, has also told people she wouldn't take the job.

South Carolina party Chairman Jaime Harrison and New Hampshire party Chairman Ray Buckley have already announced bids, though they haven't gotten much traction within the party.

And Missouri's Secretary of State Jason Kander, who attracted attention for running a surprisingly competitive Senate race this year, says he's gotten calls exploring his interest in the post.

"I'm going to do all that I can for the cause of progress," Kander said. "If it turns out that my party wants me to serve as chair I'm open to that."

Ellison backers argue that the party must take a more populist approach after the 2016 losses, saying Democratic leaders did too little to address the economic pain of working class voters.

"Keith brings a breath of fresh air to the Democratic party," said DNC member Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. "He believes in strengthening the economics for working families across the country."

But some party hands are more concerned with campaign mechanics than message, saying the party's outreach, bench and fundraising languished under Wasserman Schultz.

"Ellison talks about vision when we need a fundraiser and organizer," said Bob Mulholland, a longtime California Democratic operative and DNC member.
The Senate approved a defense appropriations bill Thursday that includes a provision meant to help California Guard members who received enlistment bonuses in error and were facing repayment demands.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the measure calls on the Pentagon to set up a review board to fast-track an assessment and determine which soldiers should have their debts waived.

The bill heads next to President Obama's desk.

A Pentagon official reportedly also told a House Armed Services Committee that be believes 90 percent of the outstanding debt will be forgiven. The review boards deadline is July.

The intent is not to recoup from soldiers that did not know what was going on, a California Guard commander told the committee.

Most incorrect payments ranged from $15,000 to $50,000, the report said. In October, following outrage over the repayment demands, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced he was ordering the Pentagon to suspend efforts to recover the bonuses.

He did not mention any timeframe for the suspension, but insisted it would be in place until he was satisfied that our process is working effectively.

Faced with a shortage of troops at the height of the two wars, California Guard officials had offered the bonuses of $15,000 or more for soldiers to reenlist.

A federal investigation in 2010 found thousands of bonuses and student loan payments were improperly doled out to California Guard soldiers. About 9,700 current and retired soldiers received notices to repay some or all of their bonuses with more than $22 million recovered so far.

Soldiers said they felt betrayed at having to repay the money.

"These bonuses were used to keep people in," said Christopher Van Meter, a 42-year-old former Army captain and Iraq veteran who was awarded a Purple Heart. "People like me just got screwed."
Stoking the fears of a Trump presidency, liberal activist groups have launched campaigns online and around the nation to help people cope  and even survive  their version of democratic doomsday.

Some are based on Trumps mixed signals about illegal immigration, while others seem aimed at a more generalized sense of unease. One effort that launched this week, called WhatDoIDoAboutTrump.com, is depicted by its organizers as a non-partisan website [that] turns Trump angst into action  online and off.

Not sure how to protect yourself if some of Trumps campaign promises become reality? the San Francisco-based site asks.

It provides links to websites of organizations, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, which advise people about what steps to take or what they may face if Donald Trump follows through on some of his promises. One link leads to Welcome to the OH CRAP! WHAT NOW? SURVIVAL GUIDE, which describes itself as a crowdsourced collection of health, legal, and safety plans and resources + social, digital and economic security related resources urgent now as an outcome of the recent US election.

Experts say scaring consituencies about politics is standard operating procedure for activist groups, but what's different this time are the intensity, and the fact that it has started well before Jan. 20, 2017, when Trump will be sworn in.

Corinna Kester, one of the founders, says the group, which includes a former national press secretary for the Democratic National Committee, is not pushing an agenda.

If people are upset about the election, we encourage them to figure out how to get involved and work with that, from donating to petitions to protests.

We can say, in one sense, it is intensifying divisions in America.  Fred Siegel, senior fellow, Manhattan Institute

Organizations and, in many cases, lawyers, are urging people and groups they deem at-risk under a Trump presidency to take action now to protect themselves. School administrators are assuring students concerned about immigration raids that they wont be spirited away, some city officials are vowing to provide a sort-of buffer to any federal attempts to strip benefits or programs. On Monday, the Los Angeles Unified School District announced that it was setting up a hotline and "support sites" in response to the deep anxiety among students about Trump as president.

The Rev. Al Sharpton is organizing a rally of black activists and lawmakers in Washington D.C. days before Trumps inauguration in mid-January to, as he told The Hill, put the Democrats on notice to use the confirmation hearings to really go after Trumps nominees.

One of the most high-profile efforts aimed at creating preemptive buffers against Trump policies are so-called sanctuaries for immigrants who are here illegally.

Students at various colleges are pushing their campuses to be designated sanctuaries. Some cities are moving toward declaring themselves safe zones for such immigrants, saying they will not report them to immigration authorities if they come across them during the course of providing a service.

On Tuesday, the Santa Ana City Council voted to designate the municipality a sanctuary, a non-binding action that they may make enforceable through an ordinance, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The Times noted that the move is in direct defiance of President-elect Donald Trump, who was critical of illegal immigration and sanctuary cities during his campaign.

The day after Donald Trump got elected, our kids were falling apart emotionally, the Times quoted Councilmember Sal Tinajero, who is a high school teacher, as saying. They thought their parents would be deported.

The reason youre seeing this push now is that us leaders ... want to tell them they are going to be protected. If they are going to come for them, they have to come through us first.

Trump has denounced such efforts as divisive and the people who have protested his election as crybabies. His supporters, as well as some who voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton or third party candidates, say it behooves everyone to accept the results of the election and work to be united.

This sounds like a large group therapy session, said Fred Siegel, a historian who is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and professor at Saint Francis College. Theres a way in which this is all good and right in democratic terms.

Siegel said the trend to organize in advance of Trump assuming the presidency is intriguing, and more in line with the kind of actions taken against policies and governments that are seen in Europe, particularly France.

We can say, in one sense, it is intensifying divisions in American society, Siegel said to FoxNews.com, What that represents is President Obamas success in Europeanizing American politics.

In France, the argument has always been when something occurs in Parliament that is unacceptable to you, you take to the streets. These [actions] are occurring in advance of  not in response to  policy being initiated.

Louis DeSipio, a political science professor at the University of California-Irvine, said that the patchwork efforts to organize against Trump and his expected policies reflect an already-divided nation.

President-elect Trump set out broad principles, and wasnt specific about some policies, DeSipio said. There will always be people who are unhappy about an election. In any election, you can see a complete reversal of fortunes. The challenge for any president in this situation is to build bridges to some of his former opponents.

President George W. Bush did so in response to concerns  among those who did not support his election  over how he would handle education and Medicare prescription costs, DeSipio said.

He worked with Democrats, with Sen. Ted Kennedy, on both of those issues, he said.

DeSipio expressed misgivings about efforts underpinned by a refusal to accept Trump as president, a movement that has a hashtag -- #notmypresident.

Philosophically, I dont accept it, DeSipio said. He was accepted by rules in place before the election.

The approach of some groups to try to influence policy and laws at the local level can be both healthier and more practical in many cases, he added.

We may get some criticism from Trump supporters, said Kester. But were all getting involved in a democracy.
Donald Trumps latest Twitter target is Indiana union leader Chuck Jones.

After sparring with Boeing over the allegedly soaring cost of the next Air Force One, President-elect Trump is now in a social media clash with the head of United Steelworkers 1999  after Jones criticized his deal to discourage air conditioner manufacturer Carrier Corp. from closing an Indiana factory and moving jobs to Mexico.

The president-elect took to Twitter Wednesday evening when Jones challenged Trumps claims about saving 1,100 American jobs:

Jones branch of USW represents workers at Carrier's Indianapolis plant. Trump last week announced a highly touted deal to save American jobs there  which ostensibly boosted the president-elects campaign narrative as a jobs creator, while also raising questions about the governments role in the arrangement offering tax incentives.

Jones told The Washington Post in a story published Tuesday, though, that Trump lied about how many Carrier jobs were saved by the deal, which included $7 million in state tax incentives.

Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence  governor of Indiana  visited Carrier's Indianapolis factory Dec. 1 to celebrate the deal. Trump suggested then that the number of jobs saved could top 1,100. Jones says the total is much less because more than 400 jobs will still be lost from the Indianapolis plant.

In the Post interview, he accused Trump and Pence of staging "a dog and pony show" around the Carrier deal.

On Thursday, Jones told CNN that Trump overreacted and should have come out and tried to justify his numbers."

"A lot of the people thought at that point in time that they were going to have a job" who might not, Jones said Thursday, adding that Trump "inflated" the number and "I called him out."

He also told The Indianapolis Star that hes been getting threats since the publication of the Post story.

"Calling me names, wanting to know if I have children," he told the newspaper. "I better watch out for myself, and they know what kind of car I drive, that I better watch out for my kids."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A mysterious sea blob that looks like a psychedelic Slinky has finally been spotted, more than a century after it was first described.

The translucent, sea-dwelling invertebrate, called Bathochordaeus charon, was identified recently off the coast of Monterey, California, by scientists using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV). Though B. charon was first discovered a century ago, no one had managed to confirm its existence in all those years, Rob Sherlock, a scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute who found the creature, told Live Science in an email. [See Photos of the Translucent Sea Blob]

Mysterious sea creature

B. charon belongs to a group of sea creatures known as larvaceans  normally teensy, millimeter-size creatures whose bodies resemble a tadpole's, with a large "head" (actually a trunk) and a tail, Sherlock said.

Though the sea is teeming with tiny larvaceans, the larger versions, which can have bodies extending up to 3.9 inches, are much less common. To eat, the sea blob filters food through its shimmering, parachute-like mucus "house" almost 3.3 feet in length. By waving its tail, it stirs the water and pulls particles directly into its house. Large particles get trapped and form a fine dusting of marine "snow" on the house, while the smaller particles pass through, concentrating and then funneling into a feeding tube that goes into the mouth, Sherlock said. (The tiny larvaceans also don mucus homes, but they're smaller.)

If a passing squid or fish crashes through the house, or big particles clog the feeding tube, larvaceans simply move on and build another house. Without their houses, they cannot eat, Sherlock said.

First sightings

The first report of B. charon's existence came in 1899, when professor Carl Chun of Leipzig University came across one in the south Atlantic Ocean while leading the Valdivia Expedition, a German mission aimed at exploring the deep sea. Chun believed the creature welled up from the deepest depths of the ocean, so he named the larvacean after Charon, who in Greek mythology ferries the souls of the dead across the river Styx, the researchers reported Aug. 16 in the journal Marine Biodiversity Records .

In the decades that followed, several other naturalists reported spotting giant larvaceans, though only a few were captured alive and described thoroughly. In 1936, for instance, British marine biologist Walter Garstang collected a set of giant larvaceans that differed from Chun's, and they were classified as a new species, Bathochordaeus stygius. [Marine Marvels: Spectacular Photos of Sea Creatures]

Because the two sets of specimens were similar and Chun's originals were lost to history, scientists eventually began to wonder whether Chun's originally described B. charon was actually the same species as B. stygius. One famous larvacean expert even suggested combining the two species names, Sherlock said. Part of the difficulty in capturing these creatures is that they don't fare well in the trawling nets typically used to collect specimens, Sherlock said.

Hiding in plain sight

Sherlock and his colleagues happened upon the new species when the team's ROV, called Doc Ricketts, was exploring the waters of Monterey Bay. As soon as they saw it, the crew carefully collected it in a sealed, thermally insulated container.

"Since the vehicle was recovered some tens of minutes later, the animal was alive, in fantastic shape, and we preserved it right away in order to send it to the Smithsonian," Sherlock said. "We had no idea, until we looked more closely at the specimen, that we had actually found B. charon, the species first described over a hundred years ago."

Genetics and analysis of physical features confirmed the find, Sherlock said. It was official: There really were two distinct species of giant larvacean  B. stygius and B. charon.

"It felt like Chun had finally been vindicated after years of doubt," Sherlock said.

When the team went back over videos from Monterey Bay from the past 25 years, they realized the creature had been spotted many times in the bay. Whether they dwell in places between Monterey Bay and the South Atlantic, however, remains to be seen.

Still, this mythical sea blob is fairly rare; over the course of the past few decades, biologists have seen hundreds of B. stygius, but captured footage of only a dozen B. charon individuals, Sherlock said.

Original article on Live Science .
The National Security Agency and its British counterpart the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) have been intercepting in-flight mobile phone calls for more than 10 years, according to a report by French newspaper Le Monde.

Citing documents leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, Le Monde reports that the agencies began targeting cell phone use on commercial flights in 2005.

A 2012 GCHQ presentation, for example, details a program called Southwinds that gathered cellular activity, voice communication, data and call content on board commercial aircraft. The top secret document explains that telephones could be spied on when the aircraft was above 10,000 feet, according to Le Monde. The phone signals could be intercepted by secret stations on the ground as they passed through a satellite, it said.

The program was reportedly restricted to regions covered by U.K. telecommunications company Inmarsat: Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

GCHQ FUROR, SNOWDEN, KEEP NSA IN THE SNOOPING SPOTLIGHT

Inmarsat declined to comment on this story when contacted by FoxNews.com.

Citing a NSA document that detailed plans for worldwide civilian aircraft tracking Le Monde reports that Air France was of particular interest to the intelligence agencies and was targeted as early as 2005.

The airline, however, described the reports of surveillance as false in a statement emailed to FoxNews.com. "Voice communication is not possible on Air France flights," it said. "In 2007, a GSM communication system was tested on a medium-haul aircraft for a few weeks. As this initial test was not conclusive, the project was abandoned. In addition, the onboard connectivity system implemented on Air France flights will not include voice communications."

Air France added that flight safety is its main priority. "In line with international industry regulations, on-board connectivity systems are in no way linked to other equipment in the aircraft," it said.

GSM phones feature in the leaked documents, with the Le Monde report citing an NSA newsletter from 2010. What do the President of Pakistan, a cigar smuggler, an arms dealer, a counterterrorism target, and a combating-proliferation target have in common? They all used their everyday GSM phone during a flight, and were tracked by the SIGINT system, it reads.

'GOOGLE-LIKE' SEARCH ENGINE PUTS NSA SNOOPING BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT

SIGINT refers to signals intelligence, or information derived from electronic signals and systems.

GCHQs 2012 presentation also said that data was collected from BlackBerry devices, with surveillance identifying BlackBerry PIN codes and email addresses on an aircraft in 2012. The aircrafts destination and the airline company were not described in the presentation.

BlackBerry has not yet responded to a request for comment on this story from FoxNews.com.

The 2012 presentation also noted that passenger use of mobile phones had either been enabled or was about to be enabled by 27 companies.

FACEBOOK BLOCKS CAR INSURER FROM PROFILING USERS

GCHQ said that it does not comment on intelligence matters in a statement emailed to FoxNews.com. All of GCHQ's work is carried out in accordance with a strict legal and policy framework, which ensures that our activities are authorised, necessary and proportionate, it added, also citing rigorous oversight by U.K. lawmakers. In addition, the UK's interception regime is entirely compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights."

The NSA has not yet responded to a request for comment on this story from FoxNews.com.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers
Two of the worlds biggest cruise lines have been granted approval to start sailing to Cuba in 2017.

On Wednesday, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean announced that they have received permission from the Cuban government to offer cruises from the U.S.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings plans sailings on ships from two of its brands, Norwegian Cruise Line and Oceania. Both ships will include port calls in Havana as part of longer Caribbean itineraries. The Marina will sail from Miami on March 7 and Norwegian Sky will begin overnighting in Havana in spring 2017.

AMERICAN AIRLINES CUTTING PLANNED CUBAN ITINERARIES IN 2017

Royal Caribbean will also sail on two lines, Royal Caribbean International and Azamara Club Cruises.

In May, Carnival Corp. became the first U.S. company in decades to sail to Cuba on its Fathom branda voluntourism focused company. In November, Carnival announced that Fathom will cease operations by next summer, citing low profitability margins. It currently alternates week-long trips to Cuba with week-long trips to the Dominican Republic on the Adonia, a former P&O Cruises ship. Carnival says it hopes to have another ship start sailing to the Caribbean country again next year but approval has not been granted.

All of these new cruises are subject to current U.S. rules that ban pure tourism by American travelers to Cuba. Instead the cruises must be "people to people" trips themed on permitted categories of travel such as cultural exchanges.

Norwegian's CEO, Frank Del Rio, was born in Cuba and emigrated in 1961 at age 7 with his family to the U.S. after the failed U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs effort to overthrow Fidel Castro.

"This is truly a dream come true for me and I cannot wait for our loyal guests to experience the sights and sounds of my hometown of Havana and get to know its rich culture and its warm and welcoming residents," he said in a statement.

WILL AMERICAN TOURISTS RUIN CUBA?

However, some in the travel community have expressed concern that Donald Trump may reinstate restrictions on travel to Cuba. Three days after Fidel Castro's death, the president-elect tweeted: "If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the U.S. as a whole, I will terminate deal."

Norwegian and Royal Caribbean did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether they are concerned that Trump might tighten travel to Cuba.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
next Image 1 of 2

prev Image 2 of 2

Two days after police say a man who shot and killed three children and critically wounded their mother, neighbors placed angel figurines and stuffed animals outside the Albuquerque home.

But few talked to reporters, and relatives of the children remain reluctant to disclose any information about the family as investigators work to piece together what happen on that chaotic Monday evening.

Albuquerque police on Wednesday also declined to release the name of the wounded mother who is the only witness to a shooting that has rocked the largest city in New Mexico. It is the latest in a string of horrific crimes involving New Mexico children.

In this latest case, authorities say George Daniel Wechsler, 45, broke into the home of his 36-year-old ex-girlfriend and waited for her and her children to get home. He then shot them before turning the gun on himself.

Police have said the two had a brief relationship and that Wechsler offered to give Christmas gifts to the children several days before the shooting but the mother refused.

The mother has not been identified and remains hospitalized in critical but stable condition.

Wechsler was an Albuquerque native and the brother of one of the stars of ABC's "Revenge" television series. Wechsler's younger brother, Nick Wechsler, was also born and raised in Albuquerque but left after graduating high school to pursue acting. His biography lists George Daniel as one of his seven brothers.

Nick Wechsler's publicist, Mona Loring, did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press.

According to court records, George Daniel Wechsler pleaded no contest in 2003 to misdemeanor stalking and petty misdemeanor assault against a family member. He was also arrested in 2004 for reckless driving, but police say he had no felony record.

His Linkedin page says he worked briefly as a corrections officer for the Florida-based GEO Group Inc.  a company that specializes in corrections, detention and mental health treatment. A spokesman for GEO Group did not return an email from The Associated Press.

A man cleaning out the trailer Wednesday where Wechsler lived also refused to speak to a reporter.

The city of Albuquerque announced late Wednesday it would hold a "Angel Tree Lighting" Thursday evening to celebrate the lives of children who have been lost to abuse and violence.

Earlier this year, police found Victoria Martens' dismembered body inside the apartment she shared with her mother after officers responded to a pre-dawn call about a disturbance on the day the girl was supposed to celebrate her 10th birthday.

Authorities believed the girl's boyfriend and a boyfriend's cousin gave the girl drugs and raped her before killing her.

___

Associated Press writers Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.

___

Follow Russell Contreras on Twitter at http://twitter.com/russcontreras . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/russell-contreras .
A man who crashed his pickup into a group of German motorcyclists heading to Yellowstone National Park, killing three, has been sentenced to two years in jail.

The Cody Enterprise reports (https://goo.gl/BxiGi8 ) Manuel Defuentes, of Ontario, Oregon, was sentenced Wednesday and was given credit for 181 days he has already served. He pleaded guilty last month to three misdemeanor counts of vehicular homicide stemming from the June 9 crash that killed 53-year-old Tino Cachey, 52-year-old Ute Cachey and 37-year-old Erik Brecht.

Four other motorcyclists were injured.

The group was headed to Yellowstone from Cody when Defuentes' truck crossed the center line at a curve. An investigation did not reveal any drug or alcohol use or mechanical issues with the truck.

___

Information from: The Cody Enterprise, http://www.codyenterprise.com
It was a somber day Wednesday at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum, where hundreds gathered to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the attacks on Pearl Harbor.

The day that will go down in infamy hits especially close to home for former President George H.W. Bush, who was a senior in high school at the time. The gravity of what happened is what compelled him to temporarily forego his college plans and join the United States military.

We gotta do something about this, recalled President Bush, in an op-ed article published by USA Today.

Bush went on to become the youngest naval pilot of his time, commissioned just a few days before his 19th birthday. Then on September 2, 1944, the plane he was flying came under enemy fire and was hit. The former president managed to safely bail from his burning aircraft and was later plucked from a raft, in the middle of the sea, by the USS Finback, a lifeguard submarine.

More than seven decades later, vintage WWII-era planes, just like the one Bush used to fly, soared over the crowd of spectators as part of the Pearl Harbor commemoration at his library in College Station, Texas.

A moment of silence was also held at 11:55 Central time, or 7:55am in Hawaii, the exact moment the attack on Pearl Harbor began.

The afternoon program included a panel, moderated by Brit Hume of Fox News.

More than 20 World War II veterans were among the distinguished guests in attendance at the Bush Presidential Library  including former Senator Bob Dole and Aaron Cook, the sole Pearl Harbor survivor in Wednesday's crowd.

I don't really know how to describe it, Cook said.

Cook was just 19 at the time, and was working as a Chief Petty Officer in the US Navy, stationed on Ford Island. He remembers seeing the planes swoop in and unleash bombs.

In retrospect, I'm glad I'm here. And I'm glad the country has survived, he explained.

Now in his 90s, Cook said its important to pay homage so that future generations can understand the significance of that day and a valuable piece of history simply isnt forgotten when he and his fellow troops are gone.

People just don't seem to be responsive. Kids go to sleep when you're talking to classes and they don't even know what Pearl Harbor is. They just don't realize how important it is, he added.

To help educate and further inform the public about the significance of Pearl Harbor, a special exhibit has been set up at the President Bush Presidential Library and Museum, which will run through the end of this year.

We began working on this about six months ago, said David Jones, CEO of the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation.

Twenty-five years ago President Bush spoke at the 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, as the sitting president, and we have a copy of the speech in our auditorium here on a continuous loop, Jones said.

There also is a digitally re-mastered version of President Franklin Delano Roosevelts famed speech for spectators to view, with the words of comfort he offered to stunned-Americans after the attacks.
Phoenix police released a 911 recording Wednesday from a man who walked away uninjured from attack by a man believed to have fatally shot seven people and wounded two others earlier this year in a wave of serial killings.

The 22-year-old man told an operator on July 11 that a man in an early 1990s black BMW opened fire as he and his 4-year-old nephew were driving home. He said he ducked down with the child and kept driving once he saw the gun.

"He was driving around the corner and then he just like literally pulled out a gun and just shot on me while looking at me," the man said, noting later that none of the shots hit him or his nephew.

The 911 recording from the shooting  the last confirmed attack by the suspect known as the Serial Street Shooter  was released as police say the number of tips coming in from the public has dwindled at an alarming rate.

The cases remain a high priority for investigators, police spokesman Sgt. Jonathan Howard said. "We feel there are people who either know who this man is or (have) strong suspicions," Howard said. "We need those people to reach out to us to share their suspicions."

Police say the victims were attacked as they stood outside their homes or sat in vehicles after dark. They were fired upon by someone who was sitting in a car or had just stepped out of a vehicle. All but one of the killings has taken place in the city's Maryvale section, a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood Phoenix's west side.

Investigators believe the crimes were carried out by a lanky Hispanic man in his early 20s, but they are leaving open the possibility that someone else may have participated in the attacks. They don't believe the attacks are racially motivated. No motive has been established.

The victims include a 21-year-old man whose girlfriend was pregnant with their son and a 12-year-girl who was shot to death along with her mother and a friend of the woman.

The July 11 shooting didn't occur in Maryvale, but rather in another neighborhood about 10 miles away.

The 22-year-old victim didn't see the suspect's license plate number, but he caught a glimpse of the shooter, describing him as a Hispanic man in his early 20s who had short black hair. "He saw me because I was riding with the windows down," the man told a 911 operator.

Investigators found three bullet holes on the victim's car and recovered five shell casings from the scene, a police report says.

In all, authorities say they have received more than 3,000 tips about the shootings that happened between March and July.

Investigators are continuing to analyze physical evidence recovered from the scenes, seek out neighbors who might have security camera footage of the shootings and work with community groups to seek out useful information, Howard said.

Tips that have already been investigated are being handed off to other officers to be re-examined in hopes that a fresh set of eyes will turn up something new.

There are several theories on why the killer hasn't struck in nearly five months, including that he has decided to stop the attacks, has been locked up in jail for other reasons or moved to another location, Howard said.

"We won't know what really happened until we capture him," he said.
Houston police say one gunman was killed and four others were arrested when they attempted to rob an armored truck that contained officers carrying out a sting operation.

Police Chief Art Acevedo told reporters Wednesday that the gang that tried to rob the truck is suspected in other armored truck robberies, including some that resulted in the deaths of three guards over the last two years.

Houston police worked in collaboration with other law enforcement agencies in the sting operation Wednesday.

Three suspects were apprehended and a fourth fled but was later arrested. A fifth man was positioned nearby with an assault rifle and began firing on officers. He was killed in an exchange of gunfire.
John Glenn, the all-American astronaut and senator who rocketed into history on flights 36 years apart as the first American to orbit the Earth and the oldest person in space, died Thursday at age 95.

"We are saddened by the loss of Sen. John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth. A true American hero. Godspeed, John Glenn," NASA tweeted immediately after his death was announced.

OLIVER NORTH: JOHN GLENN HAD ALL THE RIGHT STUFF

Glenn died at the James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, where he was hospitalized for more than a week.

"With John's passing, our nation has lost an icon and Michelle and I have lost a friend. John spent his life breaking barriers, from defending our freedom as a decorated Marine Corps fighter pilot in World War II and Korea, to setting a transcontinental speed record, to becoming, at age 77, the oldest human to touch the stars," President Obama said in a statement.

President-elect Donald Trump praised Glenn in a visit to Ohio State University: "To me he was a great American hero, a truly great American hero. I met him on two separate occasions. Liked him, always liked him. But he was indeed an American hero."

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. ordered congressional flags to be lowered to half-staff.

Glenn, who was known for his small-town decency and calm heroics, was the last of the original Mercury 7 astronauts who launched the US space program. He later served for four terms as a Democratic senator from Ohio.

LAWMAKERS REACT TO JOHN GLENN'S DEATH

In the early 1960s, the Mercury 7 were American superstars, constantly written about and unabashedly idolized.

In "The Right Stuff," a 1983 film about them based on Tom Wolfe's best-selling book, Glenn was portrayed by Ed Harris.

Glenn, a Marine pilot who flew 149 missions in World War II and Korea, was America's third man in space (after Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom) but the first to orbit the Earth.

On February 20, 1962 he piloted the "Friendship 7" spacecraft on a three-orbit mission some 100-162 miles from Earth that lasted four hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds.

Afterwards, acclaimed a national hero, he received a ticker-tape parade and addressed a joint session of Congress.

More than three decades later, at 77 and about to retire as a senator, Glenn lifted off on the space shuttle Discovery on October 29, 1998, becoming the oldest person ever to fly in space.

His participation was designed to study the effect of space flight on the elderly. Once again, he  and his crewmates  received a ticker-tape parade on their safe return.

For the 50th anniversary of his historic flight on Feb. 20, 2012, Glenn was feted with a number of events, including a dinner with approximately 125 surviving veterans of NASA's Project Mercury.

In typical self-effacing fashion told them, "We may be up on the point of that thing and get a lot of the attention, and we had ticker-tape parades and all that sort of thing. But ... you're the ones who deserve the accolade."

The quintessential national hero was born July 18, 1921 in Cambridge, Ohio but moved at age two to New Concord, Ohio where his father operated a plumbing business.

Years later he would write of his early years, "a boy could not have had a more idyllic early childhood than I did."

It was in New Concord that he met Annie, his wife of 73 years when both were toddlers and their parents were friendly. In his autobiography, he wrote, "she was a part of my life from the time of my first memory."

By the time they were in high school, they were a couple and were married April 6, 1943 in New Concord. Annie, who had a long public struggle with a speech disability, wore the $125 engagement ring Glenn bought her in 1942 for the rest of her life.

The couple had two children, John and Carolyn , who survive him, along with his wife.

Glenn, who received a degree in engineering from Muskingum College in New Concord, resigned from the space program in early 1964 to enter politics.

But a fall in the bathtub, when he suffered a concussion and injured his inner ear, delayed his political plans and in early 1965 he became an executive for Royal Crown Cola.

Nine years later, in 1974, he was elected as a Democrat to the US Senate, where he served until 1999.

Glenn's only brush with negative publicity came in 1989, when he was one of five US senators embroiled in the Lincoln Savings and Keating Five Scandal, accused of improperly intervening two years earlier on behalf of Charles F. Keating, Jr., chairman of the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association.

Glenn was later exonerated but a Senate Commission found he had exercised "poor judgment."

After retiring, Glenn and his wife founded the John Glenn Institute for Public Service at Ohio State University.
South Carolina authorities are searching for an escaped maximum-security inmate who's suspected of stabbing a police officer.

Dexter Lee of the South Carolina Department of Corrections say 47-year-old Michael Allen Williamson escaped at around 8:50 p.m. Wednesday from McCormick Correctional Institution.

Later that night, Columbia police officials say a female officer responding to a shoplifting call was stabbed inside a Walmart store in Columbia, South Carolina, about 80 miles east of McCormick.

Lee says authorities think Williamson stabbed the officer but are still investigating. Police said in a news release that the officer is recovering from her injuries.

Williamson began serving a life sentence for armed robbery and assault and battery with intent to kill in 1997. Lee says authorities are still investigating how Williamson got out of the prison.
next Image 1 of 2

prev Image 2 of 2

South Carolina authorities are searching for an escaped maximum-security inmate who's suspected of stabbing a police officer.

Dexter Lee of the South Carolina Department of Corrections say 47-year-old Michael Allen Williamson escaped at around 8:50 p.m. Wednesday from McCormick Correctional Institution.

Later that night, Columbia police officials say a female officer responding to a shoplifting call was stabbed inside a Walmart store in Columbia, South Carolina, about 80 miles east of McCormick.

Lee says authorities think Williamson stabbed the officer but are still investigating. Police said in a news release that the officer is recovering from her injuries.

Williamson began serving a life sentence for armed robbery and assault and battery with intent to kill in 1997. Lee says authorities are still investigating how Williamson got out of the prison.
Five African-American men from Chicago filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday alleging that a temporary job staffing company discriminated against them in favor of Hispanic applicants.

According to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the agency, MVP Staffing, used coded language to weed out African-American applicants from Hispanic at the behest of corporate clients who refused to hire them.

I know that certain clients of MVP do not want African Americans assigned to work at their company and that MVP has a policy of accommodating these requests  Rosa Ceja

The company operates in 60 offices in 38 states.

The MVP branch office that serves the plaintiffs is located in the suburb of Cicero, which borders the heavily African-American west side of Chicago.

In the Cicero area, though, 70 percent of the population is Hispanic and 30 percent is African-American.

"When we started looking into these cases, early on, we found that almost 98.2 percent of the applicants placed in jobs at one client company, for example, were Latino," Christopher Williams of the Workers' Law Office, the plaintiff's lead trial attorney, told Fox News.com.

If it was 10 Mexicans that would come at 1:30 p.m., and 25 African-Americans that were there at 4:30 a.m. and were waiting to be sent to work, they would send the Mexicans first.  Rosa Ceja

The lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status, contains statements from former MVP employees, including Rosa Ceja, 29, who was an on-site manager at one of MVP's companies in Elmwood Park, Illinois.

"I know that certain clients of MVP do not want African-Americans assigned to work at their company and that MVP has a policy of accommodating these requests," Ceja said in her statement. She added that she had been "yelled at when she assigned black workers to a client, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Court documents show that Latino workers were described as "feos" (Spanish for "ugly ones"), Ceja said, while black workers were "guapos" (Spanish for "handsome ones" or, according to the court filings, "pretty boys -- ones who don't want to do dirty work.")

"In one case, an applicant had to watch a training video; afterward there was a quiz and the video was in Spanish," Williams said.

He added that the MVP employees who were tasked to discriminate against African-Americans were disgusted by it.

Andrew Wells, Director of Workforce Development with the Chicago Urban league says that if the Hispanic applicants who were hired are undocumented, it would be because they "don't have a voice and it's harder for them to make a claim against a company that's in the wrong."

Wells addded that this case spotlights the many ways businesses try to get around laws that protect the civil rights of people.

The lawsuit includes eight counts of racial discrimination against MVP Staffing.

What we have seen in this industry is that this is a more widespread phenomenon than what we have just found in this case, with this company, attorney Joseph Sellers told the New York Times

The staffing agencies follow the requests made by the client companies even if they happen to be ones that might exclude people based on race.

Ceja was forced out of the company in 2014 after complaining about sexual harassment by an MVP van driver, the Tribune reported. While he recently was convicted of battery against her, MVP contends that Ceja voluntarily abandoned her position.

Pamela Sanchez, another MVP employee, said in her testimony that she was instructed directly by a bakery not to send black workers.

She said in a statement that she would review the names of potential workers to be sent for a shift, but if their names didnt sound Hispanic, she would overlook them, knowing they would be sent back.

Additionally, she added that she was instructed to have black applicants undergo criminal background checks, while in the case of Hispanic applicants it was not required.

If it was 10 Mexicans that would come at 1:30 p.m., and 25 African-Americans that were there at 4:30 a.m. and were waiting to be sent to work, they would send the Mexicans first, she said.

In Illinois, the unemployment rate among blacks, at about 14 percent, is nearly three times that of whites (5 percent) and nearly twice that of Hispanics (7.8 percent), according to

A May report released in May by the Economic Policy Institute showed that in Illinois the unemployment rate among blacks hovers around 14 percent, nearly twice that of Hispanics (7.8 percent).

Fox News.com called MVP for comment, but was told the company had no comment at this time.
Ohio's Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the conviction and death sentence of Anthony Sowell, who killed 11 women and buried or deposited them on his Cleveland property.

MANHUNT OVER: SUSPECT ACCUSED OF KILLING GA. OFFICER AND WOUNDING ANOTHER IS FOUND DEAD, POLICE SAY

The 5-2 decision dismissed claims from his attorneys that he deserved a new court hearing over the admissibility of his videotaped police interrogation. That evidence was played in his capital trial.

"Although Sowell's statements to police are incriminating, the state presented overwhelming independent evidence of guilt supporting Sowell's convictions and sentence," the court said.

ESCAPED INMATE MAY HAVE SHOT OFFICER AT WALMART, POLICE SAY

Sowell's crimes were uncovered in 2009 when police obtained a search warrant after a report of a woman being raped in his residence. Police found the victims' mostly nude bodies throughout his home after a woman escaped. He was sentenced in 2011.

His appellate attorneys can now ask the federal courts and eventually the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. No execution date has been set.

At issue was a 2010 hearing during which a Cleveland judge closed the courtroom while he heard arguments for and against allowing the videotaped interrogation, which lasted for more than 11 hours.

The judge ultimately allowed its use, and most of it was played during Sowell's trial.

The judge identified an overriding interest that supported closing that hearing, Justice Terrence O'Donnell said. As a result, "the trial court did not abuse its discretion in ordering the limited closure of the courtroom," O'Donnell decided.

Justice William O'Neill and Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor dissented, saying a new hearing should be held. In "a criminal-justice system governed by the rule of law, a serial murderer's trial is subject to the same constitutional protections as the trial of a low-level thief," O'Neill wrote.

Prosecutors said Sowell's victims were recovering or current drug addicts and most died of strangulation. Some had been decapitated, and the bodies of others were so badly decomposed that coroners couldn't say with certainty how they died.

In interviews with police, Sowell said he targeted women who reminded him of his ex-girlfriend, who had been addicted to crack and left him shortly before the killings began.

Despite Thusday's ruling, an execution is not expected for years. Sowell could still appeal through the federal courts.

Killers like Sowell are the reason Ohio has a death penalty, said Christopher Schroeder, head of Cuyahoga County's capital punishment division. "Nothing less than the death penalty would ever be an appropriate sentence in this case," Schroeder said.

While Ohio plans three executions next year, it hasn't said if it has enough drugs for additional executions. Two dozen men are on the state's death row.

New lawyers for Sowell, who spent seven years as a U.S. Marine, argued a better strategy would have been to concede Sowell's overwhelming guilt and push for life without parole based on his background, including a chaotic childhood.

Sowell's trial attorneys "repeatedly directed the jurors' attention to gruesome and painfully damning evidence," according to a 2012 court filing by attorneys Jeffrey Gamso and Erika Cunliffe.

As a result, the trial attorneys looked desperate and jurors were likely irritated that it dragged out the trial, the filing said.

Gamso said Thursday that Sowell's lawyers were disappointed and would continue to pursue the case.

Fox News' Bill Mears and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Transcription

1 Case History of Cyclic Statnamic Testing in the Netherlands P.Middendorp, Profound, The Netherlands R.J. van Foeken TNO Building and Construction Research, Rijswijk, Netherlands ABSTRACT: The Dutch company Jacbo has applied a new type of auger pile, the Jac-O pile, in the Netherlands. The Jac-O pile is based on an auger system that pushes most of the soil away (50 to 70%) instead of removing the soil. The Dutch Geotechnical Code only considers piles with soil removal and piles without soil removal, so standard design rules were not applicable. To allow the application of the Jac-O pile, a control method based on CPT testing was introduced. CPT tests performed before pile installation were compared with CPT tests performed after pile installation. On the Arnhem site, the CPT results before and after pile installation showed reduction in cone resistance values. The bearing capacity of the piles was checked by Statnamic cyclic load testing. 1 INTRODUCTION The Dutch company Jacbo introduced a new type of auger pile, the Jac-O pile, in the Netherlands. The tip of the auger consists of a conical core that pushes most of the soil away (50 to 70%) instead of removing the soil (Fig. 1). The advantages of such an auger system are: less soil spill on building site stiffer pile response compared with standard auger piles high production rate (50 piles per day 12m,  400 mm). In the Dutch Geotechnical Code for pile design (Ref. 1), only two types of piles are considered: 1 - piles with soil removal 2 - piles without soil removal The pile design in the Netherlands is strongly based on CPT testing before the installation of the piles. The Jac-O pile does not belong to one of the design types and the design rules are not directly applicable. To get the Jac-O pile approved, control CPT's have to be performed after installation of the piles. The control CPT's are compared with CPT results made for pile installation and the piles are accepted when the differences are minor. 2 THE DUTCH GEOTECHNICAL CODE For the Dutch Geotechnical Code the following condition has to be satisfied:

2 F r;max F 0,2Deq - F shaft;l (Eq. 1) In which, F r;max = maximum pile load F 0,2Deq = the load on the pile top during a load test, corresponding with a pile top displacement of 0.20D eq (piles with soil removal) D eq = the equivalent pile diameter 0.2D eq = 0.2 x 360 = 72 mm F shaft;l = the load by shaft friction which is not contributing to the bearing capacity of the pile. F shaft;l or negative shaft friction was considered to be zero for this site. So Eq.1 becomes: F r;max F 0,2Deq (Eq. 2) It is also required by the code that: F r;max,rep = . F r;max (Eq. 3) In which  = factor for the load transfer type of the structure F r;max,rep = representative value for the maximum pile load So  = 1.0 for this case. F r;max = F r;max,rep (Eq. 4) It is also required by the code that with F r;max,d = F r;max,rep /  m;b3 (Eq. 5) F r;max,d = design value for maximum pile load (allowable load)  m;b3 = partial material (safety) factor For this case F r;max,d = 1600 kn  m;b3 = 1.15 So the equations 3, 4 and 5 combined yield F r;max = F r;max,rep = F r;max,d.  m;b3 = ,15 = 1840 kn (Eq. 6) and the requirement (Eq.2 ) becomes 1840 kn F 0,2Deq (capacity) (Eq.7) The piles were checked for this requirement.

3 3 CASE HISTORY ARNHEM Jac-O piles have been installed on a building site at Arnhem, the Netherlands and were checked by CPT testing after installation. The pile properties are presented in Table 1. Table 1. Pile Properties Pile type Omega pile, Jac-360-O Length [m] Diameter m Cross section m2 Pile mass 3664 kg Design Load 1600 kn Examples of CPT results taken before and after installation of pile 15 are presented in Fig.2. The control CPT results show a reduction in resistance and the allowable load is less than the design load (table 2). Fig 3. represents the CPT results of pile 6 taken before and after installation. In this case there is a considerable reduction in CPT resistance. Tabel 2. Pile capacities calculated from CPT data Before installation After installation Pile CPT Capacity CPT Capacity no no [kn] no [kn] P P Several piles on the building site showed similar reduction in CPT values and the client refused all piles. It was required to install driven cast in situ piles (non soil removing) as a replacement. The Jacbo piling contractor did not agree with this decision. He agreed that the capacity of the piles was reduced, but he was convinced that by considering the pile to be a soil removing pile, the remaining capacity was still enough to satisfy the requirements of the Dutch Geotechnical Code. In the Dutch code, the pile capacity is defined as the load at which a pile head displacement of 0.2 D eq for soil removing piles and 0.1 D eq for non-soil removing piles occurs (D eq = equivalent pile diameter). To prove the remaining capacities of the piles with reduced CPT values, statnamic load testing was performed (Fig. 4). A 3MN-statnamic device, with a hydraulic catch mechanism, was transported to the site. PMC from the UK performed the statnamic tests under the supervision of TNO. The piles were loaded by successive cycles to reach a total displacement of 0.2 D eq (72 mm). The three successive statnamic loading cycles for pile 6 are presented in Fig. 5. The measurements were analyzed with the Unloading Point Method (Middendorp 1992) and the resulting static curves were plotted as successive loading cycles (Fig. 6). The results from the CPT and statnamic tests are presented in Table 3.

4 Tabel 3. Pile capacities derived from CPT data and Statnamic Before installation After Installation Statnamic Pile CPT Capacity CPT Capacity Capacity (F 0,2Deq ) no no [kn] no [kn] [kn] P P It can be seen that the CPT results underestimate the capacity of the piles compared to the statnamic results. This information was used to convince the client that, although a reduction in CPT values had occurred, the piles were still able to satisfy the Dutch Geotechnical Code assuming that the piles were acting as soil-removing piles. 4 CONCLUSIONS The pile top displacement 0.2 D eq (72 mm) corresponding with the pile capacity could be reached by performing succesive cyclic statnamic load tests. Statnamic load testing was able to prove the remaining static capacity of piles after the occurrence of CPT values reduction. At the Arnhem, site the Dutch CPT design methods were underestimating pile capacity compared with the calculated static behaviour from statnamic load testing. 5 REFERENCES Middendorp, P, Bermingham P., Kuiper B., 1992, Statnamic load testing of foundation piles. 4th International Conference on Stress Waves, The Hague, Balkema Dutch Geotechnical Code, 1993, Geotechnics, Calculation method for bearing capacity of pile foundation, Compression piles, NEN 6743, Nederlandse Normalisatie Instituut, Delft

5 Figure 1, Jac-O auger. Before installation After installation Figure 2, CPT results of pile 15.

6 2nd Statnamic Seminat, Tokyo, 1998 Before installation Figure 3, CPT results of pile 5. Figure 4, Statnamic Testing with 3MN device at Arnhem After installation

7 Figure 5, three successive Statnamic Loading cycles Pile6 1st loading cycle 2nd loading cycle 0,20D eq F 0,2Deq 3rd loading cycle Figure 6. Calculated static load displacement diagram
The attorneys defending Dylann Roof in the Charleston church shooting trial are largely conceding his guilt in the shooting deaths of nine black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church. Their attention is on keeping their client out of the death chamber.

As Roof's federal death penalty trial on 33 counts, including hate crimes, got underway Wednesday, defense attorney David Bruck said the facts are largely undisputed.

He said that during the guilt or innocence phase of the trial, the defense would likely call few witnesses and not have many questions for those the government calls. The real question, he told the jury during his opening statements, is whether Roof "should be sent to prison with no possibility of release ever or should he be executed."

The sentence would be decided by the jury during a second sentencing phase if Roof is convicted.

The defense has said the 22-year-old Roof is willing to plead guilty if the death penalty is taken off the table. They have made a similar offer in state court where Roof is charged with nine counts of murder and faces another death penalty trial next year.

The prosecution, which contends Roof singled out the historic church and shot the parishioners during a Bible study in June, 2015 to start a race war.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Richardson told the jurors they will see a confession that Roof signed and a manifesto he posted on the internet that shows the defendant posing with the Confederate flag and a burning American flag.

The prosecution, which continues its case Thursday, has already called seven witnesses  a survivor of the shooting as well as police and fire personnel who responded to the scene. The defense did not cross-examine five of them.

The survivor, Felicia Sanders, told the racially diverse jurors about the horror of seeing her son and her aunt shot and killed. She sheltered with her granddaughter beneath a table and told the child to play dead.

At one point, she looked across the courtroom toward Roof and called him "evil, evil, evil."

Bruck asked her on cross-examination whether she remembered Roof saying anything in the aftermath of the shootings.

"He said he was going to kill himself," she replied. "I was counting on that. There's no place on Earth for him other than the pit of hell."
A deputy shot and wounded an unarmed man at the Clayton County, Ga., courthouse annex building Wednesday.

REWARD INCREASED FOR SUSPECT IN SHOOTINGS OF 2 GEORGIA OFFICERS



The father of the man who was shot told FOX 5's Aungelique Proctor his son was not armed and came to the Annex building for a child support hearing.

FOX 5 obtained cellphone video showing the Clayton County deputy removing the man from the courtroom after he refused to get off his electronic tablet while in the courtroom.

CLICK TO WATCH THE VIDEO FROM FOX 5

Officials said one deputy used a stun gun on the suspect first, but he was still struggling with deputies. The authorities said a second deputy then shot the 27-year-old man in the buttocks at the courthouse annex which is located on South McDonough Street in Jonesboro.

Police said the man who was shot is expected to survive. He was treated at Atlanta Medical Center.

Click for more from Fox 5.
Some of Americas top military brass  active and retired  are in Iraq to commemorate a mission carried out a quarter of a century ago, and one they believe could still be dusted off and duplicated to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Syria.

The cadre of four-star American generals arrived in Kurdistan, Iraq, Thursday, where they will meet with Kurdish President Mahmoud Barzani to mark the 25th Anniversary of Operation Provide Comfort, the 1991 mission that helped keep some 450,000 civilians out of the crossfire as the U.S.-led coalition battled Saddam Husseins forces. The operation established a no-fly zone in Northern Iraq, shielding the refugees from the brutal dictators airpower.

The general consensus was that what worked against Saddam could work against ISIS, the black-clad jihadist army that helped plunge Iraq and Syria into conflict and chaos.

I dont have a crystal ball that could have predicted if a mission like this would have solved everything, but there is a refugee problem, after an attack on civilians, retired U.S. Marine Corps Gen. James Jones told FoxNews.com. If they didnt examine it closely, they should have.

Jones, who was National Security Adviser to President Obama during his first term, said a reprise of Operation Provide Comfort was pushed after Obama failed to follow through on warning Syria that using chemical weapons would be crossing a red line. Critics say the administrations failure to back up its admonition emboldened Syrian President Bashar Assad, and worsened the humanitarian crisis as his forces battled rebels.

You have a humanitarian catastrophe there, Jones said. At the time of the Presidents red line failure to implement any kind of consequence for Assad to attack his own people with chemical weapons, we contacted authorities and reminded them that there was a template out there -- an operation like OPC could be conducted in Syria.

Retired Army Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, who was commander of Operation Provide Comfort, said creating a no-fly zone in Syria is the kind of leadership only the U.S. can provide.

It can still be done, but it will be far more complicated than it would have been early on, Garner said. There are still areas in Syria to create safe zone for these refugees.

According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, about 3.2 million Syrian refugees have been uprooted from their homes in a civil war that has killed an estimated 500,000 since it began in March 2011. Getting the displaced civilians to a zone within their homeland that can be protected is a key first step to saving lives and stemming the flow of refugees into Turkey and ultimately Europe.

I recommend we do all we can to keep refugees in their general geographic areas and give them the quality of life they need, Garner said. We can do an awful lot by order of magnitude and can also eliminate the possibility -- and actuality -- of ISIS and other terrorist groups embedding themselves within the refugee population if we create these safe zones.

Garner acknowledged obstacles to replicating the operation, including the complex nature of the multi-faceted war in Syria, where national forces, rebels, ethnic Kurds, ISIS, Al Qaeda, Russia, Iran, the U.S., Turkey and other multi-national armies are all embroiled in everything from open warfare to uneasy alliances.

If you ally with the Syrian Rebels, youre taking on the Russians and the Kurds; if you ally yourself with Assad, youre in a Shia alliance and 85 percent of the Middle East is Sunni, Garner said. If Russia eliminates ISIS, they eliminate the Syrian rebels and the Syrian rebels should be our allies -- we need to protect them, and we need to continue to protect the Kurds.

Former Commandant of the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps Gen. Egbert Klop, who was part of the original mission and joined his American counterparts this week, said Operation Provide Comfort worked because it was carried out by a coalition of the able and willing with the United States in charge.

Without the fast and extensive logistical support of the U.S. military, there couldnt have been an operation like this in the first place, Klop told FoxNews.com. I am absolutely convinced that from a military point of view, such an operation could be carried out again in Syria, if the Great Powers would have enough political will to do so -- it would prevent a lot of humanitarian suffering.

This week in Kurdistan, the military leaders will meet with Barzani and members of his cabinet to celebrate the mission and discuss how another generation of civilians can be saved from the ravages of war.

The main thing is to gain control of the refugees and get rid of ISIS and once you do that, you get to imagine what post-war Syria will look like, Garner said. Nothing is ever easy, but hell, were Americans -- we can do anything.
The Latest on the federal death-penalty trial of a white man charged with killing nine black people during a Bible study in a Charleston church (all times local):

9 a.m.

Defense attorneys are asking for a mistrial in Dylann Roof's death-penalty trial, saying a witness's remarks that he is evil and belongs in the "pit of hell" were inappropriate.

Roof is on trial on 33 federal counts, including hate crimes, in the June 2015 shootings of nine black parishioners during a Bible study at Emanuel AME Church last year.

In a motion filed Thursday morning, the defense asks for a mistrial after shooting survivor Felicia Sanders took the stand Wednesday and called Roof "evil, evil, evil" and said he should be in "the pit of hell."

In the motion, the defense said such statements have no place in a courtroom. The motion asks that, if a mistrial is not granted, prosecutors be prohibited from mentioning the testimony in their closing arguments. The court has not yet taken up the motion.

___

2:40 a.m.

The attorneys defending Dylann Roof in the Charleston church shooting trial are largely conceding his guilt in the shooting deaths of nine black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church last year. Their attention is on keeping their client out of the death chamber.

Roof's federal death penalty trial on 33 counts, including hate crimes, enters a second day Thursday.

Roof's defense attorney David Bruck told the jurors as the trial opened there's not a lot the defense can dispute in the guilt or innocence phase of the trial. The real question, he said, is whether the 22-year-old Roof spends the rest of his life in prison or is executed.

Bruck said the defense may not present any defense witnesses in the guilt phase of the trial and won't have many questions for those the prosecution calls.
The gunman accused of killing a Georgia officer and leaving another in critical condition was found dead Thursday of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities announced.

Police hunting for the man had surrounded a home in Americus, about 130 miles south of Atlanta, Americus Police Chief Mark Scott said. After an hour of trying to negotiate with 32-year-old Minguell Kennedy Lembrick, a SWAT team breached the door of the home and found Lembrick dead.

MANHUNT LAUNCHED FOR ESCAPED INMATE SUSPECTED OF STABBING COP AT SC WALMART

JUST IN: New photo of Officers Jodi Smith and Nicholas Smarr, both shot in Americus today. @FOX5Atlanta pic.twitter.com/AelnivUtcT  Claire Simms (@Claire_FOX5) December 8, 2016

The perpetrator of these heinous crimes against law enforcement is not here, Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) Director Vernon Keenan said, adding that police and the community "can now go forward with healing."

Authorities said earlier in the day they had received a call from a citizen who knew Lembrick and saw him enter the home.

CAMPUS POLICE OFFICER SHOOTS TEEN DURING CONFRONTATION AT NEVADA HIGH SCHOOL

Scott said no one else was inside the home and there was no indication anyone was trying to harbor Lembrick. The suspect had a criminal history record of 32 pages, Keenan said.

Keenan had made a direct plea to Lembrick on Wednesday night, urging him to call 911 and arrange to turn himself into authorities, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.

The deadly shooting unfolded that morning when the two officers were responding to a domestic dispute in Americus, Scott said.

Americus police Officer Nicholas Smarr, 25, died and Georgia Southwestern State University Officer Jodi Smith was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition, Scott said. Both had been officers since 2012.

"It's a tremendous loss to our family," Scott said of Smarr's death. "It's a tragedy beyond words. One of our family members has been taken from us."

Lembrick already had outstanding warrants for kidnapping and other charges related to a previous domestic incident, but the officers didn't know whom they were dealing with when they responded to the 911 call, Scott told reporters.

Shortly after the shootings Wednesday, a message posted on Lembrick's Facebook page read: "other life gone not going to jail."

Also posted to Lembrick's account was a four-second Facebook Live video showing a young man partly concealed by shadows saying, "I'm gonna miss y'all folk, man." The final message on Lembrick's page read: "Love yall."

All three posts had Facebook timestamps between 10:13 a.m. and 10:41 a.m. The video was removed a few hours after it was posted.

GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles confirmed to The Associated Press that the Facebook page belonged to Lembrick.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
John Glenn, the all-American astronaut and senator who rocketed into history on flights 36 years apart as the first American to orbit the Earth and the oldest person in space, died Thursday, Dec. 8 at age 95.

Here are a few of his memorable quotes:

"We are placed here with certain talents and capabilities. It is up to each of us to use those talents and capabilities as best you can. If you do that, I think there is a power greater than any of us that will place the opportunities in our way, and if we use our talents properly, we will be living the kind of life we should live." -

- At NASA news conference in 1959 to introduce the Mercury 7 astronauts.

"Zero-G and I feel fine." -- While in orbit in 1962.

"Don't tune out, cop out or drop out. Don't give in to complacency and cynicism. Don't ignore what is bad, but concentrate on building what is good. Don't take America and the values reflected in our form of government for granted. And never forget that in our democracy, the government is not `them' -- it is `us."' -- Announcing his retirement from the U.S. Senate in 1997.

"To look out at this kind of creation out here and not believe in God is to me impossible." -- On his second flight on space shuttle Discovery in 1998 at the age of 77.

"We are more fulfilled when we are involved in something bigger than ourselves." -- Keynote address at Ohio State University's commencement in 2009.
A group of entrepreneurs from Cuba is urging President-elect Donald Trump to keep the changes in trade and travel that began almost two years ago and which they say are improving life on the long-isolated island.

On Wednesday, the group of Cuban entrepreneurs released a letter signed by over 100 Cuban private business owners sent to Trump in which they said: Over a half of million people now work in the private sector, earning considerably more money than state jobs and offering more autonomy in business decisions. Were hopeful that our government will make additional changes to the legal framework and market conditions in the future.

Reforms made by the U.S. government to allow for increased travel, telecom services and banking have helped substantially as we attempt to grow our businesses, the letter said.

Were confident that you understand the importance of economic engagement between nations. Small businesses in Cuba have the potential to be drivers of economic growth in Cuba and important partners of the U.S. business community.

Four entrepreneurs participated in a press conference on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., along with groups that favor lifting the U.S.-Cuba embargo.

When Fidel Castro died, Trump tweeted, If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban-American people and the U.S. as a whole, I will terminate deal.

That created concern among proponents of restored diplomatic relations that Trump would undo all the changes the Obama administration undertook, by easing trade and travel restrictions.

As a businessman, Mr. Trump would be proud of the entrepreneurial spirit of the Cuban people, James William, president of Engage Cuba, a national advocacy organization dedicated to dismantling the U.S. embargo on Cuba, said. These changes have helped Cuba's private sector grow and are widely supported across the island.

At the press conference Marta Elisa Deus Rodriguez, one of the entrepreneurs, said I now own three businesses, and I want to grow all of them, and thats why I hope the new administration does not change this policy.

She fears that if the policy does change, her business will suffer.

Julia de la Rosa and her husband have run a bed and breakfast more than 20 years. And when the U.S. and Cuba re-established relations and Airbnb came to Cuba, their business was able to grow. They have had hundreds of visitors in the past 18 months, and increasing their staff to 17 people.

I hope that President elect-Trump recognizes how much these changes have helped us. We want to improve our relations with the U.S. and think about the future and what our two countries can accomplish together, de la Rosa said.

According to Reuters, private businesses still have no access to wholesale stores and can only import or export goods via government agencies.
Video code:

Thirteen Cuban migrants who arrived on Big Pine Key Tuesday morning may be the first group to make it to South Florida since Fidel Castros death.

The migrants left the island nation on a homemade boat and made it ashore just after 4 a.m. Tuesday.

One of the migrants on board said the trip took them nearly 26 hours. We would guide ourselves with the stars and the moon and kept looking south, said migrant Eddie Gonzalez Amargo.

Their homemade vessel was docked behind Big Pine Key Fishing Lodge. When Monroe County deputies arrived, the law enforcers snapped a picture of the group.

The migrants were turned over to Customs and Border Protection. All 13 are said to be in good health.

Castros death on Nov. 25 was apparently not enough to keep the migrants in Cuba. The death of Fidel  no. We came here to better our lives, work and fight and help our parents, said Jose Ramon Mestre, one of the migrants. We have nothing against him.

Tuesday night, 7News cameras captured the migrants as they got out of a bus that pulled up at Church World Service in Doral, where they will be processed and released.

The images of Cuba during nine days of mourning showed thousands of people grieving, but at least a handful of Cubans were making plans to leave, seeking freedom.

The migrants told 7News they have family in the U.S. and were looking to reunite with them. Because they made it to land, they will most likely be allowed to stay.

For more Miami stories visit www.fox7news.com.

Like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter & Instagram
A Utah family has once again received a crushing blow about their jailed son, 24-year-old Joshua Holt.

Holt has been in imprisoned in Venezuela since June on weapon charges, and any hopes he had of being reunited with his family by Christmas were dashed Tuesday with the fourth postponement of his preliminary hearing.

Judge Elena Cassiani did not appear for the scheduled hearing at which she was supposed to rule on whether to dismiss the charges against Holt. A new date was set for January.

Josh was scheduled for a hearing in September, and then in October, and again in November, but in every case the judge failed to appear.

The courts are closed through the holidays.

That will mean three years of holidays without my son, Josh's mother, Laurie MoonHolt told FNL.

Holt, a former Mormon missionary traveled to Venezuela to marry a woman he met online while looking for Spanish-speaking Mormons to help him improve his Spanish. Venezuelan officials allege he was using his wife's apartment to stockpile weapons and have suggested his case is linked to other unspecified attempts by the U.S. government to undermine President Nicolas Maduro's socialist rule amid deep economic and political turbulence.

The U.S. House passed a resolution in September calling for the release of Holt and other political prisoners in Venezuela. Secretary of State John Kerry raised Holt's jailing during a meeting with Maduro in September, and a senior State Department official traveled to Caracas twice in recent weeks in part to push for his release.

The pressure has so far yielded no tangible results. Human rights groups contend Maduro's government is using Holt and his jailed wife, an Ecuadorian national, as bargaining chips to extract concessions from the United States.

Holt is being held in a prison in Caracas run by Venezuela's intelligence police. The facility also holds a number of activists that the opposition considers political prisoners.

His lawyer says that Holt has lost considerable weight and suffered from a host of ailments, including kidney stones. Holt also has allegedly had to endure harassment by prison guards who forced him to strip naked in a hallway and perform exercises.

The Holts have hired a team of lawyers in an effort to get Josh and Thamara released, and kept the story alive via social media.

In a letter from jail, Holt said the assault rifle and a grenade found in his wife's apartment were planted when he refused to pay police a bribe during a routine raid in the government-built housing complex where he was staying with his wife and her son.

Interior Minister Gustavo Gonzalez, who oversees the intelligence police and was sanctioned by the Obama administration in 2014 for human rights abuses, has called Holt a "trained gunman" intent on destabilizing Venezuela.

Based on reporting by the Associated Press.

Like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter & Instagram
"This is a weblog that is truly welcome in blogtopia  a new blog doesn't seem to be frantically trying to score points for any party. That does NOT mean it's afraid to take a stand or be critical....You really can't predict exactly where The Debate Link will come down on all issues. It's not chanting anyone's mantra." -- The Moderate Voice "[A]n emerging genius in legal scholarship and commentary." -- Jim Chen "It's on my 1st cup of coffee rss feed." -- Hanno Kaiser "I heart this blog.... he referenced Wittgenstein, and it was entirely appropriate and non-pretentious." -- kath.A.rine "[F]unny, thoughtful, acclaimed ...." -- The Core
The U.S.-led coalition has killed 50,000 Islamic State fighters in the last two years in Iraq and Syria, marking a milestone in the long terror fight, a senior U.S. military official told Fox News on Thursday.

FOUR-STAR BRASS SAY NO-FLY ZONE WOULD WORK AGAIN IN SYRIA

The official made the remarks for the first time and called the figures a conservative estimate, but said it was more than what others have stated before.

U.S. leaders have expressed reluctance to disclose specific numbers, and noting that ISIS had been able to replace fighters rapidly, particularly early on.

ISIS LAUNCHES OVERNIGHT ATTACK AGAINST IRAQI TROOPS IN MOSUL

Speaking about ISIS, the official said, I give them credit for being so resilient.

The official warned airstrikes have killed so many ISIS fighters, fears remain that the terror group could go underground and morph into something he called AQI 2.0, or another version Al Qaeda in Iraq.

In August, Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland said about 45,000 combatants had been taken off the battlefields.

The official said coalition airstrikes could be more aggressive in places like Mosul, where Iraqi troops are battling to retake the city, but civilian casualties are a risk. The official wasn't authorized to discuss the matter publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity.

The U.S.-led coalition has flown more than 125,000 sorties in Iraq and Syria since Operation Inherent Resolve began in Aug. 8, 2014, the Pentagon reported in November.

Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
next Image 1 of 3

prev next Image 2 of 3

prev Image 3 of 3

A U.N. envoy says that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is ready to "play ball" on reaching a deal on reunifying ethnically divided Cyprus.

But Espen Barth Eide indicated in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday that it's unclear where Erdogan wants to take a summit in Geneva next month that aims to hammer out a comprehensive peace accord.

Greece, Turkey and Britain will participate in the summit to overcome the major hurdle of providing security in an envisioned federation made up of Greek and Turkish speaking zones. Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup aiming at union with Greece.

Eide says neither Greece nor Turkey wants the decades-old conflict to remain frozen because a Cyprus deal would help resolve overarching regional issues.
next Image 1 of 2

prev Image 2 of 2

A Danish lawmaker has regretted saying migrants sailing to Europe should "be fired at" if they cross the continent's "territorial waters." He clarified his remarks to say "warning shots" should be fired instead.

Kenneth Kristensen Berth is a member of the anti-immigration and populist Danish People's Party, the country's No. 2 party and a government ally.

Kristensen Berth, EU affairs spokesman for the party, says his initial comments "can be interpreted in a way that hasn't been my intention."

But he said Thursday that "warning shots" should be fired because it is "essential" to protect the European Union's territorial borders.

Opposition lawmakers and a senior member of Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen's Liberal Party condemned Kristensen Berth for his initial remarks, which were made Tuesday.
The European Union has added Iran's Aseman Airlines to its blacklist of companies banned from European skies due to safety concerns.

The Tehran-based Aseman flies domestic and international routes, but none directly to EU member countries.

Thursday's move is a blow to Iran as it looks to rebuild its aviation industry following the lifting of sanctions imposed over its nuclear ambitions.

The EU's Executive Commission also said it had removed all airlines certified in Kazakhstan from the blacklist, given recent improvements in aviation security in the country.

The move means that a total of 193 airlines are still banned in Europe.

Not all banned airlines fly to Europe, but blacklisting has been a strong incentive for companies to improve their standards and for countries to boost aviation safety.
next Image 1 of 3

prev next Image 2 of 3

prev Image 3 of 3

Foreign ministers from the 57-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe are meeting in Germany, which says the group is needed more than ever to bolster dialogue between east and west.

The two-day meeting opening at Hamburg's trade fair grounds Thursday under heavy police protection isn't expected to produce concrete decisions.

But German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who holds the OSCE's rotating chairmanship this year, said that "the OSCE has become even more important in these times of crisis as an organization to preserve peace and security in Europe." The group has deployed monitors to oversee peace efforts in Ukraine.

Steinmeier and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry both met separately with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Wednesday evening ahead of the meeting to discuss Syria, among other issues.
next Image 1 of 2

prev Image 2 of 2

A Greek court has rejected the extradition request by Turkey of the last two of eight Turkish servicemen who fled to Greece after a failed July military coup in Turkey, their lawyer Christos Mylonopoulos says.

Thursday's decision comes two days after a different set of judges in the same court approved the extradition request for three others in the group. The extradition request for the first three was also denied. Each decision has been taken by a separate set of judges in the same court.

All eight helicopter crewmen deny participating in the coup attempt and a plot to assassinate Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. They flew to Greece the day after the attempted coup and maintain they would not have a fair trial in Turkey.
next Image 1 of 2

prev Image 2 of 2

Hungary's prime minister is urging the Hungarian minority in Romania to vote in Sunday's parliamentary election there and "speak up for their own interests."

Prime Minister Viktor Orban spoke Thursday during a visit to western Romania, home to a large Hungarian minority. He says Romania's government is not doing everything it can to help local Hungarians who he says "do not always receive the respect they deserve."

The minority group's rights have long been a contentious issue between the neighboring countries and Orban's government has stepped up the rhetoric recently.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto banned Hungarian diplomats from participating in Romania's national day celebrations on Dec. 1, commemorating the 1918 incorporation into Romania of Transylvania, an area long dominated by Hungary.

Orban met Hungarian minority leaders in Satu Mare, Romania.
Poland's prime minister is meeting later in the day with her Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban for talks concerning European Union security, economy and migrant policy.

Orban and Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo are among the most vocal critics of EU policies and opponents of its plan assigning migrants to be relocated to member nations. They are also pushing for changes to the EU to give members more autonomy.

Their informal talks late Thursday in Poland's southern city of Krakow are being held ahead of the European Council summit Dec. 15 that is to discuss EU economy and future.

Orban's two-day visit to Poland includes an address to a conference of researchers on Central Europe co-hosted by the Jagiellonian University and Hungary's Consulate.
U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Jake Frederick was killed Wednesday when his F/A-18 fighter jet crashed off the coast of Japan, a U.S. Marine Corps spokesman told Fox News on Thursday.

Search and rescue teams earlier Thursday had been scouring the waters of southern Japan for Frederick, 32, who ejected from his plane prior to the crash, the military said.

TWIN BROTHERS TO BE REUNITED ON USS ARIZONA 75 YEARS AFTER PEARL HARBOR

The aircraft was on a regular training mission Wednesday when the incident occurred about 120 miles southeast of Iwakuni, the Marine Corps said.

Joint search efforts with Japanese military ships and aircraft were carried out through the night.

Japan's Defense Ministry said the F/A-18 had been flying with another Marine Corps jet.

The Marine Corps said the aircraft was assigned to the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing in Okinawa, Japan and said the cause of the incident was under investigation.

Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
When I was young, I dreamed of Italy. Once in a while, my father would pull out the slide projector and show us pictures from his life on a mountain near Colle Isarco, not far from Italys border with Austria. He taught me to speak a little in both Italian and German, which I loved. My father, though, is not Italian, and his sojourn at a mountaintop telecom site (still the only time hes ever been outside North America) came all-expenses-paid courtesy of the U.S. Air Force, which he joined after being drafted during the Vietnam War. That period of conscription, which ended in 1973, was the last time the U.S. used the draft to compel military service. It was not reactivated during the Iraq War, nor during Americas longest warthe conflict in Afghanistan. Taking all of this into consideration, the announcement by the White House last week that they would support a policy change forcing women as well as men to register for the Selective Service might not seem an issue of immediate interest. However, the proposed change should motivate Americans to take a good, close look at the Selective Service and see a system that is fundamentally unjust.

In researching my forthcoming book on women in rebel groups, I looked into the history of military conscription worldwide. Since rebel groups as well as national militaries often draft participants by force, I was interested in knowing how conscription functioned both historically and today. A comparative view of conscription shows that the notion of a draft is fundamentally gendered, but from its inception the policy of conscription has also been explicitly classed. From the time of Queen Elizabeth I in Britain, the targets of impressment were vulnerable male populations: the poor, the working class, and even foreigners and children. The impressment of American men was one of the precipitating causes of the War of 1812. From 1857 on, the French military conscripted thousands of West Africans as auxiliaries. Many of those forced into service were subjects offered up by local elites, provoking uncomfortable parallels with the slave trade.

The classist effect of the draft has likewise been historically obvious here in the U.S., where during the Civil War the Draft Act of 1863 explicitly allowed men to avoid service by paying $300 to someone else to serve in their place. This assist to the wealthy caused rioting that injured thousands in New York City during July 1863. Perhaps with that memory at hand, the wealthy got savvier about avoiding military service during the 20th century. During Vietnam, future Commander-in-Chief Donald Trump avoided the draft in part because of bad feet. George W. Bush served his time in the National Guard in Texas, a position he likely attaineddirectly or indirectlydue to his familys connections. But the Cold War-era equivalent of the Draft Acts $300 clause was arguably the provision allowing young men to avoid service if they were enrolled in college or (until 1968) graduate school. At a time when, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, only about 10% of adults in the U.S. had a bachelors degree or higher, people like Trump, Bush, and Bill Clinton were able to benefit from this policy. For people like my fathera young man from a white, rural, working-class family in Western New Yorkthe outlook was much different. After high school and two years at a community college, hed taken a blue-collar job at Eastman Kodak in Rochester with the goal of saving money to continue his education and get a four-year degree. His acceptance to SUNY Brockport came through just weeks after he was draftedtoo late to keep him from having to serve.

My father was still lucky in many ways. Instead of being sent to Vietnam like many others, he was sent to Europe and never saw combat (although, Im told, there was a close call with an old lady on a ski lift). Soon after he returned home, he met my mother and started a family. He did eventually get to continue his education with tuition assistance from Kodak, though taking night courses while raising two young kids certainly put him into the nontraditional student category. What might have been different for him (and our family) if hed been able to finish his studies 10 or 15 years earlier? And how many others never had the chance to pursue their careers at all? How many of the thousands who were killed and wounded in Vietnam would not have been there but for an unjust policy?

Updating the Selective Service requirements to include women without reforming the systems other inequalities does not make the process more just. It will only create a system that threatens women with the same differential effects that it has imposed on men for years. A new draft would also bring up uncomfortable questions of race: With only about a third of African-American and Hispanic youth enrolled in college in 2014, and only 15% of Latino students completing a 4-year degree, its not hard to figure out who would be most likely to serve if the draft were reactivated sometime in the future.

In recent years, Germany, Jordan, and a handful of Eastern European countries have all eliminated systems of conscription or compulsory service. Rather than forcing Americas youth to register with Selective Service, and threatening them with the loss of financial aid, job opportunities, jail time, and even the loss of citizenship if they dont, perhaps its time for us to have a national conversation about whether a draft will truly be necessary, realistic, or just in the 21st century.

My father, Mark Henshaw, provided useful background information for this post. He is happily retired and actively pursuing projects researching the history of veterans in Eastman Kodak and a book on Native American place names throughout Western New York.
The lawyer for a teenager accused in the London slaying of a retired Florida teacher says the defendant is fit to stand trial next year.

Zakaria Bulhan, 19, is accused of stabbing Darlene Horton to death and wounding five others in a rampage near the British Museum.

Defense lawyer John Jones confirmed that Bulhan  a Norwegian of Somali descent  is mentally fit to stand trial.

Bulhan appeared via videolink from Broadmoor secure hospital. He was not asked to enter pleas in the 64-year-old's slaying and the attempted murder of five others.

The trial was provisionally set for Feb. 6.

Horton had been visiting London with her husband, Florida State University psychology professor Richard Wagner, who had been teaching summer classes. They were to return home the next day.
The head of MI6, Britain's international spy agency, is warning that Britain cannot be safe until the war in Syria is brought to an end.

Alex Younger used his first speech since taking the job to say that the British intelligence and security services have disrupted a dozen plots in the U.K. in the last three years and are conducting hundreds of investigations. Even so, he says it's not possible "to pull up the drawbridge" in increasingly uncertain times.

Younger says "the scale of the threat is unprecedented."

Young described the Islamic State group as a "murderously efficient" organization that is plotting attacks despite facing military pressure in their strongholds in the Middle East.

He says the spy service must take the fight "to the enemy, penetrating terrorist organizations upstream."
The U.N. envoy for Syria says he expects to meet with someone President-elect Donald Trump's team in the coming days.

Staffan de Mistura made his remarks on his way to brief the Security Council on the situation in Syria.

"The plan is to meet some people around the team of President Trump," de Mistura told reporters, without offering more details.

It was unclear if any action would result from de Mistura's briefing after Russia and China vetoed a resolution earlier this year calling for a 7-day truce in the Syrian city of Aleppo. It was the sixth time Russia used its veto to block action on Syria.
Once home to the world's fourth-largest tuna fleet and a thriving fishing industry, the catch in the Venezuelan state of Sucre is down to less than a third of what it produced in 2004.

That trade has collapsed, along with virtually every industry across Venezuela.

As a result, gangs of out-of-work fishermen have started to prey upon those who still venture out into the open sea, stealing their catch and their motors, tying them up, throwing them overboard, and sometimes shooting them.

The robberies have taken place daily this year, and dozens of fishermen have died.

"People can't make a living fishing anymore, so they're using their boats for the options that remain: smuggling gas, running drugs and piracy," said Jose Antonio Garcia, leader of the state's largest union, to the Associated Press.

Families along the coast got through the summer by eating "dog soup," a broth made from seawater and the small fish that are usually thrown back.

"Those little sardines saved all our lives," said Efren Pares, who lives in Punta de Araya village.

The Marval family has a story of their own.

A few months ago, seven of its members were preparing to return home after a full day fishing offshore when they heard shots.

"There's no way to run when you're stopped dead in the water, so I just started praying, 'God, let them leave without hurting us,'" 42-year-old Edecio Marval said.

Instead, after stealing the boat's motor and the night's catch, the men shot dead Edecio's oldest child, who had kept the group laughing all night with cheesy jokes, and two others.

As they prepared to kill Edecio's teenage nephew, one pirate shouted for the others to stop. "No, that's my friend," he said. They had fished together until last year.

So the group sped off, leaving the surviving Marvals to send flashes of light into the darkness. They wept as the bodies of their loved ones grew cold beside them.

"You hear piracy and you think of guys robbing container ships in Africa. But here it's just poor fishermen robbing other poor fishermen," said Sucre lawyer Luis Morales. "It's the same kind of crime we've seen in the streets, but spreading to the sea. Tomorrow, it will be taking over life on the farms or in the mountains."

Based on reporting by The Associated Press.
Were in the homestretch of what has been a very good year for Cool Cow Comedy.

The regional comedy series, spearheaded by Fredericksburgs own Rahmein Mostafavi, continues to grow in quality and reach. After a successful Black Friday show in the Burg, theres another show to look forward to tomorrow evening.

Cool Cow Comedy will make a pit stop at Spencer Devon Brewing in Downtown Fredericksburg at 9 p.m. with headliner Josh Gondelman. (Its important to repeat that this show is at Devon Brewing and not the usual Cool Cow home, the Courtyard Marriott.)

I have had no complaints about 2016, said Mostafavi. I see my own career and these shows as one  as I progress, they progress. I appreciate everyone continuing to come out and this week is shaping up to be a good one.

For five-plus years, Mostafavi has been the hilariously gracious host of Cool Cow shows, which in addition to Fredericksburg, regularly hit Lorton and Rockville, Md. Mostafavi is a true man-of-the-people-type comic, regularly having candid conversations with a crowd.

As a local, Ive hosted so many shows downtown, said Mostafavi. I recognize a lot of people in the crowd and really like to tease a lot of them. Sure, there may be a joke or two I may have in mind, but sometimes Ill just talk to everyone for 10 or 20 minutes.

One of his favorite topics is politics, which has been an interesting vein to mine in 2016.

People are so divided on it, he said. But now, its like everyone in the middle has started coming back together and things arent quite as insane or intense. We can start teasing a little bit more, but still have to tiptoe. At the end of the day, my job is to help folks have a good time and laugh.

For Fridays show, there will be more than enough laughs to go around with Gondelman headlining. The NYC resident is a key writer for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and the co-brainchild behind the Modern Seinfeld (@SeinfeldToday) Twitter feed, which has 870,000-plus followers. Hes also appeared on Conan and has written for publications like The New Yorker and New York Magazine.

Hes a relatively quiet comic and you will like him immediately, said Mostafavi. His jokes are smart and hes known for being the nicest guy in stand-up comedy. I think he used to be a kindergarten teacher and you can see that in him when you meet him. I can see why kids love him.

And it wont be the last Cool Cow show in 2016. A big-time New Years Eve show is in the works andlets be realwell all need a good laugh to say goodbye to this year.

I booked my buddy Jeff Mauer, who is also a writer for Last Week Tonight,  said Mostafavi. It will be a very free-flowing, high-energy evening. I mean, I might even wear something fancier than my usual Tshirt.
This Saturday, the prolific, award-winning author of books for children and young adults, Linda Salisbury, will feature her most recent work, The Sword and the Broom: The Exceptional Career and Accomplishments of John Mercer Langston in a book-signing at Jabberwocky Book Store in Fredericksburg.

Salisbury has attracted an impressive and steadily growing fan base and is widely known for her Bailey Fish Adventures seriestales of the exploits of a spunky, curious 11-year-old living with her grandmother at Lake Anna.

Salisbury chooses places in and around the Fredericksburg area as the locales of her stories and typically weaves a bit of local history into her fictional accounts. In fact, John Mercer Langston first emerged in her writings as a backstory in the 11th, and last, Bailey Fish Adventures book. Langston was born in Louisa County and was a remarkably talented and determined (but largely unheralded) trailblazer of the black community in the late 1800s.

As background research, Salisbury pored over Langstons 534-word autobiography and was captured by the scope of his lifes accomplishments. She determined she would write a full nonfiction book based on his memoirs.

When I started reading his autobiography I just couldnt put it down, she said. I just kept remarking at how amazing it was.

John Mercer Langston was the son of a wealthy plantation owner, Ralph Quarles, and Lucy Langston, an emancipated slave. He was orphaned when he was just four and was sent to live with the family of his fathers friend in Ohio.

Here was this little boy, going across the mountains with his brother to start a new life. The thought of it captivated me immediately, said Salisbury.

In writing The Sword and the Broom, Salisbury closely followed the accounts in Langstons autobiography and often incorporated his descriptions word-for-word because she found them to be so powerful. She tracked down missing elements, such as the first names of people who might have been commonly known in his day, and she incorporated historic illustrations, documents, and photographs that gave potency to the narrative.

The opening scene of the book is an example of the emotional impact of Langstons story. With the death of his mother, following his fathers passing, all the residents of the plantation were on their way to different destinies. Little Langston ran through the house for one last look at places where his parents had typically sat in hopes of seeing a final glimpse of them. Tears grew to wails when he realized that circumstances would also dictate separation from the slaves he had come to know and love.

Because his father had always placed a high value on education, he had made arrangements to provide opportunities for Langston to go to school. Langston made the most of those opportunities and, at the age of just 14, attended Oberlin College, where he would earn two degrees. When he was home for winter break in his first year of college, he was approached with a request to instruct black students who could not attend public school, and he agreed to be their teacher.

Langston wanted a law degree. He felt a calling to fight for the Constitutional rights of all and was deeply involved with the Abolitionist movement. He felt that, as a lawyer, he could use his talents most effectively to further those causes.

To his dismay, he was rejected from law schools in both Ohio and New York because of his race. When John Fowler, who owned and ran the Ballston Spa law school in New York, suggested that there might be a chance for his admission if he applied in person, Langston made the 500-mile journey but was again rejected. Fowler then made an offer to help him edge into the school by declaring that he was French or Spanish and hailed from the West India Islands in Central or South America.

In spite of his desire to pursue a law degree, Langston respectfully refused the offer, saying he could not accept the humiliating condition nor would he yield his American birthright to gain that object.

Langston changed direction. He pursued a degree in theology from Oberlin Collegea decision that would hone his talents and skills as a powerful orator whose exhortations drew applauding crowds to their feet and changed the hearts and minds of his opponents. His career milestones became a litany of firsts for an AfricanAmerican.

As a town clerk in Ohio, he was said to be the first black person to hold an elected office. He became Inspector General for the Freedmens Bureau, where his duties were to promote the education and economic well-being of former slaves as well as to work to build bridges between those who had been on opposing sides during the Civil War.

He eventually was admitted to the Ohio Bar and went on to receive presidential appointments, and was the first black person to practice law before the Supreme Court. He founded Howard Universitys School of Law and served as its dean and acting president. He was later appointed the first president of what is now Virginia State University. Capping his career of intrepid accomplishments against great odds, Langston became the first black person to be elected to Congress from Virginia, and persevered through a contentious and dishonest electoral process that obstructed his being seated in the House for 19 months.

I believe that John Mercer Langston played an important part in American History and that the story of how hard he persevered to achieve sends an important message, said Salisbury. He was confronted with racism and discrimination but kept moving forward. We all have different things in our lives that could hold us back if we let them.

Children today need to know about him and be inspired by his story, she added.
Saleh Abukhait called his oldest son about 1 a.m. Saturday, during his overnight shift at a gas station near Interstate 95.

It would be one of the final acts of his life.

The two poked fun at each other, and Mohammed Abukhait promised to make his father breakfast later that morning: potato and spinach pies.

They said goodbye, and Mohammed dozed off. About 4 a.m., he woke and tried phoning his dad while making breakfast preparations at the Spotsylvania County townhouse they shared with Salehs wife and middle son.

Saleh normally answered the phone right away, even to say he was too busy to talk. But this time, he did not pick up.

Two more calls went unanswered about 30 minutes later, near the end of Salehs 12-hour shift.

Mohammed, 24, told himself that his dad was probably just busy. Business picks up during the holidays, he thought.

So the family continued its routine.

Mohammeds brother Mohab, 23, left their home about 5 a.m. to head to work at a local Subway. First, though, he planned to stop by the Sunoco station on U.S. 1 near Massaponax to check in with his dad.

We have one habit, explained Mohammed, who works at a 7-Eleven in Northern Virginia. When we go to work, we stop by and say hi to my dad. And when we come back from work, we do the same thing.

When Mohab got to the gas station, vehicles with flashing lights were everywhere. Maybe dad got robbed, he thought.

In an interview this week, Mohab sat silently on a couch in the familys living room as Mohammed described what happened next.

He asked [police], whats going on? They told him, Hes gone. They killed him. 

Mohab returned home crying that Saturday morning.

Our dad, Mohab cried out.

What happened to my dad? Mohammed asked.

He got killed.

He was killed about 1:30 a.m., authorities say, just 30 minutes after Mohammed spoke with him on the phone.

After hearing the news, Mohammed said he went to the basement and started throwing things. He punched a hole in the wall.

His father was a good man, a Muslim who did not smoke or drink, he said. He never had any brushes with the law. He held a job with no benefits, just a paycheck every two weeks, his wife, Geraldine, said.

Work and sleepthats all he did, she said.

A NEW LIFE IN AMERICA

Saleh Abukhait, 54, came to America in 1999 after 16 years with the Jordanian armed forces, his sons said. He was a captain.

The family has a framed picture from the 1990s of King Hussein bin Talal with President Bill Clinton. Saleh is in the background, holding a Jordanian flag in a line of military men with their heads held high.

He always loved to talk about the army, said Geraldine, 69. He just loved that life.

Saleh visited America with the Royal Guard, which helps protect the kings family, his sons said. He liked the United States and moved to New York with aspirations of a better future for his children, who remained in Jordan.

His sons think he worked at a gas station in New York before finding a home in the Fredericksburg area in 2001.

He tried to move on and make a good future for us, said Mohab, who moved here from Jordan about three years ago. And he did. He tried his best.

Last year, he said, his dad surprised him with a 2007 Mustang for his birthday.

Saleh initially worked at a Shell station on U.S. 1 in Spotsylvania, then got a job at a 7Eleven across the street from Battlefield Middle School on Leavells Road. About a year ago, he went back to work at the Shell station, which is now a Sunoco convenience store, his wife said.

In fact, Saleh and Geraldine met at that station when he worked there the first time. Their 12th wedding anniversary was coming up Dec. 17, she said.

Moab, 19, the youngest of Salehs three sons, moved to the area from Jordan in 2012.

Mohammed got here in 2014, he said, with the hope of living a peaceful life with his father.

Back then, they thought that this life here, it will be better for his children, Mohammed said. Thats what they thought. Trust me, if I do know that this was going to happen, I would never come herenever.

Mohammed used to work at the gas station where his father was killed. He said he feels guilty because he helped his dad get rehired there.

Mohammed had returned to Spotsylvania just a week before his fathers death, after getting married in Jordan.

While there, he visited his fathers mother in the hospital. One night, he said, she called out Salehs name in her sleep and later tried to describe the dream.

When my brother took me to the gas station, and Ive seen the police, Ive seen the same thing she was trying to describe for usthe same picture, Mohammed said.

He said his grandmother, Faraha Najar, died the day after her dream.

Saleh will be buried next to his mother in Jordan. Mohammed said he expects thousands of people to attend the funeral, which will be paid for by the Jordanian government because of Salehs military service.

He and Mohab will be there.

The king might even attend, Mohammed said.

Im not going to forget my dad, he said. Not even after a month, not even if Im like, 100 years old. I will always remember my dad.

A LOT OF QUESTIONS

Saleh Abukhait was brutally killed, according to the Spotsylvania Sheriffs Office. Authorities say he was beaten with a two-by-two piece of wood and a second weapon they have declined to identify.

David Junior Washington, 50, is charged with first-degree murder, robbery and grand larceny in the slaying.

Geraldine said she had encouraged her husband to quit the job after he came home with a black eye about a month and a half ago. She said an underage customer had punched Saleh after he refused to sell him beer.

Its dangerous everywhere, but youre dealing with the public, you dont know whos going to walk in and kill you, she said.

Mohammed said his father would offer money to customers in need, saying he did so because my God, he would help.

Mohammed said he remembers the man accused of killing his father from when he worked at the gas station. He said hed like to talk to him and ask him why.

Mohammed said Washington, if convicted, should face the death penalty. Washingtons criminal record includes convictions for unlawful wounding, grand larceny and drugs.

Its not a first time for him, its not a second time, Mohammed said. Hes a criminal.

Mohammed wishes he could have one last talk with his father. What do you want me to do for my brothers? What do you want me to do for my stepmother? he would ask.

I would ask him a lot of questions. I just need answersthats it.
Two suspects accused of fleeing the scene of a deadly home invasion in Culpeper last week have been arrested in Maryland.

According to the Culpeper County Sheriffs Office, Melvin Seay, 25, and Alexis Cummings, 23, were arrested Wednesday in Prince Georges County, Md., where they remain jailed pending extradition. Each has been charged with attempted robbery, burglary with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary with a deadly weapon and two counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony.

A homeowner on Woodland Church Road told investigators a woman knocked on his door Dec. 1 and asked for water for an overheating vehicle. He was immediately suspicious, and became more so when he spotted two men in the driveway. He told the woman to leave, according to the sheriffs office.

About 20 minutes later, while the homeowner was on the phone with his wife, the woman returned and said she was cold. When the homeowner cracked the door, a man burst inside and struck the resident in the head.

At one point, the man held a gun to the homeowners chin, but somehow the resident moved it away, a struggle ensued and the pistol went off, the homeowner told investigators.

The man and woman then fled the house, with the man falling dead in a ditch about 50 yards away. Authorities identified him as Delonte Jones, 21, of Prince Georges County.

Amber Eley, 18, of Orange was arrested last week and charged with conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit burglary with a deadly weapon.

Authorities allege that Seay and Cummings were in the car that had brought Jones and Eley to the home. Investigators say they fled following the shooting, leaving Jones mortally wounded and Eley stranded.

The homeowners name has not been released for security reasons.
The Fredericksburg City School Board approved a $40.25 million capital improvement plan for 2018-2022, which includes the construction of a new elementary school, at its regular meeting Monday.

The new school is in the very early stages, but is planned to open in 2022, according to John B. Gordon, the schools director of administrative services.

By that timeframe, 2020, we will get to the point where both Lafayette Upper Elementary School and Hugh Mercer Elementary School will be at capacity, Gordon said, basing the projection on a seven-year enrollment study. A feasibility study was done in 2014, he said.

The construction cost, included in the 2020-21 year in the CIP, is listed at $32 million, although that number may be low, at-large board member Jannan Holmes said.

Really, what weve been hearing is that it will probably be closer to $40 million than $32 [million], Holmes said. But I also wanted to, just for planning purposes, think about: What will it cost us to staff that school? Because that will also be an increase in our budget, and it will probably be something our city will need to plan for as well.

Superintendent David Melton and board chairman and at-large member Jarvis Bailey were not present. Deputy Superintendent Marci Catlett provided the administrations recommendations, and vice-chairwoman Elizabeth Rehm led the meeting.

The five board members present voted to approve the CIP without discussion of their votes, though Gordon presented an overview of some of the elements of the plan.

In a telephone interview later, Gordon said that the school is planned for the site offered as part of the proffer for the Idlewild development. Gordon was not sure exactly how much acreage the school site would include, saying it was probably 30 to 40 acres depending on site design, the size of the parking lot and playground, and so on.

The school will be designed for between 750 and 1000 students, he said, but the grade configuration hasn't been determined. All city students will always attend every school on their way through the system, he said.

"We dont want to create a situation where there is a territorial war between everyone [wanting to attend] the new school or  a situation between the haves and have-nots," Gordon said.

The city schools have had some of their largest classes ever in recent years, including the first graduating class over 300 students, Gordon said. James Monroe High School was built to expand, and once it reaches 1,250 students, discussions will start to expand the school to hold 1,750, he said. As of Sept. 30, the school had 1,023 students, according to Virginia Department of Education data.

"Based on the architectural study, we don't have that on the horizon for 10 or 15 years," Gordon said.

Lafayette can also be expanded, but Walker-Grant Middle School and Hugh Mercer cannot. If the middle school becomes crowded in the future, it may not be used for three grades, he said.

The cost of the school is likely higher than the $32 million quote because that number is several years old, Gordon said, adding that construction costs increase by an estimated 5 percent per year due to the price of steel, technology costs, and other costs.

Gordon also drew attention to a new roof for Walker-Grant in fiscal year 2018 at a cost of about $1.3 million, saying that the original roof from 1987 is well past its 15 to 17 year lifespan. He also highlighted the purchase of two new school buses, a new bus lot lease, the replacement of HVAC-related equipment at Hugh Mercer Elementary School, and carpet replacement.

The full list of CIP items is available as part of the Dec. 5, 2016 meeting agenda at cityschools.com under the School Board site tab. Video of the meeting is available at fredericksburg.sb.regionalwebtv.com.
Fredericksburg-area congressman Rob Wittman is staying put in the wake of Republican Donald Trumps presidential victory.

Wittman, R1st District, wrote in an email to supporters Thursday that he had decided against plans to seek the GOP gubernatorial nomination in 2017. He said his job is to make sure every voice in the Commonwealth is heard, and right now, I can do that best right here in Congress.

With President-elect Trump in the White House and a Republican-controlled House and Senate, we have a real opportunity to make this country greater than its ever been before, Wittman wrote in an email. Its time for Republicans to unite and work together to reel in Washingtons out-of-control spending, make lawmakers accountable to the people, defeat and destroy enemies of democracy and freedom, and make sure that We the People are the ones holding the power.

He added that he looks forward to expanding his leadership role as the senior Virginia representative on the House Armed Services Committee, where he says he will make sure the state plays a critical role in restoring our nations military.

University of Mary Washington political science professor Stephen Farnsworth said members of Congress gain more influence on their committees with each election. Wittman, whose district includes Fredericksburg and Stafford, King George, Caroline, Westmoreland counties and some of Spotsylvania, won a fifth term in November.

Military matters are a key concern of Virginia politicians, and Congressman Wittman, with each election, is in a better position to deliver for the Old Dominion on armed services, Farnsworth said.

A UMW survey found that Wittman would have been competitive in the Republican primary for governor. But Farnsworth added that the congressman would have needed to play catch-up with gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie, who ran a statewide campaign in 2014 in an unsuccessful bid for Mark Warners U.S. Senate seat.

The clear winner from Wittmans decision is Ed Gillespie, as Gillespie and Wittman would compete for many of the same voters, Farnsworth said.

Gillespie, a political consultant, released a statement after Wittmans announcement, calling the congressman a good friend and a good man. He said Wittman has an important opportunity to work with a Trump administration and our Republican majorities in Congress to advance Virginias priorities at a critical time for us.

Farnsworth said Wittmans decision will hurt Republican gubernatorial candidate Corey Stewart, who he said benefits from divisions among more establishment Republicans.

Stewart, chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, was co-chairman of Trumps presidential campaign in Virginia until October. He was fired from the post after taking part in a protest in front of Republican National Committee headquarters.

State Sen. Frank Wagner, RVirginia Beach, is also seeking the GOP nomination for governor.Jeff Branscome: 540/374-5402
After 23 years in the Army, including three combat missions to Iraq and Afghanistan, Maj. Neiman Young will assume a different duty in February.

The 40-year-old will retire as company commander of Special Ops Command South at Fort Bragg, N.C., and a few days later, assume the job of county administrator in King George County on Feb. 27.

[My wife] Stephanie and I are humbled that you would not only consider us, but accept us to this position, Young said Tuesday night at the King George Board of Supervisors meeting. I can assure you, I will not let you down. Im looking forward to serving the citizens of King George County.

After Youngs introduction, residents and county staff alike stood in line to shake his hand and offer congratulations.

Claudette Jordon, president of the Ralph Bunche Alumni Association, repeatedly said, Oorah or Sir, yes, sir. Tim Smith, director of Parks and Recreation, praised Youngs even-keeled and outgoing demeanor and looked forward to his leadership. And board-watcher J.T. Johnson offered help in moving or finding a home church and invited Young to visit American Legion Post 329 in Dahlgren.

My wife and I were married at an American Legion, Young told Johnson, adding the couple, who have an 18-year-old daughter, have a special place in their hearts for the veterans group.

Young will replace Travis Quesenberry, who is retiring May 1 after almost 15 years as King Georges county administrator and engineer. Quesenberry had planned to leave at the end of December, but agreed to work another four months to help with his replacements transition.

Young will make $148,000 a year in King George, a considerable step up from his $115,000 annual salary with the military.

King George supervisors searched nationwide for a new county administrator and reviewed 33 applications, said Chairwoman Ruby Brabo. She and fellow Supervisor Jim Howard interviewed seven applicants via the internet and picked three for in-person interviews with the whole board.

In announcing the selection, Brabo praised Youngs life and career experiences, education and strong communication skills. Young, who had planned all along to pursue a career in city or county government after the Army, holds a doctorate in public policy and administration from Walden University and an MBA from Liberty University.

Although he doesnt have experience in county government, Young said his work as an operations manager and team leader is comparable. For the last decade, hes worked with municipal leaders in 10 countries, helping them set up governments and improve services. In addition to almost four years of deployment in combat zones, hes also served in Africa, South America and Southwest Asia.

Most recently at Fort Bragg, Young oversaw a budget of $3.8 million as he managed a 32-person organization that provided counsel to the governments of underdeveloped countries.

Young said that issues facing King George include economic development and diversifying the tax base. He also wants to work on improving the countys branding and making King George stand out among neighboring counties.
The day will consist of a series of 6 high-level conferences addressing issues relating to renewable energy and just transition.
A MONTH after the election, president-elect Donald Trump has executed his own political pivot to Asia.

Trumps pivot consisted of two phone calls, one with Taiwans president and the other with the president of the Philippines.

The explicit topics discussed matter, but the critical fact is that Trump spoke with the Asian leaders. Taking the personal calls sends a diplomatic message. In Taipei and Manila, it is a message of reassurance and support. Taiwan, the Philippines and several other Asian nations confront a China pursuing increasingly militant and expansionary policies in the South China Sea and northeast Asian littoral.

Beijing had a different take on Trumps conversationsparticularly his chat with Taiwan. The Chinese government appeared to be shocked. Beijing regards Taiwan as a province of China, not a separate country. China insists on a One China policy. Since the U.S. recognized the Communist regime in Beijing as Chinas government, American presidents have deferred to Beijings wishes and avoided overt contact with Taiwans leaders.

Trump isnt presidentnot yet. His phone calls, however, indicate he may not practice business as usual. His decision to speak with Taiwans president should be what Ill call an expected surprise. Surprise is a component of Trumps art of the deal. (Advice to Beijing: Go brush up on Sun Tzus Art of War.)

Frankly, Chinas Communist government has earned a mild shock or two, perhaps two dozen mild shocks.

President Barack Obamas Asia pivot gave Beijing a mild and overdue shock. The term Asia pivot served as Obama administration shorthand for shifting American strategic focus from the Middle East to East Asia.

The Reagan administration foresaw Chinas rise to regional power status. Every subsequent administration has sought to peacefully manage the complex and intricate U.S.China relationship. Obama administration officials concluded that East Asias economic vitality and Chinas growing power made the region the worlds key geopolitical theater.

Moreover, friction with Beijing was increasing. In the 1990s, China began asserting its claims to the South China Sea with muscular displays of military and economic power. Beijing reinforced its naval presence in the region and began an artificial-island construction program.

Thats rightcreating land in a sea zone. Chinas neighbors argue Beijings program amounts to conquest with concrete braced by steel, and theyre right. The concrete transforms what international law calls sea features into fake islets big enough to support airfields for combat aircraft. These manmade islets become immobile aircraft carriers.

In this decade, the territorial grabs became more persistent and more threatening (particularly to Vietnam and the Philippines). So the Obama administrations pivot emphasized reallocating military resources to the region and strengthening diplomatic and economic ties with smaller Asian nations confronting Chinas slow imperialism.

China claims sovereignty in the South China Sea from its mainland to what Beijing calls the nine-dash line. This boundary line dips south for hundreds of kilometers from Chinas southern coast to near the island of Borneo. Beijings gargantuan claim puts it in direct conflict with Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore as well as Vietnam and the Philippines.

Action stirs reaction. These nations are slowly forming a de facto anti-Beijing alliance. The de facto alliance, however, is fragile without U.S. support.

The U.S. has certainly provided the southeast Asians with rhetorical support. Washington has strengthened its security ties with the Philippines and begun providing Vietnam with some security assistance. The U.S. has also quietly but firmly sided with Japan in its maritime territorial conflicts with China.

However, Beijing and the rest of the world took notice when the Obama administration failed to back up its Syrian red line threat and its feeble response to Russias February 2014 invasion and annexation of the Crimean peninsula. The Obama administration appeared feckless and weak. In the summer of 2014, China increased its aggressive actions in the South China Sea. The smaller nations wondered if the U.S. would support them if China Crimea-ed their territory.

Trumps phone callsas well as his campaign promises to pursue fair tradetell China that the incoming administration understands both Art of the Deal and Art of War.
Ron Kind of Wisconsin was having a backyard barbecue with his father and uncle one day in 2000, and they started talking of their World War II experiences.

Whoa, can you wait a minute? Kind asked them. I want to go get the video camera. ... I want to record this so the boys can hear it when theyre older, and will understand.

Later, Rep. Kind returned to Washington, D.C, and talked with fellow lawmakers about that moment and those veterans memories.

Together, they created the Veterans History Project to preserve U.S. vets accounts and artifacts for posterityand to share them with the public, so more of us can learn from the past. This superb effort is now coordinated by the Library of Congress American Folklife Center.

If you watched a few minutes of TV coverage of Wednesdays 75th anniversary commemoration at Pearl Harbor, or read an article or two this week about the Japanese attack on U.S. forces there, the value of saving veterans stories should be obvious. Just think of a service member you know. Surely they might want family and friends, or the wider world, to understand their contributions to our country, whether now or decades down the road.

Just think of the elderly veteran standing in the U.S. cemetery in Normandy in the movie Saving Private Ryan, reflecting on his DDay experiences, long after the fact. Experiences that he hadnt mentioned to his son. Or of one of the World War II veterans tales related in Ken Burns PBS documentary series The War.

How much poorer a place the world would be if those stories werent told.

Joe Galloway, who Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf called the finest combat correspondent of our generation, gets why it matters.

His dad served in WWII, and like many members of the Greatest Generation, kept mum about that for years afterward. He wouldnt tell me what he had seen or done until I came home from my first tour in Vietnam, Galloway told an interviewer. How can you explain it to someone who hasnt seen the same thing?

If not for the Veterans History Project, one might never encounter:

Marine Lance Cpl. Mark Ryan Black, killed in an enemy attack on his units base in Vietnams Quang Tri Province on Aug. 14, 1967. He had told his family, Dont expect me to write much. But he did.

Walter Botts, the member of the Crow Indian nation whose face is familiar to millions as the Uncle Sam of Americas best-known recruiting poster. Turns out that during WWII, more than one in every eight Native Americans served in uniform.

Navy sailor Heather Sandler (Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom), who told her VHP interviewee: I barely wanted to talk about my service to my husband and family, never mind putting it out there for the ENTIRE world to view on the web! [But my interview] was one of the most cathartic experiences I have had. ... I no longer hide the fact that I am a Veteran.

This treasure trove preserves their stories and thousands more, from every state in the union. Many are available online. Search the projects holdings for your state or someone you know at loc.gov/vets.

Its simply amazing to me to hear these different stories, veteran and VHP chief Karen Lloyd told one journalist. We couldnt agree more.

But heres the crucial thing: Such stories could be lost without you.

The project is driven by volunteers, who reach out to the vets in their lives and converse with them about what they did, what they saw and what they felt while they served, Lloyd said.

Sometimes the effort is made by high school or college students. Recording interviews is ideal for a classroom or a Scouts Eagle or Gold Award project. But anyone can do this.

So, please, help make history.

The time is now. of
Splitting electoral vote makes matters worse for Virginia

Kudos for your editorial opposing the proposed legislation apportioning Virginias Electoral College votes according to the popular vote in the commonwealths congressional districts [Redistricting matters, Dec. 3]. You hit the nail on the head. These districts are already under serious question as gerrymandered, and any apportioning of Electoral College votes only exacerbates that phenomenon.

The simpler and better choice is for Virginia to join the National Popular Vote Initiative, which requires all Electoral College votes to be cast for the winner of the states popular vote.

NPVI represents a significant and substantive step toward increased democracy. It would change presidential campaign strategy, forcing candidates to appeal to all voters in all areas of the United States, not merely swing states.

With its adoption, the nation could avoid the quandary of one candidate winning the popular vote by a significant margin, but losing the election based on the Electoral College, an anachronism crafted by the Founding Fathers because they did not entrust democracy to the voters. That distrust also emanated from the nonexistence of a national press and communications network.

With NPVI, we would continue democratic progression as with the Civil War Amendments, womens suffrage, 18-year-old voting and direct election of U.S. senators.

James McCarthy Fairfax
ApartmentLove.com & RentMoola Sign Global Partnership Agreement

ApartmentLove.com, North America's leading apartment finder website has partnered with online payments leader RentMoola to expand the reach and capacity of both Companies. Already advertising 675,000 active apartment rentals from coast to coast, property managers will be able to register for RentMoola via ApartmentLove.com.

--

ApartmentLove.com, one of the largest apartment rental websites in the world, is pleased to announce it has signed a worldwide partnership agreement with RentMoola. Based in Vancouver, BC, RentMoola is one of North America's leading fintech companies and a driving force behind the growth and adoption of online rent payments in Canada, the United States and the UK.

"The emotional connections ApartmentLove.com makes with landlords and tenants resonates with the type and kind of engagement RentMoola is known for."

- Philipp Postrehovsky, Co-Founder & COO of RentMoola

This partnership will allow large-scale apartment owners and operators to register for RentMoola services by way of ApartmentLove.com. Once registered, landlords will be able to offer RentMoola online rental payment options to their tenants. Tenants will no longer be required to issue paper checks, rather they will be able to pay their rent with their debit and credit cards as well as through RentMoola's RM eCheck and RM Cash payment options earning rewards points from their card issuers. In addition, tenants will get access RentMoola's MoolaPerks program. Just by signing up, tenants instantly gain access to hundreds of deals on travel, shopping, home service providers and more, all while earning extra points by paying rent with their favorite rewards credit card. Having motivated tenants to pay their rents on-time and in full, property managers collect rents as budgeted allowing them to better manage their rental portfolio.

"Partnerships, such as the one we've signed with RentMoola, are the driving force behind ApartmentLove.com. Having amassed one of the largest inventories of apartments for rent in the world, we can again focus on improving the rental experience with natural partnerships that move ApartmentLove.com and the entire rental industry forward as a more credible and trustworthy space," explained Trevor Davidson - President & CEO of ApartmentLove.com.

RentMoola, one of North America's leading fintech companies, is changing the rental landscape by digitizing the archaic process of writing paper rent checks. "The RentMoola platform provides tenants with many unique payment options coupled with exciting rewards and discounts from their favorite retailers from coast to coast," says Philipp Postrehovsky - Co-Founder & COO of RentMoola. He added, "The emotional connections ApartmentLove.com makes with property managers and tenants resonates with the type and kind of engagement RentMoola is known for."

Now in development, integrating the ApartmentLove.com and RentMoola systems together large-scale apartment owners and operators will be able to register for RentMoola services, via ApartmentLove.com, early in the New Year.

In the meantime:

Learn more about ApartmentLove.com, including how to advertise your rental listings to prospective tenants from around the world, by visiting: https://apartmentlove.com/.

Learn more about RentMoola and their unique tenant engagement tools, and their rapid growth and expansion, by visiting: https://rentmoola.com/.

--

About ApartmentLove.com

One of the Largest Apartment Finder Websites in the World!

Powered by a custom and responsive website design that automatically adjusts to fit any mobile device, ApartmentLove.com is the professional rental solution needed by both landlords and tenants from around the world.

Carefully targeted and beautifully styled, ApartmentLove.com resonates with prospective tenants, professional landlords and the coveted millennial generation because of its easy-to-use interface, comprehensive listing inventory, dynamic online environment and its attractive and memorable branding.

Bringing together the best qualified tenants and the most desirable house and apartment rentals from across North America, ApartmentLove.com is among the largest apartment finder websites in the world!

For more information, visit: ApartmentLove.com or follow them on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram for the latest in home decor trends, interior design ideas and direct access to hundreds of thousands of houses and apartments for rent from coast to coast.

Contact:

Trevor Davidson

President & CEO

ApartmentLove.com

(403) 472-6510

--

About RentMoola - One of North America's Leading FinTech Companies!

RentMoola is changing the landscape of paying rent all over the world. Solving the age-old problem that paying and collecting rent is a major hassle, RentMoola is an online global payment network that allows tenants and owners to pay rent and other payments by credit card, debit card, RM Direct Debit(TM) or RM Cash(TM) while earning rewards. Members have access to the MoolaPerks(TM) program which provides exclusive deals to travel, lifestyle, home services and other rewards redeemable across North America, UK and Europe.

Contact:

Philipp Postrehovsky

Co-Founder & COO

RentMoola

(604) 657-2775

For more information, please visit https://apartmentlove.com/

Contact Info:

Name: Trevor Davidson

Email: tdavidson@apartmentlove.com

Organization: ApartmentLove

Address: 15 Floor 850 - 2nd Street SW, Calgary Canada

Phone: +14034726510

Release ID: 152520

For more information visit r



Recent Press Releases By The Same User

Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Troy Ann Arbor Criminal Defense Attorney Free Consultation Services Launched

The Professional Group 24/7, provides a fast convenient and free service for people to connect with a local attorney, launched free criminal attorney consultation services for clients in Troy, Ann Arbor and other Michigan areas. They're available 24/7. After consultation there's no obligation to hire.

--

The Professional Group 24/7, a Troy service that provides a fast convenient and free way for people to connect with a local attorney, launched free criminal attorney consultation services for residents in Ann Arbor, Troy and other Michigan areas.

More information is available at http://criminalattorneys247.org.

Having a legal representative in court is an imperative, especially in criminal cases. However, consulting a criminal attorney might prove to be beneficial even before the case goes to court, as there are many legal aspects that need to be known.

More and more people consult a criminal lawyer before going to court, as the best practices in such cases are many times hard to discern without the help of a specialist.

Criminal lawyers work with clients charged or looking to charge either cases of misdemeanor or felonies. Depending on the gravity of the deed, a criminal attorney will be able to assess each case and where exactly it fits, as well as give the client an idea of the expected court outcome.

As such legal knowledge is hardly obtainable otherwise, consulting criminal lawyers early on is becoming more and more popular.

The Professional Group 24/7 connects people in Troy, Ann Arbor and other Michigan areas with free criminal defense attorney consultations.

By calling a toll-free number, clients are connected with a professional criminal attorney for a pre-trial consultation. It is then up to the client and the attorney to decide on the future legal partnership. Clients have no payment obligations if they decide not to continue their collaboration with the criminal attorney.

Criminal attorneys can offer a brief, yet comprehensive overview of the case, and give the client legal advice. Interested clients can afterwards decide to hire the respective attorney, either by the hour or at a fixed price, depending on each attorney's payment policy.

The Professional Group 24/7 has a non-stop schedule, connecting clients with criminal attorneys at any hour of the day.

Interested parties can find more information by visiting the above-mentioned website.

For more information, please visit http://www.CriminalAttorneys247.org

Contact Info:

Name: Anthony Miller

Organization: The Professional Group 247

Address: 2844 Livernois Ste. 344, Troy United States

Phone: 1-888-794-4787

Release ID: 152562

For more information visit r



Recent Press Releases By The Same User

Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Raybin And Weissman, P.C. Named To 2017 Best Law Firms List

Nashville-based law firm was selected out of more than 13,800 firms to be recognized.

--

With 2016 drawing to a close, U.S. News and World Report has released its annual "Best of" lists. Nashville based Raybin and Weissman, P.C. has been named among the country's most noteworthy law firms for 2017. The nationwide news and information authority bases its determinations in this category on client feedback, survey results and peer reviews between attorneys. Raybin and Weissman was chosen from among more than 13,800 firms spanning 122 practice areas.

In regard to this accolade, attorney and partner David Weissman commented, "Our team is proud to be appointed as one of U.S. News and World Report's Best Law Firms. It's the latest affirmation that we're getting the results our clients and their families deserve. As far as we're concerned, the role client feedback plays in these ratings is the best part of the award; after all, our clients are the reason we're here. We've dedicated our professional lives to fighting for their rights. Knowing we're providing the personalized service they expect and upholding our ongoing commitment to excellence is invaluable."

This type of recognition is not a first for the Nashville law firm. Raybin and Weissman has made the U.S. News and World Report list in previous years. Firms eligible for this distinction are required to have an attorney on staff listed among The Best Lawyers in America, representing the top four percent of those practicing across the nation. Partner David Raybin falls into this category and was also deemed a 2013 Best of the Bar honoree by the Nashville Business Journal. Attorneys with the firm along with cases won in recent years have made a number of local and national headlines as well.

Raybin and Weissman practices in the areas of personal injury, social security disability and criminal defense and was ranked in Tier 1 of the Best Law Firms' criminal defense category. A recent news release revolving around U.S. News and World Report's latest list pointed out, "Receiving a tier designation reflects the high level of respect a firm has earned among other leading lawyers and clients in the same communities and the same practice areas for its abilities, its professionalism and its integrity."

Weissman concluded, "In truth, it's not about media attention or seeing our names in the paper. In our eyes, the best recognition comes from the people we represent in court and stand beside each day. We take great pride in using our knowledge and experience to better serve our clients. That being said, we're gratified to once again be named one of the nation's best law firms and will continue to not only meet, but exceed our client's expectations going forward."

About Raybin and Weissman, P.C.:

Serving clients in Nashville and the surrounding areas since 1976, the legal team at Raybin and Weissman, P.C. offers more than a century of combined trial experience in the fields of personal injury, criminal defense and social security disability.

For more information, please visit https://www.nashvilletnlaw.com/

Contact Info:

Name: Ross Jones

Organization: Raybin & Weissman, P.C.

Address: 424 Church St STE 2120 Nashville, TN 37219

Phone: (615) 256-6666

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/raybin-and-weissman-p-c-named-to-2017-best-law-firms-list/152608

Release ID: 152608

For more information visit r



Recent Press Releases By The Same User

Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Tru-Bilt Fabrications Celebrates 50 Years Of Steel-Structure Excellence

From compact sheds to airport hangars and barns, Melbourne-based, family-owned company has maintained the highest standards of quality through the half century since 1966 founding, Tru-Bilt reports.

--

Australian-owned, family-operated Tru-Bilt Fabrications Pty Ltd is celebrating 50 years of producing top-quality steel structures that are built to last. Since 1966, Tru-Bilt has fabricated the sheds, barns, and garages Melbourne residents and businesses prefer over all others. As the company's fiftieth anniversary celebration continues and thereafter, all are invited to stop by the Tru-Bilt head office at 42-46 Tarnard Drive in Braeside to see the kinds of steel carports and sheds Victoria buyers have relied upon, recommended, and enjoyed the use of for decades.

The exclusive, five-step Tru-Bilt process even allows for the design and production of steel structures to be customised to meet the exact requirements of clients. Those interested in learning more can do so at the Tru-Bilt website, where information regarding the company's various structures, options, and resellers throughout Victoria can be found.

"For fifty years, Tru-Bilt has been leading the way for sheds, carports, and other steel structures in Victoria," said Tru-Bilt Operations Manager Doug Rosenberg, "Much has changed in the meantime, but our commitment to quality and excellence has never wavered. As we celebrate our fiftieth anniversary, we'd like to thank the many people and businesses in Melbourne and Victoria that have supported us over the years. We promise to keep using our unparalleled experience to produce steel structures of the highest quality to be found anywhere in the world."

The Tru-Bilt range offers great flexibillity and opporunities for farmers, homeowners and industry related workers alike, when reliable steel structures, such as sheds, garages and farm sheds are needed.

Since its founding in 1966, fifty years ago, Tru-Bilt has been Victoria's leading producer of such structures. With every one of the steel sheds and carports Melbourne buyers order being individually engineered with the greatest of care, Tru-Bilt has developed a deserved reputation for turning out products that, like the company itself, stand the test of time.

Visitors to the Tru-Bilt website, along with those who stop by its Braeside headquarters or visit a local dealer, will discover an impressive selection of options. From the economical but top-quality structures of the Tru-Bilt Domestic line to barns and aircraft hangars with gables up to 15 meters wide, every Tru-Bilt product employs only the best materials, construction techniques, and finishes. With fifty years of success and excellence to continue, Tru-Bilt encourages all those with questions to call, visit a local dealer, or request a quote online.

About Tru-Bilt Fabrications Pty Ltd:

Since 1966, Tru-Bilt Fabrications Pty Ltd has been Victoria's leading producer of top-quality steel structures that withstand the test of time.

For more information, please visit http://trubilt.com.au/

Contact Info:

Name: Doug Rosenberg

Organization: Tru-Bilt Fabrications Pty Ltd

Address: 42-46 Tarnard Drive Braeside, VIC 3195 Australia

Phone: 1800 133 098

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/tru-bilt-fabrications-celebrates-50-years-of-steel-structure-excellence/152606

Release ID: 152606

For more information visit r



Recent Press Releases By The Same User

Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
M2 MotoTours Offering Guided European Motorcycle Tours At Four Moto GP Events In 2017

M2 MotoTours LLC, a motorcycle tour operator specializing in all inclusive European motorcycle tours announced that they are offering four guided motorcycle tours to Moto GP events in Europe in 2017.

--

Today, M2 MotoTours LLC, a motorcycle tour operator specializing in all inclusive European motorcycle tours announced that they are offering four tours to Moto GP events in Europe in 2017.

Regarding this recent announcement, M2 MotoTours Managing Partner Mike Owen said, "offering more Moto GP events in our 2017 lineup gives motorcycle racing fans the opportunity not only to see world class racing on major European circuits, but also experience the thrill of motorcycle touring in Europe."

Following positive reception of other tours that include motorsports events like the Formula One Grand Prix of Monte Carlo, M2 MotoTours took a chance on market testing a Moto GP event to gauge market reception.

"Our first MotoGP tour in Austria was a resounding success, so adding more was an easy decision. Considering there's only one MotoGP event in the USA [April 2017 at the Circuit of the Americas]," Owen added, "that might not be very enticing for fans with limited vacation time, or for fans that have already see a race there."

Each tour is all inclusive, so participants don't have to worry about renting a motorcycle, planning the itinerary, reserving hotels, or restaurants. "The all inclusive motorcycle tour model really appeals to our clients who want to come ride in Europe, but don't have the time or patience to deal with the minutiae and headache of planning a tour." Owen continues, "we take care of it down to the details: we pick up clients at the airport, supply the motorcycle, guide them on tour, transport their luggage. The hotels and restaurants are reserved & included, as well as gas and tolls. Our clients really have peace of mind and can enjoy their touring experience to the fullest"

The 2017 MotoGP season is comprised of 18 races, with 11 in Europe.

The 2017 MotoGP races on M2 MotoTours' agenda include:

Jerez, Spain May 7

Le Mans, France May 21

Austria, August August 13

Aragon, Spain September 24

About M2 MotoTours LLC:

Operating from Grenoble, in the heart of the French Alps, M2 MotoTours specializes in all-inclusive European motorcycle tours. Catering predominantly to American and English speaking motorcycle enthusiasts, M2 offers tours in France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, Corsica and Sardinia. M2 MotoTours prides itself in delivering the "ultimate riding experience" which includes a motorcycle, select itinerary, guide, choice accommodations, excellent food, wine and regional specialties.

For more information, please visit http://m2mototours.com/

Contact Info:

Name: Media Contact

Email: info@m2mototours.com

Organization: M2 MotoTours LLC

Address: 1 Goose Quill Lane Suite 210 Savannah, GA 31411

Phone: (855) 366 6686

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/m2-mototours-offering-guided-european-motorcycle-tours-at-four-moto-gp-events-in-2017/152592

Release ID: 152592

For more information visit r



Recent Press Releases By The Same User

Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Powder7.com Ski Shop Launches Ski Size Calculator

The shop is giving customers an easy way to make sure they choose the right skis, reports www.powder7.com.

--

Powder7.com Ski Shop, one of the online arena's go-to destinations for ski gear, recently launched their online Ski Size Calculator. The Colorado-based shop wants to help customers avoid the hassle of purchasing the wrong size skis by giving them a tool that ensures they get their calculations correct the first time. The new tool is available at the Powder7 website.

"Although we love skis, we have to admit that choosing the right pair can be a bit overwhelming for first-timers. There are so many options out there, and it can be difficult to know which size will have the best fit and feel. The good news is that we're ski experts, and we love being able to use our knowledge to help customers who might be confused about their selection. We wanted to make it easy for them to figure out which size will work best for them, and our handy ski size chart and calculator does just that," said Justin James of Power7 Ski Shop.

Powder7's Super Advanced Ski Size Calculator was created to be easy for first-time ski buyers to use. All they need to do is to enter in their physical information, including height, weight, skill level, style, terrain, and length preferences in order to receive an instant size calculation. For those who would like more information or advice about ski sizing, the Poweder7 team encourages them to contact the shop by phone to discuss an ideal ski length.

James went on to say, "Choosing a pair of skis doesn't have to be a complicated venture. Fortunately, our customers don't have to spend hours researching the ins and outs of ski sizing. Our ski size chart and calculator takes the guess work out of finding the best ski size and helps people of all ages ensure that they get a comfortable fit so they don't miss a minute of the action out on the slopes this season."

About Powder7.com Ski Shop:

Powder7 is a family-owned business operated by Jordan Jones and Amy Dannwolf, a husband-wife team. Located on the edge of the Rocky Mountains in historic Golden, Colorado, Powder7.com is North America's premier online ski shop. All of the gear on their website is in-stock at their Golden shop and is ready to ship, allowing their team to get an order on its way to the customer with lightning speed.

For more information, please visit http://www.powder7.com

Contact Info:

Name: Justin James

Organization: Powder7.com Ski Shop

Address: Golden, CO 80403

Phone: (303) 237-7547

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/powder7-com-ski-shop-launches-ski-size-calculator/152634

Release ID: 152634

For more information visit r



Recent Press Releases By The Same User

Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Walletisland.com Launched Aiding Men In The Growing Search For New Wallets

Style and functionality are important aspects of a wallet, but what constitutes these elements is different for everyone, publishes walletisland.com.

--

According to recent reports, men's accessories have seen a continual uptick in sales over the last five years with wallets being among the most sought-after items in this category. Manufacturers have taken notice of this new level of consumer interest, generating a number of new options in their efforts to gain a share of the market. Though this development gives the public a broader selection, it also widens the gap of confusion among those shopping for such items. With this in mind, Adrian Brown has launched Walletisland.com.

Said Brown, "Wallets are crucial items in men's caches of accessories. It's been said the most important elements of a wallet are style and functionality; of course, neither is universal. Each aspect depends on the man, his social and professional circles and his own preferences. A Harley-Davidson burnished tri-fold chain wallet ranging in the neighborhood of $60 might be perfect for one whereas another would be best served by a $650 Brooks Brothers alligator bi-fold. We offer reviews, best lists, articles and a range of other information designed to help our readers find the wallets that are right for them."

According to www.walletisland.com, slim wallets are among the industry's rising favorites. With business and credit cards, receipts and cash being phased out by their digital counterparts, carrying a wallet with a bulky profile is becoming less necessary for many. While much of the bulk of the past is waning, card carriers are also finding themselves at greater risk of identity theft, bringing about a growing demand for RFID protection.

Walletisland.com covers a range of topics, such as style choice and material. A number of features available in today's wallets, such as card capacity, profile, design and storage versatility, are likewise detailed. The website also discusses price as it relates to quality, construction, brand and other factors. Slim, chain and cardholder wallets are among the categories investigated with wallets rated based on price, pros and cons.

Concluded Brown, "With so many different wallets on the market and more being added seemingly every day, deciding which ones are best isn't easy. It's also a matter of determining exactly why some are so expensive. We're here to help clear up some of the perplexities of the industry and help readers not only find a wallet that fits their needs, but be better informed on which ones are worth their price. We'll continue to update our website as new information comes to light."

About Walletisland.com:

Specializing in men's wallets, Walletisland.com is a website dedicated to helping readers compare and contrast different models, features, brands and other factors.

For more information, please visit http://www.walletisland.com

Contact Info:

Name: Adrian Brown

Organization: Walletisland.com

Address: Las Vegas, NV 89109

Phone: 1 (543)123-7511

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/walletisland-com-launched-aiding-men-in-the-growing-search-for-new-wallets/152714

Release ID: 152714

For more information visit r



Recent Press Releases By The Same User

Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Must-Haves on Your Holiday Gift List that will Inspire Her Today and Everyday

Give the holiday gift that will inspire her today and everyday. Baubelle announces inspirational collections, "She Believed", "Love the Life you Live" and "Be Thankful" bracelets. Plated in 18K gold, the bangles are expandable, stackable and are available in gold, rose gold and white gold.

--

Baubelle, an inspirational jewelry company based in Wyoming has unveiled three new lines of stunning bracelets that carry messages of inspiration for women everywhere.

Created by founder and designer Sarah Evren, each inspirational bracelet is plated in 18k gold, white gold or rose gold. In addition, Baubelle jewelry is hypoallergenic, and designed to be expandable to fit various wrist sizes and is durable enough for everyday wear.

Engraved with beautiful messages, the message of empowerment has never looked so good.

"Our mission was to create beautiful jewelry that also inspires, and our messages were chosen carefully to embrace inner confidence, mindfulness and love. The bracelets are ideal as a treat for yourself or as a timeless gift for someone very special" said Sarah.

"I wanted to give women the opportunity to wear fine quality fashion jewelry without the fine jewelry price" she added.

The three messages conveyed through a collection of stunning bracelets, include:

"She believed she could so she did"

The Believe bracelet is made to capture empowerment, inspiring women of all ages to never give up, despite facing a world of relentless challenges. Representing strength, power and beauty, this elegant, stackable piece is a strong reminder of self-belief, inner strength and beauty, no matter what the wearer may be going through or trying to accomplish.

"Love the life you live, live the life you love"

Celebrating the most beautiful gift of all - life, this stunning bracelet carries a message of mindfulness. The Love Life expandable bangle bracelet is a daily inspiration and reminder to live life to the fullest.

"Be Thankful Bracelet"

A truly simple and beautiful message, the "Be" piece is a double charm bangle bracelet, inscribed with a number of inspiring words; thankful, brave, happy, kind, true, compassionate and strong. Overall, this stackable and expandable bracelet promotes a message of positivity.

The Baubelle mission is to make women feel unique, empowered, special and adored, with even the brand's logo - a butterfly created from two hearts - symbolizing how its jewelry aims to speak to women in a way that is beautiful, delicate and strong.

With the festive giving season upon us, a Baubelle bracelet is the perfect gift, with each message being easily transferable to the relationship between both the giver and receiver. Each bracelet is beautifully packaged in a signature turquoise and gold slide-out gift box.

Each bracelet comes with a 1-year warranty, is tarnish free and rust proof.

Sarah states that those interested can learn more about the bracelets by visiting the company's official Amazon seller's page or visit Baubelle on their website to learn more about the inspiration behind the bracelet collections.

To shop the collection and for Baubelle's special promotional pricing, visit Amazon USA.

For more information, please visit http://baubelle.com/

Contact Info:

Name: Sarah Evren

Email: support@baubelle.com

Organization: Baubelle

Address: 1712 Pioneer Avenue, Ste 5924A, Cheyenne, 82001 United States



Release ID: 152751

For more information visit r



Recent Press Releases By The Same User

Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Auto Prospecting Software Social Media Increase Leads Social Sonic CRM Released

Social Sonic, a social media lead prospecting software, has been released. The software identifies niche target markets and automatically engages with and respond to leads in real time. It helps small business owners, sales professionals and affiliate marketers capitalize on social media marketing on auto-pilot.

--

A new social media marketing application Social Sonic CRM has been released. The software helps small business owners, sales professionals and affiliate marketers recruit leads on autopilot, grow their pipeline, increase sales conversions and develop JV partnerships.

More information on Social Sonic CRM is available at: http://socialsoniccrm.com.

Only 42 percent of marketers say they are able to measure their social media activities even though 92 percent say that social media is important to their business according to Social Media Examiner. Marketers want to know how to measure their return on investment when it comes to social media activities.

Hub Spot reports that more than half of marketers who have been using social media for at least two years say it helped them improve sales, and 90 percent of all marketers indicated that their social media efforts have generated more exposure for their businesses.

Social Sonic CRM helps small businesses, sales professionals and affiliate marketers take advantage of and utilize social media like Facebook and Twitter more efficiently to grow their pipeline, increase sales and develop partnerships.

This social media marketing application helps save on advertising dollars and capitalizes on opportunities to engage with leads in real time, when they are set to take the connect to next level and opt in. Users are alerted as soon as a client indicates interest, and the application analyses and responds to posts and conversations online automatically.

Social Sonic CRM helps authority blogs come in front of target markets on social media when they're talking about the user's specific niche. Less than 5 percent of Google users navigate to the second page when they're conducting a search. Without laser focus on writing SEO articles to rank, the Social Sonic CRM software helps user get out of obscurity and get the attention of target markets to become an authority.

The proprietary traffic technology of this software alerts users when people may be looking for the items they are selling. It helps users find prospects, identify traffic opportunities and nurture relationships with future clients on auto-pilot. It finds prospects based on the niche of the influencers they follow on Twitter, sets target preferences through entered keywords, filters prospects, tracks replies and sets direct messages for daily engagement.

More information on Social Sonic CRM is available at the website listed above.

For more information, please visit http://socialsoniccrm.net

Contact Info:

Name: Suman Khadka

Organization: ZOON CO. LTD.

Address: Itabashi 57-5, Tokyo Japan



Release ID: 152743

For more information visit r



Recent Press Releases By The Same User

Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
World Air Quality Monitor Market - 7.57% CAGR to 2020

ReportsnReports.com adds Global Air Quality Monitor Market 2016-2020 latest research report; the analysts forecast global air quality monitor market to grow at a CAGR of 7.57% during the period 2016-2020.

--

The global air quality monitor market analyst says the latest trend gaining momentum in the market is growing HVAC market. Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) is a technology that provides environmental comfort either inside a building, home, or a vehicle. It provides thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. The use of high-performance HVAC equipment can result in considerable energy savings, reduced emissions, and cost savings up to 10%-40%. The building can also provide for extended comfort zones which can further save up to 40% to 70% of the cost.

Complete report on air quality monitor market spread across 73 pages, analyzing 5 major companies and providing 44 data exhibits are now available at http://www.reportsnreports.com/reports/779275-global-air-quality-monitor-market-2016-2020.html

According to the air quality monitor market report, one of the major drivers for this market is increasing air pollution. The public is becoming aware of the health risks and economic costs of air pollution. Poor air quality is linked to millions of deaths each year, and 96% of people in the major cities are exposed to pollution that is above the actual standards. As the awareness about air pollution has increased, many vendors have jumped at the opportunity to produce products that will help people to track their exposure to pollution every day.

The following companies are the key players in the global air quality monitor market: Aeroqual, HORIBA, Teledyne Technologies, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and TSI. Other prominent vendors in the market are: 3M, Honeywell, Siemens, Testo (India), Tisch Environmental, Vaisala, Ecotech, Cerex Monitoring Solutions, Emerson Electric, Servomex, and Merck. Order a copy of Global Air Quality Monitor Market 2016-2020 report @ http://www.reportsnreports.com/purchase.aspx?name=779275

The growing awareness regarding indoor pollution drives the commercial and residential sector for using air quality monitors. Indoor pollution can affect health and can be caused by short-term exposure or long-term exposure. The energy segment consists of oil and gas, petrochemicals, and power industries, and pharmaceutical sectors, which must maintain air quality to abide by the standards, set by the regulatory bodies. Coal plays a key role in power generation as it is an economical way of producing electricity. Governments of various countries are monitoring the air quality by setting standards and estimating the pollution and pollutant data. With the help of monitoring stations, several pollutants are measured, and the data are directly transmitted to a central database.

Global Air Quality Monitor Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global air quality monitor market for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers the demand for an air quality monitor worldwide.

Further, the air quality monitor market report states that one of the major factors hindering the growth of this market is lack of awareness about indoor pollution. Indoor air quality is the nature of air that affects the health of individuals, occupying a space. In developed countries, people spend up to 90% of their time indoors but are unaware of the combination of pollutants that they breathe. In less developed countries, the situation is more critical where about three billion people use solid fuels for energy needs.

About Us:

ReportsnReports.com is your single source for all market research needs. Our database includes 500,000+ market research reports from over 100+ leading global publishers & in-depth market research studies of over 5000 micro markets. With comprehensive information about the publishers and the industries for which they publish market research reports, we help you in your purchase decision by mapping your information needs with our huge collection of reports.

For more information, please visit http://www.reportsnreports.com/reports/779275-global-air-quality-monitor-market-2016-2020.html

Contact Info:

Name: Ritesh Tiwari

Email: sales@reportsandreports.com

Organization: ReportsnReports

Phone: + 1 888 391 5441

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/world-air-quality-monitor-market-7-57-cagr-to-2020/152730

Release ID: 152730

For more information visit r



Recent Press Releases By The Same User

Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Tour Travel By Odas Global Consulting Has Launched Their Unique Tour Called "Amazing Tour Of Romania In 13 Days"

Discover Romania with TOUR TRAVEL by ODAS GLOBAL CONSULTING, booking their unique and exclusive tour called "Amazing tour of Romania in 13 days".

--

Discover Romania with Tour Travel by Odas Global Consulting, booking their unique and exclusive tour called "Amazing tour of Romania in 13 days". They've created this special vacation for people from all over the world interested in discovering Romania, located in the southeastern part of Central Europe. This country shares borders with states as Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.

The objective of this trip is to bring together people to enjoy the most beautiful places and build unique memories. Tour Travel by Odas Global Consulting is going to present through their activities the authentic Romania. Travelers will have the opportunity to travel from Bucharest, the capital of Romania, to medieval cities, like Brasov, Sibiu and Sighisoara, to Vaser Valley - where you will find the last steam train from Europe, to Iasi - "The City of the Seven Hills" from Romania, and not last to the Danube Delta, the second largest river delta in Europe, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

"Amazing tour of Romania in 13 days" is designed to help active travelers discover the natural beauties of this country full of history, charm and stunning landscapes. For more details you can visit the professional website Discovering Romania, where people are able to navigate quickly through the site and find exactly what you are looking for, without frustrating and inappropriate searches.

"Our team created this unique and special tour to deliver memorable moments for all our clients. Romania is a country full of surprises, history and culture, wildlife and sensational landscapes. This journey will take travelers to the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, where most of the traditions where preserved and send from one generation to another. Romania is the perfect destination for people seeking for the unexpected. Something out of the regular European travel destinations. Our best preserved medieval cities and villages, such as Sighisoara, Brasov and Sibiu are waiting for their tourist", says Ionut Dragos Onescu.

All tourists are encouraged to navigate on our website and find their ideal trip and enjoy spectacular moments around Romania.

More information about TOUR TRAVEL by ODAS GLOBAL CONSULTING

Founded in 2016, Tour Travel by Odas Global Consulting is part of Odas Global Consulting, a Romanian company which provides business and management consultancy to the highest quality standards. The company was founded in 2003 and since then has been dynamically involving by offering a wide range of services, from business and management consultancy to governmental, structural and international funds consultancy and feasibility studies.

Tour Travel by Odas Global Consulting mission statement is "to offer you and your family a safe and memorable experience, an unforgettable journey (TOUR TRAVEL by ODAS GLOBAL CONSULTING)".

To learn more about this tour operator, you can always contact our team at +40744 TRAVEL (872 835) or office@discoveringtransylvania.ro.

For more information, please visit http://www.discoveringtransylvania.ro

Contact Info:

Name: Ionut Dragos Onescu

Email: office@discoveringtransylvania.ro

Organization: TOUR TRAVEL BY ODAS GLOBAL CONSULTING

Address: I.P.VOITESTI 1-3, SC.D, AP25

Phone: 0744872835

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/tour-travel-by-odas-global-consulting-has-launched-their-unique-tour-called-amazing-tour-of-romania-in-13-days/152852

Release ID: 152852

For more information visit r



Recent Press Releases By The Same User

Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Fence Contractor: Instant Page 1 Positioning of Google for 29.99 per month

Fence Contractor is celebrating the launch of its new page 1 position in Google for fencing keywords service online by offering fencing companies across the UK an entry price of 29.99 per month to be on page 1 of Google. Find more information at http://fencecontractor.org.uk/.

--

In a exciting, unique change of pace, local online maketing company "Page 1 Network", will be celebrating the launch of their new fencing directory which offers fencing companies in the United Kingdom the chance to be on the first page of Google on a local level for only 29.99 per month. It's reported the event will take place on 1st January 2017.

Fencing Company Near Me

In a space where most competitors simply let their product do it's own thing, hoping that businesses will find their service and fail to cause much of a stir, Fence Contractor has opted to be a little more exciting and unique with the inception of its new page 1 service in Google for keywords related to fencing.

Fencing companies around the United Kingdom, Founder at Page 1 Network, says: "They wanted to be exciting, unique with their page 1 service in Google for fencing keywords service launch because their hope to give local fencing companies the chance to be on page 1 of Google.

It should be really worthwhile and they are hoping it will bring local fencing contractors in UK a lot of happiness and excitement that they can be on page 1 of Google for such a small monthly retainer. It should go great unless the internet breaks!

Fence Contractor has always thrived on the idea of standing out and making a commotion. It's all part of the fun and it's going to be very new to the fencing world. They are a young company who think outside the box, which is better than businesses who choose to do things the 'regular' way. This launch celebration is just one of the many ways Fence Contractor achieves that goal.

When asked about the page 1 positions in Google for a variety of fencing keywords service, fencing companies around the United Kingdom said: "They think it's going to be a real hit because there is nothing like this service in the UK. They are providing fencing companies instant page 1 results for a minimal cost".

Fence Contractor's page 1 positions in Google for a variety of fencing keywords service is set to 'go live' 1st January 2017. To find out more about the service and Fence Contractor itself, it's possible to visit http://fencecontractor.org.uk/

For more information, please visit http://page1network.com/

Contact Info:

Name: Craig Riley

Organization: Page 1 Network

Address: 51 Elborough Street Southfields, London, SW18 5DR United Kingdom



Release ID: 152530

For more information visit r



Recent Press Releases By The Same User

Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)

Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Free Freightnet Membership

List your company in the Freightnet directory. It's Free, it's Easy and your company can be displayed in front of potential freight buyers within 24 hours.
Dear Annie: My love and I are both about 70 years old. My love, Marjorie, belongs to a community service group, which she has been in now for 30 years. Her husband died four years ago.

Marjorie dated Arthur, who is from her community group, for a year. They broke up, and about four months later, we started dating.

When Arthur and Marjorie separated, they agreed to keep each others secret. He is addicted to pornography, and she is a member of Alcoholics Anonymous. Every time Arthur and Marjorie see each other at weekly community meetings or social events, Arthur thinks Marjorie is protecting his secret and putting it above our relationship. I want to tell Arthur, politely, that I know the secret, thereby making our relationship first and the secret second. Marjorie will not let me do it. What to do?

 Angry

Dear Angry: Simmer down. Marjorie is right. You should absolutely not say anything to Arthur. She probably shouldnt have told you about Arthurs issue in the first place. But the fact that she shared such an intimate secret with you shows that she really trusts you. Why isnt that enough? Do you really need to hold something over Arthurs head to feel good about your relationship?

It sounds as if you have some deep-seated insecurity issues that have nothing to do with Marjorie or Arthur. Reflect on that and try to feel more comfortable in your own skin. If you let jealousy drive your decision-making, youre headed for a wreck.

Dear Annie: I disagree with your reply to Senior in Connecticut, who asked you to weigh in on those who address senior citizens as honey, sweetie and other such terms. You replied, Its all in the tone. Yes, it can be demeaning and rude. But you also said that the words are terms of endearment and that one should take into account the speakers intention.

When I am called hon or sweetie by people I am seeing in a professional capacity, such as medical personnel with whom I have no close relationship, they have no right whatsoever to use terms of endearment with me. And a supervisor has no business using such terms with employees. Terms of endearment are just that  terms reserved for those close and dear to us. I would never dream of calling my doctor dearie. What gives him the right to think he is free to call me that?

The practice is rampant nowadays, and it is nothing but rude and demeaning. Those who have let themselves adopt the habit of using such terms need to stop immediately. Period. These people should ask themselves, Would I address the first lady or president in that way? If the answer is no  and I pray no one would do such a thing  they have no business addressing someone with whom they do not have a close relationship in that manner, no matter the persons age.

When strangers call me those offensive words, I either call them something like snookums in return or say, I prefer, if you must address me, to be called (my name). But most have no clue why Im offended and continue to do it.

It will never not set my teeth on edge.

 Seething in the Great Plains
Materials

We are working on environmental issues such as promoting resource recycling and responding to climate change, by improving industrial efficiency and promoting ICT in society.
I may not be a child any more, but I still love Disney films. The studio once again has added a wonderful gem to its catalog of movies.

Moana takes place in ancient Polynesia. The title character is the daughter of the chief  not a princess  as is jokingly pointed out in the film.

Moanas tribe has lived on a particular island for generations but no one is allowed to leave it. At the beginning of the film, Gramma Tala, voiced by Rachel House, tells Moana, voiced by AuliI Cravalho, the story of Maui the demi-god. Maui stole the heart of the goddess that began all life and released destruction into the world. When that darkness reaches Moanas island and chases the fish away and starts killing the plant life, Moana has to find Maui and make him give back the heart to the goddess to save her people.

When she leaves for her journey, Moana is accompanied by a very stupid chicken, Heihei, voiced by Alan Tudyk.

She finds Maui and of course they run into or through several different obstacles including the giant crab Tamatoa, voiced by Jemaine Clement, and coconut pirates called Kakamora.

The film if full of good humor, a few catchy songs and an inspiring lesson of discovering what type of person you are meant to become.

While the story is original it is based on legends and beliefs from several Polynesian nations, from Maori legends to Samoan rituals.

The film also has an short extra scene at the end of the credits.

Moana is rated PG for peril, some scary images and brief thematic elements. The movie is 103 minutes long.

Rating for Moana: 5 popcorns out of 5
Story Highlights Slight majority says healthcare is a government responsibility

Majority continues to favor system based on private insurance

Party divisions reflected in views on both questions

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Slightly more Americans agree (52%) than disagree (45%) that the federal government is responsible for making sure all Americans have healthcare coverage. This balance of views is similar to last year but represents a shift from 2012 to 2014, when majorities said ensuring healthcare coverage for all was not the government's job.

The latest findings are from Gallup's annual Health and Healthcare survey, conducted Nov. 9-13.

Compared with today, Americans were more widely inclined to say ensuring healthcare coverage is a federal responsibility between 2000 and 2008, with majorities of 54% to 69% saying this. But as President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act was debated and implemented, the issue became politicized, leading to a nearly even division on the question from 2009 to 2011.

By 2012, sentiment against healthcare being a government responsibility swelled to 54%, and it remained the majority view through 2014. But last year's poll found Americans shifting more toward the view that the government should ensure all have healthcare, and this holds today.

Smaller Majority Prefers Private Healthcare System

When asked if they would prefer a government-run healthcare system or a system based on private insurance, majorities of Americans have consistently said they prefer a private system. However, this year's 10-percentage-point gap in favor of a private system (53%) compared with a government system (43%) is the narrowest in Gallup's trend.

Parties Split in Views on Healthcare Responsibility, Approach

When Americans' views on both questions are assessed, they largely fall into two similarly sized camps. One group, capturing 39% of the public, consists of those who say ensuring healthcare for all is not the government's responsibility and would prefer a system based on private insurance. The other group, 35%, consists of Americans who say it is the government's responsibility to provide healthcare and would prefer a government-run healthcare system. A much smaller 14% believe it's the government's responsibility make sure everyone has healthcare, but want the system itself to be based on private insurance.

Nearly three-quarters of Republicans (72%) fall into the "free-enterprise group," saying it is not the government's responsibility and preferring a system based on private insurance. Meanwhile, a majority of Democrats (56%) fall into the "pro-government group," contending that it is the government's responsibility to provide healthcare and preferring a government-run system. Roughly equal percentages of Democrats believe it is the government's responsibility to ensure insurance coverage but prefer a private system (16%) or take the "free-enterprise" view (14%).

Independents are evenly split between the two major groups, with 36% falling into each.

Americans' Views of Government Responsibility to Ensure Healthcare Coverage vs. Healthcare System Preference, by Party Aggregated data from 2015 and 2016 National adults Republicans Independents Democrats % % % % Government should ensure/Prefer government system 35 8 36 56 Government should ensure/Prefer private system 14 12 15 16 Government should not ensure/Prefer government system 6 4 7 7 Government should not ensure/Prefer private system 39 72 36 14 Undesignated * 6 4 5 8 *Undesignated row represents the percentage who had no opinion on either or both questions. GALLUP

Bottom Line

Americans' views on the federal government's responsibility in ensuring healthcare coverage and whether government or the private sector should run the healthcare system have fluctuated over time, but remain similar to where they were last year.

President-elect Donald Trump has promised to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, but has said he'd like to keep certain elements of the current system -- such as forcing insurers to cover adults with pre-existing conditions and allowing parents' insurance to cover their children until they are 26.

While the details of what could replace the ACA are still unknown, slight majorities of Americans favor government ensuring healthcare coverage and, separately, a system based on private insurance -- both of which are major elements of the act as it currently stands. This could complicate the president-elect's efforts to undo the ACA while appealing to the interests of the Americans who recently elected him.

Historical data are available in Gallup Analytics.

Survey Methods

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Nov. 9-13, 2016, with a random sample of 1,019 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting.

Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 60% cellphone respondents and 40% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods.

View survey methodology, complete question responses and trends.

Learn more about how the Gallup Poll Social Series works.
ELKO  The Western Folklife Center is seeking volunteers for the 33rd National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, scheduled Jan. 30 through Feb. 4.

About 350 volunteers help at the festival every year, working in a variety of roles, including as door monitors and bartenders, shuttle drivers and gallery docents. Volunteers receive free passes, get to work with other dedicated people and meet the poets and musicians performing at the Gathering.

All volunteers are encouraged to apply online at www.westernfolklife.org/volunteer.

All interested volunteers are encouraged to attend a Volunteer Cocktail Social from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday in the Western Folklife Centers Pioneer Saloon, 501 Railroad St. Volunteers who register that evening will receive a free drink ticket.

The event is an opportunity for people to learn about the various volunteer opportunities, mingle with other volunteers, meet lead volunteers, and sign up for the various volunteer positions, including door monitoring, bartending, logging (taking notes in performances), guest services, gift store attendants, shuttle drivers, gallery docents and more.

For volunteers who sign up to help, there will be a Volunteer Chili Feed and Training from 6-8 p.m. Jan. 20 at the Western Folklife Center. Lead volunteers will begin to train the volunteers in the specific activities, and new volunteers will have a chance sign up.

The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering is an international festival that honors the arts, culture and traditions of the rural West, with poetry, music, storytelling, dancing, workshops, exhibitions, discussions, food and fellowship.

More than 40 poets, musicians and musical groups from the U.S., Canada and Australia will perform on seven stages at four venues.

Tickets can be purchased by calling 888-880-5885, or 738-7508, or online at nationalcowboypoetrygathering.org.

The 33rd National Cowboy Poetry Gathering is supported by ArtPlace America, NV Energy, Newmont Gold Corp., Barrick Gold of North America, Nevada Humanities, Nevada Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, Elko Convention and Visitors Authority, the City of Elko, the Elko County Recreation Board and many more foundations, businesses and individuals.
Fast & Furious 8 Trailer News & Update: 1st Teaser Arriving Dec. 11; Movie Partly Shot In Cuba After Lifting Of Restrictions

Ahead of the release of the first trailer of Fast & Furious 8 on Sunday, Dec. 11, Universal Pictures released on Monday a new preview of the movie on Twitter. According to the tweet, the entire cast of the film would be present at the live stream of the full trailer from a special event in New York City.

Seen in the two-and-a-half minute of the preview of Fast & Furious 8 are Dwayne Johnson (Luke Hobbs), Vin Diesel (Dominic Toretto), Tyrese Gibson (Roman Pearce), Michelle Rodriguez (Letty Toretto) and Ludacris (Tej Parker). The preview also shows new video of zombie car drops from a Cleveland parking garage, plus clips from the Iceland set, Movieweb reports.

Cuba Scenes

While most of the scenes in Fast & Furious 8 were in New York City, Universal also shot some scenes in Cuba just right after travel and trade restrictions were removed by the U.S. Universal is the first big studio to shoot a movie in Cuba in over five decades.

The Cuba portion of Fast & Furious 8 would likely be used to introduce followers of the franchise to the Cuban clan of one of the key characters of the movie. Some actors of older Fast & Furious movies, such as Lucas Black, Jason Statham, Jordana Brewster and Lucas Black, are included in the upcoming film slated for release on April 14, 2017.

New & Returning Actors

But Fast & Furious 8 would also feature newcomers such as Charlize Theron, Scott Eastwood and Kristofer Hivju. Reports say Vin Diesel talked to the brothers of the late Paul Walker about the possibility of reviving his character Brian OConnor on the planned Fast & Furious 9 and Fast & Furious 10 slated for release in 2019 and 2021, respectively.

Although the franchise has been known for street races, explosions and heists, Fast & Furious 8 would include on its theme family, with Michelle Rodriguez stating at the end of the preview, Our family will be challenged like never before, GameSpot reports. The teaser for the movie says the film would test the bond which keeps the family together in the most ambitious, most entertaining, fastest, and most furious ride yet.
NCIS Season 14 Cancellation News: Michael Weatherly Out, Mark Harmon Next To Leave Due To Medical Issues? CBS Confirmed Reports? Plot Details

"NCIS" Season 14 fans are saddened by Michael Weatherly's departure in season 13. Recently, another cast playing a major character is reported to be leaving the CBS' television show. Mark Harmon is rumoured to follow suit after Michael Weatherly.

In season 13, "NCIS" has lost a power cast in the person of Michael Weatherly. The actor decided to shift career focus when he decided to accept the role in "Bull," still a CBS drama television series. He has finally decided to leave his role as Tony DiNozzo in "NCIS" Season 14.

In an interview with TV Line, Michael Weatherly said that he felt it was time for him to move one. He added that he loves his job and the most difficult part was thinking that it was time for him to move. While Michael Weatherly might have the option to choose to leave "NCIS" Season 14, it might not be the case of Mark Harmon.

Fans have noticed Mark Harmon's frailty and they are speculating that he might leave "NCIS" Season 14 sooner than everyone thinks. Mark Harmon plays Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, CBS' drama's main protagonist.

Mark Harmon and the CBS have not announced any statement regarding the actor's alleged departure from "NCIS" Season 14. However, fans are still wary that if there's a grain of truth on the rumours that Mark Harmon will leave, the show might altogether be cancelled.

According to reports, Mark Harmon has survived his medical condition of Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL), but was able to survive it after years of battling with the disease. There has been no official statement on the medical status of the actor who plays the role of Special Agent Gibbs, but fans are wary and concerned that the actor might not be able to meet the demands of filming "NCIS" Season 14.

Though fans would want to see more of Mark Harmon as Gibbs in "NCIS" Season 14, his health condition is far more important than anything else. Stay tuned to GamenGuide for the latest update of "NCIS" Season 14 cancellation news.
Lenovo Phab 2 Pro Release Date, News & Update: 'Tango' Arrives In Europe Recently! Impressive Specs & Features Revealed

After arriving in the United States last month, Lenovo Phab2 Pro 'Tango' smartphone is now available for sale in Europe. A quick look reveals that Lenovo's online stores in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands have the device in stock and are selling it for  499. Contained, the UK brand site still shows the device with the description "briefly".

At the moment, there are about 35 Tango-compatible applications already available in the Play Store. It allows you to evaluate anything in your home. It visualizes how furniture and appliances will appear in your home, playing AR dominoes, painting and drawing "any surface of the Your Home, and play with virtual pets. Lenovo Phab2 Pro 'Tango' will simply answers all those needs.

Lenovo Phab2 Pro 'Tango' was announced earlier this year and only hit the market this month. It offers a 6.4-inch Quad HD display, Snapdragon 652 chipset with Adreno 510 GPU, 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB of storage, 16 megapixel main camera and 8 megapixel front camera. Finally, to feed all this there is a battery of 4,050 mAh and Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

The first smartphone of the 'Tango' project hit the market for $ 499. People can expect Asus to bet on similar specifications, but charging a lower price - as the company's CEO has assured us that we will see a more cost-effective Tango project smartphone. Unfortunately, a possible product release date was not given. It has only been said that it will hit the market sometime in 2017. Therefore, Lenovo Phab2 Pro 'Tango' is still worth trying.

Lenovo Phab2 Pro 'Tango' will also be expected to expand to Asia market soon. As India is the second largest smartphone market in the world, there is a possibility that there will be a launch there. China and Korea should also receive this product since there have been some high-end smartphones sold like candy there.
'Final Fantasy XV' Latest Hacks, News & Update: 'Final Fantasy 15' Tricks & Tips; The Frogs Of Legend Side Quest, Rainbow Frog Location

The Frogs of Legend is one of the many side quests you can enjoy in the Land of Eos. Here are the tips and tricks on the quest and the Rainbow Frogs' locations in "Final Fantasy XV."

The Frog of Legend Side Quest in "Final Fantasy XV"

This quest can be unlocked after completing the Professor's Protege quest line. It is located in the Meldacio Hunter HQ. To start the quest, accomplish the Protege quest line given to you by Sania, a friend of Gladiolus in "Final Fantasy XV" and talk to her. Sania will tell you that the legendary Rainbow Frogs have caught her interest and no one knows where they are, she will then give you water as a clue.

No one has captured these frogs, so the information about them is zilch. Sania will then give you the mission of collecting five Rainbow Frogs. These frogs are dispersed to most of the major locations within "Final Fantasy XV" that have a body of water. Despite the hint, these frogs are somewhat hard to find and require a bit of patience says Eurogamer.

Rainbow Frogs Location in "Final Fantasy XV"

To catch the first Rainbow Frog in Final Fantasy XV head to the west bank of the Vesterpool. Head left and cross the water from the Fishing Spot or the dock until you reach the first island you see. You will the first Rainbow Frog there.

At the Ravatoghan River Area is where the second Rainbow Frog in "Final Fantasy XV" is located. The second frog can be found resting near a boulder, right around the spot where the river splits in two. At Hulldagh Pike River Area is where Rainbow Frog number three is located. You will find him sitting quietly flanked by the shoreline and the huge boulder.

Rainbow Frogs Location in "Final Fantasy XV"

To catch the fourth frog, go to the Saxham Outpost. You will find the frog sitting right next to the biggest boulder adjacent to the water tank. At Alstor Slough is where you will find the last Rainbow Frog in "Final Fantasy XV." Head for the lake through the trees and the frog will be in the middle of the tree and the shore. Return to Sania to end the quest and she will reward 15,000 EXP for each of your party members and Ribbon accessory.
New Nokia Smartphones Coming In

Nokia may have taken a big break in the smartphone industry but it looks like the mobile phone pioneer is all prepped up for its comeback. Apparently, Nokia's non-competition agreement with Microsoft is about to end this year. If you might not remember, Microsoft bought Nokia's Lumia division and it included a non-competition agreement. Now, the maker of the well-loved n3310 is about to re-enter the market with a new set of smartphones.

Nokia Androids About To Come In

Not a lot of details have been confirmed about the said Nokia smartphones. The only thing that its licensed owner has confirmed is that they will run Android. There have been rumors about a Nokia device that come with the name D1C, but it hasn't been confirmed yet. Fans should just wait a few more months to get official details from the company itself. Phone Arena says that HMD Global, the company licensed to carry Nokia's name, will be in the MWC Congress next year (starting late February). This means that Nokia phones could highly likely show up there as well.

HMD Global To Handle The Nokia Brand

GSM Arena says that HMD Global now has a ten-year exclusive agreement to use the Nokia brand on its mobile phones. If you feel worried about new people handling the classic Nokia name, know that HMD Global is still headed by some of Nokia's former executives. HMD Global's CEO, CPO and President were all part of Nokia. With that said, it's quite exciting to imagine what the company has in store for its fans next year.

Hopefully, Nokia can re-enter the smartphone industry with a bang. Also, it would be nice to see the well-loved company join and reign the mobile phone industry once again. This actually isn't that impossible to happen. Take note that the manufacturing of the next Nokia phones will be taken care of by Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that Apple likewise hires for their iPhones.
2016's Best: Camera Phones That Stood Out This Year

If you are one of the people who choose smartphones based on their camera specs, lucky for you. This year has seen some of the best camera specs ever. With the rise of the dual-cam system and the increasing megapixels used in phones, there's quite a lot of phones to choose from.

Apple iPhone 7 Plus

You might have already heard about it as the internet went wild when the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus got unveiled, but just to refresh your memory, this phone has a dual camera system. On top of that, it also boasts of its Portrait Mode that pretty much captures like a DSLR. The iPhone 7 Plus is indeed one of the most premium camera phones of 2016.

LG V20

The LG V20 isn't only proud of its secondary display, it's got a dual cam system too. This phone has 16 MP and 8 MP lenses on its rear cam making it a solid flagship option this year. For Android lovers, the LG V20 is a pretty sweet deal.

Sony Xperia X

Sony supplies camera lenses to a lot of smartphone companies so there's no doubt that they can make their own phones well spec'd too. The Sony Xperia X comes with a stunning 23 MP rear cam so it's pretty competitive in a market crowded by 16 MP cameras. Also, take note that the Xperia X has an impressive 13 MP front camera as well. Overall, the Sony Xperia X is one of the best phones when it comes to cameras.

Vivo Xplay 6

Underrated as it may seem but the Vivo Xplay 6 also boasts of its cameras. Know that this phone uses Sony's IMX362 sensor which is quite one of the most topnotch sensors right now. Also, Vivo's phone won't get left behind on the dual-cam trend as it also comes with a dual camera system comprised of a 12 MP and a 5 MP camera. This is on top of a 16 MP front camera.
'Clash of Clans' News & Update: Supercell Confirms Release Date of December Update; 'Clash-A-Rama' to Premiere on Dec. 9!

"Clash of Clans" players are expecting that Supercell will release a Christmas update just like most of the video games around. As speculated, the upcoming update is going to be huge since it will be last one to be released before the year ends.

Supercell, "Clash of Clans" game developer, is still mum about this rumored Christmas or December update. This silence frustrates fans and it also created many speculations which were posted online.

There were even leaked reports supposedly coming from reliable sources who are insiders. So far, some of the things that have been revealed about the "Clash of Clans" Christmas update include the addition of new troops, free gems for a period of time (probably for five days) and new characters like the mermaids.

Aside from these and few fixes, there is a big chance that Supercell is including add-ons to go with the holiday season. With this said, "Clash of Clans" may have Christmas trees, decors and snow-filled surroundings.

The "Clash of Clans" December update was also reported to arrive complete with virtual reality enhancements. As for the update's release date, All Clash reported that Supercell confirmed the dates between Dec. 19 and 23 as the launching day of the December update.

Meanwhile, "Clash of Clans" animated series called "Clash-A-Rama" is set to premiere on TV this coming Dec. 9. The air date was confirmed by Supercell through its COC YouTube channel.

"Clash-A-Rama" was created with the help of three writer-producers who have also worked for "The Simpsons" cartoon series. This is another original comedy animation and it is based from popular "Clash of Clans" characters.

Finally, fans were already given a glimpse of what they can expect from the "Clash of Clans" inspired series as the "Clash-A-Rama" preview is now available online. Most of the feedback are good, thus there is so much expectations in the first season of the show.
CRIPPLE CREEK, Colo. -- Nestled in the mountains in the midst of historic mining towns, the Cripple Creek and Victor gold mine is having a good year.

"We will produce between 350,000 and 400,000 ounces this year. That's by far record-level production," said Jack Henris, who came from Nevada to become general manager of CC&V when Newmont Mining Corp. acquired the operations on Aug. 3, 2015, from AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. for $820 million.

"There is a lot of potential. When all is said and done, this property will look a lot like Carlin," he said. "I think we will be here a long time. There are significant opportunities at this operation."

Newmont marked 50 years on the Carlin Trend in 2015. Operations there grew over the years to encompass surface and underground mines. Henris was general manager at Carlin for two years before coming to Colorado, and earlier was mine manager at Newmont's Leeville underground mine at Carlin.

CC&V is in the "very early stages" of evaluating the prospect of underground mining, Henris said.

Rhonda Zuraff, Elko-based director of communications and external relations for Newmont North America, said there will be a lot of economic analysis before Newmont decides whether CC&V will mine underground or continue only as a surface mine.

AngloGold Ashanti had the prospect of underground mining in its business plan for 2018, Henris said. AngloGold Ashanti's sale agreement includes a 2.5 percent royalty on any underground mining at CC&V.

Henris said on Oct. 4 that CC&V has a large, low-grade ore body for its current surface mining and can reach its potential with the "terrific team" at CC&V and the help of Newmont's regional and corporate leveraging.

Roughly 580 employees work at CC&V, which is in Teller County, and Henris described the workers as "warm and enthusiastic and very welcoming to me and to Newmont."

CC&V currently has two active open pits for surface mining gold, the Wild Horse Extension, and the older Main Cresson Pit, which is 1,200 feet down from the surface.

Mining continually uncovers old underground workings from historic mining. The Cripple Creek Mining District formed in 1891.

The lower ore grades are crushed and placed on Valley Leach Field Two. The first leach pad, Valley Leach Field, was started in 1994 and is still under leach although no more ore is being placed on the 800-foot high pad.

"Here we are constrained by the permitted area of the Cresson Project and the proximity of communities so we have to go higher," said Brad Poulson, specialist in communications and community affairs for CC&V.

The historic towns of Cripple Creek and Victor are close to the mine, which is at altitudes ranging from 9,508 feet to more than 10,400 feet.

The first leach pad has more than 400 million tons of material on it, while the newer field will have more than 200 million tons when done. Beyond that, CC&V will need a new pad, Poulson said. No more ore is going on the first pad but rinsing continues.

CC&V received honors last year for the newest leach field from the Colorado Mining Association, the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety and the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board for historic preservation and reclamation.

This work included relocating historic mining structures from the late 1890s.

Higher grades of non-oxidized gold ore go to the mill, which went into operation in late 2014 and was commissioned the next year.

"The new mill was operating at 50 percent when we got here. We're now pushing 90 percent," Henris said.

CC&V also has a new adsorption, desorption and recovery plant, also known as carbon columns, that was completed in July for processing gold in the final steps before gold is poured.

Cripple Creek and Victor Gold Mining Co., the Newmont subsidiary operating the mine, is working on an expansion amendment to the Cresson Project, which is what the permitting plan for the mine is called.

The mining operations are all on private ground so permitting involves the state of Colorado and Teller County.

"Permitting is pretty fascinating. We're working on Amendment 11 to the original permit from 1994," said Lisa Becker, external relations manager for CC&V, coming to the mine from Carlin operations.

After the state reviews the proposed amendment, it goes to the county, and public comments to the state are sent to CC&V to answer.

Becker said that "Amendment 11 is a "proposed change to aspects of our operating and reclamation permit with the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mining, Reclamation and Safety. Highlights of Amendment 11 include modifying the permit boundary, incorporating the Chicago Mine into the Main Cresson Permit and altering the final height of the East Cresson Overburden Storage Area."

The Chicago Mine is also called the Chicago Tunnel.

"CC&V has an active permit for Chicago Tunnel underground mining, but we are not actively mining there. One improvement of Amendment 11 is incorporating the existing Chicago Tunnel permit into the new amendment," Becker said.

The application for Amendment 11 was filed with the state in December 2015, and Newmont plans to keep the community updated as the application moves through the process.

"People are interested in what we do here. They support what we do. It makes it nice," said Matthew Fine, who came from Newmont's Twin Creeks operations in Nevada to be mine manager at CC&V. "We spend a lot of time with them and listening to their concerns."

A number of community leaders have a background in mining, Fine said.

CC&V's permitted land disturbance is for 4,670 acres, while the private property within the permit boundary totals roughly 6,000 acres, according to Meg Burt, environmental manager for CC&V and formerly at Newmont's Phoenix Mine in Nevada.

"We're surrounded by private landowners so space is limited," Burt said.

That is why reclamation covers fewer acreage than some of the Nevada projects. She said CC&V reclaimed 14 acres this year, "exceeding our target," and will do about five acres in 2017.

Wildlife issues are minimal, but there is an active beaver population that had to be relocated, Burt said. Donkeys walk about in the town of Cripple Creek, but that isn't a mining issue.

CC&V also has drainage tunnels for the old mine workings and monitors the water quality, Poulson said.

According to Newmont, there was still underground mining until the 1960s, and after a decade, surface mining started in 1971 and grew from there. The Cresson Project is what the current operations are called. The project was named for an historic underground operation. Engineering for the modern project began in 1993 and was permitted in 1994. CC&V produced 5 million ounces of gold from 1994 to September 2015.

Newmont's earnings report for the third quarter ending Sept. 30, 2016, reported gold production of 114,000 ounces at CC&V. AngloGold Ashanti produced 211,000 ounces in all of 2014, the last full year it owned CC&V and was completing the new mill.

AngloGold became an owner when the company acquired Independence Mining Co. in March 1999. AngloGold and junior partner Golden Cycle Gold Corp. merged in 2008. AngloGold and Ashanti later merged to become AngloGold Ashanti.

CC&V operates with 24 250-ton haul trucks and two shovels with 40-yard buckets.

Newmont's CC&V employees live in communities ranging from Colorado Springs to the Cripple Creek and Victor. There is no bus service so they all drive to the mine site, which is roughly two and a half hours southwest of Denver.

Poulson said 50 percent of employees live in Teller County in Woodland Park, Divide and Florissant, 30 percent in Canon City in Fremont County and 20 percent in El Paso County, which is the Colorado Springs area. Four to 5 percent live in the towns of Cripple Creek and Victor.

Most available properties in those towns are historic homes that "require a lot of TLC," he said.

Although the mine is at a high elevation, there isn't as much snow in winters as one might expect in the mountains, Poulson said, commenting that the area is "kind of a banana belt."

CC&V also has a "really robust" safety program called SOS, which stands for See It, Own It, Solve It, according to Dayne Heese, manager of health safety and loss prevention for mine geology and exploration for Newmont at Battle Mountain, Nev., but at Cripple Creek temporarily.

"We've done a lot of work on safety," he said.

The gold mine has been 225 days without a medical reportable mishap as of early October, and the total reportable frequency rate in October was 0.29, compared with 3.68 in August 2015, Henris said.

He said Newmont's safety efforts include a quarterly meeting with all employees.

CC&V's safety program also features training for employees, contractors and visitors on high altitude sickness because of the mine's elevation. That sickness can range from a mild headache to a life-threatening building up fluid in the lungs or brain. Symptoms can include fatigue, headache, dizziness, insomnia, shortness of breath, nausea, decreased appetite, swelling of extremities and/or social withdrawal.
EU Union Approves Acquisition of Linkedin By Microsoft For $26 Billion

The European Commission on Tuesday approved the purchase, under conditions, of the professional social networking LinkedIn by Microsoft computer giant, a $ 26.2 billion operation announced in June. "Today's decision ensures that Europeans can continue to choose between different professional social LinkedIn network," European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager said

The Community executive ties its decision to a set of commitments to preserve competition in this sector in Europe.In this way, the American giant should allow manufacturers or distributors of laptops to decide not to install LinkedIn network on the Windows operating system developed by Microsoft, the Commission said.

The group also pledged to allow LinkedIn network's "competing social networks" to maintain "current levels of interoperability with the Microsoft Office suite of products." With this endorsement, Microsoft "has obtained all regulatory approvals to finalize the operation," which will conclude "in the next few days," the multinational said in a statement.

The promises of the IT giant will be implemented "for a period of five years," said the Commission, announcing that it will oversee its implementation. Founded in 2003, LinkedIn network has got 433 million users worldwide and has established itself in the job search industry on social networks for professionals.

This acquisition is the largest of the group founded by Bill Gates since Satya Nadella took office in early 2014. It fits into a context of major acquisitions in the digital world, such as the purchase of WhatsApp messaging service by Facebook in the same year. The European Union (EU) on Tuesday approved Microsoft's acquisition of LinkedIn network for $ 26 billion after the software giant agreed on procedural safeguards to ease antitrust concerns.

The European Commission, the bloc's executive arm, said it had released the deal on condition that, after the merger, Microsoft allowed other professional networking sites to access Office programs over the next five years and give computer makers Option to not install a LinkedIn network shortcut on the desktop. In addition, the EU said that Microsoft should allow access to competing networks from Microsoft Graph, a program used to create applications that can tinker with data in the Microsoft cloud.

"More and more Europeans subscribe to professional social networks," the Commission said. "Today's decision ensures that Europeans continue to enjoy freedom of choice between professional social networks", said Margrethe Vestager, the EU's antitrust chief. Microsoft announced its agreement with LinkedIn in June. To get EU approval, Microsoft has also agreed to allow rival social networks to access Office application programming interfaces, which allow discrete programs to communicate with each other into LinkedIn network. Among other things, the measures proposed by Microsoft will allow the display of non-LinkedIn profiles on the entry of calendars.
'Last Tango in Paris Butter Rape Scene': Bernardo Bertolucci, Brando Don't Feel Sorry at All? Director Insist Maria Schneider Is Lying?

Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucci insist that late actress Maria Schneider knows "Last Tango in Paris" rape scene. The director pointed out that there's a script and she's gone through it.

Fans Swear to Never Watch "Last Tango in Paris"

Bernardo Bertolucci is still being criticized because of his involvement in a rape scene that was featured in "Last Tango in Paris". Hollywood stars, critics, netizens, and even some of his fans slammed him and expressed their disgust.

In Mail Online's report, Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, Rachel Evan Wood and other top Hollywood stars openly voiced out their opinion about the "Last Tango in Paris" rape scene. The stars along with other critics did not waste time to call out everyone to protest about banning the film and withdrawing Bernardo Bertolucci's awards.

Moreover, like Chris Evans, there are fans who swear to never watch the "Last Tango in Paris" as they feel like repeatedly abusing Maria Schneider. The fans even pointed out that the actress' tears during the scene where Marlon Brando is raping her with a butter as a lubricant was real and that Schneider is really crying not as an actress but as a girl.

Bernardo Bertolucci Insists Maria Schneider Knows 'Last Tango in Paris' Rape Scene

In Bernardo Bertolucci's interview, the Italian director insists that the rape scene was in the script and Maria Schneider knows everything aside from one particular props... the butter.

The 76-year-old filmmaker pointed out that everything is in the script and the actress had gone through it. He revealed that Schneider knows how violent the rape scene she will shoot that time.

Adding on, Bernardo Bertolucci said that the only new thing that was not included in the story is the butter. The idea came from Marlon Brando himself. They both agreed to it without telling to Schneider and other than that additional act, no more changes happened in that part.

Bernardo Bertolucci also expressed his opinion about all the criticism he has been receiving ever since the controversy resurfaced the internet. The director called the reports a "ridiculous misunderstanding."

"It is both consoling and distressing that anyone could be so naive to believe that what happens on the cinema screen actually take place," he said. The director admitted that he feel upset not telling the actress about the butter thing but he does not regret what he did in the movie.

Maria Schneider on Her "Last Tango in Paris" Butter Rape Scene

The late actress revealed that she felt a little raped and humiliated. "Thankfully there was one take," said Schneider.

Furthermore, she also revealed that both Brando and Bertolucci did not even say sorry after the scene.

Marlon Brando not Rapist

Marlon Brando's son Miko expressed his opinion about the controversy and has only one and firm message to everybody who's criticizing his late father. He insisted that Marlin is not a rapist and Bernardo Bertolucci is just "speaking for himself," reports TMZ.
Sam Heughan, Caitriona Balfe Dating: 'Outlander' Season 3 Actress Wants To Take Relationship To The Next Level With 'First Light' Actor?

Although Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe remained tight-lip about their relationship status, their on-screen and off-screen chemistry are definitely undeniable. Now, it seems that the "Outlander" Season 3 actress is hinting that she wants to take things further with the "First Light" actor.

Sam Heughan, Caitriona Balfe Dating: 'Outlander' Season 3 Actress Misses Co-Star and Rumored Boyfriend On Sets?

Caitriona Balfe (Claire Beauchamp Randall/Fraser) previously admitted that she missed being on set with her "Outlander" Season 3 co-star. While fans may think that the "Crush" actress is ready to admit her feelings towards Sam Heughan (James "Jamie" Mackenzie Fraser), Caitriona Balfe was actually thinking about how their on-screen characters should get closer.

The Irish actress and model revealed that there will be more steamy scenes in "Outlander" Season 3". "I think even Sam and I sort of missed - especially in the beginning because it was so heavy on the politics - I think we were all missing those more intimate moments," Caitriona Balfe said as per Vanity Fair.

Sam Heughan, Caitriona Balfe Dating: 'Outlander' Season 3 Actress Hopes To Have More Intimate Scenes With 'First Light' Actor In Next Installment?

Speculations about Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe taking their on-screen romance to real-life have been making its rounds on the Internet. Although the "Outlander" Season 3 stars have always noted that they are just friends, shippers have been observing their movements and have witnessed circumstances of the rumored couple being extra sweet towards each other.

With their undeniable chemistry in the hit television drama series "Outlander," it's no surprise that co-stars Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe have been a subject of dating rumors. While Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe maintains their close relationship, the "Outlander" Season 3 stars have yet to comment on these dating rumors once again. For now, the rumored couple are leaving fans to speculate about their current status.
'Game of Thrones' Season 7 Premiere, Spoilers, Predictions: Darker Storyline, Marriage, Death & More [Trailer]

"Game of Thrones" Season 7 is just around the corner and its cast, showrunners and even the writer himself George R.R. Martin are giving us hints one by one. This lead to so many fan theories and predictions which, if you analyze, can be considered as major spoilers as it actually answers all the unanswered questions left in season 6.

Darker Storyline

GoT fans are already immune to the sex, brutality and violence of the show as it has been what the series is almost all about. However, it seems like fans will see a different plot in "Game of Thrones" Season7 as it is considered as the second to the last part of George R.R. Martin's book.

One of the cast, Alfie Allen indirectly throws a clue on what "Game of Thrones" Season 7 is all about. The actor, who plays the role of Theon Greyjoy, attended the Malta India Fan Con 2016 and from there, he willingly took questions from the GoT fans. The actor teased the fans with a little bit of spoilers for the next season-"more dragons, more torture." According to news.com.au, the actor spill some secret information about "Game of Thrones" Season 7. Though the clues are limited, still, it excites makes the fans to desperately want to see GoT.

Moreover, Watchers of the Wall also revealed clues. Alfie Allen revealed that "Game of Thrones" Season 7 will be almost the same as the previous seasons but much better than what everybody expects it to be. When it comes to his character, the actor says that fans might see Theon's rage and redemption in Season 7.

"Game of Thrones" Season 7 Predictions: Marriage and Death

Without further ado, the marriage speculation is all about Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow. In MTV's report, the writer pointed out that Targaryens "are known for continuing their bloodline pure," so the marriage between the two fan favorite characters or more like the two biggest leads in the story is a high possibility.

On the other hand, aside from the alleged wedding of Daenerys and Jon, there are speculations also that Cersei will be dethroned and killed next season and the killer is none other than her brother and lover, Jaime.
Nintendo Switch Release Date, Latest News & Update: PS4, Xbox & Sony Executives Praised Upcoming Hybrid Console

Nintendo Switch is the newest console to be released next year by Nintendo. Sony is one of the biggest contenders of Nintendo and the Executive of PS4 discussed his opinions about Nintendo Switch.

Shuhei Yoshida is the president of PlayStation Worldwide Studios. According to a report in Gamespot, the executive thinks that Nintendo Switch is a very unique system. He is amazed that Nintendo created a system that works well even if it has a lot conventional games when it is comes to inputs and buttons. It is said that it will be beneficial to all core gamers.

Nintendo is one of the competitors of Sony and it is building to cover a different market. On the other hand, the executive of Xbox also talked about Nintendo Switch. Xbox boss Phil Spencer said that he is always impressed with regards to the ability of Nintendo in creating its consoles.

The company has a big impact when it comes on its vision and creation of a product that will perfectly suit that vision. Consumers must be ready as Nintendo Switch specific details will be disclosed in January. But they have to wait more because it will be available on the market in March 2017.

Nintendo Switch is said to feature "Super Mario Sunshine", "Super Smash Bros. Melee" and "Luigi's Mansion" games. These GameCube games are playable through a Virtual Console.

Sony Boss praised Nintendo openly according to Nintendo Insider. Nintendo has a significance in the consoles industry. Yoshida is spending his quality time with family by playing Wii U. He is excited as well to play "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild."

It is expected that Nintendo will cover a new market for them and the Nintendo Switch will be a device that will have a hybrid design. The big N in Nintendo Switch is creating a new era of the company's product.
Apple Watch Q3 News & Update: Shipments Of Wearable Gadgets Kept On Ascending; Apple Watch Shipments Dive?

Wellness groups, which are a piece of IDC's 'essential wearables' classification, were the top-offering wearable gadgets in Q3 and represented 85 percent of the market. As indicated by reports, shipments of wearable gadgets kept on ascending in the second from last quarter of 2016. Apple Watch shipments dive 70 percent as purchasers support less complex wearables.

In light of the recently recorded information, the Apple Watch might be bound for lukewarm deals. As indicated by CNBC, that was truly awful news for Apple, who saw wearable shipments fall 71 percent year-over-year in the quarter, to 1.1 million units. Apple does not break out its Apple Watch deals.

According to International Data Corporation (IDC), 85 percent of the wearable innovation market is contained "fundamental" gadgets that don't run outside applications. Basic wearables saw a twofold digit increment amid the second from last quarter, yet when smartwatches were added to the blend, the market developed just 3.1 percent from a year back.

"It's still early days, yet we're as of now observing a striking movement in the market," said IDC Senior Research Analyst Jitesh Ubrani. "Where smartwatches were once anticipated that would lead the pack, fundamental wearables now rule.

Effortlessness is a driving variable and this is very much reflected in the top seller list as four out of five offer a straightforward, committed wellness gadget. Then, from an outline viewpoint, numerous gadgets are concentrating on form first while permitting the innovation to mix in with the foundation."

Fanatics of the Apple Watch, similar to previous Apple official Jean-Louis Gassee, have said that Apple's playing the long game, persistently enhancing an optimistic item. Still, while Apple has concentrated on redesigning its innovation, including a brighter display, double center processor, and water resistance, IDC further noted.

As far as the seller leaderboard, as reported by ZDNet, Fitbit's top spot is trailed by Xiaomi, Garmin, Apple, and Samsung, individually. The huge news here is that Apple lost its No. 3 position to Garmin, on account of its showcasing methodology focusing on wellness diehards.


Samsung Galaxy S8 Release Date, News & Update: Standard Headphone Jack Remove From Samsung Smartphone

Samsung Galaxy S8 is coming this 2017, but rumors leaked through internet about the design of the upcoming phone. South Korean flagship smartphone will have no 3.5mm headphone jack.

Playing music and videos with headphones on are one of the major uses of the smartphone, hence, removing such feature may cause rampage to the users. Headphone jack and another major feature are rumored that removed from the Samsung Galaxy S8.

According to Sam Mobile report, we can confirm that the company is going to remove the 3.5mm standard headphone jack from the Samsung Galaxy S8. This means that all existing headphones will not be compatible with the upcoming Samsung flagship.

Apple's iPhone 7 is the first smartphone decided to remove the major features on the handsets. Many people are disappointed on the latter's decision, but now, Samsung Galaxy S8 might also do this thing.

Common headphones cannot be use unless you use a USB Type-C adapter as the Samsung Galaxy S8 will feature a compatible USB port. Same problem from iPhone 7, you won't be able to plug in the handset and use wired headphones at the same time.

On the report from Forbes says, Samsung seems to be taking a different course of action by using a USB-C port on the Samsung Galaxy S8 to provide high quality audio instead of using 3.5mm headphone jack. USB Type-C is compatible with VR headset, a new feature added to the handsets.

Samsung Galaxy S8 was also reported that they will also remove another major feature of smartphones, the home key button. It seems not a big deal to the users, many Android phones without home key button released to the market and receives no complain about it.

Some critics may say this is innovation and many will surely say not. Samsung Galaxy S8 and iPhone 7 might have great reason for this changes, but unfortunately, not all people will understand this.

Samsung is still silent on this issue. For now, Samsung Galaxy S8 has no yet official teaser about its design.
Technology News: Amazon Go Gives Shopping a Whole New Meaning!

Finally! There is a new technology update made by Amazon. It is called the Amazon Go app and it gives shopping a whole new meaning by lessening the hassle of falling in line at the cashier.

Amazon Go is the grocery store of the future. Why is it so? It does not have any checkout counters. Unlike regular stores that let the shoppers fall in line at the cash register to check out their items, the customers just get what they want and walk out. It gives the shopping a process a whole new meaning. Its application is an advanced technology that helps the customers cash out without falling in line.

The payment transaction is done the moment you step out of the store. It reflects the things you buy in your Amazon account. This is an advantage for people who are on the go all the time. You don't need to fall in line, wait for your turn, and fumble around for change or your credit card which are some of the hassles when you go shopping. You only need to pick out what you want and then leave. Amazon Go has high potential to be the future of shopping.

Its advanced technology is routed with terra firma. This means that there are cameras, sensors, and microphones that help detect what you bought the moment you stepped out of the store. There are a lot of technical terms when it comes to the complexity of this technology but Amazon Go is very promising. It helps the customers avoid the long lines during peak seasons in shopping.

The company refuses to give much detail on the type of technology used but they did release a patent in 2014. This may help explain better for those who are curious about the entire process. Amazon Go is still in its early stages; having one store working in Seattle, the company's hometown. Now, it is only limited to the Amazon employees who get to test the store out. The company did say that the Amazon Go store is going to be open to the public early next year in 2017.
Iphones Are Also Exploding, Consumers Report Issues With The IPhone 6 And 6S

It appears that Samsung is not the only one having problems with exploding smartphones. iPhone owners in China have been reporting cases of iPhone 6 and 6S models suddenly exploding or catching on fire. Consumers were reportedly alerted by a consumer watchdog group in Shanghai about the reported cases that involved the device.

The news arrives just after a month of Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 recall and discontinuation after continuous reports of explosions. Quartz has identified that several consumers have approached the Shanghai Consumer Council (SHCC) to report these incidents. A tweet from John Artman, an Editor-in-Chief for Technode.com, said "iPhones explode in China too."

iPhones explode in china too // iPhone _ https://t.co/zew60BA4Jo pic.twitter.com/APc6w8gZ1r  John Artman (@KnowsNothing) December 5, 2016

Mr. Zhang, one of the consumers, reported that his iPhone 6 unexpectedly started smoking and self-combusted last September. Ms. Chen, another iPhone owner, complained that her iPhone 6S Plus also unexplainably blew up, she talked to Apple about it, but they issued her a replacement phone without giving an explanation for the explosion.

According to Trusted Reviews, Apple issued a statement to Agence France Presse. They insisted that the iPhones they have investigated were externally damaged in the first place, which "led to the thermal event." The company claims the exploding handsets have all been subjected to external factors, which caused them to blow up.

There have also been reports of the widespread iPhone random shutdown issue. Technode reports that Apple has issued a free repair program, which only applies to phones manufactured between September and October of 2015. The company cited that a manufacturing process exposed the batteries to "ambient air" and is the culprit behind the shutdowns, but does not label it as a safety issue.

The mounting complaints have planted doubt in the Chinese consumer's thoughts, which makes them doubt if the handset is worth its steep price. The SHCC blames Apple for not taking enough action to address the issue.
'Iron Fist' Season 1 Air Date, Spoilers, News & Update: Claire Temple to Unite The Defenders? Teaser Photos Revealed

After meeting Marvel's street heroes Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage, audiences are anticipating the introduction of Iron Fist. Fortunately, new teasers for "Iron Fist" season 1 were recently revealed, showing some spoilers for the upcoming season.

Released by IGN, the photos showed Finn Jones as the iconic Iron Fist. From what was seen in the shots, "Iron Fist" season 1 is expected to tackle a lot of obstacles as he fight crime around New York. Avid fans of the hero are aware that there is more to Iron Fist than martial arts. Since Iron Fist is known for his mystical powers as well, fans can expect "Iron Fist" season 1 to introduce more magical elements to the world of Marvel Cinematic Universe.

In addition, "Iron Fist" season 1 is expected to show the character going back to New York after years of absence. In another teaser photo, fans saw that his return will bring Colleen Wing, played by Jessica Henwick, to the story as well, which could bring some interesting storylines to the mix.

A familiar face is also said to join "Iron Fist" season 1, as seen in the preview photos released. Rosario Dawson will join Jones as she reprises her role as Claire Temple, who was introduced first in "Daredevil" season 1. The night nurse is expected to play a big role in the upcoming season, as she is the connection to the four street heroes of New York.

According to Empire, since Claire Temple has interacted with Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Daredevil, her stint on "Iron Fist" season 1 is said to unite them with Iron Fist in order to form the Defenders. Though this storyline has yet to be revealed, many fans believe that Claire will be instrumental in building up the upcoming Marvel series "The Defenders."

With that, there is a lot to look forward in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. "Iron Fist" season 1 will hit Netflix Mar. 17, 2017.
ELKO  The Bureau of Land Management this week concluded a wild horse helicopter gather on the Owyhee Complex in Northern Nevada.

The BLM gathered 1,832 wild horses across three Herd Management Areas and locations near the complex. A total of 402 horses, both mares and studs, were released back onto the range.

All mares identified for release, a total of 199, were treated with the fertility control vaccine PZP-22 to slow the population growth rate of the remaining population within the HMAs. PZP-22 is a temporary fertility-control vaccine that can prevent pregnancy in wild horses for 1-2 years.

This gather was a management action necessary to lessen the impacts of the overpopulation of wild horses in the Owyhee Complex within important Greater Sage Grouse habitat said Alan Shepherd, BLM Nevada Wild Horse and Burro Program Manager. These types of actions are in conformance with the 2015 Nevada and Northeastern California Greater Sage Grouse Sub-regional Plan Amendment.

The purpose of the gather was to remove excess wild horses in order to prevent further deterioration of greater sage grouse habitat within the Sagebrush Focal Area in northern Elko and Humboldt counties. Overpopulation of wild horses leads to the degradation of rangeland resources, which adversely impacts habitat for other species as well as the horses themselves, according to the BLM.

The Owyhee Complex is located in both the Elko and Winnemucca districts and encompasses the Owyhee, Little Owyhee, Rock Creek, Snowstorm Mountains, and Little Humboldt HMAs. The total gather area was comprised of 1,120,763 acres of both private and public lands.

All the horses identified for removal were transported to the Palomino Valley Wild Horse and Burro Adoption Center north of Reno, where they will be prepared for the BLM adoption program. Horses not adopted will be placed in off-range pastures where they will be humanely cared for and retain their wild status and protection under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. The BLM does not sell or send any horses to slaughter. For information on how to adopt a wild horse, visit http://on.doi.gov.
'The Flash' Season 3 Winter Finale: Barry Reveals Himself To Julian; Grim Prophecy Revealed; Iris Dies In The Future

Two episodes ago on "The Flash" season 3, we learned that Julian is Doctor Alchemy, and on episode 9, his identity was revealed not just to our heroes, but also to himself. It appears that when Julian becomes the Doctor Alchemy, his consciousness is blocked and a new being seems to control Julian. The Grim prophecy was also revealed on this episode.

Episode 9 opened with a flashback to Hindus Valley in India, where Julian, with some help, found the Doctor Alchemy's philosopher's stone. Savitar is the villain in episode 9 season 3 of "The Flash" and the whole team is trying to find out more about the monster, which can be unleashed through a philosopher's stone enclosed in a box.

The only information the team has about Savitar is that Julian has been curiously interested about it and in fact wrote a research paper for it. Barry went over to Julian to confront about the philosopher's stone and of course, the latter denied having knowledge of it, although Julian told Barry that Savitar is the original meta with speed.

As soon as Barry left, Julian heard a voice, egging him to wear the mask and become the Doctor Alchemy. Episode 9 of "The Flash" had a cameo role of Mark Hamill who played Earth 3's Trickster, who was subdued by Jay with the help of Barry. Upon returning to Barry's earth, Jay told him that Savitar became the "God of Motion" and if he were on this earth (Barry's), it must be because he wanted to duel with Barry as the latter is a threat.

Barry, on the other hand, spent some time with Iris. Iris convinced Barry that Julian and Doctor Alchemy might be connected. Cisco detected the philosopher's stone at the Central City building and both Jay and Barry went out to check it. Doctor Alchemy was using the building to revive meta's power from Flashpoint timeline. Savitar appeared just as soon as Barry and Jay did.

Barry handled Doctor Alchemy while Jay battled with Savitar. Doctor Alchemy was subdued and the philosopher's stone was placed in its box and Savitar disappeared. Barry took out the mask worn by Doctor Alchemy and discovered it was Julian after all. Julian was detained and will not believe "The Flash" that he is Doctor Alchemy. To convince him, he took off his mask.

Julian confessed he's been having some blackouts and the team planned on hacking into Savitar's mind. But when they did, the team learned about the grim prophecy: one shall betray Barry, one shall fall, one will suffer a fate far worse than death.

Scared of the grim prophecy, the team was intent on hiding the philosopher's stone somewhere impossible to be retrieved-the speed force. Jay and Barry may have succeeded on their plan but the philosopher's stone gave a blast which opened a portal into the future. Barry saw Iris destroyed by Savitar somewhere on Infantino Street.
'Maze Runner 3' Release Date, Spoilers, News & Update: Dylan O'Brien Returns On 'Teen Wolf' Season 6 Before Shooting 'The Death Cure'?

It will still be a long time before "Maze Runner: The Death Cure" hits theaters, but at least the sequel might finally be ready to resume production soon. Lead star Dylan O'Brien looks set to return on the set of "Maze Runner 3", but not before one other important thing to work on. Will the actor film more episodes for "Teen Wolf" Season 6?

Dylan O'Brien's character has (conveniently) disappeared in "Teen Wolf" Season 6, but Stiles' friends have been trying to find a way to bring him back. Is it possible that O'Brien will first work on the MTV series before shooting "Maze Runner 3" early next year?

Dylan O'Brien Set To Return In 'Teen Wolf' Season 6? 'Maze Runner 3' Next?

In the premiere episode of "Teen Wolf" Season 6, Stiles Stilinski was taken by the Ghost Riders and he was erased from existence. However, Dylan O'Brien's fans believe that his character will finally be brought back soon. There are speculations that the actor is getting ready to shoot a few episodes before his expected return on the "Maze Runner 3" set.

It is understandable why fans are hoping Stiles will be back soon in "Teen Wolf" Season 6. GamenGuide has previously reported on the possibility that Dylan O'Brien will star in the rumored "Teen Wolf" spinoff series. It might still be a long time before that happens, but for now, fans can rest assured that O'Brien will work on "Maze Runner 3" very soon.

Dylan O'Brien Done With 'American Assassin'? 'Maze Runner 3' Set To Resume Production Early?

GamenGuide has previously reported on speculations that Dylan O'Brien is always finished working on new film "American Assassin" and could start filming "Maze Runner 3" much earlier than expected. However, there is a possibility that the actor will first work on "Teen Wolf" Season 6 to ensure Stiles' return. The final "Maze Runner" film is still scheduled for release on January 12, 2016.
The new rules would apply to employees, and elected and appointed officials.
A black bear that has been roaming around instead of going into winter hibernation has been raiding garbage containers and eating fallen fruit in an area southwest of Philomath.

Nancy Taylor, a district wildlife biologist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, said that the problem could be resolved by removing food sources for the black bear to avoid the fed bear is a dead bear outcome.

We still have at least one active bear in the area, Taylor said Tuesday. It should be asleep now and it would if not being fed.

ODFW received its first reports about a bear getting into multiple garbage cans in the Pioneer Village vicinity about a week before Thanksgiving, Taylor said. The agency responded with the distribution of information on avoiding bear problems but with no results.

Last weekend, there were five more sightings of a bear getting into garbage containers. If it continues, the bear may need to be removed and destroyed.

Evidence of a bear has been seen in an area stretching about 4 miles from Pioneer Village to Old Peak Road. After Thanksgiving, a property owner on Old Peak Road discovered 12 piles of bear scat among apple trees.

Its doable by one bear, but it could be two bears, Taylor said in reference to the distance involved. We want to alert all rural landowners and residents that they could be unintentionally contributing to the problem. It will take a huge neighborhood cooperative effort to create a solution.

A door-to-door education effort involving 60-plus residences occurred Monday and one of the most-common issues revolves around garbage containers. For example, some folks leave their garbage containers out at the end of a road all week awaiting pickup.

ODFW advises the use of bear-proof trash containers or to store cans in a closed garage or shed. Garbage container and dumpster lids can also be secured with chains and padlocks.

Empty your garbage cans often and clean them periodically with hot water and chlorine bleach to eliminate odors  you may want to freeze your fish scraps, bones and other very attractive morsels and put it in the garbage on pickup day, ODFW outlines on a tip sheet.

Another method to keep bears away involves the placement of moth balls or rags soaked with ammonia around garbage containers.

Black bears can exhibit some unpredictable behavior when they find food sources among humans.

If they are in the area long enough and they become accustomed to this environment, they do become more aggressive, Taylor said. They are naturally cautious of people and would be more likely to run away. But one of the landowners at the top of Pioneer Village said that a bear was in his yard for 30 minutes and he was yelling at it  thats not a good sign.

Taylor said the last incident that ODFW had dealt with in the region involved two bears in Kings Valley that had probably been roaming for several months. Ultimately, both were trapped  one after it had broken into a structure to get livestock feed and put down.

We would like to stop all the feeding, all interactions with the bear and get the bear to get to sleep before something like that happens, Taylor said.

For Pioneer Village residents, a flyer with information about bears was posted in an area near the mailboxes.

Lets all do our part to help the bear go back to being a wild animal that lives in the forest, the Pioneer Village Homeowners Association posted on its website for residents.

Along with the trash container tips already mentioned, the ODFW also advises the following:

 Do not feed pets outside. Do not store pet or livestock food outdoors. If necessary, feed pets outside for a short duration during the day and immediately remove the dish after feeding, well before dark.

 Do not feed any wildlife.

 Take down all bird feeders.

 Clean barbecue grills of grease and store inside.

 Do not put fruit, melon rinds and other food items in compost piles.

 Electric fences work well to keep out bears. Motion detecting lights may help.

 Beehives should be fenced.

If precautions are taken and the presence of a bear can still be seen, call ODFW at 541-757-4186, ext. 226, or 541-740-6338.
ELKO  The Planning Commission has approved a permit that will allow a new bar to operate downtown.

The public hearing on Tuesday resulted in a unanimous 6-0 vote in favor of giving business owner Miguel Castro a conditional use permit to operate the bar.

The conditions of the permit mandate that the bar must be responsible for cleaning up any debris left by its patrons in front of the property and in front of the two neighboring businesses.

The bar will be in the former Cucina Fresca location on Idaho Street, which is two doors east of the Cowboy Bar.

Though there are no zoning laws in place to prevent bars from being in close proximity to each other, business owners came out to express their concerns about the negative side effects of having too many bars in the same neighborhood.

Matt Lipparelli, who has an optometry practice next to where the bar would be located, asked the board to consider voting against granting the conditional use permit.

I dont look forward to having to step over blood, broken bottles and puke, he said. This is the first time Ive asked anything of the city but I would like you to consider my proposal of not putting that bar in there.

Castro, who told the board that he had recently moved from California to work in the mines, said he is invested in the welfare of the community and plans to be considerate of his neighboring businesses.

Ive loved this town since I got here, he said. Were trying to run a clean business. We dont want to affect the business around us in any way. If we see some trash around well clean it up, especially if its coming from us.

Despite Castros attempt to reassure the business owners that their patrons would not cause any trouble in the neighborhood, some were still uneasy about the prospect of a new bar.

Ted Blohm owns Blohm Jewelers across the street and worried that intoxicated and unruly customers at Castros bar could put a jewelry business like his in jeopardy.

I have nothing against these folks but you have to look at the situation of a bar. I can tell you truthfully that I would not open a jewelry store between these two bars that are downtown, he said. You have to protect the local business people.

Carlin Trend owner Dave Knight and Patty Maynard, who owns businesses downtown, also spoke against inviting the bar to the neighborhood.

Police Chief Ben Reed also wanted to make sure the new bar would not put the neighborhood at risk. Reed said communication between Castros bar and the police would be key and urged the council to add some conditions to the permit to make policing the area easier for law enforcement.

Theyll all tell me that this is going to be the safest place on the planet and I know darn well well be there every night, he said. We just ask you to impose a couple of additional conditions because it is a bar, which is a very unique business and can get pretty hazardous.

Before discussing the conditions the council would eventually include in the permit, commission member Aaron Martinez said he wanted to be careful not to over-regulate a business and inhibit its ability to function.

Probably the number one thing I struggle with as a business owner myself is, at what point does a governing body have to tell me that I dont have the right to inhabit my building and utilize it for what I would like to utilize it for? he said.

The hearing took more than an hour but Castro was relieved when the commission decided to approve the permit for his new business. There is no timeline for when his bar will open its doors but Castro said he was excited to move forward with his business plan.

Ive been nervous for weeks but it feels good to get approved and were very happy, he said.
Catholic Church initiative : Residents encouraged to invite refugees for Christmas

BAD GODESBERG Several refugees have expressed interest in learning about the tradition of Christmas. The Catholic Church has organized an initiative to bring refugees into Bonn homes for Christmas celebrations.

Teilen

Teilen Weiterleiten

Weiterleiten Tweeten

Tweeten Weiterleiten

Weiterleiten Drucken

The Catholic Church in Bad Godesberg is looking for families who are willing to open up their homes to refugees this Christmas. Several refugees have expressed interest in getting to know the culture and traditions surrounding Christmas. Inviting a refugee into ones home and allowing them to experience what this holiday means for us and how we celebrate it, offers us a good opportunity to make contact and contribute to successful integration, explained Father Wolfgang Picken.

Most of the refugees have been in Bonn for many months already and have good knowledge of German. It is an old Christian tradition to invite strangers to Christmas celebrations and one that we want to bring back. Thats why we hope that many will participate in this initiative, said the Catholic priest.
There is almost nothing real about "reality TV." All but the dullest viewers understand that the dramatic twists and turns on shows like "Bachelor" or "Celebrity Apprentice" are scripted in advance. More or less like professional wrestling, Donald Trump's previous claim to fame.

Welcome to the reality-TV presidency. Nothing president-elect Trump says is to be taken literally, nor evaluated for its truth content. His surrogates have made that clear. Once and future sidekick Corey Lewandowski recently admonished journalists at Harvard University.

"This is the problem with the media," he scolded. "You guys took everything that Donald Trump said so literally. The American people didn't. They understood it. They understood that sometimes -- when you have a conversation with people ... you're going to say things, and sometimes you don't have all the facts to back it up."

So when Trump claimed that he saw Muslims in Jersey City celebrating 9/11 on TV, he was just blowing smoke like some guy in a bar.

And so what if he kept his opposition to invading Iraq a secret?

When Trump denied mocking a disabled reporter on national TV ... Well, who are you going to believe, the president-elect or your lying eyes?

Then there's the president-elect's latest whopper. Providing zero evidence, he claimed that "millions of people" voted illegally last November, and that "serious voter fraud" had taken place in Virginia, New Hampshire and California -- three states he lost.

Otherwise, see, Trump believes he'd have won the popular vote decisively, instead of trailing Hillary Clinton nationally by 2.5 million votes -- a bit more than 2 percent. Far from being the people's choice, Trump eked out one of the narrowest electoral wins in U.S. history.

An ordinary egomaniac would fake humility and try to win the citizenry over. But that's not the Trump way. When journalists challenged his assertion, try to believe that the future president re-tweeted one "Filibuster," a Beverly Hills 16-year-old: "Pathetic -- you have no sufficient evidence that Donald Trump did not suffer from voter fraud, shame! Bad reporter."

No, and nobody can prove that there are no unicorns in Oklahoma. Or that Melania Trump isn't a Russian spy. Is it that Trump has no grasp of elementary logic or that he believes most voters don't? Either way, the nation is screwed. Bad president-elect!

GOP stalwarts -- Paul Ryan, Mike Pence, Reince Priebus -- were all over the talk shows making variants of the same claim: Just because there's no evidence of voter fraud doesn't mean it might not be true.

Sure, and Melania Trump might be Vladimir Putin's lover.

Meanwhile, Trump's lawyers tried to stop Green Party candidate Jill Stein's (pointless) Michigan recount by arguing "(a)ll available evidence suggests that the 2016 general election was not tainted by fraud or mistake."

But it was left for Trump spokesblonde Scottie Nell Hughes to push this nonsense to its ultimate end. Appearing on NPR's "Diane Rehm Show," Hughes chastised unimaginative pundits: "One thing that has been interesting this entire campaign season to watch, is that people who say 'facts are facts,' -- they're not really facts ... Everybody has a way of interpreting them to be the truth or not true.

"There's no such thing, unfortunately, anymore, as facts."

Certainly not in Trumpworld. To be fair, it wasn't clear Hughes thinks this is a desirable state of affairs. But she was reacting to a question about James Fallows' blog at The Atlantic, documenting and rebutting Trump's serial prevarications. Last time I checked, the list was up to 155.

Things are getting serious. Fallows posted one American diplomat's reaction to Trump's voter fraud falsehood:

"Embassy staff in China or Russia are bound to be told, 'It doesn't look like your governmental system is doing so well, does it? See, your future President is saying that your elections are rotten with fraud.'

"What could our people then say? For the sake of truth and the honor of the country, they can't agree; but to disagree is to call their future boss a flagrant public liar. That he is in fact such a liar is, in that situation, beside the point. Our ability to advocate for our country is being recklessly endangered simply to satisfy Trump's vanity."

Meanwhile, hippy-dippy leftists used to be accused of feckless relativism. Now it's so-called "conservatives" who argue against objective standards of evidence and proof.

Writing in 1943, Orwell thought it all came down to power-worship. Contemplating Hitler and Stalin, he wrote that, "If the Leader says of such and such an event, 'It never happened' -- well it never happened. If he says that two and two are five -- well, two and two are five. This prospect frightens me much more than bombs."

But for all the boasting and bullying of Trump supporters, Americans do expect better of their president. Already mistrusted by the majority, if Trump doesn't clean up his act -- a psychological impossibility, I fear -- they'll soon want to change the channel.
Spanish police have arrested the parents of an 11-year-old girl with a rare disease, charging them with fraud after they raised over 150,000 in four days through media campaigns to pay for the childs medical treatment.

Fernando Blanco with his daughter Nadia. EL PAIS

Authorities in the northeastern region of Catalonia are investigating the fathers claims that the money was used for cutting-edge medical treatments across the globe  including a visit to a world specialist who allegedly lives in a cave in Afghanistan.

But Fernando Blanco has failed to produced any evidence that he has visited experts with his daughter Nadia Nerea to find a cure for her trichothiodystrophy (TTD), an abnormality of the hair shaft characterized by fine brittle hair due to abnormally low sulfur levels. The disease can delay development and lead to significant intellectual disability and recurrent infections; severely affected individuals may not survive beyond early childhood.

Blanco now says he has been taking his daughter to see unlicensed healers, not world specialists

Blanco and his wife Margarita Garau raised 153,000 in just four days through a television and social media campaign in which the father claimed that he has already traveled to Guatemala, India, Panama, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Finland, Cuba and Chile to hire the best specialists.

Before that, the couple had already collected thousands more in various other donation drives for their daughter. The total amount could be in the range of 300,000, according to Blancos own estimates.

After his latest fund-raising drive, Blanco said he was going to use the money to take Nadia to a childrens hospital in Houston to undergo delicate surgery which he described as a genetic manipulation that is prohibited in Spain involving three holes in the back of the neck.

The website of the foundation created by Blanco to collect money for his daughter. Luis Magan (EL PAIS)

EL PAIS contacted the Childrens Memorial Hermann Hospital, the only hospital in Houston that fitted his description (the name he gave, Houston Childrens Hospital, does not exist), to be told it had no knowledge of the case or the treatment.

Blanco also claimed that Nadia has already undergone four similar operations in the United States, performed by a Mexican neurosurgeon whose name he refused to reveal.

Medical experts agree that the procedure described by Blanco does not exist.

The part about the holes in the neck and the cave in Afghanistan are straight out of a comic book, said Lluis Montoliu, a researcher on rare diseases.

A history of fraud Blanco has admitted that he was arrested in 2007 for fraud and forgery after taking out a loan to buy a second-hand car in Palma de Mallorca. He said he had to borrow the money from a group of fraudsters because he himself was on a bad debtor list and could not secure a bank loan. A decade earlier, Blanco had defaulted on mortgage payments on an apartment he shared with his previous partner.

After EL PAIS and other media unveiled all the inconsistencies in his story, Blanco admitted that he has been taking his daughter to see unlicensed healers, not world specialists.

He promised to return all the money he has raised since 2009 from all his donation drives.

The couple were arrested on Wednesday in La Seu dUrgell, in the Catalan province of Lleida. The investigating judge in charge of the case has demanded to see documentary evidence of the childs medical treatments.

English version by Susana Urra.
Google Chrome for Android Updated with Support for Offline Webpage Download! News oi -Chakri Kudikala Now you can download and view web pages offline with Google Chrome.

Google just updated the Google Chrome Android application with a slew of new features. The new update has a function of downloading and viewing web pages offline, which was asked by many people across the world.

Having said that, the latest update comes with the build number v55.0.2883.84, which also brings performance improvements and the long-awaited download feature. Apart from these, Google, in their blog mentioned that with this update, the application would use less than 35 percent memory than the previous versions.

Also Read: Xiaomi Redmi 3s vs Meizu M5 Note: The Battle for Best Budget Phone Continues!

With the new download feature, you can download entire web pages as well as media such as videos, music, and save them for viewing offline.

To recall, these new features were announced back in September at the Google Make in India program. And, slowly the search engine giant is implementing all the updates. Recently, the company updated their chat application - Google Allo with support for Hindi Google Assistant.

Google has also made some improvements to the downloads section of the application. For example, if your internet connection goes off when downloading a particular application, then it will automatically resume once after your phone is connected to the internet.

Also Read: Now Pay with Paytm Anywhere with this New Toll-Free Number Even Without Internet

The update is rolling out incrementally, and it may take some time to reach your smartphone. If you can't wait for the update to reach your smartphone, you can APK Download the application from mirror hosting sites such as apkmirror.com or APKPolice.com.

Click Here for New Smartphones Best Online Deals

Best Mobiles in India
Display

Regarding display, the Xiaomi Redmi 3s comes with a compact screen size of 5-inches. On the other hand, we have the Meizu M5 Note with a 5.5-inch display. Also, they differ regarding resolution as well. The M5 Note has a 1080p screen, whereas the Redmi 3s has an only 720p screen and they are priced similarly as well.

Click Here for New Smartphones Best Online Deals

Meizu M5 Note is the Winner in Hardware Section

The Meizu M5 Note comes with an Helio P10 chipset along with support for 3GB/4GB of RAM, whereas the Redmi 3s comes with the entry-level Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 chipset along with 2GB/3GB of RAM. Also, both the smartphones are available in different storage variants- 16GB/32GB.

Same Cameras

Both the smartphones feature a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front-facing camera. So, the camera section goes as a tie between the two.

Big Batteries and boots Android Marshmallow

The Meizu M5 Note comes with a 4000mAh battery, and the Xiaomi Redmi 3s has a 4100mAh battery, slightly larger than the Meizu phone. Both the phones boot Android Marshmallow out-of-the-box with the vendor's user interface of MIUI and Flyme OS.

Verdict: Meizu M5 Note has better specs

Going by the specs sheet, the Meizu M5 Note comes ahead than the Xiaomi Redmi 3s. However, the Xiaomi Redmi 3s phone us not far behind the M5 Note.

Click Here for New Smartphones Best Online Deals
Good News: Nokia Feature Phones to Be Launched Before Android Smartphones in 2017 News oi -Prajith Iconic Nokia-Feature phones incoming!

Unless you've been living under a rock, you'd be aware of the fact that Nokia is making a grand comeback to the smartphone market in 2017 with a few Android-powered devices.

However, according to the latest report, it will first launch a few iconic Nokia feature phones before showcasing the much-anticipated Android-powered smartphones in early 2017.

Also Read: It's OFFICIAL! Android-Powered Nokia Smartphones to Debut in H1 2017

This news comes straight from the horse's mouth, the CEO of HMD Global, Arto Numella. In an interview with The Economic Times, he revealed that the launch of iconic Nokia branded feature phones manufactured by HMD Global is imminent. He stated that "HMD Global would venture globally right from the day when the new feature phones (Nokia-branded) are launched."

Considering the fact that India has been a strong market for the company, these feature phones should make their way to India as well. Moreover, it is worth mentioning the fact that the good old feature phones are still preferred by a majority of people in India. Which makes complete sense for the company to bring these feature phones to the Indian market if seen from the business point of view.

In the same interview, Arto Numella revealed that the new Android-powered smartphones will be launched in early 2017. No specific timeframe was mentioned, though.

Furthermore, he shed some light on the pricing aspects of the upcoming smartphones as well. He said that multiple pricing options will be given to the customers to choose from, along with Nokia's trust and reliability.

Source

Best Mobiles in India
Images of Lenovo ZUK R1 with Helio P10 SoC and 2GB Leaked Online News oi -Chakri Kudikala The Lenovo ZUK R1 might be a budget oriented smartphone.

Lenovo's subsidiary smartphone brand, ZUK mobiles, recently launched the Lenovo ZUK Edge smartphone in China. And a latest leak suggests that the company is working on another smartphone and it has entry-level specifications.

Dubbed as the ZUK R1 , the smartphone's live images have leaked online on Chinese Weibo. The leaked images show that the smartphone will boast of a uni-metal body design and will come with a 5-inch display.

Also Read: Motorola Moto M to Hit Indian Shores on December 13: 5 Features That'll Make It a Worthy Buy

One of the leaked images also showed us the CPU-Z application screen, which confirmed the complete specifications of the phone. The Lenovo ZUK R1 will feature a 5-inch 720p display and will be powered by the MediaTek Helio P10 octa-core chipset along with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage.

Notably, the smartphone also listed in the GFXBench, which is a benchmarking site that tests the graphics performance of a smartphone. That listing suggests that the smartphone will also come with a 3GB RAM variant. There will be a fingerprint scanner embedded into the home button, as seen on other ZUK devices to date.

Also Read: Xiaomi Redmi 3s vs Meizu M5 Note: The Battle for Best Budget Phone Continues!

The Lenovo ZUK R1 will boot Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow out-of-the-box. Imaging wise, the smartphone might feature a 13MP camera on the rear along with support for PDAF and HDR mode. Up front, there will be an 8MP sensor to cover up the selfies and video calls.

Apart from these details, there are no more details surfaced online regarding the smartphone. And, it is highly expected that the smartphone will be launched by the end of this year.

Source

Best Mobiles in India
Heading a minority Popular Party (PP) government which is starting out on his second term after a 10-month political hiatus, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has put Catalonia among his top priorities . As a result, his deputy, Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, will be spending a lot more time in the region.

Spanish Vice President Soraya Saenz de Santamaria in Barcelona. Albert Garcia

Saenz de Santamaria spent Wednesday at her new office in the central governments delegation in the Catalan capital of Barcelona, where she had lunch with business leaders and later meeting with center-right party Ciudadanos and the Catalan Socialists (PSC). Among her priorities will be arranging a meeting between Rajoy and Carles Puigdemont, the regional premier of Catalonia.

She will also face the longer-term challenge of improving lines of communication that have all but lapsed since Rajoy took office in late 2011, during which time Catalalonias regional parliament has pressed ahead with plans for independence, which include a referendum next year.

Rajoy is holding a conference of Spains regional leaders in mid-January

Sources close to the cabinet describe the new strategy as hard ball on legal issues, soft ball on politics, which is to say standing up to the separatist challenge but with a willingness to talk about everything else.

Oriol Junqueras, the Catalan deputy regional leader, is due to meet with Saenz de Santamaria in the coming days. He has already told media that he has 46 issues he wants to discuss, among them next years proposed referendum. On Tuesday, Santamaria reinforced the governments line, saying she was happy to discuss any topic except independence.

Rajoy wants all his senior ministers to establish a presence in Barcelona and to meet not just with their opposite numbers in the regional government, but with representatives of Catalan society in general. The message is that his administration wants to hear as broad a range of views, beyond the voices of the pro-independence community. Hence Saenz de Santamarias lunch with business leaders, who have expressed concern about the instability created by the lack of dialogue between the regional and central government.

At the same time, Saenz de Santamarias presence in Catalonia is aimed at giving the PP, which has just 11 seats in the 165-seat regional parliament, greater visibility.

Rajoy wants all his ministers to spend more time in Catalonia

Saenz de Santamaria will be hoping to persuade Puigdemont to attend a conference of Spains regional leaders in mid-January.

On Tuesday, Saenz de Santamaria said that Rajoy will be sending an official invitation and that her task will be to put together an agenda with content sufficiently attractive to convince regional leaders it is worth attending the conference. Among the expected topics are the economy, regional government financing, employment, and the broader European context.

English version by Nick Lyne.
Air Force releases candidate installations for next F-35A bases

Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs / Published December 07, 2016

WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Air Force officials announced five installations as candidate bases for the next two Air National Guard F-35A locations.

The candidate bases include: Dannelly Field Air Guard Station, Montgomery, Alabama; Gowen Field AGS, Boise, Idaho; Jacksonville AGS Florida, Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Detroit, and Truax AGS, Madison, Wisconsin.

"The Air Force is committed to a deliberate and open process to address F-35 basing," said Jennifer A. Miller, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations. "As we progress through the basing process, we will share information so interested communities are aware of what to expect."

The Air Force will now conduct on-the-ground site surveys at each candidate location. Site survey teams will assess each location against operational requirements, potential impacts to existing missions, infrastructure and manpower, and then develop cost estimates to bed down the F-35A.

The preferred and reasonable alternatives are expected to be selected in the spring of 2017 and the Air Force will complete the Environmental Impact Analysis Process before making a final basing decision.

The F-35As are expected to begin arriving at the second and third Air National Guard locations in the early to mid-2020s.

Previously, three active duty operational locations and one Air National Guard location were identified for F-35A basing-Hill AFB, Utah; Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England; and Eielson AFB, Alaska; and Burlington AGS, Vermont.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Air Force Agreement Allows Ionospheric Research to Continue

By Jaclyn Knapp, Air Force Technology Transfer Program / Published December 07, 2016

Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico (AFNS) -- Because of a recent Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between the Air Force Research Laboratory's Space Vehicles Directorate and the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), more than twenty-five years of science and atmospheric research will continue at the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP).

Although the Air Force will not be funding maintenance of the HAARP facility or other research efforts, this agreement allows ionospheric research to continue. UAF will maintain the facility and will be offered access to government-funded resources to continue existing ionospheric research.

"The objective of the joint Air Force and Navy HAARP was to conduct basic, exploratory, and advanced development research programs leading to the use of emerging ionosphere/radio science technology for next-generation systems by characterizing the physical processes produced in the ionosphere and space via interactions with high-power radio waves," said Dr. Craig Selcher, the senior research physicist and former Air Force HAARP program manager. "With the completion of these efforts for the Department of Defense on the horizon, handing the torch to the UAF Geophysical Institute allows for the continuation of the ground-breaking research that only the HAARP facility can perform."

The HAARP facility is located in Gakona, Alaska, and includes a high-frequency radio transmitter that directs its energy upward into the ionosphere and space, as well as a suite of optical and radio diagnostics instruments. The research involves the space environment beginning at about 100 km altitude (~60 miles) out to tens of thousands of kilometers, far above the jet stream or the atmosphere that affects terrestrial weather.

According to Dr. Robert McCoy, the UAF Geophysical Institute director, "HAARP is one of four active ionospheric facilities in the world and by far the most powerful and flexible. The first science campaign is planned for February 2017. Scientists around the world have been making proposals to government funding agencies to support research at HAARP.

"The unique attributes of HAARP are its demonstrated ability to create ionospheric perturbations in a small region over the facility and stable, long-lived ionospheric layers even in the absence of auroral activity. Its superior location in the subarctic enables over-the-horizon radar experiments, and utilization of the ionosphere as a large antenna to generate extremely low-frequency waves for a number of applications."

The Air Force Technology Transfer Program Office facilitated the CRADA agreement. Air Force T2 was created to link technology, the Air Force mission, and the commercial marketplace by ensuring that Air Force science and engineering activities are transferred or intentionally shared with state and local governments, academia and industry.



NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






For the last two years, Uruguays President Tabare Vazquez has been talking up the need for an Air Force One for official trips. Until now, leaders of the South American nation have traveled abroad on regular flights.

Uruguay President Tabare Vazquez. Oscar Corral (EFE)

More information Uruguay no quiere avion presidencial

Uruguays tradition of austerity is further delaying Vazquezs plans. This week, the president ran into a new hurdle: the Audit Court has rejected the purchase process because only one company submitted a bid.

Before that, the same legal body had objected to the presidents earlier plans to buy the aircraft without a prior tender. The plane in question, a 1979 Hawker 700, comes in at a little over $1 million, a price tag criticized by some as excessive.

Vazquez and his government are now shopping around for an aircraft that can seat eight passengers and provide amenities such as a kitchen, toilet, satellite telephone and room for two stretchers and medical equipment.

Uruguay does not need an airplane and its good that it should stay that way

Former president Jose Mujica

But to many Uruguayans, this sounds like an outlandish luxury.

Parliament debated the issue in August and the opposition fiercely criticized the project, which comes in a year marked by an economic slowdown and budgetary adjustments.

Former president Jose Mujica, who was known worldwide for his personal austerity  he used to drive around in an old Volkswagen Beetle  also distanced himself from the initiative.

Former president Jose Mujica was famous for traveling in his old VW Beetle. AP

Uruguay does not need an airplane and its good that it should stay that way. Historically, it was always so. I always figured out ways to deal with it. I dont share the feeling that we need to buy a plane, said the 81-year-old senator.

During his 2010-2015 tenure, Mujica kept up an intense international agenda yet always traveled on inexpensive airlines, making endless stopovers despite his advanced age.

The late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez sent for him on several occasions in his own airplanes. The former leaders Dilma Rousseff of Brazil and Argentinas Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner did the same.

But Tabare Vazquez has a very different, more independent style, and much of his agenda is focused on raising Uruguays international profile.

The president has toured Asia and Europe, opening up new horizons for Uruguay in parts of the world where leaders do not share their personal aircraft.

Vazquez says that the airplane will belong to the state and the armed forces, not to the president.

But so far, everything suggests that the president will keep taking regular flights.

English version by Susana Urra.
Carter, Japanese Defense Minister Assure Enduring Security, Peacekeeping Alliance

By Amaani Lyle DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7, 2016  Seventy-five years since the attacks on Pearl Harbor that spurred U.S. involvement in World War II, Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada met in Tokyo today to affirm an enduring alliance of peace, stability and security within the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

Carter visited Japan as part of an around-the world trip that's still underway.

In remarks during a joint news conference, Carter praised Inada as a "dedicated, incisive partner," who, even during their brief time as counterparts, has already taken important steps with him to help afford the Asia-Pacific region a peaceful and prosperous future.

"Today, our alliance, which we see as the cornerstone of regional stability, has never been stronger or more capable of contributing to security throughout the region and beyond," Carter said.

Practical Steps as Nation Partners

Carter noted that practical steps between the two nations include updating defense guidelines, continuing to modernize the alliance, and catalyzing the region's "principled and inclusive security network."

Of partnership success, he credited among other milestones the adoption and implementation of new defense guidelines, which he said facilitate addressing threats across multiple domains, including space and cyberspace.

These new guidelines, he said, widen the aperture for modernizations, including deployment of the most sophisticated capabilities to Japan such as the F-35 joint strike fighter, Aegis ballistic missile defense ships, P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, E-2D Hawkeye advanced early warning aircraft, and V-22 Ospreys.

And almost two years ago, the U.S. Defense Department and Japanese Defense Ministry announced deployment of a second missile defense radar system, Carter said, "to strengthen our combined ability to defend against the threat posed by North Korea's continued nuclear and missile provocations."

Concurrently, the alliance has sustained peacekeeping missions in South Sudan, contributed to counterpiracy efforts and helped in rebuilding Afghanistan, Carter noted.

Innovation, Interoperation Within Alliance

The secretary expressed appreciation for Japan's role in realigning joint forces there, relocating Marines to Guam, and reducing the U.S. footprint on Okinawa while maintaining the necessary personnel and capabilities to keep the region secure.

Carter recently confirmed with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the United States will return nearly 10,000 acres of land in the Okinawa northern training area to Japan by the end of the month. "That's the largest U.S. land return here since 1972," he said.

Interoperability continues to grow, Carter said, as evidenced by his recent visit to the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force helicopter destroyer ship, JS Izumo, which he described as a "tremendous platform for Japan's work with American forces," as seen in Keen Sword, an exercise focused on amphibious operations.

Benefits to Other Partners

Carter emphasized that other nations, such as Australia, South Korea, and India, can also benefit from blossoming U.S. and Japanese harmonies by way of several important trilateral mechanisms.

"These growing trilateral partnerships will help us partner together to provide security from one end of the region to the other," he said. "The U.S.-Japan-Korea trilateral relationship is a perfect example of that kind of growing cooperation."

Last month, the three countries held a second trilateral ballistic missile defense warning exercise. "Our partnership will certainly benefit from the bilateral intelligence-sharing agreement that Japan and Korea recently signed."

A Common Bond

Carter said the ever-growing bond with Japan is a testament to the strength of the Japanese and the American people.

"Out of the depths of World War II, our nations have forged a common bond based on shared values, mutual interests, and a joint vision for a stable and prosperous Asia-Pacific," Carter said. "Today, our robust alliance and our friendship demonstrate to the region and the world what can be accomplished when you not only share the hope for a principled and inclusive future, but also stand together to realize it."

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






US, French Carrier Group Commanders Meet in Eastern Med

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS161207-12

Release Date: 12/7/2016 8:59:00 AM

By Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael R. Gendron, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) Public Affairs

MEDITERRANEAN SEA (NNS) -- Leadership from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group and French Charles de Gaulle Battle Group met while operating in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, Dec. 6.

Rear Adm. Jim Malloy, commander, Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 10, flew from aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) (Ike) onto French aircraft carrier FS Charles de Gaulle (R91) to meet with Rear Adm. Olivier Lebas, commander, Task Force 473, to discuss coalition efforts to counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and importance of operating together to ensure security and stability in the area.

The meeting occurred as Charles de Gaulle transited alongside Ike and conducted flight operations in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.

The Charles de Gaulle Carrier Battle Group has been leading the coalition in naval strike operations aimed to ultimately destroy the ISIL terrorist organization from the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Charles de Gaulle's presence in the region has provided continuous carrier-based naval aviation to combat ISIL during its deployment, which has been extended twice.

The Charles de Gaulle Battle Group also integrated American guided-missile destroyers USS Ross (DDG 71) and USS Mason (DDG 87) into its air defense operations.

"This fight against terrorism, the fight against ISIL, is an international affair," Lebas said. "It is necessary that all nations fight together. Thus, the proximity and cooperation between the French and American aircraft carriers is a perfect illustration of this collective work against ISIL."

The United States and France have built the oldest alliance between any American and European nations, and these 200 years of trust have allowed the Ike CSG to take over the Charles de Gaulle's area of operation as the French carrier prepares for a scheduled maintenance period. Pre-coordination between the two strike groups will allow dual-carrier operations to be carried out in the Mediterranean Sea during the transition. Prior to this, the Ike CSG was operating in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations.

"The high level of interoperability and trust between France and the U.S. allows for seamless operations between the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group and the Charles de Gaulle Carrier Battle Group in our fight against 'Daesh,'" Malloy said. "This relationship will continue to bolster our fight against terrorism by cooperatively maintaining an enduring presence capable of delivering lethal strikes from the sea."

Ike, embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 3 and the Ike CSG are deployed in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, maritime security operations, and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Chinese Navy Ships Visit San Diego

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS161207-06

Release Date: 12/7/2016 8:32:00 AM

From Commander, U.S. 3rd Fleet Public Affairs

SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- People's Liberation Army (Navy) (PLA(N)) ships, Jiangkai II-class frigates Yancheng (FFG 546) and Daqing (FFG 576), and Fuchi-class oiler Tai Hu (AOR 889), arrived in San Diego as part of a routine port visit, Dec. 6-9.

Guided-missile cruiser USS Cape St. George (CG 71) will host the PLA(N) ships in San Diego, where Sailors from both navies will participate in sporting events and cultural exchanges.

"Practical cooperation, such as port visits and key leader engagements, helps us enhance transparency and mitigate risks when we operate at sea," said Rear Adm. James S. Bynum,

commander, Carrier Strike Group 9. "Continuous dialogue is necessary to find where we share interests and also to address disagreements candidly if they arise."

This is the third time PLA(N) ships have visited San Diego since 2014.

"It is my hope that your time in San Diego will help increase that understanding we have of one another," said Bynum. "Port visits by foreign navies help build trust and foster cooperative relationships."

Following the port visit, PLA(N) ships will join USS Bunker Hill (CG 52) at sea and will conduct a maneuvering exercise.

The exercise is one of many evolutions aimed at building relationships while practicing our at-sea communication techniques with partner nations.

Joint, interagency, and international partnerships strengthen 3rd Fleet's ability to respond to crises and protect the collective maritime interests of the U.S. and its allies and partners.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Carter Hall, 24th MEU Build Teamwork through ARG/MEUEX

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS161207-03

Release Date: 12/7/2016 7:51:00 AM

By Petty Officer 1st Class Darren M. Moore, USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) Public Affairs

ATLANTIC OCEAN (NNS) -- Sailors aboard amphibious dock landing ship USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) and Marines assigned to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) are working together to complete training during an Amphibious Ready Group/MEU Exercise (ARG/MEUEX) in the Atlantic Ocean, Dec. 2.

The three-week exercise is designed to prepare the ship and Marine unit for a deployment which requires successful integration to accomplish the mission.

Carter Hall Commanding Officer Cmdr. Timothy Carter emphasized the importance of teamwork during ARGMEUEX in order to certify the ship and MEU for its upcoming deployment.

"It's an exercise that gets us to work as a team, develop our skill sets, and understand our limitations and how we can work with those limitations to be able to become a better unit and a better force," Carter said. "Every [amphibious ship] was designed to put Marines on the beach -- to be able to deploy Marines. We all have an important role."

Throughout the exercise, the crew will launch and recover Landing Craft, Air Cushion (LCAC), exhibit visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) capabilities, deploy amphibious assault vehicles (AAV) ashore, and complete other mechanized infantry training exercises designed to further train its warfighting capabilities.

"This is all part of the training, building that teamwork and building that trust amongst each other so when we deploy we know how to recover, how to launch these craft out of the well, and work together," Carter said.

Carter said he is very proud of the teamwork which has already been displayed during the underway.

Marine Capt. Taylor S. Morawski, 24th MEU commander of troops, said the relationship between the Navy and Marines is what makes these operations successful.

"We can't do any amphibious operations with just the Navy or just the Marine Corps," Morawski said. "If you don't have a good relationship in the blue and green team, then you're not going to succeed. That's probably the overall thing that makes things work."

Morawski said the ability for the Marines and Sailors to work cohesively, from loading the ship to making sure the ship is in good position to move amphibious assault vehicles, while taking security into account, will also have an important impact on mission success.

There are 400 Marines aboard Carter Hall. Morawski said ARG/MEUEX is the first time many of them have been underway.

"A big thing for us is getting a lot of our guys who have never been on a ship used to what ship life is like," Morawski said.

Lance Cpl. Andrew Cummings, AAV crew man, said this is his first time aboard a ship.

"I'm used to solid ground, that's for sure," Cummings said. "You have to definitely work a lot different."

Cummings drove an AAV off and back onto Carter Hall during a training evolution by receiving signaling communication from Sailors in the well deck aboard the ship.

"When you come up to the back of the ship, (the Sailors) give you the green light to come on," Cummings said. "Then right when you get on, they start ground-guiding you and getting you into place; especially when you get in a tight spot, they definitely make sure you fit."

Cummings said he has talked with a couple Sailors with whom this is their first experience having Marines aboard.

"With it being my first time dealing with it on a ship as well, I don't think the communication could have been any better," Cummings said. "It was definitely successful."

Carter Hall is underway with the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group for ARG/MEUEX.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






UN calls on Sri Lanka to investigate torture

Iran Press TV

Wed Dec 7, 2016 6:14PM

The United Nations Committee against Torture has urged Sri Lanka to investigate documented allegations of rape and torture of detainees by security forces.

The UN committee on Wednesday called on the government in Colombo to rein in "broad police powers."

The committee's report also drew attention to reports of poor conditions of detention, deaths in custody and the use of forced confessions in court.

The report includes recommendations by a panel of 10 independent rights experts.

The experts, citing "consistent reports" from various sources, have alleged that torture remains common in regular criminal investigations in Sri Lanka.

The report has also cited allegations that "police investigators often fail to register detainees during the initial hours of deprivation of liberty or to bring them before a magistrate, within the time-limit prescribed by law, during which time torture is particularly likely to occur."

"The committee is concerned that the broad police powers to arrest suspects without a court warrant has led to the practice of detaining persons while conducting the investigations as a means to obtain information under duress," the report says.

It also urged the Sri Lankan government to prosecute the culprits behind the murder of the "Trincomalee Five" students on the beach and 17 aid workers of Action Contre la Faim (Action Against Hunger), both in 2006.

Elsewhere in the report, the panel urged Sri Lanka to identify and prosecute perpetrators of "emblematic cases" from a 26-year civil war that ended with a crushing defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelan in 2009.

The Sri Lankan army has been blamed for killing thousands of civilians, mostly Tamils, during the final weeks of the conflict.

The Tamil Tigers have also been accused of widespread abuses during the war.

There was no immediate response from Sri Lankan authorities to the report. Jayantha Jayasuriya, the island's attorney general, had earlier said that his government had a zero tolerance policy when it came to torture.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Another US F/A-18 jet crashes off coast of Japan

Iran Press TV

Wed Dec 7, 2016 6:13PM

A US Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet aircraft has crashed off the coast of southern Japan and a search and rescue mission is underway to find its pilot, US military officials say.

The jet went down on Wednesday afternoon, when it was flying about 120 miles southeast of the city of Iwakuni, which is located in Yamaguchi Prefecture and hosts a Marine Corps air station.

A search and rescue mission was underway to find the pilot, whose whereabouts were unknown after ejecting the jet.

The Hornet was assigned to the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing in Okinawa, and the pilot was on a routine training mission when the "mishap" occurred, according to a statement by the military.

Marine Corps aviation experts could not immediately determine the cause of the crash.

This was the 9th crash involving F/A-18 variants over the past six months (including a Canadian CF-18lost in late November), further baffling American military officials who have yet to offer an explanation for the aircraft's high crash rate.

On November 9, two F/A-18 Hornets belonging to the Marine Corps crashed near San Diego. Another one from Swiss air force was lost on August 29, days after a US Navy F/A-18C crashed on August 2.

In early June, an F/A-18 from the US Navy's Blue Angels acrobatic team went down, killing its pilot. Less than a week before that, another Marine Hornet had crashed in California.

Alarmed by the high number of crashes between June and October, the US Marine Corps temporarily grounded all of its non-deployed Hornets. Two more jets crashed few days after the ban was lifted.

According to the US Naval Institute (USNI), the crashes last year slashed the number of available Hornet aircraft for training purposes to 85, far fewer than the 171 required.

To fill some of the gap, the Marine Corps has asked Boeing to upgrade 30 retired Hornets to a new standard, helping the force to keep up with the demand until the much-delayed F-35 replacements arrive.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






UN prosecutors call for life sentence for Ratko Mladic

Iran Press TV

Wed Dec 7, 2016 3:34PM

Ratko Mladic, commonly known as the "Butcher of Bosnia" for his massive crimes against Bosnian Muslims in the Balkan wars of the 1990s, should be sentenced to life in prison, prosecutors have called on UN judges.

"It would be... an insult to the victims, living and dead, and an affront to justice to impose any sentence other than the most severe available one: a life sentence," Alan Tieger, a prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), said on Wednesday.

"The time has come for General Mladic to be held accountable for those crimes against each of his victims and the communities he destroyed," the prosecutor added.

Tieger and other prosecutors have accused Mladic of a ruthless campaign of ethnic cleansing in the bloody 1992-95 Bosnian conflict, saying the campaign was meant to chase all non-Serbs from Bosnian territory to create a so-called Greater Serbia.

The former Serb commander, who is now 74, has denied 11 charges including two of genocide, as well as war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the conflict.

More than 100,000 people were killed and over 2.2 million others were displaced in the campaign, which earned Mladic the title of "Butcher of Bosnia." He was on the run for 16 years and was captured in 2011, one year before his trial opened.

Tieger brushed aside claims by Mladic's defense team that the Serbian commander had limited role in the Bosnian conflict.

The prosecutor said that it was Mladic "who was in charge, who called the shots."

Tieger told judges on Monday that Mladic was not merely concerned "that Muslims might create a state, his concern was to have them vanish completely."

The ICTY is expected to issue its final verdict on Mladic at some time in 2017. The court is to hear three days of closing arguments by Mladic's defense team from Friday into the next week.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Yemeni forces kill 10 Saudi soldiers in retaliatory attacks

Iran Press TV

Wed Dec 7, 2016 2:36PM

Yemeni army and popular committees have intensified their retaliatory attacks against Saudi military positions, leaving 10 soldiers dead.

According to Yemen's al-Masirah TV, a sniper of the Yemeni army killed a Saudi soldier in the Faridah military base in the kingdom's southwestern province of Jizan on Wednesday.

The Yemeni forces also killed nine other Saudi troops in the al-Raboah region of Saudi Arabia's Asir province, and launched rocket and artillery attacks at the military bases of Faridah, Hamraa and al-Ghawya in the same province.

Meanwhile, a barrage of Katyusha missiles fired by the Yemeni army and Ansarullah fighters hit the Tansab military base in the Saudi province of Najran.

The Yemeni forces also inflicted heavy losses on the Saudi-backed mercenaries fighting in the Arabian Peninsula country.

Yemen's army also fired a home-made ballistic missile at the mercenaries' positions in a valley in Khabb & Sha'af district of Jawf province, leaving an unspecified number of them dead and wounded. Three rockets also hit militant positions in Mafraq al-Jawf district in the same province.

In Bayda province, several Saudi-backed militants were also killed and injured as the Yemeni troops fired artillery shells at their positions in Zi Naem district. The militants' military vehicle was also destroyed in the attack.

The Yemeni army also launched rocket and artillery attacks at the mercenaries' positions in Salb Mountain of Nihm district, northeast of Sana'a province.

The attacks come in retaliation for the brutal Saudi military campaign against its impoverished neighbor, Yemen, which was launched in March 2015 to reinstall the former Yemeni government.

Saudi jets kill four Yemenis in Sa'ada

On Wednesday, Saudi warplanes bombed the districts of Zahir, Qatabir and Baqim in Yemen's province of Sa'ada.

A woman and three children lost their lives in the Saudi air raids on Baqim, al-Masirah reported.

The Saudi military aggression has left at least 11,400 civilians dead, according to the latest tally by a Yemeni monitoring group.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Bangladesh court upholds death sentence for militant leader, two followers

Iran Press TV

Wed Dec 7, 2016 7:20AM

Bangladesh's top court has upheld the death penalty handed down to a militant leader and two of his followers for a grenade attack on the UK's former envoy to the country.

The Bangladeshi Supreme Court dismissed the appeals by Mufti Abdul Hannan, the head of an extremist militant group, and two of its members on Wednesday.

The three were convicted in 2008 of murder and masterminding a grenade attack on the then-high commissioner of the UK at a Sufi shrine in the northeastern city of Sylhet in 2004. The diplomat, Anwar Choudhury, was injured along with 70 other people. Three worshipers were killed.

They could now be hanged within months unless they seek a review of the verdict. Their defense lawyers have said they expect their clients to appeal. "We think we'll seek a review of the verdict. But it depends on the decision of the three," said Mohammad Ali, a lawyer for the trio.

Deputy Attorney General Sheikh Monirzzaman Kabir has said Hannan "masterminded a series of deadly attacks in the late 1990s until his arrest (in 2005)."

He was also being tried for another grenade attack, in August 2004, on a rally being held by the then-opposition leader and current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Hasina was injured but more than 20 people were killed in the blast.

The group he heads has been accused of a series of deadly attacks in Bangladesh as well as India.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






NATO Chief Urges Continued Pressure On Russia Over Ukraine

RFE/RL December 07, 2016

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has called for continued diplomatic pressure and sanctions on Russia until Moscow respects a February 2015 agreement aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

"The international community must keep pressuring Russia to respect its obligations, especially while the security situation in eastern Ukraine remains so serious," Stoltenberg said after talks with NATO and Ukraine foreign ministers in Brussels on December 7.

"I believe sanctions are an important tool to send a very clear message that we do not accept the kind of aggressive behavior -- the illegal annexation of Crimea and the destabilizing behavior in eastern Ukraine -- which Russia is responsible for," Stoltenberg added.

Stoltenberg's comments on the need for renewing sanctions on Russia come amid doubts about their effectiveness and cost, and fears that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump may take a more conciliatory line with Moscow.

Trump, who is set to succeed outgoing President Barack Obama in January, has spoken positively about Russian President Vladimir Putin, expressing a desire to mend battered bilateral ties with Moscow and saying he would examine the possibility of lifting sanctions targeting Russia in response to its actions in Ukraine.

Separately, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he expected EU leaders to prolong sanctions on Russia when they meet in Brussels next week.

EU President Donald Tusk also said last month he was confident the sanctions would be approved before an EU leaders summit on December 15.

Stoltenberg said there was a "massive increase in cease-fire violations" in Ukraine's east, where fighting between government forces and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 9,600 people since April 2014.

He said hundreds of explosions are sometimes reported daily, including many caused by heavy weapons banned under the Minsk peace accords.

Last week, a meeting of foreign ministers from Russia, Ukraine, France, and Germany intended to shore up the peace process ended without new breakthrough.

With reporting by AP and AFP

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/nato- stoltenberg-ukraine-pressure-russia- sanctions/28161459.html

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Trump Shrugs Off Allegations Of Russian Meddling In U.S. Election

RFE/RL December 07, 2016

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has shrugged off allegations that Russia meddled in the election that handed him the White House, saying other states or individuals could have been behind cyberattacks against U.S. targets including the campaign of his opponent, Hillary Clinton.

In an interview with Time magazine published on December 7, Trump gave mixed messages about Russia's alleged involvement in the hacking of e-mails that are widely seen to have damaged Clinton's campaign after they were leaked to the public.

Weeks before the election, U.S. intelligence said it was "confident" the Russian government "directed" cyberattacks in what it called a bid "to interfere with the U.S. election process."

"I don't believe they interfered. That became a laughing point, not a talking point, a laughing point. Any time I do something, they say, 'Oh, Russia interfered,'" Trump said in the interview with Time, which was published the same day the magazine named him its 2016 Person of the Year.

In a subsequent comment, however, he said that Moscow could be responsible for the hacking campaign -- but that other actors could have organized it as well.

"It could be Russia. And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey," Trump said, echoing an assessment he delivered during debates with Clinton, his Democratic rival, ahead of the election.

"I believe that it could have been Russia and it could have been any one of many other people. Sources or even individuals," he added.

Trump has said he wants to mend ties with Moscow, which have been mired in mistrust and a sanctions war following Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and its backing of armed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

In the interview with Time, he repeated his stated desire for closer cooperation with Moscow on counterterrorism issues, including fighting Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria and elsewhere.

"Why not get along with Russia? And they can help us fight ISIS, which is both costly in lives and costly in money," Trump said, using an alternative acronym for the extremist group. "And they're effective and smart."

President Barack Obama's administration has accused Russia of stymieing peace efforts in Syria with its military campaign backing President Bashar al-Assad, a staunch Kremlin ally.

On the same day Trump's interview with time was published, the United States and five other Western powers denounced Assad's government and Russia for "their obstruction" of aid to those suffering in a "a humanitarian disaster" in rebel-held areas of the city of Aleppo.

With reporting by Time

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/us-trump-shrugs-off- russian-hacking-us-election/28161956.html

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Armenia's Former Flagship Enterprise Declared Bankrupt

Liz Fuller December 07, 2016

An Armenian court last week declared the state-owned Nairit synthetic rubber plant bankrupt in response to a request by the national power utility Electricity Networks of Armenia, which is owed some 1.24 billion drams ($2.6 million) in unpaid electricity bills by Nairit's management.

The ruling on the shuttered Yerevan plant, a former economic flagship seen by some as having the potential to return to profitability and retain local jobs, was unexpected for several reasons.

Eighteen months ago, then-Energy Minister Yervand Zakharian had told the Armenian parliament that even though a World Bank audit indicated that reviving the plant was not economically viable, the financial expenditure that bankruptcy would entail would be far higher. He said it was "absolutely not true" that the government "is taking the company to dissolution."

Just a few months ago, Nairit's management concluded new employment contracts with some 250 employees, even though the plant has stood idle since April 2010, while the Armenian government had announced a tender, which expires only in January 2017, for potential investors to present their proposals for reviving production. As recently as October 2016, an Armenian-born businessman from Slovakia, Ashot Grigorian, said that he and other Slovak entrepreneurs were willing to invest $100 million in reviving the plant if the Armenian government transferred ownership to them for free.

But Karen Karapetian, who succeeded Hovik Abrahamian as Armenian prime minister in mid-September, expressed doubts at the long-term viability of proposals made by potential investors who, he said, had not factored in the possibility of a substantial rise in energy prices.

The decline of Nairit is symbolic of the economic stagnation, murky business deals, and defiant grassroots activism that Armenia has experienced over the past three decades.

In 1987, when Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of "glasnost" (openness) made possible the public discussion of hitherto taboo issues, the Armenian intelligentsia began to call for the plant's closure on the grounds that the emissions it produced were harmful to human health.

That demand was swiftly eclipsed by the mass campaign for the transfer of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast from Azerbaijani to Armenian jurisdiction. But Nairit was forced to close temporarily in the early 1990s due to the economic collapse triggered by the demise of the Soviet Union. The plant then changed hands several times before an obscure British company, Rhinoville Property Ltd., purchased a 90 percent stake in Nairit for $40 million in 2006, using a $70 million loan from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Inter-State Bank. Rhinoville then failed, however, to make good on its promises to modernize the plant and raise employees' salaries. The plant suspended production from December 2008 to April 2009 after demand plummeted in the wake of the global financial crisis and then definitively halted operations in 2010.

In January 2014, the Moscow Arbitration Court awarded Rhinoville's 90 percent stake in Nairit to the CIS Inter-State Bank due to nonrepayment of the original loan. The following year, the bank wrote off the debt and transferred those shares to the Armenian government. Also in early 2014, former Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian announced after meeting with Rosneft head Igor Sechin that Rosneft was considering investing $500 million in Nairit. No concrete agreement was ever forthcoming, however.

In early 2015, at the request of the Armenian government, the World Bank conducted an audit of Nairit, on the basis of which it advised against relaunching production. It estimated the cost of doing so at $250 million and warned that due to high production costs the finished product would not be competitive on the world market.

Hrach Tatevosian, who heads the Nairit employees' trade union, challenged that argument, telling the news portal Caucasus Knot that the plant's specialists had drafted three separate programs for renewing production of various quantities of rubber. The most expensive of these three variants, he said, would require just $97 million in new investment.

Former Nairit Director Karen Israelian came up with an even lower figure. He estimated $10-15 million would be adequate to resume annual production of 10,000 to 12,000 tons of rubber. He admitted that Japanese-produced rubber is of higher quality, but predicted Nairit's output would find a ready market in Russia.

Meanwhile, Nairit's remaining workforce, together with some 1,700 employees laid off in early 2015, has fought for years for full payment of wage arrears going back to 2010, staging repeated demonstrations and sit-ins outside the government building and the presidential palace. In August 2015, by which time the arrears had amounted to some $10 million, they were finally paid off in full. But within a month they had resumed their demonstrations, this time to demand that Nairit resume production.

In March 2016, Zakharian's successor as energy minister, Levon Eolian, set up a commission that included five former Nairit employees, to evaluate the possibilities of reviving the plant. Nairit's lawyer, Armen Abovian, could offer no explanation why the court brought the date for declaring the plant bankrupt forward, to late November, given that the tender for investors to propose a new business plan expires only in January 2017. RFE/RL's Armenian Service quotes embittered former employees as saying they suspect the government was simply unwilling, for whatever reasons, to save Nairit.

The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL.

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/armenia- nairit-synthetic-rubber- plant-bankrupt/28161541.html

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Recent violence in Central African Republic spotlights subregion's volatility, Security Council told

7 December 2016  Despite a peaceful and successful transition in the Central African Republic (CAR) earlier in 2016, the recent outbreak of violence there had demonstrated the extremely fragile situation in the country, the Secretary-General's Acting Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), told the Security Council today.

Francois Lounceny Fall noted that the violence, which resulted in high numbers of casualties, had occurred as CAR has embarked on recovery and efforts to consolidate peace. The eruption of fighting also demonstrated the threat that the continued presence of armed groups in the country posed to the entire subregion.

He went on to state that the Secretary-General's report presented the main threats to peace and security in Central Africa, as well as an update on UNOCA's activities in the last six months. Despite those challenges, however, the Government had made progress by engaging with armed groups and by adopting a national strategy on disarmament, demobilization, reintegration and repatriation which most of them supported.

However, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) remains a threat to regional security, he said, adding that its attacks caused "unspeakable" suffering to civilians. The group was also linked to poaching and trafficking in wildlife. UNOCA, in cooperation with the African Union, would organize the next semi-annual meeting of focal points on the LRA, to be held in Entebbe, Uganda later this month.

He recalled that in August 2015, a team comprising UNOCA, as well as the African Union, UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) and the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) had visited the CAR to assess the LRA threat. In October 2015, a joint UNOCA-African Union mission had also visited the country to discuss measures to counter the group with civilian and military partners.

"However, the United Nations is concerned about Uganda's intention, announced on 31 December, to withdraw its troops from the African Union regional task force, he said, cautioning that such an action would lead to a security void that the LRA could exploit to attack populations," he explained.

Further afield, Mr. Fall said that collective efforts by the Lake Chad basin countries had met with success in the fight against terrorism, while noting that Boko Haram remained a serious threat to regional stability as its asymmetric attacks targeted mainly civilians. Its activities had greatly undermined development and exacerbated economic hardship.

The situation of refugees and the internally displaced, particularly women and children, remains a cause of serious concern as Boko Haram's activities continued to hinder humanitarian access to affected areas.

He went on to point out that the resources available to the Lake Chad basin countries were not enough to finance operations of the Multinational Joint Task Force, emphasizing the urgent need to ensure funding for early recovery and development in liberated areas, including through measures to reintegrate defectors and their families.

He voiced hope that the planned Joint Summit of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Boko Haram would develop a regional strategy to address political, security, humanitarian and development challenges, underling the readiness of the United Nations to support the region in that endeavour.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






NATO Chief Urges Allies to Maintain Sanctions Against Russia

By Lisa Bryant December 07, 2016

NATO's chief urged allies to maintain sanctions against Russia as foreign ministers wrapped up a two-day meeting in Brussels. The meeting also focused on European security and the upcoming Trump administration in the United States.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said cease-fire violations have increased massively in eastern Ukraine, with hundreds of explosions daily from military equipment banned under the Minsk cease-fire accord.

"The international community must keep pressuring Russia to respect its obligations," said Stoltenberg. "Especially while the security situation in eastern Ukraine remains so serious, it is important that economic sanctions be maintained."

He said a four-way meeting last week between Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany did not make headway in shoring up the Minsk agreement. But he said diplomacy is the only solution.

Secretary of State John Kerry, who marked his last NATO meeting in Brussels, was holding talks later Wednesday in Germany with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, but reports suggest the key focus is the conflict in Syria.

Russia and Ukraine blame each other for lack of progress in resolving the eastern Ukraine conflict that has killed nearly 10,000 people since April 2014.

Germany's foreign minister said he expects European sanctions against Russia to be automatically rolled over next year when they are up for renewal. But it remains unclear whether U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will take a softer line on Russia. And in France, top presidential contender Francois Fillon supports lifting the sanctions.

Alexandra de Hoop Scheffer, who heads the Paris office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said "everyone pretty much agrees within NATO that the relationship with Russia is probably not leading to anything positive with regards to Ukraine or Syria or Iraq."

"So there is a problem," she added, "and we have to work with that relationship, without cutting a deal with Russia or sacrificing Ukraine, to find a solution in Syria or Iraq."

The Brussels meeting also discussed the security situation in Afghanistan and Turkey, and finalized a pact for closer military ties between NATO and the European Union. Secretary of State Kerry also sought to reassure allies that Washington's commitment to NATO would not change under a Trump administration.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






US House Considers Breaking Civilian-Military Precedent

By Katherine Gypson December 07, 2016

The incoming Trump administration faced its first test on Capitol Hill Wednesday, as House Republicans, trying to speed up the nomination of the president-elect's pick for secretary of defense, called a government funding bill into question just hours before it was to expire.

The debate strikes at the heart of a long-held principle of American government that separates the military from the civilian.

It began when House Republicans added a waiver to the short-term continuing resolution (CR). The waiver would expedite the process of allowing defense nominee retired Gen. James Mattis to bypass a nearly 70-year-old law requiring former members of the military to wait seven years after their military service before serving in a civilian post.

Mattis is ineligible to serve as secretary of defense since he retired from the military in 2013.

The waiver limits debate on the issue in the Senate to 10 hours and would forestall delaying tactics in the chamber thereby speeding up the process.

'Cornerstone' of democracy

"Civilian leadership of the military has been a cornerstone of our democracy since the founders, and for good reason," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement released Tuesday.

"The American people are entitled to regular order and thoughtful scrutiny of nominees and any potential waivers. Brushing aside the law that enshrines civilian control of the military without discussion, in a massive must-pass funding bill, would set a terrible precedent," Pelosi said.

"Decisions about war and peace have to have a civilian input," Lawrence Korb, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, told VOA. Korb was also an assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration.

"We are also very concerned about a separation of powers," he added. "Only Congress can declare war, and they raise an Army and Navy, so we are very, very concerned that we would have an over-militarization of our foreign policy."

"Our view is it ought not to be in the CR," Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer told reporters in a briefing Tuesday. Some Democrats objected to the insertion of the waiver into the short-term spending bill that funds the government past a December 9 deadline, arguing it does not give lawmakers sufficient time to consider the key appointment.

'Process is preserved'

Other Democrats, however, welcomed the appointment of Mattis.

"I think the process is preserved," Congressman Adam Smith, the ranking Democratic member of the House Armed Services Committee, told VOA. "The language just calls for an expedited process, but expedited around here is a relative term. We've got at least six weeks, that seems like more than enough time for people to become informed on the issue."

President-elect Trump will be inaugurated in six weeks.

In an opinion piece for national newspaper USA Today, Congressman Seth Moulton, who served under Mattis in Kuwait, wrote that the general was "one of the most thoughtful strategic thinkers we have."

If all of Trump's appointments are confirmed, retired generals will head the National Security Council, departments of defense and homeland security; with the possible addition of David Petraeus, who is being considered for the secretary of state post.

But Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, who has also been in talks with Trump for the position of secretary of state, said the military presence in the president-elect's cabinet could be beneficial.

"Generals actually are not just one stereotypical, militaristic people, some of them are intellectual and are very thinking people," Rohrabacher told VOA. "A lot of generals have seen blood and are not anxious to have more bloodshed."

Civilian-military separation

While many former generals have gone on to become president, Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told VOA the separation between civilian and military dates back to the divisions of power created at the founding of the nation. The need for those separations only increased following the military buildup during the two world wars, he said.

"The whole economy and much of the system of governance got focused on winning war, and therefore we got very worried that there might be a difficulty in trying to keep the country independent of these broader purposes of trying to make sure the country could never be fully focused on a military mission," O'Hanlon said.

Even while the developing Trump administration contains a number of ex-military members, O'Hanlon said the law isn't the only check and balance separating the military from the civilian.

"In today's world, with the kind of generals we produce in our military and with the kind of strong civilian oversight the White House has over the Department of Defense, I actually don't think it's a pressing concern," he said.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Iran Tops Agenda at Gulf Cooperation Council in Bahrain

By Edward Yeranian December 07, 2016

Arab Gulf countries wrapped up a two-day summit in Bahrain's capital, Manama, Wednesday, after discussing major regional concerns that included Iran, Yemen, Syria and Iraq.

King Hamad of Bahrain sounded a cheerful note, in his final remarks to the 37th annual summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The king thanked his fellow Gulf leaders for attending, along with British Prime Minister Theresa May, for her presence.

Prime Minister May addressed the summit at the final session, discussing mutual concerns over terrorism and Iran. May vowed to strengthen defense cooperation with the Gulf States, many of which were once British protectorates, noting that Britain would help them defend against what she called "Iran's aggressive regional actions."

"Gulf security is our security. Extremists plotting terror attacks in this region are not only targeting the Gulf, but as we have seen, targeting the streets of Europe, too," May said. "Whether we're confronting the terrorism of al-Qaida or the murderous barbarity of Da'esh (Islamic State), no country is a more committed partner for you in this fight than the United Kingdom."

Iran told to stop "meddling"

GCC Secretary Abdel Latif Zayani also addressed the closing session, underlining the major threats and challenges facing Gulf States. He called for stronger defense and economic cooperation among the Arab Gulf states to counterbalance regional threats to their stability.

Zayani also insisted that Iran should stop what he called its "meddling" in the internal affairs of Gulf countries, and end its occupation of three small islands which are claimed by the UAE.

Iran and Saudi Arabia have been at loggerheads over dominance in a number of Arab countries, including Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Bahrain. Iran has tended to support Shi'ite populations in those countries, while Saudi Arabia, conversely, has tried to bolster Sunni communities.

Saudi King Salman accused Iran of attempting to destabilize Gulf countries by using sectarian differences to foment discord.

He argues that Gulf countries must strengthen mutual cooperation in the face of blatant outside meddling (by Iran) and the mutual threats of terrorism and sectarianism that are being used to destabilize the region.

Trump a concern to Gulf State leaders

Gulf leaders have also expressed concerns in recent weeks over possible friction with the U.S. under President-elect Donald Trump, who suggested during the recent U.S. election campaign that Gulf States should pay more for their own defense and that immigration of Muslims to the U.S. should be stopped.

Despite possible frictions, however, Trump's pick for defense secretary, retired Gen. James Mattis, has indicated in the past that he supports strong U.S. defense cooperation with the Gulf States, in order to counter what he perceives as the major threat posed by Iran.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






US Envoy Hopes for Last-minute Political Deal in DRC

By William Clowes December 07, 2016

December 19 marks the end of President Joseph Kabila's second five-year term in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and many in the country are nervous as the date approaches.

Elections were to have been held this year but have not been organized. Kabila now plans to remain in office until polls can be held in 2018. A large opposition coalition known as the Rassemblement views the president's prolonged second and, under the constitution, final term as a power grab. This group wants him to leave at the end of his mandate, and it calls for elections in 2017.

The lack of common ground between the parties has observers fearing a repeat of September 19, when a Rassemblement demonstration in Kinshasa descended into violence. The United Nations says security forces killed more than 50 people over two days.

The U.S. government and others in the international community support the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO), the influential body which represents the Catholic Church and has been working to find a compromise.

Tom Perriello, the U.S. special envoy to the Great Lakes region who was in Kinshasa to meet with Kabila and others, told VOA on Tuesday that "our most urgent message is the absolute importance of full cooperation with the CENCO process run by the Catholic bishops to try to organize a broad consensus among the key stakeholders on how we can move forward. ... Even though we're in the 91st minute of stoppage time, the reality is that there is still a bit of time on the clock here for the sides to come together."

Last week, it appeared the church's efforts had failed when Kabila's political alliance, the "presidential majority," walked away from the mediation. But this week, the president reaffirmed his support for the process.

"It was unfortunate that key members of the majority declared it dead, but perhaps fittingly for the bishops, it was resurrected on the third day and we're back at it," Perriello said. "So I think partly as a matter of faith, we are going to continue to support this process in its entirety up until December 19 in the hope that there can be a breakthrough."

Blame for both camps

Perriello said the situation need not have reached this dangerous stage, and that both sides deserved some blame.

"But we've also been very clear publicly and privately with President Kabila that a statement 18 months ago or 12 months ago or six months ago, stating with absolute clarity what remains crystal clear in the constitution, would have been incredibly constructive, de-escalatory and created much more space for dialogue," he said.

Early this week, the head of the U.N. mission in the DRC warned of the possibility of a "major outbreak of politically related violence" on December 19. Perriello noted that when there was political violence in Burundi, Washington imposed sanctions on individuals from both the government and opposition.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






John Glenn

John Glenn was a NASA astronaut. He was part of the first group of astronauts NASA picked. He is the first American to orbit Earth. He also became a U.S. senator. Later, he became the oldest person to fly in space.

Born July 18, 1921 in Cambridge, Ohio. Married to the former Anna Margaret Castor of New Concord, Ohio. They have two grown children and two grandchildren.

Glenn attended primary and secondary schools in New Concord, Ohio. He attended Muskingum College in New Concord and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering. Muskingum College also awarded him an honorary Doctor of Science degree in engineering. He has received honorary doctoral degrees from nine colleges or universities.

Glenn has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on six occasions, and holds the Air Medal with 18 Clusters for his service during World War II and Korea. Glenn also holds the Navy Unit Commendation for service in Korea, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the China Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation, the Navy's Astronaut Wings, the Marine Corps' Astronaut Medal, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, and the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. On March 1, 1999, NASA renamed its Cleveland center the "John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field" in his honor.

He entered the Naval Aviation Cadet Program in March 1942 and was graduated from this program and commissioned in the Marine Corps in 1943. After advanced training, he joined Marine Fighter Squadron 155 and spent a year flying F-4U fighters in the Marshall Islands.

During his World War II service, he flew 59 combat missions. After the war, he was a member of Marine Fighter Squadron 218 on the North China patrol and served on Guam. From June 1948 to December 1950 Glenn was an instructor in advanced flight training at Corpus Christi, Texas. He then attended Amphibious Warfare Training at Quantico, Virginia. In Korea he flew 63 missions with Marine Fighter Squadron 311. As an exchange pilot with the Air Force Glenn flew 27 missions in the F-86 Sabrejet. In the last nine days of fighting in Korea Glenn downed three MIG's in combat along the Yalu River.

After Korea, Glenn attended Test Pilot School at the Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Maryland. After graduation, he was project officer on a number of aircraft. He was assigned to the Fighter Design Branch of the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics (now Bureau of Naval Weapons) in Washington from November 1956 to April 1959, during which time he also attended the University of Maryland.

In July 1957, while project officer of the F8U Crusader, he set a transcontinental speed record from Los Angeles to New York, spanning the country in 3 hours and 23 minutes. This was the first transcontinental flight to average supersonic speed. Glenn has nearly 9,000 hours of flying time, with approximately 3,000 hours in jet aircraft.

Glenn was assigned to the NASA Space Task Group at Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, in April 1959 after his selection as a Project Mercury Astronaut. The Space Task Group was moved to Houston and became part of the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center (now Johnson Space Center) in 1962. Glenn flew on Mercury-6 (February 20, 1962) and STS-95 (October 29 to November 7, 1998), and has logged over 218 hours in space. Prior to his first flight, Glenn had served as backup pilot for Astronauts Shepard and Grissom. When astronauts were given special assignments to ensure pilot input into the design and development of spacecraft, Glenn specialized in cockpit layout and control functioning, including some of the early designs for the Apollo Project. Glenn resigned from the Manned Spacecraft Center on January 16, 1964. He was promoted to the rank of Colonel in October 1964 and retired from the Marine Corps on January 1, 1965.

On February 20, 1962, Glenn piloted the Mercury-Atlas 6 "Friendship 7" spacecraft on the first manned orbital mission of the United States. Launched from Cape Canaveral (Florida) Launch Complex 14, he completed a successful three-orbit mission around the earth, reaching a maximum altitude (apogee) of approximately 162 statute miles and an orbital velocity of approximately 17,500 miles per hour. Glenn's "Friendship 7" Mercury spacecraft landed approximately 800 miles southeast of Cape Canaveral in the vicinity of Grand Turk Island. Mission duration from launch to impact was 4 hours, 55 minutes, and 23 seconds.

After John Glenn left NASA, He was a business executive from 1965 until his election to the United States Senate in November 1974, when he became a U.S. senator from the state of Ohio. Already famous as a highly decorated military pilot and astronaut when he arrived in the Senate in 1974, John Glenn sought to become a leader in government. Glenn represented Ohio for 25 years, until his retirement in 1999. As chairman of the Committee on Governmental Affairs he worked to make government more efficient. As a member of the Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees he put his energies into the pursuit of a strong foreign policy. In 1976, he traveled to China with Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield, a trip recalled in an interview with former Secretary of the Senate Frank Valeo. Glenns heart, however, remained with science, and he became known as a tireless advocate for science and health research. He was a senator for 25 years.

In 1998, John Glenn got to fly to space again. He flew with six other astronauts on the space shuttle. It had been 36 years since his first spaceflight. The new flight would help NASA learn what being in space does to older people. Because NASA knew so much about him, Glenn was perfect for the job.

STS-95 Discovery (October 29 to November 7, 1998) was a 9-day mission during which the crew supported a variety of research payloads including deployment of the Spartan solar-observing spacecraft, the Hubble Space Telescope Orbital Systems Test Platform, and investigations on space flight and the aging process. The mission was accomplished in 134 Earth orbits, traveling 3.6 million miles in 213 hours and 44 minutes. He was 77 years old when he flew on the shuttle. He was the oldest person to fly in space.

Glenn worked with college students at Ohio State University in Columbus.





NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






China's naval fleet visits west coast of US

People's Daily Online

(People's Daily Online) 16:29, December 07, 2016

China's naval fleet arrived in San Diego, California on Dec. 6 for a four-day visit. It's the first time that Chinese naval vessels have docked at the port since the U.S. presidential election in November.

The naval fleet consists of three vessels: missile frigates Yancheng and Daqing, and supply ship Taihu, which was loaded with two helicopters and about 600 naval officers and soldiers.

The fleet left China's Qingdao port on Oct. 10. After participating in the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting naval exercise and the international fleet review on the 75th birthday of New Zealand's navy, the fleet went to visit the U.S. and Canada.

Admiral Huang Xinjian, commander of the fleet, said that the two sides will engage in interactive exchanges during the visit, and will conduct a joint naval exercise.

"I believe this visit will further strengthen understanding and mutual trust between the two navies, and lay a solid foundation for bilateral exchange and cooperation to jointly safeguard both regional and international peace."

During the visit, Chinese officers will meet their U.S. naval counterparts, and China's Yangcheng and Daqing ships will be opened to the public. The visit is an important military and diplomatic move, demonstrating the Chinese navy's willingness to participate in international maritime security. It is also of great significance for promoting the development of friendly relations between the two countries and enhancing their influence over international and regional affairs.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Draft Law Expands Chinese Police Discretion on Gun Use

By Joyce Huang December 07, 2016

Proposed changes to China's policing law would grant officers greater discretionary power to use firearms in cases involving public and national security, a step that some activists contend could diminish human rights protections.

China last week published draft amendments to its Police Law of 1995. A notice on the Chinese Public Security Bureau's website said public comment would be accepted through December.

One amendment, Article 31, proposes that police be allowed to use firearms against suspects of public and national security offenses under certain circumstances: if suspects ignore their warnings and try to flee or resist arrest, or when officers face life-threatening assault.

Analysts say such provisions align with those enshrined in China's controversial counterterrorism laws passed in late 2015. One measure permits police to use weapons in "emergency circumstances" on people committing violent acts, where their warnings prove ineffective.

Another revision, Article 32, would prohibit police from using weapons against pregnant women or children, or at places where inflammable explosives or radioactive materials are stored.

Discretionary power

The proposals set a clearer boundary for country-level police to use firearms, but ends up allowing authorities to show discretion in determining which circumstances concern public and national security.

China's legislature, the National People's Congress, is expected to approve the draft law.

Li Xiangyang, a human rights lawyer from Shandong province, told VOA that while its "new restrictions are minor," the draft "in general expands the police's discretionary power, which will create room" for police to attack human rights activists.

Li also expressed concerns over the proposed law's enforcement, because police serve those in power and have often abused their powers.

"Amendments to the policing law will not make a difference," Li added. "Let me say this: As long as the authoritarian rule in China remains, the rule of law won't be honored no matter how progressive the country's laws have been revised."

Some rights defenders fear police could gun down dissidents, whom they sometimes define as terrorists or mobs. Rights activists say the measures could give police legal justification to use  or abuse  their power.

Internet censorship

Patrick Poon, China researcher at Amnesty International in Hong Kong, shared similar concerns.

He said the draft law would let police further censor news coverage of natural or manmade disasters. Under current law, officers responding to such disasters can cordon off disaster sites, blocking individuals' or vehicles' access for safety reasons. But under the draft revision, Poon said officers also could clamp down on disseminating news about such disasters via the internet.

"When necessary," according to Article 29, local police will be further allowed to "implement internet controls if an approval is secured by a province-level public security bureau."

In 2009, China cut off internet access to Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang province, hoping to stem the flow of information about ethnic unrest and police intervention that left at least hundreds dead. It was the deadliest protest since the 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen pro-democracy demonstrations.

The country's new cybersecurity law, adopted in early November and slated to take effect next June, already gives Chinese authorities the right to block internet access during public-security emergencies.

Imbalances

Poon said the draft measures provide no checks and balances on expanded police powers. Already, he said, Chinese police officers who commit abuses can operate with impunity because the country lacks an independent judicial system.

For example, Poon said, police rarely are held accountable for acts of torture because of the way they work with courts in China. It's hard for the judiciary to investigate charges of illegal evidence obtained through torture, because that challenges police authority, he added.

"Because of the imbalance of power between the public security, the prosecutors and also the court, it's very often very unlikely for the prosecutors, the procuratorate to investigate such claims" of tortures or forced confessions, Poon told VOA.

Ensuring rights

But Zhan Zhongle, a professor of Beijing University's Law School, lauded the draft, saying it would uphold the principle of minimum harm on citizens as police perform their duties.

He said the legislation should ensure the rights of all parties.

"While giving the police discretionary power, the law should also take into consideration in three regards: firstly, the police's authority and responsibilities, secondly, personal and property safety of all parties involved, as well as public security," Zhan said.

In other words, he agreed that the armed police should have a certain level of discretion in using firearms. But the law should be clarified to prevent them from overstepping their power, which risk citizens' rights.

Upon seeing the draft, some Chinese netizens responded approvingly while others reacted with harsh words. A Weibo user wrote that police are "now licensed to kill," while another questioned why the draft doesn't require that police keep a video record to document their actions and reduce the possibility of abuse.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Trump Taps Branstad to Manage Complex Relations With China

By Nike Ching December 07, 2016

In the black-and-white photo from 1985, Chinese President Xi Jinping, then a young official from China's northern Hebei province, stood next to Terry Branstad, who was serving his first term as governor of Iowa. The photo was taken during Xi's first visit to the Unites States during a sister-state exchange program.

Three decades later, Branstad has been nominated to be the next American Ambassador to China by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, a choice that Beijing has quickly embraced.

"He successfully developed close trade ties with China while serving as chief executive of the Hawkeye State," Trump praised Branstad in a statement Wednesday. "That experience will serve him well as he represents America's interests and further develops a mutually beneficial relationship with Chinese leadership."

Xi, in a message last year congratulating Branstad on becoming the longest-serving governor in American history, said he was impressed by Branstad's "warmth, hospitality, sincerity and friendliness."

"I have known President Xi Jinping for many years and consider him an old friend," Branstad said Wednesday after accepting the position. "I look forward to building on our long friendship to cultivate and strengthen the relationship between our two countries and to benefit our economy."

Branstad was one of the earliest Republican supporters of Trump's presidential campaign.

Experts said having the ears of top leaders from both the U.S. and China is a plus to effectively manage the critical relations between the two countries.

Personal relationship

"Xi Jinping has a kitchen style cabinet, and it's very difficult to know what's going on in his mind," Bonnie Glaser, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said.

"So if the U.S. ambassador has a personal relationship with Xi Jinping, that can be very, very helpful," Glaser told VOA.

In Washington, the State Department declined direct comment on the selection announced Wednesday by the Trump transition team.

"They are obviously in the process of looking at the relations to some of the key countries and governments around the world," deputy spokesperson Mark Toner said. "As to their intentions, or as to their goals, I'd have to refer you to them."

Branstad is among the first U.S. diplomatic envoys to other nations tapped by Trump.

"It is certainly the counterpoint to the Taiwan phone call," Atlantic Council Senior Fellow Robert Manning told VOA in explaining the timing of the announcement. He was referring to Trump's phone conversation with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen last Friday.

Branstad's appointment were well-received by some of the U.S. industrial leaders.

'Leading advocate for trade'

Paul Schickler, president of Dupont Pioneer, said Branstad would bring "strong existing relationships with China at multiple levels and experience as a leading advocate for trade."

"These strengths will benefit international commerce and help further advance China's goal of modernizing its agricultural industry," Schickler said. Dupont Pioneer is a large seed company that develops and produces high-yielding crop.

Neil Dierks, CEO of the National Pork Producers Council, said this nomination is "good for our industry, good for agriculture and good for rural America."

But as ambassador, Branstad would also find himself in the middle of an increasingly tense relationship amid U.S.-China trade disputes, and Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea.

Trump has pledged to use tough trade tactics with Beijing and stop China from "stealing American jobs." He also said he would declare China as a currency manipulator and impose heavy duties on Chinese goods to protect American workers.

"For manufacturers, China stands as one of our largest trade and investment partners, but it is also a major challenge, imposing a range of market-distorting policies and practices that impact manufacturers in the United States," Jay Timmons, president and CEO of National Association of Manufacturers, said in a statement.

"I think one of the biggest challenges [facing Branstad] is that China's industrial policies and things like the nongovernmental organization law make it very difficult for U.S. firms to operate in China," Manning, a former State Department official, said.

Foreign NGO law

The controversial law managing the operation of foreign nongovernment organizations may also affect American civil society organizations and their Chinese partners to operate in China, according to critics.

"China's assertiveness in the South China Sea will also make it more difficult to establish a relationship that's more cooperative than competitive," Manning added.

Congressional members and human rights advocates called on Branstad to address thorny issues, including promoting fundamental freedom and rights.

Republican Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey told VOA Mandarin there is strong support for a "robust and serious human rights engagement with China."

Speaking after a bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) hearing Wednesday that examined the human rights situation in China, Smith said there should be sanctions in place to punish Chinese human rights violations, which include forced abortions and religious prosecution.

Democratic Congressman Tim Walz of Minnesota, Iowa's neighboring state, told VOA that in addition to human rights, issues such as genetically modified organisms and trade are "deeply concerning to us in the Midwest."

Pastor Bob Fu, founder and president of ChinaAid, a nonprofit Christian human rights organization, said he hoped Branstad's appointment could "set up a new course" in addressing imminent issues, including the protection of rights defenders and labor activists in China, and not "kowtow" to China's economic power.

Iowa farm products

China is a crucial export market for the Midwestern state of Iowa, which is a major producer of pigs, soybeans and corn.

Branstad is no stranger to the U.S.-China Governors Forum, which has gathered regularly for years to promote practical cooperation between American and Chinese leaders from states and provinces.

Since leading his first delegation to Hebei Province in 1984, Branstad has led six trade missions to China as Iowa governor and met with numerous provincial governors, ministerial leaders and local officials.

Mandarin Service reporters Teng Xu, Beibei Su contributed to this article.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Trump Taps Iowa Governor Branstad as Next US Ambassador to China

By VOA News December 07, 2016

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad has been nominated to be the next United States ambassador to China.

Branstad is a longtime friend of Chinese President Xi Jinping and his nomination, first reported by Bloomberg, was welcomed by Beijing.

The nomination, first reported by Bloomberg, was welcomed by Beijing.

"Governor Branstad is an old friend of the Chinese people," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang. "We welcome the fact that he is to play a great role in promoting the development of China-US relations."

President Xi has known Branstad since 1985, when he visited Iowa as part of an official delegation studying pig-raising techniques.

China is a crucial export market for the Midwestern state of Iowa, which is a major producer of pigs, soybeans and corn.

Personal ties to Xi

Branstad's personal ties with Xi could help smooth relations between the U.S. and China, which have come into greater focus since Donald Trump's victory.

Last week, Trump spoke over the phone with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, breaking decades of U.S. diplomatic protocol and angering Beijing.

It was the first official contact between a U.S. president or president-elect and Taiwan's leader since the U.S. recognized the Beijing government in 1979.

The New York Times reports that the phone call was the result of six months of behind the scenes work by former U.S. Senator Bob Dole acting on behalf of the Taiwan government.

The report said Dole's Washington law firm (Alston & Bird) received $140,000 from May to October for the work.

Hawkish stance

During his campaign, Trump took a hawkish stance on China, vowing to label it a currency manipulator and impose a 45 percent tariffs on all Chinese imports.

Branstad, 70, was one of the earliest Republican supporters of Trump's presidential campaign. His office has not confirmed the appointment.

If confirmed, he would replace current U.S. Ambassador Max Baucus, a former U.S. congressman who has served in the post since 2014.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






New UN report urges action to end 'unimaginable suffering' for separated families on Korean peninsula

7 December 2016  A new report from the United Nations human rights wing calls attention to more than 60 years of separation between families on the Korean peninsula, and urges action in order to alleviate the suffering of families.

"The emotional, psychological, social, and economic toll of involuntary separation persists to this day, as people continue to search for the truth and for contact with their loved ones," said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein.

The report, published today by the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR), documents the experiences of families who have been separated since the 1950-1953 Korean War through displacement, forced disappearance and abductions, and as a result of those fleeing the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

This report looks at past and present-day forms of involuntary separation and outlines a practical and humane approach to family reunification. These people are not just statistics; they are not a faceless mass of victims caught up in the sweep of history. They are individuals with their own, unimaginable, stories of suffering  a suffering that remains as acute as ever despite the passing of years," the High Commissioner explained.

Through interviews and research, the report finds that involuntary separation has not only been through the inevitable consequences of war, but also due to structural forms of exclusion and impunity. Women, in particular, have suffered long-lasting prejudice.

For example, Park Dong-yeol [name changed], now 85, fled North Korea in 1950. She was denied access to a boat leaving for the Republic of Korea due to a superstition about having women aboard. When she finally reached South Korea via foot, she was kept under close surveillance. Authorities were suspicious of a single woman, prompting her to marry once she "lost hope" of being reunited with her family who had remained in the DPRK.

While occasional but tightly controlled reunions for some 100 families on both sides of the peninsula began in 2000, such meetings often bring about more stress than reconciliation, sayd the report.

In 2015, Ji Eungyeong [name changed] met with her daughter who she left behind in North Korea 64 years ago.

"We could barely talk in the hall," she shared. "There were journalists on one side and [guards] on the other. Then we had two hours of private time. Only then was my daughter able to cry."

The report also shares the experiences of people in Republic of Korea whose family members were abducted. In 1950, Jeong Sun-ui's father disappeared, leading the rest of the family to be treated with suspicion, fearing that they might be spies.

"There was always a sense of guilt by association," he said.

Since 2008, due to more stringent border controls, the number of people who have escaped from DPRK to ROK has decreased. Those who do risk their lives  frequently women  are exposed to brutal treatment including labour sentences if caught. If they escape, their families are at risk for acts of retaliation and harassment by the authorities.

The report calls for unhindered contact for people in both countries, public and complete lists of all individuals who have been missing since the war and determining their whereabouts, and protecting those who leave DPRK.

OHCHR acknowledges that increases in political and military tensions in the region have generated extremely difficult obstacles, but nonetheless advocates action from DPRK in order to locate and return those who have been abducted, as well as removing restrictions that prevent citizens from travelling and communicating with the outside world.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






UK PM's anti-Iran remarks meant to 'please' Persian Gulf Arab leaders

Iran Press TV

Wed Dec 7, 2016 7:21PM

Iran has censured the recent comments made by British Prime Minister Theresa May against the Islamic Republic, saying the countries that are fueling violence in the region can not accuse Tehran of meddling in other states' affairs.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi made the criticism on Wednesday hours after May said she was "clear-eyed" about the alleged threat posed by Iran to the security of the Persian Gulf and wider Middle East.

Speaking in Manama at the 37th annual summit of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council ([P]GCC), comprising Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain, May said the UK would contribute to counteract what she claimed to be Iran's "aggressive regional actions". She also said that the UK would invest almost four billion dollars in military investment in the region over the next 10 years.

In response, Qassemi said the Islamic Republic believes that such remarks emanate from the country's problems caused by changes to the country's relations with the European Union after Brexit.

Such issues prompted May to make "unconsidered" comments against the Iranian government and nation to "please some of the leaders" of the [P]GCC member states, he added.

"The countries, whose irresponsible interference in [the affairs of] other states has spread insecurity, war, violence and terrorism, are not in a position to accuse others of meddling in regional affairs," Qassemi said.

The Iranian diplomat went on say that May made the assertion in an attempt to secure new huge arms deals with some Persian Gulf Arab countries, and to subsequently exacerbate the crises caused by their war crimes against the innocent people of Yemen, Syria, Bahrain, Iraq and other Muslim countries.

Two days before the summit, Amnesty International said that the issue of human rights was notably absent from the meeting's agenda, warning that the rights records of Persian Gulf Arab states must not be "swept under the carpet."

Last month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) also blasted the six Arab countries for their crackdown on rights advocates and freedom of expression, and called for reforms long sought by the campaigners in those states.

"The Persian Gulf states have engaged in a systematic and well-funded assault on free speech to subvert the potentially transformative impact of social media and internet technology," said HRW's Middle East director, Sarah Leah Whitson.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Trump can walk away from Iran nuclear deal: US State Department

Iran Press TV

Wed Dec 7, 2016 11:20AM

The US State Department has said that President-elect Donald Trump will have the power to revoke the nuclear deal reached between Tehran and the P5+1 group of countries.

Iran and the P5+1 group  the US, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany  reached the agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in July 2015.

Under the deal, Tehran agreed to limit some aspects of its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of all the nuclear-related sanctions.

During his presidential campaign, Republican Trump, who defeated his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the November 8 election, had promised to annul the deal.

He called the pact a "disaster" and "the worst deal ever negotiated." He also said that the deal could lead to a "nuclear holocaust."

On Tuesday, State Department spokesman Mark Toner strongly hinted that the business tycoon can cancel the agreement if he wants.

"It's not a formal treaty. But of course  and of course, no one else can prevent any other party to this agreement from walking away," Toner told reporters. "The counterargument to that is: Why would anyone walk away, because it's effective?"

Toner, however, said that the US alone cannot decide about the deal, noting that Washington is interested in keeping the deal.

"It's not just the United States; it's all members of the P5+1; it's Iran  we're all, I think, in agreement, rightly so, that this is working, that this has benefits for all the parties, and it's in all of our interest to keep it in place."

When asked about whether the extension of the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) is a violation of the JCPOA, he said, "What we call a clean extension of the Iran Sanctions Act is entirely consistent with our commitments in the JCPOA. And in any case, Secretary Kerry would retain waiver authority and would continue to waive all of the nuclear-related sanctions, the relevant sanctions, authorized by the legislation. And that's what we committed to do in the JCPOA, so that  we retain that capacity, I guess, is the point."

On December 1, the US Senate, in a 99-to-0 vote, passed the ISA, sending the measure to the White House for Obama to sign into law.

Iran has objected to the move, with President Hassan Rouhani saying Tuesday, "Even if the US president declares invalid part of the bill ratified at the US Congress, we will react to this level of JCPOA violation that has [already] taken place."

Rouhani also said Trump "may desire many things, he may desire to undermine or tear up the JCPOA, [but] will we and our nation allow such a thing?"

Other parties to the JCPOA have already warned against unilateral breaches.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Heavy clashes in Mosul district as Iraqi troops advance against Daesh

Iran Press TV

Wed Dec 7, 2016 1:43PM

Fierce clashes have erupted in Mosul's al-Salam neighborhood, as Iraqi forces make gains against Daesh terrorists deep inside the northern city and advance closer to the Tigris River, which divides the city into eastern and western sides.

The Iraqi army's 9th Armored Division announced the recapture of al-Salam Hospital in eastern Mosul on Tuesday.

However, fighting continued on Wednesday in the al-Salam neighborhood, where the five-storey medical institution is situated. The Daesh elements were said to have been using the hospital's upper floors and roof as sniper positions for some time.

"We advanced in al-Salam district but the situation is difficult, there is heavy fighting," said Iraqi Brigadier General Shaker Kadhem, adding, "We took control of al-Salam Hospital, which was a command center for Daesh."

He further noted that the latest push in Mosul was aimed at meeting up with the elite Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) forces on the banks of the Tigris in Mosul's southeast.

A senior unidentified CTS officer also said the fighting in al-Salam district was fierce and the Iraqi army had called for backup.

"The 9th Division's situation is difficult and they have called for support. We are sending a regiment there," he said, noting that the soldiers "are surrounded now in al-Salam Hospital... [and] we are on the way so we can open a passage for them."

Meanwhile, the Daesh-affiliated Amaq news agency reported that the Takfiri militants had carried out five car bombings in the al-Salam area over the past 24 hours.

The Iraqi Federal Police also confirmed that several car bombs were exploded while bombers set off their explosives in the flashpoint district around al-Salam Hospital.

According to an unnamed military source, three Iraqi soldiers were killed and 40 others sustained injuries in Daesh attacks on Wednesday.

Advances on the ground

On the same day, the Iraqi forces liberated eight villages in northern Mosul from the grip of Daesh militants.

The Iraq special forces further managed to wrest control of the al-Elam neighborhood in eastern Mosul.

The commander of the Nineveh Liberation Operation, Lieutenant General Abdul Amir Yarallah, announced in a statement that the area was "fully liberated" and the Iraqi national flag was raised over its buildings.

Yarallah went on to say that Daesh terrorists "suffered losses" without elaborating further on the subject.

Mosul fell to Daesh in 2014, when the terror outfit began its campaign of death and destruction in the Arab country.

The Iraqi army troops and allied fighters have been leading an offensive to retake Mosul since October 17.

The Iraqi forces made quick gains on Mosul's southern and northern fronts when the city's liberation operation was launched.

However, the Iraqi troops' advance has been slowed down due to the presence of hundreds of thousands of civilians, many of whom are prevented from leaving Mosul by Daesh.

The United Nations said on Wednesday that more than 82,000 people have been displaced by the Mosul offensive.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Woman behind South Korea political scandal rejects order to testify

Iran Press TV

Wed Dec 7, 2016 10:8AM

The woman at the center of a massive political scandal in South Korea has rejected an order to appear before a parliamentary committee to testify in the case.

Choi Soon-sil, who has been accused of using her relations with President Park Geun-hye to influence government affairs, refused to attend the parliamentary hearing scheduled for Wednesday, citing health issues.

The committee had sent a group of 20 security officers to order that Chio and ten other witnesses testify before the committee.

She can now be fined for non-compliance with the order.

The committee chairman, Kim Sung-tae, has said, "We will undertake all measures to make them appear," referring to Choi and some of her close associates and family members. The panel can request a court order.

The parliamentary hearings opened amid a series of weekly mass demonstrations across the country, with protesters calling for the president's resignation.

The president said last week that she would leave it to parliament to decide her fate in an impeachment vote on Friday. Park said she will respond "calmly" to the result of the impeachment process and would wait for the constitutional court's verdict, a process that could take up to at least six months.

If the impeached process succeeds, the president would be suspended but not immediately removed. Her prime minister would temporarily serve as acting president until the court reviews whether her impeachment is constitutionally sound.

If six of the court's nine justices support the impeachment vote, Park would be removed permanently and a new presidential election would be held within 60 days.

But if the impeachment motion fails to pass by the required two-thirds majority in the 300-seat national assembly, she will remain in office until her term comes to an end in February 2018.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Russia finalizing deal on Syria naval base: Lawmaker

Iran Press TV

Wed Dec 7, 2016 10:15PM

The Russian government is about to finalize an agreement on the country's establishment of a permanent naval base in Syria, a senior lawmaker says.

Viktor Ozerov, the chairman of the Defense and Security Committee at the Federation Council, the Russian parliament's upper house, made the announcement on Wednesday.

"As far as I know, [it is] at the final stage," he said concerning the procedure for the document's preparation, which culminates in signing by the government.

In October, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Moscow planned to establish the base in the western Syrian port city of Tartus, where Russia has been keeping a support and maintenance facility for its naval forces since 1977.

Upon signing by the government, the agreement on opening the permanent base will go to the legislature for approval.

Russia currently maintains a permanent airbase at the Hmeymim facility in the Syrian port city of Latakia, about 86 kilometers north of Tartus. The outpost was established on the back of an August 2015 Russo-Syrian agreement.

Moscow has been lending its airpower to the Syrian military's counterterrorism operations since last September. Thanks to the support, the Syrian military has managed to reclaim much of the country's soil from the clutches of anti-Damascus militants, who have been brutalizing the nation since 2011.

Putin hails Russian army experience in Syria

Also on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed the country's successful experience of providing back-up firepower for the Arab country's forces.

Putin, who was addressing senior military and security officers at the Kremlin, said those in the top echelons of the Russian military had to so employ the experience to "equip the army and the navy with prospective weapons."

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Russia Vows Retaliation If U.S. Restricts Its Diplomats' Movements

Mike Eckel December 07, 2016

Russia's Foreign Ministry has threatened to retaliate against U.S. diplomats if Washington enacts legislation restricting the movements of Russian diplomats in the United States.

Legislation now making its way through the U.S. Congress calls for tightening restrictions on Russian diplomats who want to travel more than 40 kilometers from their official posts in the United States. The diplomats would essentially be forced to get approval ahead of time from the FBI.

The bill would also create a new committee to counter what it calls Russian efforts to manipulate foreign opinion.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing in Moscow on December 7 that the legislation was part of a "witch-hunt" against Russia by outgoing President Barack Obama's administration.

"If the current U.S. authorities want to restrict the movements of Russia's representatives, then of course, it would merit keeping in mind diplomacy is based on the principle of reciprocity," Zakharova said. "Put simply, American diplomats in Russia will be treated in the same way."

"We are dealing with another example of clinical anti-Russian feeling," she added. "It's a carbon copy of a scheme used in the Cold War."

The proposed measure, which has passed the House of Representatives and both chambers' intelligence committees, is attached to a broader bill setting out policy priorities for the intelligence community. It has not yet been passed in the Senate.

The State Department has not publicly commented on the legislation. However, department officials have privately expressed misgivings about the restrictions and the consequences for the work of accredited U.S. diplomats in Russia, many of whom have reportedly been harassed by Russian security agencies.

Russia has also complained that its diplomats have been accosted or harassed by U.S. agents.

It's unclear whether the bill containing the Russian travel restrictions will pass the Senate or if Obama would sign such a bill into law.

President-elect Donald Trump, who will take office on January 20, would likely be less inclined than Obama to sign it if it ends up on his desk. Trump has repeatedly voiced a more conciliatory approach to relations with Russia that President Vladimir Putin has echoed.

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/russia-reacts-us-bill- limiting-diplomats-movements/28162190.html

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Kremlin: Glencore, Qatari Fund Buy Minority Rosneft Stake

RFE/RL December 07, 2016

The Kremlin says Russia has finalized an agreement to privatize 19.5 percent of state-owned oil company Rosneft in a deal worth around $11 billion with a consortium of Swiss commodities giant Glencore and the Qatari sovereign wealth fund.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced the deal on December 7 following a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Rosneft chief executive Igor Sechin.

Sechin was quoted by the state-run TASS news agency as saying that the Glencore and the Qatari fund hold equal shares.

The deal is part of a push by Russia to privatize some government assets amid a recession triggered in large part by collapsing oil prices in recent years that drained government revenue.

"Vladimir Putin called it the largest deal on the global energy market in 2016," Peskov was quoted by TASS as saying.

Putin told Bloomberg in an interview published in September that Russia was seeking to sell the 19.5 percent stake to strategic investors through a private placement rather than through a public securities offering, in an effort to maximize revenue for the government.

The deal comes as oil prices have risen to more than $50 a barrel after members of the OPEC oil cartel last week agreed to cut their production by 1.2 million barrels a day in a bid to boost slumping global prices.

"The transaction was made on an upward trend in oil prices and reflects on the value of the company," Putin told Sechin during the meeting in footage broadcast on state television. "In that sense this is a good time."

Putin noted that the Russian government, which owns more than 50 percent of Rosneft shares, would maintain its controlling stake in the company.

Sechin told Putin that the deal was made possible "only thanks to your personal contribution."

He added that Rosneft had held talks with more than 30 potential investors across the globe.

Peskov told reporters on December 7 that Russia would receive 10.5 billion euros ($11.3 billion) from the deal and that Putin had told Sechin to prepare a currency-conversion arrangement that would avoid volatility on the foreign-exchange market.

"The president noted that a huge amount of currency [from the sale] will come to the country soon, and that an appropriate phased-conversion system should be provided," TASS quoted Peskov as saying.

The deal comes weeks after Economic Development Minister Aleksei Ulyukayev was arrested on charges of taking a $2 million bribe for facilitating state-owned oil giant Rosneft's takeover of another state-held oil company, Bashneft.

Ulyukayev, who was dismissed by Putin and has since been replaced, denies the allegations. He had overseen the massive privatization of state companies, capped by Bashneft's sale to Rosneft last month.

Putin said at last month's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru that the criminal case against Ulyukayev had no impact on the Russian government's privatization plans.

With reporting by AP, AFP, TASS, Reuters, Bloomberg, and Interfax

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/russia- rosneft-glencore-qatari-fund-buy- minority-stake/28162232.html

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Aleppo win huge step toward ending Syria war: Assad

Iran Press TV

Wed Dec 7, 2016 6:54PM

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says victory in the battle for the city of Aleppo will be "a huge step" in bringing the war in Syria to an end.

Assad said the full liberation of Aleppo in northwestern Syria would deal a huge blow to the regional and international supporters of militant groups, al-Mayadeen television station said, citing an interview with al-Watan newspaper expected to be published on Thursday.

"It's true that Aleppo will be a win for us, but let's be realistic, it won't mean the end of the war in Syria," Assad said.

"But it will be a huge step towards this end."

The Syrian president said in response to a question about the possibility of a ceasefire in Aleppo that such a possibility was "practically non-existent, of course."

"The Americans in particular are insisting on demanding a truce, because their terrorist agents are now in a difficult situation," Assad said.

Washington would have no more trump cards to show if Aleppo is liberated, the Syrian president stated.

Assad said Aleppo was the "last hope" of militants and their supporters, "after their failure in the battles of Damascus and Homs."

The Syrian president said the militants' defeat in Aleppo would fully change the course of battle in Syria.

"The decision to liberate all of Syria is taken and Aleppo is part of it," al-Mayadeen quoted the president as saying.

Assad also stated that Turkey had done its best to protect the militant stronghold in Aleppo, but it has failed.

The Syrian government has been making advances in militant-held areas in eastern Aleppo, with recent reports saying that the military and its allies have managed to retake two-thirds of the territory that used to be under the control of the militants.

The conflict in Syria, which flared up in March 2011, has claimed the lives of more than 400,000 people, according to an estimate by UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Syrian army holds over two-thirds of eastern Aleppo: Map

Iran Press TV

Wed Dec 7, 2016 4:48PM

A newly-released map shows that the Syrian army troops and their allies are in control of more than two-thirds of eastern Aleppo, which was entirely held by foreign-backed terrorists before the latest advances by the pro-government forces.

The War Media Center, which is affiliated with the Lebanese resistance movement of Hezbollah, published the map on Wednesday, indicating that 78 percent of the eastern Aleppo districts had been recaptured by the Syrian forces.

Meanwhile, some reports said that the Syrian forces had managed to retake Bab al-Nairab neighborhood, southwest of Aleppo Citadel.

Security was also restored to Nour al-Din al-Zenki and al-Khandaq roads as well as the districts of al-Jadidah, Farafra, Agil, Qastal al-Harami, Beit al-Qonas, al-Harami, Bab al-Hadid, Share Bab al-Nasr, al-Hamidiyah, Qadi Askar, al-Mashatiyah and Karah al- Jabal.

Additionally, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Syrian army had wrested full control of the Sheikh Lotfi district and liberated parts of Hay al-Marja.

The UK-based monitoring group also noted that terrorists had confirmed losing some areas between al-Oyoun Hospital and Aleppo Citadel.

Earlier on Wednesday, Syrian government forces managed to liberate the entire neighborhoods in Aleppo's Old City.

"The situation was very difficult," said Um Abdu as she left Aleppo's Bab al-Hadid neighborhood, adding, "The gunmen were using us to protect themselves... but then the army came and we were able to leave."

Aleppo gains 'strategic victory'

In another development on Wednesday, Syria's National Reconciliation Minister Ali Haidar hailed the army's advance against militants in Aleppo as a "strategic victory" that will prevent foreign intervention.

"Those who believed in the Syrian triumph know that [the terrorists'] morale is at its lowest and that these collapses that have begun are like domino tiles," he told reporters in the capital, Damascus.

Syria has been gripped by deadly foreign-sponsored militancy for over five years. The situation in Aleppo is of particular concern as the city has turned into a major frontline in the Damascus government's anti-terror fight.

Backed by Russia's air cover, the Syrian forces have dealt heavy blows to militants over the past two weeks and look closer than ever to regaining full control over Aleppo.

12 killed, dozens wounded in militant fire

Separately on Wednesday, militants launched rocket attacks on Aleppo's residential areas of Maysalon, al-Masharika, al-Martini, al-Iza'a and al-Azamyeh, causing significant material damage to the regions' infrastructure.

An unnamed source at the Aleppo Police Command told the official SANA news agency that the raids left 12 people dead and 64 more injured, some of them in critical condition.

The source added that most of the casualties were children and women.

Elsewhere, in the militant-held al-Fu'ah town in Syria's Idlib province, two other Syrians were wounded in mortar attacks by Jaish al-Fatah terrorists.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Israel warplanes hit airbase near Damascus: Syria state TV

Iran Press TV

Wed Dec 7, 2016 10:13AM

Syria's state television says Israeli military aircraft have targeted an airbase near the capital Damascus.

The attack took place on Wednesday, the television reported, verifying earlier unconfirmed reports that the Israeli air force had launched the raid against the el-Mezzeh outpost from the Lebanese airspace.

Large explosions rang out after the attack. Syria's al-Ikhbariyah television channel said the explosions hit fuel depots at the base.

Lebanese al-Mayadeen channel, meanwhile, reported that Israeli airstrikes had hit an important Syrian military airport in the capital.

Last week, Israeli fighter jets carried out missile attacks from Lebanese skies against two targets close to the highway connecting Damascus to the Lebanese capital Beirut. Syria's official news agency SANA cited an unnamed military source as saying that the missiles fell on the Saboura area west of Damascus.

The source said the Israeli assault was an attempt to "divert attention away from the successes of" government forces on the battleground against Takfiri militants.

Devoted to the cause of ousting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Israel has been a staunch supporter of the Takfiri terrorists fighting in the Arab country. The regime provides treatment to the terrorists in the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, parts of which it has occupied since 1967.

In the past, Israeli jets have time and again carried out sorties inside the Syrian territory under various pretexts. Back in May, an Israeli strike against Damascus claimed the life of Mustafa Badreddine, a senior Hezbollah commander.

Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance movement, which fought off two Israeli wars in 2006 and 2008 at home, has been successfully helping Syria to defend itself in the face of terrorists and to prevent the spillover of the crisis into Lebanon.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Syrian army soldiers take full control over Aleppo's Old City

Iran Press TV

Wed Dec 7, 2016 9:53AM

Syrian government forces have reportedly liberated the entire neighborhoods in Old City of Aleppo as part of a large-scale military operation to flush foreign-backed Takfiri militants out of the strategic northwestern city.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Wednesday that Syrian soldiers had established complete control over the historic area after militants withdrew in the face of army advances overnight.

The Britain-based monitoring group noted that the Takfiri terrorists "were forced to withdraw from the Old City neighborhoods of Aleppo for fear of being besieged."

The Observatory said the militants withdrew from the last parts of the Old City after Syrian army units, in cooperation with allied fighters, restored security to Agyul and Bab al-Hadid neighborhoods of Aleppo, located some 355 kilometers north of the capital, Damascus, late on Tuesday.

The Syrian forces also secured the safe departure of more than 200 civilians from the liberated areas, and captured a number of terrorists there.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Syrian army had liberated Karm al-Dada, al-Sha'ar, al-Marjeh and al-Sheikh Lutfi districts in Aleppo as well as Tallet al-Shurta hill east of Aleppo.

The Syrian army and allied fighters from popular defense groups are now in control of more than 75 percent of eastern Aleppo.

There are reports that over 300 civilians have left militant-controlled eastern districts of Aleppo to safe districts over the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, other reports say foreign-backed militants have called for a five-day truce in the face of the government forces' steady gains in the northern city.

Russian colonel killed in Aleppo

Meanwhile, Russia's Defense Ministry says a Russian army colonel, working as a military advisor in Syria, has succumbed to injuries sustained during a militant mortar attack in Aleppo several days ago.

"Ruslan Galitsky passed away in hospital as a result of his serious injuries. Russian army medics fought for several days to save his life," the ministry said in a statement released on Wednesday.

Russia is engaged in an aerial campaign against Takfiri terrorists in Syria since September 2015.

On Tuesday, Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution which would have mandated a seven-day ceasefire in Aleppo, saying the draft proposal put to vote did not include any talk about the exit of gunmen from the eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo.

Moscow and Damascus are against lengthy pauses in anti-terror battles in Aleppo, saying such truces would merely help the Takfiri militants rebuild their strength.

In a Wednesday statement, the Kremlin said a possible US-Russia deal on the exit of militants from eastern Aleppo was still on the agenda, adding that Russian and American experts remain in contact over the issue.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov further said those militants who refuse to leave eastern Aleppo are "terrorists" who are siding with the notorious Fateh al-Sham terror group, formerly known as al-Nusra Front.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Syria, Russia Reject Cease-Fire Offers, Vow To Retake Aleppo

December 07, 2016

Syrian and Russian leaders on December 7 rejected pleas from rebel forces and Western powers for a cease-fire and pressed their campaign to retake Aleppo, aiming for a victory they said would "change the course" of the six-year war.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in media interviews echoed reports from independent monitors and news media saying government forces appear on the verge of taking full control of the city, Syria's most populous before the war, after years of rebel control in the east.

Rebels are estimated to have lost 75 percent to 80 percent of the territory they once controlled since mid-November, including most recently the Old City. Recapturing Aleppo would represent Assad's most important stride to date toward ending their longrunning rebellion.

"Aleppo will completely change the course of the battle in all of Syria," Assad told the al-Watan newspaper in an interview due to be published on December 8, according to excerpts released to the media.

"It won't mean the end of the war in Syria," he added. "But it will be a huge step towards this end."

Assad said the chances of a cease-fire are "practically non-existent" at this point. "The Americans in particular are insisting on demanding a truce, because their terrorist agents are now in a difficult situation," Assad told the paper.

Assad described Aleppo as the "last hope" of rebels and their backers, "after their failure in the battles of Damascus and Homs," pro-Damascus television al-Mayadeen reported on December 7.

While rebel groups and six Western powers repeated calls for a cease-fire in the city on December 7, Damascus and Moscow have insisted that rebels must agree to leave the city before they will consider a cease-fire.

"The decision to liberate all of Syria is taken and Aleppo is part of it," Assad told Mayadeen.

Assad said he consulted with Russia about his decision to press ahead with the campaign. "No decision is issued without discussions between the two countries" on a daily basis, he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who accused the United States this week of backing out of a commitment to help arrange an orderly withdrawal of rebel forces from Aleppo, met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on December 7 in Hamburg, Germany.

No breakthrough was announced after the meeting. Kerry said he and Lavrov discussed "the extraordinarily dire situation in Aleppo" and they would "connect" again on December 8.

Lavrov said he affirmed his support for a proposal he said the United States made last week that involved a complete rebel withdrawal from eastern Aleppo -- a plan he said the United States has since backed off.

Meanwhile, a top lawmaker in Moscow said the odds are Aleppo will be "fully liberated" by the end of the year.

"I believe Aleppo will be fully liberated in the immediate future, maybe even before the end of the year," Franz Klintsevich, First Deputy Chairman of Russia's Federation Council Defense and Security Committee, told TASS.

"This will happen regardless of whether an agreement is reached between Russia and the U.S. on letting militants leave

the eastern part of the city," he said.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and TASS

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/syria- russia-reject-cease-fire- offers-west-rebels-vow-retake-aleppo- assad-lavrov-kerry/28162817.html

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Syrian Army Said To Capture Aleppo Old City From Rebels

RFE/RL December 07, 2016

Syrian activists and state media say government forces and their allies have seized control of all areas of Aleppo's Old City that had been held by rebels, who are calling for a five-day humanitarian truce in the city.

Six Western powers called for a cease-fire to allow for aid to be brought into remaining rebel-held areas of Aleppo, warning that "a humanitarian disaster" is unfolding.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on December 7 that rebel fighters withdrew from the last parts of the Old City under their control after the army seized the districts of Bab al-Hadid and Aqyul.

State media also said the military had taken over the Old City, while Reconciliation Minister Ali Haidar called the army's advance a "strategic victory."

The monitoring group said the military and allied forces now hold about 75 percent of eastern Aleppo, which the rebels had been holding for the past four years, three weeks into their operation to capture all of the city.

The capture of Aleppo, the rebels' last urban stronghold, would represent the biggest military victory for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since the civil war erupted following a government crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2011.

Meanwhile, rebels in Aleppo called for an immediate five-day cease-fire and for the evacuation of civilians and around 500 critical medical cases.

The plan signed in the name of the Aleppo Leadership Council also asked for all involved parties to discuss the future of the city once the humanitarian situation in the rebel-held sector has been alleviated.

The United States, Britain, and France later led a call from six countries for an "immediate cease-fire."

In a statement also backed by Canada, Germany, and Italy, they denounced Assad's government and Russia for "their obstruction of humanitarian aid."

The government's "refusal to engage in a serious political process also highlights the unwillingness of both Russia and Iran to work for a political solution," they also said.

Assad's government and its ally Russia have rejected a cease-fire for Aleppo, Syria's second-largest city, where tens of thousands of civilians are trapped.

At least 80,000 people have fled eastern Aleppo since the military offensive backed by heavy air strikes and artillery fire began in mid-November, according to the observatory.

The figure includes residents who have sought refuge in the government-held western section of the city and a Kurdish-controlled area. However, it does not include others who have fled south to remaining rebel-held territory.

The observatory said at least 15 people, including a child, were killed in government fire on east Aleppo on December 6, and three children were among 11 people killed by rebel fire on government-held areas of the city.

Russian Colonel Killed

In another development, Syrian state news agency SANA reported that several Israeli missiles targeted a military air base outside the capital, Damascus, overnight, causing a fire but no casualties.

Also on December 7, Russia's Defense Ministry said a Russian military adviser, identified as Colonel Ruslan Galitsky, had died after being wounded in what it said was rebel shelling of a government-controlled neighborhood several days earlier.

The statement did not specify where or when exactly Galitsky died but said he had already been awarded a posthumous military award.

The colonel was one of the highest ranking Russian servicemen among the roughly 20 Moscow says have been killed in Syria.

The fatality marks Russia's third in Syria this week. The Defense Ministry said on December 5 that two female medics were killed by what it said was the rebel shelling of a makeshift Russian military hospital in Aleppo.

Russia has been flying air raids in Syria since September 2015 and has provided longtime ally Assad's forces with other military support during the war, which has killed at least 250,000 people and driven many more from their homes.

The Kremlin said on December 7 that a potential U.S.-Russia deal to allow Syrian rebels to safely leave Aleppo was still on the agenda.

On December 6, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the United States of canceling a meeting this week to discuss the fate of rebel forces in Aleppo, and declared that fighters who refuse to leave the city would be "eradicated."

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner rejected the accusation, saying the United States had never confirmed that talks would take place this week.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry conceded that rebels might lose control of Aleppo, but said negotiations would still be needed to end the war.

Kerry said he hopes Russia will "understand the imperative of getting to that table, having the negotiation and of not inflaming passions more with the total destruction of Aleppo."

And French President Francois Hollande sharply criticized Moscow after Russia and China earlier this week vetoed a proposed UN Security Council resolution calling for a seven-day cease-fire in Aleppo.

"Russia's systematic obstruction bolsters the regime of Bashar al-Assad in its destructive drive which is harming the defenceless civilian population," a statement from Hollande's office said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Lavrov would hold talks with Kerry and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Hamburg later on December 7.

The three are due to take part in a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in the German city on December 8-9.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, dpa, TASS, and RT

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/syria- aleppo-old-city-captured- rebels/28160946.html

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






2 Top IS Commanders Reportedly Flee Raqqa

By Sirwan Kajjo December 07, 2016

The Islamic State group is seeing some defections in its leadership in Syria as two senior commanders have fled in recent days to territory held by rebels fighting the Syrian regime, local sources and a monitoring group said.

Two high-ranking commanders of Tunisian origin and some close followers with Egyptian backgrounds left the Syrian city of Raqqa, Islamic State's de facto capital, and headed to the rebel-held city of Idlib, in northwestern Syria, according to reports on the ground.

The militant group's "internal situation is getting worse day by day," said Hussam Eesa, spokesman for Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, an activist group that reports on IS movements in the city.

The activist group, which has monitors inside Raqqa, verified the defections of IS commanders, Eesa said.

IS has been attempting to fortify its hold on Raqqa as a Kurdish-dominated militia alliance has mounted a slow assault on villages north of the city once controlled by IS. U.S. jets have bombed the outskirts of the city.

U.S. officials vowed in October that an offensive will clear out IS militants from Raqqa.

Noteworthy defections

The two IS leaders who fled Raqqa "are noteworthy because they are reportedly Tunisian sheikhs who were senior members of IS who helped formulate strategic external attacks in the West," said Nicholas A. Heras, a Middle East researcher at the Washington-based Center for a New American Security.

IS is fighting multiple battles with U.S.-backed Iraqi and Kurdish forces in Syria and Iraq  especially in strongholds in Mosul and around Raqqa. Amid mounting IS casualties in Iraq, there are reports of IS leaders fleeing to Raqqa where dissension among the leadership is reportedly growing over how to fight the battles, analysts say.

"IS has a central leadership in Iraq and Syria," said Sadradeen Kinno, a Syrian reporter who closely follows Islamist groups in the country. "Whenever an internal strife arises, some members want to survive" by leaving, he said.

The two leaders who fled, Abu Zur al-Tunisi and Bilal al-Shawwash, have reportedly joined the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham  formerly known as the al-Nusra Front, which has been fighting against the Syrian government since the country's civil war broke out in 2011.

Idlib province

Fateh al-Sham, which severed ties with al-Qaida in July, controls much of Idlib province and is considered the main Islamist rival to IS in Syria.

The defections "demonstrate that Fateh al-Sham is the organization best positioned to accept any influx of foreign jihadist commanders and their fighters that defect from [IS]," analyst Heras said.

"Global Salafist jihadist operatives, like [the] two Tunisian sheikhs, still view Fateh al-Sham as an al-Qaida organization that is successfully building a safe haven in Syria for them to continue to plan to wage jihad against the West," he said.

The presence of former IS commanders in the rebel group "would encourage many other foreign members [of IS] to defect," Syrian activist Eesa said.

IS has lost several top commanders in U.S. coalition airstrikes. IS this week named Abu Hassan al-Muhajir as its new spokesman, replacing Abu Muhammad al-Adnani who was also killed in a U.S. drone strike near the Syrian town of al-Bab in late August.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Calls Increasing for Immediate Cease-fire in Aleppo

By VOA News December 07, 2016

A coalition of nations, led by the United States, called for an immediate cease-fire in Aleppo and condemned Russia for interfering with attempts to bring humanitarian aid to those civilians trapped in the Syrian city.

"Aleppo is being subjected to daily bombings and artillery attacks by the Syrian regime, supported by Russia and Iran. Hospitals and schools have not been spared. Rather, they appear to be the targets of attack in an attempt to wear people down. The images of dying children are heartbreaking," the group of six nations said in a statement Wednesday.

The leaders of those countries -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Britain, and the U.S. -- called on the Syrian government to agree to the U.N.'s plan in Aleppo and allow humanitarian aid into the city.

Syrian rebels have agreed to a five-day cease-fire to ensure the humanitarian evacuation of civilians from the eastern part of the city.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to hold talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Hamburg, Germany later Wednesday. The two diplomats have held numerous talks in hopes of reaching a diplomatic solution to the civil war.

Kerry who was in Brussels on Tuesday to participate in his final meeting with NATO foreign ministers, said he hopes to relaunch peace talks between the Syrian regime and the opposition, but has received little help from the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

"We have been trying to find a way to get to the negotiating table ... but Assad has never shown any willingness," Kerry said. "Russia says Assad is ready to come to the table... and I am in favor of putting that to the test."

The rebels made the ceasefire proposal Wednesday morning, just hours after Syria's Russian-backed army gained control of at least three-quarters of Aleppo's Old City, which had been under rebel control since 2012.

The rebel factions are proposing that around 500 people needing urgent medical care be evacuated under the supervision of the United Nations. They are also proposing that other civilians who wish to leave be allowed to travel to rural northern Aleppo, where there is no government presence, instead of neighboring Idlib province, which is besieged by Russian airstrikes.

The rebels say once the humanitarian situation has been alleviated, they will discuss the future of Aleppo.

There has been no response from Damascus about the rebels' offer.

The fall of Aleppo's Old City caps a major offensive launched by the army late last month to drive the rebels out of eastern Aleppo and marks a major victory for the government of President Bashar al-Assad in the now five-year-old conflict.

Parts of the historic Old City neighborhood, which was declared a UNESCO Heritage site 30 years ago, were devastated in the takeover, and witnesses say swaths of the historic sector are now virtually unrecognizable.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors and reports on Syria's civil war, says 369 civilians have been killed in the offensive on east Aleppo, including 45 children. Another 92 civilians -- including 34 children -- were killed by rebel shelling on government-held west Aleppo.

U.N. special envoy Stefan de Mistura said last week he expected eastern Aleppo to fall to government forces by the end of December, without a negotiated settlement to end the four-year rebel occupation.

Tens of thousands of civilians are thought to be trapped in eastern Aleppo despite a huge surge of refugees fleeing in the past two weeks for the relative safety of government-controlled western districts.

Monitors last week estimated that 18,000 civilians in the east had moved into western neighborhoods and more than 9,000 others into a Kurdish-controlled district.

In a separate development, Syria's state-run SANA news agency says a military airport located west of the capital of Damascus was hit Wednesday morning by several Israeli surface-to-surface missiles. It was the second such airstrike carried out by Israeli forces on positions outside of Damascus in a week.

Some material for this report came from AP, AFP and Reuters.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






US to let in Taiwan president, rejecting China's request to block visit

Iran Press TV

Wed Dec 7, 2016 2:27PM

The United States government has turned down China's request to block Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen's planned stopover on US soil in the coming weeks, further fueling tensions caused by President-elect Donald Trump's phone call with Tsai.

According to US State Department spokesman Mark Toner, Tsai's trip would be based on "long-standing US practice, consistent with the unofficial nature of relations with Taiwan."

Trump's phone conversation with Tsai on Friday angered the Chinese government, which views Taiwan as a breakaway province awaiting reunification.

The conversation was a first by a US president or president-elect since Washington cut ties with Taiwan in 1979 and committed to the "one-China" principle, which recognizes Taiwan as a part of China.

Following the call, reports emerged that Tsai was going to make a short stop in New York City on her way to the South American countries of Guatemala and El Salvador early next month.

Some reports even stated that her aides were seeking to schedule meetings with Trump and his administration officials, although one Trump adviser said such meetings were "very unlikely."

Infuriated by Trump's move, Beijing urged American officials to avoid sending "any wrong signals to 'Taiwan independence' forces" by letting Tsai in.

According to White House spokesman Josh Earnest, senior National Security Council officials have spoken twice with Chinese officials since the phone call, reassuring them about Washington's commitment to "our longstanding China policy."

"If the president-elect's team has a different aim, I'll leave it to them to describe," he said at a recent media briefing.

US Vice President-elect Mike Pence has also tried to play down the conversation's significance, describing it as nothing but a "courtesy" call from Taipei.

Tsai herself tried to calm the situation in a press conference on Tuesday, telling reporters that she only wanted to congratulate Trump on his November 8 election victory.

"I do not foresee major policy shifts in the near future because we all see the value of stability in the region," she told reporters.

Meanwhile, Trump further distanced himself from years of US political correctness regarding China by accusing Beijing of devaluing its currency and building a "massive" military complex.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Turkey urges extradition of soldiers seeking asylum in Greece

Iran Press TV

Wed Dec 7, 2016 6:51PM

Turkey has demanded the immediate extradition of all the Turkish soldiers who sought asylum in Greece following the July 15 failed coup.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told state-run broadcaster TRT in Brussels on Wednesday that the eight soldiers were involved in the coup attempt, adding, "Our wish is the immediate extradition of these people to Turkey."

The call came a day after a Greek court ruled that three Turkish army officers accused of playing a role in the coup against the administration of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could be extradited to Turkey.

But it had rejected the extradition of another three Turkish military officers on Monday, saying Turkish authorities had not provided sufficient evidence over the officers' involvement in the coup attempt, and that their personal safety was in danger at home.

The Greek court is expected to decide the fate of the remaining two officers on Thursday.

Ankara says the eight, who deny any involvement in the coup attempt, will face prosecution if they return.

Turkey has arrested over 37,000 people and dismissed or suspended more than 100,000 others in the civil service, judiciary, police, military and elsewhere since the abortive putsch.

'150 Turkish officers gone since mid-July'

Meanwhile, NATO's top military commander said on Wednesday that about 150 Turkish officers with the alliance's high command have been recalled or retired in response to the putsch.

US Army General Curtis Scaparrotti said the move had placed "an extra load on our remaining people," and that "it obviously has an impact on their military."

The NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe noted that many of those left were top officers and that filling their lost expertise would take a long time.

"I had talented, capable people here and I'm taking a degradation on my staff," he said.

The number of those purged represents almost half of Turkey's nearly 300-strong officer contingent at NATO's high command in Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands.

Scaparrotti said that the posts of nearly 75 of those who had been recalled or retired had been filled so far.

He stressed that he had no suspicion that any of the Turkish officers might be coup plotters.

Scaparrotti also said that he had talked with Turkey's Chief of Staff General Hulusi Akar about his concerns regarding the officers and their families, and that Akar had assured him that they would receive well treatment.

Western governments and major human rights campaigners have censured Ankara's crackdown, saying the Turkish government has acted beyond the rule of law in its hunt for coup plotters.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Ameriabank: At the Vanguard of Armenia's Banking Sector

STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH

SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS

Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders

PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces

There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan

Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia

Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair

Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan

I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General

I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox

UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS

There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur

EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol  Armenia and Azerbaijan  to do so without delay

An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan".

UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

Google Ad

The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022

Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully

The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces

LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET

STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN

This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan

Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments

Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan

Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement

With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building

OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh
Ukrainian President Rejects Fugitive Lawmaker's Corruption Accusations, But Shock Waves Extend Abroad

RFE/RL December 07, 2016

More than two years after his election to the Ukrainian parliament on a wave of popular anger over political and economic rot in the corridors of power, Oleksandr Onyshchenko, by his own account, got his hands plenty dirty.

The 47-year-old Onyshchenko insists he was a loyal political lieutenant of President Petro Poroshenko, serving as a middleman for the wartime president's inner circle, smearing a prime minister, and ensuring that bribes were paid in good order.

But it all came crashing down for the former Olympic equestrian-turned-politician in July, when his fellow lawmakers consented to the Ukrainian prosecutor-general's request to strip him of his parliamentary immunity to put him on trial for an alleged massive embezzlement scheme involving a state-owned gas company and millions in kickbacks.

Onyshchenko had fled Ukraine weeks earlier and has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence from abroad.

But his counterpunch at Kyiv landed earlier this month, just as the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) launched a treason case against the fugitive legislator.

Onyshchenko told Current Time TV and other media from his self-exile -- he is reportedly seeking political asylum in the United Kingdom -- that he has damning recordings and digital evidence against Poroshenko.

He added that he has handed materials over to the FBI, which falls under the U.S. Department of Justice.

"I gave [the Americans] documents that confirm the corruption of President Poroshenko. That's all," Onyshchenko told Current Time TV, the Russian-language network run by RFE/RL and VOA, in a Skype interview on December 2. He asked that his location not be disclosed, saying he fears for his personal safety.

Poroshenko's office on December 7 dismissed Onyshchenko's accusations as "absolutely false," telling RFE/RL: "They are the expedient fiction of the suspect."

The statement said that Ukrainian authorities suspect Onyshchenko of "having created an organized criminal group" that cost the state some 1.6 billion hryvnyas ($62 million).

"To avoid punishment," the presidential office added, "Mr. Onyshchenko tries to politicize his criminal case and pretends to be a victim of political repressions."

Onyshchenko's accusations are extraordinary, even by the notorious standards of Ukrainian politics. And they are unusual in that he purportedly made audio recordings and kept SMS text messages during his time as a Poroshenko ally.

But what may be the most explosive element to this saga is Onyshchenko's claim that he turned over his materials to the U.S. Justice Department to investigate Poroshenko himself -- the man Washington and much of Europe have thrown their support behind to stabilize the country amid Russian aggression.

"I was there with him for two years. I watched. I followed all negotiations that he did, with [Kyiv Mayor Vitaly] Klitschko [and] with many deputies," Onyshchenko said.

"I was on the president's team, directly fulfilling his orders," he added.

Poroshenko's office rejected any such cooperation in its December 7 statement, saying Onyshchenko "made up a story about 'membership in a team'" and added, "People of such reputation cannot be members of a team."

U.S. authorities have refused to comment on Onyshchenko's claim that he turned over documents or audio recordings. The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv referred all questions to the U.S. Justice Department.

In Washington, Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr refused to confirm or deny specifically whether the department had received any materials or met with Onyshchenko.

"Speaking generally, it is common for individuals to request to meet with the Justice Department to provide information -- and while department prosecutors and law-enforcement agents will attempt to meet to gather potential information on alleged violations of U.S. law, the mere fact of a meeting is not an indication that such violations have occurred or that the individual's information is considered to be accurate," Carr told RFE/RL in an e-mail.

Ukraine's ambassador to the United States, Valeriy Chaly, declined to say whether he knew if Onyshchenko had indeed provided materials to the Justice Department.

Ukraine is regularly ranked among the most corrupt countries in the world and allegations of double dealing, inflated contracts, bribery, and other claims among business and political elites are common.

International financial institutions have warned Kyiv that its lack of reform and persistent corruption threaten billions in crucial aid that has helped keep the country afloat since its invasion by Russian forces to seize Crimea in 2014 and a continuing war against Russia-backed separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine.

Poroshenko has also faced repeated allegations of corruption, many dating to business holdings that have included chocolate manufacturer Roshen and the Channel Five TV station.

The taint has led to the resignation of several prominent ministers and other leading officials who were brought in by Poroshenko to help clean up the country's books and its image.

In February, Lithuanian-born Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius announced his resignation, citing a "sharp escalation in efforts to block systemic and important reforms."

Mikheil Saakashvili, the boisterous former Georgian president who was brought on by Poroshenko to govern the Odesa region, resigned last month and accused Poroshenko of dishonesty and of sabotaging crucial reforms.

For his part, Onyshchenko entered parliament in 2014 as a member of Poroshenko's political faction.

He reportedly fled the country in June amid word of a criminal investigation into his businesses, including an alleged huge natural-gas fraud at a state energy company.

In July, lawmakers stripped him of his parliamentary immunity, opening the way for criminal prosecution.

In his interview with RFE/RL's Current Time TV, Onyshchenko said he was directly responsible for fulfilling Poroshenko's orders.

He said that included a complex scheme to drive down the approval ratings of Ukraine's prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, to make way for a Poroshenko ally. Yatsenyuk was a technocrat respected by the West but seen in some Ukrainian business circles as an obstacle to the kind of shady side deals that flabbergast would-be reformers.

"During this period, it was necessary to shore up [Poroshenko's] power, since, when he became president, power was in effect held by the prime minister," Onyshchenko told Current Time TV. "That is, the entire cabinet practically answered to Yatsenyuk. Poroshenko, accordingly, considered Yatsenyuk his enemy, a person who bothers him, who interferes..."

Yatsenyuk resigned in April and was followed by Volodymyr Hroysman, a member of the ruling Petro Poroshenko Bloc seen by some as politically indebted to the president.

Poroshenko's popularity has waned as Ukrainians battle economic hardship fueled in part by Russia's land grab in Crimea and Kyiv's continuing fight against Russia-backed separatists.

But he has seen high-profile setbacks of late, including revelations that he avoided declaring a luxury Spanish villa in asset declarations and failure so far in his effort to reach a deal with the European Union on visa-free travel to the bloc for Ukrainians.

Still, a November poll by the Kyiv-based Razumkov Center suggested that if presidential elections were held today in Ukraine, Poroshenko would lead vote-getters with around 16 percent, followed by former Orange Revolution leader and ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko (11.5 percent) and former Energy Minister and Opposition Bloc leader Yuriy Boyko (9.4 percent).

Based on an interview for Current Time TV by Timur Olevskiy and Saken Aymurzaev, with reporting by RFE/RL correspondents Christopher Miller in Kyiv and Mike Eckel in Washington and contributions by Andy Heil in Prague

Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-onyshchenko- corruption-allegations-shock-waves- poroshenko-ally/28161883.html

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Armenias Reputation and Russias Games in Syria

It seems Armenia is getting involved in yet another dangerous game. Armenia is receiving delegations from Syria, and Russian media are spreading news that Armenian peacekeepers may get involved in the Syrian conflict. Government of Syria and the Autonomy of Armenia On November 29, Deputy Head of RA National Assembly Eduard Sharmazanov received Syrian Parliament Deputies Omar al Arabi and Alan Bakr. During this meeting, Sharmazanov emphasized Armenias position on fight against terrorism and assured that Armenian lawmakers are ready to raise their voices for peaceful resolution of Syrian conflict in various international platforms. Such statements are interesting, considering that any discussion on Syria in international platforms is a very sensitive business. Thus, the question is what Sharmazanov meant by the phrase their voices. If it is only about condemning terrorism, then everything seems to be clear. All the countries condemn terrorism. But if the raised voice is in protection of the Syrian Government, it may become yet another dangerous game for Armenia since the conflict in that country began because of lack of democracy and violence used against peaceful protests. But this game is first and foremost dangerous in that it may once again show to international diplomatic cycles that Armenia is a toy in the hands of Russia deprived of autonomy and independent foreign policy. Armenian Peacekeepers and Moscows Games On November 30, Russian prestigious Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper published an article about the Syrian conflict in which it did not exclude the possibility that in the near future the existing forces in the country may be joined by some of ally countries of Syria and Russia. Armenia is mentioned in the list of those allies. Moreover, it is not the first time when Russian media spread such news. Russian media have been encouraging RA peacekeepers participation in the Syrian conflict since 2014. Hence, there is a possibility that the purpose of the article in the Nezavisimaya Gazeta is simply trying to check Armenian sides reaction or present Armenia as a subject of Russia in the eyes of the international community. Though the possibility of that statement being true is low, it is definitely dangerous for the international image of Armenia both in the west and in the east. Besides, such a scenario would attract the attention of Islamic countries to Armenia. Considering the fact that Armenia has previously been criticized for its conflict with Azerbaijan, getting involved in the Syrian conflict would not be a very sensible decision. Instead of sending peacekeepers to Syria with Moscows incitement, Armenia had better help Syrian Armenians move to Armenia as the current situation there still leaves much to be desired. In sum, it is worthy to note that Russia is trying to involve Armenia in the Syrian conflict in order to legitimize its actions in Syria. But this is an extremely dangerous game for Armenias international image and security. Anna Pambukhchyan Union of Informed Citizens
MARTINSVILLE  A member of the General Assembly could soon serve as chairman of the New College Institutes Board of Directors. The group will meet on Friday to consider the proposal, which would require changes to NCIs bylaws.

It is not customary for lawmakers to chair boards that oversee higher education institutions, said state Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Mount Solon. Hanger is a current member of the NCI board.

While it may not be normal, Hanger and other board members feel that having a lawmaker chair NCIs board would help the institute stay abreast of legislative issues that may affect it, as well as keep General Assembly members informed of its progress, as it evolves.

Hanger said that he, state Sen. Bill Stanley and Del. Charles Poindexter, both Franklin County Republicans, and Del. Danny Marshall, R-Danville, have discussed the idea since NCIs last board meeting in late October.

Concern about the chairmans seat arose then as board member Gracie Agnews term as chairman was expiring, Hanger said.

Plans were to appoint a new chairman at the last meeting but except for lawmakers, we didnt feel like we had members with (enough) experience in being involved with NCI to serve in that role, he said.

Agnew, the retired principal of Magna Vista High School, was appointed chairman shortly after she began serving on the board, Hanger recalled.

She agreed to continue serving as chairman until a new one is appointed, he said.

Who will become the next chairman remains to be decided.

Hanger said he thinks Stanley would accept the post. Stanley could not be reached for comment Wednesday night. A recording on his cell phone stated  as it often does  that his voice mail was full and could not accept further messages.

Asked if he is interested, Hanger said probably not.

My plate is probably full already with other commitments, he said.

And, I would defer to someone (living) in the region to fill that seat, Hanger said. Someone from the region is more familiar with the regions needs and how they could affect NCI, he added.

Questions also remain as to what NCIs future looks like. Established in 2006, NCI provides local access to various bachelors and masters degree programs offered by partner colleges and universities statewide plus training and professional development programs, all of which are intended to be responsive to needs of businesses and industries in the region.

In that October meeting, board members heard multiple proposals. The first involves becoming a satellite campus of Longwood University. The second would be to keep NCI as a multi-university center. The third involves sharing governance with similar schools in Southern Virginia, including the Southern Virginia Higher Education Center in South Boston and the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in Danville. The fourth option would be to become affiliated with the Virginia Community College System.

Hanger said the board has to sort out with The Harvest Foundation and the New College Foundation (NCIs private fundraising arm) the direction in which we need to go, before anything else happens.

But as soon as that direction is decided upon, we need to get on with it, he said.

NCI was established with the mission of increasing the number of people in Southern Virginia  the only region of the state without a four-year university  with college degrees. Statistics at the time showed that only about 11 percent of the regions adults had degrees. That was the lowest percentage of any region statewide. There are two private institutions in the area, Averett University in Danville and Ferrum College in Franklin County, but educators and local lawmakers have raised concerns about only having private schools in the area, as they can be costlier than public colleges.

Hanger said there is no real consensus among lawmakers as to how NCI should evolve.

But support for the mission still remains, he said. Its just making sure theres a clear mission.
Former Halifax County Chamber of Commerce President Nancy Pool didnt stay retired very long.

On Friday, the Halifax County Industrial Development Authority board member informed fellow members she has been offered a part-time, paid position with Go Virginia, a regional organization promoting private-sector investment (as opposed to government-subsidized growth), a diverse economy, regional collaboration and the use of state government as a catalyst and partner diversity.

Pool, who says the opportunity is very new and that she will have more details after a first meeting with Go Virginia officials next week, will be part of the Go Virginia steering committee for Southern Virginia.

Pool, who has 35 years of experience supporting local businesses as president of the local chamber, says she believes she was chosen to represent this area because not only does she understand regional cooperationshe also knows many business leaders across the region and has worked with them one-on-one over the years.

IDA Chair Butch Blanks congratulated Pool on her new position, saying it was clear Go Virginia had made a wise choice in her appointment.

Board member W. W. Ted Bennett also congratulated Pool, saying Were more respectful of the leadership now that theyve picked you.

Bennett also said that Pools presence on the Go Virginia steering committee might allow IDA to use them as a resource and that Virginia Economic Development Partnerships in rural areas are more dependent on strong regional networks than localities boasting higher density populations.

While there was no other significant new business to take care of during the monthly IDA meeting, Prospect and Personnel Committee Chair Chris Lumsden told members there has been significant and positive activity regarding both property and prospects.

Executive Director Matt Leonard indicated he has been attending regional and statewide conferences on growth strategies.

Staying appraised of what stakeholders are doing, said Leonard, is critical to mission success.

Members also were updated on the new lighting system scheduled to be installed in the IDA parking area.

Deputy Director Kristy Johnson said she is waiting for fixtures to come in and waiting for the electrical contractor, who is currently busy installing Christmas lighting.

Also during the Friday morning meeting, board members discussed moving their organizational meeting, usually held in June, back to March, so new board members can assume their new duties and offices sooner rather than later.

Leonard ended the meeting by addressing the need for a specific code of ethics and a statement of values.

Although IDA consistently follows best practices, said Leonard, a fully fleshed out code could help us stay focused on the work and help with the strategic plan update.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Dec 8, 2016) - Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (NYSE:FSM)(TSX:FVI) - Mr. Jorge A. Ganoza, President, CEO and Director of Fortuna, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Alfredo Sillau to the Board of Directors of the Company.

Mr. Sillau is Managing Partner, CEO and Director of Faro Capital, an investment management firm that manages private equity and real estate funds. Previously, Alfredo headed the business development in Peru for Compass Group, a regional investment management firm, until late 2011. As CEO of Compass, Mr. Sillau actively took part in the structuring, promoting and management of investment funds with approximately US$500 million in assets under management. Mr. Sillau is a Harvard graduate and board member of Cosapi S.A., the second largest engineering and construction firm in Peru, and of Pecsa S.A., a company that operates gas stations in Peru.

Mr. Ganoza also announces that the company has promoted Mr. Eric Chapman, Corporate Head of Technical Services of Fortuna, to the new position of Vice President of Technical Services effective January 1, 2017.

Mr. Chapman is a resource geologist with 15 years' experience in the mining industry who has provided technical guidance to Fortuna since 2011. Prior to joining the company, Eric was a Senior Consultant to Snowden Mining Industry Consultants working on a variety of mine and exploration projects in Africa and the Americas. Mr. Chapman has a B.Sc. in Geology from the University of Southampton in the UK, and an M.Sc. in Mining Geology from the Camborne School of Mines. Eric is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, being a Chartered Geologist (C.Geol) of the Geological Society of London and a Professional Geoscientist (P.Geo) of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia.

Simon Ridgway, Chairman of the Board of Fortuna, commented, "I want to extend a warm welcome to Alfredo and look forward to his contributions." Mr. Ridgway continued, "Exciting times for Fortuna as we continue diligently working towards a construction decision next year on the Lindero gold Project located in the Salta Province, Argentina."

Fortuna Silver Mines Inc.

Fortuna is a growth oriented, precious and base metals producer focused on mining opportunities in Latin America. Our primary assets are the Caylloma silver Mine in southern Peru, the San Jose silver-gold Mine in Mexico and the Lindero gold Project in Argentina. The company is selectively pursuing acquisition opportunities throughout the Americas and in select other areas. For more information, please visit our website at www.fortunasilver.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Jorge A. Ganoza

President, CEO and Director

Fortuna Silver Mines Inc.

Trading symbols: NYSE: FSM / TSX: FVI

Forward looking Statements

This news release contains forward looking statements which constitute "forward looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and "forward looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, "Forward looking Statements"). All statements included herein, other than statements of historical fact, are Forward looking Statements and are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those reflected in the Forward looking Statements. The Forward looking Statements in this news release include, without limitation, statements about the Company's plans for its mines and mineral properties; the Company's business strategy, plans and outlook; the merit of the Company's mines and mineral properties; the future financial or operating performance of the Company; and proposed expenditures. Often, but not always, these Forward looking Statements can be identified by the use of words such as "estimated", "potential", "open", "future", "assumed", "projected", "used", "detailed", "has been", "gain", "planned", "reflecting", "will", "containing", "remaining", "to be", or statements that events, "could" or "should" occur or be achieved and similar expressions, including negative variations.

Forward looking Statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the Forward looking Statements. Such uncertainties and factors include, among others, changes in general economic conditions and financial markets; changes in prices for silver and other metals; technological and operational hazards in Fortuna's mining and mine development activities; risks inherent in mineral exploration; uncertainties inherent in the estimation of mineral reserves, mineral resources, and metal recoveries; governmental and other approvals; political unrest or instability in countries where Fortuna is active; labor relations issues; as well as those factors discussed under "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Information Form. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in Forward looking Statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended.

Forward looking Statements contained herein are based on the assumptions, beliefs, expectations and opinions of management, including but not limited to expectations regarding the Company's plans for its mines and mineral properties; mine production costs; expected trends in mineral prices and currency exchange rates; the accuracy of the Company's current mineral resource and reserve estimates; that the Company's activities will be in accordance with the Company's public statements and stated goals; that there will be no material adverse change affecting the Company or its properties; that all required approvals will be obtained; that there will be no significant disruptions affecting operations and such other assumptions as set out herein. Forward looking Statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any Forward looking Statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by law. There can be no assurance that Forward looking Statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on Forward looking Statements.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MGX Minerals Inc. (MGX or the Company) (CSE:XMG) / (FKT:1MG) / (OTC:MGXMF) is pleased to report the Company has entered into a water sampling and analyses agreement (the Agreement) with the operating oil company (the Operator) of the Sturgeon Lake oilfield (Sturgeon Lake or the Property). The Agreement covers water sampling at the wellhead and central collection points and lays the groundwork for future cooperation between MGX and the Operator at Sturgeon Lake.



The Property is located directly south and west of the Town of Valleyview, approximately 85 kilometers east of the city of Grande Prairie and 270 kilometers northwest of the capital city of Edmonton, Alberta. MGX holds 15 contiguous Industrial and Metallic Mineral Permits encompassing 132,773.74 hectares (328,091.06 acres).

The mineral permits overlie the Sturgeon Lake oilfield, which has been producing hydrocarbons since the mid-1950s from the Devonian Leduc Formation at depths of approximately 2,500 m to 3,100 m below surface. Metallic mineralization on the property consists of lithium-enriched formation water, or brine, that is hosted in aquifers within Devonian Leduc Formation carbonate reef complexes.

Historical 1990s to 2010s government studies reported that brine geochemical fluid data from the Devonian aquifers associated with the Leduc Formation have anomalous values of lithium (e.g., greater than 75 mg/L and up to 140 mg/L lithium) along with other elements (e.g., potassium; boron; and bromine).

In 2011, Lithium Exploration Group Inc. sampled and analyzed brine from 60 separate wells within the Sturgeon Lake oilfield (and within the boundaries of the permit area acquired by MGX). Of the 62 brine samples collected, 47 were collected from the Leduc Formation. Other samples included brine from: Mississippian (1 sample from Banff), Triassic (11 samples from Montney, Spray River and undefined), Jurassic (1 sample from Nordegg) and Cretaceous (2 samples from Wapiabi, Gething) strata.

The analytical results showed that the Devonian Leduc aquifer contains brine that is significantly enriched in lithium in comparison to the Triassic to Cretaceous brine. Lithium Exploration Group Inc. reported that the Leduc Formation brine from the Sturgeon Lake oilfield contained up to:

- 83.7 mg/L lithium (average 67 mg/L lithium);

- 6,470 mg/L potassium (average 4,641 mg/L potassium);

- 137 mg/L boron (average 114 mg/L boron); and

- 394 mg/L bromine (average 394 mg/L bromine); note: one mg/L is equal to one ppm).

These values supported and confirmed the government published lithium-enriched formation waters within the boundaries of the Sturgeon Lake Property. Lithium Exploration Group Inc.s historical brine sampling and chemical analysis, which was overseen by APEX Geoscience Ltd., was conducted by Maxxam Environmental (Maxxam) of Edmonton, Alberta. Maxxam is an accredited laboratory with the Standards Council of Canada (Laboratory No. 160; valid to 2019-03- 06) and with the Canadian Association for Laboratory Accreditation (Membership No. 2996; valid to 2017-06- 08), where Maxxams standard conforms to requirements of ISO.IEC 17025.

Sturgeon Lake represents a primary candidate for deployment of a pilot plant test unit now under construction (see press release dated November 14, 2016).

Qualified Person

The technical portions of the press release were prepared by Roy Eccles (P. Geo.) of APEX Geoscience Ltd., and have been reviewed by Andris Kikauka (P. Geo.), Vice President of Exploration for MGX Minerals. Mr. Kikauka is a non-independent Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument (N.I.) 43-101 Standards.

About MGX Minerals

MGX Minerals (CSE: XMG) is a diversified Canadian mining company engaged in the development of large-scale industrial mineral portfolios in western Canada. The Company operates lithium, magnesium and silicon projects throughout British Columbia and Alberta. MGX recently released a maiden N.I. 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate for its Driftwood Creek magnesium project, which outlined 8 million tonnes grading 43.31% magnesium oxide. In January the Company received a 20-year Mining Lease for Driftwood Creek. Additionally, the Company recently acquired the Sturgeon Lake lithium brine project in west-central Alberta, increasing the Company's lithium brine land position to over 376,000 hectares throughout the Province. For further information, please visit the Company's website at www.mgxminerals.com.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.



Forward-Looking Statements



This press release contains forward-looking information or forward-looking statements including the completion of the rights offering (collectively "forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "potentially" and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking information as a result of various factors. The reader is referred to the Company's public filings for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects which may be accessed through the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.



Contact Information

Jared Lazerson

Chief Executive Officer

Telephone: 1.604.681.7735

Email: jared@mgxminerals.com


Critics and supporters of Donald Trumps deal that kept Carrier Corp. from exporting hundreds of jobs from Indiana to Mexico have spent much of the past week arguing about how many jobs the deal actually saved.But what the public will likely never know is how much the deal helps the air conditioning companys annual state tax bill. It's information that's typically not released but can reveal whether a tax incentive has the potential to bring a business' state tax burden down to zero.Last week, President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who is still serving as governor of Indiana, announced a deal with Carrier that they say will keep 1,100 jobs in the state in exchange for $7 million in tax breaks over a decade. Since the announcement, unions have refuted the jobs number and said its closer to 800 since Carrier still plans to export 500 jobs to Mexico.While its likely that Trump, Pence and others involved in the negotiation know what Carrier pays in Indiana taxes, lawmakers who have to sign off on the state budget typically dont have all the information.Thats standard practice, said Washington state Sen. Reuven Carlyle, who has been a leading force in his state for more transparency about corporate tax incentives."Every state deals with a torrent of lobbyists arguing for a tax break, but what those same state legislators don't always have is the contextual data," said Carlyle. "To say how much overall $7 million is compared to [Carrier's] net tax burden -- that would be transformational in a public dialogue about state tax breaks and these deals.Thomas Cafcas, a research analyst for Good Jobs First, an organization that advocates for tax transparency, agrees.The idea that these tax breaks can effectively wipe out what these companies pay in state taxes can be critical."When lawmakers approve tax credits, they are told the money is a vital incentive. But they don't know what that really means to the company or even if the company really needs it. Perhaps the taxpayer money would have been put to better use elsewhere.In Illinois, companies as a whole routinely claim just a fraction of the state's Growing Economy program tax credits -- leading Cafcas to ponder if it's because some companies don't have any more taxes in the state to offset.What is public information is a company's federal tax liability. Carrier's parent company, United Technologies, paid about $1 billion in 2015, and its total state and local taxes were about $70 million. This information is published in the companys annual earnings statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. But the data doesnt break down into state-by-state tax payments.When it comes to releasing state or local tax payments, most companies say doing so would violate privacy rules or reveal proprietary information. But its not an argument tax transparency advocates readily believe, given that a small number of places do publish this information.Wisconsin, for instance, will release a state-based companys annual tax payment if it's receiving a state subsidy -- but it only gives the information to Wisconsin residents, said Cafcas. The unique statewide disclosure is the reason it's known that Wisconsin-based SC Johnson, the cleaning supplies company, didnt pay state income taxes for more than a decade.Whats more common is that a companys tax benefits are disclosed on a deal-by-deal basis. Some places have attempted to make companies state tax liabilities part of the tax incentive disclosure process, but that has proved difficult. Efforts to do so in Oregon and Washington state in recent years have been stymied.In the meantime, when it comes to deals like the Carrier one, taxpayers and lawmakers are simply left to wonder. Casting a cloud of doubt over deals like this one is the fact that its parent company has been repeatedly identified by another transparency group, Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ), as a corporate tax dodger . According to CTJs latest data, United Technologies average effective tax rate is just 11 percent, while its total state tax rate has been as low as 2 percent in some years.At a time when state tax revenues are slowing, said Good Jobs First Executive Director Greg LeRoy, putting these deals in context is imperative.If were going to have an honest debate about austerity and sharing the burden, he said, this is part of it because then we can decide if things are fair.
Disaster deductibles

Who the hell are you planning for?

Managing for the mission

Preparing for change

During his eight years leading the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Craig Fugate has made changes both big and small to how the federal government -- and, by extension, states and localities -- respond to disasters.He required the agencys websites to be mobile-friendly so survivors can get the information they need if all they have left is the clothes they're wearing and belongings they could carry. He made sure all new hires -- even those who review grants or work in human relations -- understand they can be deployed to the field when a major disaster hits. He even championed policies to let emergency responders bring dogs and other family pets along during evacuations.Now, Fugate is pushing one more change, one that could fundamentally alter the federal governments relationship with states and localities when disaster strikes. He wants to impose disaster deductibles on states as a way to control the spiraling cost of them for the federal government as well as incentivize states to prevent and prepare for disasters.The current system is basically all-or-nothing, Fugate told. It treats all states the same. It doesnt recognize states that do things to buy down future risk, and it doesnt do anything to provide incentives to states [to mitigate disaster risks].Fugate and FEMA first raised the issue and asked for comments in January. Now that the agency has collected those responses, FEMA plans to issue a more detailed proposal by the end of the year. That would leave any final decision to Fugates successor in the Donald Trump administration, who has yet to be named.In a nearly hour-long interview withlast week, Fugate, who began his career as a volunteer firefighter and led Floridas emergency management agency before joining FEMA in 2009, discussed the disaster deductibles, along with changes FEMA made under his watch that he hopes his successor in the Trump administration continues.Below are the highlights from that conversation.Even before Fugate took over, critics complained that disaster relief costs the federal government too much money. There have been 13 disasters since 2000 that have each cost FEMA more than $500 million, and FEMAs disaster-relief budget now exceeds $5 billion a year -- more than double what it was at the beginning of the Obama administration.Some federal watchdogs, including FEMAs inspector general and the Government Accountability Office (GAO), have suggested that FEMA raise the threshold for the amount of damage required before a state can qualify for a presidential disaster declaration. The damage thresholds depend on a states population: This year, the rate is $1.43 per resident. The watchdog agencies have suggested doubling or even tripling that rate so states would have to cover the full costs of more disasters on their own.Currently, when states get a presidential disaster declaration, the federal government reimburses them for 75 percent of their costs for qualifying expenses.But Fugate wants states to chip in a certain amount of money -- a deductible -- before they can get a presidential declaration. FEMA would be able to reduce those deductibles for states that took steps to lower the costs of disasters by, for example, imposing more stringent building codes in coastal areas or thinning forests where wildfires are likely.Its sort of like for a homeowners policy. If you have an alarm system, you get a discount. If you have a fire extinguisher in the kitchen, you get a discount. We would be looking at giving discounts based on what states do, he said.The way Fugate envisions it, states would get credit for their preventative measures, even if they didnt apply to the current disaster facing a state. So a governor who wanted assistance for flooding would still get credit if his or her state took steps to minimize the threat of forest fires.States were standoffish after FEMA first unveiled the deductible concept in January. They pointed out that they already have an incentive to minimize disaster costs because they pay a quarter of them. The National Association of Counties outright opposed the idea.Fugate recognizes the opposition, but he encouraged state and local officials not to dismiss the underlying concerns that the federal government has increasingly shouldered more of the cost of disaster relief.You may not like what I propose, he recalls telling a gathering of state emergency management officials recently, but you need to come to a response to this ... If not this, what do you propose?The controversy is tightly tied to a long-running dispute with states over how FEMA determines what qualifies for a presidential disaster declaration. The 1998 Stafford Act outlines a number of considerations the agency is supposed to use, but in practice, it uses only one: the per-capita expenses. The GAO has criticized the practice, and the Stafford Act itself prohibits awarding disaster declarations solely by virtue of an arithmetic formula or sliding scale based on income or population.Fugate, though, defended the heavy reliance on the per-capita factor, even as he acknowledged that it's a crude measure.Its easy, and people understand it. Theres nothing magical about it, he said. By looking at each state the same way, there seems to be fairness there.One recurring theme of Fugates tenure has been the need for emergency management officials to plan for circumstances that would stretch their resources, not just ones that they could handle easily.Take the issue of evacuating pets. By some accounts, more than half the people who refused to evacuate during Hurricane Katrina stayed because they wanted to be with their pets. The ensuing outrage prompted Congress to pass a law in 2006 requiring emergency management officials to plan for pet evacuations too. To Fugate, the idea that rescuers at one point were instructed not to take pets with them showed how out of touch disaster planning had become.Sometimes when you deal with monolithic federal bureaucracies," he said, "easy, simple things become stupid. The reality is, that pets part of the family. People will not evacuate. Why make people make those hard and sometimes bad decisions?Attitudes have changed in the decade since Katrina. During Hurricane Matthew this year, search and rescue teams helped families evacuate with their pets -- as long as the animals werent dangerous. They even picked up a few abandoned dogs, some of them swimming in floodwaters, and turned them over to local humane societies.But it wasnt just pets that were treated as an afterthought when Fugate first came to FEMA.Emergency planners often focused their attention on serving able-bodied adults. In fact, FEMA required planners to address the easy issues in their main plans and all of the harder cases separately. That meant officials were making separate contingency plans for helping seniors, children and people with disabilities.My question was, 'Who the hell are you planning for? Thats over half your population,' said Fugate.But during his eight-year tenure, he said emergency management agencies have made big strides, in particular, with disabled populations. As FEMA made disaster planning for people with disabilities a priority, Fugate said most states also came around, and many now exceed what the federal government itself is doing.Fugate traces much of FEMAs improvement to paying attention to basic management practices.We found that in too many cases, we were taking shortcuts or working in crisis mode, he said. Some of this basic management stuff that may not seem sexy to you, because it aint about a disaster response, is critical.One of the first things Fugate noticed, for example, was that not all of the job descriptions for employees spelled out that they could be deployed to a disaster area. Fugate made sure that changed, requiring all new hires to "sign a statement that goes in their personnel file that acknowledges that they are, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, on call to support the nation in a time of crisis, he said.No exceptions. Everybody is going to be an emergency manager.Over the years, that policy paid off. It, of course, gave FEMA more people to dispatch for major events like Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Many employees also appreciated the opportunity to serve in a time of need, and when they returned to their regular jobs afterward, they had a better sense of how their work fit into the agencys mission.Fugate also instituted a formal two-week onboarding process for employees that also sought to teach new hires about how they supported the agencys mission. Standardizing roles and credentials made it easier to determine what tasks to assign to FEMA employees when they arrived at a disaster scene.Another major shift was in telework. Promoting the idea that people could work remotely allowed the agency to save money on pricey office space in Washington, D.C., at a time of shrinking budgets, and the shift also prepared employees to do their work remotely if they were dispatched to disaster relief.Fugate has also pushed to make the process of interacting with FEMA more intuitive. Often, survivors are asked for the same information over and over again after a disaster, and theyre left to try to navigate myriad disaster-related programs on their own.When theres a disaster, when people are having the worst day of their life, they dont need instructions on how to get help. They just need to make contact, he said. They shouldnt have to figure out FEMA. We should figure out what our programs could do for them.Fugate, a Democrat who has been the head of FEMA for the entire Obama administration, will be stepping down from the role this January. Its a decision, he said, that he made before he knew the results of the presidential election.So far, he's made no other plans after that.In our world, youve got to stay focused on the right now. Earthquakes dont have a season. Disasters are unpredictable, he said. When you start thinking about what youre doing next, you forget what youre supposed to be doing right now.As Fugate prepares to turn the helm of FEMA to a new team, he said his focus has been on developing materials for the new administration that will explain why FEMA under his watch has done things the way they have."[Political] transitions tend to be the most vulnerable time for outside actors to disrupt or interfere with our system of peaceful transfer of governance."But even after nearly a decade in the federal government, Fugate is a firm believer that the system works best when states lead in times of disaster.Disasters are a state-led, federally supported event, he said. It may be seductively easy to say we could take over [a disaster response] at the federal level. Its the worst thing we could do. If the federal government takes on a national role, we become that single point of failure in a large-scale crisis.
Description

GIS  08 December, 2016: Eradicating absolute poverty is a daring objective and the Social Integration and Empowerment Bill is all about empowering the needy instead of assisting them, said the Minister of Social Integration and Economic Empowerment, Mr Prithvirajsing Roopun, on 6 December 2016 at the National Assembly.

The Minister was summing up debates on the Social Integration and Empowerment Bill which was voted with amendments.

According to Mr Roopun, the road from assistance to empowerment is not an easy one and requires a lot of determination and willpower. We will have to make the poor our partners; motivate and encourage them, through empowerment programmes, designed as per their specific needs, to recover self-esteem, practice self-help, and apply the social skills needed to build a better future, he stressed.

The Bill

The main objective of the Bill is to promote social integration and empowerment of persons living in absolute poverty within the philosophy of Government to enhance social justice and national unity.

The Bill provides for the setting up of empowerment programmes and schemes to encourage the extreme poor to move out of the poverty trap and facilitate their integration in mainstream society.

The Social Register of Mauritius (SRM) will provide the database for enforcement of the provision of the new legislation which also defines the role and function of the National Empowerment Foundation. Set up since 2012, the SRM lists out potential and actual beneficiaries of social programmes.

Beneficiaries will be required to enter into a social contract with the relevant authority.

Marshall Plan

It is recalled that Government is committed to promote social justice, eliminate extreme poverty and give equal chances to people of different levels of social development. To that end, a medium to long term Marshall Plan to combat poverty and social exclusion in Mauritius and Rodrigues, is being elaborated. The Ministry of Social Integration and Economic Empowerment is leading the preparation of the Marshall plan, with the UNDP providing technical assistance.
Description

GIS - 08 December, 2016: Women have a big role to play in the development of Mauritius and their contribution to the economy is significant, said the Minister of Social Security, National Solidarity and Reform Institutions, Mrs Fazila Jeewa-Daureeawoo, today in Pointe aux Piments. Women have a big role to play in the development of Mauritius and their contribution to the economy is significant, said the Minister of Social Security, National Solidarity and Reform Institutions, Mrs Fazila Jeewa-Daureeawoo, today in Pointe aux Piments.

The Minister was addressing some 200 trainees who were presented certificates during a National Award Ceremony held at the Lady Sushil Ramgoolam Recreation Centre in the presence of other personalities.

The event was also marked by a fashion show to showcase the trainees talent and skills that they have acquired following their successful completion of training courses in dressmaking, jewellery and craft-making. The courses were held in different Social Welfare Centres (SWCs) around the country.

In her speech, Mrs Jeewa-Daureeawoo highlighted the need for aspiring entrepreneurs to consider legal and financial aspects before starting a business as a lot of entrepreneurs are not able to gauge the aftermath effects of a failure in business. She thus appealed to aspiring entrepreneurs to opt for small scale loans which can be easily paid off in case of business failure.

Moreover, the Minister emphasised the importance for Social Welfare and Community Centres to be more disability-friendly so as to encourage a greater number of disabled persons take up training in various courses and later, become entrepreneurs themselves. The continuous support of the public and private sectors and other non-governmental organisations is essential in that endeavour, Mrs Jeewa-Daureeawoo added.

About SWCs

It is recalled that t he 57 SWCs, set up under the Social Welfare Centres Act 1961, have as objectives to further health, advance education, and provide facilities for training as well as for social, moral and intellectual development.

SWCs Intervention pillars include: sensitisation programmes on various social and health related issues ( substance abuse, consumers protection right, values, and healthy lifestyle); vocational Skills (training in about dressmaking courses and computer literacy programmes); and, income-generating activities (Regional and National Sales Exhibition, and Foire Artisanales).
Description

GIS - 08 December, 2016: An Open Dialogue meeting on Sustainable Tourism and Hospitality was held yesterday at the University of Mauritius (UoM) in Reduit in the context of the first anniversary of Knowledge Transfer Office (KTO) set up in 2015 in line with the UoM Strategic Plan 2015-2020. An Open Dialogue meeting on Sustainable Tourism and Hospitality was held yesterday at the University of Mauritius (UoM) in Reduit in the context of the first anniversary of Knowledge Transfer Office (KTO) set up in 2015 in line with the UoM Strategic Plan 2015-2020.

The Minister of Technology, Communication and Innovation, Mr Etienne Sinatambou and other eminent personalities attended the opening ceremony of the meeting. The theme of the meeting was Paving the Way Forward. It was organised at the initiative of the UoM in joint collaboration with the KTO and the International Centre for Sustainable Tourism and Hospitality.

The KTO eventually aims at becoming a research-led university and innovation-driver for industries and a research dissemination platform for knowledge transfer between UoM and other stakeholders for a sustainable society.

Several stakeholders from the Government and parastatal bodies, hotels, NGOs and training centres participated in the Open Dialogue meeting. The objective was to discuss the findings of researchers, on emerging issues and upcoming needs of the tourism sector and keep participants updated on the several research works currently undertaken by researchers at the UoM.

Moreover, it aimed at strengthening the link between researchers and external stakeholders for an enhanced collaboration and for more consultations in the tourism sector.

In his address, the Minister of Technology, Communication and Innovation, Mr Etienne Sinatambou, stressed on the fundamental role of the KTO which has changed to a model of innovation from a traditional one consisting of the Public and Private sector. According to him, we have moved from that dual-approach to a triple elite model consisting of the Public, Private and Academic institutions.

Furthermore, he pointed out that we should identify potential use of research work to improve the socio-cultural and economic sustainability for the better future of the country. In this regard, he underpinned the importance of the Business Process Outsourcing as a valuable sector amongst others that can contribute to the economic growth of Mauritius.

For her part, the Vice-Chancellor of the UoM, Mrs Romeela Mohee, recalled that KTO has been established as one of the key actions of the strategic directions to promote excellence in Research and Innovation by assisting researchers in knowledge transfer, research uptake and Intellectual Property Rights issues.

She underlined the importance of research which over the past decades has multiplied. KTO will strive to assist researchers in protecting, disseminating and commercialising their research output, she added.

A UoM Doctoral Graduates Booklet (1992-2016) was also launched on the occasion. The booklet is dedicated to all female PhD holders from UoM and aims at building awareness about womens academic position and achievement in Mauritian Society and ensures that the research undertaken by women PhD holders from the UoM gets the necessary exposure and raises the visibility of their work.
(TNS) -- Haverhill, Mass., is welcoming a new high-speed broadband internet provider, while city officials discuss ways to meet the current and future broadband needs of residents and businesses.City Council President John Michitson said Verizon Wireless recently installed 23 "small cells" (short range mobile cell sites) atop utility poles throughout the downtown, in residential neighborhoods in the center of the city, on River Street and in the Riverside neighborhood as part of its Next Generation high-speed internet service.He said that in place of running fiber optic wires to each home, Verizon is running main fiber optic cables linked to small cells that will wirelessly provide broadband service to clusters of customers within range of each small cell."This saves on the installation of cables to every home," he said, noting Haverhill has nearly 35 square miles.Michitson noted the system uses Verizon's 4G LTE cellular telephone technology to communicate with a customer's equipment.He said he does not know if Verizon will provide internet, telephone and TV, otherwise known as "Triple Play" service."The capability will be there, but the question is, what will they be providing?" he said.Michitson said the city needs faster and more reliable broadband service for everyone. For residential users, competition would drive down the cost of internet and TV service, while also providing better services to businesses, he said."It really provides a lot of value to education, for families and government, which are all enhanced when everyone has access," he said.Michitson pointed out at a recent council meeting that options for residential customers in Haverhill are currently limited to Comcast. He said Comcast's Triple Play service of internet, TV and telephone charges $139 per month, compared to a similar Fios provided Triple Play service offered in Methuen for $69.99 per month."There's a good example of why we need competition," he said.Comparing business offerings, he said Comcast internet offers 100 megabits per second download speed, but only 20 megabits upload speed for $189 a month to Haverhill customers, while Fios in Methuen offers 100 megabits download and upload speeds for $69.99 a month.He said businesses in Haverhill are paying other "enterprise" vendors such as Verizon and Lightower for "unique fiber solutions" that cost $1,500 to $3,000 per month for equivalent Fios service that costs $99 per month.Michitson has proposed the creation of a Broadband Committee to study the current and future broadband needs of customers in Haverhill, including the needs of current and future businesses that may be coming to the city.The committee would also identify potential solutions from different vendors, with the goal of selecting the best mix for Haverhill, Michitson said."Another objective would be to work with Verizon on a roll-out of the small cell technology across the entire city," Michitson said.He said he spoke to Mayor James Fiorentini last week and asked if it made sense to combine the city's Cable TV Advisory Committee with the proposed Broadband Committee. Michitson said the idea of combining the two was brought forward by Councilor Melinda Barrett, whom the mayor appointed to the TV Advisory Committee."The mayor said he would consider it," Michitson said. "I'm trying to get a Broadband Committee off the ground and the mayor said he would appoint such a committee."
Interacting with Humans

Will Robots Know Too Much?

WASHINGTON  Designers of futuristic cityscapes envision delivery drones dropping off your packages from the sky and driverless cars taking you to work. But the robotic delivery invasion already has arrived in the form of machines that look like beer coolers on wheels scooting along the sidewalks.The ground-bound robots, developed by the science fiction-sounding company Starship Technologies, will be showing up any day in the nations capital and in Redwood City, California . They could soon be in up to 10 cities, ferrying groceries and other packages over what the company calls the last mile, from a neighborhood delivery hub to your front door, all for as little as $1 a trip.A second company, TeleRetail, plans to test its sidewalk robots in Washington and other cities, including Mountain View, California, next year.Like driverless cars, the delivery robots use cameras, GPS and radar to see their urban environment and navigate through it.The robots are the first of what the companies foresee as a wave of inexpensive, high-tech, electricity-driven alternatives to gasoline car-driven shopping trips and delivery trucks that contribute to traffic gridlock and pollution. Urban futurists see the little robots as an integral part of a digitally based  smart city  landscape  although it will take time for humans to adjust to them, and they come with privacy concerns.We think there will be hundreds, if not thousands, of robots on the ground eventually around the world, said Allan Martinson, chief operating officer of Starship Technologies, based in London and started by the co-founders of internet telephone company Skype.Torsten Scholl, founder of TeleRetail, which is based in Switzerland, said, Why have a vehicle as big as an autonomous car to deliver goods? We think of it as a self-driving trunk.And tech gadget website Tech Crunch has called autonomous vehicles  like drones, driverless cars and delivery robots  among the Top Five Technologies that will define cities in the next decade.Starships delivery robots work this way: Customers use a smartphone mobile application to order their delivery. A text alerts customers  You have a robot waiting for you outside  when the robot is near their home or business. A person must be present to receive the delivery because only the customer has a unique code to unlock the robots box.Cities that have laid out the welcome mat for the robots see practical promise in what can first appear to be a passing fancy gizmo.Were excited, said Catherine Ralston, economic development manager of Redwood City, where the robots will start working any day now. They did a video in our downtown of the robot going into the bakery, picking up baked goods, and at the moment it rolled into City Hall, it popped open and presented the cookies to City Council. Theyre thinking of using the robots for city services, such as delivering library books.The Washington, D.C., Council opened the door to the machines by passing legislation last month that allows up to five different robot companies to operate in the area, though not in the downtown business district.To be candid, Im not at all futuristic. Im a here-and-now kind of person, said Leif Dormsjo, head of the Districts Department of Transportation. But our approach to transportation innovation is that we want to be a catalyst for new and interesting technologies. We have a permissive attitude about cooperating with new technologies.Whether city dwellers will be as enthusiastic and accepting of the little robots as their city leaders are is open to question.A year ago, a robot called HitchBOT traveled across Canada, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands before it was brought to the United States. The robot was a social experiment started by two Canadian professors. It looked like a cartoon human and was designed to be picked up on the side of the road voluntarily by drivers, like a hitchhiker.It posted photos of its adventures to its popular Twitter, Facebook and Instagram profiles, and its trek appeared to be well-received. But after just two weeks in the United States, the HitchBOTs world trip ended when it was found dismembered in Philadelphias historic Old City neighborhood.Humans dont always act in rational ways, said professor Missy Cummings, director of the Humans and Autonomy Lab at Duke University. Look, Im from the Deep South, and as soon as a robot delivers a six-pack of beer down there, theyll get out the guns and shoot it up.Starship Technologies already has robots operating in 58 cities in 16 countries around the world, Martinson said. More than 1.7 million people have encountered the robots on sidewalks, or used their services  without incident, he said.We took a video in London showing that 3,000 people passed by our robots without even noticing them.Ralston of Redwood City said test robots rolling around the city havent caused any issues so far. People enjoy seeing the little robots. Or they completely ignore them, they dont even take a glance, she said. They realize, OK, theres something rolling along the sidewalk. It looks all right.In a northwest neighborhood of Washington recently, one Starship robot drew some attention as it scooted around pedestrians and bicyclists on a busy sidewalk.Resident Timothy Sanders stopped his bike to watch it weave in and out of human traffic, avoiding pedestrians and bikers. Its amazing, its very futuristic, he said. Reginald Isaac stopped to watch it too. Technology be real fly, he said, laughing.But Dukes Cummings worries that new technologies  like drones and sidewalk robots  are being developed without enough attention paid to how they will interact with people, or how people will react.Its a huge problem in robotics, which are developed by engineers who know little about human interaction, she said. Look at Google Glass, she said. The eyeglasses had tiny screens that allowed internet access and wearers could take photos and videos using voice commands.It wasnt weird to geeky engineers, she said. But real people didnt want to use or wear the glasses  or have their photos taken by people wearing them, she said.The presence of video cameras in the robots is a potential privacy issue, too, said Jeramie Scott, director of the Domestic Surveillance Project of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C.Autonomous devices use high-definition cameras that can take video of people and places from a sidewalk or from the air, as in the case of a drone. Scott questions: Who controls those images? How can they be used?You can imagine when we get to the place where we have these autonomous drones, on the ground or in the skies flying around, with a lot of surveillance equipment, he said. We need to understand what is collected and be transparent. We need some kind of oversight in place before the line gets pushed too far.In August, the first federal regulations went into effect for flying drones, not sidewalk robots. The Federal Aviation Administration established rules for unmanned aircraft weighing less than 55 pounds and being flown for routine nonhobbyist use.Those uses include surveying, real estate photography and site inspections. An operator must keep the drone within sight. The rules arent aimed at commercial delivery, to places where humans are not close, by autonomous drones  like those being developed by tech giants Amazon and Google.And they dont include any restrictions concerning the privacy of people who may be within the drones camera range. As a result, the Electronic Privacy Information Center has sued the FAA.Starship Technologies uses high-definition video cameras as part of its location triangulation, which allows the robots to navigate sidewalks and curbs, to track the robots. But spokesman David Catania said the company generally does not keep high-resolution images, except if there is a safety or security issue, such as vandalism.When the devices are being operated by humans, a lower resolution feed is used and the images are blurred. And the robots cant identify the MAC numbers of nearby cellphones, he said. (MAC numbers, or addresses, are unique to individual devices and can be used to identify a person and track their movements.)Starship co-founder and CEO Ahti Heinla said in a company promotional video that each robot is equipped with speakers in addition to video cameras , so if somebody bothers the robot the operator [watching from a headquarters far away] can actually shout, Hey! What are you doing?  The police are coming in five minutes! We know your location, and you are being filmed as well! TeleRetails founder Scholl said the company could phase out cameras because new, more powerful radar is becoming available that is so precise in identifying objects that cameras might no longer be needed. He said his devices, which are used in small villages in Switzerland for now, dont store videos or photos. We just look, he said.Scholl said his technology isnt perfect, but its just the start of a new disruption from technology that will replace human-controlled vehicles worldwide.For tech-friendly cities like Austin, Texas, city planners say, Bring it on.Were always open to new ideas in Austin, said Jason Stanford, communications director for the mayors office. Starship has made a presentation about introducing the robots to Texas capital city, he said. And the city is open to the idea.Weve got [driverless] Google cars operating all over the place here, and we dont get a single complaint about them, he said. Now, we do have complaints about wild peacocks, but thats animals. 
If Diaspora Armenian can within the frames of law, let them come and participate: Minister (video)

Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan is not against that Armenian intellectuals from Diaspora, Serj Tankian, Atom Egoyan, Erik Nazarian, Arsinee Khanjian, be present in Yerevan and personally follow the course of elections within the frames of Justice Armenia initiative. It is up to them, their opinion, they can use their rights within the frames of our laws. If the Diaspora Armenians can participate within the frames of law, let them come and participate, there is no problem, Hranush Hakobyan answered question by A1+. He is proud that such an Electoral Code was created that even the opposition approved it, At the congress of the Republican Party, President of the Republic announced that we should hold flawless elections. Minister of Diaspora considers the publication of voter lists to be a positive step, I myself support free, fair, transparent elections, peoples will must prevail, having such a code was also a political will; it was the desire of our authorities. More than 4400 people around the world have already joined Justice Armenia initiative. A part of them will arrive in Armenia during parliamentary elections in April and will carry out observation mission.
GreenPower Motor Company Inc. announced that the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has awarded $9.5 million to the City of Porterville to deploy 10 GreenPower EV350 40-foot zero-emission all-electric transit buses on all nine Porterville Transit routes, and to install the charging infrastructure including 11 charging stations.

The EV350 40-ft bus has a 320 kWh LiFePO 4 battery pack providing some 185 miles of range (300 km); the two 85 kW drive motors are from Siemens.

CARBs award to the City of Porterville was one of only nine awards from the highly competitive Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Pilot Program. The grant award is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while providing clean-air benefits to California neighborhoods, with an emphasis on disadvantaged communities. California Climate Investments programs are funded by the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund using proceeds from the states cap-and-trade auctions.

Porterville Transit will operate all of the new buses on routes in disadvantaged communitiesthose most affected by air pollutionproviding zero-emission transportation to many citizens who are dependent on public transportation for their daily needs.

GreenPower recently completed the acquisition of 9.3 acres in the City of Porterville, is working on the grading and development permits with the City and has started the design of the modular buildings for a multi-phased development of a manufacturing facility comprising 150,000 square feet.

GreenPower Motor Company Inc. develops electric powered vehicles for commercial markets. GreenPower offers a range of electric powered buses deploying electric drive and battery technologies with a lightweight chassis and low floor or high floor body. GreenPower's bus is based on a flexible clean sheet design and utilizes a custom battery management system and a proprietary Flex Power system for the drive motors. GreenPower integrates global suppliers for key components such as Siemens for the two drive motors, Knorr for the brakes, ZF for the axles and Parker for the dash and control systems. This OEM platform allows GreenPower to meet the specifications of various operators while providing standard parts for ease of maintenance and accessibility for warranty requirements.
Ameriabank: At the Vanguard of Armenia's Banking Sector

STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH

SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS

Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders

Google Ad

PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces

There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan

Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia

Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair

Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan

I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General

I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox

UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS

There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur

EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol  Armenia and Azerbaijan  to do so without delay

An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan".

UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

Google Ad

The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022

Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully

The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces

LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET

STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN

This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan

Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments

Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan

Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement

With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building

OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

As Xerox emerges from a corporate split with a newly energized focus on selling multifunction printers to small businesses, the company is planning to intensify its own downsizing with an unspecified impact on its Norwalk headquarters.

Incoming CEO Jeff Jacobson disclosed during a Wednesday conference call plans to add $150 million in cost cuts annually on average for 2016 through 2018, as part of a look ahead of where the company is headed when it splits off Conduent at year-end with Xeroxs portfolio of business-process outsourcing services. Xerox shares (NYSE: XRX) rose slightly on the day and hovered at the $9.50 mark on Thursday, with the company stating it is planning a reverse stock split next year.

The key question for Norwalk and Connecticut is not how many headquarters jobs could be lost in any restructuring, but whether all of them could be heading elsewhere in an outright move. With Conduent having chosen New Jersey as its new base, Xerox has yet to specify plans for its own headquarters, now located at 45 Glover Ave. in Norwalks Towers complex. The property is being marketed as available by owner Building and Land Technology. On Wednesday Jacobson did not address Xeroxs headquarters deliberations.

CEO Ursula Burns is retiring when the Conduent split is complete. In preparing for his own tenure as CEO, Jacobson said Xerox brought in outside consultants to pressure test the plan his Xerox team put together.

They said, put it on steroids  they believed in it so much, Jacobson said Wednesday. Thats what gave us the confidence to really take the transformation to a totally different level.

He added that the company will make its biggest product launch ever next year under Steve Hoover, who is replacing Sophie Vandebroek as chief technology officer of Xerox.

Under Burns, Xerox has disclosed 5,700 job cuts in the first nine months of 2016, with the company paying $218 million in severance on average to those former employees, for an average totaling $38,000. Xerox has traditionally captured half of its restructuring savings through adjustments in its chain of suppliers and the other half through layoffs, job attrition and other restructuring actions, according to Leslie Varon, who is retiring as interim chief financial officer. On this go around, Xerox is leaving no stone unturned with 1,700 separate initiatives currently under way.

They ... include everything from simplifying our business model and processes; to reducing management layers; to introducing new pricing optimization tools, Varon said. The scale, pace and transparency of the program is very different from what weve attempted in the past.

The employees that remain will be pushing the company in what Jacobson and other executives say are new directions for Xerox, particularly in emphasizing external distributors for sales of its smallest multifunction printers that compete with machines from HP, Canon and others.

While Xerox maintains a dominant market share for printers that can handle ledger-sized sheets, it is now pushing less expensive machines built with standard letter trays and accompanying supplies, with its Xerox WorkCentre 6515 currently priced at about $470.

If Xerox has voiced the goal in past years of expanding small-business sales, it has never made a serious push by selling through the biggest distributors that dominate the sector, Jacobson said, relying on its in-house sales force instead.

This is all greenfield for us  this is $20 billion that we just, quite frankly, never focused on, Jacobson said. We respect our competitors, we understand the landscape, but were playing to our strengths and where we can grow.

At the Wednesday investment conference, analyst Shannon Cross of Cross Research suggested to Jacobson that Xerox in the past has not always followed up on its rhetoric with results.

I feel like weve heard this story before from HP, weve heard it from Xerox...Its going to be great, the (distributors) are all going to adopt us  and then nothing really happens, Cross said. Im curious as to whats different this time.

Jacobson responded that he is seeing the proof points as he makes the rounds with distribution partners.

Weve had a number of channel partner meetings  we just had one in the U.S. a month ago. Fifty potential partners (and) we brought on 20 percent of them, Jacobson said. They want to make sure they hitch their wagon to the partners that they know will be here. When they look at us  they have great confidence.

Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-354-1047; www.twitter.com/casoulman
New York State this week confirmed intentions to file a lawsuit to block underwater disposal of contaminated dredge sediment in Eastern Long Island Sound, a practice long supported by Connecticut officials.

Continuing to use this precious economic and ecological resource as a dumping ground is unacceptable and  on behalf of current and future generations of New Yorkers  we intend to fight this decision using any, and all, legal means, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a letter to federal regulators.

Cuomos threatened lawsuit seeks to overturn a recent decision by the federal Environmental Protection Agency to replace an aging New London disposal site scheduled to close Dec. 23 with a new site located slightly to the west and within Connecticut waters.

A Hearst Connecticut Media investigation last year found multiple government studies confirming dredged material stays put after placement, but there is little science detailing the impact on nearby fish and marine life  or on the 20 million of people that live near the Sounds shores.

New York contends continued underwater disposal of dredged sediment, which contains heavy metals and other toxic material, will harm the Sounds delicate ecosystem and contradicts decades of effort and billions of dollars spent to clean up the waterway. The state also contends the rule contradicts a 2005 agreement to phase out underwater disposal.

Connecticut officials quickly defended EPAs decision, saying the states ability to dispose of sediment dredged from harbors and ports  and to maintain the Naval Submarine Base in Groton  is critical to a $7 billion maritime industry, which dwarfs New Yorks economic activity along the Sound.

The science is clear: open water disposal is safe and does not harm the biological integrity or the water quality of the Sound, said Chris Collibee, a spokesman for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

Earlier this year, EPA authorized continued use of two other underwater disposal sites, located in Connecticut waters in the western portion of the Sound and off New Haven. A disposal site at Cornfield Shoals, near the mouth of the Connecticut River, is being closed.

Connecticut and the EPA maintain underwater disposal of dredged material does not harm the environment, in part because the slurry of heavy metals and other toxics are already in the Sound and the worst of the material is buried and tightly capped.

The contamination is mostly the legacy of long ago industrial manufacturing along Connecticuts rivers and the Sound.

States collide

New Yorks threatened lawsuit - officials said legal action would be filed in 60 days - sets up a political and scientific battle between two states that usually work together to preserve and improve the Sound. It also pits two usually cooperative Democratic governors  Malloy in Connecticut and Cuomo in New York  against each other, along with two Congressional delegations that generally work in harmony.

The stakes are high and based mostly on economics, and the fact that the Eastern Sound disposal site, located off New London, is near New Yorks exclusive residential enclave on the 4.2 mile long Fishers Island.

[EPAs] action is a major step toward preserving the distinct beauty and economic vitality of the Long Island Sound for generations to come, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, both Connecticut Democrats, said in a joint statement. From the New London Submarine Base to family-owned marinas, thousands of residents across our state depend on reliable access to local waterways for their livelihoods.

Collibee added Connecticut ports are an economic driver for commerce throughout the state  supporting nearly 30,000 jobs and responsible for nearly $5 billion in economic output.

In contrast, New York Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos said the EPAs decision threatens decades of work to clean up the waterway.

Long Island Sound is an essential economic and environmental treasure in New York and one in which the state has invested billions to restore, Seggos said in a statement issued by Cuomos office. DEC commends Gov. Cuomos resolve in ensuring this vital estuary is not turned into a dumping ground.

New York State maintains the dredging rule contradicts a 2005 agreement with EPA to reduce or eliminate underwater disposal of dredged sediment. The EPA's plan to allow new dumping sites in eastern Long Island Sound contradicts this agreement, the statement concludes.

EPA said continuing underwater dredging will not harm the Sound.

Our decision is based on sound science, reflects extensive public input, and strikes an appropriate balance between the need for dredging to maintain safe navigation and protecting the significant natural resources of Long Island Sound, said Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPAs New England office, when the dredge plan was released.
Youve taken the plunge and started a new business. You made it through the first year and turned a profit - congratulations. When an entrepreneur takes an idea and turns it into a profitable business, its a cause for celebration. But its not enough to just keep doing the same thing -- continued success is going to depend on different and evolving strategies. In order to scale up and grow in a big way, business owners have to prioritize a growth to-do list.

Mohan Sawhney, a professor at the Northwestern Kellogg School of Management, notes that [while] its tempting to view business growth as a smooth, linear path, the reality is much more complicated. Often, the talent and leadership that enable rapid expansion in a companys early stages may not be enough to keep fueling high growth and this causes businesses to stagnate.

In order to properly make this pivotal transition, business owners have to understand all the elements at play, and accept that scalability is needed across all operations. Here are four fundamental steps growth-stage businesses must take:

1. Stay focused on what sells best.

Many startups fail because they spread themselves too thin at the growth stage. They try to do everything for any client or they try to expand into multiple new markets simultaneously. And many times these strategies just do not work.

Related: 5 Reasons Why It's a Bad Idea for Startups to Outsource Software Development

Think of the classic board game Risk. In each competition there is usually one player who tries to take over the world way too early by battling anywhere and everywhere. Inevitably, this strategy fails -- and the empire crumbles.

Instead, business owners should concentrate on core business areas. Expansion is a must but thoughtful, targeted growth is what wins the day. Being too opportunistic can waste precious resources, as well as take focus away from what made them successful in the first place.

2. Then innovate and expand strategically.

During the growth stage, pivoting towards what sells best and moving away from what doesnt is the key ingredient to maintaining, or even increasing, expectations. Entrepreneurs need to strategize and innovate into niches that will help the core business expand.

Consider everything Uber has done to date. Uber continues to penetrate new and potentially lucrative markets around the world. Their mobile payment services have evolved to accommodate multiple payment options, which has proved useful in international markets. And the company is consistently increasing its selection of vehicles. Uber has also been expanding its services to include off-the-beaten-path travel options, including hot air balloons rides in China and boat transport in Turkey.

Remember that Uber is not a bona fide success yet -- but it has gone from a start up to a growth stage enterprise successfully. Uber has kept its operations growing through a mix of calculated market expansion and innovative services that help push its core business goal. But its continued to focus on what it sells best and what its customers want most -- rides.

3. Let processes and products take center stage.

During the initial startup phase, many companies rely on the skills of a small core team to seize opportunities and impress clients. But during the growth stage, maintaining that level of quality becomes a very difficult task, especially as core team members move on to new opportunities.

Related: 7 Myths About Starting a Business That I Used to Believe

As small businesses transition into the growth stage, they need to standardize business processes so that great experiences can be consistently reproduced. This is accomplished by embedding expertise into the processes and structures that keep a company afloat.

Utilizing the best technology is a smart start, but entrepreneurs also need efficient hiring methods, tailored training programs, great incentives and a company culture that fosters collaboration and communication.

James Allen, a business consultant and Harvard Business Review contributor, states that every decision to build systems within a business should be linked to the companys core strategy and enhance the organizations ability to deliver it.

4. Build your brand.

The startup phase is driven by client relationships. A great way to ensure clients think well of a company is to focus on building a positive brand image. This makes it less likely that a customer will leave if their current account manager calls it quits -- something many small businesses fear.

As new business owners navigate through the growth phase, they should pay attention to how their brand is being perceived. It should embody their business goals and ideals, and should be defined more by what it does than what they say.

Any business that wants to build a loyal following must be able to provide the positive experiences that will result in positive perceptions and brand awareness. This requires superior product development, a strong focus on a client-centric sales funnel and excellent customer service. These should be core tenets of every business plan.

Related Book: The Brand Mapping Strategy: Design, Build, and Accelerate Your Brand by Karen Tiber Leland

Leaping into the future.

With continued success comes brand recognition. And a positive brand image is as good as a brand new storefront is at bringing in qualified leads and loyal customers.

By staying laser-focused on what works, pivoting away from what does not, continually innovating, and professionalizing processes, a mid stage company should be able to avoid falling into the trap of the growth plateau. Instead, their peak will continue to rise towards becoming an established enterprise, creating more jobs, more revenue and more positive impact.

Related:



Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Syrian Armenians work wasnt appreciated

Syrian Armenian entrepreneurs today have been presenting their works. The main problem of participants of Spirit of Syrian Armenian culture in Yerevan remains finding jobs in the homeland. I work by orders. I offered my works to several shops, and I was told that I need a license, says Maral Dolmajyan. Silversmith Vigen Melkonyan adds, We tried to work, but we werent appreciated properly. We have 15-20 years experience, but they consider themselves to be professors and dont appreciate our work. Zarmine Minasyan has settled in Armenia for already three years. It took one year for consumers to choose her Ishli Kufta (stuffed meat balls), which recipe differs from the local, Our Ishli Kufta smells spice. We also have other types, it is a noble dish. New Years spirit could also be felt in Syrian Armenians exhibition. Nazaret Haroyan, who felt the horror of war, does not complain even if there are some social problems. He has decided for sure that he wont return to Syria, where he had a big house and a shop. He has recently bought a house in the homeland, too. Watch details in the video!
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

WASHINGTON  Most high-end construction projects are done for a specific client, with everything designed to custom specifications.

But a house called Stone Bridge is being built on Nettleton Hollow Road with no particular buyer in mind unless its someone looking for the latest high-tech amenities.

Geothermal technology heats and cools the house. The home also features a security system that can be controlled from a smartphone, laptop or tablet, and the owner can also adjust the temperature, lights and audio system with the same devices.

And open the garage, of course.

Ralph Corbo, president of Corbo Associates Inc. of Roxbury, which is building the $6.9 million home, said he decided to forge ahead without a pre-arranged buyer because his company already owned the 31-acre property and he liked the idea of creating something he would enjoy, too.

I get to execute my ideas instead of executing the ideas of a client, Corbo said.

The eventual buyer will be able to choose colors, tiles and appliances.

Maria Taylor, the listing agent for the property, said its unusual to build such a grand home on spec because its expensive for builders to take on construction costs themselves

Theres not a lot of building going on in Litchfield County, because you can buy something up and ready, Taylor said. A lot of people weekend and want something thats done.

Corbo Associates has been recognized nine times by the Connecticut Home Builders Association for building excellence, most recently for a house in Oxford. This project will be entered in the competition next year.

It brings out the best in you as a builder, Corbo said.

Corbos desire to express his creativity prompted him to leave his job with Danbury Public Schools in 1980 and pursue a new career as a builder.

Other features of the house include a wine cellar, a library, a media room, an elevator and a game room. There are 17 rooms within the 9,000 square feet of livable space spread over finished lower level, a main level and a second floor. There is also the possibility of developing the 1,350 feet over the garage.

The house has a master bedroom on the main level, as well as on the second floor. The main-floor master has a sitting area and a master bath. Each of the five bedrooms, including the two masters, has its own full bathroom. The sixth full bathroom connects to the patio next to the heated pool.

Natural light fills the kitchen through the floor-to-ceiling windows. The main kitchen, which is near a smaller service kitchen, also features one of the six fireplaces throughout the home. A seventh fireplace is outside near the terraces.

Its a joy to be in," Taylor said of the kitchen. It's a very happy space."

kkoerting@newstimes.com; 203-731-3345
Armenian Assembly honors 25th anniversary of Artsakh's independence

The Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) joined the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues in co-hosting the annual Artsakh independence celebration on Capitol Hill, alongside the U.S. Office of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR), the Embassy of Armenia in the U.S., and the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). Last night's event was titled "Celebrating Artsakh as an American Story: A Victory of Freedom over Oppression," marking the 25th anniversary of independence. Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Representatives Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Jackie Speier (D-CA), as well as Vice Co-Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) attended the event and spoke about Artsakh's independence. They highlighted the letter the Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs and Vice Co-Chairs sent to NKR President Bako Sahakyan and the people of Artsakh on their Independence Day on September 2. "This historic day represents an important milestone in Artsakh's struggle to defend its right to self-determination and liberty," the Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs and Vice Co-Chairs told President Sahakyan. The letter also underlined Nagorno Karabakh's commitment to "advance democratic governance and rule of law," despite continued threats and violence emanating from Azerbaijan. During his remarks, Rep. Pallone recalled a presidential election he observed in Artsakh, where he witnessed "the most free and fair election" that he had ever seen. Rep. Pallone then promised that the Armenian Caucus would be just as strong and active as ever to make Karabakh a priority with the new administration and State Department. Armenian Caucus Members Reps. Jim Costa (D-CA), Judy Chu (D-CA), and Brad Sherman (D-CA), in addition to former U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans, also spoke during the Congressional event about Artsakh's freedom and their hope for a peaceful resolution for the Nagorno Karabakh conflict that includes Artsakh at the negotiation table. Armenia's Ambassador to the U.S. Grigor Hovhannissian introduced keynote speaker NKR Prime Minister Ara Haroutyunyan who spoke about Artsakh's accomplishments and challenges, as well as his gratitude for U.S. support. "The people of Artsakh highly appreciate the role of the United States within the framework of OSCE Minsk Group in the realization of necessary steps directed at the preservation of peace and final peaceful settlement of the conflict. We are glad that the U.S. shares our position in the protection of the rights of Karabakhi people and inadmissibility of military activities," Prime Minister Haroutyunyan stated. "From that perspective, we are also grateful to the seven U.S. states - Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, Louisiana, California, Georgia, and Hawaii for supporting the independence of Artsakh Republic and our people's right to self-determination," he continued. Prime Minister Haroutyunyan also thanked The HALO Trust organization for clearing over 4,500 acres of mine fields in Karabakh since 2000 and helping to keep its citizens safer. He discussed the need for more humanitarian aid for Artsakh, especially for the expansion of the existing Lady Cox Center, which provides services to wounded and disabled people in Stepanakert. The Assembly advocated for U.S. funding for this center in their Fiscal Year 2017 testimony, stating: "The Assembly also supports assistance for the Lady Cox Rehabilitation Center in Stepanakert and reiterates the Pallone-Dold request for funds to support 'rehabilitation and regional clinics, which serve over 1,000 children and adults with physical and cognitive disabilities every year.' " Read the whole article- here
Schultz, at last nights Ripple of Hope awards.

He may be stepping down from his CEO position at Starbucks, but Howard Schultz isnt abandoning his vision of togetherness. The coffee-chain leader was honored last night (alongside Vice-President Joseph Biden and Guggenheim Partners investors chairman Scott Minerd) at the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award dinner, and in the final speech of the night, Schultz focused on the countrys uncertain future.

In the final acceptance speech of the night, Schultz not only talked about Starbucks core progressive values and its focus on community and equality, but also the optimism that was instilled in him as a boy when he saw John F. Kennedy stump for president. But it was Americas uncertain future that was most on his mind. Schultz urged the star-studded audience to form a movement, and to find the moral courage to recognize the threat of tyranny, a not-so-subtle reference to the current president-elect.

Schultz began by asking those seated in the audience to think about the word humanity:

We havent seen that much of that in the last couple of years. And certainly the presidential-election cycle, the lack of civility, the lack of respect. It really I think began to remind us that perhaps we as a people and as a country have lost something of ourselves. Almost to the point where you could ask yourself a rhetorical question about has America lost its conscience. For me, its easy to not be optimistic. And I must say that during these last couple of years and certainly the results of the election, it makes for a lot of questions about the direction of the country and where we as a people are going. But I remain optimistic because I see optimism in every Starbucks store, in every community around the country. I see kindness among our customers. I see leadership from our people and I see the deep sense of community that exists in every store as people are longing and hungry for human connection. That optimism for a kid who grew up on the other side of the tracks and public housing in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn, it happened for me at an early age  that optimism despite living in the projects.

Schultz brought up the time he went with his mother to see then-Senator John F. Kennedy speak in Brooklyn in 1960:

I could feel my mothers hand grip mine tighter and tighter as he spoke about the fact that your station in life should not and will not define you. Because in our country that is not the promise of America, that is not the American Dream. I looked up at my mother and I could see the glow on her face. And from that day on, she had a belief that anything would be possible, even for a family who struggled to pay $98-a-month rent in the Bayview projects. Now that was optimism, and that optimism carried me through all these years, and Im living proof, living proof of the American Dream. If I took you today back to those projects, which look worse today than they did when I was a kid, its almost impossible, impossible that one can get from there to here and receive this kind of prestigious award on a night like tonight sitting next to Ethel Kennedy and the vice-president of the United States.

But, Schultz said, optimism is not enough. Beyond hope, people need to be willing to do more:

We need a movement. We need a movement of a large group of people who are unwilling to embrace the status quo and recognize the threat of tyranny. You can link that optimism to moral courage. And as we heard tonight from every speaker, every video, a common thread of the legacy of Robert Kennedy is his moral courage, day in and day out. We also heard about what happened in 1968 when he stood on the back of a flatbed truck and spoke about nonviolence against the counsel of the advisers he had, because of the danger of the situation. And he spoke about three things  really when you break down that speech, its three things: Its empathy, its compassion, and its love. Empathy, compassion, and love. And I go back to the feeling, the thought, the term humanity. Where have we gone? What is happening between us? When Kerry [Kennedy] visited us in Seattle just a few weeks ago, at the end of a really positive day, we started talking about where we are as a country, where we are as a people and I asked her, What would your father do right now? She didnt even blink, not even for a second, Hed be standing up. Hed be standing up for what he believed in and hed be standing up for the people who did not have a voice.



Were all gonna go home from this night back to the lives we lead and if you look at the history books, there are many, many examples in other countries in other years in other centuries where there was a feeling of indifference. Where we ignored the signs and the signals. And I would submit to you today as citizens, forget the government, forget the elected officials, forget the president-elect just for the moment and realize that we have a responsibility. That we have to start taking this very, very personally and realize the responsibility that we have to the people who came before us as well as the responsibility we have toward our children and our grandchildren about the promise of America and the American Dream. We cannot allow the continuation of the fracturing of trust and confidence, of the lack of truth, the lack of authentic leadership, to take us in a direction that most of us in this country know is fools gold.



This is a serious time, a very serious time for all of us in the country, and all of us who represent other people around the world who are asking the very serious question. And the question is: Is it really possible, is this the direction that the country is really going? So trying to link what it means to be optimistic with the moral courage to recognize that we need a collective, a movement, and a recognition of individual and collective responsibility not to accept the status quo and not to accept what we know is a direction that is against the grain and against everything that we heard tonight that was about compassion, empathy, and love. The promise of America and the American Dream.

Schultz went on to discuss his companys desire to leverage its platform and scale for good. In talking about Starbucks willingness to take on conversations about race, he mentioned the companys store in Ferguson, as well as a new store in Johannesburg, South Africa:

I had never been to South Africa and I didnt realize when we arrived in Johannesburg that there were preparations taking place in Cape Town for the 50th anniversary to commemorate the Ripple of Hope speech by Robert Kennedy. I didnt realize that. What I did realize when we were opening the store in Johannesburg that the unfortunate thread between Ferguson, Missouri, and Johannesburg, a lifetime away, was virtually in sync. And that was a lack of hope, a lack of opportunity and prejudice.



[]



As I sat down with these kids in South Africa and heard their personal story and walked the townships with them, I kept hearing a word I had never heard before, over and over again. An African word, and finally I got the courage, I said, What is that word you keep saying? What is it? And it was almost like they could not wait to rise up and tell me the word. Unbuntu. I said, What does Unbuntu mean? I am because of you. I am because of you. And I almost had tears on my face when they were sharing with me what it means. They have so little and yet they are because of us. So I thought about what could I possibly say tonight, especially following the choir, Vice-President Biden, Scott Minerd, Alec Baldwin. What could I possibly say? I can imagine with great respect to Mrs. Kennedy and all the Kennedys that are here. I can imagine Robert Kennedy saying, I am because of you. And I say to all of you. At a time in America when the American people are facing such a crucible of history, we need to be, because of each other. Thank you very much.
Its almost Christmas. Do you know what youre eating? Photo: Leonard McCombe/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

Christmas is just a couple weeks away now. If youre stuck in the city, not celebrating, or want to take the year off from cooking, youre in the right place. Plenty of excellent New York restaurants are open for the holiday, whether just for Christmas Eve or for both days, and many are serving special dishes or menus. Some are sticking to their usual routine, if thats more your speed, but in any case Grub has done the work of finding the ones you should eat at. Here, 31 restaurants open for Christmas in New York this year.

Christmas Eve

Agern

Price: $125 for a family-style meal, $95 wine pairing and $65 nonalcoholic pairing

Do Christmas Eve the New Nordic way: salmon with smoked mayonnaise, herring with curry, chicken liver with quince, crispy pork belly with knotwood, red cabbage with pickled berries, and a dessert of berries with Dorothy Parker gin.

Craft

Price: $120 for three courses

The Flatiron spot will offer specials like fluke crudo, chestnut agnolotti with white truffles, duck breast and foie sausage for two, and a pair of desserts in a chocolate-chestnut torte and a Meyer lemon pavlova.



Dante

Price: A la carte

For a more festive party atmosphere, head to Macdougal Street, where theyre serving specials like Uncle Angelos eggnog and agave-glazed leg of ham.

Fancy Nancy

Price: $45 for 4 courses

Over in Bed-Stuy, theyll serve a tasting menu of smoked pumpkin soup with ricotta toast, marinated beet salad with tahini and quinoa, half a roast duck with miso-date puree, and very festive eggnog ice cream with Nutella and gingersnaps.

Gramercy Famer and the Fish

Price: $85 for four courses, $45 for children under 12

In keeping with its regular seafood focus, the restaurant will do the Italian thing and serve all sorts of fish family-style. There will be smoked mussels with chipotle butter, oysters casino, gnocchi with jumbo crab and uni, turbot and Manila clams with saffron, and more.

Hearth

Price: $96 for five courses, $54 wine pairing

In keeping with tradition, chef Marco Canora will serve his take on the Feast of the Seven Fishes. That means a marinated seafood salad with olives, linguine with littleneck clams, the fish stew called cacciucco, and a toffee date cake for dessert.

Indian Accent

Price: $95 for four courses

At the New Delhi import, dinner starts with sweet potato and papdi chaat followed by a duck khurchan mathri, a sort of salty cracker. Thats followed by a family-style set of dishes including roast beef tenderloin with black pepper kurma, Kashmiri morels with green chili cream, tava bacon potatoes, butter chicken kulcha, and more. Dessert means an Old Monk rum ball and a fruit cake shahi tukda, an Indian bread pudding.

La Pecora Bianca

Price: $75 for five-courses, $40 wine pairing

To celebrate the holiday, the Flatiron Italian spot will serve hamachi tartare with blood orange, ricotta cavatelli with lobster, and a baked whole dorade with sunchokes. Theres also migliaccio cake for dessert, and a prix-fixe menu of popular dishes from the regular menu.

LAmico

Price: $98 for four courses, $60 for the wine pairing

Chef Laurent Tourondel will serve a prix fixe with antipasti like tuna crudo with Meyer lemon creme fraiche and lobster with burrata, and second courses including fontina cappelletti. Theres roast filet mignon with balsamic cipollini and orata with Calabrian chili verde for entrees, and desserts include chestnut pavlova and chocolate-amaretto tartufo.

Kingsley

Price: A la carte

Head to the East Village newcomer for specials like a fish feast, roast lamb, goose with chestnuts, and house eggnog.

Marlow & Sons

Price: A la carte

The New American restaurant will go Indo-Mayalsian for the holiday, serving specials like lamb satay, grilled shrimp sambal, potato randang, and pineapple sorbet with lime and chili. To keep it festive, there will be tiki cocktails.

Maysville

Price: $45 per person

Dinner at the Southern restaurant starts with a raw seafood platter featuring Pemaquid oysters, poached shrimp with remoulade, and fluke tartare. The entree is a grilled snapper with smoked oyster chowder, and dessert means goats milk cheesecake with apple and tarragon granita.

Momofuku Ssam Bar

Price: $65 for three courses

The recently redesigned East Village spot will serve a set menu of honeycrisp apple kimchee with labne and jowl bacon, chawanmushi with chanterelle mushrooms and Asian pear, prime rib with pomme roti, and a lime and Earl Grey pie for dessert.



Morandi

Price: $80 for three courses

At Michael Whites West Village restaurant, theyre also doing a fancied-up Feast of the Seven Fishes. Dinner starts with either a cold seafood platter with dishes like marinated gamberi or a warm seafood platter with calamari alla livornese and crocchette di baccala. Youll choose between roasted lobster with garlic butter or spaghetti with sea urchin for your main, then finish with gingerbread cake with poached pear and gelato.

Paowalla

Price: $75 for four courses

Do Christmas Eve the Goan way. To celebrate, Floyd Cardoz will serve family recipes like Goan baked cakes, shrimp pilaf, and lamb-shank xacutti, a type of Goan curry usually made during the holiday. Hell also serve a traditional Goan dessert in Barkhas Goan Bibinca, a type of layered cake made with port plums and candied ginger.

The Red Cat

Price: $125 for whole menu or $18 per item a la carte

The Chelsea neighborhood spot is another to consider if you want a Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner. Dishes can be ordered individually or as part of a whole menu, with specials like salmon tartare with trout caviar, grilled octopus with red pepper panzanella, housemade tagliatelle with peekytoe crab, and crispy skate.



Union Square Cafe

Price: $175 for four courses

Danny Meyers original restaurant is back for Christmas with a prix fixe that includes a roast goose.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Aquavit

Price: A la carte on Christmas Eve, $52 for three-course meal on Christmas

On Christmas Eve, the Scandinavian restaurant will serve a pumped version of its smorgasbord brunch spread, julbord, with lojrom caviar, Swedish meatballs, lamb racks, tons of herring and salmon, Christmas ham, and much more. On Christmas day, itll serve a prix-fixe Christmas plate with options like mustard herring or peanut potato for a first course, glazed spare ribs, or Christmas ham for a second course, and a Ris a la Malta, a traditional rice-pudding dessert.



Benoit

Price: $85 for three courses

The bistro from Alain Ducasse will serve yellowfin tartare with sesame crisps, cod with butternut squash and black truffles, roast venison, and buche de Noel for dessert.

Brushstroke

Price: $45 tasting menu for Christmas Eve lunch, $135 for Christmas dinner

At David Bouleys kaiseki spot, there will be salmon saikyo-yaki smoked in cypress, washu beef cheek stewed and served with garlic and sunchoke ankake, and oysters with lemon foam.

The Breslin Bar & Dining Room

Price: A la carte

The restaurant in the Ace Hotel will serve roast beef along with Yorkshire pudding, and pear parfait with cranberries and linzer sable. Mince-meat pies are also available for ordering in advance up until a week prior to Christmas Eve.

Cafe China

Price: A la carte

The midtown Sichuan restaurant will be open on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, serving its usual repertoire of dishes like bang bang chicken, tea-smoked duck, spicy cumin lamb, and more.

Chefs Club

Price: A la carte

The restaurant will add some holiday-themed specials to its menu this year, including chestnut veloute with black truffle and pear and lobster with apple, beet, and tardivo.

Cherche Midi

Price: A la carte specials

Keith McNallys Bowery spot will serve a handful of specials, including Dover sole with pebble potatoes and truffle beurre blanc, duck consomme with mini mushroom ravioli, and a diver scallop crudo. If youre feeling the holiday spirit, there will also be roasted goose with chestnut puree and buche de Noel.



Fifty

Price: $65 for a family-style meal

The New-American-meets-South-American restaurant will throw a Noche Buena Feast. Dinner starts with coquito, a boozy eggnog-like holiday drink from Puerto Rico, and is centered around roast suckling pig served family-style with bao buns, spicy rocoto mayo, and more. Then, finish with a buche de noel.

Hao Noodle and Tea by Madam Zhus Kitchen

Price: A la carte

The West Village spot from Chinese restaurateur Zhu Rong will celebrate its first New York Christmas with ten specials. There will be appetizers like salted chicken and spicy pigs feet, entrees including Cantonese beef ribs, and starchy dishes such as clay-pot rice with pumpkin and ham and potato, and green bean hand-pulled noodle soup.

The John Dory Oyster Bar

Price: $95 on Christmas Eve, a la carte regular menu on Christmas

At April Bloomfields seafood restaurant, Christmas Eve means dishes like oyster shooters with champagne granite, and lobster with foie gras. For Christmas, the restaurants regular raw-bar items, lobster rolls, stuffed squid, and more will be offered a la carte.

La Chine

Price: A la carte on Christmas Eve, $145 for five courses on Christmas

The upscale Chinese restaurant will serve its usual menu on Christmas Eve but do a prix-fixe dinner on Christmas Day. Your meal starts with your choice of yellowtail with Sichuan pepper oil, crispy Spanish mackerel with smoked soy dressing, or a mushroom and shredded tofu salad. Other courses include Peking duck with the works, the restaurants eight-hour golden broth, black cod with baby spinach, and coconut pudding with pomegranate foam.



Le Coq Rico

Price: $95 for four courses

If youre not celebrating the holiday, the poultry-themed bistro will serve its regular menu. But its also offering a special dinner of oysters baked with truffle butter and chicken broth, frog-leg chervil soup with mushroom ravioli, giblets and pork-loin-stuffed goose, and a yule log with chestnut ice cream.

Marta

Price: A la carte

Danny Meyer and Nick Anderers restaurant in the Martha Washington Hotel will keep it simple this year, serving their crowd-pleasing pizzas with toppings like fontina and mushrooms and wood-fired meats including duck breast and dry-aged sirloin.

Mile End

Price: $65 for family-style meal

The Montreal-style deli will host its annual Chinese Christmas at both locations, with dishes like smoked short rib bao, egg rolls with hot mustard-mango sauce, a whole smoked duck, hand-pulled noodles with chili oil, and more.

Narcissa

Price: $79 for 3 courses

The Standard hotels vegetable-forward restaurant will serve delicata squash and grilled pork belly for appetizers and entrees such as steamed sea bass and its trademark carrots Wellington. To satiate your sweet tooth, there will banoffee, chocolate gateau, and baked Alaska for dessert.

Nix

Price: A la carte

Head to John Frasers University Place restaurant for all your vegetable needs. Specials include a winter pot pie with root vegetables and a rum and hard cider hot toddy.

Reynard

Price: $105 for four courses

The Wythe Hotels handsome restaurant will be open for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, when it will serve a prix-fixe menu that starts with a goose consomme soup. Appetizers include smoked haddock with curried rice and kohlrabi with cara cara, entrees mean roast lamb with brandied prunes and goose with bread sauce, and figgy pudding for dessert.

Tuome

Price: A la carte

In addition to regular dishes like its pig-out for two with spicy peanut noodles, the cozy East Village spot will serve stuffed quail with squash and cranberry jus, a bouillabaisse with cured pork belly and coconut milk, and chestnut-mousse tart with quince.

Vaucluse

Price: Regular menu on Christmas Eve, $99 for three courses on Christmas

The uptown French restaurant is another spot to consider if you want a low-key Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day, it will serves hors doeuvres foie gras terrine and chestnut soup with chicken oyster; main dishes include roast goose and hazelnut-crusted sea bass, and desserts such as a Paris-Brest and chocolate-mousse tart.
Just last week, Android Pay made its way to New Zealand, following its rollout to Poland earlier in November. And now we already have another country in which Google's mobile payments service has become available - Ireland.

The service is live starting today, and you can use it if you have a MasterCard or Visa card from AIB or KBC as well as an Android phone with NFC and the Android Pay app installed. Support for more banks is coming in the future, Google promises.

Android Pay works at "thousands" of shops and restaurants which accept contactless payments, such as Boots, Eason, Tesco, Spar, KFC, Londis, Mace, McDonald's, and XL. You can also use it inside mobile apps such as Adverts.ie, Deliveroo, Uber, Dice, Fancy, Hotel Tonight, or Vueling. Going this route means you don't have to enter your payment and address details every time you make a purchase. Just tap the Android Pay button inside these apps and you're done.

To pay at a physical location, you just wake up your phone and hold it near the contactless payment terminal. That's it, you don't even have to go into the app to complete a transaction. Android Pay doesn't share your card's details with the seller, so from this point of view it's even more secure than a plastic card.

Source
Kantar has some new insights on the US handset market to share. In light of the unfortunate demise of the Samsung Galaxy Note7, Apple has now managed to raise its US market share to 40.5%. That is actually up 7% year-over-year. And it is no secret that the absence of the Note7 played a big part in the process.

On a different note, Kantar also believes its numbers show that users don't really mind the absence of the 3.5mm jack on the iPhone 7. The device was still the top seller in the states, followed by the Samsung Galaxy S7 and then the iPhone 7 Plus.

Interestingly enough, Google's new Pixel smartphonesalso managed to make the cut in the US sales report. This is despite the fact that they were made available as late as October 20 - only a few days before the end of the sales quarter (ending in October).

Google achieved 0.5% of smartphone sales, a strong showing given that the Pixel was only widely available from October 20th. In that short time, Google has reached market parity with more established brands like Huawei and Microsoft, who are also at 0.5%.

The report also touched on many other markets, where carrier involvement and subsidised offers aren't quite as influential. In Europe, for instance, where the Note7 never really came, nor the Note5 before it, the impact isn't really felt. In Germany, Apple has fallen 2.7pp to 16.5%.

In China, where the local competition is now extremely fierce, Apple has also lost some ground - 17.1% market share this year, down from 22.5% in 2015.

Source | Via
Last month ZUK CEO Chang Chen revealed the fact that the Z2 would receive an update to Android 7.0 Nougat soon, and today the Lenovo-owned brand has confirmed that the tasty treat is headed to a couple of other devices too.

The Z2 Pro will receive the new software on January 28, 2017. The Android 7.0 release will come with ZUK's own ZUI 2.5 on top. Surprisingly, the Z1 will get a beta Nougat build at some point in January. The Z1 has the Snapdragon 801 chipset, and so far no device sporting that SoC has officially received a final, stable Nougat build. So it's unlikely that this will ever exit the beta stage, but it's nice to see Lenovo at least offer this to owners of its first ZUK-branded smartphone.

Oddly, today's announcement made absolutely no mention of the Z2 and its Nougat update. But we already know that it's in development for that model too, so hopefully it will launch in the near future. That said, it may just be that the Z2 will have to wait until February for the treat.

Source
Armenian FM: Azerbaijan has been intentionally and constantly burning bridges between two peoples (video)

Statement by Edward Nalbandian, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia at the 23rd OSCE Ministerial Council

Mr. Chairman, Dear Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to thank the Chairman-in-Office, Frank Walter Steinmeier and his team for their leadership in this Organization throughout the year, as well as to extend my gratitude for warm hospitality. We appreciate the strong commitment of the German Chairmanship to dialogue and cooperation which was demonstrated since the assumption of the OSCE gavel. The renewed spirit of dialogue is more than ever essential in overcoming the current challenges to European security. The OSCE with its historic commitment to the prevention of large-scale conflicts and building confidence should be the main platform for reconciling different approaches and perceptions of security. After all, this is the raison detre of this organization founded on the very essential agreement on inadmissibility of war in Europe. Thus, the Chairperson-in-Office assumes a leading role in calling for dialogue on the future of the arms control. Armenia has always been a staunch supporter of improved cooperative security arrangements aimed at enhanced transparency and predictability in the OSCE area based on the principles of restraint, inclusivity and risk reduction. We would like to reiterate our readiness to engage in the discussion on the future of arms control based on these principles. The main objective of arms control regimes is the prevention of use of force. Any significant threat or use of force is a challenge to the indivisible security in the OSCE area since it can undermine the very foundation of our common commitments and core values which inseparably tie us together. The use of force is even more disastrous in the environment of peace processes. Those who consider the use of force as an opportunity to pursue one sided advantages should be boldly reminded that it is a zero sum game which can likely destroy what had been built through long years of negotiations and may seriously undermine further efforts of building bridges between the parties concerned. Mr. Chairman, Large scale military offensive of Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh in April was the most dangerous escalation of the conflict since 1994 when trilateral cease-fire agreement was signed without time limitations between Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. The Azerbaijani aggression was accompanied by gross violations of the international humanitarian law in an apparent attempt to terrorize the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. When many OSCE participating States have been condemning in strongest terms the brutalities committed by DAESH, most of them could not even imagine that the same kind of despicable crimes could be committed in the OSCE area, by an OSCE participating State. The images of those atrocities, including the beheadings, were circulated in the Azerbaijani media in a self-congratulatory manner. The perpetrators were publically decorated by the authorities. These inhumane brutalities reminded the horrors of the past. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the deportation of the population of 24 Armenian villages from Nagorno-Karabakh and its surroundings. The deportation and massacres of Armenians in Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad preceded it and followed in Shahumian and Mardakert regions of Nagorno-Karabakh. The atrocities against civilians in April vividly demonstrated that nothing has been changed in Azerbaijani approaches. This once again reconfirms that the aspiration of people of Nagorno-Karabakh for self-determination was right then and it remains right now. The four days military offensive in April was the culmination of longstanding policy pursued by Baku. Many factors clearly demonstrate that Azerbaijan has long before embarked on the path of hostilities and we have been constantly reminding about them, including at the Ministerial Council level. First, instead of preparing the population to peace, as the Co-Chairs of the Minsk group have been calling for, Baku has for years fueled anti-Armenian propaganda. The books of the renowned Azerbaijani novelist were burnt on the streets of Baku just for speaking the truth about Armenian massacres and calling for reconciliation. Its not just the books, but the bridges between the people that Azerbaijan has been intentionally and constantly burning. Where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people. So many times the words of German classic proved to be true. The 2016 report of the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance states: Political leaders, educational institutions and media have continued using hate speech against Armenians; an entire generation of Azerbaijanis has now grown up listening to this hateful rhetoric. On the eve of the Hamburg Ministerial the leadership of Azerbaijan repeated its claim alleging that not just Nagorno-Karabakh but the territories of the Republic of Armenia, including its capital are native Azerbaijani lands and one day they will return there. What is this if not a territorial claim against the neighboring OSCE participating State in a sheer defiance to our joint commitments and values that lay in the foundation of this Organization? Second, the skyrocketing accumulation of heavy weaponry in gross violation of international arms control agreements have been pointing to Azerbaijans inclination to the military solution. According to the international reports in 2015 Azerbaijan was the largest importer of major weapons in Europe. Third, the rejection to establish confidence building measures proposed by the Co-Chairs, such as the mechanism for investigating the cease-fire violations and the expansion of the OSCE monitoring capacities shows that Azerbaijan has been striving to limit the international permanent presence in the conflict zone to keep its hands free for military operations. Here, in the OSCE, this should be known better than elsewhere, since proposals on these CSBMs have been consistently blocked by Azerbaijan once they required the OSCE consensus for allocating appropriate funds. Fourth, in their militarist stance and bellicose rhetoric Azerbaijani leadership has never shied away to claim that war is a viable option. The more one goes deeply in extreme statements and uncompromising positions, the more one becomes hostage of own rhetoric. At the end of the day the words can act. The threat of use of force has been going hand-in-hand with increasingly dangerous escalation on the line of contact with Nagorno-Karabakh and border with Armenia through more frequent ceasefire violations, use of heavy weaponry and incursions. Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have always exerted efforts together with the Co-Chairs for the exclusively peaceful settlement to the conflict. Both Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have always been against the use of force. This is the fundamental difference between the Armenian and Azerbaijani positions. In response to the condemnation by the Co-Chair countries of the threat or use of force the leadership of Azerbaijan keeps claiming that the international law is void and it is only possible to solve the issues through force. This was once again repeated before Hamburg meeting. On the eve of the OSCE Ministerial the bellicose rhetoric of Azerbaijan was accompanied by large scale military exercises involving 60 thousand troops, almost entire personnel of the armed forces, more than 150 tanks, 700 rocket and artillery systems and more than 50 units of military aviation, in gross violation of the OSCE Vienna document. Fifth, the maximalist and uncompromising stance at the negotiation table, rejection of the proposals of the Co-Chair countries even at their final stages, like at Kazan summit in 2011, almost constant profanation of the Co-Chairs efforts and the attempts to do mediation shopping in other formats have been illustrative of Azerbaijans intentions to derail the negotiations and buy time to continue its military buildup. It does not come as a surprise that the Co-Chairs in their public statements called on Baku to reverse this stance. Mr. Chairman, It is our conviction that April aggression was so far the culmination of Azerbaijans destructive policy but not the end. Baku has been carefully hiding its military casualties of April aggression in an attempt to justify huge price of its adventurism but certainly it cannot hide the fact that together with human losses the peace process became its casualty. The Co-Chair countries organized two summits with the participation of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in May in Vienna and in June in St. Petersburg to address the consequences of April aggression and create conditions conducive for the advancement of the peace process. It is imperative to implement what was particularly emphasized and agreed upon in the framework of these Summits on exclusively peaceful settlement of the conflict, full adherence to the 1994-1995 trilateral ceasefire agreements, which do not have time limitations, creation of mechanism for the investigation of ceasefire violations, expansion of the team of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office. Armenia has agreed to proceed on this basis. These agreements have yet to be honored by Azerbaijan. From the very beginning Baku refused to implement the agreement on the investigative mechanism. As for the expansion of the capacities of the PR CiOs office, Baku tries not only to curtail the implementation of the proposal but even impede mission's current activities in the conflict zone in violation of its OSCE mandate and further complicate the work of the monitors by attempting to keep them as far from the conflict zone as possible and diminishing their ability of rapid reaction. Strengthening of capacities of the Office of PR CiO does not mean mere arithmetical increase of its staff, but rather deployment along the Line of Contact and increase of frequency and efficiency of its monitoring activities on the ground. When it comes to the security of the people residing in the conflict area there is no place for petty bargaining. Azerbaijan failed to question the validity of the cease-fire agreements of 1994 and 1995, since the Co-Chair countries clearly and boldly reaffirmed that the terms of these agreements do not expire and they should be strictly adhered to. The use of force against the right of people of Nagorno-Karabakh to self-determination created this conflict. Continued threat to use force with its materialization in April seriously undermined the peace process and heavily contributed to the sustention of status quo. Thus, going beyond status quo first of all requires renouncing the threat or use of force. When Azerbaijan stubbornly refuses to implement the agreements reached in Vienna, St. Petersburg or elsewhere before, it undermines not just those agreements; it damages the peace process as a whole, since it contributes to eliminating the slightest hopes that anything agreed with Baku could ever be implemented. In the current circumstances of lack of trust and confidence the Co-Chair countries have to even more assertively pursue Azerbaijan to comply with its commitments. The implementation of the agreements in a good faith and without preconditions may open the door for starting to rebuild the trust  an essential prerequisite for a durable settlement - based on three principles of international law  non use of force or threat of use of force, equal rights and self-determination of people, territorial integrity, which together with the elements for conflict resolution were consistently proposed by the Co-Chair countries as an integrated and indivisible whole. Mr. Chairman, Armenia is hosting the only OSCE full-fledged Office in South Caucasus which demonstrates our strong adherence to the implementation of the OSCE commitments in all three dimensions. The continued attempts to hinder the implementation of the mandate of the Yerevan Office by Azerbaijan who already closed its field mission in Baku once again reveals true attitude of that country not only towards Armenia but the OSCE and its commitments. We are convinced that Azerbaijan should not be in a position to export its repressive perception of human rights in the region. Baku should be boldly reminded that it cannot count on the complicity of others to this end. Mr. Chairman, Before I conclude, I would like to add few remarks related to the human dimension of our activities. Last December by the nation-wide referendum Armenia adopted amendments to the Constitution aimed at improved governance system with increased transparency and accountability. It was followed by the adoption of a new Electoral Code to meet the necessary legal changes in line with requirements of the amended Constitution. It is noteworthy that both the Constitutional reform and the new Electoral Code have been drafted in close cooperation with the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR and both received positive feedbacks from our international partner organizations. To further strengthen the public trust in the election process the Government accepted the proposal coming from the opposition and the discussions on the draft Code were held with the equal involvement of parliamentary political factions as well as civil society representatives. Mr. Chairman, In conclusion, I would like to assure Austria, the incoming Chair that it can count on Armenias support. I would also like to welcome Italys joining the troika




Haiti - Elections: Lavalas protesters burn a coffin front the CEP !





Wednesday in response to the appeal of Fanmi Lavalas to continue the mobilization https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19455-haiti-news-zapping-politics.html militants, supporters and sympathizers of the Lavalas Party, took the streets, left from the Boulevard la Saline to the offices of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) in Petion-ville.



Under heavy police surveillance, protesters on the Delmas road hanted slogans dedicated to the victory of their candidate Maryse Narcisse and threw threats to the well-off, under the eyes of a population curious but cautious massed on the sidewalks.



Arived front of the offices of the CEP, the demonstrators burned a coffin, a gesture of intimidation or threat, symbolizing the end of the electoral institution according to protesters...



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Economy : France rewards the Haitian company Sisalco S.A.





After "Rustic Superior" in 2015, it is the turn of the company "Sisalco S.A." to be among the Haitian laureates of the 2nd edition of the label "la France sengage au Sud" (France is committed to the South) aimed at rewarding innovative and sustainable projects, with a high social value. Project representative, Marie Franco received the award from President Francois Hollande during a ceremony at the Quai d'Orsay (France).



Recall that Sisalco is a Haitian company, whose objective through the sisal is to propose a model of social entrepreneurial development. Sisalco's objective is to support the development of sisal cultivation throughout the country, especially in the most arid areas where traditional agriculture is not enough for producers due to devastated soils. To this end, Sisalco aims to create purschase centers to start collecting sisal present in the wild and accompany the planting of new plots. In order to carry out this adventure, Sisalco also works in collaboration with the Haitian Ministry of Agriculture and several NGOs.



The label "la France sengage au Sud" represents a guarantee of credibility and visibility for Sisalco, a lever for rapid development, financial support, support from the State services, and appropriate accompaniment. Thanks to this Label, Sisalco will be able to launch a pilot project in Kenscoff and then reproduce it https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-16838-icihaiti-agriculture-towards-the-development-of-sisal-industry-to-panyol.html



Lancee en 2015 ce Label recompense des projets a utilite sociale perenne et innovant, lesquels sont mis en place par des entrepreneurs, associations ou fondations des pays Sud et portent sur le developpement durable, leducation, la culture, lagriculture, le climat, lacces a lemploi, la sante et la citoyennete.



See also :

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-16838-icihaiti-agriculture-towards-the-development-of-sisal-industry-to-panyol.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-16660-icihaiti-agriculture-towards-the-revival-of-production-of-sisal.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-16028-icihaiti-tourism-stephanie-villedrouin-viisted-the-factory-sisalco.html



HL/ SL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Security : Second fire of a public market in 15 days...





Wednesday, at the National Palace, following the fire that broke out at the public market of Bizoton (Carrefour) in the night from Monday to Tuesday, whose origin is still unknown, which was completely destroyed, leaving nearly 200 merchants (of food, cosmetics, clothing, etc...) ithout resources; the de facto President Jocelerme Privert, met a delegation of small traders victims of the disaster.



The meeting took place in the presence of several personalities concerned, including among others the Deputy Jacques Beauvil and the main Mayor of Carrefour Jude Edouard Pierre, of Jude Saint-Natus the Director General of the Ministry of the Interior and Territorial Communities.



The Head of State urged the Government to take all necessary steps to solidarize and assist the victims. In this sense, he has set up a 5-member Follow-up Committee, composed of the Mayor of Carrefour, the DG of the Ministry of the Interior and three representatives of the merchants. Committee which was convened in the afternoon where representatives of the Ministry of Finance and Social Affairs have also to be present.



Recall that the same Wednesday Michel-Ange Gedeon, , the Director General of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) which was auditioned by the Senate Commission "Justice and Security" questioned on this fire, advised to avoid amalgams by linking this fire to political hands, pending the outcome of the investigation. He said the initial evidence suggests that the fire may be accidental. Asked also about the fire at the end of November of the municipal market Cocoyer (Freres/Petion-ville) https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19299-haiti-news-zapping-politics.html , He indicated that the investigation had come to an end and that the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police should communicate its findings to the competent authorities shortly.



HL/ S/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Elections : The BECD deliberates, awaiting verdict...





Wednesday, the Bureau of Electoral Litigation Department (BCED) was finally able to sit after the postponement of the hearings last Monday https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19436-haiti-flash-failure-of-the-bced-what-are-the-demands-of-candidates.html



It was with great difficulty that the draw of the judges was carried out, the three complainants trying to the end to oppose it, although the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) agreed to respond to their request to draw the names of judges on the complete lists and not on a short list. After a suspension of the meeting, the BCED was composed of Judge Fritzner Duclair (Petit-Goave), Demosthene Bazelais (member of the BED of the West) and Me Emmanuel Louiceus.



Famni Lavalas was the first case of the day. Maryse Narcisse's lawyers demanded of the court that all the minutes be compared to the lists of "emargement" by evoking irregularities. Jovenel Moise's lawyers asked the court to give them all the documents filed in court by Famni Lavalas to contest the results. Affirming that there are no minutes that could serve as evidence for Maryse Narcisse's challenges, they asked the BCED to declare inadmissible the challenge of Famni Lavalas and the maintenance of the results of the presidential as published.



In the second case, lawyers of Moise Jean-Charles denounced thousands of ballots in favor of Jovenel Moise found in Cap-Haitien and demanded a verification of the minutes and exclusion of the beneficiaries of the frauds. PHTK's lawyers have again asked the court to communicate the documents in the file submitted by the party Pitit Dessalin and found that no minutes or partial electoral list has been filed by the protesters to support their accusations or confirm that Moise Jean-Charles had come in second position as he claims. In front of the empty file, they asked to declare the requests of Moise Jean-Charles inadmissible.



In the third and final case, Jude Celestin's lawyers also demanded an in-depth verifications of the minutes, the count sheets, the authenticity of the CINs, the "emargement" lists etc... The lawyers of the PHTK have stressed to the electoral judges that they are not concerned by the act of referral of Jude Celestin which was addressed not to the BCED but to the president of the BED of the West 1 and asked to resend this correspondence to the BED concerned.



After hearing all three cases, the court announced that it was considering the matter within the statutory deadline (24 hours). If this deadline is respected, the BCED should therefore render its verdict this Thursday, December 8 or Friday...



Note that if the complainants do not accept the verdicts, they can still appeal to the Office of the National Electoral Litigation (BCEN), which in principle is the last resort...



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19436-haiti-flash-failure-of-the-bced-what-are-the-demands-of-candidates.html



SL/ TB/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping politics...





Death of a young man in Les Cayes, a police officer guilty

Wednesday in the Senate before the Commission "Justice and Security" Michael-Ange Gedeon, the Director General of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) in the file of the boy killed by bullets during a distribution of aid to Les Cayes last November 1st https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19111-haiti-flash-an-aid-distribution-goes-wrong-in-les-cayes-1-dead.html reported that following the investigation, the offending officer after being interviewed was referred two days ago to the public prosecutor's office of the Court of First Instance of Les Cayes for legal proceedings.



Fecal matter in the Grand-Goave Peace Court

On the night from Monday 5 to Tuesday 6 December, unidentified individuals have brushed with fecal matter the premises of the Court of Peace of Grand-Goave. The employees who were returning to their offices were surprised of this disrespectful act. The nauseating odor has paralyzed the functioning of judicial activities.



Sunrise Airways, launches a new flight

Starting this Thursday, December 8, Sunrise Airways, launches its new flight to Las Americas (SDQ) Dominican Republic. This flight will be available on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, the current fare is 140 US dollars or 239 dollars round trip.



FNE : 138 million taxes collected

As part of National Fund for Education (FNE), of Universal Schooling Program Free and Compulsory (PSUGO), the collected revenues from 15 June 2011 to 5 December 2016 amounted to over 138 million US dollars ($138,809,189.85) including 13,630,239.61 from Natcom, 120,218,777.13 from Digicel and 4,960,173.11 from Comcel. These amounts do not include the tax of 1.50 dollars collected on remittances from the diaspora.



MHAVE changes of Minister a.i.

In the official newspaper "Le Moniteur" # 212 dated December 7, Privert issued a decree appointing citizen Pierrot Delienne, Minister a.i. of Haitians living abroad. This position was occupied by Jessy. C Petit Frere.



Gary Victor invited of honor

The 4th edition of the International Fair of the Book of Haiti (FILHA), which will take place on December 9th, 10th and 11th 2016 at the Palais Municipal de Delmas, will have as guest of honor the writer, writer and journalist Gary Victor, as special guest Philippe Rey and will take place under the theme "Je lis, je grandis".



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Kat Jamieson is an author and tastemaker who has been sharing her passion for lifestyle topics such as fashion, decor, travel, and cooking since 2011 on her blog: With Love From Kat. Her first book, Blended, was recently released in October. In this book, Kat shares a seasonally inspired and holistic approach to cooking, as well as her take on entertaining and living well. She shares more than 125 recipes that have helped her to feel energized, vibrant, and balanced. Aside from these nourishing recipes, Kat also discusses how she has obtained a truly balanced and...
Login or sign up to follow actresses, movies & dramas and get specific updates and news

Login Sign Up

 New Ad-free Subscriber Login

Email

Password

Password Username Your E-mail will only be used to retrieve a lost password.

Stay logged in

Help
Harlow is a former New Town in Essex with a population of 86,000. Located in the upper Stort Valley, it was built in the decades after the Second World War to ease overcrowding and London and provide homes for people bombed out during the Blitz. It includes Britain's first pedestrian precinct and first modern residential tower block, The Lawn. Old Harlow, the historic part of the town, was mentioned in the Domesday Book. David and Victoria Beckham's former home, Rowneybury House, nicknamed 'Beckingham Palace', is nearby.

04:21, 3 NOV 2022
If the latest statistics are anything to go by, men are not just outnumbered in HR - theyre well and truly the minority.



Frazer Jones Global HR Survey sought the opinion of nearly 3,500 HR professionals around the world and 62% of the respondents globally were female.



Moreover, a survey conducted by the Human Resources Institute of New Zealand found that 84% of respondents said HR was significantly over-represented by women.



So what are the consequences of having so many women in one profession?



Lisa Annese, CEO of the Diversity Council Australia (DCA), told HC that when women are in the majority in particular careers then those professions are at risk of being seen as devalued.



So if you have many women congregating in particular professions, as you do in HR, then those careers tend to be less valued in an organisation compared to other careers such as finance, sales, engineering or science, she said.



However, looking after people is one of the most important roles an organisation can play, so its unfortunate that this is the case.



For Annese, all professions would benefit by having greater gender balance and its vital that we move past the hackneyed stereotypes.



Women are traditionally seen to have better soft skills, communication skills, language skills and caring skills. But actually the science doesnt bear that out, she said.



Women can still be very analytical, logical and have really good spatial awareness, so you have women who are really good engineers and scientists.



Conversely, men can be really good at HR and the real danger is if they start to believe the stereotypes and become the myth that people believe to be true.



Indeed, the view of the DCA is that professions are much better and fairer when they have a really diverse representation of people because then things like group think are avoided.



Annese adds that there should be more work done to proactively attract men to the profession. This is for a number of reasons, namely because it would provide men with more options in terms of what careers are appropriate for them.



As organisations, we should always be trying to strive for a more diverse workforce, she said.



Naomi Mourra, head of HR for Australia & New Zealand, at BBC Worldwide, agrees that having a better gender balance is beneficial in any field because industries which are not diverse risk losing credibility.



As the role of HR becomes more influential, I think it will be a more attractive role to men, says Mourra.



In a company where HR has a bigger role to play, I think you do get more diversity. However if the perception of HR is the fluffy people stuff, that may not be attractive to men.




Me (otherwise known as N-Bomb) is the name of hallucinogenic drugs designed to mimic or produce similar effects to common illicit drugs such as LSD.Now, the workplace drug testing company Safework Laboratories has found the first positive results for NBOMe have been detected on worksites in Western Australia and Queensland.Safeworks National Marketing Director and forensic toxicologist Andrew Leibie, said the positive tests were a disturbing development for worker safety.NBOMe compounds are extremely potent with as little as thousandths of a gram enough to cause major effects on those who consume it including violent or frightening hallucinations, major cardiac symptoms, nausea and vomiting, he said.NBOMe compounds are also associated with bizarre behaviours such as running into buildings head first or running into moving traffic.The impact a worker affected by these drugs could have while operating heavy machinery or in a safety-sensitive workplace is terrifying to consider.Leibie added that NBOMe compounds could not be detected by normal workplace drug tests and the recent positives had only been discovered in more advanced testing.Moreover, Dr Stephen Bright, research fellow at the National Drug Research Institute at Curtin University, told the ABC that there is anecdotal evidence that professionals in Australia and overseas take small amounts of illegal hallucinogenic drugs before they head to the officeMicrodosing involves taking a fraction of the dose recreational drug users take to get high."The idea of microdosing is there has been a number of anecdotal reports that people have experienced improved cognition, improved creativity, better emotional functioning and a more present, focused attentiveness to their everyday life," he said.Dr Bright added LSD was the most commonly microdosed drug and that many new drugs (such as the NBOMe) have been passed off as LSD.Moreover, HC recently reported that workers are increasingly turning to prescription drugs like Dexamphetamine and Ritalin to combat longer working hours and hectic schedules.
Investigators believe they have successfully determined the sequence of events that led to the deadly shooting, despite the suspect's continuing refusal in interrogations to provide an explanation for his actions, indicates a press release from the South-eastern Finland Police Department .

The District Court of Southern Karelia has detained a 23-year-old man for probable cause of three murders in connection with a shooting that took place in Imatra, South-east Finland, on Sunday.

No political or ideological motives have been found. Nothing suggests that the victims had been selected in advance, a police spokesperson says in the press release.

Online discussion boards and social media were flooded with both disinformation and misinformation in the aftermath of the shooting. One Twitter account, for example, alleged that the shooting was ethnically motivated and that the victims were Russians. The same account was also used to disseminate claims that the shooter was a far-right extremist who had previously been employed by the Finnish Defence Forces.

The National Police Board believes the phenomenon is here to stay, reports YLE.

Vesa Hakkinen, the director of communications on current affairs at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, estimates in an interview with the public broadcasting company that the objective of such so-called trolls was to damage the foreign relations of Finland.

The messages were really aggressive, he points out.

Jarkko Sipila, an experienced crime reporter for MTV, believes the flood of disinformation was partly a consequence of the decision of law enforcement authorities not to disclose any details of the incident until the following morning. YLE asks: Why was social media full of rumours after the tragedy in Imatra? I answer: The first police press release came ten hours after the incident, he tweeted on Monday.

The number of victims, for example, was not confirmed until 10am on Sunday.

Heli Jamsen-Turkki, the director of communications at the South-eastern Finland Police Department, reminds that the priority immediately after the shooting was to contact the families of the victims. The approach, she states, was justified because the suspect had already been brought into police custody.

The police can't really provide too much information when the investigation is only in its initial stages, she adds in an interview with Uusi Suomi.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Lauri Heino  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
Social exclusion is one of the greatest threats to internal security, she stated in an interview on YLE Radio 1 on Wednesday.

Paula Risikko (NCP), the Minister of the Interior, has called for greater efforts to combat social exclusion in the wake of the tragic shooting that took place in Imatra, South-east Finland, on Sunday.

Risikko revealed that the issue was on her mind even before it became part of the public debate in the aftermath of the suspected triple-murder in Imatra. Criminal investigators are increasingly confident that the shooting was not motivated by ideological or political convictions and have instead estimated that the reasons behind it are related to social exclusion and mental health problems.

Risikko said she will summon a group of her fellow cabinet members to mull over measures to combat social exclusion more efficiently. The issue is a challenge particularly because it does not fall clearly within the remit of any single ministry, she added.

If prevention isn't working and we can't provide help and treatment to these people, they'll end up in police custody or, at worst, in funeral homes, said Risikko. We're getting ready for Finland's centenary celebrations on the theme of together. I urge everyone to really come together [to prevent social exclusion].

The main problem, she estimated, is the poor availability of low-threshold support services for people on the verge of social exclusion. Help should according to her be available immediately after someone begins to show signs of marginalisation or social exclusion.

These people don't realise that they need help, their mothers and fathers are helpless,

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Lauri Heino  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
The gang who stole a prized 1m greyhound demanded a ransom of 100,000 from the dog's owners, warning them the animal would never be returned alive if they didn't pay up.

It is understood Clares Rocket was stolen and the ransom demanded after a major drugs deal involving gang boss Christy Keane fell apart.

Convicted drug dealer Keane was arrested when he was caught travelling with the stolen dog on Tuesday night.

The Herald can reveal the 100,000 ransom demand was made via a phone call to a member of the Limerick Full House syndicate just hours after the theft of the greyhound from kennels in Golden, Co Tipperary, on Sunday night.

The male caller demanded the six-figure cash sum and threatened that the dog would never be returned alive unless the ransom was paid.

However, armed gardai recovered the greyhound when they stopped two cars during simultaneous raids in Kilkenny at around 10pm on Tuesday.

Tracked

They had been monitoring crime lord Keane (55) and other gang members all day.

In total, four men were arrested in the two cars at Mooncoin, Co Kilkenny, and at another location on the Kilkenny/Waterford border.

Aside from Limerick drugs boss Keane, a dissident Republican from the same city and a man from Waterford were among those arrested.

The four were still being held in Clonmel and Tipperary Garda Stations last night.

One of the cars was tracked by gardai as it left Limerick and travelled to Waterford, where the dog was handed over to the occupants of the car.

This car was then tracked as it left the Waterford city area before being intercepted on the county border.

It is understood the criminals had been plotting to kidnap Clares Rocket for weeks and had detailed knowledge of where to find the greyhound.

The dog, which was stolen from the kennels of Irish Derby-winning trainer Graham Holland, is owned by the Limerick Full House syndicate, headed by Joe Cahill.

Rocket has been trained by Mr Holland, who owns family-run business Riverside Kennels in Golden.

The arrest of Keane is considered highly significant.

Gardai are now probing the convicted drug dealer's links to dissident Republicans in the Limerick area.

Keane survived an attempt on his life last year, when he was shot four times in the chest and arms at the University of Limerick.

He was a main player in the deadly Limerick feud and his faction was involved in brutal gang warfare with the McCarthy/Dundon mob.

In 2000, Keane survived another hit attempt when former associate Eddie Ryan pulled a gun on him, but the weapon jammed.

Two of the criminals arrested with him have also been on gardai radar for years.
A man who allegedly owes 16,422 in eFlow toll charges says he was physically sick when he realised his car was being seized.

Simon Parsons said he and his girlfriend, Michelle Daly, woke up to find the car being towed away from outside his home in Bal- briggan early Tuesday morning.

He said the loss of the car has been devastating because he uses it to transport Michelle, who has cerebral palsy.

"The car is more of an ambulance than a car," he said.

"We heard voices outside and thought it was the neighbours coming back from the pub or a house party and thought nothing of it.

"A few minutes later I heard a beeping noise so I looked out the window only to find my car on the back of a truck.

"I couldn't believe what was happening and I vomited."

Mr Parson said he "definitely does not owe" 16,422.

He said he has all the receipts from his journeys on toll roads, and has requested statements from eFlow to see if the time of the journeys match his receipts.

He recently bought the car from the partner of his girlfriend's mother and insisted that there were no outstanding eFlow charges on the car.

"If I know I'm going to make two journeys on Friday, I'll get them on Thursday night. I always pay for them at the local Applegreen or Spar stores. I definitely don't owe that much."

Mr Parsons, who drives a van for a charity organisation in Balbriggan, has not been to work since his car was taken because he is trying to resolve the matter.

Issues

He said this is not the first time he has experienced issues with eFlow. "I got a few letters last year saying I was using the toll when I hadn't gone through it at all.

"Nobody seems to want to talk to me. They are either passing me around or talking down to me."

Dublin County Sheriff's Office and eFlow said they could not comment on individual cases or confirm the incident.
An 11-year-old boy who cut his knee after tripping on a "vandalised" Irish Water meter has received 12,500 damages in the Circuit Civil Court.

Finn Wallace was playing outside his aunt's home in Co Wexford in November 2014 when his foot got caught in the uncovered and broken water meter, causing him to fall.

Scar

His barrister said Finn, of Kilbarrack, lacerated the top of his knee in the fall, causing a wound that took several months to heal and left a scar.

Through his mother, Tracy, he sued Irish Water for negligence. Irish Water claimed the meter was installed properly but had been vandalised.

A 12,500 settlement was offered by Irish Water. Finn's barrister recommended acceptance, as liability could be an issue in a full hearing.
Donal O Coisdealbha is an exceptionally dangerous young man. This self-confessed member of the Real IRA has just been sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison by the Special Criminal Court.

His downfall came when gardai found him in possession of explosive devices, improvised rockets and Semtex - all part of an advanced plan for an attack during the visit of Britain's Prince Charles in May last year.

As he begins his new life behind bars this week, O Coisdealbha can at least comfort himself with the thought that he has friends in high places.

Three Independent TDs - Mick Wallace, Clare Daly and Maureen O'Sullivan - all offered him moral and financial support by saying they were prepared to put up 5,000 that would secure his release on bail.

By doing so, they not only demeaned themselves, they brought Dail Eireann into disrepute and showed there is no case too toxic for their juvenile, attention-seeking, morally brain-dead style of politics.

Even one of the Special Criminal Court judges seems to have been surprised by the TDs' antics. During the sentencing hearing last Tuesday, Justice Isobel Kennedy described as "puzzling" a letter from Maur-een O'Sullivan that claimed there was nothing to be gained from keeping O Coisdealbha in custody.

Instead of admitting her mistake, however, O'Sullivan has actually doubled down on it by insisting that the would-be bomber she defended as a "fine, intelligent and hard-working man" will go on to live his life in "a positive, kind way".

Just imagine for a moment that the Real IRA's plan had succeeded. If Prince Charles had been killed or injured at Mullaghmore (where his beloved great-uncle Lord Mountbatten was murdered in 1979), it would have set Anglo-Irish relations back at least 30 years.

Just as Dallas is still best known as the city where John F Kennedy fell prey to an assass- in's bullet, Ireland's reputation would be tarnished in the eyes of the world.

At least one man might not have burst into tears at such a development. O Coisdealbha is the son of Jim 'Mortar' Monaghan, a veteran explosives expert who allegedly once sat on the IRA Army Council.

As his nickname suggests, Mortar believed that the best way to deal with political opponents was to put a bomb under them, and he escaped his own Special Criminal Court trial 30 years ago after a hole was blasted through the door.

Shame

Although Monaghan prefers to keep a low profile these days, he has recently been seen supporting his boy in court. He was also photographed at protests calling for his release with Maureen O'Sullivan and Clare Daly.

Did his presence not even start the faintest of alarm bells ringing in their minds? Have they no shame about campaigning alongside one of the most brutal and dangerous terrorists this country has seen?

In fairness to the three TDs, nobody is accusing them of having any time for political violence. By their own account, they got involved to highlight the length of time that some prisoners are being held before coming to trial.

If so, Wallace, Daly and O'Sullivan should start choosing their battles more carefully, because this has been the sort of irresponsible and self-indulgent crusade that gives Independent deputies a bad name.

Wallace and Daly in particular have form here. They recently took up the cause of Leon Wright, a 28-year-old criminal who is widely regarded by prison staff as Ireland's most dangerous inmate.

Wright already has 84 convictions, including robberies, firearms offences and random knife attacks, but when he was cleared of an assault charge last month the two TDs were in court to claim his human rights had been breached.

It is often said that lawmakers cannot be lawbreakers. They cannot cosy up to lawbreakers either - at least, not without some voters starting to wonder just whose side they are on.
Prof Rebecca Cook, Prof Emeritus Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, Dr Rhona Mahony, Master of the National Maternity Hospital and Dr Caitriona Henchion at the Irish Family Planning Association's meeting to discuss what regulatory framework could follow repeal of the Eighth Amendment to support best medical practice in reproductive healthcare. Photo: Arthur Carron

A leading obstetrician who chaired a panel of inquiry into the death of Savita Halappanavar has described the criminalisation of women seeking an abortion as "unacceptable".

Prof Sabaratnam Arulkumaran also said his fellow obstetricians should assemble a forum and advise the Government on Ireland's guidelines on abortion.

The distinguished healthcare professional was speaking at the Irish Family Planning Association's (IFPA) annual seminar last night, which also invited members of the public to enter the discussion.

Tackle

The seminar, entitled "Reforming Ireland's abortion laws: Developing women-centred healthcare practice in post- repeal Ireland", discussed measures that could be taken should the Eighth Amendment be repealed.

"My thought would be to assemble all obstetricians into a forum to take the responsibility to tackle this problem, but it can't be tackled as an individual," he said.

"Who else can provide the guidelines and disadvantages to lawyers and Governments other than our own profession?

"If a woman goes to get an abortion, it isn't as if she is going to the dentist. She is going under severe trauma, and yet she is treated like a criminal. That is unacceptable."

Prof Arulkumaran chaired the panel of inquiry into the death of Ms Halappanavar, who was denied a termination after suffering a septic miscarriage.

Ms Halappanavar, a 31-year-old dentist, was admitted to Galway University Hospital in October 2012 when she was 17 weeks pregnant.

A developing infection went undetected and she was repeatedly refused a termination because the foetal heartbeat was present. Days later, she went into septic shock and died.

Also speaking at the seminar was Dr Rhona Mahony, the Master of the National Maternity Hospital, who said medics should not have legal matters as their primary consideration.

"As a medical professional and practitioner, we have many challenges for our patients, which we see on a daily basis," she said.

"My difficulty is that clinical decision-making is distorted by our current constitution and, at the same time, our constitution protects women who wish to travel outside of Ireland for an abortion.

"Our primary consideration should be clinical, it should not be legal, and sometimes we find clinical decision-making is distorted. This is not a good thing."
A notorious terror boss known as 'The Beast' was murdered when he was ambushed and shot in the back at least three times.

Gardai fear dissident Republican reprisal attacks after the victim, Aidan O'Driscoll, was gunned down.

The 37-year-old Real IRA commander died during emergency surgery an hour after being targeted in Blackpool, Cork.

O'Driscoll is suspected of serving as chief of staff for the Real IRA in Munster and had close links to murdered Real IRA boss Alan Ryan from Dublin.

The attack took place shortly before 5pm and is understood to have involved a lone gunman and a getaway driver.

Masked

Locals reported hearing several loud bangs and seeing a man, apparently masked, running from the scene.

He is believed to have fled the area in a getaway car driven by another masked man.

Initial reports suggest O'Driscoll realised he was being ambushed and attempted to flee.

He was shot in the back with a 9mm handgun and collapsed to the ground. The gunman then walked up to him and shot him a number of times as he lay wounded on the pavement.

A short time later, a burning car was found less than a kilometre away. A second car was found burnt out in the village of Killeen, outside Cork city.

O'Driscoll was treated at the scene by paramedics before being rushed to Cork University Hospital (CUH). It is understood he was shot in the back at least three times.

O'Driscoll had survived a gun attack three years ago, when he was shot in the legs in what gardai believe was a punishment operation carried out by fellow dissident Republicans.

O'Driscoll was convicted before the Special Criminal Court in 2005 of being a member of the Real IRA and received a three-year prison sentence.

His conviction was overturned on appeal and O'Driscoll moved to Dublin in the latter part of the last decade.

O'Driscoll had been closely allied to Alan Ryan, the leader of the Real IRA at the time, who was shot and killed in 2012.

While in Portlaoise Prison, he shared a landing with Ryan, who was himself serving a sentence for weapons offences.

Upon his release, he assumed command of the Real IRA in the capital and both he and Ryan waged war on drug dealers flooding the country and making huge money.

They claimed in interviews that they were taking the drug dealers' money and weapons and running them out of communities.

However, senior sources say the Real IRA was simply demanding large sums of cash from criminal gangs and, if they refused to pay up, they became targets for the feared dissident gang who traded under the IRA name.

The group was responsible for the murder of Colm 'Collie' Owens in July 2010.

Murder

O'Driscoll also sanctioned the murder of drug-dealer Sean Winters, who was shot twice in the head outside an apartment in Portmarnock in September 2010.

O'Driscoll ordered the murder of Gerard 'Topper' Staunton, who was gunned down in Cork in an ambush-style killing in January 2010.

A year later the Real IRA had major Dublin drugs trafficker Michael 'Micka' Kelly killed.

O'Driscoll was shot outside an apartment complex off Blackpool village in Cork.

Detectives are checking CCTV security cameras to see if the attackers were caught on film.
NEWTON  A local man appeared before Catawba County District Court Judge Wesley W. Barkley Wednesday morning on charges in a Tuesday night crash on U.S. Highway 70 that ended with the death of a Caldwell County preacher.

Zachariah Arthur Carl, 31, of Newton, faces charges of one felony count of second-degree murder, one count of driving while impaired, one count of failure to stop for a red light, one count of possession of an open container, one count of driving with license revoked and one misdemeanor count of probation violation.

Second-degree murder is defined as either an intentional killing that is not premeditated or a killing caused by dangerous conduct and lack of concern for human life, according to N.C. general statute 14-17 (b) (1).

In court, Carl requested a court-appointed attorney. Barkley appointed attorney Adam Milsaps to represent Carl.

Carl said nothing else during his appearance.

The victim was Michael Howard Vanderburg, 43, according to a press release from the District Attorneys Office. Vanderburg was killed in the collision.

Vanderburg was a preacher at the Abundant Life Church of God in Hudson.

Church clerk Mary Dawson said there would be a receiving of friends starting at 5:30 p.m. Friday at the church.

The whole congregation is in shock. We loved him as our pastor, as our shepherd, Dawson said. He was the most kind-hearted person.

Dawson said Vanderburgs three children were in the familys minivan at the time. The release states Catawba County EMS took the children to an area hospital.

This is a horrific tragedy, District Attorney David Learner said. As I told the judge, it was a random act of violence. There is never a good time for something like this to happen, but right here, three weeks before Christmas is probably one of the worst times.

In court, Learner requested an increase in Carls bond to a $1 million cash bond.

This defendant has previous driving while impaired convictions. In the interest of public safety, I would ask for a significant bond be set, Learner said to Barkley.

Barkley approved the district attorneys request.

Carls previous DWI convictions were July 25, 2011 and Aug. 13, 2015, Learner said.

Should Carl meet the bond, he faces a number of other criteria. These include no alcohol, no controlled substance, no contact with the victims family, electronic house arrest and alcohol monitoring.

Carl is held at the Catawba County Detention Center. His probable cause hearing is scheduled for Dec. 16.

Learner notes that Carl is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

The N.C. State Highway Patrol continues to investigate the case.
HICKORY  Keeping teachers in classrooms has been a growing problem across the nation in recent years and in North Carolina particularly.

Stagnant pay scales and the loss of the states Teaching Fellows program have become roadblocks to many local, hopeful educators. Three years ago, Lenoir-Rhyne University (LRU) created its own Teacher Scholars program to help fill this gap, and it's paid off in the number of applications.

The state reports that its a 30 percent drop in undergraduate education enrollment in the programs for teacher education, LRU Dean of the College of Education and Human Services Hank Weddington said. It was the same thing here up until we started the Teaching Scholars program.

In 2011, teachers in the state were hit with a significant obstacle.

The North Carolina General Assembly voted to end the states Teaching Fellows program. Between 1987 and 2011, up to 500 Fellows were selected annually from area high schools for the state program.

It was a nationally renowned program where all the state institutions and some of the privates, including Lenoir-Rhyne were able to offer students basically a $26,000 scholarship to help support them in becoming teachers, Weddington said.

That hurt us all in 2012 when it came to recruitment because there was a set group of students we knew we could bring in who were highly qualified and would make it through and become great teachers.

The overall state attrition rate of teachers leaving the profession for 2014-2015 was 14.84 percent, up from 14.12 percent in 2013-2014, according to report by the North Carolina General Assembly.

After the 2012 drop-off from the Teaching Fellows program, LRU president Wayne Powell approached Weddington about finding another incentive to draw in students still interested in becoming teachers but needed that additional financial help.

The university decided on creating and funding its own scholarship program.

Scholarships of up to $5,500 per year, for the four years of study, are available to eligible incoming freshmen, according to a LRU press release. The average LRU student eligible for this program receives approximately $18,000 per year in scholarships and grants from the institution, and there are no pay back requirements.

The Teaching Scholars program provides opportunities for students outside of the classroom, helping them gain work experience with seasoned professionals. Scholars are placed in Hickory-area school districts throughout their programs of study where they serve as tutors, small group leaders and instructional assistants. They also have the opportunity to connect with school district leaders to broaden their comprehension of education administration and challenges faced by the system.

We do up to 25 students per year, Weddington said. We actually had 31 last year for Teacher Scholarsthat was our biggest number. We expect about the same next year, to come in hopefully another 25 to 30.

Lenoir-Rhyne worked hard to connect with all the local public school districts as well, with the superintendents nominating top students in their districts for the program, who get priority consideration for the scholarship.

So far its gone great, Weddington said. We are almost at an all-time high with the level of students in teacher education programs at LR while other (universities) are still down 25 or 30 percent.

The program is already taking applications for its next group of Teacher Scholars. Priority will be given to those who apply by Jan. 10.

For more information, visit the universitys website at lr.edu or call 828-328-7189.
The recent event in Mathura, where an old swami-turned-atheist, Balendu Swami, wished to organise a private conclave for discussion of his (un)belief was manhandled because he had hurt the religious sentiments of the believers, both Hindu and Muslim, is, apart from being a violation of ones constitutional rights, also brings to the fore the very long history and persistence of atheism in human civilisation. Chinese civilisation has done without god for much of its durable life, although it has evolved the notion of Heaven. Indeed, the Catholic missionaries who arrived in China from Europe had to translate god as the Lord of Heaven. Several Greek philosophers from the sixth century BCE were self-proclaimed atheists. In the world of Islam, if the existence of god was not denied, some prominent philosophers like al-Razi questioned the legitimacy of prophethood in general, including that of Muhammad and even the divinity of the Quranic verses. In the Hindu realm, only the Vedanta, especially the later version of Nyaya-Vaisesika, were theistic; by contrast Buddhism, Jainism, Purva-Mimansa, Samkhya, Lokayata and the original Nyaya-Vaisesika were philosophies of committed atheism, to cite from late Debiprasad Chattopadhyayas book Indian Atheism.

Read: Vrindavan Nastik Sammelan called off amid protests by saints

In major philosophical systems, there was incessant argument whether the world had an eternal existence or had been created at one time or another. In the first case, nature had so evolved through its own internal dynamism as to form the planets, the earth, the stars, the universe with no intervention from an extraneous source. In the second, a Creator was envisaged who created the universe of his (sic!) own will and gave it a functional, regulatory order. The need for a Creator stands on the weakest ground, for if the universe could not come into existence without the helping hand of a Creator, then logically the Creator would also have been created. The materialists in the Hindu pantheon of philosophy like the Charvakas argued that it is the interaction of various matters which resulted in the creation of a phenomenon which is different from all its individual constituents. The examples they gave were two, among several: no individual ingredient of pan (betel) is capable of yielding the red colour on ones lips; the colour emerges from the mixture of all elements of the pan. Similarly, no ingredient of liquor can produce intoxication by itself; it is the process of mixture of all the elements that creates the effect. The universe was similarly formed as various gases interacted and consolidated over hundreds of millennia and it became self-regulating. Did we hear the early echoes of the Big Bang here?

Read: Bangladesh police arrest suspect in bloggers murder

Even as the issues were widely disputed and discussed among theists and atheists and within each group, a major social transformation had occurred around two millennia ago. While the ancient societies everywhere were marked by multiplicity of beliefs as well as unbeliefs, hosting polytheistic, pantheistic, animist, anthropomorphic, naturalist forms of deities and beliefs as well as denial of beliefs, thus creating a wide spectrum with ample space for all, the assertion of a single truth in the monotheistic representation of god completely changed the scenario. The intervention of a monotheistic god with Christianity altered the very terms of debate as it were. Judaism too is monotheistic, for sure, but unlike Christianity, it is not a proselytising religion even as voluntary conversion to it by individuals under some strict conditions is permissible. As a proselytising religion, Christianity laid claims to monopoly of the singularity of truth revealed to humanity through Jesus, son of god. Implicit in it was also the falsity of all other faiths, an inevitable and irreconcilable conflict with them and its own ultimate universal triumph. This premise was later inherited by Islam with the same characteristics. Interestingly, these are also integral to the inveterate adversary of all religions, i.e. Marxism. Conflict with others and victory over them is inescapable in the claims over the monopoly of the single truth. It is thus that the whole of humanity must turn Christian, Muslim or socialist, depending on ones partiality. A major agency in the enforcement of the singularity of truth has been State power. However, history has led humanity even within the respective spheres in different directions. Diversity and plurality have asserted themselves incessantly through the established and enforced prisms. Today, acceptance of plurality in lieu of singularity of vision is the norm.

Read: Lord Krishnas popularity rising in Communist China

It is therefore imperative that we in India all the more cherish and celebrate plurality, whether of faiths or cultures or assertion of absence of faith in god or religion. That is the essence of true Indian-ness, which has for ages upheld the right of freedom of thought without postulating the triumph of one opinion over another, one single truth over all others. This is also the premise of the Indian Constitutions guarantee of civil rights. Denial of this freedom is the very anti-thesis of the great legacy of Indian civilisation. But then, this denial is being premised on the assertion of one truth as the single Truth, which is backed by the political dispensation that ironically seeks legitimacy in upholding ancient values!

Harbans Mukhia is former professor of history, JNU

The views expressed are personal
Theatre has always played a powerful role in reaching out to people. In this vein, the Delhi International Queer Theatre and Film Festival, organised by Harmless Hugs  an LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender,and Queer) collective, is back in the city with its second edition.

The idea is to show people that the LGBTQ community does exist and is much bigger than people think. We arent a minority; were a mainstream part of the society.  Harsh Agarwal.

The fest is all about celebrating the LGBTQ community. There will be great memories, amazing movies and plays on the community, and a completely new perspective that people will walk away with, says Harsh Agarwal, president, Harmless Hugs. The idea is to show people that the LGBTQ community does exist and is much bigger than people think. We arent a minority; were a mainstream part of the society.

Movies and plays on the LGBTQ community will be staged at the festival.

Thought-provoking plays such as Libas, Lihaf, Hum Toh Bolenge, Meeta Ki Kahani, and movies such as Underneath the Makeup, Theres Me; My Child is Gay; and Boy Meets Boy will be screened at the festival. Along with that, there will be a photography exhibition on LGBTQ issues, and sessions by Piyush Mishra, among other eminent personalities. The event will also be attended by Prince Manvendra Singh Golhil  the first person from an Indian royal family to have come out about his sexual orientation, says Agarwal.

Kunal Kapoor believes that the LGBTQ community is grossly underrepresented and stereotyped.

Actors Kalki Koechlin and Kunal Kapoor have also extended their support by making videos for the fest. Kapoor says, Events such as these are essential... as the LGBTQ community has been grossly underrepresented and stereotyped. And cinema and theatre are really powerful mediums as they can reach out to masses, and change the situation.

Kapil, director of the theatre group Sangwari says, The LGBTQ community is treated worse than the minorities. People even refuse to believe that the community exists. This is the basis of our play Hum Toh Bolenge.

Elaborating on the importance of events around LGBTQ communities, Agarwal says that they have long term impact as more and more content is created. New movies and plays are produced, and performed repeatedly. This continues to spread the message, he adds. Also, its a great way for members of the community to sensitise their families, even if they havent come out of the closet yet.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Barely three days after he made an appeal to those with Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts to not return black money deposited in their accounts, MP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan seemed to make an about-turn on Wednesday, ruling out the possibility of black money in such accounts.

He said that even if PMJDY accounts have some black money, it must be a nominal amount.

The chief ministers statement, made in the assembly, came after the House witnessed uproarious scenes and a walkout by the Opposition, which wanted a discussion on its adjournment motion on inconvenience caused due to the demonetisation of the old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 banknotes.

Madhya Pradesh has 2.23 crore Jan Dhan accounts, in which Rs 1000 crore was deposited after demonetisation was announced, taking the total money in them to Rs 3000 crore. Thus, each of the account holders had deposited Rs 500 each. A poor man must have Rs 500... The poor have earned the money, Chouhan said.

This was in contrast to a speech he made on December 4 at Bhopals Jamboree Maidan, when he had urged PMJDY account holders to not entertain the plea of the rich who wanted to park their black money in their accounts. PM has already said dont return the money to them. If they ask you to return their money, write a letter to the PM and also the CM, he had said.

Earlier, acting leader of the Opposition Bala Bachchan and fellow Opposition legislators Ramniwas Rawat, Mahendra Singh Kalukheda, Arif Aqueel, Mukesh Nayak and Jeetu Patwari, during Question Hour, pressed for a discussion on the grievances and the impact of demonetisation on farmers.

Speaker Sitasharan Sharma adjourned the House for 10 minutes. When the House resumed its business, the MLAs were on their feet again, raising their demands. As the CM agreed to a discussion on the adjournment motion, the Speaker allowed the same, suspending Question Hour.

Bachchan claimed that Madhya Pradesh had seen suicide of at least 15 farmers affected by demonetisation and that people were migrating to neighbouring states. He also said that there was chaos in the entire state and farmers were still waiting for relief packages.

In his reply, Chouhan justified the demonetisation and said that though there was some inconvenience to the people, the decision had been supported across the country. He also said that the sowing area in the state had increased significantly  from 77.23 lakh hectares in 2015-16 to 95 lakh hectares in the corresponding period this year.

He also said 20.50 lakh farmers were to get Rs 4400 crore from December 10 onwards under the crop insurance scheme, down from the earlier Rs 4600 crore. The CM also said that the price of fertiliser had come down.

However, expressing their dissatisfaction with Chouhans answer, the Opposition staged a walkout, leading the CM to accuse them of being escapists and unable to face reality.
The Madhya Pradesh government on Wednesday admitted in the state assembly that some farmers committed suicide because of being overburdened by loans.

In a written reply to a query by Congress legislator Mukesh Nayak, home minister Bhupendra Singh stated that between 2013 and 2015 in Sagar division (Bundelkhand), four farmers committed suicide due to loans and two people committed suicide after becoming depressed due to unemployment. Sagar revenue division comprises five districts Chhatarpur, Damoh, Panna, Sagar and Tikamgarh.

According to the data provided in the state assembly, the farmers who committed suicide were from Chhatarpur and Damoh (one each) and Tikamgarh (two).

During the debate in the House, Congress partys Ramniwas Rawat, who had asked also a question on farmer suicides, said that on an average, 22 people committed suicide per day in the state, including four farmers (between February to mid-November this year).

In a written reply to the question of Rawat , Singh stated that between July 1 and mid-November, when the question was submitted, there have been 3,469 suicides in MP, including 252 suicides by farmers, 279 by farm labourers and 281 by students.

Rawat said according to the reply of the state government, between February 1, 2016 and June 30, 3957 people had committed suicide in MP, including 1164 suicides by farmers and farm labourers and 298 by students.

Rawat told HT this is perhaps for the first time that state government had admitted that some debit-ridden farmers in the state had committed suicide due to frustration. It is rare for the state government to admit such facts in black and white, he said.

According to the data of the Madhya Pradesh Crime Records Bureau, over 18,000 farmers have committed suicide between 2001 and 2015 in the state, which translates to an average of three farmers killing themselves for the past 15 years.
A lawyer on Wednesday said he has filed a complaint with the National Commission for Women (NCW) against Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh, as he has insulted woman in the advertisement of menswear company Jack & Jones by presenting women in an indecent way.

Gaurav Gulati, a lawyer practising in Tis Hazari courts complex, has filed a complaint against Ranveer Singh and Jack & Jones, and requested the NCW to issue notice to them.

He also demanded strict legal action the actor and the menswear company. I have seen an advertisement hoarding of Jack & Jones company on social media and some online news reports in which famous Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh could be seen posing slinging a woman on his shoulder, suggesting that women are nothing more than objects.

Then theres a punch line by the side that says Do Not Hold Back, Take Your Work Home, the lawyer said in his complaint.

He also stated in the complaint that such statements are derogatory to women and show how a famous actor can do such cheap and mean acts for the sake of money.

The advocate termed it as violation of gender equality and as being outrageous to womens dignity.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Love him or hate him, actor Ranveer Singh sure knows how to stay in the limelight. Just before the release of his film Befikre, the forever dancing star ensured he was the talk of the town when he appeared on stage with Yoga guru Baba Ramdev for a face-off on flexibility.

This wasnt, however, the first time, Bollywoods current heartthrob danced his way to our hearts. Here are five other moments when Ranveer proved he was Bollywoods biggest star, both on and off it.

Recreating Rock On for Farhan Akhtar

He is one of the most versatile among the current crop of actors in Bollywood, and Ranveer has proved it time and again. His friendship with other actors of his generation defies the theory that two actors cant be friends. See how he promoted Farhan Akhtars Rock On 2 in this video.

Chhupa Rustom

Remember Akshay Kumars famous song Zehar hai ki pyar hai from his 1995 film Sabse Bada Khiladi. Guess who recreated this song before the release of Kumars Rustom in august this year.

Krrish reloaded

This is the famous video in which he danced on a crowded street of Mumbai in response to a dare thrown at him by Hrithik Roshan. Look how confused is that police constable.

Pardesi, pardesi

Though Aamir Khan wouldnt be very happy about this version of Pardesi, pardesi (Raja Hindustani, 1996), but then who can stop Ranveer Singh!

Belting out a cult hit for confused tourists in Switzerland. Just because. #JustBefikre  pic.twitter.com/oalaRtfmKw  Ranveer Singh (@RanveerOfficial) August 27, 2016

Sultan in Paris

Thanks to Ranveers crazy dance inside a theatre in Paris, Salman Khans film Sultan got a free publicity on social media. Its a different thing that Khan openly scolded Singh for it.

Fans were literally dancing with him on stage  No one was watching the song  #RanveerSingh #Sultan #Paris pic.twitter.com/OJ0YH5Jp0N  Salee (@Scarabette) July 11, 2016
Banks, already under pressure to meet the surge in demand for new bank notes, has a new problem in hand.

With several cases of malpractices being reported following the governments demonetisation move, lendersboth public and private-- are looking to put in place stringent internal monitoring mechanisms to keep a close watch on employees, and ensure that they do not indulge in malpractices.

In fact, most lenders have started circulating repeated advisories to employees, warning them of strict action in case of any discrepancy in their work ethics. In many cases, teams comprising senior officials from all departments have been assigned to look at compliance.

The finance ministry, last week, said as many as 27 officials engaged with various public sector banks were suspended, and six were transferred to non-sensitive posts after reports of misconduct.

News agency ANI on Wednesday reported that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had carried out raids in 50 branches of 10 banks across India, on suspicion of money laundering. The ED is keeping a tab on those account holders, who deposited huge amounts at one time, and also those which recorded suspicious transactions after demonetisation, the agency said, quoting sources.

Meanwhile, a few banks are also looking to hire external agencies to keep track of the transactions that take place, sources said. While HDFC has sacked four of its employees in Chandigarh, Axis Bank handed out pink slips to 19. The bank has already engaged a private firm to probe the issue.

We have sacked employees who were found to be deviating from our code of conduct. For Axis, there is zero tolerance for any such malpractice, Rajesh Dahiya, executive director, Axis Bank, told HT. It is an ongoing process, he added.

Two employees of Axis Bank were also arrested by the ED.

While all efforts are being made to facilitate genuine transactions, illegalities will not be tolerated and appropriate action will be taken against individuals involved in irregular and unauthorised activities, the finance ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
New Delhi

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cut its GDP growth forecast for this financial year from 7.6% to 7.1%, citing the governments demonetisation exercise that sucked out 86% of the currency in circulation.

Rating agencies and broking houses have also cut their estimates of Indias GDP growth for 2016-17 in anticipation of temporary disruption in economic activity during the October-December quarter because of the cash crunch since the recall of high-value banknotes a month ago.

Fitch Ratings

Fitch Ratings lowered Indias GDP growth forecast for this fiscal to 6.9% from 7.4%.

In its Global Economic Outlook - November report on the currency ban, Fitch said consumers do not have the cash needed to complete purchases, and there have been reports of supply chains being disrupted and farmers unable to buy seeds and fertiliser for the sowing season.

Time spent queuing in banks is also likely to have affected general productivity. The impact on GDP growth will increase the longer the disruption continues, Fitch said, adding the medium-term effect of the currency withdrawal on GDP growth is uncertain, but is unlikely to be large.

Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley cut growth estimate to 7.4% from 7.7% for 2016.

For 2017, the growth forecast has been slashed to 7.6% from the earlier 7.8%. For 2018, the growth is pegged at 7.8%.

Though the overall growth story remains on track, the governments recent decision to replace high-value currency is expected to affect near-term economic activity, thus leading to a slower pace of growth recovery, Morgan Stanley said in a note.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch

In a research note, Bank of America Merrill Lynch also cut its growth forecast for India.

We see a 30 bps risk each to our 7.4% FY17 and 7.6% FY18 growth forecasts with demonetisation set to hurt activity in December as well, BoA said in a research note.

India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra)

India Ratings and Research revised its growth forecast for 2016-17 to 6.8%, 100 basis points lower than its earlier projection of 7.8%.

With the decline in cash holdings in the hands of the people and severe restriction in the flow of new cash, consumption demand has also fallen impacting both wholesale and retail sales. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the cash squeeze has reduced sales in the informal sector by 30%-40% during the first fortnight following the de-legalisation, it explained in a research note.

Ambit Capital

Ambit Capital has cut the countrys GDP estimate for 2016-17 to 3.5% from the previous 6.8%.

(with agency inputs)

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
With demonetisation set to reduce Indias economic growth by 1% over the next one year, the job market is likely to see over 400,000 job cuts.

You should worry if you work in the e-commerce sector, since firms could handover around 200,000 pink slips in the next one year. Cash on delivery being almost 70% of the overall e-commerce business, the sector is likely to take a hit and lose almost 20% of their headcount in the next few months, said Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder at staffing firm Teamlease Services. E-commerce firms currently employ around 1 million people in India.

Companies manufacturing and selling luxury goods would also be immediately impacted, Chakraborty added.

Real estate, construction and infrastructure are the others that are likely to feel the heat of demonetisation. Recruiters and head hunters expect the sectors to lose over 100,000 jobs in the next 12 months.

For the next six to eight months, we could foresee job losses and freeze on hiring. Moreover, if the governments objectives (related to demonetisation) are not be met, we should expect more challenges, said Anandorup Ghose, director at US-based human resource consultancy Aon Hewitt. The impact of the move will be felt across sectors dealing with consumers discretionary spending, including real estate and auto.

Besides, the textiles and garments industry, which employ a substantial number of daily wagers, could be hit hard. Of the 32 million people employed by the industry, one-fifth are daily wagers, who mostly get paid in cash. While on one hand, slow sales increase the possibility of stock returns to manufacturers or affect the order book for the next year due to unsold inventory; on the other, slow sales and consequent liquidity pressures on retailers can result in stretched payments to manufacturers, according to rating firm ICRA. Similarly, 20% of the 250,000 workers in the leather industry will also be impacted.

The impact on the job market could become severe if the recovery of cash supply in the system remained sluggish, experts said. The impact on the job market depends on the how fast the economy recovers, how fast the money is supplied in the economy, and when the restrictions on cash withdrawals go, said Soumya Kanti Ghosh, chief economic adviser at State Bank of India.

According to global financial services major HSBC, the governments move to withdraw and replace high-denomination currency notes will bring some benefits and some losses in the short term, to sectors, including financial technology, digital wallet and banking

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Amid the prolonged slowdown in residential real estate and the demonetisations economic fallout, several companies have been unable to attract buyers for their surplus land. Some of these firms are multinational drug major Glaxo Smithkline Pharma, Ashok Piramal groups Peninsula Land, and real estate firm HDIL.

Glaxo Smithkline has been planning to sell 60 acres in Thane near Mumbai for a while now. Its factory in Thane was shut in 2011. The company came close to selling the land in 2014, but the deal fell through due to legal hurdles.

The company reinvited bids in August to sell the land for around 1,800 crore, but got no response. Sources said Glaxo Smithkline is now considering joint development, wherein a revenue-sharing deal can be made with the developer. GSK didnt respond to HTs email.

Similarly, Peninsula Land has been looking to sell around 180-200 acres in several cities for over a year to cut its debt. The company has been in talks with prospective buyers but said no definitive agreements had been made.

We have made a lot of progress  we are close (to reaching a deal), said Rajeev Piramal, vice-chairman and MD of Peninsula Land.

On whether Piramal planned to acquire more land, Piramal said developers didnt have much appetite to buy large tracts of land where factories once stood.

He further said in todays environment risk appetite was low as in the future, one wouldnt be able to launch projects early unless all approvals were in place.

Real estate firm Housing Development and Infrastructure (HDIL) has also been planning to sell some of its land in Virar and Palghar, located on the outskirts of Mumbai, for some time.

Over the last year, demand in Mumbais real estate market has been flat. Moreover, prices are expected to fall by at least 15-20% as demand may drop further due to demonetisation.

Analysts say the current market environment is not conducive because there is too much uncertainty on the sale of finished products.

There will be uncertainty for the next six months. Land is valued on the basis of backward calculation. So people will be wary of buying land, said Gulam Zia, executive director at realty consultancy Knight Frank.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
A 10-year-old boy was allegedly sodomised by a 65-year-old man in central Delhis Sheesh Mahal area on Monday afternoon.

Police said the incident took place on Monday afternoon around 2:30 pm when the boy was returning from school. The accused Anees, who owns a grocery store near kids home offered him water and took him to home where he was allegedly sodomised.

Hanif owns a grocery store in the locality and his wife teaches the kid at home. On the day of incident, Hanif shut his shop and there was no one at his house.

Police said when the boy retuned him; his parents noticed behavioural change in him. When his father tried to know, the boy started crying and narrated the incident to his father.

On Tuesday the case was reported at Hauz Qazi police station and boy was sent for medical examination.

The boy had come along with his father. We registered a case and accused was arrested from his shop in the locality, said a senior police officer.

Further investigations are in progress and it has come to light that man was involved earlier also in such cases.
A 13-year-old girl, accused of stealing a mobile phone and cash during a school trip, allegedly committed suicide at her rented accommodation in Noidas Sector 15 on Wednesday night, police said.

Aarti Kumari, who hailed from Jharkhands Giridih, lived with her father, Kameshwar Nayak, mother, Sunita, and brother, Anand Kumar. She studied in a government school in Delhis New Ashok Nagar.

On November 29, Aarti had gone on a trip organised by the school and returned the next day. On December 1, she found a mobile in her bag that was mistakenly kept during the trip. She handed it over to Sunita and requested her to submit it to the school as she was not well, Nayak said.

Before Sunita could return the mobile, a teacher from her school visited their home on December 2 and accused Aarti of stealing the phone and some cash, he said.

The teacher took the mobile and left. However, when Aarti went to the school on December 3, the school administration harassed her and forced her to sign a document confessing stealing of the phone and Rs 1,000 cash from a teachers bag. When she returned, she was terrified. When I went to the school, I found that she was rusticated, said Kameshwar, who runs a grocery shop in the locality.

On Wednesday night, when the family returned home at about 8pm they found Aarti hanging from the ceiling fan.

They informed the police who filed a case of abetment to suicide against the school administration. Her father alleged that she committed suicide as she was harassed and expelled from the school over false allegations.

We have registered a case against the school administration following the complaint of the father of the deceased. The school principal will be called for questioning. The body was sent for postmortem, reports of which are still awaited, said Rashid Ali, station house officer of Sector 20 police station.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Sabrina has been forced to spend cold nights under the open sky with her two kids as her jhuggi at Kishangarh village in Mehrauli was razed in a demolition drive by the municipal corporation on Monday.

Two days after the incident, she hasnt left the spot that used to be home because she has nowhere else to go. She lost all her belongings. She says demolition started without any pre-intimation or notice. All she could save was few old currency notes and her two kids.

They came around 10 am and started demolishing the shanties, said Sabrina.

I tried renting a room with the money I managed to save, but I realised that old currency notes are not accepted anymore. I never found myself so helpless, said Sabina who lived at the spot for five years.

A few metres away was Halima, trying to fish out utensils and torn clothes from the debris. Her jhuggi was demolished on Tuesday, a day after Sabrinas.

A total of 300 hutments were demolished in the two-day drive.

Though she had a days time to move from the place and save her belongings, she did not as the officials allegedly assured her the drive will not go on. It was only after their assurance that we decided not to move. But it was a mistake to trust them, she said.

A senior Delhi Development Authority (DDA) official said the drive was carried out as per Delhi High Courts order. The land belonged to DDA and was handed over to the South Delhi Municipal Corporation for maintenance.

Later, it was encroached on by a local resident who claimed to be its owner. He started renting out the place to jhuggi dwellers and to store construction material, said the official.

When the corporation tried to evict him, he approached the court. He failed to prove ownership and both authorities decided to carry a joint demolition drive, said an SDMC official

However, jhuggi dwellers say they have been caught in between, especially, with no relief measures.

Deputy commissioner (revenue) Amjad Tak said the department did not get any prior information about the drive. We were intimated on Tuesday night by the department and after that only relief work started. Considering winters have started, we immediately arranged for tents at a vacant place, food from a neighbouring gurdwara and made some lighting arrangement.

However, he wasnt sure how long the arrangement could go on, considering that many more displaced jhuggi dwellers taking shelter there.

The Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB)  constituted to look into all demolition drives  claimed that DDA did not inform them either.

We got information from the deputy commissioners office on Tuesday, after whichwe arranged blankets, movable toilets and other handholding facilities, said Vinay Jain, DUSIB chairman.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
As Delhi is catching up with the concept of Smart Grid system, which would make the citys electricity infrastructure go online, the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) for the first time has introduced a special provision for financing and planning big ticket projects in its tariff determination norms.

In its Terms and Conditions for determination of Tariff Regulations, 2016, released on Tuesday, the power regulator has allowed distribution companies to come up with detailed project reports on Renovation and Modernisation for Life Extension.

This means that if a discom has a proposal for substantial network upgrade like making all overhead cables underground, then it would be considered by the DERC for funding and later, shall also form the basis of tariff determination, an official from power discom, Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL), said.

Till now, Delhi has no regulation for major projects and only routine upgradation works are accounted for. Projects like redevelopment of Chandni Chowk where all overhead cables are to be made underground needed certain guidelines to be followed which arent there. Now there will be a framework that would include scope, justification, cost-benefit analysis, estimated life extension from a reference date, financial package, among others of the project, explained a DERC official.

The power regulator has sought suggestions from public on this and a final notification is likely in February 2017, based on which power tariffs would be revised next year. Delhiites have been saved from tariff hikes for two consecutive years.

Installing a Smart Grid network would now fall under this category which may help expedite projects. The scope of work for the Smart Grid network includes shifting the entire fault-prone overhead network into an underground line which is estimated at Rs40 crore. Then a low-voltage network has to be put in place which will cost about Rs80 crore and the balance of the Rs173 crore will be used for installing smart metres in the households of the pilot project area - Zone 503 in Shalimar Bagh, a TPDDL official added.

The move assumes significance as Delhis power infrastructure is suffering for want of a complete upgrade. Most cables are decades old, some have not been changed since they were laid down in the late 1990s.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The Delhi Police solved the first of the three cases of mutilated, unidentified bodies found in the Capital in a span of nine days. They arrested a 48-year-old plumber for allegedly murdering his live-in partner and chopping her body into two parts over in southeast Delhis Amar Colony.

Balram allegedly saw Anarkali (43) in a compromising position with another person, said Delhi Police officials. In a fit of rage, he crushed her head with a hammer and chopped her body into two with three knives. Later, he stuffed the upper portion of the body in an airbag and dumped it in a drain at Captain Gaur Marg. He dumped the lower portion of the body in another drain at Sriniwaspuri.

Police found the upper portion of the body on December 3. The lower portion was found the next day.

Anarkali, who ran a tea shop in East of Kailash, had been reported missing for at least two days before her body was found. During investigation, police learnt that she had been living with Balram at the time she went missing. Balram had reportedly told neighbours that Anarkali had gone to her village in Tamil Nadu.

Balram was arrested on December 7 from Astha Kunj park based on a tip off. He confessed during interrogation, police said.

On November 25, a headless and decomposed body of a woman, stuffed in a black plastic bag, was found inside the sewer of a four-storey building in south Delhis Munirka. A police team said they had found a lead about her killer, who could have also murdered another woman whose body was found in the same area on November 18.

On December 2, a mans body cut in two parts was found on a road in southeast Delhis Sangam Vihar early in the morning. Police said the body was wrapped in a blanket and tied with a rope. The severed legs were stuffed in a plastic bag and found at least 10 feet away.

Both bodies are yet to be identified.

On November 30, the body of a woman, with injury marks on her throat, was found under a car at Pushp Vihar in south Delhi on November 30. It had tattoos on the left and right wrists. The body had injury marks inflicted with a sharp object on the throat. There were similar marks on her chin and left wrist too.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked airlines to strictly adhere to rules while flying to or from Delhi under low visibility conditions.

The latest communication from DGCA comes in the wake of Air India and SpiceJet flights being diverted from Delhi airport in the past few days as they were either operated by crew, which were not CAT III qualified or airlines using non-CAT III compliant planes for flights to Delhi.

The diversions, the DGCA said, had taken place despite the visibility at runways not falling below 125 metres.

Only CAT III aircraft to be scheduled during fog period along with CAT III qualified crew. Non-CAT III compliant aircrafts will have to be rescheduled between 10am to 8pm, the DGCA said.

Close monitoring and planning of flight as per weather forecast with proper coordination the Delhi airport, DGCA and Airports Authority of India. In case of low visibility/ fog forecast, fights not to be planned for Delhi during zero visibility conditions and fights may be rescheduled from the point of origin, the regulator added.
Residents of east Delhi may have to pay the corporation for clearing their garbage from the next financial year.

In its budget proposals presented on Wednesday, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) said that it will focus on the implementation of notified MSW (Municipal Solid Waste) rules 2016 to improve sanitation.

East corporation is in the process of drafting MSW bye-laws to enable the corporation to enforce the provisions of MSW law. We will also ensure that the generator will segregate the garbage on its own before handling it to garbage collectors, said Mohanjeet Singh, commissioner, EDMC.

It will be made mandatory for the garbage generator to pay for garbage under polluter pays norm of MSW rule, from the next financial year.

Besides sanitation, revenue generation was another highlight of the budget. The corporation proposes to ramp up its revenues by levy of new taxes such as education cess and professional tax.

Facing severe financial crunch since its formation in 2012, the budget estimates for 2017-18 include expenditure of Rs 3,822.13 crore as against an income of Rs1,578.88 crore.

With a budget deficit of Rs 2,243 crore, corporation is looking for alternatives to generate income. We hope to collect Rs 30 crore by levying new taxes, said Singh.

The corporation is also hoping to receive Rs 4,928 crore from the Delhi government under the recommendations of fourth Delhi Finance Commission. The payment is pending since 2012-13.

We need to pay salaries and pension which will take up Rs 590 crore. Similarly the arrears for regularisation of sanitation workers and private contractors amount to Rs 750 crores. We will be able to pay them only when we received funds from Delhi government, said EDMC official.

The corporation is also working towards 100% digitalisation of services and transaction by April 2017. East corporation is developing a mobile application for residents to use municipal services.

The EDMC also plans to construct a multilevel car parking in Krishna Nagar. It will be built at a cost of R 23 crore.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Delhi was engulfed in a thick blanket of fog on Thursday, reducing visibility drastically across the city but flight operations were running normally, officials said.

However, more than 120 inbound and outbound trains were either rescheduled or delayed, some of them by as much as 20 hours, railway officials said.

Airport officials described visibility as fine and said there was no impact on flight operations due to the weather conditions.

The regional met department said the lowest visibility at Palam airport was 100 meter at 7.30 am. At the Safdarjung airport, the lowest visibility was 50 metre at 7.30 am.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) recorded the minimum temperature at 9 degree Celsius while maximum is expected to be 23 degree Celsius.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) is predicted to be at 372 in the very poor category on Thursday, according to state-run System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR).

The AQI in areas like Punjabi Bagh, Lodhi Colony, Mandir Marg, Anand Vihar, and Chattarpur crossed 400 in the morning, in data recorded by Hindustan Times real-time air quality tracking app. The level of air pollution in these areas have been called severe, and the air is deemed too dangerous to even breathe in.

The thick fog reduced visibility in parts of the city and landmarks and prominent sightings such as the India Gate and Rashtrapati Bhavan were hidden by the dense fog early morning.

I drove very slowly as I could not see things ahead of me. I might as well have taken the Metro to go to office. Driving is very difficult, said Nitin Kumar, who was travelling to Noida.

Gurgaon also witnessed a cold and foggy morning as visibility dropped to less than 50 metres. The minimum temperature was recorded at 10 degree Celsius, four degree less than Wednesday.

Read: Air quality severe again as temperature dips

Commuters were seen driving on the National Highway -8 with fog lights on. Traffic was also slow in the morning hours.

As the visibility was below 50 meters, commuters had a tough time travelling on the internal roads and traffic moved at a snails pace on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway (NH-8).

Traffic is expected to be delayed at important junctions that include the Shankar Chowk, Rajiv Chowk, Hero-Honda Chowk and Iffco Chowk intersections.

People were driving slowly as the visibility was low. A cold wave has also hit the city on Thursday, Pradeep Kumar, commuting along Sector-30, said.

The IMD has predicted showers in the next few days leading to the mercury sliding to five degree Celsius. Officials said dense fog will prevail till January-end.

The western disturbance, which is currently hovering over Jammu & Kashmir, is likely to move towards Rajasthan and neighbouring states. It will bring along a cold wave, an IMD official said.
A 15-year-old girl allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling fan of her room at her house in Sahibabad village on Wednesday afternoon. The body was found by the girls mother on Wednesday at around 2pm.

According to the police, the mother of the girl, who works in a factory in sector 62, Noida, came home at around 2 pm. The girl, who was a student of class 8 in a private school nearby, lived with her mother in a rented house.

They mother-daughter duo shifted here six months ago. They hail from Punjab.

Preliminary investigation indicates that the girls mother opposed her relationship with a boy from the locality, who is also a minor, police said.

The mother informed the neighbours about the incident who then called the police. Preliminary investigation revealed that the girl was upset as her mother was angry with her over her relations with a boy from the locality, said Anup Singh, circle officer, Sahibabad.

In her suicide note, the teenager said she was ashamed of the mistake which she committed and that it was unpardonable.

.. Mother, I have committed a lot of mistakes in life but I have also committed a mistake for which there is no forgiveness. I have hurt you a lot I have fallen in love and this is why I should die. Please tell (the boy) that I am sorry... wrote the girl in her suicide note.

The police have not lodged a complaint yet.

The mother found the suicide note in the room where the girl committed suicide. The mother has not filed a complaint in the matter though the body has been sent for post-mortem, said Singh.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The amount of radiation you get from using your phone everyday is more than what you will get by passing through the body scanner. It is not harmful at all, a CISF personnel was heard telling a passenger at Delhi airports Terminal 3. He was trying to convince the passenger to go through the newly installed full-body scanner.

From taking passengers queries about radiation levels to dispelling their misgivings about the kind of images the new machine could put out, security staff at Delhi airport is doing everything to convince passengers to go through the full body scanner.

You just have to stand in here for three seconds. It will not produce naked images, said the personnel to another passenger. The trial run of the scanner started on Monday and so far about 150 passengers have gone through it.

The performance will be assessed after 10,000 scans. Some are going through it out of curiosity. Others are aware of its use as they have travelled to other countries. But a majority, especially women, are hesitant, said a CISF official.

The scanner produces mannequin-like images and detects hidden items in the body. In view of the privacy concerns raised by passengers over X-Ray images that the body scanners produce at airports across the world, the Bureau for Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has asked the manufacturers to configure the machines to ensure that the images dont reveal body parts.

The scanning does not take more than a minute and it comes with privacy filters. The scanner can reveal plastic and liquid explosives, composite weapons, plastic and metal guns, drugs and other contraband, ceramic and metal knives, box cutters, precious metals and recording devices.

The scanners are currently used at several international airports and Delhi is the first airport India to experiment with the security device.

Its voluntary since it is a trial run. We will make the checks compulsory only after we decide to use them on a permanent basis, said a Bureau for Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) official.

The scanner with millimeter wave technology has been brought from the United States and another one from Germany will arrive next week. We want to test both the technologies simultaneously to decide which one is better. During the trial run, passengers feedback will be taken. We want to cover most of the passengers travelling out during the trial period, said the official.

Irrespective of the controversy associated with it, we wanted these scanners at the airport. A discussion to install shoe scanners was also held but nothing has been finalised, said a BCAS official.

A few years ago, a similar trial run was conducted at the Delhi airport and a US-based company had installed the body scanner. A survey conducted during the period showed that 90% passengers feel the new technology will help but only 40% volunteered to go through the scanner.
Two Malaysian tourists alleged on Wednesday that they were duped of their Indian and foreign currency notes by a west Delhi resident, in the name of demonetisation and cash crunch.

The tourists accused Rishabh of cheating them on the pretext of exchanging Rs 10,000 in the scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations with new banknotes. In the complaint, they also said that the man took away 1,000 US dollars and 200 Malaysian Ringgit from them, apart from fraudulently using their credit cards for paying his bills.

The Malaysians met the Delhi resident through Couch Surfing, an online hospitality service, which provides a platform for its members to stay at the other members home as a guest. After landing in Delhi from Malaysia on November 27, they stayed at Rishabhs Sunder Vihar home near Peeragarhi in west Delhi for the next two days.

Statistics on crimes against foreigners in Delhi Dec 3, 2016: An American tourist filed an online complaint and alleged that she was drugged, thrashed, gang-raped and threatened by a tourist guide and four others at a five star hotel in CP in April. May 21, 2016: : A 29-year-old man from Congo was brutally assaulted and battered to death allegedly by a group of three inebriated men following an argument over hiring an auto-rickshaw in south Delhis Kishangarh near Vasant Kunj. Jan 2016  A Nigerian woman, pursuing her second year graduation from a Delhi University college, was allegedly molested by two brothers, both auto-rickshaw drivers, while she was heading towards her friends home in west Delhis Tilak Nagar. One of the accused was arrested with the help of CCTV camera footage.

The man, Rishabh, as named in the complaint, duped the tourists, saying exchanging foreign currency notes has become difficult and a time taking process because of demonetisation, police said.

The fraudsters are using demonetisation as an opportunity to cheat innocent people in the name of exchanging old currency with new banknotes on commission basis, ranging between 10% and 30%, the officer said.

Dependra Pathak, joint commissioner of police (south western range), confirmed that a complaint was filed by one of the Malaysian tourists, identified as Wong Hwa Yo. The complaint was forwarded to the Mianwali police station and an FIR has been registered. We are looking into the case and all possible assistance will be provided to the tourists, said Pathak.

Wong in his complaint alleged that Rishabh stole 26 US dollars and some Malaysian Ringgit while during their two days stay at his home. They gave $1,000 to Rishabh to exchange them with Indian currency notes. However, they got back only Rs 30,000. We gave him Rs10,000 in scrapped Indian currency notes, but he returned only Rs 2,500 and kept the remaining money, Wong said in his complaint.

According to Wongs complaint, when they asked Rishabh to return their money, he made them leave home, saying there was an emergency in his family and he had to lock the home and reach his ancestral home.

Statistics on crimes against foreigners in Delhi June 2, 2015: A woman from Nepal and her two friends of South African origin had a narrow escape when a group of unidentified men opened fire at them in south Delhis Tughlaqabad Extension. February 2015: A 35-year-old Nigerian woman was allegedly abducted from outside a shopping mall in Saket and gang-raped by four men in a moving car. She was later pushed out of the moving vehicle near east Delhis Chilla Village. January 13, 2014: A 51-year-old Danish tourist was gang-raped and robbed allegedly by eight homeless men the in Paharganj area of New Delhi.

The two were left with no choice but to stay in a hotel on their own expenses. Rishabh blocked their mobile numbers on his phone so that they could not contact him, the officer said. Efforts are on to nab Rishabh, added the officer.

According to Delhi Police records, a total of 113 cases of crimes against foreign nationals were reported in Delhi in 2015. Statistics show that 168 crimes were committed in Delhi by foreign nationals.
Delhi Congress will kick-start an informal campaign for municipal elections scheduled next year, with a two-day agitation against demonetisation.

The party has decided to hold Note Pe Charcha at 280 locations near banks. The event will take place on December 13 and 14.

Keeping upcoming municipal elections in mind, we are organising this charcha in all 272 wards along with four wards under the New Delhi Municipal Council and Delhi Cantonment board areas. This is our preparations for next elections, said a senior Delhi Congress functionary.

Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken said apart from 272 wards, party workers and leaders will engage with people standing outside banks and ATMs and inform them about the messy implementation of the scheme. A team of party workers is being trained to engage with people. Members of the team will carry booklets detailing the difficulties being faced by people.

The Congress leader said they will also be told how the decision by the Centre has severely affected the small scale industry and hit labour class badly.

Banning of notes has brought down the production of small scale industries by 20% and the sale of small shopkeepers have slumped to 10% to 12%, leading to severe unemployment. Only, rich are benefitting from the trouble of the poor. This scheme is a big scam, he said.

Maken alleged the Narendra Modi governments plan to create a cashless society is a farce and cashless transactions are only going to burden the common man, who is charged 2% service charge for every transaction.

The implication of cashless payment method should have been explained to people by the Modi government. If one uses credit card, he has to pay a compound interest, which is 18.5% for the first month, 24% for second month, and 36% per cent in the third month. The entire plan aims to help big companies, which provide mobile and other card services, he said.

Maken also criticised the Centre for not been able to provide sufficient notes in banks and ATMs. Whom should we believe? Modi said that things would be settled within 50 days, the finance minister said that it would take another 7-8 months to normalise the situation, he said.

Read| More fatwas like demonetisation will bring Congress to power in 2019: Harish Rawat
It was an announcement that took most people by surprise. Two factions of the separatist party alliance Hurriyat Conference and the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), which had been spearheading the five-month-long unrest in Kashmir, in a joint statement, invited tourists and pilgrims to visit the Valley. Promising them safety, the separatist groups promised to extend the traditional hospitality Kashmir is known to extend to its guests.

The announcement elicited strikingly contrasting responses from the Centre and the BJP. Tourism minister Mahesh Sharma said New Delhi was prepared to see that the tourism industry flourishes in the Valley. Tourism will change the shape of the Valley and will bring glory back, he said.

Read: Kashmir issue cant be solved until India, Pakistan talk: Farooq Abdullah

BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav, clearly, doesnt share Sharmas enthusiasm. Terming the invitation as hypocrisy, Madhav has likened it to a spelling mistake. They wanted to say terrorists but ended up saying tourists, went Madhavs retort. Although the Hurriyat statement is indeed unexpected, the BJP must not put a spanner in the works. In absence of any industry, tourism is the main source of income for the Valleys citizens. According to the latest data from the states tourism department, 388338 tourists visited Kashmir between July 2015 and November 2015. These included 14111 overseas tourists.

This year, in the first week of July, before unrest gripped the region following the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani, between 80,000 and 90,000 tourists had already arrived to see the sights in the Valleys picturesque locales and natural beauty. It has been a downward slide ever since, say travel professionals. Another 3 lakh tourists, who were likely to visit Kashmir between July and November this year, going by last years trend, have given Kashmir a skip this time round. Most properties of the Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation in traditional tourist magnets such as Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Sonamarg are low on occupancy. The drying up of tourist arrivals can have serious implications for the local economy.

Read: Trumps deal-making skills can help resolve Kashmir: US VP-elect Mike Pence

It is a given that the tourists will return only when peace in the Valley has been restored. But it is in everybodys interest that tourism is encouraged by each and every stakeholder. Extending warm hospitality to visitors is part of the peoples ethos and an increase in tourist arrivals will help everybody, from the tourist guide, to boatmen, to travel professionals, make a living. It could even be a baby step towards restoration of normalcy and providing a viable economic ecosystem to the disenchanted in troubled terrain. It is time that the BJP considered the bigger picture and looked beyond petty political interests.
The governments statement in Parliament that more than 50% of teaching positions at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) are lying vacant is, though frustrating, not very surprising. The problem is not just with the IITs but National Institutes of Technology (NIT) too. Time was when getting a teaching job in an IIT was a matter of greater prestige than getting admission in the premier institutes of engineering. The dismal situation now has many reasons. For a long time our IITs and IIMs had been able to resist having reservations in faculty, citing a government order that exempts scientific and technical institutions from following a reservation policy in hiring teachers. The IITs, however, eventually fell in line with the government. This had two consequences. One, competent people who might have come to IITs to teach now prefer to stay away, fearing politicisation and a decline in standards. Second, because of reservations being there, often there is dearth of people who meet the employment criteria and hence the situations in the reserved category lie vacant. And such problems are coming in the way of the governments efforts at promoting the rankings of the IITs.

Read: IIT-B placements: Electronics giants double jobs offers

When there were five or six IITs in the country, the problem did not reach this acute level. Now with the number of IITs going up to 23, infrastructural problems have also come alongside. Unlike IIT Delhi, many institutes do not have adequate teaching space or advanced laboratories. On top of that many of them cannot offer their teachers quarters to stay. That there would be difficulties in measuring all IITs on the same scale was recognised by experts about 10 years ago at least and hence they resisted giving all of them the IIT label. But the HRD minister of the day was adamant on this. Much of the problem we see today would not have been there had the whole matter been thoroughly thought through.

Read: More Japanese firms offer IIT-B grads positions abroad

The university rankings by Times Higher Education (THE) magazine, on which no Indian institute finds place in the top 200, uses five parameters: Teaching, research, citation, international outlook and industry income. On the last two, there is little chance that our institutes can make much headway in the near future. But as regards the first three, a lot depends on faculty, in whose welfare and appointment the government plays a crucial role. It is commonly known that not many of those who graduated from IITs at UG level teach there. If the government gives the IITs a freer hand in giving its teachers higher salaries and better perks, some of those teaching abroad may return.
For a man whos just won the prestigious Rolex Award for Enterprise, Sonam Wangchuk comes across as very affable, humble even. His lithe frame betrays the years that he has put in engineering an educational and cultural movement in the remote Land of high passes that is Ladakh. This movement has instigated an alternate, pragmatic approach towards education, leading to a massive drop in failure rates of school students. Concurrently, it has also led to the invention of Ice Stupas  tall towers or little mountains of ice, which can potentially help resolve the water scarcity problem in the cold desert region.

Wangchuk first came into the spotlight in 2009, when his story inspired Aamir Khans character of Phunsukh Wangdu in the film 3 Idiots. But theres more to this engineer-turned-educationist than what celluloid couldve done justice to. Born and brought up in a tiny village of five households about 70 kms from Leh, Wangchuk spent the first nine years of his life learning in what he calls a holistic, harmonious way. There werent any schools in my village, so I learnt to read and write from my mother. I played in the fields, sowing seeds, working with animals, jumping in the river, climbing trees, he says. My early skills were so developed by these experiences that when I finally joined school at nine, I got promoted twice in a year!

Afterwards, while pursuing his mechanical engineering, he began teaching children to earn an income. That is when I realized how deplorable the state of education was in the region, the 50-year-old says. According to statistics from the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives (HIAL), an alternative university for mountain development that Wangchuk is setting up, 95 per cent students failed their board exams in 1996. Over the next two decades, this number has steadily decreased to 25 per cent this year  courtesy the alternative learning practices and other innovative measures that Wangchuk helped develop.

Wangchuks school has the distinction of taking failures from the system and making their lives there a learning experience in itself

But then we wanted to take care of the ones who still failed, give them a new chance, re-launch them, he says. Which is what the Students Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) achieves through its school in Phey, around 12 kms from Leh. Home to 70-100 students, all of who failed their 10th boards, this school has the distinction of taking failures from the system and making living there a learning experience in itself. Wangchuk says that the students run the school themselves, like a little country with its own elected government. They learn by doing  they farm, keep animals, make food products and engage in solving real life problems that they face in these harsh climatic conditions.

It is while trying to solve one such real life problem, of acute water scarcity in the region, that Wangchuk came up with the idea of Ice Stupas. There have been others before whod worked in this field; a very senior engineer had come up with the idea of artificial horizontal ice fields. But it had problems, such as premature melting, he says. To address these problems, Wangchuk built vertical ice towers instead, and all through a simple method.

Ice Stupas are built during winter, so that the water from it when it starts melting can be used in late spring

A pipe brings water from the upstream to the downstream. When you do that, the built-up of pressure in the pipe is used to run a fountain that sprays water in the air, he explains. When the water is sprayed in the -20 degree temperatures of the Ladakhi winter, it cools and freezes as it falls. And slowly, naturally takes the shape of a giant conical structure. The idea is to freeze the water in the winter and use it in late spring. The conical tower shape ensures that the surface exposed to the sun is minimal, so premature melting is avoided.

It is for this simple yet genius invention that Wangchuk was bestowed with the Rolex Award for Enterprise last month. He now plans to use the Rs 1 crore prize money as seed fund for his dream project  the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives. The institute aims to create a sustainable ecosystem of constant innovation, wherein youth from different Himalayan countries will come together to research the issues faced by mountain people  in education, culture and environment. And formulate ways to solve those issues through out-of-the-box ideas and practical application of knowledge. The world needs real-world universities, doer universities. Were going to set up one model of it in Ladakh. And if it is successful, we hope itll have a ripple effect from New Delhi to New York, Wangchuk enthusiastically signs off.
Banks in the city have dispensed approximately Rs6,700 crore since November 11 when they had opened, two days after demonetisation was announced. A month after the November 8 surprise announcement, banks are still short of cash and have asked for Rs1,982 crore per day to meet the current requirement in Gurgaon, one of the largest real estate markets of the country.

Initially, a bank branch got over Rs5 crore per day on average for a fortnight, but the supply has been gradually reduced. It is now down to a few lakhs per day with which the banks are finding it tough to meet cash demand of their branches as well as ATMs.

The demand for cash is much higher than its supply. Banks are rationing cash to serve the maximum number of customers, said Ramesh Chandra Nayak, lead district manager, Gurgaon.

According to information from his office, most of the districts 715 bank branches report no cash by afternoon and more than half of Gurgaons ATMs too run out of cash every day, leaving the common man fuming, but helpless.

To add to this, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) came out with a direction that all banks in the National Capital Region (NCR) of Haryana should accept and remit currency at the RBI regional office in Chandigarh that caters to Haryana, among other states. Bankers had raised concerns over the long travel, consumption of time, and security risks this involves, but they are yet to get any official communication in response.

Read more: Gurgaon banks dispensed Rs6,000 crore since November 10

As the demand-supply gap of cash started widening, the state government started encouraging cashless transactions through online payments and mobile wallets. Camps and training sessions are now being held to train villagers and government employees in cashless transactions.

The district administration has also started getting banks to open accounts for workers in the unorganised sector, including construction, as they largely get salaries in cash. By December 8, banks had held 1,672 camps and opened 13,576 accounts for such workers.

The administration aims to ensure that most workers get bank accounts, said additional deputy commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh.

People need to learn to conduct cashless transactions to save themselves of hassles, lead district manager Nayak said.
Banks have probably never occupied as much space in public mind as they have been doing since November 11, two days after demonetisation was announced on November 8. Banks were closed to the public for these two days as the staff worked to prepare for exchanging old currency notes with new notes and collecting deposits of old notes. However, nothing could have prepared them for the chaos that followed.

From the regional manager down to the peons and security guards, everyone has been working for over 12 hours daily dealing with long queues of angry people, cash shortage, handling deposits and exchanging old notes, apart from dealing with routine customers.

Problems increased a fortnight after November 8 when the flow of cash reduced. Currency chests of six banks in Gurgaon had to supply currency to branches of their own and other banks. There are 715 bank branches in Gurgaon of which only 239 have their own currency chests. To add to this, banks were also told by the Reserve Bank of India to deposit and withdraw currency from the regional office in the state capital Chandigarh rather than neighbouring Delhi.

This is a litmus test for the banks for the first time. Support from the staff is laudable, Ram Niwas, Haryanas additional chief secretary (home), had said during a meeting in Gurgaon.

Read more: A month on, Gurgaons hunt for cash continues

While this was the state in banks, shortage and short tempers prevailed at ATMs too. Long lines outside ATMs at all hours have now become a staple in the city. Although banks claimed that all 1,304 ATMs of the district had been calibrated to hold the new Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 notes, more than 700 remained out of cash for days together. HTC

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Actor Brad Pitts request to seal court documents in his high-profile custody and divorce proceedings involving actor Angelina Jolie was rejected by a Los Angeles judge on Wednesday.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Richard Burdge Jr. rejected Pitts motion at an emergency hearing, a court spokeswoman said. Pitt and Jolie did not attend.

While Burdge ruled against sealing the entire case, he said requests to seal specific documents would be considered, especially given that the six children at the centre of the custody case are all minors.

The court recognises privacy rights of minor children and would be guided by whats in the minor childrens best interest, Burdge said.

Jolies representatives did not respond to phone and email messages from Reuters seeking comment, and Pitts representatives said the actor would not comment on the matter.

Jolie, 41, and Pitt, 52, known collectively as Brangelina, were together since 2005 and married for two years before their sudden split in September, which has been widely covered by news media.

Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt, citing irreconcilable differences, after an incident on a private plane in which Pitt was reported to have lost his temper in front of one or more of the children.

At the time, she said she made the decision for the health of the family, and is seeking full physical custody of their children. The couple share adopted sons Maddox and Pax, adopted daughter Zahara and three biological children, Shiloh Nouvel and twins Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline, aged between 8 and 15.

Pitt, 52, was cleared in the incident last month by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services. He has filed for joint custody of the children.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Nearly 1,400 tourists stranded at two islands in Andaman and Nicobar will be evacuated once the intensity of a cylone pounding the archipelago reduces, the government said on Thursday, amid rising concerns over their safety.

Union home minister Rajnath Singh also asked family members of the tourists not to panic.

All the tourists who are stranded in Havelock island are safe. The government has made all the preparations to evacuate them, Singh said in a series of tweets.

Though he mentioned only one island, reports from Port Blair  the capital of Andaman and Nicobar  said the 1,400 also included hundreds of people trapped in Neil island, another popular resort in the archipelago on the Bay of Bengal, since Monday.

Earlier reports had said 800 people are stranded at Havelock.

Read More: Heavy rains stall navy evacuation ops of stranded Indian tourists on Andamans

Four vessels despatched by navy from Port Blair on Wednesday could not rescue the people due to rough seas and heavy rains, triggered by a tropical storm, officials said.

The government will launch the rescue operations immediately after the intensity of the cyclone reduces. The teams are ready in Port Blair, Singh said, adding he spoke to Jagdish Mukhi, the lieutenant governor of the Union Territory.

The group of islands has been pounded by heavy rains and winds for the past few days, severely affecting travel to the mainland.

Andaman administration officials said the cyclonic storm has uprooted trees, disrupted power supply and caused flooding in some low-lying areas of Port Blair.

Mobile and internet connectivity have also been snapped in many areas.

Every year, thousands of tourists from India and abroad visit the Andaman islands known for their sun-soaked pristine beaches and water sports, including snorkelling and sea walking.

October-to-February is considered the best time to travel to the islands, which also house the famous Cellular Jail in Port Blair, built by the British to jail dissenters.

All three defence wings  the army, navy and air force  have bases in the Andamans.

We have reached there but the civilian lives cant be risked in these rough seas, said Captain DK Sharma, a naval spokesman. We will begin moving them only after the conditions improve.

Another defence official said adequate food, fresh water, medicines and doctors besides divers and local administration personnel are being ferried on board to provide succour and relief.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee also sought the Centres help to rescue the tourists. The state accounts for the highest number of tourists to Andamans.

We do not have a clear idea about how many tourists from Bengal are stranded there, but we are trying to get the details from New Delhi, an official said on Kolkata.

Commercial airlines said they have begun waiving charges for passengers cancelling or rescheduling their flights to the Andamans due to the adverse weather.
At least 10 people were feared dead after an under construction seven-storey building collapsed in Nanakramguda area of Hyderabad on Thursday.

According to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) officials, the incident occurred around 10:30 pm. The workers were engaged in tiling and plumbing work when the building suddenly caved in.

Locals told the GHMC officials that five families, including that of a watchman, were inside the building when it collapsed.

GHMC commissioner Janardhan Reddy said there were no immediate reports of any casualties, but the survivors said at least 10 persons might have died and several others could be trapped under the debris.

Inquiries revealed that the building belongs to one Satyanarayana Singh and it was in the final stages of completion. GHMC officials suspect weak foundation in the cellar could be the reason for the collapse.

Telangana home minister N Narsimha Reddy and several other leaders and officials rushed to the spot where rescue work is underway.

Teams of the GHMC, National Disaster Response Force and Cyberabad police also rushed to the accident site.

(With inputs from agencies)
Fifteen new castes have been included in the central list of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) with the government issuing notification in this regard.

The National Commission of Backward Classes (NCBC) had recommended a total of 28 changes in respect of eight states: Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand.

Out of these 28, 15 castes, including Gadheri/itafarosh in Bihar, Jhora in Jharkhand and Labana in Jammu and Kashmir, were new entries, nine were synonyms or sub-castes of the castes which were already in the list and four were corrections.

The central government has considered and accepted the aforesaid recommendations of the NCBC and recommendation of Government of Jammu and Kashmir and have decided to notify inclusion/amendment in the Central List of Other Backward Classes of the aforesaid States, according to the notification signed by Joint Secretary B L Meena.

Last month, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had approved the proposal of NCBC. These changes in the central list will enable the persons belonging to these castes/communities to avail the benefits of reservation in government services and posts as well as in central educational institutions as per the existing policy.

They will also become eligible for benefit under various welfare schemes, scholarships, etc., being administered by the central government, which are at present available to persons belonging to Other Backward Classes, it added.

On the NCBC recommendation, a total of 2,479 entries for inclusion, including its synonyms, sub-castes, etc. in the central list of OBCs have been notified in 25 states and six Union Territories. The last such notification was issued in September, 2016.

NCBC examines requests for inclusion of any class of citizens as a backward class in the lists and hear complaints of over-inclusion or under-inclusion of any backward class in such lists. Its advice is binding upon the central government.

The government is also considering relaxing the creamy layer norms.
Ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday claimed a total of 77 persons died of grief and shock over the illness and subsequent death of its party supremo and chief minister J Jayalalithaa, and announced a sum of Rs 3 lakh each to their families as relief.

It also announced Rs 50,000 for a party functionary who allegedly attempted self-immolation and a similar amount to another person who cut his finger off following Jayalalithaass demise on Dec 5.

77 persons have died of grief and shock after having to come to know of honourable Ammas (Jayalalithaa) illness and death, an AIADMK release said Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, a central intelligence estimate has put the toll at 30 besides four suicide attempts.

The AIADMK release did not specify whether the illness referred to her September 22 hospitalisation or the cardiac arrest she had suffered on December 4, a day before her passing away.

The party also released the list of 77 dead persons, who hailed from different parts of the state.

AIADMK expressed grief and sympathies with their families and announced a sum of Rs 3 lakh each as family welfare fund.

Further, the party will also bear the medical expenses of the AIADMK functionary from Puthukoorapettai in Cuddalore district who had attempted self-immolation following Jayalalithaas illness, it said.

Similarly, Makali of Ugayanur in Tirupur district had chopped off his finger after coming to know of Jayalalithaas passing away and the party will bear his treatment cost too, the release said.

AIADMK also announced relief of Rs 50,000 to each of the two persons.

Read| Jayalalithaa buried near MGR Memorial in Chennai, thousands bid teary adieu
Exactly a month ago, the government announced a surprise recall of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes as part of its efforts to purge illegal money from the market and cull counterfeit currency.

Since then, millions of people have lined up outside banks and ATMs in an effort to exchange or deposit scrapped currency but been badly affected by snaking queues and a cash crunch, especially across the countryside.

Heres a look at how Prime Minister Narendra Modis move  billed as the most sweeping economic decision in the past two decades  has panned out over the past 30 days.

Long queues, painful exchanges

From Day One, the culling of high-value banknotes  which made up 86% of the currency in circulation by value -- sparked chaos at banks and ATMs with long queues of people anxious to deposit old currency.

The situation has improved somewhat in certain pockets but a shortage of new Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 notes has ensured most cities and rural areas have seen little improvement. Pay Day has only added to the frenzy as several people have died in queues and out of shock.

Queues get longer in Delhi, frustration mounts

Retired SBI cashier kills himself, suicide note blames demonetisation

Currency demonetisation: Brokers make the most of long queues at banks

Unable to enter banks for seven days, scrap dealer commits suicide in Delhi

Payday chaos: Long queues, low withdrawal limit anger people on salary day

We did the math: Replacing all the old currency will likely take several months

Ever-changing rules

A young girl shows her inked marked finger after exchanging her old currency from a bank in Bhopal . (PTI)

For the first couple of weeks after the note culling was announced, the government changed rules almost daily, triggering charges that the demonetisation decision had been taken with little planning.

The finance ministry repeatedly tinkered with withdrawal and exchange limits  especially with Jan Dhan accounts -- and caused outrage when it abruptly stopped the exchange of old notes.

Demonetisations ever-changing rules: a complete history

Demonetisation: Petrol pumps, airports wont accept Rs 500 notes from Dec 3

New rules for old notes: From paying phone bill to school fees

Exchange of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes ends; can be deposited till Dec 30

RBI restricts withdrawal limit on Jan Dhan accounts to Rs 10,000

Political war

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee join hands at mass rally against demonetisation of currency notes, at Azadpur Mandi in New Delhi . (PTI)

The governments decision has deadlocked Parliaments winter session with the Congress and other opposition parties calling the demonetisation move as detrimental to the poor and farmers. Outside Parliament, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has emerged as the face of protests.

Trinamool hit West Bengals streets on demonetisation, CM Mamata meets President

Demonetisation has been monumental management failure, says Manmohan

Demonetisation is a massive scam, says Rahul Gandhi in Mumbai

Janshakti is with govt: Modi snubs Oppn over note ban protests in House

Hurting jobs and GDP

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel attends a news conference after the bimonthly monetary policy review in Mumbai, December 7, 2016.

As it became clear that the fallout of the currency cull will not be mitigated in the short run, experts began warning of a domino effect on economic growth. The Reserve Bank of India has already shaved 0.5 percentage points off its growth forecast for 2016-17 amid a slowdown in auto, retail sector and havoc in the rural economy.

Demonetisation blues: No work or cash, over 10,000 daily wagers leave Gurgaon

RBI lowers 2016-17 GDP forecast post demonetisation, keeps key rate unchanged

Demonetisation fallout: Experts warn note ban will slow down Indian economy

Demonetisation puts pressure on rural economy, informal lending breaks down

Demonetisation effect: 2,500 lose jobs as Howrah jute mill shuts

Demonetisation could take away 400,000 jobs; e-com to be worst hit

Study says demonetisation may spell doom for the economy: Heres why

Fake currency, ghost deposits and innovative ways to deal with the pain

The bank account of Balwinder Singh (in the foreground), a taxi driver in Punjabs Barnala town, was accidentally credited with an amount of Rs 98,05,95,12,231. (HT Photo )

The scrapping of high-value banknotes was aimed at junking fake currency but within days of the new notes being introduced, a number of people were caught from various parts of the country with fake notes. People also devised innovative ways to deal with the demonetisation pain, from deputing chotus to resorting to tricks.

Punjab: How a taxi driver got Rs 9,806 crore in his Jan Dhan account

CBI books Karnataka bank officials for illegal exchange of Rs 1.51 crore

Rs 1.5 crore in new notes seized in Goa, two detained for carrying Rs 70 lakh

Mumbai tea seller dupes bizman of Rs50L during notes exchange

Demonetisation: Penniless foreigners resort to street performances for cash

Pay to queue up: Online service lets you hire errand boy for ATM duty

Rs 2,000 notes found on militants killed in encounter in Kashmirs Bandipora
AAP lawmaker Bhagwant Mann is set to face suspension from attending the winter session of Parliament, after irking his sympathisers in the probe panel on his act of filming his journey from his Delhi home to the Parliament. The stage was all set for Mann to get only a token one-day suspension but he decided to spoil his chances.

On Friday, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan will read out the probe panels report on Manns video act and seek a view of the House. The panel has unanimously recommended a ban from the ongoing winter session of Parliament.

After the panel and Mann came to an understanding that the MP will unconditionally apologise for shooting the video and withdraw his earlier letters in which he accused Prime Minister Narendra Modit of breaching the security of the Pathankot air base, Mann did a u-turn. In his latest communication to the panel, Mann ruled out any apology and maintained he has done no wrong.

He cheated all of us. Because of him, we have eggs on our face, said a senior MP who was defending him in the panel and negotiating for a lighter punishment.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday hailed demonetisation as yagna against corruption hours after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi lashed out at him for the foolish decision, intensifying the government-Opposition faceoff over scrapping of high-value banknotes.

The Opposition marked the first month of demonetisation as a Black Day on Thursday, with Congress vice-president accusing Modi, who is still to speak on the issue in Parliament, of laughing at suffering of the people. The move had benefitted digital wallets such as Paytm while the poor faced hardship, he said.

The Prime Minister took this so-called bold decision. The bold decision can also be a foolish decision. And this was a foolish decision, it has devastated the country, Gandhi told mediapersons.

More than three weeks of the winter session of Parliament have been lost to disruptions over Opposition protests against the governments November 8 decision to recall Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes that has led to a cash crunch, sending the economy reeling .

The Opposition wants the issue debated with a vote, a demand the BJP has rejected.

Thursday was no better. As disruptions spoiled chances of a debate on demonetisation again, Modi took to Twitter after Gandhis blistering remarks.

Claiming support of the people, Modi tweeted, I salute the people of India for wholeheartedly participating in this ongoing Yagna against corruption, terrorism and black money, he said. It was a historic opportunity to embrace increased cashless payments and integrate latest technology in economic transactions.

Speaking to media outside Parliament, Gandhi said, Farmers are dying. More than 100 people have died. And all this while, PM is having fun. He is laughing.

He described Paytm, which allows cashless transactions, as Pay to Modi. The Alibaba-backed company is witnessing millions of daily transactions worth more than Rs 100 crore following the currency cull.

The decision would empower the poor, neo-middle class, middle class and benefit future generations, Modi said. Corruption and black money would no longer hold back villages which must get their due.

The governments decision has several gains for farmers, traders, labourers, who are the economic backbone of our nation, Modi tweeted.

Demonetisation would bring a degree of inconvenience but the short-term pain would lead to long-term gains, Modi said.

Read| A month of demonetisation: From peoples pain, job losses to political war

The Opposition has accused the government of unleashing economic anarchy and causing distress to people, especially those in rural areas.

His (PMs) narrative is changing. After black money to terrorists he moved to counterfeit money. Then he moved to cashless economy. And we are going to catch him inside the House. He cant run away, Gandhi said.

The Congress and other parties say Modi should be present in the House to answer their queries but the government accuses the Opposition of running away from debate

Finance minister Arun Jaitley, too, joined the battle against the Opposition over the issue of black money. While Modi said the young people of the country must ensure #IndiaDefeatsBlackMoney, Jaitley challenged the Congress in the Lok Sabha to name even one step the UPA government took to curb black money.

Gandhi insisted there should be voting at the end of the debate, and alleged that the government was scared that many members of the treasury bench could vote against the government.

We want voting. But they are blocking it because if theres a voting many people in the BJP will vote with us, Gandhi said.

Earlier in the day, the Opposition observed a Black Day, with 16 parties protesting inside the Parliament complex. Opposition leaders had black bands on them to protest the governments demonetisation move.

Read| Go cashless: Govt to waive service tax on card transactions up to Rs 2,000
How old is the Earth? There are different theories on that, the most general one that says our planet was formed around 4.54 billion years ago.

Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday claimed that the Earth came into existence 1.97 billion years ago, noting that only ancient Indias cosmological calculations were the nearest in tune with modern scientific ones about our planets age.

Citing renowned American astronomer, cosmologist and astrophysicist Carl Sagan, Rajnath Singh said he also accepted that ancient Indian scriptures had information on earths age. The home minister was speaking at the inauguration of the second India International Science Festival, backed by the governments ministry of science and technology and RSS-linked Vijnan Bharati.

When was the earth created? Some say 25,000 years (ago), some say 20,000 (years ago) while some say 40,000 (years ago).

When Carl Sagan came up with a coded message... a pioneer satellite with a coded message was sent to the solar system to know which is the oldest civilisation. So, the work of decoding the code was done by Carl Sagan, Singh said.

He noted that even Sagan once observed that ancient Indias cosmological calculations were the nearest in tune with modern scientific calculations.

(Even) he accepted that it is mentioned in the religious texts and literature of India, the earth came into existence 1.97 billion years ago. Sagan has accepted it, Singh said, adding that in ancient times India was a repository of scientific knowledge and temper.

The home minister also said he did not want India to become a super power, but a teacher to the world (vishwa guru).

People get scarred to stand with powerful, but they one only experience love when it comes to standing with guru, the senior BJP leader said.

Singh, who worked as a lecturer of physics, also said that nobel laureate German physicist Werner Heisenberg, got the idea of basic uncertainty of principles while he was discussing Vedas with Rabindranath Tagore.

Heisenbergs friend wrote a book. In that when (Fritjof) Capra asked him from where did he get the concept of Principles of Uncertainty he (Heisenberg) said, I got the concept of principles of uncertainty when I was discussing Vedas with Rabindranath Tagore, Singh added.
Cash worth Rs 43 lakhs in new currency was seized from a television actor and two others on Thursday, police said.

The actor, Rahul Chalani, who features in a popular crime show on the small screen, and two others were on their way to Hoshangabad from Itarsi in an SUV when they were caught with Rs 43 lakh in cash, Kotwali police station inspector Mahendra Chouhan said.

The money consisted of the new currency notes of Rs 2,000, Rs 500 and Rs 100 bills, he said.

The other two accompanying Rahul were identified as Kapil Chalani and Brijesh Choura, who was driving the vehicle, the police official said.

They were detained and subjected to questioning during which Rahul claimed that the cash was legally earned money and his CA in Mumbai will furnish the detail, Chouhan said.
In a move aimed at countering concerns that it had manipulated the appointment of the CBI director, the Centre on Thursday made it clear that it was ready to convene the meeting of the selection committee anytime after the Parliament session gets over.

The Prime Ministers Office (PMO) has asked Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge to spell out his convenience after December 16 so that a meeting of the selection committee to appoint the new CBI director could be held.

The PMOs request to Kharge comes on the heels of reports that the Congress leader in his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Centre of manipulating the process of selecting the CBI director by appointing a junior officer to head the premier investigating agency.

The government last week ordered Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Rakesh Asthana to hold additional charge as CBI director after Anil Kumar Sinha retired on December 2.

A 1984 batch IPS officer, Asthana had supervised the initial investigation into the Godhra train burning incident when he was inspector general of police, Vadodara range.

The governments decision to additional charge to Asthana had raised eyebrows, particularly since he was not the senior-most IPS officer in the premier investigating agency.

RK Dutta, a 1981 batch IPS officer held that distinction but Dutta was moved to a home ministry post specially created days earlier to accommodate him.

Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh, who is also in-charge of department of personnel, rebutted the charge in his response to Kharge but did not explain the unavoidable circumstances that prevented the government from convening the meeting in advance.

The CBI chief is selected through a collegium chaired by the Prime Minister with the leader of opposition or the largest party in opposition in the Lok Sabha, and the Chief Justice of India being the other members.

Minister of state in the home ministry Kiren Rijiju had earlier tried to blunt the Congress attack, suggesting that it was unfair to question Asthanas credentials because he was from Gujarat cadre.How can we give a colour of an officer by clubbing him with some state? Rijiju asked.
In the wake of demonetisation that has put the nation through great hardships, Congress on Thursday likened Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Roman emperor Nero who fiddled while Rome burned.

There is a saying, Nero fiddled while Rome burned. As the story goes, in the time of a crisis, the Roman emperor was busy playing the violin. He was both whimsical and ineffectual when Rome needed him the most.

It has been a month since that fateful day when Modi decided that 86% of the cash in the economy was illegal. Since then, the entire nation has been put through great hardships, whose cost in terms of human lives has been significant, the main opposition party said.

In a commentary on the party website on a day, marking one month to the demonetisation announcement, the AICC noted that people were told that the government was prepared to face the situation.

We were told that we would have to bear with the government for only a few days. But, as the extent of the pain across the nation became apparent, Modi began to change the rules around demonetisation. It has been a month and there is still not enough money in the banks. Rules have been changed more than 120 times, it said.

Rahul Gandhi too said, This is not a bold decision, it is a foolish decision which has been taken without any due consideration. It has devastated the poor, farmers and daily wage workers. We want to have a discussion (in Parliament). We want a vote (in Parliament). The government doesnt.

The Congress vice-president said, PM started off by saying, I am against black money. After black money he went to terrorists. Then he moved to counterfeit money and then to cashless economy. So he is running and we will catch him inside the House. He wont be able to run inside the house.
Remesh Mistry is a villager working with an NGO, but he is so sought after these days that queues begin to form hours before he arrives.

Mistry doubles up as the operator of a customer service point (CSP) of the State Bank of India in Satjelia island of the Sunderbans in West Bengal and is the only source of fresh currency notes for residents of the remote region inhabited by the Royal Bengal tiger and criss-crossed by crocodile-infested rivers.

Known popularly as a business correspondent employed part-time by banks to service people in the farthest of corners of the country, Mistrys importance has multiplied many folds following last months demonetisation of high-value bank notes.

Sunderbans is an archipelago of 104 islands, 54 of which have human settlements. The rest are still dense mangrove forests. Life even at the best of times is difficult. It has got harder amid the cash crunch since ATMs are few and banks fewer in the region accessible by rickety boats across choppy rivers.

For past several weeks now, residents have been queuing up for Mistry since 3am. By the time he reaches his small one-room office in Laxbagan village market, dozens are already waiting for him.

He carries cash only to service 20 people a day. The rest return to queue up the next day.

People have few other options, but to wait for Mistry, explains Jayanta Naskar, the local legislator from Gosaba.

Gosaba, for example, is one of the 16 administrative blocks in Sunderbans. It comprises nine islands spread over 285 sq km with a population of 2.5 lakh voters. But there is just one nationalised bank branch.

It explains the rush at Mistrys office. Initially more than 100 people used to stand in the queue to withdraw cash and exchange notes. But now the late comers go back home as soon as they see 20 people are already in the queue. I have told them that with limited resources I wont be able to cater to all of them, says Mistry.

As an arm of the bank, he provides villagers with services ranging from withdrawals, deposits and opening of fixed deposit accounts. The rush in recent weeks though has mostly been for withdrawals.

Mistry has been working longer hours in recent weeks, beginning with collecting cash deposits and requests for withdrawals from those lining up daily. He goes to the main bank branch in the afternoon to deposit the money collected and return with cash for distribution in the evening among those seeking withdrawals.

Read| Grains for goods: UP villagers resort to barter to beat cash crunch

Yet, tempers are rising. None of his explanations work when villagers are forced to return empty handed or are handed Rs 2,000 note. Quarrels often break out.

Frustrated and peeved, the villagers often shout and abuse Mistry.

Sandhya Dolui, a septuagenarian woman from Kakmari village, speaks highly of the service that Mistry provides. He is a very decent and patient man. He never loses his patience, no matter how badly you treat him. He will smile back and listen to all your grievances, she says.

But there are compelling reasons for those who are losing their cool. Imagine the frustration when you have to return empty handed just because you were not in the first 20. Sometimes you are handed over a polythene bag full of Rs 10 coins or just one Rs 2,000 note. How are we going to manage? asks an irate villager.

Mistrys wife has her own share of complaints. Mistry carries the cash in a backpack all by himself to and fro from the bank and his office and she is constantly worried about his well being. Her worries have risen with the advent of winter when tigers stray more often into human habitations looking for prey. The fear of robbers and tigers keep her awake as Mistry works long hours.
With foreign missions in India expressing difficulties in running their day-to-day affairs due to demonetisation, the finance ministry has been asked to direct banks to allow diplomats to withdraw money on a priority basis, a senior official said on Thursday.

The ministry of external affairs has received communications from some embassies about the problems they face in the context of the demonetisation of high value notes, spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in his weekly media briefing in New Delhi.

With a view to avoid inconveniencing their operations, the ministry has been in discussion with concerned authorities in the government on this matter, he said.

The finance ministry, as a consequence, is being asked to issue directives to banks to allow embassy officials with identity cards to withdraw money on a priority basis.

On Wednesday, dean of the diplomatic corps in India and ambassador of the Dominican Republic, Frank Castellanos, said that Rs 50,000 cap a week for the operation of an embassy was not enough.

Citing the Vienna Convention, he said that diplomats could not be stopped from accessing their funds and a solution was needed soon.

Last week, Russian ambassador to India Alexander Kadakin wrote to the ministry of external affairs, complaining about inadequate funds.

On Thursday, foreign secretary S Jaishankar met Castellanos and discussed the issues raised by foreign missions and how best to address them.

We appreciate learning from the dean that the vast majority of foreign missions understand that the demonetisation exercise is being conducted to combat the menace of black money and tax avoidance, Swarup said.

We are confident that the missions would bear with the temporary difficulties that arise in that process, even as we seek to address their concerns.

On the cap of Rs 50,000 withdrawal per week, the spokesperson said that the external affairs ministry has agreed to look into the issue and take it up with the finance ministry.

As for Catellanos citing the Vienna Convention, he said that the convention clearly says that foreign diplomatic missions are to be allowed uninterrupted facilities for their work.

We have given him a very sympathetic hearing to him today. The meeting (between Jaishankar and Castellanos) was very constructive, very cordial and we have agreed to refer his concerns to the concerned quarters, Swarup said.
David Singh Grewal is a professor of law at Yale University and currently a visiting professor at Stanford. Grewal, who has done extensive work on economic history, is the author of two books, Network Power - The Social Dynamics of Globalisation and The Invention of the Economy.

His recent work has revolved around international trade law, global economic governance, intellectual property law, and law and economics  themes that assumed tremendous importance during the US presidential campaign and will be key issues of the Donald Trump presidency.

In Delhi recently, Grewal spoke to Hindustan Times about the current moment in the economic order, the challenges to the international trade order, the tensions within and between the global north and south, World Trade Organization (WTO), and the potential opportunity and risks present in the current moment.

Excerpts:

Q. After Brexit and Trump, there is a lot of interest in the international economic order. There are questions about whether we will see a continuation of the current order or disruption. As someone who has worked extensively on economic history, what explains the current moment?

A. The first thing to note is that the world is now, and likely to remain, more globalised than at any other point in human history. The WTO itself has largely succeeded in its original mission  in eliminating tariffs across a wide swathe of industrial goods across most countries of the world. The backdrop to the reaction against globalisation, we must recognise, is a realisation of a much fuller globalisation than any architect of the post-war international order could have dreamed of.

So why the backlash? I think it comes in part because of the changing nature of recent trade agreements, but also because some of the effects of trade liberalisation on particular domestic constituents of the north have been neglected. Whether the backlash is contingent or generational remains to be seen. But we must understand that the backlash itself is taking place against A deep and sustained globalisation, and the changing nature of trade agreements in recent decades.

Backlash against trade

Q. What is the changing nature of the trading regimes?

A. Economic liberalisation has largely succeeded in abolishing the high tariffs of the immediate aftermath of World War II. These were the target of coordinated action by countries which were signatories to GATT. The trade regime has now moved on to next generation issues.

These include intellectual property regulations, regulatory harmonisation, schemes for global governance concerning things like environmental, labour and safety standards, and most controversially, new forms of dispute resolution which bypass the traditional national court system of signatory countries to involve ad-hoc tribunals judging questions of THE compatibility of state policy with investment expectations. This is the so-called investor-state dispute resolution.

All of these next generation issues are highly controversial. We should note that they are a departure from the traditional tariff and subsidy agenda of trade. They make the trade into something more like global governance. There are lots of reasons to be in favour of lower tariffs that may not necessarily move over into these forms of global governance.

Q. It is precisely because of these next generation issues that countries like India are reluctant to sign on to some of these trading regimes. The feeling here is these issues give a competitive edge to the dominant actors in the global north. The surprising thing is that the backlash emanates from the same countries, which actually have an advantage.

A. If you think of each of the countries of the north as a single unit and assume that the interests of dominant corporations constitute the national interest, then you end up with the puzzle that next-generation issues which seem to precisely favour the north  say the shift away from tariffs to intellectual property  are also opposed in the north. But if we consider the different constituencies within these countries, we can see that these trading regimes may be of benefit to powerful corporate interests but they are not by any means working for the majority.

One way of interpreting the backlash is that the pent-up majority concern about the ways in which peoples economic lives seem to be slipping away from them has become directed partly correctly and partly unfairly at trade. An anti-trade agenda has been exploited by parties of the right in the absence of any real attention to these issues by parties of the left. You might have thought the welfare of the industrial working class was a traditional bread and butter issue of the left. But under the centralising governments of (Bill) Clinton and (Tony) Blair, a whole set of new global issues became the focus of Democratic and Labour party and the results in terms of the movement of the industrial workers over to the right is obvious from Brexit and Trump.

So we should understand international trade law not simply as a set of international agreements between countries conceived as unitary blocs, but as itself implicated in ongoing distributional conflict, or if you want to be polemical, class conflict, within countries both within the north and south. If we see it as instrument of distributive conflict, or class conflict, you can see that a trade agreement which in theory can benefit everyone has been turned into an instrument by which the demands of the traditional working class in the north can be resisted by corporate actors who are now free to move. The surprise about the backlash in the countries of the south is echoed by the elites of the countries of the north, who had assumed that it could be business as usual in spite of the ways in which trade agreements were undermining national sovereignty or the relative position of the working class.

The north-south dynamic

Q. Would it be correct to argue that as long as the global north had the dominant share of the exports  the US was responsible for two-thirds of exports at one point  it had enough to ensure some kind of distribution within its own bloc and was thus comfortable with the economic order. Now as the south is acquiring a competitive edge, it is able to wrest some advantages for its own working class, the north is turning back on the rules of the order.

A. I think it would be correct if we were only talking about the traditional bread and butter issues of the tariffs. There is a straightforward argument to be made that  as the countries of the south have developed, have changed their relative position vis-a-vis the north  they have generated a backlash. But the backlash is not a self-protecting move by the elites in the north  they would like increased trade. It is a democratic revolt by the masses, which has found new channels for expression of political discontent.

I can understand the discontent in the south against the backlash in the north. But as we move to next generation issues, it is by no means clear to me that this kind of trade agenda is advantageous for the developing world either. This provides an opportunity for the countries of the south to put forward a trade agenda which is genuinely development-friendly, which is not the agenda of increased intellectual property protections, upward regulatory harmonisation, and special investor-state tribunals.

The next generation issues, if anything, will consolidate the positions of elites of the global north. For that reason, it is being opposed by developing world progressive interests and now a reaction by the traditional working classes of the North.

Q. You would then tell India this is an opportunity?

A. It should be an opportunity. With the US stepping back partly from its role as the leader international liberal world, I think it is the moment for India, Brazil, South Africa, and Indonesia as large developing world, democratic countries to step forward and push a trade agenda that works for both development and democracy. The idea that the US will step back, and China will fill the gap, is not desirable for either democratic or developmental policies internationally. This is the time for a new international democratic developing world alliance to come forward and reinvigorate talks at WTO about what a post-Doha round of negotiations would look like.

Q. But even if it is not desirable, are we seeing China occupy that leadership role? That concerns Indian strategists.

A. It is not obvious to me why that should be the case. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership  the rival Pacific trading arrangement  involves many of the same players as TPP. It is not obvious to me  since it is still at the preliminary negotiation stage  what it will accomplish. If it moves away from next generation issues and brings in a new and genuinely interesting approach to trade, I would love to see that. If it is traditional bread and butter agreement, it is not obvious why China should be greatly empowered by that over the existing WTO regulations.

The big event in the international trade order in the past 15 years was Chinas entry into the WTO in 2001, which upended everything, and consolidated a liberal global order. The TPP has more symbolic than practical importance, and I suspect the same will be true for RCEP.

Returning to WTO

Q. You see this as a good moment to go back to the WTO?

A. It seems to me that WTO, if it was invigorated by energy from democratic developing countries, is the appropriate and natural forum for world trade. Going back to WTO avoids the problem of trade fragmentation, which is to say a motley of different agreements covering overlapping jurisdictions while also not covering all the countries of the world. The WTO is presumptively the more legitimate form for conducting global trade negotiations. It may be the case that it will be difficult to get next generation issues through WTO where every country has a voice. But It is not a new discovery that the trade order which was being pushed in Doha was not in the interests of all the countries of the world. We will need a new and different trade agenda.

Q. One of the reasons WTO did not work out from the Indian perspective was agricultural subsidies, which the global north maintained for its constituents even as it pushed countries of the south to remove protective layers. You see us having moved beyond those battles?

A. On the contentious issue of agriculture, it would not be worth renewing trade talks at WTO. My own view is that agriculture does not fit into the pattern of industrial goods. Doha was twice killed by India on the issue of agricultural harmonisation  it is not just subsidies in the north that makes it contentious. Even if subsidies were removed, it is by no means clear why the poor Indian farmer would want to or should have to compete with highly industrialised agro-business of the north. And when you have 70% of the people living in villages, there is no reason why a drop in rural incomes would be good even for urban constituencies despite cheaper food prices.

Q. So that was a legitimate stand?

A. Absolutely. My sense is agriculture should be off the agenda. And a new developmentally focused trade agenda should look at figuring out what would be appropriate opt-outs and safeguards in the trade regimes, which could include giving up on strict intellectual property regimes and rolling back some of the next generation reforms.

Immigration

Q. Beyond trade, one element of globalisation was mobility of labour. Are we seeing the beginning of the end of that?

A. I dont think we are going to see the end of that.

There is too much to be gained on all sides from the international movement of labour. But what we are seeing is the scapegoating of the newcomers to the industrial north, who are being used as pawns in a political game. I am afraid that will not go away. There will always be xenophobic sentiment, particularly when the economy is failing many ordinary people.

I think the backlash against immigration represents just the most visible sign of a general feeling of a lot of people in the majorities in the north that their economic lives have spiralled out of control. They no longer have the job security or security from the state that their parents or grandparents took for granted. It is hard to understand this as a structural feature in the development of global capitalism, even though it is. It is easier to understand this as the fault of the other guy you see on the shop floor who has come from elsewhere. And it is easy for parties on the right who dont want to seriously consider a critical restructuring of globalisation to basically engage in scapegoating as an alibi to continue business as usual.

But as I said, from the standpoint of immigration, it will likely be business as usual, along with an increase in tension. I think there is too much to be gained from labour flows from the south to the north on all sides.

Going back to the past

Q. You have been making this distinction between the first thirty years after World War II and the decades after that. What distinguished these periods, and where are we now?

A. Thomas Piketty, the French economist, and many others have drawn attention to the fact that the 30 years after the World War II were an exceptional period in many respects. In the aftermath of the war, there was a period of high and widely shared growth among a wide swath of developed countries. The geopolitics of the Cold War was also such that it favored the emergence of a very ambitious programme of international economic integration, both in GATT and the early institutional forms of European Union. It is true that trade was disruptive of the traditional division of labour among countries, but it was not so opposed by the working classes because there were enough jobs people could migrate into in a growing economy. In terms of geopolitics too, one of the anxieties about free trade has always been the way that it empowers your national rivals. But in the conditions of the Cold War, the eastern bloc did not want to trade and play the same capitalist game as the west. So, for example, the US could trade very freely without undermining its geopolitical position  it empowered mainly its western allies through western trade.

The economic position begins to change in the mid-70s as Piketty and others have illustrated. You begin to get large-scale disruption, working-class wage stagnation, and other economic features missing during the exceptional years. That put pressure on trade regimes, one result of which in the US was the beginning of the fast track trade regime for getting trade deals done with fewer obstacles.

After the end of the Cold War, the geopolitics also changes. The US is now Chinas largest trading partner, but these are also involved in minor hostilities with a risk of major hostility.

This kind of situation is actually the historical norm. Going back to the 17th century, what you find are countries which are both military rivals and trading partners, with the result that this is a highly uncertain and sometimes explosive situation. But that was not present in the immediate aftermath of the World War II. So we now have an agenda for global economic integration which reflects conditions that no longer obtain. Many national and international elites who want to push for more globalisation came of age at a time when international trade was safe in ways that are no longer safe.

Q. So you are suggesting the good times were the exception. And what we are seeing is how the world has been.

A. Yes, this is how the world has been. The fact that this was the way the world has been was noticed by many prominent intellectuals in the first half of the 20th century, including John Maynard Keynes.

What we are seeing is a reversion to the historic norm, which has two main features. First, the distributional consequences of global economic integration are not even shared out within countries, which can generate resentment and backlash. And second, the geopolitical consequences of trade among military rivals generates a potentially explosive situation.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
A team of Federal Bureau of Investigation officers will arrive in Kolkata on Thursday to interrogate a suspected member of the Islamic State (IS), who is believed to have indoctrinated several men to join the terror outfit.

Sources said that an expert who can crack the encryption on WhatsApp and similar platforms is also accompanying the FBI team as Mohammad Masiruddin alias Mussa, who was arrested on July 4, used these communication modes frequently.

A team of FBI sleuths is arriving to question Mussa. A team from NIA in Delhi is also coming. But we cannot reveal anything more right now, a National Investigation Agency source told Hindustan Times.

The NIA has approached a court to take 25-year-old Mussa, who is lodged in a high-security prison in Kolkata, in their custody for questioning.

In August, a three-member team of Bangladeshs elite anti-terror agency Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) came to Kolkata to grill Mussa. They wanted to probe his connection with the terror attack on Dhakas Holey Artisan Bakery in July.

Mussa, a resident of Labhpur in Birbhum district, was arrested by Government Railway Police and Birbhum police from Viswa Bharati Fast Passenger train at Burdwan railway station based on the inputs from Intelligence Bureau and NIA.

During interrogation by the state police, intelligence agencies and NIA, Mussa revealed the ISs plan for a formal announcement of its arrival in India with a signature video of a brutal murder.

A foot-long butchers knife and a pencil camera were seized from Mussa, who was allegedly in touch with Syria-based IS recruiter Shafi Armar alias Yusuf Al-Hindi as well as a Bangladesh-based terror handler identified as Saifullah.

Shafi Armar, a resident of Bhatkal in Karnataka, is an ex-Indian Mujahideen terrorist who formed a group called the Anwar ul-Tawhid along with other Indians in Pakistan before moving to the IS.

Mussa told investigators that he was asked to behead a Labhpur-based businessman and record the event on video, to be released on the internet, to prove his worth for bigger assignments. He also claimed that he met his handler in March 2016 during which he was encouraged to work for the IS in India.

After retrieving email and chats of Mussa from his mobile phone, the NIA found that he had a connection with banned terror outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and IS leaders in Syria. Bangladesh blames home-grown terrorists of JMB for the Dhaka cafe attack though the IS have claimed it.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
President Pranab Mukherjee said on Thursday that Parliament was not a place for dharna and disruptions that amount to the gagging of majority by the minority, criticising lawmakers for stalling proceedings in the winter session over the governments decision to ban high-value banknotes.

Disruption is totally unacceptable in parliamentary system. People send representatives to speak and not to sit on dharna and not to create any trouble on the floor, he said, speaking on Electoral reforms for a stronger democracy on the occasion of Defence Estates Day Lecture in New Delhi.

Read | Parliament as it happened: Both houses adjourned after uproar by Opposition

More than two weeks of the winter session of Parliament has been lost to disruptions over Opposition protests over the governments November 8 decision to recall Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, sending the economy reeling .

Mukherjee, who was a member of Parliament before he became the President, said: Disruption means you are hurt, you are gagging majority. Majority never participates in this disruption. Only minority comes to the well, shouts slogans, stops the proceedings and creates a situation in which the Chair has no option but to adjourn the House. This is totally unacceptable.

Prime Minister Narendra Modis shock announcement to scrap the banknotes on November 8 has sparked chaos and confusion across the country, with millions of consumers queuing outside banks and ATMs to change a limited number of old notes for new ones or withdraw cash. The government said the move was aimed at rooting out black money and corruption.

But the move has met with resistance by the Opposition, which has accused the government of conducting the exercise without proper planning and triggered ruckus in Parliament.

For demonstration, you can choose any other places. But for Gods sake, do your job. You are meant to transact business. You are meant to devote your time for exercising the authority of members, particularly Lok Sabha members over money and finance, the President said, a day after veteran BJP leader LK Advani expressed displeasure over the functioning in the House.

Maintaining that he was not targeting any single party or individuals, he said the responsibility to run the House rested with everyone.

Fact remains that this (disruption) has become a practice which should not be acceptable at all. Whatever be the differences, we have the opportunity, to speak our mind, to speak freely and no court can interfere in what I say on the floor of the House, he said.
The government announced a raft of measures on Thursday to promote cashless transactions as part of a campaign to encourage people to go digital, a month after the shock culling of high-value bank bills triggered a severe cash crunch.

Signalling that using cash is going to be costlier, finance minister Arun Jaitley came up with multiple incentives -- ranging from discounts on fuel, highway toll and railway tickets to cheaper insurance cover  for those using digital payment modes.

The government has come under opposition attack for its November 8 move to recall Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes but it has repeatedly defended itself, saying the decision was necessary to stamp out black money and counterfeit currency.

In recent weeks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also extolled the virtues of a cashless society, giving examples of beggars using ATM machines, and said any pain from a shortage of cash was temporary and that the move will benefit the country in the long run.

Before November 8, we were using excessive amount of cash and very limited digital transaction... there is a cost of transacting in cash excessive cash can lead to malpractices, Jaitley said at a press conference.

Earlier in the day, Jaitley announced in Lok Sabha, a waiver of service tax on card payments of up to Rs 2,000.

Just two months ahead of the Union budget, the finance minister said petrol and diesel worth Rs 1800 crore was sold in a day, of which of about 20% is already being paid digitally.

But in one month (since the demonetisation drive was announced) the figure went up to 40% and the cash transaction of Rs 360 crore per day has got shifted to cashless transaction methods, Jaitley said.

Measures announced by Finance Minister @ArunJaitely to encourage digital payments. #GoCashlessGoDigital pic.twitter.com/NRmoGxbgu7  Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) December 8, 2016

The incentive scheme has the potential to shift at least 30% more customer into paying digitally, which would further reduce the cash requirement of nearly Rs 2 lakh crore per year at petrol pumps, he added.

From January 1, 2017, customers who pay digitally for their monthly or seasonal tickets on suburban trains will also pay less. Besides, free accidental insurance cover of upto Rs 10 lakh will be provided to all those railway passengers buying their tickets online.

That is not all. Customers will be offered a discount of 5% for payment of all paid services of the railways which include catering, accommodation, retiring rooms among other things if they pay digitally.

Jaitley said about 80 lakh passengers use seasonal or monthly ticket on suburban railways, largely in cash, spending worth nearly Rs2,000 crore a year. As more and more passengers will shift to digital means the cash requirement may get reduced by Rs1,000 crore per year in near future, Jaitley pointed out.

The other major announcements include two Point of Sale (PoS) machines each for one lakh villages with a population of less than 10,000. The exercise will be supported through financial inclusion fund. The government will also support regional rural banks and cooperative banks through NABARD to issue Rupay Kisan Cards to 4.32 crore Kisan Credit Card holders.

The central government departments and public sector undertakings will ensure transaction fee associated with digital payments is not passed on to customers. State governments are also being advised to consider absorption of transaction charges. The state-owned banks have been asked that merchants should not be required to pay more than Rs 100 per month as rental charges.

Read| Cheap petrol to discount on rail tickets: Highlights of steps for cashless India

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The Centre has turned into a salesman trying to sell plastic cards, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Thursday, minutes after finance minister Arun Jaitley held a press conference advocating digital transactions.

The Govt is acting like a salesman. They have started selling products. They have started selling plastic cards, Banerjee tweeted.

This is a desperate attempt to divert from the main issue. They are making more than a blunder a day, she said in another tweet.

The Govt is acting like a salesman. They have started selling products. They have started selling plastic cards 1/2  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) December 8, 2016

This is a desperate attempt to divert from the main issue. They are making more than a blunder a day #DeMonetisation 2/2  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) December 8, 2016

In bid to promote a less-cash economy, the government announced on Thursday discounts on an array of services from buying petrol to insurance and railway tickets through the digital mode and waived service tax on card transactions of up to Rs 2,000.

A discount of 0.75% will be offered on purchase of petrol and diesel through either credit/debit cards, e-wallets and mobile wallets.
Indian embassy in Qatar is closely monitoring the case of three jailed Indians, two of whom are on death row, external affairs ministry said on Thursday.

Subramanian Alagappa, Chilladurai Perumal and Shivkumar Achunan were sentenced to death by firing squad in December 2014 after they were found guilty of killing an 81-year-old Qatari woman in her home four years ago.

While Achunans punishment has been commuted to life sentence, other two are facing death penalty.

Observing that the next hearing was on January 2, 2017, MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the Indian embassy in Qatar mission was in touch with the lawyers and was closely monitoring the case.

India had filed an appeal maintaining that the penalty was too harsh.
The Union home ministry will not change its statement given to the Parliament that there were four terrorists, who carried out terror attack at the Pathankot airbase, and not six as was announced by the government.

A top Home Ministry official said the written question asked in Lok Sabha on November 29 was related to how many terrorists came from Pakistan.

Since the investigation carried out by the NIA has found that only four Pakistani terrorists had cross over to India, it was decided that there would be no clarification.

There may be two more terrorists, who attacked the Pathankot airbase, but investigations on that was still continuing, the official said.

The answer given in Parliament is contrary to a statement made by home minister Rajnath Singh on March 4 when he had said that charred remains, apart from four bodies of terrorists, were found at the debris after security forces searched the Pathankot airforce station when the operation ended.

Charred remains were found and sent for forensic examination. We are awaiting for reports, he had said.

Defence minister Manohar Parrikar too had said that six terrorists were involved in the attack.

The National Investigation Agency, which was probing the case, has been maintaining that the investigators had found only four bodies.

In the reply to a query in Lok Sabha on November 29, minister of state for home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir had said only four militants had entered the air force station to carry out the strike.

Four Pakistan-based terrorists entered Punjab via Janial road, Dhusi turn, near Ravi river bridge, Gulpur Simli village - Akalgarh and attacked air force station in Pathankot, he said in a written reply to a question by Ravneet Singh.

The Congress MP had asked about the number of terrorists who entered Punjab for Pathankot attack and the route used by them as well as the details of terrorists killed and arrested along with the weapons recovered from them.

Ahir said all these terrorists were neutralised by the security forces. The security forces recovered 4 AK rifles, 32 AK magazines, 3 pistols, 7 pistol magazines, one under barrel grenade launcher, 40 hand grenades and one dagger from them, he said.

The Home Ministry had in the past been left red faced over answers to Parliament questions including one Pakistan related controversy where it informed the House that they did not know about whereabouts of most wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, forcing the government to retract and clarify that Dawood was in Pakistan.
A 20-year-old woman who was seriously injured in celebratory firing during a wedding at Pipardi village in Botad district on Tuesday, died at a hospital in Bhavnagar, police said.

Bhuri Mithapara (20) was rushed to Sir Takhtasinhji Hospital in Bhavnagar after a bullet hit her on the forehead when she was watching the wedding at a neighbours place from the terrace of her house on December 6.

Bhuri succumbed to injuries late last night. We will now add section 304 of IPC in the FIR against the unidentified person for causing death of the girl through negligent act, said police sub-inspector YB Rana.

The incident occurred when Bhuri went to the terrace to watch the function. As the grooms procession arrived, someone fired a round in the air while celebrating. However, the bullet hit Bhuri on her forehead.

According to Rana, the person who fired the bullet is yet to be identified.
Police said on Thursday they have apprehended eight members of a gang that allegedly robbed Rs 58 lakh in new notes from a businessman who had struck a deal to exchange their scrapped banknotes in Hyderabad.

On coming to know that the businessman has lakhs of rupees in new currency notes, the gang allegedly entered into a deal with him to exchange old notes for 25% commission, police said in a release.

Accordingly, the businessman brought Rs 58 lakh in Rs 2,000 and Rs 100 denomination at 2.30am on the intervening night of December 4-5 near the GHMC playground. The gang members then thrashed the businessman and fled with bags containing the cash, it said.

Acting on a complaint by the victim, police lodged a case of dacoity and formed special teams that nabbed the eight members of the gang last night. One person is absconding.

After completion of investigation into the dacoity case, police would focus on the money acquired by the victims uncle in Rs 2,000 notes in high quantity. The uncle allegedly had handed over the money to the complainant, it said.

Police would also check if the businessman used his workers for exchanging scrapped notes in the bank. The I-T department will be intimated about the new currency notes of Rs 2,000 acquired in huge quantity by the complainant and his uncle, the release said.
Income-tax sleuths conducted raids on sand miners and leading contractors, including Srinivas Reddy, Shekhar Reddy and their agent Prem, and recovered a sum of Rs 90 crore in cash and 100 kg in gold during searches at eight premises.

Shekhar Reddy is said to be connected to several bigwigs.

Sources said that Rs 70 crore of the total Rs 90 crore was in new Rs 2,000 currency notes, which are difficult to come by after demonetisation. The rest of the money, Rs 20 crore, was in the demonetised old currencies.

Sources said that Shekhar Reddy was being grilled by the sleuths. A large amount of cash was seized from his premises in T Nagar. Shekhar Reddy is said to have facilitated the darshan of the then interim chief minister O Panneerselvam at the Balaji Temple in Tirupati after J Jayalalithaa was freed from the Karnataka prison last year.

In another operation, the I-T department recovered 100 gold bars of one kilo each and over Rs 73 crore of cash in Chennai. A cash amount of Rs 8 crore that was unearthed was in new currency notes and the remaining Rs 65 crore in old high currency. A senior official of the tax department told HT that another Rs 10 crore was found in the evening. The counting for this is still on, the search is continuing and valuation is on...this is the biggest search operation since the demonetisation drive was kicked off, the official said.

Another investigation into cash deposits in a bank account in Nagpur revealed that the account holder had no knowledge of its existence where Rs 3.29 crore had been deposited after November 8. Enquiries by the department revealed six more such accounts in her and parents names. All seven accounts were opened to launder money, the finance ministry said.

(With inputs from Mahua Venkatesh in New Delhi)
Pakistan on Thursday said any dialogue with India should lead to ultimate resolution of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions.

Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria, responding to questions at a weekly news briefing here, said the dialogue should not be for the sake of dialogue but results-oriented and sustainable.

He said that despite a number of gestures by Pakistan, India remains defiant and intransigent to resumption of the dialogue.

Zakaria said Pakistan believes that the international community has a role in the resolution of the long-standing dispute.

He also welcomed US Vice President-elect Mike Pences statement regarding mediation on Kashmir.

Bilateral relations between Islamabad and New Delhi deteriorated in July following resurgence of unrest in Jammu and Kashmir and India placed the blame for the September 18 Uri military camp attack and continuing infiltration attempts on Pakistan.

Things turned worse with the spike in ceasefire violations at the border that have claimed dozens of lives in barely two months.
India on Thursday demanded immediate consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, arrested in Balochistan in March, on charges of being an agent of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

We have seen conflicting media reports about this issue. This is a pattern we have seen in the past as well. Government has always maintained that Pakistans allegations against Jadhav, an Indian national and a former Indian Navy officer, were completely baseless, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

Swarup said after more than nine months of keeping him wrongfully and illegally in custody, the Pakistani authorities have not found a shred of evidence against him.

We demand immediate consular access to him in accordance with relevant international conventions and his earliest release from wrongful confinement, he added.

Pakistans foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz on Wednesday acknowledged there was no conclusive evidence against Jadhav. Speaking in the Senate or upper house of Parliament, Aziz said the dossier on Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav contained mere statements. Geo News quoted Aziz as saying, It did not have any conclusive evidence.

Aziz, who was briefing the Senate on relations with India, said further evidence regarding Jadhavs role in Pakistan needs to be gathered. He also said Pakistan had provided the UN a dossier regarding RAWs alleged activities in Pakistan.
India and the United States vowed on Thursday to expand the bilateral defence cooperation as outgoing American defence secretary Ashton Carter met his counterpart Manohar Parrikar in New Delhi for the record breaking seventh time and termed New Delhi as a major defence partner.

Thank you my friend, Carter told Parrikar as both met at the South Block.

Carter said that this is the seventh meeting that he was having meeting with Parrikar. He is the defence minister with whom I have met for the maximum number of times, he said, emphasising the importance that US puts on its ties with India.

During the meeting, which was more of a thanksgiving one, Carter said, Today our defence relationship takes a major step as we designate India as a major defence partner.

A powerful US Congressional conference committee had on November 30 asked Carter and the secretary of state to take steps necessary to recognise India as Americas major defence partner in a bid to strengthen bilateral security cooperation.

The provision mentioned in the voluminous Congressional conference report, running into more than 3,000 pages, on $618 billion National Defence Authorisation Bill (NDAA), also asked the defence secretary and the secretary of state for an assessment of the extent to which India possesses capabilities to support and carry out military operations of mutual interest of the two countries.

It now needs to be formally passed by the two chambers of the Congress -- the House of Representatives and Senate -- before US President Barack Obama can sign it into law.

Meanwhile, Parrikar said he appreciated Carters strong commitment to defence partnership.

It is not an exaggeration that our defence relations are a major driver in our bilateral relations, he said adding Carters conceptualisation of the Defence Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI) shows his interest in bilateral defence cooperation.

Parrikar said he was happy to see conclusion of discussion on major defence partnership.

During our meeting over the last few years, we have agreed on practical exchanges such as LMEOA, the defence minister said.

He added, I am confident that the defence cooperation will expand on the foundation you have built.

Carter replied, saying that both countries have more to do in the years ahead.

I am proud of what we have achieved, my friend, he said.

US president-elect Donald Trump has nominated James Mattis, a retired four-star Marine Corps general, for the post of the US Defence Secretary.
A civilian was killed by a stray bullet as a gun battle raged on in Arwani area of south Kashmir on Thursday, police said, even as there was no official confirmation about the number of militants holed up or killed at the encounter site.

Intense gunbattle broke out between the militants and security forces in Anantnag district since Thursday morning, after a search operation was conducted in the area on Wednesday night.

Speaking to HT, DGP, coordination and law and order and , SP Vaid said, The encounter is still on. Till a search is not conducted, nothing can be said. It is suspected that two or three militants are holed up there.

He added, A stray bullet hit the civilian. We found his body on the railway tracks near the encounter site, he said.

A police statement identified the dead man as Arif Ahmad Shah, a resident of Sangam.

The person succumbed to injuries after being hit by a stray bullet. Police has appealed to the people not to assemble or come close to the encounter site as there is every chance that stray bullets may hit them and they may get injured, the statement said.

Since morning there were conflicting reports about the militant casualty in the encounter, with several reports saying three militants of the banned outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba were killed, although neither the army nor the police confirmed the same.

But even as police and army did not confirm the killings, chief of the umbrella militant organisation United Jihad Council Syed Salahuddin paid his tributes to the three slain militants Majeed Zargar, Muhammad Waseem and Rahil Amin saying the young boys laid their lives for the freedom struggle of Kashmir.

In an emailed statement to local news agency KNS, he termed the killings as a jolt to the militancy in Kashmir but said there are thousands others ready to fight.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
A minor girl was burnt and thrown into a well after she managed to fend off an attempted gang-rape in Jharkhands Seraikela-Kharsawa district on Thursday, the police said.

According to the police, the minor, a Class 4 student, was taken to a jungle by four men after they offered her a chocolate. The girl started shouting when they tried to rape her.

The perpetrators then allegedly poured kerosene oil and set her on fire. She was later thrown into a well.

The girl was taken to a hospital after some villagers heard her shouts. She has sustained 60% burn injuries and is critical, the police said.

The police have detained the four accused and is interrogating them.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should clarify his and BJP chief Amit Shahs relation with Mahesh Shah, who disclosed unaccounted income of Rs 13,860 crore under the central governments income declaration scheme.

Former Gujarat chief minister Suresh Mehta said that Mahesh Shah was close to Amit Shah and Modi. People want to know what is the relation between them and whose money was it that Shah disclosed, Kejriwal said in New Delhi.

Kejriwal added that Mahesh Shah said on a TV Channel that he wants to name all the people whose money he has disclosed as his own income.

It has been one week and income tax department has still not questioned Mahesh Shah, Kejriwal said.

Kejriwal said that people are asking that while Modi has made them all stand in the queues, why is he not questioning those who actually have black money.

Modi ji asked for 50 days, 30 days have gone by and there has been no respite for the common man. Nor has there been recovery of even a single penny of black money. What will change in the next 20 days?

It is clear the demonetisation was neither targeted at black money nor at corruption. But it was a Rs 8 lakh crore scam to waive off loans of Modi jis friends, he said.
In order to encourage cashless payment modes in rural parts of the country, Nabard said on Thursday it will provide a grant of Rs 228 crore for deployment of point of sale machines and procurement of EMV-based debit cards for farmers.

The demonetisation move has posed a huge challenge to the cash based transactions in rural economy and there is a pressing need to move towards digital transactions.

Nabard will extend nearly Rs 120 crore to banks for deployment of two PoS devices each in one lakh villages of tier 5 and 6 areas having a population of up to 10,000.

For farmers who have RuPay Kisan Cards, Nabard will help in procurement of EMV chip and PIN-based RuPay Kisan Cards by both regional rural banks and the rural co-operative banks.

The approximate expenditure for this will be Rs 108 crore, covering around 4.32 crore RuPay Kisan Cards holders.

We believe that these two initiatives will have a positive impact in easing the transition to digital transactions, Bhanwala said in a statement.

In the past, Nabard has brought the entire co-operative banking system onto core banking solution (CBS) platform.

It had also provided financial support to select regional rural banks for moving over to CBS platform.
Unidentified gunmen targeted a branch of the state-run Jammu and Kashmir Bank at Arihal in south Kashmirs Pulwama on Thursday and looted Rs 13.38 lakh. The attackers reportedly fired shots while leaving the branch.

According to sources, the gunmen looted around Rs 11.15 lakh in new notes while Rs 2.23 lakh in old notes. Around 1.30 pm, four gunmen beat up the employees, broke some computers, took away mobile phones and also fired in air. They looted all the cash available at the bank which was around Rs 13.38 lakh as reported by the authorities, said Rayees Ahmad Bhat, Superintendent of Police, Pulwama.

Police has started the search operation. We have some leads we are working on them, Bhat said.

On the same day, there was an attempted robbery at the J&K Bank at Poshkar.

This is not the first instance of a bank robbery in the state after the announcement of demonestisation of old notes. Last month, unidentified burglars robbed nearly Rs 35 lakh from a J&K Bank in Kishtwar district.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had, in a surprise announcement on November 8, scrapped high denomination banknotes, saying that one of the key targets of the drive was to stop militants from using counterfeit Indian currency from Pakistan.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The Opposition marked the first month of demonetisation as a Black Day on Thursday, with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi lashing out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and alleging that the governments move to scrap high-value banknotes was benefitting digital wallets such as Paytm while the poor were facing hardship.

He accused Modi, who is still to speak on the issue in Parliament, of laughing at suffering of the people.

More than two weeks of the winter session of Parliament has been lost to disruptions over Opposition protests over the governments November 8 decision to recall high-value notes, sending the economy reeling . They want the debate on the issue with a vote, a demand the BJP has rejected.

The Prime Minister is expected to intervene in a debate over demonetisation in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, sources in the ruling BJP said.

Farmers are dying. More than 100 people have died. And all this while, PM is having fun. He is laughing, said Gandhi, describing the scraping of high-value notes as a foolish decision.

Speaking to the media outside the Parliament building, Gandhi said, His (PMs) narrative is changing. After black money to terrorists he moved to counterfeit money. Then he moved to cashless economy. And we are going to catch him inside the House. He cant run away.

He described Paytm, which allows cashless transactions, as Pay to Modi. The Alibaba-backed company is witnessing millions of daily transactions worth more than Rs 100 crore after the governments demonetisation exercise.

But Gandhi also insisted that there should be voting at the end of the debate, and alleged that the government was scared that many members of the treasury bench could vote against the government.

We want voting. But they are blocking it because if theres a voting many people in the BJP will vote with us, Gandhi said.

The government hit back quickly. Information and Broadcasting minister Venkaiah Naidu quipped, They are standing in front of the Gandhi statue for mere photo op.

As the demonetisation drive completed a month, the Opposition marked it as a Black Day, with 16 parties protesting inside the Parliament complex. Opposition leaders had black bands on them to protest the governments move.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Union minister MJ Akbar said on Thursday that South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) was going through teething problems, but expressed hope that the university formed by the bloc would have a smoother run.

The minister of state for external affairs was speaking on the occasion of Saarc Charter Day organised at the Saarc University in New Delhi.

Saarc is itself going through teething problems, which are obvious enough. But I am absolutely sure that the university with its has a much smoother run than the bloc itself, he said.

South Asian history is a complex history untouched by emotionalism. And very often proximity doesnt lead to clarity. Proximity leads to complexity and problem.

We have to live through them. We cannot change too much of our past, but we can change substantial amount of future, he said.

The Saarc University was founded in 2010 by eight South Asian Nations. It currently operates from Akbar Bhawan in Delhi.

Following the Uri attack in September this year, India pulled out of the Saarc Summit in Islamabad, which was to be held in November. Bhutan and Bangladesh also pulled out of the summit.

The South Asian bloc has often been affected by tumultuous relations between India and Pakistan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday defended his move to ban Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, saying it will lead to long-term gains.

In a series of tweets, Modi highlighted how demonetisation was making a serious dent on black money as he stressed need to focus on cashless transactions.

The Governments decision has several gains for farmers, traders, labourers, who are the economic backbone of our nation, Modi tweeted.

I salute the people of India for wholeheartedly participating in this ongoing Yagna against corruption, terrorism & black money.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 8, 2016

I always said that the Government's measure will bring a degree of inconvenience but this short term pain will pave way for long term gains.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 8, 2016

No longer will the progress & prosperity of rural India be curtailed by corruption & black money. Our villages must get their due.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 8, 2016

It was on November 8 night that Modi announced that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes would no longer be legal tender.

He said the move was aimed at battling corruption, black money, terror financing and fake currency.

On Thursday, Modi said: We also have a historic opportunity to embrace increased cashless payments and integrate latest technology in economic transactions.

He urged the young to help make India corruption free and ensure more cashless transactions.

Together we must ensure that India defeats black money. This will empower the poor, new middle class and benefit future generations, Modi said.

We also have a historic opportunity to embrace increased cashless payments & integrate latest technology in economic transactions.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 8, 2016

Together, we must ensure #IndiaDefeatsBlackMoney. This will empower the poor, neo-middle class, middle class & benefit future generations.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 8, 2016

As the demonetisation drive completed a month, the Opposition marked it as a Black Day, with 16 parties protesting inside the Parliament complex. Opposition leaders had black bands on them to protest the governments move.
Surprise checks conducted by the CBI and vigilance officials of the postal department at different post offices in the city late last month following demonetisation have found misappropriation of new currency notes to the tune of Rs 2.95 crore, the probe agency said on Thursday.

Four people have been arrested as part of the investigation and remanded in judicial custody by a court, a release said.

CBI and ACB, Hyderabad have registered three separate cases to investigate the alleged frauds, it said.

Investigation so far has found that a senior postal official has dishonestly and fraudulently exchanged crores of rupees with various businessmen for a commission, the release said.

He had been absconding for the last few days but has surrendered and was now being interrogated, it added.
Islamic laws on divorce are misinterpreted to give unbridled authority to men but inflict tyranny and suffering on women, the Allahabad high court observed on Thursday, reigniting the debate on one of Indias most contentious religious issues.

But court refused to comment on the legality of the practice of triple talaq  under which a man can divorce a woman by uttering the word talaq thrice  and said any communitys personal laws cannot override an individuals constitutional rights.

Justice Suneet Kumar said a view that Muslim men enjoyed arbitrary and unilateral power to inflict instant divorce didnt match with Islamic law.

Should Muslim wives suffer this tyranny for all time? Should their personal law remain so cruel towards these unfortunate wives? Can the personal law can be amended suitably to alleviate their sufferings? Kumar asked.

Islamic personal laws that govern marriage, divorce and inheritance are among Indias most controversial codes and face a barrage of legal challenge in the Supreme Court by Muslim women.

The government has told the top court that triple talaq was against gender justice, equality and the Constitution, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called the practice a grave injustice to women.

The influential All India Muslim personal law board  an advocacy organisation for Islamic personal laws -- has defended the practice and said community practices are immune to judicial challenge. The debate has also snowballed into a major political issue in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, where a large Muslim community decides the electoral outcome in around 100 seats.

Kumars observations came while dismissing a plea by a 53-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman who wanted immunity from police action after the man divorced his first wife using the triple talaq practice. The judge condemned this, saying the judicial conscience was disturbed at the monstrosity.

It is a popular fallacy that a Muslim male enjoys, under the Quranic law, unbridled authority to liquidate the marriage. The Quran expressly forbids a man to seek pretext for divorcing his wife so long as she remains faithful and obedient to him, Kumar said.

In the absence of serious reasons, no man can justify a divorce, either in the eye of religion or the law.

The judge said the Quran-ordained law on divorce mandated a reasonable cause and reconciliation attempts by two arbiters  one from the wifes family and the other from the husbands family.

If he abandons his wife or puts her away in simple caprice, he draws upon himself the divine anger, for the curse of God, said the Prophet, rests on him who repudiates his wife capriciously, the court said quoting Islamic scriptures.

India has separate sets of personal laws for each religion governing marriage, divorce and succession. While Hindu law overhaul began in the 1950s and continues, activists have long argued that Muslim personal law has remained mostly unchanged.

Islamic personal laws were pitchforked to the national limelight earlier this year after the law commission circulated a questionnaire with queries on triple talaq and a possible nationwide uniform civil code.

The move alarmed the Muslim personal law board and many opposition parties, which alleged the BJP-led central government was dabbling in Islamic codes for electoral benefit.

Read:

Triple talaq: The inhuman practice that violates rights and dignity of women

The other side of the triple talaq debate
A 42-year-old man allegedly committed suicide after failing to withdraw cash to escape social ostracisation by a khap panchayat in eastern Rajasthans Karauli district, police said on Thursday.

Police said Hari Mohan Chhipi of Barkheda village, around 180 km from state capital Jaipur, jumped in front of a train on Tuesday, hours after he was allegedly asked by the traditional body of village elders to pay Rs 20,000 to his cousin over a land dispute.

According to the FIR  a copy of which is with HT  the khap panchayat slapped a fine of Rs 51,000 on Chhipi. He paid them Rs 11,000 twice after which the khap took the familys jewellery when Chhipi promised to pay the remaining amount in a few days.

On Tuesday, he approached the khap to buy more time to pay the fine. But the khap panchayat refused and asked him to pay them Rs 22,000 by the end of Tuesday.

Chhipi even sought a loan from his neighbours in the village but no one had so much money. He then failed to withdraw the amount from a local bank branch, which had run out of cash due to high demand after the governments decision to withdraw high-value banknotes, said Suresh, Chhipis brother, who lodged the FIR.

The suicide will give another handle to opposition parties to attack the government over the demonetisation, which they say has been poorly implemented. The government has faced stinging criticism from the opposition which has linked the death of more than 80 people to the demonetisation.

Police said they have registered a case against 10 members of the khap panchayat on charges of abetment to suicide and extortion.

The khap threatened to ostracise Chhipis family if he failed to pay the amount by the days end, said Ramdev Singh, the station house officer of Surauth police station.

The police officer said the panchayat also threatened to increase the fine if Chhipi failed to pay up by Tuesday.

Haris family refused to accept the body for cremation after the postmortem but later when we assured them of legal action against the accused, they agreed to take it, the SHO added.

The dispute arose after Chhipis childless uncle, Nand Kishore, passed away 2-3 months ago.

Chhipi claimed Nand Kishore had willed a plot of land to his son before dying.

Chhipis cousin Rajkumar, however, demanded division of the property  equally between Chhipi and his siblings on one hand, and Rajkumar and his siblings on the other.

The khap had earlier ordered equal distribution of the property between the two and told Chhipi to pay Rajkumar Rs 51,000, half of what Rajkumar spent in getting the property papers sorted, the SHO said.

Local sources said Haris family had taken care of Nand Kishore in his last days. And it was probable that he promised his property to Haris son but there was no written record of the decision. They also said Hari had taken possession of the land.

Khap panchayats are extra-constitutional bodies of village elders, mostly in certain areas of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, that have been criticised for their regressive diktats.
The Indore city administration on Wednesday slapped a fine of Rs 30,000 on Yum Foods, the owners of popular fast food chain KFC, and two other companies for using bread with wrong nutritive information on the product.

City additional district magistrate Rakhi Sahay imposed the fine, saying that the company violated norms of the Food Safety and Standards Act-2006.

On May 23, 2015, the food safety team raided the KFC outlet in the city and collected samples and sent it for testing to a laboratory in Bhopal.

The result of the tests was submitted to the ADM, who took the decision to fine the outlet on Tuesday, said food safety officer Rajesh Jaiswal.

There were certain irregularities of misbranding found on the packaging, including the nutritive value, calorie count, and ingredients were found to be different for what was mentioned on the packet, he said.

A case was filed against the Yum Foods, owners of the KFC fast food chain, Baked Best food limited a Maharashtra-based bread manufacturer and Radha Krishna Foodland Private Limited, distributor of the bread.

Four people were made a party by the department, as it was decided that the blame cannot be completely put on one company, said Jaiswal.

A case was also registered against the representatives of the bread distribution firm Sandeep Palay and manufacturer Ram Rajivan Verma, he said.

The ADM said that people who have been fined will have to pay the fine within a months time.
The Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission (MPPSC), in a notification issued on Tuesday, announced that it will accept registration fees for the state civil service preliminary exam-2017 only over the internet.

The civil service aspirants can make the payment for the prelims and mains through debit card, credit card or via net banking. They can pay cash, but only at MP Online kiosks.

MPPSC secretary Renu Pant told HT that the commission stopped accepting fees through bank drafts a long time ago and starting this year, it has gone for a cashless mode to make whole process hassle-free.

As per the notification, MPPSC will conduct the preliminary exam on February 10. The online window for registration will open at December 9 noon and will close at January 8 midnight.

Candidates can also fill application forms for the state forest service exam. They can make corrections in their online forms, if any, between December 16 and January 10 at a charge of Rs 50.

Khajrana cash boxes yield Rs 27.33 lakh

The donation boxes at Khajrana Ganesh temple in Indore yielded about Rs 27.33 lakh after three days of counting, with one main box and 20 small boxes still to be opened, said temple priest Ashok Bhatt.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (C) and representatives from VNA and KPL (Source: VNA)



In a reception for visiting KLP General Director Sounthone Khanthavong in Hanoi on December 7th, the PM highlighted the flourishing development of the Vietnam-Laos traditional friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation, saying that it is particularly valuable in the world.

He affirmed the Vietnamese Party, State and people always attach importance to nurturing the relationship, and create the most favourable conditions for the two countries ministries, sectors and localities to expand links.

Expressing his joy at the reinforced partnership between VNA and KPL in recent times, the PM said he hopes the two agencies continue to perform well their duty of popularising the Vietnam-Laos relations, which will be maintained perpetually in the future.

The Government will create all favourable conditions for VNA to build plans to cooperate with and support KPL in the coming time, he stated.

VNA General Director Nguyen Duc Loi informed the PM of the talks and the signing of cooperation agreements between the two agencies on the same day.

Accordingly, the two sides agreed to improve the quality of news for exchange, while strengthening communications on the special ties between Vietnam and Laos. They will increase media coverage of the respective countries and their people for stronger Vietnam-Laos relations.

KPL will continue helping VNA publish the Vietnam Pictorial in Lao language in Laos, while promoting the publications online version as well as the VNAs electronic newspaper VietnamPlus on KPLs website.

It also pledged to support the re-appearance of the VNA-run television channel Vnews on Laos cable TV system in 2017.

Meanwhile, the VNA will assist the KPL in upgrading its website, while coordinating with and supporting the KPL to launch the Internet system in KPLs new headquarters.

For his part, Sounthone Khanthavong said his agency and VNA always join hand in disseminating the Vietnam-Laos relations, adding that the two sides are coordinating in a project to popularise the bilateral relationship towards the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Vietnam-Laos Friendship and Cooperation Treaty (July 18th, 1977-2017).

He expressed his hope that PM Phuc will continue facilitating VNA-KPL collaboration in the time ahead, thus helping them excellently performing their mission as State news agencies./.
The newly posted Dhar district police chief Virendra Kumar Singh on Wednesday told news persons that social policing and cyber security will be his priorities.

He, however, appeared oblivious of the fact that his biggest challenge is peoples security as thefts and dacoities have increased alarmingly in the district in the last one year.

Though Singhs predecessor, Rajesh Hingankar succeeded in solving a number of cases, he failed to instil fear among robbers and dacoits.

Singh, who took over as district superintendent of police a couple of days back, said he will review every case of theft and loot in the district after which special police teams will be set up to prevent such incidents.

It is more important to prevent such incidents than to trace the culprits, he said.

The districts most crime-prone tehsils include Sardarpur, Manavar, Kukshi, and Dharampuri. Residents of Sardarpur who witnessed a number dacoities in the last one year, have staged demonstrations demanding security while former legislator Pratap Grewal demanded that para-military forces be deployed in the district.

Earlier this year, a police team led by the district police chief, was attacked by miscreants Sardarpur neighbourhood. Last week, more than 30 armed dacoits unleashed terror in Sirsi village of Manavar, looting cash, jewellery and beat up villagers who tried to stop them.

Similarly, two cases of theft and robbery at Himmatgarh village Bhopawar Marg in the last one month remain unsolved until now. Thieves decamped with gold and silver jewellery worth Rs 2 crore from two jewellery shops in Manavar.

Police have not been able identify or arrest people who looted gold and silver jewellery worth Rs 10 lakh .
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) sleuths were shocked to find out on Wednesday that one of the members of the recently busted baby sale racket sold a baby to her own maternal uncle for an amount of Rs 2 lakh.

Paramita Chatterjee, who was associated with Sree Krishna Nursing Home on College Street and arrested for her involvement in the racket, sold a baby a year-and-a-half old.

On Tuesday and Wednesday CID officers interrogated three couples from the city and outskirts, who bought babies from the recently busted racket, to find out how they were rearing the kids. The investigators are likely to continue the interrogation of more couple in the next few days.

Of the three couples questioned were the uncle of Chatterjee and his wife, a couple who live in Kalindi and another couple from the city.

It appeared that all the couples were emotionally attached to the babies and were rearing and providing for them to the best of their ability, a CID source told HT.

The racket was busted on November 21. SO far three nursing homes and two NGOs were found involved with it. A total of 20 persons including three doctors have been arrested.

Incidentally, buying a baby from such rackets is illegal and can easily attract sections applicable to child trafficking for those who bought them.

However, CID is approaching the matter more with a humanitarian angle than with a law handbook. We dont want to push the babies back into uncertainty and, therefore, it was important to find out whether they were getting proper upkeep, said an officer.

According to law, CID can take away the babies. They will first put the babies in hospitals from where they will proceed to the shelter of state-run childcare homes.

We asked the couples to bring all evidences of proper upkeep of a baby such as immunisation and medical treatment records. Moreover, it was also quite evident from the body languages of the couples that they loved the babies like their own, said a source.

HT reported last week how CID sleuths visited the residence of a couple in Kalindi and the mother, petrified at the prospect of losing her baby, threw herself at the feet of the investigators pleading them not to take the baby away.

They didnt. The father silently stood at a corner of the room with glistening eyes. It was so every apparent that they were doing their best for the child and loved her very much.

They bought the newborn for Rs 2 lakh just before Durga puja, and named her Akansha. The couple married in 2012 but the wife could not conceive for four years when they got in touch with a member of the racket.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
A majority of the state finance ministers are against immediate implementation of the goods & services tax (GST) since it would deliver a double shock for the economy that is right now groaning under the weight of demonetisation, West Bengal finance minister, Dr Amit Mitra who is also the chairperson of the empowered committee of ministers on GST said on Thursday.

Mitras words that covered a threat to strike back at the Centre with which Mamata Banerjee is on a warpath over demonetisation, came right after a press conference by the Bengal chief minister, who lashed out at the Prime Minister on the completion of the note ban decision.

We are in favour of GST despite knowing fully well that it would have an initial adverse impact on the state finance. But we were agreed to take that initial stress for a good cause. But the Tughlaqi decision of sudden demonetisation of old high value currencies has totally destabilised the countrys economy. In such a situation, majority of the state finance ministers agree the GST rollout now will not only be a double whammy for the state finances but also a double hit for the countrys economy, said Mitra.

Mitras words were ominous as the country has to have GST rolling before September 16, 2017, the day on which the current tax structure will expire.

Union finance minister Arun Jaitley has recently remarked that GST has to come into existence by September 16 next year and there was no way to defer it further.

According to Mitra, although Trinamool Congress has earlier welcomed the GST as a reasonable and progressive, they did not foresee the effect of demonetisation on the economy and peoples livelihood.

With this sudden demonetisation, a recession like situation has arisen, where a 2% decline in GDP is predicted. In such a situation, GST rollout is impossible, Mitra remarked.

Analysts feel that Mitras observation as the chairman of the empowered committee of state finance ministers on GST may signal a new chapter of tussle between the states ruled by opposition parties and the Centre. A few issues on GST are yet to be resolved in the Parliament.

Backing her finance minister, chief minister, Mamata Banerjee said Trinamool was the first to support the GST Bill.

But the manner in which the Prime Minister is bulldozing and forcing the common people to suffer every day because of demonetisation, we cannot allow the GST that will add to public sufferings, the chief minister said.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The annual Magh Mela on the banks of Sangam will be more environment- friendly and cost-efficient this year.

To reduce consumption of electricity during the 43-day religious congregation, the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) has decided to introduce LED lights in the camps of devotees and administrative wings of the mela. Magh Mela will commence on January 12 with the first official bathing of Paush Purnima.Executive engineer, UPPCL, and nodal officer of Magh Mela, Vinod Kumar, said LED lights would be installed in 4,000 tents while CFL and tube lights would be used at other spots.

From 2018 onwards, only LED lights will be used in Magh Mela, he said.

Kumar said about 9,000 electricity poles would be erected in the mela area, of which 8,000 would be used for street lights. Besides, 315-kilometre of LT line and 26-kilometre high-voltage 11,000 kilovolt power cables will be laid, he added. An estimated budget of Rs 16 crore has been forwarded to the state government for the works, including setting up of 17 temporary power substations comprising 34 transformers of 400 KVA.

Talking to HT, Magh Mela officer Ashish Mishra said the proposed budget for the congregation was Rs 70 crore out of which Rs 30 crore had been received from the state government. It will be a greener affair as for the first time the mela administration has decided to provide adequate space to potters and makers of leaf plates. The aim is to promote the use of earthen cups and leaf plates among pilgrims and seers, Mishra said.

The administration has also decided to ban the use of polythene bags and plastic at the venue. Potters and leaf-plate makers will be allowed to sell their products from Parade to Jhunsi so that there is no shortage of kulhars (earthen cups) and pattals (leaf-plates) during the 43-day event, he said.

Mishra said all shops selling eatables and snacks would have to offer their products on leaf plates or earthen cups.

District magistrate, Allahabad, Sanjay Kumar said action would be initiated against institutions and individuals using plastic or polythene during their stay in Mela area.

A total of 2,300 organisations and institutions will be provided land to set up camps. Of these, over a hundred will run round-the-clock kitchens offering free meal to all.

The district administration is also planning to hold a meeting with seers.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
A bitter verbal duel ensued between the Samajwadi Party legislator Abu Azmi and BJP member Anil Gote at the state Assembly hall entrance on banning Islamic Research Foundation, which is run by televangelist Zakir Naik, on Thursday.

An agitated Gote even accused Azmi of helping a person and his institution in promoting terrorist activities.

It started when Azmi raised the issue of the Islamic International School after the question hour in the Assembly and said the state should not shut the school run by a trust, linked to the banned IRF, as it would jeopardize the future of students enrolled there as well as the teaching staff.

While expressing concern for the students future, Azmi requested the government to let the school run. He said Naik never advocated any violence and always guided people towards harmony. He said all the 167 students of the school must not suffer since its management was controlled by a separate education trust.

Gote immediately stood up for rebuttal and said the government should not allow an institution that promotes terrorism to function. However, the chair did not allow Gote to speak and changed the agenda.

Later, when Gote saw Azmi at the Assemblys entrance he shouted at him and accused the SP MLA of protecting anti-nationals. The bitter verbal duel between both the leaders continued for a few minutes till other legislators around them intervened and pacified both of them.

The Islamic International School is located at Mazagaon and runs classes from nursery to Class 10. It is affiliated to the IGCSE and has 120 teachers. In addition to the regular academic curriculum, the students there are also taught Quranic texts and Arabic.

The IRF was banned by the Union home ministry for five years under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for its alleged involvement in terror acts. The ban will affect activities of all bodies, including the school, affiliated with the Mumbai-based NGO.

Read

No misuse of funds by my NGO, ban on IRF politically motivated: Zakir Naik

Malaysia rejects reports on citizenship to Zakir Naik
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray trained his guns once again at the Centre over how the ban on high-value notes was impacting the common man, saying it was unfortunate the peoples voice was not being heard in Parliament.

Thackeray made it clear the Sena had not softened its stance over its objection to how the demonetisation decision was implemented and indicated his party would step up opposition if the woes of common citizens continued even after the December 30 deadline laid down by the PM.

Thackeray was speaking at a press conference in Delhi, before meeting Union finance minister Arun Jaitley. A day earlier, Thackeray met Rajnath Singh, who was unhappy that the Sena joined protests led by West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. It is unfortunate peoples voice is not getting heard in Parliament. And, standing in queues is being equated with patriotism. This is nothing but making a mockery of patriotism, said Thackeray.

He also challenged the Centre to make its position clear on whether farmers will be made to pay taxes.

For so long, farmers have not been taxed. Now, suddenly you ask them to put all their money in the bank, which you can regard as black money and then, on top of it, there are restrictions on withdrawing that money. Co-operative banks that most farmers do business through have not been injected with any cash.

The Sena chief, however, did not spell out which side his party would be on if discussions are held in the Lok Sabha, only saying his party will remain with the people. At the meeting with Jaitley, Thackeray discussed lifting curbs on co-operative banks. Thackerays decision to independently meet Jaitley, even as CM Devendra Fadnavis took a delegation from all parties, including the Sena, to meet Jaitley later on Thursday, is a sign his party wants to keep its identity separate  with an eye on the local polls in the state next year.

Congress legislators protests over demonetisation

The state Assembly on Thursday saw an uproar over the Narendra Modi governments move to scrap old Rs500 and Rs1,000 banknotes, with Congress and NCP members shouting slogans.

The move, said the protesting lawmakers, has inconvenienced people from all walks of life across the state, even a month after the decision was announced.

Senior Congress member and former CM Prithviraj Chavan raised the issue after question hour. He said the notes ban was a monumental mismanagement by the BJP-led government at the Centre.

Chavan pointed out that toll plaza operators in the state were demanding Rs125 crore as compensation for having allowed vehicles to pass free of cost for four weeks. He said if the government concedes to these demands, how would it compensate the people of the state, particularly the poor, tribals and farmers who have been hit worst by a cash crunch in the harvesting season .

The UP government has announced Rs 2 lakh compensation to the next of kin of those who lost lives standing in ATM queue or depositing money after the governments decision. Will the state come out with a similar plan?

The chair, however, rejected the move, resulting in Opposition members rushing to the well of the house and shouting slogans.

Earlier, Prithiviraj Chavan and Narayan Rane (both Congress) took out a morcha from the main gate of the Vidhan Bhawan to the main entrance. Carrying placards against demonetization and denouncing Modi governments decision of scraping the high value old currency notes.

READ MORE

In Mumbai: Sena chief to take notes ban issue to Arun Jaitley

Uddhav Thackeray slams Centre, says peoples voice not being heard in Parliament

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
A 24-year-old bank employee was run over by a train after falling on the tracks while being attacked by a chain snatcher at Kurla station on Tuesday. RPF officers and other commuters caught the chain snatcher on the spot.

The police said the accused, Subhashish alias Reppy Bairagi Charan Malik, 19, did not have money to return to his native place and tried to snatch the chain out of desperation.

According to the police, the woman, Sapna Shukla, who is from Uttar Pradesh, was living in Ghatkopar.

An officer from Kurla GRP, on condition of anonymity, said, Shukla, who worked with a bank at BKC, was going back home and was standing at the edge of platform number 1 alone waiting for 8.19pm train when the chain snatcher attacked her from behind.

Before the snatcher could get his hands on her chain, Shukla lost control and fell on the tracks just as a train arrived.

She was taken to Sion hospital, but was declared dead before admission. The accused tried to escape from the spot, but was caught by other commuters and RPF officers, said an officer, on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

Malik had arrived in the city from Odisha 15 days ago.

The accused had come to Mumbai in search of a job. He found one at the railway station  to clean public toilets  but was frustrated because he couldnt find anything better. So finally, he decided to go back to his native place, but didnt have cash to book train tickets. So while he was sitting at the railway station, he noticed the woman and decided to steal the chain she was wearing, said an officer.

A case has been registered under section 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 393 (attempt to commit robbery) of the Indian Penal Code. He was produced in court and has been remanded in police custody.

Also read: Woman shot at in Ghaziabad, husband says she resisted snatchers

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The first batch of Devgad alphonso mangoes arrived two months early in the APMC market at Vashi on Wednesday.

According to trader Anand Shejwal, Like last year, Arvind Walke, a progressive farmer from Kunkeshwar area, has brought the mangoes for sale.

He said, Walke keeps working on various techniques and has ensured that despite the recent unseasonal rains, the fruit was not damaged.

Walke had sent 24 Devgad alphonsoes, 48 dozen kesar mangoes and 18 pairi mangoes for sale at the APMC market, sources said.

Walke said, It is by the end of the year that the flower blooms and by January we have the fruit. This is an auspicious surprise for us. This does not mean that there will be regular batches of mangoes in the market from now. The regular batches will only begin from February.

The first arrivals of alphonso are always in great demand and are picked up by retailers for special clients who are ready to pay premium prices for them.

Following a traditional puja at the market, it was sold in no time. Sources said a box of 12 alphonsoes had been sold for around Rs7,000. In the retail market, the first alphonsoes go for over Rs 5,000 a dozen.

Shejwal said, The moment the mangoes entered the market, there was a huge rush. In the auction that ensued, a Crawford market retailer, Shyam Bhirumal, purchased it.

Also read

This summer season, try these fun recipes with raw mangoes
A former activists from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has questioned JJ hospitals recommendation to Bombay Hospital for treating Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Chaggan Bhujbal, booked in a money laundering case, on Thursday.

Questioning the treatment given to Bhujbal and his health, Anjali Damania contended before the court that his medical reports were also manufactured. Damania pointed out that JJ hospital misused the court order, allowing Bhujbal to conduct one test at a private hospital.

Damania referred to JJ hospitals letter to Bombay Hospital, asking the latter to give necessary treatment and conduct tests on Bhujbal. She said the hospital clearly crossed the boundary.

Damania had moved the court through an application questioning the long hospitalisation of Bhujbal. She alleged negligence and connivance of JJ Hospital and Arthur Road jail authority behind it. She had also alleged that court orders were misused, as the thallium scan does not require admission into a hospital.

JJ Hospital dean TP Lahane appeared before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Thursday morning. During a previous hearing, the court had sought an explanation on Bhujbals health and treatment given to him. Lahane told the court that he does not have anything to add than what is mentioned in his previous reply, which he had submitted on November 30. In his reply, Lahane had said that JJ Hospital does not have any role in the stay of Bhujbal at the Bombay Hospital, where he had checked in for a medical test (thallium scan).

Bhujbal, an accused in the multi-crore money laundering case registered against him by the Enforcement Directorate, was discharged from the Bombay Hospital on Wednesday and sent to the state-run facility after his stay admission at the hospital, since November 2, prompted criticism that he was receiving preferential treatment.

In the midst of the controversy, a lawyer appeared on Bhujbals behalf seeking permission to intervene in the hearing as it directly affects Bhujbal. The court has now allowed Bhujbal to intervene. The hearing on Damanias plea is now scheduled for Friday morning.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) too filed a reply giving a list of people who had visited the senior politician in the hospital along with CCTV footage. The PMLA court was recently informed that the former Maharashtra deputy chief minister continued to remain in the private hospital over a month after he was admitted there for the medical test.

On October 27, Special Judge PR Bhavake had allowed Bhujbal to be taken to a private hospital after he was told that a thallium scan, one of the three tests recommended to him, was not available at the government hospital. On October 28, prison authorities took Bhujbal to JJ Hospital for other two tests. He was then transferred to Bombay Hospital.

Also read: My arrest and detention were illegal: Chhagan Bhujbal tells Bombay high court

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
A group of women fighting against the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) have written to the United Nations (UN), with a request to officially recognise India an FGM-practising nation.

The women  who belong to a group called Speak Out On FGM  said the practice is a violation of human rights.

We have written to the UN to mark Human Rights Day on December 10. If the UN recognises India as an FGM practising country, it will push the government to acknowledge the issue, said Masooma Ranalvi, founder of Speak On FGM.

FGM or khatna refers to the cutting of the labia and clitoris from the genitalia of girls. It is mainly practised by Dawoodi Bohra women in India. The World Health Organisation terms the custom a violation of human rights and the practice is banned in many European and American countries.

We filed a petition last year, calling for a ban on FGM. As many as 50,000 people across India have signed the petition. We are waiting for an appointment to submit the petition at the ministry of women and child development, she added.

According to Ranavali, there are no estimates on the number of people who practice FGM as the practice is so secretive.

Read

Why anti-FGM campaigners prefer the cutting to mutilation

Bohra leader urging female genital mutilation is huge disappointment for India campaign

Each One Reach One: Campaign against female genital mutilation launched
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaks at the meeting (Source: VNA)



Chairing a meeting with representatives from relevant Ministries and localities nationwide on December 7th in Hanoi, the PM urged all localities to soon devise specific policies on social housing development, stressing that the work is the responsibility of the State, the society and people.

Successful social housing development models should be multiplied across the country, he noted.

He particularly emphasised the need to develop low-cost housing for workers  an urgent problem today, and shared the Governments worry about the issue when 1.5 million workers, especially those working in industrial parks (IPs), are in need of housing.

He said besides investment from the State budget, owners of IPs are also responsible for building houses for their workers.

The PM assigned the Ministry of Construction to issue legal documents to perfect a framework for social housing development, ensuring favourable procedures.

The Ministry of Finance and the State Bank were requested to continue studying measures relating to credit, tax and interest subsidy to fully tap medium-and long-term resources from the community, with the aim of reducing investment from the State budget for the work.

The PM also underlined the necessity to improve the quality of social housing and ensuring essential infrastructure for transport, health, education and culture.

He also agreed on the proposal of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL) to effectively implement a pilot project on building cultural and sport facilities in IPs, affirming that the State will support the VGCL in carrying out the project.

According to Minister of Construction Pham Hong Ha, a total of 3.7 million sq.m of social housing in urban areas and IPs have been put into use so far, benefiting nearly 500,000 low-income earners and workers.

However, only 179 social housing projects (71,150 apartments) in urban areas and IPs have been implemented, fulfilling only 28 percent of the target set for 2020.

Chairman of the Vietnam Real Estate Association Nguyen Tran Nam said the land planning - the decisive factor in the work has yet to be on right track, expressing his hope that the Government will consider providing another credit package to support low-income earners to buy houses.

According to statistics from the VGCL, about 2.8 million people are working in IPs and export processing zones, with 1.7 million of them in need of housing, while the number of houses at present meet only 8-10 percent.

In his speech, Deputy PM Trin Dinh Dung stressed the need to consider the building of social housing an investment channel in order to encourage enterprises further engagement. He asked localities to outline yearly and medium-term plans to develop social housing on the basis of examining the affordability of labourers.

In his conclusion, PM Phuc said the Government will issue a Directive on the development of social housing after the meeting./.
Soon after his ardous 415-km solo trip from Mumbai to Goa in February 2015, a Mumbai-based kayaker is already on his next mission of kayaking from Kutch to Kanyakumari, a distance of 3,300 km. But when after setting sail on November 12, Kaustubh Khade, 29, reached Nandgaon coast in Boisar on Tuesday evening, locals mistook him as the surveyor for the controversial Wadhwan port in Dahanu. The project is receiving strong opposition from local fishermen. It took a lot of convincing but eventually the fishermen welcomed Khade with claps and encouragement.

Khade, a computer engineer from IIT-Delhi, stays in Mumbai and had finished his last solo kayaking trip to Goa in 17 days, and is now off to his next  Kutch to Kanyakumari or K2K, as Khade puts it. He is on a mission to spread awareness about kayaking and also volunteers for Magic Bus, an NGO for the underprivileged children in Mumbai. In the K2K expedition, he is accompanied by his girlfriend, Shanjali Shahi, who would be riding a Schwinn bicycle and their personal driver, Nitin Khotavadekar would be giving the power couple company.

Dhiraj Gawad, a resident of Nandgaon, said on Tuesday evening the locals found a car parked near the Nandgaon beach and a man was peering at the Arabian Sea with a pair of binoculars (later identified as Khotavadekar) and soon a man (Kaustubh Khade) on the kayak arrived at the shore. Later, a woman cyclist (Shanjali Shahi) arrived at the spot. We were quite suspicious of the trio and we mistook them as a survey team that had come to Wadhwan in Dahanu for the proposed Rs 30,000 crore and 30-berth port, in a bid to decongest the JNPT and Mazgaon ports said Gawad. Just a few days ago the team had come to conduct survey for the port and we had protested and stopped it, said Hitendra Naik,another resident.

The locals began asking them questions and Khade eventually convinced them that he was a kayaking sportsman and was on a 3,300 km trip from K2K but the locals insisted on some identification papers, said Naik.

Later, his car driver showed them the NOC from Prashant Burdhe,IG,Konkan Range who gave Khade permission to kayak in the western coast in the Konkan Range and then they were convinced finally,said Gawad.

Khade began his Kutch trip from Dwarkar and paddled his way to Porbander, Madhopur, Okha-Mandi, Mangrol, Verawal, Somnath,Surat in Gujarat and landed at Nandgaon coast in Palghar on Tuesday evening. He left for Uttan,Bhayander on Wednesday morning.

During the Mumbai-Goa trip in February 2015, Khade earned an entry in to the Limca Book of Records as the longest solo sea kayaking in the country. I also earned Rs 67,000 through crowd funding for my NGO, Magic Bus, he said.

Read:

Dahanu fishermen protest construction of port, hold up survey

Centre to develop satellite port near Dahanu on Maharashtra coast
After a long delay, the Maharashtra government on Thursday published draft rules to set up a real-estate regulator in the state. The new draft rules increase the number of mandatory disclosures for builders but reduce penalties for builders, allottees and real estate agents.

The state government will accept suggestions and objections to the draft rules  based on the Union governments model rules under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016  until December 23.

Under the centres rules, the penalty for offences by builders has been fixed at 10% of the estimated project cost. These offences include not registering a project or failing to comply with the orders of the real estate appellate tribunal. In case an allottee or a real estate agent fails to comply with the orders of the tribunal, he or she will have to pay 10% of the cost of the apartment or building.

The state government, however, propose reducing the penalty on builders who dont register a project to between 2% and 10% of the projects cost, and to 5% to 10% of the project cost for builders who fail to comply with the real estate appellate tribunals orders. Similarly, if allottees or real estate agents fail to comply with the tribunals orders, they will have to pay between 5% and 10% of the cost of the flat or building.

The exact amount will be left to the discretion of the housing regulatory authority.

An official from the state housing department said, We have kept the penalties variable as we think this is a more pragmatic approach. A developer will come to the table to negotiate, pay and move forward only if the amount is reasonable. Our intention is to ensure that the project does not get stuck and buyers are not left in a loop.

However, urban planner Sulakshana Mahajan said the penalties should have remained high for them to serve as a deterrent. It is a deterrent if the compounding of the offence is at a flat 10%. Also, it is much better to have a fixed penalty than a discretionary one.

The state government has also proposed drastically reducing the registration fees for builders as compared with the centres rules.

While the centres rules call for a registration fee of Rs 10 per square metre for residential projects for land less than 1,000 square metres, and Rs 20 per square metre for projects spread over more than 1,000 square metres, the state government has proposed to reduce these to Re1 and Rs 2, respectively. While the centres rules call for a rate of Rs 50 per square metre for land under 1,000 square metres and Rs 100 per square metre for land over 1,000 square metres for commercial projects, the states rules do not specify different rates for residential and commercial projects.

Mahajan said, The registration fee is peanuts, especially for projects in major cities such as Mumbai and Pune. Here, the rules should have been different for A, B and C-class cities of Maharashtra.

The states draft rules, however, tighten the centres model rules in several places, mandating developers to state their land costs, cost of construction and total completion cost of the project separately. Maharashtras rules also more clearly define components within the land cost and cost of construction, open areas and parking spaces. They also specify timelines for the registration of ongoing projects and put curbs on developers looking to create third-party interests.

Read

No rate cut a let down for realty in Mumbai

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
By passing the Maharashtra Public Universities Act 2016, the state legislature has paved the way for student union elections in the state, more than 20 years after they were banned. The act will also facilitate the appointment of various statutory bodies and filling of key positions at universities in the state, ending a year-long impasse.

From 2011, when the first draft of the act was prepared by a committee headed by former University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman Arun Nigavekar, it took the government more than five years to finally get the legislative assemblys approval for the law. During this period, the act, which will replace the current Maharashtra Universities Act as the set of laws governing state universities, underwent many amendments.

However, the governments job is far from over. It will now be required to write statutes and by-laws concerning the day-to-day functioning of the university. There will be some common sets of statutes for all the universities and some statutes will be prepared by individual universities. Three months ago, the government had appointed a committee to write the common statutes, said an aide to education minister Vinod Tawde.

According to a senior official from the University of Mumbai (MU), the preparation of bylaws and appointments for key positions will take anywhere between six to eight months. There is still no clarity about the procedure to appoint various officials. Once the new set of rules are in place, we can move towards appointments, he said.

For more than a year, MU has been functioning without a pro vice-chancellor and a full-time controller of examination. The statutory bodies such as the senate, management council and academic council were appointed on an ad-hoc basis, as the government had put an embargo on their elections, pending the passage of the bill.

The MU official said while elections for statutory bodies could be conducted as early as May or June, the elections for student unions at both college and university level are unlikely to commence before the next academic year.

While the revival of student politics has excited student organisations, its a cause of concern for principals. College elections in Maharashtra were stopped in the 1990s after a spate of fights and kidnappings were reported.

The principals are not against student union elections. But often during elections, political parties get involved with many non-students coming to the campus. There should be a specified qualification for the nominees, said Dinesh Panjwani, principal, RD National College, Bandra.

Sudhakar Tamboli, vice-president of the Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena, who was witness to turbulent days of student politics in the city, said it was impossible for student organisations to stay away from campus politics. There should be clear code of conduct for the elections, to avoid a repeat of earlier issues, he said.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Read this news in brief form. Click here
St Xaviers College in Dhobi Talao has issued a circular banning its students from wearing ripped jeans on campus.

After the circular was made public earlier this week, several students who were found wearing ripped jeans were stopped outside the college gate by security.

Student forums were abuzz with debates on the newly-introduced dress code.

We understand if the institute is against wearing shorts and skirts to college, but how can it have a problem with ripped jeans? The jeans are only torn at the knees, a female student posted on a social networking website.

Many students from the college, as well as those from neighbouring colleges, called this a draconian law and shared similar experiences of dress codes at their own institutes.

The college  run by an order of Catholic priests already has a strict dress code, including a ban on sleeveless blouses and shirts, shorts and short skirts.

However, the management of the institute said adding ripped jeans to the list of banned apparel was necessary.

The jeans are ripped all over. It is embarrassing to see children on campus in such tattered clothes. We have just put up the dress code on our circular board. Not a single student has objected to it, said Agnelo Menezes, principal of the institute.

Menezes added that a dress code has been part of the institutes rules and regulations since its inception. In the name of fashion, students are mocking the clothes that the poor are forced to wear. As a Jesuit institution, we cannot allow it, he added.

Read: Insiders guide: The secret passages of St Xaviers College, Mumbai

For first time, Xaviers college principal not a Jesuit priest

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Mumbra Police are on the lookout for a 23-year-old man who attacked his wife on Wednesday night after she refused to give in to his persistent demand of letting his sister adopt their five-month-old daughter.

Cops said Bharti Kadam, 20, is in critical condition and being treated at Kalwa civil hospital. She sustained grievous injuries after her husband Somesh, 23, attacked her with a sharp object. The incident occurred at the Kadam residence at Retibunder near Mumbra railway tracks.

Cops said Somesh had been nagging Bharti to let his sister adopt their daughter, as she hadnt conceived even after two years of her marriage. However, Bharti refused to budge and said his behaviour was forcing her to contemplate divorce.

Angered by her statement, Somesh went to the kitchen and returned with a sharp object. He then attacked Bharti and fled the spot. It were the neighbours who heard Bhartis cries for help and rushed her to Kalwa civil hospital, where the cops recorded her statement and registered a case against Somesh.

Investigation officer N Suryawanshi from Mumbra police station said, We are yet to arrest him, as he is on the run. We have formed a team to nab the accused, who has been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

Also read: Satara district in Maharashtra tense after man says he killed lover from different caste

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray once again trained his gun on the central government, a month after demonetisation decision was implemented, pointing out that it was unfortunate that voices of the citizens were not being heard in the Parliament.

Thackeray is in Delhi to meet Union finance minister Arun Jaitley to discuss issues pertaining demonetisation, especially concerns of farmers in Maharashtra, who are bearing the brunt of this decision.

Thackerays decision to meet Jaitley independently, even as Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is leading an all-party delegation to New Delhi on Thursday evening, is an indicator that Shiv Sena keen on maintaining its identity separate despite being part of the BJP-led state government at Centre and in Maharashtra.

Advaniji is a senior politician and his voice should be heeded in the matter. It is unfortunate that peoples voice is not getting heard in the Parliament. And, standing in queues is being equated with patriotism. This is nothing but making a mockery of patriotism, said Thackeray during a press conference in New Delhi.

He also challenged the centre to make its position clear on whether the farmers will be made to pay taxes in the near future.

For so long, farmers have not been taxed. Now, suddenly, you ask them to put all their monies in the bank, which you can regard as black money and on top of it there are restrictions on withdrawing that money. Co-operative banks, through which most farmers do business, have not been injected by any cash, he added.

Also read: Shiv Sena intensifies attack on ally BJP in Maharashtra

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The family of a 16-year-old boy, who has been missing since the past two months, received a ransom call from unidentified persons on Tuesday.

The kidnappers allegedly gave the family a bank account number and asked them to transfer the ransom amount to that account in view of the ongoing cash crisis.

The police said Mani Bhushan Choudharys son Vicky went missing from outside their house in Nyay Khand-1, Indirapuram, on October 6.

Choudhary lodged a complaint at the Indirapuram police station on October 10. He said Vicky is mentally challenged since birth and, hence, does not go to school.

We had been looking for our son for the past two months and were also worried about his well-being. Since Sunday, I started getting calls from an unidentified number. In the first call on Sunday, the kidnappers told me that my son is healthy. In their second call on Monday, they asked me to arrange 50,000 to ensure the safe return of my son, said Choudhary, who is a fruit seller.

On Tuesday, he again received a call from the kidnappers. They gave him a bank account number and asked him to transfer the ransom amount to that account.

I told the kidnappers that I do not have such a huge amount with me and, moreover, since the old notes have been banned, I have deposited all my cash in the bank. To this, the kidnappers said I should transfer the whole amount to their bank account, said Choudhary, who has two younger daughters as well.

Choudhary again went to the Indirapuram police station on Tuesday to inform the police about the calls.

The kidnappers have warned me against going to the police. However, all relatives and neighbours suggested that I should inform them and, hence, I gave another written complaint on Tuesday, he said.

According to the police, the bank account number given to the victim has been traced to Meerut and the mobile number has been put on surveillance.

We have added Section 364 A (kidnapping for ransom) apart from Section 363 (punishment for kidnapping) of the Indian Penal Code in the FIR, said Anil Kumar Yadav, circle officer, Indirapuram police station.

He added that all calls made to Choudhary are from two different numbers, which were switched off when the police tried calling them.

Teams have been sent to Meerut to trace the kidnappers and the location will be revealed once the mobile number, which is on surveillance, is switched on, Yadav said.

According to Choudhary, since Tuesday, he has not received any call from the kidnappers. Choudhary hails from Shamli and does not have any relative or acquaintance in Meerut, he said.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday directed the Noida Metro rail corporation (NMRC) to begin operations on the 30-km Noida-Greater Noida metro link by December 2017. The directions were given in the 10th board meeting of the NMRC held in Lucknow and chaired by state chief secretary Rahul Bhatnagar.

In the meeting, eight proposals put forth by the NMRC were approved. The corporation owns the 30-km metro link, on which 60% of the work has been completed. It will procure trains for this project from China for 800 crore.

He (Bhatnagar) directed us to complete the remaining work by September so that trials on this project can be started by October. This will become the longest link to be operational, said Santosh Yadav, managing director, NMRC. He added that the NMRC is also planning a multi-purpose cashless card

The Noida metro is also on its way to rope in a bank to provide the one-city-one-card facility to metro passengers who will be able to use the card not only to pay for metro or city bus service fare, but also bills in government offices.

It will be a first-of-its-kind card to be used to pay water, electricity and mobile bills too. The card owner will even be able to shop in malls with the card. This project will benefit thousands of users in the time of demonetisation when cash transactions are discouraged, said Yadav.

In the meeting, the NMRC board also approved proposals related to metro security, funding pattern and the city bus service, among others.

On October 15, 2016, the public investment board (PIB) had, after examining the Metro project, committed to provide 1,034 crore of the funds required for the 30-km Noida to Greater Noida metro link. PIBs approval means that the National Capital Region planning board (NCRPB), another Central body, will now also release 1,587 crore in financial aid to the metro link. The chief secretary has approved our funding pattern proposal, taking the project to the next level, said PD Upadhyay, general manager, NMRC.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
A 13-year-old girl, who was accused of stealing a mobile phone and cash during a school trip, allegedly committed suicide at her rented accommodation in Noidas Sector 15 area on Wednesday night, police said.

Aarti Kumari, who hailed from Jharkhands Giridih, lived with her father Kameshwar Nayak, mother Sunita and brother Anand Kumar. She was studying in a government school in Delhis New Ashok Nagar area.

On November 29, Aarti had gone on a trip organised by the school and returned the next day. On December 1, she found a mobile in her bag that was mistakenly kept during the trip. She handed it over to Sunita and requested her to submit it to the school as she was not well, Nayak said.

He said before Sunita could return the mobile, a teacher from her school visited their home on December 2 and accused Aarti of stealing the phone and some cash.

The teacher took the mobile and left. However, when Aarti went to the school on December 3, the school administration harassed her and forced her to sign a document confessing stealing of the phone and Rs 1,000 cash from a teachers bag. When she returned, she was terrified. When I went to the school, I found that she was rusticated, Kameshwar, who runs a grocery shop in the locality, said.

On Wednesday night, when the family returned home at about 8pm they found Aarti hanging from the ceiling fan.

They informed the police who filed a case of abetment to suicide against the school administration. Her father alleged that she committed suicide as she was harassed and expelled from the school over false allegations.

We have registered a case against the school administration following the complaint of the father of the deceased. The school principal will be called for questioning. The body was sent for postmortem, reports of which are still awaited, Rashid Ali, station house officer of Sector 20 police station, said.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
President Tran Dai Quang meets with Malaysian Minister of International Trade

and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed. (Photo: VNA)



That view was agreed by visiting Malaysian Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed during his meeting with the President in Hanoi on December 8th.

The President hailed the roundtable talks of 100 Vietnamese and Malaysian businesses held earlier on the day, stating that Vietnam pays heed to fostering the relations with the regional country, especially in economy, trade and investment.

He affirmed that Malaysia-invested projects have contributed significantly to Vietnams socio-economic development.

Malaysia ranked second among ASEAN member countries investing in Vietnam with USD12 billion mostly in oil and gas, real estate, trade and service. Trade between Malaysia and Vietnam hit USD8 billion in 2015. Last August, Malaysias CIMB bank was licensed to establish a Vietnam unit.

President Quang and Minister Mustapa Mohamed discussed and agreed on measures to step up the two countries strategic partnership.

The President suggested re-organizing the meeting of the Vietnam-Malaysia Joint Committee as soon as possible and outlining a plan to implement the Vietnam-Malaysia Action Plan in 2017-2019.

He stressed that the strategic partnership allowed the two countries to make progress in their political, economic, trade, investment, defence, security, oil and gas, education, tourism, and people-to-people ties.

He expressed his hope for Malaysias support for Vietnams successful hosting of APEC 2017 and the two countries increased consultation and backing at multilateral forums and regional and global cooperative mechanisms.

Minister Mustapa Mohamed stated that Malaysia wants to develop cooperation with Vietnam to the next level, especially trade, and expects to draw more Vietnamese investors and businesses.

He affirmed that Malaysia highly values Vietnams role and position in regional and global cooperative mechanisms and wants to work together with Vietnam in ASEAN and other forums.

Malaysia will support Vietnams organization of the APEC Year 2017, he said./.
Even after a month of the demonetisation announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8, residents continue to reel under the crisis. The demonetisation has affected every section of the city, including industries, shops, professionals, non-professionals and house helps; from employees to employers, everyone has been hit hard. Noida houses more than 8,000 industrial units, employing more than six lakh people.

Residents had hoped that the situation would improve in four to five days after the announcement, but, it did not happen.

On November 17, the Confederation of National Capital Region Residents Welfare Association (CONRWA) wrote to Union finance minister Arun Jaitley about how people in Noida felt harassed as they spent long hours in queues outside banks and ATMs, yet, returned home empty-handed. Conrwa was the first to demand a system to regularise withdrawals with an equal opportunity as it was observed that bank staff were favouring people.

The banks should have issued tokens to fewer people as per the availability of cash in ATMs and branches so that they wouldnt have wasted time by standing in queues, said PS Jain, president of Conrwa.

A week later, the Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) offered residents a doorstep facility to withdraw Rs10,000 a day, provided they opened savings accounts. More than 300 people registered for the scheme through on-site camps. IDFC executives could be seen persuading residents and RWAs to help arrange camps in various sectors.

After a fortnight, city entrepreneurs realised that the situation will not improve and associations, such as NEA, NIWA and IIAN, expressed concerns over the continued cash crunch, causing harassment and affecting their daily affairs.

Following a nation-wide demand, the government raised the cap on withdrawal from Rs24,000 to Rs50,000 from cash credit accounts; however, banks are not giving the promised amounts to entrepreneurs these days.

The city industries witnessed a 20% to 30% dip. It has badly affected the production and we are still struggling to cope up with the situation. We wrote to the PM on November 23 expressing our concerns. The situation remains difficult and people are losing all hopes and resentments are high, said Vipin Malhan, president of NEA.

The citys business owners also joined the chorus and raised their concerns.

We tried to pay our employees through Paytm and other digital modes, but it didnt go down well as many of the employees are not comfortable with cashless transactions and not convenient for many, said Sushil Kumar Jain, district president of Vyapar Mandal, Gautam Budh Nagar.

Last week, the situation turned chaotic with payday (December 6) as employees were unable to withdraw cash from the banks.

Gautam Budh Nagar lead bank manager AK Singh said, The cash crunch will continue for a day or two, but the situation will improve from Monday. The banks had arranged for adequate cash keeping salary withdrawals in mind. But the crowd that turned up was beyond our expectations. The banks are trying to get more cash from RBI. We request people to not hoard money.

District magistrate Gautam Budh Nagar, NP Singh, held a meeting with the lead bank manager and managers of nationalized banks and has sought a report.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The Uttar Pradesh government has given its nod for construction of a 15-km Metro project that is proposed to connect Noidas Sector 71 with Greater Noidas Knowledge Park V. In the NMRC board meeting held in Lucknow on Wednesday, the Noida metro was also asked to expedite preparations so that work on the project can be started soon. It has been given a March 2021 deadline for the project.

The state government believes this project is crucial as it will benefit thousands of homebuyers who have shifted to the newly built apartment complexes in Greater Noida West and nearby Crossings Republik in Ghaziabad that has 36,000 housing units, of which around 30,000 are occupied.

Greater Noida West has around 3.5 lakh under-construction housing units of which around 40,000 are occupied.

We gave a presentation on the 15-km metro link to the chief secretary (who chaired the meeting) and he gave us the go ahead to complete formalities before work can begin on ground. But we need to discuss the project with the Noida authority first before taking the project to the next stage, said Santosh Yadav, managing director, NMRC.

The Union ministry of urban development (MoUD) had in June 2016 approved the detailed project report (DPR) of this Rs 3,884-crore project. However, work could not begin as the state is yet to finalise the funding pattern for it.

We are likely to finalise the funding pattern for this project in the upcoming Noida board meeting expected to be held this month, said an NMRC official.

The 15-km link will provide metro connectivity to Noida and Greater Noida West apart from areas of located on the periphery of Greater Noida.

The elevated track of this link, which will have nine stations, will be built above the central verge (divider) of Vikas Marg that connects Noida with Greater Noida West and another road that runs through Greater Noidas residential, educational and industrial areas.

The projects DPR said that the link will put Noidas sectors 71, 72, 122, 119, 118, 67, 63 and 66 and other areas on the metro track. Greater Noidas sectors 1, 10, Knowledge Park 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, among others, will be put on the metro route through this project.

Read more: Make metro link to Greater Noida operational by December 2017, state tells NMRC

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Low visibility due to fog led to the cancellation of all 23 flights on Wednesday at the Chandigarh international airport, causing major inconvenience to around 2,500 passengers. Most airlines sent passengers to Delhi by cabs and Volvo buses. Passengers who arrived for morning flights waited for two hours at the airport, following which some of them went to Delhi by cabs. Passengers for ChandigarhSrinagar flights either got their flights cancelled or re-scheduled.

The Dubai flight of IndiGo Airlines was diverted to Delhi as the flight could not land at the airport due to poor visibility. Around 80 passengers on the flight were taken back to Delhi, where the airline gave them the fare till Chandigarh, asking them to travel on their own.

A spokesperson for the airport Anita said, None of the flights arrived or departed from the airport due to poor visibility.

Air India airport manager RK Negi said, Flights were cancelled due to bad weather. We have sent all our 125 passengers from Chandigarh to Delhi through cabs. Some passengers, who were to go to Mumbai and Bengaluru went to Delhi by cabs, from where they will board connecting flights.

Hill stations warmer than city due to sunny days: Met

Chandigarh nights are colder than hill-stations like Shimla and Dharamshala, an analysis of the weather department data has shown.

At 9.6 degree Celsius, the night temperature in Chandigarh on Tuesday night was almost 2 degree lower than that recorded in Shimla. In Shimla, the minimum temperature was 11 degrees, five degrees above normal. At Dharamshala, night temperature was 10.4 degree, two degree above normal, again higher than Chandigarh. Weather experts say long sunny days have led to the increase in temperature at hill stations.

Days equally cold

The days were equally cold at Chandigarh. On Wednesday, the maximum temperature was 23.2 degree Celsius in the city and 20 degree Celsius at the Chandigarh airport, three degree below normal. The maximum temperature was 20.3 degree in Shimla.

India Meteorological Department (IMD) director Surender Paul said, The city has started receiving shallow fog during mornings and evening. During the next 3-4 days, the city will receive dense fog. On December 12-13, Western disturbances will approach the city, leading to cloudy weather and light rainfall. After that there will be dense fog in the city.

The fog was dense at the airport side and outskirts of the city.

Trains also delayed

Shatabdi continued to run late by several hours, leaving passengers harassed. On Wednesday, the New Delhi-Kalka Shatabdi Express (12011) was late by more than two hours. A day before, the same train was also late by more than two hours.

The New Delhi-Kalka Shatabadi Express (12005) was on time. However, its departure from Kalka was delayed by more than one hour. The Chandigarh-New Delhi Shatabdi Express (12046) was also late by more than an hour.

Unchahar Express (14217) that travels from Prayag to Chandigarh was six hours late. The departure of Chandigarh  Dibrugarh was rescheduled four hours and 45 minutes late.

Many trains from Ambala station were delayed more than 20 hours. Kalka Mail (12311), which runs from Howra-Kalka-Howrah was late by 21 hours, Dibrugarh-Chandigarh Express (15903) was late by 10 hours, Lucknow-Chandigarh Super fast express (12231) was late by five hours and Lucknow-Chandigarh Express (15011) was delayed three hours.
After shooting a video in Mumbais Dharavi, considered Asias largest slum, Vancouver-based world music group Delhi 2 Dublin, which comprises a mix of Canadians and Indo-Canadians, is set to put the spotlight on the hidden world of bhangra in their upcoming documentary.

The electronic pop-bhangra fusion band launched the official music video of Were All Desi, shot with the local cast and crew in Dharavi slum earlier this year.

At the moment, we are shooting a documentary on the hidden world of bhangra. Trying to shed light on this subculture of Punjabi music in Vancouver that has such deep roots here (India), and also in the UK. Well be travelling to Punjab later this month, Tarun Nayar, the bands DJ and tabla player said.

The band, which also comprises Sanjay Seran, Ravi Binning, James Hussain and Serena Eades, will show India in a good light. Nayar says that, as the children of Indian immigrants to North America, we take issue with the systemic misrepresentation of Indian culture in mainstream western media.

Its so annoying! Were vocal about it both in our music and in our online and real-life personas. And its not just Indian culture that is fetishised for easy consumption of the mainstream -- it is all narratives outside the conventional white, straight-male perspective, he said.

The group, which working on a small Bollywood project, is pumped up about its Indian tour, which will conclude on December 17 in Bengaluru. So excited. After our trip to India last year, which included SulaFest and Jaipur Lit fest, we just couldnt wait to come back, said Nayar.

And their fans in India must be overjoyed as Delhi 2 Dublin is not restricted to just one genre.

Weve never been too concerned about fitting into a genre or getting radio or TV play. I guess from the outset our music was so weird that those things werent an option for us. So we just make whatever music we like. Ranging from really folky to really electronic. And over the years, as weve grown, so too have our tastes and the music we represent, said Nayar.

Nayar sais the band, which was formed 10 years ago, didnt strategically pick any form, but agrees they have a strong bhangra influence as 2.5 of our members are Punjabi.
She changed the course of women in Britain, but went unsung. British TV journalist Anita Anand documents the life of Maharaja Duleep Singhs daughter who played a pivotal role in the British suffragette movement alongside political activist Emmeline Pankhurst but was swept aside by history.

An embarrassment to the Empire for her antics and her connection with Indian revolutionaries, Sophia was the quintessential Sikh, who stood up for the weakest, says Anand, who pays a tribute to her in Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary.

Journalist and writer Anita Anand speaking at the British Council and Library in Chandigarh on Thursday. (Ravi Kumar/HT)

Speaking at the British Council in Chandigarh on Thursday, Anita recalls how she was struck by a 1913 picture of Sophia selling The Suffragette.

Sophia was not only her fathers favourite but also found favour with Queen Victoria, her godmother.

Born in 1876, daughter of Duleep and an Abyssinian slave Bamba Mueller, Sophias story is unique. The familys easy child came out in English society aged 17 to tremendous reviews, says Anand.

A woman of substance

The turning point in her life came when she attended the Delhi Durbar in 1903 where the Empire was being handed over to her fathers best friend Edward VII.

Sophia realised she and her family had lost to the very people she called friends. She was transformed. Moved by leader of the Swadeshi

Movement, Lala Lajpat Rai, and other revolutionaries, Sophia returned to England a changed woman.

Pankhurst took it as an opportunity to deliver a blow to the monarchy.

Champion of a cause

Sophia was among those Pankhurst selected to march on Parliament after women above 30 who had property were granted voting rights. All hell broke loose as police roughed up women. This was the first time the British took note of the suffragette movement.

After that, the princess refused to pay taxes. She was asked to appear in court but was never arrested.

She was an extraordinary woman. Her siblings hated the British. But she chose to fight for British women which counts as an amazing example of not living with bitterness, says Anand.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Everyone is suddenly identifying with justice Jagdish Singh Khehar as the designated 44th Chief Justice of India. He is the first Sikh to hold this post. But few know how his student years contributed to his success in the legal profession. Khehar is a former student of Chandigarhs Government Model Senior Secondary School in Sector 16, and Panjab Universitys law department.

For senior advocate and director of Chandigarh Judicial Academy, Balram Gupta, who taught Khehar during his PU days, it was rather emotional yet overwhelming to see him become the CJI.

For a teacher, it is a delight to know that your student has made it to the top. We live in the glory of our students, said Gupta, adding that he shared various rapports with Khehar  from being his teacher to being colleagues and now friends.

He added, Besides teaching him, we also argued cases in court at the same time and when he became a judge, I even appeared as a lawyer before him. However, we knew our roles well when we were inside the court.

He further said even though he was hesitant initially, the professionalism from both sides kept them intact.

Reminiscing PU days, he also said Khehar was a very active member of debating societies at PU and took part in all competitions. Theres a reason he was the topper and gold medallist in the law department, he added.

While VK Bansal, another teacher at PU who taught him, feels Khehar was not that active in extra-curricular activties, he didnt shy away from saying he was a very serious student all through. Besides being my student during his LLB and LLM years at PU, we were even faculty at the law department for a while, he said.

Vice-principal of GMSSS-16, Sukhraj Kaur Sandhu, said, Since most of the teachers who taught him are no longer with us, needless to say as an institute we are extremely proud of a students achievements and we hope to have him among us soon.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
With the commencement of nursery admissions in schools, parents are facing a lot of harassment as schools are asking them to get their childrens Aadhaar cards made, but the sewa kendras in SAS Nagar have stopped making Aadhar cards.

Earlier, Aadhaar cards were being made at MC Bhawan, Sector 68, and in DC office, but the process has stopped since September when more than 1000 employees of suwidha centre went on strike demanding regular jobs and protesting against state governments decision to shift them to sewa kendras, which are being run by a private company.

Though the staff has been recruited at the sewa kendra but notices have been pasted on the counter, stating that Aadhaar cards are not being made, thus leading to harassment of parents.

I have to get my daughter admitted to nursery and the school is asking for her Aadhaar card. I have no clue where Aadhaar cards are being made now. I am told that an agent charges `250 to `500 for making Aadhaar card, said Ajay Kapoor, employed with a private hospital in SAS Nagar.

The residents are facing a lot of harassment as sewa kendras are not making Aadhaar cards. There are a few private agents who are making the cards, but they are charging the residents, said RP Sharma, MC councillor who had raised the issue in the house meeting on Tuesday.

He demanded that MC should at least get the facility started at MC Bhawan.

There are technical issues, owing to which the facility has been stopped. We are working out modalities to start the facility and by next week, we aim to start the process again, said DS Mangat, deputy commissioner SAS Nagar.

Sources claim that the staff recruited for the sewa kendras has not till now cleared the test to start the facility of making Aadhaar cards, which is why the facility has been stopped in the state. Sources added that the administration is considering to start the facility at the district administrative complex for Aadhaar enrolment of the children.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has asked the Sikh high priests to look into the controversy surrounding Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple) while wearing a cap.

This matter regarding maryada (Sikh religious code) comes under the purview of the Singh Sahiban (Sikh high priests). We have requested them to look into this issue if the maryada was violated, SGPC president Kirpal Singh Badungar told the media in Amritsar on Wednesday.

The SGPC move came following complaints on the issue and the controversy gaining ground on the social media that the PM had allegedly violated maryada by wearing a cap instead of covering his head with a cloth.

Modi, accompanied by Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, together visited the holiest of the Sikh shrines on December 3 during the Heart of Asia conference. Both wore caps to cover their heads during their visit.

Covering head with a rumala (piece of cloth) or turban is mandatory for all devotees visiting Sikh shrines.

Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and his deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal had accompanied Modi and Ghani to the shrine.
The Centres ambitious population-based screening programme on non-communicable diseases (NCD) kick-started in Jharkhand from Dhanbad district on Thursday.

An orientation programme was organised at the auditorium of the civil surgeons office in which state nodal officer of the programme Dr Lalit Ranjan Pathak, rolled out the project and informed medical officers, programme managers ,auxiliary nurse mid-wives and healthcare workers how to implement it.

The Centre has selected 100 districts across the country, including three in Jharkhand  Ranchi, Bokaro and Dhanbadin the pilot project in which the population of the selected districts will be screened to detect non- communicable diseases like diabetes, hypertension, oral , breast and cervical cancers, said Pathak.

The Centre has released the fund for launching the programme in Dhanbad and Bokaro. We kick-started it in Dhanbad on December 7 and at Bokaro from tomorrow ( Friday), he told Hindustan Times.

The programme in Ranchi is expected to be launched in the last week December, he said.

Pathak also directed the district health department to prepare a list of targeted people above 30 years so that no one overlooked during the screening.

The state health department has sent the names of 12 doctors  4 from each district including two gynecologists, a physician and a dentist to Union health department for training.

The selected doctors after being trained in Delhi will in turn train medical officers, programme managers and healthcare staff of their respective district to execute the programme, said Pathak.

He further said that the screening for diseases like diabetes, hypertension, oral and breast cancer would be held be at Swasth Mela or healthcare fair, while tests for cervical cancer will be conducted only at the primary health centre or the community health centre to maintain privacy of people.

During the five-year long project, screening for diabetes, hypertension, oral cancer, breast cancer will be conducted every year but that for cervical cancer will be conducted once in five years, he said.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc receives Spanish Ambassador Alfonso Tena Garcia on December 8th (Photo: VNA)



He made the statement during his reception for Spanish Ambassador to Vietnam Alfonso Tena Garcia in Hanoi on December 8th.

Vietnam always provides foreign investors with favourable conditions, he told the diplomat.

He agreed with the Ambassadors proposal of boosting linkage in tourism, saying he will assign functional agencies to study specific cooperative programmes in the area.

He took the occasion to thank Spain for its ODA, noting that that capital source has been used efficiently.

Ambassador Alfonso Tena Garcia said the countries should ratchet up their wide-ranging cooperation up to their strategic partnership, especially organising more joint activities to celebrate the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties in 2017.

Spain backs the signing of the Vietnam-EU trade agreement, he said, adding that Spanish businesses are very keen on investing in infrastructure in Vietnam, especially the metro project in Ho Chi Minh City, as well as in tourism.

Two-way trade between Vietnam and Spain reached about USD3 billion in 2015 and hit USD2 billion in the first half of this year./.
The 13th edition of the Dubai International Film Festival began in Dubai last evening in a burst of stars, which included the Indian diva, Rekha. Receiving the Life Time Achievement Award, the actor -- who looked dazzlingly young in a brocade sari and who had once distinguished herself in movies like Umrao Jaan, Silsila, Khubsoorat and Utsav -- got a thunderous applause as she walked up to the stage to be honoured by the Dubai ruler, His Highness Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and the festival chairman Abdulhamid Juma.

In an acceptance speech where Rekha could not stop talking -- punctuating her sentences with I know this is not the Oscars, and the bell will not ring -- she said her connections with Dubai were deep, and one could sense here a trace of nostalgia. Interestingly, while she said that her mother, Pushpavalli, was the one who had pushed her into the world of cinema, she scrupulously avoided talking about her father, Gemini Ganesh, who along with Sivaji Ganesh once ruled the Tamil screen.

The other legend who was feted with a Life Time Achievement Award, Samuel Jackson, said that he would love to do a movie in Dubai. I am keen on building relationships, he averred. But do I have to learn Arabic, he wondered.

Rekha speaks after receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award on December 7, 2016. (AFP)

Also, on the evenings list of Life Time Achievement Award winners was the renowned French-Lebanese music composer, Gabriel Yared, who won an Oscar for The English Patient.

For the innumerable Indians in Dubai, the presence of Ranveer Singh and Vaani Kapoor -- whose set-in-Paris film, Befikre premieres at the festival this evening -- on the Red Carpet was a point of excitement. The movie opens in India this Friday.

The inaugural function concluded with a screening of John Maddens Miss Sloane, starring Jessica Chastain -- who plays a ruthless Washington lobbyist taking on the almost invincible gun lobby in America.

A tense political thriller where Madden relies more on Sloanes verbal missiles (fiery monologues and sparring) than cinematic nuances, the opening work was a trifle too heavy to get the festival on a note of high. The ending was particularly disappointing.

Lebanese-French composer Gabriel Yared (L) receives the Lifetime Achievement award at the 13th Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) on December 7, 2016. (AFP)

The plot, nonetheless, about a lobbyist who mucks up her career and reputation for a cause she firmly believes in, is engaging -- given the kind of bloody shootouts one has been seeing in America, especially its schools.

Placed somewhere between Michael Clayton and All the Presidents Men with strong traces of Erin Brockovich (where Julia Roberts character takes on a devastatingly polluting gas and electric company), Miss Sloane is set in shady parking lots, and zeroes in on morally corrupt power players. They are vicious and manipulative.

American actor Samuel Jackson receives an award at the Dubai International Film Festival in Dubai. (REUTERS)

Chastain essays Madeline Elizabeth Sloane, a copper haired, iron woman -- whose brightly painted red lips spell danger to her opponents rather than a sign of feminine beauty. She is always one step ahead of her enemies, and is lucky enough to find an unlikely friend in a male prostitute she frequently hires. In a crucial courtroom scene, he does not spill the beans. Turning down a lucrative offer to represent a gun lobby, she crosses over to the other side of the fence to fight those who want to keep the deadly gun culture in the US alive.

Chastains role in Miss Sloane reminded this writer of her unforgettable performance in Zero Dark Thirty, helmed by Kathryn Bigelow. There Chastain is a CIA intelligence analyst, and much like this, Sloanes vulnerability is also apparent even as she goes about battling some of the most powerful forces in America.

Miss Sloane is admittedly engaging, but is a little too heavy to be a festival opener.

(Gautaman Bhaskaran is covering the Dubai International Film Festival.)

ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop
Nearly 150 civilians, many disabled or sick, were evacuated overnight from a health facility in Aleppos Old City after the army retook the area, the Red Cross said on Thursday.

The bodies of 11 people who died at the facility after being caught in crossfire or failing to receive medication were also retrieved, the humanitarian organisation said.

Syrias army has recaptured around 80% of the former rebel bastion of east Aleppo since beginning an assault three weeks ago, and tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it carried out an operation overnight with Syrias Red Crescent (SARC) to evacuate 150 patients and civilians from the Dar al-Safaa facility in the Old City.

Previously an elderly care home, the facility had been expanded to host patients with mental health problems or physical disabilities, the ICRC said.

Around three dozen other civilians, some of them injured, had also sought refuge there, it added.

These patients and civilians had been trapped in the area for days because of heavy clashes nearby and as the front line kept drawing closer, said ICRC Syria delegation head Marianne Gasser.

Many of them cannot move and need special attention and care. It must have been terrifying for them, she added.

The two organisations had been trying to evacuate the facility since Tuesday, but were forced to postpone initial efforts because of heavy fighting, the statement said.

Tragically, for some, the operation came too late: 11 people died before the SARC and ICRC teams were able to reach the centre, it added.

They were either caught in the crossfire or died because they did not have access to the right medications.

Syrias government is three weeks into an operation to recapture east Aleppo - in rebel hands since 2012.

It now holds around 80% of the former opposition stronghold, and has advanced quickly.

At least 384 civilians, including 45 children, have been killed in government fire on east Aleppo since the operation began, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Another 105 civilians, including 35 children, have been killed in rebel fire on government-held west Aleppo in the same period, the British-based monitor says.
Humanitarian organizations descended on Indonesias Aceh province Thursday as the government in Jakarta promised tons of emergency aid and officials raced to assess the full extent of damage from an earthquake that killed more than 100 people.

Search efforts involving volunteers and nearly 1,500 rescue personnel were concentrated on the hard-hit town of Meureudu in Pidie Jaya district near the epicentre of the magnitude 6.5 quake that hit before dawn Wednesday. Humanitarian assessment teams were fanning out to other areas of the district.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the death toll had risen to 102 and warned it could increase. Search teams were using devices that detect mobile phone signals with a 100-meter (yard) radius to help guide their efforts as they scoured the rubble, he said. Acehs disaster mitigation agency said more than 600 people were injured.

Thousands of people are homeless or afraid to return to their homes. Aceh officials said more than 8,000 people spent Wednesday night in shelters in Pidie Jaya district alone.

Killer quakes occur regularly in the region, where many live with the terrifying memory of a giant Dec. 26, 2004, earthquake that struck off Sumatra. The magnitude 9.1 quake triggered a devastating tsunami that killed more than 100,000 Acehnese.

The Indonesian government said its urgent aid would be flown out of Jakarta early Thursday afternoon and will include 10 generators, tents, folding beds, baby supplies and body bags.

The military is setting up an emergency field hospital and sending two dozen doctors, and the Health Ministry is deploying a medical team and sending medicines. The Red Cross sent aid such as water trucks on Wednesday and humanitarian group CARE is leading an assessment team of four international aid groups to avoid duplication of efforts.

Every aid and civil society organization is piling into the area with as many boxes of rice, instant noodles, blankets and other aid as they can shift, said Paul Dillon, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, which has an assessment team in northern Aceh.

It will take at least two more days before theres a fuller picture of how many people are displaced and the relief effort required, he said.

Motorcyclists pass a damaged section of a road following an earthquake in Meureudu, Pidie Jaya, in the northern province of Aceh, Indonesia on December 7. (REUTERS)

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake was centered about 19 kilometers (12 miles) southeast of Sigli, a town near the northern tip of Sumatra, at a depth of 17 kilometers (11 miles). The agency had initially placed the epicenter undersea. It did not generate a tsunami. As of 9 a.m. Thursday, some 36 aftershocks had rattled the area.

The worlds largest archipelago, Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. The 2004 quake and tsunami killed a total of 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Aceh.

John Ebel, professor of earth and environmental sciences at Boston College, said there is a risk that even weak aftershocks could cause further damage to buildings, particularly because modern building codes arent consistently enforced in Indonesia.

Scores of rescuers were crawling over a market in Meureudu, the hard-hit town, where many shop houses collapsed.

One shop owner, Hajj Yusri Abdullah, didnt hold out much hope of finding survivors. He said nearly two dozen bodies were pulled from the market debris the day before. They included a group of eight made up of a newlywed couple and family members holding an ornate celebration known as Antar Dara Baro.

Siti Rukiah, a mother of four, was among the many people who took refuge for the night in local mosques. She and about 100 other people from Pante Raja, a seaside village, fled to Nur Abdullah Mosque located on higher ground in a nearby hamlet.

She said the quake felt so powerful she had to grab onto a table to keep from falling down. She was sure a tsunami was coming.

Im really scared about a tsunami, said Rukiah, whose brother and neighbors died in the 2004 disaster. She said she didnt want to return home not only because my house is damaged, but I am still afraid an aftershock could cause a tsunami.

The national disaster agency said nearly 600 buildings were severely damaged or destroyed in the districts of Pidie Jaya, Pidie and Bireun. Most were shop houses or dwellings but mosques, a hospital, boarding schools and a shopping center also sustained damage. Roads also cracked and power poles toppled over.
China should significantly increase military spending and build more nuclear weapons as a response to US President-elect Donald Trump, an editorial in the nationalistic Global Times newspaper said Thursday.

China should build more strategic nuclear arms and accelerate the deployment of the DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missile to protect its interests, should Trump attempt to corner the country in an unacceptable way, it said.

Chinas military spending in 2017 should be augmented significantly, it added in the print article run in both English and Chinese.

The paper is not part of the official state media, but has close ties to the ruling Communist Party.

Chinese officials are sometimes thought to use it as a rhetorical hammer, but have also admonished it for its often bombastic language.

The president-elect frequently savaged China on the campaign trail, even calling it Americas enemy and pledging to stand up to a country he says views the US as a pushover.

But he has also indicated he is not interested in projecting US power away from home, saying America is sick of paying to defend allies like Japan and South Korea -- even suggesting they should develop their own nuclear weapons.

The editorial follows a Twitter tirade by Trump earlier in the week blasting Chinas trade and foreign policies, as well as a protocol-shattering decision to accept a congratulatory phone call from Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen.

Beijing regards Taiwan as a rogue province awaiting unification.

In the editorial, the Global Times said: We need to get better prepared militarily regarding the Taiwan question to ensure that those who advocate Taiwans independence will be punished, and take precautions in case of US provocations in the South China Sea.

On Wednesday, Trump selected Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, who has close ties to Chinese President Xi Jinping dating back to the mid-1980s, as ambassador to China -- potentially welcome news for Beijing, which called him an old friend upon receiving reports of his nomination.

Nevertheless, the state-owned China Daily newspaper remained pessimistic about the future of relations with the US.

A Thursday editorial said that though the Asian giant had thus far responded to Trump with laudable prudence, further provocations from the unpredictable politician would jeopardize Sino-US ties.

China has to prepare for the worst, it said. What has happened over the past weeks tends to suggest that Sino-US relations are facing uncertainty as never before, as Trumps words are not necessarily more bark than bite.
A Danish lawmaker faced criticism on Thursday for saying boats carrying migrants could be prevented from reaching Europe by firing warning shots at them.

The only way you can do it efficiently is by simply turning the boats around and saying you cannot sail within this territorial border, Kenneth Kristensen Berth, a lawmaker for the anti-immigration Danish Peoples Party (DPP) said.

If you do that you will either be fired at or you will be turned around and sailed back, he said during a debate in Copenhagen on Wednesday.

In a Facebook post after the debate, Berth said he did not advocate shooting at migrants but that warning shots could be used against the ships carrying them.

A lawmaker for the ruling Venstre party, Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, said on Twitter that the remarks were not okay and that warning shots are... a warning of what is to follow.

Of course you dont shoot at people who are fleeing. It shouldnt be necessary to say, Mette Frederiksen, the leader of the opposition Social Democrats, wrote on Facebook.

A DPP spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.

Denmark introduced a host of measures to deter migrants from coming to the country earlier this year, including a controversial rule allowing police to confiscate their valuables to help pay for their accommodation.

According to the UN, at least 4,700 people have died, are missing or feared to have drowned this year while trying to cross the Mediterranean.
Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Thursday it was in the interest of the United States to remain committed to a multilateral nuclear treaty.

The US Senate voted last week to extend the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) for 10 years, and Iran vowed to retaliate, saying it violated last years agreement with six major powers to curb its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of international financial sanctions.

A diplomatic thaw between the United States and Iran over the past two years appears in jeopardy with US President-elect Donald Trump taking office next month.

Trump said during his election campaign he would scrap the nuclear agreement, calling the pact a disaster and saying it could lead to a nuclear holocaust.

Zarif, in Japan as part of an Asian tour that included India and China, told a seminar in Tokyo that while the agreement was multilateral and endorsed by the UN Security Council, this did not mean it might not be violated by the United States, which he said had a less than respectable history in respecting international laws.

Im not basing our hope on an illusion that people will respect international law out of their goodwill or good natures, he said.

I believe it is in the interests of the United States as well as the rest of the international community to respect this multilateral agreement.

Sanctions against Iran had not worked in the past and would accomplish nothing if strengthened, especially since the other treaty partners would be unlikely to buy into them, he said.

Sanctions will harm us, but wont break us, he said.

Zarif said on Saturday the US vote to extend the ISA for 10 years showed it could not be relied on to act on its commitments.

US officials said the ISA renewal would not infringe on the nuclear agreement. US lawmakers have also said the ISA extension would make it easier for sanctions to be quickly reimposed if Iran contravened the nuclear deal.

But Irans nuclear energy chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, who played a central role in reaching the nuclear deal, described the extension as a clear violation, if implemented.
Iraqs Joint Operations Command said on Thursday that Iraqi aircraft struck dozens of mostly foreign fighters from the Islamic State group near the border with Syria the previous day.

It confirmed that deadly strikes in the Al-Qaim area in the west of the country were carried out by the Iraqi air force but described allegations by officials that dozens of civilians were killed as IS propaganda.

The JOC issued a statement confirming that the Iraqi air force had carried out two strikes in the jihadist-held Al-Qaim area on Wednesday, saying they targeted hideouts used by IS members.

It said the first one was conducted at 0900 GMT and struck a two-storey building housing 25 mostly foreign would-be suicide bombers, led by a fighter it named as Abu Maysar al-Kawkazi (from the Caucasus).

It said another strike was carried out during a second mission at 0955 GMT, hitting a building hosting 30 to 40 IS fighters, also mostly foreigners.

Iraqi officials, including parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi, had said on Wednesday that dozens of civilians were killed or wounded in a strike on a market area in Al-Qaim.

They blamed the government and demanded an investigation.

The JOC denied striking a market area and said a blast there was caused by a car bomb that either went off accidentally or was detonated by IS for propaganda purposes.

Amaq, an IS propaganda tool, released a video late Wednesday showing scenes of chaos in a market area, with bodies strewn across a street and wounded being treated.

Read more | Iraqi forces fight IS deep inside Mosul, but the battle is far from over
The Islamic State group in Syria attacked the Syrian army near the city of Palmyra on Thursday, killing dozens of soldiers and advancing to within four kilometres of the city, a war monitor said.

The Syrian army, backed by Russian jets, recaptured Palmyra, the site of a Roman-era city and spectacular ruins, from Islamic State in March after the jihadist group seized it in May 2015.

On Thursday the jihadists gained control over Qasr al-Halabat, to the southwest of Palmyra, Jabal Hayan, to the west, South Sawamea to the northeast and the Hawaisis region to the northwest, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

At least 34 Syrian soldiers were killed, including at least eight officers, and there were also deaths on the Islamic State side, the Observatory said.

Islamic State has been on the back foot in both Syria and Iraq since late last year, losing much of its territory in both countries as well as some of its most senior figures, killed in air strikes.

The group took advantage of chaos during Syrias civil war to seize territory there and in Iraq in the summer of 2014.

Syrias civil war pits President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Iran, Russia and Shiite militias against mostly Sunni rebels.
Britains foreign minister Boris Johnson has accused Saudi Arabia and Iran of engaging in proxy wars in the Middle East but the Prime Ministers Office said on Thursday he was not representing the governments views.

Johnson was seen in a video clip telling a conference in Rome last week that it was a tragedy that politicians in the Middle East were twisting and abusing religion to advance their political objectives.

Such public criticism of British ally Saudi Arabia was seen by some commentators as a diplomatic blunder by Johnson, who has been in the job less than six months.

His comments, filmed and posted on The Guardians website, came as British Prime Minister Theresa May returned from a summit in Bahrain where she pledged to strengthen ties with Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia.

There are politicians who are twisting and abusing religion and different strains of the same religion in order to further their own political objectives, Johnson told the Med 2 conference.

Thats one of the biggest political problems in the whole region. And the tragedy for me - and thats why you have these proxy wars being fought the whole time in that area - is that theres not strong enough leadership in the countries themselves.

Johnson said there were not enough big characters willing to reach out beyond their Sunni or Shia group. Thats why youve got the Saudis, Iran, everybody, moving in and puppeteering and playing proxy wars, he added.

Downing Street, however, said Johnson was not representing the governments views on Saudi Arabia. Helen Bower, the prime ministers spokeswoman, said Johnson would stick to the governments line when he visited Saudi ministers this weekend.

Saudi Arabia is a vital partner for the UK, particularly on counter-terrorism and, when you look at what is happening in the region, we are supportive of the Saudi-led coalition which is working in support of the legitimate government in Yemen against Houthi rebels, Bower said.

Asked if Prime Minister Theresa May had any sympathy with Johnsons view of the Yemen conflict, she said: Ive set out what the PM views are, and those are the foreign secretarys views, they are not the governments views on Saudi and its role in the region.

Britains foreign ministry also said Johnson had voiced support for Saudi Arabia on the BBCs Andrew Marr Show on Sunday. As the foreign secretary made very clear on Sunday, we are allies with Saudi Arabia and support them in their efforts to secure their borders and protect their people, a spokesman said.

Addressing a summit of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Bahrain on Wednesday, May reaffirmed British support for traditional allies in the region and said Britain would help push back against Irans aggressive regional actions.

In a joint statement, GCC states and Britain agreed to a strategic partnership and said they oppose and will work together to counter Irans destabilising activities.
In a rare gesture, the Kuwait government has said it would not imprison or penalise more than 24,000 illegal Indian workers if they report to the interior ministry for deportation or transfer of job visas.

We are lenient towards Indian workers but have asked them to strictly follow the rules and regulations. The immigration department is ready to help them in the deportation process, Maj Gen Talal Ibrahim Marafie, who heads the department, told a group of Indian journalists.

He said this was being done in view of good and strong ties with India.

There are around one million Indian workers in Kuwait, who contribute immensely to the development of the country.

On the drop in oil revenue, Marafie said this has not impacted recruitment. More than 50,000 Indians have been recruited this year, he noted.

Marafie said there were multiple reasons for the overstays. In most cases, workers leave their sponsors and work for other companies for financial benefits. There are also cases where the sponsor is abroad and when visas expire, there is no one to help the workers get their travel documents legalised.

Some sponsors retain the passports of workers. Such workers leave their sponsors for monetary benefits and better jobs.

Marafie said the government is keen to help illegal workers if they report to us.

The immigration department will make necessary arrangements for their deportation. The workers have to pay a small amount as a penalty, but in most cases, this has been waived.

However, Marafie made it clear that if any of the workers had indulged in malpractices, they would not be spared.

He said 2,018 illegal Indian workers had already been helped to leave Kuwait without any penalty.

As for the non-payment of dues to workers, he said the government attached great importance to this critical issue.

Senior interior ministry official Mohammed Ajami said thousands of such cases had been resolved. The ministry offers legal assistance to workers to fight their cases in court.

The verdict has to be given within a months time so that the workers dont suffer any delay. The government has formed a committee of lawyers to help foreign workers in settling their dues.

Ajami said the government has proposed certain changes to labour laws under which workers will have the right to retain their passports and travel documents. Moreover, sponsors will be made responsible for paying dues within one month or face legal action.
Vietnamese Defence Minister Ngo Xuan Lich and his Indian counterpart at the meeting (Photo: VOV)



Lieutenant General Vu Chien Thang, Director of the Foreign Relations Department under the Ministry of National Defence, made the statement in an interview granted to Vietnam News Agency on the occasion of Defence Minister Ngo Xuan Lichs visit to India from December 4th-7th.

He highlighted the traditional friendship between Vietnam and India, which was founded by President Ho Chi Minh and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and then nurtured and developed by generations of leaders and people of the two countries.

India is a reliable and close friend of Vietnam, he said, adding that the bilateral defence relations have been lifted to a new height after the two nations elevated their strategic partnership to comprehensive strategic partnership in September this year.

Thang noted that Minister Ngo Xuan Lich and his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar agreed during their meeting to increase the exchange of delegations at all levels, especially among young officials, for deeper mutual understanding and experience sharing.

The two ministers also consented to carry out the USD500-million credit package that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged for Vietnam during his recent visit to the Southeast Asian country, as well as re-evaluate Indias USD100-million defence credit package for Vietnam.

India vowed to continue assisting Vietnam in the training of pilots and information technology officials training and sharing experience on UN peacekeeping activities.

Both sides agreed to soon implement the USD5.45 million aid package announced by the Indian Prime Minister to realise the second phase of the software park project in Nha Trang city of the central coastal province of Khanh Hoa.

Lieutenant General Vu Chien Thang said the agreements reached by the two ministers made practical contributions to the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership, especially when Vietnam and India are celebrating the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties and 10th anniversary of their strategic partnership.

He stressed Vietnam supports the Act East policy of India, while India considers Vietnam an important pillar in this policy.

Vietnam is willing to support India to expand relations with other ASEAN member states and make contributions to peace and stability in the region, the official added./.
The Kuwait government has stated it would not imprison or penalise over 24,000 illegal Indian workers if they report to the Interior Ministry for deportation or transfer of job visas.

We are lenient towards Indian workers but have asked them to strictly follow the rules and regulations. The mmigration Department is ready to help them in the deportation process, Maj General Talal Ibrahim Marafie, who heads the department, told a group of Indian journalists, adding this was being done in view of good and strong ties with India.

There are around one million Indian workers in Kuwait, who contribute immensely to the development of the country.

Marafie said there were multiple reasons for the overstays. In most cases, workers leave their sponsors and work for other companies for financial benefits. There are also cases where the sponsor is abroad and when visas expire there is no one to help the workers get their travel documents legalised. Some sponsors retain the passports of workers. Such workers leave their sponsors for monetary benefits and better jobs.

Marafie said the government is keen to help illegal workers if they report to us.

The Immigration Department will make necessary arrangements for their deportation. The workers have to pay a small amount as a penalty, but in most cases, this has been waived. However, Marafie made it clear that if any of the workers had indulged in malpractices, they would not be spared.

He said that 2,018 illegal Indian workers had already been helped to leave the country without any penalty.

As for the non-payment of dues to the workers, he said the government attached great importance to this critical issue.

Senior Interior Ministry official Mohammed Ajami stated that thousands of such cases had been resolved. The ministry also offers legal assistance to workers to fight their cases in court. The verdict has to be given within one months time so that the workers dont suffer any delay. The government has also formed a committee of lawyers to help foreign workers in settling their dues.

Ajami He said the government has proposed certain changes in the labour laws under which workers will have the right to retain their passports and travel documents. Moreover, sponsors will be made responsible to pay dues within a one-month period or face legal action.

On the drop in oil revenue, Marafie said this has not impacted on recruitment. More than 50,000 Indians have been recruited this year, he noted.
The encounter had seemed promising enough, but the couple brought together by an online dating site failed to connect because of one glaring, irreconcilable difference: He was a Donald Trump supporter, she was not.

Its a scene played out again and again in the dating world: In an increasingly partisan and polarized country, similarity in political viewpoints has become a major criterion when choosing -- or weeding out -- prospective love interests.

But now, new dating websites are cropping up to take the guesswork out of pinning down political leanings.

One site, TrumpSingles.com specifically caters to fans of the divisive real estate billionaire.

Adored by millions of Americans, Trump is reviled by at least as many, some of whom are still mourning his election last month as Americas next president and the defeat of his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

A similar site was set up for supporters of Bernie Sanders, the tousle-haired Vermont senator whose fiery rhetoric and embrace of environmental causes earned him a fervent and loyal following among liberals and voters under the age of 30.

 Making Dating Great Again

TrumpSingles says it has registered 12,000 people with a goal of Making Dating Great Again -- a riff on Trumps Make America Great Again campaign slogan.

Unlike conventional dating sites such as Match.com and OKCupid, the site screens its users to ensure they are not trolls seeking to make trouble, but truly supporters of the president-elect, who takes the oath of office next month.

I thought it was actually a nice idea because Ive heard so many stories of people going on dates and everything is going fun and the political talk starts and kills any chance of a relationship happening, TrumpSingles creator David Goss says.

Some 15% of Americans use online dating sites, mostly singles under the age of 24, according to the Pew Research Center.

Many have no interest in hooking up with those who support Trump, whose retrograde views on immigrants and women are widely rejected.

No Trump supporters has even become a common refrain on Tinder, Happn and other dating apps.

But some subscribers to the TrumpSingles website can be loud and proud in their support for the billionaire businessman.

Others may be in the closet over expressing support for Trump, perhaps after years of voting for Democrats or because they live in Democratic cities such as Philadelphia.

A cursory look at the site shows the majority of those registered are white -- similar to the broad swathe of the American electorate that carried the Republican to power.

Some of the sites online profiles feature photos showing supporters wearing Trump-themed campaign hats or T-shirts.

On different dating sites, such displays would often be deal breakers. Not so on TrumpSingles, says Goss, who describes his site as open to Trump supporters of all stripes.

It doesnt matter your sexual preference, religion, anybody is allow to come and be on the site as long they are for the right reasons, the 35-year old television producer says.
The Philippine defense secretary said on Thursday that it is highly unlikely his country will allow the US military to use it as a springboard for freedom of navigation patrols in the disputed South China Sea to avoid antagonizing China.

Delfin Lorenzana said US ships and aircraft could use bases in Guam, Okinawa or fly from aircraft carriers to patrol the disputed waters.

Under President Rodrigo Dutertes predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, some US aircraft and ships stopped in the Philippines on the way to patrolling the disputed waters to challenge Chinas territorial claims.

Duterte, who took office in June, has taken steps to mend ties with China and became hostile toward the Obama administration after it raised concerns over Dutertes deadly crackdown on illegal drugs.

Asked if the Philippines will continue to host US ships and aircraft patrolling the disputed waters, Lorenzana said Duterte will not likely allow that to happen to avoid any provocative actions that can escalate tensions in the South China Sea. Its unlikely.

Well avoid that for the meantime, Lorenzana said. Anyway, the US can fly over there coming from other bases. US officials did not comment immediately. The commander of US forces in the Pacific, Adm Harry Harris, said last month that despite Dutertes rhetoric, military cooperation with Manila has not changed.

Duterte has publicly threatened to scale back the Philippines military engagements with the US, including scuttling a plan to carry out joint patrols with the US Navy in the disputed waters, which he said China opposes.

US-Philippine annual combat exercises have been reduced and will be redesigned to focus on disaster response and humanitarian missions. Among the maneuvers to be dropped starting next year are amphibious landing exercises and beach raids aimed at enhancing the countrys territorial defense, military officials said.

Dutertes actions have become a hindrance to US efforts to reassert its presence in Asia, although the US military has vowed to continue patrolling one of the worlds busiest commercial waterways.

After Duterte met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in October, China allowed Filipinos to fish at disputed Scarborough Shoal. China took control of the rich fishing area in 2012 after a tense standoff with Philippine government ships.
Mexican leftist senators screamed insults as they battered a pinata effigy of US President-elect Donald Trump in an online video that went viral.

To the cheerful tune of a trumpet, the male and female senators in evening dress take turns swinging a club at the paper doll, a traditional Mexican party game.

The large pinata, hung by the neck at a Christmas party for PRD party lawmakers, resembled the provocative US leader-in-waiting with a dark suit and blonde quiff.

One of the senators finally whacks off the pinatas legs and the effigy spills out its candy.

The Republican billionaire launched his White House quest by denouncing Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug traffickers, and vowing to build a wall on the southern US border.

Mexicans are also concerned about Trumps protectionist stance on trade with their country.

I ask you to be united in sending our greetings to Donald, Senator Miguel Angel Barbosa tells participants before they whistle, yell an obscenity and start whacking.
At a time when Nepals politicians are sharply divided over a bill to amend the Constitution, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked the government for a written reply on the reasons for the proposed changes.

The court said the government should list the reasons behind the bill that is focussed on issues such as altering borders of provinces, naturalised citizenship, representation in the National Assembly and the language commission, which, it said, went against the spirit of the Constitution.

The government registered the bill in Parliament last week to address the demands of agitating Madhes-based political parties and to end a year-long political logjam over the statute.

The proposed changes were opposed by the main opposition CPN-UML, which described them as anti-national, especially a move to split Province number 5, which would lead to the creation of two more provinces in the southern Terai region.

After the registration of the bill, the CPN-UML obstructed the functioning of Parliament and took to the streets.

The Supreme Court issued the show-cause notice in response to a writ petition filed by five people on behalf of the Ex-MPs Forum. A single judge bench asked the government to file its reply by December 20.

The petitioners had argued that only the federal parliament and provincial assemblies have the right to change borders and the number of provinces. They sought the courts intervention to prevent the passage of the bill, saying it went against the intent and spirit of the Constitution.
Pakistan has lifted an undeclared ban on import of ginned cotton from India, days after rejecting a consignment of 10,000 bales of cotton from India citing violation of plant quarantine rules by importers.

Earlier, the Department of Plant Protection (DPP) of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research put cotton imports from India on hold through Wagah and Karachi port from November 23, saying the shipments did not fulfil phyto- sanitary conditions, Dawn newspaper reported.

The rising border tensions between the two neighbours had prompted Islamabad to impose the ban on 10,000 bales of cotton worth USD 3.3 million from India.

The DPP has started issuing permits for importing cotton from India via Wagah. But the DPP has also made it clear to importers that only the consignments free from cotton seeds will be accepted and allowed into the country, a DPP official said.

If implemented strictly, we will not be able to import cotton from any country in the world, let alone India, because no consignment is completely free from cotton seeds, he said.

Last year, Pakistan imported ginned cotton worth more than USD 800 million from India which accounted for two-thirds of Indias cotton exports.

Traders are expecting cotton imports from India and elsewhere to surge this year in view of the anticipated shortfall in the domestic crop while the government expects cotton output to remain close to 10.5 million bales of 170kg each against a reduced industry demand of 14 million bales owing to widespread factory closures in Punjab because of higher energy prices.

Last year, a drop of 27% in domestic cotton output shaved 0.5% off gross domestic product growth rate of Pakistan.
Facing its worst winter pollution in a decade, Paris is sticking to controversial traffic restrictions.

Paris city hall has barred half of all cars from roads and made public transportation free for a third consecutive day. A similar scheme will be implemented in the city of Lyon on Friday as the pollution hit various regions across France, including the Rhone valley.

Only vehicles with even-numbered plates are allowed to drive on Thursday in the French capital and its nearby suburbs. The ban wasnt respected by many drivers during the first two days, while disruption in transportation services added to confusion and triggered political bickering among local politicians.

The right-wing head of Paris region, Valerie Pecresse, asked for a suspension of the ban on cars as long as troubles on the local train network arent settled. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, a close ally to socialist President Francois Hollande, replied it was the regions prerogative to fix public transportation problems.

According to Airparif, the body in charge of monitoring pollution in Paris, the drop in car emissions was limited to just between 5% and 10% on the first day of the ban because only half as many of the vehicles respected it, compared to March 2014. Drivers face a fine between 22 ($23) and 75 euros ($80) if they ignore the rule.

To tackle the crisis, Paris Velib bike-share and Autolib electric cars will again be free Thursday, as well as the Paris metro and bus services.

In northern France, local authorities have reduced the maximum speed on major roads and urged drivers to resort to car-sharing while residents have been ordered to skip wood fires.

Airparif says the peak is due to the accumulation of pollutants because of anti-cyclonic conditions.
The Defense Department defended Wednesday the project to replace Air Force One, the flagship plane used by US presidents, a day after President-elect Donald Trump called the projects costs ridiculous.

Boeing has received a $170 million contract to develop the scope and requirements for replacing the aging Air Force One, which is actually two planes -- one for the president and a spare.

On Tuesday, Trump said Boeing was spending $4 billion on the new plane and called for the order to be cancelled.

Converting a pair of 747-8 jumbo jets to state-of-the-art luxury command centers by 2024 had been estimated to cost $3 billion, and cost overruns and delays could bring the price tag up to Trumps estimate.

But Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis underscored the complexities of the project and suggested it was not a simple bonanza for Boeing.

It sounds like a lot, but you have to remember: This is a system of systems, its multiple aircraft and its not all Boeing, Davis said.

This is a system thats going to have many different companies providing the systems that go on it. And we simply dont know the exact figure.

Trumps comments on the project briefly had pulled Boeings stock price lower but it has recovered amid a broader market rally.

Aside from being a luxury command centre for the president, Air Force One is packed with defensive capabilities, missile-evasion technologies and communications platforms.

They have tremendous capabilities both in terms of communication, how they are hardened and their defenses and how they can employ on-board systems to defend themselves in all sorts of situations that we can think of, Davis said.

We look forward to the opportunity to explain the specific requirements... (and) the current estimate, and we are prepared to work with the new president and the new administration to further reduce costs.
The pilot of the ill-fated Pakistan International Airlines plane that crashed into a mountain on Wednesday killing everyone on board reportedly lost control of one of the engines, the airline said.

Azam Sehgal, PIAs chairman, told reporters that the pilot for flight PK661 told the control tower at 4:09 p.m. local time that an engine had developed a technical fault and moments later made a mayday call shortly before the plane disappeared, Dawn reported.

We were confident that the plane could land with one working engine, he said, adding: I think that there was no technical error or human error... obviously there will be a proper investigation.

The small twin-propeller aircraft was enroute from Chitral to the capital when it crashed near the town of Havelian, about 45 miles northwest of Islamabad. The airline said there were 48 people aboard the plane - 42 passengers, five crew members and one ground engineer.

Emergency was declared at the airport soon after receiving the phone call.

The call about the plane crash was made by a resident of Batolni village who had witnessed the tragedy, the official said.

He called the Benazir Bhutto International Airport at around 4:35 p.m. and was asked to contact the airport manager as he was the relevant person, he said.

Aviation Division Secretary Irfan Elahi told Dawn that an investigation team, led by Air Commodore Munir Ahmed, has been formed to find out why the ATR-42 had crashed. At the moment, there is no other reason for the plane crash other than the failure of the left engine, he said, adding that the investigators will also search for the planes flight data recorders.
Human Rights Watch is calling for an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia over the war in Yemen, and says the United States might be complicit in atrocities there.

The New York-based group said Thursday that more than 160 civilians were killed in one month, mostly by US bombs sold to the Saudi-led coalition battling Yemens Houthi rebels.

It says the US-supplied arms were newly-sold and used in airstrikes in September and October, putting the US at risk of complicity in unlawful attacks.

Human Rights Watch researcher Priyanka Motaparthy says the Obama administration is running out of time to completely suspend US arms sales to Saudi Arabia or be forever linked to Yemen wartime atrocities.
Ambassador Nguyen Nguyet Nga (Photo: baoquocte.vn)

This will be the second time Vietnam hosts the event since 2006.

Ambassador Nga said that the preparations for the event had been carried out very early after the APEC 2013 Summit officially announced that Vietnam is the APEC Host in 2017. An interdisciplinary working group was established in late 2013 while the Government set up the APEC 2017 National Committee in 2015.

During the APEC Year 2017, Vietnam is expected to host some 200 meetings, including 20 ministerial-level and higher level meetings and the APEC Week. Therefore, Vietnam has prepared for facilities, security and healthcare work for the event, in order to both ensure the success of the summit and help international friends have access to businesses and localities.

Regarding initiatives at the event, Ambassador Nga said that initiatives that Vietnam had been preparing focused on APEC top priority, and that suit new requirements for growth, links and economic reshuffle.

She stressed that Vietnam will focus on initiatives that increase support for small- and medium-sized enterprises, and train human resources, especially in the digital era. Vietnam and APEC developing members care a lot about reducing the gap of development gap, linking remote and agricultural production areas, and ensuring food and water resource security.

Adding that APEC will bring opportunities for Vietnamese people and businesses and be a chance to introduce Vietnam to the regional and international friends, Ambassador Nga expressed her hope that APEC hosting will create a push for Vietnams development and help the country increase partnership and attract more resources./.
South Koreas opposition-controlled parliament introduced an impeachment motion Thursday against President Park Geun-hye, setting up a likely vote Friday on whether to suspend her powers over a huge political scandal.

A parliamentary official reported the motion to a plenary session, which means an impeachment vote must take place between 24 and 72 hours. Friday is the final day of the current parliamentary regular session.

The motion needs two-thirds approval in the 300-seat single-chamber parliament to pass. The opposition and anti-Park independents have 172 seats and they appear to have secured enough support from ruling party dissenters to pass an impeachment, according to political observers.

If the vote passes, the countrys Constitutional Court will have up to 180 days to determine whether to formally end Parks presidency. During that time Park would be suspended as president but not removed, with her duties, including commander in chief of South Koreas 630,000-member military, temporarily transferred to the prime minister until the court reaches a decision on whether her impeachment is constitutional.

Prosecutors say they believe Park colluded in the criminal activities of a longtime confidante to manipulate government affairs and extort businesses. The confidante, Choi Soon-sil, and two of Parks former aides allegedly linked to the scandal have been indicted. Park, who has immunity from prosecution while in office, has refused to meet with prosecutors investigating the scandal.

Park, South Koreas first female president, would be the countrys second leader to face an impeachment vote. In 2004, lawmakers impeached then President Roh Moo-hyun on allegations of incompetence and election law violations. But the impeachment led to a big public backlash, and the Constitutional Court reinstated Roh two months later. Roh left office in early 2008 after serving out his single five-year term. In 2009, he killed himself amid a high-profile corruption investigation of his family.

Park has publicly apologized over the scandal three times and acknowledged that she received help from Choi in editing her speeches and with unspecified public relations matters. Park denies involvement in Chois alleged criminal activities.

Hundreds of thousands of people calling for Parks ouster rallied near her presidential place of Blue House for six straight Saturdays, and her approval ratings plunged to 4 percent, the lowest among South Korean leaders since democracy came in the late 1980s. An opinion survey released Thursday showed about 78 percent of respondents supported Parks impeachment.

About 160 lawmakers affiliated with the two main opposition parties said Thursday they would resign en masse if parliament does not approve Parks impeachment, but that could be just a symbolic move because the parliamentary speaker wont likely approve them out of worries about further political chaos.

Park is a daughter of late dictator Park Chung-hee, who ruled the country for 18 years until his 1979 assassination. Choi is a daughter of Choi Tae-min, a purported cult leader who served as a mentor for Park Geun-hye until his death in 1994. Park, whose mother was assassinated in 1974, described Choi Soon-sil as someone who helped me when I had difficulties in the past.

Parks ties with Choi Tae-min, who faced a slew of corruption scandals, have long dogged her political career. Many here criticize her for maintaining ties with the Choi family and lacking transparency on key decisions.

Park, whose term is to end in early 2018, has said she would stand down if parliament arranges a stable power transfer. Her liberal opponents have called the overture a stalling tactic to buy time and find ways to survive the scandal.
On the arid, wind-swept plateau of central Spain, saffron producers are reaping the benefits of a return to favour of the precious spice introduced by Arabs in the Middle Ages.

After a lull in production due to the high cost of growing saffron in Spain, farmers are now back in business as customers have started seeking quality over lower prices.

Sitting around three long tables at the Molineta company in Minaya, a 1,600-strong village 200 km southeast of Madrid, elderly ladies extract bright red stigmas from violet saffron crocuses that will subsequently be dried and sold off.

Every day during the autumn harvest, Segunda Gascon, 78, blackens her fingers as she works the fragrant petals, a gesture she has practiced again and again since 1964 when she was given a small batch of seedlings for her wedding.

She is part of a group of around 50 people  many of them retired  who are paid to help out at this time of year in the small village of the Castilla-La Mancha region.

Nearby Dolores Navarro, 83, sings a folk song as she works: The saffron rose is a fragrant flower, that grows at sunrise and dies at sunset.

She remembers the men who would come to the village in the 1960s to buy the spice at a high price.

A harvester paid in a job-by-job basis carries a basket full of saffron flowers at one of the Molineta de Minaya saffron company's plots in Minaya on November 4, 2016. (AFP)

All by hand

But then came the modernisation of agriculture, which led to a drop in many food prices.

Saffron though, which relies on intensive manual labour, remained expensive and Spanish producers were unable to keep up.

From more than 100 tonnes a year at the start of the 20th century, Spanish production dropped over the decades to reach just 1.9 tonnes in 2014, the last official figure.

By comparison, Iran  where the workforce is cheaper and the selection of stigmas less strict  says 93% of worldwide saffron production came from the country in 2015, at 350 tonnes. Spain, Morocco and Kashmir shared what was left.

In the 1980s, saffron was ruinous, says Molineta founder Juan Antonio Ortiz, a 66-year-old farmer.

Standing by his field, he keeps an eye on the basket-carrying Bulgarian, Senegalese and Malian day labourers, who have been picking still-closed flowers since daybreak and are paid 5.20 euros a kilo.

Unlike others, Ortiz decided not to abandon his precious flowers, and it eventually paid off.

His 10 hectares (25 acres) of saffron now earn his family around 500 euros per kilo, which comes to around 50,000 euros a year. I held on because I always liked growing this, he said.

I was barely walking and I was already in the saffron plots with my mother picking the flowers.

At the turn of the century, Ortiz and his wife Maria Angeles bet on quality to broaden their production, which now comes complete with a protected designation of origin (PDO) label recognised by the European Union.

They sell their saffron to distributors from Spain, the US, European countries and even the United Arab Emirates.

Threads of gold

Once Maria Angeles has sorted through the stigmas with tweezers, and dried them on a silk canvas above a small fire, she puts them in small plastic bags to wait for experts who control their composition to give them their PDO.

They will then be able to sell the saffron threads with their distinctive aroma. The price? Four euros per gramme.

Spanish saffron is among the best of anywhere, says Pat Heslop-Harrison, professor of agricultural biology at Britains Leicester University.

Castilla-La Mancha has the perfect conditions, he adds, pointing to the types of soil, climate, how it is harvested and dried.

That fact has not gone unnoticed among Spains legion of chefs.

In Spain, we treat it as if it were threads of gold, says Daniel Lasa, chef at Spains Michelin-starred Mugaritz restaurant. La Manchas saffron is much clearer, less bitter than that of Iran, he adds.

He prefers using the spice for soups and gelatines, and to accompany seafood.

In the region around Minaya, Spains devastating economic crisis, which erupted in 2008, pushed many to return to growing what is known as red gold.

There are now 267 producers of saffron with the PDO label alone in Spain. Just 100 Km away in Toledo province where unemployment is sky-high, small-scale producers are on the rise, grouping themselves into cooperatives.

And in Minaya, the Ortiz family is no longer alone.

Antonio Garcia Filoso, a 36-year-old farmer, started planting saffron two years ago, and produced three kilograms last year.
Britains foreign minister Boris Johnson has accused Saudi Arabia and Iran of puppeteering and engaging in proxy wars in the Middle East, a video reported on Thursday showed.

In the clip, Johnson told a conference in Rome last week it was a tragedy that politicians in the region were twisting and abusing religion to advance their political objectives.

Such public criticism of British ally Saudi Arabia was seen by some commentators as a diplomatic blunder by Johnson, who has been in the job less than six months.

His comments, filmed and posted on the Guardians website, came as British Prime Minister Theresa May returned from a summit in Bahrain where she pledged to strengthen ties with Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia.

There are politicians who are twisting and abusing religion and different strains of the same religion in order to further their own political objectives, Johnson told the Med 2 conference.

Thats one of the biggest political problems in the whole region. And the tragedy for me - and thats why you have these proxy wars being fought the whole time in that area - is that theres not strong enough leadership in the countries themselves.

Johnson said there were not enough big characters willing to reach out beyond their Sunni or Shia group.

Thats why youve got the Saudis, Iran, everybody, moving in and puppeteering and playing proxy wars, he added.

Britains foreign ministry stressed Johnson had voiced support for Saudi Arabia on the BBCs Andrew Marr Show on Sunday.

As the foreign secretary made very clear on Sunday, we are allies with Saudi Arabia and support them in their efforts to secure their borders and protect their people, a spokesman said.

Any suggestion to the contrary is wrong and misinterpreting the facts.

Addressing a summit of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Bahrain on Wednesday, May reaffirmed British support for traditional allies in the region and said Britain would help push back against Irans aggressive regional actions.

In a joint statement, GCC states and Britain agreed to a strategic partnership and said they oppose and will work together to counter Irans destabilising activities.
Rescue efforts resumed in Indonesias Aceh province on Thursday after a strong earthquake killed more than 100 people, while medical teams struggled to treat the hundreds of injured as supplies trickled slowly into the area.

Wednesdays 6.5 magnitude quake was the biggest disaster to hit the province on the northern tip of Sumatra island since the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, which killed more than 120,000 people in Aceh alone.

Traffic congestion around the epicentre in Acehs Pidie Jaya regency slowed logistical and medical supplies sent by government agencies and NGOs.

There are a lot of government trucks and private vehicles loaded with supplies ... but this is causing a lot of congestion and some logjam in the early response, said Paul Dillon of the International Organisation for Migration, a non-government organisation.

Television images showed some patients being treated in makeshift tents in car parks because hospitals were full.

Indonesias national disaster management agency put the death toll at 102 on Thursday, with more than 700 injured and thousands left homeless.

The agency said more than 1,000 personnel, including military officers and volunteers, had been deployed to help in search and rescue operations.

The search on Thursday was expected to focus on a collapsed marketplace, where at least five people were believed trapped under rubble.

Some of the victims included people attending a wedding party, The Jakarta Post reported.

They planned to attend a wedding. They spent the night here, the newspaper quoted resident Muhammad Armi as saying.

Wednesdays quake hit the east coast of the province, about 170 km (105 miles) from Banda Aceh, the provincial capital. Acehs Pidie Jaya regency, with a population of about 140,000, was worst hit.

Experts said the quake did more damage than expected because of poorly constructed buildings.

Assessment of some of the initial information shows that single storey houses without reinforced internal brick or masonry walls have been damaged severely or collapsed, said Behzad Fatahi, a geological expert at the University of Technology in Sydney.

Aceh was devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami centred on its western coast near Banda Aceh on Dec. 26, 2004. That tsunami killed 226,000 people along Indian Ocean shorelines.
South Koreas parliament introduced a bill on Thursday to impeach President Park Geun-hye, setting the stage for a historic vote to oust the embattled leader engulfed in an influence-peddling scandal.

Parliament is expected to vote on Friday in favour of impeachment, although the Constitutional Court must decide whether to uphold the motion, a process that could take up to 180 days.

Opposition parties have said they believe they will get the two-thirds majority needed to pass the bill, with support from about 30 members of Parks conservative Saenuri Party to secure the necessary 200 votes.

Park, 64, said this week she would await the courts ruling, signalling that the countrys six-weeks-long political crisis is set to continue.

Park, the daughter of a former military ruler, is under intense pressure to resign immediately, with big crowds taking to the streets of the capital, Seoul, every Saturday calling for her ouster.

Her approval rating is at a record low of 4 percent. A Realmeter poll released on Thursday said 78.2 percent of respondents wanted Park to be impeached.

She would be the first democratically elected South Korean president not to serve a full five-year term. Former President Roh Moo-hyun was impeached by parliament in 2004, a motion that was overturned by the Constitutional Court which said grounds for impeachment were insufficient.

Park is accused of colluding with a friend and a former aide to pressure big businesses to donate to two foundations set up to back her policy initiatives.

She has denied wrongdoing but apologised for carelessness in her ties with the friend, Choi Soon-sil.

An impeachment vote must be held within 72 hours of the motions introduction, and the speaker of parliament, Chung Sye-kyun, asked for a vote on Friday.

DRAMATIC WEEK

The stakes are high for both pro- and anti-Park factions.

The leaders of the two main opposition parties said their 159 members would all resign if the impeachment motion failed, taking responsibility for their inability to follow through on the demands of the public.

That would then mean by-elections to fill their seats, which could alter the make-up of the unicameral legislature. In April, Parks Saenuri Party unexpectedly lost its parliamentary majority during elections.

The Friday impeachment vote will cap a dramatic week.

On Tuesday, leaders of the countrys largest conglomerates, including Samsung Group scion Jay Y. Lee, were grilled during a 13-hour hearing in which they denied that donations to two charitable foundations supported by Park and at the centre of the scandal were made in exchange for favourable treatment.

On Wednesday, former associates of Choi, the presidents friend, testified to the same parliamentary panel that Choi conducted herself in ways that made it clear she was exceptionally close to Park and was influential.

The finance ministry said it was concerned about further risks to the economy from domestic issues which could dent consumption and investment at a time when many global uncertainties persist.

Parks father, Park Chung-hee, led South Korea for 18 years after seizing power in a 1961 military coup. He was murdered by a disgruntled spy chief in 1979.
President Bashar Assad said in comments published Thursday that Syrian forces victory in the battle for Aleppo will be a big gain for his government but that it will not end of the countrys civil war.

Assads comments came as his troops were pushing further into the rebel-held enclave in eastern Aleppo, in swift advances that were hardly possible earlier in the bitter conflict, now in its sixth year.

Deeply divided since 2012 between Syrian government and rebel-controlled areas, more than three quarters of the rebel section have now fallen under the governments control, including the symbolically important ancient Aleppo quarters. More than 30,000 of the estimated 275,000 residents of besieged eastern part have fled to western Aleppo.

On Thursday, opposition activists said intensive bombings took place in al-Sukkari and Kallaseh neighborhoods in the area still held by rebels.

Read | Assad says Aleppo win huge step towards end of war in Syria

State TV said the troops were about to storm the two districts. Al-Sukkari is in the southern part of eastern Aleppo, an area that has become home to the majority of the displaced civilians who stayed behind. Kallaseh is near the Old City.

The International Committee for the Red Cross said meanwhile that it evacuated 148 disabled civilians and others in need of urgent care from a facility in Aleppos Old City after fighting had calmed down there.

ICRC said in a statement on Thursday that the evacuation was undertaken jointly with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and was completed late on Wednesday. The people had been trapped in a facility that was originally a home for the elderly and included mental health patients, elderly orphans, and patients with physical disabilities. Some were injured civilians who had sought refuge there.

They were forgotten, said Pawel Krzysiek, ICRC communication coordinator in Damascus. The evacuees were taken to hospital and shelters in the western, government-held part of Aleppo.

Others were not as lucky, with eastern Aleppo residents describing bodies lying on the ground because no one could get to them amid intense fighting.

In an emotional plea sent to the media, the head of the eastern Aleppo medical authority called for an immediate cease-fire, saying this was a last distress call for help.

Aleppo is finished. There is nothing left except a few residents and bricks, Mohammed Abu Jaafar said in a recorded audio message shared with reporters. This may be my last call.

Read | Syria army captures new territories in east Aleppo, pins down rebels

Activists are struggling to document casualties because of street clashes and intense bombings.

The Syrian Civil Defense in Aleppo said it was able to record 38 killed in Wednesdays violence. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 11 were killed in Old Aleppo, seized by the government Wednesday.

The rebel defenses have buckled amid the government and allies wide-ranging offensive, that opened a number of fronts at once and was preceded by an intensive aerial campaign. A proposal for a cease-fire put forward by the rebels Wednesday, calling for a five-day humanitarian pause, has been ignored.

Assad, in an interview published on Thursday in the state-owned newspaper al-Watan, said he will no longer consider truce offers, adding that such offers, particularly from Americans, often come when the rebels are in a difficult spot.

That is why we hear wailing and screaming and pleas for truces as the only political discourse now, Assad said. He described his forces fight in Aleppo as one against terrorism and a conspiracy to destroy and divide Syria, allegedly led by Turkey.

Liberating Aleppo from the terrorists deals a blow to the whole foundation of this project, he said. But he added, to be realistic, it doesnt mean the end of the war.

With Aleppo, Syrias largest city and former commercial heart, the capital of Damascus and Homs, the third largest city under his control, Assad says terrorists no longer hold any cards.

Even if we finish in Aleppo, we will carry on with the war against them, Assad added.

Also Thursday, Russian news agencies quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying Moscow was close to reaching a deal with the United States on a cease-fire for Aleppo. He didnt elaborate, but warned against high expectations.

The Syrian government and its ally Russia have rejected previous calls for truce for the war-torn city, keeping up the military offensive that has squeezed and forced rebels to retreat in several areas.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met on Wednesday in Germany but didnt release any statements.

Ryabkov said a final deal has not been worked out yet.
Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti says an ex-foreign policy adviser of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is visiting Moscow to meet businessmen and politicians.

RIA Novosti on Thursday quoted Carter Page, one of Trumps foreign policy advisers during his election campaign, as saying that he has arrived in Moscow and will stay through Tuesday for talks with influential businessmen and opinion leaders.

Page previously visited Moscow in July when he attended a graduation ceremony of a prestigious Moscow school. He insisted at that time, however, that he was visiting as a private citizen.

Page worked for Merrill Lynch in Moscow in the 2000s and says he has advised the Russian state natural gas monopoly Gazprom on major deals.
A billionaire himself, President-elect Donald Trump may have been expected to turn to his wealthy friends and allies for his cabinet and other senior administration positions. But generals? He has never served in the military.

Trump has packed his team with generals and billionaires and millionaires, including the newest additions: General John Kelly, who is expected to head homeland security, and Linda McMahon, former WWE CEO, to head small business administration.

Trump also named Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma attorney general with strong links to the coal and gas companies, to head the environment protection agency. He is neither a military man nor, apparently, a millionaire, as few others in the cabinet.

The billionaires and millionaires in the cabinet are, according to reports, Wilbur Ross and Todd Ricketts, commerce; Betsy DeVos, education, Steve Mnuchin, treasury; Jeff Sessions, attorney general and Tom Price, health and human services.

The cabinet, whose combined worth is estimated to be $35 billion, is still evolving, with the most high-profile position of secretary of state still open. If Mitt Romney, a former hedge-fund manager, gets it, that will be one more millionaire.

While critics have called it a return to the greed is good era of the 1980s, its the number of generals already on board and those waiting in the gilded lobby of the Trump Tower where the president-elect is picking his cabinet, thats causing concern.

When announced, Kelly will be the third general in a senior position in Trumps top team of officials and advisers, following retired generals Michael Flynn, the national security adviser, and James Mattis, the nominee for secretary of defense.

Mike Pompeo, who has been picked to head the CIA, is also from the military. He went to the West Point military academy and served as a cavalry officer patrolling the Iron Curtain before the fall of the Berlin Wall. But he didnt stay on.

The president-elect is said to be considering two more military leaders  retired general David Petraeus, who also headed the CIA, and retired navy admiral James Stavridis  for secretary of state along with at least eight others, all civilians.

Other s from the military on Trumps radar included, according to news reports, Admiral Mike Rogers, who heads the National Security Agency and is still on active duty, and retired generals Jack Keane and Stanley McChrystal.

Presidents have picked generals before  Colin Powell was secretary of state for President George W Bush and James Jones was national security adviser to President Barack Obama  but rarely as many as Trump at one given time.

Describing the number highly unusual, two former Pentagon officials wrote in The Washington Post, No doubt these men bring tremendous experience. But we should be wary about an overreliance on military figures.

Great generals dont always make great Cabinet officials, they added, cautioning, And if appointed in significant numbers, they could undermine another strong American tradition: civilian control of an apolitical military.

Analysts argue Trumps predilection for the military, specially for national security positions, could have something to do with the fact that he was largely abandoned by the civilian foreign policy experts among Republicans and conservatives.
The head of MI6, Britains international spy agency, is warning that Britain cannot be safe until the war in Syria is brought to an end.

Alex Younger used his first speech since taking the job to say that the British intelligence and security services have disrupted a dozen plots in the UK. in the last three years and are conducting hundreds of investigations. Even so, he says its not possible to pull up the drawbridge in increasingly uncertain times.

Younger says the scale of the threat is unprecedented. Young described the Islamic State group as a murderously efficient organization that is plotting attacks despite facing military pressure in their strongholds in the Middle East. He says the spy service must take the fight to the enemy, penetrating terrorist organizations upstream.
The European Union will soon let Ukrainians and Georgians visit the bloc without needing a visa after diplomats and lawmakers struck a deal on Thursday to end an internal EU dispute that had been holding up the promised measures.

Agreement on a mechanism for suspending such visa waivers in emergencies ends mounting embarrassment for some EU leaders who felt the bloc was reneging on pledges to ex-Soviet states it has promised to help as they try to move out from Moscows shadow.

European Council President warned on Wednesday that the EU was risking its credibility by failing to reward Georgia and Ukraine for painful reforms. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko hailed encouraging news from Brussels.

The prospect of easier travel to Western Europe has been used by governments in Kiev and Tbilisi to win popular backing for painful, EU-sponsored reforms. But EU leaders got cold feet about opening doors to 45 million Ukrainians after the public backlash which followed last years refugee crisis in Europe.

Facing strong challenges from anti-immigration parties in elections next year, leading powers France and Germany demanded strong controls before any visa deal. Late-night talks resulted in the European Parliament conceding that governments can reimpose visa requirements quickly, without lawmakers approval.

Europe is delivering, the conservative leader in the EU legislature, Manfred Weber, tweeted after the deal.

Georgia, with only 5 million citizens, has long been seen as ready for visa liberalisation but has seen its hopes held hostage by EU hesitation over Ukraine, which is bigger, closer and currently stuck in conflict with Russia.

TURKISH ISSUE

A similar plan to ease travel for Turkeys 75 million mainly Muslim population as part of a deal whereby Ankara has helped the EU shut out Syrians and other people seeking asylum has added to political sensitivities in Brussels about the issue.

Ankaras failure to fulfil all the EU conditions, and now anger in Europe at Turkeys crackdown on opponents following a coup attempt in July, have effectively frozen progress on that.

Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kalinak, who has chaired negotiations for EU member state governments, said: The fact that we have reached an agreement should open the door to further progress on visa liberalisation talks with other countries that meet all the necessary requirements.

The bloc has said any new visa waivers can only come into force after the EU beefed up an emergency brake to suspend any free-travel deals in emergencies. But talks on exactly how that snap-back mechanism would work have dragged on for months.

It will now allow the executive European Commission or a majority of EU states to suspend swiftly a countrys visa exemption for nine months if there is a sharp rise in its citizens overstaying their permitted time in the EU, making multiple asylum requests or other problems for the Europeans.

The EU would be able to extend the suspension period for a further 18 months in some cases, but through a more complex procedure that would also give a say to the European Parliament.
It is not a bad thing for us, that the route known as the Goldene Strae or the Golden Road as we will get to know it- has escaped the attention of so many. It has been spared being overrun by hordes of tourists and as you will discover the
The US military believes that some 50,000 Islamic State fighters have been killed since the United States started battling the group more than two years ago in Iraq and Syria, a senior US military official said on Thursday, calling it a conservative estimate.

The official, who spoke to Pentagon reporters on condition of anonymity, said the figure showed how the United States was effectively combating the group with US-led coalition airpower and limited US troop deployments in support of local forces.
The World Bank has cancelled a $100 million loan approved for a natural gas efficiency project, citing a lack of interest on the part of a Pakistani gas distribution company.

The project, which was to be carried out by Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) in its distribution areas in Karachi, interior Sindh and Balochistan, was aimed at enhancing the supply of natural gas by reducing physical and commercial losses of gas in the pipeline system, Dawn reported.

A World Bank report said the failure of the project led to its closure and, as a result, the levels of unaccounted-for gas remained high while continuing to drain the precious natural resource.

Justifying its rating of unsatisfactory, the World Bank report said it should have exercised caution and not proceeded with a project that did not receive sustained interest from the board and management of SSGC, which had insufficient ownership in the project.

Against the original commitment of $200 million, the bank had disbursed only $0.25m.

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) imposed a penalty on gas companies for unaccounted-for gas beyond the benchmark of 4.5 per cent.

The World Bank undertook a strategic review of the project, which identified strong implementation challenges with no progress towards achieving the development objectives of the project as well as no disbursement against project-related activities.
With its global ventures needing to be sustained, search engine giant Google is looking forward to reinforce its undertakings through renewable power. The tech organization has called its new direction a revolutionary one.

This development is not entirely surprising judging from the group's acquisition of continual electrical power last year. In 2015, Google has purchased around 44 percent of its energy from wind and solar farms.

Urs Holzle, the tech group's SVP of technical infrastructure, declares that the company is presently the world's biggest corporate purchaser of sustainable power.

Considering that Google is seeking a hundred percent dependency on infinite resources, one executive talks about the possibility of including nuclear power in the equation. With the rates of energy skyrocketing, the venture is also about cutting costs.

According to Marc Oman, Google's EU Energy head, the approach is about empowering the company operations for the long term. More than that, this undertaking will also be a part of the giant organization's commitment to combat dangerous effects of climate change.

As of late, tech companies are under fire for their increasing carbon emissions. Most of these operations have contributed to the 2 percent greenhouse gas accumulations across the globe. The figure is comparable to the emitted contributions of the aviation industry.

The process to incorporate renewable power has not been immediate. Over the last five years, Google has mapped out a strategy that will make the company operate on such energy completely.

The move, which began in 2012, has gone through a lot of mazes which were attributed to negotiations involving power purchase agreements. The tech group has to go to many documentary processes due to various jurisdictions covering the energy sources.

It cannot be ignored that Google's power needs are increasing. A huge chunk of its usage has been attributed to the organization's data facilities which eat up around three percent of the world's electrical supply.

Google is presently looking at the possibility of setting up 10-year contracts for low-carbon resources such as hydro, nuclear or biomass which can all be utilized periodically.

It should be pointed out that the tech giant will be buying renewable resources based on the electrical consumption of their operations.

Jodie Van Horn, a campaigner for the environmental organization Sierra Club, shares that Google's transition will be vital for other institutions and communities in outlining a course that will protect health, save finances and create jobs.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
With the escalating levels of natural catastrophes including floods and a higher amount of rainfalls, many scientists are coming to a conclusion that the rise in sea levels is evident and disturbing.

The 300-food wide crack in the Antarctic ice is on the verge of breaking off by the next decade. The crack will allow an unexplainable rise in sea levels by at least 10 feet. And such a rise in sea levels is enough to plunge cities like New York and Miami.

Captured by the NASA's Operation IceBridge Mission, the picture shows a 300-wide crack in the Antarctic ice shelf known as Larsen C.

The issue is alarming and can cause a major distress if not addressed on the spot. The crack is 70-miles long, third of a mile-deep rift and continues to bolster the crack due to unstoppable causes of global warming.

As for now, research establishes that the crack has not been completely torn away from the ice shelf. When the complete ice shelf, known as Larsen C breaks off totally, it would create an 82-centimeter rise in sea levels.

However, the alarming case in this aspect is that the crack will allow the dams to pass more water, thus, raising the sea levels ultimately. As far as the complete disintegration of Larsen C is considered, it is predicted to take place in the next decade, but scientists fear it might happen earlier before the supposed period.

The Antarctic ice shelf consists of three shelves, namely Larsen A, Larsen B and Larsen C. The complete crackdown of Larsen A happened due to the glacial cycle, naturally. However, Larsen B's collapse came as in a shock for many of the researchers. It disintegrated just three months after the crack was found.

Scientists and researchers are worried about the forthcoming crack of Larsen C. The same happened in the case of Larsen B when the increase in air and sea temperature added to its complete disappearance.

According to NASA, the ultimate break-off of Larsen C will be as big as Delaware. Another research establishes that the ice shelf is the size of Scotland and if proper measures are not taken, it will be melted completely and the rise in sea levels can be an actual cause of jeopardy.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Kate Middleton and Prince William have invited Prince Harry's girlfriend Meghan Markle to the royal family for the celebration of Christmas. Because of this, Harry was so delighted and is now planning to ask Meghan's hand during the celebration.

It looks like everything moves so fast when it comes to Prince Harry's relationship with Markle. They are still in their sixth month of dating but the turn of events is simply fast. Now, talks of engagements and royal wedding are already swarming up.

According to Celebrity Dirty Laundry, it would be more likely that Kate and William will be welcoming the American actress to first Royal Christmas as Queen Elizabeth already invited the actress for the said royal gathering. If this is true after all, then people might also expect for a royal engagement.

The report added that the Palace is getting ready to announce a Christmas engagement with Harry getting serious already with the "Suits" actress. However there are rumors escalating that the Queen ordered Prince Harry not to marry an American. But the Palace never confirmed that this is true and the Queen really ordered this.

Meghan Markle has been involved with a lot of humanitarian works and this perhaps caught the attention of not only Queen Elizabeth but the other members of the Royal family. So would it be possible if Harry already found his princess?

Speculations are rife that Meghan already met Kate Middleton and Prince William when the actress was in London for a short vacation. Apart from this, Harry has been rumored to have already introduced her even to the rest of the members of the royal family. Meghan never confirmed this after all since she has been so silent about her relationship with Harry.

Meanwhile, Harry just took a 1,700 mile diversion from Barbados just to see his girlfriend since sources claimed that he really misses Meghan so much and he can't afford to stay away from her for a long period of time.

So it looks like Kate Middleton and Prince William are thrilled in welcoming Prince Harry's girlfriend Meghan Markle to Royal Christmas despite reports of divorce.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The divorce battle of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie seems to be turning nastier by the day. The latest about the estranged couple is that Jolie made confidential divorce documents public after Pitt sought more time with their children.

Brad Pitt's lawyer Lance Spiegel has accused Angelina Jolie of breaching the agreement and said that she made their divorce documents public as the actor was looking to spend more time with their children, reports International Business Times. The alleged documents contain the details of the actor's therapy and visitation schedule.

According to Spiegel, after he discussed with Jolie's lawyer Laura Wasser about his client's request to spend more time with their kids, the 41-year-old actress filed for their October Stipulation on Dec 3. This led to the secret documents getting leaked and the actor's lawyer claims that it was her reaction to his advice that Pitt's time with the children be increased.

The purposeful leakage of documents was made by Jolie to punish her ex-husband, claims Hollywood Life. This is because the October Stipulations was meant to be kept confidential to protect the duo and their children. The actress had no reason to do so as Pitt was fully complying with the agreement. Even the agreement expressly makes it clear that it should not be filed with the court unless there is a necessity for enforcement purposes.

Meanwhile, Pitt filed a petition for an emergency hearing on 7 Dec to keep the divorce details from becoming public. However, the court has denied his request, leading Jolie's lawyer Wasser to claim that they have won the case but Spiegel has said that there is still scope for Pitt as the judge has not denied his request to seal the documents. The next hearing is scheduled for January next year and therefore, it remains to be seen if Pitt can still get some relief.

It is worth mentioning here that Angelina Jolie filed for divorce from Brad Pitt in September this year, citing irreconcilable differences. Later, it came out that Pitt allegedly abused one of their children, leading to an inquiry by the Department of Children and Family Services, which ultimately gave the actor a clean chit.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Visit expo > BMP Whole Blood Analyzer: GEM Premier ChemSTAT Gold Supplier LIDA 300 Automated, Random Access Chemistry Analyzer New Silver Supplier Diamond RealSeal Jerricans Plastic Jerricans New THERMOstar Microplate Incubator & Orbital Shaker

A new study reveals that mesoporous magnesium carbonate (MMC), an alkali earth metal, exerts strong bacteriostatic effect on Staphylococcus epidermidis.Discovered by researchers at Uppsala University (Sweden), MMC  which is being commercialized as Upsalite though the University spin-out company Disruptive Materials (Uppsala, Sweden)  is a nanomaterial that absorbs more water at low relative humidity better than the best materials previously available, hygroscopic zeolites, thanks to its tunable pore structure. In addition to its ability to absorb a large amount of moisture, MMC has recently been found to be able to stabilize poorly soluble drugs incorporated into the mesopore structure of the material, thus enhancing their dissolution rate.The material, which consists of amorphous magnesium carbonate and a small portion of crystalline magnesium oxide, is safe to use on skin as it, even at very high concentrations, is nontoxic to human dermal fibroblast cells, and does not induce cutaneous reactions. The researchers also studied the antibacterial effect of MMC, comparing it to mesoporous silica and two other magnesium-containing powder materials as references. The Gram-positive bacterium Staphylococcus epidermidis was used as the model bacterium due to its prevalence on human skin.Quantification of bacterial viability using a metabolic activity assay (MMA) with resazurin as the fluorescent indicator showed that MMC exerted a strong antibacterial effect on the bacteria, and that alkalinity accounts for the major part of this effect. According to the researchers, the results open up for further development of MMC in on-skin applications, where bacterial growth inhibition without using antibiotics is deemed favorable. The study was published on November 14, 2016, in ACS Omega.These newly found bacteriostatic properties, combined with the ability to load and release molecules, for example fragrances from the pores in the material, are highly interesting for many applications, said Professor Maria Strmme, PhD, of the department of engineering sciences, nanotechnology, and functional materials. The results open up for development of materials inhibiting bacterial growth without the use of antibiotics for dermal applications.Staphylococcus epidermidis is an opportunistic bacterium that that has received recent attention for its involvement in hospital acquired infections (HAIs), and because it can readily become resistant to antibiotics. It is found inside affected acne vulgaris pores, in intravascular devices, and has also been associated with complications in patients with implanted prosthetic material.
Hospitality Net today

Sign up to our free daily newsletter,
It looks like you've reached a page that doesnt exist (anymore).

Please use the navigation or search above to find content on Hospitality Net.

Go back to home
Perhaps this should be evidence that the Mannequin Challenge has officially expired. One of the most popular examples of the viral stunt has ended in multiple felony charges, reports WHNT News. Last month (Nov. 9), a Mannequin Challenge video involving 19 people, most of them armed, was posted to Facebook. In the video, a camera weaves through a staged shootout between two rival crews that has been made to look like the scene has been frozen in time. The video, which has now been watched almost 5 million times, was sent to the Madison County (AL) Sheriffs Office shortly after appearing online.

Upon attaining a warrant, members of the Madison County Sheriffs Office, the Huntsville Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives raided the Huntsville residence that was the site of the Mannequin Challenge. The raid occurred at 5:02 AM on Tuesday morning (Dec. 6).

You have a lot of people with firearms at one address, says police Captain Mike Salomonsky. And you have to ask yourself the question, Why? and the second question you have to ask yourself: is it a public safety issue?

We used a breaching technique which caused the front door to be removed from the residence, said Salomonsky of the authorities efforts to enter the home at the address in question. There were reportedly six persons inside the residence at the time of the raid, including an unspecified number of children.

While searching the home, investigators report to have found two hand guns, one assault rifle, one older single barrel shotgun, multiple packs of marijuana, an attack vest, multiple magazines for the assault rifle, multiple rounds of ammunition, and a computer. (It is unclear why the computer was mentioned as part of the contraband). Authorities have since determined that marijuana was being sold out of the residence.

Two arrests have since been made; it has not been confirmed if either man was on the premises during the raid. Kenneth White, age 49, was arrested and charged with first-degree possession of marijuana and certain persons forbidden to possess a firearm. The latter charge is due to a prior felony conviction. His bond has been set at $30,000.

Terry Brown, age 23, was also arrested and charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, loitering, and promoting prison contraband. When Brown was taken to jail, marijuana was found on his person, which explains the lattermost (felony) charge.

Salomonsky expects one or two more arrests to ensue in the near future. There are several persons in the video who may be convicted felons, he said. So, were going to try to do some identification, work with the ATF and see if we can generate any charges out of that.

Remember folks (*ahem* Soulja Boy), the cops are all over social media. If it is any consolation to the jailed suspects, their Mannequin Challenge is still live on Facebook, with its view count going way up. Think these guys are regretting their (successful) attempt at viral fame?

Mannequin
Jason Stokes, a 41-year-old firefighter in Endicott, New York, has been accused of setting fire to his own home on Aug. 10, while his wife and two teenage children were inside. The family was able to escape, and at the time of the fire, a family member told 12 News that the home seemed to have been targeted. After a lengthy investigation, Stokes was charged with second-degree arson, to which he plead not guilty in a Broome County Court last Thursday (Dec. 1). He was arraigned and indicted on Tuesday (Dec. 6), and he is currently being held at the Broome County Jail with a bail of $10,000 in cash or $20,000 in property.

A terrorizing anti-police message  lie with pigs, fry like bacon  was found spray-painted on the back of the home. In the front of the home flew a Blue Lives Matter flag. In a press conference today, Broome County District Attorney Steve Cornwell suggested his belief that Stokes had written the message in order to cover up his crime and make it look like he was targeted for his Blue Lives Matter support.

At this point, the main indicator of arson is that multiple containers full of gasoline and other flammable material were found throughout the home, as if it would be an obstacle course, said Cornwell.

As Cornwell suggested the home had been booby trapped, it is unclear if anyone (namely Stokes family or those who would respond to the fire) is presumed to be a target. When alerted of the fire, the firefighters were unaware of all of the gas containers when entering the home, though upon discovering and removing them, they were able to extinguish the fire in a timely manner.

Cornwell confirmed that, at this time, he believes Stokes is the only suspect behind the alleged arson. No motive for the crime has yet been revealed, though Cornwell pointed out that the legal aim will be to discover not motive but intent.

[via WBNG 12 News]

Firefighter
The Midnight Navy Air Jordan XVI, thats Air Jordan 16 for those who arent roman numeral experts, is making a return 15 years after the original release, but they wont come cheap.

The bizarre looking Air Jordans, complete with the tumbled leather, removable shroud, will reportedly retail for $250, similar to the way the Copper Air Jordan 17s were priced. Many sneakerheads will agree that the Air Jordan line fell off after the 14s, but theres still plenty of folks who will be happy to see this cult classic returning- even if its with an increased price tag.

A release date has been pegged for next Thursday, December 22nd. You can check out official images of what to expect from the Midnight Navy Air Jordan XVI in the gallery above.

Would you like to see Jordan Brand keep going with the 16s and bring back colorways like the Ginger and Black/Varsity Red or should they shut it down after this release?

Air Jordan 16
The documentary will feature appearances from U2's Adam Clayton, David Gray, Gary Lightbody and Hot Press' very own Niall Stokes.

Across the Line at 30 charts the history of the long-running music show which has championed new music in Northern Ireland for 30 years. It will be broadcast on Monday, December 12 on BBC One.

Narrated by Colin Murray, the film features fresh interviews with some of rock and roll's biggest names sharing their memories of the programme and how it helped define the sound of Northern Ireland over four decades.

Interviewees will include Neil Hannon from Divine Comedy, Therapy?, The 4 Of Us and Ash.

The programme also talks to Mike Edgar, original presenter and long-time producer, alongside the team that led the way towards the show's successful longevity - including Davy Sims, Donna Legge, Barry McIlheney, Mary Carson, Paul McClean, and the programme's current presenters Rigsy and Stuart Bailie.

The programme was BBC Northern Ireland's first weekly network radio programme championing new music from Northern Ireland. Indeed the programme had many firsts in that it was the first programme in Northern Ireland to stereo simulcast live concerts on television and radio; the first programme to broadcast concerts from Northern Ireland visually on the internet and radio; and as the world moved into the digital era, the programme even played the first compact disc to be heard on the BBC Radio Ulster airwaves in Northern Ireland.

Advertisement

The programme is widely credited for its friendship and support in the early days of Ash, Snow Patrol, Divine Comedy, The Four of Us, Therapy?, Hothouse Flowers, Two Door Cinema Club and many more.

Watch the preview for the documentry here:
The hit song, written by Irishman Brendan Graham and Norwegian Rolf Lvland, has become a modern classic...

You Raise Me Up, the global hit song co-written by Irishman Brendan Graham and Norwegian Ralf Lvland, has been named as one of the songs that defined America. The distinction is bestowed in a new book by James Perone, the professor of music at the University of Mount Union. Among his previous works is Music of the Counterculture Era.

In the book, Perone examines 100 songs that he believes helped tell America's story. He explains why each song became a hit, what cultural and social values it embodies, the issues it touches on, what audiences it attracted, and what made it a definitive part of American history and popular culture.

The chart-topping songs included in the selection crossed gender, age, race, and class lines to appeal to the mass American audience. The book discusses patriotic songs, minstrel music, and sacred songs and hymns, as well as music in the broad categories of pop, rock, hip hop, jazz, country, and folk.

Individual songs are presented chronologically in the book, based on when they were written  rather than necessarily when the hit versions were released.

Among the other sings discussed are standards like Yankee Doodle, Oh, Susannah, Amazing Grace, This Land Is Your Land and 'As Time Goes By, as well as songs by Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan (who has more than one entry), the late Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell and Taylor Swift  whose Mean also makes the cut. You Raise Me Up is described as a worldwide phenomenon, and a song that has become one of the most successful and frequently sung inspirational songs of the 20th Century.

Advertisement

Perhaps surprisingly, there is no U2 in the list  though contemporaries Talking Heads (with In A Lifetime) and Blondie (with Heart of Glass) do make the cut. However, it might be argued that You Raise Me Up is in fact not the only Irish song in the list.

When Johnny Comes Marching Home, which is also included, was written by Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore, a Galway-born band-leader and composer, who had settled in Boston and wrote the song during the American civil war. It was first published in 1863.

George M. Cohans Give My Regards to Broadway, originally written for the musical Little Johnny James is also included. Cohan, characterised as the man who owned Broadway" was born in Rhode Island to two Irish parents, who had travelled to the US and worked as vaudeville performers.

This latest recognition of You Raise Me Up' follows close on the heels of its inclusion in Gerry Hanberrys book, On Raglan Road  Great Irish Love Songs. Previously, global sheet music publisher Hal Leonard included You Raise Me Up' in the song folio The Worlds Greatest Standards - 51 of the Most Popular Standards Ever Written.
Fourteen enterprising teens, ranging in age from 12 to 17, had an audience with the Minister for Employment and Small Business, Pat Breen when he visited their school in Wicklow yesterday to launch a new teacher resources package to help support the next generation of entrepreneurs.

This article can only be read with a Premium Account Please Log In or Subscribe to continue reading
Rapper Banks accused the actor of assault at a hotel party.

Following the accusation that actor Russell Crowe got violent with rapper Azealia Banks at a party in his hotel room, the Los Angeles District Attorneys Office has determined that Banks' battery report that was filed after the incident is unjustified and that Crowe did nothing wrong in the situation. Banks had accused the 52-year-old actor of shouting racial slurs at her and getting violent. She had said that Russell and I get next to each other. Hes talking to me, Im talking to him, and we start flirting. Were having a really good time. Hes got his knee on my knee, hes touching my leg, Im playing him my music, he tweets my song The Big Big Beat. Hes like, I love this, youre beautiful, this is great.' After this moment, the rapper stated that he just kind of switched, and was yelling racial slurs, choking her, and spitting on her before he kicked her out of the party.

Witnesses tell a different story, stating that it was instead Banks who was shouting racial slurs, and even that she threatened to cut a partygoer's throat with a broken glass. Comedian Jim Jefferies, who claims he was present at the party, described Banks as being "out of control," and insisted that Crowe "did nothing wrong." The Los Angeles District Attorneys Office ultimately agreed, as they determined that Crowe's decision to remove Banks from the room was, justified to prevent the imminent violence threatened by Banks, as reported by TMZ.
The actress celebrated her Irish heritage with a few pints of Guinness and some of her favourite bad jokes, watch the video here.

Irish-Ethopian actress Ruth Negga, who recently starred in the historical drama Loving shone in a photoshoot with Mario Testino for the cover of Vogue's January issue. She spoke about her identity, her history as an actress, her time studying at Trinity Colleges Samuel Beckett Centre, and even took the time to pull a few pints of Guinness (badly) while telling (terrible) jokes. "To the bartenders of Ireland, I am sorry and ashamed," she apologised at the end.

The actress has definitely had a breakout year in 2016, with her role on the action/drama Preacher, and her acclaimed performance in the new movie Loving. The film tells the real-life story of Mildred and Richard Loving, an interracial couple who faced racial prejudice and whose determination to be united in marriage became a historical civil-rights battle. As Negga told Vogue in her interview, "The film is reminding us that theres a conversation that we need to be having still." She mentioned that her connection to her home in Ireland helped her to identify with her character, saying, ""Virginia isn't that different from Ireland. Land and home and community are super important. When I was playing her, I tried to imagine I couldn't go home again because of whom I married. It must have drained the lifeblood from her."

She spoke about her own experiences with racism she encountered when she moved to London. "When I was a kid in Ireland," she says, "there were not very many black people. I was very much like the strange brown thing, intriguing and cute. I didn't experience racism there. The first time I did was in London. It was that moment that you realize you're black. A kind of lifting of the veil."

Her performance in the film has even sparked rumours of an Oscar nomination, though those won't be announced until January. Loving will be released in Irish cinemas this coming February.
The Irish five-piece line the ranks alongside Drake, Beyonce and Radiohead with their debut LP Everything This Way being included as one of the Best Albums of the year by the streaming site.

Released back in January, Everything This Way was the long-awaited debut album from the Irish alt/rock band, who had for several years been leaving sizeable imprints on the Irish music scene.

Everything This Week shot straight to the top of the Irish Charts, where it stayed for a full four weeks, and helped propel Walking on Cars onto the international music scene.

The band made the announcement on their Facebook page:

Advertisement

The announcement follows a busy few weeks of touring for Walking On Cars. Last month, the band accepted their European Border Breakers Award for Ireland on the Tracy Clifford show on RTE, they will go on to represent Ireland at Eurosonic Festival in January.

Listen to Walking On Cars 'Speeding Cars' here:
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Atec builds, assembles and tests critical valves for rocket engines that launch satellites into space and will one day propel astronauts toward Mars. On Wednesday, the Stafford-based company's work was recognized by NASA's team for the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft.

"We cannot do what we do without the help of both large and small companies across the nation," Tracy Johnson, assistant program manager for NASA's Space Launch System, told a group of employees and representatives of other NASA contractors gathered at Atec headquarters. "And that's why we're here today, to say thank you."

The SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft are part of NASA's effort to send humans to Mars in the 2030s.

Atec provides cryogenic flow-control valves for the Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10 engine. The valves control the flow of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen until they're blended in the combustion chamber used to propel the rocket.

One of the RL10 engines will be used in the SLS rocket's upper stage for an unmanned test flight planned for 2018; four of them will be used for the first manned flight planned for a later date.

Atec is also assisting Boeing by building battery adapter plates for the International Space Station. The adapter plates will mount batteries to the space station while also protecting the batteries and keeping them warm during installation.

The first batch of adapter plates is scheduled to be launched into space on Friday, space systems engineering manager Ben Wilking said.

Atec was awarded the 2016 Small Business Subcontractor of the Year award from NASA's Johnson Space Center for its work with Boeing. Atec has about 120 employees in the Houston area and more than 150 overall.

"This is a proud moment for us, and we've been working for this moment for a long time," president Paul Fenley said.

Outside of its space-flight work, Atec builds facilities and equipment for the U.S. Air Force and commercial entities to test jet and turboprop engines. It also builds energy services equipment that is put down wells to map oil and gas deposits in rock formations.

"We don't make dainty lab equipment," said Brian Durbin, vice president of Atec. "We make the rugged stuff."

Johnson and Paul Marshall, NASA's assistant manager for the Orion program, said visiting companies provides an opportunity to tell employees how critical their work is to the mission and in keeping astronauts safe.

The officials showed videos and pictures of the development and testing of the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft, then answered questions. NASA prime contractors Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK and Aerojet Rocketdyne also were present.

"Most places don't have that specific knowledge that what they're doing is one day going to land people on Mars," Marshall said.
Oil dropped Wednesday after a report showed crude supplies at Cushing, Okla., the biggest U.S. storage hub climbed the most since January 2009.

West Texas Intermediate futures decreased 2.3 percent. Stockpiles at Cushing, which is the delivery point for WTI, rose by 3.78 million barrels last week.

Oil surged to a 16-month high Monday after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed last week to trim the group's output by 1.2 million barrels a day from January to stem a supply glut and buoy prices. OPEC has invited 14 producers from outside the group to a meeting on Saturday to discuss the curbs, Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said.

However, OPEC will accept natural output declines as part of the 600,000-barrel-a day reduction agreed with non-members, rather than insist they intentionally cut, three officials familiar with the matter said.

"The crude-buying frenzy of last week has abated," said Adam Wise, who helps run a $7 billion oil and natural gas portfolio at John Hancock in Boston. "The market is now digesting the data and attention is shifting to the implementation of the agreement."

WTI for January delivery fell $1.16 to $49.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract settled at $51.79 on Monday, the highest close since July 2015.

Brent for February settlement declined 93 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $53 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The global benchmark crude closed at a $2.06 premium to February WTI.

A global cut of 1.8 million barrels a day would be enough to balance the market, United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi. Supply and demand should be balanced by mid-2017, said his Nigerian counterpart, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu.

"
New public-health studies warn that hasty congressional action toward repealing the Affordable Care Act could have dire consequences for the poor and uninsured both in Texas and nationwide.

The dismantlement of portions of the law, known as Obamacare, without a comparable substitute could mean 2.6 million more Texans would be uninsured, raising the total to 6.9 million by 2019, the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank for economic and social policy, said Wednesday in a new report.

Texas already leads the nation in the number of uninsured.

"There is good deal of fear," said Vivian Ho, a health economist at Rice University's Baker Institute of Public Policy, who has tracked the health care law's implementation in Texas. "The uninsured rate will be going up under any scenario."

The fallout from even a partial congressional repeal through a process known as budget reconciliation could also nearly double the national uninsured rate to 21 percent by 2019, the report found. That would be higher than the rate before the ACA went into effect.

A full repeal of the law by President-elect Donald Trump and the new Republican-led Congress could take time and be blocked in the short term by Democrats through filibuster. A lesser but still significant unspooling could take place almost immediately through the budget reconciliation process that was previously tried but vetoed by President Barack Obama.

A new attempt, presumably without veto threat, could quickly eliminate Medicaid expansion in 31 states and the District of Columbia, as well as the federal financial assistance designed to lower costs for people buying insurance on the exchanges. Republicans have signaled they prefer a block-grant approach to let individual states decide how best to get health care to those with low incomes.

Repeal through reconciliation could also kill the individual and employer mandates that are deeply unpopular among critics of the law but are baked in as necessary to increase the pool of the insured and spread the risk.

"The rush for repeal, certainly without replacement, is a huge risk for the health and financial stability for Texas. Not just for the poor but for everyone," said Stacey Pogue, a senior policy analyst for the Center for Public Policy Priorities.

"We don't just go back to the uninsured rate before the Affordable Care Act," she said, "the entire individual market becomes destabilized."

Texas leans on subsidies

More Information By the numbers 913,177: Number of Texans who get subsidies under the health care law. $271: Average monthly subsidy that Texans get. $2.9 billion: Amount used to help Texans buy insurance, the third-highest in the nation. See More Collapse

Texas is one of 19 states that did not expand Medicaid. But a Monday report from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows Texas is among the top five states that has become most dependent on the ACA's subsidies.

In Texas, 913,177 people get a subsidy of an average of $271 per month, the Kaiser study showed. That means a total $2.9 billion help Texans buy insurance, the third-highest total in the nation behind Florida and California.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday that legislation repealing the law will be the first order of business in the new Congress.

Exactly what will replace the 6-year-old law remains one of the biggest post-election unknowns. Some Republicans have said there is no need to rush for a substitute, predicting it could take two to three years to settle on the best path forward.

"We are not going to rip health care out of the hands of Americans," House Ways and Means Committee chairman Kevin Brady, R-Woodlands, has said. "Republicans are going to give Americans choices and an appropriate transition."

Trump said just after he was elected that he would like certain provisions, such as a prohibition against denying coverage for pre-existing conditions and allowing children to stay on parent policies until age 26, to remain.

Some in Congress have questioned even those measures. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, last spring vowed to "repeal every word," while House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has favored reinstating high-risk pools to cover some with chronic illnesses.

Ho is also worried.

"If they repeal with no replacement in place, there is much less incentive for insurance companies to remain in the market," she said.

Those that do remain could raise prices to compensate for smaller risk pools, she warned, and without subsidies, insurance policies will become unaffordable.

Market has been 'wobbly'

Marilyn Tavenner, chief executive of America's Health Insurance Plans, a leading industry trade group, told the New York Times that insurers were already unhappy about losing money in the individual markets and wanted the financial assistance to keep people buying plans to remain.

"The market has already been a little wobbly this year," Tavenner was quoted as saying Tuesday. "If insurance companies believe cost-sharing subsidies will not continue, they are going to pull out of the market during the next logical opportunity."

Insurers have said those who enroll in plans now will likely remain covered through the end of 2017 no matter what Congress does. Enrollment for next year will continue until Jan. 31.

There is also concern that a spike in the uninsured rate could sharpen the health divide that already exists among minorities in Texas,

A local report released Wednesday by Houston's Episcopal Health Foundation and Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, said that blacks and Hispanics in the state are more likely to be uninsured and have higher rates of diabetes and obesity, and the problem could grow worse should they lose even more access to early treatment.

The report found that poor health, including conditions that are preventable, cost families, employers, insurers and governments an estimated $1.7 billion in excess medical spending for hospital care, doctor visits and prescriptions.

But more than just health care, the new report also found that health disparities cost the state $2.9 billion in lost work productivity.

"This report shows why access to affordable medical care isn't only a health issue," said Elena Marks, president and CEO of Episcopal Health Foundation. "If hundreds of thousands of low-income Texans were to lose the health insurance they currently have, the costs to their health and the economic cost to all Texans rise dramatically."
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Gerry Moohr's heart leapt Thursday morning when she saw a crane on the Rothko Chapel lawn hoisting the pyramidal base of Barnett Newman's "Broken Obelisk" back toward the reflection pool where it has stood since 1971.

Moohr, a retired law professor, walks her dog Chris past the chapel twice a day and has missed seeing the 25-foot tall sculpture since it was removed earlier this year for interior re-engineering and repairs.

"It's a very arresting piece, somehow sad and hopeful at the same time," Moohr said. "It looks like tragedy struck, but it's balanced."

"Broken Obelisk" spent most of this year at Lippincott LLC, the Connecticut foundry that fabricated it for the artist in 1966. Re-installing the three-ton sculpture was a day-long project requiring a crew of about a half-dozen people.

Viewers will have to look close to discern any difference: Near the tip of the pyramid, a freshly welded patch of Cor-Ten material reveals some of the work done. That spot will eventually age to the same patina as the rest of the piece.

Inside that base, a new rain barrel contraption will gather condensation, so the sculpture will no longer rust from the inside-out. Lippincott also re-engineered the pin that connects the sculpture's two parts, to reduce drips; re-coated the hollow interior; and recreated Newman's signature plaque, which went missing years ago.

Overseeing Thursday's re-installation, Menil Collection conservator Kari Dodson also pointed out the now good-as-new "flame-cut" edge along the pyramid's base, which had deteriorated from exposure to the pool's chemically-treated water.

Newman had the idea to install the piece above a pool, but that brilliant stroke has also presented conservation challenges, exacerbated by Houston's humidity. "Broken Obelisk" has been de-installed twice previously for repairs, in 1985 and 2004.

This conservation was rolled into a larger, $850,000 project that Rothko Chapel executive director David Leslie described as "Phase I" of a push to reinvigorate the chapel by 2021, its 50th anniversary.

Some of those funds have been applied to hiring "a full complement of consultants" who will present the first steps of a master plan by early next summer, "to help us understand what is feasible, fits well within the neighborhood and complements the chapel," Leslie said.

The New York firm Architecture Research Office is examining where and how a visitors center and a retreat space could be added. Nelson Byrd Woltz, which is also designing Memorial Park's master plan, will recommend improvements for the Rothko's landscape, which sits between the University of St. Thomas and the Menil Collection campuses.

George Sexton & Associates is designing upgrades to the interior and exterior lighting - including the ceiling, baffle and skylight that affect how Mark Rothko's monumental paintings inside the chapel are seen. The first phase work also includes upgrades to audio-visual systems and other operating equipment. And the reflection pool has a new surface and pump.

Leslie described it all as "the getting-ready phase" before the board launches a capital campaign late next year.

He was pleased to see "Broken Obelisk" back in place in time for the chapel's upcoming holiday programs, which include a Dec. 15 conversation between Rabbi Samuel Karff, Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza and Rev. William Lawson; a crystal bowl meditation on Jan. 1; and annual Martin Luther King Day celebrations Jan. 15-16.
Bianca Del Rio is finally bringing her proper tour to Houston.

Del Rio, the "RuPaul's Drag Race" Season 6 winner, returns May 12 to Warehouse Live with her Not Today Satan comedy show. Tickets are $42.50-$201.50 and go on sale at noon Friday via the venue site.

The drag superstar has visited Houston several times, drawing packed crowds to South Beach nightclub in Montrose. But this will be her first full-on show in the city. It's a testament to Del Rio's enduring success.

The feature film "Hurricane Bianca," about a gay teacher who returns to his conservative Texas school disguised as a woman, was released this year. It stars Rachel Dratch, RuPaul, Margaret Cho and Alan Cumming. The two part "Not Today, Bianca" comedy special airs this month on Logo.

VIP tickets include a meet and greet with Del Rio, premium seats and exclusive merchandise.
Jean-Loup Chretien is the first French man ever to be launched into space. A former fighter pilot, he also was on the crew of the STS-86 Atlantis in 1997, which docked at the Russian Space Station. He retired from NASA in 2001. But at 78 he's managed to do a few things.

Because training to be an astronaut wasn't sufficiently time consuming, Chretien began playing the organ in the 1970s, a pursuit he delved into further after retirement. His biggest musical project thus far has been "Reves d'Etoiles" ("Gone with the Stars"), a multi-media presentation that features Chretien and organist Jean-Philippe Le Trevou performing a piece they composed to accompany photographs and video Chretien took from space.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Twenty years ago, Larry Thomas was an unknown character actor scrambling for jobs in Los Angeles. A friend of a friend of a friend helped him land an audition for an episode of "Seinfeld."

Thomas wasn't given a script. All he had to work with was the title of the episode.

"The Soup Nazi."

"I didn't know that the 'Soup Nazi' was based on a real person. I didn't know that there was a person named Al Yeganeh who had a soup stand on 55th Street and Eighth Avenue in New York City. So I had to imagine what someone called the 'Soup Nazi' would be like," Thomas said.

"I've always done dialects in my career. I look more foreign than American, even though I was born in Brooklyn. I was told that 'Seinfeld' was always looking for ethnic New York City characters. I had to develop a character based on only two things: the word 'Nazi' and he'd be ethnic. I imagined a militaristic food vendor who would get on Jerry Seinfeld's nerves in the show."

Thomas decided on a Middle Eastern accent, inspired by watching Omar Sharif in "Lawrence of Arabia." He did the audition wearing an Army uniform and beret.

"I looked like Saddam Hussein," he said.

The audition went well and Thomas was called back for a second interview. This time, Seinfeld, show co-creator Larry David, the episode's writer Spike Feresten and other staff writers were in the room. Thomas let them have it - he did the "Soup Nazi" pretty much as "Seinfeld" fans remember from the show, ultra mean, over the top and wildly funny.

As memorable and iconic as his portrayal of the "Soup Nazi" is now - an Emmy nomination, a cottage industry of "Soup Nazi" products and memorabilia - Thomas did not land the role immediately.

"I found this out years later. Jerry and some others were worried about casting an unknown actor for such a big role. Two other actors, with more experience, were being considered: Tony Shalhoub ("Monk") and Richard Libertini (the guru in "All of Me" and the South American dictator in "The In-Laws"). Jerry told Spike that since he wrote the episode, he could decide who got the part," Thomas said.

Feresten picked the "angry New York guy."

"That's how he referred to me," Thomas said.

Seinfeld had some more tweaking to do with the "Soup Nazi." He wanted Thomas to play the character a little softer, not as mean.

"Those four days filming 'Seinfeld' were wonderful. Before we shot the scenes in the soup stand, Jerry told me to forget what he suggested, and play the character as I imagined it. Jerry has great instincts, and he's willing to step back and let actors do their work. All he cared about was the show being funny," Thomas said.

Thomas still hadn't met the real-life "Soup Nazi," who did not like the "Seinfeld" episode and bristled if anybody thought that the show made him famous. Yeganeh would insist it was the other way around - his soup already was a sensation in New York, lines around the block, and Seinfeld, the person and the show, were "clowns."

It was the word "Nazi" that set Yeganeh off. I met him a couple of years after the episode aired in 1996. He asked me, "How would you like to be called a Nazi, a Hitler, the worst, most evil people who ever lived?"

Point taken.

Call him the "Original Soupman." And he's back with a line of soups now on supermarket shelves. And his company's spokesman is  Larry Thomas, sounding and looking like he did 20 years ago on "Seinfeld."

"Two summers ago, I was at a Brooklyn Cyclones game for 'Seinfeld Trivia Night' and the Original Soupman company had a food truck there. I started talking with some of the executives, and they asked if I'd rep them. I love the show and I love the soup, so it's been a perfect match," Thomas said.

Thomas will visit Houston-area supermarkets Saturday and Sunday, ladling free samples of Lobster Bisque, Chicken Noodle, Lentil, Crab & Corn Chowder, Jambalaya, Chicken Gumbo and more. As Elaine Benes on "Seinfeld" can testify, you might want to try the bisque.

Here's the Soupman's schedule:

Saturday:

Noon-1 p.m., H-E-B, 10161 W. Grand Parkway S., Richmond

1:30-2:30 p.m., Kroger, 8011 W. Grand Parkway S., Richmond

Sunday:

11 a.m.-noon, Kroger, 12605 Interstate 45 N., Willis

2-3 p.m., H-E-B, 4517 Kingwood Drive, Kingwood

3-4 p.m., H-E-B, 4304 Kingwood Drive, Kingwood

Some advice: when you meet Thomas and tell him which soup you want, be extra polite and follow the rules. Otherwise 

"No Soup for You!"

Pethouse Pet of the Week

Name: Cooper

Ethnicity: I'm a shepherd mix and Alaskan husky mashup.

Birthdate: Aug. 30, 2016. Just a pup with the world on a string.

Cooper's conversation: This time, we're going to be serious.

The criminals who poisoned several dogs at the Gimme a Bark doggie day care center in Friendswood in late November probably didn't know who they were messing with: two of the pooches belong to pro wrestling legend Bruce "Brother Love" Prichard.

Prichard's dogs are Wally, a Rottweiler and Chihuahua mix (if that's even possible), and Rowdy, "who looks like Chewbacca." His wife, Stephanie Prichard manages the facility.

Prichard didn't take kindly to someone attempting to kill his dogs. The only part of his five-minute rant suitable for print was, "I better not get my hands on the sick person or persons who did this. I will jack them up."

A report has been filed with the Friendswood Police Department. There is a $5,500 reward for information leading to the arrest (if Prichard gets there first, a beatdown) of suspects who threw green rat poison pellets over the fence at Gimme a Bark.

Ten dogs were present at the time. Four dogs ate the poison and were taken to an animal hospital where vomiting was induced. All survived.

Prichard, in his wrestling persona as "Brother Love," introduced The Undertaker to the WWE in 1990 and managed several other superstars, including Ted "Million Dollar Man" DiBiase."

Prichard currently has a podcast called "Something to Wrestle With," that can be downloaded on iTunes and wherever podcasts are available. He records a new episode every Friday.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

A trained sculptor, David Yurman, 74, began making bronze pieces in the 1970s before moving to jewelry. These days his brand is one of the world's most recognizable; Yurman pieces have wide appeal, from the classic cable bracelets ($400 and up) to high jewelry (pieces from $25,000 to $1.2 million). His newest collection, Pure Form, celebrates the sculptural properties of metal.

New York-based Yurman, a yoga enthusiast, recently spoke with the Chronicle about growing up on the wrong side of the tracks and what makes him happy.

Do you still design?

I do most of the first drawings and cuts, and my son (Evan Yurman, 34) takes care all of the men's pieces. He does about 75 to 100 designs a year.

How did you get into high jewelry?

My son wanted to do high jewelry when he got into the business, but I said I didn't have a feel for it. It seemed too exclusionary. I grew up in a very wealthy community, but I grew up on the other side of the tracks. So (other kids would) be coming to school in (Jaguar) XKEs and Stingrays, and I'd be riding a Schwinn. But Evan said, "Your model is that you want to make jewelry for all kinds of people, then what about the rich people?"

Do you still sculpt?

I do. I finally got my studio up and I started doing some direct-welded bronze pieces.

Will you sell them?

I have enough things hanging around collecting dust, so we'll see.

Didn't you do Western belt buckles back in the day?

There are some cowboys who have the buckles I made in the 1970s. Putnam Art Works was my company, and I did a series of about 20 buckles; two or three had that cowboy style with center stones and spiderweb turquoise. They were fun to design. We might bring them back.

Are you a cowboy?

I am. I have four horses, one named Chicken Enchilada.

Do you have a trail name?

Dusty. I've been riding with the same group for 41 years. We ride all over - Wyoming, Utah - once a year for a week. I love it.

How did you get into yoga?

I do bad-ass Hatha yoga three days a week. I started in 2009. I couldn't stand at public appearances because I had a bulging disc and surgery was recommended. So I wanted to try yoga. It was hard in the beginning. I still can't do a seated position, but I'm closer to getting the flexibility. Still no surgery; I don't even go to the chiropractor any more. Yoga is one of the great things of my life.

What makes you happy?

Finding a moment when I feel like I've brought someone kindness, and it's received and appreciated. And being with my grandkids ... but sometimes you just want them to go.

This interview has been condensed and edited.
The Holocaust Museum of Houston is opening its first ever bilingual English-Spanish exhibition, showcasing the history of a guest workers program that allowed the United States to maintain its agricultural production during World War II, but at high human costs for the Mexican labor, particularly in Texas.

The exhibition, entitled "Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program 1942-1964," will open this Friday, December 9.

Bracero, which means arms or labor force in Spanish, is the popular name given to the Emergency Farm Labor Program between both countries signed in 1942.

It allowed U.S. employers to contract Mexican labor for agriculture and railroad jobs through the program in order to replace American workers moving to other, better-paid industries that were booming during WWII.

The exhibition was originally organized and presented in by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and has been presented in several cities around the country.

It shows 15 free-standing banners featuring photographs by Leonard Nadel, a photographer who documented the harsh conditions of bracero workers in 1956 with the purpose of exposing employers' violations and improving their living conditions, the museum indicated.

The exhibition What: "Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program 1942-1964." Where: The Holocaust Museum's Central Gallery at the Morgan Family Center, 5401 Caroline St., in Houston's Museum District. When: From Friday, December 9 to May 14, 2017. For more information: Call 713-942-8000 or visit www.hmh.org. See More Collapse

With the exhibit, "We wanted the public to know more about this program, the men that worked in the agriculture during those times, and how it shaped the policy and social landscape in the United States," says Steve Velasquez, an associate curator at the Museum of American History.

The Holocaust Museum added local elements to the exhibit, including short documentaries about braceros and their descendant from Houston.

Connecting the present to history

"This story is not taught in our schools," said Michelle Tovar, who's in charge of the museum's Spanish outreach and Latin American initiatives.

She adds that the exhibition "allow people to understand and make connections between our current and past histories as it shows the discrimination and the prejudices that these men went through during that period."

Although Mexico and the U.S. signed an agreement establishing decent payment and working and living conditions, they were violated by employers around the country, and particularly in Texas.

Initially, Mexico decided that its nationals were not going to be sent as braceros to Texas; the state had a bad reputation for its treatment of the Mexican workers already working there as undocumented labor. So Texas didn't participate in the program until 1948, six years after it started in California and the rest of the country.

Jesus Jessy Esparza, a professor of history at the Texas Southern University, says that bracero workers were "overworked, underpaid, and were viewed as threats to the society."

Esparza said that these workers were frequently accused of being a burden on the economy, and were even viewed as potential spies during wartime. At the end of the program, in 1964, a U.S. initiative called Operation Wetback deporte millions of braceros who were still under contract or had overstayed their work periods.

The Holocaust Museum is particularly relevant, Esparza said, "when we see this kind of trend happening today in the country."

Esparza, along with three students from the TSU DigitalStory program, has produced short documentaries about local braceros and their families for the museum's oral history program.

Olivia.Tallet@chron.com

Twitter: @oliviaptallet
Reaction was mixed after former presidential candidate and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson accepted President-elect Donald Trumps offer to head the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department.

Though Carson has no housing or government experience, he has been critical of HUDs recent fair housing efforts. Thats put some advocates  including those in Texas, where housing debates are playing out in cities like Dallas and Houston  on alert, while others are cautiously awaiting more information about the potential policies of a Carson-led HUD.

Trump lauded his pick Monday, saying, Ben Carson has a brilliant mind and is passionate about strengthening communities and families within those communities. We have talked at length about my urban renewal agenda and our message of economic revival, very much including our inner cities.

HUD has a budget of nearly $50 billion, and much of it is dedicated to rental assistance programs including housing vouchers and public housing.

Given that critical role, some in the housing community are cautious of the pick and wondering what it means for their work. The term urban renewal has come to be associated with large developments that fractured African-American communities across the country. Meanwhile, critics have complained that much of Trumps talk about inner cities during his campaign was riddled with outdated stereotypes. Housing advocates are questioning what that agenda might be.

That uncertainty is partly due to the fact that housing was little discussed on the campaign trail, and as someone with no experience in government, Carson has not left a robust public record of his policy positions.

But in an op-ed penned shortly after a recent Supreme Court ruling, seen as a major victory for fair housing, Carson expressed skepticism of efforts to advance fair housing. These government-engineered attempts to legislate racial equality create consequences that often make matters worse, he wrote.

That 2015 Supreme Court ruling found that policies promoting segregation  even if not intentionally discriminatory  violate the federal Fair Housing Act. On the ruling, he wrote in the piece published in the Washington Times:

Fair housing advocates saw this as a victory, but as with other mandated social-engineering schemes, the sort of unintended consequences Justice Samuel Alito alluded to in his dissent lurk in the shadows. New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio recently announced a plan to build almost 80,000 new affordable housing units in the citys minority neighborhoods, but the new rules could conceivably prevent their construction because of the disparate impact doing so might have on minority access to affordable housing in non-minority areas of the city.

In August, some housing advocates in Houston argued that Mayor Sylvester Turner ran the risk of running afoul of the recent ruling when he struck down the proposed Fountain View housing project that wouldve built a 233-unit complex just down the street from an upscale community in the Galleria area considered high-opportunity, with well-ranked schools and access to transit and employment.

Houston Housing Authority

It would have been the first Houston Housing Authority project in a high-opportunity neighborhood. But the mayor rejected it, and asked the authority to find another location in a high-opportunity area. The per-unit price of $240,000 was cited as a sticking point.

Critics said Turners move opened the city up to lawsuits and was potentially in violation of the standard upheld in the recent Supreme Court case.

Shortly after Turners decision, the then-chairman of the Houston Housing Authority board Lance Gilliam resigned his post. And federal officials launched a civil rights investigation into the citys public and affordable housing siting process.

With the investigation ongoing, the city approved a 154-unit project in Independence Heights in November, with a per-unit price tag of $226,000. The Independence Heights project sits in a census tract with a poverty rate of 39 percent  more than five times the rate of the upscale area around the rejected Fountain View project.

The neighborhood is also 47 percent black compared to Fountain View, where only 4 percent of the population is black, according to the latest census estimates.

Turner commented on that disparity, saying hes still interested in building housing in high-opportunity neighborhoods but that doesnt mean that we stop all public housing completely until its done, reported the Houston Chronicle.

Gary Coronado/Houston Chronicle

Turner, who declined to comment for this blog post, may actually have some common ground with Carson. In his own op-ed published in the Houston Chronicle in August, Turner wrote:

You see, I value all neighborhoods of Houston and do not believe that only wealthy areas have value to our children. We cannot and must not say to the kids in Fifth Ward, Second Ward, Sunnyside, Denver Harbor or Acres Homes that unless you move to the Galleria area you will forever be trapped at the bottom of the economic ladder and unable to take part in the American Dream.

The silver bullet to eliminating systemic poverty is not moving families from areas that have been overlooked and underserved.

Researchers have tried to assess the impact of moving low-income families to areas with less poverty, with mixed results. Back in 1994, HUD selected several thousand families living in public housing in cities like New York and Los Angeles and created three groups: one that had to move to a low-poverty neighborhood for at least one year with assistance, one that could move to any neighborhood with their vouchers and one that remained in their current housing development. Initial research suggested limited improvements for the families that moved to low-poverty neighborhoods relative to the other groups.

But as Jonathan Rothwell, a former fellow at the Metropolitan Policy Center wrote for the Brookings Institute, longer term studies have produced stronger results in favor of moving to opportunity. While early research found some health improvements for kids who were able to move to wealthier neighborhoods, more recent research has also found better jobs and earnings prospects, along with an improved sense of wellbeing and mental health and higher test scores. Theres also been a growing understanding of what makes this type of intervention most effective; for example, children who move when theyre teenagers may see smaller long-term gains than those who move at a younger age.

Carson, though, has taken his criticism a step farther. While there are reasonable ways to use housing policy to enhance the opportunities available to lower-income citizens, he wrote in the Washington Times, entrusting the government to get it right can prove downright dangerous.

Nationally, experts have expressed concern about Carsons lack of experience and Trumps own housing history, which includes a federal lawsuit alleging discrimination which his family settled without admitting guilt. Several have taken a cautious approach. Whatever agenda or whatever priority they have, I look forward to learning what that is, Maurice Jones, CEO of Local Initiatives Support Corporation, told NextCity.

Like Mayor Turner, former housing authority chairman Gilliam takes issue with the term high-opportunity, and he sees affordable housing as a potential stabilizing force in high-poverty neighborhoods while also pushing for developments in low-poverty neighborhoods, including the Fountain View project.

Carson at the head of HUD might bring balance, according to Gilliam. My hope is that he will bring some balance to HUD and recognize that in providing housing for one community, so-called high-opportunity neighborhoods, we dont have to exclude others, said Gilliam. My concern, is he picks one over the other.

Following the Supreme Court ruling and the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule that gave HUD more enforcement muscle and increased anti-discrimination obligations, cities still have a commitment to fair housing. At the end of the day, there are three pillars of power, and until Congress changes the [Fair Housing Act] or the Supreme Court changes its ruling, the administration has a limited impact, said Tory Gunsolley, president and CEO of the Houston Housing Authority

Still, he said, enforcement might look different under Carson if fair housing is not a priority.

Brett Coomer/Staff

Another big concern: funding. Our housing authority has always used every dime it receives, said Gilliam, arguing that authority could be hurt by cuts. There is no fluff there.

And HUD funds more than just housing. Its Community Development Block Grants provide for a variety of urban development projects, offer disaster recovery assistance and other programs that many cities rely on. Were probably looking at funding cuts,Gunsolley said. I think public housing is probably most vulnerable. But, he said, Carson might also decrease some of the regulations associated with the many HUD programs. The Moving to Work program, which promotes locally-developing housing programs, already allows some flexibility for local agencies, and Gilliam is hopeful Carson might be supportive of that.

There are many opportunities to decrease the regulations and youd think that would be attractive to a Republican Secretary, said Gunsolley. The argument were making is, if youre going to cut our budgets, you have to also cut some of the regulations.

Leah Binkovitz (@leahbink), formerly of the Houston Chronicle, is now a staff writer for Rice University's Kinder Institute. This story first appeared in the institute's "Urban Edge" blog.

Bookmark Gray Matters. It's a high-opportunity neighborhood.


AUSTIN -- Advocates for kids are pushing hard for more investment in pre-kindergarten knowing full well that the Texas Education Agency's budget request only funds one year of a two-year investment.

Grants for quality pre-kindergarten programs were, of course, a top priority of Gov. Greg Abbott during his first session as the state's chief executive officer.

It was so important to him, in fact, that Abbott made a rare appearance before the House Republican Caucus to ask for their support while some Tea Party groups railed against Pre-K as "godless" socialism.

A new Children at Risk study, funded by the Meadows Foundation, looks at the outcomes of those children who participated in pre-k and their eventual results on the third-grade STAAR assessment. A review of 47,000 children showed that those who participated in full-day pre-kindergarten were 40 percent more likely to be on pace for college readiness.

"The big thing was if you did the high-quality pre-K -- which we defined as full day with student-teacher ratios of 1-to-11 or 2-to-22 and if they had quality K-3, which we defined as our gold ribbon schools, then those kids had significantly better scores," said Bob Sanborn of Children at Risk, which presented the report on the same day Gov. Abbott was holding a rally at the Capitol for his new top priority: A convention of states to rewrite the U.S. Constitution.

The full story can be found in the Quorum Report. Copyright 2016, Harvey Kronberg,http://quorumreport.com/index.cfm, All rights are reserved. This story is presented as part of the Houston Chronicle's collaboration with Quorum Report. For inside information on Texas politics and government and to sign up for real-time updates, go here.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

UPDATE: The Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office said in a news release Thursday that it would not be reopening the case of the 7-year-old boy who died in 2011, and whose parents were charged this month with abusing seven other adopted children. The sheriff's office said that the child suffered from cerebral palsy and could not speak. The news release noted that a "Fort Bend County justice of the peace determined the child died of natural causes and the child's physician signed off on the death of Jaden Sinclair." The statement said the sheriff's office would continue its investigation into the alleged physical abuse of the seven living children.

Fort Bend County authorities plan to revisit the case of a special-needs child who apparently died of bronchitis in 2011 while in the care of a couple now facing charges that they abused seven other children at a Richmond-area home.

State health department records and interviews show that a 7-year-old boy suffered from the respiratory problem and an asthma attack before he went into cardiac arrest and died Jan. 30, 2011. CPS officials said the couple's 7-year-old child died on that date; county divorce records identified the child as Jaden Sinclair.

Child Protective Services looked into the case at the time, but a spokeswoman did not disclose details of what they found. The Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office did not investigate the death then because a doctor found that the child had died of natural causes, authorities said.

But the recent removal of the deceased child's seven adopted siblings from a spacious home, where all of the children were allegedly confined in one room, has brought renewed focus to the case.

Sheriff Troy Nehls said Wednesday that his office was aware of the death and would be looking into it once the current investigation was complete.

"This whole thing started with the seven children, and so that is our focus right now," Nehls said.

The boy suffered for 11 days before his death from bronchitis, the records show. He had an asthma attack two days prior and then went into cardiac arrest minutes before he died.

Underlying conditions listed for the child included shaken baby syndrome and profound mental retardation. No injuries were reported.

Larry and Paula Sinclair adopted the eight children between April 2003 and October 2004. The child who died would have been the youngest of the group, according to divorce records. CPS says he was the last to be adopted, joining the Sinclair family on Oct. 27, 2004, when records show he would have been 13 months old.

The Sinclairs stopped living together around June 2006, divorce records show. Their divorce was finalized Nov. 8, 2010 - just months before the child's death. They had been married for nearly 25 years.

At that time, Paula Sinclair listed an address in Houston, while Larry Sinclair listed a residence in Richmond, the same place where the children were found by CPS.

CPS had licensed a home of the Sinclairs' in Houston in 2002 for fostering to adopt, said Tiffani Butler, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Family and Protective Services. But the child who died was living in Fort Bend County at the time of death, she said.

A CPS caseworker responded Nov. 22 to a tip of abuse at the Richmond-area home, authorities said. It is owned by a man whom Paula Sinclair later married, 78-year-old Allen Richardson. The caseworker arrived to find the children together in one room on the second floor, according to a search warrant. The space had the stench of human waste, authorities said.

A state district judge granted CPS temporary custody of the children the following day. In a routine hearing Tuesday, another judge allowed CPS to keep the children in the agency's care, rather than return them to a parent.

Richardson and Paula Sinclair, 54, face charges of aggravated kidnapping and injury to a child arising from the alleged mistreatment of the seven children. They remained Wednesday in the Fort Bend County on $200,000 bail each and declined interview requests.

One of the children had described to an investigator that the adoptive mother was rarely home and that Richardson watched TV while they were forced to stay in the same room, receiving only two meals a day of rice and beans, according to the search warrant, which also described alleged beatings by the stepfather.

The Fort Bend County District Attorney's Office had not yet received the cases from the sheriff's office Wednesday, spokesman Wesley Wittig wrote in an email. The sheriff's office investigator was not available for comment late Wednesday because she was working to turn in the report.The child was buried in a cemetery in Pearland on Feb. 8, 2011. A headstone was not purchased to mark the burial site, which was in a portion of the cemetery dedicated to children. Instead, it stood Tuesday covered by a patch of grass, surrounded by graves decorated with flowers.
The man accused of setting fire to Gallery Furniture in 2009 may ring in the New Year in a nursing home instead of jail.

Robert Gillham, 74, has been declared incompetent to stand trial and is unlikely to gain competency, but state District Judge Marylou Keel said Wednesday she would be willing to let the man out of jail.

Keel said the option is contigent on whether Gillham's lawyers can find a secure nursing home to take him, according to court records.

Gillham has been behind bars, either in the Harris County Jail or at Rusk State Hospital, since he was arrested just days after the four-alarm fire that destroyed the warehouse at the flagship store owned by Houston furniture icon, Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale.

EXPERTS SAY SUSPECT IS FRAIL: Judge sends accused arsonist to mental hospital

McIngvale said Wednesday he would not oppose the move.

"I'm sure he's suffered a lot in there," McIngvale said. Wednesday. "That Catholic Church I go to teaches forgiveness, so whatever happens, happens. I'm good with it."

At a court hearing Wednesday, the accused arsonist was the picture of impulse, interrupting cross-examinations of his doctors to interject his opinion and finally appealing directly to the judge.

"All I want is a trial," Gillham said during a lull in the proceedings. "I have not harmed anyone."

The break in courtroom decorum seemed to bolster his case that he was incompetent to stand trial, despite his protests that he get his day in court. He has been declared incompetent at least three times while awaiting trial.

Keel scheduled another hearing Dec. 27 to hear options about where Gillham could live.

A HOUSTON LEGEND: 10 things you may not know about Jim McIngvale

"We just want him in a nursing home," said attorney Brett Podolsky. "Somewhere they can address his geriatric issues."

Podolsky said secure nursing homes keep residents inside using ankle monitors or electric bracelets that control access to doors.

In testimony Wednesday, doctors said Gillham is mentally ill and suffers from a host of ailments connected to old age. He is also blind in his left eye after a brain tumor was removed while he was in custody.

brian.rogers@chron.com
A Harris County judge denied a woman's request for a new trial despite evidence that showed a city crime lab analyst provided expert testimony without notifying the defendants that she was on suspension from casework.

State District Judge Jay Karahan denied the request this week from Lesley Esther Diamond, saying she failed to show there is a "reasonable probability that had the evidence been disclosed, the outcome of the trail would have been different."

Diamond was convicted in 2014 of driving while intoxicated, in part based on testimony from the crime lab analyst. The analyst, Andrea Gooden, did not reveal at the time that she was on suspension from case work for a separate incident in which she mistakenly analyzed and submitted previously mislabeled evidence.

Diamond has 30 days to decide whether she wants to appeal the decision. Josh Schaffer, Diamond's attorney, said Tuesday that he hopes his client appeals.

"I continue to believe in the strength of the case and I do not believe that a higher court would allow this kind of conduct to continue," Schaffer said.

The ruling gives permission for the Harris County District Attorney's Office and the crime lab to withhold disciplinary records against prosecutors and lab employees in future cases, Schaffer said.

Gooden was removed from casework temporarily just before Diamond's April 2014 trial.

But Karahan wrote that Gooden's suspension would not have been considered relevant or admissible in Diamond's trial. He also noted that the "suspension" designation is "suspect" and "unpersuasive" given that Gooden continued to perform other tasks while receiving compensation.

He added that while a report from the Texas Forensic Science Commission found Gooden's supervisor, William Arnold, to be "professionally negligent," it did not extend the same condemnation to Gooden.

Karahan also disputed the notion that Gooden gave false testimony while under oath.

It is unclear what impact the mislabeling incident may have on at least two other trials in which Gooden testified while on leave from casework. Lynn Hardaway, who is the chief of the district attorney's post-conviction writ division, said those cases will be evaluated if motions are filed.

Ramit Plushnick-Masti, director of communications for the Houston Forensic Science Center, where Gooden still works, said that the lab has since put in place measures to be as transparent as possible, including posting all corrective actions and incident reports online. HFSC took over management of the crime lab from the Houston Police Department days before Gooden was removed from casework.

"We will continue to work with all of the stakeholders to make sure that all the information they need is easily accessible," Plushnick-Masti said.

Hardway said prosecutors at the DA's office are committed to complying with "Brady" obligations - named for a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case requiring prosecutors to divulge any information favorable to the defense.

"I thought these findings were really strong," Hardaway said. "They basically found that the evidence was not material, favorable, or admissible."
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

A gang of gun-toting robbers thought they had an armored truck filled with cash in their sights at a far north Houston bank Wednesday, but discovered too late it was full of Houston police, who arrested four of them and killed a fifth in a shootout.

The carefully planned operation - which involved multiple law enforcement agencies, including the FBI - was part of a broader effort to combat a rash of armored car heists plaguing the Bayou City area in recent months.

"Houston's known to be  the armored car (robbery) capital of the world," newly minted Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo told reporters at the scene.

Eight armored cars have been robbed this year in the Houston area, FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap said, and three guards have been fatally wounded in robberies in the past two years.

Acevedo said there's a "high probability" the crew involved in the latest heist is connected to those deaths.

The drama unfolded before 11 a.m. at an Amegy Bank on North Sam Houston Parkway, when one of the attackers approached the armored vehicle.

"Unfortunately for that suspect that armored car was being driven by members of the Houston Police Department who were hopeful that today we'd be able to take these violent criminals into custody and make Houston safer," Acevedo said.

Three men were arrested at the scene, and a fourth fled but was later arrested.

Another gunman was at an apartment complex with an assault rifle, ready to shoot at armored car personnel. Instead, he opened fire when the SWAT team drew near, the chief said.

Police returned fire, hitting the man multiple times in the brief shoot-out. He was rushed to Ben Taub Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. No officers were wounded.

"It is important for our community to know that our officers tried to save the life of the suspect who just tried to kill members of the Houston Police Department," Acevedo said.

Arrested at the scene were Marc Anthony Hill, 46; Trayvees Duncan-Bush, 29; and Nelson Alexander Polk, 37. John Edward Scott, 40, fled and was taken into custody later. The man who died was not immediately identified.

If convicted, they could face up to 20 years in prison on the robbery charges and at least five years on the firearms charge.

The robbery ring had conspired for weeks to rob the armored car when it made the scheduled stop, and planned to kill the courier, federal officials said in a statement.

Armored car robberies in the Houston area have more than doubled over last year but have not yet reached the 11 heists that drew national attention in 2013. There were eight in 2014 and four in 2015.

"Typically we respond to three to four per year," Dunlap said. "However, in recent years we have responded to armored car robberies in the double digits."

In the first heist of the year, attackers made off with an undisclosed amount of money from a Brink's truck just north of Denver Harbor.

Then in March, a Loomis guard was murdered while servicing a drive-through ATM on Airline. The shooter sped away in a four-door sedan - but didn't make off with any money.

In May, a Brink's guard was robbed - but not hurt - in southeast Houston. In July, the same thing happened to a Dunbar guard in Gulfton.

Just over a month later, a money-truck guard was killed in a brazen early evening ambush at a Wells Fargo drive-through ATM on Northwest Freeway, west of Hollister.

Then in October, a guard was shot during one of two armored truck robberies on the same day.

Dunlap said that the string of crimes is well above the city average.

"That's why we're aggressively pursuing these cases," she said. "One of these types of robberies is too many."

In February of last year, three masked men ambushed a Brink's truck outside of the Galleria area's Capital One Plaza on Westheimer and started shooting, killing a guard.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).

Dale Lezon and Dane Schiller contributed to this report.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

The masked robbers were waiting, that cool December morning, when the White Loomis armored van carrying $4 million pulled up to the University of Houston's student center.

It was 7:50 a.m., exactly the time they had been told it would arrive. The driver, pregnant in her third trimester, couldn't lock her door as the robbers pounced. Within minutes they were gone with the money.

The 2013 heist, which resulted in charges against a Loomis guard and the recent arrest of a former Houston Police officer, was perhaps the biggest armored van robbery ever seen in Houston and it capped a year in which the city saw more similar robberies than any other city in the country.

But after a nearly three-year push to combat crews that target armored cars, federal authorities report a "considerable" drop in such crimes.

There have been three armored car robberies in Houston and Harris County so far this year, compared to eight in 2014 and 11 in 2013, according to the FBI.

"We are happy to see the numbers headed in the right direction, however, we cannot let our guard down," said Shauna Dunlap, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Houston Division.

"Rest assured, the FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue to work tirelessly to ensure the safety of our communities, and to ensure justice in each and every one of these cases," she said.

Authorities have arrested members of about a half dozen crews connected with armored car attacks and violent bank robberies, which have also dropped.

But the declines are bittersweet, as the year began with the February murder of Brinks guard Alvin Kinney who was shot in the head and robbed outside a Capital One bank in the Galleria area by a crew wearing body armor and face masks.

A reward of up to $100,000 has been offered for information in the case, but so far there have been no arrests.

The drop in the number of robberies hasn't been much comfort for some in the armored car business.

"I see Houston as just as dangerous for our industry as in 2013," said Danny Pack, senior vice president for risk management at Loomis. "While attacks may be somewhat down from past years, the level of violence is high or higher than in the past."

Pack praised efforts to stem the attacks, but also said Houston holds a years long reputation as being especially dangerous for armored cars.

"It is always haunting out there," he said. "An armored car is an attractive target."

Law enforcement officials are loathe to speculate exactly why Houston attracts such a high number of armored car robberies. Among the possible reasons is that police and other officers are spread out over an exceptionally wide metropolitan area and there is a wealth of roadways, not just to quickly move from one side of the city to the other, but to quickly leave the region.

Chuck Joyner, a retired FBI agent who is a security consultant, said armored car heists often involve seasoned gang members or professional criminals.

Anyone bold enough to rob an armored car knows from the start he is going up against armed guards and is prepared to kill for the cash, he said.

"It is an incredibly dangerous situation," Joyner said.

Joyner, said that just because the suspects in Kinney's death have gotten away does not mean they won't be caught.

"You don't know if they are really good or really lucky," he said.

They might next slip up in how they spend the stolen money, or they could anger someone - perhaps a girlfriend, buddy or family member - who knows what they did and contacts police, he said.

"Even if this was a one-time deal, which never happens because everybody gets greedy, there is somebody, somewhere who knows about it or will figure it out," he said. "If they pulled off the perfect bank robbery, they are going to want to brag about it."

Meanwhile, three people charged for the 2013 University of Houston heist have pleaded guilty. Former Loomis guard Dezmond Lacraig Edwards faces trial in December.

"Dezmond didn't intend on helping these three guys rob anyone," lawyer Neal Davis III said.

"Although he knew one of the codefendants, he was not involved in the conspiracy," he said, adding that other Loomis employees were involved and shared information about the armored car.

Authorities turned another screw in the case in August with the arrest of former Houston Police officer Joel Quezada, who is accused of taking a bribe to monitor police radio traffic during the robbery.

It began with a gunman sticking a handgun in the face of the guard, who was in her third trimester of pregnancy and was therefore unable to easily operate a door-locking device. The robbers stole the Loomis truck, which was driven to a parking garage, where the money was then loaded into a pick-up truck. The pick-up truck was then driven to another parking lot, where the money was transferred to a Cadillac and driven away.

A university police officer, who first arrived on the scene, grabbed up bills dropped in the transfers fluttering in the wind.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

WASHINGTON - The giraffe, the tallest land animal, is at risk of extinction, biologists say.

Because the giraffe population has shrunk nearly 40 percent in just 30 years, scientists put it on the official watch list of threatened and endangered species worldwide, calling it "vulnerable."

That's two steps up the danger ladder from its previous designation of being a species of least concern. In 1985, there were between 151,000 and 163,000 giraffes but in 2015 the number was down to 97,562, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

At a biodiversity meeting Wednesday in Mexico, the IUCN increased the threat level for 35 species and lowered the threat level for seven species on its "Red List" of threatened species, considered by scientists the official list of what animals and plants are in danger of disappearing.

The giraffe is the only mammal whose status changed on the list this year. Scientists blame habitat loss.

Everyone worries about elephants, but the planet has four times as many pachyderms as giraffes, said Julian Fennessy and Noelle Kumpel, co-chairs of the specialty group of biologists that put the giraffe on the IUCN Red List.

"Everyone assumes giraffes are everywhere," said Fennessy, co-director of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation.

But they're not, Fennessy said. Until recently, biologists hadn't done a good job assessing giraffes' numbers and where they can be found
BEIRUT - Syrian government forces pushed deeper into Aleppo on Wednesday, seizing areas around the medieval citadel whose narrow streets had long given rebels cover, pro-government websites and conflict monitors reported.

Rebel leaders disputed the claims, but anti-government activists in the area sent increasingly desperate messages saying they believed they would soon be killed or arrested, while civilians said they were squeezing into a smaller and smaller area, with some calling for safe passage out.

A rebel fighter with the Nour al-Din al-Zenki group, reached in a hiding place near the Old City, said that several neighborhoods had fallen and that defeat appeared inevitable.

"Aleppo has fallen," he said. "If there are no U.N. initiatives, I expect the regime will exterminate us all."

Passage negotiated

Several civilians confirmed the government was advancing into the Old City. Al Manar, Hezbollah's television channel, quoting Syrian military officials, reported that pro-government forces had allowed rebels to leave through a designated corridor to other rebel-held areas to spare the historic quarter from further destruction.

Rebels were asking for all civilians who wished to leave to be given safe passage to rebel-held areas, but not to the province of Idlib, where fighters and civilians not wishing to go to government areas have been bused in previous surrender deals. Instead, rebels asked for safe passage to the countryside in the north of the province of Aleppo.

A statement said to be from all the rebel groups in Aleppo, issued Wednesday, said Idlib was too full of displaced people and was a target of intensive Russian and government airstrikes.

Evacuations called for

The statement also called for a five-day humanitarian cease-fire and for the evacuation of about 500 people in need of emergency medical care, under U.N. supervision with security guarantees. Only then, it said, would the fighters discuss a settlement.

"Once the humanitarian situation has been alleviated in Aleppo city, the parties concerned can negotiate the future of the city," the statement said. "What Aleppo has experienced in the last five months is nothing short of a war of extermination against its civilian population."

But the rebels' bargaining power is shrinking with their territory, and as one of their main backers, Turkey, appears to be slackening support. Government officials say they will not slow their advance, asserting that they are liberating eastern Aleppo from radical jihadis.

Government officials issued triumphant statements.

Fares Shehabi, a member of parliament from Aleppo, declared on Twitter: "The Syrian army is about to end the largest & the longest hostage crisis in history by liberating all of E Aleppo."
AUSTIN  Texas' most emotionally troubled foster-care children would be moved from treatment centers and hospitals to less restrictive specialty housing designed to improve their chances of succeeding in life under a plan announced Wednesday.

Gov. Greg Abbott has approved $8 million in startup funding for the initiative in partnership with the state Department of Family and Protective Services, which operates the state's troubled foster-care system.

Four areas will be chosen for the initiative, and officials said they likely will include major urban centers such as Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio. An earlier report showed large numbers of high-needs children from the Houston and Dallas areas.

"It is crucial that the most vulnerable Texans under the state's care receive the highest quality treatment so that they may be freed from an unacceptable cycle of crisis," Abbott said in a statement. "By better coordinating the care of our highest needs children in the foster care system, we will begin to unwind the abuse and trauma they have endured. I am confident that this new partnership will help advance meaningful and stable reforms to Texas' current foster care system and help provide these children the future that they deserve."

The state's foster-care system faces federal court supervision after a judge last December determined that many foster-care children were being subjected to continuing abuse and neglect because of chronic staffing shortages and operational issues. The state's Child Protective Services program also is facing criticism for similar issues.

Facing an upcoming court hearing that could bring parts of the state's foster-care system under a judge's control, state officials have been scrambling to implement new programs to address myriad problems facing the system. They insisted Wednesday, however, that the plan has nothing to do with the legal case.

In a related development, legislation was filed Wednesday to make sweeping reforms to improve and expand foster-care services, just a week after legislative leaders approved an additional $150 million in emergency funding to address critical shortages of caseworkers and a lengthy backload of abuse and neglect investigations.

Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman Charles Schwertner, a Georgetown Republican who is the author of the reform bill, called for Abbott to make the foster-care crisis an emergency agenda item for the Legislature in January, allowing for expedited passage of the proposed reforms.

Hospitalized several times

State officials said one goal of the program announced Wednesday is to find permanent foster care homes for the children with the highest needs, rather than having them move repeatedly from one placement to another. Other states have implemented similar programs through specialized group homes where children live individually with house parents or in individual foster homes where treatment services are close by.

Foster children can remain in state custody until they turn 18.

Officials said up to 500 of the 1,000 foster-care children in Texas who have the highest needs for mental health, emotional and behavioral therapy will be included in the pilot program. Most of those children have been hospitalized several times in the past year, officials said.

Funding for the plan was to be made available immediately, state officials said, and that the search for the new foster-care providers would start in the coming days. Those new sites for foster-care children will have to be developed using existing organizers and new ones, a roll-out that likely will take several weeks or months at a time when the state is hundreds of beds short of its needs.

The pilot program will develop new placement options for the children with the highest needs, many of whom are now housed with other foster care youths in residential treatment that are unable to provide therapy or in mental hospitals.

Uses federal funds

Officials say the goal of the initiative, to be funded through a federal Victims of Crime Act grant, is to "serve the children in the least restrictive and most appropriate setting to facilitate increased placement stability and ability of the child to thrive."

If the pilot program is successful, officials said it will be expanded to include additional foster care children.

"The model will also ensure coordination among all services, providers, foster care parents, involved kinship and any other significant individual in the child's life in order to reduce fragmentation of services and increase placement stability," said a statement from Abbott's office.

Madeline McClure, founding CEO of TexProtects: The Texas Association for the Protection of Children, a leading child-advocacy organization, applauded the plan.

"I say bravo," she said. "It will keep kids out of institutions and move them into places which are much more appropriate. It also uses a funding stream that is not often used."

And while she and other advocates acknowledge that Texas faces the challenge of developing new housing sites for the highest-risk foster children, they say the outcomes will be much better for the children than if they remain in residential treatment centers and mental-health centers. For several years, Texas has faced a chronic shortage of foster-care homes or even enough residential treatment centers to hold all the children who had to be taken into state custody because of abuse and neglect.

Schwertner's Senate Bill 11 - tagged by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick as a priority for passage in the Senate  would aim to ensure that abused and neglected children get timely access to support services to improve their safety, beef up the child-protection investigation process, and focus additional prevention resources to areas of Texas with the highest need. It also would require key foster care vendors in the reform initiative to be nonprofit organizations "with a mission related to child welfare," in a bid to keep out for-profit companies.

The measure also is sponsored by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, and Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, both of whom have advocated for foster-care reforms.

"We have children going unseen for months at a time, we have children sleeping in office buildings because there's nowhere else for them to go, we have children dying," Schwertner said. "If this doesn't qualify as an emergency, frankly, I don't know what does."
WASHINGTON - In choosing retired Gen. John Kelly to head the Homeland Security Department, President-elect Donald Trump is sending another signal that he intends to follow through with the aggressive border security proposals that helped propel him to victory last month.

Kelly, 66, a Boston native who led the U.S. Southern Command until he retired earlier this year, is a 45-year Marine Corps veteran who carved out a reputation as a border hawk while overseeing military operations throughout South America, Central America and the Caribbean.

He has been critical of Obama administration plans to open combat roles to women and pointedly rejected complaints by human rights advocates about treatment of Guantanamo Bay detainees.

"We have a right to protect our borders, whether they're seaward, coastlines, or land borders," Kelly said in an interview with Military Times last year.

Trump has not formally offered the job to Kelly, but multiple news outlets and congressional sources reported that Trump settled on the four-star general after meetings last month.

Kelly's confirmation by the GOP-run Senate would be unlikely to present problems, but Trump's choice of another general could generate debate about the inclusion of retired military leaders in the new administration. Trump selected James Mattis, another retired four-star general, to lead the Pentagon and Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as national security adviser.

Like Mattis and Flynn, Kelly is outspoken, suggesting the potential of friction within the Trump administration.

The choice of Kelly echoes Trump's promise to bolster security with a border wall, limitations on immigration and a stronger focus on removal of undocumented immigrants.

Mark Jones, a Rice University political science professor who conducts research on Latin America, observed that Kelly offers a different profile than previous Homeland Security heads.

"It suggests that were going to see a Department of Homeland Security that is going to operate more along military lines than in the past," Jones said.

U.S. Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Austin, who has the reputation as a moderate on immigration, was believed to be the leading candidate to head the massive Homeland Security agency and its 240,000 employees. But immigration critics waged a public campaign against McCaul in recent days, recalling his past support of proposals that included a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

Obama critics praise Kelly

Kelly's selection drew praise from immigration critics while pro-immigration advocates said they were hopeful that Kelly's experience in Central America could foster a better understanding in the Trump administration of causes of migration.

Tens of thousands of Central Americans fleeing violence in their countries have surged across the border into Texas since 2014. Their asylum cases have overwhelmed immigration courts.

Jessica Vaughn, of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates immigration curbs, called Kelly's choice "a great pick and a 180-degree turn" from present Homeland Security leadership.

"It's a real refreshing change to have someone whose focus will be the safety and security of our nation rather than someone who is tasked with the agenda of relaxing enforcement of our immigration laws and accomplishing immigration expansion," she said.

Similarly, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which has been strongly critical of Obama administration policies, said Kelly would bring "an unwavering commitment" to protecting the border.

Federation president Dan Stein said in a statement that Kelly "fully understands the critical role border security plays in protecting the country from the threats of terrorism, uncontrolled illegal immigration, and drugs."

Pro-immigration groups were alarmed by Trump's choice of Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general and they feared that Trump might pick Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a noted immigration hawk, to lead Homeland Security.

Frank Sharry, founder of America's Voice, an alliance of pro-immigration groups, said he was intrigued by Kelly's involvement in combating gang violence and problems in El Salvador and other Central American nations from which people are fleeing northward.

Understanding the issues

Two years ago, Kelly helped broker the Alliance for Prosperity agreement with a commitment to spend nearly $1 billion to address problems in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Speaking to a Senate committee last year on behalf of increased aid to Central America, Kelly remarked: "Addressing the root causes of insecurity and instability is not just in the region's interests, but ours as well."

Sharry said Kelly's understanding of the issues that drive migration could open the door to more realistic efforts in Washington to address border security. "From what we're seeing, we're less worried about Kelly than about his boss," Sharry said.

U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-San Antonio, said Kelly "has the experience and tenacity to serve our nation well."

U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, said Kelly "can take reasonable, effective steps to protect our nation without giving in to fear-driven rhetoric. I'm hopeful General Kelly decides not to deport millions of people who contribute to our nation, not to subject immigrants to a religious test, and not to build a costly wall that does little to make our border more secure."

Kelly holds the distinction of being the highest ranking military officer to have a son killed in combat.

Lt. Robert Michael Kelly, 29, one of two sons to follow him into the military, was killed in Afghanistan in 2010 while leading a patrol.

In a Memorial Day address at USAA in San Antonio three years ago, Gen. Kelly spoke of the pain his family has endured.

"Every casualty call is a little different but in the end the result is the same: A family is brought to its knees in a grief that is unexpectedly physical in its impact on the body, unbearable to the mind and agonizing to the heart, a grief that never goes away, not even with the passage of time."
Colombia's Congress approved a landmark treaty with the leftist FARC rebels last week that has the South American nation on the precipice of peace, or at least partially so, for the first time in half a century.

The 310-page agreement, hammered out in four years of negotiations in Cuba and almost scuttled by a surprise rejection in an October plebiscite, lays out a well-defined path to the conflict's end that is the result of difficult compromises by both sides and it deserves support.

The FARC, which began as a Communist agrarian reform movement in 1964, has agreed to disarm in exchange for a broad amnesty, inclusion in the country's political life and the government's commitment to address the long-standing social and economic problems afflicting rural Colombia.

President Juan Manuel Santos, who initiated the peace process in 2012 and won a Nobel Peace Prize for it in October, has had to overcome opposition that considers the terms too lenient and rebel participation in government unacceptable.

More than 220,000 people, most of them non-combatants, died in the war and another 7 million were displaced by the violence, so opposition is personal for many in the nation of 49 million. The rebels also won few friends when they turned to cocaine production, kidnapping and extortion to fund their long fight.

That animosity was reflected in the narrow loss of the plebiscite, which many considered unrepresentative because only about a third of the country's voters cast a ballot. Santos, betting that most Colombians wanted peace more than retribution, launched a quick renegotiation of the pact that made cosmetic changes but left the major provisions intact.

Then, since a plebiscite was never officially required, he sent the deal straight to Congress where his ruling National Unity coalition approved it.

Santos is now in a race against time because he has only 18 months left in office and wants the peace process far enough along to be considered irreversible by term's end.

The first order of business is for Congress to pass an amnesty for most of the fighters, after which the FARC is to begin a six-month-long process of laying down its arms.

We would urge both Congress and the rebels to move as quickly as possible, not only to end the war but to proceed with the rural development program that is key to avoiding future problems.

Inequality and poverty in the countryside were the seeds of the FARC 52 years ago and they still exist today, as do the accompanying problems.

Another, smaller leftist rebel group, the ELN, began about the same time as the FARC and though the government is pursuing peace talks, no ceasefire has been agreed to.

Also, Colombia has seen an increase in cocaine production and the criminal groups behind it in recent years.

The U.S. provided billions of dollars in aid that helped weaken the FARC and bring about negotiations, and President Barack Obama has pledged another $450 million for the peace accord's implementation.

While President-elect Donald Trump has said he will unwind many Obama projects, we would urge him to continue this successful partnership.

In the meantime, we applaud Santos' efforts and urge him to vigorously continue the pursuit of peace on all fronts.

His Nobel Peace Prize was well deserved, because he has shown the world that with sufficient political will and a spirit of compromise, even the most entrenched conflicts can be ended peacefully.
It's that time of year when wreaths appear on doors, a blue norther strips the trees of leaves and kids around these parts settle into pint-sized chairs to write (e-mail, Tweet and Snapchat) their wish lists in hopes that Jolly Old Saint Nick will slide down the chimney with a bag full of gifts.

For the grown-ups who own those chimneys, the holly jolly experience plays in reverse: An old-fashioned letter appears from the county tax assessor-collector listing how much money they owe in property taxes.

Whatever happened to a stocking full of coal?

Those tax dollars go to fund cities, schools, hospitals, roads and county governments. Because property values are rising faster than paychecks in many Texas neighborhoods, people are finding it hard to keep up.

Harris County, however, faces a unique challenge, and County Judge Ed Emmett met with the Houston Chronicle editorial board Wednesday to discuss this challenge in a wide-ranging conversation.

The issue, as Emmett explained it, rests with the population of 1.8 million people who live in the unincorporated county and look to Commissioner's Court as their local government. In contrast, the unincorporated Dallas County is home to about 7,400 people.

This unofficial second-largest city in Texas relies on county government for services that are normally handled by a City Hall. Harris County sheriff deputies act as police; commissioners build roads; county employees provide animal control services. And then there's all the infrastructure problems specific to the Houston area.

"Dallas County doesn't have flood control," Emmett said. "They don't have county roads."

No wonder Dallas County was able to approve a small cut to property taxes back in September. Meanwhile, more people keep moving to Harris County, the burden on commissioner's court keeps growing and property taxes are the only way to fund it.

So how do we get out of this mess?

Like a kid asking Santa for a pony, here's our list of fixes that won't happen anytime soon:

Houston annexes parts of the unincorporated county and takes responsibility for key services. Unincorporated neighborhoods form their own cities and start levying sales taxes. The Legislature spends more on local services and absorbs some of the county's costs. Texas draws down federal Medicaid dollars to fund county hospital services for indigent patients. Harris County is granted the ability to levy its own sales or income tax.

So why are these all pie in the sky? Legislative barriers block these paths, and there's little political will to overcome the hurdles.

So instead we're stuck with state Sen. Paul Bettencourt playing the role of Scrooge. The Houston-area Republican is proposing a state-mandated property tax change that will trim homeowners' bills while forcing counties to pinch pennies when it comes to running hospitals, building roads and managing jails.

There's plenty of ways to fully fund local services without sending property taxes through the roof. But in today's Texas politics, you might as well mail those ideas to the North Pole.
Nobody ignored

Regarding "Electoral College" (Page A32, Sunday), the editorial complains that smaller states are unfairly represented in the electoral system but that is exactly the point. The electoral system was devised to prevent tyranny in the majority.

Without the electoral system, the candidates would simply go to the population centers and ignore places like Wyoming and Nebraska. I do not think these states would care to be underrepresented in the election.

With the electoral system, the candidates cannot ignore any state as Secretary Clinton did in Wisconsin, and it cost her.

Do we really want California and New York deciding the presidency? No thanks.

Richard Williams, Katy

Representation

We are not the "People's Republic of America" but the "United States of America," where states, like people have rights. The people have representation in the House of Representatives, and the states have representation in the Senate. The Electoral College reflects this collective and proportioned voice of the legislative branch that then has sway in electing the executive branch of government.

Each state brings its own value to our union. Little old Wyoming only uses about 10 percent of the energy it produces - exporting the rest to other states, including California and the blue left coast states. Maybe Wyoming should charge overpopulated California more for energy than other less populated states, but I believe there's another part of our Constitution our Founding Fathers put in place to keep that in check.

We are not a pure democracy; we are a representative republic governed by the rule of law - not the simple majority opinion of the people.

Tim Graney, Katy

Seems unjust

The consequences of ignoring the popular vote have proven dire.

The 2000 election caused death and destruction in ways we still pay for and lives we still lose.

Now, with President-elect Donald Trump, God know what to expect, but his "Let's bomb the hell out of them" doesn't bode well for peace in our time.

Mary Jane Taegel, Houston

Republic

The United States of America is NOT a democracy! This great country was created as a REPUBLIC. If those who choose to ignore facts prevail, our commander-in-chief could be selected by the four most populous states, totally ignoring the other 46.

The president is elected to preside over all the 50 states. It is totally unfair to allow a tiny minority of states to control the highest office in the land.

The geniuses who founded our nation devised a Constitution that has ensured our freedom for 227 years. The Electoral College is the fair way to select our president.

Bryant Reed, La Porte

Fair process

The debate on the Electoral College, like so many things in today's America, seems to come down to which side of the aisle one favors. The editorial claims "undue influence to the small states violates the nation's commitment to equality of all citizens, regardless of where they live." One could just as easily say that in the absence of the Electoral College undue influence to the big cities would violate that same commitment.

Los Angeles County alone has a population greater than 10 of the smaller states combined. Without the Electoral College those 10 states could have virtually no say on who their president would be.

The Electoral College is yet another example of the prescient genius of our Founding Fathers.

Raymond Ruiz, Pearland
Last week, the U.S. Department of Transportation approved a permit for Norwegian Air International (NAI) to start flying between the U.S. and Europe. The approval got very little fanfare in the media, as other news took center stage. But those of us in the U.S. aviation industry took notice, and we're not happy.

NAI, a subsidiary of a Norwegian Air Shuttle, has headquartered its operations in Ireland to take advantage of lower labor standards - avoiding U.S. and Norwegian labor laws. This business model, known as "flags of convenience," will allow NAI to hire crews from countries with the lowest labor and safety standards, such as Malaysia or Thailand. So where's the "Norway" part of this airline? Good question. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, Air Line Pilots Association, International Association of Machinists, Transport Workers Union, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, other U.S. and European labor groups, U.S. and European passenger carriers, and more than 200 bipartisan members of Congress fought to put a stop to this.

NAI is following a business model that decimated the U.S. shipping industry. U.S. shipping companies were forced out of the market and more than. 97,000 U.S. jobs were destroyed. We are looking potentially at a similar result for U.S. aviation jobs. In 2010, the Obama Administration negotiated the US-EU Open Skies Agreement, Article 17 bis, detailing strict labor standards required for the U.S. and European carriers. Put simply, NAI is in violation of Article 17 bis by trying to avoid labor standards in various countries. And it's not just hundreds of thousands of aviation employees in the U.S. who have something at stake here. American travelers do as well - who may one day find themselves with fewer options for travel to Europe and elsewhere once Norwegian and other "flags of convenience" have driven U.S. carriers out of the market.

The Obama administration must enforce the only labor standard ever negotiated in an Open Skies agreement. If the DOT can't recognize its folly to correct this, then Congress should act fast and require the Department to enforce its commitments. In April of this year, Congressmen Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J., and Rick Larsen, D-Wash., introduced a bipartisan bill (HR 5090) that would prohibit the Secretary of Transportation from allowing an airline to fly between the U.S. and Europe unless the Secretary specifically finds that the airline's business practices are consistent with the U.S.-E.U. Open Skies agreement's labor protections. With the 114th Congress adjourning on Thursday, they need to act fast to right this horrible wrong.

The 2016 elections should have been a wake-up call to politicians on both sides of the aisle that American workers are angry about the loss of their jobs overseas to greedy corporations. President Barack Obama shouldn't be the cause of the destruction to the U.S. aviation industry. Labor has stood behind him. Now he must stand up for working people.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership failed because organized labor engaged its membership to pressure Congress, on both sides of the aisle, to stand up for fair labor and safety standards. We stand resolved to demand the same in every trade agreement going forward. The administration and Congress must also enforce labor and safety standards already negotiated in Open Skies Agreements. Failing to enforce these trade agreements will result in dire consequences for the U.S. economy and communities all over the country. Let's hope that President Obama chooses to do the right thing during his final days in office.

Stogner McDavid is the first woman president of the Harris County AFL-CIO Labor Assembly. A 26-year flight attendant for Continental and now United Airlines, she is also active in the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA.
As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content.

When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to.

After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code.

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS!

OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK

The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those.
Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print.

Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition.

If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create.
The Conservative House leader got personal with her rival in question period Wednesday, accusing Government House Leader Bardish Chagger of embarrassing herself by doing the prime ministers dirty work.

For weeks now, Chagger has repeatedly used the same talking points to defend private Liberal fundraisers, where donors pay up to $1,500 to meet with key ministers, including the prime minister.

Advertisement

Chagger typically points out that federal fundraising rules are some of the strictest in the country. She has used some variation of that phrase more than 40 times since late October, and several times Wednesday.

Such so-called cash-for-access events are legal so long as ministers arent lobbied or discussing government business, but do appear to run afoul of Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus Open and Accountable Government guidelines. Opposition parties have asked the ethics and lobbying watchdogs to probe the events.

In the House of Commons, Bergen said Chagger gets up day after day after day, and repeats the same lines, over and over. Bergen said they are lines the prime minister has asked her to say.

Advertisement

Words that she knows are not true, Bergen said.

"Will she at least tell the prime minister that shes not going to keep doing his dirty work for him?"

Will the House leader show the integrity and the leadership that I know she has, and I ask if she will admit that the Liberals need to clean up their act, Bergen said. Or will she at least tell the prime minister that shes not going to keep doing his dirty work for him?

The remark sparked applause from the Tory bench.

Chagger said she was proud to be part of a government that respects the environment and lowers taxes for the middle class.

Then she slipped back to a familiar talking point.

The member knows very well that when it comes to the rules around political financing, they are amongst the most strict in the country, Chagger said.

'Frankly, it is embarrassing to watch'

Just saying that a thousand times wont make it true, Bergen shot back.

Frankly, it is embarrassing to watch the House leader allowing herself to be used by the prime minister like this, Bergen said. She can tell him no after all.

Advertisement

Bergen asked if any Liberal MP has the courage to tell the prime minister to stop this corrupt fundraising.

Chagger appeared unfazed.

'Let's get to work'

The member recognizes that I am reminding Canadians, ensuring Canadians, that when it comes to political financing, we have some of the most strict rules across the country, she said.

Whats more interesting is that the member chooses to keep repeating the same question, but doesnt understand why she gets the same answer.

That quip spurred Trudeau to look up from his desk, smile and nod.

Chagger told her counterpart she also had confidence in her and suggested she wanted to work together on other pressing matters.

Lets get to work. Let us work harder for Canadians.

Also on HuffPost

How Much Are Federal Politicians Making? (2016) See Gallery
Sudan is home to over 40 million people. But, thanks to climate change, it could become an uninhabitable desert in the next 100 years.

The North African country has been faced with desertification and severe dust storms.

A report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs found that 1.9 million people are already facing reduced agricultural and livestock production from the poor quality of farmland and lack of access to water. And a whopping 3.2 million are expected to face water shortages.

Advertisement

"Climate change is not merely an environmental issue that is defined by precipitation and temperature changes; it represents a serious sustainable development problem that affects everyone in our country," wrote Sudan's Minister of Environment Hassan Abdel Gadir Hilal in the country's adaptation plan.

Thirty million people live in this area of Sudan's Kordofan Province. The region is vulnerable to erosion and drought. (Photo: Universal Images via Getty)

A total of 4.6 million people in Sudan are currently facing food insecurity. And that's just a drop in the bucket of what will happen if the effects of climate change continue to ravage the region.

Advertisement

"North Africa is already hot and is strongly increasing in temperature. At some point in this century, part of the region will become uninhabitable," climate scientist Jos Lelieveld told CNN.

Sudan already ranks at 98 out of 113 countries on The Economist's Global Food Security Index.

"At some point in this century, part of the region will become uninhabitable."

The region's temperature is expected to rise by as much as three degrees Celsius by 2060, according to a paper published in the, Sudan Academy of Sciences Journal.

Two thirds of Sudan's population live in rural areas, which are likely to be the hardest hit by any temperature increases.

According to the World Resources Institute, yields of major crops like millet and sorghum could decline by as much as 70 per cent in the next 35 years.

Follow The Huffington Post Canada on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Also on HuffPost

Sudan Daily Life See Gallery
Its worth remembering that one of the most memorable refrains from the Liberals winning 2015 election campaign  a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian  was actually borrowed from the longest-serving Conservative MP in Parliament.

His name is Deepak Obhrai and, in 2014, he challenged then-immigration minister Chris Alexander on controversial legislation that allows the federal government to revoke the citizenship of dual citizens convicted of terrorism or treason.

Advertisement

Obhrai told Alexander in the House of Commons that equality under the law was a fundamental right, no matter what.

A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian, Obhrai said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ended up repeating that phrase the night he captured a majority government.

Obhrai is now running for Conservative leader. So is Alexander, whose biggest moment so far has been standing idly by as some in an Edmonton crowd chanted to lock up Alberta Premier Rachel Notley.

Advertisement

Few are giving Obhrai, the affable 66-year-old Calgary MP and dean of the Tory caucus, much of a chance.

'Nothing candidate'

Obhrai has even called himself a nothing candidate with no platform or love from the media.

But those who have watched the first two Tory leadership debates cant help being charmed by the veteran politician, who was born in Tanzania and immigrated to Canada in 1977. Even with 14 people on stage, he often steals the show. On his own terms.

Obhrai, who convinced his party to lower its membership fees last spring by warning that it risked turning into an elitist and white-only club, has spoken out passionately on human rights and diversity.

He has called out a leading contender who wishes to screen immigrants for so-called anti-Canadian values.

And, with humour and an unconventional approach, he often seems like a fun uncle reminding the young and ambitious they must respect their elders.

Advertisement

Deepak Obhrai sure looks like hes having a blast. (Watch the video.)

Also on HuffPost
On a day celebrating the woman described as Canadas Rosa Parks, a black MP rose in the House of Commons to recount the first time he heard the "N-word."

He was four.

I didnt know what it meant but the word stung, Quebec Liberal Greg Fergus said in a powerful members statement Thursday.

Advertisement

But just imagine, Fergus said, how Viola Desmond felt on the fateful day in 1946 when she dared, with the kind of quiet courage that can change history, to sit in a whites-only section of a Nova Scotia movie theatre.

Imagine how Viola Desmond felt when she was told to leave her seat in the cinema, Fergus said. The hurtfulness of that moment, the sting of being dragged out, arrested and charged. The humiliation of losing her case in the courts.

But Desmonds bravery and long fight for civil rights eventually led to a more just society, he said.

Advertisement

Desmond to appear on $10 bill

Earlier in the day, it was revealed that Desmond will become the first Canadian woman to be featured on a banknote  the $10 bill.

Desmonds struggle will forever be part of Canadas story, Fergus said.

Canadians of Afro-Canadian heritage are proud of what were accomplishing, he said. We, like all women, like Viola Desmond strive to be fully equal. No more, no less.

Words and symbols do matter.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau revealed that banknotes featuring Desmonds face will go into circulation in 2018.

"She represents courage, strength and determination  qualities we should all aspire to every day, Morneau told reporters in Gatineau, Que.

Advertisement

With files from The Canadian Press

Also On HuffPost:
U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden arrived in Ottawa on Thursday for an official visit to meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

But one thing, or person, will be missing while Joe's biden (get it?) his time in the capital: his tag-team partner Barack Obama.

Advertisement
Ukraine in January-November 2016 exported electricity worth $137.785 million, in particular in November for $14.497million.

According to the State Fiscal Service, electricity delivered to Hungary amounted to $105.039 million for the 11 months, to Poland to $32.392 million, Moldova to $347,000, other countries to $7,000.

In addition, in January-November 2016 Ukraine imported power worth $3.288 million from Russia, $60,000 from Belarus.

As reported, Ukraine in January-November 2015 exported electricity for $137.367 million ($11.676 million in November), in particular to Hungary for $132.359 million, Poland for $2.722 million, Slovakia for $1.115 million, and other countries for $1.171 million.
Donald Trump may be headed for the White House and stacking his cabinet with billionaires, but Portland, Ore., isnt about to stop fighting against wealth inequality.

In what is believed to be a first, the city is going to start charging a surtax on companies whose CEOs earn more than 100 times the average pay at their company. The plan got backing from Portlands mayor, Charlie Hales.

Advertisement

However, president-elect Donald Trump has said he wants to scrap the federal law that makes Portlands tax possible.

The new tax means companies where the CEO earns between 100 times and 249 times the average wage will face a 10-per-cent increase in corporate income taxes, while companies where CEOs are paid more than 250 times as much as workers will face a 25-per-cent tax hike.

To me, after global warming, income inequality is the biggest challenge we face in our society, said Steve Novick, the city commissioner who initially proposed the plan, as quoted at The Guardian.

Advertisement

Its been absolutely frightful to see the divide between regular folks and the richest-of-the-rich. Its economically destabilizing, its politically destabilizing, its unhealthy.

A tax based on the CEO-to-worker pay ratio only became possible in the U.S. recently, thanks to regulatory changes at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which now requires publicly-traded companies to report the ratio in their securities filings.

However, Donald Trump has said he wants to dismantle the Dodd-Frank Act, the legislation that includes the rule requiring reporting the CEO-to-worker gap.

Trump told Reuters earlier this year he would dismantle nearly all the elements of the wide-ranging financial reform bill, including dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau the law set up.

Advertisement

If the CEO-to-worker pay ratio reporting rule were undone, there would be no official source by which to determine which businesses the tax should apply to.

However, even U.S. banks may not be in favour of repealing the entire Dodd-Frank Act. According to the Wall Street Journal, they dont want a return to the Wild West days before the financial crisis. Rather, they want regulations that are simpler and less expensive.

A 2014 study found that CEO pay has exploded relative to other employees at businesses and the average CEO in the U.S. earned nearly 300 times the average wage at his company in 2013. As recently as 1965, CEO pay was just 20 times the average income.

Many economists argue this contributes to rising economic inequality. If enough companies adopt such large gaps in their wages, the problem in effect becomes widespread across society.

Advertisement

Not everyone in Portland is backing the tax. The head of the Portland Business Alliance, which represents 1,850 businesses operating locally, called it an empty gesture.

Sandra McDonough suggested that the city instead work with businesses to create more jobs that will lift people up and improve incomes, according to the New York Times.

Also on HuffPost
Sofia Vergara is being sued by her own frozen embryos.

The 44-year-old actress and her ex-fiance Nick Loeb created two fertilized eggs, also known as pre-embryos, via IVF when they were still together in 2013. After the couple split the following year, Loeb tried to sue Vergara for the embryos custody, but was unsuccessful.

On Tuesday, the custody battle over the fertilized eggs took an unexpected turn when a Louisiana pro-life group launched a right-to-live lawsuit against the actress.

Advertisement

Sofia Vergara and Nick Loeb arrive at the 2012 Vanity Fair Oscar party in West Hollywood, California on February 26, 2012.

The lawsuit argues that the pre-embryos, named Emma and Isabella, are being deprived of their inheritance from a trust by not being born.

While the embryos are being stored in Los Angeles, their trust was created in Louisiana, which is known as a pro-life state and considers a fertilized egg to be a juridical person. Thus, the embryos can sue a person, such as Vergara.

Advertisement

The actress lawyer, Fred Silberberg, has said the Modern Family star  who is now married to actor Joe Manganiello  wants the embryos to be frozen indefinitely.

Silberberg also said in a statement to People magazine that this latest maneuver is nothing more than another attempt on the part of Loeb to keep himself in the public eye by keeping himself linked to Ms. Vergara.

Watch the video above to hear more.

Also on HuffPost
Dubbed Canada's very own Rosa Parks, Viola Desmond was recently announced as the first Canadian woman on the $10 bill.

At a press conference in Gatineau, Quebec, on Thursday, finance minister Bill Morneau said the bill will go into circulation in 2018.

Advertisement

Its a big day to have a woman on a banknote, said Desmonds sister Wanda Robson, the Toronto Star reports. Its really big day to have my big sister on a banknote.

Minister of Finance Bill Morneau puts his hand on the shoulder of Wanda Robson, the sister of Viola Desmond, as it is announced Desmond will be featured on Canadian currency during a ceremony in Gatineau, Quebec on Thursday December 8, 2016.

Born in 1914 in Halifax, Desmond was a beautician and businesswoman, the Canadian Encyclopedia notes.

Advertisement

But it was her brave act in Nova Scotia in 1946 that the activist is most known for (it even became a heritage moment earlier this year).

Desmond, who wanted to watch a movie, was kicked out of the theatre after sitting in a whites-only section.

After spending the night in jail, she was brought to court and charged with attempting to defraud the provincial government. Desmond fought her "tax evasion" charge at trial, even though she knew the real issue was the colour of her skin. The judged fined her $26.

The incident launched the province's civil rights movement and in 2010, Desmond was granted free pardon by the Nova Scotia lieutenant-governor at the time, Mayann Francis.

Desmond also spent time as a teacher and opened doors for many young black women in business by opening up her own beauty school in the province.

Advertisement

She passed away on Feb. 7, 1965, at the age of 50.

Watch the full video above to learn even more about Desmond's life.

With files from Joshua Ostroff

Also on HuffPost
Chris Helgren / Reuters Boaters fish for trout on Jacko Lake, near the site of a proposed expansion of Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain Pipeline, as well as a proposed Ajax copper mine, in the grasslands on the outskirts of Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, November 16, 2016. REUTERS/Chris Helgren

I am profoundly disappointed with the federal government's approval of Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMX). As an intervenor in the National Energy Board (NEB) hearings, I witnessed first hand that the process was fundamentally flawed.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended his decision saying the science backed him up, but none of the evidence submitted to the NEB was tested by cross-examination and scientists are publicly questioning the approval.

Advertisement

High profile intervenors like economist and former ICBC CEO Robyn Allan withdrew from the process stating that the hearing was flawed. Prime Minister Trudeau promised to fix the broken regulatory process so Canadians could be confident in its recommendation. Instead, he used the faulty science to defend his decision. Unbelievable.

Mr. Trudeau's political decision excludes indigenous people, including the WSANEC in Saanich North & the Islands. This decision forces indigenous communities into protracted and costly court battles to defend their rights and that is not how a responsible government should be doing business, particularly one that promised to create a new nation-to-nation relationship with indigenous people.

While the TMX debate has largely been focused on pipeline politics, in Saanich North and the Islands it is about tanker traffic. The 500 per cent increase in tanker traffic in the Salish Sea drastically increases the threat of an oil spill and that has people concerned in all parts of our riding.

People are concerned about the fate of the Pacific salmon and the endangered southern resident killer whales. They are worried about negative impacts on property values, recreation activities and quality of life.

Advertisement

A spill of diluted bitumen would be devastating. Dr. David Farmer, a Central Saanich resident, and retired oceanographer used his expertise to question the evidence put forward by Kinder Morgan, the government ignored it.

It makes sense to invest in a 21st-century economy rather than in infrastructure that commits us to fossil fuel expansion.

Transportation Minister, Marc Garneau, the Minister of Transport, recently admitted that part of the Oceans Protection Plan is to figure out how diluted bitumen actually interacts with ocean water. Instead of first figuring out how they'd actually clean up a spill, the federal Liberals are willing to build first and think about the consequences later.

Raincoast Conservation Society has provided evidence highlighting how propeller noise would negatively impact Orcas in the Salish Sea. The habitat of this endangered species is under constant threat, this project could mean their extinction.

We continue to move unprocessed resources out of our country at alarming rates. Pipeline proponents have based their support of this project on its potential job creation. There is no question that we will continue to extract and use oil as we transition to a carbon-less economy but pipeline construction jobs are temporary. Why are we not investing in upgrading and refining Alberta oil in Alberta, creating long-term employment and resource development for the benefit of Canadians?

Advertisement

At the same time, let's invest in transforming our fossil fuel industry into a clean energy industry through innovation, research, and development. It makes sense to invest in a 21st-century economy rather than in infrastructure that commits us to fossil fuel expansion. Prime Minister Trudeau is just wrong when he suggests that this pipeline will help us address climate change.

British Columbians do have a say. Premier Christy Clark has a choice to make. It is not in her political interest to support the TMX pipeline because it is not in the interest of our province. She cannot hide beneath her so-called five conditions any longer.

In Saanich North and the Islands we can show Premier Clark that a decision to support the TMX pipeline is a mistake. I have proven that I am willing to stand up for our coast, and I promise that I will continue to stand up for the Salish Sea. My commitment to our home is unwavering and the B.C. Greens are the only party that has consistently be against this project.

Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook

Also on HuffPost:
Mike Harrington via Getty Images Portrait of bearded male wearing brown cap, making a phone call on smart phone

I woke up Wednesday morning to a familiar sight, my phone was not charged. The charger outlet on the bottom of the phone does not lock in place like it did when I got the phone two and a half years ago. This has been happening at a rate of two to three times a week, and this most recent occurrence was the last straw. I went down to my local provider and requested to buy out the last six months of my contract and get a new phone.

The employee informed me that I would not be able to keep my $92 a month plan with 4GB and nationwide unlimited calling. Mind you I have been a customer of this phone carrier for 17 years. He informed me that if I wanted that plan it would cost me $10 more a month.

Advertisement

While we talked I casually mentioned that I had recently moved to Manitoba, to which he informed me that the rates in Manitoba are drastically different from the ones offered in Ontario. My plan went from $102 a month for a 4GB unlimited Canada nationwide calling plan to a $70 a month unlimited Canada wide calling plan with 8GB.

So not only did I replace my broken phone but I am paying $20 less and getting double the data. That's 8GB of data for $20, whereas 1GB in Ontario will cost you $26. In fact there is a "wireless black market."

If you don't want Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister to raise your rates, I suggest you inform your local MLA.

The huge difference in pricing between Manitoba and Saskatchewan has led to animated discussions on online forums such as Red Flag Deals and Reddit about workarounds to access Manitoba and Saskatchewan plans outside those provinces, which typically involve changing your address. It was only later that I learned that this could be a temporary measure.

Advertisement

The Conservative Manitoban government is looking to follow Ontario's lead and privatize many of its sectors and selling off its assets. Phone Carrier Manitoba Telephones, or MTS (which the past Conservative government privatized), is being encouraged by the current government to merge with Bell. As this headline from the Winnipeg Free Press states, "Bell-MTS deal unlikely to be good for Manitobans."

Reducing the amount of competition from five carriers to four inevitably means higher prices.

Voters don't decide issues; they decide who will decide issues. Everyone has a phone now. Every millennial is on their phones relentlessly.

If you don't want Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister to raise your rates, I suggest you inform your local MLA. But, in all probability, you will be too busy on your phone to even look up. A recent article by a former NDP MLA articulates the dramatic drop in youth voters in the last provincial election compared to the turn out in the 2015 federal election.

The direct results of voter apathy are the mounting job losses under this government. Since May, the Pallister government has shed almost 11,000 jobs by pulling out of the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corp. Finally, privatization of services like hydro and health care, coupled with the encouragement of the merger between Bell and MTS. Let me tell you, I just came from Ontario and believe me you don't want the hydro bills I just left behind. My car insurance, hydro and now phone are all cheaper in Manitoba.

How about you let them know that you like your phone rates the way they are?

Advertisement

What is going to happen is for the next 3.5 years, the Government of Manitoba is going to sell off all the province's assets, then eventually they will lose favour. As all the governments before them, do they will fall from power. Could take four years, maybe even 10. The major players are then going to transition from their roles in government to sitting on all the boards of the companies they just sold out their province.

I just got done living this exact scenario in Ontario. All because you could not take 15 minutes to go and vote. You were glued to your phone; now your addiction is now going to double in cost. So instead of building Pallister's Palace another wing, how about you let them know that you like your phone rates the way they are?

Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook

Also on HuffPost:
franckreporter via Getty Images http://blogtoscano.altervista.org/sel.jpg

Co-authored by Luca Visentini, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation; Reiner Hoffmann, Chairman of the German Trade Union Federation (DGB); and Rudy De Leeuw, President of the General Labour Federation of Belgium (FGTB).

For the past 30 years, economic globalization has accelerated, and its effects are felt in nearly all economic areas and the day-to-day lives of many million people in various ways.

Advertisement

International trade and investment deals have been a key driver of this phenomena. First through the WTO, and later through bilateral treaties, corporations have set the rules that have increased trade, but also lowered wages, eroded working conditions, increased privatization, threatened our environment, and led to growing inequality in Europe and Canada. And new, so-called modern trade and investment agreements have not yet reflected a progressive, socially and environmentally sensitive trade model that is needed right now.

Despite massive public protest and expert testimony on its negative impacts, governments in Canada and Europe are rushing to implement the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA). Faced with the prospect of ongoing slow economic growth, the only solution they seem to be able to provide is more of the same neo-liberal policies that have proven not to work for the majority.

This is why unions and civil society must come together to present a vision for a fairer, more equal economic model that works for workers and all people. Unions and civil society do not want new walls on borders and protectionist policies -- we want globalization with sustainable development and social justice.

We believe that globalization must be fair or it will fail. The process around CETA presented unions with a new opportunity to work together towards this goal.

Advertisement

When the full text of CETA was released in February 2016, we all thoroughly analyzed the deal. Each of us came to the conclusion that it wasn't a good deal for workers, so together we set to work to find areas where we could either block the deal or change it in a way that would protect workers' and citizens' interests in Canada and Europe.

For the first time, and thanks to our mobilization, we had a real influence on the negotiations. It is crucial to acknowledge the role that Wallonia, Belgium played in setting the example that where there is political will, improving the agreement is possible. For example, trade union concerns have been incorporated into the legally binding Interpretive Instrument of the agreement.

While it is true that the new Investment Court System (ICS) introduced into the CETA eliminates some of the worst and most obnoxious elements common to international trade tribunals by introducing ethical and conflict of interest standards for tribunals, and the tribunal's ability to dismiss claims that are without legal merit, it still privileges big multi-national corporations, and can be used to intimidate democratic institutions from acting in the public interest.

Overwhelming opposition to the ICS in Europe forced the EU to deem CETA a 'mixed' agreement and requires debate and ratification in 28 national parliaments and 10 sub-national bodies prior to full implementation.

The next challenge before us is to build on and improve all post-CETA trade and investment deals to ensure they meet a progressive trade model. We suggest several principles that should guide governments engaged in these negotiations.

Advertisement

First, civil society should be engaged, from the outset, in a democratic and transparent process. Agreements that are negotiated behind closed doors are bound to be viewed skeptically by citizens and provoke protest and social unrest.

Second, these agreements need to have iron-clad protections for public services. International treaties cannot be a short cut to privatizing valuable public services. Regulating services in the public interest cannot result in lawsuits between investors and states.

Third, these agreements need to allow for effective enforcement of labour and environmental standards. That includes sanctions in the case of violations of labour or environmental rights.

Finally, we need to emphasize the responsibilities of corporations and not just prioritize their rights. Eliminating dispute mechanisms granting special rights to foreign investors, which have proved disastrous in Canada, is an important first step toward that goal.

We did not get everything what we wanted from the negotiations on CETA. But the latest developments prove that we can fight back and make a difference. And we will continue to work together using all available avenues to further improve the deal.

Advertisement

Labour unions should be proud that their organizing and solidarity accomplished important changes. We worked together, by sharing expert analysis, country perspectives, and strategy, and by speaking as one voice to power brokers. Canada and Europe share many of the same values -- we value trade, yes, but we also value sustainable development, strong labour rights, high environmental standards, and public services.

There is still much more work that needs to be done to build a global progressive trade agenda -- but through international solidarity, and working together, unions can reshape globalization so that it works for all of us.

There is an alternative, and together we can make it a reality.

Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook
By Maddison Van Balkom and Emily Major-Girard

Events in Lesotho typically begin with a hymn or a song, followed by a prayer. At a recent sexual education workshop for deaf students hosted by Help Lesotho, the first morning's hymn started with grins from ear to ear and one small difference: the hymn was silent.

The training room -- despite being filled by 63 eager students -- was dramatically quieter than the usual cheers and singing that accompany the start of a program. The melody of the hymn was beautifully carried through sign language; a deeply moving and somewhat overwhelming experience.

Advertisement

Each person in the room wondered how the day would proceed, with the facilitators grappling with the challenge of presenting important information without the use of verbal communication. This silent standoff gave the hearing people in the room a moment to imagine the frustrations of a life where you cannot understand what is happening around you.

The majority of the discussions over the course of the four day workshop focused on HIV/AIDS. Lesotho, the small kingdom in the mountains of southern Africa has the second highest prevalence of HIV in the world. The percentage of Basotho infected with HIV increased from 23% in 2009 to 25% in 2014.

With one-quarter of Lesotho's population already HIV-positive, significant efforts are required to ensure that each and every person in the country has access to education and resources to prevent transmission of the virus. The most recent statistics on disabilities in Lesotho reveal that about 8,372 people are partially or totally deaf, according to the 2011 Demographic Survey Report. Each one of these people have the opportunity to protect themselves and to protect others - but only if they are included in educational HIV prevention programs.

Advertisement

Participants were excited and engaged during discussion during the topics covered such as Decision Making, Teenage Pregnancy, Introduction to STIs and Introduction to HIV/AIDS.

Less than twenty minutes into the first workshop, it became evident that proper sexual education is not reaching all patrons of Lesotho. In general, deaf people have lower levels of education; this increases their risk of contracting HIV as they lack the knowledge to engage in safe sex. Teachers and parents are reluctant to discuss sex with deaf youth as they assume they are not sexually active, but this is clearly not always the case.

Few health workers with knowledge of sign language and a lack of written or visual information on HIV in sign language are further barriers for those with hearing impairments. Requiring a sign language interpreter also limits the level of privacy deaf people have when accessing health services. Additionally, much information can get lost in translation. Without comprehensive knowledge of HIV transmission, Lesotho's deaf population remains vulnerable to this virus.

Participants being taught about HIV transmission through various short skits, interactive demonstrations and visuals.

Advertisement

In order to make progress in fighting the AIDS epidemic, UNAIDS developed a fast-track strategy known as 90-90-90. This strategy aims to meet the following objectives by 2020: 90% of people living with HIV will know their status, 90% of people diagnosed with HIV will receive antiretroviral therapy, and 90% of those receiving antiretroviral therapy experience viral suppression.

Further, the Sustainable Development Goals agreed upon by the UN in 2015 also call to end AIDS as an epidemic by 2030. Despite more than 5% of the world's population having a hearing impairment, not enough is being done to tailor HIV prevention strategies to meet the needs of deaf people.

One participant in the workshop stated this was their first time learning about HIV/AIDS, at the age of 23. This is significant given that in Lesotho, HIV prevalence rises from 4% among 15-19 year olds, to 24% among 20-24 year olds. Moreover, early sexual debut is common in Lesotho with 22.1% of girls and 7.8% of boys having sex for the first time before age 15. This gap between engaging in sex and being educated on safe sex should not be overlooked.

On the second weekend of the workshop, participants were so excited at the chance to learn more about sexual health that they arrived an hour early. This enthusiasm remained throughout the rest of the workshop!

Advertisement

Only two days after honouring World AIDS Day on December 1st, the world turned its attention to the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on December 3rd. Perhaps with these two days falling so close to one another the international community will recognize the value in ensuring the inclusion of people with disabilities in HIV prevention education. When talking about key populations with higher risks of contracting HIV/AIDS, women, young people, orphans, sex workers, prisoners and men who have sex with men are typically discussed.

But consider this: the World Health Organization estimated in 2012 that 360 million people worldwide have a disabling hearing loss. Of that, 36.8 million of these people live in sub-Saharan Africa. The prevalence of disabilities is higher in low income countries, where the rate of HIV/AIDS is also higher, with 24.7 million HIV positive people living in sub-Saharan Africa. There is a severe lack of data acknowledging the rates of HIV-positive disabled persons, with estimates as wide as 11% to 60%.

The few conducted studies agree that HIV prevalence among disabled persons is the same or higher compared to those without a disability. This highlights that disabled people are disproportionately more vulnerable to HIV infection. In particular, deaf people who are unable to hear oral HIV prevention messages face significant challenges in protecting themselves from HIV. If none of sub-Saharan Africa's 36.8 million deaf people receive comprehensive sexual education, reaching the 90-90-90 targets will become an impossible feat.

Though these targets are ambitious, they are achievable if we continue to create awareness and ensure that proper education reaches all citizens, especially vulnerable groups. One Help Lesotho alumni was inspired to learn sign language when she realized no deaf people in her community were receiving sexual education.

Not everyone needs to go as far as enrolling in a sign language course, but organizations and individuals working in HIV prevention can take steps to work towards the targets - starting with learning more about the needs of the deaf people in their community. A small change of actively including all key populations in proper education will lay the groundwork for an AIDS free 2030.

Advertisement

It is possible.

Maddison Van Balkom received her Bachelor of Social Sciences in International Development and Globalization with a Minor in Women's Studies from the University of Ottawa in 2014. Since then, Maddison completed a Postgraduate Certificate in International Development at Humber College in Toronto. During this time she completed internships with various international organizations including Plan International and GlobalMedic. Maddison will be working with Help Lesotho as a Monitoring and Evaluation Intern for 8 months until the end of April, 2017. Maddison is passionate about working towards gender equity and is excited at the opportunity to work with Help Lesotho.

Emily Major-Girard graduated from Algonquin College's Advertising and Marketing Communications Management program, then moved to Australia to receive her Bachelor's Degree in Public Relations and Communications with a Minor in Marketing. From Australia she moved to Lesotho, where she's now been for just over a month. Until the end of June, 2017 she will be working with Help Lesotho as a Communications and Support Intern. She is passionate about experiencing new cultures, and is looking forward to using her skills to help the people of Lesotho.

This blog is part of the blog series: Barometer Rising: No time to backtrack the fast track to ending HIV as a global health threat by 2030 by the Interagency Coalition on AIDS and Development (ICAD) in recognition of World AIDS Day (1 December). The series features a selection of blogs written by our member and partner organizations. Contributors share their broad range of perspectives and insight on what they think needs to be done to strengthen our HIV prevention efforts at home and abroad in order for the world to meet the ambitious target of ending AIDS as an epidemic by 2030.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this blog series are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of ICAD.
Lisa5201 via Getty Images Woman kisses an older man on the cheek

In many ways it is a values question. What do we owe our parents? It was a question I posed to several friends and the answers come from their own words. Parenting is the one job that has no prerequisite and requires no experience. Yet, parents have an enduring effect on our entire lives.

My friend Wayne was born and adopted in 1942. He grew up in a relatively poor household. His father had gone to work at age 12 and he owes him a great deal for what his father taught him indirectly about life and how to live it.

Advertisement

In middle public school, Wayne would occasionally work with him in a slaughterhouse, and when some men were using the F-word, Dad gave them a stern look and said "Not in front of the boy." He would never forget it, and has since seldom ever used that word.

When Wayne was offered an after-school job just before high school, his father said, "No, your job is to participate in school." That made a tremendous difference in Wayne's teenage years and all that followed. I also had freedom to come and go with few restrictions, which taught me so much about risks, rewards and how to behave.

Mary Ellen says she learned not to complain or use challenges as excuses.

Mary Ellen told me that the examples her parents set remain strongly with her. Her older sister was born with brain damage and in the 1950s and 1960s there were few choices for Mary Ellen and her parents.

Mary Ellen says she owes her parents the perspective of "Don't let things stand in your way." Her father was injured during the Second World War in Italy and lost one of his legs below the knee, but his amputation was never an excuse and he continued to do what he loved. Her sister's condition was accepted and they pushed for her to have all the possibilities that in those days were difficult to attain. Mary Ellen says she learned not to complain or use challenges as excuses.

Advertisement

Secondly Mary Ellen owed to her parents the belief that nature is magnificent and it's important that time is spent outside. Additionally (and so important in Canada), the lesson that winter is for enjoying life outside and not simply a season to endure.

Richard said that he felt very lucky to have the parents he had. They practiced a set of values that have stood the test of time, allowing him to learn from them. His mother is 99, and he's still learning from her. He owes it to them to accept these values and live them as his parents did. At times in his life, he noticed that he was asking himself what Mom or Dad would do. The answers were always there.

Richard was allowed to experiment and try out how to do things.

There are lots of things that he remembers being taught or shown how to do -- how to tie on a snowshoe when we had the web straps, for example -- before the days of the harness; how to carry an axe safely; how to paddle a canoe; and how to bring a car out of a skid to name a few. Richard was allowed to experiment and try out how to do things. His parents presented to him an example of how to live in this world.

As for my friend Freida, her mom is a complex individual with multiple layers of mental health issues, making it very difficult to communicate with her. Frieda says she owes her mother love and respect, in spite of this. After all, her mother gave her life and managed to raise her in a dysfunctional environment that left their family in tatters. Freida also says she owes to her mother an open mind and a great deal of sensitivity and care, which is hard to do when she's the one extending all the grace. Frieda owes her mother the gift of her presence.

Frieda's father, on the other hand, was a gentle giant of a man who was obedient to Mom and never had a voice. He has passed on, but the memories of his kind, caring, loving heart grow fonder for Frieda with each year. She owes her dad honour and respect for his faithfulness to her mom.

Advertisement

Thank you to my friends for sharing their stories.

In my own life, I had a challenging relationship with my mother. A fatal illness brought her to her finest hour. She faced the fear and pain of her illness with grace and dignity and an enormous strength of spirit. That was probably her greatest lesson for me.

My father exemplified the unconditional parental love every child needs. I had 19 years of his love but it has stayed with me, tucked away in my heart for nearly 50 years. A parent role model unparalleled.

To everyone who is a parent, to all of us that have parents and for those people who hope to parent, these stories illustrate the importance of that responsibility.

If you have been touched by these stories, please share your own answer to the question in the comments section. Or perhaps use it as a conversation starter this holiday season.

Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook

Also on HuffPost:
As the solitary representative of the third party in a provincial legislature, you quickly realize the extent of your impotency. But on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016 in PEI, I had the rare pleasure of moving a motion which was unanimously approved by all parties in the House.

In the previous provincial election, in a rare expression of common agreement, all four party leaders who contested the campaign agreed that a Universal Basic Income policy is worth exploring. Economists from all sides of the political spectrum are open to the idea, and the federal government has also indicated a willingness to explore such programs.

Advertisement

Should PEI now proceed with a basic income pilot project as promoted in the motion, it would not be the first government to do so. The first in Canada was 40 years ago in Dauphin, Manitoba, and the provinces of Quebec and Ontario are currently in the process of creating their own initiatives. There is previous research and analysis to inform these efforts, and willing partners in governments, NGOs and academia with whom to collaborate and learn.

Furthermore, PEI's small size and clear boundaries provide an ideal scale for pilot projects exploring social issues and policy impacts at both provincial and community levels.

There is a long list of potential benefits that could come from a Universal Basic Income:

Reducing or eliminating poverty;

Improving health and mental health outcomes by addressing the social determinants of health;

Increasing educational attainment;

Reducing food insecurity;

Improving working conditions and reducing income insecurity;

Reducing crime and the associated social and economic costs;

Stimulating economic development by boosting the purchasing power of those most in need in our society;

Increasing demand for local products, and lowering greenhouse gas emissions;

Consolidating multiple social programs, reducing bureaucracy and red tape and improving accessibility;

Reducing the cost of administering multiple government social programs; and

Allowing people to take better control of and ownership over their lives and allowing them to be more productive members of society economically, socially, politically, artistically and in many other manners.

Elimination of poverty would have some very obvious and immediate benefits, but a Universal Basic Income would also have some more subtle -- and yet, in my mind, very exciting -- possible benefits: a universal basic income could enable the greatest unleashing of human potential ever seen.

Without economic security, these human resources too often go unrealized.

Throughout most of human history right up to the present, the ability to innovate in business, science, the arts, society and politics has been largely the preserve of those who had either independent means of their own, or else through great chance found support from wealthy patrons. It is not the case that people of independent means are inherently more creative, innovative or better leaders; these traits are widely distributed throughout society. But without economic security, these human resources too often go unrealized.

The knowledge that you could take risks by starting a new business, building a prototype for a new invention or taking the time to write what could be the next great PEI novel -- and still be assured the dignity and security of a roof over your head and food in your belly while doing so, even if your venture fails -- would quickly multiply the most valuable resource we've got: human capital.

Another way to look at it is that in economics, we tend to talk about resources being put to their highest and best use. Capital should be invested where it will obtain the highest returns, and a piece of real estate in a busy downtown core is not the appropriate place to build a two-bedroom bungalow.

Advertisement

However, outside the realm of overpaid CEOs and professional athletes, there has been relatively little discussion about human beings being put to their highest and best use.

True, there has been an emphasis on education as a means of ensuring that the workforce has the skills that are in demand by certain employers, but we have not been very pre-occupied with the question of whether the person working on the shop floor might have more to contribute as the founder of his own business; whether the single mother living in poverty with her children and trying to make ends meet at minimum wage jobs might be the next J.K. Rowling; or whether the young man who seems to drift between short-term jobs and unemployment, never really finding his niche, might be carrying solutions to some of the most pressing problems of our time in his thoughts and dreams.

A basic income would allow us -- and them -- a chance to find out.

There has been relatively little discussion about human beings being put to their highest and best use.

Furthermore, the Canadian labour market is changing: Jobs are increasingly part-time and precarious, new digital technologies are replacing work through automation and algorithmic programming, and companies are more readily able to compartmentalize and outsource residual employment globally, increasing competition for work and limiting opportunities for even the most highly skilled workers.

While I firmly believe that a Universal Basic Income would have a strong and widespread positive impact, I also acknowledge that it will not solve all our problems. The common concerns presented against a basic income program are about its overall cost and that it could provide a disincentive for people to work.

Advertisement

This is exactly why we should do a pilot project -- so we can evaluate whether the benefits outweigh the costs.

I would caution, however, that in doing so we must ensure that we consider the long-term benefits and costs as well as short-term ones. We must also ensure that we can properly measure and evaluate the impacts of such a project; ideally, we would do this by adopting a holistic set of well-being indicators, such as the Canadian Index of Wellbeing.

A Basic Universal Income is, at its core, simply the humanitarian thing to do, but it is also a valuable tool to improve individual and collective health, reduce long-term economic and social costs, and free everyone to contribute to their community in a uniquely fitting way.

Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook

Also on HuffPost:
As we approach the year-end attention of course turns to what we can expect to see in 2017 and what we are security professionals need to be prepared for.

In many ways, 2016 was very much the 'Year of the Ransomware Threat', and it is very hard to see that changing much next year. After all most cybercrime is driven by hard cash and the fact remains that most ransomware and extortion attacks are successful.

Estimates from the FBI suggest ransomware could be worth $1 billion this year but the agency pointed to a jump in cases where victims reported bigger losses, and also hinted that the actual ransom payment totals may be even larger since many choose not to report the crime.

Advertisement

So ransomware and extortion is not going away in 2017, but what else can we expect next year?

First, in 2016 there were some very high profile Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) and we can expect to see even more in 2017 with criminals making more use of techniques like Mirai to leverage IoT and networked devices to amplify their attacks. These sorts of DDoS attacks powered by cheap, insecure IoT devices could become more common, but they are also likely to become less lethal suppliers harden their defenses and device manufacturers adopt identity-based security to close vulnerabilities.

Second, I expect there will be a change in approach by the criminals using DDoS extortion attacks. Not only will they continue to go after larger demands for payment, but also they will utilize malware like Mirai to target network enabled devices like routers and remote cameras to amplify the attacks and make them more prolonged and adaptive. We are becoming more used to the Internet of Things, but what if criminals turn this against us to demand money via extortion attempts? We have already seen IoT linked attacks in 2016 and this can only increase in 2017.

Third, in all the 'excitement' of IoT and DDoS attacks we cannot afford to lose sight of the continuing threat caused by data breaches. Whether deliberate or accidental, data breaches cost businesses millions of dollars each year in loss of business; brand damage and reputation. A recent IBM study found that the average cost of a data breach has hit $4 million--up from $3.8 million in 2015.

But while these three are likely to be the most common threats faced in 2017, it is important to mention how some threats are more relevant to some organisations than others. The most targeted sectors include healthcare, financial services, retail, and communications and media.

Advertisement

But in no way can any business or individual afford to be complacent. It is critical that you understand your individual threat model and plan in case the worst does happen. You also need to monitor inside and outside of your network and look at the threats revealed through the eyes of an attacker. Only then can you begin to ensure you have enough intelligence and awareness to manage the risks effectively for when the inevitable attack happens.
Ukraine imported 6.656 million tonnes of fuel (petrol, diesel fuel, boiler oil, jet engine fuel, and others, which have FEACN code 2710) to the tune of $2.908 billion January through November 2016, including $392.16 million in November.

Fuel from Belarus was imported to the tune of $1.626 billion, from Russia $458.085 million, Lithuania $318.76 million, and other countries $505.792 million.

Simultaneously, fuel exports from Ukraine in the 11 months totaled 218,706 tonnes worth $78.801 million. Fuel supplies to Latvia were estimated at $12.106 million, Lithuania at $12.674 million, Cyprus at $9.828 million, and other countries at $44.192 million.

What is more, Ukraine January through November 2016 imported 457,295 tonnes of crude oil (FEACN code 2709) to the tune of $149.763 million. Crude oil supplies from Kazakhstan amounted to $145.018 million, from Romania to $4.745 million.

In November alone, crude oil shipments were estimated at $5.682 million.

Imports of Kazakhstan's CPC Blend as of September 2015 by tankers were earlier announced by PJSC Ukrtatnafta (Kremenchuk oil refinery).

As was reported, Ukraine in 2015 imported fuel worth $2.884 billion.
Carl

Theresa May and her government seem to have a knack of dividing the country, rather than leading it - most notably on Brexit - but now the Prime Minister is having a go at dividing us on religious grounds.

Mrs May has said her belief in a Christian god means she has faith in her gut instincts. The Prime Minister has also sought to encourage Christians to speak up about their religious beliefs in the work place.

Advertisement

Some are seeing the latter as a licence for Christians to proselytise - to convert others to Christianity.

Implicit in this is message is the belief that the Church of England and Christianity are, and have always been, the one and only religion for this Country and that it defines who we are and we cannot manage to be good without it.

There are also elements of picking a fight over whether we can still recognise and promote Christmas in modern Britain - ironic since Christmas seems to begin in late October these days.

So, all in all, the Prime Minister has put her religion front and centre.

But is the Church of England relevant and worthy of what seems to be a assumed monopoly on moral leadership in this country in the 21st Century?

Advertisement

I am no expert but there is no doubt that the UK has a long history of Christianity - a religion (by definition) imported from the Middle East sometime between the 1st and 5th Centuries AD.

Protestant Christianity appears to have been more firmly established by the needs of the misogynist King, Henry VIII so that he could marry who he liked in defiance of Rome.

People in this country certainly seemed to have been 'more religious' in the past - not too surprising I suppose when your beliefs (or lack of them) could get you killed.

The Prime Minister is the political leader of a very diverse country - where less than one million citizens regularly attend Church of England services - that's around one in sixty people. Many more are cultural Christians no doubt - whilst others have different beliefs or non at all.

The other fifty nine citizens might be left wondering why she needs to promote the Church of England and Christianity when the state church already has Bishops in the House of Lords as of right and able to influence the laws we make - the only religion able to do this.

Advertisement

Of course Christians, and those of other religions, do an awful lot of good things for other people - but so do some of those without any religious beliefs.

I do wonder wether religious folks do good works in the hope that they will benefit from it later on - in a some sort of after-life?

The Church of England in itself is not necessarily that good. This is an organisation that has failed to act on child abuse by its own people in the past and their social policies and attitudes are sometimes regressive and illiberal.

For instance the Church of England's official position on homosexuality is that it is something people need forgiving for practicing. The C of E policy is that 'genital homosexual acts' - fall short of an ideal and are to be met with 'calls to repentance'.

A rather patronising - if not cruel - attitude to gay people who just want to get on with their lives and contribute just like everyone else. Who are Bishops to judge other citizens in this way?

Advertisement

Fortunately the Church is not in sole charge of the Country - otherwise we might have a far more repressive society.

Of course none of this is surprising since the Church's ethos is based on the Bible - a book written by ordinary men centuries ago whose societies were far less tolerant of diversity and difference.

The more brutal and unforgiving messages from the Old Testament include, for instance, Leviticus 20 where 'the Lord' is quoted as encouraging the death penalty for those that 'curse their parents' or for a man who has sexual relations with another man.

Of course modern Christians tend to disown this half the Bible because of the brutality of it is increasingly hard to explain away - or they claim it is merely a metaphor for something or other.

Theresa May - may not actually intend to divide the country - alternatively it could be a cynical ploy to gain votes and further her political objectives.

Advertisement

But divide she does. She seems blind to the concerns of nearly half the country who voted remain in the EU referendum and now seems very keen to promote one religion over all others.
Stuart Freedman via Getty Images

The Government has conceded ground in committing to publishing their plan for leaving the EU before invoking Article 50. But what does this mean?

Does this mean that the Government are just going to publish a document saying "we will seek the best possible Brexit, and aim for the best possible access to the Single Market" and then say "there you go: there's our plan". Because we have heard that before and that is not good enough.

Advertisement

Will there be a White Paper? Will it answer specific points on the Government's priorities? Will it set out the Government's position on Single Market membership? On free movement? On co-operation with our allies on security? On workers' rights? Consumer protections? Environmental protections? Will there be a list of so-called Red Lines?

We don't know.

So I cannot vote for a motion that commits this House to invoking Article 50 in March next year. Given the way that this is all unravelling who knows where we will be in March?

And who decided this timetable - the Prime Minister - behind closed doors and with no input from Parliament. The Prime Minister set the date - and absolutely nothing that has happened since has made me think that she or the Three Brexiteers know what they're doing.

So I cannot vote for a motion that supports the government's Brexit timetable.

We have heard time and time again from the Brexit Secretary, that "there will be no running commentary" on the Government's Brexit plans. But in reality we have had a running commentary of sorts - just not one that has been willingly provided by the Government.

Advertisement

We've had a running commentary of sorts provided the photographers positioned outside Number 10 Downing Street and by leaked memos. But when all is said and done, what have we learnt?

That the Cabinet is split over 'cash for access' to the single market.

After a Leave campaign based on the simple claim that if we left the EU we would repatriate money from Brussels and spend it on our health service, the Brexit Secretary and the Chancellor are now proposing that we pay into the EU's coffers even after we've left.

So are we to assume that this is the Government's plan - to leave the EU, but continue to pay money to the EU? To leave the EU but still implement all EU directives while not having a voice in the room when the rules are decided?

If so - this sounds less like having your cake and eating it and much more like paying for a cake that we don't get to choose.

A lack of clarity won't help us to get a good deal. In fact, it will do the exact opposite. And that is the most important point of today's debate. The absence of any detail about the Government's plans has created a vacuum that has been filled by speculation, and the hard Brexiteers. But words have consequences.

Advertisement

Proposals to force companies to draw up registers of EU workers. Threats to crack down on European students. Plans to replace European doctors and nurses working in our NHS. Refusing to guarantee the rights of EU citizens who reside in the UK. Why are we offending and alienating our European neighbours when we have to negotiate with them next year?

Every time we reduce what little good will is left in Europe we make a good Brexit deal even less likely. We have precious little good will left in Europe, and this doesn't exactly ingratiate ourselves to our European neighbours ahead of negotiations beginning. In these negotiations it is our European neighbours who will be in the stronger negotiating position.

So why do we still pretend that what we eventually end up with is going to be determined and decided by whatever it is that our Government demands?

The unity, interests and stability of the EU will be upheld and protected. Single market membership without free movement of labour is not on the table. The EU cannot set a precedent that member state who leaves the union gets a better deal outside. EU leaders and their chief negotiator Michael Barnier have been entirely clear that the UK will pay a price for leaving.

They are not bluffing so what happens in Whitehall is not the only important thing in the coming years. The referendum did not settle or answer any questions about where we go from here - it merely created uncertainty and threw up more questions. You don't bring the country back together by ignoring 48% of the country.

Advertisement

You don't begin to heal the divisions thrown up by this referendum and its aftermath by drowning out the voices 16 million people, plus all the Brits who are resident in Europe and all the EU citizens who live in the UK.

Let us return to the text of the original motion - calling on the Government to publish its plan before Article 50 - so that we can have bring some accountability and scrutiny into this process.

The Government have sought to turn this into a debate about Article 50, and I will not be voting to write the Government a blank cheque to do whatever it pleases next year.
ATM out of order.

Currency exchange closed.

Sorry, this bank has no cash.

This is what I was met with at Cochin International Airport, in India's southern state of Kerala. Every single bank, ATM and currency exchange had no money whatsoever. There was a brief moment of hope when I ran to join a single snaking queue outside the State Bank of India booth in the arrivals lounge, with well over one hundred people patiently lined up. Thirty minutes and virtually no movement later, the cashier pulled the blind over the window and announced that they too had run out of money.

I had arrived in India four days after the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, made a surprise announcement to 'demonetise' the 500 and 1000 notes - roughly equivalent to 5.80 and 11. After a week, the tourism industry began to feel the weight of the lack of cash - the difference between the start of my trip and the end, two weeks later, was testament to that.

Advertisement

When I first arrived, the southern city of Cochin (also known as Kochi) was brimming with backpackers, long-term hippy residents and retired couples making their pensions stretch, but two weeks later it was virtually deserted - just when it should have been filling up with peak season tourists. Shop keepers, auto-rickshaw drivers and restaurant owners were on the verge of begging those who remained to spend cash with them. '30% of tourists have cancelled their trips!' was the line I was frequently told, and this was the conservative percentage. Many of those who had gone ahead had checked into all-inclusive hotels where cash was not needed. This left a very obviously hard-hit and desperate industry.

Yet despite the struggle and stress that the ban has initially caused, I still urge tourists to go to India as it settles into its usual peak season; the places you plan on visiting cannot afford for you not to.

Cash in India - Indispensable

The rupee ban was issued on the same day as the US election result, so unsurprisingly the story was pretty far down the international news agenda and you would be forgiven for missing it. So caught up in the surprise of a Trump presidency, I too missed the story entirely and only discovered it when a friend shared an article, knowing I was off to India the next day.

To give a little more context on the scale of the surprise policy, India is a strongly cash based society, with only 10% of transactions on card. Add to this that the demonetised notes make up around 85% of India's cash in circulation, it was a recipe for short-term disaster (and the jury is still out on the alleged long-term benefits).

Advertisement

From a tourist's perspective, it is illegal to take rupees into or out of India, meaning you cannot buy currency in advance. I therefore turned up with 100 in 5 notes, a pre-paid currency card and a debit card, naively assuming that it wouldn't be too hard to get rupees from somewhere.

In reality initially, not so. The government had enforced a 2000 daily withdrawal and exchange limit (2000 notes being the only new note issued), so anyone who needed more than around 23 per day or had old notes to exchange had to queue up at banks and ATMs. There's over 1.3 billion people in India...

Considering the Indian cash problem  Emma Rosen 2016

The Wad of Small Things

So I found myself stranded at Cochin Airport with no way of paying for anything at all, not even a bottle of water, let alone a bus or taxi to get the 35km into the main city. After hours of negotiation and a couple more of begging to the only remaining staffed (but officially closed with no money) bank branch, a kindly bank cashier finally took pity on me and agreed to exchange 20 - enough to get me into town and pay for a few meals.

I spent the rest of the day going from bank to ATM to bank, walking 15km in search of some crucial rupees, but constantly being turned away. As it started to get dark, my mood became increasingly despondent, especially after the concerned call from my bank asking if I had intentionally tried to use my card over 30 times in southern India.

Advertisement

Finally, as my blisters began to bleed, I got lucky. An elderly security guard pointed me into a closed shopping centre; I wondered in alone, past the halls of dark, locked shops. A glowing ATM, forgotten by the masses stood shinning in an otherwise dark corner. It spat fistfuls of 100 (80p) notes at me, before others clocked my success and started to queue. ATMs had been running out of cash after only a couple of hours all over the country, so I happily gave way to others in far more desperate need. But success, I had enough to last a few days!

A traditional Keralan Kathakali dancer frustrated at the lack of money  Emma Rosen 2016

Why you shouldn't cancel your trip to India

The hunt for a working ATM or an open currency exchange became a regular feature of my trip and it would be untruthful to say that it didn't place a certain amount of strain on what was meant to be a getaway from the stresses of daily life.

However, after that first day I found that I was always able to get hold of cash and I did not have to make any major compromises on my trip. It got substantially easier over time, and is very likely to continue doing so - ATMs began to be reliably stocked at least once a day and currency exchanges began to start accepting foreign money again. Yes, I did need to book accommodation online beforehand as I travelled around so that I could guarantee paying expensive bills by card. Yes, I got the occasional drink in a nice hotel so that I could break one of the crisp pink 2000 into far more usable 100s. And yes, of course there was some inevitable queuing.

However, if India is to survive this contentious move, what it needs is cash confidence. Being a money-spending tourist in areas where people heavily rely on the faded wads of 100 notes foreigners use to pay for their travels, is the best thing you can do.

Advertisement

--

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office offers the most up-to-date and accurate advice on withdrawing money in India.

Emma Rosen taking a radical sabbatical and trying 25 careers before turning 25. Travel writing is just one of them. www.25before25.co.uk
STRINGER via Getty Images

This week the Prime Minister is off to Bahrain to address a Summit of the Gulf Co-operation Council, the regional organisation that brings together Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. Ahead of this important exchange, Theresa May has suggested that Britain should focus on trade and not complicate our negotiations with difficult discussions around human rights, labour standards or environmental protection. However, she couldn't be more wrong - new research demonstrates that when we care about people and planet, our trade flows benefit.

One of the things that the EU does on behalf of its member states is external trade policy, so depending on the Brexit deal at some point in the future Britain will likely be in charge of its trading relations - possibly entirely on its own.

Advertisement

The government will soon be on the frontline to defend the UK's trading interests abroad and protect workers from undercutting at home. The government will also be tasked with the tough job of promoting human rights and sustainable development across the globe. This is not just some Brussels-inspired fancy, but a long-standing British tradition that predates our membership of the EU. Our country has something to bring to the world that goes way beyond shipments of goods or the delivery of services.

Human rights makes good economic sense: a study presented this week in Brussels by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) shows that trade agreements that include strong labour standards actually increase trade more than agreements that are limited to tariff reductions and quotas.

This is because having such human rights promoted in trade deals has a significant and positive impact on employment levels, gender equality and the participation of women in the economy, and the improvement of working conditions overall. All of these are crucial elements of a healthy, productive economy, which in turn produces increased trade flows.

These findings are backed by strong empirical evidence, a detailed study of 77 trade agreements that contains such provisions. These results come from a respected international organisation, associated to the United Nations, of which the UK is a member in its own right.

Advertisement

So when Theresa May downplays the importance of human rights in our trading relations with the Gulf as she did yesterday, she's not only morally wrong: she's also wrong as far as our national business interests are concerned.
The final stop exploring and photographing cultural cuisine across the UK finds me in New Malden. This quiet suburb in South West London is at the centre of an emerging food trend of traditional Korean cuisine. Despite a slower start compared to Chinese, Vietnamese and Japanese food in the UK, Korean cuisine has its own unique tastes and methods. It's loud, it can be pungent and it's packed full of stronger flavours compared to other Far Eastern fare.

A former home to the Korean ambassador to the UK, since the 70s New Malden has been settled by over 20,000 North and South Koreans, making it the largest Korean population in Europe. Long before trendy (and often expensive) eateries opened in areas like Soho and Holborn, authentic Korean food could be found in a handful of restaurants on this unassuming high street.

Advertisement

Lunch at Sorabol shot on a Huawei P9

The scene in New Malden sees restaurants regularly sitting on Most Recommended lists for Korean food in the UK. With traditional cooking methods and unpretentious ambiance compared to its central London counterparts, could New Malden (just 28 minutes by train from Waterloo) be a surprisingly worthwhile foodie excursion?

Yami, a popular lunchtime spot, and Sorabol, a small restaurant at the end of New Malden high street, deliver honest and authentic menus to explore. The first dish was bibimbap, a traditional rice, meat and vegetable dish served in a sizzling hot stone bowl.

Bibimap at Sorabol shot on a Huawei P9

The beauty of a bibimbap is that the stone continues to cook the rice, raw egg and meat long after the dish arrives at your table. While Sorabol's version was topped with a pan-fried egg, the flavours at both restaurants were strong and the kimchi (fermented vegetable) side dish is a perfectly balanced combination of sour, spicy and crunchy.

Advertisement

Combined with endless little cups of jasmine tea, a bibimbap is a cheap and tasty option for lunch or dinner.

Bibimap at Yami shot on a Huawei P9

If there's one Korean dish more mouth-watering than bibimbap, it's the Korean barbeque: sizzling beef cooked right in front of you on a personal hot plate, and served with an abundance of tasty sauces and garnishes. I couldn't help getting my Huawei P9 out and capturing the process on camera. The Butcher Korean BBQ, a humble restaurant close to New Malden station, has glowing reviews for good reason. Within a few minutes a rib eye steak sizzles on your table while you indulge on fried dumplings to start.

Cooked in this traditional Korean style the barbecued meat is melt-in-your-mouth delicious and needs little more than a simple sesame oil dipping sauce. To complete the authentic experience, the meat, sliced with scissors on the grill, is then wrapped in lettuce leaves, topped with spring onions, garlic, vegetables and eaten in one mouthful.

Advertisement

The Butcher Korean BBQ shot on a Huawei P9

New Malden is well worth the short journey out of London for authentic, affordable, memorable and, most importantly, exceptionally tasty Korean food.

I've loved the opportunity to try some of the amazing culinary delights of the UK and have managed to fill my Instagram with some great foodie snaps. There is so much more on offer than the usual curry or Chinese choices. So put down the takeaway menu and explore these foodie trends for yourself.
I consider myself a responsible citizen, but minimally engaged in politics. I feel a responsibility to vote. Approaching middle age, I'm more abreast of current events than when my civic responsibilities began. Historically I never felt particularly connected to the process; what it means to live in a democratic republic.

My first true immersion was a mere five years ago, and really a dabbled toe in a pool. But, the impact continues to reside in a special, almost sacred space in my mind, even if its furniture is a bit faded. It was an assignment in my social work program; our task to lobby at the state house. A bit disgruntled anticipating the schlep and the transportation ordeal; my general mindset was to power through the assignment.

There are various lobbying days for the plethora of social groups throughout the year. I chose something convenient over personal crusade. When I first moved to the area around fifteen years ago, I was within stepping distance of the state house, but while finding myself at the time, it never occurred to me to be a tourist.

Advertisement

It was a pleasant day, sunny, a bit chilled. I stood at the bottom of the stairs, the gold domed roof eclipsed by the hard angles of the main building before me. In my own thoughts that I can no longer remember, I entered the ever expanding interior. I had no notion it was so beautiful. I was tiny, looking up at the marble and artwork covering every vertical surface. The only comparison close to the spectacle would be when I later visited the Vatican. Tours and busy people hustling left a vibrating bass echo reminding me of the cello sounds motivating me to take lessons I promptly dropped once I realized I lacked any iota of musical talent.

Within the heart of the main building, I found my place among this massive and well organized coalition. The energy was palpable. This wasn't my cause, but I felt the energy and excitement of the different factions and stakeholders coming together to organize and assert their will in their government. I was paired with people who knew much more about this experience than I...not a challenging threshold. I listened to speakers: policy makers, community activists, survivors. It was all so inspiring and humbling. It's what our politics is supposed to be.

I walked with my small cohort; they enlightened and guided me through the next bit. I would be attempting to speak to a representative; my representative. Her office was an open, nondescript room, stark walls, blue carpet, old. The room wasn't antique and historically old, rather reminiscent of any building that's been around since the 1960 or 70s. Long folding tables crammed with mostly young adults seated, busy at work; all clearly focused on their designated tasks.

Unfortunately...or fortunately...we were met with an assistant to my representative because her boss was out of the office for the day engaged in community outreach. I muddled through my urging for my representative to maintain her support for one of the coalition's efforts. The assistant was kind, listened patiently when confronted with my phrasing buffoonery. I was a constituent. I was taken seriously.

Advertisement

I left the experience mulling my future children taking part in this particular civic opportunity some day, but I haven't returned. As awe filled and inspiring as the experience was, life interferes. Lobbying at my state house is too cumbersome, and I was left returning to my political homeostasis. But, I've continued to think often of the experience, wondering what piece of engagement was realistic for me, for my comfort level and lifestyle. But, where do I start; what should I do? Nothing. I gave up without starting.

Until the fallout of this election I never realized the small ways in which I can be involved in the workings of this remarkable country. Despite the horrific and despicable nature of this new leadership's pursuits, we will have a peaceful transition of power. It is a model for every modern civilization. But, peaceful does not equate lackadaisical or indifferent. Something else remarkable occurred with this election debacle. I'm finding my voice in my country. But, exponentially more remarkable than my path are the droves of other inhabitants finding their places and voices as well.

I joined some social media groups, and I'm contributing in ways within my comfort level. Each day I involve myself with something; some efforts more significant than others. And, while my goal is to contribute in one way, often I find myself engaged throughout the time between the rising and setting sun. At times I only offer support or encouragement in comment sections to those braver than I. Other times I propose ideas. It's too soon to know if my ideas will yield anything productive, but perhaps something will flesh out at some point. I provide information as the news junkie I've become in the last several years. I offer testimony and personal stories. I even managed to override my anxiety and called lawmakers. I promise my expressions were clumsy, but they were counted. Some of my calls required nothing other than pressing a phone key. I am a solitary individual, but I am part of the vocal majority. I am asserting my protest because the aftermath of this election is in no way normal or acceptable. I'm becoming braver. Soon I will join the expansive group who calls hostile ears.

I am part of the machinery of my democratic republic. My role is so small, likely insignificant in itself, but I witness scores of others, and together we are an affront to the heinous actions attempting to stomp what makes this country so incredible. I can feel the immediate darkness as it attempts to shred our individual morality and collective humanity. But, until this very moment, I've never felt so integrally connected to my fellow countrypersons, and I have every confidence our light will eclipse the shadow.
Get ready America, we're about to enter unchartered waters in our 241-year history. Instead of a democracy with a free and open press, the United States in 36 days is going to more resemble a propaganda-driven fascist dictatorship. Goodbye facts and reality. Hello 'post-truth' era.

While America won't have state-run television, radio and newspapers per se, the overall messaging will be controlled by the incoming administration of President-elect Donald J. Trump just the same. Trump and his Steve Bannon/KellyAnne Conway-led propaganda machine will twist, manipulate and conflate the truth so much like Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin and Baghdad Bob that it'll make your heads spin, believe me....believe me.

Forget the truth. That's so old-school. This is the Trump Age. The new administration will tell us what we want to hear or, more so, what it thinks we need to hear. No more, no less. And it won't matter whether the information will be rooted in reality or in Trump's alternate universe. Everything will be "great." Everything will be "successful." Everything will be the "biggest" and the "best." There will be no losses. No failures. No mistakes.

Advertisement

For the first time in U.S. history we will no longer be able to trust anything that comes out of the White House. Nothing. Not a single damn word. Oh how we'll long for the good old days of simple creative spin. Trump will be the most dishonest, disingenuous, duplicitous president ever. Our only hope for facts and the truth will be the media. But given how poorly the press did its job during the campaign in both vetting and challenging Trump and his endless lies, we should be gravely concerned.

In the Trump Age, fact-checkers are "liars." The media is "unbelievably dishonest." Journalists have been bullied and neutered. Trump's utter disdain for the media is palpable. It's a visceral hatred which stems in part by his confusion in thinking the Fourth Estate is merely an extension of his PR team. He lacks the respect and appreciative for a free and open press that is the bedrock of a democracy. Pathologically in perpetual search of acceptance and affirmation, Trump summarily rejects anything and anyone who fails to show him love. Challenge him, question him, show him no intrinsic loyalty and Trump the "counter-puncher" will pummel you. And therein explains his dysfunctional, hostile relationship with the press.

In Trump's administration the media will be mocked, excoriated and limited in its access to the White House and the president. It will be sued for libel. Trump, the master self-promoter, will be our primary source of information. It'll be Trump's truth and nothing else. He'll shield us from those pesky little reporters who conspire against him.

To be sure, the truth will be in scarce supply these next four years. A great example of that occurred Wednesday when Chuck Jones, president of United Steelworkers Local 1999, the union which represents workers at Indiana's Carrier plant, challenged Trump's claims about the much-hyped deal he made to save jobs from being outsourced to Mexico.

Advertisement

"He's lying his ass off," Jones said about Trump's claim of saving 1,100 jobs. "That's not just my feeling. The numbers prove he's lying his ass off. It's a damn shame when you come in and make a false statements like that."

The result was a series of belligerent Tweets from Trump. Personal attacks about Jones' character and the performance of his union's workers. Courtesy of our first Twitter Troll-in-Chief.

Consider for a second that we're about to inaugurate a president we cannot trust. Whose words mean nothing, whether he's speaking about the economy, foreign policy or military affairs. Imagine if when President Obama announced Osama bin Laden's killing we didn't believe it was true. Kind of like Trump's announcement this week that Japan's SoftBank will invest $50-billion in the U.S. and create 50,000 new jobs. No details. Just hype. And likely not true. That's our America in 36 days.

Trump hates the truth. Hates reality. Hates facts. He much prefers hyperbole and grandiosity. He's a self-aggrandizing showman. PT Barnum on steroids. But truth and facts matter. Especially in the Oval Office.

To quote the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, "You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts."

Advertisement

Donald Trump disagrees.

So will the media do its job in keeping the American public informed, countering Trump's propaganda machine? Will Congress serve in its oversight capacity and ensure our system of checks and balances, holding Trump accountable? Will voters demand the truth and punish Trump and Republicans if they don't get it?
By Hong Soon-do, Beijing correspondent, AsiaToday - China is a socialist country, but still there are many rich people in society who do what they please, even though it may seem unreasonable and silly, because they are rich. Such behavior is called "renxing", a term that has been very popular in China for several years.



[Cao Juan, a restaurant owner, revealed a list of bills unpaid by court judges. This garnered a lot of attention as evidence of the court's "renxing."/ Source: The Beijing News]

Such a terrible story is being talked about again recently in the media. This was a very shocking story because "renxing" has been conducted by a court, which administers justice, for the past seven years. According to the Dec. 7th report of Xinhua News AgencyV, the central figures of the story are court judges at the Changqing District Court in Jinan, Shandong province. The story is not so complicated.

Advertisement

Cao Juan, who runs a small restaurant near the Changqing District People's Court, received an attractive offer from judge Wang seven years ago. The judge told her that the court judges would visit her restaurant often with court money and that they would pay bills all at once. Cao Juan was lured by the promise of frequent business from court staffs. She happily accepted the offer and did not forget to offer exceptional benefits, such as cheaper dining menu.

However, the judges betrayed Cao's goodwill. They dined nearly 300 times for 7 years without paying a coin. At first, she was patient. But when the bills mounted up to 24,000 yuan, Cao revealed the story on social network with the help of her acquaintance. At last, she could get a response from Changqing District. The court said this has nothing to do with the court, but rather the individuals who signed off for the meals. The court played innocent to the end.
A version of this article originally appeared on Forbes. Sign up for my newsletter to get my articles straight to your inbox.

Erica Lee never decided to drop out of college.

But, after her sophomore year studying engineering at Johns Hopkins University, that's what happened. She noticed that most of her older friends who had already graduated were either unemployed, underemployed, getting rejected from graduate school or working in fields they didn't care about.

They were "lost, confused and feeling like failures," Lee remembers. "It broke my heart seeing intelligent, accomplished individuals feeling unequipped with skills for success in the professional world."

Advertisement

Lee wanted a different fate. She packed one suitcase, left the rest of her belongings in the dorms and took off a semester in search of her life's purpose and passion.

"Sometimes you can get stuck in the trees (micro view) and can't see the forest (macro view)," Lee explained. When she started working for an internet marketing startup, she began to "zoom out and see the forest". One opportunity led to another and, before she knew it, her class of 2015 had graduated. Meanwhile, Lee founded her first company at age 21, AstrX, an international digital marketing automation consulting company she grew to six-figures in less than a year. She'd also cofounded a virtual reality education app.

Of course, she wasn't the first startup founder to drop out of college. Other examples include Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Evan Williams (Twitter's cofounder), Julian Assang (Wikileaks founder) and John Mackey (Whole Foods cofounder and co-CEO).

We hear these names--now icons--and think, "Well of course they can. They're geniuses!"

For the rest of us, college seems mandatory despite its ungodly expense. In fact, if you Google "How to educate yourself without going into debt," four of the top six results are how to pay for college without going into debt. Even Google--the lump sum of our collective convictions--says you can't get a real education without going to college and, probably, getting into debt.

Advertisement

Fortunately, my generation has begun to see other options.

Alex Wolf, founder of the wildly successful millennial women's brand #bossbabe, dropped out of community college after the first semester. "College didn't add up for me," she says. Her parents were college educated and worked long hours, leaving Wolf with a babysitter most days after school. She dreaded going to class and felt it wasn't worth it to wind up like her parents.

She knew there must be a way to get well educated and make money and have time for things she loved--all without going into debt.

Sure, this seems idealistic. But it's only idealistic if it's undoable, right? Wolf, Lee and countless other millennials are turning the maxim "If you want a good job, go to college" on its head. How?

Big dreams

Wolf started with a goal: to make a sustainable income without a bachelor's degree. "I knew it was possible to make money online, so I used that simple possibility to motivate me to figure out how to do it."

When ASSET Education founder Tessa Zimmerman graduated high school, she knew she wanted to figure out how high schools could help their students mitigate anxiety using specific tools but had "no clue how to make that happen". But Zimmerman knew that "doubting yourself doesn't get you anywhere." So she forged ahead.

Advertisement

Research shows that audacious goals increase energy, disrupt complacency and promote new ways of thinking, Charles Duhigg sums in Smarter Better Faster. Zimmerman and Wolf are living proof.

Tinkering

Armed with a big dream, Wolf "tested (and continue[s] to test) the waters and see what works, what sells, what the people want." Wolf was an only child who grew up with computers as her "robotic sibling". She learned how to use them by "clicking until it made sense."

"In essence, I used the same mindset to learn how to build a business," Wolf says. "It's possible, you just have to play around with the pieces and be patient enough until you unlock it."

Maddy Maxey, a college dropout, Forbes 30 Under 30 winner and the founder of The Crated, an experiment in wearable technology that's worked on projects for companies like Google and Zac Posen, launched her business in the same fashion. "Curiosity drives my work," she writes on her website. She told me,

For millennials who want to take their education into their own hands, it's essential to indulge one's curiosity, ask questions and really go after knowledge. The most skillful people I know tinker, play and learn in their spare time...

Ryan Baylis, best described as a professional learner, is the star of the Degreed YouTube series Ryan Learns Something. Part of effective curiosity, he says, is knowing where to look--and when to stop looking--for new information. He emphasized that not all rabbit holes lead somewhere. "The key is to move on from the bad things as quickly as possible and keep searching."

Acquiring tangible skills without a college degree requires, "breaking away from the syllabus and pursuing topics that sound interesting to you," says Baylis.

Alternative education

Baylis taught himself how to edit videos when he was 12 and reads a book every week and a half. "Nowadays, you can hop on YouTube and learn anything."

While Baylis self-educates, other millennials have successfully found structured learning that costs less time and money than college.

Zimmerman knew she didn't want to pursue a traditional college education, so she enrolled in Watson University, the world's first degree-bearing incubator. There, she built ASSET Education, which imparts teachers with social and emotional tools for their classrooms, and piloted the program at Denver's top high school. "Because of the education I received at Watson, this fall ASSET will be in 11 different middle and high schools in Denver, and we're just getting started."

Advertisement

Lee also immersed herself in unaccredited mentorships and fellowships, including Singularity University's Global Solutions Program (GSP) and MIT's Global Entrepreneurship Program. The programs accelerated her learning curve with "business strategy and mindset transformations." "Education doesn't have to come from a traditional institution," she explains.

The real world

Part of what made the non-college educated millennials I interviewed successful is they didn't hole themselves up. Instead, they made the real world their college. "My time getting real world experience has been incredibly educational," says Maxey.

Zimmerman, like many millennials, "didn't want to sit in a lecture hall and hear about [entrepreneurship] from some professor." Instead, she "wanted to talk to the entrepreneurs who had actually done the impossible." So she did. "Reach out to those who have done it before you [and] surround yourself with young people who are challenging big ideas and turning them into a reality," she recommends.

Baylis says he's learned "the majority of [his] skills outside of the classroom in real world situations," like talking with experts in the field. It's surprisingly easy to "cold call the big time guys," he notes. Make sure to do your homework though, says Baylis, "so you don't sound like an idiot."

Unconventional education isn't for everyone.

I personally did graduate college, and it helped form my life and love for learning in un-replicable, unforgettable ways. I also didn't go into debt. If I was still paying off loans three, five and ten years later, I might feel differently.

Advertisement

Instead of going to college now and begging for forgiveness later, I hope my generation will consider what it really means to be 250,000 dollars in debt and whether it's worth it.

Both traditional education and self-education are options, Maxey emphasizes. "It's important to acknowledge that both are available and there are pros and cons to either decision!"


Courtesy Focus Features

Loving is the new film from acclaimed writer/director Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, Mud, Midnight Special)

Loving celebrates the real-life courage and commitment of an interracial couple, Richard and Mildred Loving, (portrayed in the film by Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga), who fell in love and were married in 1958.

The couple grew up in Central Point, a small town in Virginia which was more integrated then surrounding areas in the American South.

Advertisement

The film opens with the couple in love and preparing to have a baby. But things quickly turn south when Mildred and Richard are both arrested after authorities discover their marriage. At the time, multi racial families could wed in the north, but the south still enforced laws infringing on their rights. Oddly, the film sheds light on the fact that, had this couple not decided to honor their union though God, country and community, local authorities may well have let them slide. The implication is clear, the real issue was the legitimacy of their union and the offspring that would result.



The state of Virginia, first jailed and later banished the couple from Virgina, promising to throw them back in prison should they return in the next twenty five years.

Richard and Mildred relocated with their children, to the inner city of Washington D.C where they had married earlier. While relatives made them feel welcome, the more urban environment never felt like home. Ultimately the pull of their roots toward Virginia would spur Mildred to try to find a way back.

Their civil rights case, Loving vs Virginia, went all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 1967 reaffirmed the very foundation of their right to marry. Richard and Mildred returned home and their love story has become an inspiration to couples ever since.

Loving is a quiet dignified film about a simple man who loved his wife and wanted to be free to live with her in peace. It is emotional and beautifully told and shot. Newcomer Ruth Negga, born in Ethiopia and raised in Ireland, whose better known for her work over seas, is breath taking. Joel Edgerton's performance is understated and dignified. Its no wonder the film is receiving early Oscar buzz along with several others contenders with multi racial casts, challenging last year's white washed atmosphere which prompted the #OScarSoWhite.

Advertisement
Ovostar Union, a leading egg producer in Ukraine, is mulling the acquisition of a poultry farm in Poland.

"LCF acts as a legal advisor to Ovostar Union in potential acquisition of a poultry farm in Poland," LCF law group said.

According to the report, the comprehensive legal examination included assessment of potential risks related to the purchase of the farm.
It was announced that President-elect Donald Trump (how those four words still curdle in our throat!) will be appointing Andrew Puzder as his Secretary of Labor. Even though, considering all that's happened in the last 30 years, there is no real surprise in this appointment, let us count the ways that it should scare the bejeezus out of anyone who pulls for the working class.

Firstly, Andrew Puzder is a deregulation fiend, a fanatic, who doesn't believe in the salutary effects of labor laws, whether they be municipal, county, state or federal. In a word, he views the majority of labor laws (including the landmark National Labor Relations Act) as impediments to doing business.

As a consequence, he doesn't believe it's the federal government's place to establish a minimum wage (like any other "free market" fundamentalist, he believes the marketplace should freely determine an employee's rate of pay on a case by case basis), but if the feds insist on doing so, that figure should be no higher than $9 per hour, which amounts to $18,720 annually for someone working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year.

Advertisement

Secondly, as CEO of CKE Restaurants, which owns, among other things, the Carl's Jr. hamburger chain, Andy Puzder opposes having fast-food workers and retail sales employees belong to labor unions. Considering that unions offer the triumvirate of better wages, better benefits, better working conditions, Andy's opposition is solely profit-based. Indeed, it might be classified as the doctrine of a "classic fiscal conservative." That or a "greedy bastard."

This doctrine is unfortunate because fast-food workers and retail sales people (think of the employees of the mega- Wal-Mart corporation) are regarded by organized labor as the platform from which to launch the Second Wave of the labor movement. The First Wave was industrial; the Second Wave will be service oriented (with health care and civil service jobs already leading the charge).

Unlike vulnerable and outdated smoke-stack industries, restaurants and retail stores (of which there are tens of thousands nationwide) aren't "portable." Which is to say, you can't sell Carl's Jr. hamburgers to customers in Peoria, Illinois, by relocating the restaurant to labor-cheap Bangladesh. This circumstance gives fast-food workers at least a modicum of leverage.

And thirdly, as Secretary of Labor, Andy Puzder will be the position to kick everyone's butt, and to do it legally. As the highest ranking (both functionally and symbolically) labor figure in the U.S., he will not only set the tone for labor-management relations during a Trump presidency, he has the right to appoint three (a majority) of the five members of the NLRB.

Advertisement

This is a huge responsibility. Among other things, the NLRB is charged with adjudicating critical labor disputes--those involving the very definition of workers' rights. For instance, when a labor union, or a group of employees seeking to be represented by that union, contacts the NLRB and accuses the company of using unfair or illegal tactics to keep the union out, it falls upon the Labor Board to make a ruling, and that decision is pretty much final.
62,676,271 people voted for Donald Trump, and given Mr. Trump's myriad glaring flaws, lots of people are trying to understand why. Several demographic groups - whites, males, people with lower incomes, people with lesser education, evangelical Christians - are getting much of the focus. But while each had unique motivations to vote as they did, they all shared one thing, and that one thing is the real reason America is now facing four years of President Donald Trump. For one reason or another all these groups feel threatened, powerless and vulnerable and worried literally for their wellbeing and safety because they no longer feel they have any control over the political system that controls their lives.

Certainly Trump's bigotry appealed to millions of Americans who remain either quietly or virulently racist. He won the vote of whites 58 percent to 37 percent. But not all of Trump's supporters are racists.

Certainly his crude sexist remarks appeal to millions of Americans who still consider women second-class citizens and sexual objects. Trump won the male vote 53 percent to 41 percent, and 42 percent of the female vote as well. But that's not enough either.

Advertisement

Many credit Mr. Trump's success, especially in rust belt states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin, to the millions of Americans who have come out on the short end of the economic stick of globalization. But that's insufficient too. Mrs. Clinton carried the lowest income brackets by eight to nine percent, while Trump won every bracket making $50,000 or more by between one and four percent. This was more than a revolt of the economic underclass.

And it was more than just the revolt of the lesser educated. While Trump had a larger edge among those with no high school degree (51 percent to 45 percent) and those with some college or an associates degree (52 percent to 43 percent), four out of every 10 voters with post graduate degrees cast their ballot for Donald Trump too.

And yet four Trump voters out of 10, across these demographic groups, said Trump - the person they voted for - was unqualified for the job, and did not have the temperament for the job. One out of three Trump voters don't trust him.

What could compel someone to put control of nuclear weapons, or the world's largest economy, in the hands of a person they believe is temperamentally untrustworthy and generally unqualified? Or compel millions of Americans who are not overtly racially bigoted, or sexist, to put someone in charge of America who manifestly is. What could cause people who are not struggling financially, or who have plenty of education, or who have a literal interpretation of the Christian Bible, to vote for a vulgar, twice-divorced, woefully ill-informed businessman whose history is soiled with multiple major bankruptcies and a long record of contractors he and his company have simply failed to pay?

Advertisement

In a word, fear. Real profound fear, far deeper than fear of immigrants or terrorists or crime in the streets. Across their demographic differences, Trump's voters were motivated by the deep fear that eats at all of us when we don't feel like we control what's happening to us. The study of the psychology of risk perception - why we worry more about some things than we need to and less about some things than we should - has found that a sense of control helps us feel safe. Without a sense of control (think about sitting in the passenger seat of a car rather than sitting behind the wheel), we feel powerless, vulnerable, unsafe, threatened.

Subconsciously a lack of control makes us wary. It impacts how we think and reason. It makes us more likely to see threats where they don't really exist. It makes us more likely to believe what the leaders of our tribe say, so we assert our loyalty to and earn the protection of our tribe, and so we can contribute to our tribe's cohesion and power as it competes - in each member's interest - to control how society is run. This deep fear explains why so many people could disregard so many profound flaws in Donald Trump. His disqualifying inadequacies didn't matter to people who are afraid enough to believe the promise of a serial liar that he will restore their control of the federal government. The promise of a sense of control - of safety - trumps reason itself.

Consider how the desire for control motivated the demographic groups that voted for Trump. The whitelash of Trump's election is the response of racists wanting control of a political system that imposed on them a black president. The rejection of a female candidate for President is the response of millions of Americans, predominantly male, who want a man in control. The susceptibility to fear mongering about immigrants and global trade of millions of Americans who feel worse off economically today - one third of the electorate identified that way, and they went for Trump eight to two - is about what immigrants and global trade represent, a threat to the control of their financial lives and futures.

And the overwhelming support for Trump among white evangelical or born-again Christians, or among conservatives (Trump got 81 percent of the vote in both categories), reflected a desire to get control of government back in order to get society running by the values those people believe in. Never mind Trump's checkered history on all sorts of moral issues, or the fact that, as most of the intellectual leaders of the conservative movement have observed, Trump is way off the reservation on a range of conservative issues. Trump was closer to conservative than Hillary Clinton, so having him in charge gives conservatives more a feeling of control.

More broadly than these specific demographic groups, many observers simply (and correctly) call Trump's victory an overthrow of "the elites", of "the politicians and insiders", of "the establishment". But even this is insufficient. Those phrases only label the underlying psychology behind such movements. Brexiteers in England said basically the same thing. Populist revolts all do. They are people saying "I don't have control, and I need it, to feel safe. And I need a sense of control over my life so badly that the details don't matter, not as much as having control matters."

Advertisement

So we have the stunning result of November 9, which settled nothing. It just flipped who is up and who is down on the see-saw of power. Half of the voters in the country got that important feeling of control, but half lost it. (Don't forget that only about half of the eligible voters in the country voted, so slightly less than one quarter of the potential electorate actually elected Trump. Claims of a mandate are ludicrous.) People on the losing side are feeling just as Trump voters did before the election. Powerless. Vulnerable. Magnifying the threats they perceive, to Muslims or women or the environment or the economy. But more fundamental than all these emotions is the fear they feel for their own personal futures in a world they now don't control. That helps explain the unprecedented street protests against a President-elect.

This all bodes poorly for the not-so-United States. For many reasons the fight over who is in control, so vital for everyone's sense of safety and well-being, has devolved into a zero-sum game of winner and losers, with no room for compromise and sharing. That 'If you disagree with me you are the enemy" attitude is certainly what Trump's combative style is all about, and what his supporters - including the millions who don't trust him or think he's up to the job - voted for. And despite initial pieties about bringing people together, Trump's picks for his cabinet and advisers promise an administration that won't really serve all Americans, just the ones who support him.
"We're just going to throw it up against the wall and see if it sticks."

That's what Steve Bannon, Donald Trump's chief strategist and cofounder of the white supremacist website Breitbart, said a few weeks ago about Trump's plan to rebuild America's infrastructure.

That pretty much fits with what we know so far. Trump wants to "invest" $1 trillion in fixing and building roads, bridges, water pipes, and other infrastructure. But by "invest" he means using massive tax breaks to convince private investors to spend the money.

As Michelle Chen at The Nation writes, "The goal isn't fixing bridges so much as fixing the corporate tax codes to promote privatization and unregulated construction with virtually no public input."

Advertisement

America must invest in rebuilding our infrastructure for the 21st century, but we need to do it right. Doing it right means keeping public control, protecting taxpayers, creating good jobs in an increasingly unequal economy, and addressing climate change.

Trump's plan would lean heavily on the private sector through "public-private partnerships" (P3s). Without protections, P3s hand control of our infrastructure to private investors or cost us more in the long run--or both.

Chicago learned the hard way in the midst of the recession, leasing its parking meters to Wall Street for $1 billion under value. Texas did too when the private investors in a toll road between Austin and San Antonio went bankrupt earlier this year, leaving taxpayers to clean up the mess.

With P3s, the devil is in the details.

P3s have the potential to create middle class pathways for those left out of the economy, but only if they include policies regarding job quality and equity.

Advertisement

They must include democratic control, real community input, and transparency, and create good paying jobs. P3s must create opportunities for everyone, not just the few.

Sometimes P3s are used to lease or "sell off" public assets like parking meters and buildings. These deals can lead to loss of control, higher user fees, job loss, and future budget issues if we don't ask tough questions.
Historically countries made alliances to improve their defense or otherwise advance important security interests. In contrast, the U.S. uses NATO as a form of international welfare, inducting nations with little military capability or even economic strength. The latest recipient of defense charity is expected to be Montenegro, whose membership application influential senators hope to rush through the lame duck session.

Montenegro is a postage stamp nation with the population of one congressional district. It is located in the unstable, brutal, and nationalistic Balkans, the fount of so much conflict and hardship throughout history. Montenegrins never had an easy time of it, with the Turks, Russians, Serbs, Italians, and Austro-Hungarians all fighting for regional dominance at different times.

But a fascinating if slightly off-color history is no argument for NATO membership. The finest compliment that can be paid to Montenegro today is that it doesn't matter internationally. A notoriously corrupt enclave that split off from Serbia a decade ago, Montenegro mimics the Duchy of Grand Fenwick in The Mouse that Roared, only hoping to get rich by joining NATO rather than by fighting America.

Advertisement

It should not surprise anyone that officials in Podgorica want to get on the transatlantic gravy train. Last week a new government was sworn after messy elections in October. Newly installed Prime Minister Dusko Markovic said his government expected to complete the accession process this coming spring, and that membership would "provide the level of security we haven't had in the past." He added that he hoped to "overcome misunderstandings with our historic ally Russia," as if the NATO was directed against some country other than Russia.

In fact, the transatlantic alliance won't safeguard Montenegro, which is threatened by no one. But membership will offer official status and further open the financial spigots, since Washington can be expected to assist new members. Alas, it might take some work to ensure that money does not get siphoned off in a country some have termed a "mafia state." In fact, the previous prime minister, long-serving Milo Djukanovic, had a "long history of corrupt and criminal activity," noted analyst James Nadeau. In fact, Djukanovic was known as "Mr. Ten Percent."

Still, might Montenegro's inclusion provide some benefit to other alliance members? Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Michael R. Carpenter offered studied nonsense when he testified to Montenegro's many virtues before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The military now is interoperable with NATO forces, he declared, as if that was a reason to protect another nation. Montenegro shared the alliance's "values of democracy, individual liberty, and the rule of law," even though they are rarely evident in Montenegrin politics.

The vanishingly small armed forces would "be a net contributor to the security of the Euro-Atlantic area," a line more appropriate for stand-up comedy than a congressional hearing. Finally, he claimed, "perhaps most importantly, Montenegro's membership will also bring the Alliance one step closer to realizing the strategic vision of a Europe, whole, free and at peace." How bringing a corrupt military midget into NATO would do so Carpenter left unexplained.

Advertisement

After the Ukraine crisis alliance members have begun to worry that they might actually have to fight Russia. Could Montenegro at least help in this regard? The scenic micro-state has a military of not quite 2000 personnel. The armed forces are organized around internal security. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Podgorica possesses 149 artillery pieces, eight armored personnel carriers, and a handful of anti-tank weapons. Wow.

Some advocates of Montenegrin membership point out that the country has access to the Adriatic. But Podgorica so far has shown no inclination to invite in its "historic ally" Russia whom the government is cheerfully double-crossing. Nor is it clear what Moscow would do with a base even if provided, given NATO's naval superiority.

In fact, there's no better evidence that the alliance is "obsolete," as candidate Trump opined, than its determination to induct the Grand Fenwick look-alike. The U.S. collects allies like most Americans collect Facebook Friends. At least the latter don't cost anything. Not so NATO "allies" which are constantly clamoring for American money, troops, attention, and reassurance.

President Barack Obama called for Senate ratification to "demonstrate to other countries in the Balkans and beyond that NATO's door remains open to nations that undertake the reforms necessary to meet NATO's requirements and contribute to the security of the alliance" and as "yet another milestone in advancing the Euro-Atlantic integration of the Balkans." Yet this is meaningless boilerplate at best. As noted earlier, Podgorica's accession does not advance regional or alliance security, and past "reforms" in the gangster state look cosmetic at best.

Nor does it make sense to bring into NATO unqualified countries to demonstrate an "open door" to theoretically qualified ones. And which are the latter? Presumably Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Serbia, which all remain outside the alliance. True, some of their militaries are a bit larger -- 8000, 0, 10,500, and 28,150, respectively -- but none matter much.

Advertisement

Bosnia isn't a real country, but a bitterly-divided political artifact held together by outside pressure. Kosovo is both divided and corrupt, and is not even officially recognized by many states. Macedonia/FYROM remains mired in a bitter name dispute with Greece. And Serbia, having been targeted and dismembered by NATO in a brutal act of collective aggression nearly two decades ago, remains close to Moscow.

As for Balkan integration, it should be a European, not a Euro-Atlantic project. What was the European Union designed for but to join small, fractious, and unimportant parts of that continent with the major players? Yet the EU doesn't seem as enthusiastic as the Obama administration about integrating the Balkans. If that organization doesn't want to hurry, why the NATO rush in Washington? Not everything on earth is America's responsibility. Really.

Perhaps most disturbing of all, inducting Montenegro would give the corrupt military midget influence in Brussels. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said approvingly: "Membership will give Montenegro the ability to help shape NATO policy." Why is that good? Montenegro is precisely the sort of state which should have no say over action by the most powerful alliance in history.

The Obama administration's real agenda may appear at the end of Carpenter's testimony: "Montenegro's NATO membership will be a powerful rebuke to Russia's malign influence in the Western Balkans and demonstrate that no country has a veto over NATO's decision to admit new members." Vladimir Putin is no friend of human liberty, but so what? Adding new members of minimal military value in order to consciously antagonize the one power that is supposed to be threatening Europe is a bizarre tactic. It certainly doesn't help maintain the peace.

Look at a map. The Balkans obviously is of more interest to Russia and Europe than to America. Adding Podgorica to NATO would make the world more dangerous for America in order to take a symbolic slap at Moscow. Foreign policy elites in Washington might enjoy the spectacle, but other Americans would pay the price of increased tensions and any conflict that resulted.

Advertisement

Thus, inducting Montenegro is a big deal. Yet rather than encourage a serious debate, Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is trying to push ratification through the lame duck session. Montenegro's accession "should be noncontroversial, and we still have time to get it done," he declared. If the GOP leadership fails to follow Cardin's plan, "we play right into Putin's hands," he claimed. No doubt, at this very moment Russian President Vladimir Putin is drinking himself into a stupor in his underground Kremlin bunker out of fear that Podgorica's vast armada will soon be arrayed against Russia. Moscow's surrender is merely a matter of time -- if only the GOP acts now.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) made an only slightly less bizarre argument. Washington should "take actions that strengthen the vitality of NATO, that show a bipartisan willingness to push back on Russia's threats against Ukraine and actions in the Middle East." How does bringing in a military and political lightweight demonstrate alliance "vitality"? And how does doing so "push back" against supposed threats against Ukraine (not a member of NATO) and actions in the Mideast (involving a civil war irrelevant to American security)?

Unfortunately, Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) rushed approval of the military nullity through the Committee on Tuesday, demonstrating his lack of qualification to be secretary of state. Expanding U.S. military commitments is serious business. Adding a country with significant governance issues that would add nothing to U.S. security is dubious business. Legislators should give the issue more than five minute's thought. Especially someone rumored to be on President-elect Trump's short list for secretary of state.

And if the measure makes it to the floor, it deserves a decision on the record, rather a voice vote, by which Albania and Croatia were rushed through in 2009. The American people should know which legislators are putting foreign interests before their security.

Candidate Donald Trump got NATO right. It no longer serves America's defense. He should insist that the Senate hold off approving Montenegro's accession until he can review the future of the alliance. Someone should speak on behalf of the American people who are expected to pay for everyone else.
I cant believe that I was so lucky, she said. I cant believe that I got to love this person. And I also got them to love me too.
Writing in the New York Times last month, Laura Pappano offered a thoughtful analysis of the efforts by public colleges - principally public flagship universities - to find new sources of revenue, diversify their student bodies, and expand their national reputations. It's an interesting trend that should be watched closely.

America's colleges and universities have different funding sources. Historically, public systems relied most heavily upon direct state support. Drawing upon the research of Thomas Mortenson, senior scholar at the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education, Ms. Pappano notes: "Nearly thirty years ago, legislative appropriations provided 59 percent of core revenues at public four-year colleges. In 2013, the latest year available, states covered 27 percent on average." Absent historic state support, America's public colleges and universities have turned increasingly to alternative funding sources, tuition, fees, room, board, additional auxiliary enterprises, public private partnerships, endowment drawdown, and debt.

Cross-Border Recruitment Brings Revenue

As the article suggests, one approach is to think big and move recruitment goals beyond the state's borders. Ms. Pappano profiled a number of public colleges and universities, including the University of Alabama, University of South Carolina, Miami University of Ohio, Rutgers University, Arizona State University, and the College of William and Mary, to demonstrate how these institutions used various recruiting strategies to expand their base of out-of-state students. The results speak for themselves. From 2010-2015, freshman applications at Arizona State rose 42%, at the University of South Carolina by 39%, and at Miami University of Ohio by 62%.

Advertisement

On the surface, the tactic seems like a good way to balance a university's budget and replace a dwindling source of revenue from the state. And in fairness, public colleges and universities should not be blamed for seeking such a solution. In fact, it precisely mirrors the tactics used by private colleges and universities with regional and national reputations. It is an entrepreneurial and creative approach. Indeed, for the profiled institutions, expanded recruitment appears to be paying a handsome dividend.

We can set aside, for example, some of the approaches taken by flagship public universities to recruit out-of-state like using merit awards to crack into ZIP codes that in later years might produce additional students, many of these full pay. It's not so much the tactic but the policy that comes into question. The policy reflects the new realities that public universities now face.



Regional Public Universities Have Fewer Options

First, there is a growing disconnect between flagship publics and the regional public sector institutions. The latter do not have the reputation, alumni base, facilities, breadth of programs, personnel, and resources to mimic the public flagship's admission recruiting beyond state boundaries.

In an era of stagnant or declining enrollment of traditional age students, the failure to make investments in the rest of the public system will only exacerbate the chasm between the public flagship research university and the other public colleges in the state.



The recent efforts by the University of Wisconsin to separate itself from the Wisconsin system suggest the level of acrimonious warfare that might break out.

Second, changing financial fortunes call into question the historic mission of public colleges and universities. There are at least two ways to think about this issue.

On the one hand, America established public colleges and universities as the "people's schools," training students for a variety of occupations - many of them critical to the economic wellbeing of the state. They consciously subsidized the tuition charged, thereby making it possible for generations of first-time college bound youth, including immigrants, to receive a college degree. On the other hand, flagship research universities also provide a public good by serving as powerful economic engines that can drive a state and even regional economy. This mandates that they acquire and retain the best talent that they can attract to the state.

Third, every action has a reaction. As the stronger public universities expand their admission recruiting efforts beyond state boundaries, the burden of educating a state's workforce will fall increasingly on other colleges and universities, notably non-research public colleges, private colleges and universities, community colleges, for-profit institutions, and online educational providers.

Is the effect of out-of-state recruiting effectively to "flip" how a state educates it students, relying on groups like small, regional private colleges to meet the state's workforce needs?



Finally, what is the cost of out-of-state recruitment? Should public tax dollars be used as merit grants to attract an out-of-state student? To maintain a quality flagship research operation, should public research universities put additional money into expanded programs and expensive research facilities to compete on a national level? If so, is the solution more debt, public-private partnership investment, or a new operating model built to sustain an evolving mission?
Back in 2004, journalist Ron Suskind interviewed a top aide to President George W. Bush, later identified as Karl Rove. As Suskind reported:

"The aide said that guys like me were 'in what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." ... "That's not the way the world really works anymore," he continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality--judiciously, as you will--we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors...and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."



The quote was chilling, because it implied that the most powerful government on earth was confident it could be guided, not by empirical evidence, but by its ideological inclinations. Reality, of course, does matter and Rove and his boss learned, both in Iraq and when the economy collapsed in 2008, that there are costs to denying it. Happily, for them, those costs were primarily borne by those who had little choice but to live in the reality-based community: soldiers and civilians in Iraq; US homeowners and workers.

Advertisement

Rove's confidence US Administrations could "create reality" was not entirely naive, at least in the short-term. For over a century, legitimate analyses of impediments to objectivity (examined in depth by psychology, neuroscience, and post-modernist philosophy, and depicted in the arts) have penetrated our culture, reinforcing the view that "knowledge" is frequently subjective. Ideological appeals often are strengthened by "emotional reasoning," by which our feelings alone validate what constitutes a fact.

Professional journalism, often viewed as a powerful countervailing force to ideology and propaganda, has failed. As practiced on network television, where most people seek news, "objectivity" is not defined by a search for verifiable facts and accurate interpretations, but "even-handedness." News presenters believe they are being "objective" if they allow each side equal time to express themselves. Interviewees are almost never challenged and virtually any reply to a rare follow-up question will be accepted. Journalists have become mere stenographers. (The glaring exception to "even-handedness" is Fox News, which explicitly tailors journalism to be in sync with Republican Party ideology at the expense of accuracy).

Karl Rove was a cynical political visionary, but Donald Trump's surreal road to the White House is that vision's nightmarish embodiment. The term "truth," which once indicated a claim supported by incontestable facts, has, because of Trump, been re-defined. Sometimes it means "truthiness," coined by Stephen Colbert, signifying phenomena which feel true though not supported by fact (e.g., gun ownership saves lives). Oftentimes, however, assertions are almost impossible to believe (e.g., Obama founded ISIS). Almost.

Advertisement

Trump has set a likely unbreakable record for a President-elect by having made hundreds of baseless claims since last year. Yet, polls indicated voters perceived Hillary Clinton, though actually far less prone to tell blatant lies, less honest. For this to be comprehensible, truth has had to be re-defined as communicating whatever one honestly believes, even if it may not, or, almost certainly, could not be true.

Facts are "trumped" by beliefs, when the purveyor of false information is not viewed as disingenuous. Hillary Clinton's far greater factual accuracy, even if accepted, was irrelevant, because she was thought to be consciously lying about her emails, and a willing Wall Street puppet. Oddly, Trump's refusal to release his taxes, or disclose his business with Russian oligarchs tied to Vladimir Putin, was never perceived by his supporters in the same light.

Most ideologues who spread fake news may have had no direct ties to Donald Trump. But, Stephen Bannon, who will be chief strategist in the Trump Administration, does. Breitbart News, which Bannon served as executive chairman of from 2012 until joining the Trump campaign in August, has published both real and fake news.

Advertisement

Laura Ingraham, who has been mentioned as a possible Press Secretary in the coming Administration, is another disturbing figure. She owns an online publishing company which operates LifeZette. a "news" site which has trafficked in conspiracy theories, including one accusing Clinton of being responsible for the death of John F. Kennedy Jr. A video produced by LifeZette, Clinton Body Count, which made this accusation among others, was viewed 14 million times. Perhaps her talents would be wasted in a position that requires only obfuscation, not invention.

When Karl Rove mocked the "reality-based community" he was prophetic. But, he was no George Orwell, whose dystopian 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four coined the term "double-think," the dominant political discourse in Oceania, the super-state he imagined, which foreshadowed the Age of Trump:
Sandra Gruberman first visited Los Angeles in 1986. She remembers standing on the grounds of Griffith Observatory, gazing out over the city and thinking, "This is where I want to be." A few months later, she packed her bags, and moved to L.A. She lives on the top floor of an apartment building in Los Feliz, where she can see fireworks exploding above the downtown skyline on the Fourth of July. Moving never crossed her mind.



This year, she got a notice from her building's management company: her beloved home was going to be torn down and turned into condominiums. Shortly thereafter, someone showed up at her door with a contract asking Sandra to relinquish her rights as a tenant.



Sandra had never heard of the City's Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO), which protects 624,000 households, including her own, from illegal evictions and rapid rent increases. That's nearly 75% of all rental housing in L.A.



The RSO is a powerful tool designed specifically to keep L.A. affordable and help families stay in their homes. But it only works when Angelenos are aware of their rights -- and landlords understand their obligations.



Sandra, like too many others, didn't know that the City had given her legal protection to stay put. We set out to change that.



A city's success should be measured by the opportunities it gives people to live in an affordable home, hold a decent job, and earn a living wage. But, too often, government leaders make policy based on impressions, not information. In order to deliver those essentials, we must ask constituents what they need, measure data that matters, and continue a relentless commitment to innovation as citywide policy.



In 2014, my office applied for a grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies to bring a dedicated Innovation Team or "i-team" to Los Angeles. My i-team is a group of civic leaders, data scientists, designers, and project managers focused on designing and implementing creative solutions to complex problems -- from building our affordable housing stock to helping small businesses get on their feet.



The i-team -- and innovative city leaders, like Rushmore Cervantes, the General Manager of the Los Angeles Housing and Community Investment Department -- is helping to lead the City's rejection of red tape and bureaucracy in favor of proactive outreach, where we gather citizens' input, and then test and launch platforms that meet the needs of Angelenos.



To address the concerns of renters like Sandra,the i-team headed straight to the source -- holding bilingual focus groups with Angelenos across the city who were facing eviction from their homes.



After months of discussion, data-gathering, and design work, the City's i-team and Housing Department worked with landlords and renters to deliver a campaign that empowers and informs Angelenos about their housing rights in some of L.A.'s most vulnerable communities.



Today, hundreds of billboards, more than one thousand buses, and every subway station in the city are plastered with information that could mean the difference between staying in your home and being forced out. We also knocked on doors and left materials for more than 3,000 households.



The success of the campaign inspired the i-team to focus on another challenge: giving entrepreneurs the support they need to launch a successful business.



Running a business can be hard -- it takes tremendous courage, steadfast resolve, and an unshakable faith in your own vision. To make the road a little easier, the i-team developed and launched the L.A. Business Portal -- a powerful online tool that gives Angelenos the help and guidance they need to start or grow a small business, whether they own a bakery or an auto shop.



We spent months talking with Angelenos face-to-face, and asking them how we could help them meet their challenges most effectively. The result is a comprehensive, open-source platform with three core features: a startup assistance tool, a resource library, and a business preparedness guide. It's a tool designed to make it easier and less confusing for Angelenos to open a business, so they can focus on creating jobs and serving their communities.



As the Innovation Team wraps up its first round of projects, and looks ahead to its next task -- building a modern municipal workforce prepared to adapt to a 21st century economy -- I'm again reminded that Los Angeles is a city where anything is possible. We have the powerful opportunity to continue to evolve our City government into a place that delivers value to residents daily and innovates in every corner it can.
Remember that old saying, "when I tell you to jump, you ask how high?" Every industry has an 800-pound gorilla that periodically tells everyone to jump. In the web world, that gorilla is Google and Google wants us all to reach for our jump ropes. There are two changes coming in early 2017 that you need to know about or suffer the consequences.

1. Google wants your site to be secure - Next time you are on a website, take a look at the address bar. The domain there will start with either the letters "http://" or "https://". The difference is that the latter is secure and all communications between your browser and the website are encrypted. In a standard "http://" site, the communication is in plain text and anyone can read it or even intercept it. In the past, the land of encrypted (or "https://") sites was mostly one of banks and ecommerce providers collecting credit cards. No more. Google wants all sites to use encryption to prevent hackers from modifying a site to fool a user. Starting in January 2017, all sites that don't use encryption will be marked as "not secure" on all Chrome browsers (about 50% of the browser market). This is the first step. Google already plans to release a version where the browser will show a red triangle with an exclamation point warning users if the site isn't secure. I suspect at some point they might introduce these warnings into search results and perhaps even create an interstitial page warning users away from the site. (Right?!? I told you they were a big mean gorilla!)

Advertisement

What you can do: When you bring up your website, look at the domain, does it say http:// or https://. If it doesn't have the S, give the company hosting your website a call and ask them for help in getting a secure connection set up. This is a pretty easy fix for most small business websites.

2. Google wants your site to be mobile friendly - Way back in April 2015, I warned you about Mobilegeddon, the change that Google was making to their algorithm to elevate mobile sites when accessed through mobile browsers. The upshot of that change was that if someone were searching on a mobile device, the search results would bias toward mobile-friendly sites. However, searches performed on regular computers were not impacted. In early 2017, that will change. Google is planning to bias results on all searches (whether performed on a mobile device or your handy dandy home computer) to show mobile friendly results first.

What can you do: Go to Google's mobile-friendly tester and enter your URL. If Google says that you are mobile friendly, smile and move on with your day. If on the other hand, Google says you are not mobile friendly, you have some decisions to make. Unfortunately, there isn't a switch you can turn on to make your website mobile-friendly. The best approach is to refresh the site with a new mobile-friendly design. Need someone to talk to about the process? We are happy to help.

I know, it seems ridiculous (and perhaps even overwhelming) to have to make all of these changes to our websites just because some Silicone Valley company thinks it is time to do so. But until someone develops a viable Google rival, this is the price we pay for being able to wield the power of the World Wide Web. I don't know about you, but I am grabbing my jump rope.

Advertisement

Join the conversation on social media (Twitter, Facebook, or Google+).
Jack Levin and Jack McDevitt

The recent rampage on the campus of Ohio State University has been followed by much speculation based on a number of misconceptions and misunderstandings. Some observers have argued that professors should be carrying firearms along with books to their lectures and seminars. Others have renewed their demand to follow through on some of the pre-election rhetoric and deport all Islamic newcomers.



Actually, the college campus continues to be one of the safest venues in our society. Since 2000, there have been only 49 homicides on college and university campuses around the country compared against the United States as a whole which has had at least 10,000 to 15,000 murders annually. This is especially amazing, given the fact that most undergraduate students -- based on their youth alone -- are in the crime-prone age group and can be expected to commit a disproportionate number of violent offenses including murder. Keep in mind that aside from the killer who was shot down by a local police officer, none of the eleven victims of the Ohio State rampage lost their lives. This episode certainly had mass casualties, but it was not a mass murder.

An important misunderstanding is that Muslim terrorists commit most of the mass killings we have recently experienced both on and off campus. Actually, the United States has had relatively few fatal acts of terrorism since September 11, 2001. According to some sources, we have had 13 acts of political terrorism on US soil since 2001; that is, less than one episode per year. Almost every country on earth -- in Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East -- has experienced vastly more terrorist attacks than we have.

Advertisement

At the same time, we lead the Western world in the commission of multiple-victim murders, but not for political or religious reasons and not perpetrated by Islamic foreigners. On the contrary, most mass killings in the United States are the work of white non-Muslim males who hope to accumulate a large body count for personal gain -- to go down in infamy, to make the headlines, to silence eyewitnesses to a robbery, and/or to get even with a spouse, boss, or bullying classmate. Every year, there are some 20 to 25 incidents of mass murder, only a handful of which can be considered political acts.

The Ohio State rampage was clearly an act of political terrorism. But in all likelihood it was also a retaliatory hate crime -- an attack meant to get revenge against Americans for the perceived maltreatment of Muslims. Previous research on hate motivated violence has shown that some offenders are emboldened to act violently when they are encouraged by rhetoric particularly from powerful individuals who espouse a world view according to which certain kinds of people are not worthy of being in America.

Since the presidential election in November, there have been hundreds of hate crimes perpetrated against vulnerable and under-represented Americans. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there were 867 bias motivated incidents targeting various minorities in the first 10 days following Donald Trump's victory. In Colorado, for example, a 12-year-old African American girl was approached by a classmate who said "Now that Trump is president, I am going to shoot you and all the Blacks I can find"



Such hate-motivated offenses are unethical and immoral; they target many innocent Americans who are peaceful and loyal to our country. In some cases, these attacks also inspire an escalation of brutal violence -- radical elements go on a "lone wolf" rampage to get even with their neighbors, co-workers, and classmates through the barrel of a gun, the blade of a butcher knife, or an automobile crashing into pedestrians as they walk to class.

Advertisement
Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers has permitted healthcare institutions to plan own financing, but a bill should be passed for the complete autonomy, acting Health Minister of Ukraine Ulana Suprun has said.

"We have passed the resolution that we give more autonomy to medical institutions. They would plan their financing and manage the funds instead of receiving it from district or regional councils. Hospitals would be able to redistribute the funds in the middle of the year without calling a session of the local council. Now hospitals would be able to redistribute their budgets," she said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

Suprun said that the bill on autonomy gives more autonomy to medical institutions in the issue of sources of financing and self-government.

"The resolution passed concerns only finances inside institutions. It permits medical institutions to redistribute the money from one program to another, taking into account own needs. One can say that this is a first step to autonomy. We are waiting for the adoption of the bill on autonomy at second reading from the Verkhovna Rada," she said.
With the goal of harnessing the untapped potential of Iranian-Americans, and to build the capacity of the Iranian diaspora in effecting positive change in the U.S. and around the world, the West Asia Council has launched a series of interviews that explore the personal and professional backgrounds of prominent Iranian-Americans who have made seminal contributions to their fields of endeavour. We examine lives and journeys that have led to significant achievements in the worlds of science, technology, finance, medicine, law, the arts and numerous other endeavors. Our latest interviewee is Mona Jarrahi.

Mona Jarrahi is an associate professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles and the director of Terahertz Electronics Laboratory. Her scientific achievements have been recognized through several prestigious awards including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Obama; Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award from Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; Moore Inventor Fellowship from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; Kavli Fellowship by the USA National Academy of Sciences; Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering Award from the USA National Academy of Engineering; Breakthrough Award from the Popular Mechanics Magazine; Early Career Award in Nanotechnology from the IEEE Nanotechnology Council; Outstanding Young Engineer Award from the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society; Booker Fellowship from the USA National Committee of the International Union of Radio Science; Lot Shafai Mid-Career Distinguished Achievement Award from the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society; Early Career Award from the USA National Science Foundation; Young Investigator Awards from the USA Office of Naval Research, the Army Research Office, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; the Elizabeth C. Crosby Research Award from the University of Michigan; Distinguished Alumni Award from Sharif University of Technology; and Distinguished lectureship from IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society. For more details, please see (here).

Who is Mona Jarrahi? Can you give us some brief biographical information?

I was born in Tehran, Iran, and did all my schooling in Iran including my undergraduate studies. After completing my bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at Sharif University of Technology, I came to the United States to go to Stanford University for my Masters and Doctoral degrees. Before moving to the University of California Los Angeles in 2013, I was a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of California Berkeley and an assistant Professor at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Your lab conducts research in the area of Terahertz Technology. Can you share some highlights of this technology?

Terahertz is a part of the electromagnetic spectrum that is between light-wave and radio-wave frequencies. Many molecules have unique spectral signatures at terahertz frequencies, enabling chemical detection from remote distances. Moreover, a lot of optically opaque materials are more transparent to terahertz waves. This allows seeing inside objects and media that are visually inaccessible to us. Additionally, terahertz photons have much lower levels of energy compared to X-rays and light-waves, providing a non-ionizing and non-destructive platform for biomedical imaging and sensing. As a result, terahertz waves offer unique functionalities for industrial quality control, medical diagnosis, atmospheric studies, space explorations, and security screening.

In your view, what is the biggest challenge with which your field is currently grappling?

The main challenge in our field that has slowed down extensive usage of terahertz waves in our daily life is a lack of high-power terahertz radiation sources and high-sensitivity terahertz detectors that are at the same time low-cost, compact, and lightweight. This is because the traditional techniques used for generation and detection of light-waves and radio-waves don't operate efficiently at terahertz frequencies due to the limited operation frequency of solid state circuit and lasers. My lab investigates new materials and device concepts to address performance limitations of existing terahertz devices.

Advertisement

You have received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). What are your most significant accomplishments that led to this recognition?

I am honored to have received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Obama. I was given the award for my proposed techniques for boosting the radiation power of terahertz radiation sources and detection sensitivity of terahertz detectors. My research group has created new types of metallic nanostructures that can generate and detect terahertz radiation when illuminated by laser light with orders of magnitude higher efficiencies compared to the state-of-the art. By using these new types of terahertz sources and detectors we can improve the sensitivity of terahertz imaging and sensing systems by more than 1000 times. We have also integrated our terahertz radiation sources and detectors with a variety of solid-state lasers and developed compact and cost-effective solutions for future terahertz imaging and sensing systems. In another line of work, we have been investigating new types of artificially engineered materials to manipulate various spectral and spatial properties of terahertz waves. These so called "metamaterials" consist of very tiny objects with micrometer-scale dimensions. By specific design of both geometry and the arrangements of these tiny objects, we have been able to realize unprecedented functionalities for switching, filtering, and steering terahertz waves, which are crucial in various terahertz imaging and sensing applications.

What research avenues are you exploring for the next few years?

My group continues to investigate new materials and device architectures to enhance performance of terahertz devices and systems. In the meantime, we are working on utilizing the great functionalities of the devices developed in our lab for a variety of imaging and sensing applications. One avenue we are exploring is the use of advanced terahertz imaging systems for early stage detection of cancerous tumors. Due to their very low energy as compared to shorter wavelength waves that are often used in medical imaging systems, terahertz waves are specifically attractive for medical imaging applications since they do not pose an ionization hazard for human tissue. Moreover, terahertz waves experience less scattering from biological tissue compared to optical waves due to their longer wavelengths, making it possible to see deeper into different biological tissue types. Additionally, several absorption lines of water and cancer biomarkers lie in the terahertz frequency spectrum, making terahertz waves very powerful means for distinguishing between cancerous and healthy tissues. Another subject that my lab is investigating is the development of advanced terahertz spectroscopy systems for label-free biological studies at nano-scale. Terahertz waves offer unprecedented functionalities for label-free characterization of bio-molecules and for studying the structure, dynamics, and operation of biological systems. This is because terahertz photon energies are comparable with the low binding energies of molecules inside heavy bio-molecules, and that offers a platform for differentiating proteins which provides information about their conformation states through terahertz spectroscopy. Additionally, since distinct terahertz signatures of bio-molecules are dependent on their inter-molecular and intra-molecular vibrations and rotations, terahertz spectroscopy enables the investigation of living cells and their interaction inside various biological systems. These systems include cell metabolism and reproduction as well as chemical transfer from the environment to cell through cell membrane and possible conformational changes. Moreover, since terahertz spectroscopy can capture femtosecond-scale dynamic variations, it is very well suited for investigating kinetics of molecular motions during protein rearrangement, folding, and binding to other bio-molecules.

What do you most appreciate about academia? What has been the best part of your career so far?

What I appreciate the most about academia is the freedom it gives to work on topics that I am passionate about. I especially appreciate the flexibility it offers to recruit talented researchers and providing the required resources for making new discoveries. Working with enthusiastic and bright young students on a daily basis is another rewarding aspect of this job that makes academic life very enjoyable for me.

What successes and challenges have you experienced in raising funds for your research in your lab? What are your main sources of funding?

Fortunately, the exciting potentials of terahertz technology make it easy to raise research funds from many diverse resources. The funding for my research has been mainly from U.S. federal agencies including the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Department of Energy (DoE), and Department of Defense (DoD). I was also fortunate to receive generous research support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and Grainger Foundation. The main challenges I have faced are the uncertainties the federal agencies face every year regarding their available budget and the short-term duration of most research grants compared to that of doctoral research, which makes long-term planning challenging and stressful.

You have received funding for use of terahertz waves to study the behavior of biological molecules and answers physical questions that were not previously possible. Could you tell us more about it?

Microscopy techniques such as Scanning Tunneling Microscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy, Scanning Optical Microscopy, and Electron Microscopy can yield highly detailed structural information of biological samples. However, their spectral and operational constraints have limited their use for studying dynamics of biological processes. Alternative single-molecule approaches use various labeling techniques (e.g. fluorescent labeling) for characterizing structural dynamics of biomolecules. Labeling biomolecules near their active sites can be a major challenge and can affect the natural behavior of molecules in many biological processes. To address these limitations, my group has presented a Scanning terahertz Nanoscopy system as a powerful tool for label-free biological studies to enhance conduct of research in biophysics. This label-free probing system would allow studying the complex behavior of biomolecules under native conditions, while avoiding exhaustive genetic and biochemical characterization of labeling reactions. One could use this information to design more efficient anti-cancer drugs or manipulate basic cellular functionalities such as cell reproduction and metabolism to slow down aging process.

The majority of graduate students in engineering studying in U.S. universities are foreign students. Has this been your experience with your students as well? How can more American-born students be encouraged to enter STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) fields?

I have also observed this trend and most of the students in my research group are international students. In order to attract more American-born students to STEM fields, one should reform the U.S. primary school and middle school curricula and increase the emphasis on math and science-oriented courses. To prevent students from being discouraged by the complexity of the subject matters, schools should plan visits to different universities, research centers, and companies to give the students a realistic view of the excitement and impact of a career in STEM.

Since you graduated from Iran's leading technical university (Sharif University of Technology), how do you compare different the US education system to the Iranian one?
This year, I had the opportunity to travel across the country and meet with many relentless and determined individuals who, with a little support from their communities, have fought for themselves and overcome barriers to employment.

One of those individuals was Charles Jackson, the 2016 Goodwill Achiever of the Year. After spending more than two years in federal prison, Charles was released and faced challenges securing meaningful employment. He didn't give up on himself. At the advice of his sister, he visited Goodwill Central Texas in Austin. Charles received training from the Austin Goodwill and earned a job as a production supervisor for its retail store. He continued to work hard and grow as a leader. He took every class offered by the Austin Goodwill and rose from a production supervisor to a clerk and then to an assistant store manager within two years. Today, he is a dedicated store manager. Charles fought relentlessly to find purpose in his work.

Charles' story is inspiring, and there are hundreds of other success stories of people who overcame challenges and found meaningful employment. Consider Shawnteal Turner, who grew up in an abusive household. By adulthood, according to Shawnteal, she was "hanging out with the gang members on the street corners...not really accomplishing anything." After a friend encouraged her to go to a job fair at Seattle Goodwill Industries, Shawnteal joined Goodwill's Youth Green Corps and turned her life around. Read more about Shawnteal's story here.

Advertisement

There is so much people can accomplish with a little support and investment from their community, including job training programs offered by Goodwill organizations. However, job training is just one part of the solution. Goodwill organizations are also proud to partner with local businesses on job placement and recruitment services to address the talent shortage that is a real concern for many businesses.

Today's economy is so different from just 10 years ago. Ten years ago, there were no app developers, and the sharing economy was barely a blip on our radar. Entry-level credential requirements have changed too. By 2020, 65 percent of all jobs in the economy will require post-secondary education and training beyond high school.

Here's another big difference: According to a survey by The Manpower Group, today, 46 percent of American employers reported difficult filling jobs, compared to the 22 percent of employers in 2008. That number may come as a surprise considering the national unemployment rate remains around 5 percent.

The disconnect between open positions and unemployed individuals looking for work is due in part to the skills gap and skills attainment. Technology and business needs are changing rapidly in all fields. Too often, education and training programs haven't kept up. As Sunny Ackerman, the vice president and general manager of Manpower U.S. explains, "In many ways, the growing talent shortage reflects an issue of quality versus quantity. The challenge is finding people with the right skills and experience to do the work."

Advertisement

According to the same Manpower survey, skilled trades (including construction and welding) top the list as the hardest jobs to fill in the United States, followed by drivers. Skilled trades and driving courses are just some of the many programs offered by Goodwill organizations across North America. With more than 7.8 million people still looking for work in the United States and Canada, jobs are important to help provide opportunity and purpose for people in your community.

Every 23 seconds of every business day, a person served by Goodwill earns a good job. In the spirit of resolutions, I challenge you to join the fight and think differently about what Goodwill can do for the people looking for jobs in your community.

Consider Jennifer Allshouse's story. She had never worked in construction and had some uncertainties about entering a new field. Jennifer received the support she needed from Goodwill Easter-Seals Minnesota to succeed in its construction training program. She fought for her opportunity to try a new job profession and she is now one of only five women who are pile drivers in Minnesota. If Goodwill is the launch pad, then employers are the landing point. Goodwill Easter-Seals Minnesota was able to provide Jennifer with the training and resources, but it couldn't have provided her with a job in construction. Local partnerships with construction companies made that job creation happen.
When the Clinton campaign said it would join the recount in three Rust Belt states narrowly lost to Donald Trump, it didn't say its motive was overcoming the vote totals but instead to find out if there was "foreign interference" in the election.

"This election cycle was unique in the degree of foreign interference witnessed throughout the campaign," wrote Clinton campaign counsel Marc Elias. "The U.S. government concluded that Russian state actors were behind the hacks of the Democratic National Committee and the personal email accounts of Hillary for America campaign officials."

During the campaign Hillary Clinton made no secret of where she thought that foreign interference might be coming from. She repeatedly blamed Russia for trying to sway the election.

Advertisement

When the Green Party's Jill Stein launched her recount campaign in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania (the three states that gave Trump the victory), Stein's announcement quoted her on her website as saying that because "foreign agents" had "hacked into party databases, private email servers, and voter databases in certain states, many Americans are wondering if our election results are reliable." Stein's page was then updated to eliminate reference to "foreign agents" in her quote.

But her recount petition filed in Wisconsin begins by saying "it was widely reported that foreign operators breached voter registration databases in at least two states and stole hundreds of thousands of voter records." The petition then says the U.S. intelligence community is "confident" Russia was behind the hacks. There is "well-documented and conclusive evidence of foreign interference in the presidential race before the election ... [that] call[s] into question the results and indicate the possibility that (a) widespread breach occurred," Stein's lawyers wrote.

In fact the intelligence community has never made public its evidence for independent computer experts to weigh in on. After the election, the Obama administration said it had no proof of Russian interference in the election tallies and that the results "accurately reflect the will of the American people."

Citing the Press

Nevertheless, Exhibit A in Stein's petition is an affidavit from Professor J. Alex Halderman, a professor of computer science at the University of Michigan, who alleges that Russia hacked the election. Halderman took part in a conference call with the Clinton campaign last month trying to convince the campaign to seek a recount, which it only did after Stein launched her effort.

Advertisement

Exhibit B from Stein's petition is an article from Wired Magazine about Russia's alleged role in the hack. Exhibit C is a New York Times article quoting DellSecureWorks, a private security firm, saying Russia was behind the hack of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. The company says Podesta clicked on a phishing link to gain access to his account. The Times relied on the company's word that Russian spies were behind the phishing expedition, without also offering any proof that could be analyzed by other computer security experts.

Exhibits D through G -- meaning all of Stein's exhibits -- are on alleged Russian hacking. One article is about an alleged attempted Russian hack of the 2014, post-coup Ukrainian election.

In her many media appearances since launching the recount campaign, Stein has carefully avoided mentioning Russia, or foreign agents, as she did in her initial web posting. But her petition is about nothing else but Russia's alleged hacking of the election.

Stein left no doubt what one of the main aims of the recount is. On her web page she wrote: "Whether these machines were hacked by foreign or domestic agents **will be determined by using the mechanisms available to us** in each state we conduct a recount."

Scott McLarty, the Green Party national media coordinator, told me in an email last week that the Green Party has "not taken a position on meddling by foreign agents." Since then, top Green Party officials have distanced themselves from Stein, including her running mate, Ajamu Baraka.

Advertisement

"I'm not in favor of the recount," Baraka told CNN. He said he told Stein "it was a potentially dangerous move" because it "would be seen as carrying the water for the Democrats."

Margaret Flowers, the Green's Senate candidate in Maryland, posted an open letter signed by several prominent party members saying, "While we support electoral reforms, including how the vote is counted, we do not support the current recount being undertaken by Jill Stein."

While he first ignored, and then slammed the recount bid Donald Trump went to court in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin on Friday trying to stop the recounts. So far the action has failed to stop them, but it could create a legal mess down the road. The litigious Trump can be expected to fight to the Supreme Court to prevent the vote from being overturned.

Lobbying the Electors

But since recounts that overturn the vote totals seem unlikely, it appears the Clinton campaign's Plan B is to use any evidence of tampering that it can pin on Russia to lobby electors to change their votes to Clinton when the Electoral College meets in state capitals on Dec. 19.

Trump won the electoral college 306 to 232. That means 38 Republican electors would have to be convinced to change their vote to Clinton to reach the required 270 to win the White House.

Advertisement

Finding evidence of hacking of election computers that can somehow be blamed on Russia could be crucial for the Clinton team in their effort to convince electors to change their vote.

Russia has been blamed in the U.S. for many things and though proof never seems to be supplied, it is widely believed anyway. It has been accepted as fact by American corporate media, for instance, that Russia invaded Ukraine and had a hand in shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH-17, though no conclusive proof for either has ever been presented.

Emotional appeals to elector's patriotism and defense of the American system against interference by Russia could make a persuasive argument, however.

At an event at Harvard University on Thursday, Robby Mook, Clinton's campaign manager, repeatedly blamed Russia for hacking and tampering with the election. "Congress has got to investigate what happened with Russia here," said Mook. "It is outrageous that a foreign aggressor got involved in our election."

Robert Reich, labor secretary under President Bill Clinton and a Hillary supporter, argued that one reason the electors should flip to Clinton is to "stop foreign interference in an election."

Advertisement

Quoting an article, he wrote on Facebook: "The Framers were extremely concerned about infiltration by rivals including Great Britain. In Federalist No. 68, Hamilton wrote that one major purpose of the Electoral College was to stop the 'desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils.' He said that the college would, 'Guard against all danger of this sort ... with the most provident and judicious attention' from the electors."

Reich continued: "There's incontrovertible evidence Russia interfered in the campaign by hacking the email accounts of top Democratic officials and cooperating with WikiLeaks' parallel campaign to undermine Hillary Clinton campaign." If such incontrovertible evidence exists, the Obama administration's intelligence community has not shared it with the public.

Clinton operatives are also making her victory by more than 2 million popular votes part of their appeal to electors to switch sides.

Twenty-four states do not legally bind electors to the popular vote in their states. Elsewhere, electors face fines of about $1,000 if they vote against the will of the people of their states.

Laurence Tribe, a well-known and connected Democratic lawyer, has offered to defend pro bono any elector who breaks the law by changing their vote to Clinton. And there are plans to mount a constitutional challenge against the 26 states that legally bind the electors' to their state's popular vote.

Advertisement

Accompanying Media Campaign

The lobbying effort to blame Russia and get the electors to flip their votes is being accompanied by an intense media campaign.

In the announcement that the Clinton campaign would join the recount, campaign counsel Elias aligned the campaign with an unverified Washington Post article based largely on a shadowy, anonymous group that smears a list of 200 alternative media sites, including The Duran, for spreading Russian propaganda to influence the election, without providing any evidence.

"The Washington Post reported that the Russian government was behind much of the 'fake news' propaganda that circulated online in the closing weeks of the election," Elias wrote.

A Huffington Post article said one of the eight reasons the electors should overturn the election is because "Russian covert action influenced the election."

The staunchly pro-Clinton Daily Kos wrote that "Even if they never touched a voting machine, there's absolutely no doubt: Russia hacked the election."

Advertisement

If evidence of hacking is found in the recounts, the Clinton campaign would be greatly aided in lobbying electors with confirmation from the Obama administration that Russia was behind it. But on the day before the Clinton team joined the recount, the Obama administration appeared to throw a wrench into the plan to blame Russia.

The administration said it remained "confident in the overall integrity of electoral infrastructure, a confidence that was borne out," adding: "As a result, we believe our elections were free and fair from a cyber-security perspective."

The timing of that statement may have been intended to undermine Clinton as a split was reported between President Obama and Hillary Clinton over whether to have a recount.

Not satisfied with the administration's conclusion, a group of Democratic senators on Thursday asked that information about Russian hacking should be declassified and released to the public.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest responded that the administration would take a look at the request. But he added that the intelligence community "did not observe an increase in malicious cyber-activity on Election Day from the Russians that was directed at disrupting the casting or counting of ballots."
TRENTON) - Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), who served as co-chair of the New Jersey Legislative Select Committee on Investigation, which investigated the George Washington Bridge lane closures, today requested Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto consider the impeachment of Governor Chris Christie, whether now or after he leaves office as allowed by the Constitution:

"During the now completed Bridgegate trial there was considerable testimony under oath that Governor Chris Christie had knowledge of a conspiracy to misuse government resources to close lanes on the George Washington Bridge. Article Seven, Section Three of the New Jersey Constitution provides that a Governor may be impeached 'while in office or for two years thereafter' for a misdemeanor committed during office. If impeached by the Assembly and convicted by the Senate, a Governor can be removed from office and disqualified 'to hold and enjoy any public office of honor, profit, or trust in this State.'

"In light of testimony from the trial and the governor's public statements, I am requesting the Assembly Speaker consider impeachment, the outcome of which could deny Chris Christie the benefit of office and correct the public record to reflect the evidence provided in this federal court trial. The allegations of federal prosecutors and statements of witnesses who testified under oath cannot go unanswered and impeaching Chris Christie would bar him from further public service in this State."
Recently, it was announced that San Diego State University (SDSU) and the UN Habitat developed a strategy to solve climate problems for cities across the world.

The SDSU SAGE Project which, according to an SDSU News Center report, has "tackled multiple real-world projects in National City, California redesigned two parks in Tijuana and worked closely with officials in Santee and San Diego to implement changes that support livability."

To date, over 2500 students were involved in just the last three years and in the 2017 partnership with Lemon Grove, a nearby city, students in fields ranging from public health to civil engineering to graphic design will be involved.

Advertisement

Other cities together with University students are likely to follow the pattern being set by SDSU's Sage Project.

Young people want to "make a difference" with their lives and are concerned about how all of us on the planet earth are working to make the world a little better. And colleges across America are starting to offer new experiences; experiences, which can help them make a difference and importantly, better prepare them for a very different society and economy.

Asoka U, not a university per se but (with a) "vision for a world where Everyone is a Changemaker," is working to make social entrepreneurship and innovation a permanent part of that college experience.This new thinking about such civic leadership is at the forefront of Asoka U's mission now embraced by over 37 prestigious colleges and universities in the U.S. and at least 7 other countries... and it's growing.

In 2014 the Moxie Foundation partnered with Ashoka U to a grow and expand social innovation and the concept of social entrepreneurship ... bringing the Moxie Foundation's "passion for creativity, collaboration and innovation with Ashoka U's vision of systemic change, strategy and experience in higher education."

Advertisement
On this Queer Money, we talk with financial advisor, Cathy Pareto, about her story and the unique considerations of LGBT financial planning. Pareto is a financial advisor from Miami, FL, affiliated with GuideVine.

A trailblazer, Pareto told her story of being one-half of the first same-sex couples to be married in the state of Florida. She, also, shared how she and her wife, Karla Arguello, were then plaintiffs in the case that overturned Florida's birth certificate rule that prohibited two people of the same sex from being listed on a birth certificate.

Oh, and she gives great financial advice to our queer listeners and financial advisors with queer clients!

Advertisement

LGBT Financial Planning

As a financial advisor and a trailblazer for the queer community, Pareto provides unique insight into LGBT financial planning for single people, partners and spouses.

Pareto shares her and her wife's personal financial considerations both before and after marriage, including health benefits, child adoption credits and health club memberships. To prove she's a hero with whom we can relate, Pareto shares an experience she and her wife had while standing in the grocery aisle discussing the importance of olives.
Donald Trump was right. The system is rigged. Government doesn't work for working folks. It's not helping families make ends meet. And it is definitely not creating jobs for the middle class.

And white people are mad as hell.

The white working class, high school-educated, have since the 1990s, seen increased death and unemployment rates, and see no signs of relief.

The president-elect's analysis blames this failure of government on corrupt politicians and insider elites like Hillary Clinton. As with all Trumpisms, it lacks any deeper analysis--including the real perpetrators profiting off a rigged system. Besides brief mentions of Goldman Sachs (who is definitely guilty as hell), Trump leaves out the main beneficiaries of neo-liberal policies over the last 40 years.

Advertisement

Trump's favorite example of flawed government stealing jobs from working class white families is NAFTA--all of which he blames on the Clintons. Yes, NAFTA was bad for workers. Yes, the Clintons should take a lot of blame for it. But the real culprits are its beneficiaries--corporate elites, like Trump himself.

The economic gains of NAFTA went straight into the bosses' pockets, at the expense of workers--home and abroad. Manufacturing jobs that used to be in Ohio and Pennsylvania were transplanted--all to make labor cheaper for billionaire capitalists. Millions of jobs were lost over the border, overseas and through "innovation." And lots and lots of white people were laid off.

But there is almost no mention of the capitalists that made billions off of this deal. Take for instance General Electric, which benefited immensely from NAFTA. Many billionaires from Warren Buffett to Jeffrey Immelt to Steve Cohen have made millions from GE in their push for ever-expanding profit. Through stock buyback programs and dividends, they have extracted billions out of a company that in return cut costs by shifting workers' jobs abroad.

Now repeat this process over and over for every company in America, with an interchangeable cast of billionaire investors, hedge funds and private equity firms, and you get millions and millions of unemployed folks with a declining standard of living and a very small cohort of billionaires.

Advertisement

The Clintons helped push NAFTA through. But, let's be clear--the real culprit is the billionaire class profiting off of NAFTA at the expense of workers.

This of course was an impossible argument for Hillary Clinton to make. She herself is a part of this group of elites.

Of course, so is Trump. But, instead of basing his arguments against the billionaires like himself, he scapegoated immigrants. This allowed him to capitalize on the anguish of working-class white families across America--while completely avoiding any scrutiny of his own profiteering.

Bernie Sanders and Trump had similar arguments on trade--arguments that incited working class whites. Sanders, though, correctly blamed billionaires and elites. Instead of making a horizontal argument blaming a separate exploited group (immigrants), it transformed the argument into a top-bottom analysis (everyone versus billionaires).

What Sanders lacked was a connection to communities of color, which make up the base of the Democratic Party. His analysis of billionaires profiteering off of a rigged system didn't dig into the racist practices billionaires have used to extract profit from communities of color for centuries. As much as he could rail against billionaires and millionaires, he could not muster a consistent argument about racial inequities.

Advertisement

Uniting angry white voters with black and Latino voters is possible when we take the argument beyond simple Trumpian epithets about immigrants. There is a common group that is making life unbearable for all working folks -- billionaires. The system is rigged in their favor. And the Clintons were a part of it.
The National Park Service is a proud protector of America's lands. Preserving our land not only safeguards the environment, but it also protects the stories, cultures, and histories of our ancestors. As we face the increasingly dire consequences of climate change, it is imperative that we continue to expand America's protected lands under the oversight of the National Park Service. Doing so combats climate change and allows all American's to visit, explore, and learn from these treasured places for generations to come. It is critical that President Obama acts swiftly to preserve land that is at risk of external threats before the end of his term as it has become blatantly clear that the next administration will not hold the same value for our environment over the next four years.

This year marked the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. On the eve of their 100th birthday, President Obama marked the occasion by designating Katahdin Woods and Waters a National Monument. Located in Maine, this land encompasses 87,500 acres and is treasured for its rich biodiversity. By designating this land as a National Monument, it permanently falls under the protection of the National Park Service who guarantees that it is maintained and cared for. In the year leading up to the 100th anniversary, President Obama also created the Pullman National Monument in Illinois, Browns Canyon National Monument in Colorado, and the Honouliuli National Monument in Hawaii. To instill a love for America's great outdoors in the next generation he also launched the Every Kid in a Park program which provides all 4th-grade students and their families' free admission to all National Parks and Federal land and water sites.

Advertisement

Following in the legacy of Teddy Roosevelt, President Obama has cumulatively preserved millions of acres of American land, but there is still more work to be done. Outstanding is an unprotected piece of land in southern Utah called Bears Ears. Bears Ears covers 1.9 million acres and is not afforded the protections that come with being cared for and maintained by the National Park Service. This site, named for its distinctive rock formations that look like a set of bears ears, is home to over 100,000 archaeological sites and 18 wilderness study areas. It also holds deep cultural and spiritual significance to the 26 tribes who are calling on President Obama to declare the land a national monument.

As a National Monument, cared for by the National Park Service, the cliff paintings, cherished burial grounds, and natural habitats that rest in Bears Ears will no longer be at risk of vandalism and unintentional damage from visitors. Instead, once protected, visitors will be able to experience the beauty of Bears Ears scenic overlooks, learn about its rich Native American history, and take an active role in preserving this valuable piece of land.

It critical that President Obama acts now to protect Bears Ears and other American lands and waters as our environment will not be afforded the same protections under the next Administration. Protecting Bears Ears will solidify President Obama's legacy as one of the most environmentally conscious president in history, while also safeguarding a people's history, countless ecological sites, and a piece of our planet that we will loose if not protected now.
By Jeanene Louden

The president elect is calling for American unity as a way forward. Those that did not support him are calling for unity as a way forward. What do we mean by "unity"? What will it take for us to actually be "one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all"?

If the answer from the little voice inside your head started with the word "they", there is hope. When you see yourself on a "side", you can see what the other side needs to do to bridge the divide. Then, you just need to ask yourself two questions: first, would you recognize it if "they" made that change, and second, are you willing to do the same?

Before you answer, let's take a walk down memory lane.

I remember when Vietnam veterans returned home to jeers and spitting. I was outraged. Not because I supported the war, but because I respected veterans. Most of us "on the other side of the war" did not blame soldiers and sailors for this political conflict. We did not spit or jeer. Yet, the few (the spitters) were made the face of the many.

Advertisement

Jump back to today. We see stories about "conservatives" bullying minorities or "progressives" insulting the president elect. I assert that now, just as back in the 70's, this overgeneralization about conservatives and progressives (even the names given the 'sides') is a strategy to erase 'respect' and her sister, 'benefit of the doubt' from our social fabric.

Somewhere between then and now the term "socially acceptable", a cultural statement, morphed into "politically correct", a partisan insult. I believe respect and benefit of the doubt are casualties of that spin-doctor inspired shift.

Why? When we respect American sub-cultures unlike our own, when we give each other the benefit of the doubt, we are not susceptible to the media (and social media) drone of divisiveness that is being used to keep us apart.

I believe the drone-to-divide is strategic and calculated. Together we really are more than the sum of our parts, the stuff 'American Ingenuity" is made of, and someone out there doesn't want that uncontrollable synergy. For some reason, unity is a threat to the droners, and anger at every other American sub-culture is a good thing. I don't have to know who they are to see that this is happening. Truth be told, bullies are bullies and insulters are insulters. These are the actions of individuals. Not of groups. Not "others".

Advertisement

A quick example. People I know and trust have been called names (like homophobe and misogynist) because they supported the president elect, even though their lives do not demonstrate these terrible charges. I am outraged for them. They have my benefit of the doubt, both that this is happening and that the charges are false.

And, I am outraged for myself when I am broad-brush-accused of having done this, or condoned this, the result being that my outrage about this bad behavior is dismissed just because I did not support the president elect.

The counterpoint. My motto is "Everybody counts or nobody counts." I stole it from Harry Bosch (a Connelly character). I do not think I am unique in my thinking. Many Americans see the difference between overgeneralized accusations and reality.

In short, when everybody counts, we are free to acknowledge each other's pain. We can respect how that pain informs our interpretation of our reality. We can pursue our own self interests without resisting (or denigrating) the self interests of others. We might even see how those self interests overlap.

Imagine if people were able to read about Black Lives Matter and not feel defensive or marginalized for not being black. Would it be easier to hear the concerns being expressed if our minds were not so busy creating the rebuttal to the validity of the movement so as to not feel "less important"?

Advertisement

The fact that we see so much one-upmanship about the pain and suffering that justifies why 'this group matters' or 'that group matters' demonstrates that we have been conditioned to believe that caring for what happens inside our personal circle (our sub-culture) and what happens outside our personal circles are somehow mutually exclusive.

The disconnect is the notion that more than one culture cannot exist in the same country, that to admit the presence of "others" is detrimental to our own (sub)culture, and that respecting others is dangerous. Danger makes fear. Fear makes defensiveness. Defensiveness creates walls. And the strategy to prevent unity has won.

If you can believe that the concerns of all Americans may not be the same, but all are important, then you can learn to give others (outside your social circle) the benefit of the doubt again. Our selective outrage can become our collective outrage. We can work for a country that works for us all. That would truly make America great.
One month ago, Donald J. Trump won 80,000 more votes in a few states that gave him the needed margin for a likely Electoral College victory. Unless something dramatic happens in the next several weeks, he will become the 45th President of the United States on January 20, 2017.

We progressives have somehow managed to survive the past thirty days knowing this upsetting piece of information. We have awoken every morning with some combination of coffee and dread. We have gotten our kids to school with fear and trepidation of what the day and their classmates or teachers have in store for them in an anti-immigrant, xenophobic future. And we have attended Thanksgiving Day celebrations preparing meals and breaking bread alongside Trump supporters whom we also call father, aunt or brother-in-law. And some of us have also had to start making safety plans.

At this time of year, we often read about how to survive the holidays. This year, we progressives need to know how to survive and hopefully recharge over the next 43 days as we prepare ourselves to resist over the next four years. Here's a list of a few suggested DO's and DON'T's:

Advertisement

DO take the time to mourn. We need to grieve. Like the loss of a loved one, we are mourning the loss of our country and the leaving behind of our ideals.

Watch mindless TV if that suites your fancy. Go see "Moonlight" or enjoy "25" and "Lemonade" as you try to figure out whether Adele or Beyonce should get the Grammy for Album of the Year. Listen to old episodes of the podcast "Politically Re-Active" by W. Kamau Bell and Hari Kondabolu and old and new episodes of "Good Muslim/Bad Muslim" by Taz Ahmed and Zahra Noorbakhsh. They are as healing as they are hilarious.

DON'T normalize an autocrat and demagogue even if he is going to be President of the United States (see below on how). Autocrats like Mussolini and Idi Amin woke up every morning and likely enjoyed three square meals a day. Demagogues like Joseph McCarthy had two parents and attended college. These characteristics shared by other humans do not make them normal and Trump holding meetings with Republican colleagues and selecting Cabinet-level nominees, some qualified and many not, does not make any less of what he is. Treat him as such.

DO join in protests. Choose your issue and your location. Oppose efforts to block grant Medicaid or fundamentally alter Obamacare. Protest any sort of Muslim registry and mass deportations of undocumented individuals. Continue to fight for reproductive justice. Start learning to be loud.

Advertisement

If you think there's no point to protesting, let me offer this: there is a straight line between the Tea Party protests of 2009-2010 and Trump's electoral selection. The Tea Party protests not only prevented Republicans from supporting passage of the Affordable Care Act--a market-based (GOP fav!) solution to the problem of uninsurance in America-- they also shut down the federal government and elected many far-right members of Congress. And they prevented Merrick Garland from becoming the ninth justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Let's learn from their playbook!

DON'T say "Trump won the election." Most of us know that he did not win the popular vote and, in fact, lost it by approximately 2.7 million votes. Instead, DO call him the minority president, as George Lakoff, Professor of Linguistics at University of California and author of Don't Think of an Elephant, tells us. We should say it again and again and again. Donald Trump is the minority president. He lost a majority of votes for president. Remind him and members of Congress. Tweet that to him. Only when you repeat that verbiage will it be clear to the folks in Washington and the individuals at the news desks of CNN, MSNBC, NY Times, LA Times and Wall Street Journal that Trump was not supported by most Americans and does not have a mandate.

And going forward, do NOT use the language of Republicans. Do NOT say "Medicare Modernization," say "Medicare dismantling." Do NOT say "alt-right," say "white nationalist" or "white supremacist." When you use their language, you use their frame, which has been strategically selected to win hearts and minds and secure passage of their extreme agenda. DON'T help them win.

DON'T wear a safety pin or proclaim your intention to participate in any future Muslim registry if you're not Muslim. Many of us very well-intentioned people want to help. We want to support our friends. We want to be allies. But, signaling that intention through clothing accessories or Facebook Likes doesn't change policy. And officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will not form lines of Muslims in front of mosques [That makes for a bad photo op.] They will instead send quiet letters to make questionable inquiries and knock on individual doors to take folks away when no one is looking.

DO make a safety plan if you feel your personal safety and well-being are in jeopardy. Chances are you already have.

Advertisement

DO take the time to find concrete ways to help those who feel threatened or unsafe. Reach out to an immigration attorney for a friend who needs answers to questions about their status or advice on how to move forward. If you don't know any, reach out to friend who knows a friend who knows a friend who is an immigration attorney. Or reach out to Legal Aid. Here's the link: http://www.lsc.gov/.



And finally...

DO go out and celebrate the end of 2016! We experienced a horrible presidential election that was climaxed only by its horrific results. We need to enjoy its demise. 2016 is almost over! And when we wake up late, exhausted or energized and possibly even hung over on January 1, we must be prepared for the tremendous challenge that is in store for us.
Claims for restitution from Polish citizens deported from Ukraine to Poland in 1944-1945 lodged against Ukraine will hardly have a perspective, managing partner of the Volkov and Partners law firm Oleksiy Volkov has said.

"Claims are possible, there is no prospect," he told Interfax-Ukraine, commenting on the prospect of such claims for the return of former Polish estates or payment of compensation for lost property, information of which has recently appeared in mass media.

According to the lawyer, the reason for the beginning of this process was Ukraine's signing the Association Agreement with the European Union and the cancelation of the moratorium on land sales from January 1, 2017.

Volkov said in fact the basis for such efforts was the law on implementation of the right to receive compensation in connection with real estate, remaining outside the current borders of the Republic of Poland, passed by Poland on July 8, 2005.

"Fortunately for Ukrainians, the issue has already been settled by the agreement between the government of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) and the Polish Committee of National Liberation on evacuation of the Ukrainian population from the territory of Poland and Polish citizens from the territory of the USSR signed on September 9, 1944, which entered into force on the same day. This agreement fully described the process of resettlement: the "evacuation" of citizens of both countries and the procedure of reimbursement for abandoned movable and immovable property," he said.

The expert noted the agreement pinned compensation for abandoned property to the state, to which the citizens of the corresponding country were evacuated.

"That is, Poland had to pay compensation to Polish citizens," he said.

Volkov noted a similar situation was between Germany and Poland, where relocation of citizens with the loss of rights to immovable property was observed.

In addition, Ukrainian citizens also tried to obtain compensation for property abandoned in the territory of Poland, although claims were submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

He also noted the lawyers of Warsaw-based GSW Legal doubted at least some success of these cases.

"Given the fact that [at the time of signing the agreement in 1944] the World War II had not yet ended, the Polish government had not been finally formed, it is difficult to say whether compensations were paid at that time. However, as indicated by Polish lawyers, such claims stand little chance of success," the expert said.

"Some lawyers say the above mentioned agreement is not valid as it was signed not with the incumbent Polish government. There are many other legal arguments that call into question the possibility of bringing such a claim to victory," Volkov said.

The Volkov and Partners law firm is an associate member of the Grata International law group.

According to mass media, claims of the descendants of the owners of Polish estate in the territory, which now belongs to Ukraine, have been prepared in Poland for submission to courts in Lutsk and Ternopil, while similar actions were planned for submission in Kyiv and Kharkiv.
Tuscaloosa, AL: Goodyear Satire Co.--

Alabama Police seized 30 kilograms of synthetic Donald Trump during traffic stops in Tuscaloosa on Wednesday.

Troopers stopped a 2014 Toyota Truck and a 2012 Honda Accord on Interstate 20 near Cottondale for "weaving in and out traffic." During the stop, troopers learned that 30 Kilograms of synthetic Donald Trump were individually packaged inside two identical cardboard boxes in the trunks of the vehicles.



Addicted to Trump

Millions of Americans became hooked on the high Donald Trump created with shouts of "Build the wall," "Lock her up" and "Drain the swamp" at his campaign rallies. Chemists working in mobile homes developed synthetic Donald Trump to mimic the effects the candidate had on the brains of his fans.

Advertisement

"As followers shouted his slogans, their brains released 'feel good' endorphins that reinforced their attachment to his candidacy," explained neurologist Paulo Fermi of the Cleveland Clinic. "That's why it didn't matter what Trump said or did. They became addicted to Trump."

Addicts found themselves attending rallies in far off places just to get another hit. The news media, noticing a ratings rise each time they televised a Trump speech, began giving more airtime to the political novice, not realizing they were feeding an addiction.



Raising the Stakes



"As with any drug, followers became immune to the initial stimulii," said Fermi. Trump had to make more and more outlandish statements just to produce the same high.

"Stocking his cabinet with Generals from the Swamp sent mood-altering seratonin levels soaring," explained Fermi. "Then Trump went after Boeing with lies, which only helped for a day. Trump satisfied again by attacking first the Carrier Co., then Carrier's union head by name. Carrier got a $7 million taxpayer bailout, Trump got the credit for saving jobs, and the Union head got death threats."

"For the Trump team, that was a win-win-win," said Fermi.

Police said the street value of the seized Donald Trump was about $9 million. It commands such a large street price because Trumpix, the legal version of the drug. has been shown to be as impotent as democrats in the face of a stolen election.

Advertisement
Last week, one of the few surviving decedents of the 1960s United States War on Poverty celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with an unprecedented award to the current director of CRLA Jose Padilla. A founder of the poverty program that has provided legal services to California Farm worked for half a century presented, in Marty Glick's words, the "very special and unique award."

Glick was greeted with smiles and cheers when he reminded the several hundred attendees that CRLA in 50 remarkable and amazing years has been and still is "the best of the best -- the gold standard for fearless and feared advocacy for farm workers and others who would be crushed by opponents but for CRLA intervention and protection." Glick noted CRLA's history of outstanding attorneys and community workers but saw one man standing out, standing far above all others for his truly incredible contributions. Only too aware of the few thanks given to CRLA's director, joined by former CRLA Director and Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso and former CRLA director Alberto Saldamando, Glick honored Jose Padilla with the first and only award ever provided to a CRLA Director.

Making the award, Glick told about Padilla's "lifelong and selfless commitment to CRLA and his astonishing career:

Advertisement

Jose was born to a farm worker family and grew up in Imperial County. He attended Brawley High School where he and others "formed a Mexican-American rights club and members wore a bandolier button in a classroom supporting the club. When the school ordered Jose to desist or face sanctions, he would not sacrifice principle to protect his own career path. He and the club found CRLA and they sued and prevailed against the District. Energized, Jose decided to make public service a career as a teacher or lawyer.

After Padilla attended Stanford University obtaining a BA, he returned to the Imperial Valley where he taught pre-school migrant children with Camposinos Unidos.

He attended law school at the University of California and joined CRLA where he spent the next six years as a staff attorney in El Centro. In addition to representing countless clients with their daily legal problems helped establish a credit union for the poor, a community radio station (Radio Sin Fronteras), and an immigration center for Central American immigration issues.

He helped achieve passage of a migrant education law.

In 1984, Jose became Executive director of CRLA. For 32 years, in Glick's words and with Glick's assistance, Padilla has led the program - - "navigating the difficulties of restrictive and complicated laws and appropriation conditions to stay both fully compliant without sacrificing one iota of the fearless representation of client communities with cutting edge work, still hiring first-rate staff and maintaining crucial contact with the communities served which he more than doubled from the nine regional offices" CRLA began with.

Advertisement

Helped establish the Indigenous Worker Program aimed at helping workers from southern Mexico, understood early on the need for services to the elderly LGBT community in rural communities, and established at CRLA the first program of its kind to serve that group.

Was Chair of National Legal Aid and Defenders Association in 2008 and for years been on that board of the Poverty Race Research Action Council and the Parent Institute for Quality Education for years.

Jose has given important testimony in Congress many times and has won multiple awards including the Stanford Alumni Hall Multicultural Hall of Fame. The Daily Journal recognized Jose as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in California and Hispanic Business named him one of the most influential 100 Hispanics in this country.


Vice President Joe Biden said big money in politics is "corrupting." (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

BY: ASHLEY BALCERZAK

Should we restrict political contributions? How have weakened political parties impacted this election? Can public financing work? President-elect Donald Trump pledged to "drain the swamp," yet has not proposed changes to the campaign finance system. So experts in the field with various viewpoints ran through scenarios at a forum organized by New York University and law firm Sidley Austin on Thursday.

Vice President Joe Biden headlined the event, breezing by the subject except to call "the role of big money" in our system "corrupting," and saying, "If you want to change overnight the way of the electoral process in America, have public financing."

Experts argued about what form that corruption -- if it exists -- takes, with some disputing Biden's suggested cure. David Keating, president of the conservative Center for Competitive Politics, maintained there is no evidence stricter contribution limits affect the amount of corruption in politics. Others framed the issue differently, saying that politicians will be more likely to listen to policy advice from their biggest supporters.

Advertisement

"The concern is one about rising inequality that comes from the greatest wealth transforming economic power into political power," said Richard Hasen, a professor at the University of California at Irvine who runs a well-respected campaign finance blog.

Getting money out of the system or silencing voices isn't necessarily the answer, added David Donnelly, president and CEO of the group Every Voice. Advocates should instead try to incentivize small donors through public matching programs or vouchers, he said, or a set amount of money from the government given to the public for them to use for political donations.



Former Republican National Committee general counsel Benjamin Ginsberg called that idea "food stamps for politicians," while NYU law professor Samuel Issacharoff said that even though public financing may work on the state and local level, it doesn't scale to federal races.

Hasen suggested vouchers be given to citizens to route first through political parties, in order to strengthen the institutions that have lost power with coordination rules and limits on party spending.

Advertisement

The diminishing of the Democratic and Republican parties led outside groups to fill the void, panelists said, with their ability to spend unlimited amounts of money and take charge of the messaging. This shift in power could help explain the "rise in extremism," because messages aren't being filtered through a consistent institution.

"Candidates have agendas set by outside groups," Ginsberg said. "It's a messy nonsensical system if the goal is to have members who get elected pay some degree of adherence to party principles as opposed to special party interests."

And that may have contributed to the stagnation in Congress.



"The parties are weaker so their coordination function is diminished, which makes them unable to deliver [policy] like when they could cut deals," Issacharoff said. "If you diminish the fuel for central mediating, money will simply reinforce what we have."

However, Hasen predicted the new Supreme Court will further loosen campaign finance restrictions, with limits on contributions to parties the next to go. Perhaps instead of limits, the focus should be on accountability and knowing who the big players are, he and others suggested.

"If you give $10 million directly and it is transparent, then at least there's an accountability for taking that $10 million," Issacharoff said. "If you launder it through an LLC that goes through a super PAC, there's no identification of the institutional backing of the money, and there's no apparent accountability. We're probably in the worst of all worlds right now."

Advertisement


A winter storm hit the Standing Rock protestors the day after the Army Corps of Engineers denied the easement needed to build the pipeline. The pipeline has been boosted by politicians who have been heavily funded by the oil and gas industry. (Photo by Michael Nigro / Pacific Press) (Sipa via AP Images)

BY: SOO RIN KIM

When the Army Corp of Engineers announced Sunday it would block construction of an essential part of the Dakota Access Pipeline Project and study alternative routs, thousands of protestors at the site -- members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, environmentalists, veterans and others -- joined hands in jubilation.

Concern about potential damage to the tribe's sacred lands and leaks that could poison the water supply led to the outcry; a semi-permanent encampment of RVs, teepees and tents sprang up in recent months as the ranks of the objectors grew.

Advertisement

But they're not breaking camp just yet. The forces behind the $3.8 billion pipeline, which is expected to carry Bakken Shale oil from northwest North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to connect to an oil reserve in Illinois, have a lot of sway with President-elect Donald Trump, who could order the Corps to reverse course, and those around him. Trump indicated his support for the pipeline, including the segment that has triggered the controversy, on Monday.



North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D), who has been mentioned as a possible Interior secretary under Trump, has avoided taking a position of the pipeline per se, but encouraged the protestors to go home: "When you look at it, we know one thing for sure: When the administration changes, the easement is going to be approved," Heitkamp said Monday. "I understand the frustration of the protesters, I just think that this fight is not winnable."

A member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, Heitkamp and her leadership PAC have raised $8.7 million since 2011, with $277,879 from the oil and gas industry. That includes $1,500 from the political action committee of Energy Transfer Partners, which owns Dakota Access, LLC, the key player in the project.

Fellow North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven (R), who recently came out supporting the pipeline, also received $5,000 from the PAC during his re-election campaign this cycle. With seats on the Energy and Natural Resources and Indian Affairs committees, Hoeven's single biggest financial supporter throughout his senatorial career has been the oil and gas industry, which has given his campaign $673,030 since 2011.

Advertisement

In total, Energy Transfer Partners' PAC donated $128,000 to federal candidates this in the 2016 cycle.

Trump's interest in the pipeline has been more than just tangential: His 2015 financial disclosure report showed he owned Energy Transfer Partners stock valued at between $500,000 and $1 million. Trump's latest financial report, filed in May 2016, shows he reduced his investment to somewhere between $15,000 and $50,000, but also revealed an investment in Phillips 66 of between $100,000 and $250,000. Phillips 66 owns about 25 percent of the pipeline, making it the biggest partner in the project after ETP. Trump sold all his shares in companies in June, including the investment in ETP, according to his spokesperson, though no documentary evidence of that has been shared.

Energy Transfer Partners CEO Kelcy Warren showed his strong support for Trump in late June by donating $100,000 to his joint fundraising committee, $3,000 of which went straight to his campaign.

Like many big donors this cycle, Warren flirted with other presidential prospects first, most notably former Texas Gov. Rick Perry. The pro-Perry super PAC Opportunity & Freedom I got a $5 million donation from Warren soon after Perry announced his bid last year -- but Warren received a refund after Perry dropped out of the race a few months later. Perry, it turns out, is on the board of Energy Transfer Partners. National Republican party committees also received $203,400 from Warren this election cycle.

At the state level, Warren donated $250,000 to Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott (R) in this election cycle and $10,400 to Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle, who overseas public utilities in the state. Angelle, the onetime head of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, is a board member of Sunoco Logistics Partners, a subsidiary of Energy Transfer and one of the smaller owners of the pipeline project. Angelle faces a run-off election for Louisiana's 3rd Congressional District seat on Saturday, and his single biggest supporter has been the oil and gas industry, which has contributed $103,150 so far.

Advertisement

Warren doesn't skimp: He has donated over $2.4 million to candidates, parties and committees at the federal level since 2007 and $1.7 million at the state and local level in the last decade.

Energetic support



Heitkamp is only the latest addition to the list of oil executives and pro-development politicians being considered to run the Interior Department, overseeing the nation's wildlife and natural resources.

Trump's key energy advisor and Continental Resources CEO Harold G. Hamm, in particular, has been the mastermind of the energy policies of the president-elect.

Hamm and his wife Sue Ann Hamm have donated nearly $1.9 million to federal candidates and committees over the years. This election cycle, individuals (including the chief executive) and the political action committee of Continental Resources donated $15,226 to Trump as well as $10,300 and $10,200 to Heitkamp and Hoeven, respectively. The oil billionaire who was at the forefront of the fracking boom in North Dakota was also considered a leading contender for the top job at the Department of Energy, but recently denied any plans to join Trump's cabinet.

In a Wall Street Journal column published Monday, another key energy adviser to the Trump campaign, Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) -- who also received $7,400 from Continental Resources this year -- censured the protesters. He, too, counts the energy and natural resources sector as his biggest source of financial support, especially the oil and gas industry: The sector has given his campaign and his leadership PAC $932,925 throughout his congressional career, including his unsuccessful 1996 campaign. Oasis Petroleum, whose well leaked more than 67,000 gallons of crude oil last year, endangering a tributary around the Missouri River, topped Cramer's donors, giving $68,500. North Dakota-based Armstrong Corp and Koch Industries also have given Kramer $32,800 and $33,000, respectively.

Advertisement

While members of Congress have voiced their views on the high-profile project, the permitting process has mostly been in the purview of the states. Both the Iowa Utility Board and the North Dakota Public Service Commission have been key here.

Unlike IUB members, who were all appointed by Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, the three North Dakota public service commissioners -- Julie Fedorchak, Randy Christmann and Brian Kalk -- were elected to their six-year terms and boasted strong financial support from the energy and natural resources sector. Combined, they brought in a total of $117,550 from those interests. The North Dakota Petroleum Council forked over a total of $15,900 to the three. Hamm, of Continental Resources, gave them $1,000 each.

And energy and natural resources donors have been crucial to Branstad, too, accounting for over $1 million out of $1.8 million total contributions to the governor since 2010.



Unfortunately for protesters, the Dakota Access Pipeline is not the only pipeline plan that could be revived by the new administration.

Cramer -- formerly a North Dakota Public Service Commissioner who helped approve the original Keystone Pipeline in 2010 -- has been a leading voice in reviving the fourth phase of the Keystone project, which would add North Dakota and Montana to its route.

Advertisement

Called the Keystone XL, the pipeline proposal was a top election issue in 2014. The Obama administration rejected it last year, but Trump says he backs it to free America from dependence on foreign oil. Beneficiaries of the pipeline would be American oil moguls operating in the region, like Hamm and the Koch brothers.
December 12, 2016 (Philadelphia, PA).

My Fellow Americans:

I come here tonight to deliver my last national address to the American people. I do so, first, to say "thank you". Thank you for all the trust you have placed in me for all these years of my life dedicated to public service. Thank you for receiving me so warmly in cities and towns and farms all around the country in my two national campaigns.

Meeting you, seeing you, hearing from you about your hopes and dreams and challenges inspired me, and will continue to inspire me for the rest of my life. Because of you, I know how right President Kennedy was when he said that we "would meet every challenge, support every friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty".

And, yes, thank you for your votes. Apart from President Obama's stunning victory in 2008, the largest number of Americans voted for us than any other person in American history. We are more than 2.65 million votes ahead of Donald Trump, a 2% lead, and still growing. We are also ahead of President Obama's totals in 2012. Thank you.

Advertisement

Let me quickly, however, disabuse you of any feeling you may have that I have come here to ask the Electoral College to recognize this popular vote victory by installing me as President.

I don't. Indeed, I will give a Shermanesque statement, "if elected by the Electoral College, I shall not serve".

But, I am here to talk about another role the Electoral College should serve.

That is why I speak to you from Philadelphia because it is the birthplace of our Constitution. Our Founders wrote into this great document a system of electing presidents that placed an elected group of people between the total popular vote and the presidency.

We may agree or not agree with that provision. But, until changed, that is our governing charter.

This is what Alexander Hamilton said about the purpose of the Electoral College:

It was equally desirable, that the immediate election should be made by men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station, and acting under circumstances favorable to deliberation, and to a judicious combination of all the reasons and inducements which were proper to govern their choice... It was also peculiarly desirable to afford as little opportunity as possible to tumult and disorder. This evil was not least to be dreaded in the election of a magistrate, who was to have so important an agency in the administration of the government as the President of the United States. But the precautions which have been so happily concerted in the system under consideration, promise an effectual security against this mischief. [Emphasis added]



Hamilton's point was that this smaller group, who were elected by the people, should exercise a sober second-thought about the fitness and circumstances of the popular election.

To be sure, we have as come a long way as a nation since our founding. We have quite properly attached a greater importance to the vote of the people, as prescribed in the Constitution. The Electoral College should not substitute its policy or personality preferences for those of the people as expressed at the ballot box.

That does not mean, however, that the Electors should be nothing more than robots. They have a Constitutional role and responsibility that they should exercise with great restraint, deference and prudence, but not complete abdication.

The 2016 election is an occasion that deserves their sober second-thought. I want to be clear that nothing that follows deals with policy differences or preferences. Rather, it is based on several key threats to our Constitutional democracy.

1.A foreign power, Russia, massively hacked the election.

2.Mr Trump openly and loudly invited them to hack it.

This must be taken extremely seriously. If the Electoral College allows the winner of an election with foreign interference, especially when he himself has urged that foreign interference, then we can never have a 100% American election again.

Advertisement

3.Mr. Trump's business empire produces impossible conflicts-of-interest. These will arise every day. For example, a government decides to have its year-end party at a Trump Hotel. This benefits Trump and his family. American public officials are forbidden from accepting gifts from foreign powers not by law, but by the Constitution of the United States.

4.Despite all his promises, Mr Trump has never shown the American people 10 years of his taxes. He seems not to understand, or care, that it is the duty of the press, the people, the Congress to make sure he is accountable for his actions, and not self-dealing. What weight can one give to any "arrangement" he may make on December 15th that he will not have a conflict of interest? Unless the whole company is sold, it is not possible. And, precious air-time and ink will be consumed investigating the latest Trump maneuver.

5.Finally, there is the matter of temperament. We have many problems in the United States and around the world. We need to give them constant attention. Although critically important, many are not exciting. Mr. Trump has already shown that, if things are too quiet, he needs to do something to make a tempest. It is not me, but conservative newspaper after conservative newspaper who have warned against a person like Mr Trump with the levers of power. It would be foolish to suppose that, upon taking the oath of office, a 70 year-old man will change his ways.

The Founders had the vision to insert into our election process this "sober second-thought". You, the Electors, are charged with that role.

Once again, I am not here to suggest that you install me as president. And, you will note, I cited not a single matter of public policy as the rationale. Nor do I seek to be president.

Advertisement

I would like to make a suggestion. Senator Tim Kaine and I won the most votes, by far. Despite the foreign interference, and despite everything else that was being tossed about, we have the most votes, and the second most total votes in the history of the United States.

If you, Electors, cast a majority of your ballots for us, I will immediately, within a second of stating "so help me God" in the oath of office, resign. I will write, sign and swear by whatever document is required to prevent any retreat, and I will provide that to the Electoral College before you vote.

Vice-President Kaine would automatically become President. He would choose one of his Republican Senate colleagues to be Vice-President, and together they would govern as a "government of national unity". I think we all need that.

Senator Kaine is an able and totally decent man, a man of strong faith. He has many, many friends and colleagues on the Republican side, from which to choose. President Kaine and his Vice-President would have to agree on all appointees, including the Supreme Court, before they were nominated. For this role as Vice-President, he might choose a Republican with a long, distinguished career, or perhaps even a woman who may not have served so long. That would be entirely up to him.

Many people have told me that I should not make this speech. Mr Trump, they say, and he himself has so stated, that he always seeks revenge and is very vindictive. That, alone, should give the Electors pause about his character. It is not one that cherishes democracy.

Advertisement

Kaine and his Republican Vice-President would, by design, govern down the center. Both parties have spoken about the need to rebuild the middle class. They would seek solutions designed to work, and that would enjoy bipartisan support because, at long last, no one side would get "credit".

Let us not, my fellow Americans, and especially Electors, lose our great 225 year experiment in self-rule to the passions of the moment.
What's the best advice you've ever been given? originally appeared on Quora - the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights.

Answer by Tim Urban, writer for Wait But Why - join their email list here to get new posts in your inbox, on Quora.

It's hard to say what the best advice I've been given is. I've gotten a lot of great advice. Often I find the best advice is simplest.

Advertisement

One of the best pieces of advice came in the form of my friend telling me a one-sentence piece of advice his father told him. It was something along the lines of:

"If you have the option to do something you really love for a living, you should do it."

I know that's super cliche, "do what you love!", but something about how it was worded stuck with me. It wasn't as simple as "figure out what you love and then make that your career," but a more grounded, practical thought that it's not a given that you can pull this off, but if you're at a decision point and doing something you love every weekday seems to be one of the possibilities, do whatever you can to make it happen."

Another that pops to mind also was advice someone else got from someone else and relayed to me. I was in college, trying to figure out what to do with my existence, and I remember a high school friend telling me that a mentor of his told him, "Don't pick what you want to do and then go to the place where you can best do that, decide where you want to be in the world and then go there and figure out how to do the things you want to do there." My jury's still slightly out on whether this is the right advice or not, but it's interesting advice and I think it's probably wise. I moved to LA after college to write music, and I spent five years not feeling at home in LA before moving to NY, a place I had always wanted to live, and at least my personal experience says that I should have listened to that advice when I heard it at 22 instead of figuring it out on my own five years later.

Advertisement

Another: In college, people told me, "take the classes with the best professors, not the best topic." This is good advice in itself, but when taken metaphorically, it's also good advice for life in general. Going on a trip with three friends you love to a gas station in New Jersey is a hundred times more fun than going on the adventure of a lifetime with people you don't like.

Another happened last year when I first met Chris Anderson, the head of TED Talks. My relationship with him started when he made a generous donation to WBW. I wrote him to thank him, and he wrote back that he really liked the blog and asked if I ever thought about doing a TED Talk. He suggested we get together one day to discuss.

When we did, we talked through possible topics I could talk about and there were some interesting ideas, but nothing concrete. He surprised me by offering me the opportunity to speak at TED2016, which was only six months away. Two strong emotions immediately exploded in my head:

Holy CRAP, I could do a TED Talk! What an amazing opportunity. Obviously I'm saying yes. Nope! Not in six months. Later. Later. Later. Later. Some time much later.

TED Talks were for people saving sex slaves and curing Alzheimer's, not dudes who sit at the counter in pajama pants and a gray t-shirt spending nine minutes trying to draw a normal-looking head circle. Plus, I had almost no public speaking experience, and I knew that whatever quality TED Talk I could give in six months, I could do a better one in the future when I had more experience. TED was the biggest stage and I wanted to do it when I felt cockyabout speaking because I had done a ton of it, not when I was trying to figure out who Tim Urban The Speaker even was.

Advertisement

The first voice was strong but the second one was even stronger. I definitely didn't want to give up the opportunity, but I definitely didn't want to make that opportunity Present Tim's problem. My ideal situation was for him to tell me I could guarantee myself a spot on the 2018 or 2019 stage--then I could still do it, but not now, and I could be more experienced when I did it, and most importantly, I could put something super hard and stressful off into the far future when it was a totally different Tim's problem.

I thanked Chris and asked him, "Would it make more sense for me to do this a couple years down the road when I've done more speaking?"

He paused thoughtfully for a few seconds, and considered the question, and then said, "There's no time like the present."

It was so clear to me that those were words of wisdom, and I agreed to do it.

We all find ourselves in moments like this when we have a chance to do something cool but we're also tempted to run away from it, sometimes in the form of putting it off until later. But when we choose the run away option, it's not usually a black-and-white choice. It's conflicted. There are two voices screaming out, not just one, and it's just that the "run away" voice ended up being more powerful. Since this talk with Chris, every time I find myself in one of those moments, his voice pops back into my head and says "there's no time like the present" and that's usually enough to tip that balance of power the other way. A big opportunity of any kind usually feels like a TED Talk you're not ready for, and it's incredibly important to not let yourself get in the habit of running away.

This goes hand-in-hand with another great piece of advice I got from one of the wisest people I know, Seth Godin, in the form of a blog post of his that arrived in my inbox one day. He talked about this very feeling of having a big opportunity and feeling simultaneously terrified about fucking it up. He said that the key in those moments is to reframe the fear you're feeling and think of it as excitement:

Advertisement

Here's an alternative: It's okay to be nervous. Instead of fighting that anxiety, dance with it. Welcome it. Relish it. It's a sign you're on to something. "Oh good, here comes that itch!" This is important after all.

When we welcome a feeling like this, when we embrace it and actually look forward to it, the feeling doesn't get louder and more debilitating. It softens, softens to the point where we can work with it.

Use your fear like fuel.

I love this. The road towards awesome things often goes through a really scary forest, and this blog post stuck with me because it acknowledges that the road to getting the most out of your potential is by definition a scary road to travel down. And so the fear is a signal that you're doing something right, or as Seth says, that "you're on to something."

This question originally appeared on Quora. - the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.
Since the historic win of Donald Trump, the American media and pundits have been grappling to understand the election results and their inability to predict the turn of events. It will take some time before detailed data on actual voter behavior is made available but one trend is clear. Voters who live in large urban centers, largely voted for Hillary Clinton while those who live in more rural parts of the country voted for Donald Trump.

The ideological divide manifested itself through the vast geography of the United States. The reasons are linked to the inequities that define today's America and how its citizenry is divided along class lines. The residents of cities are typically wealthier, have higher educational attainment and are somewhat more liberally inclined. Conversely, many rural parts of the U.S. are poorer and are less educated in the formal sense.

Advertisement

These generalizations admittedly are challenged by many exceptions but the electoral maps attest that the blue (Democratic) clusters are in cities and the Republican support is strongest in the vast lands of rural America.

Most states where one party controls both branches of the legislature (State House & Senate) are gerrymandered in the ruling parties favor. The 2016 presidential election county-by-county map shows that the urban rural divide has been further intensified by gerrymandering. When districts are drawn to shepherd Democrats and Republicans into their own corners (in different parts of a state), this makes the disparities in their voting patterns even more vibrant and obvious on an electoral map. Instead of a balance of conservatives and liberals, a mix of red and blue spread out across a state, gerrymandering essentially segregates and silos D's and R's into their own subsections as you'll see below.

Red Rubies on the Democratic West Coast



California Map Washington/Oregon Map

Blue Urban Pockets: San Francisco, LA, Sacramento, Seattle, Portland

Red Rolling Rural-lands: Most of Oregon, Washington and half of California

All along the 'lefty liberal', designated Democrat west coast, there were large swathes of red. Half of California, the supposed holy grail of the Democratic party west of the Mississippi, voted for Trump.

Advertisement

The counties that went blue were invariably clustered around the urban centers of Sacramento, San Francisco, LA and San Diego. Further up in Oregon and Washington, the blue zones were not surprisingly concentrated around the large metropolises of Portland and Seattle respectfully.

Outside of the city centers, the rural populace of two northwest states - Oregon and Washington - voted for Trump. Most rural areas all along the west coast voted Republican. On the map, these appear as red Trumpian rubies, in an otherwise blue jewelry shop.

The [Wild] Mid West

Ohio Map Illinois Map Wisconsin Map

Tiny Blue Urban Pockets: Chicago, Cleveland, Madison, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Columbus

Red Rolling Rural-lands: Everywhere else where people live farther apart

Ohio has always been a deal breaker as the perennial swing state. The results from the recent election show how the state is marked by blue polka dots on an otherwise red dress.

These dots are its urban centers of Cleveland, Akron, Columbus and Cincinnati. Although the state went to Trump, the cities went to Clinton.

The same occurred in Clinton's original home state of Illinois, where the counties around the Midwestern capital, Chicago, went blue whereas most of the rest of the state went red. Overall the state went to the Democrats because of the high density of people that live in the Chicago metropolitan area and Peoria, these two cities had more people within them that voted for Clinton than practically the rest of the entire state's counties which voted for Trump.

Advertisement

Lastly, in Wisconsin that has historically been a blue stronghold (Clinton hasn't visited the State once since the Democratic convention because it was considered a safe win), surprisingly went to Trump. This happened because unlike in Illinois, the urban centers of Madison, Milwaukee and Eau Claire didn't have enough Democrats voting for Clinton to tilt the overall outcome. The rest of the (mostly) rural state, went to Trump.

The South Is Not Another Country



Texas Map Louisiana Map

Tiny Blue Urban Pockets: Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, New Orleans, Baton Rouge

Red Rolling Rural-lands: Everywhere else where millions of people are not congregated

Even in the deeply red republic of Texas, the large economic, political and cultural capitals of Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio voted for Clinton. Republicans control all statewide Texas offices and both houses of the state legislature.

Texas has voted Republican in in every presidential election since 1980. Despite this history, its urban centers are perennially blue, along with a number of counties situated on the border, where Democratic leaning Hispanics make up a larger proportion of the population.

In Louisiana too, the large metropolis of New Orleans along with its second largest city, Baton Rouge went blue while the rest of the historically Republican state remained true to its past. Like Texas, the cities were not dominant enough to swing the state for Clinton.

Advertisement

The rural vote enabled Trump to win both state.

EAST IS EAST

New York Map Virginia Map Florida Map

Tiny Blue Urban Pockets: NYC, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, Richmond, Alexandria

Red Rolling Rural-lands: Everywhere else where tall concrete structures don't exist

New York has been a Democratic stronghold for years now. It is also Clinton's current home state. Yet, if it weren't for New York City's millions of voters, the state might have gone Trump red. Other than the urban centers of Syracuse, Buffalo, Rochester and Albany, almost all of upstate New York voted for Trump.

Virginia displayed the same pattern where the urban zones of Alexandria (right next to D.C.), Richmond and Norfolk, tipped a mostly red state into Clinton territory. The urban-rural, blue-red divide is particularly evident here with Roanoke, which looks like a blue coliseum, surrounded by red soldiers. Part of this is also due to the electoral district gerrymandering, which has taken place in the past.

Florida, one of the key states that led Trump to victory within the Electoral College, confirmed the same divide. Cities - Miami, Orlando, Tampa and Tallahassee - voted for Clinton while the rest of the rural landscape was painted red by Trump's rhetoric.

Pundits are now asking Trump to unite the country. While semantics are important the real unity in the U.S. requires thinking long and hard about the economic and political forces that deindustrialized and depressed large swaths of rural America.

Advertisement

The impoverished, the less advantaged and the marginalized America spoke on Nov. 8th.

All Presidential Election maps were created by and courtesy of the New York Times.
The president-elect stumbles over the protocols of geopolitics and war, tweeting all the way.

It's not just insane. It's awkward.

"Since 1979," the Guardian points out, "the U.S. has acknowledged Beijing's claim that Taiwan is part of China, with relations governed by the 'One China' set of protocols."

But here's what Donald Trump did: He took a congratulatory phone call from Taiwan's president, Tsai Ing-we. In so doing, he became the first U.S. president or president-elect to speak directly to the Taiwanese leader in 37 years. Furthermore, he referred to her as the president of Taiwan, not the president on Taiwan, seemingly implying that the island province is actually an independent nation, totally freaking out mainland China -- and jolting our relations with that country big time. You don't want the wrong preposition to start World War 4.

Furthermore: "Weeks before President-elect Donald Trump's controversial phone call with Taiwan's president," the Guardian story continues, ". . . a businesswoman claiming to be associated with his conglomerate made inquiries about a major investment in building luxury hotels as part of the island's new airport development."

Advertisement

These claims "add to growing concerns about potential conflicts of interest between Trump's business empire and U.S. foreign policy."

This is the emerging framework for a Trump presidency: He's a geopolitical know-nothing who refuses to sever ties to his vast array of business interests, turning the American presidency into an endless opportunity for conflicts of interest and, in the process, endangering national and global security. That's the "insanity" part.

But the "awkward" part is even more disturbing. The arrogant one revealed it in his own self-defensive Tweet afterwards: "Interesting how the U.S. sells Taiwan billions of dollars of military equipment but I should not accept a congratulatory call."

Say what?

Well, yes, the Obama administration authorized a $1.83 billion arms sale to Taiwan last year, Reuters reported. The package included lots of missiles, two frigates, amphibious assault vehicles, guns and ammo, all courtesy of two of America's military-industrial stalwarts, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin.

Advertisement

So while no U.S. president has talked to the leader of Taiwan since 1979, or carelessly used an inappropriate preposition in referring to him or her, we've been selling high-tech weapons of war to the Chinese province all along. Six years ago, there was an even bigger arms deal, totaling $6.4 billion, including 60 Black Hawk helicopters and $2.85 billion worth of missiles. How can this be?

It's simply the world we live in: preposterously volatile but at the same time lucrative and dispassionately self-justifying. Here's how Max Fisher explained it in the New York Times a few days ago: "By selling Taiwan arms, the United States ensures that the island can deter an invasion from the mainland's far larger military. This maintains a balance of power that, while fragile, is intended to prevent war."

Our One China policy turns out to be a tad strange. In establishing ties with mainland China, we've gone so far as to acknowledge that there is a single entity that is China and that entity includes Taiwan. But because Taiwan is also our ally and a fellow democracy, we have also honored, over the years, an obligation to "protect" it by selling it lots and lots and lots of weapons. This is called the Taiwan Relations Act.

"United States arms sales to Taiwan have indeed been controversial, particularly with Beijing," Fisher acknowledged: "But they are an approach intended to maintain the status quo."

Trump's behavior, on the other hand, by "granting Taiwan's leader informal recognition . . . is different because it disturbs the status quo."

Advertisement

So there you have it. But pardon me if I sit and ponder for a moment, with open-mouthed incredulity, the status quo being explained to me. The weapons sales, unsurprisingly, do push China to the edge of fury, but . . . they're weapons. Presumably, they're also what keep that fury contained. So it's all neat and clean: This is the volatile peace of Planet Earth, a.k.a., the status quo, maintained by billions of dollars of weapons circling the planet annually, mostly thanks to the U.S.A., which accounts for nearly half the planet's annual weapons sales.

"Arms deals are a way of life in Washington," William Hartung wrote recently at TomDispatch. "From the president on down, significant parts of the government are intent on ensuring that American arms will flood the global market and companies like Lockheed and Boeing will live the good life. From the president on his trips abroad to visit allied world leaders to the secretaries of state and defense to the staffs of US embassies, American officials regularly act as salespeople for the arms firms. And the Pentagon is their enabler. From brokering, facilitating, and literally banking the money from arms deals to transferring weapons to favored allies on the taxpayers' dime, it is in essence the world's largest arms dealer."

This is the status quo: dark, quiet . . . lucrative. The Obama administration has approved the sale of more than $200 billion worth of weapons during its tenure, some $60 billion more than George W. Bush did. Generally, weapons sales aren't seriously questioned, or even discussed, except at the political margins. They come wrapped in the language of salesmanship: They ensure the safety of the customer; they ensure everyone's safety, including our own. No matter the weapons of war circulate the globe endlessly and keep everyone armed, friend and foe alike.

Trump, who of course is married to the status quo in his own special way, nonetheless saunters clumsily and cluelessly through the corridors of power, exposing its volatile secrets as he goes. Maybe this is how the world changes -- in spite of itself.

- - -

Robert Koehler is an award-winning, Chicago-based journalist and nationally syndicated writer. His book, Courage Grows Strong at the Wound is available. Contact him at koehlercw@gmail.com or visit his website at commonwonders.com.

Advertisement
Just whom Donald Trump will appoint to various key posts in his future administration has an unbearably enticing set of moving targets for the media (until, as at a recent rally in Cincinnati, dramatic announcements are made at unexpected moments, or released in other ways). And give The Donald credit: if he has a genius for anything, it's for dominating the news cycle in ways -- from his pre-crack-o'-dawn tweets to those rallies -- that simply haven't been seen here before. And be suitably amazed that, as during the election campaign, he continues to have an uncanny knack for flooding the screens of our world with that larger-than-life figure of his dreams, Donald Trump, nearly 24/7. He's the media-made man of our -- and his -- (endless) moment.

Until each appointment is announced, the speculation goes on endlessly about which billionaire or multimillionaire will be included in the latest round of The Chosen. In some ways, those officially or unofficially being considered, whether appointed or not, offer us a strange window into the future Washington world of Donald Trump. Take, for instance, two oily selections touted recently as possibilities for the man who has committed himself to elevating fossil fuel extraction to a high art. Trump has, after all, already promised to make a future Saudi America independent of oil imports from the actual Saudi Arabia or any other "foe" or member of the "oil cartel," come -- if you'll excuse a phrase that, in the context of climate change, is all too apt -- hell or high water.

In such situations, it undoubtedly makes a certain sense to think about going directly to the trough. If you want someone to oversee the Department of Energy, why not, for example, consider Harold Hamm, the Oklahoma oil tycoon and 60th richest person on the planet, whose fortune, according to Forbes, rose by $1.7 billion to $14.7 billion in the wake of Trump's election victory? (On the subject of such a possible appointment, Hamm himself has been diffident.) Or if it's the State Department you're thinking about and global energy policy is on your mind, why not put aside the thought of frog legs and Mitt Romney for a second and at least consider -- as Donald Trump reputedly is doing -- Rex Tillerson, CEO of ExxonMobil, a man who made a salary of $27.3 million last year alone? After all, it would ensure transparency if the global energy policy you were going to pursue was directed by the man who had steered one of the top fossil-fuel extractors on the planet through years of choppy waters, right?

Advertisement
A lot of my comics have been published in the Huffington Post over the years, not on a daily basis, although I suppose they could have been, but I've decided to start publishing daily on Facebook. I will still publish political cartoons here at Huff Post. My goal was always to be published in newspapers daily, and I've had a few bites from rather large newspapers, but the timing is always off. And almost 20 years ago, when I had my chance for daily publication, I decided to go in another direction. I'm still kicking myself in the head for that.

The problem is today is that newspaper comics are part of a dying profession. To be part of comics in the 1940s and 1950s would have been ideal. Comics were made for newspapers and it pains me not to be part of the original format. Almost like making a movie and having it go right to video, rather than be on the silver screen, which is what movies were meant to do.

Newspapers are so hesitant to drop a comic to make room for a new one in a shrinking printed newspaper world, because of the age-old dilemma of people dropping their subscriptions when you drop their favorite comic. Comics are digital today and not necessarily published daily, although I am comfortable with that schedule.

Nancy Following Guy Gilchrist, the cartoonist for, on Instagram one sees how he is constantly drawing in hotel rooms because he travels so much. Deadlines! While I like and respect deadlines, I wonder if I would go mad after a few years of those. Also, for a long time I liked the size constraint. You know, you have this box that this size and you have to do your thing in there daily. But it's not like that anymore and the current crop of readers - Millennials - are used to different boxes and shapes, sort of like Elaine on Seinfeld with the muffin tops - it's the part of the muffin that pops out of the pan and does it's own thing. Digital comics can do their own thing.

But being a single comic at a website daily may not be great because I don't believe that people will drop everything to come to the website to read a single panel cartoon every day, but they will on Facebook and I've always been a fan of social media for comics. For a long time I did a comic daily on Instagram and it had thousands of readers a day. It just came up on their feeds and they read it that way. Unobtrusively, because social media is unobtrusive.

Bloom County New Yorker Cartoons The Oatmeal Over a billion people use Facebook daily. A billion! That's some potential audience. When Berkeley Breathed brought back, he used Facebook and he publishes there daily, he has about 670,000 fans on there andhas over 913,000 fans and amazingly, Matthew Inman who does, has almost 4 million fans on Facebook, he links to his website from there. The Facebook posts are "liked" and shared all day long!

Some of my comics were shared many times and "liked" many times over the years on Facebook. There was a "Doctor Who" comic shared by actor George Takei once and it went crazy viral - almost 30,000 shares and over 85,000 likes! Recently a similar experience occurred with a political cartoon which someone shared on Facebook and it took off.

So the realization is that Facebook is the place for my Tomversation comic panel. I had thought of making a widget where people could place it on their own websites and share Tomversation daily, but simply by clicking the "share" button on Facebook, is doing the same thing. And every time someone "likes" a comic, their friends see that they liked it. So starting January 1, 2017, Tomversation will appear daily on Facebook. The goal is to build up a fan base during the year. Digital is where comics are these days. Unfortunately, reading a daily newspaper, literally holding it in your hands, is becoming a thing of the past, like dial telephones and film.

Facebook.com/Tomversation. There are many items there now and you'll receive the updated comic when it starts. That's one thing great about Facebook - you don't have to go out of your way to see news, comics, friends, etc., it all just appears on your wall without any fuss. I hope that Tomversation becomes part of your wall. If you don't like a comic one day, just bypass it without a mention or "like," it if you like it, and share it! Easy! Here's hoping you'll become a fan atand you'll receive the updated comic when it starts. That's one thing great about Facebook - you don't have to go out of your way to see news, comics, friends, etc., it all just appears on your wall without any fuss. I hope that Tomversation becomes part of your wall. If you don't like a comic one day, just bypass it without a mention or "like," it if you like it, and share it! Easy!
The group of terminals TIS (Odesa region) believes that investigating actions and raids conducted by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) at the enterprise were a shakedown. The group intends to speak with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko about the issue, Head of Transinvestservice (TIS) Oleh Kutateladze said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.

He said that when SBU started the investigation TIS provided all the required documents and expressed its readiness for cooperation.

"They conduct investigating actions that have no success. They violated simultaneously several articles of the Constitution and the criminal procedural code," Kutateladze said.

He said that SBU did not permit their lawyer to participate in the investigation, referring to secrecy of investigation, while images from an apartment of a person where they found the money appeared in media at once, despite of secrecy of investigation and presumption of innocence. Information about revealing off-the-books currency also appeared.

"This citizen presented a declaration claiming it was his personal money, and as for the money we receive  they are sent to the account. These are the funds to maintain the water area and conduct dredging works. They are sent to the special account. We cannot take them," he said.

He said that TIS has spent $40 million for dredging works and has invested $600 million in 18 years.

He said that SBU actions influence the investment climate in the country.


By Joshua Rosenblum, ZEALnyc Contributing Writer, December 8, 2016

During unsettled or troubling times, Mahler can seem like a spiritual balm, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra's performance of the composer's mighty Symphony No. 5 at Carnegie Hall on Wednesday, November 30, seemed particularly well timed. Mahler's towering, seventy-minute masterwork almost seems like it's three different symphonic worlds. The first two movements are the spiritual heart of the piece, with their mutually resonating and occasionally intertwining funeral marches. The third movement--at twenty minutes, the longest of the five--is a playful, succession of mostly upbeat waltzes. The fourth movement is the well-known, soulful "Adagietto," written as a love song to Mahler's soon-to-be wife, Alma. The concluding "Rondo: Finale" reasserts the sunny radiance of the third movement in a series of contrapuntally dazzling episodes.

The famous C# minor trumpet call that opens the piece was rendered impeccably by Miroslav Petkov, who performed this and the piece's many other solo passages with the eloquence of a great storyteller. Conductor Semyon Bychkov then proceeded with a thoughtful, deliberately paced account of the piece's exquisite and profound opening theme. Only a few bars in, it already seemed like a sacred event. Bychkov's approach was reverent without being indulgent, as if he wanted to wring every drop of beauty out of the score; his scrupulous attention to inner voices brought forth lines I'd never heard before. The furious eruption at the beginning of the second movement was hair-raising, and the slow, mournful reprise of the funeral march in the cellos was heartstopping. When the full string section took up the theme near the end, it was like being at sea during a savage tempest.

Advertisement

The long third movement can seem amorphous, but Bychko's ear for detail and the orchestra's precision made it difficult for the mind to wander. In the slower middle section, the musicians played their hearts out with a sense of personal involvement sometimes missing from American orchestras, and the movement's finale was full of bravura and excitement. The strings were opulent and enveloping in the "Adagietto," then shimmeringly soft. The fifth movement provided a welcome display of orchestral punch and snap. The ensemble playing veered off only slightly on occasion during one of the brisk fugal passages, but it can be difficult for players to hear each other across the vast Carnegie stage. All in all, the piece's large-scale progression from the almost painful melancholy of the first two movements to the exuberant celebration of the last had a palpably colossal impact in this memorable performance.

Although a Mahler symphony is always going to be the main event, the twenty-minute piece that formed the concert's first half, Detlev Glanert's Theatrum bestiarum, Songs and Dances for Large Orchestra, was plenty eventful itself. After a hugely cacophonous opening chord, a growling melody for bass and muted tuba plays out against shivery interjections from upper-register violins. Subsequently, we are treated to an ongoing series of sporadic riffs and bracing orchestral sonorities that erupt into a wild funhouse ride. Glanert's treatment of his massive instrumental forces is wizardly, and the piece came off as one terrific orchestral effect after another. It almost spoiled the fun to read in the program notes that Glanert intended the piece to depict a visit to "a zoo of human beings," and that it's a "powerful symphonic commentary on inhumanity in our time." Well, there's no disputing that humans can sometimes act like animals, and the piece does have a disturbing undertone that surfaces periodically, but without the context, it emerges as a smorgasbord of the best kind of orchestral modernism, much of it very cinematic. Somewhere toward the middle, a gleefully dissonant organ chord comes smashing through the texture and cuts everything off, leading to back-and-forth between the organ and spectral echoes from the rest of the orchestra. In the concluding passage, the quiet, lush playing of a string quartet emerges from a series of slicing orchestral chords, as if a plaintive voice of humanity has broken through the harshness. This was the somber yet optimistic conclusion as the quartet faded to nothingness.

Advertisement

The bows at the end of the concert were almost a show in themselves. Bychkov, who conducted the entire concert from memory, not only acknowledged the soloists but actually traversed the entire orchestra to embrace each one personally, including a trip all the way back to the bass section. It was virtuoso milking of the applause, which the roaring, standing ovation crowd was happy to provide.

____________________________

The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in concert on November 30, 2016 at Carnegie Hall. Conductor Semyon Bychkov.

DETLEV GLANERT: Theatrum bestiarum, Songs and Dances for Large Orchestra (NY Premiere)

MAHLER: Symphony No. 5

Cover: Semyon Bychkov conducting the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; photo: Steve J. Sherman

____________________________

Joshua Rosenblum, a Contributing Writer for ZEALnyc, writes on classical music performance, theater, and related topics.

Advertisement

For more ZEALnyc features, read:
The requirement to reach the positive value of capital by the end of the current year also applies to PrivatBank (Dnipro), at which verification of recapitalization is being completed, Head of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Valeriya Gontareva has stated.

"We are continuing verification, but it should be completed by the end of the year, and the decision must be made whether they have fulfilled the program of capitalization or not," she said at a press conference in Kyiv.

Gontareva also reported the National Bank does not expect new significant payments from the Individual Deposit Guarantee Fund.

"We do not expect large payments from the Individual Deposit Guarantee Fund. We still have banks we are inspecting but they are very small. This is only 4% of our banking system," she said.
How Musicians Can Benefit From SEO

If you have any hope of being found via a Google search, Search Engine Optimization is key. That said, SEO works differently for bands and artists than it does for other organizations like businesses and bloggers. Here we look at how.

________________________

Guest Post by Eric Brantner

If you want to be found in Google results, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is essential. But does SEO work for bands like it works for small businesses and bloggers?

The short answers is yes, bands can definitely benefit from SEO, but they have to formulate their keywords differently than most SEO practitioners would.



Do people search for bands on Google?

Usually when people look for a service or product on Google, they type something like "best car repair" or car repair reviews." Businesses create content around those keywords.



But when people search for music, they dont type in best ska bands, unless theyre trying really hard to impress someone whos into ska music (is anyone into ska anymore?). People usually discover a band via word of mouth or social media, and then Google the name of the band to learn more about them or find out if they have any upcoming concerts in the area.



How musicians should approach keyword research

When bands are deciding what keywords they should use in their SEO strategy, they need to think about what people would realistically type into a Google search. For example, if the name of your band is Mashed Potatoes, a person might type in mashed potatoes tour dates. If one of your songs is called Gravy, a fan might type in gravy lyrics.



Once you decide on keywords that will work for your band, you can build content around those keywords just like any other business or blogger would. Check out this beginners guide to SEO, if youre not sure how to get started.



You also might want to think about keywords when you choose a name for your band. The more unique your band name is, the more likely it is that your website will appear in the top search results. For instance, if your band name really is Mashed Potatoes, your website might get washed out by food bloggers and recipe websites in a Google search. But if your band name is something unusual like, Mr. MacGee and the Potato Mashers, you have a better chance of coming up as the top search result. That means people looking for your band will have an easier time finding you.

Link building for musicians

Link building is another SEO technique that involves getting other websites to link to your website. The more websites link to your content, the higher you will rank in Googles search results, and the more traffic youll receive.

As a musician, you can build links by reaching out to music bloggers and asking if they will give you a shout-out and include a link to your website. You also might want to try doing interviews with music websites, and asking the interviewer to include a link to your website in the write-up.



Is a website even necessary if a band is active on social media?

Lets back up for just a minute and talk about why websites are necessary for bands. Many musicians think if they have a Facebook page, a YouTube account, and an active Instagram, they dont actually need a website. But if you dont have a website, youre missing out on a lot of opportunities.

One of those opportunities is the whole point of this article: SEO. Although Facebook pages and YouTube videos can come up in Google searches, these sites really dont give you the opportunity to build SEO content around your branded keywords. Having your own website will greatly increase the chances that you will get more traffic via Google searches.

Having your own website also makes you look professional and helps you attract more business. A website serves as a centralized location for concert schedules and new music releases, so your fans can more easily keep up with you and continue to purchase your music and concert tickets. Venues will also be more likely to book you for a gig if they can visit your website to get all the information they might want to know about you.

Bands and blogging

So you know you need a website, and you know you need to search engine optimize it, but what about adding a blog? Is a blog really necessary for a band?

Well, you might not need a so-called traditional blog, in which you write a narrative about what happened at your last show, or present your esoteric thoughts on a particular music genre, but some kind of blog can be extremely helpful for a musicians website.

Blogging helps your SEO because Google gives preference to websites that regularly post new content. You can use your blog to add new keywords people might be searching for. For example, people might do a Google search for Mr. MacGee and the Potato Mashers show in Houston TX, if they want to get tickets for your Houston show. You can easily write a short post announcing that show and including all the necessary information. When this blog post comes up in a Google search, it will direct more traffic to your website.

A blog is also a great way to post in-depth band news, as opposed to social media, which is made for short snippets. With a blog you can go into detail about a new tour, a new album, or even a new member of your band. These types of blog posts make fans feel more connected with you, so they will continue to follow you and purchase your music.

Its a business

As a musician, you probably think of yourself primarily as an artist. But in order to succeed, you have to be a businessperson too. SEO is a necessary part of todays business environment, even if not everyone does it the same way. Personalize your SEO to suit your needs, and youll be able to grow your audience like never before.

Eric Brantner has been a digital marketer and blogger for over a decade. He shares what he has learned along the way on Scribblrs.com. In his free time, he plays his Gibson SG through a Marshall JCM 900.

Share on:
Major international broker Aon is reportedly exploring the sale of its employee benefits outsourcing business valued at more than US$5 billion.Citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, Reuters reported that the brokerage is working with investment bank Morgan Stanley on a sale process for the unit.The sources told the news agency that the division has supposedly gained the interest of private equity firms.They said the negotiations about the potential sale are complex and may take several more weeks, adding that there is no assurance that Aon will choose to sell the business.We are always exploring opportunities that enable us to accelerate innovation on behalf of our clients. Per company policy, we do not comment on rumours or speculation regarding our business, Reuters quoted Aon as saying in a statement.According to the news agency, the division being discussed for sale is used by other companies to outsource the administration of employee benefits.It is part of Hewitt Associates, the human resources services provider that Aon acquired in 2010 for US$4.9 billion.Reuters noted that the sale of the unit would signal the companys intention to focus more on its insurance and risk management businesses.
If, by the end of the year, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX) and Texas Health Resources fail to reach an agreement on the extension of their expiring contract, the health care provider could be dropped out of the health insurers network, it has been reported.In a statement to News Channel 8, Barclay Berdan, CEO at Texas Health Resources, said the company didnt want to discuss negotiations in public, adding that BCBSTXs continued delays place patients, their employers, and their physicians in the middle of this and may ultimately and significantly disrupt care.Texas Health Resources, which caters to over seven million people in North Texas, proposed to extend its contract with BCBSTX with a 4% increase  2% higher than the rate offered by health insurer.In a statement to News Channel 8, BCBSTX spokesman Gustavo A. Bujanda said the unacceptable increase could potentially cost the insurer $57 million.Texas Health rejected our proposed extension and countered by proposing new short-term contracts with egregious rate increases that would cause our members to bear the burden of additional unnecessary and unwarranted costs with no guarantee of better health outcomes, Bujanda said.Devon Herrick, Dallas health economist, said that while contract disputes between insurers and providers are not uncommon, a potential split could put great pressure on patients and their families.Consumers are the ones who will pay the price for either higher premiums or lower access to the doctors and hospitals they've been using in the past, Herrick said.
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court has upheld a jury verdict that found State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. guilty of defrauding the federal government after Hurricane Katrina, Associated Press reported.The justices rejected State Farms argument that the case against the insurer be dismissed on grounds that its existence was leaked in violation of part of the False Claims Act that requires whistleblower lawsuits to be kept secret for at least two months, the report said.In upholding the appellate ruling, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that there is no requirement in federal law that that the lawsuit be dismissed.Two claims adjusters, sisters Cori and Kerry Rigsby, filed the case against the company on behalf of the government, charging the company of misclassifying wind damage as flood damage, in order to shift the liability to the government, the report said.The Rigbys won the case in 2013, which focused on one home in North Biloxi, Mississippi. State Farm was fined $750,000 in damages, 30% of which was awarded to the sisters and the rest going to the federal government. Their lawyers, meanwhile, won $2.9 million in legal fees and expenses, AP said.The Rigby case gave rise to other claims alleging the Illinois-based State Farm defrauded the National Flood Insurance Program. In a civil fraud lawsuit filed by Mississippi last year, the insurer was charged of incurring the state as much as $522 million in losses due to insurance fraud.
If the Republicans carry through Donald Trumps plan to scrap the Affordable Care Act, there must be a clear replacement or 30 million would become uninsured.Thats the view of the Urban Institute, a non-partisan think thank, which published a report Wednesday considering the impact of a repeal without an approved replacement.Although the GOP says it will legislate for an alternative health insurance plan, the scenario considered by the report would see 22.5 million losing coverage directly and a further 7.3 per cent affected to market turbulence which could mean insurers pulling back from providing cover.Some people would stop paying premiums, and insurers would suffer substantial financial losses (about $3 billion); the number of uninsured would increase right away (by 4.3 million people); at least some insurers would leave the nongroup market midyear; and consumers would be harmed financially, the report states.If this worst-case scenario happens, the level of uninsured Americans would be worse than it was before Obamacare was introduced, the Urban Institutes report warns, with a total of almost 60 million uninsured by 2019.Founders Insurance Company must pay the medical bills of a Minnesota driver despite not being licenced to write insurance in the state. The Supreme Court of Minnesota overturned a previous ruling of the Court of Appeals which said that the firm did not have to pay.The case involved James Yates who was insured with Founders in Illinois when he moved to Minnesota but failed to inform the insurer of his move. When he was involved in a no-fault accident, he claimed $19,000 for medical expenses under the states no-fault law, which an arbitrator approved.The Court of Appeals disagreed in February, saying that the no-fault coverage was only valid if the insurer was authorized to write insurance in the state. The insurers argument focused on a statute requiring insurers to provide no-fault coverage.The Supreme Court overturned that decision Wednesday.In an opinion piece for Minnesota Public Radio, Justice G. Barry Anderson stated: By its terms, the statute applies to all contracts of liability insurance for injury, wherever issued, including whether they were issued in Minnesota, Illinois, or some other place.A government transport minister in Scotland has been charged with driving without insurance in what he describes as an honest mistake.Humza Yousaf was stopped by police Friday while driving a friends car and believing that he was covered to drive vehicles other than his own; he was not.The minister said that he was embarrassed by the incident and urged other drivers to check their insurance documents.
Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) is positive about a draft from House Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman Blaine Luetkemeyer, entitled Principles for Flood Insurance Reauthorization and Reform.Nat Wienecke, PCI senior vice president for federal government relations said the move is an encouraging sign from Congress to provide market stability by reauthorizing the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) even before the September 2017 deadline.PCI is comprised of around 1,000 member companies, which write nearly $200 billion in annual premiums, representing 35% of the nations property casualty insurance.PCI commends the leadership of House Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman Blaine Luetkemeyer and strongly supports his pro-consumer Principles for Flood Insurance Reauthorization and Reform released today, said Wienecke.PCI strongly supports the committees commitment to consumer choice by facilitating more private sector participation in both the flood insurance marketplace and the NFIP.(We also thank committee chair Jeb) Hensarling and his long-standing support for increasing consumer choice and a more robust private sector flood insurance marketplace. PCI looks forward to working with the chairman and members of the committee on developing the details of these principles, concluded Wienecke.
A powerful earthquake hit the Northern California coast Thursday morning, measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale.The earthquake hit at about 6:50 a.m. about 100 miles off the coast of Eureka, according to a Los Angeles Times report. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, and the quake didnt produce violent shaking on land.The first quake was followed, about an hour and a half later, by another in the same area. At 8:32 a.m. a magnitude 5.0 earthquake hit about 108 miles west of nearby Ferndale, Calif., according to the Times.There have been no reports of damage in Ferndale or the neighboring community of Fortuna so far, Fortuna Police Lt. Matthew Eberhardt told the Times.The radio is quiet, Eberhardt said.The earlier earthquake was felt from southern Oregon into the San Francisco Bay Area and as far inland as the Sacramento Valley, according to the Times.Californias northern coast is one of the most seismically active areas in the state, regularly enduring major quakes, the Times reported. It sits along the Mendocino Triple Junction, where the Pacific, North American and Juan de Fuca tectonic plates meet.
North American tax regimens are expected to change directions with many banking on President-elect Trump to lower taxes while Canadas Justin Trudeau is seemingly intent on implementing a national carbon-tax.Many insurers have eggs in both baskets, begging the question: how should insurance companies react to two administrations next door to each other with potentially inverse approaches to taxation?If theres a change, especially in the US system, if tax rates drop significantly and they go below the Canadian rate, the logical move from the tax directors perspective is to get the best possible tax rate for them and that means moving business or changing the way you do business, said Paul Lynch, KPMGs Canadian Tax Litigation and Dispute Resolution national director.People are going to react to tax rates and right now Canadian taxes are a lot lower than the US but if that flips, you can see behaviour changing as well.Global companies can sometimes choose preferred tax rates by changing their financial structure and, though governments are aggressive in their collection tactics, Lynch believes it is important that they stay competitive with each other.These companies operate around the world, they can move a lot of business around without actually moving people, Lynch said.Typically where you see the easiest way to move things around, you could put more debt into Canada for exampleCanada could borrow from the US, Canada would have an interest expense, the US would have interest income, then youve lowered the tax base in Canada and youve increased the tax base in the US.Lynch is careful to point out that, though many people expect Trump to lower taxes, he doesnt want to make any early assumptions.If people are planning for the future, they might want to see what happens with the tax rates because its a big cost of doing business, Lynch said.Theres also the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) plan to more aggressively investigate tax havens, monitoring every single electronic funds transfer over $10,000 exiting the country.It changes the behaviour of the authority more than it changes anything else, Lynch said. With all the OECD activity, you see these hybrid financing structures, for the most part still legal, but people are losing their appetite for that because they know theyre going to come under scrutiny or under attack.Lynch advises insurers to utilize the tax arm of their business to its full potential as a method of avoiding a tax dispute, something he feels most businesses dont do.Say theres two identical workplaces and one does better just engaging with them, even though they have an identical profile or identical issues, one might raise more reassessment probability than the other one simply because they failed to engage adequately with them, Lynch said.





Related stories:

New Mexico auditor wants re-examination of health insurers tax filings

Trump makes pick for health insurance revolution - reports
Until systemic reforms are implemented, no investors will come to Ukraine, according to Verkhovna Rada deputy Serhiy Taruta.

Taruta expressed this opinion in Ukraine's parliament on Thursday, commenting on the failure of the state to sell PJSC Odesa Port-Side Chemical Plant.

The press service of Ukraine's State Property Fund said it stopped taking bids in the tender to purchase 96.567% of the plant on December 6, 2016. No potential buyers tendered a bid.

"Both Poroshenko and Groysman said privatization of the plant was a test of Ukraine's investment attractiveness. It's obvious that Ukraine failed the test. The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) discriminates against foreign investors. In these conditions no investor will come to Ukraine," Taruta said.

According to the MP, total corruption in government agencies and the NBU became the decisive factor deterring foreign investors from buying the Odesa plant.
Williamstown Elementary School Committee member Dan Caplinger conducts Wednesday's meeting to find his replacement as chair of the panel.

Williamstown Elementary School Committee Chairman Steps Down



Joe Bergeron, elected this past May, agreed to step into the chairman's role.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  A turbulent year in the governance of Williamstown Elementary School took another turn on Wednesday evening when Dan Caplinger stepped down as chairman of the School Committee.



Caplinger called a special 4 p.m. meeting of the body to announce his decision and decide on a new leader going forward.



The four members present from the five-person panel elected Joe Bergeron to replace Caplinger and decided that Vice Chairman John Skavlem should remain in that role. Skavlem was out of town on business and unable to attend the meeting.



"I've had to make a very difficult personal decision," Caplinger announced at a meeting that drew three members of the public, several staff and the vice chairwoman of the Mount Greylock Regional School Committee.



"The amount of stress that I have felt as chair has started to have an impact on my professional life, on my personal life, and it is at a level where I felt I couldn't comfortably be everywhere I needed to be. Fulfilling the functions of this job is important, and when the stress started to have an impact on those other parts of my life  it is a difficult decision."



Bergeron was elected to the School Committee in May as one of several candidates who ran on criticism of the district's decision to cut a full-day special education preschool classroom. Bergeron received the most votes in a five-person race for two seats on the committee; Caplinger, a sitting chairman standing for re-election, finished second.



One-year appointments, like chairman, are voted at the committee's first meeting after the May town election.



"I intend to stay on the WES Committee," Caplinger said. "I'm only backing away from my position as chair."



Bergeron volunteered to assume the chairman position after first hearing that none of the more senior members of the committee were interested.



"I have the time commitment to give and some of the background, but I'm the least experienced one here," Bergeron said. "Although I'm willing, I'd do it with that reservation. My job is more flexible.



"I don't want to say, 'Yes, absolutely,' but I don't want to say, 'No,' because I know other people's time commitments are different than mine.



"I know we all need to work together no matter what happens."


Page Content



ICAO Council President Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu (centre left) exchanges gifts of appreciation with the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Mr. Perry G. Christie (centre right), during ICAOs 2016 Air Services Negotiation Event (ICAN2016).

The Government of the Bahamas generously provided the ICAN2016 participants with facilities and hospitality for their negotiation sessions in Nassau this year, taking place through to this Friday 9 December.


Page Content



On International Civil Aviation Day (7 December), ICAO welcomed students, faculty and staff from three prominent local educational institutions to formalize the UN agencys support for their future Model United Nations events.

Dr. Fang Liu, ICAO Secretary General, signed agreements with Prof. Hugo Cyr, Dean of UQAMs Faculty of Political Science and Law which hosts an annual Model ICAO Council event, Mr. Patrick Baral, Secretary General of SSUNS for secondary students, and Ms. Ginny Tan, Secretary General of the McGill University Model United Nations chapter (McMUN).

The United Nations is widely recognized as humanitys most effective framework to solve global issues, Dr. Liu stressed. ICAO does its part in the UN by setting international standards and ensuring that the worlds air transport network is safe, efficient and secure, and by helping the worlds governments to appreciate the role of aviation connectivity in successful and sustainable socio-economic development.

Model United Nations events help to recreate the spirit of diplomacy that originally defined the United Nations, she added, and I am sure your programmes are committed to substantive excellence, innovation, and providing a rich and challenging learning experience for your delegates.

The new ICAO agreements cover various forms of logistical and other support which the Organization will now provide to the three schools, while recognizing that ICAO and Model UN chapters share the common objective of raising awareness on multilateral goals and governance.




iciHaiti - FLASH : Invitation of the Ambassador of Haiti to Canada





The Ambassador of Haiti to Canada, Frantz Liautaud, invites representatives of community associations in the Ottawa-Gatineau region to take part in the traditional meeting of review of activities for the year 2016. This meeting will take place at the Conference Room of the Embassy Offices, Thursday, December 15, 2016 at 5:00 pm at #85 Albert, Suite 1110 - 11th Floor.



On the sidelines of the presentation of the activities undertaken by the Mission in 2016, the Head of the Mission will inform the audience about the actions he intends to carry out in 2017. A cocktail will be offered at the end of the meeting.



Given the limited space, the presence of up to two people per association is desirable.



Please confirm the attendance of your members NO LATER on December 9, 2016 by email at amb.canada@diplomatie.ht or by phone at (613) 2381628 ext. 326.



Looking forward to seeing you again, Ambassador Liautaud, his wife and the staff of the Haitian Mission to Canada, wish the Haitian community of Canada and the Ottawa-Gatineau region an excellent Period of Christmas and New Year.



IH/ iciHaiti






















Haiti - Social : The FLGL consolidates its actions in Panyol





At the beginning of the week, a mission from the Dr. Louis G. Lamothe Foundation, accompanied by a delegation of Espwa of Nashville from the United States of America, went to Panyol, locality of the third communal section of Sourcailles (Kenscoff) to distribute seeds of leek to 120 planters to support the agricultural campaign of winter, to visit the of the third communal section of Sourcailles (Kenscoff) to distribute seeds of leek to 120 planters to support the agricultural campaign of winter, to visit the Literacy in order to observe the progress of participants.



The members of FLGL and Espwa of Nashville also toured to the Panyol Classical Training Center, which now operates with more than 130 students and about 9 professors.



On the other hand, the first observations of the "alpha" class confirm the participants' motivation and attendance to follow the "Aprann" program to free themselves from illiteracy and to better integrate into the economic and social activities of their community https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-18444-icihaiti-educationd-9-from-the-beginning-of-the-literacy-campaign-in-panyol.html



IH/ iciHaiti


















UNDP delivers first batch of medicines bought for 2016 funds to Ukraine

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has delivered the first batch of medicines purchased from 2016 funds to Ukraine.

According to the Ministry of Health, these are drugs for treatment of the mucopolysaccharidosis orphan disease.

The Health Ministry specified the agency has also signed contracts for the purchase of medicines under 2016 programs with the UNICEF and Crown Agents and started preparations for negotiations for the purchase of medicines for the funds of the 2017 national budget.

International organizations on December 8 had delivered 94% of the total amount of medicines for the funds of 2015.

As reported, the Ministry of Health in 2015 passed the purchase of drugs under 12 government programs for national budget funds to three international organizations: the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UNDP and the British procurement agency Crown Agents.

The Health Ministry plans in 2018 to transfer purchase of drugs under five state programs to the national procurement structure, which will be created and launched in 2019.
Poroshenko, Grybauskaite to hold talks, take part in meeting of Council of Presidents in Kyiv on Dec 12

Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite will visit Ukraine on Monday, December 12, to participate in the ninth meeting of the Council of the two presidents.

"Separate talks of the two heads of state and an extended meeting of the Council of Presidents are scheduled. A number of bilateral documents will be signed as a result of the meeting," the press service of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko reported.

In addition, the Lithuanian Square in Kyiv will be opened during Grybauskaite's visit to Ukraine.
Over the past day militants have fired positions of the Ukrainian military in Donbas 20 times, the press center of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) wrote on its Facebook page on Thursday morning.

In the Mariupol sector illegal armed formations used 120-mm mortar shells firing at Chermalyk and Shyrokyne, while Krasnohorivka was fired by 82-mm mortar shells. Novotroyitske was fired by a sharpshooter. Grenade launchers and small arms were used by the enemy near Lebedynske, Slavne and Pavlopil.

In Donetsk direction militants fired Vodiane by 152 and 122 mm artillery. Verkhniotoretske was shelled by 120 and 82 mm mortars. Avdiyivka and Luhanske were shelled with the use of weapons of infantry fighting vehicles, grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms.
December is Farm to Food Bank Month

Sacramento, California - Over the years more than 200 California farmers and ranchers have contributed more than one-billion pounds of food to the California Association of Food Banks Farm to Family Program. This is just a small accounting of the many generous donations individual farmers make within local communities to charitable organizations, faith-based groups and schools.

These donations help to support food banks across the state in providing healthy and nutritious farm products to people who need it most. With Californias great diversity of farm products and our abundant agricultural bounty, giving back to local communities is part of the farming character. Were pleased to recognize the great work that so many organizations and individuals do in helping our fellow residents.

As part of Farm to Food Bank Month we once again ask our farmers and ranchers to consider donating or making a future donation pledge to the Farm to Family program. Coordinating with the California Association of Food Banks is easy. A donation can be picked-up at a production facility or a farm and delivered to food banks across the state in just a short amount of time.

To schedule donations, make a donation pledge, or even inquire on how the program can work best with a business  please contact Steve Linkhart, California Association of Food Banks at 866-321-4435.

The California Association of Food Banks represents over 40 food banks joining with 6,000 charities to provide food to 2 million Californians in need.

We ask Californias farmers and ranchers to show support for the Farm to Family Program and make a donation or future donation pledge today.
Ambassador Joseph Yun Travel to Tokyo and Seoul

Washington, DC - Special Representative for North Korea Policy and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Korea and Japan Joseph Yun will travel to Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) December 7-14 to attend a trilateral meeting in Seoul among the United States, the Republic of Korea (ROK), and Japan and to meet with senior Japanese and ROK officials.

Ambassador Yun will be in Tokyo December 7-9, and plans to meet with Ministry of Foreign Affairs Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Director-General Kenji Kanasugi, as well as hold other meetings focusing on the alliance and the bilateral relationship.

He will then travel to Seoul December 9, and on December 12-13 will participate in a ROK-U.S.-Japan trilateral meeting with ROK Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Kim Hong-kyun and Japanese Director-General Kenji Kanasugi to continue our close trilateral coordination on North Korea. He will also meet with senior ROK officials, including ROK Special Representative Kim Hong-Kyun.
Sentencing by Hungarian Court of Ahmed Hamed

Washington, DC - The United States is concerned by the prosecution and sentencing in Hungary of Ahmed Hamed, a Syrian native involved in clashes between police and asylum-seekers near the town of Roszke at the Hungary-Serbia border in September 2015, based on a broad interpretation of what constitutes terrorism.

We urge the government of Hungary to conduct a transparent investigation, with input from independent civil society groups, into the events at Roszke and to review the cases of Mr. Hamed and those similarly convicted. We will continue to follow the case of Mr. Hamed closely.
Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

2016 may have been a disastrous year for the world in general, but for Millie Bobby Brown it will no doubt be one of the highlights of her career.

Over the summer, almost everyone and their Mums watched Netflixs surprise success, Stranger Things, starring the 12-year-old British actor, catapulting her to new-found fame.

Following IMDbs announcement Brown was the most searched for breakout actor over the course of the year, the Daily Mail has revealed she can now command in excess of 3 million per movie.

At the moment, the only confirmed future project Brown has is a second series of Stranger Things: expect that to change in the coming days.

Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Show all 14 1 /14 Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 House of Cards - Season Four - 4 March Last time we were in Frank Underwoods White House things werent looking to great for the President, his first Lady having just walked out on him. What will happen next in the critically acclaimed show is anyones guess. Netflix Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Daredevil - Season Two - 18 March Back in Hells Kitchen things were seemingly getting better. Kingpin is in prison and the crime syndicates should have dispersed - for the meantime at least. Unfortunately for Matt Murdoch, theres a new anti-hero in town: The Punisher. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Flaked - 11 March According to Netflix, Flaked is set in the insular world of Venice, California. It follows the serio-comic story of a self-appointed 'guru' who falls for the object of his best friends fascination. Soon the tangled web of half-truths and semi-b******* that underpins his all-important image and sobriety begins to unravel. Arnett plays Chip, a man doing his honest best to stay one step ahead of his own lies. Netflix Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - Season Two - 15 April Following the story of 29-year-old Kimmy Schmidt on her journey through New York, season two is set to start right where the last left us. The Tina Fey created sitcom has already been renewed for a third season, so you know this one has to be good. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 The Ranch - 1 April A comedy starring Ashton Kutcher. Based on a failed semi-pro footballer who returns home to a Colorado ranch. It also has some of the producers from Two and a Half Men behind it, which just happens to be one of the most successful shows of all time. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Marseille - 5 May Netflixs first French language original is a tale of power, corruption and redemption. Sounding like it could very well be the next Narcos. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Grace and Frankie - Season Two - 6 May The tale of a retired cosmetics mogul and a hippie art teacher living together was a hit across the world, especially in the US. Starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, the show has already been renewed for a third season. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Orange is the New Black - Season Four - 17 June Another Netflix powerhouse, Orange is the New Black will see us returning to Litchfield Penitentiary. Prepare for more Piper, Alex and Red come June. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Stranger Things - 15 July Eight-episode series starring Winona Ryder that follows a small community as they look for a young boy who has seemingly vanished. It all sounds quite scary. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 The Get Down - August 12th "Told through the lives and music of a ragtag crew of South Bronx teens, The Get Down is a mythic saga of the transformation of 1970s New York City. Directed by Baz Luhrmann, this is sure to be as stylish as anything hes done before. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 The Crown - Spring Starring Doctor Who actor Matt Smith, the period drama reveals the political rivalries and romance behind Queen Elizabeth II's reign and the events that shaped the 2nd half of the 20th century." Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Luke Cage - Fall 2016 First appearing alongside Jessica Jones in her Netflix series, Luke Cage will pic up the pieces, seeing Cage come to terms with his super-strength and impenetrable skin. It is unknown whether Kathryn. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Narcos - Season 2 - Fall 2016 Its back. The Netflix series hyped to match Breaking Bad was an astounding success around the world, apparently watched more than Game of Thrones. Well find out what happens to Pablo Escabar now he doesnt have the protection of all his men. Netflix Inc. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 A Series of Unfortunate Events - Fall 2016 Netflix is set to revisit the much-loved childrens novel, putting Neil Patrick Harris as Count Olaf in a show that looks so much creepier than the 2004 film. Not much else is known - i.e. casting - but Lemony Snicket is on board as executive producer, so get excited.

Other information in the Mail article details Browns parents selling up their UK-based home to move to LA so their daughter could become an actor. She currently has three LA-based agents and an American agent.

Meanwhile, various Hollywood actors have fallen in love with the young actor, including Aaron Paul, the pair having recently interviewed each other for an adorable article.
Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Snowden (15)



Oliver Stone, 134 mins, starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto, Jaymes Butler, Robert Firth

Oliver Stones biopic of Edward Snowden is appearing in cinemas two years after Citizenfour, Laura Poitras Oscar-winning documentary on Snowden, and three years after Snowden leaked classified documents from the National Security Agency. Can Stones film tell us anything that all the documentary makers and journalists havent already discovered - and will it work as drama?

Like so many of Stones recent movies, this turns out to be a very mixed bag. It works relatively well as a conspiracy thriller and delves into episodes of its subjects life that documentary makers like Poitras couldnt get near. In his own bombastic fashion, Stone manages to explain to a general audience just how pervasive the NSA's snooping has become with lines like, "Emails, chats, SMS, whatever the NSA is really tracking every cell phone in the world."

Where Snowden falls down is in its attempts to dramatise its subjects private life. The brilliant young actress Shailene Woodley (star of The Descendants and Divergent) has an utterly thankless role as Snowdens liberal, doggedly loyal girlfriend, Lindsay Mills. Given that the films real concern is the biggest security breach in US intelligence history and in the intelligence skullduggery and snooping Snowden exposed, the details of his relationship with Lindsay cant help but seem of only very secondary importance.

Snowden starts with the famous meeting between its subject, Guardian journalists Glenn Greenwald (Zachary Quinto), Ewen MacAskill (Tom Wilkinson) and documentary maker Poitras (Melissa Leo) in a Hong Kong hotel room. As youd expect, this is all filmed as if its a John Le Carre thriller. There are secret code words.

 Joseph Gordon-Levitt: I hope Obama pardons Snowden

The journalists are startled at having to put their smartphones in the microwave (so they cant be traced) and are disconcerted by Snowdens tendency to disappear beneath the bedclothes whenever he needs to enter his password on a computer. As Poitras trains her camera on Snowdens very pale face (he doesnt get a lot of sun) we are taken back in time.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has clearly studied Snowdens voice and mannerisms in great detail. He looks and sounds like his subject but whats impressive about his performance is that it never descends into mimicry. In scenes reminiscent of Full Metal Jacket, were shown Snowden as a young, would-be soldier in Special Forces, desperate to serve his country but without the physical prowess to complete the assault courses and forced runs - or to deal with the bullying sergeant-majors. Instead, he enters the murky world of intelligence in which he thrives.

Stone has filled the film with well-known actors in relatively small parts. Theres a creaky turn from Tom Wilkinson (sounding a little like musical hall star Harry Lauder as the Scottish journalist MacAskill.) Nicolas Cage is seen briefly but to strong effect as the mercurial intelligence expert Hank Forrester who has been banished to the basement but who acts briefly as Snowdens mentor.

Rhys Ifans isnt obvious casting as CIA recruiter and bigwig, Corbin OBrian, but he manages to play the role in suitably sinister fashion - and with at least a hint of tongue in cheek humour.

Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up

The director does his best to bring tension and drama to the film. He makes clever use of Rubik's cubes. These are Snowdens toy of choice which both allow him to show off how clever he is and to smuggle secret data out of the Aladdins cave-like bunker in which the US spooks do their dirty work in Hawaii.

The film contrasts the secretive and ruthless behaviour of senior intelligence operatives with the frat boy atmosphere among the NSA hackers. Gabriel Sol (Ben Schnetzer) has an engagingly childish and prurient approach to a job that allows him to snoop and eavesdrop on pretty much the entire world.

Stone makes a compelling case that his subject is a hero, not a traitor, and tells his story with a fair amount of cinematic flair. Nonetheless, many elements here are on the clunky side. The late sequence of the real life Snowden being interviewed online by the former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger feels especially pious and self-congratulatory.

Office Christmas Party (15)



Will Speck, Josh Gordon, 105 mins, starring: Jason Bateman, Kate McKinnon, Olivia Munn, Jennifer Aniston, Jamie Chung, T.J. Miller

If you like your festive movies full of cynicism, fart jokes, and with scenes of Jennifer Aniston saying f**k you to kids, this is the Christmas film for you. The plotting is threadbare, characterisation is all over the place, and the films upbeat ending makes no sense whatsoever - but there are plenty of outrageous gags along the way.

Jason Bateman is in emollient form as Chief Technical Officer at Chicago computer company Zenotek Data Storage. Hes just divorced. All his work colleagues are in fractious moods but he spreads calmness wherever he goes. His boss Clay Vanstone (T.J. Murphy) is a good-natured, Aerosmith-loving dimwit who wants to give all the staff bonuses and to throw the raunchiest office party ever.

 Office Christmas Party - Trailer 2

Clays sister, CEO Carol Vanstone (Aniston) is the Scrooge in the yuletide mix. Her plan for Christmas is to sack 40% of the staff and perhaps to close the office down too for good measure. Clay does indeed throw a very debauched party along the lines of the orgy scenes in Caligula but with added alcohol and drugs. Inevitably, the wrong kind of white powder is blown out of the Christmas snow machine.

For no very good reason, the script includes Fast & The Furious style driving stunts, scenes involving prostitutes and their very intimidating pimps, and a city-wide internet blackout which gives the Zentoek staff the chance to rescue their company.

By the final reel, the Christmas spirit is overflowing and even the nastiest characters belatedly discover their powers of compassion. Much of the film is grotesque, tasteless, and stupid but Aniston enjoys herself playing the mean-spirited villainess while Bateman show how he manages to keep on looking calm and beatific amid the chaos and carnage.

Life, Animated (PG)



Roger Ross Williams, 92 mins, featuring: Owen Suskind, Ron Suskind

You wont find many documentaries more heart-warming than Roger Ross Williams Life, Animated. Its a film about autism but has the narrative arc of one of those Disney cartoons that its main character Owen Susskind dotes on.

Until the age of 3, Owen was a normal middle-class boy. His father Ron was a successful journalist and the home movie footage of him as a very young kid suggests that he was very happy. Then, as his parents describe it, the child they knew vanished. It was as if he had been kidnapped or had disappeared inside a prison of autism.

He began to speak in gibberish. His parents couldnt communicate with him. The Disney movies were the catalyst that enabled them to re-establish contact with him. He knew the dialogue inside out and felt an obvious sense of identification with the Disney heroes whose plight mirrored his own.

As the film starts, Owen is close to graduation and will soon be leaving home to live on his own, in supervised accommodation. He is in his first relationship. His brother Walter jokes on camera that theyll need Disney porn to teach him about sex. Director Williams films the family, draws on their home movies, and also uses animation (provided by Mac Guff, the company behind Despicable Me) which depicts the darker side Owens fantasy world.

At times, the film feels evasive. One aspect which is touched on only in passing is the cost of researching Owens condition and of his treatment. Nor is the relationship with Disney fully explained. Clips from several Disney movies are used. There are shots of Owen gazing rapt at the TV screen at scenes from Peter Pan, Bambi or Aladdin from his precious collection of VHS tapes.

Disney voice-over artists turn up at screenings he organises. The studio is clearly supportive of the film but its surprising that the documentary doesnt explain how Disney was brought on side. Its a testament to the brilliance of the Disney animated features (and to the universality of their themes) that Owen is able to use them both to communicate with the outside world and negotiate his own path into adulthood.

Owen himself is a sweet-natured and heroic figure. One of the most poignant moments in a moving and insightful film comes when he travels to France to address a symposium on autism. Before he speaks, theres a lengthy silence and he looks lost for words - but when he finally delivers his address, he is astonishingly astute and perceptive about his condition.

The Black Hen (12A)



Min Bahadur Bham, 90 mins, starring: Khadka Raj Nepali, Sukra Raj Rokaya, Jit Bahadur Malla, Hansha Khadka, Benisha Hamal

In Iranian director Jafar Panahis The White Balloon (1995), the story of a little girl trying to buy a goldfish is given an epic quality. This Nepalese drama is very similar in tone. It appears to be a simple tale about two boys in a remote, seemingly idyllic rural community on a quest to retrieve a hen that ones father has sold.

From such a simple beginning, director Min Bahadur Bham is able to portray an entire society in microcosm. The film is set in 2001, during a short and fragile ceasefire in the civil war. Maoist guerrillas are on the move and gun toting soldiers are on the lookout for them. The boys want the hen back not out of any sentimental attachment but because they hope it will be their ticket out of poverty.

At times, the film has a Huck Finn-like humour. We see the boys trying to dye the hen so that no-one will know they have taken it back. There are comic scenes of them bartering with mean old men and running off with their booty as a kid squawks in the background. Director Min Bahadur Bham also includes slow motion dream sequences which highlight the boys anxieties about the violence and uncertainty around them. This little story about a lost hen becomes ever darker, ever more disturbing.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has greeted President-elect of Austria Alexander Van der Bellen over the win in the presidential elections.

"My congratulations to Austria's elected President @VanderBellen! Your win is good news for EU and all who believe in Europe," the Ukrainian president wrote on Twitter.

In response to this message Van der Bellen wrote under Poroshenko's tweet:"Thank you for your congratulations! I'm looking forward to good cross-border cooperation," he wrote.

The Ukrainian president's press service also announced details of a telephone conversation between Poroshenko and Van der Bellen. The Ukrainian president noted that he shared the position of the president-elect regarding the importance of keeping the European Union strong for the sake of peace and stability in Europe in general and Ukraine in particular. Poroshenko urged Van der Bellen to continue the EU's consolidated policy regarding Russian aggression against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian president also expressed hope for constructive cooperation in the framework of the OSCE in the course of Austria's presidency in 2017 and noted the important role of the Organization in countering Russian aggression against Ukraine.

He invited the president-elect of Austria to make an official visit to Ukraine at his convenience.
Sign up to Roisin OConnors free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Roisin OConnors email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Greg Lake, the guitarist of King Crimson, has passed away at the age of 69.

Considered a progressive rock pioneer, the British musician - who also fronted Emerson, Lake and Palmer - is also renowned for his solo work, the most popular track being Christmas song "I Believe in Father Christmas" which fans are sharing in tribute.

The song was released in 1975 and - in Lake's eyes, at least - became a victim of success; he remarkably never deemed it a Christmas song, instead claiming he wrote it in protest at how increasingly commercial the festive season had become.

Despite this, the song - comprised of several layers which build to a breathtaking amalgam - is a permanent fixture on Christmas playlists across the globe.

Notable deaths in 2016 Show all 42 1 /42 Notable deaths in 2016 Notable deaths in 2016 Debbie Reynolds was an American actress, singer, businesswoman, film historian, and humanitarian. She died on December 28 in Los Angeles Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Actress Carrie Fisher died on December 27 aged 60 Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Comedian and Actor Ricky Harris died on December 26 aged 54 Rex Notable deaths in 2016 British singer George Michael died on 25 December aged 53 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Rick Parfitt OBE was an English musician, best known for being a singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist in the rock band Status Quo. He died on December 24 in Marbella, Spain Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Lord Jenkin of Roding died at the age of 90 on the 21 December PA wire Notable deaths in 2016 Rabbi Lionel Blue died on the 19 December Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Zsa Zsa Gabor died on December 18 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Leonard Cohen died on 7 November Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Grand secretary of the Orange Order Drew Nelson died on 10 October aged 60 after a short illness PA Notable deaths in 2016 Aaron Pryor, the relentless junior welterweight died Sunday, Oct. 9, at the age of 60 at his home in Cincinnati after a long battle with heart disease AP Notable deaths in 2016 Polish Director Andrzej Wajda died on October 9, aged 90 Reuters Notable deaths in 2016 Stylianos Pattakos has died following a stroke on 8th October. He was 103 years old. AP Notable deaths in 2016 Dickie Jeeps, was an English rugby union player who played for Northampton. He represented and captained both the England national rugby union team and the British Lions in the 1950s and 1960s. He died on 8th October. He was 84 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Duke of Westminster Billionaire landowner the Duke of Westminster, Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor has died on 9 August, aged 64 Rex Features Notable deaths in 2016 Christina Knudsen Sir Roger Moores stepdaughter Christina Knudsen has died from cancer on 25 July at teh age of 47 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Caroline Aherne The actress Caroline Aherne has died from cancer on 2 July at the age of 52 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Christina Grimmie Christina Grimmie, 22, who was an American singer and songwriter, known for her participation in the NBC singing competition The Voice, was signing autographs at a concert venue in Orlando on 10 June when an assailant shot her. Grimmie was transported to a local hospital where she died from her wounds on 11 June Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Kimbo Slice Former UFC and Bellator MMA fighter Kimbo Slice died after being admitted to hospital in Florida on 6 June, aged 42 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Muhammad Ali The three-time former heavyweight world champion died after being admitted to hospital with a respiratory illness on 3 June, aged 74 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Sally Brampton Brampton who was the launch editor of the UK edition of Elle magazine has died on 10 May, aged 60 Grant Triplow/REX/Shutterstock Notable deaths in 2016 Billy Paul The soul singer Billy Paul, who was best known for his single Me and Mrs Jones, has died on 24 April, aged 81 Noel Vasquez/Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Prince Prince, the legendary musician, has been found dead at his Paisley Park recording studio on 21 April. He was 57 Notable deaths in 2016 Chyna WWE icon Joan Laurer dies aged 45 after being found at California home on 20 April Notable deaths in 2016 Victoria Wood The five-time Bafta-winning actress and comedian Victoria Wood has died on 20 April at her London home after a short illness with cancer. She was 62 Notable deaths in 2016 David Gest The entertainer and former husband of Liza Minnelli, David Gest has been found dead on 12 April in the Four Seasons hotel in Canary Warf, London. He was 62-years-old PA Notable deaths in 2016 Denise Robertson Denise Robertson, an agony aunt on This Morning for over 30 years, has died on 1 April, aged 83 Notable deaths in 2016 Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Hadid, the prominent architect best known for designs such as the London Olympic Aquatic Centre and the Guangzhou Opera House, has died of a heart attack on 31 March, aged 65 2010 AFP Notable deaths in 2016 Ronnie Corbett British entertainer Ronnie Corbett has passed away on 31 March at the age of 85 2014 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Imre Kertesz Hungarian writer and Holocaust survivor Imre Kertesz, who won the 2002 Nobel Literature Prize, has died on 31 March, at the age of 86 REUTERS Notable deaths in 2016 Rob Ford Rob Ford, the former controversial mayor of Toronto, has died following a battle with a rare form of cancer. The 46-year-old passed away at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto on 22 March Notable deaths in 2016 Joey Feek Joey (left) passed away in March after a two-year cancer illness. She was part of country music duo, Joey + Rory, with her husband Rory (right) Jason Merritt/Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Umberto Eco Italian writer and philosopher Umberto Eco died 19 February 2016 aged 84 EPA Notable deaths in 2016 Harper Lee Harper Lee, the American novelist known for writing 'To Kill a Mockingbird', died February 19, 2016 aged 89 2005 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Vanity Vanity, pictured performing in 1983, died aged 57 REX Features Notable deaths in 2016 Dave Mirra The BMX legend's body found inside truck with gunshot wound after apparent suicide aged 41 Notable deaths in 2016 Harry Harpham The former miner became Sheffield Labour MP in May after many years as a local councillor. He died after succumbing to cancer, at the age of 61. Notable deaths in 2016 Dale Griffin The Mott the Hoople drummer died on January 17, aged 67 REX Notable deaths in 2016 Rene Angelil Celine Dion's husband and manager Rene Angelil has lost his battle with cancer on 14 January, aged 73 2011 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Alan Rickman Legendary actor Alan Rickman has died on 14 January at the age of 69 after battle with pancreatic cancer. He is largely regarded as one of the most beloved British actors of our generation with roles in Love Actually, Die Hard, Michael Collins, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and an illustrious stage career 2015 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Maurice White The Earth, Wind & Fire founder died aged 74. The nine-piece band sold more than 90 million albums worldwide and won six Grammy awards Notable deaths in 2016 Lawrence Phillips Former NFL star found dead in prison cell on 13 January in suspected suicide, aged 40 AFP/Getty Images

If Lake's enchanting vocals - backed up by the distant choir he sings about in verse number one - doesn't, it's the instantly recognisable instrumentals that play in between verses that mark the song out - an addition suggested by band mate Keith Emerson (it's the "Troika" segment of Lieutenant Kije Suite by Sergei Prokofiev, in case you were wondering).

Lake was never bitter that the song's original release was kept from number one in the UK music charts by Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody."

He once stated solemnly: "I got beaten by one of the greatest records ever made. I wouldve been pissed off if Id been beaten by Cliff (Richard)."

Of course, fans now believe Lake would make this year's perfect Christmas number one.

You can listen to the full song above.
Sign up to Roisin OConnors free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Roisin OConnors email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

On 8 December 1980, John Lennon was shot four times in the back outside of his apartment building in New York City.

He was 40 years old.

7 days after his death, millions of people paused their daily routines to honour Yoko Ono's request for ten minutes of silence in commemoration of his contributions.

30,000 gathered in Liverpool, 225,000 in New York City's Central Park. The radios went silent, too.



That strength of love for this man, this musician in a band, has quelled little over the years. His outspoken political activism has made him a herald for those who have so longed for global peace and "Imagine" has become their perennial anthem; it re-entered the UK charts at number 18 in 2012 after Emeli Sande recorded a cover for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Recommended John Lennon killer Mark Chapman denied parole for ninth time

His legacy is eternal, though his presence is so greatly missed.



And though he would have wished it weren't so, Lennon's words still ring just a true today as they did in his own lifetime. Here are a select few:

"A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality."

"If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace."

"You either get tired fighting for peace, or you die."

"We all have Hitler in us, but we also have love and peace. So why not give peace a chance for once?"

Hand-written John Lennon lyrics head to auction Show all 11 1 /11 Hand-written John Lennon lyrics head to auction Hand-written John Lennon lyrics head to auction 362841.bin AP Photo/Sotheby's Auction House Hand-written John Lennon lyrics head to auction 362842.bin AP Photo/Sotheby's Auction House Hand-written John Lennon lyrics head to auction 362861.bin Getty Images Hand-written John Lennon lyrics head to auction 362868.bin Getty Images Hand-written John Lennon lyrics head to auction 362865.bin Getty Images Hand-written John Lennon lyrics head to auction 362883.bin Getty Images Hand-written John Lennon lyrics head to auction 362889.bin Getty Images Hand-written John Lennon lyrics head to auction 362904.bin Getty Images Hand-written John Lennon lyrics head to auction 362870.bin Getty Images Hand-written John Lennon lyrics head to auction 362906.bin Getty Images Hand-written John Lennon lyrics head to auction 362917.bin Getty Images

"We've got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant.... You've got to keep watering it. You've got to really look after it and nurture it."

"What weve got to do is keep hope alive. Because without it well sink."

"If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliche that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that's his problem. Love and peace are eternal."

John Lennon with his wife, Yoko Ono, photographed in 1969 (Getty)

"I can't wake you up. You can wake you up. I can't cure you. You can cure you."

Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think were being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think Im liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. Thats whats insane about it.

Produce your own dream. If you want to save Peru, go save Peru. Its quite possible to do anything, but not if you put it on the leaders and the parking meters. Dont expect Carter or Reagan or John Lennon or Yoko Ono or Bob Dylan or Jesus Christ to come and do it for you. You have to do it yourself.
Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Independent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Nearly half the species on the planet are failing to cope with global warming the world has already experienced, according to an alarming new study that suggests the sixth mass extinction of animal life in the Earths history could take place in as little as 50 years.

A leading evolutionary biologist, Professor John Wiens, found that 47 per cent of nearly 1,000 species had suffered local extinctions linked to climate change with populations absent from areas where they had been found before.

Professor Wiens, who is editor of the Quarterly Review of Biology and a winner of the American Society of Naturalists Presidential Award, said the implications for the future were serious because his review showed plants and animals were struggling to deal with the relatively small amount of global warming experienced to date.

So far the world has warmed by about 1C above pre-industrial levels, but it is expected to hit between 2.6 and 4.8C by 2100 if nothing is done to reduce greenhouse gases.

 World facing first mass extinction since the dinosaurs

Another problem facing life on Earth is the election of climate science denier Donald Trump as US president, which Professor Wiens, of Arizona University, described as a global disaster.

In his study, published in the journal PLOS Biology, the scientist examined academic papers about 976 different species from all over the world that had been studied at least twice, once about 50 years ago and again within the last 10 years.

In almost half the species looked at, there have been local extinctions already, he said.

This is stuff thats already happened with just a small change to the climate. Were looking at a two to five-fold increase [in warming over the next century].

Recommended Donald Trump could be banned from Twitter

What it shows is species cannot change fast enough to keep up with a small change in climate. Thats the big implication  even a small change in temperature and they cannot handle it.

The study looked at 716 different kinds of animals and 260 plants from Asia, Europe, North and South America, and elsewhere.

Local extinctions were found to have occurred among 47.1 per cent of species at the warm edge of their traditional range, as it became too hot for them. There were few areas of the planet that were unaffected.

Overall, the frequency of local extinctions was similar across most climatic zones, habitats, gradients and clade, the PLOS Biology paper said.

However Professor Wiens found climate-related local extinctions were substantially higher among freshwater species at 74 per cent of the 31 studied.

The current rate of global extinction of animals and plants is believed to be faster than some of the five great extinction events in the Earths history, but so far the total number lost does not compare to the species lost when the dinosaurs were wiped out about 65 million years ago.

However one reason geologists are considering declaring a new epoch in the planets history is the rapid loss of flora and fauna that will have a noticeable effect on the fossil record.

Professor Wiens said: Its true that in terms of global extinction of entire species that have already happened, I think were not there [at the sixth mass extinction] yet.

But I think unfortunately we are on track for that to happen.

10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 1 /10 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others. Hira Ali 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Smoke  filled with the carbon that is driving climate change  drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050. Probal Rashid 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change. Because of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals, says the photographer. Picture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow. Rizwan Dharejo 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent. Tom Schifanella 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures. Abrar Hossain 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India. The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature. Riddhima Singh Bhati 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a public health emergency. Leung Ka Wa 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions. Mahtuf Ikhsan

Thats sort of the good news  it hasnt happened yet. But if we dont do anything it seems like thats going to happen in the next 50 to 100 years.

There were already two bad signs that Mr Trumps election would make things worse, Professor Wiens said.

One would be this person hes assigned to head the EPA [renowned climate science denier Scott Pruitt] and the other thing is pulling out of the Paris accord [on climate change], he said.

The EPA in this country, they are the ones supposed to be protecting the environment.

 Climate change: It's "game over" for planet earth

In what was perhaps a sign of the desperation felt by environmental scientists in the US and elsewhere, he jokingly suggested the UK should invade the US or the US and Canada should swap leaders with Justin Trudeau taking over in the White House.

Asked what he would really say to Mr Trump if they met, Professor Wiens said: I guess I would tell him what would you think if there was a country on the other side of the world that was releasing gas that was going to cause extinctions in our country, to hurt our crops and make people starve.

He would say, tell me where it is and well bomb them tomorrow. Then Id say, this is what were doing to other countries because we are the big polluters.

People are already having serious problems with food security. People are going to die and its going to be the fault of our country and other big polluters.

There is no question he would militarily intervene against a country that was doing to us what we are doing to other countries.

This article has been altered to remove a joking remark made by Professor Wiens about Donald Trump. Several websites have misrepresented the comment as a serious suggestion, omitting the key context that it was meant as a joke, and Professor Wiens has received a number of threatening emails and phonecalls.
Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Independent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Donald Trump, who many thought had recanted his previous denial of the facts of climate change, in fact appears committed to his belief that humans are not causing global warming.

Mr Trump has repeatedly claimed that climate change is a hoax, perpetrated by the Chinese. He made little reference to environmental initiatives in his policy statements and appeared committed to a belief that global warming isnt real.

But he appeared to make a U-turn in a widely reported interview with the New York Times. In that interview he suggested that there is some connectivity between humans and climate change, in a remark that was taken to suggest that he might be changing his mind.

 Trump's EPA pick condemns Obama's conservation policy

He also met with prominent environmentalists including Al Gore, which was also taken as a suggestion that he was softening his denial of human-caused climate change.

And he suggested that he would not withdraw from the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord, criticism of which had been central to his Presidential campaign. Im looking at it very closely, he said, saying that he has an open mind to it.

But President-elect Donald Trumps first appointments suggest that he is still interested in denying climate change and appears to be working to destroy the agencies the US has in place to deal with it.

10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 1 /10 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others. Hira Ali 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Smoke  filled with the carbon that is driving climate change  drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050. Probal Rashid 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change. Because of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals, says the photographer. Picture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow. Rizwan Dharejo 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent. Tom Schifanella 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures. Abrar Hossain 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India. The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature. Riddhima Singh Bhati 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a public health emergency. Leung Ka Wa 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions. Mahtuf Ikhsan

Mr Trumps pick for the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is Scott Pruitt, a lawyer who in the past has attempted to destroy that very agency and has argued that people should talk more about whether humans have anything to do with climate change and whether it is even happening at all.

Recommended Donald Trump fossil fuel advocate to lead environmental department

In an opinion article published earlier this year by National Review, Pruitt suggested that the debate over global warming "is far from settled" and claimed "scientists continue to disagree about the degree and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of mankind."

According to NASA, 97 percent of the world's climate scientists agree that the planet is getting hotter and that burning fossil fuels is the primary cause. Ten of the warmest years in history have occurred in the past 12, with 2016 on pace to be the hottest recorded. Studies show the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have decreased in mass, while the world's oceans have risen on average nearly 7 inches in the last century.

Ken Cook, the head of the Environmental Working Group, a Washington DC research and advocacy organisation, told the New York Times that it is a safe assumption that Pruitt could be the most hostile E.P.A. administrator toward clean air and safe drinking water in history.

Bernie Sanders also criticised the appointment. Mr. Pruitt's record is not only that of being a climate change denier, but also someone who has worked closely with the fossil fuel industry to make this country more dependent, not less, on fossil fuels, he said.

But the Trump team has said that Mr Pruitt has a good record.

"We're very accustomed to the naysayers and the critics," Conway said as she left Trump tower on Wednesday evening, apparently confirming the choice. "Attorney General Pruitt has great qualifications and a good record. ... We look forward to the confirmation hearings."

Mining and oil companies have hailed the appointment.

"Scott Pruitt is a businessman and public servant and understands the impact regulation and legislation have in the business world," said Jeffrey McDougall, an oilman who serves as chairman of the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association. "His appointment will put rational and reasonable regulation at the forefront."

There were hints that Mr Trumps apparent recognition of global warming wasnt actually personally held, in the same New York Times interview that he first made the suggestion. He said that dealing with climate changes effects would depend on him thinking about how much it will cost our companies and that he may not pursue environmental policies for fear of it affecting American competitiveness.
Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Independent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Giraffes are being pushed towards a silent extinction due to illegal hunting and habitat loss, conservationists have said.

Numbers of the worlds tallest animal have plummeted 40 per cent in the past 30 years.

The threatened giant, which roams in southern and eastern Africa, is now classed as vulnerable on the latest global Red List of Threatened Species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

A growing human population, increased farming and civil unrest have also contributed to a decline of 66,000 since 1985. There were estimated to be just 97,000 left in the wild as of 2015.

Julian Fennessy, co-chair of the IUCNs Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group, said: Whilst giraffes are commonly seen on safari, in the media and in zoos, people  including conservationists  are unaware that these majestic animals are undergoing a silent extinction.

With a decline of almost 40 per cent in the last three decades alone, the worlds tallest animal is under severe pressure in some of its core ranges across East, Central and West Africa.

As one of the worlds most iconic animals, it is timely that we stick our neck out for the giraffe before it is too late.

The assessment also revealed a worsening situation for African grey parrots, regularly kept as pets and with the ability to mimic human speech, which are now classed as endangered because of unsustainable trapping for trade and habitat loss.

 Baby giraffes at San diego Zoo

More than 700 newly recognised bird species have been assessed for the new update of the Red List, with more than one in 10 found to be at risk of dying out.

Inger Anderson, IUCN director general, said: Many species are slipping away before we can even describe them.

This IUCN Red List update shows that the scale of the global extinction crisis may be even greater than we thought.

The most incredible nature moments ever caught on camera Show all 6 1 /6 The most incredible nature moments ever caught on camera The most incredible nature moments ever caught on camera Weasel riding woodpecker This picture of a weasel riding a woodpecker is pretty incredible. This is what the amateur photographer who took it, Martin Le-May, has to say about it: "As I walked, I heard a distressed squawking and I saw that flash of green. It immediately occurred to me that the woodpecker was unnaturally hopping about like it was treading on a hot surface. Lots of wing flapping showing that gloriously yellow/white colour interspersed with the flash of red head feathers. Just after I switched from my binoculars to my camera the bird flew across me and slightly in my direction; suddenly it was obvious it had a small mammal on its back and this was a struggle for life" All pictures by Martin Le-May The most incredible nature moments ever caught on camera A bumblebee and a hummingbird impaled each other to death "This bumblebee was impaled by this hummingbird. They were both killed instantly," Andy Katz, who spotted the clash, wrote, failing to mention that the two had previously been embroiled in a chase through the streets that saw 15 cars and two trucks wrecked and a shoot-out in a nearby park Andykatz14 The most incredible nature moments ever caught on camera Meteor over Loch Ness This stunning image of a shooting star is what award-winning photographs are made of  but the man behind the lens said capturing the sight was an "absolute fluke". John Alasdair Macdonald, a tour guide in the Scottish Highlands, caught the meteor on film, on the west shore of Loch Ness. Mr Macdonald had taken his camera outside to capture some photographs of the stars on what he described as a "beautiful night". But as he clicked away, the meteor soared right into his sights The most incredible nature moments ever caught on camera Pregnant Mascarene Petrel A unique photograph has been taken of a bird with a visible egg showing after experts sent to study a critically endangered Mascarene Petrel on a remote Indian Ocean tropical island encountered an undeniably pregnant member of the species Hadoram Shirihai The most incredible nature moments ever caught on camera Black Sea Devil anglerfish Researchers in the US have released what they believe to be the first video footage showing a bizarre-looking Black Sea Devil anglerfish in the wild. As anglerfish live in the deep sea, they are very rarely seen in their natural habitat, and fewer than half a dozen have ever been captured on film or video in the wild, according to experts at the Monterrey Bay Acquarium Research Institute (MBARI) Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute The most incredible nature moments ever caught on camera Pine marten Dave Pearces photograph is the first confirmed sighting of a wild English pine marten in a century Shropshire Wildlife Trust

She urged governments at the latest meeting of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, which aims to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of nature, to step up their efforts to protect the planet's wildlife.

Wild oats, barley, mango and other wild relatives of crops that humans rely on have been assessed for the first time for the Red List. The species are increasingly important to food security, as they could provide new varieties that are more resilient to extreme conditions such as drought.

The assessment listed four mango species as endangered and the Kalimantan mango was classed as extinct in the wild.

A wild relative of the chickpea that is native to Iran and Turkey has been listed as endangered due to the conversion of its habitat for agriculture.

A Japanese relative of asparagus, hamatamabouki, is also listed as endangered due to habitat loss, while the anomalus sunflower is classed as vulnerable.

Additional reporting by PA
The ultra high definition standard, also known as 4K, is increasingly common. Having taken over from HD its the most likely resolution for all but the smallest TVs, where you simply wouldnt be able to get the benefit from so many pixels. On larger TVs, though, the difference is unmissable, offering staggering levels of detail and needle-sharp images.

Much of whats broadcast indeed comes in regular HD resolution, but clever little gadgets called upscalers built into 4K TVs improve the image. As a result, broadcasters are taking advantage of 4K, producing everything from sport, movies you can stream from sites like Apple TV and Netflix, to games. So, 4K is definitely the way to go (8K is coming, too, but for now it remains prohibitively expensive).

If youre keen on larger TVs, 4K justifies your interest: because the pixels are so tightly packed, you can sit closer without seeing the individual dots.

Alongside 4K is high dynamic range (HDR), which means a TV can show detail in bright skies and dark shadows at the same time, making for a more dramatic picture. There are competing standards for HDR. One (HLG) is what broadcasters use while others are used in blu-ray discs or streaming systems (Dolby Vision is one of these, for instance). Essentially, the wider compatibility, the more you can watch with full HDR benefits.

There are two screen technologies: LCD and OLED. The latter is pricier, but looks amazing. Thats because each pixel is lit individually so theres the possibility for outstanding contrast and deep black hues, plus beautifully rendered faithful colours. OLEDs only downsides are brightness  it rarely manages to be as bright as LCD  and the extra money it costs.

Read more:

LCD is mostly referred to as LED, indicating the improvements of the backlighting on todays screens. The backlighting used to be one light across the whole screen, so what should have been pitch black elements were still gently backlit, resulting in muddy dark greys instead. Now, though, LED TVs often offer multiple backlights which can be individually controlled and this helps things considerably.

When choosing your 4K TV, wed say its worth sticking to the bigger brands, because whats crucial to every TV these days is the image processing engine, which helps make the picture the best it can be. The dedicated operating systems on the likes of Panasonic and LG TVs are typically more elegant and user-friendly, too.

How we tested

We tested these 4K TVs for picture quality, excellence of design, ease of installation, set-up and use and overall value.

The best 4K TVs for 2021 are:

Best 55in 4K TV  Panasonic TX-55HZ2000b: 2,299, Cramptonandmoore.co.uk

 Panasonic TX-55HZ2000b: 2,299, Cramptonandmoore.co.uk Best for audio quality  Sony Bravia KD-48A9: 1,299, Cramptonandmoore.co.uk

 Sony Bravia KD-48A9: 1,299, Cramptonandmoore.co.uk Best QLED 4K TV  Samsung QE55Q90T: 1,124, Maraz.co.uk

 Samsung QE55Q90T: 1,124, Maraz.co.uk Best user interface  LG OLED55CX: 1,049, Laptopsdirect.co.uk

 LG OLED55CX: 1,049, Laptopsdirect.co.uk Best 65in 4K TV  Sony Bravia KD65A8BU: 1,769, Appliancesdirect.co.uk

 Sony Bravia KD65A8BU: 1,769, Appliancesdirect.co.uk Best for movies  Panasonic TX-55HZ1000B: 1,899, Cramptonandmoore.co.uk

 Panasonic TX-55HZ1000B: 1,899, Cramptonandmoore.co.uk Best for picture processing  Philips 55OLED805: 1,149, Currys.co.uk

 Philips 55OLED805: 1,149, Currys.co.uk Best 50in 4K TV  Hisense Roku R50B7120UK: 399, Argos.co.uk

 Hisense Roku R50B7120UK: 399, Argos.co.uk Best 4K TV for gaming  Panasonic TX-50HX800B: 649, Freemans.com

Panasonic TX-55HZ2000b Best: 55in 4K TV Screen size: 55in

55in Display Technology: OLED

OLED HDR compatibility: HDR10, HLG, HDR10+, Dolby Vision

HDR10, HLG, HDR10+, Dolby Vision Dimensions: 1,225mm x 761mm x 78mm plus stand

1,225mm x 761mm x 78mm plus stand Audio: Dolby Atmos Panasonics OLED TVs have sensational picture quality, and this is the best yet. Most of that is down to the latest image processing engine called HCX Pro, designed and tuned in conjunction with Hollywood professionals to create a picture that matches what the programme- or film-maker intended. This includes a brighter display than previous Sony TVs offered but also delicate accuracy at the other end of the scale, doing justice to dark elements of a picture. The image quality here is sensational, across the board. Sound is often neglected on flatscreen TVs: now that most have tiny frames around the picture, its hard to hide decent speakers. Panasonics solution is to place strong, upward-firing speakers on the back, making this TV easily the best for Dolby Atmos audio, and it certainly sounds much better than most TVs. The interface is very appealing, with easy shortcuts to apps and a great overall look. Read the full Panasonic TX-55HZ2000b review Buy now 2,299 Cramptonandmoore.co.uk {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Sony Bravia KD-48A9 Best: For audio quality Screen size: 48in

48in Display Technology: OLED

OLED HDR compatibility: HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision

HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision Dimensions: 1070mm x 620mm x 58mm plus stand

1070mm x 620mm x 58mm plus stand Audio: Stereo Most manufacturers of OLED screens tend to focus on bigger screen sizes. Sonys first 48in telly will suit smaller rooms and offers an outstanding picture. Thats down to the processor, called the Sony X1, which analyses each element in the picture to better display it onscreen. Its also extremely good on elements like contrast and eliminating motion blur, which can be a problem for less proficient panels. Android TV is the operating system here and it comes with lots of apps, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ all easily accessible. Sony takes an adventurous approach to audio, using speaker hardware on the back which actually vibrates the screen to create the sound. It sounds great (and doesnt distort the picture) and the audio feels properly anchored to the image. Buy now 1,299 Cramptonandmoore.co.uk {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Samsung QE55Q90T Best: QLED 4K screen Screen size: 55in

55in Display Technology: QLED

QLED HDR compatibility: HDR10, HLG, HDR10+

HDR10, HLG, HDR10+ Dimensions: 1,228mm x 795mm x 35mm plus stand

1,228mm x 795mm x 35mm plus stand Audio: Stereo This is a QLED TV, a technology pioneered by Samsung. It means its an LCD screen with LED backlight but the Q refers to quantum dots, a layer of minuscule dots which acts like a filter to deliver more heavily saturated colours that are more precisely defined. All of which helps to create deep black hues where theyre needed. Because its LED it is noticeably brighter than OLED screens  handy if your living room is brightly lit  and can make for a more exciting and lively picture. The image quality is sharp and detailed, even if the content is not native 4K and is being upscaled by the TV. Samsung has its own operating system, which works well and is easy to use. Buy now 1,124 Maraz.co.uk {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

LG OLED55CX Best: User interface Screen size: 55in

55in Display Technology: OLED

OLED HDR compatibility: HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision

HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision Dimensions: 1,230mm x 710mm x 47mm plus stand

1,230mm x 710mm x 47mm plus stand Audio: Dolby Atmos LGs CX range is exceptional, and comes in four sizes, from 48in up to 77in. LG makes the OLED panels that rival TV companies use, too, so its no surprise that it can make its own TVs look tremendous. This one looks great with lots of details in both bright and shadowy parts of a scene, and outstanding contrast. The results are spectacular. LGs user interface is second-to-none, a clever and accessible system called webOS, with rows of icons guiding you to different apps and inputs. Despite being a very slim TV, it also manages to sound good with plenty of power and decent bass. Buy now 1,049 Laptopsdirect.co.uk {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Sony Bravia KD65A8BU Best: 65in 4K TV Screen size: 65in

65in Display Technology: OLED

OLED HDR compatibility: HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision

HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision Dimensions: 1448mm x 836mm x 52mm plus stand

1448mm x 836mm x 52mm plus stand Audio: Dolby Atmos Like the other Sony above, this TV features acoustic surface audio, that is, the screen is the speaker, vibrating invisibly to produce the sound and ensuring that the audio is perfectly tied to the image. It can even be tuned to suit your room thanks to a clever acoustic audio calibration system which is quick and effective. The image is pretty immaculate, thanks to the X1 Ultimate, Sonys most advanced processor, which excels at upscaling content to suit the 4K panel. Colours look perfectly judged, and completely natural, even when the engine adds HDR effects to content not made in HDR. If the impressive 65in model is too big, it comes in smaller sizes, too. Buy now 1,769 Appliancesdirect.co.uk {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Panasonic TX-55HZ1000B Best: For movies Screen size: 55in

55in Display Technology: OLED

OLED HDR compatibility: HDR10, HLG, HDR10+, Dolby Vision

HDR10, HLG, HDR10+, Dolby Vision Dimensions: 1,228mm x 772mm x 58mm plus stand

1,228mm x 772mm x 58mm plus stand Audio: Dolby Atmos Unlike the Panasonic TX-55HZ2000 above, this TV doesnt have big upward-firing speakers on the back. But its also much cheaper and while its not as exceptional sounding as the pricier TV, it still has good audio. If you have, or are going to buy, a soundbar, then this may be a better option. Picture quality is extremely strong with depth, precision and plenty of punch. The same excellent operating system as on the best buy above makes this an enjoyable-to-use TV. The supplied stand lets the TV swivel for the perfect viewing angle. Buy now 1,899 Cramptonandmoore.co.uk {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Philips 55OLED805 Best: For picture processing Screen size: 55in

55in Display Technology: OLED

OLED HDR compatibility: HDR10, HLG, HDR10+, Dolby Vision

HDR10, HLG, HDR10+, Dolby Vision Dimensions: 1,228mm x 706mm x 58mm plus stand

1,228mm x 706mm x 58mm plus stand Audio: Dolby Atmos Ambilight is the name of a clever Philips speciality which plays light on the wall behind the screen, using LEDs that change colour to match whats on screen. The effect is to enhance the main picture and make it more immersive. Philips claims this also makes it more restful on the eyes  you certainly notice its absence when you switch to a regular TV. This model has Ambilight on the top, left and right edges. On full, it can be distracting, but set at a gentler level gives a great effect. Picture quality is enhanced by artificial intelligence (AI) in the TVs processor. AI is widely bandied about in the world of tech but here its to indicate that the TVs brain knows to look for discrete image elements such as nature, face, motion and so on. The appropriate processing can then be applied. Poor processing looks terrible but here its done with taste and restraint and the results are good. Buy now 1,149 Currys.co.uk {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Hisense roku R50B7120UK Best: 50in 4K TV Screen size: 50in

50in Display Technology: LED LCD

LED LCD HDR compatibility: HDR10, HLG

HDR10, HLG Dimensions: 1,127mm x 656mm x 86mm plus stand

1,127mm x 656mm x 86mm plus stand Audio: Stereo Roku devices are neat streaming boxes, and the Hisense TV uses the same interface, which makes it great if youre keen on using streaming apps for much of your viewing. This 50in TV is certainly very keenly priced and has a lot going for it. While it doesnt support every HDR platform, and sometimes the HDR content looks less impressive than it might, this is still a proficient 4K TV with a smooth and responsive interface. Buy now 399 Argos.co.uk {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Panasonic TX-50HX800B Best: For gaming Screen size: 50in

50in Display Technology: LED LCD

LED LCD HDR compatibility: HDR10, HLG, HDR10+, Dolby Vision

HDR10, HLG, HDR10+, Dolby Vision Dimensions: 1,120mm x 651mm x 63mm plus stand

1,120mm x 651mm x 63mm plus stand Audio: Dolby Atmos This mid-range TV is a great all-rounder and offers a lot of great features for a very keen price. The LED LCD display looks great, with authentic colours and extremely good upscaling. Its not OLED but in some situations it almost comes close with plenty of lush elegance and smooth motion. It does this with a feature called intelligent frame creation which creates extra frame images to make panning movements slicker, for instance. Theres an automatic low-latency mode for gaming, which spots when a games console is connected. There are only three HDMI ports on this TV, instead of the more common four. Buy now 649 Freemans.com {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The next iPhone is going to be red, according to at least one rumour.

Apple will release an iPhone 7s and 7s Plus towards the end of next year, sporting the new colour, according to a report from MacOtakara.

Other than the big change to the colour, the phone will keep the same aluminium design and look almost the same as the iPhone 7, the blog reported citing a Taiwanese supplier. That means that it will look almost identical with the iPhone 6 and 6s, too  with the exception of the headphone jack  meaning that Apple would have been using the same basic design for four generations of iPhone.

Gadget and tech news: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gun-toting humanoid robot sent into space Russia has launched a humanoid robot into space on a rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS). The robot Fedor will spend 10 days aboard the ISS practising skills such as using tools to fix issues onboard. Russia's deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin has previously shared videos of Fedor handling and shooting guns at a firing range with deadly accuracy. Dmitry Rogozin/Twitter Gadget and tech news: In pictures Google turns 21 Google celebrates its 21st birthday on September 27. The The search engine was founded in September 1998 by two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in their dormitories at Californias Stanford University. Page and Brin chose the name google as it recalled the mathematic term 'googol', meaning 10 raised to the power of 100 Google Gadget and tech news: In pictures Hexa drone lifts off Chief engineer of LIFT aircraft Balazs Kerulo demonstrates the company's "Hexa" personal drone craft in Lago Vista, Texas on June 3 2019 Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures Project Scarlett to succeed Xbox One Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, the successor to the Xbox One, at E3 2019. The company said that the new console will be 4 times as powerful as the Xbox One and is slated for a release date of Christmas 2020 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures First new iPod in four years Apple has announced the new iPod Touch, the first new iPod in four years. The device will have the option of adding more storage, up to 256GB Apple Gadget and tech news: In pictures Folding phone may flop Samsung will cancel orders of its Galaxy Fold phone at the end of May if the phone is not then ready for sale. The $2000 folding phone has been found to break easily with review copies being recalled after backlash PA Gadget and tech news: In pictures Charging mat non-starter Apple has cancelled its AirPower wireless charging mat, which was slated as a way to charge numerous apple products at once AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures "Super league" India shoots down satellite India has claimed status as part of a "super league" of nations after shooting down a live satellite in a test of new missile technology EPA Gadget and tech news: In pictures 5G incoming 5G wireless internet is expected to launch in 2019, with the potential to reach speeds of 50mb/s Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Uber halts driverless testing after death Uber has halted testing of driverless vehicles after a woman was killed by one of their cars in Tempe, Arizona. March 19 2018 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie 'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway resembling the giant panda is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway, resembling a giant panda, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A concept car by Trumpchi from GAC Group is shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A Mirai fuel cell vehicle by Toyota is displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A visitor tries a Nissan VR experience at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A man looks at an exhibit entitled 'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A new Israeli Da-Vinci unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Elbit Systems is displayed during the 4th International conference on Home Land Security and Cyber in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv Getty

That contradicts previous reports that have suggested the company will skip out the 7s entirely and move onto the iPhone 8. That model would sport a complete redesign, pushing the screen all the way to the sides, getting rid of buttons from the front and making the phoen entirely out of glass.

Recommended New iPads and iPhones likely to have no home button

Macotakara has previously leaked colours accurately in the past. Both the new rose gold and jet black colours  which came to the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 7, respectively  were revealed in advance by the Japanese blog.

The company has made plenty of red products in the past, as part of its collaborations with Aids research organisation Project (RED). That has included special red versions of its devices as well as promotions in its app store.

But adding a red phone would be a big step after Apple has moved to make the colours of its phones more conservative. With the exception of the popular iPhone 5c, which sported a plastic body that came in a range of bright colours, the company has only made its recent products in conservative metal colours  and even its version of pink is called rose gold and is a relatively subdued version of the colour.
The negotiators agreed to work out a decision regarding water supplies in Donbas at the talks in Minsk on Wednesday, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) special envoy in the Trilateral Contact Group on settlement of the situation in eastern Ukraine Martin Sajdik said.

Sajdik told journalists in Minsk that it was necessary to find legal and technical decisions regarding water supply.

Three subgroups, with the exception of the subgroup on economic affairs, have been working in the Belarusian capital over the past two days, he said.

The security subgroup focused on the issues of disengaging forces and hardware from the contact line in Donbas, Sajdik said.

The humanitarian subgroup continued the discussion on the issue of releasing the hostages, he said. Sajdik said that positive steps were taken regarding the issue of handing over letters and parcels to illegally held people.

The political subgroup focused on the discussion of the so-called 'Steinmeier formula', Sajdik said.

The OSCE special envoy also said that the contact group would meet for the next and last time in 2016 in Minsk on December 21.
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

If you thought this year had already exceeded the limit for political upheavals, Mario Draghi is warning there may not be much respite in 2017.

Asked about the election of Donald Trump as US president, the head of the European Central Bank offered his perspective not just on what he called the radically new US administration, but also Brexit and the Italian referendum that cost Prime Minister Matteo Renzi his job this month. National votes in the Netherlands, France and Germany could further muddy the outlook, he said.

Just look at the election calendar for the year to come and that is by itself a source of uncertainty, Draghi said in Frankfurt after the ECBs latest policy announcement on Thursday. So there is a big uncertainty, much of which is political, and whether we can do something about that or not is an open question. I think what the central banks can do is to keep a steady hand.

Draghis comments came after the ECB said it would extend its quantitative-easing program by nine months to the end of 2017, buying at a reduced monthly pace with the caveat that it can step up or prolong purchases if needed.

With upcoming elections in some of the regions biggest countries potentially putting structural reforms on the back burner and a surge of populism undercutting support for European integration, the central bank may find itself tethered to non-standard measures for some time.

Draghi said it was very difficult to assess what the effects from 2016s big changes will be, but its going to come sooner or later.

All of these events, especially Brexit and the new administration in the US, have effects that are, by their very nature, going to develop their full dimensions in the medium to long term, he told reporters. So well certainly see consequences, though they are very, very difficult to assess now.

Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled  leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.

For Draghi, the resilience of financial markets was one bright spot amidst all the political changes in the UK, US and Italy, and regulators can take credit for that.

In all three cases, the markets, the financial intermediaries, proved much more resilient than people expected them to be, he said. This has probably many reasons, many causes, one of which is certainly the good work that regulators have done in the last seven to eight years.
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Brexit poses major challenges to the UKs higher education system, and could push the reputation of British universities off a cliff edge, leading academics and influencers have warned.

Written evidence published by the House of Commons Education Committee has highlighted concerns from 190 individual groups and education representatives, following an inquiry into the impact on the higher education sector following the referendum result.

University College London (UCL) warned that Brexit created a heightened reputational risk for UK education as a whole, while Cambridge Universitys submission warned of a significant risk to research in the UK.

A number of submissions called on the government for better transparency over how non-UK staff might be affected by Britains move to leave the EU.

A statement from the London School of Economics said: The uncertainty that the post-referendum Brexit debate has created is of significant concern to LSE. In particular, the lack of clarity over the future immigration status of non-UK EU nationals affects approximately one-third of our current academic and administrative staff.

The publication comes amid growing fears within the higher education sector, as the future of funding remains uncertain.

In the months following the referendum vote, European researchers predicted a 15 per cent loss in staff members as EU academics seek better job stability and opportunities in Europe.

At a national demonstration last month, attended by thousands of students, lecturers and researchers, Prime Minister Theresa May was warned by union leaders to stop using EU staff as pawns in the Brexit negotiations.

Cambridge Universitys submission said that Brexit poses a significant risk to higher education and research activities in the UK, adding: In particular we are concerned about the prospect of a cliff edge for universities in which regulatory and visa changes have a sudden and damaging impact.

The institution warned of serious repercussions for Britains global status, particularly if EEA academics and researchers were denied free movement and required to apply for visas.

Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Show all 13 1 /13 Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Supreme Court Brexit Challenge People wait to enter the public gallery outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Gina Miller, co-founder of investment fund SCM Private arrives at the Supreme court in London on the first day of a four-day hearing Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A man waves the EU flag in front of the Supreme Court Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Satirical artist Kaya Mar poses with two of his paintings in front of the Supreme Court Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Pro-Europe protestors dressed as Supreme Court Justices stand outside the Supreme Court ahead of the first day of a hearing into whether Parliament's consent is required before the Brexit process can begin. The eleven Supreme Court Justices will hear the government's appeal, following the High Court's recent decision that only Parliament can trigger Article 50 Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge The eleven Supreme Court Justices will hear the government's appeal, following the High Court's recent decision that only Parliament can trigger Article 50 Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Businesswoman Gina Miller arrives at the Supreme Court ahead of the first day of a hearing into whether Parliament's consent is required before the Brexit process can begin Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Attorney General Jeremy Wright arrives at the Supreme Court in London EPA Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Protesters outside the Supreme Court in London, where the Government is appealing against a ruling that the Prime Minister must seek MPs' approval to trigger the process of taking Britain out of the European Union PA wire Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A protesters wearing a judge's wigs and robes stands outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A protester holds up a placard outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Pro-Europe protestors dressed as Supreme Court Justices stand outside the Supreme Court Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A man waiting to enter the public gallery waves a European Union flag outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters

Without adjustments to the immigration system to accommodate the needs of the higher education sector, it is difficult to see how the UK would be able to easily and immediately replace the skills capital represented by the talented EEA and international postgraduates and researchers that play such a central role in the UK research community, the university warned.

Around 10 per cent of Cambridge undergraduates come from other EU countries, but the university revealed that applications from the 27 remaining member states have fallen by 14 per cent this year.

The university is one of a number of institutions preparing for a reduction in admissions from the EU of two-thirds following Brexit.

Speaking on the publication of the report, Education Committee Chairman Neil Carmichael said government action was needed to ensure Brexit was not a catastrophe for the university sector.

The Conservative MP for Stroud said: This written evidence from university leaders, academics, businesses and others highlights the degree of concern about the fate of UK universities post-Brexit. The evidence raises a variety of issues relating to freedom of movement, including the prospects for recruiting EU students post-Brexit and the future rights of EU staff to live and work in the UK.

Concerns are also raised about how to maintain the UK as an attractive destination for EU and international students, about the financial viability of universities, and the need to ensure Britain can continue to compete on the international stage as a provider of world-class university education.

Writing for The Times, however, Mr Carmichael said the damage to industry may have already been done. Britains international reputation and attractiveness to EU and international students is suffering because of a perceived unwelcome atmosphere, he said.

 Former Attorney General condemns 'vitriolic' attacks on Brexit judges

A survey submitted to the inquiry by Hobsons shows 43 per cent of prospective students said Brexit had affected their decision to study in the UK  with most of those adding the results had made them less likely to want to study here.

Even by conservative estimates, this could cost Britain more than 690 million a year in lost fees, which will instead go to the likes of the US, Canada, Australia and Germany, among others, Mr Carmichael added.

Among the statements submitted for evidence, UCL called for the Government to make up lost EU funds, which it said would require a significant increase in the proportion of GDP invested in higher education.

The Russell Group also urged the Government to further reassure the higher education and research community by providing a strong statement of intent that they will prioritise higher education and research in the upcoming negotiations.

Questions are left unanswered over the continued mobility of academics, EU research and innovation programmes as well as the Erasmus + exchange scheme, the group said.

EU citizens from outside the UK currently make up almost a quarter of maths students at Russell Group universities and more than 20 per cent of academic staff overall.

If the numbers of EU undergraduate and postgraduate students were to decrease as a result of the UKs withdrawal from the EU, it is not necessarily the case that they could be replaced easily by UK nationals (particularly in the short term), given the low year-on-year growth of UK students at our universities, the Russell Group added.

Within its evidence submitted for the report, the British Council said: The UK is at its best when it is an open, positive, and internationalist country that looks outwards and engages widely. The priority following the EU referendum must be to urgently step up the UKs efforts to engage with Europe and the wider world, and create a stronger Britain in the world. This will be fundamental to reaching the trade agreements and other partnerships we will need for the future and to secure our future global influence, as well as creating a helpful backdrop to the discussions on leaving the EU.
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Actor Brad Pitt's request to seal court documents in his high-profile custody and divorce proceedings involving actress Angelina Jolie was rejected by a Los Angeles judge on Wednesday.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Richard Burdge Jr. rejected Pitt's motion at an emergency hearing, a court spokeswoman said. Pitt and Jolie did not attend.

While Burdge ruled against sealing the entire case, he said requests to seal specific documents would be considered, especially given that the six children at the center of the custody case are all minors.

The court recognises privacy rights of minor children and would be guided by what's in the minor children's best interest, Burdge said.

Jolie's representatives did not respond to phone and email messages from Reuters seeking comment, and Pitt's representatives said the actor would not comment on the matter.

Jolie, 41, and Pitt, 52, known collectively as Brangelina, were together since 2005 and married for two years before their sudden split in September, which has been widely covered by news media.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures Show all 35 1 /35 Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures May 2014 Actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt attend the World Premiere of Disney's "Maleficent" at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures November 2015 Actress/director Angelina Jolie Pitt and husband actor Brad Pitt arrive at the AFI FEST 2015 presented by Audi opening night gala premiere of Universal Pictures' "By The Sea" at the Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures June 2014 Angelina Jolie, Special Envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and her partner actor Brad Pitt, look at displayed pictures of victims of violence during the third day of the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict in London. Pitt added his A-list support to his partner Angelina Jolie's efforts to eradicate rape in war zones when he joined her in a flashbulb-popping appearance at a global conference in London AFP/Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures March 2014 Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie attend the Oscars held at Hollywood & Highland Cente in Hollywood Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures February 2014 Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt attend the EE British Academy Film Awards 2014 at The Royal Opera House in London Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures November 2013 Angelina Jolie, Maddox Jolie-Pitt and actor Brad Pitt arrive at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Governors Awards at The Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures February 2012 Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt attend the Cinema for Peace Gala ceremony at the Konzerthaus Am Gendarmenmarkt during day five of the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival Getty Images for Cinema for Peac Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures January 2012 Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt arrive on the red carpet for the 69th annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills AFP/Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures November 2011 Accompanied by their children, Brad Pitt and Angellina Jolie appear before photographers upon their arrival at Haneda Airport in Tokyo AFP/Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures May 2011 Brad Pitt and Angelina Joiie attend the Premiere of DreamWorks Animation's "Kung Fu Panda 2" at Mann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures May 2011 Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt attend "The Tree Of Life" premiere during the 64th Annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures November 2010 Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt (with camera) on the 'Romeo and Juliette' film set in Budapest, Hungary Rex Features Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures July 2010 Angelina Jolie and actor Brad Pitt arrive at the premiere of Sony Pictures' "Salt" at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures December 2009 Brad Pitt Angelina Jolie and their son Maddox arrive at the premiere of Warner Bros. Pictures' and Spyglass Entertainment's "Invictus" at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Theater in Beverly Hills Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures May 2009 Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie attend the Inglourious Basterds Premiere held at the Palais Des Festivals during the 62nd International Cannes Film Festival Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures January 2009 Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie arrive at Narita International Airport with their children (L to R) Maddox, Vivienne, Zahara and Knox in Narita, Chiba, Japan Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures January 2009 Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie pose on the red carpet for the German premiere of the film 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' in Berlin AFP/Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures December 2008 Angelina Jolie and actor Brad Pitt arrive at the premiere of Paramount's "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button" held at Mann's Village Theatre on Decemeber 8, 2008 in Westwood, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images) Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures May 2008 Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt pose as they arrive to attend the screening of US actor and director Clint Eastwood's film 'The Exchange' at the 61st Cannes International Film Festival AFP/Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures May 2008 Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt pose as they arrive for the screening of US directors John Stevenson and Mark Osborne's film 'Kung Fu Panda' at the 61st Cannes International Film Festival in Cannes AFP/Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures January 2008 Angelina Jolie and actor Brad Pitt attend the cocktail party during the 14th annual Screen Actors Guild awards held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures September 2007 Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt attend the The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford premiere on the Day 5 of the 64th Annual Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures May 2007 Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie depart the premiere for the film 'Ocean's Thirteen' at the Palais des Festivals during the 60th International Cannes Film Festival Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures May 2007 Angelina Jolie poses as she arrives with actor and producer Brad Pitt at the Festival Palace in Cannes AFP/Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures May 2007 Angelina Jolie and her husband Brad Pitt, have a drink in a Prague restaurant "U Sevce Matouse" ("At Matous' Shoemaker") prior to the shooting of Jolie's new film "Wanted". The couple and their children Maddox, Pax Thien, Zahara and Shiloh Nouvel, arrived in Prague aboard a private plane. They are to spend five weeks in Prague AFP/Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures January 2007 Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie arrive at the 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures January 2007 Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie arrive at Newmarket Films premiere of "God Grew Tired of Us" at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures December 2006 Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt attend the World Premiere of "The Good Shepherd" presented by Universal Pictures at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures November 2006 Brad Pitt and his partner Angelina Jolie ride on a motorcycle on a busy street in downtown Ho Chi Minh city. Jolie and Pitt are expected to adopt a three-year-old Vietnamese AFP/Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures November 2006 Angelina Jolie holds daughter Zahara as husband Brad Pitt carries son Maddox during a stroll on the seafront promenade at the historic Gateway of India AFP/Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures June 2006 Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt give a press conference at a Swakopmund hotel. Hollywood's hottest couple became the proud parents of daughter Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt on 27 May in Namibia AFP/Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures January 2006 Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt leave Hotel Belvedere in Davos . UN goodwill ambassador Angelina Jolie was in Davos for the World Economic Forum AFP/Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures January 2006 Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt leaving the session opened by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan "A new Mindset for the UN" at the the World Economic Forum in Davos AFP/Getty Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures November 2005 Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, accompanied by Jolie's children, arrive at Narita Airport in suburban Tokyo) AFP/Getty Images Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt relationship in pictures June 2005 (L-R) Regency Enterprises' David Matalon, actor Brad Pitt, Producer Arnon Milchan, actress Angelina Jolie and News Corp. President/Chief operating officer Peter Chernin arrive at the premiere of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" at the Mann Village Theater in Westwood Getty Images

Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt, citing irreconcilable differences, after an incident on a private plane in which Pitt was reported to have lost his temper in front of one or more of the children.

At the time, she said she made the decision for the health of the family, and is seeking full physical custody of their children. The couple share adopted sons Maddox and Pax, adopted daughter Zahara and three biological children, Shiloh Nouvel and twins Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline, aged between 8 and 15.

Pitt, 52, was cleared in the incident last month by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services. He has filed for joint custody of the children.

Reuters
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Despite the fact Donald Trump once famously called climate change a hoax which was invented by the Chinese and pledged to pull the US out of the Paris climate agreement, in recent weeks it seemed that the President-elect might be softening his stance somewhat. However, with Scott Pruitt, a leading climate change denier and fossil fuel industry ally, recently selected to head the Environmental Protection Agency, most remnants of wilful optimism have been wiped out.

The only silver lining for environmentalists may be the fact Mr Trump had a meeting with Leonardo DiCaprio after news broke Pruitt was expected to be announced as his choice. In their meeting, the billionaire property tycoon and the Hollywood actor, who is a fervent campaigner for fighting climate change, discussed how jobs centred on preserving the environment can boost the economy.

Terry Tamminen, the CEO of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, said they had a 90-minute meeting at Trump Tower in New York. In a statement to the Associated Press, Tamminen said the pair gave a presentation to Mr Trump, his daughter Ivanka, and other members of Trumps team on how concentrating on renewable, clean energy could generate millions of jobs.

Today, we presented the President-elect and his advisors with a framework - which LDF developed in consultation with leading voices in the fields of economics and environmentalism - that details how to unleash a major economic revival across the United States that is centered on investments in sustainable infrastructure, Tamminen said.

President Donald Trump life in pictures Show all 16 1 /16 President Donald Trump life in pictures President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump poses in a rocking chair once used by President John F. Kennedy at his New York City residence Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Developer Donald Trump with his new bride Marla Maples after their wedding at the Plaza hotel in New York Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Celina Midelfart watch the match between Conchita Martinez and Amanda Coetzer during U.S. Open. She was the date whom Donald Trump was with when he met his current wife Melania at a party in 1996 Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas serving as the grand marshal for the Daytona 500, speaks to Donald Trump and Melania Knauss on the starting grid at the Daytona International Speedwa Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Developer Donald Trump talks with his former wife Ivana Trump during the men's final at the U.S. Open Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and his friend Melania Knauss pose for photographers as they arrive at the New York premiere of Star Wars Episode : 'The Phantom Menace,' Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire real estate developer Donald Trump talks with host Larry King. Trump told King that he was moving toward a possible bid for the United States presidency with the formation of a presidential exploratory committee Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump answers questions as Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura looks on in Brooklyn Park. Trump said on Friday he 'very well might' make a run for president under the Reform Party banner but had not made a final decision Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire Donald Trump makes a face at a friend as he sits next to Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso before the start of the 2003 Miss Universe pageant in Panama City Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Entrepreneur Donald Trump is greeted by a Marilyn Monroe character look-a-alike, as he arrives at Universal Studios Hollywood to attend the an open casting call for his NBC television network reality series 'The Apprentice.' Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Simon Cowell present an Emmy during the 56th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Megan Mullally perform at the 57th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump, poses with his children, son Donald Trump, Jr., and daughters Tiffany and Ivanka Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire Donald Trump told Miss USA 2006 Tara Conner on Tuesday she would be given a second chance after reported misbehavior Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump holds a replica of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as his wife Melania holds their son Barron in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures U.S. property mogul Donald Trump stands next to a bagpiper during a media event on the sand dunes of the Menie estate, the site for Trump's proposed golf resort, near Aberdeen, north east Scotland Reuters

Our conversation focused on how to create millions of secure, American jobs in the construction and operation of commercial and residential clean, renewable energy generation.

After their discussion on green jobs, the Oscar-award-winning actor gave the President-elect a copy of his documentary Before the Flood and Mr Trump is reported to have promised to watch it.

DiCaprio co-produced and featured in the 90-minute documentary on climate change directed by Martin Scorsese which stars Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Ban Ki-Moon, and Pope Francis.

Recommended Donald Trump fossil fuel advocate to lead environmental department

A day before the election, DiCaprio took a covert dig at Mr Trump at the Hollywood Film Awards. He urged the electorate to vote for a candidate who believes in climate change. Let's all use our power as citizens to do the right thing, DiCaprio told the audience. Please vote this Tuesday 8 November and vote for people who believe in the science of climate change.

The appointment of Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection agency has raised alarm bells among environmental groups. He is a climate change denier and said the science behind it was subject to considerable debate. On top of this, he has also called the EPAs rule unlawful and overreaching and pushed back against Barack Obamas agenda on climate change.

Mr Trump's own track record on climate change is far from progressive. He has previously pledged to withdraw the US from the Paris climate deal, resuscitate the coal industry and expand oil and gas drilling. Despite the fact he previously called climate change a hoax, he later insisted the comment was intended as a joke.

However, at a recent meeting at the New York Times, Mr Trump appeared to backtrack on his stance. He said that there was some connectivity between humans and climate change. He also appeared to dilute his position on the Paris climate accord. Im looking at it very closely, he said, adding that he has an open mind to it.
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Michael Moore correctly predicted that Donald Trump would win the 2016 election  but now he is making another prediction: the President-elect will not make it to the White House.

Since Mr Trumps shocking defeat of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, progressives have debated ways in which the New York businessman could be blocked from becoming the president of the United States. From recount efforts, to appealing to electors in the electoral college to cast their votes for Ms Clinton, there are a number of unlikely scenarios that could result in Mr Trump never making it to inauguration.

Hes not president of the United States yet, Moore said in an interview on Late Night with Seth Meyers. Hes not president till noon on January 20th of 2017.  Thats more than six weeks away.

Would you not agree, regardless of which side of the political fence youre on, this is been the craziest election year? he added. Nothing anyone predicted has happened  the opposite happened. So is it possible, just possible, that in these next six weeks, something else might happen  something crazy, something were not expecting?

Moores comments come as the official popular vote tally puts Ms Clinton ahead of Mr Trump by more than 2.7 million votes  the largest margin between electoral college winner and loser in history.

In an August post to his website, Moore outlined reasons why Mr Trump would likely win the election.

I believe Trump is going to focus much of his attention on the four blue states in the rustbelt of the upper Great Lakes  Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, he said, referring to states that were instrumental in earning crucial electoral wins.

He continued: Trump is going to hammer Clinton on  her support of TPP and other trade policies that have royally screwed the people of these four states.

President Trump protests Show all 20 1 /20 President Trump protests President Trump protests Patrons hold a sign as people march by while protesting the election of Republican Donald Trump as the president of the United States in downtown Los Angeles, California Reuters President Trump protests Demonstrators rally following the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States, in Oakland, California Reuters President Trump protests Demonstrators march following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States Reuters President Trump protests Thousands of protesters rallied across the United States expressing shock and anger over Donald Trump's election, vowing to oppose divisive views they say helped the Republican billionaire win the presidency AFP/Getty Images President Trump protests Demonstrators protest outside the Chicago Theatre in Chicago, Illinois Getty President Trump protests A police officer aims a launcher after demonstrators threw projectiles toward a line of officers during a demonstration in Oakland, California Reuters President Trump protests An officer examines a vandalized police vehicle as demonstrators riot in Oakland, California Reuters President Trump protests Demonstrators take over the Hollywood 101 Freeway just north of Los Angeles City Hall in protest against the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States Reuters President Trump protests A woman holds up a sign reading 'Trump you are an Idiot' as demonstrators gather during a protest against President-elect Donald Trump outside the City Hall building in Los Angeles, California EPA President Trump protests A masked demonstrator gestures toward a police line during a demonstration in Oakland, California Reuters President Trump protests Demonstrators protest against the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States, near the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Las Vegas, Nevada Reuters President Trump protests Musician Lagy Gaga stages a protest against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on a sanitation truck outside Trump Tower in New York City Getty President Trump protests A woman yells as she takes part in a protest against President-elect Donald Trump in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood AP President Trump protests A man dressed in red-white-and-blue sits on the curb during a protest against President-elect Donald Trump in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood AP President Trump protests A protester sets off fireworks during a protest against President-elect Donald Trumpin Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood AP President Trump protests University of California, Davis students protest on campus in Davis, California, U.S. following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States Reuters President Trump protests An Oakland police officer checks out damage after a window was broken by protesters at a car dealership in downtown Oakland, Calif AP President Trump protests A protester faces a police line in downtown Oakland, Calif AP President Trump protests President-elect Donald Trumpis victory set off multiple protests AP President Trump protests A fire burns during protests in Oakland, Calif AP

Moore said that he never wanted to be more wrong in the Wednesday night interview.

It didnt seem possible, he said. [Clinton] was ahead in the polls, she was winning the debates, it was a great convention, and hes crazy.

Earlier this week, a Texas elector became the first Republican to pledge not to vote for Mr Trump.

Paramedic and former firefighter, Christopher Suprun, said he intended to choose a Republican alternative to Mr Trump, naming Ohio Gov John Kasich as an option.

"Federalist 68 argued that an Electoral College should determine if candidates are qualified, not engaged in demagogy, and independent from foreign influence," the faithless elector said. "Mr Trump shows us again and again that he does not meet these standards. ...

"I owe no debt to a party. I owe a debt to my children to leave them a nation they can trust."
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Handpicking someone to lead an organisation they have dedicated much of their career to bitterly opposing might not sound like the most sensible, or indeed logical idea, but in the mind of Donald Trump it somehow made sense. Scott Pruitt may have previously been an enemy of the Environmental Protection Agency, but now he is its head.

Mr Pruitt, who is the Attorney General of the oil and gas-intensive state of Oklahoma, has been ardently dedicated to pushing against Barak Obamas efforts to address climate change. The Republican is also a climate change denier. To put this into context, he has said the debate on climate change is far from settled and joined a coalition of state attorney generals in suing the agencys Clean Power Plan - the key Obama-era policy brought in to try and reduce US greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas sector.

Unsurprisingly, his appointment has been met with fury and consternation from environmentalists and jubilation from some mining and oil companies. In the wider political sphere, it has also shocked many because, despite the fact Mr Trump previously claimed climate change was a hoax dreamt up by the Chinese, at a recent meeting at the New York Times he appeared to backtrack on his stance.

Mr Trump has said there was some connectivity between humans and climate change and he would keep an open mind when looking at the Paris climate accord. His decision to appoint Mr Pruitt has not been seen as testimony of his open mind by anyone who believes climate change is real.

But who is the 48-year-old Kentucky native Mr Trumps team insists has a good record to have gained this high-profile appointment, and what exactly is his track record?

President Donald Trump life in pictures Show all 16 1 /16 President Donald Trump life in pictures President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump poses in a rocking chair once used by President John F. Kennedy at his New York City residence Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Developer Donald Trump with his new bride Marla Maples after their wedding at the Plaza hotel in New York Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Celina Midelfart watch the match between Conchita Martinez and Amanda Coetzer during U.S. Open. She was the date whom Donald Trump was with when he met his current wife Melania at a party in 1996 Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas serving as the grand marshal for the Daytona 500, speaks to Donald Trump and Melania Knauss on the starting grid at the Daytona International Speedwa Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Developer Donald Trump talks with his former wife Ivana Trump during the men's final at the U.S. Open Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and his friend Melania Knauss pose for photographers as they arrive at the New York premiere of Star Wars Episode : 'The Phantom Menace,' Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire real estate developer Donald Trump talks with host Larry King. Trump told King that he was moving toward a possible bid for the United States presidency with the formation of a presidential exploratory committee Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump answers questions as Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura looks on in Brooklyn Park. Trump said on Friday he 'very well might' make a run for president under the Reform Party banner but had not made a final decision Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire Donald Trump makes a face at a friend as he sits next to Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso before the start of the 2003 Miss Universe pageant in Panama City Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Entrepreneur Donald Trump is greeted by a Marilyn Monroe character look-a-alike, as he arrives at Universal Studios Hollywood to attend the an open casting call for his NBC television network reality series 'The Apprentice.' Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Simon Cowell present an Emmy during the 56th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Megan Mullally perform at the 57th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump, poses with his children, son Donald Trump, Jr., and daughters Tiffany and Ivanka Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire Donald Trump told Miss USA 2006 Tara Conner on Tuesday she would be given a second chance after reported misbehavior Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump holds a replica of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as his wife Melania holds their son Barron in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures U.S. property mogul Donald Trump stands next to a bagpiper during a media event on the sand dunes of the Menie estate, the site for Trump's proposed golf resort, near Aberdeen, north east Scotland Reuters

He was educated at a small, private Christian liberal arts college

Born in Danville, Kentucky in 1968, he went to Georgetown College - a small, private Christian liberal arts college. Graduating with a degree in Political Science and Communications, he then set off for Tulsa in Oklahoma where he attended the University of Tulsa to study the law. He now lives in Oklahoma alongside his wife, Marlyn. They have been married 24 years and have two children, McKenna and Cade.

He is seen as 'puppet' of the fossil fuel industry

If you were in any doubt of Mr Pruitt's opposition to the very agency he will be heading, his LinkedIn page says it all. On his profile, he boasts of being a leading advocate against the EPAs activist agenda. He is also a big dog in the conservative movement that has pushed back against Mr Obamas agenda on climate change.

Crucially, Mr Pruitt's appointment also throws up questions about the future of the Dakota Access Pipeline - a $3.8 billion oil and gas project that was denied access over the weekend to dig under the Missouri River which is close to the reservation of the Native American Sioux tribe.

Greenpeace warns the appointment of Mr Pruitt puts the US at risk. Pruitt is a pure product of the oil and gas industry, installed in successive government posts to sell out his constituents at every turn, Travis Nichols, a spokesperson for the charity, told The Independent. As Oklahoma attorney general, Pruitt was an enthusiastic shill for the fracking industry, and a reckless obstruction to the Clean Power Plan.

You couldnt pick a better fossil fuel industry puppet, environmental group 350.org said.

Recommended Leonardo DiCaprio meets Donald Trump to discuss green jobs

He is a keen advocate of bible distribution in schools

Religion is high on Mr Pruitts agenda and fundamentally informs his world view. On his LinkedIn page, he calls himself a leading voice for religious freedom and pro-life issues. He has also been active in religious groups, serving as deacon of the First Baptist Church of Broken Arrow.

Last year, Mr Pruitt defended bible distribution in schools, saying he believed the distribution of religious material to public school students was constitutional. Few things are as sacred and as fundamental to Oklahomans as the constitutional rights of free speech and the free exercise of religion, he said. It is a challenging time in our country for those who believe in religious liberty. Our religious freedoms are under constant attack from a variety of groups who seek to undermine our constitutional rights and threaten our founding principles.

 Trump's EPA pick condemns Obama's conservation policy

He is against abortions

Being resolutely pro-life, Mr Pruitt supported the Oklahoma legislature's bid to join four other states trying to restrict medical abortions by limiting or banning off-label uses of drugs in 2013.

In 2014, Mr Pruitt filed a brief with the Supreme Court supporting the position that the owners of privately held companies need not provide their employees with birth control - if it goes against their religious convictions.

The founders established a Constitution to protect Americans' religious freedom from an intrusive federal government, he said after the Supreme Courts ruling in favour of the Hobby Lobby. Today's ruling solidifies the principle that our religion is not a silent practice confined to the four walls of a church, but it is an opportunity to live out our faith in the public square.

He has fought against transgender and workers rights

Mr Pruitt has fought transgender rights. He challenged Mr Obama's order to public schools that they should allow transgender students to use bathrooms of their choice, instead of their birth gender, otherwise the school could see its federal funding taken away.

He has also filed lawsuits against Mr Obama's overtime rule, which planned to give millions of Americans overtime pay as of 1 December. "The President does not have the authority to dictate to Oklahoma or any other state how they should budget state employee salaries, he said.
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Theresa May has bucked convention with her 2016 Christmas card by opting to use drawings from children in her constituency instead of a family photo.

The Prime Minister selected three designs from Jade Winsor, 11, Isabelle Milnes, five, and Sophie Brazil, 11, who all live in Maidenhead, as part of a competition Ms May runs with the Maidenhead Advertiser annually.

Ms May took a break from her protracted Brexit battle and batting questions over the cost of her sartorial choices to judge the competition, which had more than 600 entries.

The winning children have also been invited to turn on the Christmas Lights at Downing Street later today.

The Christmas card players Show all 10 1 /10 The Christmas card players The Christmas card players 11904.bin The Christmas card players 11899.bin The Christmas card players 11905.bin The Christmas card players 11900.bin The Christmas card players 11906.bin The Christmas card players 11909.bin The Christmas card players 11901.bin The Christmas card players 11908.bin The Christmas card players 11907.bin The Christmas card players 11902.bin

Ms May's predecessor David Cameron opted for a simple picture of himself and wife Samantha outside Number 10 in 2015, taken after the Conservatives won a majority in the general election, having no idea at the time that would be his last Christmas card as Prime Minister.

His previous Christmas cards used family photographs featuring their daughters Florence and Nancy.
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

When Trevor Noah faced off with the commentator becoming a rising star among Republicans for her vitriolic, right-wing rants, their discussion was hailed by some as the coming of age moment for the host with such big shoes to fill after Jon Stewart's exit.

Noah's reception since taking over the reins of The Daily Show has been lukewarm. Conversations on the satirical news talk show have been safe, rarely straying into territories Stewart tackled with ease. At least, that was until he invited ardent Trump supporter and right-wing commentator Tomi Lahren on the show to discuss some of her more controversial views, including her staunchly anti-Black Lives Matter stance.

The pugnacious South Dakota native has built a huge online following with viral rants about feminism, liberal crap, the election and victim mentality. Her videos have seen her accused of racism and sexism by some on the left and lauded by many on the right.

One particular soundbite from Lahren on The Daily Show became one of the most discussed moments of her exchange with Noah. The 24-year-old was asked why, if she isnt racist, she has to constantly defend herself against accusations of racism. To me, true diversity is diversity of thought, not diversity of colour, she replied. I dont see colour. Noahs comedic comeback was quick: You dont see colour? So, what do you do at traffic lights?

Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Show all 14 1 /14 Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Isis: "Some of the candidates, they went in and didnt know the air conditioner didnt work and sweated like dogs, and they didnt know the room was too big because they didnt have anybody there. How are they going to beat ISIS?" Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On immigration: "I will build a great wall  and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me and Ill build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Free Trade: "Free trade is terrible. Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people. But we have stupid people." PAUL J. RICHARDS | AFP | Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Mexicans: "When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists." Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On China: "I just sold an apartment for $15 million to somebody from China. Am I supposed to dislike them?... I love China. The biggest bank in the world is from China. You know where their United States headquarters is located? In this building, in Trump Tower." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On work: "If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable." AP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On success: "What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate." Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On life: "Everything in life is luck." AFP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On ambition: "You have to think anyway, so why not think big?" Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On his opponents: "Bush is totally in favour of Common Core. I don't see how he can possibly get the nomination. He's weak on immigration. He's in favour of Common Core. How the hell can you vote for this guy? You just can't do it." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Obamacare: "You have to be hit by a tractor, literally, a tractor, to use it, because the deductibles are so high. It's virtually useless. And remember the $5 billion web site?... I have so many web sites, I have them all over the place. I hire people, they do a web site. It costs me $3." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Barack Obama: "Obama is going to be out playing golf. He might be on one of my courses. I would invite him. I have the best courses in the world. I have one right next to the White House." PA Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On himself: "Love him or hate him, Trump is a man who is certain about what he wants and sets out to get it, no holds barred. Women find his power almost as much of a turn-on as his money." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On America: "The American Dream is dead. But if I get elected president I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before and we will make America great again." GETTY

Other parts of his response were more searching. You are the same person who argued on your show that just because Trump has supporters from the KKK doesn't mean he's in the KKK. What if somebody said, 'I felt emboldened by Tomi Lahren so I went out and shot black people'? Are you now responsible?

Not everyone agreed Lahren should have been handed such a prominent platform to air her views, but others conceded she already has a huge stage thanks to her very engaged 3.6 million followers on Facebook. Inviting her on the show allowed Noah to point out holes in her arguments to a conservative audience he would otherwise have never engaged, they argued.

But after eloquently dismantling her claims, Noah then appeared to be making peace. In a gesture that has disappointed many, Lahren shared an image of a cupcake she claimed Noah had sent her after the show. Anger was exacerbated when Noah was seen with Lahren in what some suggested was a "date". The accusations of sell-out levelled at him came quick and fast, even after reports from TMZ suggested the cupcakes were sent on behalf of the show, not Noah personally.

But Noah insisted it would have been difficult for someone so right-wing to step into his space and praised Lahren for being gracious even when presenting views he staunchly disagreed with. He criticised the aggression from people who claimed to be pro-gender equality and progressive but then branded Lahren a b***h or c**t for expressing a point of view they found offensive.

One, I do not believe that we are in a situation where were providing exposure for a person that has hundreds of millions of views on their videos, Noah told The Breakfast Show on Wednesday.

Youre not providing a platform for this person. What youre doing is youre trying to get into their space and talk to them as a person, but more importantly, youre trying to talk to the people that would never hear you in the first place.

Noah said he went for a drink with Lahren, his production staff and her team as a cordial gesture after the show. They [the press] cut out my people and cut out her people in the picture, and thats why you dont see me walking out because it wasnt just me in the picture." When asked if he paid for the drinks, he replied: My people paid for the drinks.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has signed a decree, titled "On the annual national programs under the Ukraine  NATO Commission," which approves the new procedure for the development of such programs and evaluation of their performance.

The corresponding decree, dated December 7, is published on the president's website.

This document introduces a new procedure for the development of the annual national programs of Ukraine's cooperation with NATO and the evaluation of their performance (corresponding order is contained in the Regulation, titled "On the development of annual national programs under the auspices of the Ukraine  NATO Commission").

The new regulation is worked out to meet current contemporary priority tasks of cooperation between Ukraine and NATO, in particular to reform the security and defense sector of the Ukrainian state. The document sets clear and detailed standards and requirements in the content, preparation procedure and evaluation of the implementation of annual national programs of cooperation between Ukraine and NATO. The aim of the changes is to improve the practical effectiveness of annual national programs and the work of state bodies in their execution.

The annual national program consists of several sections, where the main objectives of reforms in certain areas are identified in each of them: the expected changes in the policy of the state and society; medium-term objectives, the implementation of which is intended for 2-3 years; priorities with an indication of the need to attract them for implementing an advisory, consultative and/or logistical support of NATO, the main activities for the planning year and the list of performers of such activities.

According to the decree, the Cabinet will provide the projects development of annual national programs for the relevant year and coordinate the activities of central executive bodies and other state bodies for the implementation of these programs.

The government until January 15 of the next year will provide the president with the information on the results of the annual national programs for the current year and proposals for the further development of relations between Ukraine and NATO.
Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Voices Dispatches email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Regularly smoking cannabis may damage users eyesight by triggering an abnormality in the retina, a new study has found.

Researchers in France tested 28 cannabis smokers and 24 people who did not use the drug to see how well their retinal cells responded to electrical signals.

A small but significant delay was found in the time taken for the signals to be processed by the retina of the marijuana users by comparison with the control group.

This finding provides evidence for a delay of approximately 10 milliseconds in the transmission of action potentials evoked by the retinal ganglion cells, the researchers wrote in the JAMA Ophthalmology.

As this signal is transmitted along the visual pathway  to the visual cortex, this anomaly might account for altered vision in regular cannabis users.

Our findings may be important from a public health perspective since they could highlight the neurotoxic effects of cannabis use on the central nervous system as a result of how it affects retinal processing.

Recommended MPs call for UK to legalise cannabis

A statement issued by the Journal of the American Medical Association described the study as small and preliminary.

But the researchers, led by Dr Vincent Laprevote, of the Pole Hospitalo-Universitaire de Psychiatrie du Grand Nancy, added: Independent of debates about its legalisation, it is necessary to gain more knowledge about the different effects of cannabis so that the public can be informed.

Future studies may shed light on the potential consequences of these retinal dysfunctions for visual cortical processing and whether these dysfunctions are permanent or disappear after cannabis withdrawal.

In a related article commenting on the research, Dr Christopher Lyons, of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and Dr Anthony Robson, of Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, wrote that it dealt with an important and neglected issue, namely the possible toxic effects of cannabis, with all its implications for the many users of this ubiquitous drug.

Addressing this issue through the visual system, as the authors have done, is an elegant concept. Any deleterious effect on the visual system would also have implications for driving, work and other activities and thus warrants further study, they added.

World's 10 deadliest street drugs Show all 10 1 /10 World's 10 deadliest street drugs World's 10 deadliest street drugs Whoonga Whoonga is a combination of antiretroviral drugs, used to treat HIV, and various cutting agents such as detergents and poisons. The drug is widely available in South Africa due to South Africas high rate of HIV sufferers, and is believed to be popular due to how cheap it is when compared to prescribed antiretrovirals. The drug is highly addictive and can cause major health issues such as internal bleeding, stomach ulcers and ultimately death Getty World's 10 deadliest street drugs Scopolamine Scopolamine is a derivative from the nightshade plant found in the Northern Indian region of South America (Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela). It is generally found in a refined powder form, but can also be found as a tea. The drug is more often used by criminals due its high toxicity level (one gram is believed to be able to kill up to 20 people) making it a strong poison. However, it is also believed that the drug is blown into the faces of unexpecting victims, later causing them to lose all sense of self-control and becoming incapable of forming memories during the time they are under the influence of the drug. This tactic has reportedly been used by gangs in Colombia where there have been reports of people using scopolamine as way to convince victims to rob their own homes World's 10 deadliest street drugs Heroin Founded in 1874 by C. R. Alder Wright, heroin is one of the worlds oldest drugs. Originally it was prescribed as a strong painkiller used to treat chronic pain and physical trauma. However in 1971 it was made illegal under the Misuse of Drugs Act. Since then it has become one of the most destructive substances in the world, tearing apart communities and destroying families. The side effects of heroin include inflammation of the gums, cold sweats, a weak immune system, muscular weakness and insomnia. It can also damage blood vessels which can later cause gangrene if left untreated World's 10 deadliest street drugs Crack cocaine Crack cocaine first came about in the 1980s when cocaine became a widespread commodity within the drug trafficking world. Originally cocaine would have attracted a high price tag due to its rarity and difficulty to produce, but once it became more widespread the price dropped significantly. This resulted in drug dealers forming their cocaine into rock like shapes by using baking soda as a way of distilling the powder down into rock form. People were doing this because it allowed for them to sell cocaine at a lower quantity and to a higher number of people. The side effects of crack cocaine include liver, kidney and lung damage, as well as permanent damage to blood vessels, which can often lead to heart attacks, strokes, and ultimately death World's 10 deadliest street drugs Crystal meth Not just famous because of a certain Walter H White, but also because it is one of the most destructive drugs in the world. First developed in 1887, it became widely used during the Second World War when both sides would give it to their troops to keep them awake. It is also believed that the Japanese gave it to their Kamikaze pilots before their suicide missions. After the war crystal meth was prescribed as a diet aid and remained legal until the 1970s. Since then it has fallen into the hands of Mexican gangs and has become a worldwide phenomenon, spreading throughout Europe and Asia. The effects of crystal meth are devastating. In the short-term users will become sleep depraved and anxious, and in the long-term it will cause their flesh to sink, as well as brain damage and damage of the blood vessels World's 10 deadliest street drugs AH-7921 AH-7921 is a synthetic opioid that was previously available to legally purchase online from vendors until it became a Class A in January 2015. The drug is believed to have 80% of the potency of morphine, and became known as the legal heroin. While there has only been one death related to AH-7921 in the UK, it is believed to be highly dangerous and capable of causing respiratory arrest and gangrene World's 10 deadliest street drugs Flakka Flakka is a stimulant with a similar chemical make-up to the amphetamine-like drug found in bath salts. While the drug was originally marketed as a legal high alternative to ecstasy, the effects are significantly different. The user will feel an elevated heart rate, enhanced emotions, and, if enough is digested, strong hallucinations. The drug can cause permanent psychological damage due to it affecting the mood regulating neurons that keep the minds serotonin and dopamine in check, as well as possibly causing heart failure World's 10 deadliest street drugs Bath salts Bath salts are a synthetic crystalline drug that is prevalent in the US. While they may sound harmless, they certainly arent the sort of salts you drop into a warm bath when having a relaxing night in, they are most similar to mephedrone, and have recently been featured throughout social media due to the zombification of its. The name comes from the fact that the drug was originally sold online, and widely disguised as bath salts. The side effects include unusual psychiatric behaviour, psychosis, panic attacks and violent behaviour, as well as the possibility of a heart attack and an elevated body temperature World's 10 deadliest street drugs Purple Drank One of the more unusual drugs around at the moment, purple drank was popularised in 90s hip hop culture, with the likes of Jay Z and Big Moe all mentioning it in their songs. It is a concoction of soda water, sweets and cold medicine, and is drunk due to cold medicines high codeine content, which gives the user a woozy feeling. However it can also cause respiratory issues and heart failure World's 10 deadliest street drugs Krokodil Krokodil is Russias secret addiction. It is believed that over one million Russians are addicted to the drug. Users of krokodil are attracted to the drug due to its low price; it is sold at 20 a gram while heroin is sold for 60. However, krokodil is considered more dangerous than heroin because it is often homemade, with ingredients including painkillers, iodine, lighter fluid and industrial cleaning agents. This chemical make-up makes the drug highly dangerous and likely to cause gangrene, and eventually rotting of the flesh

"Electrophysiology can provide reliable and reproducible measurements of retinal and visual pathway function and is useful in the investigation and localisation of dysfunction, including that caused by toxicity.

However, the conclusion that cannabis causes retinal ganglion cell dysfunction cannot be made with any degree of certainty based on the evidence provided in the current study.

This question should be re-examined with some urgency, using a degree of scientific rigour, which may be challenging in jurisdictions where cannabis consumption is illegal.
Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Voices Dispatches email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Europe has been trying to land on Mars since 2003, but none of the attempts have gone to plan. A couple of months ago, the ExoMars Schiaparelli landing demonstrator crashed onto the planets surface, losing contact with its mothership. However, the mission was partially successful, providing information that will enable Europe and Russia to land its ExoMars rover on the Red Planet in 2021.

Now European research ministers have finally agreed to give the mission the outstanding 400m it needs to go ahead. A lot is at stake as it is intended that the rover will drill under the harsh Martian surface to search for signs of past, or even present, life. With the best of human endeavour, we must learn, try again and not give up. As leader of the international Panoramic Camera team on the rover, which will, among other things, provide surface geological and atmospheric context for the mission, I am one of many scientists working very hard to make it works.

PanCam is one of nine state-of-the-art instruments which will help us analyse subsurface samples.

The reason it is so hard to land on Mars is that the atmospheric pressure is low, less than one per cent of Earths surface pressure. This means that any probe will descend very rapidly to the surface, and must be slowed. Whats more, the landing has to be done autonomously as the light travel time from Earth is three to 22 minutes. This delay in transmission means we cant steer the process from Earth. Nasa and Russia have had their own problems with landings in the past, before the spectacular successes with the US missions Viking, Pathfinder, Spirit, Opportunity, Phoenix and Curiosity.

Lessons learned

Europes first attempt to land on Mars was with Beagle 2 on Christmas Day 2003. Until recently, the last we had seen of the lander was on 19 December 2003  imaged soon after separation from the Mars Express mothership. Mars Express itself was a huge success, entering orbit on 25 December that year and operating ever since. It has revolutionised our knowledge of Mars with stereo images, mineral mapping, studies of plasma escape from the planets atmosphere and the first detection of methane.

ExoMars close-up of a large unnamed crater north near the Mars equator (ESA)

Recently, the Beagle 2 lander was imaged by Nasas Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on the surface  tantalisingly close to success, with only one of the four solar panels left undeployed. Unfortunately, the communications antenna was underneath that vital panel, preventing communications with Mars Express and Earth. Beagle 2 probably operated for a day or two at least, and may have taken its first panorama with our stereo camera system and its pop-up mirror.

Gadget and tech news: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gun-toting humanoid robot sent into space Russia has launched a humanoid robot into space on a rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS). The robot Fedor will spend 10 days aboard the ISS practising skills such as using tools to fix issues onboard. Russia's deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin has previously shared videos of Fedor handling and shooting guns at a firing range with deadly accuracy. Dmitry Rogozin/Twitter Gadget and tech news: In pictures Google turns 21 Google celebrates its 21st birthday on September 27. The The search engine was founded in September 1998 by two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in their dormitories at Californias Stanford University. Page and Brin chose the name google as it recalled the mathematic term 'googol', meaning 10 raised to the power of 100 Google Gadget and tech news: In pictures Hexa drone lifts off Chief engineer of LIFT aircraft Balazs Kerulo demonstrates the company's "Hexa" personal drone craft in Lago Vista, Texas on June 3 2019 Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures Project Scarlett to succeed Xbox One Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, the successor to the Xbox One, at E3 2019. The company said that the new console will be 4 times as powerful as the Xbox One and is slated for a release date of Christmas 2020 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures First new iPod in four years Apple has announced the new iPod Touch, the first new iPod in four years. The device will have the option of adding more storage, up to 256GB Apple Gadget and tech news: In pictures Folding phone may flop Samsung will cancel orders of its Galaxy Fold phone at the end of May if the phone is not then ready for sale. The $2000 folding phone has been found to break easily with review copies being recalled after backlash PA Gadget and tech news: In pictures Charging mat non-starter Apple has cancelled its AirPower wireless charging mat, which was slated as a way to charge numerous apple products at once AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures "Super league" India shoots down satellite India has claimed status as part of a "super league" of nations after shooting down a live satellite in a test of new missile technology EPA Gadget and tech news: In pictures 5G incoming 5G wireless internet is expected to launch in 2019, with the potential to reach speeds of 50mb/s Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Uber halts driverless testing after death Uber has halted testing of driverless vehicles after a woman was killed by one of their cars in Tempe, Arizona. March 19 2018 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie 'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway resembling the giant panda is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway, resembling a giant panda, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A concept car by Trumpchi from GAC Group is shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A Mirai fuel cell vehicle by Toyota is displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A visitor tries a Nissan VR experience at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A man looks at an exhibit entitled 'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A new Israeli Da-Vinci unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Elbit Systems is displayed during the 4th International conference on Home Land Security and Cyber in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv Getty

Then, on 19 October this year, Schiaparelli tried to land. Using lessons learned from Beagle, detailed data were transmitted during the descent, after separation from the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter mothership. The early parts were successful  we know that the heat-protective tiles did their job during entry into the thin Mars atmosphere, and that the parachute deployed as planned.

But then, an unexpected spinning motion was detected for unknown reasons, the parachute was ejected early and the retro rockets were fired briefly. Despite altimeter and speed measurements, the onboard control computer became confused (saturated) over a second-long period and thought Schiaparelli had reached the surface already. Unfortunately, the craft was still 3.7km high, the retro rockets shut off early and Schiaparelli fell to the surface  impacting at over 300km/h. More lessons learned, the hard way. As the controllers now know exactly what went wrong, they are using the transmitted data to determine why and figure out how to avoid it happening again.

Meanwhile, the Trace Gas Orbiter successfully entered Mars orbit. Last week it sent the first images and data from its first close Mars encounter. Its final orbit will be a 400km circular orbit to be achieved in March 2018. This will involve a tricky, fuel-free braking process called aerobraking (which involves dragging the spacecraft through the top of the atmosphere in order to use the friction from the gas molecules to slow it down).

The spacecrafts mission is to find out more about the surprising trace gases, including the methane. Methane should not be present in Mars atmosphere, as it is broken up by sunlight in tens to hundreds of years, so there must be a source of it there now. The possible options are both exciting  it could either be geothermal activity or microbial lifeforms.

Searching for life

The rover itself is the jewel in the crown of the ExoMars programme, planned for launch in 2020 and arriving in 2021. There are similarities and differences with earlier landing systems, which will again use lessons learned from earlier missions.

Mars rover being tested near the Paranal Observatory (ESO)

The rover has a unique drill which will collect samples from up to two metres underneath the harsh Martian surface. This is 40 times deeper than anything else planned  the Curiosity rover can only drill five centimetres. This is below where ultraviolet light and other radiation from our sun and galaxy  which is harmful to life  can reach. It is the most likely of any planned mission to finally answer the question of whether there was, or even is, life on Mars.

Recommended European Mars probe may have exploded just before landing

The possible landing sites have been narrowed down by engineering constraints but from a number of possibilities three now remain  Oxia Planum, Mawrth Valles and Aram Dorsum. At the first two of these, data from orbit shows signs of water-rich clays (phyllosilicates), and the last one includes an ancient channel and sedimentary deposits  signs of past water erosion. The options will be narrowed down further in the next few months.

The mission is one of the most exciting in the search for life beyond Earth. Along with Jupiters moon Europa and Saturns satellite Enceladus, Mars is one of the top locations to look at. Moreover, the hardware development progress is good, with industry and academia pushing the frontiers of technology, pursuing the international teamwork needed to build and operate the mission, and learning how to work in super-clean rooms to avoid contaminating Mars with terrestrial spores.

We learn from the past and plan for the future. Space exploration is hard, particularly at Mars, and we must never give up. The ExoMars rover mission will play a key part internationally in Mars exploration, and using the lessons from the past we are poised to find the answer to one of mankinds most important questions  are we alone in the universe? Our rover might just find the answer.

This article first appeared on The Conversation (theconversation.com). Andrew Coates is a professor of physics, deputy director (solar system) at the mullard space science laboratory, at UCL
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

A neo-Nazi internet troll has been given the maximum sentence of two years for harassing Labour MP Luciana Berger in a string of anti-Jewish rants.

Joshua Bonehill-Paine wrote five hate-filled blogs about the Labour MP for Liverpool Wavertree in support of the jailed far-right extremist Garron Helm.

A jury at the Old Bailey found Bonehill-Paine guilty of racially aggravated harassment on Wednesday.

Joshua Bonehill-Paine, 23, claimed Labour MP Luciana Berger was responsible for Jesus's death (social media)

The court heard he has a history of online abuse leaving a trail of devastation in the lives of those he chose to "pick a dispute" with.

While he was posting abusive blogs about Ms Berger, Bonehill-Paine was on bail awaiting sentence for making false claims on Twitter that several people were paedophiles.

And while on police bail over the blogs, he stirred up racial hatred in a flyer for a neo-Nazi rally in Golders Green, north London.

He was jailed for three years and four months last December for the ad, which was illustrated with a picture of Nazi death camp Auschwitz which promised "an absolute gas".

Labour MP Luciana Berger speaks outside the Old Bailey after Joshua Bonehill-Paine was found guilty of harassing her (PA)

Sentencing, Mr Justice Spencer told the defendant he had "amassed a formidable record of hate crime" at the age of just 24.

He told Bonehill-Paine he was responsible for a "cruel campaign of vile racist abuse" on his "obnoxious" online newspaper.

The judge described Ms Berger's evidence in court as "restrained" and "dignified".

Brexit racism and the fightback Show all 9 1 /9 Brexit racism and the fightback Brexit racism and the fightback Demonstrators protest against an increase in post-ref racism at London's March for Europe in July 2016 PA Brexit racism and the fightback These cards were found near a school in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, the day after the EU referendum Twitter/@howgilb Brexit racism and the fightback Getty Brexit racism and the fightback Romford, Essex, June 25 @diamondgeezer Brexit racism and the fightback A worker at this Romanian food shop was asleep upstairs at the time of this arson attack in Norwich on July 8, but escaped unharmed. Hundreds later participated in a love bombing rally outside the shop to express their opposition to racism and their support of the shop owners. JustGiving/Helen Linehan Brexit racism and the fightback This neo-Nazi sticker was spotted in Glasgow on June 26 Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback But after news emerged of neo-Nazi stickers appearing in Glasgow, some in the city struck back with slogans of their own. Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback Getty Brexit racism and the fightback More signs began to appear in some parts of the UK, created by people who wanted to show their opposition to post-referendum racism Courtesy of Bernadette Russell

She told jurors that online abuse does not always stay online  a truth illustrated by the tragic death of her fellow MP Jo Cox, the judge said.

He told Bonehill-Paine: "This was gravely oppressive racially aggravated harassment of the worst kind."

The judge also imposed a criminal behaviour order, which carries a penalty of up to five years in jail, to curb his internet activities.

Under the order, he is barred from contacting Ms Berger, her former assistant and other named individuals upon his release. The order also gives officers the power to monitor his online activities for the next five years.

Additional reporting by PA
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

A young man has been shot dead in the street outside a cafe in north London.

The man, in his early 20s, was attacked early on Thursday evening in Kilburn High Road, police said.

Paramedics and police were called at 5.20pm and the man was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.

Bystanders look on after a shooting in Kilburn (Swift Cars)

Tulip Siddiq, the MP for Hampstead and Kilburn, said: "So shocking. My thoughts are with victim and his family. I'll be supporting them as much as possible."

The man's next of kin have been told and a post-mortem examination will be arranged.

No arrests have been made.

The attack happened outside Ellie's Cafe on the corner of Kilburn High Road and Netherwood Street.

Brent councillor James Denselow said on social media he was "shocked" by news of the killing.

Police said Kilburn High Road was closed while officers investigated.
Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Transport for London has revealed plans to introduce gender neutral announcements on its network of trains and buses after a transgender woman was mocked by staff.

The proposal comes after Aimee Challenor was told in November that she didnt sound like a Miss, during a call to TfLs Oyster helpline.

Representing the 19-year-old, Green Party GLA member Sian Berry challenged London Mayor Sadiq Khan to apologise for the incident and review TfLs trans awareness policies.

In his response, Mr Khan apologised unreservedly for the inappropriate remark and pledged to do more to foster equality, including potentially removing ladies and gentlemen from announcements across Londons transport network.

He also said TfL would be investigating the incident to ensure it did not happen again.

However, Ms Challenor has called on the Mayor to do more to tackle ignorance and told The Independent of her shock at her identity being called into question based on outdated stereotypes.

I just said but I am, I am Aimee Challenor, and they replied but you dont sound like a miss. I was just in shock, I didnt really know how to respond, she told The Independent.

I knew it wasnt right. London is massively diverse and its something we should be incredibly proud of so I knew it had to be raised, if it affected me it could affect anyone.

I wish that person hadnt done that and I do blame them for it in a certain sense but it also shows the TfL culture, the training isnt where it needs to be  trans has become public knowledge now.

Mr Khan, in reply to Ms Berry, said: TfLs approach is centred on treating everyone equally, while understanding the specific needs of different customers.

Under this approach it does not offer trans-specific training, but rather ensures that all staff put equality and fairness first.

I have asked for a review of training and procedures to ensure that TfL is always providing a professional, respectful service that is inclusive and sensitive to the needs of all Londoners.

Ms Berry welcomed the Mayors response, telling The Independent: No one should feel shut out of society.

She said the removal of ladies and gentlemen would be well-received by anyone who found the announcements out of date.

There are many people out there with some degree of gender variance and, with our huge population, a large number of Londoners will be trans and non binary, she told The Independent.

Gender neutral announcements will make a difference not just to trans people but to everyone who thinks being greeted as ladies and gentleman is out of date.

In November, TfLs LGBTQ staff network, OUTbound, flew a trans pride flag above its head office to mark National Trans Awareness Week, which the Mayor cited as one the ways it was working to raise awareness of the needs of the community, along with working closely with LGBTQ charities.

Nevertheless, Ms Challenor, who works as the Green Partys equalities spokesperson, said there was more work to be done.

His [Mr Khan's] response was better than we would have had this time last year but theres still steps to be done. To say TfL works with charity groups, thats a good sign but it doesnt mean the work they are doing is necessarily focusing on the right areas, she said.

In July, guidance issued by the Boarding Schools Association called on teachers to learn a new language and to address transgender pupils as zie to avoid offence.

It came after The Independent revealed a 170 per cent rise in transphobic hate crimes reported to the police over the past five years.

TfL's director of customer strategy Mark Evers told The Independent: London is a diverse city and we want every customer to feel welcome on our network. We are currently reviewing the language that we use at our stations to make sure that it is inclusive and addresses every customer, regardless of their race, gender identity, disability, age, sexual orientation or religion.
Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The Irish Government has said victims of Northern Ireland's Troubles have been let down.

The Coalition said it deeply regretted the lack of visible progress on establishing institutions to deal with the legacy of the bloody 30-year conflict.

The British Government has differences with nationalists over how to balance the need of families to find new information with the official responsibility to protect national security and prevent further loss of life.

Funding to support dozens of inquests into past killings has been withheld amid Stormont divisions.

The Irish Government said: Having been let down so many times, families such as these continue to wait with ebbing hope.

More than a year has passed since the signing of the Fresh Start Agreement, reached after 10 weeks of intensive cross-party negotiations.

It is deeply regrettable that in the time since there has been little visible progress with establishing the legacy institutions provided for under the 2014 Stormont House Agreement.

The Irish Government shares the deep disappointment and frustration of victims and survivors of the Troubles, from all communities, who have had to wait for far too long for access to truth and justice.

The Government spoke out during a meeting of Council of Europe ministers in Strasbourg.

Legacy institutions agreed following political talks between the British and Irish Governments and the local parties included the Historical Investigations Unit (HIU), an independent body tasked with investigating large numbers of outstanding criminal cases connected to the Troubles and stretching back decades.

The Government said: The Irish Government strongly urges the British Government, the Northern Ireland Executive and all interested parties, to approach this issue with the necessary resolve, leadership and compromise in the period immediately ahead, so that the process can move ahead, the necessary legislation introduced and enacted and the HIU and other legacy bodies finally established.

Legacy inquests are poorly resourced and Dublin expressed acute concern, saying they offer a critical avenue through which families may seek to finally establish the record of the deaths of their loved ones, most of whom have had to bear their loss for decades now without answers.

In February, Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland Sir Declan Morgan proposed the establishment of a Legacy Inquest Unit that could deal with 56 outstanding legacy inquests over five years, and his suggestion has secured considerable support, with the exception of Northern Ireland's largest party the DUP.

The Irish Government urged the British Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to urgently take all necessary measures to enable the legacy inquest system to conclude effective investigations, which would meet the right to life obligations on the British Government.

Battle lines: 30 years of unseen 'Troubles' art Show all 6 1 /6 Battle lines: 30 years of unseen 'Troubles' art Battle lines: 30 years of unseen 'Troubles' art 186147.bin Tom Craig Battle lines: 30 years of unseen 'Troubles' art 186148.bin PAINTINGS REPRODUCED COURTESY OF ARTS COUNCIL OF NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE TRUSTEES OF NATIONAL MUSEUMS NORTHERN IRELAND Battle lines: 30 years of unseen 'Troubles' art 186149.bin PAINTINGS REPRODUCED COURTESY OF ARTS COUNCIL OF NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE TRUSTEES OF NATIONAL MUSEUMS NORTHERN IRELAND Battle lines: 30 years of unseen 'Troubles' art 186150.bin PAINTINGS REPRODUCED COURTESY OF ARTS COUNCIL OF NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE TRUSTEES OF NATIONAL MUSEUMS NORTHERN IRELAND Battle lines: 30 years of unseen 'Troubles' art 186151.bin PAINTINGS REPRODUCED COURTESY OF ARTS COUNCIL OF NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE TRUSTEES OF NATIONAL MUSEUMS NORTHERN IRELAND Battle lines: 30 years of unseen 'Troubles' art 186152.bin PAINTINGS REPRODUCED COURTESY OF ARTS COUNCIL OF NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE TRUSTEES OF NATIONAL MUSEUMS NORTHERN IRELAND

We remain convinced that the institutional framework agreed of the Stormont House Agreement offers the best way of bringing whatever healing is possible to those bereaved and afflicted by the Troubles.

Earlier this year the Government engaged a wide range of victims and survivors groups to widen its understanding of the challenges faced by those directly impacted and said it strengthened official resolve for progress.

While we acknowledge the continuing engagement by the UK authorities to seek a way forward on the legacy bodies and with legacy inquests, this work will require intensive political engagement, commitment and a spirit of compromise, if victims and survivors are not to be let down once again.

The Irish Government will not be found wanting in this regard, and calls on the British Government, and the political leaders and parties in Northern Ireland, to renew and redouble their efforts in the period ahead.

PA
Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Strikes by Southern train drivers will go ahead next week after the operator failed in its High Court bid to stop industrial action.

Southern's parent company, Govia Thameslink, had argued the Aslef-backed walkouts would breach customer rights.

The three days of strikes will be held from 0.01am on Tuesday, December 13 to 11.59pm on Wednesday, and all day Friday.

Recommended Khan looks to scrap gender specific announcements on London transport

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said the decision meant it was time Southern came to the negotiating table.

He said: Now the company should do the right thing and sit down with us and negotiate - properly, sensibly and in good faith - to do a deal for the benefit of passengers, staff and, yes, the company, just like ScotRail did with us earlier this year.

Nick Brown, chief operating officer of Govia Thameslink Railway, said: "Naturally we are disappointed. The judge said that such unprecedented strike action by Aslef would cause massive disruption to the public.

"The judge also said the widespread use of trains using driver operation is perfectly safe both in Southern and elsewhere in the UK.

"We brought this action for the benefit of our passengers. The judge has given us permission to go to the Court of Appeal which we will now consider with our legal team."

Southern warned passengers they would face "increased disruption over the Christmas and New Year period".
Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Boris Johnson will face a diplomatically testing tour of the Middle East after accusing British ally Saudi Arabia of being behind "proxy wars".

The senior Cabinet minister was slapped down by Downing Street over his comments, with Number 10 saying his views did not represent official Government policy.

Mr Johnson will deliver a keynote speech at a major regional conference in Bahrain today before heading to Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

Theresa Mays official spokesperson said the Foreign Secretarys comments about the activities of the autocratic petro-state were his own view and did not reflect Government policy.

Ministers have previously officially refused to criticise Saudi Arabia despite widespread reports of it committing war crimes in its military campaign in Yemen and a dire human rights situation at home.

The Foreign Secretary himself has previously publicly defended the country from criticism, as well as defended the UKs sale of billion of pounds of bombs to its armed forces.

Mr Johnson however told the Med2 conference in Rome last week: There are politicians who are twisting and abusing religion and different strains of the same religion in order to further their own political objectives. Thats one of the biggest political problems in the whole region.

And the tragedy for me  and thats why you have these proxy wars being fought the whole time in that area  is that there is not strong enough leadership in the countries themselves."

He added: Thats why you've got the Saudis, Iran, everybody, moving in and puppeteering and playing proxy wars.

The footage of the conference, published in The Guardian newspaper, is embarrassing for Mr Johnson, who is due to visit the autocratic petro-state on Sunday.

A Saudi delegation was also present at the Gulf cooperation council in Bahrain this week, which Theresa May visited.

Questioned about the comments on Thursday, Downing Street said Saudi Arabia was a vital partner for the UK, particularly on counter-terrorism, and when you look at what is happening in the region, we are supportive of the Saudi-led coalition, which is working in support of the legitimate government in Yemen against Houthi rebels.

Asked again, the PMs official spokesperson said: Ive set out what the PMs views are, and those are the foreign secretarys views, they are not the governments views on Saudi and its role in the region.

He will be in Saudi Arabia on Sunday and will have the opportunity to set out the way that the UK sees the relationship with Saudi Arabia, and the work we want to do with them and other partners in the region to bring an end to the appalling conflict in Yemen, in which only last night we saw the humanitarian suffering.

Labours shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said her party had been making the same argument as Mr Johnson for months, accusing the Government of hypocrisy.

That argument has consistently been rejected by Boris Johnson in the House of Commons, but now these remarks in Italy have shown us what he really thinks, she said.

Theresa May attended a plenary session on the second day of the Gulf Cooperation Council this week (Getty)

If that is his genuine view, he needs to explain why he ordered his MPs to vote against Labours calls in October to suspend support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, until a lasting ceasefire has been brokered and until alleged violations of international humanitarian law have been properly investigated.

The Government cannot complain about Saudi Arabia's military actions one minute, then continue selling it the arms to prosecute those actions the next. We need to see some consistent principle in the UKs foreign policy, not more shabby hypocrisy.

The Liberal Democrats shadow foreign secretary Tom Brake said Mr Johnson was for once talking sense.

10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Show all 10 1 /10 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In October 2014, three lawyers, Dr Abdulrahman al-Subaihi, Bander al-Nogaithan and Abdulrahman al-Rumaih , were sentenced to up to eight years in prison for using Twitter to criticize the Ministry of Justice. AFP/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2015, Yemens Sunni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was forced into exile after a Shia-led insurgency. A Saudi Arabia-led coalition has responded with air strikes in order to reinstate Mr Hadi. It has since been accused of committing war crimes in the country. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Women who supported the Women2Drive campaign, launched in 2011 to challenge the ban on women driving vehicles, faced harassment and intimidation by the authorities. The government warned that women drivers would face arrest. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Members of the Kingdoms Shia minority, most of whom live in the oil-rich Eastern Province, continue to face discrimination that limits their access to government services and employment. Activists have received death sentences or long prison terms for their alleged participation in protests in 2011 and 2012. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses All public gatherings are prohibited under an order issued by the Interior Ministry in 2011. Those defy the ban face arrest, prosecution and imprisonment on charges such as inciting people against the authorities. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2014, the Interior Ministry stated that authorities had deported over 370,000 foreign migrants and that 18,000 others were in detention. Thousands of workers were returned to Somalia and other states where they were at risk of human rights abuses, with large numbers also returned to Yemen, in order to open more jobs to Saudi Arabians. Many migrants reported that prior to their deportation they had been packed into overcrowded makeshift detention facilities where they received little food and water and were abused by guards. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses The Saudi Arabian authorities continue to deny access to independent human rights organisations like Amnesty International, and they have been known to take punitive action, including through the courts, against activists and family members of victims who contact Amnesty. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Raif Badawi was sentenced to 1000 lashes and 10 years in prison for using his liberal blog to criticise Saudi Arabias clerics. He has already received 50 lashes, which have reportedly left him in poor health. Carsten Koall/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Dawood al-Marhoon was arrested aged 17 for participating in an anti-government protest. After refusing to spy on his fellow protestors, he was tortured and forced to sign a blank document that would later contain his confession. At Dawoods trial, the prosecution requested death by crucifixion while refusing him a lawyer. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was arrested in 2012 aged either 16 or 17 for participating in protests during the Arab spring. His sentence includes beheading and crucifixion. The international community has spoken out against the punishment and has called on Saudi Arabia to stop. He is the nephew of a prominent government dissident. Getty

He added: This will be a huge embarrassment to May as she returns from her grubby tour of the Gulf, where she did her best to ignore human rights and desperately push trade at all costs.

Andrew Smith of Campaign Against Arms Trade said: Boris Johnsons comments are a clear contrast from his public position, which has been to consistently praise the Saudi regime, despite it being one of the most abusive dictatorships in the world. If he believes them to be puppeteers for proxy wars, then why is he continuing to arm and support them?

A Foreign Office spokesman said: As the Foreign Secretary made very clear on Sunday, we are allies with Saudi Arabia and support them in their efforts to secure their borders and protect their people. Any suggestion to the contrary is wrong and misinterpreting the facts.
Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

A video has emerged of Boris Johnson disparaging the role in the Middle East of Britains ally Saudi Arabia, accusing the nation of playing proxy wars and abusing Islam for political ends.

The Foreign Secretary was very positive about Saudi-UK relations during an appearance on the BBCs Andrew Marr Show on Sunday morning.

But speaking just a few days earlier at a conference in Rome, Mr Johnson said Saudi Arabia and Iran were moving in and puppeteering in neighbouring states.

The video from the Med 2 event, published by The Guardian, shows Mr Johnson agreeing with Arab League secretary-general Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who said: The issue is [countries] using religion as an instrument of politics. That should not be.

Its release came as Prime Minister Theresa May arrived back from a visit to the Gulf where she attended a dinner with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.

In the video, Mr Johnson can be seen saying: There are politicians who are twisting and abusing religion and different strains of the same religion in order to further their own political objectives. That's one of the biggest political problems in the whole region.

And the tragedy for me - and that's why you have these proxy wars being fought the whole time in that area - is that there is not strong enough leadership in the countries themselves.

The Foreign Secretary said there were not enough "big characters" in the region who were willing to "reach out beyond their Sunni or Shia" group.

He told the conference: "That's why you've got the Saudis, Iran, everybody, moving in and puppeteering and playing proxy wars."

Mr Johnson spoke positively about the role leaders in Cyprus were playing in bringing the Turkish and Greek communities of that island together, adding: I see that in Cyprus and I have to tell you, I dont see it anywhere else in the region.

We need to have some way of encouraging visionary leadership in that area. People who can tell a story that brings people together from different factions and different religious groups into one nation. Thats what is missing.

Such comments break the longstanding convention among British ministers not to criticise the conduct of key Gulf state allies.

The UK arms industry relies heavily on exports to the region, which also hosts a number of key British military bases.

And Mr Johnson is himself due to visit the region again this weekend, and faces the prospect of having to defend his statements about Islam in particular.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "As the Foreign Secretary made very clear [to Marr] on Sunday, we are allies with Saudi Arabia and support them in their efforts to secure their borders and protect their people. Any suggestion to the contrary is wrong and misinterpreting the facts."

Speaking ahead of her Middle East visit, Ms May said earlier this week that human rights abuses by Gulf states shouldn't affect British trade policy.

She said: No doubt there will be some people in the UK who say we shouldn't seek stronger trade and security ties with these countries because of their record on human rights.

But we don't uphold our values and human rights by turning our back on this issue. We achieve far more by stepping up, engaging with these countries and working with them to encourage and support their plans for reform.

That is how Britain can be a force for good in the world as well as helping to keep our people safe and create new opportunities for business.
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Ministers have privately conceded European judges may still hold sway in post-Brexit legal disputes involving British parties, despite Theresa May vowing to end the authority of EU law.

Members of the Government have come to the conclusion as they explore the devilishly complex task of winding down the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in the UK.

The admission could be embarrassing for the Prime Minister after she said in her flagship conference speech at Tory conference that the UK is not leaving the EU only to return to the ECJs jurisdiction.

It also comes after the most senior British member of the Luxemburg court warned that it would have ultimate authority on the Brexit case currently being fought at the UKs Supreme Court.

Calling an end to the ECJs authority has formed a key plank of Ms Mays Brexit means Brexit strategy, but news of the intricate challenge now facing officials sheds light on the compromises that will lie beneath the Prime Ministers black and white rhetoric.

A Government source told The Independent: Separating EU and UK law is like separating conjoined twins. Not ones that are attached at the arm, but ones attached at the head.

You need to take it very slowly and carefully. Every single nerve, every single synapse is important and if you cut through the wrong one it could have devastating consequences.

Its going to be devilishly complex.

 Theresa May aims for 'red, white and blue Brexit'

The source pointed to the hypothetical example of a dispute over a contract between a British and an EU party, signed during a period in which European law and the European Court is supreme.

Brexit negotiators may have to decide which kinds of legal disputes can be solely settled in British courts and whether some may still be subject to the involvement of the European Court.

Alternatively, they may agree to set up a new commission, the source said, with the involvement of both European officials as well as British ones.

In her conference speech in October, Ms May set out how she would bring forward a Great Repeal Bill that will take all existing EU law into UK law and end the European Court of Justices authority in the UK.

Brexit Concerns Show all 26 1 /26 Brexit Concerns Brexit Concerns Brexit will put British patients at 'back of the queue' for new drugs Brexit will put British patients at the back of the queue for vital new drugs, the Government has been warned  forcing them to wait up to two years longer A medicines regulator has raised the alarm over a likely decision to pull out of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as well as the EU itself. ealth Secretary Jeremy Hunt dropped the bombshell , when he said he expected the UK would quit the EMA  because it is subject to rulings by the European Court of Justice. Getty Images Brexit Concerns London to lose status as 'gateway to Europe' for banks One of Germanys top banking regulators has warned that London could lose its status as gateway to Europe for the banking sector after Britain quits the European trading bloc. Andreas Dombret, who is an executive board member for the BundesbankGermanys central banktold a private meeting of German businesses and banks earlier this week in Frankfurt that even if banking rules were equivalent between the UK and the rest of the EU, that was still miles away from [Britain having] access to the single market, the BBC reports. Jason Hawkes Brexit Concerns Exodus The number of financial sector professionals in Britain and continental Europe looking for jobs in Ireland rocketed in the months after the UK voted to leave the European Union Shutterstock Brexit Concerns Brexit is making FTSE 100 executives richer Pay packages of many FTSE 100 chief executive officers are partly tied to how well share prices are doing rather than the CEOs performance -- and some stocks are soaring. ritish equities got a boost since the June vote because the likes of Rio Tinto, Smiths Group and WPP generate most sales abroad and earn a fortune when they convert these revenues back into the weakened pound. Sterlings fall also made UK stocks more affordable for overseas investors. Rex Brexit Concerns Theresa May: UK to leave single market Theresa May has said the UK "cannot possibly" remain within the European single market, as staying in it would mean "not leaving the EU at all". Getty Brexit Concerns Lead campaigner Gina Miller and her team outside the High Court Getty Brexit Concerns Raymond McCord holds up his newly issued Irish passport alongside his British passport outside the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns SDLP leader Colum Eastwood leaving the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns Migrants with luggage walk past a graffiti on a wall as they leave the 'Jungle' migrant camp, as part of a major three-day operation planned to clear the camp in Calais Getty Brexit Concerns Migrants leave messages on their tents in the Jungle migrant camp Getty Brexit Concerns The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (Adra) which distributes approximately 700 meals daily in the northern Paris camp states that it is noticing a spike in new migrant arrivals this week, potentially linked the the Calais 'jungle' camp closure - with around 1000 meals distributed today EPA Brexit Concerns Migrant workers pick apples at Stocks Farm in Suckley, Britain Reuters Brexit Concerns Many farmers across the country are voicing concerns that Brexit could be a dangerous step into the unknown for the farming industry Getty Brexit Concerns Bank of England governor Mark Carney who said the long-term outlook for the UK economy is positive, but growth was slowing in the wake of the Brexit vote PA Brexit Concerns The Dow Jones industrial average closed down over 600 points on the news with markets around the globe pluninging Getty Brexit Concerns Immigration officers deal with each member of the public seeking entry into the United Kingdom but on average, 10 a day are refused entry at this London airport and between 2008 and 2009, 33,100 people were detained at the airport for mainly passport irregularities Getty Brexit Concerns A number of global investment giants have threatened to move their European operations out of London if Brexit proves to have a negative impact on their businesses Getty Brexit Concerns Following the possibility of a Brexit the UK would be released from its renewable energy targets under the EU Renewable Energy Directive and from EU state aid restrictions, potentially giving the government more freedom both in the design and phasing out of renewable energy support regimes Getty Brexit Concerns A woman looking at a chart showing the drop in the pound (Sterling) against the US Dollar in London after Britain voted to leave the EU Getty Brexit Concerns Young protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, to protest against the United Kingdom's decision to leave the EU following the referendum Getty Brexit Concerns Applications from Northern Ireland citizens for Irish Passports has soared to a record high after the UK Voted in favour of Leaving the EU Getty Brexit Concerns NFU Vice President Minette Batters with Secretary of State, Andrea Leadsome at the National Farmers Union (NFU) took machinery, produce, farmers and staff to Westminster to encourage Members of Parliament to back British farming, post Brexit Getty Brexit Concerns The latest reports released by the UK Cabinet Office warn that expats would lose a range of specific rights to live, to work and to access pensions, healthcare and public services. The same reports added that UK citizens abroad would not be able to assume that these rights will be guaranteed in the future Getty Brexit Concerns A British resident living in Spain asks questions during an informative Brexit talk by the "Brexpats in Spain" group, about Spanish legal issues to become Spanish citizens, at the town hall in Benalmadena, Spain Reuters Brexit Concerns The collapse of Great Britain appears to have been greatly exaggerated given the late summer crowds visiting city museums, hotels, and other important tourist attractions Getty Brexit Concerns The U.K. should maintain European Union regulations covering everything from working hours to chemicals until after the government sets out its plans for Brexit, said British manufacturers anxious to avoid a policy vacuum and safeguard access to their biggest export market Getty

She told applauding party members: Its effect will be clear. Our laws will be made not in Brussels but in Westminster. The judges interpreting those laws will sit not in Luxembourg but in courts in this country. The authority of EU law in Britain will end.

The Prime Minister later added: We are not leaving [the EU] only to return to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.

Advocate General Eleanor Sharpston QC, the ECJs most senior British member, has previously said that the Luxemburg body would hold sway over the Brexit case currently being heard at the Supreme Court in London if it were referred to it.

She said that the 28 member ECJ was fully aware of the sensitivity and delicacy and constitutional importance of the issue, adding that a European ruling could take between four and eight months in the event of a referral.

A top lawyer earlier told the Supreme Court that triggering Brexit will frustrate or render insensible a large number of UK laws and is a reason why Parliament must be involved.

Lord Pannick QC is asking 11 justices in the highest court in the land to rule that Government ministers have no power to use the royal prerogative to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and start the two-year process of withdrawing from the EU without the prior authority of Parliament.

He is representing Gina Miller, the investment fund manager and philanthropist who won a historic High Court ruling on November 3 that Theresa May lacked prerogative powers to notify Article 50 without consulting MPs.

Lord Pannick said the June referendum which resulted in a clear majority in favour of leaving the EU was a very important matter but had nothing to do with the legal issue before the court, which concerned who has the power to notify?

On the third day of a four-day hearing, he told the judges an important issue to consider was the impact of notification on UK statutes bound up with EU laws and directives.

Lord Pannick said it was in fact the view of Brexit Secretary David Davis, who is leading the Government's appeal against the High Court ruling, that some legislation simply will not work on exit from the EU.

When the court is asking itself whether the Secretary of State has prerogative powers to notify, it is an important dimension of the argument that that which he seeks to do will frustrate and render insensible a large number of statutory provisions.

Lord Pannick submitted that the Government must obtain parliamentary approval in order to take steps which would have such an effect.
Verkhovna Rada deputy Oles Dovhy has confirmed meeting his colleague MP Oleksandr Onyshchenko in Genoa, Italy and in London, United Kingdom. He said during the meetings he recommended that Onyshchenko and his family cooperate with investigators looking into losses suffered by Ukraine's state budget.

"Onyshchenko is a member of the People's Will group of lawmakers in parliament, the group I am the secretary of. We had a normal, standard relationship as MP colleagues, although, as is known, he rarely attended parliamentary plenary sessions. The story leading up to our conversation began before the Rada vote to strip Onyshchenko of his immunity of prosecution as a parliament deputy. During the session, MPs from our group decided to ring him up in order to learn his position. Onyshchenko asked us not to vote because he considered the charges against him unfounded. Each of us heeded his recommendation on this question. Keeping the deputy group was important to each of us at this time," Dovhy said in an interview with the Interfax-Ukraine.

According to Dovhy, he first met Onyshchenko in Italy.

"I was with my family touring Genoa. Onyshchenko called and asked for a meeting  He said lots of things, but I remember that what irked him the most was that his mother was also accused [of wrongdoing]. Namely she was in danger of being sent to jail. A 73-year old woman! He asked for help and advice, inquiring what support our deputy group could give him. I took time to think about whether I would do something that could help him," Dovhy explained.

The second time we met was in London.

"I returned to Ukraine and consulted with lawyers. They gave legal advice about the situation and made recommendations. Onyshchenko called several times and asked, 'Well, what's up? Well, when?" When the legal position was formulated, I flew to London on his advice in order to understand the recommendations of the lawyers. They said Onyshchenko's mother could cut a deal with prosecutors based on her advanced age  I told him the case boiled down to, 'Return the money to the budget so you can sleep peacefully," Dovhy said.

The MP said during the meetings he represented the People's Will parliamentary group, the same as what Onyshchenko said.

Dovhy did not confirm the authenticity of the recordings leaked to media of purported conversations with deputies.

"I have not listened to the snippets and do not intend to, because I remember our conversation and the circumstances perfectly well," Dovhy said.

Ukraine's parliament during the summer of 2016 voted to strip Onyshchenko of his immunity and gave permission for his arrest. The MP failed to appear in the parliament chamber. He earlier said he had not intention to return to Ukraine because he had been set up and, "They decided to whatever it took [against me]."

Head of Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) has said Onyshchenko, as the beneficiary of companies operating under Ukrgazvydobuvannia organized a criminal group with the aim of embezzling funds of the company.
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Pro-EU MPs insist Theresa May has not been given the green light to pursue a hard Brexit, despite last nights overwhelming Commons backing for her timetable.

Labour is facing a backlash after it supported the prime ministers policy to invoke Article 50 by 31 March 2017 in return for a vague commitment that she must publish a plan before then.

A total of 23 Labour MPs defied their party leadership  and dozens more abstained  but the motion passed with a huge majority of 372, to the delight of Brexit supporters.

The vote is widely seen as a clear sign that few MPs will obstruct the process, regardless of the legal battle in the Supreme Court over whether they must give their consent.

Today, one of those rebels  former minister Ben Bradshaw  did not criticise Labours tactics, saying Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer was doing a brilliant job.

But he insisted the Commons fight was far from over, predicting future votes on membership of the single market, of the customs union and on the rights of EU citizens.

On the Conservative side, former Attorney General Dominic Grieve said MPs would continue to push back against the appalling damage that could be inflicted by a botched Brexit.

Mr Bradshaw told Radio 4s Today programme: I was not prepared, yesterday, to commit myself to what I believe to be a rushed, ill-thought through and unnecessarily tight timetable, given the German and French elections.

On the promised plan, he said: I suspect that, when they come up with not very much, more people  including quite a number of Conservatives  may be prepared to vote differently.

There was a huge cross-party majority to retain, at the very least, tariff-free access to the single market, he said, adding: Thats what we need to explore in this process.

Mr Grieve voted for the motion, believing a significant concession had been extracted by Labour in the form of the plan that must now be produced.

He agreed with the suggestion that last nights vote was merely a grand opinion poll of MPs  when it was legal changes that mattered.

Mr Grieve said: We have an absolute entitlement - indeed a duty, as members of parliament  to try to safeguard the interests and well-being of our constituents.

We do not govern in this country by referendum or, for that matter, by parliamentary motions in the House of Commons.

But the euphoria of pro-Brexit MPs was summed up by Iain Duncan Smith, who said the Commons had given Ms May a blank cheque to get on with it and trigger Article 50 by the end of March.

The 23 Labour MPs who voted against the Government amendment to give backing to the March timetable included three shadow ministers - Tulip Siddiq, Catherine West and Daniel Zeichner.

The Labour party has not said whether any action will be taken against them for defying the whip, which has traditionally been viewed as a sackable offence.

The trio were also among nine Labour MPs who voted against the amended motion, with its requirement for publishing the Governments plan for leaving the EU before Article 50 is invoked.
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Theresa May has admitted that EU leaders will seek to punish Britain in the Brexit talks to stop the break-up of the bloc.

The Prime Minister acknowledged that things will be said in the negotiations, because of a determination to prevent other countries being tempted to copy the exit vote.

They dont want to see others looking to break away and to vote to leave in the way the UK has done, she said in a newspaper interview.

It is the closest Ms May has come to admitting that Britain will not be able to have its cake and eat it  in Boris Johnsons celebrated and much-mocked phrase.

The comment follows numerous EU leaders insisting they will not allow Britain to break away with a better deal than it currently enjoys as a member.

In particular, they have slapped down any suggestion that both single-market membership and curbs on the free movement of EU people will be offered.

This week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel made clear the UK will not be allowed to "cherry pick" from the four freedoms - including freedom of movement - required for single market membership.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Ms May tried to prepare the ground for the tough talks to come, after several of her own backbenchers crowed that Britain will hold the whip hand.

However, she played down suggestions that Ms Merkel alone, as the leader of the EUs most economically powerful country, holds the key to the kind of Brexit Britain will get.

She said: I think it's also important to build a relationship with others sitting around the European table. There are 27 member states which will be negotiating.

And she added: What I've been saying to people is I want to see as smooth and orderly a process as possible.

Of course, it's going to be complex because there's a lot to deal with. You're not a member of something for 40-odd years and then it's easy.

Some MPs have urged Ms May to delay the triggering of the Article 50 exit clause which will kick-start the two-year withdrawal talks  until the end of 2017, after elections in Germany and France.

But the Prime Minister said: It's important that we don't leave it for too long, otherwise people will lose faith in their politicians. They'll think that we're trying to pull the wool over their eyes.

Ms May also said she had tried to encourage a much more open and free discussion" about policy among Cabinet ministers, in a far formal way than her predecessor David Cameron.

And, after accusations that being photographed in 1,000 leather trousers made her look out of touch, she insisted she was not bothered by commentary about her clothes.

"Do I worry about people focusing on what I wear? No," the Prime Minister said.

There's a story that might illustrate why. A few years ago I got into a lift in the House of Commons with a young woman who happened to be wearing a nice pair of shoes and I said: 'Oh, nice shoes.' And she said she liked my shoes as well. And then she looked at me and said: 'Your shoes got me into politics'.

The interview also notes that Ms May has a verbatim account of the words she uttered on July 13, as she entered No 10 for the first time, hung on the wall of her office waiting room.

In that speech, she promised to learn the wider lessons of Brexit, arguing that the vote to leave the EU was also a rejection of the economic consequences of globalisation.
Lead claimant in the Article 50 case, Gina Miller arrives at the Supreme Court in London (EPA)

Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The Government's Brexit plans are so flawed "even a six year old child could see it", the Supreme Court has been told.

The claims were made by Richard Gordon QC, Law Officer of the Welsh Government, who told the court Welsh politicians should be allowed to approve plans to trigger Article 50.

The Supreme Court was hearing final arguments in the Brexit legal challenge as the case entered its fourth and final day.

Opponents to the Government's Brexit plans outlined their case; with representatives of Wales, Scotland, ex-pats and children's rights putting their case to judges.

The Government's lawyers then had their final opportunity to refute the claims and make their case that Theresa May has sufficient authority to trigger Article 50 without a vote from MPs. The argued the 2015 Referendum Act which outlined the terms of the EU referendum did not specify who could trigger Article 50.

Latest updates:

Please wait a moment for the live blog to load:

All 11 of the Supreme Court justices, who are the most senior judges in the UK, heard the case and have now retired to reach their decision.

A judgment is expected to be announced early in the new year.
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

A vote by MPs to back Theresa Mays Brexit plans was not legally binding, the Governments lawyers have admitted.

James Eadie QC made the concession during the final day of Supreme Court appeal which is considering whether the Prime Minister has sufficient authority to trigger Article 50 without a vote by MPs.

Amid growing concerns about Ms Mays Brexit plans, 461 MPs voted in favour of a proposal to force the Prime Minister to stick to her proposed timetable of triggering Article 50 by March, the mechanism that starts the process for the UK to leave the European Union. 89 MPs rebelled and voted against the proposal.

Commenting on the motion, Mr Eadie told the Supreme Court: No doubt it is not legally binding, but that doesnt mean it isnt legally significant.

Following the motion, Gina Miller, who is one of the chief claimants bringing the case against the Government, said in a statement: Parliament debating and voting on a motion or resolution simply wont suffice. I hope that the Supreme Court will uphold the High Court ruling that Article 50 cannot be triggered using the royal prerogative.

We do not believe the motion in Parliament has any bearing on our case. Our case has nothing to do with politics  it concerns legal process and the constitution. It is not about if we leave the EU, it is about how we leave the EU.

Both parties appeared before the court to make final submissions on behalf of the Government in the Supreme Court Appeal on Article 50. The court also heard submissions from representatives of the Welsh and Scottish governments as to why the devolved parliaments should be entitled to vote on Article 50 too.

Law Officer for the Welsh Assembly Richard Gordon QC told the court flaws in the Governments plans are so obvious a six-year-old child could see them.

The court also heard arguments on behalf of ex-pats living in EU countries and a representative of children who could lose rights due to EU withdrawal. They argue that only parliament can enact decisions to remove British citizens rights and as Brexit would entail this, only MPs can trigger Article 50.

The Governments lawyers argue Theresa May has authority to do so alone as the 2015 Referendum Act which outlined the Brexit vote did not specify who can trigger Article 50.

The Supreme Court is hearing the appeal case which was referred to them by the Government after the High Court ruled against their favour last month.

The Supreme Courts 11 justices have now retired to consider the case. A judgment is expected early in January. If the justices find against the Government, Ms May could ask for the case to be referred to European courts for further consideration however this would be considered highly contentious given the nature of the Brexit case.
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron is facing his own revolt over Brexit, after MPs criticised his fight against the Article 50 exit notice.

Rebels say they cannot face their voters if they have given the impression they are failing to accept the result of the referendum.

One said the Lib Dems should rise above meaningless gesture politics and party political games he said were played by Labour and the Tories in the Commons this week and be fully focussed on fighting for the best possible Brexit deal.

Three of Mr Farron's MPs  a third of his shrunken Commons party  failed to obey his instruction to vote against Theresa Mays rapid timetable for withdrawal on Wednesday, with the rebellion threatening to undermine his claim that only the Liberal Democrats are providing a real opposition to the Conservative Brexit government.

It could also stymie the momentum the Lib Dems gained with a stunning victory in last weeks Richmond Park by-election, built on the partys staunch opposition to Brexit.

The Independent has learned that Mr Farron faced strong criticism when he told his MPs to vote against a Government amendment to give backing to the Prime Ministers policy to invoke Article 50 by 31 March 2017.

In the end, three of the other eight Lib Dem MPs  Norman Lamb (North Norfolk), Greg Mulholland (Leeds North West) and John Pugh (Southport)  all abstained.

Mr Mulholland told The Independent: I am not prepared to give the impression that I do not accept the result of the referendum, or that I am seeking to block it.

 Tim Farron reacts to Richmond by-election win

The motion clearly stated that that the result of the referendum must be respected, so voting against it could be taken as not doing so.

He added: What is actually important are not meaningless gesture politics and party political games, it is working to ensure that Britain has the closest, strongest relationship we can with EU countries.

Mr Pugh said the Lib Dems must not give people the impression we are sore losers or that the party wanted to stop the negotiation process itself from happening.

He added: That is why we must be careful about putting any and every obstacle in the way of exploring the options.

Even leavers will eventually realise they cannot have their cake and eat it - but trying to snatch their cake off them just now might not be the best way to persuade them.

Brexit Concerns Show all 26 1 /26 Brexit Concerns Brexit Concerns Brexit will put British patients at 'back of the queue' for new drugs Brexit will put British patients at the back of the queue for vital new drugs, the Government has been warned  forcing them to wait up to two years longer A medicines regulator has raised the alarm over a likely decision to pull out of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as well as the EU itself. ealth Secretary Jeremy Hunt dropped the bombshell , when he said he expected the UK would quit the EMA  because it is subject to rulings by the European Court of Justice. Getty Images Brexit Concerns London to lose status as 'gateway to Europe' for banks One of Germanys top banking regulators has warned that London could lose its status as gateway to Europe for the banking sector after Britain quits the European trading bloc. Andreas Dombret, who is an executive board member for the BundesbankGermanys central banktold a private meeting of German businesses and banks earlier this week in Frankfurt that even if banking rules were equivalent between the UK and the rest of the EU, that was still miles away from [Britain having] access to the single market, the BBC reports. Jason Hawkes Brexit Concerns Exodus The number of financial sector professionals in Britain and continental Europe looking for jobs in Ireland rocketed in the months after the UK voted to leave the European Union Shutterstock Brexit Concerns Brexit is making FTSE 100 executives richer Pay packages of many FTSE 100 chief executive officers are partly tied to how well share prices are doing rather than the CEOs performance -- and some stocks are soaring. ritish equities got a boost since the June vote because the likes of Rio Tinto, Smiths Group and WPP generate most sales abroad and earn a fortune when they convert these revenues back into the weakened pound. Sterlings fall also made UK stocks more affordable for overseas investors. Rex Brexit Concerns Theresa May: UK to leave single market Theresa May has said the UK "cannot possibly" remain within the European single market, as staying in it would mean "not leaving the EU at all". Getty Brexit Concerns Lead campaigner Gina Miller and her team outside the High Court Getty Brexit Concerns Raymond McCord holds up his newly issued Irish passport alongside his British passport outside the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns SDLP leader Colum Eastwood leaving the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns Migrants with luggage walk past a graffiti on a wall as they leave the 'Jungle' migrant camp, as part of a major three-day operation planned to clear the camp in Calais Getty Brexit Concerns Migrants leave messages on their tents in the Jungle migrant camp Getty Brexit Concerns The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (Adra) which distributes approximately 700 meals daily in the northern Paris camp states that it is noticing a spike in new migrant arrivals this week, potentially linked the the Calais 'jungle' camp closure - with around 1000 meals distributed today EPA Brexit Concerns Migrant workers pick apples at Stocks Farm in Suckley, Britain Reuters Brexit Concerns Many farmers across the country are voicing concerns that Brexit could be a dangerous step into the unknown for the farming industry Getty Brexit Concerns Bank of England governor Mark Carney who said the long-term outlook for the UK economy is positive, but growth was slowing in the wake of the Brexit vote PA Brexit Concerns The Dow Jones industrial average closed down over 600 points on the news with markets around the globe pluninging Getty Brexit Concerns Immigration officers deal with each member of the public seeking entry into the United Kingdom but on average, 10 a day are refused entry at this London airport and between 2008 and 2009, 33,100 people were detained at the airport for mainly passport irregularities Getty Brexit Concerns A number of global investment giants have threatened to move their European operations out of London if Brexit proves to have a negative impact on their businesses Getty Brexit Concerns Following the possibility of a Brexit the UK would be released from its renewable energy targets under the EU Renewable Energy Directive and from EU state aid restrictions, potentially giving the government more freedom both in the design and phasing out of renewable energy support regimes Getty Brexit Concerns A woman looking at a chart showing the drop in the pound (Sterling) against the US Dollar in London after Britain voted to leave the EU Getty Brexit Concerns Young protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, to protest against the United Kingdom's decision to leave the EU following the referendum Getty Brexit Concerns Applications from Northern Ireland citizens for Irish Passports has soared to a record high after the UK Voted in favour of Leaving the EU Getty Brexit Concerns NFU Vice President Minette Batters with Secretary of State, Andrea Leadsome at the National Farmers Union (NFU) took machinery, produce, farmers and staff to Westminster to encourage Members of Parliament to back British farming, post Brexit Getty Brexit Concerns The latest reports released by the UK Cabinet Office warn that expats would lose a range of specific rights to live, to work and to access pensions, healthcare and public services. The same reports added that UK citizens abroad would not be able to assume that these rights will be guaranteed in the future Getty Brexit Concerns A British resident living in Spain asks questions during an informative Brexit talk by the "Brexpats in Spain" group, about Spanish legal issues to become Spanish citizens, at the town hall in Benalmadena, Spain Reuters Brexit Concerns The collapse of Great Britain appears to have been greatly exaggerated given the late summer crowds visiting city museums, hotels, and other important tourist attractions Getty Brexit Concerns The U.K. should maintain European Union regulations covering everything from working hours to chemicals until after the government sets out its plans for Brexit, said British manufacturers anxious to avoid a policy vacuum and safeguard access to their biggest export market Getty

Mr Lamb made similar comments to his local paper, saying: I dont feel comfortable with having voted for the referendum in the first place - as we all did - and to then vote to block the triggering of the Article.

I think it would be inconsistent therefore for me to oppose tonight.

Mr Lamb also hinted at the difficulties of representing a Leave-voting constituency, adding: I have the farming community talking to me about this.

The revolt has parallels with the immediate aftermath of the referendum result, when Mr Farron was pulled back from a policy of supporting re-joining the EU after Brexit.

Since Wednesday, the focus has been on Labours internal troubles after 23 MPs defied their party leadership  and dozens more abstained  by failing to vote for the amendment.

They said their party had failed to extract a higher enough price in return, with only a vague commitment that Ms May must publish a plan before then.

The Lib Dems declined to comment on the three abstentions.
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The former Attorney General has called on Theresa May to disassociate herself with newspapers vitriolic attack on the judiciary for backing greater parliamentary scrutiny of Brexit.

Senior Conservative MP Dominic Grieve said it was not good enough for Ms May and other government ministers to stand back after three High Court judges were branded enemies of the people by newspapers such as the Daily Mail.

The paper accused the Lord Chief Justice and two other senior judges of declaring war on democracy after they ruled that the Government must get the approval of Parliament before triggering Article 50  which formally starts the process to leave the European Union.

He told the Guardian: It is the duty of parliamentarians to stand up for the independence of the judiciary, and my complaint about the government over this matter was that it simply said we believe in the independence of the judiciary and we believe in the independence of the press.

Well, I believe in the freedom of the press as well but that doesnt mean to say Im neutral to the way in which the press expresses itself. And seeing that the government was a party to this litigation I think it was particularly important that it should disassociate itself completely from the sort of sentiments being expressed by the Daily Mail.

The Beaconsfield MP, who backed the Remain side during the EU referendum, said judges were human beings who were capable of making mistakes so it was perfectly legitimate to criticise them but what was outrageous about the Daily Mail coverage is it was mere vitriolic abuse.

How four newspapers  the Daily Mail, The Sun, Daily Express and The Daily Telegraph  reported the High Court Brexit ruling

He added that he found it worrying that the newspaper appears to believe in British values but attacked the judges for doing exactly what is required of them in our constitutional set up.

It comes as the Supreme Court is hearing the Governments appeal against the High Court decision.

Lawyers acting for the Government have argued it has the authority to trigger Article 50 on its own as does not need parliamentary consent on matters of foreign policy but lawyers acting for Gina Miller and Deir Dos Santos, who brought the claim to the High Court, say the Government cannot take away British citizens rights without the consent of parliament.

Meanwhile, Ms Miller said she was no longer able to travel on public transport due to the abuse she had suffered since the High Court ruling.

Brexit Concerns Show all 26 1 /26 Brexit Concerns Brexit Concerns Brexit will put British patients at 'back of the queue' for new drugs Brexit will put British patients at the back of the queue for vital new drugs, the Government has been warned  forcing them to wait up to two years longer A medicines regulator has raised the alarm over a likely decision to pull out of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as well as the EU itself. ealth Secretary Jeremy Hunt dropped the bombshell , when he said he expected the UK would quit the EMA  because it is subject to rulings by the European Court of Justice. Getty Images Brexit Concerns London to lose status as 'gateway to Europe' for banks One of Germanys top banking regulators has warned that London could lose its status as gateway to Europe for the banking sector after Britain quits the European trading bloc. Andreas Dombret, who is an executive board member for the BundesbankGermanys central banktold a private meeting of German businesses and banks earlier this week in Frankfurt that even if banking rules were equivalent between the UK and the rest of the EU, that was still miles away from [Britain having] access to the single market, the BBC reports. Jason Hawkes Brexit Concerns Exodus The number of financial sector professionals in Britain and continental Europe looking for jobs in Ireland rocketed in the months after the UK voted to leave the European Union Shutterstock Brexit Concerns Brexit is making FTSE 100 executives richer Pay packages of many FTSE 100 chief executive officers are partly tied to how well share prices are doing rather than the CEOs performance -- and some stocks are soaring. ritish equities got a boost since the June vote because the likes of Rio Tinto, Smiths Group and WPP generate most sales abroad and earn a fortune when they convert these revenues back into the weakened pound. Sterlings fall also made UK stocks more affordable for overseas investors. Rex Brexit Concerns Theresa May: UK to leave single market Theresa May has said the UK "cannot possibly" remain within the European single market, as staying in it would mean "not leaving the EU at all". Getty Brexit Concerns Lead campaigner Gina Miller and her team outside the High Court Getty Brexit Concerns Raymond McCord holds up his newly issued Irish passport alongside his British passport outside the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns SDLP leader Colum Eastwood leaving the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns Migrants with luggage walk past a graffiti on a wall as they leave the 'Jungle' migrant camp, as part of a major three-day operation planned to clear the camp in Calais Getty Brexit Concerns Migrants leave messages on their tents in the Jungle migrant camp Getty Brexit Concerns The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (Adra) which distributes approximately 700 meals daily in the northern Paris camp states that it is noticing a spike in new migrant arrivals this week, potentially linked the the Calais 'jungle' camp closure - with around 1000 meals distributed today EPA Brexit Concerns Migrant workers pick apples at Stocks Farm in Suckley, Britain Reuters Brexit Concerns Many farmers across the country are voicing concerns that Brexit could be a dangerous step into the unknown for the farming industry Getty Brexit Concerns Bank of England governor Mark Carney who said the long-term outlook for the UK economy is positive, but growth was slowing in the wake of the Brexit vote PA Brexit Concerns The Dow Jones industrial average closed down over 600 points on the news with markets around the globe pluninging Getty Brexit Concerns Immigration officers deal with each member of the public seeking entry into the United Kingdom but on average, 10 a day are refused entry at this London airport and between 2008 and 2009, 33,100 people were detained at the airport for mainly passport irregularities Getty Brexit Concerns A number of global investment giants have threatened to move their European operations out of London if Brexit proves to have a negative impact on their businesses Getty Brexit Concerns Following the possibility of a Brexit the UK would be released from its renewable energy targets under the EU Renewable Energy Directive and from EU state aid restrictions, potentially giving the government more freedom both in the design and phasing out of renewable energy support regimes Getty Brexit Concerns A woman looking at a chart showing the drop in the pound (Sterling) against the US Dollar in London after Britain voted to leave the EU Getty Brexit Concerns Young protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, to protest against the United Kingdom's decision to leave the EU following the referendum Getty Brexit Concerns Applications from Northern Ireland citizens for Irish Passports has soared to a record high after the UK Voted in favour of Leaving the EU Getty Brexit Concerns NFU Vice President Minette Batters with Secretary of State, Andrea Leadsome at the National Farmers Union (NFU) took machinery, produce, farmers and staff to Westminster to encourage Members of Parliament to back British farming, post Brexit Getty Brexit Concerns The latest reports released by the UK Cabinet Office warn that expats would lose a range of specific rights to live, to work and to access pensions, healthcare and public services. The same reports added that UK citizens abroad would not be able to assume that these rights will be guaranteed in the future Getty Brexit Concerns A British resident living in Spain asks questions during an informative Brexit talk by the "Brexpats in Spain" group, about Spanish legal issues to become Spanish citizens, at the town hall in Benalmadena, Spain Reuters Brexit Concerns The collapse of Great Britain appears to have been greatly exaggerated given the late summer crowds visiting city museums, hotels, and other important tourist attractions Getty Brexit Concerns The U.K. should maintain European Union regulations covering everything from working hours to chemicals until after the government sets out its plans for Brexit, said British manufacturers anxious to avoid a policy vacuum and safeguard access to their biggest export market Getty

She said she no longer left the house and had received death threats.

On Wednesday, a 55-year-old man was arrested in Swindon on suspicion of racially-aggravated malicious communications.

A spokesman for the London Metropolitan police said they had also issued a cease and desist notice to a 38-year-old man from Fife in Scotland.
Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

British authorities must begin properly investigating so-called honour killings of UK women committed abroad to escape the reach of justice, MPs have said.

Naz Shah and Kate Osamor were speaking in light of the death of Seeta Kaur, whose family alleges she was murdered by her husband while on a trip to India last year in a classic case of honour killing.

The 33-year-olds family was told by her husband that she died of a sudden heart attack, but they say they have amassed considerable evidence that she was in fact strangled for disobeying him.

Lawyers and campaigners acting for the family have drawn parallels between Ms Kaurs death and those of other British women who have died in similar circumstances on visits to India and Pakistan  including Samia Shahid, whose case Labour MP Ms Shah has championed.

Until we sent a clear message to people not just in this country but abroad that actually you cannot commit this crime and get away with it  until we have some prosecutions from the British police, Im not convinced were going to get there, Ms Shah said at an event in Parliament calling for a UK investigation on Ms Kaurs death.

She added that there was increasingly some awareness of the issue of women being killed in the manner alleged but that responses by authorities had been uneven in different parts of he country.

Kate Osamor, a Labour MP in whose Edmonton constituency Ms Kaur lived, said: It is the extraterritorial nature of this crime that has made it so difficult to seek Justice for Seeta.

Honour killings should not be side-lined as an issue affecting only certain communities. This is a feminist issue.

Ms Kaurs family say her body was secretly cremated against their will before an autopsy could be arranged and that there is no official cause of death listed on her death certificate. They say they saw bruising on her body consistent with strangulation and that they have amassed 26 witness statements corroborating allegations that she was a long-term victim of domestic violence.

The family also say they have evidence that Ms Kaur was under pressure to give up one of her sons to her husbands brother and his wife in India, who were childless and wanted a male heir.

They alleged that Ms Kaurs husband resigned his job, tried to sell his car and cancelled his car insurance before the trip.

Speaking at the same event, Pranga Patel, director of the campaign group Southall Black Sisters, said there was a difference between police responses to the deaths of non-white British nationals and white British nationals.

It seems as if theres a more proactive response when white British nationals are killed abroad but no when they are non-white British nationals, she said, citing the cases of Madaline McCann and the killing of British backpackers in Thailand.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

Shamik Dutta, a lawyer acting for the family, said: If our police forces are serious about honour based violence and honour-based killing they must recognise the extraterritorial nature of that crime and make sure that perpetrators do not feel they have anywhere to hide.

If they do not do so it only encourages that conduct and does nothing to any of those who seek to commit those offences.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: The Metropolitan Police Service is aware of the tragic death of young mother, Seeta Saini, in India in 2015.

We are in the process of responding to a number of queries raised with us by a firm of solicitors acting on behalf of the family of Seeta.

We are unable to comment publicly on the detail of this response, as it is only right that we communicate in the first instance with the family.
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Theresa May has played down suggestions that German Chancellor Angela Merkel holds the key to the kind of Brexit Britain can expect to get.

As leader of the European Union's most populous and economically powerful country, Mrs Merkel is widely viewed as the strongest influence on the EU's approach to Brexit and her comments are scrutinised closely for clues to her attitude.

Brexiteers argue that she will want a liberal trade regime to preserve one of Germany's largest export markets for luxury products like cars, while others warn that Berlin's priority will be to send a signal to other EU states that quitting the 28-nation bloc has consequences.

She said on Wednesday that the UK would not be allowed to cherry pick from the four freedoms - including freedom of movement - required as a condition of single market membership.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Mrs May insisted it was important to deal with all 27 of the other EU states and not simply focus on Germany.

She acknowledged that the two-year negotiation - which MPs voted on Wednesday should be triggered by the end of March - will not be easy and acknowledged that the remaining EU countries do not want to see a repeat of the June 23 Leave vote in other member states.

Discussing the role of Mrs Merkel - who faces a re-election battle in the autumn of 2017 - in the Brexit process, Mrs May said: I think it's also important to build a relationship with others sitting around the European table. There are 27 member states which will be negotiating.

She suggested the atmosphere in talks will be tense: They don't want to see others looking to break away and to vote to leave in the way the UK has done. Things will be said. I think it's important for us to build up the relationship with the people we're negotiating with.

And she added: What I've been saying to people is I want to see as smooth and orderly a process as possible. Of course, it's going to be complex because there's a lot to deal with. You're not a member of something for 40-odd years and then it's easy.

There have been suggestions that Mrs May should delay the invocation of Article 50 of the EU treaties - which kicks off the two-year withdrawal negotiation - until the end of 2017, after the German vote and the presidential poll in France.

But this idea was given short shrift in the House of Commons by Brexit Secretary David Davis, who pointed out there were at least 15 elections scheduled to take place in Europe during the negotiation period.

Mrs May told the FT: It's important that we don't leave it for too long, otherwise people will lose faith in their politicians, they'll think that we're trying to pull the wool over their eyes.

In a wide-ranging interview looking at her first six months as premier, Mrs May said she had tried to encourage a much more open and free discussion about policy among Cabinet ministers, reviving the system of sub-committees to take decisions in a more formal way than her predecessor David Cameron.

She once named Elizabeth I as the historical figure she most identified with, but baulked at the idea that International Trade Secretary Liam Fox could be her Francis Drake, joking: Think about the tights.

Theresa May in quotes Show all 10 1 /10 Theresa May in quotes Theresa May in quotes On being described by the former chancellor Ken Clarke as a bloody difficult woman: Politics could do with some Bloody Difficult Women actually Rex Features Theresa May in quotes On keeping secrets even from her husband: There are some things I am told that I am not able to confide in anybody Rex Features Theresa May in quotes On the relentless focus on her appearance during a speech at the Women in the World summit: "I like clothes and I like shoes. One of the challenges for women in the workplace is to be ourselves and I say you can be clever and like clothes. You can have a career and like clothes Getty Images Theresa May in quotes On comparisons to Margaret Thatcher: I think there can only ever be one Margaret Thatcher. Im not someone who naturally looks to role models. Ive always, whatever job it is Im doing at the time, given it my best shot. I put my all into it, and try to do the best job I can AFP/Getty Images Theresa May in quotes On her rebelliousness, or lack of, as a teenager: I probably was Goody Two Shoes at school Getty Images Theresa May in quotes On being replaced as chairman by Lord Saatchi and Liam Fox in 2003: Yes, it takes two men to step into the shoes of one woman AFP/Getty Images Theresa May in quotes What Theresa May said when she was asked about her political ambitions during an interview with Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, a lawyer married to Nick Clegg, in December: MD: "My very last question is: that little girl who is somewhere there, is she dreaming of becoming the next British Prime Minister?" TM: "Shes dreaming of carrying on doing a good job in the Home Office" Getty Images Theresa May in quotes On not being able to have children: I like to keep my personal life personal. We couldnt have children, we dealt with it and moved on. I hope nobody would think that mattered; I can still empathise, understand people and care about fairness and opportunity Getty Images Theresa May in quotes On whether she can deliver the mandate of the EU referendum: I think for party members and indeed for others, I would say look at my record. I think they can see that Im somebody who gets on with the job, but Im also somebody who says it as I see it and actually delivers on what I say Getty Images Theresa May in quotes On the equally relentless obsession with her shoes: As a woman I know you can be very serious about something and very soberly dressed add a little bit of interest with footwear. I always tell women you have to be yourself, dont assume you have to fit into a stereotype and if your personality is shown through your clothes or shoes, so be it Getty Images

And she brushed off suggestions that she exerted control over Tory MPs by flirting with them, after telling self-confessed fat, middle-aged male Richard Bacon to come up and see me some time at Prime Minister's Questions. Oh, perish the thought, she said, adding: I saw him yesterday. He said he had tried to lose a little weight.

After accusations that being photographed in 1,000 leather trousers made her look out of touch, Mrs May insisted she was not bothered by commentary about her clothes.

Do I worry about people focusing on what I wear? No, she said. There's a story that might illustrate why. A few years ago I got into a lift in the House of Commons with a young woman who happened to be wearing a nice pair of shoes and I said: 'Oh, nice shoes.' And she said she liked my shoes as well. And then she looked at me and said: 'Your shoes got me into politics'.

Something that can make people feel that they can approach a politician, or that politicians are like them, not some different species, I think is very important.

PA
Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Nadine White Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter The Race Report Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

The Race Report email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

A black man in Michigan has filed a lawsuit against his local police department after he was beaten by police so badly that he lost vision in one eye.

Frankie Taylor was arrested for alleged drink driving on 10 August last year. He was taken to the police station, restrained, tied to a chair and savagely beaten.

The disturbing incident at Eastpointe police department was caught on camera. The footage was obtained from the lawyer representing Mr Taylor via a Freedom of Information request.

After a verbal exchange, the officers get Mr Taylor on the ground and restrain him. They then tie him to chair facing the camera.

If you keep acting like a child, youre going to get strapped in that chair and youre going to stay there, an officer says to Mr Taylor.

There are four officers surrounding Mr Taylor while he is tied in the chair. Two officers hold down his arms while two others hit Mr Taylor.

They beat him until he loses consciousness. His screams of pain are clearly heard in the video.

Stop resisting, the officer says automatically as punches land on Mr Taylors face and head. Stop resisting.

WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO BELOW - VIEWERS MIGHT FIND UPSETTING

The guy hit me so many times, it made me cry once I seen the tape, Mr Taylor told Fox news. I was knocked out.

He previously had an implant under one eye for glaucoma, but the beating dislodged it and led to his loss of vision.

Mr Taylor was wearing a T-shirt with the names and faces of black leaders at the time of the beating, his lawyer said.

His lawyer, James Rasor, told The Independent that the police moved Mr Taylor to jail the next day instead of hospital. By the time he went to a Detroit hospital for surgery a few days later, it was too late to save his eye.

"I have been practising law for 26 years. I can tell you watching this video still made my stomach turn," he said. "We pay these people to serve and protect, instead it turns into escalate and brutalise. It's up to us to use our First Amendment rights."

He said he knows of at least two other black residents in Eastpointe that were tied to that chair and beaten, and he encouraged anyone else who was hurt to contact him.

Video footage, which was not available at the start of his career, was "crucial" to show the jury what happened, he said, instead of relying on a "he said / she said" police report.

Mr Rasor said his client has horrible, traumatic nightmares and medical professionals have not ruled out a long-term brain injury.

Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn Show all 15 1 /15 Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 20: People participate in an anti-hate rally at a Brooklyn park named in memory of Beastie Boys band member Adam Yauch after it was defaced with swastikas on November 20, 2016 in New York City. On Friday, the park and playground was spray painted with swastikas and the message "Go Trump". Hundreds of people, many with their children, listened to community leaders and Beastie Boys member Adam Horovitz condemn racism and intolerance. Following the election of Donald Trump as president, there has been a surge of incidents of racist activities reported. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 20: People participate in an anti-hate rally at a Brooklyn park named in memory of Beastie Boys band member Adam Yauch after it was defaced with swastikas on November 20, 2016 in New York City. On Friday, the park and playground was spray painted with swastikas and the message "Go Trump". Hundreds of people, many with their children, listened to community leaders and Beastie Boys member Adam Horovitz condemn racism and intolerance. Following the election of Donald Trump as president, there has been a surge of incidents of racist activities reported. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 20: People participate in an anti-hate rally at a Brooklyn park named in memory of Beastie Boys band member Adam Yauch after it was defaced with swastikas on November 20, 2016 in New York City. On Friday, the park and playground was spray painted with swastikas and the message "Go Trump". Hundreds of people, many with their children, listened to community leaders and Beastie Boys member Adam Horovitz condemn racism and intolerance. Following the election of Donald Trump as president, there has been a surge of incidents of racist activities reported. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 20: People participate in an anti-hate rally at a Brooklyn park named in memory of Beastie Boys band member Adam Yauch after it was defaced with swastikas on November 20, 2016 in New York City. On Friday, the park and playground was spray painted with swastikas and the message "Go Trump". Hundreds of people, many with their children, listened to community leaders and Beastie Boys member Adam Horovitz condemn racism and intolerance. Following the election of Donald Trump as president, there has been a surge of incidents of racist activities reported. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 20: Children play on playground equipment that was defaced with swastikas during an anti-hate rally at a Brooklyn park named in memory of Beastie Boys band member Adam Yauch on November 20, 2016 in New York City. On Friday, the park and playground was spray painted with swastikas and the message AGo Trump.A Hundreds of people, many with their children, listened to community leaders and Beastie Boys member Adam Horovitz condemn racism and intolerance. Following the election of Donald Trump as president, there has been a surge of incidents of racist activities reported. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 20: Beastie Boys member Adam Horovitz speaks at a anti-hate rally at a Brooklyn park named in memory of Beastie Boys band member Adam Yauch after it was defaced with swastikas on November 20, 2016 in New York City. On Friday, the park and playground was spray painted with swastikas and the message AGo Trump.A Hundreds of people, many with their children, listened to community leaders and condemn racism and intolerance. Following the election of Donald Trump as president, there has been a surge of incidents of racist activities reported. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 20: A piece of playground equipment that was defaced with swastikas stands during an anti-hate rally at a Brooklyn park named in memory of Beastie Boys band member Adam Yauch on November 20, 2016 in New York City. On Friday, the park and playground was spray painted with swastikas and the message AGo Trump.A Hundreds of people, many with their children, listened to community leaders and Beastie Boys member Adam Horovitz condemn racism and intolerance. Following the election of Donald Trump as president, there has been a surge of incidents of racist activities reported. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn A woamn takes a photo of messages and flowers left at a playground before a protest against racism and hate after swastikas were found in Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn, New York on November 20, 2016. / AFP / ANGELA WEISS (Photo credit should read ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn Activists protest racism and hate after swastikas were found in Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn, New York on November 20, 2016. / AFP / ANGELA WEISS (Photo credit should read ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn Activists protest racism and hate after swastikas were found in Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn, New York on November 20, 2016. / AFP / ANGELA WEISS (Photo credit should read ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn Activists protest racism and hate after swastikas were found in Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn, New York on November 20, 2016. / AFP / ANGELA WEISS (Photo credit should read ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn New York State Senator Daniel Squadron speaks as activists protest racism and hate after swastikas found in Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn, New York on November 20, 2016. The two remaining members of the Beastie Boys called for an anti-hate rally at the park in memory of band member Adam Yauch after it was defaced with swastikas. / AFP / ANGELA WEISS (Photo credit should read ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn Flowers left by activists at the entrance to Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn, New York on November 20, 2016 after swastikas were found in the park. The two remaining members of the Beastie Boys called for an anti-hate rally at the park in memory of band member Adam Yauch after it was defaced with swastikas. / AFP / ANGELA WEISS (Photo credit should read ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn Messages and flowers left by activists at a playground protesting racism and hate after swastikas were found in Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn, New York on November 20, 2016. The two remaining members of the Beastie Boys called for an anti-hate rally at the park in memory of band member Adam Yauch after it was defaced with swastikas. / AFP / ANGELA WEISS (Photo credit should read ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Activists Protest Racism And Hate In Brooklyn Activists protest Racism and Hate after swastikas found in Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn, New York on November 20, 2016. The two remaining members of the Beastie Boys called for an anti-hate rally at the park in memory of band member Adam Yauch after it was defaced with swastikas. / AFP / ANGELA WEISS (Photo credit should read ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images

Mr Taylor was not allowed to make a phone call once he got to the jail last August, Mr Rasor said, unlike other white detainees.

Eastpointe police department could not be immediately contacted for comment.

The lawsuit requests at least $75,000, excluding legal fees and punitive damages.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

A Canadian province has unanimously voted in favour of trialling a universal basic income for its citiziens in partnership with the national government.

Prince Edward Island, the smallest Canadian Province, has been described as the best choice for the pilot due to its diminutive size and clear boundaries.

According to the successful bill, every citizen will receive a basic income in an attempt to reduce or "potentially eliminate poverty in the province".

Green Party leader in Prince Edward's legislature, Peter Bevan Baker, proposed the motion with support of all three other parties.

 Elon Musk believes Universal Basic Income will follow more automation

Mr Bevan Baker told CBC: "A universal basic income could enable the greatest unleashing of human potential ever seen."

The bill stated positive effects of universal basic income include: "Local economic growth, supporting entrepreneurship, reducing administrative, complexity and costs, improving working conditions, reducing crime, improving health, and helping to build vibrant rural communities."

The Green Party leader has admitted there are potential drawbacks to UBI such as the overall the cost of the scheme and whether it will deter unemployed people looking for work.

He said: "This is exactly why we need a pilot project  so we can evaluate whether the benefits outweigh the costs."

The national Canadian government will use the pilot to weigh up the benefits against the heavy costs. The details of how the pilot will be implement have yet to be finalised.

Fife council in Scotland is currently considering a trial UBI scheme after the motion received huge backing from anti-poverty charities.

A pilot is currently running in Holland, while Finland is to launch one next year.
Deputy head of Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) and head of the PGO's Special Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) Nazar Kholodnytsky has said the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has entered information on a pretrial bribery case involving Verkhovna Rada deputy Oleksandr Onyshchenko into the unified pretrial database.

"Yes, we have entered information pursuant to Article 368 (bribery) into the unified pretrial database," Kholodnytsky told journalists in Kyiv on Thursday.

He said detectives have already appealed to Onyshchenko to provide all recordings for the investigation.

"We have asked Onyshchenko to provide all his recordings and urged him to appear for questioning in person," Kholodnytsky said.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

When President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that Japanese corporate giant SoftBank had agreed to invest $50 billion in the United States and create 50,000 new jobs, he presented it as a triumph for American workers. But economists and analysts who have been scrutinising the announcement suggest it might be a bigger win for the Japanese telecom and Internet conglomerate, SoftBank, and its billionaire founder, Masayoshi Son.

Analysts said the Japanese company could be angling for lucrative benefits, including the regulatory approval to carry out one of the largest telecom mergers in recent history, between Sprint, which SoftBank owns, and rival carrier T-Mobile. It could also be cultivating a friendly environment for further technology investments Son is seeking to make in the United States.

I think Son must have thought how to use Trump and this opportunity for his business, said Mana Nakazora, chief credit analyst at BNP Paribas Securities.

Shares of SoftBank Group rose 6.2 percent on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Wednesday to close at their highest level in more than a year. Shares of Sprint Corp. rose nearly 9 percent on Wednesday, while T-Mobiles stock climbed more than 4 percent. Collectively, the companies added billions of dollars in market value after the announcement.

Trump said Tuesday on Twitter that Son said he would not have made the investment if Trump had not won the election.

But analysts said the $50 billion investment would probably come from a $100 billion fund created by SoftBank and the Saudi government - Son said as much to the Wall Street Journal - and that much of the fund might have been destined for the United States anyway.

SoftBank announced in October that it would dedicate at least $25 billion toward the $100 billion SoftBank Vision Fund to invest in global technology companies in the next five years. Saudi Arabia's public investment fund pledged to invest up to $45 billion in the same time period, with the additional $30 billion coming from outside investors.

Son must have intended as much as half of the Vision Fund to go to the US, as he's aware that there are great companies in Silicon Valley. But he chose this time to announce it as Trump is now going to be the next president, said Jun Tanabe, a SoftBank analyst at JPMorgan Securities in Tokyo.

Mr. Son already created the $100 billion fund and chose to invest $50 billion into the US. I suspect he would have done this whether the winner was Trump or Hillary, Suzuki Kazuto, a professor of international political economy at Japan's Hokkaido University, tweeted Wednesday.

A SoftBank spokesman declined to comment on whether the funds would be coming from the SoftBank Vision Fund or give further information regarding the investment. A Trump spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.

Analysts suggested it would be difficult to deploy $100 billion in investment in global technology without looking largely to the United States and Silicon Valley. In 2015, for example, venture capitalists invested $148 billion worldwide in 8,381 deals, according to consulting firm EY. The United States accounted for about half of that investment.

'Back to Reality', EY Global Venture Capital Trends 2015 (The Washington Post)

In 2016 so far, about 60 percent of all venture capital in the world has gone to the US, said Jeff Grabow, US venture capital leader for EY. The US would be the first place anybody would look.

Analysts said Son may be seeking to improve the chances of a merger between SoftBanks Sprint and T-Mobile, a deal that would create a mobile carrier larger than Verizon and almost as big as AT&T. Sprint and SoftBank abandoned an effort to purchase T-Mobile in 2014 - a deal valued at about $32 billion - after the Federal Communications Commission signaled the deal might violate antitrust laws.

Trump will be responsible for appointing the next chairman to the FCC. Speaking from the lobby of Trump Tower on Tuesday, Son said that he wanted to celebrate Trumps election because he would do a lot of deregulation.

SoftBanks original plan may come true with the new FCC chairman, Naoshi Nema, analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald, said in a note.

Analysts also speculated the deal could be an effort to smooth the way for other investments in the United States in the future, and specifically ward off the suspicion that sometimes surrounds foreign investment.

It's possible that the SoftBank Vision Fund, the money coming from overseas, will start investing in American companies one after another, so there's a risk that Trump might criticise the move, said Hideaki Tanaka, senior analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

Instead, Son first paid his respects to Trump by showing that SoftBank would be investing in American start-ups and hiring locals, Tanaka said: This could help SoftBank do its business in the US more smoothly. It could give an impression that his company is friendly to the US.

In the past two months, Trump has taken an unusual new approach toward companies, negotiating with the air conditioner and furnace manufacturer Carrier to keep more than 1,000 jobs at an Indiana furnace factory from moving to Mexico, and singling out gear-maker Rexnord on Twitter for plans to move to offshore facilities. He has threatened US firms that outsource jobs with retribution, and proposed a 35 percent tariff against those that do take jobs offshore.

Some lawmakers and Trump allies have celebrated the deal with Carrier. Peter Wallison, former White House counsel under President Ronald Reagan and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said there isn't enough evidence yet to say that Trump will continue to call out companies. We havent yet seen a real policy that would suggest to me that is the way he is going to conduct his presidency, he said.

But others have argued that Trump's actions represent the beginning of a policy of negotiating with companies on an individual basis, which in turn will create an incentive for companies to threaten to send jobs overseas in exchange for deals at home. Indiana agreed to $7 million tax subsidies to save the Carrier jobs.

Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Show all 14 1 /14 Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Isis: "Some of the candidates, they went in and didnt know the air conditioner didnt work and sweated like dogs, and they didnt know the room was too big because they didnt have anybody there. How are they going to beat ISIS?" Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On immigration: "I will build a great wall  and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me and Ill build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Free Trade: "Free trade is terrible. Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people. But we have stupid people." PAUL J. RICHARDS | AFP | Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Mexicans: "When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists." Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On China: "I just sold an apartment for $15 million to somebody from China. Am I supposed to dislike them?... I love China. The biggest bank in the world is from China. You know where their United States headquarters is located? In this building, in Trump Tower." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On work: "If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable." AP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On success: "What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate." Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On life: "Everything in life is luck." AFP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On ambition: "You have to think anyway, so why not think big?" Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On his opponents: "Bush is totally in favour of Common Core. I don't see how he can possibly get the nomination. He's weak on immigration. He's in favour of Common Core. How the hell can you vote for this guy? You just can't do it." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Obamacare: "You have to be hit by a tractor, literally, a tractor, to use it, because the deductibles are so high. It's virtually useless. And remember the $5 billion web site?... I have so many web sites, I have them all over the place. I hire people, they do a web site. It costs me $3." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Barack Obama: "Obama is going to be out playing golf. He might be on one of my courses. I would invite him. I have the best courses in the world. I have one right next to the White House." PA Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On himself: "Love him or hate him, Trump is a man who is certain about what he wants and sets out to get it, no holds barred. Women find his power almost as much of a turn-on as his money." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On America: "The American Dream is dead. But if I get elected president I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before and we will make America great again." GETTY

In a Washington Post op-ed last week, former Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) criticised Trump for delivering Carrier tax and regulatory favors in return for keeping jobs in the country, arguing that the practice could allow companies to hold Trump hostage.

[Trump] has signaled to every corporation in America that they can threaten to offshore jobs in exchange for business-friendly tax benefits and incentives. Even corporations that werent thinking of offshoring jobs will most probably be re-evaluating their stance this morning, Sanders wrote.

Matthew Mitchell, a senior research fellow at the libertarian Mercatus Center, says it's unclear what direct benefits SoftBank may receive from the Trump administration, if anything. But he added that the president shouldn't be involved in the investment decisions of individual companies, because it risks encouraging inefficient company investments and wasting taxpayer money.

I think were getting into this world now where theres no longer a taboo about picking winners and losers. And to me, thats a big concern, because institutionally thats in some way what has set the US apart from banana republics, he said.

The Washington Post
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Donald Trump continues to fill his cabinet with corporate powers, and the latest is the appointment of a fast food chief executive officer as labour secretary.

Andy Puzder is CEO of CKE Restaurants Holdings Inc, which is the parent company of Carls Jr and Hardees burger chains. The fast food industry represents 10 per cent of American workers, in a country where more than 42 million Americans live in food insecure households.

Mr Puzder has consistently served as a voice of opposition to regulations. He has fought against Obamacare and argued against raising the federal minimum wage, which is $9 (7.15) per hour. Mr Puzders realm will focus on unemployement benefits, economic statistics and the minimum wage.

As reported by The Wall Street Journal, Mr Puzder is anticipated to call for an overhaul of the tax system. It is yet to be seen how his policies on tax would fit in with the President-elect, who has called for tariffs of 35 per cent on imported goods and punishing companies that threaten to outsource jobs overseas.

Robert Reich, who was labour secretary under President Bill Clinton, described Mr Puzder as a sworn foe of the minimum wage and has championed right-wing, trickle-down economics.

Having served as Secretary of Labor, I cannot imagine someone more unsuited to the job of advancing the cause of working people in America as Andy Puzder. Because of this nomination  as with almost all of the rest of Trumps nominations  the working people who voted for Trump will suffer, he wrote on Facebook.

Mr Trump has also spoken against consolidations of power, for example mergers of media corporations, in his Gettysburg address before the election.

Yet Mr Puzder is currently focused on consolidating his corporate headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee. Roark Capital, which owns CKE, purchased the company from Apollo Global Management in December 2013.

 Donald Trump's controversial cabinet

The President-elect also promised to drain the swamp of Washington DC, where his government would not be beholden to big interests or lobbying powers.

Yet Mr Puzder is a pillar of big business. His company employs around 75,000 people and almost 100,000 worldwide across 44 states and 40 countries.

The company makes big money, too, at total sales of more than $4.3bn. He once made more than $17,000 in a single day, which is more than his average employee earns in a year.

Many of Mr Trumps supporters might be hurt by the likely scrapping of any raise to the minimum wage.

President Barack Obamas proposed overtime rule, which would have paid millions of Americans extra money for working overtime, was also scrapped. Mr Puzders appointment is likely to ensure that a hike to the minimum wage is dead in the water. Even though Mr Trump said on the campaign trail that he did not understand how workers could survive on such low pay, he also said he would leave the matter in the states hands.

Shortly before the election, Mr Puzder told a Fox News anchor that serving Mr Trump would be the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

Yet Mr Puzder might have a tough job on his hands.

Mr Trump has already come under fire from big employers and their unions when he falsely claimed that he saved more than 1,100 jobs at Indiana-based air conditioner manufacturing firm Carrier, and also for saying that he saved jobs at Ford from being moved to Mexico. Mr Trump was also blamed for sending a false tweet about Boeings out of control costs that instantly wiped around $1bn off its share price.

The anti-union stance, however, will be familiar territory for Mr Puzder. He is a member of the Jobs Creators Network, which is linked to a group of conservative CEOs and anti-union operative Richard Berman, a Republican lawyer and lobbyist.

Other Trump appointments include Jeff Sessions, a racially-biased man as the head of the justice department, Betsy DeVos, a woman with no teaching experience as head of education, and Scott Pruitt, a climate change-denier as head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Mr Trumps senior counsel, Stephen Bannon, is a white supremacist.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly hoping to keep a stake in his business when he becomes president.

Mr Trump is planning to hand the operational responsibilities of his real estate companies to his two adult sons, Eric and Donald Jr, but is resisting calls to divest, The New York Times reports.

Citing sources briefed on the discussions, the paper also said Ivanka Trump would take a leave of absence from the Trump Organization  suggesting she is exploring an advisor or advocate role along with her husband Jared Kushner.

Ms Trump is reportedly looking into how to separate herself from her apparel and licencing brands and is planning to appoint a president to run her company's operations.

The Trumps are allegedly exploring a "legal structure" allowing Mr Trump and his daughter to separate from the company.

Last week, Mr Trump tweeted to say he will hold a news conference on 15 December to "discuss the fact that I will be leaving my great business in order to fully focus on running the country in order to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

He added: "While I am not mandated to do this under the law, I feel it is visually important, as President, to in no way have a conflict of interest with my various businesses.

"Hence, legal documents are being crafted which take me completely out of business operations. The Presidency is a far more important task!"

President Donald Trump life in pictures Show all 16 1 /16 President Donald Trump life in pictures President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump poses in a rocking chair once used by President John F. Kennedy at his New York City residence Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Developer Donald Trump with his new bride Marla Maples after their wedding at the Plaza hotel in New York Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Celina Midelfart watch the match between Conchita Martinez and Amanda Coetzer during U.S. Open. She was the date whom Donald Trump was with when he met his current wife Melania at a party in 1996 Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas serving as the grand marshal for the Daytona 500, speaks to Donald Trump and Melania Knauss on the starting grid at the Daytona International Speedwa Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Developer Donald Trump talks with his former wife Ivana Trump during the men's final at the U.S. Open Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and his friend Melania Knauss pose for photographers as they arrive at the New York premiere of Star Wars Episode : 'The Phantom Menace,' Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire real estate developer Donald Trump talks with host Larry King. Trump told King that he was moving toward a possible bid for the United States presidency with the formation of a presidential exploratory committee Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump answers questions as Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura looks on in Brooklyn Park. Trump said on Friday he 'very well might' make a run for president under the Reform Party banner but had not made a final decision Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire Donald Trump makes a face at a friend as he sits next to Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso before the start of the 2003 Miss Universe pageant in Panama City Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Entrepreneur Donald Trump is greeted by a Marilyn Monroe character look-a-alike, as he arrives at Universal Studios Hollywood to attend the an open casting call for his NBC television network reality series 'The Apprentice.' Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Simon Cowell present an Emmy during the 56th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Megan Mullally perform at the 57th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump, poses with his children, son Donald Trump, Jr., and daughters Tiffany and Ivanka Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire Donald Trump told Miss USA 2006 Tara Conner on Tuesday she would be given a second chance after reported misbehavior Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump holds a replica of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as his wife Melania holds their son Barron in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures U.S. property mogul Donald Trump stands next to a bagpiper during a media event on the sand dunes of the Menie estate, the site for Trump's proposed golf resort, near Aberdeen, north east Scotland Reuters

It remains unclear what Mr Trump will announce at the briefing.

The President-elect has faced criticism since he was elected about potential conflicts of interest between his role in the Trump Organization and his job in the White House.

Any company he has a stake in and which rose in value as a result of his decisions in office would create a conflict of interest.

The US Office of Government Ethics sent a tweet to Mr Trump last week saying it would "sing your praises if you divested".

"As we discussed with your counsel, divestiture is the only way to resolve these conflicts," the office said. "Bravo! Only way to resolve these conflicts of interest is to divest. Good call!"

 Donald Trump named Time Person of the Year

In an interview with The New York Times last month, Mr Trump argued there was a lack of laws governing conflicts of interest for a sitting president.

"The law is totally on my side," he said, "meaning, the president can't have a conflict of interest."

Unlike any past President-elect in history, Mr Trump is yet to release his tax returns.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Ohio's twice-defeated bill to outlaw abortions if a heartbeat is detected was and passed because of Donald Trump's presidential election victory, the state's Senate President has said.

The bill, passed on Tuesday night by a House committee, will prevent abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, easily becoming the nation's most strict abortion law.

Keith Faber, a Republican, said the bill was reintroduced because of Mr Trump's victory and the expectation he will fill Supreme Court vacancies with justices who are more likely to uphold stricter abortion laws.

"One, a new president, new Supreme Court justice appointees change the dynamic," Mr Faber told reporters.

Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Show all 23 1 /23 Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists hold placards outside of the US Supreme Court ahead of an expected ruling on abortion clinic restrictions on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions An abortion rights activist holds placards outside of the US Supreme Court before the Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. The US Supreme Court on Monday struck down a Texas law placing a raft of restrictions on abortion clinics, handing a major victory to the "pro-choice" camp in the country's most important ruling on the divisive issue in a generation. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 27: Pro-life activists pray on the steps of the United States Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a 5-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down one of the nation's toughest restrictions on abortion, a Texas law that women's groups said would have forced more than three-quarters of the state's clinics to close. Pete Marovich/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 27: Texas abortion provider Amy Hagstrom-Miller looks on as Nancy Northup, President of The Center for Reproductive Rights speaks to the media outside of the U.S. Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a 5-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down one of the nation's toughest restrictions on abortion, a Texas law that women's groups said would have forced more than three-quarters of the state's clinics to close. Pete Marovich/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions An abortion rights activist holds placards outside of the US Supreme Court before the Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. The US Supreme Court on Monday struck down a Texas law placing a raft of restrictions on abortion clinics, handing a major victory to the "pro-choice" camp in the country's most important ruling on the divisive issue in a generation. Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Texas abortion provider Amy Hagstrom-Miller wipes a tear as she walks down the steps of the United States Supreme Court with Nancy Northup, President of The Center for Reproductive Rights on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a 5-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down one of the nation's toughest restrictions on abortion, a Texas law that women's groups said would have forced more than three-quarters of the state's clinics to close. Pete Marovich/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists cheer after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists cheer after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 27: Abortion rights activists Morgan Hopkins of Boston, left, and Alison Turkos of New York City, celebrate on the steps of the United States Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a 5-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down one of the nation's toughest restrictions on abortion, a Texas law that women's groups said would have forced more than three-quarters of the state's clinics to close. Pete Marovich/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists cheer after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 27: Abortion rights activists Morgan Hopkins of Boston, left, and Alison Turkos of New York City, celebrate on the steps of the United States Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a 5-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down one of the nation's toughest restrictions on abortion, a Texas law that women's groups said would have forced more than three-quarters of the state's clinics to close. (Photo by Pete Marovich/Getty Images) Getty Images Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activist Morgan Hopkins of Boston, celebrates on the steps of the United States Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a 5-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down one of the nation's toughest restrictions on abortion, a Texas law that women's groups said would have forced more than three-quarters of the state's clinics to close. Pete Marovich/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists embrace after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. AFP/Getty Images Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists hold placards outside of the US Supreme Court ahead of a ruling on abortion clinic restrictions on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists cheer after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. AFP/Getty Images Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists cheer after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. / AFP / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists cheer after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. / AFP / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists embrace after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. AFP/Getty Images Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Pro-choice activist, Alissa Manzoeillo, of Washington, D.C. waits for rulings in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. A ruling is expected in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, a Texas case the places restrictions on abortion clinics, as well as rulings in the former Virginia Governor's corruption case and a gun rights case. Pete Marovich/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists cheer after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists hold placards outside of the US Supreme Court ahead of an expected ruling on abortion clinic restrictions on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. AFP/Getty Images Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists hold placards outside of the US Supreme Court ahead of an expected ruling on abortion clinic restrictions on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. AFP/Getty Images

When asked if he expected the proposal to survive a legal challenge, he replied: "I think it has a better chance than it did before."

The ban would make an exception if the mother's life is in danger but not in cases of rape or incest, he added.

It will now pass to the desk of Governor John Kasich who, although he opposes abortion, has previously said the bill may be unconstitutional.

He has not said whether he plans to sign the measure, which he has 10 days to do  not counting holidays and Sundays.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Donald Trump has picked Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) despite the fact he has led lawsuits against the federal body.

Mr Pruitt, a close ally of the oil and gas industry, has been one of the EPA's fiercest critics during Barack Obama's administration, describing it as "unlawful and overreaching".

He has attacked President Obama for allegedly trying to prevent two thirds of fossil fuels "in the ground" being used as an energy source.

Mr Pruitt has repeatedly cast doubt on climate change, saying the science behind it was subject to considerable debate.

As part of a coalition of state attorney generals, Mr Pruitt sued the EPA's Clean Power Plan, which aimed to reduce US greenhouse gas emissions from electricity production.

Mr Pruitt also sued the agency, again with fellow state attorney generals, over newly announced EPA regulations that seek to control the emissions of methane from the oil and gas sector.

On announcing his decision, Donald Trump said: "For too long, the Environmental Protection Agency has spent taxpayer dollars on an out-of-control anti-energy agenda that has destroyed millions of jobs, while also undermining our incredible farmers and many other businesses and industries at every turn.

He said the Oklahoma attorney general "will reverse this trend and restore the EPAs essential mission of keeping our air and our water clean and safe".

"My administration strongly believes in environmental protection, and Scott Pruitt will be a powerful advocate for that mission while promoting jobs, safety and opportunity", he added.

Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Show all 14 1 /14 Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Isis: "Some of the candidates, they went in and didnt know the air conditioner didnt work and sweated like dogs, and they didnt know the room was too big because they didnt have anybody there. How are they going to beat ISIS?" Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On immigration: "I will build a great wall  and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me and Ill build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Free Trade: "Free trade is terrible. Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people. But we have stupid people." PAUL J. RICHARDS | AFP | Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Mexicans: "When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists." Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On China: "I just sold an apartment for $15 million to somebody from China. Am I supposed to dislike them?... I love China. The biggest bank in the world is from China. You know where their United States headquarters is located? In this building, in Trump Tower." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On work: "If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable." AP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On success: "What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate." Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On life: "Everything in life is luck." AFP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On ambition: "You have to think anyway, so why not think big?" Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On his opponents: "Bush is totally in favour of Common Core. I don't see how he can possibly get the nomination. He's weak on immigration. He's in favour of Common Core. How the hell can you vote for this guy? You just can't do it." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Obamacare: "You have to be hit by a tractor, literally, a tractor, to use it, because the deductibles are so high. It's virtually useless. And remember the $5 billion web site?... I have so many web sites, I have them all over the place. I hire people, they do a web site. It costs me $3." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Barack Obama: "Obama is going to be out playing golf. He might be on one of my courses. I would invite him. I have the best courses in the world. I have one right next to the White House." PA Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On himself: "Love him or hate him, Trump is a man who is certain about what he wants and sets out to get it, no holds barred. Women find his power almost as much of a turn-on as his money." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On America: "The American Dream is dead. But if I get elected president I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before and we will make America great again." GETTY

The President-elect's own statements on climate change during the campaign have caused consternation and worry among environmentalists, seeing him describe global warming as "a hoax" that was "invented by and for the Chinese".

After he won the election in November, the billionaire businessman did appear to undergo an U-turn on the issue when he admitted in a news conference "there was some connectivity" between human activity and climate change.

There are ongoing fears Mr Trump would follow through with his previosuly stated objective of preventing the US signing up to the Paris climate change agreement.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Donald Trump slammed the Carrier union president on Wednesday night after he said the president-elect lied about the terms of the deal to keep manufacturing jobs in the states.

"Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers," he tweeted at the onset of his rant. "No wonder companies flee country!"

Prior to his outburst, the president-elect falsely claimed that he saved more than 1,000 positions at Carrier while his agreement actually saves around 800 jobs. And over the next 10 years, Carriers parent company will receive $7 million in tax breaks while hundreds of jobs are sent overseas before Trump takes office.

An hour later, Trump directed his tweets toward the national union by saying they should spend more time working than talking.

If United Steelworkers 1999 was any good, he tweeted, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana. Spend more time working less time talking. Reduce dues.

Twenty minutes before the tirade, Jones appeared on CNN for an interview with anchor Erin Burnett saying that 550 jobs from the Indiana facility and 700 positions from its Huntington property are still being sent to Mexico.

He later told NBC News that he must be doing a job if the president-elect was offended for being publicly corrected for his error.

"For him to say I'm a horrible labor leader, he told the network, I take it as a positive because that must mean that we're doing something so people can earn a decent living wage-wise and benefit-wise.

 Trump: 'It's a one-lane highway into Mexico. Nothing coming our way, everything going their way'

He also said that Trump supporters are harassing him and sending him death threats on Twitter.

"I tried to correct some of his math, and he took exception to it."

President Trump protests Show all 20 1 /20 President Trump protests President Trump protests Patrons hold a sign as people march by while protesting the election of Republican Donald Trump as the president of the United States in downtown Los Angeles, California Reuters President Trump protests Demonstrators rally following the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States, in Oakland, California Reuters President Trump protests Demonstrators march following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States Reuters President Trump protests Thousands of protesters rallied across the United States expressing shock and anger over Donald Trump's election, vowing to oppose divisive views they say helped the Republican billionaire win the presidency AFP/Getty Images President Trump protests Demonstrators protest outside the Chicago Theatre in Chicago, Illinois Getty President Trump protests A police officer aims a launcher after demonstrators threw projectiles toward a line of officers during a demonstration in Oakland, California Reuters President Trump protests An officer examines a vandalized police vehicle as demonstrators riot in Oakland, California Reuters President Trump protests Demonstrators take over the Hollywood 101 Freeway just north of Los Angeles City Hall in protest against the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States Reuters President Trump protests A woman holds up a sign reading 'Trump you are an Idiot' as demonstrators gather during a protest against President-elect Donald Trump outside the City Hall building in Los Angeles, California EPA President Trump protests A masked demonstrator gestures toward a police line during a demonstration in Oakland, California Reuters President Trump protests Demonstrators protest against the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States, near the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Las Vegas, Nevada Reuters President Trump protests Musician Lagy Gaga stages a protest against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on a sanitation truck outside Trump Tower in New York City Getty President Trump protests A woman yells as she takes part in a protest against President-elect Donald Trump in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood AP President Trump protests A man dressed in red-white-and-blue sits on the curb during a protest against President-elect Donald Trump in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood AP President Trump protests A protester sets off fireworks during a protest against President-elect Donald Trumpin Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood AP President Trump protests University of California, Davis students protest on campus in Davis, California, U.S. following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States Reuters President Trump protests An Oakland police officer checks out damage after a window was broken by protesters at a car dealership in downtown Oakland, Calif AP President Trump protests A protester faces a police line in downtown Oakland, Calif AP President Trump protests President-elect Donald Trumpis victory set off multiple protests AP President Trump protests A fire burns during protests in Oakland, Calif AP

"For him to say I'm a horrible labor leader, I take it as a positive, because that must mean that we're doing something so people can earn a decent living wage-wise and benefit-wise.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Gender equality activists are preparing for a nationwide strike where women will walk out of work and protest against the election of Donald Trump.

Thousands of women will not go into work or buy anything for 24 hours to demonstrate their value and contribution to society - showing that, without women running the economy, it breaks down.

The strike is inspired by the mass protest in Iceland in 1975, where 95 per cent of women stopped working, cooking or taking care of their families, which paralysed the country and brought about significant reform.

Recommended Donald Trump and the power and origin of the naked protest

The US strike is planned for 12 December, a week before the electoral college convenes to officially rubber stamp Mr Trumps election.

Events are being held next week in 20 cities all over the US, from Los Angeles and New York to Boston and Santa Barbara. According to the Facebook groups pages, close to 5,000 women said they will attend the strike in New York City alone. Participants will start at Columbus Circle and march towards Trump Tower, the hub of Mr Trumps transition team.

"S**t man, NYC is angry and we're so ready to yell it," wrote 21-year-old New York-based student and activist Isabella Gutierrez on Facebook.

President Trump protests Show all 20 1 /20 President Trump protests President Trump protests Patrons hold a sign as people march by while protesting the election of Republican Donald Trump as the president of the United States in downtown Los Angeles, California Reuters President Trump protests Demonstrators rally following the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States, in Oakland, California Reuters President Trump protests Demonstrators march following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States Reuters President Trump protests Thousands of protesters rallied across the United States expressing shock and anger over Donald Trump's election, vowing to oppose divisive views they say helped the Republican billionaire win the presidency AFP/Getty Images President Trump protests Demonstrators protest outside the Chicago Theatre in Chicago, Illinois Getty President Trump protests A police officer aims a launcher after demonstrators threw projectiles toward a line of officers during a demonstration in Oakland, California Reuters President Trump protests An officer examines a vandalized police vehicle as demonstrators riot in Oakland, California Reuters President Trump protests Demonstrators take over the Hollywood 101 Freeway just north of Los Angeles City Hall in protest against the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States Reuters President Trump protests A woman holds up a sign reading 'Trump you are an Idiot' as demonstrators gather during a protest against President-elect Donald Trump outside the City Hall building in Los Angeles, California EPA President Trump protests A masked demonstrator gestures toward a police line during a demonstration in Oakland, California Reuters President Trump protests Demonstrators protest against the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States, near the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Las Vegas, Nevada Reuters President Trump protests Musician Lagy Gaga stages a protest against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on a sanitation truck outside Trump Tower in New York City Getty President Trump protests A woman yells as she takes part in a protest against President-elect Donald Trump in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood AP President Trump protests A man dressed in red-white-and-blue sits on the curb during a protest against President-elect Donald Trump in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood AP President Trump protests A protester sets off fireworks during a protest against President-elect Donald Trumpin Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood AP President Trump protests University of California, Davis students protest on campus in Davis, California, U.S. following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States Reuters President Trump protests An Oakland police officer checks out damage after a window was broken by protesters at a car dealership in downtown Oakland, Calif AP President Trump protests A protester faces a police line in downtown Oakland, Calif AP President Trump protests President-elect Donald Trumpis victory set off multiple protests AP President Trump protests A fire burns during protests in Oakland, Calif AP

Both men and women are invited to join. It is being organised by a group called Women and Allies, and they expect thousands of women to show up on the day. The group also started a Change.org petition to target the electoral college system, which saw the election of the candidate who received close to three million votes less than Hillary Clinton.

"Our diversity is our strength, for our many liberations are tied together," says the groups mission statement.

"Now more than ever we embrace the sentiment that womens rights are human rights and human rights are womens rights. We will unite to show we will not be bullied  now more than ever before, we are stronger together."

For women who cannot leave work, the group said they would welcome women to just spend their lunch break at the protest or engage in a 24-hour spending boycott.

Mr Trump and his administration are expected to reduce womens reproductive rights, and to not address issues like womens representation, violence against women or the gender pay gap.

The protests on 12 December come more than one month before a large mass protest of women is being organised on 21 January in Washington DC, where more than one million women are planning to march against the president-elect.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

People who voted for Donald Trump have expressed regret over their decision.

The billionaire beat Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the November election to become President-elect.

But a number of U-turns on everything from promising to prosecute Ms Clinton, to a pledge to build an impenetrable and beautiful wall across the border with Mexico, have left some supporters furious.

A number of users took to Twitter to vent their anger.

Mr Trump performed a number of U-turns within days of winning the election, including rowing back on his proposed ban on Muslims entering the US, and repealing Obamacare.

In November, the 70-year-old disavowed his alt-right and neo-Nazi supporters, despite being hailed as a champion of the far-right.

President Donald Trump life in pictures Show all 16 1 /16 President Donald Trump life in pictures President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump poses in a rocking chair once used by President John F. Kennedy at his New York City residence Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Developer Donald Trump with his new bride Marla Maples after their wedding at the Plaza hotel in New York Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Celina Midelfart watch the match between Conchita Martinez and Amanda Coetzer during U.S. Open. She was the date whom Donald Trump was with when he met his current wife Melania at a party in 1996 Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas serving as the grand marshal for the Daytona 500, speaks to Donald Trump and Melania Knauss on the starting grid at the Daytona International Speedwa Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Developer Donald Trump talks with his former wife Ivana Trump during the men's final at the U.S. Open Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and his friend Melania Knauss pose for photographers as they arrive at the New York premiere of Star Wars Episode : 'The Phantom Menace,' Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire real estate developer Donald Trump talks with host Larry King. Trump told King that he was moving toward a possible bid for the United States presidency with the formation of a presidential exploratory committee Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump answers questions as Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura looks on in Brooklyn Park. Trump said on Friday he 'very well might' make a run for president under the Reform Party banner but had not made a final decision Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire Donald Trump makes a face at a friend as he sits next to Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso before the start of the 2003 Miss Universe pageant in Panama City Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Entrepreneur Donald Trump is greeted by a Marilyn Monroe character look-a-alike, as he arrives at Universal Studios Hollywood to attend the an open casting call for his NBC television network reality series 'The Apprentice.' Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Simon Cowell present an Emmy during the 56th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Megan Mullally perform at the 57th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump, poses with his children, son Donald Trump, Jr., and daughters Tiffany and Ivanka Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire Donald Trump told Miss USA 2006 Tara Conner on Tuesday she would be given a second chance after reported misbehavior Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump holds a replica of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as his wife Melania holds their son Barron in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures U.S. property mogul Donald Trump stands next to a bagpiper during a media event on the sand dunes of the Menie estate, the site for Trump's proposed golf resort, near Aberdeen, north east Scotland Reuters

After repeatedly encouraging "Lock her up!" chants during his campaign rallies, Mr Trump sparked a fierce backlash when he admitted it was "just not something that I feel very strongly about".

 Donald Trump named Time Person of the Year

Members of a Reddit thread titled "Hillary For Prison" were left particularly enraged.

In a spectacular U-turn on his biggest U-turn, Mr Trump has appointed a climate change denier as his environmental chief, just weeks after admitting there was "some connectivity" between humans and global warming.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Supporters of Donald Trump have threatened a workers' union boss and his children after he criticised the President-elect for making false claims about a business deal.

Chuck Jones, leader of the 1999 steelworkers union, attracted the President-elects attention after he said the billionaire had lied his ass off about coming to an agreement that saved 1,100 American jobs at an air conditioning company called Carrier.

Mr Jones said the deal only kept 800 jobs in the US  with hundreds jobs positions relocating to Mexico  and that it was in exchange for $7m (5.5m) in tax breaks across the next decade.

The union leader has said Mr Trump overstated the job savings of the deal and he had raised the hopes of workers, who would still see their positions shipped out of the country.

Following Mr Jones remarks, Mr Trump took to Twitter to criticise him, saying he had done a terrible job and that he should spend more time working" and "less time talking.

But within an hour of Mr Trump tweeting his remarks, the union boss said he started to receive threatening phone calls.

You better keep your eye on your kids, were coming for you, we know what car you drive, things like that, he told MSNBC.

 Boeing shares slide after Donald Trump says costs are 'ridiculous'

Yet he said was not phased by the harassment, telling the network he had been doing this job for 30 years, and heard everything from people who want to burn my house down or shoot me.

He added that he is not concerned about it and Im not getting anybody involved. I can deal with people that make stupid statements and move on.

President Donald Trump life in pictures Show all 16 1 /16 President Donald Trump life in pictures President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump poses in a rocking chair once used by President John F. Kennedy at his New York City residence Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Developer Donald Trump with his new bride Marla Maples after their wedding at the Plaza hotel in New York Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Celina Midelfart watch the match between Conchita Martinez and Amanda Coetzer during U.S. Open. She was the date whom Donald Trump was with when he met his current wife Melania at a party in 1996 Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas serving as the grand marshal for the Daytona 500, speaks to Donald Trump and Melania Knauss on the starting grid at the Daytona International Speedwa Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Developer Donald Trump talks with his former wife Ivana Trump during the men's final at the U.S. Open Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and his friend Melania Knauss pose for photographers as they arrive at the New York premiere of Star Wars Episode : 'The Phantom Menace,' Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire real estate developer Donald Trump talks with host Larry King. Trump told King that he was moving toward a possible bid for the United States presidency with the formation of a presidential exploratory committee Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump answers questions as Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura looks on in Brooklyn Park. Trump said on Friday he 'very well might' make a run for president under the Reform Party banner but had not made a final decision Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire Donald Trump makes a face at a friend as he sits next to Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso before the start of the 2003 Miss Universe pageant in Panama City Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Entrepreneur Donald Trump is greeted by a Marilyn Monroe character look-a-alike, as he arrives at Universal Studios Hollywood to attend the an open casting call for his NBC television network reality series 'The Apprentice.' Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Simon Cowell present an Emmy during the 56th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Megan Mullally perform at the 57th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump, poses with his children, son Donald Trump, Jr., and daughters Tiffany and Ivanka Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire Donald Trump told Miss USA 2006 Tara Conner on Tuesday she would be given a second chance after reported misbehavior Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump holds a replica of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as his wife Melania holds their son Barron in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures U.S. property mogul Donald Trump stands next to a bagpiper during a media event on the sand dunes of the Menie estate, the site for Trump's proposed golf resort, near Aberdeen, north east Scotland Reuters

Mr Jones also told NBC News he took the President-elects remarks as a compliment: I tried to correct some of his math, and he took exception to it.

For him to say I'm a horrible labor leader, I take it as a positive because that must mean that we're doing something so people can earn a decent living wage-wise and benefit-wise.

The dispute underlines fundamental differences between union leaders  such as Mr Jones  and some union workers who voted for Mr Trump in the belief that he would protect American jobs.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The right-wing online media outlet that has been dubbed a de facto Trump TV has announced it will be rolling out 24-hour coverage and that it expects to receive White House credentials once Donald Trump is in power.

Right Side Broadcasting Network (RSBN) has covered almost every single Trump appearance, interview or rally since it was first launched in July 2015, and has been endorsed by the President-elect himself.

While there was speculation that Mr Trump would launch an official Trump TV if he lost the election, the Washington Post said RSBN was operating as the unofficial version of Trump TV after the billionaires campaign teamed up with the network to stream its programmes on Mr Trumps Facebook page.

In reality, RSBN is a tiny and often ragtag operation. It was founded by Trump superfan Joe Seales, who in September told Business Insider he had just 10 employees funded by public donations averaging about $25 a pop.

But with a YouTube channel of 246,000 subscribers - MSNBC only has 233,000 - RSBN became a credible resource for Trump supporters, journalists and reportedly even members of the Clinton campaign who wanted convenient access to Mr Trumps rally speeches in full.

This week, RSBN frontman and former reporter Adam Taxin gave a special announcement in which he declared the network would be running a full 24-hour operation before the end of 2016.

He said he would be getting a four-night-a-week news programme, RSBN Tonight, alongside a suite of other planned programming.

And Mr Seales, speaking during the networks live coverage of Mr Trumps Thank You rally in North Carolina on Tuesday night, revealed that he expects the network to be in the White House and be at the press briefings from 20 January onwards.

Anything that Trump does live we will be there, Mr Seales said, according to a Salon report. We will be there at the inauguration, we will be in the White House, we will be at the press briefings. I promise you that. You can count on Right Side Broadcasting.

Thats a controversial claim, not least because official White House press accreditation requires the approval of the five-member Standing Committee of Correspondents.

But there is a precedent, set by the last Republican administration, for a president to grant access to briefings for non-credentialed outlets.

According to Media Matters, Jeff Gannon of the right-wing Talon News was admitted on a day-to-day basis to George W Bushs briefings, thereby circumventing press corps rules. Once inside, he was repeatedly allowed to ask  usually friendly questions to the President.

Like Mr Trump himself, RSBN has a history of disparaging traditional media outlets as biased or dishonest. In his special announcement, Taxin said the channel was not trying to be polished like some of your typical network news people are, where they are bringing you - lets be honest - fake news but in a very polished sort of way.

Mr Trump already has firm connections to the iconoclastic branch of the right and far-right media, having included as advisers the former Fox News chairman Roger Ailes, former Breitbart News CEO Steve Bannon and the current New York Observer - now just The Observer - owner and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Yet if Mr Trump acts to sideline critical media and replace them with supportive outlets, as he has been urged to by Fox News Sean Hannity and others, RSBN would be a logical place to start.
More than 120 projectiles have been fired on Ukrainian Anti-Terrorist operation (ATO) positions in Donbas, and weapons forbidden by the Minsk agreements have been used nine times, the ATO headquarters press centre said.

"In the past 24 hours, 61 152mm projectiles and 64 122mm projectiles were fired on Ukrainian army positions, and nine instances of the use of weapons subject to be withdrawn consistent with the Minsk agreements (230 shots) were observed," the ATO staff said on Facebook.

"The Ukrainian army did not use heavy weapons to return fire," it said.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The first ever Somali-American elected politician has said she was racially abused in a taxi ride on the way to the White House to discuss policy ideas.

Ilhan Omar, who was recently elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives, said she was harassed by the male taxi driver who allegedly called her Isis and threatened to remove her hijab.

Ms Omar detailed the incident in post on her Facebook page, writing that she was unsure how the aggressive encounter would end.

The 33-year-old wrote: "I spent yesterday afternoon at the White House, learning about policy ideas states could implement in the areas I am passionate about.

"On my way to our hotel, I got in a cab and became subjected to the most hateful, derogatory, islamophobic, sexist taunts and threats I have ever experienced.

"The cab driver called me ISIS and threatened to remove my hijab, I wasn't really sure how this encounter would end as I attempted to rush out of his cab and retrieve my belongs."

In her post, Ms Omar said she prayed for the man's "humanity" and for all those with racist hate "in their hearts".

She wrote: "I am still shaken by this incident and can't wrap my head around how bold being are becoming in displaying their hate towards Muslims.

"I pray for his humanity and for all those who harbour hate in their hearts."

 Racist rant by alleged Trump supporter goes viral

The Minnesota politician fled the Somali civil war as a child, spending four years in a Kenyan refugee camp before moving permanently to the United States.

She has stated she will report the incident to authorities once she is safe back in Minneapolis due to the taxi driver knowing which hotel she was staying in Washington DC.

The Muslim politician has campaigned for affordable education, equal pay, criminal justice reform and environmentalism. She won the 60B House District with 80 per cent of the vote.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

An invitation to a girls 15th birthday party in Mexico has gone viral and 1.2 million people have said they will attend.

Rubi Ibarra Garcia and her parents uploaded a video to Facebook inviting friends and family to the party but as the post was made public it soon went viral.

The video shows Crescencio Ibarra, Ms Garcias father, saying everyone is welcome, listing the bands that will play at the event and announcing a horse race will take place at the party.

Mr Ibarra has confirmed he will not be turning anyone away from the party and police are set to be deployed to the town of La Joya to ensure peoples safety, according to the BBC.

The video has been shared 800,000 times and imitations and memes have been created. Anaelda Garcia, Rubis mother, said her favourite meme features the President-elect of the US.

"It's the one about Donald Trump and [Mexican President] Enrique Pena Nieto coming to an agreement to allow undocumented Mexican migrants in the US to return to Mexico for Rubi's party, Ms Garcia said.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

A girls 15th birthday is seen as when she comes of age in Mexico and large parties to commemorate the event are not unusual.

Rubi is extremely excited and looking forward to the day, Rubis older sister reportedly said.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Ivanka Trump is reportedly considering taking a leave of absence from the Trump Organization  suggesting she is exploring a move to Washington to advise her father when he becomes president.

Ms Trump will take a leave of absence to work as an advocate on issues she has a personal interest in, such as childcare, The New York Times reports.

Her husband, Jared Kushner, is also allegedly discussing an as-yet undetermined role advising President-elect Donald Trump.

She is also said to be assessing how separate herself from her apparel and licencing brands and is planning to appoint a president to run her company's day-to-day operations.

 Trump Announces Childcare Plan with Daughter Ivanka by His Side

The news comes alongside claims Mr Trump is hoping to keep a stake in his business when he becomes president and is resisting calls to divest.

The Trumps are allegedly exploring a "legal structure" allowing Mr Trump and his daughter to separate from the company.

Last week, Mr Trump tweeted to say he will hold a news conference on 15 December to "discuss the fact that I will be leaving my great business in order to fully focus on running the country in order to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Show all 29 1 /29 World reaction to President Trump: In pictures World reaction to President Trump: In pictures London, England AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures London, England Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Manila, Philippines Getty Images World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Manila, Philippines Getty World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Mosul , Iraq Getty World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Manila, Philippines AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures New Delhi, India Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Karachi, Pakistan EPA World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Jakarta, Indonesia Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Lagos, Nigeria AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Kabul, Afghanistan AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Jerusalem. Israel Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Moscow, Russia Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Seoul, South Korea AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Lagos, Nigeria AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Peshawar, Pakistan EPA World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Jakarta, Indonesia Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Hyderabad, India AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Kolkata, India AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Sydney, Australia Getty World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Sydney, Australia AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Aleppo, Syria Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Mexico City, Mexico AP World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago Reuters World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Jerusalem, Israel EPA World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Baghdad, Iraq Rex World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories Rex World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Tokyo, Japan Rex World reaction to President Trump: In pictures Mexico City, Mexico Getty

The Trumps have faced criticism since he was elected about potential conflicts of interest. Any company he has a stake in and which rose in value as a result of his decisions in office would create a conflict of interest.

Last month, Ms Trump was reported to have been closing a business deal with a Japanese clothing company  of which the country's government is a large stake holder  as she sat in on a meeting between her father and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Broken equipment, missing boxes of ballots, mismatching numbers, confused election officials and Donald Trumps legal team - such has been the nightmare encountered by Jill Stein in her quest to recount the vote in Michigan.

But now it might all be over, just three days after it started.

US district judge Mark Goldsmith has lifted a temporary restraining order that prevented state officials from stopping Ms Steins recount. The judge said that because she received less than 1 per cent of the vote, she could not prove she was an aggrieved candidate and request a recount.

Recommended Jill Stein pushes for Pennsylvania vote recount at Trump Tower rally

In response, Ms Stein has called Michigans voting system screwed up and insecure".

She said that 87 ballot machines broke down on election day, and there were more than 30,000 blank votes in the state, particularly in Flint and surrounding counties.

And every vote matters, in a state where Mr Trump won by only 10,704 votes.

But now that Mr Trump won the state, and the election, his apparent desire to fight against a rigged system has vanished. In a dramatic turnaround, his legal team are determined to block the Green Party at every turn.

Mr Trump appears to be "very afraid", Ms Stein said.

"Michigan is kind of a poster child of how very difficult this process of a recount is," she said in a video on her Facebook page. "But the recount itself is a symptom of how problematic our voting system is, of how screwed up and insecure and unjust our system is.."

Whole boxes of ballots are being discovered after the election - confirmed by Michigan election officials - and they are not being recounted. They were discovered late, therefore were not sealed and have to be discarded. These boxes tend to be found in the poorest precincts, creating what Ms Stein described as a "Jim Crow dimension" whereby people of colour are being blocked from their right to vote.

Up to half of the Michigan votes will not be recounted, in fact, due to - ironically - initial counting errors. That means that if a box of ballots was miscounted in the first place, it cannot be recounted.

Nearly 160,000 people have donated an average of $45 for Ms Steins movement to recount the vote in three states: Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

 Donald Trump announces abrupt change to US foreign policy

Mr Trump called the movement a scam, designed to fill the coffers of Ms Stein. She replied that every cent was in a dedicated, segregated account.

While Mr Trump himself has stayed relatively silent on the matter, legal challenges from his team abound.

Michigans state attorney general and Trump ally, Bill Schuette, stepped in to prevent Ms Steins request from being granted by a federal judge, demanding that Ms Stein cannot ask for a recount as she only received just over 1 per cent of the vote. A state judge ruled in his favour.

Michigan law prevails, Mr Schuette told The Detroit News. You can't make up - like the federal judge is attempting to do - a constitutional right to a recount.

At voting booths scattered around Michigan, Donald Trumps team has made themselves present, handing out green stickers to the Jill Stein volunteers so they are clearly identified. There is not a green sticker at every counting table.

It does seem the Trump folks are trying to deem boxes as non-recountable, said Lou Novak, a Green Party member in Michigan in a video on the partys Facebook page. He is new to the process and has had to quickly learn up on the jargon-filled system.

Mr Novak said Trump officials were blocking the Green Party volunteers and staff from recounting whole boxes of ballots by citing "obscure" excuses.

Mr Novak explained that the votes were counted on election day, and the numbers were certified by the Bureau of Elections. The ballots were then put into sealed boxes and stored. When it came to the recount, sometimes the numbers written in the book did not match the numbers on the sealed boxes. That box, which could contain hundreds of ballots, would be discarded. Sometimes the seal on the box might be broken. Again, the entire box would not be recounted.

The deadline for the recount of 13 December is fast approaching for Michigan.

But Ms Stein said she, Mr Novak and her entire team would push forward.

We are not giving up this fight, as we believe its the right one and its only just begun, said Ms Stein.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Police in upstate New York looked into two Muslim college students after they attended an evangelical church as part of a class, the schools president claims.

The report comes amid stoked anxieties within the Muslim-American community stemming from the election of Donald Trump, who campaigned on a platform that continuously linked people of the Islamic faith to terrorist groups.

The Nazareth College students attended service at the non-demoninational Browncroft Community Church in Rochester  along the Canadian border. Their Sociology of Religion Course required them to attend religious services of different faiths, the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle reported.

Daan Braverman, president of the college, said that a church member subsequently called Homeland Security to express concern about the Muslim students from Nazareth.

According to a college spokesperson, state police visited the school on Monday to confirm that the two attendees were students. They dropped the matter after receiving confirmation.

Mr Braverman said a third non-Muslim student attended church earlier in the day and cause no alarm. It remains unclear how the church identified the students respective religious affiliations.

The senior pastor of Browncroft, Rob Cattalini, told the Democrat & Courier that the students did capture the attention of the churchs security team, who called the college to confirm that the visitors were students. One member of the team called the school because they felt the students appeared older than than traditional college age. He claimed to not be aware of calls to DHS or the state police, but the security team does include some law enforcement officers.

"We at Browncroft are an open and loving faith community and always welcome anyone seeking God on their faith journey," Browncroft said in a statement on its Facebook page. "We intend to rectify and resolve this misunderstanding with Nazareth leadership as soon as possible."

Mr Cattalini was not immediately available to respond to request for comment.

I am very troubled and indeed angered that two of our students were singled out because of their religious beliefs, Mr Braverman said in a campuswide email.

He added: This incident underscores, especially in the context of the larger environment, the importance of our work in promoting interfaith understanding and respect across lines of religious difference.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

A woman who flew half way round the world to adopt a malnourished Bulgarian orphan after seeing a picture of him on Facebook has shared pictures showing his incredible transformation a year later.

Priscilla Morse, from Tennessee, adopted Ryan Morse when he was seven-years-old and weighed only eight pounds. He was covered in hair as his body tried to save his life by keeping him warm.

Twelve months after Ryan was taken to the US, Mrs Morse shared pictures of what he looks like now on social media. He has grown significantly over the past year and currently weighs 23 pounds.

The first meeting was pretty scary. He was bones and skin, he literally looked like a skeleton, Mrs Morse told Inside Edition.

The first thing that went through my head was, he's going to die.

Ryan spent his first two weeks in the US in hospital and was readmitted soon after being discharged and stayed for an additional month.

Since coming to America it has been discovered Ryan suffers from cerebral palsy, microcephaly, scoliosis, clubbed feet, and dwarfism.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

Mrs Morse and her husband David have two biological children of their own and also adopted a girl from Russia.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Donald Trumps new chief strategist once suggested only property owners should be allowed to vote in US elections, according to reports.

Steve Bannon, who was appointed the President-elects senior adviser and chief strategist last month, also told former colleagues he believed some people were genetically superior, according to an interview in the New York Times.

A change to allow only homeowners to vote would mean millions of African-Americans and other ethnic minorities would lose the right to cast their ballot  something Mr Bannon allegedly said was not a bad thing.

Julia Jones, a screenwriter who worked with Mr Bannon on a documentary about former US President Ronald Reagan, told the New York Times the senior Trump aide had discussed his beliefs on voting reform with her.

When challenged about the impact restricting the vote would have on racial minorities, Mr Bannon is said to have been relaxed.

I said, That would exclude a lot of African-Americans, Ms Jones recalled.

"He said, Maybe thats not such a bad thing.'

"I said, But what about Wendy? - a reference to Mr. Bannons black executive assistant. "He said, Shes different. Shes family.

Mr Bannon was not a racist but was using the alt-right  using them for power, Ms Jones added.

Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Show all 14 1 /14 Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Isis: "Some of the candidates, they went in and didnt know the air conditioner didnt work and sweated like dogs, and they didnt know the room was too big because they didnt have anybody there. How are they going to beat ISIS?" Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On immigration: "I will build a great wall  and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me and Ill build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Free Trade: "Free trade is terrible. Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people. But we have stupid people." PAUL J. RICHARDS | AFP | Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Mexicans: "When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists." Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On China: "I just sold an apartment for $15 million to somebody from China. Am I supposed to dislike them?... I love China. The biggest bank in the world is from China. You know where their United States headquarters is located? In this building, in Trump Tower." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On work: "If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable." AP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On success: "What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate." Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On life: "Everything in life is luck." AFP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On ambition: "You have to think anyway, so why not think big?" Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On his opponents: "Bush is totally in favour of Common Core. I don't see how he can possibly get the nomination. He's weak on immigration. He's in favour of Common Core. How the hell can you vote for this guy? You just can't do it." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Obamacare: "You have to be hit by a tractor, literally, a tractor, to use it, because the deductibles are so high. It's virtually useless. And remember the $5 billion web site?... I have so many web sites, I have them all over the place. I hire people, they do a web site. It costs me $3." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Barack Obama: "Obama is going to be out playing golf. He might be on one of my courses. I would invite him. I have the best courses in the world. I have one right next to the White House." PA Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On himself: "Love him or hate him, Trump is a man who is certain about what he wants and sets out to get it, no holds barred. Women find his power almost as much of a turn-on as his money." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On America: "The American Dream is dead. But if I get elected president I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before and we will make America great again." GETTY

According to US Census Bureau data, only 41 per cent of black Americans own their home compared to 72 per cent of whites.

Young people would also lose out if the vote was restricted to homeowners; only 35 per cent of Americans under the age of 25 own a property compared with 79 per cent of over-65s.

It means limiting the vote would be likely to significantly benefit the Republicans, because young people and ethnic minorities are traditionally much more likely to support the Democrats.

There is no suggestion that restricting the franchise is the current policy of Mr Trump or his incoming administration.

Mr Bannon ran Mr Trumps winning presidential campaign from August onwards, taking charge after Paul Manafort, the previous manager, resigned over his alleged close links to Russia.

 Steve Bannon calls liberal women 'a bunch of dykes'

Before joining the campaign, Mr Bannon ran far-right news website Breitbart News, which during his tenure ran headlines including Theres no hiring bias against women in tech, they just suck at interviews, Young Muslims in the west are a ticking time bomb and Birth control makes women unattractive and crazy.

Mr Bannon, a controvesial figure whose appointment by Mr Trump has been widely condemned, had previously suggested he wanted to destroy the state...bring everything crashing down and destroy all of todays establishment.

He was charged with domestic violence against his wife in 1996 but the charges were dropped when she failed to show up for the trial.

His former wife also accused him of saying he did not want his daughters going to school with Jews  an accusation Mr Bannon has strongly denied.

The Independent has contacted Mr Bannon for comment.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Activists and investors are clubbing together to run a $10m trial of universal basic income in the United States.

The Economic Security Project will run for two years in an attempt to discover whether guaranteed minimum cash payments are the key to solving problems like poverty or the stagnation of the middle class.

Individuals and non-profit organisations, including technologists, academics and artists, will receive money to "explore and experiment with cash-related work", according to the project.

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes said the project had gathered urgency since the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency, QZ.com reported.

He said: "We have more questions than answers but we do know we can unite around the fact that financial security should be a human right and cash is an underutilised tool."

A Canadian province recently voted in favour of trialling a universal basic income for its citizens in partnership with the national government.

Peter Bevan Baker, Green Party leader in Prince Edward Island, proposed the bill.

He said: "A universal basic income could enable the greatest unleashing of human potential ever seen."

Recommended Elon Musk calls for universal income after robots take human jobs

And SpaceX founder Elon Musk has said a universal income will eventually need to be adopted as human workers are replaced by robots.

He said: "People will have time to do other things, more complex things, more interesting things."
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

In the short time since the American presidential election, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and US President-elect Donald Trump appear to have formed a bond.

Now Duterte has taken the relationship further - with a public impression of the real estate tycoon's distinctive speaking style.

Duterte delivered the impression Wednesday evening during a conference of the UN Convention Against Corruption at the Malacanang presidential palace, where the Philippine leader was recalling his December 2 phone conversation with Trump.

Duterte's office has published a clip of the video, which you can see above.

Oh, President Duterte, Duterte's Trump impersonation begins. We should fix our bad relations. It needs a lot of, y'know, you just said something good here. And youre doing great. I know whats your worry about these Americans criticising you. You are doing good. Go ahead. I have this problem on the border of Mexico and America and these goddamn s*** guys are [unintelligible].

Duterte later said Trump told him that no media supported me, and I did it on my own. The Philippine president said he then told the US President-elect that he was impressed by his win.

Oh yes, when you come to Washington D.C. or New York City, look me up and we'll have coffee, Duterte said Trump replied. Maybe you can give me a suggestion, one or two, how to solve this goddamn bulls*** son of a bitch.

According to Rappler, Duterte's impression brought laughter from the audience. The Philippine president has become known for his impressions, as well as his use of colorful and at times undiplomatic language.

The warm description of Trump contrasts with the frosty relationship between Duterte and President Obama. After Duterte used a Tagalog phrase that translates to son of a bitch or son of a whore while criticising Obama in September, the White House canceled a planned bilateral meeting with the Philippine leader. The pair later shook hands at a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The Obama administration has expressed concern over Duterte's ongoing campaign against the country's illegal drug trade that has resulted in the killing of at least 4,500 Filipinos in about five months. Duterte previously said that during their December 2 phone call, Trump praised the controversial anti-drug campaign as the right way.

The Washington Post
The Committee of Permanent Representatives to the EU (Coreper) has approved on behalf of the EU Council the text of the agreement, as agreed with the European Parliament, the suspension mechanism for a visa-free regime, according to the EU Delegation to Ukraine.

"This agreement is a balanced one, and it is extremely important for the effectiveness and credibility to the liberalization policy of the EU's visa regime. The current suspension mechanism is not enough, and now it will be improved. At the same time, the fact that we have reached an agreement that should open the door for further progress in the liberalization of the visa regime, negotiations with other countries that meet all the requirements," the press service of the representative office quoted Minister of Interior of the Slovak Republic Robert Kalinak.
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

A Danish politician has been criticised for saying boats carrying refugees migrants should be "fired at" to prevent them from reaching Europe.

Kenneth Kristensen Berth, a lawmaker for the anti-immigration Danish People's Party (DPP), which is allied to the country's government, was speaking during a debate in Copenhagen.

He was later forced to clarify the comments on Facebook, where he said he did not advocate "shooting at migrants", but had meant "warning shots" could be fired against ships carrying them.

Mr Kristensen Berth, the DPP's EU affairs spokesman, said in the debate on Wednesday: "The only way you can do it efficiently is by simply turning the boats around and saying you cannot sail within this territorial border.

"If you do that you will either be fired at or you will be turned around and sailed back."

He said on Thursday the warning shots should be fired because it was "essential" to protect the European Union's territorial borders.

DPP deputy leader Soeren Espersen said: It is hard for me to say something else than I agree with him."

Such situations would be "very, very seldom," he added.

Recommended How a sharp fall in migration could damage the economy

An MP for the ruling Venstre party, Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, said on Twitter that the remarks were not okay and that warning shots are... a warning of what is to follow.

Of course you don't shoot at people who are fleeing. It shouldn't be necessary to say, Mette Frederiksen, the leader of the opposition Social Democrats, wrote on Facebook.

Denmark introduced a host of measures to deter migrants from coming to the country earlier this year, including a controversial rule allowing police to confiscate their valuables to help pay for their accommodation.

According to the UN, at least 4,700 people have died, are missing or feared to have drowned this year while trying to cross the Mediterranean.

AP
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The EU has reached an agreement to grant visa-free travel to 50 million Ukrainians and Georgians.

Officials said the deal had been struck on Thursday to end an internal EU dispute that had been holding up the promised measures.

Late-night talks involving EU member states and the European Parliament had reached a compromise on the terms of a mechanism which can be used to suspend the visa-free schemes in emergencies.

The deal on visa suspension must still be formally approved by the member states and the European Parliament.

The deal struck between the European Parliament and the member states will facilitate the immediate consideration of the two visa liberalisation proposals for Georgia and Ukraine, MEP Agustin Diaz de Mera said.

Under the deal, visa requirements may be reintroduced if there is a surge of citizens from a non-EU country such as Ukraine or Georgia staying irregularly in EU territory.

21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Show all 21 1 /21 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Portugal drinks more wine than France Tindo - Fotolia 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Young Italians, by some distance, are the most likely to live at home with their parents 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Britain is on course to overtake Germany as Europes most populated country 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Greek workers work the longest hours in the EU 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Estonia has, per capita, more drug-related deaths than anyone else 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe The fastest download speeds are to be found in Romania 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Slovenia, Malta and Poland have the smallest gender pay gaps 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe France hates its leader more than other European countries 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Eastern and Western Europe are very divided on the issue of gay marriage 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Germany has the most millionaires 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Everyone likes Christmas, apart from France 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Germany accepts by far the most asylum applications 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe The UK and France have some of the most positive views of Muslim people 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Europe's largest Muslim population is in Germany 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Danes are the most trusting Europeans, and Cypriots the least 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Finland has the worst economy in the EU 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Italy has cut back its military spending more than any other major European Nato member 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Everyone is sad about the refugee crisis 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe People in Spain are also the most likely to live in flats (Brits are most likely to live in houses) 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Spain is the most likely to feel neighbourly 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Luxembourg is home to the highest proportion of foreign nationals

They can also be reintroduced if there is a rise in unfounded asylum applications, or a lack of cooperation on returning migrants, or if nationals are deemed to pose a security threat.

This agreement is balanced, and is extremely important for both the effectiveness and credibility of the union's visa liberalisation policy, Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kalinak said.

The current suspension mechanism is not adequate and will now be improved, Mr Kalinak added.

The fact that we have reached an agreement should open the door to further progress on visa liberalisation talks with other countries that meet all the necessary requirements, he said.

The two former Soviet republics of Ukraine and Georgia are seeking to move further away from their former master Moscow and closer to the West.

However, they have grown frustrated that the EU was failing to deliver.

After last year's refugee crisis, EU governments had grown nervous of the popular reaction led by anti-immigration parties against a move to make visits easier for 45 million Ukrainians, as well as 5 million Georgians.

Allowing them to travel into Europes Schengen zone without applying in advance for visas was an important incentive for people there to accept hard reforms from the governments in Kiev and Tbilisi as they sought closer relations with the EU.

 EU refugee deal in jeopardy over Turkeys visa conditions

Earlier this week, the head of the European Council said the EU was putting its credibility and reputation at risk by letting internal political wrangling stall the promised easing of visa requirements for Ukraine and Georgia.

In a letter sent to European Parliament President Martin Schulz on Tuesday and seen by Reuters, Donald Tusk urged the legislature to compromise with national governments to unblock visa liberalisation.

At stake here are the legitimate hopes and aspirations of the nations who are our neighbours, as well as the reputation of the European Union, which has categorically and repeatedly committed itself to the issue, the former Polish premier wrote.

Even though all the parties in this debate have their own good arguments and undoubtedly good will, it seems we are getting close to squandering our joint efforts, he added, saying failure to deliver would be an unforgivable mistake.

Click here to view European tours and holidays, with Independent Holidays
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Countries in the EU will be able to return migrants to Greece from mid-March, the European Commission has announced.

Brussels hopes the move will help to restore the blocs migration policies, which collapsed under a mass influx in 2015.

But human rights and refugee agencies have said Greek facilities remain so overcrowded they will simply be unable to cope with the extra migrants.

Under EU rules, the first country of entry is responsible for handling an asylum claim, but that system broke down last year in Greece, the main gateway to Europe for more than a million refugees and migrants.

Unable to cope, Greece let many of them pass through on their own to Germany and other wealthy EU states in defiance of the blocs rules. That led countries along the route gradually to close their borders, stranding many asylum seekers in Greece, which struggled to offer them proper shelter.

The European Commission on Thursday said Greece has improved in hosting and registering arriving asylum-seekers.

It recommended that EU states be allowed to send back to Greece asylum-seekers who enter the bloc that way and make it deeper into Europe from mid-March onwards. The recommendation does not apply to those who have already made that journey.

As many as 13,000 people who registered in Greeces refugee camps have now gone missing and many are thought to have made the journey into Europe.

This will provide further disincentives against irregular entry and secondary movements, and is an important step for the return to a normally functioning... system, said Frans Timmermans, the commissions deputy head.

Recommended Justin Trudeau cries as he is reunited with Syrian refugee

The blocs asylum policy and its zone of internal free travel both collapsed last year as an uncontrolled flow of migrants and refugees triggered bitter disputes between EU states on how to handle them.

These disputes remain unresolved and more than 62,000 people are still in Greece, even though an EU agreement with Turkey in March reduced the arrivals to a trickle.

The failure is largely due to reluctance by EU states to take in people from Greece and Italy to help process their asylum requests and ease the burden on the two frontline states.

So far, fewer than 8,200 people have been moved from these two Mediterranean countries to other EU states under a plan that was supposed to cover 160,000 people and which expires next September. The commission called on EU states to step up.

Our aim is to relocate all those in Italy and Greece who are eligible for relocation within the next year, said the blocs migration chief, Dimitris Avramopoulos.

He also said: Asylum seekers need to know they cant relocate themselves and that if they do so they will be sent back.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

Brussels put additional conditions on returning people beyond March, saying Greece should give individual assurances of fair treatment for any returnees and that unaccompanied children not be sent back at all.

Obligatory quotas on refugees are now the focus of a tug of war between EU states seeking to reform their troubled common asylum rules.

The commission said arrivals from Turkey to Greece stood at an average of 92 people a day since March, compared with thousands that were at times making it in a single day before the deal with Ankara. It said 1,187 people have been deported from Greece to Turkey since March this year.

Under the deal with Turkey, which looks fragile now due to a breakdown in ties following Ankaras crackdown in the wake of a botched military coup in July, Brussels also said it had spent 677m (570m) of the 3bn promised to help Syrian refugees living on Turkish soil.

Eva Cosse, Human Rights Watchs Athens-based Western Europe researcher, said the facilities in place in Greece were not robust enough to process any more refugees.

Despite some positive reforms to its asylum and reception system, in a time of deep economic crisis the exceptional number of arrivals by sea, border closures along the Balkans route, a flawed EU-Turkey deal, and a lack of EU solidarity are putting a strain on Greeces ability to effectively deal with the mass arrival of migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees, she said

The dire situation leaves over 62,500 refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers  including women, children, and people with disabilities  effectively stranded in Greece.

Thousands of asylum seekers have been kept on islands and forbidden from moving on, often living for months in overcrowded and abysmal conditions in EU-sponsored facilities while their claims are processed.

There are now more than 16,295 asylum seekers on the five main Greek islands that are hosting asylum seekers and migrants  double the capacity of the facilities on those islands.

Due to lack of space in dedicated shelters, unaccompanied children are often detained, sometimes with adults, for lack of a better alternative.

Reinstating Dublin returns to Greece would not only be unfair for Greece, but above all it would be catastrophic for the rights of asylum seekers fleeing war and persecution and seeking refuge in Europe.

 Teddy bear that makes refugees feel welcome by teaching them english

Sacha Myers, who is based in Greece with Save the Children, said the charity was concerned with the commissions announcement.

The closed facilities on the islands, where returning asylum seekers would register and live, have been well over capacity for months now  some are hosting more than double their capacity.

And asylum seekers continue to arrive in Greece as the main drivers forcing families to leave their homes  such as war, persecution and extreme poverty  remain unresolved.

Due to the overcrowded conditions, families and children are living in tents and getting drenched with every rainstorm.

In some camps the toilets and showers are dirty and theres a lack of proper drainage systems. This means that when it rains, the tents are flooding and theres no way for families to get warm and dry again.

In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea Show all 7 1 /7 In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea A baby being taken on to MSF's Bourbon Argos ship from a boat carrying 130 migrants and refugees Lizzie Dearden In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea A refugee boat carrying 101 people being rescued by MSF's Bourbon Argos Lizzie Dearden In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea A refugee boat carrying 101 people being rescued by MSF's Bourbon Argos all images by Lizzie Dearden In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea A baby among refugees on a boat carrying 185 people off the coast of Libya Lizzie Dearden In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea Migrants and refugees sleeping after being rescued by MSF's Bourbon Argos ship Lizzie Dearden In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea A crew from MSF's Bourbon Argos ship rescuing a boat carrying 130 migrants and refugees off the coast of Libya, at sunrise Lizzie Dearden In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea A woman in a stretcher being lifted onto MSF's Bourbon Argos ship from a boat carrying 130 migrants and refugees off the coast of Libya Lizzie Dearden

The processing of asylum claims in Greece is also moving at a snails pace and some families have been languishing in camps for nine months now waiting for their application to be processed.

Its inconceivable how the EU can propose sending more people to live in these conditions.

But its also unsurprising, considering Brussels track record on migration policies so far.

Member states continue to wash their hands of a challenge that needs to be tackled by all European countries working together, not just leaving Greece and Italy to shoulder all the responsibility.

EU Member states are dragging their feet on relocating migrants from Greece and Italy, and choosing instead to invest resources to keep out  and now deport  as many vulnerable people as possible  all while living in denial of any wrongdoing.

If nothing else, this is setting a dangerous precedent in todays troubled context where migrant and refugee rights are being challenged worldwide.

Additional reporting by Reuters
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The remaining two of eight Turkish soldiers who fled Turkey to Greece in a helicopter after an aborted coup attempt will not be extradited, a Greek court has ruled.

The court's decision  the last of three cases  brings the number of soldiers who will not be extradited to five. The verdict comes after a separate set of judges ruled three soldiers from the same group should be extradited on Tuesday, while on Monday yet another panel refused to extradite three of the soldiers.

The conflicting rulings have added to tension between Turkey and Greece, two Nato allies, which have longstanding disputes over boundaries in the Aegean Sea.

Greece has become increasingly concerned over statements by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Athens regards as challenges to the international treaties that delineated Greek-Turkish borders.

"We cannot let (statements) by extreme elements go unanswered, like Erdogan, who has turned into a brutal dictator," Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos told the private Real FM radio Thursday. "If your neighbour says 'I like your wife and I'm coming to take her,' then you have to answer," Kammenos elaborated.

All eight men  among whom are two majors, three captains, and two sergeant-majors  fled Turkey hours after the aborted coup attempt against Mr Erdogan on the night of 15/16 July.

All of the soldiers deny being involved in the coup attempt. The servicemen, who maintain they would not have a fair trial in Turkey, arrived in the northern Greek city of Alexandroupolis on a Black Hawk helicopter after making an emergency request for landing, and have been kept in protective custody as their applications for asylum in Greece were considered. Upon landing, the soldiers had removed their insignias, making it hard for Greek authorities to determine their rank.

Turkey says the men were involved in the July coup attempt that Mr Erdogan has alleged was organised by Pennsylvania-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, and has called the servicemen traitors.

Julys coup attempt shook the nation to the core, and left at least 248 dead and more than 2,000 injured, prompting violent purges in the countrys top judiciary, military, political, and educational ranks.

Our expectation is for Greek officials to extradite these coup-plotting soldiers to Turkey as soon as possible ... for these people to face justice in Turkey, Turkey's presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said moments before Thursday's ruling.

In a joint statement released by a member of their legal team, the eight men expressed deep joy at Thursday's ruling.

We are confident that finally justice will prevail, the statement said. We and our families wish to thank all Greeks for their sympathy and support.

The three whose extradition was approved have appealed that decision, while a prosecutor has also appealed the court decision rejecting the extradition for three of the others. All appeals would be heard by Greece's Supreme Court.

Agencies contributed to this report
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Marine Le Pen has called for foreign children to be banned from accessing free education in France, as part of tough proposals to restrict services provided by the state .

The far-right candidate in the French presidential elections warned of no more playtime during a speech in Paris

"I've got nothing against foreigners but I say to them If you come to our country, don't expect that you will be taken care of, treated, and that your children will be educated for free, she said. That's finished now.

Mrs Le Pens campaign manager later told AFP she was only referring to children of illegal immigrants.

Ms Le Pen said that any foreigner using the public education system without paying tax in France would have to contribute.

"We're going to reserve our efforts and our national solidarity for the most humble, the most modest and the most poor among us," Ms Le Pen told the conference.

The proposals were immediately dismissed as unworkable by French Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, who said she condemned them "with the greatest force".

With these words... Madame Le Pen proves... her complete indifference to the terrible human circumstances faced by young children, she said in a statement.

Ms Vallaud-Belkacem also made clear that France guaranteed free education for all school-age children on its territory under its national laws and the international conventions it has signed.

I remind you that it's a matter of honour for the French republic to guarantee to children, to all children, the right to an education  in other words, the right to a future, she said.

Ms Le Pen, the Front National (FN), leader is widely expected to be one of two candidates to reach the second round of the presidential election in May next year.

Mrs Le Pen wants to take France out of the eurozone and plans to hold a referendum on the countrys membership of the European Union.

 Marine Le Pen claims no difference between her policies and Ukip

David Cameron has said a victory for Mrs Le Pen would be a body blow for the European project.

But the latest opinion poll suggests she would suffer a heavy defeat by Francis Fillon, the conservative candidate, in the second round of the presidential vote.

Mr Fillon has himself promised to reduce immigration to a strict minimum.
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Muslim girls must take part in mixed swimming classes at school, Germany's highest court has ruled.

The court ruled against an 11-year-old pupil who argued that even wearing a burkini  a full-body swimming suit  went against Islamic dress codes.

The Constitutional court in Karlsruhe rejected an appeal by the girl's parents, who argued she should be excused from the swimming classes.

 Chancellor Angela Merkel calls for burka ban

They had argued before the lower courts that swimming in a burkini revealed the shape of the girl's body, which goes against her religion.

However, the lower courts found this to be untrue and said there were "no binding rules in Islam" to define appropriate clothing.

The ruling comes as Angela Merkel called for a burqa ban while making her pitch for a fourth term as chancellor.

Ms Merkel told her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party she would support a nationwide prohibition on Islamic veils covering the face.

Refugees settle in Germany Show all 12 1 /12 Refugees settle in Germany Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat, a refugee from Syria, plays with his daughter Ranim, who is nearly 3, in the one room they and Mohamed's wife Laloosh call home at an asylum-seekers' shelter in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The Zayats arrived approximately two months ago after trekking through Turkey, Greece and the Balkans and are now waiting for local authorities to process their asylum application, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany A refugee child Amnat Musayeva points to a star with her photo and name that decorates the door to her classroom as teacher Martina Fischer looks on at the local kindergarten Amnat and her siblings attend on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The children live with their family at an asylum-seekers' shelter in nearby Vossberg village and are waiting for local authorities to process their asylum applications. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Kurdish Syrian asylum-applicant Mohamed Ali Hussein (R), 19, and fellow applicant Autur, from Latvia, load benches onto a truckbed while performing community service, for which they receive a small allowance, in Wilhelmsaue village on October 9, 2015 near Letschin, Germany. Mohamed and Autur live at an asylum-applicants' shelter in nearby Vossberg village. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Ali Hussein ((L), 19, and his cousin Sinjar Hussein, 34, sweep leaves at a cemetery in Gieshof village, for which they receive a small allowance, near Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat, a refugee from Syria, looks among donated clothing in the basement of the asylum-seekers' shelter that is home to Mohamed, his wife Laloosh and their daughter Ranim as residents' laundry dries behind in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The Zayats arrived approximately two months ago after trekking through Turkey, Greece and the Balkans and are now waiting for local authorities to process their asylum application, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Asya Sugaipova (L), Mohza Mukayeva and Khadra Zhukova prepare food in the communal kitchen at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is their home in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Efrah Abdullahi Ahmed looks down from the communal kitchen window at her daughter Sumaya, 10, who had just returned from school, at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is their home in Vossberg Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Asylum-applicants, including Syrians Mohamed Ali Hussein (C-R, in black jacket) and Fadi Almasalmeh (C), return from grocery shopping with other refugees to the asylum-applicants' shelter that is their home in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat (2nd from L), a refugee from Syria, smokes a cigarette after shopping for groceries with his daughter Ranim, who is nearly 3, and fellow-Syrian refugees Mohamed Ali Hussein (C) and Fadi Almasalmeh (L) at a local supermarket on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. All of them live at an asylum-seekers' shelter in nearby Vossberg village and are waiting for local authorities to process their asylum applications, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Kurdish Syrian refugees Leila, 9, carries her sister Avin, 1, in the backyard at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is home to them and their family in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Somali refugees and husband and wife Said Ahmed Gure (R) and Ayaan Gure pose with their infant son Muzammili, who was born in Germany, in the room they share at an asylum-seekers' shelter in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity, and are waiting for authorities to process their application for asylum 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany German Chancellor Angela Merkel pauses for a selfie with a refugee after she visited the AWO Refugium Askanierring shelter for refugees in Berlin Getty Images

The full-face veil is not acceptable in our country," she told delegates in Essen, sparking rapturous applause. "It should be banned, wherever it is legally possible."

Ms Merkel's party has lost support to the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which has thrived by attacking her policies on refugees.

The party toughed its tone on integrating refugees at a party conference this week and also supports a burqa ban as part of its wider anti-Islam stance.

The Constitutional court's ruling on Wednesday could give credibility to future attempts by the government to ban the full face-veil.
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

A parachuting Father Christmas has landed in a village in central Italy bearing gifts for children affected by a powerful earthquake that hit the area this summer.

The group of eight parachuters, one dressed as Santa Claus, flew over Amatrice, the hill town at the earthquakes epicentre.

They were then greeted on the ground in the nearby village of Somatti by a cheering crowd of children, who had gathered to welcome the visitors.

Recommended Italian priest blames recent spate of earthquakes on gay civil unions

Each taking a turn to sit on Santas knee, the children received gifts and sweets.

Many used to live in Amatrice before the town was destroyed by the earthquake. They now live in tents and temporary accommodation in nearby cities and villages.

The skydivers, members of Italys national parachute association from the nearby city of Terni, also donated nearly 3000 (2500) to Somattis schools and nursery to help with the reconstruction effort.

 Italy earthquake: Dog saved from rubble

The devastating earthquake struck central Italy on August 24, killing nearly 300 people and leaving thousands homeless.
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Israel has responded furiously after the Ecuadorian envoy to the United Nations compared Zionism to Nazism.

Diplomat Horacio Sevilla Borja said he did not think there was anything more similar to Nazi persecution than Israeli policy towards the Palestinians.

He told a UN session marking the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People: We repudiate with all our strength the persecution and genocide that in its time unleashed Nazism against the Hebrew people.

But I cannot remember anything more similar in our contemporary history than the eviction, persecution and genocide that today imperialism and Zionism do against the Palestinian people.

The comment is believed to echo remarks made by former Cuban President Fidel Castro, who was a fierce critic of Israel.

The Israeli government responded by summoning an Ecuadorian diplomat, Enrique Ponce, in Tel Aviv to express its anger and concern at the remarks.

Acting under orders from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Foreign Ministrys deputy director-general for Latin America, Modi Efraim, reportedly told the diplomat that Mr Borjas speech was full of inaccuracies, especially the comparison made between the treatment of the Palestinians and the horrors of the Nazi regime.

Mr Efraim said Israel utterly rejects comparisons or comments such as these that are completely detached from reality.

Israel: From independence to intifada Show all 7 1 /7 Israel: From independence to intifada Israel: From independence to intifada 26973.bin Israel: From independence to intifada 26974.bin Israel: From independence to intifada 26975.bin Israel: From independence to intifada 26976.bin Israel: From independence to intifada 26977.bin Israel: From independence to intifada 26985.bin Robert Capa/Magnum Israel: From independence to intifada 26986.bin Robert Capa/Magnum

Mr Ponce reportedly promised to relay the concerns to the Ecuadorian government.

Relations between Israel and Ecuador have been tense for several years. The South American country recalled its ambassador to Israel in 2014 in protest at the Operation Protective Edge military operation in Gaza.

Following the latest comments, Israels ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, wrote to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calling on him to condemn the remarks and demand Mr Borja apologise.

Mr Danon wrote: The U.N. cannot treat such despicable words of hate and pure anti-Semitism as business as usual. It should be made crystal clear to all member-states that such anti-Semitic behaviour will not be tolerated at the U.N.

Zionism is a controversial ideology that is interpreted in many different ways. Some people consider it to be a legitimate belief in the existence of a Jewish state in the Middle East while others claim it is a racist or apartheid ideology has been used to aggressively expand Israels borders.
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Hackers took control of an Israeli news channel and broadcast the Muslim call to prayer.

Israel's Channel 2s transmission was disrupted after hackers gained access to TV satellites on Tuesday night.

The hack allegedly took place in protest of a controversial bill that limits the volume of the Adhan from mosques in Israel.

The transmission also had messages written in Hebrew warning of punishment from God and said that the fire burned hearts.

Residents in northern Israel viewing Channel 2 via satellite TV reported that during the evening broadcast someone took over central control of the broadcast and played the voice of the muezzin, the Tribune reported.

An Arab politician had previously staged a Muslim call to prayer in Israels parliament in protest against the bill to quieten mosques.

Ahmad Tibi, a member of the Israeli government, performed the Azan during a speech in which he argued the proposed bill.

Another Arab-Israeli politician, Taleb Abu Arar, joined Mr Tibi in performing the call.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

The bill, which applies to all places of worship but is seen as targeting mosques, has the support of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

I cannot count the times  they are simply too numerous  that citizens have turned to me from all parts of Israeli society, from all religions, with complaints about the noise and suffering caused them by the excessive noise coming to them from the public address systems of houses of prayer, Mr Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting.
German Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairman Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Thursday that the organization is ready to continue monitoring the situation in Ukraine and help resolve the conflict in the region.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier thanked the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Special Monitoring Mission (OSCE SMM) for its work, which often takes place in difficult and dangerous conditions.

He said in Hamburg that it is evident that such a mission is necessary for supporting the ceasefire, recalling the need for disengagement of heavy weapons from the conflict line in eastern Ukraine.

Steinmeier said that the OSCE is ready to monitor the process, but their mission must be properly staffed and have the necessary technological means for this purpose, noting that it is vital for the mission to be assured that specific solutions are offered during the discussion of the budget in the future.
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The US military believes about 50,000 Isis fighters have been killed since it joined the fight against the group two years ago.

A senior military official said the figure was a "conservative estimate" and showed how US and coalition air power, alongside US troop deployments to support local forces, were proving effective, Reuters reported.

The estimated kill count is significantly higher than the total number of fighters the CIA believed Isis possessed inside Iraq and Syria in September 2014, which was between 20,000 and 31,500. A senior Kurdish leader claimed months later the real figure was closer to 200,000.

The US has also carried out airstrikes on Isis strongholds in Libya.

It comes as the director general of MI6, Alex Younger, used his first public speech to warn that the brutal military campaign by Russia and the Assad regime in Syria is creating a new generation of terrorists who will be a threat to the international community, including Britain.

He said: "As I speak, the highly organised external attack planning structures within Daesh (Isis) even as they face military threat, are plotting ways to project violence against the UK and our allies without having to leave Syria.

"I believe that Russian conduct in Syria, allied with that of Assads discredited regime, will, if they do not change course, provide a tragic example of the perils of forfeiting legitimacy."

In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah Show all 12 1 /12 In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah Smoke rises after airstrikes by US-led coalition planes as Iraqi security forces advance against Islamic State extremists in Fallujah, June 15, 2016 AP In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah Iraqi security forces advance during heavy fighting against Isis militants in Fallujah, Iraq, on 14 June AP In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah Shia militia say that moving resources from Fallujah towards the area near Mosul was a 'betrayal' of the battle for the city GETTY In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah Hospital sources said 18 bodies were recovered from the river over the weekend AP In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah Up to 60,000 civilians were feared trapped in Fallujah at the start of the Iraqi operation AP In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah Shia fighters hold an Isis flag in an operation east of Fallujah  the terror group has lost ground in both Syria and Iraq AFP/Getty In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah Shia fighters hold their weapons as they gather near Falluja, Iraq, June 4, 2016. Reuters In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah Pro-government forces bid to take back ground from Isis in Fallujah MOADH AL-DULAIMI/AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah Smoke billows on the horizon as Iraqi military forces prepare for an offensive to retake the city AP In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah A member of the Iraqi security forces fires artillery during clashes with Isis militants near Fallujah, Iraq, 29 May, 2016 Reuters In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah Iraqi government forces fire a rocket near al-Sejar village, north-east of Fallujah, on May 26, 2016, as they take part in a major assault to retake the city from the Islamic State group AFP/Getty In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah Shia fighters and Iraqi security forces advance towards Fallujah Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters

Infiltrating Isis "upstream" - effectively, playing in his opponents' half of the pitch - was key to combating the threat, he added.

Analysis of leaked Isis documents by US terrorism researchers has revealed the group's recruitment footprint has widened significantly since the days of its predecessor organistion, al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI).

In a study released on Thursday, the US military's Combating Terrorism Center said the difference between fighters' origins in 2007 and 2014 "could not be starker".

Recommended Kidnapped Briton John Cantlie alive in Mosul in latest Isis video

Between 2006 and 2007 two countries, Saudi Arabia and Libya, accounted for 60 per cent of AQI's foreign fighter count.

But between 2011 and 2014, the 60 per cent sum broke down into seven countries. Researchers highlighted the 210 fighters who came from Russia and the 163 from the Xinjiang region of China as prime examples of the change in "geographic dynamic".

They added the new recruits "had a broader mix of backgrounds, skills and experiences, and were less interested in becoming suicide bombers", and also "were several years older on average and included people from a wider range of ages".

The US Department of Defence said on Thursday that Iraqi forces had surrounded the northern battleground city of Mosul, and a spokesman said the Isis stronghold was "effectively isolated now".

Coalition air strikes hit a tactical unit, a vehicle-borne bomb facility and supply routes, spokesman Capt Jeff Davis said.

Turkish-backed rebel forces are currently engaging Isis in Syria's al-Bab region, and the group was driven out of its former base in Sirte, Libya, on Monday.

More than 850 UK foreign fighters are believed to have joined Isis and other terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria, with half having returned.
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Lebanons Parliament has taken a first step towards abolishing a law that allows rapists to avoid punishment if they marry their victims.

Protestors stormed Beirut's streets on Tuesday wearing white dresses and bandages stained with fake blood, demonstrating outside the city's main Government building.

The law from the 1940s currently says that rape is punishable by up to seven years in prison with a higher penalty for raping a minor or someone with mental or physical disabilities.

However, Article 522 of the law creates a loophole which says that criminal prosecution is suspended if the two people involved get married.

After a review of the statute on Wednesday, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri tweeted that a parliamentary committee had agreed to set the wheels in motion towards abolishing the outdated law.

"We await the completion of this civilised step in the nearest legislative session," Mr Hariri told NNA news agency.

Kataeb political party president Samy Gemayel also supported the move, saying he hoped it would be approved quickly, according to NNA.

Previously, supporters of the article had argued that marriage was a way to save the honour of a raped woman, suggesting that if the law was rewritten, wedding an attacker could be left as an option for families to choose if they wished.

Women dressed as brides in bloodstained white dresses protest existing rape legislation outside the government building in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, on December 6 2016 (AP)

However, Ghida Anani, head of ABAAD, a local NGO campaigning against the law, said it was a clear violation of womens rights.

This is like saying the victim is a victim twice, a daily victim because she has to share her life with a person that violated her, and is hence raped every day, she said.

We reject this violation of women regardless of their age, background, environment, whether they have special needs or the circumstances of the rape.

Recommended The countries that still allow child marriage

Similar marriage clauses are present in sexual consent law in many modern Muslim states, often a hangover from interpretations of Sharia, or religious law.

A Facebook post from ABAAD welcomed the news from Lebanons Parliament.

"Congratulations to all the women and girls in the Lebanese territory," ABAAD said. "The Committee for Administration and Justice has agreed to repeal Article 522 from the Lebanese Criminal Penal Code and more details will be discussed regarding the remaining articles next Wednesday."

In November, Turkey abandoned plans for a controversial law that would have allowed men who had sex with underage children to be pardoned if they married the victim.

Several attempts to repeal or amend Lebanons immunity-through-marriage law have been made in the past, most recently after large protests in 2012.
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The brutal military campaign by Russia and the Assad regime in Syria is creating a new generation of terrorists who will be a threat to the international community, including Britain, the head of MI6 has warned.

In his first public speech as director-general, Alex Younger scathingly criticised the conduct of the forces of Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad, charging that their actions are leading to further radicalisation and acting as a recruiting sergeant for Islamist extremist groups.

And, the chaos created by the Syrian conflict is enabling Isis to plan attacks on the UK and the West.

As I speak, the highly organised external attack planning structures within Daesh (Isis) even as they face military threat, are plotting ways to project violence against the UK and our allies without having to leave Syria, said Mr Younger.

I believe that Russian conduct in Syria, allied with that of Assads discredited regime, will, if they do not change course, provide a tragic example of the perils of forfeiting legitimacy.

Recommended We have to accept that Assad will win in Syria

In defining as a terrorist anyone who opposes a brutal government, they alienate precisely the group that has to be on side if the extremists are to be defeated ... I cannot say with any certainty what the next year will bring; but I know this we cannot be safe from the threats that emanate from the land unless the civil war is brought to an end, he said.

Mr Youngers remarks are at odds with the views of Donald Trump and his advisors, who have expressed admiration for Vladimir Putins actions in Syria and see Russia as a future ally against Isis and other Muslim terrorist groups.

Mr Younger also strongly criticised states which have been using cyber and other forms of hybrid warfare to undermine Western democracies. Although he did not name Russia as one of the culprits, there was little doubt that he was pointing the finger at the Kremlin when he spoke about the increasingly dangerous phenomenon of hybrid warfare.

US intelligence agencies have claimed to have evidence that Russia had hacked emails of the Democratic Party, publishing material which damaged Hilary Clintons campaign and helped Mr Trumps. There are also claims that Moscow may try to interfere in the coming French and German general elections.

The connectivity at the heart of globalisation can be exploited by states with hostile intent to further their aims of deniability. They do this through means as varied as cyber-attacks, propaganda or subversion of democratic process. The risks at stake are profound and represent a fundamental threat to our sovereignty; they should be a concern to all those who share democratic values, said Mr Younger.

The Syrian town of Mouadamiya Show all 7 1 /7 The Syrian town of Mouadamiya The Syrian town of Mouadamiya Medical staff at the underground hospital who treated the dying and wounded during the siege The Syrian town of Mouadamiya Former militia fighters from Mouadamiya Nelofer Pazira The Syrian town of Mouadamiya A man sells sweets on a table amid the ruins Nelofer Pazira The Syrian town of Mouadamiya A vegetable seller Nelofer Pazira The Syrian town of Mouadamiya A mother and her children walk past the ruins of Mouadamiya Nelofer Pazira The Syrian town of Mouadamiya The rubble of the smashed town of Mouadamiya Nelofer Pazira The Syrian town of Mouadamiya A householder stands next to the ruins of his neighbours' bombed home Nelofer Pazira

The MI6 chief said he would strive to maintain security cooperation with the US and European Union following the election across the Atlantic and the Brexit vote.

The director-generals predecessor at MI6, Sir John Sawers and the former head of MI5, Jonathan Evans, Baron Evans of Weardale, had warned that leaving the European Union would lead to serious loss of intelligence sharing. Mr Younger said  I want to pay particular tribute to the strength of our intelligence sharing with the US  and the quality of the work we do with our European partners, France and Germany foremost among them.

I am often asked what effect the big political changed of 2016, Brexit and the US election result will have on these relationships. My answer is that I will aim for, and expect, continuity. These relationships are long lasting and the personal bonds between us are strong. The threats that we faced before these events have not gone away. I am determined that MI6 remains a ready and highly effective partner These partnerships save lives in all our countries.
Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

In travel terms, that means a brief spell when a location is special. Such as 1991, when the Soviet Union fragmented. As the clock in St Basils Cathedral struck midnight, Moscow Time, on New Years Eve, it imploded into an ideological black hole.

The USSR is dead, I thought that cold, bright night: long live the 15 sovereign republics, from Estonia to Tajikistan.

Suddenly, a vast and previously inaccessible swathe of the world was open. In the months that followed, you could roam freely across the 11 time zones of the entity formerly known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. All the old rules about declaring your travel intentions along with your stash of hard currency melted away.

I signed up for a 300 trip to Leningrad (now St Petersburg) and Moscow organised by Progressive Tours. After one night in the birthplace of the Russian revolution, I went to the railway station and without fuss or formality bought a ticket to Vilnius in Lithuania, passing through Estonia and Latvia. From there, I hopped on a bus to Minsk, the capital of Belarus. The currency black market had been decriminalised, so for a flight to Kiev I spent the equivalent of 80p. An overnight train took me to the Black Sea beaches and 19th-century elegance of Odessa. After a side trip to Moldova, an Aeroflot Tupolev jet took me to the Russian capital, where I reconvened with the rest of the group.

A year earlier, such a free and easy trip would have been impossible. Within the year, the barriers went up. Today, even combining Belarus and Russia on a single trip involves a tangle of tasks slightly more complex than becoming a Supreme Court judge.

A generation on, I sense a similar brief opportunity in a former ideological soulmate of the Soviet Union: Cuba.

Two weeks after the death of Fidel Castro, life on the island has returned to what passes for normal there. But the status quo ante wont prevail for long. Cuba is the target for more flights than ever, including many from the US. And within the next couple of months it will become clear whether this travel pattern will accelerate or reverse.

It will go one of two ways. President-elect Trump could carry out his promise to reverse Barack Obamas policy of rapprochement, which has seen trade and travel opportunities blossom. The new air routes will be shut down, and the islands optimism will be stifled.

More likely, though, the Republican leader will forget his vow, and Cuba will continue to pivot away from Europe and Latin America and towards the US.

I sounded out the experts from a travel specialist that has been sending British holidaymakers to Cuba since 1993: Journey Latin America. First, the firms head of product, Stuart Whittington, tackled a scenario in which Raul Castro  who took charge in Havana in his brothers stead  fails to hit it off with Donald Trump:

If Trump does follow through with his recent threat to potentially terminate the deal, we may see a decline in demand from US travellers. The rooms that were being blocked in state hotels for the onslaught of Americans now risk being empty, resulting in the possibility of greater choice of accommodation in 2017. But this may be followed by a further decrease in quality following a decline in income from tourism.

The firms Cuba product manager, Rafe Stone, tackled the sunnier prospect: that Washington DC-Havana relations will continue to warm.

In the wake of Fidels death you cant swing a bottle of Havana Club without hitting a casa particular  a home stay ranging from humble family dwellings to stylish, contemporary apartments in Havana.

Despite this, if US tourism growth continues, its going to get harder and harder for people to get what they want. Cuba is already struggling to take the strain of the increased tourism over the last two years, since Obama started to re-establish links with the country.

Much of the world will look almost the same next Christmas as it does this December. Cuba probably wont. So to quote no less than the Nobel Laureate for Literature, Bob Dylan: If you gotta go, go now.
Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Fewer than 10 per cent of people in the UK can see the Milky Way from where they live, according to the International Dark Sky Association. And thanks to urban light pollution, its getting harder than ever to catch a glimpse of the stars. So where better to go to savour the increasingly obscured commodity that is the universe than Northumberland, Englands emptiest county?

Northumberland was awarded International Dark Sky Park status in December 2013, and its wild and sparsely inhabited lands can seem all but permanently cloaked in darkness at this time of year.

I dropped down into the forest at dusk from the crag of Simonside, the sky to the west slicing through several shades of red. Then a monochrome cloak swelled up from the eastern horizon and twinkling lights began to emerge in the valley below.

Id just walked across the ridge of Simonside; its a scintillating experience, and one that will be even more spectacular in a few days' time, when one of the greatest meteor shows, the Geminids, will display their wares. Annually, at this time of year, the debris from an asteroid-type object known as 3200 Phaethon crashes into Earths upper atmosphere at some 80,000 miles per hour, vaporising as colourful Geminid meteors (the name comes from the fact the shower appears to radiate from the Gemini constellation).

A shooting star at Simonside (Cain Scrimgeour)

The peak night for the Geminids is 13 December, but several days either side are expected to be rewarding as well. The main show clocks in after midnight but the early evening hours are the best time to try to catch an outlying earth-grazer; a slow-moving, long-lasting meteor that travels horizontally across the sky. All this will take place against a backdrop of up to 2,000 visible stars, far more than you will see anywhere with an urban glow.

The flanks of Simonside, 35 miles north west of Newcastle and pushing up towards the Scottish border, will be a wonderful place to watch such a spectacle. A short, torch-lit stroll along the forest track from the car park should be sufficient.

The landscape is pretty special by day too, as I discovered on this fine circular loop around and up onto Simonsides crags. The track is cushioned with fallen pine needles, their damp distinctive scent hanging in the air. The red squirrels that inhabit these conifer forests were being uncooperative but chirpy wrens flitted through the undergrowth and I caught glimpses of deer grazing on more open land.

Serene landscapes dominate the view towards Rothbury (David Taylor)

After a half-hour swaddled in pine trees, I suddenly left the treeline, and the much-heralded empty and open landscape sprung itself upon me. The next hours walk was invitingly laid out ahead: my path would cut up the heathery flanks of Simonside where vertical slabs of rock of great symmetry plunge earthward.

I emerged upon a high ridge broad enough to form a plateau. The county brands itself as the land of the big skies and from Simonside Crag it was easy to see why this is the case. To the north-west, the Cheviot, the highest mountain in the county, boasted a smattering of snow, its flanks falling away to form the Scottish border. Looking west I picked out Skiddaw and Blencathra in the Lake District, while to the east the river Coquet coiled its way to the North Sea.

It may have been Northumberland, but the geology reminded me of both Dartmoor and the Peak District, with outcrops and overhangs of sandstone rock, their contours swirling and chiselled, standing in silhouette against what was left of the light.

I followed a good path of flagstone paving past a series of features: Simonside Crag itself, at 419m is marked by a high cairn; 200m farther on was Old Stell Crag, the most substantial edge; and later I skimmed across Dove Crag, whose slopes fall away back into the Forests of Rothbury.

Sunset over the Cheviot Hills (Shutterstock)

Our distant predecessors occasionally buried their kinsfolk on Simonside, in stone-lined graves known as cists, and unsurprisingly the area is brimming with legends, some of which might make the more imaginative of us think twice before venturing out in the dark to go meteor-watching. The primary spooks in these middle reaches of Coquetdale are the duergars, a race of dwarfs dressed in coats of lambs skin and hats of green moss who lead travellers astray into bogs at night, but disappear at dawn.

Everything feels ancient, a sense compounded at this time of year by the short grass and low winter sun. These combine to add definition to the imprints of medieval field systems that criss-cross the landscape, and to the paleochannels, the left-behind trails of old river courses.

Ravens flapped past, and I hopefully scoured the field edges for sight of tawny owls, who begin to nest at this time of year. Even as the shortest day approaches, wildlife has a spring in its step. So, weather permitting, will the night-time skies.

Travel essentials

Getting there

Travel to Morpeth by CrossCountry trains (crosscountrytrains.com) and on to Rothbury by bus X14 (travelinenortheast.info). The walk is not served by public transport but Phoenix Taxis (01670 503039) will drop you off at the starting point (the Forestry Commission car park at Simonside).

Staying there

Mark Rowe stayed at St Marys Inn, Morpeth (stmarysinn.co.uk) which offers doubles from 90, B&B.

More information

The route (forestry.gov.uk) is easily followed by red arrows on wooden posts from the car park.

visitnorthumberland.com

Click here for the latest travel offers from Independent Holidays
Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Look everybody  weve got an ethical foreign policy run by a liberal Foreign Secretary. Instead of dropping real bombs, hes dropping truth bombs. Surely thats good news?

OK, everyones laughing at Boris again. This time his undiplomatic language has been directed at the Saudis (also the Iranians, though no one seems as exercised about that), who, as we keep getting told, are a major trade partner and military ally. Hes accused them of puppeteering in proxy wars, in effect allowing the innocent civilians in other countries to lay down their lives, unwillingly, for the House of Saud (just as others have to lay down their lives for the benefit of the ayatollahs of Tehran). Cue the outrage, the tut-tutting from the camel corps of old Middle East hands, and some opportunistic mickey-taking by Bozzas enemies, of which there are many.

Well, we shouldnt mock Boris for telling a few home truths about the nature of politics in that part of the world. As it happens, these things do need to be said, and why not in public (or at least, in this case, semi-public)? After all, the traditional approach  quiet words in regal ears, behind-the-scenes lobbying, men of the world getting frank with each other over a lavish banquet  hasnt done much good for the orphans of Yemen or the refugees of Syria. For the liberal critics of Boris Johnson the hypocrisy is astonishing; our Foreign Secretary is merely saying exactly what they have been urging every representative of HMG to declare since time immemorial.

When New Labour came to power in 1997, the prickly but principled then-Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, made vast trouble for himself by calling for an ethical dimension to British foreign policy. The approach did not survive his departure from office, and he didnt make that much headway when he was still running foreign policy because the British never lived up to the ethical dimension anyway, so we ended up with the worst of all worlds. Oddly enough the neo-cons in the George W Bush administration also wanted to tilt American policy towards a more democratic and liberal approach  hinting to the Saudis that theyd rather they went in for a little reform. The old US approach to client state dictators from Fulgencio Batista to Mobutu Sese Seko to Nguyen Van Diem, and, embarrassingly enough for a time, Saddam Hussein was simple: Hes a son of a bitch, but hes our son of a bitch.

10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Show all 10 1 /10 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In October 2014, three lawyers, Dr Abdulrahman al-Subaihi, Bander al-Nogaithan and Abdulrahman al-Rumaih , were sentenced to up to eight years in prison for using Twitter to criticize the Ministry of Justice. AFP/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2015, Yemens Sunni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was forced into exile after a Shia-led insurgency. A Saudi Arabia-led coalition has responded with air strikes in order to reinstate Mr Hadi. It has since been accused of committing war crimes in the country. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Women who supported the Women2Drive campaign, launched in 2011 to challenge the ban on women driving vehicles, faced harassment and intimidation by the authorities. The government warned that women drivers would face arrest. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Members of the Kingdoms Shia minority, most of whom live in the oil-rich Eastern Province, continue to face discrimination that limits their access to government services and employment. Activists have received death sentences or long prison terms for their alleged participation in protests in 2011 and 2012. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses All public gatherings are prohibited under an order issued by the Interior Ministry in 2011. Those defy the ban face arrest, prosecution and imprisonment on charges such as inciting people against the authorities. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2014, the Interior Ministry stated that authorities had deported over 370,000 foreign migrants and that 18,000 others were in detention. Thousands of workers were returned to Somalia and other states where they were at risk of human rights abuses, with large numbers also returned to Yemen, in order to open more jobs to Saudi Arabians. Many migrants reported that prior to their deportation they had been packed into overcrowded makeshift detention facilities where they received little food and water and were abused by guards. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses The Saudi Arabian authorities continue to deny access to independent human rights organisations like Amnesty International, and they have been known to take punitive action, including through the courts, against activists and family members of victims who contact Amnesty. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Raif Badawi was sentenced to 1000 lashes and 10 years in prison for using his liberal blog to criticise Saudi Arabias clerics. He has already received 50 lashes, which have reportedly left him in poor health. Carsten Koall/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Dawood al-Marhoon was arrested aged 17 for participating in an anti-government protest. After refusing to spy on his fellow protestors, he was tortured and forced to sign a blank document that would later contain his confession. At Dawoods trial, the prosecution requested death by crucifixion while refusing him a lawyer. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was arrested in 2012 aged either 16 or 17 for participating in protests during the Arab spring. His sentence includes beheading and crucifixion. The international community has spoken out against the punishment and has called on Saudi Arabia to stop. He is the nephew of a prominent government dissident. Getty

The Bush-Cheney view was that this was futile and self-defeating, as well as undesirable. Once again that approach, intelligently applied as it was by Condi Rice, did not last long. The Saudis continued to do what they have always done, and now they have overreached themselves dangerously in the region, threatening the very stability they crave.

So someone needs to tell them where they are going wrong, and it may as well be Boris Johnson. We should be impressed and supportive of his efforts, not use them to make fun of the poor chap. No one else in his sort of position talks about the Sunni-Shia issue, and how Iran and Saudi Arabia use it for their own regional ends; in the end, only by doing so will both those regional powers, the smaller countries used as battlefields, and the wider world, see some peace for a change. Whats funny about that?
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The Labour Party has shown that it can still be an effective opposition. It has forced the Prime Minister to change her mind and agree to publish her plan for Brexit before the Government gives notice under Article 50 that the UK is leaving the EU.

Of course, that plan may not amount to much. Kenneth Clarke, the pro-EU former Chancellor, said witheringly in todays debate: Well be told that the plan is to have a red, white and blue Brexit.

But Labour has only three choices. It can accept Theresa Mays timetable, which is to trigger Article 50 by the end of March; or it can try to block or delay Article 50; or it can publicly adopt the first position while secretly trying to engineer the second.

Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit Secretary, has chosen the first position, which is probably the right judgement. It would be difficult for the Opposition to argue against triggering Article 50, not least because Labour supported the referendum after the 2015 election. Labour MPs voted for the referendum Act knowing that it was the final choice, explicitly ruling out the possibility of a second referendum on the terms of the deal if the nation voted to leave.

 Brexit Secretary fails to keep a straight face about 'always intending' to publish Brexit plans

David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, tried to suggest that Starmer was really going for position three  that he was pretending to agree to Article 50 but secretly trying to delay it. To which Starmer had the waspish reply that the timetable for publishing its plan and invoking Article 50 was the Governments problem, not his.

Starmer has been an MP for only 19 months, but already he is leading for the Opposition on the most important subject to come before this parliament, and he is doing it with a skill and assurance that recalls the way John Smith, the Labour leader with 22 years parliamentary experience including as a cabinet minister, harried John Majors government over the Maastricht Treaty in 1992-93.

Starmer presented himself as the advocate of the 48 per cent as well as the 52 per cent. The vote on 23 June was not a vote to write those who voted to remain out of their own history, he said.

He was quick on his feet, picking up a comment from Crispin Blunt, the Conservative MP, who said, No plan survives contact with the enemy. Starmer said it was wrong to describe our EU partners as the enemy.

But the secret of good opposition is not just speaking well in the Commons, although that is an important part of it. The more important part is preparation, and Starmer forced Theresa Mays U-turn by drafting his motion with care. By accepting Article 50 but asking for a plan first, he tempted enough Tory MPs to support his wording, forcing the Government to accept his motion and add its own amendment, which calls on the Government to invoke Article 50 by 31 March 2017.

Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Show all 13 1 /13 Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Supreme Court Brexit Challenge People wait to enter the public gallery outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Gina Miller, co-founder of investment fund SCM Private arrives at the Supreme court in London on the first day of a four-day hearing Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A man waves the EU flag in front of the Supreme Court Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Satirical artist Kaya Mar poses with two of his paintings in front of the Supreme Court Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Pro-Europe protestors dressed as Supreme Court Justices stand outside the Supreme Court ahead of the first day of a hearing into whether Parliament's consent is required before the Brexit process can begin. The eleven Supreme Court Justices will hear the government's appeal, following the High Court's recent decision that only Parliament can trigger Article 50 Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge The eleven Supreme Court Justices will hear the government's appeal, following the High Court's recent decision that only Parliament can trigger Article 50 Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Businesswoman Gina Miller arrives at the Supreme Court ahead of the first day of a hearing into whether Parliament's consent is required before the Brexit process can begin Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Attorney General Jeremy Wright arrives at the Supreme Court in London EPA Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Protesters outside the Supreme Court in London, where the Government is appealing against a ruling that the Prime Minister must seek MPs' approval to trigger the process of taking Britain out of the European Union PA wire Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A protesters wearing a judge's wigs and robes stands outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A protester holds up a placard outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Pro-Europe protestors dressed as Supreme Court Justices stand outside the Supreme Court Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A man waiting to enter the public gallery waves a European Union flag outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters

That was designed to tie Labour firmly to the Governments policy, to the evident disgust of Kenneth Clarke in this afternoons debate, who dismissed Labours motion as harmless. But it also undermines the Governments case at the Supreme Court, because MPs will now vote explicitly on triggering Article 50. (Although David Pannick, counsel for Gina Miller, said today that his case is that Parliament has to pass an Act triggering Article 50, not just hold a vote.)

Which just goes to show that Theresa May made a political mistake in failing to ask Parliament to vote on Article 50 in the first place. Today, Keir Starmer made her pay for that mistake. The Labour motion, as amended by the Government, was voted through by a large majority, by 448 against 75 Scottish National Party MPs, the Liberal Democrats, a handful of Labour hard-Remainers and Kenneth Clarke.

Starmers parliamentary triumph in forcing a U-turn wont satisfy those, such as Clarke, who want to block Brexit altogether, but it was a triumph all the same. He was able to claim: Labours aim is to shape the debate and to head off hard Brexit.
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

A red, white and blue Brexit? You couldnt make it up. The only thing Theresa May has made clear is that if Brexit is to be achieved its going to be a long and tortuous process. The tragedy is the longer we are embroiled in legal, political and negotiation arguments, the longer it will take to address the forces that led to a leave vote in the first place.

Most Brits are not small minded and xenophobic. The hard working people of this country voted leave because living standards fell when competition from EU tradespeople cut prices and wages. This is why many would like to be out tomorrow. They cannot afford another six months  they may lose their businesses, jobs and houses.

The answer is in domestic policy. The longer we are distracted by Brexit, the longer it will take us to address the real issues.

Mark Grey

London, WC2

On reading Downing Streets claim that Liberal Democrats and Labours refusal to back the Brexit team is not backing Britain, I was reminded of Dr Johnsons claim that patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. But if we are using the analogy of a team, the fans do not have to have confidence in the manager. They might want to obtain new players, and they certainly do not want to be relegated to the lower divisions, which is what will happen when we leave the EU. So Theresa May, dont insult our intelligence by playing the patriotism card. We wont fall for it.

Francis Beswick

Stretford

Those who think the EU is the best thing since sliced bread need to ponder on the proposed 21bn deal for the amalgamation of the 215 year old London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Borse. Both sides claim it will be a merger, but this is a merger which gives the Germans full control. Some deal!

Is this what they mean by a united Europe? I wonder what the French and the rest of the EU think of this deal? Is it possible that Brussels will actually block it?

It is interesting to note that Theresa May (who pledged to protect national interests from harmful foreign deals) has refused to intervene  a touch of Pontius Pilate methinks. Would this be the same woman that has said she will honour the EU referendum result? What on earth is going on?

 Theresa May aims for 'red, white and blue Brexit'

Dave Haskell

Cardigan

It is unfortunate that views on Brexit, as expressed on your erudite letters page, are so polarised. I didnt vote in the referendum because I am disenfranchised under the 15-year rule and to have done so would have been difficult because I dont buy the entire package from either side. My view is that the crucial question  and this applies to every country in the EU  is who rules. Is it national parliaments or is it Brussels? I suspect it is fair to say that the majority want a cooperative Europe of shared values, free trade and free movement, with all legislative functions retained by national parliaments.

I have always maintained that if people perceive, either in fact or imagination, that they have lost control over their own affairs, then the legacy of the EU will be nationalism. A brief glance at recent history will show that nationalism is usually destructive.

L J Atterbury

Pila, Poland

The will of the people: it is time to explore this mantra a little further. If 52 per cent voted in favour of leaving the EU, with a turnout of 72 per cent, this means that only 37 per cent of the electorate voted to leave. Within that, there was undoubtedly a protest vote unrelated to the EU and, more particularly, I doubt whether many voted to be poorer in the way set out in the Governments own autumn statement.

The referendum was deeply flawed in many ways including a paucity of information about what leaving the EU meant as well as misinformation and deliberate untruths. It is no basis for democratic mandate.

Peter Newbery

Bristol

Populist politics

In his speech to a meeting of European socialist parties in Prague, Jeremy Corbyn was right about the consequences of globalisation and corporate power but would have been better advised to seek to enlist the support of other parties politicians to correct the cause.

All politicians should realise that, at the moment, competition between national political parties of all shades only serves to change the faces of who gets to foster the enrichment of an international parasitical plutocracy and the impoverishment of synthetic democracies.

It would be so much better if politicians first agreed to invert the current economic model to enrich the people they purport to serve.

Geoff Naylor

Winchester

What is driving the rise of hard right populism? The much-bruited sins of the elites, and the naivety and indolence of the electorate. Who are these elites? An amalgam of the rich, the corrupt and their elected (or not, as the case may be) regulatory avatars. What drives the elites? The quest for power and wealth, mostly through the operation of neoliberal economics or corruption or outright theft. Neoliberalism and democracy are incompatible. One must go. Will we be allowed to choose which?

Steve Ford

Haydon Bridge

Reasons to be cheerful

The resignation of Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, following that nations referendum on the Constitution, caps off what has proven a challenging year for the European Union. These anti-establishment uprisings might not end there as several European countries go to the polls over the next year.

In March the Dutch hold their parliamentary elections, with the anti-Islamic Freedom Party, led by Geert Wilders, standing on a pledge to de-Islamify the Netherlands and hold a Nexit vote. His party is running neck and neck with Mark Ruttes Liberal Party.

In May the French go to the polls, with the Presidential race seen as being between the far right National Front, under Marine Le Pen, running on an anti-EU, anti-immigration ticket, and the Republic candidate, Francois Fillon.

However, against this background there are some positives for Europhiles. The Austrians have just voted for a new President, with Alexander Van der Bellen of the Greens defeating Norbert Hofer of the anti-immigration Freedom Party.

In September the Germans cast their votes, with the backdrop of the immigration controversy. The far-right anti-immigration, Alternative for Germany party is expected to make gains, but Mrs Merkel is expected to win a fourth term if she decides to run again.

Next year could prove a pivotal year for the European Union, but it is no stranger to such challenges and my prediction is that it will emerge the stronger for it.

Alex Orr

Edinburgh

 Beppe Grillo: The man behind Italy's "No" victory

Trumponomics in action

Before he has even ascended to the White House throne, Donald Trump continues to wield his mighty hammer driving a deeper wedge between Democrats and Republicans.

Craving for adulation from his adoring fans, he visited Cincinnati for a victory lap delivering a campaign-style speech, gloating and boasting and falsely claiming that he saved 1,100 jobs at the Carrier plant. According to the Wall Street Journal and ABC News, 300 of the 1,100 were never intended to move to Mexico. This will cost Ohio $7m or $14,000 per worker  hardly a brilliant deal. This is an exceedingly bad precedent. Other companies may seek similar state subsidies threatening to export jobs overseas.

Trumps demagoguery and conflicts of interest are in complete violation of Federalist 68 and he should therefore be rejected by the Electoral College. As President Obama ruefully advised, wait until your inauguration before you destroy the world.

Jagjit Singh

Los Altos, USA

The productivity puzzle

I think that Andreas Whittam Smiths conclusion that UK productivity is low because of poor management is too simplistic. Elsewhere I have read that the productivity of British manufacturing is as good as German manufacturing, and in many cases better. The problem is that in the UK manufacturing now represents a much lower proportion of our total GDP compared to Germany. I also wonder about our high proportion of small businesses. For example, is the productivity of my local fish-and-chip shop as good as a branch of McDonalds?

We have the reputation of being a nation of shopkeepers and of small workshops in backyards. What effect does that have? And how do you determine the productivity of the City of London or a symphony orchestra? Does an average productivity across all sectors of business actually mean anything  particularly when making comparisons with other countries?

Ian K Watson

Carlisle

On the wrong track

Simon Calders five-point plan for the railways probably says more about the nature of his employment contract with you than about his understanding of rail commuter traffic. I suggest you reduce his salary by an amount which leaves him unable to afford to live within the bounds of the M25 and at the same time insist he be at his desk in London by 9 each morning. Then give him a child to take to school each morning before he catches his train, and see how he appreciates the idea of rush hour season tickets being increased.

His argument, that the costs of transporting workers to jobs which provide public services and drive the economy should be borne only by those workers, is the same as that put forward by those who think that the costs of the country's education system should be borne only by those who have children; and is unsound for the same reasons.

Kathryn Robertson

Buckinghamshire

Education by numbers

So Scotlands standards of education have declined over the last decade and more: Scots are now at 23rd in the PISA rankings, whereas in 2006 they were at 11th and in 2000 at 6th. This is lamentable for what used to be one of the best-educated populations in the world.

It may be that it owes something to the confusion being sown in young pupils minds by the imposition of faux Scots language in the curriculum. This invented language owes more to Stanley Baxters hilarious Parliamo Glasgow than to any living tongue. Children are set tasks requiring them to read, spell and write in this language at an age when their real need is to consolidate their learning in standard English. It is all, of course, intended to hammer home a spurious differentiation between Scotland and England, and that is part of the SNPs strategy for winning Scots over to separation.

According to Professor Lindsay Paterson of Edinburgh University, the culprit for falling standards appears to be the much-vaunted Curriculum for Excellence. In a damning interview, he referred to its rather Mickey Mouse approach to cross curricular themes and lots of other projects that are rather beside the point at that age. Is this all simply a matter of incompetence, of a misplaced sense of innovation, or is it a cunning plan to dumb down education so that Scots are incapable of seeing the patent flaws in the SNPs arguments for separation from the UK? Only joking I think.

Jill Stephenson

Edinburgh

If youre happy and you know it

I read with great interest the excellent article by Jolanta Burke on happiness and age. Her points were well made and entirely plausible. She didnt mention health however, the possession of which is surely an important factor in how happy we feel, or perhaps how unhappy we might feel when disease or disability strike.

The argument reminded me of an anecdote, admittedly a generalisation, which makes similar points without the analysis Burke offers: to be happy in life, we need three things  good health, spare time and enough money. But life frequently conspires to allow us only two out of the three at any one time. When we are young we have health and time, but we don't have much money. In middle age we have health and money, but so little spare time. When we are old we have free time and enough money, but our health begins to deteriorate.

Rosemary Mathew

Cambridge
Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Ive just spent hours watching footage of the siege. The pictures are familiar: planes fall like vultures through the sky and buildings are blown apart, children are brought to hospitals covered in blood, bodies are buried in shallow graves, hospitals themselves are repeatedly bombed, entire districts of the city turned to rubble, civilians flee their homes amid burning buildings. Rescue workers tug at the living and the dead amid the wreckage of the city. America and Britain demand an end to the destruction but do nothing. And Russia cynically and cruelly allows the innocent to die. Readers will know exactly what I am describing.

The Warsaw Uprising, of course, 1944, not 2016. The scenes are eerily familiar to all that other blood-soaked footage from Aleppo weve been watching more recently  but, in one critical way, very different. For the fighters of the Home Army in Poland  rebels against German occupation, patriots loyal to the Polish government in London  appear constantly in the old black-and-white film of the Warsaw Uprising. Their own military targets are attacked by their enemy. Civilians are seen queuing for weapons to fight alongside the insurgents.

Not exactly what you see in the terrifying film from eastern Aleppo this past year, where not a single rebel can be identified  save for carefully posed shots in their own propaganda productions  and where every target is a hospital or a civilian home. And anyone who believes the French nonsense about Aleppo becoming the worst massacre since World War Two should study the stunning films Ive been watching in the Polish Museum of the Warsaw Uprising.

Insurgents fighting on the streets during the Warsaw Uprising (Getty) (Getty Images)

In the first week, the Nazis and their allies murdered up to 40,000 civilians. The Warsaw Rising was to last for only 63 days, but the death toll was up to 200,000  half the total deaths of the entire Syrian war, even by the dodgy statistics upon which journalists currently depend. Warsaw in 1944 was total war indeed  even if we forget later massacres of even greater bloodshed: the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the 1991 and 2003 Iraqi wars, the Afghan wars, the Algerian war of independence against the French with a minimum of a million dead, which the French appear to have forgotten. The worst massacre since World War Two indeed!

But now a reminder of the tragedy of Warsaw. By mid-summer of 1944, Russian troops had smashed through the German armies in the east on their way to Berlin, and reached the eastern banks of the Vistula river opposite the very centre of Warsaw. Nazi troops had already begun to evacuate the city and retreat towards the Polish-German border. The Polish Home Army of General Tadeusz Bor-Komorowski, with the full knowledge of the Allied-supported Polish government-in-exile in London, decided that the moment had come to liberate Warsaw from the Nazis  at 5pm on 1 August, 1944.

It was a calculated, daring and disastrous decision. Komorowski wanted to strike when the Germans were retreating  but before the Russians could liberate Warsaw themselves and impose a Communist government on the once independent Polish nation. Britain and France had declared war on Germany in 1939, after Hitler attacked Poland  but they were powerless to help. Besides, Churchill and Stalin had already agreed that Poland would fall under Soviet influence in post-war Europe.

The Germans meanwhile brought in SS reinforcements and, on Hitlers specific orders, razed the entire city of Warsaw to the ground while the Russians watched from the other side of the Vistula  and did nothing. They were quite happy to allow the Nazis to crush the 50,000 armed nationalist Poles of the Home Army  leaving Warsaw to be freed by the Russians in January 1945 and a Communist government imposed on the survivors.

This is a necessarily truncated and simplified version of those terrible moments of history. The British and Americans deliberately delayed air drops of arms and medicine to the Poles in Warsaw and even refused to send the fully trained Polish Parachute Brigade to help them. RAF crews did volunteer to fly from Brindisi to Warsaw but were shot at by Russian as well as German artillery. An escaped British POW, RAF Lieutenant John Ward, actually joined the Home Army, the Armia Krajowa (AK), fighting in the Rising and sending 64 reports of the battle to The Times in London. Other foreigners, including Ukrainians, even Azerbaijanis, fought alongside the Poles, as well as Jewish survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto rising of 1943.

So back once more to Aleppo. No-one doubts that foreigners are fighting alongside Jabhat al-Nusra/Al-Qaida and the Salafist Ahrar al-Sham and other groups around the city. But, oddly, thats not what we call them. We refer to them as rebels  as if they were the Maquis fighting in the French resistance or Partisans freeing Yugoslavia from the Nazis or, indeed, the insurgents of Warsaw struggling for freedom from the German SS. Which they clearly are not. And while we know that the rebels of eastern Aleppo have died fighting bravely, we also know that they have executed their internal enemies, slit the throats of their prisoners and that  well, since Jabhat al-Nusra is al-Qaida (and has since changed its name yet again)  they have flown passenger aircraft into very tall buildings in New York.

In pictures: Aleppo bombing Show all 14 1 /14 In pictures: Aleppo bombing In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Smoke rises after airstrikes on the rebel-held al-Sakhour neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria April 29, 2016. Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A Syrian family runs for cover amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following a reported air strike on the rebel-held neighbourhood of Al-Qatarji in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, on April 29, 2016. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A man reacts as he stands on blood stains at a site hit by airstrikes in the rebel held area of Aleppo's al-Fardous district, Syria, April 29, 2016. Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo The damage of the airstrikes in the rebel-held area of Aleppo on April 28 Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo The damaged the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)-backed al-Quds hospital after it was hit by airstrikes, in a rebel-held area of Syria's Aleppo Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Syrians evacuate an injured man amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following an air strike on a rebel-held of Aleppo on April 29, 2016. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo People inspect the damage at a site hit by airstrikes, in the rebel-held area of Aleppo's Bustan al-Qasr AP In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A man leads a woman in tears and child out of the scene after airstrikes hit Aleppo AP In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Civil defence members search for survivors after an airstrike at a field hospital in the rebel held area of al-Sukari district of Aleppo Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A Syrian boy is comforted as he cries next to the body of a relative who died in a reported air strike in the rebel-held neighbourhood of al-Soukour in the northern city of Aleppo Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A Syrian family walks amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following a reported air strike in the Bustan al-Qasr rebel-held district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Syrian civil defence volunteers and rescuers remove a baby from under the rubble of a destroyed building following a reported air strike on the rebel-held neighbourhood of al-Kalasa in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Syrians help a wounded youth following an air strike on the Fardous rebel held neighbourhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Syrian civil defence volunteers evacuate people from a damaged building following a reported airstrike in the rebel-held neighbourhood of Tareeq al-Bab in the northern city of Aleppo

Which the Polish resistance would not dream of doing. Indeed, in the footage shot by four named war photographers for the Home Armys commander  their films were actually shown at a Warsaw cinema during the Rising  you can see captured German officers and men surrendering to the Poles, handing over their weapons and then being fed  and set to work building barricades for the defenders of Warsaw. The film subtitles even comment on the surprise of the German forces that they were not executed  as Poles were murdered at the hands of the Nazis.

But back to the terrifying website and Facebook pictures that we still see from eastern Aleppo. Why do we not see the defending fighters, as we do on the Warsaw films? Why are we not told their political allegiance, as we most assuredly are on the Warsaw footage? Why do we not see rebel military hardware  as well as civilian targets  being hit by artillery and air attack as we do on the Polish newsreels? Or civilians lining up for weapons to help the rebels defend eastern Aleppo  as Polish civilians, prepared to defend their city, were filmed in Warsaw?

No, this does not mean that the pictures of wounded and dead children in eastern Aleppo are fake. Nor does it mean that the Syrian army or the Hizballah or the Iranians or Iraqi Shiites are playing by the rules of war. In the Syrian conflict, there are no rules  except those made up on the spur of the moment for tactical military reasons  and there are no good guys in civil wars. The battle of east Aleppo is vile and brutal. The Syrian military cannot  and does not  pretend that it has not killed civilians. Although, until recently, civilian casualties of artillery shells on western Aleppo fired by the rebels  so constantly given that blessed anonymity by us in the press  have been almost totally ignored.

My colleague Patrick Cockburn has expressed his own deep unease at the coverage of the Aleppo siege. For months, Western reporters have failed to state the obvious: that they cannot send their dispatches from rebel areas because the rebels would slit their throats open  or hand them over to other rebels who would. And thus the rebels have been tuned out of the story except for that one amorphous description. And the more anonymous they become, the braver they appear  fighters whose predecessors fought the Nazis in the Second World War rather than foreign-paid and armed opponents of the Syrian regime. And, by the same token, what better way of painting the besiegers of eastern Aleppo as descendants of the SS?

If we could call Saddam the Hitler of Baghdad and Milosevic the Butcher of Bosnia and Nasser the Mussolini of the Nile (as Eden actually did call him), then World War II goes on forever. Take a trip to Warsaw today, however, and youll quickly learn that the Poles are a deeply betrayed people, and perhaps  constantly divided by three neighbouring powers (Austro-Hungary, Germany and Russia) as the Kurds are divided by four neighbouring powers (Syria, Iraq, Iran and Turkey)  they were born to be betrayed. But their struggle shows up the Aleppo battle in a very different light from that in which we are currently portraying it.

So if you want to make parallels between Syria and the Second World War, for heavens sake spot the difference. Civilians are always heroes, in Warsaw or Syria. So were the fighters of Warsaw. But are the rebels of Aleppo heroes?
Three Ukrainian servicemen were wounded in the Anti-Terrorist operation zone in the past 24 hours, Ukrainian Defense Ministry's spokesman for the ATO Oleksandr Motuzianyk said.

"No Ukrainian servicemen were killed in the hostilities over the past day, yet three were injured," he told a press briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.

Two servicemen suffered injuries in an artillery attack on Avdiyivka and Vodiane, and one hit a pull-action mine near Novoselivka Druha, Motuzianyk said.

The number of hostile attacks decreased over the day, but the use of heavy weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements continued, the spokesman said.

The truce was not breached in the Luhansk sector in the past 24 hours, Motuzianyk said.

The hostilities were most intense in the Donetsk airport area, Luhanske and the Horlivka perimeter in the Donetsk sector, he said, adding that the hostiles used light weapons and infantry combat vehicles near Avdiyivka and Novhorodske during the daytime. Fifteen mortar mines were fired on Verkhniotoretske and two attacks using 122mm and 152mm artillery weapons were seen during the night. In all, 95 artillery shells were fired, he said.

The hostiles used 152mm artillery and tanks near Shyrokyne in the Mariupol sector, Motuzianyk said. Mortar attacks were seen near Krasnohorivka and Chermalyk. In all, 30 artillery projectiles and 59 mortar mines were fired on Ukrainian positions, and sniper activity was recorded near Novotroyitske.

Seven drones were seen flying in the Donbas conflict zone over the past day, Motuzianyk said.
Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The murder of Nahed Hattar  journalist, Christian, Jordanian  was not just a tragedy. It was a disgrace, a crime against all journalists, vicious proof that another moderate government beloved of the West does precious little to safeguard the lives of its citizens when the Muslim Brotherhood is beating at the gates. The Jordanian prime minister himself had ordered Nahed Hattars arrest, and he was shot at the very gates of the court in which he wished to demand justice  and, just as we Westerners are frothing with righteous anger over Aleppo, we have already forgotten this feisty, eloquent, annoying, provocative and brilliant writer.

But first, lets hear from his 27-year old son Mutaz a personal account he gave me of his fathers last moments when I called to see him at the familys modest home in Amman. Opposite their front door, I could scarcely help noticing, was a squad of policemen. Lets hope they take their constabulary duties more seriously than their colleagues did last September when they stood by and watched Nahed Hattar shot down in front of them.

Recommended The rebels of Aleppo are no heroes

I entered the court and my brother was behind me with my father on the steps, Mutaz said. Then I heard three or four shots. And then I went to see where the sound came from. I found my father on the steps. My brother was chasing the murderer, so I alone found my father on the steps. He did not even blink  so I think he was not alive. No-one moved. None of the policemen [outside the court] moved. There were ten or fifteen of them.

But now its time for what we used to call the story so far. And the more you learn about that story and about 56-year old Nahed Hattars death and its aftermath, the more enraged you become. Hattar also enraged people because he was an individualist who liked to provoke the most extreme elements in all religions, knowing well that the Jordanian government was content to appease them. As a Christian, he was a member of a minority comprising only 6 per cent of Jordanians. He supported the Syrian government and army. He was, in the words of his fellow journalist Sharmine Narwani, cantankerous and difficult, single-minded and biting and his latest crime was typical of him.

He had posted a cartoon on his Facebook page which depicted a Muslim jihadist admonishing God. Nahed Hattar hadnt drawn the cartoon and he made it very clear in his post that this was not Islams God; it represented the God of Isis, the Islamic State. But only hours later, a Muslim Brotherhood publication ran a version of the cartoon on its own website, deleting part of the illustration  and also censoring Hattars explanation that the God depicted in the cartoon represented the version of the Almighty whom Isis worshipped, not the one revered by Islam.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

But the government of moderate Jordan immediately accused Hattar of incitement, and Jordanians  influenced, perhaps, by the filth that Westerners so often throw into social media  immediately moved to Twitter and Facebook to threaten Hattars life, even offering cash for his body parts, especially his tongue. They used real accounts and real identities  and the government did nothing. Nahed Hattar had already been arrested and detained on 13 August  and reportedly beaten in custody  but he was determined to defend himself in court on 25 September. Next day, photographs appeared around the world of the courthouse steps, literally literally spilling over with his blood.

Before we return to his family, a glimpse of the alleged murderer, named by the authorities as 49-year old Riad Ismail Ahmed Abdullah who, according to the Hattar family, fought in Syria against the Assad regime but was cleared on his return and eventually picked up a job with  the Jordanian ministry of education. In other words, he was a civil servant as well as being a preacher in two Amman mosques. But the Hattar family blame far more important people for Naheds death.

His brother Khaled, for example, recalls how the Jordanian prime minister, Hani al-Mulki, tried to stop Nahed Hattars criticism. He sent messages to him through other people, saying stop writing about me  Im not that bad! But in August, Mulki ordered the minister of interior Salam Hammad to arrest my brother while filing a law suite against him. Salama Hammad described him as a dangerous criminal and a fugitive from justiceThey arrested my brother before legal action had taken its course and they started a social media campaign against him and condemned him as a fugitive. When he was in jail for 26 days [before the hearing], the government refused him bail, even though this was not a criminal charge. By law, its not a crime. It would be a misdemeanor.

Immediately after the killing the Jordanian government described the murder as a heinous crime and said that the government will strike with an iron hand all those who exploit this crime to broadcast speeches of hatred to our community.

But when the family sought protection for Nahed Hattar on his pre-trial release from prison, Khaled says a security official told them that they could hire their own security. An official said to us: from our analysis, there is no danger  tell him he can write his name on his forehead and he can walk in the street. Then when he was going to court, they leaked the date. Al-Sabeel [the Brotherhood website] gave the date

Hattars son Mutaz, an intellectual who studied finance and is also a musician but who  in the last days of his fathers life  was almost his secretary, recalls how his father believed the Jordanian government wanted to destroy his image. My father said they wanted to assassinate him  though not physically  so they tried to assassinate his personality in Jordan. This is a new level of crime, he said. Those were his words.

It was five days before King Abdullah of Jordan, a direct descendant of the Prophet, paid a visit of condolence to the Hattar family. His father Hussain, say several acquaintances, would have arrived at the family home within 30 minutes. King Abdullah, according to the family, said he did not know of the alleged murderers past life. We told the King he was a time bomb waiting to explode, says Khaled Hattar. He said he would not let any terrorist cross Jordans borders. We asked for an independent investigation and the King said: Yes, we will investigate independently about this and we will let you know the details. But we have had no reply till now. He should investigate al-Mulki.

But as Nahed Hattars widow Randa told me only last week, we are still waiting for any response from the committee which the King promised us personallyto take action against those who failed to do their jobs... but there is nothing.

The British ambassador came to pay his condolences to the Hattar family. So did the Iranian ambassador and the Syrian and Lebanese ambassadors. Nahed had attacked the government for allowing terrorists to go and fight in Syria, Khaled Hattar says. He said the Jordanian government was siding with the Muslim Brotherhood and terrorist groups like Jabhat al-Nusra and Isis bysending them into Syria.

Hattars widow Randa believes that many people did not understand her husband. He had a complicated  and diverse  personality. He was distinguished not only in Jordan but the whole Middle East. In our daily life, he was a simple, loving person. When I asked Randa why she had married her husband, she replied very simply. I loved him  he was an intellectual person, a very deep person. He wrote a poem about the grand-daughter he is dreaming about. He was very serious in his political work and very kind-hearted in his personal life.

Perhaps the most anguished remark I heard came from Naheds son Mutaz. He was my father and my best friend, he says. I felt like he was also my son  I tried to protect him  and I feel I have lost responsibility now. Over the last two years, I was translating for him, making breakfast for him. My life was being a secretary for him. I still feel people are talking about someone but not my father. When he came home, he would analyse himself as he appeared on television. He would go and feed the birds and think and read poetry and at the same time he could be very serious. He wrote us a poem when he was in jail.

No-one could deny Nahed Hattars support for Bashar al-Assad in Syria. He was close to Hezbollah. He spent several years in Lebanon as an editorialist for the Al Akhbar newspaper. Nor could they deny that he was an intellectual. When he visited Moscow last June, he visited the homes of Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy and attended Swan Lake at the Bolshoi. Did he fear the Islamists whose Caliphate blossomed north of Jordans borders with Iraq and Syria? Certainly, around 2,500 Jordanians have joined Isis. Attacks by the group killed 11 Jordanian soldiers and intelligence officers last June. And whose hand lay behind the actual murder of Nahed Mattar?
Plea to help gardai in Cork

A former Real IRA boss has been murdered in Cork city.

Aidan O'Driscoll, 37, was shot a number of times in an ambush on Great William O'Brien Street in the Blackpool area of the city at around 5pm.

O'Driscoll, from Ballyvolane in north Cork, was taken to Cork University Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

It is understood he may have fallen victim to a feud within dissident republicanism.

O'Driscoll was a one-time ally of Real IRA chief Alan Ryan, who was shot dead in Dublin in 2012.

It is understood he had not been active in the Real IRA for some time, having been apparently expelled from the renegade organisation.

Nicknamed the 'Beast', the republican was shot in the leg in a so-called punishment attack carried out by former republican allies in 2013.

A decade ago, O'Driscoll was convicted of Real IRA membership and served three years in prison. The conviction was later quashed on a technicality.

Following Wednesday evening's shooting, gardai found two partially burnt out vehicles - at Redemption Road, Blackpool and at Killeens, Co Cork.

Sinn Fein councillor for Cork city Chris O'Leary described the killing as "horrific".

"A man has lost his life and other people could have been caught up in this attack," he said.

"Blackpool is a very busy place and a very tight community. This took place near where a lot of elderly people live. Children also play in this area. People are shocked.

"I would appeal for people to assist the gardai so those involved can be put before the courts."
Concerns have been raised about the attitudes of some gardai

Racism and hate crimes are at their highest level on record, according to the latest figures from an independent reporting system.

ENAR Ireland (European Network Against Racism Ireland) said it had reports on 190 incidents in the first half of this year - the most since it began its work more than three years ago.

Twenty-two involved assault, 10 of which left people physically injured, while 13 cases involved threats to kill or cause serious harm.

The organisation, which has 65 member groups in its network, said 10 perpetrators of assaults were known to their victims including neighbours, colleagues or a landlord.

ENAR Ireland said m ost incidents occurred on the street and targeted Black-African and South Asian people, with the perpetrators mostly aged 25-34.

But the anti-racism organisation also claimed there is "hostility from public servants and unacceptably high levels of racism and inappropriate behaviour from members of An Garda Siochana".

Shane O'Curry, director of ENAR Ireland, warned of worrying levels of institutional and systemic racism which he said reflects and reinforces attitudes in which minorities are regularly marginalised and dehumanised.

"When we consider that minorities in Ireland face racist attitudes from Councillors and TDs, when going about their daily business in public, when seeking accommodation, when going out, in obtaining services, when dealing with social welfare officers or gardai, and across the media and social media, then our society is in real danger of bringing about a racist scenario from which we might not be able to roll back," he said.

Mr O'Curry warned of the risk of Ireland "sleepwalking into an Irish Trump, or Brexit scenario".

"We need to be proactive in confronting racism. It is not good enough to blame minorities for the failure of society to integrate them when such high levels of racism are allowed to fester. The responsibility must be on the state to first address the racism in its own institutions," he said.

The report compares to official figures compiled by the Central Statistics Office based on the Garda database that almost one hate crime was reported every day in the first half of the year - a near doubling of the incidents previously logged.

Hate crime is not a specific offence under Irish law but it can be taken into account in a trial.

The ENAR Ireland report also revealed most incidents involved verbal abuse - 79 cases in total.

Forty-three of these in cidents involved a perpetrator who the victim knew and 10 perpetrators were staff members in public institutions.

In 29% of cases the victim was identified as black, 16% were classed as white European and 12% involved Irish Travellers.

There were 38 reports of discrimination in work or services, 12 cases involved graffiti and 13 incidents involved criminal damage.

Fifteen reports concerned racist behaviour by a staff member in a public service organisation and five reports alleged ra cial profiling by gardai of ethnic minorities.

Enar Ireland said a tweet by Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams, when he used the N-word in a reference to a Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained film about black slavery in America, was one of the most high-profile incidents on which it received reports.

The organisation said the tweet was particularly controversial because of his reputation for anti-racism work and his use of a pejorative term.

Enar Ireland also included first-hand accounts from those who reported racist attacks.

In one assault children were verbally abused before being sprayed with bleach by other children in the neighbourhood, while in another one boy abused a 10-year-old and threatened to shoot him.

In a report of criminal damage, someone revealed the front door of their neighbour's house was being kicked in, with a gang of up to 15 youths throwing rocks, bottles and cans while they verbally abused the family inside.
The Peter McVerry Trust will provide additional accommodation for people in the coming daya

Campaigners have urged the Government to give tenants stronger rights amid concern that a slight fall in homeless numbers is only a blip.

Official figures show 1,023 families were in homeless accommodation in greater Dublin at the end of November - three fewer than the previous month.

The report by Housing Minister Simon Coveney's office also found 1,368 mothers or fathers with 2,110 children had no home.

Some 780 families with 1,608 children were forced to shelter in hotels.

The Peter McVerry Trust cautiously welcomed the slight decline, but it said rent regulation and better rights for tenants need to be included in next week's rental strategy if a new trend is to be created.

There was a slight drop in the homeless figures this time last year followed by 11 months of increases.

The charity's chief executive Pat Doyle said: "Unfortunately, we've been here before and this drop is more likely to be a blip than the start of a trend."

He said affordable and secure accommodation is the only way in which the figures will start to decline long-term.

Mr Coveney said: " I have said that it will take time to turn the tide on homelessness for both families and individuals. Today's figures are noted but are a stark reminder of the difficulties which we still face in dealing with homelessness."

The minister reaffirmed the commitment to stop using hotels for emergency accommodation by the middle of next year.

The Dublin Simon Community also said the slight reduction is encouraging.

But spokesman Sam McGuinness said: " We must build on these successful initiatives and intensify efforts to ensure the rate of homelessness further reduces over the coming months and move on to tenancies increases."

Dublin Simon called for more detail on efforts to tackle issues in the rental sector and utilise housing stock.
The Owentaraglin River in north-west Cork is a tributary of the Blackwater

More than 1,200 fish have been killed in a suspected slurry spill.

Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) said it was following a direct line of inquiry for the source of the large discharge of pollution into the Owentaraglin River in north-west County Cork, a tributary of the Blackwater.

The fish were killed along a 2km stretch near the village of Kiskeam.

Fisheries officers described the river as an important spawning grounds with stocks of salmon, brown trout, eel and stickleback affected.

And they warned that they were particularly concerned that significant numbers of hen salmon carrying eggs were killed in the incident.

The slurry has also done significant damage to the spawning beds and wider aquatic habitat, which will have implications for the future fish population in the area, the IFI said.

Sean Long, director of the South Western River Basin District, said: "It will take years for River Owentaraglin to recover to its former condition as a result of this pollution.

"Inland Fisheries Ireland is reminding farmers of the importance of complying with EU regulations on the storage or movement of slurry."

Recreational angling is said to be worth more than 800m euro to the economy every year and supports 11,000 jobs.
As much as 71,000 sq m (765,000 sq ft) of office space is in the development pipeline for Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, the most sought after location for residential, office and hotel projects in Ireland. If all these offices are built, the total office stock in the area will jump by 55pc to more than 195,000 sq m (2.1 million sq ft).

The strength of Ballsbridge's market is reflected in Knight Frank's latest Dublin office market report, which also identifies the key development land deals since the boom-time 'Battle of Ballsbridge'.

In Q3 2006 Sean Dunne, who earned the sobriquet 'Baron of Ballsbridge', paid the equivalent of 195m per acre for Hume House. Then after the market collapse, the Comer Brothers bought the adjoining 2.02 acre former Veterinary College site in 2013 for 22.5m, or the equivalent of less than 11.14m per acre.

It could be argued that the 2013 price was less than 6pc of the price per acre paid by Dunne for Hume House, but such an argument would fail to recognise that Hume House was generating substantial rental income unlike the Veterinary College site. It also fails to take into account that Dunne acquired Hume House as part of his assembly of a bigger site, which already comprised the former Jurys and Berkeley Court hotels.

Earlier this year Irish Life, which sold Hume House to Dunne in 2006, bought it back from Blackstone with planning permission to more than double the office floor area from its present 7,600 sq m (81,804 sq ft) to 16,900 sq m (181,909 sq ft) in a new six- to nine-storey complex.

Irish Life paid around 35m, or the equivalent to 29.6m per acre. While that might suggest that development land prices in Ballsbridge had jumped more than 165pc in three years, it should be recognised that demand has also increased for existing offices in prime Dublin locations and indeed Irish Life's latest Hume House deal reflected a rental yield of 5.4pc.

The Comer Brothers are currently developing 12,500 sq m (135,000 sq ft) of office space on the Veterinary College site in a project branded as 'One Ballsbridge'. These offices are due for completion in Q2 next year and agents are quoting rent of 55 per sq ft. The site will also accommodate retail and leisure facilities in addition to high-end apartments.

The only other development actually underway is at 140 Pembroke Road a development of 2,300 sq m (25,000 sq ft), which is being undertaken for private investors for completion in the second quarter of next year.

Nearby at 10 Pembroke Place, D4P Holdings has planning permission for a further 2,300 sq m (25,000 sq ft).

But the biggest project is the 31,000 sq m (331,000 sq ft) of offices planned by Ronan Group Real Estate in 'Project Pegasus', the redevelopment of four office blocks, which was purchased for 67.5m in 2015, adjacent to AIB Bank Centre across from the RDS.

Developer David Daly has also secured planning permission for 6,200 sq m (67,000 sq ft) of offices at the IPC House site on Shelbourne Road, to the south-east of Hume House.

Meanwhile, the Royal Dublin Society has received an extension until 2019 for the 9,400 sq m (101,000 sq ft) Pavilion offices at Simmonscourt Road, between its rugby arena and the Intercontinental Hotel.

While it remains to be seen how many of these will be redeveloped, the letting of One Ballsbridge as well as Brexit could provide catalysts.

Either way, as Declan O'Reilly of Knight Frank points out, Ballsbridge is a prime office district commanding some of the highest real estate values in Dublin. "Furthermore the prevailing vacancy rate is only 3pc. Grade A office rents in Ballsbridge have achieved levels that are on a par with the best locations in Dublin 2, and as such, have broadly mirrored the rapid appreciation in rents that have been witnessed in Dublin 2."

Buildings currently available include 3 Ballsbridge, which has a quoting rent of 57.50 per sq ft following refurbishment by owners Irish Life.

"The area is popular with financial occupiers, a trend that was initiated by AIB's decision to build their landmark headquarters in Ballsbridge in 1979, with other Irish financial firms following suit through the years. For example, Ireland's oldest stockbroking firm, Goodbody, moved to Ballsbridge in the late nineties. As the financial industry in Ireland has evolved from traditional banking services to incorporate more specialist operators such as insurance, investment funds and aircraft leasing, Ballsbridge has attracted companies from these high-growth sectors. Examples include Zurich Insurance, AIG, Cardinal Capital, GE Capital Aviation and Avolon Aerospace Leasing."

Furthermore, the occupier mix is well diversified with companies from a broad base of sectors locating there. The tech sector has especially increased its footprint in Ballsbridge with firms such as IBM, Sony, Tableau Software, Wipro and Survey Monkey having all established a presence.

The rapid appreciation in rents has seen an increase in investor interest in office buildings in Ballsbridge, with the ownership structure dominated by institutional owners with a long-term investment horizon. Irish Life and IPUT own the greatest number of buildings, with the Serpentine Consortium having the largest market share in terms of square footage. The Serpentine Consortium purchased the newly developed portion of AIB's HQ in a sale-and-leaseback deal in 2005 for 375m. The consortium consists of high-net-worth individuals, with the syndicate structure of the deal typical of the market at the time.

This type of ownership structure is now the exception, with the majority of holdings consisting of sophisticated professional property investors. German fund Patrizia's purchase of The Oval earlier this year for 140m represented another significant entrance of a foreign investor to the Ballsbridge market.

O'Reilly sees current office construction activity as part of the area's revitalisation and points to the Project Trinity redevelopment currently underway at the 6.8 acre former Berkeley Court hotel site, which was purchased by Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) for 170m or 25m per acre. This envisages 568 top-end apartments, a 152-bedroom hotel and associated commercial space.
The former chief operating officer of EasyJet has been advising UK transport group Stobart on strategy for Aer Lingus Regional operator Stobart Air, as well as Stobart's London Southend Airport, the Irish Independent has learned.

Warwick Brady was tapped to take on the chief executive role at Aer Lingus after former boss Christoph Mueller announced his planned departure in 2014, but did not take it up. He is now thought to have been asked by Stobart chief executive Andrew Tinkler to provide the strategic assistance to the company. Mr Tinkler is also the chairman of Stobart Air. Stobart owns 80pc of the carrier.

EasyJet announced in September that Mr Brady was leaving the airline, which is headed by Carolyn McCall. Highly regarded in the aviation industry, he has not yet taken on a new full-time role.

He has been working with Stobart on a consultancy basis for the past number of weeks. Stobart confirmed that he was providing strategic assistance to the company.

Dublin-based airline CityJet, which is headed by executive chairman Pat Byrne, pulled an 80m offer to buy Stobart Air this week after an almost year-long sales process.

CityJet gave an ultimatum to Stobart at the weekend to finalise a deal by Monday. Stobart Air did not respond to that deadline, prompting CityJet to terminate talks.

Mr Byrne has expressed his dismay that the deal was not completed, saying he was "flabbergasted" Stobart had not proceeded. On Monday, Stobart announced that it signed an agreement with UK regional carrier Flybe to operate up to 18 routes from London Southend Airport under an existing franchise agreement Stobart has with the airline.

That effectively replaces a deal with CityJet, which was intending to operate a number of new routes from the airport had the Stobart Air takeover gone ahead.

It's likely that Mr Brady was instrumental in helping Stobart assess its options for both London Southend and the planned sale of Dublin-based Stobart Air. He may have perceived greater potential value in Stobart Air proceeding as a standalone entity rather than being acquired.

The new agreement with Flybe also raises speculation as to whether Stobart might seek to further deepen its relationship with the airline, which has been experiencing challenging trading conditions.

"The arrangement is a continuation of Stobart Air's existing franchise arrangement with Flybe, under which it operates a number of routes into northern Europe. We believe that this relationship is positive for both Stobart and Flybe with synergies across both businesses," a Stobart spokesman said.

Meanwhile, an understanding that CityJet had with Stobart Air that it would not hire any of the smaller airline's pilots while takeover talks were underway, has now lapsed.

CityJet is understood to need about 50 new pilots for expansion plans, with about 20 of those likely to be based in Dublin.
The then finance minister Charles Haughey is formally presented with the first of Irelands new decimal coins by Dr TK Whitaker, who was governor of the Central Bank, in September 1969. Picture: Irish Photo Archive.

Former Central Bank economist Professor Frances Ruane is to deliver the 2017 Whitaker Lecture, the State's financial regulator has said.

Ms Ruane, who was amongst the first female economists to join the institution back in the 1970s, will give the talk as its honouree turns 100 years old.

The lecture is named after former Central Bank governor TK Whitaker, who held the role during great economic turbulence in the 1970s.

The list of past speakers include a litany of high-profile names in the economic world including Mario Draghi and Jean Claude Trichet.

The Central Bank also announced that Mr Whitaker's memoirs will be available from its North Wall Quay Archive in Dublin, due to open in the spring.

Current governor Philip Lane paid homage to Ms Ruane.

"She arrived when Ken Whitaker was Governor. And very similar to Ken Whitakers career, her research work has focussed on the performance of the Irish economy, the policies that are needed to help Ireland prosper in an integrated world economy where international trade, international finance and international corporations play a major part in the Irish economy.

"This originated in many ways with Ken Whitakers vision in the 1950s but over the last 30 years Frances Ruane has been a leader in analysing the interaction between openness and Irish economic performance.

TK Whitaker served as governor from 1969 to 1976, a time Mr Lane described as "fascinating for the Irish economy".

A date for the lecture, which is given every two years, is still to be set.
The renewable energy investment arm of the China General Nuclear Power Group (CGNP) has finalised the acquisition of 230MW of wind farm assets from Irish firm Gaelectric.

The transaction comes as another major wind farm deal looms in Ireland.

UK private equity group HgCapital and Cork company Craydel Group are seeking buyers for 220MW of wind farm assets here that are owned through their joint venture, Invis Energy.

The Gaelectric assets - which include 14 operational and in-development wind farms - are thought to have an equity value of up to 350m.

Terms of the deal have not been disclosed, however.

"CGN Group is focused on becoming a global leader in clean energy," said Wei Lu, ceo of CGN Europe Energy.

"These high-quality wind energy assets will make an important contribution towards this objective for CGN Group."

The sale of the Gaelectric assets to CGNP's CGN Europe Energy arm (CNGEE), is the culmination of a year-long sales process.

The assets being sold by Gaelectric include 10 operating wind farms with total output of 184MW, and a further four wind farms generating a total of 46MW that will be operational by mid-2017. Seven of the wind farms are located in the North and seven in the Republic of Ireland.

Gaelectric will continue to manage the wind farms on behalf of CNGEE, and provide power take-off services to the group.

Gaelectric has other wind farm and energy projects that are in development that do not form part of the sale.

Gaelectric ceo Barry Gavin said the company's contract with CGNEE for trading and asset management "will form the basis of a continuing relationship with a very significant new player in the Irish, European and international energy market". Proceeds from the sale will be used to further develop Gaelectric's other renewable energy assets and projects, and reduce its debt.

The company is involved in a number of solar, biomass, wind and storage energy projects.

The planned Invis Energy sale will include three operational wind farms and two that are under construction, according to industry publication 'Sparkspread', which first reported the planned sale.
Legalization of the Russian protectorate in Donbas is unacceptable and contrary to the Minsk agreements, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin has said.

"Russia agrees to a ceasefire only after political concessions on part of Ukraine, and under these concessions it sees the legalization of the Russian protectorate in Donbas, which is totally unacceptable for us and completely contrary to the Minsk agreements," he said during his speech at the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council.

The minister pointed to the fact that the number of victims of the Russian aggression against Ukraine has increased to 10,000 people.

"Hundreds of people remain in illegal detention in the occupied territories and in Crimea. About 1.7 million of Ukrainians were forced to leave their homes and become internally displaced people," Klimkin said.

He also noted the important role of the OSCE in conflict resolution and recalled the need for creation of the OSCE armed police mission in Donbas.

"We need a police mission that will be deployed on the conflict areas and on the border  it is a prerequisite for entering the political way in the implementation of the Minsk agreements," the minister said.

Klimkin also stressed the need to maintain sanctions against Russia.

"Sanctions must remain as long as Russia remains on Ukrainian land," he said.
A GROUP of Dublin 4 residents have failed in their to bid to block plans by a property firm backed by businessman, Denis O'Brien from constructing a new 50m luxury development in Donnybrook.

This follows An Bord Pleanala giving the go-ahead to Gibraltar-registered Purleigh Holdings to construct 71 apartments in five stand-alone white pavilion blocks at Greenfield, Donnybrook, Dublin 4.

In 2010, it was reported that the 3.3 acre Greenfield site was swapped with UCD for land beside the university's Belgrove student residences and a reported 12.5m in cash. Dublin City Council gave the go-ahead for the scheme in spite of 18 separate objections lodged against the plan.

However, the 30 residents of the adjoining Nutley Square appealed the decision to An Bord Pleanala through their management firm, Nutley Square Management along with the Greenfield Park Residents Group and Brenda Fives and others.

In its ruling, the Board backed the plan having regard to local zoning objectives, the nature and scale of the proposed development and to the character and pattern of existing and permitted development in the vicinity of the site.
Business can continue to expect a warm welcome in Ireland and won't be stifled by "big government," Enda Kenny told a conference in Dublin yesterday.

The Taoiseach said that Ireland would remain an innovative, business-friendly environment, regardless of the impact of Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump in the US.

Mr Kenny said that Ireland needs to be "a cauldron of innovation" and that businesses would be accommodated in the country.

"The message needs to be that if you want to do business in Ireland, Mr Big Government will not stand in your way.

"Supporting SMEs is a key strategy for the Government to pave the way for jobs growth right across the country," he said.

All Government ministers will be required to brief the Taoiseach in the coming months about how they plan to drive competitiveness in their respective departments, Mr Kenny added.

The Taoiseach was speaking at the opening of the Sage Business Builders Debate, where the major issues facing entrepreneurs in Ireland were discussed by business and policy leaders.

Panellists at the debate included Martin Shanahan, IDA ceo; Bobby Kerr, chairman of Insomnia Coffee Company and presenter of Newstalk's 'Down To Business'; Paula Fitzsimons, national director of the Acorns and Going For Growth programmes; John Dunne, partner at PwC and AJ Noonan, chairman of the Small Firms Association.

"What came across loud and clear is that Irish businesses are passionate about what they do and want the Government to help them knock down some of the barriers to doing business in Ireland today," said Jacqueline de Rojas, MD for Sage in Northern Europe.

AJ Noonan of the Small Firms Association criticised the Government's record when it came to the procurement of Government contracts for smaller firms.

"We have been working on this for the last four years - unsuccessfully. Government seem to have an obsession with bureaucracy.

"It's eliminating small businesses really. We need to remove the bureaucracy."

Despite the concerns, research by Sage shows that 57pc of Irish businesses have recorded improved growth in the past year.

The survey also showed that competition is seen as the biggest challenge by businesses.
Powerful US aviation union ALPA has told the Irish Independent that it will "spare no effort" in seeking to reverse a decision last week by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) to grant Dublin-based Norwegian Air International a permit to fly between Europe and America.

Low-cost Norwegian Air International (NAI), a subsidiary of Norwegian Air Shuttle, plans to fly between Cork and Boston next summer and is also eyeing services to New York.

It has also been considering services from Shannon and said this week that it would also size up the potential for other services from Ireland.

The decision by the US DOT to formally grant NAI its permit was unexpected, despite the DOT having granted tentative approval last April. NAI spent nearly three years trying to secure the permit, which has been bitterly opposed by US aviation unions. They claimed that awarding the permit will eventually lead to the loss of tens of thousands of American jobs. NAI has denied the claim.

The Airline Pilots' Association (ALPA) is the world's largest aviation union, with more than 53,000 members.

"ALPA will spare no effort to reverse DOT's ruling," a spokeswoman told the Irish Independent. "We are aggressively pursuing recourse in all appropriate avenues - legal, legislative, and executive."

ALPA also plans to lobby President-elect Donald Trump on the issue.

"President-elect Trump has taken a strong stand on trade enforcement and on protecting US jobs," she said. "We will work with his administration to ensure that those principles are applied to the airline industry."

NAI has pledged to use crews from two new US bases, as well as European bases, for its new transatlantic services.

ALPA had wanted NAI to give a written undertaking to the US DOT that it would do so.

But doing that might have compromised NAI's ability to deploy crews efficiently, such as in the case of a flight being delayed, or an aircraft with mechanical issues having to be replaced by another jet.

"ALPA's concern has always been the contracts under which Norwegian employees work and which countries' laws apply to those contracts," said the ALPA spokeswoman.

She said the union didn't yet have enough information regarding NAI's crew plans to know if they went far enough to allay concerns.

She said NAI never gave a commitment to the US DOT that it would only use US or European crews.
With Christmas just a little over a fortnight away, it would be remiss of me to ignore this year's festive ads. My personal favourite in recent years has been Spar's 'Delivering Christmas', with pine trees popping up all over Ireland in the most unusual places, including a sea cave on Portrane beach in north Dublin and a quarry in Glengariff in Cork.

AdLib can report today that this Irish production has been voted the top Christmas ad of all time by CWTV in the US and features in the TV network's 'Greatest Holiday Commercials Countdown' show. Created by Publicis, the ad was produced by Paul Holmes of Red Rage Films and directed by Daddy's Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman.

Reinforcing the imagery and giving the ad its wow factor is Jape and Gemma Hayes's beautiful version of 'The Christmas Song'. 'Delivery Christmas' was first broadcast four years ago to mark Spar's half century in Ireland. It ties in with the Dutch brand's slogan 'Under the Tree...'

Spar is one of several advertisers sticking with re-runs, including An Post and Dunnes Stores. German discounter Aldi looks to 'Kevin the Carrot' in what can only be described as a Marmite moment people either love or loathe.

Lidl pulls at the heartstrings with 'Homecoming' by Chemistry. A bereaved old man returns to his derelict home where he and his wife shared much Yuletide joy, as 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' plays softly. As far as hitting the bullseye - or rather Rudolph's red nose - this year's top prize must go to Tesco and its 'Here's to the Hosts' series devised by Rothco.

Various characters are seen hand-writing - note, not emailing - their thanks to loved ones who make Christmas extra special. It ticks the boxes and ditches maudlin. Cadbury's 'Advent' send-up borrows Coke's Christmas truck and paints it purple. Meteor homes in on millennials with its 'Hintmas' prompts for gift ideas. Three opts for 'The Girl and the Cloud', complete with Boys and Girls' creative director Rory Hamilton's use of animated scenes of Glasthule.

Domhnall Gleeson tries to create the perfect anorak for Burberry. A big budget film, Gleeson is joined by Sienna Miller and Dominic West. Other overseas ads worth checking out on YouTube are McDonald's 'Juliette', the story of a shop window doll toying with love for a Buzz Lightyear-lookalike at McDonald's across the street, M&S 'Christmas with Love from Mrs Claus' and Sainsbury's 'Greatest Gift'.

This year, the John Lewis as sees boxer dog Buster and animal friends bouncing on a trampoline. It's Britain's most shared ad in 2016. Being Christmas, there's always a turkey or two. Without wishing to emulate Ebenezer Scrooge, the brace which underwhelm me most are Budweiser and Bothar's radio ad. The Bud TV ad uses the US greeting of 'Happy Holidays' and relegates scenes of Clydesdale horses in the snow to a cameo role.

Surely Bothar's 'Are We There Yet?' has reached the end of the road? But let's close on a merry note, with two Christmas crackers from Irish International BBDO - Guinness and Barry's Gold Blend Tea. The Guinness line goes: "Even at the home of the black stuff, they still dream of a white one." Barry's 'Train Set' was penned by Catherine Donnelly and voiced by actor Peter Caffrey. Radio ads don't come any better.

* Talk in adland still centres around the shock news that Eir is moving its creative ad account from DDFH&B to Rothco in January, thereby aligning the parent brand with Meteor.

The decision was made without Rothco making a formal pitch for Eir and follows a protracted review which left DD's in a caretaker role in recent days.

The no-pitch move is not unprecedented in Ireland. Only last year, the Tesco account left Target McConnells in similar "by mutual agreement" circumstances. Coincidentally, Tesco too ended up at Rothco. Eir's group marketing director Henry Dummer was Tesco's marketing boss at the time of the agency transfer. As one wit in adland jokingly referred to the Tesco-Eir saga, "it's a case of Dummer and Dummer!"

Young Advertising's illuminated billboards of the magical Bulmers Cider Christmas tree now seem like a distant memory, as are nostalgic thoughts of the 'North Cider, South Cider' ad across the bridge linking Dublin's north and south quays. Bulmers' owner, C&C, is again moving its creative ad account from Ireland. Publicis Dublin loses out as London shop Lucky Generals takes a shot at it. A great shame.

* Nicky Doran is joining stockbroker Davy after almost 16 years with Bord Gais Energy, most recently as marketing controller.

Annette Ni Dhathlaoi is the new marketing manager at Virgin Media, replacing Aileen Donoghue, now FBD's head of brand marketing and communications. Ni Dhathlaoi has extensive marketing experience, having worked for Electric Ireland, Heineken, Unilever, Glanbia and Liberty Insurance.

Michael Cullen is editor of Marketing.ie; cullen@marketing.ie
CALLS have been made for changes in the law to ensure investors get faster access to compensation when financial firms collapse.

They come after it emerged that people who lost money in the Custom House Capital Ponzi scheme are still waiting on payouts - five years after it was shut down.

Custom House Capital collapsed in 2011 leaving almost 2,000 investors out of pocket. Many people had invested their pensions in the firm.

Claims amounting to close to 20m have been made but no compensation has been paid out by the Investor Compensation Company due to a delay in certifying claims by the liquidator.

Custom House Capital was a wealth management firm targeting professionals, such as lawyers and doctors.

It was put into liquidation in October 2011 after it was found that it was "systematically and deliberately" misusing more than 66m of its clients' assets and cash. Money was moved to property syndicates, mainly in Germany and France, without investors' knowledge.

The firm was previously described as a Ponzi scheme in the High Court.

Last week its directors Harry Cassidy, John Whyte and John Mulholland were handed the longest disqualifications in the history of company law.

Mr Justice David Keane said the conduct of all three was "deeply dishonest, continued over a protracted period of time until, for a variety of reasons, it could no longer be concealed".

However, the mess is proving so complex to unravel that more than 1,400 investors in the firm have yet to be compensated.

The Investor Compensation Company Limited (ICCL). set up to protect investors, said new legislation may be required to ensure they are compensated faster when investment firms go bust.

The compensation bill for Custom House Capital is estimated by the ICCL to reach 20m, with some 8m paid out so far, according to the ICCL annual report.

ICCL is funded by levies on the financial services industry.

Chairman of the ICCL Jim Bardon said legislative changes were needed to ensure faster payouts when investor firms fail.

Recommendations for changes have been sent to the Department of Finance and the Central Bank.

"The board has initiated an assessment of all aspects of the current claims process, as well as the lessons learned from [Custom House Capital] and other cases with a view to recommending changes to the compensation regime, including possible legislative amendments which would improve the outcome for eligible clients in future investment firm failures," said Mr Bardon.

He said there were ongoing efforts to advance matters, but he was disappointed that relatively little headway has been made in the certification of outstanding compensation claims in the Custom House Capital case.

"Notwithstanding the complexities arising in the liquidation of this firm, the prolonged wait endured by the eligible claimants concerned was never envisaged in investor compensation legislation.

"The ICCL has proposed to the liquidator that where possible, he should consider certifying the claims on an estimated or interim basis in order to accelerate the process.

"We will continue to seek progress in relation to all outstanding claims."

The firm was placed into liquidation by the High Court in October 2011 when Kieran Wallace of KPMG was appointed as its liquidator and administrator.

Mr Wallace had no comment.
Q: Over 50pc of what our business produces is sold in the UK, and I now feel very exposed with the currency fluctuations. Should I be pulling out of the UK market?

A: Definitely not! From the additional information you have provided in your email, you make it quite clear that your product is unique and well valued by your UK customers. You are currently pricing the product in sterling and sometimes quoting prices 12 months ahead of time and I will address these further down.

I would suggest you adopt a number of different strategies. First of all, visualise your Ireland and UK business as a seesaw. Right now you need to add additional business to the Irish side so that the seesaw balances in favour of Ireland - so you end up doing more business in euro currency. Are there new customers you can secure in Ireland? Is there more product you can sell to your existing customers?

Next, you need to review your UK pricing model and take into account the sterling changes. Your customers already know that the currency has altered and it will be no surprise that you will be adjusting prices. I am not going to fool you and tell you it will be easy to get price increases but you need to start the process. If they value your product and clearly they do, and there are few competitors doing what you are doing, you stand a good chance of getting this price increase through.

From now on, any prices you quote cannot be guaranteed for longer than three months if your UK customers want these prices to be given in sterling. You can of course quote euro and let the customer take the risk on currency changes.

Perhaps I could even be so bold to suggest that there might be new business you could secure in the UK once your pricing model has been adjusted.

You seem to be in a privileged position in that you have a unique product that is sought after in that market. I would be advocating that you seek more UK business just try and keep the balance in favour of euro business transactions.

Q: My husband and I run a business together. We also have a young family and find that the pressure is getting very intense and sometimes appears to be a 24/7 cycle. Is there a magic solution?

A: What you are describing is relatively commonplace and I have met several business owners in the last year who are in the same place as you.

The biggest challenge in this situation is usually to separate work from business. If business conversations continue over the dinner table when relaxing with the family, while well-intentioned, this can wear people down.

The first thing you need to do, if not already in place, is to hold a structured weekly management meeting within business hours. This meeting should have structure, an agenda and action points arising from it. Once you run this for a while you will find it an invaluable energy-booster for the business and it will cut out the need for late evening conversations as you will have given the business the structure that it requires to move forward.

Another thing worth considering is the issue of resources. You both seem to be under a lot of pressure. Assuming the business is performing reasonably well, has the point come where you need to bring in some additional help either on the home front or perhaps on an administration backup role within the business?

It doesn't have to be a full-time resource but rather somebody who will take the surplus workload and allow you both to step the pace back a little. Sometimes when the pace gets this crazy you have to look at alternative solutions and while investment in the short-term might cause some financial pain, the benefits it will bring will be enormous.
As its chief technology officer, Mike Schroepfer is one of the most powerful executives at Facebook. Our technology editor caught up with him to talk about copying Snapchat, European regulation and and the company's future plans for virtual reality and artificial intelligence.

Adrian Weckler (AW): What do you make of the difficulties that Facebook and Whatsapp have encountered with European authorities over the sharing of data between apps?

Mike Schroepfer (MS): We're working with European data commissioners to address all questions and concerns they have. Our goal has been to give people clear choices and to let them know what's happening. We've given people clear choices.

AW: Facebook traditionally works quite closely with the Irish Data Protection Commissioner on issues that affect European users. Is that still central as to how an issue like this gets resolved?

MS: It would be great to have a regulatory regime across Europe to make sure that everyone understands the rules.

But we're working with all the relevant authorities across Europe to make sure we're answering questions and to give people what they want which is a clear understanding of how data is used.

AW: Facebook and its sibling services - Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger - are arguably becoming utilities now while some rivals are struggling or falling off. Do you think we'll see less big social platforms in future?

MS: I think consumers are smart and they choose the products that work best for them at a certain point in time. So 10 years ago that was web. Then it became mobile.

But the fact that Messenger and WhatsApp each have a billion users is a very recent phenomenon. You see all sorts of other apps that people use for other purposes. They're all free products.

That forces us to be very responsive to the market and what people want. When people wanted to move to mobile we had no choice but to shift the entire company to do that.

And when people clearly said, 'look, lightweight messaging on mobile devices is the future, not chat or email' we had to shift our energy there fairly quickly.

Now we're in the midst of people saying, 'this text and photo thing is great, but video is really where it's at'.

And so you've seen a huge shift to video first. So I think the question is more around who in the industry is going to adapt the quickest. Part of what we try to do is to pay very close attention to what people are asking for.

AW: Just on that point, some of the most recent product additions at Facebook and Instagram strongly resemble features from Snapchat. Ireland, indeed, is the test bed for Facebook's new camera features, which add filters and disappearing messages. Is Facebook taking more than a little from Snapchat at present?

MS: We look at other apps for inspiration all the time, especially when it's clear that they're solving a need that people are asking for.

People want creative ways to express themselves and generic photos with no augmentation is kind of boring by 2016 standards. So I think that we see what others are doing and see what people are asking for and try to give people the best possible experience we can in Facebook.

It's clear that people want other, more creative ways to produce videos and photos. What I'm excited about is bringing some of the technological capabilities we have to bear on these.

We'll see what people like. The early response [to the Facebook camera features that resemble Snapchat which are being tested in Ireland] has been positive. We'll see what people use it for and see what others build.

AW: You do realise that, with Ireland as a test bed, you could see some really weird results?

MS: I have confidence.

AW: How much work are you doing on artificial intelligence (AI) at the moment?

MS: It's a big effort. It's the first research lab that we set up to specifically target building AI. It spans the whole company.

AW: With all of this work on artificial intelligence, how long do you think it will be before you can actually have a nonhuman Facebook friend?

MS: I have no idea. And anyway, that's not necessarily our goal. Our goal is to develop things that are useful for people and help to augment or build a connection between real people. We're not actually trying to build connections between people and machines, we're trying to use machines as a tool to help people in their daily lives.

AW: OK, but how long will it be before you can actually hold a fairly developed conversation using AI with Facebook?

MS: That will be quite a while. Until you have a system that can take in new data and then learn it at a rate that's much higher than any current AI system, you don't have a chance of building one of these systems that will be truly intelligent.

We're quite realistic. Now that doesn't mean that you can't build systems today that do really useful, helpful things in AI and the pace of the development of what you call narrow or specific artificial intelligence has been quite extraordinary. It's actually faster than most people recognise.

But a system that can detect objects in an image is not intelligent. It doesn't learn or have a personality.

And the gap between those two is quite immense. It's not an iteration that one turns into the other - that's the mistake that most people make.

They see the power of it to detect images and things like that and then assume that it is this kind of learning, intelligent thing. In terms of building systems that can learn and comprehend, which is what people do, we're really at the early stages.

While it's kind of extraordinary what we can do, it's trivial compared to what a human can do.

AW: Facebook's other huge area of investment is virtual reality (VR). Almost all of the credible visions of technological life in the future seem to use versions of augmented reality (AR), where virtual objects are overlaid on what we already see in front of us. So why is Facebook going so heavily into virtual reality instead?

MS: AR is very interesting in the long run but there are limitations in what you can build with the current hardware.

When we took a look at this, we realised that VR definitely was more easy to commercialise in the near term. You can build incredibly compelling experiences with VR systems that the average consumer can afford to buy today.

There's a clear product price and technology curve to both improve the quality and reduce the cost over the five years or so.

AR is really exciting, except it just is not on that same cost quality curve right now.

The near-term application for AR is the camera in your smartphone and that's part of what I talked about today which is the ability to take an existing scene as I'm filming it and paint it like it's a Van Gogh painting or colourise it like it's a pencil sketch.

But if you want to compare them, just take any AR headset you can buy today and take a VR headset you can buy today.

Put them both on. The AR headset is not of a quality bar that produces a reaction of 'oh my gosh, I want to do that again'. But VR has that experience today.

AW: But isn't VR too restrictive to compare to AR? You have to put something on your head that closes off all other vision.

MS: There are times when full emergence is really useful. After all, people still go to the movies.

Sure, sometimes you like to watch on the phone but they are two different experiences. One is very immersive while the other kind of passing the time while waiting for a train to come.

We are doing a bunch of research in building AR systems. But there are quite a number of new inventions and miracles that need to happen in order to get something that has an all-day battery life and a form factor that's light enough to wear for eight hours on your head.

And so that it has the proper processing power to do the computer vision that figures out where I am so that when I paint virtual objects they stay where they're supposed to be.

These are research lab problems, not 'ready for consumer use' problems. We've got to both advance the state of the technology and then build out the products that we think people can buy today.
Over the years, Apple has become the poster child for US multinationals accused of sheltering overseas profits to avoid US tax authorities. What's gone largely unnoticed is that it's been paid more than half a billion dollars by the US government to do just that.

Taking advantage of an exemption tucked into America's Byzantine tax code, Apple stashed much of its foreign earnings-tax-free in the US, in part by purchasing government bonds, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.

In return, the Treasury Department paid Apple at least $600m (558m) and possibly much more over the past five years in the form of interest, a Bloomberg review of its regulatory filings shows.

The untold story of Apple and its taxes wends its way from Cork to New York and then Reno, Nevada.

In Apple's case, more than 90 percent of its $238bn (221bn) cash hoard is considered "overseas" in its accounting statements. Most of it belongs to the Cupertino, California-based company's Ireland units. But like many multinationals, Apple's cash sits in custodial accounts with US-based banks such as JPMorgan Chase and State Street, said people with direct knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because they're not authorized to speak on the issue.

Apple typically directs Wall Street bond dealers and big money managers like BlackRock and Pimco to buy Treasuries at debt auctions and in the secondary market on behalf of its Irish subsidiaries, all from a nondescript, three-story building in Reno, Nevada - a state with no corporate taxes, the people said.

That's where its internal investment firm, Braeburn Capital, is housed. Apple established the unit in 2005 to manage its cash and short-term investments.

As for Ireland, Apple isn't alone. Nine of the 10 US companies with the most cash abroad have foreign subsidiaries there.

Over the years, lax Irish regulations have encouraged multinationals to pursue aggressive accounting practices that enabled them to shift much of their profits to those subsidiaries and minimize US tax liabilities, according to tax experts.

In one of the more notable examples that's drawn particular scrutiny, companies will book a disproportionate amount of revenue as "offshore" by claiming the underlying technologies are owned by their Irish units-even if the intellectual property originated in the US

Apple went even further. According to a 2013 report by the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, it exploited gaps in US and Irish laws so that it didn't have a tax home anywhere.

The company is already in hot water with the European Union. Regulators ordered Apple to pay $14.5bn (13.4bn) in back taxes in August after concluding it paid an effective tax rate of 0.005pc in 2014 because of preferential Irish treatment. Last week, Apple called the EU decision "seriously flawed".

In November, Ireland filed an appeal against the ruling after repeatedly saying the country "fundamentally disagrees" with the analysis.

Using Irish subsidiaries to funnel all that cash into Treasuries may help explain a bond-market curiosity that's emerged in recent years: how Ireland, a nation of less than five million, managed to amass $271bn (252bn) of US government bonds, based on data compiled by the Treasury, and become America's largest foreign creditor, after China and Japan.

Whatever the case, the need to address companies' untaxed profits may be one of the few things Republicans and Democrats can agree on. During the campaign, both Trump and opponent Hillary Clinton proposed one-time tax breaks on overseas earnings (a so-called repatriation tax holiday) to help fund competing infrastructure plans.

Yet absent a wholesale tax overhaul to close the repatriation loophole, such one-offs are Band-Aids that will only make things worse over time, according to H David Rosenbloom, an attorney at Caplin & Drysdale and the director of the international tax program at New York University School of Law.

He pointed to a similar 2004 tax holiday under President George W Bush, which ultimately led companies to accumulate more profits abroad after it expired. Almost all the repatriated cash during that time was used for shareholder rewards and executive bonuses-rather than investment and hiring in the US that many companies promised.

Last time, "it just encouraged companies to send more money abroad and wait for the next amnesty," he said. "It would be really foolish to do."
US President-elect Donald Trump speaks in North Carolina during his USA Thank You Tour. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

First came Ford and Carrier. Now Boeing and SoftBank are experiencing the power of Donald Trump's Twitter feed.

The president-elect jumped into corporate affairs again on Tuesday, tweeting first to criticise one company and then to hail another. He began at 8.52am New York time by attacking Boeing over costs to develop new Air Force One jets. Just over five hours later, he celebrated a $50bn investment in the US by Japanese telecommunications firm SoftBank.

The tweets, coming after Mr Trump last week announced a deal with United Technologies to cancel plans to close a US factory, dominated news and moved markets even as details in both cases remained sketchy and the impacts unclear.

Trump again showed a willingness to use his bully pulpit to criticise or congratulate companies over actions affecting American workers and government spending.

"This is extraordinary," said Mohan Tatikonda, a professor at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business. "For a president to get involved at the level of spot locations, spot companies, spot plants, is I think unprecedented."

The president-elect's moves had consequences for the market, with Boeing falling as much as 1.5pc before regular trading.

Sprint which is controlled by SoftBank and is the number four US wireless carrier, rose 1.5pc to $8.17 at the close. T-Mobile US, which has long been mentioned as a possible merger partner for Sprint, rose 1.8pc to $55.99 on speculation that SoftBank Chief Masayoshi Son's pledges could aid an eventual deal.

"The rule of law is what prevents crony capitalism, and the minute you have the president-elect, politicians or bureaucrats meeting with business owners to dispense special favours it unlevels the playing field," said Anne Krueger, an economics professor at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.

"We all ought to be screaming now because if we don't, we're going to be a Third World country before we know it."

Mr Trump's tweet about Air Force One - "Cancel order!" he said - came days after Boeing ceo Dennis Muilenburg called on him and Congress to ensure US companies have the tools to compete in a global economy.

Intervention of this magnitude has little precedent, but past presidents such as Lyndon Johnson and John F Kennedy were known for such practices. Vice president-elect Mike Pence said Mr Trump would decide whether to intervene with specific companies "on a day-by-day basis".

"I know the right answer is not going to be tweet back, so don't expect us to be doing that," said David Melcher, president and ceo of the Aerospace Industries Association trade group. (Bloomberg)
Ukrainian defense minister: Conflict in Donbas can only be resolved through negotiations

The conflict in eastern Ukraine can only be resolved via peaceful methods, Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak said.

"We are convinced that the conflict in eastern Ukraine can only be resolved using peaceful methods, through negotiation. But in order for us to be listened to and heard there needs to be a strong army," the minister said after meeting with military and diplomatic officials, representatives of international organizations accredited in Ukraine, foreign advisers at the Defense Ministry and the General Staff in Kyiv on Thursday.

An analysis of the situation in eastern Ukraine indicates that the situation currently tends towards exacerbation, he said.

Poltorak also said the Ukrainian Armed Forces are doing everything possible for the implementation of the Minsk Agreements, including disengagement.
The gardai had to check their list twice this morning, after stopping Santa Claus on his way to Temple Street Children's hospital.

The official An Garda Siochana Twitter page wrote shared pics from the scene, with the lead reindeer looking particularly guilty.

Gardai are asking the public to be aware of this man traveling from Kildare to Temple Street Hospital today. Last seen on 25/12/15 pic.twitter.com/N0vvhkKNXT  An Garda Siochana (@GardaTraffic) December 8, 2016

No arrests were made, but the public were asked to be vigilant.

The tweet said: "Gardai are asking the public to be aware of this man traveling from Kildare to Temple Street Hospital today.

"Last seen on 25/12/15."
Comedian Katherine Lynch makes a splash in the first episode of Celebrity Operation Transformation by wearing red high-heels. Photo: RTE

Katherine Lynch is thrilled with her progress since Celebrity Operation Transformation.

She's gained just two pounds since leaving the weight-loss show in September.

The TV personality lost 13.5 pounds while she was on the RTE show alongside Gerald Kean and Elaine Crowley.

However, the Leitrim woman said she s a little worried about resisting temptation during the festive period.

Expand Close Katherine Lynch on Celebrity Operation Transformation. / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Katherine Lynch on Celebrity Operation Transformation.

Its very difficult to say no to all the nice nibbles, and all those nibbles add up, she said.

Katherine said she does not believe in scales for women because our weight can fluctuate a lot.

Expand Close Comedian Katherine Lynch makes a splash in the first episode of Celebrity Operation Transformation by wearing red high-heels. Photo: RTE / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Comedian Katherine Lynch makes a splash in the first episode of Celebrity Operation Transformation by wearing red high-heels. Photo: RTE

But she did weigh herself because I was beating myself going, Have I put on a stone? Luckily, I had put on only two pounds.
Parents in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown are paying the highest childcare costs in the State, according to a new survey.

The weekly average fee for a full-time childcare place in the south Dublin district was 213.94.

The cheapest fees were in Co Monaghan where weekly rates were 142.14, the findings by Pobal showed.

The national average for childcare costs was 167.03 per week which left prices stable compared to the previous year.

The figures were contained in the new report which provides an overview of the 4,300 facilities providing childcare services across Ireland between September 2015 and June 2016.

It showed that the cost of childcare could vary by around 3,500 a year depending on where families lived.

The average cost of a part-time place was 99.18 per week.

It said 73,964 children enrolled in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) free pre-school year - a 13pc increase on the previous year.

This led to a rise of up to 178m in State investment in the scheme.

Almost half of services reported having at least one child with a diagnosed disability attending their service.

"The publication of this information is particularly timely," Children's Minister Katherine Zappone said, speaking about the report.

"At the moment, the sector is undergoing a period of significant policy change and development.

"It is vital that these changes are underpinned by accurate, reliable information.

"The information contained in this report will help my department's policy development so that we can meet the goal of providing affordable, quality and accessible childcare for all."

She said a major aspect of achieving this was the development of a new Single Affordable Childcare Scheme which would replace some of the existing programmes.

The data in this report would help inform the roll-out of this new scheme.

Childcare fees were higher in private services than in community services. They were also higher in urban areas compared to rural areas.
An unemployed woman, who claimed she was defamed and falsely imprisoned after being accused of stealing meat in an Aldi store, has lost a 75,000 damages claim in the Circuit Civil Court. Photo: PA

An unemployed woman, who claimed she was defamed and falsely imprisoned after being accused of stealing meat in an Aldi store, has lost a 75,000 damages claim in the Circuit Civil Court.

Lithuanian woman Ruta Bendikiene (55) claimed she had been detained in the Aldi store in Navan for five hours.

The court heard that Ms Bendikiene had been observed by a security guard placing two items of meat in her handbag and had not paid for them.

Ms Bendikiene, of Brews Hill, Navan, signed an adult caution, an alternative to prosecution, at Navan garda station.

Dismissing Ms Bendikiene's claim, Judge James O'Donohoe said he was satisfied she had not paid for the goods.
THE High Court has reserved judgment in the case brought by businessman Denis OBrien against the State and a Dail committee.

Ms Justice Una Ni Raifeartaigh said she will deliver her ruling on the legal action after Christmas.

Judge Ni Raifeartaigh said the judgment would be delivered after the court rules on a separate case taken by former Rehab CEO Angela Kerins against the Dail Public Accounts Committee.

Arguments for both sides in the case concluded this afternoon, after a seven-day hearing.

Mr OBrien had claimed the outcome of proceedings he brought against RTE last year was effectively decided by remarks made by TDs in the Dail which disclosed details of his personal banking affairs.

His lawyers maintained statements made by Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy and Sinn Fein TD Pearse Doherty breached both his rights and the Constitutional separation of the powers of the Oireachtas and the courts.

He brought the case against the the State, The Clerk of the Dail and the Dail Committee on Procedure and Privileges.

Lawyers for the defendants argued that statements made by TDs in the Dail were protected by parliamentary privilege under the Constitution.

They contended that the courts had no jurisdiction to intervene in the process of the freedom of speech in the Oireachtas.

Both sides arguments relied on Article 15 of the Constitution, stating that TDs and senators shall not, in respect of any utterance in either House, be amenable to any court or any authority other than the House itself.

Mr OBrien was the only witness to give evidence during the case.

He said in evidence last week he wanted the court to censure the two TDs over their statements and to lay down a line beyond which Dail deputies cannot go.

Today, Judge Ni Raifeartaigh said: I will obviously reserve judgment. I do want to thank everybody, its been a privilege to listen to advocacy of this standard.

Earlier, Eileen Barrington SC, for Mr O'Brien concluded her replies to the defendants arguments.

We say it is the case that, notwithstanding the silence of the State and the Oireachtas, it must be accepted that the deputies crossed a line. Their actions cannot and should not be endorsed, she said. There was a deliberate and knowing undoing, not just of a court order but of the proceedings because proceedings were in effect determined.

She argued that what happened was a breach of the Constitutional equilibrium and should not be accepted as perfectly normal.

The action arose from statements by Ms Murphy and Mr Doherty in the Dail in May and June 2015 about Mr OBriens banking arrangements with IBRC.

At the time, Mr OBrien was involved in injunction proceedings against RTE, to stop the station from broadcasting banking information.

But the court heard Dail statements made by the two TDs had the effect of putting all of the information at issue in the injunction proceedings into the public domain.

Lawyers for Mr OBrien claimed the TDs were guilty of an unwarranted interference in the RTE case, and had disregarded the constitutional separation of powers between parliament and the courts.

The CPP subsequently cleared both TDs of any wrongdoing, and Mr OBrien did not sue the deputies.

He is not seeking damages, but wants a declaration from the High Court that his rights were breached.

He also wants declarations that the courts had the exclusive right to determine the outcome of the proceedings with RTE, that the substantial effect of the TDs comments was to decide the outcome of that case, and that their interference was unwarranted.

Mr OBrien also wants the court to declare that the Dail Committee on Procedures and Privileges made an error when it cleared the TDs of any wrongdoing.

The claims were denied by the defendants.
A homeless mother and her four children, one with epilepsy, have got a court order on consent overturning a Council's refusal to consider them eligible for emergency accommodation.

South Dublin County Council had found the family ineligible for emergency accommodation in October on foot of its view their homelessness since late September arose from "choices" made by the woman.

The family, represented by Mercy Law, sued the Council in the High Court and the case settled this week on terms including Mr Justice Robert Eagar making a consent order quashing the Council decision.

As a result, they have been in emergency accommodation since Tuesday and have also been put on the Council's housing list.

Their case is among several similar actions by homeless individuals and families.

Prior to Tuesday, the family stayed some ten days in a three bedroom council house with a friend of the woman and her three children. That friend had said she could not continue to put them up, the woman said.

An unemployed care worker, the woman said they previously got accommodation some days with Focus Ireland through the Family Housing Assistance Team (HAT) funded by the Council but she was told on October 10th they could not access the Family HAT because the Council had not registered her as homeless.

The Council considered their homelessness arose from "choices" made by the woman, including to surrender a council tenancy in Tallaght in 2015 and take the family to England so her teenage son could pursue a sporting career.

It argued she was "responsible for her homelessness by virtue of her own choice and voluntary acts" and it was not obliged to provide the "same degree of support for persons whose homelessness is brought about themselves by their own choices or actions".

The woman is a native of Nigeria who came here in 2000.

She became a naturalised Irish citizen in 2013 and all four children are Irish citizens. She lived in the Tallaght area from 2006, worked part-time for periods and did some voluntary work.

She had a council tenancy in Tallaght from 2014 but surrendered that in June 2015 to move to the UK. The children attended school here until they went to England and are back in school here since they returned.

The family got council accommodation while in England and the woman got some part-time work but they returned here last September. The woman said they returned for financial reasons, she was unable to fund her son's sporting interest, and because her children missed Ireland.

She denied she had made her family homeless and argued it was the fact they are homeless, not the reasons why, that should decide their application for emergency accommodation. "The specific reasons why we came to be homeless do not reduce the extent of our need," she said.

The woman claimed she was forcibly removed from the Council's offices on October 6th last, one of numerous dates she sought emergency accommodation.

Responding to the Council's claim she was "escorted" from the offices rather than forcibly removed after refusing requests to leave, she said she had pleaded with staff to reconsider their refusal to accommodate her "as I had nowhere to go with my family that night". She also explained her son was unwell and gave details of an epileptic fit he had suffered.

The staff "were not happy with me and told me to leave", she said. Two security men came in and told her: Out,out, your time is up, get out".

"I was too scared to refuse to leave," she said. She went directly to Focus Ireland who supported me".

She claimed the Council had no legal basis for determining she was not eligible for emergency accommodation.

The Council had denied its refusal was irrational and unreasonable and involved misapplication of its statutory powers having regard to obligations under the Constitution and European Convention on Human Rights.
A Catholic priest advised the parents of an abused six-year-old girl to forget about the attacks in the interests of the family, a court has heard, with the victim delivering a powerful impact statement on the affects of the abuse.

The allegation was made during a sentencing hearing of a 67-year-old man who pleaded guilty to five sickening sex assaults on the girl, his niece, in Co Donegal in 1984.

The abuser cannot be named to protect the identity of his victim.

Judge John OHagan, sitting at Letterkenny Circuit Criminal Court, was told by Det Sgt Mick Galvin that the allegations had first been made shortly after the incidents by the victim.

The detective said the girl had made comments whilst playing with other children and her parents had discovered she was being abused by her uncle.

She had drawn pictures of what had happened to her.

The girl and her parents moved home and her parents later separated, the court heard.

Gda DS Galvin said the family had gone to a local Catholic priest who had advised them that they should put the matter behind them and move on.

He said the incident was at a time before legal guidelines on handling child sex abuse cases.

The matter was finally brought to gardai in October 2013 by the father of the victim and the girl made a statement six months later.

The victim later told gardai that her uncle, a member of a prayer group, would ask her to commit sex acts on him in a toilet and a living room at his home when he was baby-sitting her.

The detective said the man had told his niece it was their little secret and he had given the girl lemon curd sandwiches and Smarties after the incidents.

After the incident was reported, the judge was told, the uncle had continued to deny the allegations saying his niece had been lying.

This continued for half an hour after his arrest, said DS Galvin, before the uncle had made a number of admissions.

It took DS Galvin more than ten minutes to read out a victim impact report on behalf of the woman which Judge OHagan described as one of the most powerful he had heard in the courts.

In it she detailed how she had suffered all her life as a result of the sex assaults and had been in psychiatric care in 2009 where she told of being abused but did not name her abuser.

She said during the 30 years after the attacks she had thought about speaking out but thoughts of doing so were always faded.

She went on: I spoke out because of a profound feeling of peace and a sense of responsibility had come over me. Up until that time the thought of speaking out would occasionally cross my mind but my fear and guilt would drown out the thought.

I resigned myself to bearing silence believing I could live with the anger within me and that was just my lot. What I wanted was a sense of peace and it was that sense of peace which came over me three years ago.

She said she had played a game of survival.

My mind had been constructed to believe that I was a hopeless victim; that I was powerless, worthless, doomed, disconnected, alone, disillusioned, shameful and guilty; that the world and others were a threat not to be trusted, said the victim.

I have come to deeply understand the term that the truth will set you free, but first it will kick you in the ass. The healing within me has been a process of finding a way to listen to that inner voice which speaks the truth no matter how ugly and facing the truth it ignites, allowing me a healthier way of living, engaging and responding to my life.

She said she continued to suffer from depression as a result of the crimes.

I have to keep fighting the war within and keep letting go of the disempowering part of myself again and again and again. For me the best outcome would be for my uncle to realise the impact of his choices and he feels the truth of those choices and how they have affected his life, his relationships and the hierarchy of victims he created, said the woman who said she didnt wish to be in court to witness this dark and ugly day.

DS Gavlin told the judge: The abuse had far reaching consequences. The family had spoken with a member of the clergy and other people and they thought it was best to leave it at the time. She did not receive any counselling.

Judge John OHagan said one of the aggravating factors in the case was the uncles continued denial of the attacks over three decades.

She has had to endure this whole experience alone and throughout the course of the allegations she was continually made out to be a liar, said the judge.

He said that even in his probation report the man said his niece had followed him to the toilet where the abuse took place.

The clear suggestion is that he was blaming the girl, said the judge.

He said the advice given at the time by members of the clergy and others was dramatically different from what goes on now.

The victim, he said, was a very brave girl who has been through an absolute torture.

The judge said mitigating factors included the mans guilty plea and the fact he was suffering from prostrate cancer but he knew very well that what he was doing was wrong.

He sentenced the man to five years in prison, with the last two years suspended on each of the five sexual assault charges, the sentences to run concurrently.
A taxi driver has been convicted of sexually assaulting a young woman as he was bringing her home from a city centre pub.

Augustin Ion (49) groped the woman's breast and held her head back against the car seat outside her house. He also asked her to come with him into the back seat and asked if he could come into her house with her.

A jury with a 11 to one majority rejected Ion's claims that the woman was extremely aggressive, told him to f**k off and drive and refused to pay the fare.

He claimed she only made a complaint to gardai because she thought he was going to report her for not paying him. Prosecuting counsel Eilis Brennan BL told the jury this was a tissue of lies.

The jury took just under three hours to return the guilty verdict following a single day of evidence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Ion has been released on bail pending sentence on January 23 next. The prosecution consented to bail on condition that Ion agreed not to drive a taxi in the meantime or to apply for a new passport.

Ion of Garrynisk Square, Tallaght, Dublin and originally from Romania had pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the woman outside her home on the night of November 20, 2014.

The woman told Ms Brennan that she was in a city centre pub with friends where she had one red wine and four or five vodkas over the course of about five hours. She said she left at about 11.30pm because she had a headache and was in work the next day.

She lived about five minutes away but decided to get a taxi because she didn't want to walk alone down dark alleyways. She got in the front of the taxi out of habit because she was from the country where that was the done thing, she said.

She was holding her head and told Ion she had a headache when he asked what was wrong. Ion started rubbing her neck as they stopped at the traffic lights. She told him she was fine and he continued to drive.

When they reached her house he started rubbing the back of her head and kissed her on the side of the face. He grabbed her breast and asked her if she wanted to get in the back seat. He also asked her if he could come inside with her.

The woman said she froze and told Ion she had to go. Ion told her just wait five minutes before holding her head back against the seat rest.

I was panicking, she said. I kept thinking he was going to drive away with me in the car.

The fare was between 6 and 7 and that she gave him 20. She asked him for 10 back and told him to keep the change before getting out. She noted his name and some of his registration before going into her house.

Defence counsel Gerard Charlton BL asked the woman why she gave the man a tip if she was so scared.

I just wanted to go, I didnt want to aggravate him, she responded.

Ion told gardai in interview that the woman was very drunk when she got into the car. He said when he asked her if she was going to be sick she responded f**k off and drive.

He said when they arrived at the destination she didn't have any money and told him again to f*8k off. Ion said he threatened to call gardai and the woman responded that she would call gardai and claim that he trapped her in his car.

He said she then got out without paying. He did not call the gardai because he was very busy with fares, he said.
EU leaders hope there will be no more impediments to cancelling visas for Ukrainians

The European Union leaders have welcomed the approval of the suspension mechanism for the visa-free regime and have expressed the hope for a speedy introduction of a visa-free regime for Ukraine and Georgia.

"Almost there. Visa suspension mechanism dispute over. Now the final stretch towards visa free travel for Ukraine and Georgia," President of the European Council Donald Tusk wrote on Twitter.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz also expressed his hope that there will be no further delays in the introduction of the visa-free regime for Ukrainians and Georgians. "EP ready since Sept to agree on short term visa free travel for Ukrainian & Georgian citizens. We expect no further delay from Council," he tweeted.

For his part, EU Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn noted that the EU should urgently cancel visas for Ukrainians and Georgians.

"#Visalib f. #Ukraine & #Georgia: welcome today's deal on #visa suspension mechanism w. @EUCouncil, backed by @EP_Justice w. majority Happy that our tireless work pays off! #EU must now urgently grant well-deserved #visafree travel for #Ukrainian and #Georgian citizens!" he wrote on Twitter.
Dr Bernadette Scully wept in the witness box yesterday as she described how she held her daughter in her arms. Photo: Collins

A GP on trial for the manslaughter of her profoundly disabled daughter has told how "everything went quiet and her lips went blue" when she gave her a final dose of sedatives.

Dr Bernadette Scully (58) wept in the witness box as she described the circumstances of her daughter's death and said she did not want to kill her and that she loved her.

"We'd always been together. She was like a part of me," she told the Central Criminal Court.

"We did everything together. She was the little baby I'd always wanted and she was beautiful," said Dr Scully, as she described how she had held her daughter, who was not breathing, in her arms.

Dr Scully, of Emvale, Bachelors Walk, Tullamore, Co Offaly, has denied the manslaughter of Emily Barut by an act of gross negligence involving a toxic dose of chloral hydrate, a sedative.

She told the jury that she had worked abroad as a doctor before returning to open a practice in Tullamore and in 1986 had married a fellow doctor.

The marriage lasted seven years and broke down because it emerged that he was homosexual and Dr Scully said she felt "very low" at the time because she had always wanted a child.

She was introduced to Haluk Barut by a neighbour and they opted to have fertility treatment.

A third IVF attempt was successful but she experienced a lot of bleeding and sickness and a scan at 37 weeks raised concerns about the size of the baby's head.

Emily was born in the Coombe hospital in Dublin on December 21, 2000 and Dr Scully recalled how quiet the labour ward had been.

Jaundiced

"I just remember she didn't cry," she said, adding that the consultant had said: "You've a lovely, quiet little girl."

Emily would not gain weight and was jaundiced and Dr Scully said: "You're supposed to be a doctor but in this case you're a mother and an older mother. I knew she wasn't right."

At two weeks old, the baby went to sleep and wouldn't wake up and Dr Scully took her to Crumlin hospital where Emily's head was found to measure significantly below the norm.

Dr Scully said she "fell back" and said "oh my god" because on seeing the centile graph for infant growth, she could understand how bad things were.

She was told that her daughter would have "severe mental retardation. She would probably develop epilepsy. She may not walk. She may not talk. She may have difficulty hearing."

"My world fell apart," said Dr Scully.

She told the court how Emily had her first epileptic fit at 13 months and as she grew older, her fits grew more severe.

Emily would have a reaction to the drugs usually prescribed for epilepsy, with projectile vomiting.

At 16 months, she had her first screaming episode at 4am and was a dusky blue colour. These episodes began to occur frequently.

A consultant at Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe prescribed chloral hydrate and Dr Scully said she always used it as a "last resort".

"Emily could be crying two days before I'd give it to her," she said. She added that she had checked with Emily's consultants and they were happy for her to use it.

On the night before Emily's death, she said her daughter had been very unsettled and upset, beginning to "cry louder and louder".

She gave her 10ml of chloral hydrate and she did go to sleep but not deeply.

Dr Scully said she cried because "she was suffering and struggling and I was tired myself".

At around 6am, Emily became very agitated and Dr Scully gave her around 7ml of chloral hydrate.

At 8am, she was whimpering and Dr Scully was crying, feeling that, as a GP, "I could cure everybody else but I couldn't help Emily."

At 11am, her daughter had a prolonged seizure. "The bed was shaking and I panicked," said Dr Scully.

She said she gave her 10ml of the sedative, followed minutes later by a further 5ml because things were not improving.

At that stage, everything went quiet and "her little lips were blue in her face".

"I just took her up in my arms and I just held her and it was just so quiet," she said.

"I knew she was not breathing. I held her and said please don't go. We had always been together. She was part of me, we went everywhere together."

She said her daughter's life had been "miserable" at times. There had been some lovely times but "everything was bad in the last two years".

Dr Scully said she made two attempts at suicide after her daughter's death but woke up in intensive care, screaming: "No, no, no, I don't want to be here."

She left intensive care and spent 12-14 hours giving a garda statement. She rejected evidence given by gardai that she did not raise an alternative cause of death, saying she had told them from the start that she believed Emily had died of a massive seizure.

Upset

She said she was never given any quiet time to go through the post-mortem examination report and was upset by garda suggestions that the amount of chloral hydrate in Emily's system was "massive".

She denied that a note in which she said she could not bear to watch Emily suffer had been written before her daughter died, saying: "Absolutely not, I loved that child more than life itself. I would not hurt her deliberately."

Dr Scully said she was "on her knees" trying to work and care for her daughter but medics did not understand.

The trial continues.
A woman has been awarded 140,000 by the High Court for injuries she received when she tripped on an uneven footpath.

Kathleen Dunne, Whitestown Green, Blanchardstown, Dublin, sued Dublin City Council over the fall at the corner of Westmoreland Street and Aston Quay on September 3, 2014.

Mr Justice Michael Hanna said she suffered "a very nasty injury indeed", required hospitalisation for a number of weeks, and may eventually develop arthritis and require a knee replacement as a result.

He was satisfied the council was negligent arising out of the trip on what was "a seam" or a trench in the pavement which experts had stated was not in compliance with the recommended standard. She was on her way to a nearby convenience store at the time, the court heard.

The pavement had previously undergone work to remove telephone boxes and underground services, the judge said.

He was satisfied there was a hazard left as a result of the work. While it might be a hazard many could pass over, that was not the case for the "unfortunate" Ms Dunne "when she met her Waterloo".

The judge also said there was no doubt she had suffered. He found her to be "truthful if a little cagey as people sometimes are in this foreign environment".

He awarded her 40,000 in general damages and 100,000 for damages into the future.

He agreed with a request from the defence to put a stay on his order in the event of an appeal, provided 50,000 is paid over by December 19.
A notorious terror boss known as 'The Beast' was murdered when he was ambushed and shot in the back at least three times.

Gardai fear dissident Republican reprisal attacks after the victim, Aidan O'Driscoll, was gunned down.

The 37-year-old Real IRA commander died during emergency surgery an hour after being targeted in Blackpool, Cork.

O'Driscoll is suspected of serving as chief of staff for the Real IRA in Munster and had close links to murdered Real IRA boss Alan Ryan from Dublin.

The attack took place shortly before 5pm and is understood to have involved a lone gunman and a getaway driver.

Masked

Expand Close The scene of a shooting on the Old Commons Road near Blackpool Village, Cork. A man believed to be local and in his 30s was seriously injured. Pic Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp The scene of a shooting on the Old Commons Road near Blackpool Village, Cork. A man believed to be local and in his 30s was seriously injured. Pic Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision

Locals reported hearing several loud bangs and seeing a man, apparently masked, running from the scene.

He is believed to have fled the area in a getaway car driven by another masked man.

Initial reports suggest O'Driscoll realised he was being ambushed and attempted to flee.

He was shot in the back with a 9mm handgun and collapsed to the ground. The gunman then walked up to him and shot him a number of times as he lay wounded on the pavement.

A short time later, a burning car was found less than a kilometre away. A second car was found burnt out in the village of Killeen, outside Cork city.

Read More

O'Driscoll was treated at the scene by paramedics before being rushed to Cork University Hospital (CUH). It is understood he was shot in the back at least three times.

Expand Close Mr O'Driscoll believed to have been closely allied to Alan Ryan (pictured )who was shot and killed in Dublin in 2012. Photo: Collins Court / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Mr O'Driscoll believed to have been closely allied to Alan Ryan (pictured )who was shot and killed in Dublin in 2012. Photo: Collins Court

O'Driscoll had survived a gun attack three years ago, when he was shot in the legs in what gardai believe was a punishment operation carried out by fellow dissident Republicans.

O'Driscoll was convicted before the Special Criminal Court in 2005 of being a member of the Real IRA and received a three-year prison sentence.

His conviction was overturned on appeal and O'Driscoll moved to Dublin in the latter part of the last decade.

O'Driscoll had been closely allied to Alan Ryan, the leader of the Real IRA at the time, who was shot and killed in 2012.

While in Portlaoise Prison, he shared a landing with Ryan, who was himself serving a sentence for weapons offences.

Upon his release, he assumed command of the Real IRA in the capital and both he and Ryan waged war on drug dealers flooding the country and making huge money.

They claimed in interviews that they were taking the drug dealers' money and weapons and running them out of communities.

However, senior sources say the Real IRA was simply demanding large sums of cash from criminal gangs and, if they refused to pay up, they became targets for the feared dissident gang who traded under the IRA name.

The group was responsible for the murder of Colm 'Collie' Owens in July 2010.

Murder

O'Driscoll also sanctioned the murder of drug-dealer Sean Winters, who was shot twice in the head outside an apartment in Portmarnock in September 2010.

O'Driscoll ordered the murder of Gerard 'Topper' Staunton, who was gunned down in Cork in an ambush-style killing in January 2010.

A year later the Real IRA had major Dublin drugs trafficker Michael 'Micka' Kelly killed.

O'Driscoll was shot outside an apartment complex off Blackpool village in Cork.

Detectives are checking CCTV security cameras to see if the attackers were caught on film.
My name is Alan Fay, I am 20-years-old and I have cerebral palsy. This means I am wheelchair-bound and I have limited gross and fine motor skills. I am a Leaving Cert Applied student in Trinity Comprehensive School, Ballymun, Dublin. For most of my school life I was educated at the Central Remedial Clinic School in Clontarf. This is a special needs school, which I attended from birth. This school was a very big part of my life; it's where I learned a lot of skills and I made a lot of great friends.

CRC school felt like a second home to me. All the staff helped me to develop as a person and helped me through my path in education and to reach my targets. The facilities in the CRC are second to none, and they had everything I needed. Without CRC I don't think I would be the person I am today.

As the years passed by I felt I wanted to go all the way to Leaving Cert level but, at the CRC it was only possible to go to Junior Cert.

I came to a time where I had to make a big decision - this was a big crossroads in my life: 'Do I go to a mainstream school to complete my Leaving Certificate, or do I stay in my comfort zone and continue in the CRC were I have been all my life?'

I decided I wanted to push myself to the next level and go on to complete my Leaving Cert.

I went to see my psychologist in the CRC and I had a chat about me moving on in education. She felt that I was well capable of doing my Leaving Cert, but I was very apprehensive about going to mainstream school as I was not used to the surroundings. Once I met my new principal, the school nurse and my special needs assistant (SNA), all my fears were alleviated.

My biggest fears were, would I get the facilities I needed in the mainstream school? For example, using the toilet, would I get a full- time SNA, help with eating, was the school building wheelchair-accessible, new teachers, would the students in my new school accept me as Alan and not 'Alan in the wheelchair'?

When I am out in society I feel that people tend to see my disability before they see me as a person. They assume I can't talk or communicate. They talk to me through the person that is with me.

This makes me feel overlooked and that I am invisible. I feel like shouting 'I am here', 'I am human'.

I have never felt like this in my new school. The students and the teachers see me for who I am, who I want to be and who I want to become.

I have been in Trinity Comprehensive for a year and a half now. I feel that I have been here all my life. The decision that I made about coming to mainstream school has fulfilled me on so many levels.

Yes, the challenges I face on a typical day in school are different to my peers. But, these challenges will never stop me from achieving my goals. The only limits in life are the ones you make.

I feel that the decision I made by coming to mainstream school has changed my outlook about my future. I never would have imagined that I would have had the opportunity to sit a Leaving Cert and further my education beyond Junior Cert level. Now that I am achieving this, I look forward with positivity and excitement to my future.

By writing this article, I hope to inspire others who are in my position. I want to shout, 'Go achieve your goals. Let nothing stand in your way. Believe in yourself. Anything is possible'.

Alan Fay is a Leaving Certificate Applied student at Trinity Comprehensive School, Ballymun, Dublin
Aidan ODriscoll (37) was shot dead in an ambush in Blackpool, Co Cork yesterday

Gardai fear dissident Republican reprisal attacks after a Real IRA commander was shot dead in Cork.

Aidan O'Driscoll (37), nicknamed 'The Beast', died during emergency surgery just over an hour after being shot three times in an ambush in Blackpool yesterday evening.

Just three years ago the Ballyvolane native had survived another gun attack.

O'Driscoll was shot in the legs during a 2013 Cork attack after what gardai believed was a punishment operation carried out by fellow dissident Republicans.

At one point, he was suspected to have served as chief of staff for the Real IRA in Munster.

Last night's shooting took place in a quiet residential area.

He was shot outside an apartment complex off Blackpool village in Cork, not far from Blackpool Church.

The attack took place shortly before 5pm and was understood to have involved a lone gunman using a 9mm handgun and an accomplice who acted as a getaway driver.

Locals reported hearing several loud bangs and seeing a man, apparently masked, running from the scene.

He is then believed to have fled the area in a waiting car driven by another masked man.

Initial reports were that O'Driscoll realised he was being ambushed and attempted to flee. However, he was shot in the back and collapsed to the ground.

The gunman then calmly walked up to him and shot him a number of times as he lay wounded on the pavement.

A short time later, a vehicle was found less than 1km away, close to the North Monastery, having been set on fire.

Another vehicle was later found burned out at Killeens outside Cork city.

O'Driscoll was treated at the scene by paramedics before being rushed to Cork University Hospital (CUH). It is understood he suffered at least three gunshot wounds to the back.

Despite efforts by doctors, he died while undergoing emergency surgery at CUH.

O'Driscoll was convicted before the Special Criminal Court in 2005 of being a member of the Real IRA.

He received a three-year prison sentence for being a member of the dissident group on December 13, 2003.

Four other men were also convicted of Real IRA membership in a combined trial.

However, O'Driscoll's conviction was subsequently overturned by the Court of Criminal Appeal in May 2008.

The court quashed the convictions on the basis that the Special Criminal Court did not have jurisdiction in the matter because the men were not charged "forthwith".

O'Driscoll was the only one of the five who had been in custody.

Fled

During the 2005 trial, a senior garda gave evidence that O'Driscoll was part of a feared active service unit of the Real IRA in Munster.

It was also believed O'Driscoll had been closely allied to Alan Ryan, who was shot and killed in Dublin in 2012.

Ryan was the leader of the Real IRA at the time.

Gardai immediately sealed off the scene in Blackpool to allow for a detailed investigation by forensic experts.

Officers also began door-to-door inquiries in the area to determine if anyone witnessed anything suspicious or may have seen the gunman as he fled the scene.

Detectives were also checking CCTV security camera footage from the area to see if the attackers were caught on film.

Gardai stressed that they were keeping an open mind as to the possible motive for the attack.

However, the primary theories were that it was either a revenge attack against O'Driscoll linked to an earlier feud or part of a deadly escalation in a turf war within the dissident Republican ranks.

Gardai admitted O'Driscoll, who had a fearsome reputation for violence, would have had a significant number of enemies.

Security around Cork was now being stepped up by gardai amid fears of possible retaliation attacks.
Gang boss Christy Keane was arrested by armed gardai after he was found in a car with a 1m greyhound which had been stolen for 100,000 ransom.

Clares Rocket was back at renowned trainer Graham Holland's kennels in Golden, Co Tipperary, last night after it was stolen on Sunday night.

Four men were arrested by armed gardai on Tuesday night after the gang demanded a 100,000 ransom from a member of the Limerick Full House syndicate via a phonecall just hours after the theft of the greyhound.

The male caller demanded the six-figure cash sum and said the dog would never be returned alive unless the ransom was paid.

Expand Close Christy Keane / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Christy Keane

The Irish Independent understands the ransom was demanded after a major drugs deal involving Keane fell apart.

However, armed gardai recovered the greyhound when they stopped two cars during simultaneous raids in different locations in Co Kilkenny on Tuesday night. They had been monitoring crime lord Christy Keane (55) and other gang members all day across four counties and pounced on the suspects at 10pm.

Four men were arrested in the two cars at Mooncoin, Co Kilkenny, and at another location on the Kilkenny/Waterford border.

Apart from Limerick drugs lord Christy Keane, a dissident Republican man and a man from Waterford were arrested during the operation.

The four were being held in Clonmel and Tipperary garda stations last night.

One of the cars was tracked by gardai when it left Limerick on Tuesday and travelled to Waterford where the dog was handed over to the occupants of the car, which including Keane.

Expand Close An emotional Graham Holland hugs Clares Rocket at his home in Golden, Co Tipperary, last night. Photo: Liam Burke/Press 22 / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp An emotional Graham Holland hugs Clares Rocket at his home in Golden, Co Tipperary, last night. Photo: Liam Burke/Press 22

This car was then tracked as it left Waterford city area before being intercepted on the Kilkenny/Waterford border. Keane was travelling with the dog when armed officers swooped.

It is understood the criminals had been plotting to kidnap the greyhound for a number of weeks and had detailed knowledge of where to find Clares Rocket.

An emotional Mr Holland, who was reunited with the dog on Tuesday night at Tipperary town garda station, said at his home yesterday: "It's like winning the Derby again."

Mr Holland, who has had numerous wins with Rocket, including the prestigious Champion Stakes and Produce Stakes, choked with emotion as he described a phonecall from gardai telling him the beloved racing dog was "alive and well".

"We brought Rocket home, gave him a feed, and pampered him. There was lots of tears," he said.

"It is like they broke into our privacy. You work with these dogs seven days a week and they become members of the family, and it feels like somebody has been taken from you."

The father-of-three, originally from Dorset, England, said he was "over the moon".

"I think everybody thought, like we did, that we'd never see the dog again, a bit like Shergar," he said.

"To have a fairy tale ending to a sad thing is unusual. For once there's a good ending.

"If gardai never found the dog you'd always wonder was he still out there. It would be similar to Shergar.

"To be really honest, we didn't think we were going to see him again. The feeling was, once it hit national news, the people who took him would panic and probably destroy the dog and disappear.

"He will race again, he's in good enough condition; they didn't badly treat him. They obviously fed him and let him have water, he wasn't dehydrated."

Security

Mr Holland, who won the Irish Derby this season with Rural Hawaii, said he would be increasing security at his home and kennels.

He hopes Clares Rocket can compete in next year's English Derby, which commands up to 250,000 (293,153) in prize money. Clares Rocket was listed at 25/1 before this week's crime.

"It is a big prize. It takes a lot of winning and there are a lot of ifs and buts, but Rocket is a dog that's good enough to win it, if he's lucky enough," he said.

"He's lucky enough, he must be, to have come back home safe."

Garda investigations are continuing.
Children and young people who are dying should be asked if they have a 'bucket list' of wishes they want to accomplish, health officials have said. (Stock photo)

Children and young people who are dying should be asked if they have a 'bucket list' of wishes they want to accomplish, health officials have said.

Medics or care workers developing care plans for terminally-ill children should ask about their "life ambitions and wishes", according to guidance from the British National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice).

Watchdogs said it might be appropriate to ask youngsters what they want to be done with their social media accounts after their deaths.

Young people or their families should be asked about what they hope to achieve in life, including ambitions for social activities, relationships and educational attainment, the guideline suggests.

Dying teenagers might want to complete their GCSEs or make specific wishes on who should be given their personal belongings, according to Dr Emily Harrop, a paediatric palliative care consultant who helped to develop the guideline.

The child or a parent, depending on the child's age, should also be asked about life ambitions, she said.

"When we start a conversation about end-of-life planning, rather than introduce that with a very closed question or a very negative question, we often start by asking for things like 'What do you hope for? What do you aspire to do for yourself? What would you hope your child to achieve?'," Dr Harrop said.

"To lose a child is a tragic, life-changing event. But the care given to a child and their family during this difficult time can offer great comfort, if done properly.

"It is incredible what you get back actually. It's rarely as simple as you'd think.

"It is always very, very individual.

"On one level, it opens a conversation you need to have and on the next level, it promotes you to think about them as an individual, not just as a person whose medical or social care you are delivering." ( Daily Telegraph London)
Protest in support of people with cystic fibrosis and the campaign for Orkambi drug therapy approval in Ireland by supporters of people with cystic fibrosis, their families and friends. Picture by Shane O'Neill Photography.

Stephanie Smyth from Lusk, Co Dublin, with her son Sam Mullen (7) who has cystic fibrosis at the protest at Leinster House. Photo: Tom Burke

Sam Mullen, aged 7 from Lusk, Co.Dublin. at a protest in Dublin this week. Picture by Shane O'Neill Photography.

The Scottish Minister for Health has said she is open to working with Ireland to secure a drug for Cystic Fibrosis sufferers, Orkambi.

The drug, which has been labelled too expensive at a price of 159,000 per patient per year, has been hailed as life saving.

Manufacturer Vertex, and the HSE have reopened negotiations in the hope of introducing it to Ireland.

However, Health Minister Simon Harris has also penned letters to his counterparts in the UK, Scotland, Australia and Canada in the hope of securing the drug at a cheaper price using collective bargaining.

Scottish Health Secretary Shona Robinson told Independent.ie she is open to the idea.

Weve substantially increased access to new medicines due to reforms and increased investment in recent years, but we want to go further. It is vital though that pharmaceutical companies bring forward far fairer prices for new medicines to ensure the opportunity for access is as wide as possible for the people of Scotland and Ireland, she said.

Expand Close Micheal Martin, T.D. and Jillian McNulty. Picture by Shane O'Neill Photography / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Micheal Martin, T.D. and Jillian McNulty. Picture by Shane O'Neill Photography

We welcome this approach from the Irish Government and we have confirmed that we are happy to start exploring what scope there is for us to work together on improving access to new medicines.

Read More

We are also currently considering recommendations from a Scottish Government commissioned review of access to new medicines in Scotland, and I will be happy to share the outcome of this with Mr Harris to see if other countries may also benefit from the reforms we are taking forward.

The current talks are between Ireland and the manufacturer only.

Up to 2,000 people gathered at Leinster House yesterday to warn the Government that people could die unless they get access to the drug.

Jillian McNulty, who has been taking Orkambi on a trial basis and has seen dramatic improvements in her health lead the protest.

Read More

At the protest, Phil Dunphy, a mum from Co Kildare, whose daughter, Sarah, died aged just 23 from cystic fibrosis said her son Shane (19) also had the condition and needed the drug.

There have only been two drugs for cystic fibrosis in the last 20 years, she said.

We dont begrudge other patients with other illnesses new drugs but not a lot of money has been spent on our children, she said.

It costs tens of thousands to care for people with cystic fibrosis who are admitted to hospital.

Has anyone done an analysis of the cost of this against the price of the drug?
A Dublin cafe owner who has previously attracted attention for suggesting he would "shoot vegans at point blank range" has once again drawn criticism from the community after stating he would like to eat one for Christmas dinner.

Paul Stenson, owner of The White Moose Cafe in Phibsborough, wrote a status criticising a vegan demonstration on O'Connell Street.

It read: "This girl is lying out on O'Connell street right now as part of PETA's campaign to encourage people NOT to eat animals this Christmas.

"I'm fed up of turkey anyway. Too dry. I can't wait to try roast vegan."

The status in question has since gone viral, with over 1,200 shares. However, the response has been mixed with many vegans taking offence.

Expand Close White Moose Cafe's owner Paul Stenson / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp White Moose Cafe's owner Paul Stenson

One user wrote "I meet you on the street, you're gonna get f**ked up", while another stated that Stenson's "brain is a moronic block of wood."

Read More

This is not the first run-in The White Moose Cafe has had with the community, as a status in August last year barred all vegans.

Given the torrent of abuse and unjustified negative reviews we have been receiving from the vegan population over the past 24 hours, all vegans are now barred from our cafe. All vegans entering the cafe will be shot at point blank range, Stenson wrote.

We look forward to never welcoming you vegans into our cafe ever again.

This statement drew a barrage of one star online reviews, with one user saying: Any place that makes fun of other people's beliefs is not a place I'd like to go to, while another said: Death threats aren't funny. I'm not a vegan. Your chefs are crap if they can't cook a dish and simply omit the meat.. How childish.

Speaking to Independent.ie Mr Stenson said that these negative reviews don't bother him or his business and added that the company's Facebook page should not be taken as seriously as it is.

He said: "Everything you see on that page is all in jest. Some people lack the sense of humour and take it seriously and to be honest, that has been great for business.

"When dealing with vegans, who can be quite militant, I find they often complain about us, but very often the people they complain to don't agree with them and end up being our customers."
UN reports death of almost 10,000 people in conflict in Ukraine, including 2,000 civilians

Over 2,000 civilians have been killed in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Thursday.

According to information possessed by the organization, at least 9,758 people were killed in the period between mid April 2014 and December 1, 2016.

Approximately another 22,800 people were injured.

The OHCHR also reports a "failure" on the issue of implementation of the Minsk Agreements signed in February 2015.
Michelle Daly and her boyfriend Simon Parsons who claims he doesn't owe 16,422.11 in toll charges

Simon Parsons and Michelle Daly holding a letter they received before their car was seized by the Dublin County sheriff for non payment of tolls. Picture credit: Damien Eagers

A letter Simon Parsons, from Tallaght received before his car was seized by the Dublin County sheriff for non payment of Tolls, also pictured are toll receipts. Picture credit; Damien Eagers

Simon Parsons and Michelle Daly holding a letter they received before their car was seized by the Dublin County sheriff for non payment of Tolls. Picture credit; Damien Eagers

Simon Parsons and Michelle Daly holding a letter they received before their car was seized by the Dublin County Sheriff for non payment of Tolls. Picture credit; Damien Eagers

A man who had his car seized due to allegedly owing 16,422.11 in eFlow toll charges says he vomited when he realised what was happening.

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Simon Parsons and his girlfriend were awoken to the sound of his Opel Astra being towed away outside his home in Balbriggan, Dublin.

Mr Parsons says the loss of his car has been devastating as he relies on it to transport his girlfriend around, who suffers from cerebral palsy.

He also claims that he definitely does not owe that much.

Expand Close Simon Parsons and Michelle Daly holding a letter they received before their car was seized by the Dublin County sheriff for non payment of tolls. Picture credit: Damien Eagers / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Simon Parsons and Michelle Daly holding a letter they received before their car was seized by the Dublin County sheriff for non payment of tolls. Picture credit: Damien Eagers

Well the car is more of an ambulance than it is an actual car. I need it for my girlfriend to help bring her around, Mr Parsons told Independent.ie.

We heard voices outside and we thought it was the neighbours either coming back from the pub or after finishing a house party, and thought nothing of it.

Expand Close Simon Parsons and Michelle Daly holding a letter they received before their car was seized by the Dublin County sheriff for non payment of Tolls. Picture credit; Damien Eagers / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Simon Parsons and Michelle Daly holding a letter they received before their car was seized by the Dublin County sheriff for non payment of Tolls. Picture credit; Damien Eagers

A few minutes later I heard a beeping noise so I looked out the window to find out what it was and my car was up on the back of a truck.

Mr Parsons says he has all the receipts from his journeys on toll roads.

Expand Close A letter Simon Parsons, from Tallaght received before his car was seized by the Dublin County sheriff for non payment of Tolls, also pictured are toll receipts. Picture credit; Damien Eagers / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp A letter Simon Parsons, from Tallaght received before his car was seized by the Dublin County sheriff for non payment of Tolls, also pictured are toll receipts. Picture credit; Damien Eagers

He has requested statements from eFlow to see if the time of the journeys matches his receipts.

He recently purchased the car from his girlfriends, mothers partner and insists that there were no outstanding charges on the car.

If I know Im going to make two journeys on Friday, Ill get them on Thursday night. I always pay them at the local Applegreen or Spar stores.

I definitely do not owe that much, there is no way. I couldnt believe it was happening, I actually vomited when it happened. The previous owner had no charges on it either."

Since the incident happened, Mr Parsons has not returned to work as he is trying to resolve the matter.

He drives a van for a charity organisation in Balbriggan.

He says it is not the first time he has experienced issues with eFlow.

I got a few letters in the door last year and they were saying that I was using the toll when I hadnt gone through it at all.

Mr Parsons claims that he is struggling to get to the root of the issue.

"Nobody seems to want to talk to me, they are either passing me around or talking down to me".

The mother of Simons girlfriend Michelle Daly (34) says that the car had her daughters disabled sticker on the front window and they have been trying to get it back since the car was towed away.

Speaking to Independent.ie, Rose Daly says the car is a lifeline for them.

My daughter is disabled, she has cerebral palsy, and she depends on Simon driving her around.

He has every receipt for every time he used the toll bridge. Michelles disabled sticker was in the car when they took it and they haven't returned it.

When contacted by Independent.ie, Dublin County Sheriffs Office and eFlow said they could not comment on individual cases or confirm the incident happened.
Collisions on the Grand Canal and M50 have lead to significant delays this morning.

Dublin Fire Brigade attended the crash just before the Portobello Bridge, at the junction of Rathmines Road Lower and Grove Road before 7am this morning.

Delays along the Grand Canal due to a collision on Grove Road at Portobello Bridge  Traffic Mgmt. Centre (@DCCTraffic) December 8, 2016

It has been moved off the road but delays in the area have lead to traffic being backed up to Sallys Bridge.

A breakdown on the M50 has been confined to the hard shoulder on the M50 junction 3.

We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference

Shortly after 9am there was a collision on the M50 at Junction 7 Palmerstown, Southbound. Gardai are warning people to expect delays.

We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference

Emergency services are also attending a collision on the M50 between junction 16 Cherrywood and Junction 15 Carrickmines northbound.

We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference

We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference

Meanwhile, in Laois the AA is warning motorists of reports of pedestrian on the M7 southbound between junction 18 and Junction 19.
A charity collecting show boxes filled with goods for homeless people has been "blown away by the fantastic support" their appeal has received.

Inner City Helping the Homeless called on the public to make their donations at Connolly Station as part of their Fill A Tram initiative.

By the time the collection closed at the inner city donation point at 7pm, over 7,500 shoeboxes has been counted.

"Thank you so so much," the charity said following the incredibly successful collection.

Meanwhile, the Capuchin Centre in Dublin is appealing for baby food and nappies to be donated for homeless children this Christmas.

The charity regularly doles out food and supply packs to homeless and disadvantaged people every day.

Alan Bailey, volunteer co-ordinator at the centre, told Independent.ie that in the past year they have noticed an uptake in the number of parents looking for nappies, baby food and baby clothes.

Its something that has raised its head in the last year, a lot of families are staying in hotels. Every Monday at lunchtime is our official distribution date and we distribute baby food and nappies to around 90 families, he said.

Isnt it a savage indictment in this day and age to think that there are families queuing for nappiesIts a frightening thought.

The charity is also distributing 800 hot meals a day from its centre in Dublin 7.

Expand Close Inner City Helping the Homeless volunteers at their Fill A Tram appeal. (photo: Twitter/ICHH) / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Inner City Helping the Homeless volunteers at their Fill A Tram appeal. (photo: Twitter/ICHH)

They will also hand out between 3,000 and 3,500 hampers to people, an increase on last years 2,800 hampers.

The latest figures show that a record number of 6,709 people are now homeless across the country.

In Dublin the number of homeless families has climbed over 1,000 for the first time and there are more than 2,000 children living in emergency or temporary accommodation.

Anyone wishing to donate baby food and nappies can do so at the Capuchin Day Centre, 29 Bow Street, Dublin 7.
Threats to kill and assaults are included in reports of racist incidents which have increased significantly

Threats to kill and assaults are included in reports of racist incidents which have increased significantly.

The Irish wing of the European Network Against Racism [ENAR] has warned that unless national action is taken Ireland faces sleepwalking into an Irish Trump or Brexit scenario.

The groups online system offers people a chance to log racist incidents, an increase of reports may suggest people are reporting more often, as opposed to an increase in incidents overall.

In one of the incidents reported via iReport, a woman described being accosted by a man on her way to work:

I was on my way to work when a man swing a folded newspaper at me hitting me and called me a 'f***ing black woman'. I was in shock, one woman reported.

In another a womans next door neighbours came onto my property shouting that his partner was going to kill me, he was going to kill me, calling me a foreign b*stard and a dirty foreign b*tch'.

Children were also included in these worrying incidents including one 10-year-old boy who was told by another boy he was going to be shot. Other children had been sprayed with bleach.

A total of 150 incidents were reported to iReport between January and June of this year, 22 of these were assaults.

Read More

Verbal abuse was reported in 79 cases.

In one instance a Traveller alleged a councillor was among those who abused him and his family as they requested a housing transfer.

He said to me Im telling you straight to your face, I have 220 people waiting to be houses and if I was a housing officer you wouldnt get a house [in this area]. Bringing in the likes of dirt like you and I have 220 people waiting to be housed. Why would I help you?, the report reads.

The report also notes the presence of alcohol and drugs when incidents took place.

Read More

One report stated that a person approached a girl of Arab descent shouting Allahu Akbar.

A drunken man in an upmarket Dun Laoghaire restaurant also reportedly abused a man by asking: Here comes the Muzzy did he order batteries to blow the place up.

The man, who was not Muslim, was very upset by the incident according to his girlfriend but they did not take further action.

Racial discrimination by people in state jobs has also increased in this round of reporting.

In one instance a black man alleged he was ordered out of his car by a garda who accused him of being an illegal taxi driver as he drove with his white friends.

Five cases reported to ENAR alleged racial profiling on behalf of the gardai.

Theres nothing happening at a policy level. It is worrying, that level of complacency is worrying. We are potentially sleepwalking into an Irish Trump or Brexit scenario where one of the consequences of inaction is we are creating an opportunity for friction between communities.

We need policies to address racism so we dont end up in a situation so we dont end up in a situation like we have in the US, UK and across Europe, ENAR Ireland Director Shane OCurry told Independent.ie
Martin McGuinness has withdrawn from a planned trip to China this week on medical advice.

According to a Sinn Fein statement, Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister will not be travelling abroad in order to enable doctors to carry out a medical assessment.

In a statement, Sinn Fein said: The deputy First Minister withdrew from a planned visit to China this week on medical advice and to enable doctors to conduct a medical assessment.

"Martin McGuinness is fulfilling his responsibilities as deputy First Minister working with his departmental political advisers. There has been no disruption to the work of the Executive Office during this period.

Northern Ireland's First Minister, Arlene Foster travelled to China last Sunday without Mr McGuinness.

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams TD sent his best wishes to the minister.

Im sure everybody who values his work will send best wishes to Martin, Bernie and their family," he said.

"I met with Martin as normal at Stormont on Monday. I have been in regular contact with him since and he is totally committed to fulfilling his duties.
Pat Hickey could be forced to return to Brazil early in the New Year to stand trial, the state prosecutor has claimed.

The 71-year-old, who stood down as head of the Olympic Council of Ireland after his arrest in August, is currently in Brazil where he is waiting for his bail bond of R$1.5m (410,000) to process through the judicial system.

Sources say this is likely to clear in the coming days and Hickey could be back in Ireland as early as next week.

Read More

However State Prosecutor Marcos Kac, has revealed that Hickey could be returning to Rio sooner than expected.

Mr Kac told website Around the Rings the remaining processes involved before the case goes to trial are mostly "bureaucracies of the court". He explained that while the case will be delayed when the courts close for Christmas and the New Year the processes will speed up in January.

He told reporter Aaron Bauer: I believe [the trial] will happen early next year.

He continued: "All that is left is administrative issues and marking the hearings.

Mr Hickey was arrested on August 17 for alleged ticket touting at the Rio Olympics. Formal charges were brought against him and THG director Kevin Mallon.

Last month a judge granted Mr Hickey permission to return to Ireland for health reasons.

A number of conditions were placed on his return, including that he pay the large bail bond. This was eventually provided by the Association of National Olympic Committees.

Mr Kac could not set an exact date for when Hickey would be summoned to return to Brazil to testify.

In the November 17 judgement Judge Juliana Leal de Melo said that given the fact Mr Hickey had no link to Brazil there was a risk of him not returning for a trial.

However, she balanced this by saying that the defendant needed to get "health treatment".

Read More

There is no formal extradition treaty between Brazil and Ireland, which could complicate matters if Hickey refuses to cooperate with Brazilian authorities.

Jose Renato Bernardes da Costa, a public defender from the State of Bahia, told Around The Rings that the case would most likely die in the Brazilian court system if Mr Hickey never returned.

The legal process would practically stop, da Costa added. It would be virtually impossible to proceed without him here.

Mr Kac also conceded that this was a possibility.

There is no guarantee for his return, Mr Kac said. If [Hickey is] convicted, we will issue a red notice for Interpol International.
A man in his 50s has died after he was struck by a lorry yesterday evening.

Gardai are investigating the fatal road traffic collision that occurred on Lord Edward Street, Kilmallock, County Limerick yesterday evening, at approximately 5.15pm.

The male pedestrian, aged in his mid 50's, suffered fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at scene.

His body was taken to University Hospital Limerick where a post mortem is due to take place later today.

No other injuries were reported. No arrests have been made.

The scene was preserved and a section of Lord Edward Street, Kilmallock was closed for a period of time to facilitate Garda Forensic Collision Investigators. The road has since reopened.

Investigating Gardai are appealing for witnesses and anyone with information, particularly those who were in the vicinity of Lord Edward Street, Kilmallock yesterday evening between 4.30pm and 5.30pm are asked to contact them at Bruff Garda Station on 061 382940, The Garda Confidential Line, 1800 666111 or any Garda Station.
GREEN Party leader Eamon Ryan has warned Ireland needs to ramp up the battle against climate change, pointing out; "They are cutting the grass out on Leinster Lawn in the middle of December."

Temperatures in Dublin today are to reach as high as 13 degrees and Mr Ryan said: "It is 25 degrees Celsius above average today in the Arctic".

Mr Ryan told the government it must "fundamentally change our entire economic model and we need to do it quickly" and suggested Ireland needs a "modern-day TK Whitaker" to tackle our response to climate change.

Mr Whittaker, a legendary economist and civil servant, turns 100 today.

Speaking in the Dail Mr Ryan wished him a happy birthday and said he was involved in "Ireland's leap from being a closed country to an open one."

He added: "What we need to do today is move from being a fossil fuelled country to a sustainable clean and better economic model."

Mr Ryan said that energy and transport green house gas emissions are going up by 5pc, when they should be going down by that ammount.

He said the existing capital plan is "woefully inadequate" to bring about any change and he asked: "What is stopping the Government from taking real serious action on climate change?"

Housing Minister Simon Coveney said the government is launching a plan next month for what Ireland should look like in 2040.

"We will take a long-term view and the plan will include an ambitious and proactive approach to our responsibilities on climate change," he added.

He said that the government's commitment to the issue is consistent with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

He agreed that not enough has been done in transport, but added: "Ireland is recognised internationally as a country that is leading in the climate change challenge in respect of agrifood and agriculture and we will continue to do that too."

Mr Ryan said the State has an opportunity to to make economic changes that supports the fight against climate change and said "the rest of the world is going in this direction, no matter what Donald Trump does do try to stop it."

He said it's in Ireland's economic interest to do this and added: "We need a modern-day TK Whitaker... Somebody needs to do it. We need leadership."

Mr Coveney said: " The programme for Government is very clear, in black and white, that the Government's ambition is not to fudge the climate change agenda or move away from it."
Number of civilian casualties in hostilities in eastern Ukraine in decline

The number of civilian casualties in the hostilities in eastern Ukraine has declined, 32 civilians were killed over the past three months, 132 were injured, the 16th report on the human rights situation in Ukraine said.

Presenting the report in Kyiv on Thursday, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine Fiona Frazer said that the intensification of diplomatic efforts to deescalate hostilities has facilitated this.

UN monitors have seen a general decline in civilian casualties over these three months, and a quadruple drop in casualties has been recorded in September against August, Frazer said. The report cited data from August 16 through November 15.

However, the insufficient level of ceasefire observance by both conflicting sides is resulting in the resumption of hostilities, she said.

The number of casualties has again fallen in November and early December, she said.

The report also said that since the start of the anti-terrorist operation in eastern Ukraine (since the middle of April 2014) 9,758 people have been killed, about 22,779 people have been injured. Over 2,000 of the people killed are civilians.

This statistical data takes into account the casualties of the Malaysian MH-17 airliner crash that comprised 298 people, Frazer said.
Former Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky is pursuing billions seized from him after his arrest in 2003. Photo: Reuters

A freezing order on almost 100m in Irish-based assets belonging to former Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been lifted.

The decision was welcomed by the former billionaire, who is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's main critics.

He plans to use some of the money to fund his Open Russia organisation, which is campaigning for human rights and democracy.

But the Russian Federation said it was "surprised and disappointed" by the ruling.

Mr Khodorkovsky's Irish assets were frozen in 2011 when gardai began investigating whether they were linked to money laundering.

At the time Mr Khodorkovsky (53) was imprisoned in Siberia for tax evasion, embezzlement and money laundering. But the charges were widely regarded as being politically motivated.

He was released in 2013.

Garda fraud officers had been obtaining renewable freezing orders every 28 days, but the latest of these was challenged by lawyers for Mr Khodorkovsky.

Revoking the order yesterday at Dublin District Court, Judge Timothy Lucey said that while he was satisfied a garda investigation was ongoing, the force had not shown there was reasonable grounds for maintaining the order.

He criticised gardai for the lack of information provided about the investigation.

"The respondents have provided almost no evidence to the court," he said.

The judge said Mr Khodorkovsky had produced a substantial amount of evidence to demonstrate that he was the beneficial owner of the assets and that they were obtained as a result of his involvement with the former Yukos Oil company.

"He maintains his innocence and claims he has been persecuted for his political views and that the charges against him were false and were for the purpose of the Russian state getting control of Yukos oil assets," Judge Lucey said.

The judge noted there was a Russian warrant for Mr Khodorkovsky's arrest for murder, but he had been granted asylum in the UK and was not going to be extradited.

In a statement, the Russian Federation said it had not been notified of the proceedings by Irish authorities. Had it been, it would have provided "extensive" evidence to show "the money is the proceeds of crime".

The court heard a second Irish fund, understood to contain about 20m, was also frozen. This was for the benefit of six other former Yukos shareholders. Gardai are to consider whether they will continue to seek to freeze those assets.
Fianna Fail is to seek all-party support for new legislation which would prevent profitable companies from reneging on pension commitments to their workers.

The party's social protection spokesman, Willie O'Dea, is to draw up a short amendment to existing pension law following the controversy over the closure by Independent News and Media (INM) of its Defined Benefit (DB) pension scheme.

The Limerick TD said it was "ironic" that if a company goes insolvent the State has to step in to help pensioners, but a solvent company can "walk away".

He intends to bring a bill before the Oireachtas in the new year aimed at addressing the problem.

INM, which publishes this newspaper, has moved to stop contributions to its DB scheme, which has a deficit of 23m. Hundreds of current and former employees will see their pensions massively reduced as a result.

In the Dail, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said the Government should "introduce legislation to close the loophole whereby solvent companies are walking away from their responsibilities and obligations".

He said there are over 600,000 workers currently in DB schemes across the country.

"We have had a recent illustration of this issue in Independent News & Media in that workers have essentially had their pensions wiped out or significantly reduced, with no recourse to anybody," Mr Martin said.

"In other jurisdictions, particularly the United Kingdom, there are legislative provisions to stop this."

Taoiseach Enda Kenny noted that Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar has met with the Attorney General to discuss the INM case and the wider issue.

"Were one to introduce legislation, one could not make it retrospective. That is the advice that we have," Mr Kenny said.

"In that context, it is not an issue. The minister has sought advice from the Attorney General as to whether he might be able to do something in respect of the public interest end of this particular issue, but it is not a case of introducing legislation that one could make retrospective to cover these difficulties."

Meanwhile, Mr Varadkar told the Dail yesterday that reforms of the State pension being sought by Sinn Fein are "reckless and irresponsible".

Sinn Fein wants to end the practice whereby people who retire at 65 have to get Jobseeker's Allowance until they qualify for the State pension at 66.

Mr Varadkar said the changes called for would cost 150m a year, but Sinn Fein had not outlined any way of paying for that.
A source says Enda Kenny has no intention of stepping down. Photo: Keith Arkins

A progress report outlining the minority Government's achievements is being cited as a reason for Taoiseach Enda Kenny to remain in office until at least 2018.

The report outlines 18 "key achievements" and more than 170 actions the Government says it has taken since May.

A senior source argued that the report's "subtext" is that Mr Kenny "will be here for the Pope".

Separately, Transport Minister Shane Ross said while his group, the Independent Alliance, is "proud" of what they've done in government, they're "disappointed" about a number of areas where progress has been slow.

Among the key achievements claimed in the report, which will be published today, are an additional 48,500 people in work and reducing USC rates.

The document's title 'First Progress Report - A Programme for Partnership Government 2016-2021', indicates an ambition for the Government to last a full five years. Fianna Fail have only agreed to facilitate it until a review in 2018.

Mr Ross told the Irish Independent: "We certainly would love to go to 2021. We're in it for the long haul and we certainly see no threat to the stability of the Government at the moment."

However, he wouldn't be drawn on how long he thought Mr Kenny would remain in office, saying it's a "matter for Fine Gael". Despite persistent rumblings about his leadership, Mr Kenny said in recent weeks he hopes to still be Taoiseach when Pope Francis visits in August 2018. He has said he will go as leader ahead of the next general election.

However, last night a senior source indicated Mr Kenny has no intention of stepping aside any time soon, saying that the Taoiseach is "a very optimistic, energetic man" and that: "Brexit has changed everything".

The source argued that items in the Programme for Government are being achieved "at a reasonable pace" and added "the subtext" of the report is Mr Kenny "will be here for the Pope".

Mr Ross said he believes the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill - pushed for by the Independent Alliance - is "the most radical thing that's happened in this Government".

He said provision in the Budget of medical cards for children in receipt of Domiciliary Care Allowance, an increase in the Christmas bonus for welfare recipients and lowering prescription charges for the elderly were all items sought by the Alliance.

But he warned the five TDs are "disappointed" at progress on providing a second cardiac lab for Waterford University Hospital, as sought by junior minister John Halligan. He also said the issue of water charges "hasn't settled down".

"It's a continuous headache and we'd like to see the issue off the agenda because I think it's a diversion," he said.

Mr Ross is disappointed new guidelines on public appointments have not yet been delivered.

The 5.5bn Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness is also listed as an achievement. A Government spokesman responded to the suggestion that it couldn't be classified an achievement yet.

"An awful lot of what a government does is ongoing by nature. It is certainly significant to point to the sort of money the Government has committed," he said.
Austin Stack, son of murdered prison officer Brian Stack confronts Gerry Adams,TD, the Sinn Fein leader at the Sinn Fein launch of their Brexit document hed in the Davenport hotel. Picture: Tom Burke

Austin Stack, son of murdered prison officer Brian Stack confronts Gerry Adams,TD, the Sinn Fein leader at the Sinn Fein launch of their Brexit document hed in the Davenport hotel. Picture: Tom Burke

Austin Stack, son of murdered prison officer Brian Stack confronts Gerry Adams,TD, the Sinn Fein leader at the Sinn Fein launch of their Brexit document held in the Davenport hotel. Picture: Tom Burke

This is the moment the son of a prison officer murdered by the IRA confronted Gerry Adams at a Dublin hotel.

Austin Stack told the Sinn Fein leader he would be an absolute disgrace if he didnt give the name of an IRA figure who has information about the 1983 murder to gardai.

He accused Mr Adams of using a personal statement in the Dail yesterday to tell lies about their interactions.

It comes after two Sinn Fein TDs, Dessie Ellis and Martin Ferris, were revealed as two people that Gerry Adams suggested in an email to the Garda Commissioner who might have information about Brian Stacks murder.

Sinn Fein were hosting a press conference relating to Brexit in the Davenport Hotel a short distance from Leinster House on Wednesday morning.

Read More

However, it was dominated by questions from journalists about events in the Dail yesterday.

As it neared an end Mr Stack arrived into the room and called on Mr Adams to give the name of an IRA figure to gardai.

Mr Stack and his brother Oliver have met with this person in question along with Gerry Adams as part of their quest to get justice for their father.

You as a public representative are an absolute disgrace if you dont do that Gerry Adams.

I have no more interest in hearing anything you have to say. You told your lies and untruths in Dail Eireann yesterday.

I am now putting firmly the ball in your court. Take the name of the individual that you know to An Garda Siochana, Mr Stack said before leaving the room.

In response Mr Adams said: I just want to reject absolutely Austins assertion that I have told lies or untruths. I havent. Im quite content to cooperate with the guards.

However, the embattled Sinn Fein president refused to comment any further on the identity of the IRA man or whether he would give his details to gardai.

At the press conference Mr Adams said he had set out in great detail his position on the murder of Brian Stack.

The shooting and the murder of Brian Stack was wrong. It should never have happened. I have every sympathy with his family and I understand their angst, he said.

Asked how well he knows that IRA figure that provided the family with a statement in relation to the killing, the Louth TD replied: Im not going to go beyond what I said at this time. When the two brothers were brought to meet this person, it was by arrangement with them.

They knew beforehand that what they were going to get whatever response there was to their justifiable demand for acknowledgement of: was the IRA involved in their fathers killing?

He added: They didnt have to go. It was their desire to and the rest of is part of the ongoing controversy.

Mr Adams said the situation had been seized upon by Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin for political reasons and accused Fine Gael TD Alan Farrell of abusing Dail privilege by naming Mr Ferris and Mr Ellis.

I didnt spark this course of events. The way this issue was seized upon to make mischief by the leader of Fianna Fail particularly, he said.

Following the confrontation Government Chief Whip Regina Doherty released a statement questioning whether Mr Adams is obstructing the course of justice.

Gerry knows the name of the senior IRA official that he brought the Stack brothers to meet and has an obligation to provide the Gardai with this information. In refusing to do so, the President of Sinn Fein, a democratically elected member of our national parliament, is allowing a man to, quite literally, get away with murder, she said.

It is not up to the IRA, Gerry Adams or Sinn Fein to dictate what the necessary and appropriate punishment for any murder is or should be. Any attempt by an individual, or indeed the leader of another political party, to take the law into their own hands would simply not be tolerated.

We have come a great distance since the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement; Adams assertions that the questions being asked of him and his knowledge of Stacks murder are for nothing more than political point scoring which will put our peace process in jeopardy is wholly untrue.

Rather, the solidarity and peace on this island are at perpetual risk as long as Gerry buries information and conceals names allegedly linked to a murder from the Gardai, Ms Doherty said.

How Sinn Fein leader has found it hard to avoid negative publicity

Claims of withholding rape case information

Expand Close Liam Adams' daughter Aine / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Liam Adams' daughter Aine

In 2000, Gerry Adams found out that his brother Liam had sexually abused his niece Aine (above) over six years but it wasn't until 2007 that the Sinn Fein president engaged with police.

The DPP in Northern Ireland carried out a review as to whether Mr Adams should be charged with withholding information, but eventually decided that he should not be prosecuted.

Arrest in relation to murder

In April 2014, Mr Adams was arrested by detectives investigating the murder of mother-of-10 Jean McConville. The widow was abducted, shot dead and buried at a Co Louth beach in 1972. Mr Adams was questioned for four days before being released without charge. Sinn Fein made accusations of political policing.

Hold the editor at gunpoint 'joke'

At a dinner in New York in November 2014, the Louth TD joked about a gun being placed to the head of the editor of the Irish Independent in the 1920s.

The comments sparked outrage in media circles, especially as two journalists from the Independent group were previously murdered for their work.

Mairia Cahill

Expand Close Mairia Cahill. Photo: PA / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Mairia Cahill. Photo: PA

When Mairia Cahill told her story of rape and being subjected to an IRA kangaroo court to BBC's 'Spotlight' programme in October 2014, Sinn Fein set out to discredit her. Mr Adams denied any kangaroo court was held. Later he claimed the abuse was carried about by her uncle, saying "most abuse happens in families". Ms Cahill pointed out that her alleged abuser, Martin Morris, was not a blood relative.

Paudie McGahon

In 2015 another IRA abuse victim, Paudie McGahon, came forward to tell his story of being put through a kangaroo court. He was heavily critical of Mr Adams's response. Subsequently Mr Adams was anonymously given a list of names including the man alleged to have sexually abused Mr McGahon. The list was passed on to gardai.

The IRA

Last year a report by the PSNI and MI5 concluded that the structures of the PIRA remain in existence and that the Army Council oversees Sinn Fein with an overarching strategy. Members of the PIRA have been directed to support Sinn Fein, including electioneering. Mr Adams called the report "a serious piece of mischief-making". He has always denied being in the IRA.

Twitter

The Sinn Fein leader tweets regularly on his teddy bear's life and his rubber ducks. However, he landed himself at the centre of a racism row after tweeting about the film 'Django Unchained'. He later apologised for his use of the N-word while comparing the struggle against slavery in the US to the plight of Irish nationalists.

Row over White House security

Mr Adams missed out on St Patrick's Day celebrations at the White House earlier this year after being subjected to a lengthy security check. While the White House apologised, Mr Adams sparked further controversy by comparing himself to civil rights campaigner Rosa Parks, saying: "Sinn Fein will not sit at the back of the bus for anyone."
The interior of the Stardust which went on fire on the morning of the St. Valentines Day 1981, killing 45 young people. Photo Independent Newspapers

The Stardust Victims' Committee is pulling out of cooperation with the Government over the failure to open a new inquiry into the 1981 tragedy.

Families of the 48 victims of the Stardust nightclub fire have been pushing for a new inquiry and campaigning over the last 35 years.

For the past two years they have been working with Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald's department, trying to uncover new evidence to form the basis of a fresh inquiry.

But at press conference today at Dublin's Skylon Hotel, the committee said they had received a letter from the minister on November 30.

The letter said the committee should provide "the full range of materials and associated commentary" to deal with two previous reports into the tragedy, which they claim are flawed.

But the committee said it has already provided the minister with a body of evidence and announced it was now pulling out in frustration at the minister's response.

"Over the past two an a half years, there has been nothing productive (on the part of the department)," the committee's legal adviser, Paul O'Sullivan, said.

Antoinette Keegan, a survivor of the fire who lost her sisters Mary (19) and Martina (16), and Eddie Kennedy, who lost Marie (17), were among those who attended the meeting.
The image of Anja and Hope that went viral around the world

A woman who saved the life of a Nigerian child abandoned by his community has been named 2016s most inspiring person beating the likes of Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama.

Anja Ringgren Loven, a Danish care worker, and her husband David rescued the two-year-old boy in February after he was cast out by his family who believed he was a witch-child. The care worker shared photos of Hope who was extremely malnourished and had a number of illnesses, which went viral internationally. The mum also shared photos of Hope eight months after strangers donate more than 1m to the cause to highlight the importance of the work being carried out by international aid agencies.

Anja and her husband were already parents to their own son, but the couple felt compelled to help little Hope who had little chance of survival on his own.

Speaking about the moment she met Hope, Anja said: He was the size of a little baby, my whole body froze.

Expand Close Anja and her husband were already parents to their own son, but the couple felt compelled to help little Hope who had little chance of survival on his own. Photo Credit: Anja Ringgren Loven / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Anja and her husband were already parents to their own son, but the couple felt compelled to help little Hope who had little chance of survival on his own. Photo Credit: Anja Ringgren Loven

I became a mother myself 20 months ago and I was thinking of my own son when I saw the boy. For me it was clear at that moment that I would fight with all my strength for him to survive.

Georg Kindel, editor-in-chief of OOOM who led the jury, said: Anja Ringgren Loven is a beacon of hope and the most inspiring person of the year 2016.

Expand Close The image of Anja and Hope that went viral around the world / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp The image of Anja and Hope that went viral around the world

When she saw the starving child, she acted like a human being and became an inspiration for millions. Her sustained efforts to help the abandoned children of Nigeria gives us hope and encourages us to follow suit.

President Barack Obama was named second on the list, which also features actress Charlize Theron, Pope Francis and Leonardo Di Caprio.
Geoff Thomas near the crux of 'Classical Revival', high above Lough Belshade in the Bluestack Mountains. Photo: Gareth McCormack, from 'The Mountains of Ireland' (Collins Press)

The sun sets over Luggala Mountain, Co Wicklow. Taken from 'The Mountains of Ireland' by Gareth McCormack (The Collins Press, 2016)

Mount Errigal reflected in Dunlewy Lough, Co. Donegal. Taken from 'The Mountains of Ireland' by Gareth McCormack (The Collins Press, 2016)

Ben Creggan reflected at the end of Doo Lough, with the Sheeffry Hills to the left and Mweelrea to the right. From 'The Mountains of Ireland' by Gareth McCormack (The Collins Press, 2016)

A climber high on Howling Ridge on the north-east face of Carrauntoohil, Co. Kerry. From 'The Mountains of Ireland' by Gareth McCormack (The Collins Press, 2016)

Winter sunrise over Brandon Peak, Dingle Peninsula, Co Kerry. Taken from 'The Mountains of Ireland' by Gareth McCormack (The Collins Press, 2016)

Mountain and trail runner Juju Jay near Glendalough, Co. Wicklow. From 'The Mountains of Ireland' by Gareth McCormack (The Collins Press, 2016).

Winter sunset across the Nephin Beg Mountains, taken from the summit of Slieve Carr, Co Mayo. From 'The Mountains of Ireland' by Gareth McCormack (The Collins Press, 2016)

Gareth McCormack pictured during a shoot in the Maumturks. Taken from 'The Mountains of Ireland' by Gareth McCormack (The Collins Press, 2016)

The Glencullin river flowing into Doolough on a winter afternoon, Co. Mayo. From 'The Mountains of Ireland' by Gareth McCormack (The Collins Press, 2016)

Dawn panorama from Stumpa Duloigh, looking towards the MacGillycuddys Reeks. Taken from 'The Mountains of Ireland' by Gareth McCormack (The Collins Press, 2016)

The first rays of dawn warm the summits of Carrauntoohil and Beenkeragh, reflected in the still waters of Lough Gouragh, Co. Kerry. Taken from 'The Mountains of Ireland' by Gareth McCormack (The Collins Press, 2016)

A collection of images nearly two decades in the making shows the breathtaking beauty of Ireland's mountains.

'The Mountains of Ireland' (Collins Press, RRP29.99) was shot over a period of almost 20 years by photographer Gareth McCormack.

"I clocked up more than 50,000 metres of vertical ascent and descent and several thousand kilometres of walking," he explains.

The results are all the more remarkable given that McCormack was forced to delay his project after developing psoriatic arthritis in his knees.

He persisted with the challenge, however, hauling his gear up and down some of the country's wildest summits in the quest for mountain magic.

Already published in world-class outlets including National Geographic, Lonely Planet and Time, McCormack is today based in Sligo.

Expand Close Gareth McCormack pictured during a shoot in the Maumturks. Taken from 'The Mountains of Ireland' by Gareth McCormack (The Collins Press, 2016) / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Gareth McCormack pictured during a shoot in the Maumturks. Taken from 'The Mountains of Ireland' by Gareth McCormack (The Collins Press, 2016)

More recently he worked on the documentaries Secrets of the Irish Landscape (RTE) and 4000-Year-Old Cold Case: The Body in the Bog (BBC4/PBS).

Photos in 'The mountains of Ireland' range from barefooted pilgrims on Croagh Patrick to climbers, wildlife rangers and hill farmers.

On some shoots, he went so far as to bivouac on summits to catch the best light, while one image - of a climber on Lough Belshade - was shot while McCormack hung from an abseil rope 80 metres above the ground.

See collinspress.ie and garethmccormack.com for more.

Read more:
Fancy going off the record with a special castle stay? Connemara's Ballynahinch Castle has just the ticket.

A new 'Vinyl Package' at the four-star castle lets guests be their own DJ, with a personal turntable and choice of records during their stay.

And the price? One night's B&B with a room service dinner is available from 165pp, with the additional treat of a drink to match your music.

"Maybe a smooth whiskey on the rocks if Sinatra is the record youve chosen, a glass of fine Italian red if you are listening to Pavarotti, or an elegant flute of Champagne if your selection is a legendary lady of song like Ella Fitzgerald, Shirley Bassey or even Doris Day!" So croon the castle's musical curators.

Expand Close Ballynahinch Castle: Vinyl package / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Ballynahinch Castle: Vinyl package

The package celebrates the hotel's love of the arts, it says, evidenced in everything from its paintings and prints to a diverse book collection.

Christmas pressie, anyone?

Call 095 31006 or see ballynahinch-castle.com for more.

Read more:
The operators of the gas transportation system in Ukraine and Poland, Uktransgaz and Gaz-System S.A., have signed an agreement that sets down the terms for cooperating in the design and construction of a gas interconnection, Ukrtransgaz has reported.

The planned Poland-Ukraine gas interconnector includes the construction of a new gas pipeline between the Hermanowice gas node on the Polish side and Bilche Volytsia on the Ukrainian side. The pipeline will have capacity for up to 5 billion cubic meters (bcm) a year in 2020, when the upgrading of the gas transportation system in Poland is completed.

The agreement sets out the rules for cooperation in the design phase and, depending on the investment decision, the future implementation phase. It provides for carrying out Open Season procedures for substantiating the feasibility of the gas transportation system expansion, primarily to confirm actual market interest. Based on the results of those procedures, the companies will make a final investment decision, given clearance from national regulators and in accordance with the Polish and Ukrainian law.

The interconnector will be vital for ensuring gas transportation from the planned Northern Gate gas pipeline (the Norwegian corridor and the LNG terminal) to Eastern Europe. The project will provide significant diversification of gas supplies to Ukraine (new sources of gas, including LNG) and integrate regional gas markets.

"Integration of the Polish and Ukrainian gas transportation systems is part of the North-South Gas Corridor, which will make it possible to ship gas from the LNG terminal in Swinoujscie through the countries of Central and Eastern Europe using cross-border interconnections. The overall goal is creation of flexible transportation infrastructure in Central and Eastern Europe that will make it possible to unite Western gas markets and the global LNG market to markets in Central and Eastern Europe," the statement says.

The Energy Community on October 14, 2016 recommended that the interconnection project be given EU Project of Mutual Interest (PMI) status.

Ukrtransgaz and Gaz-System signed an agreement on cooperation in preparing the feasibility study for the project on December 17, 2014. That agreement calls for linking Ukraine's gas transportation system to Europe via Poland and also provision of European gas storage services by Ukraine, for subsequent supply to EU consumers.

The feasibility study calls for starting construction of the 99.3-kilometer pipeline in 2017.

The interconnection will initially have capacity for 5 bcm a year, rising to 8 bcm a year in a potential second stage.
Premium

John Downing Opinion New British prime minister Rishi Sunaks succession proves an important milestone in British political inclusivity

There is an old saying in British politics that goes: The right looks for converts while the left seeks out traitors. It comes to mind when one reflects upon the election of Rishi Sunak as the UKs first non-white prime minister in a party traditionally seen as most opposed to mass immigration and the dilution of national identity via multiculturalism.
We are a delinquent state when it comes to tackling climate change. Minister Denis Naughten denies the accusation and says in some areas we are still leading the way. It is true, we now have a lot of renewable power on our electricity grid and are good at making it work. We have some top-class clean energy companies and a lot of new industries are relatively efficient in the way they use natural resources. In the Dail we have initiated a ban on fracking for oil and gas, which we might even wear as a badge of honour abroad.

But any rational analysis of the latest climate statistics confirm that we are rightly in the dock.

We will be one of only two countries in Europe not to meet our 2020 emission reductions targets. We are going to fall short by a country mile and our emissions are once again on the rise.

All Taoiseach Enda Kenny and the Communications and Climate Action Minister Mr Naughten say in response is that our targets were too high in the first place. Such defeatism tends to turn into a disappointing reality.

The Government is now making matters worse by scaling back our ambition for 2030 and beyond. They say we will decarbonise our economy by 2100 when the scientists insist we have to do it in half that time and smarter economies are already gaining by going for the more ambitious goal.

Laura Burke (pictured), of the Environmental Protection Agency, got it right when she said last week "we are all talk and no action" and that we risk missing out on the economic opportunity this transition could bring. That perspective was shared by business leaders at a 'Sustainable Nation' summit in Dublin last month. There was agreement that everything was in place for investment to take off, except for that vital ingredient; 'real political leadership'.

The Government will launch its new National Climate Mitigation Plan this week. It needs to be big and bold if we are to get ourselves back on a sustainable track as a nation. The State must to do some of the heavy lifting rather than putting all the responsibility on citizens to change our ways.

I can think of six big projects which we could put straight into action and which would do our country, as well as the climate, a power of good.

1. Continue the renewable revolution by switching on offshore wind and rooftop solar power, using new community ownership methods. The price of both technologies is falling steadily so we can get cleaner and cheaper power at the same time.

2. Introduce a 10-year plan to replace every one of the one million oil-fired central heating systems in the country with renewable heating systems and deep retrofits of better home insulation.

3. Shift 20pc of the transport budget to invest in the infrastructure for walking and cycling and put the majority of transport funding into buying clean buses and expanding rail networks and services. These are the short and long-term solutions to the growing traffic gridlock that Minister Shane Ross seems happy to ignore.

4. Introduce a new continuous cover system of forestry and make the Origin Green brand a reality by targeting actual reductions in agriculture emissions. Teagasc has shown how this can be done and be more profitable for the farmer.

5. Remove the issue of range anxiety for new owners of electric vehicles by mandating the installation of charging points in every car park, petrol station and public building in the country.

6. Introduce a smart meter in every home, allowing customers to sell power back to the grid and automatically reduce consumption when the cost of electricity is high. In this way households can save money and help balance our variable power supply.

Of course there are also things we have to stop doing, like burning any coal and peat or investing in oil companies, but this climate transition is not a hardship package. We have every reason to benefit by getting it right at home and then selling that expertise to the rest of the world.

Even if Donald Trump tries to block the Paris Climate Agreement it is clear this new economy is coming either sooner or later. We need to do it quickly because our environment and future security is in desperate peril, but we also need to do it now because it delivers a better economic model.

The European Investment Bank is ready to fund the sort of projects set out above. The technology is becoming mainstream and we have real expertise in the area. The only thing we lack is political conviction. If we fail to act we will face a conviction of a different sort. We will be sentenced as true Climate delinquents who ignored every warning sign and economic laggards who missed out on the green revolution that was already on the way.
Eoghan McDermott at the launch of the Heineken Star Series at The Ivy, Parliament Street. Picture Anthony Woods

Eoghan McDermott at the opening of The Amber Rooms, Leesons Streets new VIP venue at The Stone Leaf. Picture: Patrick OLeary

Eoghan McDermott has opened up about his relationship with girlfriend Aoife Melia, saying they are both "new people" after spending seven years apart.

The 2FM presenter told Independent.ie that the pair have a "dual synergy" since reuniting this year.

"Its been really lovely. Its kind of this dual synergy thing going on where I feel like shes a new person and visa versa and were getting to know each other."

The couple dated while in college, but went their separate ways when Aoife, a doctor, moved away for seven years, during five of which Eoghan lived in London.

Expand Close Eoghan McDermott at the opening of The Amber Rooms, Leesons Streets new VIP venue at The Stone Leaf. Picture: Patrick OLeary / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Eoghan McDermott at the opening of The Amber Rooms, Leesons Streets new VIP venue at The Stone Leaf. Picture: Patrick OLeary

"We went out years and years ago in UCD and she moved away for seven years and I had been in London for five of those seven years and so its just one of those random, chance happenings. We have all of this history so its lovely," said the 33-year-old.

Although the new couple won't be spending Christmas together due to work commitments, Eoghan said they will celebrate the new year with one another.

"Aoifes a doctor, so she pulled the short straw and is working Christmas Day," he said.

"Her family is in Galway so shell finish her shift and head home to Galway, so Ill see her for an hour hopefully. Shes working Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so well do New Year's Eve."

New Year's Eve will be mixed with work and pleasure as Eoghan is a Three Music Ambassador and will be celebrating at the 3 Countdown Concert as part of the New Year Festival at Stephen's Green.

The RTE star announced the new relationship in a sweet post on Instagram, saying they were "going for round two."

Video of the Day

"Met this firecracker 10 years ago! We've gone off & lived different lives in different countries, grown into different people, reconnected recently and are now going for round two - 7 years later. Life is so brilliantly random sometimes," he captioned the pic.

Eoghan split with model Jo Archbold in April after two years together.

"We were together for two years, and I guess with anyone you go into it in good faith, and its either going to be the relationship or its not  and it wasnt," he said.
A man accused of raping a drunk student had acted out a rape fantasy similar to that of role-play scenarios he practised while training as a student counsellor, a court heard.

Alistair Cooke, a 22-year-old student at Durham University has denied raping a fellow student after a house party in June last year, but admitted he felt shady about what had happened between them.

The third-year geography student, from Perranarworthal, Cornwall, is said to have followed the woman home after she left the party feeling worse for wear.

He found her sleeping on a couch before taking her to bed, Durham Crown Court was told.

The alleged rape followed the same story as the one Mr Cooke had invented for his training as a Nightline student support volunteer, the jury heard, including the same emotional language he later used following the real-life incident.

Giving evidence in court, the alleged victim spoke of how she had invited Mr Cooke to a party, saying she had felt sorry for him as he seemed to be depressed.

The student said she went home feeling very, very, very drunk and woke up the following day confused to find Mr Cooke naked in bed with her.

She had left the party unable to speak coherently, a friend said, and fell asleep on a sofa in her shared student house.

Mr Cooke later let himself into the house, before moving her to the bedroom and allegedly raping her three times.

Two days later, she texted him asking for an explanation, saying: You hurt me.

As part of a series of text messages which followed, he told her: At the time I definitely was not in a clear state of mind but never felt I got any signals (from) you that it was wrong.

Now I feel shady and more in the grey and that makes me worried and a bit sick.

Another student told the court that these were the same words he had used when acting out role plays in his Nightline counselling training.

The witness said: Instead of pretending he had been raped he would talk about how he had followed somebody home, that they had sex and that she woke up in the morning and was weird, that her mates were angry at him and now he was feeling a bit sick.

Prosecutor Shaun Dodds told the jury the victim was too drunk to have consented to sex.

He said: During the evening the woman drank rum punch and gin and tonic and appeared very drunk. She went home upset and couldnt remember leaving the party.

She said that whatever happened in that room, it was without her consent.

The trial continues.
Britain's House of Commons voted yesterday to back Prime Minister Theresa May's March 31 deadline to start the UK's formal exit from the EU, after the government agreed to publish details of its negotiating plan.

Ministers have been reluctant to reveal much about their strategy or goals, saying that would weaken their hand in negotiations with the EU.

Fearing defeat through an opposition motion calling for ministers to disclose more details before the talks start, the government agreed to publish a plan. It also proposed a concession of its own by amending the motion to state parliament's support for triggering EU exit talks by March 31.

The motion passed by a vote of 448 to 75 after the Labour Party said it would accept the amendment.

Labour Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said his party was not seeking to block Brexit but to bring "clarity, scrutiny and accountability" to the process.

Brexit secretary David Davis promised the government would set out "strategic plans", but said it would not reveal anything that could "jeopardize our negotiating position".

The vote marked the first major success in efforts by pro-EU lawmakers - including those in Conservative ranks - to influence the course of Brexit.

Some 48pc of electors voted to stay in the bloc, and many want to avoid a 'hard Brexit' in which the country leaves the EU single market in goods and services.

Conservative lawmaker Anna Soubry implored the government to "include that 48pc" in plans for leaving the EU.

Both the government and the opposition said the motion did not affect a case at the Supreme Court over whether the government has the authority to start negotiations without legislation in parliament. Mrs May's government is appealing a lower court's ruling that lawmakers must get a say before Article 50 can be invoked.

The hearing is due to end today, with the judges giving their ruling next month.
Kenneth Kristensen Berth said 'warning shots' should be fired because it is 'essential' to protect the EU's territorial borders

A Danish politician has said he regrets saying migrants sailing to Europe should "be fired at" if they cross the continent's "territorial waters".

He clarified his remarks to say "warning shots" should be fired instead.

Kenneth Kristensen Berth is a member of the anti-immigration and populist Danish People's Party, the country's number two party and a government ally.

Mr Kristensen Berth, EU affairs spokesman for the party, said his initial comments "can be interpreted in a way that hasn't been my intention".

But he said that "warning shots" should be fired because it is "essential" to protect the European Union's territorial borders.

Opposition politicians and a senior member of Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen's Liberal Party condemned Mr Kristensen Berth for his initial remarks.

AP
Her character in the US comedy show 'Modern Family' is familiar with negotiating domestic crises and rows over children.

And Sofia Vergara, having been locked in a year-long battle over custody of her fertilised eggs, is herself no stranger to family drama. But the legal saga took an extraordinary turn this week as it emerged that the actress is now being sued by her frozen embryos for the right to life.

Emma and Isabella, the names given to the embryos by Vergara's ex-partner Nick Loeb, are named as plaintiffs in a lawsuit which claims that they have a right to live, access to a trust fund and asks that they be raised by Mr Loeb.

The potentially landmark case has been filed in Louisiana because the state legally recognises an in vitro fertilised egg as a "juridical person" until it is implanted in the womb.

Vergara (44), the world's most highly paid television actress, was in a relationship with Mr Loeb, a 41-year-old New York businessman, for four years.

The couple underwent IVF in 2013 and Vergara's fertilised eggs have since been kept frozen in a fertility clinic in Beverly Hills.

The couple separated in May 2014 and a year later Mr Loeb sued Vergara for custody of the embryos, using pseudonyms that were later leaked.

The twist in the legal battle came on Tuesday when the new right-to-life lawsuit, which also lists James Carbonnet as the embryos' "trustee", was filed.

Vergara, who earns $1m an episode for 'Modern Family' and is now married to 'True Blood' actor Joe Manganiello, has strongly argued against Mr Loeb's wishes.

"A child needs a mother and a loving relationship with parents who don't hate each other," the Colombian-born actress has said previously. "I wouldn't want to bring kids to the world where it's already set against them. It would be so selfish."

The saga has provoked debate in America about when life starts, who should have the power to end it, and whether men should have the same rights as women over frozen embryos.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Pavlo Klimkin in Brussels (Belgium) has expressed concern about the increasing violence in Donbas and reaffirmed U.S. support for Ukraine.

Secretary Kerry attended the second day of the NATO foreign ministerial session, which focused on Ukraine on Thursday in Brussels, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv reported.

"The Secretary also met with Ukraines Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, underscoring the United States continuing support for Ukraine, and expressed concern about recent increase in violence in eastern Ukraine due to ongoing Russian separatist attacks," the report reads.

The Secretary and the Foreign Minister Klimkin agreed on the need to accelerate implementation of the Minsk agreements as the best way to bring peace to eastern Ukraine, te Embassy said.

Kerry also urged continued progress on reforms.
Donald Trump plans to nominate retired Marine General John Kelly to lead the department of homeland security in the US, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters, making him the third general sought for a high-level job in the new administration.

Gen Kelly (66) is the former head of the US military's Southern Command. The source said Mr Trump was expected to name Gen Kelly but did not elaborate.

Mr Trump, who has no military experience, also plans to nominate a retired general, James Mattis, to lead the department of defence and picked a retired lieutenant general, Michael Flynn, to be his national security adviser.

Gen Kelly, who retired in January 2016, differed with President Barack Obama on key issues and has warned of vulnerabilities along the United States' southern border with Mexico.

Although Gen Kelly's experience from a 45-year military career may give him insight into overseas threats like drug trafficking or Islamist extremism, he would face new challenges at an agency that oversees everything from border security to protecting against cyber threats and responding to domestic crises.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5 was reported off the coast of Northern California on Thursday but there were no immediate reports of damage in the nearest town, officials said.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5 was reported off the coast of Northern California on Thursday but there were no immediate reports of damage in the nearest town, officials said.

The quake was centered about 102 miles (165 kilometers) in the Pacific Ocean west of Ferndale, California, at a depth of 6.2 miles (10 km), the U.S. Geological Survey said.

There was no tsunami warning, advisory or threat in effect following the earthquake, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center of the National Weather Service said on its website.

In Ferndale, which has a population of about 1,300 people, Mayor Don Hindley said in a phone interview that he had not heard of any damage from the quake. He said he felt the temblor for about 15 seconds.

"It wasn't that bad at all," Hindley said.

In the San Francisco Bay area, about 250 miles (402 km) south of Ferndale, the Bay Area Rapid Transit agency said on Twitter it was running its system with a 10-minute delay and with trains traveling at reduced speeds due to the quake. The move was a standard precaution by BART.

The quake was first reported with a 6.9 magnitude but downgraded to 6.5.

Some social media users said they felt the tremor in San Francisco, about 260 miles (418.43 km) south.

"That was a big one," wrote Twitter user Antonis Papatsaras from the Bay Area city.

"Felt 20 seconds of very light shaking," tweeted another San Francisco resident, Lila LaHodd.
John Glenn, the first US astronaut to orbit the Earth and who later had a long career in the US Senate, has died aged 95.

The last survivor of the original Mercury 7 astronauts died at the James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, where he had been treated for more than a week.

Glenn was the third US astronaut in space and the first of them to get into orbit. He circled the Earth three times in 1962.

The Soviet Union leaped ahead in space exploration by putting the Sputnik 1 satellite in orbit in 1957, and then launched the first man in space, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, but when Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth, he was immediately propelled to national hero status.

Glenn then spent 24 years as a Democrat from Ohio in the Senate - and made a failed run for president in 1984.

It was his long political career which enabled him to return to space in the shuttle Discovery aged 77 in 1998, a cosmic victory lap that he relished and turned into a teachable moment about growing old.

He got to move around aboard the shuttle for far longer - nine days compared with just under five hours in 1962 - as well as sleep and experiment with bubbles in weightlessness. He holds the record for the oldest person in space.

He is survived by his wife Anna, whom he married in 1943 after the pair met as toddlers. He bought her a diamond engagement ring in 1942 for 125 US dollars and it was never replaced.

They had two children, Carolyn and John David.

Writing in 2012, he said: "I've been very fortunate to have a lot of great experiences in my life and I'm thankful for them."

As tributes poured in to Glenn, many mentioned the phrase that first sent him into orbit: "Godspeed, John Glenn."

President Barack Obama said: "When John Glenn blasted off from Cape Canaveral atop an Atlas rocket in 1962, he lifted the hopes of a nation. And when his Friendship 7 spacecraft splashed down a few hours later, the first American to orbit the Earth reminded us that with courage and a spirit of discovery, there's no limit to the heights we can reach together.

"The last of America's first astronauts has left us, but propelled by their example we know that our future here on Earth compels us to keep reaching for the heavens. On behalf of a grateful nation, Godspeed, John Glenn."

President-elect Donald Trump tweeted: "Today we lost a great pioneer of air and space in John Glenn. He was a hero and inspired generations of future explorers. He will be missed."

House Speaker Paul Ryan said: "May his memory live on every time we look up at the stars," while Nasa administrator Charles Bolden added: "His missions have helped make possible everything our space programme has since achieved and the human missions to an asteroid and Mars that we are striving toward now."
President Obama has used his final address on global terror to defend his approach to the fight, calling for coalition-building to continue battlefield successes while rejecting the use of torture.

Highlighting the lines drawn during his eight years as commander in chief, Mr Obama did not mention Donald Trump by name, but he clearly addressed his successor.

"Rather than offer false promises that we can eliminate terrorism by dropping more bombs or deploying more and more troops or fencing ourselves off from the rest of the world, we have to take a long view of the terrorist threat," Mr Obama said. "We have to pursue a smart strategy that can be sustained."

Mr Obama claimed a clear break from the strategy under former president George W Bush, highlighting the withdrawal of most US troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, from 180,000 to about 15,000 today. That number also includes advisors in Syria.

"Instead of pushing all of the burden onto American ground troops, instead of trying to mount invasions wherever terrorists appear, we've built a network of partners," he said.

Mr Obama also defended his approach to fighting Isil, much of it centred around an intense air strike campaign directed from MacDill Air Force Base in Florida. The installation, where the president gave his speech, houses the headquarters of US Special Operations Command and CENTCOM, the US military's command for operations stretching from the Gulf to Central Asia.

The jihadist group that wants to establish a "caliphate" straddling the two countries had lost "more than half" its territory, Mr Obama said.

"Isil has lost control of major population centres. Its morale is plummeting. Its recruitment is drying up. Its commanders and external plotters are being taken out, and local populations are turning against it," he said.

Mr Obama, who authorised the strike to take out al-Qa'ida leader Osama bin Laden, said that the group was now "a shadow of its former self".

Mr Obama stressed that the fight against terror should not come at the expense of civil rights and American democratic traditions.

"We need the wisdom to see that upholding our values and adhering to the rule of law is not a weakness. In the long term, it is our greatest strength," he said.

Mr Trump, who has pledged to upend his predecessor's entire agenda including foreign and security policy, takes over in just over six weeks.

He has been vague at best about how he plans to defeat Isil, but on the campaign trail he insisted America must be "unpredictable" in order to win.

Mr Obama touched on issues like torture that provoked controversy during Mr Trump's White House run. The president banned extreme CIA interrogation techniques used on terror detainees when he took office.

"We prohibited torture everywhere at all times and that includes tactics like waterboarding," he said. "At no time has anybody who has worked with me told me that doing so has cost us good intelligence."

Mr Trump has pledged to restore waterboarding and permit "far, far worse".
Rescuers survey the damage after an earthquake in Ulhee Glee, Aceh province (AP)

Humanitarian organisations have descended on Indonesia's Aceh province as officials raced to assess the full extent of the damage from an earthquake that killed more than 100 people.

Volunteers and nearly 1,500 rescue personnel concentrated their search on the hard-hit town of Meureudu in Pidie Jaya district, near the epicentre of the magnitude 6.5 quake that hit before dawn on Wednesday.

But the small number of heavy excavators on the scene meant progress was slow.

Humanitarian assessment teams fanned out to other areas of the district.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the death toll had risen to 102 and warned it could increase.

Search teams were using devices that detect mobile phone signals within a 100-metre radius to help guide their efforts as they scoured the rubble.

The disaster agency said more than 750 people were injured.

Those killed included very young children and the elderly.

Mohammad Jafar, 60, said his daughter, granddaughter and grandson died in the quake but he was resigned to it as "God's will".

He was getting ready for morning prayers when the earthquake hit.

He said he and his wife managed to push their way out through the debris.

Another man said he found his nine-year-old daughter alive beneath a broken wall at his neighbour's house.

Thousands of people are homeless or afraid to return to their houses.

Officials in Aceh said more than 8,000 people spent Wednesday night in shelters in Pidie Jaya district alone.

Killer quakes occur regularly in the region, where many live with the terrifying memory of a giant December 26 2004 earthquake that struck off Sumatra.

The magnitude-9.1 quake triggered a devastating tsunami that killed more than 100,000 Acehnese.

Iskandar, a Disaster Mitigation Agency official in Aceh, said staple foods for women and babies are most urgently needed.

He said medicines are sufficient for the time being because assistance is coming from the army, police, state-run companies and local governments.

"What's badly needed now are staple foods such as rice, cooking oil, salted fish and other foods," said Iskandar.

He said people had complained about a lack of clean water, but the problem has been tackled and the electricity supply is returning to normal in many areas.

Nugroho, at a news conference in Jakarta, listed as urgent food and clothing, specialist doctors for victims suffering fractures, medical equipment, temporary shelters and heavy excavation equipment.

The Indonesian government announced 50 tons of urgent aid for Aceh, including 10 generators, tents, folding beds, baby supplies and body bags.

"Every aid and civil society organisation is piling into the area with as many boxes of rice, instant noodles, blankets and other aid as they can shift," said Paul Dillon, a spokesman for the International Organisation for Migration, which has an assessment team in northern Aceh.

It will take at least two more days before there is a fuller picture of how many people are displaced and the relief effort required, he said.

On Twitter, the IOM said one mosque was sheltering 2,000 displaced women and children.

The military is setting up an emergency field hospital and sending two dozen doctors, and the Health Ministry is sending a medical team and medicines.

The Red Cross sent aid such as water trucks on Wednesday and humanitarian group CARE is leading an assessment team of four international aid groups to avoid duplication of efforts.

Aid groups and others are also appealing for donations.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake was centred about 19 kilometres (12 miles) south east of Sigli, a town near the northern tip of Sumatra, at a depth of 17 kilometres (11 miles). It did not generate a tsunami. Aftershocks have rattled the area.

The world's largest archipelago, Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

The 2004 quake and tsunami killed a total of 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Aceh.

Scores of rescuers and giant excavators worked away at the debris of a market in Meureudu, the hard-hit town, where many shop houses collapsed.

One shop owner, Hajj Yusri Abdullah, did not hold out much hope of finding survivors.

He said nearly two dozen bodies were pulled from the market debris the day before.

They included a group of eight consisting of a newlywed couple and family members holding an ornate celebration known as Antar Dara Baro.

The national disaster agency said nearly 600 buildings were severely damaged or destroyed in the districts of Pidie Jaya, Pidie and Bireun.

Most were shop houses or dwellings but mosques, a hospital, boarding schools and a shopping centre also sustained damage.

Roads also cracked and power poles toppled over.

AP
Agency chief Hans-Georg Maassen said 'automated opinion forming' with so-called bots could be used to spread fake news on social media

Russia is trying to destabilise German society with propaganda and cyber attacks ahead of the country's general election, Germany's domestic intelligence agency said.

The warning was the bluntest public claim yet from Germany's BfV agency about Moscow's alleged campaign of disinformation and hacking targeting Europe's biggest economy.

"There is growing evidence of attempts to influence the federal election next year," said the BfV's head, Hans-Georg Maassen, citing "increasingly aggressive cyber espionage" against political entities in Germany.

Russia has been blamed for the hacking and release of Democratic National Committee emails before the US presidential election.

But Moscow has strongly denied involvement in orchestrating cyber attacks on foreign soil and hit back with allegations of its own against the West.

Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian president Vladimir Putin, said last month: "Believe me, we're expecting cyber attacks during election campaigns, every election campaign in Russia.

"These cyber attacks also happen, and believe me, there are also people behind those tens of thousands of cyber attacks who work from Germany, just like other European countries."

Mr Maassen, the BfV chief, expressed particular concern that voters' increasing use of social media could make them more vulnerable to disinformation.

"We are worried that echo chambers are being created there," he said, adding that "automated opinion-forming" with bots could be used to spread fake news.

Media outlets controlled by the Russian government and pro-Russian blogs in Germany regularly report on crimes committed by migrants in Germany, linking the incidents to Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to allow hundreds of thousands of refugees into the country last year.

German politicians have been the targets of recent hacking attacks, which Mr Maassen said could have been attempts to gather information that could be used to discredit them.

"We expect a further increase in cyber attacks in the run-up to the elections," he said.

Germany has not yet set a date for its national election in 2017, but it is expected to be in September.

AP
A wildfire destroyed or damaged more than 1,700 buildings at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountains (AP)

Authorities have charged two juveniles over an east Tennessee wildfire that killed 14 people and destroyed or damaged more than 1,700 buildings in a famous tourism spot at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountains.

Officials offered few specifics about how they think the two started a fire that levelled buildings into charred scraps, carving a deadly path through the Gatlinburg area.

People scrambled to flee on foot or drive out of the inferno that often cloaked them from all sides, shooting hot embers through the winds. Some spent days hoping for good news about missing loved ones.

The juveniles face aggravated arson charges over the fire in the Chimney Tops area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park on November 23.

That fire grew amid drought conditions and ultimately rode winds exceeding 87mph into the Gatlinburg area early last week. Authorities have not yet put a figure on the damage caused.

The two are being held in Sevier County juvenile detention centre.

"Our promise is that we will do every effort to help bring closure to those who have lost so much," said Tennessee Bureau of Investigation director Mark Gwyn.

The juveniles are from Tennessee, but not Sevier County, where the fires spread. Officials said state law prevents therm releasing more information.

The investigation is continuing and more charges could come. It is also possible that the case could be transferred to an adult criminal court, said local district attorney general James Dunn.

The accused are entitled to a detention hearing within 72 hours in which a juvenile court judge will decide to hold them without bond, hold them with bond, or release them, Mr Dunn said.

AP
SALISBURY- A $20,000 reward is offered to anyone with information that will lead to the arrest of the person who shot and killed Ayanna Allen.

Our news partner WSOC-TV reported that the Salisbury Police Department announced this award after someone shot into a Harrel Street home at 4:20 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 4. A bullet hit the 7-year-old as she was sleeping and she passed away at the home. Her 56-year-old grandmother, Shirley Robinson, was also shot in the leg.

During a recent news conference, city leaders and police announced they are partnering with the Rowan County Sheriffs Office in response to all of the recent violence in Salisbury, WSOC-TV reported. Authorities said the $20,000 reward is one of the highest ever and they hope it leads to an arrest.

WSOC-TV also reported that investigators have confirmed they believe Ayannas murder and the shooting death of Sharod Mathis, which occurred outside Firewater Bar and Lounge that same day, are connected.

A movement in the community, #JusticeForAyanna, has been started to try to find the person who killed her.
Thala Ajith who left Bulgaria to Chennai on Tuesday to pay his last homage to the departed CM J.Jayalalitha has now started to Bulgaria to continue with the shooting of 'AK 57' directed by Siva.

After reaching Chennai on Wednesday early morning around 4 AM, Ajith was received by wife Shalini and brother in law Richard. Form there Ajith directly went to the Anna Square, were Jayalalitha was laid to rest and paid his last respects. After that he came to know about the demise of veteran actor and political critic Cho Ramaswamy in Apollo Hospitals. He directly went their. He was one of the earliest visitors. He conveyed his condolences to Cho's family members before leaving the place.

Ajith stayed in Chennai for around 16 hours and boarded the flight to Bulgaria by Wednesday evening.

It is to be noted that the film's shooting is underway in Bulgaria since last month. This will be a lengthy schedule that will go until next month. The film is set to release in April 2017.
Single-digit reduction in NBS rates The revised NBS rates for ensuing Rabi season have been announced by the Government of India. New rates have not seen much steeper cuts as was widely anticipated; therefore, positive for complex (NPKs) fertilizer companies. This brings much comfort to the domestic complex fertilizer companies as a steeper cut would have entailed higher inventory losses. 03 Nov 2022 11:10 AM

October 2022 auto sales: PV and CV segments continue to impress Underlying demand trend has stayed strong for PV and CV segments. Analysts at IIFL Securities estimate October 2022 wholesale dispatches in PV, MHCV and LCV segments to have grown 30%, 24% and 14% YoY, respectively. They expect the above segments to clock 25-35% volume growth in FY23. 02 Nov 2022 11:43 AM

Initial signs of moderation in API cost pressures: IIFL Securities High raw-material inflation, elevated freight expenses, and normalization in marketing spends have impacted margins of Indian pharma players over the past 12 months. However, some of these API/RM cost pressures have started abating in Q3CY22. Cipla, Sun, JB Pharma and Torrent remain IIFL Securities top-picks in the pharma sector owing to lowest risk to IIFL Securities margin and earnings estimates for these companies. 01 Nov 2022 10:53 AM
Grab your light saber, hop inside your Tardis and make your way to Blerd Club Indy. The new club aims to gives Black nerds a place to safely and openly geek out about their fandoms.

Raymond Baxter, the director of Indiana Black Expos Youth Media Institute, is the visionary behind Blerd Club Indy. He feels that this club is a great first step toward getting America to notice the diversity inside the Black community.

Black people of the 21st century are not a monolith, Baxter said. I wanted to do something that appeals to a niche audience. Blerd is the combination of Black and nerd to create our own culture inside of nerdom and fandom. When I found that culture, I gravitated toward it.

Baxter said he thinks its important for blerds to have a place where they feel safe, because sometimes there is hostility toward them in the dominant nerd culture.

When you are Black and you want to talk about this stuff, you are met with resistance from white nerds. They are like, What are you doing here? The perception is that we are all cool and we can dance and that we cannot be isolated or awkward. They are shocked that we read books and watch television programs that are not about gangsters and hip-hop. We can like everything; we are not different, said Baxter.

The first meeting of Blerd Club Indy will be on Thursday, Dec. 15, at 5 p.m. at the Indiana Black Expo office. This event is open to all ages. After meeting up for food and trivia, the group will travel to the IMAX Theater in downtown Indy for an early screening of Rogue One, the newest film in the Star Wars franchise. Tickets can be purchased on Eventbrite for $16 using the code YMIfcn2016. Search Rogue One Blerd Club Indy on Facebook for a direct link to the Eventbrite listing.

Baxter said he hopes the Blerd club will inspire Black businesses and organizations to create more programs and content for Black nerds.

This first event is just our coming out party. The goal of these events is to show that there are people here who want this type of programming. Blerd Club Indy is a way to show Indy that we exist. I want a place to bring in Black geeks and cosplayers in a Black space. People will see how dynamic and passionate Blerds are.

Baxter said people who may not consider themselves Blerds should come out to experience something new.

We have 30 people committed to attending. Its OK to support groups like this openly. Its OK to be a nerd; no one will beat us up. I really want Black people to come out for the cause.

The Indiana Black Expo and Blerd Club Indy, in partnership with IMAX Theater, is sponsoring an early-bird viewing of Rogue One. This event is for dedicated fans of the Star Wars franchise who want to experience it before the masses. Blerd Club Indys goal is to provide a place for Black nerds to come together, share together and be themselves together.

Special Screening of Rogue One with Blerd Club Indy

Thursday, Dec. 15, 2016.

59:30 p.m.

Meet at Indiana Black Expo headquarters

3145 N. Meridian St., #100, Indianapolis, IN 46208

Use code YMIfcn2016 to purchase tickets on Eventbrite.
Indianapolis is a curious city, a little bit country and a little bit urban. Evermore growing as an attractive locale for international travelers and settlers alike. Known across the globe for its world-class restaurants, hotels and sites, theres something intriguing about this big little city.

While it is my dream to breathe in the air of every country or at least every continent of the world, no matter how smog-ridden, at times it is just not financially possible to jet set at a moments notice. Dont fret; theres an abundance to explore right here in Indy. In 36 hours, you can calm that nagging wanderlust without leaving the city.

Curious to taste a little something south of the border? Make your way to West Michigan Street to Super Tortas Estilo Barrio for classic Mexican sandwich consumption. Its not fancy, but it is clean, quiet and quick. The smells alone will compel your senses to a mouth-watering state of compulsion. After a bite, salsa your way to Chispas Discotheque for a little Calypso, Merengue and Reggaeton.

I love the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding  it reminds me a lot of My Big Fat Black Family Gatherings where, as the Greeks would say, everything turns into a whores fencepost. Short of marrying an Adonis and having his mother stuff me with yummy treats, I frequent the Saffron Cafe on Fort Wayne Avenue or Ali Babas on Market Street.

Saffron Cafe is a special experience that transports you to Morocco. Chef Sentissi cradles each dish with love, and they arrive on your table in an aromatic cloud of fresh seasonings. With vegetarian-friendly dishes, I submit myself to the trio of Harrira, couscous and a splash of Atay (green tea).

Ali Babas is not nearly as fancy or expensive, but what it lacks in luster it makes up for with a traditional lounge area and Hookah. Its a great place for a secluded snack or lunch break.

While youre downtown, take an Uber or a bike share over to the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art. Often hosting an exhibition au courant in nature, its a beautifully sculpted edifice that bears a delicate history and presence. Partake in the open galleries and maybe engage in discourse about the legacy of American Indians.

Next, follow the Indianapolis Cultural Trail to Kuaba Art Gallery, an international platform for world-class contemporary African art.

Need some heat? Hankering for a Caribbean cruise? Head east on Washington Street to Cafe Carib. Nestled in the Irvington neighborhood, it is oh so delicious. By now, youre still sweating and feeling the Caribbean flare, so its time to move those hips to the pulse of Reggae at the Casba Night Club. In the basement under Usual Suspects in Broad Ripple lies the Caribbean cavern. Enter at your own risk, as you will be asked to dance post haste, so grab a Red Stripe and get your groove on.

Im fond of any place that advocates for me to eat with my hands, so Abyssinia is my inner childs oasis. Located in the International Marketplace area on West 38th Street, Abyssinia hosts traditional Ethiopian cuisine. After a chat with the owner about the similarities and differences between Ethiopian Injera bread and Caribbean-style Roti bread, I sit with my first-round plate, and away I go. Im sure you will find it delightfully filling; lean back and allow the exotic spiced curries to take over your body.

One of my top three favorite restaurants in Indianapolis is Jiallos. It just reopened its doors in a new location on West 38th Street. It serves up the best African cuisine around. Their sizzling sweet fried plantains make my knees melt.

Specializing in busting guts and zippers, Jiallos single plates are enough to feed two, possibly three. The meals are hefty and beyond enticing. It can be difficult to stop ones self from over indulging. Remember, they offer carryout containers. Control yourself!

Nestled on East 38th Street is Eat to Live Cafe, next to Muhammad Mosque. Coming from the east or the west, you will know youre headed in the right direction and getting close when you see young men at the intersections selling oils and newspapers. The oils are delightful, and without a doubt you will be moved to smile as they greet you with the title Queen/King. Hey, its nice to have someone recognize your worth every now and then. Eat to Live Cafe is a quaint spot that serves vegetarian- and pescatarian-styled dishes from the Muslim perspective, and dang it, the most irresistible bean pies.

Ni hao ma? How are we doing so far? This excursion has one last stop  Super Bowl Pho in Westfield, Indiana. A bit of a trek but worth it, Super Bowl Pho dons a menu of delectable Chinese and Vietnamese dishes. The fragrance of authentic spices can be overwhelming, but thankfully they offer outdoor seating. Its difficult to find any restaurant in Indy that serves Pho up right, so this locale is one you dont want to miss. Preferred selections are the fresh spring rolls and the tofu lemongrass banh mi.

Weve traveled far and wide on this trip, visiting the likes of Mexico, the Caribbean, Greece, Asia, Ethiopia, the Middle East and Morocco. Undoubtedly there are more sites to see and things to taste. Dig out that international wish list and if you cant make it there, have a staycation and discover a hidden gem.
Indianapolis is among 38 metropolitan areas included in a discrimination lawsuit filed Monday against the Federal National Mortgage Association, commonly known as Fannie Mae.

The suit, filed in federal district court in San Francisco, accuses the organization of showing a stark pattern of discriminatory conduct in how it maintains its foreclosed properties. The suit details evidence, including tens of thousands of photographs taken from 20112015 at 2,300 foreclosures owned by Fannie Mae, showing disparities in the condition of those properties related to their location in white-majority communities versus minority-majority communities.

Shanna Smith, president and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), said her organization first became aware of the disparities in 2009 and brought them to Fannie Maes attention.

We shared photographs with them and we asked them to look at their business model, correct the problems, Smith said in a webinar announcing the lawsuit. When we found they were not cooperating and making appropriate changes, we expanded the initial investigation.

Investigators from more than 20 civil rights groups nationwide, including the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana, evaluated more than 30 specific points at each property related to protecting, securing and marketing the homes, such as the condition of the lawn, shrubbery and other plants; the integrity of doors and windows; the condition of fences, roofs, porch steps and handrails, gutters and other parts of the home; and the presence of graffiti, trash, dead animals, water damage and mold.

In Indianapolis, properties in communities of color were found to have unsecured, broken or boarded windows; overgrown or dead shrubbery; and trash or debris.

According to the lawsuit, Fannie Mae-owned properties in predominantly white neighborhoods were more likely to have regularly maintained lawns, secure and intact windows and doors, leaves raked, graffiti erased and more.

Amy Nelson, executive director of the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana, said such issues put neighborhoods of color at a disadvantage.

It is infuriating that despite Fannie Mae being put on notice of this issue as far back as 2009, we continue to see their failure to adequately market and maintain their foreclosures in majority neighborhoods of color, Nelson said in a statement. These neighborhoods will continue to struggle and lag behind any recovery as long as Fannie Mae, and others like them, fail to properly maintain the homes they own.

Smith, with NFHA, said the poor maintenance practices keep foreclosed homes in communities of color vacant. In some cases, the homes arent even marketed with for sale signs in the yard, and the impact goes beyond just home values in the community.

Smith mentioned research that has shown a health impact on people living near foreclosed properties, including stress, high blood pressure and asthma.

In properties with trash and standing water, mosquitos and rodent infestations pose health concerns as well, Smith said.

Fannie Mae is far from the first major lender to be accused of such practices.

Other complaints involving Indianapolis have been filed against Bank of America, Safeguard Properties and US Bank. Wells Fargo has had similar issues in the past, but Nelson said theyve set a positive example of how such complaints can come to a resolution.

According to NFHA, Wells Fargo gave $30 million to the organization to be invested in communities harmed by its disparate treatment of foreclosure properties. The money has been used for home repair funds, foreclosure prevention, financial literacy education and more.

Wells Fargo stepped up, Nelson told the Recorder in September. They made some changes to their process of how foreclosures were maintained, including having a set-aside period for owner-occupants to have first shots at those properties rather than going to investors and still sitting. Theres some great guidance there of things that could be done in order to resolve the case in a satisfactory way.
Leonard Crow Dog, a spiritual leader of the Sioux Nation, accepts an apology offered by veteran Wesley Clark Jr., during an emotional forgiveness ceremony at the Prairie Knights Casino and Resort on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota on December 5, 2016. Photo by Indigenous Rising Media [Support the Indigenous Environmental Network]



The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe remain united as they return to Washington, D.C., for a hearing in their #NoDAPL lawsuit.

The tribes submitted a joint status report on Wednesday that hailed the decision by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to deny an easement for the final portion of the Dakota Access Pipeline . Without the easement, the wealthy backers of the project can't drill under the Missouri River at Lake Oahe in North Dakota.

But with Dakota Access insisting on a legal right to finish the costly project, the tribes remain vigilant. While they believe the firm's cross-claim against the Army Corps lacks "merit," they are worried that a ruling on that matter could result in "immediate construction work to complete the project under Lake Oahe."

"The tribes reserve their rights to make any argument, and seek any relief, to prevent the completion of the project while their original claims are litigated," the status report read.

In hopes of finishing the project, Dakota Access filed a cross-claim on November 15 and a motion to expedite on November 15. The firm -- citing losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars due to delays in construction -- asked a federal judge to resolve the matter as early as January.

But even though Judge James E. Boasberg never formally agreed to move forward with the cross-claim, Dakota Access went ahead and filed a motion for summary judgment -- essentially a move to secure the easement -- on Monday. In a 35-page memorandum , the firm's well-connected attorneys offered to present arguments on the matter this Friday, during a hearing that had been already scheduled before all of the latest developments.

The tribes, however, "object" to the use of the hearing for arguments on the cross-claim, their attorneys wrote in the status report. They are vowing to fight the motion and plan to ask for more time -- a "modest extension" -- to respond to Monday's motion, they said.

It's not clear how Boasberg will proceed, given all the new information. In a short order on Monday, he had only said the parties "may" present arguments on the cross-claim issue, indicating that he was interested in hearing more.

But since he never agreed to the aggressive scheduled proposed by Dakota Access, which included a request for another hearing on January 3, 2017, he may be willing to wait on the tribes. The Army Corps has already said it opposes any efforts to expedite the cross-claim.

Still, Boasberg is likely to have plenty of questions about all of the latest developments. After the Obama administration stepped into the fray on September 9 by announcing that the easement was still being reviewed, he used a previously-scheduled hearing on September 16 to force an apology out of the Department of Justice for its handling of the case.

"If we didn't share with you sufficient information to fully inform the court about other issues that played into the context of the overall project, I certainly apologize for that. That was certainly not our intention," James Gette, who serves as section chief within the division at DOJ that handles environmental and Indian law cases , said at the time. It took about 20 minutes of repeated questions from Boasberg for the apology to come out. [ Transcript of Proceeding

In denying the easement, the Army Corps said it would prepare an environmental impact statement to examine potential changes in the route of the pipeline at Lake Oahe. The process is likely to take months, meaning it will stretch into the administration of Republican president-elect Donald Trump

With that in mind, the tribes are willing to put the lawsuit on hold until the work is complete, they wrote in their status update. Depending on the outcome of the process, they could end up dismissing the case or amending their separate complaints.

"The tribes propose that the parties file quarterly status reports with this court to update it on the progress of the EIS process," the status update read.

Any efforts to delay or put the lawsuit on hold are bound to draw fierce opposition from Dakota Access. On the same day authorities in North Dakota engaged in a violent assault on pipeline resisters, the firm asserted a right to drill at Lake Oahe without a written easement.

And two days later, as a young woman lay in a hospital after her arm, in the words of her father, was "pretty much blown off," Dakota Access complained of financial woes . According to the firm, unless the pipeline starts moving oil by January 1, its backers will lose $2.7 million per day or $83.3 million per month.

A few days after that, a top executive said the 1,172-mile project, which travels through four states, was all but complete except for the portion at Lake Oahe . Vice president Joey Mahmoud said "less than 1 mile" of pipe needed to be laid at a site less than a half-mile from the border of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation

And in response to the denial of the easement, Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco Logistics Partners , the backers of the pipeline, insisted that "two federal courts" have sanctioned the Army Corps' handling of the matter. What they left out of their joint statement was that they were warned about the dangers of proceeding without the easement.

"If you're not going to get the permit to cross at the critical point, you're going to have to redirect the pipeline, right?" Judge Thomas B. Griffith of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals asked during the October 5 hearing in Washington, D.C.

"Yes," responded Miguel A. Estrada , a well-connected attorney who was hired by Dakota Access.

"So it's a gamble," Griffith said. "You're gambling you're going to win."

Friday's hearing takes place at 10:30am in Courtroom 19, on the sixth floor of the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C. It's the same place where prior proceedings occurred.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed the lawsuit in July . The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe was allowed to intervene as a plaintiff in August.

The defendant is the Army Corps of Engineers. Dakota Access was granted permission to intervene as a defendant.

Join the Conversation

Related Stories: Tribes bringing #NoDAPL fight to international human rights forum (12/8) Harold Frazier: 'Wopila tanka' to all the #NoDAPL water protectors (12/8) Native Sun News Today: Temporary win on Dakota Access Pipeline (12/8) James Giago Davies: Obama could have stopped #NoDAPL abuses (12/8) Steven Newcomb: 'Unjust' war against #NoDAPL water protectors (12/8) North Dakota county wants 'Sheriff Kirchmeier' account off Twitter (12/7) Rosalyn R. LaPier: How Standing Rock became a site of pilgrimage (12/7) Lakota Country Times: North Dakota county sheriff hit with lawsuit (12/7) Vi Waln: The #NoDAPL movement reminds them we are still here (12/7) Native Sun News Today: Lakota artist designs 'Water is Life' tipi (12/7) Ivan Star Comes Out: The lust for oil and the #NoDAPL movement (12/7) Common Dreams: Veterans ask for forgiveness at Standing Rock (12/7) Tiffany Midge: Don't shame Standing Rock Sioux Tribe for pipeline (12/7) Editorial: A 'false victory' on the Dakota Access Pipeline easement (12/7) Dakota Access resumes push to complete final portion of pipeline (12/6) Dave Archambault: It's time for water protectors to return home (12/6) Kirk Francis: Tribes must remain vigilant despite #NoDAPL victory (12/6) Tracy Loeffelholz Dunn: Numbers behind Standing Rock's victory (12/6) Indian Country cheers historic decision on Dakota Access Pipeline (12/5) Tribes and Dakota Access headed back to court for hearing in D.C. (12/5) Sen. Heidi Heitkamp again parts with Indian Country on #NoDAPL (12/5) Dave Archambault: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe thanks many allies (12/5) Mark Trahant: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe continues to defy history (12/5) Democracy Now: Thousands of veterans deploy to Standing Rock (12/5) Dana Lone Hill: Lakota prophecy warns of our water turning black (12/5) James Giago Davies: Finding the real enemy in the #NoDAPL fight (12/5) Quinault Nation prepares for journey to Standing Rock encampment (12/2) Doug George-Kanentiio: Iroquois prophecies warn of grave dangers (12/2) Brandon Ecoffey: Media gets it wrong on Dakota Access frontlines (12/2) Bronson Koenig: What I found during my journey to Standing Rock (12/2) Timothy Egan: Fake cowboys cheered while the real Indians suffer (12/2) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe calls for safety as veterans head to camp (12/1) Sen. Heidi Heitkamp considers role in Donald Trump administration (12/1) Lakota Country Times: #NoDAPL kitchen in need of more supplies (12/1) Native Sun News Today: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe summons allies (12/1) Vi Waln: Sacred fire burns at Oceti Sakowin camp in North Dakota (12/1) Ivan Star Comes Out: Veterans at Standing Rock for the good fight (12/1) Sioux Nation to President Obama: Stop the Dakota Access Pipeline (11/30) Lakota Country Times: Herbalist brings medicine to Standing Rock (11/30) Dana Lone Hill: A big 'wopila' to all the #NoDAPL water protectors (11/30) Kelly Hayes: My whole heart is with the #NoDAPL water protectors (11/30) Large veterans group heads to #NoDAPL frontline in North Dakota (11/30) Sheriff hit with lawsuit as governor moves in on #NoDAPL camp (11/29) Dakota Access Pipeline almost finished except at Lake Oahe site (11/29) Mark Trahant: The rule of law protects Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (11/29) Democracy Now: Sen. Bernie Sanders on Dakota Access Pipeline (11/29) Lakota Country Times: Youth finish 1400-mile Standing Rock run (11/29) Native Sun News Today: #NoDAPL struggle brings tribes together (11/29) Delphine Red Shirt: #NoDAPL water protectors pray for everyone (11/29) Elizabeth Cook-Lynn: Law enforcement panel ignores our history (11/29) Ruby Hansen Murray: Real Indians remain invisible to the media (11/29) Army Corps changes course and closes land to #NoDAPL camps (11/28) Charmaine White Face: Let Big Spirits take over at Standing Rock (11/28) Jenni Monet: Public outrage mounting over #NoDAPL crackdowns (11/28) State claims rocks and 'improvised weapons' used at standoff (11/23) Charles Trimble: Water protectors need more than our prayers (11/23) Doug George-Kanentiio: For those standing with Standing Rock (11/23) Arne Vainio: Water is Life -- A sacred journey to Standing Rock (11/23) Democracy Now: County sheriff 'not worthy of a shred of belief' (11/23) Editorial: A 'shameful and bloody' use of force at Standing Rock (11/23) Dakota Access cries of financial hit as victim remains in hospital (11/22) Law enforcement blames #NoDAPL resisters for severe injuries (11/22) Dakota Access continues legal push as frontline hit by assaults (11/21) Lakota Country Times: Crow Creek upset by #NoDAPL crackdown (11/21) Vi Waln: Water protection walk urges forgiveness amid crackdown (11/21) Tom Goldtooth & Annie Leonard: Obama can block Dakota Access (11/21) Chip Colwell: How the Dakota Access Pipeline review went wrong (11/21) Peter d'Errico: Indigenous thought guides #StandingRockSyllabus (11/21) Tracy Rector: Dakota Access Pipeline threatens our mother earth (11/21) Mark Trahant: Time is on the side of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (11/18) Steffani Cochran: #NoDAPL water protectors need legal services (11/18) Harold Frazier: Take action now to block Dakota Access Pipeline (11/17) Native Sun News Today: Sheriff continues #NoDAPL crackdowns (11/17) Michelle LaPena: Lessons from the movement at Standing Rock (11/17) Native women lead massive march to stop Dakota Access Pipeline (11/16) Lakota Country Times: County criticized for #NoDAPL crackdown (11/16) Brandon Ecoffey: South Dakota officers abuse water protectors (11/16) Mary Annette Pember: 'Desperate' legal move by Dakota Access (11/16) Melissa Hellmann: Aggressive law enforcement at Standing Rock (11/16) Steven Newcomb: Dakota Access Pipeline violates treaty rights (11/16) Dakota Access defies easement delay and vows to finish pipeline (11/15) Lakota Country Times: On the #NoDAPL front line in North Dakota (11/15) Vi Waln: Military forces commit violence against water protectors (11/15) Cronkite News: Concert raises funds for the #NoDAPL movement (11/15) Army Corps still won't issue easement for Dakota Access Pipeline (11/14) Dakota Access Pipeline faces a small fine for disturbing tribal site (11/14) Indian Country prepares for a new jolt on Dakota Access Pipeline (11/14) Tim Giago: Tribes at major crossroads with Donald Trump in office (11/14) Cedar Wilkie Gillette: We can all support the #NoDAPL movement (11/14) Sarah van Gelder: Standing Rock chairman on a President Trump (11/14) Steven Newcomb: Dakota Access Pipeline is about colonization (11/14) Jenni Monet: What Donald Trump's win means for Standing Rock (11/10) Native Sun News Today: Prayer vigils continue at Standing Rock (11/10) Ivan Star Comes Out: Water protectors are treated like terrorists (11/10) Rep. Cramer confirms Donald Trump's embrace of Dakota Access (11/10) Doug George-Kanentiio: The war on Natives and our Earth begins (11/9) Dakota Access stands to gain with Donald Trump in White House (11/9) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe presses Obama to stop Dakota Access (11/9) Native Sun News Today: Native youth lead run to Standing Rock (11/9) Michael Lawson: Roots of #NoDAPL movement go back decades (11/9) Alex Jacobs: #NoDAPL crackdown harkens back to Indian wars (11/9) Elizabeth Cook-Lynn: #NoDAPL violence follows a familiar pattern (11/8) Andrew Revkin: #NoDAPL movement isn't just about the pipeline (11/8) Tiffany Midge: Jingle Dress Dancers bring prayers to Standing Rock (11/7) Army Corps calls pipeline resisters 'trespassers' in letter to county (11/4) Obama elevates role of chairman of Suquamish Tribe on key panel (11/4) Democracy Now: 'Huge step' from Obama in fight against pipeline (11/4) Editorial: Native voters can make change at ballot boxes on November 8 (11/4) Winona LaDuke: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe sets pipeline hearings (11/4) Gyasi Ross: The best option is to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline (11/4) Editorial: Reroute Dakota Access Pipeline away from reservation (11/4) Tribes remain cautious amid Dakota Access Pipeline uncertainty (11/3) North Dakota panel opens probe into Dakota Access disturbance (11/3) Native Sun News Today: Tribes seek protection amid #NoDAPL crackdown (11/3) Brandon Ecoffey: Authorities step over the line with #NoDAPL crackdown (11/3) Ivan Star Comes Out: #NoDAPL crackdown hinders reconciliation (11/3) Mary Annette Pember: A young boy's return from Standing Rock (11/3) Jan Hasselman: Putting the brakes on the Dakota Access Pipeline (11/3) President Obama hints at delay in Dakota Access Pipeline easement (11/2) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe moves to cut ties with pipeline investors (11/2) Open letter to law enforcement and National Guard in North Dakota (11/2) LaDonna Brave Bull Allard: Bundys tried to come to #NoDAPL camp (11/2) Kalamaoka'aina Niheu: Law enforcement become more militarized (11/2) Lakota Country Times: South Dakota a part of #NoDAPL crackdown (11/1) Bureau of Indian Affairs apprehended security worker with rifle (10/31) Democracy Now: Dakota Access security guard had assault rifle (10/31) Tim Giago: Water protectors must continue to remain peaceful (10/31) Mark Trahant: Native candidates make history in North Dakota (10/31) Dina Gilio-Whitaker: #NoDAPL crackdown shows racism lives on (10/31) Steve Russell: Juries might be only hope in #NoDAPL crackdown (10/31) Donna Ennis: Tribes must be included in federal decision-making (10/31) Authorities crack down on #NoDAPL treaty camp in North Dakota (10/28) Mark Trahant: More injustice as police move in at Standing Rock (10/28) Jyl Wheaton-Abraham: Water protector efforts are not in vain (10/28) Native Sun News Today: Sheriff makes biggest #NoDAPL roundup (10/27) Democracy Now: Dakota Access security guards weren't licensed (10/27) Dana Lone Hill: Indian people won't stop fighting for our rights (10/27) Dave Archambault Sr.: Dehumanizing the #NoDAPL movement (10/27) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe sees decline in business at casino (10/27) Republican Donald Trump invested in Dakota Access Pipeline (10/27) Native youth pressure Hillary Clinton to take a #NoDAPL stand (10/26) Dakota Access ramps up spending on lobbying and politicians (10/25) Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe presses Obama on Dakota Access (10/25) Donald Trump embraces big energy projects like Dakota Access (10/24) Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe can pursue own #NoDAPL complaint (10/24) Democracy Now: New resistance in fight against Dakota Access (10/24) Mark Trahant: North Dakota takes #NoDAPL battle to extremes (10/24) Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye backs Hillary Clinton (10/21) Native Sun News Today: Ping-pong continues in #NoDAPL case (10/21) Misty Perkins: Indigenous voices are lost in colonial translation (10/21) Native leaders in Alaska endorse Hillary Clinton in historic move (10/20) Morgan Rodman: Federal agencies work to protect treaty rights (10/20) Mary Annette Pember: First baby born at water protector camp (10/20) Duane Yazzie: Spirituality prevails as #NoDAPL fight continues (10/20) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe opens reservation to #NoDAPL camp (10/20) Vi Waln: Water protector camps overflow with spiritual energy (10/19) Mary Annette Pember: Teaching a new generation of protectors (10/19) Democracy Now: Standing Rock Sioux chair was strip-searched (10/18) Mary Annette Pember: Army Corps on shaky ground with pipeline (10/18) North Dakota sees setback in pursuit of Dakota Access resisters (10/18) Mary Annette Pember: Kitchen serves the #NoDAPL movement (10/17) Gyasi Ross: A 'humbling' #NoDAPL experience for Tito Ybarra (10/14) Indian Country united for full review of Dakota Access Pipeline (10/13) Alex Piechowski-Begay: What water and #NoDAPL mean to me (10/13) Native Sun News Today: Battle continues against Dakota Access (10/13) North Dakota questions legality of Defenders of the Water School (10/12) Jim Kent: Putting a stop to pollution of our waters and our lands (10/12) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe calls for prayer amid additional arrests (10/11) Mark Trahant: Native candidates use #NoDAPL as campaign issue (10/11) Misty Perkins: Continue to stand with Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (10/11) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe sees setback as court lifts injunction (10/10) Army Corps promises answer on Dakota Access easement soon (10/10) Yavapai-Apache Nation News: Hopi boy to run to Standing Rock (10/10) Mary Annette Pember: Pipeline promises jobs but impacts linger (10/10) Doug George-Kanentiio: We all must do our part for Standing Rock (10/7) Gyasi Ross: Interview with founder of Defenders of Water School (10/7) Mary Annette Pember: Police crack down on #NoDAPL protectors (10/7) Native Sun News Today: #NoDAPL movement continues to grow (10/6) Gyasi Ross: Hillary Clinton can't be quiet on #NoDAPL movement (10/6) Mark Trahant: Climate change and the Dakota Access Pipeline (10/6) Mary Annette Pember: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe denied access (10/6) NYT Lens Blog: Photographer documents life at #NoDAPL camps (10/6) Appeals court takes up #NoDAPL case as pipeline remains in limbo (10/5) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe fires back as court hears #NoDAPL case (10/5) Dakota Access tries to sneak in report on eve of critical hearing (10/4) Charles Trimble: Standing on moral high ground in #NoDAPL fight (10/4) Winona LaDuke: Join us and put a stop to the pipeline to nowhere (10/4) Another big week as Standing Rock Sioux Tribe heads back to court (10/3) Brandon Ecoffey: Politicians show their true colors on #NoDAPL (10/3) David Ganje: Tribes can't remain silent about their water rights (10/3) Tim Ballew: Tribal sovereignty finally gets attention it deserves (10/3) Steven Newcomb: Domination system at play in #NoDAPL fight (10/3) Alex Jacobs: Big media continues to ignore indigenous interests (10/3) Native Sun News Today: Standing Rock Sioux in fight for 'our lives' (9/30) Jenni Giovannetti: #NoDAPL inspires mixed-race keyboard warrior (9/30) Dakota Access enlists big name law firm ahead of court hearing (9/29) Dave Archambault Sr.: The roots of the battle at Standing Rock (9/29) Mary Annette Pember: Water protectors rounded up for praying (9/29) Dina Gilio-Whitaker: A model for tribal consultation with UNDRIP (9/29) House approves national water bill without #NoDAPL amendment (9/28) County sheriff announces additional arrests of #NoDAPL resisters (9/28) Mary Annette Pember: Sheriff is looking into reports of 'gunshots' (9/28) Mark Fogarty: Young Native journalists cover historic movement (9/28) Peter d'Errico: Briefcase warriors must defend original nations (9/28) Judge urges tribal coordination on complaint in #NoDAPL case (9/27) Albert Bender: Spill confirms fears on Dakota Access Pipeline (9/27) Sierra Club: More review needed for Dakota Access Pipeline (9/27) Lakota Country Times: #NoDAPL lands before United Nations (9/26) Gyasi Ross: Obama's legacy on the line with Dakota pipeline (9/26) Obama administration asks tribes about infrastructure projects (9/23) Mary Annette Pember: A young boy's journey to Standing Rock (9/23) Harlan McKosato: Obama must keep promise to Indian people (9/23) Appeals court in DC sets stage for October 5 #NoDAPL hearing (9/22) Republican lawmaker eagerly defends Dakota Access Pipeline (9/22) Bureau of Indian Affairs role in #NoDAPL 'task force' in doubt (9/22) Mark Trahant: Politicians can no longer ignore the Native vote (9/22) Native Sun News Today: Nation rallies to #NoDAPL movement (9/22) Dave Archambault Sr.: History unfolds on Standing Rock land (9/22) David Ganje: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe takes stand for water (9/22) Democracy Now: Sacred Stone Camp founder standing ground (9/22) Harold Monteau: #NoDAPL movement draws a line in the sand (9/22) County sheriff leads investigation into #NoDAPL confrontation (9/21) Federal appeals court sets October 5 hearing in #NoDAPL case (9/21) Tribes deliver Wisconsin firewood to Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (9/21) Democrats host forum on Dakota Access Pipeline on Capitol Hill (9/21) Leader of Standing Rock Sioux Tribe speaks at United Nations (9/20) Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe tries to revive #NoDAPL complaint (9/20) Tribes clash over new casino but agree on #NoDAPL movement (9/20) Alex Jacobs: Scenes from Standing Rock resemble Selma in 60s (9/20) Another rollercoaster week as #NoDAPL fight enters new phase (9/19) Judge dissolves restraining order against Standing Rock leaders (9/19) Zoltan Grossman: Cowboys are quiet as tribes unite for #NoDAPL (9/19) Dave Archambault: Disaster placed on Standing Rock's doorstep (9/19) David Gipp: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe stands up for life and water (9/19) Terri Miles: That 'information point' at the #NoDAPL encampment (9/19) Peter d'Errico: Be bold in fighting Dakota Access Pipeline in court (9/19) Appeals court halts Dakota Access Pipeline work pending hearing (9/16) Sparring continues in #NoDAPL lawsuit as tribes seek halt to work (9/16) Bronson Koenig hosts basketball clinic for youth at Standing Rock (9/16) Senate passes water bill but fails to include #NoDAPL amendment (9/15) White House to respond to #NoDAPL petition with 203K signatures (9/15) Doug George-Kanentiio: Prophecy and the people at Standing Rock (9/15) Mark Trahant: There is something we can do to help Standing Rock (9/15) Native Sun News Today: #NoDAPL movement forges ahead to win (9/15) Mary Annette Pember: Indigenous women lead prayers for water (9/15) Steve Russell: Legal encounters and the Dakota Access Pipeline (9/15) Emotions run strong as #NoDAPL seeps into debate on lands bill (9/14) Defenders of the Water School is going strong at #NoDAPL camp (9/14) Key House Democrats call for hearing on Dakota Access Pipeline (9/14) Brandon Ecoffey: Pipeline destroys our sacred and cultural sites (9/14) Jori Kaniehtakohe Rourke: Our people unite in #NoDAPL battle (9/14) Hundreds rally at White House to block Dakota Access Pipeline (9/13) Judge won't grant injunction to protect sacred sites in DAPL path (9/12) Democracy Now: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe creates 'awakening' (9/12) Mark Trahant: #NoDAPL movement forces long overdue debate (9/12) Matthew Fletcher: Obama joins tribes on the right side of history (9/12) Steve Russell: Anonymous makes appearance in #NoDAPL fight (9/12) Liz Perez Halperin: Why this warrior stands up for Standing Rock (9/12) Obama steps in with major action halting Dakota Access Pipeline (9/9) Tribes move quickly to protect sacred lands within pipeline path (9/9) Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe thanks Obama for #NoDAPL stance (9/9) Indian Country eagerly anticipates decision in #NoDAPL lawsuit (9/9) Lakota Country Times: Henry Red Cloud takes stand for #NoDAPL (9/9) Ernestine Chasing Hawk: A history of resistance at Standing Rock (9/9) Steve Russell: Legal encounters and the Dakota Access Pipeline (9/9) Obama dodges #NoDAPL query as youth question commitment (9/8) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe urges calm ahead of #NoDAPL ruling (9/8) Mark Trahant: White House must get involved in #NoDAPL fight (9/8) Native Sun News Today: Law clamps down on #NoDAPL resisters (9/8) Ivan Star Comes Out: #NoDAPL movement is about sacred water (9/8) Jim Gray: Mainstream media is missing the major #NoDAPL story (9/8) Gyasi Ross: Doing your part to ensure #NoDAPL keeps on winning (9/8) Sheriff recruiting more law enforcement for #NoDAPL campsites (9/8) #NoDAPL movement takes center stage at North Dakota summit (9/7) Lakota Country Times: School going strong at #NoDAPL campsite (9/7) Mark Charles: The #NoDAPL struggle continues after hearing in DC (9/7) Dave Archambault II: The Dakota Access Pipeline musn't be built (9/7) Eastern Cherokees contribute $50K to Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (9/7) Jill Stein of Green Party faces charges for standing with #NoDAPL (9/7) Dave Archambault: Dakota Access Pipeline destroys sacred sites (9/7) Steven Newcomb: Vicious dogs unleashed on #NoDAPL resisters (9/7) Mike Myers: Historic ties between the Haudenosaunee and Sioux (9/7) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe disappointed with ruling in #NoDAPL case (9/6) Dakota Access fires back at tribes ahead of hearing in federal court (9/6) Lakota Country Times: Tribes still united at #NoDAPL encampment (9/6) Native Sun News: Death highlights dangers of Dakota Access work (9/6) Hearing ordered after Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reports destruction (9/5) Army Corps backs restraining order against Dakota Access Pipeline (9/5) Quinault Nation sends Grandfather Canoe to #NoDAPL encampment (9/5) Sarah Sunshine Manning: Dogs attack peaceful #NoDAPL resisters (9/5) LaDonna Brave Bull Allard: We have no choice but to defend water (9/5) Jacqueline Keeler: #NoDAPL resistance is part of something bigger (9/5) Steve Russell: Federal Indian law and the Dakota Access Pipeline (9/5) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reports cultural finds near pipeline path (9/2) Mark Trahant: #NoDAPL poses test for Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine (9/2) Native Sun News: Cartoonist brings humor to #NoDAPL movement (9/2) Tribal activists cheer demise of controversial pipeline in Minnesota (9/2) United Nations Forum backs Standing Rock Sioux Tribe on #NoDAPL (9/1) Native Sun News: Northern Cheyenne Tribe joins #NoDAPL efforts (9/1) Jim Kent: The real truth about the #NoDAPL resistance movement (9/1) Mark Trahant: Candidate shows support for #NoDAPL movement (9/1) Lakota Country Times: #NoDAPL roadblock remains a major issue (8/31) Brandon Ecoffey: #NoDAPL resistance is the start of a movement (8/31) Dave Archambault: Struggle unfolds on Standing Rock Sioux land (8/31) Terri Miles: Indian Country unites to stare down the black snake (8/31) Joel Heitkamp: Officials in North Dakota need a lesson in respect (8/31) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe confirms lack of easement for pipeline (8/30) Supplies needed for #NoDAPL Defenders of Sacred Water School (8/30) Lakota Country Times: Students witness history at pipeline camp (8/30) Vi Waln: Media distorts peaceful nature of sacred #NoDAPL camp (8/30) Mike Myers: Historic ties between the Haudenosaunee and Sioux (8/30) Mark Anthony Rolo: Tribes remain at mercy of bad federal policies (8/30) Defenders of the Water School opens at pipeline resistance camp (8/29) Lakota Country Times: Resisters dispute emergency declaration (8/29) Dave Archambault: Stopping the desecration of our Mother Earth (8/29) Mark Trahant: State erects roadblock at peaceful #NoDAPL camp (8/29) Latoya Lonelodge: Witnessing history at Camp of Sacred Stones (8/29) Jon Eagle: Land remains sacred to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (8/29) Albert Bender: Tribes join together at Camp of the Sacred Stones (8/29) Steven Newcomb: Law of Christendom at play in #NoDAPL battle (8/29) Arvol Looking Horse: Saving our Earth from energy development (8/29) Tribal Tribune: Unity at Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's #NoDAPL camp (8/26) Winona LaDuke: Corporate interests come to destroy our mother (8/26) Sarah Sunshine Manning: #NoDAPL campaign awakens our people (8/26) Dakota Access Pipeline lacks key approval to build by reservation (8/26) Lummi Nation sends totem pole to #NoDAPL camp in North Dakota (8/26) Dave Archambault: Why the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is fighting (8/25) Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe chair dispels rumors about camp site (8/25) Sen. Bernie Sanders joining opposition to Dakota Access Pipeline (8/25) Native Sun News: Thousands join #NoDAPL resistance movement (8/25) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe sees strong support at pipeline hearing (8/24) Kayla DeVault: Navajo Nation must take a stand on Dakota Access (8/24) Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe seeks prayers ahead of pipeline hearing (8/23) Lakota Country Times: Oglala Sioux Tribe joins fight against pipeline (8/23) Brandon Ecoffey: The Horse Nations prepare for battle over pipeline (8/23) Simon Moya-Smith: Hillary Clinton remains silent amid pipeline feud (8/23) Steven Newcomb: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe challenges domination (8/23) Sheriff mistook sacred pipes for pipe bombs at pipeline protest site (8/23) Tribes prepare for critical hearing in Dakota Access Pipeline lawsuit (8/22) Mark Trahant: Pipeline fight highlights power of political organizing (8/22) Lakota Country Times: Tribes unite to stop Dakota Access Pipeline (8/22) Vi Waln: Our water system is being threatened by energy pipelines (8/22) Winona LaDuke: Bigger problems ahead for Dakota Access Pipeline (8/22) Dallas Goldtooth: Tribes shut out of Dakota Access Pipeline process (8/22) Native Sun News: Resistance grows against Dakota Access Pipeline (08/18) Harold Frazier: Obama must put a stop to Dakota Access Pipeline (08/15) Tribes and Native youth join forces in campaign to stop oil pipeline (08/11) Democrats embrace tribal sovereignty in platform for convention (07/08) Dakota Access Pipeline to go underneath tribal burial site in Iowa (06/22) Native Sun News: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe battles oil pipeline (06/08) Iowa board approves energy pipeline work amid tribal objections (06/07) Native Sun News: Tribes score big in fights against energy projects (05/26) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe seeks halt to construction of pipeline (05/12) Native Sun News: Youth run 500 miles to protest new oil pipeline (05/11) Native Sun News: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe aims to stop pipeline (04/27) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Army Corps to discuss oil pipeline (04/26) Native Sun News: Tribes gaining traction in war against pipelines (04/20) Brandon Ecoffey: Tribes continue battle against energy pipelines (04/19) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe sets up sacred camp to oppose pipeline (04/15) Native Sun News: Tribes organize against Dakota Access Pipeline (04/13) Iowa Tribe joins fight against oil pipeline on aboriginal territory (3/24) Native Sun News: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe battles pipeline plan (3/14) Native Sun News: Tribes fight another pipeline through Great Plains (07/07) Meskwaki Tribe opposes oil pipeline through aboriginal territory (03/17)
The 2016 China-Russia snow and ice sculpture contest began in Heihe, Heilongjiang province on Dec. 6.

Centering around the main sculpture, China-Russia Bridge of Friendship, the theme of this year's event is Silent Heihe River and Wonderful Snow World. Over 27 teams and almost 100 contestants participated in the contest. Boasting 40 festive lanterns to be decorated by the local government, the ice and snow sculptures will become a new scenic spot on the border between China and Russia.
Katrina Kaif is missing from action these days. With no recent movie coming up for now, she is taking some time off and concentrating on her endorsements and other projects. She recently visited Maldives for a shoot of a Bazaar Bride magazine's issue.

Most of us know how scenic the country is. With clear water, beautiful villas and pristine beaches, its nothing short of a paradise for people who love water. Add the beautiful Katrina Kaif to the mix, and you will get a mesmerizing view.

Kaif took to Facebook to share some stunning pictures for her trip. Check them out:

#1

Katrina Kaif FB

#2

Katrina Kaif FB

#3

Katrina Kaif FB

#4

Katrina Kaif FB

#5

Katrina Kaif FB

#6

Katrina Kaif FB

And here's a video of the final product after the shoot:
Pinterest

Ranveer Singh is every brand's first choice for endorsements these days but all's not well for 'Befikre' Ranveer it seems. His Jack and Jones Ad drew him a lot of flak. While some claimed the ad to be sexist, many said that the ad was in a bad taste.

Even though the ad was pulled off and Ranveer himself apologized, the troubles have just begun it seems. Many armchair activists and social media users targeted Ranveer Singh and now according to an agency report, a lawyer on Wednesday said he has filed a complaint with the National Commission for Women NCW) against him.

Accusing Ranveer of insulting woman in the advertisement of menswear company Jack & Jones, he also said that Ranveer has presented women in an indecent way.

Twitter

Gaurav Gulati, a lawyer practicing in Tis Hazari courts complex, has filed a complaint against Ranveer Singh and Jack & Jones, and requested the NCW to issue a notice to them. Gaurav has also demanded a strict legal action against the actor and the menswear company.

The report quotes the lawyer saying,

I have seen an advertisement hoarding of Jack & Jones company on social media and some online news reports in which famous Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh could be seen posing slinging a woman on his shoulder, suggesting that women are nothing more than objects. Then theres a punch line by the side that says Do Not Hold Back, Take Your Work Home."

In his complaint, he also added that such statements are derogatory to women and show how a famous actor can do such cheap and mean acts for the sake of money. The advocate termed it as a violation of gender equality and as being outrageous to womens dignity.
Weve all suffered through Androids app update notifications that almost always seem to trigger at the wrong time, always taking just too long to download and install, testing the limits of our frustration.

No more of that nonsense, according to Google, and were only too glad. The companys Android engineering and dev team has come up with a breakthrough compression technique, called File-by-File patching, which promises to reduce app updates to 65% in size in comparison to the installed app size on your Android phone.

App updates delivered through File-by-File patching, Googles Android team claims, will reduce up to 6 petabytes of data collectively downloaded by Android users globally -- per day! Thats 6000 terabytes of data saved per day!! Awesome news as far as data traffic on the internets concerned.

The new compression technique relies on spotting changes in the uncompressed files before theyre packaged as downloadable APK files. Googles Android team further clarified that this new File-by-File patching app update compression technique will only be deployed for automatic updates of all apps on any given Android phone.

Heres a snapshot of apps that are already using File-by-File patching. Just look at the percentage of data they all end up saving!

Application Original Size Previous (BSDiff) Patch Size (% vs original) File-by-File Patch Size (% vs original) Farm Heroes Super Saga 71.1 MB 13.4 MB (-81%) 8.0 MB (-89%) Google Maps 32.7 MB 17.5 MB (-46%) 9.6 MB (-71%) Gmail 17.8 MB 7.6 MB (-57%) 7.3 MB (-59%) Google TTS 18.9 MB 17.2 MB (-9%) 13.1 MB (-31%) Kindle 52.4 MB 19.1 MB (-64%) 8.4 MB (-84%) Netflix 16.2 MB 7.7 MB (-52%) 1.2 MB (-92%)

For now, we are limiting the use of this new patching technology to auto-updates only, i.e. the updates that take place in the background, usually at night when your phone is plugged into power and you're not likely to be using it. This ensures that users won't have to wait any longer than usual for an update to finish when manually updating an app, according to Googles blog on Android Developers.

Whats great about this new Android app update patching technique is that all the data compression magic happens on Googles servers, meaning Android developers dont have to worry about inserting new code into their apps.

Way to go, Android!
Keeping up the pressure on money launderers using banking channels to legitimise their unaccounted income in banned currency notes, the Enforcement Directorate has started scrutinising transactions of 50 branches of least 10 banks across the country.

AFP

The agency received tip offs from the Income Tax department, which has specific information on banks receiving huge deposits of unaccounted income in shell companies and Jan Dhan accounts. The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has also been providing ED details of suspicious transactions that they received from the banks.

The anti-money laundering agency, which is investigating the Rs 40 crore transactions of Axis Bank's Kashmere Gate branch, arrested a chartered accountant on Wednesday as it stepped up its crackdown on people using dormant bank accounts to launder unaccounted money.

PTI

The arrested chartered accountant, Rajeev Kushwaha, is one of the many 'entry operators' who are allegedly assisting people with black money to exchange banned notes with gold at heavily inflated prices and then launder the proceeds through banking channels by depositing the money in shell companies.

The ED operations on bank branches were spread across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chennai. Some of these bank branches registered huge deposits of banned currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denominations.

Reuters

In the days after the announcement of demonetisation on November 8, the ED had conducted searches on at least 40 premises of hawala dealers across the country.

The I-T has simultaneously launched a crackdown on those who had made declarations of their unaccounted income under the one-time amnesty scheme  the Income Disclosure Scheme  but failed to deposit the first instalment of tax by the November 30 deadline.

AFP

Within a week after the expiry of the deadline, the I-T department found more than Rs 2.23 lakh crore as fake disclosures. All such people either said they had no knowledge of their disclosure or that they had filed for others who backed out at the last moment.

A Bandra family had filed disclosure of Rs 2 lakh crore in unaccounted income. Similarly, a Hyderabad man had declared close to Rs 10,000 crore and a real estate agent in Ahmedabad Rs 13,800 crore.
Around 1,400 tourists are stranded on Havelock and Neil islands in south Andaman due to cyclonic weather conditions and the Navy has pressed into service four ships to evacuate them.

Twitter/Andaman Chronicle

The islands, some 40 km from Port Blair, have been hit the most by the storm, caused by a depression currently centred 300 km south-southwest of Port Blair, which is likely to develop into a cyclone in 48 hours and head west towards Andhra.

#HADR Dist betwn Port Blair & Havelock-25Nm/50kms.Ships waiting off island. Evacuation Ops delayed due very rough weather @SpokespersonMoD pic.twitter.com/n9Jw4sSb7N  SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) December 7, 2016

#HADR Weather conditions at Port Blair & adjoining islands remains very bad with continuous heavy rains, strong winds & very rough seas 1/n  SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) December 8, 2016

The weather is expected to improve from Thursday. The naval ships remained 50km off Havelock on Wednesday as the sea was too rough to attempt approaching the jetty.

indiatoday

"The island is being battered by sheets of rain and howling winds. The sea is extremely choppy. We have been told not to step out. There is no electricity or tap water," said Subhabrata Dutta, a tourist stranded in Havelock with his wife and 17-year-old son.

With so many tourists stranded on Havelock island, there are fears of food stocks running out, one of the tourists there said. The administration has declared an 'L1 disaster', which can be managed at the district level.

Twitter/Andaman Chronicle

The four naval ships  NS Bitra, Bangaram, Kumbhir and LCU 38  are expected to reach the islands on Friday .

"The swell in the sea made rescue operations difficult. The ships are waiting off the island. Evacuation operations have been delayed," a Navy spokesperson said.

Dutta, a north Kolkata resident, flew to Port Blair on December 3. Two days later, the family went to Havelock. But within hours of setting foot on the island, the weather turned foul. "We heard Navy ships would come to rescue us but nothing happened. The wait indoors is getting tiresome," rued Dutta.

Twitter/Doordarshan News

Around half the stranded tourists are from Bengal. Andaman officials said the cyclonic weather has uprooted trees, disrupted power supply and caused flooding in some low-lying areas of Port Blair. Mobile and internet connectivity have also been snapped in many areas.

Sea conditions to remain rough for some more time around Andaman and Nicobar. #CycloneVardah  NDMA India (@ndmaindia) December 8, 2016

Twitter/Prashanth Rangaswamy

The officials, however, said the administration was fully geared to tackle any situation. The administration had called in the Navy as it feared a deep depression about 310km from Port Blair would intensify into a cyclonic storm and strike Havelock. The depression is slowly moving northwest towards the Andhra coast.
Yes, if you still thought that demonetisation was a success and Modiji has changed the face of Indian economy for good, we have news. Even the government seems to have understood the boo-boo it has made on a pan-India basis which has left millions of innocents in a cashless lurch.

This is effective from Jan 1st 2017, starting from the Mumbai suburban railways: FM Arun Jaitley pic.twitter.com/mkRLPWYuHr  ANI (@ANI_news) December 8, 2016

Such has been the backlash on the issue of demonetisation, that under the garb of promoting a cashless economy, they have now launched a host of freebies that will come into effect as of New Year and make life easier in this cashless world full of Bank queues and ATMs without notes.

Here're the 10 implementations announced by Modiji's Man-Of-Arms aka FM Arun Jaitley:

1) For those using cards and e-wallets, Petrol and Diesel purchases will now attract a 0.75% discount.

2) The government will provide 2 POS or Point of Sale machines for free to each village that has a population of over 8,000.

3) Railways to give 5% discount on catering, retiring room on payment by digital mode.

4) All railway passengers who buy tickets online get free accident insurance cover worth Rs 10 lakh

5) Monthly and seasonal tickets for suburban railways to offer 0.5% disc on digital payments .

6) Insurance bought online from customer portal of public sector companies will get 8% discount for life & 10% for general insurance.

7) 5% discount on digital payment mode for railway facilities like catering, retiring rooms.

8) Digital transactions up to Rs 2,000 will be exempted from service tax.

9) Highway toll will see 10% discount on digital payments

10) NABARD will give Rupay card to people who have Kisan Credit Card
According to the Election Commission of India, there are around 1,900 registered political parties in the country. But over 400 of them have never contested any election.

Many of them exist only on paper and don't have any leaders or followers. So Why do they exist?

AFP

This attains significance especially in the wake of the demonetisation and the crackdown on black money holders.

This is because a political party is the easiest way to launder black money.

According to the existing rules, all political parties have been fully exempted from paying any income tax. They also don't have to declare the source of donations less than Rs. 20,000.

This leaves a huge window for potential money laundering - by converting the ill-gotten assets as party funds, by which they have become tax exempted, yet unaccountable.

It is also worthwhile to note that the Election Commission cannot de-registering a party even if they haven't contested any polls.

AFP

The Election Commission (EC) has asked state CECs to send it a comprehensive report on lists of registered parties which have never contested an election and also the contributions received by them.

Chief election commissioner Syed Nasim Zaid said the EC has started an exercise to strike off such parties from its list. "Striking off their names will disentitle them from income tax exemptions on contributions and donations," Zaidi said.

Asked why the EC was not deregistering them, the CEC said deregistration was a long-drawn process. "Eventually, we may have to do that, but this is the immediate action taken by the EC on finding the anomaly," Zaidi said. He said that from now on, it would be an annual exercise to prune the list of registered parties.
"I didnt choose garbage, it chose me!" for a woman fighting to keep her very first project in India alive, Jodie Underhill - co-founder of Waste Warriors - seems rather upbeat. "When I witnessed how severe Indias garbage problem is, it completely broke my heart. I also realised then that Id found my lifes mission. I love a challenge and Ive picked up lots of garbage whilst on my travels even before coming to India."

For the past seven years, Jodie - or Garbage Girl as she is called - has been fighting to keep India clean of garbage

She had no support, financial or otherwise, just an army of volunteers who took up arms - and legs - to clean up the country. "I founded Waste Warriors only in 2012,"she tells Indiatimes in an exclusive interaction. "At that time the destination saw about 10,000 visitors each year and there was no one to clean up after they left. Out of habit, I started cleaning up along the trail. Today, there are about 10,000 people visiting every month."

"Can you imagine the amount of garbage that is left behind?"

Waste Warriors

"Today Waste Warriors has several projects working across tourist destinations in Himachal Pradesh. My heart will always lie in the Dharamshala but that project has reached a very difficult point," she says.

"The boys who work at Waste Warriors are like my brothers and I am ashamed that I can only pay them a meagre amount for the efforts they put in. They hike up and down the mountain, every week, in every season, in every state of health, just to pick up the garbage. They go from door to door collecting garbage from the homes that are brought down from the remote villages in the mountain for proper disposal."

She says, "This is not a sexy industry, I know. There is a social stigma attached to the job I do and I understand that it is even harder for people to turn up, as they have, for the cleanups we have organised. Waste Warriors has helped provide employment to the lowest class of people in the country and a chance to live with dignity."

Waste Warriors

"It hurts that I have been putting in money raised by other projects of Waste Warriors to fund the Dharamshala project as it is simply not making any money,"she says. "The money that the boys are making does not even cover the basic expense for the effort! The people refuse to participate and the shopkeepers do not wish to pool their benefits with the boys who are cleaning up. The people of Himachal are not willing to participate."

There was a flicker of hope when the state minister for urban planning, Sudhir Sharma, visited us. "I thought things would look up and he could motivate people to help or provide us with some funds. That didn't happen!"

After a pause, she adds, "People think that Waste Warriors has some kind of funding from like the Queen of England or something. In India, NGOs have such a bad reputation that people don't want to believe that there are a few organisations working honestly and transparently for years as they believe in the cause."

Waste Warriors

Tired of waiting for the government to show any interest and disappointed in the reaction from the people who see the team working every week but do not wish to support the effort, Jodie took to a crowdfunding campaign to support the Dharamshala project. "I was so surprised! People who had once visited or wanted to visit, people from all over the country started pooling in help. We are nearly at 4 lakh now but we need a total of 12 lakh to keep the project alive," she informs. "The team of boys need to be paid and with the winters coming up, expenses are mounting and we need to take a call on whether we can continue the project."

"It would kill me to end it. This project is what made me fall in love with India and I don't want it to end."

If you wish to donate and save the Dharamshala Project please click here.
Enameled porcelain is one of the greatest inventions of ancient China.

The production method of enameled porcelain is very complicated and expensive. Legend has that Chinese Emperor Kangxi from Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) even monitored the process in person from time to time. The painters were selected after a rigorous process to ensure the highest quality. From production to final step, the whole process was carried out in a confidential way and the methods were not revealed to outsiders. Therefore, enameled porcelain is often called the "Royal Porcelain".

Compared to other painted porcelain focusing on the impressionistic style, enameled porcelain, characterized by various colors, elegant and dignified painting style, pays more attention to realistic style with exquisite imagery.

The development of the enameled porcelain rose during the Emperor Kangxi's reign (1654-1722), and declined during the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1711-1799). Because of its dedication to the imperial court, enameled porcelain had such a high cultural and artistic value that the common people could not afford them in ancient times.
After running their tall claims for months about finally nabbing an Indian spy, Pakistan government has been forced to swallow their words.

Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan Prime Minister's Advisor on national Security and Foreign Affairs has told the Senate that there was no conclusive evidence against Kulbhushan Jadav, who was arrested from Chaman, the border with Iran in March.

"The dossier on Jadhav contained mere statements. It did not have any conclusive evidence," Aziz said.

After his arrest in the restive Balochistan province Pakistan had calimed that Jadav was a serving Indian Navy personnel adding that he was involved in subversive activities in and was in touch with Baloch separatists and insurgent groups.

India had rejected the claims that he was a serving Navy personnel and accused Pakistan of not granting him consular access to Jadav despite official requests.

Pakistan Army had also released videos of his "confession" where he said he was the serving Indian Navy officer.
Nearly 1400 tourist are stranded at the Havelock Island in Andaman and Nicobar after the weather turned hostile with heavy rainfall and stormy winds disturbing the connectivity in the area.

The Indian Navy has been put to task to rescue the tourists. The administration of Andaman and Nicobar has requested Indian Navy for assistance to evacuate the stranded tourists.

Navy Ships Bitra, Kumbhir, Bangaram and LCU 38 have sailed from Port Blair to help evacuation of tourists.

AFP

Indian Navy ships Bitra, Bangaram, Kumbhir and LCU 38 sailed from Port Blair and have been deployed for evacuation. Small ships (INS Bitra and INS Bangaram) will pick tourists from the jetty and ferry them to the larger ships (INS Kumbhir and LCU 38) which are at the anchorage.

Ships left Port Blair around 3;15 am and have reached to help tourists. The tourists will face problems if the weather continues to remain rough as even the food supply is limited in Havelock.

Port Blair is the capital of Andaman and has an airport and better connectivity compared to other Islands.
The separatist movements in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan and Balochistan were in the headlines in the not so distant past, mainly due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reference to them at the Independence Day speech and open support by New Delhi.

While it dominated the headlines across the national media for over a month due to the verbal spat between New Delhi and Islamabad, many failed to look beyond the headlines. And that is how an equally simmering separatist movement which is even closer to India got largely ignored by the Indian media. Just like in Balochistan and PoK, there has been a separatist movement in Pakistan's Sindh province.

The ethnic Sindhi people are campaigning for a homeland of theirs, independent from Pakistan. They call their concept country as Sindhudesh, or a country for Sindhi people.

The origin

It officially began in the 1960's as a literary movement against the imposing of Urdu language on them and the settlement of Muhajirs, the Indian Muslims who migrated to Pakistan following the partition in 1947.

There were several earlier events that paved the way for this demand. One of them was the attack on Hindus and their places of worship in 1948, which forced many Sindhi Hindus out of their homeland.

When Punjab was being ripped apart by violent and gruesome clashes between the Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims after the creation of Pakistan in 1947, Sindh remained peaceful. However, after some Hindu places of worship were attacked in Karachi in 1948, Hindu Sindhis began to leave in droves.

Dawn

This is when Sindhi intellectuals and political thinkers such as Ibrahim Joyo and GM Syed began to shape a meta-narrative of Sindhi identity, because to them, the departing Hindus were first Sindhis, then Hindus; and their departure weakened Sindhs demography and economy.

In the following decades, the demand of 'Sindh nationalism' took shape mainly due to the woks of intellectuals like Syed.

The first demand of separation of Sindh from Pakistan

In 1972, Syed's political outfit 'Jeeay Sindh' formally raised the the demand for secession of Sindh from Pakistan. However, the movement lost its political steam after Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who himself is was a Sindhi became the Prime Minister of Pakistan. In the coming years under the dictatorship of General Ziaul Haq the party broke into factions and the idea of Sindh nationalism took a back seat.

AFP

The idea of once again started gaining momentum with the emergence of Altaf Hussain and his Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in Sindh. The party drew its core support base from the Mohajir community, the Urdu speaking Muslim population who had migrated to the region from mainland India in 1947. For many Sindh nationalists, the Muhajir, who had become the second largest ethnic group in the province was not ready to let go their culture and accept Sindhi ideas.

With the MQM making rapid political gains it was only a matter of time the once sidelined Sindh nationalism to resurface.

The return of national identity

Today, once again the idea of Sindh nationalism has taken the centrestage, led by a host of pro-nationalist political fronts like Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz, Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz and and World Sindhi Congress who have taken their fight for national identity to the international fora.

According to World Sindhi Congress Chairman Lakhu Luhana, the current resurgence is a result of resentment of the Sindhi people against what they see as systematic demographic re-engineering, by promoting large scale migration of Punjabis to Sindh. This, he said, was following the discovery of huge mineral deposits in Sindh.

JSMM

In the recent years deposits of natural gas, chromite, coal, gypsum, limestone, petroleum and other mineral have been found in Sindh. The rich deposits of copper, iron, chromite, lead, zinc are discovered in large quantity, as well as a good quantity of coal has also be found in Thar in the province of Sindh. The production of barite, bentonite, various types of industrial clays ochre and silica sand has also found.

This migration, they say is making the ethnic Sindhi people a minority in their own homeland.

Sindh and China Pakistan Economic Corridor

Recently, led by JSMM, Sindh nationalist have been holding regular protests against the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) the $5 billion infrastructure project which runs from Balochistan to Xinjiang in China.

According, to Shafi Muhammad Burfat, the Chairman JSMM the CPEC will increase tensions in the region between India, Pakistan and China.

JSMM

He also added that the massive projects will be of no benefit for locals and they will only be deprived of their resources.

"Conspiracy of converting them in ethnic minority will obviously result in non-Sindhi so-called democratic representation of Sindhis in the so-called democratic institutions of Pakistan dominated by alien settlers safeguarding the interests of Punjabi imperialism and depriving the native Sindhis to hold the significant majority to represent the national interests of the native people of Sindh and thus negating even the Sindhs democratic right to oppose the imperialism and conspiracies in a democratic pattern," he argues.

JSMM

The JSMM says Pakistan has gone on an oppression spree, silencing anyone and everyone raising their voice in the form of democratic protest, and thus ensure that the country's most ambitious infrastructure project will go on, even if it is at the expense of thousands of lives.

He said the colony-like treatment of Islamabad to provinces like Sindh and Balochistan will culminate in a situation similar to what happened with East Pakistan (modern day Bangladesh) in 1971.

Sindhis are not the only ethnic group in the world that is seeking a separate nation for themselves. There are several other ethno-nationalist movements around the world that are currently engaged in their respective struggles. Nobody knows if they would ever be able to achieve their goals, their struggle, they say, will continue.
"The most persecuted minority in the world" that is how back in 2013 the United Nations described the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar.

Estimated to be around 1.3 million in number, in their homeland of Myanmar, the ethnic group is quite simply the world's most unwanted people.

AP

They are not welcome in Myanmar, neighbouring Bangladesh, and a host of other South-east Asian countries where they have tried to flee for their lives. The community has been facing discrimination and second class treatment in Myanmar for years under the military rule. The election of the first democratic government under democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi last year has not changed their situation either. This is the story of Myanmar's Rohingya.

Demography

The Rohingya people mostly constitute in the northern Rakhine State, of Myanmar. While their ancestry has been debated it is widely accepted that their forefathers migrated to the region during the British period from what is modern day Bangladesh.

Reuters

That is where the bone of contention began - despite living in Myanmar for generations they are still regarded as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. They still are not considered as citizens and don't even have basic rights, including voting.

The identity

The first efforts for forging a "Rohingya identity" began in the 1950s with an aim to establish the ethnic group as indigenous people. It continued for a couple of decades as an armed movement, with nominal gains that helped their cause. In the years after the Bangladesh Liberation in 1971, there was a huge inflow of Muslims to Rakhine State, which resulted in a spike in the Muslim population in the otherwise Buddhist-dominated country.

While there were no major incidents in the 90's and early 2000's the conflict between local Buddhists and Rohingya showed its ugly colours in 2012, when a series of riots broke out between the two communities.

AP

It was the outcome of the Buddhist fear of them becoming a minority in the region. According to government estimates 78 people were killed, and up to 1,40,000 were displaced as the result of the conflict.The clashes further alienated the Rohingyas from the mainstream, with many including Buddhist monks openly calling for violence against them.

The boat people

While the world was focusing its attention on the Syrian refugees, far from the international media attention, another humanitarian catastrophe was unfolding in the Andaman Sea. Since January, some 25,000 Rohingya are believed to have attempted the voyage by boat to neighbouring nations.

AFP

Several thousand were rescued adrift at seas after countries like Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia refused them entry. Hundreds are also believed to have died in the sea, due to shipwrecks and others due to starvation. These were the people who were fleeing the conflict in Rakhine, paying hefty amounts to traffickers who promised them "a better life in a foreign country".

Reuters

But these boats were hardly seaworthy and had packed more than double of their capacity, making the magnitude of accidents manifold higher. After their plight finally caught the eye of the international media, organisations including the UNHCR stepped in to rehabilitate them.

Ethnic cleansing

In 2016 the region slipped into chaos once again, triggered by the attack on a police outpost by some Rohingya militants, which left three personnel dead. The backlash was however felt by the civilian community. Hundreds of houses and small businesses owned by Rohingyas were set on fire, forcing almost 300,000 to leave their homes and flee for their lives.

Satellite Images Before and After/HRW

The UN has accused Myanmar of carrying out "ethnic cleansing" of the Rohingyas. Last week, a Myanmar government-appointed committee headed by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan visited the affected areas to take stock of the situation, but locals don't see their situation getting any better.

Unwelcome everywhere

Driven out from their homeland, the Rohingyas are turned away by neighbouring Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Some people, who have made it across the Bangladesh border live in refugee camps which are far from ideal living conditions, with the sword of eviction hanging over their head.

Reuters

They only want one thing: To go back to their ancestral land and have a peaceful life which by every passing day is becoming a distant reality.
New Greek Economy and Development Minister Dimitri Papadimitriou, who was recently recruited from a top academic position in the United States for the leftist Greek governments Cabinet, blamed an out-of-context rendering of his statements on Thursday for a subsequent firestorm of criticism.
Many hereditary diseases have their own symptoms and indicators that can lead to diagnosis. However, it is still a great challenge for doctors and geneticists to diagnose diseases solely based on the physical appearance of symptoms. However, an Israeli company has made it far easier to do that than ever before.

According to MIT Technology Review, Israeli company Face2Gene provides face recognition technology (FRT) to help doctors diagnose diseases. The use of FRT has been approved in the U.S.

By examining photos of patients, doctors can offer a series of potential diagnoses. Karen Gripp, the director of A.I. DuPont Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware, used the technology to diagnose a female patient suffering from cerebrospinal meningitis.

I noticed the cheilopalatoschisis, but that's like red herring, and it's hard to find symptoms. You can only judge based on the knowledge you're given. You can, however, screen symptoms with the assistance of Face2Gene, Gripp said in an interview with MIT Technology Review.

Face2Gene can build a model of people with similar characteristics, and make comparisons using composite photos generated by the application's software. Of 7,000 genetic syndromes, more than half have unique facial characteristics, which can be used to diagnose irregularities such as Down Syndrome, according to Face2Gene. However, the biggest challenge for the application is diagnosing rare diseases.

Imagine you are a geneticist: based on your training and what you see, you will have a basic judgment based on photos. But it is impossible for you to truly know, said Dekel Gelbman, the CEO of Face2Gene.

What Face2Gene has done is collect data from geneticists to attract more pharmaceutical and medical companies to get involved. With more people using Face2Gene, the database will become more sophisticated, and the connections between facial characteristics and diseases will become more obvious. Gelbman said that the FRT is now being used by more than 60 percent of clinical geneticists and genetic counselors around the world.

Whats more, patients themselves can upload photos to the system. After uploading a photo to the server through an app, the program generates a number of matching syndromes. Patients can also obtain information about each syndrome from the Landon Medical Database. By adding descriptions of relevant syndromes, the system is better able to calculate probabilities.
Nigerias minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi has urged supporters of the All Progressives Congress to fight back against intimidation ahead of the Rivers state legislative rerun elections on Saturday.

He addressed a crowd of supporters in Port Harcourt and referred to the rerun as the election of our lives.

I used to tell you please dont fight. But I think we will bend it a bit Amaechi said

Dont kill anybody but dont be killed. My friend in the army told me if bullet is fired, the person that hears the sound is not the one that dies.

If you allow them to shoot you, you will die. Its not only them that have rights to life.

Rivers state is not new to election violence with legislative elections in March marred by violence sparked by the utterances of political leaders.
Fake entry visas carried by Nigerians travelling to Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, has cost an African carrier, RwandAir, a penalty in excess of $20 million (N8 billion) in the last six months.

The fake visas, coupled with fictitious online bookings, are considered as infractions that warrant penalty by international aviation rules guiding the Global Distribution System (GDS), and borne by the conveying airline.

A GDS is a network operated by a company that enables automated transactions between travel service providers (mainly airlines, hotels and car rental companies) and travel agencies. Multiple reservations also attract multiple charges against the airline.

For every passenger that arrives in Dubai without valid visa or forged papers and ultimately turned back at the port of entry, the airline pays a penalty of $30,000 (N1.2million) for the Advance Debit Memo (ADM) issued per passenger.

Also, the airline is considering the withdrawal of its new Airbus 330-200 that was recently deployed to the Lagos route over low patronage, as recession is making it difficult to fill the 240-passenger capacity aircraft.

Recall that the Kigali-based airline is one of the foreign carriers making waves on the continent, with heavy reliance on Nigeria for its market. With Nigeria supplying the lion share of its total passenger supply for 2015, the airline had deployed two new A330-200s to the Lagos routes.

Plans were in the offing to bring in the third aircraft this December for the passengers heading to China, India and other countries.A Sales Executive of RwandAir, Henry Aaron, said it was regrettable that the airline had paid $20 million from July till date for the mistakes the airline knows nothing about.

Aaron said the penalty imposed on the airline was due to the smart activities of its passengers and their cohorts in Dubai, who are playing all gimmicks to outwit the airlines clearance to board.

Aaron explained that there are some smart guys in Dubai processing working visas for wiling Nigerians. At the point of booking, the visas are genuine, but would have been cancelled from the system and become fake before the passenger reached Dubai airport.

It is a smart move. Once it is cancelled, the person has no way of entering. As an airline that has carried the passenger on a one-way ticket, for every case like that, we are charged $30,000 for each passenger. I also have to fly the person back to Nigeria for free. That is the problem, he said.

While the problem is not peculiar to RwandAir, the airline is having more of the effect as a foreign airline and co-competitor on the UAE market.Emirates and other UAE airlines also face similar problems, although at minimal rates, but as home grown airlines, they will always find their way around without paying penalties.

Aaron added that the airline even introduced an Okay-To-Board clause to curb the challenge, but Nigerians still found their way around it. Okay-To-Board issue simply means that we collect your visa and working permits 48 hours before you board and present them to your employer in Dubai to okay before we allow you board. It is working but our Nigerian guys are so good.

What they do is that they would look for someone in the organisation, tip the person to issue and monitor the permit without the knowledge of the employer. Some hours before the plane is due to arrive; they would extract the permit and cancel the visa. It becomes a problem for us and we are paying heavily for it, he said.

The Guardian learnt that the airline, in the last five years of operations in Nigeria, had been having the problem, which escalated this year.The National President of the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA), Bankole Bernard, said that the challenges faced by RwandAir were unfortunate, but would be addressed when travel agencies and airlines cooperated.

Aaron disclosed that the airline had suffered a lot of losses in the last few months paying ADM to the GDS. At the end of the day, we dont really have profit to take home just because we are paying for errors not made by us but by our travel partners that are making the mistake ignorantly. Between July and October, we have been paying close to $20million to various GDSs as penalties, adding that profit margin in aviation is very slim, as at the best of time, it ranges between four and six per cent.

To cut down on the losses, he said that the airline is introducing $5 (N2000) on each segment of its online bookings. Lagos-Dubai return ticket for instance, that is, Lagos-Kigali, Kigali-Dubai, Dubai-Kigali and Kagali-Lagos, will all attract $20 (N8000).

Source: Guardian
The body of Miss Ifedolapo Oladepo, who died during the ongoing 2016 Batch B National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Orientation programme in Kano State, may be exhumed by the Federal Government for further examination into the cause of her death.

Disclosing this in an chat with State House correspondents on Thursday, the Minister of Youths and Sports, Mr. Solomon Dalung, said the team carrying out the examination was acting on the directives by President Muhammadu Buhari to investigate the cause of the death of the Osun State indigene.

Recall that, President Buhari, on Wednesday ordered independent probe into the cause of the death of the corp member including two other cases that happened in Bayelsa and Zamfara States.

According to Dalung, PMBs order was not a lack of confidence in the initial report by the NYSC, it is just to complement it to get a clearer picture into the cause of her death, since the NYSC report didnt include autopsy.

The report given by NYSC is normal and natural, that after investigation they must present their own report on what has happened.

But in view of the fact that there are many versions of what led to the death of the NYSC member, it would be fair to look at another version of what happened, to be sure of what actually transpired, he added.

It doesnt have to do with not trusting the process but to gauge the report alongside other opinion; then we will now be able to tell Nigerians that these are the circumstances surrounding her death.

Dont forget that the report of the NYSC had no autopsy; but an independent investigation will require an autopsy.

He added that, The autopsy, alongside the report, will fortify the conclusion the government will make.
Ghanas Independent Electoral Commission has disclosed that its official website has been hacked. The incident comes just one day after Ghanaians want to the poll to vote in Presidential elections.

SEE ALSO: 4 Things You Should Know About Ghanas Elections

The hackers attempted to upload fake election results to the website but failed. The electoral said via its Twitter account We deplore the attempt to hack the ECs [electoral commissions] website. Please respect the integrity and independence of the EC,

We call upon the people of Ghana to respect the process and keep faith with the EC. Results will be out as soon as they are available.  Electoral Commission (@ECGhanaOfficial) December 8, 2016
Nigerian newspaper headlines December 8, 2016.

Guardian

A federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court has adjourned till January 25, 2017 the trial of former National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd) for alleged misappropriation of $2.1 billion arms fund.

Vanguard

Youths under the aegis of the Peoples Democratic Party National Youth Frontier, PDPNYF, has berated the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC over what they described as the dwindling fortunes of Nigerians under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Punch

A former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mrs. Farida Waziri, has urged the Federal Government to ensure that all politicians undertake psychiatric test before occupying any office.

Premium Times

The Presidential Initiative for the North East, PINE, stinks of corruption and poor accountability standards thus hindering efforts at addressing the humanitarian crisis and rebuilding infrastructure in the region, lawmakers have said.

Thisday

With just three days to the December 10 re-run elections in Rivers State, the deep-seated animosity between the governor of the state, Mr. Nyesom Wike, and his predecessor, Chibuike Amaechi, reared it head again yesterday, when Amaechi accused Wike and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), of being responsible for the spate of killings in the run up to the 2015 and the March 19 re-run elections in the River State.

Leadership

The Senate president, Dr Bukola Saraki, yesterday, finally met with the National Working Committee (NWC) of his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), under the chairmanship of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, 18 months after the Senate leaderships controversial emergence.

The Nation

A coalition of Ethnic Nationalities yesterday protested the alleged persecution of former President Goodluck Jonathans family members by the Department of State Services (DSS) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) under the guise of war against corruption.

The Sun

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has warned Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) against charging double-digit interest on intervention funds guaranteed by the apex bank.
A private jet which crashed, killing three members of Osama bin Ladens family, landed too far down the runway of a Hampshire airport because it was travelling 40 per cent faster than the recommended speed, accident investigators have concluded.

The Saudi-registered Phenom 300 jet smashed into an earth bank at the end of the runway at Blackbushe Airport on July 31 last year before becoming airborne and colliding with several parked cars.

The occupants survived the impacts but died from the effects of a fire which began after the wing separated from the fuselage, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said.

Its report found that the pilots ability to adapt and take on new information as he was landing was impeded due to a very high workload situation.

All three passengers were members of bin Ladens family.

They were his stepmother, Raja Bashir Hashem, 75, her daughter, Sana bin Laden, 53, and another relative, Zouheir Anuar Hashem, 56.

The Jordanian pilot was 58-year-old Mazen Salim Alqasim.

No technical defects were discovered with the aircraft, the pilot was not found to have any substances in his body which would have reduced his performance and the weather was good, the AAIB noted.

Bin Laden, who claimed responsibility for the September 11 2001 attacks in the United States, is believed to have had more than 50 brothers and sisters and many stepmothers.

His billionaire father, Mohammed, died in a plane crash in Saudi Arabia in 1967.

The bin Laden family disowned Osama in 1994 when Saudi Arabia stripped him of his citizenship because of his militant activities.

The Al Qaeda leader was killed by US special forces in Pakistan in 2011.
The news of a South African pastor, Prophet Shepherd Bushiri, bringing a dead boy back to life is making the rounds on the social media.

The boy, believed to be 3 years old was said to have been confirmed dead by a doctor.

The father of the dead boy stormed the altar with him, raising his hands and shaking him without response

He walked round the church with the boy during a service at the Enlightened Christian Gathering Church in Pretoria.

He was seen falling to the floor with his lifeless son as church workers supported him.

The congregation held their hands out towards the boy and prayed.

Bushiri was seen spraying an ointment they called anointing oil Lion of Judah on the boy, who later regained consciousness.

The doctor who reportedly confirmed him dead said, This child was unresponsive, no heartbeat, but with the administration of the Lion of Judah, this baby is back to life.

Source: Dailypost
The meteorological facilities aided by China are not only high quality but also very useful, said Dr. Amos Makarau, Director of the Meteorological Services Department of Zimbabwe, on November 25, when he was interviewed by China Meteorological News Press during the sixteenth session of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Commission for Basic Systems (CBS) in Guangzhou, China.

In 2013, the Chinese government embarked on the meteorological facility aid project for African countries. Comoros, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Namibia, DRC, Cameroon and Sudan were listed as the recipient countries. The aid project encompasses automatic weather stations, and a whole set of forecasting systems and software. In June, 2016, China has completed the installation and training work of meteorological facilities in Zimbabwe.

It has been nearly half year passed. How do they operate the facilities? Amos Makarau delightedly expressed that meteorological facilities provided by China are of high quality and very useful. After its operation, Zimbabwe has made three breakthroughs: for the first time monitoring forest fire through satellite, building own weather TV studio, and releasing multiple warnings through weather early-warning radios.

Amos Makarau said that Zimbabwe has a high coverage of forest and grassland and is always exposed to wildfire especially in dry season from May to October. In the past, forest fire monitoring was a headache to the government. After the installation of Chinas FY-3 satellite data reception and application system, the meteorological service can take advantage of images captured by FY-3 satellite and accurately pinpointed the location of the fire.

It is a great help for the government to extinguish fire.The installation of meteorological TV studio system provided by China is another case in point. He said that with this system the weather forecast host can improve recording until satisfied rather than going to TV station. And this system is equipped with digitized and modern technologies. The weather program made by the studio becomes more and more popular in the nation.

Zimbabwe is under threat of frequent rainstorms, floods, and thunder &lightening. Timely early-warning is of vital significance. He told the reporter that weather early-warning radios provided by China are instrumental in ensuring timely weather forecast and early warning. To optimize the benefits of the facility, the meteorological service department has co-operated with departments of health, agriculture, civil and others to disseminate warning and useful information for the rural areas.

To help Zimbabwe improve forecasting capabilities, China also incorporated the Meteorological Information Comprehensive Analysis and Process System (MICAPS) which is independently developed by China Meteorological Administration (CMA), into the aid project. Amos Makarau spoke highly of this system. He said that this system is very convenient and equipped with powerful data analysis and process capabilities. MICAPS enables the upgrading of the forecasting operational system in Zimbabwe and has gained popularity among forecasters.

Since 2016, CMA dispatched 21 meteorological engineers to conduct installation and training in Zimbabwe. They have overcome various difficulties and trained us how to conduct equipment maintenance and use software.

According to the assessment, the aid project has enhanced meteorological disaster prevention and early warning capabilities by 60% in Zimbabwe. This is a revolutionary transformation. Amos Makarau also said that the huge lift in forecasting level has shortened the distance between meteorological service and the general public. A growing number of social institutions and NGOs hope to cooperate with the meteorological service.

The aid project has brought tangible benefits. Amos Makarau extended sincere gratitude to China. As President of WMO Regional Association for Africahe hopes that in the future China will continue to support African countries in personnel training and early warning capability building. Most African countries are least developed countries. They are vulnerable to climate change. We expect to enhance disaster monitoring and prediction capabilities through China-Africa cooperation and learning from the experience of China.  he said.
The police have arrested two minors, identified simply as Segun and Kalesanmi, and a 22-year-old tiler, Samuel Osholo, for allegedly defiling a seven-year-old girl.

The suspects reportedly covered the girls mouth and took turns to defile the primary one pupil inside a building under renovation on Adaraloye Street, Ikorodu, Lagos State.

The suspects were said to have been caught in the act by the victims peers, who had gone into the building to play.

They were said to have begged the children to keep mum, promising to give them money.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Osholo and Kalesanmi, 17, had gone to work in the building, which is a stones throw from the victims residence. The duo also lived in the neighbourhood.

They were said to have persuaded 10-year-old Segun, the girls neighbour, to lure her into the building around 6pm on Friday.

The victims father, a trader, said one of the children, who caught the suspects in the act, confided in his wife, adding that he was informed about the incident on the telephone.

My wife and I work in Oyingbo and we usually return home late. But that day, my wife returned home before me. She explained to me that a girl told her that our daughter had been defiled. I rushed home immediately. The girl mentioned Segun and I went to meet him. He confessed and mentioned the two other suspects.

I reported the case at the Igbogbo Police Division and they were arrested. There was sperm in her pants and the police confirmed it too. We took her for treatment at the Ikorodu General Hospital.

Since yesterday (Tuesday), my neighbours have been threatening me for taking the matter to the police. If anything happens to me or any of my family members, I will hold them responsible.

Segun confessed to the crime at the station, saying that he persuaded the girl to follow him to the building after the other two suspects promised him some money.

He said, The girl and I live in the same house. They told me to invite her to meet them in the house where they were working and I did. They asked me to get a piece of cloth and paper. They put the paper on the floor and laid the cloth on it. They instructed me to take off her pants and sleep with her.

I removed her pants and slept with her. They also slept with her. The girl began to cry and they covered her mouth. I felt sorry for her. I told them to stop, but they refused. They said she would not die and that nobody would know. They also promised to give her money.

However, Osholo and Kalesanmi, who spoke in Yoruba, denied raping the girl, adding that they had finished work and left the area before the incident occurred.

I dont know anything about this case. A building is being renovated on Adaraloye Street and we were asked to fix the tiles. I dont know where the incident happened. The girl is lying against us, Osholo said.

Kalesanmi said, There was a misunderstanding between the girls father and my elder brother. They fought recently and the girls father broke a bottle and threatened to stab us.

While people tried to settle the matter, he called his daughter to a corner and spoke with her secretly. I dont know what they planned. This allegation was made out of annoyance.

The suspects were brought before an Ikorodu Magistrates Court on Tuesday on seven counts bordering on unlawful sexual intercourse. While Segun pleaded guilty to the charges, the two other defendants pleaded not guilty.

The presiding Chief Magistrate, Mrs. A.A. Oshoniyi, granted Osholo bail in the sum of N200,000 with two sureties in like sum and ordered that he should be remanded in prison pending when his bail conditions would be perfected.

Adjourning the case till January 26, 2017, Oshoniyi held that Segun should be kept in Boys Remand Home in Oregun, Lagos, while Kalesanmi should be remanded at Borstal Home, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Source: Punch
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered an independent investigation into the death of a 2016 Batch B corps member, Miss Ifedolapo Oladepo, who died at the Kano Orientation Camp recently.

The directive came barely 24 hours after the Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps, Brig. Gen. Suleiman Kazaure, announced that the corps member died of renal sepsis occasioned by urinary tract infection.

The Special Adviser to the President in Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, announced the Presidents decision to institute a probe into the ladys death in a statement he made available to journalists on Wednesday.

Adesina said the investigation was meant to unravel the true circumstances surrounding Oladepos death.

He also quoted Buhari as commiserating with the families of all the three corps members who lost their lives recently during the 2016 Batch B Orientation Programme in three states.

He listed the deceased to include Chinyerum Nwenenda Elechi; Oladepo and Monday Asuquo Ukeme, in Bayelsa, Kano and Zamfara states respectively.

He quoted the President as describing the death of the young Nigerians as shocking, sad and unfortunate.

Buhari also regretted that they died in the course of answering the national call to serve.

He urged the families, friends and associates of the deceased to be consoled by the knowledge that their loved ones paid the supreme price while on national service and not for ignoble reasons.

The statement read, President Buhari also extends condolences to the Director-General and Management of the NYSC over the transition of the youth corps members, Chinyerum Nwenenda Elechi, Ifedolapo Oladepo and Monday Asuquo Ukeme, in Bayelsa, Kano and Zamfara states respectively.

While enjoining the management to do all within its powers to protect the lives of those under its charge, the President calls on parents and guardians of current and potential NYSC participants not to panic over the recent tragic deaths.

On the particular death of Miss Ifedolapo Oladepo in Kano State, President Buhari has ordered an independent investigation to unravel the true circumstances. He prays that God will grant the souls of the departed youths eternal rest.

Source: Punch
A friendly seal that jumped onto the back of a moving boat was filmed by a group of boaters off the coast of California, USA.

A video posted to YouTube by user Peter M. Ladey shows the seal on the back of the moving speedboat Sunday after jumping up onto the vessel.

The seal then barks at the humans who feed it fish.

[Seal] hanging out on the back of our boat being fed the finest of fish, and what a friendly little pal he was, Ladey wrote in the videos description. Not sure what the bump on his head is though.
The Senate will today screen the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu and four other nominees for confirmation as members of the commission.

Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu who presided over plenary session yesterday told his colleagues that the confirmation hearing of the EFCC nominees would commence today.

Magus name along with four other members of the commission were sent to the Senate by then acting president, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in June but the letter was not read on the floor until July 14.

It was gathered that the name of Magu and the four members of the commission namely Moses Ndasule, Mamman Lawan, Imam Najib Galadanci and Adebayo Rafiu Adeleke would be listed on the order paper today.

Sources told our correspondent that the screening of Magu would be performed on the floor of the Senate while that of the four members of the commission would be carried out by the Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption and financial Crimes chaired by Senator Chukuwuka Utazi (PDP, Enugu).
Popular Nollywood makeup artist Dewunmi Fatai and Yoruba actor Lolade Mustapha are calling it quits.

The former couple, who have a baby together, broke up after the beauty expert discovered the actor had other side chicks.

According to insiders, Fatai reportedly dumped Mustapha while the duo where planning to do a low-key Nikkai wedding to protect herself from further heartbreaks.

Though the pair are yet to officially reveal the cause of their separation, another source claims that Dewunmi chose to remain single than contending with the other ladies in Mustaphas life.
Spending time traveling can be a frustrating exercise in trying to find Wi-Fi. So much modern work often requires an internet connection, and while its possible to tether smartphones to PCs to help bridge the connectivity gap, thats a clunky solution unless you have all Apple gear.

Microsoft is aiming to help with that by supporting the installation of non-removable programmable SIM cards and data radios in PCs and Windows tablets. In the companys vision, users will then be able to purchase cellular data for those cards through the Windows Store. The announcement was made today at the companys WinHEC conference for device manufacturers in Shenzhen, China.

By enabling the new form of internet access, Microsoft could give users an easy way to get online right from their computer, and encourage manufacturers to build cellular-capable devices. Users would also get settings to help them better manage the use of data plans, so its easier for them to control how much data apps can suck up.

But theres a wrinkle in that plan: Cellular carriers will have to get on board with selling plans through the Windows Store, which will likely be a tougher sell. For example, Apple offers a programmable SIM card for some iPad models, which is supposed to let users select data plans for their tablets on the go. But very few carriers support it, requiring the use of their own SIM cards instead.

Even though its possible for people in the U.S. to pick between T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T when they set up cellular service with an Apple SIM, that initial choice could end up restricting them in the future. For example, if users pick AT&T as their carrier, the SIM is locked to only work with AT&T.

If Microsoft adopted a similar model to Apples, that could put users in a bind. With a cellular-enabled iPad, users can usually just replace their SIM to switch carriers, but Microsoft is talking about enabling devices with integrated, non-removable cards. If users integrated SIMs get locked to a particular carrier, they could be left in the lurch if they move to a region where that carrier has poor coverage.

Furthermore, the Apple SIM hasnt made its way to the iPhone yet, even though Apple has provided it in the iPad for the two years. If Apple cant pull off a move to on-demand-carrier SIMs, can Microsoft do it with the help of manufacturing partners?

Well have to wait for the products to come to market before we find out.
The 200,000-member IEEE-USA, the U.S. arm of the worlds largest technology professional organization, intends to urge President-elect Donald Trump to quickly replace the random H-1B lottery with a system that gives priority to companies that pay the best wages.

This proposal would also move large H-1B users to the back of the visa distribution line. For this to happen, all it would take is an executive order by the president, the engineering group says.

Separately, the IEEE-USA also wants Trump to prod the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate what it claims is discrimination against U.S. workers by H-1B visa-using companies. This discrimination occurs when U.S. workers are replaced by visa-holding workers.

Trump has immediate opportunities to start pushing back against outsourcing through the H-1B program, said Russell Harrison, director of government relations, for the IEEE-USA.

The government labels companies that have 51 or more full-time workers, of whom 15 percent or more are H-1B workers, as dependent H-1B employers. This includes all the major India-based offshore outsourcing firms, as well as some U.S.-based firms, such as Cognizant. According to U.S. government visa records, Facebook is also considered an H-1B dependent employer for its hiring.

The IEEE-USA said the non-dependent employers, those with a smaller number of visa-holding workers, should get priority in the visa distribution system. Some large tech companies, including Microsoft, IBM and Google, are non-dependent employers under the governments definition.

Wages are another way to deter visa use by offshore outsourcing companies, Harrison said. If companies that pay the higher prevailing wage are given priority, you immediately cut out the outsourcers, he said.

Employers who hire H-1B workers have to pay them a prevailing wage. There are four prevailing wage levels for each U.S. occupation. For example, the Level 4 prevailing wage for a programmer in Des Moines is $81,000. The Level 1 wage there, which is for entry-level workers, is $46,000.

Most companies pay lower prevailing wages, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. In a 2011 study, the GAO found that 54 percent of all H-1B workers are paid Level 1 wages, and 29 percent are paid Level 2.

A non-H-1B dependent company that pays a Level 4 wage would likely get a visa under their plan, the IEEE-USA officials said. Prevailing wage rates vary by region. Although wages are much higher in Silicon Valley than in the Midwest, all the employers that promise to pay Level 4 prevailing wages, for instance, are considered as one category.

The proposals are part of a set of recommendations the IEEE-USA plans to submit to the new administration. The group is also exploring some kind of protections for small businesses in H-1B visa distributions.

The IEEE-USA also wants the Trump administration to push the DOJ to investigate what it claims is discrimination against U.S. workers by H-1B visa-using companies. Ten U.S. senators in 2015 asked the DOJ to investigate national origin discrimination in response to the layoff of IT workers at Southern California Edison, but no action has emerged.

The DOJs Office of Special Counsel investigates discrimination complaints, but its hard to get workers who have been laid off to make complaints in a timely fashion, because they are afraid that if they file a complaint they will lose their severance pay, said Bruce Morrison, a lawyer and former Democratic congressman from Connecticut, who represents the IEEE-USA.

Nonetheless, the new administration may bring a new willingness to pursue U.S. citizenship discrimination, Morrison said.

The U.S. distributes 85,000 H-1B visas through a lottery, with the odds of winning roughly one-in-three based on current demand. There were 236,000 visa petitions submitted this year.

Changing the lottery will represent a dramatic resorting away from outsourcing and toward people who are really needed in the American economy and are being compensated commensurate with that need, Morrison said.

Another effort by the IEEE-USA will be to seek to close a 1998 legislative loophole that allows H-1B-dependent firms to replace U.S. workers provided that they pay at least $60,000 per year or employ workers with masters degrees.

The H-1B lottery has been under attack for some time. This includes a federal lawsuit filed last summer by two vendors that claimed they were denied visas for employees they wanted to hire because the lottery is tilted against small businesses.

The lawsuit claims the lottery is being abused by large H-1B users. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service did not prohibit multiple filings by different employers on behalf of the same individual, or bar large companies from multiple filings through different business units, it says, in part. This situation is unfair to small businesses, and is not the result intended by Congress when the statute was enacted, according to plaintiffs in the court case.

U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) had proposed replacing the lottery with a wage-based priority system, but her efforts have stalled.

This story, " IEEE-USA wants Trump to end H-1B lottery" was originally published by Computerworld .
South Bend, Indiana  Plaintiff Cook Productions, LLC of Los Angeles, California sued 11 unnamed Doe Defendants in the Northern District of Indiana for infringing the copyrighted motion picture Mr. Church.

The movie, which features Eddie Murphy and Britt Robertson, tells the story of a lifelong friendship that began when a cook agreed to help a little girl and her dying mother. It was registered with the U.S. Copyright Office on August 29, 2016 under Registration No. PA 2-002-851.

In this Indiana lawsuit, a copyright attorney for Plaintiff contends that Mr. Church was unlawfully released on the internet and shared, potentially worldwide, using the BitTorrent file-sharing protocol. Defendants in this litigation are accused of having participated as part of a BitTorrent swarm, in which each Defendant shared portions of the movie with other Defendants, ultimately resulting in each Defendant obtaining a complete copy. Plaintiff asserts that it used geolocation technology to trace the Internet Protocol addresses of each Defendant to a point of origin within the Northern District of Indiana and that, consequently, jurisdiction in Indiana is proper.

Plaintiff claims that the alleged copyright infringement was both willful and intentional. In its complaint, which lists a single count of copyright infringement, it asks the court for injunctive relief, damages, costs and attorneys fees.

The case was assigned to District Judge Jon E. DeGuilio and Magistrate Judge Michael G. Gotsch, Sr. in the Northern District of Indiana and assigned Case No. 3:16-cv-00773-JD-MGG.
Powell: Rate hikes may slow, but inflation fight hardly over AP - Wed Nov 2, 5:45PM CDT Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell sought to strike a delicate balance at a moment when high inflation is bedeviling the nations economy and commanding a central role in the midterm elections $SPX : 3,759.69 (-2.50%) $DOWI : 32,147.76 (-1.55%) $IUXX : 10,906.34 (-3.39%)

Expanded Limit Bounce for Midweek Cotton Barchart - Wed Nov 2, 4:43PM CDT Front month cotton futures extended their bounce on Wednesday, with 4 cent gains through the May 23 contract. December gapped higher to start the day, and failed to close the gap. The online cotton... CTZ22 : 79.88 (+1.11%) CTH23 : 78.69 (+0.06%) CTK23 : 78.46 (-0.49%)

Cattle Close Mixed on Feeder Strength Barchart - Wed Nov 2, 4:43PM CDT Feeder cattle futures ended the day with triple digit gains capturing some of the weakness in the corn market. Fats bled 7 to 55 cents weaker on Wednesday, though August 23 ended the day up by 12 cents.... LEZ22 : 151.400s (-0.36%) LEG23 : 154.900s (-0.23%) LEJ23 : 158.500s (-0.24%) GFX22 : 178.925s (+1.13%) GFF23 : 180.000s (+1.01%)

Hog Futures Fall on Wednesday Barchart - Wed Nov 2, 4:43PM CDT Lean hog futures closed the midweek session with $0.42 to $1.90 losses on the day. December was down the most on the day with a 2.2% loss to the lowest since 10/17. The USDA National Average Base Hog Price... HEZ22 : 83.300s (-2.23%) HEJ23 : 92.650s (-1.01%) KMZ22 : 93.850s (-1.60%)

Soy Futures Close Mixed Barchart - Wed Nov 2, 4:43PM CDT Soymeal futures ended the session off the lows but still down by $0.30 to $1.20/ton. Soy oil was the leader on the day, having rallied +3% on the crude oil strength. Beans themselves found balance from... ZSX22 : 1440-0 (unch) ZSPAUS.CM : 14.1311 (+0.60%) ZSF23 : 1445-6 (-0.57%) ZSH23 : 1453-0 (-0.58%)

Hard Losses for Midweek Wheat Barchart - Wed Nov 2, 4:43PM CDT Russia re-entering participation for the Black Sea grain export corridors dropped the market back to last weeks levels. CBT SRW gave back 4.5% to 6.2% on the day and mostly erased the gains to start... ZWZ22 : 837-0 (-1.06%) ZWH23 : 856-0 (-1.04%) ZWPAES.CM : 7.7768 (-6.65%) KEZ22 : 932-0 (-0.88%) KEPAWS.CM : 8.9804 (-5.26%) MWZ22 : 943-6 (-0.58%)
[File photo]

A court in Beijing has issued the citys first protection order for a male victim of domestic violence, which shows rising legal awareness on the parts of both the government and the public, experts said.

The victim, surnamed Zhang, suffered domestic violence multiple times at the hands of his wife. Zhang documented soft tissue injuries and other severe injuries after being beaten, and was therefore granted a protection order by the local court. Under the protection order, Zhangs wife is forbidden from harassing or hurting him in the future.

This is the first such order issued in Beijing for a male victim since Chinas law on domestic violence took effect in March. Courts in many Chinese provinces, including Hunan, Hubei, Anhui and Guangdong, have also issued protection orders for male victims.

When domestic violence occurs, male victims have started to seek legal help rather than resort to violent countermeasures. [This progress] demonstrates an improvement in legal awareness around China. In addition, Chinas law on domestic violence offers a legal basis for such incidents, protecting victims regardless of their gender, said Zhang Xinnian, a lawyer, in an interview with Chinanews.com.

Even though the law clearly stipulates that all victims should be treated equally, male victims in China are still more likely to be overlooked. According to statistics from the Sichuan Women's Federation, of the 1,845 cases of domestic violence reported in 2015, just 2 percent involved adult male victims.

Male victims are almost invisible to authorities, including the police. Their plight is largely overlooked by the media, while traditional male stereotypes stop them from seeking legal assistance. Issuing a protection order for a man is great progress, showing that China has advanced in gender equality, said Zhang Xuan, a Chongqing-based human rights activist.
On a recent rainy Thursday in Manhattan, everyone was a friend of Anthonys.

Hundreds of them, overwhelmingly men, packed shoulder to shoulder in Anthonys gilded steakhouse  Hunt & Fish Club NYC  drinking Anthonys free liquor, had gathered to fete Anthonys latest book. In Hopping Over the Rabbit Hole: How Entrepreneurs Turn Failure into Success, SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci ostensibly gives the little people a pep talk on making it big. In actuality, the book gives Anthony Scaramucci a pretense to go on television and further pad his speaker bio.

Well, not everyone at the party called Scaramucci a friend. Some called him boss, and they wore bunny ears. Tall, black-and-white sets of satin bunny ears, in fact, in keeping with the rabbit theme of the books title. Bartenders and servers looked only faintly embarrassed by their Playboy Mansion getups. As one young man explained, midshake on a martini, Im just thinking about the money. So were a lot of people.

Anyone who has attended SALT  the SkyBridge Alternatives Conference, Scaramuccis yearly Las Vegas boondoggle  knows the scene that night at Hunt & Fish. The place was packed. Nobody sat down. Men in suits hustled like they were on the job; they drank like it was a night out. Probably both were true. The women skewed younger and leggier, with the polish shared by women whove climbed to the upper ranks of finance and those whove married into it  the subtle differentiator being the size of the handbag. Under an expansive golden chandelier, everybody glittered. The evenings host wasnt just in his element, he was the element. This is what Anthony lives for, one friend explained.

Skyscraping stacks of Scaramuccis book took up every surface not covered with cheese pyramids or wet raincoats. At least one of them got opened.

I founded SkyBridge  an alternative investment management company, focused on seeding and partnering with the next generation of Wall Streets entrepreneurs  in 2005, Scaramucci writes in the first chapter, recalling the financial crisis. And now, just four years later, I feared it [sic] I was going to lose my business. A typo on page two portends spotty work to come. The author is charming in self-deprecating anecdotes  rolling up to client meetings in his powder blue 1987 Honda Civic, for example  but these morsels do little to break up the overarching experience of being waterboarded by business jargon. It was an out-of-the-box approach to hopping over a rabbit hole by pivoting a business, Scaramucci writes at one point, apparently on purpose.

Chapter 1 climaxes with Scaramucci landing Bill Clinton as the keynote speaker for SALTs second year. He describes cajoling mutual contacts, making a pitch, and winning over Clintons gatekeeper. One discussion later and we got the former President of the United States to speak at SALT! he exults. He fails to mention that SkyBridge paid Clinton $100,000 for his trouble.

At the book launch Scaramucci proved as brash and unedited in person as in print. The thing about Jews and Italians: We know fucking people, he informed a new acquaintance  his version of nice to meet you. He offered a high five. You having a good time? A rhetorical question. Then, picking up his prior conversation, the Long Island native gave a vivid description of the Department of Labors ruling that retirement advisers act in clients best interests. It was common knowledge among the guests that he had recently written an opinion piece on the subject for the Wall Street Journal. Anthonys friends had read it  of course!  and they thought he nailed it. Anthony thought so, too.

Scaramucci has a dog in the fiduciary fight: SkyBridge Capital sells active management of active managers to investors. And increasingly, those investors are mass-affluent individuals  a savvy out-of-the-box pivot over a rabbit hole for Scaramucci as funds of funds traditional institutional investor client base drops the sector en masse. As one of finances most prolific talking heads, Scaramucci has focused his recent messaging efforts on three subjects: the fiduciary rule (kill it), his book (buy it), and Donald Trump (win it). At the party, out of earshot of the man of the hour, many guests expressed dismay at Scaramuccis choice of politics.

That was October 27.

The asset manager known as a sales genius and apathetic investor has since pulled off one of the greatest contrarian plays since the financial crisis: securing the loyalty of the (soon to be) most powerful person on earth. He seeded a fledging presidential candidate with his own credibility when the rest of Wall Street wouldnt touch Donald Trump. Scaramucci bought into a long-shot start-up and now owns equity in a unicorn. His ROI might be in policy (axing the fiduciary rule), politics (a future endorsement from the president, perhaps?), or simply access and soft power. Whats certain: Like rabbits, Anthonys friends will multiply.

Leanna Orr is Global Content Director of Investor Intelligence Network (IIN), Institutional Investors private community for asset owners.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a U.S. think tank in Washington, D.C., recently held a conference on the challenges and opportunities presented by Chinas rise. The ChinaPower Conference featured a series of debates between leading experts from both sides of the Pacific. The debate was extensive, covering various aspects of Chinese power. One debate centered on the proposition that China seeks to undermine the rules-based international system. Most of the experts agreed that while China may want to improve the current system, it does not want to tear it down and start over again.

Aaron Friedberg, Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University, argued for the proposition. Zhao Suisheng, professor at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, argued against the proposition.

Before and after each debate performance, the audience voted on whether they agree or disagree with the relevant proposition. At the beginning of the debate, 57 percent (72 out of 126 votes) disagreed with the proposition that China is trying to undermine the system. The percentage remained unchanged even after the debate: 57 percent (97 out of 171 votes) disagreed.

Arguing in the affirmative, Friedberg called China a revisionist state. Friedberg does not think that China is trying to undermine the system, but he does think that China is unsatisfied with its current position. China is not content with every aspect of the existing order, Friedberg said. His statement raises an interesting question. Why should China be expected to be content with every aspect of an order created when the U.S. was powerful and China was weak?

Zhao argued more so from the perspective of China. He noted that China is a major contributor to key Western institutions. For the year of 2015, for example, China contributed $16,675,884 to the WTO budget and the budget of the Appellate Body, according to the WTO website. Not only is China the second largest contributor to the WTO, but China contributes greatly to other international institutions. China benefits greatly from the system. However, as both experts argued, China wants to gain better position.

After the Second World War, the U.S. led the creation of what is commonly known as the Western liberal order. At the time of its creation, the U.S. was very powerful and China was very weak, relatively speaking. Zhao said China accounted for only two percent of global GDP; and the U.S. accounted for about 50 percent of global GDP. Given the large imbalance of relative power, the system was created without concern for Chinas core interests.

The current order of Western rules and norms puts modern China at a disadvantage. The system was designed to benefit the West, but the character of China has remained unchanged over the years. Today, the U.S. accounts for less than 30 percent of global GDP; and China accounts for about 15 percent of global GDP, according to Zhao. The gap between the two countries is no longer that great and certain aspects of the system remain a relic of the past.

There is no reason for China to be content with every aspect of the existing system. It is rational for China to want to strive for a fairer system that gives the nation greater voice on the international stage and a more balanced system that makes it more difficult for the U.S. to use its powerful position to undermine Chinas core interests. From Chinas perspective, the system works, but certain rules and norms should be updated to accommodate the rise of China and the new reality of the world order.
This content is from: Video

Inflation remains the primary concern for the worlds central banks, which have engaged in the broadest and fastest tightening regime in history, according to Alejandra Grindal, chief economist at Ned Davis Research.
Australian insurer IAG confirms jobs will go as petition to fight it ramps up
Commonwealth Banks life insurance arm CommInsure concluded after investigation that there is no evidence of willful misconduct or wrongfully rejected claims.However, Maurice Blackburn principal Josh Mennen questioned the transparency of the independent reviews the insurer has undertaken to clear its name, according to a report by The Australian.The insurer said that a review by Deloitte did not reveal systemic issues as regards alleged inappropriate claims denials.CommInsure came under fire in recent weeks over allegations that it uses outdated medical terms to deny claims, and was pressuring doctors to deny service to claimants and was overzealous in its surveillance of clients who filed claims.The firm and independent reviewers electronically reviewed more than five million documents and emails, manually reviewed 200,000 documents, and conducted almost 80 interviews as part of the re-evaluation process.Still, it has lost three superannuation contracts valued at $200 million, as the industry reconsiders its relations with the insurer, The Australian added.What have the independent reviews found  we dont know  they just report back to the board committee and the board committee says nothing to see here. The public cant have any confidence because theres no transparency in that process. I would have thought that CommInsure should have been making these reviews public, Mennen told the publication.
Insurance brokers have calculated that if Santa wanted to safeguard himself by taking out insurance he would face costs of around $48 million.British firm Towergate Insurance brokers carried out the exercise as a festive way of giving themselves a bit of promotion.The brokers deduced that Mr Claus would need at least nine insurance policies to support his gift-giving, mince pie-eating journey around the globe.These would include non-standard home insurance, goods in transit, public liability, and reindeers vet insurance to ensure his sleigh-pullers were in good health.Drew Wotherspoon of Towergate said being Father Christmas was clearly a risky role.Weve drawn upon our years of expertise and knowledge to estimate the kinds of policies hed need if such a role did exist, he said.We love creating flexible policies for the more unique individuals and businesses out there, and if we were ever asked to insure the real Father Christmas, his advanced age, speedy delivery schedule, high value gifts and chimney and roof-hopping activities all need to be accounted for.While the sky-high premiums are about as achievable as the jolly red-suited figure is real, its not the first time an insurance outfit has seized on Santa to get a bit of publicity.American insurance website Insure.com produces its Santa Index every year which works out what Santa should be paid according to the breakdown of tasks included in his role.These ranged from investigator (to find out if youve been good or bad), running the workshop, distributor (placing gifts under the tree), snow plough driver and labour negotiator (dealing with the elves).Santas total salary, using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, worked out to be $202,211, up 2.2% from last year, and while he didnt secure the 3.1% increase that the average US employee received, hes still earning nearly three times higher than the national average wage.Insure.com also surveyed 1,000 respondents for their thoughts on Santas salary with 18% thinking he should earn more than $400,000 and 8% believing he shouldnt receive any salary because he does it out of the goodness of his heart.Regardless, he still wouldnt be able to afford those insurance premiums either way!
Lawmakers on Tuesday discussed the idea of merging embattled New Jersey Transit with other state agencies to save money to use for road, bridge and rail projects, and heard from experts about safety upgrades following a fatal rail accident in September.

The joint meeting of the Senate Legislative Oversight Committee and the Assembly Judiciary Committee was the third to examine the agencys finances and safety record.

Rail experts testified about a federally mandated automated safety system that has taken on urgency since a NJ Transit accident Sept. 29 in Hoboken that killed one person and injured more than 100 others.

Federal data show NJ Transit has had more accidents and paid more in fines for safety violations than any other commuter railroad in the country over the past five years, The Associated Press reported in October.

NJ Transit has until the end of 2018 to implement Positive Train Control. Carolyn Hayward-Williams, an expert from the nonprofit American Public Transport Association, told the hearing only five of 26 U.S. commuter railroads will have it in place by the end of this year.

Janna Chernetz of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, a nonprofit, non-partisan advocacy group, told committee members NJ Transit has transferred $7 billion intended for major capital projects since 1990 to plug gaps in its operating budget.

State Sens. Bob Gordon and John McKeon, both Democrats, said they hoped to have a report containing recommendations out by the spring.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Legislation Agencies New Jersey
The Pennsylvania Insurance Department has a plan to continue furthering its initiatives within the private flood insurance market in 2017.

This comes after the North Central part of the state of Pennsylvania saw flooding in many areas outside of identified flood hazard zones this fall following a series of storms, with the U.S. Department of Transportation issuing $1 million in Emergency Relief funds from the Federal Highway Administration to repair flood-damaged roads and bridges.

Typical homeowners insurance doesnt cover flood damage, said Ronald Ruman, director of communications at the Pennsylvania Insurance Department. We recently saw very bad flooding in the North Central part of our state, and those folks were not in flood hazard areas. In fact, those folks had probably never had to deal with flooding before, so we want to let them know that even if youre not in a flood hazard area, flood insurance is something you may want to consider and you can probably get a deal through the private market.

The efforts planned for next year serve as a continuation of the Departments initiatives this year following changes made to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and the remapping done by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

We want to continue our efforts to encourage the acceptance of private flood insurance by mortgage lenders. Thats something that is certainly going to be important going forward.

Commissioner Teresa Miller was concerned following the changes made to the NFIP that many people in Pennsylvania were seeing premiums rise quite a bit, Ruman said.

With the remapping done by FEMA, there are a lot of additional properties included in special flood hazard areas than there were before, Ruman said. This means that if they have a federally backed mortgage, which many do, they are now being required to purchase flood insurance.

In many cases, we heard from communities around Pennsylvania that a lot of these folks have never or rarely experienced flooding and had been in their homes for 20 years or more, he said. Now, all of a sudden, they have to get this insurance under NFIP, which is proving to be pretty expensive.

Ruman says private insurance was first seen entering the residential flood market following the phase out of subsidies for higher risk properties under federal law since the passage of the Biggert-Waters Act in 2012, with activity increasing following FEMAs remapping. Most of the current activity is seen taking place in the surplus lines market, as that industry is used to taking on riskier propositions, he said.

Surplus lines insurance is written by companies which are not licensed by the Pennsylvania Insurance Department, but sold by producers who are licensed in Pennsylvania and must adhere to Pennsylvania laws. Currently, the largest surplus lines carrier selling flood insurance in Pennsylvania is Lloyds of London, according to a Pennsylvania Insurance Department press release.

We were hearing from communities across the state that swaths of these communities were being remapped into flood hazard areas, he said. So in the past few years, weve seen private flood insurances entry into the residential market. Before that, there wasnt really any incentive for it. Its a pretty new phenomenon.

Earlier this year, Commissioner Miller asked Pennsylvania Insurance Department staff to look at ways to help homeowners in these flooding instances and found that in many cases, comparable plans were being offered through the private market that were much less expensive than those offered through NFIP, Ruman said.

One particular surplus lines agent indicated that he has sold 50% more policies in Pennsylvania this year since the Commissioner began this outreach, he added.

Commissioner Miller also pointed to one example while speaking at the Pennsylvania Housing Alliances annual Homes Within Reach conference in Harrisburg last month of a homeowner who was paying $2,000 a year for an NFIP policy and received private coverage for $400 a year. She outlined another example where a homeowner reported paying $2,700 annually through NFIP and was able to find comparable private coverage for $718 a year. She added that she believes these savings could be the difference between whether a family can or cannot afford to keep its home.

With this in mind, the Department is planning to continue spreading the word about private flood insurance as well as tackling some of the issues seen with it in 2017, Ruman said.

One of the issues weve seen is the fact that because this is a new effort, there are a lot of mortgage lenders that are not accepting some of the private insurance, he said. Commissioner Miller is working very hard to change that and get more mortgage lenders to accept private flood insurance when it is comparable to NFIP.

Indeed, in January of this year, Commissioner Miller testified on behalf of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) before the House Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance in support of House of Representatives Bill 2901 (HR 2901), or the Flood Insurance Market Parity and Modernization Act. The bill would require lenders to accept qualified private flood insurance for federally-backed mortgages.

Unfortunately, here and in other parts of the country, were seeing flooding occurring outside of flood hazard areas, so we want to continue our efforts to encourage the acceptance of private flood insurance by mortgage lenders. Thats something that is certainly going to be important going forward, Ruman said.

While speaking at the conference, Commissioner Miller also warned homeowners in high risk areas, however, that frequent flooding will likely not be insured through the private market and those homeowners may need to stay with the NFIP.

We hope people will continue to look at this as an option, Ruman said. We know its not going to be for everyone and that the private market isnt going to insure the highest risk properties, but we think many folks who maybe already had coverage, or through remapping are required to get coverage, can find a good policy and a better deal through the private market.

Topics Excess Surplus Flood Homeowners Pennsylvania
Technical trade secrets were stolen from the steel production and manufacturing plant design divisions of ThyssenKrupp AG in cyber attacks earlier this year, the German company said on Thursday.

ThyssenKrupp, one of the worlds largest steel makers, said it had been targeted by attackers located in southeast Asia engaged in what it said were organized, highly professional hacker activities.

In breaches discovered by the companys internal security team in April and traced back to February, hackers stole project data from ThyssenKrupps plant engineering division and from other areas yet to be determined.

ThyssenKrupp has become the target of a massive cyber attack, the industrial conglomerate said in a statement.

Globally, cyber attacks on banks, retailers and other businesses have led to widespread consumer and financial data losses in recent years. ThyssenKrupps disclosure followed last weeks attack on Deutsche Telekom routers that caused outage for nearly 1 million customers.

While revelations of industrial espionage are far rarer, estimates put the costs to businesses in the billions of dollars. China was frequently blamed for such commercial hacking attacks until the United States and China agreed not to hack each others businesses (http://reut.rs/2gewbrH).

German business magazine Wirtschafts Woche reported the attacks hit sites in Europe, India, Argentina and the United States run by the Industrial Solutions division, which builds large production plants. The Hagen Hohenlimburg speciality steel mill in western Germany was also targeted, the report added.

The company declined to identify specific locations which were infected or speculate on likely suspects. It said it could not estimate the scale of the intellectual property losses.

Counterattack

ThyssenKrupp said it waited to publicize the attack while it identified, then cleansed infected systems in one concerted, global action before implementing new safeguards to monitor its computer systems. It is important not to let the intruder know that he has been discovered, a spokesman said.

A criminal complaint was filed with police in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and an investigation is ongoing, it said. State and federal cyber security and data protection authorities were kept informed at each stage, as well as Thyssens board.

Secured systems operating steel blast furnaces and power plants in Duisburg, in Germanys industrial heartland in the Ruhr Valley, were unaffected, the company said.

No breaches were found at its marine systems unit, which produces military submarines and warships.

A previous cyber attack caused physical damage to an unidentified German steel plant and prevented the mills blast furnace from shutting down properly.

The countrys Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) revealed two years ago that the attack caused massive damage, but gave no further technical details and the location of the plant has remained shrouded in mystery.

Subsequent media reports identified the target as a ThyssenKrupp facility, but the company has denied it was hit.

The industrial conglomerate, along with Airbus parent EADS, were the targets of major attacks by Chinese hackers in 2012, according to a Der Spiegel report (http://reut.rs/2hamDzY).

The company, a big supplier of steel to Germanys automotive sector and other manufacturers, is looking to form a joint venture of its European steel operations with Indias Tata Steel to combat over-capacity in the sector.

(Editing by Jason Neely/Keith Weir)

Topics Cyber China
Authorities have identified the two adults and two girls killed in a fire at a home in Ohio that apparently lacked smoke detectors, and theyre considering whether the rental propertys owner should be cited.

Firefighters say an Akron ordinance requires homes there to have working smoke detectors, but investigators havent found any in the three-story house, where a family of five lived with a friend.

I believe that we would have a strong case to take to the law department to see if we could move forward with citations, Fire Chief Clarence Tucker told WEWS-TV.

The fire early on Dec. 3 killed four people from the family. The Summit County medical examiner identified them as 36-year-old Omar Riley; 33-year-old Shirley Wallis; and two young sisters, 9-year-old Aniyla Riley and 8-year-old Shanice Riley. A 12-year-old girl was revived, and the other woman escaped by jumping from an attic window.

Neighbors told the Akron Beacon Journal that nearby security cameras showed smoke coming from the house around 12:30 a.m. Saturday, nearly an hour before the fire was reported.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Tucker told WEWS-TV that food left on the stove is one possible cause under review.

Meanwhile, firefighters and the American Red Cross planned to canvass nearby homes and install free smoke detectors in any that dont have them, in hopes of avoiding another tragedy.

We want to make sure those residents in that neighborhood feel safe, Akron fire Lt. Sierjie Lash told the Beacon Journal.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Ohio
Government entities arent automatically blocked from releasing information such as the exact location of a crime to the public under a new victims rights constitutional amendment, Attorney General Marty Jackley said in a legal opinion released Dec. 5.

Instead, victims must opt into privacy protections offered by the amendment, Jackley wrote in the attorney generals opinion. Confusion has swirled since voters in November approved the amendment, better known as Marsys Law.

It establishes rights for victims, including privacy, protection from harassment or abuse, and timely notice of trial, sentencing and post-judgment proceedings.

Jackley said in the opinion that the amendment requires victims to actively invoke their right to prevent the disclosure of information or records.

The amendment had caused law enforcement agencies, including Sioux Falls police, to stop providing details such as the addresses where crimes occurred, the names of victimized businesses and vehicle crash information.

Rapid City police have been using generalized addresses for additional types of crimes in public logs, and state officials have said they wont release the names of people involved in car crashes that result in injury or death.

While there is more work being done, this opinion is intended to help victims and those assisting victims in carrying out our new law, Jackley said in a statement.

Attorney general opinions offer guidance on legal issues until the Legislature changes the law or a court rules on them.

Jackley has also convened a task force to work on interpreting Marsys Law and to address issues caused by its implementation.

The victims rights amendment is named for California college student Marsalee Marsy Nicholas, who was stalked and killed in 1983 by an ex-boyfriend. Her brother, Henry Nicholas, bankrolled the effort to expand it to more states.

Related:

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Legislation Fraud
Crew fatigue brought on by irregular work schedules and a moderate form of sleep apnea is the primary reason behind a middle-of-the-night train crash that killed two Union Pacific workers and injured two others in northern Arkansas, the National Transportation Safety Board said.

The panel also blamed an automatic horn that improperly reset alarms and the railroad industrys slow adoption of a system to stop trains automatically.

The conductor and engineer killed in the crash were likely sleeping in their southbound train as it sped through a stop signal Aug. 17, 2014, and hit a northbound Union Pacific train, the board found.

This tragedy illustrates what can happen when identified weaknesses in safety protection are not addressed, NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart said at a hearing on Dec. 6. The crew of the train did not stop or slow their train in response to three restrictive signals. This action is indicative of fatigue, a problem that occurs so regularly it is on the most-wanted list of transportation safety improvements.

A railroad spokesman declined comment ahead of the hearing and did not return telephone calls for comment placed after the boards vote.

Investigators found that, as the train approached Hoxie, a town of 2,700 near the Missouri border, the southbound crew activated an automatic horn that repeats blasts in a long-long-short-long sequence until being shut off. As each cycle started anew, it reset a device designed to ensure the crew is alert. Had it worked properly, the engineer and conductor would have been warned at least three times that something wasnt right. If they didnt respond to the warnings, the train would have applied its brakes automatically.

The investigators also found that either the conductor or the engineer disengaged the horn 44 seconds before the crash, but the boards medical officer said it was likely just as a reflex.

Have you ever hit the alarm, the snooze button on your alarm clock? Dr. Mary Pat McKay told the board. Automated responses can happen when you are not awake. We can explain the turning off of the horn.

The conductor had worked an irregular schedule ahead of his final trip while the engineer had moderate sleep apnea that he was not required to report. Union Pacific required that only severe cases be disclosed.

After its 3-1 vote on the cause of the 2014 accident, the board unanimously recommended that railroads and government agencies screen for sleep apnea among transportation workers, citing its increasing role in accidents.

The condition has been implicated in a September crash in northern New Jersey that killed one person and a 2013 crash in the Bronx on the Metro-North Railroad Hudson Line that killed four. Crew fatigue was a factor in fatal train collisions in Red Oak, Iowa, in 2011, and Newton, Massachusetts, in 2008.

The board also renewed its call for positive train control, which uses GPS-based technology to monitor and control train movement.

NTSB vice chairman T. Bella Dinh-Zarr voted against the findings. She said that since the board has been advocating for a form of positive train control since 1970, it deserved greater attention so there arent catastrophic results because of one simple human mistake.

Most railroads face a December 2018 deadline to install the technology.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Arkansas
U.S. President-elect Trump has announced Iowa Governor Terry Branstad as the country's new ambassador to China, according to U.S. media reports.

Trump met with Branstad at Trump Tower on Dec. 6 (local time).

Branstad was elected as governor of Iowa for the first time at the age of 36, setting a new record at the time for youngest governor in the country. Branstad is also the longest-serving governor in U.S. history, having been in office for more than 20 years.

During the presidential campaign earlier this year, Trump hailed Branstad during a campaign stop in Iowa for his ability to trade and communicate with China. Mainstream media, including local Iowa media outlets, predicted that Branstad would be named U.S. ambassador to China after Trump won the election.

The state of Iowa is a role model in terms of China-U.S. cooperation and exchange, offering many opportunities for Branstad to communicate with and understand China. As a result, he has been engaged in bilateral exchange for more than 30 years, going back to 1983, when Iowa established sister state relations with China's Hebei province. According to the governor, he received Chinese guests in his office on a daily basis during that time.

Some presidential candidates proposed confrontation with China during the campaign. Branstad unfailingly replied that cooperation is the only path forward to mutually beneficial results. He hopes the next president will seek more economic and trade cooperation with China, rather than conflict.

Swallow Yan, executive director of the Chinese Association of Iowa, believes that Branstad has acquired rich experience through decades of exchange with China, and notes that the governor is very friendly to the local Chinese community. According to Yan, Branstad has said on many occasions that disputes between China and the U.S. are inevitable. However, he believes the two sides should seek common ground and view disputes through the lens of their development, as risks come together with opportunities.
Authorities say one worker is dead and two other injured after a pipe with hot chemicals burst at a plant that makes plastics used in bottles in Calhoun County, S.C.

Coroner Donnie Porth told media outlets that the solution used to make the plastic spewed on the workers around noon Tuesday at the DAK Americas plant just off Interstate 26 about 20 miles south of Columbia.

Site Manager Mark Leonhardt told reporters the three workers were doing annual maintenance on a pump and the line was supposed to be shut down,

Investigators are talking to witnesses to get more details.

Porth identified the dead worker as 63-year-old Alton Zeigler. The names of the injured employees werent released.

DAK Americans is one of Calhoun Countys biggest employers with about 425 workers.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics South Carolina
Florida lawmakers can expect substantial pressure to tackle the assignment of benefits (AOB) and water loss claims crisis from the states insurer of last resort when Floridas legislative session begins early next year.

At a governing board meeting Wednesday, leaders of Citizens stressed that rising water claims and out of control litigation are threatening the insurers long-term financial stability and will stifle efforts by Citizens to offer premium breaks to policyholders in 2017.

The company said that barring significant changes, including possible legislative action on assignment of benefits, non-hurricane losses will continue to chip away at Citizens reserves and could result in policies returning to the states insurer of last resort as private insurers face similar challenges.

Without significant reform, litigation, water claims and AOB pose a serious threat to the financial position of Citizens, said Chris Gardner, chairman of the Board of Governors. This is not a sustainable situation.

Citizens plans to make AOB reform its 2017 legislative priority, the company said.

The percentage of nonweather related water claims  burst pipes, sudden dishwasher leaks, etc.  that head toward litigation has skyrocketed in recent years. According to Citizens data, each litigated case raises the average claim cost by at least $20,000, which will ultimately be passed on to Citizens policyholders.

Citizens said that between January and November 2016, 8,097 new lawsuits were filed against Citizens  a 30 percent increase from the same period in 2015. Meanwhile, Citizens policy count dropped by 26.3 percent between January 2015 and November 2016.

While less than 15 percent of water-related claims resulted in litigation in 2011, nearly 50 percent did so in 2016, said Barry Gilway, Citizens president, CEO and executive director. The situation is really out of control.

Contributing to this sharp increase is the fact that in many cases, Citizens is only made aware of a loss after repairs are made or the policyholder has hired an attorney or a public adjuster to represent them, the company said.

Another factor is the use of assignment of benefits, in which policyholders who suffer a loss sign over policy rights to a third party, such as a contractor, who then has control of the claim and deals directly with Citizens. Data from Citizens and the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation found that on average, AOB claims are more expensive and more likely to lead to litigation.

Under current conditions, contractors assume all the benefits afforded the policyholders but bear few of the responsibilities, such as cooperating with Citizens adjusters.

These losses are driving Citizens 2017 budget request, which was approved by the Board on Wednesday. For 2017, Citizens has estimated net operating losses of $100 million in its inland residential policy lines, with losses concentrated in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, where the bulk of litigated and AOB claims originate.

The Florida Consumer Protection Coalition, formed earlier this year in response to rising AOB abuse, issued a statement in support of Citizens legislative priority.

The Consumer Protection Coalition joins Citizens in supporting commonsense reforms to protect homeowners against unscrupulous vendors who use AOB to pad their profits, the coalition said.

Those reforms include eliminating one-way attorney fees, which create an incentive for bad guy vendors to sue insurance companies without facing any financial risk, the coalition said. It also supports requirements for written estimates for work, notifications for insurers and options to rescind an AOB.

Citizens is on the right path to seeking better protections for consumers, said Michael Carlson, president of the Personal Insurance Federation of Florida, which is a member of the coalition. Consumers should not have to sign over control of their insurance policies they bought and paid for, and any vendor who insists upon on it should raise a red flag.

The Consumer Protection Coalition said AOB reform will be its priority as well during the upcoming legislative session, saying that AOB abuse hurts homeowners, erodes Floridas business-friendly environment and threatens the stability of the states insurance market.

This problem is not limited to Citizens, and we encourage lawmakers to take notice of AOB abuse and get behind efforts to stop it before it impacts every homeowner in Florida with higher premiums, Wilson said.

Related:

Topics Lawsuits Florida Legislation Claims
Prosecutors have charged an employee at Washington states largest psychiatric hospital with four counts of molesting four female patients, according to court records made public Friday.

Christopher Conley, 47, was charged on Thursday with taking indecent liberties with the four women between April 1 and May 8 while working as a Psychiatric Security Attendant, according to charging documents filed by Pierce County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Erica Eggertsen.

Western State Hospitals security learned about the claims made by two patients on May 8 and conducted an investigation. During that probe, two other patients made similar claims.

The 800-bed facility is already under scrutiny by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services over concerns involving patient safety. Officials at the Lakewood hospital have signed a detailed agreement with federal regulators to fix safety problems or lose millions of federal dollars.

The Associated Press was not able to reach Conley, and it wasnt immediately clear if he had an attorney. His arraignment in Pierce County Superior Court was set for Dec. 15.

Conley was removed from direct patient care on May 9, Kathy Spears, spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Services, said Friday evening. She said a supervisor was suspended for 10 days because that person did not report the abuse allegations to superiors. Earlier Friday the department had said Conley had been placed on alternative assignment on May 16, but revised its statement after further review.

Patient safety and protection has been one of my top priorities since fully taking over the duties of CEO in mid-May, Cheryl Strange said in a statement. I am relieved to know that the former employee was not working with patients for another 8 days after the allegations, as was reported earlier. However, I will hold people accountable for not immediately reporting allegations of abuse and neglect to the proper supervising leadership.

The women said that Conley bragged about knowing the blind spots for the cameras on the ward, but other cameras were able to capture his activities. Other patients also witnessed Conleys interactions with the patients that included touching and sexual comments, Eggertsen said.

Investigators compared the womens claims with security camera videos and determined that the claims were valid, Eggertsen said. The hospital reported the case to Lakewood Police Department on June 6, according to a police press release.

The patients, who ranged in age from 28 to 47, said they didnt report Conleys behavior because they feared retaliation.

They said the defendant threatened them with getting their time extended so they would have to stay longer at WSH, Eggertsen said.

They also claimed Conley would give them candy with the expectation that they would allow him to touch them sexually, the prosecutor said.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Washington
Il 12,7% degli studenti non arriva al diploma, perche abbandona precocemente gli studi. Il 9,7% del totale, quasi un diplomato su 10 nel 2022, senza le competenze minime necessarie per entrare nel mondo del lavoro o dellUniversita. Inoltre, il 23,1% dei 15-29enni in Italia si trova in un limbo, fuori da ogni percorso di lavoro, istruzione o formazione: il numero dei Neet e il piu alto dellUe, oltre il doppio di Francia e Germania.

Lo rileva Save the Children che, nel nuovo rapporto Alla ricerca del tempo perduto, la definisce dispersione implicita ed e connessa allimpoverimento educativo e alla poverta materiale.

Il rapporto Save the Children

In vista della riapertura delle scuole, lassociazione segnala alcuni deficit strutturali a livello nazionale e locale, in termini di spazi, servizi e tempi educativi, mettendo in luce un paradosso: laddove la poverta minorile e piu alta, e sarebbe dunque importante unofferta formativa di qualita, la scuola e piu povera, privata di tempo pieno, mense e palestre.

Il rapporto segnala una forte disparita geografica nelle dispersione implicita, che risulta piu alta in Campania, al 19,8%. Save the Children cita i dati Invalsi del 2022: se si guarda alle competenze nelle singole materie, in Campania, Calabria e Sicilia piu del 60% degli studenti non raggiungono il livello base delle competenze in italiano, mentre quelle in matematica sono disattese dal 70% degli studenti in Campania, Calabria, Sicilia e Sardegna.

Labbandono scolastico nella maggior parte delle regioni del sud va ben oltre la media nazionale (del 12,7%), con punte in Sicilia (21,1%) e Puglia (17,6%) e valori decisamente piu alti rispetto a Centro e Nord anche in Campania (16,4%) e Calabria (14%).

E un dato di fatto, evidenzia poi Save the Children, che vi sia un correlazione tra livello di apprendimento e alcuni indicatori strutturali, apprezzabile guardando i dati in positivo: nelle province dove lindice di dispersione implicita e piu basso, le scuole primarie hanno assicurato ai bambini maggior offerta di tempo pieno (frequentato dal 31,5% degli studenti contro il 24,9% nelle province ad alta dispersione), maggior numero di mense (il 25,9% delle scuole contro il 18,8%), di palestre (42,4% contro 29%) e sono inoltre dotate di certificato di agibilita (47,9% contro 25,3%). Servirebbero  stima lorganizzazione  1 miliardo e 445 milioni per garantire il tempo pieno in tutte le classi della scuola primaria statale.

Unofferta adeguata di spazi e di tempi educativi  sottolinea  puo contribuire efficacemente a ridurre le disuguaglianze educative territoriali: Proprio dove i bambini, le bambine e gli adolescenti affrontano, con le loro famiglie, le maggiori difficolta economiche ce al contrario maggior bisogno di unofferta educativa piu ricca.

Per questo  osserva Raffaela Milano, direttrice dei Programmi Italia-Europa di Save the Children  chiediamo al nuovo governo che si formera un investimento straordinario che parta dalla attivazione di aree ad alta densita educativa nei territori piu deprivati: investire il 5% del Pil, al pari della media europea, vorrebbe dire rendere disponibili circa 93 miliardi, contro i circa 71 stanziati nel 2020.
Microsoft (MSFT), one of the worlds largest technology companies, was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in a garage in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Five years later, Gates and Allen were hired to provide the operating system for IBMs first personal computer (PC), followed in 1985 by Microsofts launch of its now-ubiquitous Windows software product.

In 1986, the company raised $61 million in an initial public offering (IPO) that some analysts referred to as the deal of the year. By the late 1980s, Microsoft became the worlds largest PC software company.

The Redmond, Washington-based companys stock rose more than a hundredfold in the 10 years after the IPO, and today its one of the worlds largest companies by market value. Microsofts market capitalization is about $2.09 trillion as of April 15, 2022. The company posted net income of $61.3 billion on revenue of $168 billion for its 2021 fiscal year (FY), which ended June 30, 2021.

While Microsoft began as a software company, it has expanded its reach into broad areas of the tech industry. Along with software, the company now sells personal computing devices, cloud-computing infrastructure and services, artificial intelligence (AI), and more. Much of Microsofts expansion has come through a string of small and large acquisitions totaling tens of billions of dollars in value.

Not all of those acquisitions have worked out, however. As part of its attempt to develop a Windows Phone to compete with Apples iPhones and Googles Android smartphone operating system, Microsoft acquired Nokia for $7.2 billion in 2014. But the deal was a major failure. In the summer of 2015, Microsoft had to write off $7.6 billion related to the acquisition and sold the brand in 2016 for $350 million to HMD Global, a subsidiary of Taiwanese firm Foxconn Technology Co. Ltd. The Windows Phone has been discontinued.

Microsofts expansion, both internally and via acquisition, has also brought it under the scrutiny of regulators. In 2000, the company was ordered to break up into two parts after losing a U.S. antitrust lawsuit. While the ruling was overturned, Microsoft was ordered in 2002 to comply with key rules to ensure a more level tech playing field.

The criticism of Microsoft and other mega tech companies over their size and market dominance continues to this day. Amid critics calls for the breakup of big tech companies such as Amazon (AMZN), in early 2020 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ordered Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Alphabet (GOOGL), and Facebook (META) to provide information on every acquisition they did from Jan. 1, 2010, to Dec. 31, 2019.

On Jan. 18, 2022, Microsoft announced plans to acquire video game developer Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. The acquisition, Microsoft's largest, represents a substantial investment in gaming and the metaverse.

Below, we look in detail at six of Microsofts key acquisitions, which largely illustrate the companys strategy of moving into new areas such as social networking, video games, telecommunications, and online advertising. Also, we will look at a seventh deal: Microsofts pending acquisition of Nuance Communications (NUAN), a leading provider of conversational AI solutions. Six of these deals took place since 2010, the focus of the FTC inquiry, while one took place in 2007. The list below also includes a software deal, which added to Microsofts legacy business. In most cases, Microsoft does not break out the revenue or profit for these companies.

1. LinkedIn

Type of business: Professional social network site

Acquisition price: $27.0 billion

Acquisition date: Dec. 8, 2016

Annual revenue (FY 2021): $10.3 billion

LinkedIn, the business-centric social media website focused on helping people cultivate their professional networks, was founded in 2002. It became profitable within five years. From 2007 to 2011, the year it went public, the company grew from 15 million members to more than 100 million. In 2016, LinkedIn was acquired by Microsoft, and the following year reported more than 500 million members in about 200 countries.

Microsoft has taken a fairly hands-off approach with the acquisition, allowing LinkedIn to retain its core brand and culture, and initially, even its then-CEO, Jeff Weiner. LinkedIn mainly provides Microsoft with a valuable social media platform and recruiting tool that earns revenue through premium memberships. But it also generates commercial cloud revenue for Microsoft through LinkedIns commercial business.

2. Skype Technologies S.A.R.L

Type of business: Telecommunications application

Acquisition price: $8.5 billion

Acquisition date: May 10, 2011

Skype Technologies, which is currently headquartered in Luxembourg, was founded in 2003 by Niklas Zennstrom of Sweden and Janus Friis of Denmark.

Skype became an early success story in the area of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), a communications technology that allows users to interact by audio through an Internet connection instead of an analog connection. From 2004 to 2012, the companys registered users soared from 1 million to more than 250 million users per month.

Since Microsoft acquired Skype in 2011, the parent has integrated its capabilities with technologies like Xbox and Windows devices, and with online platforms like Outlook and Xbox Live.

3. GitHub

Type of business: Software development platform

Acquisition price: $7.5 billion

Acquisition date: Oct. 25, 2018

GitHub was founded in 2007 when Chris Wanstrath created the first commit, a term used to describe the action of storing a files hierarchy and content in a digital repository. GitHub has since become a popular open-source coding repository and development tool for software developers and large companies.

By the time Microsoft acquired it in 2018, GitHub had reached 30 million developers and was hosting more than 100 million repositories. The acquisition demonstrates Microsofts focus on open-source development and its aims to accelerate developer use of the platform and provisioning of more tools and services to new audiences.

4. Mojang

Type of business: Video game studio

Acquisition price: $2.5 billion

Acquisition date: Sept. 15, 2014

Mojang, the Sweden-based video game studio best known for producing the popular game Minecraft, was founded in 2009 by Markus Notch Persson.

The company managed to sell more than 200 million copies of the game as of May 2020, making it one of the best-selling games of all time. The company was bought by Microsoft in 2014.

Today, Mojangs games are played on the Windows and Xbox platforms, iOS, PlayStation, and more. Microsoft has put the game studio to multiple uses, including designing an educational version of Minecraft for classrooms.

5. aQuantive

Type of business: Online advertising platform

Acquisition price: $6.3 billion

Acquisition date: Aug. 13, 2007

Founded in 1997, aQuantive encompassed a family of brands focused on providing digital marketing services, including advertising toolsets, consultation services, media planning/buying, and more.

Microsoft acquired the company in 2007 in an attempt to compete with Google in the market for online advertising. But like the Nokia deal mentioned above, the acquisition was a financial failure. In 2012, Microsoft wrote down the value of the ad business by $6.2 billion, indicating that it drastically overpaid for aQuantive.

Microsoft still operates an ad business, but it is focused on search advertising rather than on aQuantives specialty: display advertising.

6. ZeniMax Media

Type of business: Video game publisher

Acquisition price: $7.5 billion in cash

Acquisition date: March 9, 2021

Founded in 1999, ZeniMax Media is a video game publisher that creates and publishes original interactive entertainment content for consoles, PCs, and mobile devices. It is the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, which was founded in 1986 and has built a strong reputation by publishing award-winning video games throughout its history. Some of ZeniMaxs best-selling franchises include The Elder Scrolls and Fallout.

Microsoft announced in late September 2020 that it agreed to acquire ZeniMax for $7.5 billion. The acquisition was completed in March 2021 after being approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and European Union regulators. The deal helped bolster Microsofts Xbox Game Studios offerings and increase its competitiveness with giant rivals such as Sony, maker of the PlayStation game console and related games.

7. Nuance Communications

Type of business: Conversational AI solutions

Acquisition price: $19.7 billion in cash

Acquisition date: March 4, 2022

Annual revenue (FY 2021): $1.36 billion

Annual net loss (FY 2021): $26.7 million

Nuance Communications was founded in 1992 as Visioneer Inc. The company changed its name to Nuance Communications in 2005. Nuance is a leading provider of conversational AI and cloud-based clinical intelligence for health care providers. It offers clinical speech recognition software built on Microsofts cloud platform, Azure.

Nuance helps health care providers with clinical documentation and provides them with the tools to offer better patient experiences. The companys conversational AI software is also used by companies outside the healthcare industry.

In April 2021, Microsoft announced that it agreed to acquire Nuance for $19.7 billion. The acquisition, which closed in March 2022, builds on the partnership between Microsoft and Nuance that was first announced in 2019. It also represents the latest step in Microsofts strategy to provide industry-specific cloud offerings, such as its Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare initiative that was introduced in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Microsoft Diversity & Inclusiveness Transparency

As part of our effort to improve the awareness of the importance of diversity in companies, we have highlighted the transparency of Microsofts commitment to diversity, inclusiveness, and social responsibility. The chart below illustrates how Microsoft reports the diversity of its management and workforce. This shows if Microsoft discloses data about the diversity of its board of directors, C-Suite, general management, and employees overall across a variety of markers. We have indicated that transparency with a .
As one of the largest airline carriers in the world, Delta Air Lines faces competitive challenges and threats that can impact its performance and profitability. Investors interested in analyzing the company as a potential investment can conduct a fundamental analysis to help them gain a clear picture of Delta's financial position and its position within the airline industry. This information leads to better investing decisions since share price appreciation tends to follow sound fundamentals. The fundamental analysis starts with examining a company's financial documents, such as its financial statements, annual and quarterly reports, and stock performance.

However, the shrewdest investors will go beyond looking at Delta's financial position and will study the potential effects of external forces on the company's health. One of the most effective tools for this is Porter's Five Forces.

Overview of Porter's Five Forces Method

Porter's Five Forces is an analytical framework developed in 1979 by Harvard Business School professor, Michael E. Porter. Porter's goal was to develop a thorough system for evaluating a company's position within its industry and to consider the types of horizontal and vertical threats the company might face in the future.

Horizontal Threats and Vertical Threats

A horizontal threat is a competitive threat, such as customers switching to a substitute product or service, or a new company entering the marketplace and appropriating market share. A vertical threat is a threat along the supply chain, such as buyers or suppliers gaining bargaining power, that can put a company at a competitive disadvantage.

The Five Forces model evaluates three potential horizontal threats and two vertical threats. Industry competition, the threat of new entrants, and the threat of substitutes represent the horizontal threats. The vertical threats come from the increased bargaining power of suppliers and the increased bargaining power of buyers. Using the Five Forces framework, investors can determine the most viable threats to a company. With this information, they can evaluate whether the company has the resources and protocol in place to respond to likely challenges.

Key Takeaways Porter's Five Forces is an analytical framework that helps investors evaluate a company based on its position within an industry and the kinds of horizontal and vertical threats it might face in the future.

A horizontal threat is a competitive threat, such as a new company entering the marketplace and gaining market share.

A vertical threat puts a company at a competitive disadvantage, such as buyers or suppliers gaining bargaining power.

In the airline industry, buyers have tremendous bargaining power because they can quickly and easily switch from one carrier to another using third-party trip-booking websites and apps.

An Overview of Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL) is the oldest airline still in operation in the United States. The company was founded in 1928 and has its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. From May 2020 to April 2021, Delta ranked third in domestic market share for U.S. airlines at 14.3%. Delta's sheer size and status as a longtime leader in the airline industry have helped ensure its continued success. As of July 2021, the company's market capitalization was around $26.6 billion.

Industry Competition

The level of competition in the airline industry is high. The big airlines essentially fly to the same places out of the same airports for about the same prices. The amenities, or lack of amenities, they offer are similar, and the seats in coach are just as cramped no matter which airline you choose. Delta's traditional rivals include United and American, but the company also faces major competition from the growing popularity of value carriers, most notably Southwest, but also JetBlue and Spirit.

70 million The number of passengers Delta Air Lines carried in 2020.

Because the air travel experience for customers is remarkably similar no matter which airline they take, airlines are constantly threatened by the prospect of losing passengers to competitors. Delta is no exception. If a customer is planning to book a flight from Houston to Phoenix on Delta but a third-party price aggregator, such as Priceline, reveals a better deal from United, the customer can make the switch with a simple click of the mouse. Delta manages these competitive threats with extensive marketing campaigns that focus on brand awareness and the company's longstanding reputation.

Bargaining Power of Buyers

Buyers have immense bargaining power over airlines because the cost and effort required to switch from one carrier to another is minimal. The emergence and raging popularity of third-party trip-booking websites and smartphone apps exacerbate this issue for the airlines. Most travelers do not contact an airline, such as Delta, directly to book a flight. They access sites or apps that compare rates across all carriers, enter their trip itineraries, and then choose the least expensive deal that accommodates their schedules.

Delta can respond to this market force by conducting market research and offering more direct flights at low prices to the destinations fliers search for most frequently on third-party platforms. Additionally, the company should strengthen relationships with credit card companies and strive to offer the best reward programs; customers are loath to switch carriers when they have accumulated what they view as "free" miles with a particular airline.

The Threat of New Entrants

Potential new entrants to the marketplace represent a minimal threat to Delta. The barriers to entry in the airline industry are remarkably high. The operating costs are massive, and the government regulations a company must navigate are numerous and exceedingly complex. There is not a single airline founded during the 21st century that has even a 2% market share. JetBlue, founded in 1998, represents the newest airline to make a dent in the industry, and the company's market share is still less than one-third of Delta's.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers

The list of airline suppliers is actually quite long. The list of airlines for suppliers to sell to, however, is short. This asymmetry places the bargaining power directly in the hands of the airlines. Bargaining power is particularly strong for Delta, given its position as the world's largest airline by passenger revenue in 2019. Put simply, Delta's suppliers have a strong incentive to keep the relationship on good terms. Delta can likely find a replacement supplier without a problem if the relationship goes bad. The supplier, by contrast, is unlikely to find another buyer capable of replacing the sales volume represented by Delta.

Threat of Substitutes

A substitute, as defined by the Five Forces model, is not a product or service that competes directly with the company's offerings but acts as a substitute for it. Thus, a United flight from New York to Los Angeles is not considered a substitute for a Delta flight with the same start and endpoints. Examples of substitutes are making the trip by train, car, or bus. Unless a trip is very short, such as traveling from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, no methods of travel rate as viable substitutes for air travel. New York to Los Angeles is a 6.5-hour flight. The trip takes 41 hours by car or bus, and a train cannot get you there much faster. Until a new technology comes along that supplants air travel as the fastest and most convenient way to travel long distances, Delta faces little threat from substitute methods of travel.
After selling their own paddy rice, many farmers in Wuchang, Heilongjiang province have begun buying homes in the city.

I have bought a home, and I am accompanying my relative to buy a home. Over 50 percent of the people in my village have bought homes in the city, a local villager told CCTV.

To enjoy better education, medical resources and transportation, well-off farmers are increasingly investing in homes in urban centers. The large-scale phenomenon has taken many by surprise, including real estate developers.

According to Liu Zifu, vice general manager of Mingjian Real Estate, 70 to 80 percent of the company's home-buyers this year have been farmers.

Wuchang is a famous rice production area in northeastern China. Its unique location and atmosphere are especially suitable for growing high-quality rice. The rice grown in Wuchang is known for its excellent aroma and pure taste.

Dong Dianjiu, a farmer in the village of Chang'an, planted 40 mu (1 mu is equal to 667 square meters) of rice this year. He is confident that the rice will bring him a higher income next year. His confidence originates from a plan of the local government, which aims to increase the value of the local rice industry from 18 billion RMB to 50 billion RMB in five years. If the plan is successful, Dong is in for a raise of approximately 40,000 to 50,000 RMB.

Dong noted that the government has implemented a series of measures to ensure the authenticity and quality of Wuchang rice. Government authorities have instituted a monitoring system that oversees every stage of rice production. Farmers are only allowed to buy authentic rice seeds using their own ID cards, and chemical fertilizers and high-residue pesticides are banned.

Yi Yanchen, head of the local agriculture bureau, said they even appplied for a sort of national trademark for Wuchang rice. In addition, 10 million RMB has been invested in building a traceability system for the rice.

This year, the purchasing price for rice produced in Wuchang increased to 5 RMB per kilogram, twice that of ordinary rice. The purchasing price for organic rice is 8 to 10 RMB per kilogram. With these prices, local farmers can earn over 3,000 RMB for one mu of paddy rice.
Many investors are hesitant to buy individual commodities. But exchange-traded funds (ETFs) make commodities investing more accessible, opening the area up to a broader range of investors. Commodities can be a useful hedge against inflation, and they help diversify investment portfolios beyond more traditional stocks and bonds. Commodities such as silver and palladium also are seen as safe havens in times of market uncertainty, while demand for a commodity like copper may strengthen due to increasing manufacturing and construction activity.

Commodities ETFs offer a way to gain exposure to one or more commodities while reducing risks. Those risks include investing in just a single commodity or in dealing with the complexities of investing directly in commodities futures contracts.

Key Takeaways Commodities have dramatically outperformed the U.S. stock market in the past year.

The commodities exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with the best one-year trailing total returns are UNG, UGA, and DBE.

The first ETF holds natural gas futures contracts, the second holds gasoline-related futures, and the third holds a mix of oil and gas futures.

There are 55 commodities ETFs that trade in the U.S., excluding inverse and leveraged funds as well as those with less than $50 million in assets under management (AUM). These ETFs provide exposure to physical commodities, not commodity-producing companies.

Commodities, as measured by the Dow Jones Commodity Index, have significantly outperformed the U.S. stock market over the past 12 months. The index has delivered a total return of 27.5% compared with the S&P 500's total return of -3.0%, as of Aug. 16, 2022. The best-performing commodities ETF for the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2022, based on performance over the past year, is the United States Natural Gas Fund LP (UNG). Note that the three top performing commodities ETFs for this quarter are all energy funds, which have been bolstered by the spike in fossil fuel prices due to surging demand and the ongoing war in Ukraine.

We examine the top three commodities ETFs below. All numbers are as of Aug. 16, 2022. In order to focus on the funds' investment strategy, the top holdings listed for each ETF exclude cash holdings and holdings purchased with securities lending proceeds except under unusual cases, such as when the cash portion is exceptionally large.

Performance Over One Year: 133.0%

Expense Ratio: 1.11%

Annual Dividend Yield: N/A

Three-Month Average Daily Volume: 7,121,375

Assets Under Management: $550.6 million

Inception Date: April 18, 2007

Issuer: Marygold Cos, Inc.

UNG is structured as a commodity pool, a private investment structure that pools investor contributions in order to trade futures and options in commodities. The fund provides exposure to natural gas prices by holding natural gas futures contracts. UNG aims to replicate the percent change on a daily basis of the price of natural gas delivered at the Henry Hub, Louisiana. It invests in front month futures contracts, meaning the futures contracts with the nearest expiration dates. This means the fund is more exposed to the adverse impacts of contango and is thus more appropriate for traders with a short-term strategy. It may also be appealing as an inflation hedge.



Performance Over One Year: 64.0%

Expense Ratio: 0.90%

Annual Dividend Yield: N/A

Three-Month Average Daily Volume: 105,839

Assets Under Management: $104.1 million

Inception Date: Feb. 26, 2008

Issuer: Marygold Cos, Inc.

UGA is also structured as a commodity pool. It is designed to track the movements of gasoline prices. The ETF offers investors a way to bet on a rise in gasoline prices by investing in futures contracts on reformulated gasoline blendstock for oxygen blending (RBOB) and other gasoline-related futures. The fund may also invest in forwards and swap contracts. It provides investors with a way to implement a short-term tactical tilt toward a specific segment of the energy market and is not likely to appeal to those building a long-term, buy-and-hold portfolio.



Performance Over One Year: 63.2%

Expense Ratio: 0.77%

Annual Dividend Yield: N/A

Three-Month Average Daily Volume: 198,070

Assets Under Management: $182.1 million

Inception Date: Jan. 5, 2007

Issuer: Invesco

Like the other two funds above, DBE is also structured as a commodity pool. It invests in futures contracts of some of the most heavily traded commodities in the world, including light sweet crude oil (WTI), heating oil, Brent crude oil, RBOB gasoline, and natural gas. Its goal is to track changes in the DBIQ Optimum Yield Energy Index Excess Return, which includes futures contracts on heavily traded energy commodities. The fund provides a cost-effective and convenient way for investors to gain exposure to futures of energy commodities. However, it may not be suitable for all investors, as the fund is focused on investments within highly volatile markets.

The comments, opinions, and analyses expressed herein are for informational purposes only and should not be considered individual investment advice or recommendations to invest in any security or adopt any investment strategy. While we believe the information provided herein is reliable, we do not warrant its accuracy or completeness. The views and strategies described in our content may not be suitable for all investors. Because market and economic conditions are subject to rapid change, all comments, opinions, and analyses contained within our content are rendered as of the date of the posting and may change without notice. The material is not intended as a complete analysis of every material fact regarding any country, region, market, industry, investment, or strategy.
Biotech price action at all capitalization levels has deteriorated in recent weeks, with the two major sector funds giving up the majority of their 2018 gains. This downturn could be significant, marking the end of the intermediate uptrend that started in early 2016. However, that's just speculation at this point because those instruments will need to trade at even lower levels to confirm recent warning signals.

The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology Index Fund (IBB) and the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) carve different price patterns due to their unique holdings and construction. The market-cap weighted Nasdaq fund is dependent upon its biggest components, with Amgen Inc. (AMGN), Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD), Biogen Inc. (BGEN) and Celgene Corporation (CELG) comprising more than 32% of portfolio weighting. In contrast, the top 10 holdings in the equal-weighted S&P fund comprise less than 16% of the 125 total holdings, favoring smaller-cap rallies and declines.

Alarm bells sound when both sector funds sell off in lockstep because this bearish action often warns that macro forces are at work rather than industry developments. Biotech investors now face that scenario, driven by a broad fourth quarter retreat that may not have hit bottom yet. Fortunately, price charts on these instruments have drawn easily observed levels that should decide the group's fate in the coming months.

The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF cleared resistance at the 2008 high in the mid-$20s in 2012 and entered a strong uptrend that topped out at $91.10 in July 2015. It lost more than 50% of its value into the February 2016 low at $44.16 and turned higher, easing into a rising channel that reached the prior high in January 2018. A May breakout stalled at $100 in June, generating a triple top pattern that broke to the downside on Oct. 4.

The decline failed the three-year breakout and violated support at the 200-day EMA for the first time since October 2016. It also broke the rising channel in place since September 2016, setting off a wave of sell signals. The fund bounced near support at the April low last week and could now fill out a longer-term topping pattern that eventually yields much lower prices. The mid-$70s could mark a key inflection point if selling pressure continues, with the 200-week EMA defining the interface between bull and bear markets.

The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology Index Fund cleared 2007 resistance near $30 in 2010 and entered a powerful advance that posted an all-time high at $133.58 in July 2015. It then sold off in a volatile decline, finding support near $80 in February 2016. The fund gyrated just above that level for the next 10 months, finally escaping gravity in November. Price action since that time has carved a rising channel that stalled at the .786 Fibonacci sell-off retracement level in August 2018.

The fund carved a small double top and broke down two weeks ago, testing the 200-day EMA for the first time since June, while accumulation has dropped to a seven-month low. Continued downside to $107 would bring channel support into play, with a breakdown signaling the end of the uptrend that started in 2016. Of course, the fund could bounce at that support level, but two factors raise the odds for a bearish outcome. First, the .786 harmonic retracement level has a nasty reputation as a rally killer, and second, the equal-weighted fund has already broken its rising channel.

The Bottom Line

Warning signals are ringing in the biotech sector, with aggressive selling pressure and failed breakouts raising the odds that the uptrend in place since 2016 is coming to an end.

<Disclosure: The author held no positions in the aforementioned securities at the time of publication.>
What Is Protectionism?

Protectionism refers to government policies that restrict international trade to help domestic industries. Protectionist policies are usually implemented with the goal to improve economic activity within a domestic economy but can also be implemented for safety or quality concerns.

Key Takeaways Protectionist policies place specific restrictions on international trade for the benefit of a domestic economy.

Protectionist policies typically seek to improve economic activity but may also be the result of safety or quality concerns.

The value of protectionism is a subject of debate among economists and policymakers.

Tariffs, import quotas, product standards, and subsidies are some of the primary policy tools a government can use in enacting protectionist policies.

1:05 Protectionism

Understanding Protectionism

Protectionist policies are typically focused on imports but may also involve other aspects of international trade such as product standards and government subsidies. The merits of protectionism are the subject of fierce debate.

Critics argue that over the long term, protectionism often hurts the people and entities it is intended to protect by slowing economic growth and increasing price inflation, making free trade a better alternative. Proponents of protectionism argue that the policies can help to create domestic jobs, increase gross domestic product (GDP), and make a domestic economy more competitive globally.

Types of Protectionist Tools

Tariffs

Import tariffs are one of the top tools a government uses when seeking to enact protectionist policies. There are three main import tariff concepts that can be theorized for protective measures. In general, all forms of import tariffs are charged to the importing country and documented at government customs. Import tariffs raise the price of imports for a country.

Scientific tariffs are import tariffs imposed on an item-by-item basis, raising the price of goods for the importer and passing on higher prices to the end buyer. Peril point import tariffs are focused on a specific industry.

These tariffs involve the calculation of the levels at which point tariff decreases or increases would cause significant harm to an industry overall, potentially leading to the jeopardy of closure due to an inability to compete. Retaliatory tariffs are tariffs enacted primarily as a response to excessive duties being charged by trading partners.

Import Quotas

Import quotas are nontariff barriers that are put in place to limit the number of products that can be imported over a set period of time. The purpose of quotas is to limit the supply of specified products provided by an exporter to an importer. This is typically a less drastic action that has a marginal effect on prices and leads to higher demand for domestic businesses to cover the shortfall.

Quotas may also be put in place to prevent dumping, which occurs when foreign producers export products at prices lower than production costs. An embargo, in which the importation of designated products is completely prohibited, is the most severe type of quota.

Product Standards

Product safety and low-quality products or materials are typically top concerns when enacting product standards. Product standard protectionism can be a barrier that limits imports based on a countrys internal controls.

Some countries may have lower regulatory standards in the areas of food preparation, intellectual property enforcement, or materials production. This can lead to a product standard requirement or a blockage of certain imports due to regulatory enforcement. Overall, restricting imports through the implementation of product standards can often lead to a higher volume of production domestically.

For one example, consider French cheeses made with raw instead of pasteurized milk, which must be aged at least 60 days prior to being imported to the U.S. Because the process for producing many French kinds of cheese often involves aging of 50 days or fewer, some of the most popular French cheeses are banned from the U.S., providing an advantage for U.S. producers.

Government Subsidies

Government subsidies can come in various forms. Generally, they may be direct or indirect. Direct subsidies provide businesses with cash payments. Indirect subsidies come in the form of special savings such as interest-free loans and tax breaks.

When exploring subsidies, government officials may choose to provide direct or indirect subsidies in the areas of production, employment, tax, property, and more.

When seeking to boost a countrys balance of trade, a country might also choose to offer subsidies to businesses for exports. Export subsidies provide an incentive for domestic businesses to expand globally by increasing their exports internationally.

What Are Examples of Protectionism? Common examples of protectionism, or tools that are used to implement a policy of protectionism include tariffs, quotas, and subsidies. All of these tools are meant to promote domestic companies by making foreign goods more expensive or scarce.

Is Protectionism Left-Wing or Right-Wing Politics? Traditionally, protectionism is a left-wing policy. Right-wing politics generally support free trade, which is the opposite of a protectionist stance. Left-wing politics support economic populism, of which protectionism is a part.
According to a Bloomberg report, Donald Trump, the President-elect of the U.S. has named Iowa Governor Terry Branstad as his pick for the country's next ambassador to China. Branstad has nurtured a 30-year friendship with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Then governor of Iowa, Branstad met Xi for the first time in 1985, when the latter visited the Iowa city of Muscatine as Party secretary of Zhengding County, Hebei province for a two-week exchange on agriculture and animal husbandry.

The two met again in China when Branstad visited the country in 2011. During that visit, they had a conversation that lasted nearly an hour. Five months later, Xi paid another visit to Iowa. After President Xi took the office, he met with his old American friend twice, in 2013 and 2015, sharing his memories of the past.

Branstad is proud of his friendship with the Chinese president. The governor loves to tell the story of his relationship with Xi, a fact known by anyone who stays in his company for more than five minutes. Iowa also shares a close bond with China, and the residents of the state are proud of their contributions to bilateral relations between the two countries. Branstad, who has served as Iowa's governor for more than 20 years, deserves much of the credit for this rapport.

In Trump's eyes, although Branstad has no formal experience in diplomatic relations, no one could compete with him in terms of trade. However, Branstad is not likely to keep quiet if Trump continues to take a hard line with China, like he did several days ago.
Press Release

Women Speakers of Parliament seek to shape global agenda for security and prosperity

Geneva, 8 December 2016

Speaker Dr Amal Al Qubaisi, IPU President and IPU Secretary General briefing the press on the Summit. IPU/Pierre Albouy

Women Speakers of Parliament from 35 countries will work together to define concrete actions to promote global economic growth, sustainable development, technological advancement and environmental security.

Meeting in Abu Dhabi on 12-13 December under the theme United for Shaping the Future, the Global Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament will focus on their unique role in uniting parliamentarians to deliver sustainable prosperity and security in a rapidly changing world for present and future generations.

The Summit, organized jointly by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Federal National Council (FNC) of the United Arab Emirates, is the 11th edition of the worlds largest assembly of women Speakers. In Abu Dhabi, the Speakers will be joined by parliamentarians from 50 countries together with global leaders across government, business, industry and civil society.

The Summit will address key questions on the evolving role of parliament at a time of significant geopolitical, environmental, scientific, technological and socio-economic challenges. Debates will focus on how to modernize parliamentary institutions to better cope with current and future trends.

The panel discussions and debates will identify policies and laws needed to advance security, economic prosperity, gender equality and ensure sustainability, while placing people at the centre of parliamentary action.

War, conflict and terrorism undermine government plans and lead to major investment initiatives being postponed, cancelled or revised. At the same time, climate change and biodiversity loss pose a risk to millions of people and their livelihoods. On each of these global challenges, the Summit will examine policies and concrete actions parliaments can take to protect human rights, promote tolerance, advance development and ensure environmental security.

Gender perspectives will form the heart of the debates and outcomes. Mr. Martin Chungong, IPU Secretary General, reminds participants that IPUs Summit of Women Speakers has been moving gender equality forward since 2005. Back then, there were only 19 women presiding officers of parliament. Today there are 53, with the number rising with each election. We have a milestone next to us here at the Summit. Dr. Amal Al Qubaisi is the first women to preside over the FNC of the UAE and the first woman Speaker of a national parliament in the Arab world.

While strides have been made towards gender equality, Mr. Saber Chowdhury, IPU President, offers some words of caution We need to keep focusing on gender equality. Our parliaments will never realize their full potential and our actions will not achieve the desired results as long as gender inequalities at all levels of government and society remain unresolved.

Global leaders joining the Speakers of Parliaments include Saber Chowdhury, IPU President; Martin Chungong, IPU Secretary General; Marilyn Hewson, Chairman and CEO, Lockhead Martin; and Dr. Dubravka Simonovic, UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women.

The Summit is being held under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak, and will be attended by UAE deputy Prime-Minister, Sheikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The outcomes of the Summit include a Declaration articulating the Speakers commitment to follow through with the expected recommendations for concrete action. Speaker of the UAE Parliament, Dr. Al Qubaisi, expressed her conviction that much will be achieved during the Summit. With some of the best minds in the world under one roof, we have a genuinely strong chance of formulating recommendations that are not only inspired but also eminently actionable.

Parliaments are at the core of sustainable development efforts. By working together, transforming themselves to be fit-for-purpose and opening up to their constituents, they can contribute to placing the people, including future generations, at the heart of their contribution to realizing fair, equitable and sustainable development for all. As Dr. Al Qubaisi says If we pool together our collective thoughts and energies, we can not only solve many of the challenges of our time, but also shape a better future for all humanity.

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is the global organization of national parliaments. It works to safeguard peace and drives positive democratic change through political dialogue and concrete action.
Foxconn said it was in preliminary discussions to expand its US operations, while billionaire businessman Masayoshi Son, also the head of Japans SoftBank Group, pledged a $50bn (46.5bn) investment in the US.

Mr Son said, after meeting Mr Trump this week, said his investment would create 50,000 new jobs, a move the US president-elect claimed was a direct result of his election win.

Mr Sons business partner Foxconn issued a brief statement after a report by broadcaster CNBC showing a snapshot of a page held by Mr Son outlining the investment carrying the logos of SoftBank and the Taiwanese firm, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry.

The page also showed an additional $7bn investment and creation of a further 50,000 jobs.

While the scope of the potential investment has not been determined, we will announce the details of any plans following the completion of direct discussions between our leadership and the relevant US officials, the Foxconn statement said.

Mr Son and Foxconn founder Terry Gou have several business ventures together in several markets, and investing jointly in India.

Foxconn has manufacturing facilities in the US states of Virginia and Indiana. Its 2015 annual report also listed logistics services in California and Texas.

The investment pledge revived speculation that US telecoms giant Sprint, 82% owned by SoftBank, might rekindle merger talks with T-Mobile US that died under pressure from US regulators.

The lack of details on the investment timetable also prompted doubts on whether the promise of money and jobs will be met, as Sprint is slashing staff numbers to cut more than $2bn in costs this fiscal year.

Mr Trumps moves since the election to engage with individual companies, while turning his back on broader, years-in-the-works trade deals, show that he is leaning on the deal-making skills he honed in the boardroom.

Mr Trump campaigned against the over-regulation of business and is expected to be more open to mergers than president Barack Obama.

The $50bn investment, announced jointly by Mr Trump and Mr Son at Trump Tower in Manhattan, would come from the $100bn tech investment fund the head of SoftBank is setting up with Saudi Arabias sovereign-wealth fund and other potential partners, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The report Brexit: Ireland and the UK in Numbers also underscores the economic significance of a number of Irish labour-intensive industries, such as meat and meat preparations and energy products, which dominate exports and imports across the Irish Sea.

Meat products, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, perfumes and cleansing products and dairy goods feature on the top five list of goods exported to Britain, with the UK buying a total of 15.6bn of Irish goods, accounting for almost 14% of all Irish goods exported last year around the world, according to the report.

Imports from Britain, which include the top five of petroleum; gas fuels; miscellaneous manufactured products; essential oils, perfume materials, toilet and cleansing preps; and the category of other commodities, came to 18bn, or over a quarter of all goods the Republic imported in 2015.

The CSO said a further 18bn, or 18% of all services exports in 2014  the most recent year for which figures are available  went across the Irish Sea, while the Republic bought in 11.4bn in services, or 10% of all such imports from Britain.

The people section of the report shows that Irish-owned firms employed 86,180 people in the UK in 2014, while Irish firms generated 37.6bn of turnover, or almost 38% of all their worldwide turnover, in the UK.

Meanwhile, there were 112,259 UK nationals, or 2.5% of the population, usually resident in the State, in 2011.

Proportionately more UK nationals lived in Munster, Connacht and the Ulster region than in Leinster, the CSO said.

By county, 20,640 UK nationals lived in Dublin and 13,892 lived in Cork.

In 2011, there were 46,902 UK nationals at work, while 15,093 were unemployed, according to the CSO figures.

There were 8,277 UK students studying in the State, and 31,231 UK retirees.

Following the vote by the electorate in the United Kingdom to leave the European Union in June 2016, the CSO decided to compile a suite of aggregate tables which describes the relationship between Ireland and the UK in numbers, CSO director general Padraig Dalton wrote in the foreword of the report.

The CSO said it welcomed comments on the new report.
Chinese comedian Ge You has filed a suit against eLong, a Chinese travel website, for portrait right infringement.

The plaintiff said that eLong used 18 images of Ge You to introduce the "Ge You slouch," a term coined to describe a posture of Ge's in the 20-year-old TV series "I Love My Family." The site used the so-called Ge You slouch without Ge's permission to promote its hotel reservation service on Sina Weibo.

Ge claimed that this use of his image was for business purposes, and was misleading as it created the impression that Ge is a spokesperson for eLong, or in some way cooperating with eLong. He demanded that eLong stop its infringement and offer an apology. He also asked for 400,000 RMB in compensation.
Enda Kenny and Micheal Martin must wonder on occasions if the water charges issue will ever go away.

They kick the can up the street and before they know theyre at the end of the street again.

At times, perhaps they intone, a little like Henry II commenting on his problems with Thomas Becket, who will rid me of these water charges rather than this meddlesome priest.

The problem for Fianna Fail and Fine Gael is they brought this problem on themselves.

Sure the reaction is partly a result of peoples issue with paying for something they believe was already included in the taxes they pay.

However, the main genesis of the water charge issue is how it was done coupled with when it was done.

In an nutshell, the establishment was focused on the structure of how it would be managed rather than determining and rationalising exactly what had to be done and what was needed to be done and how it was going to be done.

Its raison detre seemed to be to be focused on terms and conditions of employment rather than what we are now being told.

Issues like conservation of a precious resource, the repair of leaks and the elimination of 47% wastage, the provision of clean water and effective effluent treatment strategies seemed like afterthoughts.

Issues like the fact that the whole issue of the possible future privatisation of the utility was dealt with in a way that gave nobody any confidence only made matters worse.

For some reason, Irish Water thought that by ignoring comments on privatisation would make people believe that it wasnt a hot political issue.

Politicians, and latterly, their hired guns in Irish Water caused the problem from the way they tried to introduce charges this time around.

When it became clear that it was not going to be a shoo-in, instead of dealing with the issue they persisted and tried to drive it through.

Its an issue that has people marching up and down the country for over five years.

By and large peoples objections to paying these charges has just not gone away.

Apparently, a majority of people paid up, in full or partly. That fact is now being used as an argument that charges had been accepted.

Fear of being fined rather than acceptance would be far closer to the truth. However, the bottom line is that water and sewage treatment must be paid for.

Water treatment, water distribution, the sanitary network and effluent treatment operations and the maintenance of those entities all cost a lot of money. To ignore this is to have more leaks, undrinkable water and sewage pouring into our rivers and onto our beaches.

We know only two well that as a nation we are spending beyond our means. We know that each and every year there are major problems in every budget, Government parties try to please everyone rather than put money where it needs to go.

Those who make the least noise. They include the sick, the elderly, the disabled and those who generally need support. They are not seen as a voting bloc.

Kicking the can up the road and deferring repairs or new infrastructure are easy options when others are politically sensitive for professional politicians.

Many believe that we already pay through our taxes.

Yet, we know that the amount of overall revenue obtained each year is not enough to satisfy all of the demands on that money.

Taking more money in taxes each and every year, charging us more and more, whilst we continue to have some of the best-paid public employees in Europe, is not sustainable.

Now its been suggested that taxes should increase to cover water charges.

Why might they believe that this will be any more acceptable than direct water charges?

Enda and his colleagues need to grow a pair and be the statesmen they think they are, instead of being legends in their own lunchtime.
The UKs Competition and Markets Authority fined Pfizer 84.2m (99.7m) and Flynn Pharma 5.2m after they rose prices by as much as 2,600% in September 2012, the regulator has said.

The price increases occurred after Pfizer transferred distribution rights to Flynn, which sold the medicine by its generic name, phenytoin sodium.

A Pfizer spokeswoman here said the same drug was sold in Ireland, but Pfizer was unable to respond to questions at the time of going to press about prices for the drug in Ireland in recent years. The drugs giant employs about 3,300 people at six sites in Ireland.

The companies deliberately exploited the opportunity offered by de-branding to hike up the price for a drug which is relied upon by many thousands of patients, said Philip Marsden, chairman of the UKs Case Decision Group for the CMAs investigation.

These extraordinary price rises have cost the NHS and the taxpayer tens of millions of pounds.

Britains National Health Service spent about 50m on the anti-epilepsy capsules in 2013 and 40m 2014, the CMA said. The amount the NHS was charged for 100mg packs of the drug rocketed from 2.83 to 67.50, before dropping to 54 in May 2014, the CMA said yesterday. Pfizer said it refutes the findings of the regulator. Both companies said they will appeal.

Phenytoin capsules were a loss-making product for Pfizer and the Flynn transaction represented an opportunity to secure ongoing supply of an important medicine for patients with epilepsy, while maintaining continuity of manufacture, the company said.

When Flynn launched its product, the company set a price that was between 25% and 40% less than the price of the equivalent medicine from another supplier to the NHS... and appeared to be acceptable to, the department of health.

A Flynn spokesman said the CMA had ignored or misunderstood important aspects of its investigation.
The Reelists had been commissioned by Galway band Rofi James to create a music video around their new single 'Fool For Your Love'.

The two men behind the Reelists, Tommy Flavin and Kevin ORegan, decided to channel their documentary experience into creating a documentary-style music video highlighting the plight of the 60,000 refugees living in limbo in Greece.
Judge Tom ODonnells comments came at Limerick Circuit Court on hearing of a terrifying attack during which a visiting businessman was lured into a shed and robbed at knifepoint.

A youth aged 17 pleaded guilty to falsely imprisoning and robbing the victim of cash and other items.

Det Garda Barry OGrady said Darren Jack had come to Ireland with four colleagues and were in Limerick promoting an upcoming visit of Circus Vegas.

While out drinking they sought to get to a nightclub. They met five males, who included the accused, and asked for directions to the nightclub. The group seemed friendly when they first met.

The UK group were then enticed into a housing estate on the pretext that the nightclub was located there.

They were then led into a shed where a knife was produced.

Mr Jack and his colleagues were terrified and one of the local group remarked, Youre in my city now and claimed to be in the IRA.

While in the shed Mr Jacks pockets were searched and he was asked where their van was parked.

On being asked if he had a bank account, Mr Jack told gardai he was so terrified he informed the group he would give them everything he had in his account.

They were walked into an alleyway and one of the local group said: He saw our face. Kill him now.

Mr Jack made a break for freedom after he was taken to a filling station and got a taxi to Henry St Garda Station.

There he told gardai: I thought I was going to be killed and never see my kids again.

Mark Nicholas, defending, said what had occurred was a shameful matter.

Judge ODonnell said he was very fond of his city, but the terror Mr Jack and his colleagues were subjected to was appalling.

He added: I am sure that if they ever come back to return to these shores, Im sure that the last place they will come to is Limerick.

He adjourned sentence to February 7 and remanded the youth on continuing bail.
Carl McGuiness, aged 21, later told gardai he and his co-accused needed cash for drugs and thought well hijack a taxi before hailing Harry Boland on Glasnevin Avenue in Dublin. The men told the driver they wanted to go to a dog sanctuary in Finglas and McGuiness said he would direct him.

The victim later told gardai he was not suspicious of his passengers in any way. Mr Boland has since given up working as a taxi driver.
Niamh Thornton, aged 36, with an address at Ahamore, Causeway, Co Kerry, yesterday appeared at Macroom District Court to face 191 charges arising from her time as an employee at the Bank of Ireland on the towns Main Street.

She is charged with 187 counts of stealing sums ranging between 100 and 2,000 from three Bank of Ireland account holders contrary to Section 4 of Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act.
The man had had a claim rejected by the Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal but the High Court ruled he was entitled to damages for nervous shock and distress following his sons death.

In a judgement, Mr Justice Michael Hanna said that he was satisfied the father was entitled to compensation over the tragic death of his son in 1994. His son, who had haemophilia, contracted Hepatitis C and HIV from contaminated blood he was given.
Everything went quiet and her little lips went blue on her little face, she said. I just took her up in my arms and I just held her and it was just so quiet. I knew she wasnt breathing. I said: Em, please dont go.

I fixed her hair and I put her Padre Pio medals beside her, she said.

Bernadette Scully is charged with unlawfully killing 11-year-old Emily Barut at their home at Emvale, Bachelors Walk, Tullamore by an act of gross negligence involving the administration of an excessive quantity of chloral hydrate on Saturday, September 15, 2012.

The 58-year-old Offaly GP pleaded not guilty and is on trial at the Central Criminal Court.

Ms Scully said Emily went to sleep around 9pm on a Friday and she later went to sleep in the bed beside her.

She woke at 2, upset, crying. It was building up to a crescendo. I got her in beside me, massaged her, walked around a bit with her she liked to have her head in my chest.

She said she couldnt settle her, and she was beginning to cry louder and louder. I said Id have to help her rest. She didnt want to give chloral hydrate, which she kept for emergencies, without having tried other things. Ms Scully said she gave it to her at that stage and Emily fell asleep.

She explained she gave Emily a 10ml syringeful, holding one up in the witness box. I didnt sleep after that. I cried. I just felt so sorry for the poor little thing, she said. It was hard to sleep when shed be in beside you but she just needed warmth.

Emily was whimpering in her sleep and woke and again around 6, and was really upset. She was sort of stiffening a little as well. You might have said she was fitting at the same time. She was crying and distressed.

On that night the cry was like that of a baby with colic, who couldnt be consoled.

She said she did all the ordinary things again to try to comfort her. Ordinary things didnt do anything for Emily. They wouldnt stop it. The consultants couldnt stop it, she said. I gave her some more chloral hydrate. I think it was about 7ml.

Ms Scully said she herself had been crying. I wasnt able to help her. I could cure everybody else and I couldnt help Emily, the GP said.

She said that some time after 11am, Emily started to cry loudly again and she had again tried to comfort her. It was just relentless. Youd have a pain in your brain. I was so tired, I thought, what else can I do?

She let out a really odd shout out of her. Her little body arched back. She really started to stiffen and jerk. The bed was shaking. That wasnt normal for Emily.

The accused said she was subconsciously ticking off all the medicines she couldnt give her because she couldnt tolerate them. She said she remembered what a consultant had said about chloral hydrate being an anticonvulsive, as well as a sedative.

It wasnt a normal fit. It just wasnt and it wasnt stopping. Her little face was contorted. I didnt know what was going on.

She said she would usually have someone with her when giving chloral hydrate but her partner had gone to her nephews memorial service. I took the bottle with me and I gave her 10ml and waited a few minutes. The seizure continued all the time. Youd think its an eternity.

She said the medicine didnt change it. Thats what really panicked me. After a few minutes, when it was still going, I gave her some more. She said she thought she gave 5 ml at that stage.

She said they had always been together. She was part of me. We went everywhere together. She was the little baby I always wanted, she said. I knew what resuscitation was about and Dr Sheridan had said to me years ago about Emily not being for resuscitation, she said. Her life was miserable at times but we did have some lovely times.

She said that when her daughter was gone, she told her she was coming with her.

Something just happened in my head. I could not let Emily go somewhere else and suffer somewhere else without me being with her to help her, she said, describing two failed suicide attempts after Emilys death.

Tara Burns SC this morning continues cross-examination before Judge Patrick McCarthy and a jury of seven women and five men.

GP fell apart after babys diagnosis

Bernadette Scully denied writing a suicide note before the death of her profoundly disabled daughter.

The Offaly GP, on trial for manslaughter, said she loved her daughter Emily more than life itself. The accused said she wrote the note after the child had passed away.

Kenneth Fogarty, senior counsel, asked about a suicide note she had written that day. He said that, on one reading of it, it might appear it had come into existence before Emilys death.

She said it had not: I loved that child more than life itself. That letter did not come into existence until afterwards. She said she was single-minded after Emily had passed. I needed to get to wherever Emily had gone, she explained.

Ms Scully testified she had IVF treatment and suffered two miscarriages before becoming pregnant with Emily.

Emily didnt cry when she was born but the doctor told her she had a lovely, quiet, baby girl. Emily had difficulty feeding and when she was two weeks old, she fell asleep and wouldnt wake up. Ms Scully drove her to hospital in Dublin, her husband didnt drive. She said she fell into the arms of the doctor she met in Crumlin and began crying.

Measurements were taken and tests carried out. It was awful to watch her going through that, she said. A doctor then showed her a centile graph for measurements. Emily was about this much below the graph, she said, indicating with her fingers. I fell back into the seat and I just said: Oh, my God, she recalled. When I saw it, I could understand.

Another doctor told her Emilys head was significantly small. He said: Shell have severe mental retardation. Shell probably develop epilepsy. She may not walk. She may not talk. She may have difficulty hearing. This all just came out just like this. He said a few more words and he just left, she recalled.

He came back into the cubicle and he said: I mean severe retardation, not mild, she continued.

My world just fell apart I just said: You dont know. Shes too small. You cant know all that.

She described the following years with Emily, including her development of epilepsy and having 30 to 50 small fits a day at one stage.
A picture of the 34-year-old, taken by renowned photographer Mario Testino, will adorn the cover of the January 2017 edition of the magazine, which heralds Negga as a star of our time following her lead turn in the critically acclaimed film Loving.

The film, due for release in Ireland in February, was nominated for the prestigious Palme dOr at the Cannes Film Festival this year.

It recalls the true story of Richard and Mildred Loving, a couple who took a landmark civil rights case to the US Supreme Court which resulted in the striking down of laws that prohibited interracial marriage.

The couple had left their native Virginia to get married in Washington, only to be arrested and convicted of violating the States racial integrity laws.

They received a one-year prison sentence which was suspended on condition that they leave Virginia.

Ruth Negga stars on the cover of our January issue! Read the full cover story: https://t.co/DZrisYDl65 pic.twitter.com/Eu5pbFtGc1  Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) December 7, 2016

Speaking to Vogue, Ms Negga said the film is reminding us that theres a conversation that we need to be having still when it comes to race relations.

Born in her fathers native Ethiopia, where she lived until she was four, Ms Negga was then raised in Limerick by her Irish mother.

In the interview with Vogue, she discusses her own sense of identity.

Im always very careful to say Im Irish-Ethiopian because I feel Ethiopian and I look Ethiopian and I am Ethiopian.

But there are 81 languages in Ethiopia, and I dont know any of them, she said.

Next year, Ms Negga will resume her role as Tulip OHare in the second season of TV comic book adaptation Preacher.
(Xinhua) 19:39, December 08, 2016

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun on Wednesday met with U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson.

During his meeting with Lynch, Guo noted that China-U.S. cooperation in law enforcement has developed steadily.

Guo urged the two sides to act from a strategic height and with a long-term perspective, maintain high-level contacts, respect the each other's interests and concerns, properly manage differences, enhance cooperation in areas such as the fight against transnational crimes, terrorism, and criminal chasing and anti-drug campaigns, and establish sustainable cooperation in law enforcement.

Lynch said it is in the common interests of both sides to enhance cooperation in law enforcement. She pledged that the United States would work with China to enhance cooperation with the focus on cybersecurity and ensure a smooth transition of the bilateral relations in law enforcement cooperation into the next U.S. government.

During his meeting with Johnson, Guo noted that both Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, highly value China-U.S. cooperation in law enforcement and reached crucial agreements with regard to cybersecurity and other law enforcement cooperation.

Guo urged the two sides to maintain ministerial-level dialogues and ensure a smooth transition in China-U.S. cooperation in law enforcement into the upcoming U.S. government.

Johnson noted that the U.S. side would work to promote the continuation of the ministerial dialogue mechanism between the Chinese Ministry of Public Security and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and broaden areas of cooperation.
Inspector Ronan Kennelly said Denis Harrington, aged 40, of 99 Ballyspillane, Killarney, Co Kerry, and others called to the pensioners home at Southbury Road in Cork on August 10. He was paid 5,000 for what was described as some shoddy work to her gutters and other repair work.

Harrington pleaded guilty to a charge of dishonestly inducing the woman to pay him 5,000.

Eddie Burke, solicitor, said that even though two other men had been the ones who spoke directly to the pensioner, Harrington was pleading guilty and paying the compensation.

Insp Kennelly said the accused had no similar convictions in Ireland but had one for fraud in Belgium in 2015.

Mr Burke said the accused left school after his Confirmation and worked all his life. He said Harrington had a history of psychiatric difficulties. A number of background medical reports were presented to the court. Judge Leo Malone said that the defendants doctor said the defendants difficulties were worsened with alcohol and drug abuse.

Mr Burke said the accused had a lot of anxiety and had been sick in the courthouse toilets before the sentencing hearing.

Judge Malone said: I would be anxious too if I was before the court facing a prison sentence.

He said: The payment of compensation is keeping him out of prison.

The judge gave him a seven-month suspended sentence.

He should not be going around offering services for works he cannot do, that is the bottom line, Judge Malone said.
The victim, who cannot be named, was stripped naked, dragged into a bathroom and beaten relentlessly.

Her injuries included a fractured cheekbone and three broken ribs.

The 27-year-old assailant pleaded guilty at Limerick Circuit Court to assault causing harm at the home they shared at the time with their two young children.

Judge Tom ODonnell said violence used in the assault could not be tolerated in any civilised society. He said the victim impact statement made harrowing reading.

The court heard that although the couples two children were staying with a relative on the night, they had suffered psychologically after the attack.

Garda Colum OShea said he was on duty on St Stephens night in 2014, when he was alerted to a disturbance.

On arrival to the house, he was met by a woman who was distressed and had signs of bruising under her eye.

She had been badly beaten by her partner in a prolonged attack after they returned home from a night out with family and friends.

When they arrived home, her former partner began drinking again. He threw a can of cider at her and tossed the contents of her handbag on the floor before smashing her phone with his foot.

The woman was struck several times, had her clothes ripped off, was punched and kicked in the ribs and head before he dragged her into the bathroom and shoved her in the shower, where he pulled down the curtain pole and kicked her on the legs.

She thought he was going to kill her as he turned on the shower, threw shower gel over her and locked the bathroom door, leaving her in the dark.

He returned a short time later, threw clothes at her and forced her to the bedroom. He called her a tramp and whore as he kicked and elbowed her. He said he would fix her as he used his two fists to punch her to the ground.

The attack was halted when gardai were alerted by a concerned neighbour.

The couple separated and their planned wedding was cancelled.

The man later told gardai he lost control and was undergoing anger management classes.

In her victim impact statement, the young mother said her life totally changed.

I was incapable of caring for my children and I felt degraded. I felt shame and worthlessness for letting it happen. I used to be independent and confident but now I fear it will happen again and Im worried for my safety. I had to move house but I still suffer to this day.

After the judge imposed a three-year sentence with the final 18 months suspended, the victim ran from the court saying: There is no justice in this court.
Mr Ross told the Cabinet that the State-funded bus service could be insolvent within 24 months if it cannot overhaul its finances. However, he said axing routes that are loss making has not yet been discussed.

Bus Eireann is expected to lose about 5.6m this year, after similar losses in 2015, much of which relates to its commercial Expressway routes.

The company is putting a restructuring plan in place.

At the same time Bus Eireann staff are seeking a 21% pay rise but the company has said it could not afford any wage increases at the Labour Court this week.

Dermot OLeary of the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) said it is bizarre, unprecedented, and a debacle that Bus Eireann management did not come forward with proposals at the Labour Court.

Responding to questions from Sinn Feins Imelda Munster in the Dail, Mr Ross said he had updated ministers on the huge deficit but added that he did not speak about cutting routes.

Nor was there any question of privatisation. I wish to reassure the deputy that there was no question of talking about privatisation yesterday,he said.

Fianna Fails Robert Troy said there is major anxiety about what is happening with Bus Eireann. He said the minister had failed to act on the issue until this week despite being away of the financial woes since the summer.

People are terrified that they will not have a bus service in the new year. Quite frankly, the minister has done nothing to alleviate those fears  in fact, he is stoking them even further.

He has a significant role to play, given that he is the main shareholder in the company, said Mr Troy.

However, Mr Ross said he has been briefed repeatedly on the issues faced by Bus Eireann, including the issue of the pay claim lodged by trade unions. He added that he has met the chair of the company twice in recent months, including this week,

As shareholder, I do have a view that Bus Eireanns financial challenges should be tackled decisively and effectively so that the company can be viable and serve its customer base on a sustainable basis, he told the Dail.

Although Bus Eireann claims much of the losses relate to its Expressway routes, Mr Ross confirmed in the Dail that in 2017, public service obligation funding for public transport services that are not profitable will increase by 11%.

In addition, I will be providing funding for more than 180 new buses comprising 110 buses for the Dublin region and more than 70 buses and coaches for the Bus Eireann fleet.

Separately, Government has yet to decide where the 50m needed to fund the garda recommendations of the Labour Court will be taken from.

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Pashcal Donohoe said: I am engaging with the Tanaiste and the Department of Justice at the moment in relation to the funding of the Labour Court recommendation for An Garda Siochana.

Bus obligations

How does Bus Eireann operate services?

Bus Eireann provides transport services across the country, with the exception of the Dublin region which is provided by sister company Dublin Bus.

The company operates more than 320 routes across the country. These are broken up into public service obligation services and Expressway services.

What are public service obligation (PSO) services?

Each year funding is provided for what is deemed socially necessary but commercially nonviable bus services across the country.

Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann both provide these PSO services under contract to the National Transport Authority (NTA).

Bus Eireann operates 300 PSO routes around Ireland which could not continue without State support.

In 2015, Bus Eireann received a subvention from the State as payment for its PSO services of 33.7m.

The previous year it was allocated 34.4m to prop up bus routes across the county.

However, State funding to Bus Eireann has been cut by 35%  or 16m  since 2009.

In the Dail yesterday, Transport Minister Shane Ross said that PSO funding for public transport service contracts  which also takes in railway routes  will increase by 11% in 2017.

What are Expressway routes?

Bus Eireann has 23 Expressway routes, which are commercial routes and get no State funding. These include Dublin to Belfast; Dublin Airport to Cork; Tralee to University of Limerick and Dublin to Waterford.

What are the financial issues at Bus Eireann?

The bus company lost 5.6m in 2015 and is forecasting a similar deficit for 2016, it has said this is mainly due to losses on commercial Expressway services, which receives no government subsidies.

Mr Ross has warned the Government that the service could be insolvent within two years if it is not dramatically overhauled.

As a result the company is now pressing ahead with a cost reduction plan.

What do workers want?

Bus workers have demanded a 21% increase in line with the pay rise Dublin Bus employees received earlier this year.

However, given the significant losses and the immediate cost savings required to address the crisis, Bus Eireann say they cannot afford any increase.

The company attended the Labour Court with employee unions this week to address a pay claim, but failed to present proposals at the meeting.

A joint statement from NBRU general secretary Dermot OLeary and Siptu transport sector organiser Willie Noone described the companys actions as nothing short of disgrace, adding that they would now engage in an extensive company-wide consultative process with what is an extremely angry workforce.
His counsel, Vincent P Martin, argued his rights to privacy and private property were among those breached when a bankruptcy inspector searched the Holles St, Dublin, offices of Coalport Building Co, which Mr McFeely was a director of until he resigned some years prior to his bankruptcy.

That raid by officers acting for the official assignee in bankruptcy, Chris Lehane, was the source for illegally obtained documents later used to back up a successful application to extend Mr McFeelys bankruptcy for a further five years, counsel said. Had that not happened, Mr McFeely would have exited bankruptcy in July of 2015 but now faces being a bankrupt until 2020.
Irish Water, in partnership with Cork County Council, has announced that it is planning to upgrade the Skibbereen Regional Water Supply Scheme to ensure that it is capable of meeting the current and future demands of the area, while also providing customers with a safe, secure, and reliable supply of drinking water.

This will benefit home-owners living in Skibbereen, Schull, Leap, Bluid, Sherkin Island, Castledonovan, and Drimoleague.

The utility said the works proposed for the Skibbereen Regional Water Supply Scheme will include the upgrading and expansion of the existing treatment plants at Ballyhilty and Lake Cross, near Skibbereen.

The plans also include proving additional storage of drinking water at Schull, Leap, and Sherkin Island as well as the construction of trunk mains interconnecting Skibbereen to Schull and Drimoleague.

Irish Waters Gerry ODonnell said the major upgrades will provide a more resilient and robust supply to the area.

A planning application and water abstraction order proposal are now being lodged to facilitate the upgrading and expansion of the Ballyhilty water treatment plant, Mr ODonnell said.

The proposed works at the Ballyhilty plant provide for new raw water storage tanks, enhanced upgrade and expansion of the treatment facilities for treating drinking water and sludge treatment works.

The current abstraction points on the River Ilen at Castledonovan and Ballyhilty will be consolidated to a single point upstream of Ballyhilty Bridge, Mr ODonnell added.

The West Cork project forms part of Irish Waters investment plan where more than 530m will be invested in upgrading water services in 2016 to improve the countrys water and wastewater infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Deputy Jim Daly confirmed that within the next week tenders will go out to seek a contractor for the multi-million euro Clonakilty Flood Relief Scheme.

It is hoped to commence the procurement process for a contractor in the next few days and to publish the project on e-tenders. At the same time, the scheme will be submitted to Minister Paschal Donohoe, for formal confirmation under the Arterial Drainage Acts, he said.

Mr Daly said the residents and business people of Clonakilty can look forward to seeing the shovels in the ground next year.

He said it forms part of a hattrick of flood defence schemes to protect West Cork, with similar schemes having started already in Bandon and Skibbereen.
Limerick Voice is a 40-page local newspaper, produced by masters and fourth year undergraduate journalism students at UL.

The publication is to be distributed across both city and county with this weekends edition of the Limerick Leader.

The core of this newspaper is investigative journalism, highlighting areas such as mental health waiting lists for children and adolescents and the worrying absenteeism rates in primary schools across Limerick.

Limerick Voice also highlights positive stories from the city and county such as indepth research into the 'ambitious' 2030 development plan and a special report on the review into the regeneration project.

The aim of this project was to give a voice to the voiceless from regeneration areas, to children and young adults on mental health waiting lists, to the homeless families who will spend Christmas in B&B's in Limerick, said Limerick Voice editory Michelle Hogan.

We aim to highlight the unsung heroes of today, the strong individuals who have taken the opportunity to exclusively share their stories with Limerick Voice on a range of important issues emerging from Limerick which are fundamental to society at large.

Speaking at the launch of the Limerick Voice newspaper, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Professor Tom Lodge said Limerick Voice embodies the kind of educational experience which makes the Journalism programmes at UL so distinctive.

This project promotes an ethical journalism that is socially engaged and committed in the best kinds of ways. Students learn through working with people in the communities in which they live and in which they may in future find their livelihoods.

" In these settings they can apply, adapt and modify the skills, and conceptions and professional codes that they absorb from the class-room, preparing them for the world of work."

UL School of Journalism subject leader Dr Fergal Quinn said: Limerick Voice is a crucial part of the journalism course in UL and Im very proud of the effort that has been put into it this year.

The Limerick Voice is a core element of what we offer to our journalism students because it gives them an invaluable insight into what it takes to run a news website and produce a newspaper.

The online news website www.limerickvoice.com has been live since September, covering breaking news and sports stories and has also been active across social media including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Judge James ODonohoe said Lithuanian woman Ruta Bendikiene had not been able to establish in her evidence that the alleged defamatory words she had pleaded in her Civil Bill had been spoken to her by security guard Michael Dunne on July 2014 outside Aldi, Navan, Co Meath.

Judge ODonohoe said Mr Dunnes evidence was very credible.

The security guard said he had witnessed Ms Bendikiene placing two items of meat in her handbag and had not paid for them, although she had paid for other items.

Mr Dunne said he had stopped her outside the store and asked her to go to a staff room where she had waited about 40 minutes for the gardai to arrive.

The judge said the evidence of Garda Gareth McArdle, who told the court that he decided to arrest Ms Bendikiene, of Brews Hill, Navan, after she had refused to co-operate, was crucial in the case.

Garda McArdle said Ms Bendikiene had an interpreter with her at Navan Garda Station when she decided to sign an adult caution, an alternative to prosecution. He said signing the document was an acknowledgement of guilt.

Ms Bendikiene had claimed she had paid for the goods and was accused by Mr Dunne to have stolen them.

She alleged she had signed the caution to avoid prosecution and be released from the Garda station the same day instead of having to apply for bail the following week.

She claimed she was detained by the store for five hours. She said staff had refused to show her CCTV footage of the alleged incident and had not retained a till receipt of her transaction. The court heard that neither was available to show yesterday.

Judge ODonohoe said he was satisfied Ms Bendikiene had not paid for the goods as she would not have signed the caution otherwise.

The judge dismissed Ms Bendikienes claim and awarded legal costs against her. He told counsel Niamh ODonovan, for Aldi, that CCTV footage of these type of incidents should be retained by retailers.
The now 28-year-old said she was in transition year or fifth year at the time and the chaplain gave her a teddy as a Christmas present.

It was the fourth day of case where she is suing for damages alleging between 2004 and 2007 she was repeatedly and wrongfully physically and sexually assaulted, falsely imprisoned and sexually abused and subjected to sexualised behaviour by the then Catholic chaplain and teacher in her secondary school. She has sued the priest as well as the school and the local bishop. They have all denied the claims. The school contends it is not vicariously liable for alleged actions of the priest and contends the diocesan bishop is liable. The woman is also seeking aggravated damages against the ex-priest, who denies all claims.

Under cross-examination yesterday by Miriam Reilly, counsel for the former priest, the woman, referring to a school trip to Gambia, said the priest was drinking vodka and she and another student she alleged were invited into his room and played Jenga. She said she fell asleep on his bed and when she woke up the chaplain was beside her. She said she and the other girl left the chaplains room at 6am. Ms Reilly put it to the woman the chaplain would say there was no question of him slipping off with the girls and messing in his room. She replied I disagree with that.

She told the court she and her friend had earlier, as a joke, been in the chaplains room put on his clothes and shaving cream and another older priest from the diocese told them to leave.

The chaplain, she said, sat beside her on the trip home from Gambia and she said he told her a story of how once he came back to his house in another diocese to find a housekeeper naked on a rug. She said she thought that story and another where she alleged he said he had sex with a woman in a car in the Phoenix Park were weird.

She said she did not know if the stories were true or not and she did not tell anybody about them.

Counsel put it to her the former priest will tell the court he said no such thing. The woman replied he told her the stories.

Earlier, the woman said she had lived two lives, one in which she had good academic results and a good job and a second life where she could not tell anybody.

He was very well liked and regarded and everybody looked up to him, she said.

She said she did not feel in a position to tell her parents until 2010 when she returned from a trip abroad where she had visited her two sisters and told them. It was a big secret I carried around for years. she said.

Counsel put it to her the former priest will say there was no sexual relationship and her crush on him turned obsessive. She replied: I do not agree with that.

The case continues today.
Hes making a list, hes checking it twice  but will you be on the list marked naughty or nice?

With just 17 more sleeps until the big day, Nerf, LEGO and Pie Face are just some of the top toys currently being cobbled together at Santas workshop in the North Pole.

Elsewhere at Temple Street Hospital in Dublin, Irelands most special boys and girls are just hoping to get the gift of a life-saving heart machine this Christmas.

Backed by Tesco Ireland, the national childrens hospital is bidding to raise 100,000 to buy a new echo machine for the cardiac department.

And you can help by picking up a pack of reindeer food for Rudolph and his pals for just 2 at any Tesco store nationwide this festive season.

Meanwhile, when the man in the red suit needed some help putting the years most sought-after toys to the test, we knew exactly where to turn.

Here, five Temple Street VIPs (Very Important Patients) give their verdict on 2016s ho-ho-hottest toys, also available at Tesco stores until December 24th.

Text Temple to 50300 to donate 4 to Temple Street Childrens Hospital.

1 Six year-old Lacey OKeeffe from Kildare lent Santas little helpers a hand by trying out Shopkins Karaoke Selfie Stand (18) ahead of the big day. And she judged that the bright pink mic  which comes with built-in cheering and flashing lights to boost elf esteem  definitely has the X factor.

I love singing, said Lacey, who goes to Gaelscoil Atha I in Athy. I had to borrow my Mammys phone to put on my favourite song by Honey G on YouTube and take a selfie. But it was really good fun.

I would love to be on X Factor when I grow up, she added. And Ill definitely be singing along on the night of the final. I wouldnt be scared of Simon Cowell!

Santa says: The battery-operated mic stand can be connected to most music players for the complete X Factor experience, so remember you may have to surrender your smartphone or MP3 player to help your little star shine this Christmas Day!

2 Hands in the air  this is a ho-ho-hold up! Offaly lad Oisin Hickey was only too happy to give the new Nerf N-strike Elite Hyperfire Blaster Gun (36) a go at our festive photo shoot. And he revealed how it lives up to the name after having a complete blast.

My friend Jamie has loads of Nerf guns and Ive always wanted one, told Oisin, whos in fifth class at Gaelscoil Eadan Doire. It comes with 25 darts so you just hold and press. The only problem is that you have to pick them all up afterwards!

Now trigger-happy Oisin is hoping the man in the red suit will bring his little brother one as well. I think if my brother Keelan, whos seven, got one too it would be really good fun. Id have to let him win  but at least Id get to shoot him!

Santa says: Although the motorised gun comes with ammunition, unleashing five foam darts per second, a few are bound to go AWOL, so be sure to pick up a refill pack (6.50 for 30 darts) to avoid a third world war this December 25th.

3 Twins Emma and Katie Kelly from Meath donned their best Christmas jumpers before braving the Pie Face Showdown Game (24). But the six year-olds reckon everyones a winner with the years top selling toy made by Hasbro.

Despite losing out to her sister, Katie giggled: It doesnt hurt  you just get cream all over your face. You could tomato sauce if you ran out of cream. I might bring it to school for show and tell.

Now the Culmullen National School pupils are hoping Santa will also bring Sylvanian Families and some gel pens this December 25th.

Santa says: Dont scoff all the whipped cream after your turkey and ham because the family-friendly board game  which is suitable for up to eight players aged five and over  doesnt come with any.

4 Dubliner Daniel Dunne gave Santa a dig out by road-testing the LEGO City Volcano Crawler (22.99), which also includes an all-terrain vehicle and boulder rack. And the only fault the seven year-old from Glasnevin found with it was fault lines.

He explained: On the box, theyre drilling near a volcano  but its very dangerous to drill near a volcano!

Nonetheless, Daniel  who attends Sacred Heart Boys National School in Ballygall  said hed love to find some of the interlocking bricks under the tree this Christmas. And he plans to wake his big brother, Thomas, up bright and early to check.

I have lots of LEGO at home, he added, two full tubs of it. My dad makes the hard things to do and I make the characters. The last thing I made was a ship.

Meanwhile, Daniels mum Clodagh, whos a nurse a Temple Street, will be busy helping to create a festive atmosphere at the hospital.

Everybody wants to be at home for Christmas, she told, but for so many long-term patients, [Temple Street] is home. You have to pull out all the stops to make the day as special as you can for everybody.

Santa says: Suitable for boys and girls aged 6-12, the iconic building blocks make the perfect alternative to video games this December 25th  and you wont even have to raid the remote control for those all-elusive AA batteries!

5 Just like her cartoon hero, four year-old Katie Young was full of giggles after getting her hands on Peppa Pig Laugh With Peppa (18.99). And she demonstrated exactly how to tickle the toys tummy to set it off on a laughing fit just like the real Peppa. I watch Peppa Pig on telly every day after school, said Katie from Tallaght in Dublin. I love it. Peppa is my favourite. Peppa comes with two of her other most famous phrases, Lets be silly! and I cant stop giggling!, on loop. But it wasnt enough to convince Katie  who attends St Thomas Early Start School  to alter her Santa letter. Ive asked Santa to bring me a Baby Annabell Bedroom  and will leave out a glass of milk and carrot for Rudolph to say thanks!

Santa says: Like Tickle Me Elmo before her, Laugh with Peppa may test even the most patient of parents, so practise gritting those teeth and dont forget the back-up AAA batteries  unless, of course, you want to!

The best of the rest: Fun toys for all ages this Christmas
(Xinhua) 19:50, December 08, 2016

SUVA, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Fiji on Thursday expressed its appreciation towards China for capacity building assistance, as the Pacific island nation's senior officials are undergoing intensive training at a renowned institution in the Asian country.

The group of Fiji's 19 senior civil servants, led by Sakeasi Waikere, deputy secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister, is currently receiving week-long training tailor made for senior government leaders and top executives from business sectors at the China Executive Leadership Academy Pudong (CELAP), situated in Shanghai.

Other group members include senior officials from Fiji's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, Ministry of Fisheries, Ministry of Forests, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources, as well as senior managers from the Land Transport Authority and Water Authority of Fiji.

"The Fijian government acknowledges the government of the People's Republic of China and its embassy in Suva for facilitating such opportunities to observe China's development with an ongoing theme of leadership building," Fiji's Department of Information said.

"With the current ongoing civil service reforms, such international engagements will not only improve service delivery within the civil service and the people it serves, it will also benefit the livelihood of the Fijian people through the implementation of new initiatives learnt that directly impacts Fijian lives," the department added.

Officially opened in March, 2005, the CELAP is a Shanghai-based national institution in leadership training and development.
P-22 is, of course, the code on this cats GPS collar, the information from which enabled a map of his movements to be drawn.

It, and a brief account of his adventures, appears in a book just published. Where Animals Go, tracking wildlife with technology in 50 maps and graphics, is the work of geographer James Cheshire and designer Oliver Uberti, both of National Geographic.

Lions tigers leopards and jaguars are known as the big cats. Their larynxes enable them to roar.

The mountain-lion, the fourth largest cat in the world, cant roar.

The biggest of the small cats, a distant relative of your household tabby, has more names than any other feline; cougar puma and panther are the more familiar ones.

The piece by Cheshire and Ubertis on P-22 is no animal equivalent of Hello magazine trivia.

It focuses on a problem faced by this cat, and its feline community; the cougars have become marooned on a man-made island.

They are cut off from the rest of the world, not by water but by motorways.

Only one of 33 GPS-tagged individuals, young male P-56, is known to have crossed one of the areas eight-lane freeways.

Fifteen days after traversing Interstate 15, however, P-56 was killed for attacking a farmers sheep.

Not so long ago, a mountain-lion venturing close to human habitation was shot on sight. Nowadays, a more relaxed attitude to these top predators prevails.

When people see P-22, they treat him like a celebrity a local vet is quoted as saying.

Big cats are allowed to survive, and are welcome to breed, near human habitation. However, theres a problem.

The local cougar gene pool is small; inputs from outside the area are needed to prevent inbreeding.

In 2003, the Transportation Department converted an underpass of State Route 91 into a wildlife corridor but the cats refused to use it.

Insufficient cover in the approaches to the pass may have deterred them; they could be seen at eye-level by drivers on the motorway.

Its now proposed to build a vegetated bridge over Interstate 15 which, its hoped, will solve the visibility problem.

The mountain-lion story is just one of 37 accounts of animal movement from all over the world, featured in Where Animals Go.

No coffee-table wildlife-porn photos of glamorous creatures appear in this atlas, just exquisitely-drawn maps.

The wanderings of Slave, a young male wolf tagged near Trieste, Italy, in July 2011, are so extensive that a centrefold page was needed to do justice to them.

Slave travelled 1,000km in four months. On December 29 of that year he swam across the icy 280m-wide Drava river.

He has since found a mate, settled down, and raised at least 16 cubs.

Not all of the journeys featured extend over continents and national boundaries. Some are of the parish pump variety.

Radio tags were fitted to 3,000 songbirds at Oxfords Whitham Wood. Sixty-five monitoring stations recorded 91,576 feeding events by 1,904 individuals.

Why would a tit opt to jostle around a busy feeder when it could have one to itself a researcher asked.

Are humans any different? Well queue for an hour outside a packed restaurant before taking a risk on its empty neighbour he said.

Where Animals Go is well written and entertaining, an ideal, if slightly off-the-wall, Christmas present for the wildlife enthusiast.

James Cheshire and Oliver Uberti. Where Animals Go, tracking wildlife with technology in 50 maps and graphics. Particular Books, 2016. 20 hardback
THIS week we learned that the fee-charging schools have consolidated their grip on college courses requiring high points, with 20 of the top 25 feeder schools charging fees. This is a big jump from 2013 when fee-charging schools were in 16 of the top 25 slots.

This deepens my unease that Protestant children are still subsidised by the State to go to fee-charging schools in ways Catholic children are not. The story dates to when Donogh OMalley introduced free secondary education in 1967. Most Protestant schools insisted they had to charge fees because they didnt have the free services of the religious orders and they had to provide for boarders. From then until Budget 2009, Protestant schools were unique in being subsidised by the State with capitation as if they were free schools but also allowed to charge fees.

The then education minster, Batt OKeeffe, axed this privilege in the wake of the financial crisis and Protestant fee-charging schools were put on the same footing as Catholic fee-charging schools. This was long overdue. Capitation had increased over the years as most Catholic schools no longer had the advantage of free labour from highly qualified religious. Boarding is a separate issue and is provided for by a means-tested grant for Protestants called the Protestant Block Grant.

The Fianna Fail-led coalition, followed by the Fine Gael-led coalition, decreased the number of teachers provided to fee-charging schools in the belief that they had the resources to pay extra teachers themselves. Because 19 Protestant schools had stayed in the fee-charging sector, they were disproportionately affected and cried discrimination.

Nowhere in the official response of the Protestant secondary schools, Catering for Disadvantage, is it allowed that Protestant fee-charging schools could join the free scheme like the other 700-odd secondary schools in the State. Though two Protestant secondary schools did just that: Kilkenny College and Wilsons Hospital in Co Westmeath.

Catering for Disadvantage had cited the fee-charging Kilkenny College in tragic tones in the case of a Presbyterian family living in Carlow. It is not a Presbyterian school, but as a Church of Ireland school, it was deemed appropriate by this family. Why this should be is far from clear, because the Anglican tradition is at least as close to Catholicism as it is to Presbyterianism, depending on your cleric and culture.

But no, these Carlow Presbyterians reckoned they had no choice but to head to Kilkenny if their children are to attend a school that reflects the ethos that they would wish for their children as is their constitutional right.

Catering for Disadvantage outlines Kilkenny Colleges options: The fees will have to increase to cope with the cut in state support or the school will make do with fewer teachers than is provided for in local Catholic schools.

Or it could enter the free scheme. Stop charging fees. Cater for disadvantage. Which is what it did.

A 2011 study of the fee-charging schools commissioned in 2011 vindicated the 2009 budgetary decision on Protestant schools. It revealed that the 55 fee-charging secondary schools in the State have an average of 1.48m available to them per annum compared with free schools, or 3,177 per student. Clearly there are big discrepancies between them, ranging from 112,000 in extra funding for a small school and 4.7m for a big one. But it argued that there was no reason to distinguish in fiscal terms the 19 fee-charging Protestant schools from the 34 other fee-charging schools on which they reported.

The current teacher allocation for fee-charging schools is 23:1 compared with 19:1 in free schools. The report looked at what would happen to fee-charging schools if the ratio went up to 28:1, as suggested by An Bord Snip Nua. It found that eight big Protestant schools would still be in rude health, with extra income per student ranging from 3,361 to 7,837. And this is without counting the endowments and fundraising advantages which all fee-charging schools enjoy.

Mid-range Protestant schools would come out of such a reduction better than other fee-charging schools in the same range. Four Protestant schools would be among the most severely hit but still better off to the tune of around 241,000 than the free school down the road.

There is no reason for the State to spend money assuring Protestant children will have the advantages of extra subjects, extra teachers, extra extra-curricular activities, and extra networking opportunities which other children do not have. That this happened in the first place was as a result of Partition. The Irish States eventual aim of uniting Ireland required the placating of resident Protestants which may have been necessary at one point but certainly isnt now.

So why does the State currently spend an annual figure of 6.75m on the Protestant Block Grant which supports Protestants who need it with school fees? You can argue the case for the boarding costs. But surely a point has to come when you address the tragic case of A Methodist family living in Leitrim with the words: shop local. Particularly in the context of other potentially tragic cases, A Hindu family living in Waterford and A Muslim family living in Monaghan. Where are their schools? Will we soon have to fund a Muslim Block Grant too?

There are nearly 7,000 students in our fee-charging Protestant schools but we dont know how many of these are Protestant. Grants are disbursed to between 2,000 and 2,500 of the Protestant children annually. You could arrive from anywhere with a rubber-stamped baptismal cert from any Protestant Church and youd be away. I have known avowed atheists who have availed of the Block Grant.

Protestant Aid, a Protestant-run aid agency servicing the needy in Ireland, keeps the wolf from many doors but one of its four main areas of provision are school fees and other expenses incurred in attending Protestant-managed schools. I have not been given up to date figures but in 2011 211,829 was thus spent, out of a spending pot of around 711,200. The State helps fund the charity by way of annual grants: 200,000 in that year.

I dont believe that any charity should be paying kids school fees. You can argue that the State has not put in place an adequate multi-denominational school system. Thats true. But cant we start by outlawing the charging of fees for State schools? And prioritising children on the basis of their religion for places in any State-funded school, while giving kids the right to absent themselves from religion class and avail of appropriate ethical instruction?

There is nothing else for a Protestant to fear from a Catholic school, or vice versa. There is neither Catholic chemistry nor Protestant PE. There is just the opportunity to be with other kids from a marginally different background. Which really cant, in the year of 2016, be regarded as tragic.
Business Parliament Approves Japanese Loan

Construction workers at Thilawa Special Economic Zone in May 2015. / Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters

RANGOON  Union Parliament approved loans of 358 billion kyats (US$270 million) from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Wednesday to fund the third Thanlyin Bridge across the Bago River to the Thilawa special economic zone.

Deputy minister of planning and finance U Maung Maung Win said the bridge would play an important role in cross-border trade in the Mekong River region and with Asean countries in coming years.

Construction minister U Win Khaing said the new bridge would ease traffic flow, saving traders time and fuel. The government could gain revenue from road tolls, he added.

Burmas president also asked for parliaments approval on Thursday of 94 billion yen (US$829 million) of low-interest JICA loans for nationwide projects.

National League for Democracy lawmaker for Karenni State Daw Wint Wah Htun said as 70 percent of Burmas population depends on agriculture, JICA loans could help farmers invest in machinery and livestock, creating jobs and ensuring the countrys economic stability.
Asia Dissidents Urge Trump to Press China on Human Rights

Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer gestures during the 2nd Geneva Summit for Human Rights, Tolerance, and Democracy in Geneva, March 8, 2010. / Denis Balibouse / Reuters

WASHINGTON  Exiled Chinese dissidents on Wednesday urged President-elect Donald Trump to champion human rights in China and recognize self-governing Taiwan as a full democratic country.

Several former political prisoners spoke before at congressional commission days after Trump spoke by phone with Taiwans president in defiance of decades of diplomatic convention. That has fueled speculation Trump could adopt a tougher American policy toward China although he has shown little interest in advocating for civil liberties in the communist-ruled nation.

Rebiya Kadeer, an exiled leader of the Muslim Uighur minority, told the hearing, Any sign that the United States is ready to relinquish its commitment to raising human rights concerns in favor of achieving policy gains elsewhere will be a victory for China.

Yang Jianli, a veteran of the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square that were crushed by China, said Trump should focus on American values and strike directly at the vulnerable spots of the regime to force Chinas democratic transition.

Yang advocated modification of US policy on Taiwan to reflect a full democratic country status and affirm its legitimacy by allowing Taiwan to be a normal member of the international community. That would imply a shift in the one China policy adhered to by Washington since it switched diplomatic recognition of China from the self-governing island of Taiwan to Beijing in 1979.

He also urged US support for more democracy in Hong Kong, where critics say China has moved to erode the citys semi-autonomous status.

Yang has previously criticized Trump on China human rights issues.

In March, he co-authored a newspaper commentary faulting Trump for saying during a Republican presidential debate that a strong, powerful government had put down the Tiananmen Square protests. Trump said he didnt endorse the crackdown, but he did liken it to putting down a riot.

Two Republican lawmakers also urged Trump to prioritize human rights in his China policy. Rep Chris Smith said the new administration should shine a bright line on abuses, a sentiment echoed by Sen Marco Rubio, who was a rival of Trump for the Republican presidential nomination.

Rubio appeared to criticize Trumps pick for ambassador to China, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, who has known Chinese President Xi Jinping for more than 30 years and has long promoted his states trade with China. Rubio said the ambassador should reflect human rights priorities, not simply someone who is going there to catch up with old friends.

Wei Jingsheng, who spent 18 years in Chinese prison for his democracy advocacy, urged the Trump administration to follow through on threats to impose trade tariffs on China, saying that the US would win a trade war as China cannot risk losing its US market.
Burma Rangoon to Launch Public Waterfront Area in 2017

Rangoon skyline and part of its waterfront as seen from the Hlaing River. / Kyaw Phyo Tha / The Irrawaddy

RANGOON  In an attempt to promote tourism, the Rangoon Division government will open a public downtown waterfront area next year, creating another tourist destination in Burmas business hub.

Situated on the bank of Hlaing River, also known as the Rangoon River, the former capital of Burma boasts a long riverfront, but public access to the area has been very limited due to the presence of walled warehouses, jetties and ports scattered along the banks. In order to access a view of their citys river, residents of Rangoon currently cram into a few jetties where they can engage in morning exercise or evening walks.

According to the divisional governments tourism promotion plan, they will have more space by March of 2017.

During a forum organized by the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism on Wednesday in Rangoon, the citys Karen Ethnic Affairs Minister Naw Pan Thinzar Myo revealed that walled waterfront areas along Strand Road from the downtown streets of Pansodan to Sule Pagoda will be open for public use as a pilot project. The area is within close range of the downtown heritage zone where century-old British colonial buildings line the streets.

The wall along the Strand Road will be demolished to allow people to enjoy the beauty of the waterfront, said the minister, who is also responsible for Rangoons tourism sector.

She added that around seven large old warehouses in the area will be renovated and converted into art spaces for public recreation.

The idea of opening the riverfront to the public is not a new one. In 2013, Rangoons Comprehensive Land Use, Zoning and Urban Design Review Working Committee proposed that a public space along Rangoons riverfront be created to improve the quality of life for residents.

Yangon Heritage Trust (YHT), an NGO advocating for the protection and restoration of public and historic spaces in Rangoon, has been lobbying for the re-development of the waterfront for public use. In their 150-page Yangon Heritage Strategy report published this year, YHT provides a detailed plan for the Rangoon riverfront, stressing that all new development along the water be low-rise and that old warehouses be adapted into retail and cultural centers.

Daw Moe Moe Lwin of the YHT said she welcomes the governments plan to redevelop the waterfront as it has been the one of the focuses of the trusts advocacy.

Its good, but how the plan is implemented is important as well, she said, stressing the need to regulate, for example, the height limit for new development along the waterfront, which is close to the citys heritage zone.

The other thing is accessibility to the waterfront, as there is a toll road along the Strand. The authorities need consider that as well, Daw Moe Moe Lwin said.
Burma Rangoon to Reform Municipal Body in 2017

Rangoon City Hall. / The Irrawaddy

RANGOON  The Rangoon regional government will review all the city municipals laws and by-laws and reform the structure of the municipal body next year, according to a regional minister.

Rangoons Karen ethnic affairs minister Naw Pan Thinzar Myo said that the instruction came from the Burmas State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi after her official visit to Singapore from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2.

We will redraw all the citys municipal laws soon and reform all 23 departments under the [municipal] body, she said at a forum organized by the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism on Wednesday in Rangoon. The State Counselors statement was offered in reply to stakeholders of the tourism industry who questioned the governments plan to regulate guesthouses that host foreign travelers without proper licenses.

Hotels and tourism law bans unlicensed guesthouses and guesthouses that operate with municipal permits from accommodating foreign travelers. Only hotels which apply for licenses from the ministry are allowed to host tourists.

Naw Pan Thinzar Myo said that as the administrative body had failed to monitor guesthouses closely, many owners still accepted such guests without proper conditions for accommodation.

She said the regional government would issue new regulations to clamp down on illegal guesthouses. Licenses allowed by the hotels and tourism ministry and the municipal body will be reviewed when they redraw the municipal laws.

Though the details of the municipal bodys planned reforms remain unclear, the minister said that the changes would address Rangoons major problems in the hotels and tourism sector and regarding worsening traffic congestion.

During her time in Singapore, the State Counselor visited the Ghim Moh Hawker Center & Market, Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau, Singapores Asian Civilization Museum and also met with both Singaporean officials and the Burmese community living and working there.

Speaking at the IE Singapores Global Conversations business dialogue, she made a particularly surprise remark: In 20 years time, Myanmar will have overtaken Singapore and you will help us.

The reforms to the municipal body of the Burmas commercial capital would be the first significant step toward such new developments.

Naw Pan Thinzar Myo said that with the assistance of the Singapore government, the Singaporean experts will come to Rangoon in January to redraw the commercial capitals municipal law.
Burma Shan State Parliament puts Peace Process in Jeopardy

TNLA soliders march at Homain, Nansan Township, January 12, 2014. / Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters

RANGOON  The struggling Shan State peace process has been thrown into a state of upheaval as the Shan State parliament voted on Wednesday to label three ethnic armed groups as terrorist organizations, according to Dau Kha, a leader within the Kachin Independence Army (KIA).

The peace process and the political situation have been turned backwards here, said Dau Kha. This vote does not highlight a positive way to peace. It emphasizes the negatives, and they shouldnt do this.

The Shan State parliament made their own decision, and they did not listen to voices from the people, he added.

The three ethnic armed groupsthe KIA, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), and the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA)have carried out a military offensive against the Burma Army in northern Shan State since Nov. 20. A fourth ethnic armed group, the Arakan Army (AA), has also fought in the conflict, but the Burma Army refuses to recognize the AA, arguing that the group does not represent the Arakanese people.

It is very clear who has influence in this parliament, which is supposed to represent the Shan ethnic people. Also, we send our thanks to those lawmakers who voted against this proposal, TNLA spokesman Col Tar Phone Kyaw said via Facebook.

The Burma Army currently controls 34 seats in the Shan State parliament, and the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) controls 33. Together, the two groups have majority control over the parliament.

This only proves how the Burma Army does not have genuine intentions for the peace process. It proves they dont want to have peace in this country. They only want us to follow their instructions. Now more fighting will come soon, said Col Tar Phone Kyaw.

Whatever the Burma Army does to respond, we will be ready for it, he added.

On Wednesday, Shan State lawmaker Aung Thu proposed that parliament discuss the issue of labeling the ethnic armed groups as terrorist organizations. Aung Thu, who represents constituency No. 2 in Muse Township, is also a former Burma Army general. Parliament voted 63 in favor and 33 against, and the bill passed.

We dont care about this vote, said Nai Hong Sar, vice chairman of the ethnic armed group coalition United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC).

This is their job. The Burma Army will continue to do whatever it wants because they do not like us, he added.

The Burma Army also took the terrorist organization issue to the Lower House in the national Parliament, where the issue was placed on hold.

As the conflict in northern Shan State dragged on, Burmese authorities found the bodies of nine dead police officers in Mong Ko town on Wednesday, the State Counselors office reported. One of the victims was head of the police station in Mong Ko. The Burma Army and government have only reported casualties caused to civilians during the conflict, and have not reported casualties to the Burma Army.
Burma Womens Rights Bill to go to Parliament in 2017

A young ethnic Kachin girl was seen in an IDP camp in Bhamo, December 2015. / Tin Htet Paing / The Irrawaddy

RANGOON  Burma aims to submit a long-awaited bill to Parliament in early 2017 that will better protect women from violence, according to the committee working on the draft law.

Being the only country in Southeast Asia that does not have a law focused on women in a male-dominated and socially conservative culture, Burma currently practices the outdated British colonial-era Penal Code, which describes the offenses and penalties for sexual violence against women in generic terms.

Article 376 of Burmas Penal Code states that those convicted of rape shall be punished with up to 20 years imprisonment or for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.

The committee is chaired by the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement and comprises several civil society organizations that promote gender rights, including the Myanmar Womens Affairs Federation and the Gender Equality Network. The committee has been working on the 19-chapter draft law since 2013 and is now a step closer to adopting the legislation.

Daw Naw Tha Wah, a director at the Department of Social Welfare operating under the ministry, said the committee is reviewing the recommendations made by the Union Supreme Court on the draft law and would distribute the finalized version to all committee members.

We started working on the draft law under the previous government but there was a government transition right before we finalized it, she said.

The Presidents Office instructed us to prepare it again in accordance with the new administrations policies, she told The Irrawaddy, explaining why it had taken so long to submit the bill to Parliament.

According to the Gender Equality Network, the draft law provides a legal framework to address five major forms of violence against women: physical, mental, sexual, economic and culturalwhich would cover domestic and intimate partner violence, marital rape, stalking, cyber abuse, and harassment both in public places and work environments.

Womens rights activist Ma May Sabe Phyu, who is also the director of the network and the joint secretary of the law drafting committee, told The Irrawaddy that she has yet to assess the recommendations of the Supreme Court until the social welfare department shares them with all committee members.

She said, however, that she is not yet fully satisfied with the finalized draft law as there were serious concerns from womens rights activists on the version submitted to the Supreme Court. There were many provisions that government organizations and womens rights activists could not negotiate and agree upon, she said.

Government officials dont want to include provisions that they think go against culture, tradition and customs, while we cannot let womens rights be violated for any reason, she said.

We even had to argue on the definition of rape.

Womens rights activists demanded that rape cases committed by members of armed groups in conflict areas be investigated according to this law once the legislation is enacted, which government officials disagreed on, she said.

We spent so much time drafting the law and with many difficulties, she said. We want this law to be flawless, and include provisions that will grant effective protection for women and girls as demanded by womens rights groups.

She wants this law to be enacted as soon as possible, providing the provisions are suitable.

It would be nonsense to submit a law in a rush and then have to amend it after its enacted, she said.

Project manager Ma Myint Zu of the Womens Organizations Network, who was involved in the consultation process of the draft law, said there were concerns about the bills measures of punishment for offenders and legal rights for victims.

We suggested the committee consider legalizing abortion for young rape victims, she said.

According to the police force, there were 761 incidents of reported rape from January to September 2016.

More than 30 civil society organizations that promote gender equality launched a 16-day campaign on Nov. 25 to reduce gender-based violence, celebrating the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

While Burma doesnt have a specific law protecting womens rights, a controversial set of four so-called Protection of Race and Religion Laws was passed by Parliament last year. Rights groups have criticized the laws as discriminatory against women and religious minorities. The laws were lobbied by a group of hardline Buddhist nationalists, known by the acronym Ma Ba Thawho claimed Burma and the women of the country were under threat from Islam.
News KNU Congress Scheduled for March

KNU chairman Saw Mutu Say Poe (second from the right) and some of the central committee leaders who attended to the Ethnic Armed Organizations Summit in Chiang Mai in August 2015. / Nyein Nyein / The Irrawaddy

The Karen National Union will hold its 16th Congress in March at its headquarters in Hpa-ans Lay Wah in Karen State after it was postponed last month.

The planned three-week Congress, which will commence on March 14, will bring together representatives from the KNUs seven administrative districts: Thaton, Nyaunglebin, Hpa-an, Papun, Duplaya, Toungoo and Dawei areas.

The Congress will select its future leaders including central committee members and departmental heads. The last Congress was held in Nov. 2012.

After the initial postponement of the 2016 KNU Congress in November, there was speculation that the KNU did not want a change in leadership during the ongoing peace process, following a nationwide ceasefire agreement with the former government in 2015.

KNU chairman Saw Mutu Say Poe is known to have good relations with both the previous government led by former President U Thein Sein and Burma Army commander-in-chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing. Despite internal fractions and disagreement, the KNU ended almost seven decades fighting with the Burma Army in 2012 with a bilateral ceasefire agreement.

It doesnt really matter if the old leaders are replaced as long as the organization maintains its stance on the basic principle of finding political solutions through dialogue, said Padoh Mann Mann, a KNU secretary.

We have different views on the process but we all respect the policies imposed by our Congress, he told The Irrawaddy.

Many ethnic Karen share the view that the peace process should go on gradually while paving the way for all-inclusion.

We must give the peace process time, said Naw KNyaw Paw Nimrod, secretary of the Karen Womens Organization (KWO), as we intend to build a federal union, but not all groups are able to take part yet.

The situation is getting worse now as the conflicts in northern Shan State continue, she added.

The KNU Congress convening committee will invite Karen civil society groups, Karen political parties and ethnic Karen resettled abroad, said Mann Mann, and encouraged the representation of women in Congress to be 30 percent or greater.

The KNU has one woman, vice chairperson Padoh Naw Zipporah Sein, in its eleven central leadership positions despite having set a 30 percent quota for women in political leadership.

Naw KNyaw Paw Nimrod told The Irrawaddy that Karen women leaders should be encouraged to participate at the district levels and that at least five women representatives from each district were needed to reach the 30 percent quota.

The KWO has been invited to be represented with two women representatives at the Congress.

They want to see changes in leadership in which more young people and women are represented.

We respect and acknowledge our elders who have contributed a lot throughout their lifetimes for revolutionary causes, but we want more youth and fresh faces at the leadership level, Naw KNyaw Paw added.
News Philippines Duterte Says Trump Made Him Feel Like a Saint

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte speaks in Quezon city, Metro Manila, December 7, 2016. / Erik De Castro / Reuters

MANILA  Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Wednesday he felt like a saint after his phone conversation last week with US President-elect Donald Trump, who he said praised him for doing great in his deadly campaign against illegal drugs.

He said in a speech that Trump told him not to worry about Americans criticizing him, saying you are doing good, go ahead.

Trump invited him for coffee if he visits Washington or New York, and told him he wanted to hear how Duterte deals with the media, his critics, and the public, the Philippine president said.

Oh President Duterte, we should fix our bad relations  Youre doing great, he quoted Trump as saying. So now, if you listen to Trump talk to me, I have become like a saint.

Duterte called to congratulate Trump late Friday.

In earlier comments about the phone call, Duterte said Trump wished that his crackdown on illegal drugs would succeed, and said he assured the U.S. president-elect the Philippines would maintain its ties with America  a departure from Dutertes hostility toward the Obama administration.

Duterte has lashed out at President Barack Obama, the State Department, EU, UN officials, and human rights groups for raising concerns over his drug crackdown, which has left more than 4,000 suspected drug dealers and users dead.

Obama canceled what could have been his first formal meeting with Duterte at an Asian summit in Laos in September after Duterte unleashed an expletive-laden warning for the US leader not to lecture him on human rights. In one speech, Duterte told Obama to go to hell.
(Xinhua) 20:31, December 08, 2016

BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese banks are likely to see a slight rise in bad loans next year, as they are facing pressure in making profits from traditional business models.

The average non-performing loans (NPL) rate of Chinese listed banks is forecasted to rise to about 1.8 percent by 2017, up from the forecasted 1.7 percent by the end 2016, Bank of China said in a report released Thursday.

The NPL growth rate of the 16 listed Chinese lenders will decelerate next year thanks to measures like debt-for-equity swaps, but the rate might further climb in coming years.

NPL has risen in recent years, against the backdrop of a slowing economic growth pace and waning profitability of some companies.

Chinese listed banks will likely see double-digit growth of their assets in tandem with a set of challenges next year including pressure on traditional interest margin business and rising operational costs, it said.

Interest margin, which refers to the difference between interest paid and interest received, is traditionally a pillar of Chinese lenders and they are exploring new revenue growth drivers in recent years.

These lenders should embrace opportunities of Chinese economic restructuring as well as upgraded consumption and wealth management demand supported by a growing middle class, it suggested.
Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2017

If we get one thing out of the Trump presidency, it is that well all have a ton to write about. This weeks comment from Donald Trump that a $4B refresh on Air Force One is stupid hit a note with me because Ive seen a lot of brain-dead decisions over the years. A few months ago, I made one myself. Trump apparently believes that the plane will cost $4B; planning for this new airplane has already cost something in the neighborhood of $170M.

Now, I think a small child looking at these numbers would raise their hand and say, isnt that stupid? Yet, in government and the private sector, these things happen all the time. Firms and government purchasing departments pay exorbitant sums for things that they dont even need. When I worked as an internal auditor, I was surprised at how often I ran into things that, for lack of a more descriptive term, were just brain-dead, yet some otherwise smart executives signed off on them.

I once advocated for a department whose sole responsibility was to go around the company and locate and destroy practices or reverse decisions that were obviously stupid. Let me give you some other examples of stupid and how they came to be.

The Disney Monorail to the L.A. Airport

The proposed Disney monorail situation is one of those things that I think defines stupidity. Walt Disney, back in the 1950s, proposed a monorail from Disneyland in Orange County to the L.A. airport. Back then, freeways were basically four-lane roads and getting to and from the airport was a different kind of nightmare than what we face today. The cost of the monorail project was estimated and budgeted at $3M, a lot of money back then. To make sure that it was a good decision, a number of studies were done, which eventually concluded that the monorail would not be profitable and shouldnt be built. Those studies cost $9M. So, for three times the cost of building the monorail, the committees determined one should not be built.

Now, this likely happened gradually, because even an idiot would not propose a $9M project to determine if a $3M project was profitable. But what seemed to happen over several years is that study after study provided the wrong result, so they kept going until they got a result they wanted.

The mistake was not setting a hard ceiling on the research. At no point should the cost of studying a proposal cost more than what the actual project costs, otherwise you might as well build it and effectively test live.

Hotel Hell

One of the most fascinating and stupid projects I ran into was in Micronesia. The U.S. had funded a hotel there for visitors and it was to be built out of reinforced concrete. After the walls were up and the hotel was nearing completion, someone wondered how the bathrooms and lights were going to work, given that there was no plumbing or wiring. It seems that no one who had signed off on the budget or plans had bothered to have them reviewed by a competent architect. The end result was that all of the plumbing and wiring had to be run outside of the building and core drilled at incredible expense in order to get basic utilities to the rooms. This not only blew out the budget, but it resulted in a building that was ugly and wasnt sealed against weather or insects properly. Thats not good in a climate that destroys metal in months and where a lot of the insects enjoy people as a delicacy.

This fiasco largely resulted from everyone assuming someone else had done the appropriate review.

The Presidential 747

When the 747 was first designed, in the 1960s, the plane was a showcase of American ingenuity. It was created at a time when Boeing believed all existing large commercial planes, including the 747, would soon be replaced by supersonic alternatives. It was conceived to be a short-lived aircraft and a good chunk of the design consideration went into making it possible to easily convert it into a cargo plane as a result.

The first 747 Air Force One was commissioned in 1985 and it began service in 1990. Back then, electronics were big, bulky and anything but solid state. Portable computers were in the 20- to 30-pound range and no one had even heard of the internet. It was the end of the cold war and a big, slow-moving plane made sense, largely because hand-held, ground-to-air missiles and the idea of using airliners as weapons were both unlikely.

Currently, the needs and technology levels are much different and the risks have changed massively. In many cases, the emergence of holography, high-resolution video conferencing, and the near elimination of latency has made alternative forms of attending meetings viable and far easier to secure. In 2024, when the proposed new planes come into service, will they be needed? Also consider that the core design at that point will be 50+ years old, at the beginning of an expected 25-year term of service.

In short, my point is that not specifying something that anticipates the future, is smaller, faster, and better defended, with an electronic conferencing fall back, is stupid; there is probably every chance that the president of 2024 will need something vastly different than a 747, largely because they should already have something vastly different today.

We desperately need more people who will step up and point out stupid.

Wrapping Up: Recognizing When Decision Making Goes Awry

Several things jumped out at me from the Trump comment. Clearly, the idea of an outdated design for a future plane, but also the fact that an incoming president with no political background, who hasnt even been well briefed on the threats that face him, immediately grasped that this idea was stupid.

Im not immune to making stupid decisions, either. A few months back, I took the European Delivery option on a new Mercedes. I realized, once on the trip, that this meant I paid for the car early, got the car late, and went on the most expensive and worst vacation Ive ever taken. And, all of the information telling me that was the case was available before I left. I just failed to think it through.

We could all save our firms a ton of money if we just looked for and worked to eliminate the incredibly stupid things folks are doing because they didnt read what they were signing, they assumed someone else did the needed reviews, or they just accepted decisions as well-thought-through and didnt challenge them. And if these examples dont hit you, remember the next time you get on a plane that the Samsung Galaxy 7 ban announcement resulted because someone thought it was smart to forgo adequate design testing and rush a phone to market. How smart do you think they feel today?

Rob Enderle is President and Principal Analyst of the Enderle Group, a forward-looking emerging technology advisory firm. With over 30 years experience in emerging technologies, he has provided regional and global companies with guidance in how to better target customer needs; create new business opportunities; anticipate technology changes; select vendors and products; and present their products in the best possible light. Rob covers the technology industry broadly. Before founding the Enderle Group, Rob was the Senior Research Fellow for Forrester Research and the Giga Information Group, and held senior positions at IBM and ROLM. Follow Rob on Twitter @enderle, on Facebook and on Google+
When it comes to hybrid devices, there really isn't a lot of brands that easily come to mind. Sure Microsoft has given us the Surface Pro and the Surface Book, but are these really affordable to everyone? Luckily, though, Lenovo has changed this thing about the hybrid market. The company is able to release one 2-in-1 device after the other. Lenovo's range of 2-in-1s even comes with different prices and sizes, giving everyone a hybrid device that is perfect for them. Here are some of Lenovo's best convertibles.

Lenovo ThinkPad T460

The Lenovo ThinkPad may not be as lightweight and as elegant-looking as your modern and premium hybrids, but Lenovo may have done this to make room for all your needed ports. Know that the ThinkPad T460 has HDMI, SD card reader, three USB ports, Mini DisplayPort and a smart card reader. With that said, this hybrid device isn't really a bad idea despite it being a humongous 2-in-1. In fact, it is a solid deal for a price of $629. It may not be for everyone but it is certainly for people looking for a fully functional laptop with a convertible body.

Lenovo Yoga 910

The Yoga 910 is one of Lenovo's laptops that's ready for any beauty contest. It is a gorgeous 13.9-inch laptop that has an almost bezel-free display. It's got a mighty 7th Gen processor too, so it's pretty much as fast as you'd want it to be. Keep in mind though that Lenovo hasn't been as generous about ports with the Yoga 910 compared to the ThinkPad T460. But for a device that offers the best of both tablet and laptop worlds, the Yoga 910 is a good deal at $1049.

Lenovo Ideapad 100S

Ideapad 100S' topmost asset has got to be its affordable price. For under $200, you'd get an attractive laptop with a long battery life. Its specs may be midrange in nature but it's just perfect for casual usage. This hybrid device is powered by an Intel Atom CPU and comes with 2 GB RAM and 32 GB hard drive.

Lenovo Yoga 710 14in

The Lenovo Yoga 710 14in runs Skylake Core i7 processor and comes with up to 256 GB SSD. It also uses Nvidia 940M graphics making it a good startup gaming hybrid. For just around $499 (as per Tech Radar), this convertible seems like a solid deal.

Lenovo Yoga 900S

The Lenovo Yoga 900S is a stylish 2-in-1 with a thin and light design. It is essentially a sexier version of its 13.3-inch sibling called the Lenovo Yoga 900. Nevertheless, this laptop hasn't sacrificed its ports for its thinness. It has full sized USB ports and overall a superb set of specs. For a starting price of $1099, this Lenovo hybrid is a pretty good deal.

As a whole, Lenovo is one reliable brand for convertibles. There are a few other names that released 2-in-1 devices like Acer and Microsoft, but not a lot of computer makers have dedicated so much effort in producing a wide array of hybrid devices. Lenovo may be the only brand with a wide range of 2-in-1s.
German car manufacturer, Audi, unveiled its development plan for future smart cars at the Conference and Workshop on Neural Information Processing Systems event in Barcelona, Spain. The development, still in its concept stages, introduces technology to that will give the car the ability to maneuver in tight spaces and to park itself without human intervention. They used a 1:8 model car and named it the Audi Q2 deep learning concept.

The Audi Q2 Deep Learning Concept

The Audi Q2 deep learning concept was placed and tested in a small area and had it autonomously seek out an available parking space, and had it park itself. They placed the model car in different areas of the small field and had it seek out the spaces, some with obstacles that simulate other cars in a real-life parking lot. The Audi Q2 was successful in seeking out spaces and was able to properly park. The program uses algorithms to learn by means of trial and error and make the best judgment call based on the scenario. Two cameras were placed on the model car, one in front and another at the back, and were equipped with 10 ultrasonic sensors to mounted around the body to detect what's in its surroundings.

Audi Plans To Bring The Technology To Real-World Cars

Audi plans to use the same deep learning concept on a full sized car in the near future. Deep learning software will also be developed with Mobileye and will be equipped to the next generation Audi A8 sedans. The A8 is expected to be a semi-autonomous vehicle that is include features such as traffic-jam assist, this would allow the car to intelligently maneuver through stop and go traffic with minimal human intervention. A self-parking system is also expected to be featured for the next generation Audi A8 sedan.
Florida's Health Department approved Knox Medical to be the fourth organization in the state to distribute low-THC medical cannabis. The announcement came less than a month before the full legalization of medical marijuana in the state becomes effective.

Knox Medical Will Do In-Home Delivery Of Medical Marijuana

Knox Medical scored the highest out of all the nurseries that applied for permission to cultivate, process and dispense medical cannabis. As a result, they were approved to dispense medical pot, and is set to begin in-home deliveries next week.

Other organizations like Trulieve (Hackney Nursery in Gadsden County) and Alpha Surterra in the Tampa Bay area were approved for medical marijuana distribution in July, while Modern Health Concepts (Costa Nursery Farms in Miami-Dade County) was approved in early September. Two other organizations are waiting for approval.

Bruce Knox, co-founder and chief operating officer of Knox Medical, said: "Ever since Knox Medical was awarded the highest score in Florida to produce medical cannabis, our team of growers, engineers, researchers, and experts have prepared for this exact moment to produce industry leading medicines for patients and their families. We are honored to have this privilege to serve our fellow Floridians who require compassionate medical relief."

Florida Patients With Debilitating Medical Condition May Obtain Medical Marijuana For Treatment

Florida's Amendment 2 states that patients who suffer from debilitating illness like cancer, epilepsy, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), HIV and AIDS, have access to medical marijuana for treatment. The amendment was passed November 8 with an overwhelming 6.5 million votes, or 71.2 percent, in favor.

Low-THC medical cannabis will not come in cheap. The price would be about 17 cents a milliliter, or roughly $100 a bottle. However, Knox Medical said that they are working with Epilepsy Foundation of Florida and another foundation to make it affordable for patients with financial challenges.
For several years now, the car-sharing industry have been making a mark to people's daily transport. Companies such as Uber, ZipCar, Car2Go and Lyft have been useful to customers who either do not have their own cars, do no wish to drive to an unfamiliar destination or simply do not wish to drive their own cars through rush hour traffic. BMW recently joined the car-sharing scene with the ReachNow program that allows passengers to rent a BMW or have their own BMW rented out by someone else.

Uber Recently Started The Autonomous Car Sharing

Recently, Uber, introduced self-driving cars to their arsenal and tested it in Pittsburgh. Uber equipped a fleet of Ford Fusions with radar cameras and sensors and turned it into autonomous vehicles. Professional drivers are still behind the wheel to intervene in case of emergencies. Uber customers can book their ride 24 hours a day using the UberX app.

BMW, who is already making a profit with their still fresh ReachNow program, answers back with plans of testing BMW autonomous cars in Munich. 40 vehicles will be part of the test launch and will expand with more vehicles to other cities in the near future. One major advantage the BMW has over Uber is the cars itself, as Uber still needs to buy their autonomous vehicles from car manufacturers, while BMW already owns the cars and budget cost is focused mainly on production and development.

BMW Wants To Be The Coolest, Not The Biggest

Admittedly, BMW knows that they are not the biggest company in terms of car sharing, however; Tony Douglas, BMW's head of Mobility strategy, stated, 'We will not be the largest, but we can be the coolest." "Someone else spent the money to educate the market and then we came in with a cool product." Douglas told Reuters. Although both Uber and BMW's goals are the same, which is to have safe self-driving vehicles used for ride hailing, the consumers might indeed opt to choose the cooler one. I mean, who does not want to ride in a luxurious BMW?

Uber, who had their early stages of car sharing service since 2009, unfortunately, have been struggling with their profits as of late. Buying new autonomous cars also does not guarantee any profit, especially now that a company as big as BMW took their steps as a challenge. On the other hand, BMW already achieved profitability with the ReachNow car sharing service that was only launched in April of this year.

Uber Owns The Idea, BMW Takes Action

The decision of Uber to go for autonomous vehicles has always been about making a profit. Hiring professional drivers costs a lot of money, as the law requires a proper minimum wage, compensation and benefits to be provided. That cost will be on top of other insurance payments that need to be made, and of course, the vehicles repair, maintenance, and registration. Making the cars autonomous will cut company costs by a large percentage, as they will only need to focus on the vehicle related costs. Unfortunately for Uber, their development plans have such a success that other companies are now improving the idea that they started and making a profit out of it. Or simply to be cool.
The future is definitely here. Your regular glasses may now have night-vision ability, without the extra weight, thanks to science. Aussie scientists were able to design nano crystals which can be used to create night-vision glasses, which fit right into your regular glasses.

Dr Mohsen Rahmani, one of the researchers, said: "Current night vision glasses are a combination of optics and electronics. They receive the near-infrared spectrum, which is not visible, and convert photons to electricity. These semi-conductor nano-crystals can transfer the highest intensity of light and engineer complex light beams that could be used with a laser to project a holographic image in modern displays."

Nano Crystals Are Extremely Tiny, 500 Times Smaller Than Human Hair

Scientists from the Australian National University announced Wednesday that they were able to design a nano crystal, around 500 times smaller than a human hair, that turns darkness into visible light. This design replaces the bulky, traditional-type, night-vision goggles.

Professor Neshev from the Nonlinear Physics Centre within the ANU Research School of Physics and Engineering said: "The nano crystals are so small they could be fitted as an ultra-thin film to normal eye glasses to enable night vision. This tiny device could have other exciting uses including in anti-counterfeit devices in bank notes, imaging cells for medical applications and holograms."

The Design Culminates More Than 15 Years Of Research

ANU's decision to make the night-vision design on glass is a huge milestone in the field of nanophotonics - the study of the behavior of light. This is research is far from being a walk in the park. This culminates 15 years of research, so one can just imagine how difficult this task is. This breakthrough offers very exciting uses for anti-counterfeit devices in bank notes, imaging cells for medical applications and holograms, to name a few.
The "Gilmore Girls" revival just kicked in about two weeks ago and until now, the hype of its return hasn't died down. The fans have come up with so many legit theories regarding Rory's ending, plus Netflix reportedly wanting more of it.

Fans Speculate Theories On Reason Of Rory's Pregnancy During Cliffhanger Ending

There have been crazy theories that the fans have come up with in regards to the cliffhanger ending of the "Gilmore Girls' revival that left every fan in the world hanging. It can be recalled that the iconic "last four words" series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino has been teasing about is how Rory tells Lorelai she is pregnant. However, it may seem like some fans have otherwise other perceptions to this revelation: Rory is a surrogate to Luke and Lorelai's baby. This was led by the series of events that transpired in the revival, especially when Rory suggested to Jess that she might just be one of the surrogates in Paris' fertility clinic. As crazy as it may sound, it is something to think about.

However, Amy recently revealed in an interview that the ending was originally planned when Rory was in her 20s, right after graduating college. Since it still made some sense to still apply the original ending to the revival, she did. She intended to present a parallel concept to what happened to Lorelai, being pregnant and single is supposed to be some kind of irony in the storyline wherein Rory ends up having the same kind of life that her mother has, only under different circumstances. In some cases, fans of the series are thrilled, under the impression that Logan could be her Christopher, while Jess is her Luke to Lorelai.

Netflix Expresses Interest In Renewing The "Gilmore Girls" Revival For Another Season

Ever since the hype of the "Gilmore Girls" revival rapidly increased, Netflix has expressed their interest in getting a season two of the revival. It is undeniable how the fans of so many generations have appreciated and loved the series. Therefore, it is now all up to series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino if she agrees to do a second season to the revival as the interest was expressed by Netflix.
As a new arc approaches on "Dragon Ball Super" episode 71, there have been many speculations and theories to its upcoming storyline. One of which is Goku not surviving battle, lead of the group to die?

Hit To Assassinate Goku In Battle Of Universe 6 and Universe 7 in "Dragon Ball Super?"

The new arc of "Dragon Ball Super" is going to be entitled "Hit Saga" wherein Hit comes to assassinate Son Goku. Aside from this small yet very important detail, there hasn't been any more information that was leaked with regards to this storyline. However, there have been speculations that when Goku faces Hit's assassination, Gohan will be taking over as in-charge of the situation. There is no telling what might happen but the fans believe that in complete dismay, Goku might be facing his death in the new arc.

Hit will be coming to assassinate Goku in a battle between Universe six and seven to which the unknown is about to happen. His return to "Dragon Ball Super" has been feared by the fans knowing what he is capable of doing and afraid that it might be done to Son Goku. Thus, given his powerful killing skills and the fact that he did almost defeat the Saiyan in previous episodes, the next two weeks might just be the end for Goku. Since the only reason that Hit did not kill Goku during their last encounter was he was not allowed to kill in the tournament back then, there is no telling what he could possibly do this time.

Leaked Episode Titles Lead To The Conclusion Of A Saiyan's Death In New Arc Of The Series

Some of the fans believe that Goku will possibly meet his death since killing off a Saiyan would still make sense in the storyline, although not by that much. Due to the conclusion of the Future Trunks arc, the Omniverse tournament is already around the corner. Thus, the teased episode titles and synopsis have led the fans to believe that Goku could in fact die in the hands of the strongest assassin in the next coming episodes of "Dragon Ball Super."
Earlier this week, there were reports that FitBit was in the process of acquiring star startup, Pebbles, which pioneered the technology of wrist-based notifications - before Apple and others followed. The startup has just confirmed that the deal is final. CEO Eric Migicovsky revealed what the acquisition entails or the smaller company and what will happen to its startups.

"We have made the tough decision to shut down the company and no longer manufacture Pebble devices," Tech Crunch quotes him saying. "While dissolving Pebble as you know today is difficult, I am happy to announce that many members of Team Pebble will be joining the Fitbit family to continue their work on wearable software platforms."

Migicovsky went on to clarify that existing Pebble products will continue to work and there will be no immediate change in terms of user experience. However, he also said it is possible that services and functionality may be reduced sometime in the future. This is likely to mean that the lifespan of these products are pretty much in the hands of FitBit.

The publication also mentions that it has been rumored that the purchase of Pebble cost FitBit something between US$34 million to US$40 million. Reportedly, the startup accepted the deal because of its debts, which the price did not cover completely. However, the LA Times reports that no clear reason was provided to the public in terms of why Pebble accepted the offer. The company did not readily respond to requests for comment on this.

On the other hand, FitBit has chosen not to disclose the details of the deal. As a spokeswoman of the company wrote to the publication, "the acquisition is not material to FitBit's financials." What the larger company will get, however, are vital personnel and intellectual property related to all software and firmware that has been developed by Pebble.
The Walking Dead is a massive series that doesn't need any introduction. AMC hit the gold when they released their greatest creation yet. The Walking Dead has a lot of parodies and now, there's a new porn parody of the show.

When it comes to parody, sex or porn is on top of the list. As per research, 95% of men aging from 15-35 years old are addicted to porn. In an average, men tend to visit or watch porn at least 3 times a day in their life. I'm not good at math but that is one too many. With that said, a lot of companies right now are creating fantasies from their favorite TV series. There is no exception in the porn industry. They were able to create parodies before with their adaptation of some of the kids show and TV series is now their target.

The Walking Dead Porn

Out of curiosity, I checked if there's a parody of this epic series. Then suddenly, multiple links pop up on my screen. Apparently, there are 4 legit Walking Dead Porn parodies already and as per the latest news, we are going to expect a new one. The first 4 porn parodies can range from soft porn to hard porn. All of the characters in the Walking Dead where perfectly portrayed. We see Rick and Daryl having threesome with Maggie Greene. Carl Grimes is also involved in a gangbang with some "zombies".

Negan will make his debut appearance in the porn parody. According to a reddit user, they will try to replicate the scene where Negan is about to kill Glenn and Abraham. Instead of Negan hitting them with his bat(with barbed wire), he will let Glenn and Abraham suck his private part. Maggie Greene will be brutalize by Negan's men and Glenn can't do anything but watch.

There are no updates yet on when will they release the porn parody but it will surely be a hit. Remember, sex sells.
According to the latest Zika virus New York update, at least four children with brain developmental symptoms were born in the city since July. The update from the health department means that the total number of babies born with such symptoms is now five.

The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has now asked sexually active women who belong to the reproductive age to be more careful while traveling to regions affected by Zika virus. The warning goes for pregnant women as well. They are asked to use a reliable form of birth control while having sex in such places.

It is believed that the virus has been majorly eased in most of the places. However, it will still take some time for the virus to completely go away. It is still dangerous and poses a serious threat to newborns.

The most recent Zika virus New York update comes as the world is more aware of the term called microcephaly. Under this condition, the baby is born with unusually small heads. They also come with an underdeveloped brain. Zika virus is typically transmitted by mosquito bites. But, the virus can also be transmitted through sex.

Pregnant women or those who are trying to get pregnant are more in danger due to the virus. While the virus comes only with mild illness in general, it can severely affect the brain development of the fetus.

The New York Health Department notes that, until Friday, around 8,000 people in the city are tested for the virus. According to the New York Times, 962 of them tested positive. The more alarming part is that 325 of them are pregnant women.

The Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy notes that Florida Health has recorded five cases with Zika virus since Nov. 30. All of them are residents of Miami-Dade County. It means Florida has 249 cases of Zika virus as of now.

Florida has put 180 pregnant women under surveillance. These women have shown evidence of being infected by the virus. Now, the latest Zika virus New York update is sure to alarm people.
Donald Trump has appointed Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. This happens to be a major update for environmentalist, since the climate change Trump is skeptical of is also a matter of doubt for Pruitt.

Trump called global warming a hoax. Climate change activists have been alarmed ever since he was elected to be the next US president. His take on the issue is exactly the polar opposite of Barack Obama's. Obama has taken a number of major steps to counter climate change issues.

But, there was hope. Environmentalists had hope on Ivanka Trump, the president-elect's daughter, who recognizes global warming as a major issue. Many people thought that she, being one of the most influential people in Trump's life, might be able to convince her father about the issue.

However, with the appointment of Pruitt as the EPA head, Trump has sent a strong message about what he feels about global warming and other related issues. It hints that the new administration may not bother much about climate change. Trump indicated during his campaign that he might dismantle the EPA and pull back from the Paris agreement.

According to Ken Cook of the Environmental Working Group, Pruitt may turn out to be the most hostile EPA administrator in history. He may have a totally different view on safe drinking water and clean air.

"Scott Pruitt running the EPA is like the fox guarding the henhouse," Fortune quoted pro-Clinton Gene Karpinski, the president of the League of Conservation Voters, as saying. "Time and again, he has fought to pad the profits of Big Polluters at the expense of public health."

The 48-year-old, on the other hand, commands high respect from conservative activists. Laura Sheehan of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity says Pruitt is going to be a "voice of reason" about environmental issues.

According to the New York Times, Pruitt's appointment may be Trump's way of weakening the EPA. Since he cannot cancel the rules altogether, an experienced person like Pruitt may help him delay the proceedings and eventually take everything apart. Environmentalists seem to be highly alarmed by the climate change Trump update.
Slack and Google have announced that they significantly deepened their partnership in order to better compete with rival enterprise chat service Microsoft Teams.

Google & Slack Deepen Partnership

According to Computerworld, roughly a month after Microsoft announced its competitor enterprise chat service, Google and Slack announced a stronger integration of their apps. On Wednesday, Dec. 7, several new features were announced on a Medium blog post.

The features are aimed at making Google's set of productivity software and services called G Suite more useful to Slack users. The partnership creates new functionality that will make it easier for Slack users to share and work on files stored in Google Drive.

During the lifecycle of the chat service which gives enterprise users a set of rooms where they can share files and discuss work, Slack and Google were early partners. But Microsoft recently announced a similar service called Teams. The enterprise chat service will come integrated into Office 365 that's currently in beta.

According to The Verge, team communication startup Slack has always aimed to be seen as more than just a chat app. In the company's vision, its software is a hub of workplace productivity. Third-party integrations offer access to a number of products and services customers rely on their daily work tasks.

New Features And Functionality

On its company website, Slack is explaining the details of its integration with Google Drive. The app aims to become much more useful for completing various work tasks and manage files without having to switch between different app windows.

Instead of having to manually set access to a file, Google Drive will automatically extend permissions starting next year to any member of a Slack channel the file is shared to. Users will also be able to view more detailed file content previews right within Slack. A new Google Drive Slack bot will ping users about edits and other changes to a file, taking over notification duties from Gmail.
Apple is in a bit of a quandary right now after reports of exploding iPhone 6 units keep trickling in.

Shanghai's Consumer Council, a consumer group in China which is affiliated with the government has forwarded reports to Apple from at least eight individuals who claim to have experienced their iPhones suddenly shutting down or catching fire.

According to a BBC report, eight users have reached out to Shanghai's consumer watchdog to detail how their iPhone 6 series devices "spontaneously combusted or exploded".

Apple has since taken the necessary steps to get to the bottom of the complaints. The tech giant conducted tests on the smartphones and determined that there is "no cause for concern with these products".

BBC also mentioned that a certain technology analyst believe that the issue is not a widespread problem.

This issue of smartphones suddenly exploding or going up in smoke is nothing new and is, in fact, in the news for quite some time now thanks to what happened to Samsung's supposed flagship phone, the Galaxy Note 7. After that debacle, it seems Apple is suffering the same fate.

BGR explains that "all battery-powered devices have a theoretical risk of explosion". With the case of the Galaxy Note 7, the probable cause of the explosion as discovered by Instrumental was the lack of space for the battery to expand when heated. Also, the separator between the negative and positive layers of the battery was too thin to give ample protection from each other. When the layers touched each other, this ignited a spark which eventually toasted the device.

Apple believes there is no such issue with the iPhone 6. It also claims the incidents involving the devices in China must have been because of "external factors". The company explained that external physical damage on the iPhones caused the battery issues.
A product marketing manager at your company just posted a photo on LinkedIn. The problem? In the background of the image, theres a Post-It note that contains his network passwords. You can barely see it, but using artificial intelligence algorithms, hackers can scan for the publicly available image, determine there are network passwords, and use them for data theft.

According to data security expert David Maynor, this is not rocket science. In fact, the AI program is easier to use than a search engine. The AI can identify objects in an image and the environment of the photo, guess at a description of the image contents as well as your likely age, gender, facial expression, and more, says Maynor. And these tools are becoming increasingly powerful with every image they scan, learning and becoming more accurate.

While it might be easy to dismiss sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn as harmless diversions for employees, they reveal a wealth of actionable intel to a hacker.

[ ALSO ON CSO: Two perspectives on social media for security leaders ]

James Maude, a senior security engineer at the endpoint security company Avecto, told CSO about another troubling development with social media hacks. Hackers can now scan a Twitter feed to find out information about an employees preferences and tastes. If that same marketing manager posts all day about his new iPhone 7, the hacker can then create a phishing scam that looks like a product announcement for an iPhone 7 case. Suddenly, the trick is more effective because the hacker knows there is an existing, verified interest.

The increased targeting of social media and personal email bypasses many network defenses such as email scanning and URL filtering, says Maude. One of the most dangerous aspects is that the attacker is manipulating the victim by using employment offers or illicit content, ushering victims to not disclose the incident to their organizations security team.

Of course, part of the issue is that social media is an incredible large attack vector -- the largest ever created. Facebook has 1.79 billion users. Twitter has 317 million users. Its becoming hard to find people who are not using social media in a business setting. Like moths to a flame, hackers know they can find gullible victims who release unusually sensitive data.

Easy hacking?

Social media hackers rely on age-old techniques as well, as security expert Mike Baukes -- the cofounder of IT automation company UpGuard -- explained to CSO. Because sites like Facebook are considered consumer grade by many users, employees dont think as much about security, so they dont bother with two-factor authentication (say, receiving an unlock code by text). And, employees grant access to countless third-party apps which may not be secure, either.

Baukes says this creates an easy target, especially as users forget which sites theyve approved as capable of releasing information, posting on their behalf, and connecting to other services. A hacker might not be able to break into a Twitter account, but he or she might be more successful with a dashboard that stores your authentication data in a less secure portal.

[ RELATED: 7 ways to tighten enterprise social media security ]

Another simple attack is so common its likely already happened to many employees. A hacker uses the employee picture from a social media and sends a phishing message. Because you see your own photo, you naturally click. Joseph Carson, the head of Global Strategic Alliances at Thycotic, a secure account management company, says clicking on the email leads the user to a site where they grant access to their login (usually through a fake password reset).

[ RELATED: How social media is changing what can be said, when and where ]

What to do

Baukes was quick to point out that most of the top tier social media services like Facebook and Twitter offer two-factor authentication, so employees should be instructed on how to enable and use those features. Next to that, employees also need to be extremely careful about handing out the credentials to any third-party sites. It creates a security nightmare of shared logins.

Maynor says it is important to understand how hacked social media data is used. In the selfie scan example, advertisers might use extracted data such as location and gender for advertising purposes. Employees need to understand that social media information can reveal a treasure trove of data about a company that can be used by hackers for nefarious purposes.

Nathan Wenzler, the principal security architect at AsTech Consulting, says users should be instructed in how to watch for unusual changes to their social media activity. For example, if you normally use Facebook and the service never logs you out, then suddenly starts logging you out for no reason, it could be due to a compromise -- users need to report this change.

[ MORE: Ever been in these social engineering situations? ]

Neill Feather, the president of website security company SiteLock and a board member at the Online Trust Alliance, reiterated the concern over third party sites like Tweetdeck or HootSuite. Too often, employees use strong passwords for the main social media site but weak passwords for the dashboards, which is a mistake. Another best practice: Never accept friend requests from people you dont know. He says, Facebook estimates that at least 2 percent of user accounts are fake. Twitter has reported that at least 5 percent of user accounts are fake, he says.

The temptation is to see social media as an open portal for hacking, and there is some legitimacy to that claim. Trolls, hackers, and posers are crawling all over these sites. Yet, they provide real business value and are not going away anytime soon. All of the experts agreed: Training is key. Users should know how easy it is to fall victim to a simple social media hack.

Head over to Facebook to comment on this story.
Samsungs recall of Galaxy Note7 smartphones because of exploding batteries is far from complete with some users, for example, in Canada still not turning in their devices for a refund or exchange.

The South Korean company has now decided to cut these phones from the network, adopting similar measures to those taken last month in New Zealand and earlier this month in Australia.

The company said Wednesday that from Dec. 12 functional limitations on Note7 phones, including curbs on the battery charge, and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth disablement will be introduced in Canada.

From Dec. 15, customers still using the Note7 will no longer be able to connect to any Canadian mobile network service to make calls, use data or send text messages. Samsung said it had been able to secure nearly 90 percent of the Note7 devices that were brought into the Canadian market.

When Samsung announced in September a recall of the Note7 in tandem with Health Canada, a Canadian federal government department, it was said that about 21,953 of the recalled smartphones were sold in the country.

Samsung announced a global recall of the Note7 in early September after it found a "battery cell issue." The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission on Sept. 15 announced a recall in the U.S. of about 1 million Note7 phones as it found that the lithium-ion batteries in the devices could overheat and catch fire. By Oct. 13, CPSC expanded the recall to include replacement Note7 phones that Samsung had supplied to customers under the first recall as they too were found to have the battery problem.

The company also stopped production of the phones. It has yet to explain in detail what really caused the batteries to explode. A recent report suggested that the phone design could compress the battery even during normal operation.

Samsung said on Dec. 1 that it was working with local carriers to disconnect from Dec. 15 Note7 phones that were still being used by customers in Australia. Note7 owners in the country responded well to the recall, but a small number of affected devices are still with them, the company said. Customers in New Zealand were to be disconnected from Nov. 18.

The Note7 recall has been both a public-relations and financial debacle for Samsung. The company has reported that the third quarter revenue of its IT and Mobile Communications division was down 15 percent from the same period last year to 22.5 trillion Korean won (US$19.8 billion) while operating profit fell 95 percent to 100 billion won, as a result of the discontinuation of the Galaxy Note7.
Apple and Google both try to woo enterprise customers with unique strategies for business app development that mirror their respective visions. And as might be expected, each company elevates its strengths in enterprise and downplays points of weakness, according to IT leaders who spoke to CIO.com.

Google cultivates a large group of partners to help organizations integrate Google apps with business processes, and it recently released a self-service tool, called App Maker, thats designed to speed up development. Meanwhile, Apple forged partnerships with a select group of enterprise heavyweights to build key business features into the core of iOS. It also made deals with other companies that work directly with customers to guide their businesses through the transition to mobile. Both approaches bring different enterprise appeals.

[ Related: LA CIO marries minimalist IT and government tech ]

IT managers dont typically seek app development assistance from Apple or Google, but the two companies increased presence in the market is welcome, according to Ted Ross, CIO of the city of Los Angeles. Large, traditional enterprises are typically struggling with a migration path from their legacy systems to the innovative apps that the world has come to expect, he says. Companies that can provide tools that help enterprise IT organizations replace existing complex systems and provide innovative front-ends to legacy systems, will be sought after.

Both Apple and Google do this to some extent, but in different ways.

Googles DIY approach to enterprise apps

Greg Meyers, CIO of Motorola Solutions, doesnt expect Apple or Google to become app developer partners, but he is open to the idea of app platforms that companies can build on without a lot of outside assistance. Motorola Solutions is eager to give Googles App Maker a try, but the company hasnt spent time with it yet, according to Meyers.

As a Google shop, its a great compliment, and I think these sorts of DIY [do it yourself] app development kits for citizen developers are in line with industry trends of users taking on more and more influence over the apps they use, he says. Such simple-to-use app development kits also cause traditional IT shops to have less influence on apps that dont tap core ERP or CRM systems, according to Meyers.

[ Related: Google App Maker aims to ease enterprise development ]

Ross says his IT team, which supports 40,000 employees in 41 city departments, is also increasingly interested in rapid app development tools such as Googles App Maker. The delivery of faster, targeted apps, that integrate with our other digital platforms seems to better align with user demand and helps create minimal products that can be expanded at a later date, he says. While the City of Los Angeles has many large, traditional IT systems, the pace of technology and the need to seize digital opportunities necessitates a rapid development toolbox.

Google caters to enterprise app developers in three areas: via data, APIs and tools, such as App Maker, that are meant to quickly bring more services to organizations, according to Elissa Murphy, vice president of engineering at Googles G Suite of productivity apps. Were looking at how we as a company can provide better services to be successful with their products and the integration of those programs, she says.

Google frequently meets with its large enterprise customers, and it is in regular contact with smaller businesses, as well, according to Murphy. The company wants developers to use the tools or resources that theyre most comfortable with, including its technology partners and integrators that can create add-on services or extend business process, she says.

Apples partnerships in enterprise

Apple takes a more formal approach to enterprise development via partnerships with companies such as IBM, SAP, Cisco and Deloitte. But those programs dont always meet the needs of Apples businesses customers, according to Shawn Wiora, interim CEO and CIO at Maxxsure, a cybersecurity firm. These partnerships give credence to enterprises acquiring those combinations of technology, but beyond that I still dont know what the driving motivation is for me to stop what Im doing and really focus on securing Apple in the workplace, he says.

Apples enterprise partnerships are an important foundation for businesses to build on, but the programs dont go far enough to be a determining factor for many of the IT leaders who make decisions about app development or hardware purchases, according Wiora.

The hallmark of Apples deal with IBM, the first of its current handful of enterprise partnerships, is the MobileFirst for iOS program. Apple and IBM engineers develop apps for specific professions and industries, and their collocated teams collaborate on iteration, design and deployment. Some MobileFirst for iOS apps serve as templates that can be reused and customized by other businesses, but each app is built for a specific task. Among the most rapidly adopted software are apps for financial advisors, retail store associates, flight attendants and the hospitality industry, according to Apple.

Apples partnership with SAP is designed to yield native iOS apps that integrate with SAP systems, as well as an SDK that will let developers tap into SAPs HANA cloud platform. Cisco Systems and Apple are working to integrate an updated version of Ciscos networking protocols into iOS, so Cisco Wi-Fi routers can prioritize enterprise traffic on corporate iOS devices. Finally, Deloitte created an Apple-focused consultancy with a dedicated team of more than 5,000 advisors, to help its business customers with iOS devices improve operations in retail, field services, recruiting, research and development, supply chain management and back-office systems.

[ Related: CIOs express mixed emotions on Apples enterprise evolution ]

All of these enterprise partnerships are designed to draw more business developers to iOS and create specialized teams that can integrate business services from the biggest enterprise vendors.

Comparing Apple and Google approaches to enterprise

Google has a fairly robust strategy, whereas Apples approach is designed to meet specific business objectives, according to Wiora. I think what technology leaders are looking for is a platform that integrates easily and is secure, he says. Both companies have historically had their challenges and overcome a lot of them.

Many IT professionals are receptive to Android and Google, but businesses should be cautious about overreliance on Google partners because the company could eventually follow Microsofts lead and supplant some third-party services with its own, Wiora says.

Apples approach to enterprise development works best for large companies that require a more formalized program or have existing relationships with Apples current partners. The company doesnt offer an equivalent tool to Googles App Maker, and that makes it more difficult for small businesses to develop iOS apps quickly. On the flipside, Google brings hundreds of partners into the fold and hopes its blend of self-serve tools and third-party integrations appeal to businesses of all types and sizes.

Regardless of whether or not Apple and Google get more involved and assist customers with their enterprise app strategies, many businesses will still find some value in the companies expertise, consulting services and other resources, according to Ross. In a rapidly evolving marketplace that is highly mobile, Apple and Google may find a competitive edge with enterprises working hard to keep up with progressive app strategy, modernization and integration with virtual assistants, he says.
The IEEE-USA intends to urge President-elect Donald Trump to quickly replace the random H-1B lottery with a system that gives priority to companies that pay the best wages.

This proposal would also move large H-1B users to the back of the visa distribution line. For this to happen, all it would take is an executive order by the president, the engineering group says.

Separately, the IEEE-USA also wants Trump to prod the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate what it claims is discrimination against U.S. workers by H-1B visa-using companies. This discrimination occurs when U.S. workers are replaced by visa-holding workers.

Trump has immediate "opportunities to start pushing back against outsourcing through the H-1B program," said Russell Harrison, director of government relations, for the IEEE-USA, which says it has some 200,000 engineering, computing and IT professionals.

The government labels companies that have 51 or more full-time workers, of whom 15 percent or more are H-1B workers, as "dependent" H-1B employers. This includes all the major India-based offshore outsourcing firms, as well as some U.S.-based firms, such as Cognizant. According to U.S. government visa records, Facebook is also considered an "H-1B dependent" employer for its hiring.

The IEEE-USA said the "non-dependent" employers, those with a smaller number of visa-holding workers, should get priority in the visa distribution system. Some large tech companies, including Microsoft, IBM and Google, are non-dependent employers under the government's definition.

Wages are another way to deter visa use by offshore outsourcing companies, Harrison said. If companies that pay the higher prevailing wage are given priority, "you immediately cut out the outsourcers," he said.

Employers who hire H-1B workers have to pay them a prevailing wage. There are four prevailing wage levels for each U.S. occupation. For instance, the Level 4 prevailing wage for a programmer in Des Moines is $81,000. The Level 1 wage, which is for entry level workers, is $46,000.

Most companies pay lower prevailing wages, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. In a 2011 study, the GAO found that 54 percent of all H-1B workers are paid Level 1 wages, and 29 percent are paid Level 2.

A non-H-1B dependent company that pays a Level 4 wage would likely get a visa under their plan, the IEEE-USA officials said. Prevailing wage rates vary by region. While wages are much higher in Silicon Valley than in the Midwest, all the employers that promise to pay Level 4 prevailing wages, for instance, are considered as one category.

The proposals are part of a set of recommendations the IEEE-USA plans to submit to the new administration. The group is also exploring some kind of protections for small businesses in H-1B visa distributions.

The IEEE-USA also wants the Trump administration to push the DOJ to investigate what it claims is discrimination against U.S. workers by H-1B visa-using companies. Ten U.S. senators in 2015 asked the DOJ to investigate national origin discrimination in response to the layoff of IT workers at Southern California Edison, but no action has emerged.

The DOJ's Office of Special Counsel investigates discrimination complaints, but it's hard to get workers who have been laid off to make complaints in a timely fashion, "because they are afraid that if they file a complaint they will lose their severance pay," said Bruce Morrison, a lawyer and former Democratic congressman from Connecticut, who represents the IEEE-USA.

Nonetheless, "the new administration may bring a new willingness to pursue U.S. citizenship discrimination," Morrison said.

The U.S. distributes 85,000 H-1B visas through a lottery, with the odds of winning roughly one-in-three based on current demand. There were 236,000 visa petitions submitted this year.

Changing the lottery will represent "a dramatic resorting away from outsourcing and toward people who are really needed in the American economy and are being compensated commensurate with that need," Morrison said.

H-1B-dependent companies are required to take "good-faith steps to recruit U.S. workers" and not displace workers. But there's a loophole. If these employers pay more than $60,000 to a visa holder, or that person has a master's degree, the nondisplacement provisions do not apply. This is one change that Trump can't make, and the IEEE-USA will seek legislation to close this loophole.

The H-1B lottery has been under attack for some time. This includes a federal lawsuit filed last summer by two vendors that claimed they were denied visas for employees they wanted to hire because the lottery is tilted against small businesses.

The lawsuit claims the lottery is being abused by large H-1B users. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service "did not prohibit multiple filings by different employers on behalf of the same individual, or bar large companies from multiple filings through different business units," it says, in part. "This situation is unfair to small businesses, and is not the result intended by Congress when the statute was enacted," according to plaintiffs in the court case.

U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) had proposed replacing the lottery with a wage-based priority system, but her efforts have stalled.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 8

Trend:

The OSCE monitoring held on the line of contact between the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops passed without incidents, said the press service of Azerbaijans Defense Ministry Dec. 8.

The monitoring was held Dec. 8 under the mandate of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative on the line of contact near Azerbaijans Aghdam District.

On the Azerbaijani side, the monitoring was held by field assistants of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative Jiri Aberle, Peter Svedberg and Simon Tiller.

On the Azerbaijani territories occupied and controlled by Armenian armed forces, the monitoring was held by field assistants of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative, Ghenadie Petrica and Hristo Hristov.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Get unlimited access to all content and features at ivpressonline.com with our Full Online Access Subscription. Read our E-Edition, the digital replica of the print newspaper online, access content in exclusive sections including Family, Teen, Business, Databases, Farm and more. This option does not include daily home delivery of the Imperial Valley Press newspaper. For home delivery service, please select Premium or Premium Plus.
CLAIMS Cllr Jonathan Bacon tried to cover up his colleague's drink driving charge have been denied by the Isle of Wight Council leader.



He dismissed the allegations as 'desperate attempts to fling mud' after the Conservative group leader, Cllr Dave Stewart, accused him of 'spinning' yesterday's reshuffle announcement to conceal the fact Cllr Phil Jordan had stepped down.



As reported, Cllr Jordan is due to appear before magistrates on Tuesday As reported, Cllr Jordan is due to appear before magistrates on Tuesday charged with drink driving



Cllr Bacon said the reshuffle had been planned for some time and maintained it was aimed at progressing the council's regeneration efforts.



He praised Cllr Jordan's abilities, as well as his 'warmth and generosity,' and said the executive would be poorer without him.



For more on this story, and an interview with Cllr Bacon, see the County Press on Friday, December 9.




Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 8

By Elmira Tariverdiyeva  Trend:

The EU hopes for a progress in the negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict following the previously reached agreements, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said.

She made the remarks during the OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting Dec. 8 in Hamburg.

Mogherini added that the sides of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should seek to establish a lasting peace in the region.

Following the meeting in St. Petersburg, Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev and Armenias President Serzh Sargsyan confirmed in a joint statement the agreements reached during the Armenian-Azerbaijani summit in Vienna.

These agreements are aimed at stabilizing the situation in the conflict zone and the creation of an atmosphere conducive to advancing the peace process.

Therefore, they agreed, in particular, to increase the number of international observers in the conflict zone, the Kremlin website reported earlier after the meeting of the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian presidents in St. Petersburg on June 20.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
VICTIMS of fraudsters, who targeted vulnerable older people with loft insulation spray they didnt need, will be compensated for their 58,000 loss.





Under the company names Energy Foam Seal Limited and Thermaroof Limited, the fraudsters deliberately cold called elderly and vulnerable residents across the Isle of Wight, Hampshire and Dorset from December 2012 to September 2014.



They offered to insulate the victims lofts with a spray foam called Icynene, and false and misleading claims were made in order to sell the unnecessary product which was unsuitable for the victims roof spaces.



The offences took place in Cowes, Shanklin, Newport and Sandown, as well as Portsmouth, Hampshire and Dorset.



At Southampton Crown Court on November 7, Energy Foam Seal Limited and Thermaroof Limited company director Stephen Rosen, 47, of Wokingham, was sentenced to a two-year suspended sentence and 300 hours community service, after pleading guilty to two offences of participating in a fraudulent business and five offences of fraud by false representation.



The firm's salesman Gary Holzman, 41, of Bracknell, was handed an 18-month suspended sentence and 200 hours community service after pleading guilty to eight offences of engaging in misleading commercial practice.



Company director James Dellaway, 36, of Bournemouth, was given a 12-month suspended sentence and 100 hours community service after pleading guilty to one offence of engaging in an unfair commercial practice.



Rosen also had 28,554 frozen in his bank account which will be used to partially compensate 13 victims who suffered a combined loss of 58,000.



A further 19 victims were identified as part of the investigation, but combined payments of 93,860 were stopped before they were made.



One of the victims of the fraud, Mrs Niblett, said: "The company didnt tell me that I had time to think about getting the work done.





"I may not have had it done if they were honest. He showed me pictures taken inside my loft and I believed what he said as Im not a builder.



"This ordeal has made me feel like a bit of a sucker and I have blamed myself a bit too but he was very good at making me believe what he was saying when he was showing me the photos and video.



"Trading standards have been very good and kind to me as I have never had to deal with this type of thing before."



Isle of Wight Council Executive member for environment, fire and local engagement, Councillor Paul Fuller said: "Helping vulnerable residents who have been targeted by fraudsters is a key focus for the councils trading standards service.



"By working together with other agencies we can pool expertise and skills and as a result, this successful investigation sends out a strong message to any would be fraudsters that you will be caught and prosecuted."



Hampshire Trading Standards led the investigation with help from Southampton Trading Standards, Isle of Wight Trading Standards, Dorset Trading Standards, National Trading Standards and the Tri-Region Scambusters Group.
Feds laud $83M to better Pell Bridge The congressional delegation of Rhode Island was in Jamestown to celebrate an $82.5 million grant to upgrade the bridge that connects Conanicut Island to Newport. U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, a...

Local author, illustrator collaborate on book A local woman has turned her digital cross-country teatimes with her granddaughter into a childrens book. Tuesday Tea, written by Debby Furness Saletin and illustrated by Maryann England, both of...

Local group asks for rental rules changes A group of residents is expected to present its recommendations on how to improve the ordinance that governs short-term rentals. Member Ron Ratcliffe said the item is scheduled to be...
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 8

By Elmira Tariverdiyeva  Trend:

Latvia supports the OSCE Minsk Groups mediatory mission for resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Foreign Minister of Latvia Edgars Rinkevics said.

He made the remarks during the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting Dec. 8.

It is vital to continue efforts for settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, he said.

Rinkevics added that the role of the OSCE remains very important for resolving the conflict.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 8

By Elmira Tariverdiyeva  Trend:

OSCE member countries should deal with frozen conflicts on their territory just like they fight terrorism, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.

He made the remarks during the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting Dec. 8.

Cavusoglu added that these conflicts, including the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, threaten the region's security.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Horizon Discovery that is noted for its gene editing technology has again gained recognition for the fourth consecutive year as included in the top 10 innovations list of "The Scientist." Their TurboGFP tagged HAP1 cell lines technology allows scientists to conducts in-depth study of proteins in their internal condition.

"The Scientists" is always on the look out for new innovations that can save them time and money when doing a gene-editing related study. Horizon Discovery Group CEO, Dr Darrin Disley is delighted that the company is able to come up with a more direct technology recognised on the international level that is helpful to such studies, according to Business Weekly.

Dr. Daniel Lackner confirms their strongest points for the cell lines, one of which is the Endogenous tagging that allows physiological levels protein expressions. the second one is the fact that all of the protein of interest carry the fluorescent tag. These reporter cells really have a great impact on the protein localisation study.



Th Cambridge, UK-based company already have four of these winning innovations in their portfolio. Horizon's TurboGFP tagged HAP1 cell lines is the latest product that has been listed by "The Scientist" as a beneficial product for advancement. It is a combination of CRISPR Cas9 gene editing; the HAP1 cell line; and TurboGFPTM technologies.

Horizon Discovery products being in the Top 10 Innovations of the year for the fourth time in a row serves as confirmation for Horizon's continued efforts to innovate thus enables them to develop world-class gene editing products and services.

Dr. Daniel Lackner, is leading the team of innovators behind TurboGFP tagged HAP1 technology that generates very accurate reporters in high-throughput screening methods, specifically for live cell assays.", says Horizon.

Since the so-called millennials are into technology since the start of their existence, they should be more innovative when it comes to inventions than their predecessors. Therefore, we can only expect that they will have an advantage in today's entrepreneurial challenges and "The Scientist" is there to continue inspiring the young innovators, as per the earlier post of Jobs&Hire.


Career advices from elderly carry the weight of experience and are often reliable. However, some timeless tips are becoming as ancient as horse-drawn wagons and are becoming a hindrance in promoting employee relations in the current modern place. Here are a few career advices an employee should keep in mind.

Outdated Career Advice: No Sharing Of Personal Life! What's In? Open Up A Little: Share Your Personal Life With Co-Workers & Managers, But Draw the Line!

Your Co-workers are human. Your managers are humans (well, sometimes they are not!). According to The Muse, small talks would give co-workers a hint on what's happening in your personal life. But if you let them in, they may actually get to know you better.

So if you messed up at work or arrived late, they wouldn't be quick to label you as incompetent and irresponsible. They might actually reach out and try to help out, thus promoting healthy employee relations. However, you must draw the line! Never give out personal passwords or, God-forbid, provide details on what happens in the privacy of your bedroom.

Outdated Career Advice: Never Ask For Help. What's In? When In Doubt, Call For Help!

Humans are proud beings. In a workplace, however, people automatically think that an employee is incompetent if they need assistance doing a task. So most people refrain from asking for help and try to go all "Rambo" or "Chuck Norris" and do everything themselves. Often, this leads to unsatisfactory performance in the very least, a disaster if things go wrong.

In today's fast-paced workplace, every moment counts. So if you don't know how to accomplish a certain task, call for help. Admitting to co-workers or manager that you are having a bit of difficulty in certain projects is not a sign of ignorance.

Explain what you are doing, expound on what you have already done, and ask for opinions on how to proceed next. Managers are there to guide you anyway, so seeking advice is within the territory. When in doubt or afraid of being branded incompetent, always remember Count Dooku from "Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith" gleefully saying "twice the pride, double the fall."

Outdated Career Advice: Avoid Social Media Interaction! What's In? Post, Comment, Share, & Like!

This one goes back to our first career advice. By all means, follow your managers and co-workers on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Just remember to draw the line. You don't want your boss to find out that you filed a sick leave only to have a day at the beach, right?

From the moment we can walk and talk, we have been conditioned to heed the advice of a person in authority. However, some of those timeless career advice are now antiquated, out of place in the modern workplace, and even prove detrimental to promoting healthy employee relations.
Samsung continues to battle against its flagship crisis. Samsung ordered a product recall of around 2 million Galaxy Note 7 worldwide for safety measures after over 30 confirmed Note 7 explosion was reported. Samsung said that the company's profit plunged from $6 billion to $4.6 billion since the issue.

Following the recall, Samsung immediately conducted a series of testing to find out what causes the explosion. However, the company still cannot figure things out. On the other hand, a lot of experts have been conducting their tests in the background. Fortunately, it seems that one manufacturing company has unveiled the very reason for Samsung's Note 7 explosion.

According to TNW, the main cause lies in the phone's design which causes the battery to misbehave and, enventually, catch fire. Instrumental company conducted their own test to find out the answer and based on their findings, the explosion is caused by the battery being compressed. The source said that Note 7's design, which basically leaves no space around the battery to breath in, is the fundamental cause.

Lithium batteries are prone to catching fire when it get contact with other external objects or being pressed in so hard. One similar event happened with Tesla's electronic car where the battery got contact with a tiny external debris, triggered something in the inside of it, leaving the car glazed in fire. Instrumental's finding suggests the same thing. Because the design leaves no gap around the battery, it easily squeezes the battery enough to cause the positive and negative layers of the battery to get in contact with each other and cause the explosion. The phone does not need somebody to intentionally press on the phone because the design itself does it.

CNet also explained why the battery explodes while charging, or a couple of minutes after charging. It said that batteries swell a little when charged. This is the reason why most phone designs leave 10 percent gap above the battery to avoid putting unintentional pressure on the battery that might trigger both the positive and negative layers.

The source concluded that Samsung's aggressive manufacturing process could be the very reason why it's now being failed by its own flagship. Although, there have been recent reports that Samsung is trying to regain itself with an all new Samsung Galaxy S8. Find out more in a report by Jobs & Hire.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has ambitious plans to compete with its two biggest rivals, Apple and Samsung, for an edge in the mobile industry. Instead of launching copycat versions of iPhone and the Galaxy range, Microsoft will focus on providing "specific needs by specific customers."

Microsoft Surface Phone: Probable Release Date

As reported by Forbes, Nadella appeared in an interview with "The Australian Financial Review," where he discussed plans for Microsoft's "most ultimate mobile device." He did not elaborate further, but these vague statements sparked rumors that a Surface phone will be on its way by the second half of 2017.

In addition, TrustedReviews discovered that Microsoft obtained the domain name "surfacephone.com" back in January, although at present, the URL redirects to Microsoft's home page. Following reports that Microsoft will do away with its current "Nokia Lumia" mobile line before 2016 ends, a Surface Phone can very well surface shortly afterwards.

Microsoft Surface Phone: Probable Features

Microsoft's "ultimate mobile device" will supposedly be all-metal, following the sleek designs of tablets and laptops from the Surface range. The phone may also feature three design variants: Consumer Edition, a Business Edition, and Enthusiast Edition. TrustedReviews notes, "The first will be a reasonably priced flagship, the second will be a BlackBerry replacement, and the third will be a power user device, just like Samsung's Galaxy Note phones."

Leaks thus far all point to a 5.7-inch display for all three variants, as well as a 3 GB, 6 GB, and 8 GB RAM, with storage capacity of 32 GB, 128 GB, and 500 GB respectively. It might also be powered by Qualcomm's brand-new Snapdragon 835 chipset and will be running Windows 10.

It remains to be seen whether the Surface phone will materialize; currently, Microsoft is gearing for the release of the newest version of the Surface Pro tablet. As per an article from Jobs & Hire earlier in November, the Surface Pro 5 will hit markets in early 2017.
Successful people often have certain attitudes or habits they do on a daily basis that contributes to their success. One of those habits is refraining from saying certain sentences at work that is detrimental to their overall mindset.

Yahoo said that unsuccessful people usually mimic certain speech patterns that successful people avoid. These speech patterns contribute to the negative mindset that unsuccessful people usually have.

Best-selling author Maria Shriver mentioned in her blog that "you are what you say," which means the power of our words can contribute greatly to how we perceive ourselves. With that, here are seven words that successful people never say or avoid saying.

Successful people never say "that's impossible" or "cannot." Unsuccessful people tend to limit themselves whenever they say "that's impossible" or "cannot," as it stops the mind from thinking of the possible ways that a project or task can be achieved.

Next is that successful people avoid saying "I can do everything myself." Trying to do everything on your own doesn't show how good you are, it shows your arrogance and selfishness. As the saying goes, "two heads are always better than one," this is why successful people use all the help that they can get.

The third phrase that successful people never say is "I'll try." When you say the word I'll try, you're excusing yourself from doing everything you can to ensure the task or project is completed. To be successful, it's either you're all in or not, there is no in between.

The fourth phrase is "I don't need your inputs." This is different from the second phrase as this phrase says that the person is not being open-minded to suggestions or ideas. Successful people are always open to suggestion, because they know they don't have the knowledge to everything and will rely on others for ideas and suggestions.

Next is a successful person avoids using the word "if." This word is saying that your success in a project or task is going to be dependent on external factors and not on your own strength and creativity.

The sixth phrase is "I already know that." Saying this phrase means the person is being defensive, he or she is not receptive to anything new or an improved way of doing things. In short, this person is not open to learning new things, the exact opposite of successful people, who are always open to learning new things to expand their knowledge.

The last phrase or phrases are curse words. A successful person avoids, as much as possible, saying curse words, especially in the office or business meetings, as this sounds unprofessional. People will have a hard time respecting you if you curse a lot.
One of the fast-growing company in today's generation is Facebook. It ranked on the number one spot as best company to work in term of technology industry this coming 2017, and second spot for overall companies in the United States.

According to Mashable this report is from job site - Glassdoor. This is according on what employees' reviews on the company since November 2015 until October 2016. In 2011 and 2013, Facebook is on the first spot for overall ranking, last year (2015) the company went on the fifth spot. Bain and Company came back and got the top spot again this year.

In the United States, 20 out if 50 companies are tech companies, indeed it is a good year in this kind of industry. The companies that stayed on the spot for the past nine years are: Bain, Apple, and Google. According to Allison Berry from Glassdoor; the reason why many people are applying in tech companies is because they offers good compensation and benefits as well.

Here are the reviews of employees from selected tech companies according to the ranking of Glassdoor:

2. Facebook

Facebook company is open to diversity; this is the reason why it surpassed the other companies in perks, lifestyle of the employees, and culture as well. Review from software engineer of Facebook.

4. Google

From culture up to the data drive decisions, and smart people; it is good to be part of the company. A review from one of the engineering manager from Google.

5. World Wide Technology

The company cares about the customers and employees as well; workers are happy because of the amazing benefits and the company knows how make the customer to be happy. Review from the supply chain coordinator of World Wide Technology.

6. Fast Enterprises

Atmosphere feels like family, and teams are working together to be successful. It also has a lot of adventures especially during team building. Review from the controller of Fast Enterprises.

8. LinkedIn

The company invests to employees for professional development; they make sure about your role in the company. The benefits are also good. Review from product marketing manager of LinkedIn.

9. Adobe

Company culture is great, benefits and the working atmosphere are great as well. Another thing is, the people on the company are open to train for the advancement. Review from order management employee of Adobe.

14. Paylocity

The company values the employee; the atmosphere makes the people more comfortable to work, and be happy. Review from ACA product support specialist of Paylocity.

15. SAP

With great benefits, the company also treat and value the employees very well. Review from account manager of SAP.

16. MathWorks

A lot of passionate and smart people with an amazing place to work. It has a very positive view in terms of constructive culture. Review from sales support employee of MathWorks.

17. Salesforce

The people in the company are matured, and working hours is not 60-90 basis. Employees are motivated, smart, and fun to be with. Review from senior director of Salesforce.

20. Intuit

The company and workers cherish the learning. Review from the director of Intuit.

23. Docusign

It welcomes many opportunities for worker in terms of development and growth. Review from solution engineer of DocuSign.

24. Concur

Allow opportunities to grow to become professional. Review from lead software design engineer of Concur.

25. Akamai

Employees are talented and willing to help each other. Review from finance director of Akamai.

29. Zillow

People loves to go to work everyday because of the fast growing company. Review from software development engineer of Zillow.

30. NVIDIA

Workers are passionate on what they are doing. Review from director of software of NVIDIA.

35. Airbnb

Workers are friendly, smart, and enthusiastic. They care on the company's mission and the whole community of Airbnb. Review from data scientist of Airbnb.

36. Apple

Every employees are part of the team and has an individual work to do. It offers great bonuses, as well as healthcare benefits. Review from senior engineer of Apple.

37. Microsoft

The company cares about the employees; a very good salary and great products as well. Review from employee of Microsoft.

42. Texas Instruments

Workers are willing to help whenever it is needed. The culture and environment are also great. Review from software engineer of Texas Instruments.

On the other hand, Jobs & Hire shares the available jobs on Facebook Company this coming 2017.
In a new teaser, Marvel Studios announced the much-anticipated release of the "Spiderman Homecoming" trailer.

The "Spiderman Homecoming" trailer is set for release on Dec. 8 during the "Jimmy Kimmel Live" show. To entice viewers, Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures released a teaser video featuring the new Spiderman in action. It's not the usual web-slinging action sequence--Spiderman "flies".

CinemaBlend.com looks back at the young superhero's debut in "Captain America: Civil War" and recounts how the teenaged Peter Parker impressed Tony Stark by revealing that he had designed his own suit with its special lenses that help him focus and that he had created the formula for his web. This impression earned the young man the gift shown in the teaser--an enhanced suit from Mr. Stark himself.

The new suit was specially delivered by a familiar face, Stark's bodyguard and friend, Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau). In the action sequence, Spiderman stretches his arms and reveals webs connecting them to his torso, letting him glide in the air. With this revelation, fans can't help but excitedly ask: what else did Stark enhance on the suit?

This newest incarnation of Spiderman/Peter Parker is set up as a young inventor with much less means, in contrast to Stark's rich beginnings. He created his suit using discarded materials, some of which he got by dumpster-diving. In the synopsis published in Collider.com, this movie dwells on how Peter explores his new abilities while dealing with the struggles of a teenager in the big city.

Tom Holland stars in the new "Spiderman" movie that is set for release in July 2017. It is located in Queens, New York, where Peter lives with his Aunt May played by the vivacious Marissa Tomei. The Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki lists Michael Keaton as The Vulture. Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark will also make an appearance in the film.
"Modern Family" star Sofia Vergara faces an extraordinary battle over the custody of the frozen embryo. Nick Loeb, Vergara's former fiance, filed a lawsuit against her.

On Tuesday, Page Six first reported that Sofia Vergara will be facing a right-to-life lawsuit in defense of the fertilized eggs. The plaintiffs were identified in the Louisiana court papers as "Emma" and "Isabella," which are the female embryos.

The report also claimed that James Charbonnet is listed as the embryo's "trustee." According to sources, the lawsuit asserted the inheritance deprivation of the unborn embryos. Loeb demands legal custody of the frozen eggs promising that they can survive. He also ensures their trust fund, healthcare, and education.

Sofia Vergara is being accused that she refuses "to allow her daughters Emma and Isabella to continue their development, so they remain frozen in a tank", according to sources. It also demands the abrogation of the ART Reproductive Center contract signed by Sofia Vergara and Nick Loeb in Beverly Hills.

It was also explained that the embryos should not be used without both party's consent. Though, it was uncertain if it applies even when they break up. In case either or both of them died, Vergara teased that the embryos should be dissolved as it is.

Meanwhile, in previous reports, Nick Loeb reiterated that Vergara plans to "leave the embryos frozen indefinitely". According to the Telegraph, the actress does not intend to bear Loeb's children when they were still in a relationship. Hence, Loeb claimed that that has no difference to killing them.

It could be remembered that Loeb and Vergara took Vitro fertilization in 2013. After finding out that the former couple created not only two but five embryos, they talked about it. It was not stated what they agreed on how to take action regarding the claim.

Sofia Vergara is now a wife to "True Blood's" Joe Manganiello. What are your thoughts about this?
For the duration of Holiday Season, there is a benevolent way of spending money to buy gifts for your loved ones. Purchase from stores that give back what you spend to communities in need. Here are some companies that operate that way.

Entrepreneur reports that there is a store in Los Angeles that sells nice home decor at reasonable prices. Its aim is to help create job opportunities in third world countries like Cambodia and Mexico. The store Local & Lejos is owned by Aheeva Sairafi. For every tray sold is a corresponding chicken or rabbit donated from her farm.

You can also patronize Runjanji, a store opened by partners Mike Burnstein and Dave Spandorder in 2012. It sells running apparel and finances clean water programs in many parts of the world. Kenya was the latest recipient of their program.

If you are near Austin, check out the Ubuntu Made brand of Love Bracelets hand crafted by the Maasi tribe of Kenya. Zane Wilemon started the business selling these products to help children with special needs and to provide jobs in the communities of Kenya.

Brittany Bently advertises her company Parker Clay by saying, "We are transforming communities through trade to create social and economic empowerment. We handcraft all of our goods in Ethiopia using world-class leather, designed with luxury standards, and built to empower the producer as much as the consumer." She said that they are helping women trapped in human trafficking and providing them with opportunities through self-help sustainable projects.

House of Darlings in Nashville sells the well known Magnolia Collection fashion wear and supports foster care kids with its proceeds. Another company worth mentioning is The Created Co., a California-based firm engaged in drink wear. It allocates 10 percent of its earnings to support clean water projects.

Finally, an outfit in Atlanta established by Sarah Buchanan sells bracelets with the aim of providing one coffee tree to women farmers in Brazil for every bracelet sold. This is one of the companies that you should buy from when you buy gifts for your friends and loved ones.
Headline changed, details added (first version posted on 15:53)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 8

Trend:

Unlawful presence of the Armenian armed forces in the occupied Azerbaijani territories is the major impediment to political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov at the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Hamburg Dec. 8.

The minister said that unresolved armed conflicts and crises in the OSCE area, new wave of terrorist attacks across Europe and beyond, and large-scale displacement of people due to the conflicts are among the acute problems that continue to endanger peace and security and require urgent action.

The unlawful presence of the Armenian armed forces in the occupied Azerbaijani territories remains the main cause of escalation in the conflict zone and is the major impediment to political settlement of the conflict, he noted.

Mammadyarov said also that the April escalation of the conflict was a vivid reminder that todays situation existing on the line of contact of Armenian and Azerbaijani troops is dangerous and has a potential to worsen at any time with unpredictable consequences.

It is plausible that there is almost a unanimous position within OSCE that the status quo in the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is unsustainable and must change, he added. Azerbaijan is the most interested party in moving beyond the current status quo. In this context, we assess the high-level substantive discussions in Vienna and St. Petersburg as positive steps in the right direction and we are thankful to the co-chair countries, particularly to the President of the Russian Federation, Mr. Vladimir Putin, for all his efforts in this regard.

We must sustain the momentum and transform the understandings reached in those meetings into concrete actions without further delay, said the foreign minister. We expect the OSCE and its Minsk Group to play an instrumental role to this end.

He noted that a step-by-step elimination of the conflicts consequences, starting with withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories, restoration of regional transportation and communication links and safe and dignified return of displaced persons to their places of origin, while addressing security concerns appropriately, will transform the conflict dynamics and significantly improve the overall security environment in the whole region.

This approach is based on the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and affirmed in the decisions of the OSCE, notably in the Budapest Summit decision of 1994, added Mammadyarov.

The minister said that as confidence-building measures, agreement was reached to expand the Office of the Permanent Representative of the Chairman-in-Office, provided that this expansion is synchronized with substantive negotiations and does not change Offices mandate and modus operandi.

Azerbaijan submitted its proposal in this regard and we expect constructive talks to this end as we are speaking about activities of this mission on the sovereign and internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan, he noted.

Unfortunately, statements that we hear through the last few months from the Armenian side do not give a reason for optimism and indicate the apparent unwillingness of the Armenian side to engage constructively in result-oriented talks, said Mammadyarov.

He went on to add that attempts to precondition the substantive negotiations undermine the Vienna and St. Petersburg agreements and pursue the obvious goal to derail the peace process.

Mammadyarov noted that continued efforts of Armenia to strengthen its military build-up in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, illegally change the demographic, cultural and physical character of these territories undermine trust and reveal true intentions of the Armenian side.

The months ahead will demonstrate if Armenia is a serious partner for peace, genuinely interested in engaging constructively in substantive negotiations to resolve the conflict or we will continue down the road of further instability and conflict, added the minister.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 08

Trend:



Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian the prospects for resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as part of the 23rd meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Hamburg on Dec. 08, the Russian Foreign Ministry says.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Email

Links to our top local news stories of the day, Monday through Saturday.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 8

By Elmira Tariverdiyeva  Trend:

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is concerned over the recent developments in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German foreign minister.

He was addressing the opening of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Hamburg.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains dangerous and it is necessary to hold negotiations to find a solution to this conflict, said Steinmeier, adding that in April, there was an escalation in the conflict zone, which shows that there is a danger of re-ignition of the conflict.

He noted that the humanitarian aspects of the conflicts resolution are also important.

Steinmeier added that ceasefire must be consolidated in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and that there is need to start negotiations on a political solution.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
The U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, said in a report timed for release today that there is no safe use of electronic cigarettes for youths and young adults.

Murthy is scheduled to conduct a teleconference at 9:30 a.m. to discuss his long-awaited report.

However, Murthy told The Washington Post prior to releasing the report that "we know enough right now to say that youth and young adults should not be using e-cigarettes or any other tobacco product, for that matter."

Murthy acknowledged the report doesn't aim to resolve questions of whether e-cigs and vaporizers offer adult smokers a reduced-risk alternative to traditional cigarettes, or should be regulated similarly to traditional cigarettes.

The key bottom line here is that the science tells us the use of nicotine-containing products by youth, including e-cigarettes, is unsafe, Murthy said.

Murthy indicated in August 2015, shortly after becoming surgeon general, that health officials are in desperate need of clarity on e-cigs and vaporizers to help guide regulatory policies.

Whether the e-cig report will have the same socioeconomic impact as the surgeon generals landmark 1964 report on traditional cigarettes depends in part on the responses to Murthys determinations, analysts said.

The report could be viewed as the definitive public-health study that the industry, scientists, advocates and elected officials have sought since e-cigs and vaporizers became a mainstream retail product a few years ago.

Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, took that approach by considering the report "as the goal standard" on youths and e-cigs, according to The Washington Post.

Some studies, including one by the Royal College of Physicians, have claimed that e-cigs and vaporizers are up to 95 percent less harmful than traditional cigarettes. The Royal Colleges study on traditional cigarettes played a key role in the 1964 surgeon generals determinations.

Analysts also said the report could be viewed as just another in a long line of studies that adds more layers to the rhetoric surrounding the products than to the science.

Report cites previous e-cig findings

At early glance, the report appears to fall into the latter category.

For example, according to statements by the American Lung Association and Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids released just after midnight, many of the report's key findings repeat those cited in previous federal health studies this year.

For example, the most noteworthy findings  that e-cigs are the most commonly used tobacco product among youths and e-cigs may serve as a gateway to traditional cigarette use  were first cited in a July report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC report found that high school students use of traditional and electronic cigarettes continued to go in opposite directions during 2015.

Traditional cigarette smoking dropped to a record low of 10.8 percent, compared with 12.7 percent in 2013, according to the CDCs biannual National Youth Tobacco Survey.

Meanwhile, smoking of e-cigs, vaporizers, hookahs and e-cigars rose from 4.5 percent to 24 percent. The 2015 survey was the first to put e-cigs in a separate category, and not in the smokeless-tobacco category.

For each category, the survey defines product use as at least once in a 30-day period.

Anti-smoking advocates have explained the increase in young adults consuming e-cigs as experimentation typical of individuals their age, and e-cigs as a better alternative than traditional cigarettes.

They also claim the CDC data show that e-cigs are not serving as a gateway to traditional cigarettes.

Report says nicotine unsafe for youths

Anti-tobacco advocates promote a quit or die approach to tobacco products, while anti-smoking advocates believe reduced-risk tobacco and nicotine products can play a pivotal role in decreasing the number of traditional cigarette consumers.

Murthy was quoted as saying e-cig technology should be embraced if evidence shows it can help smokers who otherwise have trouble quitting their habit.

According to the advocacy groups, the surgeon general's report also determined that youth use of products containing nicotine "in any form, including e-cigarettes, is unsafe, can cause addiction and can harm the developing adolescent brain, disrupting attention and learning."

The report said e-cig vapor "can contain harmful and potentially harmful constituents, including nicotine."

"E-cigarettes pose a serious threat to the health of kids and young adults, and we should be doing everything we can to prevent young people from using these products," Myers said in the advocacy group's statement.

Myers used the surgeon general's report to prod Congress and the FDA to target flavorings in e-cigs and vaporizers because of their attractiveness to youths, to limit e-cig marketing, particularly on televisions, and raise the minimum age for all tobacco products to 21.

Anti-smoking advocates say the flavorings are necessary as a means to help adults wean themselves off traditional cigarettes.

In August, a national study on youth vaporizer use by the University of Michigan determined that up to 65 percent of students consume the products for flavor, compared with 20 percent for nicotine. The results were published in the publication Tobacco Control.

Patrick Miech, the lead Michigan researcher, said in an email to the Winston-Salem Journal that vaping is a case where the science has yet to catch up with policy, which seems to be guided more by emotion and anecdote than hard facts.

E-cig debate

The impact of the surgeon generals report also depends on whether the Trump administration rolls back or eliminates regulations on innovative tobacco and nicotine products that the FDA debuted Aug. 8.

Since Trumps victory, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., has sent a letter to the FDA commissioner warning him that a Republican-controlled Congress and White House will take aim at some, if not all, of the new regulations.

Myers expressed concern about a U.S. House Agriculture appropriations bill that would greatly limit the funding available for the FDA to enforce its regulatory expansion.

The need for FDA authorization of ingredients and health document submission covers any nicotine or tobacco product introduced after Feb. 15, 2007  the clear majority in the marketplace.

The FDA allows for up to a three-year retail exception for products whose manufacturer enters the regulatory gantlet.

The U.S. House Agriculture appropriations bill for fiscal 2016-17 contained language that would only permit funding for FDA substantial equivalent restrictions on e-cigs, vaporizers and hookahs with a start date of Aug. 8, 2016.

"The Congressional proposal ... would greatly weaken FDA oversight of e-cigarettes that were already on the market when the FDAs rule took effect in August," Myers said

"This provision would make it much harder for the FDA to take sweet, kid-friendly products off the market and make it much easier for manufacturers to continue introducing such products."

Vaping advocates are concerned that expanded FDA regulations will lead to the Big Three tobacco manufacturers capturing most of the vaping market share, and also lead to black market sales of unregulated products.

Call for research

Anti-tobacco advocates are optimistic that Murthy will follow the lead of the World Health Organization, which recently determined that too many unknowns remain about the potential harm of consuming e-cigs to endorse them as reduced-risk products.

Armando Peruga, a tobacco-control expert with WHO, said in a recent bulletin that the agencys goal is to limit, if not prevent, the exposure to nicotine products of adults, particularly those 18 to 24.

He said that among the WHOs goals is to challenge unproven health claims used to market these products.

To achieve their goals, some countries said that they would deploy any regulatory measures they see fit to limit the use of (electronic nicotine delivery systems), or ban their use altogether, Peruga said.

While the nicotine in electronic cigarettes does not pose additional health risks for adult smokers, the evidence for the effectiveness of e-cigarettes as a method for quitting smoking is limited and requires further research.

An October report from researchers at Georgia State Universitys School of Public Health, determined that government agencies and public-health advocates may be providing an incomplete assessment of smoking e-cigs and vaporizers.

The proportion of American adults who perceive e-cigarettes to be equally or more harmful than traditional cigarettes has tripled over the last few years (from 12 percent to 35 percent), highlighting the need for more accurate public-health messaging, according to the researchers. Their study was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

The Truth Institute has evolved its stance on e-cigs from strictly anti-tobacco to viewing the products from an anti-smoking perspective at times.

It said recently in a white paper that nicotine removed from tobacco smoke is not as harmful as was once thought.

Nicotine, by itself, does not cause cancer. New nicotine products  such as e-cigs  likely fall somewhere in the middle in terms of reduced risks compared with traditional cigarettes and nicotine-replacement therapy products.

The worse thing about nicotine is that it drives people to smoke, said Raymond Niaura, the director of the institutes Schroeder Institute.

If we can move smokers to less harmful nicotine products, we can save thousands of lives.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 8

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has attended the opening of a 5-km long section of Zigh-Amirjan-Yeni Surakhani highway in Surakhani district, Baku, after renovation.

Chairman of Azeravtoyol Open Joint Stock Company Saleh Mammadov informed the head of state that the road is 10 meters in width.

All underground communication lines along the road were renovated. Sidewalks were built along the road.

The highway will ease movement of 63,000 people in three residential areas.

President Ilham Aliyev cut a ribbon symbolizing the opening of the road.
N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory boards an elevator at Trump Tower in New York. Transition team officials praised McCrorys track record on education and regulatory reforms.

WASHINGTON  North Carolinas outgoing Republican Gov. Pat McCrory was briefly spotted in Trump Tower in New York City on Wednesday morning, but he gave no public indication about his meeting with President-elect Donald Trump.

The meeting  which was announced Tuesday by Trumps transition team  came just two days after McCrory conceded to Democrat Roy Cooper, N.C. attorney general, in the states gubernatorial race. McClatchy has made several unsuccessful attempts to reach McCrorys office since the meeting with Trump was announced.

By visiting Trump on Wednesday, McCrory became the latest politician at the center of speculation over whether hell land a job in the new administration. In total, Trumps transition team says, the president-elect has already met with more than 80 people at Trump Tower since Nov. 8.

McCrory entered Trump Tower just after 10 a.m. Wednesday. The night before, hed attended a rally and spent time with Trump in Fayetteville, N.C., during a stop on the president-elects nationwide Thank You tour.

Just before McCrorys arrival, Trumps pick to lead the U.S. Treasury, Steve Mnuchin, entered the building. Also at Trump Tower around the same time were Eric Trump and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a Democrat and President Barack Obamas former chief of staff.

As McCrory and Trump were sitting down to talk Wednesday, transition team officials told reporters in a conference call that the 60-year-old, one-term governors track record on education and regulatory reforms had caught Trumps attention.

Transition officials said McCrory had succeeded in North Carolina in eliminating burdensome regulations to promote economic growth and job creation.

They also pointed to McCrorys background on energy issues, mentioning he had opened North Carolina up to fracking through the Energy Modernization Act in 2014.

McCrorys private-sector experience includes a long career at Duke Energy. He also served on the Charlotte City Council and as the citys mayor for 14 years.

There is a very good rapport between the president-elect and Governor McCrory, Trump spokesman Jason Miller told reporters Wednesday morning.

Governor McCrory is someone who the president-elect had the chance to get to know pretty well on the campaign trail this year.

Miller called McCrory someone whos viewed as a reformer and a very solutions-oriented leader.

Obviously (he is) someone who has a number of good ideas on how we should form this administration, and who is talented in his own right as well, Miller said.

Some of Trumps recent meetings have been with allies and potential Cabinet picks to give the president-elect advice or to meet for job interviews. In the month since the presidential election, Trump has been meeting with a steady stream of lawmakers, business leaders, military leaders and media figures in his 58th-floor triplex in Trump Tower.
RALEIGH  A recent change to the state health plan will allow coverage of gender-changing treatments, including sex change transition surgery and hormone therapy, if they are deemed medically necessary.

While some advocates of gay and transgender rights welcome the move, the incoming state treasurer isnt happy about it. In particular, Dale Folwell, a Forsyth County Republican who will take office in January, doesnt like the anticipated cost to taxpayers.

I pledged to the people of North Carolina that we would reduce the state health plans 32 billion dollar debt, provide a more affordable family premium especially for our lowest paid employees and provide transparency to the taxpayers, Folwell said in an email. The provision to pay for sex change operations does none of those three things.

The State Treasurers Office oversees the health plan for state employees.

State officials said they had no choice but to add the gender treatments to the insurance coverage for teachers and other state employees because of federal regulations that were finalized in May. The board of trustees for the State Health Plan for Teachers and State Employees voted last Friday to remove previous exclusions that prevented coverage of sex changes, modifications and psychological treatments connected to gender changes.

The change allowing such coverage had to be in effect for the next benefit year, which begins Jan. 1, state leaders said.

During the public comment period at Fridays meeting, North Carolina teacher Jeanne Duwve and her transgender child, Luke Duwve, 17, spoke to the board in support of the coverage. Luke is a biological female and identifies as male.

I am happy for this one small step forward, Jeanne Duwve said an interview after the decision.

The costs

The additional coverage will cost the state $350,000 to $850,000 annually, according to estimates by The Segal Group, a consulting firm with headquarters in Atlanta.

In a memo to state officials, the group said it considered the number of adults identifying as transgender in North Carolina, the percentage seeking benefits and the cost of treatments, based on studies. According to its calculations, eight to 24 members under the states health plan would use transgender benefits.

Folwell said he will conduct an investigation after he takes office about the true legal and financial implications of this provision and report those findings to the citizens of N.C. who will be paying for it. He also questioned the timing of the board of trustees vote Friday, because he said health plan staff members have known about this for months ... and chose to present it with less than 72 hours notice to the public.

At Fridays meeting, the board listened to presentations about gender-related conditions, known as gender dysphoria, and treatment, about proposed benefit changes and about the legal risks of failing to comply with federal rules.

There was a procedural vote to table the motion to a future meeting, but outgoing State Treasurer Janet Cowell, who did not seek re-election, broke a tie and the vote on the resolution passed. Duwve said she was dismayed because she thought one board member was trying to delay the vote until after Folwell took office.

Next year

The removal of the exclusions applies only to next years plan. The board is expected to consider the plan for 2018 prior to December of next year. Realize that in one year, we will be revisiting this subject, Duwve said.

It could be sooner than that, of course, if newly elected President Donald Trump follows through on promises to immediately change the Affordable Care Act. The ACA says that sex discrimination, including on the basis of gender identity, is prohibited in health services and insurance for any provider or program that receives federal funding. Under the new rule, denying or limiting coverage of gender transition-related services is deemed impermissible discrimination.

Major insurance companies such as Blue Cross Blue Shield and Aetna also cover gender dysphoria-related treatments, including gender reassignment surgery, if the treatments are deemed medically necessary and meet a set of criteria.

We are pleased to see the plan be updated to match major employers and other governments around the country in providing critical care for trans employees, Matt Hirschy, a spokesman for Equality NC, a statewide LGBT advocacy group, said of the decision.

Requests for comment from the N.C. Values Coalition, a conservative advocacy group, were not returned.
If the manner of it be not perfect, it is at least excellent.

 Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Paper No.68

The it that Alexander Hamilton found excellent was the Electoral College. In light of Hillary Clintons loss to Donald Trump  306-232  in spite of receiving 2.5 million more votes than he received, it would be hard to find a Democrat who is as glowing in his or her estimate of the Electoral College as Hamilton was.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, Democrat from California, has introduced a bill that would eliminate the Electoral College altogether. Four and a half million people have signed a Change.org petition that encourages electors to vote for Clinton rather than Trump when they cast their ballots for president on Dec. 19, even if they previously pledged to support Trump. The petition argues that Clinton should be president because she received more votes than Trump did. The popular vote trumps the Electoral College.

Neither Boxers bill nor the petition will change anything. The Electoral College is here to stay if for no other reason than that it is ensconced in the Constitution and in the 12th Amendment, and thus it would require the cooperation and/or leadership of the party in power in Congress and in state houses across the country to eliminate it, and why would they do that when it was the Electoral College, rather than the popular vote, that put their candidate in the White House?

The focal point of concern is not the Electoral College; it is the popular vote.

Hamilton was clear in Federalist Paper No. 68 that the purpose in allowing the general mass to vote is not to elect the president; it is to elect the people who elect the president.

It was desirable that the sense of the people should operate in the choice of the person to whom so important a trust was to be confided. This end will be answered by committing the right of making it ... to men chosen by the people for the special purpose.

A bias against the average voter is evident. The immediate election should be made by men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station, and acting under circumstances favorable to deliberation, and to a judicious combination of all the reasons and inducements which were proper to govern their choice.

In the opinion of Hamilton and, presumably, other Founding Fathers, the ordinary voter simply does not measure up to the task. Hence, the assignment of the job to more highly qualified electors.

The system for electing a president has worked reasonably well over the course of two and a quarter centuries. But in two of the five presidential races in this still-young 21st century, the Electoral College has produced a result that has run counter to the sense of the people. Donald Trump is president-elect because he received more than 55 percent of the Electoral College votes while receiving only 46 percent of the peoples votes.

What is the significance of the popular vote in such circumstances? It cannot simply be ignored or treated as a mere straw poll as some of Trumps supporters seem to be doing.

Reince Priebus, Trumps new chief of staff, said on Good Morning America that the American people agreed that Donald Trumps vision for America is what the country has been waiting for.

Really? Then why did more Americans vote for Hillary Clinton than for Donald Trump?

In a recent column, Carl Golden of Cagle Cartoons wrote, The American people were in no mood to accept Hillary Clintons soothing assurances that all would be well if the nation would stick with the approach she presented.

How would you know what the American people were in a mood for if not by looking at the candidate who received the largest number of their votes?

To get a sense of the people you cannot ignore how they voted, even if their votes did not translate into an Electoral College victory.

At bare minimum, you cant claim that you have a mandate to govern if more people voted for your opponent than for you.

Donald Trump has promised to be president of all the people, even those who did not vote for him. All incoming presidents say that. It is part of the ritual. For the good of our bitterly divided country, we must hope that this is a promise he means literally and intends to keep.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 8

Trend:

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev expressed condolences to his Pakistani counterpart Mamnoon Hussain.

Dear Mr. President, I was deeply saddened by the news of heavy casualties as a result of a plane crash in your country, President Aliyev said.

On behalf of the people of Azerbaijan and on my own behalf, I extend my deep condolences to you, families and the loved ones of those who died, and the brotherly people of Pakistan, he added. May Allah rest the souls of those who died in peace!
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 8

Trend:

Azerbaijans Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has met with NATOs Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller on the sidelines of the 23rd Ministerial Council of the OSCE in Hamburg.

They exchanged views on the Azerbaijan-NATO partnership and prospects of the bilateral cooperation.

Gottemoeller hailed Azerbaijans support to NATOs Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan. She also highly appreciated Azerbaijans contribution to ensuring security in Afghanistan.

Mammadyarov informed that Azerbaijan made substantial donations to the Afghan National Army (ANA) Trust Fund, adding, We will continue to financially support this Fund.

He also noted that Azerbaijan remains interested in developing cooperation with NATO.

Mammadyarov also highlighted the negotiations to settle the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The foreign minister also mentioned that Azerbaijan assumed the co-chairmanship of the Heart of Asia  Istanbul process for 2017. In this function, Azerbaijan will seek close coordination and consultations with all stakeholders, most notably with NATO, with a view to facilitating the international communitys comprehensive and consistent support for Afghanistan.

The sides also discussed the issues of Individual Partnership Action Plan of Azerbaijan with NATO.
Members of the Summerville Preservation Society sat back and soaked in a burst of historical tidbits about the Lowcountry, including a detailed account of The Goose Creek Men, depicted as founding fathers of the deep south, by former Goose Creek Mayor Dr. Mike Heitzler Read moreWho knew?: Former elected official regales Sville group with little-known facts, anecdotes
Reddit Email 0 Shares

By Ngaire Woods | (Project Syndication) |  

The New Xenophobia:

OXFORD  Democratic governments in the West are increasingly losing their bearings. From the shift toward illiberalism in Poland and Hungary to the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom and Donald Trumps victory in the United States presidential election, a particularly lethal strain of populism is infecting societies  and it is spreading.

The appeal of populism is straightforward. Faced with stagnant wages and a declining quality of life, people feel frustrated  all the more so when their leaders keep telling them that things are getting better. Then the populist appears and promises to shake things up, to defend the interests of the people (though really only some of them), and offers something arguably more attractive than feasible solutions: scapegoats.

At the top of the list of scapegoats are the elites  established political parties and corporate leaders. Rather than protecting the people from economic pressure and insecurity, this group, the populist declares, thrives on the peoples pain. By advancing globalization  by forcing ever-more openness down the peoples throat  they have accumulated massive wealth, which they then protect through tax avoidance, offshoring, and other schemes.

But it is not just the elites who are blamed. Yes, they have betrayed the people. But one way they do so is by foisting upon the people equal rights and opportunities for minorities, immigrants, and foreigners, who steal jobs, threaten national security, and undermine traditional ways of life.

Trump won the US presidency partly because of his pledges to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and ban Muslims from entering the country. The Brexiteers promised to end free immigration from the European Union. After the vote, Britains Home Secretary Amber Rudd suggested that firms hiring foreigners should be named and shamed.

Todays populism advances a toxic new xenophobia, one that threatens to fracture our societies. For politicians, it offers an easy means of quickly transforming peoples fear and powerlessness into an intoxicating mix of anger and authority. It persuades intimidated (often elderly) voters that, in the parlance of the Brexiteers, they can take back control of their lives and their countries, primarily by rejecting foreigners.

Demography makes the new xenophobia particularly dangerous. In much of the West, societies are becoming increasingly diverse. Hispanics now account for 17.6% of the US population. One-third of Londoners were born outside the UK. In France, an estimated 10% of the population is Muslim. And an estimated 20% of Germanys population have some immigrant background.

In this context, when politicians campaign for votes by advancing antagonistic and divisive identity politics, they sow the seeds of animosity, mistrust, and violence within their own societies. When candidates repeatedly call Muslims dangerous, for example, no one should be surprised by a surge in anti-Muslim hate crimes, as has occurred in the wake of both the Brexit vote and Trumps victory. Such divided societies require a rising level of coercion and force to control.

Diversity should be a strength, one that helps societies to flourish. That is why it is so important to combat the new xenophobia. One way is by encouraging and enabling social mixing, interaction, and deliberation among diverse groups. Extensive psychological research shows that intergroup contact reduces peoples sense of threat, heightening the possibilities for building trust across society.

If community centers, schools, and public locations are places where people of different religions, cultures, and race meet, xenophobia is less likely to take root. Even living in an area where others mix can help. This is why the new xenophobia has largely been resisted in Europes most diverse cities.

A second way to combat the new xenophobia is to reinforce the protection of civil liberties. This means upholding the rule of law, even in the face of terrorist threats, and ensuring the independence of judges.

Yet, lately, there have been ominous moves in the opposite direction. Leaders in Hungary and Poland have been dismantling constitutional protections; France has used a lengthy state of emergency to suspend rights; and British and American politicians have publicly denigrated judges. Democracy was toppled by xenophobes in the 1930s not because of the strength of the anti-democratic parties, but because of democratic leaders failure to uphold their countries constitutions.

A third way to fight the new xenophobia is through innovation. For example, though the Internet is often viewed as a great equalizer, social media are contributing to fragmentation. The content to which people are exposed is filtered, whether through self-selection or algorithms.

Fake news or real views Learn More

The result is echo chambers in which like-minded people reinforce shared convictions, creating increasingly polarized silos. But, if social media platforms were reconfigured in innovative ways, they could have the opposite impact, creating spaces for citizens from diverse backgrounds to interact.

The threat posed by the new xenophobia should not be underestimated. Today, no less than in the past, the rejection of diversity is tantamount to the rejection of democracy. That is why it must be defended, before its opponents gain any more ground.

Ngaire Woods is Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government and Director of the Global Economic Governance Program at the University of Oxford.

Via Project Syndicate



Related video added by Juan Cole:

CBS Los Angeles: California Lawmakers Ready To Battle Trump On Immigration
Reddit Email 0 Shares

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

Whenever a country falls into civil war, there are always observers who suggest that the problem could be resolved by a partition of that country. It is as though they think the parties to the war are like squabbling children in the back seat of the car, who can be dealt with by making them sit far away from one another.

Such suggestions are being made about Syria, including by Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

But it isnt likely to happen, and it wouldnt necessarily be good if it did.

Many modern states are multi-ethnic, and not just in the Middle East. Spain, Switzerland, the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom are multi-ethnic countries. France has Bretons, Basques, Alsatians, and the people of Provencale. More monochrome countries like Poland or Greece did not get to be that way naturally. In Poland, genocide played a role, during WW II. In Greece, a massive and disruptive population transfer with Turkey was important. I dont think we want monochrome countries at the cost of such immoral policies.

The one recent example of a partition is the separation of South Sudan from Sudan. South Sudan promptly fell into internecine warfare. In the old days the rival Dinka and Nuer tribal factions could call upon Khartoum to mediate between them. Now, that course of action is forestalled. So the partition of Sudan hasnt worked out very well.

Moreover, countries that have been divided have seen the two new states go to war with one another. That happened many times between India and Pakistan.

A country like Syria is highly unlikely to splinter in the medium to long run.

The borders of modern Syria were drawn in the French colonial period by colonial administrators. Those borders were not exactly those delineated in the secret and duplicitous Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916.

Still, however those borders came to define the country, they have taken on a life of their own.

Syria is unlikely to be partitioned because it is a small country with a limited internal market. You could not make much money manufacturing things and selling selling them inside Syria. A partition would create even smaller and less viable markets.

Syria is unlikely to be partitioned because there arent any clean lines to be had. Syrian Christians, some 5% of the population, live in mixed neighborhoods. Damascus and West Aleppo have mixed populations.

It is true that the northeast region is largely Kurdish and that there is a Druze enclave southeast of Damascus. But Syrian Druze are too small a group to sustain a state, and Turkey will not put up with a second Kurdish state, in addition to the one already operating in northern Iraq.

The government of Bashar al-Assad is determined to bring back every province into central government control, and it has the manpower courtesy regional allies to make that happen.

A more federal system and less direct central government control of some of these populations is desirable. Thus, the Kurdish enclave should have some rights. But it is a non-starter in the region that it should be completely independent.

Finally, Iran and Russia want Syria to stay together and they so far have been willing to lend the regime the firepower to help make that happen. Neither of them wants a partitioned Syria where some bits could go to al-Qaeda.

Hence, Syria is unlikely to be partitioned.



Related video:

Aljazera English: Syrias war: Government forces push into Aleppos old city
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday endorsed [Guardian video] a partial ban on burqas and niqabs. Merkel said that the full facial veil is inappropriate and should be banned wherever is legally possible. The chancellors party, the Christian Democratic Union [party website], is expected to pass a motion proposing a ban in some ares of public life such as courts, schools and police checks. The full ban is seen as incompatible with German law. This is the first time Merkel has fully supported such a ban. This speech comes after Merkel stated she would run for a fourth term and after backlash from her own party after accepting refugees from Middle Eastern countries. Opponents say that the ban will have little effect as very few women wear the full veil and most of the areas that will ban such usage already do.

Face veils and other symbols of religion have been a controversial subject around the world. Last week the Netherlands legislature voted in favor [JURIST report] of a similar partial burka ban. In July the EUs highest court ruled in favor [JURIST report] of a French woman who was fired for wearing a head scarf. Last year the US Supreme Court ruled [opinion, PDF] in favor of a Muslim woman who was denied a job [JURIST report] at Abercrombie & Fitch because of her headscarf. In September 2015 a Canadian court ruled that women may be allowed to wear [JURIST report] face-covering veils while swearing the oath of citizenship after an individual sued the country because she was not allowed to take part in the ceremony. Also in 2015, after suicide bombings in Fotokol by two women wearing burkas, Northern Cameroon banned [JURIST report] women from wearing burkas and face-covering veils as the bombs had been smuggled into public under veils.
[JURIST] The Michigan Court of Appeals [official website] ruled [pinion, PDF] Tuesday that Jill Steins request for a recount of the presidential election votes is unlawful and should have been denied. The court cited a state law (MCL 168.879) [text] that says only an aggrieved candidate, one who has a chance of winning the election if the ballots were miscounted, can request a recount. Since Stein only received about 1 percent of the vote, the court found that she does not qualify as an aggrieved candidate. However, earlier this week Judge Mark Goldsmith [official website] of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan [official website] ruled that the recount should proceed [JURIST report]. The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit [official website] upheld [opinion, PDF] Goldsmiths ruling, but stated that if the Michigan courts determined the recount violates state law, the it expects the lower court to entertain any properly filed motions to dissolve or modify its order in this case. Goldsmith will reconsider [Detroit News report] his earlier decision in a hearing this week.

Stein is also continuing to press for a recount [JURIST report] in Pennsylvania by filing a suit against election officials in federal court earlier this week. A recount in Wisconsin began last week at Steins request, during which each individual Wisconsin county can decide [JURIST report] if they will use electronic or manual means to recount. The need for the electoral college was recently called into question [JURIST report] by US Representative Steve Cohen, a democrat from Tennessee. In November a lawyer for the Hillary Clinton campaign announced [JURIST report] support for the recount in Wisconsin and promised to look into allegations of voter fraud.
The South Korean Parliament on Thursday introduced a motion to begin impeachment proceedings against President Park Geun-hye. The opposition-led parliament will need at least three-fourths of the parliaments votes [Parliament Guidelines] for the motion to proceed. The motion is only valid for 48 hours and the motion must come to a vote by this Friday, or else it will become stale. If the vote is held and the motion is sustained, Park will be suspended from exercising her power and once the impeachment is finalized, she will not be exempt from criminal or civil liability.

The investigation into the president is the latest controversy affecting South Korean government officials. Earlier this month, South Koreas three opposition parties introduced a joint impeachment motion [JURIST report] against embattled president Park. In October Park proposed [JURIST report] to amend the countrys constitutional provision that limits presidents to one term in office. Currently, South Korean presidents can only have a single five-year term, and Park finishes her term in office in February 2018. In Kyung-joon, a senior prosecutor in South Korea was indicted [JURIST report] in July on charges of bribery by accepting more than USD $11 million from an executive at the online-game company Nexon during collusive stock transactions over a nine-year period.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 8

Trend:

Azerbaijans Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with German foreign minister, OSCE Chairman Frank-Walter Steinmeier as part of the 23rd meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Hamburg.

During the meeting, Mammadyarov and Steinmeier expressed satisfaction with development of bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Germany, and discussed the strengthening of trade and economic cooperation between the two countries.

Mammadyarov gave detailed information on the negotiations for settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

He stressed that the discussions on the confidence building measures and agreements on expansion of the OSCE chairmans representative office must be synchronized with the substantive negotiation process and be its integral part.

Other issues of the agenda were also discussed at the meeting.
[JURIST] The UK Supreme Court [official website] heard an argument [transcript, PDF] on Wednesday that the referendum vote to leave the EU is not legally binding. The appeal of last months ruling [JURIST report] argued that only Parliament has the authority to trigger the UKs exit from the EU. Lawyer David Pannick argued that Parliament had not created the 2015 Referendum Act [text] to be legally binding. The Act did not specify how Article 50 [materials] would be invoked if the referendum were to pass. Pannick argued that because invoking Article 50 would nullify the European Communities Act of 1972 [text] which made the UK a member of the EU, only Parliament can initiate the UKs exit.

A majority of British citizens voted in a referendum to leave the EU. The vote, an extension of British discontent with the EU, defied the suggestions of economists and British leaders, leading to the resignation of Prime minister David Cameron [JURIST report]. The implications of this move extend beyond just immigration, though, as many believe this separation will negatively affect the British economy, which will likely be cut off from the EUs single market unless an agreement between the two can be reached. While the vote has fallen in favor of departure, no legal changes have taken place yet [Guardian report], as Britain must take further steps to confirm its separation. The EU has set out a mechanism for leaving in Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, where a member state may decide to withdraw from the union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements, and must notify the European council of its intention. Under Article 50, a member country can only be removed from the EU two years after notification. While Britain might bypass this process through repeal of the European Communities Act of 1972, it is believed that this would make coming to a preferential trade agreement with the EU more difficult.
Prosecutors in the war crimes trial of Ratko Mladic [BBC profile] on Wednesday urged the judges to impose a life sentence. The trial commenced on May 16, 2012, before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] and is now in its final stages. Mladic is commonly referred to as the Butcher of Bosnia for the various war crimes he allegedly committed during the Bosnian conflict from 1992-1995, including genocide and crimes against humanity [ICTY case sheet, PDF]. The prosecutors stated [Guardian article], The time has come for General Mladic to be held accountable for those crimes against each of his victims and the communities he destroyed. Mladic is the last high profile target charged with crimes during the conflict.

Earlier this week the prosecution began its closing arguments [JURIST report], signaling the close of this multi-year long trial. This trial was postponed [JURIST report] multiple times, including once over evidence disclosures in 2012. Mladic was on the run for 16 years before he was captured and brought to court. The Serbian government was able to finally capture [JURIST report] him in 2011. The pressure to capture Mladic increased after the death of Slobodan Milosevic [JURIST report] in 2006. The charges against Mladic allege that he was responsible for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre [BBC backgrounder] as well as a Serb sniping and mortar campaign.
A UN human rights expert called on [statement] all Australians Wednesday to end racial discrimination within the country. UN Special Rapporteur on racism Mutuma Ruteere asked [press release] the country to strengthen efforts to end racism, xenophobia and other forms of discrimination within the country. He specifically mentioned discrimination against indigenous people, migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers, Muslims, and those of African descent. After a fact-finding visit, Ruteere claimed that only with the political leadership and support of the media can racism end in Australia. Ruteere especially noted the hardship of indigenous people who are disproportionately targeted in the criminal justice system and more regularly unemployed. The expert also spoke on instances of xenophobia and antisemitism. Ruteere has asked the government to create a broad human rights bill that will protect all people from discrimination. These findings will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2017.

Australia has particularly been under fire for its treatment of refugees. Amnesty International has accused Australia of using the island of Nauru as an open-air prison [JURIST report] as a means to prevent immigration. In August Australia announced [JURIST report] that Australia and Papua New Guinea intend on closing the controversial Manus Island detention center. That same month AI and Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued reports [JURIST report] stating that Australia is ignoring inhumane treatment of detainees in Nauru. Papua New Guinea officials claimed in May that Australian refugees are not being detained [JURIST report] on Manus Island, as they are given access to mainland Australia. The statement by officials followed a ruling by the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court that the Australian off-shore detention facility was illegal, in direct opposition to a ruling [JURIST report] by the Australian Supreme Court earlier this year that the off-shore detention was legal.
[JURIST] A UN human rights report [text, PDF] published Wednesday calls for action to be taken in order to reunite families who were separated along the Korean Peninsula following the Korean War. The report highlights the different forms of familial separation and seeks to promote accountability conduct capacity-building activities for relevant stakeholders; and maintain public awareness of the situation through outreach initiatives. It further analyzes the impact of displacement on social spheres such as the economy as well as social and cultural rights. It highlights forced disappearances and gathers first hand information through interviews. The report concludes with suggestions and recommendations calling on the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea to help reunite families.

North Korea has faced a wave of sanctions from the US and UN. The Obama administration imposed new sanctions [JURIST report] on North Korea in July, taking the unusual step of placing the countrys leader Kim Jong Un and 10 other officials on a blacklist for human rights abusers. The Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, a South Korean think-tank reported [JURIST report] in April that despite minor progress in certain areas, UN efforts at improving human rights in North Korea have not led to real improvement. North Korea has been an international source of concern due to the countrys human rights record and instability. In March UN human rights investigator Marzuki Darusman urged the UN Human Rights Council to push for the prosecution of top North Korean government officials for crimes against humanity [JURIST report]. In February Darusman asked the UN to provide North Korea with notice [JURIST report] that Kim Jong Un may be investigated for crimes against humanity. The US House of Representatives in January approved legislation that would increase sanctions against North Korea for its continuation of nuclear testing [JURIST report].
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 8

Trend:

Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) is undergoing an assessment of BHOS compliance with international standards, which is conducted by auditors from Turkish Standard Institution (TSE).

Prior to the assessment, a meeting of the Higher School management and academic teaching staff with TSE Representative in Azerbaijan Selim Chelebi and TSE Chief Auditor Volkan Jagin was arranged. Head of the Education, Training and Certification Department of SOCAR Fuad Suleymanov also participated in the event.

Speaking at the meeting, BHOS Rector Elmar Gasimov informed said that currently Baku Higher Oil School applies three international ISO standards and the BHOS management intends to apply more ISO standards. He emphasized that appliance of the ISO standards contributed to the Higher School development. Rector Elmar Gasimov requested the TSE auditors to conduct a thorough and detailed inspection of all BHOS departments and wished them success in their work.

Representative of TSE in Azerbaijan Selim Chelebi reported that BHOS is a leader among national higher education institutions in terms of compliance with ISO standards. He expressed confidence that Baku Higher Oil School would successfully apply more ISO standards. Selim Chelebi emphasized that cooperation between BHOS and TSE would be mutually beneficial.

Baku Higher Oil School is the first and the only higher educational institution in Azerbaijan, which received ISO certification on three standards, namely ISO 9001  Quality Management Systems, ISO 14001  Environmental Management Systems, and OHSAS 18001  Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems. In December 2014, auditors of the Turkish Standards Institution made an assessment of all BHOS departments and confirmed their compliance with these ISO standards.
Only five of 14 non-OPEC oil producers have agreed so far to meet the group on Saturday for talks aimed at widening a deal to reduce output, casting doubt on whether OPEC will secure the full cuts it is seeking, Reuters reported.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which finalised its first oil output cut in eight years last month to prop up prices, is to hold talks with non-member countries in Vienna in the hope that they will also limit supply.

The last time non-OPEC countries joined the organization in cutting output, in late 2001 as prices dropped in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, non-members promised cuts of 462,000 barrels per day, not quite the 500,000 bpd OPEC then sought.

Currently, Russia has said it will cut 300,000 bpd, meaning other non-OPEC producers combined will need to pledge the same amount to lower output by the 600,000 bpd OPEC wants - half the reduction OPEC is making.

Some OPEC sources familiar with discussions were reasonably sure the outside producers would deliver enough commitments.

"I think they will," said one. "It should not be that difficult."

Other OPEC sources were skeptical a pledge for the full amount would be made this time. Among the 14 non-OPEC countries invited to attend Saturday's meeting, only Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Oman, Mexico and Russia have accepted.

"It's not clear," a second source said. "Wait until Saturday."

A third OPEC source said cut pledges amounting to 500,000 bpd were more likely.

Besides Russia, only Oman has publicly stated it is willing to cut production. In public comments, Azerbaijan has indicated it will lower supply, while Kazakhstan has said it is undecided.

OPEC President Mohammed al-Sada, speaking at the Nov. 30 news conference after OPEC finalised its output reduction, was confident that non-OPEC would deliver the 600,000 bpd.

Saturday's meeting at OPEC's Vienna headquarters will start at 10:00 a.m. local time (0900 GMT) and be chaired jointly by Sada and Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, according to a draft copy of the agenda seen by Reuters.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.8

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

The date of the next meeting of the Working Group on the implementation of the Ashgabat Declaration has not been fixed yet, a source in the European Commission told Trend Dec.8.

The Commission is in contact at bilateral level with all the Working Group participants (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Turkmenistan) to identify the possible venue and the most plausible timing for the next meeting to be held in the near future, said the source.

Ashgabat Declaration is meant for development of energy cooperation between Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey and the EU.

The document was signed in May 2015 by Director of the Turkmen State Agency for Management and Use of Hydrocarbon Resources Yagshygeldi Kakayev, Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan Natig Aliyev, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of Turkey Taner Yildiz and the European Commission Vice-President for the Energy Union Maros Sefcovic.

The EU, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan are regularly discussing an opportunity of supplying the Turkmen gas to Europe. In particular, the issue rests in implementing a project for laying the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline to the coast of Azerbaijan to deliver the Turkmen gas from there to Turkey, Bulgaria and other European countries.

The first high-level meeting of the Working Group on the Trans-Caspian pipeline project was held in Brussels on July 14. Georgia also attended the meeting.

The Working Group which was established at the level of deputy ministers in charge of energy sphere of Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey and the EU, considers organizational, legal, commercial, technical and other issues, related to natural gas supply from Turkmenistan to Europe.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 8

By Anvar Mammadov  Trend:

The terms of the loan provided by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to Azerbaijan, aimed to support the economic growth, will differ from the terms of other borrowings, Nariman Mannapbekov, head of ADB office in Azerbaijan, told Trend.

Mannapbekov said the loan will be granted as part of the Countercyclical Support Facility (CSF).

He added that the CSF terms can be slightly tougher than the terms of other ADB facilities.

ADB approved a $500-million loan for Azerbaijan on Dec. 7 which is designed to cover social maintenance, creating jobs and diversifying the economy to mitigate the adverse impact of crash in oil prices.

In addition to the loan, ADB will provide technical assistance of $1.2 million to help design reforms in macro-fiscal management, state-owned enterprises and in the finance sector.

ADB, based in Manila, was established in 1966 and is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration.

Azerbaijan became an ADB member on Dec. 22, 1999.
Details added (first version posted on 11:34)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 8

By Azad Hasanli  Trend:

Four plants on medicine production will operate in Azerbaijan by 2018, said Azerbaijans Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev.

Mustafayev made the remarks during the international investment conference in Baku Dec. 8.

Today Azerbaijan is dependent by almost 100 percent on medicine import and the government works to change that: Pirallahi Industrial Park was created and the relevant legal base is being prepared, said Mustafayev.

The minister recalled that recently, the groundbreaking ceremony of a pharmaceutical plant  project, which is being implemented jointly with Russian and German investors, has been held in the Pirallahi Industrial Park.

This month, we will also lay the foundation of a joint pharmaceutical plant with Iran. Moreover, we are now considering other two similar projects, he noted.

Pirallahi Industrial Park was created by the order of Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev in September 2016. In the park, as in other industrial parks, investors are exempt from the payment of various taxes and customs duties for seven years.

The first pharmaceutical plant Hayat Pharm will come to full production capacity in 2020 and $74 million will be invested in its construction.

Russias R-Pharm, Azerbaijan Investment Company (AIC) and Azerbaijans Vita-A LLC are the plants shareholders.

Hayat Pharm will produce medicines of various pharmaceutical groups, including cancer, antifungal, antiemetic, antiviral and other drugs.

The plant's capacity will be 22.5 million packages, or 500 million pills and capsules.
As cracks appear in political establishments the world over, Iceland is forging its own path towards an open and inclusive society that puts democracy and its citizens first.

In times of chaos and uncertainty, a glimpse into Iceland could bring hope and inspiration to many outsiders. Following the parliamentary elections, the Icelanders excel with the highest rate of women in politics. Their crusade for transparency is growing stronger, as is their determination to protect whistleblowers. Despite having suffered a financial eruption in 2008, Iceland is thriving and the way it dealt with the crisis is a considerable example to the world.

Parliamentary elections and Pirate fever

Recently, the Icelandic parliamentary elections were brought into the spotlight by the popularity of the anti-establishment Pirate Party, the highest polling party during the election campaign with over 30% of public support. The Pirates were formed in 2012 to promote libertarianism and direct democracy. However, after counting the votes, the black flags gained just 14.5% of the electorate, significantly below the polling projections, but still an impressive achievement when compared to the 5.1% of votes they collected in 2013. With this boost, the recently created party climbed to the third strongest position in the Althing, Icelands parliament.

The good thing about the Pirates is that they are responding to a demand in society for more openness, more transparency and to some extent more accountability and more direct democracy. On all these points Im very much in agreement with the Pirates ideology, said the Left-Green Movement Icelandic politician Ogmundur Jonasson in an interview for Katoikos.

However, the Pirates failure to live up to the projections can likely be attributed to uncertainty over where they sit on the political spectrum and to their vague stance on important matters such as the EU and NATO.

The past months have seen attempts to form a five-party coalition, but the efforts have failed due to disagreements over funding for the health and education systems. But a compromise seems to be on the horizon. According to Reuters, Birgitta Jonsdottir, the leader of the Pirates, was asked by the Icelandic President Gudni Johannensson to continue talks with four other parties represented in parliament, the Left-Greens, Social Democrats, Bright Future and the Reform Party.

Nevertheless, the lack of political stability has not prevented the country from thriving. Icelands GDP, already among the highest in the world per capita, is back above the pre-crisis level. Fuelled by a booming tourist industry, the economy is poised to grow by 4% in 2016 and 2017 and unemployment stands at a low 2.9%. Moreover, Iceland is also an attractive destination for investors, with a triple A rating from ratings agency Moodys.

Although a government is yet to emerge, the true winner of Icelands recent elections was womens representation. The volcanic island successfully managed to secure a record number of women in parliament, leading its Nordic peers  Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland  in parliamentary equality, a feat that must not go unnoticed.

The Pirates quest to protect whistleblowers

Iceland also stands out for its daring attempt to lead the battle to protect journalists and whistleblowers. The Icelandic Modern Media Initiative (IMMI) is a simple but ambitious project carried out by the Pirate Birgitta Jonsdottir, which aims to bring together the most progressive media laws from different countries in order to create one comprehensive law. However, for the time being it is a vision that must be further developed. The good thing about this idea is that we concentrate on the free world, on whistleblowers, on protecting these people, said Jonasson.

Talking about the core of democracy in a society that is becoming increasingly dominated by trade agreements, Jonasson asked, Who were the people originally giving us inside information on these behind-closed-doors negotiations? It was Wikileaks who opened up this information that was meant to be secret. The politician expressed his admiration for Julian Assanges ideals, saying he sides with [Assanges] openness on the secret world of the military and politics.

As the conversation moved onto the issue of freedom of expression and information secrecy, Jonasson left no doubt as to where his loyalties lie. I must say if I had to take sides with either Wikileaks or the FBI or the CIA, I would have no difficulty in choosing, I would be on the side of Wikileaks. When we analyse what has happened in recent years and the role played by whistleblowers, we must conclude that we owe them a lot, the Icelander said.

Rejecting a grim Orwellian future, the Icelandic politician spurned the moves by many states to increase the security surveillance of their own citizens. I dont think this is the answer at all. He insisted on the need for an open society, adding that this kind of surveillance is what people are revolting against.

Panama Papers hit Iceland

Ironically, in April 2016 Iceland saw its then Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson resign over the Panama Papers scandal, the biggest leak in history revealing how the rich and powerful use tax havens to hide their wealth. Disregarding national ties, Jonasson said, This episode definitely falls into the category of good revelations about the political world.

In fact, Jonasson holds the respectable reputation of being the minister who refused to work with the FBI over suspicions that the cooperation was in fact intended to frame Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks. Since they did not have the proper permission from the Icelandic authorities, I immediately broke off all cooperation with them and asked them to leave the country, he revealed.

Iceland sceptical of the European Union

When searching for a pragmatic solution to the problems facing Europe today, Jonasson came to the conclusion that the EU has to reconsider its functions very fundamentally. His major criticism is of the EUs increasing prioritisation of the free market above social issues. The emphasis should be changed within the EU. We should be more concerned about inequality and finding ways to make society more equal, to make people feel that this is what we are actually trying to do, that this is our mission, rather than creating a free market, he said.

As for Icelandic membership of the Union, Jonasson said that his country is not particularly fond of the idea of joining the bloc, as they do not want to give up their fishery rights. But the former ministers main reason for wanting to stay out of the Union is its ever-growing democratic deficit.

In fact, the reason Iceland was successful in curbing the 2008 financial crisis was in large part down to direct democracy and the fact that its citizens were able to decide on the future of the country in a referendum. This small, glaciar-bound island chose to uphold stability and bring prosperity back to its people, rather than kneel before supranational institutions; a stunt that would surely have been impossible had Iceland been part of the Union.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 8

Trend:

Revenues and expenditures of the State Social Protection Fund under Azerbaijans Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population are forecasted at the level of 3.4 billion manats, which is by 100 million manats more than the figure for 2016, said Azerbaijani MP Hadi Rajabli.

Rajabli, who is also the head of the Azerbaijani parliaments committee on labor and social policy, made the remarks during discussions on the draft state budget and concept of socio-economic development for 2017 and the next three years at the parliaments plenary session.

The member of the parliament noted that the main part of the growth is related to the increase in the volume of collections on social insurance.

Meanwhile, transfers form the state budget to the State Social Protection Funds budget significantly decreased.

If in 2015, it accounted for 42.5 percent of the funds revenues, in 2017, the share of transfers in revenues of the State Social Protection Fund is expected at the level of 34.7 percent, said Rajabli. As for the expenditures, it should be noted that 95 percent of expenditures will be used for the payment of labor pensions.

Salim Muslumov, Azerbaijans minister of labor and social protection of population, for his part, said that the state funds revenues are forecasted to increase by 8 percent in 2017, as compared to 2016.

Some 229 million manats out of 248 million manats of additional revenues in 2017 will be used for the payment of labor pensions, 5.6 million manats  for allowances on mandatory social insurance, 13.4 million manats  for other expenditures, noted the minister.

He added that social payments to the population will be amounted to 3.318 billion manats (97.6 percent of all expenditures) in 2017, which exceeds the forecast for 2016 by 234 million manats or 7.6 percent.

Muslumov went on to say that 3.213 billion manats are planned to be used for the payment of labor pensions in 2017, which is by 8 percent more than the forecast for 2016.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 8

By Azad Hasanli  Trend:

The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) supports the economic reforms realized in Azerbaijan, said Khaled Al-Aboodi, CEO and director general of the ICD.

He made the remarks during an international investment conference in Baku Dec. 8.

We are ready to improve the quality of the goods produced in the country and to provide entrepreneurs with access to new technologies and markets. We are also interested in creating joint ventures, Al-Aboodi said.

ICD is ready to share its expertise in such areas as projecting capital markets and ensuring business access to financial resources, according to him.

In addition to our investments, we can also help attract foreign investors to Azerbaijan, said the ICD head.

He added that Azerbaijans government has serious attitude towards improvement of the investment climate in the country and this will allow developing the economy and making it more sustainable.

The international investment conference in Baku was organized by the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), Islamic Development Bank Group Business Forum, Azerbaijan Investment Company and Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO).
Details added (first version posted on 14:44)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 8

Trend:

Revenues and expenditures of the State Social Protection Fund under Azerbaijans Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population are forecasted at the level of 3.4 billion manats, which is by 100 million manats more than the figure for 2016, said Azerbaijani MP Hadi Rajabli.

Rajabli, who is also the head of the Azerbaijani parliaments committee on labor and social policy, made the remarks during discussions on the draft state budget and concept of socio-economic development for 2017 and the next three years at the parliaments plenary session.

The member of the parliament noted that the main part of the growth is related to the increase in the volume of collections on social insurance.

Meanwhile, transfers form the state budget to the State Social Protection Funds budget significantly decreased.

If in 2015, it accounted for 42.5 percent of the funds revenues, in 2017, the share of transfers in revenues of the State Social Protection Fund is expected at the level of 34.7 percent, said Rajabli. As for the expenditures, it should be noted that 95 percent of expenditures will be used for the payment of labor pensions.

Salim Muslumov, Azerbaijans minister of labor and social protection of population, for his part, said that the state funds revenues are forecasted to increase by 8 percent in 2017, as compared to 2016.

Some 229 million manats out of 248 million manats of additional revenues in 2017 will be used for the payment of labor pensions, 5.6 million manats  for allowances on mandatory social insurance, 13.4 million manats  for other expenditures, noted the minister.

He added that social payments to the population will be amounted to 3.318 billion manats (97.6 percent of all expenditures) in 2017, which exceeds the forecast for 2016 by 234 million manats or 7.6 percent.

Muslumov went on to say that 3.213 billion manats are planned to be used for the payment of labor pensions in 2017, which is by 8 percent more than the forecast for 2016.
KEARNEY  In a board meeting that lasted only 33 minutes, the Kearney Public Schools Board of Education approved a guaranteed maximum price proposal for construction of the new Kearney High School.

The proposal from Sampson Construction for $68,743,431 was unanimously approved by the five members of the board present. President Julie Agard was not at Mondays meeting, and board member Doug McCarty presided in her absence.

The approved amount will include the construction of an expanded theater and an industrial tech wing made possible by donations from the Cope Foundation and Scott D. and Rochelle Morris. The guaranteed price includes constructing a swimming pool.

The price represents the maximum total that KPS can be charged by Sampson Construction, but the final amount may be less than anticipated.

In a September referendum, voters approved $68 million to build a new Kearney High School plus an additional $7.4 million to build an on site swimming pool. The new KHS will be located at 2702 W. 11th St. in southwest Kearney.

With a guaranteed maximum price now in place, Sampson Construction can begin building as soon as Broadfoot Sand and Gravel completes excavation of the site.

Earthwork has been delayed by two to four days by the weekends heavy rainfall, according to Kent Cordes of BD Construction. He serves as the construction manager for KPS.

We are making progress out there on the site, Cordes said. With some good weather, we hope to move forward pretty quickly with the earthwork.

Cordes also provided an update on renovations that will take place at Horizon Middle School and Sunrise Middle School. Cordes said that he and members of the design team had recently met with HMS staff to discuss renovations. Renovations to SMS will come later as part of a phased project.

I thought the plan that we have to this point was well-received, Cordes said, adding that he hopes to present design details for HMS to the board at its September meeting.

HMS and SMS will undergo renovations to update and expand the facilities.

Also at Mondays meeting KPS Finance Director Chris Nelson presented the 2014-2015 preliminary budget to the board. The new budget of $102,255,141  up from $71,835,206  marks a growth of 42 percent because of construction projects. However, the general fund for KPS will grow by only 2 percent, from $51,104,506 last year to $52,133,878.

Probably the only negative I see out of the budget is federal funding, Nelson said, noting that federal funding has declined in recent years.

According to figures provided in the preliminary budget, federal aid will drop by $79,505, from $2,446,550 to $2,526,055.

KPS will also see a decrease of $1,459,861 in state aid based on last years property valuations, which increased by 8.7 percent.

Because of that revenue potential, state aid was decreased, Nelson said. This is something that was expected.

Nelson added that the tax levy is expected to decrease by an estimated 2.5 cents when valuations are released later this month. The tax levy is estimated to drop from $1.32 to $1.30.

Also at Mondays meeting, the board heard a security report from KPS Human Resource Director Lance Fuller, who also serves as chair of the security committee at KPS. In his annual districtwide review of KPS safety and security issues, Fuller said that the overall number of issues has declined, which he said has been a trend in recent years.

email to:
OMAHA -- One by one, the boys of the ill-fated battleship USS Oklahoma finally are coming home.

Seventy-five years ago today, the ship rolled over in its berth at Ford Island after being hit by multiple torpedoes during the stunning sneak attack by Japanese naval aircraft on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Twenty-one U.S. Navy ships, including the Oklahoma, were sunk or damaged in the raid Dec. 7, 1941. The U.S. was pulled into World War II against Japan and its chief ally, Germany.

More than seven decades later, fully two-thirds of the 2,400 American casualties are what the Defense POW-MIA Accounting Agency describes as unresolved. The bodies of most of those killed were never recovered, or they were recovered but not identified. The unidentified remains were buried in Hawaiian cemeteries in graves marked unknown.

In many cases, the remains were jumbled. Bones from dozens of men were mixed up and placed in a single casket.

That includes a large majority of the 429 sailors and Marines who died aboard the Oklahoma. Only 35 were identified in the immediate aftermath of the attack. After the war, the rest of the remains  most of which were recovered during a 1943 salvage operation aboard the battleship  were placed in 63 caskets and buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, also known as the Punchbowl.

Nebraskas Offutt Air Force Base is now ground zero in a recent effort by the accounting agency to return those remains to their families. In 2013, the accounting agency opened a lab at Offutt to supplement the laboratory space at its Hawaii headquarters. The Offutt lab is where the USS Oklahoma remains are now being examined and identified.

Its a very large puzzle with a lot of moving pieces, said Dr. Carrie Brown, the forensic anthropologist who heads the Oklahoma identification team.

As of Monday, the agency has identified 64 of the Oklahoma unknowns, said Dr. Franklin Damann, director of the Offutt lab. Thirty-eight names have been publicly announced, and 26 already have been reburied  most in their hometowns, or near family members.

A 27th Oklahoma sailor will be buried today. Petty Officer 1st Class Jim Johnston of Wesson, Mississippi, is being laid to rest in his hometown.

At least 18 crewmen from Nebraska and western Iowa remain missing from the Oklahoma. None of them has yet been identified.

Six sets of brothers died on the Oklahoma, including one set of identical twins: Leo and Rudolph Blitz of Lincoln.

The brothers were the ninth and tenth of 12 children born to Henry and Marie Blitz, Russian immigrants to the United States in the early 1900s.

Betty Pitsch of Seward, No. 11, was born 4 years later. She was 16 when her brothers died. The family was notified on Christmas, relatives say. The mark on the family never faded.

It was many, many years, no one would ever talk about this, said Pitsch, now 91. But they were always remembered.

The family put a memorial marker for the twins in Lincoln Memorial Cemetery. When they are identified, she intends for them to be buried there.

The USS Oklahoma remains have a long and macabre history. Some bodies were recovered from the ship and the waters around it in the weeks after the attack. Others remained entombed in the hull until the battleship was salvaged in 1942 and 43. The bones of the dead, encrusted in mud and oil, were removed from the ship and buried in two Hawaiian cemeteries.

In 1947, the Graves Registration Service undertook a two-year effort to identify the remains. Though they matched names to 27 skulls using dental records, authorities decided to rebury all of the remains because no complete bodies could be identified.

All of the Pearl Harbor unknowns might have remained anonymous if not for the work of Ray Emory, 95, a survivor of the 1941 attack.

After the war, he worked as an engineer in Washington state. In the mid-1980s, he retired to Hawaii. Once he stopped at the cemetery to honor the graves of comrades who had died in the Pearl Harbor attack.

I wanted to know where the Pearl Harbor grave sites were, Emory told The World-Herald in 2013. They couldnt tell me.

Stunned, he walked through the cemetery rows and found dozens of graves marked Unknown, Dec. 7, 1941. Using the Freedom of Information Act, he began a years-long process of assembling files on the Pearl Harbor dead. That led to the opening of two coffins in the mid-2000s, and the identification of six Oklahoma crew members.

The USS Oklahoma survivors association joined forces with Emory to lobby for the opening of the remaining 61 caskets containing unknowns from the ship. Early last year, Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work ordered the newly reorganized accounting agency to do it.

In the summer and fall of 2015, the caskets were removed in solemn ceremonies, covered with flags, and escorted by pallbearers for transfer to the accounting agencys Hawaii lab.

There the skulls were separated from what anthropologists call the post-cranial remains  essentially, the rest of the body. The skulls were kept in Hawaii for examination by the agencys forensic odontologists, who are based there. The rest of the remains were returned to caskets and flown to Offutt.

In the months since, Browns team of anthropologists has examined nearly 13,000 bones recovered from the caskets and collected biological data that offers clues on age, height, sex and ancestry.

We can use certain information from each element, Brown said. Were able to filter and sort, use the data.

The anthropologists created a database that helps them to group sets of bones with similar characteristics. DNA samples from almost 5,000 of the bones have been sent to the militarys testing laboratory in Dover, Delaware, to be matched up against samples gathered from family members of the missing crew members. Descendants of 84 percent of the missing men were found and agreed to submit DNA.

The results of those tests have begun to come back and already are aiding in the identifications based on DNA as well as dental and biological characteristics. The entire project is expected to take five years.

Its not clear just how many different peoples remains are in the lab. Brown said a total of 361 full or partial skulls have been recovered from the caskets. There are also 300 pairs of upper-arm bones and 298 separate mitochondrial DNA sequences.

The accounting agency has been criticized for not simply extracting DNA from every bone and measuring it against the samples taken from family.

But, Brown said, thats not as simple as it seems in TV police dramas. For one thing, such old bones dont always yield good-quality DNA samples. A DNA match isnt available from every family. Because DNA testing is expensive and time-consuming, its quicker and faster if they can narrow down the pool of possible matches using biology.

To just take samples from everything  that seems easy, but its actually a very poor strategy, Brown said.

She said experienced anthropologists actually are pretty good at matching certain bones based on visual cues. And the database her Oklahoma team has created lets the computer quickly match similar bones together.

The Oklahoma came in (and) we established a plan, Brown said. We have a system down.

To date, all the identifications have been made from the skulls that were analyzed first in Hawaii.

A few weeks ago, the Hawaii lab finished its work with the remaining skulls. They were placed in five flag-draped coffins and flown to Offutt aboard an Air Force C-17. Lab employees stood at attention as military pallbearers carried them from the aircraft into a waiting truck for transfer to the lab, in the World War II-era Martin Bomber Plant building at Offutt.

The work requires the anthropologists to maintain a clinical detachment as they examine the bones. But they are reminded that these are real people whose lives were cut short.

What were doing on a daily basis has so much significance to so many individuals, said Brown, whose job includes briefing relatives. Meeting the families  that really hits home, why you do this.
Marilyn Byfield and Matt Scaife, liver transplant recipients, handed out tins of popcorn to staff at Kelowna General Hospital on Wednesday as a way of thanking them for their work.
Details added (First version posted on 11:28)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 8

By Azad Hasanli  Trend:

Baku International Sea Trade Port CJSC (Port of Baku) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD).

The MOU was signed by Taleh Ziyadov, director general of the Port of Baku and Khaled Mohammed Al-Aboodi, CEO and general manager of the ICD within the first international investment conference in Baku Dec. 8.

One of the main purposes of the MOU is to study the potential opportunities in the Port of Baku and Alat Free Trade Zone (FTZ) and examine the possibility of involving private sector in their implementation.

The ICD will become the second international organization attracted for consultations within the project of creating the free trade zone. Earlier, in September 2016, the Azerbaijani government and Dubai Port World (DP World), one of the worlds major port operators, signed an agreement on provision of consulting services for the creation of the free trade zone in Alat settlement.

Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree March 17, 2016, on measures to create a free trade zone type special economic area covering the territory of the Baku International Sea Trade Port in the Alat township of Bakus Garadagh District.

Baku hosts an international conference on attracting investments in Azerbaijan. The conference is the first and biggest event in Azerbaijan that is aimed at attracting investments from Arabic countries.

Organizers of the event are the ICD, IDB Group Business Forum, Azerbaijan Investment Company (AIC) and Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO). The conference is attended by more than 200 representatives and heads of state bodies, local and foreign companies from 24 countries.
We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

Go to form
Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz, left, Minister of Status of Women Patricia Hajdu, Minister of Finance Bill Morneau, right, and Wanda Robson unveil an image of Viola Desmond who will be featured on the new Canadian ten dollar bill during a ceremony in Gatineau, Que. Thursday December 8, 2016. Robson is Viola Desmond's sister. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
FILE - In this June 22, 2016, file photo, Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg speaks at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. Sandberg said on NBC's "Today" show Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016, that misinformation on Facebook didn't sway the election in favor of President-elect Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Mohamed Mahjoub, 56, is seen outside Federal Court of Appeal in Toronto on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016. Mahjoub, an Egyptian, is fighting a 16-year accusation that he???s a threat to Canada???s national security. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Colin Perkel
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 8

By Maksim Tsurkov  Trend:

Railway authorities of Azerbaijan and Russia discussed several issues during a meeting in Moscow, Azerbaijan Railways CJSC told Trend Dec. 8.

These issues included the proposal of the Azerbaijani side on cargo transportation through the Samur-Yalama border crossing point at reduced tariffs, according to the company.

The company said that during the Moscow meeting, head of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC Javid Gurbanov and President of Russian Railways Oleg Belozerov discussed the work conducted by Azerbaijan as part of the implementation of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), the construction project of the Astara-Rasht railway in Irans territory, attracting additional cargo for the INSTC, as well as the state and adjustment of mutual settlements on cargo and passenger transportation between the two countries.

During the meeting, Gurbanov spoke about the implementation of the International North-South Transport Corridor project and noted that currently, the completion work is underway on the construction of the railway bridge over the Astarachay River on the border with Iran.

Oleg Belozerov, for his part, praised the work conducted by Azerbaijan on the project and noted the importance of mobilization of all efforts to attract cargo for this route.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 8

Trend:

The Banker Magazine, one of the most prestigious international financial publications owned by the Financial Times Ltd., awarded AccessBank Bank of the Year in Azerbaijan at the award ceremony held in London on December 7, said a message posted on the banks website Dec. 8.

The bank has received this award for the fourth time in the past 6 years, the message said.

We are delighted about the recognition from such a distinguished and high profile organization as The Banker, Michael Hoffmann, CEO of AccessBank, said. The banking award reflects the dedication and hard work of the entire AccessBank team who is committed to providing high quality services to our customers in the current challenging environment.

AccessBank was founded in 2002 by organizations such as the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, EBRD, IFC, KfW, a German consulting company LFS Financial Systems (LFS) and AccessHolding. AccessBank  one of the leading banks of Azerbaijan, offers a full range of banking services and has an extensive branch network, which employs about 1,800 people.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.8

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

Continued dialogue between Russia, Ukraine and the European Union is of great importance, said European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic.

He made the remarks ahead of the trilateral talks between the European Commission, Russia and Ukraine on gas deliveries and gas transit, according to the message posted on the European Commissions website.

The meeting will be held in Brussels Dec.10.

The talks, which will be chaired by Sefcovic, will be attended by Russia's and Ukraine's Ministers for Energy, Alexander Novak and Ihor Nasalyk, as well as top representatives of Ukraines Naftogaz and Russias Gazprom.

"I welcome the preparedness and commitment of both countries to meet here in Brussels, said Sefcovic.

Given the importance of energy relations between the European Union, Russia and Ukraine, continued dialogue is of great importance, he added.

I look forward to the trilateral talks, aiming to contribute at ensuring predictable and stable gas deliveries throughout the winter season, said the European Commissions vice-president.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.8

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

South Stream Transport B.V. company, a 100-percent subsidiary of Russias Gazprom company has signed an agreement with Switzerlands Allseas Group S.A. on construction of the first line of Turkish Stream pipelines offshore section, said the message on Gazproms website.

Under the contract, Allseas should lay over 900 kilometers of pipes along the seabed, said the message.

In order to carry out this work, the company plans to use the world's largest construction vessel Pioneering Spirit, said Gazprom.

Allseas will start laying the first line of the pipeline in the second half of 2017, according to the message.

Russia and Turkey signed an intergovernmental agreement October 10 on the implementation of the Turkish Stream project.

The agreement envisages construction of two branches of the main gas pipeline under the Black Sea, the capacity of each branch being 15.75 billion cubic meters of gas.

One branch is meant to supply gas directly to the Turkish market and the other for the supply of gas by transit through Turkey to Europe. The intergovernmental agreement also stipulates that these two offshore branches should be built by December 2019.
Bakcell, The First Mobile Operator and Leading Mobile Internet Provider of Azerbaijan is pleased to introduce a new partner of its Ulduzum Loyalty program- Bank Silk Way. From now on members of Ulduzum will have an opportunity to benefit from 20% discounts while purchasing Bank Silk Way Miles card which creates opportunity to receive free airline tickets. The card can be purchased at Bank Silk Way head office in the following address: 131A Hasan Aliyev Street, Baku. To get 20% discount during purchase, Ulduzum Premium subscriber must provide 4 digit code which can be received by sending * to 5555 by SMS.

To join the Ulduzum program, just send a free SMS with text 1 to 5555.

It should be noted that with more than 2.2 million subscribers and more than 200 partners, Ulduzum is one of the best consumer service programs not only in Azerbaijan, but on the whole Middle East, Central and Southern Asia and Northern Africa region, offering the customers a wide range of discounts and services and promoting customer loyalty among own subscribers and customers of Ulduzum partner companies.

Bakcell Ulduzum mobile application, which has been created to facilitate the usage of the Ulduzum program by Bakcell subscribers, is available for downloading for both iOS and Android platforms from www.ulduzum.az. After downloading this application, subscribers get an easier access to the complete list of partners and applicable discounts, information about the nearest partners to their location, and own usage history.

Bakcell, The First Mobile Operator and the Leading Mobile Internet Provider of Azerbaijan, offers a variety of products for modern mobile communications customers. Bakcell provides class leading 3G and 4G mobile internet experience in the country under the Su[email protected] brand name.

With more than 5300 base stations Bakcells network covers more than 99% of the population and 93% of the land area of the country (excluding occupied territories). Bakcell is a leader in innovation and it focuses on bringing the best of the mobile internet to Azerbaijanis through new partnerships and its Su[email protected] services. Bakcell 3G service is available in all regions of Azerbaijan and covers 93% of population.

For more information about Bakcell products and services, please visit www.bakcell.com or call 555.For press releases please see www.bakcell.com/az/news (or www.bakcell.com/en/news for press releases in English).

If you are not a Bakcell subscriber, but wish to find out about Bakcell and its services, please call 055 000 05 55.
HANOI, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Here's a snapshot of Vietnamese dong exchange rates in the official market and indicative SJC gold prices in Hanoi at 0054 GMT.

Dec 8 Dec 7 USD/VND mid-point 22,115 22,124

USD/VND interbank 22,680/22,720 22,670/22,770 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 36.05/36.47 36.20/36.62

NOTES: As of Jan. 4, 2016 the State Bank of Vietnam has begun setting the mid-point rate on daily basis, allowing dollar/dong transactions to move in a band of +/- 3 percent around the mid point. The dong's exchange rate against other currencies is not restricted by a band. Interbank quotes are indicative bid/ask prices.

One tael is equivalent to 37.5 grams or 1.21 troy ounces. SJC gold prices are quoted by state-owned Saigon Jewelry Co, the gold manufacturer.

Interbank offered rates are indicative, quoted from market sources.

For Vietnam market overview click on: Vietnam's bonds market auctions: Bonds auction results: (Compiled by Hanoi Newsroom)
HANOI, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Here's a snapshot of Vietnamese dong exchange rates in the official and unofficial markets, indicative SJC gold prices in Hanoi and interbank offered rates at 0401 GMT.

Dec 8 Dec 7 USD/VND mid-point 22,115 22,124 USD/VND interbank 22,645/22,650 22,670/22,770 USD/VND unofficial 23,080/23,150 23,230/23,260 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 36.10/36.52 36.20/36.62

Interbank offered rates Overnight 3.7-4.3 3.0-4.0

1 week 4.0-4.4 3.2-4.2

1 month 4.4-5.0 3.8-4.6

3 months 4.9-5.1 4.9-5.0

NOTES: As of Jan. 4, 2016 the State Bank of Vietnam has begun setting the mid-point rate on daily basis, allowing dollar/dong transactions to move in a band of +/- 3 percent around the mid point. The dong's exchange rate against other currencies is not restricted by a band. Interbank offered rates are the latest indicative bid/ask prices, quoted from market sources.

One tael is equivalent to 37.5 grams or 1.21 troy ounces. SJC gold prices are quoted by state-owned Saigon Jewelry Co.

For more interbank rate fixings released at 0400 GMT, click on .

For Vietnam market overview click on: Vietnam's bonds market auctions: Bonds auction results: (Compiled by Hanoi Newsroom)
By James Regan

SYDNEY, Dec 8 (Reuters) - After nearly 50 years on the drawing board, the latest backers of Papua New Guinea's $3.6 billion Frieda River copper project say the time may finally be right for the giant mine - even if some hurdles remain.

Regarded as one of world's largest untapped copper-gold resources, the deposit has sat dormant as successive owners, including some of the world's biggest mining houses, proved unwilling or unable to spend the billions of dollars needed to construct a mine in remote jungle far from the country's coast.

Current owner PanAust Ltd, a former listed Australian miner now a unit of China's Guangdong Rising Assets Management (GRAM) , has submitted an application for a special mining licence to the PNG government for an initial $3.6 billion project.

PanAust managing Director Fred Hess points to the success of ExxonMobil's $19 billion liquefied natural gas plant, which has been running for two years in a country known for its difficult terrain, lack of infrastructure and sometimes fractious landowners.

"It gives the backers of Frieda River the confidence that we can get all of this together and finally make it a reality," Hess told Reuters at a mining conference on investment in the Pacific country.

Bankers, too, are pencilling in Frieda River as one of a number of projects likely to be needing financing.

"The first stage of Frieda River is $3.6 billion. The second phase is another $2.3 billion on top of it," said Wai Mun Lum, ANZ's head of mining and resources infrastructure, project and export finance.

"We do really feel quite excited about opportunities in PNG that will be coming up in the project financing space."

Analysts say factors in the project's favour include a forecast world shortage of copper in coming years, China's desire to secure supplies and the sheer scale of the project.

"Now more than any time before, Frieda River could see the light of day," said Gavin Wendt, analyst for MineLife in Sydney, who ranks the deposit among the next generation of mega-projects.

SPEED BUMPS AHEAD

Papua New Guinea once supplied millions of tonnes of copper ore to smelters in Asia and Europe in the 1980s and 1990s.

Rio Tinto was run off the restive Bougainville Island in 1990 by residents who wanted to reintroduce an agrarian society.

A decade later BHP Billiton relinquished ownership in the Ok Tedi mine to a government trust following claims by landowners over toxic mine waste in local waterways.

PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, facing an election in mid-2017, has made foreign investment in new resource projects a priority for his administration as he seeks to boost growth .

"Frieda River is a very important project for my country," O'Neill told Reuters at the conference.

But hardheaded financing decisions are still to be made.

PanAust says it is unlikely to be issued a special mining licence needed to proceed to the initial phase of development, before next year's election.

"Our timing hasn't been all that good," said Hess. "Once the election is over and there is a mandate from the government, things will begin to move smoothly," he said, but added the caveat that there was "quite a way to go" before an investment decision was made.

Bankers also cautioned that proposed changes to mining laws are creating uncertainty, while the project will need deep pockets to build port and power facilities and an air strip, with the likely backers unlikely to have the funding capacity of an ExxonMobil. Even with a quick go-ahead, Highlands Pacific , which has a 20 percent stake in the project, says the current timeline would include two years for approvals and six years for construction, meaning first production no earlier than 2024/25.

(Reporting by James Regan; Additional reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Richard Pullin)
By Abhinav Ramnarayan

LONDON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The single currency and euro zone government bond yields retreated from the day's highs on Thursday after the European Central Bank unveiled "less for longer" tweaks to its bond purchase programme.

Euro zone government bonds initially sold off while the euro strengthened after the ECB said it would trim its purchases from April 2017 but extend the programme (APP) until the end of next year. Markets had expected only a six-month extension.

"Less for longer is the take-away from the ECB so far," said Mizuho strategist Peter Chatwell. "However, make no mistake, the ECB has eased monetary policy with this move. Moreover, a slower but longer execution does mean that in December 2017 and 2018 the APP may be doing more than we had expected."

Most euro zone government bond yields were up 2-8 bps on the day after ECB President Mario Draghi detailed the changes, but were at or below levels hit just ahead of the ECB announcement.

Germany's 10-year bond yield, the benchmark for the region, was up 8 bps at 0.43 percent, after falling as low as 0.37 percent, level with where it stood just before the ECB decision. The euro initially surged after the ECB decision, but it quickly fell back and extended falls during Draghi's news conference to trade as much as 1 percent down on the day at $1.0630 .

"The euro is not behaving like a taper has just been announced and instead is making new lows for the day. The reason for this is that we have not just had a normal tapering of QE, the ECB has delivered a taper with a twist," said OANDA analyst Craig Erlam.

The result is that the ECB has committed to buying 540 billion euros of debt from the end of April rather than 480 billion, which it would have bought had the monthly bond purchases not been reduced and the program extended by six months, he said.

German two-year yields fell after the ECB widened the maturity range for purchases and said it would buy bonds with yields below the minus 0.4 percent deposit rate.

By 1418 GMT, it was 6.4 bps on the day at minus 0.745 percent . The gap between two and 30-year German bond yields hit their widest since July 2015 as curves steepened.

In money markets, forward EONIA rates fell back, implying markets sees diminishing chance of an ECB rate rise in 2017.

(Additional reporting by Jemima Kelly, editing by Nigel Stephenson)
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Dec. 8

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

The EU is ready to continue energy cooperation discussions with Turkmenistan and it plans to hold another meeting for this purpose in Brussels in 2017, said Lubomir Frebort, head of the European Union Liaison Office in Turkmenistan.

He made the remarks at the international conference "Oil and Gas Turkmenistan 2016" that kicked off in Ashgabat Dec. 7.

Turkmenistan is a key partner for the EU in the energy security strategy and in joint efforts aimed at diversification, according to him.

He reminded that the Ashgabat energy declaration was signed in May 2015 by Azerbaijani, Turkish, Turkmen energy ministers and Maros Sefcovic, vice-president of the European Commission in charge of Energy Union.

A working group was created on the basis of the document.

The EU expresses confidence that the efforts of this working group will benefit the realization of common goals  delivery of the Turkmen gas to European markets, said Frebort.

The negotiations on supply of the Turkmen gas to Europe have been underway since 2011.
U.S.-based taxable bond funds break five-week outflow streak -Lipper



NEW YORK, Dec 8 (Reuters) - U.S.-based taxable bond funds took in $1.1 billion during the most recent weekly period, Thomson Reuters Lipper data showed on Thursday, breaking a five-week streak of outflows. Investors pulled a net $2 billion from U.S.-based stock mutual funds and exchange-traded funds despite the rally in equities since the U.S. election last month, the data showed.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli)

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in precious metal products, commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.

kitco news
North Kitsap girls soccer keeps state tourney streak alive

Four teams  North Kitsap, Bremerton, Olympic and Sequim  came away victorious in the first round of the Class 2A West Central District tournament.
You can now donate to Kiwiblog
Stuff reports:

The Horowhenua Districts deputy mayoralty is up in the air after a meeting descended into farce. Ross Campbell was voted out by councillors, mayor Michael Feyen moved to reinstate him, councillors voted to appoint Wayne Bishop and then Feyen said he would reappoint Campbell. The council will now seek legal advice. I will, after [the vote] is taken, be exercising my right to choose the deputy mayor that I think I need, Feyen said, in a controversial and unheralded move on Wednesday.

The Local Government Act seems pretty clear to me, that the Mayor can not just appoint a new Deputy Mayor if his initial choice is removed by the Council.

Section 41A(3)(a) states:

A mayor has the following powers: to appoint the deputy mayor

Which he did. But S41A(4)(a) also states:

However, nothing in subsection (3) limits or prevents a territorial authority from removing, in accordance with clause 18 of Schedule 7, a deputy mayor appointed by the mayor under subsection (3)(a)

Which the Council has done. So what does Clause 18 say?

(1) At a meeting that is in accordance with this clause, a territorial authority or regional council may remove its chairperson, deputy chairperson, or deputy mayor from office.

Which they did

(2) If a chairperson, deputy chairperson, or deputy mayor is removed from office at that meeting, the territorial authority or regional council may elect a new chairperson, deputy chairperson, or deputy mayor at that meeting.

So fairly clear that the Mayor can not appoint a new Deputy Mayor if his original choice is removed from office.

However note 4(b)

A resolution or requisition must indicate whether or not, if the chairperson, deputy chairperson, or deputy mayor is removed from office, a new chairperson, deputy chairperson, or deputy mayor is to be elected at the meeting if a majority of the total membership of the territorial authority or regional council (excluding vacancies) so resolves.

So the meeting requisition needed to specify that they would elect a new Deputy Mayor, if successful. So long as they did that, the law is pretty clear.

Share this: Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Reddit

WhatsApp

More

Pinterest

Print



Tumblr


Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Dec. 8

By Demir Azizov Trend:

Today, on Dec. 8, Uzbekistan celebrates the Day of Constitution.

The basic law of the country was adopted Dec. 8, 1992 at the session of the Supreme Council of the republic. The Day of Constitution in Uzbekistan is a holiday.

The basic law of Uzbekistan secures democratic principles of state and society.

The country held early presidential election Dec. 4 due to the death of ex-president Islam Karimov, who passed away after suffering a stroke at the age of 79 on Sept. 2.

As previously reported, Shavkat Mirziyoyev was elected as Uzbekistans president. Some 15.907 million voters or 88.61 percent of all voters who participated in the voting cast their ballots for Mirziyoyev.

The elected president of Uzbekistan made a speech Dec. 7 at the solemn meeting in honor of the 24th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of the country.

All the successes and milestones achieved by our people in the years of independence, their sustainable continuation vividly demonstrate the power of our Constitution, he said.

Defining the objectives for the development of the country, Mirziyoyev stressed that the interests, rights and freedoms of every citizen of Uzbekistan are currently the most important thing.
The Glasgow Broadcasting Corporation Equal Opportunity Employment Report is online, available for download in Adobe .pdf format here
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Mostly cloudy and windy. High near 75F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early followed by thunderstorms late. Low near 45F. S winds shifting to NW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 8



By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:



An Iranian diplomat has expressed his countrys support for launching the North-South corridor, saying that the transportation corridor will allow a significant reduction in transportation time and costs.



Iranian Ambassador to Russia Mehdi Sanaei has said that the corridor will reduce the distance between Asia and the Europe by 40 percent as well as 30 percent saving in costs for transporting goods between the two continents, Mehr news agency reported.



Speaking at a conference on the North-South transportation corridor in Moscow, he said that the corridor will contribute to boosting regional trade ties and cooperation.



He added that the transportation corridor will enjoy a multiple mode of transportation including railroad, shipping routes as well as roads to carry cargoes between India, Central Asia as well as Persian Gulf and Europe.



Elaborating on efforts made in his country aimed at launching the corridor, the diplomat added that increasing the capacity of the corridor requires further investment and efforts.



In addition to constructing railways and roads, it is of high importance to develop the ports located along the railways and roads in the corridor particularly on the Caspian Sea coasts and Daghestan, he said.



In order to complete the North-South Transportation Corridor, Iran is expected to construct two inland railroad sections in northern parts of the country, Qazvin-Rasht (175 kilometers) as well as Rasht-Astara (162 kilometers) railways.



In the meantime, Azerbaijan has launched a project to extend its railway into Irans territory through the border city of Astara which is in its final stages and is projected to come on stream in the near future.
Tehran, Iran, December 7

By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:

Catastrophe risk (catrisk) insurance is going to be one of Irans lucrative markets in the post-sanctions era. This year Iran was freed from international sanctions, which attracted a host of foreign insurance companies to explore industrial sectors for investment. However, life and property insurance have been less explored in the meantime.

Many cities in Iran are exposed to natural hazards with high potential for future human and economic disasters. There have been devastating earthquakes and floods in recent decades with very adverse economic, social and political consequences. Among other concerns, demands for catrisk models to manage catastrophe risk transfer in terms of commercial insurance have been growing in recent years.

Unbalanced development in Iran has caused rapid growth in big municipal areas in recent years mostly as a result of migration. Rapid urbanization in conjunction with a high concentration of economic assets in urban areas in Iran have exposed big portions of population and economic resources to natural hazards.

In general, ordinary people and property-owners are on the frontline when it comes to natural catastrophes, dealing with their immediate consequences: loss of life and damage to or the complete destruction of properties.

Not only is the country a valuable for insurance in the catrisk center, the domestic insurance industry is also in need of much research and development program. Exposure data quality in Iran varies from country to country. Insurance and reinsurance underwriters are often facing property insurance exposure data in aggregated format with little or no descriptions of risk characteristics and often with proxy location descriptions.

Due to low penetration of catastrophe insurance in the country and the lack of proper attention to risk transfer during the sanction years, there has been little interest in developing such model for Iran.

The adverse effects of natural hazards on people in developing countries such as Iran are far more signicant than with developed countries. This is mainly due to limited financial resources available to developing countries and the lack of proper risk management strategies and programs.

The Iranian Insurance Research Center (IRC) is offering data on local and regional markets free of charge to foreign insurance companies which are interested in investment, hoping to lure investors especially into offering life insurance plans to the Iranian population.

Last week foreign insurance companies such as Munich Re, ERGO Group, Nasco Insurance Group, Azre, and Toyota Tsusho visited Iran to seek investment grounds.

Follow the author on Twitter: @mehdisepahvand
Mission of Hope receives $30,000 grant from Walmart Foundation







Emmette Thompson, executive director of Mission of Hope, is in the center holding the check. Walmart Store Manager Joe Russell is to his left and Walmart Market Manager Turner Thompson is to his right. Image courtesy of Mission of Hope.



KNOXVILLE - Mission of Hope today received a $30,000 grant from the Walmart Foundations State Giving Program to assist with its program that provides school supplies to more than 12,000 Appalachian children at 28 rural elementary schools in Appalachia.



Many families in Appalachia do not have the means to provide their children with everything they need for a good education, said Emmette Thompson, executive director of Mission of Hope. This grant will allow us to give thousands of deserving students brand new backpacks and supplies.



The Mission of Hope is a year-round ministry that assists its impoverished Appalachian neighbors with goods, resources and college scholarships, and helps with basic educational, health care and home repair needs. With the Walmart Foundation Grant, Mission of Hope will purchase backpacks, school supplies and hygiene items for 3,000 students.



At the Walmart Foundation, we understand that organizations such as Mission of Hope are essential to building stronger communities. They share our values and are committed to helping young people to live better, said Turner Thompson, Walmart market manager. Through this donation, Appalachian-Area youth will have the supplies they need to learn and grow.



The Walmart Foundations State Giving Program supports organizations that create opportunities so people can live better, awarding grants that have a long-lasting, positive impact on communities across the U.S.



To be considered for support, perspective grantee organizations must submit applications through the Walmart Foundation State Giving Programs online grant application. Applicants must have a current 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status in order to meet the programs minimum eligibility criteria. Additional information about the programs funding guidelines and application process are available online at www.walmartfoundation.org/stategiving.



Over the last fiscal year, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation gave more than $35.7 million in cash and in-kind contributions to support nonprofit organizations and programs in Tennessee focused on fighting hunger and healthy eating, workforce development, disaster preparedness and other needs specific to many Tennessee communities. The Tennessee contributions are one piece of the $1.42 billion dollars total giving by Walmart and the Walmart Foundation during FY16. Published December 7, 2016










David (Davy) Crockett bust unveiled at State Capitol Building





House Majority Leaders Gerald McCormick and Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris unveil the David Crockett bust. Image by TN State Photography Services.



NASHVILLE  A bust of legendary Tennessean David Crockett was unveiled on Tuesday, December 6, 2016. Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris (R-Collierville) and former House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick (R-Chattanooga) sponsored Senate Joint Resolution 505 in 2014 to place the bust on the second floor of the State Capitol Building, outside the House of Representatives Chamber across from the bust of Andrew Johnson.



I thought it was appropriate that we should have two former members of the legislative body watch over us as we enter and leave the chamber, said House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick.



As indicated in the Senate Joint Resolution 505, David Crockett is one of Tennessees most notable sons, due in large part to his legendary volunteerism. He is revered as a pioneer, frontiersman, public servant, statesman, backwoods orator, and most of all, a man of the people.



From the Nolichucky River in the East to the Mississippi River in the West, David Crockett was a man of the people. He fought for freedom and independence until the day he died. And, in that sense, he was not unlike some who serve here today. He was a man of his time and for all time, a true Tennessean, said Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris.



L to R: Joe Swann, Crocket Statute Commission Member; Anne B. Pope, Tennessee Arts Commission Executive Director; Antonio Mendez, Artist; House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick; Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris; Representative Ron Travis. Image by TN State Photography Services.


Sevier County, City of Gatlinburg, and TEMA issue update on wildfires

DECEMBER 7, 2016 at 10:26 p.m.



Published December 7, 2016
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.8

By Emil Ilgar  Trend:

The European Commission updated the EU Air Safety List, adding Irans Aseman airlines to the black list, because it does not meet international safety standards.

The airlines which do not need the international safety standards are subject to operating ban or operational restrictions within the European Union, the official website of the European Commission reported.

The EU Air Safety List seeks to ensure the highest level of air safety for European citizens, which is a top priority of the Aviation Strategy adopted in December 2015.

Iran Aseman Airlines was added to the list due to unaddressed deficiencies, the report said.

The EU Air Safety List not only helps to maintain high levels of safety in the EU, but it also helps affected countries to improve their levels of safety, in order for them to eventually be taken off the list.

In addition, the EU Air Safety List has become a major preventive tool, as it motivates countries with safety problems to act upon them before a ban under the EU Air Safety List would become necessary.

Currently a total of 193 airlines are banned from the EU skies.
Francois-Henri Pinault, Kering CEO



By Park Jae-hyuk

Kering CEO Francois-Henri Pinault came to Korea, Wednesday, to meet owners and CEOs of retail giants here, according to industry sources.

Kering, which changed its name from PPR in 2013, is the French luxury goods holding company owner of more than 20 luxury sport and lifestyle brands including Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent Paris, Balenciaga, Brioni and Puma, which are sold worldwide,.

Pinault reportedly visited Hyundai Department Store in Apgujeong, southeastern Seoul, Wednesday, and was shown around by CEO Park Dong-woon.

Chairman Chung Ji-sun did not meet Pinault, due to a scheduling conflict.

The sources said Pinault also met Shinsegae Department Store President Chung Yoo-kyung and Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin on Thursday.

Pinault is also reportedly scheduled to meet Hotel Shilla President Lee Bu-jin.

In 2012, Pinault visited Korea as PPR chairman and met Shin and Lee. At that time, he looked around Lotte Department Store, Lotte Duty Free, Hanwha Galleria Department Store, Shinsegae Department Store and Shilla Duty Free over three days.

Observers are paying attention to Pinault's visit, which is only a week before new duty-free store operators are named, Dec. 17.

Some sources anticipate Pinault and Korean retailers will discuss offering Kering's luxury brands at the stores.

However, candidates for duty free store cannot name what was not included in their business proposals submitted in October, during their final presentations.

Other observers therefore believe Pinault's visit is not related to duty free stores.

Those observers say Pinault was here to talk with Korean retailers, so Kering's brands can expand their presence here and in other Asian countries, especially China.

With rapid sales growth, Asia has recently been in the limelight among global luxury brand retailers.

In April, Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (LVMH) Chairman Bernard Arnault visited Korea and met Hotel Shilla's Lee and Shinsegae's Chung.

Arnault also came to Korea last year for the opening celebration of The House of Dior, a flagship store in Apgujeong.
By Jhoo Dong-chan



Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) is expected to clinch a maximum 930 billion won ($777 million) shipbuilding deal with a Norwegian ship-owning company. It will be a crucial deal for the debt-ridden shipyard that has been suffering from liquidity problems and low cash flow as well as increasing debt.



According to the shipbuilding industry-focused magazine TradeWinds, Thursday, Norwegian LNG carrier Hoegh LNG has signed a letter of intent (LOI) with SHI, one of Korea's top three shipyards, for one firm and three optional floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs).



Under the deal, SHI will first build one 170,000-cubic-meter FSRU, and additionally build three more units if Hoegh LNG is pleased with the first.



Hoegh LNG said on its webpage the "complete shipbuilding contract for the firm vessel is expected to be signed by mid-January 2017."



"Last week, we secured a new FSRU employment contract, and today we follow up with ordering our next series of FSRU constructions, in line with our declared strategy. With this agreement with SHI, whose selection has been subject to a competitive international tender, Hoegh LNG has taken advantage of a very favorable new building market to position itself for further expansion in the FSRU segment," said Sveinung J.S. Stohle, president and CEO of Hoegh LNG.



Neither company commented on the actual scale of the contract, but the market price for one FSRU is nearly $200 million on average. If SHI wins the remaining three orders as planned, the total contract scale is expected to reach nearly $800 million.



The vessels have scheduled delivery dates of two units in 2019 and the remaining two units in 2020, according to Hoegh LNG.



Hoegh LNG is an affiliate of the international shipping company Leif Hoegh & Co, which was founded in 1927 by Leif Hoegh. It provides and operates various floating energy solutions, including LNG import terminals, LNG carriers and FSRU operations.



Based in Bermuda, Hoegh LNG established its footholds in Norway, Singapore, the U.K., the U.S., Indonesia, Lithuania, Egypt and Colombia. It employs approximately 110 office staff and 500 seafarers around the world.




By Yoon Ja-young



The country's population is expected to decrease by half by 2115. Four out of 10 Koreans will be aged 65 or older.



Statistics Korea released the estimate on the country's future population, Thursday, which will provide a basis for pension, health insurance and other government policies.



According to the estimate, the country's total population will drop to 43 million in 2065 from the current 51 million. It will increase to 53 million by 2031, but then will start to fall. In 2115, the population will be 25.8 million, or half of the current population.



The outlook is based on the estimate that the country's fertility rate, or the number of babies born per woman, will stand at 1.38 in 2065 and life expectancy will be 90. In a more pessimistic scenario which estimates a fertility rate of 1.12 and life expectancy of 88.8, the country's population will start to decline in 2023. The country recorded a fertility rate of 1.24 last year, one of the lowest in the world.



The statistics office expects deaths will start outnumbering births in 2029. While the number of newborns will plunge to 260,000 in 2065 from the current 430,000, there will be 740,000 deaths in 2065, 2.7 times more than 280,000 last year.



Economists have feared the demographic change will deal a blow to the economy. The working age population, or those aged between 15 and 64, will start to fall next year, after hitting a peak of 37.6 million this year. In 2065, it will stand at 20.6 million.



Senior citizens, meanwhile, will nearly triple to 18.3 million in 2065 from the current 6.5 million.



This places an increasing burden on taxpayers. The dependency ratio, or the number of non-working-age people per every 100 working-age people, will snowball to 108.7 in 2065 from the current 36.2 people. This means there will be fewer taxpayers while more taxes will be spent on the welfare of senior citizens.



Those aged 15 and under, meanwhile, will contract from 7 million to 4.1 million during the same period. As a result, Korea's median age will rise from 40.9 to 50 in 2033 and 58.7 in 2065.



Schools and universities should also be concerned as the school-age population will dip by 1.8 million over the next 10 years. Elementary school students will have decreased by 39 percent in 50 years, and colleges will have 56 percent fewer students than now.



The statistical estimate showed Korea's demographic outlook is more dismal than any other country.



While some OECD member countries will see population contractions over the next 50 years, Korea's population is experiencing unprecedentedly rapid aging. Korea's working-age population ratio, which is currently one of the highest in the OECD, will fall to the lowest in 50 years, while the ratio of senior citizens, estimated to reach 42.5 percent in 2065, will be higher than any other OECD member country.






By Yoon Ja-young

The country's economy has turned for the worse over the past four years under President Park Geun-hye's leadership and the failure to deliver on her economic pledges is one of the factors that makes the President impeachable, analysts said Thursday.

Underlying the fury of the millions of protesters at candlelit rallies is the general public's hardship in their daily livelihoods that has been exacerbated under the Park administration.

From collegians to housewives and salaried workers, ordinary people from all walks of life have poured onto the streets not only because of Park allowing her friend to meddle in state affairs, but also letting the country's economy slip into a long, dark tunnel of jobless lower growth.

"Economically, the Park administration has done nothing but make things worse. The so-called creative economy, her biggest catchphrase, ended up fattening the wallet of her confidant instead of nurturing a new growth engine," said Binh Ki-beom, an economics professor at Myongji University in Seoul.

He said the country is now in a vegetative state in terms of economic policy. "The only way out of these doldrums would be President Park's resignation at the earliest possible time."

The administration started with a pledge to achieve a "474" economy  4 percent growth potential, a 70 percent employment rate and $40,000 per capita income.

Now the reality is a potential growth rate that has fallen to the 2 percent range; a per capita income that has dropped to $27,000; and an employment rate hovering at around 65 percent.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is expected to fall to 2.7 percent this year and further to 2.4 percent in 2017 year, following 2.6 percent in 2015. This means the nation has slipped into a low growth trap.

It will also be the first time ever that the economy will post a below 3 percent economic growth for three consecutive years.

Too much reliance on construction

What is worse is the Park administration has relied too much on the real estate market for economic growth.

President Park's chief economic policymaker former Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan pushed for deregulation of the real estate market, which led to a record-high 1,300 trillion won ($1,120 billion) in household debt.

Burdened with debt and stagnant incomes, households are cutting consumption.

"As a result of the real-estate stimulus policy, the economy is standing on a cliff. While the United States is expected to raise its key rate anytime soon, Korea is in a situation in which it can neither raise nor slash rates," Prof. Binh said.

Major economic indices are as dismal as those seen during the Asian financial crisis. Both households and businesses say that they are nearing their limits.

Exports, which had been the sustaining pillar of the economy, are expected to record another contraction this year, following an 8 percent fall last year.

The country is likely to see exports contracting for two consecutive years, which again will be for the first time in the country's history.

Kang Byung-goo, an economics professor at Inha University, said that the Park administration's economic pledges were contradictory and were thus doomed to fail.

"The administration had pledged economic democratization and a welfare state, but it failed in both. If a government is to create a welfare state, funding should be secured first. However, President Park pledged welfare without a tax increase," he said.

As a result, government debt snowballed.

The debt, which stood at 443.1 trillion won in 2012, has increased by more than 200 trillion won during the past four years. The ratio of government debt to GDP is also set to surpass 40 percent for the first time.

Those who suffered most under the Park administration are the low-income earners, but the administration has been insensitive to the issue of income redistribution.

The job market is also worsening, especially for young people. The youth unemployment rate marked 8.5 percent in October, the highest figure in 17 years.

The gap between the rich and poor has also widened.

According to Statistics Korea, the average monthly earned income of households in the bottom 10 percent bracket dipped 25.8 percent in the third quarter compared with a year ago.

Those in the top 10 percent, meanwhile, enjoyed a 7.4 percent increase in earned income. While developed countries are effectively using taxation to improve income redistribution, Korea's tax system is not as effective. The Park administration increased tax benefits for those inheriting their parents' businesses while raising cigarette and local taxes.
Hyundai Card's Vinyl & Plastic record store in Itaewon, Seoul / Courtesy of Hyundai Card



The heated competition to reserve tickets for British rock band Coldplay's concert in Seoul next year shows Hyundai Card's culture marketing clout, the company said Thursday.

More than 44,000 tickets went on sale Nov. 23 to 24 on Interpark and Yes24, but they sold out within a minute. The ticketing quickly became the talk of social media, with some expressing joy at their success while others were full of disappointment.

The credit card issuer has been organizing a series of world-renowned artists' first Korean tour. So far, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Lady Gaga, Maroon 5 and Whitney Houston have been among the top artists of the firm's concert series, dubbed Hyundai Card Super Concert.

"It is not easy to organize world-renowned popstars' first Korea tours, but after the first tour, many of them express their hope to perform in Korea again," said Hyundai Card CEO Chung Tae-young, adding that Super Concert is intended as an artists' gateway to Korea.

The company said its Super Concert and Culture Project series are pillars of its strategy of marketing through culture. In its Culture Project, the company introduces popular artists' works in music, fashion and architecture. This year, the project featured a Beck concert and a Jean-Paul Gaultier exhibition.

At Hyundai Card Understage, located in Itaewon, Seoul, the card issuer has organized a series of concerts of domestic artists, such as Jeong Jin-woon and Im Seul-ong.

In June, the card issuer took another step in its culture marketing, opening Vinyl & Plastic, an LP and CD record store in Itaewon. The store sells more than 4,000 LPs and 8,000 CDs to tap into the ongoing retro trend.

"The culture marketing series comes as a communication channel with customers," said a Hyundai Card official. "Through marketing activities, Hyundai Card seeks to provide more customers with opportunities for various experiences."
By Nam Hyun-woo



The Korea Customs Service (KCS) said Thursday that it will push ahead with the selection of new duty free shop operators as scheduled, stirring controversy over its appropriateness.



The move comes amid the unprecedented corruption and influence-peddling scandal involving President Park Geun-hye and her confidant Choi Soon-sil.



The KCS said it has notified five major retailers  Lotte Duty Free, HDC Shilla Duty Free, SK Networks and Shinsegae DF  that a screening process will take place from Dec. 15 to 17 and the result will be announced on the last day of the screening.



In the selection, the KCS will grant new licenses to three conglomerates to operate new duty free shops in Seoul and three small- and medium-sized enterprises to run shops in Seoul, Busan and Gangwon Province.



The KCS reportedly selected Dec. 17, Saturday, to avoid any controversy regarding the new licenses and prevent a possible stock market stir stemming from an information leak.



However, questions are still being raised over the appropriateness of the announcement.



The KCS is currently under the prosecution's investigation over suspicions that some conglomerates have been given favors in the selection of duty free shops in return for their "donation" to Mir and K-Sports foundations, which were under control of Choi.



Also, there are lingering allegations that Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won requested that Park restore their duty free licenses in private meetings. Lotte and SK were stripped of their licenses to operate duty free shops in Seoul in November last year, but managed to get an opportunity to restore them as the KCS announced the new selection plan in April.



These are suspicions included in Park's impeachment bill which is scheduled for a National Assembly vote on Friday.



Over the past 15 years, the government did not issue additional licenses for duty free shops, but suddenly granted licenses in Seoul for five conglomerates in July and November last year. And it announced it will increase the number of duty free shops in Seoul through the April plan.



While announcing the plan, the KCS cited a Korea Institute for International Economic Policy expectation that the number of foreign tourists to Seoul would grow 880,000 in 2015 from a year earlier.



A month after the plan was announced, however, the actual tally from the Korea Culture & Tourism Institute showed that the number of foreign tourists to Seoul last year was decreased by 1 million.



While controversy was stirring in the political sector, six KCS officials were prosecuted last year for benefiting in the stock market with non-public information that Hanwha would earn a new license.



The KCS said the reason to push forward with the plan as scheduled: " is to ensure that companies in the process have consistency in the government's policy over duty free shop licenses."



It added that it can scrap licenses granted to firms if they were found to be involved in the scandal.




Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said Wednesday that Japan has decided to offer Iran around 2.05 million ($2.2 million) in the field of nuclear safety to help the Middle Eastern state steadily implement its historic nuclear deal with the West, Japan Times reported.

We agreed that bilateral relations are steadily making progress in a wide range of areas, including on cooperation for the steady implementation of the nuclear agreement, Kishida told a joint news conference in Tokyo after his talks with Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif.

Zarif said at the outset of the meeting, which was open to the media, that he welcomes Japans constructive contribution that strongly pushes the implementation of the nuclear agreement.

The move comes amid uncertainty over the agreements future following the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president.

In his presidential campaign, Trump said that if elected, his number one priority as president would be to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran, one promoted by President Barack Obama.

The nuclear deal Iran struck with six major powers in July last year limits Irans nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of most international sanctions. The deal has been endorsed by the U.N. Security Council.

Since the deal, Japan has been stepping up relations with the oil-rich country, lifting its sanctions on Iran in January and signing a bilateral investment pact the following month.

Tokyo is pushing Japanese companies to do business amid intensifying foreign competition for access to the Iranian market.

The ministers meeting came after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed his readiness to visit Iran. Abe told of his willingness to travel to the country and boost economic ties during talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York in September, according to a Japanese official.


By Janet Shin





A person who lived as a dictator or a revolutionary is usually described with the saju structure of career stars. It is the energy that determines authority and power. When it comes to the five-element generation and restriction cycles, it is the element that restrains the day master. I was wondering if Castro also had this propensity that may explain his life well.



Fidel Castro, a Cuban politician who governed the country as Prime Minister (1959-1976) and President (1976-2008), died Nov. 25 this year. He was also known as a revolutionary and nationalist acting along with Che Guevara, who was originally an Argentine physician and author. It is hard to deny Castro was a dictator and his death indeed yields an ambivalent aftermath between the Cuban people and others.

Cuban revolutionary icon Fidel Castro died in Havana, Nov. 25.

/ AFP-Yonhap

Reading the saju of Castro, we can see his day master as yang wood. Wood, compared to the other four elements in general, represents growth. It is expansive and provides direction for achieving goals. Wood people can turn resources into products, ideas into profits and believe expansion or growth will resolve any problems. Wood people are very sociable and are almost always surrounded by others. Woods are extroverted and love to accomplish or complete activities. Wood people can have strong tempers and feel frustrated when other people fail to perform to their standards. Yang woods act as they desire. They strive to succeed. Generally they are go-for-it people and competitive. In nature, yang woods are pine tree, willows, chestnut trees, etc. Yang woods are extroverts to express their property.

The next element that strongly draws our attention is the month branch, yang metal that represents his career star. Metal can be a precious substance, for example gold or a destructive device such as a sword. It can gather others for positive goals or negative objectives. It can be focused, emotional, intuitive, confident and aggressive in pursuing goals. It tends to be a loner, isolated and often withdrawn. It may be stubborn, driven by an inner faith whether it is right or wrong. It can be extremely driven to pursue its goals. When problems arise, it will turn inward to find answers, and cannot be expected to communicate its inner feelings. It can be susceptible to sadness, which can dominate its life. If it becomes more flexible and open, it will develop loyal friendships. It represents righteousness, justice and truth, as well as, sadness, grief and longing. Yang metal portrays great resolution. It is loyal, heavy and domineering.

It is interesting to find that this saju has great wealth with the composition of his expression (fire) and money (earth) stars. Most of all, the letters,  (yang metal  his career star),  (yang wood  the root of his day master) and  (yang fire  his expression star) play significant roles in this saju, conflicting, clashing and penalizing one another. They make the saju dynamic and turbulent, which would lead to a life of a hero, general, doctor, politician or jurist depending on their individual life situation. The two letters are already located in his saju and the last one is added by 10 years of luck starting at his age 89 and it is emphasized by the energy of this year, 2016, which is truly a crucial moment of his life.


By Park Si-soo



The day of reckoning is around the corner. The fate of scandal-tainted President Park Geun-hye will be decided in a parliamentary vote on her impeachment by 300 lawmakers at 3 p.m. Friday. The outcome is expected to be announced around 4-5 p.m.

Park's presidency will be suspended immediately if more than 200 lawmakers vote for impeachment. Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn will automatically take over as interim leader.

Park will remain toothless until the Constitutional Court decides on her permanent removal.





Holding flaming torches, protesters march toward the presidential office during the sixth mass anti-President rally in downtown Seoul on Dec. 3. / Korea Times file



Chances for the impeachment motion to be endorsed are high given the unity of opposition parties and supporting voices within the ruling Saenuri Party.

Lawmakers of the main opposition Democratic Party said they would resign en masse if the impeachment vote was unsuccessful. Members of the minor opposition People's Party have promised to follow suit.

Democratic Party floor leader Rep. Woo Sang-ho, said this collective action reflected party members' "firm and unwavering determination" to get the motion endorsed.

Calls grow for public access to Assembly on vote day What will happen if President is impeached? Opposition vows to impeach Park at rally PM's role crucial after impeachment Park rules out resignation People's Party interim leader Rep. Park Ji-won said, "Nothing will be able to derail our dash toward impeachment."



Members of the minor opposition Justice Party rally on Thursday to show their support for the impeachment motion for scandal-tarnished President Park Geun-hye at the National Assembly in Seoul, Thursday. / Yonhap

From farmers to professors, people from all walks of life are pressing lawmakers to vote for impeachment.



Anti-Park activists started staging rallies at the front gate of the National Assembly, chanting slogans calling for Park's removal through impeachment. They plan to host a large rally at the same venue from Friday morning in a last-minute effort to boost the chances of Park's impeachment.



National Assembly Speaker Chung Se-kyun said Thursday he would allow rallies at the front gate to guarantee people's freedom of speech and expression, but any collective activity within the compound would be banned for security reasons.



Thousands of university professors have issued statements explaining the need for Park's impeachment.



"The impeachment motion should be passed unanimously," said 791 professors of Seoul national University in a joint statement. "Park apologized three times, but none contained her sense of sincere remorse and repentance. We no longer recognize such an irresponsible person as our leader."



Hundreds of farmers started marching toward the National Assembly, along with dozens of tractors. They plan to make their way overnight to join the mass rally in front of the National Assembly on Friday morning.



Police plan to ban the tractors from entering Seoul for safety reasons.




By Kim Bo-eun, Choi Ha-young

Protesters will hold a massive candlelit rally at the National Assembly on Yeouido, Friday  the day of the vote to impeach President Park Geun-hye over the influence-peddling scandal involving her confidant Choi Soon-sil.

Earlier, organizers of the rallies requested the Assembly open its premises to the public and install screens outdoors to broadcast the voting process live.

However, Speaker Chung Sye-kyun said Thursday that representatives of the major parties agreed not to allow public access to the premises because "the lawmakers' right to decide should not be interfered with."

The lawn in front of the Assembly main building is usually only used for a president's inauguration or other national events.

Instead Chung said he will allow people to hold a gathering in front of the main gate. Under regular circumstances, demonstrations are banned within 100 meters of the Assembly.

"Although a demonstration in the Assembly premises is not allowed, we need to guarantee people's peaceful and free expression of opinion within legal boundaries," Chung said. "The parliament, together with the police, will guarantee the people the right to hold a peaceful and safe rally."

The rally organizers denounced the decision, calling it "anachronistic and authoritarian."












By Jun Ji-hye

President Park Geun-hye kept silent Thursday without holding any official events on the eve of a National Assembly vote to impeach her over the unfolding presidential corruption scandal.

The last time she showed herself in public was Tuesday when she met with the Saenuri Party Chairman Rep. Lee Jung-hyun and floor leader Rep. Chung Jin-suk at the Assembly.

At the time, she was quoted by Chung as saying that she will accept the result of an impeachment vote and will wait for the Constitutional Court's verdict if the motion is passed.

Since then, Park has not delivered any messages despite her earlier indication of giving a fourth address to the nation to explain details of the mounting allegations surrounding her. Park indicated her intention to deliver this address when giving her third one, Nov. 29, during which she said, "I will reveal the details soon. You (journalists) can ask questions, then."

Her plan to give the fourth address was apparently retracted after lawmakers of the ruling party, who do not support the scandal-ridden President, once again vowed to vote with the opposition parties. This apparently left no more options for Park to overturn her unfavorable situation.

If at least 28 lawmakers of the governing party vote in favor of impeachment in addition to 172 opposition and independent lawmakers, the motion is passed.












An activist holds a poster reading "The President's gender is neither a matter of excuse, nor a matter of mockery," at a rally in Seoul calling for President Park Geun-hye's resignation over her involvement in an influence-peddling scandal, Nov. 19. / Courtesy of Feminists Committee of Labor Party



By Choi Ha-young

The unfolding scandal involving President Park Geun-hye and her confidant Choi Soon-sil has ignited gender issues after sparking a flurry of sexist comments.

While criticizing the central figure in the influence-peddling scandal, seasoned politicians have made derogatory remarks toward women without acknowledging the sexist elements in their comments.

For instance, Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung, who is emerging as a dark horse for the next presidential race with a 15 percent approval rating, said, "Choi is just like a rude woman in a marketplace."

Park Jie-won, the interim leader of the People's Party, also said, "Can't imagine another female president in the next 100 years."

Some protesters have made sexist remarks that are even more insulting.

A high school student said on the podium at the Nov. 12 candlelit rally: "Childless Park is not a woman."

According to Burning Femi-Action, an online feminist group, some protesters criticized the appearance of Chung Yoo-ra, Choi's daughter who entered a prestigious university by taking advantage of Choi's close ties with President Park. A poster read: "Chung, plastic surgery monster, lose weight."

President Park has long been one of a few prominent female politicians, along with Hillary Clinton in the United States, Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar and Angela Merkel in Germany.

Discriminatory anger?

The gender of Park and Choi has spurred much gossip: Choi's Prada shoes went viral online, as did her relationship with Ko Young-tae, 20 years her junior.

People have made hay over rumors of Park receiving cosmetic treatments or having her hair styled for 90 minutes on the day of the Sewol ferry sinking. People also mocked the alias she used at a luxury anti-aging clinic  Gil Ra-im, the name of a K-drama heroine. Some internet users have said the "ignorant K-drama fan" is unqualified to lead the nation.

Women's rights groups agree that widespread anger against Park and Choi is sometimes "politically incorrect," and many points are based on the prejudice that luxury and skincare goods are preferred by women.

Further, Park apparently capitalized on her gender. Regarding the various allegations, her legal representative Yoo Young-ha said, "She is a woman before a president, so please consider her privacy."

Former presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-choon also said, "I couldn't ask Park about what she was doing during the seven hours of the ferry incident as it is rude to intrude on a female president's privacy."

"This is the worst use of gender image: men do public jobs, women do private jobs," said Kim Soo-jung, an activist from a group named Feminists Make Park Resign. "I can't forgive Park for using her female identity to conceal the tragedy of the Sewol ferry disaster."

The collapse of the country's first female president is expected to adversely affect female leaders' efforts to break through the glass ceiling in political, business and other social fields, said Nayoung, a feminist columnist from Network for Glocal Activism.

To overcome this, the media and investigations should focus on the structure of the scandal, she said. "For example, Park's alleged stem cell treatment shows the link between the medical circle and political power," she said.

Still, many activists said they dream of a female leader who can genuinely represent women.

"Park suddenly adopted a feminine image during her 2012 presidential campaign, targeting middle-aged women's votes. However, the essence of her policies came from her father's iron fist," Nayoung said.

President Park is the daughter of the dictator Park Chung-hee.

However, there's still a long way to go. "Many still believe economic growth and development require a male politicians' charismatic leadership," she said. "This environment makes it difficult for politicians to show a female identity."
Minor opposition People's Party lawmakers place a placard calling for President Park Geun-hye's impeachment in front of their respective seats on the eve of the impeachment vote against the President at the National Assembly, Thursday.

/ Yonhap



By Kang Seung-woo

The impeachment of President Park Geun-hye, which is likely today, will not be the end of political turmoil, but only the start of another turbulent chapter in Korean politics.

Many hot-button issues are still lurking, which may throw the political circle into deeper chaos.

Rival parties are highly anticipated to lock horns over whether Park should step down, even if she is impeached, and the role of the prime minister as acting head of state. This is closely linked to an early presidential election.

Impeachment is likely to result in an evitable division within the ruling Saenuri Party, as well.

Today, the National Assembly plans to vote on whether to impeach President Park and the motion is highly expected to get the required two-thirds majority in the 300-seat Assembly. The Constitutional Court will then review the legality of the impeachment, which may take up to six months.

The prosecution has labeled Park a suspect in the corruption scandal in which her confidant Choi Soon-sil has been indicted for extorting money from the nation's business groups. However, Park is immune from criminal prosecution except on charges of insurrection or treason while in office.

Should Park be suspended from duty, Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn will take over her job.

However, opposition parties are not willing to approve Hwang, Park's key associate, as acting leader because they see him as an extension of the Park administration.

"Irrespective of the role he will play as acting president, Hwang should take joint responsibility with Park for the scandal," said Rep. Park Beom-kye of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) in a radio interview, Thursday.

DPK Chairwoman Choo Mi-ae said all Cabinet members should resign.

"The people will not accept Hwang as acting president. If the impeachment motion is passed, political leaders need to discuss forming an interim Cabinet or replacing the prime minister," she said.

However, the ruling side claims such a move will deepen political uncertainties, denouncing it as unconstitutional.












People get on and off a subway train in Seoul. / Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corp.



By Kim Se-jeong





A passenger takes a subway ticket from a vending machine at Mangwon Station in Seoul.

/ Korea Times Photo by Kim Se-jeong

Public transportation is very important in traveling. It can ruin one's trip if a subway, bus or train doesn't arrive on time or one misses the stop. When the fare is too expensive, some travelers may have to give up their original plans. On the other hand, well-maintained and clean public transportation facilities can leave a lasting impression on tourists.

Seoul's subway system has all positive elements. It is so good that TripAdvisor, a global travel website, said a metro ride was the most recommended thing to experience in Seoul.

The subway in Seoul is clean. Passengers hardly ever see trash inside the stations or on the trains.

It is convenient and efficient. Seoul has nine subway lines reaching almost all parts of the city. Trains run frequently and they are almost always on time. Passengers don't have to worry about unexpected delays. There are many maps in the stations, showing how to get around within and outside the station, in multiple languages. Trains run from 5:30 a.m. to past midnight.

The subway also helps travelers visit the outskirts of Seoul through connections with other subway and train lines around the capital. Passengers can reach Cheonan in South Chungcheong Province to the south, Uijeongbu in Gyeonggi Province to the north, Incheon International Airport to the west and Chuncheon in Gangwon Province to the east.

One of the most appealing aspects is its affordability. The base fare for an adult is 1,350 won ($1.16), with an increase of 100 won per every 5 kilometers. Those holding a T-money travel pass can get a discount of 100 won on the basic fare. With the T-money card, a traveler can also transfer to a bus without paying the base bus fare. Buying a single-trip pass costs 1,850 won, including a refundable 500 won.

The trains are spacious and equipped with free Wi-Fi service. Announcements for the next stop are made in three foreign languages  English, Japanese and Chinese.

The subway in Seoul is also a good venue to experience local culture. Almost all subway stations have shops on the platform or near the gates, selling newspapers, rice cakes, coffee, pastries, fish cakes, baked corns, boiled eggs and even clothing.

Some stations are connected with underground malls or nearby buildings. Express Bus Terminal Station on Line 3 is linked with a big mall of apparel and home decoration shops worth visiting for shopping. Gwanghwamun Station on Line 5 is connected to one of the city's largest bookstores.

Travelers have shared their positive feedback.

"The metro in Seoul makes it easy for you to find your way in the city," Peter C, a traveler from Switzerland, wrote on TripAdvisor. "The connection with the airports is great and inexpensive. Definitely a good choice to go around Seoul."

A Belgian traveler named Marleen wrote: "Everything you need from a metro: it's easy to use; everything is indicated in English; it's cheap; the frequency is high; and it's clean. The T-money card is easy to use (you can also use it to pay the taxi)."
By Kim Se-jeong



As the National Assembly vote on President Park Geun-hye's impeachment nears, some lawmakers say they will take photos of their ballots to prove they have voted in favor of impeachment.



However, it's uncertain whether they will be able to post the photos on social media because legal issues remain.



Rep. Hwang Young-cheul, an impeachment supporter from the ruling Saenuri Party, was among the first to support the idea. "I want to show my constituents that I voted for impeachment," he said, Thursday.



Hwang's support implies lawmakers will face harsh criticism from their constituents if they vote against impeachment, as the majority of the public supports it.



Some members of the minor opposition People's Party also supported the idea and formally proposed it to members of opposition parties. Rep. Park Jie-won, People's Party floor leader, also said Wednesday, "As long as it is legitimate, I think it's not a bad idea.



"The mood now is that those who don't want to take photos are regarded as impeachment opponents," Park said.



But some lawmakers, especially many in the Saenuri Party who have not announced their stance yet and are presumed to oppose impeachment, have criticized the idea.



They pointed out that the impeachment vote is by secret ballot.



Saenuri Party floor leader Chung Jin-suk called the initiative unconstitutional. "Each member of the Assembly is entitled to vote according to his or her own belief. Asking them to show their ballots is completely absurd and against the principle."



The Election Law bans people from taking photos of their ballots at all, but the National Assembly Law has no clause addressing it. So, taking a photo itself may not be a problem but disclosing it to the public is a separate issue, according to Woo Yoon-keun, Assembly secretary general.



"It will be okay to photograph their ballots as long as they keep them personally but I am not sure it's appropriate to disclose how they voted," Woo said. "It needs more discussion within the Assembly."



The opposition parties and independent members hold 172 seats out of the 300-seat Assembly. They need at least 28 more votes to pass the impeachment motion.






Opposition lawmakers pledge to resign if motion voted down



By Kim Hyo-jin

Lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties will vote today on impeaching President Park Geun-hye over corruption and bribery allegations surrounding her.

If the impeachment motion passes, Park will be immediately suspended from office. The Constitutional Court will then decide on Park's fate, which could take up to six months.

The motion will be voted on at a plenary National Assembly session, scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.







If passed, Park will be the second president to be impeached by the legislature in South Korean history following ex-President Roh Moo-hyun in 2004, although the Constitutional Court ruled in his favor.

Uncertainty remains on how many lawmakers will vote for the impeachment but the motion has a high chance of being passed, with some 40 anti-Park lawmakers in the ruling Saenuri Party promised their support.

A successful passage requires a minimum 28 votes from the ruling party, providing 172 opposition and independent lawmakers unanimously vote in favor of the motion. Impeachment requires the approval of two-thirds of the 300-member Assembly.

Opposition parties made last-ditch attempts Thursday to encourage pro-impeachment sentiment in the legislature.

A total of 159 lawmakers of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and minor opposition People's Party vowed to resign en masse if the motion is voted down.

They made it their parties' official position and submitted letters of resignation to their floor leaders which will be delivered to National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun if the impeachment falls through.

"Impeachment is the only way to normalize state affairs. It will be the start of cleaning out the ills of society and rewriting history," DPK Chairwoman Rep. Choo Mi-ae said during a general meeting.
By Oh Young-jin



Key pieces have been missing in a puzzle about why President Park Geun-hye has acted in such a, well, puzzling way.



Then, some of them fell into place Tuesday, when Rep. Chung Jin-suk, the ruling Saenuri Party floor leader, gave a media briefing about the 55-minute meeting he, together with Rep. Lee Jung-hyun, the party chairman, had with President Park. The emerging picture shows as much as follows.



First, Park has no intention to quit now. Second, she will sit tight to see Friday's vote on an impeachment motion against her. Third and rather fantastically, she still holds on to the hope that the motion could be voted down, and that even if it is passed she could be exonerated by the Constitutional Court and get politically redemption.



If you find the denouement of this plot sounds familiar, you are right. It is as if a leaf from the late President Roh Moo-hyun's political playbook has fluttered to the ground.



It has become obvious that Park has tried to emulate Roh all along.



Out of blue she suggested a constitutional change of the current presidential system, days before the current influence-peddling and cronyism scandal erupted. In 2007, she called President Roh a "bad president" for proposing revising the Constitution to drop the current five-year single presidency to opt for the U.S. style of two four-year terms. At the time, he had less than one year left in office. Roh's proposal gained bipartisan support but was completely ignored by incoming president Lee Myung-bak.



The model Park is now pursuing is something else: Roh's political revival came after he was impeached in March 2004, but was acquitted by the Constitutional Court two months later. In between, Roh's Woori Party attained the majority in the general elections thanks to the voters' anger directed against his antagonists. The irony is that the opposition Grand National Party, the predecessor of the ruling Saenuri Party, was devastated in the elections, paving the way for President Park to take over as chairwoman. Park's real rise to the throne started then.



However, the President's wishful thinking may get in the way of seeing the distinct differences between her and Roh.



Park has admitted to delegating her presidential powers to her longtime friend, Choi Soon-sil, who is accused of appointing her associates as ministers and presidential aides. Park refused to cooperate with a prosecution probe but was still cited as suspect in Choi's extortion scheme against chaebol.



Park's greatest crime that is not transcribed onto the official list of charges is the destruction of trust in the office of the presidency, and the subsequent sense of hopelessness among the people that may take a great deal of time to heal.



Roh was charged of electioneering on the basis of a remark in a televised question-and-answer session with television journalists.



Park's approval rating is now down at an unprecedented 4 percent.



For Roh, about three quarters of the people thought that what he was accused of was unworthy of impeachment and a simple apology should have let him go.



For Park, millions of people have staged candlelit protests on the sixth Saturday so far to demand her resignation. They have remarkably maintained peace in their demonstrations, even when they marched 100 meters away from the perimeter of Cheong Wa Dae. Even middle and high school students feel ashamed of her being an avatar of the daughter of a shaman-turned-Christian minister.



For Park, few of the Saenuri Party lawmakers have sympathy toward her  the No. 1 party member  with some collaborating with the opposition parties in their joint effort to kick her out. Even her loyalists have advised her to accept early retirement.



For Roh, nearly 100 lawmakers staged a sit-in to prevent the coalition of opposition party from ramming the impeachment motion through. Still chiseled in the public's collective mind is one of pro-Roh lawmakers seen sitting and crying on the floor near the speaker's podium after their attempt to thwart it failed.



If Park thinks she can pull it off as Roh did, she should consider herself as a case of cognitive dissonance gone wild. The sooner she wakes up from her Roh dream, the better for her and, most of all, for the country.







Oh Young-jin is The Korea Times' chief editorial writer. Contact foolsdie5@ktimes.com and foolsdie@gmail.com.




Air strikes killed dozens of people, including many women and children, in an Islamic State-held town near Iraq's western border with Syria on Wednesday, two parliamentarians and local hospital sources said, Reuters reported.

They said the air strikes hit a busy market in the town of Qaim, in Iraq's Anbar province, describing the incident as a massacre. The hospital sources said 55 civilians were killed, including 12 women and 19 children, in three air strikes.

The bodies of eight militants were delivered to Qaim hospital morgue, the hospital sources said.

Anbar lawmaker Ahmed al-Salmani also said 55 civilians were killed. Another lawmaker, Mohammed Karbouli, told Reuters that 60 people had been killed, including some of his relatives.
By Doug Bandow





U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has acted with some circumspection in his Cabinet choices so far, but his phone call to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen suggests either carelessness or recklessness. Neither is a good approach in dealing with an issue of great importance to U.S.-Chinese relations.

While much of the world recognized the People's Republic of China in 1949, Washington only talked to Chiang Kai-shek's Republic of China, relocated from the mainland to the island of Taiwan.

In the midst of the Cold War Richard Nixon made a pilgrimage to Beijing to forge an anti-Soviet understanding. President Jimmy Carter completed the process in 1979, formally shifting diplomatic recognition to the PRC.

However, Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act, which institutionalized unofficial relations with Taipei. The U.S. government formally acknowledges that there is only one China, while both Taiwan and America maintain unofficial diplomats in each other's capital.

President-elect Trump ignored this finely crafted compromise in talking with Tsai. So far China has responded cautiously, blaming Taipei for the incident. If the Trump operation doesn't change policy elsewhere, Beijing might drop the matter.

But if there is a larger shift in policy, as advocated by some Trump advisers, bilateral relations could deteriorate. While the PRC is unlikely to retaliate directly  there is nothing obvious for it to do  it can undercut U.S. interests elsewhere.

Beijing just allowed passage of another round of U.N. sanctions against North Korea, but has almost total discretion in how tightly it enforces the new penalties. The PRC also will have to decide how to respond to candidate Trump's threat of a protectionist offensive. Beijing could ratchet up its aggressive territorial activities in the South China Sea.

Of course, Taiwan's future should be decided by its own people, not Beijing. However, foreign policy also must reflect reality.

China's leaders and people view Taiwan as an integral part of a nation worth fighting for. In contrast, how many Americans would choose to go to war with China to protect Taiwan's independence?

This doesn't mean Washington should avoid Chinese displeasure at any cost. For instance, arms sales, which the president-elect said he favors, help the island defend itself without committing America to war.

Arming Taiwan is the best of a bad set of policy options. But what's critical is that it achieves an important objective: assist Taipei in developing its own force to raise the price of military action by Beijing.

In contrast, the Trump phone call serves no obvious purpose. For what is Trump adding more turbulence to U.S.-China relations?

Tsai put a positive spin on the talk for her side, contending that Trump said he "hopes to strengthen two-way interaction and communication and establish closer cooperative relations." While there's nothing in theory wrong with doing so, in practice any U.S. steps that appear to suggest something closer to official recognition would encourage Taipei to be tougher, and potentially even reckless, in dealing with the PRC. The last independence-minded president, Chen Shui-bian, felt secure in his nation's relationship with America and went out of his way to poke at China.

At the same time, Beijing might feel the need to take action to challenge the new U.S.-Taiwan relationship. Nationalism runs deep in today's China, and even younger Chinese, many of whom bridle at internet censorship and other limits on their personal freedom, believe that Taiwan is part of China. Given the fact that Taiwan means much more to the PRC than America, Beijing officials may feel well positioned to play a game of international chicken.

Better would be to search for a modus vivendi which could satisfy both sides. How to preserve Taiwanese autonomy while respecting formal Chinese authority?

One could imagine the U.S. eschewing plans to defend the island, limiting arms sales, and avoiding official contacts with Taiwan. In return China would promise to not use force against Taiwan, withdraw missiles targeted on the island, and allow Taipei limited participation in international organizations.

Taiwan would promise not to pursue formal independence, provide the American military with base access, and join any anti-China international coalition. Taiwan's final status would be put off for peaceful resolution in the future.

Continued peace should be the primary objective of the incoming Trump administration. Hopefully the president-elect will learn that everything he says as president has impact.

So it is the case with Taiwan. This capitalist, democratic state is a good friend of America. But unless President-elect Trump is prepared to go to war on Taipei's behalf, he should pursue U.S. policy toward Taiwan with his head, not gut.

Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan.
All lawmakers should act only according to conscience



All 300 lawmakers should cast their ballots according to their conscience as representatives of the people in an impeachment vote against President Park Geun-hye today.



The total of 171 lawmakers  121 from the Democratic Party of Korea except for Speaker Chung Sye-kyun; 38 from the People's Party, six from the Justice Party and seven independents  submitted a motion to impeach President Park. The vote, which should be held within 72 hours after it is put to the plenary session, is expected to receive the backing of all of them plus the speaker who did not sign it but will cast a vote.



This leaves the fate of the impeachment effort to 128 lawmakers of the ruling Saenuri Party because the passage of the motion requires the support of at least two-thirds of the National Assembly. The party is roiled and pulled in two directions  those who align their political fate with Park despite the people's anger, those who are against her and those who have not decided.



Ahead of the vote, all Saenuri Party lawmakers should be reminded that their sworn mission is to represent and serve the people. Partisan loyalty, political self-interest and all other priorities are secondary to this cardinal mission and their raison d'etre. How they vote and what outcome it brings about will determine, in the eyes of the people, their masters, whether they have been doing their job properly.



Park's flaws as leader have become even more apparent at the parliamentary hearing.



Key witnesses confirmed the veracity of incredible reports by Choi Soon-sil, Park's longtime friend, acting as if she were president, while Park was her servant eager to meet whatever wishes her friend had. Cha Eun-taek, now in jail for helping Choi and influence-peddling, told the hearing, "I felt President Park and Choi were equally strong."



Charges against Park are composed of sharing presidential authority with Choi and engaging in extortion and bribery in the process of drawing "donations" from chaebol for two foundations under Choi's control. Park's unexplained crucial seven-hour absence while the ferry Sewol was sinking was hotly debated for inclusion.



But Park's most unforgivable crime is her colossal breach of the people's trust, which has caused an acute sense of hopelessness in society and serious damage to the office of the presidency. The people's anger has been well illustrated by weeks of candlelit protests that drew hundreds of thousands of people for weeks with surveys showing that eight of 10 people support Park's impeachment.



The Saenuri Party lawmakers should vote on behalf of the nation that is eager to see justice prevail and show an emphatic support for it so the Constitutional Court will be able to reduce its maximum six-month deliberation period as much as possible.




By Kim Tae-gyu



Apple faces two severe blows this week as reports sprang up that batteries on some of its iPhone 6 devices exploded or did not function properly by abruptly shutting down despite having remaining battery life.



The news came on the heels of the recent U.S. Supreme Court verdict, which sided with the company's ferocious rival Samsung Electronics in a long legal battle regarding patents.



Shanghai Consumer Council said that it received eight complaints that iPhone 6 models had spontaneously caught fire, the third battery-associated grievance of Chinese consumer groups in a month.



Apple has told users with issues to visit Apple stores while disclosing its analysis that the affected phones burst into flames followed by external physical damage.



"We appreciate that customers are more concerned than ever about the performance and safety of batteries in their mobile devices," Apple said in a statement.



The battery issue was first raised in China midway through last month when another consumer group reported troubles with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s.



Apple responded that the faults were limited to iPhone 6s devices made in either September and October last year, promising to replace the problematic batteries across the world.



But grumbling about the batteries of the iPhone 6 seems to continue.



The timing is sensitive since users are starting to care more about the safety of their handheld gadgets after Samsung carried out a global recall of its large-screen smartphone, Galaxy Note 7, in September due to continued reports on battery explosions.



Worse, Apple has struggled in the world's most populous country over the past year in the face of stiff rivalry against homegrown competitors including Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi.



In the third quarter of last year, Apple captured 12.4 percent of the Chinese smartphone market, according to market consultancy, Counterpoint. However, their market share slipped to 8.4 percent a year later.



Earlier this week, the Supreme Court of the United States backed Samsung in the legal battle about the company's usage of patented Apple technologies such as iPhone's rounded corners or the home screen display with 16 application icons.



As the highest court threw out the appeals court decision that Samsung has to pay a $399 million penalty to Apple, a Washington court is expected to make a downward adjustment of the amount.



The ferocious battle involving Samsung and Apple started in 2011 when the latter sued the former in a U.S. court for patent and trademark infringement. Originally, a jury fixed the penalty at almost $1 billion but a federal judge later halved the amount.



As the Supreme Court reversed the appeals court decision of $399 million, the overall amount will be further downsized, which observers point out is a victory of Samsung.




A model promotes Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S7 edge with the new Black Pearl finish in this file photo.

/ Courtesy of Samsung Electronics



By Yoon Sung-won



Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are beefing up their marketing drives for the Galaxy S7 and the V20, respectively, aiming at reinforcing the market presence of their latest premium smartphones in the year-end season before releasing their next flagship handsets early next year.



Samsung Electronics said Thursday it would release the new Black Pearl finish for its flagship smartphone Galaxy S7 edge, Friday, through SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus.



The new Black Pearl model, which will give customers an eighth color option for the S7 edge, has a glossier black finish compared to the existing Black Onyx color option. Unlike previous Galaxy S7 and S7 edge models, which had a maximum 64GB storage option, the Black Pearl S7 edge will have 128GB storage. It has been priced at 1.01 million won in Korea, according to Samsung Electronics.



Market expectations are that the new color will help Samsung Electronics solidify the Galaxy S7 series' leadership in the domestic market, countering iPhone 7's Jet Black models here.



According to data by market researcher Atlas Research, the Galaxy S7 series re-emerged as the best-selling smartphone in the domestic market in the third week of November, beating Apple's iPhones. Since Samsung Electronics released the Blue Coral color option for its latest flagship smartphone in November, it has sold 15,000 Galaxy S7 edge models per day.



LG Electronics is also boosting marketing activities for its premium smartphone V20 before the year-end holiday season.



The nation's second-largest smartphone manufacturer has released a new TV commercial highlighting the superior audio performance of the V20.



LG Electronics also launched a promotional event in which users can download 24-bit hi-fi music by pop acts such as Justin Bieber, Maroon 5 and Ariana Grande for 990 won until Jan. 5 using the LG Smartworld application preinstalled on V20 handsets. The company has uploaded more than 750 hi-fi songs to LG Smartworld, adding about 60 new songs every month, to establish its own hi-fi music database for customers.



Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are expected to unveil their next flagship handsets, the Galaxy S8 and the G6, at the Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona in February.
China intensifies ban on hallyu and cultural content from Korea. Beijing open door for more Japanese animation, while EXO postpone their concert in China.



In the latest update from the diplomatic spat between Beijing and Seoul, K-Pop stars are the one who caught in the middle of this political affairs. China is reported to welcome more Japanese anime according to Yonhap News Agency while Beijing becomes more hostile to Korean content.



The diplomatic relationship between China and Korea has become strained since the South Korean government signed an agreement with the United States to prepare a site for U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) deloyment in July this year. China considered the agreement as suspicious and decided to remove the Korean content from state-run television.



That includes removing the Korean celebrities from the advertisement in China. Jun Ji-Hyun, who has signed the contract to become the brand image of the Chinese mobile phone was replaced by Chinese actress. EXO also decided to postpone their concert in Nanjing, as reported by Korea Herald.



EXO was scheduled to have their concert on December 17 at Nanjing Olympic stadium. But recent controversy has made their Chinese agency suggest to postpone the concert.



Although the banned is clearly shown, the Chinese government refused to clarify the rumor of their decision to ban Korean culture product. Meanwhile, Japanese anime has gained more spot in China's television and local critics have also praised them.



This has also raised a question mark from many Korean businesses regarding China's policy. Japan and China have been long engaged in many territorial disputes, but China never takes a similar stance toward Japanese just like what they did to Korean. Especially, recently Tokyo has decided to have their THAAD battery in Japanese territory.



Watch the report from Arirang TV regarding the emergency assessment on China's hallyu ban below:
Over 600 people in Indonesias Aceh province were injured as a result of the 6.5-magnitude earthquake that occurred in the region on Wednesday, authorities said, Sputnik reported.

In the Pidie Jaya, Pidie and Bireuen regencies 620 people were injured, National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said on Thursday.

On Wednesday, BNPB head Willem Rampangilei announced that at least 97 people were killed by the earthquake, while at least 536 were wounded.

According to Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, about 7,400 people have lost their homes and are currently sheltered at temporary rescue centers.

Indonesia is located in the so-called Ring of Fire quake zone where a large number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur. Hundreds of thousands died in 2004 when a record quake hit the Aceh region, triggering a tsunami.
The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed a compromise version of an annual defense policy bill on Thursday without controversial provisions such as requiring women to register for the draft or allowing contractors to make religion-based hiring decisions, Reuters reported.

Ninety-two senators backed the $618.7 billion National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, and seven opposed it. Because it passed the House of Representatives by a similarly large margin last week, the bill now goes to the White House for President Barack Obama to veto or sign into law.

A White House spokesman told a briefing on Thursday he did not yet have a position on the bill to report.

The 2016 bill, the last of Obama's presidency, includes some Republican-backed initiatives with which he has disagreed in the past. It includes a $3.2 billion increase in military spending, when there has been no similar increase in non-defense funding.

The bill also bars closures of military bases, although top Pentagon officials say they have too much capacity, and it blocks planned reductions in active-duty troop numbers.

And it continues policies that bar transfers of prisoners to U.S. soil from the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which Obama had hoped to close. While his administration has shipped most inmates from the controversial prison, the Democrat is not expected to accomplish his goal of shuttering it before he leaves office Jan. 20.
Turkey is sending 300 more troops to northern Syria to reinforce an operation aimed at pushing Islamic State fighters away from its southern border, Reuters reported.

Some 300 commandos are being sent to reinforce the "Euphrates Shield" operation, Anadolu Agency reported. It was not clear where in northern Syria they would be deployed and Reuters was not immediately able to reach the military for comment.

Turkey launched the operation in August, sending tanks, airplanes and troops to back Syrian Arab and Turkmen rebels.

After pushing Islamic State fighters back from Turkey's Syrian border, the Ankara-backed rebels have moved towards al-Bab, the last urban stronghold of Islamic State in the northern Aleppo countryside. Their advance potentially pits them against both Kurdish fighters and Syrian government forces.
It has been found that avocados could be an effective cancer treatment, research says. (Photo : Twitter/@PlanetGreen)

More Chinese are now consuming avocados, with the importation of the fruit jumping 375 percent between 2014 and 2015.



Health benefits and lowering cost are among the reasons for its popularity. With 45 percent of Chinese considering themselves to be overweight, many were willing to pay more for "all-natural" foods, according to a 2014 Nielsen survey.



Advertisement

Also known as "alligator pears," avocado is deemed a high-end product in China. However, its price has dropped over the past two years, hovering around 15 yuan or $2.26 per fruit, which is on par with the price of a little over one pound of chicken breast, or 1.5 liters of local beer.



The trend was also cited as a big reason why there is increased consumption of avocado in China.



Most avocado consumers in China were Western expats who reside in first-tier cities like Beijing and Guangzhou. When the locals started looking at Western trends "to see what's cool," it boosted avocado consumption among them, according to Brian Gomez, vice president of avocado supplier Greenfruit Avocados.



Since avocado isn't part of traditional Chinese cuisine, it did not automatically appeal to local consumers.



Pagoda, a specialty fruits supermarket, boosted its sales soar by giving out recipes, preparation instructions, and free samples.



Mexican importation of avocados to China is growing by 200 percent annually. Both Peru and Chile have also started exporting to China with South Africa, New Zealand, and the United States also thinking about following suit.



The Chinese government is also willing to develop local avocado production and introduce policies to help Chinese growers, according to senior consultant Thibaud Andre of Daxue Consulting, a market research and management consulting firm with a focus on the Chinese market.


An Apple Store in Beijing's Central Business District (Photo : Getty Images)

Steven Milunovich, an analyst from UBS, said, The sales of Apples iPhone will continue to improve in the next years as more users are seen to upgrade to newer handsets. China, however, stands out like a sore thumb, not only for its rate of decline, but with a 10-point [market] share loss.



Advertisement

Mulinovich forecasts the growth of iPhone units to increase by about 6 percent in fiscal year 2017. This growth began when the company released the iPhone 7 series. The sales data is better compared to that in fiscal 2016, wherein shipments of iPhone units declined by 8 percent.



He predicted that there will be a double-digit unit sales growth in 2018 due to the iPhone 8 launch. This is Apples upcoming smartphone that is expected to have a revamped design and an OLED display.



It will be a different story in China, however, as the sales of Apples iPhone deteriorated in Q3 and Q4 2016. This is due to the lower-cost iPhone SE being poorly received in China as well as the constrained supply of iPhone 7 series units.



Mulinovich said that investors are also concerned about the profit margins of the upcoming iPhone 8 due to the price and the shortage of OLED displays.



Kulbinder Garcha, an analyst with Credit Suisse, said: Apple might have to raise the price of its OLED iPhone 8 models by about $50 to cover the added cost of the new display and to keep its margin profile. If OLED displays are in short supply, Apple likely will limit the technology to higher-end handsets.



According to the Investors Business Daily, Apples stock has been below its 50-day moving average, a negative sign since Nov. 1.



Mulinovich, however, rates the stock as a buy with a 12-month price target of 127.



Maynard Um, an analyst at Wells Fargo Securities, valuated Apples stock to be around the 105-120 range.


The prosecuting attorney says he wont file charges for a fatal shooting three weeks ago in southeastern Polk County. A man shot Jeremy Crest, 30, at a home at 5468 S. 248th Road, between Fair Grove and Pleasant Hope late on Nov. 17. An ambulance took Crest to a hospital in Springfield but doctors could not save him.

"This decision is based on a review of the reports from the Sheriffs Office, statements provided by witnesses, and the autopsy," said Polk County Prosecuting Attorney Kenneth Ashlock in a news release on Thursday.

The Polk County Sheriffs Department did not release details of the shooting and never issued a news release with Crests name in it.

The day after the shooting, however, Sheriff Kay Williams said he considered the shooting to be homicide and expected the shooter would be charged. Deputies arrested the 23-year-old shooter on the night it happened, but he was released the next day when charges weren't immediately filed.

The shooting occurred while Crest was in a vehicle that was not his.

Ashlock notes Missouri law under Section 563.031 RSMO provides the following:

2. A person shall not use deadly force upon another person under the circumstances specified in subsection 1 of this section unless:

(2) Such force is used against a person who unlawfully enters, remains after unlawfully entering, or attempts to unlawfully enter a dwelling, residence, or vehicle lawfully occupied by such person . . .

The facts surrounding the shooting would show that the deceased was the initial aggressor and that he did unlawfully enter into a vehicle and that after that entry he was shot and killed, Ashlock said.

In the final analysis of the facts and the law, no charges can be filed in his case.

Here's information on Crest from his obituary from Herman Lohmeyer Funeral Home in Springfield, which handled his funeral on Nov. 28.

"Mr. Crest, 30, of Elkland died Thursday in Springfield. He was born in Aurora, Ill., the son of Gerald and Pamela Ingle Crest.

"He is survived by his mother, Pamela Potts; his father, Gerald Crest; three children, Ryan Matthew Crest, Kiley Elizabeth Crest and Jace Riley Crest; his grandmother, Ernestine Newsome; three brothers, Jonathon Ingle, Richard Crest and James Crest; a half-sister, Shelly Crest; his uncle, Howard Ingle; three aunts and husbands, Lori and Mike Brussow, Christina Nelasco and Lisa and Doug Bolin; and numerous cousins."
Aixtron CEO Paul Hyland and CFO Wolfgang Breme at the Aixtron AG headquarters during a press conference. (Photo : Getty Images)

China called on the United States government to refrain from causing disruptions in the Chinese firms' foreign corporate acquisitions, in response to President Barack Obama's decision to block a Chinese firm's proposal to acquire a German company that manufactures semiconductor manufacturing equipment, calling the deal a security risk.



Advertisement

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Lu Kang, said that the acquisition of Aixtron SE by China's Fujian Grand Chip was "pure market behavior," the Business Insider reported.



"We hope that the United States will cease making groundless accusations about Chinese companies and will provide a fair environment and favorable conditions for investment by them," Lu told media at a press conference.



"I think this matter will in the long run be in the interests of all the parties concerned."



On Friday, Dec. 2, Obama asked Fujian Grand Chip to abandon its bid to take over Aixtron's California subsidiary, saying that the U.S. government is concerned of its "military applications."



It was the third time in three decades that a U.S. president has done against a Chinese company on national security reasons, the report said.



Last week, Aixtron's parent company said that it would reconsider its earlier decision due to "security-related questions," which it did not elaborate. Germany had approved the $740 million (670 million euro) takeover of Aixtron's German parent company.



Chinese companies have been involved in a series of multibillion-dollar acquisitions in Europe, with the aim to gain technology and brands that included Pirelli tires, Club Med and Volvo Cars.



Although the outflow of money is welcomed by many Europeans, some business leaders complained that their proposals for acquisition are blocked by China.



Aixtron said that under the proposed acquisition, its headquarters, research and development operations and existing technology would still be at its current sites.



In 2012, Obama prevented Ralls Corp., a Chinese-owned firm, from building a wind farm near a naval base in Oregon.



In 1990, then-President George Bush stopped a Chinese state-owned company from buying the MAMCO Manufacturing Inc., a company manufacturing aircraft parts.


Chinese President Xi Jinping calls for the reduction in the number of soldiers in the PLA. (Photo : Getty Images)

Chinese President Xi Jinping announced his intentions to downsize the country's current military forces.



Xi made the announcement during a two-day military reform conference on Saturday. The President said that the military current structure needs to be adjusted and optimized to meet the needs of modern warfare, the Global Times reported.



Advertisement

Xi, who also heads the Central Military Commission, as well as a leading group studying reforms on national defense, specifically addressed the growth of modern information-based warfare, noting that combat now relies more on joint operations by different units.



According to China Arms Control and Disarmament Association senior consultant Xu Guangyu, the President urged senior military officers to restructure personnel in the lower ranks.



Xu said the army will likely receive the biggest cut to just around 70 to 50 percent of its current forces due to the push for continued modernization of the army. He added that China is also putting an even greater importance in its naval strategy.



Xu said that the restructuring of the armed forces is likely to be completed by the end of 2017. He added that the armed forces will likely see the proportion of non-commissioned officers growing as the training of soldiers with greater combat capability increase in importance.



The president earlier said in Sept. 2015 that China would cut its forces by around 300,000 personnel. China' People's Liberation Army (PLA) maintains the world's largest military, with more than 2.3 million active service members and 1.1 million reserve personnel, the International Business Times reported.



President Xi also emphasized the need to put more focus on developing new military technology over increasing numbers, saying that the shift is inevitable. China has recently unveiled several new military tech projects to the public, including its latest stealth fighter, the Chengdu J-20.



The country has raised concerns among its neighbors in the Asia-Pacific due to its increasingly assertive stance on the issues surrounding the region.


Historic ties of north Meck span throughout region Though the north Mecklenburg area didnt see significant population growth until a few decades ago, its rich history dates back to the Revolutionary War. That was the basis of...

An easier-than-expected first mammogram experience HUNTERSVILLE  Scheduling a cancer screening probably ranks somewhere on your to-do list between "clean out the garage" and "donate those clothes that don't fit." Sure, you'll get to it at...
A social worker places roses among rows of gravestones symbolizing the 93,00 people killed in Syria, on June 17, 2013, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo : Getty Images)

China and Russia have vetoed a draft resolution at the U.N. Security Council that pushed for a seven-day ceasefire in Syria's war-torn city of Aleppo.



Russia said the document has infringed the council rule allowing countries 24 hours to consider the final wording.



The claim was dismissed by the U.S. as a "made-up" alibi, saying Moscow wanted to preserve the recent military gains by Syrian government troops in Aleppo.



Advertisement

The army has reportedly seized about 70% of the rebel-controlled eastern portion of the city, according to a report from the BBC.



More than 100,000 people are said to be trapped in districts still under rebel control, where food supplies are exhausted and there are no functioning hospitals.



On Monday, Russia and China--both veto-wielding Security Council members--voted against the draft filed jointly by Egypt, New Zealand and Spain.



Venezuela also voted "No," while Angola abstained.



The remaining U.N. council members backed the resolution.



The document called for the ceasefire to allow the unimpeded access of aid to Aleppo.



Russia's U.N. Vitaly Churkin said the draft had not been given the standard 24 hours for analysis by council members.



The vote should have been postponed until a meeting of U.S. and Russian experts is convened later this week in Geneva, he added.



U.S. deputy envoy to the U.N., Michele Sison, accused Russia of making excuses.



"We will not let Russia string along the U.N. Security Council," she said.



French envoy Francois Delattre said Moscow is "decided to take Aleppo regardless of the human cost" of a military victory.



The U.K.'s representative Matthew Rycroft said the veto of Russia and its supporters "have held ransom the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent, women, and children currently enduring hell in Aleppo."



This is the sixth time in five years that Russia has blocked a draft resolution on Syria by veto power.



Russia, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has been carrying airstrikes against the rebels since Sept. 2015.



Aleppo was once the country's largest city and its commercial and industrial hub before the uprising against President Assad erupted in 2011.


The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary

Read more
This article appears in the December 9, 2016 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

RUSSIA AND CHINA RELY ON CREATIVITY

Can Zero Be a Negative Quantity?

Yes, If It Is a Zero-Deficit Budget!

[Print version of this article]

Dec. 3Every day it becomes more obvious that there are two utterly opposed global paradigms that determine the behavior of nations. While opposition to the bankrupt paradigm of globalization becomes stronger and stronger in the trans-Atlantic world, and the Establishment tries to hold on to it ever more doggedly, the nations cooperating with the New Silk Roadwith increasing clarityare committed to the creativity of their peoples and to cooperation on the common aims of mankind.

View full size

Xinhua

The Western politicians and media who are accustomed to seeing Russian President Putin only through the lens of demonization, would do well to read through Putins December 1st State of the Nation address before the Russian Federal Assembly, without prejudice, for once. Since the rejection of Obamabecause Hillary Clintons defeat was also thatand the first telephone conversations that Donald Trump had with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, a real opportunity for normalizing relations among the worlds three most important nations has opened up. And only a suicidal fool would throw away this opportunity.

If we take into account the entire chronology of Putins offers to the Westincluding his hopeful address to the German Bundestag in 2001 and his speech to the Munich Security Conference in 2007 expressing his keen disappointmentthen we should accept his words at face value when he says, We do not want confrontation with anyone. We have no need for it . . . We do not seek and never have sought enemies. We need friends. But we will not allow our interests to be infringed upon or ignored.

Later on in his speech Putin stressedas priorities for the educational systemthe fostering of knowledge and morality as the prerequisite for the viability of society. The interest of young people in national Classical literature, culture, and history must be awakened, he said. The schools must promote creativity, by the children learning to think independently, and learning to work both on their own and as part of a team, to master exceptional challenges and formulate and reach goals. Admittedly, gifted education is important, he said, but in principle, the educational system must be based on the understanding that all children and teenagers are gifted, and can achieve success in science, the creative fields, and life. The task of the state is to foster their talents.

Putin also underscored the fundamental importance of basic research as the basis for economic growth and social progress. More than 200 laboratories have already been established, he said, that are in a position to operate on the global level, thanks to very large subsidies, and which are led by scientists who have identified the trends in global scientific developments. In this connection, he said, it is also important to overcome the bottlenecks which have existed in Russia since the time of the czars by utilizing these scientific advances in the production of commercial goods.

The Putin demonizers should also study the speech Putin gave the day before at the Primakov Readings International Forum, held in honor of Yevgeni Primakov, the former prime minister and intellectual pioneer who died 18 months ago. U.S.-Russian relations were also high on the agenda of his speech. Putin referred to Primakovs belief that it would be very difficult to adequately address todays big challengesespecially in the fight against terrorism in the Middle Eastwithout a serious partnership between Russia and the United States. Primakov, according to the Russian President, had the truly strategic vision that allowed him to look into the future and see how unviable and one-sided was the model of a unipolar world. It was Primakov, Putin said, who first advocated trilateral cooperation among Russia, China, and India, which then evolved into the BRICS, which is gaining weight and influence in the world. Moreover, Primakovs insistence on maintaining close ties with partners in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Putin said, is the backbone of our integration policy in Eurasia . . . We hope that talks with our partners, including those on linking up with Chinas Silk Road Economic Belt project, will enable us to build a grand Eurasian partnership.

The Inalienable Right to Development

Another document which the geopolitically minded western politicians and media should study, is a new White Paper by the Chinese government titled, The Right to Development: Chinas Philosophy, Practice and Contribution, which affirms that there is an inalienable right for all peoples and countries to develop. The right to development must be enjoyed and shared by all peoples. Realizing the right to development is the responsibility of all countries and also the obligation of the international community, the paper says. It requires governments of all countries to formulate development strategies and policies suited to their own realities, and it requires concerted efforts of the international community as a whole. China calls on all countries to pursue equal, open, all-round and innovative common development; it promotes inclusive development, and creates conditions for all peoples to share the right to development.

But the white paper goes much further. It clearly shows that Chinas model for development and Chinas political and social structure has achieved unqualified success. And while the model continues to develop, it is at a pace and in a form that is determined by the Chinese people themselves. The paper notes that China has already raised 700 million people out of poverty, now with only 5.7% of the population living under the poverty line, making it the first nation, the report notes, to reach the UNs Millennium Goals. But China is determined to eliminate poverty altogether. The Chinese government outlined a strategy for entirely eliminating poverty among the rural population by 2020 in its Outline of the 13th Five-Year Program for the National Economic and Social Development of the Peoples Republic of China, published in March 2016.

A New Wave of Prosperity

Anyone who does not want to listen to Putin or China can study a white paper by the heavy equipment company Caterpillar, builder of machines for construction, recently reported on in Chinese media, on the significance of the Belt and Road Initiative. This initiative will unleash a new wave of prosperity for China and the rest of the world, it says. The construction of an infrastructure networkone of the initiatives prioritieswill make possible the free flow and efficient utilization of resources, market integration, and coordination of economic policy among nations.

The construction of the infrastructure will help lower the costs of logistics, boost the competitiveness of the emerging economies, and reduce inequality among nations. Caterpillar considers the Belt and Road initiative to be an open and inclusive framework which will permit all the countries along the routes to participate in construction of the project. It is not intended as, and cannot be, a solo effort of China, according to the white paper.

New China TV

Caterpillar values the business opportunities opened by the initiative, and hopes to be able to participate even more in projects along the routes, explained Chen Qihua, Caterpillars Vice-President and Chairman of Caterpillar China.

Moreover, western politicians and media should finally realize that there is broad support in the population for international cooperation, especially in the area of scientific and technological progress. The Citizens Dialogue of the European Space Agency (ESA), which has 22 member states, revealed that 88 percent of those it surveyed support the agencys space program, and 96% are convinced that space offers opportunities that do not exist on Earth, but should be pursued.

In his report on this survey at the Frieslandmahl celebration at Upjever Air Base, former German astronaut Thomas Reiter, now chief ESA coordinator of International Space Station Affairs, said there is reason to be optimistic in spite of the endless budget controversies at the European level. The EU8 billion spent on the space program during the past five years, he said, have generated EU14.5 billion in economic benefits for Europe and its citizens.

But there is also the political aspect of international cooperation. This works well in spite of the conflicts on Earth, Reiter said. There are 95 countries taking part in the ISS research work, and up there the objectives are for the good of all mankind.

Reiter was also optimistic about the lunar dimension of space development, particularly on the far side of the Moon. It may serve as a launch site for deep space missions in the future.

Bernhard von Weyhe, head of the Communications Department of the European Space Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany, also addressed the bridge function that space technology serves for mankind in an interview with the Allgemeine Zeitung. He said that joint manned space projects promote human solidarity, even at the time of the Cold War. Space has always been an area for intensive international collaborationand it continues to act as a bridge. Space travel is per se a project of cooperation.

The common denominator for all of these statements is this: Mankinds future lies in nations cooperating for the economic development of the entire world, and for the common aims of mankind, especially in the development of technology, science, and human creativity. It is well worth investing in such cooperation. Whoever does not understand this, and instead sets his sights on a zero-deficit budget, will end up empty-handed.
This article appears in the December 9, 2016 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

Grasping the Present Opportunity

[Print version of this article]

Dec. 4In the 26 days since the U.S. Presidential election, the American people have been subjected to a roller-coaster array of conflicting emotions: hope, fear, uncertainty, triumphalism, despairand just plain ordinary confusion. The shocking election results have left millions wondering exactly what to expect from the new administration.

Some individuals point, with hope, to President-Elect Trumps discussion of building infrastructure, re-enacting Glass-Steagall, and repairing relations with Russia. Others single out some of the recently announced Cabinet appointments, as well as both Mr. Trumps ties to Wall Street and his alleged bellicose stance on trade with China, as causes for deep concern. There is a great deal of speculation, both positive and negative, as to what to expect. But that is all that it isspeculation, the type that is fodder for internet blogs and gossip columnists. No one knows, as of this moment, exactly what the new President will do on Day 1 of his administration.

What the majority of observers fail to grasp, amidst all the confusion and misrepresentations, is the reality that, as of Nov. 8, new and profound potentials have emerged as a strategic reality, potentials which may change the destiny of all mankind. Following the 1863 military victories of Vicksburg and Gettysburg, the entire nature of the American Civil War changed. The war was not wonand the ensuing months were fraught with dangers and strugglebut the conditions of the strategic battlefield were radically altered. That is where we find ourselves now.

The election results in the United States, and the impending regime change in Washington D.C., come at a moment when the world is being transformed by the actions of Russia and China. Since the Russian victory in 2009 in the Second Chechen War, and the 2012 ascension to power of Xi Jinping in China, Russia and China have together taken actionsthrough the BRICS, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the Eurasian Economic Union, the Shanghai Cooperation Organizationas well as through many other institutions and initiativeswhich have fundamentally changed the world. The old British Empire methods of colonialism and geopolitics are being replaced by a paradigm of friendship, cooperation and economic development.

Future progress, future development, future opportunities, future discoveries are now the governing philosophy within this new paradigm. This represents a radical altering of human relations on the planet, and the promise of even greater changes to come. It is within the context of these global shifts that the significance of what has occurred within the United States, as a result of the political revolution which took place on November 8, is to be located.

I. A U.S./Russian Rapprochement

On Nov. 30, 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a speech to the Primakov Readings International Forum in Moscow. This was followed the very next day, Dec. 1, by his Annual Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly, also in Moscow. The two speeches had different purposes, the first being given in honor of the recently deceased Yevgeny Primakov, the former Russian Prime Minister, and the December 1 State of the Union address primarily devoted to an official review of the Russian economy, social issues, and domestic policy.

In both of these speeches, President Putin offered an olive branch to the new Trump Administration, while at the same time making it clear that any improvement in relations will hinge on a clean break with the anti-Russian policies of George W. Bush and especially Barack Obama. On Dec. 1, Putin stated,

Russia is ready to work with the new U.S. Administration. It is important to put bilateral relations back on track and to develop them on an equal and mutually beneficial basis . . . Cooperation between Russia and the United States in addressing global and regional issues will benefit the whole world. We have a shared responsibility to ensure international security and stability . . . I certainly count on joining efforts with the United States in the fight against real rather than fictional threats, international terrorism being one of them . . . We do not want confrontation with anyone. We have no need for it . . . We do not seek and never have sought enemies. We need friends. But we will not allow our interests to be infringed upon or ignored.

In his remarks at the Primakov Forum, Putin pointed to Primakovs belief that without a serious partnership between Russia and the United States, it would be difficult to address the worlds big challenges. With a new President soon to occupy the White House, Putin said, We hope that this will create an opportunity to improve these relations, which are so important not only for our two peoples, but also for ensuring international stability and security, and he noted that in his recent phone conversations with President-elect Trump, the two agreed that something must certainly be done about the current unsatisfactory state of bilateral relations.

Putin also pointed to Primakovs warnings against a policy of regime-change, and even prior to the Arab Spring, he said, Primakov had warned about the disaster that would ensue if secular Middle Eastern regimes were toppled. Here, again, the stated intentions of President-Elect Trump cohere with Russias concerns and portend a dramatic shift in U.S. policy.

Vladimir Putin: Our schools must promote creativity

The general tenor of the bulk of President Putins speech to the Federal Assembly could be described as somber but optimistic, and determined to make further progress.

At the same time however, Putin identified the cultural and psychological upward shift which has become manifest within the Russian population, as it has fought against great odds and through great obstacles, to rebuild from the disaster of the late Soviet era and the post-Soviet catastrophes of the 1990s:

Our people have united around patriotic values. We see this unity and we should thank them for it. They have united around these values not because everyone is happy and they have no demands; on the contrary, there is no shortage of problems and difficulties. But people have an understanding of their causes and, most importantly, are confident that together we can overcome these problems. It is this readiness to work for our countrys sake and this sincere and deep-seated concern for Russia that form the foundation of this unity we see . . . Lets remember that we are a single people, a united people, and we have only one Russia. Colleagues, the basis of our entire policy is to take care of people and increase human capital as Russias most important resource. Therefore, our efforts are aimed at supporting the traditional values and the family, at [implementing] demographic programs, improving the environment and peoples health, and promoting education and culture.

And, continuing into the area of youth and Russias future, he said,

Our schools must promote creativity. The children must learn to think independently, work both on their own and as part of a team, address unusual tasks and formulate and achieve goals, which will help them have an interesting and prosperous life . . . We must promote the culture of research and engineering work. The number of cutting-edge science parks for children will increase to 40 within two years. They will serve as the basis for the development of a network of technical project groups across the country. Companies, universities, and research institutes should contribute to this, so that our children will see clearly that all of them have equal opportunities and an equal start in life, that Russia needs their ideas and knowledge and that they can prove their mettle in Russian companies and laboratories . . . There are several things I would like to stress. Our education system must be based on the principle that all children and teenagers are gifted and can succeed in science, in creative areas and sport, in careers, and in life. Our task is to help them develop their talents. When they are successful, Russia is successful too. Colleagues, I view the young generation as Russias reliable foundation in a turbulent and complicated 21st century. I believe that they are able not just to rise to challenges, but also to make their contribution to the development of the intellectual, technological and cultural agenda of global development.

As will become clear in the excerpts which will be given later in this article from Donald Trumps speech in Cincinnati, Ohio, there is a common themea human themethat is interwoven throughout both that speech as well as the above cited remarks from Vladimir Putin. To wit: the improvement of life for the common citizen; peace and cooperation among nations; the fostering of industry, science, and education; and a commitment to the development of the potentials of youth for the creation of a better future.

There is much that can be built upon there.

II. China: an Inalienable Right to Development

Within this issue of EIR there are to be found two articles by William Jones. The first deals with a major White Paper released by the Chinese government, titled, The Right to Development: Chinas Philosophy, Practice, and Contribution; the second reports on EIRs participation in a Nov. 30, Washington, D.C. event on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), sponsored by the China Energy Fund Committee and the Asia Society.

Readers of this article must study those two pieces by William Jones, for once again, they define, together with the offerings of friendship and cooperation by Vladimir Putin, a decisive opportunity for the incoming Trump Administration to shatter and expunge all of the geopolitical nightmares of the Bush/Obama years.

Simply put, the Chinese White Paper states,

The right to development must be enjoyed and shared by all peoples. Realizing the right to development is the responsibility of all countries and also the obligation of the international community. It requires governments of all countries to formulate development strategies and policies suited to their own realities, and it requires concerted efforts of the international community as a whole.

The Nov. 30 event, attended by EIR, could be characterized as the opening salvo of the New Paradigm knocking on the door of Washington, D.C. As reported by Jones, most of the American participants had great difficulty in breaking with the mentality of geopolitics and imperial confrontation, but one after aother of the Chinese speakers laid out the great projects being built, and the great opportunities for both the United States and the rest of the world. Dr. Patrick Ho, the Secretary General of the China Energy Fund Committee, concluded the event with the admonition, Its not possible for one section of the world to alone have a sense of prosperity. The Belt and Road is not a sphere of influence, but an accommodating of different interests, a vision that keeps on unfolding.

Thus, as in the case of Vladimir Putin, China is offering the incoming Trump Presidency a new basis for relations and a new path for the human race.

III. Donald Trump in Cincinnati

What is presented here are verbatim excerpts from the speech which President-Elect Trump delivered in Cincinnati, Ohio on Dec. 1. There were other things also said in that speech which EIR and Lyndon LaRouche might not agree with, and there were certain aspects which may prove problematic in the months to come. But, within the context of what was presented above concerning the initiatives being taken by China and Russia, these remarks are a breath of fresh air for America and the trans-Atlantic world. Ask yourself this question: When was the last time you heard an American leader speak like this? Even remotely?

Trump said:

One of the reasons we are so divided today is because the government has failed to protect the interests of the American workers and their families, making it too easy to see ourselves as distinct groups and not unified as a whole . . . Washingtons politicians have spent so long appealing to competing interests, theyve forgotten how to appeal to the national interest, combining the skills and talents of our people in a common cause. . . But that is all about to change. Our goal is to strengthen the bonds of trust between citizens, to restore our sense of membership in a shared national community. We are going to seek a truly inclusive society where we support each other, love each other, and look out for each other. Were going to bring back the American Dream. The problems that plague American cities or that afflict poor rural communitiesand we do have rural communities; some of them are poorwere going to help these people; were going to rebuild these communities. Theyre not permanent features of American life. They can be fixed, and, together, we are going to fix them. People are constantly telling me and telling you to reduce our expectations. Those people are fools. They are fools . . . Anything we want for our country is now possible. Anything. Now is not the time to downsize our dreams, but to set our sights higher than ever before for our country. Now is the time to push for real profound change that restores the full promise of America for all its people, and those people are great people . . . Now is the time to unlock the potential of millions of Americans left on the sidelines, their talents unused, their dreams unrealized and their aspirations totally forgotten. These are people of great talent. This is the moment. This is our chance. This is our window for action. This is the hour when the great deeds can be done, and our highest hopes come true. Were going to do it, folks; were going to do it. We will build new roads, tunnels, bridges, railways, airports, schools, and hospitals, including major projects in the inner-cities. Theres such potential in the inner-cities, were not using our potential . . . We will deepen our harbors, we have harbors that ships cant even get into . . . Were going to fight for every last American job. Its time to remove the rust from the rust belt and usher in a new industrial revolution. Were going to do it. We will pursue a new foreign policy, one which finally learns from the mistakes of the past. We will stop trying to topple regimes and overthrowing governments . . . Our goal is stability, not chaos . . . Weve spent $6 trillion in the Middle East, and the Middle East today is far worse than its ever been. You will see changes very quickly. We are a nation that won two world wars, dug out the Panama Canal, put a man on the Moon and satellites all over outer space, but somewhere along the way we started thinking small. Im asking you to dream big again, and bold and daring things for your country will happen once again. Im asking you to join me in this next chapter of this unbelievable and unprecedented movement, as we work toward prosperity at home, peace abroad, and new frontiers in science, technology, and space. Im asking you to believe in America again. We have many challenges, but this is truly an exciting time to be alive . . .. The script is not yet written. We do not know what the next page will read, but what we do know is that the pages will be authored by each one of you. Each one of you. Americans will be the captains of their own destiny once again. I talked about our great movement, but you are the movement; Im just the messenger.

IV. Our approach

There are many danger signs ahead, both from within the United States, but more ominously, emanating from the extended power structures of the British financial empire, as well as the current pre-war deployment of NATO. They have suffered a defeat, but they are not defeated.

Adding to the difficulties is the unpleasant reality that the intellectual competence of American leaders has declined precipitously since the death of Franklin Roosevelt in 1945. Today, with this great opportunity before us, will those leadersor the American peoplelook a gift horse in the mouth? Will they fail to act on what is being offered? Will they understand what is at stake? For too many, in Congress and elsewhere, the answers to those questions are Yes, Yes, and No.

Our approach is simple. We must actand demand that others, of whatever political stripe or background, also acton the principles embodied in Lyndon LaRouches Four Laws to Save the U.S.A. Those principles are not only coherent with the intentions declaimed by Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping; they go to an even higher level in defining the human mission.

As stated, the Trump victory of Nov. 8 has transformed the battlefield. We must think and act accordingly.

Our goal is to bring the United States into the New Global Paradigm. That is the Prize. Dont take your eyes off it. Do not be distracted by secondary issues. Disagreements on non-essential programmatic points or setbacks on issues of lesser importance must be ignored. Bring the United States into a full partnership with the nations of China and Russia. That will win everything.
The 17th Karmapa Lama, also known as Ogyen Trinley Dorje, is one of the most senior figures in Tibetan Buddhism. (Photo : Getty Images)

China urged India on Monday not to do anything that may complicate their border dispute after an exiled Tibetan religious leader visited a sensitive border region controlled by India but claimed by China.



The Karmapa Lama, Tibetan Buddhism's third-most-senior figure who fled to exile in India in 2000, last week visited the town Tawang in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, in the remote eastern Himalayas.



Advertisement

China has a disputed claim over the entire territory of Arunachal Pradesh, calling it south Tibet. Tawang, a historic site for Tibetan Buddhism, was briefly occupied by Chinese forces during a 1962 war.



When asked about the trip, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang told the Reuters News Agency that India was clear about China's position on the eastern end of their border.



"We hope the Indian side can respect the relevant consensus of both sides, and not take any actions that may complicate the border," Lu said.



Maintaining peace and stability on the border as well as the healthy development of relations is in the interests of both countries, he added.



The visit threatens to put a damper to the Indian and Chinese government's pledges last year to cool their long-standing border dispute, which dates back to their brief 1962 border war.



India is home to a large community of Tibetan exiles, including spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, whom China accuses of being a separatist.



In November, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang snubbed a bilateral meeting with Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico after President Andrej Kiska's meeting with the Dalai Lama in October.



Beijing has accused the 14th Dalai of being a "wolf in monk's clothing" whose continued advocacy for increased Tibetan autonomy threatens China's control over the region.



The Dalai Lama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, said he simply wishes genuine autonomy for Tibet.


This article appears in the December 9, 2016 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

Italy: The Third Shock

[Print version of this article]

Dec. 7This time, the earthquake with its epicenter in Italy was a political one, and is sending shockwaves globally. On Dec. 4, Italian voters overwhelmingly rejected a constitutional reform bill that would have enslaved them once and forever to a foreign dictatorship centered in the European Union (EU). This is the third shock, after Brexit and the electoral defeat of Obama/Hillary Clinton, delivered by the worldwide revolt of the forgotten citizen against a political establishment responsible for an economic crisis and wars which are driving millions of people into poverty, despair and death.

wikimedia commons

Not by chance, the highest percentages of No votes in the Dec. 4 national referendum came from southern regions, such as Sicily and Sardinia, which have the highest rates of youth unemployment and poverty, and from the northeastern region of Veneto, the hardest hit by the post-2008 industrial desertification and a high rate of suicide among small industrialists. With voter participation of nearly 70% domestically (66% when voters abroad are included), Italians gave a lesson in wisdom by rejecting 60-40 a Constitutional reform dictated by the EU and by investment bankers. The aim of the reform, as stated in the introduction to the bill, was to exhaustively rationalize the complex multilevel system of governance, articulated among the European Union, the state, and local autonomies. No less than four new Constitutional Articles would have established EU law as on the same level as Italian constitutional law.

The Italian Parliament had approved Prime Minister Matteo Renzis constitutional reform with a simple majority, corresponding to the governments parliamentary majority. Italys Constitution prescribes that constitutional changes need approval in a national referendum if a two-third majority is not achieved in Parliament.

Professor Luciano Barra Caracciolo

As Professor Luciano Barra Caracciolo, an active member of Italys judiciary branch and author of the political blog Orizzonti48, explained to EIR, the reform was aimed at transposing onto a constitutional level European policies, i.e., a political direction shaped abroad, in a Brussels dominated by financial and oligopolistic lobbies, independent of any electoral result in Italy. This especially concerned the so-called guidelines and the resolutions, by the Commission and the EU Council. It was a far-reaching constitutional change, unique in Europe. 

Along with this unprecedented suppression of national sovereignty in its own constitution, the Italian parliamentary system would have been turned into a mere notarial function for decisions taken by the executive branch, which, in turn, would only be a transmission belt for Brussels guidelines.

In fact, one of the two chambers, the Senate, would be suppressed and replaced by a smaller body composed of a selection of regional legislators and mayors. In the scale of political corruption, regional legislators are at the top of the list, but they would now be granted immunity. The Senate would no longer be allowed to vote on no-confidence motions against the government, nor vote on the budget, but it would vote on international treaties and participate in decisions aimed at shaping and implementing European Union legislative acts and policies.

No less than four articles of the proposed new Constitution (55, 70, 80, and 117), for the first time mention Italys membership in the European Union, and put EU law at the same level as Constitutional law. In total, Renzis reform would have changed 47 Articles of the Constitution.

The introduction of EU Law in an explicit form in the Italian constitution, would ensure that, even while provisions for the General Welfare remained, the latter could be totally and legally violated by Acts of the European Union, which the Constitutional Court could no longer challenge, because they have the same force as Constitutional Law. This would have made possible what JP Morgan had advocated in a 2013 paper: namely, that socialistic features of Constitutions in some European countries, especially in Southern Europe, should be eliminated or neutralized.

The constitutions and political settlements in the southern periphery, put in place in the aftermath of the fall of fascism, have a number of features which appear to be unsuited to further integration in the region, the report said. The political systems in the periphery were established in the aftermath of dictatorship, and were defined by that experience. Constitutions tend to show a strong socialist influence, reflecting the political strength that left wing parties gained after the defeat of fascism. Political systems around the periphery typically display several of the following features: weak executives; weak central states relative to regions; constitutional protection of labor rights; consensus-building systems which foster political clientelism; and the right to protest if unwelcome changes are made to the political status quo.

The JP Morgan paper is strikingly consistent with the substance of Renzis reform. Someone has even said that the reform was written in such bad Italian, that it might have been translated from English. In order to ensure that the right to protest be neutralized, the Renzi reform was coupled with an electoral law which would give a parliamentary majority bonus to any party that achieves 40% of the vote in the first run, or comes first with any number of votes in the second run. Thus, a party with, say, 20% of the national vote could end up in gaining 55% of the seats in the new Chamber, the only legislative body now entitled to vote confidence in the executive. This electoral bill has been compared to the 1923 Legge Acerbo, the law that allowed Mussolini to gain a majority in the Parliament.

Furthermore, the candidates elected to the Chamber of Deputies would not be chosen by the voters, but by the party leadership: it would not be possible to vote for a single candidate, but only for the entire slate. The party decides who is on top and who is on bottom of the slate, therefore deciding who gets elected and who does not.

The combination of the constitutional reform and the electoral law would have created a monster, with a legislature de facto run by the executive, and the latter run by the party leadership. Totalitarianism anyone? Italys political system as established by the 1948 Constitutionthe first ever in the history of the Italian nationhas indeed been unbalanced in favor of the legislative, but Renzis reform would have made it unbalanced in favor of the executive, and to a deadly extent. A real correction would be a reform in favor of a Presidential system, i.e. a real separation between the executive and the legislative powers. When the Constitutional Congress gathered after World War Two, Italy was coming out of Mussolinis dictatorship, and the Constitutional Fathers were concerned to create a political system that would hinder a repetition of the fascist dictatorship. Thus, they fell into the trap laid by the British, and adopted a pure parliamentary system, where the government is elected by Parliament (confidence vote) and can be toppled by Parliament any moment. This created great instability in government, with 50 governments over only 46 years (1948-1994). Things have slightly improved with the introductions of different electoral systems, but not decisively. Several attempts at constitutional reform have been made in the last decades, but they have all failed.

Xinhua/Jin Yu

In 2014, Renzi decided to push through a reform which would turn a system which was unbalanced in favor of the legislative, into a system that is extremely unbalanced in favor of the executive. As James Madison wrote in the Federalist Papers (No. 47), The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.

Renzi decided to push through his tyrannical scheme even though he knew that he would split the country into two opposing sides. He trusted his demagogical capacity to sell his reform as something that would make the legislative process quicker, cheaper and more modern, thus enabling him to make reforms that would ultimately bring more stability, more jobs, more health-care, etc.

The question Italians were asked to answer with a Yes or a No is an unprecedented example of Goebbels-like manipulation. It said: Do you approve the text of the Constitutional Law concerning Provisions to overcome parity Bicameralism, to reduce the number of members of Parliament, to contain the functioning costs of institutions, the suppression of CNEL and the revision of Chapter V of the Constitution?  In other words, voters were asked whether they wanted to reduce the size and the costs of government institutions, suppress a consultative board (CNEL) made up of political, trade union and industrial representatives, and change a Constitutional provision (Chapter V) which transfers powers from regional administration to the central government,without explaining in detail what this is about, and, especially, how this would be implemented. Nothing about the real aim of the reform, as laid out in the introduction to the text of the Parliamentary Act, is explained in the question which was printed on the ballot, and which Italians were supposed to answer with Yes or No. However, Italians smelled foul and voted No.

What Happens Now

Contrary to what the EU bureaucrats and government leaders have said, they are in fact terribly frightened that as a consequence of the referendum vote, Renzi will ultimately be toppled and early elections called, which the M5S (Five Star Movement) will win and lead Italy out of the Euro. Although the M5S leadership has been ambiguous on the Euro, nevertheless the Euro and EU austerity policies have been up-front in the referendum campaign. Lega Nord leader Matteo Salvini has openly campaigned for leaving the Euro, and even Forza Italia leader and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has proposed a parallel currency.

youtube grab

Although the opposition is calling for early elections and even Renzi is favorable, it is not clear what will happen in the next weeks. On Sunday night, Renzi announced that he would resign the next day, but when he went to President Sergio Mattarella, Mattarella told him to go back to work. Mattarella told him to stay at least until the budget is approved. In order to do this quickly, Renzi is going to call a no-confidence vote on the budget. Thus, we will have the grotesque situation of a Prime Minister who wins a Parliamentary vote of confidence and then resigns!

However, Renzi, or whoever replaces him, must now face a turbulent situation in his own party, where he may not have the same consensus he has had so far, along with a dramatic economic and social crisis. The most urgent issue he must deal with is the banking crisis. The Italian banking system has accumulated over EU200 billion of non-performing loans (NPL) as a result of ten years of economic depression induced by the 2008 crisis and by EU austerity policies. The system urgently needs a solution, and there is no way that the market solution suggested by the EU and the European Central Bank could work. The EU permits a government bailout only after a bail-in, i.e. a confiscation of shareholders, depositors and bondholders money.

View full size

CNTV

After a partial implementation of the bail-in regulations in the case of four local banks at the end of 2015, which provoked a large political backlash, the Renzi government decided that this was not practicable, and has opposed the bail-in solution for other banks.

However, the bail-in ghost has come back to haunt Renzi and whoever might succeed him, urgently in the case of Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), the oldest active bank in the world and considered to be a systemic bank. MPS is facing bankruptcy unless it succeeds in recapitalizing itself and getting rid of its NPL burden. The market solution pushed for MPS includes an EU5 billion recapitalization and the sale of EU27 billion of NPLs. Last July, an international consortium of banks, led byguess whomJP Morgan, stepped forward to finance the recapitalization. But two months later, the same consortium demanded a bail-in of the bondholders as a condition. Thus, two days after the Referendum, on Dec. 6, MPS announced that a successful voluntary conversion of EU1 billion in subordinate bonds had taken place de facto, a bail-in: bondholders exchange their bonds for shares, which become capital, but whose value could evaporate if anything goes wrong. And something will go wrong for sure.

Even after the bail-in, nobody believes that the capital increase and the NPL sale will be successful, so that in the end, the government will be forced to intervene with a bailout. The MPS case is only the most urgent one, but a series of large banks is next in line for recapitalization, as demanded by the European Banking Union standards.

There is no way market solutions could work, Only a national program, which includes banking separation, government recapitalization and a real investment plan, can turn the situation around. This involves leaving the Euro. If Italy, the third largest economy of the Eurozone, leaves the Euro, the Euro is finished.

The Euro is also finished if Italy stays in the Euro, but its banking crisis goes out of control. A full-fledged Italian banking crisis will affect the global financial system, including megabanks such as JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank, which are filled with toxic derivative papers.

Renzi may be tempted into a flight forward into early elections, in order to escape decisions on the crisis. However, this would be very bad for the country, because he could be replaced by a technocratic government with no inhibitions against murderous austerity.

Economist Nino Galloni, a friend of Lyndon LaRouche, gives Renzi some chance, but he must change contents and alliances, Galloni said. Renzi had earlier made some good moves, Galloni said, such as fighting against the EU on the Italian budget to be able finance immigration and reconstruction costs, and his resistance against bail-ins. However, his push for the counter-reformation has swept him away.

EIRNS

The front that defeated Renzi, however, was united only on the No vote, but has conflicting political aims. The Lega Nord, for instance, is strongly anti-Euro but also anti-immigrant; Berlusconis Forza Italia party is mildly anti-EU and neoliberal; and the Five Star Movement (M5S), which would probably win the elections if they were held today, is officially in favor of Glass-Steagall, but ambiguous on the EU and the Euro. Moreover, it is split between a jacobin/Malthusian party and a pro-growth national force.

On Dec. 5, Galloni, who is close to some M5S circles, launched an appeal to M5S founder Beppe Grillo and the M5S representatives to elaborate a program of national defense and responsible development that can indicate an alternative path for everyone, and a way out of a situation which is socially, economically, financially and ethically more and more unsustainable.

Wikipedia

The problem with the M5S came out clearly when Galloni was proposed to become the Finance Minister under the newly elected M5S Mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi. After an internal fight, the Malthusians inside the M5S prevailed and rejected Galloni and his investment plan. Expect turbulent times for Italy and Europe.
This article appears in the December 9, 2016 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

New Paradigm of the Belt and Road

Presented at Washington Seminar

[Print version of this article]

Dec. 2Chinas Belt and Road Initiative has been garnering a great deal of interest in think-tanks around Washington in the aftermath of the U.S. elections, where some shift in U.S. foreign policy is expected as the new Trump Administration takes form. An event on Nov. 30 organized by the China Energy Fund Committee and the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS) was something of a watershed in presenting the full breadth of the Belt and Road policy and tracking the reaction from the American side. While the forum gave an opportunity to both a high-level Chinese delegation and a group of U.S. think-tankers to present their views on the Belt and Road, in an attempt to find some level of agreement on U.S.-China cooperation with the Belt and Road, the forum also revealed stark differences in the philosophical outlooks from which the project is viewed from the two sides.

EIRNS/Jason Ross

The wide-ranging initiative put forward by President Xi Jinping in September 2013 was initially called One Belt, One Road. The name is now deemed out-of-date, given that there are now six different routes of the Belt and Road, and it has been appropriately rechristened as simply the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

While the initiative is based on the construction of major transportation grids, including high-speed rail, conventional rail, highways, and seaports, these simply provide the basic platform for major investment and overall development in the regions criss-crossed by the transportation grid. It is a project that far outstrips the post-World War II Marshall Plan in scale, but its proponents shy away from comparisons with the Cold War Marshall Plan because it represents a new paradigm of thought. It rather harks back to the days of cooperation, trade, and cultural interpenetration which existed during the period of the ancient Silk Road.

EIRNS/Jason Ross

EIRNS/Jason Ross EIRNS/Jason Ross

The cultural paradigm shift represented by the BRI was most beautifully elaborated at the beginning and end of the forum by Patrick Ho, the secretary general of the China Energy Fund Committee, who had taken the initiative to organize the forum. We live today in a threatened world, he said. There is great poverty, and although we have enough sources to go around for all of us, 2.8 billion people still lack resources. There is a lack of clean water for billions of people. Globalization created development as well as new problems. We are not sharing the fruits of progress.

Inclusiveness a Stumbling Block

Globalization is now a system in crisis, a broken system. It cannot advance human progress. There are too many people left behind. We now need a holistic model that will be all-inclusive and a shift to a more sustainable and useful model, Ho said. The Belt and Road is the form of that model. Inclusiveness and sharing is the basis of the Belt and Road. For China, he said, this was of great importance. Now having become the second largest economy in the world, China had reached a new bottleneck in development and sought a new model of growth and development. It found this in peaceful co-development and sharing with its neighbors, with a program which now encompasses 60 countries, affecting 4.9 billion people, he said. As became clear during the course of the day, the issue of inclusiveness was something of a stumbling bloc for some of the U.S. interlocutors.

Chen Guoqiang, Director General in the Department of International Cooperation at the Development Research Center (DRC) of the State Council of China, lamented the lack of understanding in the West of the Belt and Road Initiative. He attributed this to the lack of information people are getting here and to consideration of what some people feel are their vested interests. He also expressed concern that too few Chinese scholars have come to the United States to explain the goals and the purpose of the initiative. Chen pointed out that under the present economic order, developing countriestotally dependent on developed countrieshave not received the benefits of globalization.

Case for the Belt and Road

The purpose of the BRI is to create an economic order based on sharing, he said. The BRI is also consistent with Chinas own domestic development program, China 2030. Both programs respect the development priorities of each country and both stress the need for infrastructure, Chen said. The expansion of the BRI will provide benefits to China as well as to the world.

First, Chen said, it will provide sustainable public goods; second, it will further the extension of Chinas development experience and its successful poverty reduction; and third, it will feature South-South cooperation as well as tripartite cooperation.

Zhao Jinping, also with the State Councils DRC, underlined that the BRI would create a new space of cooperation and that it would also include the United States and Japan. It was also necessary, Zhao underlined, to enhance North-South and East-West cooperation. Liu Weidong called the Belt and Road a new stage of inclusive globalization, quoting a Chinese proverb, In order to become rich, build a road. Professor Li Xiangyang noted that the principle of righteousness before profit was also relevant to the BRI. President Xi said that we should have profit but also increase respect for China in the world. For the Belt and Road Initiative there is no set timetable and there are no quantitative measures, Zhao said.

During the lunch session, Ziad Haider, the Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, spoke of the U.S. view of the BRI. While the Obama Administration has largely ignored the BRI and discouraged other countries from joining the China-promoted Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Haider indicated that there was some cooperation on the diplomatic level. He began his talk by focussing on the tremendous infrastructure needs of the world.

Haider called the BRI an integrated vision and indicated that there was an interest at the State Department in getting U.S. firms involved. He noted the Belt and Roads importance in investment in infrastructure, in customs harmonization, and in the innovation connections in the Belt and Road countries. He said there were possibilities for more funding from the Overseas Private Investment Corp. (OPIC) and involvement of the Export-Import Bank to help U.S. firms participate. China shouldnt be the only player in this space, Haider said. He also said that the State Department is working together with Chinas National Development and Reform Commission, the agency primarily tasked with the development of the BRI. He also indicated that there was some progress toward cooperating with the AIIB.

Ingrained Geopolitics

While in the morning, there had been a session on the infrastructure needs of the world, focussing on the economic aspects of the Belt and Road, in the afternoon session, a number of scholars from Washington think-tanks dealt with some of the political aspects.

View full size

EIRNS/Jason Ross

EIRNS/Jason Ross EIRNS/Jason Ross

The aspects and concerns that they brought up clearly indicated the problems the U.S. side has in understanding the underlying philosophy of the Belt and Road. It was already manifest during part of the luncheon discussion, when Gal Luft from the IAGS reviewed a report he had done on the topicmade available at the evententitled, It Takes a Road: Chinas Belt and Road Initiative: An American Response. While the report had some very interesting details and maps of the Belt and Road routes, Lufts comments were entirely imbued with geopolitical restrictions and considerations, reflecting the predominantly geopolitical outlook of the U.S. establishment that would quickly turn the BRI into a distant pipe-dream. Luft indicated great concern, for instance, over the railroad through Iran, since he didnt think it would be proper to make Iran a gate-keeper of the Belt and Road.

This was also apparent in the afternoon panel with the U.S. think-tanks. While some of speakers, such as Christina Lin from the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins, tried to get her fellow panelists to understand that we are now moving toward a multipolar world, most of the others were not at all keen on accepting that idea. Richard Hoagland, a former U.S. Ambassador to Kazakstan, who had expressed interest in the Belt and Road when President Xi announced the project, commented, rather cryptically, that in these big projects there are always winners and losers. But of course, in the geopolitical world, there is only a zero-sum game! Most telling were the comments of Daniel Markey, a senior research professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Geopolitics Confronted

Earlier in the day, EIRs Bill Jones had raised the problem of the geopolitical outlook prevailing in Gal Lufts presentation, noting that the BRI could only succeed if we abandoned the geopolitical mindset. Markey, perhaps referring to that little encounter, here rushed to the defense of geopolitics. Markey has made his professional mark in dealing with Pakistan, and was highly critical of Chinas plan to build a road from Kashgar in western China to the port of Gwadar in Pakistan. Given the extreme poverty in the region and the unstable political situation, he thought that Chinas only reason for building a road in this devastated region was geopolitical, namely for China to gain access to the Indian Ocean, making a rather snide comment that geopolitics cannot be replaced by geo-economics.

View full size EIRNS/Jason Ross . EIRNS/Jason Ross EIRNS/Jason Ross EIRNS/Jason Ross

In the following Q&A, Jones directed a question to Markey, commenting sarcastically, Oh, of course, such devastated areas like Syria or Iraq, or Gaza or even the Bronx, for that matter, would not be the most appropriate place to launch a Silk Road project. But the fact of the matter is that if you dont launch a Silk Road there, they will always remain hell-holes for the people living there! Even some of the panel nodded in agreement with Jones comment. While Markey fended this off somewhat cavalierly, he then got hit with a question from Alicia Cerretani with LaRouche PAC, who asked why Markey thought there was such a disconnect between the Chinese view and the American view he was expressing. Caught a bit off-guard by this, he wheedled his way out of that one too.

View full size

EIRNS/Jason Ross

But this back-and-forth on the issue of geopolitics brought some of the Chinese speakers to their feet. Professor Liu Weidong expressed his frustration with the Americans who always try to politicize these issues that deal with the fate of millions of people. Thats not the way we think about these things, he said. Professor Zhao Jinping also expressed his objections. With Chinas rise, the United States always says it wants China to play a greater role. But China has fulfilled its responsibility as a major power by developing the Belt and Road. But some countries dont see the BRI in a positive light. You have to understand that many countries have a terrible development gap. We dont like everyone looking at this through a political lens. We certainly dont, and this is a consensus we have come to in our study of the Belt and Road.

The Stretto

Toward the conclusion of the forum, Patrick Ho had prepared his stretto to this somewhat dissonant symphony which he had helped to organize, presenting an expansive view of the development of China, leading to this present development in world history. It is not possible for one section alone to have a sense of prosperity, he said. What we need today is a strategy for development, a long-lasting and sustainable one. We need wise consultation and joint contribution. Only through a win-win strategy can we gain a foothold. The Belt and Road is not a sphere of influence, but an accommodating of interests. It paves the way for the common destiny of mankind.

EIRNS/Jason RossT

Ho then went through the need to create a broad understanding of this project in order for it to succeed. Noting the rise of China in the period of its greatness, he also noted the disconnect in the understanding of China. It may take hundreds of years for the West to understand China, he said. Marco Polo began the quest and then it was continued by the Jesuits Matteo Ricci and Joachim Bouvet [a correspondent of Leibniz]. This was the first dialogue between the two giant civilizations. And then the doors were callously closed.

View full size

EIRNS/Jason Ross

After this, the Western countries expanded colonialism to the East, Ho said, beginning what for China were a hundred years of humiliation. Now with the Belt and Road, China has re-emerged from those depths and become a major player. The Belt and Road is a vision rather than a project, and a vision which is constantly expanding and may always do so. It is a connection of hearts and minds connecting souls, connecting the Chinese Dream with the American Dream and other dreams, freedom from want, freedom from fear, harmony with nature, and peace.

He encouraged the United States to take part in this vision, proposing that the new Trump Administration consider the BRI as a platform for closer cooperation between the United States and China, realigning trade to accommodate the BRI, adjusting its posture in the international development banks to support infrastructure, and helping with security along the Belt and Road.

EIRNS/Jason Ross

It is certainly to be hoped that the Trump Administration will agree to these proposals, but as we can see from the days forum, it will take an effort to change the mindset of our elected leaders who have such difficulty with that vision thing. We must begin by explaining to the American people, who have been so disappointed recently by the quality of political leadership in Washington, that there is a vision of a better world in which they also can be a part. They simply have to raise their eyes above the immediate horizon to see it, and to act accordingly to bring sanity to our nations institutions.
PRESS RELEASE

Jihadis Reported To Be on the Verge of Surrender in Aleppo

Dec. 7, 2016 (EIRNS)In the past 24 hours, the Syrian Army has further reduced the jihadi-held pocket in eastern Aleppo, liberating the Old City and several districts to the east and south of the historic Citadel. The Jihadist rebels of Fatah Halab have surrendered almost all of the districts of Old Aleppo after the Syrian Armys swift advances west of the Aleppo International Airport risked splitting them apart from their comrades further south, reported Al Masdar yesterday. This comes after a massive rebel counteroffensive failed to yield any gains.

In some districts, militants are surrendering according to terms of an agreement between Turkey and Russia to evacuate some militants to Idlib province. Al Masdar reports that army personnel entered the districts of Kadi Asker and Bab Al-Hadid, today, after the jihadis left as per the agreement. The Wall Street Journal reports, today, that unnamed militant groups are seeking a five-day ceasefire in order to evacuate civilians and the wounded, "a tacit admission by the opposition that it has been all but defeated in a critical battlefront of the war." Under the plan that theyve proposed, if a deal is reached, the government and rebels would negotiate the future status of the city, the Journal reports.
PRESS RELEASE

Trump Designates Friend of Pres. XiIowa Gov. Branstadas Ambassador to China

Dec. 7, 2016 (EIRNS)Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad has been designated by President-elect Trump, to be U.S. Ambassador to China. The assignment is propitious on a number of accounts. Pres. Xi Jinping and Branstad are friends, arising in part from Xi having visited Iowa several times, making many personal friends, and Branstad, in turn, visiting China often. Iowa and China have significant, long-standing trade relations, especially in agriculture, and also cultural exchanges. Branstads son, Eric, was the Iowa campaign manager for Trump.

Coming days after the minor flap over Trumps phone call with Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen, and his Twitter response to Chinese objections to that call, this appointment sends a significant positive message to Beijing that the Trump Administration wants to work with China productively.

Xi first came to Iowa in 1985, to Muscatine (on the Mississippi River), where he stayed with a local host family and got to see many aspects of a farm community up close. At that time, Xi was a Communist Party official from Hebei Province, and a director of a feed-processing cooperative. On that trip, he first met Branstad, who was in his first term as governor (1983 to 1999).

Subsequently the two met on the several trade delegations Branstad led from Iowa to China, especially during Branstads next term as governor (2011 to the present). In 2012, Xi, then Vice President of China, made an official state return visit to Muscatine, for a reunion with his friends, as well as more agriculture activities. During the state dinner, Branstad toasted Xi:

"So many Iowans are pleased that a man we befriended those many years ago has risen to such a position of prominence and respect in the great nation of China."

Branstads last of four trade missions to China was last month, especially to promote meat exports. The major Iowa exports to China are corn, soy, and pork.

Muscatine has its own special connections to China. In 2015, the new Muscatine Center opened in Jinana, China, with then Muscatine Mayor DeWayne Hopkins taking part in the ceremony.

Meantime, Chinese investors are currently building a hotel (and cultural center) on the Mississippi riverfront in downtown Muscatine, in expectation of Chinese tourist interest in seeing the home town where Xi Jinping stayed, but also where Mark Twain once stayed and worked; Twain is a popular American figure in China. In February 2016, the City of Muscatine welcomed the renowned China Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra for a standing-room-only performance. The players, who stayed with host families, gave teaching sessions on traditional Chinese instruments.
PRESS RELEASE

Turkey Mediating between Russia and Syrian Opposition

Dec. 7, 2016 (EIRNS)Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has finished a very productive official visit to Russia, where meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev consolidated economic and political ties.

On Syria, Yildirim told Sputnik that Turkey is acting as a mediator between the Syrian opposition and Russia, and that Russia and Turkey have a common approach to resolution of the crisis in Syria.

"Work in this direction is ongoing, of course. It is necessary to concentrate here on working out a decision and overcoming the crisis. Turkey has made a very serious contribution and intends to continue it in the future to put an end to bloodshed in Syria. Indubitably, at this stage we understand each other better than ever before. We have a common approach in working out the resolution to the crisis in Syria."

He also said Turkey is working on the issue of withdrawal of militants from east Aleppo.

"Turkey is working on this issue right now. From the very beginning, our efforts have been aimed at withdrawal of terrorist groups from Aleppo. ... It is important to clearly distinguish between those who [are] fighting for the liberation of their country and those who are members of recognized terrorist groups. Our joint goal is fighting terrorist groups,"

Yildirim said.

It was once again reiterated that energy is a key area of cooperation between Turkey and Russia, especially the Turkish Stream pipeline. Commenting on the approval of the pipeline project by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier this week, Putin told Yildirim during their meeting, "I want you to convey my sincere greetings to President Erdogan. We appreciate his approval for the law regarding the TurkStream," and said that it was one of the "major" projects that both countries wanted to put into effect.

For his part, Yildirim said the year-long "unpleasant" period was over (after the Turks shot down a Russian jet in Syria). "The areas where we will intensify our relations are certain; energy comes first," Yildirim said.

Within hours of Yildirims departure from Moscow yesterday, Alexei Miller, chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom, told journalists that work on the underwater section of the pipeline could begin by the second half of 2017. There would eventually be two pipelinesone that will ship gas to the Turkish market and one with gas destined for Europe, and these will come onstream by the end of 2019.
Myriad books have been written about the birth of punk, its cultural godparents in the Warhol Factory and Detroit, and distaff cousins in the United Kingdom, where Margaret Thatcher was punks evil stepmother.

Yet with a few exceptions, punks gold-sequined older sibling, glam rock, has mostly been ignored by the critical establishment. Simon Reynolds Shock and Awe goes a long way to fill that void. If David Bowies death inspired more writers to tackle the subject, theyll be hard-pressed to surpass Reynolds work.

The best music criticism comes from equal parts love and obsession, often cut with a modicum of grief  the dissolution or slow decline of a once-great artist can break your heart as much as a great love song. Reynolds behemoth (the book is 700 pages) grew from his exposure to Marc Bolan on Top of the Pops when Reynolds was 8.

Advertisement

Still  700 pages devoted to a self-consciously superficial musical phenomenon that blazed at the dawn of the 70s, then fizzled out in just five years? Reynolds states that his book has been cooking since 1985, which is a long time to contemplate what seems like a simple question: What is it that makes the glamorousness of glam different from the standard-issue razzle-dazzle of pop music? The answer can be summed up in two words: David Bowie, whose career runs through Shock and Awe like real gold thread among all the rhinestones and Lurex.

Glam was music for kids (mostly white) weaned on the Beatles, whose 1970 breakup opened a chasm between 1960s rock and whatever would come next. This rising generation of young teenagers formed a huge audience eager for a music to call their own. In the U.S., we called it glitter rock, and our exposure was mostly limited to scattershot AM/FM airplay and the occasional, much-anticipated appearance of a band like Slade or T. Rex or Mott the Hoople on the biweekly TV series Don Kirshners Rock Concert. The Brits, on the other hand, had weekly shows like Top of the Pops and The Old Grey Whistle Test that regularly introduced new acts to a mass audience.

Enter Bolan, whose platform shoes stomped all over the last remnants of the 60s. Formerly a member of the gonzo-styled band Johns Children, Bolan went on to form the winsome folk-rock duo Tyrannosaurus Rex. After penning twee, occult-tinged songs (She Was Born to Be My Unicorn), Bolan ditched his acoustic guitar and picked up a white Fender Stratocaster, whereupon Tyrannosaurus Rex morphed into the hard-rocking T. Rex.

T. Rexs self-titled debut contained a few hippie holdovers, but glam finally made its entrance when Bolan sashayed onto the set of Top of the Pops in 1971, bedecked in satin and his wifes glitter makeup, and warbled Hot Love. The album Electric Warrior appeared soon after, riding on the success of monster hit singles Get It On (in the U.S., Bang a Gong) and Jeepster.

Meanwhile, Bowie, Bolans brilliant frenemy, was struggling through a series of hitless albums, despite (or because of) his knack for relentless self-invention, leapfrogging from Anthony Newley-styled cabaret songs to the horrors of The Laughing Gnome, finally penning the melancholy Space Oddity, which became his first hit.

In 1970, he released The Man Who Sold the World. Its sleeve flaunted a photo of a languid Bowie sporting pre-Raphaelite locks and a long blue-and-white satin gown. Later, an equally androgynous image adorned Hunky Dory, though more Garbo than fin de siecle damsel.

Then came Bowies historic April 14, 1972 Top of the Pops performance of Starman. Bowie stood beside guitarist Mick Ronson, both gorgeously attired in outrageous outfits by designer Freddie Burretti. In a gesture that looks tame now, Bowie drew close to Ronson and suggestively snaked an arm over the guitarists lame-clad shoulder and then sang the line, I had to phone someone so I picked on you, and with a sly, knowing smile, stared and pointed directly at the camera, beaming his message across the country.

For a generation awaiting their watershed moment  Elvis shaking his televised pelvis in 1956, the Beatles storming Ed Sullivan in 1964  this was it.

Americans missed that broadcast, one reason glam never caught on here the way it did in the U.K. But there were other factors as well, which Reynolds nimbly examines. U.K. glams camp hearkened to the rollicking, tongue-in-cheek excesses of English music hall and panto dames, rather than the brittle irony of the Warhol Factory. Britain also retained remnants of a once-vibrant dance-hall culture, and unlike that other musical stalwart of the 70s, prog, you could actually dance to glams 1950s-inflected rhythms.

American glam trended darker, inspired in part by the divine decadence of Bob Fosses film Cabaret, with Joel Grey as the sexually ambiguous, demonic MC whose Pierrot whiteface looked like a death mask. Lou Reeds detached, almost funereal litany of Factory drag queens in Walk on the Wild Side, its chorus fading into Bowies ghostly saxophone solo. And Americas obsession with violence provided fertile, blood-soaked ground for Alice Coopers Grand Guignol antics featuring dead babies and boa constrictors, as well as the (literally) self-lacerating performances by the ferocious Iggy Pop, frontman for the Stooges.

British glam had its high-toned side, represented by Bowie, of course, as well as Roxy Music, with a legendary lineup that included Brian Eno, Phil Manzanera, Andy Mackay and Bryan Ferry.

Still, much U.K. glam was self-mocking and seemingly impervious to embarrassment. Shock and Awe encourages YouTube viewing of performances by nearly forgotten bands like the Sweet and Mud, whose deliriously silly Dyna-Mite and Tiger Feet spawned a dance known as the shoulder jive. A beefy Gary Glitter rolled eyes and hips, lip-syncing Rock and Roll Part 2, though amusement at his ludicrous prancing is undercut by knowledge of pedophilic crimes that he was sentenced for in 2015.

Indeed, the history of glam is haunted by the faces of the young female groupies, some barely pubescent, who came to be as much a part of a musicians wardrobe as feather boas and teased hair. On the Sunset Strip, Rodney Bingenheimers English Disco drew all the name bands of the day, along with an army of camp followers like Sable Starr and Pamela Des Barres.

By 1975, glams target demographic was aging out of red satin hot pants and into the monochrome palette favored by the Ramones and Patti Smith. As the decades passed, it seemed little more than the brief interregnum between the 1960s and the long shadow cast by punk. But Reynolds makes a good argument for glam representing an individualized, privatized form of revolution and glamour as a spooky insistence of self.

Its most enduring cultural legacy is glams open engagement with the fluidity of gender: with gay, bisexual and trans identities. Reynolds cites the mass popularity of Queens Freddie Mercury, whose Beardsleyesque flamboyance somehow managed to elude the attention of the bands audience, enabling him to enrapture them in an embrace that hovered somewhere between acceptance and ignorance. As Bowie wrote in 2001, We were giving ourselves permission to reinvent culture the way we wanted it. With great big shoes.

Shock and Awe ends with a chapter noting glams influences over the last 40 years. Unsurprisingly, its a Bowie-centric list. Ultimately, Shock and Awes examination of the glam era doesnt solve the mystery of who David Bowie was, or begin to fill the cultural black hole left by his death. What if there is an afterlife, after all? Reynolds ponders as he listens to the last track of Bowies final album, Blackstar. Perhaps thats another definition of glamour: lustrous images generated by organic, perishable beings that live on in personal and collective memory, long after their source has withered.

Hands most recent novel is Hard Light.

::

Shock and Awe: Glam Rock and Its Legacy, from the Seventies to the Twenty-first Century

By Simon Reynolds

Dey St. Books: 704 pp., $18.99 paper
Fast-food executive Andrew Puzder, President-elect Donald Trumps pick to be the next Labor Department secretary, turned around the Southern California-based parent company of Carls Jr. and Hardees with help from scantily clad women hawking oversized burgers in racy ads.

More recently, hes raised his own profile by becoming an outspoken national advocate on behalf of businesses, railing against increased government regulation, bemoaning the costs of the Affordable Care Act and serving as an economic advisor to Trump.

On Thursday, Trump announced his intention to nominate Puzder to head the department charged with ensuring workers rights and safety  and likely to lead an effort to undo many Obama administration initiatives.

Advertisement

Andy will fight to make American workers safer and more prosperous by enforcing fair occupational safety standards and ensuring workers receive the benefits they deserve, and he will save small businesses from the crushing burdens of unnecessary regulations that are stunting job growth and suppressing wages, Trump said in a statement.

Puzder said he shared Trumps belief that the right government policies can result in more jobs and better wages for the American worker.

Puzder, 66, has criticized new federal rules expanding overtime pay and opposes the push for a $15 minimum wage.

He has raised eyebrows by musing about deploying increased automation to his restaurants and once slammed Californias regulatory climate, saying the state sometimes treats businesses as if we have kids working in coal mines or women working in sweatshops.

Puzder also is a strong supporter of Trump, writing on his blog on election day: If youre a small or mid-sized business, a working or middle-class American and you want someone in your corner, Donald Trump is your candidate.

Unlike Trump, Puzder has advocated for providing legal status  but not citizenship  to the millions of immigrants in the country illegally, saying massive deportation is not a practical option and that the Republican resistance to broad-based reform was hurting the party.

Beginning as the personal attorney to the former CEO and Carls Jr. founder, Carl Karcher, Puzder helped CKE Restaurants Inc. overcome severe financial difficulties in the 1990s, caused in part by the purchase of the troubled Hardees franchise. He took over as chief executive in 2000.

Andrew Puzder is someone with the real-world experience to understand workforce issues and how jobs are created, said David French, senior vice president for government relations at the National Retail Federation, which represents chain restaurants and a variety of other businesses.

But Democrats and advocates for U.S. workers balked at Trumps intention to nominate Puzder to head a federal department that is focused on increasing employment opportunities, improving working conditions and protecting employee rights.

Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project, a worker advocacy group, said Thursday that based on Mr. Puzders own comments, its hard to think of anyone less suited for the job of lifting up Americas forgotten workers.

He opposes raising the minimum wage, threatens to replace restaurant workers with machines, has consistently opposed long-standing rules that protect workers and law-abiding employers, and demonstrated that he prizes corporate welfare and profits over workers well-being, Owens said.

Under Puzders leadership, CKE defied a trend toward healthier fast-food fare by focusing on jumbo-sized hamburgers. And he pitched them to customers through provocative advertisements, including one in 2005 starring Paris Hilton eating a burger amid soap suds while washing a luxury car.

I like our ads. I like beautiful women eating burgers in bikinis. I think its very American, Puzder said in a 2015 interview with Entrepreneur magazine.

Complaints about the advertising campaign, arent necessarily bad for us because the attention led to increased sales, Puzder said.

But Vicki Shabo, vice president of the National Partnership for Women and Families, said Thursday that Puzders views on women were deeply troubling.

Hes objectified and undermined women in an effort to sell hamburgers, she said of Puzder.

CKE, headquartered in Carpinteria in Santa Barbara County, has more than 3,300 locations in 42 U.S. states and 28 countries. It was acquired by private equity firm Apollo Global Management in 2010 and taken private.

The company is currently in the process of relocating its headquarters to Nashville, Tenn., near Puzders home.

If confirmed by the Senate, Puzder would lead a department that includes the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. and Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tracks and reports on job growth, wages and unemployment benefits.

Under President Obama, the Labor Department was aggressive about protecting workers through new rules and enforcement actions. Obamas Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces executive order, which was blocked by a federal judge this fall, made it tougher for companies to win federal contracts if they violated workers rights.

Puzder could lead an effort to scrap Obama administration initiatives, particularly the overtime rules, which seek to broaden the number of Americans who are compensated for extra work by doubling the salary level below which hourly workers must receive overtime. Those rules also recently were blocked by a federal judge.

The real world is far different than the Labor Departments Excel spreadsheet, Puzder wrote in an opinion article in Forbes this spring about the overtime rule.

This new rule will simply add to the extensive regulatory maze the Obama administration has imposed on employers, forcing many to offset increased labor expense by cutting costs elsewhere, said Puzder, co-author of a 2010 book, Job Creation: How It Really Works and Why Government Doesnt Understand It.

On the minimum wage, Puzder told the Los Angeles Times in March that theres nothing wrong with rational increases in the minimum wage that dont kill jobs.

But were talking about entry-level jobs, he said. Are people going to want to hire entry-level employees for these very high minimums, which come with Obamacare, which come with mandatory sick leave or other benefits which the government imposes on business for these individuals?

Puzder told CNBC in May that the minimum wage could be raised to $9 with minimal impact but that a better alternative to a boosting incomes would be to expand the earned-income tax credit, which helps low-income workers.

Fast-food industry workers and liberal groups have been pushing to increase the minimum wage to $15 and have convinced some cities and states  most notably California  to push their minimum wages to that level over the next several years.

Puzder was criticized for telling the Business Insider website this spring that he would like to try a fully automated restaurant. That led to reports that he wanted to replace fast-food workers with robots. He responded by writing an opinion article in the Wall Street Journal saying technology could replace certain functions, but full automation was not on the menu at CKE Restaurants.

He noted that employees at Carls Jr. and Hardees make biscuits from scratch. bread chicken tenders by hand, prepare complex burger orders, hand-scoop the ice cream for milkshakes.

None of these tasks can be effectively automated, and we wouldnt want them to be, Puzder wrote.

Puzder earned his law degree from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis in 1978 and was a trial lawyer in the city until 1991. While practicing law there, he met Karcher, who had turned a single hot-dog cart in Los Angeles into the Carls Jr. fast-food chain.

Karcher was in serious financial troubles and hired Puzder as his personal attorney in 1990. A year later, Puzder moved to Orange County, where Carls Jr. was based at the time, and helped resolve the troubles.

Does Andy Puzder really want to replace his Carls Jr. workers with robots? No, but... 

CEO keeping Carls Jr. menu indulgent, decadent 

jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com

Follow @JimPuzzanghera on Twitter

ALSO

Californias ballots have all been counted  more than 14.6 million and most of them for Hillary Clinton

All the times in U.S. history that members of the electoral college voted their own way

Man says he was stabbed by Californias Klan leader after an argument over a KKK rally in Anaheim

UPDATES:

2:25 p.m.: This article was revised throughout with confirmation of the selection, comments from President-elect Trump and Andy Puzder, additional details about Puzder, past comments from him and comments from Vicki Shabor of the National Partnership for Women and Families.

10 a.m.: This article was updated with comment from David French of the National Retail Federation.

9:10 a.m.: This article was updated with comment from Christine Owens of the National Employment Law Project.

This article originally was published at 8:45 a.m.
A SpaceX customer has switched to a European competitor for one satellite launch, citing delays in the Hawthorne space companys schedule after a September explosion.

Satellite communications firm Inmarsat said Thursday that it has signed a contract with French rocket company Arianespace to launch a satellite for the European Aviation Network, a broadband system comprised of both satellites and ground networks.

That satellite is set to be launched in mid-2017 from French Guiana.

Advertisement

Inmarsat had originally planned to launch the satellite with SpaceX, but said it decided to switch to Arianespace following the delay in SpaceXs launch schedule.

SpaceX said in a statement Thursday that Inmarsat is a long-time partner, and we wish them well with their upcoming mission.

SpaceX has yet to return to flight after one of its Falcon 9 rockets exploded on a launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Though it had hoped to start launching rockets by mid-December, SpaceX recently pushed its first launch date to early January.

The company said Wednesday that it was working to complete the final steps necessary to safely and reliably return to flight, and that the new date allows for additional time to close out vehicle preparations and complete extended testing to help ensure the highest possible level of mission assurance prior to launch.

Inmarsat had planned to launch the satellite on Falcon Heavy, a heavy-lift rocket currently being developed by SpaceX that has yet to fly. The company also had the option of using a Falcon 9.

The company declined to comment on the financial terms of its launch agreement with SpaceX.

SpaceX remains one of Inmarsats roster of launch partners, Inmarsat said in a statement. We look forward to continuing to work with them going forward.

Inmarsat said it will launch a different satellite with SpaceX next year.

samantha.masunaga@latimes.com

For more business news, follow me @smasunaga
Last month, California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones ordered more than $100 million in refunds for nearly 2 million State Farm policy owners, alleging the company charged excessive rates for its homeowners and renters insurance.

It apparently was the first such refund approved since Californias landmark Proposition 103 rolled back a wide swath of insurance rates nearly three decades ago, marking a significant win for consumer groups.

Now, State Farm is fighting back and challenging the commissioners authority to order the refund.

Advertisement

The insurer has filed a lawsuit in San Diego County Superior Court to throw out the Nov. 7 decision by the commissioner that mandated the rebates, as well as reductions in future homeowner and renter insurance rates. State Farm argues the mandated reductions were based on inaccurate calculations.

We do not believe the commissioners decision is lawful, and are therefore taking the necessary legal steps to challenge the rate reduction, [and] rate refund, State Farm spokesman Sevag Sarkissian said in an email.

The Bloomington, Ill., insurer is scheduled to appear in court Thursday to ask for a temporary restraining order that would block the decision from taking effect while the case is litigated.

The ruling is scheduled to take effect Tuesday and would apply to some 1.7 million State Farm customers who had homeowners, condominium and renters insurance since July 2015, according to Consumer Watchdog, the Santa Monica advocacy group that filed an initial challenge to State Farms proposed rate increases.

Consumer groups say that if State Farms lawsuit is successful it would undermine Proposition 103, the 1988 voter-approved initiative that requires insurers to receive approval from the commissioner before setting rates on property and casualty insurance. Consumers and advocacy groups also were given the right to challenge those rates.

State Farm is not only trying to evade accountability for overcharging its customers, its trying to get the courts to rewrite the rules that have protected Californians against unfair auto, home, and business insurance rates and premiums for nearly 30 years, said Harvey Rosenfield, the author of Proposition 103 and founder of Consumer Watchdog.

Proposition 103 gives the states elected insurance commissioner the power to set insurance rates so they are not excessive, inadequate or unfairly discriminatory. Property and casualty insurance is a broad category that also includes earthquake, umbrella policies and other types of insurance, such as professional liability.

The initiative required insurers to roll back their rates to certain percentages below 1987 rates, which prompted about $1.2 billion in refunds. Rosenfield said Jones Nov. 7 decision would result in the first refunds since the initial rollback of rates.

Nancy Kincaid, a spokeswoman for the insurance commissioner, said this was the first time Jones has ordered refunds since becoming commissioner in 2011 but could not confirm whether previous commissioners had done so.

The dispute stems from a move last year by Consumer Watchdog and fellow advocacy group the Consumer Federation of California to challenge a proposed rate increase by State Farm, saying the insurer had not justified the hike and was already charging too much.

State Farm had said its proposed 6.9% increase was needed to cover the additional risk of wildfires, arguing that losses from fires were on the rise. After the advocacy groups challenge, an administrative law judge agreed earlier this year that State Farms data showed no increase in wildfire losses.

In November, Jones signed off on the judges recommendation that the requested increase was not valid, that State Farms previously approved rate wasnt justified and that customers should be refunded money for being overcharged on premiums.

Jones ordered State Farm to reduce its homeowners insurance rate by an average of 5.4%, its renters insurance rate by an average of 20.4% and its condominium insurance rate by an average of 13.8%. He backdated those reductions to July 15, 2015. Thats when State Farms original application called for its 6.9% increase to take effect, but Consumer Watchdogs challenge dragged out the process.

In November, Jones said the mandated reductions would result in refunds of more than $100 million and save California consumers $78.6 million annually.

In its lawsuit, filed late last month, State Farm argued the commissioner only has pre-approval authority and does not have the right to backdate rate changes and issue refunds beyond Proposition 103s initial rollback.

Kincaid said Jones disagrees.

Commissioner Jones is a staunch defender of Proposition 103 and the protections it provides consumers, including making sure rates are fair and justified and insurers deliver on their promises to consumers, she said in a statement. Jones will vigorously defend against State Farms attempt to undo his order directing the insurer to reduce its rates and issue refunds to consumers.

Times staff writer James Rufus Koren contributed to this report.

andrew.khouri@latimes.com

Follow me @khouriandrew on Twitter
When President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that Japanese corporate giant SoftBank had agreed to invest $50 billion in the U.S. and create 50,000 new jobs, he presented it as a triumph for American workers. But economists and analysts who have been scrutinizing the announcement suggest it might be a bigger win for the Japanese telecom and Internet conglomerate, SoftBank, and its billionaire founder, Masayoshi Son.

Analysts said SoftBank could be angling for lucrative benefits, including the regulatory approval to carry out one of the largest telecom mergers in recent history, between SoftBank-owned Sprint and rival carrier T-Mobile. It could also be cultivating a friendly environment for further technology investments Son is seeking to make in the U.S.

I think Son must have thought how to use Trump and this opportunity for his business, said Mana Nakazora, chief credit analyst at BNP Paribas Securities.

Advertisement

Shares of SoftBank Group Corp. rose 6.2% on Wednesday to close at their highest level in more than a year. Sprint Corp. jumped nearly 9%, and T-Mobile US Inc. climbed more than 4%. Collectively, the companies added billions of dollars in market value after the announcement.

Trump said on Twitter on Tuesday that Son said he would not have made the investment had Trump not won the election.

But analysts said that the $50-billion investment probably would come from a $100-billion fund created by SoftBank and the Saudi Arabian government  Son said as much to the Wall Street Journal  and that much of the fund might have been destined for the U.S. anyway.

SoftBank announced in October that it would dedicate at least $25 billion toward the $100-billion SoftBank Vision Fund to invest in global technology companies in the next five years. Saudi Arabias public investment fund pledged to invest up to $45 billion in the same time period, with $30 billion coming from outside investors.

Son must have intended as much as half of the Vision Fund to go to the U.S. But he chose this time to announce it, said Jun Tanabe, a SoftBank analyst at JP Morgan Securities in Tokyo.

Mr. Son already created the $100-billion fund and chose to invest $50 billion into the U.S. I suspect he would have done this whether the winner was Trump or Hillary Clinton, Suzuki Kazuto, professor of international political economy at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, tweeted Wednesday.

A SoftBank spokesperson declined to comment whether the funds would be coming from the SoftBank Vision fund or give further information about the investment. Trumps spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.

Analysts suggested it would be difficult to deploy $100 billion in investment in global technology without looking largely to the U.S. and Silicon Valley. In 2015, for example, venture capitalists invested $148 billion worldwide in 8,381 deals, according to consulting firm EY. The U.S. accounted for roughly half of that investment.

In 2016 so far, about 60% of all venture capital in the world has gone to the U.S., said Jeff Grabow, U.S. venture capital leader for EY. The U.S. would be the first place anybody would look.

Analysts said Son may be seeking to improve the chances of a merger between Sprint and T-Mobile. Sprint and SoftBank abandoned an effort to buy T-Mobile in 2014 after the Federal Communications Commission signaled the deal might violate antitrust laws.

Trump will be responsible for appointing the next FCC chairman. Speaking from the lobby of the Trump Tower on Tuesday, Son said that he wanted to celebrate Trumps election because he would do a lot of deregulation.

SoftBanks original plan may come true with the new FCC chairman, Naoshi Nema, analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald, said in a note.

Analysts also speculated Tuesdays announcement could be an effort to smooth the way for other investments in the U.S. in the future, and specifically ward off the suspicion that sometimes surrounds foreign investment.

Instead of risking criticism by Trump, Son first paid his respects by showing that SoftBank would be investing in American start-ups and hiring locals, said Hideaki Tanaka, senior analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co.

This could help SoftBank do its business in the U.S. more smoothly, Tanaka said. It could give an impression that his company is friendly to the U.S.

In the last two months, Trump has taken an unusual new approach toward companies, negotiating with the air conditioner and furnace manufacturer Carrier to keep hundreds of jobs at an Indiana furnace factory from moving to Mexico, and singling out gear-maker Rexnord on Twitter for plans to offshore facilities. He has threatened American firms that outsource jobs with retribution and proposed a 35% tariff against U.S. firms that do so.

Some lawmakers and Trump allies have celebrated the deal with Carrier. Peter Wallison, former White House counsel under Ronald Reagan and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said there isnt enough evidence yet to say that Trump will continue to single out companies. We havent yet seen a real policy that would suggest to me that is the way he is going to conduct his presidency.

But others have argued that Trumps actions represent the beginning of a policy of negotiating with companies on an individual basis, which in turn would create an incentive for companies to threaten to send jobs overseas in exchange for deals at home. Indiana agreed to $7 million in tax subsidies to save the Carrier jobs.

In a Washington Post op-ed last week, former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders criticized Trump for delivering Carrier tax and regulatory favors in return for keeping jobs in the state, arguing that the practice could enable companies to hold Trump hostage.

He has signaled to every corporation in America that they can threaten to offshore jobs in exchange for business-friendly tax benefits and incentives. Even corporations that werent thinking of offshoring jobs will most probably be reevaluating their stance this morning, Sanders wrote.

Matthew Mitchell, a senior research fellow at the libertarian Mercatus Center, said its unclear what direct benefits SoftBank may receive from the Trump administration, if anything. But he added that the president shouldnt be involved in the investment decisions of individual companies because it risks making the U.S. government reliant on the support of companies to carry out its policies.

I think were getting into this world now where theres no longer a taboo about picking winners and losers. And to me, thats a big concern, because institutionally thats in some way what has set the U.S. apart from banana republics, he said.

Swanson writes for the Washington Post.
HSBC Hong Kong (Photo : HSBC Hong Kong/Facebook)

If Facebook likes are the basis in declaring who won in an ongoing father versus son battle in Hong Kong, the clear winner is Joshua Wong. The likes on his Facebook page are more than 305,000, while that of his father, Roger Wong, a measly 3,002 likes.



Advertisement

The two influential figures in Hong Kong are engaged in an online battle spurred by HSBCs placing of two rainbow-colored replicas of the banks iconic lions that guard the multinational lenders headquarters in Hong Kong, the HSBC Main Building Plaza. The replicas are the creation of a Hong Kong artist to promote inclusiveness and tolerance.



HSBC Hong Kong, on its Facebook page, explained that the two lions  named Stephen and Stitt  stand for courage and prosperity as well for pride and unity. The lender explained: We've draped our two lions in the rainbow colours to show support for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community. Show your support by spreading this message with family and friends. Also, drop by to visit them at the HSBC Main Building while they're still here. #HSBCPride



However, the rainbow colors of Stephen and Stitt did not sit well with Roger Wong who began an online campaign against the HSBC initiative, Time reported. He called the two lions disgusting and warned of hurting the feelings of HSBC clients. The campaign, which has so far gathered 1,800 signatures, asked HSBC not only to remove Stephen and Stitt but also for the bank not to grant benefits to gay partners of its workers and not support LGBT causes.



Besides Roger Wongs Family School SODO Concern Group, those behind the online petition include Parents for the Family Association, Overturning LGBT Agenda and Next Generation Orientation, South China Morning Post reported.



As of Monday night, the signatures they collected was 1,200 short of their target 3,000 names. Once they reach 3,000, the group said they would hold a protest right in front of the rainbow-colored lion replicas. HSBC customers have mixed reaction to Stephen and Stitt, based on postings on HSBCs Facebook page.



Joshua Wong, founder of Demosist, a social progressive political party which supports the legislation of a Sexual Orientation Discrimination Ordinance, said he personally supports HSBCs LGBT initiative.






Stand-up comic and actor Chris DElia has sold his home in the lower Beachwood Canyon area for $1.9 million.

The 1930 Spanish-style house has tradition when it comes to the Hollywood comedy scene. Comedian and television host Craig Ferguson previously owned the property for more than decade before selling it to DElia in 2013.

Advertisement

Hidden behind walls and privacy hedges, the multi-level home retains its classic good looks with decorative tile risers, arched doorways and beamed ceiling.

Within nearly 2,600 square feet of living space is a center-island kitchen, a media/family room, an office, three bedrooms and four bathrooms. Arched windows in the living room take in treetop and cityscape views.

Outdoors, the backyard centers on a swimming pool and spa. Various patios, sitting areas and landscaping fill out the nearly quarter-acre grounds.

Kathryn Shafer of Keller Williams Realty was the listing agent. Amy Dantzler of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties represented the buyer.

DElia, 36, has produced two stand-up specials, including last years Incorrigible. This year he had a part in the Netflix movie XOXO and will appear in the upcoming film Half Magic.

neal.leitereg@latimes.com

Twitter: @NJLeitereg

MORE FROM HOT PROPERTY

Biggest Loser creator lists Britney Spears former home for sale in Calabasas

Jamie-Lynn Sigler checks out of Hollywood Hills West with home sale

Ex-Rams QB Jim Everett lists his home on a golf course in San Juan Capistrano

Beverly Hills home of Shark Tank Australia personality fetches $16 million
Talk about coming full circle. The row house used to portray the front of the Tanner family residence in Full House sold to the creator of that series, Jeff Franklin, for about $4 million.

His plans for the San Francisco home include using it for filming, according to an interview with the Hollywood Reporter. He intends to redo the interiors to their sitcom vintage and preserve the house for fans.

But the Victorian has a larger place in San Francisco housing history than the family-oriented late-80s sitcom. The three-story Italianate home was built in 1883 by Charles Lewis Hinkel, who was part of a prominent family of area home builders that constructed hundreds of such homes in the city.

Advertisement

The interiors, which were not used on the show, include an updated eat-in kitchen, three bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms and 2,985 square feet of living space.

The property previously sold in 2006 for $1.85 million.

Edward Deleski of Vanguard Properties was the listing agent. Cindy Ambuehl of the Agency represented the buyer.

Franklin, who went on to work on Fuller House, Netflixs sequel to the original series, recently sold a house in Hollywood Hills West for $20.2 million.

lauren.beale2@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATHotProperty

More Hot Property

Real Housewife Lea Black lists her polished pad in Hollywood Hills West

Royals great Kevin Appier is ready to play ball for 185-acre ranch in Kansas

Kate Upton and Justin Verlander buy Kenny Gs former home in Beverly Crest
Cybersecurity experts are warning that a new type of malicious software known as Gooligan has infected more than 1 million Android devices worldwide and is spreading at a rate of 13,000 devices a day. The malware has the ability to affect Gmail, Google Photos, Google Drive and related services.

Gary Davis, chief consumer security evangelist for the Santa Clara company Intel Security, discussed the problem.

How does the Gooligan software get into Android phones, and what does it do once its inside?

Advertisement

We have seen Gooligan being distributed in a couple of ways. First, by people visiting an infected website. We are using our smartphones increasingly to surf the Web. The bad guys know this and are using your browsing behavior to infect your device. We have also seen it being distributed in third-party app stores.

Once your phone is infected, Gooligan basically [gains root access to] your device  after which it can take total control and access anything on your device.

So far, Gooligan has hit Asia hardest. Is this likely to become a major problem in the United States?

It is very likely that we will see this become an issue in the United States. We often see bad actors hone their malware and distribution methods in emerging markets like Asia before targeting more mature markets. We could also see them modify the way the malware is distributed by doing things such as sending emails with malicious links.

Is there an easy way for Android users to determine whether Gooligan has infected their phones?

A couple of vendors have a free tool where you can enter your email to see if it has been impacted. You should also download an antivirus app for your Android device. It will help protect against malware infections, along with other threats to your Android device.

What should people do if their phone has been infected?

The safest thing to do if your smartphone is infected is delete everything on the device and do a factory reset. Before doing this, make sure all your data is backed up. A great bit of advice for everyone is to frequently back up all your devices. Doing so will help you get a fresh start should something go bad.

gary.robbins@sduniontribune.com

ALSO

Instagram tweaks its app in an attempt to prevent harassment

Supreme Court says Samsung doesnt owe Apple $400 million for copying iPhone look

Pebble smartwatch maker calls it quits, proving that being first doesnt guarantee success
Alberto Arvelo is used to hiring composers to set music to his films. The Venezuelan directors most recent feature, Libertador, employed none other than Gustavo Dudamel  in his debut film score  for that task.

The roles were reversed, however, on Arvelos new assignment: setting film to Dudamel-led concerts of Joseph Haydns epic oratorio, The Creation.

Its exactly what should happen with a good music in film, Arvelo said. Good music is something that you can feel, that can create something thats not there. Basically, if music is there, its because we have to add something to that moment, to provoke this combustion in some way. This is more or less the same concept, but exactly in a reverse way.

Advertisement

In performances at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on Thursday through Saturday, Arvelos imagery will accompany Dudamel conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic, guest vocal soloists and the Los Angeles Master Chorale in Haydns 1797 work based on biblical texts and John Miltons Paradise Lost. (A fourth matinee performance on Sunday will forgo the visuals for a purer musical experience.)

SIGN UP for the free Essential Arts & Culture newsletter 

The filmmaker began working on the project a year ago, seeking ways of painting the story of creation  from chaos to water to the stars  in abstract, emotional strokes.

Gustavo, from the beginning, told me that he wanted something very contemporary, from today, Arvelo said.

For his part, Dudamel will conduct a faithful interpretation of the piece, with Haydns prescribed number of musicians.

Its very simple, the text, Dudamel said. Its the creation of Earth, its the creation of many things. But with the music of Haydn ... the first part, the chaos, is [like] a piece from the 21st century. You feel that its not Haydn. Hes so ahead of his time.

Arvelos moving pictures are  in his words  a beautiful, crazy cocktail of photographs, aerial drone footage from Joshua Tree and Yosemite, animation and textures of actual oil paintings and canvases. Using computers, he mapped the whole interior of Disney Hall in order to project  with four projectors on four surfaces around the room  onto designated parts of the hall.

In one sequence, a waterfall cascades around and behind the halls famous organ fries, bouncing and splashing off the rear seats.

When he learned that architect Frank Gehry described his hall as the inside of a ship, Arvelo seized on the idea of taking the audience on a voyage through creation.

We felt from the beginning that the biggest risk in this project is to be obvious, he said, to show the audience what the audience is expecting, in some way. We have to take the audience to a different place  then beauty appears.

Alberto Arvelo at his home in Silver Lake. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times )

Arvelo, 49, and Dudamel, 35, refer to each other as brothers  and while they arent biologically related, theyre both from Venezuela, and both played in the countrys El Sistema music program. Their mothers share the name Solange.

Arvelos grandfather was the respected Venezuelan poet Alberto Arvelo Torrealba. Arvelo grew up in the mountainous state of Merida and learned to play the cello before becoming a filmmaker. He met Dudamel while making his 2006 documentary on El Sistema, To Play or to Fight.

Last year Arvelo created visual accompaniment for a Dudamel-led performance of Mendelssohns A Midsummer Nights Dream at the Hollywood Bowl. Before that he directed two operas  Don Giovanni and Cantata Criolla (with a text by his grandfather)  with Dudamel conducting.

I know Beto deeply as a human being, Dudamel said. Hes coming from this very artistic family, and all of this combination makes Beto a very sensitive person. I think Beto is a very poetic person, and I love that from him. That is why we connect, because Im very poetic too. Im a little bit crazy, fire, sometimes wild. But having [someone like] Beto next to me, you learn how to balance these things ... how you can combine the arts and the feelings to be a better human being.

You dont need an intellectual process to understand music or a good film. Its there, its just a feeling.  Filmmaker and video artist Alberto Arvelo

Arvelo, who lives near Dudamel in L.A. and in Venezuela, credited a shared sense of humor for their chemistry  but also pointed to a commonality between film directors and conductors.

I remember having this conversation with Claudio Abbado, the great Italian conductor, Arvelo said. He told me, I understand why you guys are friends, because the same happened to me with [Andrei] Tarkovsky, the great Russian filmmaker. They drove from southern Italy to north Italy, just for the pleasure of talking and traveling, and drinking wine and sharing life.

He cited another director, Ingrid Bergman, who characterized music and film as sister arts.

Theyre both made of time, Arvelo said. And you dont need an intellectual process to understand music or a good film. Its there, its just a feeling, its an emotion that you get. So that is, in some way, what we have been trying to create here.

------------

The Creation

Where: Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles

When: 8 p.m. Thursday-Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday (no video on Sunday)

Tickets: $59-$190

Information: (323) 850-2000, www.laphil.com

Follow The Times arts team @culturemonster.

ALSO

How Rufus Wainwright and Benjamin Millepied came to collaborate on L.A. Dance Project program

At 29, this El Nino singer is the buzz of Californias opera world

A diplomatic China Philharmonic plays Disney Hall
A show that brings together the works of a longtime L.A. art couple. The parallels between Picasso and Rivera. And a flashback to the culture wars. Here are five exhibitions and events to check out in the coming week:

Picasso and Rivera: Conversations Across Time, at the L.A. County Museum of Art. A new exhibition compares the artistic trajectories of two of the 20th centurys most towering Modernists: Pablo Picasso and Diego Rivera. This covers the period from the 1920s to the 50s as they explored Cubism, classical forms and ancient cultures in innovative ways. The shows features 150 paintings, etchings and watercolors. Through May 7. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, lacma.org.

A screening of John Fleck Is Who You Want Him to Be, at American Cinematheque. This documentary by Kevin Duffy looks at the performance artist who was at the center of the culture wars of the early 1990s as one of the NEA Four, whose proposed grants were vetoed by then-NEA director John Frohnmayer because of their subject matter. The doc follows Fleck during a pair of performances, flashing back to the early days of his career. Friday at 7:30 p.m. 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, americancinemathequecalendar.com.

A still from John Fleck Is Who You Want Him to Be. (Kevin Duffy)

The Human Beast: Art of Maxine Kim Stussy & Jan Stussy, at WUHO Gallery. A midcentury art couple who first met at UCLA in the late 1940s, Maxine Kim and Jan Stussy became known in Los Angeles for figurative works that revel in the animalistic. Organized by independent curator Michael Duncan, the show gathers 20 sculptures, paintings and works on paper by the artist pair. Opens Saturday at 6 p.m. and runs through Jan. 22. 6518 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, wuho.architecture.woodbury.edu.

Overspilling World, a conversation and book signing with Janet Sternburg, at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel. The writer and photographer will be presenting her new monograph, Overspilling World, which traces her work from the late 1990s to the present. Expect pictures that play with depiction and perception  employing windows and other reflective surfaces in ways that reflect and distort. Saturday at 11:30 a.m. 901 E. Third St., downtown Los Angeles, hauserwirthschimmel.com.

An image from Janet Sternburgs new photographic monologue Overspilling World. (Janet Sternburg)

The Contenders, at the Hammer Museum. The Hammer has once again teamed up with New Yorks Museum of Modern Art to showcase the most innovative films of the last year. Part of the series will be a screening this evening of Lion, featuring a Q&A with director Garth Davis and actors Dev Patel and Rooney Mara. This will be followed by a screening of Barry Jenkins Moonlight on Monday evening and Werner Herzogs Into the Inferno on Tuesday. Check the website for full listings.Through Dec. 15. 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood, Los Angeles, hammer.ucla.edu.

In Real Life: 100 Days of Film and Performance, at the Hammer Museum. This 4 1/2-month program is bringing a series of screenings, performances, film and video to the museum during a remodel. This weekends lineup features a performance of Simon Leungs Actions! Adjuncts!  a piece that touches on issues of education and labor  that was originally performed at the Kitchen in New York City in 2013. Through Jan. 25. Check the schedule for events and times. 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood, Los Angeles, hammer.ucla.edu.

LAST CHANCE

China: Through the Lens of John Thomson, at CSUN Art Galleries. In the late 19th century, photographer and travel writer John Thomson traveled through China, taking plenty of pictures along the way. This exhibition showcases his eye as an astute travel photographer. Through Saturday. Cal State Northridge, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge, csun.edu.

Austin Lee, Pretty Pictures, at UTA Artist Space. Lee makes drawings on a digital tablet, then translates them into oversized canvases using an airbrush fluorescent paint. The work is analog, but vibrates with the pulse of an illuminated pixel. Through Saturday. 670 S. Anderson St., Boyle Heights, facebook.com/UTAArtistSpace.

Jud Fine and Barbara McCarren, AND/OR, at the University Art Museum. A survey exhibition includes works old and new by the L.A.-based art-making couple. This features a number of pieces related to such topics as offshore banking and the nature of currency, and a new installation, Continental Edge Dwellers (CED), that explores the coast  that blurry line between land and water. Its a good subject to marinate in at a time when Californias coast is subject to struggles over development. Through Sunday. Cal State Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach, web.csulb.edu/org/uam.

Yulya Dukhovny, Fishermans Dream: The World in Miniature, at Grand Central Art Center. Inspired by the traditional paper theaters of 19th century Europe, the artist has created her own version of the form, but uses it to stage narratives with contemporary twists. The installation includes sets and video  as well as regular theatrical performances that feature unique musical compositions. Through Sunday. 125 N. Broadway, Santa Ana, grandcentralartcenter.com.

ONGOING EXHIBITIONS

Betye Saars Serving Time, 2010, left, and Searching for a Vision of Truth, 2016. (Brian Forrest and Robert Wedemeyer / Betye Saar, Roberts & Tilton) (Brian Forrest / Betye Saar and Roberts Tilton; Robert Wedemeyer / Betye Saar and Roberts Tilton)

Betye Saar, Black White, at Roberts & Tilton. The grand dame of L.A. assemblage art (who is about to open a one-woman show at the Prada Foundation in Milan) is showing four decades worth of sculptures and wall pieces in the gallerys project space  transformed to reflect both the colors and politics of black and white. Also on view will be the abstract paintings of Evan Nesbit. Through Dec. 17. 5801 Washington Blvd., Culver City, robertsandtilton.com.

Charles Gaines, Numbers and Trees: Central Park Series II, at Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects. For roughly four decades, the L.A.-based conceptual artist has produced works inspired by equations and other logical systems that he displays on large grids covered in Plexiglas. In this exhibition at Vielmetter, he presents a series of monumental works inspired by the trees in Central Park  as well as eight new ink-and-paper drawings that take these concepts into a new medium. Through Dec. 17. 6006 Washington Blvd., Culver City, vielmetter.com.

Numbers and Trees: Central Park Series II: Tree #3, Susanne, 2015, by Charles Gaines, at Susanne Vielmetter. (Charles Gaines / Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects)

Carlos Rolon/Dzine and Enoc Perez, at Chimento Contemporary. Rolon, better known as Dzine, and Perez have teamed up for a show that explores immigration, aspiration and identity (partly inspired by the artists shared roots in Puerto Rico). Perez has created a series of small oil paintings that depict ideas of home; Rolon has created the frames  out of reclaimed wood and other bits of ephemera that confer notions of American-ness. Through Dec. 17. 622 S. Anderson St., Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, chimentocontemporary.net.

Thomas Hirschhorn: Stand-alone, at the Mistake Room. In his first solo installation in L.A., the Swiss artist has transformed the gallery into a chaotic, immersive environment crafted from cardboard, old armchairs and sofas and stocked with a carefully chosen selection of books. The artist is known for re-conceiving the idea of monuments into often humbly crafted installations (think: duct tape) that require the participation of a viewer to complete. Through Dec. 17. 1811 E. 20th St., downtown Los Angeles, tmr.la.

Deborah Brown, Careful What You Wish For, at Jason Vass. The artists first exhibition in the U.S. since 1996 brings together photography, installation and sculpture created over the last decade  much of it riffing, in humorous, empowering ways, on female sexuality. Through Dec. 17. 1452 E. Sixth St., downtown Los Angeles, jasonvass.com.

Sleep, David Adamo: Untitled and Devin Farrand: Heft, at Ibid Gallery. The gallery debuts its new space in Boyle Heights this weekend with several new exhibitions, including a group show that riffs on the idea of sleep, as well as a pair of solos devoted to the work of sculptor David Adamo and the abstractions of Devin Farrand. Through Oct. 29. Adamos exhibition and Sleep are on view through Dec. 17. 670 S. Anderson St., Boyle Heights, ibidgallery.com.

Paul Sietsema, at Matthew Marks Gallery. The artists first solo exhibition in L.A. in more than a dozen years includes new paintings and drawings, as well as two recent films. The show is partly built around the color green, featuring one work of pure abstraction and another made with euro banknotes. The film Abstract composition, in the meantime, animates phrases from online auction sites. Through Dec. 23. 1062 N. Orange Grove, West Hollywood, matthewmarks.com.

25th Anniversary Show, at Kopeikin Gallery. Over the last 25 years, the Culver City gallery has staged more than 200 exhibitions of photography featuring work by masters such as Helen Levitt and Sally Mann. This exhibition gathers images by those important figures as well as many contemporary ones. Through Dec. 23. 2766 S. La Cienega Blvd., Culver City, kopeikingallery.com.

Crossing the Ohio, 1966, by Danny Lyon, at Kopeikin Gallery. (Danny Lyon / Kopeikin Gallery) (Danny Lyon / Kopeikin Gallery)

Lena Daly, Night Bell, at Various Small Fires. It is the debut solo show for the Los Angeles artist, who makes installations that involve sculpture and video  all with the phosphorescent cast of a nightclub bathroom. Through Dec. 23. 812 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood, vsf.la.

Wolfgang Tillmans, at Regen Projects. The German photographer, renowned for a varied photography practice that spans still life, people and forces of nature, is having his seventh exhibition at Regen with a gathering of new and old works. This includes images from his Freischwimmer/Greifbar series, abstract pieces that are the result of light exposed onto color photographic paper. Through Dec. 23. 6750 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, regenprojects.com.

Maria Lassnig, A Painting Survey, 1950-2007, at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel. This is the first Los Angeles solo exhibition for the late Austrian artist, known for her inventively weird figurative paintings. The show traces the artists journey over a nearly six-decade period, from her early abstractions to the mildly distorted, even cartoonish, paintings of people and settings that are more about capturing psychological states of being than rendering exact figures. Through Dec. 31. 901 E. 3rd St., downtown Los Angeles, hauserwirthschimmel.com.

Jeffrey Vallance, Now More Than Ever, at Edward Cella Art & Architecture. An artist known for drawing from a wide array of media that brings together both painting and performance, Vallances latest exhibition takes on the election, among other subjects, in collages that feature political placards along with the artists expressive drawings. These are visceral assemblages that wryly comment on the nature of bureaucracy, corruption, politics and society  in ways that are way more fun than CNN. Through Dec. 31. 2754 S. La Cienega Blvd., Culver City, edwardcella.com.

Isa Genzken, I Love Michael Asher, at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel. This is the German artists first solo exhibition in California  featuring a new body of work (teetering assemblages crafted from bits of architectural and other detritus). It also pays tribute to an artist by whom she was moved and inspired: California-born conceptualist Michael Asher, who was known for architectural interventions that reconfigured physical and social ideas of space. The gallery also has a traveling exhibition titled Schwitters Miro Arp, that brings together works by renowned European Dadaists Kurt Schwitters, Joan Miro and Hans Arp. Sounds pretty boss. Through Dec. 31. 901 E. Third St., downtown Los Angeles, hauserwirthschimmel.com.

MOLAA at Twenty: 1996-2016, at the Museum of Latin American Art. The Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach is celebrating two decades in existence with a show that draws from the museums permanent collection of more than 1,600 objects. These include works by renowned Modernists Joaqiun Torres-Garcia and Wifredo Lam, Argentine conceptualist Len Ferrari as well as contemporary figures such as Alexandre Arrechea and Patssi Valdez. Through Jan. 1. 628 Alamitos Ave., Long Beach, molaa.org.

The Art of Alchemy, at the Getty Museum. An exhibition at the Getty examines the art of alchemy  an area of study described as science tinged with spirituality and infused with a spritz of artistic spirit  dating from its origins in Greco-Roman antiquity to the Industrial Age. Alchemy was also closely tied to the production of pigments and colored inks, serving an important role in the production of art. Thats the subject of the related show: The Alchemy of Color on Medieval Manuscripts, takes on. Through Jan. 1. Getty Center, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, Los Angeles, getty.edu.

Drawing: The Art of Change, at the Getty Museum. An exhibition of drawings from the Gettys permanent collection looks at the ways in which artists employ revision and change in their works. Through Jan. 1. Getty Center, 1200 Getty Center Dr., Brentwood, Los Angeles, getty.edu.

Ernesto Yerena Montejano, Espejismo/Cicatriz, at La Plaza de Cultura y Artes. A series of intensely detailed, layered collages by the Los Angeles-based artist explore issues of identity in the Latino community. Through Jan. 1. 501 N. Main St., downtown Los Angeles, lapca.org.

Mestizaje, by Ernesto Yerena Montejano at La Plaza de Cultura y Artes. (Ernesto Yerena Montejano) (Erenesto Yerena Montejano )

Senses of Time: Video and Film-Based Works of Africa, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. For one of its long-term installations, the museum has gathered works of video or film by contemporary African artists that explore the body and the looping nature of time. This includes pieces by figures such as Yinka Shonibare, Sammy Baloji, Berni Searle, Moatax Nasr and Theo Eshetu. Through Jan. 2. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, lacma.org.

The Serial Impulse at Gemini G.E.L., at LACMA. Over the course of five decades, the innovative Los Angeles print studio has produced historic limited edition works for renowned artists such as Richard Serra, Claes Oldenburg, Vija Celmins, David Hockney and Robert Rauschenberg. Now the museum, in conjunction with the National Gallery of Art, brings together some of the most exquisite examples of work produced at the famed West Hollywood shop, including Rauschenbergs 1967 print, Booster, a 6-foot-tall print that in its day was the largest art print ever made. Do not miss Oldenburgs pieces, which ruminate on the nature of Los Angeles. Through Jan. 2. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, lacma.org.

Rediscovering Genius: The Works of Edward S. Curtis, at the Depart Foundation. Curator Bruce Kapson has brought together a rare selection of important, historical works by the legendary photographer, known for chronicling North American Indian cultures during the early days of the 20th century, most famously in his expansive volume, The North American Indian. This includes original photography, as well as the artists little-seen and never published proofs and photogravure printing plates. Through Jan. 5. 9105 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, departfoundation.com.

The Rat Bastard Protective Association, at the Landing. The Rat Bastard Protective Association was a close-knit group of now well-known California artists  including Bruce Conner, Jay DeFeo, Wallace Berman and Joan Brown  that worked together in a building dubbed Painterland in San Francisco. Anastasia Aukeman, who wrote a book on the group  Welcome to Painterland: Bruce Conner and the Rat Bastard Protective Association  has organized an exhibition that brings the groups works together for the first time since the late 1950s. Through Jan. 7. 5118 W. Jefferson Blvd., West Adams, thelandinggallery.com.

Jay DeFeo, Paintings on Paper, 1986-1987, at Marc Selwyn Fine Art. Over a four-decade career, the Bay Area-based artist was known for a diverse range of stark abstract works that included paintings, collages and monumental wall sculpture. This show at Selwyn gathers drawings from her Samurai series, paintings on heavy paper that were influenced by the artists 1985 trip to Japan, as well as an exhibition of Japanese helmets. Through Jan. 7. 9953 S. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, marcselwynfineart.com.

Steven Steinman, Sparks & Showers, and Klea McKenna, Automatic Earth, at Von Lintel Gallery. The gallery has a pair of shows: a series of unusual photographic rubbings by McKenna, who hails from the Bay Area, and the monochromatic paintings of the L.A.-based Steinman, who imbues bold monochromatic paintings with texture and undulating patterns. Through Jan. 7. 2685 S. La Cienega Blvd., Culver City, vonlintel.com.

S/Election, at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery. Because too much election is never enough, the L.A. Municipal Art Gallery has put together a broad group show that examines issues of citizenship, identity, immigration and criminal justice. The show includes work by such socially and politically minded artists such as Jennifer Moon, Charles Gaines, Olga Koumoundouros and Ruben Ortiz-Torres. Through Jan. 8. 4800 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, lamag.org.

Kay Sekimachi, Simple Complexity, at the Craft & Folk Art Museum. The museum has gathered a lifetimes worth of work  from the 1960s to today  of this innovative Bay Area fiber artist. Through Jan. 8. 5814 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, cafam.org.

Kay Sekimachis Untitled Basket, 1976. (M. Lee Fatherree / Craft & Folk Art Museum) (Test)

The Drawing Show, at the A+D Architecture and Design Museum. A new exhibition gathers drawings by architects who use the medium as an exploratory tool in their design practices. This includes images that channel everything from geometric abstraction to the weirdly biomorphic. Architects featured include figures such as Pritzker Prize-winner Thom Mayne , as well as Kyle Miller, Anthony Morey and Bryan Cantley. Through Jan. 8. 900 E. Fourth St., downtown Los Angeles, aplusd.org.

Radio Imagination: Artists in the Archive of Octavia E. Butler, at the Armory Center for the Arts. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the death of sci-fi writer Octavia Butler. As part of this exhibition, which is organized by Clockshop, seven contemporary artists have created work inspired by the items in Butlers archive, held by the Huntington Library. The new pieces include drawings, a sound installation, sculpture and even a musical work, which will premiere at the exhibitions opening. Also on view will be an exhibition of sculptures and video by Harry Dodge  making this a most excellent two-fer. Through Jan. 8. 145 N. Raymond Ave., Pasadena, armoryarts.org.

Michael Lift, Sidereal Lift, at Craig Krull Gallery. In his latest solo exhibition, the artist explores the Southern California landscape from above  featuring a series of prints that capture L.A. in ways that are geometric and a bit magical. Also on view will be Pamela Kendall Schiffers images of Yellowstone and Jeff Brouws stereoscopic images of an old copper mining pit in Montana. Through Jan. 14. Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., B-3, Santa Monica, craigkrullygallery.com.

Doug Aitken, Electric Earth, at the Museum of Contemporary Art. The L.A. artists first North American museum survey features an array of collage, photographic and video installation works from throughout his career  including the cinematic Song 1, from 2012, screening on a massive circular screen, and Electric Earth, the 1999 video installation that earned him the International Prize at the Venice Biennale. Through Jan. 15. Geffen Contemporary , 152 N. Central Ave., downtown Los Angeles, moca.org.

Truc Anh: Vacuphilia, at Varola. The first exhibition by the Vietnamese-French artist features paintings and installations that feature bodies and body parts inhabiting an abstracted world of black and white. Through Jan. 20. Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Ave., Ste. B256, West Hollywood, helenvarola.com.

Black With a Drop of Red: Contemporary Cuban Poster Work, at the Fowler Museum. A group show brings together poster designs by 18 graphic artists who have created broadsides for everything from Cuban cultural happenings to U.S. movies  all in stark shades of white, black and red. Through Jan. 22. 308 Charles E. Young Dr. N., Westwood, Los Angeles, fowler.ucla.edu.

Beatriz Cortez, Nomad World, at the Vincent Price Art Museum. The L.A.-based artist and cultural critic has transformed the gallery space at the museum into an arcade that picks apart global capitalism. A fortune-telling booth, a pinball machine and a jukebox have been pulled apart and put back together, in ways that grapple with issues such as migration, economics and identity. Through Jan. 28. East Los Angeles College, 1301 Cesar Chavez Ave., Monterey Park, vincentpriceartmuseum.org.

Virgin of Guadalupe: Images in Colonial Mexico, at the Bowers Museum. This exhibition looks at the extraordinary impact of the Virgin of Guadalupe on Mexican culture, history and iconography through more than 60 artworks, including objects from the virgins basilica in Mexico City, as well as a sacred reliquary that contains a portion of the garment worn by Juan Diego, the indigenous peasant who first saw the virgin in an apparition. Through Jan. 29. 2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana, bowers.org

Exaltacin del Patronato de la Virgen de Guadalupe, an 18th-century oil on copper painting attributed to Jos de Alcbar. (Coleccin Prez Simn, Mexico / Arturo Piera) (Coleccion Perez Simon, Mexico, copyright Arturo Piera)

California Wood Artists, at the Maloof Foundation. A group show gathers wooden objects created by nearly 40 California wood artists, from one-of-a-kind furnishing to elaborate marquetry inspired by Google searches. Through Feb. 11. 5131 Carnelian St., Alta Loma, malooffoundation.org.

Nkame: A Retrospective of Cuban Printmaker Belkis Ayon, at the Fowler Museum. The Cuban visual artist was known for powerful pieces inspired by the visual iconography of the founding myths of Abakua, an Afro-Cuban fraternal society. Over her short life (she died at age 32 in 1999), she produced a voluminous number of prints and collages in shades of black and white that convey scenes that are both magical and enigmatic. Through Feb. 12. UCLA, 308 Charles Young Drive North, Westwood, Los Angeles, fowler.ucla.edu.

States of Mind: Picasso Lithographs, 1945-1960, at the Norton Simon Museum. Drawn from the museums holdings of more than 700 Picasso prints, this exhibition gathers works made in the immediate postwar years, many of which sequentially depict the artists process as he made changes and revisions. Moreover, many of the works are being seen for the first time in 40 years. Through Feb. 13. 411 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, nortonsimon.org.

In the Land of Sunshine: Imaging the California Coast World, at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. Covering a period that begins in the mid-19th century and spans to today, this exhibition covers beach culture up and down our states more than 800-mile coast  from playful abstractions of the shoreline to expressive watercolors that will make you practically taste the salt air. Through Feb. 19. 490 E. Union St., Pasadena, pmcaonline.org.

Ease of Fiction, at the California African American Museum. The museum has launched a new slate of shows. This includes Ease of Fiction, a group exhibition that features work by four African artists exploring the fine line between the invented and the real and the debut museum exhibition of Los Angeles artist Genevieve Gagnard, whose photographs question notions of blackness and whiteness. There is also a beguiling room-sized installation by Hank Willis Thomas that recasts the symbols of the Confederate flag in the colors of black nationalism  and projects them in tune with a soundtrack of spoken-word audio. Through Feb. 19. 600 State Dr., Exposition Park, Los Angeles, caamuseum.org.

Tastemakers and Earthshakers: Notes on Los Angeles Youth Culture, 1943-2016, at Vincent Price Art Museum. A multimedia exhibition organized by the museums new director, Pilar Tompkins Rivas, looks at eight decades of youth culture  from the pachucos and pachucas of the 40s, to the connections between Los Angeles and British youth culture, to the emergence of social spaces geared at youth. In addition to work by more than 35 area artists, the exhibition also features documentary photography, video and other cultural ephemera. Through Feb. 25. East Los Angeles College, 1301 Cesar Chavez Ave., Monterey Park, vincentpriceartmuseum.org.

Pop for the People: Roy Lichtenstein in Los Angeles, at the Skirball Cultural Center. A new exhibition of the pop artist looks at more than 70 works spanning four decades, many of which are connected to Los Angeles and the artists collaboration with important print studios here  including Gemini G.E.L. and Tamarind Lithography Workshop. Through March 12. 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Brentwood, Los Angeles, skirball.org.

Toba Khedoori, at the L.A. County Museum of Art. This is the first major museum survey of the L.A.-based artist, known for her painstaking draftsmanship and enigmatic drawings and paintings. Her works often feature architectural elements, landscape, smoke and flame in ways that play with negative space and toy with meaning. Through March 19. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, lacma.org.

A detail from"Untitled (Mountains 2), 201112, by Toba Khedoori. (Tim Nighswander / David Zwirner and Regen Projects) (Tim Nighswander / David Zwirner and Regen Projects)

Becoming America: Highlights from the Jonathan and Karin Fielding Collection, at the Huntington Library. The Huntington has just redone its American art galleries and now features a new expansion by architects at Frederick Fisher and Partners that adds eight rooms for display. Up first will be an exhibition devoted to the Fielding Collection, featuring more than 200 works of 18th and early 19th century American art, including paintings, furnishings and decorative art. While youre at the museum, pop in to see the show Real American Places: Edward Weston & Leaves of Grass, which features the portfolio of photographs that Weston made to accompany Walt Whitmans seminal poem. Becoming America runs indefinitely; Weston runs through March 20. 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino, huntington.org.

Non Fiction, at the Underground Museum. An emotionally charged exhibition curated by the late Noah Davis in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles brings together works that explore issues of race and violence. This includes important works from MOCAs permanent collection by artists such as Robert Gober, Kara Walker, Henry Taylor and David Hammons. Through March. 3508 W. Washington Blvd., Arlington Heights, Los Angeles, theunderground-museum.org.

L.A. Exuberance: New Gifts by Artists, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. This exhibition brings together more than 60 works of art donated by artists to the museum, including pieces by photographer Catherine Opie, light and space master Larry Bell, multimedia artist Analia Saban, photographer James Welling and conceptualist Mario Ybarra Jr. Through April 2. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, lacma.org.

John McLaughlin Paintings: Total Abstraction, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. One of the most important artists of SoCals postwar period, McLaughlin is known for quiet, minimalist works that explore total abstraction: geometries and lines that explore ideas of shape and space, but not representation. This exhibition gathers 52 paintings and a selection of collages and drawings  representing the first major museum retrospective of the artists work. Times critic Christopher Knight says this is the show he has been waiting 40 years to see. Do not miss. Through April 16. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, lacma.org.

Islamic Art Now: Part 2 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Contemporary works from LACMAs permanent collection by 20 artists who live in or have roots in the Middle East look at questions of society, gender and identity. Runs indefinitely. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, lacma.org.

Loris Greaud, Sculpt, at the L.A. County Museum of Art. The entire theater has been taken over by the European artist for a film that screens to only one person at a time. The nonlinear picture follows a man about whom we know very little, who seems to be constantly developing the concept of what experiencing beauty, thought, or obsession can be, according the write-up. Times critic Christopher Knight describes it as pretentious and uninvolving. A good hate-watch, maybe? On view through a yet to be determined date. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, lacma.org.

Sign up for our weekly Essential Arts & Culture newsletter 

Find me on Twitter @cmonstah.
Although smaller films (Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Secret of Kells) often get nominated for animated feature at the Oscars, they dont tend to win. Since the category began in 2001, the lowest-grossing awardee has been Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and that made $193 million worldwide.

One reason is the megabuck behemoths  like this years Finding Dory, Zootopia, The Secret Life of Pets and Moana  are often quite good. Another is the lesser-known contenders are just that: Lesser known. Kubo and the Two Strings, The Little Prince, Miss Hokusai and My Life as a Zucchini (a rare animated entry for foreign-language film from Switzerland) are all worthy of consideration. Here are six top contenders.

Finding Dory

Advertisement

Disneys hotly anticipated follow-up to one of the most honored animated films ever, Finding Nemo. It managed to duplicate the originals success with both critics and audiences (more than $1 billion globally). So why did it take 13 years for the origin story and continuing adventures of Ellen DeGeneres beloved Paracanthurus hepatus Dory to get here?

Nemo was a personal story and all these characters I wrote became like my kids, says Nemo and Dory co-writer and co-director Andrew Stanton, noting he hadnt been searching for a way to make a sequel over the years. In truth, it was because I had not watched Nemo in over eight years, and when I did, I suddenly saw objectively how unfinished Dory was. She needed to be resolved. She deserved to be at peace. So it was a parental obligation that motivated me to go back to that world one more time.

The Red Turtle

 The Red Turtle director Michael Dudok de Wit shares why he chose to tell a story about a castaway on a desert island for his first animated feature.

The lovingly hand-drawn fairy tale is original  though if comparisons had to be made, it might distantly echo Odysseus and Calypso.

Director Michael Dudok De Wit, an Oscar winner for his heartbreaking short Father and Daughter, said, I was deeply inspired by many, many fairy tales I read as a child. I mean, hundreds and hundreds. Just when I started working on this, Studio Ghibli in Japan sent me a book called, Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn, full of Japanese fairy tales, ghost stories. I didnt use any of the existing stories, but I was impressed by the deep connection with nature in the stories.

Red Turtle could be taken as a chronicle of how a castaway interacts with nature to first survive, then thrive. Its told entirely without spoken language.

It was not my big ambition to make a dialogue-free feature, but my short films are without dialogue, which is very common in short films. I like the idea that the spectator completely gets everything from film language and body language.

Sing

Directed by Garth Jennings (Son of Rambow), Universals Sing concerns a vocal competition among animals in the grand old theater that an optimistic koala (Matthew McConaughey) struggles to keep open.

Jennings says he loved movies such as  The Commitments, where songs are part of the story as opposed to, like, a musical  and how those songs can lift the characters out of the situations theyre in. Sing is ultimately not about the contest, but how music can change peoples lives  it was that drama we were interested in, and not pitting one character against another. We werent interested in making a movie about the judges on those shows or anything like that.

The dozens of songs that appear in the film range from Rat Pack-Sinatra to a recent Taylor Swift hit, with a couple of originals thrown in.

Almost all the songs tell a story, even in the auditions, says Jennings. The catalog of hits was already in my brain from years of over-saturation in pop music, but also  you cant chase [musical] trends in animation because youre working on a shot that might not be done for two years.

Trolls

 Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, James Corden and Zooey Deschanel voice characters in Trolls.

This jukebox musical from DreamWorks follows peppy Princess Poppys (Anna Kendrick) quest to save her fellow trolls from death by mastication at the teeth of the monstrous Bergen species. The notion of another movie based on toys (Thomas Dams Troll dolls) may cause a reflexive recoil, but like The Lego Movie, it manages to amuse  mainly by choosing attitude over heroines journey.

Co-writer Jonathan Aibel says co-writer Glenn [Berger] and I tend to prefer a little more complicated plots, and thats one of the things we had to stop ourselves from doing with this movie. It lives on the emotions its conveying to the audience. Sometimes when your plot is plotty, if you will, the audience spends time puzzling it out and that takes away from the emotional experience.

Co-director Mike Mitchell agrees: We were going to make a fun, irreverent, silly musical. And we really wanted it to be about happiness.

My Life as a Zucchini

Switzerlands official entry for foreign-language film, also a contender for animated feature, finds a traumatized boy placed in a group home. Zucchini doesnt shy from some pretty hideous back stories, though theres nothing graphic in the delicate stop-motion animated film.

We wanted it to be real; stop-motion animation usually has more fantasy in it than reality, says director Claude Barras. Instead of trying to re-create a realistic picture in stop-motion, we tried to represent [the protagonists] reality. It also brings some sort of poetry to the story.

Conveying the story in a realistic way thats a little bit dark and sad but finishes in the light in this beautiful way, gives hope to the kids.

Your Name

Your Name is masterful storytelling by rising director Makoto Shinkai. It starts with the delicate comedy of teens who have never met switching consciousnesses, and leads to a life-or-death crisis. The twists are surprising and details memorable.

The animated film feels as if it were shot with real cameras -- and thats a good thing. Shinkais camera movement, use of focus and gorgeous composition help root the viewer in the films idiosyncratic reality. Relationships feel honestly developed. The emotion is earned.

Your Name has been a phenomenal success  its now the fifth-highest grossing film ever in Japan  and Shinkai wonders if its disaster storyline has something to do with it. Sadly, this is something that Japanese people have grown very familiar with imagining since 2011 after the earthquake and tsunami, he says by email. So the story may have especially struck a chord with Japanese viewers for that reason.

See the most read stories this hour 

calendar@latimes.com

ALSO:

Stevie Wonder, Adam Levine and Pharrell Williams could join the original song race
Many of this years notable film scores are the work of relative newcomers to Hollywood, with a few established veterans (as ever) in the mix. The scores range from experimental sound worlds for alien visitors to more traditional, symphonic approaches for more familiar galactic friends. In this roundup of highlights, science fiction is a major presence  a genre that often calls for innovative and interesting music. But several dramas based on recent events also inspired scores that cut to the heart, or subvert emotional expectations.

Howard Shore, Denial

Howard Shore at the 69th Locarno International Film Festival. (Alexandra Wey / EPA )

Advertisement

Last year, Howard Shore, the Oscar-winning composer of the Lord of the Rings films, scored the uncovering of a vile truth in Spotlight with a dogged piano theme. This year, Denial offered him a similar task: to bolster a legal defense of the truth about the Holocaust.

Mick Jacksons unfussy drama, a true story, spends much of its time in the courtroom as Deborah Lipstadt (Rachel Weisz) and her team fight a libel suit brought by Holocaust-denier David Irving (Timothy Spall).

Deborah has a voice, but she cant use it, Shore said, noting the defenses strategy to prevent Lipstadt or any Holocaust survivors from testifying. So the music is providing a voice for the people who are not able to use theirs.

That voice is often the pure tones of a boy soprano. A primary melody for Deborah also runs throughout the film, often alongside her jogging, and Shore paints the coiling tune in a spectrum of sunny and overcast colors.

Importantly, the score provides momentum and drama to the stationary courtroom sequences.

I try to work around the edges of the story, try to deepen the subtext, Shore said, and very carefully and respectfully work around the dialogue. Im always aware of the true nature of the story, and the portrayal of these people. Im always very aware of being truthful and telling the story with heart.

Johann Johannsson, Arrival

 Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker star in Arrival.

Arrival speculates on the question: When an alien species visits Earth, how do we communicate? Icelandic composer Johann Johannsson took the idea of communication and created a score that explores some unconventional possibilities of the human voice.

The Danish vocal group Theatre of Voices and soloist Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe filled the soundtrack with harmonic overtones and other vocal effects, which Johannson then chopped up and layered using old-school techniques such as tape loops.

The vibrations of our vocal cords form different sounds that form words, he explained. Harmonic singing takes the basic formants [or acoustic energy] of the voice, and these are also the basic vowels. Somehow for me it related to the very basic elements of language.

The film reunited Johannsson with Denis Villeneuve  their next project is Blade Runner 2049  and as he did on Sicario last year, Johannsson created an armory of new sounds. One came from recording loops of just the sustain of a piano note (without the attack), and then manipulating the speed of different octaves for an alien application of a familiar instrument.

His efforts earned him the additional credit of musical sound design.

Im very interested in texture as a part of composing music, he said. For me, composing is not simply sitting at a piano and creating a harmonic sequence and a melody on top. My real interest lies in creating sounds that combine these acoustic and electronic sources in a way that is organic and integral. I want the two to merge, and become one voice.

Thomas Newman, Passengers

Another story about spacecraft is Passengers. Morten Tyldums film stars Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence as a pair, traveling from Earth to colonize a distant planet, who accidentally wake up 90 years early. Thomas Newman scored similar images in the 2008 Pixar film Wall-E  but this was a completely different animal.

When you go into something like a space movie, you think theres going to be no music or little music, said Newman. But [Tyldum] kind of defied that notion out of that gate. I was surprised by how much music this could take.

Newman didnt take the Arrival approach of scoring futuristic space travel with futuristic music or sound design. Rather, he focused on the emotions of the protagonists and the optimism at the movies heart. Silky strings and solo piano (performed by Newman himself) breathe in the composers trademark romantic style, and the ethereal wisp of an oboe floats over pulsing arpeggios. In some places an electronically generated solo voice approaches, as Newman described it with a laugh, a bit of a star child thing.

Its very much a relationship movie, he said. The minute I tried to use standard ideas of science fiction, the movie didnt seem to take that very well. I think it wanted its own language, but it didnt necessarily want that language to be based upon space movies weve seen in the past.

Michael Giacchino, Rogue One

Michael Giacchino on the Walt Disney Studios lot. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times )

Space travel takes its most popular form in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. For the caper prequel to the original Star Wars, Michael Giacchino had the unenviable task of being the first composer to step into John Williams galactic shoes.

I had a similar issue the first time I did Star Trek, Giacchino said. I almost overthought it too much, because I was like, Oh, my God  its Star Trek. So when Star Wars rolled around  obviously I grew up with it, I love it, I have the action figures from when I was a kid  part of me was just like: Give it to me, I know what to do with this.

Another intimidating factor was his ruthless four-week deadline, having stepped in to replace the originally hired Alexandre Desplat. The silver lining to the quick turnaround: He couldnt afford to overthink it.

It reminded me of working on Lost, Giacchino said of his Emmy-winning work on the ABC series. You would have three days to get it done, so you learn to not think  just do.

Tight-lipped on details due to the Star Wars shroud of secrecy, Giacchino did say he used some of Williams themes and also honored the premier composers operatic approach of scoring characters and places with their own themes. Since the film is filled with a new crew of characters, Giacchino was still able to make the music his own.

Growing up, the film scores that attracted me the most were the ones that were able to tell stories outside of the film, he said. They were stories within themselves.

Fernando Velazquez, A Monster Calls

Fantastical elements are the means of telling a heartbreaking, very real-world story in A Monster Calls from Spanish director J.A. Bayona (The Impossible). Bayonas regular collaborator, Fernando Velazquez, scored both worlds  but it is in the hushed moments of grief where his music wields its piercing power.

The most important concept in the music is learning to let go, Velazquez said. This all reminded me of some Wagner or some Mozart, and some other big composers way of putting this in music. There are ways of treating the chords, and even the movement of the voices in the counterpoint, that for some magical reason remind us of this.

Evoking the philosophical idea of life-transformation-rebirth, Velazquez wrote a three-part theme that he broke apart and developed throughout the score  bringing it into unity in the emotional epilogue.

It all comes together and you understand that your family, the people you love, the people your children will love  we are all the same stream of love and caring, the composer explained. The music, in a way, captures this, with very, very simple chords. Its white keys on the piano. Its really simple music. OK, we dont understand death, we dont understand suffering, but we share it  and by sharing it, we can face it and we can go on.

Dustin OHalloran and Hauschka, Lion

Composers Dustin OHalloran, left, and Hauschka attend the Lion New York premiere on Nov. 16, 2016 in New York City. (Mark Sagliocco / Getty Images )

When director Garth Davis contacted German artist Hauschka and American composer Dustin OHalloran about scoring the two halves of his debut feature Lion, he had no idea they were already friends.

But Garth has this sort of spiritual, serendipitous nature about him, said OHalloran (who scores the Amazon series Transparent). So when I got to know him, it somehow made sense that it worked out that way.

Lion dramatizes the true story of an Indian boy accidentally separated from his home and family, essentially orphaned and adopted by a couple in Tasmania. As an adult, he begins searching for his mother  a story that could easily invite melodrama. Hauschka, the stage name of Volker Bertelmann, and OHalloran went out of their way to show restraint.

That was the hard part, said OHalloran. Its really about using just a few elements, so everything has to be in the right place.

The composers, sometimes divvying up cues and other times actually co-writing, tied the storys two halves together by introducing themes and musical ideas early that resurface as adult Saroo (Dev Patel) recalls his past. A gentle arpeggiated piano rhythm, chugging along like the opening shot of a train, becomes a theme of longing. A lonely violin line attends young Saroo on his fateful journey, then haunts him in his future.

The score was recorded with a chamber-sized string ensemble, percussion and piano (including Hauschkas trademark prepared piano)  lending the music a more delicate, tactile sound than the polished heft of a symphony orchestra.

It has much more scars, you know, said Hauschka, which I think fits to the movie a lot.

See the most read stories this hour 

calendar@latimes.com

ALSO:

How Zootopias upbeat score explores race and prejudice

La La Land director Damien Chazelle writes about his favorite musicals

Lin-Manuel Miranda navigates the Pacific to help send Moana on a daring adventure

tktktktkt
When Mica Levi composed her debut film score at 26 for the movie Under the Skin starring Scarlett Johansson as an alien, people took note. Among the many who detected an important new discovery was Chilean director Pablo Larrain, who was on the jury when the film screened at the Venice Film Festival in 2013.

I didnt know who she was, I didnt know anything about her, Larrain said by phone from Chile. But at that moment, I just thought that it was really something that I had never heard before  and nowadays thats something very, very, very hard.

Levi was the directors first choice when he made Jackie, which recounts the traumatic days of Jacqueline Kennedy after her husbands assassination. Not just because of her work, he said, but also because a feminine sensibility would be interesting to bring to the project.

Advertisement

Known by her stage name Micachu and for her bands experimental pop music, Levi wrote a score as unorthodox as her process. Having only read the script and seen isolated scenes (Larrain was still editing the film), she wrote disparate pieces piecemeal, often with the simple motivation of making music that Jackie would be into, that was sort of her vibe.

 Jackie follows First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, played by Natalie Portman, after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

The bits that stuck out to me the most, I guess, were with the journalist where shes a bit sassy, Levi explained by phone from London. And the time and the way she presented herself  I just hazarded a guess.

An unsteady waltz with a meandering flute line and shivering strings plays to Jackies disorientation in Dallas and later when she breaks the news to her children. A birdlike flute flits over a repeating cycle of string chords, heartbroken but hopeful, as Jackie processes grief with her friend Nancy.

Levi also wrote music to convey the first ladys traumatized internal state and the violence of the assassination  quivering tremolo strings, queasy glissandos and an emotionally knotty adagio for the long finale. But the score complicates emotions in each scene, offering abstraction and discomfort.

This effect was furthered by Larrains decision to place many of the pieces Levi wrote against scenes different from the ones they were written for. The opening piece, for instance  a series of melting chords that wrests audience attention with their prominent accompaniment to a black screen  was conceived for a later sequence.

Sometimes people will support a specific idea or emotion with the music, and it will just be the same as what were looking at, Larrain said. Mica would do something totally different, and then with the image it would create a third idea, which is what creates this sensation of ambiguity  sometimes sorrow, sometimes painful, sometimes extremely enlightening and bright, and sometimes very dark. It just elevated the film into something so beautiful.

The score was recorded by the London ensemble Orchestrate, and its pared-down ensemble included a small string section and woodwinds, as well as bagpipe and snare drum for the officialism of the proceedings.

Larrain decided to tell the story of Jackie through Natalie Portmans eyes. Its like a cosmic door to something that you wont be able to describe, its something that the audience will complete, he said.

Every single one of us will feel something  it might be similar to each other, but its also very distinctive, because it becomes very personal.  Pablo Larrain,

And then you have Micas score that will take you to a place that you just keep wondering: Where are we? Whats going on? Every single one of us will feel something  it might be similar to each other, but its also very distinctive, because it becomes very personal. That happens to me with the cinema that I love: It becomes personal.

The director was so thrilled with the music that, next to Portmans performance, he gave it a starring role.

I went to the mix, and I was taken aback, Levi admitted. We prepared it to be much quieter, because we assumed it would be. And then it was: Oh, OK, cool  its quite loud, then. 

If she had been born, I dont know, 200 years ago, she would be in the record store next to Mendelssohn or Stravinsky, Larrain said of Levi. I had that sensation that you were dealing with a major artist, and someone who connects to very particular emotions.

See the most read stories this hour 

calendar@latimes.com

ALSO:

Natalie Portman on getting into the mind-set of the widow Kennedy for Jackie

Natalie Portman and director Pablo Larrain team for Jackie, a transporting, transfixing biopic

Greta Gerwig visits the 60s and 70s in her new films  and is glad she didnt live them
Youve heard of pop-up restaurants and pop-up museums. But what about a pop-up movie?

Thats the curious vibe surrounding The Founder, the story of maverick businessman Ray Krocs acquisition and expansion of the McDonalds fast-food chain. The film, which stars Michael Keaton as Kroc, opened Wednesday on one screen at the ArcLight Hollywood for a one-week awards-qualifying run. It will return to theaters in a wider engagement on Jan. 20.

As recently as Sunday, the Weinstein Co., the movies distributor, had advertised that The Founder would open Friday. Prior to that, a limited release date had been set for Dec. 16. Before that, it was to open Aug. 5, a date that Weinstein Co. co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein said would show that award-caliber movies should be able to open any time of year and be successful.

Advertisement

Of the most recent shift, Weinstein says he moved the films release date up two days because of a misunderstanding over when the Los Angeles Times review of the movie would run.

Im trying to get some buzz, for Michael Keaton especially, Weinstein says by phone. I just moved it up to Wednesday so wed at least get a head of steam going into the weekend.

Weeklong awards-qualifying runs are routine this time of year. Studios make their movies eligible for Oscar consideration in December, hoping for a marketing hook come January. The Weinstein Co., for instance, pursued the strategy five years ago with the 2011 Margaret Thatcher biopic The Iron Lady. The film had a small December qualifying run before expanding with the strength of the awards buzz surrounding Meryl Streeps lead turn as Thatcher. Streep eventually won her third Oscar for the performance.

Nobody is hiding the salami, Weinstein says about the confusion over the movies release date. Nobody is apologizing for this movie. We were thinking about going in August and then we thought Michaels performance was great. But Michael wasnt available in August. So we moved it to here, thinking we could qualify him and get a Golden Globe nomination and maybe get an Oscar nomination. That was our strategy.

Reviews for The Founder thus far have been mixed, with it earning a 63 score on the movie aggregator website Metacritic. Times film critic Justin Chang offered strong praise, writing that it turns the unlikely subject of a fast-food chain into a quasi-religious satire, a parable of American striving and, ultimately, a study of artisanal integrity gradually caving in to commercial compromise.

Even those critics so-so on the film have praised Keaton, confirming awards pundits sense that the veteran actors lead turn represents the movies strongest bet to gain awards season traction.

Keaton has been largely unavailable to promote the movie as he has been in Rome shooting the action-thriller American Assassin. He did take a three-day break in mid-November to participate in a news conference for the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. and is scheduled to take part in three post-screening Q&As this weekend, including an event Sunday night for film academy members.

Keaton did not earn a Critics Choice nod earlier this month when the Broadcast Film Critics Assn. announced its voluminous slate of nominees. The Weinstein Co. mailed DVD screeners to the group, a delivery that did not extend to members of the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. before its vote on Sunday. Only about half of LAFCA members were invited to a Founder screening before the groups weekend vote. Of those two screenings, one was overbooked. At the second, the projector broke.

So, yes, [I was] invited, but didnt see it despite my best efforts, says Los Angeles Business Journal writer Annlee Ellingson.

For indie studios like the Weinstein Co., the question of how to best allocate limited resources becomes vital this time of year. A Critics Choice nomination would put Keaton on a televised awards show. A LAFCA award would not. The company also has two other movies to support  the Oscar candidate Lion, a wrenching true story about an Indian man (Dev Patel) trying to find the family he lost as a boy, as well as the Matthew McConaughey crime-adventure Gold, which is opening Christmas.

Because the studios latest releases  Quentin Tarantinos western The Hateful Eight, the coming-of-age story Sing Street and the Natalie Portman-topped Jane Got a Gun  didnt meet commercial expectations, theres a persistent perception that Weinstein might be a bit strapped financially to support all three Oscar hopefuls this December.

Weinstein dismisses that suggestion, noting the strength of the companys television division and film library, though in the depressed home video market a library isnt worth what it used to be.

These notions get bandied about for ridiculous reasons, Weinstein says. Are movies doing less good than they used to for us? Absolutely. Id love to say were doing fantastic in movie world. But I dont think anyone is and were doing about the same as everybody else.

Maybe its our fault, he continues. Maybe were doing a poor job communicating, to have this current attitude out there. But maybe its good for us. Maybe we should be the underdog for a change.

See the most-read stories this hour 

glenn.whipp@latimes.com

Twitter: @glennwhipp

ALSO:
How do you sum up a year like 2016? With a Facebook video, of course. Thursday morning the social media giant released its annual Year in Review project, which highlights the most memorable moments from the past 11 months.

The video begins with a clip from the New Years countdown in Hong Kong and a voiceover  2016, we all went through it together. Over two minutes and 38 seconds, the video crams in this years turmoil, including the deaths of stars David Bowie, Gene Wilder and Prince; the Orlando nightclub shooting and the terrorist attack in Nice, France; and the Syrian refugee crisis.

But its not all bad. The popularity of Pokemon Go, the Olympics, and NASAs Juno mission also get a shout-out.

Advertisement

In addition, data analysts compiled a list of the years top 10 moments based on the frequency a topic was mentioned in Facebook posts. Surprising no one, the U.S. presidential election took the No. 1 spot. And for the first time, Facebook ranked its top global live videos; with over 160 million views, the laughing Chewbacca Mom received the top honor.

makeda.easter@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter @makedaeaster

ALSO

Facebook finds more errors in its metrics

Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube team up to fight terrorist propaganda

Instagram is the latest social media firm to tweak its app in an attempt to prevent harassment
People walk past a McDonald's restaurant on April 21, 2007 in Shenyang of Liaoning Province, China. (Photo : Getty Images)

A consortium led by private-equity firm Carlyle Group LP is close to a deal valued as much as $2 billion to acquire McDonal's Corp.'s China franchise, giving the U.S. fast-food giant cash and local help in cracking the lucrative Chinese market.



McDonald's is selling an estimated 80-percent stake in its China franchise to the consortium, which also includes Chinese state-owned Citic Ltd., The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday citing people familiar with the situation.



Advertisement

The proposed deal, which still requires a final signoff from the McDonald's board, could hand the company an upfront payment of between $1.5 billion and $2 billion.



McDonald's China office declined to comment on the deal, although an announcement is expected to be made as early as next week, the report said.



The Illinois-based fast-food chain has about 2,200 outlets in China, of which one-third are already franchised. All of the company's remaining China stores would be franchised under the deal, with McDonald's maintaining a 20-percent stake in them.



The move is expected to help McDonald's reduce its overall operational costs and preserve capital, as well as gain an estimated 5 percent to 7 percent of the franchise sales for 2 decades, the report said.



The deal would also see Citic and Carlyle build 1,300 new stores in China and Hong Kong.



Sales from McDonald's stores in China dropped after problems with suppliers caused shortages of hamburgers and chicken at some restaurants in 2014, according to figures provided by the company.



Although sales in the country have begun to recover in 2015, they shrank again in the most recent quarter due to "protests surrounding recent events related to the South China Sea," McDonald's Chief Executive Steve Easterbrook said on a recent earnings call.



The fast-food brand still has room to grow in China, the only major market where there are more Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants--5,000 and counting--than McDonald's stores.



In a similar move, fast-food rival Yum Brands Inc. announced earlier this year that it would split off its KFC and Pizza Hut operations in China and retain its foothold in the country through royalty payments.



The company also entered an agreement with Chinese private-equity fund Primavera Capital and Ant Financial Services Group, the financial arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.,to sell off a combined $460 million stake in its China operations.



The McDonald's deal would be a first by state-owned conglomerate Citic into the restaurant sector. The group operates a number of companies in the financial, real estate, national resources and energy industry. It also owns China's seventh-largest lender by assets, China Citic Bank, and the country's leading investment bank, Citic Securities.



Carlyle, based in Washington, has previously bought a majority stake in Shanghai-based Italian restaurant chain Babel Restaurant Management Co. in 2007 and sold it to a private capital fund in 2012.


Whos this black guy trying to make friends with the Ku Klux Klan?

A raised eyebrow, a shake of the head.

Hes a nut.

Such were the sentiments of Scott Shepherd, a former Klan grand dragon, when he first saw Daryl Davis, a piano-playing bluesman who travels the nation attempting to dispel racism from those who hate him most. It doesnt often work, but over the decades Davis, like a man on a quixotic pilgrimage, has collected more than two dozen Klan robes from those who have disavowed white supremacy.

His unlikely story unfolds in Accidental Courtesy, a documentary by Matt Ornstein that follows Davis on an odd and lively quest to Confederate monuments, Klansmen houses, boogie joints, churches and a hot dog stand where Davis informs Jeff Schoep, the commander of the National Socialist Movement, that Elvis got his inspiration and rhythm from Chuck Berry, and that slaves did not arrive on these shores voluntarily.

Advertisement

How can you hate me when you dont even know me? Davis asks in the film, which opens in Los Angeles on Friday. Throughout my life I have been looking for an answer to that.

His disarming simplicity collides with a country in the midst of racial unease marked by police shootings of black men and the nationalist populism and identity politics that propelled Donald Trump to the White House. These are the most divisive times in more than a generation, and Davis creed, genuine as it appears, seems to his detractors as naive and surreal against rising hate crimes, deepening culture wars and calls by supremacists to found a white nation-state.

If you had told me when we began this project that in 2016 white supremacists would be not only broadcasting from a presidential candidates rallies, but that he would be unwilling to promptly denounce their support, I would not have believed you, said Ornstein.

Davis is criticized by some African American activists, including Kwame Rose, who in the film sits for drinks with Davis in Baltimore: Infiltrating the Klan aint freeing your people, says Rose, who protested the death in police custody last year of Freddie Gray. Youre uneducated about the reality of most of the people who look like you. Stop wasting your time going to peoples houses who dont love you, a house where they want to throw you under the basement. White supremacists cant change.

Davis, 58, is undeterred. A big man with a deep-rolling voice and hair graying at the edges, Davis recounts American history and how jazz and blues rose from the black South to influence rock n roll and country music. The film portrays Davis, who has performed with Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, as an unabashed troubadour with nimble fingers and a curious message. The son of a foreign service officer, Davis spent part of his childhood overseas, far from the racism many African Americans learn early.

His first encounter with bigotry came when he was a 10-year-old Cub Scout. Bottles and rocks were thrown at him as he marched in a parade in Belmont, Mass. The bewildering incident was the seed of a mission that years later found him joining an all-white country band, attending Klan rallies, accepting a certificate of friendship from the Traditionalist American Knights of the KKK and starting a conversation with Klan Imperial Wizard Roger Kelly. The two became close and Kelly asked Davis to be his daughters godfather.

When Kelly quit the Klan, he gave Davis his robe; Davis hopes one day to put it in a Museum of the Klan. The surrender of a garment that is as iconic as a burning cross was a peculiar act in a country with a legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, school segregation, whites-only water fountains and other prejudices that reverberate today.

Its not history repeating itself, its history that has not gone away. I deal with Klansmen and white supremacists all the time, Davis said in an interview, noting that racism became more overt in President Obamas second term. I did not vote for Donald Trump and I do not support him but I believe that Trump is the best thing to happen to this country in a long time. Hes bringing out the countrys ugliness. Theres no turning a blind eye anymore.

Weve simply been putting Band-Aids on the wounds of racism. We havent drilled down to the bone to get to its source.  Daryl Davis

He added: Weve simply been putting Band-Aids on the wounds of racism. We havent drilled down to the bone to get to its source.

One of Davis strengths is his persistence to engage men like Shepherd, the son of an alcoholic father who joined the Klan when he was 17 in search of acceptance. He became a Klan leader in Tennessee but left the organization after deeming it too militant in the 1990s. In 2008, Shepherd had part of his stomach removed. I had ulcers probably from all the guilt and secrets held inside, he said. I wanted to be the person I was before the Klan. He came across a TV program about Davis and contacted him three years ago.

I looked him up and he took me in like a brother, said Shepherd, who traveled recently with Davis to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. Hes really got something. You can take a positive action against a negative action and come out well. Its one step at a time with Daryl. I think he can convert people.

The challenge can be exasperating, impossible and sometimes comical. J.C. Faulk, a community organizer for Black Lives Matter in Baltimore, called Davis reprehensible and told him get the . . .out of my face. In an exchange that could fit into a Quentin Tarantino movie, a white supremacist once told Davis that black people have a gene that makes them violent.

Davis waited a bit and asked the man to name three black serial killers. The man thought for a while but could name none. Davis rattled off a half-dozen white serial killers. To extrapolate on the mans logic, Davis told him that white people have a serial killer gene. Well, that just sounds stupid, said the man. Davis smiled, making his point.

Talking to Klansmen has worked for me and Ive proven it, said Davis. I appeal to peoples common sense. I dont seek to convert them but if they spend time with me, they cant hate me. [The Klansman] sees that I want the same thing for my family as he does for his. . .If you can work on the things in common, thats how you build friendship.

See the most-read stories this hour 

Twitter: @JeffreyLAT

jeffrey.fleishman@latimes.com

ALSO

Theres nothing wrong with being white. Trumps win brings white pride out of the shadows

Xenophobia is the word of the year for 2016, says Dictionary.com

In diverse California, a young white supremacist seeks to convert fellow college students
Everything you ever wanted to know  or perhaps never knew you wanted to know  about the wildly influential Roland TR-808 drum machine is laid out with entertaining, if exhaustive, brio in the documentary 808.

Manufactured by Japans Roland Corporation from 1980 to 1983, the TR-808 was initially conceived to assist in the creation of demo recordings; the device didnt sound much like actual drums. But the reasonably-priced 808s unique ability to evoke the deep bass kick, staccato snare, hi-hat whoosh and other percussion staples, began to attract a host of burgeoning hip-hop, R&B, techno, electronic and dance musicians  and a mechanical star was born.

Director Alexander Dunn, who co-wrote the script with Luke Bainbridge, uses a wealth of interviews with a kind of mini-Hall of Fame of modern music stars  Pharrell Williams, Afrika Bambaataa, the Beastie Boys and Phil Collins, to name a few  and producers such as Rick Rubin, Jellybean Benitez, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to recount the tale of the 808s ascent and how it helped to develop and foster a pivotal mix of new musical genres.

Advertisement

An eclectic array of groundbreaking music and video clips, evocative archival bits (Marvin Gaye sings the 808-infused Sexual Healing!) and a vital sit-down with Roland founder Ikutaro Kakehashi round out a packed agenda, one that should captivate devotees but may overwhelm less initiated viewers.

-------------

808

Unrated

Running time: 1 hour, 33 minutes

Playing: Arena Cinelounge, Hollywood; also on Apple Music

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 
When Islamic terrorists plot to enter the United States through Mexican cartels tunnels, only a man who has worked for both the CIA and DEA can keep Americans safe. That man is Harmon, who could only be played by Steven Seagal. In Contract to Kill, the martial arts master takes on Americas enemies with help from an FBI agent (Jemma Dallender) and a drone expert (Russell Wong).

Between its low-budget special effects, bad dubbing and an automatic rifle/drone hybrid whose parts could have been bought at a local superstore and assembled by a teenager, Contract to Kill looks remarkably cheap for a film whose characters wear Rolexes and take private planes. The money also wasnt spent on the script from writer-director Keoni Waxman, which confuses a stream of expletives for wit. Theres little help from Seagal, who delivers lines like, Im interested. Tell me more, while sounding completely bored. We know the feeling.

Contract to Kill will probably please fans of Seagals work, particularly his recent run of films with Waxman. With its dual villains of Mexican criminals and Islamic fundamentalist terrorists, the action movie smartly addresses a particular political audience and their fears, while giving Seagal the opportunity to take them out. The films final fist-pump-inciting kill will remind devoted audiences of why theyre still watching the actor.

Advertisement

-------------

Contract to Kill

MPAA rating: R, for violence, language and brief sexuality

Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Playing: AMC Orange 30, Orange; also on VOD

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 
In the frenzied, cacophanous urban China of Johnny Mas stunningly assured, darkly gripping first feature Old Stone, a car accident doesnt just cause physical damage, it wrecks souls.

Taxi driver and family man Lao Shi (a fantastic Chen Gang) learns the hard way the price of compassion when a drunk fare causes him to swerve and hit a motorcyclist, and the impulsively attentive decision to drive the injured man to the hospital  rather than wait for the cops or an ambulance  puts Lao Shi on the hook for his medical bills. (The stinging irony: a dead victim is a one-time payment. But in a coma and recoverable? Ouch.)

Denied help by the indifferent police, his vengeful employer and a heartless insurance company, Lao Shi turns into the central figure of what can best be described as a bureaucracy noir, in which the femme fatale is a modern society that seduces with hustle but cheapens morality. Ma navigates a desperate mans descent into hazardous problem-solving with real savviness about pacing and sound: the city is always cramped, in motion and practically taunting Lao Shi with its voices, noises and industrial hum.

Advertisement

As Old Stone edges into the calculated suspense of a potentially ruinous decision, Ma does his own worrisome swerving, allowing himself stylistic flourishes more befitting the melodrama hed avoided than the breathless social realism hed mastered. But its a small quibble when the overall stakes are so palpably rendered in this smeary, chilled glimpse at just how punishing the proverbial good deed can be.

-------------

Old Stone

Not rated

In Mandarin with English subtitles

Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Playing: Laemmle Music Hall, Beverly Hills; Laemmle Playhouse 7, Pasadena

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 
Captive, a documentary series premiering Friday on Netflix, aims to be the fact-based version of one of those taut suspense thrillers starring Liam Neeson. Each of the shows eight episodes tells the story of a different hostage crisis, dramatizing tense, high-stakes negotiations through a combination of archival recordings, present-day interviews and artful re-creations.

Its the latest spin on TVs true crime craze, with the focus here on kidnapping and extortion. Murder plays a part in Captive, but the series is less about the taking of life than the minute-by-minute effort to avoid that outcome.

The two episodes available for review recount situations that took place thousands of miles apart in distinct cultures, but also share themes of racial and economic tension.

Advertisement

Lucasville is a tick-tock account of the deadly 1993 riot at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (commonly referred to as Lucasville), a crowded maximum security prison in a depressed region on the outskirts of Appalachia. What began on Easter Sunday as a protest by inmates turned into an 11-day standoff over conditions at the prison and the fate of eight correctional officers taken hostage.

The Cola Kidnap is the more intimate tale of Corinne Coffin, a wealthy Brazilian American woman and mother of three who ran her familys bottling company. Kidnapped at gunpoint in the middle of traffic by a military veteran raised in the favelas who demanded $20 million in ransom, Coffin was held for weeks, during which time her panicked family attempted unsuccessfully to keep the story out of the news.

The series is executive produced by unscripted TV veterans Jonathan and Simon Chinn, as well as Doug Liman, a director with a flair for sophisticated, stylish action films (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Edge of Tomorrow). Aesthetically, Captive ranks well above the typical cable-TV documentary. It is cinematic and slickly produced, with production value visible in nearly every frame, including impressionistic re-creations and gorgeous aerial shots of Rio de Janeiro.

The show is equally impressive from a journalistic standpoint. The producers have clearly put in a tremendous amount of legwork into tracking down perpetrators, victims, eyewitnesses, family members and law enforcement officials, and getting them to open up about their traumatic experiences. Lucasville is especially noteworthy in this regard, featuring interviews with surprisingly forthcoming former inmates and several ringleaders now on death row.

Without resorting to easy moral relativism, the series also incorporates multiple viewpoints on each situation, encouraging the viewer to understand, if not necessarily empathize, with abductor as well as abductee. The perpetrators, including Coffin kidnapper Ronaldo Monteiro and Lucasville agitator Siddique Hasan, are men of puzzling contradictions.

Each episode stands on its own and retells a discrete story within the space of (roughly) 60 minutes, so that the series plays a bit like a nonfiction procedural drama. Unlike The Staircase or Making a Murderer, it is not a long, serialized tale that will gobble up 10 hours of your life. If youre in the mood for a bit of pulse-pounding true crime thats tastefully presented and wont require an enormous time commitment, Captive is a perfect choice.

But the episodic structure is also limiting, in that it doesnt allow much room for context or elaboration beyond the basic outlines of each harrowing story. The documentary on Lucasville, though undeniably riveting, touches on numerous complex, entrenched problems within the correctional system, such as overcrowding and ethnic factionalism, that could easily fill up another hour of screen time, if not an entire series.

Likewise, The Cola Kidnap delves into globalization and the Brazilian class and racial divide, but theres simply not enough room to do justice to these subjects with the time available.

Part of the issue is the shows rather expansive concept, which allows for an almost too wide array of stories and circumstances. At least so far, theres little attempt by the filmmakers to draw explicit connections across cultures, to unravel the confluence of factors that have turned kidnapping and hostage-taking into lucrative illegal pursuits in various corners of the globe. For now, Captive is a smart, character-driven documentary thriller that would benefit from a stronger throughline.

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 

Captive

Where: Netflix

When: Any time, premieres Friday

Rating: Not rated

meredith.blake@latimes.com

Twitter: MeredithBlake
Editors Note: Actress Mary Tyler Moore died Jan. 25, 2017. She was 80.

Heres a spoiler alert TV fans didnt see coming in 2016  the ottoman Dick Van Dyke trips over in the opening titles of his classic 1960s sitcom is olive green.

Several generations of viewers have enjoyed Van Dyke and costar Mary Tyler Moore on The Dick Van Dyke Show, which 50 years after completing its initial run on CBS is still available on Hulu, Amazon, the nostalgia TV network Cozi and a recently released Blu-ray box set. But on Sunday, viewers will see the Petries monochromatic world re-imagined in The Dick Van Dyke Show  Now In Living Color! in which CBS debuts two digitally colorized episodes back-to-back.

Advertisement

The original 1961 to 1966 run straddled the years when network TV series production converted to color. Some long-running sitcoms from the era such as The Andy Griffith Show and Bewitched made the switch after a few seasons on the air in black and white.

But The Dick Van Dyke Show creator Carl Reiner said he passed on the chance to film in color after learning it would require an additional $7,000 an episode, a significant cost in an era when a half-hour show cost around $40,000 to produce.

It would have killed whatever profits we were making from the black-and-white episodes, Reiner recalled in a recent interview. He also wanted the show to have a consistent look when reruns appeared in syndication.

Colorization of classic black-and-white movies has been a polarizing issue in Hollywood since the 1980s when cable entrepreneur Ted Turner and other film library owners started using the process to make their older titles attractive to younger audiences. Directors vehemently expressed objections to having their artistic visions altered for commerce.

David Bushman, television curator for the Paley Center for Media, said colorization will bring a new generation of viewers to the The Dick Van Dyke Show, but suspects there are purists who believe great TV is an art form as worthy as film and shouldnt be tampered with.

You wouldnt use to technology to change the fundamental aesthetics of a Picasso, he said.

But Paul Brownstein, who manages The Dick Van Dyke Show library owned by Reiner, Van Dyke, and the estates of executive producers Sheldon Leonard and Danny Thomas, believes the TV audience is more accepting of refreshed editions of their favorites.

The very act of doing it would drive a cinema fan crazy, whereas the television fan appreciates seeing it updated, he said.

That has been the case for the CBS airings of colorized versions of I Love Lucy during the holiday season for the last few years. While they have generated some grumbling among bloggers (Dont ... with I Love Lucy, TV comedy writer Ken Levine opined in 2013), the specials have attracted fans old and young  most recently 6.6 million of them on Dec. 2.

Brownstein long believed The Dick Van Dyke Show would be similarly successful with colorized versions. But he had to convince Van Dyke, who was not keen on the idea after seeing the tinting done years ago on his favorite Laurel & Hardy films.

After technological improvements to the colorization process, Brownstein said he got Van Dyke to look at it with an open mind, and sold the concept to CBS in October. Stanton Rutledge, a designer for West Wing Studios who handled the project, said the results are markedly better thanks to improved computer-animation software and hardware.

Back when I was coloring films for Ted Turner, people had a right to say it looked bad, Rutledge said. I would love to redo all those films that I did back in the 80s and 90s. But there will be a whole new audience for The Dick Van Dyke Show. Millennials are never even going to know it was shot in black and white. Theyre just going to love the comedy.

The 94-year-old Reiner always maintained that the shows quality is timeless  he deliberately kept topical slang phrases and references out of the scripts  and welcomes the new exposure on a major broadcast network.

Were going to be on after 60 Minutes, he noted with the enthusiasm of a producer getting his big break.

Rutledge and Brownstein said it helped that Reiner had the color still photos of the shows set at Desilu Studios. The documentation allowed them to come up with the hues that accurately matched the Petries living room and kitchen. They also searched through old magazine ads to get the proper mid-20th-century color schemes for clothing and furnishings not seen in the photos.

On Sunday, viewers will see two of the most revered Dick Van Dyke episodes in its five-season run. Thats My Boy?? is a flashback story by writers Bill Persky and Sam Denoff in which the Petries reflect on how Rob gathered evidence that left him convinced the wrong baby had come home with Laura from the hospital after their son Richie was born.

Another spoiler alert: Rob telephones the other new parents in their neighborhood, the Peters, who had left the same hospital with their son at the same time, and presents his switched-at-birth scenario. Their arrival at the Petrie home to straighten out the matter elicited what Reiner claims is the longest studio audience laugh in TV history as Rob sees that the Peters, played by Greg Morris and Mimi Dillard, are African American.

The visual gag was a socially progressive jolt when it first aired on Sept. 25, 1963. The civil rights movement was playing out on the evening news nearly every night, but significant roles for black actors were still scant in prime time. (That same TV season, CBS affiliates were skittish over George C. Scotts topical social-worker drama East Side/West Side in which Cicely Tyson was the first black actress cast as a regular in a network hour.)

Along with the laugh, Thats My Boy?? sent a message to the TV audience that the Petries and Peters lived in the same town and their children went to school together. Reiner even made a point of having Rob Petrie note how Peters son had the best grades in the class while Richie remained an underachiever.

Reiner recalled that network executives suggested that the Peters be another nationality, but he resisted. I was always looking for ways to bring African Americans to New Rochelle, he said.

CBS is also showing the Emmy-winning 1965 episode Coast to Coast Big Mouth, where Laura Petrie appears on a game show and reveals to a network TV audience that comedy writer Robs boss, the imperious variety show host Alan Brady (played by Reiner), wears a toupee. The scene with Laura apologizing to a humiliated Brady at his desk with his secret array of hairpieces is one of the most memorable moments of the series.

More than 50 years after it first aired, Reiner still points out how the episode is unrelated to his own tonsorial choices. When I wore a wig, I always told people I was wearing a wig, he said.

The Dick Van Dyke Show  Now in Living Color!

Where: CBS

When: 8 p.m. Sunday

Rating: TV-G (suitable for all ages)

stephen.battaglio@latimes.com

Twitter: @SteveBattaglio
Consider the gauntlet thrown. Its as chic and provocative as an 11-button glove, and plenty joyful. It comes via Imperfectly Perfect, an exhibition by Rebecca Moses opening tonight at Ralph Pucci International, a cross-disciplinary wonder of illustration, one-off fashion and accessories and a glam contingent of mannequins who shatter current norms with their outrageous style. Just as the real-life models of the social media generation  Karlie, Gigi, Kendall  have, by force of their own powerful personalities, shoved aside the blandly pretty girls who walked (but never ruled) the runways in the Aughts, these fiberglass fashion girls make todays standard minimalist genre look more store dummy than dynamic presence.

Its Rebeccas world, said Pucci last week over a lunch at local haunt, Basta Pasta, following a walk-through of the almost fully installed show, an afternoons pleasure that included Moses, stylist Freddie Leiba and publicist Lou Iacovelli. She proposed it to me. I just felt the timing was right. Everyone in retail is saying you have to be different, you have to step away from what everyone else is doing, but no ones doing it.

Advertisement

Moses approached the show as a celebration of women and the visual idiosyncrasies  both genetic and cultivated via personal style  that make us who we are. Hence the shows title; these ladies are fabulous but flawed, perhaps with a crooked nose, off-center chin, or neck too this or that. Moses original plan was to use her artwork as a backdrop for the undressed mannequins, which she designed in collaboration with Puccis longtime sculptor, Michael Evert. But almost immediately, that felt wrong. These girls arent naked kind of girls; these are fashionistas, she determined. Theyre about their hair and their makeup and the accouterments. They had to be dressed.

Moses quickly rethought the show as a gallery opening in itself, her vibrant illustrations of women covering the walls in small-scale portraits; floor-to-ceiling fashion illustration and a vast mural. Coming off the elevator, guests are greeted by a series depicting imaginary women for whom Moses has created back stories. Rose  born in Liverpool. Came from a working-class family. Grew up in flea markets, second-hand shops. She was going to make it all work for her. Crystal  part African-American, part Irish. Shes got her beautiful fro and light skin, and people always wonder what she is. She hates when people asks. She says, Im me.

That, Moses said, is the ultimate message behind the show, a manifestation of a message all woman should embrace: I am undefinable. Undefinable and indescribable.

Arriving at the main gallery requires walking past an unrelated installation of work by some of the furniture designers Pucci represents. Once there, the open, pristine white space allows Moses colorful creations to pop. Twenty-nine mannequins populate the fete, some standing alone in appreciation of a canvas, others, in conversational clusters. One wears a column in a burlaplike fabric from Puccis upholstery collection, its elaborately hand-painted train detachable at the shoulders for pragmatic purposes. Another girl works a longer train dotted with multicolor blossoms reflective of a subtle theme of snowing flowers that runs throughout. Another wears a lavishly appliqued black coat. Moses made all of the clothes and jewelry and most of the handbags, save for some vintage pieces. Either way, she turned each into a one-off hand-painted gem.

But then, differentiation is the point. With mutual friend Nicole Fischelis playing matchmaker, about a year ago Moses approached Pucci with an idea for a show that would feature unusual mannequins. They would look individual, with perfectly imperfect beauty. She reasoned that the fake people positioned around stores whose job it is to entice women to shop should look, if not like real women (we should all be so lucky), then at least reflect real-life diversity. The mannequins come in several poses, with various skin tones and hair styles, some painted on, some wigs, as well as very different facial features. Moses chose not to carve the eyes, but to paint them on, allowing latitude for various shapes; one of the heads has an off-kilter chin.

I had to figure a way to find a voice for fashion. I want to bring art to fashion right now, Moses said. If people want [a fully dressed mannequin] for their home, if they want to wear the clothes, there are no rules anymore. Were in an unknown territory now.

For his part, while Pucci will sell a dressed mannequin to an eccentric collective, thats not his primary objective. Hes looking for major retailers to sign on in a new way, breaking away from the status quo of store forms that are all flat white or flat black, including mine. Very chic, but Ive been doing that for 10 years.

Might these girls have too much personality to work as the clothes change from season to season? Am I anticipating some stores to say, wow, this is fabulous but its a little too much? he mused. Yes, because theyre so used to doing the same thing over and over and over. What we need is one store to do it, one store to do a wow with it. Well see others want to do it.

Moses maintained that retail embrace of her concept requires a shift in perception, from seeing mannequins as neutral clothes hangers to representatives of the real women who will buy and wear fashion. Within each ones distinctive look, she noted the flexibility to repaint eyes and change wigs. If retailers dont differentiate themselves, they will not have a story to tell, she said. If they dont have a story to tell, they will not be retailers [for long].

Enter the prudent publicist with perspective. Especially if theyre going to bring in the selfie generation, Iacovelli offered. Its all about who they follow, and they follow themselves. So they need to walk in [to a store] and say, hey, thats my coloring, and shes got freckles like me. Theyre about themselves. Its not about how it was before  youve got to look like Twiggy or Cheryl Tiegs or whatever. Those days are long gone.

Not gone (thank God): fashions ability to telegraph joy. Whether or not youre in the market for mannequins, drop by the Pucci Gallery by Dec. 13 to experience Moses imperfectly perfect world. Youll leave smiling. And maybe, a little more forgiving of your off-kilter chin.
Metro station threat: In the Dec. 6 California section, an article about a bomb threat against a Red Line station misspelled the first name of Deirdre Fike, assistant director in charge of the FBIs office in Los Angeles, as Deidre.

Boko Haram: An article in the Dec. 3 Section A about students hunting down their former teachers in Nigeria referred to a student named Gomna as Gonma in one instance.

Steven Mnuchin: In the Nov. 30 Section A, an article about Steven Mnuchins selection as Treasury secretary referred to the Wall Street executive as a billionaire. His net worth is not known, but he does not appear on the Forbes Worlds Billionaires list.

Advertisement

If you believe that we have made an error, or you have questions about The Times journalistic standards and practices, you may contact Deirdre Edgar, readers representative, by email at readers.representative@latimes.com, by phone at (877) 554-4000, by fax at (213) 237-3535 or by mail at 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. The readers representative office is online at latimes.com/readersrep.
A San Diego State study that concluded that many California community college students are struggling to find adequate food and shelter has been overshadowed a bit by the angry response it apparently elicited from an employee of the state Department of Education.

On Monday, after co-author and SDSU professor J. Luke Wood sent the study around for feedback, he said he got a reply from Thomas Pacheco, who works for the California Department of Educations charter school division, that dismissed the study with an obscenity.

On Tuesday morning, as the Fresno Bee first reported, Wood posted a screenshot of the email on Twitter and asked of Tom Torlakson, the state superintendent of public instruction, This person is making ed policy decisions in CA?

Advertisement

We are aware that a @CADeptEd employee has been allegedly sending out inappropriate emails. We are investigating & taking immediate action.  CA Department of Education (@CADeptEd) December 6, 2016

That afternoon, the Department of Education also took to Twitter, writing that an employee has been allegedly sending out inappropriate emails and that the agency is investigating & taking immediate action.

Spokesman Bill Ainsworth declined to provide details, saying it was a personnel matter and therefore was private.

These emails in no way reflect the views of the California Department of Education, he said. We expect CDE employees to conduct themselves using the highest professional standards.

Woods tweet drew plenty of attention. On Wednesday, he tried to focus that spotlight back on the study itself.

I was very surprised and saddened, he said about the email he received, but at the same time, more saddened by the challenges that we found in the report, so I had to put it in perspective.

The study, which surveyed 3,647 community college students at seven schools statewide, concludes that about one-third of community college students experience housing insecurity and 12.2% experience food insecurity.

African American and Southeast Asian students  and multiethnic women  were more likely to be affected, the study found. These struggling students reported feeling less confident in the value of college and their ability to succeed there, and a higher proportion of them were in remedial education classes.

The report defined food insecurity as the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, or the ability to acquire such foods in socially acceptable ways. It defined housing insecurity as unaffordable housing, poor housing quality, crowding, and frequent moves in addition to homelessness.

To help students, the report recommended raising awareness among college leaders, reducing tuition and fees, making it easier to access financial aid and having comprehensive plans for addressing poverty.

A recent California State University study suggested that 1 in 10 CSU students may struggle to find stable housing.

You can reach Joy Resmovits on Twitter @Joy_Resmovits and by email at Joy.Resmovits@LATimes.com.

UPDATES:

Dec. 8, 1:18 p.m.: The photograph on this article has been replaced.

This article was originally published at 5:45 p.m. on December 7.
After months of review, haggling and soul searching, Los Angeles Board of Education members this week avoided voting on a strategic plan developed by Supt. Michelle King.

Shell go ahead with it anyway.

The plans centerpiece is a target of 100% graduation, which has never been achieved by a large school district and possibly not by a small one either. It isnt clear in the plan when the nations second-largest school system is supposed to get there or achieve other lofty goals.

That point was made Tuesday by board member Ref Rodriguez at a board committee meeting held to review Kings latest version with the help of a professional mediator. Rodriguez was one of several board members who seemed willing, until the end of the gathering, to give the plan a vote of approval.

Advertisement

In 17 pages of fairly large text, King pledges in the plan to develop a network of systems and measures to track student progress toward graduation from preschool onward.

Her latest, freshly unveiled draft puts more emphasis on early childhood education and schools with low academic achievement, King said in an interview after the meeting.

L.A. Unified made surprising progress on its graduation rate this year, with a record 75%, but that may have been achieved through lower academic standards in some makeup classes and other options students used to earn academic credits quickly. Its hard to assess because of imprecise record-keeping that has made it difficult to determine, in many cases, which options students used and how many graduated because of them.

Under the strategic plan, the graduation targets for this year and the next two are 77%, 79% and 81%, respectively. The plan also promises high academic standards.

The boards action  or lack of action  deflated what was supposed to be a dramatic, pivotal and unifying process: creating a blueprint for school success in perilous times. The district faces many challenges: financial uncertainty, declining enrollment and trepidation about what a Trump administration might mean for its large immigrant student population.

The boards formal vote on Kings plan was supposed to take place, by acclamation, at next weeks school board meeting.

We have to start putting a stake in the ground, Rodriguez said early on in Tuesdays discussion. Its about us galvanizing around the plan.

Instead, the seven-member body decided at the committee meeting not to vote at all. King, they determined, could use her own authority to press onward as she wished.

Presumably, the board still will hold her accountable if she falls short in carrying out the plan or if members later decide that it wasnt so great in the first place. In any event, their names wont be on it.

All told, King attempts in her plan to balance grand ambitions and optimistic realism  as have other past and current leaders of urban school districts.

Many education researchers would be impressed if the district hits its incremental targets. For example, the plan calls for increasing the number of students eligible to apply to a four-year state college from a projected 48% this year to 52% in 2019.

In 2005, in an earlier pie-in-the-sky promise the district vowed that this college-eligible rate was going to hit 100% by June 2016. Board member Monica Garcia defended this approach, saying such stratospheric goals had spurred remarkable improvement, even if much more remained to be done.

Without an operation plan, to me, its just words on a page.  board member Monica Ratliff

The decision Tuesday to sidestep a vote coalesced in seconds, after board member George McKenna mused about that option. His rationale was fairly obvious. He was lukewarm. He wanted to see a greater emphasis on preventing dropouts. He is also concerned that the emphasis on achieving 100% graduation could put too much focus on those who make it to senior year  drawing it away from working to rescue the much younger students who fall by the wayside as early as elementary school.

Some other board members did not state so clearly why they preferred not to vote.

But one issue that clearly stuck in their craw was that the plan laid out a vision but offered few concrete details about how the district would get there and how staff would be held accountable.

Without an operation plan, board member Monica Ratliff said, to me, its just words on a page.

King said that would be the next step, but goals had to come first. Already, shed made changes in response to board input at previous meetings. And she continued to take notes during this roundtable, which was held in an ad hoc conference room at the downtown Union Bank Plaza.

At one point, even facilitator Jeff Nelsen, the consultant brought in to mediate, described the proceedings as tedious. At the end of four grueling hours, even King seemed relieved that she could move forward, even if she had to do so without the explicit approval of her employers.

howard.blume@latimes.com

Twitter: @howardblume

MORE EDUCATION NEWS

American teens math scores fall on an international test

Students are anxious about Trump, so the L.A. public school district started a support hotline

The laws must be followed: City issues warning to L.A. school districts considering digital billboards
Pakitan PM Nawaz Sharif delivering a speech during the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Ceremony on Nov. 13, 2016. (Photo : Getty Images)

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the nuclear cooperation between China and Pakistan, and a project that is part of the One Belt, One Road initiative. This project has made great strides in the recent years, making nuclear technology become the new facet of Chinas export portfolio.



Advertisement

The Chashma Nuclear Power Plant (CHASNUPP) Unit 3 was built by state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation. It was connected to Pakistans grid last October.



In addition, the Hualong One third generation nuclear technology developed by China is being installed in a nuclear power plant in Karachi, Pakistan.



Lin Boqiang, the director for the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, said: The construction of a Hualong One nuclear unit at Karachi has set a great example for future export efforts of Chinas third-generation nuclear technology.



He also said that it is very likely that more countries will be interested on Chinas nuclear technology, as it is safe and more affordable compared to other third generation technologies available.



Han Xiaoping, the chief analyst of China5e, said: Pakistans growth has been hindered by power shortages and nuclear technology offers the country a clean and affordable option in power supply.



He also stated that there is a great potential for Chinas nuclear technology in terms of international cooperation because it has a good safety record, both domestically and abroad.



Ejaz Hussain, Iqra University Islamabads head of the department of social sciences, said: Pakistan is indubitably an energy-deficit country with traditional reliance on hydropower generation of which the capacity has gone down over the years. Every day, there is an electricity shortage of some 4,000 megawatts.



There are nuclear concerns, however, as Hussain noted that nuclear power plants pose danger to the metropolitan just in case it was hit by a tsunami or natural calamities. Karachi is known to be politically and security-wise unstable. Hence, the location is prone to terror attacks, and this is bad news for the nuclear power plant.



He said that despite the stability of the CPEC, China will have a role to play related with domestic humanitarian and green organizations.


The man police say was stabbed by the head of the California chapter of the Ku Klux Klan over the weekend contends he was attacked because of an argument over an Anaheim Klan rally that resulted in several stabbings earlier this year.

In an interview with The Times, Richard Dillon said he was attacked in North Carolina by William Hagen, the head of the California chapter of the Loyal White Knights faction of the Klan, after he criticized Hagen for endangering the lives of Klan members during the February rally.

Hagen and Richard Barker, whom experts describe as the national head of the Loyal White Knights, were both arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon Dec. 3 in North Carolina, according to the Caswell County Sheriffs Office. Both men remain in the county detention center in lieu of bail.

Advertisement

Attempts to contact attorneys for Hagen and Barker have been unsuccessful. A spokeswoman for the Caswell County district attorneys office declined to comment, and calls to the county clerks office attempting to obtain documents related to the charges have not been returned since Tuesday.

Hagen and Dillon, 47, of Hammond, Ind., had both traveled to North Carolina to attend a National Klonvocation, or meeting, of the Loyal White Knights on Dec. 2, Dillon said. The next day, they planned to take part in a Klan-sponsored demonstration celebrating Donald Trumps election victory in Roxboro, N.C., according to Dillon.

Dillon said he and Hagen were among at least two dozen people attending the meeting at Barkers home in Yanceyville, N.C., on the day they arrived. During the gathering, Dillon said Hagen confronted him about critical comments he posted on a KKK chat website after the Anaheim rally in February.

Dillon said he had previously questioned Hagens decision to lead a Klan rally in Anaheim without security, and had blasted the grand dragon for endangering Klan members lives.

The rally erupted in violence when a large group of counterprotesters attacked the handful of Klan members who attended the rally, police and prosecutors have said. Three people were stabbed by Klan members during a rolling brawl near Pearson Park, although prosecutors have said the Klan members acted in self-defense.

At the Dec. 2 meeting in North Carolina, Dillon said, he apologized to Hagen for the critical comments he made online. But the California Klan leader became aggressive after getting drunk on Skyy vodka and orange juice, according to Dillon.

Sometime after midnight, Hagen began cursing at Dillon, and Barker repeatedly urged the two men to fight, Dillon said. At one point, Hagen threatened to have Dillon thrown out of the Klan. Eventually, Hagen pulled out a knife and rushed him, Dillon said.

I knew it was time to fight for my life to get out of the home, Dillon said. I got stuck several times in the chest, my thumb was split wide open, and there was blood gushing out of my chest.

Barker soon became involved, and the three men engaged in a brawl that spilled to the outside of the home, Dillon said. Dillon struck both men in the face several times, but both continued to attack him with knives, he said.

In his police booking photograph, Hagen can be seen sporting two black eyes and cuts to his forehead and cheek.

Dillon said he stumbled to his car, staining the passenger side door with blood, as Barker continued to pursue him.

In my personal opinion I think he seen me stuck, he seen the blood pumping out of my chest, and he did not want me leaving there alive, Dillon said.

Dillon eventually escaped to a nearby hospital with a friend, where he was treated and released. He later reported the incident to the Caswell County Sheriffs Office. Barker was arrested at his home a short time later, and Hagen was arrested the next day during a motor-vehicle stop, according to Capt. Frank Rose, who oversees criminal investigations for the Sheriffs Office.

Dillon said he has now quit the Loyal White Knights and asserted that several members have also disavowed the group because of the stabbing. Experts on extremism say the Knights claim 150 to 200 members across the U.S.

Despite the near-fatal experience, Dillon said the attack did not change his beliefs and that he plans to join another faction of the Klan.

You can call me a white supremacist if thats how you feel, but I dont feel supreme to anybody. Ive got my children, and I want them to stay white, said Dillon, who contends he does not hate minorities but simply rejects multiculturalism.

Asked why he, and the Klan at large, had expressed support for Trump and planned to host a victory parade in his honor, Dillon said they were trying to make the best of a bad situation.

I voted for the better of two evils in my personal opinion, he said.

james.queally@latimes.com

Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for crime and police news in California.

ALSO

Search for remains ends at Oakland warehouse with fire death toll at 36

USC campus security officer pleads no contest to manslaughter in graduate students death

Star Wars X-Wing fighter parked on Hollywood Boulevard, but no cars allowed
Spurred by years of complaints from neighborhood groups, the Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to seek new restrictions on mansionization  the practice of constructing houses that are far larger than those nearby.

On a 13-0 vote, lawmakers asked City Atty. Mike Feuer to rewrite sections of two city ordinances that regulate the size of new homes in single-family neighborhoods and in hillside areas.

The changes were spearheaded by Councilman Paul Koretz, who represents neighborhoods stretching from the Westside north to Encino. Koretz, who began pushing for the changes in May 2014, said he has received more complaints about mansionization than about all of the other issues in his district combined.

Advertisement

Koretz said constituents have bombarded his office with complaints about very boxy, ugly homes that loom over their neighbors. The homes are being built by developers who just want to put in as many bedrooms in as possible so they can make a huge profit, he said.

Thats in the interest of speculators. But its not in the interest of homeowners in the district, and were trying to help them, Koretz added.

Neighborhood activists had worried in recent days that council members would water down some of the home-size restrictions recommended last summer by the City Planning Commission, a panel made up of mayoral appointees. But Koretz, working with Councilmen Herb Wesson, David Ryu and Jose Huizar, preserved the commissions proposals.

One mansionization measure backed by the council would reduce the square footage allowed for houses in R-1 zones  areas where only single-family homes are permitted  to 45% of the overall lot size, down from 50%.

The council also moved to eliminate provisions that have allowed homebuilders to obtain additional square footage for their projects. For example, developers have had the right to go 20% bigger when they showed they followed environmentally friendly design standards. That would disappear under the councils plan.

City lawmakers first approved a package of mansionization rules in 2008. At the time, they said it would help preserve the look and character of existing neighborhoods  particularly those developed between the 1910s and the 1940s. But critics quickly concluded that the ordinance was riddled with loopholes. They voiced dismay that some portions of a house, such as an attached garage or a covered porch, did not count toward its overall size.

Every time a house goes up for sale, were terrified.  Deni Mosser, resident near South Robertson Boulevard

With the real estate market surging in recent years, residents in older neighborhoods watched with alarm as scores of older homes  Spanish Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival and other styles  were torn down and replaced with much bigger houses.

Every time a house goes up for sale, were terrified, said Deni Mosser, a web designer who lives near South Robertson Boulevard.

Opponents of the mansionization measure say there is a demand for bigger homes  and not just by speculators. Families frequently dont want their kids sharing bedrooms, and they entertain more at home than they did decades ago, said Daniel Bibawi, who works in a West Los Angeles architecture firm.

To cram four or five people into an 1,100-square-foot house, one of these old bungalows, its a joke really, he said.

City officials expect the council to cast a vote on new ordinance language early next year. Bibawi said many of his clients are trying to get their home construction projects approved before those changes take effect. Theyre worried theyre not going to get to build what they want, he said.

Still, others argued that the mansionization measure does not go far enough. Some who attended Wednesdays council meeting said the city should no longer exclude garage space, or a portion of a garage, from the overall calculation of a new homes square footage.

Miki Jackson, a consultant with the Coalition to Preserve L.A., told city lawmakers they should also focus on protecting older apartment buildings, particularly those covered by the citys law limiting rent increases. Jacksons group is pushing a March 7 ballot measure to crack down on some large-scale development projects.

We have a historic, unique, L.A. type of housing  duplexes, courtyards, triplexes  that are being destroyed for mansions all over the city, she said. Were losing this important resource, and I think it should be very, very hard to destroy rent-stabilized housing of any kind.

david.zahniser@latimes.com

Twitter: @DavidZahniser

ALSO

L.A. plans crackdown on unsafe warehouses in wake of Oakland tragedy

Steve Lopez: L.A. should act quickly to close loopholes in mansionization ordinance

The laws must be followed: City issues warning to L.A. school districts considering digital billboards
A USC campus safety officer pleaded no contest Wednesday to vehicular manslaughter in connection with the 2015 death of a student, whose car was struck by the officers speeding cruiser.

Appearing in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom, Miguel Guerra, 37, entered the plea to the misdemeanor count and issued a formal apology to the family of Kelsey Dresser, the first-year graduate student who was killed.

A judge sentenced Guerra to 30 days in jail, 45 days of community labor, and three years of probation, according to Frank Mateljan, a spokesman for the Los Angeles City Attorneys office.

Advertisement

After his sentencing, Guerra surrendered at Los Angeles County jail. Hes scheduled to be released Dec. 18. His attorney, Bill Genego, could not immediately be reached for comment. Guerras current employment status with USC was unclear.

This was an unprecedented and heartbreaking event for the entire USC community and our condolences go out to the family and friends of Kelsey Dresser, a university spokesman said in a statement.

Dresser, 23, was driving her 1995 Chrysler LeBaron convertible west on Jefferson Boulevard about 6:30 a.m. on Dec. 3, 2015, when she turned left across traffic into the Royal Street entrance to campus, police said.

Guerra was heading east on Jefferson, responding to a report of a stranger in a parking garage, when he T-boned Dressers car, according to Craig McClellan, an attorney representing Dressers family in a civil lawsuit against USC.

The posted speed limit at the intersection was 25 mph, but McClellan said crash data from the officers car indicated he was driving at about 69 mph before the collision.

Upon impact, Dressers convertible skidded about 40 feet, coming to a stop near a fence at a university entrance, according to video of the collision released by McClellans office.

Dressers head banged against her car, causing internal injuries and brain damage. She was pronounced dead at a hospital the next day. The coroner listed the cause of death as traumatic head injuries.

Dresser had Marfan syndrome, an inherited disorder that weakens tissue that holds together skin, muscles and organs and is marked by enlarged hands and feet, impaired vision and heart issues.

Health conditions related to Marfan syndrome were a contributing cause of her death, along with a rare heart condition that can lead to sudden death, according to the coroners report. The Carlsbad native also had a history of seizures.

McClellan has previously said that Dresser was not limited by her medical conditions.

The lawsuit, which was filed Sept. 21, contends that Guerra was not properly trained or supervised by USCs Department of Public Safety. The suit seeks unspecified damages and is pending in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

matt.hamilton@latimes.com

Twitter: @MattHjourno.

UPDATES:

8:15 p.m.: This story was updated with comments from a USC spokesman.

This story was originally published at 4:45 p.m.
The city of Lynwood is close to approving a measure that would allow businesses to grow medical marijuana within city limits. If it gains final passage, the southeast city of 70,000 would be among the first in Los Angeles County to issue such permits.

On a 3-1 vote, the City Council on Tuesday approved the first reading of an ordinance that would amend the zoning code to allow commercial cannabis producers to cultivate and manufacture marijuana in industrial zones.

As a responsible city government, it is incumbent on us to issue strict controls, regulations and license the growing and manufacturing of cannabis, Lynwood spokesman Robert Alaniz said in a statement Wednesday. And that we set the standard for local municipal regulation of Californias newest and voter approved industry.

Advertisement

In November, California voters approved Proposition 64, which legalized the recreational use of marijuana. The new law allows Californians who are 21 and older to possess, transport and use up to an ounce of cannabis for recreational purposes and allows individuals to grow as many as six plants. The measure will also allow retail sales of marijuana and impose a 15% tax.

If passed, Lynwoods law would allow the licensing of up to five businesses to grow or manufacture marijuana at any given time. Those properties cannot be within 600 feet of a school or daycare facility or within 50 feet of a residential zone.

The proposed ordinance was drafted before passage of Proposition 64. City officials said the measure could be amended to include manufacture of recreational marijuana, but Alaniz said no decision on whether to seek that change has been made.

The ordinance will need at least one more reading before it becomes law. The measure is scheduled to be heard again at the Dec. 20 council meeting.

Aaron Herzberg of CalCann Holdings, a marijuana real estate company, said Lynwood would be among the first cities in Los Angeles County to license the growing, manufacture and extraction of cannabis. Herzberg estimates that locally produced cannabis could generate as much as $5 million in annual tax revenue for the city.

City officials said they want to regulate cannabis-related businesses to protect the safety of residents and generate much-needed revenue to maintain the city.

We anticipate that our rigorous rules will ensure public safety, generate local jobs and stimulate the local economy while generating substantial revenue for the city to pay for critically needed city services, Alaniz said.

The proposed law would not change the citys stance on medical marijuana dispensaries, which would still be banned, officials said.

For more California breaking news, follow @AngelJennings. She can also be reached at angel.jennings@latimes.com.
For four days, they sifted through despair.

The fire that climbed walls and felled a roof had left a sprawling Oakland warehouse blanketed in charred debris. Among the ashes lay an unknown number of bodies. The expertise of two doctors who had combed through wreckage after 9/11 would help.

What they found would test the resolve of the searchers. The remains of high school sweethearts cradling each other. The teenage boy who turned out to be the son of a local sheriffs deputy.

Officials had to ask family members and friends to gather items that would help with DNA identification of the missing: a hairbrush, an article of clothing, an old toothbrush.

Advertisement

Meanwhile, authorities fielded hundreds of missing persons reports  some from parents who had not seen their children for a while but thought they might be in Oakland  as well as pleas from desperate callers.

The bleak undertaking wound down Wednesday after cadaver dogs helped with one last sweep of the ruins. Authorities announced the search for bodies at the Ghost Ship had come to a close. The final number of victims: 36.

Its excruciating to walk through and to possibly relive those last moments when persons knew there was a fire and there was no way out, said Mark Pazin, chief of law enforcement for the Governors Office of Emergency Services.

The searchers worked 12-hour shifts. They tried to operate around the clock but had to stop periodically because of structural concerns about the building. Officials said it was important that the search be done both methodically and respectfully, to preserve evidence for investigators while keeping in mind the grief of the families waiting for answers. All the while, there was concern that some searchers could be hurt by falling debris and collapsing structures.

Some workers collected evidence in the warehouse that was examined outside.

It was quiet. It was heartbreaking, Melinda Drayton, an Oakland Fire Department battalion chief, told reporters during one of the news conferences in front of the warehouse.

As the recovery effort continued, deputies sat down with victims family members, many of whom shared mementos, photos and memories.

They wanted us to know who we were dealing with, Alameda County Sheriffs Sgt. Ray Kelly said.

Others showed text messages they had received from those trapped by the flames. Many were simple: I love you. Some, harrowing: I am going to die, one victim wrote to her mother.

1 / 24 The ruins of the Ghost Ship warehouse in Oakland, the site of a fire that killed at least 36 people, are seen from above on Dec. 5. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 24 Debris litters the inside of a warehouse where a fire killed 36 people during a club-style party. (David Butow / For The Times) 3 / 24 A firefighter walks through the burned-out Oakland warehouse on Saturday. (David Butow / For The Times) 4 / 24 Firefighters walk through a debris-strewn warehouse where a fire killed at least nine people in Oakland. (David Butow / For The Times) 5 / 24 A drone flies over investigators outside Oaklands Ghost Ship warehouse, where 36 people died this month in one of the worst fires in modern California history. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 24 Titus Cromwell, 4, places a flower from his familys garden near the scene of the Ghost Ship warehouse fire in Oakland. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 24 In the days after the Ghost Ship fire in Oakland, hearts dedicated to victims were hung from a nearby tree. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 24 Daryl Norman, 63, of Oakland stops by the scene of the fire on his way to church in Oakland. I had to come see for myself, he said of the 36 victims. God bless them. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 24 People stand at the perimeter holding flowers while watching crews remove material from what remains of the Ghostship warehouse fire, that burned and killed at least 36 people in the Oakland neighborhood of Fruitvale. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 24 An art installation near the scene of the Ghost Ship fire. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 24 People pay their respects Dec. 11 near the scene of the warehouse fire. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 24 Mourners observe a moment of silence for the lives lost in the Ghost Ship warehouse fire at the Oakland Museum of California on Friday evening. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles TImes) 13 / 24 ATF agents map the scene of the fire investigation Friday at the Ghost Ship warehouse in Oakland. (Francine Orr/ Los Angeles Times) (Francine Orr / Los Angeles TImes) 14 / 24 Rain falls on the memorial for victims of the Oakland warehouse fire. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles TImes) 15 / 24 Hillary Morse, 22, of Oakland mourns the loss of two of her close friends in the warehouse fire in Oakland. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 24 Jacob Ramirez, 4, left, looks on while his grandmother Eva Ramirez, 52, consoles Hillary Morse, 22, right, of Oakland near the site of the warehouse fire in Oakland. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 24 Flowers, candles and notes, memorializing those killed and injured in the Ghostship warehouse fire that burned and killed at least 36 people in the Oakland neighborhood of Fruitvale. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 24 A makeshift memorial of flowers and candles stands Dec. 4 near the site of the Oakland warehouse fire. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 24 A man who identified himself as Ben P. reads cards on Sunday at a memorial near the site of the blaze. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 24 Kristen Grzeca, a music teacher at Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, hugs Monina Sen Cervone, director of world music and dance at the school, on Sunday at a makeshift memorial for victims of the warehouse fire. A 17-year-old victim was one of Grzecas students. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 24 After attending church, Teionna Cunningham of Oakland leaves flowers near the site of the fire. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 24 A Seventh Day Adventist group prays on Sunday near the scene of the fire on 31st Avenue in Oakland. (David Butow / For The Times) 23 / 24 Flowers are left near an Oakland warehouse where a fire broke out during a concert, killing 36 people. (David Butow / For The Times) 24 / 24 Dino Graniello, left, and Jessie Xenakis light candles near the scene of a warehouse fire in Oakland that killed at least two dozen partygoers. (David Butow / For The Times)

With recovery efforts now over, authorities have focused on the cause of the devastation.

Officials have said they are examining possible electrical problems with a refrigerator and other appliances, although they stressed they have not made any final determinations and that it could take several weeks to find an answer.

A small area along a back wall of the building is believed to be the fires point of origin.

The blaze appears to have started on the first floor, said Jill A. Snyder, special agent in charge of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in San Francisco. The victims were trapped and overtaken by smoke that traveled up internal stairwells.

The fire was well-developed by the time second-floor occupants realized there was a fire going on the first floor, she said. The building had two internal staircases connecting the top and bottom floors, but no fire exits to the outside from the second floor.

Investigators determined the warehouse was not equipped with fire alarms or a fire suppression system, Snyder said. They also still need to determine the layout of the gutted building.

Former residents of the warehouse have described it as a serious fire danger, littered with trash and old furniture and lacking fire sprinklers. Photos from inside the building taken before the fire show a maze of electrical wires as well as a heating system that appeared to be hooked up to portable propane generators.

Firefighters on scene of the Oakland warehouse fire. (David Butow / For The Times )

City officials said it was zoned for use as a warehouse, not for housing or as a concert venue.

Jean M. Daly, a former arson prosecutor in Los Angeles and San Francisco who specializes in fire cases, said fire investigators study a flames burn patterns and intensity.

The heavier the damage, the longer the burn, the more likely it is the area of origin, Daly said. She added that wiring and appliances believed to be involved would undergo microscopic lab examinations.

The age of the warehouses wiring will also be an issue, said Robert Rowe, a former Downey Fire Department marshal.

Back when this was a warehouse, its electrical system was designed for a particular purpose, he said. But modern equipment, laptops, chargers, sound systems, air conditioners and fridges place a very different burden on the system.

The fire has raised concerns about nonpermitted dwellings throughout the city. Oakland officials have begun releasing administrative records concerning the building known as the Ghost Ship, which was the focus of nearly two dozen building code complaints or other city actions over the past 30 years.

At least three of the complaints appeared to assert that structures had been built inside the warehouse without permits or that the property was being used as a residence. Others cited illegal parking and mounds of debris piled up on the sidewalk and in an adjoining vacant lot.

An inspector who visited the warehouse 15 days before the fire to investigate a possible illegal interior building structure was unable to get inside.

According to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, the city followed up by sending a request to the warehouse owner to gain entry. City Planning and Building Department reports released Wednesday, however, indicate only that the city sent a violation notice demanding debris outside the building be cleaned up.

Schaaf said the city eventually would release records of all violations and other actions related to the warehouse, documents requested by numerous news outlets under Californias public records laws.

By Wednesday afternoon, the Ghost Ship had nearly emptied.

Fire crews folded up ladders and placed shovels on the back of a vehicle. Tents stationed in front of the building for days were disassembled. TV news cameras disappeared. Oakland fire trucks backed out of the site and drove away.

Times staff writers Soumya Karlamangla, Javier Panzar and Paige St. John in Oakland and Joseph Serna, Hailey Branson-Potts and Matt Hamilton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

ALSO

Oakland fire: How civil and criminal cases might play out

Nearly two dozen complaints had been filed against site of deadly Oakland fire, records show

Suspects in catastrophic Oakland fire: Refrigerators, old wiring, overtaxed electrical system
The Senate overwhelmingly approved a $619-billion defense authorization bill Thursday that includes direct help for thousands of California National Guard soldiers and veterans facing repayment demands for long-ago enlistment bonuses.

The bill sets strict limits on the governments ability to recoup money from any California Guard soldier or veteran who unknowingly received an improper bonus payment from the start of 2004 to the end of 2015.

It also requires the California Guard to reimburse any soldier who already has repaid the government and to notify credit agencies that any debt previously reported was invalid.

Advertisement

The compromise legislation passed the Senate, 92 to 7, days after it won House approval by a similarly lopsided margin. The bill sets military spending levels higher than the administration sought, but President Obama is expected to sign it into law.

One provision in the mammoth National Defense Authorization Act directs the Pentagon to set up a board to fast-track case reviews of the estimated 9,700 California Guard soldiers who received enlistment bonuses or other financial incentives in error.

Most of the improper payments ranged from $15,000 to $50,000 each, and some date back more than a decade. The California Guard was scrambling at the time to provide troops for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Under the bill, the review board will recommend which California Guard soldiers should have their debts fully or partially waived and which should be required to repay some or all of their bonuses. It sets a deadline to complete the work by July.

The bill largely tracks orders that Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced on Oct. 26, days after the Los Angeles Times first reported widespread complaints about the repayment program and heavy-handed tactics  including tax liens and wage garnishments  being used to collect the debts from soldiers and veterans.

Peter Levine, the Pentagon official appointed by Carter to head the review, said at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Wednesday that he expected 90% of the debts to be effectively forgiven at the outset.

The legislation thus will effectively end the bulk of the controversial five-year effort to recoup money from thousands of California Guard soldiers who accepted bonuses and other financial incentives to go to war. Many served in combat, and some were badly injured.

Although the bill gives discretion to the Defense secretary, it says recoupment is unwarranted unless the Pentagon review board determines the soldier knew or reasonably should have known that he or she was ineligible for the bonus.

By putting the burden on the Pentagon to prove a soldier was ineligible, the law is intended to produce debt waivers for most of the soldiers previously ordered to repay bonuses from 2004 to 2015, according to lawmakers.

The provision applies only to the California Guard because the Pentagon is concerned about the possibility of National Guard soldiers from other states trying to seek relief from their debts.

Its unclear how the Pentagon board will handle soldiers who were ordered to repay bonuses because they left the California Guard before they had completed their enlistment terms or because they changed military occupations during their enlistment period.

Many soldiers awarded $15,000 bonuses signed contracts agreeing to serve for six years, for example. Those who left early were ordered to repay the money, according to California Guard officials.

Other soldiers got bonuses for accepting special military jobs, such as medics and translators. If they changed assignments before their enlistment expired, they also technically voided their bonus, officials said.

Soldiers ordered by superiors to change military jobs should be able to keep their bonuses, while those who did so on their own initiative should have to repay them, Maj. Gen. David Baldwin, the California Guard commander, told the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday.

The intent is not to recoup from soldiers that did not know what was going on, said Baldwin, who has led the repayment effort since 2011.

Even some members of Congress who favored forgiving most of the California Guard bonus debts said that soldiers who were absent without leave and failed to finish their required tours should repay the money.

Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough) told the House committee on Wednesday that medical professionals apparently got as much as $80,000 in enlistment bonuses and other incentives, but that some had left before completing their six-year enlistments.

We should claw back every single dime of that money, she said.

Under the bill, if the Pentagon forgives a bonus debt, it must inform national credit agencies to correct any downgrades of credit scores used to consider applications for car loans, home mortgages and other commercial debts.

The bill does not cover California Guard members who engaged in fraud or misrepresentation. A handful were convicted or pleaded guilty to fraudulently accepting a bonus, officials said.

Estimates vary, but wiping out the bonus debts could cost tens of millions of dollars. The bill does not cite a specific figure but said the California Guard must bear the cost from the budget it gets from the Pentagon.

The provision was included in a defense bill that sets policy guidelines for all Pentagon spending programs for fiscal 2017, from base security to troop levels.

It authorizes $618.7 billion, including $67.8 billion in an overseas contingency operations account that pays for wartime operations abroad. The total is about $9 billion more than Obama had sought.

The bill outlines major changes to military procurement systems, boosts authority for the Pentagons cyberwarfare arm and cuts staffing levels at the White House National Security Council.

It also includes a 2.1% pay raise for troops and increases the number of active duty personnel in the Army, Air Force and Marines.

david.cloud@latimes.com

Twitter: @davidcloudLAT

ALSO:

Thousands of California soldiers forced to repay enlistment bonuses a decade after going to war

Defense secretary orders Pentagon to stop seeking repayment of California National Guard bonuses

Congress proposals would let California National Guard soldiers keep millions in bonuses

UPDATES:

2:55 p.m.: This article was updated with new details of how the defense authorization bill affects thousands of California Guard soldiers and veterans who have been ordered to repay enlistment bonuses.

This article was originally published at 10:10 a.m.
A Florida woman has been charged with making death threats against the parent of a child killed in the Sandy Hook school massacre because she thought the attack was a hoax, federal authorities announced Wednesday.

Lucy Richards, 57, of Tampa was arrested Monday after a grand jury indictment on four felony counts of transmitting threats, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement.

The threats were made Jan. 10, according to authorities, and included messages that said, you gonna die, death is coming to you real soon, and LOOK BEHIND YOU IT IS DEATH.

Advertisement

Another threat said, theres nothing you can do about it, according to court documents.

The indictment said the threats were made in Palm Beach County to a person identified only by the initials L.P. Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Schall wouldnt say how the threats were delivered or provide more details, nor would she provide details about why federal authorities said Richards thought the 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Conn., was a hoax.

The messages quoted in the indictment match a series of voicemails released online in January and this week by Lenny Pozner and others who have sought to debunk conspiracy theories surrounding Sandy Hook and other mass slayings. Pozners 6-year-old son, Noah, was in his first-grade classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School when he was killed.

A friend of Pozner confirmed that Pozner was the target of the threats detailed in the indictment released Wednesday.

The friend responded on Pozners behalf to emails and other messages sent to Pozner, saying the family had been told by federal prosecutors not to talk to the media about the case. He spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of fear of retaliation by people who believe the shootings did not take place.

A year ago, Pozner and his ex-wife called on Florida Atlantic University to fire a professor that the couple said taunted them with blog posts about the Sandy Hook massacre being staged.

The heartache of burying a child is a sorrow we would not wish upon anyone. Yet to our horror, we have found that there are some in this society who lack empathy for the suffering of others. Among them are the conspiracy theorists that deny our tragedy was real. They seek us out and accuse us of being government agents who are faking our grief and lying about our loss, they wrote in an opinion piece published by the Sun Sentinel.

The professor was fired in January, and he is now suing FAU for violating his constitutional rights.

Others linked to the Sandy Hook massacre also have reported harassment by conspiracy theorists who argue the event was staged to erode support for the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms.

A New York City man accused of approaching the sister of slain Sandy Hook teacher Victoria Soto and angrily claiming the massacre hadnt happened was sentenced to two years of probation in April as part of a plea deal. A teacher in the Newtown School District told a court in September that he had brought a weapon to school because he feared for his safety after receiving what he said were threats from conspiracy theorists. A Connecticut man was charged in September for allegedly phoning in a threat to the new Sandy Hook Elementary School, which opened this fall to replace the school demolished after shootings.

Richards indictment comes nearly four years after the Dec. 14, 2012, shootings in which a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook. He also killed himself and his mother.

Richards awaits an initial court appearance Dec. 19 in Fort Lauderdale. Court records didnt list an attorney for her.

Each felony charge of transmitting threats is punishable by up to five years in prison in event of a conviction.

ALSO

Dylann Roof trial: He put five bullets in my son, church attack survivor testifies

Why are thousands of geese dying in a toxic pit in Montana?

75 years after the Pearl Harbor attack, ceremonies and a push to capture survivors stories
Democrats draw sharper battle lines in tug of war over party leadership By Chris Megerian Even as Democrats try to move past last years defeats, their internal fault lines show signs of deepening in the campaign for the partys leadership. The latest evidence came Wednesday when former Vice President Joe Biden endorsed Thomas E. Perez, who served as President Obamas Labor secretary, to chair the Democratic National Committee. We have a lot of good people vying for this important job, Biden said in a statement. But I do think for this moment and in this time, Tom Perez is our best bet to help bring the party back. The endorsement was seen as more evidence that key members of the recently departed Obama administration were backing Perez. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) with Sen. Bernie Sanders. (Alex Wong / Getty Images) It was followed by a statement from Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont reiterating his support for Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), another leading candidate in the race. Although Sanders lost to Hillary Clinton in the presidential primary, he has continued to try to pull Democrats to the left, and he has emphasized the need to create a grass-roots party. Obama left office with strong poll numbers, but under his watch, Democrats lost power not only in Washington but in states around the country, something Sanders and his allies have stressed in the fight over the party chairmanship. The question is simple: Do we stay with a failed status-quo approach or do we go forward with a fundamental restructuring of the Democratic Party? Sanders said. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Border Patrol chief is abruptly out after being brought in as a reformer By Brian Bennett The chief of the Border Patrol will leave his post at the end of the month, likely the result of a change in direction by the Trump administration and a reflection of the new power of the agencys union. Mark Morgan, the agencys head, was hired from the FBI in June to reform the force after a series of corruption allegations and problems with excessive force. He will leave the Border Patrol abruptly after seven months on the job, according to a person familiar with the decision who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Morgans departure was first reported by the Associated Press. Morgan spent 20 years at the FBI and was first brought to Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrols parent agency, in 2014 to overhaul its internal affairs division. After a subsequent stint running the FBIs training academy, he started the top job at the Border Patrol in June. The Border Patrols union had opposed Morgans appointment, preferring a candidate who had risen through the ranks of the agency. The union endorsed President Trump in the election, breaking with its practice of remaining neutral in elections. News of Morgans departure comes a day after Trump announced he would build a border wall and hire 5,000 more Border Patrol agents, bringing the total force to 26,000. Trump said the Border Patrol union would have a lot of clout in department decisions. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump was silent on new U.S. sanctions against Russia, but he praises Putins response By Michael A. Memoli After President Obama on Thursday announced retaliatory measures against the Russian government for what the U.S. has concluded were efforts to interfere in the election, President-elect Donald Trumps response was terse and dismissive, saying it was time to move on to bigger and better things. But after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that he would not respond in kind to the U.S. actions  preferring to wait until the new administration takes office  Trump weighed in with high praise. Great move on delay (by V. Putin) - I always knew he was very smart!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 30, 2016 Trumps tweet did not appear to be off the cuff. As if to underscore his sentiment, Trump affixed the tweet to the top of his Twitter feed. And he posted an Instagram photo shortly after, quoting himself. View Instagram post Trumps effusive words were particularly striking given the bipartisan view of Putin as more adversary than ally. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said they supported the Obama administrations move to expel Russian diplomats and block access to two properties owned by its government. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) is expected to call a hearing on Russias cyber activities when the new Congress convenes next week. A Trump transition spokesman was asked earlier Friday whether Trump had spoken or planned to speak with Putin before his inauguration. The priority right now is for the president[-elect] to get an update next week from the intelligence community, Sean Spicer said. Trumps praise did get tacit approval from some quarters. The Russian embassy in Washington retweeted it. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Most popular White House petitions included requests to label a hate group and deport Justin Bieber By Colleen Shalby Over the past five years, Americans have produced and signed nearly 5,000 petitions through the White Houses We the People site. How could we ever forget the effort to get the Obama administration on board with building a Death Star? Some, like that one and a petition to deport Justin Bieber, resulted only in conversation. But others made an impact. The Pew Research Center analyzed the petitions in a recent report. They ranged from serious, like an effort to ban gay conversion therapy at a state level that led the president in 2015 to support states bans, to playful. A request for Obama to appear on a previously unvisited talk show, for example, prompted him to appear on Real Time with Bill Maher in January 2016. In 2015, 106-year-old Virginia McLaurin requested a meeting with the first black president, something she never thought shed live to see. Her petition garnered only 19 signatures. But it nonetheless resulted in one of first couples most memorable meetings, this dance party: The petitioning system, launched in 2011, was part of Obamas open-government initiative. The most common topics for petitioning included healthcare, veterans issues and requests to honor individuals, such as Yogi Berra, and create or officially recognize holidays, like Talk Like a Pirate Day. While not every petition made a change or elicited a response from the White House, many captured a momentary pulse of the nation. Here are the five most popular: Legally recognize the Westboro Baptist Church as a hate group, posted Dec. 14, 2012; 367,180 signatures. Establish justice and prevent a great catastrophe, posted April 4, 2016; 331,914 signatures. File charges against the 47 U.S. senators in violation of the Logan Act in attempting to undermine a nuclear agreement, posted March 9, 2015; gained 322,117 signatures. Ask President Obama to appear on HBOs Real Time with Bill Maher,  posted Jan. 15, 2016; 314,226 signatures. Deport Justin Bieber and revoke his green card, posted Jan. 23, 2014; 273,698 signatures. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Obama slaps Russia with sanctions for meddling in the U.S. election By Christi Parsons In the most sweeping retaliation against Russia in decades, President Obama slapped the country with new penalties Thursday for meddling in the U.S. presidential election, kicking out dozens of suspected spies and imposing banking restrictions on five people and four organizations the administration says were involved. All Americans should be alarmed by Russias actions, Obama said in a statement. Such activities have consequences. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

How Trump and an Obamacare rollback could affect the growing gig economy By Chicago Tribune Gabby Golub of Chicago does chalkboard art for bars and restaurants in addition to driving for Lyft and working part time at her old high school. (Kristan Lieb / Chicago Tribune) A growing share of the U.S. workforce is reyling on alternative work arrangements, which include on-demand gigs through online platforms like Lyft or Uber as well as work through temporary help agencies, freelance assignments and independent contracts. The Bureau of Labor Statistics plans to conduct a comprehensive survey of these so-called contingent workers next year, its first since 2005, helping policymakers understand the size and makeup of a workforce not covered by many labor protections or privy to the benefits that come with a traditional employer relationship. Whether policy will catch up to the labor shifts is a question experts will watch in 2017. A major conversation point has been how to develop portable benefits that give gig economy workers access to retirement plans, unemployment insurance and paid sick leave even as they move from job to job. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Trump touts plans by Sprint and OneWeb to create 8,000 U.S. jobs By Jim Puzzanghera (Don Emmert / AFP/Getty Images) President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday touted plans by telecom company Sprint and technology start-up OneWeb to hire a total of 8,000 workers in the U.S. in what he said was very good news for the economy. He appeared to be highlighting previously made jobs announcements. OneWeb, which is building a network of satellites to deliver high-speed Internet access, said on Dec. 19 that it expected to create nearly 3,000 jobs in the U.S. over the next four years after securing $1.2 billion in funding, mostly from Japans SoftBank Group Corp. And the head of SoftBank, which owns Sprint, said on Dec. 6 that the company had agreed to invest $50 billion in the U.S. and create 50,000 jobs here. The announcement by SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son came after he met with Trump at Trump Tower in New York City. Trump touted it that day. Speaking at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on Wednesday, Trump said Sprint was going to be bringing 5,000 jobs back to the United States. They have taken them from other countries. They are bringing them back to the United States, Trump said. Sprint, though, said in a statement that the jobs would be a mixture of new positions and others that were reinstated. It wasnt clear whether those jobs were part of the 50,000 that were mentioned earlier in the month at Trump Tower. We are excited to work with President-Elect Trump and his administration to do our part to drive economic growth and create jobs in the U.S., said Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure. We believe it is critical for business and government to partner together to create more job opportunities in the U.S. and ensure prosperity for all Americans. Trump also said the OneWeb hiring is very exciting. OneWeb did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 3:25 p.m.: This story was updated with comment from Sprint. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Kerry offers fierce defense of Obamas support for Israel, urges resumption of Mideast peace talks By Laura King Secretary of State John Kerry outlines his proposals for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (Zach Gibson / Getty Images) With President-elect Donald Trump tweeting from the sidelines, Secretary of State John F. Kerry on Wednesday outlined broad principles for reviving the moribund Israel-Palestinian peace process -- calls that quickly ignited a new burst of Israeli anger against the Obama administration. Kerrys lengthy and impassioned address, delivered at the State Department, marked the latest chapter in an unusually bitter public clash between the United States and Israel -- and the even more extraordinary spectacle of a president-elect again inserting himself into a sensitive diplomatic matter before taking office. In a speech lasting more than an hour, Kerry appealed for a hiatus in Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, called on Palestinian leaders to explicitly denounce terrorist attacks against Israelis, and warned repeatedly that the prospects for a two-state solution, with Israel and a Palestinian state existing side-by-side, were in jeopardy. We cannot in good conscience do nothing, and say nothing, when we see the hope of peace slipping away, he said. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Former California lieutenant governor will meet with Trump to discuss running Agriculture department By Michael A. Memoli Abel Maldonado. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times) President-elect Donald Trump is considering former California Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado to lead the Agriculture department, a move that would bring greater diversity to the Republicans Cabinet. Maldonado will meet with Trump on Wednesday at his Palm Beach, Fla., estate. Trump spokesman Sean Spicer noted that Maldonado, owner of Runway Vineyards in the Santa Maria Valley, comes from three generations of farmers and has strong roots in the agriculture industry of California. Trump will also meet with Dr. Elsa Murano, the former president of Texas A&M University and a former Agriculture undersecretary for food safety, in connection to the post, one of the few Cabinet positions yet unfilled. Maldonado, 49, was once considered to be the kind of Republican who could break through the partys struggle to attract widespread Latino support. A Santa Barbara County farmer whose parents were Mexican farmworker immigrants, he served as mayor of Santa Maria before being elected to the state Assembly in 1998. Perhaps Maldonados most notable political moment came when he worked with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to force Democrats to embrace the top-two primary system for California during negotiations on the state budget crisis in 2009. Schwarzenegger rewarded Maldonado with the appointment to the then-vacant post of lieutenant governor in 2010. But Maldonados role in helping push the nonpartisan primary system made him a pariah among many conservative Republicans, and he failed in subsequent races for Congress in 2012 and a brief flirtation with a run for governor in 2014. If nominated and confirmed, Maldonado would be the sole Latino in Trumps Cabinet. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump attacks Obama over Israel just ahead of Kerrys speech on the Mideast By Michael A. Memoli The detente between President Obama and President-elect Donald Trump, as both aimed to portray a smooth transition of power, appears in jeopardy. Trump condemned the Obama administrations foreign policy on Wednesday, tweeting he was doing his best to overlook inflammatory Obama moves, while engaging in 1990s-style sarcasm. Doing my best to disregard the many inflammatory President O statements and roadblocks.Thought it was going to be a smooth transition - NOT!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2016 Last week, Obama decided to have the U.S. abstain from a United Nations Security Council vote on a resolution condemning Israeli settlement activity, which allowed the measure to pass. The vote angered Israeli leaders, who accused senior U.S. officials of complicity in drafting the resolution, a claim disputed by the U.S. We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect. They used to have a great friend in the U.S., but.......  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2016 not anymore. The beginning of the end was the horrible Iran deal, and now this (U.N.)! Stay strong Israel, January 20th is fast approaching!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2016 Trumps postings came just before Secretary of State John F. Kerry delivered a major address on U.S. foreign policy that included a rebuttal to Israeli government criticisms of the Obama administration. Trumps statement of support for Israel was welcomed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has long had a tense relationship with Obama. President-elect Trump, thank you for your warm friendship and your clear-cut support for Israel! @IvankaTrump @DonaldJTrumpJr https://t.co/lURPimG0wS  Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) December 28, 2016 Trump transition spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters that the president-elects tweets speak for themselves, very clearly. He also stressed that White House officials have been helpful and generous with their time, at least in terms of the mechanics of the transition. In a brief statement to reporters Wednesday night, Trump said he had a general conversation with Obama during the day. Very, very nice, was how the president-elect described the chat, which he said Obama initiated. A White House spokesman confirmed the call and characterized it as positive. When asked whether he thinks the U.S. should exit the U.N., Trump repeated his earlier comments that the global body is not living up to its potential. When do you see the United Nations solving problems? he asked. They dont, they cause problems, so if it lives up to its potential its a great thing, if it doesnt its a waste of time. The U.N. seemed to respond to Trump on Monday, in a message pinned to the top of its Twitter feed: Here's a list of 10 ways the UN makes a difference in the lives of millions every day.



See what else we do: https://t.co/MGT7G5uPFL pic.twitter.com/nMxHV0rvkf  United Nations (@UN) December 26, 2016 Times staff writer Christi Parsons in Honolulu contributed to this report. 5:10 p.m.: This story was updated with White House comment. 2:45 p.m.: This story was updated with Trumps comments. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

John Kerry, tireless in his diplomatic efforts, often came up empty-handed By Tracy Wilkinson John F. Kerry is nothing if not indefatigable, traveling to all corners of the world as Americas top diplomat over the last four years. But as he prepares to leave office, he confronts a mixed legacy: a handful of successes coupled with searing defeats, especially in the Middle East. His inability to halt the carnage in Syria, or to block Russias growing influence, ranks as the most serious blot on his record. But he also got nowhere trying to end the Israeli-Palestinian standoff, or to stop Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally, from bombing civilians in Yemen. Kerrys greatest success was the historic accord to curtail Irans nuclear development program and a landmark climate change treaty to limit greenhouse gas emissions and slow global warming. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

At Pearl Harbor, Obama says we must resist the urge to demonize those who are different By Christi Parsons Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Obama. (Marco Garcia / Associated Press) President Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe scattered petals together on the waters of Pearl Harbor on Tuesday in a symbolic act aimed at laying to rest the enmity of the Japanese attack 75 years ago that drew the U.S. into World War II. In a moment consumed with history, both leaders were fixed on the future. They expressed concern that the lessons of the war might be forgotten amid a shifting world order and the anti-internationalist sentiment that has swept over politics around the globe, most notably with the ascendance of President-elect Donald Trump. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Obama and Japans Abe to visit Pearl Harbor amid renewed talk of nuclear concerns By Christi Parsons Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu on Monday. (AFP/Getty Images) President Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are scheduled to honor the war dead at Pearl Harbor on Tuesday, marking the 75th anniversary of the attack that thrust the U.S. into World War II. The visit was planned as a coda to Obamas visit to Hiroshima in May, where Abe hosted him as the first sitting president to visit the site where the U.S. dropped one of two nuclear bombs in 1945 to end the war, the only instances of nuclear attacks in history. But the visit has taken on a new meaning. President-elect Donald Trump reawakened old fears of a nuclear arms race last week by declaring his commitment to strengthen and expand U.S. nuclear capability. In his remarks at Pearl Harbor, Obama will have an opportunity to address those renewed anxieties and to lay out the dangers of an arms race. Obama has fought to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons and to secure existing caches. The visit is meant to highlight the strength of the relationship between the U.S. and Japan, an administration official said. Several Japanese prime ministers before Abe have visited the Pearl Harbor site. But Abe is the first to go to the memorial at the resting place of the battleship Arizona, where 1,177 American military personnel died in the Japanese aerial attack on Dec. 7, 1941. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Will the Feds Janet Yellen take away the punch bowl after Trump takes office? By Don Lee After three years of almost single-handedly juicing up the slow-growing economy, Janet L. Yellen and the Federal Reserve should be looking at easier days ahead. Yellen, in what will probably be her last full year as Fed chair, may finally get help from somewhere else in Washington. Tax cuts and infrastructure spending planned by President-elect Donald Trump, if backed by the Republican-controlled Congress, would lighten the load for a Fed whose easy-money policies have been the primary economic support for the nation. She is already breathing easier on the Feds employment mandate; the jobless rate has fallen to a nine-year low of 4.6%. Inflation, too, is under control and, by all accounts, creeping toward the central banks optimal level of 2%. And yet, Yellen may come under as much economic and political pressure as ever, on both the Feds policy and the independence of the institution. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Obama says he could have beaten Trump By Tracy Wilkinson (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press) President Obama says he could have defeated Donald Trump in last months election by recapturing the same vision of hope that twice carried him to the presidency. Obama also was mildly critical of the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, saying her campaign didnt do enough to get her message out. The remarks were notable because Obama has been careful since the election to avoid criticizing Trump, or to deliver a post-mortem on Clintons failed bid. Obama spoke in a wide-ranging interview with former senior advisor and now CNN commentator David Axelrod for the Democratic political operatives Axe Files podcast. The interview was released by CNN on Monday. You know, I am confident in this vision because Im confident that if I -- if I had run again and articulated it, I think I couldve mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it, Obama said. His comments were part of a wider discussion of what he called ugly sentiments of racism and xenophobia that surfaced during the 2016 campaign. Obama repeated his assertion that Clinton faced a double standard as a woman, which put her at a disadvantage. But he also said a kind of complacency set in that made the Clinton campaign too cautious and thus unable to get its message out sufficiently. If you think youre winning, then you have a tendency, just like in sports, maybe to play it safer, Obama said. During the interview, Obama also spoke of his family, the strength hed gotten from wife Michelle and the improbability of his own political career. And the president said the spirit that his candidacy originally inspired, especially among young people, was never snuffed out despite the last eight years of turmoil. The idealism and the dedication stayed with the staff and got us through some really hard times, he said. Trump later responded to the remarks on Twitter. UPDATE 2:07 p.m.: This article was updated with Trumps response. This article was originally published at 12:28 p.m. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Obama personally authorized U.S. abstention from U.N. vote on Israeli settlements By Michael A. Memoli President Obama personally directed Friday that the U.S. abstain from a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlement activity, seeing the escalation of settlement building as an increasing threat to the viability of a two-state solution to the regions problems. Ahead of the expected vote, Obama, who is vacationing with his family in Hawaii, convened a discussion Thursday with Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John F. Kerry and other top national security officials. The vote was postponed, but U.S. officials continued to monitor discussions over the Egyptian-authored resolution until Friday. Obama spoke with national security advisor Susan Rice on Friday to issue his final decision. President-elect Donald Trumps intervention in the discussions, which included a conversation with Egypts president Thursday that preceded the delay in the planned vote, did not affect Obamas calculations, deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes told reporters.. Theres one president at a time, he said. The decision to allow the resolution to pass, rather than cast a veto to block it is consistent with long-standing, bipartisan U.S. policy opposing Israeli settlement activity, Rhodes said. One of the administrations great concerns was that such activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem has accelerated significantly since 2011, when the U.S. last vetoed a comparable resolution. U.S. officials also have been concerned about continued incitements of violence by Palestinians, and Rhodes said the resolution voted on Friday included greater balance to reflect that than past resolutions. Weve been very concerned that these accelerating trends are putting the very viability of the two-state solution at risk, Rhodes said. In that context, we therefore thought that we could not in good conscience veto a resolution that expressed concerns about the very trends that are eroding the foundation for a two-state solution. He also underscored what he called Obamas iron-clad commitment to Israel and its security, noting that the administration recently concluded a major military assistance package. The U.S. did not vote for the resolution because of continued concerns about the United Nations as a venue for Middle East peace discussions, Rhodes said. He also responded to what he called strident comments of Israeli officials criticizing the U.S. move. It seems like the Israeli government wants the conversation to be about anything other than the settlement activity, he said. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump team seeks to ease fears on womens programs at State Department By Tracy Wilkinson ( Andrew Harnik / Associated Press) Donald Trumps transition team said Friday its requests to the State Department for details on positions and funding for global womens programs were part of an effort to ensure and protect gender equality. The statement appeared to be an attempt to allay concerns that Trump might seek to cancel or roll back gender-focused programs at the State Department following a request by the transition team on Wednesday for information about them. Most were created or championed by Trumps campaign rival, Hillary Clinton, when she served as secretary of State during President Obamas first term. The transition team statement Friday did not outline Trumps plans for the programs, which seek to promote equality, education and vocational training for women around the world as well as combat gender-based violence. President-elect Trump will ensure the rights of women across the world are valued and protected, the statement said. To help fulfill this promise, the transition team inquired about existing programs at the State Department that helps [sic] foster gender equality, ends gender-based violence, and promotes economic and political participation  finding ways to improve them. The statement said the inquiry was one of hundreds of requests it sent to federal departments as part of the transition effort. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump team asks State Department for details on programs aimed at helping women By Tracy Wilkinson Donald Trumps transition team has asked the State Department for details on programs aimed at benefiting women around the world, including identifying staff members who worked to reduce gender-based violence and promote women in the workplace. In an email sent to numerous State Department offices Wednesday, the president-elects transition team asked for urgent response to its inquiries about gender-related staffing, programming and funding. Many of the programs were begun or were championed by Hillary Clinton, who was secretary of State during President Obamas first term and who lost to Trump in November. The unusual request to the State Department follows a similar email to the Department of Energy. There the transition team asked for names of staff members who had worked on efforts to combat climate change, which Trump has dismissed as a hoax. Several Obama administration officials called that query chilling. The Trump team withdrew the request after it was widely criticized. The latest email suggests the incoming Trump administration will attempt to roll back some of the State Departments most innovative programs and may seek to penalize people who worked on them. People are freaked out, said a senior State Department official who was not authorized to speak publicly. The email asked the State Department to deliver issue papers from bureaus and offices (one paper max per bureau/office) outlining existing programs and activities to promote gender equality, such as ending gender-based violence, promoting womens participation in economic and political spheres, entrepreneurship, etc. It said the issue papers should note jobs whose primary functions are to promote such issues, as well as money allocated for those activities and programs in fiscal year 2017. While at State, Clinton made womens issues a top priority. An office was created to deal exclusively with global womens issues, and money was allocated for programs that promote education of girls, train women in marketable skills and offer microloans. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Trump taps seasoned Republican operative Sean Spicer as White House press secretary By Lisa Mascaro President-elect Donald Trump named Sean Spicer as his new press secretary, tapping a seasoned Republican operative as the public face of the new White House. Spicer, a top Republican National Committee strategist who brought a measure of establishment Washington to Trumps operation, is known for his combative but engaging approach to communications. He will likely take over the press podium as the top spokesman at the incoming White House. Two other veterans of the Trump campaigns press operation also will get White House jobs: Jason Miller, who had been Trumps communications chief after moving from the campaign of Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, will stay in that role as communications director at the White House. Hope Hicks, who was Trumps spokesperson on the campaign trail and one of his earliest campaign aides, will be assistant to the president and director of strategic communications, and Dan Scavino will serve as director of social media. Sean, Hope, Jason and Dan have been key members of my team during the campaign and transition. I am excited they will be leading the team that will communicate my agenda that will Make America Great Again, Trump said in a statement. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Obama eliminates post-9/11 registry for foreigners, making it harder for Trump to restart it By Brian Bennett (Don Emmert / AFP/Getty Images) The Obama administration is taking apart a controversial, dormant national registry program that tracked visitors from countries with active terrorist groups for several years following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. A final rule eliminating the program will be published in the federal register on Friday. The move would make it more difficult for President-elect Donald Trump to revive the registry, which hasnt been used since 2011. The Department of Homeland Security determined it was ineffective and didnt improve security. Civil rights advocates have long said the program was discriminatory. On the campaign trail, Trump promised to track Muslims coming to the U.S. and require them to register. He later changed his stance to say he would bar people from countries with a record of Islamist extremism. Trumps policy advisors have been looking closely at ways to jump start the registry, called the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, after he takes office at the end of January. With the program being officially dismantled on Friday, Trumps team would have to issue new federal rules to restart it, a process that could take several months and would require a period for soliciting comments from the public, which likely would be contentious. The Trump transition team is preparing several executive actions for the incoming president, Trump spokesman Jason Miller told reporters Thursday morning when asked about Obama dismantling the registry. Stopping radical Islamic terrorists from entering the U.S. is of paramount importance, Miller said. He didnt say directly if Trump would rebuild the visitor registry. The American people strongly support tough measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of our country, and President-elect Trump has made clear that we will suspend admissions of those from countries with high terrorism rates and apply a strict vetting procedure for those seeking entry in order to protect American lives, he said. When asked on Wednesday if he would set up a registry for Muslims or impose a ban on Muslim immigrants in the wake of the truck attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, Trump said simply: You know my plans. Democratic lawmakers and civil liberties advocates have demanded in recent weeks that Obama dismantle the registry. Theyve cited a 2012 inspector general report that said Homeland Security databases collecting traveler fingerprints, flight manifests and intelligence information on foreigners are more effective at preventing terrorist attacks. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) praised the Homeland Security Departments decision to strip away dead-letter regulations no longer in use. These regulations symbolized an ineffective program based on religious and ethnic profiling, rather than individualized suspicion  a program based on fear, rather than reason, Leahy said in a statement. That has no place in this great country, under any administration. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump is unwinding some foreign deals but many potential conflicts remain By Joseph Tanfani The Trump hotel in Baku, Azerbaijan, would be among the finest in the world, Donald Trump promised two years ago, another example of our involvement in only the best global development projects. But the dream of a world-class Trump Baku died this month, with Trump saying he was backing out of the deal because of delays and blown deadlines caused by the developer, a 34-year-old with close family connections to the countrys government. The demise of Trump Baku is not an isolated decision. With his inauguration less than a month away, President-elect Trumps company has pulled out of a few international business deals that might have created especially sticky conflicts and controversies for his administration. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Trump names UC Irvine professor and fierce China critic to new White House Trade Council By Don Lee Peter Navarro, left, and China expert Gordon Chang attend a screening of Death By China, the film adaptation of Navarros book, in New York in 2012. (Andy Kropa / Getty Images) President-elect Donald Trump, signaling that he intends to follow through on his tough talk on trade, is establishing a new White House-based trade council to be headed by a vehement critic of Chinas economic policies. Trump on Wednesday named Peter Navarro, a Harvard-trained business professor at UC Irvine, as director of trade and industrial policy and head of the newly created White House National Trade Council. The move sends a strong message: The Trump administration will take a much more aggressive posture to shrink the nations large trade deficit and combat what the president-elect and Navarro believe are forces behind Americas manufacturing woes  unfair and mercantilist practices on the part of China and other trading partners. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

The issue of race has hung over Sen. Jeff Sessions like a shadow. Heres why By Del Quentin Wilber (Scott Olson / AFP/Getty Images) Jeff Sessions uneasy history with race can be traced back to the long, winding country roads that cut through the pine forests and farm land in this deep corner of the Deep South. As a boy, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III began each day before dawn, boarding a segregated bus to his all-white school. En route he and his classmates passed the bus ferrying black students in the opposite direction. The day ended when he sat down to dinner each night with his father, an avowed segregationist until the end of his life. Reflecting on those years, Sessions acknowledged recently that he knew back then that segregation was morally wrong and regretted standing by passively as civil rights leaders in the 1960s struggled and died in the fight for equality. I should have stepped forward more and been a leader and more positive force, Sessions said in February while participating in a ceremony honoring the Selma foot soldiers. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Kellyanne Conway will join Trump in the White House By Evan Halper (Gerald Herber / Associated Press) Donald Trump has named his media-savvy campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, to advise him in the White House in the role of counselor, his transition team announced early Thursday morning. The move comes after Conway sought to put to rest speculation that she would continue to serve as the public face of the Trump team. But the new job is sure to keep her profile high. Conway will will work with senior leadership to effectively message and execute the administrations legislative priorities and actions, according to a statement from the Trump transition team. Kellyanne Conway has been a trusted advisor and strategist who played a crucial role in my victory, Trump said in the statement. She is a tireless and tenacious advocate of my agenda and has amazing insights on how to effectively communicate our message. The appointment would boost diversity in a Trump inner circle made up mostly of older white men. It also sets up another potentially competing power center on a White House staff that already will have several, including Reince Priebus, the chief of staff; Stephen K. Bannon, the chief strategist; and Stephen Miller, the policy chief. Conway had previously turned down other proposals for White House jobs, telling reporters late last month that she did not want to spend long hours away from her children. At that point, Conway said she thought she could best help Trump by forming an outside organization to support his policies. But that role appears to have gone to Brad Parscale, who ran Trumps online operations during the campaign. Conway joined Trumps campaign during the summer when it was beset with infighting and disarray. She is widely credited with helping bring message discipline and professionalism to an operation in desperate need of it. In the run-up to the election and the weeks that followed, Conway was a ubiquitous presence on cable news networks, capably moving through her talking points in tough interview settings  often on the firing line and held to account for the exaggerations and incendiary remarks Trump was prone to make on the campaign trail and Twitter. I am humbled and honored to play a role in helping transform the movement he has led into a real agenda of action and results, Conway said in the statement. She is the founder and owner of the Polling Company, inc./WomanTrend, a GOP firm that has been advising candidates for two decades. Trump has not yet chosen a press secretary. But he is believed to be considering several candidates. Sean Spicer, former communications chief of the Republican Party who has served in a spokesman role for Trump through the transition, has been a prominent possibility, although Trump reportedly has considered several women, including conservative talk radio star Laura Ingraham and Fox News personality Kimberly Guilfoyle. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump Hotel employees in Las Vegas get a union contract By Kurtis Lee (Mike Nelson / Getty Images) Its owned by President-elect Donald Trump and is among a handful of hotels on the Las Vegas Strip to not be unionized. But that will change soon. For more than a year, Trump and his staff at the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas have fought efforts by employees and the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 to negotiate a contract. But a four-year contract announced by the union on Wednesday will offer Trump employees annual wage increases, a pension and family healthcare, among other benefits. In Nevada, the culinary union is the states largest and most powerful, representing nearly 55,000 workers who serve cocktails and prepare food at hotels throughout the state. A majority of the unions members are Latino. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Wait! Dont cancel that Air Force One order just yet By Evan Halper Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2016 After Donald Trump scolded Boeing earlier this month for the escalating cost of building a new Air Force One, the companys CEO projected confidence that Trump wouldnt be following through with his threat to cancel order! The two men met together at Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Wednesday. Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg said they spoke about a range of issues. The Air Force One project, which Trump complained would cost taxpayers more than $4 billion, invariably arose. Were going to get it done for less than that, and were committed to working together to make sure that happens, Muilenberg said. The company had previously noted that the project did not yet have a firm price tag. I was able to give the president-elect my personal commitment on behalf of the Boeing Company. This is a business thats important to us. We work on Air Force One because its important to our country, and were going to make sure that he gets the best capability and that its done affordably, Muilenberg added. He called the conversation terrific and Trump a good man who is doing the right thing. The presidential aircraft remains a long way from takeoff  a new plane wont be ready for use in the next four years. Even if Trump is reelected, he might not get to use the plane, as the earliest projected date for completion is 2024. Boeing is currently doing early development work on the plane  a modified 747  that will likely be outfitted with such gadgetry as top-secret communications equipment, countermeasures to foil missile attacks, and aerial refueling capability that would enable it to remain airborne for days at a time if necessary. The timing of delivery was among the topics that came up at Trumps meeting with the Boeing CEO. Thats what were going to work on together, Muilenberg said. We have an active 747 production line, and were eager to get started on the program. We havent actually started the build of the airplane yet, but once we finalize the requirements and make sure that its affordable, well launch on building the aircraft. Weve got a hot production line and were ready to go. The government actually has two planes outfitted to serve as Air Force One, which is the designation given to whichever plane is carrying the president. The current planes, which were put into service during the Reagan administration, are nearing the end of their design life. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Fierce China critic and UC Irvine professor to head Trumps new trade council By Don Lee (Richard Hartog / Los Angeles Times) President-elect Donald Trump is establishing a new White House-based trade office that will be headed by a UC Irvine professor known for his fierce criticisms of Chinese trade and economic practices. In appointing Peter Navarro as director of trade and industrial policy and the head of the new National Trade Council inside the White House, Trump is signaling that he wants to follow through on his tough campaign rhetoric in which he blamed the Chinese for the large U.S. trade deficit and manufacturing woes. During the campaign,Trump threatened to slap a 45% tariff on Chinese imports. Navarro, a Harvard-trained economist who advised Trump during the campaign, is the author of the book Death by China: Confronting the Dragon  a Global Call to Action. Trump endorsed the 2011 book as well as Navarros film version of the polemical work. I read one of Peters books on Americas trade problems years ago and was impressed by the clarity of his arguments and thoroughness of his research, Trump said Wednesday in a statement announcing the appointment. He will fulfill an essential role in my administration as a trade advisor. Trump said the new trade office would develop policies to shrink the nations trade deficit and curb the off-shoring of jobs, as well as to lead initiatives such as the Buy America, Hire America program. Navarro, in a statement, said he would be honored to serve Trump and the nation and to advise on policies to re-balance our trade, rebuild our industrial base, and restore Americas comprehensive national power by making America great again. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Trump stops the drain the swamp talk as new alligators emerge By Evan Halper Newt Gingrich. (Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press) It made for a great slogan during the campaign, but now that hes won, Donald Trump is finding that maybe he doesnt actually want to drain the swamp. In fact, the alligators seem to be doing quite well. Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski on Wednesday boasted about his access and proximity to Trump in announcing a new consulting firm he plans to open with former Trump campaign advisor Barry Bennett. The firms offices will be one block from the White House. Clients who pony up what are sure to be hefty fees for the firms services are being assured by Lewandowski in his marketing materials that he turned down multiple opportunities within the administration so he can serve them. The pitch implies Lewandowski will remain a de facto surrogate for Trump  with all the access that implies  as he bills those seeking to influence the Trump administration for his services. So perhaps the time is ripe for Trump to stop using the drain the swamp phrase. And that is what Trump has decided to do, according to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who describes himself as an outside advisor to the president-elect. Im told he now just disclaims that, Gingrich said in an interview on National Public Radio, referring to the slogan Trump used in the final phase of his campaign to crystallize his promise to cleanse Washington of insiders and self-dealers. He now says it was cute, but he doesnt want to use it anymore, Gingrich said, adding that perhaps all this swamp draining talk isnt presidential. Hes in a different role now and maybe he feels that as president, as the next president of the United States, that he should be marginally more dignified than talking about alligators in swamps, Gingrich said. I personally have, as a sense of humor, like the alligator and swamp language, he added. I think it vividly illustrates the problem, because all the people in this city who are the alligators are going to hate the swamp being drained. And theres going to be constant fighting over it. But, you know, he is my leader, and if he decides to drop the swamp and the alligator, I will drop the swamp and the alligator. Lewandowski, for his part, made no mention of swamps or alligators in announcing his new consulting firm would be open for business. Proud to launch our new venture today to support @realDonaldTrump achieve his agenda in Washington D.C. pic.twitter.com/ZEot6IrvJ4  Corey R. Lewandowski (@CLewandowski_) December 21, 2016 Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Death penalty in steep decline, but not in Los Angeles County By David Savage Lonnie Franklin Jr. was tried and convicted of 10 counts of murder. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) Los Angeles County and the state of California again recorded the most new death sentences this year, amid a sharp decline across the nation in both executions and new death sentences. Judges and juries in Los Angeles County imposed a death sentence on four murderers during 2016, including Lonnie Franklin Jr., the so-called Grim Sleeper, who was convicted of killing 10 women. No other county had more than one death sentence, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Since 2010, Los Angeles County has recorded 36 new death sentences, more than any county in the nation. This year marked the first time in more than 40 years where no state recorded 10 or more new death sentences, the group said in its year-end report. California had the most with nine, followed by Ohio (five), Texas (four), Alabama (three) and Florida (two). California has by far the nations largest death row, with 750 condemned inmates, but it has not carried out an execution in the past decade. Overall, the report documented the steep decline for capital punishment over the past two decades. The number of new death sentences had fallen by 90%, from 315 in 1996 to only 30 this year. And the number of executions has fallen from a high of 98 in 1999 to 20 this year. Georgia (nine) and Texas (seven) accounted for most of the executions. The only other states to put inmates to death were Alabama (two), Missouri (one) and Florida (one). Robert Dunham, the groups executive director, says the nation is clearly turning away from capital punishment. Whether its concerns about innocence, costs and discrimination, availability of life without parole as a safe alternative, or the questionable way in which states are attempting to carry out executions, the public grows increasingly uncomfortable with the death penalty each year, he said. But his report noted that Californias voters, by a 53%-47% margin, rejected a ballot measure to abolish the death penalty, and narrowly approved a measure, by a 51%-49% margin, to limit appeals and expedite executions. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

New survey finds less optimistic Democrats seeking many paths to their future success By Cathleen Decker (Andrew Harnik / Associated Press) Since Hillary Clintons November defeat, Democrats have squabbled over how to return to prominence. Should they continue to court ascendant voter groups in the country, such as women, minorities and young people? Or should they turn to those who have long been in their camp but abandoned the party nominee this year, such as rural and non-college-educated voters. The answer, according to a Pew Research poll published Tuesday: Democrats want to walk both paths, simultaneously. The poll asked Democrats and Republicans whether their parties had spent too much, too little or just the right amount of time meeting the interests and concerns of specific groups of voters. Among Democrats, 64% said the party had spent too little time talking to rural voters, and 58% said the same about non-college voters. Almost two-thirds of Democrats said low-income voters had not gotten enough of the partys attention, and 58% said middle-class voters had been ignored to some extent. But Democratic voters did not want to let up on the partys outreach to its stronger supporters this year. About half said that the concerns of women and African American voters had gotten too little attention, while 43% said the same about Latinos. In the case of women, African Americans, Latinos, low-income voters, rural residents and younger voters, Democrats were substantially more likely than Republicans to say their party had not put enough emphasis on the groups concerns. The poll suggested far more confidence by Republicans than Democrats in their partys current positioning. Much of that may simply be the flood of confidence that accompanies a presidential victory. When the pollsters asked before the election about their view of their party, 61% of Republicans said they were optimistic, as did 77% of Democrats about their own party. After the election those figures reversed, with 79% of Republicans optimistic compared with 61% of Democrats. A key to Trumps success also was evident in the poll: a chameleon-like ability to make the different ideological groups in the party think he was one of them. Almost 3 in 5 conservatives said that Trumps views were conservative. And among moderates, 52% said that Trumps ideology was a mix of conservative and liberal, echoing their own posture. But queries about the new presidents impact on his party drew sharply partisan responses. More than two-thirds of all voters said that Trump had forced major changes on his party. Yet 72% of Democrats cast those changes as bad ones, while 83% of Republicans cast the changes as good ones. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

The artist and the senator: One built a desert masterpiece, the other a Nevada legacy By Lisa Mascaro When Sen. Harry Reid heard about a reclusive artist building a massive land sculpture across desolate acres in the Nevada desert, he knew they should meet. Its not just that Reid enjoys eccentrics and fighters, which he does. Michael Heizer had found an unusual way to express the majesty  and artistry  of the same lonely Nevada landscape that formed Reids childhood, when he would escape the dismal, rugged conditions of tiny Searchlight to play in the deserts hidden springs and abandoned fortresses. Both men discovered in Nevada what many outsiders miss. Far from seeing a nuclear wasteland, a dumping site or even a playground for gamblers, they drew inspiration from Nevadas quiet beauty. Heizer created an American masterpiece  a milelong complex of dirt, rock and cement rising from the desert floor like modern-day pyramids or the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza. For Reid, his appreciation for Nevadas unique landscape became a cornerstone of one of the most lasting yet less-familiar pieces of his political legacy. Read More Artist Michael Heizer and Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) speak in the Capitol. (Lisa Mascaro / Los Angeles Times) Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

With 304 votes, electoral college seals Donald Trumps election as president  despite more desertions than ever By Michael Finnegan They convened amid unusual scrutiny, widespread protests and rafts of speculation about efforts to alter the outcome, but, in the end, the nations 538 presidential electors mostly stuck to the script Monday, formally sealing Donald Trumps victory with 304 votes in the electoral college, well above what he needed to capture the White House. After all the efforts to lobby Republican electors to desert Trump, only two did  a pair from Texas, one of whom voted for former Texas Rep. Ron Paul and the other for Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Indeed, instead of an uprising against Trump, the days voting was punctuated more by small, but persistent, gestures of Democratic discontent with Hillary Clinton. A handful of electors deserted her and a few more tried to, but were deterred by state faithless elector laws. Some of the Democratic dissenters were supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who lost the primaries to Clinton but galvanized the partys left wing. Others were backers of an abortive effort that had tried to recruit Democrats and Republicans to unite behind a third candidate other than Clinton or Trump. In the end, seven electors voted for a person other than the candidate who won their states  the largest number of electoral college desertions in a presidential contest in U.S. history, eclipsing a record set in 1808. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

As electoral college meetings end in Hawaii, Bernie Sanders gets a vote that will stick By Michael A. Memoli David Mulinix, Hawaii elector who voted for Sanders, said Clinton wasn't qualified. Also said @POTUS wasn't progressive, but "conservative" pic.twitter.com/miCnZ6PzXI  Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) December 20, 2016 The last of the 50 states gave Bernie Sanders his first electoral college vote that counted. Hillary Clinton received three of the states four electoral votes after winning 60% of the popular vote here last month. But one elector, David Mulinix, said he cast his vote for the Vermont senator because he was the most qualified candidate. They can call me faithless, but the point is if we dont think someones qualified  and Hillary Clinton I do not feel is qualified, he said. Hawaiis electors are chosen by the major parties at their state conventions. Mulinix said he joined the party only this election cycle to support Sanders, who he said would have been elected president had he been the Democratic nominee. He had previously told the Associated Press he would cast his vote for Clinton, but said he changed his mind at the last minute. She did not lose the vote to Russian hackers; she lost the vote right there at the convention, he said, referring to the Democratic National Convention, where he said Sanders backers were treated unfairly. They robbed us, and the millennials know it. Mulinix, who, like his fellow electors, wore a lei made of green jade flowers, arrived for the vote with a list of candidates who had received votes in other electoral college meetings across the country. He was aware that an elector in Maine had tried to vote for Sanders but that his vote had been invalidated. An election official said the vote for Sanders here would count. The brief proceedings here in a nondescript conference room on the state Capitols third floor began with another elector, John Bickel, asking whether there was any penalty for electors who cast their ballots for someone other than the winner of the statewide vote. He said later that he had asked because he suspected someone might stray. The electoral college is outdated. If any election has proved the electoral college is outdated, its this one, Bickel said. Dolly Strazar, another elector and the vice chair of the state Democratic Party, said she had long supported the electoral college because it ensured some degree of competition between large states and small ones like Hawaii. It really seems in our times, its thoroughly outdated, she said. Janice Bond, the fourth elector, said she would have voted for Sanders but did not believe she was able to. She also expressed regret that President Obama, who was born in Hawaii and is vacationing here with his family, did not attend the meeting. To have him be on our island and not show face was disappointing, she said. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

No fireworks as Nevada electors cast votes for Clinton By David Montero Nevadas six electors cast their votes for Hillary Clinton on Monday afternoon in Carson City, reflecting her victory in the swing state despite losing the overall electoral college vote to President-elect Donald Trump. Clinton won Nevada by almost 3 points over Trump, and the swing state was one of her few bright spots on election day. The six electors  five from northern Nevada and one from Las Vegas  cast their ballots before about 75 people who had packed into the Old Assembly Chambers of the state Capitol. A few brought signs in support of Clinton, and there was some applause when the votes were cast. It all took place in less than a half-hour. No fireworks, said Wayne Thorley, deputy secretary of state for elections. He said about 40 people showed up in front of the state Capitol in the morning in sub-freezing temperatures to also show support for Clinton. Thorley said he hadnt anticipated a lot of controversy as the electors were required to sign a pledge before voting that said they wouldnt deviate from Nevadas Nov. 8 election results. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

In solemn ceremony, California electors cast votes for Hillary Clinton By Melanie Mason Casting my electoral vote for President and Vice President of the United States of .... https://t.co/jI2FGFCrVg pic.twitter.com/qufSJUM5WF  Susan Eggman (@SusanEggman) December 19, 2016 In a proceeding long on formalities and short on speeches, Californias 55 electors cast their vote for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Monday, a ceremony that coincided almost exactly with Republican Donald Trump clinching the national electoral college win. Contrasting with the spirited protests outside the state Capitol, the mood in the state Assembly chambers was muted, even a bit glum, as electors, tapped by the states Democratic establishment, convened to cast their votes for Clinton. California, which overwhelmingly backed Clinton in the presidential contest, requires all 55 electors to back the states winner. Todays solemnity and formality reminds us that in our nation, American greatness and American independence, rests on a foundation of law, said Assemblyman Ken Cooley (D-Cordova), who presided over the event. As written ballots were distributed, the room was completely silent, save for the clicking of camera shutters. Just moments before voting began, Trump, Clintons rival, had secured the electoral college win, with Texas, Californias perennial rival, putting him over the top. His victory went unacknowledged in the ceremony. Among the electors were current elected officials, such as Assemblywomen Susan Talamantes Eggman of Stockton and Shirley Weber of San Diego. Others included Christine Pelosi, daughter of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Laphonza Butler, leader of the powerful labor union SEIU in California. Electors did not make individual speeches during the main ceremony, and Trumps name was hardly mentioned. But there were subtle references to the rancorous political season: Rev. Bob Oshita, the Assembly chaplain and former reverend of the Sacramento Buddhist Church, urged leaders to engage in calming self-reflection in an opening prayer. The tone grew considerably sharper at the end of the gathering, when Pelosi offered a motion calling for an investigation into Russian efforts to influence the election outcome. I move that as an Electoral College, we do not normalize this election. We do not accept Russian interference in our election, Pelosi said. Her motion was adopted by electors, with applause. View Twitter post This post was updated at 3:32 p.m. with comments from Christine Pelosi. It was originally published at 3:12 p.m. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

All of Floridas electoral votes go to Trump By Gray Rohrer Floridas electors applaud as the vote for Donald Trump is announced at the state Capitol in Tallahassee on Monday. (Steve Cannon / Associated Press) Donald Trump officially won all 29 of Floridas electoral college votes on Monday during a ceremony held at the Capitol in Tallahassee, despite pleas from protesters to electors to change their vote at the last minute. About 100 protesters gathered outside the Florida Senate chambers before the vote, chanting love trumps hate and flip the vote and holding signs that read Vote Your Conscience, Dont Make Russia Great Again! The electors, made up of Republican Party of Florida members and high-ranking elected officials like state Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, Senate President Joe Negron and state party chairman Blaise Ingoglia, did their best to ignore the protesters. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim was a Trump nemesis. Now the president-elect says hes wonderful By Evan Halper Donald Trump has decided that Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, one of his favorite villains during the presidential election, might not be so bad after all. Hes even wonderful, Trump now says. The two dined together Saturday at Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, after which Trump had only nice things to say about Slim, according to a report in the Washington Post. Trump described the interaction with his erstwhile nemesis as a lovely dinner with a wonderful man. This is not how Trump talked about Slim, one of the worlds richest men, during the election. The Mexican billionaire was a regular target of the then-GOP nominee because of his large ownership stake in the New York Times. Add to that Slims generous contributions to the Clinton Foundation and his citizenship in the country Trump reveled in attacking, and he made for good fodder at Trump rallies. When Trump objected to the New York Times coverage of his campaign  and its reporting on the allegations by multiple women of past inappropriate sexual advances by Trump  he alleged it was all part of a conspiracy cooked up by Slim. Trump called the outlets reporters corporate lobbyists for Carlos Slim and for Hillary Clinton. The New York Times called Trumps charges a fabrication, saying Slim had never inserted himself in editorial decision making there. And Trump offered no evidence to the contrary. A spokesman for Slim said at the time the two had never met, and the Mexican businessman had no interest in involving himself in the U.S. election. Now theyve met. The takeaway from the meeting, though, is murky. Maybe it indicates Trump is softening his posture toward Mexico  or maybe it just indicates billionaires enjoy the company of other billionaires. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Meet the California electors By Liam Dillon Among the electors are Janine Bera, the wife of Rep. Ami Bera of Elk Grove; Christine Pelosi, the daughter of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and chairwoman of the state partys womens caucus; Eileen Feinstein Mariano, granddaughter of Sen. Dianne Feinstein; and Olivia Reyes-Becerra, daughter of Rep. Xavier Becerra of Los Angeles. State Assemblywomen Susan Eggman of Stockton and Shirley Weber of San Diego, former state Sen. Christine Kehoe of San Diego, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nury Martinez and Laphonza Butler, president of the Service Employees International Union chapter that represents home care employees, also are on the list. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Three Washington state Democratic electors vote for Gen. Colin Powell, one for Faith Spotted Eagle By Rick Anderson (Elaine Thompson / Associated Press) Despite a statute binding the 12 members of the electoral college to vote for the winner of the states 2016 presidential election popular vote, four Washington electors made history and risked a $1,000 fine by voting for someone else Monday. But it wasnt Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton, supported by 57% of the states voters, wound up with eight of the 12 electoral votes at a session held in the State Capitol building here. Gen. Colin Powell received three votes. And Faith Spotted Eagle, an elder of the Yankton Sioux, received one. Read More Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Colorado elector says he was oppressed by state law into voting for Clinton By David Kelly In Denver, all nine electors voted for Hillary Clinton, after one was replaced for casting his ballot for Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich instead. A boisterous crowd packed the state Capitol and booed when elector Michael Baca was dismissed and another sworn in to take his place. Vote your conscience! someone cried. The new elector voted for Clinton. Hecklers screamed Resign! Resign! at Secretary of State Wayne Williams after he shooed Bacas lawyer off the podium. Suspense had been building for weeks over how the electors would vote. Two courts blocked their attempts to vote for someone other than Clinton. State law here says electors must support the candidate who won the popular vote. On Sunday night they went to court again, this time asking a judge to reject a new oath drawn up by the secretary of state requiring electors to pledge to support the winner of the popular vote. Their motion was denied. As they waited, the crowd sang This Land is Your Land and America the Beautiful. But once the electors filed in, it was over quickly. Elector Robert Nemanich said he was oppressed by state law into voting for Clinton and would go to the U.S. Supreme Court. He did not elaborate. Lance Armstrong, 68, stood outside with an American flag. Im glad some of the electors made a point today, he said. Any point is better than none. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Trump officially gets 270th electoral vote, sealing his election as president By Julie Westfall Donald Trump has obtained the required 270 electoral votes to become president. Although electors in dozens of states still have to vote, the electoral balloting in Texas put Trump over the majority threshold, according to a state-by-state tally by the Associated Press. Thirty-six of the states electors voted for Trump, one for John Kasich and one for Ron Paul. The next, and last, official step in the electoral process is for Congress to count the votes. Under the procedure set out by the 12th Amendment to the Constitution, that formal process is scheduled for Jan. 6. Some anti-Trump activists had hoped against hope that they could persuade electors in states that voted for Trump to defect, but their efforts were unsuccessful. Electors are nearly all party loyalists. Additionally, they faced more than two centuries of tradition and, in some states, legal obligations that called for them to cast their ballots according to which candidate won the popular vote in their states. No defectors have ever changed the result of a presidential election. Four electors today successfully defected in Washington state. Instead of voting for Hillary Clinton, who won the states popular vote, three electors voted for former secretary of State Colin Powell and one voted for Faith Spotted Eagle, an environmental activist. Electors in two other states who tried to vote against the states winner were replaced with alternates. There may be additional defections in the remaining states, but since Trump now has a majority of the electoral votes, those would not be enough to change the result. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Emotions high in Maryland as electors unanimously vote for Clinton By Erin Cox (Erin Cox/Baltimore Sun) As Marylands 10 electors unanimously cast votes for Democrat Hillary Clinton for president Monday, several said they were privileged to vote for the countys first female presidential nominee. Outside, hundreds of anti-Trump protesters cheered as the solemn ceremony unfolded on live-stream television. A state delegate, who had the ceremonial task of handing the electors votes to another official, wept while executing her duty. This is an emotional moment for many, many women in this country and in this state, said Del. Maggie McIntosh, a Baltimore Democrat. She added later: I guess I didnt cry enough on Nov. 8. Marylands electors were bound by state law to vote for the winner of Marylands popular vote, which Clinton secured with more than 60% of the ballots cast. About 100 protesters who had been chanting and singing around the historic State House grounds for at least four hours before the vote said they came in solidarity with protesters in Republican state capitols, pleading with electors not to endorse President-elect Donald Trump. This is appalling and unacceptable, and Im hoping the Republicans, in particular, rise above and do the right thing, said Cheryl Kreiser, a retired teacher from the Washington, D.C., suburb of Silver Spring. For an hour every day for the last 21 days, Kreiser has protested Trumps win on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. It was the only way I could cope with the disappointment, she said. Marylands Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, who wrote in his fathers name rather than vote for Trump on election day, opened Marylands 58th electoral college meeting but left the room before electors were sworn in. Each elector had been appointed by the Maryland Democratic Party state chair, Bruce Poole, who reminded the crowd the United States is not a direct democracy ruled by the popular vote. A lot of people lose sight of the fact that were a republic. Were not a democracy, Poole said. The whole idea was that the president would not be chosen just by the whims of the moment, but instead there would be an opportunity for people who were thoughtful, who had judgment, who had integrity to take a step back from the moment of emotion and consider what would be in the best interest of the country. Here is "the old book" where Maryland has recorded its Electoral College electors every year since 1789. pic.twitter.com/GlsaJd3F3X  Erin Cox (@ErinatThePost) December 19, 2016 Before he introduced Marylands electors, Poole lamented the state of political discourse in the country. We live in the age of information. It is not necessarily the age of wisdom or age of judgment, he said. People on both sides, on all sides, make decisions at the snap of a finger. Maryland was both the model for creating the electoral college and the first state in the country to vote to bypass it. Framers modeled todays system after the way the Maryland House of Delegates selected Maryland senators, a process the state later abandoned after it was considered undemocratic, according to a history of the electoral college written by staff at the Maryland Board of Elections. Hogan noted the state is one of six to have participated every year since 1789. In 2007, Maryland was the first state to vote to sign the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, a promise designed to award the electoral college to the winner of the national popular vote. It required enough states to comprise 270 votes to sign on for it to take effect. So far, only 10 states  including California  with a combined 165 votes have signed the compact. The president of Marylands electors, Courtney Watson, also co-chaired Clintons campaign in Maryland. She said she thought changes to the electoral college should be considered and described Monday as a poignant moment for Maryland residents. Its a very emotional time, she said. Many of us have worked long and hard, and for the first woman candidate. The point, though, is that people are still moved and even more engaged. And thats what I find promising for our future and the future of women. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Christine Pelosi, daughter of Nancy Pelosi and California elector, demands to know the truth about Russian influence By Jazmine Ulloa Elector @sfpelosi: We won't stand down. #caleg pic.twitter.com/4cM3cE4Wb6  Jazmine Ulloa (@jazmineulloa) December 19, 2016 California elector Christine Pelosi on Monday told crowds gathered outside the Capitol that she has been part of a chorus of people demanding to know the truth about Russian interference in the November presidential election. Pelosi, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosis daughter, is leading 10 other electors in a call for an intelligence briefing on Russian influence. Shouting into a microphone Monday, she said Russian hackers aim to turn the American people against each other and had marginalized her and others for speaking out. They trespass on servers, she said. They receive stolen emails. They pump out stories that day after day focus on scandal rather than policy, rather than talking about climate and immigration and human rights. Californias meeting of electors is about to get underway in the state Capitol. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

After prayer for national unity, Georgia electors vote for Trump By Jenny Jarvie Outside the Georgia Capitol today, some may have held a flicker of hope that a GOP elector would refuse to cast a ballot for Donald Trump as 45th president of the United States. Yet among the inner circle of Republicans who gathered inside the cozy, wood-paneled Senate chamber, there was little doubt about what would unfold. One by one, all 16 electors - dressed in formal business suits and red dresses, bow ties and blazers -- cast their ballots for the contentious Republican candidate. It was a short ceremony, with little opportunity for disruption. Security guards prevented the public from entering the chamber, cordoning off the hallway outside the room with a red rope and locking the main door before proceedings began. The electors chosen by Georgias Republican Party included well-connected attorneys and real estate agents, a high school teacher and a farmer. As they waited for the gathering to begin, many snapped selfies and waved at loved ones above in the upper gallery. After a call to order by the Georgia Republican Party chair, the electors bowed their heads, and Rachel Little, an elector and grass-roots Republican organizer, delivered an invocation. Lord, we know we are a divided country right now, she said. We pray that you will unite us.  We pray that [those who oppose Trump] will see our conservatism lived out in a gracious way. In a short speech, Gov. Nathan Deal hit out at activists who had bombarded electors with emails, letters and phone calls in an effort to sway their votes. You have been the subject of harassment by those who perhaps are not as dedicated to the proposition of what this body is supposed to do as they are agitated by the fact that the people didnt do what they wanted them to do. I have every confidence you will not succumb to that, Deal told the electors. My words to you: Do your job. Shortly before the electors cast their ballots, Rep. Barry Loudermilk, a Republican who represents Georgias 11th District, took to the podium to present a short history of the electoral college. Our founders actually despised the idea of democracy because mob rule often results in a decision made out of pure emotion, Loudermilk told the electors, after referencing the noise of protesters outside. It does not result in good government. In fact, our founders often cited the historic trial of Jesus as how mob rule does not work. The electoral college was devised to protect the integrity of government, Loudermilk said. To protect those who live in the rural areas of America, those who work, those who are part of the farming communities and part of the industrial communities, those who live and work every day, that their interests are protected as well of those who make their living on Wall Street. For a moment earlier this year, there was an inkling of a Republican revolt against Trump in Georgia. In August, Baoky Vu, a GOP elector based in Decatur, Ga., admitted he might not cast his ballot for Trump if he won. Within hours, however, he was forced to resign. Trump went on to win 51% of Georgias popular vote. On Monday, Vu did not show up at the Capitol, and he was formally replaced by a solid Trump backer, John Padgett, the chairman of the Georgia Republican party. There seems little chance that Georgia legislators might vote to overhaul the electoral college. Earlier this year, Republican legislators authored two bipartisan pieces of legislation in Georgias House and Senate that would have made Georgias electoral votes based solely on the outcome of the national popular vote. Yet both bills stalled, and Republicans say there is little momentum to revive the debate. The system prevents the tyranny of the majority, said Kirk Shook, an elector who is a high school teacher in rural Oconee County. He scoffed at those who, since the election, had sought to overhaul the electoral college system. Theres all this weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, Shook said of those who opposed Trumps win. And rightly so. Theres going to be a Republican president, a Republican Congress and a Republican Supreme Court. With the stroke of a pen, 90 percent of what Obama considered his legacy will be gone. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Four Washington state electors defect from Clinton; one chooses Faith Spotted Eagle instead By Associated Press (Elaine Thompson / Associated Press) Four members of the electoral college in Washington state cast their votes for a candidate other than Democrat Hillary Clinton, who won the states popular vote. Its the first time in four decades the states electors have broken from the popular vote for president. Washingtons 12 electors met Monday afternoon in the state Capitol to complete the constitutional formality. Clinton got eight votes while other candidates got the remaining four. Elector Bret Chiafalo, who earlier in the day said he planned to vote for Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich, said that he ultimately changed his vote to former Secretary of State Colin Powell after conversations with other Washington electors. The exact breakdown of the other four votes wasnt immediately known, although at least one vote was cast for Faith Spotted Eagle. In last months election, Republican Donald Trump won 306 electoral votes to Clintons 232, though Clintons tally will now be lower. A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win. The last time an elector broke from the popular vote in Washington was in 1976, when Mike Padden, who is currently a Republican state senator, voted for Ronald Reagan instead of Gerald Ford, who had won the state. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Hundreds protest the electoral college at Capitol building in Sacramento By Jazmine Ulloa Protesters are now chanting, "hey hey ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go" pic.twitter.com/4nNyTMroI5  Marcus Yam  (@yamphoto) December 19, 2016 Cheers and chants of U.S.A and Keep him out filled the air Monday, as dozens of protestors gathered outside the California Capitol in a last ditch attempt to sway the electoral college from voting for president-elect Donald Trump. Speakers called Trump a celebrity and authoritarian unfit for the presidency. And they urged Congress to do away with the electoral college process, which they described as an outdated and broken system susceptible to foreign influence and manipulation. This is a secret system of voting where we are not allowed to see where the votes are actually coming from or how they are counted, Brent Turner, with the movement organization Democracy Spring, shouted into a microphone. John Franco, 52, says the electoral college is an outdated system that can be manipulated with or without hackers. #caleg pic.twitter.com/fs2L2W2HKp  Jazmine Ulloa (@jazmineulloa) December 19, 2016 John Franco, a 52-year-old business owner visiting Sacramento from New Orleans, said he came to the demonstration with his family to protest that secret process. We dont feel a system that can be manipulated represents the interests of the people who voted for Hillary Clinton, he said. Rochelle Towers was among hundreds to protest at the CA Capitol today: "I'll take any shot that there is. #caleg https://t.co/QcOhWklrpx pic.twitter.com/mtx76NjdEW  Jazmine Ulloa (@jazmineulloa) December 20, 2016 Rochelle Towers, 68, said she drove in from Oakland in an attempt to persuade the electoral college from voting for Trump. She said she would not have to live through a lot of what its decision would set in motion. But my children and grandchildren will, she said. Even though this is a real long shot, Ill take any shot that there is. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Colorado elector removed after refusing to vote for Clinton By David Kelly A new elector is sworn in in Colorado after one refused to vote for Hillary Clinton. (David Kelly / Los Angeles Times) Eight of nine Colorado electors have voted for Hillary Clinton. One elector, Michael Baca, refused to vote for Clinton and was immediately replaced with an alternate, who was sworn in on the spot. As the crowd jeered, the new elector promptly voted for Clinton. Shouts of Resign! followed Secretary of State Wayne Williams announcement of the results. Protesters at the state capitol in Colorado. (David Kelly/Los Angeles Times) Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Electors say they have been barraged with emails By Nigel Duara View Twitter post Arizona elector J. Foster Morgan said he had received several letters protesting the election of Donald Trump, but experienced nothing on the scale of some his fellow Arizona electors whose email addresses were distributed to protest lists. They heard the worst thing imaginable, Morgan said. I just got a few letters. Despite protests outside the meeting, Morgan said, the vote went fine. Eleven votes for Donald Trump. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Democratic electors in Minnesota and Maine try to vote for Bernie Sanders By Associated Press (Spencer Platt / Getty Images) A second elector  this one in Minnesota  has refused to cast a vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton in Mondays electoral college tally. It wasnt immediately clear why Muhammad Abdurrahman didnt vote for Clinton, but he was a delegate for Bernie Sanders at the Democratic National Convention. The electors are pledged to cast Minnesotas 10 electoral votes for Clinton since she won the state. Abdurrahman was immediately replaced by an alternate who later voted for Clinton. Earlier in the day, a so-called faithless elector in Maine cast his vote for Sanders, who lost the Democratic presidential nomination to Clinton. David Bright said on his Facebook page that he cast his vote for Sanders because voting for Clinton would not have helped her win. But he ultimately voted for Clinton on a second vote after being ruled out of order. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Utah voting goes off without incident  six for Trump By David Montero A protest sign outside the gathering of Utah electors (Rick Bowmer / Associated Press) Despite chants of vote your conscience and the whole world is watching from more than 100 protesters, Utahs six electors cast their votes for President-elect Donald Trump today in Salt Lake City. Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox announced the official results within minutes of the votes being cast, but he was drowned out by jeers of Shame on you by the protesters. I hope you know this is what our country is all about, Cox said. I hope all of us here are sincerely grateful we live in a country where we have the opportunity to express ourselves. The six electors -- two small-business owners, a custom metal worker, a farmer, a Brigham Young University professor and a Republican activist -- quickly introduced themselves before casting their ballots. The votes were largely a formality, as the state requires electors to vote for the winner. Trump defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by getting 45%t of the vote. He also withstood a challenge from Evan McMullin, who garnered 21% in what was largely a protest vote from those, many of them Mormons, who felt uncomfortable casting a ballot for Trump. Cox said the turnout for this years electoral vote was a far cry from 2012, when four people and one camera crew showed up. Im a big fan of the electoral college, Cox said to the restless crowd. You dont have to boo me now. You can boo me later. About 200 protesters and Trump supporters arrived in the rotunda of the state Capitol about three hours before the votes were cast shortly after noon. The room where the votes were cast was too small to accommodate everyone, and the fire marshal sought to limit occupancy to about 130 people. Interest was high, and the vote even drew Hawthorn Elementary School students, who helped lead the room in the Pledge of Allegiance. Cox thanked them for coming and told them they were getting an experience youll never forget. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Clinton elector balks in Minnesota One of 10 Minnesota electors has decided not cast a vote, Muhammad Abdurrahan. An alternate is now being sworn in. #ElectoralCollege pic.twitter.com/4eN1PIrZdO  Dylan Wohlenhaus (@DylanWohlenhaus) December 19, 2016 In Minnesota, where the 10 electors had all pledged their votes to Hillary Clinton, one of them refused to go through with it. Elector Muhammad Abdurrahman opted not to vote. He was replaced by an alternate, who cast a vote for Clinton. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

As Pennsylvania went unanimously for Trump, a voice from the back: Thank you By Steve Esack Electors sworn in in Pennsylvania (Matt Rourke/Associated Press) In Pennsylvanias capital of Harrisburg, the states 20 electoral college voters selected Trump today in a ceremony marked by traditional pomp and bellowing protests. Trump won the popular vote in Pennsylvania by 44,292 votes  the first Republican presidential candidate to do so since 1988. It earned him the states 20 electoral college votes. When the result was announced shortly before 1 p.m. inside the gilded, ornate House chamber, protesters jeered and supporters cheered. Shame on you, a womans voice called down from the public balcony. Thank you, a male voters voice responded back from the floor. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

How some electors have reacted to all the mail from voters Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Protesters outside Florida Senate chambers: Trump is dangerous By Gray Rohrer Protesters gather outside the Florida Senate chambers ahead of the electoral college voting ceremony. (Gray Rohrer / Orlando Sentinel) A group of about 100 protesters huddled outside the Florida Senate chambers Monday morning as Floridas 29 electors prepared to cast their votes for Donald Trump in the formal electoral eollege vote ceremony later in the day. The protesters held signs that read You can fix this, keep America free, What would Hamilton do? and Electors: Protect Us, Trump is Dangerous, pleading for electors to change their minds and not vote for Trump, who beat Hillary Clinton by 112,911 votes in Florida, about 1.2%t of all votes cast in the state. Tallahassee resident Bonnie McCluskey held a sign reading Send it to the House. If enough electors across the country do not vote for Trump, hell fall short of the 270 electoral votes required to win the presidency, sending the matter to the U.S. House. The reason Im here is because I dont trust [Trump]) and I think he will harm the United States, McCluskey said. My grandmothers were suffragettes; their ancestors were willing to be traitors to the British crown to create this democracy and I dont want to see it end. And that sounds awfully dramatic but thats how Im feeling. She said that part of the reason she doesnt trust Trump is because he didnt pay a company she worked for that did promotional videos for his buildings in 1998. They were basically given the opportunity to take 10 percent or go to court. Back then I didnt realize that was his business plan, McCluskey said. I didnt make the deal with him I was just one of the people who saw a company go bankrupt. Despite the pleas from protesters, all of Floridas electors are expected to vote for Trump. Some, such as Florida Senate President Joe Negron, have posted pictures of hundreds of letters theyve received asking them to change their vote but declaring theyll be voting for the Republican candidate. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Advertisement

Colorado electors make last-ditch plea to switch votes By David Kelly Crowds await the electoral college vote at the Colorado Capitol in Denver. (David Kelly / For The Times) Colorado electors are trying a last-chance legal appeal to avoid voting for Hillary Clinton, and instead vote for an alternative candidate to replace Donald Trump. A week ago, a district court judge told them they had to vote for Clinton, who won the popular vote in Colorado. A few days ago, a federal appeals court upheld that decision. But just hours before the vote today, two electors filed suit to stop the Colorado secretary of state from requiring them to swear to vote for the candidate supported by the electorate. Their effort is part of a loose national scheme to defeat Trump by persuading Republican electors to join with Democrats, such as those in Colorado, and coalesce around an alternative candidate. There has been no decision so far. Facebook

Twitter

Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Email

Copy Link URL Copied!

Print

Chants of Shame! erupt as Wisconsin electors cast ballots for Trump By Bill Ruthhart Demonstrators erupt after Wisconsin's 10 presidential electors cast their #ElectoralCollege ballots for Republican Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/A0GrASaIbY  Bill Ruthhart (@BillRuthhart) December 19, 2016 Wisconsins 10 presidential electors unanimously cast their ballots for Republican Donald Trump as expected Wednesday, but the vote still drew chants of Shame from dozens of demonstrators who had pleaded for them to back away from the president-elect. The typically procedural vote in a fourth-floor conference room in the Wisconsin State Capitol was anything but routine as about 150 protesters greeted the 10 electors with signs pleading for them to vote your conscience not your pledge. In a short 15-minute meeting, the electors quickly cast their ballots for Trump. They did not address the controversial nature of the election and no speeches were made before the 
China Leading Global Shift to Robotics, Automation: Are We Seeing New Capitalism, End of Industrialization?

Robots are seen at work in a car manufacturing facility in Beijing. (Photo : Getty Images)

China's high investments on robotics and automation may bring a fundamental change to capitalism and put an end to old industrialization, according to analysts at global investment manager Bernstein.



Advertisement

Robots may demolish and replace manufacturing jobs globally as the "age of industrialization is coming to an end." According to the analysts, capitalism will undergo a fundamental change with the introduction of robots and automation.



An article by Business Insider cited analysts as saying that the key foundation of economics as espoused by Adam Smith in his book, "Wealth of Nations," may soon become irrelevant due to two trends: the rise of robotics and the modernization of the Chinese economy.



According to analysts Michael W. Parker and Alberto Moel, Smith's book is becoming obsolete.



"Smartphones and online-to-offline apps give unskilled workers options for making a living that do not involve setting foot in developing market factories. Automation is making manufacturing activity cheaper and less labor intensive. Income inequality in developing markets will rise when work means competing against other unionizing," the two said.



The analysts argued that robots will replace manufacturing jobs, which are gradually disappearing globally. This trend is happening globally, with China leading the way. Promises by politicians to bring back jobs, such as the pronouncement of Donald Trump, may not actually benefit the workers, the analysts said.



"If an individual, a company, or a country has an advantage in producing something, then that individual, company or country should specialize in producing that one thing, and trade for everything else," Smith wrote in his book.



Specialization resulted in the industrialization of Asia, where manufacturing was outsourced due to cheaper labor in the region. Many countries in Asia became specialists in producing goods--from radios to t-shirts--which drove economic development in these areas.



However, this is coming to an end, according to Bernstein. "China is taking a different approach when it comes to how to deal with the mismatch between high-cost employees and low-cost manufacturing. Specifically, China is not getting rid of the work (or not all of it). It is just getting rid of the workers."



China is spending about $3 billion on robotics annually and its investment has reduced jobs in the manufacturing sector. For instance, Foxconn, a key partner of Apple, Amazon and Google, and also the world's 10th largest employer, is already using robots, replacing about 60,000 workers.



Bernstein added that job vacancies and wages in China have also increased by 68 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively, as a result of automation.



"The more complex manufacturing tasks are being automated, and the workers are moving into the services sector," the analysts said.



This means that jobs from overseas which have been outsourced because of cheap labor, are now being done by robots in China. Therefore, the promise by politicians that they can bring outsourced industries with well-paid manufacturing jobs back to their countries may no longer benefit them as there are no more jobs to bring back, Bernstein said.



"It is still possible to force the relocation of production through the introduction of tariffs and quotas. However, if the point of the exercise is to restore well-paying, middle-class jobs in manufacturing in the process, the result is going to disappoint," Parker and Moel said.



"Any such effort today is likely to result in greater and greater degrees of automation. The activity may come 'home,' but there are simply no jobs to steal. Mandating a physical task be carried out in a high-cost labor market in 2017 is simply going to increase the chances the task is automated."



Even in the U.S., automation and robotics are already being used. Drones are used for warehouse delivery and surveillance by Walmart and the U.S. Department of Defense.



According to Bernstein, those with the best robots that can serve one's domestic needs will lead in the new global economy, and not those countries which have developed a certain specialization.



Automation and robotics will transform the global economy and the way people work as the World Economic Forum (WEF) predicted the start of the "Fourth Industrial Revolution" this year.



WEF estimated that about 5 million jobs will be lost by 2020, as a result of automation. In China, about 77 percent of jobs are at risk while 57 percent of all jobs in countries belonging to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a study by Citi and Oxford University predicted.



Not only manufacturing, but middle-class jobs will also be affected by technology change, the report said.



Lord Adair Turner, the former vice chairman of Merrill Lynch Europe and ex-head of the Britain's financial watchdog, told Business Insider that this could be "at a turning point in the nature of capitalism" driven by technology.


The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in January that only a jury has the constitutional authority to find a murder so heinous that its perpetrator deserves to be executed. But Alabama continues to use a system in which trial judges can override a jurys recommended sentence of life in prison without parole and turn it into a death sentence. How is that constitutional? Thats what lawyers for Ronald Bert Smith, who is scheduled to die Thursday, want to know, and the Supreme Court ought to take up his case to give them an answer.

Smith was convicted in 1995 of killing a store clerk during an early morning robbery. Under Alabamas death penalty system, after a jury finds someone guilty of murder, it then must decide if the killing involved an aggravating factor, such as committing a particularly brutal murder, or killing for financial gain or while fleeing arrest. Absent such a determination, the defendant is ineligible for the death penalty. If the jury finds that the crime clears that bar, it then considers potentially mitigating factors, such as the killers age, personal history and capacity to recognize the criminality of his actions. If the jury decides  and it doesnt have to be unanimous  that the mitigating factors outweigh the aggravating factors, then it must recommend a sentence of life without parole. Smiths jury did just that in a 7-5 vote, but under court rules in effect at the time, the jurors offered no details on why.

The underlying principle is a simple but important one: People accused of crimes should have their fates decided by a jury of their peers.

Unfortunately for Smith, the jury doesnt make the final call in Alabama. That is left to the trial judge, who conducts his own hearing and, factoring in the jurys recommendation, makes his own findings of aggravating and mitigating factors and determines whether the person should live or die. In Smiths case, the judge overrode the jurys recommendation and sentenced him to death.

In January, however, the Supreme Court ruled in Hurst vs. Florida that such a system violates the Constitution because the 6th Amendment requires a jury, not a judge, to find each fact necessary to impose a sentence of death. The underlying principle is a simple but important one: People accused of crimes should have their fates decided by a jury of their peers. The Hurst decision tossed Floridas death penalty system into disarray, and the state has tried to rewrite its law while faced with the possibility of new sentencing hearings for nearly 400 condemned inmates. In Delaware  the only other state that allowed judicial overrides  the state Supreme Court recently ruled that Hurst made its system unconstitutional, a decision that ended the death penalty there unless the Legislature recrafts its law.

Alabama, though, stuck with it. Smith argued before the state Supreme Court that his death sentence was unconstitutional under the Hurst decision, but the court sided 7-1 with the state, which had argued that because the jury found Smith guilty of an aggravating circumstance, the requirements under Hurst were met and the judge could impose the death sentence. Thats a preposterous argument  it cherry-picks one of the jurors preliminary determinations and ignores their ultimate conclusion that Smith should be sentenced to life without parole. It also ignores the fact that the judge based his decision on his own findings, not on what the jury found, because the jury didnt reveal any details. Theres no way to know if they even found the same aggravating factors were at play. On its face, the power the judge wields seems to conflict with the Supreme Courts Hurst decision.

Advertisement

Capital punishment is, at its core, immoral. In practice it has been meted out disproportionately to poor people of color, and has been manipulated by craven prosecutors and lying witnesses. In Alabama, where trial judges are elected, the Equal Justice Initiative, a human rights advocacy group, has reported that judicial overrides increase during election years, which implies that some of these death sentences may be imposed not because of the facts of the case, but because of the judges desire to crow about how tough they are on crime.

Such fundamental flaws make the courts in general, and Alabamas in particular, an unreliable system for determining who should live or die. As long as the death penalty exists, its application must be subject to the strictest review and respect fundamental constitutional rights. The 6th Amendment guarantees the right to a trial by a jury of ones peers, and the courts have ruled that the finding of facts that lead to a death sentence are the purview of those peers, not the judge. The Supreme Court should now accept Smiths appeal and, ultimately, shut down Alabamas skewed and unfair capital punishment system.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook
With the decommissioning of Diablo Canyon, the states last active nuclear power plant, looming in 2025, it might appear that the end of the nuclear age is in sight for California.

But sorry, no such luck. Not until the federal government makes good on its responsibility to find a permanent repository for spent nuclear fuel.

More than 70,000 tons of nuclear waste sit waiting at about 120 facilities across the nation, including more than 1,600 tons at the shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station and tons more at Diablo Canyon. Its safe enough for the moment, but it is not an acceptable long-term solution.

Advertisement

Things may start to change as soon as next month for two reasons. First, Sen. Harry Reid is retiring. For two decades, Reid has been the chief opponent of siting a permanent underground nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain in his home state of Nevada. As leader of the Senates Democrats he had the power to cut funding for the project, and the support of President Barack Obama. As a result, the already slow permitting process for Yucca Mountain has been stalled since 2010.

The second change is that President-elect Donald Trump is apparently open to the idea of restarting the permitting process for the storage site. Although Reids replacement in the Senate, Sen.-elect Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), opposes Yucca Mountain, as does Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), they dont have the sway needed to stall the project if the Trump administration chooses to reinstate it. With the support of the Republican-controlled federal government, the process could move fairly quickly, though its unlikely it would open next year as had been planned.

Not to be insensitive to Nevadans, but thank goodness for that.

Of course, their concerns are understandable. No one wants tens of thousands of tons of radioactive garbage dumped nearby, especially given fears that it may someday leak into the groundwater. But for all its flaws, Yucca Mountain probably still represents the safest place in the country for a nuclear repository. It is dry, remote and stable, and it sits at the edge of a 1950s-era atomic testing site. More than $10 billion has already been spent developing the repository there. The fact is, no preferable alternative anywhere in the country has been identified, yet the waste has to go somewhere. That, in a nutshell, is the problem with nuclear power.

While the spent fuel is relatively safe for the moment being stored in casks or pools on the sites where it was generated, its not secure or cost-effective to keep the waste stored there forever. Ratepayers who have already paid fees to fund waste facilities are being asked to keep paying to babysit the waste long after some of the plants that generated it have been decommissioned and demolished, and when theres more than $30 billion in ratepayer fees in a federal Nuclear Waste Fund available to spend on nuclear storage.

Thats not to say the government shouldnt be developing other options for radioactive storage. It should. Even if Yucca Mountain is eventually opened for business, it wont be sufficient to meet the current need. Although the proposal to use privately run consolidated interim waste storage dumps until longer-term facilities open raises some security and safety concerns (moving nuclear waste across the country even once is bad enough), its wise to explore all storage options because it will take years to open any new facility.

The feds have not fulfilled their side of the bargain to safely and permanently store nuclear waste, and it is high time for them to do so. Then we can move on to the next fraught nuclear waste debate: How to transport it to the dump.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
At the end of November, I was detained at the American-Canadian border, and I find myself struggling with feelings of resentment, anger and shame. I had traveled from Los Angeles to Edmonton, Canada, where I delivered an academic lecture at the University of Alberta. Getting off a plane and gaining entry into Alberta, I was treated with respect and dignity, and was sent on my way with a lilting, Welcome to Canada, professor.

Returning home to the United States was a different experience. To set the scene, I should mention that I was traveling with my wife and 11-year old son. I am in my 50s, wrestling with a number of health challenges, and I use a wheelchair.

The first indication that something was amiss came when my wife tried to complete online check-in for us all. It wouldnt work for me. Later, as we passed through the airport security line in Edmonton, I was asked to separate my belongings from that of my family, something that I obligingly did. After going through a security detector, I was meticulously patted down, and I, as well as my belongings, were swabbed more than once, I assume for explosives residue.

Advertisement

We had been welcomed with dignity as we entered Canada, only to be dehumanized when we came home.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security stations Customs and Border Protection agents in Canada, so travelers in effect cross the border before they even arrive in the U.S. At the Edmonton airport, travelers to America insert their passports into a scanning machine, fill in basic information on a touchscreen, and get their photos taken. Then the machine ejects a form that must be presented to the Homeland Security officers.

I was rather surprised and somewhat amused when the form in my case came out of the machine with a large and jarring X all over it. When I handed it over, my American passport was placed in a red folder and I was asked to follow the officer to a side area.

I have taught and practiced immigration law so I am familiar with the basics of being called aside at a border crossing. The procedure is usually employed to make sure noncitizens have their visas and other papers in order. U.S. citizens have a constitutional right to return to their country. Even if they are fugitives from justice, they will be allowed to clear customs before being apprehended by law enforcement.

Although my wife and son were free to board the plane for home, they followed me to the side area. We were the only passengers in a large, ominous looking room with rows of empty seats. A lone officer sat behind a service window, eyeing us with suspicion as we sat down. He preceded to stare at his computer as the time for boarding our plane was quickly running out. I was not asked a single question, or told a single thing about the reason for the delay.

A much braver soul than I, my wife asked the officer if we were going to make our flight, to which he dryly replied, I dont know.

After around 40 minutes, we were set free with nothing more than a you can go. We ran to make our flight as my wife pushed my wheelchair and our son wrangled our two wheeled carry-ons. We had been welcomed with dignity as we entered Canada, only to be dehumanized when we came home.

I keep pondering the possible reasons for this Orwellian experience. My expertise is in national security law, human rights law and Islamic law. After Sept. 11, I assisted our government on a number of anti-terrorism projects. In fact, on many occasions I risked my safety and the well-being of my family to stand up to fanatics and extremists in public forums. Does the government believe there was a legitimate reason for the big conspicuous X that graced my form at the Edmonton airport?

Why was I processed as if I was a visa holder instead of a citizen? Why was I searched as if my very skin could be a public threat? Why was I left to speculate instead of simply being informed of what was going on and given the opportunity to address the governments concerns?

It seems clear to me that despite my background and public identity  so easily accessible to the border guards  I was profiled. And now I wonder, is there no limit to the alienation and marginalization that American Muslims will be made to feel by their own country?

We already endure everyday bigotry and Islamophobia. We have grown accustomed to derisive comments and suspicious gazes. With Donald Trumps election, American Muslims live with added uncertainty and anxiety about exclusion, registration and even possible internment.

Before Trumps takeover, on my journey home, I was made to feel like an outsider, a foreigner seeking entry to my own nation. It was belittling, saddening, and I fear that perhaps this was precisely the point. I battle the conclusion that perhaps the very meaning of democratic citizenship is eroding in my country.

Khaled Abou El Fadl is a professor at UCLAs School of Law and former chair of the universitys Islamic Studies Interdepartmental Program. His latest book is Reasoning with God: Reclaiming Shariah in the Modern Age.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook

MORE FROM OPINION:

Identity politics did in Clinton, but not the way you think

Alabama judges shouldnt be able to override juries and issue death sentences

With Harry Reids retirement, will the Yucca Mountain plan be revived?
When President-elect Donald Trump tweeted out attacks Wednesday night against an Indianapolis steelworkers official, he wasnt just letting off steam; he was seeking to stifle dissent and weaken a powerful labor union.

The official, Chuck Jones, apparently offended Trump by saying he had lied his ass off when he claimed to have saved 1,100 jobs at Carriers plant in Indianapolis. In truth, Trump helped to save 800, not 1,100.

So at 7:41 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, Trump tweeted, Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers. No wonder companies flee country! And at 8:56, Trump tweeted, If United Steelworkers 1999 was any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana. Spend more time working-less time talking. Reduce dues.

Advertisement

Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers. No wonder companies flee country!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2016

If United Steelworkers 1999 was any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana. Spend more time working-less time talking. Reduce dues  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2016

Jones told the news media that within hours of Trumps Twitter attack, he had received menacing phone calls, including one saying, We know what car you drive. 

One can imagine that, with such a precedent, many business leaders, union officials and others might grow reluctant to speak out against Trump.

Even before Jones truth-telling, Trump had reason to dislike the man because his union, the United Steelworkers, had endorsed Hillary Clinton.

Setting aside purely personal issues, Trumps attacks on Jones and the Steelworkers were based on several misapprehensions. When I interviewed Jones several months ago, he told me that he and his union had worked hard to persuade Carrier and its parent company, United Technologies, not to move the roughly 2,100 jobs they had announced would be heading to Mexico 1,400 from the Carrier plant in Indianapolis and 700 from a plant in Huntington, Ind.

But Jones said there was little his union could do, telling me that Carrier officials had said the only way the steelworkers union could save the Indianapolis plant is if it somehow cut their wage levels, averaging around $22 an hour, to around $5 an hour. That of course is below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. Carrier said it would save $65 million annually by closing its Indianapolis plant and moving the operation to Monterrey, Mexico, where it pays workers $2 to $3 an hour.

In Trumps two tweets, it was unclear whether he was blaming Jones, the steelworkers union or unions in general for the fact that companies were fleeing the country. It was a doubly confused attack because the Donald J. Trump Collection, which is nonunion, has had many shirts produced in Bangladesh and China and suits made in India and China. Moreover, Trump was wrong to suggest that its only unionized factories that flee the country. American companies have also closed many nonunion factories  think apparel and furniture  and outsourced those operations.

Trumps second tweet had an enigmatic phrase: spend more time working-less time talking. There, it was ambiguous whether he was referring to the steelworkers union or to unionized workers in general. If he meant the latter, by asserting that Midwestern workers toil too little and talk too much, he was essentially insulting many of the blue-collar workers who voted for him. If Trump was saying the union itself should spend less time talking, that seems to contradict his assertion that the steelworkers hadnt done enough to save the Carrier plant. To save it, the union presumably would have needed to talk more, not less, with Carrier.

It was in some ways surprising that Trump attacked the steelworkers union at all because it has for years led the fight on two big issues that Trump campaigned on  opposing trade deals and challenging Chinas violations of international trade rules, often by illegally subsidizing its industries.

Late Wednesday, the union sent out tweets defending Jones and saying, Dues have helped us file 45+ cases against bad trade; saving jobs in tire, paper, steel, etc. We walk the walk. #imwithchuck. From across the country, union members and leaders also rallied behind Jones. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, tweeted, Chuck Jones was trying to save workers jobs while @realDonaldTrump was buying Chinese steel for his bldgs.

Follow live coverage of the presidential transition on Trail Guide 

Anyone who believes in robust, pluralistic democracy should be worried that a national leader, so soon after being elected, is assailing labor unions with an eye to weakening them. How else can one interpret Trumps attack on union dues? In far too many countries over the last century  Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Germany and the Soviet Union come to mind  authoritarian leaders set out to hobble and suppress outspoken labor leaders and independent trade unions. John Kenneth Galbraith wrote that its vital to have strong labor unions to serve as a countervailing power to prevent corporations from growing too powerful.

Also late Wednesday night, Jones told the Indianapolis Star, referring to Trump, that what he says, that dont bother me. Then Jones announced that he would be open to working with Trump, despite any disagreements: When it comes to peoples livelihoods, I think everybody has to put everything aside.

For the good of Americas 145 million workers, lets hope that the president-elect can agree with him on that.

Steven Greenhouse was the New York Times labor and workplace reporter from 1995 to 2014. He is the author of The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook

ALSO

Meet Wilbur Ross, who once bailed out Trump in Atlantic City and is now his pick for Commerce secretary

Trump names climate change skeptic and oil industry ally to lead the EPA

Trump to preside over the richest Cabinet in U.S. history
Results for the latest round of international standardized tests for high schoolers are in, and once again U.S. students find themselves in the middle of the global pack. This has provoked yet more hand-wringing about the quality of American schools and the competitiveness of future workers. But just as with the last round of tests, the news isnt as grim as some contend. Because its worth reiterating, heres what The Times editorial board said after the previous results were released in 2013:

The standardized tests known as the Program for International Student Assessment are considered so important that when the latest results were released last week, the U.S. Department of Education participated in a so-called PISA Day.

The leaders of the nations teachers unions immediately fired off news releases asserting that the mediocre PISA scores of American students showed that more than a decade of testing-based reform had failed our schools. Prominent reform leaders, by contrast, concluded from the test results that the U.S. was failing to change schools radically enough to aid its most disadvantaged students. Still others predicted that the U.S. economy would crash and burn because of our students unimpressive math scores on the PISA exams compared with other countries students. (American students ranked above the median in reading and science but below it in math.)

Advertisement

The results on this and other international tests are more complicated than they look

A saner interpretation of the PISA results came from researchers who have studied international rankings in great detail, and their message goes something like this: Calm down, everyone. The results on this and other international tests are more complicated than they look, and in this case, nuance makes a difference. Despite the doomsday talk, the scores a country receives on the PISA dont necessarily predict the strength  or weakness  of its future labor force or the trajectory of its economy, according to Martin Carnoy, a professor of education at Stanford University. Some countries with relatively low scores have built thriving, tech-based economies, while the economies of some high-scoring nations have faltered.

And the results on the PISA, administered every three years to 15-year-olds in 65 countries, tell us as much about cultural differences as about differences between school systems. In the Asian countries that took the top spots  including Singapore, South Korea and areas of China  families spend heavily on private tutoring to prepare their children for college entrance examinations that closely resemble the PISA tests, Carnoy said. So the high PISA results dont necessarily reflect on their schools.

The reasons that some countries do well (or poorly) are complicated. Finland, for instance, has historically been successful on the PISA tests  so much so that governments, including Californias, have sent delegations there to figure out the educational magic. And Finland has been successful despite the fact that, unlike in Asia, testing is de-emphasized and recesses during the school day are long. But Finland also is a country with relatively few disadvantaged children, largely because of the nations social welfare network. And disadvantaged children, no matter what the country, fare worse on the PISA tests than students from more educated and affluent families. A Stanford study last year found that non-school factors such as the number of books in students homes accounted for more than two-thirds of the variation in scores on high-profile international tests like PISA.

A study published this year by Carnoy and Richard Rothstein, a researcher at the Economic Policy Institute, found that much of the difference between U.S. scores and those of high-ranking nations is because the United States has a higher proportion of disadvantaged students. But the researchers found that the scores of the most disadvantaged U.S. students have been improving markedly over the years, while scores for their counterparts in many top-ranked nations have fallen precipitously.

In contrast, the highest-scoring U.S. math students are nowhere near their peers in top-ranking countries, Carnoy said.

Though curriculum itself isnt a cure-all, the Common Core curriculum, which California and dozens of other states are beginning to implement, should help. It is more closely aligned to the kind of conceptual understanding and deep thinking that is both called for on the PISA tests and required for true innovation.

If there is a lesson to be gleaned from PISA, its that moving toward a more educated nation will require helping families give their children the resources and background they need to do better in school, as well as continuing reform efforts to improve instruction and curriculum. It requires committed action over time, not warring and self-serving pronouncements.
To the editor: People who are not members of an underground music community may find it easy to declare that they would never patronize a venue such as the Ghost Ship in Oakland, a converted warehouse where dozens of people were killed in a massive fire Friday night. (Scrutiny grows over conditions at Ghost Ship warehouse where at least 24 died during a fire, Dec. 4)

But if youre interested in noncommercial music, the concerts you attend will probably be in DIY venues. These places dont make a profit and consequently are excellent community spaces: Tickets are cheap, enabling individuals of diverse means to attend and artists without a commercially significant fan base to perform. Much of the news coverage ignores this part of the story in favor of the sensationalist narrative that implies that the Ghost Ship was so obviously dangerous that anyone attending was irresponsible.

Certainly, there were lapses in oversight  by the city government, promoters and warehouse owners  but the fans who came out that night were simply supporting local musicians and enjoying the music, like they had many times before.

Advertisement

Rose Dwyer, Los Angeles

..

To the editor: The year 2016 is our very own American annus horribilis.

With a monstrous election that decimated illusions of democratic ideals finally ended, it seemed for a moment that California might hold up some standard of fairness and equity with our proud declarations that we would protect our immigrant population, that we would not give way to the grasping greed and hatred loose in the country.

But, no. The pictures of the young  surely some of our best and brightest destined for artistic achievement  destroyed by a wholly unnecessary raging fire gave truth to our dirty secrets. We have no protections, no fire safety, no housing for those embarked on a journey not defined by money.

I say to immigrants, Watch carefully where you live and watch what we do, not what we say.

Lynne Culp, Van Nuys

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
To the editor: By vowing to push back against President-elect Donald Trump once he is inaugurated, the ruling Democrats in Sacramento are playing a dangerous game of chicken with the federal government. Before they proceed, they need to review the Constitution of the United States. (Californias new legislative session begins with a message: Were ready to fight Trump, Dec. 6)

State power is not unlimited; it is constrained by the Constitution and the laws of the land. This understanding was a condition of joining the union when California asked to become a state.

Its easy for elected officials to get on their high horse and decide to defy the federal government. However, they would do well to remember there can be a price to pay. The unfortunate part is that their actions will not affect their pay or privileges, while the loss of federal funds will affect state residents.

Advertisement

Most of us learned early in life that playing chicken is dangerous.

Alan L. Strzemieczny, Riverside

..

To the editor: Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) denounced Trumps agenda as cynical, shortsighted and reactionary. He went on to say, White nationalists and anti-Semites have no business working in the White House.

Fortunately, Assembly GOP leader Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley rose to Trumps defense and said he was saddened by the bellicosity of Rendons speech. And then in an ironic and astounding insight, he added, I felt like I was watching a speech from Trump, to be honest. It was fear-mongering. There was demagoguery.

Thank you, Assemblyman Mayes, for confirming what all perceptive and intelligent patriots already knew. I trust you will be amply rewarded for your candor by your Republican colleagues.

Tim Huntley, Vista, Calif.

..

To the editor: I am sick of the never-ending debate on immigration. Why doesnt someone do something about it? Both Democrats and Republicans keep kicking the can down the road for someone else to pick up. Thats how we got into this mess.

As for the debate at hand, this is a nation of immigrants, as it is often quoted. Yes, it is a nation of legal immigrants, and I am one myself. Lets limit the discussion to illegal immigrants. If you break the law, there are consequences, period.

In the United States, there are up to 3 million illegal immigrants who ran afoul of the law for any number of reasons. They should be deported. Why the outcry? The Obama administration has deported at least 2.5 million illegal immigrants.

Then theres the argument of tearing families apart. If, say, an illegal immigrant father commits a crime and is deported, what prevents him from taking his family with him? It is not the government that tears a family apart; it is the father. Lets put the blame where it belongs.

Dietmar Wagenknecht, Thousand Oaks

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
To the editor: Barton Swaim asserts that President Obama and Donald Trump share a searing contempt for their critics. He offers nothing concrete to prove it, aside from his own interpretation of Obamas words. (What Trump and Obama have in common, Opinion, Dec. 4)

Obama has faced an unprecedented level of disrespect. In 2009, during a presidential address to Congress, GOP Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina bellowed, You lie! Obama calmly continued with his speech. While campaigning for Hillary Clinton, Obama engaged hecklers respectfully. By contrast, people opposed to Trump have been kicked out of his rallies, often at Trumps urging. He even offered to pay the legal bills of supporters who physically assaulted protesters.

Swaim states Obamas offense isnt so much rhetorical as attitudinal. Ive been on the planet long enough to recognize this as code for uppity.

Advertisement

The Obamas have been depicted as radical Muslims, apes and monkeys, and they did not engage the offenders. In contrast, Trump responded like a petulant child to the cast of a Broadway play that asked him and his vice president-elect to be humane leaders of this country.

This isnt becoming of a man about to occupy the most powerful office on the planet.

David P. Lewis, Long Beach

..

To the editor: To compare Obama with Trump is to compare a sewing machine with a war tank, a gentleman with a thug.

Obama had the humility to defer to many congressional defeats, much to the chagrin of progressives. His language was inciting, but of political action and support  and apparently resentment in those who either didnt agree or didnt understand. Trumps language has incited hate and retribution.

There is a world of difference between these two men. One exemplifies dignity; the other, self-will run riot.

Betsy Rothstein, Long Beach

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
On the morning of Nov. 18, with a brass fanfare ringing through the high arches, I walked down the center aisle of the majestic Canterbury Cathedral to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Kent. It was a crowning moment of my career, although a little voice inside my head was laughing uproariously at such a fuss being made about a cartoonist.

The 10-day trip to England to receive this accolade was a welcome break after long months of following an intense campaign that ended with the election of the stunningly unqualified Donald Trump as president of the United States. Of course, that topic could not be escaped. As soon as my family and I stepped off the airplane at Heathrow, a customs officer who just happened to be a young woman wearing a hijab made the first query about Trump.

My English friends, as well as everyone I spoke with during various events at the university, all wanted to commiserate about what Trumps ascendance would mean for the world. They invariably compared the unpredicted Trump victory with the unexpected approval of Brexit last June when working-class and rural voters said yes to withdrawing the United Kingdom from the European Union. In one way or another, everyone was asking: What in the world is going on?

Advertisement

1 / 51 la-1491523602-y7ephyarj1-snap-image (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 51 la-1491368625-0bgh58ihw8-snap-image (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los angeles Times) 6 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 51 Trump inspires millions to take to the streets -- to oppose him. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 23 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 25 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 26 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 29 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 31 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 32 / 51 Cartoon caption contest winner at the DENT conference in Sun Valley, Idaho: Jon Duval, executive director of the Ketchum Community Development Corporation. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 33 / 51 Old radicals and big media descend on Selma (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 34 / 51 Horsey imagined the creation of the Ann Coulter phenomenon in this cartoon from 2007. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 35 / 51 This David Horsey drawing is a reconfiguration of a cartoon he first published in 2006. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 36 / 51 Donald Sterling, owner of the L.A. Clippers, should give Cliven Bundy a call. After Sterling loses his NBA franchise and the deadbeat Nevada rancher loses his cattle, the two old racists will both need a buddy. Maybe they can team up together and open an all-white rodeo. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 37 / 51 Besides sending a chill up the spine of the international community, Vladimir Putin has accomplished one other thing by seizing Crimea and threatening the rest of Ukraine: Putin has brought back the bear. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 38 / 51 The right-wing insurrection at the Bundy ranch in Bunkerville, Nev., has taken another weird turn with new revelations about the family history of Cliven Bundy. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 39 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 40 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 41 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 42 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 43 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 44 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 45 / 51 David Horsey / Los Angeles Times (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 46 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 47 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 48 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 49 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 50 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 51 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)

When I attended the University of Kent at Canterbury as a masters student in international relations 30 years ago, that was the prime question at the core of all lectures, discussions and debates. How do we understand the world and how it works? My return to campus in November was a useful reminder that a deep understanding cannot be deduced by chasing every tweet sent out by a president-elect or by watching campaign surrogates shout at each other on CNN.

The disaffection of certain classes of voters in the United States and Europe that led to Trumps win and the thumbs-up for Brexit  and which may lead to further rejections of the established order in Italy, Germany and France in the coming year  is part of something bigger. You would never know it from the narrow scope of coverage on American cable news or most media outlets, but we are very likely at the edge of a dramatic shift in the entire world order.

Such transitional times have come before. The defeat of Napoleon in 1815 set the stage for a multipolar international system with the British Empire more or less at the top. The advent of the Great War in 1914 rocked that system to its foundations, though it held on until it was completely demolished by the Second World War. After 1945, we lived in a bipolar world divided between the United States and the Soviet Union. Then, in 1989, the Soviet empire disintegrated and the planet was left with one pre-eminent power, the U.S.

What we are experiencing now is a realignment away from that temporary unipolar reality. But what is coming next?

In a recent lecture, Trine Flockhart, professor of International Relations at Kent, made the case that we are not reverting to a multipolar system like that of the 19th century. Back then, the various Great Powers  Britain, France, Germany, Russia, America  generally shared a common idea of how the world should be ordered. From that evolved the economic and political environment Americans and Europeans have enjoyed for many decades; an order in which liberal democracy and free market capitalism were assumed to be the default goals of all humankind.

Flockhart contends we can make that assumption no longer. She sees something new, complex and discordant on the horizon, a future where there will be not just one world order but several. The authoritarian, centrally-designed capitalism of China and other Asian states will offer an alternative to the Wests liberal vision, as will the theocratic, culturally conservative Muslim regions, with Iran in particular challenging what has been the international status quo.

For the West, who after all, has been the main instigator, the main owner and beneficiary of the liberal international order, the change is going to be especially unsettling because it basically ends 200 years of continuous expansion of the liberal international order, Flockhart said.

It is particularly disturbing that, as we are poised on the cusp of this great change, the two most influential and comparatively enlightened powers of the last 200 years, the United Kingdom and the United States, both may be retreating from the international stage. The withdrawal from Europe could sharply diminish British influence. In the U.S., the choice to elect to the presidency an untutored nationalist with only the dimmest understanding of international relations may make America an undependable, erratic outlier just when competing powers with very different conceptions of order are rising.

At the University of Kent, I learned the value of trying to perceive the full complexity of world affairs. Unfortunately, increased knowledge can also bring an increased awareness of looming calamities and the cost of ignorance at the top.

David.Horsey@latimes.com

Follow me at @davidhorsey on Twitter
Avengers: Infinity War is a two-part superhero film directed by Anthony and Joe Russo as part of phase 3 in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. (Photo : Facebook/Marvel)

New details and possible spoilers for "Avengers: Infinity War" will feature a fight between Hulk and Groot, as well as Spider-Man's inclusion in "Avengers 4".



"The Fast and The Furious" star Vin Diesel teased a little spoiler for "Avengers: Infinity War" as his character Groot from the "Guardians of The Galaxy" will likely tussle with the Avenger's powerhouse The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) during the course of the film.



Advertisement

Diesel tol ScreenJunkies (via ComingSoon) that somewhere in the universe that Groot and Hulk will do battle with each other, even hinting a poster featuring them. The third film will feature the Avengers teaming-up with the Guardians of the Galaxy along with new characters to fight the Mad Titan Thanos (Josh Brolin) to save the universe from total annilation.



Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and Rocket (Bradley Cooper) are already confirmed in the film, with a rumored hint that Peter will have an important roled within "Infinity War's" plot.



In other news, Marvel fans will likely see Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland) in "Avengers 4".



Holland has signed a deal with Marvel to appear in six different films; three are "Spider-Man" sequels and three appearances in other movies.



It has been reported that Holland will not likely appear in "Avengers: Infinity War" as he stated negotiations are "still up in the air" for him. However, Holland told The Hollywood Reporter that Spider-Man will be "the kid" in the MCU as he is dragged into the conflict that normally a child will be amazed by it, and seeing the likes of Thanos (Josh Brolin) may prove "too much" for Peter Parker to process, who is still grappling with great power and great responsibility.



Despite all of that, there is still a chance that Spider-Man will join Earth's Mightiest Heroes in "Avengers 4" as Thanos might bring the fight to earth.



Previous reports revealed that Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) could be the next Captain America after Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and a leaked concept art of Mistress Death for "Avengers: Infinity War".



Thanos will complete all six Infinity Stones; Space, Reality, Power, Mind,Time and Soul Stones. The last Infinity Stone is theorized to be the eyes of the Asgardian Gatekeeper Heimdall (Idris Elba) and will be reveal itself during "Thor: Ragnarok".



"Avengers: Infinity War" is slated to be release on May 4, 2018, while the fourth film is scheduled on May 3, 2019.






Donald Trump picked Oklahoma Atty. Gen. Scott Pruitt to run the Environmental Protection Agency, signaling the president-elect will deliver on his vow to disassemble President Obamas landmark effort to fight climate change.

Pruitt, 48, a staunch ally of the fossil fuel industry, has taken a lead nationally in resisting Obamas environmental agenda. He is an architect of the multi-state legal effort to block the administrations sweeping national mandates for cleaner-burning power plants, a linchpin of its program to combat global warming.

Atty. Gen. Pruitt has great qualifications and a good record, Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway said in response protests from environmentalists and others over the pick. She said Trump interviewed several candidates for the post. We look forward to the confirmation hearings, Conway said.

Advertisement

Pruitt disputes the mainstream scientific consensus that human activity is warming the planet at an alarming rate and that world governments must act aggressively to limit emissions if they are to avoid catastrophic consequences. He has also fought EPA anti-pollution rules.

Pruitt could be the most hostile EPA administrator toward clean air and safe drinking water in history, said Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group.

The impact of an EPA under his direction would vary considerably from state to state. In places like California that enthusiastically embrace the fight against climate change and have clean air and water rules that exceed federal standards, the fallout may be marginal. Such states will probably resume the role they held during the last Republican administration in Washington, as defiant laboratories for cleaner energy that push other states to follow their lead by reshaping regional energy markets.

But states like Pruitts Oklahoma, which remain heavily invested in fossil fuels, would face far less federal pressure to replace aging power plants and expand their use of renewables. Pruitts record of resisting federal regulation also suggests the EPA under him could limit its role in holding state governments to account when their enforcement of anti-pollution rules fall short, as happened in Flint, Mich., where the citys drinking water supply was contaminated.

Pruitt would not be empowered to cancel the Obama administrations Clean Power Plan, which sets goals for states to meet in reducing their carbon pollution. But he could decline to defend the plan in court or attempt to slow its implementation. The emissions rules are unlikely to be effective if enforced by an EPA chief who opposes them.

Major environmental groups and Democrats responded to Trumps pick of Pruitt with alarm. They vowed a spirited confirmation fight.

For the sake of the air we breathe, the water we drink and the planet we will leave our children, the head of the EPA cannot be a stenographer for the lobbyists of polluters and Big Oil, said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco. Pruitt has brazenly used his office as a vehicle for the agenda of big polluters and climate deniers in the courts  and he could do immense damage as the administrator of the EPA.

Pelosis comments referred to a 2014 New York Times report that found energy lobbyists drafted letters for Pruitt to send to federal agencies and Obama, outlining the hardships of federal regulations. Several opponents cited the letters in charging that Pruitt is unqualified for the EPA post.

He is a climate science denier who, as attorney general for the state of Oklahoma, regularly conspired with the fossil fuel industry to attack EPA regulations, said Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune.

Pruitt co-wrote an article in May for National Review with Alabama Atty. Gen. Luther Strange that insisted the climate debate is far from settled.

Scientists continue to disagree about the degree and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of mankind, the attorneys general wrote.

Trump campaigned as an unflinching crusader for fossil fuels. He has called climate change a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese and pledged repeatedly to scrap the global climate treaty the United States signed last year in Paris with 195 other nations. That treaty pledges the U.S. will work to limit the rise in temperatures from human-induced warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius, an ambitious goal that requires an aggressive redirection of the energy economy.

A refusal by the U.S. to abide by the treaty could prompt other nations to do the same. World leaders have called on Trump to reconsider, and in recent weeks he gave signs that perhaps he was wavering. Trump and his daughter Ivanka held meetings for 90 minutes at Trump Tower on Monday with former Vice President Al Gore, a prominent crusader against climate change.

Gore offered environmentalists a faint glimmer of hope by reporting that Trump seemed receptive to his message. Trump had earlier told reporters he was keeping an open mind on climate change.

But Trumps actions even before he settled on Pruitt to lead the EPA suggested he would not abandon his plans to scrap as much of the Obama climate agenda as he could. His transition teams at both the EPA and the Department of Energy are led by activists who have built their careers helping fossil fuel companies in their effort to torpedo legislation aimed at combating climate change and promoting renewable energy. Several other policymakers and lobbyists Trump has brought into his circle since winning the election are climate skeptics.

Republicans who have resisted Obamas efforts on climate change applauded Trumps choice of the Oklahoma attorney general.

Pruitt has fought back against unconstitutional and overzealous environmental regulations, said Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee. He has proven that being a good steward of the environment does not mean burdening taxpayers and businesses with red tape.

evan.halper@latimes.com

Follow me: @evanhalper

ALSO

Trump expected to pick retired Marine Gen. John Kelly to lead Homeland Security Department

Iowa governor, who has long ties to Beijing, is selected as Trumps ambassador to China

Trump chooses former World Wrestling Entertainment executive Linda McMahon to head Small Business Administration
Wilbur Ross became rich investing in faltering businesses like steel mills and coal mines, finding a fortune in blue-collar industries that others dismissed as beyond saving.

But before he was scooping up Rust Belt factories, the banker was sizing up another troubled asset: Donald Trump. More than two decades ago, Ross represented bondholders who were gunning for Trump after he failed to pay back the high-interest loans he had taken out to build his casino empire.



For the record: A earlier version of this article listed House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthys party affiliation as Democrat. He is a Republican.

When Ross arrived in Atlantic City, N.J., for negotiations in 1990, he found a throng of journalists and curious onlookers eager to catch a glimpse of Trump, according to The Vulture Investors, by Hilary Rosenberg. For the quiet Ross, the scene inspired a revelation: Trumps flashy image had resilience.

Advertisement

Ross embarked on a strategy that helped Trump avoid a personal bankruptcy that could have derailed his unlikely trajectory from real-estate mogul to reality television star to president-elect.

Consider it another investment that has paid off for Ross, whom Trump recently tapped to lead the Department of Commerce. A private equity billionaire who once led a secret Wall Street fraternity, Ross is among the rich, loyal insiders Trump picked for a Cabinet that is shaping up as the wealthiest in history.

If confirmed by the Senate, the 79-year-old veteran investor will spearhead trade policy and business development in the new administration.

Trump rejected criticism that Ross was too out of touch to serve, saying during a rally last week in Cincinnati that Ross was chosen because this guy knows how to make money, folks.

Trump added, I put on a killer.

Ross, however, once spared Trump.

The future president-elect at one time owned a quarter of Atlantic Citys casino market. But Trump was heavily in debt, and he started missing bond payments on his  and Atlantic Citys  largest casino, the Taj Mahal, in 1990.

Donald Trump celebrates the grand opening of the Taj Mahal in 1990. The Atlantic City casino was in financial trouble later that year. (Mike Derer / Associated Press )

Ross, then an investment banker working for Rothschild Inc., helped bondholders negotiate with Trump, whose finances were unraveling. The final deal reduced Trumps ownership stake in the Taj but left him in charge, and bondholders were unhappy when Ross presented the plan.

Why did we make a deal with him? one asked, according to Rosenbergs book.

Ross insisted that Trump was worth saving.

The Trump name is still very much an asset, he said.

Trump himself proved to be less of a sure bet. Though the agreement allowed Trump to soldier on in Atlantic City, his casinos landed in bankruptcy court twice more.

The president-elect respects Ross deal-making skills, said Jason Miller, the communications director for Trumps transition team.

Hes seen Mr. Ross up close and personal, Miller said. He knows that he can depend on him.

Ross grew up in New Jersey and attended a Jesuit prep school in New York before earning degrees from Yale and the Harvard Business School. He spent two decades at Rothschild working on bankruptcies before starting his own private equity firm, WL Ross & Co., in 2000.

A Palm Beach, Fla., resident who owns an art collection valued at nine figures and is worth an estimated $2.5 billion according to Forbes, Ross earned a reputation as a so-called vulture investor for finding profits in dying businesses. Ross described himself differently in an interview with New York magazine: Were a phoenix that rebuilds itself from the ashes.

At the Commerce Department, Ross would oversee a portfolio containing responsibilities as diverse as weather research and promoting minority-owned businesses. However, with Trump in the White House, foreign trade likely will be the issue that gets the most of Ross attention. Trump has promised to remake free-trade deals.

Follow live coverage of the presidential transition on Trail Guide 

President-elect Donald Trump, left, with Commerce secretary pick Wilbur Ross, whose estimated worth is $2.5 billion. (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press)

The department has wide latitude to determine when other countries are violating trade rules, experts said, allowing U.S. officials to slap tariffs on imports or find loopholes in international agreements.

The Trump administration wont rush toward tariffs but wants to renegotiate some deals, Ross told CNBC after he was tapped by Trump.

Weve been doing a lot of dumb trade, he said, echoing Trumps campaign-trail rhetoric.

Trumps pronouncement that companies that leave the U.S. will face a 35% tariff on goods they want to sell domestically has been met with a tepid response from his fellow Republicans. GOP leaders on Capitol Hill suggested this week that they would not go along with such a proposal, though they emphasized that they would wait to hear exactly what Trump had in mind.

Take a deep breath. Hes not sworn in yet, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) told reporters. Lets not predetermine what the outcome of this stuff is.

Even Trumps vice president-elect, Mike Pence, deflected when asked repeatedly on MSNBC whether he agrees with the proposed tariff.

What we dont want to do is for companies to say it cost  it costs this much to manufacture it overseas and sell it in the United States and it costs this much in taxes and regulations and other burdens to manufacture here, Pence said Tuesday on Morning Joe.

Ross, though, helped formulate Trumps economic policies, which include tax cuts, reduced regulations on energy production and privately financed infrastructure spending spurred by tax credits.

Peter Navarro, a UC Irvine professor who worked with Ross on the proposals as a Trump adviser, praised Ross for his precision, compassion, humility and subtle humor.

Donald Trump continues to choose very well for America, Navarro said.

A report from Moodys, however, predicted that Trumps plans would lead to a recession, while the Tax Foundation projected that deficits would increase, conclusions that Navarro and Ross have dismissed.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) slammed Trumps choice of Ross. Democrats have no power to block his eventual nomination.

Choosing a practiced corporate raider to head the Commerce Department reflects Republicans disdain for hard-working Americans struggling to make ends meet, she said in a statement. With sprawling conflicts of interest and a troubling record on worker safety, Democrats have serious concerns that Wilbur Ross corporate interests will trump the concerns of American families, entrepreneurs and our economic security.

Her reference to worker safety was particularly damning. Ross private equity fund bought financially troubled coal operations several years ago, and in West Virginia, one of them, the Sago mine, suffered a collapse that killed a dozen people in 2006.

Miller defended Ross response to the blast, noting that Ross raised money to help families of the victims and invested in better mining safety.

Ross record with steel companies is less controversial. Under the banner of the International Steel Group, he acquired mills on the verge of being shuttered when their owners fell into bankruptcy. The company became the largest producer of steel in the country, and Ross sold the operations for $4.5 billion two years after he entered the industry.

Despite his Wall Street background, Ross had a good relationship with labor. Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers, said that his exchanges with Ross werent peaches and cream, but he was open to workers concerns.

Lots of these folks are bottom-feeders. They come in, and they strip the assets, Gerard said of other investors. Wilbur went the other way.

chris.megerian@latimes.com

Twitter: @chrismegerian

ALSO:

Trump to preside over the richest Cabinet in U.S. history

Trump says he saved American jobs, but he hasnt shown how he can turn the victory into policy

Step by step, Trump is assembling an administration far more conservative than his campaign
Success in life often results from being lucky and having the ability to capitalize.

When a door opens unexpectedly, you need to walk in quickly and impress.

The latest prime example of luck and competence is Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles), named by Gov. Jerry Brown last week to replace Sen.-elect Kamala Harris as California attorney general.

Advertisement

Becerra, 58, will be a solid addition to the political bench of potential candidates for governor or U.S. Senate, assuming he performs well as Californias top cop. Bet on it.

Hes no screaming radical or egotist. Hes grounded, practical and congenial. Also knowledgeable and smart. And a decent guy.

But beware Republicans: Hes definitely a liberal.

The California Business Roundtable said his leadership and integrity  have earned him bipartisan respect. But the National Federation of Business in California denounced his dismal voting record on important small-business issues.

Becerras selection was not only a surprise, but a very pleasant one for many political observers who are accustomed to high-quality members of Congress being unwilling to walk away from their comfortable House seats and run a risky, very expensive statewide race for higher office.

Becerra wont have to run right off, of course. Hell take office the easy way: gubernatorial nomination and confirmation by the Legislature, where he once served briefly.

To put Becerra in perspective, look back 40 years.

A son of Mexican immigrants whose father didnt go past the sixth grade, Becerra was pulling down good grades at a Sacramento high school. He was accepted to a summer program for promising students of color at UC Davis, where he was encouraged to keep his grades high.

One day he saw a friend toss something into a waste basket. Whats that? Becerra asked. The kid replied, I was going to apply to this college, but now Im not. Hed muffed a course exam. Give it to me, Becerra said.

It was an application to Stanford University. Becerra didnt hesitate. He filled it out.

I got it in the mail at the last moment, he told me.

Becerra was accepted.

Updates from Sacramento 

I didnt know where Stanford was until I rode there with my mom, he says. Stanford was only two hours from Becerras modest childhood neighborhood, but light years away in socioeconomic status.

Thanks to scholarships, federal aid, after-school work and parental help, Becerra graduated from Stanford with a B.A. in economics. Then he got a law degree there.

His first political job was as an aide to state Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles). Then he became a deputy to Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp for four years, before winning a vacated Assembly seat in 1990.

Two years later, a House vacancy opened. Rep. Edward Roybal (D-Los Angeles) retired after 30 years. And Becerra again didnt hesitate. He ran and won.

He also ran for L.A. mayor in 2001, but finished poorly.

This year, Becerra considered running against Harris for retiring Sen. Barbara Boxers seat. But he decided to stay in the House, Becerra told me, because he held the fourth-highest Democratic leadership position as caucus chairman. In the Senate, he would have had to start all over on seniority.

I wanted to be in a position to make a big difference, he says.

Unsaid was that he would have had to give up his House seat and run a tough race against Harris.

Like a lot of Democrats, Becerra expected Hillary Clinton to win the presidential election. And there was a possibility that Democrats would recapture the House.

Becerra also could have been considered for a cabinet post in a Clinton presidency. He campaigned in 15 states for the Democratic nominee.

But Donald Trump abruptly ended those dreams.

Democrats became discombobulated in Washington. Whats more, Becerras term was expiring as Democratic caucus chairman. He began maneuvering to land the top Democratic spot on the House Ways and Means Committee.

But back up a bit. The weekend before the election, Becerra was in Sacramento campaigning for two congressional candidates. He was invited to a nonpolitical reception attended by many Democrats, including a former Washington acquaintance: Nancy McFadden, the governors top aide.

Becerra and McFadden talked awhile  not about the attorney general job, but the thought was clicking in her mind: What about Xavier?

After the Trump triumph, McFadden phoned Becerra, according to a Brown insider who asked for anonymity. Yes, Becerra indicated, he might be interested in becoming attorney general. Washington was going to be a pretty dismal place for at least two years.

McFadden suggested Becerra to Brown, who became impressed with the congressmans resume and political smarts. But the governor didnt really know Becerra.

Then McFadden got the pair on the phone together and Brown also became impressed with the man.

They talked at length, which tells you something. If Brown considers a conversation boring or unfocused, hell cut it off.

It wasnt a hard decision, the insider says. It just made sense.

Becerra undoubtedly will run for election as attorney general in 2018 unless he bids for governor  seems unlikely  or Sen. Dianne Feinstein retires and her seat opens up. Feinstein is privately indicating shell seek another term at age 85.

Becerra is savvy. He hasnt closed the door on any race. But Ive barely opened this [AG] door, he says. I want to make sure I get confirmed.

He will be. Becerras lucky theres an opening. And again hes capitalizing.

george.skelton@latimes.com

Follow @LATimesSkelton on Twitter

ALSO

Los Angeles Rep. Xavier Becerra poised to become Californias first Latino attorney general

Special election to replace Rep. Xavier Becerra in Congress could get crowded

Updates from Sacramento
Fast-food executive Andrew Puzder, President-elect Donald Trumps pick to be the next Labor Department secretary, turned around the Southern California-based parent company of Carls Jr. and Hardees with help from scantily clad women hawking oversized burgers in racy ads.

More recently, hes raised his own profile by becoming an outspoken national advocate on behalf of businesses, railing against increased government regulation, bemoaning the costs of the Affordable Care Act and serving as an economic advisor to Trump.

On Thursday, Trump announced his intention to nominate Puzder to head the department charged with ensuring workers rights and safety  and likely to lead an effort to undo many Obama administration initiatives.

Anuncio

Andy will fight to make American workers safer and more prosperous by enforcing fair occupational safety standards and ensuring workers receive the benefits they deserve, and he will save small businesses from the crushing burdens of unnecessary regulations that are stunting job growth and suppressing wages, Trump said in a statement.

Puzder said he shared Trumps belief that the right government policies can result in more jobs and better wages for the American worker.

Puzder, 66, has criticized new federal rules expanding overtime pay and opposes the push for a $15 minimum wage.

He has raised eyebrows by musing about deploying increased automation to his restaurants and once slammed Californias regulatory climate, saying the state sometimes treats businesses as if we have kids working in coal mines or women working in sweatshops.

Puzder also is a strong supporter of Trump, writing on his blog on election day: If youre a small or mid-sized business, a working or middle-class American and you want someone in your corner, Donald Trump is your candidate.

Unlike Trump, Puzder has advocated for providing legal status  but not citizenship  to the millions of immigrants in the country illegally, saying massive deportation is not a practical option and that the Republican resistance to broad-based reform was hurting the party.

Beginning as the personal attorney to the former CEO and Carls Jr. founder, Carl Karcher, Puzder helped CKE Restaurants Inc. overcome severe financial difficulties in the 1990s, caused in part by the purchase of the troubled Hardees franchise. He took over as chief executive in 2000.

Andrew Puzder is someone with the real-world experience to understand workforce issues and how jobs are created, said David French, senior vice president for government relations at the National Retail Federation, which represents chain restaurants and a variety of other businesses.

But Democrats and advocates for U.S. workers balked at Trumps intention to nominate Puzder to head a federal department that is focused on increasing employment opportunities, improving working conditions and protecting employee rights.

Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project, a worker advocacy group, said Thursday that based on Mr. Puzders own comments, its hard to think of anyone less suited for the job of lifting up Americas forgotten workers.

He opposes raising the minimum wage, threatens to replace restaurant workers with machines, has consistently opposed long-standing rules that protect workers and law-abiding employers, and demonstrated that he prizes corporate welfare and profits over workers well-being, Owens said.

Under Puzders leadership, CKE defied a trend toward healthier fast-food fare by focusing on jumbo-sized hamburgers. And he pitched them to customers through provocative advertisements, including one in 2005 starring Paris Hilton eating a burger amid soap suds while washing a luxury car.

I like our ads. I like beautiful women eating burgers in bikinis. I think its very American, Puzder said in a 2015 interview with Entrepreneur magazine.

Complaints about the advertising campaign, arent necessarily bad for us because the attention led to increased sales, Puzder said.

But Vicki Shabo, vice president of the National Partnership for Women and Families, said Thursday that Puzders views on women were deeply troubling.

Hes objectified and undermined women in an effort to sell hamburgers, she said of Puzder.

CKE, headquartered in Carpinteria in Santa Barbara County, has more than 3,300 locations in 42 U.S. states and 28 countries. It was acquired by private equity firm Apollo Global Management in 2010 and taken private.

The company is currently in the process of relocating its headquarters to Nashville, Tenn., near Puzders home.

If confirmed by the Senate, Puzder would lead a department that includes the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. and Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tracks and reports on job growth, wages and unemployment benefits.

Under President Obama, the Labor Department was aggressive about protecting workers through new rules and enforcement actions. Obamas Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces executive order, which was blocked by a federal judge this fall, made it tougher for companies to win federal contracts if they violated workers rights.

Puzder could lead an effort to scrap Obama administration initiatives, particularly the overtime rules, which seek to broaden the number of Americans who are compensated for extra work by doubling the salary level below which hourly workers must receive overtime. Those rules also recently were blocked by a federal judge.

The real world is far different than the Labor Departments Excel spreadsheet, Puzder wrote in an opinion article in Forbes this spring about the overtime rule.

This new rule will simply add to the extensive regulatory maze the Obama administration has imposed on employers, forcing many to offset increased labor expense by cutting costs elsewhere, said Puzder, co-author of a 2010 book, Job Creation: How It Really Works and Why Government Doesnt Understand It.

On the minimum wage, Puzder told the Los Angeles Times in March that theres nothing wrong with rational increases in the minimum wage that dont kill jobs.

But were talking about entry-level jobs, he said. Are people going to want to hire entry-level employees for these very high minimums, which come with Obamacare, which come with mandatory sick leave or other benefits which the government imposes on business for these individuals?

Puzder told CNBC in May that the minimum wage could be raised to $9 with minimal impact but that a better alternative to a boosting incomes would be to expand the earned-income tax credit, which helps low-income workers.

Fast-food industry workers and liberal groups have been pushing to increase the minimum wage to $15 and have convinced some cities and states  most notably California  to push their minimum wages to that level over the next several years.

Puzder was criticized for telling the Business Insider website this spring that he would like to try a fully automated restaurant. That led to reports that he wanted to replace fast-food workers with robots. He responded by writing an opinion article in the Wall Street Journal saying technology could replace certain functions, but full automation was not on the menu at CKE Restaurants.

He noted that employees at Carls Jr. and Hardees make biscuits from scratch. bread chicken tenders by hand, prepare complex burger orders, hand-scoop the ice cream for milkshakes.

None of these tasks can be effectively automated, and we wouldnt want them to be, Puzder wrote.

Puzder earned his law degree from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis in 1978 and was a trial lawyer in the city until 1991. While practicing law there, he met Karcher, who had turned a single hot-dog cart in Los Angeles into the Carls Jr. fast-food chain.

Karcher was in serious financial troubles and hired Puzder as his personal attorney in 1990. A year later, Puzder moved to Orange County, where Carls Jr. was based at the time, and helped resolve the troubles.

Does Andy Puzder really want to replace his Carls Jr. workers with robots? No, but... 

CEO keeping Carls Jr. menu indulgent, decadent 

jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com

Follow @JimPuzzanghera on Twitter

ALSO

Californias ballots have all been counted  more than 14.6 million and most of them for Hillary Clinton

All the times in U.S. history that members of the electoral college voted their own way

Man says he was stabbed by Californias Klan leader after an argument over a KKK rally in Anaheim

UPDATES:

2:25 p.m.: This article was revised throughout with confirmation of the selection, comments from President-elect Trump and Andy Puzder, additional details about Puzder, past comments from him and comments from Vicki Shabor of the National Partnership for Women and Families.

10 a.m.: This article was updated with comment from David French of the National Retail Federation.

9:10 a.m.: This article was updated with comment from Christine Owens of the National Employment Law Project.

This article originally was published at 8:45 a.m.
A group of volunteers spent about $28,000 at the Target store in the Empire Center on Monday in an effort to give back to needy families in the San Fernando Valley.

Numerous shopping carts were filled with toys and clothing and will be placed in packages and distributed to several local nonprofits  the Boys & Girls Club of Burbank and Greater East Valley, Family Promise of the Verdugos, Hope of the Valley Shelter, San Fernando Rescue Mission and Covenant House.

More than 25 volunteers were divided into groups and assigned a list of items they needed to buy and the price limit for each category.

Join the conversation on Facebook >>

Laura and Adam Himelson and Sarah Watson were tasked with buying $2,500 worth of toys for young boys. Within minutes of being told what to buy, the trio already had two carts filled with Star Wars toys, which many of them said was their favorite movie series.

Im buying things that I would want to play with now, Watson said with a laugh. There were things that I used to get in my stockings as a kid, and Im going to grab a few of them for myself on the way out.

The event was organized by Lauren Hissrich and her friend Michelle Lankwarden, who started the event six years ago after Hissrich gave birth to her first son Harry, who was born at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank.

Harry was born five weeks early and was placed in the hospitals neonatal intensive-care unit, where he recovered after a week. Grateful for what St. Joseph was able to do for her family, Hissrich decided to give back by hosting fundraisers and using the proceeds to buy toys and other goods to donate to the hospital, Hissrich said.

During their first year, Hissrich and Lankwarden raised about $1,000, but the amount of donations continued to grow each year. Because more people were donating, the two decided to start donating toys and clothes to other nonprofits in the San Fernando Valley.

I think people want to have an opportunity to do good things, especially during the holidays, Hissrich said. We make that opportunity very easy for them.

Lankwarden added: People like to see where their money is going. We raise it, we come here, we take pictures of us shopping and we spend every penny right here.

Volunteers Talia Green and Rae Dubow were assigned to buy clothes for young boys and stuffed their carts with numerous hoodies, T-shirts and underwear.

Dubow said that she understands how difficult it is for low-income families to provide some of the basic amenities for their children and does not take for granted how fortunate she is.

Kids lose hope if they dont see something nice and beautiful during the holidays, she said. This is a way for us to say that we appreciate them and [they] are welcome in the world and that there are people in the world that care about them.

--

Anthony Clark Carpio, anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpio
It was a poignant ceremony, only about 20 minutes long, but long enough for the sharing of stories and recognition of common emotions.

About 50 people gathered Wednesday at the Huntington Beach war memorial, at City Hall, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The clouds parted just in time for the 2 p.m. start of the ceremony, sponsored by American Legion Post 133 and the city.

Karen Richardson took time to honor her father. Ardenne Allen Woodwards name was added to the memorial last year after a city historian discovered that it had been left off.

Woodward, who was 20 at the time of the attack on Hawaii by the Japanese  which marked the entry of the U.S. into World War II  was among the 1,177 soldiers who died when the USS Arizona capsized. The USS Arizona Memorial in Honolulu was built over the sunken remains.

During the Huntington Beach ceremony, Richardson placed a bouquet of flowers and an image of her father at the foot of the city memorial, next to a standing rifle, an Army helmet and a pair of boots.

A folded American flag was placed on an empty chair in front of the memorial to signify the soldiers who were killed or went missing in action.

Under a billowing American flag, Mayor Jim Katapodis spoke to the importance of remembering Pearl Harbor.

It is moving to be here, Katapodis said. Veterans are near and dear to our hearts. I am very humbled when I am around veterans. It never gets old to say freedom is not free. Seventy-five years is a long time but we should never forget.

The mayor said he had visited the site of the attack and was moved by the experience.

You cannot describe that feeling, he said.

Veteran Jim Ghormley, master of ceremonies for the event, described the brave acts of Robert Scott, who was tasked with maintaining the air compressor on the USS Californian at the time it was attacked and capsized by a Japanese torpedo.

As the ship filled with water, Scotts last words were, This is my station and I will stay and give them air as long as the guns are going, Ghormley recounted.

Ghormley said Scott was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery.

Heroism on that day was sufficient for a lifetime, Ghormley said.

Following Ghormleys speech, members of American Legion Post 133 raised their rifles and fired two sets of three shots into the air. Then Taps, a traditional bugle call performed at military ceremonies, was played as the veterans in the audience straightened their posture and saluted the American flag.

benjamin.brazil@latimes.com

Twitter: @benbrazilpilot
Teacher Patrick DeVusser encourages his class of 30 11-year-olds at Kaiser Elementary School in Costa Mesa to stand still and focus on each word as they say the Pledge of Allegiance each morning.

That dedication to patriotism helped the 67-year-old Navy veteran win the Veterans of Foreign Wars Smart/Maher VFW National Citizenship Education Teacher Award for the elementary school level in California.

The award honors teachers who promote civic responsibility and national pride.

In class on Wednesday, the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that drew the United States into World War II, DeVussers fifth-graders used a magazine with child-friendly information about Pearl Harbor as he told them of the events historical significance and the ultimate resolution of the war in the Pacific.

Though his students havent lived through monumental days in American history such as Pearl Harbor or the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, DeVusser believes they are important for them to acknowledge.

I try to express to them that without those days in history we wouldnt be where were at right now as far as being a free nation  as far as being a nation able to allow free speech, freedom of expression of ideas, freedom of religion and the right to bear arms, DeVusser said. Without the sacrifices made all the way back to the Civil War  without the vigilance of our military and our armed forces, we wouldnt be the same nation.

Members of the VFW surprised DeVusser with the award at Kaiser Elementary in October.

That day, DeVusser said, he was so focused on getting his students lined up with the other classes for the morning flag raising that he almost didnt notice the three men in suits wearing VFW caps. Then he began to wonder why they were there.

I didnt connect the dots, said DeVusser, who has taught at Kaiser for three years and before that for 10 years at Whittier Elementary School in Costa Mesa. I didnt think it was anything connected to me.

But the VFW members came ready to give DeVusser his plaque in front of the whole school.

DeVusser was nominated for the award by Robert Foster, a crossing guard at Kaiser and a member of VFW Post 9557 in Fountain Valley.

Kaiser Principal Deborah Granger wrote a letter of recommendation to go with the nomination.

Patrick steps up and serves colleagues as well as the school at large, Granger wrote in an email to the Daily Pilot. He makes a point of teaching students about the reasons they get a day off for Veterans Day and another for Memorial Day. [He] has flags positioned around his classroom in such a fashion that they continually wave in the breeze of the ventilation system.

Lynn Rolf III, director of programs for the VFW of the United States, based in Kansas City, Mo., said the award is about teaching citizenship, certain wartime periods, how our country was born and bringing veterans in the classroom. Its the whole curriculum ... that goes above and beyond what their local school board asks.

DeVusser didnt win the VFW teacher award at the national level, but he said he doesnt do what he does for any award or other recognition.

Im the one who waves the flag on the appropriate days and encourages others to remember Veterans Day and Memorial Day, DeVusser said. I do that because those were values I was raised with.

DeVusser served in the Navy from 1969 to 1972, during the Vietnam War.

A brother served in the Air Force and another in the Navy. His father served during World War II.

After DeVussers military service, he worked for 30 years in the electronics, computers and medical imaging industries before returning to school to earn his teaching credentials and a masters degree in education.

alexandra.chan@latimes.com

Twitter: @AlexandraChan10
One of Las Vegas newest pizza joints comes with a slice of pepperoni and a slice of history. Live hard, ride fast, eat pizza is the motto at Evel Pie, a one-of-a-kind pizzeria dedicated to motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel.

It opened recently in downtowns expanding Fremont East Entertainment District.

Knievels son, Kelly, is a partner in the business. Evel Knievel, known for daring stunts like jumping over rows of buses on his motorcycle, died in 2007 at age 69.

Advertisement

Modeled after pizza shops of the 70s, Evel Pie boasts a working Evel Knievel-themed pinball machine and a custom motorcycle ride that allows guests to pop wheelies.

The place is full of memorabilia recalling Evels stunts, including a mural of Idahos Snake River Canyon, which he tried, but failed, to cross in 1974.

The pizzas are as over-the-top as the showman for whom the parlor is named.

The specialty pizzas include the World Famous Snake River Special, topped with rattlesnake jalapeno sausage, onions, bell peppers and garlic. Another pie comes with homemade meatballs, gravy, mushrooms and onions.

Pizzas are sold whole and by the slice. For an unusual experience, wash it down with a beer served in a motorcycle helmet.

Evel Knievels curious career landed him in the hospital in Las Vegas nearly 50 years ago. On New Years Eve 1967, he crash-landed after a much-publicized leap across the fountains at Caesars Palace, breaking several bones.

Evel Pie is located at 508 Fremont St., just east of Las Vegas Boulevard. Its open 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Info: Evel Pie, (702) 840-6460.

ALSO

Some Las Vegas hotels have increased their resort fees. Heres what it will cost you now

Tuna pizza? Morimoto makes it happen at new Las Vegas restaurant

Soon youll have to pay parking fees for your stay at Caesars and Wynn hotels in Las Vegas

The Vegas holiday shopping guide because really, who doesnt need a 24-karat gold foosball table with accouterments for $397,000?
Two months ago, South Korean President Park Geun-hye offered a rare public apology about what was then just a brewing scandal  one that has since mushroomed into a political crisis, prompting millions to participate in historic street protests in recent weeks.

Now Park, the daughter of an assassinated former military dictator, might have only one day left in office.

In response to an influence-peddling scandal that has roiled the political scene here, the countrys National Assembly on Thursday introduced an impeachment motion that could remove her from office as early as Friday.

Advertisement

If impeached, Park, who has offered two subsequent apologies, would be forced from office temporarily as a constitutional court weighs her case and decides whether permanent removal is warranted. The nations prime minister, a lawyer and political independent, is expected to take over during that process, which could take as long as six months.

Despite the presidents single-digit approval ratings and enormous political pressure on her to resign, the impeachment vote is not certain. The opposition parties are just short of the two-thirds vote they need to remove Park without some members of her own party.

And Friday is the lawmakers last scheduled workday of the year.

Opposition leaders say they expect defections from the ruling party against Park, whose father, Park Chung-hee, ruled South Korea in the 1970s. But theyve stepped up the pressure this week, grilling business leaders and presidential aides about the scandal in advance of the vote. Theyve also reminded the nation about the still-festering controversy over Parks handling of the Sewol ferry sinking, a tragedy that killed 304 people, many of them high school students.

Were at a crossroad that will determine whether we make progress in the history of the Republic of Korea or not, said one of the opposition leaders, Woo Sang-ho of the Democratic Party. Our choices will set the course of history and become a new standard.

The scandal centers on a Park confidant  a longtime friend from outside the government  who prosecutors say used her sway with the president to access state secrets and extort donations from the countrys largest business conglomerates.

The confidant, Choi Soon-sil, the daughter of a deceased cult leader who also had a close relationship with the president over the years, has been jailed on an array of charges. As a result of the scandal, two presidential aides have been charged with abusing their power and a prominent music video director is accused of using ties to Choi to win lucrative contracts from state agencies and private companies. Numerous others have been questioned by investigators, and more charges are expected.

Prosecutors have said Park is a suspect in the case, though she enjoys immunity from prosecution in standard criminal cases as president. Prosecutors say the president must have known about Chois potentially unlawful activities. Park has acknowledged making management mistakes in her office but has denied acting outside the publics interest or doing anything to enrich herself.

The top bosses at eight of the countrys most powerful businesses, including the chief executives of Samsung, Lotte and Hyundai, testified this week. They said they remembered few details about granting donations to Choi, who directed more than $60 million to foundations she controlled.

One executive recalled buying a dressage horse for Chois daughter, Chung Yoo-ra, who has been pulled into the scandal. Her high school diploma was recently annulled by education officials who say her attendance records were fabricated. Her admission to Seouls prestigious Ewha Womans University was also recently revoked amid questions about whether she had received favorable treatment.

Samsungs chief, Lee Jae-yong  perhaps the countrys most powerful man  repeatedly apologized during the grilling by lawmakers this week. He said he doesnt recall any pressure from Park to make donations to Choi.

Still, he said, Ill try my best not to get involved in something like this in the future.

The impeachment vote comes a week after Park, bowing to pressure from recent rallies, promised to leave office early if the National Assembly could set a path for an orderly power transfer.

Its ... the presidents duty to make sure state affairs are transferred in a stable and peaceful manner, based on constitutional order, Parks chief of staff, Han Gwang-ok, told lawmakers this week.

The parties havent been able to reach a deal, focusing on impeaching the president or forcing her to resign immediately  a decision that would lead to a snap presidential election in two months. Members of her own party had hoped she would plan to step down in the spring, perhaps quelling the controversy while giving time for presidential candidates to prepare.

A normal presidential election is already scheduled for December 2017, and Park would have been term-limited from office in February 2018.

Instead, the march to impeachment has moved forward  and could well succeed.

You saw the publics anger in the candlelights, said Park Jie-win, another opposition leader, referring to the massive anti-Park vigils in recent weeks. I urge you to join us in building a new Republic of Korea on Friday.

If the vote succeeds, presidential power would be handed temporarily to Hwang Kyo-ahn, a former prosecutor and justice minister who became prime minister in 2015. Park appointed Hwang, 63, to the post to replace Lee Wan-koo. Lee stepped down amid allegations that he accepted a $27,000 payment from a businessman who left a suicide note naming officials and payment amounts.

Stiles is a special correspondent.

ALSO

South Koreans dont know what to be more worried about: their scandal-scarred president or Donald Trump

Woman at center of South Korean political scandal: Ive committed wrongs for which I deserve to die

North Korean propaganda shows imagery of the Souths leader being blown up
The last buildings occupied by Islamic State militants in Sirte have fallen into the hands of Libyan fighters, officials said, as anti-militant fighters celebrated in the streets of the groups final stronghold in Libya.

This is the last major battle, but it is not the end of military operations, nor the declaration of liberation, Ahmed Hadiya, the head of the media center for the anti-Islamic State operation, told the Associated Press.

Hadiya said that 12 fighters were killed on Tuesday in intense fighting.

Advertisement

The United States threw its support behind the operation in August, helping break weeks of stalemate with dozens of airstrikes.

Although the extremist group has lost its major base in Libya, Islamic State militants might seek sanctuary elsewhere  such as Libyas lawless southern regions.

Islamic State and other extremist groups gained a foothold in Libya over the years of chaos that engulfed the North African country in the aftermath of the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Kadafi. Militias, originally made up of NATO-backed rebels, quickly filled the security vacuum

The country has been split between rival parliaments and governments, each backed by a loose array of militias and tribes. Western nations view the newly formed United Nations-brokered government as the best hope for uniting the country, but Libyas parliament, which meets in the far east, has refused to accept it.

Another fight against Islamist militants is ongoing in the eastern city of Benghazi, under the command of Marshal Khalifa Haftar, who answers to the parliament.

United Nations Envoy to Libya Martin Kolber told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday, the fight against terrorism has produced results, but the gains are not irreversible.

He also said that the fragmentation of the countrys security authorities allows criminal and terrorist networks to flourish. Kidnappings, extortion and theft occur daily.

ALSO

At least 36 people rescued after ship sinks off Yemen; more than 20 still missing

Syrian rebels on the cusp of losing Aleppo as humanitarian crisis deepens

Rescue crews search for survivors of Indonesia quake that killed at least 97 people
Indian Army to Buy Special Sights that Allow its T-90 Tanks to Fight at Night

Indian Army T90 MBTs. (Photo : Indian Army)

The Indian Army is in the hunt for 1,400 uncooled thermal imager driver's night sights (DNS) with fusion technology for its new T-90 tanks that will allow the tank to be fight and move at night.



The army will probably source the DNS' from foreign suppliers since there is no Indian company that can produce the DNS the army wants to purchase even in collaboration with a foreign firm. It plans to have these new DNS' replace the existing Made in India image intensifier sights over the next five years.



Advertisement

The army's request for proposal specifies the DNS as a form-fit replacement for the existing Image Intensifier Sights currently used in T-90 tanks.



The new DNS "should facilitate driving during pitch dark nights with no ambient light. The T-90 tank driver should be able to clearly view the area in-front with adequate depth perception while driving over undulating terrain with the help of an uncooled thermal imaging sight."



Some 80 percent of Pakistan's tanks have a DNS while 100 percent of China's tanks sport this feature. Only half of India's tanks have a DNS.



One Indian defense analyst said the new night sights will considerably improve the night fighting capability of Indian tanks by providing the ability to maneuver on the battle field under pitch dark conditions.



In November, the Indian government has approved a request by the army for the purchase of 464 T-90 main battle tanks from Russia at a cost of more than $2.1 billion. The T-90 is the premier battle tank of the Indian Army, which plans to have over 2,000 of these machines by 2020.



The tanks will mostly be manufactured at India's Ordnance Factory Boards, which also produced other Russian tanks such as the T-72. The T-90, currently the most modern tank in the Russian Ground Forces, will replace the Indian Army's ageing fleet of T-72s.



The Army already plans to deploy some 1,650 T-90M and T-90S MBTs in most of its 97 armored regiments. Of this total, some 1,300 will be T-90Ms.



It also has 350 T-90MS tanks deployed along the Line of Actual Control with China. In addition, the army operates some 120 Arjun MK-1 MBTs, a domestically produced tank much heavier than the T-90.



The Army currently has 13 regiments operating both the T-90M and T-90S, a number that will increase to 21 regiments by 2020. One regiment consists of 62 tanks.


All material is subject to strictly enforced copyright terms & conditions and cannot be repurposed or reproduced.  19882022 Latin American Financial Publications Inc.
Nokia is one of the pioneers as well as one of the most famous in the mobile phone industry but with how technology evolved over the years, it became difficult for Nokia to maintain their fame. But now that rumors are saying that Nokia will be in partnership with Google, it could be their chance to redeem their glorious days.

Google is one of the most influential tech companies in the world and it will surely impact Nokia's possible comeback in the mobile phone industry soon. Right now, the new management of Nokia for mobile phones have inspiring and ambitious goals for their comeback in the market.

According to Science World Rep`ort, the HMD Global Oy has already took over the phone business of Nokia. Also, there are reports that the upcoming Nokia phones and tablets will feature Android OS.

"We are not going to skip any markets in the long term," said President Folrian Seiche. "We want to be one of the key competitive players in the smartphone business," says Nokia CEO Arto Nummela.

Experts say that when it comes to Nokia getting Android OS framework, HMD will not meddle with how the smartphones will be built. On the other hand, Nokia is expected to be fully supported by Google Apps and features unlike the Nokia X phones in the past years. Thus, Nokia will be releasing the latest range of Android-based smartphones in the coming years.

Meanwhile, according to Phone Radar, HMD Global and Nokia will be engaging to an exclusive 10-year brand licensing agreement which means that enthusiasts will be seeing more from this new collaboration.

Moreover, if Nokia is set to release new line of smartphones in a more affordable price range then it can somehow threaten current giant brands. This marketing strategy of Nokia may get the attention of consumers who may opt to get high quality mobile devices for a much lower price compared to Samsung and Apple.

Overall, it's a good thing to check Latin Post for more updates on smartphones.
When we hear about Greenland, we start imagining about a land covered with ice with less sunlight. Well, it is not all wrong actually. But, we never imagine what Greenland looked like in the past. And this recent study will tell us about it.

According to researchers, a land mass now called Greenland was ice-free for more than a million years ago. Its bedrock was exposed for around 280,000 years. This is the first time the period was mentioned in a high accuracy, I4U wrote.

There were two reports about Greenland's ice sheet as written by IBTimes. The first study revealed that Greenland ice sheet receded at least once in the past 2.6 million years. This first study was led by the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory's Joerg Schaefer in the US. While the second study was led by Paul Bierman of the University of Vermont and it discovered that there were still parts of ice sheet in the location's very east part.

The findings of ice-free Greenland in the past warn scientists and environmentalists that the same condition might likely happen again due to global warming.

How did the research find out the condition of the ice sheet in Greenland? The researchers collected information from isotopes that take shape in rock when the rock is free from an ice sheet. This enables scientists to discover whether there was an ice or not based on the level of the isotopes.

According to Schaefer's study, up to 90% of the ice sheet thinned. In order to obtain the level of an isotope, they estimated Greelance was ice-free for nearly 280,000 years in the Pleistocene era.

However, Bierman's study revealed the otherwise. The study argued that the ice sheet started to vanish in sediment at two sites of the edge of present-day ice shelf. The study said the level of isotopes on both locations indicated an erosion for around the past 7.5 million years.

Soon after this research, Schaefer's team is planning to take rock as samples beneath the ice sheet in the Greenland's south-west part as they want to check whether there was a sign of ice-free during the Plestocene era.
Terry Branstad, Chinas Old Friend, is New US Ambassador to China

Xi and Branstad in 2012. (Photo : Getty Images)

Gov. Terry Branstad of Iowa, described by Chinese officials as an "old friend" of China and who's also friendly with Chinese President Xi Jinping, has accepted the offer to become the new United States Ambassador to China.



The position was offered to Branstad by President-elect Donald Trump. Political observers see Branstad's appointment as a move by Trump to mend fences with China following last week's flap over Trump speaking to Republic of China (Taiwan) President Tsai Ing-wen.



Advertisement

Washington insiders say Branstad, 70, has personally known Xi since the 1980s when the two men met in a cultural exchange. Branstad and Xi have stayed in touch over the decades, with Xi visiting Iowa and Branstad being Xi's guest in China.



China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs described Branstad as an "old friend" of China when the Trump news broke.



China is Iowa's third-largest trading partner after Canada and Mexico. Corn is Iowa's biggest export to China, followed by tractors, other agricultural products and aircraft parts.



Trump said Branstad, a strong Trump supporter during the presidential campaign, was a great choice.



"He knows them all," said Trump said three separate times.



China immediately welcomed Brandstad's selection choice, even before Trump's announcement. On Dec. 7, Lu Kang, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, described Branstad as "an old friend of the Chinese people," a phrase used to describe politicians trusted by Beijing.



"We would welcome him playing a bigger role in promoting Sino-American relations," said Lu.



As U.S. Ambassador Branstad, will find himself in the middle of a testy relationship made unpredictable by Trump's penchant for shooting from the hip. The Taiwan telephone call episode is a case in point.



During the presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly attacked China, describing Chinese imports to the United States as a form of theft. He also plans to impose a steep tariff on Chinese imports and promised to seek vigorous enforcement of trade rules, such as restrictions on state support for private companies.


Sophie Turner attends the premiere of HBO's 'Game Of Thrones' Season 6 at TCL Chinese Theatre on April 10, 2016 in Hollywood, California. (Photo : Getty Images/Alberto E. Rodriguez)

Two members of the Stark family, namely Sansa (Sophie Turner) and her adoptive brother Jon (Kit Harington), have already found their way to each other in "Game of Thrones" Season 6. However, Season 7 of the HBO series will feature a power struggle between the said characters as Sansa is set to display more of her leadership skills.



Advertisement

"Game of Thrones" Season 7 is expected to feature a battle between Cersei's forces (Lena Headey) and Daenerys' (Emilia Clarke) army. Apart from the said battle, a different kind of war is brewing in the North that involves Sansa and Jon's power struggles.



In an interview with Gold Derby, Turner teased how Sansa will go on a "bit of a power trip," in "Game of Thrones" Season 7. With Jon being crowned as the King of North, Sansa will try to explore the depth of her power and influence as a Queen.



Despite the resurrected warrior's new found respect for Sansa after her political machinations helped him win the fight against Ramsay (Iwan Rheon), Jon does not always listen to his sister. With a potential tension arising between the two characters in Season 7, Sansa will feel frustrated with the situation, according to Turner.



The actress stated, "They've both been through so much, and he's not listening to her as much anymore ... I think she feels a little disheartened by Jon."



Meanwhile, avid "Game of Thrones" fans have been looking forward to the Stark siblings' reunion in the HBO series. Turner shared in an interview with The Wrap that she is also excited to see Sansa reunite with Arya (Maisie Williams) and Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright).



However, Turner neither confirmed nor denied the highly speculated Stark reunion in the HBO show's penultimate season. Despite keeping silent about the said plot development, the actress teased that viewers will see several characters uniting together and creating new alliances.



Turner shared, "There are definitely a few reunions happening this season - or unions. There were a few that I'm quite excited about."



"Game of Thrones" Season 7 is expected to premiere in summer 2017. Watch a clip that featured Jon being recognized as the new King of the North:






Descendants of the Sun stars Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Kyo (Photo : KBS 2TV)

Fresh from its victory in last weeks Asian Television Award in Singapore over the weekend, Descendants of the Sun continues to enjoy success, this time by airing in Greece.



Advertisement

Soompi reported on Thursday that TV100 started to broadcast since Thursday, Dec. 7, the 16-episode Korean military-medical drama, starring Song Joong-ki and Song Hye Kyo. TV100 is a private Greek TV channel in Thessaliniki.



Since the mega-hit TV drama, which aired in South Korea via KBS 2TV and in China through video streaming broadcaster iQiyi from late February to mid-April, includes a three-part special at the end of 16 episodes, TV100 would air Descendants of the Sun for 19 weeks. The last three weeks would be the behind-the-scenes TV special.



Descendants of the Sun in Greece has a primetime slot of 9 p.m. every Wednesday and replays a 4:30 p.m. on Sundays. All areas of Greece and Cyprus would be able to watch the Hallyu on cable TV. KBS 2TV expects high viewership in Greece because some scenes in Descendants of the Sun were filmed in Zakynthos and Arachova which are popular tourist destinations in Greece.



In 2013, TV100 aired two Hallyu  I Miss You and Jewel in the Palace, according to the Korean Embassy in Greece. Ahn Young Jip, Korean ambassador to Greece, said he hopes the airing of Descendants of the Sun would deepen the cultural exchange between South Korea and Greece which is the first European country to air the TV series.



Descendants of the Sun is expected to be nominated again for the 2016 KBS Drama Awards on Dec. 31. The awards night would be hosted by Korean actor Park Bo Gum, whose period drama Moonlight Drawn by Clouds could be one of the nominees in the best drama category. He and co-star Kim Yoo Jung are expected to compete with Song Jong-ki and Song Hye Kyo, stars of Descendants of the Sun for the Best Couple Award.



However, this early, Park Bo Gum has conceded that he feels the award would go to his friends Song Joong-ki and Song Hye Kyo whom he described as the almighty Song-Song couple, according to IBT.






Actor Dylan O'Brien attends the MTV Teen Wolf Los Angeles premiere party at Dave & Busters on December 20, 2015 in Hollywood, California. (Photo : Getty Images/ Mike Windle)

"The Maze Runner 3: The Death Cure" will soon resume production as lead star Dylan O'Brien is recovering from his injury early this year. Contrary to rumors that he was being replaced, O'Brien will return to filming in February 2017.



Production for "The Maze Runner 3: The Death Cure" was postponed indefinitely after O'Brien got into a serious injury on set. The actor reportedly fractured his cheekbone and orbital socket during a stunt sequence that went wrong, Deadline reported. Months after the incident, the 25-year-old actor appears to be in better shape, as seen in a video that was shared on Twitter.



Advertisement

There were concerns about O'Brien's role in the film, especially after it was rumored that he would be replaced by a different actor or that his character, Thomas, would have a different appearance due to the actor's injuries. However, O'Brien seems to be doing very well considering that he is reportedly wrapping up filming for "The American Assassin" in which he stars as Mitch Rapp.



According to Deadline, O'Brien plays a CIA black ops recruit who is sent to investigate a wave of random attacks on military and civilian targets. Rapp and Stan Hurley (Michael Keaton) are then led to a joint mission with a Turkish agent (Shiva Negar) to apprehend an operative (Taylor Kitsch) that plans to initiate a world war in the Middle East.



O'Brien, to the relieve of fans, also stars in the currently on-air "Teen Wolf" Season 6 where he reprises his role as Stiles. The character is currently at the center of the supernatural mystery that has engulfed Beacon Hills. It is now up to his friends to rescue him, otherwise he will be forgotten for the rest of eternity.



"The Maze Runner 3: The Death Cure" will be directed by Wes Ball with the script written by T.S. Nowlin. The movie is based on the hit young adult fiction series written by James Dashner. The movie is the third and final film in the franchise and follows Thomas and his friends searching for a cure to the Flare.



"The Maze Runner 3: The Death Cure" premieres in theaters on Jan. 12, 2018.






A male brandishing a handgun ordered employees to the ground Wednesday afternoon at a Center City Allentown bank and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash, police said.

Two BB&T branches were robbed in two days, on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016, in Emmaus and Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016, in Allentown. (Lehighvalleylive.com file photo)

It occurred about 4 p.m. at BB&T, 1139 Hamilton St., Allentown police Capt. Daniel Wiedemann said.

Another BB&T branch, at 1130 Chestnut St. in Emmaus, was robbed by a male displaying a handgun Tuesday morning. Police did not have a description of that perpetrator, who fled in a stolen car that was found abandoned several blocks from the bank.

In Wednesday's holdup, the perpetrator is described as a black male last seen wearing a black sweatshirt and gray sweatpants, Allentown police said. Police had no information immediately release on any vehicle involved.

Investigators were reviewing bank surveillance footage and the city's camera feed.

Anyone with information on the Allentown robbery can reach city police at 610-437-7751 or 610-437-7753, or text a tip to TIPAPD.

Emmaus police can be reached at 610-967-3113 if anyone has information to share on Tuesday's robbery.

BB&T earlier this year acquired National Penn Bank, leading to a rebranding and consolidation of branches.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Raised in a predominantly white community, students at Saucon Valley High School polled Wednesday say they don't see racism as a problem, and certainly not one that is widespread.

Students selected at random as they entered the parking lot spoke with lehighvalleylive.com following word of an investigation into a video described as racist that led to a fight between two teenagers at the school.

The video was shot by a 14-year-old white student about a 16-year-old black student, said Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli, who called the footage "highly offensive and reprehensible."

Morganelli announced the investigation Wednesday, saying he assigned a county detective to investigate whether the video is grounds for charging the 14-year-old with ethnic intimidation or harassment.

The video is of the 16-year-old boy eating chicken wings, narrated by the younger boy with references to being broke and on welfare, and "a N-word eating chicken," Morganelli said in a news release.

The 16-year-old beat up the 14-year-old Oct. 14 at the school as a result of the video, authorities said. Lower Saucon Township police responded, and said the fight occurred about 6:05 p.m. on school property. They charged the 16-year-old as a juvenile with simple assault, harassment and disorderly conduct.

"Everyone knows about the video," said Camryn Butera, a junior, from Hellertown. "I just know the other kid was saying racist things, which incited the fight."

She and her sister, senior Mackenzie Butera, said the fight occurred at a pep rally before the Panthers' home game that night against Wilson Area High School. The 14-year-old is known to have made racist remarks, she said. The 16-year-old, she said, has a strong personality and has spoken out in class about his views on racial relations in America, including the Black Lives Matter movement.

The 14-year-old thought he was being funny, said Camryn Butera, who takes no issue with the 16-year-old's response.

"He shouldn't have to take it well," she said. "It shouldn't have been an issue in general."

The demographics of the Saucon Valley School District, comprising Lower Saucon Township and Hellertown, are those of a community with very little racial diversity. U.S. Census data from the 2014 American Community Survey break down the municipalities' white and black populations as follows, for those identifying themselves as one race:

Lower Saucon Township

10,788 total population

10,511 or 97.4 percent white

20 or 0.2 percent black

Hellertown

5,881 total population

5,837 or 99.3 percent white

37 or 0.6 percent black

Saucon Valley School District combined

16,669 total population

16,348 or 98 percent white

57 or 0.3 percent black

Northampton County, with a total population of 299,225, breaks down to 86.4 percent white and 5.1 percent black. Pennsylvania, home to 12.76 million people, is 81.9 percent white and 10.9 percent black, and the United States' 314.1 million residents identify themselves as 73.8 percent white and 12.6 percent black.

"There's not really all that much racial diversity at Saucon Valley to begin with," said Brittany Yeahl, a senior from Lower Saucon, saying she doesn't see hasn't "really seen any racism in Saucon Valley."

"I don't really see it as a problem," she said. "Usually like a lot of kids are pretty accepting."

Brandon Holub, a senior from Lower Saucon, said he thinks the whole October fight has been blown out of proportion, though he acknowledged a few students have racist views based on their upbringing.

"It's just like a few kids that are just out there," his brother, sophomore Ryan Holub, said. "It's definitely not a big problem."

"I don't think it's widespread," said Hailee Porter, a junior from Hellertown.

"At least with the friends group that I hang out with, I don't really witness anything," said Ethan Smiley, also a junior from Hellertown.

"Honestly, I haven't noticed it," said senior Tanner Morgan, of Hellertown. "I haven't seen anything."

Morganelli did not attach a timeframe to the investigation, and he closed his announcement on the probe Wednesday with a plea for civility.

"I am ... advising those out there who seek to intimidate others that this conduct cannot and will not be tolerated," the district attorney stated. "All people have a right to the peaceful enjoyment of their lives."

Saucon Valley schools Superintendent Monica McHale-Small did not respond as of Wednesday to calls for comment, but the district has posted prominently on its website district protocol for responding to potential bullying incidents and "Our district commitment to a positive school culture."

"We will be developing a plan with all stakeholders that will address the concerns that have been raised in the past months," the commitment statement reads. "Students, parents, staff, school directors and community members are integral to making this commitment a success.

"We believe that our efforts will reflect the true spirit of our community as we move our district to be a place where all our students are valued for their unique contribution to our schools."

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
A New York City man twice in recent days assaulted the mother of his child, once holding a machete to her neck in her Monroe County apartment and the second time breaking in and hitting her in the face, according to a report.

Yonis Andres Santa-Mella Jr., 26, of the Bronx, New York, faces numerous charges after twice assaulting a woman in East Stroudsburg, according to a published report.

Yonis Andres Santa-Mella Jr., 26, of the Bronx, on Saturday entered his ex-girlfriend's apartment in East Stroudsburg and, in front of several of her friends, threatened her with a machete and pointed it at the other people, the Pocono Record reported.

Santa-Mella became more upset when he learned his son wasn't home and left before police arrived, the newspaper said.

On Monday, when the woman went outside for a smoke, Santa-Mella forced his way into the apartment and struck her, the Record reported. He again got away before police got there, but was later arrested.

When police suggested the victim get a restraining order, she said she tried but she missed the hearing because Santa-Mella held her captive in her apartment, according to the report.

Santa-Mella was arraigned Tuesday before District Judge Michael R. Muth in two cases, according to court records.

In one he is charged with criminal trespass, simple assault, harassment, disorderly conduct and four counts each of recklessly endangering another person and terroristic threats.

In the other case, he was charged with burglary, criminal trespass, stalking, simple assault and harassment.

Bail was denied in both cases and Santa-Mella was taken to Monroe County jail. A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled Dec. 13 in Muth's court.

Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
A case before Pennsylvania's highest court on Wednesday could soon produce new sentencing rules for juvenile homicide defendants in the state who are facing the possibility of life in prison without parole.

The state Supreme Court heard oral arguments in an appeal brought by Qu'eed Batts, 25, who was convicted of killing a teenager with two point-blank shots to the head and wounding a man in a gang-related attack in Easton a decade ago.

Batts, of Phillipsburg, was 14 when he shot the two men in an effort to impress members of the Bloods gang. He was originally sentenced to life without parole and received the same penalty in a new sentencing hearing after a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling against mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles.

The state court, in taking Batts' appeal, said it wanted to figure out whether steps should be taken to make sure that juvenile life-without-parole sentences are handed down only in rare cases, as stipulated in the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. In deciding Batts' appeal, the court could set a higher bar for the imposition of juvenile life-without-parole sentences or require experts to testify in such cases.

The justices also are considering whether juveniles facing life should get the sorts of legal safeguards now in place for defendants facing the death penalty.

Batts' lawyer, Marsha Levick, told the justices that his sentence is unconstitutional and does not meet the federal standard that the most severe sentences be reserved for those who are irreparably corrupt, irretrievably depraved or permanently incorrigible.

She said prosecutors should bear the burden of proving to a jury that Batts would qualify under that standard, which she said was meant only for "the most rare and uncommon juvenile." Experts would have to weigh in, she said.

"The issue of permanent incorrigibility is inextricably linked with the science," she said.

Hugh Burns, arguing for the Northampton County district attorney, told the justices that since the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, no state has enacted the type of procedures that Batts seeks. Burns also said the federal justices put the legal burden on defendants to demonstrate that they are not among the unusual juvenile murder defendants for whom life without parole remains justified.

"In the vast majority of cases, there isn't going to be a dispute" between defense and prosecutors, Burns argued.

In a July brief, prosecutors argued that "the establishment of a procedure to sentence juvenile murderers is inherently a legislative matter."

The General Assembly in 2012 passed a new law for punishing juveniles convicted of first- or second-degree murder but did not make it retroactive. Under that law, Batts would have been subject to a mandatory minimum of 25 years.

The justices accepted Batts' appeal after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that its 2012 ruling was retroactive.

Batts' brief filed this summer said his mother gave birth to him when she was 13 and his father was sent to federal prison when Batts was 8. The boy ended up in foster care.

About 500 Pennsylvania lifers were sentenced as juveniles before the court decisions, and a majority have been in prison for at least 20 years, Levick said. Their resentencing requests are grinding through the county courts. Nationally, the figure is about 2,500.

Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
The Undertaker tries to catch his breathe during a match against Brock Lesnar. (Photo : Getty Images/JP Yim)

The Undertaker underwent hip surgery a couple of months ago to prolong his WWE career. On the other hand, WWE World Champion A.J. Styles suffered an ankle injury at the TLC pay-per-view. As a result, he was unable to defend his title on SmackDown Live against James Ellsworth.



The Deadman returned to WWE television on the November 15 episode of SmackDown Live. He announced that he will have a more regular role on the show. However, he has not appeared on television ever since.



Advertisement

According to 411 Mania, The Undertaker was backstage on the December 5 episode of Monday Night Raw. He was reportedly "limping pretty badly" which means he might not be 100 percent healthy from his hip surgery.



Raw was held in Houston, a three-hour drive from the 51-year-old home in Austin. His wife, Michelle McCool, and their children were on Raw and they were at ringside on the side of the hard camera. The Undertaker, on the other hand, was not seen on television.



It led to a lot of speculation that The Phenom is not healthy enough for WrestleMania 33. However, it should be noted that the event is still four months away. He has a lot of time to recover and he was not limping during his appearance on SmackDown Live.



Styles, one of The Undertaker's rumored opponents at the Royal Rumble, was also suffering from an injury. He hurt his ankle during the TLC match against Dean Ambrose in the PPV of the same name last Sunday.



The champ that runs the camp was given the day off on Monday while he was in a walking boot during his appearance on SmackDown Live this past Tuesday, per WWE.com. He canceled his title defense against Ellsworth, who helped him win at TLC.



It is expected that Styles will be given the week off and his injury is considered minor. The WWE was just being cautious with him that is why he did not wrestle this Tuesday. Nevertheless, Styles is clearly moving on from Ambrose and there is no clear No. 1 contender.



The Undertaker vs. A.J Styles match is something that fans want to see. It might not happen or it might, but one thing is for sure: the health of both superstars is more important. Check out the video below to see Styles announce his injury on SmackDown Live.




Changes have been made to general hospital services, including A&E in Portlaoise, but not enough to convince Hiqa that the hospital is equipped for the variety of sick patients that present.

The 2014 Investigation Report concluded that Portlaoise Hospital was notadequately resourced or structured to provide the undifferentiated care that it was charged with providing. Although Portlaoise Hospital was regarded as a model 3 hospital, it was not resourced as such and was trying to deliver clinical services without the appropriate funding and staffing.

The Hiqa Review says the most significant change that had taken place in the general services was the cessation of complex surgery at the hospital since 4 August 2015.

With the exception of complex surgery stopping at Portlaoise hospital, only limited changes to general services at the hospital had taken place. As a consequence many of the risks to patients attending general services to the hospital, which had been identified during the original investigation, remain.

A 24-7 emergency service for undifferentiated adult and paediatric patients who may arrive at the hospital with any degree of seriousness or complexity of illness or injury still operates.

Hiqa found this is done in the knowledge that it cannot safely and effectively treat some of them and that these sicker patients will require transfer to a more appropriate hospital.

While an A&E consultant is now based at the hospital four days a week, alongside two that travel from Tullamore, this review identified continuing staffing issues.

It continues to be staffed by a team of medical and surgical NCHDs (junior doctors) as opposed to emergency medicine NCHDs - this is not unique to Portlaoise.

In 2015, 24,979 adults presented and 11,265 children attended the A&E. Nearly 90% are not classed as serious.

Staff reported A&E risks as: lack of consultant cover at weekends and after 5pm; split between medical and surgical teams; inadequate nursing skill mix due to redeployment.

The greatest concern was the transient nature of the NCHD.

There had been little change to the Intensive Care Unit at Portlaoise Hospital, and the Hiqa Review Team found that it still did not meet the minimum requirements for critical care.

The Hiqa Portlaoise Investigation Team was not assured that critical care services were sustainable in Portlaoise hospital and this situation has remained unchanged at the time of this Review.

Since the 2014 investigation, there have been improvements to the consultant medical and radiology staffing.

In addition, the hospital has received funding for and has constructed a 10 bed modern medical assessment unit on site. The Dublin Midlands Hospital Group identified the opening of this new Medical Assessment Unit as one of its priority actions for completion by the end of 2016.

Hiqa found that the hospital's budget has risen from almost 45million in 2012 in 2012 to 51.7 this year.

The increases are largely on staff costs many of whom work in medical and emergency services.

When it was originally ivestigated the hospital had 552 full time posts employing 600 people.

In May this year it had 650 posts equating to 740 on staff.
A DVD release of the film 'Summon Her Children' has gone on sale locally.

The film, detailing the events of the local Volunteers at Colt Wood and the legendary first shots of the Rising, on Easter Sunday 1916 was released earlier this year.

The film depicts the organisation of the action of the Volunteers who demolished part of the railway line and the subsequent derailment of a train.

The operation was designed to prevent British troop reinforcements from reaching Dublin in the wake of the Rising.

It was made, produced and shot in Laois, using an international crew.

It was filmed over the course of a week in August 2015.

The production came about due to the efforts of Jim Fleming and his daughter Malvina who were executive producers, and Jim's son Michael who wrote the script.

As well as the 25-minute film, the DVD also features a 12-minute documentary on the making of the film.

The film has already screened in a number of film festivals, including Glasgow, Barcelona, Sydney, Auckland and Bangalore.

At the recent festival in Waterford, the film competed very strongly in the Best Film category.

At the moment we are preparing it for the American market and the film festival circuit there, says Jim Fleming.

There is demand in certain areas of the US that have heard about the film.

We have gone worldwide on it, says Jim Fleming.

To get accepted in any festival is a reward in itself, considering the hundreds of entries these festivals have.

Jim Fleming added that they were very happy with the support they received around the country and particularly from Laois County Council.

'Summon Her Children' is on sale in Easons, All Books and Trax for 10.
An inmate of Portlaoise Prison who threatened to cut a prison officers throat and later threatened to ram the officers teeth down his throat has made earnest efforts to rehabilitate, the circuit court has heard.

Ryan Kelly (22), Limerick, was convicted of making threats to kill a prison officer, at Portlaoise Prison in 2014.

States evidence outlined that Kelly threatened to cut a prison officers throat on February 10, and on February 19 Kelly made a threat to ram the prison officers teeth down his throat.

On February 10, 2014, the accused asked to speak to the chief officer and was told by the prison officer that he would see him soon, at which point he freaked out and said he would cut the prison officers f**king throat.

On February 19, while he was being escorted by the prison officer, Kelly became very aggressive for no reason at all and threatened the officer by saying he would ram his teeth down his throat.

The prison officer he threatened made a victim impact statement, in which he said he had been a prison officer for nearly 29 years and had trouble sleeping since the threats.

When the case first came before the circuit court in July of this year, the accused told the court he was very sorry for what he had said.

I didnt mean any of it, it shouldnt have happened at all, Kelly said.

Judge Keenan Johnson remanded the accused in custody to November 29 for a probation report, to include urinalysis and a psychiatric report.

When the case returned to court last week, Judge Johnson noted that the accused was now drug free and had made earnest efforts to rehabilitate.

Saying that Kelly had a very bad history, Judge Johnson remarked that this seemed to be the first time the accused had taken things in hand.

The accused was remanded in custody to February 28 next year, at which time the judge said he would review the matter.
A man bought a PPS number and false documents in order to construct a fake identity to defraud almost 18,000 from the Department of Social Welfare in Portlaoise.

Judge Keenan Johnson said it was like something out of a novel, or the film Catch Me If You Can, after hearing that Harrison Okunrobo, of no fixed abode, had worked for the same company under two different names while also claiming social welfare.

At last weeks circuit court, Okunrobo was charged with a number of offences under the theft and fraud act, relating to dates between 2005 and 2010.

Garda Michelle Marrinan gave evidence, along with State prosecutor, Mr Will Fennelly, that in December 2010 the Department of Social Welfare conducted interviews with a Mr Johnathan Easy, after having concerns about the authenticity of a driving licence Mr Easy had produced to apply for disability benefit.

In June, 2012, the gardai searched the home of Mr Easy at 10 Newpark, Portlaoise, and found documents in two wallets, one in the name of Johnathan Easy and one in the name of Harrison Okunrobo. There were driving licences, passports and P45s in both identities.

When arrested, the accused identified himself as Harrison Okunrobo.

Garda Marrinan said that Okunrobo had purchased a PPS number for 500 and a false UK passport for 500.

Garda Marrinan said that the accused had possibly bought the PPS number from a foreign national who was leaving the country.

The accused had also applied for a medical card in the name of Easy, and had an affidavit signed by a local solicitor saying he was Johnathan Easy.

The accused was working under the name Easy and claiming social welfare in the name of Okunrobo. The total loss to social welfare was 17,923.

Garda Marrinan said that the accused had claimed he had committed the offence because his girlfriend was pregnant and he needed extra money.

Remarked Mr Fennelly: It was a very prolonged pregnancy because this went on two years.

Displaying a similar sense of humour, Judge Johnson said: It seems it was exceptionally easy to acquire the identity of Easy.

The court heard that the accused worked with Boston Scientific in Galway under the name Okunrobo between 2004 and 2005, then was reemployed by the company as Easy from 2005 to 2007.

Mr Fennelly said that the company was a big organisation and the accused was able to live separate lives.

It reminds me of the movie Catch Me If You Can, said Judge Johnson.

Defence, Ms Nichola Delaney said her client had experienced mental health issues down through the years.

She said her client claimed to be a victim of racism and had been under pressure to hand over the money. She said his girlfriend had been pregnant with another mans child and the father was putting pressure on Okunrobo to pay over the money.

In ruling, Judge Johnson said: This reads like something out of a novel.

He described it as quite a sophisticated deception, and the accused had quite serious mental health issues.

Judge Johnson said that further psychiatric assessment of the accused was necessary, and adjourned the case to February 28 next. He said he wanted proposals on that date for compensation.

for the accused to pay back what he had stolen from the State.
It was decided as part of Colaiste Iosagains Transition Year mini company that they would invest their skills as entrepreneurs into Irelands agricultural industry.

The company consisting of twenty- four students led by teacher and veteran farmer Conor Mitchell, settled on that they would hit the Christmas market and rear turkeys.

Later they would moo-ve towards rearing of cattle in joint with the L.C.A program in the school.

Twenty- two white turkeys were purchased from Martins Poultry, Co. Galway, with twenty of them to be auctioned alive by the great Noel Dunne from the Farmers Journal.

However, two other turkeys were being reared as payment towards Tom King and Fintan O Donnell as they gracefully built a shed for the livestock.

It has been noticed that Mr. O Donnell has been also rearing his own turkeys in competition to our own.

The next port of call was to sort out who was to rear the turkeys.

A rota was assembled to decide who would do certain tasks, leaving certain students to do a daily trek to the dwelling place of the things as some students described.

Amidst of all the squealing and squirming , the turkeys were given the best of care and were herded around the school grounds leaving them in fine shape, student Patrick Hurley commented Ah sure theyre so fat we may kill them now.

The Transition Years showed a great aptitude for business as they have set up a share system giving approximately 40, hoping to raise a profit receiving more money.

Lately the company has set their eyes upon the cattle segment of their empire.

A trip was made to the Tullamore Mart as they purchased a Simmental Heifer which is due to give birth on the 1st of March to a five star Pure-bred Limousine bull, this beauty was a steal at 1,480!

Also the T.Ys and L.C.As all issued shares and received credit off the mart to allow the company to gather more shares, another smart business move by the companys Financing Department.

Finally the Company made a trip to the people of Oakdale, an Olds Folks Home beside the school and showcased their goods to the residents and staff.

The Director of Nursing at Oakdale, Avril Finnerty said , The residents were delighted when local teacher Conor Mitchell arrived with 28 students driving 28 turkeys along the footpath.

They even brought a few of the turkeys into the Nursing Home to residents who were unable to go outside to see the spectical.

 Great credit is due to the entire TY class as they brought great happiness and laughter to our residents.

During our recent Hiqa inspection the Inspector praised the fact that we encouraged and facilitated people to bring in pets and animals to our Nursing Home.

The head of the TY class Conor Mitchell said,

The students were amazed and could not believe the bond that existed between the older people and the turkeys.

The class also have an incalf heifer as part of the mini company and she is also due to pay a visit to Oakdale over the Christmas.

An escort was made with twenty turkeys only as it was reported that two of them, Tom and Fintans Turkeys were fighting and were left bruised in battle.

The visit was a great success and fun and photos were taken with a resident donkey that was also at the scene to enhance the enjoyment of others.

The Grand Live Turkey Auction will take place on Thursday, December 15 at 6.30pm.

Profits are being donated to the local Saint Vincent De Paul organisation and the Portarlington Christmas Lights organisation.

On the night other mini companies will be attending showcasing their own projects and support would be appreciated.

All are welcome.
EXO arrive for the 24th Seoul Music Awards at the Olympic Park on January 22, 2015 in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo : Getty Images/Chung Sung-Jun)

With 2016 close to reaching its end, the Kpop group EXO recently added several milestones to its list of achievements for the year. EXO is the first Asian group to land on a cover on the magazine L'Uomo Vogue, while the band's hit "Monster" is the only Korean track on Fuse's "20 Best Songs of 2016."



Advertisement

Fuse recently released its "20 Best Songs of 2016" list that featured hit tracks from famous Hollywood musicians and bands. Comprised mostly of global chart topping hits, EXO's "Monster" landed at number 19 on Fuse's Best Songs list.



Described as a track with a "dark, hip-hop sound [that] pulls the listener in," the said EXO song was commended for having a unique chorus that blended the Kpop group members' harmonies together. With its "staccato-notes and ad-libs," the song's chorus elevates "Monster" to a different "level of pop perfection," according to Fuse.



Other songs that nabbed a spot on Fuse's "20 Best Songs of 2016" list included Beyonce's "Formation" that landed at number one, followed by Solange's "Cranes in the Sky." Chance the Rapper's "No Problem" that featured Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz took the number three spot, while Rihanna's "Needed Me" and Bruno Mars' "24K Magic" came in at number four and number five, respectively.



In other news, the Italian fashion magazine L'Uomo Vogue featured EXO as the cover model for its December issue. Known as the men's version of Vogue, the Italian magazine praised the Kpop group for their growing influence in both the music and fashion industry.



In a write-up included in L'Uomo Vogue, as cited by All Kpop, the magazine mentioned how EXO has the ability to bring people from various countries and cultures together as one fandom. Described as a South Korean group who has dominated Asia, EXO also has the "great potential" to break into the Western market, according to the Italian magazine.



The L'Uomo Vogue magazine that features EXO on its cover will also be available in select European regions and Asia. Watch the Kpop group's performance during the recently held 2016 MAMA event:






An Garda Siochana is urging Christmas shoppers to be vigilant of theft in retail car parks this month.

The warning comes as new figures show that 400,000 worth of goods was stolen from shoppers cars in Ireland last year.

The figures from the Garda Analysis Service to launch Retail Safety Day, also show that over 50 retail car park thefts took place each month in 2015.

Incidents are most common on Tuesdays and Fridays between 12 noon and 6pm, with thefts rising in December. The average value taken per theft was 600, while the most commonly taken items are cash, electronics, tools and handbags.

Launched to coincide with the start of the busy festive shopping period, Retail Safety Day urges members of the public to engage in safe shopping and parking in order to avoid becoming a victim of crime, whilst also improving their personal security.

Sergeant Kelvin Courtney of the Garda Bureau of Community Engagement Unit stated: "Customers should be careful while shopping. Always park in well-lit and secure areas. When you leave your car, lock all doors and windows and double check to make sure. Dont leave property or cash on view, take it with you. Report all thefts and suspicious activities to staff or Gardai.

"We strongly encourage shoppers to engage in safe parking as over 50 incidents of theft from vehicles at retail car parks occur every month. With an average loss of 600 per incident, many of these thefts are avoidable. Following some of these simple steps will make sure your Christmas doesnt get spoiled by theft, said Sergeant Courtney.

"There are also over 100 thefts from customers in shops every month. Handbags are being targeted when left in trolleys or hanging on buggies. The handbag itself isnt always the item that is taken, sometimes objects within the handbag are targeted too and often they are not immediately noticed missing by the owner. Mobile phones are the most commonly stolen object.

The Garda Analysis Service also said that shoplifting at Christmas time last year cost retailers 55 million, while the overall loss in 2015 was 255 million. However, thefts from shops have decreased by 2.7% this year so far, according to the CSO.

The busiest time for thefts from shops are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, with almost two thirds occurring between 12pm and 6pm.

Sergeant Courtney added: "Its important for retailers to be reminded that theft from shops tend to increase from mid November until Christmas.

The four main items stolen from retailers are groceries, alcohol, clothing and cosmetics. Thefts from clothes stores increase sharply just before Christmas and we also see a considerable increase of thefts from pharmacies, largely involving cosmetic thefts, throughout November and December.

Local Garda clinics will be held throughout the country in December advising the public on their personal safety at this festive time. Meanwhile, An Garda Siochana has produced safety information packs for both customers and retailers, both of which are available to download from the Garda website.
Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.

Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist.

If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter .

Support our mission and join our community now.
National treasure, the great Jack L returns for another knock-out show and the Dunamaise Arts Centre cant wait to have him back.

With an all new, self-penned album The King of Soho (and other stories) selling like hot cakes, Jack promises to deliver a spectacular event, introducing audiences to great new characters and intriguing creations from his vivid imagination - and none more vivid than himself.

During his musical career Jack L has worked with Golden Globe nominated composer Brian Byrne, the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, the Brooklyn Philharmonic and producers Greg Wells, Craig Armstrong and Martin Clancy.

He has also performed over the years supporting or alongside U2, Ronnie Wood, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, John Lee Hooker, Elvis Costello, Jools Holland, and Marianne Faithfull,

His successful USA tour last year earned him awards for The Judges Pick Best Act and the Press award Best Performance of the Festival at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in LA.

Audiences will see why at this unmissable show, which is a great Christmas gift.

As with all great shows, its over too soon, said the Edinburgh Evening News, while the LA Times enthused: What a voicewhat a performer!

Jack L takes to the stage of the Dunamaise on Friday, December 9, at 8pm.

Tickets are priced 25.
Local band The Crooked Jacks are excited to announce the launch of their first original track, with proceeds from the sale of the track at a special performance going towards a local homeless charity.

The song, called Home Tonight, was written earlier this year by David Fitzpatrick about homelessness, and with the current situation in Ireland at the moment the band figured releasing this time of year is a good time to put the thought into peoples minds.

To promote the track the band have a few live performances lined up around Portlaoise. On December 9 the band plays in Manhattan Mixer, which will also be the first night the song will be available on iTunes, then the following week they play in the Laois Shopping Centre and this time the single will be available for sale.

Theyre hoping to get a crowd around for that day, as all money made from the shopping centre gig will be donated to a homeless charity in January.

The group are just back from a four-week tour of the USA, with more tours planned for next year.
Joyce and Robert Chambers, from Castlemitchell, Athy, were presented with the Guinness Perpetual Cup for Barley Malting Excellence at a recent awards ceremony in Dublin.

The mother and son team scooped the top prize in the Malting Barley Excellence Awards at the event organised by Boortmalt and hosted by Diageo in the Guinness Storehouse.

The awards acknowledge excellence in malting barley production and promote sustainability in the supply chain.

There are over 600 barley growers in Ireland and the Malting Barley Excellence awards bring together the best growers from the five barley supply regions, while also recognising the best seed producers.

Robert Chambers, who is a third-generation barley grower, said: We are delighted to be taking the Guinness Perpetual Cup back to Kildare.

We have been growing barley on our farm for three generations and we work hard to grow barley that is of a excellent quality to be part of this great brewing tradition.

Attention and consistency

Growing premium barley requires attention to detail and we have found that by consistently ensuring the same seeding rates and fertiliser rates as per the Boortmalt and Teagasc programme we have seen great results.

Nicholas Brennan, Barrowhouse, was also a finalist in this years awards, along with entries from Wexford, Carlow and Laois.
Check out this week's Leitrim Observer to avail of our two for one vouchers for Carrick Cineplex. This is the last week of the offer prior to Christmas.

Readers can avail of buy one get one free cinema tickets by simply cutting out and presenting the coupon in this weeks paper on page 2! (Terms & Conditions apply).



Classic Christmas Films

There will be screenings of classic Christmas films in the run up to Christmas. Watch the hit Disney film Frozen on Saturday 10th at 12 noon.

Christmas Markets

Carrick Cineplex will be taking part in the Christmas Markets at the Rowing Club, selling treats and gift vouchers.

Appartion Hill

This week is the last chance to see Apparition Hill at Carrick Cineplex, Wednesday 7th & Thursday 8th December at 6.30pm. A powerful new film that chronicles the incredible journey of 7 strangers who embark across the globe to investigate one of the greatest mysteries of the modern era.

Carrick Film Society



Dont miss weekly world film screenings every Thursday at 8.30pm  all are welcome.

This weeks presentation is directed by Ken Loach - I, Daniel Blake - winner of the Cannes 2016 top prize, the Palme d'Or, Thursday 8th at 8.30pm.

Met Opera Live from NYC



On Saturday 10th at 5.55pm dont miss L'Amour De Loin (Love From Afar), Kaija Saariaho's yearning medieval romance presented live on the big screen in HD from New Yorks Metropolitan Opera House. Pre-booking is essential, please phone 071 9672000.



Films showing this week include Moana, Office Christmas Holiday, Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them, Bad Santa 2, Allied, and more!
Rwanda's President Paul Kagame (R) and Democratic Republic of Congo's President Joseph Kabila answer jounalists' questions at the Rwanda-DRC border in Rubavu after concluding bilateral discussions on August 12, 2016. Both countries committed to mutual efforts for the revitalization of bilateral relations including the enhancing of diplomatic relations between Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo. / AFP PHOTO / CYRIL NDEGEYA CYRIL NDEGEYA / AFP

Goma, March 23rd, 2009. In the capital of the North-Kivu province of Congo, shaken by civil war, the Congolese government and the rebellion of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (NCDP) are signing a peace treaty. The negotiations were long, and closely monitored by the governments of the Great Lakes region including in Rwanda, where president Paul Kagame is suspected of supporting the armed militia. But the discussions were also closely followed more than 6 500 kilometers north of Congo, in London. Nobody knew at the time, but both parties were spied upon by the powerful satellite surveillance system set up by the British GCHQ.

According to interception tests dated from January 13th and 22nd, February 12th and 23rd, and December 12th 2009, from the Snowden archives, provided to Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras and analyzed by Le Monde in collaboration with The Intercept, most of the key players in the negotiations were targeted. Including Congolese president Joseph Kabila, whose cell phone number is on the list of surveillance targets, along with his Hotmail email address. Communications to and from his office, and of his close advisors, were also monitored.

Detailed knowledge of the Congolese army

Among the latter, the GCHQ followed the emails, landline and mobile phones of Augustin Katumba Mwanke, special advisor, Marcellin Cishambo, political advisor, general Denis Kalumbe Numi, military advisor. All their communication tools are listed as targets, as well as the North-Kivus governors, Julien Paluku Kahongya.

The Birtish agent also targeted several ministers, and did not forget to monitor key officers of the national army, which in 2009 is undergoing a full reconstruction. The GCHQ documents show detailed knowledge of the organization of the army and of the Congolese intelligence services, as well as a very good intuition in identifying promising low-ranking officers. Like the colonel Kahimbi Delphin, at the time tasked with fighting the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, a Hutu militia composed of soldiers from Rwanda and members of militias who took part in the genocide, and which was probably supported by M. Kabila at some point.

The forests and mountains of North-Kivu, where the rebels live, are also discreetly monitored by the British servicess satellite surveillance. Alliances come and go depending on the opportunities emerging from the rivalries between Kigali, Kinshasa, and also Kampala, where Aronda Nyakairima, officer in the Uganda army who took part in the peace talks, was also spied upon by the GCHQ.

Lire aussi British tapped UN and NGO phones and emails in Nigeria and Congo

Did the British government, who gave Rwanda president Paul Kagame its full support, have information about his responsibility in the massacres he stands accused of in the East of Congo ? Sollicited by Le Monde, the GCHQ declined to comment.

Laurent Nkunda, the charismatic leader of the NCDP rebellion, whose commandment is mainly Tutsi, initially benefited from Rwandas support. The British, under pressure from the international community and from NGOs who suspected Rwanda of war crimes in the region, may have wanted to make sure of the exact nature of Kigalis relationship with some armed groups, says a Western diplomat who was working in Kigali at the time.

M. Nkundas telecommunications, and those of his main lieutenants, were on the list of GCHQ targets. Like Bosco Ntaganda, who will end up fighting his former commander and will take his place before being arrested and handed over to the International Criminal Court. Nicknamed Terminator for his extreme violence, this mercenary served in the ranks of numerous armed groups in the East of the DRC. Hes currently on trial for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

French embassy targeted

The British services also take a very close look at the mining sector, which fuels the armed conflict and whose profits also come back to the pockets of some elected officials. The intercepts also target the Vice-minister in charge of mining, Victor Kasongo, the wealthy governor of Katanga, Moise Katumbi, and Augustin Katamba Mwanke. This specail advisor of president Kabila rules over the mining sector, his office is a mandatory stop for all companies who want to discuss mining rights. Suspected by the United Nations of being responsible of looting the DRCs riches, he died in a plane crash in February 2012.

The French embassy was also targeted by the British services. More precisely, the French ambassador, Pierre Jacquemot, whose cell phone was listed as a priority 3 target - president Kabilas phone was priority 4. Since then, M. Jacquemot changed his phone number, says one of his advisors. Contacted, the minister of communication and spokesperson for the Congolese government Lambert Mende said this surveillance system was an act of unacceptable hostility. The DRC was the victim of this kind of meddling as soon as it got its independence after Patrice Lumumbas killing by foreign agents. This is what it reminds me of.

Joan Tilouine et Simon Piel
Angola's President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, here with China's President Xi Jinping in Beijing in June 2015, was placed under surveillance by the British intelligence service.  JASON LEE / REUTERS / REUTERS

This rare overview of modern satellite espionage could hardly be less technical and abstract, for it not only names the victims of intercepts but also reveals the scale of a surveillance operation spanning an entire continent. That continent is Africa. New documents shown to Le Monde, in collaboration with The Intercept, from the data cache of the former NSA (National Security Agency) operative Edward Snowden, originally given to Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras, offer unprecedented insight into information on twenty African countries collected by GCHQ, the British intelligence service, between 2009 and 2010.

Dozens of lists of intercepts examined by Le Monde journalists stem from a specific period of operations by GCHQ technicians. These reports celebrate GCHQs success in redirecting flows of satellite communications, and conclude that the agency could now proceed with systematic data collection.

Read also : British spying operations included its Middle East allies, the Palestinian authority and Jordan

The lists of hundreds of intercepts by GCHQ contain the names of heads of states, incumbent or former prime ministers, diplomats, military and intelligence chiefs, members of the opposition and leading figures from the world of business and the financial industry. These actions violated the political, economic and strategic sovereignty of twenty African countries, many of whose leaders were allies of Great Britain.

Heads of state and prime ministers

GCHQs main targets were heads of state and prime ministers. Although the UK was Kenyas main trade partner, in March 2009 the British secret services intercepted communications by President Mwai Kibaki and his closest strategic advisers, as well as eavesdropping on Prime Minister Raila Odinga. They followed the same approach in Angola, Africas largest oil producer, which has been governed by President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos since 1979. The intercept reports show that Luandas presidential palace was under surveillance. At the time of the intercepts, Angola was suffering from a crash in commodity prices, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Luanda to boost strategic cooperation between the two countries. Great Britain provided information to the United States to ensure the latter retained its stranglehold on the region.

Democratic Republic of the Congo's President Joseph Kabila inspecting a guard of honour during the celebrations of Congos independence in Kindu, June 30, 2016. He has been wiretaped by the British intelligence service KENNY KATOMBE / REUTERS

Five hundred and seventy-four miles to the north, on the other side of the border that Angolan troops crossed to support Laurent Desire Kabila during the Second Congo War (1998-2001), Kinshasa was also under close surveillance. Following his fathers assassination in January 2001, Kabilas son Joseph took the reins of this gigantic African state, and British spies must have been intrigued by his activities, for they eavesdropped on all his communications and those of his close political, diplomatic and military advisers.

Read also : Britain has spent years spying on Israels leaders

GCHQ also conducted massive intercepts in Nigeria, a former British colony and member of the Commonwealth. British agents listened in on phone calls by President Umaru YarAdua, his aide-de-camp and his main advisers, including his principal private secretary and his special adviser. GCHQ also targeted the vice-president of the continents most populous country and the largest economic power in the region. As the Nigerian head of state was already sick (he died on 5 May 2010), his successor Goodluck Jonathans phone line was also on the list of planned intercepts.

The same system was also in place for Ghana, where President John Kufuor and his colleagues were wiretapped, and in Sierra Leone, where calls to and from leader Ernest Koromas mobile number were intercepted. Further north, in Guinea-Conakry, the British were also eavesdropping on telephone and electronic communications made by Kabine Komara, the prime minister of the junta led by President Moussa Dadis Camara, who had seized power in a putsch. Camaras close advisers are also mentioned in the database to which Le Monde has been granted access. The telecommunications of the Togolese head of state Faure Gnassignbe were also intercepted.

Former presidents and prime ministers

The intercept lists from 2009 seen by Le Monde also feature several former heads of state and prime ministers whom the British and their allies appear to have continued to follow closely. The names include the former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo (1999-2007) and his counterpart in Sierra Leone, Ahmed Tejan Kabbah (1998-2007). In this West African nation devastated by a decade-long civil war, one person attracted particular attention  the former president and warlord Charles Taylor, along with his principal lieutenants, some of whom controlled mercenary camps in the north of the country along the border with Guinea. GCHQs targets in the Guinean capital Conakry were Cellou Dalein Diallo and Lansana Kouyate, both former prime ministers under the dictator Lansana Conte and now leading opposition figures.

Read also : US and Britain refine their ability to tap into airline passengers mobile phones while they are in the air

The British were monitoring events in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and in the presidential palace in Kinshasa, but in 2009 their surveillance of the other side of the river Congo was concentrated on the Republic of the Congos former head of state, Pascal Lissouba (1992-97), who lives in exile in France. Considered too close to U.S. and British oil companies, he was forced from power by Denis Sassou-Nguesso with French and Angolan backing.

Diplomats

GCHQ was also very interested in diplomats from these African countries. One of their targets, the Burkinabe Djibril Bassole, told Le Monde:  What I said on the telephone was said in public . He is currently in prison in Ouagadougou for  undermining state security  during the attempted coup in September 2015. Six year earlier, however, he had been Burkina Fasos minister of foreign affairs, and he coordinated support for the rebellion in Cote dIvoire on behalf of President Blaise Compaore. He was the Joint African Union-United Nations Chief Mediator during the Darfur crisis, and it was presumably his diplomatic activities that led the British secret services to put him on their list.

Surveillance of African diplomatic services was as widespread as the operations targeting their leaders. The British intelligence services eavesdropped on communications involving the foreign ministers of Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Sudan and Libya, and their closest collaborators. Their emails were also intercepted. This allowed GCHQ to keep an eye on developments within these states and even monitor such delicate matters as the liberation of Western hostages, including a British man, held by Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the Nigerian rebel group that ruled the swamps and waters of the Niger Delta. The British showed a keen interest in the offices of the Nigerian minister of foreign affairs, Ojo Maduekwe, and in particular his private landline and mobile numbers.

The British secret services also widened their espionage operations to African embassies, keeping a close watch on the Zimbabwean ambassador in Kinshasa, his DRC counterpart in Brasilia, the Sudanese embassy in Islamabad and the Nigerian embassies in Ankara, Pretoria, Tripoli, Yaounde and Tehran, as well as Nigerias Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva. In the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, GCHQ targeted the embassies of Eritrea, Algeria, Guinea and Sudan. The Syrian ambassador to Khartoum also appears in the database, as do the Russian embassies in Conakry and Abuja. Close attention is paid to Chads diplomatic networks in the arc from Moscow to Tripoli.

Intelligence services and rebels

The British are equally interested in the intelligence services in these volatile African countries and in any rebel movements with the potential to replace the current rulers. GCHQ intercepted rebel movements telecommunications in Darfur in western Sudan after armed conflict broke out in 2003. Telephone lines used by various rebel leaders to call the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Chad and Libya crop up in the data. One of them belonged to Jibril Ibrahim Mohammed, the brother of Khalil Ibrahim, the leader of the Justice and Equality Movement, who was killed in 2011. In a region plagued by rebellions, the British secret services followed telecommunications involving bosses of armed Sudanese and Chadian groups, as can be seen from intercepts targeting Albissaty Saleh Allazam of the Revolutionary Action Committee. Libyas domestic and foreign intelligence services were a favourite target of their British counterparts. The same was true of DRC, where GCHQ kept the heads of the army and the security services under surveillance. Several intercepts are marked  Related to the Egyptian intelligence services .

Several members of MEND, a militant group active in the oil-rich south of Nigeria, were wiretapped, as their attacks on tankers and pipelines posed a threat to the interests of British and American oil companies. MEND was holding a British hostage, and the British secret service listened in on this African powerhouses military and intelligence services, the Nigerian and British negotiators, and MENDs leaders and members.

Bankers and businessmen

Yet GCHQ did not focus exclusively on politicians. The lists also feature some of the continents leading businessmen and bankers including the Kenyan Chris Kirubi. The Nigerian billionaire Tony Elumelu, regarded as one of Africas richest and most influential men, was also targeted by British agents in 2009. A friend of Nigerias then president Umaru YarAdua, Elumelu was at the helm of the United Bank for Africa (UBA).

The data includes the contact details of the Nigerian ministers of finance and oil, as well as those of various telecommunications operators and of major banks such as Zenith Bank. There are also details about the immensely wealthy Dahiru Mangal, the regions smuggling kingpin, who hails from Katsina like the Nigerian president, and provides financial backing to his own president and to the head of state of Niger. In Lagos, Nigerias economic capital, the British made sure that they listened in on the telecommunications of the Africa Finance Corporation, a pan-African financial institution that funds infrastructure investment. Its vice-president Solomon Asamoah came in for particularly heavy surveillance.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, GCHQs antennae were trained on the deputy minister for mines and Joseph Kabilas all-powerful special adviser Augustin Katumba Mwanke. This discreet operator had complete control over mining contracts, and organised what the international community described as  the plundering of natural resources  for the ruling clan.

Other businessmen close to Joseph Kabila, including Victor Ngezayo, the head of a hotel group, were also under surveillance. Politics and business go hand in glove in Katanga, where the popular governor Moise Katumbi has used his position to influence and profit from mining activities. A close ally of Joseph Kabila, who helped him amass his fortune, Mr Katumbi has rallied Kabilas opponents with the aim of taking on his former master at the ballot box.

GCHQ also listened in on the telecommunications of foreign transnational corporations operating in Africa, one of their targets being Mediterranean Shipping Company, an Italian-Swiss logistics firm. Most telecommunications firms, including the South African company MTN, Saudi Telecom, France Telecom and Orange, were under surveillance.

Joan Tilouine et Simon Piel
Angela Merkel has this week called for a ban of the full-face veil (burqa) wherever legally possible. While many of us in the UK may be uncomfortable with the cultural assumptions behind the wearing of the burqa, its important for us to remember that, as liberals, we should enshrine wherever possible the right to decide how you live your life and practice your faith, as long as it doesnt harm anyone else. A ban of the burqa is an illiberal assault on religious and cultural freedoms.

Unfortunately, there is another side to this issue  there is great concern, both from moderate muslims in the UK, and from wider observers, that some number of women are forced to wear the burqa or otherwise endure cultural or religious burdens that they do not want. Stripping away the rights of another, and forcing them to act as you will with threats of violence, exclusion, monetary penalties and more is abuse, and we need to tackle that with all seriousness.

Abuse as a wider issue than physical violence is something that frustratingly has had little impact on the popular consciousness. Financial, emotional and other kinds of abuse can ruin lives just as physical or sexual abuse can. Tackling all forms of abuse is extremely difficult, because ultimately it is intimidation: those intimidated fear to speak out for the exact reason they need to.

The issue of abuse in the UK is far wider than the muslim community, and one of the problems with legislation of this type is that not only does it remove choice from the individual unnecessarily, it draws a line about what culture of abuse is permissible and what is not. The understanding of the scope of abuse in this country is generally poor, and most are horrified by the statistics when they are presented with them, if they dont outright disbelieve the evidence presented.

Roughly 1 in 4 women, and 1 in 6 men, will suffer domestic abuse at some point in their life. An estimated 50,000+ children are classified as in need of protection from abuse right now. Abuse is a chronic problem in our society, and one that has to be tackled with care, consideration and a liberal mind to ensure we dont strip freedom from anyone unnecessarily. Banning a specific piece of clothing does nothing to prevent abuse, for abusers rarely focus on a specific thing to torment their victims with, and does much to alienate a culture already struggling to integrate.

In short, dont ban the burqa. Fund domestic abuse prevention programmes, help communities integrate and open up with shared events, education and services, and above all help people of all ages understand abuse of all kinds, and what to do when you are the victim of it. This isnt a muslim problem, its a people problem. And we need to start treating it like that.

* Edwin Moriarty joined the Liberal Democrats in 2016.
Sometimes I feel like I just want to get a big, soft cushion with Obamas face on it to hide behind every time the news comes on after 20th January next year.

The US electorate has put a Twitter troll in charge. You would think that the person in the most powerful job in the world would have better things to do than take to social media to respond to every tiny criticism of him. The other day, for example, he said this of his call with Taiwans leader:

Interesting how the U.S. sells Taiwan billions of dollars of military equipment but I should not accept a congratulatory call.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 3, 2016

I am no fan of Chinas government, to put it mildly, and I certainly didnt like the way Alex Salmond pandered to it by refusing to meet the Dalai Lama when he came to Scotland a few years ago. Thats not the point, though. Its the taking to Twitter to argue the toss every five minutes. Its the way he can say one thing one minute and then change his mind. Have a listen to this weeks Media Show on Radio 4 where you have the chairman of the New York Times describe a bizarre exchange with Donald Trump around his recent visit to the paper which has severely criticised him. One minute he was calling them the failing NY Times on Twitter, the next fawning all over them.

But its not as if we are particularly fantastic on the diplomatic front either. Boris does tend to open his mouth and say what he thinks at any given moment without checking to see if he is in line with British Government policy. Id be the first one to stand up and criticise the Saudi administration and in much stronger terms than he did. But the world of international diplomacy doesnt cope well with mixed messages.

Boris has been slapped down loads of times for shooting his mouth off and he hasnt even been in the job for 5 months. Amber Rudd had to remind him of his place when he whined about Brexit not happening fast enough. Then Theresa May slapped him down for spilling the beans on Article 50 before she did. Then Downing Street played down what Boris said about us probably leaving the customs union. This is what we should expect to happen, though, given that he turned out to have given away the Article 50 timetable.

Tom Brake, our shadow Foreign Secretary, joked that Boris had been slapped down more times than Baldrick from Blackadder:

Boris Johnson has now been slapped down almost as many times as Baldrick in Blackadder. Hes right to criticise Saudi Arabias record, but will be deservedly branded a hypocrite if he now toes the government line this weekend. His comments have exposed the duplicity and division at the heart of this Conservative Brexit government.

Paddy Ashdown was a wee bit more direct in a tweet:

Boris looks a gonner  the result of PMs bad judgement. As I said here the most bizarre appointment since Caligula made his horse a Consul.  Paddy Ashdown (@paddyashdown) December 8, 2016

Both Trump and Johnson make loose cannon look stable and disciplined. The next few years are certainly going to be interesting.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
THERE IS no reason why the proposed Bill for medicinal cannabis cannot progress, Limerick County TD Tom Neville recently said following a private members meeting in Dail Eireann.

Last week, the Dail voted  without opposition  in favour of Anti-Austerity Alliance TD Gino Kennys Cannabis for Medicinal Use Bill, and it will now progress to committee level for review in the New Year.

This will also run concurrently with the Health Products Regulatory Authoritys review of the Bill.

In favour of progressing the Bill forward, Deputy Neville said in Leinster House that he was immediately impacted following a meeting with a Limerick mother who spoke of the positives for medicinal cannabis.

He said that the woman, whose three-year-old child has a rare condition, spoke to him about how this could be beneficial to kids.

She presented me with the detail of what she has gone through during the past three years. It impacted on me even more to meet the three year old girl who has the condition. Her mother explained the cocktail of medications her daughter is on and the side effects of those. Anything we could do to alleviate pain and give these people a quality of life must be supported and we must assist them in any way we can.

Speaking to the Leader, Mr Neville said that it would have been shortsighted to block the Bill and wait for the HPRAs verdict.

Obviously, we have to adhere to their adjudication as well. But there is no reason why this cannot be moving on, on the side as well, so that when the two come together, we can move as quickly as possible. Its joined up thinking; its a different way of doing things.

He said that if this proposal gets the green light, medicinal cannabis will be streamlined and will be prescribed by a GP and dispensed by a pharmacist.

That will make the process safer for users so that it is controlled and administered correctly in a professionally-qualified dynamic, he told the Limerick Leader this week.

Also welcoming the Bill, AAA councillor Cian Prendiville said that there appears to be a sea-change in popular attitudes and the brave, campaigning of this week need this message means we are on the verge of dragging the current government into facing some kind of reality on this issue.
THE case of a woman who has admitted bigamy is due to be heard before Limerick Circuit Criminal Court this Thursday afternoon.

Ivita Visnevska, aka Esala Kana, 34, with an address in Ilford, London, has been charged with one count of bigamy and also with providing false information.

At Limerick District Court his morning, Judge Patrick Durcan heard the accused wished to pleaded guilty to the offences. Noting this he sent the case forward to the current sessions of the Circuit Court.

The defendant was arrested today by Detective Garda Oliver Foley, and made no reply to the charges after caution. There was no objection to bail.

She is charged with marrying Mirza Aazam Baig while being married at another person at St Camillus hospital, Shelbourne Road, Limerick city, on October 16, 2009, under Section 57 of the Offences Against the Person Act.

On dates between July 13, 2007, and October 16, 2009, again at St Camillus, she is charged with giving to the register particulars or information which she knew to be false or misleading, under Section 69 (3) of the Civil Registration Act (2004).

It is expected that Judge Tom O'Donnell will hear details of the offences at Limerick Circuit Court later today.
TWO of the three caravans parked illegally behind a house in Rathkeale were moved by 11am this Thursday morning. The third was allowed to remain in place with the stipulation that nobody lives in it.

But the three members of the Boswell family, Alfie, Margaret and Roger Boswell, Iniscouch, Rathkeale were not present in court for the adjourned case, brought against them by Limerick City and County Council.

At a court sitting in Newcastle West on Tuesday, Judge Mary Larkin ordered them to move the caravans by this Thursday morning or face a fine of up to 5000 each and/or six months imprisonment and up to 5000 in costs.

Solicitor for the council, Will Leahy this Thursday also asked that the terms of the enforcement order issued in December last year be complied with. This stipulated that the Boswells had to remove the hard-core material and replace the grass on the site behind their house.

We didnt press the issue last year, he told the judge. You were satisfied once the caravans were removed.

But because there had been a recurrence, he continued, he was now asking that this be complied with so that caravans cannot be parked there in the figure.

The Boswells legal representative, Aaron Desmond, asked that they return to that element on the adjourned date of January 3.

The way I see it, we played ball, for want of a more legal expression, with these people last year, Judge Larkin said. They did not play ball.

Your clients made fools of the council and the legal process, the judge continued. I cannot allow that.

However, she agreed to revisit the issue of restoring the site until January 3 when she would also revisit the issue of costs and fines. But she marked the matter with liberty to apply in any court in the district. She also warned Mr Desmond to have his clients in court on that date so that they could give sworn undertakings in court.

Mr Desmond that that Roger Boswell would be on his honeymoon that day.

I am not excusing anybody on any date, the judge said but added that if matters had been complied with, they wont have a difficulty.

On Tuesday Judge Larkin had said, The problem we have now is the same as last year and telling me we have a planning application as a sort of magic wand to solve the problem doesnt work. It is not as if they dont know this. We had all this out in the court.

Last year, members of the Boswell family were prosecuted by Limerick City and County Council for illegally parking their caravans on a hard-stand they had created behind their house in Iniscouch. The council sought costs of 4,242.78 at that time but a compromise was reached, solicitor for the council, Will Leahy reminded the judge.

You were willing to give these people a chance and Alfie and Margaret Boswell gave an undertaking to have all caravans removed bar their own and not to live in them. You agreed to adjourn all summons to February 2017 to get us over this Christmas period and with liberty to apply, Mr Leahy said.

But fresh complaints had now been received by the council, the court heard, and on Monday, three caravans were parked on the hard-stand with people living in them. Summons were re-issued on Alfie and Margaret Boswell and Roger Boswell for breach of an enforcement order but the council was unable to reissue summons to two others.

Under the regulations, Mr Leahy explained a person is entitled to park a caravan on their property for nine months of the year provided they do not live in it.

The site on which the caravans sit was originally a green field site, the court heard, but had been hard-standed without planning permission.

A planning application to retain the hard-stand area was refused and an application subsequently made to demolish the house and build a new one which would be more appropriate for the family.

There is a current application for retention of the hardstand area for temporary use.

Pleading for his clients, Aaron Desmond BL, said it was a case of necessity. His clients had invested money and effort to rectify the situation, he argued, by applying for planning permission to demolish the house and build a new one. It was envisaged that the situation would not recur, he said.

I allowed them time to come off the site. I did not say they could go back on again for permitted use at a later stage, Judge Larkin said. That was not the intention.

It is just a numbers issue, Mr Desmond said, explaining that the existing house was not big enough. He also pleaded that one of the family members was pregnant and due to give birth shortly.

Cant she go and live in the house? asked Judge Larkin.

Wasnt it envisaged last year they would go and live in the house? she continued.

Mr Desmond pointed out that his clients normally reside in France and Spain and return to Rathkeale for Christmas as part of their cultural tradition. But Judge Larkin asked: How can tradition overrule the law?

It is not fair on the neighbours of this site, Mr Leahy said. They choose to come back here for Christmas.

It was a blatant breach, he continued, and made a mockery of the process. And he asked the judge to apply the maximum fine of 5000 on each summons and costs of 5000.

Mr Desmond replied that the actions were not blatant. They knew they could not keep doing it, he argued and the planning application for a new house was intended to remedy that.

There was a short recess to allow the defendants to consider their choice: to get off the site or face the consequences put by Mr Leahy.

They understand the situation, Mr Desmond said when the court resumed. They would undertake to have the caravans removed by December 16. The pregnant woman was due to go to hospital on December 14 or 15, he said, and his family would then be in a position to move.

Why would you bring a woman about to have a baby to live in a caravan in some other country than where you normally live? Judge Larkin asked. But she added that if she left it to December 16,  I would be asked to remove a new baby.
A WOMAN who married a man at a registry office in Limerick while still married to her first husband has been fined 100.

Ivita Visnevska (also known as Esala Kana) pleaded guilty to a number of charges relating to offences which occurred at St Camillus Hospital, Shelbourne Road, Limerick on dates in 2009.

The 34-year-old Lativan national, who now lives in London, appeared before Limerick District Court this morning after she was formally charged with bigamy and with providing false information to a civil registrar.

During a brief hearing, she signed pleas of guilty and affirmed those pleas when she appeared before Limerick Circuit Court this afternoon.

Detective Garda Oliver Foley said a garda investigation was launched in September 2014 when a complaint was made by the civil registrar after concerns were expressed by authorities in Latvia.

He told John OSullivan BL, prosecuting, that Ms Visnevska  a mother of six  married a Latvian man in a civil ceremony at St Camillus Hospital on August 22, 2005.

He said the couple, who were living in Limerick, separated in 2008 but that the defendant did not apply for a divorce in this country because of the cost and time involved.

Ms Visnevska, the court heard, married another man in a separate civil ceremony at St Camillus Hospital on October 16, 2009.

Ahead of the marriage, she signed various forms in July of 2009 stating she was single and that there was no impediment to her getting married.

When interviewed by gardai, her purported husband  a Pakistani national  said he was not aware that Ms Visnevska was married at the time.

Mr OSullivan told the court the man is now living in the Dublin area with their two children and has not had any contact with the defendant since.

Detective Garda Foley agreed with Brian McInerney BL that his client, who has since converted to Islam, is now living with another man in London.

He said she attended for interview at a Police station in London and that she voluntarily travelled to Ireland for todays court proceedings.

Ms McInerney told the court his client is not a woman of great means and that she is expecting her third child with her current partner next May.

He said there was no suggestion of her gaining financially from the second marriage.

You are not dealing with a sham marriage or a marriages for sale scenario, he said.

Describing the case as one of the most unusual he had come across, Judge Tom ODonnell imposed a 100 fine.
Apr 29, 2021, 8 AM

The Nov. 8-9 auctions by Grosvenor included this unused 1878 10-shilling Queen Victoria stamp with Maltese Cross watermark from Great Britain. It sold for roughly $15,000.

A 1997 booklet of British flower stamps with an intact color-missing error pane sold during the Nov. 8-9 Grosvenor auction for $15,385.

By Matthew Healey, New York Correspondent

Grosvenor Philatelic Auctions, of London, held a sale of specialized Great Britain on Nov. 8 and British Empire and worldwide material Nov. 9. As usual, the top prices went to classics of Queen Victorias reign and to modern errors of Queen Elizabeth II.

Among the former was an unused example of the 1878 10-shilling Queen Victoria stamp with a Maltese Cross watermark (Scott 74), in a pale shade and with large part original gum. It sold for about $15,000, including the 22.8 percent buyers premium added by Grosvenor to all lots.

Connect with Linns Stamp News:

Sign up for our newsletter

Like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

The stamp shows an anomaly that sometimes occurs on Victorian high values: its a little short, a natural result of imprecision in the settings of the perforation equipment. Affected stamps always have the letter A in the lower left corner, indicating they came from the top row of the sheet.

A momentous color-missing error from a much more recent issue was shown wrapped around the front and back covers of the auction catalog.

In 1997, Britain issued a booklet of 10 Flowers stamps with 20 smaller labels (Scott BK1195; the pane of stamps is Scott 1722a). Each design shows an extreme close-up of a different exotic bloom, with the queens profile and the denomination 1st (then 26p) in gold in the upper right corner. The labels continue the flower motif.

Half a dozen booklet panes are known missing the gold, as well as the phosphor, and lack the blue-green color from the labels. Of that half-dozen, three panes have been separated. The intact pane was sold by Grosvenor for $15,385.

Announcing the results of their sales, Grosvenor concluded with the following comment:

Once again the stamp market has failed to panic at a time of worldwide financial uncertainty and continued to confound analyses which have suggested that a shrinking base of collectors will lead inevitably one day to a downward tumble in prices. Any such judgment day, when at the sound of the last trump all will change, seems still very far away.
We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.
Nusra Front militants, who are currently calling themselves 'Jabhat Fateh al-Sham', are being surrounded by government troops and have agreed to leave the city of Aleppo through the northern corridor, towards the Castello road, the Hezbollah-owned TV Channel Al-Manar reported on Thursday.

The TV Channel reported this information with reference to mediators who were getting in touch with Syrian commanders on militants behalf.

According to the TV Channel, the Syrian government troops are now preparing for an assault on the groupings last stronghold near Bustan Al-Qasr and have delivered a series of powerful strikes against the terrorists fire emplacements and command posts.

According to a TV Channel, the Syrian government troops are now preparing for an assault on the groupings last stronghold near Bustan Al-Qasr.

Lavrov says militants who do not leave eastern Aleppo to be regarded as terrorists.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


More than a million years ago, frosty Greenland was ice-free, its bare bedrock exposed for 280,000 years, researchers have found.

During this exposed stint, the island's overall ice cover could have dropped by more than 90 percent, the scientists reported today (Dec. 7) in the journal Nature (opens in new tab).

Previous studies have reported that Greenland's ice shrank in the distant past, but this study is the first to explain how long a span Greenland may have endured without its usual frozen cover. This discovery hints that its surface ice was more variable than once thought  which does not bode well for its future stability in a warming world, the researchers said. [In Photos: Greenland's Ancient Landscape]

As valuable as moon rocks

The study authors gathered their data from isotopes  atoms of the same element but with a different number of neutrons  extracted from bedrock minerals. The isotopes, beryllium 10 and aluminum 26, are produced only by cosmic rays, which means that they only occur when the rock that holds them is exposed; as such they can offer clues about when rocks were bare of ice, and for how long.

These isotopes originated in the only rocky core ever extracted from land underneath Greenland ice, drilled at the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) summit in 1993.

Minerals from this solitary core are second only to moon rocks in their rarity and importance, as they are the only existing evidence of Greenland's ice-covered extant bedrock, according to lead author Joerg Schaeffer, a paleoclimatologist with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and a professor with the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University.

When this core was first examined decades ago, researchers were able to detect isotopes in the sediment produced by cosmic rays, but their equipment wasn't sensitive enough to gather precise climate data, Schaeffer told Live Science. In order to get to the isotopes, "we literally digested those rocks," he said, describing how he and his colleagues dissolved minerals with acid so they could observe the atoms.

Scientists drilled nearly two miles down through the summit of the Greenland ice sheet (white dot, left), to reach bedrock. Isotopes found in the rock indicate that this site and most of Greenland were nearly ice free (right) during the recent geologic past. (Image credit: Schaefer et al., Nature, 2016)

The atomic isotope beryllium 10 told the scientists that the rock had at one point been ice-free. To gauge how long that period lasted, they compared the amount of beryllium to quantities of aluminium 26. It appears at a 7 to 1 ratio to beryllium 10, but decays twice as fast. The quantity of aluminium atoms relative to beryllium told the scientists that once the ice cover melted away, the rock was exposed for more than 280,000 years, until about 1.1 million years ago.

The extent to which Greenland's ice may have waxed and waned over time was the subject of another new study, also published today (Dec. 7) in Nature (opens in new tab). Lead author Paul Bierman, a professor of geology at the University of Vermont, told Live Science that the study found evidence of ice covering the island for a period of 7.5 million years, a much longer period than described in any prior study.

A patchwork history

Though many scientists have investigated Greenland's ice for clues about its behavior over time, a comprehensive picture long remained elusive. And Greenland itself is to blame for this incomplete view, as recurring changes in ice cover scrub away geologic evidence over and over again, Bierman said. ['Dark Ice' Speeds Up Melting in Greenland (Photos)]

Greenland Ice sheet tumbling toward a calving margin in an East Greenland fiord near Kulusuk. (Image credit: Paul Bierman )

"Whenever the ice expands, it wipes away what it did last time," Bierman told Live Science. "It's like looking at a chalkboard that's been erased, and you have to figure out what happened three classes ago."

Bierman and his colleagues analyzed deep-sea samples from a core of weathered bedrock that originated in East Greenland, but was carried into the ocean off the coast.

Their examination revealed that during the past 7.5 million years, Greenland ice was "persistent" but also "dynamic," the scientists wrote in the study, allowing that there were likely periods when the ice cover dwindled due to global temperature changes.

Addressing uncertainties

While Bierman's study suggests that ice consistently blanketed Greenland, that doesn't necessarily rule out that some parts of the island were ice-free at times. High-altitude regions in the east could have stayed frozen even during warm conditions, while other parts of Greenland lost their ice, according to Ginny Catania, an associate professor with the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin.

Catania, who was not involved in the new studies, told Live Science in an email that both investigations support reduced ice in Greenland's past, but more data would be required to understand the processes that contributed to massive and rapid ice loss, and how they might drive future melt. [5 Places Already Feeling the Effects of Climate Change]

Fiord choked with melting sea ice and icebergs in East Greenland, during the month of June. (Image credit: Paul Bierman )

"These uncertainties limit our ability to accurately predict the future of the ice sheet," Catania said. "We are in for a lot of change in Greenland in the future. The question remains  how quickly will it happen?"

Techniques used in both studies introduce novel methods for looking at how Greenland's ice changed, but there is still more work to be done. Determining more precisely when and why historical ice loss happened could greatly improve computer models that would find a threshold for instability in Greenland's ice today, according to Anders Carlson, an associate professor of geology and geophysics with the College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University.

"Regardless of when Greenland had ice-free conditions, the ice sheet has been unstable and collapsed in the past," Carlson told Live Science. "And that probably occurred when CO2 [carbon dioxide] levels were below what they are now  which bodes ill for future," he said.

And time may be running short. Seasonal melt for Greenland in 2016 was above average, with the third highest surface mass loss of ice in 38 years of satellite observations, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Were Greenland to lose the majority of its ice, as it did in the past, the water released into the world's oceans could produce around 23 feet (7 meters) of sea level rise, Schaeffer added.

"We have never seen the planet warming as fast as it is now, and we have to prepare as best we can," Schaeffer told Live Science. "We need to get organized quickly, and, hopefully, this helps to make the case."

Original article on Live Science.
Live Science is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Heres why you can trust us.
Though the terrorist group ISIL has destroyed much of the ancient city of Nimrud, some artifacts remain, including this inscription.

A military offensive to take back the city of Mosul, Iraq, from the Islamic State group (also called ISIS) has also resulted in the retaking of several historic sites that ISIS destroyed and looted.

The offensive is being carried out by the Iraq military and the Peshmerga, which is a Kurdish force supported by Iraqi Kurdistan (an autonomous region of the country). Air strikes by a coalition of countries are supporting these ground troops. U.S. Special Forces are also on the ground and assisting in the fighting. The forces have retaken outlying areas of Mosul, and ground troops are making their way toward the center of the city. [Photos: Restoring Life to Iraq's Ruined Artifacts]

As troops advance, they have retaken a number of historic sites, and reports are coming in about the sites' condition:

Khorsabad

ISIS fighters heavily damaged and looted Khorsabad, an ancient Assyrian capital that was built by King Sargon II (reign ca. 721-705 B.C.), before a Peshmerga force retook the site.

"Many fragments" of sculptures and royal inscriptions have been found and transported to the directorate of antiquities of Akre for conservation, said Dlshad Marf Zamua, a Kurdish archaeologist who is completing a doctorate at Leiden University in the Netherlands. A Kurdish language news reportshared images of a few of the fragments.

Marf Zamua, working as a Kurdish-English translator during the battle for Mosul, said that when the war is over he plans to visit Khorsabad and the remains of other ancient Assyrian cities.

Mar Behnam

Forces have also recently retaken the site of Mar Behnam, a Christian monastery built about 1,500 years ago, the Assyrian International News Agency reported. ISIS destroyed much of the monastery. Graffiti spray-painted by ISIS covers the surviving buildings, while the artwork and inscriptions inside of those buildings had been destroyed, the news agency reported.

In the surviving buildings, "all crosses were removed, religious scripts scraped off the walls and all references to the Assyrian King Benham who built the monastery were removed," the agency reported. In the surviving buildings, "monks' bedrooms [were] turned into jail cells" by ISIS, who also burned Christian texts, the agency reported.

"It's awful. It's disgusting," said Amir Harrak, an expert in Syriac (a dialect of Aramaic) at the University of Toronto. One of the last people to visit Mar Behnam, Harrak left the site just two months before ISIS captured it in June 2014. In destroying historic sites, ISIS has insulted Muslims, Christians and all Iraqis, said Harrak, who is a native of Mosul (he left in 1977).

Harrak has taken about 700 photographs of inscriptions and artwork from many now-destroyed sites in Iraq. The photos are now part of a publicly available database, which Harrak said he hopes will allow future generations to learn about, study and appreciate the sites. Even so, Harrak said the inscriptions and artwork that ISIS destroyed are irreplaceable.

Nimrud

Ashurnasirpal II (reign 883-859 B.C.) used the ancient city of Nimrud as the capital of Assyria, and he constructed a massive palace there. ISIS destroyed or looted much of the site, using bulldozers and dynamite. [Photos: New Archaeological Discoveries in Northern Iraq]

This site was also recently retaken and photographs show that most of the ancient palace has been destroyed and many inscriptions and works of art have been smashed to pieces. However, not all is lost as those same photographs show that a number of inscriptions and even a few works of art have survived, if only in a damaged state.

Iraq archaeologists have arrived on site and security has been arranged to prevent further destruction and looting. A forthcoming Live Science story will reveal some of the surviving inscriptions.

Original article on Live Science.
About 99 million years ago, an unlucky juvenile dinosaur wandered into a sticky trap and sacrificed a chunk of its tail.

That dinosaur's loss was paleontology's gain. Millions of years later, the truncated tail hangs suspended in a chunk of amber, its feathers and a hint of pigment in preserved soft tissue still visible.

Researchers described the remarkable specimen in a new study, identifying it as the first evidence in amber from a nonavian theropod  a meat-eating and feathered dinosaur that doesn't belong to the lineage that led to modern birds. The remarkable preservation provides a snapshot of dinosaur biology that can't be retrieved from the fossil record, and offers a rare glimpse of feather structures in extinct dinosaurs, which could help scientists better understand how feathers evolved across the dinosaur family tree. [Photos: Amber Trap Nabs Feathered Dinosaur Tail]

A growing body of evidence has emerged in the past two decades indicating the variety of feathers produced by nonavian dinosaurs, but the feathers present an incomplete picture, the study authors wrote. Fossilized feathers are usually compressed and distorted and difficult to reconstruct in 3D. In many cases, they appear in the geologic record without any skeletal fossils nearby, making it impossible for scientists to identify their species.

But amber preserves 3D structures beautifully. The tail fragment described in the study measures about 1.4 inches (36.7 millimeters) and is densely covered with feathers that are reddish brown along the upper surface and paler and finer underneath.

A small coelurosaur approaches a resin-coated branch on the forest floor. (Image credit: Chung-tat Cheung)

Computed tomography (CT) scans further revealed soft tissues  skin, ligaments and muscles, mostly replaced by carbon. The authors noted that the tail contains at least eight complete vertebrae, and the shape of the bones suggested that this is only a small piece of what was likely a long tail that possibly contained as many as 25 vertebrae, though its overall size suggested that the dinosaur was not fully grown.

And the structure of the tailbones  a string of vertebrae, rather than a fused rod  indicated that the tail's feathery former owner was a nonavian dinosaur, likely a coelurosaur (SEE-luh-ruh-saur), a type of theropod that shared many features with birds.

The fossil feathers have a branching structure that produced both large and small filaments, but they lack a central shaft known as a "rachis," which is an evolutionary feature of modern feathers. This hints that branching in feathers evolved first, the study authors wrote.

This stunning find underscores the unique role that amber plays in helping scientists to interpret what animals may have looked like millions of years ago, and how evolution shaped living animals and their extinct relatives.

"Amber pieces preserve tiny snapshots of ancient ecosystems, but they record microscopic details, three-dimensional arrangements, and labile tissues that are difficult to study in other settings," study co-author Ryan McKellar, a curator of invertebrate paleontology at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Canada, said in a statement.

"This is a new source of information that is worth researching with intensity and protecting as a fossil resource," McKellar said.

The findings were published online today (Dec. 8) in the journal Current Biology.

Original article on Live Science.
Fungal infections can show up in some pretty unusual ways, and a neat, "maze-like" pattern of concentric rings on the skin is one of them.

Such was the case for a young woman in Fiji, whose rash, typified by a distinctive, swirling pattern, was caused by the fungus Trichophyton concentricum, according to a recent report of her case.

The 18-year-old woman told doctors that she had had the itchy rash for three years, according to the brief report, which was published Dec. 7 in The New England Journal of Medicine. When she saw the doctors, the rash covered about 70 percent of her body.

The fungus, which causes an infection called tinea imbricata, is rare in the United States, said Dr. Carrick Burns, a dermatologist at the United States Naval Hospital Yokosuka in Japan and the lead author of the report. Burns treated the woman in Fiji. [Here's a Giant List of the Strangest Medical Cases We've Covered]

The fungus is usually found in regions such as the South Pacific and Central America, however, Burns said. He noted that he had never seen a case of tinea imbricata before working in the South Pacific in 2015.

The infection is rare, but has some common cousins, including athlete's foot and ringworm. Indeed, the medical term for a ringworm infection is "tinea," according to the National Library of Medicine, and athlete's foot, or "tinea pedis," is also known as "ringworm of the foot." Both fungal infections can be caused by fungi of the same genus as the one that causes the tinea imbricata infection,Trichophyton.

Though these infections' appearances differ, a T. concentricum infection has similarities to those that are caused by other Trichophyton species, Burns told Live Science.

As with athlete's foot or ringworm, for example, the infection is noninvasive, Burns said. In other words, the infection doesn't spread beyond a person's skin. The biggest risk to a person is that the fungus causes the outermost layer of the skin to break down, providing a route for bacteria to enter. This can lead to bacterial infections, Burns said.

The woman in Fiji told the doctors that she had taken anti-fungal medications in the past, and they temporarily cleared up the rash, according to the report. Burns noted that it can be difficult to completely get rid of the infection when patients live in remote areas, because the medications are expensive and hard to get access to. And in some cases, the rash comes back simply because the person becomes re-infected, he said.

When the doctors saw the woman, they gave her more anti-fungal medications to get rid of her "active infection," they wrote in the report. They also advised her to soak her skin in a diluted vinegar to prevent the infection from coming back, they wrote. [7 Home Remedies That Actually Work (and the Science Behind Them)]

Vinegar, or acetic acid, "is an excellent antimicrobial that can treat and prevent superficial bacterial and fungal infections," Burns said. It's particularly useful in areas of the world where other options, such as medicated creams, are not available, he said. Vinegar tends to be available in "even the most remote locations," he added.

In addition to helping prevent infections, vinegar also has a "keratolytic effect," meaning that it helps remove excess skin, Burns said. Rashes such as tinea imbricata can lead to a buildup of flaky, scaling skin, and vinegar can help remove it.

Originally published on Live Science.
Egypt's army announced on Tuesday that security forces killed eight militants and arrested 12 others in an operation in North Sinai.

In the statement reported by state news agency MENA, the army said security forces raided and destroyed a number of buildings used by militants to hide and monitor security forces in the area and a cache of explosive devices.

In mid-October, Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi extended a state of emergency in designated areas of the North Sinai governorate for three months, starting 31 October.

The Egyptian army and police have been battling an entrenched Islamist insurgency for several years in North Sinai.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


A Cairo court ordered on Wednesday evening the release of Egyptian human rights activist Azza Soliman on EGP 20,000 bail pending investigations into her alleged involvement in the illegal foreign funding of NGOs.

Soliman was arrested earlier in the day at her home in Cairo.

In mid-November, the renowned rights advocate and lawyer, who is co-founder and head of Centre for Egyptian Women Legal Assistance (CEWLA), was barred from travelling as she was leaving Egypt for a human rights event in Morocco.

Soliman was told by authorities that the travel ban was the result of a judicial order related to investigations into a number of NGOs for allegedly receiving illegal foreign funding.

Soliman is accused of receiving funding with the aim of harming national security, founding an illegal entity engaging in NGO activities, and tax evasion.

Police came to our house with an arrest warrant for my mother, said Solimans son Nadeem Abdel-Gawad, adding that his mother was taken to New Cairo court for investigations.

In March, the justice ministry re-opened the five-year-old case.

A number of prominent activists being investigated in the case have also been banned from travel, including Hossam Bahgat, a journalist and founder of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), Gamal Eid, a lawyer and founder of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), Bahy El-Din Hassan, the founder of Cairo Institute for Human Rights, and Mozn Hassan, director and founder of Nazra for Feminist Studies.

The assets of those named in the case have been frozen.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


Sameh Shoukry stressed to Antonio Guterres the importance of international organisations approaching the Middle East with objectivity and independence

Shoukry expressed Egypt's confidence that the experienced official will lead the UN with complete independence and transparency, according to a foreign ministry statement from spokesperson Ahmed Abu-Zaid.

Guterres said he appreciated Egypt's support for his bid to run for the international post and underscored the Arab country's importance internationally, and prominent role in maintaining stability and security in the region.

Shoukry discussed with Guterres various issues on the agenda of the United Nations as well as developments in Libya, Iraq, Yemen and the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, emphasising the importance of international organisations tackling issues in the Middle East with complete objectivity and independence.

Shoukry arrived in Washington DC on 1 December, where he met with the US vice president-elect Mike Pence, Secretary of State John Kerry, Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan and House Committee on Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry, as well as leaders from the Republican and Democratic parties.

The FM discussed with the US officials the latest economic, social and political developments in Egypt.



Search Keywords:

Short link:


Egyptian prosecutors ordered on Thursday the questioning of 10 policemen over the death of a man in custody after a medical examiner's report stated that he had been tortured, a judicial source said.

Magdi Makeen, a 53-year-old fish vendor, was arrested late last month after a brawl with a policeman. Makeen later died at a police station in a working-class Cairo neighbourhood.

Makeen's lawyer said that the autopsy report was delivered to prosecutors Wednesday and proves that his client was tortured.

A police officer and nine low-ranking policemen will be questioned over the death on Monday, the judicial source said.

The policemen have denied physically assaulting Makeen or two other people who were arrested with him.

Earlier this year, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi pledged to hold accountable policemen guilty of "violations" after a series of deaths in police custody, allegedly by torture, sparked public outcry.

The interior ministry has stated that such violations represent isolated incidents, while critics believe that a climate of impunity prevails among policemen in the country.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


Security forces killed on Thursday a militant during a security raid in the metropolitan Cairo area, according to a statement from the Interior Ministry.

The militant was killed after opening fire at police forces, according to the statement.

Police raided an apartment building in Abu-Zaabal in northern Cairo, where state intelligence sources indicated the militant was residing.

The statement said the man was wanted for his involvement in a range of violent incidents, including attacks on security checkpoints and police personnel.

On Wednesday, police forces killed three militants during a security raid in Upper Egypt's Assiut governorate.

The three were wanted for attacks on security forces and belonging to the "Sawaaed Masr" and "Hasm" groups, which the state designates as terrorist organisations. According to the interior ministry the three had sought haven in a village in Assiut to plan further attacks against security forces..

Attacks against Egypt's security forces have become common in recent years but are mostly concentrated in North Sinai, where army and police are battling an entrenched Islamist insurgency.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


The Islamic States Amaq News Agency announced today that the jihadists have launched an offensive against the Syrian Army and its militants near Palmyra city in the Homs province. According to another Amaq report, 50 Syrian Army soldiers were killed at checkpoints at the Shaer gas field as well as the nearby town of Huwaysis.

Casualty reports are notoriously difficult to verify. But other sources indicate that dozens of Syrian regime fighters were likely killed or captured.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that no less than 26 [Syrian] soldiers were killed by massive attacks by Islamic State forces in the Homs countryside. A Twitter feed that monitors the situation in Palmyra claimed that dozens of regime fighters and militiamen had been sent to the hospital.

A Syrian military source told Al Masdar News that the jihadists used a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) to break through the regimes defensive line in Huwaysis. Amaqs reporting seems to corroborate this account, as the outlet reported at least one martyrdom operation during the assault.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), a propaganda outlet for Bashar al Assads government, also reported on the clashes, but claimed that the offensive has been thwarted.

However, the Islamic States media machine continues to produce photos and videos from the fighting. One short video purportedly shows a makeshift checkpoint consisting of several tents that was supposedly overrun by the jihadists near Huwaysis. Two screen shots can be seen below:

Another Amaq video allegedly shows a Syrian Regime Officer and three others who were captured near Shaer.

Some reports suggest that the Islamic States fighters have an eye on capturing the ancient city of Palmyra once again.

The Syrian Army, Russia and their Iranian-backed allies recaptured Palmyra in March. In the eight months since then, Abu Bakr al Baghdadis men have repeatedly clashed with the Syrian regime in the Homs province, including near Palmyra.

The so-called caliphate has also taken aim at Russian forces stationed in Homs. In March, the group claimed to have killed five Russian soldiers. Amaq posted both photos and video to back up its report. One of the videos showed a slain Russian soldiers corpse. In July, the Islamic State downed a Russian helicopter east of Palmyra. And the jihadist organization struck another Russian helicopter with a guided missile near Huwaysis in early November. Amaq produced a striking video of the attack on the chopper. One image from the production can be seen below:

It remains to be seen if the Islamic States push leads to lasting gains, or is merely a temporary surge. According to Amaq and independent reporting from outlets such as SOHR, the two sides have repeatedly clashed in Homs province throughout the year.

In fact, the foes have fought at the Shaer gas field and in the town of Huwaysis repeatedly over the course of the multi-sided Syrian war. These locales have repeatedly changed hands. In Nov. 2014, for example, the Islamic State captured the gas field and advertised its spoils. Baghdadis loyalists lost control of Shaer, only to return to the fight. In May of this year, the group seized Shaer again and released a series of images from its facilities.

Thomas Joscelyn is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Senior Editor for FDD's Long War Journal.

Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
The Islamic State appears to have lost its final piece of turf inside the Libyan city of Sirte, according to the Department of Defense.

Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters earlier today that the final nine Islamic State fighters who were holed up inside an occupied block have surrendered. Members of the Solid Structure operations room, which is comprised of militiamen for Misrata and led the ground offensve, are now clearing the block and looking for improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

At this point, we dont know of any other areas where ISIL [Islamic State] is hiding out, Davis explained. We certainly are going to stand ready to continue to support the Government of National Accord-aligned forces as they do this backclearing, but at this point, ISILs not in control of any territory. The UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) has supported the Solid Structure effort.

Davis continued by saying that Abu Bakr al Baghdadis enterprise intended to use Sirte as hub for their North African operations.

They moved senior leaders from Syria over there early on, Davis said. He referenced the November 2015 airstrike that killed Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al Zubaydi (also known as Abu Nabil), an Iraqi national who was a longtime al Qaeda operative and the senior ISIL leader in Libya.

We have been relentless against them ever since in coordination with the GNA, particularly as it came to moving in on Sirte, Davis said. This was an attempt by ISIL to establish a foothold in Northern [Africa], and it appears theyve failed.

Solid Structure has posted images and streamed videos on its social media sites of citizens and fighters celebrating the liberation of the city.

It remains to be seen how extensive the Islamic States network is inside Libya now that Sirte has apparently fallen. It took more than six months to clear the jihadists from the coastal city. Special forces from the US and other Western nations have provided operational support to Solid Structures fighters.

On Aug. 1, the US launched Operation Odyssey Lightning, an air campaign that supported the militiamen fighting on the ground. According to United States Africa Command (AFRICOM), the US has carried out 495 airstrikes to date in and around the city. Seven enemy fighting positions were targeted just two days ago, on Dec. 5.

The battle for Sirte has been a nasty one, with the jihadists throwing everything they could at their enemies. Earlier this month, for example, several women who were being evacuated from the city blew themselves up. Reuters, which first reported on the suicide bombings, cited a Libyan spokesman as saying that four fighters were killed and 38 more wounded in the sneak attacks.

The loss of Sirte is undoubtedly a blow to the Islamic States caliphate claim. Baghdadi and his lieutenants considered the North African city to be their most important holding outside of Mosul, Iraq and Raqqa, Syria, the two de facto capitals of the jihadist state.

But the jihadis may continue to launch attacks in or near Sirte in the weeks to come. And Baghdadi still has loyalists inside Libya who will continue to wage guerrilla warfare and carry out terrorist operations.

Interview with the Islamic States governor in Libya

Earlier today, the Islamic State published the fourth edition of its online magazine Rumiyah, which is produced in a number of languages. Rumiyah includes an interview with Sheikh Abu Hudhayfah al-Muhajir, who is identified as the wali (or governor) of the groups so-called Tarabulus province.

Muhajir discusses the battle for Sirte at length, claiming that the jihadists enemies suffered enormous casualties and that his men have spread out across Libya. The Islamic State will live to fight another day, Muhajir argues.

Muhajir claims that approximately 5,000 members of the Solid Structure operations room were killed or wounded during the battle. An infographic accompanying his testimony (and seen on the right) is intended to illustrate his argument. The precise figures included on the infographic cannot be independently verified, but press reports indicate that Solid Structure has suffered thousands of casualties.

Six months have passed since the start of the battle and the murtaddin [apostates] have still not been able to end the battle in Sirte despite the Crusaders supporting them by land and by air, the interviewer says to Muhajir. (The interview was conducted some days or weeks ago.) What is the direct reason  after Allahs grace  for the delay in the murtaddins advance this entire period? And what are the most important military tactics that have brought about this large amount of losses in their ranks?

After praising his mens steadfastness, Muhajir summarizes the various methods that were employed to delay the ground assault.

Muhajir says the Islamic States booby-traps, explosive devices, tunnels, and encircling maneuvershave frustrated the enemies of Allah. He continues by citing the desert detachments positioned in between Sirte and Misrata, saying these units conducted assaults and excursions that penetrated their enemies positions. The jihadists were able to interrupt Solid Structures supply routes with improvised explosive devices (IEDs), ambushes and makeshift checkpoints. These tactics were used to bleed the Islamic States enemies as they headed to wage war against Sharia law in Sirte.

The so-called caliphates governor is defiant, saying his men will not be defeated and the trials they are enduring in Libya are intended to separate the good from the evil and the truthful from the claimants. The Islamic State is making the same argument across the board as it loses ground in Iraq and Syria. Whereas the group once argued that it was remaining and expanding, it now says its followers are suffering for a divine cause.

The detachments of the mujahidin are spread today throughout the deserts of Libya, Muhajir says, and they will make their enemies taste severe hardship. He vows that they will reclaim the cities and areas once more, by Allahs power and strength.

Muhajir is asked about the Islamic States strength in regions outside of Sirte. He claims that the number of mujahid brothers in the Libyan wilayat [province] continue to beabundant. Their covert units are scattered throughout all the cities and regions, and their detachments cruise the deserts both east and west. He hints at the Islamic States presence elsewhere in Libya by mentioning Benghazi in passing. Unlike in other areas of Libya, it appears that Abu Bakr al Baghdadis loyalists have been cooperating with al Qaeda-allied fighters inside Benghazi.

The loss of Sirte is merely a temporary trial, Muhajir asserts, and these days will be followed by conquest and consolidation.

The Islamic State has marketed Libya as a jihadi destination. In addition to Iraq and Syria, new recruits have been encouraged to migrate to North Africa. Muhajirs interviewer wants to know if the path for making hijrah [migration] is still open.

Muhajir responds that it is, saying that new jihadists, both Arab and non-Arab, continue to arrive from all places to fulfill the obligation of jihad, and to take revenge for the pure blood that has been spilled by the enemies of the religion.

They cross the deserts to fight those who disbelieve in the Lord of the heavens and the earth, Muhajir says.

For more on the offensive against the Islamic State in Sirte, Libya, see FDDs Long War Journal reports:

Islamic State fighters remain in a few blocks of Sirte, Libya

Libyan forces seize key points from the Islamic State around Sirte

Opposition to Islamic State claims more ground in Sirte, Libya

Islamic State claims to still control 4 neighborhoods in Sirte, Libya

The battle for Sirte, Libya continues

Islamic States safe haven in Sirte, Libya shrinks to a single neighborhood

US has launched more than 300 airstrikes against the Islamic State in Sirte, Libya

Thomas Joscelyn is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Senior Editor for FDD's Long War Journal.

Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
The US military launched an airstrike against a hospital in eastern Mosul that was used as a command center by the Islamic State as Iraqi troops failed to seize the complex over the past several days. The strike highlights the difficulties ahead in retaking the city, as the Islamic State remains entrenched.

US Central Command, or CENTCOM, announced the strike, which took place on Dec. 7, and explained the circumstances behind the operation. The US military is sensitive to hitting protected targets such as hospitals; an accidental strike on a Medecins Sans Frontieres-run hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan in October 2015 killed 42 people and sparked international condemnation.

The Coalition complies with the Law of Armed Conflict and takes all feasible precautions during the planning and execution of airstrikes to reduce the risk of harm to non-combatants, CENTCOM stated.

According to CENTCOM, Islamic State fighters were using the Al Salem hospital complex as a base of operations and command and control headquarters. Iraqi troops, likely US-trained special forces that have spearheaded the assault to retake Mosul, attempted to seize the hospital on Dec. 6, but Islamic State fighters counterattacked.

Iraqi troops were hit with six suicide car bombs before retrograding a short distance, or retreating, according to CENTCOM. The US military then conducted a precision strike on the location to target enemy fighters firing on Iraqi forces on Dec. 7.

The Islamic State has put up significant resistance to defend Mosul, Iraqs second largest city. The jihadist group has deployed scores of suicide car bombs during the fighting. Mosul, which fell in June 2014, is the last major city held by the Islamic State. Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the groups emir, announced the formation of the Islamic State and the establishment of the caliphate in a mosque in Mosul in June 2014.

The Iraqi militarys assault on the Al Salem hospital is reminiscent of a failed operation by Iraqi special forces to retake the city of Tikrit in late June 2014. Iraqi commandos air assaulted behind Islamic State lines and captured buildings at Tikrit University, only to withdrawal two days later after coming under fierce attacks. At least one Iraqi helicopter was shot down during the operation. The Islamic State held Tikrit until April 2015.

While the Iraqi military suffered a setback at the Al Salem hospital, the US military said that the Islamic State has been surrounded in both Mosul and Tal Afar.

Mosul is effectively isolated now, Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters during a briefing on Dec. 7. They [the Islamic State] still have freedom of movement between Mosul and Tal Afar, but they dont have freedom of movement beyond Tal Afar and into Syria.

Iranian-supported Shiite militias, including Hezbollah Brigades, a US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, have cut off Tal Afar from Syria and are also operating southwest of Mosul.

This is hard fighting, but the fact remains that ISIL is surrounded, David continued Theyre facing resistance from within the city, theyre being bombarded daily by coalition air and artillery strikes, they have no ability to resupply or reinforce, and it is a military fact that they are in a position where defeat is inevitable.

But the fight to retake Mosul will be very slow and methodical, David concluded.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
Lifestyle / Travel

Dec 08, 2016 | By Madelaine Angelina

Saint Petersburg has emerged as the worlds best cultural destination in 2016s World Travel Awards. The Russian city beat London, New York, Paris, Rome, Venice and Sydney in the Oscars equivalent of the tourism industry. So, what does the Venice of the North have in store for tourists? Heres a glimpse of the citys rich cultural scene:

History & Art at The Hermitage

The Hermitage (above) was initially used as the residence Russias Tsars, and now serves as the venue of culture and art much like the Louvre in Paris. As one of the biggest art and culture museums in the world, it houses as many as three million works, ranging from ancient antiques to artistic masterpieces. If you take one minute to observe each piece, and you do it for a good eight hours per day, it would still take 15 years to view every showcased artifact in the Hermitage. Expect to see paintings by influential artists Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Van Dyke and Picasso. Step into the lives of the Russian Tsars in the Winter Palace, one of the many buildings in the museums complex. There are also the Old Hermitage, the Small Hermitage and the New Hermitage to explore, as part of the museum complex that overlooks the Neva River.

Literary Traces

Russian literature is in a league of its own. Tourists can visit places where literary history was made, or even places depicted in the works of iconic Russian authors. The Dostoyevsky Museum for example, is where the Crime and Punishment writer had resided, while the Raskolnikov House is depicted as its protagonists home. There is also the Nabokov Museum, the former home of Lolitas author, that had been described in his autobiography Speak, Memory. Some other destinations include the site where the founder of modern Russian literature, Alexander Pushkin, met his tragic end in a duel against Baron Georges dAnthes.

Beautiful Buildings

Delve into the marvels of Russian architecture along the canals of St Petersburg. The citys center offers a blend of Baroque and Neoclassical architecture in a beautiful layout that remains loyal to its original history, founded by Tsar Peter the Great himself.

There are several gorgeous churches in the city, such as the Smolny Cathedral (above) and the Chesme Church. However, the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood is what identifies St Petersburg the most. The city is also worldly-renowned for its ballet performances, held at the Mariinsky Theater (below).
Osama Morsi, the son of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, was arrested Thursday at his home in Sharqiya over charges related to what has been dubbed in the media as the Rabaa dispersal trial, according to Morsi's defense team.

The younger Morsi has been named as one of 739 defendants in the case, which dates back to August 2013 and includes the Brotherhood's Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and leading Brotherhood figure Mohamed El-Beltagy, as well as other senior Brotherhood members.

The prosecution charged the defendants with "unauthorised assembly, the use of force, premeditated murder, and the possession of weapons and explosives" during the violent dispersal of a major 2013 Cairo sit-in protesting Morsi's ouster.

Morsi's other son, Abdullah, served a one-year pirson sentence in 2015 for possession of hashish.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


Its the staple of all hacker and government-conspiracy fiction, not to mention quite a number of horror films: Youre being watched through your hacked computer or phone or through a hijacked surveillance camera feed. And, unfortunately, this is well-reasoned paranoia in the real world, because to an operating system, a camera is just another file that can be read and relayed.

Earlier this year, in response to the news and to reader queries, I went into detail with a few ways you could disable microphone input in software and hardware on a Mac. Video is surprisingly (or not so surprisingly) easier to block: You can simply put a piece of tape over a lens.

Security guru Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist at the ACLU, told an interviewer in August, the best bang-for-buck when it comes to privacyis putting a sticker or a Band-Aid over your webcam on your laptop. Thats what Mark Zuckerberg did, and he also covered his micwhich, as I noted in the previous article, doesnt help nearly as much as audio will still bleed through.

Audio and video tapping dont lend themselves per se to mass surveillance, despite the NSA reportedly recording enormous amounts of phone calls and video sessions and using software to find words and people of interest. Even its alleged efforts represent a fraction of all conversations, much less when youre not actively engaged in an online A/V conversation with someone.

Soghoian explained in the above interview the likelihood of you being spied upon individually, which is worth a glance. Most people are unlikely targets, but any activist, any member of a group that finds itself in the minority, and anyone who someone else might feasibly have a grudge against could find themselves in the crosshairs of audio- and video-tapping malware or products.

Students and workers with equipment provided to them could also be monitored without their knowledge. The best-known incident, but absolutely not the only case, is when a school near Philadelphia revealed to a student they were watching him at home on a school-owned computer. The school district later settled for over $600,000.

So what you can do besides tape? Some new and existing software for macOS can help.

Scotch that recording

Theres a bit of chicken-and-egg problem with software tools that monitor, report on, and block access to microphones and cameras: theyre susceptible to malware, too. Software designed to hijack your A/V would likely be savvy enough to check whether kernel extensions or other software is also monitoring devices, and would try to disable or mislead them.

But the more widely spread malware isthat is, the less targeted for a very high-value individual or groupthe less sophisticated it is, and the more likely it will give itself away.

Micro Snitch alerts you when mics and cameras activate.

I wrote about Micro Snitch ($4) in my column on microphones, and it alerts you when built-in and some third-party video cameras activate as well.

The OverSight menu lets you know what its monitoring and whats in use.

Security researcher Patrick Wardle has a passel of free apps designed to help you protect your privacy and system integrity, and his OverSight will monitor not just for usage, but piggybacking. This is a technique seen in malware that can tap into a stream being used for FaceTime, Skype, or local recording, so the camera, mic, or both are already active when the surveillance starts. OverSight will pop up an Allow/Block warning with details about what triggered it.

And a free version CameraGuard alerts you to use of your camera. A paid version ($30) adds microphone blocking, and its maker says it uses heuristics to identify likely unwanted audio and video uses.

Its hard to recommend one above another, except for cost, because until malware strikes (or you intentionally install a known example to test on an unpatched system), its impossible to predict whether one will perform better than another.

OverSight can also warn you if an app tries to tap into an active audio or video stream.

But whichever you pick, pairing it with new software like Little Flocker and Wardles BlockBlock, which I wrote about recently, could help prevent software from running that tries to disable monitoring software or hijack active streams.

But what about an iPhone or iPad?

Its much more complicated in iOS, because you dont have access to the operating systems innards and iPhones are more fragile. While iOS has a strong security track record in terms of exploits that have made it into the wild, plenty of severe flaws have been found and patched, and may have been used to target individuals. Recently, I wrote about the three-exploit package deployed against a human-rights activists iPhone in the United Arab Emirates, whichhad it been successfulwould have allowed remote audio and video interception on demand by the attackers.

You can simply put a black opaque sticker over the front-facing camera, or get a case that obscures both the front and back cameras.

Its hard to argue that Apple could do more with iOS, because the locked-down nature of the system prevents the casual installation of third-party software that might commit unwanted acts and more serious attempts to quietly subvert your privacy. Any software that manage to hijack your mic or camera on an iOS device is the kind of thing that wont go undiscovered in the wild for long, given how many researchers are watching for just this kind of attack.
Related Kremlin says possible deal to let rebels leave Aleppo still on agenda

Russia and the United States are close to reaching an understanding on Syria's Aleppo, the Interfax news agency quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Thursday.

"In the past several days an intensive document exchange on the situation in Aleppo has taken place," Ryabkov was quoted as saying.

"We are close to reaching an understanding, but I want to warn against high expectations," Ryabkov added.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that a potential U.S.-Russia deal to allow Syrian rebels to safely leave Aleppo was still on the agenda.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was due to meet U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Hamburg later on Thursday after the two men held talks on Wednesday.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


Maria Petnga-Wallace Maria Petnga-Wallace

Members of the IP community gathered at Carpmaels & Ransfords London office to celebrate a year since the launch of IP Inclusives Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Charter.

This presented an opportunity for industry members to meet and discuss ways to encourage equality, diversity and inclusion in the profession. To date, the Charter has been signed by more than 80 signatories comprising of representatives from IP law, journalism and membership bodies such at CITMA and CIPA.

In early November, IP Inclusive launched a support network for women, Women in IP, and another group for members of the LGBTQ+ community, IP Out.

Lesley Evans, IP Inclusive committee member and chief executive at Haseltine Lake IP led the IP Inclusive party by welcoming guests and presenting an update on various projects. While the event celebrated the progress of IP Inclusive over the past year, it also shone a light on issues such as the under-representation of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) professionals in the IP professions.

A year in review

Speaking on the most recent project, Careers in Ideas, Evans said: Its fantastic because theres been this gap in information about careers in IP. People particularly from professions such a patent attorney, trade mark attorney, patent searcher, an examiner at the patent office - nobody knows about these  they are like secret careers.

While there are existing schemes targeted at raising awareness of the profession in universities, Evans noted that Careers in Ideas takes this much lower to the schools level, colleges, people doing A-levels and giving them some different ideas.

Evans seized the opportunity to thank volunteers from across the IP professions, to whom she said the success of the initiative was owed. She also thanked delegates for their enthusiasm, praised the IP community for positive engagement and highlighted a demand to extend IP Inclusive events from London to other regions in the UK.

Notably, delegates learned that IP Inclusive EDI Charter has been revised to free in-house IP professionals to sign up as a department without the complication of binding their entire organisation, promising even greater engagement in the year ahead.

Starting conversations

Maria Petnga-Wallace, diversity adviser at Business in the Community (BITC) gave the keynote speech, presenting highlights from BITCs 2015 Race at Work report which found that we are not comfortable talking about race at work.

Researchers found that 34% of ethnic minority workers and 42% of White employees felt that their colleagues were uncomfortable talking about race. Petnga-Wallace encouraged colleagues to overcome the fear of discussing race, suggesting that in order to encourage diversity and inclusion in the workplace, it is better to have these seemingly difficult conversation than to remain silent for fear of causing offence.

Petnga-Wallace also announced findings that suggested that one in five students of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects in university are from the BAME group.

She said that this presented an opportunity to reach out to BAME students and promote the IP professions. While a study by the UKRC showed that similar proportions of white and BAME women obtained undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications in STEM, it was revealed that BAME women are more likely to then go on to work in STEM occupations.

However the reverse trend was seen for men with BAME men 28% less likely to work in STEM than white men. Petnga-Wallace said that the statistics suggested missed opportunities to redirect BAME men in STEM to the IP profession.

The keynote speech followed on to a panel discussion chaired by IP Inclusive leader Andrea Brewster which explored the unbearable whiteness of IP and benefits of ethnic diversity in the IP professions.

We all have something to contribute

Andrea Brewster Andrea Brewster

Delegates were challenged to scrutinise their recruitment and mentoring programmes. Justine Thompson provided a practical illustration of how Baker & McKenzie did this by introducing name-blind CV reviews. She said: You need to be able to take a long hard look at your hiring process. We have made changes that we are proud of.

Thompson added that this process will likely be uncomfortable yet crucial, if you desire to build a company culture that reflects todays diverse society and a more inclusive working environment.

Baker & McKenzies Alex Morgan later said that these changes to the firms hiring process likely contributed to his hire as associate four years ago. Despite the fact that there isnt a preponderance of BAME partners to look up to, Morgan said that he felt confident about his prospects at the firm.

Deepti Nigam of GE Healthcare described her experience in the IP profession as overwhelmingly positive, saying that she had not suffered any discrimination at work or ever felt left out. Mike Ribeiro of Norton Rose Fulbright highlighted the importance of having champions of IP at the top of each organisation saying: Innovation comes out of diversity, so if you havent got a CEO or a chairman in your organisation who is willing to shout diversityyou will struggle - and in the area of IP, thats kind of fatal.

Ribeiro identified the need to raise awareness in the workplace that people who are not white are not from a different planet, but we all have the ability to contribute to the business. Overall, all delegates agreed that it is in the best interest of all to promote diversity.

Find out more information about IP Inclusive here. You can also follow the Twitter account at @IPInclusive. To join Managing IP and others and become a signatory of IP Inclusives Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Charter, click here. If you would like to volunteer with Careers in Ideas and help to raise awareness of the IP profession, follow this link to find out more.

Photographs by Hannah Fish, marketing manager, Carpmaels & Ransford
Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday dismissed the new dress code at Padmanabhaswamy temple that allowed women to wear churidar while entering the shrine. The Court also clarified that the executive officer was not authorised to change any rites in the temple and the right solely belongs to the 'Thantri'.

Last month, executive officer KN Satheesh had issued an order allowing women to wear Churidar while entering the temple.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Thursday it was in the interest of the United States to remain committed to a multilateral nuclear treaty.

The U.S. Senate voted last week to extend the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) for 10 years, and Iran vowed to retaliate, saying it violated last year's agreement with six major powers to curb its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of international financial sanctions.

A diplomatic thaw between the United States and Iran over the past two years appears in jeopardy with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump taking office next month. Trump said during his campaign that he would scrap the nuclear agreement.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


Two Hamas members were killed and three are missing after a tunnel in the Gaza Strip collapsed, the Islamist group's military wing said Thursday.

"The Al-Qassam Brigades hail the fighters Ismail Abdul Kareem and Rami Muneer from Shejaiya, who died following the collapse of a resistance tunnel," it said.

A source close to Qassam said five militants were in the tunnel when it collapsed and efforts were continuing to find and rescue the other three.

Over the years, the Hamas rulers of Gaza have built a labyrinth of tunnels, including those crossing under the border with Israel, for use in any renewed conflict.

Israel and Palestinians in Gaza have fought three wars since 2008 and the territory has been under an Israeli blockade for a decade.

Attack tunnels were a key weapon for Hamas during the last conflict in 2014, with a number of surprise attacks inside Israeli territory.

The group also built a vast network of tunnels under the border with Egypt to smuggle weapons and goods of all kinds but those have been severely disrupted by Cairo's establishment of a no-man's land along the frontier.

In recent months, at least 23 Gazans have died in tunnel incidents, most of them Hamas militants.

*The story was edited by Ahram Online.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


MARTINSVILLEA member of the General Assembly could soon serve as chairman of the New College Institutes Board of Directors. The group will meet on Friday to consider the proposal, which would require changes to NCIs bylaws.

It is not customary for lawmakers to chair boards that oversee higher education institutions, said state Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Mount Solon. Hanger is a current member of the NCI board.

While it may not be normal, Hanger and other board members feel that having a lawmaker chair NCIs board would help the institute stay abreast of legislative issues that may affect it, as well as keep General Assembly members informed of its progress, as it evolves.

Hanger said that he, state Sen. Bill Stanley and Del. Charles Poindexter, both Franklin County Republicans, and Del. Danny Marshall, R-Danville, have discussed the idea since NCIs last board meeting in late October.

Concern about the chairmans seat arose then as board member Gracie Agnews term as chairman was expiring, Hanger said.

Plans were to appoint a new chairman at the last meeting but except for lawmakers, we didnt feel like we had members with (enough) experience in being involved with NCI to serve in that role, he said.

Agnew, the retired principal of Magna Vista High School, was appointed chairman shortly after she began serving on the board, Hanger recalled.

She agreed to continue serving as chairman until a new one is appointed, he said.

Who will become the next chairman remains to be decided.

Hanger said he thinks Stanley would accept the post. Stanley could not be reached for comment Wednesday night. A recording on his cell phone stated  as it often does  that his voice mail was full and could not accept further messages.

Asked if he is interested, Hanger said probably not.

My plate is probably full already with other commitments, he said.

And, I would defer to someone (living) in the region to fill that seat, Hanger said. Someone from the region is more familiar with the regions needs and how they could affect NCI, he added.

Questions also remain as to what NCIs future looks like. Established in 2006, NCI provides local access to various bachelors and masters degree programs offered by partner colleges and universities statewide plus training and professional development programs, all of which are intended to be responsive to needs of businesses and industries in the region.

In that October meeting, board members heard multiple proposals. The first involves becoming a satellite campus of Longwood University. The second would be to keep NCI as a multi-university center. The third involves sharing governance with similar schools in Southern Virginia, including the Southern Virginia Higher Education Center in South Boston and the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in Danville. The fourth option would be to become affiliated with the Virginia Community College System.

Hanger said the board has to sort out with The Harvest Foundation and the New College Foundation (NCIs private fundraising arm) the direction in which we need to go, before anything else happens.

But as soon as that direction is decided upon, we need to get on with it, he said.

NCI was established with the mission of increasing the number of people in Southern Virginia  the only region of the state without a four-year university  with college degrees. Statistics at the time showed that only about 11 percent of the regions adults had degrees. That was the lowest percentage of any region statewide. There are two private institutions in the area, Averett University in Danville and Ferrum College in Franklin County, but educators and local lawmakers have raised concerns about only having private schools in the area, as they can be costlier than public colleges.

Hanger said there is no real consensus among lawmakers as to how NCI should evolve.

But support for the mission still remains, he said. Its just making sure theres a clear mission.

Mickey Powell reports for the Martinsville Bulletin. He can be reached at mickey.powell@martinsvillebulletin.com.
FIELDALE-Though the Young family lost nearly all their belongings in a house fire, everyone who lived there, all the way down to Fluffy the dog and the hermit crab, are safe.

For that, they are counting their blessings even as they are trying to figure out how to rebuild their lives.

A musical family

The Young family who lived in the home on John Baker Road in Fieldale are Louandrea Young, a teacher at Campbell Court Elementary School; her 11-year-old daughter, Cicely; her 15-year-old son, Isaiah; her 29-year-old son, Joshua Tyree; Louandreas mother, Hilda Penn France, who is bedridden; and every other week, Joshuas 5-year-old son, Brenden, who lives the other weeks with his mother.

Louandrea has two other adult children, Jamar Tyree and Lydia Tyree, who live elsewhere.

Many people have seen members of the Young family perform in theater and sing in churches. Louandrea and Isaiah have been in many productions of the Patriot Players and TheatreWorks Community Players. The family sing together in churches across the region as The Family Five, a group which was started by Louandreas father and uncles years ago.

Lou is a prime example of love, said Lori Lowe-Bonds, who is coordinating a fundraising concert for the family Sunday (4 p.m. at Greater Love Ministries). She shows it in every aspect of her life, from teaching to singing to performing in stage plays and so on.

Lowe-Bonds said that when her daughter passed away in October, Louandrea made it her business to come to the hospital to see about us. She said as she talked with other people about throwing a benefit, the others had similar good things to say about the Young family and wanted to help.

Four generations raised in the house

The spacious house in which they were living was built by Louandreas grandparents, Douglas and Martha Penn. Five generations of the family have lived there.

On the night of the fire  one week ago tonight  Louandrea was taking a night class at Patrick Henry Community College and Isaiah was at rehearsals for TheatreWorks Christmas production. Louandreas mother had been hospitalized the week before and was recuperating at Blue Ridge Rehab, and Brenden was at his mothers house.

In the house, Joshua and Cicely were in their rooms. Cicelys father, William Young, was visiting and was in the basement.

Joshua saw smoke coming from Isaiahs room, Louandrea said he told her. He opened the door and saw fire close to the window. He intended to smother it with a wet towel, but before he could, everything was blazing.

The family and their dog, Fluffy, made it out safely.

Fieldale and Bassett Volunteer Fire Departments arrived on the scene, said Henry County Assistant Fire Marshal Lisa Garrett. They called in the Patrick Henry VFD. Other responders were the Henry County Operations Division, the Bassett Rescue Squad, Henry County Public Safety and the Henry County Sheriffs Office, she said.

Outside, as their home was being destroyed, Cicely was crying to her father about what she had lost, particularly two stuffed animals and a Christmas decoration given to her by her other grandmother (his mother), who had died on Nov. 1.

Family members overheard her, Louandrea said, and were able to get those items out of the house after the firefighters put out the blaze. Cicelys father washed the stuffed animals over and over again before the smell was mostly out.

That was all that could be saved.

Garrett said the cause is undetermined, but the fire was considered accidental.

Finding a place to stay

The Red Cross helped the family get rooms at Comfort Inn to stay temporarily, and Louandreas mother is still at Blue Ridge.

That first night in the hotel, Louandreas granddaughter mentioned Brendens hermit crab and started crying over his supposed death.

We were like, Oh my goodness, the hermit crab! Louandrea recalled.

They then all were relieved to remember that Brenden had brought the crab to his mothers house just the week before  and cheered for that small miracle.

Her son Jamar, who lives in Burlington, North Carolina, came, and they looked at the house together. He walked upstairs, but she didnt go up there, she said.

I dont know how the house is still standing, Louandrea said. Most of the upstairs rooms are totally gutted, and the floor is starting to cave in.

They say the fire may have been electrical in origin, but results of an investigation are not in yet, she said. The house only had baseboard heat, so they used space heaters to supplement. However, the fire occurred during the recent warm days. Isaiah said he was sure his heater had been off, and Joshua also told him mother that he remembered going into the room earlier, and feeling the air cool  the heater was not on.

Louandrea said she doesnt have any idea where the family will end up permanently. She would like to have her own house, which always has been a dream of hers.

In the meantime, repairs are being done to her mothers house in Bassett for the family to stay in. Its tiny  only two bedrooms, with no closets  but it will have to do.

McKinney Cooling donated the labor to get the furnace of that house in working condition, she said, and they just had oil delivered. One room was full of mold. Louandrea bought new materials, and her second cousin is donating his time to gut and rebuild the room. Some roof repairs also will need to be made, Jamar said.

Overwhelming support

Its been a traumatic experience, Louandrea said. I know there are so many people going through so much worse. To lose a loved one  I couldnt bear it.

The material goods they lost had a lot of memories and things that we attach ourselves to, she said. Were not going to be able to get those things, but thats OK. Im fine with that.

Isaiah, who loves the theater, had a great many souvenirs of shows he has been in as well as shows he had seen on Broadway, including an autographed playbill for Wicked. He was sorry to lose those, she said.

Two fundraising sites were created for the family, one on YouCaring and the other on GoFundMe. As of Wednesday afternoon, $1,981 had been raised. Also, some churches have donated hundreds of dollars each, Louandrea said.

I appreciate all the generous support from the community, she said  the Patriot Players, my school, all the surrounding churches and NSBE.

Her brother always used to tell her she did too much in theater and for churches and needed to slow down. However, I see it coming back, she said. The people have been so full of overwhelming support.

They have received a lot of clothes, many new, she and Jamar said. However, since they dont have any place to store the clothes, they cant accept any more clothes at this time.

Show Love Benefit Concert, coordinated by Lori Lowe-Bonds, will be held from 4-7 p.m. Sunday at Greater Love Ministries at 906 E. Church St. Various churches and groups have been invited and are planning to attend. All donations given during the concert will go to the Young family.

Most of all, I just appreciate the kindness, Louandrea said. When we checked into that hotel the night of the fire I really felt alone. By the next morning, people heard the news and they responded quickly. If you love people and treat people right, itll come back to you.

Holly Kozelsky reports for the Martinsville Bulletin. She can be reached at holly.kozelsky@martinsvillebulletin.com
MARTINSVILLE  Dec. 7, 1941. It was a day that forever changed the United States, Air Force Lt. Gen. J. Kevin McLaughlin maintains.

During a surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 were injured, prompting the U.S. to enter World War II, the largest armed conflict to date.

But those casualties were not in vain  the militarys efforts throughout the war to protect the nation resulted in the preservation of democracy, enabling Americans to continue enjoying freedoms they have today, according to McLaughlin and other speakers during a service at Roselawn Burial Park on Wednesday commemorating the 75th anniversary of the battle.

The attack was an assault like no other, said the Rev. Jeff Evans, pastor of Highlands Baptist Church. It was a quagmire of death and destruction. We cant even imagine what the soldiers and sailors went through.

Within 90 minutes, 18 ships  including five battleships  were sunk or run aground, historical records show.

A great deal of the Pacific fleet was damaged, said McLaughlin, deputy commander of the U.S. Cyber Command at Fort Meade, Md.

However, all but three of the ships were repaired and eventually returned to service, he said.

A moment of silence was held during the commemoration at 12:55 p.m. (7:55 a.m. Hawaii time), when the initial wave of attacks on Pearl Harbor occurred.

Less than 620,000 World War II veterans nationwide remain alive today. Of those, less than 2,000 are Pearl Harbor survivors, McLaughlin mentioned.

More than 16 million people served in the U.S. armed forces during World War II. Approximately 416,000 lost their lives in combat, McLaughlin said.

We will never forget what they did to protect Americans, Evans said. If only we could be just as great as these men in our lives.

We will not forget  your sacrifice and your service, McLaughlin told 11 local World War II veterans who attended the service.

Those veterans include Edward Linker, Chester Moore, William Plonk, A.F. Hair, Jack Myers, Arnold Prillaman, John Redd, James Rogers, Andrew Wright, Howard White and William Gravely.

No country is perfect. Certainly our nation isnt, McLaughin commented without elaborating as to why.

Still, it is the greatest nation in the world and it is worth defending, he said.

It is worthy of your sacrifice as well, if necessary, he told several hundred people who attended the service.

Martinsville played a major role in World War II as the former DuPont plant manufactured parachutes, truck tires and other items used by the military, McLaughlin recalled.

After the war, armed forces members returned to their communities, got jobs and helped to strengthen the U.S. economy via their work, he mentioned.

During the service, McLaughlin, Henry County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jim Adams and retired Army Lt. Col. W.C. Fowlkes participated in the laying of a ceremonial wreath at Roselawns mausoleum in honor of Herbert Gibbs, a 27-year Navy World War II/Pearl Harbor and Korean War veteran from Martinsville who died last year.

Martinsville Mayor Danny Turner said Dec. 7 was Gibbs birthday.

Also participating in the wreath-laying was Gibbss sister, Marva Cates. After the ceremony, she said that she thought the recognition of her brother was wonderful.

Im glad hes not been forgotten, Cates said. He went through a lot in combat.

Prayers, as well as performances by the 29th Infantry Division Army Band and the Martinsville High School Band, were among activities during the commemoration, organized by the Martinsville-Henry County Veterans Service Organization and the two localities.

Turner noted that the Martinsville Exchange Club contributed 120 U.S. flags posted in the cemetery as decoration for the event.
The liberation of Aleppo will change the course of the war in Syria but wont mark its end, Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview with Al Watan newspaper.

"The liberation of Aleppo will become an important stage on the way towards freeing Syria from terrorists but the war against them will continue until they are fully destroyed," the Syrian president said.

"Terrorists are staying in other districts of Syria and well be fighting them," Assad said.

The Syrian president attributed the government forces successes to the increased combat potential of the Syrian army. He said that the decision to liberate the territory of Syria, including Aleppo, from militants "was made from the very beginning of the conflict."

The government forces victory in Aleppo "will inflict a heavy blow on the plot of regional forces and the West against Syria," Assad said.

According to the Syrian president, after militants suffered a defeat near Damascus and in Homs, "Turkey and other enemies of the Syrian government made their main stake on Aleppo and used the citys proximity to the border to provide military logistics support to militants."

"That is why, the ouster of terrorists from the city will deprive them of their last card," the head of the Syrian state said.

The Syrian authorities always agreed to a truce, expecting to stop the bloodshed but militants in Aleppo used this pause to regroup their forces, Assad said.

"Politically, the ceasefire was advantageous for us as we showed the true intentions of the states supporting armed groupings - that they were acting not in the interests of the population but only want to strengthen terrorists," the Syrian leader said, adding that the US calls for a truce in Aleppo were evidence that "their creatures found themselves in a difficult situation there."

Search Keywords:

Short link:


TODAYS WORD is excelsis (ex-cell-seas). Example: During Christmastime, we often hear the song Gloria in excelsis Deo.

TUESDAYS WORD was eviternity (Eve-turn-it-e). It means eternal life. Example: The missionary told about the birth of Jesus to the gathered crowd, using that as an example of eviternity.

School Board

The Henry County School Board will hold its monthly meeting tonight, beginning at 6 p.m. Itll be held in the Summerlin Meeting Room, on the first floor of the County Administration Building. Thats at 3300 Kings Mountain Road in Collinsville. Members of Magna Vistas national champion horticulture team will be honored by the board and discussions will continue over Meadow View Elementary.

Holiday Pops

Also tonight, Reynolds Homestead will present its annual Holiday and Classical Pops concert. The Rainer Trio, featuring soprano Leslie Mabe, will perform at 7 p.m., with a mix of classical and popular Christmas favorites, including Laras Theme, Nutcracker Suite and Ave Maria, among others. In addition, the historic home will be decorated like it would have been in Victorian time and will be open for visits at 5:30 p.m. The cost is $12 for adults and $8 for students.

Musician hunt

The MHC Heritage Center is looking for a few good musicians this holiday season. Specifically, the group is looking for anyone who would be interested in performing as part of the Heritage Centers Community Christmas Music program Dec. 11. A piano is available if you need one to perform. The event starts at 3 p.m. and even if youre not wanting to perform, youre still welcome to come and watch. Any interested musicians are asked to give Virginia King at call at (276)-732-1687 or email her at varking.vk@gmail.com.

Gallery talk

For anybody not interested in school board meetings or music, Patrick Henry Community College will have Blacksburg artist Kelly Schrader talking about her work tonight. Schrader will talk about work from her show See/Self at 12:30 p.m. over at the Walker Student Center Art Gallery. Her works been on display at the center since Oct. 24.

Rangeley Ruritan

The Rangeley Ruritan Club will be busy over the next week. The groups board of directors and club members will gather for their monthly meeting Dec. 12. Thatll be at 7 p.m. at the club building. Then on Dec. 15, the group will meet at Pacific Bay Restaurant at 6 p.m. for their Christmas party and installation of officers for 2017.

Cookie exchange

The Martinsville Library, over at 310 E. Church Street, will have a Holiday Cookie Exchange Dec. 14, starting at 2 p.m. Anyone coming is asked to bring some of their own cookies to share, along with a recipe. The library will photocopy all of the recipes so anyone can pick up and try a new one. Drinks will be provided. Then, a few days later on Dec. 17, the library will have a Holiday Movie at the Library day. That will start at 11 a.m., with a family friendly Christmas movie, plus free popcorn and drinks.

TRIVIA QUESTION: Around Christmastime, we talk about Yuletide carols. What is Yuletide and what country did it start in? The answer will be in tomorrows Stroller.

TRIVIA ANSWER: No Christmas tree is complete without ornaments hanging on it. But what country started that tradition and why? For the answer to that, we turn to Germany. Amie Knowles wrote a story earlier this week that highlighted the history of Christmas trees and how they came from Germany. Those first trees were decorated with apples, white candy canes and even some pastries cooked up by locals in the villages in the shapes of stars and hearts. That all changed in the 1500s, when Hans Greiner started designing little garlands of glass beads and tin figures that could be hung on the trees. Soon that idea became popular all over the nation. The tradition crossed to other parts of Europe, with Queen Victoria writing in 1832 about her happiness at having a tree with ornaments from Germany on it. Her husband, Prince Albert, was from Germany and had brought the custom with him to their home. In the 1880s, F.W.Woolworth learned about the ornaments and started importing them to the United States. At the same time, William DeMuth was working in New York on American-made glass ornaments. He debuted the first from his collection in 1870. Other stores started picking up the idea and by 1910, the concept of glass ornaments had gone national across America.
They just shrugged and ignored the report. Well, actually ignored isnt a great word to use. Buried would be a better one. In 2015, the Pentagon was told about ways to cut $125 billion in Defense Department waste and decided against it. If theres a better argument to support the need for change in Washington, I dont know what it is.

We learned about this on Monday, as the long-buried report was uncovered at the Pentagon and the Washington Post reported on it. You see, back in 2014, Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work had asked his staff to hire a firm and take a hard look at how the department operates. Very little had been changed over the years, he argued, and now was a good time to see what could be done. Did they really need to keep doing things the same as it always had been? Or was there a better way for things to be handled?

The news wasnt pretty. The study found that the Pentagon has 1.014 million people working in administrative jobs. On the other hand, there are just 1.3 million soldiers currently on active duty. Do we really need almost one bureaucrat for every active soldier? Not exactly. These were human resources people, accountants, property management and logistics operators.

The study found that a significant number of the positions could be phased out as they were redundant. You dont need the same information passed through multiple groups, all doing the same thing. Documents and messages were going through multiple levels of bureaucracy, a clear example of red tape.

And so, the study made a recommendation and put a dollar figure on it. If the Pentagon eliminated some of the redundant positions, scaled back the use of contractors and actually used 21st century technology, it would save $125 billion over the next five years. Billion with a b. To put that in perspective, the Pentagons entire operating budget in 2015 was $598 billion. They could save almost one forth of a years total operating expenses, just by eliminating waste.

And yet, nothing happened. When Work learned of how much was recommended to be cut, he called it unrealistic and set the report aside. The Defense Department also put security restrictions on the data and removed the 77-page summary from its website, so nobody would see it. The Post quoted sources in the Pentagon as saying that Defense leaders were afraid if Congress or the President saw the report, they might push for more cost cutting, as if that was a bad thing.

Back in May, I outlined in this column how the Environmental Protection Agency spent $94.2 million on office furniture over the last decade. Now there are reports that more than $100 billion has been wasted in the Pentagon. When people wonder where their tax dollars are going, its to stuff like this, waste that doesnt need to happen. We talk about debt, about why we cant afford things like Medicaid expansion, about why this program or that one is underfunded. This is why. Theres too much waste in the system, burning through our money. If we made the hard decisions and removed the waste in these federal programs, the U.S. budget could be balanced. We dont need to spend ourselves out of trouble, we just need to budget better.
In Defence of Marxism is committed to safeguarding your privacy. At all times we aim to respect any personal data you share with us, or that we receive from other organisations, and keep it safe. This Privacy Policy (Policy) sets out our data collection and processing practices and your options regarding the ways in which your personal information is used.

This Policy contains important information about your personal rights to privacy. Please read it carefully to understand how we use your personal data. We may update this Policy from time to time without notice to you, so please check it regularly.

The provision of your personal data to us is voluntary. However, without providing us with your personal data, you will be unable to (as appropriate): contact us; subscribe to our mailing list; subscribe to any of our publications; or receive information about In Defence of Marxism.

We collect information about you:

(1) When you give it to us DIRECTLY

You may give us your personal data in order to subscribe to a newsletter or publication, when you contact us by phone, email or post, when you sign a petition / statement, and/or when you donate money to us.

(2) When you give it to us INDIRECTLY

Your information will also be provided to us when you follow us or otherwise interact with on or via Twitter, when you like and/or join our page on Facebook or interact with us in other ways on or via Facebook.

(3) When you give permission to OTHER ORGANISATIONS to share it or it is AVAILABLE PUBLICLY

We may combine information you provide to us with information available from external publicly available sources. Depending on your privacy settings for social media services, we may also access information from those accounts or services. We use this information to gain a better understanding of you and to improve our communications and fundraising activities.

(4) When you visit our WEBSITE

We use cookies to identify you when you visit our website. Please refer to our Cookies Policy for details on the way our use of cookies affects your personal data.

What information do we collect?

We may collect, store and use the following kinds of personal data:

(1) We will typically hold your name and contact details, including telephone number, location, and e-mail address. However, we may request other information where it is appropriate and relevant, for example:

Your bank details or debit/credit card details (if making a donation).

(2) any communication preferences you give;

(3) information about your computer and about your visits to and use of this website including your IP address, geographical location, browser type, referral source, length of visit and number of page views; and/or

(4) any other information shared with us as per clause 1.

Do we process sensitive personal information?

Applicable law recognises certain categories of personal information as sensitive and therefore requiring more protection, including political opinions and trade union membership. In limited cases, we may collect sensitive personal data about you. We would only collect sensitive personal data if there is a clear reason for doing so; and will only do so with your explicit consent.

How and why will we use your personal data?

Personal data, however provided to us, will be used for the purposes specified in this Policy or in relevant parts of the website.

We may use your personal information to:

(1) Enable you to subscribe to our hard copy publications;

(2) Send you information about our work, campaigns, organisations and any other information, products or services that we provide (this will not be done without your consent);

(3) Provide you with the services, products or information you have requested;

(4) If you request, put you in touch with other supporters in your area (who have also provided such consent);

(5) Handle the administration of any donation or other payment you make via credit/debit card, cheque, standing order or BACS transfer;

(6) Collect payments from you and send statements and/or receipts to you;

(7) Conduct research into the impact of our activity / campaigns;

(8) Deal with enquiries and complaints made by you relating to the website or us in general;

(9) Make petition submissions to third parties, where you have signed a petition and the third party is a target of the campaign to which the petition relates; and/or

(10) Audit and/or administer our accounts.

Supporter Analysis

Google Analytics

We may use some of your personal information to analyse our digital performance, for example to see how our website can be improved to help us achieve the purposes set out in section 9 below, to record how you are using our website or to assess the popularity of different articles / campaigns.

For more information on how we use your personal information in relation to Google Analytics, please view our cookie policy by clicking this link cookies policy



You can opt-out of the collection of information for such purposes here: http://www.aboutads.info/choices

Communications, updates, fundraising

Where you have provided appropriate consent, we will contact you by telephone and e-mail, with targeted communications to let you know about our events and/or activities that we consider may be of particular interest; about the work of In Defence of Marxism; and to ask for donations or other support.

Donations and other payments

All financial transactions carried out on our website are handled through either:

PayPal (Europe) S.a r.l. (PayPal), a third party payment services provider. We recommend that you read PayPals privacy policy (available at https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/ua/privacy-full?locale.x=en_GB ) prior to effecting any transactions with us through PayPal; or

GoCardless Ltd (GoCardless), a third party payment services provider. We recommend that you read GoCardlesss privacy policy (available at https://www.gocardless.com/legal/privacy) prior to effecting any transactions with us through GoCardless.

We will provide your personal data to PayPal / GoCardless only to the extent necessary for the purposes of processing payments for transactions you enter into with us. We do not store your financial details.

Childrens data

We do not knowingly process data of any person under the age of 16. If we come to discover, or have reason to believe, that you are 15 and under and we are holding your personal information, we will delete that information within a reasonable period and withhold our services accordingly.

Security of and access to your personal data

We endeavour to ensure that there are appropriate and proportionate technical and organisational measures to prevent the loss, destruction, misuse, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or of access to your personal information.

Your information is only accessible by appropriately trained staff and volunteers.

We may also use agencies and/or suppliers to process data on our behalf. We may also merge or partner with other organisations and in so doing transfer and/or acquire personal data.

Please note that some countries outside of the EEA have a lower standard of protection for personal data, including lower security requirements and fewer rights for individuals. We may transfer and/or store personal data collected from you to and/or at a destination outside the European Economic Area (EEA). Such personal data may be processed by agencies and/or suppliers operating outside the EEA. If we transfer and/or store your personal data outside the EEA we will take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipient implements appropriate measures to protect your personal data.

Otherwise than as set out in this Privacy Policy, we will only ever share your data with your informed consent.

Your rights

Where we rely on your consent to use your personal information, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. This includes the right to ask us to stop using your personal information for direct marketing purposes or to be unsubscribed from our email list at any time. You also have the following rights:

(1) Right to be informed  you have the right to be told how your personal information will be used. This Policy and any other policies and statements used on our website and in our communications are intended to provide you with a clear and transparent description of how your personal information may be used.

(2) Right of access  you can write to us to ask for confirmation of what information we hold on you and to request a copy of that information. Provided we are satisfied that you are entitled to see the information requested and we have successfully confirmed your identity, we have 30 days to comply.

(3) Right of erasure  as from 25 May 2018, you can ask us for your personal information to be deleted from our records.

(4) Right of rectification  if you believe our records of your personal information are inaccurate, you have the right to ask for those records to be updated.

(5) Right to restrict processing  you have the right to ask for processing of your personal data to be restricted if there is disagreement about its accuracy or legitimate usage.

(6) Right to data portability  to the extent required by the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) where we are processing your personal information (i) under your consent, (ii) because such processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are party or to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contact or (iii) by automated means, you may ask us to provide it to you  or another service provider  in a machine-readable format.

To exercise these rights, please send a description of the personal information in question using the contact details in section 15 below. You can also unsubscribe from our email list by sending a blank email to news-unsubscribe@marxist.com

Where we consider that the information with which you have provided us does not enable us to identify the personal information in question, we reserve the right to ask for (i) personal identification and/or (ii) further information.

Lawful processing

We are required to have one or more lawful grounds to process your personal information. Only 4 of these are relevant to us:

Personal information is processed on the basis of a persons consent Personal information is processed on the basis of a contractual relationship Personal information is processed on the basis of legal obligations Personal information is processed on the basis of legitimate interests

(1) Consent

We will ask for your consent to use your information to send you electronic communications such as newsletters and and fundraising emails, and if you ever share sensitive personal information with us.

(2) Contractual relationships

Most of our interactions with supporters are voluntary and not contractual. However, sometimes it will be necessary to process personal information so that we can enter contractual relationships with people. For example, if you subscribe to one of our publications, or purchase merchandise online.

(3) Legal obligations

Sometimes we will be obliged to process your personal information due to legal obligations which are binding on us. We will only ever do so when strictly necessary.

(4) Legitimate interests

Applicable law allows personal information to be collected and used if it is reasonably necessary for our legitimate activities (as long as its use is fair, balanced and does not unduly impact individuals rights).

We will rely on this ground to process your personal data when it is not practical or appropriate to ask for consent.

Achieving our purposes

These include (but are not limited to) promoting socialist policies

Governance

Internal and external audit for financial or regulatory compliance purposes

Statutory reporting

Publicity and income generation

Conventional direct marketing and other forms of marketing, publicity or advertisement

Unsolicited messages, including campaigns, newsletters, and fundraising appeals

Analysis, targeting and segmentation to develop and promote or strategy and improve communication efficiency

Personalisation used to tailor and enhance your experience of our communications

Operational Management

Maintenance of suppression files

Processing for historical, scientific or statistical purpose

Purely administrative purposes

Responding to enquiries

Delivery of requested products or information

Communications designed to administer existing services including subscriptions, administration of petitions and financial transactions

Thank you communications and receipts

Maintaining a supporter database and suppression lists

Financial Management and control

Processing financial transactions and maintaining financial controls

Prevention of fraud, misuse of services, or money laundering

Enforcement of legal claims

Reporting criminal acts and compliance with law enforcement agencies

When we use your personal information, we will consider if it is fair and balanced to do so and if it is within your reasonable expectations. We will balance your rights and our legitimate interests to ensure that we use your personal information in ways that are not unduly intrusive or unfair in other ways.

Data retention

The length of time each category of data will be retained will vary depending on how long we need to process it for, the reason it was collected, and in line with any statutory requirements. After this point the data will either be deleted, or we may retain a secure anonymised record for research and analytical purposes.

In the event that you ask us to stop sending you direct marketing/fundraising/other electronic communications, we will keep your name on our internal suppression list to ensure that you are not contacted again.

Policy amendments

We keep this Privacy Policy under regular review and reserve the right to update from time-to-time by posting an updated version on our website, not least because of changes in applicable law. We recommend that you check this Privacy Policy occasionally to ensure you remain happy with it. We may also notify you of changes to our privacy policy by email.

Third party websites

We link our website directly to other sites. This Privacy Policy does not cover external websites and we are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those sites. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of any external websites you visit via links on our website.

Updating information

You can check the personal data we hold about you, and ask us to update it where necessary, by emailing us at webmaster@marxist.com

Contact

We are not required by law to have a Data Protection Officer  however we have a Data Protection Manager.

Please let us know if you have any queries or concerns whatsoever about the way in which your data is being processed by emailing the Data Protection Manager at webmaster@marxist.com
The European Union's executive said on Thursday that member states should be allowed to send some asylum-seekers back to Greece from mid-March, in a step Brussels hopes will help restore the bloc's migration policies, which collapsed under a mass influx last year.

Under EU rules, the first country of entry is responsible for handling an asylum claim, but that system broke down last year in Greece, the main gateway to Europe for more than a million refugees and migrants.

Unable to cope, Greece let many of them pass through on their own to Germany and other wealthy EU states in defiance of the bloc's rules. That led countries along the route gradually to close their borders, stranding many in Greece, which struggled to offer them proper shelter.

The European Commission on Thursday said Greece has improved in hosting and registering arriving asylum-seekers.

It recommended that EU states be allowed to send back to Greece asylum-seekers who enter the bloc that way and make it deeper into Europe from mid-March onwards. The recommendation does not apply to those who have already made that journey.

"This will provide further disincentives against irregular entry and secondary movements, and is an important step for the return to a normally functioning ... system," the Commission's deputy head, Frans Timmermans.

The bloc's asylum policy and its zone of internal free travel both collapsed last year as an uncontrolled flow of migrants and refugees triggered bitter disputes between EU states on how to handle them.

These disputes remain unresolved and more than 62,000 people are still in Greece, even though an EU agreement with Turkey in March reduced the arrivals to a trickle.

The failure is in large part due to reluctance by EU states to take in people from Greece and Italy to help process their asylum requests and ease the burden on the two frontline states.

So far, fewer than 8,200 people have been moved from these two Mediterranean countries to other EU states under a plan that was supposed to cover 160,000 people and which expires next September. The Commission called on EU states to step up.

"Our aim is to relocate all those in Italy and Greece who are eligible for relocation within the next year," said the bloc's migration chief, Dimitris Avramopoulos.

Brussels put additional conditions on returning people beyond March, saying Greece should give individual assurances of fair treatment for any returnees and that unaccompanied children not be sent back at all.

Obligatory quotas on refugees are now the focus of a tug of war between EU states seeking to reform their troubled common asylum rules.

The Commission said arrivals from Turkey to Greece stood at an average of 92 people a day since March, compared to thousands that were making at times making it in a single day before the deal with Ankara. It said 1,187 people have been deported from Greece to Turkey since March 2016.

Under the deal with Turkey, which looks fragile now due to a breakdown in ties following Ankara's crackdown in the wake of a botched military coup in July, Brussels also said it had spent 677 million euros of the 3 billion promised to help Syrian refugees living on Turkish soil.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


Country Bank Wing Donation.jpg

From left, Robert Haveles, Baystate Wing Hospital and Country Bank trustee; Mary McGovern; chief financial officer, Country Bank and Baystate Health Foundation trustee; Teresa Grove, philanthropy officer, Baystate Health Foundation and Country Bank trustee; Mike Moran, president & chief administrative officer, Baystate Health Eastern Region; Paul Scully, president & CEO, Country Bank and Baystate Wing Hospital trustee; and Jim Phaneuf, Baystate Health, Baystate Wing Hospital and Country Bank trustee.

(Baystate Health photo)

PALMER - Country Bank will contribute $1 million toward the construction of Baystate Wing Hospital's new Emergency Department.

The project, scheduled to begin construction in 2017, will right size the emergency department at Baystate's Palmer campus to better accommodate current patient volumes.

"We are grateful for the continued generous support of Country Bank," said Michael Moran, president and chief administrative officer for Baystate Health's Eastern Region, which includes Baystate Wing Hospital and the Baystate Mary Lane Outpatient Center. "We are committed to providing emergency services at both of our campuses. While the Baystate Mary Lane Emergency Department is appropriately sized for their patient volumes, Wing's Emergency Department is significantly undersized and this project will allow us to better accommodate current emergency department volumes."

In the new facility, private rooms will replace curtained bays to enhance patient privacy, a dedicated space will be created for behavioral health patients, and caregivers will have access to the more sophisticated medical technology.

The new emergency department will feature 20 patient rooms, including trauma, behavioral health rooms, and other dedicated specialty care areas. The facility will include separate ambulance and public entryways. Input on design concepts was gathered from staff, emergency medical service providers, infection control experts, and patients.



Country Bank has been a staunch supporter of both Baystate Wing and Baystate Mary Lane, hospital officials said. The bank funded vital initiatives in support of patient care in the region, including new surgical suites and inpatient units at Baystate Wing Hospital and the more recent renovation of Baystate Mary Lane Radiology Department and Oncology Services.

"Country Bank's pledge to the new Emergency Department at Baystate Wing Hospital supports the Bank's longstanding financial commitment to its community hospitals," said Paul Scully, president and CEO of Country Bank. "Over the years, the bank has never wavered on its support of both Baystate Wing Hospital and Baystate Mary Lane, as it believes that communities with local access to quality healthcare thrive. With this pledge of $1 million, Country Bank welcomes others in the community to follow its lead in supporting this terrific project."

Jane Albert, executive director of the Baystate Health Foundation, said that Country Bank continues to "set the gold standard for exemplary corporate responsibility and philanthropy."

"It has meaningfully impacted a wide range of healthcare services and programs in Ware, Palmer and the surrounding communities by generously supporting both Baystate Wing and Mary Lane," she said.

Baystate Health officials said they are committed to keeping medical care locally rooted across Western Massachusetts, while utilizing the wide reach of specialties and services offered across the health system.

"The benefit of being a part of an integrated health system is that we are able to rely on the many resources of our various hospitals, including some of the nation's most accomplished physicians and nurses," said Dr. Mark A. Keroack, president and CEO of Baystate Health. "It is imperative that we provide safe and reliable emergency care to our neighbors in the eastern portion of the Pioneer Valley. I could not be more grateful for the generosity and altruistic corporate character of Country Bank. This donation will impact scores of patients and families for generations to come."
Norwegian.jpg

A Norwegian Air aircraft in this publicity photo released through Facebook. The airline is considering an expansion to Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.

(Photo provided)

WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. -- Norwegian Air Shuttle wants to start offering discount flights from Bradley International Airport to Europe.

Kevin Dillon, executive director of the Connecticut Airport Authority, said Thursday that Bradley and the CAA are in talks with Norwegian, as well as with a number of other airlines. But he can't confirm a start date for the Norwegian service.

"We are talking to a lot of carriers. We are looking to increase the route map and increase the number of seats on existing routes," Dillon said.

About 6 million travelers have passed through Bradley in 2016. Dillon hopes to grow that number to about 10 million.

Earlier this week, Norwegian Air chief commercial officer Thomas Ramdahl told the Wall Street Journal that the carrier is considering expanding to Bradley. Norwegian announced this week that it will offer flights from Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, New York -- which is about 60 miles north of New York City -- to Cork, Ireland.

Ramdahl told the Wall Street Journal that Norwegian Air will also establish a base at either Portsmouth International Airport in New Hampshire or T.F. Green Airport in Rhode Island.

In September, Irish airline Aer Lingus began offering nonstop service from Bradley to Dublin. It was the first transatlantic flight to and from Bradley since Northwest stopped flying to Amsterdam in 2009. That flight had existed for only about a year before spiking fuel prices made it uneconomical.

Dillon said Thursday that adding Aer Lingus has made Bradly more attractive to other air carriers looking to expand.

"I think that is one of the benefits of being able to attract Aer Lingus here. It's elevated the status of the airport," he said.

Bradley and the Connecticut Airport Authority would never add service that would cannibalize Aer Lingus' business, he said. But there is room for more than one transatlantic carrier.

People living within 90 minutes of Bradley make 1.3 million European flights a year, he said. People living within an hour of Bradley make 800,000 transatlantic flights a year.

"We do think this is a very healthy market that can sustain a lot of transatlantic travel," he said.

Norwegian flies to cites all over Europe, including in the U.K., Dillon said.

Dillon said it is early to get a handle on exactly how well Aer Lingus is doing serving Hartford-Springfield. He's meeting with business leaders touting Aer Lingus and its connections to most of Europe for business travel.

Aer Lingus doesn't release passenger counts for the Bradley route.

"We know the flights will be full in the peak summer months," Dillon said. "There are a lot of people interested in taking that vacation to Ireland. But will the business community utilize that flight in the winter?"

Airlines like Aer Lingus need a load factor of at least 85 percent in order to run a route economically. That means on the Boeing 757 airliners Aer Lingus uses here, executives expect that at least 153 seats will be filled.

The state of Connecticut made revenue guarantees of $9 million over two years to the Aer Lingus to get them into Bradley. That means the state makes up the difference if Aer Lingus ticket revenue doesn't meet benchmarks.

Norwegian already serves a number of U.S. destination, including with nonstop service from Logan International Airport in Boston to Oslo, Norway.

Aer Lingus flights to Bradley start at about $377, but prices vary widely.
SPRINGFIELD -- Donald Trump won the presidency largely on his promise to "Make America Great Again" by returning manufacturing jobs to these shores.

But what if the president-elect's new aggressive stance toward China sparks a trade war and imperils the Chinese state-owned CRRC MA rail car factory and the 150 manufacturing jobs it promises building cars for the MBTA starting in 2018?

The $95 million, 204,000-square-foot factory under construction at the former Westinghouse site on Page Boulevard is the largest new industrial plant built in Springfield in generations. The facility will have a 2,240-foot test track.

In 2014, CRRC received a $566 million state contract to manufacture 284 subway cars for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Greater Boston's mass transit system. Of those cars, 152 will be for the Orange Line and 132 will be for the for the Red Line.

Work on the Springfield plant is expected to be completed by the fall of 2017. The first rail cars are scheduled to be delivered to the MBTA in 2018.

Cars will be shipped to Springfield as shells and assembled and fitted out here prior to delivery. Some components will be sourced in the United States.

With the Springfield factory nearing completion, Trump is straining U.S.-China relations by appearing to recognize Taiwan as a separate country despite mainland China's view of Taiwan as a breakaway province. Also, the president-elect speaks of using import tariffs to stem the flow of imported goods to the United States and of using his muscle to punish companies for manufacturing abroad.

CRRC MA said this week that it remains focused on delivering brand new rail cars to the MBTA.

"We foresee no issues with fulfilling our commitment to the MBTA and the City of Springfield and look forward to facility completion less than a year from now with assembly operation in full swing in spring 2018," spokeswoman Lydia M. Rivera said. "CRRC, with its local success here in Massachusetts, continues to identify opportunities in North America including Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New York and beyond, with attention to stimulating job growth in Springfield, as well as executing a steady investment and development plan in North America."

CRRC said it plans to build more factories outside China in the coming years and double its international sales to $15 billion a year by 2020, according business news wire service Reuters, quoting the Chinese press.

Reuters also said CRRC is partnering with Canada's Bombardier on overseas business that might include work for the New York City subway system.

The Springfield plant is CRRC's first factory in North America.

But world events, and geopolitical considerations, have a way derailing plans, said Paul Musgrave, assistant professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

People around Trump describe themselves as economic nationalists, Musgrave said. An economic nationalist would have misgivings about doing business with a Chinese state-owned enterprise. CRRC MA is a unit of the Chinese state-owned railways.

"The worst kind of risk is political risk because it touches every part of a deal," he said. "But the entire atmosphere of doing business internationally is going to be affected by the fact that the president doesn't see maintaining good relationships with China as a priority."

Good relationships make for good business, Musgrave said. Changes in the status quo can damage those relationships.

"My worry is that political tensions could lead to a sour environment for everyone involved," Musgrave said. "If you were making a $95 million investment in the United States, wouldn't you want to know that the government is going to treat you fairly?"

If China wanted to retaliate against the U.S. for Trump-imposed tariffs, it could simply allow its currency to float free on the market. The government there is keeping the Chinese currency artificially high to keep cash in the country. If Chinese money were to fall, a cheap Yuan would make Chinese products even cheaper in the United States and make it even harder for U.S. manufacturers to compete.

Richard K. Sullivan Jr., president and CEO of the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts, as chief of staff to former Gov. Deval Patrick was on the trade missions to Asia that helped lead to CRRC coming here. He said CRRC has been very public about its growth strategy.

"It really comes down to a basis of trust that both sides are going to keep the promises that have been made," Sullivan said.

And thus far, CRRC is living up to its promises to recruit local workers, buy from local suppliers and to use local schools and colleges as training centers.

"From a construction standpoint, they are ahead of schedule," Sullivan said. "And as partners they have been forthright and have fulfilled all the commitments that they have made locally."

Sullivan said that the CRRC deal clicks with Trump's stated goal of fostering U.S. manufacturing.

"This is the type of project that does show investment here," he said. "It does show growth here. They will be a tax-paying entity in Western Massachusetts."
Marcus Smart

Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart takes the ball down court during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Miami Heat, Monday, Nov. 28, 2016, in Miami. The Celtics defeated the Heat 112-104.

(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Marcus Smart will replace injured guard Isaiah Thomas in the Boston Celtics starting lineup Wednesday night, according to reporters with the team in Orlando.

Stevens says the decision to start Smart "wasn't a decision that I had to think a ton about. He's basically our sixth starter."  Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 7, 2016

For Boston's meeting with the Orlando Magic, Amir Johnson will also rejoin the first unit after coming off the bench in one game earlier this week. That move will send Jonas Jerebko back to the bench. Earlier Wednesday, Stevens explained why he started Jerebko against the Houston Rockets. (Read about there here.)

Without Thomas, the Celtics have scored about eight points fewer per 100 possessions -- a lack of firepower that could hurt against the Magic's top-five defense. At the other end, Smart's a major upgrade over Thomas, and Orlando has struggled to score all season. This could become a bit of an ugly game, or perhaps one of the teams will exceed offensive expectations.
Six Massachusetts bookstores are must-visits for book lovers, according to a New York Times piece by author and small bookstore owner Ann Patchett.

In her Dec. 6 piece "Guide for Bookstore Pilgrims," Patchett highlighted local book shops across the country, spreading them across four categories including shops that are great for children; destination stores; venerable institutions and Patchett's personal favorites.

Three Cambridge stores, a Plainville author's creation, a Newton shop and a Cape bookseller all merited mention.

The Curious George Store: 1 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge MA 02138

Billed as "the world's only brick and mortar Curious George store," this Cambridge store was named as a favorite for children and only sells children's books.

Children's books, Patchett noted, are "the foundation of bookselling, the cornerstone, the rock on which this church is built."

An Unlikely Story: 111 South Street, Plainville, MA 02762

Opened by "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" author Jeff Kinney and his wife Julie, An Unlikely Story calls itself "a beautiful new community gathering place where you can meet amazing authors, enjoy breakfast or lunch, or relax with your new book and a beer (or glass of wine)."

Patchett described the store as one she "hope(s) will soon replace Disney World as the place all parents feel duty-bound to take their children" for its combination bookstore, cafe, event space and museum.

Grolier Poetry Book Shop: 6 Plympton Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

The 89-year-old store, which only sells poetry, was called "indispensable" to Cambridge.

Harvard Book Store: 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138

Patchett named the store as one of her venerable bookstores, one people will spend all day in, one everyone who visits Harvard goes to.

Newtonville Books: 10 Langley Road, Newton, MA 02459

Named by Patchett as one of her best "tiny" bookstores, the ones that "give off that same warm, snug feeling one gets from reading a novel in a comfy chair," Newtonville Books was singled out by her for its light.

Provincetown Bookshop: 246 Commercial St, Provincetown, MA 02657

Alongside Newtonville Books, this Cape shop was Patchett's other tiny Massachusetts favorite, calling it "that essential last stop before hitting the beach."
Syria opposition activists are reporting intense government bombings of a number of neighborhoods that remain under rebel control in the city of Aleppo.

They say clashes are underway on Thursday along the fast-moving front line. The opposition Local Coordination Committees says government airstrikes and artillery hit at least six rebel-held neighborhoods in central and southeastern Aleppo

Opposition Thiqa news agency says the government dropped barrel bombs on al-Sukkari and Kallaseh neighborhoods.

Syrian troops and allied militiamen moved swiftly into rebel-held eastern Aleppo less than two weeks ago and are now in control of more than three quarters of the besieged rebel enclave.

Activists are struggling to document casualties because of street clashes and intense bombings.

The Syrian Civil Defense in Aleppo says it was able to record 38 killed in Wednesday's violence. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 11 were killed in Aleppo's Old City, which was seized by the government Wednesday.

Meantime, the International Committee for the Red Cross says it has evacuated 148 disabled civilians and others in need of urgent care from a facility in Aleppo's Old City that is now under Syrian government control.

ICRC said in a statement on Thursday that the evacuation was possible after fighting calmed down in that part of the city. It said the evacuation was undertaken jointly with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and was completed late on Wednesday.

The government secured the area after repelling rebels, who retreated to the south.

Pawel Krzysiek, ICRC communication coordinator in Damascus, says the evacuees had been "forgotten" amid the fighting.

He says they were trapped in a facility that was originally a home for the elderly. They include mental health patients, elderly orphans, and patients with physical disabilities. Some were injured civilians who had sought refuge there.

Krzysiek says they were evacuated to hospital and shelters in the western, government-held part of Aleppo.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


There's a legacy of giving in the Kemple household, and they have continued that tradition this holiday season by donating to Toy for Joy for the 31st consecutive year.

Robert "Bob" Kemple Jr. and his wife, Kathleen, donate to Toy for Joy in honor of his parents, Robert and Gloria Kemple of Springfield, who raised him and his six siblings to give back to those in need.

"This is just one way (to give back), and it's a special way for me because it honors my mom and dad who really at the end of the day had the spirit," said Robert Kemple Jr., who now lives in New Jersey. "They were great about helping others that needed something and we're able to carry that on."

The 94th annual Toy for Joy campaign is a collaboration between the Salvation Army, MassLive.com and The Republican to give gifts to children throughout Western Massachusetts.

The campaign seeks to raise $150,000 by Christmas Eve to cover the cost of toys and gifts for thousands of children across the region. To date, almost $13,000 in donations has been received.

Kemple said Christmas time is special to him due largely to his parents.

"Just getting up on Christmas morning when we were young and seeing a giant Christmas tree in our living room with lots of presents under it meant the world to us," he said.

But Christmas was more than just the gifts given in his home. It was a time to be with family and friends and to give to those who were less fortunate.

Now, 31 years since his parents passed away, Kemple and his wife continue to make the holidays a special time for their family and give to organizations like the Salvation Army -- and teach their children the importance of helping others in the process.

"It was one of the benefits of being a part of that family," said Kemple. "My kids benefited from it and I know their kids will benefit. I already see it in my grandchildren that they'll benefit from it."

To learn more about Toy for Joy, call the Salvation Army's Springfield citadel at 413-733-1518.

Online donations can be made by clicking here

Here is a list of the latest contributions to this year's campaign:

In celebration of our new grandbaby Connor's first Christmas, $100

In memory of Lee, $5

Carol and Dan, $100

So children may have a Merry Christmas, $50

In memory of Lolita, $100

In memory of Charlotte Lacoste and Vivian Godek, Paul and Debbie, $100

Welcome to the world baby Marc, love Aunt Joyce and Uncle Bob, $20

Remembering our dads and uncles, PLP, $25

Martha, $15

In celebration of God's blessings and Merry Christmas, $100

In loving memory of my husband Bernard J Welz Jr, love Maureen, $50

In loving memory of Barbara Grabiec-Gaskell, Ken and Linda, $25

Quinn, Rowan, Jake, Tess and Aleister, $100

In memory of Mom, Dad and Don, love you, $10

Merry Christmas to all the children, Pete, Kathy, Mackenzie and Shannon, $100

To our most beautiful grandchildren, Mackenzie and AJ, Merry Christmas from the Kans, $10

JoAnn, $30

We wish you a Merry Christmas from David and Matthew, $20

Friend, $50

Say a prayer for peace on earth, Pat, $10

Merry Christmas Mom and Dad, $100

Merry Christmas Barry and Dan, $100

In memory of my husband Leo and sons Jerry and Roger, $20

In memory of Helda and George Belhumeur, $50

In memory of Margaret and Fred Harkens, $50

In memory of Raymond Barrett, $50

In loving memory of my father Thomas H Taylor, $50

In memory of Albert and Lucy DiStefano, love family, $20

In loving memory of Neil C Cormier, $25

In loving memory of Dan, $25

For Larkin and Anorah, $30

In memory of Edward and Lucille Enright, love Barb, $25

William, $100

In loving memory of my husband Herb Curry and daughters Maureen, Susan and Tracy, $20

In thanksgiving for my grandchildren Caelin, Brenna and Ronan from Nanie Curry, $20

Merry Christmas from Mary and Sted Dowd, $100

In memory of my folks Ingrid and Fred, Granville, MA, $1

Thank you for a wonderful holiday Moma and Poppy, love the Freedmans, $40

RECEIVED: $1,846

TOTAL TO DATE: $12,828

STILL NEEDED: $137,172
Students enrolled in 39 of Boston Public Schools will have a longer school day next fall, school officials said this week.

About 15,000 students in 39 schools will remain in their classrooms for an additional 40 minutes each day.

Superintendent Tommy Chang called the extended day a "critical component in our effort to close opportunity and achievement gaps."

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh expressed his support for the decision. "Our children need and deserve more time for high-quality instruction," he said in a statement.

To compensate teachers for the several thousand more hours of classroom time, each school will receive an addition 3 percent boost in funding, on average.
SPRINGFIELD -- A suspect allegedly arrested with 4 kilograms of cocaine has denied participating in a Puerto Rico-to-Springfield drug trafficking ring.

Grisseli Soto, 38, of Springfield, pleaded not guilty in Springfield District Court Monday to charges of cocaine trafficking and conspiring to violate narcotics laws.

Judge William Boyle set bail at $150,000, by agreement of defense and prosecution lawyers.

The arraignment came three days after investigators arrested Soto and seized 4 kilograms of cocaine from a storage locker -- and five days after her husband, Jose Polaco, 42, was arrested on the same charges with the same amount of cocaine, authorities said.

A combined total of 8 kilograms of cocaine and $100,000 in cash has been confiscated by agents from the Hampden County Narcotics Task Force, the U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in the past week, authorities said.

The arrests and raids capped a months-long investigation into a trafficking operation that shipped 20 kilograms of cocaine by mail each month from Puerto Rico to Springfield, where the drugs were repackaged and sold, officials said.

The investigation is continuing, according to Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni, who praised the work of the investigators.

"We are continually focused on investigating, arresting and aggressively prosecuting drug dealers and traffickers. It is they who profit from the scourge of addiction, which destroys lives, families and communities," Gulluni said.

During last week's arraignment, Polaco was ordered held on $500,000 bail; a second defendant, Hiram Martinez, 31, was held on $100,000 bail; two others -- Eveliz Gonzalez, 44, and Kimberly Spaeth-Barta, 50 -- were released on $5,000 bail.

Soto was arrested later in the week after new information came to light, investigators said.

The defendants are due back in court for a pretrial hearing on Jan. 6.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov failed to make progress on a Syria truce in talks in Germany early Thursday, an American official said.

Kerry and Lavrov met twice Thursday on the margins of a foreign ministers' meeting of the 57-member Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said a US official.

Their meetings lasted 10 minutes each and "no progress, no conclusion were reached on Aleppo", the devastated north Syrian city where Russia-backed regime troops are battling rebel forces, the official said.

However, leaving the talks with Lavrov in the northern German city of Hamburg, Kerry told Russian journalists that he remained hopeful and would continue to work for a solution.

Moscow launched an air war in support of Assad's forces last year, while Washington has supported rebel forces battling the regime.

On Wednesday the United States, Britain and France led a joint call for an immediate ceasefire to allow aid to reach Aleppo, in an appeal backed by Canada, Germany and Italy.

Kerry said at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on Tuesday that he would work for a relaunch of peace talks between the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad and the opposition, with the help of Russia.

"Russia says Assad is ready to come to the table ... and I am in favour of putting that to the test," Kerry said in Brussels.

Lavrov said in Hamburg on Wednesday, before a meeting with Kerry, that Russia backed a US proposal made on December 2 involving a rebel withdrawal from eastern Aleppo, which Moscow has accused Washington of since backtracking on.

Kerry has denied any change of plans and Washington itself has accused Moscow of stalling after Russia and China blocked a UN Security Council resolution on Monday calling for a seven-day ceasefire.

Kerry will on Saturday take part in a Paris meeting on Syria organised by his French, German and Qatari counterparts, the State Department said.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


The deterioration of relations between Russia and NATO has started long before the Ukrainian crisis, Russias envoy to the North Atlantic Alliance said on Thursday.

"The turn in NATOs policy (toward Russia) has appeared long before the Ukrainian crisis," Grushkov said. "In the purely propagandist way, this crisis was used to justify plans for NATOs rearmament and for returning NATO to its initial task  defending from a large enemy," he added.

"We saw the first signs of such a turn in 2004, when the decision was made to start patrolling the airspace above the Baltic, though no changes in the sphere of security occurred which could have justify this step. Today it is obvious that NATO sees its future in connection with defending from a large enemy, which forces them to exaggerate the Russian threat. However, it is absolutely clear that thinking that Russia harbors any aggressive plans toward NATO is beyond common sense," he concluded.

No fundamental changes

"Judging by public statements that were made right after the ministerial meeting, no fundamental changes have occurred in NATOs approach toward Russia," Grushko said commenting on the results of the informal meeting of foreign ministers of NATO member countries that was held on December 6 in Brussels.Stoltenberg wants NATO relations with Russia to be 'frank and open'.

"The double approach to Russia, about which leaders of the Alliance talk all the time, is nothing new. This is the invention of Belgiums former Foreign Minister Pierre Harmel who proposed to combine dialogue with firm defense and deterrence. In fact, the situation continues to remain dangerous," the Russian ambassador noted.

"We see that the situation continues deteriorating. In particular, new headquarters are being set up, there is an ongoing discussion that NATO needs to build up its presence in the Black Sea.

In the end, all of this contradicts real security needs in Europe," he said. "If we are talking in a political language, then through this military build-up, NATO is trying to impose on us the agenda of the times of the Cold War and thus prove its relevance in new security conditions. This is a very dangerous tendency," Grushko concluded.

"We are confident that most Europeans understand that it is impossible to form security without Russia or against Russia. Security will be durable only when it is ensured together with Russia. And this envisages respect of national interests, equality and clear understanding of the aim toward which we are moving together," Grushko said.

"We see that Russophobia in several so-called frontline states (Baltic States and Poland) is very high. If they are handing out brochures in Lithuania on how to fight against occupants, then this is the evidence that NATO is crossing all lines here, and it is hard to hold a concrete dialogue in such conditions. If NATO is really ready to proceed to de-escalation, this should firstly be reflected in stopping further strengthening of the eastern flank and switching to normal dialogue on how to improve security together," he stressed.

Russia and NATO do not have a consensus yet on convening a new session of the Russia-NATO Council but consultations on the issue continue, Grushko noted. "Maybe, some people do have the plans to convene something but the convocation of the Russia-NATO Council requires a collective decision," he said. "We dont have any such decision so far but consultations continue."

Search Keywords:

Short link:


Amazon.com will collect sales tax on Utah purchases, Gov. Gary Herbert announced Wednesday during a discussion of his proposed $16.1 billion state budget that calls for "aggressively" pursuing taxes owed on online purchases.

"News flash: Amazon has agreed," the governor told members of the Deseret News and KSL editorial boards. "We have been working to get a voluntary agreement with Amazon, and it looks like weve done that now."

By Lisa Riley [email protected]

Full Story: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668776/Gov-Gary-Herbert-calls-for-review-of-Utah-taxes-in-new-budget-to-make-system-equitable-and-simple.html
The High Level Committee on COVID-19 is continuously monitoring all development regarding the Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant, categorised as a Variant of Concern by the World Health Organisation on 26 November 2021.

Preliminary scientific data shows that the variant has 32 mutations. Leading scientific research teams around the world are still assessing if the variant is more contagious or severe than previous ones.

Mauritius remains committed to ensure the health and wellness of its citizens, residents and visitors by constantly upgrading and adapting its protocols to the impending threat.

In light of latest available scientific data, the Republic of Mauritius has applied further arrival restrictions on flights arriving from South Africa to Mauritius with immediate effect.

It has therefore been decided that passengers arriving on flight MK852, from Johannesburg to Mauritius on Saturday 27 November will be subject to additional health screening.

In addition to PCR tests done at arrival in Mauritius, passengers will have to observe an in-room, hotel quarantine period of at least 7 days.

As of Sunday 28 November and until further notice, there will be no incoming passengers on flights connecting South Africa to Mauritius. Repatriation flights for Mauritian citizens, Resident and Occupational Permit Holders will be organised through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

While acknowledging the significant disruption which might result from such measures, the Ministry of Health and Wellness insists upon their upmost necessity to ensure the health and wellness of all.

Partager et informez vous aussi......

0 shares Share

Tweet

LinkedIn

Articles similaires
"The quality of veterinary services of the country is a sine qua non for the preservation of animal welfare..."
On Thursday 2nd September 2021, Emirates Flight, EK 701 from Dubai and Air Mauritius Flight, MK 015 from Paris will land at SSRIA with a total of 331 passengers.

On Friday 3rd September 2021, Turkish Airlines, TK 176 from Turkey, Kenya Airways, KQ 270 from Nairobi and Air Mauritius Flight, MK 852 from Johannesburg will land at SSRIA with a total of 138 passengers.

After completion of all formalities, these passengers will be conveyed directly to Hotels/Resorts/Quarantines.

The public is hereby reminded that access to SSRIA is prohibited and consequently the relatives of passengers concerned are advised to refrain from calling thereat.

Partager et informez vous aussi......

0 shares Share

Tweet

LinkedIn

Articles similaires
Le Dr Renganaden Payayachy a repondu a une question parlementaire du depute du MMM de la 19e circonscription. destinee au ministre de la Sante, lors de la seance parlementaire du 29 mars 2022.

B/23 The Honourable Second Member for Stanley and Rose Hill (Mr Nagalingum)

To ask Dr the Honourable Minister of Health and Wellness 

Whether, in regard to the COVID-19 pandemic, he will state the quantum of funds received from the levy of Rs2 per litre on MOGAS and Gasoil for the purchase of vaccines and since the application of the said levy to date, indicating the quantum thereof disbursed as at to date?

Monsieur le President,

Jai ete informe par la State Trading Corporation que le prelevement de 2,00 roupies par litre sur lessence et le diesel est en application depuis le 1er juillet 2021 afin de permettre a tous les citoyens de ce pays davoir acces gratuitement aux vaccins contre la Covid-19.

Le National COVID-19 Vaccination Programme Fund a recu un montant de 372 937 550 roupies de la STC.

Le montant total a ete transfere au Ministere de la Sante et du Bien-etre pour lachat des vaccins contre la COVID-19.

Partager et informez vous aussi......

0 shares Share

Tweet

LinkedIn

Articles similaires
Brave. Heroic

They were the citizen fliers of Americas greatest generation who, propelled by duty, honor and love of country, sacrificed all in defense of America in the earliest, darkest days of World War II.

Their story is extraordinary, for these founding members of Civil Air Patrol  more than 1,500 strong  performed the most amazing feats. They hunted Nazi U-boats and chased them from Americas shores. They searched for the lost. They saved lives. They made a profound difference.

Inspired by the highest sense of patriotism and pride, these fearless aviators relentlessly flew up and down the Atlantic and Gulf coastlines to protect their homeland. Without their coastal patrols during the first 18 months of the war, who knows what might have happened. The marauding Nazi submarines were using torpedoes to sink ships, barges and oil tankers in Americas shipping lanes, almost at will. And the United States Navy and Army did not have the ships, aircraft or manpower to prevent the attacks. From January to March 1942, 52 tankers were sunk, often within sight of civilians on shore.

The economic impact, not to mention the number of lives lost, was quickly adding up, prompting Army General George C. Marshall to say, The losses by submarines off our Atlantic seaboard and in the Caribbean now threaten our entire war effort.

Something had to be done to stop the carnage. The stage was set for these civilian founders to come to the aid of their country.

In response to the ever-increasing submarine attacks, the Tanker Committee of the Petroleum Industry War Council urged the Navy Department and the War Department to consider the use of CAP to help patrol Americas sea lanes. While the Navy initially rejected this suggestion, the Army decided it had merit, and the coastal patrols began in earnest in March 1942. By late March 1942, the Navy also began using the services of CAP.

Oil companies and other organizations provided funds to help pay for some CAP operations, including vitally needed shore radios for monitoring the missions. But most of the aircraft and emergency equipment were furnished by the civilians who had taken up the cause of defending Americas shores. Their mission was to report enemy subs to the military and to drive them farther underwater, where they would be forced to slow down and use their limited battery power.

So many subs were spotted that the decision was soon made to arm CAPs light aircraft with small bombs and its larger aircraft with 325-pound depth charges.

The planes of these subchasers  mostly Stinsons and Fairchilds  were painted red and yellow with special markings (a blue circle with a white triangle) to identify them as CAP aircraft. They were equipped with only a compass for navigation and a single radio for communication.

Patrols were conducted up to 60 miles off shore, generally with two planes flying together. Flights were made daily despite the weather, and in all seasons, including the winter, when ditching an aircraft in cold seas could mean certain death to the aircrews.

Emergency equipment was often lacking, particularly during the earliest patrols, where inner tubes and kapok duck hunter vests were carries as flotation devices. At the time, ocean-worthy wet suits, life vests and life rafts were unavailable.

Despite these conditions, the patrols were an immediate success. Renowned subchaser Eddie Edwards was perhaps the first CAP pilot to spot a Nazi U-boat. As instructed, he radioed the subs position to naval forces, prompting the vessel to crash-dive and head farther out to sea, where it was less of a menace to the nations shipping.

The subchasers flew daily from dawn to dusk, logging more than 24 million miles from 21 Coastal Patrol bases along Americas shores. They hunted U-boats from Maine to Mexico. And they were quite successful, reporting 173 suspected subs and attacking 57.

Their effectiveness at deterring coastal U-boat operations was instrumental in eventually making Civil Air Patrol the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force. By mid-July 1942, German Adm. Karl Doenitz, commander of all Nazi U-boats, withdrew his last submarines from Americas shores after increasing losses and reduced success against merchant traffic.

Along with his notoriety as one of the very first subchasers, Edwards held celebrity status within CAP as one of the first two Coastal Patrol pilots awarded the Air Medal for heroism during World War II. He and his commanding officer, Maj. Hugh R. Sharp Jr., each received the medal in February 1943 after President Roosevelt heard of their daring rescue of a fellow airman downed in bitterly cold high seas off Maryland.

Edwards, in an interview in 2006, clearly remembered the rescue of 1st Lt. Henry Cross, which earned him the medal and subchaser fame. I got the call that one of our planes was down, and Maj. Sharp asked me to go with him, Edwards said. We had no trouble finding the crash site. We spotted a body, so we made an emergency landing and fished him out. He was alive, but we never found the other guy.

The rescue on July 21, 1942, required that Edwards and Sharp land their aircraft, a Sikorsky S-39 single-engine amphibian piloted by Sharp, in 8- to 10-foot-high swells, which crushed the left pontoon. So, to get back to Base 2, Edwards accomplished a daring feat by climbing out onto the right wing and using his weight to level the plane. He clung there, half-frozen, through the night until early the next day when a Coast Guard boat water-taxied the unflyable aircraft to shore.

Though Edwards and Sharp were the first civilians to receive the Air Medal, they were joined by others from their own ranks. In 1948, 824 Air Medals were presented to CAP members.

The coastal patrols stood down in Aug. 31, 1943, but the fledgling organizations other World War II missions continued. While Air Medals were issued for some of those participating in the coastal patrols, little other recognition was forthcoming for the myriad of humanitarian services CAPs volunteers provided during the war.

We who served asked for nothing in return and got nothing, said former U.S. Rep. Lester Wolff, D-N.Y., who commanded a CAP squadron based at Mitchell Field on Long Island, N.Y., during World War II.

Often, it was a perilous task, Wolff said, recalling the loss of one of his squadron members. Remember; many of these civilian planes, though not built specifically for the task, had bombs and depth charges strapped to them.

Sixty-eight CAP members died  26 of them lost at sea  as a result of the war effort.

CAP Col. Robert Arn flew anti-sub missions out of Coastal Patrol Base No. 14 in Panama City, Fla., from September 1942 to June 1943. Of the 12 original pilots he served with at Panama City, we lost six of them, said Arn, who flew 179 missions totaling 557 hours of flight time over the Gulf of Mexico.

I think with the aircraft we had, which werent built to go out over the Gulf of Mexico, we were able to do a job and do it well, he said.

So many people forget that our little effort contributed so much, especially in terms of providing protection for shipping, said Wolff.

The coastal patrol service helped force the German Navy to move further offshore. It was a significant result from a newly formed civilian organization.

The success of the coastal patrols spawned other missions on behalf of the war effort with thousands more joining the cause. Forest fire patrols, disaster relief, medical evacuation, radar training missions and observation flights to check the effectiveness of blackouts, industrial camouflage and smokescreens were but a handful of the other operations completed by the CAP.

Nationwide, CAP quickly established itself as a vital resource to the military and communities across the nation. These included 20,500 missions involving towing aerial gunnery targets for live-fire antiaircraft gunnery training and nighttime tracking missions for searchlights.

Along the Rio Grande, CAP aircraft flew 30,000 hours to prevent illegal border crossings and report any unusual activities. A courier service serving three major Army Air Forces commands carried over 3.5 million pounds of cargo, flying more than 20,000 miles daily. A search and rescue service used CAP air and ground units to searching isolated mountains and forested terrain for lost military aircraft.

The citizens who served in CAP came from all walks of life. Some were rich, bringing along their own planes. Others were not, but they all had a common thread: They were all volunteers eager to serve their country.

Their ranks, more than 200,000 strong at wars end, included not only ordinary men, women and teenagers in communities throughout the country but also such prominent figures as a noted Hollywood director and a world-famous pianist, a Munchkin from The Wizard of Oz and a sitting state governor, a storied Wall Street financier and a pioneering African-American female aviator, future Tuskegee Airmen, the head of a major brewery and founder of a famous doughnut chain.





Notably, Civil Air Patrol served as a pioneering opportunity for the nations women to serve the nation in uniform. Through CAP, countless women wore a uniform on behalf of their nation, representing a catalyst for increasing female participation in civil aviation. More than half of the Womens Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) served in CAP during some part of the war. So did many of the members of the Womens Army Corps (WAC), Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) and the Marine Corps Womens Reserve.

By 1944, one in four members of Civil Air Patrol was a woman, and they were flying important inland missions.

Beginning in October 1942, a CAP cadet program allowed young men and women from 15 to 18 to serve in the organization. The cadet program extended the benefits of the senior program and prepared many young men and women through CAP training for military service. In 1943, CAP worked with the Army Air Forces to recruit aviation cadets and allowed 17-year-old members of the Air Corps Enlisted Reserve to receive CAP training while awaiting call-up to active military duty.

By wars end, over 80,000 young Americans had served in CAP, providing the Army Air Forces with a pool of pilots and aircrew for the latter stages of the war and the postwar military.

CAPs success with coastal patrol and other military-supported operations contributed to its transfer by executive order in April 1943 from the Office of Civilian Defense to the War Department. As the auxiliary force of the Army Air Forces, CAP flew more than 750,000 hours with a total loss of 68 members and about 150 aircraft  a credit to the organizations emphasis on organization and safety.

So hats off to Civil Air Patrol! Well, not exactly.

That recognition would come later  70 years, to be exact.

I personally never gave it any more thought after the war, said Col. Steve Patti, who joined CAP in January 1942 and was stationed at Vail Field in Los Angeles. For five months he was assigned to the 12th Task Force Anti-Submarine Patrol in Brownsville and San Benito, Texas, as an aircraft mechanic. He also flew as a replacement observer on convoy escort, anti-sub, beach and border patrols, and later served at bases in Marfa and El Paso, Texas.

We did our job every day and we asked for nothing, he said. At the time, there was no thought of recognition; there was only the thought of getting the job done.

Patti and the other CAP volunteers who performed this highly unusual and extraordinary service, during a time of great need for the United States, just carried on with their lives after the war, not really expecting payback.

At least until 2014, when the U.S. House of Representatives followed the Senates lead and approved legislation to present the Congressional Gold Medal  the countrys highest civilian honor  to Civil Air Patrol for its World War II service.

Time is catching up, and at least there is still time for some of us to smell the flowers, said Wolff.

Its a great honor to be brought into the limelight of recognition, said Patti.

Wolff made the trip to Washington, D.C., where the medal was presented. If fact, he was on stage with the leaders of Congress and CAPs national commander, Maj. Gen. Joe Vazquez, accepting on behalf of the men and women of CAP who served during World War II. Unfortunately, a lot of their colleagues from CAPs earliest days were not. Most of them have passed, and less than 100 are still living today.

Regardless, their mission continues, even today. Because they were such an incredible force, their story will not be forgotten. These pioneering members of CAP forged the path of an army of todays volunteers that now serve as one of the nations premier humanitarian service organizations.

As the Air Force auxiliary, CAP provides essential emergency, operational and public service to all 50 states and more than 1,500 communities nationwide, as well as the federal government and the military. And, like their CAP counterparts, todays members are equal to any task, willing to risk life and limb in their missions for America. They, too, are courageous. And, they also perform amazing feats, much like their forefathers  saving lives, finding the lost, helping in times of disaster and working to keep the homeland safe.

The legacy of those brave, heroic subchasers from World War II lives on.



(Col. Frank A. Blazich Jr., CAPs chief national historian, and countless others contributed to this article.)




Bangladesh's elite security force on Thursday arrested five suspected members of a banned Islamist extremist outfit who it said were planning to break their leaders out of jail.

The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) said the men were members of the banned Harkatul Jihad al Islami (HuJI), whose leader Mufti Abdul Hannan this week had his death sentence upheld by the country's highest court.

The group is accused of orchestrating a series of deadly blasts targeting a Christian church, an Ahmadi Muslim mosque, and rallies of secular activists and communists.

"They (HuJI) remained inactive for a while and were trying to reorganise and plan attacks on law enforcers and prison vans to free their arrested leaders," RAB spokesman Mufti Mahmud Khan told reporters in a press briefing.

Bangladesh is reeling from a wave of attacks on foreigners, rights activists and members of religious minorities.

Many of those deadly attacks were claimed by the international terrorist outfit Islamic State (IS) and Al Qaeda.

But Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's secular government blames local militant groups, rejecting claims by the international groups.

Since a deadly attack in July on a Dhaka cafe in which gunmen killed 22 people -- mostly foreigners -- security forces have shot dead at least 40 Islamist militants.

HuJI was formed in 1992 by Bangladeshis who had fought in Afghanistan in the war against Soviet forces.

It was the first Islamist extremist group to emerge in the Muslim-majority nation of 160 million and it turned to deadly attacks after Hannan took over its leadership in the late 1990s.

The five were arrested in two separate raids in the southeastern city of Chittagong, which has not had suffered a militant attack since since October last year.

Khan said three of the arrests were made at a hideout from where the RAB had recovered 12 IEDs, handguns, ammunition and jihadi books.

On Wednesday the Bangladesh Supreme Court upheld the death sentence handed down to Hannan and two of his followers for a 2004 attack on the British ambassador that left three people dead.

They could now be hanged within months unless they seek a review of the apex court's verdict. But chances of overturning a death sentence in a review is extremely rare in Bangladesh's judicial history.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


Trump made big promises during his election campaign. However, nothing remains of them except what concerns Islam and Muslims

The political leanings of those who President elect Donald Trump picked for his national security team in the new American administration point out his intention to exploit the state of fear created by the recent election campaign amid the clear and antagonistic discourse towards Islam and Muslims.

This will be a main source of continuing and acquiring renewable legitimacy of President Trump. To start with, Trumps election agenda relied on several flashy deceptive promises that are difficult or impossible to execute! However, the easiest promise to execute with the least cost concerns the confrontation with Islam, not only confronting the radicals of the extremist groups.

Trumps discourse and message pumped new blood in the theory of the Clash of Civilisations after nearly quarter of a century of presenting it. Of course, any terrorist attack that will take place in the USA will facilitate President Trumps mission.

Last February, General Michael Flynn, the National Security Adviser nominee, tweeted: Fear from Muslims is logical. He asked his followers to disseminate his tweet. Last August, Flynn described Islam as cancer and he kept saying that Islam is a political ideology definitely hides behind being a religion.

Steve Bannon one of the most important Trump advisers mentioned that the West founded on Judeo-Christian beliefs started a bloody conflict with fascist Islam which threatens to exterminate us.

As for the Central Intelligence Agency director nominee and House of Representatives member Michael Pompeo, he spoke before a research center that thinks that President Barack Obama is a covert agent of the Muslim Brotherhood saying: The conflict expanded to include not only Muslims involved in act of violence and extremism.

He added: We shouldnt say that all Muslims are bad, but we have to expand the circle of suspicion in order to protect the security and safety of Americans.

The aforementioned does not differ in essence from what Trump himself said during an interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN in last March, when he stated Its very hard to separate between radical Islam and Islam. I think that Islam hates us.

Trump has spoken on several occasions afterwards about Islam and once he went on to call for a temporary ban on Muslims (1.6 billion people) entering the US as a preventive security procedure until measures be taken to protect Americans. He called for the necessity of recording Muslims entering the USA, screening them well and examining the degree of their proximity to extremist ideas.

Trumps campaign succeeded for a number of reasons, including his flashy, attractive promises. Trump promised to return thousands of jobs and the factories that closed its doors inside America and moved to lower production-cost countries, such as China, India, Mexico and other countries where businessmen get many tempting tax incentives.

Anyone who studied economic principles will perceive the impossibility of executing this election promise, especially in a capitalist country such as the US where politicians dont show the way to its businessmen but that businessmen are moved by their direct financial interest.

This point is connected with Trumps promises to abolish free trade treaties which facilitate trade between America and the rest of the world, especially the treaty concerning the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA).

Perhaps Trump may abolish the agreement, but he cant control the basically booming trade movement between the two sides where there are many uncountable benefits for both parties.

Trump also promised to lower taxes to be 15% only while at the same time pledges flashy promises for renewing the crumbling infrastructure of the US. It is impossible to fulfill both flashy promises simultaneously because the latter needs the former for expenditure.

One of the most important promises Trump has made was building a separating wall on the southern borders with Mexico and deporting 11 million illegal immigrants. Trump may succeed partially in this field. However, this wont be translated to a prosperous life for millions of angry Americans and it wont be reflected in creating millions of job opportunities.

The majority of the jobs which illegal immigrants perform most American citizens will not accept and are not attracted to.

Thus, nothing remains of Trumps big promises except what concerns Islam and Muslims. The promises partially reflect a conviction of the intellectual Samuel Huntingtons (I personally doubt that Trump knows him) theory about the clash of civilisations.

Huntington paid due attention to the Islamic World as a civilisation field that has a strategic location in the world and has burning points of contact with the West. But he didnt understand how Islam became widespread outside its birthplace in the Arabian Peninsula reaching the heart of Europe and the heart of China on one hand and how the European colonialism affected Islamic countries later and the effects this has left as a direct impact on the contact between the two parties.

On one hand, the twentieth century has complicated the nature of these relations, for the creation of Israel due to efforts of European countries at the beginning before America adopting it and making its security its own objective, had its impact on poisoning the relations with the Islamic peoples with the West.

On the other hand, millions of Arabs and Muslims moved to live in the West, which some estimate their numbers by forty million people. Between this and that the world knew the globalisation and the Information Technology Revolution.

Between this and the acts of violence performed by terrorist groups whose members belong to Islam emerged and became widespread.

Trump recalled the American identity conflict and recalled that America is a White Christian nation only. However, the danger of Trumps recall transcends other recalls due to Americas brimful track record with military interventions abroad and specifically in the Middle East, especially that if the expansion of radical groups adopting terrorism is continued.

When the intellectual Samuel Huntington emerged in 1993 with his theory about the clash of civilisations, many poured their anger on him. This man died in 2008 without the controversy concerning his thoughts phasing out for they have ignited universal debates because they touched a sensitive nerve regarding differences and repulsion among great civilisational masses.

Today, Trump has given the kiss of life to Huntington and his controversial and conflict-fueling thoughts.

The writer is a political analyst.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


The Marion City Council agreed unanimously Tuesday to make it easier for a brewery, meadery or taproom to open for business in the downtown. And they heard from three prospective entrepreneurs who wish to bring those types of businesses to Marion.

Its a beautiful downtown, said Jason Snyder, who plans to open a brewery in Marion. We would love to see some new life breathed into it.

In addition, the City Council agreed unanimously to call for a referendum next year that would remove further restrictions on these kinds of businesses. Morganton voters approved a similar change in their special election last year.

During Tuesdays regular meeting, the City Council held a public hearing regarding a change in Marions zoning rules for the Central Business District. This proposed change would add craft beverage businesses such as a brewery, winery, meadery, cidery, tasting room or taproom to locate as a permitted use in that district.

We are trying to create niche businesses in our downtown, said Planning Director Heather Cotton to City Council. Weve got several businesses that are interested in locating to our downtown.

Cotton added the craft beverage industry has had a significant economic impact in North Carolina. In 2012, Sierra Nevada, the second largest craft brewery in the country, looked at approximately 200 locations in multiple states for a new East Coast operation and narrowed it down to two sites including Marion and Mills River, wrote Cotton in a memo. While Marion was not selected, there has been significant interest in the community since that time to recruit a brewery of its own.

During the hearing, council heard from Charlie Myers, who is still looking to open a meadery in downtown Marion. We looking for some positive action, he said. Downtown Marion is in desperate need of more businesses.

They also heard from Snyder and his fiance Emily Causey who moved from Black Mountain to open a brewery here in Marion. They plan to start with a four-barrel brewhouse looking to produce a maximum of 800 barrels a year. They have not found a downtown location yet for their business but want it to be a family community-oriented kind of space.

After the hearing, council voted unanimously to change the zoning rules to add these businesses as permitted uses. Their action resulted in loud applause from the audience at City Hall.

Its got us energized, said Mayor Steve Little.

In addition, they heard a request from Sarah and Ryan Jacobs, who plan to open a taproom at 13 N. Main St. in the former Hernandez Ice Cream parlor. They dont have a date yet but it could be open by March.

We hope to open a craft beer taproom featuring beers from local breweries in Morganton, Lenoir, Asheville, Brevard and anywhere else in between, said Sarah Jacobs to council. Wed also like to serve wines from our local wineries and feature local art work on our walls. Our vision is that this will be a warm and inviting place where people come to relax and connect with friends or family.

She added there is still only one problem for their business. Even though the council changed the zoning rules, Marion is still under the restriction where the only places allowed to sell beer on-premises are hotels, motels and restaurants. They could get around this HMR restriction by opening their business as a private club, which has expensive permits and cumbersome record keeping. The couple said they dont want their business to be a private club but rather have it as all inclusive.

The other option is to have a public vote to remove these restrictions in Marion.

Sarah and Ryan Jacobs asked the City Council to call for a referendum on removing the HMR restrictions, adding neighboring towns and cities are doing the same thing.

Most recently Morganton voted on this and they are seeing lots of economic growth and success specifically at a business like ours would be  Brown Mountain Bottleworks, said Sarah Jacobs.

City Manager Bob Boyette said Brown Mountain Bottleworks in Morganton had to open first as a private club and then last year, voters there did away with the HMR restrictions.

He said Wednesday the vast majority of cities and towns in western North Carolina allow for full on-premises sale of beer and wine with no restrictions. These include Asheville, Black Mountain, Brevard, Conover, Elkin, Forest City, Hendersonville, Hickory, Lincolnton, Mooresville, Morganton, Mount Airy, Newton, North Wilkesboro, Rutherfordton, Statesville, Tryon, Valdese, Waynesville and Weaverville. Marion now allows for the on-premises sale of beer and wine only in hotels, motels, restaurants and private clubs. A handful of other cities, such as Banner Elk, Boone, Franklin and Spruce Pine, are in this category, according to Boyette.

I really believe that if we could vote to remove the HMR restrictions that our city would see new growth and economic benefits, said Sarah Jacobs. I just saw a hole in our community. All of our friends who like to do this go to Asheville or Morganton. I really believe it would help our community.

Other people in the audience were there to show their support as well. They included McDowell Chamber of Commerce Director Steve Bush, Tegan Strautmann and Joey Sacco of Turtle Laboratories and Rachel Withrow of the Crooked Door Coffee House.

No one is going to downtown Marion, said Myers. Weve got to change that.

Jacob Blair, one of Withrows employees and a craft beer enthusiast, voiced his strong support as well.

Councilwoman Juanita Doggett said she was happy to see the support of not only local business owners but younger adults who want to make Marion more vibrant and exciting.

Its great to see the younger people here come to support this, said Doggett. We need to tap into our younger people.

After hearing this request, the City Council voted unanimously to ask for a public vote that will allow the full on-premise sale of beer and wine in Marion. This action also drew applause from the audience.

Boyette said the city will work with the McDowell County Board of Elections on this request and to schedule the referendum. This special election could be held in the spring. It would be limited to Marion residents only.

Mayor Pro Tem Billy Martin told the audience that despite what they may hear or read the city of Marion is not holding back progress.

We are not the problem, said Martin. We are looking for development in Marion.

The time is now, said Little. It has come.

In another downtown development, Cotton reported to council about the Moving Up in Marion initiative. This project focuses on developing empty upper-level spaces in downtown buildings and making them into apartments for downtown living. She said 30 people showed up at the Depot for a recent meeting about upper-level housing. And 15 property owners participated in walk-throughs with architects about how their buildings can be adapted for residential uses.

Cotton said she and other city officials will type up reports and inform these property owners about taking advantage of historic district tax credits.

We are this close to bringing in a whole new group of people wanting to live in the downtown, said Little.

In other business, the Marion City Council:

 Agreed to reopen Mount Ida Wilderness Area now that the burning ban is lifted. Boyette said the park will reopen on Friday, after it has been checked out.

 Recognized employees in the Public Works Departments Utility Maintenance Division for achieving certification. These employees are Scott Costner, Travis Mace, Adam Bates and Gary Cook.

 Approved the purchase of a budgeted rear-load packer garbage truck, to replace the 2002 rear load packer. The new truck will be purchased through the N.C. Sheriff's Association procurement program, from Amick Equipment, Inc. of Mebane for $165,496, which is below the estimated price of $188,000. The City Council also accepted the low bid for the financing of the truck from U.S. Bancorp. The truck will be financed at 1.93 percent over five years.

 Approved the purchase of budgeted payroll software from Black Mountain Software. The software costs will be $9,953, which is below the budgeted amount of $13,000.

 Presented Don Ramsey with his five-year pin of being a member of the City Council.
Getting paramedics to a site of an injury can often be challenging if the stricken person is on top of a cliff, in a forest, or some other hard to reach place. Italo Subbarao, DO, senior associate dean at William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine, and Guy Paul Cooper Jr., a med student at the college, and others, developed the new drone delivery system that can ferry emergency supplies and a communication system to allow nearby people to treat patients with help of remote physicians.

The system was demonstrated two days ago at the John Bell Airport in Bolton, Mississippi in front of the Governor of that state, as well as officials from the Federal government as well as from the United Nations.

The HiRO (Health Integrated Rescue Operations) drone system delivers a case that includes medical supplies as well as a cellular-connected Google Glass smart glasses. A person near the stricken patient is expected to put on the glasses, which send the video in front of them to a remote physician. The physician can then see whats going on and lead the deputized civilian through the necessary treatment steps that utilize the supplies in the case.

The HiRO has so far been tried with two package types. One designed to treat a single person, while another meant for mass casualty events.

Check out this video that shows how the system is meant to work:

Via: American Osteopathic Association
Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist - Kinshasa

Monitoring and Evaluation Coordination Contract (MECC)

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Company Profile:

MSI, a Tetra Tech Company, is an international development firm based in the Washington, DC metroarea with a 35-year history of delivering development results across the world. Our core expertise is in the fields of monitoring and evaluation (M&E), institutional development, public sector management, governance and anti-corruption. MSI implements nearly 100 projects in 90 countries around the world such as Jordan, Morocco, Lebanon, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Colombia, and Mexico. As one of the leading companies in our field, MSI has partnered with more than 80 organizations across all sectors of international development with clients ranging from large bilateral and multilateral donors such as USAID, the World Bank and the UNDP to national and local governments, NGOs, think tanks, foundations and universities. For more information on MSI, please visit our website at www.msiworldwide.com.

Project Summary:

The Monitoring and Evaluation Coordination Contract (MECC) is a five-year project to support USAID and DFID in multiple sectors in DRC. MECC has offices in Kinshasa, Bukavu, and Lubumbashi.

**Please note: Only Congolese citizens are eligible for this position**

Position Summary:

MSI seeks a Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist to support a wide range of evaluation activities under Component 2, focusing on Education, of the MECC Project in Kinshasa. The M&E Specialist will report to the Senior Education Specialist/Deputy Chief of Party (SES/DCOP) in Kinshasa.

Period of Performance:

The period of performance will be from December 12, 2016  December 2020. MSI will issue a yearly contract per each completed year.

Responsibilities:

Work closely with the SES/DCOP to provide advice and guidance on all monitoring and evaluation-related elements of MECC, including providing input on the annual work plan, the PMP development process, and monitoring and evaluation processes for Component 2

Be responsible for the development and oversight of M&E plans and systems for the Joint Education Program

Ensure consistency in definitions and tracking systems used by the Joint Education Program and implementers for standard indicators

Review the strength of data collection and tracking systems by implementers and make recommendations for improved data security and validity

Work closely with the MECC M&E Specialist to collect accurate and timely data for the performance evaluation of the Joint Education Program

Develop aggregate progress reports for submission to prime/donor

Provide ad-hoc performance updates to prime/donor as needed

Conceptualize, design trainings in M&E systems, skills and practices for the Joint Education Program and implementing partners

Oversee the design, quality, development and completion of all monitoring and assessment activities for Component 2

Design monitoring and evaluation systems, participatory data collection methods and protocols, data verification techniques, and other technical evaluation and analytical tasks

And any other tasks required by the leadership of the project

Qualifications:

Masters or higher university degree in economics, public policy, statistics, political science, public policy, or relevant field.

Experience in performance monitoring, including: indicator development, data collection and reporting.

Experience participating on evaluations teams for performance evaluations.

Familiarity with USAID policies related to evaluation and performance management preferred.

Knowledge of best practices regarding gender integration in program design and evaluation.

Fluent French required and good written and oral communication skills in English preferred.

Only candidates who have been selected for an interview will be contacted. No phone calls, please.

MSI is an EEO/AA/ADA Veterans Employer.
by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, December 7, 2016

In the earliest days of television, when broadcasters transmitted programs over the air, they couldn't collect much information about the viewers who watched the shows.

New "smart TVs," however, which connect to the Web, are able to collect and transmit data about viewers. But this capability may raise questions about whether the TVs are violating consumers' privacy -- especially because not all viewers realize that smart TVs transmit data.

The Federal Trade Commission explored those questions at a seminar on Wednesday afternoon.

"It matters whether consumers think of their Smart TV as a PC or a television," FTC consumer bureau protection head Jessica Rich said at the event's kickoff.

"From the moment we bought our first personal computer, there was data collection and data-driven advertising," Rich said, adding that people now expect at least some data collection online.

advertisement advertisement

"By contrast," she continued, "the television industry did not evolve with data collection as a critical component."

Panelists at Wednesday's discussion explored a range of issues surrounding smart TVs and data collection, including consumer attitudes toward connected devices, and whether self-regulation by the industry can adequately address privacy risks posed by smart TVs.

Serge Egelman, a University of California, Berkeley privacy expert who has researched consumers' beliefs about connected devices, said people "don't expect their TVs to be recording their viewing habits."

Egelman also expressed doubt over whether industry groups could address privacy concerns through self-regulatory codes.

"Self-regulation in the privacy space has been an abject failure," he said, adding that many online privacy policies are difficult to comprehend.

"I'm not saying we need new regulations to regulate how data is shared," added. "But we do need to do much better in terms of disclosure."

Emmett OKeefe, the Direct Marketing Association's senior vice president of advocacy, countered that the industry offers a "robust system" for providing notice, choice and control. The current industry approach requires companies to use the "AdChoices" icon to inform consumers about online tracking. Clicking on that icon also enables Web users to navigate to sites where they can opt out of receiving behaviorally targeted ads.

The DMA on Wednesday released a report advocating a self-regulatory approach. "Next-Generation TV is a prime candidate for a self-regulatory framework that applies a consistent set of reasonable data practices across diverse actors," the report states.

Participants at Wednesday's seminar also discussed how current laws, including the federal Video Privacy Protection Act, might apply to smart TVs.

Vizio is facing a potential class-action lawsuit for allegedly violating that law by tracking TV viewers and then sharing data about them with companies that send targeted ads to people's phones, tablets and other devices. The Video Privacy Protection Act, passed in 1988, prohibits video providers from disclosing "personally identifiable information" about people's video-viewing history without their explicit consent.

Vizio also says the information it allegedly disclosed -- including IP addresses, MAC (media access control) addresses, and product serial numbers -- isn't personally identifiable.

The judge presiding over the lawsuit has not yet ruled on either issue.
by Philip Rosenstein , Staff Writer, December 8, 2016

Polling in 2016 was a news driver throughout the election cycle. Donald Trump often touted the polls when they were in his favor and attacked them as rigged when they were not.

In campaign emails, Hillary Clinton told supporters not to feel overconfident or extra worried because of polls, pleading for grassroots support, despite often leading among various poll aggregators.

Outlets like FiveThirtyEight that live and die by data and polling saw their traffic shoot through the roof to become around the 500th most-visited site in the world, having been down at about 2,600 at the beginning of 2016.

Major pollsters had Hillary Clinton winning the election, and in one sense they got it right -- Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by over 2.5 million votes. In another and vastly more consequential sense, pollsters had it wrong -- Donald Trump comprehensively won the Electoral College, despite many crucial states being extreme close.

advertisement advertisement

We didnt do national polls, we did polling only in the states, Tony Fabrizio, the Trump campaigns top pollster told The Pollsters podcast last week, at the Harvard post-mortem that brought together top Clinton and Trump aides.

We did aggregated of the battleground states, and we did state-specific, continued Fabrizio.

Joel Benenson, top Clinton pollster and former Obama pollster, who was also on the podcast, explained what he saw as the biggest issue with polling: The problem is we have an epidemic of polling, the media is covering them all like tracking polls.

As a shot at many of the polling aggregators out there, he added that if each news organization only reported on their own polls they would be infinitely better off.

[Public] pollsters on the national level were more right now in this election, as it turns out, than they were in 2012, when they had Mitt Romney winning, said Benenson.

How do pollsters measure the outcome of elections more accurately, when the raw numbers can produce such varied outcomes, and certain demographic shifts are poorly modeled?

Magid, a research-based consulting firm, suggests that instead of taking an up-and-down vote on the candidates, pollsters take more of a survey approach.

We often ask a series of questions about what respondents believe, hoping to better understand response biases, Brent Magid told Red, White & Blog. From the responses, we get a deeper understanding of voters emotional constructs, from that we can index against polling data and get a multidimensional and more accurate understanding of the state of a race.

Taking a hybrid approach with both survey and raw polling data within one model, while more expensive and time-consuming, could improve outcomes and more accurately predict the outcome of elections going forward.

The pollsters were wrong in 2016, but they werent so wrong that we should now discount polling going forward. Many pollsters may have underestimated the groundswell of support for Trump, inaccurately weighing groups, such as white working-class voters in key states.

After all, polls are only as reliable as the information people feed them.
by Jess Nelson , December 8, 2016

One of the foremost themes of this years MediaPost Email Insider Summit was the central role of email in a brands marketing stack.

Email is not just a survivor -- its the king of your IT infrastructure, said Chris Marriott, president of Marketing Democracy, while discussing how the phrase 'email is dead' should long be forgotten in a panel discussion to close out the conference.

Kay Kerman, manger of email and CRM strategy at the Childrens Medical Center in Dallas, agreed that email plays an integral role in digital marketing. Its the social security number of the new and coming universe, she says.

Personalized marketing is impossible without the data necessary to create relevant campaigns, and most marketers are now building customer profiles around email addresses. By a show of hands, the vast majority of attendees at MediaPosts Email Insider Summit leverage email as their primary source of customer identification.

advertisement advertisement

Describing email as a digital social security number became a mantra often repeated in the conference rooms of the Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City, UT.

High-performing marketing teams are 13.7 times more likely to create a single view of customers, according to Salesforces 2016 State of Marketing Report. A poll of 4,000 marketers illustrated how 64% of self-identifying top-performing marketing departments responded that they were excellent at creating a single view of a customer. On the opposite end of the spectrum, only 4% of underperforming marketing teams responded that they were excellent at creating a single, holistic customer profile.

Eight out of ten marketers surveyed by Salesforce responded that email was core to driving revenue for their business, and 83% of top-performing marketers asserted that they use customer data, including email, to segment and target digital advertising.

Emails role in a marketing stack has jumped in alignment with its increased monetization, said Kerman, and weve used it to enhance the customer experience.

More and more companies are now saying that theyre a customer-first company, said Morgan Stewart, co-founder and CEO of Trendline Interactive. Weve been talking about it for years, but now its actually becoming true.
Developing a broader skill of empathy is a more realistic goal for medical students and doctors than urging them to be more compassionate. Writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Dr David Jeffrey, an honorary lecturer in palliative medicine at the Centre for Population Health Sciences in Edinburgh, says that doctors are at risk not only of personal distress but eventually burnout if their feelings of sympathy and compassion for patients override the more nuanced stance of empathy.

Dr Jeffrey writes that empathy is generally regarded an essential component of the doctor-patient relationship but doctors have always struggled to achieve a balance between empathy and clinical distance. "The central question seems to be how to empathise without becoming overwhelmed and burning out?"

Current concern about a deficit of empathy in clinical practice is mirrored in medical undergraduate education, where there is some evidence of a decline in empathy as students move through their training.

Dr Jeffrey suggests a broad model of empathy, which could replace the vaguer concepts of sympathy and compassion. This, he says, would enable improvements in patient care, psycho-social research and medical education.

"Empathy starts with curiosity and imagination", writes Dr Jeffrey. "Doctors need to imagine being the patient undergoing the patient's experience, rather than imagining themselves undergoing the patient's experience. This more sophisticated approach requires mental flexibility, an ability to regulate one's emotions and to suppress one's own perspective in the patient's interests."

Article: Empathy, sympathy and compassion in healthcare: Is there a problem? Is there a difference? Does it matter? David Jeffrey, doi: 10.1177/0141076816680120, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, published 7 December 2016.
The tuberculosis vaccine is well known to help protect against other infectious diseases, as well as cancer, but the exact mechanisms have not been clear. A study published in Cell Reports now shows that the broad-spectrum effects of the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine - the most widely used vaccine in the world - could be mediated by metabolic and epigenetic changes in white blood cells called monocytes through a process called trained immunity. This discovery could pave the way for strategies that combine immunological and metabolic stimulation to boost the effectiveness of vaccines and anti-cancer therapies.

"The implications of these findings are double: On the one hand, we have uncovered new biological interactions that link cellular metabolism with immune responses, and on the other hand, we have opened the door for new therapeutic approaches in which metabolism modulators modulate innate immune responses and can serve as potential novel immunotherapies," says senior study author Mihai Netea of Radboud University Medical Center. "However, what it is important to realize is that this is the beginning of the process to bring this to clinical practice, and more studies are needed for that."

Many epidemiological studies have demonstrated BCG's capacity to protect against infections other than tuberculosis. For example, early administration of the BCG vaccine reduces child mortality, mainly due to a reduction in lower respiratory infections and harmful immune responses triggered by infections. BCG is also used to treat bladder cancer and appears to be beneficial in several other conditions, including asthma and parasitic diseases. However, it has not been clear exactly how BCG exerts its wide-ranging effects.

To address this question, Netea and his team examined BCG-induced metabolic changes in innate immune cells called monocytes. They found that vaccination induced a strong, long-lasting increase in glycolysis and, to a lesser extent, glutamine metabolism in mice and humans. This shift in glucose metabolism toward glycolysis was necessary to trigger trained immunity. This process relies on epigenetic changes, which affect gene activity without altering the DNA sequence, to enhance the ability of innate immune cells to recognize and mount more effective responses against previously encountered pathogens.

Specifically, BCG-induced metabolic changes were required to induce modifications to proteins called histones, which act as scaffolds around which DNA wraps. In the human cohorts, single-nucleotide variations in genes encoding glycolysis enzymes affected the induction of trained immunity in monocytes. Taken together, the results show that cellular metabolism reprogramming is a central process involved in BCG-induced trained immunity.

"These findings change the concept that the innate immune system cannot adapt in the long-term after an infection or vaccination," Netea says. "The whole concept that the function of innate immune cells can change in a stable way, for example, being improved by certain vaccines such as BCG, is a paradigm shift in immunology, as until not too long ago it was assumed that only the adaptive immune system can adapt to previous infections or vaccinations."

Host immune responses are classically divided into innate immune responses, which react rapidly and nonspecifically upon encountering a pathogen, and adaptive immune responses, which are slower to develop but are specific and build up immunological memory, Netea explains. The discovery of trained immunity has challenged the dogma that only adaptive immunity can build immunological memory.

According to Netea, the next step is to conduct a bigger, broader analysis of circulating monocytes in BCG-vaccinated individuals at risk for infections. "In the future, bigger studies should assess inter-individual variation in these responses, in order to be able to identify which factors influence vaccination responses at the level of a person," Netea says. "In the end, a better understanding of BCG-induced trained immunity could lead to the development of strategies that alter cellular metabolism pathways to improve human host defense mechanisms and boost the effectiveness of vaccines and immunotherapy in patients."

The researchers were supported by the European Research Council; the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research; the Northern Portugal Regional Operational Programme, under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund; and the Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia.
Largest randomized trial finds second round of chemotherapy or stem cell transplant does not improve progression-free survival.

Trial results being presented during the 58th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition in San Diego suggest two therapies that are often added to standard therapy in patients with multiple myeloma do not improve rates of progression-free survival compared with the current standard course of treatment alone. The study is the largest randomized controlled trial of post-transplant therapy for multiple myeloma ever conducted in the United States.

Multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells - cells that exist in the bone marrow that help fight infection - that is diagnosed in about 30,000 people per year in the United States. For physically fit individuals below age 70, standard care consists of three components: 1) A course of initial therapy with combinations of proteasome inhibitors, thalidomide analogues, corticosteroids and alkylating agents, then high doses of the chemotherapy drug melphalan to kill cancer cells, 2) transplantation of the patient's own hematopoietic stem cells (autoHCT) to help rebuild the immune system, and 3) ongoing treatment with the chemotherapy drug lenalidomide to prevent cancer from returning. Over the past decade, many doctors have added to this regimen either by incorporating an additional intensive three-drug course of chemotherapy after autoHCT (including the drugs dexamethasone and bortezomib in addition to lenalidomide), or by adding a second round of autoHCT.

"These results are very important because they answer a question that has been ongoing and has not been compared head-to-head: 'Does the addition of these interventions result in a true advantage for these patients?'" said lead study author Edward A. Stadtmauer, MD, of the Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. "The conclusion of this study, so far, is that the other interventions are not superior to initial melphalan therapy followed by a single autoHCT followed by lenalidomide maintenance."

The researchers, participating in a national collaborative effort of 54 centers, enrolled 758 patients and randomly assigned them to receive either standard care, standard care plus additional chemotherapy, or standard care plus a second round of autoHCT. With almost all patients nearing the end of follow-up, the study's Data and Safety Monitoring Board released the current results. The results showed no difference among the three groups in terms of the study's primary endpoint-38-month survival without disease progression, as indicated by intent-to-treat - with progression-free survival observed in 52 percent, 57 percent, and 56 percent of patients in each of the three treatment arms, respectively.

The final analysis and the analysis of secondary outcomes including quality of life indicators, the degree of disease response, and evidence of toxicity will be available after all patients have completed 38 months of follow-up.

"Despite remarkable advances in the therapy and outlook for patients with multiple myeloma over the last decade, ultimately many patients will have their disease progress. So, there's always room for improvement," said Dr. Stadtmauer. "New therapies and interventions need to be actively investigated to see how much they further benefit the early treatment of patients with myeloma; I believe that the results of this study suggest it would be reasonable to compare any new treatments to the standard therapy of melphalan followed by a single autoHCT followed by lenalidomide maintenance."

The researchers will track patients in a follow-up study to assess long-term trends and outcomes.
ATEX International Exhibitions are pleased to have launched the first edition of Men's Health Exhibition & Conference, the region's leading congress for men's healthcare on 15-16 October 2017 at the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel, Dubai, United Arab Emirates supported by the Ministry of Health, Emirates Medical Association, Emirates Urological Society, Dubai Health Authority and Dubai Healthcare City.

Men's Health Exhibition & Conference 2016 provided a platform for healthcare professionals and decision makers from around the MENA region to meet, connect, exchange knowledge and conduct business in 2 days.

The CME-accredited conferences presented an agenda totally focused on men's health and various issues facing men within the region. The conferences also featured new treatments, medicines and technology that are paving the way for more men to be cured and lead a full life.

We would like to thank all our 2016 sponsors, supporters, exhibitors, event and media partners. GCC's healthcare market is expected to reach $71 billion by 2020, a 76 per cent increase from $40.3 billion in 2015. A contributing factor is the continuous demand on improving men's health and a higher demand for availability of new products and medical treatment for men related illnesses in the region.

We hope to see you on next year's edition of Men's Health Exhibition & Conference on 16-17 October, 2017 at the Emirates Ballroom, JW Marriott Marquis Hotel, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Patients wait an average of four months before seeking a cancer diagnosis, researchers report at the ESMO Asia 2016 Congress in Singapore. Some patients waited less than a week before seeing a doctor while others waited three years.

"Delaying diagnosis had a significant impact on the treatment eventually received by patients in our study," said lead author Dr Raviteja Miriyala, senior resident, Department of Radiotherapy and Oncology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India. "Patients with longer delays before diagnosis were more likely to receive palliative, rather than curative, treatment because they had advanced disease - and are likely to have poorer outcomes."

Early diagnosis and treatment improve the outcome of most cancers. This study analysed causes of delays and the impact on treatment. A prospective audit was conducted of all 162 cancer patients referred by primary care physicians to the Department of Radiotherapy and Oncology in Chandigarh during one month. The following dates were recorded for each patient: first cancer related symptom noticed by patient, first consultation with primary care physician, first oncology consultation, date therapy began (and intent of therapy - curative or palliative).

Three delay intervals were calculated: patient approaching primary care physician (patient delay), primary care physician diagnosing/referring to oncologist (physician delay), and oncologist starting treatment (oncologist delay). Multivariate analysis revealed the demographic and socioeconomic factors contributing to the delay, and the impact of this delay on treatment.

There was an average total delay of about six months between the first symptom and the initiation of treatment. Patients and primary care physicians contributed statistically significant delays - an average of four months and three weeks, respectively. Oncologists delayed for an average of ten days but this did not significantly contribute to the overall delay.

Dr Miriyala said: "Patients were found to be the source of most delays in diagnosis - some waited less than a week before seeing a doctor but others waited three years. Less educated patients were significantly less likely to get an early consultation with their doctor than those with higher education. Campaigns are needed to increase patient awareness about symptoms and screening."

Some primary care physicians delayed up to five years before referring patients to an oncologist, instead treating patients for "presumed non-malignant conditions". Dr Miriyala said: "About 25% of patients waited more than one month for their physician to refer them. Doctors in rural areas had significantly longer delays, suggesting that referral systems need improvement. Mandatory continuing medical education (CME) could increase doctors' awareness about early diagnosis and referral, as could more oncology teaching hours and rotations in the undergraduate curriculum."

About 6% of patients experienced delays of more than one month before their oncologist started treatment. Oncologist delay was significantly correlated to the disease site, with longer delays for head and neck cancer and shorter delays for brain tumours.

Dr Miriyala said: "This can be attributed to the diagnosis and staging requirements for different malignancies. Most head and neck cancers require endoscopic assessments and biopsies before initiation of treatment, resulting in longer delays, while diagnosis is made after therapeutic surgery for most brain tumours, resulting in shorter delays. Cancers (like brain tumours) that present as medical or surgical emergencies are more likely to be addressed earlier. Improving the quality and quantity of infrastructure at tertiary centres would help reduce the oncologists' delay."

Patients with longer delays were significantly more likely to receive palliative treatment than those with shorter delays. Dr Miriyala said: "Outcomes were not evaluated in our study but it is common knowledge that treatment with palliative intent leads to inferior outcomes compared to that with curative intent. Our research suggests that reducing delays might improve outcomes for cancer patients."

Commenting on the findings, Dr Sing-Huang Tan, senior consultant, Department of Haematology-Oncology, National University Cancer Institute, Singapore (NCIS), said: "Patients may delay seeking medical care because of failure to recognise symptoms, family or work commitments, or anxiety and fear. Patients in certain parts of Asia in particular may have ingrained cultural beliefs or preferences to self-medicate with traditional treatments, poor access to healthcare, or socioeconomic limitations which could hypothetically lead to long delays before seeing a doctor."

"Primary healthcare providers are sometimes faced with diagnostic dilemmas when a patient presents with ambiguous symptoms," continued Dr Tan. "A large majority of cancers present symptomatically, but symptoms may be subtle especially in the early stages in certain cancer types such as gastric, pancreatic or ovarian cancers, as opposed to say a more obvious palpable mass such as in breast cancer."

Dr Tan concluded: "This study highlights the perils of diagnostic delays and how they can lead to changes in treatment intent and presumably ultimately affect cancer outcomes. It is important to educate the general public to recognise suspicious symptoms which demand medical help, and to go for screening tests such as those that identify breast, colon and cervical cancers before symptoms develop."

Abstract 567P_PR - 'Diagnostic delay in oncology: Is there a need for increasing cancer awareness among primary care physicians of developing countries?' will be presented by Dr Raviteja Miriyala during the Poster Display session: on Sunday, 18 December, 13:30 - 14:15 SGT.
Cities with substantial uncircumcised populations in 1950 tended to have higher HIV-2 prevalence from 1985.

In West African cities, male circumcision rates in 1950 were negatively correlated with HIV-2 prevalence from 1985, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Joao Sousa from the University of Leuven, Belgium, and colleagues.

The HIV-2 virus likely emerged in humans around 1930-40 and is less widespread than the predominant HIV-1, remaining mostly within West Africa. Whilst male circumcision is known to be associated with reduced HIV-1 prevalence, because the foreskin is highly vulnerable to infection, the association between male circumcision and HIV-2 prevalence had not previously been examined.

The authors of the present study gathered the published results of large scale HIV-2 serosurveys, conducted from 1985 onwards, of the populations of 30 West African cities. They combined estimates of historical male circumcision frequency in 218 West African ethnic groups with demographic data to estimate male circumcision frequency for each West African city at various time points. The researchers then matched HIV-2 prevalence with the estimated male circumcision frequency in each city to identify any correlation.

The authors found that cities with higher male circumcision rates in 1950 generally tended to have lower HIV-2 prevalence at the time of the first serosurveys in 1985-91. Generally, male circumcision was far less common than it is today, and varied more by country. Cities in two countries, Guinea-Bissau and Cote d'Ivoire, which are thought to have acted as epicenters during the emergence of HIV-2, had particularly low male circumcision rates, reinforcing the negative correlation.

Whilst the data on male circumcision and HIV-2 prevalence were obtained in different years, making it difficult to link the two directly, the authors state that HIV-2 may only have been able to achieve high prevalence in West African cities where a substantial proportion of the population was uncircumcised.

"Lack of circumcision may have been a driving factor in initial HIV-2 emergence," says Sousa.

The research done by JDS and AMV in this study has been supported in part by grant G.0611.09N, funded by the Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek - Flanders, Belgium. MPT's fieldwork in Guinea-Bissau was conducted within the framework of the project "The prophetess and the rice farmer: innovations in religion, agriculture and gender in Guinea-Bissau", PTDC/AFR/111546/2009, funded by Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia, Portugal. VM is a Fellow of the Parmenides Center for the Conceptual Foundations of Science, part of Parmenides Foundation, Germany. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are on the rise, but its underlying mechanisms are poorly understood.

Noriko Osumi, Kaichi Yoshizaki and colleagues at Tohoku University's Graduate School of Medicine collaborated with Shigeru Wakana and Tamio Furuse at RIKEN Bio-Resource Center, and Tucci Valter at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, to conduct comprehensive behavioral analyses on how paternal aging influences the behavior of offspring that inherit a genetic risk (a mutation in Pax6 gene*).

In the experiments, in order to minimize the physical influence of the father, the male mouse was isolated and in vitro fertilization was used to impregnate the female. The researchers found that the offspring of young fathers exhibited impaired vocal communication, while the offspring of older fathers exhibited hyperlocomotion.

The results are significant for both animal researchers and the public. For researchers working on animal models, it shows that the age of male mice can influence the behavior of the offspring, so this should be a consideration when they are used to mate.

For the public, the research shows that paternal aging may exacerbate genetic risks - this could explain why there is a rapid rise in the ratio of children with ASD or ADHD, due to men having children later in life.

This paper was published online in PLoS ONE. The research was supported in part by KAKENHI (25640002 to K.Y. and 16H06530 to N.O.) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan.
Pain relief and other forms of supportive care for cancer patients are insufficient, researchers report at the ESMO ASIA 2016 Congress in Singapore. They also highlight that side-effects to chemotherapy must be treated efficiently and that doctors should ensure end-of-life treatment meets patients' expectations.

Despite existing recommendations on the need for early supportive care interventions for cancer patients 1,2,3 researchers are still reporting inadequate efforts to address pain, anxiety and other side effects of cancer treatment.

A study from India presented at ESMO Asia 2016 shows that, for patients on government-funded health schemes, medical care for the toxic effects of chemotherapy is often highly restricted and this delays cancer treatment cycles. Drugs are often not fully funded so patients have to pay for them out of their own pocket. If they cannot afford to do this, then their supportive care is inadequate and they will suffer side effects from cancer drugs. This means they are unlikely to adhere to treatment for subsequent chemotherapy cycles.

"The majority of patients treated under government schemes had poor quality of supportive care while on chemotherapy," said lead author Assistant Professor Himanshu Patel, a clinical pharmacist, JSS College of Pharmacy, JSS University, Mysore, India.

"We found its use was highly restricted, leading to side effects such as vomiting and infections, meaning the rescheduling of chemotherapy cycles for many patients.There's an urgent need for better treatment policies from government," he said.

Supportive care such as pain relief, antibiotics and drugs to prevent nausea is recommended for advanced cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy by ESMO1,2 and the World Health Organisation3, among others.

The study by Dr Patel4 included interviews about supportive care with 850 patients over six months. Researchers reviewed what support was used including pain-relief, antibiotics and protein supplements.

Results showed that access to drugs proven to be more effective in treating nausea and vomiting was highly restricted for patients on government-funded schemes in India. The same was true for medications to reduce infection risk and boost white blood cell production in patients undergoing chemotherapy, as well as protein supplements.

To relieve cancer-related pain, four in five participants were prescribed tramadol, with access to morphine and other more effective painkillers limited.

Privately-insured patients did not face the same limited access as those on government-funded schemes, which often did not cover out-of-pocket costs.

Patel said: "Public cancer care schemes should follow guidelines and include adjuvant treatments in their budgets, according to international recommendations."

Cure or symptom relief: what do cancer patients expect from treatment?

Patients' expectations from palliative chemotherapy as well as their concerns as treatment progresses are explored in another study5 reported at the ESMO Asia 2016 Congress.

Results found that expectations among patients changed as care progressed. Nearly a third (n=11) on first line treatment expected a cure whereas later line patients said they anticipated an ordinary life with controlled symptoms. All patients put drug toxicity as their top concern, although anxiety around disease progression increased as patients advanced through treatment.

Lead author Nobumichi Takeuchi, director of medical oncology, Ina Central Hospital, Ina, Japan, said: "Oncologists should assist end-of-life patients to focus on positive experiences such as a family event so they don't lose hope. The patient should drive this process with medical staff guiding and encouraging them with a questionnaire to identify their expectations."

Persistent pain care as important as acute for wellbeing

Cancer pain and how to prioritise its treatment is the focus of a study6 which evaluated the difference in quality of life (QoL) and demand for pain relief. Researchers compared the experiences of patients with background cancer pain (BCP) - persistent pain lasting at least 12 hours - and breakthrough cancer pain (BTcP) where patients experience brief but severe flare-ups of discomfort.

Results found that patients with uncontrolled BCP had a lower QoL than those with BTcP. Those with moderate or severe BCP experienced sleep disorders and dissatisfaction with pain control compared with BTcP patients (p<0.0001 vs p<0.0001). Demand for cancer pain treament though was not significantly different among the three groups (p=0.082).

Lead author Assistant Professor Sun Kyung Baek, a medical oncologist, Kyung Hee University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea, said: "Pain is one of the most feared symptoms in cancer patients and impacts significantly on their well-being. Physicians should be aware of and control background pain first, even though acute pain also has a negative impact on quality of life ."

A total of 1,841 patients were recruited including those experiencing high (n=496) to moderate (n=736) pain, and BTcP (n=609). They completed a questionnaire on their experiences including pain severity, treatment, and satisfaction with how their cancer pain was dealt with.

Commenting on the results of these studies, Dr Grace Yang, a consultant at the National Cancer Centre, Singapore, said: "The findings from these studies highlight the need to improve both the effectiveness of, as well as access to, supportive care measures that can relieve cancer-related symptoms and treatment-related side effects.

"This will improve patient quality of life, enable cancer therapy to be administered, and is aligned with the expectations of patients themselves."


Please complete this form and we'll send you a personalised information that is requested

You may use this for your own reference or forward it to your friends.

Please use the information prudently. If you are not a medical doctor please remember to consult your healthcare provider as this information is not a substitute for professional advice.
Advertisement

"At first glance, recent increases in mosquito populations appear to be linked to rising temperatures from climate change, but careful analyses of data over the past century show that it's actually recovery from the effects of DDT," said corresponding author Marm Kilpatrick, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz.Kilpatrick explained that the effects of climate change are expected to be seen at the edges of species' geographic ranges, as species adapted to warm climates move further north and cold-adapted species retreat from the southern parts of their ranges. So a tropical species like Aedes aegypti, which transmits Zika, dengue, and other human diseases, could expand its range northward in the United States as temperatures warm."On the cold edge of a species' distribution, temperature matters a lot. In Washington D.C., for example, where Aedes aegypti is not common now, it might become more common if the winters get milder. Whereas in Florida, urbanization and mosquito control efforts are more likely to be the dominant drivers of mosquito populations," Kilpatrick said.Urbanization is an important factor because it changes the species composition in an area, favoring the types of mosquitoes that live near and feed on people, such as Aedes aegypti, and causing other species to decline, such as those adapted to wetlands and other natural habitats.Mosquito control programs continue to help limit mosquito populations in many areas, but currently available techniques are not nearly as effective as DDT was, Kilpatrick said. "Everyone knew DDT was an extremely effective insecticide, but I was surprised by how long-lasting its effects were. In some areas, it took 30 to 40 years for mosquito populations to recover," he said.More than a billion pounds (600 million kilograms) of DDT were used in the United States from the 1940s through the early 1970s. Its use was curtailed in the 1960s and finally banned in the United States in 1972 because of adverse environmental effects, especially on birds and other wildlife, as well as potential human health risks. Yet DDT was still detectable in soil cores as recently as 2000 in New York state, where DDT use was much higher than in New Jersey and California.In all three regions, both mosquito abundance and the number of species decreased dramatically during the period of DDT use, then steadily increased as the amount of DDT in the environment declined. In New York, the researchers found, patterns of DDT use and its concentration in the environment could explain most of the long-term trends in mosquito populations. In New Jersey and California, however, the analyses showed that urbanization was also an important factor.Average annual temperatures showed surprisingly little correlation with mosquito population trends. "Precipitation was more important than temperature, but land use was more important than either of those factors," Kilpatrick said. "The long-term impacts of land use changes on ecosystems are sometimes underappreciated."Source: Eurekalert
Advertisement

Mumps is a contagious viral disease spread through saliva and mucus.The usual symptoms of mumps mimic that of a flu. It includes fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness and loss of appetite lasting a few days. People experience salivary glands swelling, leading to puffy cheeks and a swollen jaw. Symptoms can last from 2-10 days. The incubation period ranges from 12-25 days.In adults, mumps can occasionally cause complications including deafness and inflammation of the brain, ovaries, breast tissue or testicles.Being a viral infection, mumps does not respond to antibiotics (which treats bacterial infections). Doctors recommend rest and over-the-counter pain relievers.The largest number of yearly mumps outbreak before 2016 was seen in 2006, when more than 6,500 people were affected."Each year, the number of mumps cases fluctuates within a range of a couple hundred to a couple thousand cases," explained Dr. Manisha Patel, a medical officer at the CDC.Majority of cases this year, is caused by outbreaks in Arkansas with 1,870 cases and in Iowa with 683 cases.The cases in Iowa is occurring across all age groups. Most cases occur in the age group of 6-17 year olds followed by the 18-25 year olds.Four other states including Indiana, Illinois, Massachusetts and Oklahoma have also reported more than 100 cases this year. Most of the cases in Massachusetts have occurred at Harvard.Additional infections, which may or may not be related to that school, have occurred among students within the Boston-Cambridge area, according to Dr. Alfred DeMaria, medical director and state epidemiologist at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.The U.S. mumps vaccination program started in 1967 and the number of mumps cases has decreased by more than 99%. The MMR vaccine is 88% effective with two doses.The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that children should get two doses of the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella, but it may not be 100% effective.Children get their first dose between 12 to15 months of age and the second dose between 4 to 6 years. Vaccine will be less effective with a single dose.The MMVR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (chickenpox), can be used in children between the ages of 12 months and 12 years.The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is considering recommendation of a third dose of vaccine in response to the surge in the number of cases.The CDC recommended that students University of Iowa campus, receive a third dose of the MMR vaccine."Studies that have tried to examine the effectiveness of a third dose of MMR vaccine to control mumps outbreaks were limited because vaccination occurred after the outbreak started to decline," explained Huong McLean, an associate research scientist at the Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, which has partnered with the CDC on the issue."It is important to understand that if you have a room of 100 people who have been vaccinated with the mumps vaccine and you expose them to mumps, you're still gonna get 12 people who will develop mumps," Patel said.Most of these outbreaks are occurring among vaccinated people. But vaccination is the number one preventive measure against mumps."Genotype G is the virus that's been circulating pretty consistently in the US since 2006," Patel said. She said that studies show the current vaccine is effective against this strain and that the CDC is not concerned about changing strains.Another possible explanation of the current outbreak would be the waning power of vaccine."We have some overall guidance that states can use on whether or not they should think about implementing a third dose of the MMR vaccine", Patel said.Each community being unique, it is up to the individual states to decide whether to use a third dose.The CDC is collaborating with the states and working with the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on the third dose recommendation.Source: Medindia
Koffee With Karan Season 5 is absolute fire. From revelations to controversial statements to some savage rapid fire rounds, Bollywood is killing it on Koffee With Karan.

 StarWorld

Just this morning, we heard that Mira Rajput appeared along with husband Shahid Kapoor on the show and nailed it in her first Bollywood interview ever. She was reportedly so confident and charming, it left even Karan Johar impressed!

On the couch with my  A photo posted by Shahid Kapoor (@shahidkapoor) on Dec 1, 2016 at 7:37pm PST

Season 5 got launched with Shah Rukh Khan and Alia Bhatt and Salman Khan will be leaving people rolling on the floor laughing this weekend with brothers Sohail and Arbaaz and now of course, the third Khan couldnt be far behind!

 YouTube

All you Aamir Khan fans, heres some good news. The man who usually avoids award functions and chat shows has agreed to appear on Koffee With Karan and the best thing is, hed be coming alone, which is understandable considering theres nobody in the industry who could match up to his perfection.

 YouTube

We hear his Dangal daughters Sanya Malhotra and Fatima Sana Shaikh will join him on the show for a little segment about the film and were sure its going to be really insightful. Lets hope Aamir Khan owns the rapid fire round with his witty answers!
A few months back when Gurgaon was renamed Gurugram, people across Delhi and the NCR had the time of their lives bashing the decision left, right and centre and making fun of how people will now become gurugrammers. Well, following their footsteps, this time around the Maharashtra government has announced that Mumbais Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus will be renamed.

Now if you were expecting fancy names and such, sorry to burst the bubble, but these names are changed to incorporate Maharaj. So, now the airport will be called Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport and the station will be called Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus.

 Twitter

The government says this move is to pay more respect to the Maratha warrior king, Shivaji. Now, while the idea behind this move is not wrong, but changing names does not mean that people paid less respect to the legendary warrior earlier! After this announcement, Twitter lost its sh*t completely and some of the reactions are outright hilarious.

This. THIS is the decision-making our state government is focused on right now. Shame on you @Dev_Fadnavis https://t.co/ak2Swduyto  Rohan (@mojorojo) December 8, 2016

Thats a legit question.

@mojorojo @Dev_Fadnavis : How will this renaming change the ground reality of that station? Will it make any difference to its standards ?  Nikhil V. Joshi (@nikhjosh_) December 8, 2016

Now, that can be a tongue-twister.

@mojorojo If they can call it Her Majesty the Queen Empress Victoria Terminus, then we can call it UberChhatrapati UltraShivaji Megamaharaj  Krish Ashok (@krishashok) December 8, 2016

Ughok

@mojorojo It takes a special kind of insecurity to force people to remember pompous titles for a historical figure we should all know anyway  Krish Ashok (@krishashok) December 8, 2016

Now that will be quite long a name for an airport or railway station.

@nistula And after 30 years they will change it to Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj KI JAI HO Terminus & Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj KI JAI HO IA  Viren Nawani (@nawani10) December 8, 2016

Vada Pav Kendrahmmm no one thought about that.

Chatrapati Shivaji Flyover

Chatrapati Shivaji Airport

Chatrapati Shivaji Station

Chatrapati Shivaji Beedi

Chatrapati Shivaji Vada Pav Kendra  Dead Mau5hi (@AdvancedMaushi) December 8, 2016

Ok

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's Secretshttps://t.co/kd5FxImPSA  Silverlight Gal (@silverlightgal) December 8, 2016

Imagine asking a cabbie to drop you to this place?

Furious! Should've been Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj The Ruler We Seek To Appropriate to Further Hindutva Politics Terminus https://t.co/jG7fGD2PfJ  Ruchika Sharma (@tishasaroyan) December 8, 2016

Practicality rocks

Customer is King and so is Airport



-Marketing 101 https://t.co/kK5sDcNLfw  Rahul Subramanian (@RahulSubramanic) December 8, 2016

For people who can read between the lines!
The Supreme Court of the United States Of America overturned Apples claim that Samsung has been copying their patents. Apple had previously won the case in 2012, as they convince the courts that Samsung had copied many of the iPhones features and infringed design patents. Their biggest claim was that the rectangular device copied their signature rounded corners and boxes and the fact that some Samsung phones had copied the home screen too.

However, the courts reversed the decision, which means that the case will now be returned to the Federal circuit where damages will be reassessed. The judgment that was passed is a little complicated and it hinges on how the damages will be calculated. Apple won $400 million in damages, which was based on the profit Samsung made on that particular phone.

Samsung argued in courts that the damages should not be based on the entire profits since only part of the design was copied from Apple. In agreement with Samsung, the courts overturned the decision and decided that the damages would be calculated this way.

Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor passed a judgement where she said that the damages will be calculated based on the entire profit of the infringing product or based on part of the profits. Neither Samsung nor Apple briefed the Supreme Court and the case is now being sent back to the federal circuit for further interpretation. The only thing we can gather from all of this is that patent wars can never end.
Azerbaijan finance minister talks reasons of GDP decline

Azerbaijan's GDP amounted to 49.2 billion manats in January-October 2016, which is 3.7 percent less than in the same period last year, the countrys finance minister, Samir Sharifo,v said.He made the remarks on Nov. 30 during a discussion on the draft state budget and the concept of social and economic development for 2017 and the next three years.The discussions on the draft state budget began Nov. 30 at a joint session of Azerbaijans parliamentary committees on defense, security and fight against corruption, economic policy, industry and entrepreneurship, agricultural policy, public unions and religious structures, as well as natural resources, energy and ecology.Azerbaijans non-oil GDP in the reporting period decreased by 6.1 percent, Sharifov said. A 27.4-percent decrease in the construction sector, a high level dollarization in the country, decrease in the trade turnover, as well as the difficulties faced by Azerbaijans banking sector and deterioration of the quality of loan portfolio are the main reasons of the reduction of Azerbaijans GDP.
Alternate Foreign Minister Giorgos Katrougalos met on Wednesday, 7 December, with the Moldovan Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Daniela Morari, with whom he held political consultations on European issues. The discussion focused on, among other things, specific issues with regard to EU-Moldovan relations, as well as on the prospects for the next Summit Meeting between the EU and the Eastern Partnership countries.

During the meeting, which took place in an excellent atmosphere, the excellent bilateral relations between Greece and Moldova were reaffirmed, while Mr. Katrougalos expressed Greeces support for Moldovas European perspective. In this regard, the Moldovan Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration expressed strong interest in the provision of EU-related know-how by our country. Mr. Katrougalos and Ms. Morari expressed the desire for further tightening of bilateral relations, a tangible example of which is the 3rd Meeting of the Greek-Moldovan Joint Interministerial Committee, which is taking place in Athens on 8 and 9 December.
Alternate Foreign Minister Giorgos Katrougalos visit to Belgrade reaffirmed the excellent bilateral relations between Greece and Serbia and the existing constructive cooperation on a political and economic level. The Alternate Foreign Ministers meetings with the Serbian side, and in particular with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Dacic, as well as with European Integration Minister Joksimovic, confirmed the excellent cooperation on European matters and the shared will for further tightening of the relations between Greece and Serbia.



In the context of these meetings, the traditionally very good bilateral relations and role of the two countries as pillars of stability in the wider Balkan region were underscored. Moreover, Mr. Katrougalos highlighted that Greece supports Serbias efforts toward accession to the EU and that our country is prepared to provide any know-how requested by Belgrade with regard to the accession negotiations. Ms. Joksimovic did not omit to thank Greece for its firm position on Serbias European perspective.



Alternate Foreign Minister Katrougalos also met with Economy Minister Knezevic, with whom he discussed, among other things, the promotion of bilateral economic relations and energy issues, with emphasis on natural gas pipelines and, in particular, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).



The very good environment of cooperation and friendly ties between our countries were praised by the Serbian MPs who took part in the joint session of the Serbian National Assemblys Foreign and European Affairs Committees, with Mr. Katrougalos participating as a guest. The Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Zarko Obradovic, proposed that the Parliaments of Greece and Serbia undertake an initiative to celebrate the diplomatic relations between the two countries, in demonstration of the successful existing bilateral cooperation that is free of pending issues.



Within the framework of the intensification of Greek-Serbian economic and business contacts, Mr. Katrougalos delivered a welcome speech at the Greece-Serbia Business Forum that was held with particular success on 5 December, with the participation of 85 Greek and 103 Serbian enterprises.



With the aim of stressing the historical ties between the two countries, the Alternate Foreign Minister also laid flowers at the statue of Rigas Feraios that stands at the tower where he was executed. As Mr. Katrougalos noted, the tower in question has been preserved with funds from the Hellenic Parliament, as a monument to Greek-Serbian friendship.



Finally, during his visit to Belgrade, Alternate Foreign Minister Katrougalos delivered a lecture, at the Belgrade Law School, on the future of Europe, focusing on the need to change the policy of austerity in Europe.
I want to thank the German Chairmanship of the OSCE and, personally, the German Foreign Minister, Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier.



We form an Organization that is based on common values, but we should consider in depth what visions we have for the 21st century. We should also reconsider, more carefully, our geopolitical situation. Europe and North America are not the same players they were when we signed the Helsinki Final Act. Europe, today, is no longer the centre of the world, as it was 40 years ago. But, as then, Europe needs trust. Trust means mainly the implementation of the Minsk Agreements. Trust means that we will endeavour to consolidate the Rule of Law and that we will defend Democracy and, above all, the principles of our Organization.



We consider terrorism an enemy, and we should, first of all, in Europe, sever the flow of capitals that fund terrorism. In October 2015, for the first time, all of the heads of religions, spiritual leaders, and most of the Foreign Ministers of the Middle East met in Athens, at an international Conference on the protection of cultural and religious communities. We intend to hold this Conference again in 2017. You are all invited. This time we will organize it with Austria, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. We are fighting against anti-Semitism and discrimination against the Roma.



But in order for us to exercise a better policy in the Middle East, we think that we should establish an Organization, in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, along the lines of the one we have here in Europe and North America; that is, the OSCE. We should move the structures we have created and consolidated here in Europe, since the mid-1970s, to this region, which is currently the most unstable region in the world. Thus, we think we should talk with all of the Arab countries, and Israel of course, about how we can create such an institution. We are trying to create a preliminary structure: We organized the Rhodes Conference, at which European and Arab states met and endeavoured, jointly, to set up a similar institution.



Finally, we should, as an Organization, look in depth at the migration issue. And we should always remember that we are facing such issues because of the conflicts in Syria and Iraq, and the civil war in Libya. We should work more on dealing with the causes, rather than just discussing the issue of the refugees. It is a major problem, but its cause lies in the war, and Europe does not discuss this enough.



Final observation. I should repeat what I also said in Potsdam. I believe that it is a shame for the representatives of 67 states to meet here and not have an in-depth discussion. Instead, we read statements we have prepared. This will not be good for the resolution of future problems.

Thank you very much.
SHERMAN TOWNSHIP  The Sherman Township Board of Trustees voted to form its own planning commission Tuesday night during a special meeting.

The 3-2 decision came after several members of the crowd of about 100 pleaded with the board  both for and against the move.

Some people indicated that the main reason behind the township becoming self-zoned, as opposed to county zoned, is a proposed wind overlay district currently under consideration by the Huron County Board of Commissioners.

Supervisor Leo Emming, who voted against the resolution, concurred with this point.

The only reason this township zoning issue versus county zoning comes up is due to the windmills, Emming said.

The county is currently doing a fine job, he said.

According to the ordinance, the commission would have five members, one of which would be a board member.

The commission would be required to conduct four meetings per year.

Nothing obligates you to take back your own zoning, said attorney Mike Homier, who is advising the board on the issue. He is from Grand Rapids-based Foster, Swift, Collins and Smith law firm.

But if the township decides to self zone, this is a necessary step, he added.

Others attending the meeting who addressed the board included Jeff Smith, Huron County director of building and zoning, and Richard Hessling, who was the township zoning administrator before the township became county zoned years ago.

Many residents asked how much it would cost for the township to become self zoned. And Hessling asked the board whether permit fees would cover the expense of the commission.

Smith said it would be up to the township to designate permit fees. He described some of the zoning costs that the county incurs.

The township would need a master plan. The county has recently spent $25,000 updating its master plan, Smith said.

The county also spent two years and thousands of dollars changing its wind ordinance.

The county also pays each planning commissioner for each meeting they attend, plus mileage.

The county would still enforce building, plumbing, electrical and mechanical permits, Smith said.

The county, he added, has in-house legal counsel.

Homier is charging the township $250 an hour, and the money will be taken from the general fund, Emming said.

Homier said that the township at this point is not locked in to creating a planning commission immediately.

Once the ordinance is published, it will be another 60 days before it takes effect.

Trustee Jerome Hessling said this would give the board time to look into the issue before committing.

Treasurer Ladonna Volmering said local control is worth exploring.

It doesnt mean we cant have turbines, Volmering said.

Volmering added that she and 12 other nonparticipating landowners went before the Huron County Planning Commission to ask to be left out of the overlay district, but the commission approved the district mostly as presented by NextEra Energy Resources.

Thats not necessarily how zoning should work, Volmering said.

County planning officials at the time said that they were concerned about such action being perceived as spot zoning. Spot zoning, which many officials say is generally a bad practice, can occur when planners zone a small area or parcel for uses contrary to surrounding areas.

Jerome Hessling, Trustee Lillian Sheasby and Clerk Kathi Jahn all said that they would like to see the issue go before the people for a vote.

Jerome Hessling, Sheasby and Volmering voted in favor of the ordinance.

Residents have the right to petition for a referendum to protest the decision the board made Tuesday night, Volmering said.

Another thing people wondered was why the township went to county zoning after having been self zoned years ago.

The public was dissatisfied with local zoning, Emming said, and there were complaints of favoritism.

Richard Hessling said it was deemed to have been too costly for the township to design a master plan, which was then a new requirement.

The county was willing to take it over, and they had the resources to do it, he said.

We just didnt have anybody that would take over and do this, what I call, for nothing.

County commissioners are expected to vote on whether or not to allow the overlay district Tuesday.

Of the 65 turbines in the project, 45 are intended for Sherman Township. The remainder are proposed for Sigel, Sand Beach and Delaware townships.

Bryan Garner, manager of communications for NextEra, told the Tribune that the company is committed to the project.

Our understanding is that Sherman Township took the first step toward self zoning, he said. This can be a costly and labor intensive process that can take months (to implement).

We want to build a project this community can be proud of, and we have gone above and beyond to ensure we have addressed everyones concerns and that everyone will benefit from the Huron Wind Energy Center.

NextEra recently pledged to pay $1,000 a year to nonparticipating landowners in the overlay district.
The following companies are subsidiares of Tyson Foods: APF Legacy Subs LLC, Advance Food Company LLC, AdvancePierre Foods, AdvancePierre Foods Holdings Inc., AdvancePierre Foods Inc., Aidells Sausage Company Inc., Allied Specialty Foods Inc., American Proteins Inc, Artisan Bread Co. LLC, Australian Food Corporation Pty Limited, Australian Food Corporation Trust, BRF, Barber Foods LLC, Bosco's Pizza Co., Bryan Foods Inc., C.S. Grain LLC, C.V. Holdings Inc., CBFA Management Corp., Central Industries Inc., Chefs Pantry LLC, Clovervale Farms LLC, Cobb (Hubei) Breeding Co. Ltd., Cobb (Shanghai) Enterprise Management Consulting Co. Ltd., Cobb Ana Damizlik Tavukculuk Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Cobb Columbia S.A.S., Cobb Europe B.V., Cobb Europe Limited, Cobb Peru (Andina) S.A.C., Cobb-Heritage LLC, Cobb-Vantress Brasil Ltda, Cobb-Vantress Inc., Cobb-Vantress New Zealand Limited, Cobb-Vantress Philippines Inc., Coominya AFC Pty Limited, Coominya AFC Trust, DFG Foods Inc., DFG Foods L.L.C., Don Julio, Egbert LLC, Equity Group - Georgia Division LLC, Equity Group - Kentucky Division LLC, Equity Group Eufaula Division LLC, Equity Meat Corp., Flavor Corp., Flavor Holdings Inc., Foodbrands America Inc., Foodbrands Supply Chain Services Inc., Gallo Salame Inc., Global Employment Services Inc., Grow-Out Credit LLC, Grow-Out Holdings LLC, Haimen Tyson Poultry Development Co. Ltd, Hudson Foods Company, Hudson Midwest Foods Inc., Hybro Genetics Brasil Ltda, IBP Caribbean Inc., IBP Foodservice L.L.C., IBP Inc., International Affiliates & Investment LLC, Jiangsu Tyson Foods Co. Ltd, Keydutch Finance B.V., Keydutch Holdings I LLC, Keydutch Holdings II LLC, Keydutch Investments B.V., Keystone CLJV Holdings Limited, Keystone County House Road LLC, Keystone Foods, Keystone Foods (AP) Limited, Keystone Foods Holdco LLC, Keystone Foods Intermediate LLC, Keystone Foods LLC, Keystone Foods Pty Limited, Keystone Management Inc., Keystone Trading (Shanghai) Company Limited, LD Foods LLC, M & M Express LLC, M&M Restaurant Supply (MI/OH) LLC, MFG (USA) Holdings Inc., Mac Food Services (Malaysia) SDN. BHD., Madison Foods Inc., McKey Food Services (Hong Kong) Limited, McKey Food Services (Shandong) Limited, McKey Food Services (Thailand) Limited, McKey Food Services Limited, McKey Luxembourg Holdings APMEA S.a.r.l., McKey Luxembourg Holdings S.a.r.l., McKey Luxembourg S.a.r.l., McKey VI Holdings Limited, Myung Seung Food Company Ltd., National Comp Care Inc., New Canada Holdings Inc., Oaklawn Capital Corporation, Oaklawn IT Solution Private Limited, Original Philly Holdings Inc., PBX inc., Pierre Holdco Inc., River Valley Ingredients LLC, Rizhao Tyson Foods Co. Ltd, Rizhao Tyson Poultry Co. Ltd, Rural Energy Systems Inc., Sara Lee - Kiwi Holdings LLC, Sara Lee Diversified LLC, Sara Lee Foods LLC, Sara Lee Household & Body Care Malawi Ltd., Sara Lee International LLC, Sara Lee International TM Holdings LLC, Sara Lee Mexicana Holdings Investment L.L.C., Sara Lee TM Holdings LLC, Sara Lee Trademark Holdings Australasia LLC, Saramar L.L.C., Shandong Tyson-Da Long Food Company Limited, Smart Chicken, Southern Family Foods L.L.C., Southwest Products LLC, TF 20 B.V., TF 5201 B.V., TFA Leasing LLC, TFA Opportunity Zone Fund LLC, TFI of California Inc., Tecumseh Poultry LLC, Texas Transfer Inc., The Bruss Company, The Hillshire Brands Company, The IBP Foods Co., The Pork Group Inc., TyNet Corporation, Tyson (Shanghai) Enterprise Management Consulting Co. Ltd., Tyson Americas Holding Sarl, Tyson Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Tyson Breeders Inc., Tyson Chicken Inc., Tyson China Holding 2 Limited, Tyson China Holding 3 Limited, Tyson China Holding Limited, Tyson Deli Inc., Tyson Europe Holding Company, Tyson Farms Inc., Tyson Farms QOZB LLC, Tyson Foods Brasil Investimentos Ltda., Tyson Foods Canada Inc., Tyson Foods Europe (Netherlands) B.V., Tyson Foods Europe GmbH, Tyson Foods France S.A.R.L., Tyson Foods Germany GmbH, Tyson Foods Group Limited, Tyson Foods Holland B.V., Tyson Foods Huadong Development Co. Ltd, Tyson Foods Iberia Alimentos S.L.U., Tyson Foods Italia S.p.A., Tyson Foods Korea, Tyson Foods Netherlands B.V., Tyson Foods Products Limited, Tyson Foods Scotland Europe Limited, Tyson Foods Scotland Sales (Europe) Limited, Tyson Foods UK Limited, Tyson Foods Wrexham Limited, Tyson Foods oosterwolde B.V., Tyson Fresh Meats Inc., Tyson Fresh Meats Sales and Distribution LLC, Tyson Global Holding Sarl, Tyson Hog Markets Inc., Tyson India Holdings Ltd., Tyson International APAC Ltd., Tyson International Company Ltd., Tyson International Holding Company, Tyson International Holding Sarl, Tyson International Service Center Inc., Tyson International Service Center Inc. Asia, Tyson International Service Center Inc. Europe, Tyson Mexican Original Inc., Tyson Mexico Trading Company S. de R.L. de CV., Tyson New Ventures LLC, Tyson Opportunity Zone Fund LLC, Tyson Pet Products Inc., Tyson Poultry Inc., Tyson Prepared Foods Inc., Tyson Processing Services Inc., Tyson Refrigerated Processed Meats Inc., Tyson Sales and Distribution Inc., Tyson Service Center Corp., Tyson Shared Services Inc., Tyson Storm Lake Holdings LLC, Tyson Warehousing Services LLC, Tyson of Wisconsin LLC, Uninex SA, Universal Meats (UK) Limited, WBA Analytical Laboratories Inc., Wilton Foods Inc., Xamol Consultores e Servicos, and Zemco Industries Inc..

Read More
MSCI Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides investment decision support tools for the clients to manage their investment processes worldwide. It operates through four segments: Index, Analytics, ESG and Climate, and All Other - Private Assets. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed product creation, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct. The Analytics segment offers risk management, performance attribution and portfolio management content, application, and service that provides an integrated view of risk and return, and an analysis of market, credit, liquidity, and counterparty risk across asset classes; managed services, including consolidation of client portfolio data from various sources, review and reconciliation of input data and results, and customized reporting; and HedgePlatform to measure, evaluate, and monitor the risk of hedge fund investments. The ESG and Climate segment provides products and services that help institutional investors understand how ESG factors impact the long-term risk and return of their portfolio and individual security-level investments; and data, ratings, research, and tools to help investors navigate increasing regulation. The All Other - Private Assets segment includes real estate market and transaction data, benchmarks, return-analytics, climate assessments and market insights for funds, investors, and managers; business intelligence to real estate owners, managers, developers, and brokers; and offers investment decision support tools for private capital. It serves asset owners and managers, financial intermediaries, wealth managers, real estate professionals, and corporates. MSCI Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
Royal Bank of Canada operates as a diversified financial service company worldwide. The company's Personal & Commercial Banking segment offers checking and savings accounts, home equity financing, personal lending, private banking, indirect lending, including auto financing, mutual funds and self-directed brokerage accounts, guaranteed investment certificates, credit cards, and payment products and solutions; and lending, leasing, deposit, investment, foreign exchange, cash management, auto dealer financing, trade products, and services to small and medium-sized commercial businesses. This segment offers financial products and services through branches, automated teller machines, and mobile sales network. Its Wealth Management segment provides a suite of advice-based solutions and strategies to high net worth and ultra-high net worth individuals, and institutional clients. The company's Insurance segment offers life, health, home, auto, travel, wealth, annuities, and reinsurance advice and solutions; and business insurance services to individual, business, and group clients through its advice centers, RBC insurance stores, and mobile advisors; digital, mobile, and social platforms; independent brokers; and travel partners. Its Investor & Treasury Services segment provides asset servicing, custody, payments, and treasury services to financial and other investors; and fund and investment administration, shareholder, private capital, performance measurement and compliance monitoring, distribution, transaction banking, cash and liquidity management, foreign exchange, and global securities finance services. The company's Capital Markets segment offers corporate and investment banking, as well as equity and debt origination, distribution, advisory services, sale, and trading services for corporations, institutional investors, asset managers, private equity firms, and governments. The company was founded in 1864 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
Freeport-McMoRan Inc. engages in the mining of mineral properties in North America, South America, and Indonesia. The company primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and other metals, as well as oil and gas. Its assets include the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona; Tyrone and Chino in New Mexico; and Henderson and Climax in Colorado, North America, as well as Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile. The company also operates a portfolio of oil and gas properties primarily located in offshore California and the Gulf of Mexico. As of December 31, 2021, it operated approximately 135 wells. The company was formerly known as Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. and changed its name to Freeport-McMoRan Inc. in July 2014. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.
The Defense Department announced Wednesday the death of U.S. Army Sgt. First Class Allan E. Brown, who died of wounds received last month in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan that killed two other 1st Cavalry Division soldiers.

Brown, 46, of Takoma Park, Maryland, died Tuesday at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, of wounds suffered at the Bagram air base north of Kabul, the Afghan capital, on Nov. 12, according to a release from Fort Hood, Texas, home of the 1st Cav.

Two other division soldiers, Sgt. John W. Perry, 30, of Stockton, California, and Pfc. Tyler R. Iubelt, 20, of Tamaroa, Illinois, were killed in the same incident that was believed to be an insider attack by an Afghan worker on the base wearing a suicide vest.

In addition, two American contractors were killed in the blast at Bagram and 16 U.S. troops and one Polish soldier were wounded.

Brown, who was on his sixth deployment to a combat zone, was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Special Troops Battalion, 1st Sustainment Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas, since July 2012.

Brown previously deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from August 2006 to August 2007, November 2008 to October 2009, and December 2010 to December 2011. Brown deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom from July 2014 to September 2014. He deployed in support of Operation Freedom's Sentinel from September to December 2016.

Brown's awards include five Army Commendation Medals, two Army Achievement Medals, three Army Good Conduct Medals, Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal, two National Defense Service Medals, and the Afghanistan Campaign Medal with campaign star.

He also received four Iraqi Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Korean Defense Service Medal, Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon, five Overseas Service Ribbons, four Army Reserve Components Overseas Training Ribbon, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, and NATO medal.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the Nov.12 attack at Bagram, which it said was carried out by a suicide bomber working inside the base.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to correct Brown's first name.

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.
The U.S. Army announced Thursday it will deploy an armored brigade combat team and a combat aviation brigade to the Middle East this winter.

About 3,800 soldiers from the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, will deploy to Kuwait in support of combatant command mission requirements, according to an Army press release.

"Our nation's Army continues to call on the 1st Cavalry Division to serve across the globe. The latest to be called is our 3rd ABCT," said Maj. Gen. John C. Thomson, 1st Cavalry Division commander.

"Greywolf troopers have demonstrated a high level of proficiency with rigorous home-station training and a successful National Training Center rotation in October. They are prepared to execute their assigned mission for Central Command."

The Defense Department announced Wednesday the death of Army Sgt. First Class Allan E. Brown, who died of wounds received last month in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan that killed two other 1st Cavalry Division soldiers.

Brown, 46, of Takoma Park, Maryland, died Tuesday at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, of wounds suffered at the Bagram air base north of Kabul, the Afghan capital, on Nov. 12, according to a release from Fort Hood.

Two other division soldiers, Sgt. John W. Perry, 30, of Stockton, California, and Pfc. Tyler R. Iubelt, 20, of Tamaroa, Illinois, were killed in the same incident, believed to be an insider attack by an Afghan worker on the base wearing a suicide vest.

Brown, who was on his sixth deployment to a combat zone, was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Special Troops Battalion, 1st Sustainment Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, at Fort Hood since July 2012.

More Troops to Afghanistan

The Army also announced that about 800 soldiers from the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade, 7th Infantry Division, stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, will deploy to Afghanistan as part of a regular rotation of forces in support of Operation Freedom's Sentinel.

"The soldiers of the Raptor Brigade have worked very hard to build readiness over the last year, and I am extremely confident in their ability to accomplish our upcoming mission," said Col. William A. Ryan, 16th Combat Aviation Brigade commander.

"We employ some of the Army's most advanced aviation technology, but it is our tremendous team of Army professionals that will ensure mission success."

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.
The U.S. Senate on Thursday joined the House of Representatives in approving a 2.1 percent pay raise next year for troops.

The upper chamber passed the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, which included the pay increase, by a vote of 92-7.

The House last week approved the legislation by a veto-proof majority of 375-34. The bill now heads to President Barack Obama's desk for his signature.

The $619 billion authorization act includes $611 billion for programs overseen by the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, including $524 billion for base defense spending, $68 billion for war funding and almost $20 billion for other national security programs.

The legislation would add funding for more troops, training and munitions. It would scrap a proposal buy more fighter jets than the Pentagon requested, not require women to register for the draft and keep intact housing allowances for military couples.

"This bill begins a turnaround for our national security and our military, halting eight years of personnel cuts and a dramatic decline in readiness," Sen. Jim Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma and senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.

Senate had agreed with the White House to increase troop pay next year by 1.6 percent. The House, however, pushed for a 2.1 percent increase in pay in keeping with private-sector wage growth.

By law, military pay hikes are supposed to track wage growth in the private sector as measured by the government's Employment Cost Index (ECI).

The basic pay hike in 2016 was capped at 1.3 percent, a full percentage point below the level pegged by the ECI; and in both 2014 and 2015 at 1 percent when 1.8 percent was needed to match wage hikes nationwide, according to Military.com contributor Tom Philpott.

For an E-5 with four years of service, the higher raise next year would translate into an extra $48 a month, for a total of $2,315 in basic pay; for an O-3, it would mean another $117 a month, for a total of $5,683 in monthly pay, according to a basic calculation using 2016 pay tables from the Pentagon's Defense Finance and Accounting Service.

The military pay raise applies to basic pay for troops. It is separate from the cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for veterans, military retirees and recipients of VA disability compensation. That figure, based on the Consumer Price Index, is set for 0.3 percent in 2017.

For complete active duty and reserve pay charts, as well as a pay app to keep you up to date on pay benefits and news, visit the Military.com Pay section.

-- Brendan McGarry can be reached at brendan.mcgarry@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Brendan_McGarry.
Defense Department officials told lawmakers Wednesday they hope to forgive about 90 percent of cases involving thousands of California National Guard members that auditors say received improper bonuses during the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"It is my hope that by the end of the year, we will have something between 1,000 and 2,000 cases total out of the universe of 17,000 that are subject to review," Peter Levine, undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, told members of the House Armed Services Committee.

Levine was among Pentagon and Army National Guard officials who testified at the Dec. 7 hearing to tell lawmakers how the Pentagon plans to resolve what some are calling a betrayal of the troops by next summer and prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.

"Compensation, whether it is a bonus for a service agreement or regular pay, is an obligation to our service members and their families that they should not have to worry about," said Rep. Joseph Heck, a Republican from Nevada and chairman of the panel's Military Personnel Subcommittee.

"I find it unacceptable that we would place the additional burden of years of concern about the legitimacy of a bonus payment or a student loan repayment on those who volunteer to serve," he added.

Lawmakers have come up with a compromise as part of the National Defense Authorization Act that calls on the Pentagon to forgive the enlistment bonuses and student loan benefits unless the soldier who received the money "knew or reasonably should have known" that he or she was ineligible for it.

The Los Angeles Times/Tribune Washington Bureau reported last month that the Pentagon was demanding repayment of enlistment bonuses given to California Guard soldiers to help fill enlistment quotas for the wars. Many of the soldiers served in combat, and some returned with severe injuries.

Many of soldiers were told to repay bonuses of $15,000 or more years after they had completed their military service. Student loan repayments, which were also given out improperly to soldiers with educational loans, sometimes totaled as much as $50,000.

"Many reasons these cases are particularly troublesome," Levine said. "Many of them are based on a technical deficiency.

"Particularly in cases like this, where we have a service member who made a commitment on the basis of a bonus and served out that commitment, so when we come in later after someone has fulfilled their commitment and then question on a technical ground why they received a bonus in the first place -- that is a particular hardship," he said.

There are two basic categories of cases, Levine said. One type involves about 1,400 cases already ordered to pay back bonuses. The second category of 16,000 cases involves soldiers who were put under suspicion or threat of recoupment of bonuses they received.

"For those cases that are in recoupment, we have the question of, 'Are we going to dismiss the case? Are we going to forgive the debt? Are we going to repay the soldier if we decide it was improper?' " Levine said.

Through detailed screenings, "It's my hope we can get from about 1,400 down to about 700 ... that's a goal; I don't know what exact numbers we can get to."

As for the larger category of about 16,000 cases, "We have greater discretion because we haven't yet established the debt yet," Levine said.

Several "rules of thumb" will be established in an attempt to:

-- Screen out cases that are more than 10 years old.

-- Screen out cases with a debt of $10,000 or less.

-- Screen out most of the cases that involve enlisted members and lower ranking members without prior service on the basis that it's unlikely they would be able to understand their contract fully without assistance.

"As we go through those screens from that second universe of 16,000 or so cases, I expect to reduce that by about 90 percent, so we get down to about 10 percent," Levine said. "We will then put that universe through the kinds of substantive screens, and I hope to get that down further.

"The objective is to find that easy ones first, get rid of those, tell people 'we are not pursuing you  we are telling you, you are off the hook; we are done with you,' so we can focus our resources on the cases that are the most significant."

Many lawmakers said they felt the California Guard scandal severely damaged the trust of current Guard members across the country.

"In some of these cases, there have been troops -- through no fault of their own -- that are suffering the consequences," said Rep. Paul Cook, a Republican from California. "It's our fault, and I use that word collectively on behalf of all officers that are in positions of authority. We betrayed the trust of the troops, and there is no excuse for that."

Rep. Susan Davis, a Democrat from the state, said it's "critically important that we do not forget service members and their families that have been deeply affected by this."

"Once these families have encountered financial hardships, we know it can be truly difficult to recover. Even if we return their bonus, we have already upended their lives by creating unnecessary emotional stress and financial instability."

Army Master Sgt. Toni Jaffe, the California Guard's incentive manager, pleaded guilty in 2011 to filing false claims of $15.2 million and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.

But National Guard officials told lawmakers that many others were held accountable, including leaders who failed to provide proper oversight, said Maj. Gen. David S. Baldwin, adjutant general for the California National Guard.

"We punished, within the California National Guard, 61 people -- including firing four general officers and two full colonels," Baldwin said.

The Department of Justice prosecuted 44 soldiers. Of those, 26 were found guilty and convicted, Baldwin said. Another 15 cases are pending, and the remainder were either dismissed or acquitted, Baldwin said.

Lt. Gen. Timothy Kadavy, director of the Army National Guard, told lawmakers that the National Guard Bureau has taken steps to prevent this from happening again.

In 2010, the bureau conducted a review of all incentive programs across all states territories and the District of Columbia and found "no systemic fraud," Kadavy said.

In 2012, the National Guard stood up the Guard Incentive Management System, or GIMS, which now provides "a centralized oversight program for bonus and incentive payments," he said.

In 2016, the Army Audit Agency conducted an "external review" of GIMS and validated its effectiveness, Kadavy said. Auditors found that the system "substantially improved the controls of eligibility monitoring and payment phases of the incentive process."

Despite the steps being taken to resolve the problem, officials admitted that they should have known about this a lot sooner.

"We have oversight on the California National Guard, the Army has oversight, the National Guard Bureau has oversight," Levine said. "We were not aware of this until we read it in the newspaper, and that is on us; we missed this."

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider a case next year that could change the amount disabled military retirees must pay a former spouse after a divorce.

The case, Howell v. Howell, centers on an Arizona Air Force couple who divorced in 1991. At the time of the divorce, John Howell's upcoming pension was considered a "marital asset" under a federal law known as the Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act (USFSPA), and split 50-50 with his former spouse, Sandra.

But when John received a 20 percent disability rating in 2005 from the Department of Veterans Affairs, he elected to waive a portion of his monthly retirement pay under pension offset rules, about $250, in order to receive his full monthly VA award. The result, however, was that Sandra's portion of the pension went down by about $125 a month.

Federal law bars those with a VA rating under 50 percent from receiving both a federal pension and disability pay, according to court documents. The result is that the pays must be "offset," with one reduced by the amount of the other. Many military retirees elect to receive their full disability pay instead of their full military pension because pensions are subject federal income tax, while disability pay is not.

Sandra took John to family court, asking the state to order him to pay her the extra $125 a month she lost when he chose to keep all of his disability pay. The court ruled in her favor, saying John had "violated the decree by unilaterally decreasing the retirement pay in favor of disability," according to a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court. A series of Arizona courts also upheld the ruling upon appeal.

But the Arizona courts' decisions conflict with rulings made by courts in other states on similar cases. John's attorneys and those rulings contend that forcing military retirees to make up for spousal pay lost through a VA disability award violates a portion of the USFSPA law, which specifically blocks ex-spouses from collecting on disability payments.

The question the U.S. Supreme Court will consider is whether that law "pre-empts a state court's order directing a veteran" to make up for the loss in retirement pay created by the offset, according to court documents.

The high court's ruling could provide final guidance on how state courts should treat a reduction of pension payments as a result of VA disability pay after a divorce. If the court rules in Sandra's favor, for example, military retirees who elect after a divorce to receive full disability pay in lieu of their full pension could be forced to make up the difference to their former spouse out of pocket.

An unrelated law approved Thursday by the Senate as part of an annual defense bill impacts the amount of pension divided during divorces. Currently, USFSPA allows future pensions to be divided based on the service member's paygrade at retirement. The new law instead requires the split to base the future pension payment on the service member's paygrade at the time of divorce.

The court is expected to hear the Howell case and make a ruling by late next year.

-- Amy Bushatz can be reached at amy.bushatz@military.com.
Last nights deal between the Cubs and Royals was something like a win-win, ESPNs Keith Law writes (Insider only). Acquiring Wade Davis helps the Cubs dodge the very costly free agent closer market while adding a reliever whos been dominant the past three seasons. The Cubs had no playing time for Jorge Soler, and its possible the Royals would have gotten more for Davis had it not been for Davis recent injury issues. Still, Law writes, Soler is a good get for the Royals, who will receive a regular whos controllable for the next four seasons. Solers bat speed and exit velocity suggest he has plenty of offensive upside as well. Here are more quick notes from the Central divisions.

The Pirates and White Sox are still vying for free agent starter Derek Holland s services, MLB.coms TR Sullivan tweets. Holland, formerly a successful starter with the Rangers, is looking for a new team with which to rebuild his value after coming back in 2016 from two injury-riddled seasons. The Rangers declined his option last month.

and are still vying for free agent starter s services, MLB.coms TR Sullivan tweets. Holland, formerly a successful starter with the Rangers, is looking for a new team with which to rebuild his value after coming back in 2016 from two injury-riddled seasons. The Rangers declined his option last month. The Reds have spent the Winter Meetings trying to find potential trade partners for veteran middle infielders Brandon Phillips and Zack Cozart, Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes. Both can hit the open market after the 2017 season, and the rebuilding Reds want to clear space for young infielders Dilson Herrera and Jose Peraza. The problem, from the Reds perspective, is that most teams already seem to have middle infielders they like in place, particularly at shortstop. The Reds are open to the possibility of keeping all four players. This particular year, people seem to be set, says GM Dick Williams. Its always good to have some depth there. Weve got some good players. I think itll work itself out. If you end up going into spring with that group in the middle, Ive always said those are some pretty good players to mix and match. That might mean the Reds could option Herrera or Peraza, and they also seem likely to use Phillips and Cozart in reduced roles.
The Cubs have already added Wade Davis and Brian Duensing to their bullpen, but theyre still trying to add depth, Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times writes. Ideally, theyd like to add another lefty, and theyve been in touch with Travis Wood about returning.

But Woods agent, Darek Braunecker, says his client has attracted interest from seven NL teams, as ESPNs Jesse Rogers noted today. Those clubs value Woods versatility and hitting ability (Wood has a career .182/.208/.314 line, strong for a pitcher), and Wood would also like another shot at starting, a chance hes unlikely to get with the Cubs. So a return to Chicago is far from a certainty.

Another possibility for a left-handed addition to the Cubs bullpen is Jerry Blevins, who posted a 2.79 ERA, 11.1 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 in 42 innings in a specialist role for the Mets last season, Wittenmyer writes. And the Cubs remain interested in righty Greg Holland, the former Royals closer whos returning from Tommy John surgery and should be fully healthy for Spring Training. The team could also consider adding a bullpen piece in tomorrows Rule 5 Draft.

In the meantime, the Cubs addition of Davis will bump Hector Rondon back into a setup role, even though Rondon has had success as a closer in parts of each of the last three seasons. Manager Joe Maddon, though, says Rondon understands the move.

He understands Wade being there, says Maddon. He was great. I told him how much I respect him. And hes all about the team. Its just one of those things.
Nationals GM Mike Rizzo addressed his clubs acquisition of Adam Eaton from the White Sox, which cost a trio of quality pitching prospects. Eaton, who just turned 28, is controllable for five years at the reasonable rate of $38.4MM (the last two seasons via option). Here are a few highlights from the press conference:

Rizzo emphasized the importance of the flexibility that Eaton brings to the organization. Whether or not it opens the team to spend more money to add in other areas remains to be seen, but that certainly appears to be one possibility. The teams decisions arent made in a vacuum, noted Rizzo. Eaton, he said, gives us flexibility both positionally [and] flexibility payroll-wise, which puts us in position to do a lot of things.

The contract and rate was obviously important, but Rizzo emphasized that Eaton himself was the driving consideration. Rizzo spoke glowingly of Eatons all-around game, explaining that he has a grinders approach, good contact skills, sneaky pop, and situational awareness at the plate. It helps, too, that Eaton is palatable against lefties, as Rizzo noted, though he fares much better in the on-base department (.359 career OBP) than with power (.352 slugging). All told, said Rizzo, we think the arrow offensively is going up.

Washington further believes that Eaton also makes us better in the clubhouse and gives us a little edge and excitement at the ballpark, in Rizzos words. And Eaton also rates as a quality defender, in the teams estimation. In the short term hes certainly capable of playing center field very well, said Rizzo. And hes an outstanding corner outfielder. The strong-armed performer could, at least in theory, end up moving to a corner after the 2017 season, when Jayson Werth will hit the open market.

All told, the decision wasnt quite as difficult internally as it might have seemed. It was one of the few times in the draft room, in the war room where the analytical information matched up with the scouting eye, and it was a decision in the room that was very easy for us to make, to determine that this was the player, at this time, with that skillset, with the control, where at that price was the right guy for us to do it, said Rizzo.

The veteran executive went on to note, interestingly, that Eaton also gave [the Nationals] the most value for the players we were giving up. Sacrificing Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, and Dane Dunning surely hurt, but that quote seemingly hints that the Nationals had identified certain hurlers as expendable. He emphasized that the team traded from a position of depth, using its arms to fill a hole in our lineup while still maintaining the depth that we have in the major league rotation.

In that regard, said Rizzo, this deal was built around asset allocation. Calling it a win-win arrangement, he characterized the White Sox side of the swap as a package of good, potential upside players. In return for parting with that still-to-be-developed talent, the Nats GM says they got ourselves a good, young, skillful player that we control at below-market values for five seasons.

Though Rizzo was disinclined to say whether the move meant that Trea Turner would take over for Danny Espinosa at short, that seems to be the only logical conclusion at the moment. Barring a surprise move involving Werth, he and Bryce Harper are expected to man the corners, and the remainder of the infield is otherwise spoken for, making for a rather clear, regular alignment in which Eaton plays center and Turner handles short. Of course, that doesnt necessarily mean that D.C. will deal Espinosa. Hes still a quality defender with a powerful (albeit strikeout-prone) switch-hitting bat, and still seemingly fits on the roster unless theres a desire to re-allocate his payroll.
Before Boston acquired reliever Tyler Thornburg from Milwaukee on Tuesday, the Red Sox made a run at then-Kansas City closer Wade Davis, reports Rob Bradford of WEEI. Corner infielder Travis Shaw was the major league headliner the Red Sox surrendered for Thornburg, but he wasnt enticing enough to the Royals in a Davis deal, a source told Bradford. The Royals instead preferred now-former Cubs outfielder Jorge Soler, whom they acquired for Davis in a one-for-one swap on Wednesday.

[RELATED: Thornburg, MLBTR contributor Burke Badenhop chat about the trade]

Landing Davis would have given the Red Sox two of the majors most proven closers in him and Craig Kimbrel, though the former has more setup experience and likely would have served in that role in Boston. Davis has been dominant since 2014, his first year as a full-time reliever, but picking up him instead of Thornburg would have put a greater dent in the payroll of a Red Sox franchise thats trying to stay under the $195MM luxury-tax threshold. The 31-year-old Davis would have cost the team $10MM in 2017, the last season of his contract, while Thornburg is set to rake in a much more modest salary (an estimated $2.2MM, per MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz) in his age-28 campaign. Thornburg is controllable through 2019 via arbitration and could potentially give the Red Sox a top-caliber setup man over the next three seasons. While he doesnt have Davis track record, Thornburg is nonetheless coming off a breakout year, having recorded a 2.15 ERA, 12.09 K/9 and 3.36 BB/9 across a career-high 67 innings.

As is often the cases with pitchers, both relievers carry health risks: Davis was on the disabled twice last season because of forearm and flexor strains, and the Brewers shut down Thornburg early in 2014 on account of a UCL injury that nearly led to Tommy John surgery.

Meanwhile, that the Royals went for the upside play in Soler over Shaw is understandable. The soon-to-be 25-year-old Solers also younger (2017 will be Shaws age-27 season), though he comes with less control. Shaw wont be a free agent until after the 2021 season, and he has two pre-arbitration years remaining, whereas Soler can hit the open market at the end of the 2020 campaign. He can also opt into arbitration beginning next winter, which seems likely if he comes closer to realizing his vast potential. For now, though, the Cuba native is due a modest $15MM over the remainder of the nine-year, $30MM contract he signed with the Cubs in 2012.
Note: This post has been updated with more information about crashes.

ANN ARBOR, MI - Washtenaw County police and fire crews are dealing with several crashes Thursday, Dec. 8 as snow moves into the area.

There have been several crashes on U.S. 23 and I-94 south of Ann Arbor, including near U.S. 23 and Michigan Avenue, I-94 and Huron Street and the I-94 and U.S. 23 interchange, according to Washtenaw County dispatch.

There are reports of cars in the ditch and hitting trees throughout the Washtenaw County.

Icy roads and snow squalls from a storm moving eastbound across Michigan are contributing to the hazardous conditions.

More snow is moving into the Ann Arbor area Thursday afternoon.

The Michigan Department of Transportation reported U.S. 23 closed in both directions at Michigan Avenue because of a crash at 11:46 a.m. It reopened at noon.

MDOT reported the left lane of M-14 at Gotfredson Road was blocked because of a crash just after 2 p.m. The crash cleared and M-14 reopened at 3:38 p.m.

Emergency crews also responded to an accident reported at M-52 at Peckins Road, and Pleasant Lake Road and Smythe Road north of Manchester just before 11 a.m.

Huron Valley Ambulance transported two people in critical condition to the hospital from the crash on M-52, said spokesman Chad French.

The winter conditions were deadly northwest of the Ann Arbor area Thursday morning.

Three people died in series of crashes Thursday morning involving more than 30 vehicles, including semi-trucks, on I-96 at Fowlerville, halfway between Ann Arbor and Lansing.
Nexus.jpg

The proposed route for the NEXUS pipeline.

(Courtesy photo)

YPSILANTI TOWNSHIP, MI - Ypsilanti Township is raising new concerns about a proposed natural gas pipeline after learning that it will run under the Huron River and near Ford Lake.

The NEXUS pipeline, which would be installed by Houston-based Spectra, is proposed for a 255-mile stretch in southeast Michigan and northern Ohio.

At its Tuesday, Dec. 6 meeting, the board tabled a resolution to allow Ypsilanti Township Attorney Doug Winters to negotiate easements for the pipeline until Spectra provides clarification on its route.

Maps provided to the township show the pipes running through or around water, but Winters said there was a discrepancy between the maps and what a NEXUS representative told the board on Tuesday.

If the township chooses not to grant an easement, Spectra can use eminent domain, though that would involve a legal battle. Still, several trustees raised concerns, and Winters said the township intends to obtain more information before proceeding.

"We need to make sure we know what they're asking for and we know the environmental impact," he said. "We're not going to roll over just because they have eminent domain."

The board approved a resolution opposing the pipeline by a 5-0 vote at its August meeting, but local municipalities don't have the authority to block such projects and the move is only symbolic.

Officials have said the deal is essentially done, though the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission considers pipeline plans, and its decision is expected in February.

Residents have also raised concerns about the line's proximity to neighborhoods and schools.

The gas is originated - partly through fracking - in Ohio. About 50 miles of the line would run through Michigan, including Lenawee County and Monroe County. In Washtenaw County, it would also run through Augusta Township to a DTE Energy substation in Ypsilanti Township.

The line would be installed next to an existing pipe, and a township planning report shows that four other pipelines are already in place.

"Pretty much, if you live anywhere in the township, you're by a gas line or another line," Clerk Karen Lovejoy Roe previously said.

Still, that doesn't make some residents any more comfortable, and many have pointed to a 2010 Kalamazoo River oil spill that resulted in the nation's largest ever inland oil spill.

"We're not going to be shy about making sure our environmental interests are protected. If they aren't, then we have a problem," Winters said. "Ford Lake is one of the jewels of the township and we will protect it."

In a statement to The Ann Arbor News, Spectra spokesman Adam Parker wrote that the company carefully evaluates its routes and the pipe "will be designed, constructed and operated in compliance with all applicable federal and state agencies' requirements."

He said the company will cross rivers and lakes by using a horizontal directional drill to drill deep below the water. Pipes will then be laid underneath the water.

"The HDD construction technique is utilized to protect certain sensitive resources located along the proposed pipeline route," Parker wrote. "NEXUS also prepares site-specific HDD crossing plans for each HDD proposed for the project, which incorporate data from the geotechnical survey."

He added that the line will run underneath the Huron River but not Ford Lake, though that contradicts the maps provided to the township. It's not clear how close the pipe will run to Ford Lake.

"The pipeline is routed to avoid environmental impacts to Ford Lake proper," Parker said.

Beyond the environmental concerns, officials say they are aware of the benefits, and local unions strongly support the project.

NEXUS will employ 1,500 workers - 500 in Washtnenaw County - for eight months, and the company estimates that will generate $33 million of income locally. All the project's Michigan workers are union members, but workers in Ohio are not.

Officials are also anticipating generating $11 million in tax revenue that will be split among local municipalities, schools and taxing districts.

The Pittsfield Township Board of Trustees recently expressed its opposition to a 35-mile refined petroleum line that runs through southeast Michigan, but it was ultimately approved by FERC and is now under construction.
BAY CITY, MI -- A 49-year-old woman is facing a felony due to police alleging she vandalized several vehicles at her ex-boyfriend's house.

The afternoon of Friday, Aug. 5, Michigan State Police troopers responded to a vandalism call at a house in Bay County's Mount Forest Township. The 55-year-old male caller said his ex, Darlene M. Adkins, had shown up and damaged several of his vehicles.

The man said he and Adkins had been dating and living together for several years. In June, he had her evicted. After she had left, however, she left some of her property behind, the man said. He boxed up her belongings and had spoken with her several times over the phone to come get the items, he said, according to court records.

On the day in question, Adkins showed up unannounced and became angry when he saw her ex's new girlfriend was present. Adkins threatened her with violence, prompting the homeowner to tell her to leave, he told police.

The man and his girlfriend thought Adkins had left until they heard a noise outside. Looking toward the driveway, they saw Adkins damaging their vehicles, they said.

In all, five vehicles had been keyed and had some of their tires punctured and flattened, court records show. The cost of repairs totaled $11,545.84, court records state.

Authorities issued a warrant for Adkins on Nov. 1. By Monday, Dec. 5, she was in police custody.

That afternoon, Bay County District Judge Timothy J. Kelly arraigned Adkins on one count of malicious destruction of property between $1,000 and $20,000. The charge is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, or three times the cost of the damage.

Kelly set Adkins' bond at $10,000 cash-surety. He scheduled Adkins to appear for a preliminary examination before District Judge Mark E. Janer at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 21.
James Craig Detroit Police Car.jpg

File Photo, Tanya Moutzalias

(Tanya Moutzalias | MLive.com)

DETROIT -- Police Chief James Craig confirms a Detroit police vehicle was involved in a collision that killed an unidentified bicyclist about 11 p.m. Wednesday.

The chief said, based on a preliminary briefing he received Thursday morning, an officer and his partner were en route to a call for assistance from a Highland Park police officer.

The Detroit police car had its lights and siren engaged and was crossing through a green traffic light when the bicyclist, who was crossing against a red light, was struck and killed.

The collision occurred on Oakland Avenue in Highland Park, a city of about 10,000 surrounded almost entirely by Detroit.

Craig said the black box, a component in vehicles that tracks details such as speed and braking, was provided to state police, who are working on the investigation with Highland Park police.

Detroit Police Assistant Chief Steve Dolunt, who responded to the scene, said Detroit handles police dispatch for Highland Park and it's not out of the ordinary for Detroit police to assist with calls there.

The victim and officers involved haven't been identified. Police haven't said whether the vehicle involved captured dashboard camera footage.

Craig said the Detroit Police Department initiated its own internal investigation.

The Detroit police chief discusses the Highland Park death about 13 minutes into the below video posted on the Department's Facebook page:
Mad Magazine did not pull any punches in its reasoning for ranking Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder in the No. 3 slot on its annual "20 Dumbest People, Events and Things" list.

The issue goes on sale Tuesday, Dec. 13, but representatives for the humor magazine provided an early look at the cover and Snyder's ranking.

Snyder's page, illustrated by Robert Sikoryak, is titled "The Faucet's Wrong With This One." The publication blasts the governor's "inaction" in the Flint Water Crisis.

The text in Snyder's ranking reads as follows:

"When it comes to clueless, incompetent and callously indifferent politicians, Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan truly sank to new lows this year. Unfortunately, the lows he sank to weren't at the bottom of a contaminated body of water in Flint.

"Back in 2014, one of Snyder's lackeys switched Flint's water supply from the Detroit system to the Flint River in order to save a few bucks. When residents complained of toxic brown sludge flowing from corroded faucets, Snyder did nothing while his constituents suffered hair loss, rashes, E. coli infections and Legionnaires' disease. Hell, the GM plant in Flint even stopped using the water because it was corroding car parts! Officials begged Snyder to help fix the problem, but it took him eight months to even visit Flint and a full year to declare a state of emergency.

"It's a tough story to swallow -- though not nearly as tough as the water in Flint."

A message seeking comment was left with the governor's office.

Mad highlights the "dumbest" people, events and things in the list each year, which takes aim at the biggest names in pop-culture and politics.

This year's issue also takes aim at president-elect Donald Trump. The cover set to be released Tuesday features MAD mascot Alfred E. Neuman puking into a "Make America Great Again!" hat.

Mad Magazine, owned by DC Entertainment, publishes six times a year.

View the cover, which teases Donald Trump's victory in the election as No. 1 in the ranking, below:
The regime is cracking down hard on any outside information, but the memory cards are just the size of a fingernail and easy to slip through the border. They can be hidden in socks or underwear.

The paper quoted an electronics dealer named Yao in Dandong as saying, "We help them copy whatever they want onto micro SD cards... They usually want South Korean TV dramas."

Easily concealed memory cards and teddy bears are the most popular goods among North Koreans who shop in the Chinese border trade hub of Dandong, the Cankao Xiaoxi daily reported Wednesday.

Some 20,000 North Koreans, most of them young girls, toil in clothing and sewing factories in Dandong. Many of them stock up on vital necessities in the city's largest wholesale market before they go home.

The teddy bears "are often the souvenir of choice for young North Korean women returning home from contract work in Chinese restaurants and factories," Reuters said.

"They didn't used to buy the soft toys. The young women would just come by in groups and look. But that changed a few years ago It's probably the first soft toy they've ever had," it quoted a Chinese trader as saying.

But North Koreans "dont like the blonde-haired dolls because to them, that's an American doll," the trader added. "They always ask for dolls with black hair but we don't stock any. We only stock blondes."

One source said access to foreign media is becoming increasingly common in the North "and is even affecting fashion, dating behavior and teenage North Koreans' accents."


Numbers of North Korean defectors are rising again, and the government here expects them to top 1,400 this year.

So far this year some 1,268 defectors have arrived in South Korea, up 16.7 percent on-year, according to the Unification Ministry on Wednesday. In total 30,062 have settled here over some five decades. The first defector came in 1962.

"If this trend continues, the number of defectors this year will reach 1,400," a ministry official said. "This is the first year when their number has surged since Kim Jong-un came into power."

The annual number peaked at 2,914 in 2009, but since Kim took power in 2011 it declined due to tightened controls, surveillance and punishment, dropping to 1,276 in 2015.

Their number apparently rose again because of Kim's reign of terror and harsher sanctions by the international community. Many are part of the elite, which seems to be becoming increasingly disaffected, and some have buckled under the burden of drumming up hard currency for Kim overseas.

"Many elite defectors fled the North due to their concerns for the education and future of their children," the official added.


On Friday the National Assembly votes on whether to impeach President Park Geun-hye over a massive corruption scandal that has cost her the trust of the entire country. By now the situation is so bad that even lawmakers in her own faction can no longer countenance letting her stay in nominal office until April.

But judging by the way of the opposition parties behaving, the chaos is expected to continue even if the National Assembly votes to impeach her.

Moon Jae-in, the former head of the Minjoo Party, now says Park must be forced to step down even if the impeachment vote passes, which would set in motion several months of deliberation by the Constitutional Court, and all three opposition parties have come round to that view. This suggests they want maximum chaos as long as possible to make political capital.

Already government business has ground to a screeching halt. Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso said a few days ago he cannot continue talks over resuming a currency-swap deal with Korea because he does not know who to talk to.

Seoul proposed the currency-swap deal to shield the economy from abrupt external shocks. It is an important matter, but the opposition simply refused to participate in a hearing to appoint a new finance minister.

A summit between the leaders of Korea, China and Japan scheduled for Dec. 18-19 will not take place, and at a crucial time in international affairs Korea sent only the caretaker prime minister to the APEC forum in November, where he could not have any meetings with any of the world leaders because they outranked him.

Only a vice foreign minister, meanwhile, has been able to meet with advisers to U.S. president-elect Donald Trump. And who will go to the Davos forum where world leaders gather again in January next year is anybody's guess.

At home, the Defense Ministry is not even bothering to find out what information was compromised in a massive hack of its Intranet in August, and there are growing fears of a North Korean provocation in January of next year, when tougher UN sanctions take effect. What, if anything, is being done to prepare for that threat is anybody's guess.

The state-run Korea Development Institute has slashed its economic growth forecast for the country this year to 2.4 percent before even taking the current crisis into account, and Japan's Nomura Securities puts it at less than two percent due to political instability. That would mean the loss of at least 60,000 jobs.

Troubling signs are already apparent, including low-income households seeing their earnings drop 16 percent. Yet the government has been unable to plan next year's budget. Restructuring of the troubled steel and petrochemical industries is still sitting on the back burner, and companies have been unable to decide on business plans for next year.

Nobody in this country denies these security and economic risks, but the scandal has overshadowed all other issues.

Once the impeachment vote is counted, the rest can be left up to the legal process, while an independent counsel probes the scandal further. Lawmakers urgently need to get back to serious work.


you are here:
business Crompton sinks 9% as SPA with Pauwels Spaco terminated mutually Crompton Greaves shares fell nearly 8 percent intraday Thursday after the company and Pauwels Spaco terminated share purchase agreement (SPA) for its international power business.
Stock Market Live: Will the Fed unleash bears on Dalal Street once more? | Markets With Santo & CJ
The ugly head of nationalism has again raised its head. This time a few Indian startup CEOs who started their careers working in American companies such as Amazon and Microsoft are raising their voice.

In an event in Bangalore this week, Sachin Bansal, co-founder of Flipkart said that we should take capital from the foreigners but not accept their companies in India.

"What we need to do is what China did (15 years ago) and tell the world we need your capital, but we don't need your companies, said Bansal, executive chairman of Flipkart.

Ironically, all the capital invested in Singapore-based Flipkart is either US-based or simply non-Indian funds. The company migrated itself out of India a few years to Singapore. Thus, all the revenues are accounted for in the books of its Singapore based parent.

It's not very dissimilar to an Amazon which has an Indian subsidiary and provides jobs to local citizens. The only difference remaining that the head of the parent company will be born in India, versus someone who is not.

As argued earlier (The rise of nationalism in Indian startups), the Indian consumer will be at a loss when there is lesser competition in the market and local players will rule, ousting all chances of entry of MNCs who can level the artificially jacked up prices.





We have seen that in India's License Raj era. It was nightmare to buy simple things such a scooter, a car or even getting a landline telephone installed. One had to get them pre-booked and supply couldn't meet demand.

If there is an India where because of the capital inflow an Indian player creates monopoly and laws prevent entry of foreign players, consumers will be at a big loss.

In FMCG space, companies such as Divya Pharmacy run by Baba Ramdev have long argued that MNCs such as P&G and Nestle sell costly products to the Indian consumer, and do not invest back in the economy. Agreed competition from a Divya Pharmacy may create a dent in the pockets of MNCs. But when a Haridwar-based company run by an ascetic can compete with a P&G, then why can't an IITian run company compete with an Amazon or an Uber.

It's true that killing the domestic competition will be harmful to those working in companies such as Flipkart, Ola, Snapdeal and others. However, there are ways to give fillip to domestic companies than shutting doors to the foreigners. The doors of foreign capital open to all. It's just the mettle of the CEOs and their will to compete with the MNC onslaught that matters.

Ola's Bhavish Aggarwal argued that it's much easier for non-Indian companies to raise capital because they have profitable markets elsewhere. You might call it capital dumping, predatory pricing or anti-WTO but its a very unfair playing field for Indian startups, he added. Ironically, Ola has been funded by Softbank with millions of dollars, even after Uber entered India.

Ola had a first mover advantage and even with the influx of so much capital by both companies, the former clearly has a local advantage over MNCs as it understands local laws or absence of it better. For the Indian consumer it does not matter whether a cab is an Indian or American. He/she just needs a clean and safe ride at an attractive price.

It is also shocking to see Indian startup entrepreneurs citing Brexit and Donald Trump victory as a sign of things to come and shut doors to the 'outsiders'.

We need to take a more India-centric approach than trying to become an ideal country based on standards set by the rest, Bansal said, citing Brexit and Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election as indicators of similar sentiment overseas.

Challenges only increase human capability and quality of products and services. Globally, a 'Made in India' brand will also be accepted if it can compete on quality. A challenge by the foreigners in their home turf will push them to pull up their socks. India can match on manufacturing with its low cost and skilled manpower. It's just that the government has to create an ecosystem to incentivise manufacturing cities, than shut the doors to MNCs, which only bring better technological know-how and tried and tested models.

As argued earlier, the emotion of nationalism is enticed by a few when a group fears a threat for survival, especially from an outside force. A few leaders just have to create that paranoia amongst masses and lo and behold they start believing it as truth.

Donald Trump understood this fear and capitalised on it with ingenuity. So did the French conservative politician Marine Le Pen and UK politician and Brexit proponent Nigel Farage. Post Brexit, it is the young generation which has lost out as UK rethinks its trade policies with the world, and it may shut doors to many a British, when they wish to pursue careers or carry on trade outside the UK.

If Indian tech entrepreneurs start to toe the right wing line towards nationalism and government agrees towards protectionism, we will be left with a less-richer startup ecosystem.

harsimran.julka@network18online.com



(This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are personal.)



Also read: What Flipkarts devaluation mean for e-commerce industry?
Education

Montgomery County Community College will present the spring installment of the interview/talk show program Issues and Insights April 20 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in Science Center room 214, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The programs will be simulcast to the Colleges West Campus in South Hall room 216, 101 College Drive, Pottstown. Dr. Kolsky will offer a humorous presentation, Carrots, Sticks and Politics: A State of the Nation and the World Message. In this speech, he will provide his interpretation of domestic and international politics and then welcome questions from the audience for discussion. Issues and Insights, is free and open to the public. For information, contact Dr. Thomas Kolsky, professor of political science, at 215-641-6380 or tkolsky@mc3.edu.

Montgomery County Community Colleges STEM Scholars Program will host a STEM Jam! open house April 25 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Advanced Technology Center at the Colleges Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The drop-in event is designed for students interested in learning more about careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Activities will include STEM program information and career advising, STEM speakers throughout the day from industry and academia, micro-helicopter and robotics competitive obstacle courses and demonstrations and static models of STEM student and faculty work. For more information about STEM Jam! or STEM programs at MCCC, contact William Brownlowe at wbrownlowe@mc3.edu or 215-641-6644, or Robin Zuhlke at 215-619-7440 or rzuhlke@mc3.edu.

Temple Ambler, located at 580 Meetinghouse Road, presents the following events:

International Club Global Bazaar April 15 from 5 to 8 p.m. The Ambler Campus International Club invites all students, faculty, staff and the community to celebrate a multitude of diverse cultures, which will be showcased at the organizations Global Bazaar. This family friendly event will highlight cultural traditions and celebrations in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South American, North America and Africa through music, entertainment, food and informative displays developed and presented by students at the Ambler Campus. Young visitors will be provided with passports, which they may get stamped at each country they visit. Prizes will be awarded to world travelers who talk to cultural representatives, answer questions about the countries theyve visited and take part in fun-filled activities designed to help them learn about the rich diversity of cultures found throughout the world. Refreshments will be served. The event is free. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail tuc36466@temple.edu.

EarthFest 2011 April 29 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. More than 75 exhibitors, including the Philadelphia Zoo, The Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Elmwood Park Zoo and the Insectarium, will take part in EarthFest 2011. School students of all ages are invited to attend and develop displays of their own. EarthFest partner the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society also offers its Kids Grow Expo, featuring the Junior Flower Show, as part of the event. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail duffyj@temple.edu.

Annual Spring Plant Sale May 7 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The plant sale  an Ambler Campus tradition dating back to the early 1900s  will feature woody plants and perennials in portable sizes, hardy trees, shrubs, and vines, native plants that are attractive to wildlife, herbs, and hanging baskets. There will also be numerous special plants for sale to highlight Amblers special anniversary year. Garden books and garden tools will also be available for sale. Students, staff, and volunteers from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture and the Ambler Arboretum Advisory Committee will be available to answer questions. All proceeds from the Spring Plant Sale will support the Ambler Arboretum Fund and the Pi Alpha Xi National Honor Society. Information: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

June Homecoming/Louise Bush-Brown Garden Dedication June 5 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. (June Homecoming), Bright Hall Lounge; 2 p.m. (Garden Dedication), Ambler Campus Formal Perennial Gardens. Tickets  June Homecoming: Participant  $18 per person; Sustainer  $25 per person; Benefactor  $40 per person. The 2011 June Homecoming, sponsored by the School of Environmental Design Alumni Association, will include the Alumni Association annual meeting and luncheon. June Homecoming will be followed by the formal dedication of Temple University Amblers Formal Perennial Gardens as the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Gardens. During this 100th anniversary of the campus, Temple University Ambler and the Ambler Arboretum of the Temple University is honoring Louise Bush-Browns many contributions to the history of the campus by formally dedicating the gardens in her honor. During the program, campus Executive William Parshall will welcome guests, Ambler Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey will speak about the Bush-Browns and the history of the garden, and an official ribbon cutting will be held for the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Garden. Following the ribbon cutting, guests are invited to take a tour of the gardens, which will wend their way to the Campus Greenhouse for the School of Environmental Designs annual Plant Auction. Information (Garden Dedication): 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Information (June Homecoming): 215-482-0722. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

Northview Garden Tour and Fundraiser for the Ambler Arboretum June 12 from noon to 5 p.m. Call for reservations. Tickets: $15 per person or $20 at the door. In addition to the gardens of the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University, Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey has a garden oasis all her own right in Ambler  Northview. Visitors will have the opportunity to take self-guided tours throughout the many gardens, where garden experts will be available to answer questions about the various designs. The Ambler Keystone Chapter of the Womans National Farm and Garden Association will also provide tea and refreshments. All proceeds from the tours will support the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University. Information or to register: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

The Senior Adult Activities Center of Montgomery County, 536 George Street, Norristown, will hold the following events:

SAAC Adult Day Care, an alternative to Nursing Home Care is available  for information call 610-275-1960

Volunteers are needed for Meals on Wheels Program (call the number above)

SAACs Fifth Avenue Boutique opens Monday through Friday from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Exercise with Theresa will be held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1 p.m.

Dance class is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Tai Chi is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Yoga is held every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.

Line Dancing is held every Thursday at 10:30 a.m.

Dancing with Joan is held every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.

Sculpture Class is held Wednesdays from 2 to 3:30 p.m.

Why Should I Learn Spanish? will be held Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m.

Generations On-Line computer classes for seniors will be held Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.  4 p.m.  computers are available during those hours.

Health Living will be held every Tuesday at 1 p.m.

Boomer U will hold the following events. Boomer U is located at 45 Forest Avenue, Ambler. Registration & payment is required for all events: 215-619-8863.

Pilates Class is held Wednesdays and Fridays at 9:30 a.m. First class is free; please bring a mat. For information call 610-291-5376.

Blue Bell School of Dance, 921 Penllyn Blue Bell Pike, Blue Bell, hosts Argentine Tango Classes and a Milonga dance party every Friday evening. Lessons start at 8:30 p.m. followed by dancing at 9:30 p.m. Andrew Conway, master Argentine Tango dancer, instructor and performer and his partner Linda Chase will instruct. All levels welcome and no partner is needed. Refreshments will be served. Fee is $12 per person and includes lesson and dancing. Information: 215-634-1101 or www.amoretango.com.

The Montgomery Hospital Medical Center will offer the following classes:

Childbirth Education Class- all parents are invited to participate, including those who are delivering at

other hospitals. For more information on maternity services or classes, call 610-270-2020.

CPR and First Aid Courses are offered for beginners to experiences health care providers. Call 610-270-2313.

The Ambler SAAC (Senior Adult Activities Center), located at 45 Forest Ave in Ambler will hold the following events:

Tai Chi every Monday and Thursday at 11 a.m.

Yoga is every Tuesday at 1 p.m. and Friday at 10:30 a.m.

Strength and balance training every Wednesday at 10 a.m.

Armchair Aerobics is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Gourmet Weight Wise every Thursday at 12:30.

Fitness Center and Pool Room open daily 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

The Diabetes Education Center will offer day and evening classes each month. Health insurance pays for diabetes education classes. Preregistration is required. Call 610-270-2301.

For Kids & Families

The Ambler Kiwanis Club will host its annual Easter Egg Hunt April 26 at 10 a.m. in Ambler Borough Park, located just off of the intersection of Hendricks Street and Valley Brook Road. Members of the Wissahickon Key Club will assist Kiwanians in hiding thousands of wrapped chocolate eggs in a designated area of the park. Also hidden will be plastic colored eggs, which are redeemed for prizes. Elementary school children are separated by age.

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation will hold its 21st annual Storybook Egg-Stravaganza April 15 fom 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Upper Dublin Township Building. Toddlers and preschoolers love this annual event where photo opportunities with favorite friends abound! Treasures are collected from UDP&Rs assortment of lifesize cutouts of favorite cartoon characters from Disney, Sesame Street, Nickelodeon and other well-known animation. Children can have their picture taken with Bugsy OHare; bring your own camera. And dont forget a basket for goodies! $7 for UD residents; $12 for non-residents. Pre-register at 215-643-1600 ext. 3443.

Splash Week is a free week-long program that teaches children and families basic swimming skills and water safety practices. All YMCA branches will host multiple classes each day from April 11 to 15. For more information, contact the Ambler Area YMCA at 215-628-9950.

Healthy Kids Day is April 16 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The day is filled with fun, engaging and artistic activities that cultivate healthy living as part of the YMCAs larger efforts to help more kids and families become physically active. All activities are free and open to the community. For more information, contact the Ambler YMCA at 215-628-9950. No reservation is required.

The Ambler Area YMCA has added several new programs for area youngsters. Classes are held late afternoons or evenings on various weekdays. For more information, visit philaymca.org or call 215-628-9950.

Basic Beading: Ages: 10+. Wednesdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. This class will teach you the fundamentals of wiring and stringing along with how color can be used to create unique and vibrant beadwork design. You will create various jewelry including earrings, bracelets, charm pendants and much more! Supplies will be provided. Bringing your own jewelry pliers or tools would be a plus.

Messin with the Masters: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. Learn about some of the worlds greatest artists. You will be inspired to create your own Starry Night with oil pastels and tempera paints, a tissue paper painted Monet garden, a Picasso head using scraps of paper, a Georgia OKeeffe clay flower bowl and a Rousseau jungle collage.

Super Scientist: Ages: 5-7. Mondays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Well be concocting chemistry experiments such as making slime, mixing potions and having fun with magnet magic. Your budding little scientist will enhance his/her creative thinking and motor skills and to top it off will learn that science can be serious fun.

Wacky Junk Art: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 6 to 6:45 p.m. Why throw it away! Instead join us to make household junk into aliens from outer space, wacky specs, crazy hats, body masks or a recycled train.

Globe Trotters: Ages: 4-6. Tuesdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Youre never too young to start thinking globally. Each week, we explore a new country through crafts, games, music, stories and even some taste-testing. A perfect introduction to our great big world!

Crazy about Crafts: Ages: 5-7, Thursdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Let your childs creative juices flow with our fun arts and crafts projects each week. Fine motor skills and creative thinking skills will be enhanced with this crafty class.

Come out and join the Ambler Area YMCAs Teen and Junior Leaders Club. Participants are given the freedom to plan community service projects year round and truly make a difference in the lives of people in need. Those in Teen and Junior Leaders also attend leadership retreats all along the East Coast three times a year and meet other leaders who are doing the same great work in their respective areas. Dont miss out on this inspiring opportunity. Teen Leaders, ages 13-17, meet every Wednesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Junior Leaders, ages 10-12, will begin in the spring and will meet every Monday. For more information, contact Mike Miles, Teen Director, 215- 628-9950 x 1540 or mmiles@philaymca.org.

Did you know that the new Ambler Area YMCA holds childrens birthday parties at its site for members and non members as well. The Ambler Y does all the work from start to finish and birthday parties include a personalized cake, ice cream, beverage and paper products. Parties are held on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and include two party hosts to lead activities, set-up, clean-up and assist with serving. You can have a Splash Party for children ages six to 12 in the new zero depth entry pool with water slide and spray fountains. Up to 25 children have exclusive use of the pool area with 30 minutes in the party room. Sports Parties are offered for kids ages four to 12 with age appropriate activities and games, and sports such as floor hockey, soccer, basketball or dodge ball. Children ages three to five years of age will enjoy parties in the Family Active Center with use of the Moon Bounce and organized activities, such as parachute play and songs. For information, 215-628-9950 ext. 1583.

Community Events at the Ambler Y:

-YAchievers YMCA Achievers is a developmentally based, extracurricular, educational and team mentoring program designed to help students in grades five through 12 prepare for fulfilled livelihoods in college and beyond. Participation is free and all students in this program receive a free YMCA membership. Registration for the 2009 program begins now. You do not need to be a YMCA member to utilize these special services. Call 215-628-9950 to register.

Greater Norristown Art Leagues Childrens Weeklong Summer Art Camps will be held at 800 West Germantown Pike in East Norriton, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday throughout the summer. The cost per session is $125 per student for ages 6 and up. Jo Ann Cooksey Bono teaches an introduction to basic drawing skills and techniques from 10 a.m. until the lunch break each day. In the afternoon sessions, Mary Vogel Lozinak involves the students in hands on projects such as collage, papermaking, T-shirt printing, 3D design and sculpy clay. Fridays Graduation Day includes an art show, awards ceremony and reception for parents, siblings, grandparents and friends. All supplies are included. Students provide their own lunch. A refrigerator is available and the building is air-conditioned. This is the 15th year to run this successful program. Both instructors are professional artists with State Police and Child Abuse Clearances. To register, call Jo Ann at 610-279-1008, or register on-line at www.gnal.org.

Health

Dresher Physical Therapy is hosting an interactive seminar discussing its Golf Assessment Progam April 30 from 10 a.m. to noon at Dresher Physical Therapy, 1075 Virginia Drive, Suite 200, Fort Washington. Physical therapist Chris Miller, certified through the Titleist Performance Institute, will discuss why your body may be the most important piece of golf equipment you invest in and how this can drastically improve your game. $10 in advance; $15 at the door. Call 215-619-4545 to reserve your spot.

The Chestnut Hill Center for Enrichment, Center on the Hill and Chestnut Hill Hospital will host a Senior Health and Resource Fair April 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Chestnut Hill Presbyterian Church, 8855 Germantown Ave. The event is free. For more information, call 215-248-0180 or e-mail chseniors@cavtel.net.

The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is hosting Help Yourself to Health, a new six-week workshop for older adults with ongoing health conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, anxiety, heart disease and others. The free workshop will take place at the Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center, 45 Forest Ave. on six Thursdays, May 12 through June 16 from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Although there is no charge to participate, registration is required. To register, call 215-619-8863.

The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is sponsoring an eight-week program called A Matter of Balance: Managing Concerns About Falls. Presented by the Montgomery County Health Department, this workshop will be held on Tuesdays, May 3 to June 21 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Ambler Center, 45 Forest Ave. If you pre-register by April 27, the fee is only $5! Registration at the first class is $10. (Checks should be payable to SAAC and will benefit our Meals on Wheels program that serves homebound seniors.) A workbook will be provided and refreshments will be served. Call 215-619-8863 to register or for more information.

Fort Washington Wellness Center classes are ongoing. There are several offered during lunch or right after work, for your convenience: Boot Camp from noon to 1 p.m. on Monday; Zumba is MWF from 11 a.m. to noon and Friday at 4 p.m.; there are 25 cycling classes; Ashtanga and Vinyasana Yoga and Pilates; and a group Womens Strength Training class M-F from 10 to 11 a.m. Questions, call Cathy DeMarco at 215-641-1245.

Following the success of other local area programs, Impact Sports and Upper Dublin Parks and Recreation are delighted to team up again to offer a spring program for the 2011 season! Upper Dublin area children ages 3-5 years old can attend a Sports Program featuring their favorite sports games; soccer, rugby, hockey, track and field, basketball, and more. The program will start on April 27 and run through June 1. Cost for the program is $85 for the six weeks. The classes will be running 12- 1 p.m.; 1- 2 p.m.; 2- 3 p.m. For more info or to register, call Upper Dublin Township on 215 643 1600 or visit their website a http://www.upperdublin.net.

Spring Aquatic Programs  UDHS Pool:

-Summer is just around the corner  Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool can help get you into shape! Programs begin in March; preregistration is required.

 Shallow Water Aerobics  Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 8-8:45 p.m., $40R/$50NR.

 Adult Swim Instructions  Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 7-8 p.m., $50R/$60NR

-Open Rec Swims are fun for the whole family! Come out on Fridays from 7-9 p.m. or Saturdays from 1-4 p.m. and enjoy use of the pool and diving area. Fridays are offered through June 17; Saturdays are offered March 12-May 21.

-Join a growing group of adult lap swimmers and water walkers. Lanes are set aside evenings and weekends for use; lanes are shared. Monday  Thursday from 7:30-9:30 p.m.; Fridays from 7-9 p.m. and Saturdays (March 12-May 21) from 1-4 p.m.

-Private Swimming & Diving Lessons for ages 3-adult are offered at the UDHS Pool through a partnership with the Upper Dublin Aquatic Club (UDAC). Visit the UDAC website for more information, www.udac.us, and click the link to UDHS Private Lessons.

-Looking for local programs for US Masters Swimming (adults) or Water Polo (all ages)? UDAC and UDSD are working together to develop programs that will be offered at the UDHS Pool. Add your name to Interest Lists by emailing slohoefer@upperdublin.net. emails will be sent about clinics and program start dates.

Questions about Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool, group use of the pool or pool rental? Contact Susan Lohoefer, Facility & Community Affairs Manager at slohoefer@upperdublin.net or call 215-643-8800 x8994.

SilverSneakers Fitness Program. The Healthyways SilverSneakers Fitness Program is a result-oriented program that enables older adults to take charge of their health. The program is an innovative blend of physical activity, healthy lifestyle and socially oriented programing. Members of the program are eligible for a free YMCA membership, with use of the pool and exercise equipment, along with customized classes designed for older adults who want to improve their strength, flexibility, balance and endurance. If you are a subscriber to Independence Blue Cross (Personal Choice 65 PPO) or Keystone 65 HMO, Bravo Health, or Health Options Programs (HOP), call the Ambler Area YMCA, 215-628-9950 or Hatboro Area YMCA, 215-674-4545. You can also visit www.silversneakers.com.

Zumba Fitness offers Zumba dance/fitness classes at Academy of Dance and Music/BBAD Studio located at 1524 DeKalb Pike in Blue Bell (behind Sherwin Williams). Classes are offered three times a week: Tuesdays at 6 p.m., Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 8 a.m. For a free trial pass for your first class, email us at info@danceandmusic.biz or call 610-277-2557. For more info, visit our site at www.academyofdanceandmusic.org.

Chestnut Hill Health Systems presents the following Health Education Programs:

FITNESS CLASSES

Golden Yoga: A Breathing, Stretching and Relaxation Class. Fridays, 2:30-3:30 p.m. Lea Auditorium, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. Registration for four classes at a time required. Golden Yoga is Classical Yoga, adapted by the SKY Foundation, to accommodate those who have difficulty getting up and down from the floor. The program includes postures, breathing, relaxation and meditation techniques, all performed while sitting in a chair and standing. Registration required. Call 215-247-3029. Cost: $20 for 4 classes per month.

Tai Chi: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 8:30  9:30 a.m. Springfield Residence, 8601 Stenton Ave. Classes, for the novice or beginner/intermediate student, are designed to improve balance, power, posture, coordination, flexibility and mental focus. Slow, gentle movements are modified to most everyones abilities. For more information or to sign up for a free introductory class, call 215-882-2804. Cost: $8 per class/paid monthly.

SUPPORT GROUPS

Weight Loss Surgery Support Group: Fourth Wednesday of the month, 7-8 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. Join us for a monthly get-together where well share information for those interested in weight loss surgery, learn from guest speakers discussing current news on issues including lifestyle modification, nutrition and exercise and provide ongoing support for those who have completed surgery. Registration required. Call 215-753-2000.

Breast Cancer Networking Group: Fourth Tuesday of the month 5:30  7 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. A free, confidential support group for women living with a diagnosis of breast cancer designed to provide a forum for sharing information, feelings and concerns associated with breast cancer. Facilitated by Tish Wakefield, LCSW, Oncology Social Worker. Registration required. To register or for more information, call 215-248-8047.

New Moms Support Groups Tuesdays 10:30 a.m.  12 p.m.; contact Jeanine ORourke, MSW or 2:30  4 p.m.; contact Susan Schack, Ph.D Volunteer Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. The Center for Postpartum Depression at Chestnut Hill Hospital is pleased to offer two new support groups to support new moms. Both groups will be run by experienced mental health professionals who really get it when it comes to new motherhood and juggling relationships, extended family, work/family balance and self-care. If you are experiencing new mom challenges that often heighten anxiety and involve hormonally driven depression, join us for an informative and supportive forum to connect with other moms. Infants are welcome. $30 per session (flexible based on need). Registration is required. Call Dr. Schack, 646-265-2484, or Ms. ORourke, 215-206-2931.

Man to Man Prostate Cancer Support Group Third Thursday of the month 8-9 a.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. A networking group for men diagnosed with prostate cancer designed to provide education, support and encouragement. Spouses and partners welcome. Harry M. Baer, MD, Chief, Urology Division, will host Ask the Doctor. Registration required. Call 215-248-8325.

Contact the Senior Center by phone 215-248-0180 or email (chseniors@cavtel.net) with your questions about these programs or any of our on-going activities and classes.

Holy Redeemer HomeCare and Hospice seeks compassionate and emotionally mature volunteers to provide support to local hospice patients and their families in Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. Volunteers may also assist with pet therapy and administrative work within the hospice department and are requested to have daytime availability. Hospice patient care volunteers visit with patients in their homes or nursing facilities once a week for two to three hours. They provide emotional support and companionship to patients and family members, assist with errands or provide respite for caregivers. Bereavement volunteers support the families of hospice patients following the loss of a loved one, while administrative volunteers assist with typing, mailings and/or filing. Hospice care workers provide a great service to families and loved ones of hospice patients. Many volunteers also report a great deal of personal satisfaction as a result of their services. Patient care and bereavement volunteers complete an application and attend an 18-hour volunteer training program that covers the medical, psychological and spiritual aspects of hospice volunteering. Day and evening training programs are offered. To sign up for volunteer opportunities in Pennsylvania, contact Holy Redeemer Volunteer Coordinator Jean Francis at 215-698-3737 or email jfrancis@holyredeemer.com.

Librarytalk

Upper Dublin Public Library, 805 Loch Alsh Avenue, Ft. Washington, 215-628-8744

www.upperdublinlibrary.org

APRIL CHILDRENS PROGRAMS:

Storytimes: Please register in the library.

o Wee Ones: 0 to 23 months Thursdays and Fridays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m.

o Tiny Tots: age 2. Wednesdays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m. and Fridays 11 to 11:20 a.m.

o Jr. Book Lovers: ages 3 to 6. Tuesdays 10:30 to 11 a.m.

o Bedtime Storytimes: 7 to 7:30 p.m. April 20 and 27. Wear your jammies, bring your teddy & hear Miss Barbara read bedtime stories! For ages 3 to 6.

APRIL TEEN PROGRAMS:

North Hills Library Teens April 28 from 4 to 6 p.m. Movie Matinee

APRIL UDPL ADULT PROGRAMS:

NEW! ESL Conversation Group. Tuesdays from 7 to 8 p.m. Interested in practicing your English in a safe and caring environment? Come to our conversation group and improve your skills! Please register with Kay Klocko at 215-628-8744 or kklocko@mclinc.org.

One-on-One Computer Mentoring. Get personalized assistance from experienced computer volunteers! Sign-up for a one-hour session. Limit one session per month. Please register  contact info above.

Book Groups Please register with Kay Klocko 215-628-8744.

o Daytimers: April 21 at 1:30 p.m. Tired of book groups where you all read the same book? Read any fiction or non-fiction book on this months theme: Explorers. Please register.

Meetings:

Annual Meeting of the Friends of UDPL: April 14 at 1 p.m.

Board of Directors: April 20 at 7 p.m.

Blue Bell Library www.wvpl.org Upcoming Events: The Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 650 Skippack Pike (Route 73) in Blue Bell, is diagonally across from the Blue Bell Inn. Call 215-643-1320 or visit their website at www.wvpl.org.

For children and teens at Blue Bell:

* Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian.

* Mondays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages.

* Fridays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Family Movies, new releases, second Saturdays of the month at 1:30 p.m.

* May 14  Despicable Me

* June 11  Alpha and Omega

* Special Events

* April  watch for date of spring/Easter events

* April 14 at 4:30 p.m.  Junior Lego Club for children ages 3 through 5. Parents and caregivers need to stay with children.

* April 14 at 7 p.m.  Jeopardy for ages 11 to 18. Test your book and library knowledge for prizes. Sign up to be a contestant. No sign up to be in the audience. Snacks provided.

* April 16 at 1 p.m.  Adult Mystery Book Group discussing The Beekeepers Apprentice by Laurie King.

* April 16 at 1:30 p.m.  Childrens event for One Book, Every Young Child celebration. Story and craft for book Whose Shoes?

* April 19 at 7 p.m. and April 26 at 1:30 p.m.- Adult book group discusses The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. Group led by Adam Button.

* April 30 through May 3  Friends book sale with about 10,000 items for sale for children, teens and adults.

* May  sign up for Science in the Summer

* June  sign up for Enrichment Programs for Elementary-Age children

* June  sign up for Summer Reading, all ages

For adults at Blue Bell:

* Daytime Book Discussion Group  fourth Tuesday, Jan  April at 1:30 p.m.

* April 26  The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

* Night-time Book Discussion Group  third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m.

o April 19  The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

* Art Series with Dr. Sheldon Weintraub, docent at The Barnes and speaker at local colleges

o April 27 at 2 p.m. The Art of Looking at Art-Is She Nude or Is She Naked?

*Mystery Book Discussion Group, third Saturday of the month at 1 p.m.; new mystery theme each month; www.wvpl.org/programs

* Yoga on Mondays at 1:30 p.m. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop-in class.

* Tai Chi on Mondays at 3 p.m. with Dr. Kurt Findeisen. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop in class.

* Philadelphia Museum of Art presents class on their Marc Chagall exhibit, April 13 at 2 p.m.

* Giant Book Sale, April 29  May 3

o Starts with almost 10,000 items for children and adults!

o Held during library hours.

o Preview for members of the Friends of the Library, April 28 at 7 p.m.

o Join the Friends and attend the preview sale. Modest fee to join.

* Blooms at Blue Bell Gardening Series

o May 11 at 1 p.m.  Summer Bulbs by PA Horticultural Society

* Knitting group Mondays and Wednesdays at 10 a.m. Work on your project or observe and learn. The groups continue year-round in the community room.

* Socrates Cafe discussion group every Monday at 7 p.m. You pick the topic to discuss each week. No sign-up, nothing to read.

* Bridge every Friday at 12:30 p.m. New players welcome.

* Mah Jong every Wednesday at 1 p.m. New players welcome.

*Chess every Wednesday at 7p.m. for adults and teens 14 and older.

* Movie Matinee showing recent releases every Thursday at 2 p.m. April 14: Maos Last Dancer; April 21: Welcome to the Rileys; April 28: Conviction; May 5: Inception; May 12: Inside Job; May 19 The Kings Speech; May 26 The Fighter; June 2 Rabbit Hole; June 9 Black Swan; June 16 127 Hours

* Ongoing like-new, year-round book sale for adults & children during library hours

* Library opening at 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday!

Ambler Library, a branch of the Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 209 Race St., 215-646-1072. www.wvpl.org. All the following events occur at the Ambler Library.

* Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian.

* Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages.

* For adults:

* Beading Group meets the first and third Monday of every month at 1 p.m. Work on your own projects or come to watch and learn.

* Free Family History Lookup with Connie Briggs. Email Connie for an appointment at the Ambler Library. conniebriggs@comcast.net

* Special Events:

* April 14 at 1:30 p.m.  Book Group discusses Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian.

* April 19 at 7 p.m.  Travel to Paris with world traveler Harry Balin. Tea and scones at 6:30 p.m.

* April 21 at 7 p.m.  Art with Sara for children in fourth through seventh grades.

*May 2 at 6:30 p.m.  Discuss the movie Lone Star with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time.

*May 10  Robert Capucci discusses Art into Fashion. Tea and scones served at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m.

*May 12 at 1:30p.m.  Book Group discusses The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman.

*May 17  Tour the gardens of Devon and Southwest England with Lois McMullen. Tea and Scones at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m.

*June 13 at 6:30 p.m.  Discuss the movie Blade Runner with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time.

Meetings and Lectures

The Unisys Blue Bell Retiree Group will meet in the Church on the Mall in the Plymouth Meeting Mall April 14 at 1:30 p.m. Kathy Sacket Young, director/trainer with the North Penn YMCA, will speak on Keeping Fit in Retirement. For more information, contact Membership Committee Chairperson Jerry Feldscher at 610-275-3538 or President Al Rollin at 215-368-4833.

The next FWBA meeting will be April 28 at the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Networking begins at 11:30 a.m.; meeting from noon to 1 p.m. Leon Singletary, Principal, First Contact HR and FWBA Executive Board, will present: Social Media: How to Use It To Get More Business. Lunch is provided courtesy of the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Members are welcome to bring a guest. An RSVP is requested by return email or 215-628-0313.

Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern PA is hosting a information sessions over the next few weeks on how to become a Big Brother. The information sessions will take place: April 16 at noon, April 19 at 8 a.m. and April 28 at 6 p.m. All sessions will be held at the groups Norristown Office,t 530 DeKalb St., Norristown. For more information, call 610-277-2200.

The North Penn Chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) normally meets on the third Tuesday of each month from now until May. Meetings are held at the William Penn Inn on Route 202 and Sumneytown Pike, Upper Gwynedd, PA. Social hour starts at 5:30 p.m., dinner is served at 6:30 p.m., and the technical program begins at 7 p.m. Cost with reservation is $28 for members. Members without reservations and guests pay $30. Students with reservations pay $15. Reservations may be made by noon on the Monday preceding the meeting by phoning 215-371-1854 or emailing the reservation to northpennima@yahoo.com northpennima@yahoo.com. Information about the North Penn Chapter is available at http://northpenn.imanet.org/.

LeTip, a professional organization of men and women who are dedicated to the highest standards of competence and service meets every Tuesday at Cedar Brook Country Club, 180 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell at 7 a.m. -meeting officially starts at 7:16 a.m. and ends at 8:31 a.m. Our purpose is the exchange of business tips, leads, and referrals. Each business category is represented by one member and conflicts of interest are disallowed. Guests are welcome to visit any of our breakfast meetings.

Every third Thursday of month, Sunrise Assisted Living of Blue Bell (795 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell, PA 19422, 215-619-2777) serves as a satellite site to 148th Legislative district PA congressman Mike Gerber from 10 a.m. to noon. Stop by for help needed with things such as disability placards and license plates, vehicle registration, utilities issues, birth/death certificates,property tax/rent rebates, etc. Notary services arranged by appointment.

The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce is an action-oriented organization dedicated to promoting its members and the economic health of eastern Montgomery county. The Chamber is committed to serving as a catalyst by uniting business, community agencies, government and education to make our county a great place to live and work. For information, call 215-887-5122 or visit www.emccc.org.

Do you have a fear of public speaking? Blue Bell Toastmasters Club can help. We meet from 7 to 9 p.m., on the second and fourth Tuesday at the Marriott Courtyard, located on Route 202, directly across from the Montgomeryville Mall. Learn how to improve communication and leadership skills in a friendly and supportive environment. Guests are welcome. Admission fee: $5. For more info, visit www.bbtoast.org.

The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will hold the following meetings (for reservations to any of the following, email info@PennSuburban.org)

-Breakfast News Network, 7:30-8:45 a.m. at Normandy Farm Hotel (1401 Morris Road, Blue Bell, PA 19422) $15 members, includes full buffet breakfast. Join us for a networking program at Normandy Farm Hotel every Thursday morning for breakfast, business news, informative speakers, and plenty of networking. The cost includes a full breakfast buffet. Copies of the business cards will be made available to those who would like them.

The BNI, Fort Washington Chapter meets every Monday at The Hilton Garden Inn, 520 Pennsylvania Ave., Fort Washington for a networking meeting. Meetings are from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. Visitors are welcome. The only cost to attend is the cost of your meal. For information or a reservation to attend, please call Luanne Cram at 215-947-7784, or visit our Internet site at: http://www.BNIDVR.Com and click on the menu item Find a Chapter.

For the past seven years, people have enjoyed participating in WVWAs Adopt-a-Tree program. Individuals can support the Association in its reforestation efforts by purchasing native trees to be planted. Supporters can plant their adopted tree or have WVWA volunteers will plant it. Trees cost $30 each. If you would like to volunteer or purchase a tree(s), please contact: Bob Adams at Bob@wvwa.org or call: 215-646-8866 for more information. Check www.WVWA.org for directions and maps.

Sustainable Upper Dublin, http://sustainableupperdublin.org, meets the first Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m., at the Upper Dublin Township Building, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington, PA 19034. Please send any questions to suec@sustainableupperdublin.org or call 610-996-6316. To learn more about Sustainable Upper Dublin, view or join the discussion at http://googlegroups.com/group/sustainableupperdublin.

Special Events

The Mattie N. Dixon Community Cupboard will hold its first nutrition class April 19 at 10 a.m. at the Community Cupboard, 150 N. Main St., Ambler. Lynne Sinclair, a nutritionist from Abington Memorial Hospital specializing in diabetic nutrition, will conduct the class. Topics will include healthy eating, beneficial foods, recipes, making meals with every day foods, and how to use unfamiliar produce. A healthy snack will be provided.The class is is open to all residents in Montgomery County.

The Historical Society of Fort Washington presents The History of Conshohocken April 19 at 8 p.m. at the Clifton House, 473 Bethlehem Pike, Fort Washington. Jack Coll will present an illustrated program on the history of the Borough of Conshohocken. Coll is a longtime resident of Conshohocken and a member of the Conshohocken Historical Society. He is co-author with his son, Brian, of the Arcadia Then and Now Series book Conshohocken. He has also done books Conshohocken and West Conshohocken Sports and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Italian Feast. He has taken many photos for the Conshohocken Record and the Norristown Times Herald. This program is free. Refreshments will be served. For additional information, call 215-646-6065.

Taste of the White House Soiree featuring former White House Chef Walter Scheib will take place April 29 at 6 p.m. at Manufacturers Golf & Country Club in Fort Washington to celebrate HealthLinks 10th anniversary and honor its founders, the Eugene Jackson Family. The evening will heat up with a Chef Meet & Greet, followed by a specially selected presidential menu. Gala tickets are $150 per person. Proceeds benefit HealthLink, a free clinic providing compassionate, quality medical and dental care to uninsured, working adults in Bucks and Montgomery counties who fall in between the health care cracks. Go to http://tasteofthewhitehouse.charityhappenings.org to make reservations online or lend support through sponsorship. For event information, call 267-699-0124 or email jmarushak@healthlinkmedical.org.

The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association will hold an open house at the Evans-Mumbower Mill April 17 from 1 to 4 p.m. The Mill is at the corner of Swedesford and Township Line Roads in Upper Gwynedd. The open house is free but donations are welcome. For more information, call 215-646-8866 o email info@wvwa.org.

The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce will host Breakfast With Your County Commissioners and State Representatives April 21 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the Holiday Inn Fort Washington, 432 W. Pennasylvania Ave. Commissioners: James R. Matthews (Chairman), Joseph M. Hoeffel (Vice Chair), State Representatives: Todd Stephens (District 151) and Josh Shapiro (District 153). Register onlineat www.emccc.org. $10 for EMCCC member; $20 for non-members.

Upper Dublins Districtwide Allied Art Show will be held April 27 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. in the Upper Dublin High School Athletic Complex.

The Rev. Alfred Muli, chaplain at Fort Washington Estates, will be the featured speaker at the Kiwanis sponsored breakfast observing the National Day of Prayer May 5 at 7 a.m. at the William Penn Inn. The breakfast is open to the public ($15). Reservations can be made by calling 215-646-4356 or by emailing georgesaurman@Juno.com.

The Upper Dublin Shade Tree Commission invites people to participate in its spring bare root planting events, sponsored in part by Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Friends of Robbins Park. On April 9, zix trees will be planted at the Evelyn B. Wright Park & Community Pool, 401 Logan Ave., North Hills, at 9 a.m., followed by the planting of 10 trees at Sheeleigh Park, Loch Alsh Avenue and Douglas Street, Ambler, at 10:15 a.m. On April 29, students from Upper Dublin High School will join the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to plant 16 trees in Robbins Park, Butler Pike and Meetinghouse Road, Ambler, to help launch the societys Million Trees campaign. This event will occur in conjunction with Temple Amblers EarthFest. Experienced tree-tenders are sought to assist the students. For more information,contact Ron Ayres at 215-653-0421 or 215-483-4348.

The Friends of the Wissahickon and the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association are teaming up once again to clean the Wissahickon Creek from top to bottom April 30 from 9 a.m. to noon. This spring marks the 41st anniversary of Wissahickon Valley Watershed Associations annual Creek Clean Up, and the second year that FOW has teamed up with WVWA. Volunteers of all ages will clean the creek, the surrounding trails and the many tributaries of the Wissahickon Creek. Armed with bags, volunteers will be assigned to sections of the creek. Following the clean up, all volunteers are invited to WVWAs Talkin Trash picnic in Fort Washington State Park, with food provided by Whole Foods Market of North Wales. The pavilion is located on Mill Road in Flourtown. To help out in Montgomery County, all volunteers must be pre-assigned a section of the Wissahickon Creek to clean. Please contact Bob Adams, WVWA director of stewardship, at 215-646-8866 ext. 14 or bob@wvwa.org. To work with the Friends of the Wissahickon in Philadelphia, meet at the pavilion along Forbidden Drive, a short distance south of the intersection of Forbidden Drive and Northwestern Avenue. Limited parking is available along Northwestern Avenue and other nearby streets. Volunteers are encouraged to bike or carpool to the event. To participate, register at www.fow.org. Contact Kevin Groves with questions at 215-247-0417 ext. 105 or groves@fow.org.

Montgomery County Community Colleges International Club invites the community to the second annual International Festival April 20 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The rain date is April 26. The International Club will transform the outside quad area into multicultural celebration with various performances by dancers, singers and musicians. Artists will share their artwork at various display tables. Activities include games, raffles, Easter egg decorating and henna tattoos. Students will have samples of international cuisine at tables representing different countries and will serve food from various local ethnic restaurants. Throughout the evening, volunteers will accept donations and will raffle gift baskets and prizes to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity. Donations of food, international clothes and prizes are needed. Volunteers, including artists and performers, are welcome. For more information or to sponsor an activity, contact Gillian Nel, International Club president, at gnel9277@students.mc3.edu or 267-974-0163.

The Arts and Humanities Division at Montgomery County Community College is partnering with the Philadelphia Writers Conference to host Memoirs Matter: How Life Stories (Including Yours) Can Transform Your Relationship to Literature April 23 from 1 to 3 p.m. in Advanced Technology Center room 101, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The event is free and open to the public. In the first part of this two-hour seminar, professor and author Robert Waxler will explain how writing his two memoirs affected his life as well as his relationship to literature. In the second part, blogger and workshop leader Jerry Waxler will present a sequence of steps to help writers find their own story. For information, contact Dana Resente at dresente@mc3.edu.

The Maple Glen Garden Club will hold its fourth annual Plant Sale on May 7 from 8 to 11 a.m. Perennials, shrubs, vegetables and native plants grown by the club members will be sold. The club uses the plant sale proceeds to fund community projects, a college scholarship and community plantings. The sale will be held in the 500 block of Coach Road, Horsham, as part of a neighborhood garage sale. Plants will be sold at bargain prices. For more information, email MapleGlenGardenClub@gmail.com.

The Relay for Life Craft Show is looking for local crafters to participate in show, which will be May 21 from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Wissahickon High School track, 521 Houston Road, Ambler. There is a $10 entry fee, and 20 percent of sales are donated to the American Cancer Society. Participants will receive a 6-foot table under a tent. For information, contact Joanne at joannescoles@comcast.net or Mindy at mcamsilver@comcast.net.

Spring House Estates is hosting its annual book fair on April 18 from 4 to 7 p.m. and April 9 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Included will be hardback and paperback used books. Spring House Estates is located at 728 Norristown Road, Lower Gwynedd.

The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will present the Penn Suburban/Hatfield Joint Business Card Exchange April 20 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Univest Bank Lansdale Area Financial Service Center, 120 Forty Foot Road, Hatfield. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. Join Univest National Bank and Trust Co. for a spring-inspired Business Card Exchange at its newest office in the Hatfield Pointe Shopping Center. Come out and meet members of Univests executive management team while enjoying fine food and beverages.

13th Annual Community Reading Day Kick-off Breakfast Get Together April 26 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the North Wales Area Library, 233 Swartley St., North Wales. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. For more information, contact the chamber office at 215-362-9200 or info@pennsuburban.org. Join presenting sponsor Verizon, chamber staff and fellow members for the Community Reading Day volunteer get together. The Community Reading Day program allows volunteers to read a designated book to second-grade students throughout 38 area public and private schools and present the book as a gift to each class. Even if you are not a volunteer, you are cordially invited to stop by to network, enjoy coffee and pastries.

Ambler Mennonite Church is hosting a Spring Craft Show and Flea Market May 21 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Rain date will be May 28. The community is invited to shop the great craft booths, find some gifts and deals, as well as enjoy home baked goods and tasty lunch specials. Childrens activities are planned. All vendors are encouraged to contact the church at 215-643-4876 or AmblerMennonite@verizon.net. Advertising, signage, customer parking and a shuttle to auxiliary parking at nearby lots for vendors will be provided. 10 foot by 10 foot spaces can be rented for $5 each and tables for an additional $5 each. All proceeds from space and table rentals go toward school kits for children around the world. The church is located at the corner of East Mt. Pleasant Avenue and North Spring Garden Street, Ambler.

The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association presents The Life & Times of Aquatic Insects in the Wissahickon Creek April 16 from 1 to 3 p.m. Join WVWA for a hands-on program. RSVP required: www.wvwa.org or 215-646-8866. WVWA member fee: $5 per person / $15 per family. Non-WVWA member fee: $10 per person / $20 per family.

The photography exhibition Natures Palette by photo-artist Judy Miller will run March 18 to May 19 at the Art in the Storefront gallery, 41 E. Butler Pike, Ambler.

JPRN  Networking For People in Transition & People Who Can Help Them  Unemployment remains high. JPRN, the Jarrettown Professional Relationship Network can help. Are you trying to network your way to a new job? Do you have expertise or contacts that can help people in transition? Is your company or organization looking for people in the area? This is a free outreach program to support those seeking work, involve people with contacts and networking know how, and involve local companies. Meetings held monthly at Jarrettown United Methodist Church, Limekiln Pike.

Pennsylvanias Low-Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) grant program is now open for the 2010-11 heating season. Grants are based on income, family size, type of heating fuel and region. Additional information, such as specific income limits, and applications for LIHEAP grants are available online via the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Access to Social Services (COMPASS) website at www.compass.state.pa.us. Applications are available at most public officals district offices, county assistance offices, local utility companies and community service agencies, such as Area Agencies on Aging or community action agencies.

Begin your holiday shopping at Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation! Entertainment books for 2011, Philadelphia North, are now on sale at $30 each. Regal/United Artists movie tickets are on sale for just $7.50 each, and tickets to the Adventure Aquarium, Baltimore Aquarium, and the Philadelphia Zoo are also available. Discounted ski vouchers to area mountains will be arriving in December; call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information. Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation office hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

RSVP of Montgomery County and the Wissahickon Valley Public Library have partnered again to offer the public their popular free mock interview sessions. The mock interviews are conducted by RSVP volunteers who are retired professionals, some of whom were in hiring positions themselves. Packets of information which include a sample employment application and interviewing tips with mock interview questions are available at the library to pick up prior to a scheduled mock interview or will be sent via email once the interview is scheduled. To schedule your interview, please contact Janis Glusman at RSVP 610-834-1040, ext. 16. The library is also offering a free resume review service. Bring in your current resume and the professional reference staff will assist you with hints and tips on capturing your work history accurately.

Registration for Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation summer playgrounds, Camp B.I.G. and Small Folks, X-Zone, and sports camps has began. Register online at www.upperdublin.net/store, or at the UDP&R office, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington. Call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information.

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Danielles Espresso Cafe presents Mornings at Mondaug Bark Park April 16 and May 21 from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Meet fellow dog lovers. These events include complimentary coffee, treats for people and pups and raffles/giveaways.

Upper Dublins Annual Spring Flea Market will be held June 4 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Reserve a table, or come and shop. Tables are $15 for UD residents, $20 for non-residents. This successful event occurs rain or shine. Refreshments available. Call 215-643-1600 ext. 3443 to register for a table.

Regal movie tickets available for purchase at Upper Dublin Township Parks & Recreation. Reduced rate: $7.50 per ticket. Some restrictions apply. Call 215-643-1600 x3443.

Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation movie tickets $7.50 Regal Cinemas, United Artist & Edwards Cinemas on sale throughout the year Monday  Friday from 9 a.m.  4 p.m.

Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation Camp Sign-ups for Stony Creek Day Camp  Stony Creek Tracers and Park n Tots. Register on-line at www.whitpaintownship.org OrCome to Township Building with check or Visa MasterCard Monday  Friday from 9 a.m.  4 p.m. For additional information call 610.277-2400 ext. 374

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation offers exciting new programs for the fall:

-Returning favorites include UK Elite Petite Soccer, Tiny Dancers, Kiddie Tennis, Fun-nastics, Messy Playtime, Little Chefs, and more. Babysitters Training will be offered in November and December. Continuing Adult Fitness Classes include Cardio Circuit, Core & More, Yoga, Boxing, and Adult G.Y.M. For more information call 215-643-1600 x3443. Register for programs online at www.upperdublin.net/store.

Music and Theater

The community is invited to a Cantors Concert April 16 at 8 p.m. Congregation Beth Or, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen. Listen and hum-along to the Yiddish, pop tunes and classical music performed by Congregation Beth Ors own Cantor David Green and his special guest, Cantor Irvin Bell, from Temple Beth Israel in Deerfield Beach, Fla. The cantors will be accompanied by Mark Sobol and his Klezmer musicians. Tickets are $18 in advance and $25 at the door. RSVP with payment to Barb Murtha, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen, PA 19002, or call 215-646-5806 ext. 220.

Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse will host the Jameson Sisters May 14. Doors open at 7:30 pm, performance at 8:00 pm. Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse is located at the corner of Rte. 202 & Sumneytown Pike, Gwynedd. $5 suggested donation. Light refreshment available at a modest cost. For further information, call 215-393-9576 or visit gwyneddmeeting.org/coffeehouse.html.

Celebrate patriotism through song with Gwynedd-Mercy Colleges choir, the Voices of Gwynedd, as it presents Hear America Singing April 15 at 8 p.m. The choir will perform song selections from all over the country, including Georgia on My Mind, New York State of Mind, and a medley including Philadelphia Freedom and Allentown. The performance will end with When the Saints Go Marching In to acknowledge the choirs upcoming tour in New Orleans. Hear America Singing will take place in the Julia Ball Auditorium, located in St. Bernard Hall. Parking is available in lots A, C and D. Admission is free.

The Choristers will present Anton Dvoraks Stabat Mater April 16 at 7:30 p.m. at Upper Dublin Lutheran Church in Ambler. The choir will be accompanied by a 41-piece orchestra. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for senior citizens, $10 for students and children are free. Tickets will be sold in advance or at the door. For more information, call 215-542-7871 or visit TheChoristers.org

Religious News

The Staircase Gallery at Or Hadash: A Reconstructionist Congregation in Fort Washington will feature the work of Emily Ennuat-Lustine. The artist will be showing paintings and graphics inspired by her own personal spiritual journey and quest for meaning. Some of the works to be shown have been inspired by Biblical Psalms and writings. Her work has been shown at Abington Art Center, Cheltenham Arts Center and Old City Gallery of Jewish Art among others. The exhibition is open Friday evenings starting Feb. 18 after Shabbat services. Gallery hours are: Mondays through Thursdays 10-4:30, Fridays 10-3 and following Shabbat Services and Sundays 10-1. The synagogue is located at 190 Camp Hill Road in Fort Washington. For additional information contact the synagogue office at 215-283-0276.

Reunions

St. Matthews High School Conshohocken Class of 1961 is looking for classmates. For details, contact Greg Marincola at 215-646-2239, 215-740-1296 or gregcola@comcast.net.

Olney High School Class of 1971 is Lloking for classmates for a 40th reunion Oct. 28. For details, contact Judy at ohsclassof71@yahoo.com or 215-870-7572.

Abington High School Class of 1961 is seeking classmates for a 50-year reunion to be held Oct. 14-15, 2011.Visit the website, www.abington61.com, for details or call 215-947-1779.

Overbrook High School class of January 1956 is having a 55 year reunion on May 22, 2011 at the Bala Golf Club in Philadelphia. For information please contact overbrookreunion56@comcast.net

Germantown High School Class Of January 1961 is looking for classmates for 50th year reunion to take place in May of 2011. Please contact: 215-362-9148, 856-577-0659 or samdelcomo@comcast.net

The June 1961 class of Germantown High School is holding their 50th reunion on May 15, which will be a brunch. For further details please contact Linda Dorfman Alten at lindaalten@yahoo.com or call 215-441-8411.

Support

New Life Presbyterian Church in Dresher, will host GriefShare, a special seminar and support group which will run on Monday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m., from March 7 through June 6. At each meeting there will be a DVD about the grief process, discussion and reference to a grief workbook. Preregistration is required to secure a place in the group and to purchase a GriefShare notebook (for a one-time fee of $15). The notebook goes along with the 13-week schedule covering such topics as: living with grief, the effects of grief, and stuck in grief. For more information or to register, call: Sandy Elder at 215-884-5149.

PUPS (People Understanding Parkinsons) A self-help group for those adjusting to a new diagnosis or dealing with the early stages of Parkinsons Disease. Meets fourth Tuesday of the month from 1 to 2:30 p.m., at Abington Health Center, Schilling Campus, Willowood Building, 2510 Maryland Road, Suite 251, Willow Grove. For more information or to RSVP, contact Lorna at 215-542-2931.

The North Penn Visiting Nurse Associations Meals on Wheels program is looking for volunteers to pack or deliver meals to the elderly and infirmed. Meals are packed and delivered mornings, Monday through Friday. You can volunteer for as many days per week or month as you would like. Packaging meals requires approximately 2-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves making sandwiches, packaging food into individual serving containers and packing coolers with the meals. Delivering meals requires approximately 1-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves loading coolers into your car and delivering a route of approximately 10 to 15 stops. The Meals on Wheels program is also in need of emergency, winter-weather volunteers to pack and deliver meals in bad weather. North Penn VNA is located at 51 Medical Campus Drive in Lansdale and delivers meals in the Lansdale, North Wales and Blue Bell areas. For more information or to volunteer, please call Bridget, North Penn VNA Meals on Wheels coordinator at 215-855-8296.

Elkins Park Area CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) meets the first Tuesday of every month, 7- 8:30 p.m., at Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital in Elkins Park. For information on CHADD or ADHD, please see our website www.chadd.net/249 or call Claire Noyes at: 215-779-6656.

Center for Loss and Bereavement, 3847 Skippack Pike, Skippack (610-222-4110) www.bereavementcenter.org Offers professional counseling for individuals, couples, children and families dealing with issues of loss and bereavement. Six-week adult support groups: Newly forming young adult grief support group  every other Wednesday, 7  8:15 p.m. (free of charge); Monthly loss of child support  second Mondays, 7-8:15 p.m.; Six-week young loss of spouse/partner  Thursdays, 10-11:15 a.m.; Other groups scheduled as interest is shown for suicide loss support, adult loss of parent, motherless daughters, adult loss of sibling, coping with chronic illness and disability and mens loss of spouse. Nellos Corner Family Bereavement program offers peer grief support groups for ages 4 through teen and their caregivers  Every other Tuesday or Wednesday (free of charge) Local chapter of Parents of Murdered Children also meets at the Center. Registration required. Call for further information.

CHADD is a national organization for children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder, providing education, advocacy and support for individuals and their families with AD/HD. Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital, 60 Township Line Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027, will host children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder on the First Tuesday of each month 7  8:30 p.m. Free, no childcare provided.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphias Kehillah of Old York Road is sponsoring a free Caregiver Support Group for individuals who care for an elderly person with cognitive and/or physical impairments. The group meets at SarahCare Adult Day Care Center, 101 Washington Lane, Suite G-6, Jenkintown, Pa., on the first Wednesday of each month. Patty Rich,
Rabbis installation at Keneseth Israel will get a boost of student creativity
California High Speed Rail Authority officials have begun to respond to more than 160 questions and comments that Morgan Hill residents have voiced in relation to how the project will impact the local area.

HSRA staff consolidated all the comments and queries, submitted via a section of the City of Morgan Hills website dedicated to the project, into 10 general questions, according to HSRA Public Information Officer Ricci Graham. State bullet train authorities then answered these questions in the form of a Frequently Asked Questions document, which Graham sent to the Times Dec. 5.

The most commonly asked questions among Morgan Hill residents relate to the 200-mph-plus trains noise impact, why the U.S. 101 median cant be used for the HSR route, why the authority is not considering building a station in Morgan Hill, potential cost overruns, compensation to homeowners who will have to relocate to make room for the passenger train, system safety and other concerns.

I am grateful for the opportunity to discuss the nations first high-speed rail program with you and the Morgan Hill community and look forward to collaborating with you in the future as the environmental review process in the San Jose to Merced project section continues, reads a Nov. 30 letter from Ben Tripousis, HSRA Northern California Regional Director to Morgan Hill Mayor Steve Tate.

Over the past several months, city staff and council members have been asking Morgan Hill residents to voice their questions so the council can send the HSRA a scoping letter to seek answers before the authoritys board votes on a preferred alignment through or around town.

The HSR will carry passengers between San Francisco and San Diego in less than three hours. Stations nearest to Morgan Hill are proposed in Gilroy and San Jose. HSR officials are currently considering four possible train alignments through Morgan Hill. These are:

 At grade, on a berm, along Monterey Road or adjacent (on the east side) of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks;

 Elevated, in a viaduct, along Monterey Road or adjacent (on the east side) of the UPRR;

 Elevated in a viaduct along the west side of U.S. 101;

 Elevated in a viaduct along the east side of U.S. 101.

The HSRA board is expected to vote on its preferred alignment through Morgan Hill by spring 2017.

The total projected cost for the statewide bullet train is about $65 billion, according to HSRA staff.

In response to questions about cost, the Dec. 5 FAQ from the HSRA says, in part, The Authority hasimplemented a Risk Management Program that uses state-of-the-art risk management tools that will help facilitate and drive prudent and timely risk response action before program cost and schedule have the potential to be impacted.

The FAQ also provides links to the projects financial information on the HSR website, hsr.ca.gov.

On the question of noise impacts, the authoritys FAQ responds, Once operational, Californias high-speed trains will operate at generally quieter levels than conventional diesel locomotive passenger trains and freight railAdditionally, in areas where the train will need to travel through at-grade crossings, the Authority will investigate the establishment of quiet zoneswhere additional safety measures remove the need to sound train hornswhich can significantly reduce noise disturbance.

On concerns about HSR safety, the FAQ responds, High-speed rail is supporting Positive Train Control technology statewide, an early earthquake detection system, the installation of four-quadrant gates at grade crossings, and building intrusion barriers throughout the system to ensure optimum safety.

Morgan Hill officials have not yet sent the HSRA their full scoping letter, but plan to do so by the end of this week, according to John Lang of the citys Economic Development Department.

Following is the full text of the Morgan Hill FAQ compiled by HSRA officials.

Morgan Hill Frequently Asked Questions

November 2016

1) Residents of Morgan Hill have expressed concerns about noise impacts of the high-speed rail system and are interested in knowing what action the Authority will take to mitigate noise impacts?

Once operational, Californias high-speed trains will operate at generally quieter levels than conventional diesel locomotive passenger trains and freight rail. The Authority is committed to mitigating noise impacts outlined in Federal Railroad Administration guidelines. Additionally, in areas where the train will need to travel through at-grade crossings, the Authority will investigate the establishment of quiet zones  where additional safety measures remove the need to sound train horns  which can significantly reduce noise disturbance.

In addition to train operations, other mitigation measures such as sound walls, sound barriers (solid and/or transparent), or earthen berms built between the train tracks and residential or other noise-sensitive areas can help reduce noise disturbance caused by the train service. In low density neighborhoods, residents may receive insulating window treatments.

For additional information, please visit https://www.hsr.ca.gov/docs/newsroom/fact%20sheets/cahsr_noise_2016.pdf to view the fact sheet on the Authoritys approach to minimize noise impacts.

2) Why not consider the option of running at-grade along the HWY 101 median or the eastern side of HWY 101?

Highway 101 was built to accommodate vehicular traffic with a design speed of up to approximately 70 mph. High-speed trains will be capable of running at speeds of up to 220 mph. Because Highway 101 was designed for slower vehicular traffic, the curves of the highway are too sharp to safely accommodate a high-speed train track along the center median.

The Authority is currently studying two alignments alternatives through Morgan Hill;

1) An alignment west of HWY 101, which would avoid several new residential and commercial developments.

2) An embankment alternative adjacent to Union Pacific Railroad/Monterey Road.

3) Why is HSR not considering building a station in Morgan Hill?

Proposition 1A, the High-Speed Rail Act approved by voters in 2008, identified up to 24 stations for the statewide high-speed rail system. Morgan Hill was considered for a station in the Bay Area to Central Valley Program Level EIR/EIS certified by the Authority and the Federal Railroad Administration in 2008. However, when the document was completed, it was determined in the final analysis that that the city of Morgan Hill was not the most prudent location for a station. In order to accommodate the community of Morgan Hill, the Authority will be collaborating with its regional transit partners to ensure residents have the requisite connectivity for both the Gilroy and Diridon stations.

Documents that discuss planned stations are available online, here:http://www.hsr.ca.gov/Programs/Environmental_Planning/bay_area.html.

Further, the cities of Morgan Hill and Gilroy collaborated to determine the most appropriate location for a high-speed rail station and jointly decided that Gilroy was the best location.

4) How will the Authority prevent potential cost overruns?

The Authority takes concerns about the cost of the program seriously. The Authoritys Board of Directors Finance and Audit Committee reviews the latest financial and schedule information on the program in a monthly meeting that is open to the public. The findings of this committee are then reported quarterly to the Board of Directors at one of their monthly meetings. The latest materials and reports from the Finance and Audit Committee meetings are available here:http://hsr.ca.gov/Board/monthly_fa_committee_meeting.html

The Authority has also implemented a Risk Management Program that uses state-of-the-art risk management tools that will help facilitate and drive prudent and timely risk response action before program cost and schedule have the potential to be impacted. For additional information on the Authoritys risk management plan, please view the Authoritys 2016 Business Plan, which is available here:http://hsr.ca.gov/docs/about/business_plans/2016_BusinessPlan.pdf

5) Will homeowners whose property will be impacted by the high-speed rail system be fairly compensated?

The California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority) understands that private property owners will be affected by the proposed construction of the high-speed rail system. In light of this fact, the Authority is committed to doing everything it can to educate, inform and work collaboratively with affected property owners to minimize the impacts of any potential property acquisition.

State and federal constitutions recognize the need for public agencies to maintain the ability to purchase property for public use, while providing appropriate safeguards to accomplish this purpose. The state and federal constitutions and various other statutes, including the California Eminent Domain Law and state Relocations Assistance Act, and the Federal Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act (Uniform Act), authorize the purchase of private property for public use and outline how public agencies are required to protect the rights of each citizen whose property is being acquired.

The Authority has a team of Right-of-Way agents assigned to work closely with property owners impacted by the high-speed rail program. Right-of-Way professionals on the high speed rail team will provide owners with relocation information, relocation advisory assistance, a one-time moving cost reimbursement, replacement housing payments and supplemental rental assistance.

This document provides an at-a-glance reference for property owners potentially impacted by the project:

https://www.hsr.ca.gov/docs/programs/private_property/Your_Property_Your_HSR.pdf.

6) What have you done to ensure residents in Morgan Hill can engage in any discussion about possible alignments in the city?

The Authority has and will continue to engage in an aggressive and robust public outreach effort to ensure residents and civic leaders in Morgan Hill have multiple opportunities to provide input on the high-speed rail program. The Authority has convened a regular Technical Working Group (TWG) and Community Working Group (CWG) that hold meetings in the Morgan Hill area. The TWG is composed of city, county and agency staff. The CWG is composed of people representing a broad spectrum of community stakeholders to provide input, interact with engineering and environmental staff and assist in moving the planning process forward. The meetings will be held on a continuous basis as the Authority works to identify preliminary preferred alternatives for the San Jose to Merced alignment.

Materials from these meetings can be found on the Authoritys website here:http://hsr.ca.gov/Programs/Statewide_Rail_Modernization/Project_Sections/sanjose_merced.html.

The Authority has previously held open house meetings in the San Jose to Merced project section, including in Morgan Hill, in the fall of 2015 and in May 2016. The Authority will host additional open houses in this project section in early 2017 to allow residents to receive the most up-to-date information, ask questions and learn more about the alternatives that are being studied as part of the environmental review process.

Materials from these meetings can be found on the Authoritys website here:http://hsr.ca.gov/Programs/Statewide_Rail_Modernization/Project_Sections/sanjose_merced.html.

7) Is the Authority considering building an elevated structure within the city of Morgan Hill?

No. The Authority is studying an embankment alternativean alternative that is built on a prism of soiladjacent to Union Pacific/Monterey Road. The proposed Morgan Hill Bypass alignment will be on a viaduct structure to reduce impacts to agricultural land and allow for the passage of wildlife.

8) Is the UPRR alignment being considered through Morgan Hill?

As part of the process to select a final alignment between San Jose and Merced, there are two alternatives being studied

1) Adjacent to the UPRR right-of-way/Monterey Road on an embankment or

2) An aerial alignment bypassing the downtown Morgan Hill area, running adjacent to the west side of HWY 101.

9) What measures are being taken to ensure the high-speed rail system is safe?

The Authority is committed to creating a 21st-century transportation system that will use the most advanced and innovative safety technology available. High-speed rail is supporting Positive Train Control technology statewide, an early earthquake detection system, the installation of four-quadrant gates at grade crossings, and building intrusion barriers throughout the system to ensure optimum safety.

The following is a link to the High-Speed Rail Safety Program:https://www.hsr.ca.gov/docs/newsroom/fact%20sheets/cahsr_safety_2016.pdf

10) Is there a possibility that HSR can avoid the downtown area?

As part of the process to select a final alignment between San Jose and Merced, the Authority is currently studying two alignment alternatives through Morgan Hill:

1) An alignment bypassing the downtown Morgan Hill area, running adjacent to the west side of HWY 101, which would avoid several new residential and commercial developments.

2) An embankment alternative adjacent to Union Pacific Railroad/Monterey Road. This alignment does run through the downtown area east of Monterey Highway.
One veteran from Burke County traveled up to Standing Rock, a large reservation that straddles the state line of North and South Dakota, to join thousands of other veterans who are standing with Native American tribes during the protests involving the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Joseph Pritchard, 62, of Morganton is an Air Force veteran who was stationed in California during the Vietnam War. He decided, after receiving a call that many other veterans in the state were traveling to Standing Rock to support the tribes, that he wanted to be a part of the movement.

Joseph took a cot and sleeping bag, so he had his gear and plenty of warm clothes and he took some meals that were ready-to-eat, said Marny Pritchard, Josephs wife.

He and the other vets from surrounding districts drove for more than 24 hours in a 15-passenger van and arrived at the reservation this past Saturday, Marny said.

When the veterans put an all-call out to say that they were organizing, he just looked at me and said, Gosh, I really want to go. You know I really want to go, she said.

When Joseph told her he wanted to go, she was fearful because she knew how some protesters were being treated, but she was also proud of her husbands commitment and passion for doing what he thinks is the correct thing, she said.

Approximately 8,000 to 10,000 people are participating in protests and many of them are planning to spend the winter there in tepees and huts, Marny said.

Since this past spring, an oil pipeline company out of Dallas, Texas was in the process of building a 1,100-mile long oil pipeline that will cross four different states, according to an article by The Seattle Times.

The Standing Rock Sioux tribe and their allies have been rallying in camps near the pipeline construction alignment since last April in Cannon Ball, N.D., the article said.

The tribe and its supporters believe the pipeline threatens drinking water and cultural sites. Dallas-based pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners has denied that and said the pipeline will be safe, said the Associated Press.

Joseph gave Marny three reasons as to why he wanted to be part of the movement.

He is a veteran and he really took seriously his vow to protect people from threats (that are) foreign and domestic, Marny said.

When he was in California he also really embraced the environmentalist aspect of (the movement) and he strongly feels that if we do not protect our water, we are not going to survive, Marny said.

The last reason he gave dealt with protecting the rights of the Standing Rock tribes.

His degree is in history with an emphasis on the formation of the Constitution, so he is a Constitutional historian, she said. He feels very strongly about protecting the rights of all people.

Marny said Joseph told her if the veterans dont draw the line here, "If we don't stop here, who's going to be there for me when they come to get me?"

She said that Joseph and the veterans had a goal of organizing peaceful resistance.

They were specifically instructed to not bring any weapons and it (the goal) was to stand in between the pipeline and the First Americans to give them respite and to honor their fight, she said.

The Texas oil company has been instructed by the Army Corps Engineers to halt production, but as soon as weather makes it feasible, she believes they will continue production, Marny said.

Some vets have headed home due to blizzard-like conditions, she said.

Many of them left yesterday during the blizzard and there were wrecks all along the highways, Marny said. She is working to get her husband a flight out of Bismarck, South Dakota, Marny said.

Joseph created a GoFundMe account to help in his efforts to make it to the reservation and they are thankful for the outpouring of support that was shown to make his trip a success, she said.

Protesters are maintaining a presence even after scoring a victory when the Army on Sunday said it would not issue an easement for the $3.8 billion pipeline to cross under a Missouri River reservoir near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault reiterated his call Tuesday for protesters to leave, saying the Army's decision has delayed the pipeline for months and there's no reason for people to put their lives at risk.

The camp is on federal land, and the Army Corps of Engineers had set a Monday deadline for people to leave, citing safety concerns. Officials didn't plan to forcibly remove anyone, but those who remain are considered to be trespassing.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Maintaining independence and editorial freedom is essential to our mission of empowering investor success. We provide a platform for our authors to report on investments fairly, accurately, and from the investors point of view. We also respect individual opinionsthey represent the unvarnished thinking of our people and exacting analysis of our research processes. Our authors can publish views that we may or may not agree with, but they show their work, distinguish facts from opinions, and make sure their analysis is clear and in no way misleading or deceptive.

To further protect the integrity of our editorial content, we keep a strict separation between our sales teams and authors to remove any pressure or influence on our analyses and research.

Read our editorial policy to learn more about our process.
Free e-newsletter

Our daily newsletter is FREE and keeps you up to date with the world of mortgage. Please complete the form below and click on SIGN UP to receive daily e-newsletters from Canadian Mortgage Professional.
Fitch Ratings upgraded its outlook for the Big Five earlier this week, allaying fears that the countrys leading bank lenders might suffer significant losses in the wake of recent regulatory changes and dire predictions of lukewarm GDP growth in the next few months.The Financial Post reported that the agency moved its outlook for the banks from negative to stable, saying that existing mechanisms would be sufficient in managing risks.Despite the general trends and challenging systemic environment, solid risk management and a good capital position should act as key protective buffers for banks credit profiles, Fitch said on Tuesday (December 6).Canadas largest banks gained over $9 billion in profit for the last quarter of fiscal 2016, with Bank of Montreal leading the pack with an 11 per cent increase in its net profit during the same time frame.BMO stated that approximately 56 per cent of its overall mortgage portfolio is insured, and that 70 per cent of its book has 25 years or less on remaining amortization.Along with BMO, CIBC and Bank of Nova Scotia exceeded analysts expectations in their profits for the quarter. Meanwhile, Toronto-Dominion Bank earned $2.3 billion in net income in Q4 2016 (up from the previous years $1.8 billion), even though it suffered a 1 per cent year-over-year decline in its Canadian personal and commercial banking unit. Royal Bank of Canada posted $2.5 billion in net income, down 2 per cent from the previous year. Analysts attributed this decline to lower earnings from trading.While these were acceptable results, however, Fitch warned that mortgage lending, revenue growth, and asset quality will experience greater stress by early 2017stress mainly driven by record-high household debt in Canada.Increased housing risk will also play a central role in this pressure, National Bank Financial analyst Peter Routledge stated.With uninsured mortgages driving an increasing portion of overall mortgage and loan growth  the consequences of a decline in housing prices  most notably in the Toronto and Vancouver markets  weighs more heavily with each passing quarter, Routledge wrote in a recent report to clients.We think borrowers ability and willingness to service unsecured loans deteriorates as house prices fall.
While the foreign buyers tax and the recent adjustments to federal housing rules have somewhat slowed down Canadas most in-demand real estate market, approximately 90,000 home owners in and around Vancouver will be receiving letters from B.C. Assessment in the next few days.The letters, already in the process of being mailed, will serve as early notifications for homes whose assessed values have increased sharply, CBC News reported.B.C. Assessment cautioned that despite relatively cooler market conditions, many Vancouver single-family homes will see significant increases of as much as 30 to 50 per cent in their assessed values, using valuations taken earlier this year.Residential strata properties like condominiums will see assessed values grown between 15 and 30 per cent, B.C. Assessment added.These increases will impact the property taxes that the home owners will have to pay. Aside from Vancouver, assessed values have also risen in Burnaby, Richmond, Squamish, Surrey, the North Shore, and the Tri-Cities.That is the market value of those homes as of July 1 of 2016, according to Jason Grant, the Greater Vancouver regions assessor. What might be happening for instance today or next month in any given market would be reflected in the 2018 assessment roll.B.C. Assessment will provide the full assessments through its website starting January 3, 2017.
Major Milestone For Joint Fannie/Freddie MBS

Freddie Mac just announced that it has implemented Release 1, utilizing the Common Securitization Platform (CSP). The Release was launched on November 21 and enables Freddie Mac to transfer certain securities operations for its Gold participation certificates (PCs) and Giant PCs to the CSP and to Common Securitization Solutions, LLC (CSS) which operates CSP.

Release 1 will pave the way for Release 2, in which a Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae will develop a single mortgage-backed security they will issue to finance fixed-rate mortgage loans backed by one- to four-unit single-family properties. This is known as the Single Security Initiative (SSI), and the new issue as Uniform Mortgages-Baked Securities (UMBS) to be guaranteed by either of the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). The resulting combined GSE market of to-be-announced (TBA) MBS is estimated at $3.5 trillion, second in size only to the global market for U.S. Treasuries.

Freddie Mac said the successful implementation of the CSP's core infrastructure and operations is a critical milestone on the path to the implementation of the SSI. The platform and the combined security have long been a large part of the Federal Housing Finance Agency's strategic plan for the GSEs. The two formed CSS as a joint venture.

"We're excited to use CSS operations and the CSP to support our securities issuance," said David Lowman, executive vice president of Freddie Mac's Single-Family Business. "This is a milestone marking several years of intensive work across Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, CSS and FHFA to take this project from concept to reality. I'm very appreciative of the collaboration and drive exhibited by everyone working on this project. This is one of the ways we're working together to build a better Freddie Mac and a better housing finance system for families, customers and taxpayers."

Freddie Mac also announced the broad availability of Dealer Direct(SM), its online securitization portal. Authorized dealers can use this portal to form Freddie Mac Giant securities and access the Freddie Mac REMIC Structure Validation Tool. The company also plans to introduce Dealer Direct functionality that will permit the exchange of legacy PCs for the new UMBS Single Security or, if applicable, another new 25th pay date security. There are approximately $1.4 trillion in Freddie Mac 45-day PCs, of which an estimated $1.1 trillion are expected to be exchangeable by PC holders for 55-day UMBS once the new security is officially launched.

Commingled resecuritizations of UMBS, which can combine UMBS issued by Freddie Mac and/or Fannie Mae, will be called Supers and will be the counterpart to Giant PCs.

Fannie Mae issued a statement congratulating CSS and Freddie Mac on Release 1 and saying it looks forward to continuing work on Release 2 "to facilitate a smooth and transparent transition to the Single Security."
CFPB Targets Reverse Lenders; MBA Reports on Lender Profits; Legal Trends

I find it ironic that the colors red, white, and blue stand for freedom, until they're flashing behind you. The OCC doesnt have flashing lights, but the feeling in ones stomach is probably like being pulled over. The OCC is set to downgrade WFC's fair lending scorecard by two notches, a move that would give regulators an even greater say in the bank's day-to-day operations.

If you work for a lender that lost money in the 3rd quarter, you're "special." And if you've lost money this year, do you really think you're going to improve your bottom line in 2017? The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its study of independent mortgage banks and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks showed companies had a net gain of $1,773 on each loan they originated in the third quarter of 2016, up from a reported gain of $1,686 per loan in the second quarter of 2016.

"Including all business lines, 94 percent of mortgage lenders in our study reported pre-tax net financial profits in the third quarter of 2016, compared to 90 percent in the second quarter of 2016," said Marina Walsh, MBA's Vice President of Industry Analysis. Heck, what about that other 6%??

Ms. Walsh observed that, "An increase in production volume and slight decrease in expenses in the third quarter kept production profits relatively stable. These profits would have been even higher were it not for a decline in net secondary marketing income, primarily income related to mortgage servicing rights."

"For the first time since the second quarter of 2015, production expenses were below $7,000 per loan, at $6,969 per loan. These expenses, however, remain elevated by historical standards. Given the increase in loan count and the higher pull-through rate compared to the second quarter, we would have expected an even larger reduction in production expenses." Average production volume increased, as did loan count.

The MBA said that, "The average pre-tax production profit was 74 basis points (bps) in the third quarter of 2016, compared to an average net production profit of 73 bps in the second quarter of 2016. Production profits for the third quarter of 2016 are also up from production profits of 55 bps in the third quarter of 2015. Since the inception of the Performance Report in the third quarter of 2008, net production income has averaged 53 bps."

One key to profitability is not paying large fines. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has taken action against three reverse mortgage companies for deceptive advertisements, including claiming that consumers could not lose their homes. The companies sanctioned are American Advisors Group, the largest reverse mortgage lender in the United States, Reverse Mortgage Solutions, and Aegean Financial. They were ordered to cease deceptive advertising practices, implement systems to ensure they are complying with all laws, and pay penalties totaling more than $800,000.

The CFPB fined Orange County's American Advisors Group $400,000, the nation's biggest reverse-mortgage lender, for falsely telling customers that they weren't at risk of losing their homes, and that they could live in them for the rest of their lives. Bloomberg reports that Reza Jahangiri, American Advisor's chief executive officer, said in a statement the company has "made a significant investment in our compliance and legal infrastructure to ensure we fully conform to all marketing laws and rules." American Advisors didn't admit to or deny the CFPB's findings.

Certainly, residential lenders and the court system are tied inexorably together. Recently a federal judge in Las Vegas blocked implementation of a Department of Labor rule that would have taken effect December 1st, increasing the salary level that an employee can earn and still be eligible for an exemption from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The government is expected to appeal the decision.

The lease between a Landlord and a Tenant specifies the terms under which a Landlord can evict a Tenant. One condition often found in residential leases is the requirement for Tenants to obtain renters insurance. The Law Offices of Peter N. Brewer reported that a California Landlord tried evicting a Tenant for not having insurance in a rent-controlled apartment after 15 years of not having renter's insurance. The Landlord served a three-day notice to perform or quit to obtain insurance on a Friday before a holiday weekend. The Tenant obtained insurance after the expiration of the three-day notice. The Landlord filed an unlawful detainer suit to evict the Tenant. At the trial court level, the Court ruled in favor of the Landlord. The Tenant appealed to the appellate division of the superior court. The appellate division affirmed the trial court's ruling and in addition, held that since the lease contained a forfeiture clause in the lease stating that any breach was sufficient grounds for termination of the lease, it did not matter if the breach was of a material term. Once again, the Tenant appealed the ruling.

The California Court of Appeals for the Second District reversed the lower court's rulings and held that a lease can only be terminated for a material breach of the lease. The Court cited previous cases in which a breach must be of a material term. Although this case was different because of the forfeiture clause, the Court refused to enforce the clause as it was against public policy and needed to be strictly construed. Landlords have disproportionately more power in lease agreements as such the court generally favors tenants who hold less bargaining power and hold Landlords to a higher standard.

This case represents the best possible case for a tenant. The insurance provision only benefited the tenant and the landlord was unable to articulate a reason how the tenants lack of insurance would harm the landlord. Also, the 3-day notice on a Friday before a national holiday is technically legal but the court noted the landlord was gaming the system and possibly retaliating as there was no reasonable way for the tenant to obtain insurance in time.

What about trends in bankruptcy law? Many debtors will file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy to obtain a discharge. Some will follow that discharge with a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. What does all that mean? Well in the case of HSBC Mortgage, it meant the borrower with two mortgages was granted a lien cancelation at the completion of bankruptcy.

The borrowers filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection and obtained their discharge. The next day, they filed for Chapter 13 protection to restructure their debts. In the second bankruptcy, HSBC filed a proof of claim for the first mortgage. The borrowers challenged the claim and HSBC failed to respond. Accordingly, the bankruptcy court issued an order disallowing HSBC's claim. Not only did they not object but HSBC requested not to be further notified about the proceedings. After the order, the borrowers moved to void the lien secured against the property as the underlying claim had been disallowed.

HSBC appealed to the district court but the decision was upheld. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court and bankruptcy court's to permanently void the lien. In this case, HSBC filed a proof of claim and it was successfully objected to by the borrowers. Since HSBC had timely filed the claim, the standing exemption refers to the statute which explicitly states a lien cannot be voided because a creditor did not file a claim. In other words, HSBC's failure to take appropriate action to protect the first mortgage left it negligent and vulnerable.

We had a little bond rally yesterday, and a big rally in stocks, once again proving they don't always move in opposite directions. WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude fell 1.94% to $49.94/bbl. In mortgage land, the MBA Mortgage Market Index fell to its lowest level since January while the average 30-year mortgage rate rose to its highest since October of 2014. JOLTS - Job Openings fell to 5.534 million in October from 5.631 million in September, indicating less slack in the labor market - no surprise there. We had a report on consumer credit, the key takeaway from the report being that consumer credit (both revolving and nonrevolving) continues to expand, which is a supportive element for the U.S. economy

Agency MBS closed the day "tighter vs. both treasuries and swaps" as the treasury market was better bid, curve flatter, ahead of Thursday's ECB decision. For the day, the risk free 10-year T-Note improved .375 in price closing with a yield of 2.35% - not much higher than where we were last December at this time. Agency MBS prices improved about .250.

That was all so... yesterday. This morning from overseas we've had the ECB decision and Mario Draghi's press conference with markets more comfortable that European QE will be extended well into 2017. In the U.S., we've seen Initial Jobless Claims for the week ending 12/03 (-10k to 258k) - and that about does it for market-moving scheduled news. Without much in the way of news the focus tends to shift on what the NY Fed is doing in terms of buying agency MBS, although it is very, very well forecast and described. Today will see the Desk of the New York Fed conduct two morning FedTrade operations: purchase up to $925mn Class B 2.5% ($450mn) and 3% ($475mn) followed by $1.5bn GNII 3% ($725mn) and 3.5% ($775mn). We find the benchmark 10-year yielding 2.39% this morning with agency MBS prices worse .250 versus last night.



Jobs and Announcements

In retail news, First Community Mortgage in Murfreesboro, Tenn. has launched FCM Cares, an employee-managed foundation that raises funds for charities and other worthy causes in the communities the company serves. FCM employees serve as foundation directors and distribute funds throughout the year in accordance with the foundation's budget and the board's approval. Four areas of focus include education, women's / children's issues, housing and the military. Funds are raised through direct contributions by First Community Mortgage, contributions from employees and business partners, and fundraising efforts by employees. Per Keith Canter, FCM's CEO, the company was looking for a more efficient way to channel its giving program to do the most good while keeping with FCM's "Human Mortgage" approach. FCM is also looking for loan originators. Click here to learn about working at a company where humans are the stars.

For wholesale & Ops job news, "Applying a fresh approach to today's lending challenges, Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions delivers an extraordinary mortgage experience for all stakeholders by always providing MORE. With a breadth of alternative lending products, its partners can close more loans by serving those borrowers that don't fit neatly into the agency box. To continue Angel Oak's aggressive growth into 2017, management is hiring experienced Wholesale Account Executives across the country to help partners understand the variety of programs available to serve today's unique borrower. In addition, they are looking for underwriters and other operations positions in their Atlanta headquarters. If you've been looking for the right entrepreneurial organization with a strong, service-based culture, look no further. Come join the nation's top Non-QM lender by emailingcareers@angeloakms.com for consideration."

Mobile is a hot topic these day. Most vendors offer some sort of mobile app, and they are really piling up on borrowers and LO's phones. SimpleNexus offers an out of the box, but customizable solution, that can consolidate these down and provide a singular experience for LO's, borrowers and even Realtors. LOs can use the app to check the status of their loans, send pre-approvals and more. Borrowers can use the app to quickly connect with the LO, apply for a loan, run accurate calculations, scan documents, and follow loan status. SimpleNexus has over 10,000 LOs using this white-labeled app to provide a great customer experience and keep their borrowers in the loop. Management is hiring software sales executives to help them expand - contact Ben Miller to learn more about an opportunity.

As one of the largest outsource providers in the United States, Digital Risk, LLC, is looking for an experienced Business Development leader. The ideal candidate will have established relationships in the financial sector and the ability to match Digital Risk products and services to client need. If interested, email Careers@DigitalRIsk.com for more details or view our posting.

Columbus, Ohio-based Equitable Mortgage Corporation announced a few major changes in upper management. Bruce A. Calabrese, current President of Equitable Mortgage will be moving to the CEO position and Anthony R. Butler, "Tony" current Vice President and CIO will be promoted to The President of Equitable Mortgage.
Just where Midland-Odessas economic bottom is amid the low oil price-fueled downturn has come into question with the October Midland-Odessa Regional Economic Index.

Karr Ingham, the Amarillo economist who prepares the index for the Midland Development Corp., explained that new, more accurate employment data indicates Midland and Odessa have not only not seen the end of job losses, but the two cities suffered sharper job losses than previously believed.

The index is calculated using monthly Current Employment Statistics provided by the Texas Workforce Commission based on employer reports filed with the commission. In addition, the commission also publishes its Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages data. Ingham said the two numbers have diverged significantly and unfortunately the bad number is the correct one.

The census through the second quarter is now available and shows sharper job losses in Midland and Odessa.

For example, the June 2016 monthly CES estimate indicates total payroll employment in Midland-Odessa of 163,900, a decline of 2.4 percent, compared to the June 2015 estimate of 168,000, Ingham said. However, he said, the census series indicates a June 2016 payroll employment estimate of 150,950 -- 12,950 fewer jobs than the CES estimate, and a decline of more than 8 percent. This is compared to the June 2015 monthly estimate of 164,385, which is also down from the June 2015 CES estimate by about 3,600 jobs.

Based on the census estimates through June 2016, more than 25,000 jobs were lost in Midland-Odessa between the employment peak in December 2014 and June 2016, Ingham said. About 12,000 of those jobs were lost in Midland, and 13,000 in Odessa.

By comparison, in the downturn of 2008-09, Midland-Odessa lost a combined 18,000 jobs.

The current downturn is a big economic event there, he said. The job loss pain was worse than we thought. This is a serious event in Midland-Odessa alone, with 25,000 jobs lost -- never mind Permian Basin-wide, in an 18-month period, Ingham said.

Before the downturn, the region had enjoyed two spectacular periods of growth: 2003-2004 to 2008 and 2010 to 2014. And while the downturn has resulted in significant loss of economic activity, business revenues, personal income and jobs, the downturn wont undo all those gains, he said.

Meanwhile, the Midland-Odessa index continued its double-digit decline in October, coming in 11.3 percent below October 2015.

Double-digit declines also continued in consumer spending and hotel-motel activity.

Retail sales were down 19.6 percent from last October and are down 20.3 percent so far this year compared to the first 10 months of 2015.

Automotive spending was off 21.6 percent from a year ago, and to date this year is down 18.4 percent from last year.

Hotel-motel tax collections also continued to sink amid the contraction in the oil and gas industry and the overall economy, falling 37.9 percent in the third quarter.

Construction activity gained in October, with the valuation of all building permits up 11.8 percent over last October. For the year, however, valuations are down 27.6 percent compared to the same period last year. New housing permits issued by both cities were down 5.7 percent in October and are down 16.4 percent so far this year from a year ago.

Existing home sales in October were down 2.8 percent from last October, which was down more than 30 percent compared to October 2014. Sales are down 3.4 percent so far this year compared to the first 10 months of 2015.

The average sales price dropped 5.3 percent to $241,473 from $254,950 last October. Prices so far this year have inched up 0.1 percent to $243,036 from $242,697 last year.

Ingham said that housing prices climbed 42 percent between 2010 and 2014. We need to lose, and will lose, some of that real estate price, he said. We want prices to fall a little further and faster and theyre unwilling to do that.

He predicted the housing market wont see a dramatic and troublesome loss in value but the market is not seeing the tremendous upward pressure on prices seen in 2010-2014.

Midland-Odessa went through a long period where we had no idea how long this contraction would last, Ingham observed. We have some sense now.

Updated, more accurate employment figures and crude oil production volumes in the coming months will help provide a clearer picture of the state of the Midland-Odessa economy and where the end of the contraction may fall, he said.

Were closer to the end of it than the start, he said.
A Midland man was arrested Dec. 1 after allegedly causing bodily injury while committing a theft, according to court documents.

Antonio Alfredo Hernandez, 26, was being held Wednesday on a $50,000 bond for a second-degree felony charge of robbery.

Police were dispatched in reference to a disturbance at about 3:20 p.m. Dec. 1 at Kings Beauty and Fashion.

A man was sitting in a vehicle near the store when a man  later identified as Hernandez  pulled him out of the vehicle, according to his arrest affidavit. Hernandez allegedly injured the man and attempted to drive off in the vehicle. The man pulled the keys out of the ignition before Hernandez could drive off, according to the affidavit.

If convicted of the second-degree felony charge, Hernandez could face up to 20 years imprisonment.
84.51 Exec Yael Cosset to Replace Kroger CDO

US retail giant Kroger has announced that its Chief Digital Officer (CDO) Kevin Dougherty is to retire at the end of January, when he will be succeeded by Yael Cosset, who currently serves as Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Information Officer of the company's analytics business 84.51.



Dougherty, who will be leaving after fifteen years of service, joined Kroger in 2001 as VP of Supply Chain Operations, was promoted to Group VP of Logistics in 2004, before being named Group VP and Chief Supply Chain Officer in 2010. He was later promoted to Group VP of Digital and of online retailer Vitacost, and he took up his current post last year.



On January 27th he will be succeeded by Cosset (pictured), who joined Tesco data firm dunnhumby in 2012 as Global Chief Information Officer (CIO), alongside his existing role as CEO of the company's price modeling and customer insight firm KSS Retail. He later moved to 84.51, which was formed from the assets of dunnhumbyUSA, the joint venture between dunnhumby and Kroger.



Rodney McMullen, Kroger's Chairman and CEO, comments: 'Kevin has been an integral partner in leading both our logistics operation and Kroger's strategic entry into the digital space. We wish him, his wife Barbara, and their family all the best in retirement. Yael is a passionate advocate for using customer science to make a difference in the lives of our customers. He will empower his team to create innovative solutions that deliver a differentiating and meaningful, personalized experience to our customers'.



Web site: www.kroger.com .





All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.
"After I left the last treatment center, I knew what made me happy," Selena explains, "and it was a connection." But on the advice of her doctor, Selena's planned philanthropic visit to Kenya to see the schools she was helping to raise
New members inducted into Institute of ...
In the wake of the Florida Supreme Court's ruling invalidating the state's death penalty sentencing scheme, legislators are preparing to revise the sentencing statutes for the second time in as many years.

Judicial developments hot topic at 'Legislator University'

Legislature could choose to hold off on making changes while appeal runs course

Ruling could prompt new sentencing trials for current Death Row inmates

The October ruling mandates unanimous jury votes in order to hand down a death sentence. It overturned a portion of a reform package passed earlier this year that calls for supermajority votes of at least 10 out of 12 jurors.



The package was prompted by a U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down Florida's former death penalty sentencing procedure. That procedure gave judges, not juries, the ultimate authority to sentence someone to death.



The judicial developments were a hot topic at this week's 'Legislator University.' The series of courses, designed by Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran (R-Land O'Lakes), are aimed at getting new and returning state representatives up to speed in advance of the 2017 legislative session.



"The legislature has made it clear that we didn't agree with the unanimous verdict requirement last session, but the Supreme Court has now spoken and I think that we'll probably review our options at this point," said Rep. Shawn Harrison (R-Tampa).



Those options could include tailoring the state's sentencing laws to conform with the court's ruling - as well as balking on the matter, at least for as long as an imminent legal challenge runs its course.



Attorney General Pam Bondi's office is preparing to appeal the state Supreme Court's ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. Because the ruling concerns an issue largely germane to the Florida Constitution, some legal experts have expressed doubt about whether the appeal will succeed.



The state court's decision, however, could prompt new sentencing trials for roughly 200 death row inmates sentenced under the now-unconstitutional scheme.



"That's why we're seeking clarification," Bondi said. "If it is our great state attorneys, you know, twenty of them throughout the great state of Florida will handle it, and they'll handle the penalty phase. You know, we've often had to retry penalty cases. Hopefully that's not the case, though."
Two of three teen boys arrested and charged in the beating death of Winter Park teen Roger Trindade will remain in custody until early next year, an Orange County judge ruled Thursday.

The teens  a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old  showed little expression and few words as they faced the judge in juvenile court.

An attorney for the 14-year-old, who is charged with tampering with a witness, tried to convince the judge to allow him to go home  with pre-trial conditions  based on the fact its a nonviolent offense.

But the state argued the 14-year-old, who is a student at Maitland Middle School, was the instigator of the fight with Trindade. The state argued that he asked another boy to spray Trindade with whats described as a skunk spray and then called over other teens to fight him. That's when Winter Park Police said Trindade tried to fight back and was beaten.

The 15-year-old, who is charged with manslaughter and battery, also faced a judge. The state said he told investigators that during the fight with Trindade, his adrenaline was pumping, and he was upset because a taller boy  referring to Trindade  smirked at him. State attorneys said the 15-year-old at one point spit on Trindade after Trindade was already on the ground, injured from the fight.

Im sure everyone can relate to that age," said the 14-year-old's attorney, John Sirounis. "They dont think before they act, and ... its something that was terrible, and its a tragedy.

It was boys being boys," Sirounis said. "No one ever intended the consequences that happened that day.

Since the arrests of the three teens, Trindades mother posted a statement on Facebook.

Im going to pay a very high price every day of my life for not having my son with me. My penalty can not be bigger than theirs, she wrote.

In October, witnesses told police that Trindade, who moved from Brazil about a year ago, was sprayed with something in his face, which instigated a fight near Central Park. Trindade died two days later.



Blanca Dauselt is in close contact with his mother.

"I was shaking. I was a mix of emotions. I cried," Dauselt, a family friend, said after the news of the arrests.

Winter Park Police said one of the reasons why it took two months to make the arrests was because they were waiting on autopsy results, which determined Trindade died from blunt force trauma.



"Hopefully the family and community can find solace in knowing that although the process seemed lengthy, it was necessary so as to provide the State Attorney's Office with sufficient information to proceed," Winter Park Mayor Steve Leary said in a statement.

The judge ruled to keep both teens in custody at least until Jan. 4.

The other 15-year-old facing manslaughter and battery charges was arrested in Virginia and was not at Thursdays hearing.

Because of the three boys' ages, News 13 will not be releasing their names per this station's Crime Guidelines.
Former astronaut and U.S. Sen. John Glenn has died at 95, according to Ohio State University's president.

John Glenn had been in the hospital for more than a week

No word on his condition or illness

1st American to orbit the Earth in 1962

RELATED: NASA pays tribute to John Glenn

JUMP TO:

OSU President Michael Drake issued the following statement Thursday:

The Ohio State University community deeply mourns the loss of John Glenn, Ohios consummate public servant and a true American hero. He leaves an undiminished legacy as one of the great people of our time.

Senator Glenn was a decorated U.S. Marine aviator, legendary NASA astronaut, tireless public servant, and an unparalleled supporter of The John Glenn College of Public Affairs at Ohio State, where he served actively as an adjunct professor until just recently. He was an authentic hero whose courage, integrity, sacrifice and achievements inspired people, young and old, around the world.

Most importantly, he was a loving husband, father and grandfather. He and his wife, Annie, have been the definition of model citizens. Meeting them was among lifes greatest privileges. Spending time with them was a blessing.

On behalf of the Ohio State community, I extend my heartfelt condolences to Annie and the entire Glenn family.

On Wednesday, a spokesperson with Ohio State University's John Glenn College of Public Affairs said Glenn, 95, was admitted to James Cancer Hospital and had been there for more than a week.

John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962 as a member of the original Mercury 7 astronaut team.

Glenn made three orbits around the planet and spent five hours in space in his Mercury-Atlas 6 "Friendship 7" spacecraft. His work helped pave the way for subsequent space exploration.

Glenn served in World War II and the Korean War before he became a test pilot in the 1950s.

He returned to space in 1998 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery for a nine-day mission that included a study of the aging process and spaceflight. He became the oldest person to fly in space.

Glenn also served in the U.S. Senate for his home state of Ohio from 1974 to 1999.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Former NASA astronaut remembers John Glenn

A journey into space in 1962 would skyrocket John Glenn as an American hero as the first US astronaut to orbit Earth. It is an accomplishment former NASA Astronaut Robert Springer looks at in awe.

The things he stood for, the things he did, the things he accomplished were absolutely fantastic, Springer said.

Springer met Glenn many times over the years. In addition to role model, Glenn was also Springers senator in his hometown of Ohio. The Democrat spent some 24 years representing the state.

At 77 years old, Glenn became the oldest person to travel in space when he was aboard Space Shuttle Discovery in 1998.

President Obama awarded the pioneer the Medal of Freedom in 2012.

Springer last spent time with Glenn at a reunion for Ohio astronauts.



"He stood by his word. One of the finest gentleman I've ever known and one of my personal heroes, Springer said.



WATCH: 50th Anniversary of the Friendship 7

NASA released this video on the 50th anniversary of John Glenn's mission and orbital space flight in 2012.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;

WATCH: John Glenn on America as a leader in research, space and education

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;bsp;

Statements on John Glenn's passing

President Barack Obama awarded John Glenn the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. Glenn also supported Obama's runs for the White House. The White House issued this statement:

"When John Glenn blasted off from Cape Canaveral atop an Atlas rocket in 1962, he lifted the hopes of a nation. And when his Friendship 7 spacecraft splashed down a few hours later, the first American to orbit the Earth reminded us that with courage and a spirit of discovery there's no limit to the heights we can reach together.

"With John's passing, our nation has lost an icon and Michelle and I have lost a friend. John spent his life breaking barriers, from defending our freedom as a decorated Marine Corps fighter pilot in World War II and Korea, to setting a transcontinental speed record, to becoming, at age 77, the oldest human to touch the stars.

"John always had the right stuff, inspiring generations of scientists, engineers and astronauts who will take us to Mars and beyond--not just to visit, but to stay.

"Today, the people of Ohio remember a devoted public servant who represented his fellow Buckeyes in the U.S. Senate for a quarter century and who fought to keep America a leader in science and technology.

"Our thoughts are with his beloved wife Annie, their children John and Carolyn and the entire Glenn family. The last of America's first astronauts has left us, but propelled by their example we know that our future here on Earth compels us to keep reaching for the heavens. On behalf of a grateful nation, Godspeed, John Glenn."

President-elect Donald Trump tweeted this statement:

Today we lost a great pioneer of air and space in John Glenn. He was a hero and inspired generations of future explorers. He will be missed.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2016

Sen. Bill Nelson, who worked with Glenn in Congress, issued this statement on the U.S. Senate floor:

"Mr. President, it is my sad duty to announce the passing of John Glenn. John Glenn was one of the original seven astronauts of this country. All of them were characterized as having the right stuff. And if you knew any of them, that was certainly true.

"John Glenn was not only a pioneering astronaut, a great senator, he was a first-class gentleman and also he was a devoted husband and father. He leaves behind Annie, his beloved, who always stood with him as he ventured into the unknown cosmos. And it was unknown because John was the first to go into orbit as an American.

"He paved the way for all the rest of us, and now at his passing, America is in the planning and the developing of the rockets that will take us, a human species, all the way to Mars. John Glenn was the pioneer. He was the one who paved the way."

NASA has created a tribute page for Glenn, with a bio, articles, pictures and video going back to the early days of the space program. The space agency tweeted this statement:

We are saddened by the loss of Sen. John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth. A true American hero. Godspeed, John Glenn. Ad astra. pic.twitter.com/89idi9r1NB  NASA (@NASA) December 8, 2016

Glenn was a U.S. Marine who fought in World War II and the Korean War. The Marines tweeted this statement:

The Corps lost a legend today.



Col. John Glenn an astronaut, a senator, a Marine died at the age of 95.



Semper Fi, Sir. pic.twitter.com/xUShqC9JaZ  U.S. Marines (@USMC) December 8, 2016

Astronauts past and present also honored Glenn, including former astronaut and NASA administrator Charlie Bolden:

"Today, the first American to orbit the Earth, NASA astronaut and Ohio Senator John Glenn, passed away. We mourn this tremendous loss for our nation and the world. As one of NASA's original Mercury 7 astronauts, Glenn's riveting flight aboard Friendship 7 on Feb. 20, 1962, united our nation, launched America to the forefront of the space race and secured for him a unique place in the annals of history.

"While that first orbit was the experience of a lifetime, Glenn, who also had flown combat missions in both World War II and the Korean War as a Marine aviator, continued to serve his country as a four-term Senator from Ohio, as a trusted statesman and an educator. In 1998, at the age of 77, he became the oldest human to venture into space as a crew member on the Discovery space shuttle -- once again advancing our understanding of living and working in space.

"He earned many honors for both his military and public service achievements. In 2012, President Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor the country can bestow, and he also received the Congressional Gold Medal.

"Glenn's extraordinary courage, intellect, patriotism and humanity were the hallmarks of a life of greatness. His missions have helped make possible everything our space program has since achieved and the human missions to an asteroid and Mars that we are striving toward now.

"With all his accomplishments, he was always focused on the young people of today, who would soon lead the world. The most important thing we can do is inspire young minds and advance the kind of science, math and technology education that will help youngsters take us to the next phase of space travel, he said. To me, there is no greater calling  If I can inspire young people to dedicate themselves to the good of mankind, I've accomplished something.

"Senator Glenn's legacy is one of risk and accomplishment, of history created and duty to country carried out under great pressure with the whole world watching. The entire NASA Family will be forever grateful for his outstanding service, commitment and friendship. Personally, I shall miss him greatly. As a fellow Marine and aviator, he was a mentor, role model and, most importantly, a dear friend. My prayers go out to his lovely and devoted wife, Annie, and the entire Glenn family at this time of their great loss."

Buzz Aldrin, the second astronaut to walk on the moon, issued a statement as well. Aldrin himself was hospitalized this week after being evacuated from Antarctica. He is recovering from having fluid in his lungs in New Zealand:

Saddened to hear of losing my friend and world space icon John Glenn. Here's my official statement. https://t.co/j5ScHMp132 pic.twitter.com/NBmi2z1G3b  Buzz Aldrin (@TheRealBuzz) December 9, 2016

Kennedy Space Center director and former astronaut Robert Cabana also issued a statement:

I had just turned 13 when I watched John Glenn become the first American to orbit the earth back in February of 1962. John epitomized what it was to be a Marine, a pilot, and an astronaut, and he was one of my heroes.

"After I was fortunate enough to become an astronaut myself, our paths crossed many times. I so much enjoyed, and now treasure, the time I was able to spend with him discussing the early days of our space program, and the space program's importance to our country and our future.

"More than a senator, or an astronaut, John defined himself as a Marine and a pilot. He was very proud that he was able to pass his medical even when he turned 90, and he loved to talk about flying.

"He was definitely in his element when he returned to the astronaut office in 1998, at the age 77, to train and fly on STS-95 aboard Discovery. He had always wanted to fly in space again. He was the consummate professional, a leader of the highest caliber, and a genuinely nice man.

"I am so glad that I had the opportunity to get to know him and his lovely wife Annie. John was truly one of the finest gentlemen I have ever known and he will be greatly missed.

Here is a selection of tweeted tributes from other astronauts:

Saddened by the loss of my former astronaut colleague John Glenn. Was very honored to have known him. #Godspeed, John Glenn. pic.twitter.com/IRKGJNqYJQ  Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) December 8, 2016

A great American, a life of service, an inspiration to us all. Goodbye, John Glenn. Godspeed. pic.twitter.com/duCA8qPYER  Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) December 8, 2016

Saddened by the passing of #johnglenn, the first American to orbit the Earth. This is a tremendous loss for our nation and the world. pic.twitter.com/YB61RqYAU2  Peggy Whitson (@AstroPeggy) December 8, 2016
Amid a party atmosphere that included balloons, streamers and a cake, a judge welcomed a fugitive back to her court on Monday before pronouncing his life sentence.

"You just made my day when I heard you had finally come home," Criminal Courts Judge Faith Johnson told Billy Wayne Williams, who was captured Thursday after nearly a year on the run.

Johnson sentenced Williams to life in prison for aggravated assault.

"It seems like everyone wants to have a party, and it's fun for you people, but not for me," Williams told Dallas-Fort Worth television station KDFW as he was led away in handcuffs. He was being held Monday night in the Lew Sterrett Justice Center in Dallas.

Williams, accused of choking his girlfriend until she was unconscious, failed to appear for his November trial and was convicted and sentenced in absentia.

Williams, 53, whose previous convictions include murder, was arrested last week in Arlington by a fugitive task force. His criminal record dates to the 1980s. He escaped from prison in 1985, according to a release from the U.S. Marshals Service.

Williams has used disguises, posed as an attorney and used aliases such as "Justin Burroughs" and "Bubba Lee Williams," authorities said.

Before he was brought into the courtroom on Monday, Johnson directed gleeful courtroom staff members as they placed balloons and streamers around the courtroom. A colorful cake was decorated with "Welcome Home Billy Ray Williams."

"We're so excited to see you, we're throwing a party for you," Johnson told the fugitive.
Plans to return the care of San Franciscos trees and sidewalks to the city could be on the chopping block.

Proposition E, which passed with 79 percent of the vote last month, would funnel $19 million into their maintenance. But as Mayor Ed Lee rebalances the city budget, that money could be diverted elsewhere. The mayor has until Dec. 31 to activate the kill switch on Prop. E. If that happens, tree advocates would have to go back to the ballot box and again drum up support for earmarked funding.

The budget shortfalls come after the failure of a three-quarter-cent sales tax that would have generated $150 million for transportation projects and homeless services. The city also faces funding uncertainty because of President-elect Donald Trumps threat to strip federal funding from sanctuary cities and a looming $5 billion pension shortfall.

The Board of Supervisors promised voters that money generated from Proposition W, a real estate transfer tax passed in November, would go toward free City College and tree care. But the measure did not explicitly specify that, and the mayor could divert the sum to other city services.

About $6 million is already allocated to maintenance for the citys trees during the annual budget process, and with Prop. E, $13 million more would be added. Part of the additional funding would go toward hiring more arborists and trimming trees transferred back to the city from residents.

People are outraged that he could be going against 79 percent of the vote, said Dan Flanagan, director of Friends of the Urban Forest, which helps residents plant and maintain trees in the city. This money will solve a problem for our urban forestry. If you put $13 million into homelessness or transportation, it will have very little impact. It wont solve anything.

Deirdre Hussey, a spokeswoman for Lee, said the mayor is determined to rebalance the budget and has met with many city agencies and supervisors to determine how that might be done.

As a former Public Works official, the mayor understands the unique challenges that come with maintaining our street trees and appreciates the passion for this issue, she said. The mayor believes ... we must be thoughtful when rebalancing the budget around (many) critical priorities.

Support for City Hall to take back the responsibility for the citys trees has been brewing for years. Advocates for Prop. E say that trees have never fared well during the budget process and that killing the measure would set back momentum already in place.

Public Works began relinquishing its care of city trees and adjacent sidewalks to homeowners in 2011 after facing budget cuts. Thousands of trees were transferred in the following years, and an additonal 14,000 trees could pass out of the citys purview if Prop. E is rolled back and the funding dries up.

A promise is a promise, said Supervisor Aaron Peskin. I dont feel like we have any wiggle room. The Board of Supervisors unanimously indicated what it intended to spend the real estate transfer tax on (if this measure passed). Our deliberations made that abundantly clear.

The city recently finished a survey of its trees and sidewalks in anticipation of ramped-up service. Those results outline how San Franciscos urban canopy has deteriorated in recent years. Of the citys 125,000 street trees  20,000 more than had originally been estimated  33 percent are in poor or critical condition or dead. Only about 1 percent were marked as excellent.

One in 5 street trees has also damaged the sidewalk surrounding it, amounting to 25,000 damaged sidewalks in need of repair. An additional 40,000 sites have been identified as places where trees are needed. Many of the areas needing the most repairs are in the citys most underserved neighborhoods, the report showed.

If Lee chooses to ax Prop. E, Peskin said he would try to pass legislation at the Board of Supervisors to appropriate funding from the transfer tax for tree maintenance.

Far be it for the board or any other elected official to tell the voters that what they voted for is off the table, he said. A deal is a deal.





Lizzie Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ljohnson@sfchronicle.com Twitter @LizzieJohnsonnn
Former FourWinds Logistics Comptroller Laura Jacobs pleaded guilty Thursday to her role in a conspiracy to defraud investors in the oil field services company  a business with close ties to state Sen. Carlols Uresti.

Jacobs is the third ex-FourWinds official who has pleaded guilty to a single felony county of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Each faces up to five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and as much as a $250,000 fine.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

A San Antonio-area all-you-can-eat buffet company mired in Chapter 11 bankruptcy wants to liquidate its assets  totaling more than $130 million  to avoid lengthy court proceedings.

Buffets LLC, based in Hollywood Park, and its affiliates are asking Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ronald King to approve a plan to auction off its land, equipment, furniture and intellectual property, among other assets.

The plan was scheduled for a hearing in Kings court Thursday but was postponed until Jan. 11. David Parham, a lawyer who represents Buffets, declined to comment. Calls to attorneys representing creditors were not returned.

The company, which originally planned to continue operations after shuttering a little more than half of its 300 restaurants, now believes the best way to get the most money for its creditors is through a sale of substantially all of the debtors assets, Buffets said in an October court filing. Simply put, the debtors do not have the liquidity to finance a lengthy Chapter 11 case.

A committee of Buffets unsecured creditors have objected to the proposed sale process, arguing in a Nov. 14 filing that the sale is for an improper purpose intended to transfer money to company insiders who could purchase the assets for little or no consideration while shielding officers and directors from liability.

The debtors proposal to put these potentially valuable assets up for sale and open the bid to insiders is troubling, to say the least, and illustrates why the debtors should not be allowed to run the sale process, the committee argued.

The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March, reportiong $133 million in assets and roughly $105.2 million in liabilities, according to court documents detailing the companys finance in May in U.S. bankruptcy court.

Its liabilities also could grow. King ordered Buffets to produce a list of tipped employees who worked at the companys restaurants from Jan. 1, 2014 to the day the company filed for bankruptcy so those employees may determine whether they are eligible for minimum wage or overtime claims under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

Buffets restaurants include HomeTown Buffet, Old Country Buffet, County Buffet, Fire Mountain, Ryans and Tahoe Joes Famous Steakhouse and are managed by Food Management Partners. Prior to the bankruptcy, the company and its affiliates operated more than 300 restaurants in 35 states. Buffets closed 74 restaurants in February and 92 the night it filed for bankruptcy.

Buffets restaurants have long been steeped in financial woes. The company  known as Buffet Restaurants Holding Inc. prior to its August 2015 sale to Alamo Ovation LLC, another Hollywood Park company  filed for bankruptcy in 2012. Another iteration of the company declared bankruptcy in 2008.

The company attributed its bankruptcy to lagging sales since it was bought by Alamo Ovation and an $11.4 million judgment against the company in October 2015 awarded to a Nebraska couple whose husband contracted salmonella after eating at an Old Country Buffet in Wyoming in 2010. It also said 166 of its restaurants that were later closed werent performing well.

jfechter@express-news.net
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

San Antonio lawyer Todd Prins is facing more legal problems.

Prins skipped a Bexar County Probate Court date today despited being ordered to appear for a hearing on whether he should be held in contempt of court.

RELATED: San Antonio lawyer takes 5th more than 25 times

With Prins a no-show, Probate Judge Kelly Cross took the unusual step of issuing an order for the attorneys arrest to force him back in court. Prins has failed to obey a previous order by Cross, directing him to turn over money to a deceased clients estate.

Prins was supposed to appear for a hearing on whether he should be held in contempt for disobeying a Sept. 28 order issued by Cross directing the lawyer to turn over $360,902 that is reportedly being held in his law firms trust account for a deceased clients estate. The check Prins originally sent the estate bounced in May, according to a court filing.

READ MORE: San Antonio lawyer accused of fabricating court documents skips hearing

Prins, who has filed for personal Chapter 7 liquidation and shut down his law firm, has been accused by former clients of fabricating court documents and forging judges signatures to conceal from the clients the actual status of the case.

Click here on ExpressNews.com or turn to Fridays Business section to read the full article.

pdanner@express-news.net

Twitter: @AlamoPD
Reports of massive oil finds in West Texas are raising hopes those riches will bring opportunities to numerous industries.

Among those is Janine Iannarelli, founder and president of Par Avion Ltd., an aircraft broker.

My business, to some degree, is tied to the oil and gas industry by virtue of where I sit, she said in a phone interview from her Houston office.

In 32 years, Ive seen over and over again how the rise in oil and gas has given rise to aviation, she said.

Par Avion is an aircraft marketing firm that specializes in the exclusive representation and acquisition of business aircraft, such as the Bombardier Globals and Learjets, Citation, Falcon, Gulfstream, Hawker and Phenom product lines.

We operate in the pre-owned market, from six- to eight-passenger jets up to 12- to 14-passenger jets, she said.

When the industry strengthens or shows evidence of strengthening, she said there becomes a need to move the people who make business happen -- whether its geologists or field specialists -- to the field in a timely manner.

Thus, a need for business jets, she said.

They need a mode of transportation that allows for a quick response, Iannarelli said.

The 30-year business aviation veteran said that the charter jets can also be used in road shows to attract investors.

During the last oil boom, she said Houston-based charter aviation companies were booked weeks in advance.

She referenced the reports of major West Texas oil finds -- from Apaches Alpine High discovery to the U.S. Geological Surveys assessment that theres 20 billion barrels of crude to be recovered in the Wolfcamp formation of the Midland subbasin.

I think that footprint will expand. Its a big field, she said.

I have hope that renewed interest (from these finds) will mean new signs of life, that those workers who had their hours cut back will get those hours back, Iannarelli said.

That would translate into a need for transportation such as charter jets provide -- when workers need to get to the field early or need to make multiple trips, she said.

Iannarelli said she has worked with a number of exploration and production companies in Houston, where executives would fly out of the Sugar Land airport headed to Midland for a breakfast meeting and then to Fort Worth, possibly to pick up or drop off executives.

Its no mystery the correlation of that strength in the oil and gas industry to aviation, she said.

Already, her company has reached out to charter companies, and she is again bullish on the market.

Iannarelli was appointed to the Texas Aerospace and Aviation Advisory Committee by then-Gov. Rick Perry in October 2014 and was reappointed and named president by Gov. Greg Abbott in January. The board notes that Midland is a strategic hub, she said.

While there may not be any immediate signs that a growing oil and gas industry is boosting aviation, it would be silly of me to overlook the fact West Texas is a bright spot in the industry, she said.

Aviation is an important part of the Texas economy and Im happy to see the two industries go hand in hand, she said. Oil and gas will lead, to some degree, recovery in an aviation industry that continues to struggle after the downturn in 2009.
YouTube launched in 2005 and since then, a select few have been launched into stardom and making millions.

Forbes released their second annual top-paid YouTube stars this week and of the 10 top earners, not a single one earns less than $5 million.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Bianca Del Rio is finally bringing her proper tour to Houston.

Del Rio, the "RuPaul's Drag Race" Season 6 winner, returns May 12 to Warehouse Live with her Not Today Satan comedy show. Tickets are $42.50-$201.50 and go on sale at noon Friday via the venue site.

The drag superstar has visited Houston several times, drawing packed crowds to South Beach nightclub in Montrose. But this will be her first full-on show in the city. It's a testament to Del Rio's enduring success.

The feature film "Hurricane Bianca," about a gay teacher who returns to his conservative Texas school disguised as a woman, was released this year. It stars Rachel Dratch, RuPaul, Margaret Cho and Alan Cumming. The two part "Not Today, Bianca" comedy special airs this month on Logo.

VIP tickets include a meet and greet with Del Rio, premium seats and exclusive merchandise.
All was shimmering and bright in Birmingham, England at the RuPaul's Drag Race "Christmas Queens" Show.

On Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2016, Michelle Visage hosted the holiday themed performance at The O2 Institute.
BROOKFIELD - The Brookfield Senior Center is sending a gift box to a resident serving in Afghanistan.

The Senior Center hopes to ship the box or boxes in the coming days, so the soldier receives it by Christmas or New Years.
1 Wildfire charges: Authorities on Wednesday charged two juveniles in an east Tennessee wildfire that killed 14 people and destroyed or damaged more than 1,700 buildings in an iconic tourism spot at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountains. Officials offered few specifics about how they think the two started a fire that leveled buildings into charred scraps, carving a deadly path through the Gatlinburg area. The juveniles face aggravated arson charges in the fire in the Chimney Tops area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Nov. 23. That fire grew amid drought conditions and ultimately rode winds exceeding 87 miles per hour into the Gatlinburg area early last week.

2 Officers shot: A man fatally shot one Georgia police officer and wounded a second before fleeing an apartment complex near a college campus that went on lockdown as a precaution, authorities said. They said the suspect was believed to be armed and dangerous. The shooting took place when the two officers were responding to a domestic dispute in Americus, about 130 miles south of Atlanta, Americus Police Chief Mark Scott said. Americus police Officer Nicholas Smarr, 25, died and Georgia Southwestern State University Officer Jodi Smith was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition, Scott said. Both had been officers since 2012.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

WASHINGTON - What was finally real was Edgar Welch, driving from North Carolina to Washington to rescue sexually abused children he believed were hidden in mysterious tunnels beneath a neighborhood pizza joint.

What was real was Welch - a father, former firefighter and sometime movie actor who was drawn to dark mysteries he found on the Internet - terrifying customers and workers with his assault rifle as he searched Comet Ping Pong, police said. He found no hidden children, no secret chambers, no evidence of a child sex ring run by the failed Democratic candidate for president of the United States, or by her campaign chief, or by the owner of the pizza place.

What was false were the rumors he had read, stories that crisscrossed the globe about a charming little pizza place that features ping-pong tables in its back room.

The story of Pizzagate is about what is fake and what is real. It's a tale of a scandal that never was, and of a fear that has spread through channels that did not even exist until recently.

Pizzagate - the belief that code words and satanic symbols point to a sordid underground along an ordinary retail strip in the nation's capital - is possible only because science has produced the most powerful tools ever invented to find and disseminate information.

What brought Welch to the District of Columbia on a crisp Sunday afternoon in early December was a choking mix of rumor, political nastiness, technological change and the intoxicating thrill that can come from running down a mystery.

His actions Sunday in one of Washington's wealthiest neighborhoods reminded Americans that last month's election did not quite conclude the strangest political season in the nation's history. Welch did not shoot anyone in the disturbance on Connecticut Avenue NW, but he delivered a troubling message about the shattering of trust in a troubled time.

On Oct. 28, FBI Director James Comey told Congress that he was reopening the investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server when she was secretary of state. New emails had been found on a computer belonging to disgraced former New York congressman Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Two days later, someone tweeting under the handle @DavidGoldbergNY cited rumors that the new emails "point to a pedophilia ring and @HillaryClinton is at the center." The rumor was retweeted more than 6,000 times.

The notion quickly moved to other social-media platforms, including 4chan and Reddit, mostly through anonymous or pseudonymous posts. On the far-right site Infowars, talk-show host Alex Jones repeatedly suggested that Clinton was involved in a child sex ring and that her campaign chairman, John Podesta, indulged in satanic rituals.

"When I think about all the children Hillary Clinton has personally murdered and chopped up and raped, I have zero fear standing up against her," Jones said in a YouTube video posted on Nov. 4. "Yeah, you heard me right. Hillary Clinton has personally murdered children. I just can't hold back the truth anymore."

According to YouTube, that video has been viewed more than 427,000 times.

Over the next couple of days, the wild accusations against Clinton gradually merged with a new raft of allegations stemming from WikiLeaks' release of Podesta's emails. Those emails showed that Podesta occasionally dined at Comet Ping Pong.

On Nov. 7, the hashtag #pizzagate first appeared on Twitter. Over the next several weeks, it would be tweeted and retweeted hundreds or thousands of times each day.

An oddly disproportionate share of the tweets about Pizzagate appear to have come from, of all places, the Czech Republic, Cyprus and Vietnam, said Jonathan Albright, an assistant professor of media analytics at Elon University in North Carolina. In some cases, the most avid retweeters appeared to be bots, programs designed to amplify certain news and information.

"What bots are doing is really getting this thing trending on Twitter," Albright said. "These bots are providing the online crowds that are providing legitimacy."

Online, the more something is retweeted or otherwise shared, the more prominently it appears in social media and on sites that track "trending" news. As the bots joined ordinary Twitter users in pushing out Pizzagate-related rumors, the notion spread like wildfire. Who programmed the bots to focus on that topic remains unknown.

On the Friday before the election, James Alefantis, who owns two restaurants on the same block in upper Northwest Washington, noticed something odd in his Instagram feed: a stream of comments calling him a pedophile.

Upset, Alefantis told some of his young employees at Comet Ping Pong about the hateful comments, and they poked around online. They found rapidly burgeoning discussions on Reddit, 4chan and Instagram about a purported child sex ring operating out of their restaurant.

Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post

Alefantis, who grew up in an affluent section of the District, was no stranger to politics. He had held a fundraiser for the Clinton campaign at Comet. He'd had a relationship with David Brock, the erstwhile Clinton nemesis who had a mid-career political conversion and became a pro-Clinton advocate. And Alefantis had lots of customers and friends in liberal Democratic circles.

When Alefantis opened Comet a decade ago, he'd had a run-in with an advisory neighborhood commissioner, a local official who did not like it when Comet put ping-pong tables on the sidewalk. That commissioner had warned that having game tables on the sidewalk might bring "rapes and murders" to the virtually crime-free neighborhood.

Now, a decade later, a Washington Post column about that dispute was trending on Twitter. Somewhere out there, thousands of people were hungrily searching the Internet for anything remotely troubling about Comet Ping Pong.

In the final days before the election, other shopkeepers on the block began to receive threatening phone calls and disturbing emails. Strangers from faraway places demanded to know about symbols on their shop windows or photos on their walls.

Across from Comet, at the French bistro Terasol, co-owner Sabrina Ousmaal noticed a disturbing Google review of her restaurant that alleged that Terasol, too, was involved in a plot to abuse children.

Then, more online comments appeared, focusing on a photo on Terasol's website that showed Ousmaal and her daughter posing with Clinton, who had eaten there several years earlier. The Internet sleuths also fixated on a heart logo that appeared on the restaurant's site as part of a fundraiser for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which Ousmaal, a cancer survivor, has supported for years.

"These maniacs thought that was a symbol of child pornography," said her husband and business partner, Alan Moin. "It's crazy."

The family removed the symbol from their site, but the online comments adapted to the new reality: Terasol must be hiding something. The anonymous calls increased.

"What can we do?" Ousmaal said. "There is no basement. There is no tunnel. There is nothing."

Alefantis and other merchants were mystified: Where was this all coming from? Can't anyone make it stop?

The merchants approached Facebook and Twitter and asked that disparaging, fictitious comments about them be removed. The shopkeepers said the replies they got advised them to block individual users who were harassing them.

The owner of 4chan, Hiroyuki Nishimura, said in an email to The Post that "Pizzagate reminds me that a country indicated [there were] stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and many people and countries were deceived. It is same old story."

Nishimura, a Japanese Internet entrepreneur, said the rumors about Comet could be false: "Some people, who believe they do something good, may be deceived by false information." But, he said, their motive was good; they "did it for saving children."

On Connecticut Avenue, the hate calls and death threats kept mounting. Surely, the shopkeepers thought, this will all go away after the election.

On Election Day, Brittany Pettibone, a right-wing online activist in California who writes science-fiction novels with her twin sister, tweeted drawings of children under the label "Sexualized children, child abuse, pools, and bondage." She wrote that the images were "a look inside Hillary Clinton's friend Tony Podesta's house." Tony Podesta, a Washington lobbyist, is John's brother.

Pettibone attached the hashtag #PizzaGate. "We need to expose this," she wrote in another tweet.

Dozens of commenters responded almost immediately. "How do we make this VIRAL?" one wrote.

Several of the most frequent and prominent purveyors of the Pizzagate rumors said they first learned about the supposed conspiracy from Pettibone's postings.

"I was one of the first," Pettibone said in a brief conversation Tuesday. She said she would not take part in an interview: "I'm uninclined to speak to mainstream media because during the election cycle, they made the right look like nut jobs because we suspected Hillary had a health issue, and it turned out she did."

For a few days after Donald Trump's victory, a relative calm returned to Comet. But along the block, merchants were hearing from all manner of strange callers. At Besta Pizza, owner Abdel Hammad got an urgent message from the company that maintains his website. A reviewer alleged that his shop's simple, pizza-shaped logo was a symbol of child pornography. Hammad, an Egyptian immigrant who voted for Trump, was stunned.

"It's a slice of pizza," he said.

Hammad removed the image from his site but could not afford more than $2,000 to pay for new signs out front.

"Why did you change the website?!" anonymous callers screamed at him on the phone.

"We're going to put a bullet in your head," one threatened.

Down the block, at Politics and Prose Bookstore, employees noticed tweets and other online posts that included them on a list of stores linked by underground tunnels that do not exist.

The fact that one of the shop's co-owners, Lissa Muscatine, had worked as Clinton's speechwriter and adviser for two decades quickly became one more data point in the Pizzagate activists' conspiracy theory.

The shop's phone rang off the hook with profane, abusive calls from across the country. Employees simply hung up, over and over.

Frustrated and frightened, merchants along the block talked to the police. They called the FBI, which said the threats were a local matter.

On Nov. 16, Jack Posobiec, a former Navy Reserve intelligence officer who had spent much of the previous year as a leader of a pro-Trump grass-roots organization, decided he'd had enough of just reading tweets and blog posts about the pizza place in his city.

Posobiec, 31, had never eaten at Comet; he had never even heard of the place until he started reading about it on conservative, anti-government media sites. "I didn't pay much attention to it before Election Day because I was focused on the campaign," he said. "With that going on, who wants to talk about pizza?"

Now, with Trump elected, he read the posts more closely. Any story that accused Clinton, John Podesta and Brock of nefarious deeds deserved some investigation, he thought. He believed the Clinton campaign was "full of secrecy and deception."

It seemed reasonable to Posobiec that Podesta might have organized a sex ring in cahoots with Brock. But the only part of the scenario that was real was that Podesta had been known to eat pizza at Comet. This part is false: pictures purporting to show that symbols, such as butterflies and spirals, in signs at Comet and other shops were statements about pedophilia.

Posobiec said he was curious and confused. He and a friend decided to go have some pizza. They walked into Comet eight days after the election, sat down and ordered. Posobiec got the garlic knots. His friend got a beer. But they were not just hanging out. Posobiec was using his phone to broadcast his evening at Comet on Periscope, an app that allows users to stream video live.

"Part of the experience of living in 2016 is live, on-the-scene broadcasts," he said. "People have lost faith with government and the mainstream media being any real authority. After the Iraq War, after Benghazi, people are searching for other sources of information. If I can do something with Periscope and show what I'm seeing with my own two eyes, that's helpful."

Posobiec said he never made any disturbance inside Comet, but the restaurant's managers saw him take his camera into a back room where a child's birthday party was underway. It did not seem appropriate for a child's party to be broadcast on a stranger's Periscope feed. The manager asked two D.C. police officers who happened to be across the street to assist.

Posobiec and his friend "were gently refused service and asked to leave," said a person familiar with the restaurant's decision.

Posobiec offered to pay for what he had ordered. The manager said it was on the house.

Posobiec said he was not there to make a scene. "I didn't have any preconceived notions," he said. "I wasn't sure. I thought I could just show it was a regular pizza place."

That evening, after Posobiec was ushered out of Comet, Pettibone tweeted: "You're my hero for doing this, Jack. Never let go."

On Twitter, the hashtag #pizzagate peaked in the hours after Posobiec's video appeared.

On Nov. 22, Reddit closed its "r/pizzagate" subreddit, a site forum focused on a particular topic. The site said it was concerned that Pizzagate posts were revealing private information about people at Comet and nearby stores. "We don't want witch-hunts on our site," it said. The decision sparked allegations of censorship from some people who were spreading the Pizzagate rumors. They moved their discussion to a similar site, Voat.

On Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, two men carrying protest signs showed up outside Comet.

Alefantis went outside and offered the men coffee. They declined the offer.

On the phone and online, threats poured in, with as many as 150 calls a day.

The shopkeepers approached D.C. police for help. An officer advised them that the online rumormongering was constitutionally protected speech. Ousmaal replied in an email that she respects freedom of speech but that "derogatory libelous and hateful blogs and emails should not and cannot qualify."

The officer, Anthony Baker, responded, "I don't have anymore options to give unfortunately."

A D.C. police statement issued Tuesday said that the department "became aware of the fictional allegations contained in the false news story last month; however, despite postings of offensive language, we did not receive reports of any specific threats. Officers advised the staff to immediately report to police any threats made against the establishment or individuals."

Earlier this fall, in Salisbury, North Carolina, Edgar Maddison Welch saw some friends doing drugs and he started preaching at them, aggressively.

Danielle Tillman, 23, was the best friend of Welch's girlfriend. She said she had just taken acid when Welch got upset, chanting Jesus' name at her.

"He grabbed my hand and got in my face and was like, 'Let the demons out of her,' " Tillman recalled. "It was super weird."

Welch, known to friends as Maddison, had struck friends as a sweet young man who'd had trouble finding his way. He had dabbled in acting - his father ran a small movie studio out of his house - and in writing and firefighting. None of it stuck. He liked to hike, long stretches out West, through mountain ranges, over rivers, into national forests.

A few years ago, he told his hometown newspaper that through hiking, he had broken his addiction to the Internet.

But Welch had another habit. He was arrested several times on drug-possession charges and his name appeared on a forged prescription, according to police records. He was convicted of marijuana possession and public drinking and was sent to a substance-abuse program.

Friends say Welch, 28, in recent months grew far more outwardly religious. "He sees himself as someone who is a protector," said his friend Charles Dobson, 28. "He is just a thrill-seeking guy."

On his Facebook page, Welch has posted biblical verses and psalms, some related to the end of days, along with photos of his two children. "Only by your power can we push back our enemies," one verse reads. "Only in your name can we trample our foes."

A few years ago, Welch told a longtime friend and former roommate, Dane Granberry, about stories he had read online describing miles of secret tunnels under the Denver airport. Welch, who had also been fascinated by conspiracy theories about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks having been staged by the United States, had become obsessed with the tunnels idea and spent long hours reading articles, watching videos and searching for details.

"He's into doing his own research," Granberry said. "I don't think he has very much faith in the media, but none of us do." Granberry said her friend needed to see things for himself.

On Friday or Saturday, Welch drove to the District, according to court testimony. He showed up at Comet on Sunday about 3 p.m.

Gareth Wade, 47, and Doug Clarke, 50, were sitting down for pizza and beer when a server told them that someone had walked in with a gun. As Welch passed by their table, he told them to vacate the building. They rushed out.

Outside, dozens of D.C. police officers swarmed the area, evacuating businesses and blocking off streets. A police helicopter circled overhead.

Inside Comet, Welch, armed with a Colt AR-15 assault rifle, a .38-caliber Colt revolver and a folding knife, fired his gun two or three times, police said.

Welch, dressed in jeans, a T-shirt and a hooded sweatshirt, remained inside for about 45 minutes, searching for underground vaults or hidden rooms, police said. At least one gunshot broke off a lock to a door. It led not to hidden sex workers but to a computer room. The bullet damaged a computer tower.

At some point, a Comet worker who had been in the back freezer retrieving dough and had missed the earlier commotion heard the shots and emerged into the restaurant. Welch swung the rifle in his direction and the worker fled out onto the avenue, police said.

Finally, Welch responded to police calls for him to leave the building and surrender. He put his AR-15 on top of a beer keg and his revolver on a table. He came out with his hands up, following police commands to walk backward toward them.

Welch was handcuffed, and Sgt. Benjamin Firehock asked him why he had done it. Welch said, according to the arrest affidavit, "that he had read online that the Comet restaurant was harboring child sex slaves and that he wanted to see for himself if they were there. [Welch] stated that he was armed to help rescue them. [Welch] surrendered peacefully when he found no evidence that underage children were being harbored in the restaurant."

Within hours of Welch's arrest, online conspiracy theorists had already decided that he was not one of them. Some suggested he was a "false flag," a government plant - an enemy of their cause - who had been used in an elaborate plot to conceal the truth.

For years, people have made similar claims about everything from the 9/11 attacks (a government conspiracy to justify war, they say) to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting (a government conspiracy to justify gun control, they say).

Now, in Welch's case, the conspiracy theorists insisted that the real news about his dangerous assault was, in fact, fake news.

Comet Ping Pong reopened Tuesday night; the crowd was large and supportive.

For some months now, Stefanie MacWilliams, 24, a stay-at-home mother of a 1-year-old boy in Ontario, has written nearly every day, usually about politics, for Planet Free Will, a conservative website based in the United States. Her husband, a mechanic, is the family's main breadwinner, but MacWilliams has been earning some money, too, writing a lot about how good Trump would be for America, and a fair amount about how bad President Barack Obama was.

Starting in early November, MacWilliams noticed that stories based on the Podesta emails were making waves. A friend "who knows I'm interested in politics and shares conspiracy things with me" sent MacWilliams stories about Comet Ping Pong.

Then she happened upon Posobiec's live stream from Comet. This, she decided, was a story. She told the Pizzagate tale in a YouTube video, on Twitter and on Planet Free Will.

In the third paragraph of her story, MacWilliams wrote that "we must stress that there is as yet no concrete evidence of any wrongdoing." She thought she was being quite responsible. She had read Internet chatter about strange happenings and code words, and she thought this needed investigation. She was miffed that Posobiec had been escorted out of Comet when his video tour might have gotten to the bottom of the mystery.

MacWilliams's story spread via social media. She became part of what she called a "worldwide citizen investigation" of Pizzagate.

When she saw Reddit and Twitter react to the conspiracy theory, respectively shutting down a discussion forum and suspending the accounts of some users, she worried that a coverup was underway. "As soon as you tell people they can't talk about something, they're going to talk about it a whole lot more," she said.

MacWilliams calls herself a journalist, but she does not try to be "100 percent accurate," either. She believes the beauty of the Internet is that people can crowdsource the truth. Eventually, what is real will emerge, she said.

Pizzagate, she said, is "two worlds clashing. People don't trust the mainstream media anymore, but it's true that people shouldn't take the alternative media as truth, either." The lack of stories about Pizzagate in the mainstream press meant that the back channels of the Internet would step into the breach.

But how does this end? What could constitute proof that there is no conspiracy? Some Pizzagate buffs want a video tour showing that there are no secret rooms or tunnels. Others say they would need more.

MacWilliams remains caught up in the thrill of the chase. "There is a camaraderie to it," she said. "It is like sitting around with your friends saying, 'What really happened to JFK?' It is like a giant game, especially nowadays when you can crowdsource thousands of emails and figure out what's going on. It's like a real-life Kennedy assassination where all the stuff is at your fingertips, and it's happening today."

When the New York Times mentioned her site on Nov. 21 as a source of fake news, MacWilliams got a little angry, but she also had reason to smile: The traffic on Planet Free Will soared as never before.

The story is everywhere. Some Americans especially keen on Pizzagate find themselves being accused of being Russian stooges, or of working for hackers intent on disrupting the American political process.

In a small city north of Tel Aviv, in the small hours of the night, Avrahaum Segol, a New Yorker who emigrated to Israel 15 years ago, makes call after call back to Washington. He says he has never been to Comet Ping Pong, but he is burning with a need to know. He found the elderly woman whose family once owned the colorful neon sign that sits over Comet's front door. Alefantis bought the sign from a defunct liquor store in Adams Morgan.

Segol called the woman and spelled out his baroque story. He quoted from an H.G. Wells story called "In the Days of the Comet," and he wondered whether the symbols on the sign - crescents and stars - might reveal a message about sexual misdeeds or satanic rituals.

The woman listened to some of this, then told Segol, "You're an idiot." She hung up on him.

He is undeterred. He sends letters to the president of the United States and the chief justice, and to newspaper editors and reporters, and to TV and radio hosts. He calls The Post to explain how the Supreme Court's ruling on same-sex marriage connects with the symbols on the Comet sign. He calls to explain why his family left him. He calls to say why the death of a former CIA chief may be connected to Pizzagate. He calls to ask whether the neighborhood around Comet is known for murderers and thieves.

"We're living in such a queer time," Segol said. He said his investigation of Pizzagate is "a work of art. I tell my kids, 'There are no mysteries, only facts unknown.' "

He asks to be contacted by email, but he warns that he does not open emails unless he knows they are coming in advance. "It's hard to trust anyone," he said.

- - -

Keith L. Alexander, Jennifer Jenkins, Michael E. Miller, Faiz Siddiqui, Susan Svrluga, Julie Tate and Craig Timberg in Washington and Rachel Weiner in North Carolina contributed to this report.

Authors' Information:

Marc Fisher, a senior editor, writes about most anything. He's been The Post's enterprise editor, local columnist and Berlin bureau chief, and he's covered politics, education, pop culture, and much else in three decades on the Metro, Style, National and Foreign desks.

John Woodrow Cox is a reporter on the local enterprise team. Prior to joining the Post, he worked at the Tampa Bay Times in Florida and at the Valley News in New Hampshire. He attended the University of Florida, earning degrees in journalism and business.




This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Jennifer Summer Show More Show Less 2 of 3 James Nielsen/Staff Show More Show Less 3 of 3





H-E-B representatives will meet with Heights residents next week at the historic fire station at 107 W 12th St., said Cyndy Garza a public affairs person with H-E-B.

The meeting will take place Dec. 14, 6 p.m., she said Thursday.
Scam over machine parts leads to jail term

From:Shanghai Daily | 2016-12-08 03:46

TWO people were convicted of smuggling textile machine components, valued at 100 million yuan (US$14.5 million), after declaring the products to be 90 percent lower than their real value, city customs officials said yesterday.

One of the convicted, surnamed Ma, was sentenced by Shanghai No.3 Intermediate Peoples Court to an eight-year jail term; the other, surnamed Zong, was sentenced for three years with a three-year probation. The textile company was also fined 50 million yuan.

The products included highly valuable pins for guaranteeing manufacturing quality.

In January last year, the customs found the company had declared valuable and complex components at prices similar to those of ordinary steel products.

The authority later discovered three sets of invoices in the companys computer system: one with an inflated price to display to clients in China, one with a much lower price for declaration at customs to evade tax, and one with the real sales price for settlement with the German supplier Staedtler + Uhl Nadelsysteme.

According to customs officials, Ma proposed the tariff system with the foreign owner of the firm, a woman surnamed Hildmann, who accepted the idea.

The authority said that as the textile machine component was a niche market, the textile company accounted for 90 percent of the specialized component imports into China. The companys commissioned products sales revenue was put at around 30 million yuan a year.
AP Business Writer

Halliburton Co. reported first-quarter net loss Wednesday because of a big charge related to a pending settlement of asbestos claims.

The Houston-based oilfield services conglomerate's net loss of $65 million, or 15 cents per share, compared with net income of $43 million, or a dime a share, in the year-ago period. The latest results included a net loss from discontinued operations of $141 million, or 32 cents per share, related to the $4.17 billion asbestos and silica settlement announced in December 2002.

Halliburton said profits from continuing operations totaled $76 million, or 17 cents per share, hurt by a charge announced earlier this month of $62 million, or 14 cents per share, related to a troublesome project off the coast of Brazil. The company had a 2-cent-per-share gain related to settlement of a lawsuit by a rival over development of an oil field in the Caspian Sea.

Excluding one-time items, the results came in at 29 cents per share, a penny shy of the consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call, Thomson analyst Ken Perkins said.

Revenues surged 80 percent to $5.5 billion from $3.1 billion in the January-March period of 2003. That gain was largely attributed to revenues for Halliburton subsidiary KBR, formerly known as Kellogg, Brown & Root, and its government contract work in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East. Halliburton said the company's Iraq-related work contributed about $2.1 billion in revenues and $32 million in operating income in the first quarter.

However, KBR posted an operating loss in the first quarter of $15 million, compared to a $19 million loss in the year-ago period. That loss includes the loss from the Barracuda-Caratinga project off the Brazilian coast.

Halliburton has been awarded as much as $6 billion in contracts from the U.S. invasion of Iraq, but the company has been under fire for allegedly overcharging the government. Halliburton denies wrongdoing and says the company is a political target.

But some analysts say that despite solid operations and performance, investors could grow skittish until the so-called "headline risk" begins to abate.

"It's not causing a problem, but it has caused the stock to underperform," said Robert Mackenzie, an analyst with Friedman, Billings, Ramsey.

Halliburton's stock fell 66 cents to close at $31.01 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company has 24,000 employees and contractors in Iraq, doing everything from driving fuel trucks in convoys to serving food. Halliburton and its subcontractors have lost 34 workers to increasing violence and insurgent attacks, and three workers remain missing.

But analysts say the asbestos issue is more cause for concern for investors than criticism over work in Iraq because of its continued drag on earnings.

In January Halliburton filed a pre-negotiated bankruptcy petition in Pittsburgh for eight subsidiaries to settle about 400,000 asbestos and 21,000 silica claims for $4.17 billion in cash and stock. A Pittsburgh bankruptcy judge is slated to consider confirming the plan next month.

Halliburton, once run by Vice President Dick Cheney, inherited most of the claims five years ago when the conglomerate, under Cheney's leadership, acquired Dresser Industries Inc. for $7.7 billion. Cheney left the company in 2000 to be George W. Bush's running mate.

Earlier this month Halliburton announced a plan to unravel the legal tangle involving the Barracuda-Caratinga project as well. The project involves conversion of two supertankers into ships for storage, production and offloading. They would be used for offshore oil fields.

Announced as a $2.5 billion project nearly four years ago, Barracuda-Caratinga has faced costly delays and legal battles with Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras. The pending agreement to extend deadlines would, if approved by lenders, resolve disputes over late deliveries.

Gary Russell, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus & Co., called the charge related to the Brazilian project "very positive" because it reduces about $700 million of potential financial risks because of the delays.

"I'll take that deal any day of the week," Russell said.
The Conroe ISD has retained the officer who made social media remarks that sparked a reaction and complaint from a Philadelphia-based Black Lives Matter activist who called for his termination.

Last week, the school district confirmed it was addressing Facebook comments made by Officer Brandon Walters, in which he referred to anti-Trump sentiment as "retardation," to determine whether it violated anything in the employee handbook. The handbook states an employee can face disciplinary action up to termination for certain violations.

The Conroe ISD declined to comment on whether Walters received any disciplinary action or whether the incident has been dismissed. However, the district confirmed the officer is keeping his job.

"Officer Walters has not been terminated," Conroe ISD Director of Communications Sarah Blakelock said in a statement. "Conroe ISD has no plans to change the relevant policies in the Employee Handbook at this time."

The post states, "Retardation is airborn [sic]. Your only warning sign: It can be heard yelling "You racist" or "(expletive) Trump" just before you breath [sic] it in. Careful out there, my friends."

Philadelphia resident and activist Rufus Farmer said he came across the social media post shared by Walters when a mutual friend started a topic about the recent tragedy at Ohio State University that left 11 hospitalized and the Muslim attacker dead, as well as discussion of law enforcement.

The thread included discussion about law enforcement, President-elect Donald Trump and race relations in the United States, according to Farmer.

In a previous interview with The Courier, Farmer said he was concerned by the officer's comment and wanted Walters removed from his job.

Farmer declined to comment further about the district's decision Wednesday as he believes he already stated his position and Conroe ISD has made its decision.

But he clarified his objective to raise public awareness about the officer's comment.

"... The public should know if an officer or any public servant who can drastically impact their life at a whim has an extreme bias against certain members of the public," said Farmer, who said he also served in the U.S. Marine Corps. "I think Officer Walters' comments show a clear bias against a certain segment of the public. The undertones are there and they are very apparent."

Farmer confirmed he is a known activist who demonstrated against the 1994 crime bill during a speech by former President Bill Clinton in April 2016 at a rally for wife Hillary Clinton; and has been detained at previous protests as a member of the Philly Coalition for Racial Economic and Legal Justice, which is a Philadelphia-based Black Lives Matter group. He also protested at an "Anti-Trump Rally for Police Abolition." The rally was organized by the Philly Coalition for REAL Justice outside the Philadelphia Police Department, which "targeted the police over their union's endorsement of President-elect Donald Trump, and over what they called the unfair treatment of people of color and police tactics like stop and frisk," according to Metro.
Cheers! Chinese firm buys UK pub where Xi drank

From:Agencies | 2016-12-07 13:54

A Chinese firm has bought the British pub where last year Chinese President Xi Jinping and then UK Prime Minister David Cameron enjoyed a beer and fish and chips.



The Plough in Cadsden, close to the prime ministers country residence near London, was bought by SinoFortone Investment for an undisclosed sum.

The pub became famous in Chinese circles following the visit of President Xi Jinping and it has become quite a tourist attraction for Chinese visitors since, said Neil Morgan, managing director of pubs and restaurants for selling agents Christie & Co.

Visitors were keen to sample the classic British food and beer that the Chinese president tried, he said.

Asian investors are becoming more interested in UK markets, particularly hotels, licensed and leisure and we are seeing more and more Chinese investors, he added.

Peter Zhang, managing director of SinoFortone Investment, was quoted as saying: The English pub concept is growing very fast in China and its the best way culturally to link people from different countries and build friendships.

Cameron took Xi to the pub in October last year, reportedly at the Chinese leaders request during his state visit to Britain.

Pub landlord Steve Hollings said then that Cameron and Xi had been extremely friendly. They drank traditional English bitter and had traditional English fish and chips, he said.

British brewer Greene King said that exports of its India pale ale  the beer the two were drinking  to China had increased 16-fold after the visit.
The Dyn attack caused a severe disruption of internet traffic to major sites, including many you may be familiar with, like Amazon, Reddit, Twitter, Tumblr, Verizon, Pinterest, Etsy, Spotify, PayPal, Comcast and even Playstation. The first attack was followed by at least two more.

Back in 2012, there was a DDoS attack that took out the websites of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and other financial companies. In 2007, a DDoS attack literally knocked most of Estonia off the grid.

How do these attacks work? The hackers look for a distribution model that can deliver sufficient traffic -- in this latest case, a webcam that had sold well and had easily exploitable security. Then they focus on a target. The target here seems to have been companies that act as the internets phone book, making sure that traffic requests find the fastest route to any particular destination.

If youre a fan of The Walking Dead, imagine a huge herd of zombies lumbering toward a valley with three fenced communities. While all three are in harms way, the one with the weakest fence will be overrun. The other two are more likely to withstand the onslaught.

Another way to imagine this scenario is a subway car or bus contaminated with a cold virus. While everyone on board is exposed, not everyone will get sick. The virus goes where it encounters the least amount of resistance, which in this most recent attack happened to be Dyn.

We can make this a problem of the past.

While our government has disappointed time and again, in particular on matters of cybersecurity, a DDoS solution may possibly be only a rule or two away from becoming reality. That is, of course, if the new administration truly focuses on the issue.

In that case Congress will actually agree on the day of the week to discuss the issue, and we can all say adios to the debate about whether the "Great Wall of Mexico" will be the answer to most of our problems.

Related: Expert Hacker Shares 3 Ways Small Businesses Can Minimize Cybersecurity Threats

The solution may lie in the way many ATMs now handle the new chip technology in credit and debit cards. When you make a request for cash or any other transaction, many machines will not release your card until you grab your cash or completely finish your transaction. This ensures that consumers dont leave their cards in machines, which of course can create a very real vulnerability.

When it comes to the Internet of Things (IoT) devices, the six billion (and geometrically increasing) connected and interconnected devices that surround us in our personal and business lives, the same principle might help. However, it would have to become the law of the land to work -- a law that would include authority over trade, i.e., products coming in from overseas.

Meanwhile, the insert and release only when the transaction is completed ATM process is a security measure designed to better protect your card, your accounts and your financial institution. If all IoT devices required the user to set a long and strong password before the device would function, a major vulnerability available for use by hackers in DDoS attacks would go the way of three-card monte scams.

In the meantime, there are a few things you can do to put your organization in the best position to survive a DDoS attack. While these measures are somewhat technical, they are within the skill sets of whomever is in charge of your digital security.

1. Identify a DDoS attack early.

You can do this with the right Intrusion Detection System (IDS) or a state-of-the art firewall that uses Stateful Inspection. These are techniques that can alert you to an attack and allow you to respond before systems fail. Another good move: having a technology professional that is capable of identifying traffic that looks like a DDoS attack and is ready to respond by immediately applying filters to the inbound DDoS traffic.

Related: 7 Cybersecurity Layers Every Entrepreneur Needs to Understand

2. Have plenty of bandwidth available.

Bandwidth is pretty cheap, and if you are able to over-provision what you need, you can ride out smaller attacks or at least buy some time to react properly to larger attacks.

3. Have a rule book.

Apply the right technical defenses at your perimeter. For example, you could rate-limit your web server so that only so many traffic requests are allowed. This will keep your server from getting swamped. Doubtless, it will still slow down during a DDoS attack, but it wont fail.

There are other things you can do that are beyond a generalists knowledge, but are straightforward for a professional who handles the engine room of your online presence. One strategy is to add network rules that dump requests from suspicious places or deny all traffic that doesnt come from trusted sources.

Your IT team may decide it makes sense to time-out suspicious connections, drop malformed packages or set lower flooding thresholds on certain types of traffic. It is crucial to have these rules -- however you choose to throttle them -- applied to all routers and firewalls and even internal internet-working components to filter out the most common kinds of DDoS-type traffic.

4. Get your provider involved.

Your service provider will have better tools than anyone else when it comes to locking down the DDoS traffic headed your way. Alert the provider as soon as you see something. The company can even null route your address (a network route that goes nowhere) so you will see no DDoS traffic at all while it figures out how to neutralize the attack.

5. Outsource your traffic.

There are technical firms that specialize in filtering traffic for you in an emergency. When a DDoS attack occurs, all your traffic moves through one of their routers first, and they are very good at blocking all the DDoS traffic that would be coming your way.

Related Offer: Experience ESET's award-winning antivirus software right now with a 30-day free trial.

While you cannot prevent someone from launching a DDoS attack against your company, you can be prepared to mitigate its impact. The key thing is to assume that its going to happen and be as ready for it as possible.
Washington

With an atypical burst of bipartisanship, the Senate shipped legislation to President Barack Obama on Wednesday lowering hurdles for government drug approvals as the 114th Congress bumped toward the end of a two-year run highlighted by upheaval and stalemate.

A week after the House easily approved the biomedical bill, senators passed it by a similarly overwhelming 94-5 margin. That was testament to a package that plans spending $6.3 billion over the next decade on popular efforts like cancer research and battling drug addiction. "This is a reminder of what we can do when we look out for one another," Obama said in a written statement that promised his signature. Referring to families that have endured losses to cancer, Alzheimer's and drug abuse, he added, "Their heartbreak is real, and so we have a responsibility to respond with real solutions. This bill will make a big difference."

"This is an opportunity we cannot miss, and we're not going to miss it," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate health committee.

Before adjournment, which leaders targeted for later this week, lawmakers were also tackling bills financing government agencies into late April, mapping Pentagon programs and planning water projects.

In a chamber where senators can flash barely concealed animosity, they showed their more gracious side with speeches lauding departing colleagues including Sens. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., and Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H. The Senate floor was also the stage for accolades to departing Vice President Joe Biden, who served 36 years as a Democratic senator from Delaware.

"You've been a real friend, you've been a trusted partner and it's been an honor to serve with you," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said to Biden, who presided over the tribute.

That comradery was also reflected in the biomedical bill, which included a planned $1.8 billion for cancer research. Biden, whose 46-year-old son Beau succumbed to the disease last year, has championed such work.

That bill, which also takes steps to sharpen federal mental health programs, drew praise from scores of pharmaceutical, device and other medical industry associations and from numerous patients' groups.

It was opposed by consumer organizations and liberals who said the measure's shortcuts for Food and Drug Administration approvals would endanger consumers and represented a sellout to drug makers. They also complained that it will take later legislation for Congress to provide the funds the bill envisions.

The drug bill was a cooperative capstone to a Congress that has seen its share of tumult.

A conservative rebellion booted Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, from office last year. Democrats staged an overnight sit-in on the House floor protesting the GOP-led Congress' inaction on gun control. Senate Republicans refused to let Obama fill a Supreme Court vacancy.

The two parties gridlocked over easing trade barriers with Pacific Ocean nations and revamping criminal justice statutes. It also took months for lawmakers to OK money to combat the Zika virus.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

For the first time ever, the Native American Chamber of Commerce is partnering with Meals on Wheels in Montgomery County, as the organizations seek community support to provide holiday bags to seniors.

One of those in need is Conroe resident and World War II veteran Denver Price.

Price graduated from the U.S. Army Air Corps gunnery school only six days after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. His orders brought the Missouri native to North Africa, where his responsibilities were to "kill the Germans," he said.

"I thank the good Lord I've lived this long," Price said. "I could have been hurt or killed."

Today, the WWII veteran wears a scar on his thumb from his days behind the .50-caliber machine gun.

"The scrap metal from the Germans destroyed the ammo box," he said. "I ripped my thumbs on the box."

"I didn't get a Purple Heart," he added, jokingly.

He "doesn't want to bore" anyone with his stories about originally enlisting to become a pilot, he said, which includes the challenges of getting a birth certificate because the doctor who delivered him was a veterinarian; or how Congress saved the stripes on his arms ranking him staff sergeant. He doesn't think people truly understand what the war was like.

"WWII is most important because I survived," Price said. "War is hell."

Sitting in his living room last week, Price paused another story about his war experience to receive a meal from a volunteer. His wife of 31 years, Mona, died three years ago when she collapsed in front of him at home from dementia. Her photos remain on the counter next to his son's wedding photo.

His son helps him, but the veteran welcomes the Meals on Wheels volunteers.

The MOW volunteer who delivered his meal sat on the floor playing with Price's two calico cats as Price sipped his coffee. Another volunteer opened the door asking about his day and his television.

Today is "better than yesterday," he responded. He "feels blessed," he said sitting behind his walker surrounded by people.

Life would be different without the volunteers, he said.

"It'd be terrible," he said with a laugh. "I would have to do my own cooking. I still make breakfast.  And it's the conversation (he appreciates) ... "

Jan Speck, who delivered Price's meal on last week, has been volunteering since 1997 when she started out in Abilene. She has volunteered for hospitals and other organizations as well.

"Meals on Wheels is my favorite thing to do," Speck said. "There's something special about these guys (like Price)."

Speck is one of 180 MOW volunteers who deliver meals to 550 seniors in Montgomery County, according to MOW Director of Development Bonnie Pfrenger.

"The visits from the volunteers nourish their soul," she said.

But this Christmas, the volunteers will be delivering more than meals, thanks to the help of the new collaboration and those who help support MOW during the holiday season, Pfrenger said.

Native American Chamber of Commerce President Carrol E. Cocchia said she learned about the program to help provide meals and transportation to seniors through a mutual contact at Kroger while searching for the right community outreach project. The NACC has delivered food and blankets to Native American reservations across the country for the past 14 years, where some tribes live in extreme poverty, Cocchia said.

Native Americans feel it is important to take care of seniors, Cocchia said.

"Anybody that's alive has had elders," Cocchia said. "Whether they were in Germany fighting for freedom or in a school cafeteria serving meals, it is time to give back."

The coordinators hope to assemble the holiday bags with various personal items, including socks and cookies. They plan to have various drop-off locations. All donations will go directly to the MOW seniors in Montgomery County, according to Cocchia and Pfrenger.

For more information about donating, contact Cocchia at 713-614-1272 or Pfrenger at 936-756-5836. To learn more about NACC, visit www.nativeamericanchamber.com; or to learn about the MOW, visit www.mowmc.org.
Jiading to provide green car incentives

From:Shanghai Daily | 2016-12-07 16:55

Jiading District is to offer a 40,000 yuan (US$5,815) subsidy for each new energy cargo vehicle bought by logistic companies in the district.



The scheme, which runs until the end of next year, is aimed at curbing air pollution, the Jiading government said yesterday.

The district will subsidize a total of 100 new energy cars that either offer electric or hybrid options for courier and cargo transportation.

The idea is to encourage more courier firms based in the district to promote green energy vehicles, the government said.

Logistic or courier companies registered in Jiading for more than six months that pledge to operate new energy cars for at least a year can apply for the subsidies.

Nitrogen oxides exhaust gases of local cargo transportation vehicles amount to about 57,000 tons per year and account for more than 60 percent of the citys total vehicle emissions, the citys transport authority estimated.

Electric vehicles can cut the pollution, while also reducing fuel costs by 30 percent compared with traditional gasoline vehicles, the authority added.

The city government said it would issue the first batch of 3,000 driving passes to electric or hybrid cargo vehicles to encourage courier firms and logistic companies to promote green energy vehicles.

The Shanghai-based YTO Express told Shanghai Daily yesterday that it had provided a large number of electric vans and tricycles to its deliverymen, but many others were still driving traditional gasoline cars and motorcycles to deliver parcels.

The district, where the citys international automobile city is sited, also announced an additional 15,000 yuan subsidy for individual buyers of new energy cars, in addition to the 30,000 yuan subsidy offered by the city government.

The government bodies, companies and social organizations in the district can also receive the 15,000 yuan subsidy by buying a new energy car.

With the new incentives, the district government aims to increase by 7,000 the number of new energy vehicles across the district to a total of 11,000 by the end of next year.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Washington

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, whose last command included oversight of the Guantanamo Bay detention center, to run the Department of Homeland Security, people close to the transition team said Wednesday.

Kelly, who joined the Marine Corps in 1970, retired earlier this year, wrapping up a final, three-year post as head of U.S. Southern Command.

He served three tours in Iraq, and holds the somber distinction of being the most senior military officer to lose a child in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan. His son, Marine 1st Lt. Robert Kelly, was killed in November, 2010, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Highly respected, often outspoken, and known as a fierce, loyal commander, Kelly will take over the nation's newest federal agency, with responsibilities from airport security and terrorism to immigration and the Coast Guard. The department was formed after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

If confirmed by the Senate, Kelly would be the fifth person to lead the department, which includes agencies that protect the president, respond to disasters, enforce immigration laws, protect the nation's coastlines and secure air travel.

His selection bolsters concerns about an increase in military influence in U.S. policy in a Trump White House.

Transition officials confirmed Trump's pick of Kelly on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly.

Immigration enforcement is a familiar issue for Kelly. Southern Command, based in South Florida, regularly works with DHS to identify and dismantle immigrant smuggling networks.

It has partnered with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in an operation targeting human smuggling into the U.S. and helped with the rescue of children arriving alone at U.S. borders.

If immigration enforcement is prioritized the way Trump promised during his campaign, the department will be challenged with beefing up the screening of immigrants allowed to come into the U.S., and finding additional resources to track down and deport people living in America illegally. It will also need to find a place to house these immigrants while they're waiting for deportation.
When state legislators convene in January, public school funding will be one of their top priorities. As State Rep. Ken King (R-Canadian) is quick to point out, funding public education is the only constitutional duty of the Texas Legislature.

Although Gov. Greg Abbott has forewarned state agencies to begin looking at cutting budgets by about 4 percent over the next biennium, King assured local and area school officials that he would watch out for the innovative Communities in Schools program.

That pledge was made Wednesday while the District 88 representative visited Estacado Middle School to learn about the program for at-risk students as it has been implemented in Plainview ISD and nearby Dimmitt ISD.

Estacado Principal Ritchie Thornton, in explaining the CIS program, noted, It connects and engages those students who might not otherwise be engaged.

In the past, Plainview ISD utilized both the traditional program which met with students during school as well as the ACE program which provides activities before and after school. The grant for the traditional program has since expired and was not renewed, but the ACE is now in the first of a multi-year funding cycle. It serves 173 students at Estacado and 160 at Thunderbird.

Dimmitt ISD has both the traditional and ACE programs. It was able to leverage available grant funds by picking up a larger funding share locally. We saw it making such a large difference for Dimmitt that we decided to do whatever it took to keep it going, explains Dimmitt ISD Superintendent Bryan Davis. Dimmitt uses both traditional and after school programs on the elementary, junior high and high school level. Its a great thing for us with activities ranging from peer tutoring to college readiness for both juniors and seniors.

During a recent FASFA information program, Dimmitt school officials initially planned to use a single room but had to expand to three rooms due to the large turnout. We have been able to take these kids on trips for mentoring with different businesses, and we have seen a tremendous improvement on issues ranging from academics to behavior.

Staff members working with the CIS program are able to make home visits as well as work with students in classroom settings with an aim at reducing the dropout rate while keeping at-risk and Title I students more engaged in the educational process.

King admitted that the program appears to be helping level the playing field between rural and urban school districts, which is one of his primary goals. Im certainly going to watch this program, and I agree that we all should be advocating for more programs like this which are making a difference for our kids. It makes no sense to cut local programs that are keeping kids engaged and encouraging them to stay in school.

King represents rural school districts in the 17 counties included in District 88.

According to Lubbock-based CIS of the South Plains, which oversees CIS programs in this region, the CIS site coordinator works with volunteers, partners and the local community to provide students with the resources they need to succeed both inside and outside the classroom. CIS is cost-effective  for less than $200 annually per student, CIS is able to provide a comprehensive range of community services.

Concerning the dropout problem, CIS explains that troubled students and their families often have a hard time accessing and navigating through the maze of public and private services. Through a school-based coordinator, CIS brings local resources inside the public school setting, where they are accessible, coordinated and accountable.

The programs five basic tenants are that each child needs and deserves:

--A personal one-on-one relationship with a caring adult

--A safe place to learn and grow

--A chance to five back to peers and community

--A marketable skill to use upon graduation

--A healthy start and a healthy future.

Denise Bocanegra is CIS coordinator at Thunderbird and Elena Azua is at Estacado.
FAIRFIELD  Selectmen want to see a bit more homework done on the Holland Hill School building project.

In an update to the board, Building Committee Chairman Tom Quinn even admitted he was bringing what he called sticker shock with the $20.8 million price tag. Similar in size and scope to the recently completed Riverfield School project, it was expected to cost about $14 million to meet education specifications.

There has been no funding request submitted at this point for the renovation, which will include additions to the kitchen and five general classrooms.

That includes all the costs, soft costs, project costs, construction costs, Quinn said. What were doing now is taking a hard look at every piece of that estimate.

The school was built in 1954, and the gymnasium added in 1972. Basically, this building and infrastructure has been untouched. Its not too dissimilar to what we had at Riverfield, Quinn said.

Quinn said part of the increased cost for Holland Hill is because educational needs differ. One example is a resource room needed for a language arts specialist.

If the cost cant be trimmed, the selectmen said, it would mean putting off other future school projects at Mill Hill and Sherman schools.

How do we go from $14 million to $21 million, First Selectman Mike Tetreau said. Does that mean Mill Hill is going to be $30 million?

Its sticker shock, Selectman Ed Bateson said. In my head, this blows any long term planning, it just does. Its tough to even look at the future.

If this does cost $21 million, it pushes off the Mill Hill project, it pushes off the Sherman project, because the town has x amount of money it can spend each year on debt service, Tetreau said. Its not just one project, one school, as we do this.

Tetreau asked that the building committee prepare a side by side comparison between Riverfield and Holland Hill, showing the different components and their costs. It would be great to see the ed spec costs, by section or function, at Riverfield, some kind of macro look, and what that means at Holland Hill, Tetreau said. What are the drivers, where are we going.

Quinn said there is more site work needed at Holland Hill than there was at Riverfield, due to the topography of the 12.5 acres and a decision to steer clear of wetlands on the property.

We understand the magnitude, Quinn said. There is nothing up front and clear and present, and you can say you can take that $3 million. We have to go back in and make sure weve done the best job possible. He also said the committee has not built the golden arches, but rather a solid school.

According to architect Brian Stone, the project will eliminate the five portables at the school, add a serving line in the cafeteria, improve traffic flow through the school property, and improve security..

Its a facility we feel is in keeping with the program that is needed, but not excessive in style or size, Stone said.

Quinn said the project is very consistent to the ed specs. We have a lot of work cut out in front of us to attempt to get to a place where its an idea that can be voted on, he said.

Our idea was not to change the program on this first pass, Stone said, but to look at what options are available.

This is one of the things we talked about, Selectman Chris Tymniak said. Were addressing a real number which, frankly, to me is scary. We have to throw it all out on the table.

Quinn noted that there has yet to be any testing for PCBs at the school.

greilly@ctpost.com; @GreillyPost
On Dec 5, Deng Zhuping, a fruit farmer in East Chinas Jiangxi province, received a letter along with 200 yuan from Premier Li Keqiang.

The money was for the two boxes of oranges that Deng sent to him on Nov 25. I picked the oranges in my orchard. I hoped the Premier can taste them and share my pleasure of a good harvest, he told Beijing News on Dec 7.

Thank you for your oranges, the Premier said in the letter. Im glad that farmers in your village have a good harvest this year. I hope you could maintain the quality and credit of your products.

In fact, Premier Li has bought many things during his domestic visits since he took office, spending at least 952.8 yuan ($138.5), according to public records.

The things he spent the most money on are books, costing him 393.8 yuan.

In April, when he visited Chengdu, Southwest Chinas Sichuan province, he bought a book  Autumn Dream in the Old Chengdu by renowned Chinese writer Liu Shahe  and two series of postcards from a local bookstore.

The Premier said brick-and-mortar bookstores should be supported as he paid, said the owner of the bookstore.

Other books he has bought include Hotel and The Evening News from Arthur Hailey, a British/Canadian novelist, and Have a Bath, written by Yang Jiang, a Chinese writer.

Apart from books, he also paid for presents and local specialties that he received.

When he visited Hunan University in Central China in July, Premier Li insisted paying for two products that a college entrepreneur wanted to give him as presents. They should not be free. The deal must be fair, said the Premier.

In April 2014, during his visit to Haikou, South Chinas Hainan province, he walked into a local convenience store and talked with sellers about their business. Before he left, the Premier bought a box of coconut chips and a box of egg rolls, spending 19 yuan.

Sorry to interrupt your business. I think I should buy something since I came in here, he said to the cashier.
Before her fourth-grade students arrive each morning, Joann Perkins sets out the day's breakfast on their desks in red and white paper dishes with cartons of milk and juice.

When the students are dropped off at Newton Elementary - some after bus rides of more than an hour - they sit down to eat, talk and fill out morning worksheets until the first bell rings.

The district launched its new breakfast in the classroom program last week, joining a growing number of Texas districts providing free meals to all students in an attempt to reach more hungry kids.

"We are on the Community Eligibility Provision, so all kids eat free breakfast and lunch," said Superintendent Michelle Barrow. The federal program allows districts with high poverty rates to serve all students free meals. Newton ISD started offering the free meals last year, but found many elementary students weren't going to the cafeteria in the mornings, so they'd be hungry until lunch.

That hunger hurt their focus and concentration in the classroom and meant the district was paying for uneaten food, Barrow said.

So the district bought coolers and wheeled carts and put breakfast on the move, bringing it to each kindergarten through fifth-grade class.

"It's been proven time and time again, if children eat breakfast, they perform better in the classroom, and that's what you want," said Kathy Morrow, the district's food service director.

That's backed up by years of research, according to the CDC, which links eating a healthy breakfast with better memory, attendance and moods.

"Sometimes this is the only meal our children get, what they eat at school, and we just want to make sure they all have the same advantage," Morrow said.

While it's too early to see the effects of Newton ISD's program, elementary principal Bonetha Christopher said teachers are already seeing positive results.

"It's exciting to see our students want to eat," she said, and it makes mornings more calm because students aren't rushing to get to and from the cafeteria, which is outside the main school building.

What students don't eat, they leave on the "share table" for others. That's the same in every classroom, and the school sends leftovers home with students.

Morrow said Newton ISD looked at other nearby districts that have successfully run the program, including Woodville ISD, which is in its third year of the program.

"It's simply amazing how well the program worked," said Linda Johnson, Woodville's director of Food and Nutrition Services.

When breakfast was offered in the cafeteria, the district annually fed about 19,400 meals to preschoolers through second-graders.

That number jumped to 45,400 a year when it was moved to the classroom. Teachers are responsible for marking sure which students eat when they take attendance.

Feeding more students costs more, but higher participation in the program helps cover the expense. Districts are reimbursed by the state for the number of meals provided to economically disadvantaged students. By feeding all students, districts increase their total number of meals, but get more money back in reimbursements and reach more students who need the food.

Packing up and transporting the meals each day is "a huge process, but it's worth it," Johnson said. "It's there, they see it, they know they can have it. It's just more accessible for them."

Kids have given Newton ISD's program good reviews so far. Fourth-grader Tristan Wood likes the breakfast burrito and the breakfast pizza best, while classmate Edyn Davis was excited about dried cranberries on Tuesday. Megan Kalafatis said she's happy to not go all the way to the cafeteria before class starts to eat.

Crystal Mouton, said her daughter, who is in first grade, was afraid to go to the cafeteria in the mornings, so while some mornings she'd eat at home, others she wouldn't have breakfast at all.

"My kids were excited that it was being done in the classroom," she said. "I definitely think it will help those students who are shy, afraid or too late to class to go eat."

LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/LizTeitz
For a year, leaders of the Texas Tech University System have made clear that in 2017 they planned to ask the Texas Legislature to allow them build a veterinary school in Amarillo.

But now, about a month before the Legislature convenes, the system confirmed that those plans are on hold.

In response to questions about the future of the school, system spokesman Brett Ashworth told The Texas Tribune that the system has placed the veterinary school on pause. He wouldnt comment further or elaborate on what that means, and its unclear how long that pause will last. But the decision calls into question whether Tech will be able to get approval to open the school when the Legislature is in session for the first half of next year.

The Tech system has said the school would help West Texas address a shortage of large-animal veterinarians. But it faced fierce resistance from the Texas A&M University System, which has the only current veterinary school in the state. Tech had wanted to open its school in 2019. In September, the city of Amarillo chipped in $15 million from its economic development fund to kickstart the idea.

But the plan has generated mixed reviews. The staff of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board said in July that the state doesnt need another traditional veterinary school, arguing the cost would outweigh the benefits. Tech, however, has said that its school would be unique and focus largely on bringing veterinarians to rural areas. The coordinating board was receptive to that possibility.

Meanwhile, Texas A&M University System officials have said that expanding their schools reach would be a more efficient way of meeting the states needs. On Wednesday, A&M System Chancellor John Sharp reiterated that argument. He said A&Ms veterinary school is already expanding its services to West Texas through its West Texas A&M University campus.

I think its clear to everyone that the veterinary school at Texas A&M has already addressed the concerns that Texas Tech is talking about, Sharp said. There is no need for another veterinary college in Texas.

Now, the future seems uncertain. The Tech System Board of Regents will meet in mid-December and could provide more clarity for if, or how, the system should move forward. Meanwhile, the system is also working to develop a dental school in El Paso, which it hopes will open in 2020.

The vet school idea does have some powerful support. State Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, said Wednesday that he thinks its a great idea but shouldnt be treated like an economic development project for his area.

Any project like that should stand on its own in terms of the statewide needs and academic advantages for the state, he said.
One applicant to Texas A&M University certainly caught the top-tier institution's attention on Thursday.

Texas A&M University admissions office was processing a prospective student's submitted materials on Thursday morning when an employee found wires inside a package. A note read "Flip Switch."

The College Station emergency response team -- including a bomb squad -- leaped into action.

Hundreds of people evacuated the General Services Complex, which houses the university's admissions office, at about 10:45 a.m., and the university issued a campuswide "Code Maroon" safety alert. Officials said people should stay away from the building, an outlying facility located about a mile northwest of the Memorial Student Center at the heart of campus.

A bomb squad destroyed the package, initially using a robotic device to take it outside the building. A water cannon then "(rendered) it safe," the university police department said.

"When questioned, the investigator was told the item was a battery-operated light set, which was designed to draw attention to the included admissions application," the police department said.

(About two-thirds of applicants are accepted, according to U.S. News and World Report.)

The building reopened about two hours later.

"We're glad to have a happy and uneventful ending," university spokesman Lane Stephenson said.
As 2016 draws to a merciful close were starting to look ahead to 2017 for bright spots, anything to look forward to beyond this years cavalcade of painful celebrity deaths and that bonkers presidential election.

Yes, we know that its not even Christmas yet but were that anxious to leave 2016, like a kid waiting for the final bell to ring on the last day of school before summer starts.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Opal Charles, 66, of Cibolo, worked with wounded service members for years, so the director of the San Antonio chapter of a charity she volunteered for had no problem writing checks to her and trusting her to make cash payments directly to veterans who needed the money.

On Wednesday, Charles made an initial appearance in federal court, charged with wire fraud.

According to a complaint filed by Army investigators, she used the money to pay personal living expenses, accessing much of it from an ATM at the Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino in Eagle Pass.

Gary Barber, director of the San Antonio chapter of the the Air Warrior Courage Foundation, said he personally delivered checks to wounded soldiers for years, but began approving emailed requests for financial assistance a few years ago.

Investigators said at least some of those emails came from Charles work email account. Charles has worked for the Warrior Transition Brigade at San Antonio Military Medical Center since 2004, according to the complaint.

The Army probe found 127 foundation checks totaling more than $100,300 were deposited into Charles bank account from April through October of this year. The account had 25 withdrawals totaling more than $105,800 in the same period, the complaint said.

But none of the checks she wrote went to wounded service members, according to investigators. They cited five cases of soldiers named in the emails to the foundation who told investigators they had not asked the foundation for help nor been contacted by Charles to receive any.

Read the full story at ExpressNews.com or in Thursdays Express-News.

jlawrence@express-news.net
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

DONNA  Responding to a surge of Central American migrants in recent months, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said Wednesday it will open a temporary holding facility this week equipped to house up to 1,000 people by the Donna-Rio Bravo International Bridge.

The announcement comes at a time of year when the flow of immigration northward usually tapers off, yet unaccompanied children and families have continued to pour across the Southwest border and crowd international bridges since October, rivaling the unprecedented spring and summer months of 2014.

RELATED: ICE releases nearly 500 from detention centers, brings them to S.A.

We are much better prepared to process people, to question them and take their biometric information, said CBP Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske. Because were more knowledgeable, we have better resources, were better equipped, were able to deal with this influx, with this surge, in a much more humanitarian way.

Last month, the Border Patrol opened another processing center for children and families in Tornillo, near El Paso. The agency also sent 150 agents from other sectors to the Rio Grande Valley to support local agents dealing with the swell of immigrants in the field.

The surge of Central American families starting two years ago prompted Immigration and Customs Enforcement to open large family detention centers in Dilley and Karnes City. ICE released hundreds of the migrants this week  with notices to appear later before immigration courts  swamping a church shelter in San Antonio.

RELATED: 121 people picked up in raids targeting immigrant families

Kerlikowske, who will step down in January, said the agency now has the security, food and health care contracts in place to better help agents manage the flow of immigrants. In 2014, immigrants from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala overwhelmed agents in South Texas, who struggled to manage a scabies outbreak and feed hungry detainees as their paperwork dragged on for days.

Amid heightened tensions over immigration, Kerlikowske stressed that even as the agency urges immigrants in Central America to stay at home, the current flow of migrants into the country does not pose a border security threat. However, the number of people seeking asylum at international bridges has increased dramatically, and field officers are ill-prepared to process them all.

We are basically kind of restricting the number of people being processed at the ports of entry because of a credible fear, said David Higgerson, director of CBP field operations in Laredo.

Field officers are making appointments with asylum seekers at the bridges only after they have the appropriate documents prepared by officials in Mexico, Higgerson said. At the same time, the CBP officers are tasked with maintaining the flow of tens of thousands of passenger vehicles, pedestrians and commercial traffic.

Starting Friday, immigrant families and children will now be sent either to Ursula  a processing facility in McAllen  or the temporary facility in Donna.

The Donna facility is a large white tent, where adult men and women will be separated according to the age and gender of their children. One pod shown to local media has chain-link fencing, while the remaining pods will be left open. Families will be provided three meals and will sleep on cots during their brief stay.

The Ursula facility, built in 2014, is equipped to house up to 1,000. It currently houses 400 immigrants, officials said.

The price tag for the Donna processing facility is $3.8 million, while the Tornillo facility cost $3.2 million, immigration officials said Wednesday.

In San Antonio, fewer than 100 of the nearly 500 people released over the weekend were still in town Wednesday afternoon. The vast majority of those released from Dilley and Karnes City are bound for cities in other parts of the U.S.

City Manager Sheryl Sculley said Tuesday in a memo to the mayor and City Council that San Antonio is prepared to open a temporary shelter at the Frank Garrett Community Center that can house 100 to 150 people.

anelsen@express-news.net

jbuch@express-news.net
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

SAN ANTONIO  A nurse and mother who went missing on Thanksgiving Day, and her family is desperately looking for answers as to where she disappeared.

Michele Roode Boyd, 41, is a registered nurse who works for Christus Health Systems in San Antonio and she hasnt been seen since before Thanksgiving, her brother, Joe Roode, said in an interview.

RELATED: Reward offered for missing elderly woman last seen at Poteet Flea Market

Boyd, who has a 5-year-old daughter and two step children, is described as having red, short hair, is 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs about 120 pounds. She has a vine tattoo on her left ankle, according to a police report.

Boyd separated from her husband a week before her disappearance and may have experienced a mental break," her brother said, adding that she started exhibiting strange behaviors, but they dont believe drugs are involved.

RELATED: Search for missing 29-year-old man continues

Roode said she lives in Leon Springs on the Northwest Side of San Antonio, but her vehicle was found and towed on Black Friday from a taqueria off Rigsby Avenue on the East Side. He said some people in that area claimed to have seen her, but authorities have not been able to find her.

Roode said its possible shes near a shopping center in the area or near a Mexican meat market.

I honestly think she doesnt know where she is, Roode said in an interview with mySA.com.

Her sibling said she doesnt have a history of mental illness or drug use and described her as very responsible and the sole breadwinner of her family.

RELATED: SAPD searching for missing mother and her 6-year-old daughter

Anyone with information regarding Boyds whereabouts is asked to contact the San Antonio Police Departments Missing Persons Unit at 210-2077660 or the Heidi Search Center at 210-650-0428.

Text "Breaking" to 48421 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com

twhite@mysa.com

Twitter: @tylerlwhite
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Six Flags Fiesta Texas brought San Antonians under the mistletoe on Saturday to break a world record.

At 4:15 p.m. Saturday, couples from across the San Antonio area smooched at once to set the Guinness World Record of most couples to kiss under mistletoe, according to a news release from the amusement park.

"Thanks to our guests today who braved the cold weather to participate," the park posted on its Facebook page. "We hope you had as much fun as we did!"

RELATED: Video: Harlem Globetrotter makes 583-foot trick shot from roof of Tower of the Americas

Six Flags Over Georgia formerly held the record of most couples kissing, which they set in 2015, the release said.

Six Flags Fiesta Texas teamed up with other parks across the country to break the record.

kbradshaw@express-news.net

Twitter: @kbrad5
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

SAN ANTONIO  Authorities are investigating the death of a 17-year-old Judson High School student killed Wednesday by a train on the Northeast Side as a suicide, according to the Bexar County Sheriff's Office.

Darvie Alexander was pronounced dead at the scene of a fatal train accident at approximately 11:30 a.m. Wednesday in the 4900 block of Gibbs Sprawl Road, where he was walking on tracks and was struck by the train, according to the Bexar County Sheriffs Office.

An engineer riding in the train told police he saw Alexander walking along the tracks as the locomotive approached, according to a police report released Thursday.

RELATED: S.A. high school student killed in 'tragic' collision with cement truck on I-10 access road

The engineer told police as the train approached Alexander at about 38 mph, he "abruptly jumped in front of the train causing him to get" pulled underneath the rail cars, the report said.

A person not named in the report attempted to revive Alexander at the scene as the engineer called 911.

Police found a Judson ISD identification card on Alexander.

A medical helicopter responded to the scene, but Alexander died shortly after the accident.

The medical examiners office has not released the cause and manner of Alexanders death, pending an investigation.

Investigators were searching for his backpack and trying to determine if the boy may have been wearing headphones, as well as checking for other possible distractions that could have caused the fatal crash, said BCSO spokesman James Keith.

RELATED: Judson student hit by train is 2nd high schooler killed within hours on NE Side

The train had video surveillance footage that will be provided to investigators, Keith said.

Alexander was a junior at Judson High School, school district officials said. Additional counselors are being provided for students and staff this week, according to a previous story.

A few hours before the fatal train crash, a 17-year-old girl died in a near head-on collision with a cement truck on an Interstate 10 access road on the Northeast Side.

RELATED: BCSO: 2 men with rifles run from crash site after 110mph+ chase with deputy

Chloe Danielle Shiverdecker died after her silver Ford SUV collided with a cement truck just before 7:30 a.m. Wednesday near Foster Road and FM 1516, according to police and the medical examiners office.

Shiverdecker was a student at Randolph High School, according to a previous report.

Text "Breaking" to 48421 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com

twhite@mysa.com

Twitter: @tylerlwhite
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Courtesy/National Weather Service Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Courtesy/National Weather Service Show More Show Less 3 of 3





SAN ANTONIO  More than 7,000 CPS customers are without power Thursday morning as two major outages on the West and Northwest Sides and several smaller ones throughout the city are being investigated by CPS Energy.

Nearly 4,000 of the outages are on the Northwest Side and affecting customers in 78229, 78230, 78240 ZIP codes, just outside Loop 410 near Fredricksburg Road. The cause is under investigation and CPS estimates the power will be restored by 10:15 a.m. Thursday.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

It started as a bizarre conspiracy theory about a Washington, D.C. pizza joint, Democratic operatives and allegations of underage prostitution.

Like most conspiracy theories, it had some believers, but no one moved to action, until Sunday. That's when an armed North Carolina man went to Comet Ping Pong - the pizza parlor at the center of the theory - to investigate the claims.

It seems a bit off the wall that someone would go to such lengths to chase down the odd concept that Democrats were calling the place to order up child prostitutes under the guise of wanting a pizza.

ILLEGAL VOTERS?: Donald Trump's conspiracy theory has Texas roots

But, it happened. The original concept started like most conspiracy theories - with an unsubstantiated claim on a website. This one came to life on a thread on 4Chan in July with someone claiming to have inside knowledge of an FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation stemming from the ongoing sexting investigation of former Congressman Anthony Weiner.

From there, it jumped to a site called Godlike Productions, a self-described forum for "UFOs, Conspiracy Theorists, Lunatic Fringe."

There, someone posting as "Warthog76" floated the theory that the Clintons were running a sex ring with the Clinton Foundation as a front to cover it. Conspiracy theorists said they had info from the FBI, New York Police Department and other officials - none of which has been produced.

STILL BUSY: 53 years later, JFK conspiracy theorists press on

The story gained momentum with a tweet on Oct. 30 from an account that frequently posts pieces backing Donald Trump as well as white supremacist materials.

The initial tweet from someone posting as "David Goldberg" who identifies as a Jewish lawyer from New York and uses an avatar found on the white supremacist site the Daily Stormer was followed by a second similar tweet. That's when the theory took hold and caught fire.

It grew like mushrooms in an unkempt yard from there.

The theory spread across white supremacist and right-wing websites, with people who hate Hillary Clinton buying in.

The restaurant's owner and employees faced social media threats before the election and fake news stories continued to cite Comet Ping Pong as a hub of underage prostitution for the Clintons.

REDDIT REGRETS: Reddit CEO sorry for editing Trump supporters during election

Reddit even banned the topic, but the fake stories continued.

Now, 28-year-old Edgar Maddison Welch of Salisbury, N.C. is in custody, charged with assault with a dangerous weapon.

And, Comet Ping Pong's owner, James Alefantis, took to Facebook to refute the claims made about his establishment and to thank law enforcement for keeping things from getting worse.

"Let me state unequivocally: these stories are completely and entirely false, and there is no basis in fact to any of them. What happened today demonstrates that promoting false and reckless conspiracy theories comes with consequences," Alefantis wrote.
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP)  The defense attorney for a Pennsylvania woman charged with trying to kill herself and her two young children by piping vehicle exhaust into her car says the vehicle is missing and other evidence has been tainted.

Larry Kansky is the attorney for 33-year-old Melissa Ann Scholl. She's jailed on attempted homicide charges because police say she tried to kill her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in a Wilkes-Barre Township parking lot last December. Police say a passer-by pulled the hose from the car.
Weather permitting on Saturday, December 10, 2016 beginning at 8 a.m., Oscar Renda Contracting will close the State Loop (SL) 20 north- to southbound turnaround under the Kansas City Southern bridge for excavation work. Motorists are urged to seek an alternate route during this excavation work.

Off-duty police officers will be assisting with traffic control. Please drive cautiously when approaching these work zone areas.
A panic is sweeping the land - or at least something like it has unnerved CNN, Vox and other precincts of progressive sensibility. They are alarmed that millions of Americans are being misled by "fake news."

As someone whose inbox has lately bulged with items about Hillary Clinton's impending demise due to a concealed, terminal illness; who has shaken her head at "breaking news" that Turkish coup plotters had gotten their hands on NATO nuclear weapons at Incirlik air base; and who has sighed at the endless iterations of stories like "47 Clinton friends who mysteriously turned up dead," I don't deny that misinformation, disinformation, rumors and malicious gossip appear to have achieved new salience in the national conversation. I shun right-leaning publications and sites that traffic in this sort of drivel.

You know there's a "but" coming, and here it is: The death of Fidel Castro reminds us that the respectable press, the "two-sources" press, the press that enforces standards and performs reality checks and practices "shoe leather" journalism and all that, has been peddling "fake news" about Cuba and Castro for 60 years.

The mainstream press has been soft on Fidel Castro since he first grabbed a pistol and started granting interviews to credulous reporters in the Sierra Maestra. The joke that made the rounds in 1980s was that Castro could have been featured in one of those ads boasting "I got my job through The New York Times!" Starting in 1957, Times reporter Herbert Matthews visited with the rebel leader and published accounts of his selfless commitment to "his" people. "Power does not interest me," Castro told Matthews. "After victory I want to go back to my village and just be a lawyer again."

The evidence of Castro's monstrousness was available more or less immediately after his victory. Fulgencio Batista's supporters were shot en masse - some in a carnival atmosphere in front of stadiums of people making the "thumbs down" gesture. Former revolutionary allies were next to mount the scaffold for the modern equivalent of the guillotine. Independent newspapers were closed. Unions were forbidden to strike. Religious colleges were closed, and priests were forced into exile (they had plenty of company). Those who resisted the regime were arrested, denied medical care and sometimes tortured. Their families were harassed. Castro promised free elections within 18 months. That was 708 months ago. Cubans are still waiting.

The New York Times and other liberal outlets entered a profound senescence where Cuba was concerned. Stories about neighborhood spies, beatings and jailings of the Ladies in White, shortages of all basic commodities (yes, even sugar and cigars), forced labor and the rest of the miseries that a despotic government can inflict were hard to find. You discovered them mostly in right-leaning journals, or in human-rights watchdog publications, or in memoirs such as Armando Valladares' wrenching account of 22 years in Castro's prisons, "Against All Hope" (one of the most harrowing prison memoirs of the 20th century).

A sin of omission, you may say. Yes, but there was the other piece - the diligent myth-tending. As Jay Nordlinger, National Review's indefatigable voice for the oppressed, has pointed out again and again, the myth of Cuba's wonderful, free, universal health care system will not die. President Obama lauded it. Michael Moore beatified it. Bernie Sanders cited it to shame the United States by comparison!

What can you say to people with such a profound need to believe? Their faith is religious in nature and accordingly very resistant to logic or argument. Again, to cite Jay Nordlinger: There are actually three health services in Cuba. There is one for tourists, featuring state-of-the-art equipment. There is a second for high-ranking communists, the military, approved artists and so forth. This, too, is a good system. And then there is the squalid, dirty, understaffed, massively under-equipped medical system that ordinary Cubans (the vast majority) must endure. In the third system, overworked doctors reuse latex gloves, antibiotics are scarce, and patients must "bring their own bed sheets, soap, towels, food, light bulbs - even toilet paper."

A 2014 report from the Institute for War and Peace Reporting found that in Cuban hospitals "the floors are stained and surgeries and wards are not disinfected. Doors do not have locks and their frames are coming off. Some bathrooms have no toilets or sinks, and the water supply is erratic. Bat droppings, cockroaches, mosquitoes and mice are all in evidence."

And yet, even such an august publication as The Atlantic (I say that sincerely) published a piece after Castro's death titled "How Cubans Live as Long as Americans at a Tenth of the Cost." You can call it invincible ignorance. You can call it journalistic malpractice. You can even call it "fake news."

Mona Charen is a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
Anyone concerned about skyrocketing property taxes should be against state Sen. Paul Bettencourts push to cap revenues for cities and counties.

Why? Because stressed homeowners deserve a better deal than an extra cup of coffee a month. Thats what he and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick are offering in exchange for putting fast-growing cities and urban counties in revenue binds. Its a move that will undercut public safety, roads and parks  while not delivering on meaningful property tax relief.

Bettencourts plan misses the mark. Bigly.

It might not matter in a post-factual world, but cities and counties are secondary factors on property tax bills. Cities typically account for 16 percent of a property tax bill, the Texas Municipal League has said. Here in San Antonio, its a little higher, about 22 percent. Counties account for even less but depend even more on the revenue.

The driving force behind skyrocketing property taxes is education. If the state better funded public schools, property tax bills would be lower. For example, with my house, North East Independent School District accounts for more property taxes than Bexar County, the city of San Antonio and the University Health System combined (Im not complaining because good schools are priceless).

All the money is in the school districts, and they dont fund them right, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said of the state. Its a reaction that really is not meaningful. It isnt going to help. Its going to hurt.

Heres another meaningful option: The state could address the inherent unfairness in commercial property appraisals. Commercial sales are kept secret, which allows property owners to appeal appraisals against lesser properties, slashing their taxes. Residential homeowners cant do this and pay the price.

But these are complicated issues that would take real political skill and courage  and, if addressed, would provide meaningful relief. Its much easier to pin property taxes on cities and urban counties, bastions of blue, and then claim a win for taxpayers.

They dont want to talk about the hard stuff, Wolff said. They want to do something easy and popular.

Every good con has a con within a con, and thats the case here. The con within the the con is how Bettencourt and Patrick have framed the issue, saying local taxes have outpaced incomes.

Its catchy rhetoric  and its totally ludicrous. They are comparing two different sets of numbers.

For example, in a March guest column in this paper, Bettencourt wrote that in San Antonio, between 2005 and 2014, city taxes have grown 55 percent, while median household income has grown only 22 percent. In other words, an average family faces a tax bill that is increasing 2 times as fast as income.

That sounds terrible, but its not a fair comparison, said Jeff Coyle, the city of San Antonios spokesman.

Bettencourt is comparing a total against a middle point  the median. If the city grows, its total taxes will grow. But thats different from boosting the median household income over time. Its apples to oranges.

The whole underpinning of the argument is flawed, Coyle said.

Beyond this, capping city property taxes at 4 percent will result in a savings of about $4 a month, city officials have said. Thats your (overpriced) cup of coffee.

In exchange for this savings, city officials say capping property tax revenues at 4 percent will cost about $298 million over 10 years. Perhaps there are ways to make up for that lost revenue, such as dramatically increasing impact fees on new development or user fees for services. Water has a way of flowing over rocks.

But why go through those gyrations, much less all these histrionics for so little in return? Especially when there are real issues to address?

The hunch here is while no one likes paying property taxes, most appreciate city services such as police officers, firefighters, streets and parks. If you fit that equation, Bettencourts proposal should at least give you pause.

Remember, the vast majority of the citys general fund, about 66 percent, covers police and fire. Next in line are streets, followed by parks and recreation and then a host of other smaller services. Why undercut so much for so little?

Taxpayers deserve so much more.

jbrodesky@express-news.net
If you thought Donald Trump was the face of Americas anti-establishment movement, hold on to your chapeaus: A wild wind is rising.

Want to know whats more anti-establishment than a president-elect who refuses to play by the rules? How about similarly spirited electors going AWOL and sending someone else to the Oval Office?

Could it happen? Might.

A movement headed by a mostly Democratic group calling itself Hamilton Electors is trying to convince Republican electors to defect  not to cede the election to Hillary Clinton but to join with Democrats in selecting a compromise candidate, such as Mitt Romney or John Kasich.

Mathematically, only 37 of Trumps 306 electors are needed to bring his number down to 269, one less than the 270 needed to secure the presidency. On the Hamilton Electors Facebook page, elector Bret Chiafalo, a Democrat from Washington, explains the purpose of the Electoral College. If you havent been a fan of the electoral system, you might become one.

The Founding Fathers didnt fully trust democracy, and so created a republic. They correctly worried that a pure democracy could result in the election of a demagogue (ahem), or a charismatic autocrat (ahem), or someone under foreign influence (ditto), hence the rule that a president must be U.S.-born. We know how seriously Trump takes the latter.

Most important among the founders criteria for a president was that he (or now she) be qualified. Thus, the Electoral College was created as a braking system that would, if necessary, save the country from an individual such as, frankly, Trump. It is worth noting that 50 former Republican national security officials and foreign policy experts co-signed a letter saying that Trump would be a dangerous president.

At least one Republican elector, Christopher Suprun, has decided to pay heed. In an op-ed in Tuesdays New York Times, Suprun, a paramedic in Texas, outlined all his reasons for not rubber-stamping Trump, saying that he owes a debt not to his party but to his children. He urged others to join him. This, apparently, they can do, though some states may impose penalties. Hamilton Electors are raising funds to pay any such costs that may accrue.

Alexander Hamilton wrote that the Electoral College affords a moral certainty that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.

Electors would prevent the tumult and disorder that would result from the candidates exploiting talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity. Speaking of Trump. How wise our founders were. And how unwise are we to pay so little attention to their far-keener insights.

Meanwhile, those on both sides who remain opposed to Trump are dismissed as either sorry losers or as dining on crow and sour grapes. But the stakes are too high  and the evidence of Trumps presidential aptitude deficit too severe  for such trivializing designations. His demonstrated lack of judgment and impulse control should send shivers down the spines of all Americans in consideration of the nuclear arsenal he is poised to have at his fingertips.

Thats not all of it, but its enough. Without consulting advisers or sleeping on it, for which he is not known, Trump can authorize a nuke upon the slightest provocation  or none. All previous presidents have had the same authority, of course, but all have also been experienced statesmen, nary a reality-show celebrity (or snake-oil salesman) among them.

Trumps friends have told me theyre confident hell solemnly respect the burden of such power, but nothing thus far justifies their faith. Trump hasnt much bothered himself with intelligence briefings. He ignored 37 years of diplomatic precedent by chatting with the president of Taiwan, upsetting China. He spoke like an inarticulate ninth-grader with Pakistans prime minister, according to that countrys readout.

Electors are scheduled to meet Dec. 19 in their respective states to cast their final ballots. If there are 37 Republicans among them with the courage to perform their moral duty and protect the nation from a talented but dangerous president-elect, a new history of heroism will have to be written.

Please, be brave.

kathleenparker@washpost.com
Long ago in a faraway land called Post-Election East Coast, the major media companies published mea culpas about having overlooked real people with economic anxieties not reflected in aggregate national unemployment and GDP numbers. After incorrectly projecting that Hillary Clinton had the presidency in the bag, they vowed to do better reporting on communities in the so-called fly-over states and to not discount the views and circumstances of the people living there.

Unfortunately, the media never vowed to stop condescending to them.

Last week, in reference to Manitowoc Foodservice, a manufacturer whose Indiana factory is laying off 84 workers and moving production to Mexico, a New York Times article noted, The truth across the Rust Belt is that there are more Manitowoc Foodservices than Carriers. ... In Indiana, in particular, as in other so-called Rust Belt states, there are a lot of people who are less educated: Just 16.5 percent of the states residents ages 25 to 64 have a bachelors degree, half the rate for the country over all. And while about 30 percent have an associate degree or some college, the bulk of Indiana residents, 44 percent, have only a high school diploma  or less.

This sort of reporting, while factual and impartial to most East Coast media types, is the kind of looking-down-your-nose journalism that working-class and rural people feel is elitist. This implication of rube-ishness through low educational attainment makes people living in what used to be referred to more positively as Americas Heartland believe that the media do not tell the whole truth about them  or about anything else.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, writing recently in the op-ed pages of the Times, noted, Start with this: When you call us the Rust Belt, you demean our work and diminish who we are. ... Ohio workers know they toil harder and are paid less than their parents, and have less power to control the hours they work and their share of the wealth they create for their employer. This diverse force feels betrayed by trade and tax policies that create immense affluence at the top and take wealth from workers. Much of Washington  and that now includes Donald J. Trump  doesnt seem to understand this.

Even though the election is barely in our rearview mirror, the same news agencies that vowed to do better continue to rely on overly broad interpretations of statistics and a detached attitude about working people in the middle of the country.

A Wall Street Journal blog post last week carried this headline: 1,000 Carrier Jobs Trump Celebrates Are Drop in the Bucket of Manufacturing Losses  Indiana alone has lost over 150,000 manufacturing jobs since 2000. Though Indianas manufacturing slide is often cited to add context to the Carrier deal  which may actually save only about 800 jobs in Indiana through a tax deal that has drawn ire from both conservatives and liberals  its reference can come off as dismissive and cold.

In the grand scheme of things, 800 jobs may not be much to speak of when you look at national manufacturing trends. But to people in Indiana who feel as though the reality of having their familys livelihood snatched from them and sent down to Mexico was just halted by a benevolent savior, the bucket metaphor is belittling.

If the media cant muster up true respect for such people, the least we can do is treat them, their issues and concerns with a measure of dignity and empathy

estherjcepeda@washpost.com
San Antonio Water System owes ratepayers additional study on year-round watering restrictions, but it shouldnt stop there.

The utility should also develop a list of new conservation strategies as alternatives to year-round watering restrictions. This dual approach would ensure that, in light of the Vista Ridge pipeline, SAWS is proactively  and publicly  taking new steps to conserve precious water.

Before SAWS President and CEO Robert Puente calls to complain, lets be clear: As utilities go, SAWS has an outstanding reputation for conservation.

SAWS officials have made a compelling argument why year-round watering restrictions are not an effective way to conserve water. But City Councilman Ron Nirenberg and numerous others have questioned this. Its not unreasonable to ask for further, independent study.

An independent study would give clarity. Meanwhile, compiling a list of conservation alternatives would provide a meaningful policy backstop should the independent study confirm SAWS analysis. Its all about options.

This is important. The region is incredibly drought-prone, and SAWS has plowed ahead with the controversial Vista Ridge pipeline, which will begin delivering more than 16 billion gallons of water per year in 2020. Its a project we support, but such an expensive project also highlights the need for additional conservation and a change in habits. Its not an excuse to keep wasting water.

For example, one of the concerns about year-round watering restrictions is that it would kill lawns. But this has it backward. Forget about the restrictions for a moment; it doesnt make a lot of sense to embrace landscaping or lawns here that cant survive a drought. What is the best way to continue shifting that mindset?

SAWS has done a wonderful job of promoting conservation. This is an excellent opportunity for the utility to further those efforts, with or without a watering restriction.
Its been clear since the early days of Donald Trumps campaign that relations with China would become rockier if he were elected. He hasnt taken the oath and this is already true.

He recently took a prearranged call from Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, which sparked an instant reaction from China, which considers the island nation to be a breakaway province. The United States hasnt recognized Taiwan since 1979. This followed President Richard Nixons historic rapprochement with China in 1972, a move that led to full diplomatic relations with China and the break with Taiwan seven years later, though the U.S. maintains a military relationship with the nation.

China suggested the move showed Trumps inexperience.

Whether Trump planned this call well in advance or it was simply part of the freewheeling talks he has been having with various foreign leaders, it is fraught with risk. And, yes, without taking advantage of State Department guidance on many of these talks, they do indicate inexperience.

There was the talk with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte that the leader interpreted as approval for his crackdown on drug users  a crackdown that has led to their deaths at the hands of police and vigilantes. Duterte said Trump believed this campaign was being waged the right way.

There was his call with Kazakhstan strongman Nursultan Nazarbayev, interpreted there as deep praise for an authoritarian regime with a history of human rights violations.

And there was his talk with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, no U.S. diplomats in attendance but with daughter Ivanka Trump there. This represents a troubling melding of business interests with official duties.

The risk with China is that this could be the first move in a series that sparks a trade war with one of the U.S. largest trading partners. Trump has spoken of tariffs and other punitive measures against China. But a trade war will be in no ones interest.

There is much conflict between the nations that needs resolving. The Chinese military buildup in the South China Sea threatens international trade routes and impinges on the sovereignty of Asian allies.

But any restructuring of relations should be done with expertise. Perhaps this will change when Trump takes office, but his conduct of foreign affairs as president-elect is not encouraging.
Re: Texas needs to address ethnic disparities in saving, David Hendricks, Business, Saturday:

Im retired from a large company that had a 401(k) plan, which matched up to 6 percent of annual salary. Some of the younger people just starting out would tell me they couldnt afford to contribute to the 401(k) as they needed the money for food, rent, etc.

I told them because the company contribution vests after one year, they couldnt afford not to contribute as there is no other place to get a 100 percent annual return that will compound over the decades.

The solution? Go to a bank or credit union (or parents) and borrow the amount of money youll be contributing to the 401(k) that year. After the companys money vests, take out your contributions and repay the loan. Youll still have the companys contribution and will have paid off the loan  which can be repeated the next year.

This solution can work for all ethnicities, genders, etc., who have employers with contribution matching and vesting.

Ken Valentine, New Braunfels

Coddling students

Re: Alamo Heights cheating scandal involves 128 kids, Front Page, Dec. 2:

I was pleased to see the serious penalties recently meted out by the Alamo Heights High School administration to the dozens of student plagiarist. Banning these cheaters from participating in extracurricular activities for three whole weeks will certainly teach them a valuable lesson.

In the bad old days, when I was a high school student, plagiarist students would have received Fs in the classes in which they cheated. Thankfully, modern administrators show a more humane approach to blatant cheating and avoid hurting the feelings of these young plagiarists and their parents.

John A. Stoler

Wider benefit

I strongly support the construction of the Hardberger Park land bridge. For those believing its money that can be better spent on other projects in their neighborhoods, I ask that they reconsider.

To be fair, neighborhood projects are important, we should all recognize that, but those who want to develop parks and fix roads in their own neighborhood should also recognize that citywide efforts such as the land bridge are effective ways to attract growth and development that improve San Antonios tax-funded budgets to be used across the city, whether fixing roads or neighborhood parks.

We have a chance to invest $13 million of our public money, along with privately raised $10 million, to help San Antonio be nationally and internationally competitive. This should be important to all who want to live, work and raise children in a city that supports health, education and environment, while attracting business. That should mean jobs and tax revenue, which goes back to our neighborhood streets and parks.

Brad Hawryluk

Appoint Miller

Re: Ag boss Miller sees his future in D.C.; Hes waiting for phone call from Trump, front page, Sunday:

Theres not much to like about Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, except his humble upbringing, ability to get things done for our agricultural community, and his faithfulness to his beliefs and friends.

Sure, Miller made some stupid mistakes using public money for personal boondoggles. He just wasnt savvy enough to fess up to them immediately and apologize to his constituents.

I havent met him, but I believe he would represent the state of Texas and all of U.S. agriculture by working for us and the administration in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Send him to Washington, D.C., Please!

Mike Horridge

Believe it

Here is an item I would like to see in Ripleys Believe It or Not:

In the United States 2016 presidential election, millions more people voted for the person who lost than for the person who won!

Believe it or not!

Manuel P. Munoz

Sour grapes?

Re: End Electoral College; allow the people to pick president, Editorial, Sunday:

Would your Editorial Board be recommending abolition of the Electoral College if your candidate had won the election? I think not.

Roger W. Hansen, Fredericksburg

Democrats message

Re: Texas in the age of Trump; Latino voting bloc will dictate Texas political path, David Crockett, Opinion, Sunday:

This commentary on the political path in Texas going forward is very interesting. But it begs one question still to be answered. Crockett states, The only way Texas will turn purple is if the Latino voting bloc ... stays a reliable Democratic Party constituency.

If, as appears, the white middle-class undereducated voting bloc will soon be replaced by a Latino middle-class undereducated voting bloc, will the Democrats message to the Latinos be stronger and more compelling to them than it is to the white middle class? If so, why?

Tim Shelton

The limits of PC

When an argument or position is so weak that the proponent becomes desperate to employ political correctness and cry wolf with racism, sexism, Islamophobia, xenophobia and many other -phobias, eventually a level of intolerance for dishonesty is reached, with or without a free press that truthfully reports.

There can only be so much PC in a country like America before those on the receiving end have enough and fight back. In large part, the election manifested this. PC is just a version of the ad hominem argument  a logical fallacy, an attempt to divert attention from the weakness of an argument or position. PC is only a stall for time before those interested in truth start thinking again, a self-serving temporary cover-up by those who seek illegitimate power.

PC is destructive, silly and immature  a baby fit of sorts  as evidenced by the recent protests and violence of its adherents.

Randy Mowery
According to CNN, police are investigating a school tutor after a boy in his care suffers from a fractured jaw and missing teeth in Baltimore, Maryland.

Tutor Suspended as Investigation Unfolds

Lateekqua Jackson was stunned when she found her son with a severely swelled-up face and bloody mouth sitting in the ambulance. Her seven-year-old son, Trayvon, had a fractured jaw and two missing teeth from an incident at City Springs Elementary School.

A tutor hired by the Baltimore Curriculum Project claimed the boy was removed from class for misbehaving and hit himself against a wall when he lost his footing. Trayvons mom does not believe that her small 7-year-old could cause these kind of injuries to himself, reports CNN.

According to CNN, Jackson believes the tutor physically abused her son, throwing him against the wall, causing damage to his mouth and jaw.

CNN reports that the Baltimore Curriculum Project has suspended the tutor until the investigation is complete. Baltimore City Public Schools is assisting police in the investigation.

Physical Child Abuse Statistics

The following information is provided by ChildHelp:

More than 3.6 million referrals are made to child protection agencies every year, involving more than 6.6 million children.

A report of child abuse is made every ten seconds. The United States has one of the worst records among industrialized nations, losing between four and seven children every day to child abuse and neglect.

A study showed that 28.3 percent of child abuse cases are physical abuse.

Contact an Experienced Child Injury Attorney

At Thomas J. Henry Injury Attorneys, we have the experience and resources to handle your childs case. If your child has been the victim of a serious injury, contact our offices. We represent clients/victims all over the country. We are available 24/7, nights and weekends.

Editors Note: This content is made possible by Thomas J. Henry Personal Injury Law. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of The San Antonio Express-News' or mySanAntonio.com's editorial staff. Learn more about our advertising products at www.hearstmediasanantonio.com.
According to the Los Angeles Times, at least 36 people have died in a massive warehouse fire in Oakland, California, on Friday evening during a concert and party at the venue.

Death Toll Expected to Rise, say Officials

The tragic blaze started during an electronic dance party concert on Friday evening at the locally famous warehouse at 1305 31st Avenue. Known as the Oakland Ghostship, the two-story warehouse housed studios, workshops and residences  six mobile homes were parked inside the warehouse where people reportedly lived. Not much was spared in the devastating blaze.

The fire seemingly started on the second floor of the building, quickly spreading to the entire interior. There was no evidence of sprinklers in the warehouse, according to CNN, and the building only had two exits. The staircase to the second floor was makeshift, created partly out of wooden pallets. CNN reports people inside the warehouse jumped from windows as the fire consumed the building.

The owner of the warehouse had been cited in November for hazardous trash and debris surrounding the building  his second citation of this kind in two years. In addition, zoning officials received complaints regarding illegal construction on the property. At the time of the fatal fire, the warehouse was under a city code enforcement investigation due to health and safety issues.

The Los Angeles Times reports that some former residents believed the Ghostship was a death trap. Many people in the arts community knew of the issues that the Ghost Ship had, including potentially unsafe conditions, according to CNN.

Investigators Seeks Answers on Cause, Possible Criminality

The warehouses current lessees lived in the second floor of the warehouse and would often hold concerts like the one on Friday night. They were not present on the night of the fire. A friend of the lessees wife alerted city fire department officials and the lessee of the unsafe conditions of the warehouse, but she did not know if any result came of the inspection. Alameda County Officials have sent a team of criminal investigators to see if anyone should be held responsible criminally for the deadly blaze that has thus far claimed 36 lives.

The Oakland Fire Battalion Chief says he absolutely believes the fatality number will increase as they continue to search the warehouse. As of Monday morning, according to the Los Angeles Times, 70 percent of the building had been searched. The search was temporarily suspended due to worries over the structural instability of the warehouse.

Updates will be provided as more information becomes available.

Contact an Experienced Wrongful Death Attorney

Thomas J. Henry Injury Attorneys is a personal injury law firm with offices in Corpus Christi, Texas, San Antonio, Texas and Houston, Texas representing accident victims nationwide. Our priority is to provide our clients with the best legal representation. Our experienced trial attorneys are committed to defending your rights in personal injury matters including defective products, auto accidents and trucking accidents, and medical malpractice. If your loved ones death was the result of another partys negligence or intentional misconduct, contact our offices immediately - we are available 24/7, nights and weekends.

Editors Note: This content is made possible by Thomas J. Henry Personal Injury Law. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of The San Antonio Express-News' or mySanAntonio.com's editorial staff. Learn more about our advertising products at www.hearstmediasanantonio.com.
According to KVUE, a seven-year-old girl was killed in a crash after the school van she was riding in was struck from behind by a pickup truck in Trinity, Texas, on Thursday morning.

Details of Fatal Crash

A Trinity ISD van was in the process of picking up children for school on Farm-to-Market Road 1893 in Trinity County when the collision occurred. A pickup truck driven by 17-year-old Michah Brock slammed into the van as it drove over a hill.

KVUE reports that a seven-year-old girl in the van was taken to East Texas Medical Center in Trinity with major injuries but would later die from her injuries. Five other children in the van and the vans driver were transported to ETMC and treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

Officials say all the children on board at the time of the crash were properly restrained, reports KVUE. The pickup truck carried a total of three students, who also received injuries in the collision. The Trinity County Sherriff says Brock may have been blinded by the sun as he drove over the hill.

Trinity is located 75 miles north of Houston. The investigation is ongoing and the roadway is closed as officials process the scene. According to KVUE, the students on the van ranged in age from 5 to 15 years old.

School-transportation-related Crash Statistics

The following information regarding school-transportation-related crashes is provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Over a ten-year period between 2005 and 2014,

1,191 fatal motor vehicle traffic crashes were classified as school-transportation-related.

oThis accounted for 0.4 percent of all fatal motor vehicle traffic crashes between 2005 and 2014.

Of the 1,332 people killed in school-transportation-related wrecks, 71 percent were occupants of other vehicles.

More school-age pedestrian were killed from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. and from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. than any other hours of the day.

304 school-age children died in school-transportation-related crashes over this time period.

o53 of these fatalities were occupants of the school transportation vehicle.

Contact an Experienced Commercial Vehicle Accident Attorney

Thomas J. Henry Injury Attorneys have handled a multitude of commercial vehicle accidents over the past two decades and continue to handle many of the largest 18-wheeler accident cases throughout the United States. We represent clients/victims all over the country. Whether the company is small or large, our success is not an accident; it is because we understand how commercial vehicle companies operate. If you or someone you love has been injured in a commercial vehicle accident, contact our offices - we are available 24/7, nights and weekends.

Editors Note: This content is made possible by Thomas J. Henry Personal Injury Law. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of The San Antonio Express-News' or mySanAntonio.com's editorial staff. Learn more about our advertising products at www.hearstmediasanantonio.com.
Scandinavian Home has paid advertising banners and product affiliate links, which means I earn a very small amount of money if you click through and buy an item - these are stated with and asterisk and at the bottom of each post.
By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Trade

TTIPs Next Order of Business: a Screenshot: U.S. and European trade officials are taking a screenshot of progress made in transatlantic trade talks before putting the TTIP in a deep freeze, EU Ambassador David OSullivan said Wednesday [Politico]. Its not enough to freeze it. You have to kill it with fire.

Texas lawmakers optimistic about NAFTA future with President Trump in office [KXII]. People recognize there are some opportunities where we can improve cooperation, said Congressman Will Hurd (R-Texas).  I think a lot of us, Democrats and Republicans, are going to make sure that [Trump] understandsthat this relationship between the U.S. and Mexico is important to our basic economy, said [Hurds colleague Henry Cuellar (D-Texas)].

Politics

Gnashing of Teeth and Rending of Garments

Trumps election stole my desire to look for a partner [WaPo]. Ive lost the desire to attempt the courtship phase. The future is uncertain. I am not the optimistic person I was on the morning of Nov. 8, wearing a T-shirt with Nasty Woman written inside a red heart. It makes me want to cry thinking of that. Of seeing my oldest in the shirt I bought her in Washington, D.C., that says Future President. There is no room for dating in this place of grief. Dating means hope. Ive lost that hope in seeing the words President-elect Trump.'

2016 Post Mortem

Senate Dems, powerless to stop Trump nominees, regret nuclear option power play [CNN]. Senate Democrats are eager to make Donald Trump pay a political price for nominating staunch conservatives to fill out his Cabinet, hoping to exact revenge for the GOPs stubborn opposition to President Barack Obamas nominees. But there is little they can do about it  and some top Democrats are now coming to regret it. Thats because Senate Democrats muscled through an unprecedented rules change in 2013 to weaken the power of the minority party to filibuster Cabinet-level appointees and most judicial nominees, now setting the threshold at 51 votes  rather than 60  to overcome tactics aimed at derailing nominations. Nothing shows the strategic  indeed, the moral  bankruptcy more clearly than the fact that they deployed the nuclear option in 2013 to get some appointments passed, and didnt even consider the nuclear option in 2009, when they could have used to pass single payer. Or a decent stimulus package. If they had wanted to. They paid the price for that in 2010. And were still paying the price for their fecklnessness (or active malice) today, with crap programs like ObamaCare (see Health Care below) and Trumps election. This [Republican] strategy of kicking the hell out of Obama all the time, treating him not just as a president from the opposing party but an extreme threat to the American way of life, has been a remarkable political success. It helped Republicans take back the House in 2010, the Senate in 2014, and the White House in 2016. This no-cooperation, no-apologies approach is also on the verge of delivering a conservative majority on the Supreme Court; Republicans violated all kinds of Washington norms when they refused to even pretend to consider any Obama nominee, but they paid no electoral price for itand probably helped persuade some reluctant Republican voters to back Donald Trump in November by keeping the Court in the balance [Politico]. So the partys anti-Obama strategy has ended up working almost exactly as planned, except that none of the Republican elites who devised it, not even Vice President-elect Pence, envisioned that their new leader would rise to power by attacking Republican elites as well as the Democratic president.

Trump Transition

Biden Tells Delawareans to Give Trump a Chance [Roll Call]. So either the claim that Trump is a fascist was Clintonian bullshit, or Trump is a fascist, and Biden (and Obama) are on board. Which is it?

Policy

What President-elect Trump has the opportunity to do now is to launch a third great wave of suburbanization, one that can revive the American Dream for the Millennial generation, produce jobs and wealth that can power the American economy, and take advantage of changing technology to create a new wave of optimism and dynamism in American life [The American Interest]. Creating the infrastructure for the third suburban wavenew highways, ring roads and the rest of it for another suburban expansionwill create enormous numbers of jobs. The opportunity for cheap housing in leafy places will allow millions of young people to get a piece of the American Dream. Funding the construction of this infrastructure and these homes gives Wall Street an opportunity to make a lot of money in ways that dont drive the rest of the country crazy.

Realignment and Legitimacy

There is no better proof that todays populism is deep-rooted and broad-based than Sanders astounding $234 million contributions from individuals, not elites.Please name me another presidential candidate who raised 97% of their funding from small donors. Hillary Clinton raised a gargantuan $1.3 billion,of which $188 million came from Super-PACs. A tiny percentage of her total funds came from small donors; her campaign raised $556 million and the Democratic Partys (elitist) fund-raising committees ponied up another $544 million. Trumps campaign raised about 27% of its funds from small donors, compared to the Romney campaigns 6% [Of Two Minds]. Todays populism has drawn funding from individuals and enterprises who have been left out of globalisms massive increase in elitist wealth. If we look for issues that crossed party lines, i.e. that drew support from both Sanders and Trump supporters, we find four core issues: 1. Anti-globalism

2. disgust with the Establishments self-serving corrupt elites, i.e. anti-elitism

3. Economic nationalism

4. Anti-endless-neocon-wars, drone strikes, foreign entanglements After several rounds of votes and appointments, however, only four of the top 15 leadership spots are occupied by lawmakers who arent in coastal states, and only one of those  Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.)  is from the Midwest [The Hill]. Like and unlike the Bourbons, the Democrat leadership has learned nothing and forgotten a lot. Bernie Sanders Nailed It On Identity Politics and Inequality, and the Media Completely Missed the Point [Katie Halper, Paste]. The problem is, for many of the so called intersectionalists who support Clinton and reject Sanders, intersectionality and identity politics include everything except for class. They are so tone deaf about class that they hear the working class as a white monolith, as if working class people of color or LGBT people or immigrants dont exist. Yes, Sanders has spoken about the unique challenges of reaching the white working class, something that would make sense to any intersectionalist who thinks that white supremacy is a real thing. But his use of the word white in this specific context is just more proof that his use of working class without white, includes people of all backgrounds. Sanders; critique of inequality, and his attack on the one percent, is one that champions the rights of people from all backgrounds. At the same time, Sanders acknowledges the singular struggles and double (or triple, or quadruple) burdens faced by different people, and how the economic inequality is compounded by racism and sexism. I think intersectionality, as a method, is excellent, and necessarily includes class. Intersectionality as practiced by neoliberals, necessarily erases class, and degrades intersectionality to IdPol. Why Theyre Just Dumb Racists is Liberalisms Climate Denialism [Umair Haque, Medium]. The people who deny that extremism has economic origins are essentially liberalisms equivalent of climate change denialists. Conservatives deny the facts on the environment  but liberals do so about the economy. The facts are very clear. Extremism does not rise ex nihilo, from the void. It has a material cause throughout history  whether it is Bolshevik Russia, Weimar Germany, or post-Imperial China. Extremism is always and everywhere a material product of stagnation.

Stats Watch

Jobless Claims, week of December 3, 2016: Fell 10K [Econoday]. Outside of year-end volatility the last few weeks, unemployment claims remain very low and consistent with strong demand for labor. But: The general trend of the 4 week rolling average is a slowing rate of improvement year-over-year which historically suggests a slowing economy [Econintersect].

Quarterly Services Survey, Q3 2016: Information revenue rose 1.8 percent in the third quarter compared to the second quarter with the year-on-year rate at plus 4.9 percent [Econoday]. The Census Bureau quarterly services survey focuses on information and technology-related service industries. These include information; professional, scientific and technical services; administrative & support services; and waste management and remediation services. Why the heck are IT and waste management lumped together? Wait, dont answer that

Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index, week of December 4, 2016: Up two-tenths [Econoday]. Like other measures of consumer confidence, the comfort index has shown a burst of life the last two months that ultimately reflects an improving assessment of the labor market.

Housing:  Just over 2% of properties have 25% or more negative equity. For reference, about four years ago, in Q3 2012, 9.6% of residential properties had 25% or more negative equity [Calculated Risk]. A year ago, in Q3 2015, there were 4.2 million properties with negative equity  now there are 3.2 million. A significant change.

Housing: When people think of gentrification, they normally think of tiny sections within a city. But what we are seeing today is global gentrification. For example, in Orange County, the most expensive county in Southern California many people have been pushed into the Inland Empire. Yet the actual employment boom is happening in LA and OC making millions of people commute ungodly hours on the jam packed soul crushing freeways. The Orange Curtain highlights a subtle massive gentrification of an entire county. You have Orange County with a median home price of $710,000 and just a few miles inward you have Riverside County with a median home price of $330,000. The fastest growing counties in SoCal are with Riverside and San Bernardino. In the end, how much is a commute worth though? [Dr. Housing Bubbble].

Employment Situation: [M]y general view is the economy is solid, has room to run, however it is past the peak of the employment gains for this business cycle. It appears the peak job gains in this cycle was in 2014 [Calculated Risk].  With current demographics, it only takes 60 to 80 thousand jobs added per month to keep the unemployment rate steady (this is far less than in the 80s or 90s). Since we are nearing full employment, my initial guess is the economy will add fewer jobs in 2017 than in 2014 or 2015.

Commodities: A November to remember: China trade figures trash forecasts [Asia Times]. Iron ore imports increased 12% to 91.98 million metric tonnes compared to the same period last year. Coal imports increased a massive 117% from a year ago, reaching 26.97 million metric tonnes for November. The total volume of coal imports for the first 11 months is now up 9.2% compared to last year. A supply shortage during November spurred the surge in seaborne imports. I assume because iron and coal are stuff that these figures are a lot harder to game?

Commodities: The copper price hit an 18-month high on an intraday basis last week as global manufacturing activity continues to pick up and hopes about US president-elect Trumps $500 billion infrastructure plans lift sentiment [Mining.com]. While its pulled back from those levels since, official customs data from China, responsible for some 45% of the seaborne trade in the red metal, released on Thursday is seeing the metal turn positive again.

Shipping: Favourable one-off incidents [Hanjin] and improving performances across European economies caused airfreight to outperform global GDP in 2016, with that growth forecast to continue into 2017 [The Loadstar].

Shipping: The pending sale of the biggest container terminal at Californias Port of Long Beach may trigger more waves of change across container shipping competition [Wall Street Journal]. Hanjin had to sell off its stake, and now Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. and Mediterranean Shipping Co might buy it.

Shipping: A coalition of retailers, manufacturers, truckers and other business groups are appealing to the Federal Maritime Commission to stop port operators from charging unfair fees for cargo pick-up delays caused by uncontrollable incidents like storms and worker strikes [Politico]. Recent events involving port congestion, labor strife, an ocean carrier bankruptcy, inclement weather and other disruption events have had crippling effects on U.S. ports and the stakeholders who rely on the efficient movement of goods, the 25-member Coalition for Fair Port Practices said in their petition.

Manufacturing: A bigger piece of the Apple Inc. supply chain may be moving to the U.S. Foxconn Technology Group, a major producer of the iPhone and other Apple products, says it is in talks to expand in the U.S. [Wall Street Journal]. It isnt clear that any Foxconn expansion in the U.S. would be to make Apple products, and shifting the assembly would trigger big changes across the extensive distribution network that pulls high-value components into Foxconn sites. Will they bring their suicide nets?

The Bezzle: Deutsche Banks smoking gun evidence to expand U.S. silver rigging case [Reuters].

Fodder for the Bulls: Investors have so far managed to find the right balance between taking Trump seriously and literally, to a certain extent. Since Election Day, small-cap stocks have rallied more than 12 percent, suggesting the market sees Trumps America First policies benefiting them the most. Because they have less exposure to foreign markets than blue-chip companies, small caps are in an attractive position to take advantage of lower corporate taxes, streamlined regulations and a stronger U.S. dollar [ETF Daily News].

Honey for the Bears: More concerning, though, is the current weakness in U.S. capital goods exports. Capital goods are the complex big ticket items where advanced, technically sophisticated economies are supposed to excel. Aircraft, turbines, semiconductors, oil drilling equipment, telecommunications switching equipment, and the like. The U.S. now runs a deficit in capital goods$60 billion in the first ten months of the year, which projects out to $70 billion for the full year. U.S. imports of capital goods also now exceed U.S. imports of consumer goods. That is sometimes lost in the coverage of trade issues; the U.S. deficit right now isnt all iPhones and other consumer goods [Brad Setzer, Council on Foreign Relations]. Nominal capital goods exports are down around $20 billion year to date (aircraft engines and semi-conductors are up, but almost every other category is downwith the biggest falls in categories linked to oil drilling and mining). Nominal imports are also down, but by less. Real capital goods exports are down 3.5 percent year over year (and 2.5 percent in the last three months of data; October actually had a somewhat smaller fall). They have been held back by the global fall in capital investment in drilling and mining, and by the impact of the strong dollar. Real capital goods imports are down 1 percent year over year (and are up modestly in the last three months of data). The weakness in capital goods imports earlier in the year likely reflects the broader fall off in investment in mining and drilling that followed the commodity price correction in 2014. A growing economy wouldunder normal circumstanceslead this to rise.

Todays Fear & Greed Index: 84 Extreme Greed (previous close: 83, Extreme Greed) [CNN]. One week ago: 71 (Fear). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Dec 8 at 11:28am. Big jump!

Health Care

Life in Obamacares Dead Zone [New York Times]. Excluded from the Affordable Care Act because of politics, thousands of poor Americans grapple with the toll  physical and psychological  of being uninsured.

Of course, just theyre insured, doesnt mean they get health care if, for example, they cant pay the deductibles. See this tweetstorm:

OK. a lot of Dems seem confused why more poor ppl don't vote D. i'll try to explain setting: 2014, doc clinic in the middle of nowhere, TX  Mark (@haircut_hippie) December 8, 2016

And:

talk to guy. fam history of esophageal cancer. guy has severe acid reflux. recommend endoscopy. he refuses. why? see his deductible: $5000!  Mark (@haircut_hippie) December 8, 2016

And:

for you non-Americans: the first $5000 of his medical care in the calendar year, he pays for out of pocket. answer is obvious: can't afford  Mark (@haircut_hippie) December 8, 2016

This study [by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality] examined the association between high-deductible health plans and high out-of-pocket burdens among those with employer-sponsored insurance by income level. Two key results stand out. First, the frequency of high family out-of-pocket burdens increased sharply with plan deductible levels among low-income enrollees (those with family incomes below 250 percent of poverty), reflecting both higher health care spending and higher premium contributions. In contrast, there were much smaller differences in high burden frequencies by deductible level in the higher-income groups. Second, regardless of deductible level, those in the low-income group were far more likely to have high burdens compared to those in the higher-income groups [PNHP].

The Obama Years: Tepid Palliation for Americas Health Scourges [Steffie Woolhandler and David Himmelstein, American Journal of Public Heatlh]. Access to care has improved, but remains abysmal, in part because many who gained coverage cannot afford to use it. In 2014, 66 million working-age adults skipped doctor visits, tests, or prescriptions because of costsdown from 80 million in 2012while collection agencies dunned 37 million for medical debts, a reduction of 4 million.3 Post-ACA, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reported that medical debts still account for 52% of all bills sent to collection agencies.

Insurers Flawed Directories Leave Patients Scrambling for In-Network Doctors [New York Times]. ObamaCares problem with innaccurate directories has been festering since the program was launched. Its still not fixed.

Gaia

Both the Arctic and Antarctic experienced record lows in sea ice extent in November, with scientists astonished to see Arctic ice actually retreating at a time when the region enters the cold darkness of winter [Guardian]. On the bright side, the cruise ships wont need ice-breakers.

With regard to the Dakota Access Pipeline, thats something that we support construction of and well review the full situation when were in the White House to make appropriate determination at that time, said Trump spokesman Jason Miller [New York Daily News].

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault preserves the worlds agricultural heritage [PRI]. Inside the vault, rows of shelves hold boxes; each box contains about 400 to 500 seed samples, all in individual packets. Each packet has 500 seeds. Currently, the vault stores about 500 million seeds. Most of these seeds will stay viable for several thousand years. You have to walk down the aisles with some humility, because what youre seeing is the results of agricultural evolution over the last 15,000 years, [founder Cary Fowler] says. Its essentially a biological history of agriculture. Everything that agriculture can be in the future is represented in that diversity.' If you believe agriculture wasnt a terrible mistake. What about wild seeds?

Black Injustice Tipping Point

The Walter Scott Case Was a Test [Slate]. You can think of the Slager trial as a proposition. Given an obvious injusticethe methodical shooting of a fleeing suspectwould a jury convict a police officer of criminal violence? Would it reject the idea that wearing a badge grants almost total impunity for any action? These questions were answered with terrible clarity: No.

Perhaps better than most on the American left today, the old advocates of the antebellum system of slavery understood the ideological connections between abolitionism and socialism. They were what one could call intersectionalists of the Right, since they sought to demonstrate how abolitionism, socialism, womens emancipation, and other progressive struggles were all linked to attacks on the rights of property [Jacobin].

The Worst States for Black Americans [247 Wall Street].

Imperial Collapse Watch

The CIAs Torture Architect Says Harsh Interrogations Needed More Than Ever [Buzzfeed]. Im not advocating that we torture people. Im advocating that we have a civil debate, Mitchell said. Classic.

Girl Posting to Twitter From Aleppo Gains Sympathy, but Doubts Follow [New York Times]. Dubious digital evidence from Syria? Incroyable!

Class Warfare

From the Department of America is Already Great: U.S. life expectancy declines for the first time since 1993 [WaPo]. A year ago, research by Case and Angus Deaton, also an economist at Princeton, brought worldwide attention to the unexpected jump in mortality rates among white middle-aged Americans. That trend was blamed on what are sometimes called diseases of despair: overdoses, alcoholism and suicide. The new report raises the possibility that major illnesses may be eroding prospects for an even wider group of Americans. Yeah. A wider group  like everybody but the 10% and up.

It is increasingly common for governments to give poor people money. Rather than grant services or particular goods to those in poverty, such as food or housing, governments have found that it is more effective and efficient to simply hand out cash. In some cases, these cash transfers are conditional on doing something the government deems good, like sending your children to school or getting vaccinated. In other cases, theyre entirely unconditional [Quartz]. And surprise! They dont spend the money on liquor and cigarettes!

Some on the Left have taken the view that full employment is a regressive goal because automation is steadily reducing capitalisms need for workers. Better to redistribute to the surplus population through a universal basic income. But the idea that machines are about to supplant workers is a trope as old as capitalism itself. It always looks plausible because so many particular tasks are always in the process of being automated, and new wonders are always just around the corner. And yet new jobs have always come along. Maybe this time of driverless cars and machine learning really will be different, but it would be foolish to place our political bets on it, especially before it starts showing up in the productivity growth stats [Jacobin].

Impressive Lyft parents (backup from the Lyft blog):

Just in case you needed further evidence that neoliberalism is a dehumanizing dystopian nightmare pic.twitter.com/U3ZBNdOxje  Luke Savage (@LukewSavage) December 7, 2016

And the same story in chart form (Piketty, Saez, Zucman):

Even after transfers, very little growth for US bottom 50% since 1980. In fact, 0 growth for working-age bottom 50% https://t.co/EWl4y401Ab pic.twitter.com/rp2JNWmvoZ  Gabriel Zucman (@gabriel_zucman) December 7, 2016

News of the Wired

Does the centralization of the Web change both the diffusion of knowledge and the philosophical definition of knowledge itself? By exploring the origins of the Semantic Web in the philosophy of Carnap and of Googles machine learning approach in Heidegger, we demonstrate that competing philosophical schools are deeply embedded in artificial intelligence and its evolution in the Web. Finally, we conclude that a decentralized approach to knowledge is necessary in order to bring the Web to its full potential as a project for the spread of human autonomy [First Monday]. Just a little dense But not bullshit, and right on point when we think about the effects of a centralized (that is, monopolistic) approach to knowledge as exemplified by Facebook, and other Silicon Valley wannabe censors.

* * *

Readers, feel free to contact me with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, and (c) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi are deemed to be honorary plants! See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. And heres todays plant:

Readers, Water Cooler is a standalone entity, not supported by the very successful Naked Capitalism fundraiser just past. Now, I understand you may feel tapped out, but when and if you are able, please use the dropdown to choose your contribution, and then click the hat! Your tip will be welcome today, and indeed any day. Water Cooler will not exist without your continued help.
Dont let free Wi-Fi wreck the holidays CNET

Backdoor accounts found in 80 Sony IP security camera models PCWorld (Chuck L).

Who Won the Make the Most Meaningless Thomas Friedman Graph Contest? From last week but v. popular with regular readers (and new to links): More Taibbi on Friedman and #Friedmangraphs. Lots of talent out there.

Revolutionary Heroes Aeon. Read this. Who wins and loses from trade, globalization, taxes, and subsidies are far from new issues in American politics, and were in fact at the heart of the 1776 revolt.

Big Brother Is Watching You Watch

Cat Hulbert: How I got rich beating men at their own game BBC

Opinion: A female portfolio manager at Pimco explains the real reason more women dont manage money MarketWatch. Plus ca change.One of my first grown-up summer jobs was working for the National Science Foundation, early during Reagans first term, on a project to understand why women were underrepresented in science and technical professions. I dont agree with every word herein, but it seems the situations changed less than I would have liked or predicted.

New McCarthyism

Algorithms Can Help Stomp Out Fake News The Atlantic (furzy)

Deutsche Bank Records Alleged to Show Silver-Price Rigging Bloomberg

An Uncertain Alternative Jacobin. What happens next in Iceland now that neoliberal consensus is busted.

Brexit

Why Corbyn Won Jacobin

In the UK, Pfizer and a partner hiked anti-epilepsy drug price 2600% overnight Ars Technica

Baby boomers should work for longer to stay healthy The Guardian

China?

Pope Francis compares fake news consumption to eating faeces The Guardian. Note: This is a legitimate Guardian headline and not a spoof news site.

Refugee Watch

Famine Continues to Stalk Yemen American Conservative

Silicon Valley Stumbles in World Beyond Software Wall Street Journal

Apple blames iPhone battery fires on external factors CNET

How Donald Trump saved a brutal new sport from extinction Spectator

Trump Transition

Supply-side guru Arthur Laffer hails Trumps tax policy FT. Oh no: whats that what Lambert says? Kill it with fire!

2016 Post Mortem

Law Firm Offering Free Legal Advice To Electors Who Dont Want To Vote For Trump HuffPo (furzy). Well, those contesting the election can certainly use all the help they can get: the legal strategy so far has been particularly inept. 2016 PERSON OF THE YEAR DONALD TRUMP I remind readers that Times Person of the Year is neither an affirmation of popularity nor does it reflect a moral endorsement (Adolph Hitler was once selected).

Alan Greenspan: prophet and loss Prospect

The Time Has (Finally) Come for a Single Regulator American Banker

Indian Currency Train Wreck

What Does Modern Money Theory Tell us About Demonetisation? The Wire

After Choi-Gate Jacobin

Antidote du jour:

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.
Jerri-Lynn here: President-elect Trump has already mastered the art of headfaking in one direction by meeting with Al Gore earlier this week, at the instigation of Trumps children and proceeding full speed ahead with his intended agenda. Trumps nomination of Oklahoma state Attorney General to serve as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a textbook example of such tactical savvy.

I should draw the attention of readers to Pruitts seminal role in spearheading lawsuits filed in conjunction with other state attorneys general to block various Obama administration climate change initiatives, including its Clean Power Plan and rule-making undertaken under authority of the Clean Water Act. Both measures have been suspended, pending the outcome of ongoing litigation in federal court. Pruitt is well-versed in legal and regulatory measures that could be speedily undertaken (or not undertaken) to unwind or otherwise vitiate existing climate change policy and commitments.

The WSJ reported:

Were very accustomed to the naysayers and the critics, senior Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said when asked by reporters about criticism of Mr. Pruitts selection. Attorney General Pruitt has great qualifications and a good record as AG of Oklahoma and there were a number of qualified candidates for that particular position that the president-elect interviewed. We look forward to the confirmation hearings.

Note that I provide only my edited version of author Graham Readfearns complete biography below. My apologies if I have inadvertently omitted some key qualification, writing, or achievement; interested readers can find a more complete version on DeSmogBlog here.

By Graham Readfearn, who is an independent journalist based in Queensland, Australia, with 20 years experience as a reporter and writer on newspapers, magazines, radio and online. In his native UK, Graham has written for The Gazette in Blackpool and The Yorkshire Post in Leeds, and has written and produced for the BBCs national 24-hour news and sport radio network FiveLive. After moving to Australia in 2005, he was a feature writer for Queenslands main daily newspaper, The Courier-Mail, where he launched his first environment blog, GreenBlog, writing more than 650 posts and moderating in excess of 14,000 comments. Since then, his features, stories and commentary on climate change and sustainability issues have been published on The Guardian, G Magazine, ABC Environment, The Drum and Crikey. Graham writes the Planet Oz blog on The Guardian and occasionally blogs at www.readfearn.com Follow him on Twitter @readfearn. Originally published at DeSmogBlog.

Only a few days ago, some journalists and newspapers were editorializing a visit to Trump Tower by climate campaigner and former vice president Al Gore as a sign of hope.

Perhaps President-elect Donald Trump could be turned from his position as a climate science denier who had declared the issue a Chinese hoax? Was he softening?

Announcements in recent hours and days about just who will be working with the EPA, and who will lead it under Trump, will likely put that sentiment to rest.

Trump has reportedly confirmed that Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt  a lawman who does not accept the mountains of evidence linking human activity to global warming  as the next lead administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

A former state Republican senator, Pruitt has led legal efforts to challenge President Obamas Clean Power Plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

In fact, Pruitt was among those Republican state prosecutors found to be holding secret, paid meetings with the fossil fuel industry just weeks before launching the lawsuit with these companies which is now tying up the Clean Power Plan in court.

At that same event, hosted by the Republican Attorney Generals Association (RAGA), Pruitt sat on a panel called The Dangerous Consequences of the Clean Power Plan & Other EPA Rules with representatives from Murray Energy and the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), who donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to RAGA for that benefit.

Pruitt, a close ally of the fossil fuel industry in his state, has also been a key voice in the pushback against Democratic attorneys general who have tried to sue ExxonMobil for its backing of climate science denial organizations.

In May, Pruitt joined Luther Sterange in an article, where he wrote: Scientists continue to disagree about the degree and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of mankind.

Climate campaigner Bill McKibben has described Pruitt as a stenographer for the fossil fuels industries that have funded his campaigns over the years.

In 2014, a New York Times investigation found Pruitt was using his state AG letterhead to write letters to the EPA and President Obamas office that were actually drafted by lobbyists for oil and gas company Devon Energy.

Trump has also been stacking his so-called EPA landing team with climate science deniers, fossil fuel advocates, and operatives, from think tanks that have made it a mission to block laws to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The landing team is tasked with working with the current EPA staff to gather information so the incoming Trump administration can draw up action plans.

Conservation groups have heavily criticised Pruitts appointment.

Sam Adams, a director at the World Resources Institute US, said, The selection of Attorney General Pruitt, who has consistently questioned climate science and actively fought EPAs ability to reduce emissions, raises deeply troubling questions.

The critical issue is whether EPA will continue to play its vital role in protecting peoples health and safety in communities across the country, he said in a statement.

Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said, The mission of the EPA and its administrator requires an absolute commitment to safeguard public health and protect our air, land, water, and planet. Thats the litmus test. By naming Pruitt, President-elect Trump has flunked. The American people did not vote to return to the country to the dirty old days or to turn a blind eye on dangerous climate change.

Some had even stronger words for Pruitts appointment.

Pruitt is a wholly owned subsidiary of the oil industry, Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversitys Climate Law Institute, said in a statement. Any Senator who doesnt fight this nomination is handing corporate polluters a wrecking ball to destroy our future.

Putting a climate science denier and fossil fuel advocate as the lead of the EPA with an advance team of like-minded operatives is not a sign of hope. It is the opposite.
Our attorney, Jim Moody, sent a letter over the weekend to key figures at the Washington Post, demanding a retraction of its story, Russian propaganda effort helped spread fake news during election by Craig Timberg, that defamed Naked Capitalism and other well-regarded websites.

Immediately after Timbergs dubious story ran, journalists immediately sounded alarms about the Post endorsing and promoting a McCarthyite blacklist, and even worse one that clearly had no sound evidentiary or methodological foundation. Timbergs piece was widely derided by other publications and prominent writers, including the New Yorker, the media watchdog FAIR, Ben Norton and Glenn Greenwald at The Intercept and Matt Taibbi at Rolling Stone. A representative assessment came from Patrick Maines, president of The Media Institute, at The Hill: .perhaps the shoddiest piece of feature writing since Rolling Stone published its blatantly false story about a campus rape at the University of Virginia.

In addition to calling for a retraction, our lawyer also demanded a prominent public apology and an equally prominent opportunity to reply. He asked for a reply in three business days.

The Post did respond in three business days, posting a statement at the beginning of the Timberg article.

However, the Posts action was inadequate and served to confirm a lack of commitment to integrity and fact-based reporting. This text now appears at the beginning of the fake news story:

Editors Note: The Washington Post on Nov. 24 published a story on the work of four sets of researchers who have examined what they say are Russian propaganda efforts to undermine American democracy and interests. One of them was PropOrNot, a group that insists on public anonymity, which issued a report identifying more than 200 websites that, in its view, wittingly or unwittingly published or echoed Russian propaganda. A number of those sites have objected to being included on PropOrNots list, and some of the sites, as well as others not on the list, have publicly challenged the groups methodology and conclusions. The Post, which did not name any of the sites, does not itself vouch for the validity of PropOrNots findings regarding any individual media outlet, nor did the article purport to do so. Since publication of The Posts story, PropOrNot has removed some sites from its list.

This part of the statement is remarkable: does not itself vouch for the validity of PropOrNots findings regarding any individual media outlet. This is tantamount to an admission that not only did the Washington Post do no fact-checking, but that it also does not consider fact-checking to be part of its job. And it has the temerity to accuse others of engaging in fake news?

This minimalist walk-back does not remedy the considerable damage done to Naked Capitalism and other sites. The Post is being disingenuous in trying to take the position that its featuring of a newbie group with no track record whatsoever was not tantamount to an endorsement. It is also disingenuous to take the position that referring in the story to PropOrNots 200 websites as routine peddlers of Russian propaganda during the election season which had already published at PropOrNots did not legitimate it and drive traffic to a previously unknown site. The fact that journalists almost immediately found the blacklisted sites and took the Post to task on Twitter and shortly thereafter in news stories shows that the Post did damage to Naked Capitalism and other publishers vastly beyond the original publication of the list by amplifying it, which led other major news sites like USA Today and Daily Beast to pile on.

As one of the publishers of another site on PropOrNots hit list said via e-mail

No mainstream news consumer will see this editorial comment, after having been blasted by WaPo and the other media which loudly trumpeted the faux study.

Here were some other reactions:

what a bunch of cowards. "This blacklist that served as the entire news basis of our piece is bullshit but we wont retract the story" https://t.co/V5ZSwSMgTg  Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) December 7, 2016

The @washingtonpost article on Fake News  mindlessly spread and endorsed by countless journalists  itself contained Fake News https://t.co/eloy3cw7ox  Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 7, 2016

@Truthdig @washingtonpost that note is not nearly enough. Their main source was invalid, therefore a retraction is in order.  Joshua Frank (@joshua__frank) December 8, 2016

From John Helmers latest post:

Responding to consumer protests that WaPos reading material on Russia is defective and false, and that its reporter on Russian propaganda, Craig Timberg, is a fabricator, the newspaper announced last night that it does not itself vouch for the validity of what it publishes about Russia, the recent US presidential election, or American democracy. For validity, the Washington Posts editors mean truth. For does not vouch for, they mean what Nash Holdings and Bezos are calculating as a put-call option on lying.

We also received many e-mails privately, none of which saw the Posts response as adequate. A representative note from a financial analyst and writer:

Not enough! They need to apologise. They should also fire Timberg.

From a journalist:

Mealy mouthed calculation. Now lets see whether management and their lawyers think this mitigation will stifle NCs legal demands. In the old days of defamation law, the entire story would be suspended or removed, and a notice put in place where the story was. This indicates WaPo thinks they can circulate lies so long as they signpost them. No duty or no responsibility for reporting the truth, and no liability for lying, faking, etc. If homicide were like lying, then the WaPo approach is that so long as murderers issue disclaimers, victims deserve what they get.

Readers were similarly unimpressed. For instance:

The Post has made clear that it does not consider fairness and accuracy to be important. How can journalists there, who, unlike Timberg, care about the integrity of their work, feel comfortable working for a management that is promoting a rush to the bottom in the interest of getting stories out faster and getting more eyeballs? And why should the public at large trust the Post? After the firestorm of criticism, the editors and publishers of the Post should recognize that they have a serious quality control problem. If Timberg and the editors responsible are not fired or demoted, this sends a clear message to all other writers that anything goes.

We want to thank readers for their support. Dealing with a libel of this magnitude has been emotionally draining not just for me but Lambert and other writers, enormously time consuming, and is already having an impact on my health. Other sites damaged by the Post have expressed interest in pursuing legal action. I doubt this handwave-masquerading-as-a-concession will dim their resolve.

But as much as Naked Capitalism has been caught in the crosshairs of an unwarranted attack, it is critical to recognize what is really at stake. Since the first net neutrality fights of the early 2000s, major media enterprises and pipeline providers schemed to restrict the freedom of the Internet and re-assert the position of traditional brands and the few newer players who have managed to attain the scale and brand recognition to make them Too Big To Squash. Because smaller web publishers have had enough natural allies in these fights, these legislative threats to an open Internet have been successfully beaten back.

But the multi-fronted censorship efforts, particularly using Facebook bans and software tools to silence or discourage readership of sites that successfully challenge mainstream narratives, is a new, private sector-led initiative which is far more challenging to contest by virtue of lacking a clear focus for joint action. We hope that other publishers as well as users of information recognize how serious this threat is and take forceful countermeasures. This is not the time to be complacent.

We hope you will help us rise to this challenge. And we will be taking more action, so stay tuned.
Ground-breaking project to replicate brain's neural networks though 3D nanoprinting (Nanowerk News) Aston University heading up major 3.3m stem cell research project to develop 3D nanoprinting techniques that could replicate brain's neural networks.

Aston University has launched MESO-BRAIN, a major stem cell research project which it hopes will develop three-dimensional (3D) nanoprinting techniques that can be used to replicate the brains neural networks.

The cornerstone of the MESO-BRAIN project will be its use of pluripotent stem cells generated from adult human cells that have been turned into brain cells, which will form neural networks with specific biological architectures. Advance imaging and detection technologies developed in the project will be used to report on the activity of these networks in real time.

Such technology would mark a new era of medical and neuroscience research which would see screening and testing conducted using physiologically relevant 3D living human neural networks. In the future, this could potentially be used to generate networks capable of replacing damaged areas in the brains of those suffering from Parkinsons disease, dementia or other brain trauma.

The MESO-BRAIN initiative, which will span three years, received 3.3million of funding from the European Commission as part of its prestigious Future and Emerging Technology (FET) scheme. Aston University is leading the project, with partners from industry and higher education across Europe: Axol Bioscience Ltd, Laser Zentrum Hannover, The Institute of Photonic Sciences, University of Barcelona and Kite Innovations. This unique partnership brings together stem cell biologists, neuroscientists, photonics experts and physicists.

Head of the MESO-BRAIN project, Professor Edik Rafailov, said: What were hoping to achieve with this project has, until recently, been the stuff of science-fiction. If we can use 3D nanoprinting to improve the connection of neurons in an area of the brain which has been damaged, we will be in a position to develop much more effective ways to treat those with dementia or brain injuries.

To date, attempts to replicate and reproduce cells in this way have only ever delivered 2D tissues or poorly defined 3D tissues that do not resemble structures found within the human body. The new form of printing we are aiming to develop promises to change this. The MESO-BRAIN project could improve hundreds of thousands of lives.
High performance graphene photodetectors set speed record (Nanowerk News) Graphene is an ideal material for optical communications systems. A new, waveguide-integrated photodetector sets a record high bandwidth for ultrafast, high data rate graphene devices.

Graphene-based technologies are proving integral to the new generation of communications  enabling high performance optical communication systems through ultra-fast and compact optoelectronic devices. Researchers from the Graphene Flagship working at TU Vienna, Austria and AMO, Germany, have demonstrated ultrafast photodetectors that have the highest reported bandwidth for graphene-based devices, enabling data rates of up to 100 Gbit/s.

The research, recently published in Nano Letters ("Controlled Generation of a pn Junction in a Waveguide Integrated Graphene Photodetector"), points the way towards graphene applications in high-speed communications systems.

Simone Schuler, a researcher at TU Vienna, explained the importance of increasing data capabilities. These kinds of photodetectors are typically used in optical data links, which form the back-bone of the internet. The maximum operation speed of a photodetector defines the maximum data rate the detector can receive. So, the faster the photodetector the more data it can receive.

Graphenes properties make it ideal for next-generation optoelectronics and optical communications systems. Its excellent electrical properties and broadband optical absorption are highly suited for high-performance optoelectronic devices, and it can be readily integrated with silicon photonic systems. The photodetector demonstrated here is highly sensitive, due to its very compact structure. This enables the use of such detectors alongside other opto-electronic devices including switches in functionally dense, integrated chips. This could open the path towards a complete integration on one CMOS chip. Graphene will be the enabling material for realising high performance photodetectors on a silicon platform, added Schuler.

In the new photodetectors, light is guided into a slot waveguide that is covered with graphene. Under specific electrical conditions in the graphene, in which the graphene acts as semiconductor junction, the light in the waveguide generates a current in the graphene via the photothermoelectric effect, converting light into an electrical signal. The sensitivity of the detector can be tuned electrically without compromising the speed, enabling the high bandwidth and ultrafast data rate.

Speaking about this new photodetector design, another of the papers authors, Daniel Neumaier of AMO, Germany said This is an important step towards high performance on-chip photo-detectors, demonstrating that competitive speed and sensitivity can be achieved in graphene photodetectors in a highly controlled way.

On-chip integration of different graphene-enable technologies is an important focus of the Graphene Flagship. Neumaier leads the Graphene Flagship Electronics and Photonics Integration Division and Work Package Electronic Devices, and is a member of the Flagship Management Panel and Executive Board.

This research is a prime example of the way graphene can provide improvements over existing optoelectronic technologies, both in terms of performance and compactness. Frank Koppens, of the Institute of Photonic Sciences, Spain, is leader of the Flagships Optoelectronics and Photonics Work Package. This work has shown record-high performance and operation with zero dark current. Its a major step forward for the Flagship program that aims at developing the components (detectors, modulators) for a fully CMOS-integrated optical data-communication platform, he said.
A nano-roundabout for light (Nanowerk News) Just like in normal road traffic, crossings are indispensable in optical signal processing. In order to avoid collisions, a clear traffic rule is required. A new method has now been developed at TU Wien to provide such a rule for light signals (Science, "Quantum optical circulator controlled by a single chirally coupled atom").

For this purpose, the two glass fibers were coupled at their intersection point to an optical resonator, in which the light circulates and behaves as in a roundabout. The direction of circulation is defined by a single atom coupled to the resonator. The atom also ensures that the light always leaves the roundabout at the next exit. This rule is still valid even if the light consists merely of individual photons. Such a roundabout will consequently be installed in integrated optical chips - an important step for optical signal processing.

Functional principle of a nano-roundabout is shown. (Image: TU Vienna)

Signal processing using light instead of electronics

The term "optical circulators" refers to elements at the intersection point of two mutually perpendicular optical fibers which direct light signals from one fiber to the other, so that the direction of the light always changes, for example, by 90  clockwise.

"These components have long been used for freely propagating light beams," says Arno Rauschenbeutel from the Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology at the Institute of Atomic and Subatomic Physics of TU Wien. "Such optical circulators are mostly based on the so-called Faraday effect: a strong magnetic field is applied to a transparent material, which is located between two polarization beam splitters which are rotated with respect to each other. The direction of the magnetic field breaks the symmetry and determines in which direction the light is redirected."

However, for technical reasons, components that make use of the Faraday effect cannot be realized on the small scales of nanotechnology. This is unfortunate as such components are important for future technological applications.

"Today, we are trying to build optical integrated circuits with similar functions as they are known from electronics," says Rauschenbeutel.

Other methods to break the symmetry of the light function only at very high light intensities or suffer from high optical losses. However, in nanotechnology one would like to be able to process very small light signals, ideally light pulses that consist solely of individual photons.

Two glass fibers and a bottle for light

The team of Arno Rauschenbeutel chooses a completely different way: they couple a single rubidium atom to the light field of a so-called "bottle resonator" - a microscopic bulbous glass object on the surface of which the light circulates. If such a resonator is placed in the vicinity of two ultrathin glass fibers, the two systems couple to one another. Without an atom, the light changes from one glass fiber to the other via the bottle resonator. In this way, however, no sense of circulation is defined for the circulator: light, which is deflected by 90 in the clockwise direction, can also travel backwards via the same route, i.e. counter-clockwise.

In order to break this forward/backward symmetry, Arno Rauschenbeutel's team additionally couples an atom to the resonator, which prevents the coupling of the light into the resonator, and thus the overcoupling into the other glass fiber for one of the two directions of circulation. For this trick, a special property of the light is used at TU Wien: the direction of oscillation of the light wave, also known as its polarization.

The interaction between the light wave and the bottle resonator results in an unusual oscillation state. "The polarization rotates like the rotor of a helicopter," Arno Rauschenbeutel explains. The direction of rotation depends on whether the light in the resonator travels clockwise or counter-clockwise: in one case the polarization rotates counter-clockwise, while in the other case it rotates clockwise. The direction of circulation and the polarization of the light are therefore locked together.

If the rubidium atom is correctly prepared and coupled to the resonator, one can make its interaction with the light differ for the two directions of circulation. "The clockwise circulating light is not affected by the atom. The light in the opposite direction, on the other hand, strongly couples to the atom and therefore cannot enter the resonator," says Arno Rauschenbeutel. This asymmetry of the light-atom coupling with respect to the propagation direction of the light in the resonator allows control over the circulator operation: the desired sense of circulation can be adjusted via the internal state of the atom.

The atomic state as a quantum switch
'Hyper-starburst' galaxy churns out stars, clues to universe's evolution

(Nanowerk News) A recently discovered galaxy is undergoing an extraordinary boom of stellar construction, revealed by a group of astronomers led by University of Florida graduate student Jingzhe Ma using NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory ("SPT0346-52: Negligible AGN Activity in a Compact, Hyper-starburst Galaxy at z = 5.7").

The galaxy known as SPT 0346-52 is 12.7 billion light years from Earth, seen at a critical stage in the evolution of galaxies about a billion years after the Big Bang.

Astronomers first discovered SPT 0346-52 with the National Science Foundation's South Pole Telescope, then observed it with space and ground-based telescopes. Data from the NSF/ESO Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile revealed extremely bright infrared emission, suggesting that the galaxy is undergoing a tremendous burst of star birth.

However, an alternative explanation remained: Was much of the infrared emission instead caused by a rapidly growing supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center? Gas falling towards the black hole would become much hotter and brighter, causing surrounding dust and gas to glow in infrared light. To explore this possibility, researchers used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and CSIRO's Australia Telescope Compact Array, a radio telescope.

The distorted galaxy in the simulation results from a collision between two galaxies, followed by them merging. Astronomers think such a merger could be the reason why SPT0346-52 is having such a boom of stellar construction. Once the two galaxies collide, gas near the center of the merged galaxy (shown as the bright region in the center of the simulation) is compressed, producing a burst of new stars. The composite inset shows X-ray data from Chandra (blue), short wavelength infrared data from Hubble (green), infrared light from Spitzer (red) at longer wavelengths, and infrared data from ALMA (magenta) at even longer wavelengths. (The light from SPT0346-52 is distorted and magnified by the gravity of an intervening galaxy, producing three elongated images in the ALMA data located near the center of the image. SPT0346-52 is not visible in the Hubble or Spitzer data, but the intervening galaxy causing the gravitational lensing is detected.) There is no blue at the center of the image, showing that Chandra did not detect any X-rays that could have signaled the presence of a growing black hole. (click on image to enlarge)

No X-rays or radio waves were detected, so astronomers were able to rule out a black hole being responsible for most of the bright infrared light.

"We now know that this galaxy doesn't have a gorging black hole, but instead is shining brightly with the light from newborn stars," Ma said. "This gives us information about how galaxies and the stars within them evolve during some of the earliest times in the universe."

Stars are forming at a rate of about 4,500 times the mass of the Sun every year in SPT0346-52, one of the highest rates seen in a galaxy. This is in contrast to a galaxy like the Milky Way that only forms about one solar mass of new stars per year.

"Astronomers call galaxies with lots of star formation 'starburst' galaxies," said UF astronomy professor Anthony Gonzalez, who co-authored the study. "That term doesn't seem to do this galaxy justice, so we are calling it a 'hyper-starburst' galaxy."

The high rate of star formation implies that a large reservoir of cool gas in the galaxy is being converted into stars with unusually high efficiency.

Astronomers hope that by studying more galaxies like SPT0346-52 they will learn more about the formation and growth of massive galaxies and the supermassive black holes at their centers.

"For decades, astronomers have known that supermassive black holes and the stars in their host galaxies grow together," said co-author Joaquin Vieira of the University of Illinois at Urbana?Champaign. "Exactly why they do this is still a mystery. SPT0346-52 is interesting because we have observed an incredible burst of stars forming, and yet found no evidence for a growing supermassive black hole. We would really like to study this galaxy in greater detail and understand what triggered the star formation and how that affects the growth of the black hole."
Find the newest releases to watch from National Geographic on Disney+, including favourite documentary series and films Free Solo, The Rescue, Shark Beach with Chris Hemsworth and The World According to Jeff Goldblum.
THE recent report in this newspaper (issue of November 21) under the heading New Tipp action group vows to fight for Dying Town, conveyed, in stark details, the concern, and near desperation, of a group of citizens for the survival of their town of Tipperary.

Tipperary Town has experienced the closure of several of its small industries, none of which has been replaced. Added to that, there is the recent decade of economic recession, the spiritual location of the town, peripheral development, and according to the report, neglect by the local authority.

Amongst the photographs illustrating the report, there is one of a group of concerned citizens taken against the background of the Charles Kickham memorial. The location is not without its significance. He, in his time, fought for the struggling people of his own place, just as the citizens are fighting for the survival of their own town of Tipperary.

One wonders if the powers-that-be have been listening to that cry-from-the-heart for the current depressed state of their town, the concern for which was even apparent from the cold print of a newspaper report? If they were, one would assume that the natural immediate reaction would be one of support, a promise to investigage, to see what could be done to try to reverse the downward spiral.

But it seems that is not the way of powers-that-be, because it appears from yet another report in the same issue of this newspaper, that Tipperary County Council has decided to raise the rates payable of ratable property in Tipperary Town - (shops and commercial enterprises) this year. In other words, the official treatment for approaching death, is an extra dose of the drug which is contributing to the fatal illness in the first place. The mind boggles!

Tipperary Town is not alone in experiencing a decline in its business centre, but while that decline is exceptional, some aspects of it are replicated in most urban areas, excluding cities. The closed post offices, the absence of people, are all features of a view from a bus in travelling through our towns. It is commonplace in a journey through the small towns and villages of northern County Tipperary.

While it is true that there was little a local authority could do about this decline in the circumstances of the period of our economic recession, it would seem that the time for some positive action and support in the rejuvenation of our town centre is now overdue.

And Tipperary County Council has indeed launched a project, called Initiatives, which identifies some suggested areas, such as historical, social and cultural, which could be explored as useful vehicles towards such rejuvenation. The project invited citizens' involvement in areas of special interest and expertise. I am only familiar (and that is in a very limited way) with the Clonmel Initiative, introduced some months ago at a very well-attended meeting at the Town Hall. There is no discussion of the Initiative, and while I stand to be corrected, no subsequent report has been issued.

But it seemed to this columnist that while the Initiative had many attractive aspirations, it was dealing with the shadows rather than the substance, the edges rather than the core. And the core of any town is its business and commercial centre and these centres in recent times have been affected by a combination of changes in merchandising and with the over-development of the so-called centres and malls. All of which have been favoured by concessions in the assessment of rates and taxes.

Pay-back time to town centres is now overdue, but this has to be practical rather than aspirational. It has to be real and there is nothing more than real cash. The concessions in Rates and Taxation which, historically, were granted to shopping centre/mall developments and to urban renewal schemes should now be given to centre-town businesses.

The traditional traders and business people, many of long-standing family ownerships, are survivors and entrepreneurs. They are not hidebound by the caution of bureaucracy. They take risks. They experiment. If encouraged by Rates and Taxation concessions, they will use the available cash to upgrade their premises; to specialise; to encourage trade.

If EC funding is available to them for the modernisation of above-shop premises, this will be used as a source of extra income, and will, at the same time, bring life and footfall into the centres. (According to newspaper reports on the recent National Budget, four Irish towns are already engaged in this EC Pilot Scheme, though I understand Tipperary County Council did not apply for inclusion).

If business people are not punished by increased Valuation for the extension or improvement of their premises, this will be reflected in the presentation of the town-centres and in trade.

These concessions can only be made by the Government. And, according to the newspaper report, while three of our national legislators, our Dail Deputies, attended the Tipperary meeting, no elected representative of our local authorities attended.

If there is some commitment to implement the practical restoration of our towns, then the attractive aspirations of the Initiatives will follow - the social, the cultural, the historical, the recreational.

Meanwhile, do not respond to a group of concerned citizens, by placing one more obstacle in their way - by increasing the Rates.

Meeting hears how the town of Tipperary is dying
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Wednesday filed consent orders against three reverse mortgage companies, accusing them of deceptive advertising and misrepresentations.

The companies all claimed in various ads that reverse mortgage borrowers could eliminate debt, make no monthly payments and live in their homes for the rest of their lives.

"These companies tricked consumers into believing they could not lose their homes with a reverse mortgage," CFPB Director Richard Cordray said in a press release. "All mortgage brokers and lenders need to abide by federal advertising disclosure requirements in promoting their products."

The companies each agreed to pay civil money penalties and to clearly and prominently disclose the fact that reverse mortgage borrowers must comply with a loan's terms, including paying property taxes, homeowner's insurance and maintenance.

American Advisors Group, the largest reverse mortgage lender in the U.S., agreed to a civil money penalty of $400,000.

Reza Jahangiri, the CEO of American Advisors in Orange, Calif., said in an email: "We take our regulatory responsibilities seriously and have made a significant investment in our compliance and legal infrastructure to ensure we fully conform to all marketing laws and rules  and better understand how they are interpreted."

Reverse Mortgage Solutions, in Houston, agreed to pay $325,000. The CFPB also alleged that the company told borrowers their heirs would inherit the home, which can only happen by repaying the reverse mortgage or paying 95% of the assessed value of the home. Marc Helm, the former president and CEO of Reverse Mortgage Solutions, did not return calls seeking comment.

Aegean Financial, in El Segundo, Calif., agreed to pay $65,000. The CFPB also alleged that Aegean claimed a government affiliation when it advertised under the name Jubilados Financial to Spanish-speaking borrowers in California. The company also failed to keep records of some of its ads. Chris Jastrzebski, the company's president, did not return a call seeking comment.

Because reverse mortgages are complex, the CFPB has long warned of the dangers associated with misleading and deceptive advertising.
Affordable housing advocates are seizing on President-elect Donald Trump's call for tax reform, hoping that a new tax credit program to revitalize run-down homes in distressed neighborhoods will be attractive to the incoming administration.

The National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders is pushing an initiative to create the Neighborhood Homes Tax Credit, which will provide tax incentives for the renovation and construction of owner-occupied homes.

"It is a strategy to revive distressed neighborhoods with significant poverty that have a lot of single-family homes that are in tough shape," said Buzz Roberts, president and chief executive of NAAHL.

These are neighborhoods where it is difficult to renovate the housing stock because an appraisal generally won't support a construction loan. Such neighborhoods are not attracting capital because they have concentrations of poverty.

The tax credit is designed to retain, as well as attract, middle-income homeowners to hard-hit neighborhoods. The proposal also has safeguards to prevent gentrification and the displacement the current residents.

The tax credit would go to investors in sponsoring entities to raise capital for the renovations. It would transfer construction and market risks from the government to the private sector.

It also could "be flexible," Roberts said in the interview. "It would be suitable for small-scale development and homeowner rehab. It could work for people who don't know anything about the tax credit."

Robert Walker, chairman of the Wexler/Walker lobbying firm, said the credit might appeal to the Trump administration.

"Everything I hear coming out of the transition is public/private partnerships," the former Pennsylvania Republican congressman told the affordable housing group at a meeting last week.

The Trump administration wants to provide targeted investments to vitalize inner cities.

"That is an open door for you to talk to the secretary of HUD about how private/public partnerships can create that kind of atmosphere," said Walker.

He expects Democrats will also be supportive of such an initiative because many are up for re-election in 2018.

"They are going to be looking for ways to cooperate with the administration," Walker said. "In the House, Democrats will also be looking for programs so they can get something out of it."

The current low-income housing tax credit is mainly administered by the states, not in Washington. The states could administer the Neighborhood Homes Tax Credits, too, NAAHL says.

"There are federal parameters to make sure it does not further gentrification," Roberts said. "But the states would have broad latitude to apply it in a way that makes sense locally as they do with the low-income housing tax credit program."
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is expected to downgrade Wells Fargo's Community Reinvestment Act rating in January to "needs to improve," from "outstanding," according to a story by Reuters, citing unnamed sources.

A two-notch downgrade would prohibit Wells from making bank acquisitions or filing applications to open new branches until the rating improves.

Though Wells' last CRA exam was in 2012, the bank has not had a CRA rating released since 2008. The OCC has not commented on why it has taken eight years to release a CRA rating on Wells. The OCC and Wells Fargo declined to comment on the Reuters report.

Last month, the OCC revoked certain privileges given to Wells including its ability to name new directors and senior executives or to change the duties of existing executives without first notifying the agency. The bank now is required to give 90 days' notice to its regulator, which can reject any changes.

A CRA downgrade would not be a surprise. This year, Fifth Third Bancorp in Cincinnati and Regions Financial in Birmingham, Ala., each received "need to improve" CRA ratings from regulators that have impacted their ability to expand.

Consumer groups first urged the OCC to give Wells a failing CRA rating four years ago, citing the bank's lending practices in minority communities. Consumer advocates have also called for more scrutiny of Wells by the OCC.

Wells has paid more than $1 billion for a variety of regulatory settlements and class-action lawsuits related to overdraft fees, student loans, steering borrowers into costly mortgages and mortgage servicing failures, according to the California Reinvestment Coalition.

Wells' CRA rating has received new scrutiny because of the bank's phony account scandal. Wells agreed to a $190 million settlement with regulators in September after firing 5,300 employees for opening 2 million fake customer accounts to meet sales goals.

Congress passed the CRA in 1977 to reduce discriminatory credit practices such as redlining. Banks are graded on a wide range of issues including whether they are meeting the needs of low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.

More than 90% of financial institutions receive a passing "satisfactory" CRA rating. Fewer than 10% get an "outstanding" grade.
(As delivered)

President Kaljulaid, please be welcome to NATO headquarters, its a great honor to have you here and it was a great pleasure to meet with you.

And we have just finished a very constructive and good meeting where we addressed many different issues. But I would like to start by thanking Estonia for being such a steadfast Ally for many years and we are very grateful for the many different contributions you give to the Alliance. We have Estonian troops deployed in Afghanistan, you contribute also with all the expertise and excellence you have in the cyber area where we have the NATO Cyber centre of excellence in Estonia and this is really an important tool in enhancing the capabilities and the knowledge for the whole Alliance when it comes to cyber defence.

We also very much appreciate and commend you for being one of the Allies that is spending 2% of GDP on defence. This is really important, especially in times where we see new threats and new challenges and you lead by example by spending 2% of GDP on defence so we are grateful for that, and your investments in defence also contribute to a fair burden sharing and thereby also strengthening the transatlantic bond.

NATO can count on Estonia and Estonia can count on NATO. Allied jets keep your skies safe. And Allied ships patrol the Baltic Sea and we are stepping up our presence on land as well. At the Warsaw Summit, we decided to enhance our forward presence in the three Baltic countries and Poland. And we are on track when it comes to the deployment of the battalion, a multinational battalion to Estonia, and the battalion is going to be led by the UK but also forces from other NATO Allied countries will be part of this multinational battalion. So we think that the fact that we are delivering on the promises to strengthen our collective defence is very important for the whole Alliance but of course especially important for Estonia and other Baltic countries and Poland because you see that we are following up on what we said we should do. Then I would also like to thank you for your strong personal commitment to the Alliance and Im looking forward to working with you and I hope that this is just the beginning of many meetings here in the NATO headquarters, in Estonia, but also in other places so that we can further develop our excellent cooperation, so once again, welcome to NATO.

MODERATOR: Thank you very much well start with Eastern Kavalich (sic) please.

Q: Hi, Johann Estralla (sic) from Estonian Public Broadcasting. Two questions to Mr. Stoltenberg, this week a lot about EU and NATO cooperation has been said in this house; I would like you to point out a few practical things what NATO and the EU can do together in the Baltic region that would really make sense and be useful for both NATO and the EU, and the Baltic States. And second, tackling Russian propaganda is, I believe, one of the things that has been talked about a lot. Right now, there are about 20 people who are dealing with it under the framework of the EU; should we put more emphasis on this and more resources? Thank you.

JENS STOLTENBERG (NATO Secretary General): First youre right that NATO-EU cooperation has been top of the agenda this week because it was the main issue at our Foreign Ministerial meeting which ended yesterday and there, we endorsed a package of more than 40 concrete measures on how to strengthen NATO-EU cooperation, addressing many different areas. I think all of these measures will be, in different ways, relevant for the Baltic region but let me just mention some, few examples. We are, we have agreed to strengthen our cooperation when it comes to cyber defenses because we see an increased cyber threat against all NATO allies and we have agreed to exchange best practices, we have agreed to do more when it comes to research, and then of course, the Centre of Excellence in Estonia is a key tool to achieve exactly that, to strengthen cooperation with NATO-EU on, on cyber. We have decided to increase our cooperation when it comes to hybrid threats. This combination of military and non-military threats and means of aggression and, we have agreed then to have playbooks describing whos going to do what, so we can coordinate efforts if needed, between the European Union and NATO. If a nation is under any kind of hybrid attack or hybrid threat, then we can work together on infrastructure, on resilience, on continuation of government, on many other areas where we need coordinated efforts by the European Union and NATO in a hybrid or during a hybrid threat or attack. We have also agreed to do more exercises and thats also (inaudible) for the Baltic Sea region and we have agreed on many many other issues, maritime cooperation. So, I think that all the whole list is actually in different ways relevant for the Baltic States. Then countering propaganda is also actually one part of the NATO-EU cooperation. We will exchange information, we will work together, but both for the European Union and for NATO, we have to understand that the first responder is the member state because they are closest to the challenge, they know the language, they know the social context where this propaganda or this information is taking place. What NATO can do, and EU can do, is to, can, is to coordinate efforts; its to provide facts and figures. We will do that but I think that the first responder is the nations and we very much believe that when we see, for instance propaganda, our response is not propaganda. But, we believe in open free societies so, facts, the truth will prevail over propaganda, so open debate where we all participate with the facts and the truth, is the best way also to fight this information and the propaganda.

MODERATOR: Thank you, gentleman here please.

Q: Karl (inaudible) from (inaudible). Mr. Secretary General it is currently very easy for Russia to cut off, in the worst case scenario, the re-enforcements for the Baltic region. What can NATO do about it? And on a related topic you have mentioned many times that NATOs answer to Russias military buildup must be proportionate. Russia has huge numbers of troops and very serious military equipment on our borders. How exactly is four battalions proportionate answer?

JENS STOLTENBERG: First of all in our military planning we are taking into account the Russian military buildup also in the Baltic Sea region and thats also one of the reasons why we have decided to increase our presence, four presence in the three Baltic countries and in Poland. And you have to remember that both the presence of multi-national brigades, sorry multi-national battalions in the three Baltic countries and Poland but also the establishment of the NATO four situation units to small headquarters in the three Baltic States and Poland. They are, theyre also to establish better cooperation, coordination with the home defense forces the Estonian forces, the Lithuanian forces, the Latvian forces and the Polish forces and they are there also to help, prepare, plan for re-enforcements if needed. So the idea is not that that four battalions alone shall be the only tool, the only component, in delivering deterrence on behalf of NATO, but they are key because they are forward, they are in the Baltic region, they are linked up to the home defense forces and, they are linked up to the NATO Force Integration Unit and thereby also enabling and making it easier to have re-enforcements, if needed. And re-enforcements can of course come, before we see a conflict. The whole idea with re-enforcements is to prevent the conflict; its to send a clear message of deterrence. So if needed we will deploy, based on early warnings, based on intelligence, based on information, to send a clear signal that NATO is there to protect all allies against any threat and we have to also understand that the fact is that, that these battalions are multi-national, sends the message we want to send, that an attack on one ally will trigger the response from the whole Alliance. So, for instance, when you are going to have a UK-led battalion in Estonia, with also participation from other nations, that will send a very clear signal about our willingness to to re-enforce if, if needed. This is backed by, for instance, the new Spearhead Force, its a high joint readiness, also theyre a Spearhead Force, theyre a new brigade we have which can be deployed very rapidly if needed. And behind that again we have the NATO Response Force and behind that we have the following forces. So, so we have forces that can be deployed, that can provide the necessary deterrence if, if needed. The last thing was that when I say proportionate, it is proportionate to the scale of the challenge we face. We dont see any imminent threat against any NATO ally, we will not anyway, match soldier by soldier or plane by plane; thats not a way we respond in a proportionate way, but we respond in a proportionate way making sure that we respond to the scale of the challenge. We see, in a way that makes sure, that NATO continues to deliver credible defense and tripling size of the NATO Response Force, the new High Readiness Joint Task Force and the battalions and the NATO Force Integration Units. All that provides the necessary deterrence and defense and the protection of all the Baltic countries.

MODERATOR: Thats all we have time for. Thank you very much.
(Natural News) Abby Muszynski, the 5-year-old daughter of Rich and Kim Muszynski, suffers from grand mal seizures. Her parents say that they can always tell when a seizure is about to start; her pupils enlarge, and shell seem to fixate on something in the distance that only she can see. And then her extremities will start to shake, and she gasps for air.

By the tender age of 3, Abby had already tried eight different anti-seizure medications, but none of them worked very well. Pained by the fact that their daughters condition only continued to worsen, the Muszynskis drove three hours to Orlando to visit Dr. Ngoc Minh Le, a board-certified pediatric neurologist and epileptologist.

Dr. Le told them that there was a very slim chance that any other anti-seizure medication would yield better results for Abby. He suggested that Abby be treated with medical marijuana. Just months before Dr. Les recommendation, Floridas Governor Rick Scott had legalized the use of a specific strain of non-euphoric cannabis known as Charlottes Web.

Charlottes Web had been a miracle treatment for a little girl with Dravet syndrome named Charlotte Figi. Figi had been suffering with up to 300 grand mal seizures per week, and her parents were running out of options. Charlotte had even lost the ability to walk, talk or eat. At the age of 5, doctors told the family that there was nothing more that they could do for her. And then, medical marijuana entered the picture. Though she was the youngest patient in the state of Colorado to apply for it, eventually her family found two doctors to approve it.

After giving their child the high-CBD cannabis oil, the Figis noticed an immediate improvement. Charlotte went an entire week without having a single seizure, something that hadnt happened in a very long time. Just two doses of cannabis oil a day have kept her seizures at bay. Her story has inspired many other successes.

But, Charlottes Web didnt work so well for Abby Muszynski. It helped, yes, but not as much as it helped Charlotte. Abby, unfortunately, was still having about two grand mal seizures every week. Dr. Le explained to the Muszynski family that Charlottes Web has a very low THC content, and suggested that a higher THC strain might be whats best for Abby.

However, at that point in time, marijuana with a higher THC content wasnt legally available for Abby  at least not in Florida. If they wanted to get it, the family would have to move and leave behind their friends and family, including two older children. Colorado seemed like it might be their best option; Kim had spoken to some parents with disabled children there, and they told her that the state had a fair and efficient Medicaid program.

But getting Abby to Colorado was going to be problematic. Her condition was so severe that doctors felt it wouldnt be safe for her to fly. Long car rides were also out of the question. And so, the Muszynskis began their final fight with the state of Florida.

Kim began speaking with Medicaid officials in Florida about obtaining an air ambulance for Abby so that she could be moved safely. After speaking to and emailing with officials, it seemed that everything was going to go according to plan. They sold their home, and husband Rich went out to Colorado. Kim and Abby stayed behind to wait for their transport. After several days without confirmation, Kim Muszynski began writing emails to Florida officials begging for help  and eventually, she enlisted CNN reporter Elizabeth Cohen. Five days after their planned departure date, Kim and Abby finally received their air ambulance transport.

Rich welcomed his family home when they arrived in Colorado Springs, and within just a few weeks, miracles began to happen. The high-THC content cannabis stopped Abbys seizures almost completely. Abby was having 2 to 4 seizures a week in Florida, and they lasted up to 12 minutes each. Now, Abby only experiences seizures about once a week  and they only last a few seconds. Her mother Kim says that just a drop of cannabis oil under her tongue stops a seizure almost immediately.

And now that Abby is free of seizures, she is slowly making progress. Her parents hope that one day she may even be able to learn rudimentary sign language so that she can communicate.

This is what the call for the legalization of marijuana is all about.

Sources:

Edition.CNN.com

Edition.CNN.com
(Natural News) Bans on genetically modified crops imposed by state and local governments in the Pacific Northwest are perfectly legal, meaning that there is nothing the federal government or Big Food and Monsanto can do about it, a federal appeals court has ruled.

As reported by The Daily Astorian, federal statutes do not preempt or otherwise prevent local governments from banning GMO crops that have already been deregulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, according to the ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

A panel of judges decided to overturn an earlier ruling which held that Maui County in Hawaii was not permitted to ban commercialized GMO crops in 2014, because the local ordinance was preempted by federal rules governing biotechnology.

The panel ruled that there is no conflict between local regulations and federal rules and laws because, in this case, the USDA lacks jurisdiction over biotech/GMO crops once theyve been deregulated, the paper said in online editions.

Far-reaching practical effects

Preventing state and local governments from being able to regulate crops that were at one time considered plant pests would have a backwards effect, because they are able to regulate conventional and organic crops that raise fewer concerns among local officials.

Such a holding would have far-reaching practical effects, the 9th Circuit panel wrote. Because a large percentage of commercial crops grown in the United States are GE crops, states and counties across the nation would be prevented from regulating an enormous swath of agriculture. We do not believe that Congress so intended.

That said, state and local bans on GMO crops cannot be applied to biotech species that are still being regulated by the USDA, since that federal agency retains jurisdiction over them until they have been commercialized, the panel said.

Though the 9th Circuit panel ruled in favor of critics of GMO crops on federal preemption, Maui Countys GMO ban remains vacated because the appellate court found that the statute was preempted by the states comprehensive laws and rules dealing with the same subject of potentially harmful plants and crops.

By banning commercialized GE [genetically engineered] plants, the ordinance impermissibly intrudes into this area of exclusive state regulation and thus is beyond the countys authority under Hawaiian law, the court said.

The ruling is significant in that the 9th Circuit Court covers nine Western states where counties in Oregon, Washington state and California all have bans on GMO crops.

Paul Achitoff, a lawyer with the Earthjustice law firm that represented critics of GMOs in the case, described the ruling as a relief and anything but a worst-case scenario.

The state has not been protecting people

Despite that, Achitoff said that he was nevertheless disappointed by the 9th Circuit ruling that state law preempts the local GMO ban in Maui County, which he said was a loss for Hawaiis people.

He added that local ordinances are necessary in Hawaii because biotech breeding occurs there and because state regulations predate GMOs, creating what he called a vacuum.

The state has not been protecting people in that respect, he told The Daily Astorian.

Biotech giant Monsanto sued to overturn the law. Officials with the company said they were proud to be a part of the agricultural community in Hawaii, where it has 1,000 employees, and understands its responsibility to farm sustainably and to work collaboratively, an emailed statement to the paper noted.

Only, GMO crops are not in the best interests of the people of Hawaii  or anywhere else, for that matter. And to that end, local governments elected by local populations should have the right to decide for themselves what kind of agricultural products they want grown on their locally owned land and within their locally inhabited ecosystems.

Sources:

DailyAstorian.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Dr. Yehuda Shoenfeld is an Israeli clincian who has been extensively studying the human immune system for more than thirty years. Some say he is at the pinnacle of his profession, and that he is at the core of its foundation. Hes written 25 textbooks on the subject  some of which are key to the backbone of clincial practice. Dr. Shoenfeld has even been referred to as the Godfather of Autoimmunology. Autoimmunology is the study of the immune system when it is has turned against itself, resulting in a myriad of conditions including ulcertive colitis, multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes.

Lately, Dr. Shoenfeld has been shaking up the world of immunology with evidence that suggests that vaccines may indeed be playing a role in the onset of autoimmune disease. Specifically, some of the star ingredients found in vaccines  like aluminum, a toxic metal  are likely at the helm of the worldwide increase in autoimmune disorders. Evidence supporting this theory has been mounting over the last 15 years, but a noticeably stark increase in research has occured in the last five years. For example, recent study, authored by Dr. Shoenfeld and his colleagues, was published by the journal Pharmacological Research in 2015. In their report, the researchers identified four groups of people who will be most at risk of developing an autoimmune disease following vaccination.

The papers authors note that while vaccines may help to prevent illnesses that can cause autoimmunity, On the other hand, many reports that describe post-vaccination autoimmunity strongly suggest that vaccines can indeed trigger autoimmunity. The researchers state that Almost all types of vaccines have been reported to be associated with the onset of ASIA [autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants]. The autoimmune diseases that may develop after vaccination include arthritis, lupus (systemic lupus erythematosus, SLE) diabetes mellitus, thrombocytopenia, vasculitis, dermatomyosiositis, Guillain-Barre syndrome and demyelinating disorders. Demyelinating disorders include conditions like multiple sclerosis. Demyelination refers to degradation of the myelin sheath  an insulating material that covers nerves  and results in impaired function of said nerves.

The term ASIA first appeared in the Journal of Autoimmunology a few years ago and is used as an umbrella term to describe a group of similar symptoms that appear after exposure to an adjuvant. Adjuvants are environmental agents, including common vaccine ingredients, that are known to spark the immune system into action. Using ASIA as a model, a massive amount of research has been conducted to begin answering questions surrounding environmental toxins, particularly the metal aluminum used in vaccines, and how they can create an immune system chain reaction in vulnerable individuals, as well as how they can possibly lead to autoimmune disease.

Autoimmune disease is the result of the bodys immune system turning against itself and the human body. When the immune system is functioning normally, it attacks foreign invaders of the body, such as a pathogenic bacteria. In the case of autoimmune disease, however, the immune system has begun attacking the bodys own cells somewhere within the body. In the case of type 1 diabetes, the immune system has targeted the Islets of Langerhans found in the pancreas. In rheumatoid arthritis, the immune system has begun attacking joint tissue. Similar events happen within other autoimmune diseases, but affecting different types of bodily tissues.

Several studies have indicated that the aluminium currently being used in vaccines is a great cause for concern, especially when it comes to autoimmune disease. A 2012 paper authored by researchers from the Neural Dynamics Research Group of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of British Columbia, located in Canada, noted, According to the US Food and Drug Administration, safety assessments for vaccines have often not included appropriate toxicity studies because vaccines have not been viewed as inherently toxic.

The researchers note that when combined with the fact that in many developed countries, children are exposed to 126 different antigenic compounds, along with untold amounts of aluminum adjuvants before the age of six, the lack of toxicity studies is even more alarming. The researchers state that children in particular are more susceptible to the toxicity of aluminum adjuvants in vaccines  which have already been shown to have the potential to be harmful to adults. They also note that aluminum adjuvants in vaccines heavily target the areas of the neuro-immune axis related to the immune function and brain development. They commented in their conclusion that the evidence shows that increasing concerns about current vaccination practices may indeed be warranted.

Sources:

NaturalBlaze.com

NCBI.NLM.NIH.gov

Healthline.com

NCBI.NLM.NIH.gov
(Natural News) Texas Right To Know  a coalition of advocacy groups  will be hosting an event on December 9th to protect and support medical freedom across the state.

While Texas was once regarded as a freedom-loving state that valued the independence of its constituents, lately it seems that many of the liberties private citizens enjoy are in danger of being taken away. The Texas Medical Board (TMB) has reportedly been targeting investigations at both licensed and unlicensed healthcare practitioners, many of whom claim they are being harassed by the board.

According to Texas Right To Know, the board is disproportionately concentrating their investigative and sanctioning efforts against non-licensed healthcare practitioners that are not warranted, including NDs and CCNs, among others.

Of course, action from the board has also been perpetrated against other traditionally licensed healthcare professionals such as DOs and MDs who practice under Title 22, Part 9, Chapter 200 of the Texas Administrative Code: Standards for Physicians Practicing Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The law, passed in 1997, states that the purpose of the chapter is to recognize that physicians should be allowed a reasonable and responsible degree of latitude in the kinds of therapies they offer their patients.

The legislation also says that the board understands that patients have the right to seek alternative and complementary care for treatment. Texas Right To Know maintains that the TMB should also acknowledge that the states inhabitants have a right to complementary and alternative medicine without care providers being harassed by regulators. Investigations that foolishly waste taxpayer dollars and force practitioners to raise their cost of care to cover their new legal expenses certainly fall under this umbrella.

Texas state Rep. Bill Zedler commented, I have been in contact with numerous physicians who have shared with me their unjust treatment by the Texas Medical Board (TMB) when their practices were under investigation. He went on to say, Wrongful actions of the TMB include the violation of the physicians right to know their accuser, their right to due process and their patients 4th amendment right to privacy.

According to Texas Right to Know, a court ruling from the 24th District Court, State of Texas v. Courtney Ricardo Morgan, shows a clear reprehension of the TMB for their bad faith actions in the launching of these numerous investigations.

Texas Right To Know will be holding a rally in Austin on December 9th to support the peoples right to choose their own care. The rally comes as a response to the increasing concerns about health and medical freedom of the public and healthcare practitioners. The organization will also be launching a new campaign to help raise awareness about the threat to personal choice, entitled, TMB, Dont Mess With Me  an ode to the much-loved Dont Mess With Texas motto.

Anyone who is interested in maintaining and supporting medical freedom is welcome to join the rally and partake in the days lobbying efforts. According to Texas Right To Know, the day will begin mid-morning and will consist of education and discussion on many upcoming legislative issues, including TMB abuse, vaccination mandates and many more. Participants can also expect to meet with state representatives and senators earlier in the day.

The rally itself will take place on the north steps at the capitol building at approximately 2:30 in the afternoon. If you are interested in participating or just want to learn more about medical freedom, please click here.

Sources:

TexasRightToKnow.com

TexasRightToKnow.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Food safety experts have expressed serious concerns about an arrangement the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has made with the Chinese poultry industry. Though largely symbolic, according to reports, the American government has essentially given four major Chinese poultry producers permission to import U.S.-based chicken meat for processing, only to ship that chicken meat back into the U.S. for human consumption.

The allowance currently makes no economic sense, as it would cost far more to haul all that meat around from country to country as opposed to just getting the job done here, not to mention the serious risks of spoilage and contamination. But the ruling is there, and should a poultry company figure out a way to oblige slave labor in China as a way to make the setup financially feasible, Americans could soon see world-traveling chickens on their dinner plates.

As it currently stands, the USDA permits only countries that adhere to strict USDA-approved poultry standards to export chicken to China, and the only three countries that meet these standards are the U.S., Canada, and Chile. None of these countries has developed a workable plan for exporting and re-importing chicken, though, and thus the ruling is moot, at least for now  but not necessarily in the long term.

By most accounts, chicken producers have not found a way to make it economically viable, wrote Ben Rooney for CNN Money in a piece about the changing landscape for poultry processing. Still, the move is seen as a victory for Chinas poultry industry, since it means that at least some of its processors are up to U.S. Standards.

As usual, profits trump food safety

Perhaps the biggest concern with sending frozen U.S. chicken to China to be defrosted, deboned and/or separated, processed, refrozen, repackaged, and shipped back to the U.S. is the possibility of contamination and food poisoning. It would seem sanitarily prudent to simply process U.S. chickens in the U.S. to avoid the potential food safety risks, especially as they pertain to poultry  salmonella anyone?

But as usual, the even bigger concern is profits, as poultry producers at some point in the future could save a few bucks outsourcing their chicken processing operations. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), American poultry processors currently net about $11 per hour  not a huge amount of money but still significant. Meanwhile, Chinese workers currently earn anywhere between $1-2 per hour doing the exact same work.

Seafood producers in Washington State are already doing this type of thing with Alaskan salmon and Dungeness crab, according to reports. Companies like the Seattle-based Trident Seafood company routinely ship fish and crab to China for processing, including the deboning of salmon, the Chinese labor costs of which are one-fifth what they are in the U.S.

There are 36 pin bones in a salmon and the best way to remove them is by hand, Charles Bundrant, founder of Trident, which ships some 30 million pounds of its 1.2 billion-pound harvest to China for processing, told The Seattle Times. Something that would cost us $1 per pound labor here, they get it done for 20 cents in China.

Meat processing in general appears to be a dying industry in the U.S., at least in terms of seafood. In the years between 1995 and 2005, Alaska and Washington each lost about 20 percent of their processing jobs. Depending on how the Trump Administration handles international trade deals moving forward, the same scenario could befall the poultry industry as well.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalHealingMagazine.com

CNN.com

SeattleTimes.com
Mutations in a gene targeted by a new wave of medicines for lowering cholesterol levels may protect against heart attacks, but perhaps also increase the risk of diabetes.

Drugs that inhibit a protein called PCSK9 lower cholesterol, but have not yet been shown definitively to reduce the risk of heart disease. Brian Ference of Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan, and his colleagues, gathered data from 112,772 participants in 14 studies, focusing on DNA sequence variants that are associated with lowered cholesterol. The variants were in the PCSK9 gene and in HMGCR, which encodes the target of commonly used statin drugs.
The Chernobyl disaster is the most infamous nuclear accident ever recorded in history. However, reports revealed that Russia had a secret nuclear disaster with magnitudes that almost equates to the Chernobyl catastrophe. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Mayak Nuclear accident in Russia, but it seems that it is not that well known.

From the study of the American University, the Mayak nuclear plant was the Soviet Union's primary nuclear complex, and in 1957, the explosion of radioactive materials produced a plume that was 50 kilometers in diameter and reached towns more than a thousand kilometers away. About 10 years later, the Mayak plant was again responsible for the expulsion of dust into the air.

Greenpeace calls it the second biggest nuclear disaster in history. The nightmare did not start with the explosion. Perhaps unaware of the possible dangers of radioactive wastes, gallons upon gallons of power plant wastes have been dumped directly into the Techa River that runs 240 kilometers long.

It has affected around 40 villages and evacuated 23 in the process. Experts say that with the Techa river serving as a primary source of water for hundreds of thousands of residents around the region, the ingestion of radioactive water was almost 20 times worse than what Chernobyl victims have suffered.

According to the study of the Department of Physics at Harvard University, pollution of nuclear waste was one of the biggest problems of the Mayak power plant. What was worse was that not all of the residents living in the area were evacuated.

Children were born with deformities, and others didn't survive at all. It was recorded to have caused more than 500 infant deaths. For adults, many people immediately died from trauma. Those living in the vicinity have been reported to suffer and die from both respiratory and infectious diseases.
Over a dozen Naperville North High School students were rushed in the hospital earlier this week after eating gummy bear candies that were allegedly laced with marijuana.

According to the report from Chicago Tribune, several students complained being both "uncomfortable and sick" after eating gummy bear candies. About 14 students were taken to the nurse's office, with 13 of those soon rushed to the Edward Hospital.

Physicians at the hospital noted that the students showed symptoms of ingesting "non-toxic intoxicants." These symptoms include dry mouth, rapid heart rate and dizziness. Affected students reported eating just one gummy bear. Due to this, doctors at Edward Hospital strongly suspect that the gummy bears eaten by the students were manufactured or laced with marijuana or marijuana oil.

"You eat gummy bears, those are pretty tasty," said Dr. Daryl Wilson, director of Emergency Medical Services of Edward Hospital, in a report from CBS Chicago. Why would you want to have just one - unless you know there's something else in the gummy bear?"

Students also told the police that the gummy bears were laced with marijuana. However, police officials were not able to confirm if the gummy bears were laced with anything until they have the analysis result from their crime lab.

A 17-year old boy was taken into custody for possible involvement to the marijuana-laced gummy bears. The boy was questioned and was later on released to his parents. The police noted that their investigation is still ongoing and criminal charges could potentially come at a later date.

According to National Institute on Drug Abuse, about 15.5 percent of 8th graders used marijuana in 2015. On the other hand, the prevalence of marijuana use among 10th and 12th graders is significantly higher, 31.1 percent and 44.7 percent respectively.

Aside from dizziness, rapid heart rate and dry mouth, marijuana use could also cause shallow breathing, red eyes, dilated pupils, increased appetite and slowed reaction time.
Apparently, micrometeorites also called cosmic dust remnants from the formation of the Solar System exist. What is more surprising is that some of these cosmic dust are being discovered today on rooftops in Paris and from other places all over the world.

The universe works in a mysterious way but it has never failed in leaving out clues to scientists and experts to discover. Recently, the Geological Society of America announced that they have discovered some extraterrestrial micrometeorites from space believed to have originated from space also called cosmic dust.

The reported cosmic dust is believed to be 4.6 billion years old. It is currently being discovered in major cities around the world namely: Paris, Oslo and Berlin. This came as a surprise for scientists since they usually only find this type of remnant in the Antarctic.

Reports say that today, there were about 300 kilograms of cosmic dust of micrometeorites collected from rooftops of the said cities including Paris. The cosmic dust contains magnetic minerals that react to magnetism causing it to be quantified to 500 cosmic grains.

"We've known since the 1940s that cosmic dust falls continuously through our atmosphere, but until now we've thought that it could not be detected among the millions of terrestrial dust particles, except in the most dust-free environments such as the Antarctic or deep oceans," Dr. Matthew Genge of the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at the Imperial College London said in a statement. "'The obvious advantage to this new approach is that it is much easier to source cosmic dust particles if they are in our backyards," Genge added.

Previous studies have detected these cosmic dust and grains from the Antarctica and some deep oceans but not in cities. This is because most scientists find it difficult to gather cosmic dust remnants from the Solar Solar in the city, according to Telegraph.

The only hindrance to studying them is the process of collecting the grains. "The reported particles are likely to have fallen on Earth in the past 6 yr and thus represent the youngest large micrometeorites collected to date," the author of the paper said in a press release by The Geological Society of America.

To some it is surprising to find out those remnants from the formation of the Solar System is still raining down on Earth today. Collecting cosmic dust is the idea of amateur scientist Jon Larsen that is still being practiced until today.
Despite an initial government warning that a missile had overflown Japan, Tokyo later said that was incorrect.
There is no record over the last decade that shows that Oakland fire inspectors had even been inside the so-called Ghost Ship warehouse where 36 people perished during a fire on Friday.

Sources told NBC Bay Area that the buildings address was not even included in the Oakland Fire Departments database of 12,000 commercial buildings earmarked for annual inspections. The department did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

But one union leader was quick to blame the department's leadership for long ignoring warnings about the flawed inspection effort.

We do the inspections that the fire marshal gives us, said Zac Unger, a leader of the Oakland firefighters' union and 18-year department veteran.

Unger says Oakland firefighters routinely inspect the city's light-use commercial buildings listed in the database.

Unger says it is the job of the Fire Prevention Bureau to take on the more complicated operations in the city.

Oaklands fire inspection effort has long been criticized as inefficient and ineffective. A 2014 county grand jury report concluded that inspectors actually checked on only half of the 12,000 identified commercial properties. Some 2,000 owners refused inspections while another 4,000 properties were simply never inspected.

The grand jury cited competing priorities within the department for the shortfall. The city promised to do better in light of the findings.

NBC Bay Area asked for the fire inspection records for the 31st Avenue warehouse, only to be told by officials at the Fire Prevention Bureau that they did not have any. We were also told to file an official Public Records Request for the same data.

We later learned that this was because the building was not included in a 2006 database of 12,000 properties identified as qualifying for inspections.

One retired fire inspector said that it is clear from pre-fire photos of the conditions there that such an inspection would have led to citations at the Ghost Ship.

The biggest thing that I saw in those photos that concerned me wasnt so much what was inside [the warehouse] based on the photos  it was no fire separation between the units," said retired San Francisco fire inspector John Darmanin. "Fire rated construction is required.

For whatever reason, there is no record of the structure or any inspection at the warehouse since the database was created in 2006.

If were not sent to an address, were not inspecting it, Unger acknowledged.

One reason the building may have been overlooked, Oakland firefighters say, is because they do not typically inspect buildings that appear vacant or abandoned.

Unger says that is just one gap in a system that firefighters have long warned about. As it stands, he says, the city only has six fire prevention inspectors, far fewer than comparable cities.

I dont want anyone else to have to go through this, Unger said. The best way to save a life in a fire is to never have a fire in the first place. And the fire department needs to invest in prevention so we dont have another incident like this.

Late Wednesday, there was another admission from Oaklands Interim City and Planning Director Darin Ranelletti. Records show no building inspectors  separate from fire inspectors  had stepped foot inside the warehouse for at least 30 years, he said.

Ranelletti said that the city's building inspectors can only go inside a property when following up on a permit request or complaint about the interior.

Records show that neighbors had complained about house construction in 2014, but Ranelletti said the complaints were for the address of a vacant lot adjacent to the warehouse  and that inspectors did not see construction on the vacant lot and so dismissed the complaint.

"If we have an inspector that's looking at a particular property for which the complaint has been registered, he or she is not going to investigate adjacent properties on the street unless there's a physical obvious violation," Ranelletti said. "And at that time, that inspector did not see a physical, obvious violation at the warehouse."

Watch our investigative series on the Oakland warehouse fire:
The girlfriend of an Oakland warehouse fire victim experienced a Facebook miracle in a time of crippling grief when hundreds of social media users helped her track down a special year-old photograph of the two of them.

Saya Tomioka's boyfriend Griffin Madden, 23, was among 36 people who perished in a fire at the Ghost Ship warehouse Friday. Amid her mourning for the loss, she turned to social media in an attempt to find the person who captured a a photo of the couple during a trip to New York City last June.

It had been Tomioka's first time in Times Square, she recalled in a Facebook post published Sunday. Tomioka and Madden were mid-embrace when a photographer captured the moment.

I've always longed to find this particular photograph and thank the photographer, she wrote in the post. Friends, possibly with your help, I can be reunited with this photograph, this treasured memory that I'll always keep in my heart.

Tomioka acknowledged that finding it would be akin to a Facebook miracle, but wrote it would be something to lift her spirits.

After being shared more than 300 times, the post made its way to Arken Avan, a professional photographer who is known for taking pictures of couples in New York's bustling city center. After a quick search through his photo collection, Avan zeroed in on the now famous photo and send it to Tomioka.

Two people shared that post with me yesterday, my NYPD friend I know from Times Square, and some of Sayas friends, Avan told NBC Bay Area, on how he heard about the photo search.

After 300+ shares, & GF of an #OaklandFire victim found the photo she was searching for. (PC:@arkenavan) pic.twitter.com/pe05q7eZ6O  Gillian E. (@GillianM925) December 8, 2016

He told Tomioka he remembered that exact moment.

I actually remember this moment  young lady was holding pretzel in her hand and young man had lipstick on his cheek, he wrote in a message to her. "What a beautiful and adorable couple I thought at that moment. I'm sorry for your loss and hope you will keep these pictures for memory, forever.

He says also plans to share the photo on his @NewYorkFaces Instagram, in honor of Madden.

Tomioka has since taken to Facebook again, describing the agony of learning about the devastating fire and having to wait for days until crews recovered Madden's body and identified him.

"I thought that I'd feel better when the waiting ended, but instead, I felt dissatisfied. I felt like I hadn't found you---yet," she wrote.

But Avan's photo helped bring a "glimpse of your light back into my life," Tomioka said. "With the infinite help from our families, friends, and strangers, I finally found you."

Avan's photograph came at the end of a June 2015 evening that included Madden and Tomioka laughing hysterically over "The Book of Mormon" and haggling over a pretzel. After finding the photo, Tomioka said she "sobbed" and "immediately laughed uncontrollably."

She continued: "Life is so strange. I've lost you, but I've never felt stronger in my life. Through our many years of love and growth, I learned how to be strong from you."

NBC Bay Area's Rhea Mahbubani contributed to this report.

Officials allowed media a closer look Tuesday at the burned Oakland warehouse where 36 people lost their lives late Friday.

Gillian Edevane covers Contra Costa County for NBC Bay Area. Contact her at Gillian.Edevane@NBCuni.com or at (669) 263-2895.
Dozens of members of Congress are trying to throw a lifeline to so-called dreamers, undocumented students who are allowed to stay in the United States as long as they are in school.

On Wednesday, 60 Congress members, led in part by San Jose's Zoe Lofgren, sent the president a letter asking him to pardon the dreamers before Donald Trump takes office.

Congressmembers said a pardon would not equal legal residency and only spares the dreamers from deportation.

For San Jose State University student Guadalupe Torres, a presidential pardon would be a huge sigh of relief.

Whether it is walking on or off the SJSU campus, Torres said she is usually looking over her shoulder. The college sophomore is an undocumented immigrant.

"I came to this country when I was 2 years old," Torres said, adding the first state she moved into was Idaho.

Torres is one of the many so-called dreamers in the country. But thanks to the deferred action signed by President Barack Obama, those undocumented students can remain in this country and work while enrolled in school.

There is also a fear a Trump administration would eliminate the deferred action and begin deporting students.

"It's a very real concern," Torres said.

The Congress members' request for Obama to pardon the dreamers is a move applauded by immigrant rights groupos.

"It takes a lot of courage for members of Congress to say we're doing all we can in order to protect community members who are in very real fear of deportation," said Priya Murthy with Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network.

Torres said a pardon would help her concentrate on her studies and not worry about being removed from the only place she knows as home.

One legal expert told NBC Bay Area it is not clear if a presidential pardon would prevent deportation. But the letter to the president references portions of the constitution that proponents feel allows the president to make this happen.
A restaurant owner in Oakland spoke out during a community meeting Wednesday about the warehouse next door to her business, saying it has similarities to the burned warehouse known as the Ghost Ship where 36 people died in a fire.

Dorothy King owns Everett and Jones restaurant, and she's concerned that if a fire breaks out in the white warehouse next door, lives could be lost.

The building on Second Street, near Jack London Square, is known as the Salt Lick. King says she felt compelled to speak up about what she's seen at the neighboring warehouse.

"I know for a fact there is only one way in and one way out," she said.

King said she often sees long lines of young people waiting to get into the warehouse for events. But tenants at the warehouse said they believe their building is safe. They said there is more than one way out, and the building also has a fire escape.

"There are two walkways in and windows opening to roofs below next door," warehouse tenant Sam Lefebvre said.

Tenants accused King of mounting a witch hunt to evict artists from spaces. But King said she supports the artist community and used to live in a warehouse herself. She just wants to make sure the space is safe.

Oakland City Councilman Noel Gallo, who represents the Fruitvale district also was at the conference. He wants the city to pressure property owners to make sure their buildings are safe.
Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire delivered her farewell remarks on the Senate floor, thanking the people of her state for giving her the "extraordinary opportunity" to serve them.

Ayotte, who was New Hampshire's attorney general when she was elected to the Senate in 2010, was defeated in November by Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan in a close race.

"The people of our state are hardworking, caring, compassionate people with grit, and they have a fierce sense of independence, which I respect and admire. That spirit has guided me during my time here," she said in her speech live streamed on a Senate website.

Ayotte, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, spoke about issues of importance to her, including improving services for veterans, restoring defense cuts, opposing plans to empty and close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, and dealing with the "devastating epidemic" of heroin and prescription opioid abuse.

"I've met so many people in New Hampshire who are hurting because of this epidemic," she said. "Many of the families who have been affected have become my dear friends."

She said they inspired her to work with Senate colleagues on an effort to get the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act signed into law, a framework to address prevention, treatment, recovery and support for first responders.

The tight race between Hassan and Ayotte was viewed as one of half a dozen contests around the country that would determine which party controls the Senate next year. The interest increased as Ayotte's complicated relationship with Republican nominee Donald Trump evolved. First, she said she supported Trump but wasn't endorsing him. Later, she said she "absolutely" would tell a child to aspire to be like him but quickly took back those remarks. A few days afterward, she rescinded her support altogether based on newly released 2005 recordings in which Trump bragged about using his fame to force himself on women. She wrote in vice presidential nominee Mike Pence's name, instead.

On Wednesday, Ayotte spoke about the need for her colleagues to work together and put aside partisan differences. She spoke of why she ran for the Senate, her concern about the skyrocketing national debt.

"On every committee I served on, we looked for ways to cut wasteful spending, and fought to hold the government accountable for the way it spends our hard-earned taxpayer dollars," she said. "It is my hope that this issue will be at the top of the agenda of the incoming Congress and the new administration."

She received tributes from her colleagues from both parties for her work ethic, positive attitude and facing the challenges of juggling a Senate position with family responsibilities.

Fellow New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, spoke of their teamwork on projects for the country and specifically for the state, including strengthening the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and getting a new aerial refueling tanker.

Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona spoke of Ayotte's work on the Armed Services Committee in successfully fighting against the retirement of A-10 Warthog Air Force attack planes.

"As the wife of a retired A-10 pilot who flew combat missions in Iraq, and an expert in defense policy, Senator Ayotte understood the critical role this aircraft plays in providing close air support for our fighting men and women," McCain said.
Illinois Republicans added potential gubernatorial candidate Chris Kennedy to a growing list of Democrats targeted on their Boss Madigan blog, which attacks House Speaker Michael Madigans web of influence over members of his party.

Kennedy, who is reportedly gearing up to challenge Gov. Bruce Rauner in the 2018 governors race, met with Madigan about a potential run earlier this year. During July's Democratic National Convention, where Kennedy addressed the Illinois delegation, Madigan said Kennedy would be an excellent candidate to challenge Rauner in 2018.

Mike Madigan endorsing a run for governor by Chris Kennedy tells you everything you need to know about Chris Kennedy, Republican Party spokesman Steven Yaffe said in a statement. Chris Kennedy secretly kissed Mike Madigans ring months ago because he knows Madigan is the real boss.

The Boss Madigan website was launched last month after the speaker failed to show up at a budget meeting with Rauner and other state leaders. Madigan has dismissed the blogs attacks, faulting Republicans for taking such a close interest in his upcoming bid for reelection as house speaker.

It's not affecting me, Madigan said Tuesday. "Im the speaker of the house, Im a candidate for reelection. It is unusual that one party would come across and get themselves involved in a leadership election.

The Illinois Republican Party also released a video last month that featured an unnamed cameraman asking Democratic state Rep. Sam Yingling whether he supports Madigan for another term as house speaker.

I dont know, Yingling, who is featured on the blog, responded. You should talk to him."

On Wednesday, Rauner delayed Thursdays leaders meeting until Madigan and the states other Democratic leaders are prepared to present a budget proposal. Although the states current stopgap funding plan expires at the end of the calendar year, GOP leaders have faulted Democrats for allegedly not approaching the matter with a sense of urgency."
Gov. Bruce Rauners office announced Wednesday that the governor wouldnt schedule any future leaders meetings until state Democratic leaders are ready to present a budget proposal.

The Governor and Republican leaders remain ready to negotiate on a balanced budget with reforms to grow jobs, lower property taxes, improve school and implement term limits, Rauner spokesman Lance Trover said in a statement. However, Democratic leaders continue to discuss internally whether they are prepared to present a budget proposal, so we will schedule the next Four Leaders meeting when we receive confirmation that they are ready.

Following Tuesdays leaders meeting, Rauners office issued a statement admonishing House Speaker Michael Madigan for not proposing a budget.

Today the Speaker refused to put forward a budget proposal and refused to commit to passing any budget whatsoever after December 31st, Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said in a statement. Republicans will not consider revenue without reform. Only Speaker Madigan has proposed raising the income tax.

As the Speaker stalls to force a crisis, we can on the majority to pass term limits and a permanent property tax freeze before any consideration of Speaker Madigans stopgap spending plan, Kelly added.

Madigan's office responded Wednesday, claiming the onus is on Rauner to put forth a budget proposal, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

"We're going to try to examine and try to understand the governor's actions," Madigan spokesman Steve Brown told the paper. "The Democrats have been working tirelessly to deal with the budget issues. Somehow they had it in their heads that we're going to take over some executive action."

"I don't think that's going to happen," Brown added.

Additionally, a spokesman for Senate President John Cullerton said he was "disappointed" in what he hoped would be a "robust discussion on a budget framework," according to the Sun-Times report.

Madigan took shots at Rauner during a Tuesday press conference, accusing the governor of holding the state budget hostage to help his wealthy friends and corporations.

After making the claim, Madigan brushed off requests for an explanation. During the press conference, the speaker also pushed to return to working groups, a move Rauner and the Republicans have frequently dismissed, claiming it signals a step in the wrong direction in the negotiating process.

Madigan proposed establishing working groups for a series of non-budget issues, including education, pensions, workers compensation, local government consolidation and the elimination of mandates on local governments. He also pushed for rank-and-file members of the legislature to aid in the states negotiations with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31.

This would be in response to the governors request for what he would characterize as a turnaround agenda, Madigan said. These are all issues that are pending before the legislature. Theyre such that the members of the legislature and those who have become expert in these areas should participate in the discussions, should participate in the decision-making, in terms of trying to move toward an agreement on moving bills that would make all of these changes.

Madigan claimed House Democrats are full participants in attempting to resolve those issues.

Meanwhile, Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno called Tuesdays meeting substantive, noting that the two sides were able to discuss a budget. However, Radogno faulted Democrats for lacking a sense of urgency, claiming that Madigan and his staff arent worried about passing a budget before the end of the year.

She lauded the working groups contributions to budget negotiations, but wouldnt support them moving forward. House Republican Leader Jim Durkin echoed Radognos sentiments, claiming a budget deal can be reached before the end of the year. Now, that seems unlikely.

The next leaders meeting was originally scheduled for Thursday morning. After Rauners announcement, its unclear when the states top leaders will meet next.
Police are searching for robbers who exchanged gunfire with a store employee Tuesday night in the Portage Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side.

The gunfire erupted between the suspects and the worker about 9:20 p.m. in the store in the 4200 block of North Milwaukee, according to Chicago Police. The robbers made off with cash and merchandise.

"At first I thought it was a joke," Sarkon Khoshava, store owner and victim told NBC 5.

The robbers told Khoshava to keep his hands up and told him not to movebut as they were leaving with the cash he reached for his own gun. No injuries were reported, police said.

"He left me no choice, what would you do?" Khoshava said of his predicament. "They don't care if they kill you for $2, or $5, or $10, you know what I mean?"

Khoshava said he exchanged gunfire with the robbers and that he hit their getaway vehicle's rear window.

A description of the robbers was not available Wednesday morning and no one was in custody as Area North detectives investigated.
A Cook County judge on Wednesday cleared a Chicago Police sergeant and a former Glenview police officer on charges that they lied on the stand during a hearing involving a drug case at the Skokie courthouse, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.

But another defendant, 55-year-old Chicago Police Officer William Pruente, was convicted of perjury, official misconduct and obstruction of justice.

Pruentes testimony from a March 31, 2014 hearing connected to the arrest of Glenview resident Joseph Sperling was material, Judge Matthew Coghlan said issuing his rulings in Pruente and Sgt. James Padars bench trial.

It was Pruente who had handcuffed Sperling after a traffic stop in the northern suburb after receiving information from a confidential informant that Sperling had drugs, Coghlan said.

He [Pruente] knew his testimony was false, the judge said.

Pruente, Padar, Chicago Police Officer Vince Morgan and James Horn, then a Glenview officer, testified that Sperling was handcuffed only after he retrieved his drivers license, they smelled marijuana in his car and they found drugs inside.

But video footage from a squad car at the scene contradicted that testimony, showing that Sperling was arrested before his car was searched, prosecutors said.

The video footage later prompted a Cook County judge to dismiss charges against Sperling.

Earlier, Pruentes attorney, Colleen Daly, argued that her client didnt intentionally lie in court. Mistakes are made. . . . These mistakes should not be criminalized, she said.

Horn and Padar had limited interaction with Sperling at the traffic stop on June 6, 2013, Coghlan said.

Horn basically just stood there and Padar wasnt seen on the video until after the drugs were recovered, the judge said.

Horn, 53, was acquitted earlier Wednesday after his attorney Daniel Herbert asked for a directed verdict.

The follow-up report Horn wrote was inconsistent with the intent to deceive, Coghlan said.

Horn was fired in September 2015, according to reports.

Morgan, 50, pleaded to a misdemeanor attempted obstruction of justice charge in September and was sentenced to a year of probation, court records show.

Morgan has since retired, according to Padars attorney, Tom Needham. Pruente and Padar, now 42, were suspended without pay since their June 2015 arrests, Needham said.

Meanwhile, in September, Sperling was charged in a deadly hit-and-run crash in Morton Grove that claimed the life of 48-year-old Denise Cavada, according to reports.

Sperling, now 26, is awaiting trial in Skokie on charges of aggravated DUI, reckless homicide and failure to report an accident.
Jimmy Johns will pay $100,000 in a settlement over an improper non-compete clause in employee contracts, Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced on Wednesday.

Jimmy Johns, which has about 300 sandwich shops in Illinois, forced the non-compete agreement on its sandwich makers and delivery drivers, according to a statement from Madigan. The restriction did not allow employees to work for any sandwich shop in the country located within a few miles of a Jimmy Johns.

In June, Madigan filed a lawsuit against Jimmy Johns for the restriction which prevented employees from working for two years at any other business that earns most of its revenue from selling sandwiches, the states attorneys office said.

The settlement requires the company to pay $100,000 to the states attorneys office to create education and outreach programs to promote best practices by employers, prosecutors said.

It also requires Jimmy Johns to notify all current and former employees and franchisees in Illinois of the change. The company must remove all non-competes from new employee manuals, and use non-competes only in a way that complies with Illinois law.

This settlement helps ensure Illinois workers have freedom to change jobs in order to seek better wages, further their careers and improve their lives, Madigan said. Workers in Jimmy Johns sandwich shops should know they are not subject to these unfair and unenforceable agreements.

Beginning in January 2017, the Illinois Freedom to Work Act will prevent businesses from having non-compete agreements for employees who make less than $13 an hour, prosecutors said.
A man was taken into custody early Thursday morning after authorities say he fired shots at Chicago police officers in the citys University Village neighborhood.

Chicago police were initially called to the 800 block of South Miller, the University of Illinois-Chicago campus, around 2 a.m. to respond a report of a person with a gun.

While officers were investigating the area someone in the vicinity opened fire, police said.

The gun was shot towards the officers, but no one was injured, according to police.

Police said the suspect was detained and a weapon was recovered.

One witness told NBC 5 he saw the shooter, who he says appeared to be intoxicated. He said he saw the suspect fall down before a gun fell out of his sock. The man then fired at least one gunshot, the witness said.

The university sent out an alert to students following the incident, which marks the seventh time shots have been fired at Chicago police in the 12 says since Thanksgiving.

Area Central detectives are investigating the shooting. Further information was not immediately made available.
You probably expect your home to smell fresh after a professional housecleaner finishes the work. But a local consumer said her recent experience with a housecleaner led to months of frustration and foul-smelling kitchen cabinets.

And the pungent stench still lingers.

Weve aired them out. Weve done everything we possibly can and the smell is still there, said Melissa Mercado. Its not going away and I absolutely do not feel comfortable using them.

Mercado, of Chicago, said the housecleaner placed mothballs or a similar smelling chemical in each of her kitchen cabinets back in September.

The smell and chemicals have permeated the wood. It is impossible to get rid of, Mercado said.

She said it forced her to throw away dishes, containers and anything plastic.

I wouldnt want to put anything in here because anything that goes in comes out smelling exactly like the cabinets, Mercado said.

Mercado, who describes herself as a busy working mom, used the Handy app to schedule the September 2nd housecleaning. In fact, she said shed used the app many times before and was happy with the results.

So I was completely surprised that this happened, Mercado said.

A Handy spokesperson said the issue was the result a mixup in terms of cleaning products.

Mercado said she immediately removed the mothballs and soon after filed a claim with Handy. She also visited several home improvement stores and received estimates of between $7,000 and $8,400 to replace her cabinets. She said she was only looking for average cabinets that matched the size of what she already had in her kitchen.

Handy eventually made a first offer. But the amount would only cover half the cost needed for new cabinets, based on the estimates Mercado received from the home improvement stores.

NBC 5 Responds contacted Handy regarding Mercados concerns. The company then doubled its original offer to Mercado and a spokesperson responded with the following statement:

Handys professionals have done well over 3 million jobs-an accomplishment achieved through a relentless focus on providing the best experience possible for customers and professionals alike. In the rare cases that something goes wrong in the course of a booking, we are committed to working with customers to help and reach a fair resolution. We have reached out to this customer and offered $7,500 to assist her.

Mercado received the check several weeks later.

It is not about the money, Mercado said. I just want the smell to be gone.
Grooming pubic hair may be linked to an increased risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease, according to a new study.

The study, published in the Sexually Transmitted Infections journal, surveyed 7,580 people between the ages of 18 and 65. The researches asked the participants whether they trimmed or shaved their pubic hair; how often they did so and what tools they used. Researches also asked the participants how many sexual partners they've had and whether they've had a sexually transmitted infection.

The results showed that participants who trimmed or shaved their pubic hair had a higher rate of contracting an STI, but did not prove a direct correlation between the two.

Participants who regularly groomed their pubic hair were 80 percent more likely to report contracting an STI than those who never groomed, according to the study.

The researchers note small tears in the skin created during grooming could allow STI-causing bacteria to infect someone who shaves their private parts.

But the correlation could also be accounted for if the people who groom tend to have more sexual partners, thus putting them at greater risk of contracting an STI.

The study had other limitations, like not asking participants if they used condoms during sex, Debby Herbenick, an associate professor at Indiana University Bloomington, told Live Science.
A teen pedestrian who was hit by an SUV in Bridgeport on Wednesday night has died, city officials said.

Ismael A. Colon, of Bridgeport, was walking across Washington Avenue when he was hit by a silver SUV near Pequonnock Street around 5:44 p.m. that fled the scene toward Coleman Street, police said.

Colon sustained head and brain trauma and died at Saint Vincent's Hospital.

Anyone with information about the driver or collision is asked to call police at (203) 576-TIPS or (203) 576-8477.
Hartford State Senator John Fonfara wouldn't say outright that he disagreed with the bipartisan findings of a report regarding the future of Brainard Airport, but his actions were pretty loud and clear.

Fonfara moved to basically block the approval of a report that detailed the positives and negatives of the Hartford airport, because it didn't answer key questions he had regarding nearby structures.

The report did not provide that as an alternative that if some of those obstacles were to be removed or minimized, what would then be the value of the property be to the city of Hartford, to the region, and to the state," said Fonfara, referring to a waste to energy plant adjacent to Brainard.

Those who work and operate businesses at Brainard saw the move os political posturing, because Fonfara has, in the past, supported a proposed development for the site that Brainard sits on that included shuttering the airport.

For Senator Fonfara to come out and say I want to shelve it, that tells me a whole lot," said Bob Morande, one of the owners of the Hartford Jet Center. "What does that tell you? That tells me that he and some individuals are trying to take over the airport and take care of themselves.

The report detailed that there are myriad obstacles to developing the site where Brainard sits. There are environmental issues stemming from decades of use as an airport, the federal government has numerous barriers to closing an airport, and the airport has a more than $40 million annual economic impact to the region and state.

One of the biggest issues with the facility, however, is that it provides very little economic benefit to the City of Hartford. Just by being in Hartford, the city loses out on at least a half a million dollars in tax revenues by housing the airport.

Critics of that logic argue the airport provides a key resource for the the insurance industry by providing a venue for helicopters and private planes to fly in and out of.

Morande says with the report being scrapped, any recommendations to improve the facilities, increase hangar space, and the like, have to be put on hold.

Theres a lot of things we can do at the airport to help grow it, and grow the economy for the city of Hartford and the region, Morande said, "But we can't bring anyone in here because they're afraid."

Fonfara said a new report could come in as soon as three months, and made a veiled commentary that he hopes the next report provides avenues for some kind of development, supported in the document.

I believe that area has great potential far beyond what anyone has envisioned to this point but the study did not go far enough in examining that and thats why weve asked the auditors to consider that going forward.
Things are back to normal at Meadowside School in Milford after police responded for an emotionally disturbed person with a knife outside apartments nearby.

Police said they responded to apartments near the school to deal with an emotionally disturbed person outside who was threatening to harm himself and have taken the person to the hospital.

The school was on lockdown, but the scene is now clear.
A Manchester police officer shot and killed a pitbull that was attacking a 14-year-old girl on Wednesday.

Manchester Police responded to a dog biting complaint on Vernon Street at 12:30 p.m.

When Officer Joseph Davis arrived to the scene, the house's smoke alarm was going off and he could hear screaming from inside the home.

Davis walked into the kitchen where a toaster was on fire and flamers were reaching the cabinets. The officer found a 14-year-old girl sitting on a kitchen counter, screaming that a dog was attacking her friend.

The teen was instructed to run out of the house as Davis followed screams into the next room, where he found the other teenage girl and blood on the floor.

Police said a large pitbull, weighing approximately 100 pounds, was jumping towards a TV stand where the girl was hiding behind. The officer said the girl had blood on her arms and midsection.

Davis called out to the dog in an effort to distract the pitbull but the dog continued charging the girl. When Davis tried to call out to the dog a second time, the dog ran toward him in an aggressive manner, police said.

When the dog ran towards Davis, he discharged his gun and killed the dog.

The officer was able to get himself and the teen suffering from puncture wounds out of the house as the residence filled with smoke, police said.

The teen victims told police that they had come home early from school and found the fire alarm going off with smoke coming out of the house. The girls said the dog seemed agitated and was running around before biting one of the girls. When her friend tried to pull the dog away, she got bit and was dragged across the floor by the dog. She was bitten several times before they were able to call 911.

The 14-year-old was transported to Connecticut Children's Hospital to be treated.
Police are on patrol at a mosque in Orange after it received a threatening letter that was addressed to "the children of Satan."

"You are evil," the letter reads. "But your day of reckoning has arrived."

The executive director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations in Connecticut, or CAIR-CT, said the group asked the police department for additional patrols at the New Haven Islamic Center in Orange.

"Its very disgusting for me. Its very ridiculous," Dr. Mohamed Abdelati, the Imam with the New Haven Islamic Center, said.

Abdelati said the letter went to the center's previous address in West Haven and whoever sent it included a return address in New Haven, even though the envelope was postmarked in Santa Clarita, California.

That letter says that President-elect Donald Trump will "cleanse" the United States of "you Muslims."

"There's a new sheriff in town -- President Donald Trump," the letter NBC Connecticut obtained reads. "And he's going to cleanse American and make it shine again. And, he's going to start with you Muslims."

CAIR-CTs executive director, Mongi Dhaouadi, said incidents targeting Muslim-Americans have spiked since the November election.

This act of hate campaign targeting a Connecticut house of worship must be investigated by state and federal law enforcement authorities and our states leaders should speak out against the growing anti-Muslim bigotry that inevitably leads to such incidents, Dhaouadi said.

Dhaouadi and the CAIR-CT is calling on all Americans to speak out against such language.

"This is our country," Abdelati said. "We have to serve this country together. We have to build it together and we have to ignore all of those people."

Mosques in Massachusetts and Rhode Island also received the letter.
Two investigations are currently underway to figure out what caused a train derailment in New Britain late Tuesday afternoon.

Pan Am Railways and the Federal Railroad Administration are conducting two sepearte investgations.

"We dont anticipate getting a cause for at least a couple weeks, however, what we can say, though not official, looking at mechanical error of some sort, what that is, we wont know until the investigative process is complete," New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart told the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters.

A team from the Federal Railway Administration (FRA) inspects part of the train and its tracks in New Britain, along with dozens of Pan Am crew members.

Massachusetts-based Pan Am owns the 24-mile stretch of railway track from Berlin to Waterbury.

The task is to figure out what caused nine cars carrying construction and demolition debris to derail and flip over.

"Its scary. It certainly makes you think and question. What are the safety measures to take in regards to the railway. And its good because its opening the lines of communication," Stewart added.

Which is something the city has struggled with in the past.

Pan Am tells NBC Connecticut that these tracks are inspected once a week, and loads cant leave unless visual inspections show they are quote defect-free.

And in this case, Pan Ams vice president said no defects were found yesterday.

The NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters also checked a federal database and did not find any issues with the Pan Am tracks in Connecticut.

An FRA spokesman tells NBC Connecticut that its inspectors are looking at a number of variables to determine a cause, as well as, assess the current condition of the tracks.

Pan Am says theyll be analyzing two black boxes recovered on site.

The boxes will show speed, when the conductor hit the breaks and when the horn was blown, along with other vital information.

If no cause is found between that and an inspection of the train tracks, theyll look at the actual cars, to see if there is some sort of defect.

"I do want to ensure the safety and security moving forward. This railway does go through the heart of town, and well do everything we can to ensure pan am is 110 percent on board giving us all information and will remain constantly committed to that," Stewart added.
The state of Connecticut has agreed to pay $950,000 to the estate of a Salem man who was killed in a police shooting during a fire at his house in 2013, according to the law firm representing the estate.

Robert Bergeson, a 59-year-old retired Pfizer manager, was shot by a State Police trooper after acting in a threatening way when officials responded to the flames engulfing his garage and home, according to officials.

The Reardon Law Firm of New London released a statement on Wednesday, saying the settlement was finalized today and that the wrongful death case was scheduled to go to trial in federal court in January.

Firefighters arrived at Bergeson's Witter Road home on the night of June 18, 2013 to find the house and detached garage engulfed in flames.

Police said firefighters "discovered evidence to suggest that the fire may have been intentionally set" and proceeded with caution.

As firefighters fought the flames, Bergeson was shot and killed by state police.

Police have said the man was acting irrationally, charging them and waving a large blunt object that looked like a club.

A statement from the law firm representing the estate says Bergeson became emotionally distraught when his wife of 27 years divorced him.

She was awarded 60 percent of the Witter Road home and Bergeson alerted the fire department that he was going to burn the house down because he did not want his ex-wife to get the property, according to the statement from the Reardon Law Firm.
It's an amazing story of survival: a New York family's house was obliterated in a devastating explosion Nov. 29, but everyone escaped alive.

A week after the blast destroyed their home, Denise and Craig Kunish spoke exclusively to NBC 4 New York about what happened that day.

Speaking from a friend's house, Denise Kunish described how she had just walked in the door to their home on Wailing Road in the Pine Island hamlet of Warwick.

She was waiting for the couple's three children to arrive home on the school bus, but was overwhelmed by the smell of rotten eggs, even phoning her husband about it.

Then the explosion happened.

"I can't even describe it, it was just so loud and everything was crumbling around me," she said.

The power of the blast blew Denise Kunish out of the house and buried her under rubble in the back yard.

"There was a time I was just lying there I thought I was going to die," she said.

Craig arrived home in a panic, looking for only one thing - his wife. "I was running to find Denise," he said.

Luckily she was able to reach her phone, call her husband and climb out of the rubble, with only bruising to her face from the close call. The couple's "precious" wedding album also survived the blast, another reason to be grateful, they said.

"I'm beyond blessed and thankful and trying to take it one day at a time," Denise Kunich said.

The Warwick community rallied to assist the family and raised almost $150,000 for them in the last week.

"This is just the most incredible town and community and exactly where we were meant to be," Denise said.

The couple said they suspect the blast was related to the septic system under repair, but so far investigators have not determined the exact cause.

They family is currently living in a hotel, and friends in Warwick had offered them a place to stay over the holidays.
The Richardson Independent School District is joining a growing list of local school districts speaking out about school buses making students late for class.

Richardson ISD is one of 12 districts contracting with Dallas County Schools  the bus agency that's been under fire for safety lapses and chronically late service.

Officials with the district told NBC 5 they are willing to give their bus contractor more time to fix issues, but not a lot of time.

"Our job is to educate students and we can't educate them if they are not in their classrooms," said Sandra Hayes, assistant superintendent with the Richardson ISD.

Hayes said her staff is constantly discussing concerns with bus contractor DCS.

"We monitor daily the number of routes they're down on drivers, and then we monitor how quickly they can reassign routes and get our kids where they need to be," said Hayes.

Richardson joins school districts in Irving, Coppell, Lancaster and Dallas which have also complained complaints about tardy DCS buses this school year.

Lancaster and Dallas have already announced plans to consider a new bus provider, but Richardson said it's willing to give DCS at least a couple of months to make good on promises to improve.

"I'd like to give them some time to put that plan into action and see to some results. Certainly they need to be quick. We cannot have kids late to school every day," said Hayes.

DCS has said its struggling with a driver shortage and current has 154 openings across all 12 districts.

Wednesday morning, DCS was out recruiting at the first of four local job fairs held over the next two weeks.

Meanwhile, in Richardson, they're waiting for nine newly-hired drivers to take their road tests.

"We know that they are short on drivers, so we have not had a full complement of drivers for all of our bus routes," Hayes said.

School officials promise to consider other options if they don't see improvement.

"I don't have a deadline, a hard deadline, but I'd like to see it quickly," Hayes said.

DCS said its on-time rate has improved to 90 percent system-wide in recent months. However, that statistic comes from an electronic tracking system that's only been installed on about half of the bus fleet.

DCS officials added they are continuing to meet with districts to work through any service concerns.

This is not the first time they have been in this situation. In 2012, there were similar complaints from then-Dallas ISD superintendent Mike Miles about late buses and a shortage of drivers. DCS promised then to make changes to ensure they would not face a similar situation again.
The best places to celebrate New Year's Eve are not in Texas.

At least that's what a new study says.

The website, WalletHub, compared the 100 biggest cities based on 20 key indicators of an epic New Year's Eve.

Their data rages from weather to average price of a NYE party ticket to the legality of fireworks.

Top 10 Best Places for New Year's Eve:

Orlando San Francisco Atlanta Denver Buffalo Cincinnati Miami St. Louis Pittsburgh Las Vegas

Even in New York City, where millions of people gather in Times Square every year to watch the ball drop, came in at number 38 on the list.

As for cities in North Texas, the news isn't great.

Dallas came in at number 44, while Irving is 75, Fort Worth is 93, Arlington is 95 and Garland is 98. Ouch.

Click here to see the entire list.
Two Wise County Sheriff's deputies and a Texas State Trooper were injured Thursday when they collided while pursing a parole violator, Decatur police say.

According to Decatur Chief of Police Rex Hoskins the collision took place when a Wise County Deputy entered the median to avoid driving over spike strips.

Hoskins said the deputy crashed into the front of a Texas Department of Public Safety vehicle driven by a trooper who had crossed the northbound lanes of U.S. Highway 81/287 and entered the median to join the southbound pursuit.



Two Wise County deputies in the car were injured in the rollover collision and were transported to Wise Health System Hospital in Decatur, police said. The State Troope was also injured and was taken to a nearby hospital in a private vehicle.

The parole violator hit the spike strips and was taken into custody after stopping a short distance away and leading police on a short foot chase.
A Duncanville police officer fatally shot a person while serving a warrant Wednesday afternoon.

State and local police officers were assigned to the DEA for a warrant operation in the 1500 block of Commerce Street in Dallas.

During the operation, shots were fired by a Duncanville police officer which resulted in the suspect being struck, Dallas police said.

The person in question was pronounced dead at the scene; no officers wer injured during the incident.

The Dallas Police Departments Special Investigations Unit will be conducting an investigation into the shooting.
A Southwest Airlines flight traveling from Dallas Love Field to Houston Hobby Airport was forced to make an emergency landing due to a "pressurization issue," an airline spokesperson says.

Southwest flight #43 returned to Love Field after the captain received a "cockpit indication that there was a pressurization issue."

Oxygen masks were deployed on board as a precaution, and the plane landed safely in Dallas.

The aircraft has been taken out of service for inspection, the airline spokesperson said.

The airline also said they are working to accommodate their customers another flight to Houston.

On Tuesday, another Southwest flight was diverted to Jackson, Mississippi, after a loss of cabin pressure prompted the aircraft's oxygen masks to lower.
Fiske Hanley has crammed a lot of lives into his 96 years.

When asked how old he feels, Id say Im in my 60s, Hanley answered with a laugh.

In his Fort Worth home hes proudly wearing his officers uniform.

"It almost fits too, Hanley said.

In World War II, the aeronautical engineer was in charge of keeping engines running on B-29s.

Turned out pretty good, up till the seventh mission, said Hanley.

On that mission their B-29 was lit-up by a Japanese battleship.

So they put all of our engines on fire, our bomb bay was on fire. I figured I was through, said Hanley.

He and the co-pilot jumped out of their burning plane.

"I bailed out of this little door right here, Hanley said while pointing to a small model plane.

They parachuted down, hitting the ground in Japan. Hanley pointed to a painting and said, this is where I landed over here, in a rice paddy. Thats where I got captured.

Soon after capture the torture began. He was already wounded by gunshots and plane shrapnel.

No medical attention, one-half regular rations -- we were starving to death, said Hanley. And so, we were just trying to live.

What made it worse? B-29 prisoners were classified as war criminals and treated more harshly than other prisoners.

We were not going to live through the war no matter what happened, said Hanley.

Held in a dungeon in Tokyo he was fed a daily food ration of rice the size of a silver dollar.

Once a day, thats all we got, thrown in on the dirty floor, said Hanley.

He said his weight went from 165 pounds down to about 80 pounds. On top of that, he counted 14 times of facing imminent death, including a firing squad.

Order comes out, guns up, click click, bullet in the barrel, I thought, Boy this is it and nothing happened, Hanley said.

The officer never pulled the trigger.

Why didnt they do it? Hanley questioned.

He credits his survival to his faith and his bodys ability to heal his 30 plus infected wounds.

By the time four and a half months, half of them had healed.

More than five months after his capture, Japans emperor surrendered and the fighting stopped.

Its just all these happy people. Im in the front row there, Hanley said with a chuckle, pointing to a picture with other POWs who were freed. We wanted food, candy and cigarettes.

Years later, working on planes as a civilian back in Texas, he met a Japanese co-worker named Bill Nagase.

Hanley learned Nagase trained as a kamikaze pilot in Japan during World War II. The two became friends and Hanley later learned their paths had crossed in the tragedies of war when Hanleys B-29 dropped a bomb on Nagases home.

Well, I didnt tell you really how bad it was. I burned his house down. He didnt tell me this, but his wife did. I killed his mother and father -- and were still friends.

Hanley was by Nagase's side when he passed away a few months ago. Nagase left him his Japanese service medal.

Hanley has traveled back to Japan several times while working to answer some of lifes toughest questions, including one that came from a little school girl.

I said, Yes, young lady, what do you want to ask? said Hanley. She said, Mr. Hanley, what causes wars? Now how do you answer that?

Hanley has written two books about his accounts of World War II. He is also planning to go back to Japan for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Hell be 100-years-old that year.
The investigation into last week's devastating Oakland warehouse blaze has yet to reveal what caused the inferno, which claimed 36 lives and has been deemed the United States' deadliest fire in 13 years, federal officials said Wednesday.

City officials revealed that the building, which was used for artist's studios and illegal living spaces, hadn't been looked into by city building inspectors in over 30 years. And the NBC Bay Area I-Team found that there is no record that Oakland fire inspectors had been inside the warehouse in the last decade.

An electronic music party was in full swing at the so-called Ghost Ship warehouse when a three-alarm fire sparked around 11:30 p.m. Friday. City officials identified two more victims  Jason McCarty, 35, and Wolfgang Renner, 61, both of Oakland  on Wednesday, bringing the total number of names released to 28.

The Oakland fire has the highest number of casualties in the United States since a 2003 nightclub fire killed 100 people in Rhode Island, said Jill Snyder, special agent in charge of the San Francisco office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Snyder, during a media briefing Wednesday, said there was no evidence a fire alarm or fire suppression system was installed at the warehouse, located at 1315 E. 31st Ave.

The fire appears to have started on the first floor of the warehouse and smoke trapped occupants on the second floor, Snyder said. It was "well developed" before second-floor occupants realized the building was engulfed. The building's two stairwells, which connected the first and second floors, did not lead to exits, she said.

Reports pointing to a refrigerator as a cause for the fire are false, Snyder said, adding that investigators are not ruling it out. There is also no evidence the fire was intentionally set, she added.

Reporters grilled Darin Ranilletti, interim director of Oakland's Planning and Building Department, about a history of code violations at 1315 31st Avenue  the warehouse  and 1305 31st Avenue - the vacant lot next door.

"Our records didn't show that an inspector had been inside the building in the last year 30 years," Ranelletti said at a news conference. Building inspectors can only go inside a property when following up on a permit request or complaint about its interior, he said.

When asked about neighbors' complaints regarding house construction at the warehouse in 2014, Ranelletti clarified that their grievances were for the vacant lot adjacent to the warehouse. Not seeing construction on the vacant lot, inspectors dismissed the complaint, he said.

Most recently, Ranelletti said an inspector visited the vacant lot on Nov. 17 and 18, 2016, in response to a complaint about blight and an illegal interior building stucture. A notice of violation was issued, and the propety owner was given until Jan. 16 to respond.

"If we have an inspector that's looking at a particular property for which the complaint has been registered, he or she is not going to investigate adjacent properties on the street unless there's a physical obvious violation," Rannelletti said. "And at that time, that inspector did not see a physical, obvious violation at the warehouse."

The city employs about 11 building inspectors, Rannelletti said, who are tasked with handling an estimated 4,000 complaints a year. It's a similar situation at Oakland's Fire Prevention Bureau, which employs six fire inspectors, who had not stepped foot inside the warehouse in over a decade.

One retired fire inspector told the I-Team that it is clear from pre-fire photos of the conditions there that such an inspection would have led to citations at the warehouse.

City Mayor Libby Schaaf said she will be working with city agencies to reform Oakland's building complaint system to prevent future tragedies.

However, Shelley Mack, a former tenant of the now-devastated warehouse where about 18 artists lived and worked, believes it was just a matter of time before the building that felt more like a maze went up in flames.

"This was senseless," Mack said. "This was exactly what I was trying to prevent."

Mack said she shelled out nearly $600 a month in rent, but lease-holder Derick Almena refused to make the building safer, instead profiting off those living inside.

"Derick isnt a victim of the housing crisis," Mack said, but "a predator of the housing crisis."

Wednesday's updates to the investigation came hours after crews and cadaver dogs completed a search of the warehouse, with the death toll holding at 36.

According to Alameda County sheriff's Sgt. Ray Kelly, the investigation has taken its toll, especially as those looking into the fire heard stories of people sending farewell texts to family members as the warehouse burned.

Families have received "messages of 'I am going to die. I love you,'" Kelly said, "and so those have been hard."

Thirty-two victims' families have been notified of their deaths, while three were being informed as of Wednesday afternoon. One victim needs scientific identification, officials explained.

"We will no longer find other victims  that's huge," Kelly said.

On Tuesday, Oakland officials declared a local state of emergency because of the fire. The city council is scheduled to ratify the state of emergency on Thursday, which makes the city eligible for state and federal aid.

Mayor Schaaf said Wednesday that her top priority is making the city safer and addressing issues drudged up by the fatal fire.

"Oakland will move forward with compassion and an unwavering commitment to safety in all of its forms," Schaaf said.

Toward that end, she has spearheaded a national fire safety task force with help from the National Fire Protection Association  three representatives of which are currently aboard a flight heading to the East Bay  and U.S. Fire Administrator Ernest Mitchell, Jr.

"My immediate priorities for this task force are enhanced building safety, event safety and complaint procedures," Schaaf said. "Some areas where we'll be considering new regulations include smoke alarms, carbon monoxide monitors, enhanced fire inspections, stronger emergency exit requirements, the permitting of events and the monitoring of illegal events."

Schaaf stressed that it is essential to "clarify the responsibility of city employees to properly report any obs of dangerous living condtions and illegal events."

However, she stressed, "We will not scapegoat city employees in the wake of this disaster."

The city's Artist Housing and Workspace Task Force will also be reconvened and expanded, according to Schaaf, to "ensure that the arts community is fully engaged in this conversation."
Yoko Ono offered a heartfelt appeal for peace in a Facebook post on the 36th anniversary of the murder of her former husband, John Lennon.

"Dear Friends,

Every day, 91 Americans are killed with guns.

We are turning this beautiful country into a War Zone.

Together, let's bring back America, the green land of Peace.

The death of a loved one is a hollowing experience.

After 36 years, our son Sean and I still miss him," Ono wrote.

Lennon, a founding member of the Beatles, was shot to death by Mark David Chapman on Dec. 8, 1980, as he and Ono were entering their apartment building on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

Ono's Facebook page is filled with other homages to her late husband and his anti-war convictions.

[NATLu002du002dDO NOT USE] In Memoriam: Influential People We've Lost This Year

Her profile picture shows Lennon and her huddled behind a poster emblazoned with the words "War is Over!" Her cover photo is also a picture of the phrase, which Lennon put on billboards in cities around the world to protest the Vietnam war in the 1970s.
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings will deliver his annual State of the City address to members of the Dallas Regional Chamber on Thursday.

The speech comes at a difficult time for the city, with an impending crisis concerning the Dallas Police and Fire Pension system.

The fund faces a possible $4 billion in future unfunded benefits after decades of promising too much to retirees with risky real estate investments that returned too little.

The Dallas City Council heard the city's plan to fix the ailing system Wednesday, including a proposal to reduce benefit checks for the members who have withdrawn more than $500 million in deferred retirement funds since August.

The Dallas City Council heard the citys plan to fix the ailing Dallas Police and Fire Pension plan Wednesday.

Dallas Chief Financial Officer Elizabeth Reich presented the plan to the city council, which is to vote on it next week. She said the proposal would bring the pension plan, which has been plagued by overvalued real estate investments and the large volume of withdrawals, to 100 percent solvency in 30 years.

Actuaries hired by the pension system estimated earlier this year that the plan, which covered about 9,900 members and beneficiaries as of the last annual report, was 45 percent funded and could become insolvent in 15 years. After members withdrew more than $500 million in deferred retirement funds, the $1.5 billion plan is closer to 36 percent funded and could be insolvent in 10 years, the city said.

On Wednesday, Mayor Rawlings said his State of the City speech will be a glass half empty, glass half full view of Dallas.

In addition to the pension concern, a recent report indicated Dallas has a greater percentage of children living in poverty than any other major city in the United States.

The Dallas City Council heard the citys plan to fix the ailing Dallas Police and Fire Pension plan Wednesday, including a proposal to reduce benefit checks for the members who have withdrawn more than $500 million in deferred retirement funds since August.

On top of those concerns, many major Dallas roads are in need of costly repairs.

But the Mayor said he sees the glass half full when eyeing the possible solutions to these problems.

We are in a great place, I think, in the City of Dallas. The reason I think were going to stay that way is were going to take tough issues head on, be honest with people, solve those problems and move forward, Rawlings said.

I want to make sure we see the right things happen. That were building a city for the 21st Century, for 100 years, Rawlings said. And thats the way we need to think. Its not just during my term.
The union president slammed by Donald Trump on Twitter challenged the president-elect Thursday to back up his claim that a deal to discourage Carrier Corp. from closing an Indiana factory would save 1,100 American jobs.

"He overreacted, President-elect Trump did," United Steelworkers Local 1999 President Chuck Jones told CNN. "He should have come out and tried to justify his numbers."

Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence  governor of Indiana  visited Carrier's Indianapolis factory Dec. 1 to celebrate the deal. Trump suggested then that the number of jobs saved could top 1,100.

Jones said following Trump's announcement that the number of jobs saved is more like 800. "Are we pleased with some of the jobs being saved?" Jones told The Associated Press. "Yeah, without a doubt. But Trump is saying no more jobs are going to be leaving this country, and I think we could use a little more honesty."

Late Wednesday, Trump tweeted: "Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers."

That local union branch represents workers at Carrier's Indianapolis plant.

Indiana officials said Dec. 1 the deal involved "preserving 1,069 high-wage jobs" as Carrier kept furnace manufacturing at the plant and received $7 million in tax incentives over 10 years. The AP reported the figure covered about 800 union and supervisor jobs that were set for outsourcing to Mexico  and included some 250 headquarters and engineering staff positions which the company had always said would remain in Indianapolis.

In a second tweet Wednesday night, Trump suggested to Jones: "Spend more time working  less time talking" and the union should "Reduce dues."

About 30 minutes after Trump tweeted about Jones, the union leader started getting harassing phone calls, he told MSNBC.

He said one caller asked: "What kind of car do you drive?" Another said: "We're coming for you."

He told the cable news outlet he wasn't sure how the callers found his number.

"Nothing that says they're going to kill me, but, you know, you better keep your eye on your kids," Jones told MSNBC. "I've been doing this job for 30 years, and I've heard everything from people who want to burn my house down or shoot me ... I can deal with people that make stupid statements and move on."
A woman who competed on "Jeopardy!" while battling terminal colon cancer died the week before her episode was set to air. Prize money from the show has gone to cancer research as she wished.

"Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek said in a statement that Cindy Stowell died Monday.

The quiz show said on its website that the Austin, Texas, woman was invited to an audition for the show in August. Before the audition, Stowell reached out to a producer to ask how long it might be before she taped her episode because she didn't have long to live. She said she would like to donate any winnings from the show to cancer research.

Stowell passed the audition and was booked for the earliest possible taping Aug. 31.

Her appearance will air Tuesday.
Authorities investigating the Oakland warehouse party fire that killed 36 people have said they are considering a criminal case  even murder charges. But as relatives learned after a nightclub fire killed 100 people in Rhode Island, any prosecution would be a long and complicated road that may not end with a feeling of justice.

The 2003 fire at The Station in West Warwick was started by pyrotechnics for the rock band Great White, which set fire to foam that lined the walls as soundproofing. It was actually highly flammable packing foam, never approved for such a use, and the crowded club became an inferno in seconds.

In Oakland, investigators said this week that they were looking at a refrigerator and other electrical appliances as possible causes in the Friday night fire in the warehouse packed with wooden structures, where electricity was provided by cords that snaked through the space.

Relatives of those killed and lawyers involved in the Rhode Island case said they see troubling parallels.

In both fires, there was an alleged lack of proper permits and as well as loads of highly flammable material inside. In both, the operators were accused of ignoring safety standards, such as providing adequate fire exits. As in Rhode Island, there are suggestions that officials in Oakland didn't do enough to inspect and monitor the building, leading to tragedy.

At The Station, inspectors failed to note the foam in their reports. They also raised the club's capacity, so people were allowed to pack inside.

A nearly 10-month grand jury investigation resulted in involuntary manslaughter charges for three people: the club's owners, Jeffrey and Michael Derderian, and the man who set off the pyrotechnics, Great White tour manager Daniel Biechele.

But many were outraged that the town's fire marshal and Great White leader Jack Russell were not charged.

Dave Kane, whose son, Nicholas O'Neill, died in The Station fire, said he believes he is seeing in Oakland what he saw in Rhode Island: a rush to blame the operator of the space and to protect public officials.

"The elected officials, the fire officials, they're the responsible ones," Kane said, adding that families of those killed shouldn't expect much. "Don't get your hopes up, because too many people have to cover themselves, and that's the problem."

Jeff Pine, a former Rhode Island attorney general who represented Jeffrey Derderian, said The Station fire represented a "perfect storm" of things going wrong at the same time.

In such cases, manslaughter charges are more likely than murder charges, he said. To get to a murder charge, you have to show some level of criminal intent or malicious conduct, such as someone intentionally setting the fire, he said. Authorities said on Tuesday there is no indication the Oakland fire was intentionally set.

Tom Briody, who defended Biechele, said establishing criminal intent is a high burden, but there is a tendency to lower it when so many people are killed.

"The reality is that when you have a large death toll, the cases get investigated more aggressively. Ultimately, I think the burden somehow lowers itself," he said. "Somehow, it becomes a lot easier to convince folks that someone's to blame than when there's a smaller amount of damage or harm."

Biechele ultimately pleaded guilty to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter and served less than two years in prison. The Derderians pleaded no contest to the same charges without admitting guilt. Michael Derderian spent less than three years in prison, and Jeffrey Derderian got community service.

"That was rather devastating," said Chris Fointaine, whose son, Mark, died, and whose daughter was badly injured. "The fact that one brother walked away with basically no time, and the other with what we considered a slap on the wrist."

She said relatives of those killed became their own sort of family and drew support from each other in the years that followed.

"They need to be prepared for this to be dragging for a long, long time," she said of the families in Oakland. "I think the only comfort that we found was in each other."

In Rhode Island, the criminal case took more three years, and the civil cases against dozens of people and companies took six. The settlements divided among survivors and relatives of the dead totaled $176 million.

Fontaine called those settlements the most insignificant thing that happened in the case.

"To me, that was the least important. To me, seeing justice served would have been the most helpful," she said. "We never got that justice served. And we never will."
A U.S. Marine Corps pilot who ejected from an F/A-18 fighter jet near Japan Wednesday has been recovered and pronounced dead a day later, officials said.

The jet suffered a mishap, prompting its pilot  identified Thursday as Capt. Jake Frederick  to eject, according to a news release from the Marines.

Search-and-rescue teams looked for the pilot, who ejected southeast of Japan's Shikoku island, according to an earlier military statement.

The F/A-18 was part of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing based in Okinawa, Japan and was flying a regularly scheduled training mission.

[NATL] Top News Photos: Pope Visits Japan, and More

Frederick was recovered by a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force ship, the Japanese Ministry of Defense confirmed to local media Thursday, the statement said. "Our deepest condolences go out to the family and friends of the pilot. The cause of the crash is still unknown."

It remains unclear what caused the crash.
Fire damaged a home in Sun Valley on Wednesday, where two men suffered critical burn injuries.

The men were discovered across the street from the house at 8366 Glencrest Drive in critical condition with second- and third-degree burns, according to Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

It was unclear how the two men arrived there, Humphrey said. One was a 38-year-old man with burns to 46 percent of his body, and the other victim was a 20-year-old man who had burns to 56 percent of his body.

Firefighters said there was evidence of explosive damage that compromised the 66-year-old home prior to their arrival. Electric wires were also down from a power pole to the one-story structure, Humphrey said.

Investigators believe a possible butane honey oil lab in the home may have started the fire. LA IMPACT drug task force was on scene awaiting a search warrant.

Firefighters dispatched to the location at 3:51 p.m. had the fire out within 34 minutes of their arrival, Humphrey said. The fire was confined to the home's garage and attic.
As Americans observed the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans remembered what happened after the attack: the forced internment of more than 100,000 because of their race.

One survivor of internment camps is worried history might repeat itself.

Actor Rodney Kageyama remembers it well. He was a little boy when his family was forced into internment. Every year the anniversary brings a little trepidation.

"It just brings a little twinge to me," he said. "Hey, I'm an American."

Japanese Americans were set to hold a candlelight vigil in Little Tokyo on Wednesday to show solidarity with Muslim Americans following the suggestion of a new registry for immigrants from Muslim countries. A similar registry was done after 9/11 but abandoned after criticism of racial profiling.

"I think, you know, oh not again. Not again. We went through so much," Kageyama said. "I don't want to see them going through what we went through."

An immigration advisor to president-elect Donald Trump has said any registry would focus only on immigrants from so-called at-risk countries, but critics say that would in effect be a Muslim registry, and a first step toward internment. During World War II, no Japanese Americans were found to have performed any act of espionage or sabotage.

"Our community feels an obligation to speak up any time this sort of thing comes up again and tell people this is wrong," said Chris Komai of the Little Tokyo Community Council. "Why make the same mistake again when we know that Muslim Americans are already serving in the armed forces and showing that they are good Americans too?"

Historians also remind us many Japanese Americans came out of the internment camps and fought for America during World War II. In fact, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team was one of the most decorated in history.
Nearly 300 schools nationwide were named a 2016 National Blue Ribbon School and only one from LAUSD received the prestigious honor on Wednesday.

Wonderland Avenue Elementary School, located in the Hollywood Hills, was recognized for its students' academic success.

"It means that we are a very special school and we are lucky to get this award," said 10-year-old student Camden.

To be nominated as a Blue Ribbon school, the institution's respective state department of education must complete an application that highlights a school's practices.

"I guess because of some our programs that made us diverse from other schools but made us stand out in an optimistic way," 10-year-old Luca said.

Wonderland was recognized for its Exemplary High Performing status, which is based on academic success, but also focuses on its Readers and Writers Workshops, its "Way of Council" program and other acclaimed educational programs.

Luca said the school has a welcoming environment.

"No one's ever alone and you always help some out and you try to solve problems in a very fair way," he said.

Students at the school also appreciate the diversity at Wonderland.

"There's a ton of different nationalities here," Camden said. "We have Korean people, we have Indonesian people, and we have people from South America."

But it's the school's education and history of excellence that got the attention of the State Board of Education to submit them for the national honor from the U.S. Department of Education.

"We have a lot of great curricula and we execute it very well," Wonderland's Principal Sean Teer said.

Teer sees his school as a model for all of LAUSD. It's only the 16th school to receive the honor in the 30 years it has been around.

"What we're doing here is innovative, but it produces results," Teer said.

Aside from academic excellence, the school also promotes strong morals with its Peace Pledge.

"Wonderland is actually a school that builds your good character and one of the reasons why is because of the Peace Pledge," 10-year-old student Daniel said.

The pledge is a promise to treat others with respect.

"It's one of the reasons that people are always nice here," Camden said.

The pledge also promises to uphold inclusion so no one would feel sad or alone, LUCA said.

The Peace Pledge carries a strong lesson that the students take to heart, and have even memorized.

"It's a guideline for your whole life," Daniel said. "It's not just when you're at Wonderland; you should follow the same rules throughout your whole life."

WONDERLAND AVENUE ELEMENTARY PEACE PLEDGE

I am a Wonderland Coyote and this is my Peace Pledge:

To give thumbs-down to put-downs because actions & words can hurt and teasing leads to trouble.

To say I'm sorry when I've made a mistake and forgive others when they make mistakes.

To never say 'You can't play' and to help, not hurt, others.

To celebrate our differences and our similarities.

To listen & live with a kind heart and to know that I am not alone.

Don't paw me down  howl me up!
A breast cancer patient traveling at LAX said she felt violated after she was forced to remove her wig and endure what she calls an invasive pat-down all caught on camera Sunday.

"I have never been so humiliated or felt more violated in my life," said Denise Albert via a Facebook post that has generated outrage across social media.

Albert was traveling out of LAX Sunday afternoon when the incident occurred.

The TSA responded Wednesday morning with a statement, apologizing for the incident.

"The Transportation Security Administration takes reports of alleged impropriety very seriously," the agency said.

Albert, who has breast cancer, said she thought it would be business as usual until she got to airport security Sunday afternoon.

She said she notified the TSA agents of her metal port, a small catheter under the skin of the chest that allows cancer patients to be injected or for blood to be drawn with less discomfort. She also told them she had medical cream for an infection that affects her feet.

After going through the scan without incident, she assumed the agents would just test her cream as others had done during previously security screenings. Instead, she said they insisted on a body search in public. Video shows a female agent patting down Albert as she sat, which Albert called "aggressive" and "forceful."

The agents also asked her to remove her shoes, which Albert said wasn't possible unless she could sit as her shoes went through the x-ray. Her feet can't touch the floor due to her infection. TSA agreed to this, but Albert said things got worse.

TSA incited a head-to-toe search, which would require the agent touching her wig. Albert said via the post her wig is expensive and didn't want it ruined, and out of exasperation, ripped it off herself.

"So I ripped it off for them to pat my head without damaging my wig (that I paid for and insurance didn't cover!) I don't ever go out in public without it. I have shown pictures on social media as I feel it empowers others but I'm not comfortable in public (I have taken it off at 2 breast cancer related work events for a second to show other cancer survivors and those in it now!)," she said via her Facebook post.

When it came time for the agent to pat down her breast area, Albert refused as seen on the video. She said she had to lift her shirt once the video ended.

Eventually a supervisor with more "compassion," as Albert said in her post, was called and the pat down was continued in a private room.

"Even though all of my bags when through x-rays without incident as well, they opened my bags, removed everything and another TSA agent joked about all of the eyelashes I had. I told her, it's because I don't have real ones from my cancer treatment," Albert said via Facebook.

Albert said after the ordeal had ended, a flight attendant had made her experience much better for the night.

TSA's Kimberly Walton reached out to Albert and told her an investigation was underway, and apologized for the experience. Albert also said she was told TSA would refresh training with their 3,000 employees.

In the statement released by TSA Wednesday, the agency also said:

"TSA reviewed what occurred during the screening of Ms. Denise Albert at LAX on December 4 that caused a stressful situation for Ms. Albert. Ms. Albert was eventually provided a private screening environment with a witness in attendance that resolved the situation. TSA deeply regrets the distress this additional security screening caused Ms. Albert. We have spoken directly to Ms. Albert to address her concerns."

Albert's full Facebook post below:
California resident Penelope Penny Gallegos is full of life. But, eight years ago, she was barely hanging on after being stabbed and hospitalized with wounds that many thought were not survivable.

I flat-lined, they revived me, Gallegos said, referring to her trauma doctors at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla. I was in a coma for two months. Many times, they came out and said I wouldnt make it. The stress on my family was horrible.

Gallegos, who once lived in Oceanside but now lives with her daughter in Glendale, California, was airlifted to Scripps Memorial on May 10, 2008, after being badly beaten and stabbed.

That day marked the beginning of a seven-month stay at the hospital  a time of constant struggle, medical setbacks and, eventually, recovery.

NBC 7 San Diego

Gallegos said she had five heart attacks during her hospitalization. She remembers being hooked up to endless tubes that made her look like a spider.

Her recovery was painful, to say the least. She had to learn to walk again. She had to regain muscle.

And, in the process of rebuilding herself, Gallegos also built lasting relationships with the doctors, nurses and therapists who cared for her daily.

The fantastic people I had around me were absolutely the best ever in the world, Gallegos told NBC 7.

She said her physical therapist would pick her up out of her hospital bed every day for her exercises. Gallegos would often resist, crying and screaming because getting up hurt so badly.

But, little by little, with the support of her therapist and doctors, she began moving.

That was the first step to me getting up  and staying up, she recalled. They saved my life. I was gone.

Gallegos doctors dubbed her The Miracle Lady.

Today  with the spunk and determination of a fighter  The Miracle Lady makes her way back to the hospital year after year to thank the people who gave her a second chance at life.

On Wednesday night, she did just that.

NBC 7 San Diego

Gallegos was one of many former trauma patients who attended a 32nd annual holiday event at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla where former patients get to reunite with their trauma doctors and nurses and celebrate life.

Gallegos gave long, warm hugs to those who had cared for her and said theyre always in her thoughts. In addition to attending this event every year, Gallegos said she also sometimes drops by the hospital just to say hello to her heroes.

I think of these people every day of my life. You cant thank them enough, she explained. My doctors are my life. They gave me life. Its like being reborn. A higher spirit up there gave the doctors [the ability to give me] what they gave me.

Scripps Nurse Practitioner Peter Schultz was happy to see Gallegos, as well as some of his other former trauma patients. He said the feeling of seeing patients up and running again is unlike anything else.

NBC 7 San Diego

You work so long and so hard taking care of them through the hospital and when they leave, theyre gone. You have almost no concept of how well theyre doing out in the community, said Schultz. And to get them to come back gives you this comfort that theyve gone out and become citizens again, gone back into society, and that all the work, all the effort you put into [their recovery] was worth it.

Schultz said that while many patients consider their doctors and nurses a blessing, he sees it the other way.

We are given the gift of the ability to take care of people. Its an honor for us to be included in their lives, he added.

Schultz said that in Gallegos case, she was literally dying in the hospital. He and the ICU team worked together to bring her back to life. He said she did all of the hard work  and his team was there to hold her up.

Scripps Memorial Trauma Medical Director Imad S. Dandan, MD, also helped care for Gallegos. He said he remembers her feisty personality and her fight.

For Dandan, reuniting with Gallegos and other former patients at the hospitals annual holiday event is the best gift.

This is one of my most favorite days of the year, said Dandan. You get to see people who were flat on their back  now most of them are unrecognizable. Sometimes they have to reintroduce themselves to me just for me to recognize them.

Wednesday nights reunion was an emotional one for Ruben Banuelos Jr., 32.

On May 29, 2016, Banuelos was hit by a DUI suspect on State Route 76 near a Home Depot in Oceanside. He suffered a head injury and severe internal injuries. Firefighters had to use the Jaws of Life to pull him out of his mangled car.

I was gone, he said. I dont even remember the day she hit me.

Banuelos spent seven hours undergoing emergency surgery in Scripps Memorials operating room. He slept for 12 straight days.

NBC 7 San Diego

When he came to, he was in a hospital with tubes connected to his stomach. When his family told him what he had been through, he couldnt believe he was alive.

God saved me. I was in life and death in that situation, he told NBC 7.

Scripps Memorials holiday event was the first time Banuelos has been able to visit with the doctors who saved him. He choked back tears thanking them.

Thank God that they saved me. I just appreciate all of their hard work, he said. God touched every single one of them to fix me  to patch me back up.

Dandan said taking care of patients is the first part of the job of doctors and nurses. Watching patients make their recoveries is the reward.

Its an all-year-round gift; Ill take it any day, he added.
U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer bid farewell on Wednesday after 24 years in office.

In a speech on the Senate floor, the California Democratic senator spoke about a career devoted to liberal causes like women's rights and the environment. She recalled fondly her friendship and working alliance with Republicans like Sen. Jim Inhofe, a crusty conservative from Oklahoma.

With allies like House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi watching, Boxer recalled accomplishments like after-school programs, setting aside California wilderness lands and last year's highway bill.

She said her retirement wasnt bittersweet, but was instead just sweet.

I look around this chamber and I realize the reason Im able to leave is because of each of you and your passion to make life better for people and thats what its all about, she said.

Also saying goodbye was Maryland Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski, a 40-year veteran of Congress. She is the longest serving woman in the Senate. Over three decades in the chamber, she earned a reputation for determination and for forging odd-couple alliances with Republican men like Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and former Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., and racked up an impressive roster of accomplishments.

Another departure: first-term Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., defeated for re-election last month. She spoke with pride of her work on defense issues and on a recent law to combat opioid addiction.
A USC Department of Public Safety Officer pleaded no contest Wednesday to a misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter charge for causing a car crash that killed a 23-year-old graduate student.

Miguel Guerra, 37, was immediately sentenced to three years probation, 30 days in jail and 45 days of community labor. He was also ordered to pay restitution, but a hearing will be held Feb. 1 to determine the amount, according to Frank Mateljan of the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office.

Guerra was driving a police cruiser around 6:30 a.m. Dec. 3, 2015, when he slammed into a car being driven by Kelsey Dresser, 23, who died of her injuries the following day.

Guerra publicly apologized to Dresser's family in court, Mateljan said.

Dresser's parents, Michael and Jill Dresser, sued USC in September, contending that Guerra had worked consecutive graveyard shifts and was short on sleep when the crash occurred.

He was driving east on Jefferson Boulevard at just under 70 mph in a 25 mph zone, without his lights or siren activated, the suit alleges. Dresser had just turned left from Jefferson onto Royal Street near an entrance to the university, according to the suit.

"He (Guerra) did not watch out for traffic ahead of him as he was either using his cell phone, his DPS vehicle computer monitor or he was falling asleep," the suit alleges.

USC public safety officials knew of the dangers of driving a campus police car with insufficient sleep, but allowed Guerra to do so anyway, the suit states.

Dresser graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 2014 with a degree in psychology and was enrolled at the USC Rossier School of Education.

According to jail records, Guerra was booked shortly after noon Wednesday, and -- due to standard jail credits -- has a projected release date of Dec. 18.
It's Snow Time in SoCal: While flakes won't fall from the sky in the days ahead, Southern Californians craving a little cold funtime can find the frosty stuff in some offbeat spots. Look to Studio City, where 70 tons of snow will serve as the shivery centerpiece of the Winter Family Festival on Dec. 11 or Snow Wonder in Marina del Rey on Dec. 10. SNOW DAY LA has the cooler to-dos, and cocktails, near Dodger Stadium, while a Culver City-based dance performance will incorporate snow. And is there a bit of snow on the ground up at the newly re-opened SkyPark at Santa's Village? Photos say this is so.

Holiday Boat Parades: Newport Beach's century-plus parade arrives on Dec. 14, but there are other sparkly charmers to be found just off our shores. The King Harbor Boat Parade sails on Saturday, Dec. 10 in Redondo Beach, the very same night that the Marina del Rey Holiday Boat Parade takes to the waves. Other boat parades up the coast, from Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard to Morro Bay, will also run boat parades on Saturday, Dec. 10. Toot toot and so forth!

Christmas Tree Lane Opens: Does your great-grandma have tales of visiting the famous deodar cedars of Altadena, the ones that go all twinkly around the middle of December? The tree-terrific light display has been around for nearly a century now, making it a centerpiece of seasonal to-dos for many Southern Californians. Night #1 is Saturday, Dec. 10, and there's a craft festival earlier in the day, too, to get the merry fest going.

Van Gogh's "Bedroom" Opens: It isn't too often that a famous painting hits the road, and for it to be a masterpiece, one known well beyond the doors of The Art Institute of Chicago, is a wondrous thing. If you're a fan of the iconic painter, and know he painted three versions of his bedroom, you'll want to see this particular take at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. Opening date of the three-month exhibit? Friday, Dec. 9

Renegade Craft Fair: Okay, no more putting things off, or hemming, or hawing, or doing whatever you do to avoid holiday shopping. The time is nigh, the place is Grand Park, and a caboodle of regional artisans will be out with very handmade-y high quality goods that are ripe for the buying and even more ripe for the gifting. A belt, some earrings, a tee, a mug? Done, done, done, and done. It's on both weekend days, Dec. 10 and 11, so make your way to Metro at once and do up your holiday shopping, Grand-Park-ly.
Authorities announced the death of Minquell Kennedy Lembrick, 32, on Dec. 8, 2016 after a manhunt stemming from a domestic abuse call at an Americus, Georgia apartment.

A second Georgia police officer has died a day after being shot alongside a fellow officer while responding to a domestic dispute report.

Charles Patterson, president of Georgia Southwestern State University, said in a statement Thursday evening that campus police Officer Jody Smith died from his injuries. Smith had been airlifted to a hospital after the shootings Wednesday in Americus, about 130 miles south of Atlanta.

Also killed in the attack was Americus police Officer Nicholas Smarr. Fellow officers said the two men had been close friends since boyhood.

The suspected gunman, Minquell Lembrick, was found dead Thursday morning at a home where he was hiding. A telephone tip led police to the residence. Americus Police Chief Mark Scott said it appeared Lembrick shot himself as the first officers arrived.

[[405513875, C]]

Police identified Lembrick as a suspect in the shootings and offered a $70,000 reward for information leading to his capture. The SWAT team was dispatched to the house in Americus after authorities received a tip, said Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Nelly Miles.

SWAT officers emerged from the home a short time after entering, and police said the manhunt was over.

"It's confirmed that the suspect is dead," Americus police spokeswoman Phyllis Banks told The Associated Press.

Scott said Wednesday that Lembrick had an outstanding arrest warrant charging him with kidnapping and other counts when the two officers encountered him at an apartment complex where a domestic dispute had been reported. But officers didn't know whom they were dealing with when they responded to the 911 call.

Lt. Chuck Hanks of the Sumter County Sheriff's Office has known both officers for years. He says they once worked at the sheriff's department.

Hanks said Thursday that Smarr and Smith had been friends since grade school and were roommates, sharing a home in the county. He said Smith was engaged to be married next year.

Authorities initially gave different spellings for the first names of both Smith and Lembrick, but said Thursday that they had confirmed corrected spellings for each.
Welcome to the '60s! Last night, NBCs Hairspray Live! took audiences on a wild ride through Baltimore, Maryland, as Tracy Turnblad and her gang navigated young love, race relations, and celebrity in one of the most turbulent decades in American history.

The 2002 musical received a reboot for the holiday season, combining feel good, upbeat tunes with meaningful, deep commentary about prejudice and defying expectations. Bolstered by a cast of prominent vocal artists like Kristin Chenoweth, Jennifer Hudson, and Ariana Grande, and with former Glee star Darren Criss as host, the production was touted as NBC musicals best, most entertaining work yet by USA Today.

The show also made splashes on social media, where cast members tweeted from the set. Criss shared photos with original Tracy Turnblads Ricki Lake and Marissa J. Winokur, who made cameos during the shoot. Criss also posed with his former Warblers, ReSean Pates and Mason Trueblood, who were in the ensemble.

The day before the premiere, Grande posted a photo with choreographer Jerry Mitchell beside the caption, What an honor and a dream come true this has been. i wish we could do this forever.

Stars at home weighed in on the production via Twitter. Laverne Cox, who was recently featured in The Rocky Horror Picture Show live on Fox, wrote a message praising Hudsons performance: @IAMJHUD and that voice are truly a national treasure. That was a show stopper.

@IAMJHUD and that voice are truly a national treasure. That was a show stopper. "I know where I've been" #HairsprayLive  Laverne Cox (@Lavernecox) December 8, 2016

After some wine, Broadway superfan Anna Kendrick live-tweeted her experience. When one fan clapped back at a tweet that made little to no sense, Kendrick blamed it on the alcohol. It made sense when I typed it. Hush! she replied.

Boobs boobs boobs boobs boobs boobs boobs boobs boobs boobs boobs #AndMoreTalentThanMostPeopleHaveInOneFinger #KristenChenoweth #Hairspray  Anna Kendrick (@AnnaKendrick47) December 8, 2016

Dammit Michael I've had SEVERAL glasses of wine and it made sense when I typed it. Hush! https://t.co/SUGWKqAIBy  Anna Kendrick (@AnnaKendrick47) December 8, 2016

Meanwhile, music icon Jennifer Lopez teased her future appearance on the NBC musical stage. Lopez has been cast as Rosie in NBCs 2017 holiday show. I am SO excited to be a part of NBC's next live musical #ByeByeBirdieLive! the actress tweeted.

Loving #hairspraylive, she added.
During a press conference Friday morning at The Betsy Hotel on South Beach, state and local officials - as well as business people from the area - got the news they had been waiting to hear: the last so-called "Zika Zone" is no longer in exsistence.

Governor Rick Scott made the announcement, clearing the zone between 8th Street and 28th Street on Miami Beach. It will be the fourth zone lifted in Miami- Dade County since the outbreak started this summer.

Scott called it an "interesting year" for the area in the fight against the outbreak, while officials - including the state's surgeon general, Dr. Celeste Philip - advised people to stay active in the fight against the disease - saying the influx of tourists over the winter means infected people may still be coming to the area.

"Mosquito control is a year-round responsibility," Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said in a statement. "We continue to rely on everyone who lives in or travels to Miami-Dade to help us stop the spread of Zika by draining any standing water, wearing mosquito repellant, and covering up with long sleeves and pants when going outdoors."

"It resonated internationally and had an impact on Basel, on local economy, for maybe an extended period of time for about six months and we're hoping it doesn't resonate any further," Miami Beach Commissioner Michael Grieco said.

Zones in the Wynwood and Little River sections of Miami as well as one from 28th Street to 63rd Street have been lifted over the course of the last two months. A transmission zone gets removed when there are no new cases confirmed over a 45 day period.

The Centers for Disease Control have still maintained an advisory for pregnant woman to avoid the Miami area, one that has been in effect since the summer and has been fought by city and county officials as well as business leaders in the areas where Zika Zones were placed.

Friday's announcement is welcome news to the producers of the South Beach Jazz Festival, which kicks off this weekend.

"Fantastic. Well we deserve a break and it's gonna be a great event and we don't have to worry about anything except some great music," producer David New said.
A woman accused of drugging men and then stealing their money was arrested Tuesday in Miami Beach.

Alicia Stucky, 31, is facing a slew of charges after she was caught red-handed during a night out with two men.

According to a police report, the suspect drugged one of the men and stole cash from his pockets during an Uber ride. Police say the Uber driver witnessed the moment Stucky stuffed the victim's money into the crotch area of her pants.

The Uber driver told the other man about what happened and that's when he called police. When officers arrived, they discovered a wad of cash in Stucky's pants. A bottle of Xanax was also found at the scene.

Stucky is also accused of drugging another man in a separate incident on Sept. 26th on Miami Beach. Detectives say Stucky robbed the man, taking his Audemars Piguet watch and credit cards.

Stucky is charged with strong armed robbery, grand theft and poisoning. On the police report, Stucky's occupation is listed as prostitute. She is being held on no bond.
A Doral office building is at the center of an investigation into possible voter fraud just days before the election for mayor in the growing city.

Voters in the contested mayor's race will head to the polls Tuesday but now the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office is investigating if some registered voters shouldn't be on the voter rolls at all.

The investigation centers around the office building where eight people told the elections department they were living, all of them in just one suite. The problem is the City of Doral says this isn't zoned for anyone to live in the building and by all indications there's no one living there and that violates the basic rule to register to vote, which is you have to tell elections where you actually live and sleep at night.

Johnathan Aserraf is the man state records show operates a business behind the door of unit 337 in the office building. Investigators from the state attorney now want to know why Aserraf and seven other people listed this as their official address when they registered to vote.

"Anytime we have a reason to believe that something is suspicious we immediately refer it to the proper authorities," Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections Christina White told NBC 6.

NBC 6 asked the elections department to check its records and see if Aserraf and the others used the address of the office building on their voter registration forms and the answer from elections. They did.

"The law says that a voter must register to vote at the residence that they call their home where they sleep at night," White said.

On Wednesday afternoon NBC 6 went to see Aserraf but he wasn't there. He later called to say there was no fraud and he simply listed his office address on the form instead of his residence in Doral. Aserraf also said that his brother did the same thing he did.

The City Of Doral sent an email saying "Currently, the use of the property is office...At this time, there is no residential use on this property."

The elections department on Tuesday will hold the runoff between challenger JC Bermudez, the former Doral mayor, and current Mayor Luigi Boria, a race where every vote could make a difference.

"The responsibility is always on the voter that when they take an oath when they register to vote, when they are in the act of voting, that they are required to follow Florida law and the Constitution of the state of Florida and that oath is on the voter registration application," White said.

Aserraf said he didn't know the other people who were found using his office to register to vote but he says he runs a virtual office with several hundred clients and wouldn't know if others had done the same thing.

As to this happening in other office buildings, elections is leaving that up to the state attorney.

"We are not an investigative or enforcement agency so we will leave that in the hands of the investigators," White said.

That's something the state attorney will be checking to see not just about this specific office but if there is any widespread use of offices for registering to vote. The obvious trouble is that you could have people who don't live here voting in an election when they shouldn't be.
Davie Police are looking for two men caught on camera in the theft of over $1,000 worth of cell phones from a local store.

Footage from November 18th shows the men coming into the Sonic Boom store located off Davie Road north of Griffin Road. While one man speaks with an employee, the second can be seen taking the phones from a display counter.

A rose gold iPhone 6S, valued at $649 was stolen as was an iPhone SE valued at $399. The two men were seen arriving in a newer model Honda Civic.

Anyone with information is asked to call Davie Police or Broward CrimeStoppers.
Police in Coral Gables are looking for a man they say shot cell phone video up a womans skirt inside a fast food restaurant.

The incident took place in November 10th inside the Pollo Tropical located off Douglas Road and Coral Way. According to their report, an employee at the store told a woman that they saw a man bend down and acted like he was tying his shoe while place his phone on the ground multiple times.

The employee believed the suspect may have been filming the victim each time.

The victim attempted to confront that man, but he left the restaurant and was last seen crossing onto the Sears store parking lot across the street. He was described as a Hispanic man, between 58 and 510 tall while weighing around 180 lbs.

"As always, in this day and age you need to be aware of your surroundings," Coral Gables Police Sgt. Tomas Salcedo said. "If the restaurant worker had never said anything, we wouldnt have known about this."

Anyone with information is asked to call Coral Gables Police or Miami-Dade CrimeStoppers.
What to Know 19-year-old Connor Golden lost his foot when he stepped on a homemade explosive in Central Park in July

In a September post on his GoFundMe page, Golden said that he is learning to walk again using a prosthetic and has returned to college

The person who left the homemade explosive in Central Park still hasn't been found

One of the nations biggest health insurers is reversing course after initially denying an explosion victims claim for an artificial limb.

In July, Connor Golden, 19, lost his lower leg after an explosive compound blew up in Central Park. Since then hes been fighting with UnitedHealthcare to cover payment for his new prosthetic.

In an exclusive interview with the NBC New York I-Team, Goldens parents said the insurance giant rejected or delayed requests to pay for the prosthetic leg for three months, even though hospital records clearly show Golden underwent a complete traumatic amputation below the knee and needs the prosthetic to walk.

UnitedHealthcare has shown themselves capable of denying even the most compelling claim, said Kevin Golden, the victims father.

In my mind, there can be no real issue as to whether this is necessary or not. He clearly needs the prosthetic.

Maria Gordon-Shydlo, a spokeswoman for UnitedHealthcare, emailing the I-Team a statement blaming the initial denial on confusion about whether Goldens prosthetic should have been covered as an in-network benefit or an out-of-network benefit.

While we regret any inconvenience this may have caused, this provider is not in our network so we needed to review additional information in order to process these claims appropriately, Gordon-Shydlo wrote. We have since received this information and are paying for this prosthesis. We also approved coverage of a new socket and new prosthesis.

Adam Finnieston, the Miami prosthetist who fitted Connor for his artificial limb, says it should make no difference that his office was out of the United Healthcare network, because Connor has an out-of-network benefit included in his insurance plan.

It seems to be a vortex of delay. And every time we try to reach out to the insurance company, we get directed to an offshore call center, Finnieston said.

Before the I-Team got involved, Finnieston said United paid him only about a thousand dollars  a small fraction of the cost of Connor's prosthesis, which exceeds $20,000.

After the I-Team inquired with United last week, the company confirmed it made a one-time exception, classifying Connor's prosthesis as an in-network claim and pledging to pay 90 percent of the claim.

Despite the temporary victory for the Goldens, advocates for amputees say denials and delays of payment for artificial limbs are constant problems.

Were not talking here about a one-off. Were talking about something we all hear over and over again, said Dave McGill, President of the National Association for the Advancement of Orthotics & Prosthetics. This is shameful.

McGill said hes seen hundreds of amputees denied coverage for standard artificial limbs, partly because insurance companies dont see the amputee community as having enough political clout to fight back against unfavorable reimbursement policies.

Were talking about amputees who require these devices to take every step that they take every day. And in the case of somebody like Connor, youve got a new amputee who  this is how he is going to start reclaiming his life, McGill said.

After hearing of Connor Goldens battle with UnitedHealthcare, Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pennsylvania), pledged to re-introduce a bill that would force insurers to offer more robust coverage for amputees. The legislation does not require insurance companies to pay for prosthetics, but if they do offer prosthetic coverage, the benefits would have to be on par with the treatment of other covered ailments. The bill failed to make it out of committee the last time Dent introduced it.

Candidly, I did not get as much support for this measure as I would have liked, Dent said. Perhaps because of what happened in New York to Connor, we might be able to drive greater awareness and spark some action."

Recently, the NYPD announced a doubling of the reward for information leading to the person or persons who left the explosive in Central Park. That reward now stands at $25,000.

With few leads in the investigation, Kevin Golden said he is concerned about initial statements from city officials suggesting the explosive material was accidentally left over by a hobbyist experimenting in the park.

These explanations that somehow someone was playing with these materials in the park just make no sense to me, said Golden. In one of the most watched areas of the country, you dont go there with this volatile compound that is explosive on contact.

The Goldens are particularly concerned about reports the explosive substance was the same type used in several terrorist attacks.

For this to happen in Central Park to my son and to have us be left without any explanation, resolution, or closure obviously is very hard on us, said Connors father.

Now back at the University of Miami, Connor himself has avoided speaking publicly about the criminal investigation. He is an Eagle Scout who, before losing his lower leg, enjoyed hiking, rock climbing, and wind surfing. His family says he will overcome his injury and continue leading that active lifestyle, with or without the support of an insurance company. Last month, UnitedHealthcare denied Connors request to pay for a custom wheelchair. The denial letter said the wheelchair is not medically necessary because Connor is not a full time wheelchair user. United Healthcare told the I-Team the insurer is working with Connors specialist to find a wheelchair that is eligible for coverage.

We will continue to engage with his physicians and family to ensure that he gets the care and equipment that are covered under his plan, Gordon-Shydlo wrote.

The Goldens arent yet convinced.

Precisely because of their experience battling with UnitedHealthcare, the Goldens expect they may have to rely on donations to a GoFundMe site to help pay for prosthetic maintenance and upgrades that may be rejected in the future. Artificial limbs generally have a useful life of two to four years.

Im very concerned about his access to prosthetics going into the future, Kevin Golden said.
New York City has settled a civil rights lawsuit filed by a man who claimed he was viciously beaten by NYPD officers.

Jateik Reed and the city settled the suit stemming from an arrest on Jan. 26, 2012, for $614,500. A spokesman for the city law department said the settlement was in the citys best interest.

Reed's attorney said this week that "officers lied about the incident and what happened later at the precinct."

Reed was 19 when he and two friends were illegally stopped and frisked by officers in the 42nd precinct. Cellphone and surveillance video from the encounter showed officers throwing reed to the ground and repeatedly striking him with batons; some officers kicked him.

Reed, now 24, claimed he was also beaten in an NYPD van and at the precinct.

He was accused of drug possession, assault and other crimes, but the charges were later dismissed.

Members of Reeds family claimed in the lawsuit they were also assaulted by police officers when they arrived at the 42nd precinct.

Reed and his family said they decided to speak out after they saw recent I-Team reports about allegations of police misconduct in the same precinct.

Nothings changed, Reed said. Its gotten worse.

The NYPD said officers involved in the Reed case were disciplined but declined to provide specifics.

The internal affairs bureau is actively investigating current allegations of false arrests and witness intimidation in the 42nd precinct.

One of the officers named in Reed's suit, David Terrell, was placed on modified duty in the Manhattan court system earlier this week.

The specific reason he was stripped of his badge and gun weren't revealed, but the officer had been seen on cellphone video playing dice on a street corner in what one man said was a gamble for his own freedom.

Last week, the I-Team reported that the DAs office had dismissed murder cases against two men in the 42nd precinct who had been held in jail for nearly three years awaiting trial.

Multiple teenagers have also told the I-Team they were pressured to lie in criminal cases and threatened with beatings.
British regulators fined U.S. drugmaker Pfizer and distributor Flynn Pharma a record 89.4 million pounds ($112.7 million) Wednesday for increasing the cost of an epilepsy drug by as much as 2,600 percent.

Pfizer and Flynn Pharma charged "excessive and unfair prices" for the drug used by 48,000 people in Britain, the Competition and Markets Authority said. Pfizer was fined 84.2 million pounds and Flynn Pharma 5.2 million pounds.

"This is the highest fine the CMA has imposed and it sends out a clear message to the sector that we are determined to crack down on such behavior and to protect customers, including the NHS, and taxpayers from being exploited," Philip Marsden, chairman of the case decision group for the investigation, said in a statement.

The authority said the companies removed the official brand of Epanutin, Pfizer's name for phenytoin sodium capsules, so they could increase the price. As a result, the National Health Service saw the bill for drug increase to 50 million pounds in 2013, from 2 million pounds in 2012.

"The companies deliberately exploited the opportunity offered by de-branding to hike up the price for a drug which is relied upon by many thousands of patients," Marsden said.

Pfizer rejected the ruling, saying that Epanutin was a loss-making product and the deal with Flynn Pharma helped secure supplies of the drug for patients. It plans to appeal, as does Flynn Pharma.

"In this transaction, and in all of our business operations, we approached this divestment with integrity, and believe it fully complies with established competition law," Pfizer said.

Pfizer said the increased price of the drug was still 25 percent to 40 percent lower than the cost of an equivalent medicine by another supplier to the NHS.

"The ruling highlights real policy and legal issues concerning the respective roles of both the Department of Health and the CMA, in regulating the price of pharmaceutical products in the U.K.," the company said. "Pfizer will seek clarity on these issues as part of the appeal process."

Regulators around the world are getting tough on drugmakers amid soaring prices that companies say are justified by years of research and product development.

In one recent case, drugmaker Mylan said it would pay $465 million to settle allegations it overbilled Medicaid, the U.S. program that provides health insurance for poor people, for its EpiPen, used to provide emergency treatment for severe allergic reactions.

In another, Turing Pharmaceuticals' former CEO Martin Shkreli increased the price of Daraprim by 5,000 percent. The drug is the only approved treatment for toxoplasmosis, a life-threatening parasitic infection that mainly strikes pregnant women, cancer patients and AIDS patients.
A memorial was held outside the window of a family's apartment in the Bronx where two toddler sisters were killed by exposure to hot steam from a malfunctioning radiator valve.

As night fell over Hunts Point on Thursday, candles lit up a piece of sidewalk outside the city-owned Bronx apartment building where the family was staying while homeless, as neighbors and well-wishers showed up with balloons to remember the girls.

Earlier on Thursday, the Office of Chief Medical Examiner said the cause of the toddlers' deaths was accidental, and was caused by "hyperthermia and thermal injuries due to exposure to hot steam".

Mayor de Blasio has pledged a thorough, multi-agency investigation into the "freak accident". The Fire Department said the radiator valve inside their first floor apartment malfunctioned, sending high pressure steam shooting out to fill the apartment on Hunts Point Avenue shortly after noon Wednesday.

The children, identified as Scylee Vayoh, 1, and Ibanez Ambrose, 2, were severely burned.

At a news briefing Thursday, de Blasio said multiple agencies, including the NYPD and Department of Homeless Services, are investigating what he said appeared to be an "extraordinary and unprecedented accident."

"No one I've talked to so far in any agency has ever seen anything like this," de Blasio said. "We need to understand what happened here. This was a freak accident, a series of painful coincidences that led to the loss of these children."

But neighbors who lived in the same building had growing concerns about their own safety. Inspectors have been to each apartment and checked each radiator, but residents say they had filed complaints about the premise leading up the girls' deaths.

"So it takes a tragedy of 2 little girls to lose their lives for them to come and inspect?," one resident asked. "It doesn't make any sense. Too little, too late."

The mayor said the problem appeared contained to the radiator valve in the children's apartment.

He said an investigation of the apartment building last month yielded no "high priority" violations. And he said there were no specific complaints to the city's knowledge that would have indicated such a tragedy was looming. NYPD officials said Thursday that another routine inspection on Monday didn't reveal anything "untoward."



"We are trying to put the pieces together but so far cannot understand how something like this could have happened," de Blasio said.

Kids' drawings and photos decorated the small apartment where the children lived with their parents, the mayor said, describing the scene as painful to see.

"It was clearly a warm and loving household," de Blasio said.

Neighbors told NBC 4 New York they heard a loud boom at the time of the steam blast and fled the building.

"The babies came out, they were burned all over the body -- burned blue, and there was no fire, so steam coming from somewhere," said Martiza Morales, recalling they "were not moving at all."

The children's parents ran out in tears, neighbors said.

"They were screaming for help. They say the radiator exploded in there," said Annie Martinez.

Martinez said she was supposed to babysit for the children on Thursday, and hasn't been albe to sleep since the explosion. She said she had been complaining about conditions in her apartment for months and nothing was done until after the blast.

"All these tenants have been giving complaints," she said. "All these violations and they didn't do anything about it."

Radio transmissions between the dispatcher and emergency responders revealed a grim scene.

"It looks like it might have been something to do with a heater," the dispatcher could be heard saying. "We don't know if it blew up or what. But a heater injured those two kids, and they're in cardiac arrest right now."

"We got a lot of calls for smoke, so it looks like it might have been steam," the dispatcher added.

The city's social services department said after the blast that the children and their family were among five placed at the apartment building being used as a so-called "cluster site" -- a building with a mix of renters and homeless families. The other families at the apartment were moved to other shelters.

"We are devastated by this tragedy," the department said in a statement. "We are investigating and taking steps to immediately transfer the four other families being sheltered at this location to another shelter.

Family members tell WCSH-TV the parents moved to New York about a year ago from Maine.

City records show that the apartment where the blast went off had no open violations with the city, but that the building itself had 60 violations. There had been 46 complaints called into 311 this year for the building, including three for radiators."

One of the landlords of the building was on the city advocate's list of the 100 worst landlords. NBC 4 New York has reached out to the landlord's attorney for comment.

In a statement Thursday, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer said he was outraged by the deaths of the children and called on the city to release a roadmap to tackle the homeless crisis.

"Cluster sites can be extremely dangerous for homeless families. Hotels are extraordinarily expensive and provide limited services. These options make no sense," Stringer said. "Thats why we need a clear, transparent, public plan. While I know that progress will take time, we cannot continue to accept the status quo. The city promised to end its reliance on both of these forms of shelter  and we are no doubt trending in the wrong direction."

Stringer said cluster sites not previously identified for closure have more than 13,000 open violations, including 1,000 that are "high priority."

"What a horrifying loss," he said of the little girls who lost their lives. "My heart goes out to this family in this time of unimaginable pain."

De Blasio said Thursday the city wants to move away from cluster sites, but doesn't want homeless people living on the street. He said his administration would work to develop a timeline and additional strategic planning. In the meantime, he said the city will perform checks at 3,000 cluster sites.

A representative for the non-profit Bedco, which placed the Ambrose family, declined to comment to NBC 4 New York. The city said it was in the process of entering a contract with Bedco to place more homeless families.
What to Know The students observed the behavior of more than 5,100 subway riders on 21 different lines at various time intervals from Oct. 6 to Nov. 7

They found a higher percentage of female passengers were seated than male passengers, especially on crowded trains

Manspreading continues to be the top etiquette rule violated, with men in their 30s most likely to sprawl

Despite all the hustle and bustle and oblivious faces immersed in their own thoughts and iPhones on the subways of New York City, chivalry is alive and well, according to a new Hunter College study.

The study, based on observations by Hunter College students who assessed behavior of more than 5,100 straphangers on geographically dispersed subway lines (21), different days of the week and at varying time intervals from Oct. 6 to Nov. 7, found men were "consciously or not" relinquishing their seats to women.

Seventy one percent of females were observed seat versus 63 percent of males, the study found. As the subway cars grew more crowded, the difference is even more apparent; when there were 40 or more passengers in the back third of a car, the percentage gap between seated males and females climbed to 13 points.

The students' finding mirrors the results of a 2012 study by analysts at the Metropolitan Research Authority.

"It is possible that other factors lead more male passengers to stand in crowded cars  perhaps women take up less space on the seats, or are quicker to respond when a seat opens up," the study said. "But a plausible explanation of our findings is that when it comes to the citys straphangers, chivalry, perhaps, is not quite dead.

The study also looked at five rules of subway conduct -- and while chivalry may be alive, manspreading, the heart of the MTA's Courtesy Counts campaign over the last few years, certainly isn't dead. According to the study, 26 percent of the seated male passengers observed during the month-long window were guilty of manspreading -- and there was no indication the perpetrators were less likely to manspread as the train cars filled up, the students found. Men ages 30 to 39 were mostly likely to manspread (30 percent of those observed with legs sprawled), followed by those ages 40 to 49 (29 percent). Only 17 percent of manspreaders were found to be dozing.

Straphangers wearing backpacks while standing on crowded trains was another common etiquette violation, with, not surprisingly, teenagers, possibly going to or from school, the most frequent offenders (70 percent of those observed), followed by those ages 20 to 29.

Though many New York City subway riders have no doubt encountered a fellow straphanger eating something particularly odorous or undesirable on the train, the Hunter College students didn't find eating to be a particularly bad offense. Just 4 percent of riders observed were eating (females slightly more likely than males) -- and a minuscule proportion were seen grooming, the study found.



The Hunter College study was directed by Sociology Professors Peter Tuckel and Mike Benediktsson, and Urban Policy and Planning Professor William Milczarski. Professors Tuckel, Benediktsson, and Milczarski collaborated with Hunter students in research methods and data analyses courses in the Department of Sociology and the Department of Urban Policy and Planning.

Click here to see the full results.
Police say the masked man who added a bottle of Hennessy to his loot of stolen cash and electronics last month in the Bronx has been linked to half a dozen more robberies.

The thirsty robber made off with $3,300, phones and the bottle of Hennessy on Nov. 26 after holding an employee up with a handgun at DeStern Wines and Spirits on Allerton Avenue.

According to police, the man also held up an employee at Nicks Drug Store on Boston Road on Nov. 10. The employee handed over $450 in cash.

After that, on Nov. 16, he robbed the 437 Delicatessen on Manhattan Avenue of $150 and stole $300 from an employees pants pockets, police said.

He struck again just a day later, targeting Los Primos Deli Grocery on Crotona Avenue. He got away with an unknown amount of cash.

On the morning of Dec. 1, he ran off empty handed after trying to rob the Rite Aid on East Gun Hill Road. But just an hour later, he walked into the IBB Deli on East 182nd Street and, like in the other robberies, held an employee up at gunpoint. Police say he got away with $900 in cash and 202 lottery tickets.

His most recent robbery was on Sunday, when he pulled his gun on an employee at Country Thyme Cuisine and stole $350 in cash from the register and $80 from the employee.

No one was has been reported injured in the robberies.

Police have not named any suspects.
John Glenn, an astronaut who became an American hero and was later elected to the U.S. Senate, is hospitalized in Ohio.

Glenn, 95, was at The James Cancer Hospital at Ohio State University on Wednesday. His condition and exact illness were not known, and officials said his stay at the hospital does not necessarily mean he has cancer.

Glenn had surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in 2014 to replace a heart valve and suffered a stroke, according to Cleveland.com. His health, including his eyesight, has declined in recent years.

"Anybody who's 95, any illness is always bad," Hank Wilson, a spokesman for the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at Ohio State University, told Cleveland.com

Glenn, born in Ohio in 1921, was the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth. One of the Mercury Seven, the first group of astronauts picked by NASA, he orbited Earth three times in 1962 aboard a spacecraft he named Friendship 7." He spent five hours in space.

He returned to space in 1998 when he flew with six other astronauts on the space shuttle. He was 77 at the time.

Glenn was elected to the U.S. Senate from Ohio in 1974. A Democrat, he served for 25 years.
Facebook has faced backlash after fake news sites used the platform to spread misinformation about the nominees during the 2016 presidential election. But the social media giant's chief operating officer said Thursday the impact fake news had on the election has been exaggerated.

There have been claims that it swayed the election, and we don't think it swayed the election,'' Sheryl Sandberg said in an interview on NBC's "Today" show.

Sandberg added that Facebook takes its responsibilities seriously and is looking into ways to keep fake news from spreading online without compromising freedom of expression.

During the election, fake news sites masked as informative websites published stories making untrue claims, including Pope Francis endorsing Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton running a sex ring out of a Washington, D.C., pizzeria. The latter led one man to bring a military-style rifle to the pizza shop in a misguided attempt to rescue child sex slaves he thought were held inside.

Edgar Maddison Welch is now facing jail time after opening fire inside Comet Ping Pong. He told The New York Times "the intel on this wasn't 100 percent," but wouldn't dismiss the online claims.

A few weeks after the election, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg detailed a new initiative to combat the diffusion of fake news. He wrote that he plans on "improving Facebook technical ability to detect misinformation, making it easier for users to report stories as untrue, working with fact checking organizations to create third-party verification and labeling stories that other users have flagged as false," NBC News reported.

While on "Today," Sandberg also revealed Facebooks top global stories in 2016. The American election dominated for the second year in a row as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton took center stage internationally.

Sandberg said that she thought the new Facebook Live feature allowed Americans to engage with the political process in a way they hadnt before. By being able to live stream clips from the debates, for example, the electorate had unprecedented access to political discourse at all hours and regardless of location. Sandberg also said Facebook Live has given the Black Lives Matter movement visibility that catapulted the civil rights protesters into the spotlight.

Black Lives Matter has been happening for years, Sandberg said. This was the first year it broke into top 10 on Facebook, and we think that's partially because the power of live helps people bear witness."
Michael Moore doesn't plan on taking Donald Trump's upcoming inauguration sitting down... or quietly.

The outspoken film director tweeted to his followers an online petition encouraging critics of the president-elect to gather in Washington D.C. on Jan 20th and disrupt the Inauguration.

"Disrupt the Inauguration. The Majority have spoken - by nearly 2.7 million votes and counting!" Moore wrote. "Silence is not an option."

Disrupt the Inauguration. The Majority have spoken - by nearly 2.7 million votes &counting! Silence is not an option https://t.co/HSmP3pREvy  Michael Moore (@MMFlint) December 7, 2016

It is unclear if Moore is involved in the actual planning of the inauguration protests, or if he's simply forwarding the information to his 3.4M Twitter followers. Calls to Moore's representatives were not returned.

Appearing on Late Night with Seth Myers Wednesday, Moore made a direct appeal to Trump following reports the President-elect had turned away some opportunities to receive intelligence briefings.

"With all due respect, Mr. President-elect. On our behalf, you have to pay attention. You have to attend these briefings. This is our country. This is our security. This is our safety. You're horsing around with all this nonsense. And you're not doing your no. 1 job, and the no. 1 job of the president is to make sure that the country is safe."

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore talks to host Seth Meyers about how important it is for President-elect Donald Trump to keep America safe.

Moore added, "And I beg you, seriously, there's not right or left, Republican-Democrat going on here. I'm asking you to do your job for the sake of the people who may end up dead because you didn't do you job. "
A Wilmington man is facing at least 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to federal gun and drug charges.

Jamal Maddox, 32, pleaded guilty this week to conspiracy to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, said United States Attorney for the District of Delaware Charles Oberly III.

Maddox faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison and a possible life term behind bars when sentenced in March.

Maddox was found last year with about $968,000 in cash, which he intended to use to buy at least five kilograms of cocaine from several co-defendants, who were trying to set up a cocaine shipment route from Columbia to Delaware with the assistance of a Mexican supplier, said prosecutors.

"Jamal Maddox pled guilty to trafficking a significant amount of cocaine and possessed a substantial amount of money and firearms to expand and protect his drug-trafficking activities," said Gary Tuggle, Special Agent in Charge of the DEAs Philadelphia Field Division. "The collaboration of all the agencies involved in Operation Bear Trap led to the successful disruption of Maddoxs criminal activities."
A drive-by shooting at a busy West Philadelphia intersection left a 59-year-old man lying on the sidewalk with a gunshot wounds to his hip.

Gunfire rang out just after midnight at 52nd Street and Haverford Avenue, said Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small.

"Based on witness accounts... the male was standing on the corner when a car drove by  a dark or black Nissan  going north on 52nd Street and an occupant fired at least one shot from this vehicle," said Small.

Responding officers scooped up the gunshot victim and rushed him to Penn Presbyterian Hospital where he was listed in critical condition, said police. He is expected to survive, said Small.

The car  possibly a Maxima  sped off along 52nd Street, said Small.

There are at least a half dozen businesses  one a restaurant open at the time  with surveillance cameras in the area, said Small. Investigators hoped those recordings would reveal more details.
An 18-year-old was live-streaming herself as she drove along a Pennsylvania highway in the moments before the crash that killed her and a passenger.

State police said Brooke Miranda Hughes was broadcasting live video on Facebook while driving slowly in the right lane of Interstate 380 near Tobyhanna.

The passenger, 19-year-old Chaniya Morrison-Toomey, can be heard asking, "Are you going live?"

Before Hughes can answer, lights flash inside the car, followed by the sound of screeching tires, the (Scranton) Times-Tribune reported.

Both teens died after a tractor-trailer plowed into the back of their car just after midnight Tuesday.

The driver of the truck was unhurt.

The video continued for another seven minutes, showing only blackness, the newspaper reported. At the end, a man is heard speaking and a blurry, bearded face can be seen before it ends.

The teens were driving on a spare tire, said Pennsylvania State Trooper Dave Peters. State police initially reported the teens were driving with a flat tire, but it's now unclear if that was the case. The fiery wreck badly damaged the car, making it difficult to determine its original condition, Peters said.

The video has been taken off Hughes' Facebook page. State police said they will use the footage in their investigation.
A convicted child predator who had been a fugitive since skipping a sentencing hearing in Montgomery County in 2006 was sentenced in England Wednesday for raping another child.

Gerald Zalewski, 33, was sentenced in Lancashire, England to 12 years in jail, according to Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele.

The FBI notified us today that Zalewski was sentenced today in England for committing a similar sexual crime against a child, said Steele. Once the defendant serves his time in England, we want him back to lock him up. This violent predator will be off of the streets for a very long time.

The initial charges against Zalewski in Montgomery County stem from an investigation in July and August of 2004. Officials say Zalewski had several sexually explicit Internet chats with a police officer posing as a 12-year-old. Zalewski was arrested on August 15, 2004 after he arranged a meeting with the undercover detective in order to have sex.

Investigators also determined Zalewski had previously sexually assaulted a 13-year-old Bucks County girl he met online in June of 2004 and more charges were filed against him. Zalewski pleaded guilty on November 14, 2005 to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and criminal attempt to commit involuntary deviate sexual intercourse. Zalewski never showed up to his sentencing hearing on March 29, 2006 however and was then charged with flight to avoid punishment and default in required appearance. The District Attorneys Office placed him on watch lists, including the FBIs Americas Most Wanted.

Police say Zalewski was convicted of a similar crime in England after he contacted another 13-year-old over the Internet, manipulated her into sending him indecent images and arranged to meet her in a park in June of 2016. When the two met, Zalewski sexually abused the girl for several hours. Investigators say he put masking tape on the girls mouth, put a dog collar around her neck and wrote the words, rape me on her leg. He then took pictures of the girl with his cellphone.

Zalewski then fled after the incident but was arrested in Kent, England on June 21 after a manhunt. He pleaded guilty in October to penetrative sexual activity with a child, meeting a child following sexual grooming, making indecent photographs of a child and false imprisonment. He was sentenced Wednesday to 12 years.




A Pennsylvania man has been jailed on assault and endangerment charges in the death of a woman that he allegedly confessed to during a 911 call.

Lackawanna County District Attorney Shane Scanlon says the death is "suspicious" but that homicide charges could be added after an autopsy on the victim's body Wednesday.

For now, 62-year-old Robert Sanchuk is in custody on the other charges.

Police say he called 911 about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and acknowledged killing the woman in their home in Taylor, a tiny borough next to Scranton. Investigators say her body was found covered in blood.

Online court records don't list an attorney for Sanchuk. The victim's name wasn't being released while authorities tracked down her relatives.

Sanchuk faces a preliminary hearing Dec. 13.
British-based pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca says it is eliminating about 700 jobs in its U.S. commercial business, including about 120 at its North American headquarters in Wilmington.

The company said Thursday that the cuts also affect sales and non-sales positions across the United States, and include roughly 80 vacant positions.

The job cuts will leave AstraZeneca with about 1,500 employees in Delaware.

AstraZeneca, which once employed close to 5,000 workers in Delaware, announced in 2013 that it was cutting 1,200 jobs at its Wilmington headquarters.

In persuading AstraZeneca to select Wilmington over Pennsylvania as the site of its U.S. headquarters in 1999, then-Gov. Tom Carper offered the company about $50 million in state incentives, including 86 acres of state-owned land and tens of millions of dollars in tax credits.

"AstraZenecas announcement of layoffs to its Delaware headquarters is deeply disappointing," said Carper, now a U.S. senator. "As Governor I led a team effort to bring AstraZeneca and its good paying jobs to our state, which helped to generate economic activity and provide a better quality of life for thousands of Delawareans. While I am heartened by AstraZenecas commitment to keep its North American headquarters in Delaware and that Delaware will be spared the majority of these layoffs, too many of our neighbors and their families will bear the brunt of this news. It is our duty now to ensure these Delawareans land on their feet and find great opportunity in the face of this adversity. For years, AstraZeneca has been a good corporate citizen and major employer in our state. While this is a tough time for the company, I am hopeful it will gain solid footing and be able to grow and thrive with the new drugs in its pipeline."[[238427591, C]]
New Jersey Transit says it's prepared to get its passengers to and from work in the winter.

Executive director Steven Santoro on Thursday said the agency has equipment and plenty of salt on hand to help its trains and buses get through a storm.

"We cant predict what kind of winter season we will have, but I can say with confidence that NJ Transit will be as ready as we can be," said Santoro. "The safety of our customers and employees is always the top priority as we work to keep our transportation system moving during the winter weather season."

NJ Transit says its locomotives, rail cars and buses have undergone winter maintenance. Workers also have inspected more than 750 switches and switch heaters, overhead wires and bridges along the rails.

Two jet-engine-powered snow blowers are available to remove ice and snow from tracks and critical switching areas.

Contracts have been finalized with vendors to plow snow from the larger park and ride lots.

Click here for a full description of NJ Transit's snowy weather plans. [[287977901, C]]
Broken street lights are leaving some San Diego neighborhoods in the dark, a problem city leaders say could encourage vandalism and gang activity.

An audit released Wednesday found the city's street light repair service does not operate efficiently.

City Auditor Eduardo Luna found street light repairs are taking too long, beyond the 12 day goal, the department lacks documented procedures, and repairs are driven by citizen complaints.

"The employees rely on institutional knowledge because there are no documented street light repair policies or procedures," the audit states.

In Encanto, Kevin Horsch said the lack of street lights coupled with the lack of sidewalks makes evening exercise a scary endeavor.

"It's pretty dark, especially in the evening when people are walking around, it's pretty scary," Horsch said. "I'm a runner so when I'm out with my dog we carry flashing lights, but we're pretty much following behind cars so we don't get hit."

City Councilman Scott Sherman said the repair process is a "broken system."

"Coming from the private sector, that would just not be tolerated," Sherman said. "To have hundreds of street lights and not really even knowing where they are, it's unacceptable."

Street light repairs take an average of 17 days.

But the city does not prioritize work where lights are needed most, such as where there are more pedestrian accidents, in front of schools or in areas with high crime rates, according to the audit.

Repairs are mostly complaint driven, so the city only becomes aware of a broken light when someone requests service.

Luna says the ineffective system could lead to disparities in residents accessing city services. Neighborhoods that are more likely to complain are more likely to have their street lights repaired.

"We've seen that in other audits that we've done," Luna said. "There's some disparity in regards to who makes the request. Typically, it's a north of the I-8 vs. south of the I-8 disparity in regards to requests for city services, whether it's potholes or perhaps even street lights."

Currently, there are about 40 requests into the city for repairs to street lights, including one in City Heights next to an elementary school.

Residents can report graffiti, pot holes, and other issues by clicking here.

Some neighborhoods lack street lights in general. There is a $30 million backlog for installing new street lights in neighborhoods.

A breakdown of the number of lights per square kilometer can be found here.
A University of Southern California (USC) campus police officer will spend a month in jail for hitting and killing a graduate student from Carlsbad.

Officer Miguel Guerra was driving nearly 70 miles per hour when he crashed his police cruiser into Kelsey Dresser's car a year ago, the family said.

The victim's parents had one demand before agreeing to the plea deal Wednesday in court. They wanted the officer to apologize and take responsibility for their daughter's death.

For the first time, Mike and Jill Dresser stood face to face with Guerra.

He said that there isn't a day that goes by he doesn't think about Kelsey and we're in his thoughts and prayers every day, Mike Dresser said.

Those were the words the family said they had waited a year to hear.

He showed real remorse. So yes, it did bring some closure, Jill Dresser said.

The collision was recorded on a campus security camera.

Guerra had been responding to a stranger complaint in a parking garage before the crash occurred.

Family members claim Guerra was driving without lights or sirens at 70 miles per hour when he crashed into Dresser's red convertible.

Anything can happen at any time. Tell people the way you feel about em because it can change in a blink of an eye, Mike Dresser said.

Kelsey was a first year grad student in the Marriage and Family Therapy program at USC.

Always driven academically, she wanted to do well. Kelsey always worked hard and succeeded, her father said.

Kelsey had a great passion for life and many friends, her family said. She was the oldest of two sisters.

We'll miss her smile. She had a beautiful smile, her love of animals, her love of sisters, her mother said.

The family say they mourn her death but find courage and hope in the life Kelsey lead.

She's not gone. She is with us every day and she is all around us, Jill Dresser said.

Guerra began his jail sentence Wednesday. It includes 45 days of community labor and three years probation.

The family has also filed a civil suit against the officer and the university.
More than 400 people gathered on USS Midway in San Diego on Wednesday to mark 75 years since Pearl Harbor.

Four survivors, there of whom were veterans also joined in the ceremony.

Clayton Schenkelberg, 99, a veteran, worked at the sub base in Pearl Harbor. He said he rushed to move explosives away from people after hearing the bombs going off over the Navy yard.

A plane came over the Barracks..you could see the pilot, you could have hit him with a potato, Schenkelberg said, adding that he could see the pilots smiling face.

Woody Derby, 98, served on USS Nevada. He told NBC 7, it was his job to send ammunition up to be fired from the battleship.

Somebody hollered out this is war and we headed to the armory to get guns, Derby said.

He said most of the service members were scared but they did their job.

More than 2,300 people died and nearly 1,000 others were wounded during the attacks by Japan on Dec. 7, 1941.

A 94-year old veteran said the ceremony reminded him of just how many of his fellow survivors are gone.

We haven't got too many guys left, so I'm lucky be here, Gordon Jones said.

Jones tossed a wreath into the ocean during the ceremony to remember fellow Pearl Harbor veterans on Wednesday.

Several survivors from San Diego traveled to Hawaii to commemorate the day, including the oldest known survivor, Ray Chavez from Poway.

But 75 years after the attack, the message has not changed.

We lost a lot of friends and family, Jones said. We don't ever want it to happen again.
A new dry dock to be installed for BAE Systems Ship Repair, a San Diego shipyard, will be the largest floating dry dock in California.

At 950 feet long, the dry dock is capable of lifting 55,000 long tons, according to a BAE Systems official. The shipyard is located on one of the U.S. Navy's mega-ports in the San Diego Bay, adjacent to the U.S. Naval Station.

BAE Systems officials say the dry dock will help maintain the growing U.S. Navy fleet in San Diego, such as the new U.S.S. Zumwalt which just arrived back at its homeport.

The dry dock arrived overnight and was placed at a temporary anchorage point close to Harbor Island and the U.S.S. Midway carrier museum, according to BAE Systems.

At about 11 a.m. Thursday morning, the dry dock was towed from its temporary storage area. According to BAE Systems, it took about two hours to move the dry dock past the city's waterfront skyline and underneath the San Diego-Coronado bridge.

BAE Systems provides ships with repair and maintenance services, along with modernization, conversion and overhaul for the Navy, said a BAE Systems official. About 2,000 workers staff the full-service shipyard.
What to Know One of the women who has accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault and her lawyer, Gloria Allred, met with DC's Judiciary Committee chairman.

Bills introduced in 2015 to end statute of limitations for civil and criminal sex assault cases have not had hearings.

Archdiocese of Washington spokesperson said the Catholic Church opposes lifting the limitations on civil cases, but not on criminal cases.

The sun is about to set on proposed legislation that would make it easier for victims of sexual assault to seek justice in the District of Columbia.

Current law in the District requires sex assault victims to report allegations before the statute of limitations runs out in order for prosecutors and courts to act on the allegations. For civil cases the statute of limitations is three years; for criminal cases its up to 15 years. In cases where the victim is a minor, the statute of limitations doesnt kick in until the victims 21st birthday.

Advocates for victims of sex assault say there shouldnt be any limits on justice. A movement to eliminate or extend statutes of limitations has gained momentum across the country. California recently became the 16th state to eliminate them, and Nevada and Colorado recently extended the limits in those states.

[NATL] Top News Photos: Pope Visits Japan, and More

In 2015, D.C. Councilmembers Mary Cheh and David Grosso introduced separate bills that would eliminate the limits for criminal and civil sex assault cases in D.C. The bills had support of other councilmembers and were referred to the Judiciary Committee, where they have sat without hearings for going on two years. On Dec. 31, the bills will expire.

Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, decided not to move the bills for public hearings. McDuffie pointed to his committees busy schedule as the reason the bills will die.

Ive had close to 300 pieces of legislations come through the judiciary this year, McDuffie said, pointing to several key public safety bills he successfully passed during that time.

Grosso acknowledged the judiciary is one of the councils busiest committees but said McDuffie could have held hearings.

I still wish he could have gotten to this issue, at least held a hearing on it, Grosso said. I was really hoping we would get it done this year.

Councilmember Cheh also wishes McDuffie had at least held a hearing.

[NATL] Extreme Weather Photos: Record Heat Threatens Europe

The reality of the council is that the chair of a committee sets the schedule for pieces of legislation and some bills languish in the process," Cheh said in written statement. "With that in mind, I will continue to press to have the bill move forward and, if necessary, will reintroduce this bill at the beginning of next year and every council session until I get it passed.

McDuffie declined to say whether he supported either of the bills before his committee, saying, As a former prosecutor, I am keenly aware of the suffering that victims of sex abuse have to endure.

McDuffie added he does have concerns about the legislation.

We need to make sure we protect the rights of victims as well as protecting rights of any party involved in criminal proceedings, he said.

Cosby Accuser and Attorney Gloria Allred Meet With DC Councilmember

Charlotte Fox has been trying to get McDuffie to act on the bills since they were introduced in 2015.

Ive been trying for more than a year to get a meeting with the councilmember to even talk about it, Fox says.

Fox is one of the many women who have come forward to accuse Bill Cosby of sexual assault. She and her attorney, Gloria Allred, finally got to meet with McDuffie Thursday.

Its bad enough the door to justice is closed in face of victims now, Allred said, but also bad there is not even a hearing where we can make our arguments.

The two women emerged from McDuffies office encouraged he took the time to listen to them but disappointed the legislation will have to start over next year.

Its not about me, its about victims who have rights, Fox said outside McDuffies office. They should be heard. This bill should come out of committee and become law.

Catholic Church Opposed to Lifting Limitations on Civil Cases

Both Allred and Grosso pointed to the Catholic Church as one of the opponents of the legislation.

Ed McFadden, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Washington, said the church is opposed to lifting the limitations on civil cases, but not on criminal cases.

We do not support legislation that does nothing to protect children and which sets one set of rules for public institutions and a different set of rules for private institutions, McFadden said of Grossos bill, which eliminates the limitations on civil cases.

The church is afraid that whats going to happen here is theyre going to be held accountable for the actions of the priests they kept hidden for so long, Grosso said.

As for the limitations on criminal cases, the church is in favor of that.

The Archdiocese of Washington has had an effective child protection policy in place since 1986 and a strong record in protecting young people. Over the years the Archdiocese has supported efforts to eliminate the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution of perpetrators of sexual abuse in the District of Columbia, McFadden wrote in a statement.

Allred, who has lobbied for changes to the SOLs in states across the country, said the Catholic Church has opposed similar legislation in other states.

The point is, we are here about victims, not institutions that want to protect themselves, not about predators who want to protect themselves. We are here about victims and it should never be too late for justice for victims, Allred said.

McDuffie said he had no communciations with the church on this issue and pointed out he voted in favor of the Death With Dignity Act which the church opposed.

My religion doesnt get in the way of the work I do down here, McDuffie said.

Both Grosso and Cheh said they will reintroduce their bills next year. Its unclear who will chair the Judiciary Committee next year. Asked if he will support the legislation in 2017, McDuffie said, Well see what happens in the next council session.

As for Fox, she has faith the council will eventually pass both bills. She said that same faith has allowed her to forgive Cosby. She said she even likes the Cosby mural on the side of Bens Chili Bowl.

It doesnt bother me," she said. "I can separate the actor from Cosby the man. A picture on the wall doesnt mean anything to me. I love it. I love Ben's Chili bowl. That doesnt matter to me."

"Whats a picture on a wall. I dont care about that, Fox said. Absolutely, absolutely of course I forgive him, absolutely, but we still want justice. We still want victims to have their day in court.
What to Know With Republicans running the White House, Senate and House, the District is far more vulnerable to intrusive legislation.

In the next Congress, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio intends to introduce legislation that will wipe out the District's gun laws.

Harry Jaffe, a longtime chronicler of the people and politics of Washington, D.C., writes a column for NBC Washington's First Read DMV blog.

A guy walks into cute Comet Ping Pong brandishing a rifle Sunday afternoon, on a deranged mission to "self-investigate" a ludicrous conspiracy theory that has Hillary Clinton running a child sex ring out of the pizza restaurant's non-existent basement. Police arrest him with three weapons.

Hopefully the nut jobs peddling the insidious Comet fantasy will slither away to another bizarre, imagined caper. But we might have to get used to people packing heat in our neighborhoods.

In the next Congress, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio intends to introduce legislation that will wipe out the District's gun laws. He's likely to be joined by Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, who coauthored the legislation last Congress.

The Rubio-Jordan bill failed in 2015. Even if it had passed the House and Senate, it's quite likely President Obama would have vetoed it. But that was then.

With Republicans running the White House, Senate and House, the District is far more vulnerable to intrusive legislation -- from stripping the District's gun laws to reversing marijuana decriminalization.

"For lack of a better word," said Bo Shuff with DC Vote, "we are in a defensive position when we talk about autonomy for D.C."

Before the November elections, Shuff and other advocates for statehood and full voting rights were duped into false hope that Hillary Clinton would be in the White House, and Democrats might even control the Senate.

"It's a far more antagonistic Congress," Shuff said. "We are hoping our gains don't get rolled back or whittled away."

Shuff fears members of Congress might seek to roll back the District's budget autonomy. In 2013, District voters passed a referendum to allow the D.C. government to allocate and spend locally collected tax dollars, without the 30-day congressional review. Courts have upheld the law, and Congress has taken no action.

"For all intents and purposes," Shuff said, "it's gone into effect."

The House voted last May to gut the law, but it fizzled in the Senate. President Obama might have vetoed the bill had it reached his desk. Now there's less of a backstop in the Senate. Nobody knows how President-Elect Trump might react, not even Trump, at this point.

But it's quite likely our new neighbor at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. will have to decide whether to sign Rubio's legislation to kill D.C.'s existing gun laws and the government's right to make and enforce new ones.

For decades, the District had perhaps the nation's most strict handgun controls until 2008, when the Supreme Court struck down the ban. Since then the District has crafted reasonable regulations that allow residents to own guns but also requires training and safety measures.

The law seems to be working well. The Metropolitan Police Department reports that it has registered 8,634 firearms. Of those, 5,617 are handguns. So far the District has issued 94 licenses for residents to carry concealed weapons; it has denied 374 applications to carry concealed weapons.

The Rubio/Jackson bill would wipe out the laws and disable the registration system.

When the Florida senator introduced his Second Amendment Enforcement Act last year, he said: "For years, the District of Columbia has infringed on its residents second amendment rights and rendered them vulnerable to criminals who could care less what the guns laws are."

That's a bunch of bunk. Rubio has no idea what D.C. residents want or need. Besides, since 2008 the path to owning a gun has been unobstructed.

Rubio's law has the potential to attract a parade of tourists with Glock semi-automatic pistols strapped to their waists. It would make it easier to get permits to carry concealed weapons, allow District residents to buy weapons in Maryland and Virginia, and anyone could walk the streets of D.C. carrying a weapon licensed in another state.

There's nothing particularly innovative or inspired about the Rubio/Jackson bill. They follow a long line of representatives and senators who have taken out their pet projects on the District or tried to score political points back home by foisting ideologically pure laws on D.C.

What troubles me is the vicious political climate that's been building, combined with the conservative Republican hold on the House and Senate.

As a member of the National Rifle Association and the proud owner of a Ruger carbine, I believe unrestricted gun ownership in the nation's capital would be a disaster. There are bound to be protests in our streets in the coming months. They will attract advocates on the opposite sides of volatile issues such as abortion, climate change and immigration. Why add firearms to the mix?

D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton asked a more intriguing question for the incoming president: "Why would President Trump want people with guns walking into the Trump International Hotel?"

Before he ran for president, Trump built a new luxury hotel a few blocks down the street on Pennsylvania Avenue in the historic Old Post Office. The Trump International is now the unofficial flagship for his company's hotel division.

"How does that help him?" Norton asked of unrestricted gun ownership in his new neighborhood. "That doesn't help the hotel at all.

"If you really want D.C. to become a dangerous city then eliminate all of our gun laws. I can't imagine what it would turn this city into."

Norton is hoping Trump and his daughter Ivanka, who negotiated the hotel deal, are sharing the same thoughts. She hopes money talks, and Trump will brush aside congressional attempts to gut D.C. guns laws because it would be bad for business.

That's a long shot, but here's the irony: Trump might have helped spawn the crazy conspiracy theories that prompted a 28-year-old man from North Carolina to shoot up a pizzeria on upper Connecticut Avenue. But he also might be the only one who can preserve the gun laws that can keep purveyors of those crazy theories from legally carrying guns on our streets.

That would be sensible for his high-end hotel and our peace of mind.
A 14-year-old girl who was reported missing in Frederick County, Maryland, has been found safe, police say.

Sierra Elizabeth Keith of New Market was last seen at 5 p.m. Wednesday in the area of 15500 Broschart Road in Rockville, Montgomery County police said.

On Monday, police said she was found safe. No further details were released.
The nation's first elected Somali-American lawmaker says a D.C. taxicab driver harassed her and called her "ISIS" after she visited the White House this week.

Minnesota state Rep.-elect Ilhan Omar detailed the incident on her Facebook page Wednesday. She said the cab driver called her ISIS, lobbed sexist taunts and threatened to remove her hijab during a brief ride on Tuesday after a White House meeting on criminal justice reform.

Omar, 33, said she is troubled by growing animosity toward Muslim people.

"I am still shaken by this incident and can't wrap my head around how bold being [sic] are becoming in displaying their hate towards Muslims," she wrote.

She did not provide any information about the driver and said in a response to a comment on her post that she planned to report the incident to authorities once she returned home to Minneapolis.

Her campaign staff did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Muslims across the country say they are facing a surge of anti-Muslim attacks after the election of Donald Trump, who spoke during his campaign about banning Muslims from entering the country and increasing surveillance of mosques.

[NATL] Top News Photos: Pope Visits Japan, and More

The Council on American-Islamic Relations has tracked more than 100 anti-Muslim incidents across the country since Nov. 8.

In nearby Montgomery County and Maryland as a whole, reports of hate crimes have spiked, officials said. The crimes have been directed at racial and ethnic minorities, women, immigrants and the LGBT community.

Omar immigrated to the United States after spending part of her childhood in a Kenyan refugee camp. She won a Minnesota House seat this fall and described her win as a success for many people.

"This really was a victory for that 8-year-old in that refugee camp," she told NPR. "This was a victory for the young woman being forced into child marriage. This was a victory for every person that's been told they have limits on their dreams."
Police have released a composite sketch of the man they say sexually assaulted a woman in Georgetown in October.

The suspect approached and grabbed the victim at the Georgetown Waterfront Park at 7:20 p.m. on Oct. 19, United States Park Police say. The victim was able to run away and called 911.

Police say the suspect is 22 or 23 years old and may be between 5 feet 5 inches and 5 feet 8 inches tall. The suspect has dark, messy hair and may be homeless. Police say he spoke Spanish and English to the victim.

The suspect was last seen running east through the park toward the Georgetown Waterfront shops and M Street NW. He wore red shorts, a blue shirt and carried a dark colored backpack, police say.

Anyone with information on the suspect or the incident can contact USPP Communications 202-610-7500 or the USPP Tip Line at 202-610-8737.
A soldier who lived in Maryland died Tuesday, more than three weeks after he was hurt in a stunning suicide bombing on a United States air base in Afghanistan.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Allan E. Brown, 42, succumbed to injuries he received Nov. 12 on Bagram Air Base, the Department of Defense said Wednesday.

Brown was one of 16 Americans hurt when a man wearing a suicide vest detonated the device as people gathered for a post-Veterans Day run. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and said they had been planning it for four months.

The suicide bomber chose the time and location -- the largest NATO military base -- because he was "looking for an opportunity to do the most damage," a senior U.S. military official told NBC News.

Two other U.S. servicemen died the same day of the bombing.

Brown began serving in the military in March 2004 as a senior data systems integrator, the Fort Hood Public Affairs Office said. He spent almost three years in Iraq, off and on, between August 2006 and December 2011 for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

He was deployed again from July 2014 to September 2014 for Operation Enduring Freedom, and most recently was in Afghanistan for Operation Freedom's Sentinel starting in September 2016.

Brown was the recipient of 22 medals and 11 ribbons.
On Monday New Zealand's PM declared his resignation from his job, astonishing the entire country, after a service of 8 years. Explaining as to why is he is giving up the job he said, he doesnt want to repeat the mistake done by previous leaders adding that the job has made him sacrifice his personal life.

He said "his National Party caucus would meet Dec. 12 to decide on a new party leader and prime minister, and that he expected to formally submit his resignation to the Governor-General that same day."

Opposition leader Andrew little said in his praise for him that, "`He is entitled to be recognized for what he has done for New Zealand. He's been there through some pretty difficult times"

Australian PM said a short message to him as, "Say it isnt so, bro.Adding "John Key is one of the most outstanding national leaders in the world today.He has done an extraordinary job for New Zealand. He is somebody that all of us, right around the world, leaders in countries large and small, draw inspiration from."

Pakistani PM 'Nawaz Sharif' may visit US next year

'Police plane' with 13 people on-board crashed: Indonesia

iPhone 6s is shutting down randomly
An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5 struck Thursday morning about 100 miles of the coast of Ferndale, in Humboldt County, California.

There were no immediate reports of damage. The US Geological Survey originally reported the 6:50 a.m. PT quake as having a magnitude of 6.8. About 90 minutes later, the USGS reported a quake with a magnitude of 5.0 in the nearby area.

An area police dispatcher told NBC Bay Area that she barely felt it on land, and a USGS "did you feel it" map shows light shaking was felt in Eureka and the nearby California coast.

[[405451825, C]]

According to USGS responses, the quake was felt in Arcata, Fortuna and Fort Bragg with some responses as far away as San Francisco and Santa Cruz.

A tsunami is not expected for California, Oregon, Washington state and Alaska, the National Weather Service tweeted.

There are roughly 56 earthquakes in that range of the Richter scale each year, according to the USGS.

<a href="http://data.nbcstations.com/national/KNTV/scottpham/quake-ractive/" target="_blank">View an interactive on a separate page.</a>

[[405451955, C]]
Police are asking for the public's help in finding two men who broke into a pawn shop in Haverhill, Massachusetts.

The men were caught on surveillance breaking into the House of Pawn on Emerson Street November 16.

Police believe they have identified one of the robbers but they are still looking for both men.

The owner told necn that the men had been casing the shop before the robbery took place.

She said the men got into the empty restaurant next door and went through the basement before busting into her shop.

The men only got away with a few watches while leaving behind a lot of pricey electronics.

Anyone with information on the men's identities is asked to contact Haverhill Police.
One resident of the massive blaze that left dozens of people homeless last weekend in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is thankful after her beloved pets were found safe and sound.

When Christina Jeffrey raced home and saw the inferno tearing through her street on Saturday, she said she just knew she was going to lose everything.

My house was one of the most badly burned houses, said Jeffrey. So its pretty easy to assume that animals perished in the fire.

Jeffrey was certain she had lost Mac and Cheese, her 10-year-old cats who are also brothers.

But when she went back to the scene the next morning, she got the attention of firefighters and police, and hoped for a miracle.

A neighbor was documenting the scene when all of a sudden a firefighter came out of the house, holding one of Jeffreys cats.

As he was walking to give the first one, the orange one  Cheese to me, he said the black one is in there, and hes alive, and so he went back and got him, Mac, out and they were fine, Jeffrey told necn.

The two cats had been hiding in Jeffreys bedroom closet.

Jeffrey and her mom were overwhelmed as the cats were found. She describes it as laughing and crying as she realized not everything was indeed lost.

Jeffrey has seen the video, now closing in on 50,000 views on YouTube, and says their rescue is helping as she gets back on her feet.

Her home is set to be demolished, but she will have this one moment shes grateful for.

Because now I have something that makes me cry over and over and over again that I will always have and will always be able to see, said Jeffrey.

Mac and Cheese were taken to the vet and they checked out just fine.

They were scared and hungry, but there were no signs of smoke inhalation and did not have any burns.
The troubled Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Massachusetts, is scheduled to go off-line in 2019, but the inspection teams on-site seem to be questioning safety at the plant right now.

In an internal email obtained by the advocacy group Cape Downwinders, the plant's inspection team recently wrote that among the issues the station is facing is missing paperwork, leaky dry wall, and mechanical issues.

Equipment isnt being repaired, people dont know what theyre doing, said Diane Turco, of Cape Downwinders.

A safety inspector wrote in the internal email, the plant seems overwhelmed by just trying to run the station.

The inspector then tries to soften the blow by saying I am couching this by questioning their overall engineering acumen.

Another comment says: We are observing current indications of a safety culture problem that a bunch of talking probably wont fix.

Turco says these are just some of the low lights that she finds concerning.

Thats serious, were not talking about a candy factory were talking about an aging and degrading nuclear reactor that's on Cape Cod by 35 miles from Boston, Turco said.

Turco is the one who accidentally received the email this week from an inspector with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is helping to oversea the shutdown of the aging power station. Turco and the Cape Downwinders personally delivered a copy of the email to Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Bakers office. The group wants the power station shut down immediately.

If we need to pull a congressional delegation to get federal government to do what they need to do, we will, Baker said.

The NRC said in a statement the inspection is preliminary:

To what extent, if any, these observations factor into our final determinations on improving the plants performance would be difficult if not impossible to predict at this point. Lousiana-based Entergy is the owner of Pilgrim and is not commenting on the ongoing inspection.

Because of the technical jargon in the email, Ken Tavares with the Plymouth Board of Selectmen says it remains unclear if this is an immediate threat to his community.

I want ironclad word from the NRC, that this plant is safe to operate, Tavares said.

The town selectmen planned to hold an emergency meeting Wednesday evening to talk about their next steps.
December 7, 2016, marks the 75th anniversary of a pivotal moment in American history  the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, which propelled the United States into World War II.

The attack stunned the country and remember Pearl Harbor became the nations rally cry.

The International Museum of World War II in Natick, Massachusetts, now has a new exhibit to make sure dont forget the tragic day.

Ken Rendell founded the museum, which contains the worlds largest collection of World War II artifacts. The exhibit has more than 7,500 items on display and the museum is also about to undergo a major expansion.

On display are items like binoculars from the bridge of the U.S.S. Arizona, goggles from one of the few Japanese pilots who were shot down, and the original message announcing the attack.

We should remember Pearl Harbor because we were surprised, Rendell said. I hope that what people will see is the complexity of the issues and that war is personal.

Kevin Fidrych is one of many teachers who have visited the museum to help his history students learn about Pearl Harbor and World War II.

When you teach adolescents about this, you hope they will be in a position to prevent catastrophic events such as this, said Fidrych.
A New Bedford, Massachusetts woman is under arrest after allegedly hitting a police officer with her car.

Police say Alanna Baylies, 33, was found slumped over the wheel of her car in Dartmouths Jones Park at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday night. When she came to, she allegedly put her car into reverse and trapped a police officer between the door and the vehicle as she backed up.

Baylies fled the scene and later crashed on Route 18 in New Bedford.

Baylies was arrested after attempting to flee on foot and taken to the St. Luke's Hospital for evaluation. She has been charged with assault and battery on a police officer, operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license, failure to stop for police, leaving the scene of a crash resulting in personal injury, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, speeding, failure to stop/yield, and resisting arrest.

The injured police officer was transported to Charleton Hospitaland for an upper body injury and released.
Two work release residents who were reported missing from a transitional housing unit after they failed to return to the facility have been apprehended, according to New Hampshire State police.

The state's Department of Corrections says that Terry Michael Deschenes, 26, of Seabrook, and Steven Thomas Martinson, 49, of Manchester, went missing from the Calumet Transitional Housing Unit in Manchester Wedneday evening.

The two were given permission to leave for their overnight jobs at 10 p.m., but never made it to their employer.

They arrived at their work late and were eventually returned to the New Hampshire State Prison in Concord.

A walkaway is considered an Escape and is a Class B felony punishable by 3.5 to 7 years in prison.

Deschenes was convicted in Rockingham County Superior Court for multiple counts of burglary and was sentenced 2.5 to 7 years in prison with 89 days of time served credited to his sentence. He was admitted to the NH State Prison for Men on November 6, 2014 and was eligible for parole on February 3, 2017 with a maximum release date of August 6, 2021.

Martinson was sentenced to 1 year minimum to 3 years maximum and was admitted to the NH State Prison for Men on February 29, 2016. He was eligible for parole on February 27, 2017 with a maximum release date of February 27, 2019.
Several hundred members of the 158th Fighter Wing left Vermont Wednesday for an overseas deployment that will have them away from home for the holidays.

"We think they're going to be doing flight combat operations while they're there," said Maj. Gen. Steve Cray of the Vermont National Guard. "That's what the 158th Fighter Wing trains to do, every day."

For security reasons, the Vermont Air National Guard could not share many specifics on the terms of the deployment.

However, necn can report that a few hundred personnel will spend a several months under U.S. Central Command in a region that covers the Middle East and parts of Africa and Asia, including Iraq and Afghanistan.

Being gone during the holidays will of course be tough, but airmen and women said the close bonds of the Green Mountain Boys will make it a lot easier.

"I'm with family," said Tech. Sgt. Dan Dickerson. "Maybe not the same family that I would've been with, but I'm with people I really love and care for."

"As a Vermont Guard family, we brought holiday celebration stuff like Christmas trees, menorahs, ugly sweaters, stuff like that to lighten the mood," added Senior Airman Tara Maloney.

Vermont's governor-elect, Phil Scott, said at the deployment ceremony that Vermonters care deeply about their guardsmen and women, and will be supporting them throughout this deployment and after they return home.
Air Force officials announced today Moody Air Force Base will host a stateside mission to train Lebanon air force pilots and maintenance personnel on the A-29 Super Tucano aircraft.

This temporary program will fall under the 81st Fighter Squadron, an existing A-29 Light Air Support training squadron that currently trains Afghanistan air force personnel. This program will ensure the Lebanon air force receives the support and training it needs to safely and effectively employ the A-29 aircraft.

The 81st Fighter Squadron enables our international partners to work with the United States to achieve strategic objectives, said Lt Col Ryan Hill, 81st FS commander. The light air support capability is critical to the Lebanon air force and when fully trained, these pilots and maintainers will provide an effective tool for the Lebanese National Security Forces to combat terrorism.

A-29 training has been conducted at Moody for the Afghanistan air force since 2014. The new mission is anticipated to bring an additional 80 personnel to Moody, including Lebanese military, civilians and contractors required to support training on six new aircraft. The initial proposed commitment for this training mission projects a limited presence at the base through 2018.

The additional A-29 aircraft, procured by the Lebanese government, will fly alongside Afghan aircraft to total 14 aircraft from both countries during peak training in 2017. Under current plans, the aircraft may arrive at Moody AFB in early 2017 and the first Lebanese trainees are expected to begin training in February 2017.

The A-29 is a relatively complex system, said Hill. Focused, dedicated pilot and maintenance training is imperative to ensure successful use by the forces operating and maintaining the aircraft. By receiving training in the United States, these students can develop critical skill sets without distractions or tasks outside of training.

The program will train an initial cadre of Lebanese personnel to include 22 maintainers and 12 pilots, who will become instructors. After returning to Lebanon, they will in turn train additional personnel on this weapons system to conduct offensive and defensive fires operations and reconnaissance and surveillance operations throughout Lebanon to combat terrorism.

Mirroring the Afghan training, U.S. Air Force advisors will provide flying training to the student pilots. Maintenance training will be conducted by U.S. Air Force and contractor maintenance personnel, including aircraft maintainers, maintenance instructors, and ground training device instructors and operators.

"Moody AFB is again honored to be selected to host this important mission beginning early next year, said Col. Thomas Kunkel, the 23rd Wing commander. We look forward to supporting the Lebanese A-29 flying training mission and we appreciate the support of Team Moody and the local communities for embracing our growing missions as we continue to strengthen our allied air forces.
Norfolk Christian website hits new visitors high

The Network Norwich and Norfolk website has set a new record for visitors to the well-established Christian community news website.


YMCA Norfolk launches Home for Christmas appeal

YMCA Norfolk has launched a Home for Christmas campaign which aims to help ensure that no young person in Norfolk has to sleep on the street, in cars or on friends' floors this Christmas.

At a time when homelessness is on the increase, YMCA Norfolk will provide a safe home for over 240 homeless young people and support them towards a brighter future this Christmas - people like 22-year-old Thomas Hannant who lives in YMCA Supported Lodgings in Norwich.



Thomas was just nine years old when he returned home from playing at the park one day to find his mother, Donna, dead.



"I went in and saw my mum with her head on her hands and under her hands was a note which she had written," said Thomas. "After that I was depressed and not myself for a long time and was taking anti-depressants."



Thomas went to live with his dad and when that did not work out, he went into care just before Christmas, around his 11th birthday.



He went to live with his foster parents: "They were brilliant," said Thomas. "They were very supportive and are still there for me today. With their help I came off the anti-depressants by the time I was 13. They encouraged me to go to college and take up riding horses," he said.



When he was 20, Thomas moved into the YMCA's My Place, and then into Supported Lodgings in Norwich with a lady called Freda who he gets on really well with.



"I cook for myself and a friend as well sometimes. I have been offered the chance to start some voluntary work in a horse yard soon. I have already done a diploma and NVQ in Equine Studies at Easton College.



"The YMCA has helped me with finding a place to live and with managing my money, which I was really bad at. They have also helped me to come out of my shell as I was a very shy person and not much good at talking to people. I even got the chance to make some plum jam which we sold at the YMCA celebration event recently."



Thomas is looking forward to spending this Christmas with his sister Sonia and will also visit his mum's grave to lay a holly wreath, which he tries to do every year.



YMCA Norfolk chief executive, Tim Sweeting, said: "There are vulnerable children and young people out there who are sleeping on the streets, in cars, or on a series of friends' floors until they run out of options.



"They have no safe base from which to build a life for themselves. So we are encouraging the local community to join us in making sure no child or young person experiences the instability and fear of having no place to call home.



"As the winter weather draws in we become all the more aware of children, young people and families who are without a home. Last year we would have needed an additional 285 homes to house all the people who applied to us," said Tim. "So we are redoubling our efforts to provide a safe warm home through our 'Home for Christmas?' campaign."



You can help support someone like Thomas this Christmas and give them hope for the future.



Text YMCA15 and your amount to 70070 to make your donation.



Donate online at Virgin Money Giving



Donate offline by sending a cheque to YMCA Norfolk, 35-37 Exchange Street, Norwich, NR2 1DP

What your donation could do

10 would provide a Christmas gift for a young person who might otherwise go without.

50 would provide emergency accommodation for a young person made homeless this Christmas

250 would pay for Christmas dinner for all the young people in one of our housing services.

1,250 would pay for all the food we need over the Christmas period.
The IEEE-USA intends to urge President-elect Donald Trump to quickly replace the random H-1B lottery with a system that gives priority to companies that pay the best wages.

This proposal would also move large H-1B users to the back of the visa distribution line. For this to happen, all it would take is an executive order by the president, the engineering group says.

Separately, the IEEE-USA also wants Trump to prod the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate what it claims is discrimination against U.S. workers by H-1B visa-using companies. This discrimination occurs when U.S. workers are replaced by visa-holding workers.

Trump has immediate "opportunities to start pushing back against outsourcing through the H-1B program," said Russell Harrison, director of government relations, for the IEEE-USA, which says it has some 200,000 engineering, computing and IT professionals.

The government labels companies that have 51 or more full-time workers, of whom 15 percent or more are H-1B workers, as "dependent" H-1B employers. This includes all the major India-based offshore outsourcing firms, as well as some U.S.-based firms, such as Cognizant. According to U.S. government visa records, Facebook is also considered an "H-1B dependent" employer for its hiring.

+ ALSO: Donald Trump, zingers and all, emerges as sharp H-1B critic +

The IEEE-USA said the "non-dependent" employers, those with a smaller number of visa-holding workers, should get priority in the visa distribution system. Some large tech companies, including Microsoft, IBM and Google, are non-dependent employers under the government's definition.

Wages are another way to deter visa use by offshore outsourcing companies, Harrison said. If companies that pay the higher prevailing wage are given priority, "you immediately cut out the outsourcers," he said.

Employers who hire H-1B workers have to pay them a prevailing wage. There are four prevailing wage levels for each U.S. occupation. For instance, the Level 4 prevailing wage for a programmer in Des Moines is $81,000. The Level 1 wage, which is for entry level workers, is $46,000.

Most companies pay lower prevailing wages, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. In a 2011 study, the GAO found that 54 percent of all H-1B workers are paid Level 1 wages, and 29 percent are paid Level 2.

A non-H-1B dependent company that pays a Level 4 wage would likely get a visa under their plan, the IEEE-USA officials said. Prevailing wage rates vary by region. While wages are much higher in Silicon Valley than in the Midwest, all the employers that promise to pay Level 4 prevailing wages, for instance, are considered as one category.

The proposals are part of a set of recommendations the IEEE-USA plans to submit to the new administration. The group is also exploring some kind of protections for small businesses in H-1B visa distributions.

The IEEE-USA also wants the Trump administration to push the DOJ to investigate what it claims is discrimination against U.S. workers by H-1B visa-using companies. Ten U.S. senators in 2015 asked the DOJ to investigate national origin discrimination in response to the layoff of IT workers at Southern California Edison, but no action has emerged.

The DOJ's Office of Special Counsel investigates discrimination complaints, but it's hard to get workers who have been laid off to make complaints in a timely fashion, "because they are afraid that if they file a complaint they will lose their severance pay," said Bruce Morrison, a lawyer and former Democratic congressman from Connecticut, who represents the IEEE-USA.

Nonetheless, "the new administration may bring a new willingness to pursue U.S. citizenship discrimination," Morrison said.

The U.S. distributes 85,000 H-1B visas through a lottery, with the odds of winning roughly one-in-three based on current demand. There were 236,000 visa petitions submitted this year.

Changing the lottery will represent "a dramatic resorting away from outsourcing and toward people who are really needed in the American economy and are being compensated commensurate with that need," Morrison said.

Another effort by the IEEE-USA will be to seek to close a 1998 legislative loophole that allows H-1B-dependent firms to replace U.S. workers provided that they pay at least $60,000 per year or employ workers with master's degrees.

The H-1B lottery has been under attack for some time. This includes a federal lawsuit filed last summer by two vendors that claimed they were denied visas for employees they wanted to hire because the lottery is tilted against small businesses.

The lawsuit claims the lottery is being abused by large H-1B users. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service "did not prohibit multiple filings by different employers on behalf of the same individual, or bar large companies from multiple filings through different business units," it says, in part. "This situation is unfair to small businesses, and is not the result intended by Congress when the statute was enacted," according to plaintiffs in the court case.

U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) had proposed replacing the lottery with a wage-based priority system, but her efforts have stalled.

This story, " IEEE-USA wants Trump to end H-1B lottery" was originally published by Computerworld .
Newbury and Thatcham pair admit work was sub standard

TWO rogue traders who endangered the lives of unsuspecting homeowners with dodgy electrical fittings must pay more than 10,000 between them.

Guy Badley, trading as Guy Badley Carpentry Services of Thatcham, and Terry Greening, trading as Greening Electrical in Newbury, admitted offences under Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

A prosecution by West Berkshire Councils trading standards department followed a random inspection of their work by British Gas, which found that electrical sockets they fitted were dangerous.

The offences involved fitting bathroom lights, ground floor lights and kitchen sockets at 190 Craven Road, Newbury, and kitchen cupboard lighting at 72 Volunteer Road, Theale.

All the offences were committed between September 24, 2012, and October 10, 2012.

At Reading Magistrates Court on Friday, November 18, Mr Badley was fined 5,000 and ordered to pay 2,500 in costs plus a statutory victim services surcharge of 120.

Mr Greening admitted two offences relating to the installation of bathroom lighting and a vanity unit, in addition to porch underfloor heating.

The court heard Mr Greening is a qualified electrician but Mr Badley is not.

Both men accepted their work was not up to the professional standard required by consumers.

Afterwards, West Berkshire Councils trading standards portfolio holder Marcus Franks (Con, Speen), said: This is a clear case of rogue traders carrying out work they were neither qualified nor capable of doing.

They left homeowners in danger without a care for their safety and these fines are well deserved.

I would urge homeowners to always check traders credentials before allowing them to carry out electrical or any other potentially dangerous works.

Any West Berkshire resident or business who has concerns about work completed by traders is asked to contact the Trading Standards helpline (01635) 519930 or email tsadvice@westberks.gov.uk
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday asked the Finance Ministry to direct banks to prioritise money withdrawal by staffers of Foreign Embassies after Dean of Diplomatic Corps met Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar.

The Dean of Diplomatic Corps and the Ambassador of the Dominican Republic Frank Hans Dannenberg Castellanos had approached the MEA seeking the relaxation of the weekly cap of Rs. 50,000 as it was affecting the operations of the missions. Jaishankar discussed the difficulties faced by the foreign missions with the Dean of Diplomatic Corps on Thursday and also ways to address them.

The Finance Ministry, as a consequence, is being asked to issue directives to banks to allow Embassy officials with identity cards to withdraw money on a priority basis, the MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said here.

However, the MEA is still waiting to hear from the Inter-Ministerial Committee set up by the Finance Ministry to look into the problems faced by the Foreign Embassies including the weekly withdrawal ceiling.

The Dean of Diplomatic Corps had earlier written to the MEAs Protocol Division and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. On December 2, Russian Ambassador Alexander Kadakin had shot off a letter to the MEA complaining about the inadequate funds. How can such a big embassy in Delhi function without cash? Kadakin had said in the letter. Russians officials indicated that they are thinking of counter-measures like summoning Indian Envoy in Moscow or putting a ceiling on cash withdrawals for Indian diplomats in their country.

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday asked the Finance Ministry to direct banks to prioritise money withdrawal by staffers of Foreign Embassies after Dean of Diplomatic Corps met Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar. The Dean of Diplomatic Corps and the Ambassador of the Dominican Republic Frank Hans Dannenberg Castellanos had approached the MEA seeking the relaxation of the weekly cap of Rs. 50,000 as it was affecting the operations of the missions. Jaishankar discussed the difficulties faced by the foreign missions with the Dean of Diplomatic Corps on Thursday and also ways to address them. The Finance Ministry, as a consequence, is being asked to issue directives to banks to allow Embassy officials with identity cards to withdraw money on a priority basis, the MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said here. However, the MEA is still waiting to hear from the Inter-Ministerial Committee set up by the Finance Ministry to look into the problems faced by the Foreign Embassies including the weekly withdrawal ceiling. The Dean of Diplomatic Corps had earlier written to the MEAs Protocol Division and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. On December 2, Russian Ambassador Alexander Kadakin had shot off a letter to the MEA complaining about the inadequate funds. How can such a big embassy in Delhi function without cash? Kadakin had said in the letter. Russians officials indicated that they are thinking of counter-measures like summoning Indian Envoy in Moscow or putting a ceiling on cash withdrawals for Indian diplomats in their country.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: The High Court on Wednesday directed the Transport Department authorities not to take any coercive action against the all-India tourist taxi operators under the Karnataka On-demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Rules, 2016.

A division bench of Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice R B Budihal passed an interim order that the authorities shall not take any coercive action against the taxi operators who are plying after obtaining licence under Section 88(9) of the Motor Vehicles Act, and shall not take action against the appellants for violation of the Aggregators Rules, 2016.

This was after hearing an appeal filed by taxi operators against the single-judge bench order which upheld the Karnataka On-demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Rules, 2016, framed by the state government for safety of commuters.During the pendency of these matters, the appellants shall obtain licence from the authorities subject to the result of the writ appeals, the bench said.

Meanwhile, the senior counsel representing Uber (appellant), informed the court that the appellants shall not charge surge price from commuters. The counsel argued that social justice cannot be met through bureaucracy. In its appeal, Uber has challenged the order of the single-judge bench which upheld the Rules relating to minimum two years domicile status for drivers, implementation of panic button system, working knowledge of Kannada and the requirement of an aggregator to collect details about the criminal antecedents of drivers, etc.

The counsel representing the Radio Taxi Operators Association argued that the impugned Rules are upheld by the single-judge bench based on the verdict of the Supreme Court.

In their appeals, the drivers have contended that the Aggregator Rules should be struck down for want of authority and as being ultra vires to the Motor Vehicles Act. In the wake of the Rules having come into force, transport officials have been indiscriminately impounding vehicles owned by drivers-subscribers of aggregator platforms and are subjecting them to harassment, they said.

They also claimed that the state did not allow a reasonable time period for taxi owners, who are drivers-subscribers to make necessary arrangements to comply with the Rules to the extent possible, they said. They also challenged Rule-8 fixing qualification for drivers and Rule-8(1) and Rule 8(d) with regard to restrictions on the place of residence of a taxi driver, while also mandating that a driver has working knowledge of Kannada and another language, preferably English. They also disputed Rule 8 (c), which specifically requires that any taxi driver should have been a resident of Karnataka for a minimum period of two years. These stipulations have no rational nexus with any aspect of a drivers ability to perform his role of ferrying passengers in a taxi, they said.

Additional Advocate General A S Ponnanna strongly opposed the passing of an interim order and pointed out the undertaking given by Uber before the single-judge bench that they will not charge surge price.

BENGALURU: The High Court on Wednesday directed the Transport Department authorities not to take any coercive action against the all-India tourist taxi operators under the Karnataka On-demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Rules, 2016. A division bench of Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice R B Budihal passed an interim order that the authorities shall not take any coercive action against the taxi operators who are plying after obtaining licence under Section 88(9) of the Motor Vehicles Act, and shall not take action against the appellants for violation of the Aggregators Rules, 2016. This was after hearing an appeal filed by taxi operators against the single-judge bench order which upheld the Karnataka On-demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Rules, 2016, framed by the state government for safety of commuters.During the pendency of these matters, the appellants shall obtain licence from the authorities subject to the result of the writ appeals, the bench said. Meanwhile, the senior counsel representing Uber (appellant), informed the court that the appellants shall not charge surge price from commuters. The counsel argued that social justice cannot be met through bureaucracy. In its appeal, Uber has challenged the order of the single-judge bench which upheld the Rules relating to minimum two years domicile status for drivers, implementation of panic button system, working knowledge of Kannada and the requirement of an aggregator to collect details about the criminal antecedents of drivers, etc. The counsel representing the Radio Taxi Operators Association argued that the impugned Rules are upheld by the single-judge bench based on the verdict of the Supreme Court. In their appeals, the drivers have contended that the Aggregator Rules should be struck down for want of authority and as being ultra vires to the Motor Vehicles Act. In the wake of the Rules having come into force, transport officials have been indiscriminately impounding vehicles owned by drivers-subscribers of aggregator platforms and are subjecting them to harassment, they said. They also claimed that the state did not allow a reasonable time period for taxi owners, who are drivers-subscribers to make necessary arrangements to comply with the Rules to the extent possible, they said. They also challenged Rule-8 fixing qualification for drivers and Rule-8(1) and Rule 8(d) with regard to restrictions on the place of residence of a taxi driver, while also mandating that a driver has working knowledge of Kannada and another language, preferably English. They also disputed Rule 8 (c), which specifically requires that any taxi driver should have been a resident of Karnataka for a minimum period of two years. These stipulations have no rational nexus with any aspect of a drivers ability to perform his role of ferrying passengers in a taxi, they said. Additional Advocate General A S Ponnanna strongly opposed the passing of an interim order and pointed out the undertaking given by Uber before the single-judge bench that they will not charge surge price.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: You will be alright soon. You have to be positive in such times. It happens to everyone, Jayalalithaa had said when she met her decades-old friend Cho S Ramaswamy in April last year at the Apollo Hospitals. And by a twist of destiny, both died in the same hospital a year later.

It would be no exaggeration to say that the friendship between the Tughlak editor Cho S Ramaswamy and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa lasted a lifetime. It is said that Cho, who was admitted in a ward next to Jayalalithaa in the Apollo Hospitals, passed away without knowing that his friend had left before him.

Jayalalithaa and Cho became friends when Cho was acting in plays staged by YG Parthasarathy in the early 1960s.

Jayalalithaa was just seven or eight years old and she used to accompany her mother. A few years later, Jaya also joined the YGP troupe. In one of the English dramas  The Whole Truth , Cho took the villains role and he had to kill the character enacted by Jayalalithaa.

Jayalalithaa, in her lifetime, had bowed only before a very few. When she turned 60 in 2008, she visited Chos home and got the blessings of Cho and his wife. She also visited a few other senior persons, including the late actor MN Nambiyar and took his blessings.

During her first tenure as Chief Minister between 1991-96, Cho went against Jayalalithaa. However, Cho hailed Jayalalithaa as the Opposition leader and opposed the DMK government during 2006-2011.

At the end of her 2011-16 tenure as Chief Minister, when asked whether he did not find any fault with her government, Cho replied, There are some issues. But this is not the time to speak about those.

CHENNAI: You will be alright soon. You have to be positive in such times. It happens to everyone, Jayalalithaa had said when she met her decades-old friend Cho S Ramaswamy in April last year at the Apollo Hospitals. And by a twist of destiny, both died in the same hospital a year later. It would be no exaggeration to say that the friendship between the Tughlak editor Cho S Ramaswamy and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa lasted a lifetime. It is said that Cho, who was admitted in a ward next to Jayalalithaa in the Apollo Hospitals, passed away without knowing that his friend had left before him. Jayalalithaa and Cho became friends when Cho was acting in plays staged by YG Parthasarathy in the early 1960s. Jayalalithaa was just seven or eight years old and she used to accompany her mother. A few years later, Jaya also joined the YGP troupe. In one of the English dramas  The Whole Truth , Cho took the villains role and he had to kill the character enacted by Jayalalithaa. Jayalalithaa, in her lifetime, had bowed only before a very few. When she turned 60 in 2008, she visited Chos home and got the blessings of Cho and his wife. She also visited a few other senior persons, including the late actor MN Nambiyar and took his blessings. During her first tenure as Chief Minister between 1991-96, Cho went against Jayalalithaa. However, Cho hailed Jayalalithaa as the Opposition leader and opposed the DMK government during 2006-2011. At the end of her 2011-16 tenure as Chief Minister, when asked whether he did not find any fault with her government, Cho replied, There are some issues. But this is not the time to speak about those.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Srinivasa Iyer Cho Ramaswamy, the straight-talking political and social satirist and a practitioner of bold journalism, passed away on Wednesday after suffering a cardiac arrest at a hospital in Chennai. He was 82, and is survived by his wife Soundara Ramaswamy, son Rajivakshan alias Sriram and daughter Sindhuja. Cho breathed his last in the early hours of Wednesday at Apollo Hospitals, of which he was in and out in the last year-and-a-half following respiratory complications. Sources said he suffered a cardiac arrest around 2 am, and the end came at 3.58 am.

As a journalist and the main force behind the popular magazine Thuglak, he never hesitated to express his views and attacked what he considered wrong, regardless of the person on the other side.

He was also a noted force of resistance after the declaration of Emergency by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1976, and joined hands with many, including the owner of Indian Express newspaper, late Ramnath Goenka. Cho had a long association with Goenka, who gave him the rather fitting sobriquet of intellectual goonda for his straightforwardness in expressing his views without the least hesitation. The two were in opposite camps when Cho opposed VP Singhs National Front government, which Goenka supported with equal vigour. However, it was only a brief while before they were back on the same page. As Goenka said, Cho remained an intellectual goonda till the very end.

Objectivity laced with the ability to think laterally enabled him to offer perfect political commentary. One such instance was when the DMK decided to oust MGR from the party. When he learnt about the move from poet Kannadasan, Cho advised him strongly against it.

He told Kannadasan to ask Karunanidhi to stop this plan, as it would not be good for the DMK in the long run. The strength of MGRs fans should not be underestimated, he warned presciently. Within a month, Kannadasan realised Cho was right.

CHENNAI: Srinivasa Iyer Cho Ramaswamy, the straight-talking political and social satirist and a practitioner of bold journalism, passed away on Wednesday after suffering a cardiac arrest at a hospital in Chennai. He was 82, and is survived by his wife Soundara Ramaswamy, son Rajivakshan alias Sriram and daughter Sindhuja. Cho breathed his last in the early hours of Wednesday at Apollo Hospitals, of which he was in and out in the last year-and-a-half following respiratory complications. Sources said he suffered a cardiac arrest around 2 am, and the end came at 3.58 am. As a journalist and the main force behind the popular magazine Thuglak, he never hesitated to express his views and attacked what he considered wrong, regardless of the person on the other side. He was also a noted force of resistance after the declaration of Emergency by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1976, and joined hands with many, including the owner of Indian Express newspaper, late Ramnath Goenka. Cho had a long association with Goenka, who gave him the rather fitting sobriquet of intellectual goonda for his straightforwardness in expressing his views without the least hesitation. The two were in opposite camps when Cho opposed VP Singhs National Front government, which Goenka supported with equal vigour. However, it was only a brief while before they were back on the same page. As Goenka said, Cho remained an intellectual goonda till the very end. Objectivity laced with the ability to think laterally enabled him to offer perfect political commentary. One such instance was when the DMK decided to oust MGR from the party. When he learnt about the move from poet Kannadasan, Cho advised him strongly against it. He told Kannadasan to ask Karunanidhi to stop this plan, as it would not be good for the DMK in the long run. The strength of MGRs fans should not be underestimated, he warned presciently. Within a month, Kannadasan realised Cho was right.
Ayesha Tabassum By

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: March 2006 was a wild year. Literally. BBCs Planet Earth premiered and changed forever how the world looked at the animal kingdom and natural history. Its surreal shots and revolutionary camera work brought Ethiopias Erta Ale (the longest continually erupting volcano), Mexicos Cave of Swallows (Earths deepest pit cave free-fall drop), the Antarctic and the Arctic disconcertingly up close on our television screens. In fact, in a years time, the documentary series had viewers from more than 130 countries. Now the broadcasting giant is ready with round two, Planet Earth IIa BBC Studios Natural History Unit production, co-produced with BBC America, ZDF, Tencent and France Televisions.

1. Wild horses, ormustangs, roam

freely in much of south-west USA.

2. Hanuman langurs are an integral part

of Jodhpurs landscape.

3. The elusive Bengal tiger gives the crew

a fleeting glimpse before disappearing into

the tall grass of the Kaziranga National Park.

Bristol-based Tom Hugh-Jones, series producer, tells us, Both filming techniques and our understanding of the natural world have moved on significantly since Planet Earth. Shot over three years, in high definition using 4K technology, it covers 40 countries and was executed over 117 filming trips, with a total of 2,089 shooting days. It also has Sir David Attenboroughs inimitable narration, his second time playing this role. Talking about the improved viewing experience, Hugh-Jones says, If you want people to connect emotionally, its better for viewers to feel like theyre down there, within the action, seeing things from the animals point of view. These kind of sensibilities have been used in movies for years, and we are applying them in the natural world.

Home team

But we have another reason to be excited by the film (Island, the first of six episodes, was released five days ago in the UK, to coincide with the series 10th anniversary). A total of five sequences (included in Mountains, Grasslands and Cities) were shot in India, in collaboration with Bengaluru-based Felis Creations, the only production house from the country to bag a commission. In fact, the trailerwhich has garnered six million plus (and counting) viewshad showcased the langur shots from Jodhpur, which were shot by Sandesh Kadur from the Felis team. In January 2014, Dr Chadden Hunter, a primatologist (and BBC producer), came to India on holiday. I was shooting in Kaziranga for another documentary, and he joined me during the shoot. I took him around, showing him the tallest grassland in the world, reminisces the filmmaker and photographer. Recalling how Hunter thought the locale made for a fantastic opening shot, a perfect contrast to the prairies, the 39-year-old adds, The grasslands can even hide an elephant, hence the name elephant grassland. It was the first of the India sequences to be shotover a period of four months, from November 2014 to March 2015. The Felis team included field assistant, Nitye Sood, and production head, Adarsh NC. They shot for over two years and also provided back-end support for shoot logistics. It is the only pure, natural history film of our times. While everyone is talking of depletion and degradation of resources, Planet Earth II is an important tool to boost conservation on a magnum scale, says Adarsh.

From getting permissions to shoot in protected areaslike Ladakh (which comes under External Affairs, Home Affairs and the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest) and Mumbai (at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park)to shooting atop narrow walls and housing colonies in Jodhpur and Jaipur, Felis Creations took care of everything. It was worth all the effort considering we are the only production company from India, and we were working on a documentary that would be narrated by Sir Attenborough. What more could we have asked for? smiles Adarsh.

4. The Great Horned Rhinoceros in Kaziranga.

5. A shot from the Kaziranga grasslands.

6. Sandesh Kadur in his hide, while shooting the Grasslands episode in Kaziranga.

Animal visits

The most important Indian habitat to be showcased, and possibly the most difficult, is the Ladakh region. While Kadur did the recce, Bristol-based Justin Anderson, the producer behind the Mountains episode, and the one who shot the sequence with the snow leopards, says he had to go back thrice (between 2013 and 2016, in December and February), to finish the shoot, with temperatures often touching sub-zero levels. The Hemis National Park reports frequent snow leopard sightings, so its considered the snow leopard capital of the world, shares Anderson, adding, The community-focussed conservation projects have been hugely successful because the local people really value the cats.

The third sequence is a new addition to the Planet Earth serieshow some animals are managing to survive in a new habitat, our cities. The Jodhpur sequence, from the old city area of Brahmapuri, is the opening for the Cities episode, says Kadur, revealing that they shot the langurs (in April this year) to showcase how certain wild animals have adapted to the growth of cities and have become an integral part of the urban landscape. It was a challenging experience because we had to shoot atop buildings, treading narrow parapet walls, capturing them against the backdrop of blue houses.

Felis finds

With attention paid to every little detail, what makes Planet Earth II extraordinarily special is its mind-blowing shots. The key technology: gyro-stabilised cameras that allowed the crew to put them on helicopters and zoom in on animals from kilometres above. The shooting procedure has also added to the visual tapestry. You will feel like a part of the landscape because it has been shot using wide angles, filming at a high frame rate that shows every tiny movement, so you get an immersive experience, says Kadur.

Anderson also credits the people involved. From Wangchuk Kalon, who managed our logistics and camp set up, to Jigmet Takpa of the forestry department, who allowed us to stay in the park, everyone added to the experience. We were also reliant on a great ground crewsnow leopard spotters, wildlife guards, porters and cooks. It was just the best, most dedicated team Ive ever worked with, he says.

After the first episode was aired, BBC News reported that an average of 9.2 million watched racer snakes, penguins and Komodo dragons. The BBC Natural History Unit team is now waiting for the broadcasting schedule to be finalised for other countries.

Mountains premiered in the UK last month.

Kadur's Take 3

memorable shot

The egrets at Kaziranga National Park. Filming in December was tough, as the grass is the tallest then. Its nearly 15 ft high and very thick. We felt like midgets amidst them. It was difficult to manoeuvre, but we had to find locations where animals had used the tracks, so we could fix our camera traps. One day, we were filming three egrets (which we believed were perched on a rock) when suddenly they started floating above the grassland. Before we could figure it out, an elephant walked out with the birds on its head. It was our first good shot.



Close call

Jodhpur langurs. We wanted to shoot the sequence when the bachelor troop of langurs would start fights, trying to displace the dominant male, take away his family and instate a new leader. Getting familiar with male langurs and shooting with them wasnt tough. They were comfortable with the camera and were okay when we got close to them. But it was difficult to shoot the females, one of whom we had named Grouch. On the day when the male langoors began fighting for leadership (around 20-25 of them were chasing each other and jumping across roofs), we were shooting at 200 frames per second, which meant it was extremely slow motion. My leg was on the edge of a parapet wall, and I was looking through the view finder, trying to frame it right, when Grouch suddenly appeared and grabbed my foot. She was about to bite me. I froze and looked down. She looked up, and for a few seconds our eyes locked. Then she

abruptly let go of my foot and went away!



The long wait

Tiger at Kaziranga. The shot of the tiger is a very important one. It shows how these royal beasts survive in the tall grasslands. Though the team had been shooting in Kaziranga since November 2014, we couldnt get a good shot till the middle of February, 2015. Apart from the camera traps, this time we went all out with the traditional camera hide, putting up hut-like structures using grass from the habitat. We spent nearly five days, sitting inside them from dawn to dusk. Finally, our model appeared, unaware of our presence. He approached a rhino carcass that was lying a few feet from our hide and we captured it feasting. In fact, it was the low angle shot of the beast captured on the camera trap that is the most memorable of all. It is just a five-second shot, but we spent 500 man hours to get it.

HYDERABAD: March 2006 was a wild year. Literally. BBCs Planet Earth premiered and changed forever how the world looked at the animal kingdom and natural history. Its surreal shots and revolutionary camera work brought Ethiopias Erta Ale (the longest continually erupting volcano), Mexicos Cave of Swallows (Earths deepest pit cave free-fall drop), the Antarctic and the Arctic disconcertingly up close on our television screens. In fact, in a years time, the documentary series had viewers from more than 130 countries. Now the broadcasting giant is ready with round two, Planet Earth IIa BBC Studios Natural History Unit production, co-produced with BBC America, ZDF, Tencent and France Televisions. 1. Wild horses, ormustangs, roam freely in much of south-west USA. 2. Hanuman langurs are an integral part of Jodhpurs landscape. 3. The elusive Bengal tiger gives the crew a fleeting glimpse before disappearing into the tall grass of the Kaziranga National Park.Bristol-based Tom Hugh-Jones, series producer, tells us, Both filming techniques and our understanding of the natural world have moved on significantly since Planet Earth. Shot over three years, in high definition using 4K technology, it covers 40 countries and was executed over 117 filming trips, with a total of 2,089 shooting days. It also has Sir David Attenboroughs inimitable narration, his second time playing this role. Talking about the improved viewing experience, Hugh-Jones says, If you want people to connect emotionally, its better for viewers to feel like theyre down there, within the action, seeing things from the animals point of view. These kind of sensibilities have been used in movies for years, and we are applying them in the natural world. Home team But we have another reason to be excited by the film (Island, the first of six episodes, was released five days ago in the UK, to coincide with the series 10th anniversary). A total of five sequences (included in Mountains, Grasslands and Cities) were shot in India, in collaboration with Bengaluru-based Felis Creations, the only production house from the country to bag a commission. In fact, the trailerwhich has garnered six million plus (and counting) viewshad showcased the langur shots from Jodhpur, which were shot by Sandesh Kadur from the Felis team. In January 2014, Dr Chadden Hunter, a primatologist (and BBC producer), came to India on holiday. I was shooting in Kaziranga for another documentary, and he joined me during the shoot. I took him around, showing him the tallest grassland in the world, reminisces the filmmaker and photographer. Recalling how Hunter thought the locale made for a fantastic opening shot, a perfect contrast to the prairies, the 39-year-old adds, The grasslands can even hide an elephant, hence the name elephant grassland. It was the first of the India sequences to be shotover a period of four months, from November 2014 to March 2015. The Felis team included field assistant, Nitye Sood, and production head, Adarsh NC. They shot for over two years and also provided back-end support for shoot logistics. It is the only pure, natural history film of our times. While everyone is talking of depletion and degradation of resources, Planet Earth II is an important tool to boost conservation on a magnum scale, says Adarsh. From getting permissions to shoot in protected areaslike Ladakh (which comes under External Affairs, Home Affairs and the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest) and Mumbai (at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park)to shooting atop narrow walls and housing colonies in Jodhpur and Jaipur, Felis Creations took care of everything. It was worth all the effort considering we are the only production company from India, and we were working on a documentary that would be narrated by Sir Attenborough. What more could we have asked for? smiles Adarsh. 4. The Great Horned Rhinoceros in Kaziranga. 5. A shot from the Kaziranga grasslands. 6. Sandesh Kadur in his hide, while shooting the Grasslands episode in Kaziranga. Animal visits The most important Indian habitat to be showcased, and possibly the most difficult, is the Ladakh region. While Kadur did the recce, Bristol-based Justin Anderson, the producer behind the Mountains episode, and the one who shot the sequence with the snow leopards, says he had to go back thrice (between 2013 and 2016, in December and February), to finish the shoot, with temperatures often touching sub-zero levels. The Hemis National Park reports frequent snow leopard sightings, so its considered the snow leopard capital of the world, shares Anderson, adding, The community-focussed conservation projects have been hugely successful because the local people really value the cats. The third sequence is a new addition to the Planet Earth serieshow some animals are managing to survive in a new habitat, our cities. The Jodhpur sequence, from the old city area of Brahmapuri, is the opening for the Cities episode, says Kadur, revealing that they shot the langurs (in April this year) to showcase how certain wild animals have adapted to the growth of cities and have become an integral part of the urban landscape. It was a challenging experience because we had to shoot atop buildings, treading narrow parapet walls, capturing them against the backdrop of blue houses. Felis finds With attention paid to every little detail, what makes Planet Earth II extraordinarily special is its mind-blowing shots. The key technology: gyro-stabilised cameras that allowed the crew to put them on helicopters and zoom in on animals from kilometres above. The shooting procedure has also added to the visual tapestry. You will feel like a part of the landscape because it has been shot using wide angles, filming at a high frame rate that shows every tiny movement, so you get an immersive experience, says Kadur. Anderson also credits the people involved. From Wangchuk Kalon, who managed our logistics and camp set up, to Jigmet Takpa of the forestry department, who allowed us to stay in the park, everyone added to the experience. We were also reliant on a great ground crewsnow leopard spotters, wildlife guards, porters and cooks. It was just the best, most dedicated team Ive ever worked with, he says. After the first episode was aired, BBC News reported that an average of 9.2 million watched racer snakes, penguins and Komodo dragons. The BBC Natural History Unit team is now waiting for the broadcasting schedule to be finalised for other countries. Mountains premiered in the UK last month. Kadur's Take 3 memorable shot The egrets at Kaziranga National Park. Filming in December was tough, as the grass is the tallest then. Its nearly 15 ft high and very thick. We felt like midgets amidst them. It was difficult to manoeuvre, but we had to find locations where animals had used the tracks, so we could fix our camera traps. One day, we were filming three egrets (which we believed were perched on a rock) when suddenly they started floating above the grassland. Before we could figure it out, an elephant walked out with the birds on its head. It was our first good shot. Close call Jodhpur langurs. We wanted to shoot the sequence when the bachelor troop of langurs would start fights, trying to displace the dominant male, take away his family and instate a new leader. Getting familiar with male langurs and shooting with them wasnt tough. They were comfortable with the camera and were okay when we got close to them. But it was difficult to shoot the females, one of whom we had named Grouch. On the day when the male langoors began fighting for leadership (around 20-25 of them were chasing each other and jumping across roofs), we were shooting at 200 frames per second, which meant it was extremely slow motion. My leg was on the edge of a parapet wall, and I was looking through the view finder, trying to frame it right, when Grouch suddenly appeared and grabbed my foot. She was about to bite me. I froze and looked down. She looked up, and for a few seconds our eyes locked. Then she abruptly let go of my foot and went away! The long wait Tiger at Kaziranga. The shot of the tiger is a very important one. It shows how these royal beasts survive in the tall grasslands. Though the team had been shooting in Kaziranga since November 2014, we couldnt get a good shot till the middle of February, 2015. Apart from the camera traps, this time we went all out with the traditional camera hide, putting up hut-like structures using grass from the habitat. We spent nearly five days, sitting inside them from dawn to dusk. Finally, our model appeared, unaware of our presence. He approached a rhino carcass that was lying a few feet from our hide and we captured it feasting. In fact, it was the low angle shot of the beast captured on the camera trap that is the most memorable of all. It is just a five-second shot, but we spent 500 man hours to get it.
By ANI

MUMBAI: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has time and again expressed her love for dance. She did it yet again, when her childhood dance guru Lata Surendra, the section president of the World Congress of Dance, dedicated a performance to her.

The blue-eyed beauty attended the inaugural of the first ever World Congress of Dance in India, a five-day event, which also saw performances of Sandip Soparkar, Alesia Raut and others.

I am moved, very emotional. I dont have any planned speeches today. My words are straight from my heart. I danced with Akka (Lata Surendra) from second grade to seventh grade. Ever since then, dancing became my way of life. It is the ultimate joy to see your guru perform and if she does for you, then it becomes a different honour, said the actress.

Equally moved, Lata was all praise for her student, I have a poised dignity of a disciple whom I have seen as a wonderful disciple, the ideal daughter to her parents, ideal partner to her husband. I watched with pride when she carried her baby (Aradhya) and walked through Cannes. I had a sense of pride as in todays world when one reaches the peak of her carrier, the child remains ignored, seeking for some attention. Its not the case for her.

MUMBAI: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has time and again expressed her love for dance. She did it yet again, when her childhood dance guru Lata Surendra, the section president of the World Congress of Dance, dedicated a performance to her. The blue-eyed beauty attended the inaugural of the first ever World Congress of Dance in India, a five-day event, which also saw performances of Sandip Soparkar, Alesia Raut and others. I am moved, very emotional. I dont have any planned speeches today. My words are straight from my heart. I danced with Akka (Lata Surendra) from second grade to seventh grade. Ever since then, dancing became my way of life. It is the ultimate joy to see your guru perform and if she does for you, then it becomes a different honour, said the actress. Equally moved, Lata was all praise for her student, I have a poised dignity of a disciple whom I have seen as a wonderful disciple, the ideal daughter to her parents, ideal partner to her husband. I watched with pride when she carried her baby (Aradhya) and walked through Cannes. I had a sense of pride as in todays world when one reaches the peak of her carrier, the child remains ignored, seeking for some attention. Its not the case for her.
A Sharadhaa By

Express News Service

In May 23 this year, Darshan-starrer and Chintans debut directorial Chakravarthy took its first shot within the sacred premises of goddess Chamundeshwari in Mysuru. With a smooth run in the following months, the makers will be shooting the last frame at the same venue as a mark of respect for the divine.

It is a known fact that Darshan and his brother Dinakar have been ardent devotees of goddess Chamundeshwari and have always sought her blessings. This time, the entire crew wants to join them in the gesture, scheduled on December 15. The first-time director is in the process of bringing in the entire star cast and all the technicians and producers in one frame, which will be the last shot to be clicked in front of the Devi temple, sources state.

Currently, the last leg of shooting is going on in Bengaluru with Dinakar and Aditya completing their respective portions.

Chakravarthy, for which Chintan has written the story, screenplay and dialogues, has been projected as featuring Darshan in a never-before-seen avatar, donning three different shades. The posters of the film, which show the background of the underworld, has already created a buzz, especially with Darshans look.

Another highlight of the film will be Dinakars role as an antagonist for the first time while the talking points are the scenes on a 12-storied cruise-liner and the introductory song of Darshan shot in Malayasia.

Deepa Sannidhi makes her comeback with Darshan after Sarathy and the films ensemble cast includes Aditya, Srujan Lokesh, Kumar Bangarappa among

others.

The film, produced by Siddhanth and Annaji Nagaraj, has KS Chandrashekars camera work and Arjun Janyas music. With Anand Audio buying the audio rights of the film, they are now gearing up for a mega audio launch shortly.

In May 23 this year, Darshan-starrer and Chintans debut directorial Chakravarthy took its first shot within the sacred premises of goddess Chamundeshwari in Mysuru. With a smooth run in the following months, the makers will be shooting the last frame at the same venue as a mark of respect for the divine. It is a known fact that Darshan and his brother Dinakar have been ardent devotees of goddess Chamundeshwari and have always sought her blessings. This time, the entire crew wants to join them in the gesture, scheduled on December 15. The first-time director is in the process of bringing in the entire star cast and all the technicians and producers in one frame, which will be the last shot to be clicked in front of the Devi temple, sources state. Currently, the last leg of shooting is going on in Bengaluru with Dinakar and Aditya completing their respective portions. Chakravarthy, for which Chintan has written the story, screenplay and dialogues, has been projected as featuring Darshan in a never-before-seen avatar, donning three different shades. The posters of the film, which show the background of the underworld, has already created a buzz, especially with Darshans look. Another highlight of the film will be Dinakars role as an antagonist for the first time while the talking points are the scenes on a 12-storied cruise-liner and the introductory song of Darshan shot in Malayasia. Deepa Sannidhi makes her comeback with Darshan after Sarathy and the films ensemble cast includes Aditya, Srujan Lokesh, Kumar Bangarappa among others. The film, produced by Siddhanth and Annaji Nagaraj, has KS Chandrashekars camera work and Arjun Janyas music. With Anand Audio buying the audio rights of the film, they are now gearing up for a mega audio launch shortly.
Arathi Kannan By

Express News Service

Editor-turned director Mahesh Narayanans debut vehicle starring Kunchacko Boban has been titled Take off. The title was unveiled by actor Nivin Pauly at IMA Hall on Wednesday. Take off also have Fahadh Faasil and Parvathy starring in important roles.



According to the director, the movie is a tribute to the late director Rajesh Pillai.

The film focuses on the crisis in Iraq during June 2014 that brought home a lot of nurses who were employed there. A large portion of shooting was completed in Iraq.



Mahesh Narayanan understands just how much Rajesh Pillai valued cinema. What started off as a simple idea, grew large and made for a compelling film, said Kunchacko Boban.



Producer Anto Joseph said: When he heard it was a Rajesh Pillai Films venture, Kunchacko said he did not want remuneration for working in the film. The movie has both Shaan Rahman and Gopi Sunder in the music department. Nivin Pauly said he would have loved to be a part of the film, and was happy to stand by the team. Mekha Rajesh Pillai, the executive producer thanked everyone for taking part in the event. Take Off is slated to release in January 2017.



Director and actor Renji Panicker disclosed the first look and MLA Hibi Eden revealed the Facebook page of Take Off.

Editor-turned director Mahesh Narayanans debut vehicle starring Kunchacko Boban has been titled Take off. The title was unveiled by actor Nivin Pauly at IMA Hall on Wednesday. Take off also have Fahadh Faasil and Parvathy starring in important roles. According to the director, the movie is a tribute to the late director Rajesh Pillai. The film focuses on the crisis in Iraq during June 2014 that brought home a lot of nurses who were employed there. A large portion of shooting was completed in Iraq. Mahesh Narayanan understands just how much Rajesh Pillai valued cinema. What started off as a simple idea, grew large and made for a compelling film, said Kunchacko Boban. Producer Anto Joseph said: When he heard it was a Rajesh Pillai Films venture, Kunchacko said he did not want remuneration for working in the film. The movie has both Shaan Rahman and Gopi Sunder in the music department. Nivin Pauly said he would have loved to be a part of the film, and was happy to stand by the team. Mekha Rajesh Pillai, the executive producer thanked everyone for taking part in the event. Take Off is slated to release in January 2017. Director and actor Renji Panicker disclosed the first look and MLA Hibi Eden revealed the Facebook page of Take Off.
Suhas Yellapantula By

Express News Service

An actor whos always been burdened by expectation or comparisons, an actor whos still defined by the image and aura of his legendary father  Ram Charan is now trying to break the shackles and do something thats not only close to his heart, but will also shatter his image as a mass hero (to an extent).

We cannot be a like a statue in Tank Bund. We cannot depend too much on the image and aura created by previous films (most notably Magadheera). Its important to keep changing yourself along with the new stories that come your way, and thats what Im trying to do, says Charan. And sure enough, the actor will break away from hero-centric films and an explore a new genre with Dhruva, the Telugu remake of Tamil blockbuster Thani Oruvan.

There was a bit of tension, especially because this films a remake but there was confidence in equal measure since we believe in the content and Im hoping it will be even better than the original, he says, optimistically. Tamil star Aravind Swamy will reprise his role as the antagonist in Dhruva, and will be returning to Telugu cinema after nearly two decades.

I was a bit nervous initially since hes a senior actor and he has already delivered a hit on the same film in a different language. But he approached it as a new role and the bond we shared was so special that it became difficult to shoot, Charan shares.

Surender Reddy, the films director, had mentioned (perhaps jokingly) that he would never do a remake after Dhruva. Reacting to that, an amused Charan said, Really? Did he say that (laughs). But jokes aside, remakes are never easy and it does get difficult to handle for the director. Suri, however, had put in a lot of hard work and has done a fabulous job, says Charan, whos previous film was Bruce Lee: The Fighter in 2015.

The film was initially scheduled to release in the first week of December, but was postponed after demonetisation.

At a time when people were running around banks and ATMs, we didnt think it was appropriate to release the film. Even now, it hasnt come back to normal but we are reasonably confident that it will not have too big an impact on the film, Charan observes.

Charan, whos also producing his father Megastar Chiranjeevis comeback film Khaidi No.150, admits that demonetisation has had an impact on the industry.

I think everybody will admit that it has impacted our lives in one way or another. But were all learning to adapt and continue with our work. Im not carrying `250 with me as pocket money and I think everybody in their own way is adapting to the current situation, the Magadheera star said. Given that the film is an edge-of-the-seat thriller, there are some concerns among the audience whether a run-time of 150 minutes will be too long to hold their attention. Dispelling such concerns, Charan says, When the content is strong, the runtime shouldnt be of too much concern. We have seen the movie and were confident that it will hold the attention of the audience right through.

In a surprisingly indifferent mood, Charan mainly answered through gestures or in small sentences. The actor, whose sporting a six-pack for the film, shares that it was a gruelling experience. It was certainly a physically challenging role, one of the most I have done in my career so far, Charan explains.

Up next, the actor will team up with Nannaku Prematho helmer Sukumar for a film. It will be an entertainer and is completely opposite to Dhruva. Im waiting for dads film to be completed and will then start working on that, he added.

An actor whos always been burdened by expectation or comparisons, an actor whos still defined by the image and aura of his legendary father  Ram Charan is now trying to break the shackles and do something thats not only close to his heart, but will also shatter his image as a mass hero (to an extent). We cannot be a like a statue in Tank Bund. We cannot depend too much on the image and aura created by previous films (most notably Magadheera). Its important to keep changing yourself along with the new stories that come your way, and thats what Im trying to do, says Charan. And sure enough, the actor will break away from hero-centric films and an explore a new genre with Dhruva, the Telugu remake of Tamil blockbuster Thani Oruvan. There was a bit of tension, especially because this films a remake but there was confidence in equal measure since we believe in the content and Im hoping it will be even better than the original, he says, optimistically. Tamil star Aravind Swamy will reprise his role as the antagonist in Dhruva, and will be returning to Telugu cinema after nearly two decades. I was a bit nervous initially since hes a senior actor and he has already delivered a hit on the same film in a different language. But he approached it as a new role and the bond we shared was so special that it became difficult to shoot, Charan shares. Surender Reddy, the films director, had mentioned (perhaps jokingly) that he would never do a remake after Dhruva. Reacting to that, an amused Charan said, Really? Did he say that (laughs). But jokes aside, remakes are never easy and it does get difficult to handle for the director. Suri, however, had put in a lot of hard work and has done a fabulous job, says Charan, whos previous film was Bruce Lee: The Fighter in 2015. The film was initially scheduled to release in the first week of December, but was postponed after demonetisation. At a time when people were running around banks and ATMs, we didnt think it was appropriate to release the film. Even now, it hasnt come back to normal but we are reasonably confident that it will not have too big an impact on the film, Charan observes. Charan, whos also producing his father Megastar Chiranjeevis comeback film Khaidi No.150, admits that demonetisation has had an impact on the industry. I think everybody will admit that it has impacted our lives in one way or another. But were all learning to adapt and continue with our work. Im not carrying `250 with me as pocket money and I think everybody in their own way is adapting to the current situation, the Magadheera star said. Given that the film is an edge-of-the-seat thriller, there are some concerns among the audience whether a run-time of 150 minutes will be too long to hold their attention. Dispelling such concerns, Charan says, When the content is strong, the runtime shouldnt be of too much concern. We have seen the movie and were confident that it will hold the attention of the audience right through. In a surprisingly indifferent mood, Charan mainly answered through gestures or in small sentences. The actor, whose sporting a six-pack for the film, shares that it was a gruelling experience. It was certainly a physically challenging role, one of the most I have done in my career so far, Charan explains. Up next, the actor will team up with Nannaku Prematho helmer Sukumar for a film. It will be an entertainer and is completely opposite to Dhruva. Im waiting for dads film to be completed and will then start working on that, he added.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: With the Opposition all set to observe Thursday, it will then be a month since demonitisation was announced, as a black day, theres little hope of a breakthrough in Parliament.

The indication from the government side, however, was that Speaker Sumitra Mahajan will make an extra effort on Thursday to get the debate started under Rule 193, even as the Opposition adamantly demands that no discussion can happen unless it is under rule 184, which requires voting. The matter rested thus at the Business Advisory Council meeting, with no meeting of minds.

The Opposition parties, meanwhile, held two strategy sessions where the coming days agenda was discussed. The leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said a black day protest under the Gandhi statute might take place.

Some signs of a climbdown were visible in the Rajya Sabha. The treasury benches appeared to be offering an olive branch even as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley launched a counter-attack, telling the house that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had never declined to intervene in the discussion and that he (as the finance minister) was ready to give clarifications to the Opposition after discussions (a privilege only Upper House members enjoy).

Though Jaitleys speech got drowned out and the Opposition went on to demand his resignation for mishandling the demonitisation move, there was no demand for an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. That was the change.

Since Parliament would go on a four-day holiday on the occasion of Ed-e-Milad-un-Nabi, including December 12-13, the next two days become crucial. Meanwhile, the government has ruled out proroguing the winter session.

And at a BJP parliamentary party meeting, Modi said his government had given prominence to Janshakti (peoples power) over Rajshakti (state power) through the demonetisation decision. Recalling that he had gone to the Rajya Sabha on a couple of occasions, he said the Opposition stood exposed by still not allowing the discussion on demonetisation.

Also, he exhorted all BJP MPs to fan out and spread the word about the benefits of demonetisation and persuade people to adopt cashless transactions in the same manner as they canvass votes. Lauding the discipline of the people in accepting the decision, he recalled there had been frequent changes on policies regarding LPG cylinders during UPA rule. When the NDA government brought in the Give It Up campaign, millions of people readily gave up the subsidy, he added.

NEW DELHI: With the Opposition all set to observe Thursday, it will then be a month since demonitisation was announced, as a black day, theres little hope of a breakthrough in Parliament. The indication from the government side, however, was that Speaker Sumitra Mahajan will make an extra effort on Thursday to get the debate started under Rule 193, even as the Opposition adamantly demands that no discussion can happen unless it is under rule 184, which requires voting. The matter rested thus at the Business Advisory Council meeting, with no meeting of minds. The Opposition parties, meanwhile, held two strategy sessions where the coming days agenda was discussed. The leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said a black day protest under the Gandhi statute might take place. Some signs of a climbdown were visible in the Rajya Sabha. The treasury benches appeared to be offering an olive branch even as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley launched a counter-attack, telling the house that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had never declined to intervene in the discussion and that he (as the finance minister) was ready to give clarifications to the Opposition after discussions (a privilege only Upper House members enjoy). Though Jaitleys speech got drowned out and the Opposition went on to demand his resignation for mishandling the demonitisation move, there was no demand for an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. That was the change. Since Parliament would go on a four-day holiday on the occasion of Ed-e-Milad-un-Nabi, including December 12-13, the next two days become crucial. Meanwhile, the government has ruled out proroguing the winter session. And at a BJP parliamentary party meeting, Modi said his government had given prominence to Janshakti (peoples power) over Rajshakti (state power) through the demonetisation decision. Recalling that he had gone to the Rajya Sabha on a couple of occasions, he said the Opposition stood exposed by still not allowing the discussion on demonetisation. Also, he exhorted all BJP MPs to fan out and spread the word about the benefits of demonetisation and persuade people to adopt cashless transactions in the same manner as they canvass votes. Lauding the discipline of the people in accepting the decision, he recalled there had been frequent changes on policies regarding LPG cylinders during UPA rule. When the NDA government brought in the Give It Up campaign, millions of people readily gave up the subsidy, he added.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Opposition leaders today observed a 'Black Day' in Parliament premises to mark one month of the announcement of demonetisation, with Rahul Gandhi launching a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying his "foolish decision" has "devastated" the country.

Leading the protest, Gandhi accused Modi of shying away from having a discussion on the issue in Parliament, but stressed that opposition parties will "not let him run away"

from both Houses, where "everything will become clear" once the Prime Minister takes part in debate.

Speaking to reporters in Parliament premises, he said the Prime Minister is "having nice time" and has over the past one month "changed his narrative" on the issue while people are reeling under hardships.

Besides Congress, leaders of all opposition parties including TMC, CPI(M), CPI, JD(U), Samajwadi Party joined the protest wearing black band on their arms.

"The Prime Minister took this so-called bold decision.

The bold decision can also be a foolish decision. And this was a foolish decision, it has devastated the country. More than 100 people have died. Farmers, fishermen, daily wage earners have been hit hard.

"He (the Prime Minister) is laughing. He is having a nice time, while the people of the country are suffering," Gandhi said.

"So, he is switching from one issue to another. And we are going to catch him inside the House. He is not going to be able to run inside the House," he said.

Referring to the Prime Minister's cashless economy talk, Gandhi said, "There is this concept of PayTM. Pay to Modi, that's the idea behind cashless economy. That's few people should get maximum benefit from cash transactions."

Gandhi once again demanded a debate in Lok Sabha on demonetisation under a rule which entails voting and claimed some BJP MPs too will support the opposition's demand.

"We know people in BJP will vote in our favour if such debate is allowed. If he (Modi) speaks inside...doodh ka doodh aur pani ka pani ho jayega (everything will become clear)," he said.

On his "Pay to Modi" jibe, Gandhi said he will explain on his allegation inside Lok Sabha if allowed to speak.

Asked about the logjam in Parliament, Gandhi said, "Responsibility of running the House is that of the government and the Speaker, not Opposition. We want to have discussion.

We want voting but the government does not. Because they knew that even BJP people will also vote in our favour."

He also accused BJP and Modi of leaking information prior to the demonetisation announcement.

"Those who are supposed to know they knew about the decision. BJP and Modiji told them about the move. So who suffered the loss? he asked.

"BJP unit in Bengal deposited crores of rupees in banks.

Party purchased land in Bihar. Karnataka BJP leader spent Rs 500 cr on his daughter's marriage," he added.

Highlighting the demonetisation effect, he said, "Lay offs are happening. Today I was told that L&T had laid off almost a lakh people. Farmers are dying. More than 100 people have died during this period and all this while Prime Minister seems to be having lot of fun. He is having a nice time."

TMC leader Sudeep Bandopadhaya said, "We are observing Black Day as the demonetisation completed one month today to pay tributes to those who died during this period. About 105 people have died as a result of demonetisation. We will continue our fight against the move."

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said, "We are observing Black Day because people are still facing problems.

Earlier, PM asked for 5 days, then 5 weeks and now 50 days.

This is not right as not even 50 per cent of the situation has got better in one month.

"Our growth rate has gone down and problems of people have increased. He should have thought about the situation before implementing the it... Dont know how much impact LK Advanis statement had on govt, but we've been trying to carry on with the debate."

Exasperated at the repeated disruption of Parliamentary proceedings over demonetisation, BJP elder L K Advani yesterday blamed both the ruling and opposition benches for the deadlock, and even pulled up the Speaker and Parliamentary Affairs Minister for "not running the House".

NEW DELHI: Opposition leaders today observed a 'Black Day' in Parliament premises to mark one month of the announcement of demonetisation, with Rahul Gandhi launching a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying his "foolish decision" has "devastated" the country. Leading the protest, Gandhi accused Modi of shying away from having a discussion on the issue in Parliament, but stressed that opposition parties will "not let him run away" from both Houses, where "everything will become clear" once the Prime Minister takes part in debate. Speaking to reporters in Parliament premises, he said the Prime Minister is "having nice time" and has over the past one month "changed his narrative" on the issue while people are reeling under hardships. Besides Congress, leaders of all opposition parties including TMC, CPI(M), CPI, JD(U), Samajwadi Party joined the protest wearing black band on their arms. "The Prime Minister took this so-called bold decision. The bold decision can also be a foolish decision. And this was a foolish decision, it has devastated the country. More than 100 people have died. Farmers, fishermen, daily wage earners have been hit hard. "He (the Prime Minister) is laughing. He is having a nice time, while the people of the country are suffering," Gandhi said. "So, he is switching from one issue to another. And we are going to catch him inside the House. He is not going to be able to run inside the House," he said. Referring to the Prime Minister's cashless economy talk, Gandhi said, "There is this concept of PayTM. Pay to Modi, that's the idea behind cashless economy. That's few people should get maximum benefit from cash transactions." Gandhi once again demanded a debate in Lok Sabha on demonetisation under a rule which entails voting and claimed some BJP MPs too will support the opposition's demand. "We know people in BJP will vote in our favour if such debate is allowed. If he (Modi) speaks inside...doodh ka doodh aur pani ka pani ho jayega (everything will become clear)," he said. On his "Pay to Modi" jibe, Gandhi said he will explain on his allegation inside Lok Sabha if allowed to speak. Asked about the logjam in Parliament, Gandhi said, "Responsibility of running the House is that of the government and the Speaker, not Opposition. We want to have discussion. We want voting but the government does not. Because they knew that even BJP people will also vote in our favour." He also accused BJP and Modi of leaking information prior to the demonetisation announcement. "Those who are supposed to know they knew about the decision. BJP and Modiji told them about the move. So who suffered the loss? he asked. "BJP unit in Bengal deposited crores of rupees in banks. Party purchased land in Bihar. Karnataka BJP leader spent Rs 500 cr on his daughter's marriage," he added. Highlighting the demonetisation effect, he said, "Lay offs are happening. Today I was told that L&T had laid off almost a lakh people. Farmers are dying. More than 100 people have died during this period and all this while Prime Minister seems to be having lot of fun. He is having a nice time." TMC leader Sudeep Bandopadhaya said, "We are observing Black Day as the demonetisation completed one month today to pay tributes to those who died during this period. About 105 people have died as a result of demonetisation. We will continue our fight against the move." Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said, "We are observing Black Day because people are still facing problems. Earlier, PM asked for 5 days, then 5 weeks and now 50 days. This is not right as not even 50 per cent of the situation has got better in one month. "Our growth rate has gone down and problems of people have increased. He should have thought about the situation before implementing the it... Dont know how much impact LK Advanis statement had on govt, but we've been trying to carry on with the debate." Exasperated at the repeated disruption of Parliamentary proceedings over demonetisation, BJP elder L K Advani yesterday blamed both the ruling and opposition benches for the deadlock, and even pulled up the Speaker and Parliamentary Affairs Minister for "not running the House".
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray today claimed his party has not softened its stance on demonetisation, hinting it could step up opposition if people's sufferings continue after December 30, a deadline set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to set things right.



Taking a cue from Akhilesh Yadav dispensation in Uttar Pradesh, Thackeray, whose party is second largest constituent of the NDA government, also suggested giving compensation to kin of those who lost lives allegedly in the aftermath of demonetisation.



"(When demonetisation was announced) I had neither opposed nor welcomed the move. I had only maintained that the common people should not be inconvenienced. 30 (of the 50) days have

gone, but there is no sign that the problems have decreased. Rather, problems are on the rise day-by-day," Thackeray told reporters.



Asked his party's move after remaining 20 of the 50 days Prime Minister had initially asked for, Thackeray said, "Let the period get over as 'achhe din' are in store."



"Let's wait for the 20 days, people will have something to say about it. We will talk about our stand after these 20 days," he said.



To a question whether the Shiv Sena, which had joined a protest led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, has softened its stand on demonetisation after a party delegation met Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month, Thackeray replied in negative.



"We are not economists. But some experts like Manmohan Singh, Amartya Sen have opposed it. They too have opined it is a wrong decision," he said.



Asked which side Sena will be on if discussions are held inside Lok Sabha under a rule which entails voting, Thackeray evaded a direct reply to the question, saying "the party will remain with people".



Expressing concerns over the repeated disruptions in Parliament, Thackeray said it was unfortunate and suggested taking views expressed by BJP veteran LK Advani "seriously".



Thackeray also hailed the Allahabad High Court for holding triple talaq as "cruel" and "most demeaning" practice which "impedes and drags India from becoming a nation", saying it is an important observation for the country.

"...the case should not meet the fate of Shah Bano case," he said.



In The Shah Bano decision, the Supreme Court had overruled a Muslim personal law and granted a Muslim woman alimony. In response, a legislation was proposed by Centre in 1986 to prevent such a court decision in the future. Referring to claims that terror attacks have stopped post-demonetisation, Thackeray said it meant the Prime Minister has shown a path to the world on combating terrorism. However, other countries are not following that path, he quipped.



"I was happy to know that terror attacks have stopped post-demonetisation. If the attacks on the country have stopped, then (it meant) Modi has shown a path to the world. Why cannot other countries resort to demonetisation (then)? How simple way Modiji had shown. But other countries are not taking that path," he said sarcastically.



On whether the Shiv Sena will join hands with BJP, with which it is sharing uneasy relationship after they parted ways ahead of 2014 Maharashtra assembly polls, for the forthcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, Thackeray said, "We still have time (to talk about it). Let the 20 days go, achhe din are on the anvil."



The BMC elections are likely to be held in February next year.



Thackeray also stated that he will take up the issue of plight of farmers with Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.



The Uttar Pradesh government had yesterday announced compensation of Rs 2 lakh to families of those who lost lives while queueing up outside banks and ATMs following demonetisation.

NEW DELHI: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray today claimed his party has not softened its stance on demonetisation, hinting it could step up opposition if people's sufferings continue after December 30, a deadline set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to set things right. Taking a cue from Akhilesh Yadav dispensation in Uttar Pradesh, Thackeray, whose party is second largest constituent of the NDA government, also suggested giving compensation to kin of those who lost lives allegedly in the aftermath of demonetisation. "(When demonetisation was announced) I had neither opposed nor welcomed the move. I had only maintained that the common people should not be inconvenienced. 30 (of the 50) days have gone, but there is no sign that the problems have decreased. Rather, problems are on the rise day-by-day," Thackeray told reporters. Asked his party's move after remaining 20 of the 50 days Prime Minister had initially asked for, Thackeray said, "Let the period get over as 'achhe din' are in store." "Let's wait for the 20 days, people will have something to say about it. We will talk about our stand after these 20 days," he said. To a question whether the Shiv Sena, which had joined a protest led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, has softened its stand on demonetisation after a party delegation met Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month, Thackeray replied in negative. "We are not economists. But some experts like Manmohan Singh, Amartya Sen have opposed it. They too have opined it is a wrong decision," he said. Asked which side Sena will be on if discussions are held inside Lok Sabha under a rule which entails voting, Thackeray evaded a direct reply to the question, saying "the party will remain with people". Expressing concerns over the repeated disruptions in Parliament, Thackeray said it was unfortunate and suggested taking views expressed by BJP veteran LK Advani "seriously". Thackeray also hailed the Allahabad High Court for holding triple talaq as "cruel" and "most demeaning" practice which "impedes and drags India from becoming a nation", saying it is an important observation for the country. "...the case should not meet the fate of Shah Bano case," he said. In The Shah Bano decision, the Supreme Court had overruled a Muslim personal law and granted a Muslim woman alimony. In response, a legislation was proposed by Centre in 1986 to prevent such a court decision in the future. Referring to claims that terror attacks have stopped post-demonetisation, Thackeray said it meant the Prime Minister has shown a path to the world on combating terrorism. However, other countries are not following that path, he quipped. "I was happy to know that terror attacks have stopped post-demonetisation. If the attacks on the country have stopped, then (it meant) Modi has shown a path to the world. Why cannot other countries resort to demonetisation (then)? How simple way Modiji had shown. But other countries are not taking that path," he said sarcastically. On whether the Shiv Sena will join hands with BJP, with which it is sharing uneasy relationship after they parted ways ahead of 2014 Maharashtra assembly polls, for the forthcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, Thackeray said, "We still have time (to talk about it). Let the 20 days go, achhe din are on the anvil." The BMC elections are likely to be held in February next year. Thackeray also stated that he will take up the issue of plight of farmers with Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The Uttar Pradesh government had yesterday announced compensation of Rs 2 lakh to families of those who lost lives while queueing up outside banks and ATMs following demonetisation.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Anguished over cash withdrawals caps, many foreign governments are contemplating reciprocal measures against Indian missions abroad, terming the measure a serious breach of the Vienna Convention.

In strong comments, Frank Hans Dannenberg Castellanos, Dean of the Diplomatic Corps who represents the voice of 157 foreign missions here, said the buck stops at Prime Minister Narendra Modis door and he should intervene to resolve the issue soon. The fact that we cannot access our own funds in our bank accounts is a serious breach of Vienna convention and international diplomatic principles. This is the main constraint of a lot of ambassadors, he said adding the Rs 50,000-a-week cap on withdrawals must be lifted.

Castellanos, ambassador of the Dominican Republic, said a number of embassies upset by Indias restrictions were studying the possibility of reciprocating similar steps against Indian diplomats in their countries. At the same time, he hoped the issue will be resolved soon and that such action by foreign governments will not be required.

I am not saying all governments will do that but there might be governments who are already studying the possibility of raciprocating through Indian diplomats in their countries, Castellanos told agencies. Asked if some countries may really take reciprocal steps, he said, They say they are discussing with their ministries about the possibility of doing that.

The Dean of Diplomatic Corps said all the embassies were facing difficulties ranging from paying casual labourers and hosting delegations to carrying out their day-to-day activities. I am giving you consensus of the problems of all my colleagues. I am giving consensus of 157 missions. Some countries have sent letters (to Indian government) directly. The Russian embassy made its letter public. Some embassies sent letters but have not made them public. We are foreign missions accredited to India and there is something called reciprocity. We have certain benefits and we provide Indian diplomats in our countries the same benefits.

NEW DELHI: Anguished over cash withdrawals caps, many foreign governments are contemplating reciprocal measures against Indian missions abroad, terming the measure a serious breach of the Vienna Convention. In strong comments, Frank Hans Dannenberg Castellanos, Dean of the Diplomatic Corps who represents the voice of 157 foreign missions here, said the buck stops at Prime Minister Narendra Modis door and he should intervene to resolve the issue soon. The fact that we cannot access our own funds in our bank accounts is a serious breach of Vienna convention and international diplomatic principles. This is the main constraint of a lot of ambassadors, he said adding the Rs 50,000-a-week cap on withdrawals must be lifted. Castellanos, ambassador of the Dominican Republic, said a number of embassies upset by Indias restrictions were studying the possibility of reciprocating similar steps against Indian diplomats in their countries. At the same time, he hoped the issue will be resolved soon and that such action by foreign governments will not be required. I am not saying all governments will do that but there might be governments who are already studying the possibility of raciprocating through Indian diplomats in their countries, Castellanos told agencies. Asked if some countries may really take reciprocal steps, he said, They say they are discussing with their ministries about the possibility of doing that. The Dean of Diplomatic Corps said all the embassies were facing difficulties ranging from paying casual labourers and hosting delegations to carrying out their day-to-day activities. I am giving you consensus of the problems of all my colleagues. I am giving consensus of 157 missions. Some countries have sent letters (to Indian government) directly. The Russian embassy made its letter public. Some embassies sent letters but have not made them public. We are foreign missions accredited to India and there is something called reciprocity. We have certain benefits and we provide Indian diplomats in our countries the same benefits.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said all tourists at Havelock Island in the Andamans, who are stuck due to cyclonic conditions, are safe and efforts are on for their early evacuation.

Singh today called up Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands Jagdish Mukhi and enquired about the status of the stranded tourists.

Mukhi briefed the Home Minister about the situation and the steps taken for the rescue of the stranded tourists.

"All the tourists in Havelock Island are safe and the government has made all preparation to evacuate them.

The government will launch rescue operations after the intensity of cyclone reduces," Singh said in a statement.

The Home Minister said that rescue teams are ready at Port Blair and appealed to family members of the stranded tourists not to panic as all in the Havelock Island are reported to be safe.

Havelock and Neil islands, approximately 40 km from Port Blair, have been hit the most by the cyclonic weather conditions caused by a severe depression over the southeast Bay of Bengal which led to heavy rainfall, strong wind and rough sea conditions, officials said.

Neil and Havelock are two of the most popular tourist attractions in Andamans and the only means of transportation of them are vessels and choppers which have stopped operation since Monday last due to bad weather.

South Andaman's deputy commissioner Udit Prakash Rai had said yesterday, "About 1,400 tourists, who had visited the islands, are now stranded and unable to return to Port Blair to fly back home."

The local populace of 10 villages of Havelock and Neil islands have also been hit severely by the cyclone which has hampered the movement of essential supplies.

Indian naval ships Bitra, Bangaram, Kumbhir and LCU 38 have been deployed for evacuation.

NEW DELHI: Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said all tourists at Havelock Island in the Andamans, who are stuck due to cyclonic conditions, are safe and efforts are on for their early evacuation. Singh today called up Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands Jagdish Mukhi and enquired about the status of the stranded tourists. Mukhi briefed the Home Minister about the situation and the steps taken for the rescue of the stranded tourists. "All the tourists in Havelock Island are safe and the government has made all preparation to evacuate them. The government will launch rescue operations after the intensity of cyclone reduces," Singh said in a statement. The Home Minister said that rescue teams are ready at Port Blair and appealed to family members of the stranded tourists not to panic as all in the Havelock Island are reported to be safe. Havelock and Neil islands, approximately 40 km from Port Blair, have been hit the most by the cyclonic weather conditions caused by a severe depression over the southeast Bay of Bengal which led to heavy rainfall, strong wind and rough sea conditions, officials said. Neil and Havelock are two of the most popular tourist attractions in Andamans and the only means of transportation of them are vessels and choppers which have stopped operation since Monday last due to bad weather. South Andaman's deputy commissioner Udit Prakash Rai had said yesterday, "About 1,400 tourists, who had visited the islands, are now stranded and unable to return to Port Blair to fly back home." The local populace of 10 villages of Havelock and Neil islands have also been hit severely by the cyclone which has hampered the movement of essential supplies. Indian naval ships Bitra, Bangaram, Kumbhir and LCU 38 have been deployed for evacuation.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: India to help Mongolia that has been facing trade blockade from China following a visit of the exiled Tibetan spiritual guru Dalai Lama to the North-East Asian country last month.



Mongolia has been in talks with the Chinese to get a $ 4.2 billion as an aid to pull out their economy from deep recession. Beijing has suspended the talks indefinitely and has imposed an increased tax on goods bound for Mongolia after Dalai Lama addressed Buddhist followers in a Monastery in Ulan Bator. Mongolia has asked New Delhi to take up the issue with China.



As a close friend of Mongolia, which regards India as its third neighbor and spiritual neighbor, we are ready to work with Mongolian people in this time of their difficulty, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Vikas Swarup said on Thursday. Nestled between two giant neighbors  China and Russia  Mongolia has evolved a concept of third neighbors, its friends in the West and the Asia that does not have geographical borders with it but are friendly in disposition.



Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Mongolia (a first by any Indian Prime Minister) in May 2015 and had announced a $ 1 billion credit line. The credit line is going to help Mongolia in obtaining investment and financial resources from their other partners. We are closely working with the Mongolian government to implement the credit line in a manner that is deemed beneficial to the friendly people of Mongolia by its leadership. We are aware of the difficult budgetary situation that Mongolia is facing due to various factors including high cost of servicing of debt raised by them in the past, Swarup added.



Prime Minister Modis visit to Mongolia had a significant message to its neighbor China that its forays into South Asia would not go unanswered. Mongolia and India have strong Buddhist linkages.



In fact, India is credited with reviving Buddhism in the country as it sent Kushak Bakula, a Buddhist monk, as ambassador to the country in the 1990s. Mongolians follow Mahayan school of Buddhism as the population in Ladakh.



Bakula took Buddhist scriptures to Mongolia, set up a school for Buddhism in the country and sent new Monks to India to study Buddhism.



Now India is proactively seeking to reclaim its Buddhist legacy from China and Dalai Lama form an important element of it. Recently the Government has announced Dalai Lamas visit to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, a move that is definitely going to evoke a sharp response from China.

NEW DELHI: India to help Mongolia that has been facing trade blockade from China following a visit of the exiled Tibetan spiritual guru Dalai Lama to the North-East Asian country last month. Mongolia has been in talks with the Chinese to get a $ 4.2 billion as an aid to pull out their economy from deep recession. Beijing has suspended the talks indefinitely and has imposed an increased tax on goods bound for Mongolia after Dalai Lama addressed Buddhist followers in a Monastery in Ulan Bator. Mongolia has asked New Delhi to take up the issue with China. As a close friend of Mongolia, which regards India as its third neighbor and spiritual neighbor, we are ready to work with Mongolian people in this time of their difficulty, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Vikas Swarup said on Thursday. Nestled between two giant neighbors  China and Russia  Mongolia has evolved a concept of third neighbors, its friends in the West and the Asia that does not have geographical borders with it but are friendly in disposition. Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Mongolia (a first by any Indian Prime Minister) in May 2015 and had announced a $ 1 billion credit line. The credit line is going to help Mongolia in obtaining investment and financial resources from their other partners. We are closely working with the Mongolian government to implement the credit line in a manner that is deemed beneficial to the friendly people of Mongolia by its leadership. We are aware of the difficult budgetary situation that Mongolia is facing due to various factors including high cost of servicing of debt raised by them in the past, Swarup added. Prime Minister Modis visit to Mongolia had a significant message to its neighbor China that its forays into South Asia would not go unanswered. Mongolia and India have strong Buddhist linkages. In fact, India is credited with reviving Buddhism in the country as it sent Kushak Bakula, a Buddhist monk, as ambassador to the country in the 1990s. Mongolians follow Mahayan school of Buddhism as the population in Ladakh. Bakula took Buddhist scriptures to Mongolia, set up a school for Buddhism in the country and sent new Monks to India to study Buddhism. Now India is proactively seeking to reclaim its Buddhist legacy from China and Dalai Lama form an important element of it. Recently the Government has announced Dalai Lamas visit to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, a move that is definitely going to evoke a sharp response from China.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: India on Thursday sought immediate consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, a former Indian Navy officer who has been arrested by Pakistan on espionage charges. The demand has come a day after Pakistani media quoted Advisor to Pakistans Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs as saying that evidence against Jadhav has been inconclusive.

We have seen conflicting media reports about this issue. This is a pattern we have seen in the past as well. Government has always maintained that Pakistan's allegations against Jadhav, an Indian national and a former Indian Navy officer, were completely baseless, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Vikas Swarup told reporters here. India has sent 8 Note Verbales to Pakistan Foreign office to get consular access to Jadhav.

Even after more than nine months of keeping him wrongfully and illegally in custody, Pakistani authorities have not found a shred of evidence against him. We demand immediate consular access to him in accordance with relevant international conventions and his earliest release from wrongful confinement, Swarup added.

The Ministry has also received some communication from Pakistan about the health Hamid Nehal Ansari, an engineer who is also incarcerated in Pakistan. Our Mission is closely following up this matter and has issued more than forty-two Note Verbales to the Pakistan Foreign Office. In response to our latest Note Verbale dated November 15, Pakistan responded on November 25 stating that concerned authorities in Pakistan are mindful of their responsibilities regarding Hamid Nehal Ansari who is safe, secure and in good health, Swarup said.

Pakistan is yet to provide us consular access to Ansari. His parents had even reached Amritsar to seek release of their son, who had reached Pakistan via Afghanistan looking for a girl with whom he fell in love over internet.

NEW DELHI: India on Thursday sought immediate consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, a former Indian Navy officer who has been arrested by Pakistan on espionage charges. The demand has come a day after Pakistani media quoted Advisor to Pakistans Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs as saying that evidence against Jadhav has been inconclusive. We have seen conflicting media reports about this issue. This is a pattern we have seen in the past as well. Government has always maintained that Pakistan's allegations against Jadhav, an Indian national and a former Indian Navy officer, were completely baseless, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Vikas Swarup told reporters here. India has sent 8 Note Verbales to Pakistan Foreign office to get consular access to Jadhav. Even after more than nine months of keeping him wrongfully and illegally in custody, Pakistani authorities have not found a shred of evidence against him. We demand immediate consular access to him in accordance with relevant international conventions and his earliest release from wrongful confinement, Swarup added. The Ministry has also received some communication from Pakistan about the health Hamid Nehal Ansari, an engineer who is also incarcerated in Pakistan. Our Mission is closely following up this matter and has issued more than forty-two Note Verbales to the Pakistan Foreign Office. In response to our latest Note Verbale dated November 15, Pakistan responded on November 25 stating that concerned authorities in Pakistan are mindful of their responsibilities regarding Hamid Nehal Ansari who is safe, secure and in good health, Swarup said. Pakistan is yet to provide us consular access to Ansari. His parents had even reached Amritsar to seek release of their son, who had reached Pakistan via Afghanistan looking for a girl with whom he fell in love over internet.
Fayaz Wani By

Express News Service

SRINAGAR: In the second bank robbery within a month, suspected militants looted Rs 13.38 lakhs from a bank in South Kashmirs Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday.

A police officer said a group of four to five militants armed with AK-47 rifles barged into the J&K Bank branch at Arihal in South Kashmirs Pulwama district this afternoon.

The militants, who had come in two vehicles, decamped with Rs 13.38 lakhs from the bank. Before fleeing from the spot, they fired some rounds in the air, he said.

The police official said the militants also thrashed some bank employees and broke few computers during the robbery.

Asked whether only new or old currency notes were looted, he said, Of the 13.38 lakhs looted by militants, 2.23 lakhs were old currency notes while 11.15 lakh were new currency notes.

After the bank robbery, police, paramilitary and army men rushed to the area and launched a combing and search operation to track down the militants responsible for the bank robbery. The search operation continued for more than an hour. However, no arrests were reported.

Police said another attempt was made to loot a bank branch at Pushkar village in central Kashmirs Budgam district last evening.

Unidentified persons had broken a window of the J&K bank branch at Pushkar village. However, they were unable to barge inside because of the iron grills, a police official said.

He said it looks like a case of robbery attempt. We have launched investigations.

Todays bank robbery in South Kashmir is the second bank robbery in the Valley in a month.

Earlier, on November 21, suspected militants had looted Rs 13 lakh from a bank in Charar-e-Sharief area of central Kashmirs Budgam district.

Four days after the bank robbery, police had blamed Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba for the robbery.

It claimed to have busted the bank robbery case by arresting five overground workers of Lashkar. Police said that Pakistani commander of Lashkar was the mastermind of the bank robbery.

A police official said militants are resorting to bank robberies because they are facing a shortage of money after demonetization of old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes.

He said the security around the banks has been increased.

The banks have also been told to deploy armed guards inside the banks to prevent bank robberies, the official said.

SRINAGAR: In the second bank robbery within a month, suspected militants looted Rs 13.38 lakhs from a bank in South Kashmirs Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday. A police officer said a group of four to five militants armed with AK-47 rifles barged into the J&K Bank branch at Arihal in South Kashmirs Pulwama district this afternoon. The militants, who had come in two vehicles, decamped with Rs 13.38 lakhs from the bank. Before fleeing from the spot, they fired some rounds in the air, he said. The police official said the militants also thrashed some bank employees and broke few computers during the robbery. Asked whether only new or old currency notes were looted, he said, Of the 13.38 lakhs looted by militants, 2.23 lakhs were old currency notes while 11.15 lakh were new currency notes. After the bank robbery, police, paramilitary and army men rushed to the area and launched a combing and search operation to track down the militants responsible for the bank robbery. The search operation continued for more than an hour. However, no arrests were reported. Police said another attempt was made to loot a bank branch at Pushkar village in central Kashmirs Budgam district last evening. Unidentified persons had broken a window of the J&K bank branch at Pushkar village. However, they were unable to barge inside because of the iron grills, a police official said. He said it looks like a case of robbery attempt. We have launched investigations. Todays bank robbery in South Kashmir is the second bank robbery in the Valley in a month. Earlier, on November 21, suspected militants had looted Rs 13 lakh from a bank in Charar-e-Sharief area of central Kashmirs Budgam district. Four days after the bank robbery, police had blamed Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba for the robbery. It claimed to have busted the bank robbery case by arresting five overground workers of Lashkar. Police said that Pakistani commander of Lashkar was the mastermind of the bank robbery. A police official said militants are resorting to bank robberies because they are facing a shortage of money after demonetization of old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes. He said the security around the banks has been increased. The banks have also been told to deploy armed guards inside the banks to prevent bank robberies, the official said.
By PTI

MUMBAI: BJP's ally Shiv Sena today backed Union Minister Giriraj Singh over his controversial remarks on sterilisation and said he hadn't done anything wrong in expressing his views.

"What he said was right. However, instead of merely harping on sterilisation, he should demand implementation of the common civil code in the country," the Sena said.

"The monster of population explosion is swallowing up the country. The proportion of Muslims in this population rise is more," an editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana said.

Singh, who is the Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, had recently said that after 'notebandi' (demonetisation), there is an urgent need to make laws for 'nasbandi' (sterilisation) in the country.

"India has 17 percent of the world population which adds population equal to Australia every year. The country only has 2.5 percent of land mass of the globe with only 4.2 per cent of water resources. In this scenario, the population explosion is proving to be a big roadblock for development. We need a population control act to tide over the problem," Singh had said.

MUMBAI: BJP's ally Shiv Sena today backed Union Minister Giriraj Singh over his controversial remarks on sterilisation and said he hadn't done anything wrong in expressing his views. "What he said was right. However, instead of merely harping on sterilisation, he should demand implementation of the common civil code in the country," the Sena said. "The monster of population explosion is swallowing up the country. The proportion of Muslims in this population rise is more," an editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana said. Singh, who is the Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, had recently said that after 'notebandi' (demonetisation), there is an urgent need to make laws for 'nasbandi' (sterilisation) in the country. "India has 17 percent of the world population which adds population equal to Australia every year. The country only has 2.5 percent of land mass of the globe with only 4.2 per cent of water resources. In this scenario, the population explosion is proving to be a big roadblock for development. We need a population control act to tide over the problem," Singh had said.
Namita bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh has become the first state in the country to announce compensation for the families of those who died while queuing up outside banks and ATMs for long in the wake of demonetisation.

While announcing Rs 2 lakh compensation for the families of demonetisation victims, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said the government would give Rs 5 lakh to the family members of the woman who immolated herself after allegedly failing to exchange scrapped currency notes in Aligarh district.

With over 70 per cent burns, Razia was rushed to the district hospital and then to the Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh. Finally she was shifted to the Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, where she died on December 4.

The chief minister also announced an assistance of Rs 1 lakh for the newborn Khazanchi Nath, who was delivered on bank premises while his mother was standing in a queue to withdraw money in Kanpur Dehat district on December 2.

As per official sources, around 200 branches of SBI across the state capital got just Rs 10 lakh for distribution as against an average of Rs 20 lakh. Similar was the situation of the ATMs of almost all the banks in the city. Upset customers protested and crowds span out of control at many places.

In Agra an angry mob started pelting stones at a bank staffers when asked to go back without money. Even the cops deployed on the spot were not spared, and an inspector got badly injured, following which they resorted to lathicharge. Protesting villagers stopped trains and lay down on tracks in Bhageerathpur.

Meanwhile, stepping up his attack on the Centre over demonetisation, the ruling SPs chief, Mulayam Singh Yadav, called the BJP an outfit of liars.

Addressing a public rally in Bareilly, Mulayam referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modis Lok Sabha election campaign promise to give Rs 15 lakh each to all citizens  BJP president Amit Shah had later dismissed this as a jumla (platitude)  and said the promises made to the public should be kept at any cost.

Seeking justification for rushing through demonetisation without adequate preparation, the SP chief said those who really had black money were still enjoying their lives. He exhorted the people to pay the BJP back for this whimsical policy in upcoming state elections.

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh has become the first state in the country to announce compensation for the families of those who died while queuing up outside banks and ATMs for long in the wake of demonetisation. While announcing Rs 2 lakh compensation for the families of demonetisation victims, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said the government would give Rs 5 lakh to the family members of the woman who immolated herself after allegedly failing to exchange scrapped currency notes in Aligarh district. With over 70 per cent burns, Razia was rushed to the district hospital and then to the Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh. Finally she was shifted to the Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, where she died on December 4. The chief minister also announced an assistance of Rs 1 lakh for the newborn Khazanchi Nath, who was delivered on bank premises while his mother was standing in a queue to withdraw money in Kanpur Dehat district on December 2. As per official sources, around 200 branches of SBI across the state capital got just Rs 10 lakh for distribution as against an average of Rs 20 lakh. Similar was the situation of the ATMs of almost all the banks in the city. Upset customers protested and crowds span out of control at many places. In Agra an angry mob started pelting stones at a bank staffers when asked to go back without money. Even the cops deployed on the spot were not spared, and an inspector got badly injured, following which they resorted to lathicharge. Protesting villagers stopped trains and lay down on tracks in Bhageerathpur. Meanwhile, stepping up his attack on the Centre over demonetisation, the ruling SPs chief, Mulayam Singh Yadav, called the BJP an outfit of liars. Addressing a public rally in Bareilly, Mulayam referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modis Lok Sabha election campaign promise to give Rs 15 lakh each to all citizens  BJP president Amit Shah had later dismissed this as a jumla (platitude)  and said the promises made to the public should be kept at any cost. Seeking justification for rushing through demonetisation without adequate preparation, the SP chief said those who really had black money were still enjoying their lives. He exhorted the people to pay the BJP back for this whimsical policy in upcoming state elections.
By Express News Service

VISAKHAPATNAM: In yet another case of reckless driving by auto-rickshaw drivers, six schoolchildren were injured when the over-speeding vehicle rammed into en electric pole and overturned in the Srinagar area of Gajuwaka on Wednesday morning. According to the police, overloading and negligent driving led to the accident.

One girl student, who received severe head injuries, was rushed to a private hospital in the city, while the other five students and the driver who sustained minor wounds are undergoing treatment at a hospital in Gajuwaka. They are out of danger.

Police said that the injured were class VIII to X students of the SFS School who go to the school in the same auto-rickshaw everyday.

On Wednesday morning, the driver picked up the students from Dibbapalem and Srinagar. On the way to school, the auto rammed into an electric pole and overturned after the driver lost control over the speeding vehicle.

The locals rescued the students who were stuck in the vehicle and rushed them to hospital. Gajuwaka inspector Emmanuel Raju booked a case and investigation is on.

Auto-rickshaw accidents have become a common sight in the city and the police blame it on the negligent driving and violation of traffic rules.

Traffic records suggest that the accidents involving auto-rickshaws account for 12 per cent of the total reported from Visakhapatnam. This year, some seven accidents involving auto-rickshaws have been reported so far, in which around 30 students were injured.

Overloading, over-speeding and rash driving are the major reasons for such accidents.

As per norms, maximum three persons are allowed to board small auto-rickshaws except the driver, while the same for the bigger one is four. Despite several warnings, the people are driving auto without licence and resort to overloading, over-speeding and drunk driving too, said ADCP (Traffic) K Mahendra Patrudu.

He advised the parents to check the drivers credentials and condition of the vehicles before hiring them, adding that special drives were on to bring the erring drivers to book. Last month, the city traffic police seized around 400 auto-rickshaws during the special drive against violation of traffic norms. City police commissioner T Yoganand has warned that the drives against the errant auto drivers will continue.

VISAKHAPATNAM: In yet another case of reckless driving by auto-rickshaw drivers, six schoolchildren were injured when the over-speeding vehicle rammed into en electric pole and overturned in the Srinagar area of Gajuwaka on Wednesday morning. According to the police, overloading and negligent driving led to the accident. One girl student, who received severe head injuries, was rushed to a private hospital in the city, while the other five students and the driver who sustained minor wounds are undergoing treatment at a hospital in Gajuwaka. They are out of danger. Police said that the injured were class VIII to X students of the SFS School who go to the school in the same auto-rickshaw everyday. On Wednesday morning, the driver picked up the students from Dibbapalem and Srinagar. On the way to school, the auto rammed into an electric pole and overturned after the driver lost control over the speeding vehicle. The locals rescued the students who were stuck in the vehicle and rushed them to hospital. Gajuwaka inspector Emmanuel Raju booked a case and investigation is on. Auto-rickshaw accidents have become a common sight in the city and the police blame it on the negligent driving and violation of traffic rules. Traffic records suggest that the accidents involving auto-rickshaws account for 12 per cent of the total reported from Visakhapatnam. This year, some seven accidents involving auto-rickshaws have been reported so far, in which around 30 students were injured. Overloading, over-speeding and rash driving are the major reasons for such accidents. As per norms, maximum three persons are allowed to board small auto-rickshaws except the driver, while the same for the bigger one is four. Despite several warnings, the people are driving auto without licence and resort to overloading, over-speeding and drunk driving too, said ADCP (Traffic) K Mahendra Patrudu. He advised the parents to check the drivers credentials and condition of the vehicles before hiring them, adding that special drives were on to bring the erring drivers to book. Last month, the city traffic police seized around 400 auto-rickshaws during the special drive against violation of traffic norms. City police commissioner T Yoganand has warned that the drives against the errant auto drivers will continue.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: Close on the heels of the miraculous escape of 52 school students from a BMTC bus that caught fire on December 3, the transport department on Wednesday seized 21 BMTC buses for violating Supreme Court safety norms. The seized buses were ferrying students of Vidyaniketan School on Ullal Road near Mallathahalli.

We found that the buses were operating without first-aid box, side safety grilles and CCTV cameras. Buses were also poorly maintained, said a senior transport department official.

BMTC operates nearly 300 buses to ferry school children. On Saturday, a BMTC bus ferrying 52 students to Srirangapatna for an excursion caught fire on the busy Bengaluru-Mysuru highway. An electrical short circuit was stated to be the reason.

Sources say most BMTC buses dont follow the Supreme Court guidelines while transporting school children.

They also lack other basic facilities like fire extinguisher, first-aid-box and speed governor.

Transport department officials told Express there is a mounting pressure on them from the ministry not to take any action against the BMTC buses.

We have been told not to take action against state-run buses since it will defame the government. But we cannot turn a blind eye to these violations for a long time. Saturdays incident was a classic example of how BMTC buses are unsafe for school children, said a senior transport department official.

BMTC should provide special buses for school children with improved safety mechanism, the official added.

The transport department on Wednesday seized 21 BMTC buses for violating Supreme Court safety norms. However, Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy was unavailable for comment.

A senior BMTC official said Supreme Court guidelines were being followed.

We dont have dedicated buses for schools. These buses ply normally after the school hours. Hence, we are not able to install special features and get it painted. We have also taken permission from the transport department to run these buses. Our vehicles are better than the private ones, the official added.

Responding to Saturdays fire accident, another BMTC official said that a team from Ashok Leyland is expected to come from Chennai in two days to ascertain the real cause of the accident.

Their visit was delayed because of J Jayalalithaas death, the official added.

Vijay Krishna Rajagopalan, principal, Vidyaniketan Public School, said school had tied up with BMTC 20 years ago. Nearly 900 students and few teachers are being ferried in 23 buses. He said they are awaiting the report from the RTO for missing safety compliance.

BENGALURU: Close on the heels of the miraculous escape of 52 school students from a BMTC bus that caught fire on December 3, the transport department on Wednesday seized 21 BMTC buses for violating Supreme Court safety norms. The seized buses were ferrying students of Vidyaniketan School on Ullal Road near Mallathahalli. We found that the buses were operating without first-aid box, side safety grilles and CCTV cameras. Buses were also poorly maintained, said a senior transport department official. BMTC operates nearly 300 buses to ferry school children. On Saturday, a BMTC bus ferrying 52 students to Srirangapatna for an excursion caught fire on the busy Bengaluru-Mysuru highway. An electrical short circuit was stated to be the reason. Sources say most BMTC buses dont follow the Supreme Court guidelines while transporting school children. They also lack other basic facilities like fire extinguisher, first-aid-box and speed governor. Transport department officials told Express there is a mounting pressure on them from the ministry not to take any action against the BMTC buses. We have been told not to take action against state-run buses since it will defame the government. But we cannot turn a blind eye to these violations for a long time. Saturdays incident was a classic example of how BMTC buses are unsafe for school children, said a senior transport department official. BMTC should provide special buses for school children with improved safety mechanism, the official added. The transport department on Wednesday seized 21 BMTC buses for violating Supreme Court safety norms. However, Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy was unavailable for comment. A senior BMTC official said Supreme Court guidelines were being followed. We dont have dedicated buses for schools. These buses ply normally after the school hours. Hence, we are not able to install special features and get it painted. We have also taken permission from the transport department to run these buses. Our vehicles are better than the private ones, the official added. Responding to Saturdays fire accident, another BMTC official said that a team from Ashok Leyland is expected to come from Chennai in two days to ascertain the real cause of the accident. Their visit was delayed because of J Jayalalithaas death, the official added. Vijay Krishna Rajagopalan, principal, Vidyaniketan Public School, said school had tied up with BMTC 20 years ago. Nearly 900 students and few teachers are being ferried in 23 buses. He said they are awaiting the report from the RTO for missing safety compliance.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: Two days after the suicide of Ramesh K C, the driver of a Karnataka Administrative Service officer, the state government is considering to hand over the probe into the case to the CID. Ramesh (31), in a suicide note, had alleged that the KAS officer Bheema Nayak, a special land acquisition officer based in Bengaluru, had helped launder Rs 100 crore for mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy ahead of his daughters wedding.

T B Jayachandra, Law minister



Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs T B Jayachandra said that he had obtained the report on the case from the Mandya Superintendent of Police. While expressing confidence that the case will be pursued to its logical end, he also said, I will be discussing this with the Chief Minister and Home Minister to decide whether the case should be handed over to CID.



Meanwhile, Nayak remains absconding and Assistant Commissioner G V Nagaraj Reddy has been given additional charge of his post. The orders have been issued by Deputy Commissioner V Shankar.



On Thursday, a team of police from Maddur town visited Nayaks office in VV Towers on Ambedkar Veedhi. Police sources said they were gathering details on Nayak. A few records that were relevant to the information mentioned in the suicide note of Ramesh, a few personal diaries that Nayak had maintained and also the attendance book were studied.

BENGALURU: Two days after the suicide of Ramesh K C, the driver of a Karnataka Administrative Service officer, the state government is considering to hand over the probe into the case to the CID. Ramesh (31), in a suicide note, had alleged that the KAS officer Bheema Nayak, a special land acquisition officer based in Bengaluru, had helped launder Rs 100 crore for mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy ahead of his daughters wedding. T B Jayachandra, Law minister Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs T B Jayachandra said that he had obtained the report on the case from the Mandya Superintendent of Police. While expressing confidence that the case will be pursued to its logical end, he also said, I will be discussing this with the Chief Minister and Home Minister to decide whether the case should be handed over to CID. Meanwhile, Nayak remains absconding and Assistant Commissioner G V Nagaraj Reddy has been given additional charge of his post. The orders have been issued by Deputy Commissioner V Shankar. On Thursday, a team of police from Maddur town visited Nayaks office in VV Towers on Ambedkar Veedhi. Police sources said they were gathering details on Nayak. A few records that were relevant to the information mentioned in the suicide note of Ramesh, a few personal diaries that Nayak had maintained and also the attendance book were studied.
By Express News Service

KOCHI: Kerala High Court ordered to continue to not allow churidar-clad women devotees to enter Sree Padmanabha Swami temple.

The court made it clear that the word of the 'Thanthri' (presiding priest) is final regarding temple rites and rituals and the executive officer has no right to make changes in the tradition as he is only an employee.

The Devaswom bench issued the order on two petitions challenging the decision to allow devotees wearing churidar to enter the temple.

Breaking an age-old tradition at the temple, executive officer K N Satheesh had put churidars on the allowed list from November 29, against the opinion of the chairman of the temple administrative committee, K Haripal, who wanted the present dress code maintained.

However the joys of the churidar lovers were short-lived as they found activists lined up to block those who attempted to enter the temple violating tradition.

KOCHI: Kerala High Court ordered to continue to not allow churidar-clad women devotees to enter Sree Padmanabha Swami temple. The court made it clear that the word of the 'Thanthri' (presiding priest) is final regarding temple rites and rituals and the executive officer has no right to make changes in the tradition as he is only an employee. The Devaswom bench issued the order on two petitions challenging the decision to allow devotees wearing churidar to enter the temple. Breaking an age-old tradition at the temple, executive officer K N Satheesh had put churidars on the allowed list from November 29, against the opinion of the chairman of the temple administrative committee, K Haripal, who wanted the present dress code maintained. However the joys of the churidar lovers were short-lived as they found activists lined up to block those who attempted to enter the temple violating tradition.
Rajesh Abraham By

Express News Service

KOCHI: Geordy Pittappilly, a Non-Resident Keralite (NRK) settled in New York, landed in Kerala on November 29 after planning his trip to a tee. He was making the 16-day trip to honour his commitment of conducting this years church feast at Thalanji parish at his hometown Nilambur, Malappuram, from December 1 to 8.

SAAI



But demonetisation has completely disrupted his plans.

I thought I could convert dollar here and meet my expenses. But when I landed at the Kochi airport, I gauged the ramifications of the demonetisation, throwing my entire plans into disarray.

I could convert only $300 at the Federal Bank counter in the airport, said Geordy who is employed with the Railways in the USA. The exchange rate offered at the counter made matters worse. Against the market rate of `68.70/dollar, the counter offered `65.30/dollar, causing Geordy to lose `3.40/dollar.



If that wasnt enough, leading textile houses in the city offered even lesser exchange rates to Geordy, who was looking to buy clothes and dress materials for his relatives. He had to use his international credit card for purchases, paying huge transaction charges.



Due to the restrictions on cash withdrawal, payments to drama troupes, chenda melam, music band and others for the church feast have been affected. Such payments are mostly done with cash as they are not used to cheque or e-banking, he said. Geordys is not a lone case. A large number of NRKs, who are visiting Kerala or are planning to visit, have been hit by the abrupt demonetisation of `500 and `1,000 notes by the Centre from November 8.



Saji John, another NRK settled in Florida, decided to make a short visit to his home state while on a business trip to Dubai.



Saji is now at the mercy of his relatives for his day-to-day expenses in Kerala. I landed at Kochi on December 5 at 3 am and I was in the queue for four hours to convert my dollar at the airport counter, he said. They let me convert only $91 and asked me to provide change. This was ridiculous.



Saji, who is the founding chair of the Malayali Association, and the regional coordinator of the Republican Party at Florida, is disappointed with the hassles that travellers to this country have been going through because of demonetisation.

Saji said he saw a UK citizen literally crying at the airport as he had no credit cards with him. Whenever I come to visit my relatives, I spend `5-10 lakh from my NRI account. Local economy has lost this money, said Saji, whos returning on Friday.



Saji whos been invited for President-elect Donald Trumps January 20 inauguration, said many NRIs have decided to withdraw their decision to invest in India and instead putting money in South Korea and Indonesia after the ongoing demonetisation disruption.



With credit cards charging 15 per cent for foreign exchange transactions, purchase has become a costly affair for visitors.



Sebastian Joseph, who is settled in Melbourne, Australia, has been planning to visit Vazhakulam, his hometown near Muvattupuzha, during Christmas, but he is now a worried man. His troubles are compounded due to one more reason.



I have deposited some money in a cooperative society account to meet my sundry expenses during my Kerala visits. I am now worried about the fate of my hard-earned money for which Ive toiled in a foreign land. I am also unable to carry Australian dollars as they are of no use, rued Sebastian.

George Antony, the managing director of UAE Exchange-India, said current rules allow a traveller to convert foreign currency worth `50,000.



The remaining amount, whatever it is, is deposited directly into the clients account. Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi wants to end all grey transactions, he said.

Geordy and Saji said even that rule was not followed now. I will be happy if they deposit my money into my account, allowing me to withdraw it and meet the expenses for my churchs feast. But the permissible withdrawal limit of `24,000 is insufficient, said Geordy.



KOCHI: Geordy Pittappilly, a Non-Resident Keralite (NRK) settled in New York, landed in Kerala on November 29 after planning his trip to a tee. He was making the 16-day trip to honour his commitment of conducting this years church feast at Thalanji parish at his hometown Nilambur, Malappuram, from December 1 to 8. SAAI But demonetisation has completely disrupted his plans. I thought I could convert dollar here and meet my expenses. But when I landed at the Kochi airport, I gauged the ramifications of the demonetisation, throwing my entire plans into disarray. I could convert only $300 at the Federal Bank counter in the airport, said Geordy who is employed with the Railways in the USA. The exchange rate offered at the counter made matters worse. Against the market rate of `68.70/dollar, the counter offered `65.30/dollar, causing Geordy to lose `3.40/dollar. If that wasnt enough, leading textile houses in the city offered even lesser exchange rates to Geordy, who was looking to buy clothes and dress materials for his relatives. He had to use his international credit card for purchases, paying huge transaction charges. Due to the restrictions on cash withdrawal, payments to drama troupes, chenda melam, music band and others for the church feast have been affected. Such payments are mostly done with cash as they are not used to cheque or e-banking, he said. Geordys is not a lone case. A large number of NRKs, who are visiting Kerala or are planning to visit, have been hit by the abrupt demonetisation of `500 and `1,000 notes by the Centre from November 8. Saji John, another NRK settled in Florida, decided to make a short visit to his home state while on a business trip to Dubai. Saji is now at the mercy of his relatives for his day-to-day expenses in Kerala. I landed at Kochi on December 5 at 3 am and I was in the queue for four hours to convert my dollar at the airport counter, he said. They let me convert only $91 and asked me to provide change. This was ridiculous. Saji, who is the founding chair of the Malayali Association, and the regional coordinator of the Republican Party at Florida, is disappointed with the hassles that travellers to this country have been going through because of demonetisation. Saji said he saw a UK citizen literally crying at the airport as he had no credit cards with him. Whenever I come to visit my relatives, I spend `5-10 lakh from my NRI account. Local economy has lost this money, said Saji, whos returning on Friday. Saji whos been invited for President-elect Donald Trumps January 20 inauguration, said many NRIs have decided to withdraw their decision to invest in India and instead putting money in South Korea and Indonesia after the ongoing demonetisation disruption. With credit cards charging 15 per cent for foreign exchange transactions, purchase has become a costly affair for visitors. Sebastian Joseph, who is settled in Melbourne, Australia, has been planning to visit Vazhakulam, his hometown near Muvattupuzha, during Christmas, but he is now a worried man. His troubles are compounded due to one more reason. I have deposited some money in a cooperative society account to meet my sundry expenses during my Kerala visits. I am now worried about the fate of my hard-earned money for which Ive toiled in a foreign land. I am also unable to carry Australian dollars as they are of no use, rued Sebastian. George Antony, the managing director of UAE Exchange-India, said current rules allow a traveller to convert foreign currency worth `50,000. The remaining amount, whatever it is, is deposited directly into the clients account. Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi wants to end all grey transactions, he said. Geordy and Saji said even that rule was not followed now. I will be happy if they deposit my money into my account, allowing me to withdraw it and meet the expenses for my churchs feast. But the permissible withdrawal limit of `24,000 is insufficient, said Geordy.
By Online Desk

The complete secrecy maintained during the 75-day treatment of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has given rise to many questions with sections of the public even suggesting foul play. A surprising participant in this conversation about conspiracy is actress Gautami, that too publicly. In her official blog, she wrote a post addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi with questions about the death of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.

The last blog post of Gautami's that drew a lot of attention was the one where she announced her separation from live-in partner, actor Kamal Haasan. Incidentally, she had met Prime Minister Modi on October 28, 2016, just three days before she made her split with Kamal Haasan public.

This time she has approached Modi, drawing his attention to the alleged mystery surrounding Jayalalithaa's last days.

Jayalalithaa was admitted to Apollo hospital in Greams road, Chennai on September 22 after she complained of fever and dehydration. However, her health condition is said to have deteriorated but no information was divulged. The Apollo hospital medical bulletins were the only means of knowing the health condition of the CM.

The medical bulletins said that Jayalalithaa was recovering and responding well to the treatments. However on December 4 came the fateful bulletin stating that Jayalalithaa had suffered a massive cardiac arrest, and the hospital declared her dead on December 5.

Sections of the public have been raising doubts over why such a secrecy was maintained during the treatment. Gautami in her blog post has questioned who were making the decisions about Jaya's treatment and why was nobody, even dignitaries, allowed access to her. She lists few other doubts too wanting to bring them to ears of the Prime Minister.



Here's the full text of Gautami's letter to PM Modi:





The Honourable Prime Minister of India,



Shri Narendra Modiji



Dear Sir,



I write this letter to you today as an ordinary citizen of India. I am a homemaker, a mother and a working woman. My concerns and priorities in my life are those that are shared by many of my fellow countrymen, primarily to build a safe and nurturing environment for my family that will allow them to live a safe and fulfilled life.



I am also one among the crores who are mourning the recent shocking demise of our late Chief Minister, Selvi Dr. J Jayalalithaa ji. She was a towering personality in Indian politics and was a great inspiration for women from all walks of life. Her leadership of Tamil Nadu, over several terms in office, has brought us to the forefront in many spheres of development. Selvi Dr. Jayalalithaa jis undeniable strength and determination to persevere against all odds are a lasting legacy that will continue to inspire individuals of every gender to persist in pursuit of their dreams in life.



Her demise is all the more tragic and unsettling because of the circumstances over the past few months and the sheer volume of unanswered questions about our late Chief Ministers hospitalisation, treatment, reported recovery and very sudden passing. There has been a near total blanketing of information regarding these matters.

Nobody had been allowed access to her and many dignitaries who visited her with deep concern were denied an opportunity to convey their wishes in person. Why this secrecy and isolation of a beloved public leader and the head of the Tamil Nadu government?

What/whose authority restricted access to the late Chief Minister? Who were the concerned persons who were making the decisions about Selvi Dr. J Jayalalithaa jis treatment and care when her health was apparently in such a delicate state? And who is responsible for these answers to the people? These and many other burning questions are being asked by the people of Tamil Nadu and I echo their voice in bringing them to your ears, sir.



No doubt some might say that it is a moot point because it has happened as it has, but that, sir, is precisely my fear. I ask these questions now because it is a primary concern and right of every citizen of India to be aware of and informed about their democratically elected leaders. To be aware of their state of health and ability to perform their duties for the larger good of the people. To be concerned for the wellness and comfort of a beloved leader of the masses. And the fact that a tragedy of such tremendous scale should not go unquestioned and definitely, not unanswered, under any circumstances. If this be the case with a public figure of this magnitude, then what chance does

the common citizen of India have when he fights for his personal rights? The confidence of every Indian in the democratic process that makes our nation so great is precious and must be protected against all odds.



I am writing to you now, sir, with the complete confidence that you share my anxiety and determination to uphold the rights of every Indian to be aware and informed of any factor that impacts our day to day life. You have proven yourself in many ways to be a leader who is unafraid to stand up for the rights of the common man and I am confident that you will heed the call of your fellow countrymen.



With my deepest respects and trust



Jai Hind!



Gautami Tadimalla



08.12.2016

The complete secrecy maintained during the 75-day treatment of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has given rise to many questions with sections of the public even suggesting foul play. A surprising participant in this conversation about conspiracy is actress Gautami, that too publicly. In her official blog, she wrote a post addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi with questions about the death of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister. The last blog post of Gautami's that drew a lot of attention was the one where she announced her separation from live-in partner, actor Kamal Haasan. Incidentally, she had met Prime Minister Modi on October 28, 2016, just three days before she made her split with Kamal Haasan public. This time she has approached Modi, drawing his attention to the alleged mystery surrounding Jayalalithaa's last days. Jayalalithaa was admitted to Apollo hospital in Greams road, Chennai on September 22 after she complained of fever and dehydration. However, her health condition is said to have deteriorated but no information was divulged. The Apollo hospital medical bulletins were the only means of knowing the health condition of the CM. The medical bulletins said that Jayalalithaa was recovering and responding well to the treatments. However on December 4 came the fateful bulletin stating that Jayalalithaa had suffered a massive cardiac arrest, and the hospital declared her dead on December 5. Sections of the public have been raising doubts over why such a secrecy was maintained during the treatment. Gautami in her blog post has questioned who were making the decisions about Jaya's treatment and why was nobody, even dignitaries, allowed access to her. She lists few other doubts too wanting to bring them to ears of the Prime Minister. Here's the full text of Gautami's letter to PM Modi: The Honourable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modiji Dear Sir, I write this letter to you today as an ordinary citizen of India. I am a homemaker, a mother and a working woman. My concerns and priorities in my life are those that are shared by many of my fellow countrymen, primarily to build a safe and nurturing environment for my family that will allow them to live a safe and fulfilled life. I am also one among the crores who are mourning the recent shocking demise of our late Chief Minister, Selvi Dr. J Jayalalithaa ji. She was a towering personality in Indian politics and was a great inspiration for women from all walks of life. Her leadership of Tamil Nadu, over several terms in office, has brought us to the forefront in many spheres of development. Selvi Dr. Jayalalithaa jis undeniable strength and determination to persevere against all odds are a lasting legacy that will continue to inspire individuals of every gender to persist in pursuit of their dreams in life. Her demise is all the more tragic and unsettling because of the circumstances over the past few months and the sheer volume of unanswered questions about our late Chief Ministers hospitalisation, treatment, reported recovery and very sudden passing. There has been a near total blanketing of information regarding these matters. Nobody had been allowed access to her and many dignitaries who visited her with deep concern were denied an opportunity to convey their wishes in person. Why this secrecy and isolation of a beloved public leader and the head of the Tamil Nadu government? What/whose authority restricted access to the late Chief Minister? Who were the concerned persons who were making the decisions about Selvi Dr. J Jayalalithaa jis treatment and care when her health was apparently in such a delicate state? And who is responsible for these answers to the people? These and many other burning questions are being asked by the people of Tamil Nadu and I echo their voice in bringing them to your ears, sir. No doubt some might say that it is a moot point because it has happened as it has, but that, sir, is precisely my fear. I ask these questions now because it is a primary concern and right of every citizen of India to be aware of and informed about their democratically elected leaders. To be aware of their state of health and ability to perform their duties for the larger good of the people. To be concerned for the wellness and comfort of a beloved leader of the masses. And the fact that a tragedy of such tremendous scale should not go unquestioned and definitely, not unanswered, under any circumstances. If this be the case with a public figure of this magnitude, then what chance does the common citizen of India have when he fights for his personal rights? The confidence of every Indian in the democratic process that makes our nation so great is precious and must be protected against all odds. I am writing to you now, sir, with the complete confidence that you share my anxiety and determination to uphold the rights of every Indian to be aware and informed of any factor that impacts our day to day life. You have proven yourself in many ways to be a leader who is unafraid to stand up for the rights of the common man and I am confident that you will heed the call of your fellow countrymen. With my deepest respects and trust Jai Hind! Gautami Tadimalla 08.12.2016
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Wednesday asked the Telangana government as to why it has not appointed the member (revenue) to the Wakf Tribunal.

The bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice A Shankar Narayana was hearing the petition filed by the AP Wakf Bar association seeking direction that the Wakf Tribunal at Hyderabad for the Andhra Pradesh state shall continue to receive and dispose of the matters referable to the territory of Telangana state also till commencement of Wakf tribunal for Telangana state. Petitioners counsel Mohammad Ilyas submitted that the present Wakf tribunal (in the premises of city civil court complex, Hyderabad) is functioning only for the state of AP where as the Wakf tribunal for TS has become defunct due to lack of infrastructure and non-posting of the member. Though petitions are received by the staff, work isnt taking place and the petitioners who approach the tribunal are going back without their grievance being redressed, he claimed.

The bench then asked the government counsel for TS as to why the state has not taken the initiative in the subject matter which deals with public grievances. As per the Supreme Court direction, all the states in the country have to fill up the posts of the Wakf tribunals within four months from Dec 2015. In reply, the government counsel said that he will get instructions on the issue of appointing a member to the Wakf tribunal. The bench posted the matter to Monday for further hearing.

HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Wednesday asked the Telangana government as to why it has not appointed the member (revenue) to the Wakf Tribunal. The bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice A Shankar Narayana was hearing the petition filed by the AP Wakf Bar association seeking direction that the Wakf Tribunal at Hyderabad for the Andhra Pradesh state shall continue to receive and dispose of the matters referable to the territory of Telangana state also till commencement of Wakf tribunal for Telangana state. Petitioners counsel Mohammad Ilyas submitted that the present Wakf tribunal (in the premises of city civil court complex, Hyderabad) is functioning only for the state of AP where as the Wakf tribunal for TS has become defunct due to lack of infrastructure and non-posting of the member. Though petitions are received by the staff, work isnt taking place and the petitioners who approach the tribunal are going back without their grievance being redressed, he claimed. The bench then asked the government counsel for TS as to why the state has not taken the initiative in the subject matter which deals with public grievances. As per the Supreme Court direction, all the states in the country have to fill up the posts of the Wakf tribunals within four months from Dec 2015. In reply, the government counsel said that he will get instructions on the issue of appointing a member to the Wakf tribunal. The bench posted the matter to Monday for further hearing.
By Associated Press

BAGHDAD: Iraq's parliament speaker said an airstrike targeting the Islamic State-held town of Qaim in western Iraq near the Syrian border killed and wounded "dozens" of civilians, and that he is holding the Iraqi government responsible.

It was unclear if the airstrike was carried out by the Iraqi air force or the U.S.-led international coalition supporting the Baghdad government offensive against the Sunni extremist group. Anbar province and Iraqi Defense Ministry officials were not immediately available to comment.

Coalition spokesman U.S. Army Col. John Dorrian said on Twitter that he coalition did not conduct any strikes in the area around the time of the incident.

"The airstrike hit unarmed civilians in shopping centers in Qaim and caused the killing and wounding of dozens of them," speaker Salim al-Jabouri said in a statement late Wednesday.

He described the incident as a "crime" and urged that the perpetrators "be punished." Al-Jabouri did not provide specifics, or the breakdown of the casualties, but said he holds the Iraqi government responsible and demanded an immediate investigation. He also did not say how he came by the information.

Another Sunni lawmaker, Mohammed al-Karboli, said the fighter jets targeted three markets in Qaim during rush hour, putting the causality figures at 80. He also didn't provide the sourcing of the information.

The IS-linked Aamaq news agency released a nearly two-minute-video late Wednesday purporting to show the aftermath of the airstrike.

The footage shows several bearded men rushing toward a scene where dozens of cars were on fire and some building appear freshly damaged. Several bodies of children and adults, some charred, are also seen lying on the ground.

The Associated Press couldn't immediately verify the authenticity of the video.

The town of Qaim, located about 320 kilometers (200 miles) west of Baghdad, is still under control of the Islamic State group, along with other small towns in Iraq's western Anbar province.

An Iraqi government offensive has cleared much of the province since late last year. Now, the Iraqi military and allied militias, with the backing of the U.S.-led coalition, are waging an offensive to clear Mosul of IS militants.

Mosul is Iraq's second-largest city and the last major urban bastion of the Islamic State group in the country.

BAGHDAD: Iraq's parliament speaker said an airstrike targeting the Islamic State-held town of Qaim in western Iraq near the Syrian border killed and wounded "dozens" of civilians, and that he is holding the Iraqi government responsible. It was unclear if the airstrike was carried out by the Iraqi air force or the U.S.-led international coalition supporting the Baghdad government offensive against the Sunni extremist group. Anbar province and Iraqi Defense Ministry officials were not immediately available to comment. Coalition spokesman U.S. Army Col. John Dorrian said on Twitter that he coalition did not conduct any strikes in the area around the time of the incident. "The airstrike hit unarmed civilians in shopping centers in Qaim and caused the killing and wounding of dozens of them," speaker Salim al-Jabouri said in a statement late Wednesday. He described the incident as a "crime" and urged that the perpetrators "be punished." Al-Jabouri did not provide specifics, or the breakdown of the casualties, but said he holds the Iraqi government responsible and demanded an immediate investigation. He also did not say how he came by the information. Another Sunni lawmaker, Mohammed al-Karboli, said the fighter jets targeted three markets in Qaim during rush hour, putting the causality figures at 80. He also didn't provide the sourcing of the information. The IS-linked Aamaq news agency released a nearly two-minute-video late Wednesday purporting to show the aftermath of the airstrike. The footage shows several bearded men rushing toward a scene where dozens of cars were on fire and some building appear freshly damaged. Several bodies of children and adults, some charred, are also seen lying on the ground. The Associated Press couldn't immediately verify the authenticity of the video. The town of Qaim, located about 320 kilometers (200 miles) west of Baghdad, is still under control of the Islamic State group, along with other small towns in Iraq's western Anbar province. An Iraqi government offensive has cleared much of the province since late last year. Now, the Iraqi military and allied militias, with the backing of the U.S.-led coalition, are waging an offensive to clear Mosul of IS militants. Mosul is Iraq's second-largest city and the last major urban bastion of the Islamic State group in the country.
By AFP

LONDON: In a symbolic victory, British Prime Minister Theresa May today won a vote in Parliament backing her timetable for negotiating Britain's exit from the European Union (EU).

MPs voted in the House of Commons 461 to 89 in favour of May triggering Article 50 by the end of March 2017, which will begin the formal process of exit negotiations from the 28-member economic bloc. The win followed a compromise between Opposition Labour and the ruling Conservatives, which saw May committing to revealing the official plan for Brexit before the actual process begins, without committing to any detailed account.

The vote also supported a Labour motion calling for Parliament to "properly scrutinise" the government in its proposals for leaving the EU by 448 votes to 75 - a margin of 373. Labour's Brexit spokesman, Sir Keir Starmer, has said his party would continue to challenge the government if its plan was "not detailed enough". He said: "I think it's got to be pretty detailed, they've got to set out what those objectives are. I don't think it needs to be in a particular form, but if it's not detailed enough they can expect further challenge."

Brexit Secretary David Davis responded: "The simple fact is that the mandate (in June's referendum) was to leave the European Union - full stop. We need to keep that in mind when we are going through that process.

"This is a negotiation; it's not a policy statement. And, therefore, where you are aiming for may not be the exact place you end up." The debate today came after a procedural battle between the parties over the wording of the motion to be put to MPs. Mrs May had been refusing to provide a "running commentary" on Brexit after the UK voted to leave the EU in a referendum in June.

As the Supreme Court in London continues to hear a case to establish the extent of British PMs power in launching into a Brexit without parliamentary approval, Downing Street put forward an amendment agreeing to publish a plan before triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

Starmer described it as "a welcome and hugely significant climbdown", while the government believes receiving this parliamentary backing for the timetable would avoid delays to the Brexit process. The government's amendment was opposed by 23 Labour MPs and one Conservative - former chancellor Ken Clarke. Five Liberal Democrat MPs, three Welsh Plaid Cymru MPs and 51 SNP MPs also voted against it.

LONDON: In a symbolic victory, British Prime Minister Theresa May today won a vote in Parliament backing her timetable for negotiating Britain's exit from the European Union (EU). MPs voted in the House of Commons 461 to 89 in favour of May triggering Article 50 by the end of March 2017, which will begin the formal process of exit negotiations from the 28-member economic bloc. The win followed a compromise between Opposition Labour and the ruling Conservatives, which saw May committing to revealing the official plan for Brexit before the actual process begins, without committing to any detailed account. The vote also supported a Labour motion calling for Parliament to "properly scrutinise" the government in its proposals for leaving the EU by 448 votes to 75 - a margin of 373. Labour's Brexit spokesman, Sir Keir Starmer, has said his party would continue to challenge the government if its plan was "not detailed enough". He said: "I think it's got to be pretty detailed, they've got to set out what those objectives are. I don't think it needs to be in a particular form, but if it's not detailed enough they can expect further challenge." Brexit Secretary David Davis responded: "The simple fact is that the mandate (in June's referendum) was to leave the European Union - full stop. We need to keep that in mind when we are going through that process. "This is a negotiation; it's not a policy statement. And, therefore, where you are aiming for may not be the exact place you end up." The debate today came after a procedural battle between the parties over the wording of the motion to be put to MPs. Mrs May had been refusing to provide a "running commentary" on Brexit after the UK voted to leave the EU in a referendum in June. As the Supreme Court in London continues to hear a case to establish the extent of British PMs power in launching into a Brexit without parliamentary approval, Downing Street put forward an amendment agreeing to publish a plan before triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. Starmer described it as "a welcome and hugely significant climbdown", while the government believes receiving this parliamentary backing for the timetable would avoid delays to the Brexit process. The government's amendment was opposed by 23 Labour MPs and one Conservative - former chancellor Ken Clarke. Five Liberal Democrat MPs, three Welsh Plaid Cymru MPs and 51 SNP MPs also voted against it.
By AFP

BRUSSELS: The EU proposed Thursday that member states resume returning asylum seekers to Greece from March next year, after transfers were suspended for five years because of poor conditions there.

The European Commission, the EU executive, said Athens had now partly improved conditions in line with 2011 court rulings that had suspended the transfers and encouraged the flow of refugees and migrants to wealthier EU countries.

"We are recommending the gradual resumption of Dublin transfers of asylum seekers starting next year," EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told a press conference, with aides saying the date is March 15.

"Greece has made significant progress under very pressing, very difficult conditions to put in place a fully functioning asylum system over the last months, and I want to praise Greece," said Avramopoulos, who is Greek.

People who have already moved on from Greece cannot be returned, and the returns system will only apply to people who move to other countries after March 15, he said.

Unaccompanied minors and vulnerable people will be excluded from the transfers, while Greece must also provide guarantees for each individual person returned that they will receive proper treatment.

Avramopoulos said that "in practice, only a very small number of people" are likely to be transferred back to Greece in the near future.

Under the EU's Dublin asylum rules, countries where migrants first land must process their asylum requests, and must also take back any asylum seekers who travel to other countries in the bloc.

Greece and Italy have been the first point of entry for lion's share of the more than one million migrants who have entered the bloc fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.

A ruling by the EU's top court in 2011 at the height of Greece's debt crisis said conditions for asylum seekers in Greece were degrading, meaning that other countries could not send them back.

Impetus for reform of the EU asylum rules grew in October last year when German Chancellor Angela Merkel said "let's be frank. The Dublin process, in its current form, is obsolete".

Migrant numbers had surged after Germany declared it would admit Syrians, even if they technically should have applied for refugee status in the first EU country they set foot in on their way to Germany.

BRUSSELS: The EU proposed Thursday that member states resume returning asylum seekers to Greece from March next year, after transfers were suspended for five years because of poor conditions there. The European Commission, the EU executive, said Athens had now partly improved conditions in line with 2011 court rulings that had suspended the transfers and encouraged the flow of refugees and migrants to wealthier EU countries. "We are recommending the gradual resumption of Dublin transfers of asylum seekers starting next year," EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told a press conference, with aides saying the date is March 15. "Greece has made significant progress under very pressing, very difficult conditions to put in place a fully functioning asylum system over the last months, and I want to praise Greece," said Avramopoulos, who is Greek. People who have already moved on from Greece cannot be returned, and the returns system will only apply to people who move to other countries after March 15, he said. Unaccompanied minors and vulnerable people will be excluded from the transfers, while Greece must also provide guarantees for each individual person returned that they will receive proper treatment. Avramopoulos said that "in practice, only a very small number of people" are likely to be transferred back to Greece in the near future. Under the EU's Dublin asylum rules, countries where migrants first land must process their asylum requests, and must also take back any asylum seekers who travel to other countries in the bloc. Greece and Italy have been the first point of entry for lion's share of the more than one million migrants who have entered the bloc fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa. A ruling by the EU's top court in 2011 at the height of Greece's debt crisis said conditions for asylum seekers in Greece were degrading, meaning that other countries could not send them back. Impetus for reform of the EU asylum rules grew in October last year when German Chancellor Angela Merkel said "let's be frank. The Dublin process, in its current form, is obsolete". Migrant numbers had surged after Germany declared it would admit Syrians, even if they technically should have applied for refugee status in the first EU country they set foot in on their way to Germany.
By Associated Press

DETROIT: A federal judge who ordered Michigan to begin its recount effectively ended it on Wednesday, tying his decision to a state court ruling that found Green Party candidate Jill Stein had no legal standing to request another look at ballots.

The ruling seals Republican Donald Trump's narrow victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton for Michigan's 16 electoral votes.

U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith agreed with Republicans who argued that the three-day recount must end a day after the state appeals court dealt a blow to the effort. The court said Stein, who finished fourth in Michigan on Nov. 8, didn't have a chance of winning even after a recount and therefore isn't an "aggrieved" candidate.

"Because there is no basis for this court to ignore the Michigan court's ruling and make an independent judgment regarding what the Michigan Legislature intended by the term 'aggrieved,' plaintiffs have not shown an entitlement to a recount," Goldsmith said.

It was the judge's midnight ruling Monday that started the recount in Michigan. But Goldsmith's order dealt with timing  not whether a recount was appropriate. More than 20 of 83 counties already were counting ballots again. They reported minor changes in vote totals, although many precincts couldn't be examined for a second time for a variety of reasons.

Earlier Wednesday, the Michigan elections board voted, 3-1, to end the recount if Goldsmith extinguished his earlier order.

State Republican Party Chairman Ronna Romney McDaniel and Attorney General Bill Schuette said it's a victory for voters and taxpayers. Stein now is left with asking the Michigan Supreme Court to intervene, which is a long shot.

"Jill Stein, who received only 1.07% of the vote in Michigan, is not legally entitled to hijack the will of voters and drag them into an arduous and expensive publicity stunt," McDaniel said.

Stein got about 1 percent of the vote in three states where she's pushed for recounts  Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Trump narrowly won all three.

She insists she's more concerned about the accuracy of the election, but Goldsmith said Stein's legal team presented only "speculative claims" about vulnerable machines, "not actual injury."

The judge said a recount to test the integrity of the voting system "has never been endorsed by any court."

A court hearing will be held Friday on a possible recount in Pennsylvania. Wisconsin's recount, which started last week, has increased Trump's margin of victory over Clinton thus far.

Clinton needed all three states to flip in order to take enough electoral votes to win the election. Trump has 306 electoral votes to Clinton's 232; 270 are needed to win. Michigan has 16 electoral votes, Pennsylvania has 20 and Wisconsin has 10. Electors convene Dec. 19 across the country to vote for president.

DETROIT: A federal judge who ordered Michigan to begin its recount effectively ended it on Wednesday, tying his decision to a state court ruling that found Green Party candidate Jill Stein had no legal standing to request another look at ballots. The ruling seals Republican Donald Trump's narrow victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton for Michigan's 16 electoral votes. U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith agreed with Republicans who argued that the three-day recount must end a day after the state appeals court dealt a blow to the effort. The court said Stein, who finished fourth in Michigan on Nov. 8, didn't have a chance of winning even after a recount and therefore isn't an "aggrieved" candidate. "Because there is no basis for this court to ignore the Michigan court's ruling and make an independent judgment regarding what the Michigan Legislature intended by the term 'aggrieved,' plaintiffs have not shown an entitlement to a recount," Goldsmith said. It was the judge's midnight ruling Monday that started the recount in Michigan. But Goldsmith's order dealt with timing  not whether a recount was appropriate. More than 20 of 83 counties already were counting ballots again. They reported minor changes in vote totals, although many precincts couldn't be examined for a second time for a variety of reasons. Earlier Wednesday, the Michigan elections board voted, 3-1, to end the recount if Goldsmith extinguished his earlier order. State Republican Party Chairman Ronna Romney McDaniel and Attorney General Bill Schuette said it's a victory for voters and taxpayers. Stein now is left with asking the Michigan Supreme Court to intervene, which is a long shot. "Jill Stein, who received only 1.07% of the vote in Michigan, is not legally entitled to hijack the will of voters and drag them into an arduous and expensive publicity stunt," McDaniel said. Stein got about 1 percent of the vote in three states where she's pushed for recounts  Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Trump narrowly won all three. She insists she's more concerned about the accuracy of the election, but Goldsmith said Stein's legal team presented only "speculative claims" about vulnerable machines, "not actual injury." The judge said a recount to test the integrity of the voting system "has never been endorsed by any court." A court hearing will be held Friday on a possible recount in Pennsylvania. Wisconsin's recount, which started last week, has increased Trump's margin of victory over Clinton thus far. Clinton needed all three states to flip in order to take enough electoral votes to win the election. Trump has 306 electoral votes to Clinton's 232; 270 are needed to win. Michigan has 16 electoral votes, Pennsylvania has 20 and Wisconsin has 10. Electors convene Dec. 19 across the country to vote for president.
By AFP

PARIS: Former French budget minister Jerome Cahuzac, whose brief in government was to crack down on tax dodgers, was sentenced to three years in prison on Thursday for tax fraud and money laundering.

A court in Paris also gave Cahuzac's ex-wife Patricia Menard a two-year prison sentence for her role in stashing millions of euros abroad from the couple's lucrative hair transplant business.

The scandal was the first of a series that tarnished Socialist President Francois Hollande's government and prompted him to order his ministers to disclose their personal wealth, breaking a taboo in France, where the assets of public officials had long been considered a private matter.

Cahuzac, a 64-year-old plastic surgeon by training, initially denied the allegations and sued the Mediapart news website that broke the story in 2012.

Footage of the minister lying to parliament was repeated in an endless loop on French TV news channels after he finally confessed in April 2013, "consumed by remorse", to having a Swiss bank account.

By the end of the trial, Cahuzac had repeatedly admitted his "inexcusable wrongdoing".

He remained motionless when the verdict was read out.

Chief judge Peimane Ghaleh-Marzban said Cahuzac, "who embodied France's tax policy", had committed an offence of "exceptional gravity".

His lawyer Jean Veil said Cahuzac would appeal, arguing that a prison term "was not a suitable punishment" for the crime.

Cahuzac said in evidence that he hid funds offshore to maintain his family's standard of living -- which included buying apartments for his children in London and Paris and paying for holidays in Mauritius.

The court also handed down a one-year suspended prison sentence and a 375,000-euro ($405,000) fine to Francois Reyl, a Swiss banker, for assisting the couple.

His bank, Reyl, was fined 1.87 million euros for money laundering.

PARIS: Former French budget minister Jerome Cahuzac, whose brief in government was to crack down on tax dodgers, was sentenced to three years in prison on Thursday for tax fraud and money laundering. A court in Paris also gave Cahuzac's ex-wife Patricia Menard a two-year prison sentence for her role in stashing millions of euros abroad from the couple's lucrative hair transplant business. The scandal was the first of a series that tarnished Socialist President Francois Hollande's government and prompted him to order his ministers to disclose their personal wealth, breaking a taboo in France, where the assets of public officials had long been considered a private matter. Cahuzac, a 64-year-old plastic surgeon by training, initially denied the allegations and sued the Mediapart news website that broke the story in 2012. Footage of the minister lying to parliament was repeated in an endless loop on French TV news channels after he finally confessed in April 2013, "consumed by remorse", to having a Swiss bank account. By the end of the trial, Cahuzac had repeatedly admitted his "inexcusable wrongdoing". He remained motionless when the verdict was read out. Chief judge Peimane Ghaleh-Marzban said Cahuzac, "who embodied France's tax policy", had committed an offence of "exceptional gravity". His lawyer Jean Veil said Cahuzac would appeal, arguing that a prison term "was not a suitable punishment" for the crime. Cahuzac said in evidence that he hid funds offshore to maintain his family's standard of living -- which included buying apartments for his children in London and Paris and paying for holidays in Mauritius. The court also handed down a one-year suspended prison sentence and a 375,000-euro ($405,000) fine to Francois Reyl, a Swiss banker, for assisting the couple. His bank, Reyl, was fined 1.87 million euros for money laundering.
PK Balachandran By

Express News Service

COLOMBO: World War II is said to have spread to the Eastern hemisphere with Japanese planes bombing the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. But the first Japanese ground attack in the war took place at Kota Baru in Malaya a good 20 minutes before Japanese planes struck Pear Habor. And Indian troops stationed at the beach were the first to face the Japanese amphibian landing.

Wednesday December 8, 2016 is the 75 th. Anniversary of the historical event in which Indian troops were key players.

New research reveals that the Japanese naval fleet, which had anchored three miles off Kota Bharu, started shelling the beach held by the 8th Indian Infantry Brigade at 12.30 am local time on December 8, 1941 when Japanese Air Force planes heading towards Pearl Harbor in the Pacific Ocean were still 20 minutes away from their target.

The attack on Pearl Harbour began at 2.38 am local time on December 8, 1941. But, the US forces, reporting it as per their standard time, misleadingly stated it to have taken place on December 7.

The palm-fringed, barbed-wired and heavily mined Kota Bharu Beach was held by the 3/17 Dogra Regiment under the command of Lt Col G A Preston. It was part of the 9 th. Indian Division based in Malaya.

Omar Senik, an 82-year-old local survivor of the first battle fought in Asia, told Japanese news agency Kyodo that local villagers and Indian soldiers were singing Hindi film songs on the beachfront when they saw Japanese landing craft approaching.

The Dogras promptly opened a volley of machine gun and artillery fire. In the ensuing battle, which saw intense hand to hand combat, 300 Japanese soldiers were killed. Some units from the State Forces (armies of Indian princes) were also stationed there but they apparently played no role. The Dogras and the Allied forces (mainly 8 th.Australian Divison) inflicted heavy casualties on the three crack Divisions the Japanese employed in the assault on Kota Baru.

The Dogras finally had to retreat because the Japanese, many of them hardened veterans of the war in China, came in waves. The Japanese invading party is said to have lost 300 men in the landing alone as the sea was turbulent. According to the official history of the Dogra Regiment ,the allied forced killed 3500 Japanese in this fighting. The 3/17 Dogras lost four officers, three Viceroys Commission Officers and 128 other ranks. In recognition of the tough fighting the Japanese later erected a monument at Kota Baru.

According to Peter Chen, the Japanese invasion fleet left the port of Samah on December 4, 1941. Although detected by British scout planes two days earlier, bad weather provided stealth for the invasion convoy.

On December 8, after some fighting at Kota Bharu, the Japanese troops took the coast cities of Singora (Thailand), Patani (Thailand), and Kota Bharu (Malaya). British planes attempted to attack landing ships, but Japanese troops made beachhead at Kota Bharu within three hours despite the air distraction. At an airfield near Kota Bharu, Indian troops who received incorrect intelligence that the Japanese were far ahead than where they actually were killed their own commander Lt. Col. Hendricks and fled the airfield without destroying anything, providing the Japanese invaders a fully working airfield along with fuel and ammunition.

Australian troops who were further inland tried their level best to thwart the Japanese, but were overwhelmed.

General Yamashita, in Singora, negotiated with the Thai government, and won an agreement that allowed Japanese troops to move within Thai borders toward Malaya without local resistance. Meanwhile, Colonel Tsuji's men, disguised in civilian attire, secured key bridges beyond Malaya's borders before the British could destroy them on their retreat.

No reinforcements from United States' Philippines appeared during the landings, as the US forces were busy fending off a nearly simultaneous invasion at Philippines and at Pearl Harbor.

On the same day, December 8, Japan sent her first air raid on the city of Singapore, resulting in 61 deaths. The British command in Singapore still did not call for a general blackout of the city.

The Dogra brigade took part in all early campaigns in Malaya, but retreated to Singapore along with other Allied forces. After it surrendered to the Japanese in Singapore on February 15, 1942, it was officially disbanded

COLOMBO: World War II is said to have spread to the Eastern hemisphere with Japanese planes bombing the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. But the first Japanese ground attack in the war took place at Kota Baru in Malaya a good 20 minutes before Japanese planes struck Pear Habor. And Indian troops stationed at the beach were the first to face the Japanese amphibian landing. Wednesday December 8, 2016 is the 75 th. Anniversary of the historical event in which Indian troops were key players. New research reveals that the Japanese naval fleet, which had anchored three miles off Kota Bharu, started shelling the beach held by the 8th Indian Infantry Brigade at 12.30 am local time on December 8, 1941 when Japanese Air Force planes heading towards Pearl Harbor in the Pacific Ocean were still 20 minutes away from their target. The attack on Pearl Harbour began at 2.38 am local time on December 8, 1941. But, the US forces, reporting it as per their standard time, misleadingly stated it to have taken place on December 7. The palm-fringed, barbed-wired and heavily mined Kota Bharu Beach was held by the 3/17 Dogra Regiment under the command of Lt Col G A Preston. It was part of the 9 th. Indian Division based in Malaya. Omar Senik, an 82-year-old local survivor of the first battle fought in Asia, told Japanese news agency Kyodo that local villagers and Indian soldiers were singing Hindi film songs on the beachfront when they saw Japanese landing craft approaching. The Dogras promptly opened a volley of machine gun and artillery fire. In the ensuing battle, which saw intense hand to hand combat, 300 Japanese soldiers were killed. Some units from the State Forces (armies of Indian princes) were also stationed there but they apparently played no role. The Dogras and the Allied forces (mainly 8 th.Australian Divison) inflicted heavy casualties on the three crack Divisions the Japanese employed in the assault on Kota Baru. The Dogras finally had to retreat because the Japanese, many of them hardened veterans of the war in China, came in waves. The Japanese invading party is said to have lost 300 men in the landing alone as the sea was turbulent. According to the official history of the Dogra Regiment ,the allied forced killed 3500 Japanese in this fighting. The 3/17 Dogras lost four officers, three Viceroys Commission Officers and 128 other ranks. In recognition of the tough fighting the Japanese later erected a monument at Kota Baru. According to Peter Chen, the Japanese invasion fleet left the port of Samah on December 4, 1941. Although detected by British scout planes two days earlier, bad weather provided stealth for the invasion convoy. On December 8, after some fighting at Kota Bharu, the Japanese troops took the coast cities of Singora (Thailand), Patani (Thailand), and Kota Bharu (Malaya). British planes attempted to attack landing ships, but Japanese troops made beachhead at Kota Bharu within three hours despite the air distraction. At an airfield near Kota Bharu, Indian troops who received incorrect intelligence that the Japanese were far ahead than where they actually were killed their own commander Lt. Col. Hendricks and fled the airfield without destroying anything, providing the Japanese invaders a fully working airfield along with fuel and ammunition. Australian troops who were further inland tried their level best to thwart the Japanese, but were overwhelmed. General Yamashita, in Singora, negotiated with the Thai government, and won an agreement that allowed Japanese troops to move within Thai borders toward Malaya without local resistance. Meanwhile, Colonel Tsuji's men, disguised in civilian attire, secured key bridges beyond Malaya's borders before the British could destroy them on their retreat. No reinforcements from United States' Philippines appeared during the landings, as the US forces were busy fending off a nearly simultaneous invasion at Philippines and at Pearl Harbor. On the same day, December 8, Japan sent her first air raid on the city of Singapore, resulting in 61 deaths. The British command in Singapore still did not call for a general blackout of the city. The Dogra brigade took part in all early campaigns in Malaya, but retreated to Singapore along with other Allied forces. After it surrendered to the Japanese in Singapore on February 15, 1942, it was officially disbanded
By PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz today admitted that the government was presented with only "insufficient evidence" on alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadhav who is under detention.

Addressing a full Senate chamber, Aziz said the dossier on Yadhav contained mere statements.

"It did not have any conclusive evidence," he was quoted as saying by the Geo TV.

"What the dossier contained was not enough. Now it is up to the concerned authorities how long they take to give us more matter on the agent," Aziz said.

Yadhav, who was reportedly arrested in Balochistan after he entered from Iran, has been accused by Pakistan of planning "subversive activities" in the country.

Pakistan Army had also released a "confessional video" of Yadhav, who said he was the serving Indian Navy officer.

India has acknowledged Yadhav as a retired Indian Navy officer but denied the allegation that he was in any way connected to the government.

Later, a Foreign Office spokesperson issued a statement, saying the remarks attributed to Aziz was "absolutely incorrect."

"The Adviser had said that the investigations regarding the network of Kulbhushan Yadhav are ongoing and the dossier shall be completed upon conclusion of the investigation," the statement said.

"There is irrefutable proof against Kulbhushan Yadhav, who had also made a public confession in March," it said.

Aziz also "condemned the continued Indian interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan and urged the international community to take immediate notice of the violation of international law by India," it added.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz today admitted that the government was presented with only "insufficient evidence" on alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadhav who is under detention. Addressing a full Senate chamber, Aziz said the dossier on Yadhav contained mere statements. "It did not have any conclusive evidence," he was quoted as saying by the Geo TV. "What the dossier contained was not enough. Now it is up to the concerned authorities how long they take to give us more matter on the agent," Aziz said. Yadhav, who was reportedly arrested in Balochistan after he entered from Iran, has been accused by Pakistan of planning "subversive activities" in the country. Pakistan Army had also released a "confessional video" of Yadhav, who said he was the serving Indian Navy officer. India has acknowledged Yadhav as a retired Indian Navy officer but denied the allegation that he was in any way connected to the government. Later, a Foreign Office spokesperson issued a statement, saying the remarks attributed to Aziz was "absolutely incorrect." "The Adviser had said that the investigations regarding the network of Kulbhushan Yadhav are ongoing and the dossier shall be completed upon conclusion of the investigation," the statement said. "There is irrefutable proof against Kulbhushan Yadhav, who had also made a public confession in March," it said. Aziz also "condemned the continued Indian interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan and urged the international community to take immediate notice of the violation of international law by India," it added.
Ritu Sharma By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: On the day SAARC completed 31 years of its existence, India and Pakistan traded volleys of barbs pointing fingers at each other as the biggest impediment for the regional bloc.

The SAARC Summit scheduled to be held in Islamabad has been put in abeyance indefinitely following boycott by member countries over the issue of cross-border terrorism and hence the anniversary celebrations on Thursday were a bit lukewarm.

One such celebration took place at the South Asian University (SAU) that is working towards creating a South Asian identity from a rented hotel building located in the diplomatic enclave of India  Chanakyapuri.

Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar addressed the students and teachers; and remarked: SAARC is going through teething problems. Hopefully the University has smoother run than SAARC. Akbar also noted the complex history along with emotionalism of the region. And it is this complex history that made SAARC a non-starter since beginning.

The heads of Seven South Asian Countries of SAARC (Bangladeshi, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) signed the charter to establish the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) on December 8th, 1985. And since then many a projects for trade, communication and transport have been delayed at the altar of the complex Indo-Pak relations.

The celebrations at the varsity did not see any representatives from Pakistan, which despite agreeing to set up of the institution is yet to chip in with its share of budgetary contribution towards the University. This is reflective of the greater malaise afflicting the regional block.

Issuing a statement on the SAARC Charter Day, Pakistan said on Thursday: As its founding member, Pakistan stands steadfastly by the principles of the SAARC Charter. It was in manifestation of the same spirit that Pakistan had made all preparations for hosting the 19th SAARC Summit. However, the postponement of the Summit has deprived our people, once more, of the prospects of development, prosperity and regional cooperation.

In Delhi in response to a question about when the SAARC Summit will take place, the Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said: The ball is in Pakistans court. The SAARC has not been successful as one country has been opposing regional connectivity.

There are murmurs from other SAARC member countries that the 2016 Summit can take place if Pakistan willingly passes on the responsibility to the next member country to host the Summit.

The Indo-Pak hostility has also cast shadow on the SAARC summits in the past. The 1999 Kathmandu summit was postponed only to be held in 2002. Then in 2003, Pakistan indefinitely postponed the 12th SAARC summit scheduled to be held in Islamabad in January 2003, and this was finally held in 2004. The 13th summit to be held in Dhaka was also postponed, and was held later in November 2005.

The experts in the region have already written the obituary of the bloc that is said to have outlived its relevance and BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) far away from the Indo-Pak rivalry has emerged as the most favoured grouping in the region.

NEW DELHI: On the day SAARC completed 31 years of its existence, India and Pakistan traded volleys of barbs pointing fingers at each other as the biggest impediment for the regional bloc. The SAARC Summit scheduled to be held in Islamabad has been put in abeyance indefinitely following boycott by member countries over the issue of cross-border terrorism and hence the anniversary celebrations on Thursday were a bit lukewarm. One such celebration took place at the South Asian University (SAU) that is working towards creating a South Asian identity from a rented hotel building located in the diplomatic enclave of India  Chanakyapuri. Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar addressed the students and teachers; and remarked: SAARC is going through teething problems. Hopefully the University has smoother run than SAARC. Akbar also noted the complex history along with emotionalism of the region. And it is this complex history that made SAARC a non-starter since beginning. The heads of Seven South Asian Countries of SAARC (Bangladeshi, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) signed the charter to establish the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) on December 8th, 1985. And since then many a projects for trade, communication and transport have been delayed at the altar of the complex Indo-Pak relations. The celebrations at the varsity did not see any representatives from Pakistan, which despite agreeing to set up of the institution is yet to chip in with its share of budgetary contribution towards the University. This is reflective of the greater malaise afflicting the regional block. Issuing a statement on the SAARC Charter Day, Pakistan said on Thursday: As its founding member, Pakistan stands steadfastly by the principles of the SAARC Charter. It was in manifestation of the same spirit that Pakistan had made all preparations for hosting the 19th SAARC Summit. However, the postponement of the Summit has deprived our people, once more, of the prospects of development, prosperity and regional cooperation. In Delhi in response to a question about when the SAARC Summit will take place, the Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said: The ball is in Pakistans court. The SAARC has not been successful as one country has been opposing regional connectivity. There are murmurs from other SAARC member countries that the 2016 Summit can take place if Pakistan willingly passes on the responsibility to the next member country to host the Summit. The Indo-Pak hostility has also cast shadow on the SAARC summits in the past. The 1999 Kathmandu summit was postponed only to be held in 2002. Then in 2003, Pakistan indefinitely postponed the 12th SAARC summit scheduled to be held in Islamabad in January 2003, and this was finally held in 2004. The 13th summit to be held in Dhaka was also postponed, and was held later in November 2005. The experts in the region have already written the obituary of the bloc that is said to have outlived its relevance and BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) far away from the Indo-Pak rivalry has emerged as the most favoured grouping in the region.
By IANS

NEW YORK: Pakistan's involvement with terrorism came under a double-barrel attack from two US departments, State and Defence, reflecting Washington's continued frustration with Islamabad's destablising role.



The US Defence Secretary said that Pakistan needs a "historic shift" to stop sheltering terrorists targeting India, Afghanistan and American military personnel.



"I have said to their leaders for some time now that kind of terrorism poses a principal strategic danger to the Pakistani state," he told reporters travelling with him to India. "It would require a historic shift in their focus."



Meanwhile in Washington, State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner opened another front saying: "We have consistently expressed our concerns to the highest level-levels of the government of Pakistan - about their continued tolerance for Afghan Taliban groups such as the Haqqani Network operating from Pakistan soil."



Toner was answering a reporter's question at the department's briefing about the stinging criticism of Pakistan's terrorism policy by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the recent Heart of Asia conference in Amritsar.



He said: "We continue to encourage the government of Pakistan to and Afghanistan, rather - both governments to cooperate in their counterterrorism operations and efforts because that's only going to contribute to regional stability."



Terrorism did come up in talks in Wasbhington between Under Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Tariq Fatema, the special adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Toner said they discussed regional stability and counterterrorism cooperation.



"I think that Pakistan's interests, and as they reflect upon them, are best served by stability and not instability in Afghanistan," Carter said in reply to a question about how Pakistan would figure in his talks with Indian officials during his visit to new Delhi on Thursday.



"It's important that Pakistan not continue to offer or provide a place for those who destabilise Afghanistan, as well as those who threaten American service members in Afghanistan and other coalition service members; or who support terrorist groups, including those that target India," he said.

NEW YORK: Pakistan's involvement with terrorism came under a double-barrel attack from two US departments, State and Defence, reflecting Washington's continued frustration with Islamabad's destablising role. The US Defence Secretary said that Pakistan needs a "historic shift" to stop sheltering terrorists targeting India, Afghanistan and American military personnel. "I have said to their leaders for some time now that kind of terrorism poses a principal strategic danger to the Pakistani state," he told reporters travelling with him to India. "It would require a historic shift in their focus." Meanwhile in Washington, State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner opened another front saying: "We have consistently expressed our concerns to the highest level-levels of the government of Pakistan - about their continued tolerance for Afghan Taliban groups such as the Haqqani Network operating from Pakistan soil." Toner was answering a reporter's question at the department's briefing about the stinging criticism of Pakistan's terrorism policy by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the recent Heart of Asia conference in Amritsar. He said: "We continue to encourage the government of Pakistan to and Afghanistan, rather - both governments to cooperate in their counterterrorism operations and efforts because that's only going to contribute to regional stability." Terrorism did come up in talks in Wasbhington between Under Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Tariq Fatema, the special adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Toner said they discussed regional stability and counterterrorism cooperation. "I think that Pakistan's interests, and as they reflect upon them, are best served by stability and not instability in Afghanistan," Carter said in reply to a question about how Pakistan would figure in his talks with Indian officials during his visit to new Delhi on Thursday. "It's important that Pakistan not continue to offer or provide a place for those who destabilise Afghanistan, as well as those who threaten American service members in Afghanistan and other coalition service members; or who support terrorist groups, including those that target India," he said.
By AFP

BANGKOK: Six drug traffickers from the notorious Wa tribe died in a late night shoot-out with a Thai army patrol near the rugged Golden Triangle border region, officers said Thursday.

The fighting broke out after the men, who were travelling through the remote and mountainous region by foot, refused to stop for a search.

"Six drugs traffickers were killed," said Jiradech Kamolpetch, the commander of the border task force, revising down an initial toll of seven dead that was released by authorities in error.

"There were 20 people in this group," he told AFP, adding that soldiers and police were in "hot pursuit" of the remaining suspects in Thailand's Chiang Mai province.

Thai officials seized 554,000 methamphetamine tablets, approximately 30 kilogrammes (66 pounds) of heroine and two firearms from the men after the gunfight, according to another military officer who requested anonymity.

He said authorities suspect the men were ethnic Wa -- a minority based chiefly in northwestern Myanmar.

Backed by a powerful rebel militia, the Wa control a large swathe of territory in Myanmar where they are accused of running a narcotics empire.

Some Wa communities have also settled in northern Thailand, which forms part of the notorious Golden Triangle -- a drug-producing zone where the two countries meet Laos.

Long a hub for illicit opium trade, the Golden Triangle has more recently become a hotbed of methamphetamine production as demand for the drug soars in Asia.

The latest United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report said global amphetamine seizures reached a new peak of more than 170 tonnes in 2014, with Southeast Asia, East Asia and North America the three major markets.

Decades of harsh drug laws and an attempted "war" on narcotics has left Thai prisons overflowing with offenders, often caught in possession of small amounts of narcotics.

Senior Thai Junta figures have unexpectedly admitted that the country's tough approach has failed to stem the scourge of drug addiction and have floated decriminalisation of meth as a solution.

BANGKOK: Six drug traffickers from the notorious Wa tribe died in a late night shoot-out with a Thai army patrol near the rugged Golden Triangle border region, officers said Thursday. The fighting broke out after the men, who were travelling through the remote and mountainous region by foot, refused to stop for a search. "Six drugs traffickers were killed," said Jiradech Kamolpetch, the commander of the border task force, revising down an initial toll of seven dead that was released by authorities in error. "There were 20 people in this group," he told AFP, adding that soldiers and police were in "hot pursuit" of the remaining suspects in Thailand's Chiang Mai province. Thai officials seized 554,000 methamphetamine tablets, approximately 30 kilogrammes (66 pounds) of heroine and two firearms from the men after the gunfight, according to another military officer who requested anonymity. He said authorities suspect the men were ethnic Wa -- a minority based chiefly in northwestern Myanmar. Backed by a powerful rebel militia, the Wa control a large swathe of territory in Myanmar where they are accused of running a narcotics empire. Some Wa communities have also settled in northern Thailand, which forms part of the notorious Golden Triangle -- a drug-producing zone where the two countries meet Laos. Long a hub for illicit opium trade, the Golden Triangle has more recently become a hotbed of methamphetamine production as demand for the drug soars in Asia. The latest United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report said global amphetamine seizures reached a new peak of more than 170 tonnes in 2014, with Southeast Asia, East Asia and North America the three major markets. Decades of harsh drug laws and an attempted "war" on narcotics has left Thai prisons overflowing with offenders, often caught in possession of small amounts of narcotics. Senior Thai Junta figures have unexpectedly admitted that the country's tough approach has failed to stem the scourge of drug addiction and have floated decriminalisation of meth as a solution.
By ANI

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Foreign Ministry has said that the statement attributed to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Kulbhushan Yadav is 'absolutely incorrect'.



This comes after Pakistan media quoted Aziz, as saying that Islamabad does not have enough or conclusive evidence against Yadav, whom it has accused of being an Indian spy.



In response to a media query regarding the statement given by Aziz in the full Senate Chamber pertaining to Kulbhushan Yadav, a Foreign Office spokesman said the statement attributed to the Foreign Affairs Adviser is absolutely incorrect.



The Foreign Office spokesman said Aziz had instead said that investigations regarding Yadav and his network are still ongoing and that the dossier on him shall be completed as soon as conclusions are reached.



There is irrefutable proof against Kulbhushan Yadav, who had also made a public confession in March this year, the Foreign Office said in its statement, adding that, The Adviser also condemned the continued Indian interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan and urged the international community to take immediate notice.



Yadav was arrested by the Pakistan authorities during a raid in Balochistan in March this year.



According to the Pakistan Government, Yadav has admitted that he had been directing various activities in Karachi and Balochistan at the behest of Indias external intelligence agency, the research And Analysis Wing (RAW) since 2013. Islamabad has also claimed that Yadav has confessed to playing a role in deteriorating the law and order situation in Karachi.



The Indian government, on the other hand, has issued at least five to six note verbales to the Pakistan foreign ministry to get consular access to Yadav, but Islamabad has till now showed no signs of allowing it.



Pakistan has claimed that Yadav is a commander-rank officer with the Indian Navy, while India maintains that he retired from the Navy in 2002 and has had nothing to do with the Indian government when he was arrested from Balochistan.



India has denied that Yadav is a spy and maintains that he is a businessman.

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Foreign Ministry has said that the statement attributed to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Kulbhushan Yadav is 'absolutely incorrect'. This comes after Pakistan media quoted Aziz, as saying that Islamabad does not have enough or conclusive evidence against Yadav, whom it has accused of being an Indian spy. In response to a media query regarding the statement given by Aziz in the full Senate Chamber pertaining to Kulbhushan Yadav, a Foreign Office spokesman said the statement attributed to the Foreign Affairs Adviser is absolutely incorrect. The Foreign Office spokesman said Aziz had instead said that investigations regarding Yadav and his network are still ongoing and that the dossier on him shall be completed as soon as conclusions are reached. There is irrefutable proof against Kulbhushan Yadav, who had also made a public confession in March this year, the Foreign Office said in its statement, adding that, The Adviser also condemned the continued Indian interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan and urged the international community to take immediate notice. Yadav was arrested by the Pakistan authorities during a raid in Balochistan in March this year. According to the Pakistan Government, Yadav has admitted that he had been directing various activities in Karachi and Balochistan at the behest of Indias external intelligence agency, the research And Analysis Wing (RAW) since 2013. Islamabad has also claimed that Yadav has confessed to playing a role in deteriorating the law and order situation in Karachi. The Indian government, on the other hand, has issued at least five to six note verbales to the Pakistan foreign ministry to get consular access to Yadav, but Islamabad has till now showed no signs of allowing it. Pakistan has claimed that Yadav is a commander-rank officer with the Indian Navy, while India maintains that he retired from the Navy in 2002 and has had nothing to do with the Indian government when he was arrested from Balochistan. India has denied that Yadav is a spy and maintains that he is a businessman.
By Associated Press

BEIRUT: President Bashar Assad said in comments published Thursday that Syrian forces' victory in the battle for Aleppo will be a "big gain" for his government but that it will not end of the country's civil war.

Assad's comments came as his troops were pushing further into the rebel-held enclave in eastern Aleppo, in swift advances that were hardly possible earlier in the bitter conflict, now in its sixth year.

Deeply divided since 2012 between Syrian government and rebel-controlled areas, more than three-quarters of the rebel section have now fallen under the government's control, including the symbolically important ancient Aleppo quarters. More than 30,000 of the estimated 275,000 residents of besieged eastern part have fled to western Aleppo.

On Thursday, opposition activists said intensive bombings took place in al-Sukkari and Kallaseh neighbourhoods in the area still held by rebels.

State TV said the troops were about to storm the two districts. Al-Sukkari is in the southern part of eastern Aleppo, an area that has become home to the majority of the displaced civilians who stayed behind. Kallaseh is near the Old City.

The International Committee for the Red Cross said meanwhile that it evacuated 148 disabled civilians and others in need of urgent care from a facility in Aleppo's Old City after fighting had calmed down there.

ICRC said in a statement on Thursday that the evacuation was undertaken jointly with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and was completed late on Wednesday. The people had been trapped in a facility that was originally a home for the elderly and included mental health patients, elderly orphans, and patients with physical disabilities. Some were injured civilians who had sought refuge there.

"They were forgotten," said Pawel Krzysiek, ICRC communication coordinator in Damascus. The evacuees were taken to hospital and shelters in the western, government-held part of Aleppo.

Others were not as lucky, with eastern Aleppo residents describing bodies lying on the ground because no one could get to them amid intense fighting.

In an emotional plea sent to the media, the head of the eastern Aleppo medical authority called for an immediate cease-fire, saying this was a "last distress call" for help.

"Aleppo is finished. There is nothing left except a few residents and bricks," Mohammed Abu Jaafar said in a recorded audio message shared with reporters. "This may be my last call."

Activists are struggling to document casualties because of street clashes and intense bombings.

The Syrian Civil Defense in Aleppo said it was able to record 38 killed in Wednesday's violence. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 11 were killed in Old Aleppo, seized by the government Wednesday.

The rebel defenses have buckled amid the government and allies wide-ranging offensive, that opened a number of fronts at once and was preceded by an intensive aerial campaign. A proposal for a cease-fire put forward by the rebels Wednesday, calling for a five-day humanitarian pause, has been ignored.

Assad, in an interview published on Thursday in the state-owned newspaper al-Watan, said he will no longer consider truce offers, adding that such offers, particularly from Americans, often come when the rebels are in a "difficult spot."

"That is why we hear wailing and screaming and pleas for truces as the only political discourse now," Assad said. He described his forces' fight in Aleppo as one "against terrorism and a conspiracy" to destroy and divide Syria, allegedly led by Turkey.

"Liberating Aleppo from the terrorists deals a blow to the whole foundation of this project," he said. But he added, "to be realistic, it doesn't mean the end of the war."

With Aleppo, Syria's largest city and former commercial heart, the capital of Damascus and Homs, the third largest city under his control, Assad says "terrorists" no longer hold any cards.

"Even if we finish in Aleppo, we will carry on with the war against them," Assad added.

Also Thursday, Russian news agencies quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying Moscow was close to reaching a deal with the United States on a cease-fire for Aleppo. He didn't elaborate, but warned against "high expectations."

The Syrian government and its ally Russia have rejected previous calls for truce for the war-torn city, keeping up the military offensive that has squeezed and forced rebels to retreat in several areas.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met on Wednesday in Germany but didn't release any statements.

Ryabkov said a final deal has not been worked out yet.

BEIRUT: President Bashar Assad said in comments published Thursday that Syrian forces' victory in the battle for Aleppo will be a "big gain" for his government but that it will not end of the country's civil war. Assad's comments came as his troops were pushing further into the rebel-held enclave in eastern Aleppo, in swift advances that were hardly possible earlier in the bitter conflict, now in its sixth year. Deeply divided since 2012 between Syrian government and rebel-controlled areas, more than three-quarters of the rebel section have now fallen under the government's control, including the symbolically important ancient Aleppo quarters. More than 30,000 of the estimated 275,000 residents of besieged eastern part have fled to western Aleppo. On Thursday, opposition activists said intensive bombings took place in al-Sukkari and Kallaseh neighbourhoods in the area still held by rebels. State TV said the troops were about to storm the two districts. Al-Sukkari is in the southern part of eastern Aleppo, an area that has become home to the majority of the displaced civilians who stayed behind. Kallaseh is near the Old City. The International Committee for the Red Cross said meanwhile that it evacuated 148 disabled civilians and others in need of urgent care from a facility in Aleppo's Old City after fighting had calmed down there. ICRC said in a statement on Thursday that the evacuation was undertaken jointly with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and was completed late on Wednesday. The people had been trapped in a facility that was originally a home for the elderly and included mental health patients, elderly orphans, and patients with physical disabilities. Some were injured civilians who had sought refuge there. "They were forgotten," said Pawel Krzysiek, ICRC communication coordinator in Damascus. The evacuees were taken to hospital and shelters in the western, government-held part of Aleppo. Others were not as lucky, with eastern Aleppo residents describing bodies lying on the ground because no one could get to them amid intense fighting. In an emotional plea sent to the media, the head of the eastern Aleppo medical authority called for an immediate cease-fire, saying this was a "last distress call" for help. "Aleppo is finished. There is nothing left except a few residents and bricks," Mohammed Abu Jaafar said in a recorded audio message shared with reporters. "This may be my last call." Activists are struggling to document casualties because of street clashes and intense bombings. The Syrian Civil Defense in Aleppo said it was able to record 38 killed in Wednesday's violence. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 11 were killed in Old Aleppo, seized by the government Wednesday. The rebel defenses have buckled amid the government and allies wide-ranging offensive, that opened a number of fronts at once and was preceded by an intensive aerial campaign. A proposal for a cease-fire put forward by the rebels Wednesday, calling for a five-day humanitarian pause, has been ignored. Assad, in an interview published on Thursday in the state-owned newspaper al-Watan, said he will no longer consider truce offers, adding that such offers, particularly from Americans, often come when the rebels are in a "difficult spot." "That is why we hear wailing and screaming and pleas for truces as the only political discourse now," Assad said. He described his forces' fight in Aleppo as one "against terrorism and a conspiracy" to destroy and divide Syria, allegedly led by Turkey. "Liberating Aleppo from the terrorists deals a blow to the whole foundation of this project," he said. But he added, "to be realistic, it doesn't mean the end of the war." With Aleppo, Syria's largest city and former commercial heart, the capital of Damascus and Homs, the third largest city under his control, Assad says "terrorists" no longer hold any cards. "Even if we finish in Aleppo, we will carry on with the war against them," Assad added. Also Thursday, Russian news agencies quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying Moscow was close to reaching a deal with the United States on a cease-fire for Aleppo. He didn't elaborate, but warned against "high expectations." The Syrian government and its ally Russia have rejected previous calls for truce for the war-torn city, keeping up the military offensive that has squeezed and forced rebels to retreat in several areas. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met on Wednesday in Germany but didn't release any statements. Ryabkov said a final deal has not been worked out yet.
By Associated Press

INDONESIA: Aftershocks rattled the survivors of a devastating Indonesia earthquake that killed nearly 100 people, as officials urgently appealed Thursday for medicine and doctors to treat the hundreds injured.

The shallow 6.5-magnitude quake levelled hundreds of homes, mosques and businesses across Aceh province, one of the areas worst affected by the devastating 2004 tsunami.

Search and rescue crews using advanced life-detecting devices have been combing the rubble for any sign of movement, as hopes fade of finding any more survivors more than a day after the quake.

"These scan through the rubble to see if anyone's alive or dead," national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told AFP.

The death toll stands at 99, he added. The figure has fluctuated as authorities identify the dead across the region.

Thousands of soldiers and emergency personnel have been using excavators to clear rubble in the worst-hit areas, with volunteers -- equipped with little more than hoes and their bare hands -- also chipping in.

President Joko Widodo asked all Indonesians to pray for their countrymen in the disaster-stricken province.

"Aceh is not alone," he posted on his official Twitter account.

But attention is shifting to caring for those injured and homeless.

The army has established kitchens, shelters and a field hospital in the hard-hit town of Meureudu, Aceh military chief Tatang Sulaiman told AFP.

"Our priority today is to re-check all the buildings to ensure no more victims are trapped, and to help the refugees," he said.

- "We need surgeons" -

But medical supplies and other essentials in short supply, officials said, with the region's ill-equipped hospitals overwhelmed.

More than 700 people were injured in the quake, many seriously, according to the disaster agency.

Said Mulyadi, the deputy chief of the worst-hit Pidie Jaya district, said they were in desperate need of medicine, supplies and extra hands to treat the injured.

"We need surgeons and orthopaedics, because many victims have fractures," he told AFP.

Most victims spent the night outdoors, either unable to return to their homes or terrified of the aftershocks rattling the region, he added.

Aid has begun trickling into the region, with emergency shelters erected to house those left with nowhere to go.

But more was needed for the 4,000 people evacuated to shelters, said local disaster agency chief Puteh Manaf.

"They really need food, clean water, medication and blankets," he told AFP.

Many fled for higher ground when the quake struck, fearing a tsunami, though no alert was issued.

A huge undersea earthquake in 2004 triggered a tsunami that engulfed several countries around the Indian Ocean, killing more than 170,000 people in Indonesia alone, the vast majority in Aceh.

Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide.

Aceh lies on the northern tip of Sumatra island, which is particularly prone to quakes.

In June a 6.5-magnitude quake struck off the west of Sumatra, damaging scores of buildings and injuring eight people.

INDONESIA: Aftershocks rattled the survivors of a devastating Indonesia earthquake that killed nearly 100 people, as officials urgently appealed Thursday for medicine and doctors to treat the hundreds injured. The shallow 6.5-magnitude quake levelled hundreds of homes, mosques and businesses across Aceh province, one of the areas worst affected by the devastating 2004 tsunami. Search and rescue crews using advanced life-detecting devices have been combing the rubble for any sign of movement, as hopes fade of finding any more survivors more than a day after the quake. "These scan through the rubble to see if anyone's alive or dead," national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told AFP. The death toll stands at 99, he added. The figure has fluctuated as authorities identify the dead across the region. Thousands of soldiers and emergency personnel have been using excavators to clear rubble in the worst-hit areas, with volunteers -- equipped with little more than hoes and their bare hands -- also chipping in. President Joko Widodo asked all Indonesians to pray for their countrymen in the disaster-stricken province. "Aceh is not alone," he posted on his official Twitter account. But attention is shifting to caring for those injured and homeless. The army has established kitchens, shelters and a field hospital in the hard-hit town of Meureudu, Aceh military chief Tatang Sulaiman told AFP. "Our priority today is to re-check all the buildings to ensure no more victims are trapped, and to help the refugees," he said. - "We need surgeons" - But medical supplies and other essentials in short supply, officials said, with the region's ill-equipped hospitals overwhelmed. More than 700 people were injured in the quake, many seriously, according to the disaster agency. Said Mulyadi, the deputy chief of the worst-hit Pidie Jaya district, said they were in desperate need of medicine, supplies and extra hands to treat the injured. "We need surgeons and orthopaedics, because many victims have fractures," he told AFP. Most victims spent the night outdoors, either unable to return to their homes or terrified of the aftershocks rattling the region, he added. Aid has begun trickling into the region, with emergency shelters erected to house those left with nowhere to go. But more was needed for the 4,000 people evacuated to shelters, said local disaster agency chief Puteh Manaf. "They really need food, clean water, medication and blankets," he told AFP. Many fled for higher ground when the quake struck, fearing a tsunami, though no alert was issued. A huge undersea earthquake in 2004 triggered a tsunami that engulfed several countries around the Indian Ocean, killing more than 170,000 people in Indonesia alone, the vast majority in Aceh. Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide. Aceh lies on the northern tip of Sumatra island, which is particularly prone to quakes. In June a 6.5-magnitude quake struck off the west of Sumatra, damaging scores of buildings and injuring eight people.
By IANS

WASHINGTON: The US on Wednesday marked the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii that claimed more than 2,400 American lives.



As many as 2,403 Americans were killed and about 20 US vessels were sunk or damaged and over 300 US aircrafts were damaged or destroyed when over 350 Japanese warplanes launched attacks stealthily, Xinhua reported.



The attack came as a shock to the Americans and directly led to US entry into World War II.



On August 6, 1945, the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Another US nuclear strike was launched on the Japanese city of Nagasaki three days later. Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945.



As the Americans were mourning the colossal loss inflicted by the Japanese, the news came that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would visit the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor at the end of December.



However, observers said that Abe was not expected to apologise for the attack on Pearl Harbor.



Abe's decision to visit Pearl Harbor came about six months after Obama visited Japan's Hiroshima early this year.



Apart from reciprocating Obama's visit to Hiroshima, Abe's upcoming trip to Pearl Harbor was believed to be the latest step by the Japanese government to strengthen the Japan-US alliance before US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration next January.

WASHINGTON: The US on Wednesday marked the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii that claimed more than 2,400 American lives. As many as 2,403 Americans were killed and about 20 US vessels were sunk or damaged and over 300 US aircrafts were damaged or destroyed when over 350 Japanese warplanes launched attacks stealthily, Xinhua reported. The attack came as a shock to the Americans and directly led to US entry into World War II. On August 6, 1945, the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Another US nuclear strike was launched on the Japanese city of Nagasaki three days later. Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945. As the Americans were mourning the colossal loss inflicted by the Japanese, the news came that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would visit the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor at the end of December. However, observers said that Abe was not expected to apologise for the attack on Pearl Harbor. Abe's decision to visit Pearl Harbor came about six months after Obama visited Japan's Hiroshima early this year. Apart from reciprocating Obama's visit to Hiroshima, Abe's upcoming trip to Pearl Harbor was believed to be the latest step by the Japanese government to strengthen the Japan-US alliance before US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration next January.
By AFP

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama on Thursday paid tribute to legendary astronaut John Glenn, calling the first American to orbit the Earth -- who died at the age of 95 -- an icon and a friend.

"John always had the right stuff, inspiring generations of scientists, engineers and astronauts who will take us to Mars and beyond -- not just to visit, but to stay," Obama said in a statement.

"With John's passing, our nation has lost an icon and Michelle and I have lost a friend," the president said. "On behalf of a grateful nation, Godspeed, John Glenn."

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama on Thursday paid tribute to legendary astronaut John Glenn, calling the first American to orbit the Earth -- who died at the age of 95 -- an icon and a friend. "John always had the right stuff, inspiring generations of scientists, engineers and astronauts who will take us to Mars and beyond -- not just to visit, but to stay," Obama said in a statement. "With John's passing, our nation has lost an icon and Michelle and I have lost a friend," the president said. "On behalf of a grateful nation, Godspeed, John Glenn."
By Associated Press

NEW YORK: Mick Jagger's representatives say the rock legend has welcomed the birth of his eighth child.

Jagger, the 73-year-old frontman of the Rolling Stones, was on hand Thursday at a New York hospital when girlfriend, Melanie Hamrick, gave birth to the couple's son. According to a statement, both parents are "delighted" and "mother and baby are doing well."

Jagger already has seven children  Georgia, James, Jade, Elizabeth, Lucas, Karis and Gabriel  who range in age from their 40s to teenagers.

He became a great-grandfather in May 2014 when Jade's daughter, Assisi, gave birth to a baby girl.

Hamrick is a 29-year-old ballerina who has performed with the American Ballet Theatre in New York. They began dating after the suicide of fashion designer L'Wren Scott in 2014, Jagger's partner of 13 years.

In May, fellow Rolling Stone Ron Wood became a father again at 68 after his wife, Sally Humphreys, gave birth to twin girls.

Jagger and his bandmates recently released "Blue & Lonesome," the iconic rock group's first album in 11 years. The 12-track set includes covers of blues songs from Jimmy Reed, Little Walter, Eddie Taylor and more.

NEW YORK: Mick Jagger's representatives say the rock legend has welcomed the birth of his eighth child. Jagger, the 73-year-old frontman of the Rolling Stones, was on hand Thursday at a New York hospital when girlfriend, Melanie Hamrick, gave birth to the couple's son. According to a statement, both parents are "delighted" and "mother and baby are doing well." Jagger already has seven children  Georgia, James, Jade, Elizabeth, Lucas, Karis and Gabriel  who range in age from their 40s to teenagers. He became a great-grandfather in May 2014 when Jade's daughter, Assisi, gave birth to a baby girl. Hamrick is a 29-year-old ballerina who has performed with the American Ballet Theatre in New York. They began dating after the suicide of fashion designer L'Wren Scott in 2014, Jagger's partner of 13 years. In May, fellow Rolling Stone Ron Wood became a father again at 68 after his wife, Sally Humphreys, gave birth to twin girls. Jagger and his bandmates recently released "Blue & Lonesome," the iconic rock group's first album in 11 years. The 12-track set includes covers of blues songs from Jimmy Reed, Little Walter, Eddie Taylor and more.
Food deals, seals and the 'Karate Kid': Can't-miss events this weekend

Get your fill at area restaurants, watch some seals, laugh at a comedy show, take in a concert and maybe even leave Newport County for some fun.
Copy Editor/Entertainment Editor

Frank Pieper is a copy editor and entertainment editor at The News-Gazette, and the author of Frank's Faves and Frank's Weekend Faves. His email is fpieper@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@frp308).
Columnist

Tom Kacich is a columnist and the author of Tom's Mailbag at The News-Gazette. His column appears Sundays. His email is tkacich@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@tkacich).
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Sunny, along with a few afternoon clouds. High 73F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies during the evening will give way to cloudy skies overnight. Low 58F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.
Iron accumulation in myocardial cells, potentially resulting in heart failure or fatal arrhythmia, is one of the complications most feared by patients with thalassemia major, a hereditary disease also known as Mediterranean anemia.

An article by Brazilian researchers published in the journal Blood reports that a daily dose of amlodipine combined with chelation resulted in more effective reduction of cardiac iron in a clinical trial involving 62 patients. Amlodipine is an inexpensive drug with few side effects and is already available for the treatment of hypertension.

"The drug has been used clinically for decades and is considered safe for adults and children. As an adjunct to standard treatment, it can be greatly beneficial to patients and has few side effects," said Juliano de Lara Fernandes, a researcher at Jose Michel Kalaf Research Institute in Campinas, Sao Paulo State, Brazil, and principal investigator for the project.

The trial was conducted in partnership with researchers at the University of Campinas Blood Center (Hemocentro UNICAMP), Boldrini Child Cancer Center, and Sao Paulo Blood Center (CHSP), among others.

Thalassemia major, Fernandes explained, is an inherited blood disorder in which the body makes an abnormal form of hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. The disorder results in a low red cell count, which leads to chronic anemia, so patients require blood transfusions every three to four weeks. The downside of this treatment is a buildup of iron in the organism.

"The iron in red blood cells is normally reused when new red cells are produced, but transfusions introduce a lot of extra iron into the patient. The concentration of iron can double after ten transfusions," Fernandes said.

The body lacks mechanisms to excrete the excess iron, which builds up in the cells of several organs, especially the heart and liver. This accumulation is usually treated with chelating drugs, which bind with the excess iron to produce compounds that can be excreted in urine or feces.

"Chelation therapy works well in peripheral organs, but it's hard to remove iron from the heart," Fernandes said. "Myocardial dysfunctions are currently the main cause of death among patients with thalassemia and can emerge in children from the age of ten."

Lab Diagnostics & Automation eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today

The most serious problem of all, he added, is caused by an accumulation of non-transferrin bound iron (NTBI) in myocardial cells. NTBI is toxic and can cause cell death. Normally scarce in the bloodstream, it can increase significantly as a result of successive transfusions.

NTBI enters and leaves the liver without causing much damage to the organ, but it enters the heart via a channel whose main role is to carry calcium into cells.

"It occurred to us that drugs capable of blocking the calcium channel could also prevent NTBI from entering the heart and therefore increase the efficacy of chelation therapy," Fernandes said. "Calcium-channel blockers are widely used to treat problems such as high blood pressure and irregular heart beat."

The hypothesis was tested in 62 patients with thalassemia major. This number was considered sufficiently representative because the disease is rare. The volunteers were divided into two groups. Both were given conventional chelation therapy, but amlodipine was administered to only one. The other received oral placebo.

Before the clinical trial began, peripheral venous blood samples were collected for chemistry and hematology analyses, and MRI scans were performed on patients who had not had one within 30 days before enrollment. Depending on the iron concentrations found in their organs, each group was subdivided into those with and without initial cardiac iron overload. MRI scans were repeated a year later.

"Myocardial iron concentration fell 21% in patients with initial iron overload who were treated with chelation plus amlodipine, whereas it increased by 2% in those with initial overload who were treated with chelation plus placebo," Fernandes said.

A comparison of results for the subgroups without initial iron overload showed no significant difference between those who received amlodipine and those who received placebo.

"Perhaps we would have needed to monitor these patients for a longer period to see the benefits of preventive therapy with amlodipine for people who don't have excess iron in their organs," Fernandes said. "For those who do, however, the results show it's worth using amlodipine. There's no need to change the existing therapy. It's enough to administer the anti-hypertensive orally every day."

Source: Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo
Study reveals changes in the regions of the brain connected to pain and posture processing.

Whiplash symptoms that last years after a car accident but cannot be seen in tests could be down to previously unseen functional changes in the pain and posture processing parts of the brain, according to research published in EBioMedicine. The results of the study suggest close interaction between the neck and brain, resulting in changes in blood flow.

The authors of the study, from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and Offenburg University in Germany, say their findings may bring closer the possibility of diagnosing chronic whiplash associated disorder (cWAD), potentially helping relieve people's pain.

An estimated 3 in 1000 people suffer from whiplash, and one in four of them have chronic symptoms. Whiplash is associated with having an accident in a car, causing the driver's neck to move forward and backwards like a whip. Usually these accidents occur at low speed; most people don't see a doctor as they don't think anything is wrong. But soon after the accident, they may start noticing pain in their head, neck and jaw. This family of symptoms is called whiplash-associated disorder, and it is notoriously difficult to diagnose.

"Patients often report these symptoms for years, but if they do see a doctor nothing shows up on the tests," explained Dr. David Vallez Garcia, lead author of the study. "Many people start thinking they may be making the symptoms up or trying to make a claim for compensation. It's a tricky situation in which the patient is in pain, the doctors can't explain it and people think they're making it up. We wanted to uncover a real cause of the symptoms - one that could help doctors diagnose and treat it."

Previous research has shown that people with cWAD can be more sensitive to pain, through an effect called central hyperexcitability. Studies have also shown changes in the blood flow in the brain, but none had looked at the two together, to determine whether the connection between the neck and deeper parts of the brain was causing whiplash symptoms.

The researchers scanned the brains of 20 women - 8 healthy, pain-free women and 12 with cWAD - using a technique called positron emission tomography (PET). They exposed each group to four different levels of non-painful electrical neck stimulation and scanned them.

The results showed changes in the blood flow in areas of the brain involved in pain perception and processing sensory information from within the body (interoceptive stimuli). These changes, say the researchers, could be down to a mismatch in the way interoceptive stimuli are integrated in pain processing regions.

"With the recent accumulated scientific evidence, we can now say there is something happening in the brain," said Dr. Vallez Garcia. "I think our study will improve awareness about the disease, of the public and of medical doctors, and help people with chronic whiplash-associated disorders get the decent treatment they need."

The research goes a long way to explaining why sufferers of cWAD can experience chronic symptoms, but more research is needed to understand in detail the role of the brain in this process. Dr. Vallez Garcia and the team are now considering what to look at next, such as inflammation in the brain or changes in the structure of other functional regions.
The constant fear of having an embarrassing bathroom accident paralyzed Judy Post. Mental, physical and emotional stress consumed her. She wondered if her life would ever return to normal.

"It was very difficult on me. I kept thinking nothing was going to help me," Post said. "I was really scared."

She was diagnosed with a Clostridium difficile infection and was treated for it with vancomycin and got better. However, a few days after she stopped the vancomycin, the diarrhea would come back as the infection relapsed. After talking with several doctors she was directed to Matthew Sims, M.D., PhD, director of infectious disease research at Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, who enrolled her in a research study and broke the cycle of relapses.

"I had no idea what C. difficile was. My family members hadn't heard of it, either," she said.

C. difficile is an infection that causes life-threatening diarrhea. According to an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine, nearly 30,000 people die from C. difficile every year in the United States. Doctors say more than 450,000 are battling the infection. Twelve percent of all hospital-acquired infections are C. difficile.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality recently awarded Dr. Sims with a $2.4 million grant to study a theory that could prevent thousands of C. difficile infections and deaths all over the world. This is one of the largest grants Beaumont Health has ever received.

Some people carry C. diff spores in their colon, but don't get sick because their good bacteria keeps it in check. However, when C. diff carriers take antibiotics to treat an infection elsewhere in the body, those antibiotics can also kill off the good bacteria.

When good bacteria dies, this removes the restraints on the C. diff and allows it to grow out of control, which causes the person to become sick.

Dr. Sims believes oral vancomycin can keep the C. diff in check when the good bacteria is killed by other antibiotics and should prevent the patient from becoming sick. Participants in the study will be given vancomycin or a placebo along with the antibiotics treating the original infection.

"Treatment with oral vancomycin will not kill the spores. It will not cure people. Patients will still carry the spores in their body. However, the drug should prevent those spores from turning into a full blown C. difficile infection, holding them at bay like the good bacteria would have, and thus prevent the patient from becoming sick," Dr. Sims said.

The StoP CDI study will test this idea in a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. If successful in demonstrating that vancomycin can prevent the disease, the research could save thousands of lives, stop tens of thousands of infections, and save millions of health care dollars.

Post is not part of the StoP CDI study, but she says the research study she participated in with Dr. Sims was like a miracle that changed her life and she's eager to see what the new study will find.

"Every day, I become more positive about my life. I still carry a bottle of vancomycin with me, just in case I might need it," Post said.
Major inequalities in the use of basic heart medicines between countries

Heart care in France ranks 1st among 30 measured countries, says the Euro Heart Index 2016 (EHI), published today in Brussels. The Index compares heart care in 30 European countries, with France the champion, closely followed by Norway and Sweden. Heart care improves in almost every country but the gaps across Europe threaten equity. Better prevention and equal access to basic heart medication would save tens of thousands of lives.

"In heart care, France leads Europe, says Dr. Beatriz Cebolla, the EHI manager. Frances position depends on the combination of healthy life style factors and a well-coordinated system which provides easily accessed heart care."

France is recognized as having the lowest heart disease mortality in Europe and has today been joined by eleven other countries where heart disease no longer is the biggest killer disease. Among these are Norway, 2nd in the EHI, as well as Luxembourg (4th) and Slovenia (5th).

Professor Arne Bjornberg, the HCP Chairman, explains the larger picture:

In heart care, there is a significant gap between European guidelines on how to treat patients, and how cardiac care is performed. The deployment of basic, cheap heart medicines seem haphazard, hardly reflecting the needs of the Europeans. More systematic use of therapies such as statins and clopidogrel would save thousands of lives!

"Evidently, there is a connection between high spending and good outcomes. Affluent countries can afford admitting patients into hospital care on weaker indications, which can prevent that conditions grow worse", adds Professor Bjornberg. "But a lot can be achieved also with small budgets, with the right priorities".

The EHI report concludes: "There is a prevention deficit in most European healthcare systems", pointing to a number of measures to be taken to activate prevention. Except for pan-European action on smoking, not very much has happened to improve healthy lifestyles. Prevention remains the big unexploited potential for better heart conditions and survival.
A few years ago, Richard Chan's mother had a stroke and became physically disabled. She was living in England, while he was in Norway. After the stroke, it became difficult to communicate by phone. On one occasion she fell, and lay helpless for several hours, unable to call for help.

Chan, who is a telecommunications engineer, began to wonder if there was a type of phone that could make communication easier and also make the lives of its users safer. Since he couldn't find anything on the market, he began to work on developing a new product himself. In summer 2015, he contacted SINTEF to find out whether they might be interested in conducting a user study of the concept.

"Chan's proposal immediately captured our interest, because it was a great welfare technology system", says researcher Hanne Opsahl Austad of SINTEF ICT.

A phone case with physical buttons

The project received funding via the Norwegian Regional Research Fund system, and one year after the EziSmart project was launched, Project Manager Austad has a new system that has been tested by numerous users, most of them elderly, but also blind people and Parkinson's sufferers.

Austad shows me the EziSmart, which in practical terms is a phone case fitted with physical buttons. The plan is for the case to be suitable for a variety of Android smartphones, but at the moment it is only available for the Samsung S6, A3 and S4.

The buttons are ergonomically designed in the shape of small saucers, which makes them easier to use, even for people who may have trembling hands or trouble with fine motor skills.

"One person in the user group has Parkinson's, and finds it really easy to type messages on the EziSmart", says Austad.

People who have minor problems with fine motor skills also enjoyed using the case. Austad explained that one of the users, who had been using a standard smartphone, was extremely happy to switch to the EziSmart, because he no longer gets locked out of his mobile banking after mistyping the password.

Likes the physical buttons

Reidun Gully (70) has been testing the EziSmart for two months now. She is part of the user group, and has invited Project Manager Austad and the inventor Chan to her home in Roa.

"Before I started using this, I had an ordinary mobile phone. As an older person, when you start using a smartphone, you already feel quite clumsy. Being able to use a physical keyboard felt more familiar and simpler", says Gully, sitting on her sofa, typing a text message to a friend.

Gully is a physiotherapist, and has worked with stroke victims and people with neurological illnesses, so she knows how difficult it is for these people to use smartphones. A touchscreen keyboard is not suitable for everyone.

GPS application finds you

Gully also really likes the extended GPS function, one of the applications Chan has developed for the EziSmart. She explains that if she is out for a walk, her husband can send a text message and will then receive an automatic reply containing a link showing him where she is on a map. She can also easily send her position herself via a message, or trigger an SOS alarm that both sends her position and phones pre-selected contacts with the speaker activated.

"I really enjoy walking in rugged terrain, and these functions give me extra safety and freedom", says Gully.

Enjoying the benefits of smartphones

ICE (In Case of Emergency) is another application that Chan has developed. Users can easily enter important information into the ICE app, such as insurance information and which medicines they're taking. You can take a photo of the medicines, which will then be entered. SOS and ICE are both easily accessible with the large buttons.

"We have also found that all the users in the project have derived great enjoyment from the benefits offered by smartphones, and have started to use many applications like the camera, weather forecast, map, newspapers, etc.", says Austad.

Austad has also looked at the current selection of smartphones specially designed for the elderly. "The problem is that these phones tend to lag behind the technology. Because they are products designed for a small group, they generally have poor technical specifications and have less money spent on them than standard phones. This applies to features like the camera and screen, and we've found that these are functions that are important to our test users", she says.

Suitable for blind people

Austad talks about her experience with the EziSmart being used by one of the people in the user group that is blind.

"She likes the keyboard, and combines it with a text-to-speech app to hear what she has written. She particularly likes the option of navigating through the text with the keyboard: 'I sit and smile every time I use this function', Austad quotes her as saying.

Chan contacted the Norwegian Association of the Blind's Visual Impairment and Skills Development Centre at Hurdal for their opinion, and they thought that the EziSmart could being many benefits to blind and visually impaired people. Chan has plans to develop more features that would be particularly suited to this user group.

"Many people with mild disabilities have been left behind by technology. In a commercial world, this group is not interesting enough, so there has been no investment in developing products for them. That triggered something in me", says Chan.

"It's about giving people the chance to use the same platforms as everyone else. A smartphone makes it easier for people to communicate with the outside world and enhances their quality of life", adds Austad.
Pioneering work being carried out in a cave in New Mexico by researchers at McMaster University and The University of Akron, Ohio, is changing the understanding of how antibiotic resistance may have emerged and how doctors can combat it in the future.

In research published in Nature Communications today, the scientists examined one bacterium found 1,000 feet underground (called Paenibacillus) that demonstrated resistance to most antibiotics used today, including so-called 'drugs of last resort' such as daptomycin. These microorganisms have been isolated from the outside world for more than four million years within the cave.

The results show the bacterium is resistant to 18 different antibiotics and uses identical methods of defense as similar species found in soils. This suggests that the evolutionary pressure to conserve these resistance genes has existed for millions of years - not just since antibiotics were first used to treat disease.

Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today

Among the different ways that the bacteria could be resistant to antibiotics, the scientists identified five novel pathways that were of potential clinical concern. Finding these new pathways is particularly valuable, as it gives researchers time to develop new drugs to combat this type of resistance, potentially decades before it will become a problem for doctors and their patients.

"The diversity of antibiotic resistance and it's its prevalence in microbes across the globe should be humbling to everyone who uses these lifesaving drugs," said Gerry Wright, an author of the paper and scientific director of McMaster's Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research.

"It reflects the fact that we must understand that antibiotic use and resistance go hand in hand."

Hazel Barton, professor and director, Integrative Bioscience at The University of Akron, said: "Exploring these challenging and remote environments offers a unique opportunity to sample the genetic diversity of microbes untouched by human activity"

The bacteria were found in Lechuguilla Cave, which is one of the longest caves in the world and deepest in the United States. It is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Due to the fragile and highly technical nature of the cave, it has been closed to all except a few scientific researchers and cave experts since its original discovery in 1986. This restricted access makes it an ideal environment in which to study how microbes have evolved without the influence of human activity.

Today's research publication follows work by the researchers in 2012 to examine microorganisms from the cave.

Although use of antibiotics revolutionized the treatment of bacterial infections in the 20th century, overuse of antibiotics has led to the emergence of antibiotic resistance in disease causing bacteria. In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control estimate that more than 20,000 people die each year from otherwise treatable disease.

Both Health Canada and the U.S. national government have released national action plans to address the resistance crisis.
University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers and collaborators are working to predict, before treatment, whether an aggressive type of breast cancer will respond to chemotherapy.

In a study presented at the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, researchers report they developed a model that can predict which triple negative breast cancer patients will respond to chemotherapy. Katherine Hoadley, PhD, a UNC Lineberger member and assistant professor in the UNC School of Medicine Department of Genetics, said the model was moderately successful at predicting response, but more work is needed to improve its accuracy.

"Our goal was to identify a gene expression signature pattern in cancer cells that might be able to help us predict who's going to respond to chemotherapy prior to actually giving the treatment," said Hoadley, the study's first author.

Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today

Triple negative breast cancer is a particularly aggressive breast cancer type that has no targeted treatments. Patients with this disease do have higher response rates to chemotherapy, however, compared with some other subtypes. While targeted treatments are designed to attack specific molecular features that help drive cancer, chemotherapy more widely attacks all rapidly dividing cells.

Hoadley said knowing in advance which triple negative breast cancer patients will respond to chemotherapy could help physicians determine the best course of treatment; this includes not using chemotherapy if it won't be effective against the cancer, thereby sparing the patient from potentially harmful side effects.

To develop the prediction model, researchers analyzed the expression of genes from breast cancer samples drawn from 389 patients before treatment, and they also drew upon data on how those patients responded to treatment. They split the sample data into training and test sets. Gene expression signatures were analyzed in the training set to identify gene expression signatures that best associated with complete response to treatment. They then used the signatures they uncovered to determine the ability to predict response in the remaining samples. They found the model could predict which samples had a complete pathologic response for 68 percent of patients who actually did achieve pathologic complete response to the treatment. And for patients who did have residual disease after chemotherapy, the test successfully indicated they did not have pathologic complete response for 64 percent of those cases.

Hoadley said the researchers will continue to work on the model to improve its accuracy. She said they plan to include other features of cancer cells in their model, such as molecular indicators of how the immune system is responding to the cancer, genetic mutations, and the number of copies of each gene.

"If we can validate our model in future data sets, our work could help us identify patients who are likely to respond to existing, or even less, chemotherapy and those who could benefit from more chemotherapy or novel approaches," she said.
Britain's Prince Harry turned trader on Wednesday, taking calls alongside brokers at British interdealer ICAP for the company's annual charity day.Wearing a navy suit, the prince answered the phones alongside traders in fancy dress costumes for the charity day where all ICAP's profits from 60 offices are donated to more than 200 charities worldwide.(Photo: Reuters)ICAP, buyers and sellers of bonds, currencies and swaps, began their charity day in 1993 and have raised over 120 million pounds ($151 million) with celebrities brought in to help raise money.($1 = 0.7937 pounds)
All the tourists who are stranded in Havelock Island are safe. The government has made all the preparations to evacuate them.  Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) December 8, 2016

I appeal to the family members of stranded tourists that they should not panic as everyone in the Havelock Islands are reported to be safe.  Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) December 8, 2016

Spoke to Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dr. Jagdish Mukhi who apprised me of the situation in Havelock Islands.  Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) December 8, 2016

: The government on Thursday assured that stranded tourists at Andaman's Havelock Islands will be evacuated immediately once the storm is abated.Speaking on the crisis, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said rescue teams have been kept on standby at Port Blair to carry out the evacuation process. He appealed the family members of the 1,400 stranded tourists not to panic as everyone at the Havelock Islands are reported to be safe.Around 1,500 tourists are stranded at Havelock and Neil islands in the Andamans due to cyclonic weather conditions and four ships have been pressed into service by the Navy today to evacuate them. The two islands, approximately 40 kilometres from Port Blair, have been hit the most by the cyclonic weather conditions caused by a severe depression over southeast Bay of Bengal which led to heavy rainfall, strong wind and rough sea conditions, officials said. The administration has already declared the cyclonic weather as L1 Disaster.The Indian Navy on Wednesday swung into action to rescue the stranded tourists but heavy rains played spoilsport.Havelock and Neil islands, approximately 40 kms from Port Blair, have been hit the most by the cyclonic weather conditions caused by a severe depression over southeast Bay of Bengal which led to heavy rainfall, strong wind and rough sea conditions, officials said.Neil and Havelock are two of the most popular tourist attractions in Andamans and the only means of transportation from them are vessels and choppers which have stopped operation since Monday last due to bad weather.South Andaman's deputy commissioner Udit Prakash Rai had said yesterday, "About 1,400 tourists, who had visited the islands, are now stranded and unable to return to Port Blair to fly back home."The Navy has pressed in three ships to evacuate the tourists after the island's civil administration telephonically requested the Centre for immediate help. Indian Navy ships INS Bitra, INS Bangaram, INS Kumbhir and LCU 38 sailed to Andaman to take part in the rescue operation. The evacuated tourists will be ferried to Port Blair.


It is a progressive decision (triple talaq) by court, should be welcomed by all regardless of political affiliations: Meenakshi Lekhi, BJP pic.twitter.com/awRjMb24Xa

 ANI (@ANI_news) December 8, 2016

Islam is 1 of most progressive religions about women's rights. Talaq is part of Sharia law, no interference should be there: Kamal Faruqui pic.twitter.com/210VRuTkzn  ANI (@ANI_news) December 8, 2016

: The Allahabad High Court on Thursday called the practice of triple talaq among Muslims as 'unconstitutional'.Saying that no personal law board is above the Constitution, the court held that triple talaq violates the fundamental rights of Muslim women."The instant divorce (triple talaq) though has been deprecated and not followed by all sects of muslim community in the country, however, is a cruel and the most demeaning form of divorce practised by the Muslim community at large. Women cannot remain at the mercy of the patriarchal setup held under the clutches of sundry clerics having their own interpretation of the holy Quoran," the court said in its observation."The question which disturbs the court is should Muslim wives suffer this tyranny for all times? Should their personal law remain so cruel towards these unfortunate wives?," the court asked.Reacting to this, Kamal Farooqui of All India Muslim Personal Law Board told CNN News18, This is not a judgment, just an observation.Agreeing with him, Rashid Alvi of the Congress said, "This view of the Allahabad HC won't stand in the Supreme Court. I don't agree with what the Allahabad HC has to say.No one is above the constitution and nobody should interfere in the practises of any community, he told CNN-News18Reacting to the news, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board has slammed the order stating that it is against Shariyat."The Board also plans to challenge the order in the Supreme Court," claimed Islamic scholar Rashid Firangi Mahali.Hailing the order, Union minister Venkaiah Naidu said, "Constitution is Supreme and above religion. Allahabad Court's decision should be hailed. There should be justice."The petition has been dismissed by the Allahabad High Court because a similar petition was heard by the Supreme Court.The High Court made the observation while hearing the petitions filed by Bulandshahr's Hina (24) and Umarbi.The petition has been dismissed by the Allahabad High Court because a similar petition was heard by the Supreme Court.
Kannauj: Hundreds of potato farmers in Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh, are in trouble. With no buyer and cash in the market, they are forced to discard their crop stored in cold storages.



The cold storage owners have also ordered the farmers to take out their produce. The farmers blame the demonetisation policy for their plight.



Since note ban, nobody is ready to buy our produce and we are forced to discard our crop, said Sonelal, a farmer.



Another potato producer, Mukesh Katiyar, said his potato loaded truck is stationed in the Mandi (market) for the last four days but there is no buyer. And the situation has worsened since

November 8, he added.



Not only farmers, the cold storage owners are also facing problems. December is the time when they get the storage cleaned.



If such a situation continues, the crop of the farmers will be destroyed, said Puneet Dubey, a cold storage owner in Kannauj.



Dubey says there should a food processing industry so that the potato crop could be utilised in times of crisis.



In 2015, the district saw a meagre potato crop due to poor weather conditions.
New Delhi: A year after the Supreme Court of India struck down the National Judicial Accountability Commission (NJAC) Act, a Parliament standing committee has re-iterated the primacy of executive in appointments of judges to higher judiciary.



The committee on law and justice headed by Congress deputy leader in Rajya Sabha,Anand Sharma, has in the latest report stressed on the constitutional scheme of only consultation and concurrence with the opinion of Supreme Court collegium.



The committee recommends that distortion in the original mandate of the Constitution arising from the judgment of the apex courts in the Second Judges Case and subsequent cases needs to be reversed and the original Constitutional position needs to be respected in letter and spirit.



The committee during its deliberations also felt that both the collegium and the executive should give reasons for rejection of a candidate for higher judiciary.



'Glasnost in the process of the appointment is the need of the hour', the committee says in its report, borrowing the phrase from the radical changes in policies ushered in by former USSR President Mikhail Gorvachov bringing down the iron curtains on the erstwhile Communist state.



In 2015, the Parliament had approved NJAC which gave a say to the executive in the appointment of Judges.



This offset the earlier arrangement of a collegium system comprising five seniormost judges of the SC appointing judges to High Courts and Supreme Court.



The NJAC Act was challenged in the top court and was struck down, with a Constitutional Bench calling the statute to be an interference in the independence of judiciary.



Upholding the primacy of the collegium system, the Court, however, directed the government to frame new rules for appointments in consultations with the Chief Justice of India.



Even twelve months after the verdict, the government and CJI are not on the same page on the framing of new rules (Memorandum of Procedure).



The disagreement has slowed down the appointment process even as almost 50% of the vacancies in the High-Courts remain unfilled.
The Allahabad High Court on Thursday called the practice of triple talaq among Muslims as 'unconstitutional'.



Saying that no personal law board is above the Constitution, the court held that triple talaq violates the fundamental rights of Muslim women.



Here is how the various political parties stand on the issue:



- Congress: It will be difficult to implement UCC in a country like India where various communities and groups are governed by personal laws



- BJP: The move is aimed at moving towards a progressive society



- CPM: Any move to push the agenda of UCC, as is being done by the government directly and through its institutions, is counterproductive for the rights of women. Uniformity is not the guarantee for equality



- SP: The issue of Uniform Civil Code should be left to religious leaders. On the issues of country and humanity everyone should be united



- BSP: BJP has been trying to impose the agenda of the RSS on the people ever since it came to power at the Centre



- JD(U): Why government was only focusing on Muslims. It is not the time to start such a debate



- Shiv Sena: The Muslim Law Board should support the UCC as it will help the community, especially the women to come out of misery



- AIMIM: Those pushing for UCC were not aware of Indias pluralism and diversity. BJP is trying to impose a 'hindu rashtra' on the country in the name of the Uniform Civil Code



- DMK: BJP was wearing a mask to come across as a party concerned about the rights of women and Muslim women in particular



- RJD: If BJP wants to apply the Uniform Civil Code, they should first apply that in Jammu and Kashmir as they are in power there



- TMC: The central government was "trying to ban triple talaq and impose uniform civil code in the country"
Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday talked over the phone with France's President Francois Hollande, declining his invitation to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris in December.



A statement released by the Prime Minister's Office said Netanyahu agrees to meet Abbas but not in the framework of the international peace conference that France tries to advance, Xinhua news agency reported.



"Netanyahu told Hollande that if there was no international conference in Paris, he would meet Abbas for direct talks without preconditions," the statement read.



"Israel will not participate in the international conference, which would not contribute to achieving peace," the statement added.



Israel has repeatedly rejected the French initiative, calling instead for direct talks.



Earlier on Wednesday, the Palestinian presidency announced that it has not received an official invitation for a trilateral meeting.
New Delhi: A more powerful engine, albeit imported, will enable the Mark-2 naval version of the indigenous light combat aircraft (LCA) meet the requirements of the Indian Navy, its developer says, even as the navy chief has said that the Mark-1 version has not delivered.



"I would think that it is the Indian Navy's prerogative on their operational needs. We are trying to develop an indigenous carrier-borne aircraft from scratch and it is certainly a challenging proposition," Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) Director C.D. Balaji said, responding to a recent statement by the navy chief, Admiral Sunil Lanba.



Speaking about the upgraded version of the aircraft, he said: "A new programme with a higher thrust engine was sanctioned and termed LCA Navy Mk2. This programme is envisaged to minimise the constraints of Navy LCA Mk-1.



As for the new power plant, Balaji said: "The GE 414 engine has adequate thrust for a heavier take-off and this would permit the mission performance to be met as indicated at the time of sanctioning the Navy LCA Navy Mk-2 (in 2009)."



The GE F 404 powers the Mk-1 version.



"It is expected that the first prototype would commence flight testing by end 2020. The second prototype is expected a year later. It is expected that flight-testing would take about four years," Balaji said, adding: "It is expected that Mk-2 can be available from 2024-25 onwards."



As part of its development, a dedicated Shore Based Test Facility (SBTF) has been set up to replicate to a large extent a short take-off but with arrested recovery (STOBAR) carrier.



India's sole aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya, has this capability, as does the first indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC), INS Vikrant, now under construction at the Cochin Shipyard. The next generation IAC, INS Vishal, is also likely to have this capability or the even more advanced EMALS (electromagnetic aircraft launch system).



"The next big proving capability is for arrested recovery, for which a number of activities like handling quality evaluation, higher sink rate landing, structural testing, arrester hook integration on aircraft and the like have been carried out. The phase of actual taxi-in engagement and flight engagement is progressively planned during the course of 2017."



What then went wrong with the Mk-1?



Balaji said it was intended to be a technology demonstrators (TD) that provide inputs for the final development of an aircraft.



"When the programme was envisaged at the time of its sanction in 2003, it was expected that the naval version could be derived from the air force version, already flying, by introduction of a stronger landing gear and arrester hook. However, as detailed design progressed, there was a need for significant changes to the structure, a much more complex landing gear to be housed in the centre fuselage, and an externally mounted arrester hook on a dedicated platform.



"Further, the major constraint of design space due to the conversion of the existing LCA platform resulted in a sub-optimal design and compromises leading to the Navy Mk-1 variant being heavier than anticipated. A naval aircraft is typically 500-700 kg heavier than its air force variant due to the need of strengthened structure, heavier landing gear and arrester hook. However, the navy Mk-1, being a first-time development with associated conservatism in design and constraints of the air force configuration, led to an aircraft weight of around 900-1,000 kg heavier than the air force Mk-1.
New Delhi: Striking a conciliatory note amid rising tension in ties, Pakistan on Thursday said it does not want to live in "perpetual hostility" with India, noting time has come for the two neighbours to decide whether status quo should continue or a new beginning be made.



Calling for an "uninterrupted and uninterruptable" bilateral engagement, Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit said the two countries must overcome the differences in order to embark on a "irreversible trajectory" of cooperative relationship.



Maintaining that Pakistan was ready for comprehensive talks with India, Basit, however, said the desire for engagement was missing from the Indian side, adding his government has patience and was ready to wait for resumption of dialogue.



"I think we have wasted 70 years of our existence. Time has now come to make up our mind on what do we want. Whether we would like to continue with the status quo or we want to make a new beginning in our ties," Basit said.



His comments at a discussion on Indo-Pak relations came amid escalating tension between the two countries over a number of cross-border terror attacks, including at army establishments in Uri and Nagrota, and India's surgical strikes across the LoC in September.



"Pakistan does not wish to live in perpetual hostility with India. We remain positive and constructive but it takes two to tango. There are serious problems between the two countries. We cannot shy away from them but at the end of the day we can engage in purposeful diplomacy, we can realise results for mutual satisfaction and make a good beginning," he said.



At the same time, he said, for Pakistan Jammu and Kashmir was the core issue between the two countries and finding a solution to it could bridge the trust deficit them.



"We need to move from conflict management to conflict resolution and that obviously cannot happen unless we talk to each other with sincereity and seriousness of purpose," Basit said.



Holding that talks may bring down tension, Basit said Islamabad was "positive and constructive" in its attitude, adding the engagement should be meaningful and address the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir.



"Whenever there is any desire in New Delhi to engage with us, Pakistan would respond positively and constructively provided the engagement is meaningful and does address the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir," he said, pitching for diplomacy to be given a "fair chance" to deliver.



At the same time he said," At present, unfortunately we do not see much desire in New Delhi to engage with us in a comprehensive manner. We are ready to wait, we have patience.



We will wait and see how things unfold in months and years ahead."



The Pakistan envoy said it was essential for the two countries to overcome the differences in order to embark on an "irreversible trajectory of cooperative relationship.



Holding that SAARC summit in Islamabad could not be held due to differences between India and Pakistan, he said good relations and peace between the two sides will benefit the entire region.



"The developments since July in Jammu and Kashmir yet again very clearly show that Jammu and Kashmir is the main issue. Islamabad's feeling is that unless we move towards finding a just and fair solution to this problem, it will continue to be very difficult to bridge the trust deficit between the two countries.



"It is in our mutual interest to have peace and also in the interest of the region. We have seen what happened to SAARC summit. It could not take place primarily because of the differences between the two countries," he said.



In this context, he said Pakistan was ready to move towards projects relating to regional connectivity and

integration.



Basit also rejected observations at the deliberations, attended by top diplomats, representatives from Jammu and Kashmir and foreign policy experts, that Pakistan may be "balkanised".



"I think Pakistan has a very, very bright future. It is a very confident country. We are moving ahead. People of Pakistan are very confident. We are destined to become a regional economic hub. We do not have any doubt about our future. Pakistan is not going to be balkanised," he said. Speaking at the event, Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar slammed government's Pakistan policy, saying engagement with Islamabad is the only way to stop terror.



It should be left to Pakistan to solve its internal problems, he said apparently referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reference to trouble in Balochistan. Aiyar also said no country was isolating Pakistan as claimed by New Delhi.



He questioned the efficacy of the surgical strikes launched by the Indian army in PoK in containing terror.

India must accept the significance of Pakistani army's role in that country, he said, adding Pakistan has also suffered a lot due to terrorism.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday slammed Congress for not taking any step to curb black money during its 10-year rule from 2004-2014. Congress was in power from 2004 to 2014, I challenge them to tell about even one step taken to curb black money in the 10 years, said Jaitley in Lok Sabha.

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan warned of harsh steps if opposition members did not stop protesting and disrupting the house while others members are speaking over the issue of demonetisation.

Ruckus over demonetisation rocked both the Houses of the Parliament on Thursday.

Stay tuned for LIVE updates.

Read all the Latest News , Breaking News , watch Top Videos and Live TV here.
New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday asked the Opposition to not disrupt Parliament over demonetisation issue.



Addressing the Defence Estates Day Lecture 2016 function in New Delhi, Mukherjee said, "Disruption means you are hurt, you are gagging majority. Majority never participates in this disruption. Only minority comes to the well, shouts slogans, stops the proceedings and creates a situation in which the Chair has no option but to adjourn the House...".



"Disruption is totally unacceptable in Parliamentary system. People send representatives to speak and not to sit on dharna and not to create any trouble on the floor," he said speaking on "Electoral reforms for a stronger democracy" on the occasion.



The President noted that Parliament is in session for only a few weeks in a year.



"For demonstration, you can choose any other places. But for God's sake, do your job. You are meant to transact business. You are meant to devote your time for exercising the authority of members, particularly Lok Sabha members over money and finance," he said.



Maintaining that he is not targeting any single party or individuals, he said the responsibility is of everyone. "Fact remains that this (disruption) has become a practice which should not be acceptable at all. Whatever be the differences, we have the opportunity, to speak our mind, to speak freely and no court can interfere in what I say on the floor of the House," he said.



Mukherjee also pitched for passage of Women Reservation Bill in Lok Sabha and sought electoral reforms on a 'serious' note.



However, Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi blamed the government for the ruckus. She said, "This is the first time, the President has reacted to the logjam in the Parliament. It is entirely on the government of the day to take note of the situation and act against the people who are disrupting the house. The government of the day should know that the Opposition is bound to ask tough questions and the government should not run away from it."



BJP spokesperson Sudesh Verma defended the Centre and said that the government is willing to accommodate the opposition members and debate over the issue of demonetisation.



The Opposition has held up both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha of Parliament since the beginning of the Winter Session demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi speak on demonetisation.
Tonk: The rumour of discovery of gold coins in Janakipura village of Malpura in Tonk district of Rajasthan stands to be true after an official confirmation by the police.



Reportedly, the police discovered some ancient gold coins themselves after which section 144 has been imposed in the region to avoid the huge rush of people in search of gold coins.



Noteworthy, for the last two months, scores of people have been digging ground with bare hands in search of gold coins.



A probe done by the officials of Diggi police station, on the orders of Tonk district SHO Priti Jain, has confirmed the news of the discovery of ancient gold coins in the region.



"We have contacted the Archaeological Survey of India in a bid to find the era to which the coins belong to," Jain said.



A local, who was able to dig out gold coins, claims that he has even sold a coin to the jeweller.



Meanwhile, the police have recovered one gold coin each from Janakipura resident Jagdish Banjara and Malpura resident Balram.



As informed by Priti Jain, now the police will find out the exact number of gold coins which have been recovered so far and will ensure that they are handed over to the government.



As per Professor Sameer Paliwal of Government PG University in Tonk, the gold coins, possibly, belong to the era of Samudragupta (250-400 AD).
Quran is extremely sensitive to gender equality and justice. In fact, I would say that it tilts slightly in favor of women, as they are perceived to be a gentle sex in terms of physical strength and force.

Even today mere declaration of Triple Talaq being unconstitutional will not put an end to this nefarious practice. Triple Talaq need to be made a punishable offence. Now, lashing is not an acceptable mode of punishment but a provision of imprisonment for three years can be made for a person who resorts to triple divorce.

Arif Mohammad Khan was a minister in the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress government in 1985 when the Supreme Court delivered the historic Shah Bano judgment that had the conservative Islamic clergy up in arms. Khan left the government and the Congress party soon after Rajiv Gandhi brought in a new legislation to circumvent the SC ruling to appease the clergy.Here in this interview with News18s Eram Agha, Khan talks about how the political class of India has shied away from arguing for reforms in the Muslim community for fear of earning the wrath of the clerics. Excerpts:If you have read Quran then you cannot but agree totally with this observation. The husbands right to divorce the wife is hedged with so many preconditions like counselling, keeping distance on the marital bed and explain by giving examples about the ruinous impact that accrues from divorce. After all these attempts on the part of husband fail, then Quran prescribes appointment of two arbiters: one from the family of man and one from the family of wife who are entrusted with the task of reconciliation (Quran 4.34 and 35). If the arbitrators also fail then the Quran (65.1) permits pronouncement of divorce, again with the condition that for next three months they will continue to live together as they were living before the pronouncement. In this period they can review and change their decision. Even if they do not do so and separate at the end of Iddat (cooling off period), the option of remarriage remains available to them. The verse says that these are the limits (Hudood) and what is described as Hudood, no clergy has the authority to change it. Quran (2.229) emphatically says that this option can be exercised only twice in lifetime. Here Quran talks about the due procedure not pronouncements.It is crystal clear from these verses that Quran tries utmost to save the family, whereas the divorce effected through three pronouncements expedites the dissolution of marriage and has a disastrous impact on the lives of those involved particularly the children.Indeed the question is very disturbing. In fact, more than the actual occurrence of Talaq, it is the erroneous knowledge and awareness that a husband has the unrestrained right to divorce wife without going through any due procedure and without any fault of her that de-humanizes women. Quran accords equal respect and dignity to both men and women and no person has the right to abridge or take away that honor and dignity.On the contrary Muslim women appear to have become more assertive in the face of threats from regressive forces. In 1986, when I had resigned from the government protesting against the legislation that sought to reverse the Shah Bano verdict, most of the Muslims, even the progressives, kept silent. Today, you see large number of Muslims, particularly Muslim women, joining issue with the All India Muslim Personal Law Board. It gladdens me when I hear women saying in TV discussions that women can read and understand the Quran and for seeking divine guidance they no longer want to depend on the patriarchal interpretations of the Quran.Muslim women must continue their fight for equality and justice as ordained by the Quran and they should remember that right from the blessed Prophet to every reformer like Sir Syed have always faced criticism and abuses of the agents of the cleric establishment. Learn to ignore it and then you will reach a stage where they would start accepting you.No person with any understanding of Quran and Hadith can disagree with the observation of the court. But the story does not end with earning divine curse. A narration in Sahi Muslim (No. 1472) says that during the lifetime of the Prophet, the first Caliph and during the first two years of the second Caliph, three pronouncements were treated as one pronouncement and the second Caliph who had later allowed three pronouncements to become effective did so to punish those who resorted to triple divorce in contravention of the provisions of Quran. He used to subject such persons to severe punishment of forty lashes.It is true that almost all Muslim countries have already outlawed Triple Talaq and even polygamy can happen only after the petitioner satisfies the court that genuine grounds for second marriage exist. If Islam is one and same for the whole world then why the Indian Muslim male should be allowed to enjoy these arbitrary privileges defies common sense and reason?These assertions of Personal Law Board must be treated with the contempt they deserve. But forget not that in 1985 in the case of Shah Bano their affidavit had asserted the verse of the Quran (2.241) that says that for divorced women maintenance should be provided on a reasonable scale. This is a duty on the righteous. This verse is addressed to the Muttaqeen (righteous) and not to the ordinary run of Muslims. They feel no compunction in giving an interpretation that may violate the spirit of the Book but suits their own whims and desires. Possibly it is for such people that Quran (2.79) has said: Then woe to those who write the Book with their own hands, and then say: This is from Allah to traffic with it for a miserable price. Woe to them for what their hands write and for the gain they make thereby.When it comes to Muslims, Indian political parties do not view themselves as the social reformers. In the case of Hindus they show courage and initiate measures for social welfare and reform but about Muslims they fear the clergy and feel that the demand for reform must come from within the community. I feel that we cannot blame them if they do not want to take the risk of being accused of interfering in religious affairs of Muslims. But to ensure that all laws that are in force in India immediately before the commencement of the Constitution must be consistent with the provisions of the fundamental rights is the duty of both the political establishment and the judiciary. The political establishment has largely failed to do its duty but it is a matter of satisfaction that the courts have stood up to protect and safeguard the rights of this neglected section of Indian citizens that is Muslim women.
Is the world becoming more paranoid about security and basic human rights taking a back seat?



Yes, if the 'People on War' survey report published by the International Committee of the Red Cross is to be believed.The survey reveals that a growing number of people have resigned to the death of civilians as an inevitable part of warfare. The effectiveness and relevance of the Geneva Convention and their Additional Protocols, whose rules seek to protect civilians, detainees and people wounded during conflict, are being questioned perhaps more now than at any time in recent history.



The 2016 People on War report was based on a global survey carried out from June to September by WIN/Gallup International. It reflects the opinion of 17,000 people in 16 countries. Many of these questions were also asked in the last People on War survey, which was conducted almost 20 years ago in 1999, enabling some comparisons over time.



The comparative figures are alarming. Over the past two decades, there has been a shift in public attitudes towards torture. Two thirds of all those surveyed in 2016 say torture is wrong. But when asked specifically about whether an enemy combatant can be tortured, fewer people disagree than in 1999. In addition, there is a significant increase in the number of people who dont know or prefer not to answer.



This has also been the period when the world has seen the growth of radical Jehadi networks, horrors of 9/11 in US, 26/11 in India, Iraq war, rise of the ISIS and terror activities across the continents. The impact is visible as over 33 of the respondents in US believe torture is a legitimate part of war and it goes up to 46 when asked whether the enemy soldiers can be tortured for information.



This report is yet another confirmation that those living in peaceful areas are more enthused by the concept of war than those who are actually living it. People living in countries affected by war believe the laws of war matters. Over two thirds of all respondents think it still makes sense to impose limits on war. Almost half of those surveyed in conflict-affected countries still believe the Geneva Conventions prevent wars from getting worse.



But, there is almost universal agreement that everyone has the right to health care during conflicts. An equally overwhelming majority condemn and reject attacks on hospitals, ambulances and health-care workers. Probably gives hope all is not lost, as nation after nation embrace war mongering ideologies



This survey was done in the following countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Switzerland, United Kingdom, China, Israel, Russia, Syria , United States, Columbia, Nigeria, South Sudan, Ukraine, Yemen, France.
Chennai: The 'return' of Sasikala's husband Natarajan the day Jayalalithaa was laid to rest may have surprised many and angered a few, but those who have been watching the man closely knew this was bound to happen.



In the first place, Natarajan, who began as propaganda advisor to MG Ramachandran and was later behind the rise of Jayalalithaa and Sasikala, was not gone anywhere over the past few years. He has been merely lying low.



Natarajan has good friends in both the Congress and BJP. Highly reliable sources within the Congress say that he got in touch with a top central leader in Delhi telling him to advise Rahul Gandhi to visit Jaya in Apollo Hospital. It did come as a surprise when Rahul turned up immediately after just completing his Uttar Pradesh yatra .



What many noticed then was that he didn't go to meet Karunanidhi who was not keeping well. And DMK has been an ally of the Congress



But Natarajan's eye was not so much on the Congress which he knew was a spent force in Tamil Nadu . His eye was on something beyond that. On his own survival. It was on the BJP.



Insiders say by it was by then becoming clear Jaya's condition was serious and that even if she were to come back home she may not be her old self again. Natarajan had to move in quick to ensure he and Sasikala are not left out in the race should anything happen to Amma. This despite the fact that sasikala's clout was undeniable.



The visit by Rahul Gandhi had its desired effect. Amit Shah and other BJP leaders went to meet Jaya in hospital .



For the BJP, AIADMK has been a valuable friend and also a window to the south. With Amma gone, BJP does need AIADMK for some time. It has 48 MPs which would come in useful not just for legislative business, but also for presidential polls next year .



BJP realises that Sasikala could emerge the new power centre and it has already one weapon against her - the disproportionate assets case against Jayalalithaa also mentions Sasikala.



But why did Rahul show interest? Well he has never been comfortable with the idea of going back to doing business with the DMK after the 2014 polls.



Congress hopes that the possible disarray could give a chance for the party to sneak in. But Congress is on the wane and is failing to check the slow rise of BJP which is now opening offices in every district of Tamil Nadu.



Sources within Congress have confirmed to News18 that Rahul wants his Tamil Nadu unit to reach out to Sasikala and Paneerselvam and, if need be, Natarajan could be the man to tap. In fact, the new Tamil Congress president Thirunavakkarasu was formerly in the BJP and close to Natarajan.



What cannot be missed is the fact that while Rahul dashed to the city for Jaya's funeral, he didn't take time out to meet Karunanidhi who was admitted in hospital.



A clear message where the priorities are.
Kolkata: Sharpening her attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over demonetisation, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said he must resign because the move has led to "economic disaster" in the country and he has "no moral right" to continue.



Alleging the country's growth and business have been hit due to demonetisation, she said the Prime Minister "doesn't trust" anyone and he "doesn't understand" what is good for the country.



"There is no teamwork. He did not consult experts. It is a one-man dictatorship. It is one man-made disaster. It is a dangerous tendency," she told a press conference at the state secretariat.



"After committing mistakes, he (PM) is showing chest and shoulder. What is this? Such figure is required in films. Ravana too had broad shoulders," she said.



She said if she were the PM, she "would apologise to the people and talk about rectifying myself".



"He must step down. He has no moral right to continue," she said.



"I am sorry to say that the (central) government got derailed totally under the present PM. He is not saying what will happen tomorrow and the day after. He must clarify," she remarked.



Describing her campaign against demonetisation a fight between Modi and the people, she said "the people wanted to know why he did it".



"Who got the benefit of demonetisation. The PM and his associates are the beneficiary. The PM is protecting black money," she said.



"Only the PM who stays at 7 RCR, will eat, others will not," she said.



She said her party has been raising the issue on all platforms.



"We have met the President, raised the issue in Parliament, Assembly and in public meetings. All opposition parties are fighting together. I am in touch with other Opposition parties as well. I will fight even if I am alone," she said.



Banerjee said, "If people raised voice, they will be dubbed as bad and holder of black money."



On the land purchase by the BJP, she said, "They have amassed huge wealth. How did the fakir get so much money?"



Banerjee said, "He (Modi) thinks as if he is a tiger, and the only one who is right."



Quoting a Bengali proverb, she said, "Mother of thieves has the loudest voice".



The TMC supremo also accused the PM of promoting private companies and said, "Why is the PM doing ads of PayTM? Why is the PM promoting private companies?"



The Modi government has lost all credibility, Banerjee said and predicted the BJP would lose if election was held tomorrow.



She also said, "I can understand the predicament of BJP leaders. They cannot speak out against their leadership".



Banerjee also criticised RBI Governor Urjit Patel and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, saying, "The RBI Governor is silent. He should play his role. What did the Finance Minister do?" she asked.



She also quoted a CAG report of 2005 when Modi was the Gujarat chief minister and said it had indicated corruption in GSPC.
New York: Pakistan's involvement with terrorism came under a double-barrel attack from two US departments, State and Defence, reflecting Washington's continued frustration with Islamabad's destablising role.



The US Defence Secretary said that Pakistan needs a "historic shift" to stop sheltering terrorists targeting India, Afghanistan and American military personnel.



"I have said to their leaders for some time now that kind of terrorism poses a principal strategic danger to the Pakistani state," he told reporters travelling with him to India. "It would require a historic shift in their focus."



Meanwhile in Washington, State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner opened another front saying: "We have consistently expressed our concerns to the highest level-levels of the government of Pakistan - about their continued tolerance for Afghan Taliban groups such as the Haqqani Network operating from Pakistan soil."



Toner was answering a reporter's question at the department's briefing about the stinging criticism of Pakistan's terrorism policy by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the recent Heart of Asia conference in Amritsar.



He said: "We continue to encourage the government of Pakistan to and Afghanistan, rather - both governments to cooperate in their counterterrorism operations and efforts because that's only going to contribute to regional stability."



Terrorism did come up in talks in Wasbhington between Under Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Tariq Fatema, the special adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Toner said they discussed regional stability and counterterrorism cooperation.



"I think that Pakistan's interests, and as they reflect upon them, are best served by stability and not instability in Afghanistan," Carter said in reply to a question about how Pakistan would figure in his talks with Indian officials during his visit to new Delhi on Thursday.



"It's important that Pakistan not continue to offer or provide a place for those who destabilise Afghanistan, as well as those who threaten American service members in Afghanistan and other coalition service members; or who support terrorist groups, including those that target India," he said.
Havana: A senior Cuban diplomat said on Wednesday that she hopes President-elect Donald Trump will take into account advances in US-Cuban relations and can even improve on them when he takes office.



Trump has threatened to end the US thaw with Cuba unless Havana delivers a "better deal" for Washington and makes concessions on human rights and opening up its economy.



He also described the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro as a "brutal dictator" after the revolutionary icon died on November 25.



Nevertheless, Cuba "would hope the new government of the United States takes into account the results we have achieved" since diplomatic ties were re-established in 2015, and would be ready to continue improving them "on the basis of respect," said Josefina Vidal, head of US affairs at the Cuban foreign ministry.



Vidal spoke to reporters after meeting with US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Mari Carmen Aponte in Havana.



Cuba reaffirmed its will "to continue making progress in improving relations and building ties of peaceful coexistence, beneficial to both sides," Vidal said.



However, this must happen "within respect for the existing differences, and without having to make any type of concession or abandoning the principles in which Cuba firmly believes in," she said.



The United States and Cuba re-established ties in July 2015 after a rupture of more than half a century.



Despite advances in relations between the former Cold War rivals -- which include a slew of bilateral agreements and more than 208,000 US citizens visiting Cuba this year -- Washington has not lifted the economic embargo imposed on the island in 1962.
Thousands gathered on a pier overlooking Pearl Harbor, observed a moment of silence and watched jets streak across the clear blue sky Wednesday in honor of the 75th anniversary of the attack that plunged the United States into World War II.The crowd stood and clapped when a few dozen survivors joined active-duty servicemen and women and National Park Service rangers in dedicating wreaths to those killed. The attack left more than 2,300 service people dead.Adm. Harry Harris of the U.S. Pacific Command also received a lengthy ovation when he talked in a speech about standing for the national anthem."You can bet that the men and women we honor today  and those who died that fateful morning 75 years ago  never took a knee and never failed to stand whenever they heard our national anthem being played," Harris said to nearly a minute of clapping, whistles and whoops.In recent months, San Francisco 49ers quarter Colin Kaepernick and others have knelt through the national anthem to protest police brutality and the treatment of minorities, drawing criticism and acclaim alike.Reached later, Pacific Command spokesman Robert Shuford said Harris' comments "speak for themselves."Wednesday's ceremony started with the USS Halsey sounding its whistle to mark the start of the moment of silence at 7:55 a.m.  the same moment Japanese planes began their assault on Dec. 7, 1941. F-22 fighter jets broke the silence when they flew in formation overhead.The event wrapped up with Marines firing a gun salute and the Pacific Fleet band playing taps.Earlier in the day, Laura Stoller watched as crowds jostled for autographs and photos with survivors."All of these men who for so long didn't get the recognition they deserve they're soaking it up. And it's so fun to see," said Stoller, who accompanied her adoptive grandfather and Pearl Harbor survivor Stan VanHoose of Beloit, Wisconsin, to the event.VanHoose, 96, served on the USS Maryland.Fellow survivor Jim Downing of Colorado Springs, Colorado, said he returns to Hawaii for the anniversary commemorations to be with his shipmates."We get together and have a great time and compare our stories," he said.Downing said surprise, fear, anger and pride overcame him as Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor. Then a newlywed sailor, he recalled a Japanese plane flying low and slow in his direction as he rushed to his battleship from his home after hearing explosions and learning of the attack on the radio. Jim Downing, 103, poses in a Navy uniform in Honolulu, with a photo of himself taken when he was about 20 years old, Downing is among a few dozen survivors of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (Photo: AP)"When he got the right angle, he banked over, turned his machine guns loose," Downing, now 103, said in an interview at a Waikiki hotel. "But fortunately he didn't bank far enough so it went right over my head."The next aviator might have better aim, Downing remembers thinking. And with nowhere to hide, "I was afraid," he said.His ship, the USS West Virginia, was hit by nine torpedoes."We were sinking, and everything above the water line was on fire," he said.Downing said he felt proud while watching sailors balance the capsizing ship by allowing water to seep in. The tactic let the giant battleship slide into mud below.The West Virginia lost 106 men. Downing, who also served as the ship's postmaster, spent two hours fighting fires and checking the name tags of the dead so he could write their families personal notes about how they died.Ray Chavez was out on a minesweeper, the USS Condor, in the early hours before the attack. He remembers noticing with his shipmates that a mysterious submarine was lurking off the harbor."At 3:45 a.m. on Dec. 7, I look out and spotted a submarine that wasn't supposed to be in that area," the 104-year-old Chavez said.The sailors reported the sighting and Chavez went home to sleep. He told his wife not to wake him because he hadn't gotten any rest during the busy night."It seemed like I only slept about 10 minutes when she called me and said 'we're being attacked.' And I said 'who is going to attack us?' She said 'the Japanese are here and they're attacking everything,'" Chavez said.These days, many people treat Chavez and other Pearl Harbor survivors like celebrities, asking them for autographs and photos. But Chavez said it's about the people who were lost."I'm honoring them, not myself," he said.Also Wednesday, President Barack Obama issued a statement saying he and first lady Michelle Obama join Americans in remembering those who gave their lives on Dec. 7, 1941."We can never repay the profound debt of gratitude we owe to those who served on our behalf," he said.The president said he will visit the USS Arizona Memorial later this month with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan.
Washington: The US on Wednesday marked the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii that claimed more than 2,400 American lives.



As many as 2,403 Americans were killed and about 20 US vessels were sunk or damaged and over 300 US aircrafts were damaged or destroyed when over 350 Japanese warplanes launched attacks stealthily, Xinhua reported.



The attack came as a shock to the Americans and directly led to US entry into World War II.



On August 6, 1945, the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Another US nuclear strike was launched on the Japanese city of Nagasaki three days later. Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945.



As the Americans were mourning the colossal loss inflicted by the Japanese, the news came that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would visit the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor at the end of December.



However, observers said that Abe was not expected to apologise for the attack on Pearl Harbor.



Abe's decision to visit Pearl Harbor came about six months after Obama visited Japan's Hiroshima early this year.



Apart from reciprocating Obama's visit to Hiroshima, Abe's upcoming trip to Pearl Harbor was believed to be the latest step by the Japanese government to strengthen the Japan-US alliance before US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration next January.






GLADYS  The Puckette family has deep roots in Campbell County.

On their 121-acre farm in Gladys, three generations of Puckettes live and work the land that has been in the family since 1906. As part of a new state program recognizing families that have owned and logged forestland for more than 100 years, the Puckettes land was one of 23 statewide designated a Century Forest by the Virginia Department of Forestry last month.

The farm also was recognized as a Century Farm by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in 2006. Upon earning the designation, each Century Farm and Forest receives a commemorative certificate and sign to display on their property.

The farm is managed by William Bill Puckette II, who has lived his entire life on the property. He has overseen the farms transition from farming tobacco to more land being used for cultivating trees following market demand. Of the 121 acres, about 80 are for tree cultivation.

Ive been living off of the land my whole life, he said. Ive always been a steward of the land and tried to leave it as best I could and take care of it the best I could.

The farm has several stands of pines and oak in various stages of growth. According to Puckette, pines typically are left to grow for 40 years before being sold.

As the trees mature, Puckette does controlled burns of the land to keep underbrush from choking out the growing trees and periodically harvests parts of the stands. Called thinning, the process of partially cutting down some of the trees helps the others grow taller.

The purpose of thinning is to open up the crowns of the other pines so they get more light so the others grow faster, he said. That way the last batch you have will grow bigger.

While pines can be left to grow as big as the forester wants them, Puckette said oaks need to be cut down at a specific time because the center will begin to rot at a certain time in their life. About 40 years ago, he sold an entire stand of oaks before the rotting set in.

It was a sad day to see those oaks fall, said Puckettes wife, Beverly Puckette. I sat outside and listened to every tree fall, and tears were flowing as fast as the trees were falling. You know youre doing the right thing by cutting them when they need to be cut so they wont go to waste, but its still sad.

After cutting down that section of forest, he replanted the entire section with pines. Those pines have been thinned twice and are ready to be logged in the spring.

He has mapped the entire property and developed a forestry plan for when he will cut, thin and burn the different sections of forest depending on how long the trees have been growing.

When Bill Puckettes grandparents James Douglas Puckette and his wife, Victoria, purchased the farm and built a house up the road from where Bill Puckette currently lives, they primarily farmed tobacco to be sold in Danville and Brookneal. In those days, tobacco was tied in bundles and cured in barns that still stand along a gravel road cutting through the property.

One of James Douglas Puckettes sons, William Puckette, was raised on the farm and eventually built a house for himself and his family in another section of the property. He took over the farm and managed it while raising his children. His son Bill Puckette carried on the legacy of running the farm and took over in the mid-1970s, when he was in his twenties.

By the end of the decade, he had married and built a log cabin from trees harvested on the property. In 1979 the simple log home on the bank of a pond in the center of the property had only a living room, one bedroom upstairs and a kitchen. As their family grew, the Puckettes harvested more trees to expand the home in the 1980s.

In the family tradition, both of Puckettes sons and their children live on the farm. His second son, Aaron, farms organic tobacco and soy beans on the land. Bill Puckette and his son regularly hunt wild turkey and deer together on the property.

The Century Forest program was created by the 2016 General Assembly Senate Bill 252 and was passed unanimously in both chambers. Virginia is the first state in the nation to establish a Century Forest program to honor long-time forestry families. Forestry is the third-largest industry in Virginia, contributing $17 billion annual to the Virginia economy and employing more than 104,000 workers, according to the Department of Forestry.

The 23 farms in the inaugural class of the Century Forest program claim family ownership that ranges from 105 years to 235 years.

These families and their ancestors built Virginia and they built America, State Forester Bettina Ring said in a news release. What a fitting recognition of their achievements this is  being part of the first group in the nations first Century Forest program.

In addition to running the farm, Bill Puckette supported his family by trapping furs all over Virginia for 50 years, often staying up late into the night skinning the beavers and foxes he caught to sell.

I respect my land, and I respect the land I hunted and trapped on, he said. I leave it just like I found it. Thats what I try to do all the time.
PARIS

French Socialist President Francois Hollande knew which way the winds were blowing. His announcement last week that he would not seek reelection was a response to record-breaking unpopularity. But it also reflects weaknesses haunting the left and center-left throughout the democratic world.

Donald Trumps victory may thus be only a particularly alarming portent for moderate progressives who, less than two decades ago, were confidently on the march.

Now, the radicalization of the right threatens the consensual welfare state capitalism that gave the West decades of relative social peace and prosperity. France is the latest example, and a dramatic one.

If there is one taken-for-granted assumption in French political life, it is that Marine Le Pen, the candidate of the far right National Front, will find her way into the runoff in next years presidential election. The first round will be held in April, the second, between the top two finishers in May.

But the surprise, at least to much of the media and political class, was the victory of Francois Fillon in the November primaries for the countrys main center-right party, the Republicans. Fillon, a traditionalist Catholic, is a critic of multiculturalism and what he sees as Muslim encroachment on French identity. He routed former President Nicolas Sarkozy and the favorite, former prime minister Alain Juppe.

Juppe was the moderate in the group, and a significant number of Socialist Party supporters crossed into the other sides contest to help him. They hoped that if the country eventually faced a center-right vs. far right choice in the general election runoff  thats the betting line now  the former would be at least acceptable to them. But after Sarkozy was eliminated, Fillon defeated Juppe in a landslide.

This parlous choice gave the already done-for Hollande an excellent reason to announce that he would not seek re-election. As a Socialist, because thats my lifes commitment, I cannot accept, I cannot resign myself, to a scattering of the left, to its breaking up, Hollande declared Thursday night. Because that would take away all hope of winning against conservatism, and even worse, against extremism.

Well, yes, but the French left is already in pieces. It faces not only divisions but also subdivisions within its divisions.

Emmanuel Macron, 38, quit Hollandes Cabinet to form a new centrist political movement built around modernizing French politics and embracing economic openness. He is in a long line of politicians  going back to the center-left heyday of Bill Clinton and Tony Blair  who have positioned themselves against both the traditional left and right. I want to unite the French, Im not reaching out to the left or the right, Im reaching out to the French, he said in a television interview.

Polls suggest that Macron may be able to appeal to some of the same anti-system feeling that is motivating votes for the far right. Still, his Third Way politics are more in keeping with the prosperous and optimistic 1990s than with our gloomier and more nationalistic moment.

And with Hollande out of the race, Macron could find himself challenged for votes from the moderate left by another political modernizer from inside the Socialist Party, Prime Minister Manuel Valls.

The splintering on the progressive side goes further still. Outside the Socialist Party, Jean-Luc Melenchon is running as the champion of the harder left. Arnaud Montebourg, the former Economics Minister, comes from the Socialist Partys own left wing, pushing for protectionism to battle the excesses of globalization.

Hollandes withdrawal creates a sense of at least remote possibility among socialists. Their primary in January will likely feature Valls, Montebourg and possibly others. But its winner could still hemorrhage votes to Macron in the center and Melenchon on the left.

Every country has its particularities. Hollandes problems were personal as well as ideological: Even his own political base came to see him as hapless and indecisive. But the center-lefts troubles and the hardening of opinion on the right reflect the rise of a politics of fear across so many of the democracies, including the United States.

Its elements include fear of the impact of globalization on the living standards of the working class, fear of immigration and the dilution of national identity, and fear of terrorism.

A center-left that once thrived on a politics of hope must either come to terms with these fears or actively push back against them. It is divided because it cannot decide which strategy is more promising  and which is more in keeping with its values.

Dionne is a columnist for The Washington Post and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Email him at ejdionne@washpost.com or follow him on Twitter, @EJDionne.
Writer: No reaching out to the left

Andy Schmooklers Dec. 4 column in The News & Advance, Reaching across Americas ideological divide, sounds more condescending than compromising. He doesnt reach across the divide so much as he acts the wise parent (liberals) who loves his errant children (conservatives) who, on top of their many other foibles, saw fit to elect a man (Donald Trump) totally unfit to be president.

How do these comments reach across the divide? Schmookler says, among other things, that conservatives support unworthy things, that they have been deceived and manipulated by lies, that the Republican Party has become darker and more destructive and that its constituents must align themselves with the good.

He never clarifies what these wrong values, destructive issues and manipulative lies are. What separates liberals and conservatives? To which ideals does each group adhere? What is the nature of a political force which serves the good of a nation?

Barack Obama, one of the most divisive and lawless presidents in our countrys history, was not such a force. Yet Schmookler is appalled that a man like Trump is set to take over the White House. And he thinks that Hillary Clinton  criminally dishonest, complicit in various murders, having abetted her husbands sexual predation and OK with accepting millions of dollars from Muslim countries where women are virtual slaves with no rights  is a better choice? For all of his shortcomings, Trump, at least, is not a criminal.

There can be little reaching across the divide from Republican to Democrat because the Democrats represent the antithesis of the conservative heart. Liberals/Democrats are more strongly in the camp of the abortion industry (a form of murder), the gay rights movement (as deviant, destructive, dark and undesirable today as it ever was) and the central tenet that, with enough power and money, government can solve all problems.

This is the most flawed implication of Schmooklers logic, that politics, especially the liberal brand, can save us. Only Jesus Christ can save men. Government can aid or hinder, but it cant replace God, who alone can redeem mens souls, making them fit not only in this life but for eternal life to come. As all of our currency states, In God We Trust. The less we trust in the sovereign God, the further we travel along the road to ruin.

SAMUEL WELLMAN

Lynchburg

Its going to be a long four years

Woe is me. Just think about. The president will be the bleached-blond blowhard who has zero experience in governing. The next president will be the serial groper and thrice married billionaire who has not given a nickel to charity.

But we shouldnt be too dismayed. Melania will be the first lady of whom we can all be proud.

Oh me, woe is me.

ELLIOT SCHEWEL

Lynchburg

Rigged? You decide

Just a post-presidential election observation.

Weeks leading up to the election, Donald Trump claimed that the electoral process was rigged. Hillary Clinton commanded a double-digit lead over Trump in the polls.

During the week of Oct. 24, Rudy Giuliani, former Republican New York City mayor and staunch Trump supporter, announced on national television that some very big news was forthcoming that would change the tide of the election.

On, Friday, Oct. 28, 11 days prior to the election, Republican FBI Director James Comey sent a letter to Congress that (several New York) FBI agents, during the Anthony Weiner investigation, had discovered Clinton emails on Weiners computer. His wife, Huma Abedin, was a Clinton aide.

During the week of Oct. 31, Clintons double-digit lead in the polls began to dwindle to a narrow margin of 4 percent.

On Sunday, Nov. 6, Director Comey announced that the recently discovered emails did not change the FBIs non-indictable opinion issued in July.

On Nov. 8, Clinton narrowly loses the presidential election to Trump.

WILLIAM WILSON

Lynchburg
A factory in eastern Henrico County long known for producing Robitussin cough medicine and ChapStick lip balm has added some new products and is in the process of hiring at least 80 new employees.

Fareva, a French contract manufacturer that owns the local plant on Darbytown Road, has opened a new production line there to make aerosol ingredients for products such as spray-on sunscreen and dry shampoo.

Fareva saved hundreds of jobs five years ago when it acquired the 750,000-square-foot plant from pharmaceuticals company Pfizer Inc.

The company contracted with Pfizer to manufacture over-the-counter health care products, such as Robitussin, Dimetapp and Preparation H  all products that have been produced at the facility for many years as the plant changed ownership several times.

The new expansion is part of a previously announced $40 million investment at the plant by Fareva, a family-owned company that is one of the worlds largest contract producers of household, cosmetic, industrial and pharmaceutical products.

The factory already employs about 600 people. The new production line, located in a former distribution building adjacent to the main production plant, is expected to create 80 to 100 new jobs.

About 30 of those have been filled, said Richard Hayes, the plants general manager. We are ramping up, he said, adding that other jobs are expected to be added early next year.

On Wednesday, the company invited more than 100 Richmond-area officials, business partners, and news media representatives to see the new production line.

Bernard Fraisse, president and owner of the company, attended, along with Consul General of France Michel Charbonneau.

Fareva is considering investing $15 million to $20 million to add even more aerosols production, which would create another 150 jobs.

The timing of the next phase depends on market conditions. It really comes down to our customers, and how quickly we can sign contracts, Hayes said.

Our future is good, he said. We have got some long-term contracts with our customers.

The company also has plans to add a 5,000-square-foot research lab at the plant that would employ about 20 scientists, technicians and engineers.

Fareva has 35 production sites worldwide, more than $1.5 billion in revenue, and a workforce of nearly 10,000 people.

The Richmond area nearly lost the factory after Pfizer bought its previous owner, Madison, N.J.-based Wyeth, in 2009. But Pfizers 2011 deal with Fareva preserved the local manufacturing.

In 2010, when we were given news that the previous owner of this facility planned to sell it or close it down, we as a county feared the worst, said Tyrone Nelson, chairman of the Henrico County Board of Supervisors, at Wednesdays gathering and ceremonial ribbon-cutting.

We expected the plant would be closed and empty and nearly 600 of our citizens would be out of work, he said. Fareva came to the rescue, and in 2011, after very careful analysis, Fareva decided this facility in Henrico offered it the best opportunity for expansion in the U.S. market.
The Golden Age, the Silver Age, and beyond: the different eras of comic book history explained

What do people mean when they refer to the Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, and beyond?
$.75M in cheese vanishes

The empty container was found abandoned in Carlsen Field shortly after the discovery of the missing container was made.

According to reports, AS Bryden imported the cheese which arrived in the country last week.

However, when officials of the company carried out the necessary transaction to clear the container and after doing so, attempted to retrieve the container, discovered that it was missing.

A report was made to the Port security department and investigation was initiated to ascertain how persons were able to leave the compound of the Port Authority without the necessary documents to give clearance to leave the compound.

Newsday understands that no official report of the missing cheese was made to the police and the matter is now in the hands of the Customs and Excise Department and the Port Authority. Investigators believe that persons used false documents to remove the container containing the cheese from the Port and then moved the items to a place in Central where the Cheese packages were removed and the container dumped at Carlsen Field.

Investigators now believe that the cheese will be sold to unscrupulous business people at bargain prices.

Sources within the Customs and Excuse department said that they intend to search several business places where they believe the cheese packages are being kept. Sources within the Port Authority security department confirmed to Newsday that security officers who were on duty on the day the container of cheese went missing have been interviewed as part of the ongoing investigation.
Accident victim still critical

While relatives are praying for Johnsons recovery, family members of Travis Teague, Timothy Fraser, Averniel Thomas, Che Peters, Kareem Romain, and Ramish Narine, the six persons who actually died in the accident, are coming to terms with the deaths of their loved ones. Relatives of Ramish Narine yesterday told reporters that his passing came just as he was once again getting his life together. His brother Sureash told reporters that he had just recently began getting control of an alcohol dependency that he had been struggling with for years.

When his mother, Chanoo died he went a little astray, said Tara Ramdeen, another relative, He thought people didnt care about him. He developed an alcohol problem when he was stressed out.

The people at Elite Security took him in and accepted him as their own and looked after him. They even sent him to Mt St Benedict for rehab. He was improving and they even came and gave him a room for him to stay while he got back on his feet. Tara said she heard of Ramishs death from a friend. She said that before she knew that her relative was involved in the accident, she saw the incident on social media and lamented on how many persons died in the accident.

She described Ramish as a person who loved children but mostly kept to himself. Relatives of Averniel Thomas, 35, said they held no malice against any of the drivers involved in the incident, but pleaded with drivers to be more cautious on the nations roads. Her brother Andre described her as a friendly and loving person.

The last time I spoke to her was for my birthday, said Andre, We live very far from each other, I live in Point Fortin and she lives in California, so we dont see each other every day. But she called me for my birthday on November 8, and wished me a happy birthday, and we talked for a bit. I found out about the accident from some of her church members. I was at work when I got the call. I really could not believe what I was hearing.

This entire thing has us all shocked. Autopsies on both bodies confirmed that they died from blunt force trauma consistent with a car accident.
Opendoor Is Laying Off

Almost a Fifth of Its Workers
(Newser)  The holiday's hottest toy is so hot it sold 400,000 units in just seven weeks, outpacing the infamous Tickle Me Elmo, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. It's so hot moms in Utah braved 20-degree weather to line up outside a Target at 4:45am just in hopes of getting one, according to the New York Times. It's so hot the Christian Science Monitor reports third-party sellers are asking six times the retail the price of $59.99and getting it. And it's so hot Toys 'R' Us is chartering its own planes to fly it directly from the manufacturer in China. They're called Hatchimals, and Fox 8 describes them as "cuddly creatures that hatch from eggs and learn to walk and talk."

"By all analyses, we thought we had enough," James Martin, an executive at Hatchimals maker Spin Master, tells the Times. "We had no idea that it would be this big." Experts say the big selling point for kids is the anticipation that builds during the 30 minutes or so it takes to hatch the creature. "Nobody knows why these things happen," one toy expert says. "They're an act of God." Now parents, retailers, and third-party sellers alike are scrambling to get their hands on more Hatchimals before Christmas. But as the Monitor puts it: "If you're...desperate to find one at a reasonable price in time for Christmas, I'm sorry. I'm so very sorry." It recommends giving your kids a Hatchimal IOU instead. (New Zealand "wins Christmas" with nationwide Secret Santa.)
(Newser)  Brad Pitt filed a request to seal details of his child custody dispute with Angelina Jolie, but at an emergency hearing Wednesday, a judge denied that request, TMZ reports. Earlier this week, Jolie filed documents that spelled out details of her temporary custody agreement with Pitt, an agreement that requires Pitt only have monitored visits with the kids. Those documents revealed that a psychologist specializing in child custody issues is the one who makes the call as to when and how Pitt can see the couple's six children, and that Pitt has agreed to undergo random alcohol and drug testing four times a month. Sources tell TMZ Pitt's request to seal the custody dispute details was a direct response to her filing of those documents.

Jolie sources say she filed the document because she fears Pitt is going to attempt to be allowed to see the children with no monitoring, but Pitt sources say he's made no such move and that the filing publicized details of the custody dispute for no reason other than to air the couple's dirty laundry in public, hurting Pittbut also causing their kids unnecessary pain. Some sources connected to the case say that since Pitt was cleared of wrongdoing by the Department of Children and Family Services, he wants solo time with the kids, and that he's been acting like a "celebrity who is used to getting whatever he wants" and trying to "push past the process" in order to get that solo time. Other sources, predictably, deny that. And then there are the sources who told TMZ this week that Jolie has been plotting for more than a year for how to get out of the marriage, take the kids to London, and work for the UN. (Read more Brad Pitt stories.)
(Newser)  An Arizona advocacy group says tens of thousands of people attempting to cross the US-Mexico border illegally since the 1990s have died or disappeared because the US Border Patrol uses the desert as a "weapon," the Guardian reports. In a report issued Wednesday, No More Deaths says 1,200 migrants were reported missing while trying to cross the border just last year. Less than a third of them were found alive, according to the Tucson Sentinel. The group calls it "one of the great historical crimes of our day" and describes the desert around the Texas and Arizona borders as a "vast graveyard of the missing." Mass death and disappearance are the inevitable outcomes of a border enforcement plan that uses the wilderness as a weapon," the Guardian quotes the report as saying.

One of the problems, according to No More Deaths, is the Border Patrol's tactic of chasing people crossing the border illegally into the desert. They get injured, lost, or lose their supplies, the group states. Democracy Now reports one man fell off a cliff and died while being chased by Border Patrol agents at night. "It's not enough for Border Patrol agents to say that they're just doing their job," the Sentinel quotes one woman as saying. "It's their job that often leads to these deaths." No More Deaths also takes issue with the policy, enacted in the 1990s, of heavily fortifying urban border crossings as a means of sending migrants into more hostile terrain. In response to the report, US Customs and Border Protection says it "values human life" and wants to educate people about the dangers of illegal border crossings. (Read more Border Patrol stories.)
(Newser)  Jill Stein never had a chance of becoming president so there's no need to continue the recount she requested in Michigan, a federal judge decided Wednesday. US District Judge Mark Goldsmith sided with the Michigan Court of Appeal's ruling that the Green Party candidate, who received around 1% of the vote, doesn't qualify as an "aggrieved candidate" for recount purposes, reports the Detroit Free Press. Goldsmith, agreeing with the state GOP, also said there was no evidence of hacking or other tampering with a state voting system so secure that "Gremlins, Martians, or Russian hackers" couldn't mess with it. He said he suspects the recount law's makers intended to "confine costly and disruptive recounts to cases where a losing candidate stood a reasonable chance of changing the outcome."

Stein's lawyers vowed to appeal the "deeply disappointing" ruling. "Backed by Michigan Republicans, Donald Trumpwho himself has repeatedly alleged widespread voter fraud and a 'rigged election'suddenly sees no need for a routine verification of the democratic process in Michigan," they said in a statement. "His efforts to suppress the vote count is a stunning about-face, even by Trump's own standards." Trump was declared the winner by a margin of 10,704 out of almost 4.8 million votes, and Stein's lawyers say they want to look into issues including 75,000 ballots with no presidential votes, which is almost twice as many as in 2012. The AP notes that with the Dec. 13 federal deadline for states to verify their election results looming, Goldsmith's ruling effectively ensures that Trump's Michigan win will stand. (Read more Election 2016 stories.)
(Newser)  No one used to pay much mind to the giraffes that roamed Africa. But new numbers from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature show a significant decline in their population over the past three decades and have conservationists worried that the elegant creature is falling victim to what one IUCN expert calls a "silent extinction," the BBC reports. In 1985, there were between 152,000 and 163,000 giraffes, but that number dropped to 97,000 by 2015a "devastating decline" of nearly 40% that now moves the animal from the "least concern" category into the "vulnerable" one on the group's Red List. "While there [has] been great concern about elephants and rhinos, giraffes have gone under the radar," says Dr. Fennessy, co-director of the IUCN's Giraffe Conservation arm.

The updated Red List, released Thursday at a biological diversity conference in Cancun, Mexico, points to man as the main driver of the declining stats, with poaching, habitat loss, and local unrest all assuming partial blame. A Duke University conservation biologist says the IUCN is partly to blame, too, for not considering more species threatened. "There's a strong tendency to think that familiar species [such as giraffes, chimps, etc.] must be OK because ... we see them in zoos," he tells the AP. "This is dangerous." Some good news, at least for some long-neckers: Of the nine giraffe subspecies, three of them are experiencing increasing populations; one is stable. A resolution passed in September at the IUCN's World Conservation Congress hopes to reverse the falling numbers of "Africa's iconic megafauna." (Three rare giraffes were killed for their tails.)
(Newser)  Wednesday was the first day of Dylann Roof's federal death penalty trial, and the first witness delivered testimony so harrowing that many in the courtroom were in tears. Survivor Felicia Sanders told the court that the young white man sat with black parishioners in the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC, for 45 minutes before opening fire, the Citizen-Times reports. She said she dove under a table with her 11-year-old granddaughter, and played dead, pressing the girl's face to her body so tightly she briefly thought she had suffocated her. Then, Sanders testified, her injured son, 26-year-old Tywanza Sanders, rose to confront the gunman. She said he asked: "Why are you doing this?" and Roof replied: "I have to do this. You are taking our women and you are taking over the world."

Sanders said her son told the gunman: "You don't have to do this. We mean you no harm." Then, Sanders said, Roof fired five bullets into her son and fled the church. "I watched him take his last breath. I watched my son come into this world. I watched my son leave this life," the distraught mother said before the judge called a recess. When Roof's lawyer asked her if he said he was going to kill himself, Sanders said: "I was counting on that," the New York Times reports. "He is evil. There is no place for him except the pit of hell." If Roof is convicted of the June 2015 attack, the 22-year-old plans to represent himself during the penalty phase of the trial, the AP reports. He will face another death penalty trial in state court next year. The Guardian reports that at the end of opening arguments Wednesday, a sobbing white woman believed to be Roof's mother collapsed. (Read more Dylann Roof stories.)
(Newser)  In the four weeks he has been president-elect, Donald Trump's tweets have targeted the New York Times, the cast of Hamilton, China, flag-burners, Boeing, and Saturday Night Live, among othersand now it's the turn of Chuck Jones, president of the union that represents Carrier employees in Indianapolis. Jones, "who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers," Trump tweeted Wednesday. "No wonder companies flee country!" The tweet came after Jones told CNN and the Washington Post that Trump hadn't kept as many jobs from moving to Mexico as he claimed. Trump deserves credit for saving some jobs, but he "lied his a-- off" when he said 1,100 jobs had been saved, because the real figure is below 800 and hundreds of union members are still being laid off, Jones told the Post.

"If United Steelworkers 1999 was any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana. Spend more time working-less time talking. Reduce dues," Trump said in another tweet. Jones tells the Indianapolis Star that Trump "doesn't know what in the hell he's talking about," because the company's original offer would have forced employees to work for $5 an hour without benefits. He says he has been receiving threats from Trump supporters. "Calling me names, wanting to know if I have children," he says. "I better watch out for myself, and they know what kind of car I drive, that I better watch out for my kids." But he says he is still open to working with Trump to save jobs. "When it comes to people's livelihoods, I think everybody has to put everything aside," he says. (Read more Donald Trump stories.)
(Newser)  Paula Broadwell is in the same camp as Edward Snowden in that she was shocked to hear David Petraeus is in the running for secretary of state under Donald Trump after pleading guilty to mishandling classified data. That's not to say she doesn't approve. "I think he should be able to go on with his life," she tells CBS News, but "why shouldn't I be able to go on?" After leaking classified information to Broadwellwho was his biographer and with whom he had an affairPetraeus got two years' probation and a $100,000 fine. He faced no disciplinary action from the military and is now a White House adviser. Broadwell, an Army intelligence officer, was demoted, lost her top-secret security clearance, and received a formal reproof.

At the Huffington Post, Emily Peck notes that, from the start, Broadwell was painted as "a 'mistress'  accused of bringing a man down and destroying his career" in a "sexist double standard." She's still waiting to hear if the Army will deliver additional punishments and accept her resignation, but she says she's since been denied a position with a major bank. "I was told by the military recruiter that it would be front-page news if I got hired at the bank, and the bank wouldnt want to deal with that," Broadwell says, describing her situation as a "potential cancer hanging over my head," per the Post. Adds Sen. Claire McCaskill, per the Hill: "I think the two of them should be treated fairly, and there shouldn't be two standards." (Petraeus says he's learned from his mistake.)
(Newser)  President Bashar al-Assad said in comments published Thursday that Syrian forces' victory in the battle for Aleppo will be a "big gain" for his government but that it won't end the country's civil war, the AP reports. Assad, in an interview published in the state-owned newspaper al-Watan, described his forces' fight in Aleppo as one "against terrorism and a conspiracy" to destroy and divide Syria, allegedly led by Turkey. "Liberating Aleppo from the terrorists deals a blow to the whole foundation of this project," he said. "[But] to be realistic, it doesn't mean the end of the war." With Aleppo, the capital Damascus, and Homs, the third largest city under his control, Assad says "terrorists" no longer hold any cards. "Even if we finish in Aleppo, we will carry on with the war against them," he noted.

Assad's comments came as his troops pushed further into the rebel-held enclave in eastern Aleppo in the bitter conflict now in its sixth year. More than three-quarters of the rebel section have fallen under the government's control, including the symbolically important ancient Aleppo quarters; more than 30,000 of the estimated 275,000 residents of the besieged eastern part have fled to western Aleppo. Assad said he'll no longer consider truce offers, adding such offers, particularly from Americans, often come when the rebels are in a "difficult spot." Russian news agencies quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying Moscow was close to reaching a deal with the US on a ceasefire for Aleppo, though he warned against "high expectations." The Syrian government and ally Russia have rejected previous calls for a truce for the war-torn city, keeping up the military offensive that has squeezed and forced rebels to retreat in several areas. (Read more Bashar al-Assad stories.)
(Newser)  Greg Lake of 1970s rock band Emerson, Lake and Palmer, died Wednesday after "a long and stubborn battle with cancer," his manager says. He was 69. A progressive rock pioneer, the British vocalist and guitarist first formed King Crimson with Robert Fripp and Mike Giles in the 1960s, per the BBC. Pete Townshend of The Who described their debut albumwhich reached No. 5 in the UK and No. 28 in the USas "an uncanny masterpiece," per the Guardian. However, Lake soon after left the group to form a new one with keyboardist Keith Emerson and drummer Carl Palmer. Emerson, Lake and Palmer then played alongside Jimi Hendrix and The Who at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival.

The band, known for its extravagant live performances and lengthy tracks, went on to release six albums that went platinum before its popularity waned with the arrival of punk, reports USA Today. The band officially broke up in 1979, though its three members reunited in 1991 and again in 2010; Emerson committed suicide in his California home in March. Lake also had a solo career, with his single "I Believe in Father Christmas" reaching No. 2 in the UK. The song sprang from the "crass corporate financial exploitation" of the holiday, Lake told the Guardian last month. "As much as I love everyone having a good time  it's more important to make some spiritual human contact, or visit someone lonely." (Read more obituary stories.)
Organic Farming has seen a rise in New York, but how does that affect the market? Are independent farmers given the same chance as everyone else, is there a market for organic food?

Forbes is first to share news on the topic. According to them, GMO growing has gone way out of hand. Both farmers and buyers see the genetically modified products as a threat, but nothing is done about it. As they describe the topic, people have buried themselves in a deep hole and they just keep on digging it. The rise of organic products is a fact, but not their presence on the market. The state has done nothing to promote the usage of clean, bio-friendly products over yet untested modified crops.

The Wire shares some disturbing news on the topic. Dr. Narasimhan, a medical doctor, who decided to go through the path of organic farming has his doubts about the future of this industry. He says that the problem is not in producing the food, but finding a buyer for it. Even when you have all the proper documentation to prove that your food is organic, the buyers are sill hesitant with it and when they actually buy it is at highly unsatisfactory prices. The U.S department of agriculture has not been responding anyone's questions, which makes many of them feel abandoned. This, paired with the climate changes and the high chance of losing your crops makes organic farming far less secure or satisfactory than giving the land to a retailer, who will use it for his own purposes.

Chronicle Express shares some more positive information on the topic. Organic farms are not yet the number one choice of the U.S and the state of New York in particular, but there has been a rise in demand of these products over the course of 2008-2014. Organic cow milk is number two in demand in both state of New York and nationwide. Same success is seen with hogs and pigs raised for food. Sadly, high positions are held only by meat and dairy products, where vegetables and fruits hold positions of five and lower. Even though there is still not a large demand for organic crops, if the tendency keeps going with the same pace, in a few years organic farmers will have the market share they need to keep their income enough to last a year and give them security.
Voting 8-0, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that there was no need for Samsung to hand over its profits related to the sale of products that infringed on Apple. While this infringement case is far from over, many are saying that it will allow the Korean electronics company some breathing room. There are also those who say that this decision may embolden those who make knock-offs.

It was in 2011 when Apple first brought the case against Samsung alleging that the latter infringed on the designs of products. In particular, Apple focused on alleged violations on three design patents. By 2012, a jury sided with Apple awarding it damages worth at least $1 billion.

While the amount against Samsung does seem high, this was later lowered to around $540 million and later to the amount being currently disputed. The amount though is not what is really at the heart of the matter but more on the interpretation of the law. This particular federal law states that should a company be found guilty of patent infringement on the design of another company's, in this case Apple, "article of manufacture", the former is accountable to the total profits.

A federal law says that companies found liable for infringing design patents on an "article of manufacture" are liable for their total profits. Apple had argued that the design of the product cannot be separated from the actual product. Samsung countered that this was excessive and "absurd" with even the Appellate Court agreeing on it.

Penned by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the ruling said that "article of manufacture" can refer to an entire product or the components. The decision though did not answer what was applicable in Apple's case against Samsung. It appears that what the ruling says it that the Federal Circuit was incorrect in applying the rule.

In a report by TechCrunch, Apple said it continues to be optimistic and will protect the results of their hard work. Samsung, in the same report, commented that the decision is a victory for everyone especially those who support innovation and creativity. The case is not yet over as the lower court has been tasked to reevaluate the amount of the damages.
The award-winning director had a long struggle in live after pleading guilty to one account of statutory rape with a 13-year-old girl back in 1977. Now, the Poland Supreme Court has rejected the ruling to extradite the filmmaker to the United States.

Roman Polanski Freed From Fear Of Being Extradited To The United States For Raping A Minor 40 Years Ago

Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro requested to overrule an extradition refusal that was made by a lower court in Krakow back in 2015. Ziobro urged the courts to overrule the previous verdict in the account of what he believes to be proper justice. However, he lost when the three-judge panel of Poland yet again rejected to extradite him to the United States for a crime he committed almost forty years ago, to which he pleaded guilty under an agreement with the opposing party. In exchange for pleading guilty back in 1977, the court will have to drop all other charges and then sentenced him to prison for a psych evaluation.

After a thorough evaluation, Polanski was released after 42 days who evaluated him and believed he was mentally sound and unlikely to do the crime again. He was supposed to be sent back to prison for the remainder of 90 days but fled the country before he was ever sentenced. Thus, the United States has been seeking for Polanski to be brought back to the country for a proper ruling of justice. However, for the second time already, he was refused to be extradited back to the US which has been a relief for him and his lawyers.

Polanski Both A Citizen Of France And Poland; Can Work Freely In The Latter Country

One of his lawyers believes that he will not be treated well in the United States prison and that he has already paid for his crimes claiming it would be heinous to make him pay for it again. Polanski is currently residing in France wherein the court does not extradite their citizens. Even though he was not extradited back to the United States, he was still allowed to freely work in Poland for the time being. Polanski refuses to give any comment about the latest overruling but is assured to be relieved that this is finally over.
Volkswagen is currently in the hot-seat after its scandal on diesel-emission cheating issues. However, the issue may be even bigger that what the people had anticipated or even heard of in the past few months.

Volkswagen Diesel-Emission Testing Cheating Scandal Not Yet Over After A Year

It can be recalled that the US government was definitely not happy about Volkswagen cheating on their government emission tests and had filed for the company to pay $16 Billion in fines and compensation. However, the amount was not yet all final to compensate the owners and the dealers, since there may be more inclusive of possible criminal charges. Moreover, cheating on emission testing was not only applied in the US but all over the world. Now, South Korea has stepped up and battled with the German automaker which could affect the investors of the company.

South Korea To File Criminal Charges Against Volkswagen For False And Deceptive Advertisements

Yesterday, the South Korean government has announced that they file a formal complaint against the executives of Volkswagen's South Korean Business (both the former and current ones). This is in regards to its diesel-emission cheating scandal. In line with this, the government has fined Volkswagen with $31.9 Million worth of fines for advertising false and pretentious information on its diesel-powered vehicles to be supposedly environment-friendly. They have claimed that Volkswagen has made false and deceptive claims in their advertisements. The fine they have filed against the company has been the highest ever to be fined in South Korea.

This could mean a lot of work for Volkswagen to get back on the track, and gain the trust of its dealers and car owners. Even though South Korea hasn't taken much a big of a percentage in terms of their market, announcement on filing its fines could greatly affect the global marketing strategy of Volkswagen. The government is definitely not holding back on filing criminal charges against the German automaker, and the latter is yet to make a statement on this matter.
Global communities continue to combat the rising threat of "Zika Virus". Each region implemented strategies on protecting the territory versus"Zika". This virus quickly spreads in populous places, the reason why travel advisories have been issued.

A classification can be considered 'epidemic' if the 'Zika Virus" is new to the area, meaning nobody in the location has acquired the illness, another verifying factor is the presence of mosquito carrying Zika virus roams within the area and the immunity vaccine is not yet available in the area.

The mosquito responsible for viral transport is the Aedes aegypti, which are iniquitous to human, and lives within the community. The growing number of babies affected by "Zika" is ballooning even in New York City. July 2016 when the city had the first infant born with Microcephaly, an illness related to the effect of "Zika Virus". The child is reported to have unusually smaller brain. This condition leads to psychomotor development concerns.

According to the Health Department, over 200 infants were born from Zika virus infected mothers. Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett, says out of 8,000 New Yorkers who underwent Zika testing, 962 got positive results, where 325 of them are expectant moms. Basett says, the "Zika" effect on adults is quite manageable as it is only manifested with flu-like symptoms, rash, joint pains, eye redness and fever. While "Zika Virus" on babies, have deterrent effect on their health and mental development.

Statistics revealed 14 infants in New York City were "Zika Virus" positive. Sadly, five of them acquired congenital Zika virus syndrome. This illness would mean taking a lifetime toll on the children's quality of life and their family as well.

The Health Department continues to remind everyone the risk of acquiring "Zika Virus" especially to the new born babies.
Fairbanks, AK (99707)

Today

Cloudy skies with late-night snow showers. Low near 10F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 50%. Snow accumulations less than one inch..

Tonight

Cloudy skies with late-night snow showers. Low near 10F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 50%. Snow accumulations less than one inch.
New Delhi:

The security forces on Thursday gunned down three Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists in an encounter in Arwani, Anantnag in Jammu and Kashmir, reports said. The combing operation was underway.

A search operation was launched in Hassanpora village in Bijbehara area of Anantnag following specific intelligence inputs about the presence of militants in the village, a police official said.A

He said as the security forces were conducting the search operation, the militants fired upon them triggering an encounter.

Sources said that security forces also have inputs about presence of Lashkar-e-Taibaas operational commander Abu Dujana in the area.

Dujana is a Pakistani citizen and he carries a Rs 12.50 lakh reward on his head.



The latest encounter comes seven days after a suspected militant was gunned down by the security forces during an anti-militancy operation in the same district on December 1.A

#FLASH Fresh exchange of fire between terrorists and security forces starts in Arwani, Anantnag (J&K). More details awaited. a ANI (@ANI_news) December 8, 2016

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

It has been one month since the PM Narendra Modi demonetised higher currency notes on November 8. Here is the chronology of events happened during last one-month during this demonetisation move.

Nov.08 : PM Narendra Modi in his televised address to nation took decision to demonetise higher denomination Rs500 and Rs1,000 currency notes. Allowed exchange of currency up to Rs 4,000 allowed at banks, ATM withdrawal limited to Rs2,000. Also, announced that banks and ATMs will be closed on following day (ie 9th November).



Nov 9: Banks and ATMs closed. Government said old notes to be accepted at metro stations, ASI monuments, toll plazas and medicine shops, petrol pumps, crematorium. Government announced that now- delegalise currency notes Rs500 and Rs1000 will be accepted for making payments towards fees, charges, taxes and penalties payable to the central and state governments including municipal and local bodies, and other utility charges like water and electricity.



Nov.10 Banks reopen after a day. Massive serpentine queues outside banks and ATMs, as people gathered to deposit or exchange old currency.



Nov.12 Various reports of deaths attributed to waiting in the queues. The Sensex registered the biggest single-day fall in nine months.



Nov.13 Currency exchange limit raised to Rs4,500 and ATM withdrawal to Rs 2,500. Cash exchange limit over the counter increased to Rs 4500. The weekly limit for withdrawal from bank accounts increased to Rs 24,000, the daily limit is removed.



Nov. 14 Government extends existing exemptions for usage of old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes at various places up to 24 November midnight.



Nov.15 Government asked banks were asked to use indelible ink marks on those exchanging money, to deter people from coming again and again ; the election commission raises concerns.



Nov.16 Parliament session begins; opposition parties up in arms against the government over the suffering of the poor.



Nov.17 Currency exchange limit lowered to Rs2,000. Cash exchange limit over the counter reduced to Rs 2000. In case of a wedding, families allowed to withdraw up to Rs 2,50,000 from their own bank accounts.

Agriculture traders allowed to withdraw Rs 50000. Farmers are allowed to draw upto a 25000/- per week in cash from their loan (including Kisan Credit Card limit) or deposit accounts subject to their accounts being compliant with the extant KYC norms



Nov.18 The Supreme Court observed poeple are frantic over demonetisation drive.



Nov.22 RBI says banks have received Rs5.3 lakh crore in deposits since November 8.



Nov 21 To further support farmers for the current Rabi crop, the government allowed farmers to purchase seeds with the old high denomination bank notes of Rs.500 from the Centres

Nov 23 The Central Government took various decisions for the benefit of farmers in the current Rabi Season and to promote digital payments in the economy. The government directed banks to waive debit card transaction charges till December 31 to encourage digital payment. To ensure quick and unhindered flow of credit and cash to farmers during the current rabi season, the government allowed Nabard to disburse Rs 21,000 crore through cooperative banks to farmers. Finance Ministry gave nod that people can deposit the now-invalid Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination in their Post Office savings accounts, the. The ministry had earlier said the demonetised notes cannot be used for making deposits in small savings schemes. The government also doubled the monthly transaction limit through e-wallets to Rs 20,000.

Nov.24 Old notes can now only be deposited at banks and not exchanged. Old notes cannot be exchanged at banks. Only foreigners allowed to exchange currency up to Rs 5000 per week. Old notes of Rs 1000 cannot be used. Government allowed use of Rs 500 to pay for fuel, mobile recharges, water and power bills. Government-run school and college fees can also be paid with old notes of Rs 500.

Nov.27 RBI governor Urjit Patel justified demonetisation. He said the new notes are difficult to counterfeit.

Dec 1 Government clarifies that the apprehension sought to be created that the jewellery with the household which is acquired-out of disclosed sources or exempted income shall become taxable under the proposed Taxation Laws (Second Amendment) Bill, 2016, is totally unfounded and baseless

Dec. 2 Last day to use old Rs 500 notes at petrol pumps, toll plazas, air ticket counters

Dec. 3 Crisil cuts GDP forecast to 6.9% on note crunch. 1.80 lakh ATMs re-calibrated to dispense Rs 500, 2,000 notes

ALSO READ: PM Modi redefined new normal in country; demonetisation exposed hidden black money: Finance Minister Jaitley

For all the Latest Business News, Economy News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with senior minister in Parliament on Thursday to find a way to break the deadlock between the government and the Opposition over the demonetisation issue.

The logjam in the Parliament's Winter Session has entered its 17th day with the opposition parties still adamant on PM Modi's apology and holding the debate under Rule 184.

Earlier in the day, Opposition leaders observed 'black day' to mark one month of demonetisation move in front of Gandhi statue inside Parliament premises.

Here are the updates on House proceedings:

2.55pm

# Lok Sabha adjourned for the day

2.46pm

# PM has said that till December 30th, the situation will be back to normal and we're trying to solve all problems: Arun Jaitley in Lok Sabha

# Congress was in power from 2004-14, I challenge them to tell about even one step taken to curb black money in the 10 years: Jaitley in Lok Sabha

2pm

# Rajya Sabha adjourned for the day amid uproar

#A No longer will the progress and prosperity of rural India be curtailed by corruption and black money. Our villages must get their due: PM Modi on Twitter

# I have always said that the government's measure will bring a degree of inconvenience but this short term pain will pave way for long term gains: PM Modi

We also have a historic opportunity to embrace increased cashless payments & integrate latest technology in economic transactions. a Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 8, 2016

No longer will the progress & prosperity of rural India be curtailed by corruption & black money. Our villages must get their due. a Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 8, 2016

# The government's decision has several gains for farmers, traders, labourers, who are the economic backbone of our nation: PM Modi

# I salute the people of India for wholeheartedly participating in this ongoing Yagna against corruption, terrorism and black money: PM Modi on Twitter

12pm

# Rajya Sabha adjourned till 2pm

11.47am

# Lok Sabha adjourned till 12pm

11.22am

# Rajya Sabha adjourned till 12pm

# More than 100 people have died post-demonetisation, we wanted that they must be paid homage in the Parliament but the government refused it: Ghulam Nabi Azad in RS

11.15am

# Opposition parties are making their accusations, but the moment we stand up to answer, they storm the well of House to protest: Venkaiah Naidu in Rajya Sabha

# Uproar in Rajya Sabha over demonetisation issue

11am

# PM should come to Parliament to debate on demonetisation, Rahul Gandhi before session begins

Govt must take some follow up measures&significantly increase infrastructure &social sector expenditures,reduce taxes substantially-SKanoria a ANI (@ANI_news) December 8, 2016

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

A tourist guide, accused of raping an American woman along with his accomplices in a five-star hotel in Connaught Place earlier this year, was questioned by police on Thursday after his arrival from Nepal.

Police had identified the man and contacted him while he was in Nepal. He had assured that on his return, he will join the probe even as he denied any involvement in the incident.

He returned on Thursday and was taken from the airport by the investigating team for questioning, sources said. With the tourist guide joining the probe, police are hoping that they will be able to identify the other accused.

A list of possible suspects has been prepared and police are questioning them though none of them has confessed about their involvement in the sexual assault, the sources said.

Meanwhile, the woman is likely to come to India to record her statement and help police in identifying the accused, said a senior police officer. She is currently in the process of arranging funds for her visit and is contacting her law firm here and the US embassy to help her in making arrangements, sources said.

Currently, police doesn't have actionable clues in the matter as the CCTV footage of the time period when the incident took place has been erased.

The hotel had informed police that they store CCTV footage recordings of a particular time period and the recordings of the time frame when the alleged incident have been erased, sources had said.

Police have been mulling the possibility of sending the hard disks and cameras to CFSL or FSL to try and retrieve the erased footage that may give them clues, they added.

The woman had alleged that she was raped by the men for two days. They also threatened her with dire consequences if she reported the matter to anybody. She had also stated that the accused had made a video of the act and had threatened to make it public if she reported the matter to anyone.
Bangkok:

Thai authorities have ordered a controversial Buddhist temple to suspend its 24-hour TV channel, as police redouble efforts to arrest the spiritual leader of the scandal-hit sect.

A cat-and-mouse game between investigators and the powerful Wat Dhammakaya temple in Bangkok has staggered on for months over allegations its former abbot accepted illicit funds.

Police are reluctant to raid the super-rich temples 1,000-acre compound after previous attempts saw thousands of devotees of the breakaway order turn out to defend the 72-year-old monk.

Authorities suspect Phra Dhammachayo of accepting embezzled funds worth 1.2 billion baht (USD 33 million) from the owner of a cooperative bank who was jailed.

Eager to avoid clashing with devotees on temple grounds, police have repeatedly allowed deadlines for the monks surrender expire.

But the stand-off has heated up in recent weeks, with authorities leveling new accusations against the well-connected monk and moving to target the temples acting abbot for sheltering him.

Yesterday Thai broadcasting authorities ordered the temple to suspend its television channel for 15 days, citing inappropriate content.

The channel appeared to be off the air on Thursday.

Colonel Paisit Wongmuang, chief of Thailands Department of Special Investigations (DSI), accused the temple of using its media arm to lure supporters to the compound and thwart polices attempted raids.

In previous searches we found that the temple has used television as propaganda to attract people to come for (religious reasons), but instead used people to meditate and block the temples gates, he said.

The satellite station, called Dhammakaya Media Channel (DMC), broadcasts across multiple continents and airs everything from meditation teachings to cartoons and daily news.

It is part of a broader PR arsenal, including print media and active social media pages, that has established Wat Dhammakayas presence in countries spanning the globe.

In a statement released yesterday, the temple denied the polices allegations and said it was preparing to fight the black-out order.

While the movement says its core focus is on teaching meditation, critics accuse the sect of propagating a cult-like brand of Buddhism that promises benefits in the afterlife in exchange for donations.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

German club Borussia Dortmund held defending Champions Real Madrid to a 2-2 draw while Porto and Sevilla secured berths in the last-16 stage of the competition.

Dortmund made sure of top spot in Group F after fighting back from 2-0 down against defending champions Madrid, leaving he Spanish giants with theoretically a tougher draw to make the quarter-finals.

Marco Reus was the star of the late show at the Santiago Bernabeu, hitting the equaliser two minutes from time. A double from Karim Benzema looked to have Real well set to leapfrog the Germans and secure a home game in the second leg of their last-16 tie.

However, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang reduced the arrears before substitute Reus slid in to turn Aubameyang's dangerous low cross high into the net. Dortmund scored 21 goals in their group campaign, the most for any team in a group stage in the history of the tournament.

"Real had some big chances in the second half, but we hoped for a lucky punch and we got it," said Reus. "'Auba' was world-class with his pass and I was happy to get on the end of it -- the goal was 99 percent him and one from me."

Sevilla made the last 16 for the first time in seven years after soaking up the pressure to draw 0-0 away to Lyon. Lyon -- who lost 1-0 in Seville in September and trailed the Spaniards by three points -- needed to win by two clear goals to go through at Sevilla's expense from Group H.

But they could not find a way through, with Corentin Tolisso and Mathieu Valbuena both hitting the woodwork in the first half. Table-topping Juventus defeated Dinamo Zagreb 2-0 with Gonzalo Higuain and Daniele Rugani on target.The Croatians finished their campaign having failed to score a single goal, only the third team to achieve such a dubious distinction.
New Delhi:

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday launched an operation to inquire about deposits at over 50 bank branches, with a special eye on Jan Dhan, student and dormant accounts, across the country to detect money laundering and hawala instances through these channels.

Multiple teams of the ED, accompanied by auditors from the Department of Financial Services in the Finance Ministry,swooped early morning at these branches of at least 10 banks,both in the private and public sector, to "unearth huge deviation in the pattern of deposits after November 8."

"The action has been taken in wake of allegations to the effect that certain bank officials are involved in conversion of black money into white in lieu of their commission for facilitating the same," the agency said in a statement.

The agency said it is keeping a watch on those accounts in which huge amount of money has been deposited postdemonetisation. ED said its sleuths are "also checking those accounts that have shown suspicious transactions after demonetisation.The teams inquired the accounts where sudden spike in deposits and thereafter corresponding transfers have taken place.

"Special accounts like Jan Dhan, student accounts and dormant accounts would also be the focus area of investigations." The agency conducted the operations at branches located in major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad,Kolkata, Chennai and others based on records of transaction of these branches where the maximum amount of old notes have been deposited or huge cash has been deposited in bank accounts in one go or in a staggered fashion giving rise to suspicion of suspect deposits.

"Examination of cash book and ledger of banks on random basis were done to see which denomination notes and how much came out when business of the day started, notes deposited and received till the end of the day were analysed and verified. "Special attention was paid to third party deposits with or without authority letters including scrutiny of shell companies," it said at the end of operations late evening. The statement added that the inquiries were made to determine transactions "in light of RBI Notification ofNovember 8, 2016 which required every bank to submit detailsof exchange of currency in Annexure-6 on a daily basis.

"The ED, tasked with enforcing two important laws to checkfinancial crimes--Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)and Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA)--had also sourcedSuspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) and Cash TransactionReports (CTRs) of the banks under scanner from various financial intelligence agencies before launching theoperation. The agency has arrested two Axis Bank employees working at a branch in Delhi and a Chartered Accountant while probing a similar instance of using old currency to allegedly convert black money into white. ED had also conducted searches at 40 locations across thecountry in order to check black money held with currencyexchanges, hawala dealers and others.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Washington:

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, considered to be an 'old friend' of Beijing, has been chosen to be the next US Ambassador to China by US President-elect Donald Trump.

The decision was taken by Trump after he had provoked the Communist giant's ire via his protocol-shattering talk with the Taiwanese president.

Branstad, 70, has longstanding relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping dating back to mid-1980s, when President Xi was a young county official seeking a closer relationship with Iowa's robust agriculture sector.

"Governor Branstad's decades of experience in public service and long-time relationship with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders make him the ideal choice to serve as America's Ambassador to China," Trump said.

"He successfully developed close trade ties with China while serving as chief executive of the Hawkeye State. That experience will serve him well as he represents America's interests and further develops a mutually beneficial relationship with Chinese leadership," he said.

Also Read: Donald Trumps 10-minute phone call to Taiwan provokes Chinas ire

"After long discussions with my family, I am honoured and humbled to accept President-elect Trump's nomination to represent our great country as Ambassador to China," Branstad said.

"I have known President Xi Jinping for many years and consider him an old friend. I look forward to building on our long friendship to cultivate and strengthen the relationship between our two countries and to benefit our economy," he said.

The longest-serving governor in American history, he has led six trade missions to China meeting with numerous provincial governors, ministerial leaders and local officials.

He is considered an "old friend", a culturally significant title, by President Xi and has a long-standing relationship with the Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai.

The announcement was welcomed by China.

"Branstad is an old friend of the Chinese people and we welcome him to play a greater role in promoting Sino-US relations. The US ambassador to China is an important bridge between the US government and the Chinese government," said Lu Kang, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

The government and the All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board on Thursday hailed the observations of the Allahabad High Court on triple talaq as a welcome step, but the All India Muslim Personal Law Board was dismissive, saying the Supreme Court will deliver the final verdict.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray cautioned that the issue of triple talaq should not go the way of Shah Bano case due to vote bank politics.

Welcoming the judgement, Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said women should get justice and everyone agrees to it.

Shaista Ambar, chairperson of All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board, who had earlier expressed reservations over a uniform civil code, today said the practice of triple talaq was unjustified.

It is an atrocity...no law of Allah tolerates atrocity, she said.

Amber hoped that Muslim women will get justice based on the Constitution as well as Islamic laws.

Minister of State for Women and Child Development Krishna Raj said, Nobody understood the agony of women. Today, the High Court has taken a welcome step. It will help boost the morale of women.

But the AIMPLB seemed dismissive of the high courts observations. Its member Kamal Farooqui said the matter of triple talaq is already before the Supreme Court. So that will be the judgement.

He said the issue of triple talaq is not restricted to Muslims alone. It is the question of all those religious entities who have been given guarantee under the Constitution to follow their own faith and religion, he said.

Thackeray said the observations should be respected. It has a lot of importance for the country. Due to vote bank politics, the issue (of triple talaq) should not go the Shah Bano case way, he cautioned.

The court has observed that divorce is permissible in Islam only in case of extreme emergency. When all efforts for effecting a reconciliation have failed, the parties may proceed to a dissolution of marriage by Talaq or by Khola.

It has held that triple talaq is cruel and raised a question whether the Muslim Personal law could be amended to alleviate the sufferings of Muslim women.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Dhaka:

Five members of a banned Islamist extremist group were on Thursday nabbed in Bangladesh as they were regrouping in a bid to free their arrested leaders, a day after the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of the outfits chief.

The five were members of Harkatul Jihad al Islami (HuJI) and were arrested in separate operations, police said.

The elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) found bomb-making materials from their three-storey hideout in Chittagong. Three militants were arrested in the operation carried out on the lead provided by two militants arrested from another area in the southern port city.

The five arrested in separate incidents are HuJI members, RAB media wing director Mufti Mahmud Khan told reporters. They were trying to regroup after a long period of inactivity, Khan was quoted as saying by bdnews24 online.

He said the militants were planning attacks to free their arrested leaders.

The two suspects caught earlier - Tajul Islam and Nazimuddin - had pistols in their possession, Khan said adding that seven gun magazines, 12 IEDs and bomb-making materials were found in the hideout from the three were arrested later.

Tajul Islam is HuJIs chief coordinator in Dhaka. His name came up after the arrest of HuJI leader Mufti Mainul Islam. Tajul has been central to their organisation attempts in Chittagong.

Nazimuddin has close ties to HuJI leaders Mufti Hannan and Rouf who are in prison, he said.

Mufti Abdul Hannan is the chief of HuJI in Bangladesh and his death sentence in a terror case for attacking the British envoy in Bangladesh in 2004 that left three policemen dead was upheld yesterday by the Supreme Court.

The ruling cleared the way for Hannans execution and the regrouping of the militants could be a desperate attempt by the outfit to free the militant leader.

HuJI is accused of launching a series of deadly blasts targeting a Christian church, an Ahmadi Muslim mosque, and rallies of secular activists. The US several years ago designated HuJi as a foreign terrorist organisation and specially designated global terrorist. Its involvement is also suspected in several bomb blasts in India.

The militant hideout was seen littered with jihadi books, ball bearings, wires and knives, the report said.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Kolkata:

Sharpening her attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over demonetisation, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said he must resign because the move has led to economic disaster in the country and he has no moral right to continue.

Alleging the countrys growth and business have been hit due to demonetisation, she said the Prime Minister doesnt trust anyone and he doesnt understand what is good for the country.

There is no teamwork. He did not consult experts. It is a one-man dictatorship. It is a one-man made disaster. It is a dangerous tendency, she told a press conference at the state secretariat.

After committing mistakes, he (PM) is showing chest and shoulder. What is this? Such figure is required in films. Ravana too had broad shoulder, she said.

She said if she were the PM, she would apologise to the people and talked about rectifying myself. He must step down. He has no moral right to continue, she said.

I am sorry to say that the (central) government got derailed totally under the present PM. He is not saying what will happen and the day after. He must clarify, she remarked.

Describing her campaign against demonetisation a fight between Modi and the people, she said the people wanted to know why he did it. Who got the benefit of demonetisation. The PM and his associates are the beneficiary. The PM is protecting black money, she said.

Only the PM who stays at 7 RCR, will eat, others will not, she said. She said her party has been raising the issue on all platforms.

We have met the President, raised the issue in Parliament, Assembly and in public meetings. All opposition parties are fighting together. I am in touch wit other opposition parties as well. I will fight even if I am alone, she said.

Banerjee said, If people raised voice, they will be dubbed as bad and holder of black money. On the land purchase by the BJP, she said, They have amassed huge wealth. How did the fakir get so much money?

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Its been 30 days of announcement of demonetisation. During all these days, people were seen standing at never-ending queues as they struggle to withdraw their own money from banks and ATMs. Ever since the note ban came into effect, demonetisation and cash crunch has been the talk of the town.

The Opposition has not stopped attacking the Narendra Modi government over the issue even after a month of demonetisation. The controversies over demonetisation refuse to die down. The debate over currency ban in Parliament still continues.

However, amid strong attack by Opposition over demonetisation, PM Modi on Thursday took to Twitter to assert that the short term pain will pave the way for long term gains and insisted that farmers, traders and labourers stand to gain from this step.

In a series of tweets, Modi spoke about the benefits of demonetisation and said the country has a historic opportunity to embrace increased cashless payments. I salute the people of India for wholeheartedly participating in this ongoing Yagna against corruption, terrorism & black money, he said.

So, what after 30 days? Has the situation eased? Have people overcome cash crunch? News Nation tries to find out answers to many such questions with a special programme on 30 days of demonetisation with a panel of experts. The panel also includes politicians from Congress and BJP.

The panellists are Siddharth Nath Singh (BJP), Meem Afzal (National Spokesperson , Congress), Prof Gourav Vallabh (Economist), Prof Aman aggarwal (Economist), Vipin Garg (Tax expert), Om Thanvi (Sr journalist), N.K Singh (Sr journalist), Mahamandaleshwar Naval Kishore Das and Akash Jindal (Market expert).

In a surprise move, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on November 8 announced that the high value currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 will be discontinued.

Here are the live updates:

# Prime Minister should reveal the names of businessmen whose loans have been waived, says Om Thanvi

# Prime Minister should listen to people's grievances, says Meem Afzal

# Cashless system is something which have in practise for long. But, it will be naive to say that demonetisation will end corruption, says Om Thanvi



# Prime Minister should look into people's plight, says Mahamandaleshwar Naval Kishore Das

# Cashless system will reduce corruption, strict laws have been implemented. Those party which did not acted on the orders of Supreme Court should not advise us, says N.K Singh

# Demonetisation will help in reducing corruption, says Siddharth Nath Singh

# 83 crore people living in rural areas and slums in urban areas have been affected, says Meem Afzal

# Corruption will remain intact with new currency notes of Rs 2000, says Om Thanvi

# Situation is improving, it will get better in furure. People who are having black money are only getting troubles: Siddharth Nath Singh

# First time there have been head-on collission with black money, we should support: N.K Singh

# Demonetisation will improve tax base of country and with that economic cycle will improve, says Siddharth Nath Singh

# There is problem in implementation of scheme, says Prof Gourav Vallabh

# It is only an estimation that economic situation will improve, it is emergency, says Om Thanvi

# Religious organisations will act responsibly, says Mahamandaleshwar Naval Kishore Das

# We talk about going cashless, but it is the banks which have become cashless, says Meem Afzal

# Currency ban has been implemented irresponsibly, says Meem Afzal

# Panelists question the component of black money that have been deposited in banks so far.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Visakhapatnam:

The customs officials have seized two kg of gold worth Rs 56.8 lakh at the Visakhapatnam airport and arrested three persons on the charge of smuggling.

Commissioner of Customs B Hareram said the contraband was found upon the search of two domestic passengers yesterday.

The third accused, who was travelling on the flight from Dubai, handed over the gold to the other two who boarded the flight at Hyderabad. All three were arrested and further investigation is underway, he said.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
USDA putting millions of Americans health at risk by allowing unapproved meat imported from China

Food safety experts have expressed serious concerns about an arrangement the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has made with the Chinese poultry industry. Though largely symbolic, according to reports, the American government has essentially given four major Chinese poultry producers permission to import U.S.-based chicken meat for processing, only to ship that chicken meat back into the U.S. for human consumption.

The allowance currently makes no economic sense, as it would cost far more to haul all that meat around from country to country as opposed to just getting the job done here, not to mention the serious risks of spoilage and contamination. But the ruling is there, and should a poultry company figure out a way to oblige slave labor in China as a way to make the setup financially feasible, Americans could soon see world-traveling chickens on their dinner plates.

As it currently stands, the USDA permits only countries that adhere to strict USDA-approved poultry standards to export chicken to China, and the only three countries that meet these standards are the U.S., Canada, and Chile. None of these countries has developed a workable plan for exporting and re-importing chicken, though, and thus the ruling is moot, at least for now  but not necessarily in the long term.

By most accounts, chicken producers have not found a way to make it economically viable, wrote Ben Rooney for CNN Money in a piece about the changing landscape for poultry processing. Still, the move is seen as a victory for Chinas poultry industry, since it means that at least some of its processors are up to U.S. Standards.

As usual, profits trump food safety

Perhaps the biggest concern with sending frozen U.S. chicken to China to be defrosted, deboned and/or separated, processed, refrozen, repackaged, and shipped back to the U.S. is the possibility of contamination and food poisoning. It would seem sanitarily prudent to simply process U.S. chickens in the U.S. to avoid the potential food safety risks, especially as they pertain to poultry  salmonella anyone?

But as usual, the even bigger concern is profits, as poultry producers at some point in the future could save a few bucks outsourcing their chicken processing operations. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), American poultry processors currently net about $11 per hour  not a huge amount of money but still significant. Meanwhile, Chinese workers currently earn anywhere between $1-2 per hour doing the exact same work.

Seafood producers in Washington State are already doing this type of thing with Alaskan salmon and Dungeness crab, according to reports. Companies like the Seattle-based Trident Seafood company routinely ship fish and crab to China for processing, including the deboning of salmon, the Chinese labor costs of which are one-fifth what they are in the U.S.

There are 36 pin bones in a salmon and the best way to remove them is by hand, Charles Bundrant, founder of Trident, which ships some 30 million pounds of its 1.2 billion-pound harvest to China for processing, told The Seattle Times. Something that would cost us $1 per pound labor here, they get it done for 20 cents in China.

Meat processing in general appears to be a dying industry in the U.S., at least in terms of seafood. In the years between 1995 and 2005, Alaska and Washington each lost about 20 percent of their processing jobs. Depending on how the Trump Administration handles international trade deals moving forward, the same scenario could befall the poultry industry as well.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalHealingMagazine.com

CNN.com

SeattleTimes.com

Submit a correction >>
NEW MILFORD  At a public forum Wednesday on a proposed solar power plant, many people asked why construction was planned on what are now 60 acres of tree-filled land on Candlewood Mountain.

One by one, residents from among the 25 who attended proposed different sites for the Ameresco Solar panel project.

Why not the Century Brass site, which had been in contention for a natural gas power plant earlier this year?

Maybe an old landfill, or open fields, they said.

Well, whyd you pick this site? asked Jim Munch, a longtime logger in Sherman. Thats a beautiful piece of land. Its a darn shame.

The project, which aims to create enough electricity to power 2,400 homes, would need about 60 acres of forest land grown over the past century to be cleared.

But that spot is the best fit for solar in New Milford, Ameresco Engineer Michael Zimmer said.

Hidden in the woods

Ameresco representatives  whose company would lease the land and run the panels for the next 20 years  told the audience that the south side of Candlewood Mountain is perfect for solar. Its only a mile from the Rocky River power station, where power would enter the grid, and trees would largely buffer the 78,000 solar panels from sight.

It would be hard to find a site to hide solar better than this, said Joel Lindsay, another Ameresco engineer.

The proposal is for Commercial Services Realty to buy a 307-acre parcel, clear 60 acres of foliage and lease 80 total acres of land to the solar company. Ameresco would put up the panels and maintain them for the next two decades, and electricity produced would channel into Rocky River and enter the grid. After 20 years, according to contracts signed now, the panels would be packed up and hauled away.

Residents who live near the proposed panels, including Town Council Member Katy Francis, have said they worry about the environmental impacts of deforestation on the mountain slope.

Francis has said the panels could contribute to stormwater runoff and put wildlife in danger. Old stone walls, built more than a century ago, could be destroyed or damaged, she said.

Lindsay contended that his company is very aware of the environmental impact of the project, and must pass a 12-element checklist including studies on runoff and wildlife impact.

Were just at the beginning, Zimmer said. And this marks the beginning of a real concerted effort to do this the right way.

Tax-revenue projections

On Wednesday, the solar engineers, with Peter DAddeo and Bill LaMontagne of Commercial Services, told residents that they dont need to worry about the environmental impact of the proposed array.

There would be no paving, they said, so water runoff would remain the same. And the aluminum racks which hold the panels would be staked into the ground and drilled into rocks. When they leave in 20 years, the land would be the same as it was before  albeit, with no trees  they said.

Atop that, the panels would generate $2.1 million in town tax revenue during the next 20 years, the solar group said. If the property were left alone, they said, the town would only see $380,000 over the same span. And the project, which would cost $45 to $50 million, would bring local businesses and labor $12 to $15 million of the money, they said.

Near the end of the meeting, residents were still wary. Several said they supported the project but worried the land would later become an eyesore  full of empty tin boxes  when the solar project leaves.

LaMontagne and DAddeo, the developers, said that in 20 years, they plan to restore the site or bring in another green energy company.

The project proposal is just one of several selected in October in response to requests for proposals from Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut to meet the groupings energy goal of 20 percent alternate power sources by 2020.

If the project goes to plan  with another public information session tentatively planned for January  the solar array would be online by the fall of 2018.

Just as the meeting finished up, one of Munchs two worker-boot-wearing sons brought him a business card from the front of the room.

If youre a logger, DAddeo said. Wed like to hear from you.
Nepal's Supreme Court summons PM, Speaker over amendment Bill

Nepal,Immigration/Law/Rights,Indo-Pak/Pakistan,Politics, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

Kathmandu, Dec 8 (IANS) Nepal's Supreme Court on Thursday summoned Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' and Speaker Onsari Gharti Magar on a plea that has challenged the Constitution Amendment Bill tabled in parliament.

A single bench of Justice Jagadish Sharma Poudel issued notice on the government to come up with a written reply within December 20 clarifying the reasons for bringing the Constitution Amendment bill on topics such as altering the borders of the provinces, naturalised citizenship, representation on the National Assembly and the language commission which, the plea maintained, were against the spirit of the Constitution.

The apex court issued the notice in response to a writ petition filed by five persons on behalf of the Ex-MPs' Forum challenging the Constitution Amendment Bill.

In order to address the grievances and demands of the agitating Madhes-based political parties, the Nepal government had registered an amending Bill in Parliament expecting that it will end the one-year-long political logjam.

The main opposition CPN (UML) has described the amendment as anti-national as the Bill seeks to carve out a new state in the western region of Nepal by splitting Province No.5 into two exclusive Provinces No.2 and No.5 to meet the demands of the ethnic Madhesi community.

In the writ petition, the petitioners had argued that only the federal parliament and the provincial assemblies had the right to change the borders and the number of provinces.

--IANS

giri/lok/dg
Indian national in Pakistani jail safe: Pakistan

Delhi,National,Indo-Pak/Pakistan,Defence/Security,Diplomacy, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) Pakistan has conveyed to India that an Indian national lodged in a Pakistani jail even after completing his prison term "is safe, secure and in good health", a senior official said on Thursday

"Our mission is closely following up this matter and has issued more than 42 note verbales to the Pakistan Foreign Office," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in his weekly media briefing here referring to the case of Hamid Nehal Ansari.

"In response to our latest note verbale dated November 15, Pakistan responded on November 25 stating that concerned authorities in Pakistan are 'mindful of their responsibilities regarding Hamid Nehal Ansari who is safe, secure and in good health'," he stated.

Ansari, an engineer and business professional, had gone to Kabul in Afghanistan on November 4, 2012, on a tourist visa for a job in aviation. He entered Pakistan on November 12.

From his e-mail accounts, it was revealed that he was in touch with a Pakistani girl on Facebook and had gone to Pakistan, where he was arrested and sentenced to three years in jail.

Swarup also pointed out on Thursday that Pakistan was yet to provide India consular access to Ansari.

--IANS

ab/dg
BBC under probe for allegedly defaming new Thai king

Thailand,International, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

Bangkok, Dec 8 (IANS) Thai Prime Minister Prayut-chan-o-cha said on Wednesday that BBC must be prosecuted when the British broadcaster violates the law in Thailand, local media reported.

The remarks came after 10 police officers visited the BBC's office in Bangkok. They reportedly opened an investigation into the BBC's local language service for alleged defamation of Thailand's new king, Xinhua news agency reported.

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon confirmed he ordered authorities to investigate into the matter.

"Anyone who have broken the law and caused damage must be punished," he said.

He was referring to a profile published online by the BBC's Thai-language service about the newly crowned king. The piece, released on December 2 after Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn was proclaimed King Rama X, brought the new king's personal life to light, adding that he did not enjoy the same level of respect as his revered late father.

The article was widely shared on social media and some Thais said its content was insulting to the new king.

Thailand has a strict lese-majeste law against any insult of the monarchy, which carries a penalty of three to 15 years in prison.

A BBC spokesman said the BBC is confident that its article adheres to the BBC's editorial principles to bring impartial, independent and accurate news.

The Thai police arrested a student on Saturday for sharing BBC's article, releasing him on bail the next day. It was the first arrest under the lese-majeste law since prince Vajiralongkorn became the king.

--IANS

sku/
Israel rejects Hollande's invite for Paris peace conference

Israel,International, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

Jerusalem, Dec 8 (IANS) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday talked over the phone with France's President Francois Hollande, declining his invitation to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris in December.

A statement released by the Prime Minister's Office said Netanyahu agrees to meet Abbas but not in the framework of the international peace conference that France tries to advance, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Netanyahu told Hollande that if there was no international conference in Paris, he would meet Abbas for direct talks without preconditions," the statement read.

"Israel will not participate in the international conference, which would not contribute to achieving peace," the statement added.

Israel has repeatedly rejected the French initiative, calling instead for direct talks.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Palestinian presidency announced that it has not received an official invitation for a trilateral meeting.

--IANS

sku/
12 IS terrorists, nine civilians killed in Iraq airstrikes

Iraq,International, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

Ramadi, Dec 8 (IANS) At least 12 terrorists affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) group and nine civilians were killed on Wednesday in airstrikes in an IS-held town near Iraq's western border with Syria, security and medical sources said.

An airstrike, believed to be conducted by the US-led coalition aircraft, bombed two IS positions in the town of al-Qaim in Iraq's western province of Anbar, destroying the positions and leaving 12 terrorists killed and five others wounded, a source from Anbar's provincial Operations Command told Xinhua.

Another airstrike occurred at night and struck a residential building in the central town, killing nine people and wounding 20 others, a medical source from the provincial health department said.

The attacks come as the Iraqi security forces backed by anti-IS international coalition are carrying out a major offensive to drive out the IS terrorists from its last major stronghold in and around Mosul.

--IANS

sku/
Pakistan to work closely with Trump administration: Fatemi

United States,Indo-Pak/Pakistan,Politics,Diplomacy, Thu, 08 Dec 2016 IANS

Washington, Dec 8 (IANS) Pakistan is looking forward to work closely with the new US administration over regional security and to help resolve the Kashmir issue, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi has said.

He made the remarks in Washington while interacting with the current US administration and as part of reaching out to officials likely to join the incoming Trump administration.

In an interview with NBC News this week, Vice President-elect Mike Pence said Trump intended to be fully engage with both Pakistan and India to promote regional peace. He also suggested that the president-elect could play a role in resolving longstanding international disputes, such as Kashmir.

Talking to the US press, Fatemi emphasised that Pakistan wanted relations between the two countries to further strengthen.

The special assistant stressed that Pakistan could play a significant role in promoting peace and stability not just in Afghanistan but the entire region. Pakistan has confluence of interests with the US and there is a solid track record of both working together over seven decades, he said.

The special assistant underlined the need for a sustained dialogue process between Pakistan and India to resolve their long-standing differences including that of Kashmir.

Fatemi also spoke about the widespread and homegrown uprising in Jammu and Kashmir, which the Indian government has been trying to "suppress using brute force".

"Over 16,000 Kashmiris have been injured and approximately 600 blinded by using pellet guns. In addition, the number of ceasefire violations have increased during recent months," he said adding that these violations had targeted innocent civilians, which amount to a "war crime".

--IANS

ahm/
MONTREAL, Dec. 8, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - National Bank is proud to announce that its subsidiary, Advanced Bank of Asia Limited (ABA Bank), was named Cambodia's "Bank of the Year 2016" by The Banker magazine.

This distinction reflects ABA Bank's performance and commitment to excellence as it celebrates its 20th anniversary. This is ABA Bank's third such distinction this year, having been named the "Best Bank in Cambodia 2016" by international publications Euromoney and Global Finance.

"ABA Bank has been growing steadily over the past few years. We are proud to see its performance recognized through a number of awards, including this one from The Banker," said Karen Leggett, Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice-President  Corporate Development at National Bank. "Thanks to a talented team and a sound business model, ABA Bank is well positioned to continue its growth over the coming years."

ABA Bank, a National Bank subsidiary in Cambodia

Founded in 1996, ABA Bank is one of Cambodia's premier financial institutions and boasts the third largest branch network in the country, with 42 branches serving some 150,000 clients. National Bank acquired a 10% stake in ABA Bank in 2014, followed by further investments that brought its share to 42% in 2015, and 90% in May 2016.

A targeted development strategy for emerging markets

National Bank's presence in Cambodia falls under a strategic approach that aims to expand into emerging markets. This measured international expansion employs rigorous selection criteria and rests on a long-term growth strategy. In addition to its stake in ABA Bank, National Bank has other holdings including a 17.5% stake in AfrAsia Bank in Mauritius and a 24% stake in NSIA, a financial group based in Cote d'Ivoire. These institutions will serve as growth drivers and open up potential opportunities for National Bank clients seeking to grow their business abroad.

As of the first quarter of 2017, these activities will be reported under a new business segment, U.S. Specialty Finance and International.

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes certain forward-looking statements. These statements are inherently subject to significant risks, uncertainties and changes in circumstances, many of which are beyond the control of the Bank or of ABA Bank, including, risks relating to changes in general economic and market conditions in the areas where the Bank and ABA Bank do business; the effects of competition in the markets in which the Bank and ABA Bank operate; and the Bank's ability to complete the integration of ABA Bank's activities successfully. Except as required by law, the Bank does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, by it or on its behalf. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is presented for the purpose of interpreting the information contained herein and may not be appropriate for other purpose.

About National Bank of Canada

With $232 billion in assets as at October 31, 2016, National Bank of Canada, together with its subsidiaries, forms one of Canada's leading integrated financial groups. The Bank has more than 21,000 employees and is widely recognized as a top employer. Its securities are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: NA). Follow the Bank's activities at nbc.ca or via social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

SOURCE National Bank of Canada

For further information: (The telephone numbers provided below are for the exclusive use of journalists, other media representatives and shareholders.): Marie-Pierre Jodoin, Senior Manager - Public Affairs, National Bank, Tel.: 514-394-4209
NEW YORK, Dec. 7, 2016 /CNW/ -- Breather, the leading network of on-demand meeting rooms and workspaces, announced today it has closed $40 million in funding, bringing the company's total funding to $73 million to date. This Series C round was led by Menlo Ventures, the venture capital firm behind Uber, Tumblr, Warby Parker and Siri. The financing included follow-on investments from Valar Ventures RRE Ventures, Slow Ventures, and Real Ventures, follows a Series B in 2015 and a Series A round in 2014. The investment positions Breather as the most well-funded startup in the growing on-demand workspace sector.

Founded in Canada in 2012, Breather currently operates a rapidly growing network of more than 300 spaces across 10 global markets, including New York, San Francisco, London and more. In 2016, the company expanded to new markets including Chicago, Washington DC, Los Angeles and Toronto. Breather has tripled its footprint in 2016 and is on track to increase density in its existing markets and continue its expansion to new markets in 2017.

"Breather has tapped into a real need in the workplace. There hasn't been a company of its kind offering spaces on-demand," said Venky Ganesan, Managing Director of Menlo Ventures. "Breather has a tremendous vision to connect the world's spaces and make them accessible to all." Menlo Ventures has a track record of success with pioneering startups, funding 70 public companies and overseeing more than 100 mergers and acquisitions since its inception in 1976. Ganesan has joined Breather's Board of Directors.

Breather's expanding customer base spans a wide range of users from freelancers and startups to large, multi-national corporations. Breather's clients represent a global shift in the way businesses and individuals work. The company's "Breather for Business" program has onboarded thousands of large organizations and small businesses since its start in 2015 and has grown 5x in this year alone. Notable clients include Apple, Google, Uber, GE, American Express, L'Oreal and IBM, which use the spaces for meetings and team off-sites.

"Over the past year, we've seen hundreds of new businesses sign up every month," said Julien Smith, CEO and co-founder of Breather. "We're excited to partner with Menlo Ventures because of their experience and alignment with our vision." The latest round of funding will fuel Breather's product innovation, allowing it to expand its network of users, and grow its footprint of spaces.

Unlike co-working models, Breather has no membership fees or long-term contracts. Instead, the company offers its users quiet, dedicated meeting rooms and workspaces on a "pay-per-use" basis through the company's proprietary app and booking technology. The app allows users to instantly browse, book and access a space of their own.

Breather has partnered with some of the largest and most prestigious landlords in each of its markets, with a unique business model that sets it apart from pure marketplace companies. Users have praised the inspiring aesthetic and consistent experience of Breather's spaces, which are designed by the company's in-house team.

SOURCE Breather

For further information: Sarah Berman, 1-212-450-7300, [email protected]
Canada's Department of National Defence orders 16 aircraft

TRENTON, ON, Dec. 8, 2016 /CNW/ - Today, the Government of Canada announced that it had selected the Airbus C295W aircraft for its Fixed-Wing Search and Rescue Program.

As part of the FWSAR program, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) will receive 16 C295Ws modified for Search and Rescue (SAR).

The contract will also include in service support, provided through a joint venture between Airbus Defence and Space and PAL Aerospace.

Simon Jacques, Head of Airbus Defence and Space in Canada said: "We are acutely conscious of the importance of search and rescue in Canada's vast and challenging territory and we are honoured to have been selected to provide the aircraft and service to ensure that the role is carried out effectively."

The C295W features substantial Canadian content. Every C295 is powered by Pratt & Whitney Canada engines, pilots and technicians will be trained at a new facility developed by CAE in Comox, BC, and the electro-optical systems for FWSAR will be provided by L3 Wescam of Burlington, ON. In-service support for the life of the program will be provided by AirPro, a joint venture between Airbus Defence and Space and PAL Aerospace of St John's, Newfoundland. In-service support will be conducted by Canadians in Canada.

Jacques added: "About 20 percent of the aircraft is already Canadian, meaning that it already serves as a global ambassador for the skills, innovation and expertise of Canadians. Now it will get to serve them directly."

Canada's C295Ws will be delivered starting three years after contract award. In service, they will join five Airbus CC-150 aircraft used in the air-to-air refueling, transport, and VIP travel roles.

When the contract is finalized, 185 C295s will have been ordered by 25 countries.

About Airbus Defence and Space

Airbus Defence and Space, a division of Airbus Group, is Europe's number one defence and space enterprise and the second largest space business worldwide. Its activities include space, military aircraft and related systems and services. It employs more than 38,000 people and in 2015 generated revenues of over 13 billion Euros.

For more information visit www.C295W.ca.

SOURCE Airbus Defence and Space

Video with caption: "Video: The Airbus C295W". Video available at: http://stream1.newswire.ca/cgi-bin/playback.cgi?file=20161208_C4729_VIDEO_EN_834464.mp4&posterurl=http%3A%2F%2Fphotos.newswire.ca%2Fimages%2F20161208_C4729_PHOTO_EN_834464.jpg&order=1&jdd=20161208&cnum=C4729

Image with caption: "Canada Selects Airbus C295W for Fixed-Wing Search and Rescue (CNW Group/Airbus Defence and Space)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20161208_C4729_PHOTO_EN_834427.jpg

For further information: Contacts for the media, Mike Powell, +1 613 233 8906, [email protected]; Quentin Hunstad, +1 703 269 8770, [email protected]; Kieran Daly, +34 689 66 96 61, [email protected]
/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES./

CALGARY, Dec. 6, 2016 /CNW/  Montana Exploration Corp. ("Montana Exploration" or the "Company") (TSXV: MTZ) today announced that it will be offering rights to holders of its common shares at the close of business on the record date of December 12, 2016, on the basis of one right for each common share held (the "Rights Offering"). Each four (4) rights will entitle the holder to subscribe for one common share of Montana Exploration Corp. upon payment of the subscription price of C$0.195 per common share. There are currently 49,790,875 common shares of the Company issued and outstanding. If all the rights issued under the rights offering are validly exercised, the Rights Offering will raise gross proceeds of approximately C$2.4 million. Vanco-Stock Ltd., a company controlled by a director of the Company, has given a written commitment to exercise its rights for proceeds of $1,321,442.

The rights will expire at 4:30 p.m. (Toronto Time) on January 13, 2017 (the "Expiry Time"), after which time unexercised rights will be void and of no value. Shareholders who fully exercise their rights will be entitled to subscribe for additional common shares, if available as a result of unexercised rights prior to the Expiry Time, subject to certain limitations as set out in the Company's rights offering circular. The Company expects to close the Rights Offering on or about January 13, 2017.

Details of the Rights Offering will be set out in the rights offering notice and rights offering circular which will be available under Montana's profile at www.SEDAR.com. The rights offering notice and accompanying rights certificate will be mailed to each registered eligible shareholder as at the record date. Registered shareholders who wish to exercise their rights must forward the completed rights certificate, together with the applicable funds, to the rights agent, Computershare Investor Services, Inc. ("Computershare"), on or before the Expiry Time. Shareholders who own their common shares through an intermediary, such as a bank, trust company, securities dealer or broker, will receive materials and instructions from their intermediary.

The Rights Offering will be conducted in Canada only. However, certain holders of common shares in jurisdictions outside of Canada may be able to participate in the Rights Offering where they can establish that the transaction is exempt under applicable legislation. If you are a holder of common shares and reside outside of Canada please see the rights offering notice and rights offering circular to determine your eligibility and the process and timing requirements to receive and, or, exercise your rights. The Company requests any U.S. shareholder or other ineligible holder interested in exercising their rights to contact the Company at their earliest convenience.

Funds raised through the Rights Offering will be used to pay for general and administrative (G&A) as well as geological, engineering and land (technical) expenses. The Company currently has G&A plus technical requirements of approximately $200,000 per month. The Company has taken steps to minimize its G&A and technical expenses while retaining sufficient resources to maintain the Company's lands and to conduct the Drilling Program announced on September 27, 2016. Actions to reduce G&A expenses have included signing an office lease extension to March 31, 2017 at a reduced rate, maintaining administrative staff on a four-day work week, delaying payment of executive salaries, and payment of consulting services through equity-based compensation.

The Rights Offering is part of a broader financial plan for the Company (the "Financial Plan") comprised of:

(1) The Rights Offering governed by this Circular, for proceeds of up to $2.4 million;



(2) The farm-out transaction, pursuant to which a Drilling Program is being conducted (the Company will also receive prospect fees of USD$250,000 in conjunction with the farm out)(see the September 27, 2016 press release);



(3) Raising additional capital through the public markets to reduce or eliminate the working capital deficiency and to provide funds for further future drilling;



(4) Pursuing other farm out transactions in respect to the Company's natural gas prospects and the remainder of the Company's Shaunavon prospects; and



(5) The sale of non-core assets, including its Pine Mills field interests in Wood County, Texas, (see November 30, 2016 press release), and other non-core assets in the State of Montana.

ABOUT MONTANA EXPLORATION CORP.

Montana Exploration Corp. is an oil and gas exploration and production company focusing on the Shaunavon oil and Eagle gas opportunities underlying its extensive land holdings and drilling rights in the state of Montana. In the United States, the company operates through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Montana Land & Exploration, Inc., GFP Texas Inc. and GFP Central USA Inc. The company's common shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the trading symbol "MTZ". Additional information regarding the company is available at www.SEDAR.com or at www.MontanaExplorationCorp.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

The securities offered have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any State in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking information" or "forward- looking" statements" (collectively "forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", believe", "expect", "plan", "intend", "forecast", "target", "project", "guidance", "may", "will", "should" "could", "estimate", "predict" or similar words suggesting future outcomes or language suggesting an outlook. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements relating to: (i) the funds to be raised under the Offering; (ii) estimated costs of the Offering; (iii) available funds to the Corporation after expenses of the Offering; (iv) additional sources of required funding for the Corporation; (v) the use of the funds raised under the Offering; (vi) (vii) the particulars of the Financial Plan and the Corporation's ability to execute the Financial Plan or any portion thereof; and (viii) estimated G&A requirements.

Forward-looking statements and information contained in this press release are based on our current beliefs as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, us. Although we consider these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to us, they may prove to be incorrect.

By their very nature, the forward-looking statements included in this press release involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and risks that predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not be achieved. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on these statements as a number of important factors could cause the actual results to differ materially from the beliefs, plans, objectives, expectations and anticipations, estimates and intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements.

Furthermore, the forward- looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this document and we do not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the included forward- looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

SOURCE Montana Exploration Corp.

For further information: For further information about Montana Exploration, please contact: Charles Selby, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, by telephone at +1.403.265.9091 or by mail at 2300, 144 4th Ave. S.W., Calgary, Alberta T2P 3N4.
TORONTO, Dec. 8, 2016 /CNW/ - Today, Dr. Virginia Walley, President of the Ontario Medical Association, will appear at the Ontario government's pre-budget consultation to urge MPPs to make health care a priority in the 2017 provincial budget.

"Ontario's doctors are calling on the government to properly support Ontario's health-care system by fully funding the increasing demand for medical care, and according to the needs of our growing and aging population," said Dr. Walley. "By all accounts, the government is failing to fund growth even the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario showed that health-care system demand is projected to rise at 3.6 per cent a year for the next four years; and yet, the government has set funding for physician services at only 1.25 per cent, less than half of that."

That health care be a priority in 2017 is a sentiment Ontario's doctors have shared with all MPPs. Yesterday, holiday greetings were delivered to Queen's Park on behalf of the more than 29,000 practising doctors in Ontario. All MPPs are receiving a greeting card and a gift box of red tape, which symbolizes the increased bureaucracy the government added to the health-care system this year with Bill 41.

Both the PC and NDP voted against passing Bill 41 and voiced many of the concerns that doctors had around this deeply flawed piece of legislation. Many opposition MPPs are supporting Ontario's doctors and their patients by sharing the hash tag #NoRedTape on social media and tweeting photos of their roll of red tape.

"Our well wishes and seasons greeting are sincere, but Ontario's doctors will continue to make their concerns about patient care loud and clear," said Dr. Walley. "The attempts by provincial government to marginalize the profession and publicly disrespect committed and hardworking physicians must stop; otherwise the government risks destabilizing the health-care system that patients rely on."

SOURCE Ontario Medical Association

For further information: Danielle Milley, Senior Advisor Media Relations, Office: 416-599-2580 or 1-800-268-7215 ext. 3008, Mobile: 647-300-0081, Email: [email protected]; Nadia Daniell-Colarossi, Manager Media Relations, Office: 416-340-2970 or 1-800-268-7215 ext. 2970, Mobile: 416-804-4600, Email: [email protected]
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 8, 2016 /CNW/ -- Soothe (http://www.soothe.com), the largest and fastest-growing on-demand Massage Therapy company, has arrived in Toronto. The convenient and simple service will deliver relaxation to Toronto visitors and residents just in time for the holidays.

Soothe is now available in 49 cities across the United States, Canada, and the U.K. The service brings vetted, Registered Massage Therapists to one's home, office, or hotel in as little as one hour.

"We're pleased to launch in Toronto at the start of holiday travel season," says Soothe CEO Merlin Kauffman. "Everyone deserves to have a massage after a long day at the office or while on vacation."

"We have created a new program for Canadians who have extended health care benefits covering Massage Therapy. This program delivers massage treatment from Registered Massage Therapists (RMT) so the cost can can be reimbursed through insurance," Kauffman explains. "This program is currently only available only in Toronto, but our plan is to include other Canadian cities soon."

Soothe offers on-demand Swedish, deep tissue, sports, and pre-natal massages, for singles or couples, daily between the hours of 8 am and midnight. Clients can also re-book the same therapist on future occasions.

The fixed prices in Canadian dollars, which do not include 13% HST, are: $139 (60 minutes), $189 (90 minutes), and $229 (120 minutes).

Soothe's network includes over 8,000 certified and registered massage therapists, each interviewed in-person. Only therapists who meet the requisite level of certification and have a history of customer excellence are accepted into the Soothe network.

Clients can book by downloading the app (soothe.com/app), booking via soothe.com, or calling 800.960.7668. Clients choose the type of massage, treatment length, and therapist's gender. All booking options are accessible 24/7.

Soothe

Soothe currently serves: Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, London, Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Fort Worth, Ft. Lauderdale, Honolulu, Houston, Indianapolis, Inland Empire, Long Island and Hamptons, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Napa/Sonoma, Nashville, New Orleans, Newark/Northern New Jersey, Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Palm Springs, Park City, Philadelphia, Portland, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Santa Barbara, St. Louis, San Diego, San Jose, Scottsdale, Seattle, Vancouver (British Columbia), Toronto, and Washington D.C..

For more information, visit soothe.com, or call 800.960.7668.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161206/446260

SOURCE Soothe
At the 2016 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) in San Francisco, researchers from CEA-Leti presented two papers unveiling promising nanowire architectural blocks for the 5 nanometer node.

This Nanowire Surface Potential (NSP) based model, they write, was validated both by numerical simulations and experimental data, which leads us to the second paper, Vertically Stacked-Nanowires MOSFETs in a Replacement Metal Gate Process with Inner Spacer and SiGe Source/Drain, demonstrating an actual physical implementation.

In this paper, Leti shares its finding on the very first functional devices featuring stacked-NWs transistors with integrated inner spacers to reduce parasitic capacitances and SiGe source drain (S/D) stressors to boost performance.

Both building blocks are required for the 5nm node, the researchers believe, which would extend the scaling limits of CMOS technology as a natural progression from FinFETs.

Physical Compact Model for Stacked-planar and Vertical Gate-All-Around MOSFETs, O. Rozeau, S. Martinie, T. Poiroux, F. Triozon, S. Barraud, J. Lacord, Y.-M. Niquet*, C. Tabone, R. Coquand, E. Augendre, M. Vinet, O. Faynot, and J.-C. Barbe, CEA-Leti, *CEA-INAC

In this work, a predictive and physical compact model for NanoWire/NanoSheet (NW/NS) Gate-All- Around (GAA) MOSFET is presented. Based on a novel methodology for the calculation of the surface potential including quantum confinement, this model is able to handle arbitrary NW/NS cross-section shape of stacked-planar and vertical GAA MOSFETs (circular, square, rectangular). This Nanowire Surface Potential (NSP) based model, validated both by numerical simulations and experimental data, is demonstrated to be very accurate in all operation regimes of GAA MOSFETs.


The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has challenged the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, to show evidence that he...

The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has challenged the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, to show evidence that he (Amaechi) was conniving with the Independent National Electoral Commission and the police to manipulate the outcome of Saturdays rerun election in favour of the All Progressives Congress.The former governor of the state, who spoke through his media office on Wednesday, said, If Governor Wike and the PDP have justifiable evidence, let them present them to the general public and stop blackmailing me, INEC or the police. The allegations are immaterial, null and void. Why are Wike and the PDP making too much noise and fruitless allegations?Amaechi had earlier spoken with newsmen at the Port Harcourt International Airport on his arrival in the state for the Saturday rerun, urging the people of the state to disabuse their minds against comments by the PDP and Wike, which he said, were calculated to rubbish him in the eyes of right-thinking persons in order to score cheap popularity.He called on Rivers people and other Nigerians resident in the state, including supporters and stalwarts of the APC, to turn out en masse and vote on Saturday, even as he urged them to always protect their votes at election venues.
Fielding questions from journalists after presenting a report of her delegations 10-day visit to Nigeria on Tuesday, Asuagbor said Nige...

Fielding questions from journalists after presenting a report of her delegations 10-day visit to Nigeria on Tuesday, Asuagbor said Nigeria and other member states should not just observe the moratorium but should go further to define the status of those on death rows in their various prisons.

Asuagbor, who was said to have visited about 30 ministries, departments and agencies of the Federal Government, said from the official statistics she obtained there were about 1,000 inmates on death row in Nigeria.

She said, The African Commission has adopted a draft on abolition. Prior to that, we issued resolutions inviting member states to observe a moratorium on death penalty.

Actually, most countries are observing the moratorium but we want them to take a further step to abolish (death penalty) because there is problem with the moratorium, especially when we still have persons on death row like in Nigeria, where we have at least a thousand people on death row  going by the statistics we got from the prison authorities. At least a thousand people are on death row and this makes death sentence to be hanging on peoples neck for so long.

So, it is better for the authorities to take their courage and go straight to abolishing or take the decision that defines the real status of those on the death row either by commuting the sentences or causing them to be executed.

Our stance is that if they cannot abolish they must observe the moratorium by not pronouncing the death sentence or commuting the sentence of those on death row.

She also said the African Commission did not have a control over the decision of individual African countries on whether or not to withdraw their membership of the International Criminal Court.

She said although she was not aware if Nigeria had a plan to withdraw from the ICC, she knew that South Africa, Burundi and The Gambia had indicated such an intention.

She said, We are aware that South Africa has indicated its interest to withdraw, Burundi has done so, and The Gambia. But you know these are conventions that are signed individually.

So, the African Commission cannot, as a matter of its mandate, be particularly concerned with such withdrawal.

Already, at the level of the African Union, there is division concerning the issue of the ICC as to whether it should be individual withdrawal or collective withdrawal. From the point of view of international engagements, this is an issue taken personally by state parties and I believe they have a right to continue or not to continue their relationship with such institutions.

Asugbor said the commission would prepare a comprehensive mission report, but in the interim, urged Nigeria to ratify regional and international instruments, in particular the Second Option Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of death penalty, in addition to making the declaration and giving NGOs direct access to the court.

Speaking on behalf of the Attorney General of the Federation, the Director of International and Comparative Law of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Stella Anukam, assured the delegation that Nigeria would continue to fulfill its human rights obligations to its citizens.
The bill for establishment of the Ecclesiastical Court of Appeal has passed second reading at the House of Representatives.Sponsored by Rep. Gyang Dung (PDP-Plateau) and eight others, the bill said the Ecclesiastical courts when established would complement the regular courts in adjudicating in matters relating to the tenets of the Christian faith.It will bring to reality the administration of Ecclesiastical Christian tenets and law in adjudicating matters of personal Christian law and civil matters," Rep. Dung said.These shall be prescribed in the rule of practice and procedure of the Ecclesiastical courts.Dung emphasised that the amendment would activate section 37 (1) of the 1999 constitution which guaranteed the right of every citizen to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.It will also entails freedom to propagate ones religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance, Dung said.He said that Cardinal who will serve as judges of the Ecclesiastical court shall be drawn from those learned in law. They shall be required to administer justice in accordance with the Christian faith and the law of the nation.Speaker, House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara referred the bill to the Special ad hoc Committee on the Review of the 1999 constitution.
There is tension in Rivers State ahead of Saturdays rerun elections. Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi has accused Governor Ny...

Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi has accused Governor Nyesom Wike of being behind killings in Rivers State.He spoke with reporters on Tuesday night at the Port Harcourt International Airport.But, Wike, through his Commissioner for Information and Communications, Dr. Austin Tam-George, described Amaechis statement as a sewage of lies.The Transportation Minister and former governor, urged All Progressives Congress (APC) members and supporters of the main opposition party to massively attend the mega rally and vote en masse for all the candidates of the APC without fear of attack or molestation.Amaechi also urged Rivers people to ignore what he described as threats from Wike and criminals, stressing that President Muhammadu Buhari had assured all of a level playing field. The security agencies, he said, are equal to the task of ensuring the safety of lives and property, thereby guaranteeing free, fair, credible and peaceful elections on Saturday.Some indigenes, including stalwarts of the APC, were killed during the 2015 general elections and the March 19 rerun in the state.Amaechi, a former Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), also stressed that the arms and ammunition the Rivers governor recently recovered from cultists during the first phase of the governments amnesty programme were evidence to buttress his allegation.He said:  Even during the campaigns, our (APC) people were beaten, manhandled and others threatened, leaving many dead, but we will not continue to allow these things to happen like that. Members of the PDP were also responsible for the killings of APC members in Omoku (headquarters of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA of the state, where Rivers PDP Chairman, Chief Felix Obuah, hails from.When the minister was asked to respond to Wikes and PDPs allegation that the Police and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state had connived to manipulate results of the elections in favour of the APC, he described it as laughable and childish.Amaechi said: If Wike and the PDP have justifiable evidence, let them present it to the general public and stop blackmailing me or INEC and police. The allegation is immaterial, null and void. Why is Wike and PDP making so much noise and fruitless allegations?The former governor maintained that he was more popular than all the members of the PDP, because when he left office in 2015, he had over 75 per cent support from Rivers people and other Nigerians resident in the state.He said: This is so, because as governor then, l overhauled the health and education sectors by promoting free health care and free education. Over 10,000 teachers were employed, including the building of critical infrastructure, roads and youth empowerment, making Rivers people and other Nigerians to experience change. So, l am very sure l had more popularity than any PDP stakeholder, including governors across the country.Amaechi stated that APC members, especially the candidates for the rerun, had been campaigning, mostly in remote parts of the state, disclosing that his current trip to Port Harcourt was his third in two weeks, to join stakeholders of the party for campaigns round the state.He urged Rivers people to disabuse their minds against comments by the PDP and Wike, which he said were calculated to rubbish him in the eyes of right-thinking people to score cheap popularity and further whip up public sentiments to heat up the polity.Amaechi said: On Thursday, there will be national campaign for the party in the state, to indicate our readiness and preparedness for the rerun elections.Amaechi also called on Rivers people and other Nigerians resident in the state, including supporters and stalwarts of the APC, to turn out en masse to vote on Saturday, advising them to always protect their votes at election venues.He said: Before now, l used to tell my party members to vote and protect their votes, but there have been complaints of indecent attacks from the PDP. So, l have asked the APC members to protect their votes and their lives as well, because the PDP cannot be bigger than everybody everywhere.The minister also expressed displeasure on what he described as irresponsible comments by his former Chief of Staff (Wike), stating that on many occasions, the Rivers governor had abused the office and privileges of the governor, especially his sudden interception of security operatives who were detailed by law to arrest corrupt judges in some states across the country.He said: During my tenure as governor, l never abused the office of the governor, because it is sacred and should be respected in all ramifications.In a broadcast to Rivers people yesterday, being aired on most radio stations in Port Harcourt, Amaechi called on them to take advantage of the December 10 rerun and vote the right persons to represent them and end what he described as the terror they had been made to go through so far by the Wike and PDP administration.He said: This is another opportunity for us to exercise our right to vote for candidates of our choice. You will recall that the last time the elections were held, members of the APC were brazenly, crudely and violently prevented from exercising their inalienable rights to elect those they wanted. Those same characters and forces that stole our votes by violently denying us the right to vote the last time are at it again.In the months and weeks leading to this Saturdays election, they have employed the use of violence and intimidation and harassment, all aimed at preventing us from coming out to vote. They have turned our hitherto peaceful state into a haven of brazen criminality, culminating in killings and maiming of innocent citizens.It is gratifying to know that the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari, has assured of the security of lives and property in the state before, during and after the elections.Mr. President has graciously provided adequate security through the length and breadth of the state. I therefore enjoin you all to come out en masse and exercise your civic right on Saturday. To this end, the reign of terror in some of our local government areas, leading to senseless killings will not be tolerated, as the security agencies have been directed to ensure the safety of all, before, during and after the elections. I therefore, implore you all to come out and exercise your rights to vote ,now that you have a chance to vote and your vote will count. Choose wisely, vote APC.The minister also assured Rivers people not to submit to any form of intimidation or threats while exercising their civic rights, insisting that their security and safety would be guaranteed.But Wike maintained that he did not need arms to defeat the APC in the state, claiming his impressive record of service delivery had won the hearts of the Rivers people.Wike alleged that APC members in Rivers State were suffocating under the weight of Amaechis disastrous legacy as governor for eight years.The governor said: Rotimi Amaechi is propably the most toxic political personality in Rivers State, because of his history of financial recklessness and visionless leadership during his time as governor of Rivers State.Funds meant for the payment of salaries of workers and pensioners were diverted by Mr. Amaechi to sponsor the political activities of the APC, thereby plunging millions of families into abject poverty and misery.Mr. Amaechi was indicted by a court-approved Judicial Panel of Inquiry for stealing public funds. While the APC-led Federal Government may have granted Amaechi unofficial amnesty, the Rivers people have a long memory, and would continue to reject Rotimi Amaechi and the APC in Rivers State. Mr. Amaechis attempt to steal the mandate of the people on Saturday, through the force of arms, would be resisted and defeated once again.Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; APC National Chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; governors elected on the partys platform and other leaders of the APC will today storm Port Harcourt for the partys mega rally for the December 10 legislative rerun.The rally will hold at the state governmet-owned Yakubu Gowon (formerly Liberation) Stadium, Elekahia in the state capital, which Wike released to the APC free of charge.The Chairman of the APC Campaign Council, Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje, who is the Governor of Kano State, said candidates of the party would emerge victorious during the crucial elections, taking place in the 23 local government areas, spread across the three senatorial districts. The campaign council was inaugurated in Abuja on November 30 by Odigie-Oyegun.Police Commissioner Francis Odesanya, also assured of safety of lives and property of the people of the state before, during and after the rerun.Odesanya said after due consultation with stakeholders superintending over the rerun, there would be total restriction of movement of persons and vehicles between 12 midnight on Friday and 8 p.m. on Saturday, both on land and waterways.The commissioner said: The command wishes to emphasise that important personalities and politicians are barred from going to any voting centre with their security details. They are also warned to desist from moving from one place to another on the election day, as provided under the Electoral Act.Movement is strictly restricted from place of abode to voting centres and back. The police and other security agencies will be moving to ensure strict compliance.Odesanya also pleaded with Rivers people for continued support and cooperation, assuring that there would be a conducive atmosphere to conduct free, fair and violence-free elections that would stand the test of time.
The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, worldwide and its Directorate of State, DOS has said that it would not achieve Biafras sovereign...

The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, worldwide and its Directorate of State, DOS has said that it would not achieve Biafras sovereignty through warfare and bloodshed but will rather achieve it through globally accepted procedures. It said the United Nations has a set of approved self-determination processes and hence, urged the Nigerian Government and its military to be civil and play by the globally accepted approaches in their dealings with self-determination seeking groups like it.In a statement by IPOB Media and Publicity Secretary, Mr. Emma Powerful, it said we are aware that some individuals fear that the Biafra actualization project will turn bloody like done in the 1967 and 1970, but we want to assure them that it will not be so because the international law gives room for the restoration of Biafra through the stipulated lay down processes that will be applied without shedding blood.Biafran by nature have respect for human life. We are not war-mongers like as known by the world unlike the people who are persecuting us who have no respect for human life. Biafrans do not like to shed blood, and the actualization of Biafra will not change us.What happened in the past was the extreme pushing of the Biafran to the wall, but times have changed, we must achieve Biafra without shooting a gun. We therefore want to take this opportunity to let Biafrans, Nigerians and the entire world know that Biafras restoration is not by war, the United Nations law permits the rights for the self determination of the indigenous people around the world, and ours will never be an exception. The United Nations and the international community have made self determination possible for other countries around the world and it must be possible for Biafra.There is nothing stopping up, not even the mass killing by the Nigerian military will stop us; not even the directionless All Progressives Congress, APC government will stop us. The continued incarceration of our God-sent leader, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, who has shown that he is unruffled, that he is committed and ready to give his life and comfort for the actualization of Biafra, will stop us from achieving Biafra Independence.Not the repeated failed attempt to kill Nnamdi Kanu by the present administration in Nigeria, and now the resort to continue to detain him by intimidating judges in Nigerian by the present APC government will stop actualization of Biafra. We thank God for the type of leader we have who is not ready to compromise, whose determination has toughened thousands of Biafrans to follow his footsteps. IPOB now have with the encouragement of Mr. Kanu millions of youths who will help achieve Biafra. So, the Nigerian government is wasting its time incarcerating Mr. Kanu our God-ordained leader.The IPOBs statement equally stated that, Singapore was created out of Malaysia, Pakistan was created out of India, Bangladesh was created out of Pakistan, East Timor was created out of Indonesia, Sudan was created out of Great Egypt, Eritrea was created out of Ethiopia, South Sudan was created out of Sudan, Southern Cameroon was carved out of Nigeria and Namibia was once part of South Africa.It further stated that Gambia was once part of Senegambia, Ukraine was once part of USSR, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia were once together in Yugoslavia, Crimea was once part of Ukraine, Czech and Slovakia were once together as Czechoslovakia and today they are all independent countries and most of them did not fight a war before they were freed.Biafra fought a war of defense in 1967 to 1970 under the supreme command and the great and unmatchable leadership of late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the undisputed Biafra warlord, whom we are proud of today and will remain forever and therefore we cannot fight another war to get freedom. Our freedom must come without a war or gun shot. Nnamdi Kanu will lead us to achieve independent Biafra.Incarcerating him is just postponing the evil day for those behind his ordeal. We have no doubt that very soon it will be written in the history, that Biafra was part of Nigeria because unity by force is slavery and it is unacceptable by Biafrans.We can be neighbours and do inter trading and other important things in common, but it is not by force to stay together as one country. Nevertheless, the Biafrans all over the world have made up their minds to be free from economic strangulation, killings, humiliation, marginalization, injustice in the Nigerian project against the Biafrans. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will see his children through, the statement concluded.
Releasing Joe McKnight shooter is not the way to get witnesses' trust: A letter to the editor
Aja Doucette, 23, pleaded guilty April 26 to being an accessory after the fact to second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder that New Orleans police allege was committed by her boyfriend Brandon 'Real One' Guidry. Doucette faces up to five years in prison for each count when sentenced by Judge Karen Herman.
Sofia Vergara sued on behalf of her own frozen embryos in Jefferson Parish court
WASHINGTON (AP)  The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has issued a subpoena to Donald Trump. The nine-member panel sent a letter to the former president's lawyers on Friday, demanding his testimony under oath by mid-November and outlining a series of corresponding documents. The decision by lawmakers to exercise their subpoena power comes a week after the committee made its final case against the former president, who they say is the "central cause" of the multi-part effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It remains unclear how Trump and his legal team will respond to the subpoena, if at all.
SyFy doubles down on New Orleans, orders new series set in Crescent City, Variety reports
Today

A mainly sunny sky. High 81F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight

Partly cloudy. Low 71F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph.

Tomorrow

Partly cloudy skies in the morning will give way to cloudy skies during the afternoon. High 81F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph.
If your home came with unhappy surprises like leaks, cracks, broken mechanical systems, or other defects, the financial responsibility might not be yours alone.

What if something was wrong with your house at the time of purchase and someonethe seller, the property seller's real estate agent, or the inspectorcould have or should have told you about it beforehand, but failed to do so? Such problems can come to light days, weeks, or years after the sale, leaving you angry and wondering whether you really have to shoulder the entire financial burden.

In such cases, you might actually be able to ask the responsible person to pitch in, and take the matter to court if they don't. Ideally, you'll be able to resolve matters without filing a lawsuit suit. To give you a picture of what might be ahead, however, this article will analyze:

who might be held legally responsible, and

whether going forward with a lawsuit makes sense.

Minor Home Defects or Natural Aging Aren't Grounds for a Lawsuit

You probably knew when you bought the house that it wasn't in perfect condition. Some problems, such as a crack in the front walk, might have been obvious. Others, such as aging plumbing, the seller might have told you about in the course of the sale. (In most states, laws require home sellers to disclose all "material" defects to prospective buyers.)

Your home inspector, assuming you hired one, probably also told you about a few problems.

Then after the sale, your home probably continued its normal process of aging and decaying, leaving you to deal with the consequences. None of these sorts of issues provide any grounds upon which to run back to the seller to complain.

Will your insurance company cover the damage? If so, there may be no need to take action on your own. For how to work with your insurance company, see After the Fire or Disaster: Dealing with Your Insurance Company.

Could the Home Seller Be Held Legally Responsible?

Even if you think you've been wronged, you can't sue everyone who was involved in the sale of your home. The home seller is the first one to consider, of course.

As mentioned, nearly every U.S. state has laws requiring sellers to advise buyers of certain defects in the property, typically by filling out a standard disclosure form before the sale is completed. (This responsibility remains even if you bought the house "as is.")

The form usually asks the seller to state whether the property has certain features (like appliances, a roof, a foundation, systems for electricity, water, and heating, and more) and then to rate or describe their condition. Some states' disclosure laws are more comprehensive than others, and if a feature isn't on the list, the seller might not be required to speak up. Also, the seller isn't usually required to scout out problems.

If there's clearly a place on the form where the seller should have stated a problem but denied it, your job is to try to figure out whether the seller in fact knew about it. For example, if the seller patched over or hid problem areas, or if the neighbors have told you about the seller's efforts to deal with a problem, the evidence is on your side.

And even if you're in one of the few states with no mandated seller disclosures, it might be possible, particularly in an egregious situation, to sue the seller for:

negligence

fraud

breach of contract

breach of warranty, or

negligent misrepresentation.

Could the Seller's Real Estate Agent Be Held Legally Responsible?

Some states' laws make sellers' real estate agents liable for failing to disclose problems they observed or were told of by the sellers, though often their duties are fairly limited. Check your state's disclosure laws and try to figure out whether the problem would have been apparent to the broker, but not to you, before the sale.

Could Your Home Inspector Be Held Legally Responsible?

Hopefully, you got a home inspection before buying. In theory, the inspector should have spotted problems that the seller wasn't aware of, or was turning a blind eye to. If the inspector missed problems that an expert (a professional peer) should have noticed, the inspector might be on the hook; that is, legally liable.

Read over your inspection report to see what it said about the area in question. Some buyers are embarrassed to find that the problem is spelled out right in the report, or falls within an area that the inspector rightfully excluded from the report. But in other cases, the inspector failed to meet basic standards of professional competence.

Do You Have a Solid Case?

Once you've figured out the possible responsible parties, you'll want to know whether their actionor inactionmight entitle you to compensation. If your situation meets the criteria below, you might have a good case. We've collapsed a few legal principles into this list, but it will apply to most situations in most U.S. states.

The defect was there before you bought the home. The seller couldn't have hidden problems that didn't exist during the period of ownership. Again, problems that started post-purchase or that are a natural result of the home's aging or your lapses in maintenance are yours to deal with. Of course, determining when a problem started can get complicated. For example, a blockage in your sewer line could be a new problem, or it could be a recurrence of a long-time issue with roots growing into the pipes. You might need a professional's analysis. But if the problem could have started before you bought the house, keep reading.

The seller couldn't have hidden problems that didn't exist during the period of ownership. Again, problems that started post-purchase or that are a natural result of the home's aging or your lapses in maintenance are yours to deal with. Of course, determining when a problem started can get complicated. For example, a blockage in your sewer line could be a new problem, or it could be a recurrence of a long-time issue with roots growing into the pipes. You might need a professional's analysis. But if the problem could have started before you bought the house, keep reading. It's not an obvious defect that you could have seen yourself before buying. If there was a huge crack running across the living room ceiling at the open house and you've only now decided to bring it up, no dice. But if the crack was hidden by a false ceiling, the matter might be worth pursuing. Don't worry if your inspector should have seen the problem. That just means you've got a potential claim against the inspector, too.

If there was a huge crack running across the living room ceiling at the open house and you've only now decided to bring it up, no dice. But if the crack was hidden by a false ceiling, the matter might be worth pursuing. Don't worry if your inspector should have seen the problem. That just means you've got a potential claim against the inspector, too. No one told you about the defect before the sale, or someone actually lied to you about it. The responsible party might have been the seller, the seller's agent, or the inspector, as explained above.

The responsible party might have been the seller, the seller's agent, or the inspector, as explained above. You relied on the lies or nondisclosures. This one's usually easy. If, for example, you took the seller's word that a remodel job was up to code in deciding to buy or in setting your price, you acted in reliance.

This one's usually easy. If, for example, you took the seller's word that a remodel job was up to code in deciding to buy or in setting your price, you acted in reliance. You've incurred monetary damage as a result. Your costs of repairs or related damages (such as destruction of your personal property due to a flooded basement, or a decrease in your property value due to an undisclosed environmental hazard) will become legally speaking, the "damages" that you may collecteven if you haven't paid any out-of-pocket costs yet (for example, you need a new foundation but haven't actually hired a contractor to build it). But don't expect to collect damages that go beyond the house itself, such as for your pain and suffering or lost time.

Your costs of repairs or related damages (such as destruction of your personal property due to a flooded basement, or a decrease in your property value due to an undisclosed environmental hazard) will become legally speaking, the "damages" that you may collecteven if you haven't paid any out-of-pocket costs yet (for example, you need a new foundation but haven't actually hired a contractor to build it). But don't expect to collect damages that go beyond the house itself, such as for your pain and suffering or lost time. You're within any appropriate deadlines ("statutes of limitation"). Every state puts limits on how long you have, from the date you discover a problem or reasonably should have discovered it, to sue someone. The legislators don't want you dragging the seller into court 20 years after the sale, when no one recalls what happened. Most statutes of limitations are somewhere between two and ten years, but this will depend on where you are and what type of claim you have.

Even if you think you meet the above criteria, remember that in an actual lawsuit, it will be your job to convince a judge. Hence the more evidence you can start gathering, the better.

Legal Basis for Filing a Lawsuit

In legalese, you could potentially sue someone based on any of the following principles, or some combination of them:

Again, the law in your state will govern which theory might best fit your case.

Where to Sue Over Home Defects

Your main options for actually filing a lawsuit include:

small claims court, if the damages are under a certain limit, or

state court.

Filing in small claims court allows you to proceed with your case without a lot of the expensive administrative hassles of a "regular" lawsuit. You can represent yourself (in some states, attorneys are actually forbidden), the rules are typically not as rigid, and your case should be resolved relatively quickly.

However, every state places a dollar limit on the amount of damages you can sue forusually somewhere between $1,500 and $15,000. To find your state's exact limit, see 50-State Chart of Small Claims Court Limits. Even if your damages are over the limitfor example, if the repairs cost $8,000 and the limit is $5,000bringing a suit for $5,000 and forgetting about the rest might make economic sense because you will save time and attorney's fees.

If the amount of monetary damages you're asking for exceeds the small claims court limit, your next option is filing suit in state court, most likely with the help of an attorney.

Some attorneys will take this type of case on a contingency basis, meaning you don't pay a fee upfront but pay a large percentage (30-40%) of the damage award. You might still be responsible for paying court costs and other fees, plus expenses such as the attorney's phone calls and postage. Or, the court may award reimbursement of attorney's fees as part of your damages.
Cortana for Android and iOS comes to the UK, gets a fresh new look

Laura Jones

December 8, 2016 6:00 am

We believe that everyone deserves a personal assistant, and a great personal assistant should be available to help on-the-go, on whatever device you carry. Were excited to bring Cortana*, your truly personal digital assistant, to Android and iOS in the UK, and a fresh new look for the apps.

Coming to the UK:

The Cortana Android and iOS apps are coming to the UK, extending the functionality of your Cortana on Windows 10 to whatever smartphone you carry, always in perfect sync, always helping you stay on top of things.

Reminders that Travel with You: Cortana has your back, seamlessly keeping track of the things you need to remember across all the platforms you use her. Set a reminder on your PC and get it on your mobile phone.

Cortana has your back, seamlessly keeping track of the things you need to remember across all the platforms you use her. Set a reminder on your PC and get it on your mobile phone. Never Miss a Phone Call : In a meeting and cant answer your phone? With the Cortana app, get a missed call alert on your Windows 10 PC and let Cortana send a text back letting them know youll call them later  all without leaving your PC.

: In a meeting and cant answer your phone? With the Cortana app, get a missed call alert on your Windows 10 PC and let Cortana send a text back letting them know youll call them later  all without leaving your PC. Optimized for Mobile: Designed specifically for your mobile life with quick action buttons and voice to get what you need quickly, a streamlined design and widgets for Android and iOS.

Of course, you can also use the app to quickly look up information. With the Android app, you can invoke Cortana hands-free inside the app with Hey Cortana.** And because its the same Cortana across devices, your Notebook with all your interests and connected accounts travels with you.

The Cortana Android app will be available over the course of this week, with the Cortana iOS app coming to the App Store in a few weeks.

A Fresh Look:

Since releasing Cortana on Android and iOS a year ago in the US, you have been telling us what you liked and how youd like it to be improved. We listened. Weve created a more simplified look and feel for the apps, designed with your mobile life in mind. Now you can get to what you need faster and easier than ever before with quick actions, putting the most frequent things you do front and center, so setting a reminder or viewing your reminders is just a tap away when you dont want to use voice.

Weve also made it more natural and consumable for you to get information from Cortana with clean, full-page answers.

Its not just the look weve updated. The Cortana app is now faster so you can get what you need more quickly on the go.

The Cortana Android app will be available over the course of this week with the new look in the Google Play store, and the Cortana iOS app will be updated in the coming weeks. Youll find several more improvements in the app, so give it a try and let us know what you think.

*Available in select markets

**Not available on iOS

***This post was edited to reflect updated timing.

Updated December 8, 2016 10:22 am
LINCOLN -- A North Platte man has been sentenced to prison in a child pornography case.

According to a statement issued on Thursday by the U.S. Attorneys District of Nebraska office, William L. Jones, 31, of North Platte, was sentenced in Federal Court in Lincoln for conspiring to distribute child pornography.

The Honorable Richard G. Kopf, Senior United States District Court Judge, handed down a sentence of 9 years imprisonment.

According to the statement, Jones girlfriend, Rayanne Paulman, sent a number of sexually explicit images of children to Jones over Facebook messenger.

A search warrant was executed at their residence on Dec. 11, 2015. According to the statement, forensic analysis of the digital devices seized from the residence revealed six videos determined to be child pornography.

Some of the images had been shared between Jones and Paulman along with text messages involving discussions of children known to the couple that they could sexually abuse.

Paulman was sentenced on October 13 to nine years in prison.

In the federal system, there is no parole. When Jones and Paulman are released, they will begin a 10 year term of supervised release.

This case was investigated by the North Platte Police Department and was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Project Safe Childhood was launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice. It is led by United States Attorneys Offices and the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS). Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
VALPARAISO  Valparaiso University is hoping to attract more students from Northwest Indiana by offering scholarships to local students interested in pursuing science, technology and math-related majors.

The university received a grant from the National Science Foundation for close to $1 million that will provide scholarships to students who may not be able to afford to attend.

The scholarships will be targeted toward commuter students and dubbed EPIC, for Establishing Practices for Integrating Commuter students.

Part of the idea behind it is keeping local regional talent in the Region  at least for their college experience, said Bonnie Dahle Goebbert, assistant dean of students for first-year students and commuter programs. A lot of our students who come from the Region who dont feel they have the financial means to attend Valpo end up commuting from home to try to save some money. We know we have some really talented students from the Region that are interested in science, technology, mathematics fields that may or may not be looking at VU because of the sticker price and so we want to make sure they know its an option. We want to keep some of that local talent right here.

Students can be awarded up to $5,300 per year for four years. The scholarships will be awarded to 12 students per year.

Tuition for the 2016-17 academic year is $36,280 at VU. The university estimates a total cost for commuter students as $43,770 per year.

Jon Schoer, associate professor of chemistry, said commuter students often try to work a lot of hours, and that prevents them from spending extra time on campus.

But that extra time on campus is at least one factor in retaining commuters, who have a significantly lower retention rate than residential students, Dahle Goebbert said.

This was another angle to take to make progress in that realm, she said.

Michael Watters, professor of biology, said students will be required to take part in a research project, which will benefit them academically and help them gain a sense of belonging on campus by working with other students.

The program also includes one summer of funded research on campus, workshops on research presentations, scholarly and proposal writing, a fall retreat and monthly meetings with participants and faculty mentoring.

Mindy Capaldi, assistant professor of mathematics and statistics, said VU will work with local industries to plan field trips.

Schoer said part of the grant program will allow faculty to track students to see if participants remain at VU at a higher rate than other commuter students, and whether this could be a model for other schools.

Faculty working on the EPIC students program have just started to recruit the first class this week with a letter going out to some students who expressed interest in VU. Information is also being provided to local high schools.

Students interested in the program must apply for admission to the university by Jan. 5. An additional scholarship application is due Jan. 15.

Finalists will be announced no later than Jan. 27, and will be invited to campus for an interview and lunch on Feb. 10.
Two new restaurants have come to downtown East Chicago.

Minion's Express and Saul's Chicago Style Grill both opened on Indianapolis Boulevard in the city's main commercial district. The "Despicable Me"-themed Minion's Hibachi Grill/Fried Chicken & Fish is in a strip mall southeast of Indianapolis Boulevard and Chicago Avenue. Saul's is moving into a spot that was recently home to many failed taco joints, including El Buen Comer, Hacienda Los Gutierrez and Taco Landia.

They're the latest new businesses to open in East Chicago's downtown, which gained a new Subway and Dollar Tree last year.

Saul's at 4204 Indianapolis Boulevard has a wide-ranging menu that includes Chicago dogs, gyros, Polish sausages, chicken wings and burgers. It delivers fast food anywhere in East Chicago and to Hammond and Whiting for a $3 fee.

"We worked managing a restaurant and wanted to move up," owner Eduardo Escobar said. "People love our burgers. We got bacon, regular, chop steak, burger, a chicken breast sandwich that's like a burger, and chili cheese."

The eclectic Minion's has a little yellow Minion from the animated film in a chef's hat on its logo, a hibachi grill, many fried seafood options, chicken wings, Thai instant ice cream rolls, and sugary fruit-flavored drinks that come in faux light bulbs with straws sticking out of the cap.

Minion's, which can be reached at (219) 256-8377, is open from 10:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, from 10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, and from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday. Saul's, which can be reached at (219) 256-8232, is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
U.S. Steel's CEO raised eyebrows Wednesday when he said on CNBC close to 10,000 steelworker jobs could be restored, but the company later clarified he meant industry-wide and not just at his company.

Longhi said laid-off steelworkers could be rehired because of the ongoing decline in imports and if the economy grows as fast as promised. U.S. Steel laid off hundreds of workers in Northwest Indiana last year, slashed 25 percent of its salaried workforce earlier this year, and dismissed 75 maintenance workers at Gary Works this summer.

Many of the affected workers have been called back as market conditions improved, but Longhi said U.S. Steel could accelerate its investments as a result of new federal policies, including on trade. Granite Works in Illinois is still idled.

"We are already structured to do some things, but when you see in the near-future improvement to the tax laws, improvements to regulation, those two things by themselves may be a significant driver to what we're going to do," Longhi said on the network's Power Lunch show. "I'd be more than happy to bring back the employees we've been forced to lay off during that depressive period," he said, which "could be close to 10,000 jobs."

U.S. Steel later issued a statement "clarifying" what Longhi meant.

"Mr. Longhi mentioned the possibility of recalling employees who have been laid off due to a sustained period of difficult market conditions in the domestic steel industry," the company said. "To clarify Mr. Longhis comments about recalling laid-off employees, when he was asked if 'your employees' are more optimistic, his response of 'absolutely' was referring to the American steel industry overall, not just to employees of United States Steel Corp."

The company further said that he was referring to the 16,000 workers the domestic steel industry has laid off over the last year because of steel dumping.

"Layoffs at United States Steel have contributed to the total of 16,000, but we do not publicly discuss the number of employees we have on layoff," spokeswoman Erin M DiPietro said. "Market conditions will dictate if, when and how many employees we can recall."
Sibling duo Donny and Marie will help spread the festive spirit when they bring their Christmas show to Four Winds Casino on Saturday.

The entertainers have been performing their hit non-holiday show in Las Vegas nightly since 2008. They've recently extended their residency at The Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas for another year. The last time Donny and Marie brought their show to the area was during a performance at The Venue at Hammond's Horseshoe Casino in 2015.

Audience members attending the Four Winds concert will not only hear holiday favorites but also signature hits garnered by the popular duo.

Osmond fans who'd like to extend the holiday festivities with another branch of the famous family can attend The Andy Williams Christmas Extravaganza Sunday at Pfeiffer Hall at North Central College in Naperville. The show stars The Osmond Brothers and The Lennon Sisters.

Merrill, Jay and Jimmy Osmond star in this show filled with holiday cheer. The Osmond Brothers have annually performed a Christmas show at The Andy Williams Theatre in Branson, Missouri and before that at their own Osmond Theatre in Branson, which is now closed. For the last few years, they've performed the holiday concert with The Lennon Sisters at Andy Williams Theatre.

The Osmonds have a long history with Williams as they got their start on "The Andy Williams Show" during the 1960s. During Sunday's show, The Osmond Brothers will perform one segment of the concert while The Lennon Sisters will perform another segment. Both groups will also join together for some holiday favorites.

FYI: Donny and Marie will perform at 9 p.m. Eastern Saturday at Silver Creek Event Center at Four Winds Casino, New Buffalo, Michigan. Tickets are $100 to $150. Visit fourwindscasino.com.

FYI: The Andy Williams Christmas Extravaganza starring The Osmond Brothers and The Lennon Sisters will be performed at 6 p.m. Sunday at Pfeiffer Hall at North Central College in Naperville. Tickets are $75, $85 and $95. Visit northcentralcollege.edu.
KENTLAND, Ind.  Prosecutors intend to seek sentences of life without parole for 24-year-old two men facing murder, theft and other charges in the slayings of three people in northwestern Indiana.

Newton County Prosecutor Jeffrey Drinksi filed a motion last week seeking the life sentences and adding charges of murder while committing a robbery and murder while committing a burglary against Sebastian Wedding, of Lake County, and Derrick Cardosi, of Sumava Resorts.

Cardosi pleaded not guilty to the new charges Wednesday. Wedding is set to hear the new charges against him Friday.

The bodies of 20-year-old Justin L. Babbs, 23-year-old Richard Thomas and 39-year-old Kimberly Spears were found Aug. 28 in a home in Sumava Resorts, an unincorporated community about 35 miles south of Gary. A coroner says they were stabbed multiple times.
PORTAGE  Lake County Councilman Jamal Washington pleaded guilty Thursday morning to two misdemeanor offenses to resolve charges stemming from a domestic dispute last December at his Merrillville home.

Washington, 43, pleaded guilty to battery resulting in bodily injury and invasion of privacy, both class A misdemeanors.

He was sentenced to one year in jail, but that sentence was suspended for probation.

Two felony counts of strangulation and one count of misdemeanor battery were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

If Washington had been convicted of the felony strangulation counts, he would have been barred from serving as an elected official.

Defense attorney Paul Stracci said Tuesday the embattled councilman would not resign.

Mr. Washington was elected by the voters to do a job, Stracci said. He will not turn his back on his constituents.

Washington apologized to voters, and said he wished to repair relations with his family.

Several councilmen reached by telephone Thursday afternoon said they agreed it was up to voters whether Washington should remain in office.

Council President Ted Bilski, D-Hobart, said he would support Washington if he wished to continue as 3rd District Councilman.

"I think if he chooses to stay on, there should be no conflicts and we will continue to work with him," Bilski said. "We all face our constituency at election time."

Councilmen Dan Dernulc, R-Highland, and Eldon Strong, R-Crown Point, agreed with the president.

"That's his choice," Dernulc said. "He has to ask his constituents on what their thoughts are."

Washington was arrested Dec. 3, 2015, on allegations he battered two women, one of them his wife, at his home in the 5600 block of Connecticut Street.

The second alleged victim, an employee of Washington, told police the councilman hit her with a piece of wood trim and then strangled her. Washingtons wife said he knocked her down, hit her, bit her and attempted to strangle her.

Washington, a Democrat, was elected to a four-year term as the 3rd District Lake County Councilman in 2014. He represents Merrillville, Garys Miller and east side neighborhoods, and precincts in Schererville and Griffith.

He admitted to the judge Thursday he lost his cool the night of the incident and pushed his wife, which caused her pain.

Washington was further alleged to have contacted his wife after the fight, which violated a protective order. A charge related to that incident was also dismissed in the plea agreement.

He has looked in the mirror, Stracci said told the judge. He is a man committed to getting through this.

The state was prepared to begin trial Thursday on Washington's charges, but his wife testified at the sentencing hearing that she decided earlier this week she would accept a plea after speaking with her divorce attorney.

Washington is required to report Monday to the Lake County Probation Office. He will also be required to attend anger management classes and pay $366 in court fees.
CROWN POINT  The Lake County Council is set Tuesday to hire Merrillville attorney Lisa A. Berdine as a Circuit Court magistrate.

Interim Circuit Court Judge Thomas W. Webber Sr. asked the council at Thursday's workshop meeting to hire Berdine to assist Circuit Court Judge-elect Marissa McDermott in presiding over hearings and recommending decisions for the judge to issue in the court's name.

McDermott said Thursday that Berdine, who has been in private practice since 2004, has worked about 10 years in the Hammond Legal Clinic, which provides legal representation for Hammond residents in civil matters, such as domestic relations and landlord-tenant relations.

"She has a lot of experience, is well-respected and has excellent demeanor," McDermott said of Berdine.

The council will take up the matter Tuesday at the last regular meeting of 2016.

This comes one week after the council hired Stephen E. Scheele to serve as the Circuit Court's other magistrate. Scheele has served for a decade as a Lake Criminal Court public defender.

McDermott is set to take office as the county's first female Circuit Court judge next month.

She defeated former Judge George Paras in the spring Democratic primary and Republican Douglas Grimes in last month's general election.

Paras resigned in October because of illness. The Indiana Supreme Court appointed Senior Judge Thomas W. Webber Sr. to preside over the Circuit Court in the interim.
INDIANAPOLIS  Hoosier lawmakers next month will begin considering a package of legislation aimed at reducing suicide among children, teenagers and young adults.

Suicide is the second-leading cause of death, behind accidents, for Indiana residents ages 15-23, according to the State Department of Public Health.

In 2014, the most recent year with complete data available, 119 Indiana teenagers and young adults took their own lives, including 13 in Lake County. Another nine Hoosier children between ages 5-14 also committed suicide that year.

A biennial federal survey of Indiana high school students found last year that 1 in 6 Hoosier teens considered attempting suicide in the past 12 months, and 1 in 8 made a plan for how to do it.

Those are both increases over prior years.

"Compared to other states we're right in the middle, basically, in terms of our current deaths  which means that we could be doing better," said Mindi Goodpaster, public policy director at the Marion County Commission on Youth.

State Sen. Randy Head, R-Logansport, has been working with Goodpaster, and other child safety committee members at the Commission on Improving the Status of Children in Indiana, to develop legislative plans to shrink the number of Indiana suicides.

His proposal, set to be filed at the Statehouse in January, calls for incentives to attract more behavioral health professionals to Indiana and creation of a state suicide prevention coordinator to ensure local and regional anti-suicide programs have access to the best information and resources.

"This person would be the hub for coordinating and helping to provide technical assistance throughout the state," Goodpaster said.

Head envisions schools playing an enhanced role in suicide prevention, with teachers and all school employees  not just new educators  required to participate in suicide prevention training at least once every five years.

Schools also would have to develop policies and standards, similar to their anti-bullying practices, that identify students contemplating suicide and find them appropriate assistance, as well as planning for how the school will respond to a student suicide.

Indiana colleges and universities similarly would be encouraged to establish suicide prevention programs and raise awareness of crisis intervention and counseling services available to students.

"We think that would be a really important step toward preventing a lot of the tragedies that happen on our campuses," Goodpaster said.

All licensed medical and behavioral health professionals also would be required to regularly complete an in-person, evidence-based training program in suicide assessment, treatment and prevention under the plan.

The nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency has not yet calculated the cost to implement Head's proposal.
INDIANAPOLIS  Twenty-first century technology and an American civil liberty constitutionally established in the 18th century collided Thursday during oral arguments at the Indiana Supreme Court.

At issue: Are police required to obtain a judicial warrant before asking cellular telephone companies to share business records that include a customer's historical location data?

The Indiana Court of Appeals concluded 2-1 in August that a warrant is mandated under the Fourth Amendment's protections against illegal searches, and threw out the robbery convictions, habitual offender enhancement and 61-year prison term issued to Marcus Zanders, 34, for his alleged role in a pair of 2015 southeastern Indiana liquor store holdups.

Deputy Attorney General Stephen Creason argued to the high court's five justices that Zanders' conviction should be reinstated, because by choosing to own a cell phone Zanders consented to share his location with his phone company to make the phone work.

Creason said under the third-party doctrine, which eliminates any expectation of privacy when individuals voluntarily provide information to a business, the phone company was free to give its records of Zanders' location to police on request and without a warrant.

"In fact, criminals who don't want to be tracked or that don't want to be caught don't use their cell phones as an instrumentality of the crime," Creason said.

Leanna Weissmann, Zanders' attorney, said most Hoosiers don't realize their phones are almost constantly generating records of their current location, and they therefore are not knowingly and voluntarily giving up their privacy interest in that "digital debris."

She argued that requiring police to get a warrant requesting specific phone records would prevent overly broad searches that scoop up mounds of data police have no need to possess.

In this case, she noted, officers obtained 30 days of Zanders' location data, comprising 500 pages of records, when his alleged crimes took place over only a one-week period.

She said police also claimed an emergency required they get the information immediately, even though Zanders was in custody for another crime at the time of their request to the phone company.

It was not entirely clear, based on their questions to the lawyers, where four of the five Supreme Court justices were leaning in their decision  especially given the potential for real-time police tracking through a phone company without a warrant.

However, Justice Robert Rucker, a Gary native, was explicit in suggesting that turning on a phone isn't consent for police tracking, and that because obtaining a warrant is "a very uncomplicated process" there is little harm in making the police do so.

The court's decision is expected early next year.
PORTAGE  This year has seen an upturn in the number of ships that have passed through the area's deepwater Lake Michigan harbor, Ports of Indiana director Rick Heimann said.

Tonnage, including steel, limestone, grain and coal, has decreased from 2015 when the harbor handled a record 12.2 million tons of cargo.

"We're up in ships but down in tonnage with about 12 million tons. We are ahead of our five-year average and cautiously optimistic about 2017," Heimann said.

Heimann, who has been the Ports of Indiana director since Jan. 16, was keynote speaker at the Portage Economic Development Corp. (formerly PEDCO) annual meeting held at Woodland Park on Tuesday.

Other speakers at the event included Portage EDC executive director Andy Maletta, Portage Mayor James Snyder and Portage Township Schools Superintendent Richard Weigel.

Heimann, during his speech, presented a history of the Ports of Indiana, including its creation in 1961 by the state Legislature.

The self-funding port authority operates the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor, which is split between Burns Harbor and Portage, as well as two ports on the Ohio River in southern Indiana, Heimann said.

Staffed by 26 people, the Ports of Indiana is governed by seven members; is comprised of 600 acres; and is connected by water to both the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.

There are 31 companies, the majority steel related, located in the Ports of Indiana.

The ships, barges, trucks and rail cars ship items, including wind turbine components and brewery tanks, to 15 countries and 47 states.

In September 2015, an Indiana-Quebec partnership for trade missions was formed, Heimann said.

"We are the crossroads of everything," Heimann said.

Maletta, who was named the city's first economic development director at last year's annual luncheon, said it's been a very busy year for his staff.

One of the first changes made by Maletta and his staff was changing the name of PEDCO, which sounded too much like a pet store, to Portage Economic Development Corp.

"We don't sell dog food," Maletta said.

A new logo, featuring an anchor, was chosen with the motto, "anchored in opportunity," also selected.

A new website has also been launched by the Portage EDC starting this week, Maletta said.

The mission of the EDC is business retention, expansion and attraction.

"We're excited about the work that's been done," Maletta said.
VALPARAISO  From her vantage point in the front lobby of the Porter County Animal Shelter, DeeDee has watched as other cats, as well as many dogs, have left for their forever homes.

The 5-year-old female calico has been passed over by visitors for more than two years, which is several times longer than is typical for a cat at the shelter, said Director Toni Bianchi.

"I'd like to see her get a home for Christmas," Bianchi said Thursday morning.

DeeDee was brought to the shelter in October 2014 after being found in Valparaiso as an underweight stray with a bite wound on her face, Bianchi said. Her wound has long since healed, and she has put on a couple more pounds than needed, but still she waits.

Part of the challenge in placing DeeDee in a forever home is that she does not care much for other cats or, for that matter, dogs, Bianchi said. She is also not entirely comfortable, at least not yet, with a lot of physical contact from people.

"We can pet her for a short time, and then she's done," Bianchi said.

DeeDee was curious about a new visitor Thursday morning and did not hesitate to come up to sniff things out and receive some light petting. She was a big fan of treats.

"Her whole attitude may change when she gets out of here," Bianchi said.

Jane Bernard, director of the LaPorte County Small Animal Shelter, agreed that two years is outside the norm for a cat to remain at a shelter, which is tough on the animal.

She said the typical adoption period for cats at her facility varies by the time of the year, considering more cats arrive at their door in spring, summer and as winter hits.

The Lake County Animal Shelter has a few cats who have been waiting about a year for a home, but nothing near the amount of time as DeeDee, said Deputy Director Jessica Hernandez.

"People always want kittens," she said, and are slower to adopt adult cats.

The ideal home for DeeDee would be one with an older person, without young children, dogs or other cats, who is fine with letting her warm up in her own time, Bianchi said.

Bianchi said DeeDee is not really much different than other cats, who unlike dogs, like to do their own thing and often times on their own. She said she took home a cat very similar to DeeDee, who has warmed up quite a bit over a few months.

DeeDee does not have the hunting skills necessary to make it as a barn cat, Bianchi said.

In hopes of giving DeeDee the greatest gift she could receive this holiday season, the shelter is cutting the typical adoption fee in half to $25.

"I think she can turn around and be a nice cat," Bianchi said.
INDIANAPOLIS  An Indiana lawmaker has proposed having teachers grade the state's new standardized test, as major decisions loom for the replacement of the current ISTEP exams.

Republican Rep. Robert Behning told the Indianapolis Star that his plan would make participation optional and enable the state to compensate teachers who participate.

The ISTEP exam is currently graded by the state's testing vendor, Pearson Education, which hires evaluators who have four-year degrees but may not come from a teaching background. The state has paid the vendor $32 million to administer the test for two years.

After concerns were raised about the legitimacy of past results, involving teachers in scoring would build trust in the test, Behning said. He said he would like participating teachers to grade the tests outside of school hours and be paid per question. The cost of having teachers grade the exam is not yet known.

Marianne Perie, a testing expert with the Center for Assessment and Accountability Research and Design, said the proposal would improve the way content is taught. But she said the state could experience slower scoring and less consistency among graders.

Education leaders have said they want a quicker turnaround in results than the current monthlong wait.

Lawmakers will discuss a new standardized test during the upcoming legislative session, which begins in January.

The Republican-dominated Legislature voted this year to mandate that ISTEP be replaced for the 2017-18 school year, but lawmakers have said the deadline will likely be pushed back because the new exams won't be ready in time.

ISTEP exams are taken by more than 400,000 students a year.
Revelations from Indiana's summer legislative study committees show encouraging signs that a long-term road funding plan may be in sight for the upcoming 2017 legislative session.

Sooner, rather than later, Indiana's leaders also must grapple with and overcome another unrelated infrastructure challenge  with an estimated starting price tag of $2.3 billion.

The Hoosier state's water infrastructure is either aging or inadequate to sustain the state's future, and the General Assembly must begin tackling long-term plans to modernize it.

Indiana state Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, has been leading this endeavor, and the entire state needs to turn a keen ear to what he is saying.

A new Indiana Finance Authority report, commissioned by the General Assembly largely through Charbonneau's efforts, found the state's 554 independent water systems are struggling to maintain quality service as water pipes, mains and other underground assets reach or exceed their useful lives.

It will take upward of $2.3 billion in immediate repairs and $815 million per year in additional maintenance to protect human health and prevent the loss of about 50 billion gallons of water per year, the report concluded.

On Tuesday evening, Charbonneau mentioned the challenge while addressing other legislators and community leaders at an annual legislative dinner sponsored by The Times and NIPSCO.

He noted he fully supports state efforts to find permanent revenue streams to maintain the state's roads. But he also implored fellow lawmakers to keep water infrastructure near the top of Indiana's priorities.

We agree.

It may be difficult for folks in Northwest Indiana to fully grasp the state's water challenges. We're uniquely situated along one of the Earth's largest natural freshwater supplies in the Great Lakes. But other areas further from that resource, and experiencing aging infrastructure, could severely hamper the entire state if water systems failed.

One need look no further than the ongoing contaminated water crisis in Flint, Michigan  spurred in part by aging lead pipes  to realize the fine line that separates functional water supplies from dire circumstances.

We're glad Hoosier lawmakers like Charbonneau are lending an authoritative voice to the future of Indiana's water infrastructure. Now it's time to bring the best ideas to bear in tackling a long-term solution.
Officials announced a public health campaign Wednesday against colon cancer to honor Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson, who died of the disease suddenly earlier this year. Thompson's wife is lending her voice to the effort, the first time she has spoken publicly about his illness. Borough reporter Jeanine Ramirez reports.

"I have two children now who are 9 and 12 that I have to raise by myself because Kenny is not here anymore," said Lu-Shawn Thompson.

Lu-Shawn Thompson spoke Wednesday about life without her husband Ken Thompson. The Brooklyn District Attorney lost his battle with cancer in October  just 6 months after he was diagnosed.

"At first we were really hopeful that he would live but as time went on it went from colon and it was in the brain," she said.

She says it was so aggressive it just continued to spread throughout the 50-year-old's body. Now Thompson's wife is stepping into the spotlight to raise awareness about colorectal cancer screenings.

"I get super nervous when I have to speak in public, but I know that this is really super important," she said.

She joined City Councilman Robert Cornegy at Woodhull Hospital in Bushwick, to launch The Gift of Life campaign. It will offer free colon cancer screenings at 18 city hospitals  regardless of health insurance. More than $1,200 city residents die each year from colon cancer, the second deadliest after lung cancer.

"We are doing everything that we can at Woodhull to make sure that we make colon cancer screening available to all members of the community," said Woodhull CEO Gregory Calliste.

"Through the gift of life campaign, those without healthcare still have a champion in Kenneth Thompson," said Councilman Cornegy.

Acting DA Eric Gonzalez, who took over after Thompson's death said his office will also be proactive getting the message out.

"This is something we can do together to drive down the rates," Gonzalez said. "It's particularly a problem in communities of color."

"I want to lend my voice not only as a public official but also as a black man in this community to stay that this is something that's absolutely necessary," said Councilman Cornegy.

In continuing Thompson's legacy, Cornegy says the City Council will issue a proclamation declaring March 14th Ken Thompson Day.

March 14th is Thompson's birthday. And March is national colon cancer awareness month.
Nancy Mairs, whose encounters with mental illness, disease and religious faith found expression in a series of trenchant, intensely personal essays and memoirs, died on Saturday at her home in Tucson. She was 73.

George Mairs, her husband, said that the cause had not been determined, but that Ms. Mairs had struggled with multiple sclerosis for more than 40 years and had relied on a wheelchair since 1993.

Ms. Mairs was a budding poet in her late 20s, suffering from agoraphobia and depression  she had once attempted suicide  when she was told that she had M.S. The inexorable progress of the disease provided her with her richest subject, as she wrote of her fears and hopes, her resolve to push against her limitations and her aversion to such euphemisms as differently abled.

I refuse to participate in the degeneration of the language to the extent that I deny that I have lost anything in the course of this calamitous disease; I refuse to pretend that the only differences between you and me are the various ordinary ones that distinguish any one person from another, she wrote in the introduction to Plaintext: Deciphering a Womans Life (1986), the essay collection that established her as a fierce, funny, feminist voice. Her essays On Being a Cripple and Sex and the Gimpy Girl made the point, defiantly.
Abbott agreed to acquire Alere in January, and the deal almost immediately became a troubled one. In February, Alere announced that it would not file its annual report on time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and said it had received a commission subpoena concerning its revenue recognition practices in Africa. Things got worse in March, when Alere disclosed criminal subpoenas from the Department of Justice related to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act issues in Africa, Asia and Latin America. That month the New York Stock Exchange also issued a notice of delisting for Alere stock.

What happened next was 10 months of dancing as the parties to the deal began making demands of each other around the late filing of Aleres S.E.C. reports and the investigations. In August, Alere sued Abbott, accusing it of dragging its feet in getting necessary regulatory approvals. Alere has also publicly said that the issues are not significant, and that Abbott is trying to escape this deal in order to focus on its $25 billion acquisition of another medical device company, St. Jude Medical.

Aleres suit came on the heels of Abbotts statement that it might not complete the acquisition on a timely basis or at all. In a counterclaim, Abbott asserted that it was not receiving all the information it was entitled to under the merger agreement, and that Alere was concealing information on its overseas operation. This is a tried-and-true tactic for buyers having second thoughts: File suit with the claim that they have not been provided enough information to assess whether to proceed with the deal.

In the midst of this back-and-forth, there were other developments for Alere. The company disclosed material weaknesses in its internal controls when it finally filed its annual report. On Nov. 4, the government notified Aleres Arriva unit that its Medicare enrollment would be revoked because there were submitted claims for 211 dead patients. And in July, Alere announced the voluntary recall of two products.

A MAC claim was common during the financial crisis. As Ive written before, a material adverse change clause is a way that parties handle risk in an acquisition to guard against unforeseen difficulties during the period from execution of the original acquisition agreement to completion.
A New Mexico businessman claimed to help low-income Spanish-speaking families by finding them foreclosed homes to buy and, in some cases, financing the deals.

But the states attorney general on Wednesday said that Jesus Cano of Albuquerque deceived dozens of consumers by misrepresenting the conditions of the often poorly maintained homes he sold. Sometimes Mr. Cano sold houses he did not even own, the attorney general said, and at other times he tried to sell the same property to more than one family simultaneously.

Mr. Cano and his firm, JSS, were sued by the New Mexico attorney general in state court, alleging that his real estate and home financing activities revealed a pattern of unfair and deceptive trade practices and unconscionable trade practices.

Officials indicated other parties could be added later to the civil complaint, which seeks restitution and civil penalties.
MOSCOW  The Russian government announced Wednesday that it will sell nearly 20 percent of its state oil company, Rosneft, to the Swiss commodity trading firm Glencore and the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar.

The deal defies expectations that no investor would dare buy a share in the Russian asset, given Western sanctions against the government of President Vladimir V. Putin.

But the emergence of foreign money suggests that investors are reassessing the sanctions after the election of Donald J. Trump, who has advocated warming ties with authorities in Moscow and is considering the chairman of Exxon Mobil, Rex W. Tillerson, as a candidate for secretary of state.

Mr. Tillerson criticized the sanctions as harmful for business after they halted an Exxon joint venture with Rosneft to drill for oil in the Kara Sea, in Russias sector of the Arctic Ocean.
All in all, this is probably more important in terms of symbolic impact than it is in terms of substance, said Mr. Effron, a prominent Wall Street Democrat who strongly supported Hillary Clinton for president. But symbols matter.

Mr. Trumps targets are not just chief executives. On Wednesday evening, he went on Twitter to fire at Chuck Jones, the president of Local 1999 of the United Steelworkers in Indianapolis, which represents Carrier employees working at the Indiana plant, saying Mr. Jones has done a terrible job representing workers.

The Twitter message followed a Washington Post article on Tuesday in which Mr. Jones criticized Mr. Trump, saying that the president-elect lied unnecessarily when talking to union members about the jobs he had saved.

Mr. Trump said he intended to continue his crusade. In an interview with Time magazine, Mr. Trump said he would ask his newly appointed chief of staff, Reince Priebus, for a list of companies that have announced plans to leave the United States.

I can call them myself, he told Time. Five minutes apiece. They wont be leaving. O.K.?

Still, for all the sturm und drang, the underlying message from the president-elects cabinet appointments is that he is building an administration of business-friendly veterans of government and Wall Street who favor a wish list of corporate goodies like tax overhaul and deregulation.

Mr. Trump, and the vice-president elect, Mike Pence, have made clear that in addition to sticks like public shaming and the threat of tariffs, they would push for these carrots for big business as well. I dont blame the companies, Mr. Trump said in an interview last week on the floor of Carriers Indianapolis plant. Washington, he said, has been taxing and regulating companies to death. Were untaxing and unregulating.

Hopes are already running high among leaders of the biggest public companies that the Trump administration will relax what they see as burdensome regulations, along with overhauling the corporate tax code. Mr. Trumps taunts, after all, may be a small price to pay for looser regulations or being able to pay only a modest tax when repatriating hundreds of billions of dollars now parked overseas.
Portlands executive-pay surcharge will be levied as a percentage of what a company owes on the citys so-called business license tax, which has been in place since the 1970s. City officials estimated that the new tax would generate $2.5 million to $3.5 million a year for the citys general fund, which pays for basic public services such as housing and police and firefighter salaries.

Criticism of how much chief executives are paid has risen in recent years as their compensation has grown substantially. In 2015, the median compensation for the 200 highest-paid executives at public companies in the United States was $19.3 million, up from $9.6 million five years earlier.

Comparing such compensation with how much lower-level employees earn is likely to show a very wide gulf. A 2014 study by Alyssa Davis and Lawrence Mishel at the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal-leaning advocacy group in Washington, found that chief executive pay compared with the earnings of average workers had surged from a multiple of 20 in 1965 to almost 300 in 2013.

Thomas Piketty, a professor at the Paris School of Economics and an authority on income inequality who wrote Capital in the Twenty-First Century, said he favored the Portland tax as a first step.

This is certainly part of the solution, Mr. Piketty wrote in an email, but the tax surcharge needs to be large enough; the threshold 100 times should be substantially lowered.
The agreement marks an important step forward in the journey to develop a sustainable future for our U.K. steel business, Koushik Chatterjee, the group executive director of Tata Steel, said in a statement.

Wednesdays announcement marks a major shift for Tata. Earlier this year, before Britains vote in June to leave the bloc, the company had said that it would explore all options for its struggling British business, which it acquired along with other European operations for what now seems an exorbitant 6.2 billion pounds in 2007, about $12.2 billion at the time.

For months, Tata has been sounding out potential buyers, while at the same time negotiating with the unions. Those efforts evidently did not find an attractive price, leading Tata to reconsider.

They risked being embarrassed twice, said Dalton Dwyer, managing director of Industry Corporate Finance, a London-based firm that advises industrial companies on mergers. They bought at the top of the market, and they didnt want to bail out at the bottom of the market.

But Tatas threat of closure does seem to have forced the unions into substantial concessions.

Loss of steel-making at the Port Talbot plant, which has two blast furnaces for making raw steel, would have been devastating to the economy of South Wales, a once-thriving industrial hub that has seen many high-paying jobs disappear in recent decades. Union officials say the deal will still need to be approved by their members.
The other seven are members of the Independent Democratic Conference, led by Jeffrey D. Klein, whose partnership with the Republicans has now extended to four years  affording Mr. Klein a central role in Albanys high-level meetings, and enhanced influence for his allies.

Mr. Cuomo has not responded to the calls for unity. But over the last several days, Mr. King has gone on the offensive, often in ways that were both comic and caustic. He attacked Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the Senate Democratic leader, for a lack of leadership, but also asserted that a veteran Democratic senator from the Bronx, Ruben Diaz Sr., who aligns with Ms. Stewart-Cousins, is a conservative who has been around since the Lincoln administration.

If Senate Leader Stewart-Cousins is a leader, opined Mr. King, now is the time to lead.

The reason for Mr. Kings piquant pronouncements remained a mystery, though suspicions of a connection between the invective and the governors intentions ran high in Ms. Stewart-Cousinss camp, in part because of the two mens past relationships. They also pointed out that Mr. King is currently employed as an executive at a high-powered lobbying firm, Mercury Public Affairs, that has done work on behalf of causes supported by Senate Republicans, who obviously oppose a unified Democratic front.

The Senate Republicans declined to comment on Mr. Kings opinions. On Mr. Diazs Senate website, he posted an article Tuesday arguing that he was a better Democrat than most of them.


Alarmed by what they said is Gov. Andrew M. Cuomos bid to politicize the City University of New York, a key bloc of New York City Council members pushed back against his assertions that the universitys administration has been financially irresponsible.

In a letter sent on Wednesday to CUNYs chairman, William C. Thompson Jr., members of the City Councils Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus raised concerns about wild rapid tirades of allegations and exaggerated charges from the state and a sustained attack on the independence and leadership of CUNY.

In particular, the caucus co-chairmen, Councilmen Robert Cornegy Jr. of Brooklyn and fellow Democrat Ritchie Torres of the Bronx, cited a strangely rushed, so-called interim report issued last month by the state inspector general, Catherine Leahy Scott. After the report criticized CUNYs financial and management practices as being ripe for abuse, Mr. Cuomo promised to appoint inspectors general for both CUNY and the State University of New York, and directed the CUNY board to review the findings and the universitys entire senior management, within 30 days.

With that deadline about a week away, the caucus, whose 22 members represent much of the City Councils 51-person roster, asked that the CUNY board support the universitys historic mission, especially to educate disadvantaged young people of color.
On a cool November day last year, Mayor Bill de Blasio stood with local manufacturing advocates and elected officials to unveil a plan to create and protect new industrial jobs in New York City. The mayor vowed to develop new rules for developers that would curtail hotel construction and spur manufacturing businesses.

But a draft of those rules, which the City Council was told to expect by October, has yet to be written. Instead, without an announcement, the de Blasio administration set aside the effort in favor of a much broader and more ambitious one favored by an influential union, the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council.

The switch comes at a time when Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, and his aides are actively courting union endorsements as he gears up for a 2017 re-election bid.

The story of promises made amid fanfare, then quietly scrapped or amended, is a familiar one in all levels of politics. But an examination of this pledge provides a window into the political maneuvering, union influence and back-room gamesmanship that characterize the sausage-making of city government.
MIAMI  In the latest episode over the proliferation of fake news and the people who believe it, a Tampa woman who thinks the Sandy Hook school massacre in Newtown, Conn., was staged has been charged with threatening a parent of one of the slain children.

The woman, Lucy Richards, 57, faces four counts of transmitting threats in interstate commerce. Ms. Richards sent four messages in January that said things such as: You gonna die. Death is coming to you real soon, according to an indictment made public on Wednesday.

Ms. Richardss belief that the school shooting was a hoax and never happened allegedly motivated her to make the charged threats, the United States attorneys office in Miami said in a statement. Each charge carries a maximum five-year sentence upon conviction.

According to the indictment, the threats were sent to a parent identified only as L.P. The initials are an apparent reference to Lenny Pozner, whose son, Noah, was the youngest of 20 children murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School four years ago.
Most Americans know who Harry Reid is these days. He is the soft-spoken man who slugs it out with Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky on the floor over filibusters, the tactician who delivered the 60 votes for President Obamas health care law (It was really, really hard), the leader who didnt quit after a punishing accident while exercising at his home, the guy who made the billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch the poster boys for unrestricted campaign spending.

There is no question this whole institution of Congress has been adversely affected by the Citizens United case, Mr. Reid said, referring to the Supreme Court decision that ended limits on outside spending. The country is up for sale right now.

During his nearly 18 years in various leadership positions in his party, Mr. Reid has alarmed his allies and angered his enemies with his sometimes hostile, bitter commentary and personal attacks. And the tight rein he held on the Senate in the face of Republican resistance and obstruction during Mr. Obamas tenure has not gone over well with Republicans.

For me, his time here has been one of a failure, obstruction and gridlock, Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming said, unprompted, during a news conference with his fellow Republican leaders on Tuesday. All you need to do is look at what happened when as majority leader, he wouldnt even allow members of his own party to offer amendments on the floor of the United States Senate, which is what drove him from majority leader to minority leader.

Mr. Reid, 77, is leaving with his party in the minority, Republicans in control of the House and Senate, and Donald J. Trump, a candidate Mr. Reid regularly ridiculed, heading into the presidency. In some ways, he said, the defeat of Hillary Clinton, his former colleague, will actually ease his departure.
Three days into a recount of Michigans presidential votes, a federal judge issued a ruling late Wednesday that cleared the way to end it.

The judge, Mark A. Goldsmith, who had ordered the new count to begin on Monday as part of a temporary restraining order focused on timing, removed his order late Wednesday. But the legal maneuvering appeared far from over. Representatives for Jill Stein, the Green Partys presidential nominee, who has called for recounts in three states, said they intended to pursue other legal avenues in Michigan.

Seeking new vote counts in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, Ms. Stein, who finished a distant fourth in the presidential race, has cited concerns about computer hacking and the reliability of voting machines. Her effort has set off legal fights with lawyers for President-elect Donald J. Trump, his campaign and his allies, who view the recounts as a needless and expensive tactic.

Even as county officials in Michigan rushed this week to recount votes in borrowed offices and conference centers, the legal battle proceeded in multiple courtrooms simultaneously. A state Court of Appeals decision on Tuesday concurred with complaints from Michigan Republicans that Ms. Stein did not meet the states legal requirements for a recount as an aggrieved party because she had not come close to winning.
President-elect Donald J. Trump is considering formally turning over the operational responsibility for his real estate company to his two adult sons, but he intends to keep a stake in the business and resist calls to divest, according to several people briefed on the discussions.

Under a plan now being considered by the Trump family and its lawyers, Ivanka Trump, Mr. Trumps elder daughter, would also take a leave of absence from the Trump Organization, in the surest sign that she is exploring a potential move to Washington with her husband, Jared Kushner. Mr. Kushner is discussing an as-yet undetermined role advising his father-in-law, and Ms. Trump plans on being an advocate on issues in which she has a personal interest, like child care.

Before deciding how to separate from her fathers business, Ms. Trump is also assessing how to disentangle from her apparel and licensing brands, which are named for her, two people briefed on her plans said. She plans on appointing a president of her company to run the day-to-day operations.

The Trumps are exploring what was described by one person briefed on the discussions as a legal structure that would give Mr. Trump and his daughter separation from the company. The New York Times spoke to two people involved in the transition process who were granted anonymity to speak candidly about continuing negotiations.
RIO DE JANEIRO  Brazils Supreme Court on Wednesday ended, at least for now, a tense standoff between the countrys judiciary and Congress when it overturned an injunction by one of its justices to remove the president of the Senate.

At the same time, the court ruled that the Senate president, Renan Calheiros, could no longer be in the line of succession to the presidency because he was a defendant in a criminal case.

Mr. Calheiros had refused to step down, provoking fears of a constitutional crisis as members of Congress, feeling themselves under siege by a series of sweeping corruption investigations, have sought to restrict the powers of prosecutors and judges. The ruling on Wednesday was seen as a compromise to prevent Mr. Calheiros from being in line for the presidency but not to oust him.

The full court was forced to deliberate after the justice, Marco Aurelio Mello, on Monday issued the injunction, which would have forced Mr. Calheiros to step down as president of the Senate but would have allowed him to keep his Senate seat.
He was the last man out the door of the Saigon bureau of The New York Times when the South Vietnamese city fell to Communist forces in 1975, an unheralded but indispensable guide whose photo credits in small print on the newspaper page belied his other vital journalistic contributions.

As he left the bureau, Nguyen Ngoc Luong retrieved the office handgun from a desk drawer, tossed it in a garbage can on the street and stepped into an uncertain future. He had rejected The Timess offer to be relocated to the United States, preferring to remain in the country he loved and where he had seen so much suffering.

Hundreds of unheralded guides and translators like Mr. Luong have served in war zones around the world, their contribution to journalism as essential as it is anonymous. Many are remembered fondly by the reporters who rotated into the battlefield and then returned home. Some are forgotten. Most go their separate ways, and contact is lost.

So it was with Mr. Luong. Even in this digital age it took weeks for many of his former colleagues to learn that he had died on Oct. 27 in what was Saigon but is now Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. He was 79.
The Mediterranean island nation of Malta has become the first European country to criminalize therapeutic methods that purport to change a persons sexual orientation or gender identity, the government and activist groups said.

That measure was one aspect of far-reaching legislation approved by Parliament on Monday that also includes provisions that support transgender rights. In a statement, the government said the two bills prohibit the pathologization of any sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

The first bill focused on so-called conversion therapy, a discredited collection of quasi-psychoanalytic methods that aim to change a persons sexual orientation or gender identity. It is also sometimes known as reparative therapy or, when religious methods are used, ex-gay ministry.

Conversion therapy has been increasingly in the spotlight in the weeks since Donald J. Trump won the United States presidential election because of speculation that his running mate, Vice President-elect Mike Pence, supports the practice. Mr. Pence has denied that is the case.
Its an image  you get the sense that Steins personality forced it out of Picasso  of a woman thinking critically. In a different way, Florine Stettheimers Cathedrals of Wall Street (1939) a few rooms away, with its insouciant image of the financial district, the capitalist heart of the nation, packed with preening politicians and soldiers, is the product of an artist painting critically. So is Alma Thomass Red Roses Sonata from 1972, an abstract view of nature as a gorgeous but tattered curtain of red and blue.

Thomass painting is in Gallery 923, near the museums southwest corner, all those acres away from Hatshepsuts room. And if during your tour youve tracked down and stayed with even a fraction of the images of and by women en route, lunchtime is long over; its probably too late to go back to the office, and your travel group has moved on and left you behind. So you might as well stay and look further: for an ancient Greek oil jug with paintings of women spinning yarn; a Zandra Rhodes wedding dress, pure 70s punk; for an exquisite willow basket by the Native American artist Datsolalee, patterned with dancing flames. The more you look, the more there is. So keep touring till closing time.

Four Tours, Each Under an Hour

Yes, you can dash around checking the boxes of traditional highlights as you peer at this El Greco or that Goya, and, of course, the Temple of Dendur. Here is what the 50-Minute Critic recommends instead.

GODDESSES AND QUEENS

50 minutes.

Four stops on two floors, heavy on sculpture, taking in Egyptian art on the first floor; Asian works directly above on the second; then back to the first floor, but at the opposite end of the museum for African art; and finally, in the middle of the first floor, a straight line from the museum entrance, the Medieval Hall.

SHIFTING GENDERS

30 minutes.

Two stops: the Asian galleries on the second floor and the Greek and Roman galleries at the opposite end, on the first.

VIOLENT FEMMES

30 minutes.

A quick and bloody tour in two stops, both on the second floor: Gallery 999, a special exhibition space near the European Paintings, and, in an attraction of geographical opposites, the Islamic Wing.

PORTRAITS OF AND BY WOMEN

50 minutes.

Three stops, all on the second floor, all featuring paintings. Start in European Paintings and then head next door to the American Wing and then back through the European galleries to the Modern and Contemporary Wing.
Suprematism was quickly superseded by the more grounded, utilitarian art of Constructivism  one of the first to announce the death of painting, as El Lissitzky does in a wall text. On paper, he extends the geometric abstraction of Suprematism into real life as a high-minded form of room decoration, while hinting at industrial materials in his paintings.

By the mid-1920s, Lenin was exhorting artists to make works of mass communication that would guide the people. Film, photography and graphic design came to dominate. Portions of four films projected in a small gallery provide a quick immersion in the rapid progress of Russian cinema from sentimental narrative to radical innovation to propaganda. We see the famous Odessa steps sequence from Sergei Eisensteins Potemkin, a reimagining of an incident from the Revolution of 1905 intended to help justify the permanent one of 1917. For the 1929 feature film Man With a Movie Camera, Dziga Vertov filmed an actor rushing from factory to street to traffic stop, toting a camera and tripod to capture the nations bustle and productivity, in the face of the fiascos of industrialization and land redistribution. At one point, he sets up his camera in the space between oncoming trolley cars  Russias Buster Keaton.

The show ends with the avant-garde still on the rise  no fall here. One final surprise is the beautiful architectural model for Ivan Leonidovs the Peoples Commissariat of Heavy Industry. The building, which was to be devoted to defense production, improves upon much Postmodernism before the fact and was canceled by Stalin when the avant-garde idyll came to an end.

Around this striking bit of architectural prescience (refabricated from photographs from 1979), the shows last two galleries are dominated by dynamic photography and graphic design, much of it propaganda. The blaring movie posters of Vladimir and Georgii Stenberg, all reds, blacks and yellow, inflame the shows last wall, their energy echoed sotto voce by Gustav Klutsiss postcards for the 1928 All Union Spartakiada Sporting Event. Although there is a delicate porcelain tea set decorated with Suprematist motifs by Nikolai Suetin, the impersonal formal force of many of these works can make you feel like youre being yelled at.

The utopian ideal of the artists engaging the masses fizzled when Stalin realized that the masses werent responding. Socialist Realism became the official style and the avant-gardists either adjusted or became persona non grata. Aleksandr Rodchenko seems to have had the versatility and talent to keep going as long as anyone. He begins the show helping to invent abstract painting and sculpture  and ends as a brilliant photographer and graphic designer, most impressively, of the arts journal Novyi LEF, or Left Front (1927-28), whose covers, images and layouts were mostly his doing. Apparently no job was too small. The final gallery includes handsome little lapel pins, a poster and stationery that Rodchenko designed for Dobrolet, the first Soviet airline, in the 1920s.

Nearly everything in this exhibition proposes that the Russian Revolution precipitated a giant step for art, if not necessarily for humankind. A Revolutionary Impulse is also a significant move for the Modern, which should organize broad, all-collection endeavors. It certainly has the right stuff.
When Nina Collins was 19 and studying in Europe, she had a distressing phone conversation with her mother. I have cancer, and you need to come home, her mother said, but dont worry, Im going to be fine.

Ms. Collins immediately made her way back to New York. Her mother died two weeks later.

Kathleen Collins, a pioneering playwright, filmmaker and screenwriter, had kept her breast cancer diagnosis a secret for eight years. When she died in 1988, at 46, she left behind a trove of papers, journals and letters. Her daughter dutifully preserved the documents, stuffing them in a traveling trunk, but found them too painful to read.

Every time I tried to look at them it made me cry, she said.

When she finally cracked open the trunk about a decade ago, she found more than 20 short stories as well as an incomplete novel, some unproduced screenplays and plays and, most wrenching of all, the journal her mother kept during the last two years of her life, as she hid her illness from her children and friends.
The brain is capable of remarkable flimflam. We act on impulse, and only later start looking for a logical justification for it; we somehow find ways to intellectually defend whats in our gut. As the psychologist Jonathan Haidt likes to say, we rely on an inner lawyer, not an inner scientist, to do our moral reasoning.

This lawyer works overtime when we make a mess of our love lives. (It is, arguably, one of the best reasons to keep that bulldog on retainer.) Renu, the mesmerizing narrator in Ratika Kapurs The Private Life of Mrs. Sharma, has a gift for self-deception. It is baffling, then funny, and then quite poignant to witness.

The novel opens with a chance encounter between Renu and Vineet, a gallant, self-assured man, at a metro station in Delhi. Hes 30, single, a striver; shes 37, married, the mother of a teenage son. The two start spending time together  no lying to her husband involved, he is hard at work in Dubai  but its innocent stuff. They split samosas at a sweet shop. They munch on momos outside the train station. Then Vineet invites her to ride with him on his motorbike. Hmm.

I was not born yesterday, Renu says. I know what it can mean, I know how it can feel, to ride behind a man on a two-wheeler. I know how the man could slowly lean back into the woman sitting behind him until his body is pressing against her chest, while the womans hands could move from the handlebar behind her to the mans waist and then finally rest on his thighs as she leans forward against him.
THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF BENJAMIN NETANYAHU

By Neill Lochery

Illustrated. 378 pp. Bloomsbury. $30.

If Benjamin Netanyahus government makes it through two more years  and its a big if given the shaky foundation of most governing coalitions in Israel  then the morning of Sept. 23, 2018, is going to be a very special one for him. Thats the day he secures his legacy just by waking up, becoming the longest serving prime minister in Israels history, outlasting the iconic David Ben-Gurion. And longevity would be the perfect kind of achievement for the leader universally known as Bibi. Whatever your feelings about him, no one can dispute his genius at political survival.

Simply enduring might not seem the best measure of leadership  a race that Vladimir Putin or Robert Mugabe would surely win  but to Netanyahu it is everything. The ability to persist, to keep going even when the world hates you, when the ground is crumbling beneath your feet, this is what he most values, both in the history of the Jewish people and in his own political career.

One could even argue that this, alone, is Bibis entire discernible modus operandi: slathering the status quo in thick concrete, sitting atop it and waiting, resiliently  to hell with the rest of the Middle East, to hell with the Palestinians, to hell even with the Americans.

After two decades in the public eye, what else can we say Bibi wants? What other vision has he offered Israel besides one of himself standing guard against any change? At one level, Neill Lochery, the author of a new biography with the tantalizing title The Resistible Rise of Benjamin Netanyahu, understands this. Right up front he declares that the normal tools for assessing the success or failure of leaders must be discarded when sizing up the Israeli prime minister. For Netanyahu, it has been all about survival. This is a startling starting point, especially when were talking about the leader of Israel, a country that doesnt even have internationally recognized borders and that for a thousand reasons, moral to demographic, cannot afford to recline. A biography  and Locherys is apparently the first in English  must tell us how Bibi came to embrace this ethos of resilience for resiliences sake and why it has proved so popular with the Israeli people through four hard-fought elections, leaving him no serious opponents in sight.
1. President-elect Donald Trumps latest stop on his victory tour was a rally in Des Moines. The event came a day after tapping Iowas governor, Terry Branstad, to be ambassador to China.

Mr. Trump is facing criticism for lashing out at an Indiana union local president who accused Mr. Trump of lying about saving jobs at the Carrier plant in Indianapolis.
A lawyer for Insys declined to comment beyond a brief statement that said the company was cooperating with authorities in all relevant investigations. Lawyers for Mr. Babich and Alec Burlakoff, who was the companys vice president of sales, said their clients would plead not guilty. Anthony Pacheco, a lawyer for Joseph A. Rowan, a former regional sales director, described the indictment as a list of the governments unproven factual assertions and legal theories. Lawyers for the other defendants either did not return calls or could not be reached.

Prosecutors said executives at Insys began to aggressively market Subsys soon after it arrived on the market in 2012, and they were frustrated because it was not performing well against several similar fentanyl products that were already on the market. So over the next few years, they set out to woo pain doctors who had a track record for prescribing large quantities of fentanyl, enticing them with speakers fees, lavish dinners and in some cases going so far as to hire their relatives.

In one exchange, Mr. Burlakoff texted a sales representative and told her not to worry about whether one of the doctors had good communications skills. They do not need to be good speakers, they need to write a lot of prescriptions for Subsys, he told her, according to the indictment.

In return, the indictment said, the doctors wrote large numbers of prescriptions for people who did not have cancer. An analysis in 2014 showed that only 1 percent of prescriptions for the drug were written by oncologists.

Top prescribers were given special treatment, with Insys assigning its own employees to help with office work. In the case of one high-prescribing doctor in Alabama, the indictment said, the company dedicated a sales representative to attend to all of his needs. After the doctor became a paid speaker for Insys, he went from writing about two prescriptions a week to about 11 prescriptions a week, prosecutors said.
YouTube, the latest target of the music industrys battle over royalties and control, has taken steps this week to mend fences and show that it is a good partner. But the fight is far from over.

On Thursday, YouTube, which is by most estimates the most popular destination for music online, announced that it had reached a settlement with the National Music Publishers Association, a trade group, over the complex issue of unpaid songwriting royalties.

The settlement is estimated to be worth more than $40 million, according to two people with knowledge of the agreement who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private terms. Neither YouTube nor the publishers association would comment on the amount.

In a persistent problem for the online music business, large numbers of songs have missing or incorrect data about their songwriters and which music publishers represent them, leaving what is widely estimated to be millions of dollars unpaid. The publishers association has made a series of deals to address the problem, most recently with Spotify.
Mr. Trump has yet to specify changes he might make to Nafta or other industrial policies. But his cabinet appointments, particularly the selection for commerce secretary of the billionaire investor Wilbur L. Ross Jr., who has suggested that he is receptive to some of the antitrade views favored by Mr. Trump, indicate that the incoming president may take an aggressive approach to modifying trade deals and other tenets of the outgoing Obama administration.

One industry analyst, Ron Harbour of the consulting firm Oliver Wyman, said many voters in Rust Belt states like Michigan and Ohio backed Mr. Trump primarily because of his promises to restore manufacturing jobs in the United States.

So there probably will be pressure to do something, Mr. Harbour said. And if he doesnt do anything, they probably are not going to be too thrilled.

Mr. Trump will inherit an auto industry that is far healthier than when President Obama took office and industry officials could push back strongly on disruptive changes.

But auto executives generally support Mr. Trumps choice of a former labor secretary in the George W. Bush administration, Elaine Chao  who is also the wife of the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell  to head the Transportation Department. The department oversees fuel-economy and safety rules that affect the types of vehicles that automakers produce.

We all have a common interest, and that is to maximize the rate of innovation in the technologies that save lives, avoid crashes and improve fuel economy, the auto alliance said in response to Ms. Chaos appointment.

No change would be more consequential to the auto industry than applying steep tariffs on imports from Mexico and elsewhere. Companies could be forced to radically change how and where they get commodity parts, the production of which has been migrating to low-wage nations for decades. Consumers could see a change in the types of cars available.
What does the best mean when talking about wine? Not the greatest, as the greatest wines in the world may not be the best wines for a specific occasion.

What makes a wine the best has very much to do with the moment you choose to open the bottle. Its not simply a question of quality, although thats crucial. Its a combination of the occasion, the people with whom you share it, the food you eat and the context. Ultimately, what counts are the memories.

So this is not a 10 Best list, but rather a tally of the most memorable wines I drank from 2016, bottles that were not only delicious but also lodged themselves in my synapses for reasons beyond simply whats in the glass. They are both modest and profound, ranked roughly from youngest to oldest.

1. Retsina may be among the most scorned wines in the world. Its a traditional Greek white infused with the piquant flavor of pine resin. One of the first things wine novices learn is that retsina is awful. A trip to San Francisco early this year gave me an opportunity to rethink that bias.
American life expectancy is in decline for the first time since 1993, when H.I.V.-related deaths were at their peak. But this time, researchers cant identify a single problem driving the drop, and are instead pointing to a number of factors, from heart disease to suicides, that have caused a greater number of deaths.

A study on mortality rates released on Thursday by the National Center for Health Statistics showed that Americans could expect to live for 78.8 years in 2015, a decrease of 0.1 from the year before. The overall death rate increased 1.2 percent  thats about 86,212 more deaths than those recorded in 2014.

Dr. Peter Muennig, a professor of health policy and management at Columbia Universitys Mailman School of Public Health, said in an interview that the decline was a uniquely American phenomenon in comparison with other developed countries, like Japan or Sweden.

A 0.1 decrease is huge, Dr. Muennig said. Life expectancy increases, and thats very consistent and predictable, so to see it decrease, thats very alarming.
The Times did not start out thinking too kindly of Mr. Lucas. The Autobiography of a Crook, which he was said to have written with R. L. Dearden, was published in the United States in 1925. Mr. Lucas (or Mr. Dearden) described a life of crime beginning at the age of 12, as the leader of a gang of shoplifting schoolboys. Our review called the book debauched.

Image Two months before The Times revealed Mr. Lucas as a fraud, it ran this advertisement. Credit... The New York Times, Nov. 20, 1927

Criminal Paris, published in 1927, fared slightly better. The prominent critic Herbert S. Gorman discussed Lucass journey through the dark corners of the City of Light, concluding, The book that is the result of this expedition is badly put together and overwritten, but it is undeniably interesting. None of this sufficed to place Mr. Lucas in the journalistic cross hairs, however. Yet.

That came when he descended on New York and announced his engagement to Chicago May, the world-famous blackmailer and underworld queen of a generation ago, as The Times described her on Jan. 4, 1928:

Both of the betrothed have totally abandoned their old professions, according to their writings, and intend to devote the rest of their lives to making amends by explaining to the reading public in some detail their thrilling and gorgeous exploits and why it was wrong to commit them. The elderly Tenderloin queens confidences, in spite of a busy career of 20 years in New York and London, are thin and inconsiderable when compared to those of the young Vesuvius of confession by whom she is soon to be led to the altar.

It didnt take The Times too long to find out there was more smoke than fire in that Vesuvius.

Our expose was published a day later, after we had bearded the liar in his den at the Hotel Chelsea in Manhattan.
The experiment has been hampered by the drag force of a conservative culture: According to a survey of trainees by a team of economists from Harvards Kennedy School, 80 percent of the young women placed by the government program said they liked their jobs. But just 20 percent were working a year later. The respondents said their decision to drop out was driven in part by low wages.

But the single biggest reason they dropped out was family pressure  in a culture that still overwhelmingly favors arranged marriage, families prefer to keep women of marriageable age at home.

In September, when I finished my reporting, Prabhatis fate was dangling.

Sent back to the village to recuperate from a viral fever, she encountered resistance from all directions when she tried to return to her job in the city. Every time she tried to leave, the obstacles seemed to multiply. Even if she could persuade her father to pay 1,300 rupees for the ticket, who would take her to the train station? Who would guarantee her safety on the 35-hour journey? How would she find her way from the station to the hostel?

Prabhatis mother, Radha Rani, was eager to secure her future in the old-fashioned way, by marrying her off. When Prabhati argued that she should be allowed to leave, and that she would be more useful to the family by remaining single, earning money and sending it home, Radha Rani screwed up her face as if she had eaten a lemon.

For what reason is she saying so? she said of Prabhati. I do not understand. She is not earning. She cannot take care of anybody. If she did, then maybe I could take her answer seriously.
In the summer of 1969, John Noble Wilford finished a long working day in Texas and glanced up at the moon.

There was a lot going on that year.

Hundreds of miles away in New York City, just around the corner from his home in Greenwich Village, a police raid on the Stonewall Inn had just turned his neighborhood into a focal point for the burgeoning gay rights movement.

He missed all of that.

Meanwhile, a counterculture movement was gathering pace, culminating in the Woodstock music festival in upstate New York just a few weeks later.
Students and teachers can use the following ideas to dig more deeply into Electoral College issues and track the final steps of the 2016 election.

1. Track the faithless electors. As the Dec. 19 vote of the Electoral College approaches, students can track the flood of news coverage in The Times and other outlets. Below is a selection of recent stories. Put up a bulletin board in your classroom or online in which you keep track of electors who are wavering from their original commitments. Then predict the final Electoral College count.

 Why I Will Not Cast My Electoral Vote for Donald Trump

 The Constitution Lets the Electoral College Choose the Winner. They Should Choose Clinton (Lawrence Lessig in The Washington Post)

 Meet the Hamilton Electors Hoping for an Electoral College Revolt (The Atlantic)

 Teen Becomes Seventh Faithless Elector to Protest Trump as President-Elect (The Guardian)

 Texas Elector Who Criticized Trump Says Hes Resigning (Politico)

2. Follow the vote of the Electoral College and see what happens. In most presidential election years, the vote of electors in each state capitol passes without much notice, but that seems destined to change this year. Set up coverage teams in your class to track local and national coverage of the Dec. 19 vote. Consider setting up a Twitter feed or live bulletin board in your school to raise awareness of the vote. Then students can act as pundits in a live broadcast to explain the results to classmates, teachers, parents and other observers.

3. Consider an alternative approach. So far, 11 states have signed onto an initiative that would end the winner-take-all system in which state rules award all electors to whomever wins the majority in that state. States participating in the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact would require their electors to follow the nationwide majority vote. Even though the plan requires no changes to the Constitution, analysts say it faces tough political and legal challenges in branching out beyond Democratic-leaning states.

Others suggest that states should apportion their electoral votes by Congressional district, as Maine and Nebraska have done. Such a change would make it possible for a state to split its electoral votes between two or more candidates, rather than leaving runners-up with nothing after a close election.
Homelessness, alcoholism, real estate chicanery, the financial crisis, teenage drug abuse and transgender discrimination: These are some of the themes dutifully trotted out and glossed over in the screen adaptation of Annie Weatherwaxs 2014 novel, All We Had. Although sensitively handled in the film, it all adds up to an overload of baggage for a well-meaning but formulaic movie with not enough time to transcend predictable cliches.

Katie Holmes, making her feature directorial debut, stars as Rita, a bedraggled but nonetheless beautiful homeless woman living out of a beat-up car with her 15-year-old daughter, Ruthie (Stefania Owen). The best thing about All We Had is Ms. Holmess stormy portrayal of a desperate, foolishly trusting woman who rushes from man to man seeking security, only to find herself used and betrayed while her daughter looks on with increasing dismay.

When things dont work out with one rescuer, Rita and Ruthie flee to another town, and the cycle repeats itself. However disheveled, with dark circles of exhaustion under her eyes, Rita has no problem attracting suitors to whom she gives herself much too readily. She blurs any qualms she may have with copious amounts of alcohol.

The story begins just as Rita is about to hit rock bottom. After her car breaks down in a small town, Rita is forced to take a job as a waitress in the diner whose kindhearted owner, Marty (Richard Kind), pities her and Ruthie, even though they walked out on their check. Martys transgender niece, Pam (Eve Lindley), who dreams of finding stardom in New York City, is a waitress at the diner and soon becomes the best friend of Ruthie, who washes dishes.
Dominic Rains is quietly captivating in Burn Country, an amorphous study in table-turning directed by Ian Olds, a documentarian who is trying his first feature.

Mr. Rains plays Osman, who has relocated to the United States from Afghanistan, where he had been a fixer  translator, guide, all-purpose right-hand man  for Gabe (James Oliver Wheatley), a war journalist. Gabe has arranged for Osman to live with his mother (Melissa Leo), a police officer in a small California town where some shady things are going on in the backwoods. Osman gets a job with the local newspaper monitoring the police blotter, and hes befriended by a longhaired free spirit (James Franco), whose disappearance Osman feels compelled to investigate.

This isnt a cookie-cutter whodunit, though; its really a study in Osmans stranger-in-a-strange-land disorientation. Osman consults occasionally by phone with Gabe, who is still at work overseas, just as out of place in that hostile environment as Osman is in California.

Mr. Olds drew on a documentary he made, Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi, in creating Burn Country, which he wrote with Paul Felten. The story sometimes seems as if its being deliberately cryptic, which grows irksome after a while; Mr. Rains, Ms. Leo and Mr. Franco are all so interesting that you wish they had more to bite into. But the film has a transfixing quality nonetheless.
Bickering banter breaks into flirtatious song and dance in this scene from La La Land, featuring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.

The films director and writer, Damien Chazelle, wanted the flow of the scene to seem effortless, filming it as a one-shot sequence. In an interview in New York, he discussed his actors lengthy rehearsal process to learn their dance moves and how his team added gas lamps to a location inspired by Singin in the Rain.

Below are excerpts from that conversation.

What was the inspiration for the scene?

This was our version of that classic Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers duet, that idea of a couple who on the surface dont seem to have anything in common. And yet everything about how they sing and dance together tells us that theyre destined to be in love.

How long did it take for the actors to learn the dancing here?

Our choreographer, Mandy Moore, started working with Ryan and Emma on this number three months prior to shooting. They began developing it and rehearsing it in a dance studio. But eventually that had to be transferred into a real location. That was part of the challenge with this whole movie: to do stuff that in the old days you would do on soundstages or in a studio, here do in real locations with the elements.
Part documentary, part beast fable, Pietro Marcellos Lost and Beautiful is a loving act of cultural preservation. It also pays tribute to another such act: the brave and selfless efforts of Tommaso, a shepherd in the southern Italian region of Campania, to protect an 18th-century Bourbon palace from falling into ruin.

Tommaso (Tommaso Cestrone), a sturdy, handsome man with melancholy blue eyes, is remembered as the angel of Carditello (the name of the palazzo). In Mr. Marcellos film, he seems to foresee his own death, the approach of which summons Pulcinella (Sergio Vitolo), a stock figure from commedia dellarte descended from a figure in ancient Etruscan mythology. Pulcinella, in his large-nosed mask and white pantaloon, is a bit like the angel in Wim Wenderss Wings of Desire. A semi-supernatural being, Pulcinella enters the world of the living and speaks the language of human beings for the duration of his mission, and he is troubled and beguiled by what he finds among our kind.
In the Belgian filmmaker Jaco Van Dormaels wickedly amusing religious satire, The Brand New Testament, God (Benoit Poelvoorde) is a snarling, meanspirited bully who rules the universe from an apartment in Brussels. Inside his locked office, surrounded by walls of card files, the tyrannical, perpetually bored deity sits behind a computer and plays nasty practical jokes on humans. A favorite pastime is contriving Laws of Annoyance, like making sure that when a piece of toast falls, it always lands with the jelly side down.

Gods wife (Yolande Moreau) is a silent, slavishly dutiful housekeeper; his son, JC, has been reduced to a statue. It remains for his rebellious young daughter, Ea (Pili Groyne), to flout his authority. Sneaking into his office, she hacks into his computer and, in what the news media later names DeathLeaks, sends text messages to everyone in the world, informing all of the dates of their deaths. Suddenly, millions are free to use the time they have left as they see fit. One daredevil, assured of a long life, keeps jumping from heights and landing safely.

Ea flees the familys locked house and her fathers wrath through the washing machine, emerges from a Brussels laundromat and sets about collecting disciples to resolve a power struggle between her parents. Meeting a homeless man, she enlists him to help her find six more apostles to add to the 12 depicted in a tapestry of Leonardos The Last Supper that hangs in Gods apartment.

This is only the start of a surreal comedy whose endless visual imagination matches its conceptual wit. Most of the humor is too lighthearted to offend all but the most reverent believers, and the movies inventiveness rarely flags. What plays out onscreen is a zany fairy tale in the Monty Python mode, but not quite as silly, and with a streak of pictorial poetry.
A Connecticut man who fled from a Georgia prison nearly 50 years ago and then settled into an unassuming life in his home state died on Monday, after a monthslong campaign to remain free.

The man, Robert Stackowitz, a native of Bridgeport, was convicted in 1966 of forcible robbery in Georgia, where he had traveled with friends. He escaped two years later from a prison work camp in Carroll County and surreptitiously returned to Connecticut.

He carved out a quiet existence in Sherman, a small town on the states western border with New York, where he repaired boat engines and used the alias Bob Gordon. But this year, he applied for Social Security benefits under his real name, which caught the attention of the authorities in Georgia, who had stopped searching for him years ago.

Mr. Stackowitz had multiple health problems, including cancer, diabetes, emphysema and heart disease. His lawyers had argued that he would not survive the trip if forced to return to Georgia to serve out his sentence.
The Queens shelter where Natasha Bell worked as a security guard was within walking distance from the one where she and her children lived.

Ms. Bell slogged away at one full-time job after another, trying to piece together financial security for her family, only to be reminded how far she has to go when she returns home every night to the shelter.

Ive had lots of jobs, Ms. Bell, 34, said. Ive never stopped working.

She traces her transience to the death of her grandmother, who raised her when her mother was unable. When Ms. Bells grandmothers health declined, she dropped out of school at 16 to be by her side.

In the years after her grandmothers death, Ms. Bell lived in shelters operated by the Covenant House. She earned a high school equivalency diploma, got a job at a McDonalds and moved into supportive housing. But she did not make enough to pay her bills. Her financial burdens significantly increased after the birth of her first daughter, Aziya, in 2006. Ms. Bell moved back into a shelter.
Following the October plebiscite, the peace process was in a dangerous limbo, even though a bilateral cease-fire was already underway. Forty hectic days went by, during which the government heard out the leaders of the No faction, which had won by a mere 53,000 votes, equivalent to a 0.43 percentage point. Heading the No backers are two former presidents who tried to make peace with the FARC in the past and failed: Alvaro Uribe and Andres Pastrana.

The No supporters proposed 410 modifications, many of them poison darts aimed at the heart of the negotiation. For example, expecting the guerrilla movement to accept prison sentences for its members and that its leaders could not run for election would have been unthinkable in any reasonable agreement.

Other proposed modifications sought to stir up demons issuing from an intentional misinterpretation of the agreement. The fact that L.G.B.T. groups proposed gender equality in the original agreement made many churches and religious denominations view it as a threat to the family and Christian values. Likewise, the original agreement sought to grant land ownership to impoverished peasants who had been working the land for a long time. This was only a first step toward a modest agrarian reform, in a country where there has been none. However, landowners were still alarmed and saw the agreement as a threat to their private-property rights.

Before the plebiscite, the government negotiators said they had reached the best agreement possible with the FARC. After being defeated, they found themselves in the unusual position of asking the FARC to accept the oppositions proposals. The new agreement incorporated 80 percent of these suggestions, including the FARCs commitment to list all its assets in order to give reparations to the victims of the armed conflict. The new agreement also allows charges to be presented in ordinary courts of justice against former guerrillas involved in human rights crimes and drug trafficking. Still, Mr. Uribe and other critics have rejected it, claiming that its not enough and that it condones the atrocities committed by the FARC.

The peace negotiations took place over a period of four years in Havana, with the aim of ending the spiral of political violence in Colombia once and for all. But what had been agreed on also reflected an old, unhealed wound in Colombia: the division between the conservative and liberal elites over issues including the lack of agrarian reform, the shortcomings of Colombian democracy, the unsuccessful war on drugs and rampant impunity for crimes.
To the Editor:

Re How the War Ends in Syria, by Peter W. Galbraith (Op-Ed, Dec. 6):

I appreciate Mr. Galbraiths intentions regarding Syria, but his idea is mostly wishful thinking. A lasting and equitable peace accord among all the interested parties will never come together, especially since many of the combatants are not honorable and hate one another.

A United States agreement with Syria, Russia and Iran while moderate Syrians are being slaughtered is a nonstarter. Keep in mind that ISIS terrorists are still terrorizing Syrians, and that Turkey is intent on obliterating Kurds domestically and in nearby Syria.

In the end, Mr. Galbraiths plan keeps Bashar al-Assad, a man responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of refugees, in power. This is a dubious endgame.

The world wishes that there were better alternatives, but Im sad to predict that the conflicting agendas and longstanding enemies make peace a virtual impossibility.
Donald J. Trump has named Scott Pruitt, a leading opponent of President Obamas signature environmental initiatives, as his nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Mr. Pruitt, Oklahomas attorney general, is closely linked to fossil fuel industries and is a climate change skeptic. He was most likely chosen to reverse these environmental initiatives, a deeply disturbing turn in the nations effort to slow climate change.

Fortunately, law and reality constrain presidents and agency heads. So do deeply ingrained federalism traditions that leave room for state leadership on the environment. Collectively, law, reality and regulatory choices by states would create a bulwark against abrupt changes by Mr. Pruitt and the president. Wholesale regulatory rollbacks by presidential fiat are difficult to accomplish. Radical change would probably require Congress to amend long-enduring environmental statutes.

Two of the most controversial Obama administration environmental regulations  the Clean Power Plan governing greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants, and the Waters of the United States rule defining federally protected waters  have been fiercely fought by Mr. Pruitt and his allies and opposed by Mr. Trump during the campaign.
In a flurry of tweets, interviews and deal making, President-elect Donald Trump has made clear that he will take an active role in shaping industrial policy  one business at a time. Hes already shown off this approach with United Technologies, Boeing and SoftBank.

Last week, Mr. Trump triumphantly announced that he had convinced Carrier, which makes heating and cooling equipment, to keep roughly 1,000 jobs at its Indianapolis factory from moving to Mexico. In exchange the company will get a $7 million tax break from Indiana and promises of taxes cuts and less regulation from the Trump administration. On Monday, Gregory Hayes, the chief executive of United Technologies, which owns Carrier, told CNBC that some of those 800 jobs would be lost to automation anyway. So, Mr. Trump saved what was actually 800 jobs temporarily, with taxpayer money.

Then there was Mr. Trumps criticism of Boeing. In a tweet on Tuesday morning, he said the company was building a new Air Force One, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order! Boeings stock fell sharply after the tweet, though it has since recovered. The tweet came shortly after The Chicago Tribune quoted the chief executive of Boeing, Dennis Muilenburg, criticizing Mr. Trumps campaign promise to cancel trade deals and increase import tariffs. Turns out Mr. Trumps tweet was wrong; the government has not yet placed an order with Boeing, the countrys largest exporter. The company has a $170 million contract, signed only early this year, to study new features for Air Force One planes, which are expected to cost much less than Mr. Trump wrote, with the big expenses connected to new security and communications equipment.

Finally, Mr. Trump claimed credit for a decision by SoftBank, a Japanese technology and telecommunications company, to invest $50 billion in the United States. He tweeted that the companys founder, Masayoshi Son, said he would never do this had we (Trump) not won the election! This, too, turns out to be wrong. SoftBank announced in October that it would raise a $100 billion investment fund, aiming to become the biggest investor in the technology industry worldwide  much of which is based in the United States, no thanks to Mr. Trump.
To the Editor:

Re Choice for E.P.A. Has Led Battles to Constrain It (front page, Dec. 8):

President-elect Donald Trumps nomination of Oklahomas attorney general, Scott Pruitt, to head the Environmental Protection Agency sends shivers down my spine. Mr. Pruitt has built a career representing the interests of the fossil fuel industry, the very industry that the E.P.A. is tasked to regulate.

Mr. Pruitt advocates the devolution of regulatory oversight to the states, arguing that they know best. Yet his own state, Oklahoma, has seen earthquakes over magnitude 3.0 grow from an average of two per year to 907 in 2015 as fracking exploded in the state.

Mr. Pruitt would derail the Paris climate accord, an unprecedented global achievement. Now all bets are off.

We are going to allow the fossil fuel industry to play roulette with the ability of this planet to support life  why exactly? So that a few people can become even more fabulously wealthy and we can get cheap gas to fuel our shiny new monster trucks. You have got to be kidding me.
Speaking in Boston, Senator Bernie Sanders partly endorsed Lillas principle: One of the struggles that youre going to be seeing in the Democratic Party is whether we go beyond identity politics. I think its a step forward in America if you have an African-American C.E.O. of some major corporation. But you know what, if that guy is going to be shipping jobs out of this country, and exploiting his workers, it doesnt mean a whole hell of a lot whether hes black or white or Latino.

Lilla and Sanders have a legitimate point, and its clear in retrospect that the Democrats should have talked more about jobs and fairness for all. But Lilla and Sanderss argument also collides with the basic truth that its not possible to have a serious conversation about justice, jobs and opportunity in America without talking frankly about race, gender and ethnicity.

Consider the Crutcher family: Each of the childrens deaths wasnt exactly about race, yet each was linked to it. Young black men are disproportionately likely to be stopped by police officers, and shot dead by them. Crib death and cancer both are more lethal among African-Americans, because of disparities in incomes and health care. And crime in America disproportionately involves blacks, as both victims and arrested perpetrators.

So, sure, Democrats sometimes go overboard with identity and can do a far better job appealing to ALL who have been left behind  but identity still matters profoundly. The Crutchers have lost four young people, each in a way that statistically suggests a racial element.
South Africans are beginning to reclaim their power over a sentimental mythology about forgiveness and racial harmony that has been, for at least a decade, inauthentic and out of step with the realities of most peoples lives. They have accepted that the exceptionalism of South Africas rosy story of transformation to a rainbow nation has threatened to undermine their capacity to challenge authority and ask deeper questions.

Although we, too, have our demagogues who would whip up popular resentments to advance their own bids for power, this skepticism has given rise to a series of campaigns and political movements that are beginning to serve as a bulwark against the anti-intellectual and undemocratic tendencies of South Africas deeply compromised president, Jacob G. Zuma.

For many people who fought against apartheid, this means taking up the battle cry again, this time protesting and organizing against leaders who talk exceptionalism while behaving in utterly mediocre ways. South Africans made this dissatisfaction clear in recent local government elections, in which the ruling party lost control of the largest metropolitan areas in the country for the first time since the end of apartheid.

Beyond the ballot box, the student movement brought the country to a standstill last year and in recent months over the crisis in funding for higher education. The nascent Save South Africa movement is another sign of stirring dissent, if as yet an elite one. Like the activism in defense of the countrys former public protector, Thuli Madonsela, who clashed with Mr. Zuma and continues to be a thorn in his side, Save South Africa has support across race lines.

The new spirit of revolt has also given rise to innovative citizen campaigns like AmandlaMobi, a digital platform that connects activists who are organizing against inequality. Running through these initiatives is an acknowledgment that things in South Africa are not great, and that if the country is exceptional, we will have to prove it.

I have not forgotten my American friends idealism  its important not to lose sight of the fact that America, for all its flaws, can be great. America is truly great when Americans of principle and conscience organize themselves to defend its constitutional values.

Many Americans have balked at President-elect Donald J. Trumps aggressive assertion of exceptionalism. Those of us who hail from countries where exceptionalism and nationalism jostle uncomfortably close together recognize this hollow and dangerous populism that makes greatness divisive rather than inspirational. Mr. Trumps greatest gift to America may be to remind us that all democracies are equal in this respect: Theyre strongest and best when people rise to defend themselves against those who threaten to stifle their freedoms.

This is what South Africans are doing now. Just as Poles, Indians, the French and the peoples of many nations have done in the past. I trust Americans will, too.
The citizen-driven historical memory movement came into being at the turn of the millennium, and as public pressure grew, the Spanish government under the center-left prime minister at the time, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, passed a law of historical memory in 2007, lending government support and funding to excavation, commemoration and reburial. Many on the right accused Mr. Zapatero of politicizing tragedy and reopening old wounds, while historical memory campaigners felt the legislation had been watered down.

When the right-wing Peoples Party won the election in 2011, the new prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, promptly defunded the project and closed the Office of Victims of the Civil War and the Dictatorship. The Spanish people, Mr. Rajoy had said in 2008, would have to look to the future, and generate neither tension nor division.

It may sound like a noble sentiment in isolation, but it is disingenuous. Spain is no more able to escape its past than any other country, and historical memory is not just an interest of Spains defeated left. Under Francos dictatorship, the winners in the civil war not only spent 36 years writing the history of their victory, teaching it in schools and enshrining it in popular culture, but also left exactly the kind of solemn monuments to their dead that have been denied to the missing 114,000. The most profound and awe-inspiring example of these is Francos final resting place, the Valley of the Fallen. It is a basilica topped by the largest memorial cross in the world, at nearly 500 feet high  and is the site of annual commemorations by the far right, dressed in fascist uniforms, on the anniversary of Francos death.

As a new generation of fascists gains influence with governments from the United States to Hungary, it may be the source of some surprise that Spain has no equivalent to Greeces Golden Dawn or Frances National Front, especially given the desperate and long-lasting effects of the economic crisis in Spain. In part the absence of a major contemporary Spanish far-right party is a legacy of the civil war and dictatorship, and the mass killings that ensued, which loom over the country to this day. In part  and this is the other reason Mr. Rajoy would prefer to look to the future  it is because the governing Popular Party absorbed much of the Francoist political machinery. The partys founder, Manuel Fraga, had been a government minister under Franco.
So, Time magazine, ever in search of buzz, this week named Donald Trump Person of the Year. But they did so with a headline that read, President of the Divided States of America.

The demi-fascist of Fifth Avenue wasnt flattered by that wording.

In an interview with the Today show, Trump huffed, When you say divided states of America, I didnt divide them. Theyre divided now. He added later, I think putting divided is snarky, but again, its divided. Im not president yet. So I didnt do anything to divide.

Donald, thy name is division. You and your campaign of toxicity and intolerance have not only divided this country but also ripped it to tatters.

This comports with an extremely disturbing tendency of Trumps: Denying responsibility for things of which he is fully culpable, while claiming full praise for things in which he was only partly involved.
Whether or not Trump can or should attempt to reverse the decline in manufacturing jobs is not the big story here. He cant, Tim Duy, a professor of economics at the University of Oregon and a critic of Trumps policies, wrote on his blog on Sunday:

The real story is that he continues to tap into the anger of his voters about being left behind. That will give him much more power than our criticisms will take away.

Validation of voter grievances, in and of itself, is a powerful political and psychological tool.

But there are more than grievances at stake. Three scholars  Jennifer Malat and Jeffrey M. Timberlake, sociology professors at the University of Cincinnati, and David R. Williams, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health  examined the self-reported health status of 46,000 Ohio residents from Aug. 6, 2008, to Jan. 24, 2009. The survey deliberately oversampled blacks and Hispanics.

The study that resulted, The Effects of Obamas Political Success on the Self-rated Health of Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites, found that

major positive macro-level events, such as the initial success of a black political candidate on the national stage, may have an immediate, positive effect on the health of blacks and Hispanics.

Malat, Timberlake and Williams determined that the strongest effects on self-reported health were found right after the nomination of Obama as the candidate for the Democratic Party when the odds of reporting excellent health rose significantly for blacks and Hispanics. Among African Americans, the likelihood of reporting excellent health nearly doubled, from 7 to 13 percent, and for Hispanics it nearly quadrupled, from 6 to 22 percent, although the Hispanic sample was small and less reliable.

Williams noted in an email that similar positive effects

have been documented for Nelson Mandelas election among black South Africans and for Jesse Jacksons 1988 presidential campaign among African Americans.

Could this work for Trumps white voters?

It is a reasonable assumption that Trumps election would have positive mental health effects on working class whites, Williams told me. But, he added,

equally important, it is likely that Trumps campaign and election had negative health effects on minorities, immigrants, Muslims and other marginalized groups.

I asked Philip Gold, a doctor who is a senior investigator at the National Institute of Mental Health and an expert on depression, whether Trump could alter the sense of loss and anger among voters who threw their support to him this year. Gold replied by email:

When Trump recognized the plight of the individuals who had lost their jobs in the rust belt and made a big point about it to the whole nation, I feel that this was likely to raise the morale of many people in the Midwest who were depressed or demoralized, which is a great risk factor for depression. He recognized their dire situation. He emphasized that it wasnt because of their deficiency or their fault in any way. Finally he let them know that help was on the way.

What Gold and others are less certain of is how long-lasting the beneficial effects of simple recognition will be in addressing the deep reservoir of white estrangement and hopelessness that survey data has revealed. In other words, does Trump have to deliver substantial changes in the job market and living conditions or does he just have to be in their corner?

Carol Graham is a senior fellow at Brookings and a professor of public policy at the University of Maryland. She is the principal author of Unhappiness in America: Desperation in white towns, resilience and diversity in the cities.

Graham found that poor whites describe themselves as highly stressed and that they are nine percent more likely than middle class whites to say they experienced stress in the previous day. There are racial differences, Graham added, in the self-reported experience of stress: Poor blacks are 47 percent less likely to say they experience stress than poor whites and those differences remain constant over the other income groups as well.
Under the convoluted law governing habeas corpus, which is the procedure by which federal courts review state-court criminal sentences, an inmate who loses a case before a federal district judge does not have an automatic right to appeal. The district judge or federal appeals court must first grant a certificate of appealability, reflecting a finding that the issue to be appealed is one on which reasonable judges can come to different conclusions. In this case, the Fifth Circuit refused to grant the certificate to the inmate, Duane Edward Buck. Seeking to place the courts refusal in context, Mr. Bucks lawyers at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund undertook a study of how several federal circuits that dealt regularly with death penalty cases handled this gate-keeping function.

The difference among the courts, documented in an appendix to Mr. Bucks Supreme Court brief, was startling. Going back for the last five years, courts in the Fourth Circuit (based in Richmond, Va., and covering Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and the Carolinas) granted certificates of appealability in all 12 capital habeas corpus appeals. Courts in the 11th Circuit (based in Atlanta and covering Georgia, Florida and Alabama) granted certificates in 104 out of 111 cases. Courts in the Fifth Circuit, by contrast, received 129 appeals and granted certificates in only 53, denying 60 percent of the requests. While Mr. Bucks lawyers didnt make this point, the Fourth and Eleventh Circuits, unlike the Fifth Circuit, both have Democratic-appointed majorities. Should that matter when it comes to the life-or-death decisions at issue in these cases? No. Does it matter? The statistics speak volumes.

Most judicial vacancies occur under what is known as the rule of 80: Federal judges who turn 65 are eligible for senior status once their age and their years of service total at least 80. In his recent statistical study, Russell Wheeler of Brookings calculated how many judges now serving on the circuit courts would be eligible for senior status by 2020. The total was 98 of the 179 judgeships on those courts. Of the 98, 48 are Democratic appointees. If Trump replaced all 48 eligible Democratic appointees, every court of appeals would become a Republican-appointee majority court, Mr. Wheeler wrote. He added thats not going to happen  presumably because many of those newly eligible judges would choose to remain in active service for years to come. On the federal districts courts, 216 judges are currently eligible for senior status or will become eligible by mid-2020. Most of those, 61 percent, are Republican appointees; some number of those currently eligible have perhaps been waiting for the outcome of the election before deciding whether to exercise their right to reduce their workload and create a vacancy. In any event, the numbers are substantial, as is the new administrations opportunity to shift the direction of the entire federal judiciary. The coming Supreme Court nomination may be mesmerizing, but it shouldnt deflect attention from the full picture.

I cant end this column without shifting gears for a word about North Carolinas governor, Pat McCrory, and his long-delayed concession this week to his Democratic opponent, Roy Cooper, the states attorney general. For weeks after losing his bid for re-election, despite trailing by growing margins, Governor McCrory refused to concede. Instead, he claimed voter fraud. Turns out there was no voter fraud, but rather, according to polling commissioned by the Human Rights Campaign, voter fatigue with his anti-gay and anti-transgender shenanigans that brought the state embarrassment and lost business. (Governor McCrory received 63,000 fewer votes than Donald Trump.)

It was in the name of preventing voter fraud that Governor McCrory championed North Carolinas oppressive new election law, the law that the Fourth Circuit struck down this summer as a deliberate attempt to suppress the vote of African-Americans. There was no demonstrable voter fraud, the appeals court found, describing the law as a solution to a non-problem. If there was poetic justice in any election outcome this year, Governor McCrorys defeat surely was it.
Americans are ready for an economic nationalist to lead them. But that doesnt mean what you might think.

This country, we are taught, was founded on the principles of individualism and free enterprise. But its rise to economic pre-eminence was set in motion by nationalists like Alexander Hamilton, who delivered Americas first industrial policy, including plans for tariffs and spending on roads. Henry Clays American System, Abraham Lincolns land-grant research universities and Franklin Delano Roosevelts New Deal can all be counted as legacies of Hamiltons vision.

Thanks to these leaders pragmatism, the United States became the worlds industrial powerhouse and, spurred by the rise of trade unions, built a prosperous middle class. That provided a foundation for economic and political stability in a rapidly changing world.

But since 2000, the United States has shed almost one-third of its manufacturing jobs, and millions of Americans have been permanently shuffled into work for the service industry. Some jobs vanished because of automation, but many were also lost because of a flood of Chinese imports.
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany has been a bulwark against the anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and anti-globalization forces afflicting Western democracies. So it was dismaying when, on accepting her partys nomination on Tuesday as its candidate for another four-year term, she joined in the spreading European campaign against the full-face veil worn by some Muslim women.

In France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Bulgaria and Norway, where bans on face veils are in force or in the works, they have been portrayed as a defense of women against patriarchal subjugation, or as a security measure, or as an incentive to assimilation. But the truth is that the bans are first and foremost a direct expression of antipathy toward Muslim immigrants, usually meant to appease far-right xenophobes.

Ms. Merkel apparently believes that her endorsement of restrictions on face veils wherever legally possible is a relatively innocuous sop to discontent among Germans over her decision to allow more than a million asylum-seekers, most of them Muslims, into the country since 2015. Her address to her Christian Democratic Party was otherwise an admirable reaffirmation of her faith in human dignity and tolerance, along with a realistic assessment of an era in which many people have the feeling that the world has gone off the rails.

The chancellor had rejected a drive in August for a complete ban on face veils by members of her party, ordering them to write a more limited law. The measure Ms. Merkel spoke of this week would not be a blanket ban, but would apply only in places like courtrooms, government buildings, schools and public demonstrations.
FRONT PAGE

Three images on June 2 with an article about drug treatments for osteoporosis were published in error. The images were of the fourth lumbar vertebrae from three different individuals, taken after they died; the images did not show the progression of one patients vertebra over a six- to eight-year period. The accompanying caption also carried an erroneous credit. Springer Verlag holds the copyright for the images; A. Boyde and P.D. Miller should not have been credited. (This correction was delayed for research.)



A picture caption on Tuesday for an article about a Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom conference misidentified one of the women shown. The woman at the left in the hijab is Erin El Idrissi, not Shabiha Sheikh. (The woman at right was correctly identified as Barbara Breitman.)

NATIONAL

Because of an editing error, an article on Saturday attributed incorrectly an accusation against Gen. James N. Mattis, selected by President-elect Donald J. Trump to be defense secretary. Eric Blehm, author of The Only Thing Worth Fighting For, quoted a former Army Special Forces officer as saying that General Mattis was unwilling to help a group of Green Berets after they were hit by an American smart bomb in Afghanistan in 2001. Mr. Blehm did not make the accusation himself, and he is a civilian, not a past member of the Special Forces.

NEW YORK

Because of an editing error, an article on Wednesday about the continuing debate by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey over plans for a new bus terminal in Manhattan referred incorrectly to the timing of the agencys decision to hold public hearings. It was after  not before  a steep toll increase was pushed through in 2011.
Wesley wants to know how Facebook gets a moral core. Jenna worries that the companys business imperatives  growth and scaling, at any cost  make that nearly impossible. She calls it the new imperialism. Mikes theory is that its a challenge because Facebooks viewpoints are too paternalistic and all-knowing.

Wesley and Jenna also talk about the 2017 Grammy nominations, which were announced this week. Is it just us, or do this years Grammys feel a little like the Hunger Games? Beyonce, Drake, Justin Bieber and Adele are all nominated for Album of the Year, and we think there might be a little blood left on the stage after the winners are announced.

But while we have differing opinions about who should have been nominated but wasnt, we agree that theres no contest between Queen Bey and Queen Dele. Everyones like, Adele versus Beyonce, Adele versus Beyonce. I dont think that exists. Its not a competition, Jenna says, before offering up her fantasy of how Adele might respond if she loses.

Wesley reveals that he has a soft spot for the genre-defying duo Twenty One Pilots, who are nominated a few times and are on their way to megastardom. Theyre this really interesting combination of musical theater nerds and Green Day fans, he says, calling their album a really great example of people who in four or five years will have written a Hamilton. After that, we discuss our favorites and share our songs of the year. And yes, we sing a little.

How do I listen? Two ways

From a desktop or laptop, you can listen by pressing play on the button above.

If youre on a mobile device, the instructions below will help you find and subscribe to the series.
While most paleontologists dig up prehistoric bones from the ground, Lida Xing hunts for fossils in the amber markets of Myanmar. In 2015, he made a remarkable find: Trapped in what looked like golden glass was the feathered tail of a dinosaur.

Along with the primitive plumage, the 99-million-year-old amber also preserved soft tissue and eight complete vertebrae. The tail bones indicated that the specimen belonged to a dinosaur that was not a prehistoric bird and also provided researchers with insight into the evolution of feathers.

This is the first time that skeletal material from a dinosaur has been found in amber, Dr. Xing, who is a paleontologist at China University of Geosciences in Beijing, said in an email. He and his colleagues published their findings Thursday in the journal Current Biology.
The majestic giraffe, the worlds tallest land mammal and a prime attraction at zoos worldwide, is threatened with extinction because of illegal hunting and a loss of its habitat, according to a report published on Thursday by an international monitoring group.

The giraffe population has declined by 40 percent over the past three decades and now stands at about 97,600, according to the findings by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which designates endangered species.

While the largest giraffe populations reside in national parks and reserves, those protected areas have proved to be inadequate, one of several alarming conclusions about the animals future in the groups latest Red List of Threatened Species report.

While global attention has been on threats to elephants and rhinos, giraffes have been off the radar, and weve been losing them in significant numbers, said Liz Bennett, the vice president for species conservation for the Wildlife Conservation Society, which was not involved in the report. People and governments need to start acting to save giraffes, fast.
Whether shooting a portfolio of Senegalese people at work and play or young women in varying states of undress, the images taken by the British photographer Harley Weir, 28, capture unguarded moments with an honest eye. In Boundaries, her first solo show  which opened at Amsterdams FOAM Museum earlier this month  Weirs photos draw the viewer into proximity with her subjects, so that skin and emotion are magnified. Theres definitely a sense of intimacy to my work, she says. Thats the strongest element.

Growing up in Twickenham, in southwest London, Weir first picked up a camera at the age of 7 (shooting some pigs on a school trip to a farm) and eventually went on to study fine art at Central Saint Martins. And while she cultivated a love of the risque  and sometimes voyeuristic  art of Balthus, Araki and Jock Sturges that would go on to inform her own work, she quickly found herself at odds with her more conceptual classmates at CSM. It was frowned upon to do something that was good looking or less considered, more intuitive, she says. But I dont like the idea of coming to an art project knowing what you want  for me, I find photography a way of learning, to figure something out with an image.

She says that the internet was her portal into photography  she started posting pictures she took of family and friends on her Flickr account at an early age. After graduating to a Tumblr account, she caught the eye of Vice magazine, for which she shot a fashion editorial at the age of 17. Since then, Weirs images have graced the pages of The Gentlewoman, i-D, French Vogue and AnOther Magazine; she has also photographed campaigns for brands like Proenza Schouler and Calvin Klein.
New Orleans, nicknamed The Big Easy, has achieved something very hard  it managed to nail down a few rules for the sharing economy.

As Katie Benner reports, the Crescent City has worked out a deal to legalize short-term rentals by Airbnb, in exchange for the hosts registering with the city, as well as data from Airbnb on what it is doing.

On the surface, this is no meager feat: Cities like San Francisco, New York and Barcelona, Spain, have all battled the online home-rental company, without winning every concession New Orleans did.

Image

That isnt to say that New Orleans got everything it asked from Airbnb, a privately held company now valued at $30 billion. Airbnb is giving the city the names and addresses of the hosts offering their properties for rent in New Orleans, but the city isnt allowed to share them with others. There is a permitting process, and a fee, but Airbnb is controlling that process.
A good model inside Microsoft is the companys $2.5 billion purchase in 2014 of Mojang, the developer behind Minecraft, which has continued to grow under Microsofts ownership, retaining key employees along the way. Mr. Nadella and Mr. Weiner said they had also looked to Facebooks success in acquiring companies like the photo-sharing service Instagram, while granting them autonomy.

I absolutely think of LinkedIn as our Instagram, Mr. Nadella said.

Both men said that expanding the business of LinkedIn, which has more 470 million members, was what they cared most about. Microsoft will use its sales and distribution muscle to do just that.

The companys executives on Thursday will outline plans to integrate the professional identity people have on LinkedIn with Microsoft Outlook and the rest of the Office suite. LinkedIn members will be able to draft resumes in Word to update their LinkedIn profiles.

Satya said starting literally on Day 1 the first priority is growing LinkedIn, Mr. Weiner said. That if LinkedIn continues to grow its membership, if it continues to realize its mission, its vision, if it continues to grow the business, thats going to create value for Microsoft.

So determined was Mr. Nadella to get off on the right foot that he emailed an unusual request to Mr. Weiner a few days after the announcement of their deal in June. He asked Mr. Weiner to take the lead on an integration team responsible for merging their two companies, a responsibility that normally falls to an executive at the acquiring company.

I had to read it at least twice, Mr. Weiner said. I did a bit of a double take.

Microsoft and LinkedIn have spent much of the last six months  as the proposed deal went through regulatory reviews  getting to know each other.

In a series of meetings the companies called learning days, teams of Microsoft employees from the Seattle area flew to LinkedIns headquarters in Silicon Valley to talk about whats going on with Microsoft research, engineers, sales and other areas. LinkedIn employees flew to Microsoft to do the same.
Right around the time foreclosures were starting to pile up in the housing crash, on their way to affecting nearly one in five homeowning Hispanic households, the very same communities took a second blow.

The federal governments Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, in partnership with local law enforcement, was increasing deportations of undocumented immigrants: more than three million in all between 2005 and 2013. About 85 percent of them were working Latin American men.

New research now suggests that the deportations helped exacerbate foreclosures. Counties that collaborated with ICE in what became a large-scale deportation sweep experienced a surge in foreclosures of homes owned by Hispanics, according to a study by Jacob Rugh and Matthew Hall published Thursday in the journal Sociological Science. They argue that the roundups help explain why Hispanics faced the highest foreclosure rates during the housing crash  even among households with legal residents and American citizens.

It really started to make sense when you looked at the timing of things, said Mr. Rugh, a sociologist at Brigham Young University. When you looked at this peak of deportations, it came right on the eve of the housing crisis. So you could totally envision a scenario where people were losing male wage earners from households when home prices were collapsing.
Leung Chun-ying (center), Hong Kong chief executive, speaks at the China Daily Asia Leadership Roundtable discussions in Hong Kong on Dec 7, 2016. [Photo/China Daily]

Three years after the official launch of the Belt and Road Initiative, there is much greater understanding of the opportunities that it could generate, Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said on Wednesday.

"People understand the whys and the whats ... we are now very much at the 'how' stage. How do we grab the opportunities for all?" said Leung. "People who see opportunities under the Belt and Road Initiative are probably in the silent majority."

"It is such a vast initiative with such wide ramifications and ample opportunities for Hong Kong," Leung said during the China Daily Asia Leadership Roundtable in Hong Kong.

The event focused on "Hong Kong Super-Connecting the Belt and Road" and was attended by around 270 executives and opinion leaders.

"Hong Kong can play a pivotal role in the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative," Leung said.

At a time of slowing growth, Hong Kong can leverage its strength in financing, services, logistics and education to act as a connector of the 60-plus Belt and Road countries and regions and the rest of the world.

A key area of focus is financial services, the openness of which has allowed Hong Kong's economy to be named the freest in the world for 22 years in a row, said Leung.

In practical terms, Hong Kong has been moving forward in each of what Leung called the "five connectivities" of policy, infrastructure, trade and investment, financial cooperation and integration, and people and culture.

"Hong Kong could work as a team to help 'Hong Kong Inc' to bring this connective force to bear," said Leung.

Other speakers at the leadership roundtable agreed with the importance of leveraging the Belt and Road Initiative to boost growth.

"Hong Kong's own success relies entirely on trade flows and open markets. Hong Kong has become too inward-looking and less open in recent years. Almost protectionist, sometimes," said Stephen Ng, chairman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce.

"The implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative has caught the attention of the business community in Hong Kong," said Jonathan Choi, chairman of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce.
A librarian at the public library in Evanston, Ill., was recently preparing for a program titled The Quran: Is It a Good Book?

She gathered books to display for attendees and discovered that inside the cover of one, The Koran for Dummies, someone had written lies cover to cover, drawn a swastika and made a disparaging remark about the Prophet Muhammad.

She discovered six more books about Islam and the Quran that had been similarly defaced with racist language and imagery, officials said. The vandalism was a first for the library, Karen Danczak Lyons, its director, said in an interview.

There has been a spate of hate crimes targeting libraries, their books or patrons, the authorities say  offenses they had rarely seen before. These crimes coincide with a recent report by the F.B.I. that attacks against American Muslims surged last year.
In an appearance on Fox Business in May, he said that he was not opposed to raising the minimum wage rationally; Im opposed to raising it to the point where lower-skilled workers, working-class Americans, young people, minorities, are losing the jobs they need to get on the ladder of success.

Though he did not explain what a rational increase would entail, he opposed the Obama administrations efforts to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 from $7.25, where it has stood since 2009. That is far below the $15 per hour that many advocates have called for and that a variety of cities and states have enacted in recent years, albeit on a gradual timetable.

Economic research suggests that an increase to the vicinity of $10.10 per hour would have little or no effect on employment in much of the country, though the impact could be larger in low-wage, low-cost areas. Mr. Puzder has raised concerns about the effects in those regions.

On other issues, Mr. Puzder has taken hard-line positions that leave less room for negotiation. Perhaps most prominent is the so-called joint employer doctrine that the Obama administration and its agency appointees have put forth in recent years.

Under that doctrine, large companies that have franchises or hire other companies as contractors are more likely to be held liable for violations of employment laws by those contractors or franchisees. Parent companies typically argue that they have no legal responsibility in these cases.

Mr. Puzder has been unambiguous in his disdain for the new standard. As labor secretary, there are certain immediate steps he could take to undo it, though there are some applications, like to the law governing unions, that would require action by the National Labor Relations Board or federal courts to overturn.
WASHINGTON  The House voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to finance the government through late April, but a snag over the measure in the Senate threatens a shutdown of operations this weekend.

With Congress on the cusp of wrapping up its lame-duck session, Senate Democrats picked fights on behalf of two constituencies to whom President-elect Donald J. Trump appealed during his campaign  coal miners and steel workers.

The stopgap spending measure must be approved by the Senate by midnight Friday to keep the government open. But Democrats in the Senate, led by Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Sherrod Brown of Ohio, are objecting because they want a better deal for thousands of retired coal miners who are set to lose their health benefits at the end of the year.

The spending bill extends the miners health coverage for only four months, which the Democrats view as insufficient.
Womens groups, religious activists and academics have been complaining about the racy ads for years. But with Mr. Puzder coming before the Senate for confirmation, they will have a platform like never before.

Concern over Russian aggression re-emerges.

The president-elect still says he does not think the Russians were behind the hacking of the Democratic National Committee or the release of purloined emails from Hillary Clintons campaign chairman, John D. Podesta. Nor did he express much concern for Moscows annexation of Crimea or its threats to its neighbors.

But lawmakers are speaking out. In a bipartisan letter to the president-elect, 27 senators  12 of them Republican, including Marco Rubio of Florida, John McCain of Arizona and Rob Portman of Ohio  demanded action to stop Russian aggression against Ukraine.

In light of Russias continued aggression and repeated refusal to respect Ukraines territorial integrity and sovereign right to choose its own destiny, we also renew our call for the United States to increase political, economic, and military support for Ukraine.This includes defensive lethal assistance as part of a broader effort to help Ukrainians better defend themselves, deter future aggression, and implement key structural reforms. Similarly, we believe that Russias illegal annexation of Crimea should never be accepted, nor should we lift sanctions imposed on Russia for its behavior in eastern Ukraine until key provisions of the Minsk Agreement are met. Accordingly, U.S. leadership on maintaining such transatlantic sanctions should remain a priority.

Christie is out as Republican Party chairman.

The humiliation of Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey just keeps coming: He has been told he will not be named to lead the Republican National Committee, according to several people briefed on the discussions in Mr. Trumps transition.

Mr. Christie was pushed out of his role overseeing the transition almost immediately after the election.

The party committee role would have allowed him to remain governor while keeping a hand in national politics. But few people in Mr. Trumps circle are offering support for Mr. Christie these days  even if he was the first national political figure to embrace Mr. Trumps candidacy.

Among the remaining contenders for the job are Ronna Romney McDaniel, chairwoman of the Michigan G.O.P. and a niece of Mitt Romneys; Nick Ayers, an aide to Vice President-elect Mike Pence, and Mercedes Schlapp, a Republican strategist. Ms. McDaniel, who strongly supported Mr. Trump during the campaign, is said to be favored by a number of people in his circle.

Oh, and on Wednesday, Mr. Christie got this news: At 19 percent, his job approval rating is the lowest of any governor in any state in more than 20 years.
Jonathan Winer, the Obama administrations special envoy to Libya, told Congress last month that the Islamic State, as it suffered defeats in Surt at the hands of Libyan fighters and American warplanes, was most likely forming cells around the country. He called on Libyans to unite behind the countrys fledgling Government of National Accord to combat the terrorists.

Most of those who have not been killed probably have stayed in Libya and gone underground, forming cells elsewhere in the country, Mr. Winer said in testimony to a House panel on Nov. 30. We believe they are waiting for opportunities to engage in further attacks in Libya or its neighbors, and if possible to reassert ISIL geographically.

A recent analysis by the American Enterprise Institute, a policy organization in Washington, found that Islamic State militants operating as desert brigades south of Surt had ambushed Libyan military positions, disrupted supply lines with explosives and established checkpoints on key roads. The Islamic State is recruiting foreign fighters into southern Libya and is most likely relying on the same havens used by the group Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, according to the analysis.

In a telephone interview this week, an official at Africa Commands headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, said that several hundred Islamic State fighters remained in the eastern, southern and western portions of the country, and that counting fighters aligned with Al Qaeda brought the militants ranks in the country to more than 1,000.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under the commands ground rules for news media interviews on intelligence matters, said many of the remaining Islamic State fighters had been drawn to the conflict from Tunisia, Morocco, Sudan and other countries in the region.
White conservatives like Ms. Delekta, Ms. Makki said, are not as vulnerable as someone with dark skin or who is wearing a hijab, because she cannot be identified as a conservative by any outward signs.

Another student, Maryam Ahmed, said she had been one of about 1,000 students who marched in the campus vigil the day after the election. She said the marchers were positive but feared for their safety. Her friends were passing on text messages  which turned out to be false  warning that white militias were going to invade the streets of Ann Arbor.

There was definitely a divisiveness that came on campus postelection, she said. The election was like a needle poking into a bubble. She said she was hopeful the climate would improve, but added: I could be wrong. It could get worse.

When Ms. Delekta met with Michigans president, Dr. Schlissel, she brought Enrique Zalamea, president of the College Republicans, along with her. They proposed a kind of unity campaign for campus, in which students would march with signs saying, I am a Wolverine, to stress their similarities.

And they suggested some TED-type sessions on inclusivity and diversity.

Dr. Schlissel told them that it was too early for such activities, and that they should allow a cooling-off period first, Ms. Delekta said. She was deeply disappointed. Thats not my personality, she said. Dr. Schlissel declined to comment on the mood on campus, but a spokeswoman, Kim Broekhuizen, said Ms. Delektas account of the meeting was accurate.

Still Ms. Delekta was heartened by the meeting, seeing it as a sign that conservatives might be invited into the fold. She is hoping to score tickets to the inauguration, the beginning of a new era, she believes, for better.

But she will not be surprised, she said, if tensions flare anew. Its going to be right back in the media, she said. I think people are going to start to get worked up again, whether it be in excitement or frustration and fear.
I think its clear that we will run out of those visas, she said.

Last summer, a handful of Republican lawmakers disrupted what has become a somewhat regular allocation of visas to the program, questioning the cost of the 4,000 additional visas requested by the Obama administration this year and, in one case, tying them up procedurally to force consideration of unrelated legislation.

Now, the fate of the visa program will hinge on a government led by President-elect Donald J. Trump, who has yet to say how he will handle an issue that is championed by the military but would also bring more Muslim immigrants to the United States.

There is some cautious optimism that the more members of the military there are among Mr. Trumps advisers, the more likely he is to support the program. Gen. David H. Petraeus, a former commander of American forces in Afghanistan who is reportedly under consideration for secretary of state, is among those who have argued the United States has made a commitment to protect those Afghans  one that would hurt the countrys credibility overseas if abandoned.

By failing to allocate sufficient visas to provide our Afghan allies with a path to safety, we fail to keep the faith with them  and with our troops and diplomats who rely on them to succeed in their mission, Betsy Fisher, the policy director of the International Refugee Assistance Project, said in a statement last week.

It was a relatively subdued conclusion for the broader bill, known as the National Defense Authorization Act, which set off bitter disputes this year about workplace protections for gay men and lesbians employed by federal contractors, and about efforts to restrict the Confederate flag. It also prompted a debate about whether women should be required to register for the draft, a measure that was ultimately cut from the final bill.
The Code Violation System

Yamiche Alcindor is on the team of Times reporters looking into the aftermath of the fire.

On Wednesday, I set off to find out more about Oaklands fire inspection codes, which have become a major focus since the fire.

Topping the list of people to contact was Zac Unger, vice president of Local 55, the Oakland firefighters union, who had told several news outlets that the Fire Department had suffered from mismanagement. After playing phone tag for part of the morning, Mr. Unger spoke with me for about half an hour and laid out what he said were years of problems in the department.

Specifically, Mr. Unger said he had complained regularly to city officials, telling them that the city does not have enough fire inspectors and that its Fire Department lacks proper resources. Mr. Unger also said he had openly criticized Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed for going several years without having a fire marshal to oversee whether the city was inspecting the proper number of buildings and potentially hazardous spaces.

I said specifically the mismanagement of the Fire Department is going to lead to a tragedy and you need to do something about it now, and I am heartbroken to have been proven right and to have all of these people dead, Mr. Unger said.

Still, it is too early to say if city officials could have done more to prevent the fire. Officials have not said how many times fire inspectors visited the Ghost Ship to check for fire hazards, or if city code inspectors ever flagged the building as being used for something other than its zoned purpose. (I am awaiting a response from the fire chief and other city officials.)

Sgt. Barry Donelan, the president of the Oakland Police Officers Association, said it was ridiculous to expect police officers responding to emergencies to also determine if the buildings they enter have dangerous living conditions. My guys are trying to get out there and protect our community, he said. They are going to do their duties. But you cant be effective in arrests and imposing building codes. Thats ludicrous.
You can often identify a movies genre on sight. Cowboys on horses? Its a western. Singing and dancing? A musical. Cabin in the woods? Probably a horror movie. (Possibly even the movie Cabin in the Woods.)

Film noir is different. Given that many noir films are also crime movies, there are some people who dont consider it a distinct genre, calling it more of a style than anything else. And the films often have style to spare. Many of them have a shadowy, high-contrast look that mirrors the actions and interior lives their shady gunmen, deadly dames and corrupt authorities. Theres a bleakness to these stories released in the 1940s and 50s  a sense of hopelessness and cynicism that came directly out of World War II. Often they took place in Los Angeles, but not always.

Decades removed from the golden era of film noir, newer movies built around the same motifs are christened neo-noir. The genre has since been pushed into stories set outside of Los Angeles (Body Heat) or in the future (Blade Runner). But some neo-noirs have no interest in escaping their roots. After experiencing this L.A. Noir virtual-reality package from The New York Times Magazine, try these four neo-noir films set in old Los Angeles.
British artificial intelligence pioneer Aria Networks says it has signed a deal with China's BOCO Inter-Telecom to provide software that can spot network problems in advance and take the guesswork out of providing telecoms services to an ever-growing market.

Shanghai-listed BOCO, one of China's largest systems integration companies, will roll out Aria's AI technology to telecom service providers, initially in two Chinese provinces.

TianXuwen, CEO of BOCO Inter-Telecom, said on Wednesday the deal would leverage big data and AI to help China's communications providers transform traditional operations to intelligent operations.

Aria spokesman Robert Curran told China Daily: "Networks are hugely complicated and changing all the time. AI is a way of crunching through all the possibilities about the future state of networks."

Intelligent software gives telecoms providers the edge by allowing them to cope with unplanned outages or spikes in demand, as can occur when a mass audience tunes to a global televised event.

Jay Perrett, the UK company's chief technology officer, said: "Proactively reducing the impact of outages translates directly into protecting revenue and a better customer experience."

Privately-owned Aria, founded in 2005, is based in Bath. The deal's value was not disclosed. BOCO has more than 3,000 employees in China, India, Pakistan and elsewhere.

A benefit of incorporating smart software into networks is to provide customers with a service that appears to be infinitely and instantaneously flexible, making temporary boosts in service quality or speed.

The deal followed tests in which Aria's AI technology identified future hotspots on a fourth-generation network, revealing billions of dollars' worth of recoverable capacity.

China has more than half-a-billion 4G subscribers and is home to several of the world's largest mobile and fixed-line service providers.

Before AI, processes that involve planning or executing changes to a network were particularly difficult to automate. Providers had to consider technical, commercial and regulatory factors.

Artificial intelligence has eased that burden, reducing the time is takes to optimize services from months to real-time.

The technology allows service providersBOCO's customers include China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, PTCL and Aircelthe real-time capacity to plan, manage, automate and optimize underutilized infrastructure and plan future investment.

The writer is a senior media consultant for China Daily.
SEOUL, South Korea  As the protests against her have grown larger, louder and closer, and her career, reputation and presidency march inexorably toward an impeachment vote on Friday, President Park Geun-hye has kept mostly hidden from public view, gripped by self-pity and despair, and largely alone.

Cloistered in the presidential Blue House, which in a twist of fate befitting a Greek tragedy is also her childhood home, she has had few visitors, aides said.

At 64, she is not married and has no children. Her brother and sister have been estranged from her for years. Her three most trusted aides have been fired over the corruption and influence-peddling scandal that now threatens to undo her presidency. One has been jailed. Ms. Parks closest friend and confidante, Choi Soon-sil, is also in jail.

Ms. Park has stopped attending cabinet and presidential staff meetings. She has been dejected, she said in one public apology, losing countless nights of sleep and at times regretting ever becoming president.
DAEGU, South Korea  Like many of her fellow citizens, Kum Cheong-sup is outraged by the political crisis that is engulfing South Koreas president.

But unlike the vast majority of them, who have turned against President Park Geun-hye because they believe she has brought an ever-widening corruption scandal on herself, Ms. Kum, 79, sees her as an innocent victim of a friend who has taken advantage of her.

Park Geun-hye herself is not a bad person, said Ms. Kum, wielding a small razor blade to whittle off the scraggly roots of scallions at a vegetable stall in Seomun Market, here in the city where Ms. Park was born. She has been swindled.

Daegu, a center of textile and machinery industries about 150 miles southeast of Seoul, is the heartland of Ms. Parks support  or what little remains of it, after an influence-peddling scandal involving a longtime friend and shadowy adviser to the president who has been compared to Rasputin.
LONDON  Boris Johnson, Britains famously undiplomatic chief diplomat, finally seems to have gone too far.

In an unusual upbraiding of a foreign secretary by a sitting prime minister, Downing Street on Thursday was forced to issue a statement that Mr. Johnson was not representing the governments position on Saudi Arabia. Mr. Johnson had accused the country, a British ally, of puppeteering in proxy wars across the Middle East and of abusing Islam.

The comments by Mr. Johnson came to light on Thursday after The Guardian published video footage of a conference last week in Rome where Mr. Johnson was shown on a panel, punching his fist in the air while arguing that countries including Saudi Arabia and Iran were destabilizing the Middle East.

There are politicians who are twisting and abusing religion and different strains of the same religion in order to further their own political objectives, he said, adding, Thats why youve got the Saudis, Iran, everybody, moving in and puppeteering and playing proxy wars.
MOSCOW  Carter Page, an early foreign policy adviser to Donald J. Trump who was scrutinized by the F.B.I. on suspicion of private communications with senior Russian officials over the summer, was back in Moscow on Thursday.

Mr. Page was closelipped about the purpose of his visit, telling RIA Novosti, a Russian state-run news agency, that he would stay in Moscow until Tuesday and would meet with business leaders and thought leaders.

Mr. Page, who founded an investment company in New York called Global Energy Capital, drew attention during the summer for a speech that criticized the United States and other Western nations for a hypocritical focus on ideas such as democratization, inequality, corruption and regime change in Russia and in other parts of the former Soviet Union.
A major doctors association in Denmark has recommended ending circumcisions for boys, saying the procedure should be an informed personal choice that young men make for themselves when they reach adulthood.

But the Danish Medical Association stopped short of calling for a legal ban, saying it would be difficult to predict the consequences.

This area is ethically, culturally and religiously complex, and we worry whether a legal ban might result in unauthorized circumcisions, said Lisa Moller, the president of the associations ethics committee, which released the new policy statement last week. Therefore, we have decided not to take a position on whether male circumcision should be banned by law.

The largely symbolic recommendation, which Ms. Moller said was intended as a statement of medical ethics, says that because circumcision alters a childs body permanently and involves pain and discomfort, it is ethically unacceptable to perform one unless the person can provide informed consent.
With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and over the years has transformed his familys mill into a brand that makes clothing and home goods.

Mr. Leos century-old machines now weave wool from Australia and New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt and South America. He calls it a start-up on scrap metals, referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.

The issue here is not the speed at which we produce, he said, sitting in his studio full of books on the art of weaving, international design and economics. Elaborate green and gray trapezoidal mantles dangled from a hanger nearby. Italy cant compete with low-cost textiles.

He added, I asked myself how I could use a 100-year-old loom to produce cloth, and the answer I found was in the same way as a 3D printer, so I started studying projects to adapt my design production to my ancient technology.

Mr. Leos business is significantly smaller than those of his friends in Soveria Mannelli, but he has already won some international design awards, teaches workshops all over the world and is about to open an online store on his website.

Still, he dreams of going back to weaving threads directly from sheep wool and maybe even having his own Calabrian sheep, as his ancestors did.

The real challenge is to preserve this place, maintain a contemporary approach, Mr. Leo said. The past doesnt need to be contemplated, but utilized. Thats what we are doing here.
PARIS  A former French official who led efforts to crack down on tax cheats was convicted on Thursday of tax fraud and money laundering.

A three-judge panel at a Paris criminal court sentenced Jerome Cahuzac, who had served as President Francois Hollandes budget minister for less than a year, to three years in prison.

Mr. Cahuzac stepped down in 2013 after revelations that he had a secret bank account in Switzerland, and it later emerged that he was connected to several accounts worth millions of dollars in tax havens. A few days after he resigned, Mr. Cahuzac admitted that he had lied to Parliament about the accounts in Switzerland.

The judges decision is another source of embarrassment for the troubled administration of Mr. Hollande, who has had exceptionally low approval ratings and recently announced that he would not seek re-election.
BERLIN  After hackers infiltrated the German Parliaments computer network in May 2015, it took nearly a year before the countrys intelligence agency concluded that the attack was most likely the work of their Russian counterparts.

Last week, when 900,000 Germans lost access to internet and telephone services, it took a matter of hours before politicians began pointing fingers at Moscow.

Berlin is now concerned that Germany will become the next focus of Moscows campaign to destabilize Western democracies as national elections approach next year.

Those fears intensified after the Obama administration accused the Russian government of attacking Democratic Party emails during the American presidential campaign.
A provisional agreement this week with Royal Dutch Shell to develop two of the countrys largest oil fields is the latest sign of interest in Iran from international energy companies. Over the last four weeks, Tehran has negotiated similar agreements with the oil field services giant Schlumberger and companies from China, Norway, Thailand and Poland.

The deals, if completed, would bring much-needed expertise and foreign investment. Just as important, though, the agreements could provide a lifeline to the rest of the world, experts say, cementing relations with a number of European and Asian countries. That, they say, could provide an insurance policy of sorts against any punitive actions taken next year by the Trump administration and the Republican-dominated Congress.

Few Iranian officials like to acknowledge their countrys vulnerability, insisting it is immune to outside pressures. But the election of Mr. Trump and his selection of a national security team that views Iran as a major threat in the Middle East seems at the least certain to usher in a new period of tensions, and could ultimately threaten Irans efforts to rejoin the global economy.

Our officials are in a rush to sign contracts with big oil companies in order to have leverage when Trump enters the White House, said Saeed Laylaz, an economist with close ties to the government of Mr. Rouhani. The Iranian president came to power promising to end Irans isolation and revive its economy, so the advent of a Trump presidency poses a dire threat to his political future.

Mr. Laylaz pointed out that most European energy giants had been present in Iran for decades and had left only after sanctions, now lifted, were imposed during the Obama administration. Just as in the past, we need them back here, also to make sure we are not isolated, he said of the Europeans.
A Trump administration will have the ability to weaken or do away with many of the policies.

But even if all these strategies are put into effect, the United States will not reach its goal. Other actions , like energy markets and new state laws, may close the gap.

A large part of the American pledge relies on an Obama administration policy, called the Clean Power Plan , that will steer power plants toward renewable energy.

Federal regulations governing energy efficiency, hydrofluorocarbons and pollution from methane and other gases could contribute another 31 percent.

Many strategies are in place or proposed to reach this goal. California state policy on greenhouse gases gets national emissions 5 percent of the way to the pledge.

But the country is poised for big reductions. Last year, when 195 nations agreed to reduce emissions together, the United States pledged to lower its share to 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.

If the United States continues to create greenhouse gases at the so-called business as usual level, net emissions could reach 6.9 gigatons by 2025.

During the presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump said he would take the United States out of the Paris agreement and get rid of the Clean Power Plan, which the Supreme Court suspended earlier this year.

A Trump administration may decide to move against efforts undertaken by the Obama administration  by limiting the budget of the E.P.A. or slowing progress on federal actions, for example.

In choosing Scott Pruitt, a close ally of the fossil fuel industry, to run the Environmental Protection Agency, Mr. Trump has signaled a desire to dismantle President Obamas actions to counter climate change, despite discussing the issue with Al Gore earlier this week at Trump Tower.

Mr. Trumps decisions will be important but not the sole factor in how close the United States gets to reaching the emissions goal.

Energy markets are shifting; coal power has been declining while wind and solar power use have made gains recently.

This summer, California strengthened policies to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Nine northeastern states began working together in 2009 under a cap-and-trade program.

Last month, more than 300 companies called for the United States to continue with its emission reduction plans.

Andrew Jones, co-director and co-founder of Climate Interactive, says that reducing emissions requires a number of strategies. The contributors to global warming are diverse, Mr. Jones said. Therefore the response to it by the United States is going to be diverse as well.

Estimated global emissions in 2025
CANNON BALL, N.D.  It is time to dismantle the camp and return to our homes.

That was Dave Archambault II, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux, sending a message to tribal members and protesters who have raised tents, teepees, yurts and bunkhouses in a sprawling camp here to fight against the Dakota Access oil pipeline. After months of protest, prayer and violent clashes with law enforcement, he was calling for a withdrawal from the snowpacked prairie.



But will the protesters stay, or will they go?

The fight over the pipeline is now shifting from the protest camps to federal courtrooms and regulators in Washington. The federal government said it would not allow a crucial section of the pipeline to cross under the Missouri River and ordered up a long environmental review to search for alternative routes.

The 1,170-mile pipeline is hardly dead. President-elect Donald J. Trump supports finishing the project, and his administration could act to undo the federal decision, handed down this week by the Department of the Army. It is largely already built, and the company behind the pipeline, Energy Transfer Partners, has denounced the latest move from Washington and vowed to press on.



A blizzard scoured the camp this week, lashing the tents and driving hundreds of demonstrators to seek shelter at the Standing Rock Siouxs casino, about 10 miles down the road. North Dakotas winter is deadly, and the storm was just a taste of whats to come  which is why many government officials and now even tribal leaders want the protesters to pull back.

We are thankful for their passion and commitment, and we are thankful for them all standing with us, Mr. Archambault said in a video message on Tuesday. Its time now to enjoy this winter with your families. We need all to respect the host tribes wishes. We are asking all tribes to pass this on to their members.





Some may leave. But at the start of the week, many said they were determined to stay, blizzards and all.

Here are a few conversations with them about why.
National Grid gas distribution business [Provided to China Daily]

UK Prime Minister Theresa May's policy of reviewing Chinese investment in British infrastructure faces a new test with the announcement that a consortium including China's sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corporation, agreed to acquire a 61 percent stake in National Grid's gas division, that supplies gas to UK homes and businesses.

CIC, Macquarie Bank of Australia, Allianz Capital Partners, Hermes Investment Management, the Qatar Investment Authority, Dalmore Capital and Amber Infrastructure will pay 3.6 billion pounds in cash for the stake. National Grid will retain a 39 percent minority interest in the company, which also supplies gas to some areas on the eastern US seaboard.

CIC's stake will be 10.5 percent and the sale is expected to be completed by March next year.

May's government said it would review future infrastructure deals involving foreign buyers after she approved Chinese investment in an 18 billion pounds French-designed nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in southwest England last year.

Today's deal is also subject to approval by the European Commission.

In a statement, National Grid said it would continue discussions with the winning bidders about them taking a further 14 percent stake in the business.

"It is a well-trodden path in terms of infrastructure investment in the UK," said John Pettigrew, chief executive officer of National Grid.

"There are a large number of these businesses which are owned by US, European or Asian investors. The key is that whoever is successful will have the same obligations as National Grid for security and safety," he added.

Martin Stanley, speaking on behalf of the winning consortium, known as MIRA, said "MIRA has a long-standing operational experience in managing utilities and critical infrastructure in the UK, across Europe and around the world, and we are committed to being a long-term investor in and a responsible custodian of National Grid Gas Distribution."

Justin Bowden, national secretary of the GMB trade union, which represents many of the workers at National Grid, urged Theresa May to intervene in the sale, saying "National Grid is selling a key piece of our infrastructure, vital to our national economy."

Dave Prentiss, general secretary of the UNISON trade union, whose members also include National Grid employees, said he was dismayed by the sale.

He said that when Macquarie ran Thames Water, one of the UK's domestic water suppliers, the result was "poorer customer service, higher bills, massive debts and complex tax structures."

The deal valued National Grid at 13.8 billion pounds, including debt.

Unsuccessful bidding groups included one linking state-owned China Resources with Hastings Fund Management of Australia and Singapore Power.

Another unsuccessful consortium was one led by Fosun, a China-based international conglomerate and investment company. Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing's Cheung Kong Infrastructure dropped out of the bidding earlier.

National Grid said it intended returning about 4 billion pounds to investors after the sale, but gave no further details.

To contact the reporter: chris@mail.chinadailyuk.com
President-elect Donald Trump once more revealed his ignorance of the law when he said last week that those who burn an American flag should be imprisoned and stripped of their citizenship. Undoubtedly there are those who agree with Trump that burning the flag is a vile and unpatriotic act that deserves punishment, but the law is clear that this is speech protected by the First Amendment. Moreover, an American citizen never can be stripped of citizenship unless he or she chooses to renounce it.

In cases in 1989 and 1990, the Supreme Court unequivocally held that there is a First Amendment right to burn a flag as a form of protest.Texas v. Johnson, in 1989, involved the conviction of an individual who burned a flag at the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas and uttered the words, Red, white and blue, we spit on you. He was convicted and sentenced to a year in prison under a Texas law prohibiting any person to deface, damage or otherwise physically mistreat a flag in a way he knows will seriously offend one or more persons likely to observe or discover his action.

The Supreme Court declared the Texas law unconstitutional. The court explained that the laws purpose was to keep the flag from being used to communicate protest or dissent. The court said that [i]f there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because it finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.

Texas v. Johnsongenerated enormous controversy and proposals to amend the Constitution to prohibit flag burning. In an effort to avoid such an amendment, Congress adopted the Flag Protection Act of 1989, making it a crime for any person to knowingly mutilate, deface, defile, burn or trample the flag. Unlike the Texas law, punishment was not limited to situations where the conduct would offend another.

InUnited States v. Eichman, in 1990, the Supreme Court declared this law unconstitutional. The court said the statute had the same fundamental flaw as the Texas law it invalidated earlier. The laws primary purpose was to keep the flag from being used to communicate protest or dissent.

At no time in the last quarter-century has any justice indicated a desire to reconsider these rulings. It is precisely the strong emotional attachment to the flag that makes its desecration a uniquely powerful form of expression. Laws that prohibit flag burning or defacement are inherently seeking to stop expression of dissent. The government is trying to preserve the flag as a symbol that communicates patriotism, but not of protest.

People can burn a flag, but no one can destroy the flag or its role as a unique symbol in American political life.

I realize Donald Trump is not a constitutional scholar and might be excused for not knowing the law in this area. But his desire to punish dissenting speech is troubling, as is his failure to check the law before issuing declarations. Ironically, Trumps condemnation of flag burning is likely to make it much more common. There have been relatively few incidents of flag burning over the years. But now, knowing it draws Trumps ire, more might want to do this as a form of protest.

Even more troubling was Trumps statement that those who burn a flag should be stripped of their citizenship. That is obviously an extreme punishment and it is frightening that Trump would want to apply it for expressing dissent through burning a flag.

It also is clearly unconstitutional to do so. InAfroyim v. Rusk, in 1967, the Supreme Court held that the government never can involuntarily deprive a person of citizenship, no matter how serious the crime.

The court powerfully declared: In our country the people are sovereign and the government cannot sever its relationship to the people by taking away their citizenship. The court concluded: The very nature of our free government makes it completely incongruous to have a rule of law under which a group of citizens temporarily in office can deprive another group of citizens of their citizenship.  Our holding does no more than to give to this citizen that which is his own, a constitutional right to remain a citizen in a free country unless he voluntarily relinquishes that citizenship.

This is exactly as it should be. Otherwise, Congress could take away a persons citizenship for any crime it deemed unpatriotic or heinous. All of our citizenship would be at the pleasure of Congress.

I worry that we will become inured to statements from Donald Trump like his declaration about criminally punishing and stripping citizenship of those who burn the flag. But he is about to be the president of the United States and we should expect more knowledge of the law and greater respect for the law than are reflected in statements like this.

Erwin Chemerinsky is dean of the UC Irvine School of Law.
SANTA ANA  In making history Tuesday as the first city in Orange County to adopt a sanctuary resolution ahead of Donald Trumps inauguration, Santa Ana has potentially jeopardized federal funding. But a more immediate financial impact comes from a decision the City Council made immediately after.

Council members, following a 5-0 vote declaring the city a sanctuary for all residents regardless of immigration status, also voted unanimously on a first step to phase out a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at Santa Ana Jail.

Specifically, ICE will be put on notice that the city will reduce the number of detainees to a maximum of 128, resulting in the closure of one jail module and a $663,743 annual net revenue loss. A full contract termination would create a $2 million hole annually, City Manager David Cavazos said, while Santa Ana faces repaying about $24 million plus interest through 2024 for building the jail it opened in 1997.

I think we have a compelling moral need that we see how we can remove ourselves from this relationship, said Mayor Pro Tem Vincent Sarmiento. He added, however, that the city has to be intelligent about mitigating the $663,743 gap.

If we dont have money coming, it might get taken out of parks and recreation, it might get taken out of public works, and that means services being reduced for those very residents we are trying to protect, Sarmiento said.

ICE is prepared to adjust its operations accordingly, Lori Haley, a spokeswoman for the federal agency, said Wednesday in a statement about the bed number reduction.

That said, ICE values its longstanding relationship with the city of Santa Ana, said Haley, adding that the Santa Ana Jail is by far the smallest contract detention facility utilized by ICE in the Los Angeles area.

var _ndnq = _ndnq || []; _ndnq.push([embed]);

http://launch.newsinc.com/js/embed.js

Council members also voted to continue negotiating jail officer retirement incentives, hire part-time instead of full-time officers and release a request for qualifications for a jail reuse study with the requirement that two of three proposals examine repurposing the facility.

Santa Ana will be in a better position to come up with a specific timeline for the contract termination once the evaluation is completed, Cavazos said.

The contract is set to expire June 30, 2020, but the city or ICE can give a 90-day notification to cancel the contract at any time. Council members have yet to fulfill the request by dozens of immigrants-rights activists for a timeline by Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, to end the contract.

This city will only be a true sanctuary when it terminates its contract with ICE, said Christina Fialho, an attorney in Costa Mesa and co-founder of the nonprofit Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement. No other city that has declared itself a sanctuary also has a detention facility with ICE.

Councilman Sal Tinajero said the points made by Fialho and other public comment speakers were valid, but that Santa Anas situation is different from that of many cities.

Other cities are not in the jail business, Tinajero said. The jail contract was put into effect awhile back. Today is a new day. We have declared ourselves a sanctuary city and now we have to look at making adjustments to be consistent with those values across the board.

Though no public speakers at the council meeting Tuesday spoke out against the sanctuary resolution, Tim Rush, 61, a Santa Ana resident for 20 years, said Wednesday that the adopted policy paints a bulls eye on the city.

Given the incoming administration, you would think if anything, this would be the last thing they would do, said Rush, president of the Wilshire Square Neighborhood Association. Its putting the city at tremendous risk of losing a great deal of federal funding, which could very well push the city into bankruptcy.

But Annie Lai, an assistant clinical professor at UC Irvine, said the threat of losing federal funding for Santa Ana is limited by the 10th Amendment, if not nonexistent.

Councilman Michele Martinez and Mayor Miguel Pulido were not present for the vote. Council members excused Martinez for the absence, but in a rare move, did not excuse Pulido.

I just think that he always does this whenever theres very pressing issues, said Tinajero, who called for a sanctuary ordinance to be considered at the next council meeting.

Pulido could not be reached for comment.

Immigrants-rights activists rallied after Santa Anas historic sanctuary vote, and hope their momentum carries to the largest city in the county  Anaheim.

There was a change in the (Anaheim) council in this election, said Carlos Perea, policy and programs director for the organization Resilience OC. (Elected leaders) ran under the platform of ensuring that all voices from the residents, especially the marginalized and Latino residents, would be heard, and were going to test that.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7762 or jkwong@ocregister.com Twitter: @JessicaGKwong
Usually, driving on a Southern California freeway couldnt be described as anything other than mundane.

The same grey and black boxes pass by with the occasional, and quite frightening, truck. That usually goes on for an hour or two, 45 minutes if you are lucky.

In the past two weeks, however, some commuters in the Orange County and Los Angeles area saw something unusual  a banana.

No, not a banana peel in the road, an actual banana car. A car made to look like the tropical fruit, cruising down the 405, parked in Hollywood. A Big Banana Car.

The company behind the car, The Mutant Brothers,, creates whimsical art cars (one in the works is a submarine sandwich). Steve Braithwaite, who created the banana car a few years ago, and Tom Brown are the two main men behind the auto shop.

Braithwaite, who lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan, got the idea after he found himself staring at a bowl of fruit in a gas station.

I got so engrossed in this gas station, he said. Im now standing 10 feet back from the counter, and a line is forming behind me.

After that moment and some encouraging advice from his former wife, Braithwaite knew what he had to do.

Though, a banana car isnt so outlandish for Braithwaite, an Oxford, England native. As a teen, his favorite film American Graffiti introduced him to Americana and the world of hot rods. He also had a fascination with the color yellow. His first car, which he welded together when he was 16, had all yellow parts.

Ive always had the dream to be the most ridiculous man in the world, he said.

Fast forward to 2009, and Braithwaite had moved to the United States and started construction on the banana car. He started with a 1993 Ford F-150 pick up, picked up metal from junk yards and ordered all new car parts. A total of $25,000 was put into the project, which took about two and a half years to make.

After completion, the reaction was overwhelming, Braithwaite said. People did double takes, kids would point and shout, Banana! Banana!

I thought I knew what fun was, I had no idea, he said.

This Nov., Brown drove the Big Banana Car from Kalamazoo to the Golden State, a six-day journey, thanks in part to a breakdown in Texas and a sand storm in New Mexico.

The venture was made in hopes of relocating The Mutant Brothers auto shop to Southern California. The goal is to create outlandish cars for businesses, and with warm year-round weather it will be easier for the team to work on cars during winter, Braithwaite said.

For now, the Big Banana Car is making the rounds in Los Angeles, stopping in Venice Beach or in front of LACMA in order to get the word out about the business. And to just make people smile.

Driving is very aggressive out here, Brown said of Los Angeles traffic. But you get in the banana car and everybody lets you in and is very nice.

When its parked, Brown even lets people take photos in it.

The car will stay here until Brown and Braithwaite settle on a warehouse for Two Mutant Brothers, which might take up to two years. Until then, it is available for special events or appearances at school campuses.

Its fascinating work, Brown said. You are creating something people are really getting a kick out of.
Scroll through your Facebook feed and youll find enough worthless articles to fill up a virtual dumpster. Without a clearly satirical source name such as The Onion, many Americans believe that such news stories are real, prompting them to share or re-tweet them before considering the source.

In a quest to ferret out fake news, though, we should be careful not to silence dissenting points of view that still have factual merit.

A recent report by a team of Stanford University professors illustrates the concern. The report, released by the Stanford History Education Group, claims that students were easily duped by fake or biased news sources online. A press statement from the research team said it was worried that democracy is threatened by the ease at which disinformation about civic issues is allowed to spread and flourish.

Thats all well and good  but who decides what qualifies as disinformation? The professors included a website that my organization manages as one example of information that students were duped by. That came as news to us: Its no mystery that our organization is skeptical of raising the minimum wage, as even a casual visitor to our websites (EPIOnline.org, MinimumWage.com and FacesOf15.com) can see. (The header text of one website reads, See our research on this threat to entry-level jobs.)

Our organization receives some of its support from businesses, which we openly acknowledge in our press materials. But our skepticism of raising the minimum wage comes not from our supporters, but from the best academic literature. A summary of this literature published last year by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco concluded that raising the minimum wage reduces opportunities for the least-skilled job seekers.

The expert consensus also supports our position: A University of New Hampshire survey of 166 prominent economists found that nearly three-quarters of those surveyed were opposed to a federal minimum wage of $15 per hour.

Of course, there are two sides in any debate. Students should be encouraged to hear out dissenting economists who might support raising the minimum wage. But theyre not well-served by professors who inform them theyve been duped by collecting data from a minimum wage-focused website that reflects the economic consensus on the topic.

The Stanford team does their students a further disservice by citing a Salon.com article to substantiate their criticism of our website. The article in question is written by a labor union-backed outfit thats paid to criticize organizations it has ideological disagreements with. The authors own biases are clear from the first sentence, when she favorably cites a report bought and paid for by the Service Employees International Union. (She later describes this advocacy document as a bona fide academic study.)

The danger from the Stanford approach is that students will be encouraged to shut out any information source that doesnt support a politically popular point of view. Theyre worse off when their opinions are then informed by supposedly credible sources that only provide them with one side of the argument. Case in point: Earlier this year, a labor reporter at one of the countrys largest papers published a supposedly neutral article titled, The $15 minimum wage sweeping the nation might kill jobs  and thats okay.

Opposing an increase in the minimum wage may not win you friends and plaudits in the Bay Area or in a discussion group at Stanford, but its an economically sound argument. Websites like ours play a crucial role in educating the public on this point of view, regardless of which donors help us keep the lights on.

Professors shouldnt be afraid of their students reaching their own conclusions. Perhaps what theyre really afraid of is that theyll reach conclusions that are different than their own.

Michael Saltsman is research director at the Employment Policies Institute.
Repealing President Barack Obamas health care law without a replacement risks making nearly 30 million people uninsured, according to a study released Wednesday.

Separately, a professional group representing benefit advisers warned congressional leaders of the risk of significant market disruption that could cause millions of Americans to lose their health insurance.

Republicans dismiss such dire scenarios, saying they are working on replacement legislation for a President Donald Trump to sign. Nonetheless, the complex two-stage strategy the GOP Congress is contemplating has raised concerns not only among supporters of the law, but also industries like hospitals and insurers.

The plan is for Congress to first use a special budget-related procedure to repeal major portions of the Affordable Care Act next year. The effective date of that repeal would be delayed by months or even years to give lawmakers time to write replacement legislation.

The replacement law would presumably do many of the same things that Obamacare does, such as subsidizing coverage and protecting people with health problems. But it would not involve as much federal regulation, and it would eliminate a highly unpopular requirement that most Americans get health insurance or face fines.

The new study from the nonpartisan Urban Institute looks at a scenario where repeal goes through, but replace stalls. It predicts heavy collateral damage for people buying individual health insurance policies independent of government markets like healthcare.gov. Though nonpartisan, the Urban Institute generally supports the goal of extending coverage to all Americans. Previously it has criticized some of the subsidies provided under Obamas law as insufficient.

The new analysis warns that repealing major parts of the health law without a clear replacement could upend the health insurance market for people buying their coverage directly, outside of the workplace. That group has grown substantially under the health law, but also includes millions of other customers.

The study found that 22.5 million people would lose coverage directly due to repeal of the laws subsidies, Medicaid expansion and its individual requirement to carry health insurance.

An additional 7.3 million would become uninsured because of the ripple effects of market upheavals. That could happen if insurers lose confidence in the Republican promise of a replacement and abandon the individual market. A key industry worry is that a repeal law would get rid of subsidies and mandates but still leave insurers on the hook for covering people with health problems.

The number of uninsured people would rise to nearly 59 million in 2019, since the ACA did not completely eliminate the problem of people without coverage. As a result, the nation would have a higher uninsured rate than when the ACA passed in 2010, the study found.

Federal and state governments would save billions, but the potential price would be social dislocation and a political backlash.

This scenario does not just move the country back to the situation before the ACA, the study concluded. It moves the country to a situation with higher uninsurance rates than was the case before the ACAs reforms.

Republicans say they wont allow chaos to happen.

We are not going to rip health care out of the hands of Americans, House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said in a recent interview with Associated Press reporters and editors. Republicans are going to give Americans choices and an appropriate transition.
WASHINGTON  Retired Marine Gen. John Kelly carved out a reputation as a highly respected, but often outspoken commander who could roil debate with blunt assessments or unpopular directives on issues ranging from women in combat to the treatment of detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention center.

But the man chosen by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the Department of Homeland Security holds a more somber distinction. The battle-hardened veteran, who served three tours in Iraq, is the highest-ranking officer to lose a child in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan.

That status, as part of what the military calls a Gold Star family, puts him in the Cabinet of a presidential candidate who verbally attacked a Gold Star family: the Khans, Muslim-American immigrants who lost a son in Iraq and had criticized Trump at the Democratic National Convention.

Kellys son, Marine 1st Lt. Robert Kelly was killed in November 2010 in Afghanistan.

Trumps choice, who joined the Marine Corps in 1970, retired this year, wrapping up a three-year post as head of U.S. Southern Command, which spanned some of the more fractious debate over the Obama administrations ultimately failed attempt to close Guantanamo.

Transition officials confirmed Trumps pick of Kelly on condition of anonymity because they werent authorized to speak publicly before any official announcement.

If confirmed by the Senate, Kelly would take over the nations newest federal agency. The department was formed after the Sept. 11 terror attacks to get the U.S. government better-positioned to prevent and respond to incidents.

Kelly would be the fifth person to lead the department, which includes agencies that protect the president, respond to disasters, enforce immigration laws, protect the nations coastlines and secure air travel.

His selection bolsters concerns about an increase in military influence in a Trump White House  and as Trump moves forward on his signature issue to build a wall along the southern border and go after people living in the country illegally.

In Kelly, Trump would have another four-star military officer for his administration. James Mattis, a retired four-star Marine general, is Trumps pick for defense secretary.

Immigration enforcement is a familiar issue for Kelly. Southern Command, based in South Florida, regularly works with DHS to dismantle immigrant smuggling networks. It has partnered with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in an operation targeting human smuggling into the U.S. and helped with the rescue of children arriving alone at U.S. borders.

If Trump follows up on campaign promises to toughen immigration enforcement, the department will be charged with beefing up the screening of immigrants allowed to come into the U.S., and finding additional resources to track down and deport people living here illegally. It will also need to find a place to house these immigrants while theyre awaiting deportation.

Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said she hopes that Gen. Kelly is willing to stand up for facts, families and the Constitution.

America will not be made great by dragging parents away from their children, by squandering billions of dollars on a wall that does little to secure the border, or by rejecting freedom of religion and echoing the darkest chapters of persecution, she said.

Scraping for federal funds and equipment to battle such problems will not be a new challenge for Kelly. At Southern Command, he was often blunt about his need for more resources to fight the drug trade.

During a 2014 hearing, he told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he didnt have the ships or surveillance assets to get more than 20 percent of the drugs leaving Colombia for the U.S.

The most contentious issue Kelly faced, though, was the push to close the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention center, and proposals to bring detainees to a facility in the U.S. if they could not be sent to other nations. Lawmakers opposed closing Guantanamo, arguing it is the ideal location for terror suspects captured in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

The Pentagon faced criticism for not moving more quickly to release detainees to other countries. Those decisions largely rested with the defense secretary, but Kelly absorbed some of that anger even though his job was simply to carry out the transportation of the detainee after the decision was made. He also raised concerns about the costs of moving detainees to the U.S.

While commander there, he also placed more limits on media access to Guantanamo and restricted information about hunger strikes. He believed prisoners were eating just enough to be considered hunger strikers without endangering their health in order to manipulate public opinion.

In his final Pentagon news conference, he spoke about the loss of his son  a topic he didnt often discuss publicly.

To lose a child is  I cant imagine anything worse than that. I used to think, when Id go to all of my trips up to Bethesda, Walter Reed, Ill go to the funerals with the secretaries of defense, that I could somehow imagine what it would be like, Kelly said.

But, he added, when you lose one in combat, theres a  in my opinion  theres a pride that goes with it, that he didnt have to be there doing what he was doing. He wanted to be there. He volunteered.

Kelly said he gets occasional letters from Gold Star families who are asking, Was it worth it? And I always go back with this: It doesnt matter. Thats not our question to ask as parents. That young person thought it was worth it, and thats the only opinion that counts.
With recreational cannabis legal in California, state leaders are taking another stab at letting law enforcement test the saliva of people suspected of driving under the influence of marijuana.

Assemblyman Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale, this week introduced a bill that would allow officers to take a spit swab from drivers whove failed field sobriety tests. Portable instruments promise to detect the presence of pot and other drugs within minutes, telling officers whether they should potentially let the driver go free or take them to the station for a blood test and possible arrest.

Driving is the most dangerous thing we do, Lackey said Wednesday. Using new technology to  get stoned drivers off the road is something we need to embrace.

Swab tests are widely used on drivers in the United Kingdom, but the process remains controversial.

Theres no clear impairment threshold with marijuana as there is with alcohol. Also, critics argue that the roadside testing device is still experimental, citing studies that show the tests are least effective at detecting impairment, in part because marijuana stays in a persons system long after its effects have worn off.

That lack of reliability  coupled with the high cost for a test that would only establish probable cause rather than clear proof of impairment  were concerns raised when similar legislation was analyzed in the past.

Lackey, a former California Highway Patrol officer who represents portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Kern counties, proposed a nearly identical bill in 2015. And State Sen. Bob Huff, R-San Dimas, pushed similar legislation earlier this year. Both bills died in committee.

Lackey is hoping to succeed this time, noting an increased sense of urgency now that Proposition 64 has passed making pot legal for adults.

The ballot measure dedicates tax revenue from pot sales to help universities and the CHP develop better roadside tests. But Lackey, who opposed Prop. 64, said California cant wait that long to take action.

Ive seen the tragedy that results from impaired driving, he said. I feel like I have a responsibility to be the voice on this issue.

Lackeys bill is expected to be up for a vote in early 2017.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7963 or bstaggs@ocregister.comTwitter: @JournoBrooke
Last week, San Francisco-based web site Trulia.com released a specious, one-dimensional study that addresses only one aspect of taxation in California. This mistake is understandable since the study was conducted by Trulias chief economist who has no degree nor background in either economics or finance.

There are three main sources of tax revenues in California for state and local governments: sales tax, income tax and property tax. It is very one-sided to single out how property taxes are levied in this state, without taking into account sales and income taxes. This is especially true since state and local governments have made allowances for Proposition 13 by increasing the other two taxes significantly since 1978.

This Trulia study has other serious weaknesses as well. First, it includes in the calculation of the tax rates amounts collected for Mello Roos assessments. Mello Roos pay bonds that were used to finance new infrastructure in communities that did not previously exist. When these bonds are redeemed, this tax goes away. Areas without Mello Roos already have this infrastructure. If Mello Roos assessments were not included in the tax rate calculations, then the rates between the different communities would be similar.

Second, Trulia mistakenly attacks the 2 percent cap on the increase of assessed value. With sales tax and income tax, money changes hands between customer and retailer or employer and employee, and it is that money that is taxed. With property taxes, no money changes hands, and nonexistent money is taxed. When you file your income tax, you are taxed on the value of property you sold, where there has been a taxable monetary transaction. Prop. 13 was put in place to protect property owners who have not sold their homes from being taxed on money they have not received.

Lately there has been an effort to change some of the safeguards of Prop. 13, arguing that those who have owned their property for extended periods of time with large appreciation are not paying as much as those who have recently purchased their home. As exemplified by the Trulia study, this thinking argues that it is the wealthy coastal communities that benefit. But, again, California has the highest state income tax and sales tax rates in the U.S. This Trulia study notes that a property owner in Beaumont pays an effective property tax rate of 1.37 percent, much higher than property owners in Laguna Beach, but fails to disclose that the average amount of income, property and sales taxes paid by the average resident of Laguna Beach is $20,500 per year compared to the $1,500 a year by the average resident of Beaumont. Laguna Beach residents pay an average tax rate of 25 percent while Beaumont residents pay an average tax rate of 5 percent, when income, property and sales tax are combined.

Trulia developed a flawed study leading readers to a flawed conclusion. If we begin to attack the safeguards that protect Prop. 13, then we should unravel all the tax hikes that were imposed in its wake. Otherwise, reforming Prop. 13 is nothing more than a tax grab by state and local governments. And, before long, we will again hear stories of elderly homeowners being forced from their homes because they cant afford the property taxes.

Eric H. Woolery, CPA is Orange Countys independently elected Auditor-Controller. He is the Chief Accountant for the county of Orange whose office does the calculations and apportionment of the property taxes for all schools, cities and special districts in Orange County.
Two freshmen at Riversides Martin Luther King High School will be charged with conspiracy to commit murder over an alleged plan to attack the school in 2020, according to police and school officials.

The students, both 15-year-old boys, were booked into Riverside County Juvenile Hall after being detained Monday at school, according to a news release issued jointly Tuesday by the Riverside Unified School District and the Riverside Police Department.

Someone tipped police about the alleged attack plan, and that the two students may have been carrying firearms. The teens were found to be in possession of knives and ammunition, but did not bring firearms to school, authorities said.

The investigation is ongoing. Riverside police asked anyone with information to contact Detective Jim Simons at 951-353-7138 or School Resource Officer Jeff Mattson at 951-789-5690, ext. 62249. Information may be relayed anonymously.

The King High incident was one of two threats discovered at Inland schools Monday. Graffiti of a threatening nature was found scrawled in a bathroom at the Mt. San Jacinto College campus in San Jacinto, authorities announced Tuesday. Patrols there will be increased, and students and employees were urged to watch their surroundings.

King High Principal Michael West emailed parents Monday night about of the investigation at his school, located in Riversides Orangecrest neighborhood. West echoed what police and school district officials have also said: that students and staff were at no point in danger.

At least six police cars were sent to the school Tuesday afternoon shortly before dismissal, not to respond to any current incident but as a visible display of police presence, Lt. Christian Dinco said.

Julie Tombyll said as she was picking up her daughter that news of the investigation didnt make her think her child was in danger.

The school has always been very safe. Ive had four students attend King High, Tombyll said.

RUSD Assistant Superintendent Timothy Walker, in the news release, praised quick an efficient action for keeping King High students and faculty out of danger.

As soon as King High School received information on a potential threat, the District and the Riverside Police Department took swift action to identify and locate the students, Walker said.

Through questioning the students, police learned the attack was planned for the future, Dinco said. It was not imminent, he confirmed again Tuesday, contradicting some rumors being circulated.

Investigators searched the students homes and found evidence that corroborated what the teens had told them, the news release said.

Authorities have not provided details about what the teens were believed to be planning, or what evidence was found.

The Riverside County District Attorneys Office did not file charges Tuesday, but plans to soon, Riverside police spokesman Officer Ryan Railsback said.

A third student detained Monday is still being questioned. That students involvement with the other teens is still under investigation, Railsback said.

Everyone police believe may have been involved in the plot has been accounted for, Dinco said.

In the news release, Dinco commended the informant who spoke up about the planned attack.

The Riverside Police Department encourages the public if you see something, say something, Dinco said. RPD and RUSD are thankful we have citizens that stepped forward in this case.
When the new Christ Cathedral sanctuary is completed, the plaza area will include a large shrine to Our Lady of La Vang, a Marian apparition believed to have blessed persecuted Catholics in Vietnam during the turn of the 19th century, Catholic Church officials and members of the Vietnamese community announced Wednesday.

The $25 million project is still in the design phase, but will be constructed around the same time the iconic glass sanctuary is being renovated, said the Rev. Christopher Smith, rector and episcopal vicar of Christ Cathedral who is overseeing the construction project.

The sanctuary is expected to be dedicated in June 2019, he said.

This shrine will be a beautiful way for generation after generation to know Jesus through his mother, Smith said. The Vietnamese community is the heart of our community here at Christ Cathedral, and weve seen how intentional they are when it comes to integrating generations of people in faith.

There are 62 parishes in the Diocese of Orange and of those, 15 have a large number of Vietnamese congregants. The diocese estimates there are about 100,000 Vietnamese Catholics in Orange County.

The Lady of La Vang is an important part of Vietnamese Catholics belief system, said the Rev. Tuyen Nguyen, who sits on the board of advisers for the shrine project.

A group of Vietnamese Catholics who were being persecuted for their religious beliefs saw the apparition of Mary on a tree when they sought refuge in a rainforest, Nguyen said.

They saw the apparition of this woman who was dressed in a traditional Vietnamese ao dai, carrying a child and (was flanked by) two angels, he said. She comforted them and told them to drink tea made with the leaves of that tree to cure their illnesses.

Word of the apparition spread, and Our Lady of La Vang became a symbol of persecuted Catholics in Vietnam, Nguyen said.

For those who have come to celebrate their freedom and new life in Orange County, this shrine will be a reminder of their faith and heritage, he said. For us, she is a symbol of hope and unwavering faith.

The history of the Vietnamese community is part of Orange Countys diverse fabric, said Bishop Kevin Vann.

When the cathedral is renovated, well have a shrine for Our Lady of Guadalupe inside and for Our Lady of La Vang outside, he said.

The shrine will be a part of a larger Marian Court dedicated to Mary, said Dr. Huan Duy Le, co-chairman of the diocesan committee to oversee fundraising for the project. It will include a La Vang library, visitor center and gift shop, he said.

Fifteen parishes around the county with Vietnamese members are helping raise money for the project. Community members dont think its going to be a problem to raise the funds needed for the shrine.

Our community is big, we have a lot of big, big businesses here, said Theresa Le, a member of Our Lady of La Vang Church in Santa Ana. This is a cherished tradition we got from our parents, which we now get to pass down to our children.

The shrine is going to be important, even inspirational, for the Vietnamese community in Orange County, said Bao Nguyen, who is part of the Christ Cathedral congregation.

It is a matter of pride for us to have a shrine on this campus visited by people from around the world, he said.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7909 or dbharath@ocregister.com
Chocolate tart with an exceptionally crumbly crust, moist cake layered with dreamy mousse fillings, chocolate chip cookies with crisp edges and chewy centers  baking is a precise science and a delicious art.

Theres nothing like sinking your teeth into a perfectly crafted indulgence, especially this time of year, when gingerbread reindeer, yule logs and other goodies line local pastry cases. Orange County has plenty of bakeries, from the big ones that make it all to that small shop with the baklava you can get nowhere else. These are our current favorites.

ZOVS: Beautifully decorated layer cakes, tarts, brioche and homey cookies

The iconic restaurant, instrumental in bringing the foodie movement to O.C. decades ago, has always housed an outstanding bakery. Credit Zov Karamardian, the visionary who hired pastry chef Michelle Bracken years ago.

On hiatus recently, Bracken is back, stocking the pastry case with delicate lemon layer cakes, buttery brioche, crunchy Jumble cookies and more goodies. Make sure to put in a holiday order in plenty of time to pick up dazzling stollen and bouche noel for your special occasions. The retail shop next door has been revamped to focus on sweets, now offering frozen treats by Gelato Paradiso as well as baked goods. Bracken is a master of French techniques, with sensible Michigan roots, and no one turns out a full range of traditional baked goods more consistently.

17440 17th St., Tustin, 714-838-8855, zovs.com

 Anne Valdespino

BLACKMARKET BAKERY: Earthy breads, layer cakes and tarts, chocolate croissants and artfully decorated cookies

She fully intended to become a boulanger, but when Rachel Klemek got to the Culinary Institute of America in Napa, she dove in and took on the competition, graduating first in her class. Shes worked at Melisse in Los Angeles and at Zovs, so maybe thats the reason her shop does it all too: cakes, Viennoiserie, decorated cookies, and yes, big loaves of hearty bread like Dutch Crunch. Starting in Irvine, she built a reputation for sculptural cakes a la Duff Goldman, but decided to reboot her retro-artisanal vision. Since then her business has expanded to Costa Mesa, Santa Ana and now San Diego.

Shes wildly creative, and her niche is in whimsical marketing, Resistance is futile! and appealing to a hip crowd that loves honest, handcrafted treatsfrom molasses cookies to grilled cheese sandwiches on that great bread (served with craft beer in Santa Ana and San Diego). Still, each dish is structured with sophistication; charged with caramel, her chocolate crusted Black Widow Tart, filled with chocolate ganache and finished with a chocolate pirouette, could star in a Parisian patisserie case, or it could just be your new craving.

2937 Bristol St., Costa Mesa; 714-662-3095. 211 N. Broadway, Santa Ana; 714-571-0801, blackmarketbakery.com

 Anne Valdespino

BLUE CHAIR BAKERY: Fresh-from-the-oven cinnamon buns and sticky pecan rolls

The red screen door of Blue Chair Bakery opens directly into the kitchen, where the chef/owner arrives before dawn to start baking cinnamon buns, pecan rolls, scones, muffins and cookies. Theres only enough room inside for one or two customers at a time. By noon, most of the cinnamon rolls are gone. By early afternoon, everything is sold out.

220 Marine Ave., Newport Beach; 949-673-4522, bluechairbakery.com

 Brad A. Johnson

MOULIN BISTRO: Baguettes, country loaves, croissants and eclairs

When Moulin opened in Newport Beach in 2014, it was just a quirky French cafe that happened to also sell a few baked goods. But somewhere along the way, Moulin doubled in size and became one of Orange Countys most essential French bakeries, with a second location recently opened in Laguna Beach. The bake shop sells fresh baguettes, country loaves, croissants, caneles and madeleines as well as eclairs, mille-feuilles and chocolate hazelnut tarts. Get there before noon for the best selection.

1000 N. Bristol St., Newport Beach; 949-474-0920. 248 Forest Ave., Laguna Beach; 949-715-6990, moulinbistro.com

 Brad A. Johnson

MIXED BAKERY: Tarts, brownies, lemon bars and elegant European pastries

A few days before Thanksgiving, Mixed Bakery owner Elyssa Fournier is up early scrambling to fill dozens of holiday orders for everything from pumpkin tarts to whoopie pies and carrot cakes. She even tackled a wedding cake order, while preparing for her own Thanksgiving feast, hostessing 42 guests. The wild thing about it all? The classically trained pastry chef is baking everything inside her tiny Corona del Mar home.

My poor husband says he goes to sleep to the sound of the mixer and wakes up to the sound of mixer, says Fournier, who studied at the French Culinary Institute, now called the International Culinary Center in New York.

Make no mistake. Fourniers home-based business was not developed on a whim. A pastry chef for 18 years, shes interned at Le Cirque and worked at New York bakeries including Musette, Cafe Indulge and Le Pain Quotidien. Before launching Mixed Bakery, she spent five years as pastry chef at Andreis Conscious Cuisine in Irvine, where her husband, Yves Fournier, is the executive chef. After the states cottage food law passed, she took the plunge, launching Mixed Bakery out of her home.

It has blossomed. Orders are driven by word of mouth but also by her Instagram page  where she posts elegant images of handcrafted Euro-centric baked goods: gougeres, chocolate saucisson, apple tarts, chocolate-dipped mint meringues and vegan truffles. She aims to please. If you want a certain dessert not listed on her menu, or if you want a vegan or gluten-free option, just ask. If I can do it, Ill do it.

To order: Call 949-903-2253 or email elyssa@mixed-bakery.com. Three days advance notice is recommended. Pickup is at Fourniers home, or orders can be delivered for a fee.

 Nancy Luna

ASSAL PASTRY: Baklava and Persian pastries

This small shop in the heart of Irvines Persian community sells layer cakes and other classic baked goods, but youll want to pay attention to the case filled with more exotic choices: snowy white walnut meringues, flower baklava (teensy filo purses stuffed with nut filling and sticky with syrup), miniature shortbread cookies rich with almonds. Call ahead before your next holiday party, they can arrange trays of your favorite sweets packaged as hostess gifts with cellophane and ribbon.

14130 Culver Drive, Suite H-1, Irvine; 949-733-3262, assalpastryus.com

 Anne Valdespino

OC BAKING CO.: Breads (cranberry walnut, baguettes), artisan rolls, pretzel buns

My first encounter with Dean Kim, baker extraordinaire of Orange County, was at a DG Burger tasting. The new Charlie Palmer eatery at South Coast Plaza had just opened, and executive chef Amar Santana was singing the praises of Kim. The baker had whipped up a thick and chewy semolina potato bun with a secret ingredient. It was exactly what the rising star chef wanted  anything but a boring, ubiquitous brioche bun.

Kims passion for turning flour, water and salt into works of art is why many call him Orange Countys Bread King. His rustic loaves, buns and baguettes are served at some 200 restaurants and hotels across Southern California including Vaca, Broadway by Amar Santana, The Ranch Restaurant, the Diamond Club at Angel Stadium, Pelican Resort, Haven Gastropub and Sessions West Coast Deli. Hard to believe, a bagel started it all.

While attending UC Berkeley, Kim fell for the aroma of boiling bagels at the original Noahs shop. He scrapped plans to become a lawyer and went into baking. After training at two major baking institutions, Kim spent nearly 20 years hopping around various bakeries in California before landing at Breads N Spreads in Mission Viejo. In 2009, he struck out on his own, opening OC Baking in Orange, a city he also calls home. Though his business is wholesale, every Saturday Kim sells 50 types of bread at the Orange Home Grown Farmers and Artisans Market in Old Towne Orange.

Prices are dirt cheap for what you get. A 3-pound loaf (26 slices) of sourdough is $5. Baguettes are $2. Its worth traveling for. Believe me. Im a regular customer. 304 N. Cypress St., Orange. 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

 Nancy Luna

GREAT DANE BAKING CO.: Danish pastries, breakfast items, old-fashioned cookies, specialty cakes, wedding cakes

The Danishes (they come in 12 flavors) and coffee cakes are standouts at both locations of this friendly, popular bakery. There are nods to the 21st century, too (cake pops are available), and the made-to-order cakes are exquisitely done. Rolled fondant is a specialty here, with the best princess torte in O.C. If its bread youre after, youll find challah and French loaf alongside the limpa (a light, slightly sweet Swedish rye bread). Its always been a popular spot for cakes to honor birthdays, weddings, bridal showers and other occasions that call for something unique.

6855 Warner Ave., Huntington Beach, 714-842-1130. 11196 Los Alamitos Blvd., Los Alamitos; 562-493-6899, greatdanebakingcompany.com

 Paul Hodgins

ROCKWELLS CAFE & BAKERY: Layer cakes, cookies, cupcakes

The bakery shares space with a lively restaurant and bar at this popular Villa Park hangout. The multi-layered carrot cake is made traditionally, with thick cream cheese icing. Its moist and spicy with a good crumb. The German chocolate cake also hews to tradition, iced with coconut-pecan frosting.

Cake portions are very generous and reasonably priced. The pecan bar is dense and dark, with a shortbread crust thats a bit thick and tough but delicious. Muffins are best procured at the beginning of the day, but the lemon-poppyseed retained its moisture even when ordered after dinner.

17853 Santiago Blvd, Villa Park; 714-921-0622, rockwellsbakery.com

 Paul Hodgins

SWEET LADY JANE: Tarts (15 kinds), cheesecake (10 flavors), pies (many of them seasonal fruit pies) and specialties such as babka, galette, trifle, flan, tiramisu and tarte Tatin

Tired of store-bought desserts, Jane Lockhart opened her popular bakery in 1988 after selling her delectables to restaurants for several years. She has been featured on the Food Network and is a favorite of Oprah Winfreys. Regulars cite several favorites, including the coconut cake, triple berry cake, Oreo tiramisu, English trifle, carrot cake, shortbread cookies, chocolate and blackout espresso cookies. Orange Countys location is the newest; SLJ can also be found in West Hollywood, Santa Monica and Encino. Its small and the slow service draws occasional complaints, but cultish fans keep this place busy.

3732 East Coast Highway, Corona del Mar; 949-270-6366, sweetladyjane.com

 Paul Hodgins

More Carb Consideration

We know we might have missed a few of your favorites. If so, write in and let us know. (nluna@scng.com)

Heres a couple shops deserving of a mention.

Crema Cafe: Baker and owner Tarit Tanjasiri is known for his daily bread and European pastry selections. However, if youre going to get one unique item at Crema, go for the kouign-amann. Pronounced queen ah-mahn, this Brittany butter cake is a close cousin to the croissant. Its heavenly. 322 Main St., Seal Beach.

Portos Bakery (coming soon): Its not even open yet, and were already telling you to put it on your bucket list now. The famed Cuban bakery from Los Angeles is bringing its famous potato balls to Orange County. It will be the largest of the brands outlets, with a 24,000-square-foot bakery and a 5,500-square-foot restaurant. It opens next month at 7640 Beach Blvd., Buena Park.




President-elect Donald Trump is considering formally turning over the operational responsibility for his real estate company to his two adult sons, but he intends to keep a stake in the business and resist calls to divest, according to several people briefed on the discussions.

Under a plan now being considered by the Trump family and its lawyers, Ivanka Trump, Trumps elder daughter, would also take a leave of absence from the Trump Organization, in the surest sign that she is exploring a potential move to Washington with her husband, Jared Kushner. Kushner is discussing an as-yet undetermined role advising his father-in-law, and Ivanka Trump plans on being an advocate on issues in which she has a personal interest, like child care.

Before deciding how to separate from her fathers business, Ivanka Trump is also assessing how to disentangle from her apparel and licensing brands, which are named for her, two people briefed on her plans said. She plans on appointing a president of her company to run the day-to-day operations.

The Trumps are exploring what was described by one person briefed on the discussions as a legal structure that would give Donald Trump and his daughter separation from the company. The New York Times spoke to two people involved in the transition process who were granted anonymity to speak candidly about continuing negotiations.

None of the plans have been completed, and it remains uncertain precisely what the president-elect will reveal next week at an expected news conference at which he has said he will discuss leaving my great business in total in order to fully focus on running the country.

Aides to Ivanka Trump and to Donald Trumps transition team declined to comment.

In announcing on Twitter last week that he would hold a news conference, Donald Trump acknowledged that leaving his business was visually important, as President, to in no way have a conflict of interest with my various businesses.

Still, the Trump family is facing enormous external pressure to do as much as it can to ensure a bright line between the president-elects business brand and his role leading the country.

And any arrangement in which Trump derives a financial interest in his business could add to criticism about potential conflicts that could arise from the Trump Organizations global ties.

The Office of Government Ethics has told Trumps lawyers that only a divestiture would resolve ethical concerns, guidance that was made public in an extraordinary stream of posts on the offices Twitter feed. Officials with the office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the plan under consideration.

The federal law that prevents federal employees from making decisions involving their financial interests exempts the president and vice president, though no recent sitting president has maintained foreign financial holdings as extensive as Trumps. At a meeting with The Times last month, Trump pointed out the absence of laws governing conflicts of interest for a sitting president.

The laws totally on my side, the president cant have a conflict of interest, Trump said, defending his decision to remain attached to his business, even with a loosened grip.

He said then that he preferred to turn it over to his children, with his elder daughter taking the lead.

Some on the transition team have privately expressed concern over how foreign and domestic interests could seek to curry influence with the president by doing business with his adult sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, that ultimately accrues to Trumps financial benefit.

At least part of Trumps reluctance to sell off his holdings stems from tax liability concerns, according to a person briefed on the plan. Government officials can defer capital gains taxes on assets they sell to avoid conflicts, providing they reinvest the money in government securities or certain approved mutual funds. But the bill comes due if those assets are sold after a person leaves office.

Ivanka, Donald Jr. and Eric Trump, who grew up in their fathers business and are currently executive vice presidents, have told people that complaints about appearances of impropriety could be a continuing distraction for their father as he puts together his administration.

Jan W. Baran, a leading Republican ethics lawyer, said that even though the law was clearly on Trumps side, there were no easy answers on what he should do about his financial holdings.

If he keeps a stake in his company, persistent questions about whether he is acting in the countrys interest or his business interest will be unavoidable, Baran said.

On the other hand, Baran said, if Trump decides to divest, that raises other questions. Who are you going sell it to? he said. Does selling his stake eliminate the ethical issues, or does it compound them?

There will also be lingering questions related to Trumps children, depending on the structure the family settles on for running the company, Baran added. As outlined, the plan could leave in place many of the potential conflicts of interest growing out of a real estate and licensing business that spans at least 20 nations, in places like India, Indonesia and Turkey.
HUNTINGTON BEACH  On Wednesday, as she does several times a year, Karen Richardson brought flowers and a picture of her dad, Ardenne Allen Bill Woodward, to place at the Veterans Memorial marker in Huntington Beach.

Richardson, 75, of San Clemente has a personal connection to the memorial. Her father was one of 1,177 servicemen killed aboard the USS Arizona during the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor that launched the U.S. into World War II. And Wednesday was the 75th anniversary of that date.

Richardson timed her visit to the memorial to coincide with a ceremony attended by more than 100 residents, officials and veterans at City Hall.

When host Jim Gormley announced her name, Richardson walked up to the memorial, placed the bouquet in a holder next to the monument, kissed her fingers and placed them on the name of the father she never met.

Having a (memorial) so close to home has been a high point, said Richardson, who was an infant when her father died. I do this two, three, four times a year. This has been special and continues to be so.

Until last year, Woodwards name was missing from the plaque. City Historian Jerry Person discovered the oversight while doing research. Last year. Woodwards name was placed on the monument on what would have been his 94th birthday.

On a cool, breezy afternoon, the U.S. and POW/MIA flags at the monument flapped at half-staff. Members of American Legion Post 133 were in attendance, including an honor guard and several World War II veterans.

Several veterans at the event remembered Dec. 7, 1941, vividly.

Frank Puccilli, 90, was in his brother-in-laws backyard in south Los Angeles working on shrubs when he heard a commotion on the street.

There were guys coming down the street yelling, Extra, extra, he said.

Puccilli bought a paper and said, Three years later I was in the 40th Infantry and headed for the south Philippines.

Bob Laizure, 92, remembered hearing about the attack while he and the family were sitting around their Zenith radio at the family farm in Kansas. He would later be drafted and join the Navy, serving aboard the USS Maryland, one of the ships damaged in the Pearl Harbor attack.

Although too young to serve in World War II, Huntington Beach Councilman Dave Sullivan said one of his earliest memories, as a 4-year-old, is of Pearl Harbor.

I was listening to Tom Mix on the radio and it was interrupted when (President Franklin D.) Roosevelt made his Day of Infamy speech, Sullivan said. I was very upset because I wanted to hear Tom Mix. But then my father explained it to me.

Mayor Jim Katapodis, wearing an American flag tie, spoke in one of his few remaining duties before leaving office.

Its an amazing day to be here, he said. I am humbled to be around these veterans.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7964 or gmellen@scng.com
Lydia Polgreen, editorial director, New York Times Global, has joined Huffington Post as editor-in-chief, succeeding founder Arianna Huffington, who sold HP to AOL in 2011 for $311 million.

Polgreen, 41, with NYT since 2002, previously was a correspondent in South Africa, India and West Africa for NYT. She has also been serving as associate masthead editor, overseeing the papers overseas expansion.

Lydia Polgreen

Huffington now operates Thrive Global, a health-oriented website. www.thriveglobal.com.

Polgreen tweeted about remarks made by CNN president Jeff Zucker at the Committee to Protect Journalists dinner Nov. 22 in the Waldorf-Astoria: Some cognitive dissonance hearing David Remnick (New Yorker editor) then Jeff Zucker on press freedom tonight at the CPJ awards dinner.

Zucker, who had been told the day before by Donald Trump that, I hate your network, everyone at CNN is a liar and you should be ashamed, made a plea for fair treatment by Trump and said CNN will hold the new administrations feet to the fire and they should respect that even if they dont welcome it.

Poynters Warren Saw Hypocrisy

James Warren, Poynters chief media writer, said, There was no evident suggestion of hypocrisy expressed around the room but that clearly was the take of some at the august New York gathering. Guests paid a minimum of $1,000 a seat. The CPJ staff of 27 also had the regular meal while working press sat in the balcony and dined on pretzels, potato chips and sandwiches. NYT had a table at the dinner.

Meriam Elder, Buzzfeeds world editor, tweeted there were laughs in part of the crowd when Zucker said CPJ will hold the administrations feet to the fire.

Trump told the Nov. 21 meeting with reporters, Were in a roomful of liars, the deceitful, dishonest media who got it all wrong, reported the New York Post. Headline was Summit is a firing squad.

Zucker made no mention of the Trump blast at the CPJ dinner, funded by blue chip media and other corporations.

Huff Posts Progressive Mandate Cited

Polgreen said she was drawn to Huff Posts explicitly progressive mandate and identity. NYT added the words, particularly given this moment in the countrys history.

Jared Grusd, CEO of HP, said, We were looking for someone who has tremendous integrity, with deep roots in the process of journalism and the way in which it needs to function. Shes somebody who can carry our voice and translate our narratives across fundamental shifts in the media landscape and political landscape.

Critics, including Trump and others, have said that NYTs coverage of the race for the presidency showed bias against Trump that was reflected not only in its news pages but particularly on its editorial pages. NYT itself editorialized in favor of Hillary Clinton.

NYT publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. partially acknowledged the one-sided coverage in a public statement and promised NYT would rededicate ourselves to fairness and honesty in reporting. NY Post columnist Michael Goodwin, who said NYT demonized Trumps candidacy from start to finish, called the Sulzberger statement part apology and part justification for the campaign coverage. In other words, it was a half-hearted apology.

Trump Shut Out on Editorial Pages

The paper was virulently anti-Trump from the moment he entered the race, noted Fraser Seitel, ODwyer columnist. He said all NYT editorial page contributors were anti-Trump including Charles Blow, Paul Krugman, Gail Collins, David Brooks, Ross Douthat and Frank Bruni.

Douthat, supposedly Republican, cast his lot with the never-Trumpers, pointing out that the candidates views were neither conservative nor libertarian, wrote Seitel.

Another NYT columnist, Maureen Dowd, had called Trump, the Kardashian of the political world.

Speaking at TheWraps Power Women Breakfast in Washington D.C.s W Hotel March 10, she called Trump egregious for how he brought a level of vulgarity to politics, and likened him to the demon Grendel, impenetrable to any threat except that of classical hero Beowulf.

But thats how politics is right now, said Dowd, winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary. I have never seen a political candidate who is so able to generate news and attention every minute of every hour of every day, she said.

CPJ Focuses on U.S. Press Interference

CPJ, after focusing almost exclusively on interference with press coverage abroad for many years, now says it will focus on threats to press coverage in the U.S. because A Trump presidency represents a threat to press freedom unknown modern history, according to Sandera Mims Rowe, CPJ president the past five years.

A CPJ statement said, Since the beginning of his candidacy, Trump has insulted and vilified the press and has made his opposition to the media a centerpiece of his campaign. Trump has routinely labeled the press as dishonest and scum and singled out individual news organizations and journalists. Full text of the CPJ statement is here.

CPJ, with $16.5 million in net assets not counting the $1.75M it took in Nov. 22, and a New York staff of 27, needs to look at the restrictive policies of the major PR groups such as PR Society of America, Arthur W. Page Society, (PR) Seminar and the International Assn. of Business Communicators.

Kerry Paterson

PRSA and IABC, the largest groups, at one time published names and contacts of its members and made them available to the press. Page and Seminar member lists have always been private.

The role of PR in helping or not helping reporters needs to be examined. Also in need of investigation is the legal/court system which is marred by the almost total disappearance of jury trials. Justice is administered in a series of mini-trials in judges chambers. Costs of legal actions are frightening.

CPJ Has New PR Contact

Kerry Paterson was recently named CPJ senior advocacy and communications officer. She joined two years ago.Her assistance is being sought on how CPJ will approach the issue of press freedom in the U.S.

She was a senior associate, CPJ Africa program, from May 2016 to October 2016 when she was named to her current post. Before that she was consultant for Initiative for Conflict-Related Trauma from September 2013 to September 2014 in Northern Ireland.

She has a Masters of Global Affairs from the University of Toronto which she attended from 2012-1014. She has a B.A., graduating with High Distinction, from the University, in Peace and Conflict studies and political science.
The Crisis & Litigation Communicators Alliance has announced that LEVICK is the newest US addition to the international network of independent, owner-managed firms specializing in litigation PR.

LEVICK has experience representing countries and companies on matters such as Guantanamo Bay, Dubai Ports, #BringBackOurGirls, the Catholic Church crisis, AIG, the Gulf oil spill, the largest data-security breaches in US history, front-page product recalls and anticorruption.

Richard Levick

Our members wanted a strong partner firm in the US, the original home of litigation PR, not least because international disputes often involve a US dimension. LEVICK has an outstanding reputation and a rich experience of crisis and legal disputes ranging from criminal or regulatory matters on Wall Street to multi-party action following environmental disasters, said CLCA Chairperson Louise Beeson of Bell Yard Communications, CLCAs co-founding agency in London.

Current CLCA member firms include Community in Italy, Holzinger Associates in Germany, Schneider | Mina | Jenewein Consulting in Austria, Van Kempen PR in the Netherlands and WeR1 in Singapore.

We have already worked hand-in-hand with several CLCA colleagues very effectively on a multi-million dollar litigation case introduced to us by the Alliance and we look forward to continuing this positive collaboration with all member firms whose caliber and expertise in their domestic markets is self-evidently impressive, said Richard Levick, Chairman and CEO, LEVICK.

LEVICK comes in at #21 in ODwyers ranking of PR firms with $19.5 million in 15 net fees.

For more information on CLCA, visit www.clc-alliance.com.
08/12/2016 - A decline in government funding of science and technology research in a number of countries could pose a threat to innovation at a time when global challenges like climate change and ageing populations demand solutions, according to a new OECD report.

The OECD Science, Technology and Innovation Outlook 2016 warns that a backlash against globalisation and migration in some countries could also become a cause for concern given that innovation is increasingly driven by cross-border cooperation and the ability of scientists, students and entrepreneurs to move about and work in different countries over their careers.

Spending on research and development in government and higher education institutions in OECD countries fell in 2014 for the first time since the data were first collected in 1981, the report says. R&D spending in government and higher education labs, most of which is provided by governments, began flattening out in 2010 following three decades of growth.

A separate indicator, total R&D spending by governments  most of which is carried out by public entities but may also be done by the private sector funded by public grants  is receding in many countries as other policy priorities such as state pensions, health and social care are absorbing a growing share of public resources.

Data on the percentage of government budgets dedicated to R&D for 2000 and 2015 show that while countries like Germany, Japan and Korea are spending more now on R&D than in 2000 as a share of total expenses, others including Australia, Finland, France, Italy, Spain, the UK and the US have reduced their R&D efforts. Total government spending on R&D in the OECD area has been declining since 2009, following the global financial crisis.

Economic growth depends on innovation, and innovation will be vital to solve the big global headaches of the 21st Century from ageing populations and dementia to climate change and inequality, said OECD Science, Technology and Innovation Director Andrew Wyckoff. Maintaining public funding of R&D, open science and international mobility for researchers is absolutely fundamental for the future of innovation and our future in general. The report says government funding of R&D is likely to plateau at current levels or decline further given pressure on public finances in many countries and sluggish economic growth. A tendency among governments to focus more on offering R&D tax incentives to firms than funding R&D in universities and public laboratories is also tilting the balance towards the private sector. That can mean funds are allocated to where new products or profits are most likely rather than to less directly focused research which is often the source of unexpected breakthroughs. Business R&D tends to favour development over pure research. Download the data as an Excel file



Although they carry out less than 30% of total R&D in the OECD area, universities and public research institutes perform more than three-quarters of basic research. They often undertake longer-term and higher-risk research, as well as the kind of projects that have more potential to translate into tangible societal benefits. Artificial intelligence and personalised medicine are two examples of innovations that came about thanks to scientific and technological developments enabled by public research.

Key findings of the report include:

Over a third of the research done globally in government and higher education institutions takes place in non-OECD economies. China spent around twice as much on public R&D as Japan in 2014. India, Russia, Chinese Taipei, Iran and Argentina have some of the worlds biggest public science systems.

Five countries  the US, China, Japan, Germany and India - accounted for 59% of global public R&D in 2014, while 25 countries were behind 90% of the total. This dominance by a few partly reflects their large size. In the future, economies with fast-growing populations and GDP, as in Africa, may become more important players.

Charities, foundations and philanthropists have become increasingly prominent funders of university research in recent years, particularly in the area of health where they often fund research into rare or tropical diseases. This will have an impact on future public research agendas.

Different countries currently have different specialisations: for example health and medical science takes up 24% of public R&D spending in the US, 22% in the UK and 17% in Canada while energy R&D is 19% of the total in Mexico, 11% in Japan and 9% in Korea. Country priorities are changing and increasingly reflect the growing societal challenges mentioned above such as climate change and demographics.

Read the report along with 50 individual country profiles and 40 policy profiles:

www.oecd.org/innovation/oecd-science-technology-and-innovation-outlook-25186167.htm

For further information, or to speak to one of the reports authors, journalists should contact Catherine Bremer in the OECD Media Office (+33 1 45 24 97 00)

Related Documents
Agricultural News

October Pork Exports Largest Since 2014; Beef Exports Remain Strong

U.S. pork and beef exports continued to build momentum in October, with both achieving double-digit increases from a year ago, according to statistics released by USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF).





October pork exports totaled 201,936 metric tons (mt), up 14 percent year-over-year and the largest monthly volume since March 2014. Export value was $521.1 million, up 16 percent. For January through October, export volume was 6 percent above last year's pace at 1.86 million mt, while export value was up 3 percent to $4.79 billion.





Exports accounted for 25.5 percent of total pork production in October and 21 percent for muscle cuts only. For January-October, exports accounted for 25 percent of total production - up a full percentage point from a year ago - and 21 percent for muscle cuts, up slightly. Export value per head slaughtered averaged $47 in October, up 8 percent year-over-year, while January-October export value averaged $49, steady with the same period last year.





October beef export volume was 105,938 mt, up 12 percent from a year ago, while export value climbed 10 percent to $559.5 million. For January through October, export volume was up 9 percent from a year ago at 954,868 mt, while value was down 3 percent to $5.1 billion. Beef muscle cut exports were especially strong in October at 75,903 mt - the largest volume in two years.





Beef exports accounted for 14 percent of total production in October and 11 percent for muscle cuts only. January-October ratios were just over 13 percent and 10 percent, respectively - up slightly from the same period last year. Export value per head of fed slaughter averaged $269.35 in October, up 5 percent year-over-year. Through the first 10 months of 2016, export value averaged $254.71 per head, down 8 percent.





"With pork production at a record level and beef production also on the rise, it is imperative that we work to expand global demand and accelerate the volume of product entering the international markets," said Philip Seng, USMEF president and CEO. "With strong support from USDA, our U.S. industry partners and our international contacts, USMEF has intensified its marketing efforts in key destinations and capitalized on opportunities to regain market share - not only in mainstay markets such as Japan, Mexico and South Korea, but in a wide range of countries. This has laid the groundwork for a strong finish to this year and further growth in 2017."





Led by Mexico, pork exports strengthen in Western Hemisphere markets





Pork exports to Mexico remained strong in October, increasing 9 percent from a year ago in volume (65,271 mt) and 6 percent in value ($115.2 million). For January through October, exports to Mexico pulled within 2 percent of last year's record pace in volume (576,008 mt) and remained 1 percent higher in value ($1.05 billion). This strong performance has been especially supportive of prices for U.S. hams, the highest-volume export item to Mexico. Through October, in pesos, U.S. ham prices were 21 percent higher than a year ago while demand in Mexico remained strong. Ham prices strengthened further in November, and weekly export data showed even larger shipments to Mexico. To overcome the difficult exchange rate situation, USMEF has emphasized the quality and consistency of U.S hams with Mexico's meat processors and worked with these companies on new product development.





Pork exports to leading value market Japan were also strong in October, increasing 4 percent from a year ago in volume (30,987 mt) and 9 percent in value ($127.9 million). Through the first 10 months of the year, exports to Japan were 7 percent below last year's pace in volume (320,491 mt) and 4 percent lower in value ($1.29 billion). Chilled pork exports to Japan remained on a record pace through October, totaling 180,793 mt, up 9 percent year-over-year.





Pork muscle cut exports to China/Hong Kong continued to moderate in October, reflecting a rebound in China's domestic pork production, but variety meat exports to the region remained strong. For January through October, total pork/pork variety meat exports to China/Hong Kong were up 66 percent from a year ago in volume (450,257 mt) and 55 percent higher in value ($878.8 million).





Other January-October highlights for U.S. pork exports include:





- After a slow first half of 2016, exports to Colombia continue to rebound. Though January-October exports were still down 13 percent year-over-year in volume (30,713 mt) and 20 percent in value ($70.6 million), October exports climbed 68 percent in volume (5,862 mt) and 77 percent in value ($14.6 million). October muscle cut exports to Colombia were the largest on record at 5,428 mt, up 58 percent from a year ago.





- Following a slowdown in September, pork exports to Central America rebounded strongly in October, especially in Honduras, Guatemala and Panama. January-October exports to Central America were up 18 percent from a year ago in volume (53,259 mt) and 12 percent in value ($126.9 million).





- Exports to the Dominican Republic were 9 percent above last year's pace in volume (20,945 mt) and 4 percent higher in value ($45.8 million), including a 32 percent increase in October export value ($4.8 million).





- Although January-October exports to Korea remain well below last year's large totals, demand has strengthened in recent months. Pork muscle cut exports to Korea reached 11,469 mt in October, the largest since March. Combined pork/pork variety meat exports were 12,121, up 11 percent from a year ago. October export value climbed 26 percent to $33.8 million.





Beef exports set new monthly record in Taiwan; chilled exports continue to shine





October beef exports were highlighted by a record performance in Taiwan, where volume was up 90 percent from a year ago to 5,177 mt. This pushed January-October exports to Taiwan to 35,241 mt (up 20 percent year-over-year) valued at $284.9 million, up 7 percent and on track for a new record.





October exports were also outstanding to Japan, where volume soared 40 percent to 20,089 mt valued at $119.8 million (up 34 percent). January-October exports to Japan were up 21 percent in volume (213,636 mt) and 13 percent in value ($1.24 billion). Japan's October imports of chilled U.S. beef exceeded chilled imports from Australia for the second consecutive month.





In Korea, October exports were 16,897 mt (up 63 percent year-over-year) valued at $98.8 million (up 68 percent). January-October exports to Korea were 139,592 mt valued at $814.2 million, up 36 percent and 21 percent, respectively, from a year ago. Export value to Korea is on pace to exceed the 2014 record of $847.4 million, and with a strong finish could approach the $1 billion mark in 2016.





Chilled beef exports to both Japan and Korea have excelled in 2016, with shipments to both markets up nearly 40 percent year-over-year. Through October, chilled exports were the largest on record to Korea and the largest to Japan since 2003.





Other January-October highlights for U.S. beef exports include:





- Despite the persistent weakness of the peso, beef exports to Mexico were up 8 percent from a year ago to 195,799 mt, though export value to Mexico has trended lower this year ($812.1 million, down 11 percent).





- While January-October exports to Hong Kong were lower year-over-year (86,943 mt, down 6 percent, valued at $525.2 million, down 18 percent), October exports were easily the largest of the year in both volume (11,998 mt) and value ($72.8 million).





- Fueled by strong growth in Indonesia and Vietnam, exports to the ASEAN region increased 27 percent in volume (22,206 mt) and 3 percent in value ($119 million).





- Despite a decline to leading destination Egypt, beef liver exports increased 9 percent to 67,394. Larger volumes to Mexico and the addition of South Africa, a promising liver market that reopened earlier this year, offset lower shipments to Egypt, which takes about 75 percent of U.S. liver exports.





Lamb exports trend lower, but muscle cuts improve





October exports of U.S. lamb fell 31 percent from a year ago to 600 mt, but this was due to a steep decline in variety meat exports. Lamb muscle cut exports were 224 mt, up 19 percent. Lamb export value in October was $1.41 million, down 4 percent. January-October exports were down 6 percent from a year ago in both volume (7,120 mt) and value ($14.8 million), as gains in Bermuda, Hong Kong, the ASEAN region and the United Arab Emirates were offset by lower exports to leading market Mexico.





Complete January-October export results for U.S. beef, pork and lamb are available from USMEF's statistics web page.







Monthly charts for U.S. pork and beef exports are also avaiable.







Source - US Meat Export Federation













WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady NSI

Top Agricultural News
The hands of time tick for all of us, waiting for no man  including an old man who has made Husker clocks.

Joe Pattavina, a World War II combat veteran, in recent years has passed time partly by assembling the clocks as a hobby. At first he did so for his large, extended family and then for anyone who asked, charging just $20, the cost of the parts.

His wife of 68 years, Lee, called this week and kindly asked if the newspaper could please let people know he wont be able to fill any more orders before Christmas because, well, Joe died on Sunday. He was 91.

Thats all she asked: Just say the clock man is no longer making clocks.

But theres so much more to say about this Omaha couple, raised in the Great Depression. Joe grew up on Sixth Street in Omahas Little Italy southeast of downtown, graduated from the old Tech High and was drafted into the Army in 1943.

The next year he rolled across France, Belgium and Holland in a tank, alternating as a driver and gunner in the 7th Armored Division of Gen. George Pattons 3rd Army. Joe fought in the Battle of the Bulge, Hitlers last great effort to break the Allied offensive.

After the war back home, he met Lena Lee Robarge on a blind date. A year later, they married on Sept. 5, 1948, and she took the lilting name Lena Pattavina.

Eight years after that, Joe and Lee bought a ranch-style home northwest of the 72nd and Dodge Streets crossroads, before construction of the Crossroads shopping center. We had cornfields around us, she said, and some dirt roads.

They raised six kids there, and for 38 years Joe was co-owner of Midwest Motor Works at 19th and Leavenworth. His family always said he could fix anything.

Life was good. The couple enjoyed friends and eventually his retirement and took five ocean cruises.

Joe and Lee each had bypass and other surgeries but kept on living life. In 2008, he took an Honor Flight with other WWII veterans to visit monuments in Washington, D.C.

The Pattavinas Omaha home has been the site of many happy occasions, including their 65th wedding anniversary in 2013, attended by 100 people  including 24 grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren.

Two years ago, the family coed softball team at Kelley Field was short one woman, and who stepped to the plate but great-grandma Lee  who hit a single down the third-base line.

Three more hits later by family members, and Lee scored. I got all the way home, she told me. I cant run like I used to.

The kids and grandkids presented her with a game ball, which they had autographed.

In his later years, Joes signature project became the Husker clocks. The face had an N for Nebraska over Huskers. He sent away for the parts, including red dominoes for the hourly numbers.

Joe and Lee agreed that they had been fortunate.

We had talked about how wed had such a wonderful family and everything was blessed for us, she said, and that were up in an age where anything can happen.

I had mentioned Joes clock hobby in an Oct. 8 column, and a few days later everything started to happen. Lee, 88, was driving north on 90th Street and turned her 1998 Buick LeSabre left onto Parker, where a car was pulling out.

Her car was totaled, and she was banged up. Though air bags deployed, she broke a kneecap, two fingers and bones near the wrist. (She was ticketed. Fortunately, she said, people in the other car werent seriously hurt.)

The next day, Joe fell at home. They both ended up in a hospital rehab unit at the same time. Lee now wears braces on a leg and wrist.

Joe returned home, she said, and went downhill, but with hospice care and frequent family visitors. At least one of their children stayed around the clock, and Joe was surrounded at the end on Sunday.

The visitation is 4 to 6 p.m. Friday at Bel Air Chapel, with a funeral Mass at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church.

As clocks ticked off time through his long life, Joe lived 33,535 days, which calculates to about 4,800 weeks, 800,000 hours and 48 million minutes.

The clock man is no longer making clocks, and his time on Earth has run out. It wasnt always easy, but he wouldnt have missed a second.

We had a wonderful family, we traveled, and we had friends, Lee said. Weve had health all these years, and we did everything. Joe was a wonderful guy. We have no regrets.
When Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger lamented the mistakes made in the companys first 50 years under Warren Buffett, he cited the failure to buy Walmart stock early enough in the retailers history. Judging by recent events, Buffett doesnt think Walmart is such a great idea for his companys next half-century.

Berkshire said last month that it cut its holding in the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer to 13 million shares as of Sept. 30, marking the third straight quarter that Buffetts company lowered its stake. Online shopping has shifted the balance of power among retailers, a trend thats become more evident this holiday season, and Walmart stock has trailed Amazon.com in recent years.

He makes mistakes too, Brian Yarbrough, an analyst with Edward Jones & Co., said of Buffett.

There are a lot of better places to put new money than Walmart, he added. They are going to have to continue to fight this headwind of Amazon.

Buffett, 86, has long highlighted the vulnerability of even the largest retailers, citing Sears, F.W. Woolworth, Kresge and Montgomery Ward as merchants that lost their dominant positions. More recently, hes focused on the threat from companies like Jeff Bezos Amazon that sell everything from food to clothes and electronic gadgets online.

It is a big, big force, and it has already disrupted plenty of people and it will disrupt more, Buffett told shareholders at Omaha-based Berkshires most recent annual meeting. Many competitors, including us in a few areas, have not figured the way to either participate in it, or to counter it.

Walmart still trades below its closing price from 2013, even after rallying 15 percent since Dec. 31. Berkshires stake topped 60 million shares in 2014, when Walmart was one of Buffetts five biggest equity positions.

The holding was cut by more than half in the three months ended Sept. 30, according to a regulatory filing. Now it doesnt crack the top 15 list in Berkshires portfolio, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

While Buffett is known for sticking with stocks like Coca-Cola Co. for decades, hes not wedded to old favorites when circumstances change. In recent years, he got rid of most of Berkshires stock in Procter & Gamble Co. and Graham Holdings Co., the former owner of the Washington Post.

His company recently invested in airlines, an industry that Buffett long dismissed as too risky. Also, he has empowered deputy stock pickers to diversify the portfolio, a move that led to an investment in iPhone maker Apple. Buffett has mostly avoided tech stocks and missed out on the years-long rally at Amazon, even as he repeatedly praised Bezos.

Berkshires units include several retailers, such as Helzberg Diamonds, Jordans Furniture and Nebraska Furniture Mart. They are a fraction of the size, however, of subsidiaries like BNSF Railway, the auto insurer Geico and an energy operation. And Buffett has said he learned some tough lessons in the retail business.

We have a really bad record, starting in 1966, Buffett told CNBC in 2014. We bought what we thought was a second-rate department store in Baltimore at a third-rate price, but we found out very quickly that we bought a fourth-rate department store.

Still, he saw something different in Walmart, which, like Geico, established itself as a dominant low-cost provider. Berkshire disclosed a stake of 19.9 million shares in 2005 and doubled the holding by the end of 2009. The stock had already surged more than 4,000 percent in the two decades through 2004. Munger, 92, has lamented that Berkshire didnt invest sooner.

While mistakes of commission were common, almost all huge errors were in not making a purchase, including not purchasing Walmart stock when that was sure to work out enormously well, Munger wrote in a 2015 letter to investors. The errors of omission were of much importance. Berkshires net worth would now be at least $50 billion higher if it had seized several opportunities it was not quite smart enough to recognize as virtually sure things.

Walmarts efforts in e-commerce havent inspired the same confidence. More than half of U.S. online consumers say they go to Amazon first when searching for a product. The nations shoppers spend 30 percent of their time online at Amazon.com, compared with 3 percent on Walmart.com.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. owns the Omaha World-Herald.
KEARNEY, Neb.  On the 25th anniversary of the breakup of the Soviet Union, Kearney native Mike Yanney has been recognized for his work to advance relations between Russia and the United States.

Mikes decades of building relationships with the Russian people has been transformational, said Kearney attorney Thomas Tye II, an associate of Yanneys.

Yanney received the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship during a Nov. 30 banquet in Washington, D.C. The award is presented by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and is named for the 28th president of the United States. After World War I, Wilson led the development of the League of Nations to promote international unity and prevent future wars.

Also recognized at the banquet was former U.S. Ambassador to Russia James Collins. He received the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service.

According to the Wilson Center, when the newly independent Russia first opened itself to free markets in 1991, Yanney had already been on the ground in Russia and the former Soviet Union for well over a decade.

Early projects in Russian agriculture and telecommunications led to a venture capital fund of more than $100 million in the 1990s. Projects that followed included the largest chicken production facility and the largest glass bottling company in Russia.

Outside of Russia, said the Wilson Center, he helped develop the largest dairy in Kazakhstan. Beyond trade, Mike has been a champion of supporting arts exchanges between Russia and the United States, and today he is a key participant in the Dartmouth Dialogues, sustaining citizen-to-citizen contacts at a time when U.S.-Russia political discourse has ground to a halt.

Yanney is chairman emeritus of The Burlington Capital Group and is a well-known philanthropist in Omaha and Nebraska.

Tye said Yanneys efforts to help Russia develop a Western-style economy have been based on relationships.

Through historic changes in their government structure, Mikes focus has always been on people-to-people relationship building through business and cultural exchanges, Tye said. Hes one of a kind, and Im proud hes from Kearney, and I know he is, too.
President-elect Donald Trump has selected Terry Branstad, the long-serving Republican governor of Iowa, to serve as ambassador to China, a transition official confirmed Wednesday.

Branstad has extensive ties to China and a personal friendship with Chinese President Xi Jinping that dates back decades. If confirmed, the move could go some way to reassure China's leadership that Trump understands the importance of healthy relations with Beijing.

The Chinese reacted with concern to Trump's protocol-busting phone call last Friday with Tsai Ing-wen, the leader of Taiwan, an island that China considers a rogue province. Trump repeatedly attacked China on the campaign trail and in a pair of tweets last Sunday over its trade and currency policies, as well as the way it has staked its territorial claims in the South China Sea. He has threatened to slap tariffs of up to 45 percent on Chinese goods if Beijing didn't "behave."

The selection of Branstad was first reported by Bloomberg News and confirmed Wednesday by a transition official, who requested anonymity because the nomination had not yet been formally announced. Later in the day, Branstad confirmed that he'd accepted the post.

China's foreign ministry did not confirm the report but reacted warmly.

"First of all, I would like to say that Mr. Branstad is an old friend of the Chinese people, and we welcome him to play a greater role in promoting Sino-U. S. relations," spokesman Lu Kang told a regular press conference.

"The U.S. ambassador to China is an important bridge between the U.S. government and the Chinese government. No matter who is in this position, we are willing to work with him to push forward the sound, steady and steady development of Sino-U. S. relations."

Branstad met with Trump in New York on Tuesday and issued a written statement saying that he had enjoyed a "very cordial conversation" with the president-elect and that they had spoken about the transition and the next administration.

Branstad was among the most active Republican establishment figures on behalf of Trump, campaigning regularly with him in the state. The governor's son, Eric, managed Trump's general election campaign in Iowa, which was one of the contested battleground states. Although Trump finished only second in the state's Republican caucuses, he carried the state in the general election 51 percent to Hillary Clinton's 42 percent.

Branstad's move to Beijing, should he be confirmed, would elevate Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds to the governorship. Reynolds, who has long been considered Branstad's favored successor, would become Iowa's first female governor.

Under the Obama administration, experts say the post of ambassador had declined somewhat in importance: China policy was largely run out of the White House with the president tending to immerse himself in many of the details.

Under Trump, the role could be more significant  and not only because the next president is likely to leave many of the policy details to his advisers. By taking a phone call from Taiwan's democratically elected leader Tsai, and continuing to tweet critical comments about China after his election win, the president-elect has shown he will not be bound by diplomatic convention and wants to show he is standing up to China.

Kerry Brown, professor of Chinese studies at King's College, London, said it would be important having someone in the job who has the president's ear and can call him up directly.

"There's definitely going to be problems in the first few months  so you need someone who's going to get direct access to the president, and get the president's attention," he said. "I get the feeling he's not going to want piles and piles of briefings, he's not going to wade through that. In a sense that makes the personal system, where you can have people speak to him directly, very important."

Indeed Branstad, if he is nominated by Trump and confirmed by the Senate, could have his work cut out smoothing over some of the ripples in the relationship  reassuring the Chinese that the United States does not want confrontation and conflict but still sees areas for cooperation.

Jie Dalei, an assistant professor at the School of International Studies of Peking University, reacted cautiously, saying the appointment could help communication "but is unlikely have too much impact at the decision-making level."

"At this point, his tweets and remarks certainly have attracted the most attention," he said. "Compared to that, the appointment of an ambassador to China, though very thoughtful, is unlikely to fix the damage caused by the uncertainty of his tweets and Taiwan call."

Last month, less than week after Trump's victory, Branstad paid his seventh visit to China, meeting the country's agriculture minister as well as officials from Iowa's sister-state Hebei.

He has described Xi as an "old friend," and, during a 2015 interview with state news agency Xinhua, proudly displayed photographs of two meetings with the Chinese leader.

The first dated back to 1985, when Xi made his first trip to the United States as a young agriculture officer from Hebei. The other was from 2012, when Branstad hosted an elaborate dinner at the Iowa Capitol for the then-vice president of China.

Branstad also met Xi on a visit to China in 2011, saying the pair had spoken for 45 minutes as Xi reminisced about the hospitality he had received when he was in Iowa.

The six-term governor, the longest-serving in American history, and his state voted for Trump by the largest margin for a Republican since Ronald Reagan in 1980.

It also a state with strong economic ties to China, as the largest producer of corn and among the largest soybean producers in the United States.

China has been a fast-growing market for Iowa's agriculture and processed food, with exports from the state up by a factor of 13 between 2000 and 2010 to $6.3 billion, according to Chinese state media.

That fact alone may reassure some people that Trump would not needlessly start a trade war with China, since retaliation from Beijing in the shape of reduced soybean and corn imports would not only hurt Iowa but also other Republican-controlled agricultural states.

Branstad, 70, served as governor of Iowa from 1983 to 1999, and again from 2011. Trump will visit the state Thursday on his post-election victory tour.

Two days before the Nov. 8 presidential election, during a rally in Sioux City, Trump called the governor to the stage, calling him "our prime candidate to take care of China."
LINCOLN  Nebraska led the nation in resettling the most refugees per capita during the last year, according to newly released federal government data.

The state welcomed 1,441 refugees, or 76 per 100,000 Nebraskans, between October 2015 and September 2016, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the U.S. State Departments Refugee Processing Center and the U.S. Census Bureau.

Nebraska is a strong draw for refugees because of its strong economy with accessibility to jobs in hospitality and meatpacking, said Todd Reckling, a vice president of Lutheran Family Services, the states largest of three placement agencies. About 90 percent of refugees come to the state to reunite with family already living in Nebraska, he said.

Id say Nebraska has a reputation for being a welcoming state, he said, a place to provide safety and hope for the families that are coming together.

Iowa took in 995 refugees over the one-year period. Pew ranked only the top 10 states who settled the most refugees per capita, and Iowa was not among them.

While Nebraska was first in the Pew ranking, North Dakota came in second with 71 refugees per 100,000 residents, and Idaho was third with 69 refugees per 100,000.

California, Texas and New York took in the most refugees overall. The three states resettled a combined 21,000 refugees, about a quarter of the U.S. total of 85,000.

Among the refugees arriving in Nebraska were 118 Syrian refugees. The figure is higher than any of Nebraskas neighboring states, aside from Colorado and Missouri.

The arrival of refugees from Syria to the U.S. has raised the concerns of the states top elected official.

In the wake of terrorist attacks last fall in Paris in which the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, claimed responsibility, Gov. Pete Ricketts joined other governors in calling on President Barack Obama to suspend all Syrian refugee resettlements, citing security concerns.

More than 30 governors last fall opposed efforts to allow Syrian refugees into their states, saying terrorists might use the refugees as cover to sneak across borders.

Meanwhile, supporters of refugee resettlement say the screening process for all refugees coming to the U.S. requires thorough background checks and that those from Syria are subject to additional security screenings.

Ricketts said Wednesday that Nebraska has always been a welcoming place for those facing persecution in their countries, and his administration is committed to that tradition.

However, he noted: The safety of Nebraskans is my top priority, and any refugee resettlement efforts should only occur when the federal government can conduct thorough security screenings.

State Sen. Bill Kintner of Papillion said he believes the new refugees from the Middle East appear to be pretty low-risk because theyve been in the pipeline for a year or two, before concerns about ISIS arose.

During the last legislative session, Kintner proposed a bill to hold refugee resettlement agencies liable for refugees from high-risk countries who commit crimes. The areas were mostly majority Muslim and included Syria, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq.

While that bill didnt get out of committee, Kintner is considering introducing legislation in January that would put in place more reporting requirements about refugees in the state and the services theyre receiving. The proposal is not meant to deter refugees from entering the state, he said.

This might not be ideal, but at least the ones we probably have now are not coming here to do nefarious things, he said. In the future, as some of these people worm their way in, we might start to have problems.

Thats where President-elect Donald Trump will come in, Kintner said.

On the campaign trail, Trump said the U.S. would stop accepting Syrian refugees. He also said he would ban Muslims from entering the U.S. and would register Muslims living here.

I think Donald Trump can solve all of our problems on this issue, Kintner said. This is one issue where we are looking to the federal government to protect us because we dont have the ability to do it ourselves.

Ricketts said he believes there are still unresolved concerns about the federal governments screening of refugees who come from regions such as Syria and that its very difficult for the U.S. to collect accurate data and conduct thorough background checks on potential resettlement cases in these areas.

I urge President-elect Trump to take steps to strengthen the security screening process, so that the American people can have faith in the federal governments refugee resettlement program, he said.

Officials with Lutheran Family Services expressed confidence Wednesday in the level of screening Syrian refugees are receiving.

The agency, which has offices in Omaha and Lincoln, resettled more than 1,000 refugees from 12 countries between October 2015 and September 2016. More than half of the refugees resettled by the agency were from Burma and Bhutan.

They also included 66 Syrians from 10 families, a small percentage of the people served by the agency, Reckling said.

All were parents with children who were living in Jordan or Turkey, some at refugee camps in those countries, said Faiz Rab, Lutheran Family Services public relations director.

The agency hasnt talked with the governor since the presidential election, but intends to keep the lines of communication open, Reckling said.

Safety for Nebraska is a big piece for all of us, and doing this work right and providing a good atmosphere and community for people coming here is, I think, important to all of us, he said.
Douglas Countys new director of emergency communications began work Monday.

David Sleeter, 61, previously worked as the director of 911 communications for Rock County, Wisconsin, from 1995 until his retirement in 2013.

Sleeter, in a press release, said hes eager to help Douglas County make technology upgrades at the 911 center.

Voters last month passed a $45 million public safety bond issue that will include several improvements at the center.

The County Board voted Tuesday to spend about $11 million on new emergency communications equipment, including base radio stations for the countys seven 911 towers, plus radios for the Douglas County Sheriffs Office, rural law enforcement agencies, rural fire departments, Douglas County Corrections officers and hospitals.

If you look at whats being developed and tackled here, its impressive, Sleeter said. Staying up to date with technology is a challenge that 911 centers across the country are dealing with.

Im looking forward to working with all of the public safety agencies in and around Douglas County.

Sleeters resume includes having overseen jail, dispatch and 911 operations in Juneau County, Wisconsin, and also working as an undercover drug officer and deputy sheriff in Tennessee.

He replaces Jenny Hansen, who resigned in June.

Former Douglas County 911 Director Mark Conrey has been serving as director in the interim.

When Sleeter retired as the 911 communications director in Rock County in 2013, he moved to Arkansas to live on an acreage where he has two horses. He spent much of his time hunting and fishing.

Im an outdoor enthusiast, he said. I love to ride horses. I hope to get my horses up to Omaha.

Sleeter said he also enjoys traveling, most recently making a trip Belize. He hopes to travel to Abu Dhabi to see his wife, Jane, who is in the Air National Guard and is stationed in the United Arab Emirates.

Sleeter has two grown sons and several grandchildren in Connecticut and Texas.
A celebration of life will be held Tuesday in Oakland, California, for a former Nebraska woman killed last week when a fire broke out during a concert at a warehouse.

Nicole Renae Siegrist, 29, also known as Denalda Nicole Renae, was from Lincoln. She had been living in Oakland for about four years, said her mother, Carol Cidlik of Honolulu.

She had hundreds of friends here, so well have a celebration of life here, said Cidlik, who spoke Thursday from Oakland. I appreciate all the love and support that Im getting. Its just so hard right now.

Siegrist was among 36 people who died as a result of the Dec. 2 fire, which occurred in an Oakland warehouse known as Ghost Ship. It was converted to an artist collective and was hosting a concert promoted by the house music record label 100% Silk. The fire was the deadliest in Oaklands history.

The celebration of life for Siegrist will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Grand Lake movie theater, where Siegrist worked, her mother said.

Siegrist and Ben Runnels, 32, who also died in the fire, met in the San Francisco Bay Area a few years ago and formed the synthpop group Introflirt.

They named their last album Temporary Heaven to describe the fleeting nature of life and the moments of happiness when people feel completely comfortable with who they are, no matter how different from others they may be, said Brendan Dreaper, who helps operate Mixtape, an Oakland-based company that managed Introflirt.

Siegrist and Runnels had gone to the Ghost Ship with five friends to have fun, dancing, supporting another band, Cidlik said in an online post to friends and family.

Federal investigators said Wednesday that the fire started on the ground floor of the Oakland warehouse. Smoke billowed into the second level and trapped victims, whose only escape route was through the flames.

Siegrist was close with her mother. As the fire bore down, she sent a text to her.

Im going to die now, she wrote.

Siegrist and Runnels would want the world to remember their music, Dreaper said. They dubbed their sound croonwave and made it their mission to create a soundtrack for the insecure, according to Mixtape.

You may feel like an outsider, but thats your advantage in life, Dreaper said.

They were completely comfortable with being themselves. I think they did achieve that. I know people connected to them. The music did that for them, as well. It made them feel happy about themselves.

Siegrist, who played the synthesizer, was an outgoing free spirit who used herself as a canvas, painting black streaks or bold marks on her face to contrast with outfits like a veil, halo of flowers and white dress. Siegrists cousin Rhonda Ford of Ashland, Nebraska, described her as someone who could talk to anybody and lived life to the fullest.

This report includes material from the Associated Press.
Spending Christmas in the hospital is tough, particularly for kids. Not only are they coping with pain, medical treatments and separation from family and friends, but some also worry Santa might miss them on the big night. What to do? Send in the Marines. Members of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve in Omaha escorted Santa this week on visits to young patients at Childrens Hospital & Medical Center and Nebraska Medicine as part of their Toys for Tots outreach. Patients received teddy bears, hugs and the comforting knowledge that Santa knew just where to find them.
With Jayalalithaa gone, will the defamation suits go away too?

Chennai

oi-Anusha

'The penal provision of defamation should not be used to throttle dissent... the court must step in, if there are continuous efforts to harass persons by filing a number of defamation cases.' This was an observation from a Supreme Court bench of Justices Deepak Mishra and Rohington Nariman.

The observation was made on July 28 while the Bench was hearing a petition by Vijayakanth challenging a defamation case filed by Jayalalithaa. It came as a knock to the Jayalalithaa government which had begun an unhealthy trend of defamation suits to quell criticism.

The late Jayalalithaa was notorious for filing defamation cases against those who criticised her. Private citizens as well as media houses and political opponents or journalists, all have been slapped with defamation cases either by Jayalalithaa or by the AIADMK's cadre.

With her gone, will infamous trend of dissent quelling also go? Journalists in Tamil Nadu don't think so.

A crying shame

The Tamil Nadu government, under the leadership of Jayalalithaa, made filing defamation suits a trend to the point that the government had appointed a special lawyer merely to oversee such cases. The special advocate's job was to scan media reports and file petitions against any reports that were critical of the government, its policies or the leader.

A total of 162 defamation cases have been lodged at the principal sessions judge's court in Chennai alone. None has dared to keep track of how many such cases are with other district courts. The Jayalalithaa government has filed cases against The Hindu, The Times of India, India Today, Rediff.com, The Economic Times, NDTV, CNN-IBN, Times Now and many Tamil publications and channels. A popular Tamil publication, Vikatan, alone faces 45 defamation cases. Another bi-weekly magazine Nakkheeran is facing 19 suits against it.

Defamation is not new to Jayalalithaa. She had filed case against media houses and individuals in her first and second term in power as well but she had withdrawn the cases. This time around no cases of defamation have been withdrawn by her government starting 2012 when she assumed the office of chief minister for the third time.

"What is infuriating is the fact that the media is behaving in a subservient manner. Instead of looking at things sceptically, the media thinks it is now part of the establishment. It makes my blood boil that the media has cowed down in a democracy," said R Ramasubramanian of India Today. He has been a victim of defamation suits by Jayalalithaa as well.

[Also Read: Learn to face criticism: Supreme Court tells Jayalalithaa]

Why is the media mum?

A seasoned journalist in Tamil Nadu has the answer to why. "The owner of a Tamil language channel once told me, 'If Jayalalithaa came to power, the state will be destroyed but if Karunanidhi came to power, I will be destroyed'. He was simply speaking of how media houses in Tamil Nadu wouldn't protest anything that the AIADMK government did since they didn't want DMK to come to power," he said.

"It is also to do with advertisements that the government places and the fear of losing ad revenue if opposed," he added. The DMK and its media machinery at the time was being accused of attempting to destroy all other media outlets.

Logically too, bearing the cost of legal battles came as a burden to media houses that are ultimately business establishments. "None of the cases filed by Jayalalithaa's government have reached trial stage. The cases were merely a tool to threaten, intimidate and cause financial burden to organisations and individuals,", said another senior journalist.

The dread of defamation still looms large

"Jayalalithaa was very image conscious. She assumed that any criticism of the government was criticism on her. Her party cadre is no different," said one journalist.

Journalists in Tamil Nadu are not hopeful of the new government doing away with the trend of defamation suits. They do not trust the new leadership to be any better. For now, they plan to stick to a wait and watch policy.

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, December 8, 2016, 16:32 [IST]
Census on OBC to help the community but has political overtones too

15 new castes in central OBC list

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Dec 8: Fifteen new castes have been included in the central list of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) with the government issuing notification in this regard.

The National Commission of Backward Classes (NCBC) had recommended a total of 28 changes in respect of eight states -- Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand.

Out of these 28, 15 castes, including Gadheri/itafarosh in Bihar, Jhora in Jharkhand and Labana in Jammu and Kashmir, were new entries, nine were synonyms or sub-castes of the castes which were already in the list and four were corrections.

"The central government has considered and accepted the aforesaid recommendations of the NCBC and recommendation of Government of Jammu and Kashmir and have decided to notify inclusion/amendment in the Central List of Other Backward Classes of the aforesaid States," according to the notification signed by Joint Secretary B L Meena.

Last month, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had approved the proposal of NCBC.

These changes in the central list will enable the persons belonging to these castes/communities to avail the benefits of reservation in government services and posts as well as in central educational institutions as per the existing policy.

They will also become eligible for benefit under various welfare schemes, scholarships, etc., being administered by the central government, which are at present available to persons belonging to Other Backward Classes, it added.

On the NCBC recommendation, a total of 2,479 entries for inclusion, including its synonyms, sub-castes, etc. in the central list of OBCs have been notified in 25 states and six Union Territories.

The last such notification was issued in September, 2016. NCBC examines requests for inclusion of any class of citizens as a backward class in the lists and hear complaints of over-inclusion or under-inclusion of any backward class in such lists.

Its advice is binding upon the central government. The government is also considering relaxing the creamy layer norms.

PTI
LeT commander behind killing of Army Major among two militants dead in Kashmir encounter

J&K: Bank looted in Pulwama by suspected militants

India

oi-PTI

Srinagar, Dec 8: Suspected militants today looted a bank branch in Pulwama district of south Kashmir and fired several rounds before fleeing with cash, police said here. This is second incident of looting of a bank in Kashmir in a month.

Four masked gunmen barged into the Jammu and Kashmir Bank branch at Arihal in Pulwama district and took away cash at gunpoint, a police official said.

The gunmen fired five to six rounds before escaping from the spot, he said, adding, bank officials were counting the cash to determine the amount of money the gunmen have taken.

Preliminary estimates have revealed that the gunmen managed to take away nearly Rs 10 lakh from the bank, he said. On November 21, militants had decamped with Rs 13 lakh from a bank branch in Charar-e-Sharief area of central Kashmir Budgam district.

PTI
Moosewala murder: Look out Notice for accused who escaped custody

In field of academics, Punjab CM bats for collaboration with Tajikistan

2,500 posts in police department to be filled up soon: Punjab CM

Bhagwant Mann likely to be suspended for remainder of winter session over security breach video

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

New Delhi, Dec 8: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Bhagwant Mann is likely to be suspended for the remainder of winter session of the Parliament over his security breach video.

A 9-member committee set up to inquire into the issue recommended his suspension today and a decision will be taken on Friday.

The Sangrur MP had on July 21 filmed a video of entering Parliament by crossing several security layers and posted it on social media.

The committee, headed by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, has arrived at the conclusion that Mann's act amounts to violation of Parliament's security protocol.

[Also read: MPs attack Bhagwant Mann for posting video on Parliament]

In the 12-minute video, Mann is heard saying he will show things that haven't been seen before.

The video clipping led to ruckus in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha alike with MPs asking for stringent action against Mann.

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, December 8, 2016, 19:29 [IST]
Bihar: When asked to take off hijab to check for bluetooth device, Muslim student leaves exam centre

Central team roped in as dengue cases in Bihar rise to over 5000

Bihar's Gopalganj by-poll to see a tough fight between BJP and RJD

Bihar to challenge bail to board topper scam mastermind

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Patna, Dec 8: The Bihar government on Thursday decided to challenge the bail granted to Usha Sinha, one of the masterminds behind the Bihar education board exam topper scam.

Sinha, former Janata Dal-United legislator, was granted bail by the special court of vigilance-I judge here on November 30, nearly five months after she was arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), along with her husband and Bihar School Examination Board's former Chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh.

Bihar Education Minister Ashok Choudhary told media here that the state government will challenge her bail in the apex court soon.

"The government has made all preparations in this connection to file a petition against her bail in the apex court," he said.

Choudhary said Bihar and its education system was defamed because of the topper scam and "we will not spare anyone accused of topper scam".

He said the government will ensure tough punishment to Usha Sinha and her husband, who is considered kingpin of the scam by the court and currently lodged in a jail here. "There is no question of any relief to them."

Another accused, Amit Kumar alias Bachcha Rai, the mastermind behind the Class 12 board merit list scam in Bihar, is also in jail.

They were arrested for the alleged irregularities in the results in the Class 12 examinations for the arts and science stream this year.

IANS

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, December 8, 2016, 15:11 [IST]
Can Sasikala avoid a split in the AIADMK?

India

oi-Vicky

Chennai, Dec 8: Following its chief Jayalalithaa's death, keeping the AIADMK united would be one of the biggest challenges for the party workers and those in charge.

The immediate challenge for the party after Jayalalithaa passed away was to appoint a chief minister. While that process was smooth, the party cadres are now worried about the future of the party.

The Intelligence Bureau is keeping a close watch on the developments, and reports suggest that there is a lot of discontent brewing within the party ranks.

Several members have been complaining that Jayalalithaa's close aide Sasikala Natarajan had taken complete control when then former was in hospital.

The resentment expressed by the cadres was that Sasikala never allowed any of the party leaders to meet Jayalalithaa when she was in hospital.

With Jayalalithaa gone, will the defamation suits go away too?

A rebellion was brewing within the party over this issue, but it was quelled as the leaders did not want any embarrassment when their leader was in the hospital, because many leaders and cadres felt that the party would get a bad name if there was a rebellion at such a difficult time.

The IB feels that the next couple of months would be very crucial for the AIADMK. Party workers would be watching Sasikala's actions closely. Many fear that she will try and get in more of her family members into the party. Any such action would lead to a major rebellion within the party and if that happens, there is a good chance of a split.

For Sasikala, the biggest challenge would be to keep the party united. There is no election round the corner and hence all the time would be spent on keeping the party affairs intact. She would have to ensure that her actions would not disturb the structure of the party.

OneIndia news

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, December 8, 2016, 17:29 [IST]
Churning on in AIADMK over who will step into Amma's shoes

India

oi-PTI

Chennai, Dec 8: With the death of its most charismatic leader, the question that is engaging the AIADMK leaders, cadre and others is who will now head the party after Jayalalithaa and whether it could be her close aide Sasikala.

Filling the void may not be quite easy given the absence of a second line of leadership and the absence of any "heir" identified by the late leader, who had the party under her total command.

An indication of things to come may be had from the fact that Chief Minister O Panneerselvam today held two-hour long discussions with Sasikala, who is widely perceived to be a power centre in the party, more so after Jayalalithaa's death.

Sasikala's supporters in the party claim that she should be the "natural choice," for the post of General Secretary held by Jayalalithaa, not all others are willing to concede it. Her mentor MGR had held the post from the party's inception in 1971 till his death in 1987.

Sasikala's supporters say that she had been Amma's "aide, sister, friend and confidante," for 30 years through Jayalalithaa's "ups and downs." With O Panneerselvam taking over as Chief Minister, she should be the "ideal choice," they say.

A senior party functionary requesting anonymity said, "go back in history and make your own inference if Amma's loyalists and people will accept her (Sasikala)."

He recalled Jayalalithaa expelling Sasikala twice from the party, once in 1996 after the AIADMK's electoral drubbing and in 2011 months after the party wrested power again from DMK. Such factors had cast a shadow on her as a potential choice to lead the party, he said.

He said Amma herself had announced in 1996 that she was distancing herself from Sasikala and her family to respect the wishes of partymen. Sasikala's expulsion came against the background of allegations of corruption during the 1991-96 AIADMK regime. The DMK government had arrested Jayalalitha and Sasikala and filed cases against them.

It was also in deference to a public perception that AIADMK was routed in the 1996 Assembly polls only because of Jayalalithaa's association with Sasikala and her kin.

In particular, the extravagant wedding of Jayalalithaa's foster son VN Sudhakaran, since disowned, in 1995 as among the reasons for her expulsion.

On December 19, 2011, Sasikala, her husband M Natarajan, and 12 others who were their close relatives were expelled from the primary membership of the party.

PTI
Congress will bring back old pension scheme in Gujarat, if voted to power: Rahul Gandhi

Congress cries foul over Siddaramaiah not getting appointment with PM

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Dec 8: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today failed to get an appointment with Prime Minister to flag concerns about pending issues of the state, prompting Congress to ask whether Narendra Modi would do so with the chief ministers of Goa and Maharashtra.

Siddaramaiah, however, discussed these issues like sanctioning of drought relief funds and the Mahadayi water dispute in detail in a meeting with Karnataka MPs here.

"I had sought an appointment with the PM to discuss specifically about pending issues like drought relief and Mahadayi water dispute. But I did not get an appointment from him," he told reporters after the meeting with the state parliamentarians.

The state government has sought drought relief of Rs 4,702 crore for the 2016 rabi season and flood relief of Rs 386 crore.

"A memorandum has been submitted and a central team has assessed the situation, but still funds are not yet released," Siddaramaiah said.

He said central funds are yet to be released for big projects for housing and irrigation. Out of 41 MPs, around 30 of them participated in the meeting including two Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Ramesh Jigajinagi, BJP leaders B S Yedurappa and Prahalad Joshi.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Mallikarjuna Kharge, Jairam Ramesh, K Rehman Khan, Oscar Fernandes were among Congress leaders present in the meeting.

After the meeting, Kharge said, "I am surprised and sad that PM has not given an appointment to the chief minister despite writing letters 2-3 times. Will he behave like this with chief ministers of Goa and Maharashtra?"

PTI
Gap between rich and poor has widened, needs to be bridged: Gadkari

Congress legislators take out protest march in Nagpur against demonetisation

India

oi-PTI

Nagpur, Dec 8: Congress legislators in Maharashtra, led by former Chief Ministers Prithviraj Chavan and Narayan Rane, took out a protest march at Vidhan Bhawan here over the issue of demonetisation.

During the morcha taken out between Vidan Bhawan's main gate and its main entrance, the legislators of the opposition party were seen carrying placards, which denounced the demonetisation decision.

The placards read that the decision to scrap old currency notes taken by the Narendra Modi government has caused harassment to the commoners, poor, tribals and farmers.

During the march, which lasted for about 20 minutes, the Congress MLAs and MLCs, were seen raising slogans on the notes ban issue.

Demonetisation issue had dominated the debate in the state Assembly yesterday with the Congress-NCP slamming the Centre over the move, saying it has caused severe hardship to people and harmed the rural economy.

PTI
Man booked for tweets against Maha CM; has a history of such posts against leaders

Fadnavis led delegation calls on Jaitley

India

oi-PTI

Mumbai, Dec 8: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today said the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had agreed to consider positively the state's demand to withdraw restrictions on district central cooperative banks (DCCB) in the wake of demonetisation.

An all-party delegation from the state, led by Fadnavis, met Jaitley in New Delhi, a statement from the Chief Minister's office said this evening.

The delegation demanded that more cash should be made available in the rural areas for farmers, and restrictions on cash withdrawal or exchange of defunct currency notes at the DCCBs be removed or relaxed. Jaitley agreed to consider these demands positively, the statement added.

PTI
Lack of development in J&K for decades was one of the reasons behind rise of terrorism: Rajnath Singh

Indian Navy to Rescue 800 tourists stranded in Andaman: Rajnath Singh

India

oi-Madhuri

By Madhuri

New Delhi, Dec 8: Nearly 800 tourists remained stranded at Neil and Havelock islands of the Andaman and Nicobar, after Navy ships failed to dock because of heavy swells formed due to the depression over southeast Bay of Bengal on Wednesday.

Expressing concern over the stranded tourists, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said that the Government will immediately launch the rescue operations after the intensity of the cyclone reduces. He further said that all the stranded tourists are safe and that the government has made all the preparations to evacuate them.

Indian naval ships Bitra, Bangaram, Kumbhir and LCU 38 have been deployed for evacuation, which has not yet begin because of "unfavourable conditions". All the four ships will assist in ferrying stranded tourists from Havelock to Port Blair.

On Wednesday, Lieutenant Governor Jagdish Mukhi held a high-level meeting with the local administration and took stock of the situation and relief work. He had also has asked the tourists to stay indoors until the rescue team can go and evacuate them.

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, December 8, 2016, 9:45 [IST]
Karnataka Rajyotsava 2022: Add these 5 songs to your playlist to hum Kannada glory

Jayalalithaa's 750 pairs of slippers, 10,500 sarees guarded by 4 cops at Bengaluru

India

oi-Vicky

Bengaluru, Dec 8: There are four cops who are on duty 24/7 in Bengaluru guarding 750 pairs of footwear that belonged to J Jayalalithaa.

The 750 pairs of footwear had been seized in connection with the disproporationate assets case.

Whether or not they would be returned or will become state property would depend on the Supreme Court which has reserved its verdict in the disproportionate assets case in which Jayalalithaa, Sasikala, Ilavarasi and Sudhakaran are accused.

When the disproportionate assets case was transferred to Karnataka by an order of the Supreme Court, all assets and property seized were transferred from Tamil Nadu.

A room in the first floor of the City Civil Court complex was chosen as the place where the seized material would be kept.

The City Armed Reserve personnel was put on duty to guard the material.

Guarding Amma's slippers and sarees:

At any given time there would be 4 cops on duty.

Back in 2005 when this correspondent had spoken to these police personnel, they said that they were not aware of what exactly was in there.

We just know it is the property that belonged to Jayalalithaaa. We have been posted on 24 hour duty and we work in shifts they said.

In this room there are 750 pairs of footwear, 10,5000 sarees of which 750 are silk and gold.

The gold is valued at Rs 3.5 crore and Jayalalithaa in her affidavit had said that the same has been seized by the court.

In 1997 when Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption had raided her residence, they had found several articles.

There were around 500 wine goblets, several anklets, a gold belt, diamonds to the tune of Rs 1 crore, a silver sword among other things.

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, December 8, 2016, 9:06 [IST]
King Kong is what Jayalalithaa would fondly call nurses at Apollo Hospital

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Chennai, Dec 8: Jayalalithaa hated the coffee at the Apollo Hospital. Amma as she was fondly called spent over 70 days at the hospital before she breathed her last on Monday at 11.30 PM.

On Wednesday there was a condolence meeting at the Apollo hospital where the doctors and nurses described what it was to treat the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. She had three favorite nurses and at times would fondly refer to them as King Kong.

She was difficult at times the hospital staff said. However they do not forget to mention that she was extremely polite and cooperative most of the time. Her favorite nurses were Samudeeshwari, Renuka M V and Sheela. There was a very different side to her, the hospital staff say.

Known to be a tough administrator, Jayalalithaa was feared by many. However at the hospital there was a completely different side to her where she would give tips on skin care. A popular actor before she took the plunge into politics, Jayalalithaa would often suggest to the nurses that they needed to change their hairstyle.

What was Amma like in her last days?

She would smile at the nurses when they walked in. Eating had become difficult for her, but she would try the hospital staff said. She had a very funny side to her too and would refer to the nurses treating on her as King Kong.

In all there were a team of 16 nurses posted to look after her. However her favourites were Sheela, Samudeeshwari and Renuka. It was a long journey for Jayalalithaa. She has been described as a fighter and all through her stay at the hospital she battled hard despite a lot of difficulty the hospital staff say.

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, December 8, 2016, 6:59 [IST]
Prashant Kishor claims Nitish Kumar in touch with BJP says don't be surprised if he joins hands with it again

Liquor ban has promoted communal harmony: Nitish

India

oi-PTI

Kisanganj (Bihar), Dec 8: Terming liquor prohibition as a "revolutionary step", Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today claimed that the move has promoted communal harmony in the state, with members of all religions supporting the ban on alcoholic beverages.

"The decision of liquor ban has further promoted communal harmony in Bihar as members of all religions are whole heartedly supporting booze ban, which is a revolutionary step," he said addressing a 'Chetna Sabha' here as part of his 'Nishchay Yatra'.

Accompanied by Excise and Prohibition Minister Abdul Jalil Mastan and Energy Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav, the CM highlighted "positive effects" of liquor ban.

"The road accidents have come down by 19 per cent between April and November this year when compared to the same period last year," Kumar said.

The booze ban has also substantially lowered rate of crimes like murder, kidnapping and riots in the state, he said.

"Cases of murder have gone down by 24 per cent between April to November this year when compared to the same period last year. Likewise, incidents of loot came down by 16 per cent, kidnapping for ransom by 48 per cent and riots by 37 per cent," Kumar said.

As part of the Nishchay Yatra, the Chief Minister is taking feedback from people about prohibition. He asserted that liquor ban had resulted in economic prosperity of the state, which is reflected by rise in the sale of cars and tractors, milk and sweets in the last seven months since prohibition came into force.

The JD(U) leader told the gathering about the human chain which would be formed by more than two crore citizens on January 21 in favour of the ban, and urged people to participate in it.

PTI
Man rapes 8-year-old to use her blood for removing obstacles to his marriage

Massive fire at Shibpur jute mill in Kolkata

India

oi-Madhuri

By Madhuri

Howrah, Dec 8: A fire has broken out at the Shibpur jute mill in Kolkata on Thursday morning.

According to an ANI report, the fire was reported in Shibpur Jute Mill at Foreshore Road here in Howrah district. Four fire tenders have been pressed to bring the blaze under control.

No casualty or injury was reported. However, the cause of fire is not known yet.

Police have arrived in the spot. They presume that the stored diesel in the mill's godown could have ignited the fire. Panic spread quickly in the area following the incident.

OneIndia News
Five years of demonetisation: Notes in circulation on rise; so are digital payments

No compulsion to go cashless by December-end: Goa CM

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Panaji, Dec 8: A day after the ruling BJP said that December-end was not a practical target for making Goa India's first cashless state, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Wednesday said that there would be no compulsion on registered business to turn cashless.

"There is no question of penalisation. Those (businesses) which can do it, can go ahead. Those who do it, I will pat them on their backs, but those cannot, will not be punished," Parsekar told reporters here.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had chaired a meeting on November 26 with Goa's top bureaucrats and bankers, where he had asked them to examine modalities of making Goa, India's first cashless state by December 30.

"Cashless by December 30" has also been positioned by Parrikar and Parsekar as the party's key ambition, in a series of poll meetings conducted by the BJP across Goa, which is heading for polls in early 2017.

Parsekar also conceded that there was panic among traders and business about the cashless announcement.

"But, the fear which has been generated that (if you do not go cashless) you will be penalised, there is nothing like that," he said.

Parsekar also said that instead of going cashless, the focus would be on making Goa a "less-cash" to start with.

"In Goa, it can happen. In Goa, everyone has cellphones. Goan youngsters are smart, they can teach their parents... Such a start can happen in Goa only and in Goa and it will start in Goa," Parsekar also said.

Commenting on a circular issued by the state government's Commercial Taxes department last week, which had asked registered businesses to go cashless within 10 days, Parsekar said that the department would be asked to issue a clarification and the circular could be withdrawn.

"I have told department to clarify on this regard. It is not compulsory, it cannot be made compulsory. It could be withdrawal or giving clarification," he said.

IANS


Cabinet approves MoU between India, Denmark in field of Water Resources Development and Management

For beneficiaries of EWS flat a gift from PM Modi like none other

PM Modi hands over keys of 3024 EWS flats to beneficiaries under slum rehab plan

Note ban: Paytm is pay to Modi jibes Rahul; Centre slams Opposition

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

New Delhi, Dec 8: On Thursday, a war of words erupted between the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government and the Opposition over the issue of demonetisation.

Several opposition leaders, including Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, staged a protest at the Gandhi statue, located inside the Parliament premises, over the ban of high-value currency notes, announced on November 8.

Gandhi equated Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Paytm -- the mobile e-commerce platform.

"If I am allowed to speak in the Lok Sabha, I will tell everyone how Paytm is 'pay to Modi' (Lok Sabha mein agar mujhe bolne diya jaye toh main sab bata doonga ki Paytm kaise "pay to Modi" hota hai)," the Congress vice president told reporters.

[Also Read:Parliament Live: Rajya Sabha adjourned till 12 pm]

"This (demonetisation) is not a bold decision. It is a foolish decision which has been taken without any due consideration," he added.

As the country is reeling under severe cash crunch, several e-banking and mobile banking platforms are gaining popularity among the masses as alternative methods to conduct their various transactions.

Moreover, Modi and his team are constantly promoting the idea of cashless society by asking people to switch over to online and mobile banking facilities.

Gandhi slammed Modi's demonetisation move saying people of the country are suffering and that the Centre is having a good time.

Criticising Modi's cashless economy initiative, Rahul said that idea behind cashless economy is that a few people must get maximum benefits from these transactions, this has damaged the nation.

Gandhi said that Modi started off by saying that he was against black money.

"Then the talk of black money vanished. The government panicked and the PM moved on to terrorists. Then some terrorists were caught with new currency on them. Then he moved from counterfeit money to cashless economy. The PM is running from one thing to another. We will catch him inside the House and he will not be able to run there,'' Gandhi said.

The government has slammed the opposition for staging protest to stall the normal procedure of the Parliament.

"Gandhi ji gave call for Satyagraha to see that victory of truth prevails; What are so-called namesake Gandhis doing? Observing protest," said Union minister Venkaiah Naidu.

The ongoing winter session of the Parliament has been marked by protests and adjournments on a daily basis over the issue of note ban.

While the Opposition is demanding that the Prime Minister join the debate on demonetisation, the government on its part has accused the dissenting voices as a ploy to create logjam in the Parliament.

OneIndia News
Pak off the FATF grey list doesn't mean it's not under scrutiny anymore: MEA secretary

Imran Khan again targets Pakistan's establishment on Day 2 of protest march; govt rules out talks over snap polls

Amid turmoil at home, Pakistan PM Sharif to visit China to felicitate Xi for his record win

Shehbaz Sharif arrives in China on maiden visit to felicitate President Xi Jinping on his record win

Pak foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz can be truthful too

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Dec 8: Pakistan has vehemently denied that their foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz had said that there was not enough evidence against Kulbhushan Jadhav who was arrested on charges of spying.

Jadhav had been arrested in Balochistan and the Pakistan military claimed he was involved in subversive activities.

They even went on to call him an Indian spy.

Speaking at the Pakistan senate, Aziz had said that there was no conclusive evidence against Jadhav.

The dossier on Jadhav contains mere statements and did not have any conclusive evidence, Aziz also told the senate.

Pakistan's foreign office was however quick to deny these statements and said that the evidence against Jadhav was conclusive.

A home ministry official in New Delhi informed OneIndia that Aziz had indeed spoken the truth about Jadhav.

It was always our case or stand that Jadhav is a former Indian Navy officer and was not part of any espionage at the behest of the Research and Analysis Wing.

Pakistan had picked him up and branded him a spy. This was a blatant lie, the official added.

In fact the arrest of Jadhav was merely a tactic to divert attention from the probe into the Pathankot attack.

Pakistan was under immense pressure to act against those involved in the Pathankot attack.

The arrest had come at a time when India was asking Pakistan to hand over Jaish-e-Mohammad boss, Maulana Masood Azhar.

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, December 8, 2016, 8:32 [IST]
Hurry! Best time to buy a house for yourself at biggest home fest in the city

Pathankot airbase attacked by four militants, maintains Govt

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Dec 8: The Union Home Ministry will not change its statement given to the Parliament that there were four terrorists, who carried out terror attack at the Pathankot airbase, and not six as was announced by the government.

A top Home Ministry official said the written question asked in Lok Sabha on November 29 was related to how many terrorists came from Pakistan. Since the investigation carried out by the NIA has found that only four Pakistani terrorists had cross over to India, it was decided that there would be no clarification.

There may be two more terrorists, who attacked the Pathankot airbase, but investigations on that was still continuing, the official said. The answer given in Parliament is contrary to a statement made by Home Minister Rajnath Singh on March 4 when he had said that charred remains, apart from four bodies of terrorists, were found at the debris after security forces searched the Pathankot airforce station when the operation ended.

"Charred remains were found and sent for forensic examination. We are awaiting for reports," he had said.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar too had said that six terrorists were involved in the attack. The National Investigation Agency, which was probing the case, has been maintaining that the investigators had found only four bodies.

In the reply to a query in Lok Sabha on November 29, Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir had said only four militants had entered the air force station to carry out the strike.

"Four Pakistan-based terrorists entered Punjab via Janial road, Dhusi turn, near Ravi river bridge, Gulpur Simli village - Akalgarh and attacked air force station in Pathankot," he said in a written reply to a question by Ravneet Singh.

The Congress MP had asked about the number of terrorists who entered Punjab for Pathankot attack and the route used by them as well as the details of terrorists killed and arrested along with the weapons recovered from them.

Ahir said all these terrorists were neutralised by the security forces. The security forces recovered 4 AK rifles, 32 AK magazines, 3 pistols, 7 pistol magazines, one under barrel grenade launcher, 40 hand grenades and one dagger from them, he said.

The Home Ministry had in the past been left red faced over answers to Parliament questions including one Pakistan related controversy where it informed the House that they did not know about whereabouts of most wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, forcing the government to retract and clarify that Dawood was in Pakistan.

PTI
PM must clarify situation to the nation: Mamata on demonetisation

India

oi-PTI

Kolkata, Dec 8: Claiming that people have been subjected to harassment and financial insecurity in the one month since demonetization, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said the Prime Minister must clarify the situation to the nation and take entire responsibility for it.

She also claimed that 90 people have died due to hardships following demonetization of high value notes.

"One month of harassment, pain, hopelessness, financial insecurity and utter chaos," Banerjee said in a statement.

"That is all that the common people has got after the black decision on demonetization announced a month back on November eight," Banerjee, who has been the most vocal against demonetization of high value notes, said.

"PM must clarify the situation to the nation and take entire responsibility," Banerjee said.

Claiming that no black money has been recovered, the Trinamool Congress supremo said, "Only white money of the common people has been snatched away."

The TMC MPs have been staging protests in both houses of Parliament since the winter session began.

"Even no black money has been recovered from foreign countries. In the name of recovery of so called black money, the ruling party at the Centre has created assets in the form of land, bank deposits, gold, diamonds and has become more and more capitalist," Banerjee, who has led an unrelenting attack on the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over demonetization, said.

PTI

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, December 8, 2016, 14:22 [IST]
Shouldn't worry about 2024, instead think of 2029 polls: Javadekar's advice to Opposition

Opposition needs to understand that right to religion is not a right to convert

Opposition has outsourced the contract of creating ruckus and abusing me: PM Modi

Short term pain will lead to long term gains: PM on note ban

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Dec 8: Amid strong attack by Opposition over demonetization, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today took to Twitter to assert that the "short term pain" will pave the way for "long term gains" and insisted that farmers, traders and labourers stand to gain from this step.

In a series of tweets, Modi spoke about the benefits of demonetization and said the country has a "historic opportunity" to embrace increased cashless payments.

"I salute the people of India for wholeheartedly participating in this ongoing 'Yagna' against corruption, terrorism & black money," he said.

"Together, we must ensure #IndiaDefeatsBlackMoney. This will empower the poor, neo-middle class, middle class & benefit future generations," Modi added.

"I always said that the government's measure will bring a degree of inconvenience but this short term pain will pave way for long term gains," the Prime Minister added.

PM must clarify situation to the nation: Mamata on demonetisation

He said the decision has several gains for farmers, traders, labourers, "who are the economic backbone of our nation" and "no longer will the progress and prosperity of rural India be curtailed by corruption & black money.

Our villages must get their due." He went on to add, "We also have a historic opportunity to embrace increased cashless payments & integrate latest technology in economic transactions." The tweets came amid strong attack by Opposition against him over demonetization decision.

PTI
Centre has given nod to renaming 7 cities, towns in last five years: Govt in Lok Sabha

Triple talaq- Allahabad HC refuses to comment on its legality

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Allahabad, Dec 8: The Allahabad High Court today refused to comment on the legality of triple talaq. Agencies had earlier reported that the court had observed that triple talaq was unconstitutional. Justice Suneet Kaur however observed that Islamic laws on triple talaq don't give unbridled authority to a man.

The court also said that the law is often wrongly interpreted. The court added that the community's personal laws cannot supercede an individual's constitutional rights.

It is a popular fallacy that a Muslim man enjoys under the Islamic law an unbridled authority to liquidate a marriage. The Quran forbids a man to seek pretext for divorcing his wife so long as remains faithful and obedient to him, Justice Kaur observed.

The Supreme Court is seized off a matter relating to the same subject. The Centre had filed an affidavit saying it opposes the practise. The All India Muslim Law Personal Board however said that this practice must continue and the courts should not interfere with it.

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, December 8, 2016, 15:27 [IST]
Pak off the FATF grey list doesn't mean it's not under scrutiny anymore: MEA secretary

Imran Khan again targets Pakistan's establishment on Day 2 of protest march; govt rules out talks over snap polls

Amid turmoil at home, Pakistan PM Sharif to visit China to felicitate Xi for his record win

Shehbaz Sharif arrives in China on maiden visit to felicitate President Xi Jinping on his record win

We don't want "permanent hostility" with India: Pakistan envoy

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Asserting that there were serious problems between India and Pakistan, Pakistan Ambassador to India Abdul Basit on Thursday said Islamabad does not want "permanent hostility" with New Delhi.

Speaking at a seminar, Basit said that both neighbours cannot "shy away" from problems that exist.

"Pakistan doesn't wish to live in permanent hostility with India. We are positive and constructive but it takes two to tango," news agency ANI quoted Basit as saying.

"Now it's time we make up our mind as to whether we want status quo or we want to make a new beginning in our relations," he further said.

Yes there are serious problems between our two countries, but we can't shy away from those: Abdul Basit,Pakistan Envoy to India  ANI (@ANI_news) December 8, 2016

The relations between India and Pakistan hit a new low after the attack on an army camp in Nagrota, near Jammu, on November 29.

Seven soldiers, including two Majors, were killed and three terrorists were gunned down during the operation.

The attack was third such big strike after Pathankot and Uri attacks this year.

Interestingly, the attack took place on the day General Qamar Javed Bajwa took over as the chief of Pakistan army from General Raheel Sharif.

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, December 8, 2016, 21:13 [IST]
Pak off the FATF grey list doesn't mean it's not under scrutiny anymore: MEA secretary

Imran Khan again targets Pakistan's establishment on Day 2 of protest march; govt rules out talks over snap polls

Amid turmoil at home, Pakistan PM Sharif to visit China to felicitate Xi for his record win

Shehbaz Sharif arrives in China on maiden visit to felicitate President Xi Jinping on his record win

What does the kit of Pakistan spy contain? 190 SIM cards

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Dec 8: A home ministry report for this year states that there have been 24 ISI agents who have been arrested in India on charges of spying.

This is no doubt a big number of spies that the rogue nation has unleashed on India.

A recent arrest in West Bengal and the subsequent investigations would show how well prepared a spy is when he is on assignment.

The arrest of Ranabijay Singh from Siliguri, West Bengal has given the police several leads about how a spy from Pakistan works.

His kit contained at least 190 SIM cards. The number of SIM cards found on Singh only indicates how much of effort goes into an operation to stay undetected.

An officer part of the probe informed OneIndia that Singh had with him 35 Indian SIM cards, four laptops, three voter identification cards. Apart from this there were also 155 Nepalese SIM cards found on him.

Singh originally hails from Bihar. After he came in contact with the ISI he set up a small business in Siliguri.

He was in touch with his handlers in Pakistan and would very frequently visit Nepal where he would hand over information personally.

Investigations would also show that he had several times visited Oman.

Investigators say that he had visited several countries and this may have been to personally meet up with his handlers who would take information and also give him orders.

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, December 8, 2016, 8:12 [IST]
Italy's PM Matteo Renzi resigns, hints at early election

International

oi-PTI

Rome, Dec 8: Matteo Renzi bowed out as Italian prime minister on Wednesday with a combination of jokes, regrets and a strong hint that he wants to lead his party into an early election battle.

Forced to quit after a crushing referendum defeat, Renzi formally submitted his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella on Wednesday evening.

The presidential palace said political consultations on forming a caretaker government would begin on Thursday at 6 pm.

Before handing back the keys to his Palazzo Chigi residence, the 41-year-old chaired a meeting of the executive of his Democratic Party (PD).

"We are not afraid of anything or anybody, if other parties want to go to the polls .... the PD is not afraid of democracy or elections," Renzi said, in reference to opposition clamour for a nationwide vote due in early 2018 to be brought forward by up to a year.

Ironically, Renzi's rule came to an end with his government winning a vote of confidence in the Senate, the parliamentary chamber he tried to emasculate with a referendum in which he suffered a crushing defeat on Sunday.

The confidence vote curtailed prolonged discussion on the approval of Italy's 2017 budget -- an unfinished task which had prompted Mattarella to ask Renzi to delay his departure for a few days.

"Budget law approved. Formal resignation at 1900. Thanks to everyone and viva l'Italia!" ("long live Italy!") he tweeted.

This being Italy, 1900 (7 pm) came and went, and Renzi had still not resigned. After the talks at his party headquarters, Renzi said he assumed full responsibility for the referendum but gave no indication he was considering stepping down from the PD leadership.

He said he would be spending tomorrow, a public holiday, celebrating his grandmother's 86th birthday.

"We have to thank the elderly," he said in a reference to pensioners supporting him in the referendum debate.

"And hopefully tomorrow I will have more luck in the Playstation battle with my sons than I have had here," he added.

Renzi's speech sounded at times like the launch of an election campaign, with the former Florence mayor boasting of how he had left Italy with "fewer taxes and more rights" and pointedly playing up his leadership in the aftermath of a series of devastating earthquakes between August and October.

The fallout from the referendum remains unclear however with the PD beset by internal divisions that were painfully exposed by the vote.

As secretary general, Renzi controls the party apparatus, which he used to stage the coup that deposed his predecessor Enrico Letta in February 2014.

PTI
Sharif orders independent probe into PIA flight crash

International

oi-PTI

Islamabad, Dec 8: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today ordered an independent probe to determine the cause of PIA flight PK-661 crash that killed all the 48 people on board.

Sharif chaired a meeting at PM House to inquire about the circumstances around the crash of Pakistan International Airline (PIA) plane en route to Islamabad from Chitral yesterday.

In a statement, PMO said that Sharif ordered that a detailed, independent and transparent inquiry into the unfortunate crash be held by the Safety Investigation Board, and that it should be completed at the earliest.

"It is imperative that the truth should be brought out and shared with the people in the shortest possible time," the Prime Minister said.

He also directed that a senior officer from the Air Force should also be co-opted as a member of the inquiry committee. Sharif also directed PIA administration to reach out to the affected families and facilitate them in every way to lessen the burden of their bereavement and grief.

He was briefed about the recovery operations. He was also informed that obtaining the DNA samples from the relatives and identifying all the deceased could take upto a week. He directed that the process should be completed at the earliest.

Chairman PIA, Secretary Aviation Division, DG Civil Aviation and CEO PIA briefed the Prime Minister that the flight crew and pilots, in particular, operating the flight were highly experienced and professional with thousands of hours of flying experience behind them.

[Also read: Pakistan- Pilot lost control of engine, made 'mayday call' before crash]

The deceased Captain had more than 10,000 flying hours to his credit. Sharif was further briefed that the aircraft had duly undergone routine and regular maintenance and safety checks, and was declared airworthy in all respects. Its last inspections were carried out in July and November this year. The meeting was also attended by Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan and other top government officials.

PTI
Trump picks Scott Pruitt to head Environmental Protection Agency

International

oi-PTI

New York, Dec 8: President-elect Donald Trump today announced fossil fuel industry ally Scott Pruitt, a global warming skeptic, as his pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

It was Trump's latest step to fill out his all-important cabinet in the weeks before the maverick billionaire takes the helm of the planet's largest economy, with observers worldwide on tenterhooks over how he will conduct policy on climate, national security, trade and immigration.

The Republican's victory shocked the US establishment and alarmed many who are waiting to see if the political novice follows through on a slew of threats to tear up free trade agreements, abandon treaties and punish American companies that offshore jobs.

A day earlier Trump selected Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, a political ally whose relations with Chinese President Xi Jinping go back three decades, as ambassador to Beijing, likely reassuring the Asian giant that has bristled over recent Trump provocations.

He also will reportedly announce retired general John Kelly to run the Department of Homeland Security. Kelly would be the third general named to Trump's inner circle, amid some concern that Trump is surrounding himself with military figures in civilian posts.

But Trump's choice of Oklahoma Attorney General Pruitt as EPA administrator has outraged many Trump opponents who fear for the fate of President Barack Obama's efforts to combat climate change.

"For too long, the Environmental Protection Agency has spent taxpayer dollars on an out-of-control anti-energy agenda that has destroyed millions of jobs, while also undermining our incredible farmers and many other businesses and industries at every turn," Trump said in a statement.

Pruitt "will reverse this trend and restore the EPA's essential mission of keeping our air and our water clean and safe." The EPA chief has a strong impact on US actions to combat climate change: the agency both determines what international commitments the country is able to make, and implements them.

Opponents scoffed at Trump's suggestion that Pruitt will be a capable steward of the environment, pointing out he has spent much of his time battling the very agency he is now tapped to lead

"Scott Pruitt has spent the past several years fighting tooth and nail to help polluters erase or circumvent the critical environmental protections our nation has put in place," said Steny Hoyer, the number two Democrat in the House of Representatives.

"There is nothing good about this," Michael Burger, executive director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School, told AFP.

"Pruitt is a known conspirator with the fossil fuel industry and I mean that in a literal sense," he said, pointing to the Oklahoman's 2014 efforts with oil companies to battle EPA regulations.

Ken Kimmell, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, described Pruitt as "someone who is on the outer extreme edge, and putting him in charge of EPA could really have devastating consequences" as Pruitt will likely seek to dismantle Obama's Clean Power Plan.

PTI
Kerala priest gets double life term for raping minor

Kochi

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia

An Ernakulam court on Thursday sentenced a Catholic priest to a double life imprisonment for raping a minor. Father Edwin Figazer, former vicar of a parish in Puthenvellikara was also fined Rs 2.15 lakh.

Figazer was convicted of raping a minor on multiple occasions from January to March 2015. He is accused of enticing a minor, a class 9 student and member of the same parish, when she had come for confession.

The girl's mother had registered a case against Figazer following which he had gone absconding.

The court also held his brother, Silverster Figarez, another priest, guilty of helping him abscond. The court sentenced him to a year's imprisonment and fine of Rs 5,000.

The court also found a doctor guilty of not reporting the sexual assault.

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, December 8, 2016, 17:08 [IST]
OK! Magazine 03 Nov 2022

Prince Harry would be 'devastated' if King Charles cuts inactive royals such as himself and Prince Andrew.
 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd.

All rights reserved.

One News is a registered trademark

of One News Page Ltd.
One of the pioneers of the modern computer interface has passed away: the New York Times reports that William Bill English..

engadget 03 Aug 2020
USATODAY.com 29 Oct 2022

Highlights of this day in history: 'Black Tuesday' on Wall St. as the Great Depression begins; Osama bin Laden admits ordering the..
Business Insider 08 Oct 2022

Right now, the workplace is still evolving, US Labor Secretary Marty Walsh says. In a year, we'll know what it's going to look..
Newsy 27 Jun 2022

Watch VideoSeven states are set to host primary elections Tuesday as the nation comes to terms with last week's stunning Supreme..
Rumble 30 Oct 2022

The U.S. covid public relations campaign was planned and released in PLAIN SIGHT by U.S. Surgeon General in 2021.
Rumble 08 Sep 2022

Confusion occurred after the Florida Supreme Court seemed to weigh in on the new 15-week abortion ban, then retracted its order..
Our website uses cookies to improve your experience. Learn more
Highlights from Last Month's Casual Connect Tel Aviv

Casual Connect Tel Aviv took place last month, and discussed the hottest topics in social gaming.

(Header photo courtesy of Casual Connect)

Casual Connect Tel-Aviv took place earlier this month as the third and last installment of Casual Connect events this year, a series of conferences dedicated to discussing the hottest topics in the online gaming industry. Casual Connect Tel Aviv focused mostly on social gaming, and delivered a comprehensive overview of the current state of the social casino industry, detail-oriented lectures on the specifics of building apps, and actionable insights into how operators can stay competitive in the future.

Conference Highlights

Playtikas Elad Kushnir gave an overview of the social casino industry and shared his predictions about which operators will succeed and which will not. Murkas Anatolii Henis described his companys new, unique poker game geared towards the younger generation. And PlayStudios John Lin discussed breaking into the Asian market.

All in all, there were over 100 speakers who covered a wide range of topics, including game mechanics, business acquisitions, skill-based games in casinos, business strategies, user acquisition, and emerging markets.

Who Attended?

Industry professionals already know the brand of Casual Connect to deliver useful, practical, and ultimately, profitable, information, which is why companies make sure to send representatives so they dont miss out on important insights.

At Casual Connect Tel Aviv, representatives from companies such as Google, FlowPlay, Gamblit, Eilers & Krejick Gaming, Rocket Games, GSN Games, Super Lucky Casino, Product Madness, and iGaming Capital attended, as did representatives from Online Casino Reports, of course.

Looking Toward the Future

This might have been the last Casual Connect event of the year, but there are four more planned for 2017. The first one will be Casual Connect Berlin in February, which will cover a vast range of topics, including game design, esports, social casino, funding, next-generation technology, and best practices. As all Casual Connect events, it will be a whos who of industry leaders as well a hub of information and insights.
Currently: Cash Looking to: Sell T-Note Price futures @ 1.48% yld



As of 3/21/21 @ 9:27pm EST: 1.691% yield



LAST WEEK: We suggested selling longs / getting short of 10-year T-Note price futures at 1.392% on the 10-year Treasury yield.



UPDATE: Treasury yields simply have not let up on their advance. Right now, it looks like they want to continue to work higher towards 1.972% or higher.



We would sell longs / get short of 10-year T-Note price futures when yields re-test support at 1.48%. We will hold those shorts until yields move back up to 1.972%.
From Creators Syndicate

All hail Augustus Trumpus! All hail the American Putin, whom none can criticize! All hail the Great All Knowing One, who reveals "realities" that are not there and finds "facts" that mere mortals cannot detect.

Once again, The Amazing Donald has demonstrated his phantasmagoric power of perception, having a new outcome in November's election that others haven't seen. Trump has been greatly perturbed by the official results, which showed that while he won the electoral college majority, he was not the people's choice. Instead, Hillary Clinton won the popular balloting by a margin of more than two million votes. Growing increasingly furious at this affront to his supernatural sense of self, the master of factual flexibility went on Twitter with an amazing revelation: "I won the popular vote," decreed our incoming tweeter in chief!

Wow, how did he turn a two million vote loss into a glorious victory? "I won," he tweeted, "if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally."

Wow again! Millions? You'd think such a massive conspiracy -- with millions of illegal voters in line at thousands of precincts -- would've been noticed by election officials, GOP poll watchers and the media. How did Trump find this truly incredible fact?

It seems he channeled it from the mysterious tweetasphere, specifically from a Texas conspiracy hound who had earlier posted a tweet declaring: "We have verified more than three million votes cast by non-citizens." But this guy turns out to be part of a right-wing fringe group chasing non-existent voter frauds -- exactly none of those three million "illegal" votes have been verified. Stunned that Trump would cite his tweet as proof, he asked sheepishly: "Isn't everything on Twitter fake?"

Get used to it -- fakery is reality for America's next president. Unfortunately for us it is not just fakery that we will have to get used to, because President Trumpus happens to have a real knack for irony as well.

Trump, who campaigned as populist champion of the working-class, promising that -- by golly -- he was going to take on Wall Street and the corporate elites. But the bitter irony for the working class is that they now see what he meant -- he's literally "taking on" the moneyed powers by taking them on-board his administration. For example, he's brought in Wall Street billionaires to fill the three top economic policy positions in his cabinet!

Then there's Betsy DeVos, the billionaire heiress to the scandal-plagued Amway fortune. Her life's work has been trying to defund and privatize the public schools that working-class and middle-class people count on and to eliminate the working-class and middle-class jobs of teachers and support staff. Her new job with Trump? Secretary of Education, where she'll now use our public money to try killing off our public education system. Add to the list Myron Ebell, the honcho of the Competitive Enterprise Institute -- a corporate front group funded by fossil fuel profiteers like Exxon and the Koch brothers -- where he pushed relentlessly to gut the Environmental Protection Agency. Where's he now? Heading Trump's EPA transition team.

Also, more than half those making up The Donald's Department of Defense transition team have been executives or lobbyists for such military contractors as Boeing corporation. Overall, according to watchdog group Public Citizen, three-fourths of Trump's transition teams -- which are organizing, staffing, and shaping his new government -- come from Corporate World. Not a single working class populist has been allowed a seat at his power table.

As America's working stiffs know, if you're not at the table, you're on the menu. And now we know what Augustus Trumpus will be serving. Trump's no populist, he's a full-time corporatist.
Donald Trump's unexpected presidential win is best understood as a pseudo-religious event. Trump voters saw November 8th as their last chance to "save" America. Out of desperation they joined the cult of Trump.

A couple of days after the election, Washington Post writer Chris Cillizza (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/10/the-13-most-amazing-things-in-the-2016-exit-poll/?utm_term=.4bac8d24c271) analyzed the exit polls and concluded: "Just 1 in 3 voters said they thought the country was 'generally going in the right direction'... among the two-thirds of people who said things were 'seriously off on the wrong track,' Trump took 69 percent."

Writing in the Huffington Post, Steve Rosenfeld (http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/these-15-startling-election-takeaways-reveal-terrified-electorate-resulted-president?akid=14957.20572.9O-EU2&rd=1&src=newsletter1068265&t=6) augmented this analysis: "Six in ten (60%) Republicans and 66% of Trump voters believe the election represented the last opportunity to arrest America's decline."

This finding should not come as a surprise; for months national polls have indicated that a majority of Americans see the US headed in the wrong direction. What is surprising is the intensity of these feelings, the desperation. Rosenfeld observed: "A majority (56%) of Republicans and 61% of Trump voters say that the policies of the Democratic Party constitute a dangerous threat to the country."

Writing in Press Think, New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen (http://pressthink.org/2016/11/miss-bigger-missed-story-final-reflections-trump-press-2016/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Democracy Lab Weekly Brief, November 28, 2016&utm_term=*Democracy Lab) observed that running through the narrative of the Tea Party movement, and Trump supporters, has been the notion of "impending tyranny." Rosen asks: "If we credit the observation that a great many Americans drawn to the Tea Party live in fear that the United States is about to turn into a tyranny, with rigged elections, loss of civil liberties, no more free press, a police state" can we also credit the professional attitude that refuses to say whether this fear is reality-based?"

Many Trump voters regarded the Obama Administration as tyrannical. Since Obama became President, conservatives sought to discredit him and depicted him negatively. Last year a CNN poll (http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/nov/23/arsalan-iftikhar/do-59-percent-americans-believe-barack-obama-musli/) asked voters, "Do you happen to know what religion Barack Obama is?" and 43 percent of Republicans responded that the President is a Muslim (another 25 percent were not sure). For several years, polls have indicated that a substantial part of electorate not only dislikes President Obama but also regards him as a threat.

Donald Trump plugged into this irrational fear and used it as the basis for a cultish political movement. There are five aspects of the Trump cult:

1.It's based on Trump: Trump is a charismatic leader who uses his personal appeal to fuel his demagoguery. In his Republican Convention speech, Trump said, "I have joined the political arena so that the powerful can no longer beat up on people that cannot defend themselves. Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it." On November 8th, voters weren't attracted to Trump's policies or his competence -- exit polls showed that only 38 percent believed Trump to be "qualified" to be President -- it was his charisma, the belief Trump will "make America great again."

2. The Trump vision is apocalyptic: Trump paints a dark picture of America -- "we're losing everywhere," "the rest of the world is laughing at us" -- and promises "I alone can fix it."

Remember that a recent Newsweek poll found: "55 percent of Americans believe the Rapture is real, and a Pew Research Center survey revealed that 27 percent of U.S. Christians believe a related event, Jesus' return to earth, will 'definitely' happen by 2050." A large percentage of voters have an apocalyptic frame-of-mind. (In the Spring of 2016, a prophesy circulated on conservative Christian websites [http://www.christianheadlines.com/blog/2011-prophecy-claims-god-chose-trump-to-save-america.html] that "Donald Trump is the man God has chosen to lead America.") Trump voters believe America is teetering on the edge of the chasm.

3. The Cult of Trump is not reality-based: Writing in Press Think, Jay Rosen observed that during the George W. Bush Administration a critical distinction was made between news that was "reality-based" and news that created by those in power; Bush operatives boasted, "When we act, we create our own reality."

Rosen continued, "Trump's campaign was openly intended to distort reality because that is a show of power. Power over his followers. Over the other candidates he humiliated and drove from the race... Trump uses rhetoric to erode people's trust in facts, numbers, nuance, government and the news media."

4. It has it's own media. The Trump cult has its own media separate from the mainstream media. These sources -- such as Breitbart and Fox News -- don't question Trump. They are not "reality based," they are "Trump based."

Progressives often observe that conservatives operate in a different information "silo" than we do. It's more accurate to state that Trump voters operate in an information universe that is not empirical. It is emotional and based upon what Trump says and does.

5. The cult of Trump is bigoted and angry: Because the cult is based upon Trump's personality, it mirrors his behavior: it sanctions bigotry, bullying, and violence. Donald Trump believes that America's promise is being stolen by a mishmash of Washington politicians, "coastal elites," immigrants, and random undesirables. His followers believe the same.

Trump's followers don't recoil when he uses Twitter to lash out at a Judge or a Miss Universe contestant or China, because this is behavior the cult has grown accustomed to. This is part of his charisma. For the true believers, Trump "telling it like it is" shows strength. His incoherence shows authenticity.

Trump's behavior will not change when he becomes President. What America sees is what America gets. Donald Trump, cult leader.


Dick Cheney Marble Bust Unveiling At The White House December 02, 2015 C-SPAN News MOXNews.com.

(Image by YouTube, Channel: wwwMOXNEWScom) Details DMCA



Dick Cheney beside his marble likeness at US Capitol

This one has to take the cake. In case you missed this a bust of former Vice President Dick Cheney was formally unveiled in the US Capitol over the weekend with "Dubya" Bush there gushing, "For eight years, Dick stood by my side and always did what was right for our nation". Please.

Dick Cheney is a war criminal who along with the rest of the Bush gang should have been prosecuted for war crimes and authorizing torture among their many misdeeds.

That they weren't is a black mark on President Obama who in early 2009 blocked his Justice Department from investigating and prosecuting the whole Bush crowd saying he wanted to "move on and not look back".

I suspect Obama knew at the time he could possibly be prosecuted for war crimes he would commit as president once he left office. So by giving the Bush crowd a pass, exempting them foreign investigations, even civil liability over the crimes they committed, there would be little likelihood of his culpability once he left office.

But think about it; Dick Cheney being lauded and his bust prominently displayed in Emancipation Hall in the US Capitol. What does that say to the world?

Well from here it's a prominent middle finger raised to the world. In the US we do what we want, authorize torture, initiate war, target anyone for assassination and no one can stop us- to which Dick Cheney stands at the notorious pinnacle of war crimes the US has committed.

Because if a man such as Cheney is placed on a pedestal as we do with Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt then we've officially lost our moral compass.

Lauding Dick Cheney, is as if we're honoring the Confederate Flag or having it flying prominently as it did at the South Carolina state capitol until an online photograph of a white supremacist who had just murdered 9 people in an historic black church in Charleston, S.C. was seen posing with a Confederate Flag forced the governor to have it removed.

Cheney prominently represents what has gone wrong with America, a former republic having descended into an empire, perpetrating endless wars which Dick Cheney played a prominent role.

And now his bust sits prominently in the US capitol, a perfect emblem of where America has descended.
Original scoop article by Michael Coleman / Journal Washington Bureau Wednesday, December 7th, 2016 at 11:23am

Sen. Tom Udall, who had been considering a run for governor in 2018, announced today that he will forgo a run and remain in the U.S. Senate.

Here's his full statement:

"I am very grateful for the support of so many New Mexicans who have personally urged me to run for governor in 2018. Under the current governor, our state has fallen behind in education and jobs. We have failed to take full advantage of our abundant natural resources and our potential for developing a renewable energy industry. While I firmly believe that I have the backing and the experience to properly address all these issues, I have determined, after consulting with my family, colleagues and constituents, that New Mexico will be better served by my remaining in the United States Senate.

"My seniority, my reform agenda and my appointments to the Appropriations Committee, the Indian Affairs Committee, the Commerce Committee, and the Foreign Relations Committee are indispensable to the well-being of the state. New Mexico depends significantly more on federal funding than it does on state revenue. Since I have been in the Senate, we have been able to increase funding for the labs, expanded access to public lands, strengthen our military bases, and encourage efforts to grow the state's private sector.

"This is not the time to weaken our position in Washington. President-elect Trump has proposed policies with respect to health care, constitutional rights, immigration, privatizing public lands, and foreign policy that could be devastating to the citizens of New Mexico. When I was elected to the Senate, I committed to standing up in Washington for New Mexico families to ensure everyone has an opportunity to get ahead and their needs never take a back seat to wealthy special interests. I believe that pledge is even more important now."
Global Antimicrobial Coating Market - AkzoNobel NV, BASF SE, Diamond Vogel Paints, Dow Microbial Control, Nippon Paint Co. Ltd.

Global Antimicrobial Coating Market

http://bit.ly/2e04cRt

http://atozresearch.com/global-antimicrobial-coating-market-research-reports/

http://bit.ly/2ebvXCu

http://atozresearch.com/

Antimicrobial Coatings (Antimicrobial Powder Coatings and Surface Modification & Coatings) Market for Indoor air quality, Mold remediation, Medical/healthcare, Antimicrobial textiles, Construction, Food and Other Application  Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Segment, Trends and Forecast, 2014  2020The report covers forecast and analysis for the antimicrobial coatings market on a global and regional level. The study provides historic data of 2014 along with a forecast from 2015 to 2020 based on both volumes (Kilo Tons) and revenue (USD Million). The study includes drivers and restraints for the antimicrobial coatings market along with the impact they have on the demand over the forecast period. Additionally, the report includes the study of opportunities available in the antimicrobial coatings market on a global level.Global Antimicrobial Coating Market 2014 - 2020In order to give the users of this report a comprehensive view on the antimicrobial coatings market, we have included a detailed competitive scenario, buying criteria and product portfolio of key vendors. To understand the competitive landscape in the market, an analysis of Porters five forces model for the antimicrobial coatings market has also been included. The study encompasses a market attractiveness analysis, wherein product segments are benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate and general attractiveness.Get Sample Copy of Report atThe study provides a decisive view on the antimicrobial coatings market by segmenting the market based on product types and applications. All the application segments have been analyzed based on present and future trends and the market is estimated from 2014 to 2020. Key application markets covered under this study includes the use of this antimicrobial coatings in indoor air quality, mold remediation, medical/healthcare, antimicrobial textiles, construction, food and other application. The regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East and Africa with its further bifurcation into major countries including U.S. Germany, France, UK, China, Japan, India and Brazil.The report covers detailed competitive outlook including company profiles of the key participants operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include AkzoNobel NV, BASF SE, Diamond Vogel Paints, Dow Microbial Control, E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (DuPont), Nippon Paint Co. Ltd., RPM International Inc., Royal DSM N.V., Sherwin-Williams Company, Sono-Tek Corporation, Troy Corporation, AK Coatings Inc. and Arch Lonza.Browse more detail information about Report atThe report segments the global antimicrobial coatings market into:Global Antimicrobial Coatings Market: Product Segment AnalysisAntimicrobial powder coatingsSilverOthersSurface modifications and coatingsE. ColiListeriaPseudomonasOthersGlobal Antimicrobial Coatings Market: Application Segment AnalysisIndoor air qualityMold remediationMedical/healthcareAntimicrobial textilesConstructionFoodOthersRequest For Toc atAbout A to Z ResearchA to Z Research is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations. A to Z Research is the comprehensive collection of market intelligence products and services available on air. We have market research reports from number of leading publishers and update our collection daily to provide our clients with the instant online access to our database. With access to this database, our clients will be able to benefit from expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends.Contact US3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442, USATel: +1-386-310-3803GMTTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/CanadaToll Free No.1-855-465-465Email: martin@atozresearch.comWebsite:
Polyamideimide Fibers Market to Record an Impressive Growth Rate During the Forecast 2021

http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/4521

Polyamideimide fibers are one of the most essential fibers in aramid family. Polyamideimide fibers are thermoplastic or thermosetting polymers which have excellent chemical, thermal and mechanical resistance properties. Polyamideimide fibers have properties of both polyamides and polyimides. Polyamideimide fibers are non flammable due to higher double bonds and aromatic structures. Polyamideimide fibers offer higher resistance to abrasion and fire. Polyamideimide fibers have lower thermal conductivity as compared to other aramid fibers. Due to excellent chemical resistance polyamideimide fibers finds applications in chemical plants where there is regular spillage of chemicals. Polyamideimide fibers offer excellent protection against flame and radiant heat. Polyamideimide fibers will not melt and will not form molten droplets. Polyamideimide fibers can be either manufactured through diisocyantes or acid chloride method.The market for polyamideimide fibers was mainly driven by coatings and molded applications. In coatings industry, polyamideimide fibers are in powder form and half imidized. Polyamideimide fibers are used in magnetic enamels. The wire enamel is manufactured by dissolving it in polyamideimide fibers with solvents. polyamideimide fibers enamel have thermal stability and offer resistance against heat and chemicals. Polyamideimide fibers are used in corrosion resistance and decorative coatings used in industrial applications. Polyamideimide fibers are used in non-stick utensils. In molding industry, polyamideimide fibers are used in manufacturing of gears, bushings, fasteners and seals among others. In gas separation industry, polyamideimide fibers are used in membrane separation technology for gas separation due to its ability to sustain higher temperature levels. In electronics industry, polyamideimide fibers are used in manufacturing of electric motor components and semiconductor fabrications. However, higher prices and environmental regulations is anticipated to hinder the growth of the market in next few years to come.In terms of demand, Asia Pacific was the leading region in polyamideimide fibers market in past few years. Asia Pacific is considered to be one of the fastest growing markets for polyamideimide fibers due to huge demand from molding and coatings industry. China had the highest demand and production for polyamideimide fibers in Asia Pacific region. Southeast Asian countries and Indian subcontinent is expected to have higher demand for polyamideimide fibers in next few years. Asia Pacific was followed by North America. Growing demand from aerospace, electronics and coatings industry has been major factor behind driving the demand for polyamideimide fibers in this region. U.S. had the largest demand and production for polyamideimide fibers in North America. The demand was huge owing to increased molding activities and manufacturing of industrial and water borne coatings. However, regulations regarding polyamideimide fibers are anticipated to hinder the growth in this region. In 2013, Europe had the third largest demand for polyamideimide fibers market. Western European countries such as Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK are one of the largest consumers of polyamideimide fibers in this region. Central Europe and Russia is expected to show positive outlook for the polyamideimide fibers market in near future. Rest of the World market is projected to show encouraging view for the polyamideimide fibers market in foreseeable future. Countries such as Brazil, South Africa, Argentina and the Middle East region is expected to exhibit higher demand for polyamideimide fibers in near future.Request for Sample Report and Table of content @The market for polyamideimide fibers is highly oligopolistic in nature and is dominated by two or three major players. Some of the key manufacturers in the polyamideimide fibers market are Swicofil and Solvay S.A. among others.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Polymerization Inhibitors Market Set to Grow Exponentially During the Forecast 2021

http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/4523

Polymerization inhibitors are also known as polymerization retardants, polymerization controllers, polymerization suppressors and polymerization terminators among others. Polymerization inhibitors are specialty chemicals which are required to stabilize reactive monomers and prevent is from spontaneous polymerization process. Polymerization inhibitor slows down or stops the polymerization process by reacting with the growing-chain radicals or initiators. Polymerization inhibitors should be added in controlled amount to the reaction. Polymerization inhibitor is smaller quantities to reaction will lead to polymerization vessels and pipes. The polymerization in pipes and vessels require mechanical removal. In case, the polymerization inhibitor is added in excess amount, there will be difficulty in polymerization stage. Polymerization inhibitors are used for monomers of acrylic and styrene such as methyl methacrylate and styrene monomers among others. Polymerization inhibitors prevents temperature excursion due to exothermic polymerization. In addition, polymerization inhibitors prevent fouling as well as the upsurge of large amounts of polymer in the reaction. Polymerization inhibitors thus enable manufacturing and purification process to run easily. Polymerization inhibitors are classified on the basis of their efficiency and protection length. Compounds such as, hydroquinones, quinines, aromatic nitro compounds, amines, aromatic are used as polymerization inhibitors in the market.The market for polymerization inhibitors was mainly driven by huge demand from manufacturing industries. Uncontrolled polymerization reactions has been major issue in the industry and polymerization inhibitors plays key role in the process. Polymerization inhibitors are used in various end-user industries such as petrochemical, resins, chemical intermediates among others. Polymerization inhibitors are used in manufacturing process of unsaturated polyester resin and epoxy resins in order to control the polymerization reaction. Polymerization inhibitors are used in distillation process with lower vapor pressure. In composites industry, polymerization inhibitors are used for controlling the polymerization process. In chemical industry, polymerization inhibitors are used to suppress monomer reactions of vinyl acetate, ethylene and other chemicals. In spite of several applications, environmental regulations are anticipated to hamper the growth of the market in next few years to come.Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing market for polymerization inhibitors in the next six years. The major reason for the growth is the increasing demand for polymerization inhibitors from emerging countries such as India, China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand. China had the highest demand for polymerization inhibitors in Asia Pacific region due to higher demand from unsaturated polyester resin industry. Asia Pacific region was followed by North America. Growing demand from composites and petrochemical industry was the major factor behind driving the demand for polymerization inhibitors in this region. U.S. had the highest production and demand for polymerization inhibitors in North America. Europe had the third largest demand for polymerization inhibitors market in 2013. Countries from Western Europe region such as Spain, Italy, France, Germany and the UK are considered amongst the largest consumers of polymerization inhibitors in this region. Other European countries such as Russia, Sweden and Netherlands are likely to demonstrate optimistic future for the polymerization inhibitors market in foreseeable future. Rest of the World market is estimated to illustrate encouraging outlook for the polymerization inhibitors market in future. Latin America and the Middle East region are anticipated to show signs of higher demand for polymerization inhibitors in near future.Request for Sample Report and Table of content @Some of the key manufacturers in the polymerization inhibitors market are Addivant, Chemtura Corporation, Nufarm Limited, Nalco Company, Kawasaki Kasei Chemicals Co. Ltd., among others.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Harrows Market Is Expected To Generate Huge Profits by 2024

http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/10379

Harrows are basically the agricultural tools which are used for smoothing out and breaking up the surface of soil. Harrowing is always carried out on the agricultural field to track the rough finish left by ploughing operations. The purpose of harrowing is generally to breakup lumps of soil, thereby providing a good tilth, finer finish soil structure that are suitable for seedbed use. Harrowing are also used to remove cover seed and weeds after sowing.The rising demand for agricultural farm machinery is one of the prominent factors which is driving the harrows market demand worldwide. This is majorly supported by the growing demand for food which is expected to rise substantially owing to the significant increase in global population during the forecast period. Rising food demand has encouraged the adoption of advanced farming practices to increase crop yields which is further resulting in the demand for agricultural machinery globally. The global harrows market is driven by increasing adoption of farm machinery for mechanization of farming operations which resulted in increased production and profitability by achieving timeliness in farming operations. This in turn helps farmers in optimum utilization of costly inputs such as fertilizers, seeds, and irrigation among others. Farm mechanization also helps in the preservation of the farm produce, which further improves profitability and cost effectiveness by reducing post-harvest losses. Similarly, increasing awareness about the importance of technology in agriculture is also an important factor which is fueling the growth of the harrows market globally. This increasing awareness can be attributed to rising adoption of farm tractors and other agricultural machinery which yields high productivity gains. Moreover, Low purchasing power and high cost with low technology adoption is currently challenging the wide-scale adoption of farm machinery tools including harrows. The market growth is also inhibited by growing urbanization and decreasing farmlands. In order to counter this restraint, governments worldwide are promoting and encouraging the adoption of farm machinery tools by providing subsidies on this equipment, thereby allowing manufacturers to offer the equipment at lower rates.The global harrows market can be segmented on the basis of types, and various geographical regions. Based on different harrows types, the market has been segmented into disc harrow, chain harrow, tine harrow, and chain disk harrows. Based on various geographical regions, the market is classified into North America, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. In Asia Pacific, countries such as India and China are witnessing the shift in overall population. Growing population is responsible for increasing food demand in Asia Pacific, which in turn will fuel the demand for harrows for effective farm production in this region. In North America, rising need for enhanced productivity is also one of the major factors that are triggering the market growth. Likewise, in European countries such as Germany, governments are offering subsidies on agriculture and farm machinery, to promote the use of technology in farm production. This is further reinforced by increasing technical expertise, intense competition, and the presence of a large domestic market is expected to boost the harrows sales in Europe.Request for Sample Report and Table of content @Some of the key players in the global harrows market include S.P. Industries, Deere & Company, AGCO Corporation, Iseki & Co., Ltd., HARROWS DARTS, Kelly Engineering, and Agroking Implements Industries, among others.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Operational Predictive Maintenance Market Explores New Growth Opportunities By 2024

http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/10394

Operational predictive maintenance software retrieve multiple data sources in real time to predict quality issues or asset failure. Adoption of these software solutions facilitate organizations to prevent downtime and reduce maintenance costs. Operational predictive software solutions detect failure patterns and minor anomalies to determine the assets and operational processes that are at the greatest risk of failure. Deployment of operation predictive maintenance software boosts equipment uptime and enhance supply chain processes and quality. One of the major factors for the increasing usage of these software solutions is their ability to accurately predict asset failure, enabling enterprises to take the asset out of production ensuing efficient supply chain.The operational predictive maintenance market has been experiencing massive growth in the recent years due to rise in demand for transforming maintenance operations and reducing asset downtime. Moreover, increasing demand for big data and Internet of Things (IoT) and rising focus of organizations on reducing operational cost is further expected to fuel the growth of operational predictive maintenance market during the forecast period. However, lack of training for operators and lack of trust in predictive maintenance technology is hindering the market growth. Increasing demand for real time steaming analytics and increasing demand from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is expected to create huge opportunities for the companies operating in operational predictive maintenance market.The global operational predictive maintenance market is segmented on the basis of components, deployment type, application, and geography. Based on the component, the global operational predictive maintenance market is classified into solutions and services. Further, services segment is further categorized into system integration, training and support, and consulting. Based on the deployment type, the global operational predictive maintenance market is further segmented into cloud-based and on-premise. Among these, cloud based operational predictive maintenance solutions market is expected to show swiftest growth enabling enterprises to reduce their dependence on data mining specialists, data integration and IT. In terms of application, the market is segmented automotive, energy and utilities, healthcare, manufacturing facilities, government and defense and transportation and logistics. Among these, manufacturing facilities are expected to hold the major market share for operational predictive maintenance market due to high deployment rate by manufacturers to reduce the maintenance cost consequently increasing the profitability. On the basis of geography, the global operational predictive maintenance market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. Among these, North America is expected to lead the operational predictive maintenance market in 2016. The growing big data market and high adoption of IoT are contributing to the growth for operational predictive maintenance market in the North America region. Moreover, heavy investments made by countries such as China, Japan, Korea, and India in Asia-Pacific to enhance the efficiency of production assets is further expected to offer sufficient growth opportunities for the operational predictive maintenance market in this region.Request for Sample Report and Table of content @Some of the leading companies operating in the global operational predictive maintenance market which are transmuting the market with technology innovation are IBM Corporation, SAS Institute Inc., Software AG, General Electric, Robert Bosch GmbH, Rockwell Automation, Inc., PTC, Inc., Schneider Electric, Svenska Kullagerfabriken AB, and Emaint Enterprises, LLC.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Bill of Material Management Software Market Headed for Growth and Global Expansion by 2026

http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/12532

http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/12532

http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/

The traditional Bill of Material/excel based Bill of Material issues such as incomplete data, data inconsistency and incorrect data entry create major problems in manufacturing process across diversified industry vertical. Therefore, manufacturing companies are moving towards Bill of Material Management Software to streamline interrelated product information management and multiple linked Bill of Material management. The software also helps to share the Bill of Material information across the different department.Request to view Sample Report @The Increasing demand for low cost Bill of Material management software across multiple industry vertical such as consumer goods and retail, healthcare and life science and transportation fuel Bill of Material Management Software Market. Small and Medium Size businesses are implementing Bill of Material Management Software to lessen their dependency on Traditional Bill of Material methods.The major factor driving Bill of material software market is the modernization of business processes. Internet is growing extensively due to which companies are adopting modern technologies such as cloud, mobility and other within their existing infrastructure. Implementation of modern technologies is helping company to adopt Bill of Material software that provides companies to access information related to partners, suppliers, product, cost and compliance status at single sign-in. Small and medium players are also adopting this software in order to identify risk components, centralize their work, monitor parts availability and to eradicate redundancy.The restraint for Bill of Material software market is the lack of customization and security threat. Most of Organizations are looking for flexible solutions as organizations sometimes need separate Bill of material for specific customer order where Bill of Material management software does not provide customized solution. Moreover, rising cyber-crimes has led organizations demand software that can also provide security to the information related to the pricing, customer, and products and other.Bill of Material Management Software Market: SegmentationSegmentation on the basis of solution:Compliance managementProduct data managementProduct lifecycle managementMaterial requirement planningSales ManagementSegmentation on the basis of Application areas:ManufacturingConstruction and EngineeringTransportationHealthcare and Life ScienceConsumer GoodsOthersIn October 2016, Arena Solutions partnered with Perception software a subsidiary of Altium, to integrate Arena Bill of Material software into Altium solutionsIn March 2015, Siemens entered into partnership of Thinkstep and launched new Bill of Material Management software. This integrated solution is helping user to manage material lifecycle and to streamline product design.Request to view Table of content @Some of the other major players in Bill of Material Management Software market are AutoDesk, Aras, Dassault Systems, PTC, HIS and othersAt present, North America and Europe region holds the largest market share of global Bill of Material Management software market. The market is increasing broadly in countries such as U.S. and Canada due to the high adoption of advance solutions for supply chain management. The major solution vendors in this market are from North America, creating high growth opportunity for users in these market. Companies such as AutoDesk and Arena are also creating integrated cloud based solutions in this market to improve market opportunities. In Europe due to the presence of large number of manufacturing firms, the market demand for Bill of Material Management Software is continuously growing.The Asia Pacific region is following the North America and Europe region in this software market is expected to have the highest growth rate in coming years due to the adoption of product data management solutions and Bill of Material software among small and medium enterprises.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each PMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With a wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports strive to serve clients and satisfy their overall research requirement.For information regarding permissions, contact:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway,7th FloorNew York City, NY 10007United StatesTel: +1 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWebsite:media@persistencemarketresearch.com
Global Drones Market: Trends And Opportunities (2016-2020)

http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/655939

http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/

Scope of the ReportThe report titled Global Drones Market: Trends and Opportunities (2016-2020) provides an in-depth analysis of the global drones market with detailed analysis of market sizing and growth, market share and economic impact of the industry. The report also provides market size of global video surveillance system market. The report provides detailed regional analysis of North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa for the drones market. Regional analysis includes market share of each region along with the actual and forecasted market sizing of drone market for the aforementioned regions.The report also assesses the key opportunities in the market and outlines the factors that are and will be driving the growth of the industry. Growth of the overall global drone market has also been forecasted for the period 2016-2020, taking into consideration the previous growth patterns, the growth drivers and the current and future trends. The competition in global drone market is stiff and dominated by the big players like DJI. Further, key players of the drone market AeroVironment and 3D Robotics are also profiled with their financial information and respective business strategies.Region CoverageNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificMiddle EastLatin AmericaAfricaCompany CoverageDJI InnovationsAeroVironment3D RoboticsDownload Sample copy of Report atExecutive SummaryDrones are the front-end video surveillance system products which are gaining popularity and playing their part in driving the global video surveillance system market. Drones market is currently at the nascent stage but is anticipated to rise in the next five years i.e. 2016-2020 tremendously at a significant CAGR. The market is largely governed by the military drones but civil drones are also gaining momentum and driving the market in the positive direction. The upsurge in the civil drones market is due to the increased need for video surveillance at various places as crime rate is increasing over the period.The major growth drivers for the drone market are: technological innovation, rise in civil drones market, persistent intelligence, surveillance & reconnaissance and internal & external safety threats. Despite the market is governed by various growth drivers, there are certain challenges faced by the market such as legal and regulatory policies & procedures, negative environmental impact, privacy issues, high cost, spectrum allocation and UAS integration in the national airspace.MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Website:Email: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Global and China Automotive Thermostat Market: Industry Analysis & Outlook (2016-2020)

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=871894&type=E

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-and-china-automotive-thermostat-market-2016-industry-research.htm

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/reports.htm

http://www.qyresearchreports.com

Global Automotive Thermostat Industry 2016 Market Overview, Size, Share, Trends, Analysis, Technology, Applications, Growth, Market Status, Demands, Insights, Development, Research and Forecast 2016-2020.The global Automotive Thermostat market has been evaluated in detail under this report and data has been collected from market leaders across the value chain. Information on the growth of this market during the forecast period and its estimated size by the end of the forecast period have also been included under the introduction section of the report. The drivers, restraints, and trends in the global Automotive Thermostat market and their impact on the development of this market also form a key part of this study.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Key analysis tools such as SWOT analysis and Porters five forces model have been included in order to present the competition prevalent in the global Automotive Thermostat market. Numerous graphics, tables, and charts have been utilized in order to present an accurate understanding of this market. The market has also been analyzed in terms of its regulatory scenario and value chain analysis. The development of the global market in key geographies has been also presented through this study. This information helps the emerging players in gaining information on the most lucrative areas in order for them to make their business decisions accordingly. In the same way, the other main segments and sub-segments in the global Automotive Thermostat market have been presented along with mentioning their development prospects.The competitive scenario amongst the top players in the global Automotive Thermostat market has been analyzed through the market share evaluation within the competitive landscape section of the study. Under this section, details on the key mergers and acquisitions that have recently taken place or are bound to happen in the coming years have also been compiled. The top strategies adopted by the prime players operating in the market for better business into the global Automotive Thermostat market have also been included under this study.Browse Complete Report with TOC @Table of Contents1 Industry Overview 11.1 Definition and Specifications of Automotive Thermostat 11.1.1 Definition of Automotive Thermostat 11.1.2 Specifications of Automotive Thermostat 21.2 Classification of Automotive Thermostat 21.2.1 Insert Thermostat 41.2.2 Housing Thermostat 41.2.3 Standard Thermostat 51.2.4 MAP-Controlled Thermostat 61.3 Applications of Automotive Thermostat 71.3.1 Passenger Car 81.3.2 Commercial Vehicle 91.4 Industry Chain Structure of Automotive Thermostat 101.5 Industry Regional Overview of Automotive Thermostat 101.6 Industry Policy Analysis of Automotive Thermostat 111.7 Industry News Analysis of Automotive Thermostat 132 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Automotive Thermostat 162.1 Raw Material Suppliers and Price Analysis of Automotive Thermostat 162.2 Equipment Suppliers Analysis of Automotive Thermostat 182.3 Labor Cost Analysis of Automotive Thermostat 202.4 Other Costs Analysis of Automotive Thermostat 222.5 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Automotive Thermostat 232.6 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Automotive Thermostat 243 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis 253.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Key Manufacturers in 2015 253.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Key Automotive Thermostat Manufacturers in 2015 253.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Automotive Thermostat Key Manufacturers in 2015 263.4 Raw Materials Sources of Global Automotive Thermostat Key Manufacturers in 2015 27For Market Research Latest Reports Visit @About UsQYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Load Cells Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2015 - 2023

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=1104

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/load-cells-market.html

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

Load cell devices, a critical instrument which measures impact of force by transforming it in to electrical signals, is widely used in weighing devices, both analogous and electronic. The growth in market is driven by increasing competition due to rise in number of players both in international and domestic markets. The technological advancement made in the field of transducers, which have helped minimize the instrumental errors have further helped in boosting the growth. The load cells market products is diversified, and varies depending on the technology and application of the devices. Companies making load cells are showing fluctuating but rising revenues, with majority of sales coming from electronic scales, which are in high demand.In attempt to ensure their market dominance, large manufacturers are taking over small companies, a strategy widely followed, after facing stiff competition from small manufacturers from Asia-pacific markets. These new entrants are providing cheap and competitively priced devices, which has forced big players to look for alternate growth opportunities.PDF Sample For Full Details with Technological breakthroughs is @Among all regional markets, Europe contributes the largest share, followed by US. Emerging markets, such as Asia-pacific, too are showing healthy growth and are among the fastest growing markets, due to growing economy and technological developments. Of all product categories, though Single Point Load Cells constitute the largest share of load cells market, the categories such as Dual Shear and S Type Beam Load Cells, are growing at relatively higher CAGR, with demand coming from measuring devices in medical sector.The major opportunity for companies to support their growth lies in research and development for through product innovation and made-to-order devices, as market is experiencing demand for smarter and miniature versions of lead cells. Alternate, business strategies would require companies to develop and restructure their manufacturing process for optimal productivity with minimal operations cost. In all, success of any load cell market player would depend on its ability to provide custom-made products with efficient customer care and after sales service, all integrated with new product developments and technology innovation.Some of the market players in this industry segment are Flintec Group AB, Sweden; PCB Piezotronics Inc., USA; Zhonghang Electronic Measuring Instruments Co. Ltd. (ZEMIC), China; Hottinger Baldwin Messtechnik GmbH, Germany; Interface Inc., USA; Keli Electric Manufacturing (Ningbo) Co. Ltd., China; National Scale Technology, USA; Novatech Measurements Ltd., UK; Rice Lake Weighing Systems, USA; Thames Side Sensors Ltd., UK; Vishay Intertechnology Inc., USA; Honeywell Sensotec-Lebow, USA; Yamato Scale Co. Ltd., Japan; FUTEK Advanced Sensor Technology Inc., USA and others.These load cells are widely categorized in to following types, based on the technology and application."S"-typeDual-shearSingle-pointShear-beamBending- beamDigital/smart load cellsMarket Insight can be Viewed @Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Automotive Wiring Harness Market to Witness Account for US$ 91.53 Bn by 2025

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

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-37

www.futuremarketinsights.com

Future Market Insights (FMI) recently announced the release of its report titled Automotive Wiring Harness Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015-2025. According to the report, the global automotive wiring harness market was valued at US$ 36.82 Bn in 2014 and is anticipated to reach US$ 91.53 Bn by 2025, expanding at a CAGR of 8.7% throughout the forecast period.Automotive Wiring Harness Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe global automobile industry registered an annual growth rate of over 5.5% from 2010 to 2015, and is estimated to be valued at US$ 5.1 trillion by end of 2015. Consistent growth in the parent industry is expected to fuel demand for automotive wiring harness in the near future.Currently, increasing fuel costs and stringent government regulations regarding CO2 emissions are boosting demand for electric vehicles in regions such as North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Asia Pacific.Governments across various geographies have mandated use of certain electronic safety features such as Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Stability Program (ESP) and other features in both passenger and commercial vehicles. Furthermore, rise in demand for high-end electronics and safety features in vehicles, particularly passenger cars, along with cost reduction and enhanced reliability is leading to increase in global demand for automotive wiring harnesses.Automotive Wiring Harness Market TrendsUse of automotive Ethernet by automotive OEMs represents a new trend in the external as well as internal electronics devices connectivity in an automobile. These automotive Ethernets minimise the use of complex wiring harness structures to a great extent and, thereby, may act as a restraint for growth of the global automotive wiring harness market in the coming years.Request Free Report Sample@Rise in technological developments is expected to create favourable growth opportunities in the market in the near future. Growing demand for connectivity and car digitisation, which not only helps establish connectivity within the integral parts of a vehicle but also enables communication with other vehicles through improved and intelligent roadway infrastructure, is an emerging trend in the market.Automotive Wiring Harness Market SegmentationRegion-wise, APEJ (Asia Pacific Excluding Japan) dominated the global automotive wiring harness market in 2014, accounting for 38.3% value share of the overall market. Furthermore, APEJ is foreseen to expand at a relatively high CAGR of 10.4% during the forecast period and is expected to maintain its revenue share dominance till 2025 end. Rise in automotive production and sustained economic growth are some of the factors driving the APEJ automotive wiring harness market currently.North America and Western Europe are expected to register high Y-o-Y growth during the forecast period, owing to increasing demand for e-vehicles and e-bikes in these regions. Growth of the connected car market has resulted in rise in demand for multiple electronic devices in vehicles in North America and Western Europe.Japan is currently witnessing moderate growth in demand for e-bikes, and the trend is expected to continue during the forecast period as well. The Japan automotive wiring harness market is expected to register a sluggish CAGR of 4.0% during the forecast period, due to the matured automotive industry in the country.Send An Enquiry@On the basis of vehicle type, the passenger vehicles segment dominated the global automotive wiring harness market in 2014 in terms of revenue, and is foreseen to expand at a CAGR of 8.6% during the forecast period. In terms of revenue, the hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles segments are expected to register significant CAGR between 2015 and 2025, in view of the stringent government regulations and growing fuel prices globally.On the basis of application type, the chassis & safety segment dominated the global automotive wiring harness market in 2014 in terms of revenue, accounting for 40.8% share of the overall market. This segment is expected to lose its market share to the HVAC segment, which is projected to expand at a significant CAGR of 10.1% during the forecast period. Furthermore, HVAC manufacturers are designing new eco-friendly devices in order to follow the environment standards along with introducing new innovating designs.Automotive Wiring Harness Market: Key CompaniesKey market players covered in the report include YAZAKI Corporation, Aisin Seiki Co., Samvardhana Motherson Group (SMG), Delphi Automotive PLC, Fujikura Ltd., Sumitomo electric Industries, Ltd., Lear Corporation, LEONI AG, Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. and PKC Group PLC.Most players in the market are engaged in various activities, such as mergers and acquisitions, increasing investments in technological and product developments, geographical expansion and brand building via strong marketing strategies, in order to sustain their position in the competitive market.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Commercial Aircraft Health Monitoring Systems Market (Terminal, Airside & Landside) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2015 - 2023

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=1045

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/commercial-aircraft-health-monitoring-systems.html

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

An aircraft is made up millions of complex parts. The fate of airline companies depends on the health of the aircraft and with increased number of aircrafts worldwide and increased scope of the travel and tourism sector, various new aircrafts projects are coming up. The aircraft health monitoring systems market is booming and the future holds great potential.An aircraft health monitoring system (HMS) carries out complex monitoring of various parts of the aircraft before, after, and during each run. The following systems fall under aircraft HMS.Aero Propulsion SystemAircraft StructureAncillary SystemPDF Sample For Full Details with Technological breakthroughs is @The aero propulsion system includes primary and auxiliary power units of the aircraft. The aircraft structure includes elements such as the fuselage, wings, and flight control surfaces. The ancillary system includes peripheral safety systems such as power distributions, fuel distribution, brakes, wheels, and others. Apart from these, HMS is also associated with monitoring sensors, controllers, actuators, signal processors, indicators, and others.The increased number of aircrafts, air travelers, airports, and demand for safe aircrafts are the major drivers for this market. Lack of management and funding are the restraints for this market along with the nullification of crash risks, which is one of the biggest challenges for aircraft manufacturers.The variety of aircrafts under consideration are-Very Large aircraftWide Body AircraftNarrow Body AircraftRegional Transport AircraftAlong with the existence of major players, many new entrants are investing in this market. Moreover, the increase in demand for commercial aircrafts in countries like India, China, Africa, and Russia, this market is expected to grow at a faster pace than in countries like the U.S.Some of major players in this market are Bombardier, AIRMAN, Airbus, Infosys, Ventura Aerospace (U.S.), EADS (U.K.), ASTYANAX, and others.This research report analyzes this market depending on its market segments, major geographies, and current market trends. Geographies analyzed under this research report includeNorth AmericaAsia PacificEuropeRest of the WorldMarket Insight can be Viewed @Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Reusable Water Bottle Market: Rising Focus on Environmentally Sustainable Products to Stimulate Growth Prospects

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=11582

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

The extremely diversified global market for reusable water bottles, encompassing numerous product varieties in terms of material, size, shape, and designs, features presence of a large number of water bottle manufacturers vying for a share in the market through the introduction of innovative products. The trends of increased usage of BPA-free materials and rising adoption of smart bottles are expected to have a profound influence on the overall development of the market in the next few years.Request a PDF Brochure with Report Analysis:Transparency Market Research estimates that the market will expand at a 4.2% CAGR over the period between 2016 and 2024. Expanding at this pace, the market, which valued at US$7.04 bn in 2015, is expected to surpass US$10.19 bn by 2024.Polymer-based Reusable Water Bottles to Remain Most Lucrative Product VarietyBased on the type of material used to manufacture reusable water bottles, the market has been segmented into polymer, metal, silicone, and glass. Of these, the polymer-based reusable water bottles is presently the leading segment owing to its wide availability, differentiating features, and low cost. Based on TMRs consumer survey analysis, the segment is ranked first in terms of the penetration level of reusable water bottles across the worlds and is expected to remain a prominent choice for respondents to purchase in the near future as well.The segment of polymer-based reusable water bottle is also expected to be the dominant contributor to the revenues of the global reusable water bottle market over the forecast period. The increasing adoption of the Tritan material, which is a low cost, BPA-free, and recyclable polymer, will help boost the consumption of polymer-based reusable water bottles.Trailing the segment of polymer-based reusable water bottles is the segment of metal bottles. Features of metal bottles such as durability, easy availability in insulated varieties, which help keep water hot or cold for longer periods of time, and availability of several metal varieties for making metal bottles work in their favor. By 2024, the segment of metal reusable water bottles is expected to account for nearly 33.5% of the global market.Asia Pacific to Retain Dominance in Terms of Production as well as ConsumptionIn terms of geography, the market for reusable water bottles in Asia Pacific is projected to be the one with the most promising growth in the global market. The regional market is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 5.0% over the period between 2016 and 2024. The region is expected to be highly favorable in terms of incremental opportunities for revenue generation. It is expected to account for a 34.3% of the global market in 2016, followed by Europe and North America.The flourishing retail sector in Asia Pacific on the backdrop of increasing numbers of supermarkets/hypermarkets and a rapidly evolving e-commerce platform have led to the rise in the revenues of the regions reusable water bottle market. The market for reusable water bottles is also driven by the growing middle income population, rising disposable incomes, and the improving living standards in the region. China is likely to continue to dominate the Asia Pacific market for reusable water bottle over the forecast period. China is not only a prominent consumer of reusable water bottles but also takes the top spot when it comes to the presence of large scale manufacturers of reusable water bottles.Mature markets for reusable water bottles such as Europe and North America are highly regulated and are likely to create a substantial demand for reusable water bottle worth US$3.72 bn in 2016, approximately 3.2% higher than the previous year. Latin America and Middle East and Africa are estimated to collectively represent 14.8% of global reusable water bottle market in 2016.Some of the key vendors operating in the global reusable water bottle market are CamelBak Products LLC, Klean Kanteen, Contigo, Sigg, Aquasana Inc, HYDAWAY, Bulletin Bottle, Thermos LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., and Flaska.About TMRTMR is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Contact TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Kidney Cancer Drugs Market- several novel molecules receiving approval globally is fuelling the market growth

http://tinyurl.com/hmarsyu

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/kidney-cancer-drugs-market.html

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

n estimated CAGR of 6.6% has been attributed to the global kidney cancer drugs market, within a forecast period of 2014 to 2020. Transparency Market Research, the company that has calculated this estimate, has published findings in a research report, titled Kidney Cancer Drugs Market - Global Industry Analysis, Pipeline Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2014 - 2020.According to the report, the global kidney cancer drugs market is currently driven by multiple factors. At the top of this list is the growing number of patients that are afflicted with kidney cancer. Citations made in the report include findings by the World Cancer Research Fund International, which stated that by 2012, there were over 338,000 new cases of kidney cancer registered. Also known as renal cell carcinoma, kidney cancer constitutes 85% of the kidney-related tumors.Download exclusive Sample of this report:The report also includes discussions on the introduction of novel molecules into mainstream medicine after their approval as a cancer treatment method and the impact it will have on the global kidney cancer drugs market in the near future.However, the global kidney cancer drugs market is continually hampered by high drug prices, especially in case of branded drugs. Consequently, most consumers are turning to generic kidney cancer drugs, which is restraining the markets growth rate.New manufacturing trends in the global kidney cancer drugs market reveal that top players are shifting focus towards the developing economies and their emerging markets. Companies hope the new markets will open up sales of their kidney cancer drugs owing to the high population density of countries such as China and India.Key players in the global kidney cancer drugs market are GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis AG, and Pfizer. The report notes that over 40% of the global kidney cancer drugs market in 2013 was held by Pfizer, due to patent monopoly in branded kidney cancer drugs.View exclusive Global strategic Business report :The report explains the growth rate in the global kidney cancer drugs market, with key focus on various drugs in it, including Nexavar, Afinitor, Sutent, Torisel, Proleukin, Inlyta, Avastin, and Votrient. Of these, Sutent held over 30% of the global kidney cancer drugs market. Sutent is the marketed version of Sunitinib, Pfizers drug in the global kidney cancer drugs market. It is the most-preferred drug in the market for now. Sutent is expected to exhibit at a low CAGR of 2.1% from 2016 to 2020, owing to its high price. On the other hand, Votrient is expected to exhibit a fast growth rate. It has already recorded a CAGR of 41.7% between 2012 and 2016.The report also provides details on the major pipeline drugs in the global kidney cancer drugs market, including Dovitinib and Opdivo.Geographically, the global kidney cancer drugs market is led by North America, which held 45% of the market in 2013. A 6.0% CAGR is attributed to Asia Pacific owing to increasing demand for kidney cancer drugs in the regions rapidly developing economy and increase in focus by top players on the region.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Middle East Residential Water Treatment Devices Market expected to reach US$ 855 Mn by 2025

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-eu-1299

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-eu-1299

www.futuremarketinsights.com

Future Market Insights (FMI) recently announced the release of its report titled Residential Water Treatment Devices: Middle East Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015-2025. According to the report, the middle east residential water treatment devices market was valued at US$ 414.1 Mn in 2014 and is anticipated to reach US$ 855.3 Mn by 2025, expanding at a CAGR of 6.8% throughout the forecast period.Total population of Middle East & Africa stood at approximately 346 million in 2015 and is expected to grow at the rate of 2% per annum. The Middle East & Africa is also witnessing mass migration of people to urban centers, thereby leading to increased demand for water purifiers in these centers. Economies of North Africa, on the other hand, have also been registering healthy growth rates over the last few years, which in turn is expected to fuel growth of the residential water treatment devices market in the overall MEA region. Due to large scale industrialization, quality of water in the GCC and Levant countries has deteriorated during the recent years. Water availability in these regions is estimated to be merely 1,200 m3/person/year, which is substantially lower than the global average of 7,000 m3/person/year. These factors are also prompting urban masses in Middle East countries to opt for water purifiers. Furthermore, the GCC region is witnessing entry of globally established water purifier brands, which has resulted into increased competition in the market. Increased competition, in turn, ensures marginal decline in prices of residential water treatment devices in the retail market in these regions. However, price decline has been largely reported on the reverse osmosis-based water purification devices only, the sales of which have witnessed an upsurge in recent years.Request Free Report Sample@Around 44% of the Middle East & Africa population lives in rural area and is not aware about the necessity and techniques to purify and filter water. Penetrating these markets may be a challenging task for the concerned market participants as most of the vendors would have to begin by creating awareness regarding water purifier and filters and the importance of these products.Combination water purification system employs two different treatment technologies in one system. Players such as AquaPro and Kent have started offering RO+UV-based combination water purifiers in the GCC and Levant countries.Geography-wise, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia dominated the GCC residential water treatment devices market in terms of value in 2014, accounting for more than one-third value share of the GCC residential water treatment devices market. On the other hand, Turkey dominated the Levant residential water treatment devices market in 2014, accounting for more than 40% value share of the overall market in the region. Furthermore, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is foreseen to expand at a relatively high CAGR during the forecast period and is expected to maintain its revenue share dominance till 2025 end. The governments in the Levant and GCC regions are investing and opening up to Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) and promoting industrialization, which has been leading to an increase in the per capita income of the residing population in countries such as Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Countries such as the UAE, Qatar, Egypt and Jordan are expected to register significant Y-o-Y growth during the forecast period. Besides, these countries are projected to bestow more focus on their non-oil and manufacturing sectors in the coming years, which in turn is expected to encourage the water purifier and water filter manufacturers in these countries to go in for domestic production and enhance sales. Countries such as Bahrain, Iraq, Palestine and Syria are currently witnessing moderate growth in demand for residential water treatment devices, and the trend is expected to continue during the forecast period as well.On the basis of filtration devices, the filtration faucet segment dominated the Middle East residential water treatment devices market in 2014 in terms of revenue, and is foreseen to expand at a significant CAGR during the forecast period. In terms of volume, the water tap faucet segment dominated the Middle East residential water treatment devices market in 2014, accounting for more than half volume share of the overall market.Send An Enquiry@On the basis of purification devices, the reverse osmosis segment dominated the Middle East residential water treatment devices market in 2014 in terms of revenue, and is foreseen to expand at a relatively high CAGR during the forecast period. In terms of volume, the gravity segment purification devices dominated the Middle East residential water treatment devices market in 2014, accounting for more than 40% volume share of the overall market.Key market players covered in the report include KENT RO Systems Ltd., Eureka Forbes, Britannic Water Treatment Company W.L.L., Panasonic Corporation, LG Electronics, Pure It LLC, Waterlife, Coolpex Pure Water System, Ultra Tec Water Treatment LLC and AQUA PRO UAE. Most players in the market are engaged in various activities, such as mergers and acquisitions, increasing investments in technological and product developments, geographical expansion and brand building via strong marketing strategies, in order to sustain their position in the competitive market.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Factory Automation and Machine Vision Market - Mexico Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2014 - 2020

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=2661

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/factory-automation-machine-vision.html

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

Information and communication technology (ICT) have become crucial to the social infrastructure, therefore systems that allow society to function more efficiently are increasingly needed. Machine vision (MV) is a technology that meets these expectations and controls the movement of machinery by processing visual information. Machine vision plays vital role of factory automation (FA) in industrial manufacturing. Moreover, machine vision has also extended its scope to the fields of medicine, security, and agriculture. The growth is mainly driven by the introduction of innovative image sensing devices and the development of computing technologies, including communication. With technological advancements, machine vision not only serves as a replacement for human vision but also handle multidimensional invisible information.Machine vision (MV) uses automated technology for capturing images and transferring it to a PC. The captured images are then processed for inspection. A camera along with an image sensor is used to capture images, where in vision software analyzes it and information is communicated to the other equipment. Advancements in machine vision (MV) technology including vision-guided robotics and smart cameras have augmented the scope of the MV market with a broader application in the manufacturing sectors. These systems are utilized in applications such as manufacturing of semiconductor, pharmaceuticals, electronics, medical devices, automotive, packaging, and consumer goods.PDF Sample For Latest Advancements and Technological breakthroughs is @Factory automation systems are used in discrete industry and process industry applications. Mexico factory automation and machine vision market is classified by technology into Industrial Control Systems (ICS), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Manufacturing Execution System (MES), and Information Technology System (ITS). Different types of machine vision (MV) systems are PC-based, smart camera based and embedded based systems. Machine vision (MV) systems include various components such as camera, optics frame grabber and lighting, software and hardware.The machine vision (MV) and factory automation (FA) is a promising trend in the manufacturing industry offering smart manufacturing setup. Factory Automation (FA) offers standard production, cost efficiency, quality, reliability and flexibility in the production process. The several devices and mechanical instruments are coupled with the IT systems or smart computing for the improved results in automation. Moreover, the software systems such as Enterprise Resource planning (ERP) are helping the Mexico factory automation market to extend their service offerings.Proximity to the U.S. and Government of Mexicos movement to augment manufacturing activities has fueled the factory automation (FA) and machine vision (MV) market to the new heights. Shifting of manufacturing base of automotive companies from China to Mexico and increased in foreign direct investment is also contributing to the growth of the market. Additionally, emerging applications such as Human Machine Interface (HMI), Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, and electronic power distribution systems is further expected to fuel the demand of automation systems in the near future. Reduction in size of hardware along with decreasing price of sensors and components, embedded systems has seen reasonable growth. Emerging trend such as nanotechnology, nanotech sensors, machine-to-machine communication systems and Internet of things is further expected to escalate growth for the factory automation (FA) and machine vision (MV) market.Market players are focused on offering product that communicate with multiple I/Os and serial and parallel interfaces. For instance, machine vision (MV) system developers are providing PC-based functionality coupled with motion control, data acquisition, and image-processing hardware and software. Moreover, companies such as Keyence Corporation and Panasonic Corporation provide developers a number of ways for their products to communicate with serial and parallel interfaces and multiple I/Os. Industrial-automation companies such as Omron are trying to get an edge in the machine-vision marketplace, whereas other machine-vision companies such as Coreco Imaging, Inc., Matrox Imaging, and National Instruments Corp. are leveraging their hardware and software expertise in a number of low-cost programmable machine-vision systems.Market Insight can be Viewed @Some of the leading players in the market include ABB LTD (Switzerland), Siemens Ag (Germany), Rockwell Automation Inc (U.S.), Emerson Electric Company (U.S), Honeywell International Inc (U.S.), Johnson Controls Inc (U.S), General Electric Company (U.S.), Schneider Electric SA (France), Teledyne Dalsa Inc (Canada), Texas Instruments Inc (U.S), Eastman Kodak (U.S.) and Yokogawa Electric Corporation (Japan).Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Next Generation Biometrics Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=10691

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/next-generation-biometrics-market.html

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

Global Next Generation Biometrics Market: OverviewThe identification and security systems deployed across organizations have evolved a great deal in the past few years. Many recent advances introduced in these systems have considerably benefited businesses worldwide in fortifying their security. Next generation biometrics is one such technology that has been witnessing rising demand around the world.Biometrics technologies are automated methods used for verifying and authenticating the identity of a person based on behavioral or physical characteristics such as fingerprints, voice patterns, vein and signature patterns, facial patterns, hand measurements, and eye retina and iris. Biometrics has emerged as a popular method of verifying the identity of a person under surveillance. The basic premise of the technology is based on the fact that every person is unique and it is possible to identify him/her by the intrinsic physical or behavioral traits.PDF Sample For Technological breakthroughs is @Next generation biometrics has gained incredible popularity in the last few years, mainly because of the favorable government initiatives adopted globally to restrict illegal entry. The technology has also gained impetus from the introduction of e-passports and its increasing use in criminal identification. Furthermore, the growing use of biometrics in cloud computing and e-commerce solutions is expected to provide lucrative opportunities for the global next generation biometrics market.This multi-billion dollar market is anticipated to further gain from the rising applications in the travel and immigration industries. Over the reports forecast period, the market is poised to exhibit an impressive CAGR. The report a comprehensive overview of the next generation biometrics market, presenting insights into the key drivers and restraints impacting the markets growth.Next Generation Biometrics Market: Key Opportunities and ThreatsThe next generation biometrics technology offers a high degree of privacy, accuracy, ease of use, interoperability, and uniformity across the system. The growing awareness about the benefits offered by biometrics has been crucial in driving the market for the technology behind it. Furthermore, biometric technology enables storage of information in the digital format, which is nearly impossible to decipher and reconstruct.Owing to its exceptional features, the next generation biometrics technology finds use across varied applications ranging from health care, government, defense, and border security to commercial security, travel and immigration, and banking and finance. The increasing government funding for deploying biometric technology across various economic sectors has been a major factor boosting the global next generation biometrics market.Despite witnessing widespread application across various sectors, the high cost incurred in deploying the system and the risk of privacy intrusion are a few factors inhibiting the growth of the market. Nevertheless, the increasing use of the technology in ecommerce and cloud computing is estimated to provide considerable growth opportunities for the market.The global next generation biometrics market has been classified on the basis of type into fingerprint recognition, face recognition, iris recognition, voice recognition, palm print recognition, vein recognition, and signature recognition. Based on application, the market has been segmented into banking and finance, government, travel and immigration, defense, government, health care, electronics, commercial security, home security, and other applications. Regionally, the market has been segmented into Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, and Rest of the World.Next Generation Biometrics Market: Vendor LandscapeIn order to study the prevailing vendor landscape of the market, the report profiles players operating therein such as Fujitsu Ltd., 3M, Fulcrum Biometrics, and Cross Match Technologies, Inc. Strengths and weaknesses of companies profiled are determined using the SWOT analysis. The analysis also includes the opportunities and threats that these companies may face during the forecast period.Market Insight can be Viewed @Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Cold Chain Equipment Market worth USD 118.0 billion and CAGR 9.8% by 2021

https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/sample/cold-chain-equipment-market

https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/inquiry/cold-chain-equipment-market

https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/report/cold-chain-equipment-market

https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/custom/39

https://zionmarketresearch.wordpress.com/

http://www.zionmarketresearch.com

Zion Market Research has published a new report titled Cold Chain Equipment (Storage and Transport) Market for Meat, Fish & Seafood, Dairy & Frozen Desserts, Vegetables & Fruits, Bakery & Confectionary and Others End-Uses: Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis and Forecast, 2014 - 2020. According to the report, global demand for cold chain equipment market was valued at USD 67.0 billion in 2014 is expected to reach USD 118.0 billion in 2020 and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 9.8% between 2015 and 2020.Request Free Sample copy of Research Report @Cold chain is an unbroken supply chain which exclusively serves storage and distribution facilities with a temperature-controlled range to extend and to help ensure the shelf life of products like vaccines, drugs and chemicals. In cold chain process, the cold chain equipment is a vital entity of the supply chain. The cold chain equipment and vaccine carriers ensure the safety, efficiency or quality of the products distributed/transported.The global cold chain market is primarily driven by increased need to reduce food wastage across the globe. Secondly, rapid growth of frozen food segment is expected to drive the cold chain equipment market. However, high installation cost coupled with stringent government policies and regulation is expected to hinder the growth of cold chain equipment market. Nonetheless, increased demand of food in emerging countries is likely to open new avenues for cold chain equipment market in near future.Inquire more about this report @Storage equipment segment dominated the cold chain equipment market in 2014, which accounted for more than 50.0% share of the global market. Storage equipment is followed by transport equipment segment of the market in 2014. Moreover, storage equipment is expected to continue this trend during the coming years due to growing need of storage equipment to fulfill the increasing demand for food coupled with strong demand of frozen food across the globe.Based on end-uses segment, the global cold chain equipment market was dominated by meat, fish and seafood segment. It accounted over 35.0% share of the entire revenue generated in 2014. Furthermore, it is also expected to remain prolong segment owing to robust demand for meat, fish and seafood on global basis. Moreover, dairy and frozen dessert is another important outlet that is expected to witness the significant growth in near future.Asia Pacific is expected to be one of the fastest growing regional markets for cold chain equipment market within the forecast period. This market growth is expected to be driven by the increase in the deployment of cold chain management in India and China. Thus, the increased demand for cold chain logistics in emerging economies is one of the major trends that are expected to contribute to the growth of the global cold chain market during the years to come.Browse detail report with in-depth TOC @Key players involved globally in cold chain market include AmeriCold Logistics, Lineage Logistics, Preferred Freezer Services, and Swire Cold Storage, A.B. Oxford Cold Storage, Bring Frigoscandia AS, Burris Logistics, Claus Sorensen, Cloverleaf Cold Storage, ColdEX and Columbia Colstor amongst others.This report segments the global cold chain equipment market as follows:Cold Chain Equipment Market: Product Segment AnalysisStorage EquipmentTransport EquipmentCold Chain Equipment Market: End-User Segment AnalysisMeat, Fish & SeafoodDairy & Frozen DessertsVegetables & FruitsBakery & ConfectionaryOthersRequest a customized copy of report @Cold Chain Equipment Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaEuropeAsia PacificRest of WorldVisit Our Blog :About UsZion Market Research is an obligated company. We create futuristic, cutting edge, informative reports ranging from industry reports, company reports to country reports. We provide our clients not only with market statistics unveiled by avowed private publishers and public organizations but also with vogue and newest industry reports along with pre-eminent and niche company profiles. Our database of market research reports comprises a wide variety of reports from cardinal industries. Our database is been updated constantly in order to fulfill our clients with prompt and direct online access to our database. Keeping in mind the clients needs, we have included expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends in this database. Last but not the least, we make it our duty to ensure the success of clients connected to usafter allif you do well, a little of the light shines on us.Contact US:Zion Market Research4283, Express Lane,Suite 634-143,Sarasota, Florida 34249, United StatesTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll-Free No.1-855-465-4651Email: sales@zionmarketresearch.comWebsite:
Mobile Device Management(MDM) Market worth USD 5.32 Billion by 2021

http://www.marketintelreports.com/report/ict0008/mobile-device-management-market-by-solution-device-management-application-management-security-management-and-network-service-management-service-deployment-type-vertical-and-region--global-forecast-to-2021

http://www.marketintelreports.com/pdfdownload.php?id=ict0008

http://www.marketintelreports.com/purchase.php?id=ict0008

www.marketintelreports.com

The report "Mobile Device Management Market by Solution (Device Management, Application Management, Security Management, and Network Service Management), Service, Deployment Type, Vertical, and Region - Global Forecast to 2021", The MDM market size is expected to grow from USD 1.69 Billion in 2016 to USD 5.32 Billion by 2021, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 25.8% during the forecast period.Browse Our Recent Research on Mobile Device Management Market @The major drivers of this market include increasing smartphone and tablet penetration and strong adoption of BYOD policies, growing security concerns to protect corporate data, and MDM capabilities to manage and synchronize different platform (Windows, Mac, iOS and Android) devices through a single console.Application management is expected to be the most promising solution during the forecast periodThe mobile device management market has been segmented into solutions, services, deployment types, and verticals. The application management is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Application management is considerably important due to growing number of mobile apps, and this solution provides granular controls to the administrators in an organization which ultimately helps them in managing and securing the app data.Managed services is expected to hold the major market share during the forecast periodManaged services segment commands the major share of the MDM services. These are services that are being offered by a third party to help any organization choose the best MDM solution and help it in deploying the same. These services are quite popular among the smaller organizations which do not have the expertise to effectively manage enterprise mobility. Thus, in order to maintain the desired level of safety and protection, they outsource it to the third parties who have expertise in such services.Get Sample Brochure of the Market @North America contributes the maximum market share in the MDM marketNorth America is expected to hold the largest market share and dominate the mobile device management market in 2016, due to the increased mobile workforce, increased smartphones penetration, BYOD trend, and higher cloud-based deployment of MDM solutions due to the availability of cloud data centers in the region. APAC is estimated to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period as the organizations in this region are looking to adopt enterprisemobility solutions to meet the demands of the dynamic mobile workforce.Better economic growth, usage of mobile devices by a high percentage of young population, demand for cloud-based solutions by SMEs, use of local brands of tablets and smartphones for business purposes, and the growing BYOD trend are other factors responsible for the rapid growth of MDM market in this region.The major vendors covered in the MDM market for the study are VMwareAirWatch, MobileIron, BlackBerry Ltd., IBM Corporation, Citrix systems, SOTI, Inc., Sophos, NetPlus Amtel, SAP, Symantec Corporation, and Microsoft Corporation.Order this research report @About us:MarketIntelReports (MIR) aim to empower our clients to successfully manage and outperform in their business decisions, we do this by providing Premium Market Intelligence, Strategic Insights and Databases from a range of Global Publishers.A group of industry veterans who are well experienced in reputed international consulting firms after identifying the sourcing needs of MNCs for market intelligence, have together started this business savior MarketIntelReports.Contact us:Sales ManagerMayur S2711 Centerville Road, Suite 400,Wilmington,Delaware,19808United Statespr@marketintelreports.comTelephone: 1-302-261-5343
Global Food Safety Testing Market worth USD 8.04 billion in 2021 and CAGR 7.8% by 2021

https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/sample/food-safety-testing-market

https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/inquiry/food-safety-testing-market

https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/report/food-safety-testing-market

https://zionmarketresearch.wordpress.com/

http://www.zionmarketresearch.com

Zion Market Research has published a new report titled Food safety testing Market (traditional and rapid) by Technology, (pathogens, toxins, GMOs, pesticides and others) by contaminant, (meat & poultry, dairy, process food, fruit & vegetables and others) by Application - Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis and Forecast, 2015  2021 According to the report, global demand for food safety testing market was valued at USD 4.8 billion in 2015, is expected to reach USD 8.04 billion in 2021 and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 7.8% between 2016 and 2021.Request Free Sample copy of Research Report @Globally, food safety is major concern in consumers due to constant threat of foodborne illness. Food safety testing is necessary to achieve a certificate of analysis of raw food products and ready to eat foods at several stages of food processing. Customers are provided with food safety labels on food products to ensure quality and safety of products.The global food safety testing market has been presenting tremendous growth with increasing foodborne illness worldwide. The market growth is driven by growing consumer awareness associated with food safety matters. Worldwide all regions experiencing food disease epidemic cases, due occurrence of microbial pathogens and chemical contaminant. The key market players are experiencing escalating demand for food safety testing owing health issues and increasing awareness amongst customers.Inquire more about this report @Food safety testing market is segmented based on technology, contaminant, application, and by region. Different technologies used for testing food safety include traditional technologies and rapid technologies. Due to some limitations of traditional food safety methods, rapid food testing technology accounted for significant share in 2015 market. Pathogen is a leading contaminant segment in food safety market. Furthermore, GMO testing segment is expected to fastest growing segment over forecast period. The key application covered under this study includes Meat & poultry, dairy, process food, Fruit & vegetables, and others. Among all, meat & poultry were the largest application segments that accounted for a significant share of global food safety testing market in 2015 and are expected to be the fastest growing segment for the predicted coming years.Browse detail report with in-depth TOC @Geographically, North America dominated the food safety testing market in 2015. The biggest share of this region can be attributed to various factors such as increased prevalence of food disease and rising government regulations. Europe is a one of the major player in the food safety testing market due to increased awareness about government food safety policies in this region. Asia Pacific represents a region with a very large potential for food safety testing market due to increases emphasis on food securities in this regions.Biocontrol Systems Incorporated, 3M Company, Roka Bioscience, Bio-Rad Laboratories Incorporated, Agilent Technologies Incorporated, Douglas Scientific, IDDEX Laboratories INC, and Ecolab Incorporated are some of the leading profiles in the food safety testing market.Visit Our Blog :About UsZion Market Research is an obligated company. We create futuristic, cutting edge, informative reports ranging from industry reports, company reports to country reports. We provide our clients not only with market statistics unveiled by avowed private publishers and public organizations but also with vogue and newest industry reports along with pre-eminent and niche company profiles. Our database of market research reports comprises a wide variety of reports from cardinal industries. Our database is been updated constantly in order to fulfill our clients with prompt and direct online access to our database. Keeping in mind the clients needs, we have included expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends in this database. Last but not the least, we make it our duty to ensure the success of clients connected to usafter allif you do well, a little of the light shines on us.Contact US:Zion Market Research4283, Express Lane,Suite 634-143,Sarasota, Florida 34249, United StatesTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll-Free No.1-855-465-4651Email: sales@zionmarketresearch.comWebsite:
Clinical Electrophoresis Market Headed for Growth and Global Expansion by 2016 - 2026

http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/12484

Electrophoresis is a technique used to separate charged particles like DNA, RNA, and proteins by its size or charge. Different types of electrophoresis system are available is the market. It is used in routine clinical laboratories because of its specific application. It is widely used in molecular biology, biochemistry, and biomedical research. It is highly efficient technique for protein analysis and only method of separation for blotting procedure. Electrophoresis is used for both quantitative and qualitative analysis.Electrophoresis is the method of separation where the molecules migrate due to applied electric field. The molecules migrate towards oppositely charged electrode under the influence of electric field. Sample is injected into the wells of the permeable matrix placed on electrophoresis plate. The gel matrix can be of different materials such as paper, cellulose acetate, polyacrylamide gel, agarose gel or starch. Polyacrylamide gels are mainly used for the separation of proteins, known as polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). In clinical diagnosis cellulose acetate electrophoresis is an important technique. The positive charge molecule move towards the cathode and negatively charge molecules move towards the anode. Movement of the charged particle is influenced by its molecular weight, due to which different bands appear after the process.In clinical diagnosis cellulose acetate electrophoresis is an important technique and is used for Serum Protein Analysis, Haemoglobin Analysis, Lipoprotein Analysis and Others. In specialized laboratories, the highly sophisticated electrophoretic technique should be installed to resolve the problems encountered in clinical medicine.Factors driving the growth of electrophoresis market are the collaboration between major market players and academic institutions, funding for research in electrophoresis technique, increasing focus on next-generation sequencing technique and others. Factors that are restraining the growth of the electrophoresis market during the forecast period include expensive electrophoresis apparatus, time-consuming technique and requires the skilled person. Shortly, an electrophoretic technique will be continued to be used in clinical laboratory and medical science.Based on the electrophoresis types, clinical electrophoresis market is segmented into slab electrophoresis and capillary electrophoresis. Slab electrophoresis is further segmented into zone electrophoresis, Isoelectric-focusing and Immune-electrophoresis. Zone electrophoresis is sub-segmented on the basis of paper electrophoresis and gel electrophoresis. Based on the end user, global clinical electrophoresis market is segmented into hospitals, clinical laboratory, pharmaceutical and biological industry and research/academic institutes. Hospital segment is expected to dominate the global clinical electrophoresis market.Request for Sample Report and Table of content @On the basis of regional presence, global electrophoresis market is segmented into five key regions viz. North America, Latin America, APAC, Europe and Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to lead the global clinical electrophoresis market due to the stringent regulations regarding pharmaceutical manufacturing and focusing on research and development in diagnostics.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market in-telligence firm specializing in syndicated research, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Consumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMRs engagement models are highly flexi-ble without compromising on its deep-seated research values.ContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Future of Apple Fruit Concentrate Market : 2015 to 2021

http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/5915

http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/5915

Fruit concentrate is concentrated juice derived from the fruits by removing water contents from it. Fruit concentrates are generally used as a natural sweetener or as a sugar substitutes in various food items such as cakes, juices, chocolates and others. Fruit concentrate market can be segmented on the basis of fruit type which includes orange concentrates, apple concentrates, grapes concentrates, pineapple concentrates, special fruit concentrates and others. Apple concentrates are mainly applicable for making fruit juices, nectars, puree and also as a flavoring agents in various food applications. Increasing consumer consumption fruit supplement on regular basis, is driving the growth of apple fruit concentrate across the globe.Request to view Sample Report @On the basis of type apple fruit concentrate market can be segmented as puree concentrate, juice concentrate, powder concentrate, clear concentrate and frozen concentrate. Among all these segments juice comprises major market share followed by powder concentrates. Less availability of fresh apple juice coupled with rising demand of packaged fruit juice is expected to support the demand of juice concentrate during the forecast period. Moreover clear concentrate is expected to show a significant growth during the forecast period.Furthermore, apple fruit concentrate market can be segmented on the basis of application which includes juice, dairy products, soft drinks, squash, frozen products and others (baby food). Among all these segments juice is expected to occupy the largest position on the pie in terms of market share followed by soft drinks. Shifting consumer taste and preferences from traditional orange or lemon juice towards new flavors such as apple or specialty fruit is expected to drive the demand of juice and soft drinks blended with apple flavor during the forecast period. Dairy product is also expected to show a substantial growth in the near future. Increased introduction of flavored dairy products such as flavored milk, yoghurt and others are expected to support the demand of apple concentrates through dairy products during the forecast period.On the basis of geography, North America is expected to contribute to the highest in terms of market share in apple fruit concentrate market followed by Europe. In North America United States is the major contributor apple fruit concentrate market followed by Canada. Increasing health consciousness coupled with rising demand of convenience products among the people American countries is driving the growth of apple fruit concentrate across the region. In Europe, countries such as Germany accounts for the largest market share followed by United Kingdom. Whereas, Asia pacific is concerned it is expected to register a double digit CAGR growth by 2020.Asia Pacific is expected to be one of the fast growing market for apple fruit concentrate. In Asia pacific region China is expected to be the most dominant market for apple fruit concentrate by India. Rising awareness among the consumer for healthy lifestyle through various commercial advertisement is fuelling the growth of apple fruit concentrate across the region in the forecast period. China apple juice concentrate market is expected to emerge as potential supplier of these concentrates in the near futureThe rising demand for convenience and packaged foods coupled with increasing health consciousness among the people in developed economies is expected to support the growth of apple fruit concentrate market in the forecast period. In emerging economies, changing consumer lifestyle and shifting of consumer preference towards new flavors and taste is expected to fuel the growth of apple fruit concentrate during the forecast period. However, less farming of apple across the globe coupled with fluctuating price of the fruit is expected to restrain the growth of apple fruit concentrate during the forecast period.Request to view Table of content @Some of the international players operating in apple fruit concentrate include Dohler Group, Britvic Plc, Cobell Limited, Agrana Juice Holdings Gmbh, Kraft Foods Group Inc, Skypeople Fruit Juice Inc. and Yantai North Andre Juice Co Ltd among others.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.ContactPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.com
Dehydrated Food Market : Outlook Continues to Remain Positive by 2015 - 2021

http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/5933

http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/5933

Drying or dehydration is a process through which moisture or water content is removed from the food. Removing of water content from food makes them lighter and smaller. It helps in preservation of food for longer period of time. Dehydrated food do not require any refrigeration while preserving at home or at the time of consumption. Moreover, dehydrated food is ideal for preserving seasonal fruits and vegetables. Dehydrated food offer high nutritional value, easy storage properties and availability at low price, which is driving the demand of dehydrate food across the globe.Request to view Sample Report @Dehydrated food market can be segmented on the basis of technology which includes spray dried, freeze dried, vacuum dried, sun dried, hot air dried and others. Traditionally among all these segments sun dried process of dehydration was the major segment in terms of usage by food manufacturers followed by hot air dried process. However due to the introduction of new technology spray dried is expected to account for largest share in terms of market revenue contribution, followed by freeze dried during the forecast period. Vacuum dried segment is expected to show a consistent growth as compared to others. Limited usage in food products is expected to be the restraining factor for the growth of vacuum dried technology in dehydrated food market in the near future.Furthermore, dehydrated food market can also be segmented on the basis of types. This includes dehydrated dairy products, dehydrated fruits, dehydrated meat products, dehydrated vegetables and others. Among all these segment meat products is expected to account for largest market share followed by dairy products. Increasing demand for enhanced year around availability of processed and canned meat products among the manufacturers is expected to support the demand of dehydrated meat products in the near future. Moreover the dehydrated fruits and dehydrated vegetables segments respectively are expected show a favorable growth during the forecast period. This is attributed to rising demand of seasonal fruits and vegetables.Dehydrated food market can also be segmented on the basis of region. Globally, North America is expected to account for the major market share. In North American region the U.S is expected to be the major contributor in terms of revenue followed by Canada. Increased consumption of meat products in North America is expected to support the demand of dehydrated food products across the region. Europe is also expected to be one of the prominent contributor in dehydrated food products market in terms of revenue followed by Asia Pacific. Among all the countries in the European region United Kingdom is expected to contribute the highest during the forecast period. Moreover in terms of production of dehydrated food China is expected to be one of the prominent producer of dehydrated food products. In addition, China is one of the largest meat products producer along with prime producer of various seasonal fruits and vegetables. This is expected to contribute towards significant growth in the country.Rising demand of food products with longer shelf life coupled with the increasing demand of seasonal products across the year is supporting the growth of dehydrated food market during the forecast period. Moreover, increasing demand of food manufacturers for preserving food product for longer period so that they could use it as an ingredient in their final product is also fuelling the demand of dehydrated food market during the forecast period.Request to view Table of content @Some of the international players operating in dehydrated food market are General Mills Inc., Ting Hsin International Group, Unilever China Ltd, Ajinomoto Co. Inc., House Foods Corp, Nissin Food Holdings Co. Ltd. and Kraft Foods Inc, among others.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.ContactPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.com
Edible Films and Coating Market Trends, Regulations And Competitive Landscape Outlook to 2025

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-907

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-907

www.futuremarketinsights.com

Edible films and coating are thin layer of material which provides a barrier to moisture for the various food application. Generally edible films and coating thickness is approximately 0.3 mm. It also helps in extending the shelf life of the final product. Edible films and coating are prepared from proteins, polysaccharides and/or lipids to alter the surface characteristics of a food. It possess a wide application in various food industry which is expected to drive edible film market during the forecast period.Edible Films and Coating Market SegmentationEdible films and coating is segmented on the basis of ingredient types which includes protein base, polysaccharides base and lipids base. Among all these segments protein base edible films is expected to be the major segment in terms of revenue generation as compared to others. Protein base edible films comprises high advantages such as it can be used for the individual packaging of small portions of food, can be applied inside heterogeneous foods at the interfaces between different layers of components, can function as carriers for antimicrobial and antioxidant agents and many others is predicted to support its growth during the forecast period. Moreover, polysaccharides base is expected to show a substantial growth in the near future. On the basis of type protein base edible films is sub segmented as collagen films, gelatin films, wheat gluten films, soy protein films and others (corn zein films and casein films). Among all these sub segment soy protein is expected to contribute major share in edible protein edible films market. Polysaccharides edible films is also sub segmented as pectin chitosan, alginate, starch, cellulose and dextrin. In addition lipids for use in films include fatty acids, acylglycerol and waxes.Request Free Report Sample@Edible films and coating is further segmented on the basis of application which includes meat and poultry products, bakery products, confectionery products, fruits and vegetables, flavor encapsulation and nutraceutical products. Among all these segment bakery product is expected to contribute major share in edible films market followed by confectionery products. Moreover, nutraceutical industry is predicted to show a healthy growth during the forecast period. Edible films are ultra-portable and convenient, especially for children and the elderly who may have difficulty swallowing pills, which is expected to support the growth of edible films market in nutraceutical products.Geographically North America edible film and coating market is well established. The region is expected to contribute highest in terms of revenue. In North America Us is expected to account for major market share followed by Canada. Europe is expected to be emerging market for edible films and coating during the forecast period. Growing nutraceutical industry in the European countries is expected to be the driving factor for edible films and coating market in the future. In developing region such as Asia Pacific is predicted to show a healthy growth during the forecast period. China is expected to be the major contributor in terms of revenue in edible films and coating market followed by Japan.Edible Films and Coating Market DriversHigh advantages of edible films and coating material such as it act as masking agent, it is ultra-portable convenient and others is expected to fuel the growth of edible films and coating material market during the forecast period. Moreover, increased demand for those edible products with long shelf life is also predicted to fuel the growth of edible films and coating market during the forecast period.Visit For TOC@Edible Films and Coating Market Key PlayersSome of the major players operating in edible film and coating material market includes Tate and Lyle Plc, WATSON-INC, Tsukioka Film Pharma Co., Ltd, JRF Technology, LLC, MonoSol, LLC among others.About Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.Contact Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
New Trends of Malt Ingredients Market with Worldwide Industry Analysis to 2025

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-835

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-835

www.futuremarketinsights.com

Malting is the process of converting cereal grains like barley, wheat and others into malt which can be used in brewing, distilling and in food manufacturing. The cereal grains are germinated by soaking in water then allow to sprout and dried with hot air. During malting process grain starches are converted in simple sugars such as glucose and fructose. Malt ingredients are used in food industry as a food additives which imparts desirable flavor and color to finished product and it helps to modify or stabilize texture of food & beverages. Increasing new food product development to incorporate natural ingredients, and increasing demand for all natural food products is creating opportunities for malt ingredient market.Malt Ingredients Market: SegmentationMalt ingredients market is segmented on the basis of sources as barley, wheat and others (rye). Barley is commonly used raw material in malting process. Wheat grains are used for malting as it contains higher amount of proteins Malt ingredients markets is segmented on the basis of grade as special grade and standard grade malts (are also known as base malts). Out of these two types base malts have diastatic power to convert their starches while specialty malts have little diastatic power, and it contributes flavor, color to the final product. On the basis of types malt ingredients market is further segmented as dry malt, liquid malt, flour and others (flakes). Dry malt powder is used in bakery and powder premixes manufacturing. Liquid malts are used in syrup and ice cream toppings. Flakes are used as bakery toppings. The malt ingredients market is also segmented on the basis of end use applications as food products, bakery and confectionary products, dairy and frozen products, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and others (pharmaceutical and animal feed).Request Free Report Sample@Malt Ingredients Market: Region-wise OutlookMalt ingredients market can be segmented on the basis of region includes North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific except Japan, Japan and Middle East and Africa. The Malt ingredients market is expected to witness vigorous growth through 2025 due to the rising demand for ready-to-eat and packaged food preferences of consumer. With increasing packaged food consumption and non-alcoholic beer consumption, malt ingredient market is expected to grow at healthy rate. Europe is expected to dominate the market in forecast period. Asia-Pacific and Middle East and Africa will show the robust growth due to growing demand for alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. New product development in dairy premixes and malt based drinks for kids is motivational factor for malt ingredient market growth.Malt Ingredients Market: DriversThe increasing population globally has a strong impact on the food supply. Health conscious consumers are looking for clean label, food quality and safety. Increase in consumption of malt beer and malt based nutritional dairy products is key driver for malt ingredients market. Malt ingredients are used in bakery and confectionery products for dwell purpose as it imparts colour and flavor to finished products.Visit For TOC@Malt Ingredients Market: Key PlayersThe key international players operating in malt ingredients market includes Axereal, Cargill Incorporated, Crisp Malting Group, Global Malt GmbH & Co. Kg, Graincrop Limited, Ireks GmbH, Malteurop Group, Muntons PLC. Simpsons Malt Ltd, Soufflet GroupAbout Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.Contact Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
UAE Govt. Initiatives for Easy Consumer Payments methods is set to record a high CAGR by 2020

Consumer Payments Market

http://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=871899

http://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=enquiry&repid=871899

http://www.marketresearchhub.com/report/consumer-payments-country-snapshot-uae-report.html

http://www.marketresearchhub.com/

Albany, New York, December 8, 2016: Due to increasing trend in the use of technology, contactless payment rollout and adoption have yet to reach full potential in the Emirati market. A new report by Verdict financial, focusing on the UAE consumer payment market has been added to the vast database of Market Research Hub (MRH), titled as Consumer Payments Country Snapshot: UAE. Study also discovers the online payment market in the UAE by merchant type & payment tool, as well as provides a five-year forecast for the development of the market.Request for Sample Report:The UAE market is defined by limited diffusion of payment cards and a high dependence on cash among consumers. First of all, the report considers the consumers attitude towards payments cards, online payments, P2P payments and some newer payment technologies like mobile wallets & contactless transactions. By this adoption, now companies in the UAE market are installing these tools to meet customer requirements. According to the study, in 2016, there was a major shift towards online retailing in the United Arab Emirates have been observed, which still involves most payments through cash on delivery. However, online platforms reported impressive growth for payments through card and consumer self-assurance regarding the use of financial cards continued to improve the financial services.Some of the key companies are also mentioned in the report, including: Citi Visa Mastercard Emirates NBD Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank National Bank of Abu Dhabi Axis Bank Mashreq Bank Western Union.Many retailers in the country are developing e-commerce platforms whereas banks launched mobile banking apps that received a positive response from consumers. Due to this, e-commerce accounts for the majority of online purchases by value in the UAE and is set to achieve a CAGR of 33% from 2015 to 2020, on the other hand m-commerce is expected to record a significant CAGR of 29% during the same period. Overall, the payment industry in the United Arab Emirates is expected to see faster digitization of payments and improvement towards a cashless culture.Make An Enquiry:The government of the United Arab Emirates led various initiatives to move towards more cashless economy, such as development of various e-wallets and pre-paid cards. In spite of a relatively developed contactless payment infrastructure and merchant acceptance, Emirati consumers has made significant progress in adopting and using the technology.Through this report, the buyer will able to identify the major competitors in card issuing and how their position in the market has changed over the five years.Read Full Report with TOC:About Market Research Hub:Market Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of market research reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (US-Canada)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Email: press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite:
Research report covers the Refractive Surgery Devices Market share and Growth, 2015-2025

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-780

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-780

www.futuremarketinsights.com

Refractive Surgery is the process of correcting or improving your vision affected by refractive error such as Myopia, Hyperopia, and Astigmatism. The most common procedure for correcting the refractive error is LASIK.Myopia is the most common refractive error in the global population. This indication varies across populations of different regions and ethnicities. It is estimated that 1.45 billion people had myopia in 2010 and it is predicted this number will continue to increase as the worlds population grows. The prevalence of myopia is most common among young adults in South- East Asian countries which is around 80-90% of the population completing high school.Refractive Surgery Devices Market: Drivers and RestraintsAdvancement in Refractive Surgery treatment have provided patient with a number of option to reduce and eliminate their dependency on glasses and contact lenses and take corrective measures for refractive errors. With the rapid increase in procedure volumes since last few years, there is an increase adaptation of laser devices for refractive surgery in healthcare facilities. The technological improvements in LASIK surgery in last few years is acting as a key driver for ophthalmic laser market.Request Free Report Sample@Low patient awareness of procedures safety, a limited pool of qualified refractive surgeons, unpredictable regulations are acting as a barrier for this market.Refractive Surgery Devices Market: SegmentationGlobal vascular market is further segmented into following types:Ophthalmic LasersEximer LasersFemtosecond LasersYAG LasersMicrokeratomeRefractive Surgery Devices Market: OverviewWith the increase in patient population suffering from refractive errors and an increased awareness in the treatment options, the global market for refractive surgery devices is expected to witness and healthy growth in the forecast years (2015-2025)Refractive Surgery Devices Market: Region- wise OutlookDepending on geographic regions, global vascular stents market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, South America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Japan and Middle East & Africa.North America represent the largest market in ophthalmic lasers followed by Europe. In Asia Pacific, China dominates the refractive surgery devices market.Visit For TOC@Refractive Surgery Devices Market: Key PlayersSome of the key market players in global refractive surgery devices market are Abbott Medical Optics, Inc., Carl Zeiss AG, Alcon, Inc., Bausch & Lomb Incorporated, Nidek Co., Ltd., Ziemer Ophthalmic Systems AG, SCHWIND eye-tech-solutions GmbH & Co. KG, Lumenis Ltd. and Ellex Medical Lasers Limited.About Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.Contact Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Multimedia Chipsets Market: Graphics Chipsets in High Demand as Users Desire Devices for Streaming, Multitasking

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=1377

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/multimedia-chipsets-market.htm

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

Regular and Intensive Phases of R&D Characterize Multimedia Chipsets MarketLeading companies in the multimedia chipsets market are currently witnessing a high demand for smartphones and other handheld and portable devices across the world. Users are not only demanding better quality of hardware components, but also demand them to be as cost-effective as possible. This drives the multimedia chipsets players into regular and intensive phases of research and development. As a result of the high rate of technological innovation, both players and consumers retain an improving quality of the devices as well as market revenue increments.View exclusive Global strategic Business report atMultimedia chipsets companies are also benefitting from the rapid expansion of internet protocol television (IPTV) and set top boxes. These devices are in an exceptionally high demand due to the rapid migration of consumer from the conventional TV to online viewing and use of the smart TV.The above factors, combined with the high growth potential of multimedia chipsets in the gaming industry and the wearable devices industry, allows the multimedia chipsets revenue to progress at a CAGR of 6.6% between 2015 and 2023. This market is expected to be valued at US$40.99 bn by the end of 2023.Asia Pacific Continues to be Lucrative Region for Multimedia Chipsets MakersAsia Pacific has been leading the demand for multimedia chipsets in the recent past and will continue dominating the market shares in both revenue and volume for the coming years. This regions shows an especially high demand for handheld devices and set top boxes and IPTVs, which form the two most lucrative application segments for multimedia chipsets players. This region is expected to hold 46.76% of the multimedia chipsets revenue generated by 2023.Asia Pacific multimedia chipsets also take in high investments for SoC manufacturing, which complements the fact that this region is a global hub for semiconductor companies. China holds the largest number of smartphone users in the world, making it a key market for multimedia chipsets players. At the same time, Singapore offers a very high level of market penetration for smartphones and consumer electronics, allowing most entrants a good shot at gaining revenues.Browse Press Release:Graphics Chipsets in High Demand as Users Desire Devices for Streaming, MultitaskingGraphics chipsets have consistently held the larger revenue share in multimedia chipsets in recent years. Current market trends indicate that this segment will continue to hold the dominant share for the coming years as well. A key reason for this high demand is the growth in the number of users demanding consumer electronics for the purpose of watching videos and movies online. Improved internet facilities across the world are making it easier for consumer to stream videos online, considerably increasing their numbers over the past few years.Consumers have also expressed high demand for electronics devices capable of multitasking. Most multitasking components of a consumers usage involve switching between different graphics on a device, which requires strong and stable graphics chipsets. The level of innovation is high among the three leading providers of graphics hardware  Intel, NVidia, and AMD. Each company holds a large number of users based on their difference in utility, preferences, and the companys marketing strategies.The key manufacturers of multimedia chipsets globally include AMD, Inc., Intel, NVidia, Realtek, Yamaha, Qualcomm, and Cirrus Logic, Inc.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Dextrose Monohydrate Market Shares, Elegant Growth, Advancements & End-Users 2016

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=715590&type=E

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-dextrose-monohydrate-market-professional-survey-report-2016.htm

http://www.qyresearchreports.com/press-releases.htm

Global Dextrose Monohydrate Industry 2016 Market Overview, Size, Share, Trends, Analysis, Technology, Applications, Growth, Market Status, Demands, Insights, Development, Research and Forecast 2016-2020.An extensive analysis of the global Dextrose Monohydrate market has been presented in this report, which has been developed after qualitative insights from industry experts and includes historical data as well as verifiable projections about market size during the forecast period of 2016 to 2021. The report has been prepared using proven research methodologies and assumptions to derive the projections. The aim of the report is to serve as a boon for the existing players in the global Dextrose Monohydrate market and, at the same time, a guide for the new and emerging players. The report estimates the future of this market after evaluating the impact of several factors that are expected to influence the demand in near future. The report also points out some of the key trends that are emerging that every player should take a note of, be it regional or global.Enquiry For Discount Visit @To present a clear picture of the market, the report divides the global market for Dextrose Monohydrate into important segments based on but not limited to the technology, regional markets, services, type of products, and applications. For each of the segment, current as well as estimated valuation has been provided. This is to help the players detect the most lucrative aspects of the global Dextrose Monohydrate market and device their future strategies.One of the key features of this report is the section on company profiles. The report not only provides the information on current revenue and position of some of the major players in the global Dextrose Monohydrate market, it also reveals their business strategies with which, they plan to strengthen their position.Browse Complete Report with TOC @Table of Contents1 Industry Overview of Dextrose Monohydrate1.1 Definition and Specifications of Dextrose Monohydrate1.1.1 Definition of Dextrose Monohydrate1.1.2 Specifications of Dextrose Monohydrate1.2 Classification of Dextrose Monohydrate1.3 Applications of Dextrose Monohydrate1.4 Industry Chain Structure of Dextrose Monohydrate1.5 Industry Overview and Major Regions Status of Dextrose Monohydrate1.5.1 Industry Overview of Dextrose Monohydrate1.5.2 Global Major Regions Status of Dextrose Monohydrate1.6 Industry Policy Analysis of Dextrose Monohydrate1.7 Industry News Analysis of Dextrose Monohydrate2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Dextrose Monohydrate2.1 Raw Material Suppliers and Price Analysis of Dextrose Monohydrate2.2 Equipment Suppliers and Price Analysis of Dextrose Monohydrate2.3 Labor Cost Analysis of Dextrose Monohydrate2.4 Other Costs Analysis of Dextrose Monohydrate2.5 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Dextrose Monohydrate2.6 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Dextrose Monohydrate3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Dextrose Monohydrate3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Dextrose Monohydrate Major Manufacturers in 20153.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Dextrose Monohydrate Major Manufacturers in 20153.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Dextrose Monohydrate Major Manufacturers in 20153.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Dextrose Monohydrate Major Manufacturers in 20154 Global Dextrose Monohydrate Overall Market Overview4.1 2011-2016E Overall Market Analysis4.2.1 2011-2015 Global Dextrose Monohydrate Capacity and Growth Rate Analysis4.2.2 2015 Dextrose Monohydrate Capacity Analysis (Company Segment)4.3 Sales Analysis4.3.1 2011-2015 Global Dextrose Monohydrate Sales and Growth Rate Analysis4.3.2 2015 Dextrose Monohydrate Sales Analysis (Company Segment)4.4 Sales Price Analysis4.4.1 2011-2015 Global Dextrose Monohydrate Sales Price4.4.2 2015 Dextrose Monohydrate Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment)4.5 Gross Margin Analysis4.5.1 2011-2015 Global Dextrose Monohydrate Gross Margin4.5.2 2015 Dextrose Monohydrate Gross Margin Analysis (Company Segment)For Latest QYResearchreports Press Release Visit @QYResearchReports.com is an unimpeachable source of market research data for clients that comprise acclaimed SMEs, Chinese companies, private equity firms, and MNCs. We provide market research reports on various categories such as Energy, Chemicals, Alternative and Green Energy, Manufacturing, Machinery, Pharmaceuticals and Materials, and Glass.QYResearchreportsContact Us1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United States+1-518-621-2074866-997-4948USA-Canada Toll freesales@qyresearchreports.com
Global Nurse Call System Market - Ascom Holding AG, Rauland-Borg Corporation, Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc., Cornell Communications

Global Nurse Call System Market

http://bit.ly/2eAo90Z

http://atozresearch.com/global-nurse-call-system-market-research-reports/

http://bit.ly/2e5ZRHm

http://atozresearch.com/

Nurse Call System Market by Equipment Type (Nurse Call Buttons, Nurse Call Intercoms, Nurse Call Mobile Systems, and Nurse Call Integrated Communication Systems) by Communication Technology (Wired Communication Equipment and Wireless Communication Equipment) for Hospitals, OPD Clinics, Assisted Living Centers, and Ambulatory Services: Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Segment, Trends and Forecast, 2014  2020Global Nurse Call System Market 2014  2020The report covers forecast and analysis for the nurse call system market on a global and regional level. The study provides historic data of 2014 along with a forecast from 2015 to 2020 based revenue (USD Million). The study includes drivers and restraints for the nurse call system market along with the impact they have on the demand over the forecast period. Additionally, the report includes the study of opportunities available in the nurse call system market on a global level.In order to give the users of this report a comprehensive view on the nurse call system. To understand the competitive landscape in the market, an analysis of Porters Five Forces model for the nurse call system market has also been included. The study encompasses a market attractiveness analysis, wherein equipment type segments, communication technology segment and application segments are benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate and general attractiveness.Get Sample Copy of Report atThe study provides a decisive view on the nurse call system market by segmenting the market based on equipment type of nurse call system, applications and regions. All the segments have been analyzed based on present and future trends and the market is estimated from 2014 to 2020. Based on equipment type the market is segmented into nurse call buttons, nurse call intercoms, nurse call mobile systems, and nurse call integrated communication systems. Wired communication equipment and wireless communication equipment are the communication technology segments of nurse call system market. Key application market covered under this study includes hospitals, OPD clinics, assisted living centers, and ambulatory services.The regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East and Africa with its further bifurcation into major countries including U.S. Germany, France, UK, China, Japan, India and Brazil. This segmentation includes demand for nurse call system based on individual applications in all the regions and countries.The report also includes detailed profiles of end players such as Ascom Holding AG, Rauland-Borg Corporation, Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc., Cornell Communications, Inc., Jeron Electronic Systems, Inc., Tyco SimplexGrinnell, TekTone Sound & Signal Mfg., Inc., Vigil Health Solutions, Inc., Critical Alert Systems, LLC, Stanley Healthcare, Azure Healthcare Limited. The detailed description of players includes parameters such as company overview, financial overview, business and recent developments of the company.Browse more detail information about Report atThis report segments the global nurse call system market as follows:Global Nurse Call System Market: Equipment Type Segment AnalysisNurse Call ButtonsNurse Call IntercomsNurse Call Mobile SystemsNurse Call Integrated Communication SystemsGlobal Nurse Call System Market: Communication Technology Segment AnalysisWired Communication EquipmentWireless Communication EquipmentRequest For Toc of Report atGlobal Nurse Call System Market: Application Segment AnalysisHospitalsOPD ClinicsAssisted Living CentersAmbulatory ServicesAbout A to Z ResearchA to Z Research is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations. A to Z Research is the comprehensive collection of market intelligence products and services available on air. We have market research reports from number of leading publishers and update our collection daily to provide our clients with the instant online access to our database. With access to this database, our clients will be able to benefit from expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends.Contact US3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442, USATel: +1-386-310-3803GMTTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/CanadaToll Free No.1-855-465-465Email: martin@atozresearch.comWebsite:
C2C E-commerce Market: Proliferation of Internet Services Across the World & Significant Increase in the use of Smartphones drives Market

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=13379

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

C2C is a category of e-commerce which allows consumers to interact with each other. This model of e-commerce facilitates transactions of products or services between consumers. In business to consumer model, a consumer approaches a business to purchase goods or services. In C2C model, the business provides a platform where consumers can sell products or services to each other. The main goal of C2C is to help buyers find sellers. This benefits both the parties. A buyer finds a product or a service which would have otherwise been hard to find and a seller benefits by selling the product or a service. The platforms for such transactions are usually provided by third parties, which act as intermediaries between the sellers and buyers. For instance, online portals such as E-bay facilitates sellers to post their goods or services online that is available for consumers to purchase. In such transactions, the third party may charge a transaction fee or commission. Products sold on these websites can be new or second hand.Download Brochure atThe proliferation of Internet services across the world and the significant increase in the use of smartphones can be attributed as major factors to facilitate the C2C e-commerce market growth. Users can sign-up on online portals providing C2C services and begin to buy or sell desired products or services. The reduction in the costs of these products and services, due to the absence of middlemen, wholesalers and retailers involved in the transaction has further aided to the growth of global C2C e-commerce market. Moreover, sellers are no longer restricted to local regions and can reach national and international audiences. Furthermore, the need of capital investment on outlet stores is eliminated and the inventory costs are reduced. This enables the sellers to sell their products at higher prices and at the same time buyers can purchase them at comparatively cheaper prices. Also, the convenience associated with this model with regards to ample choices available to buyers is an advantage for the subscribers of such portals. The advent and increasing popularity of online payment systems is expected to fuel the growth of C2C e-commerce, globally. However, Internet frauds and identity threats, absence of payment guarantees are the hurdles in adoption of these services. C2C websites have no control over the quality of goods being sold on them as they only act as intermediaries. The possibility of illegal or pirated products sold through such websites is a threat to the C2C market.On the basis of source of revenue, the C2C e-commerce market can be broadly segmented into classifieds and auctions. Classifieds can be further segmented into products and services. In terms of geography, C2C e-commerce market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Latin America. North America is one of the leading regions in the global market because of high penetration of Internet and a large number of smartphone users. Asia Pacific is expected to witness rapid growth in the coming years due to the rise in Internet and smartphone users, mainly in China and India.The key players in the C2C e-commerce market include eBay Inc, Amazon.com, Inc., Craigslist, Inc, Taobao.com, OLX, Inc, Quikr India Private Limited , uBid.com, Auctions.com and Airbnb, Inc.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
The US DRaaS Market to grow at a CAGR of 53.35% over Forecast period 2015-2019

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=263772

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=263772

http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG

Albany, NY, Dec 08: DRaaS refers to services that enable data backup, recovery, and retrieval to help in resuming business functions in the event of a disaster or service disruption. It is one of the fastest growing segments in the cloud-based recovery model. It helps enterprises record mission-critical data during the occurrence of natural calamities such as floods, tornados, and hurricanes, or a sudden and unforeseen system failure. As data are an integral part of business operations, securing them requires efficient and effective implementation of disaster recovery services. It also ensures the availability of IT infrastructure in the event of a disaster. DRaaS market in the US has gained a lot of traction after the occurrence of several natural disasters, including Hurricane Sandy that inflicted heavy losses on the Eastern Coast of the US.The DRaaS Market in the US to grow at a CAGR of 53.35 percent over the period 2014-2019. DRaaS market in the US is segmented on the basis of end-users and the report also covers the major factors that cause disasters.Get a Sample Research PDF with TOC:TechNavio's report, DRaaS Market in US 2015-2019, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. It covers the market landscape of DRaaS market in the US and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion on the key vendors operating in this market.Key Vendors- CA Technologies- Evault- Geminare- Hewlett Packard (HP)- IBM- Iland- nScaled- SunGard Data Systems- Verizon TerremarkOther Prominent Vendors- Acxiom- Amazon Web Services- Axcient- CenturyLink- CommVault Systems- Datto Backup- Equinix- Latisys- Microsoft- Rackspace- Recovery Point Systems- Verizon Communications- VMware- Windstream CommunicationsEnquiry at:Key Questions Answered in this Report- What will the market size be in 2019 and what will the growth rate be?- What are the key market trends?- What is driving this market?- What are the challenges to market growth?- Who are the key vendors in this market space?- What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn at:
Whole Exome Sequencing Market: Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecasts 2015 - 2021

https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/sample/whole-exome-sequencing-market

https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/toc/whole-exome-sequencing-market

https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/inquiry/whole-exome-sequencing-market

https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/report/whole-exome-sequencing-market

https://zionmarketresearch.wordpress.com/

http://www.zionmarketresearch.com

Whole exome sequencing is a technology that caused complete DNA sequence of any organisms genome at the single time through the help of various laboratory processes. In the future of personalized medicine, whole genome sequence will play an important role in guiding the therapeutic intervention. Currently, it is being widely used for the identification and the determination of genetic variants causing various diseases such as Miller syndrome and Alzheimers disease.Request Free Sample Report @Cost-effectiveness with the whole exome sequencing as compared with whole-genome sequencing along with global alliances among key research facilities are some of the factors that increasing the demand of the global whole exome sequencing market. Apart from this, increasing population along with rising incidences of cancer and other infectious diseases are also boosting the growth of the global market. In addition, high investments by companies, both new and old, are on R&D facilities in this technology is also impacting the growth of the market in a positive way. However, lack of skilled manpower and professionals and dependency on the government authorities for approvals and grants are the factors restraining the growth of the market.Request Report TOC (Table of Contents) @On the basis of technology, the global whole exome sequencing market is segmented as sequencing by synthesis and sequencing by ion semiconductor. Based on the products, the market is segmented as instruments sequences, sequencing services, kits, and data analysis services. Sequencing kits are segmented into end repair, DNA fragmentation, A-Tailing and size selection, target enrichment kit and library preparation kits. On the basis of applications, the global market is classified into personalized medicine, diagnostics, agriculture and animal research and drug discovery, and development. Based on the end-users segment, the market is divided further into biotechnology companies, hospitals, research labs and academic, and government organizations.Inquire more before buying this report @North America is the largest market for whole exome sequencing owing to scientific awareness, advanced technology, sufficient funds available at disposal, and the interest of the government and private organizations in developing this method and making it more cost-effective. This trend is followed by Europe and Asia. Asia is anticipated to grow at considerable rate in the near future. With regular government funding and a large number of conferences on the subject of whole exome sequencing technology and methods are few of the major factors boosting the growth of the market in this region.Some of the major players dominating the global whole exome sequencing market are BGI, Ambry Genetics, Eurofins Genomics, Inc., Life Technologies, Illumina, Inc., and GENEWIZ, Inc. The growth is due to their understanding of the technology and investments in R&D.Browse detail report @Whole Exome Sequencing Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.EuropeUKFranceGermanyAsia PacificChinaJapanIndiaLatin AmericaBrazilMiddle East and AfricaVisit Our Blog :About UsZion Market Research is an obligated company. We create futuristic, cutting edge, informative reports ranging from industry reports, company reports to country reports. We provide our clients not only with market statistics unveiled by avowed private publishers and public organizations but also with vogue and newest industry reports along with pre-eminent and niche company profiles. Our database of market research reports comprises a wide variety of reports from cardinal industries. Our database is been updated constantly in order to fulfill our clients with prompt and direct online access to our database. Keeping in mind the clients needs, we have included expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends in this database. Last but not the least, we make it our duty to ensure the success of clients connected to usafter allif you do well, a little of the light shines on us.Contact US:Zion Market Research4283, Express Lane,Suite 634-143,Sarasota, Florida 34249, United StatesTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll-Free No.1-855-465-4651Email: sales@zionmarketresearch.comWebsite:
Data center cooling market size growth estimations of over 11% from 2016 to 2023

https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/423

https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/423

https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/data-center-cooling-market

https://www.gminsights.com

Global Data Center Cooling Market size was $2.59 billion in 2015 and predicted to surpass $6.1 billion mark by end of forecast timeframe registering CAGR of 11.1%. Rapid rise in amount of data centers to match storage space requirements are predicted to propel demand for less energy consuming cooling techniques.Industry has experienced evolution of many businesses that work on an internet platform. This has led to enhanced data storage and processing coupled with server downtime caused by generation of heat. Increase in power consumption as well as price has created a need for managing capacity, minimizing cost and addressing ecological concerns. Demand for high computational ability and enhanced focus on centralization of IT by many firms are few of the factors driving power consumption.Get a Sample Copy of this Report @Temperature changes can lead to machine damage promoting use of data center cooling devices. High ownership costs due to heavy investments and maintenance needs can hinder the demand and growth of the data center cooling industry in future.Application OverviewGlobal data center cooling industry is segmented into varied applications like IT & telecom, BFSI (Banking, Financial services and Insurance), healthcare, power and retail. IT & telecom segment is expected to dominate the application segment during forecast timeline due to high acceptance of data center cooling systems. Further, growing acceptance of ecologically and economically effective cooling techniques like liquid cooling is projected to evolve as a main factor for data center cooling industry demand across many global IT & telecom applications.BFSI applications segment is predicted to acquire data center cooling market share at CAGR of 11.51% during forecast timeline. They need high system accessibility, periodic peak time and less transaction turnaround period along with good cooling amenities. Many cloud-based data management participants concentrate on banking applications due to enhanced digitization of banks.Inquire for Buying This Report@Product OverviewGlobal data center cooling market is segmented into key products like chillers and air conditioners.Chiller segment is anticipated to dominate the data center cooling industry by contributing more than 80.1% of the total industry share for 2015. Air conditioners segment is forecast to register more than 11.1% of CAGR in future.Service OverviewGlobal data center cooling market is segmented into different services like OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) services and managed services.Managed services segment contributed more than 60.1% of total industry revenue share.OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) segment is predicted to display CAGR of 11.61% during forecast timeline.Solution OverviewGlobal data center cooling market is segmented into different data center cooling solutions like precision air handling units and precision air conditioners.Precision air handling units segment is cost effective and prove benefits like low maintenance price, minimized power consumption and reliability. So the demand for these solutions is anticipated to grow in future. Precision air conditioners segment contributed more than 70.1% of overall data center cooling market share for 2015 and is predicted to grow in future.End use overviewGlobal data center cooling market is segmented into small firms, large firms and midsized firms depending upon its end use. Large firms segment is predicted to dominate the global industry in future. Substantial data production across the segment is the key driving factor behind the segment growth.Midsized firms have less storage as well as processing capacity. Consumers belonging to this segment prefer air conditioners as main cooling devices. Small firms segment is predicted to register CAGR of 11.51% during forecast timeframe.View a summary of the Data Center Cooling Market Size, Industry Analysis Report@Regional overviewGlobal data center cooling industry is segmented into main geographical regions like APAC, North America, MEA, Europe and Latin America. APAC data center cooling market share is projected to touch $1.31 billion by end of forecast timeframe owing to high demand from nations like China and India who have substantial growth potential owing to rapid technological breakthroughs.U.S. data center cooling industry had led North America to dominate the global data center cooling market for 2015 . North America contributed more than $1.1 billion during that year.Competitive OverviewKey industry participants profiled in report are Emerson Network Power, Hewlett Packard Company, Hitachi Limited, Schneider Electric, IBM, Fujitsu Limited, Airedale International, Coolcentric, Rittal GmbH & Co. Kg and Stulz GmbH.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1 888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.29L Atlantic Avenue, Suite L 105Ocean View, Delaware
Global Antibacterial Glass Market Analysis and Regional Outlook, Application Potential, Price Trends, Demand, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016  2023

http://bit.ly/2h2tR8M

http://bit.ly/2gjS8cg

http://bit.ly/2gamVVh

MarketStudyReport.com adds Antibacterial Glass Market Size By Application (Hospitals, Food & Beverage, Military Equipment, Household/Residential), By Active Ingredient (Silver), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook, Application Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016  2023 new report to its research database. The report spread across 62 pages with table and figures in it.The global antibacterial glass market size was evaluated at $ 160.1 million for 2015 and is predicted to be more than $ 270 million by end of the forecast period. Growing proportion of hospital acquired infections is projected to fuel the growth of the industry during forecast period.Few years back scientists at Yonsei University in Seoul, capital of South Korea, had invented a method by applying layer of silver ions to glass coating to hinder the development of pathogenic bacteria like Campylobacter jejuni, Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium. The method is used to protect medical device and can also be used in military applications and disaster recovery. These scientists also explained that since middle of nineteenth century silver was known be an antibacterial material and found its applications in odor destroying socks and bactericidal formulations for medical devices.Request a sample copy atThe global antibacterial glass market is segmented into key geographical regions including North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe and MEA.North America antibacterial glass market is predicted to register a CAGR of 6.5% during the forecast period. Growth of the region can be credited to factors like rising focus on hospital segment, availability of best research & development facility, accessibility of modern systems, favourable government policies and growing awareness about the benefits of its utility among the population of the region.Europe antibacterial glass market size, by application, 2012-2023 (USD Million)Europe antibacterial glass marketEurope is predicted to continue its industry domination during forecast period. It is projected to be evaluated at $ 170 million by the end of forecast period. Presence of key industry players and increasing demand for Smartphones with antibacterial glass cover is predicted to have a positive growth impact on Europe antibacterial glass market.The developing regions like China and India in Asia pacific are predicted to experience lucrative growth during forecast period owing to growing healthcare spending and rising public awareness about application of antibacterial glass.Browse full table of contents and data tables atKey industry players profiled in the report are as follows:- AGC Glass Europe- B?FA Glas GmbH & Co. KG- Saint-Gobain SA- VBT Glass- Morley Glass & Glazing Limited- Essex Safety Glass Limited- Nippon Sheet Glass Company Limited- Beijing JiYan-Tech Company Limited- Corning Incorporation- Archello- Ishizuka Glass Company Limited- Joh.Sprinz GmbH & Co. KG- Glas Tr?sch Holding AGSaint-Gobain has made many acquisitions in last few years. In 2005, it acquired BPB plc, a British firm, the biggest producer of plasterboard in the world. In 2007, it acquired Maxit group and thus expanded its industrial mortars business. Recently, the firm had also sold its cosmetic glass production business that included a plant in Georgia in USA.Corning Incorporation is ranked 297 by Fortune 500 for 2015. It had won the national medal of technology many times for its process & product innovation. In 2011, Corning acquired an Israel firm Mobile Access Networks which became a part of its telecommunication unit. It introduced antimicrobial gorilla glass in 2014 to hinder the bacterial and fungal growth. As the firm provides this glass to many big multinational firms like LG electronics, Apple and Samsung, it is predicted to contribute towards the growth of the industry in future.Inquiry before Buying atCentralize market research purchases across your entire organization in one place.Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Americas Sales OfficeThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United States
Facial Recognition Market, 2014 - 2020 : Technology, Application, Regional Segment Analysis

http://www.syndicatemarketresearch.com/request-for-sample.html?flag=S&repid=50418

http://bit.ly/2cEtOj0

http://www.syndicatemarketresearch.com/market-analysis/facial-recognition-market.html

http://bit.ly/2crg0sx

http://www.syndicatemarketresearch.com

The system comes with feature of identifying or verifying a person using digital image or a video frame from a video source is called as facial recognition system. It is widely used in security system. It is similar to the biometrics software technology fingerprint or eye iris recognition systems. The identification process is executed by comparing an individuals facial features, which are extracted from an image, with those stored in a database. Facial recognition is used in different application sector such as government, BFSI and defense sectors for preventing illegal activity to high-security areas as well as other private and public buildings.Get a copy of free Sample Report @Increasing demand from civil and government agencies for advanced surveillance and safety purpose are major factors driving the facial recognition market. Increasing instances of criminal and terrorist behavior and identification of fraud cases across the globe is becoming major issue from all the regions and facial recognition system helps to overcome this problem. This has fueled the growth of global facial recognition market. However, some issues regarding privacy is expected to hamper growth of facial recognition industry.The report includes detailed competitive landscape of the global facial recognition market and an analysis of Porters five forces model for the facial recognition market has also been included. It includes company market share analysis, product portfolio of the major industry participants. The report provides detailed segmentation of the facial recognition market based on technology, application and region segment. 2D facial recognition, 3D facial recognition and facial analytics are the technology segment of facial recognition market. Due to its low cost and easy installation of 2D facial recognition, this technology segment dominated the facial recognition market in 2014.Request TOC (Table of Contents) of this report:Key application market for facial recognition includes government & utilities, military, homeland security, banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI), retail industry and others application such as digital signage, automotive, web applications & mobile applications. Government & utilities was the leading application segment for facial recognition market.Major regional segments analyzed in this study include North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East and Africa with its further bifurcation into major countries including U.S., Germany, France, UK, China, Japan, India, and Brazil. This segmentation includes demand for facial recognition based on individual technology and applications in all the regions and countries. Facial recognition market was dominated by North America in 2014. Europe is followed by North America.Browse report at:The report covers detailed competitive outlook including company profiles of the key participants operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include NEC Corporation, Cross Match Technologies, Safran Group (Morpho S.A.), Cognitec System, Aurora Computer Services Ltd, Animetrics, Inc., Aware Inc., M Cogent Inc. and Aynoix Inc.This report segments the global facial recognition market as follows:Facial Recognition Market: Technology Segment Analysis2D Facial Recognition3D Facial RecognitionFacial AnalyticsFacial Recognition Market: Application Segment AnalysisGovernment & UtilitiesMilitaryHomeland SecurityBanking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI)Retail IndustryOthers (Digital Signage, Automotive, Web Applications, and Mobile Applications)Facial Recognition Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.EuropeUKFranceGermanyAsia PacificChinaJapanIndiaLatin AmericaBrazilMiddle East & AfricaDo Inquiry before buying:About US:Syndicate Market Research provides a range of marketing and business research solutions designed for our clients specific needs based on our expert resources. The business scopes of Syndicate Market Research cover more than 30 industries including energy, new materials, transportation, daily consumer goods, chemicals, etc. We provide our clients with the one-stop solution for all the research requirements.Contact US:Joel John3422 SW 15 Street,Suite #8138Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Email: sales@SyndicateMarketResearch.comWebsite:
Global Aviation Cyber Security Consumption 2016 Market Research Report

http://www.reportbazzar.com/request-sample/?pid=603329&ptitle=Global+Aviation+Cyber+Security+Consumption+2016+Market+Research+Report&req=Sample

http://www.reportbazzar.com/product/global-aviation-cyber-security-consumption-2016-market-research-report/

http://www.reportbazzar.com/discount-form/?pid=603329&ptitle=Global+Aviation+Cyber+Security+Consumption+2016+Market+Research+Report&req=Discount

http://www.reportbazzar.com/

SummaryThe Global Aviation Cyber Security Consumption 2016 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Aviation Cyber Security market.First, the report provides a basic overview of the Aviation Cyber Security industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. And development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures.Get Sample Report @Secondly, the report states the global Aviation Cyber Security market size (volume and value), and the segment markets by regions, types, applications and companies are also discussed.Third, the Aviation Cyber Security market analysis is provided for major regions including USA, Europe, China and Japan, and other regions can be added. For each region, market size and end users are analyzed as well as segment markets by types, applications and companies.Then, the report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specifications, sales, market share and contact information. Whats more, the Aviation Cyber Security industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered.In a word, the report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Buy Complete Report Visit @Table Of Contents:1 Industry Overview of Aviation Cyber Security1.1 Definition and Specifications of Aviation Cyber Security1.1.1 Definition of Aviation Cyber Security1.1.2 Specifications of Aviation Cyber Security1.2 Classification of Aviation Cyber Security1.3 Applications of Aviation Cyber Security1.4 Industry Chain Structure of Aviation Cyber Security1.5 Industry Overview and Major Regions Status of Aviation Cyber Security1.5.1 Industry Overview of Aviation Cyber Security1.5.2 Global Major Regions Status of Aviation Cyber Security1.6 Industry Policy Analysis of Aviation Cyber Security1.7 Industry News Analysis of Aviation Cyber Security2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Aviation Cyber Security2.1 Raw Material Suppliers and Price Analysis of Aviation Cyber Security2.2 Equipment Suppliers and Price Analysis of Aviation Cyber Security2.3 Labor Cost Analysis of Aviation Cyber Security2.4 Other Costs Analysis of Aviation Cyber Security2.5 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Aviation Cyber Security2.6 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Aviation Cyber Security3 3 Global Market Size (Volume and Value), Sales and Sale Price Analysis of Aviation Cyber Security3.1 Global Market Size (Volume and Value) and Growth Rate of Aviation Cyber Security 2011-20163.2 Global Market Size (Volume and Value) of Aviation Cyber Security by Regions 2011-20163.3 Global Market Size (Volume and Value) of Aviation Cyber Security by Types 2011-20163.4 Global Market Size (Volume and Value) of Aviation Cyber Security by Applications 2011-20163.5 Global Sales Volume and Sales Revenue of Aviation Cyber Security by Companies 2011-20163.6 Global Sale Price of Aviation Cyber Security by Regions 2011-20163.7 Global Sale Price of Aviation Cyber Security by Types 2011-20163.8 Global Sale Price of Aviation Cyber Security by Applications 2011-20163.9 Global Sale Price of Aviation Cyber Security by Companies 2011-2016Enquiry Before Buying Visit @About Us:Reportbazzar.com is your trusted source for the most inclusive and informative assortment of market research reports designed to empower you with the latest in industry information that translates to time and cost savings for your business. We not only help you give wing to your latent business ideas but also facilitate you in taking the best informed and strategic decisions that guarantee success in your most promising business endeavors.Contact Us:ReportBazzar30 Wall Street, 8th floor,New York, NY 10005.United States.US: +1 (212) 389-6363India: +91 20 66528525Email Id: sales@reportbazzar.comWebsite:
Middle East Cable Market Size to grow at a CAGR of 3.91% to 2023

http://bit.ly/2h5DTpS

http://bit.ly/2h5PTKt

http://bit.ly/2h5QU5p

MarketStudyReport.com adds Middle East Cable Market Size By Application (Commercial, Industrial), By Product (Medium Voltage, Low Voltage, High Voltage, Extra High Voltage), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Egypt), Application Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016  2023 new report to its research database. The report spread across 160 pages with table and figures in it.Middle East Distribution Transformer Market size contribution was more than $2.76 billion for 2015 and is projected to register CAGR of 3.91% during forecast timeframe. Increasing demand for alternate power source and growing cost of electricity production has resulted in transition from traditional electric grid use to smart grid use. Today, there is a growing focus on renewable energy sources due to less accessibility of non-renewable energy sources. Amalgamation of both non-renewable as well as renewable sources of power needs smart grid that can promote industry growth in future.Request a sample copy @Egypt Distribution Transformers Market size, by technology, 2013 - 2024 (USD Million)Requirement of skilled personnel for effective functioning of device can hinder demand in future. High middle east distribution transformer industry price trend can also inhibit the its growth.Product InsightsMiddle east distribution transformer industry is segmented into products like large transformers, small transformers unit substations and medium transformers. Medium transformer segment contributed more than $1.3 billion for 2015 and is projected to experience highest growth during forecast timeline. This can be attributed to fast implementation of these equipments in less populated regions to reduce 3-phase high voltage to 3-phase low voltage for power distribution. Further, increasing copper costs are predicted to raise acceptance due to utilization of less amount of conductors in the product kind. Also, increasing demand across plants and facilities coupled with high energy needs like information centers can also propel segment demand substantially.Small transformer segment is predicted to register CAGR of about 3.91% during forecast timeframe. Growing execution of the off load tap changer fitted equipment in outdoor and indoor applications can fuel segment demand. In addition to this, high cost efficacy provided for low density population network can further add to the demand during forecast timeline.Technology InsightsMiddle east distribution transformer market is segmented into liquid filled technology and dry type technology. Liquid filled technology segment is sub-segmented into pole mounted technology and pad mounted technology.Liquid filled technology segment contributed greater than three- fourth of total regional revenue for 2015 and projected to register CAGR of about 4.1% during forecast timeline. Segment growth can be credited to factors like compact size and high price efficacy.Dry type equipments are used in fire safety applications like marine, mining site, industries and underground substations. All these factors are predicted to fuel the demand and growth of dry type technology segment.Regional InsightsMiddle east distribution transformer industry is segmented into various geographical locations like UAE (United Arab Emirates), Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar.Browse full table of contents and data tables @Saudi Arabia distribution transformer industry is predicted to surpass $1.6 billion by end of forecast timeframe. This can be credited to fast power consumption across residential as well as commercial segment. Government initiatives like setting up of nuclear power plants, amalgamation of solar power supplies and enhanced efficacy as well as reliability of power supply & distribution are predicted to be main factors for growth of this segment. Further, these factors are also successful in attracting huge capital investments in the countrys electricity infrastructure.United Arab Emirates contributed greater than 8.1% of middle east distribution market share for 2015. Rising acceptance of the equipment across big warehouses, high rise constructions and centralized chilling establishments in this region are credited for the regional industry growth. Further, many advantages like minimized length & size of cable, long feeder lines and enhanced usable footage area provided in the region can also enhance the segment growth in future.Competitive InsightsKey industry participants profiled in the report include United Transformers Electric Company (UTEC), Alfanar Electrical Systems, SGB-SMIT, Tesar Gulf Power Transformers & Distribution Equipment LLC, Saudi Federal Transformers LLC, Abaft Middle East Transformer Ind. LLC, ABB(ASEA Brown Boveri) Group, General Electric, Eurogulf Transformers, Intact Transformers, Bawan, Matelec, Siemens, The Saudi Transformer Company Limited and Wahah Electric Supply Co. of S.A.Inquiry before Buying atCentralize market research purchases across your entire organization in one place.Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Americas Sales OfficeThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United States
Kraft Lignin Market - Future Trend, Growth, Forecast & Opportunities in the Coming Years

http://www.decisiondatabases.com/contact/download-sample-99

http://www.decisiondatabases.com/ip/99-kraft-lignin-market-report

http://www.decisiondatabases.com/contact/buy-now-99

www.decisiondatabases.com

DecisionDatabases.com offers Kraft Lignin Market Research Report. This Report covers the complete Industry Outlook, Growth, Size, Share and Forecast Till 2021.Get Free Sample Copy @Kraft lignin is a type of lignin produced through kraft sulphate cooking process. It is an emerging product market of lignin. Kraft lignin or sulphate lignin are present in a by-product stream of the Kraft pulping process known as black liquor. The commercial kraft lignins are generally sold in the sulphonated form or as lignin amines. Its major part tends to be used in low value-added applications such as the production of process steam and energy.Global kraft lignin market find applications in fertilizers and pesticides, thermoplastic polymers and binders & resins. In addition, in the market there are other applications such as activated carbon, and ion exchange resins. Fertilizers and pesticides is the major application followed by thermoplastic polymers. Kraft lignin has many potential uses growing towards niche applications market. Uses in carbon fibers, activated carbon, phenolic resins, vanillin, BTX, bitumen and many others are the emerging applications of kraft lignin.Abundantly available raw material, low process cost and widely accepted process, substitution to petrochemicals, potential diverse applications, and shift from conventional to renewable are the driving factors of the global kraft lignin market. In the coming future, it is expected to grow steadily giving rise to aromatic application in the global market. In addition, the volume consumption is expected to increase over the forecast period 2014-2021. Leading companies in kraft lignin based products are Domtar Corporation, MeadWestvaco Corporation, and others.View More about Kraft Lignin Market Research Report @DecisionDatabases is involved in providing research reports and company profiles in the global kraft lignin market in terms of revenue and output/volume. Market drivers, opportunities and restraints are thoroughly studied which influences the market. This study is further utilized for the overall analysis of the market. The kraft lignin market is segmented based on the global applications, geographic presence, by products and ingredients. We offer an inclusive category-specific market outlook. We provide access to a comprehensive collection of companies in the industry. The companies can strategize and execute business operations through our competitor analysis. Find the global industry analysis, market size, share, growth, and trends information in our kraft lignin profiles.Major Table Of Contents:1. INTRODUCTION2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY3. MARKET ANALYSIS4. GLOBAL KRAFT LIGNIN MARKET ANALYSIS BY APPLICATION5. GLOBAL KRAFT LIGNIN MARKET ANALYSIS BY REGION6. COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE7. COMPANY PROFILESPurchase Complete Global Kraft Lignin Market Research Report At:DecisionDatabases.com is a global business research reports provider, enriching decision makers and strategists with qualitative statistics. DecisionDatabases.com is proficient in providing syndicated research report, customized research reports, company profiles and industry databases across multiple domains.Our expert research analysts have been trained to map clients research requirements to the correct research resource leading to a distinctive edge over its competitors. We provide intellectual, precise and meaningful data at a lightning speed.3rd Floor,Fountain chambers,Nanabhai Lane,Fort, Mumbai - 1E-Mail: sales@decisiondatabases.comPhone: +91 99 28 237112Web:
Data Center Cooling Industry In GCC Will Grow Steadily At A CAGR Of 23.37 Percent Over The Period 2014-2019

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=273068

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=273068

http://www.researchmoz.us/

http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG

Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Data Center Cooling Market in the GCC 2015-2019" to its huge collection of research reports.Cooling solutions are used in data centers to remove heat generated by the IT equipment. Many CRAC and CRAH units including air conditioners, chillers, cooling towers, economizers, humidifiers, and modern containment systems are used in data centers to furnish rack cooling. These cooling units use air, water, and liquid cooling systems for operation. The cooling process accounts for 40 percent of the electricity consumed in a data center. To reduce the OPEX of a data center, several modern cooling techniques are being adopted by the vendors. These innovations are expected to increase the demand for effective cooling solutions for data centers in the near future. Modern data center solutions are developed to enhance environment-friendly and green solutions to monitor energy consumption and minimize the effect on the environment.TechNavio's analysts forecast the Data Center Cooling market in GCC to grow at a CAGR of 23.37 percent over the period 2014-2019.Covered in this ReportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the Data Center Cooling market in GCC for the period 2015-2019. The market can be segmented based on Cooling System and Cooling Technology.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @TechNavio's report, Data Center Cooling Market in GCC 2015-2019, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects in the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key Vendors- 3M- Daikin- DataAire- Eaton- ebm-papast- Emerson Network Power- Rittal- Schneider Electric- StulzOther Prominent Vendors- Airedale- Alfalaval- Belden- Munters- Pentair- TraneOther Vendors- Chatsworth- ClimateWorx- Colt- Denso- Ecosaire- Fuji Electric- HP- Huawei- Tripp-LiteKey Drivers- Increase in Construction of Data Center- For a full, detailed list, view our reportKey Challenges- Environmental Challenges- For a full, detailed list, view our reportKey Trends- Data Center Infrastructure Management- For a full, detailed list, view our reportKey Questions Answered in this Report- What will the market size be in 2019 and what will the growth rate be?- What are the key market trends?- What is driving this market?- What are the challenges to market growth?- Who are the key vendors in this market space?- What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?Make an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Affluent Consumers Eyeing Luxury Brands to Remain Cornerstone of Growth for Eyewear Market in the Middle East | Researchmoz

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=808489

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=808489

http://www.researchmoz.us/

http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG

Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Eyewear Market - Middle East Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2015 - 2023" to its huge collection of research reports.Eyewear consists of products used to aid in vision correction, cosmetic enhancement and protection of the eyes.Corrective eyewear can be used to correct and alleviate refractive errors. Spectacles and contact lenses are the most common form of corrective eyewear, and are usually prescribed by an optometrist, ophthalmologist, or optician. They aim to improve the quality of life of patients, and can also be used for eye protection.Factors such as rapid modernization in urban areas and rising consciousness about eye health conditions are responsible for driving the growth of the eyewear market in the Middle East.Consumers, especially the younger generation, are likely to try out newproducts as long as they provide real added value and contribute to their quality of life. Moreover, with a higher percentage of population being able to afford luxury goods, increasing disposable income is a major driving force for the expansion of the eyewear market. Colored contact lenses, high index eyeglasses, and high-end spectacle frames are now within the reach of a large section of the population. Customers frequently replace spectacle lenses by getting customized lenses to fit the same frame. Since lenses have a higher retail margin than frames, there is high renewal rate of lenses among consumers. Considering all these factors, the eyewear market in the Middle East is likely to grow at a significant rate during the forecast period.However, increasing acceptance rate towards refractive surgeries and treatments are expected to inhibit market growth, as these methodologies provide a complete alternative to the usage of corrective eyewear products. These procedures require a one-time investment, and omit periodicexpenses of eyewear and eye care products.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Eyewear productsare marketed through different distribution channels including optical shops, hypermarkets, department shops and online stores. Increasing availability of these products in stores and supermarkets are also promoting the growth of the eyewear market in the Middle East.Optical shops are having a substantial advantage over other channels. Leading chains such as YateemOpticals, Al Jaber, and MagrabiOpticals are increasing their number of outlets in the Middle East.Strong marketing efforts, social media advertising, special offers and the promotion of new designs and concentration on recent trends are some of the major strategies implemented by these optical shops. However, affordable eye check-ups and increased awareness amongst the public are necessaryfor the widespread use of eyeglasses and contact lenses.This market research study analyzes the eyewear market in the Middle Eastand provides estimates in terms of revenue (USD Million) from 2014 to 2023. It emphasizeson the drivers and restraints responsible for the growth of the industry and examines their impact during the forecast period from 2015 to 2023. Moreover, it recognizes the important opportunities for the market expansion in the upcoming years.The report segments the eyewear market based on product type which includes spectacles, contact lenses and plano sunglasses. The spectacles segment is segmented into spectacle lenses and spectacle frames. The contact lenses segment is subdivided into rigid contact lenses and soft contact lenses. The plano sunglasses segment is further bifurcated into polarized and non-polarized plano sunglasses.By countries, the eyewear market in the Middle East is classified into Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and rest of the Middle East.The report offers company market share analysis of key industry participants. Major players have been profiled on the basis of company overview, financial overview, business strategies and key developments.Leading market players profiled in this report areLuxottica S.p.A. (Italy), Safilo Group (Italy), Essilor International (France), Johnson and Johnson Vision Care (U.S.) and Carl Zeiss A.G. (Germany).The Middle EastEyewear Market: by Product Type- Spectacles- Spectacle Lenses- Spectacle Frames- Contact lenses- Soft Contact Lenses- Rigid Contact Lenses- Plano Sunglasses- Polarized Sunglasses- Non-Polarized SunglassesThe Middle EastEyewear Market: by Country- Saudi Arabia- Egypt- UAE- Qatar- Oman- Kuwait- Bahrain- Jordan- Lebanon- Turkey- Rest of the Middle EastMake an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Rising Prevalence of Nosocomial Infections and Increased Number of Surgeries to Drive Adoption of Steam Autoclave Systems Globally | Researchmoz.us

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=808487

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=808487

http://www.researchmoz.us/

http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG

Rising Prevalence of Nosocomial Infections and Increased Number of Surgeries to Drive Adoption of Steam Autoclave Systems Globally | Researchmoz.usResearchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Steam Autoclave Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024" to its huge collection of research reports.Autoclaves play a vital role in sterilization of health care waste in hospitals, health care organizations, and academics. Medical devices require autoclaving after usage, as these get contaminated. Health care professionals have set the process of autoclaving on high priority due to increasing awareness about safety of patients. Rising number of surgical procedures and nosocomial infections (hospital-acquired infection) is driving demand for autoclaves. Growing geriatric population and rise in prevalence of cancer are the other factors that drive the steam autoclave market. This report studies the current scenario as well as future market potential for steam autoclaves globally. It comprises an elaborate executive summary, which includes a market snapshot that provides market dynamics of various segments and sub-segments that are included in the report.This report provides in-depth analysis of the steam autoclave market. The stakeholders of this report include companies involved in the manufacture of autoclaves. An executive summary section is included in this report for providing a snapshot of this market to the stakeholders. It summarizes the market size, trends, and competition in different regions. The market overview section of this report analyzes market dynamics such as drivers, restraints, and opportunities that influence the steam autoclave market in the current and future scenario. Market share analysis is included to signify percentage share of the major players operating in the steam autoclave market. All these factors will help the market players to decide the business strategies and plans to be implemented in future to strengthen their positions in the global market.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The steam autoclave market has been segmented based on product, indicator, technology, end-user, and geography. Based on product, the global steam autoclave market has been segmented into traditional and tabletop. In terms of technology, the global steam autoclave market has been segmented into gravity displacement, pre-vacuum, and steam flush. Based on indicator, the steam autoclave market has been segmented into chemical, biological, and mechanical. The global steam autoclave market, by end-user, has been categorized into hospitals, health care organizations, and academics.Geographically, the steam autoclave market has been categorized into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. Moreover, analysis for the major countries such as the U.S. Canada, Germany, the U.K., Japan, China, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia have been provided in the report. A detailed qualitative analysis of the factors responsible for driving and restraining the steam autoclave market in various regions has been provided in this section. The report provides market estimation of the steam autoclave market in terms of revenue (US$ Mn) for all the segments and sub-segments, with CAGR % for the period from 2016 to 2024, considering 2015 as the base year. Furthermore, the report incorporates market attractiveness analysis by geography that depicts the most attractive region in the global market during the forecast period.The report provides a detailed outline/blueprint of the global steam autoclave market that will assist new companies to establish their presence and existing players to expand their market shares. The company profile section concluding the report includes company overview, financial overview, product portfolio, business strategies and recent developments of key market players. Major players profiled in the report include 3M Health Care, STERIS plc, Getinge Group, and Johnson & Johnson.The global steam autoclave market has been segmented into the following categories:Global Steam Autoclave Market, by Product- Traditional- TabletopGlobal Steam Autoclave Market, by Indicator- Chemical- Biological- MechanicalGlobal Steam Autoclave Market, by Technology- Gravity Displacement- Pre-vacuum- Steam FlushGlobal Steam Autoclave Market, by End-user- Hospitals- Health Care Organizations- AcademicsGlobal Steam Autoclave Market, by Geography- North America- U.S.- Canada- Europe- Germany- France- Rest of Europe- Asia Pacific (APAC)- Japan- China- Rest of APAC- Latin America (LATAM)- Brazil- Mexico- Rest of LATAM- Middle East & Africa (MEA)- Saudi Arabia- South Africa- Rest of MEAMake an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Adoption of Healthcare API Solutions gets a Boost as Healthcare Providers Switch to EHR | Researchmoz

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=808485

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=808485

http://www.researchmoz.us/

http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG

Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Healthcare API Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024" to its huge collection of research reports.The healthcare API market report provides an in-depth analysis of the global healthcare API market for the period 2014  2024, wherein 2015 is the base year and the years from 2016 to 2024 is the forecast period. Data for 2014 has been included as historical information. The report covers all the prevalent trends playing a major role in the growth of the healthcare API market over the forecast period. It also highlights various drivers, restraints, and opportunities expected to influence the markets growth during the forecast period. The study provides a holistic perspective on market growth in terms of revenue estimates (in US$ Mn), across different geographies, which include North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle East & Africa (MEA), and Latin America (LATAM). The report provides cross-sectional analysis of the global healthcare API market in terms of market estimates and projections for all the segments across different geographic regions. The report also covers profiling of major players, their growth strategies, their market positioning, and their various recent developments, and includes market positioning analysis of key players operating in the healthcare API market.This research study on the global healthcare API market provides a detailed analysis of various type healthcare services available in the market integrated with API. Based on the services, the market is further divided into the electronic health record access, appointments, remote patient monitoring, payment, and medical device (wearable) segments. On the basis of deployment model, the market is segmented into on-premise and cloud-based models and based on end-users it is segmented into the healthcare provider, healthcare payer, patients, and vendors segments. The report includes a comprehensive coverage of the underlying economic and technological factors under the key trend analysis section.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The report aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the global Healthcare API market across geographies such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Latin America. The regions are further segmented to cover in-depth country level analysis. North America region is segmented into the U.S. and Canada. Similarly, Europe has been further segmented into the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Rest of Europe. Asia Pacific has been segmented into China, India, Australia, Japan, and Rest of Asia Pacific; MEA is divided into the UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Rest of MEA. Latin America has been further categorized into Brazil and Rest of Latin America. The revenue estimates for these countries is also included in the report.The report also highlights the competitive landscape of the healthcare API market, positioning all the major players according to their geographic presence, historical roadmap, key recent developments, and comparison of their revenues for 2014 and 2015.Under the company profiles section, the report provides an overview of the players operating in the market, the strategies deployed by them to gain competitive advantage, the annual revenue generated by them in the past two or three years, and their recent developments. The key players profiled in this report include Apple, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Greenway Health, LLC, MuleSoft, Inc., General Electric Company, Practice Fusion, Inc., Epic Systems Corporation, Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc., eClinicalWorks LLC, and Practo Technologies Pvt. Ltd.The global healthcare API market has been segmented as follows:Healthcare API Market, by Services- Electronic Health Record Access- Appointments- Remote Patient Monitoring- Payment- Medical Device (Wearable)Healthcare API Market, by Deployment Model- On-premise- Cloud-basedHealthcare API Market, by End-Users- Healthcare Payers- Healthcare Providers- Patients- VendorsHealthcare API Market, by Geography- North America- The U.S.- Canada- Europe- The U.K.- Germany- France- Spain- Italy- Rest of Europe- Asia Pacific (APAC)- China- Japan- India- Australia- Rest of APAC- Middle East & Africa (MEA)- United Arab Emirates (the UAE)- Saudi Arabia- South Africa- Rest of MEA- Latin America- Brazil- Rest of Latin AmericaMake an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
New Survey Reveals EpiCast Report: Chronic Hepatitis B - Epidemiology Forecast to 2024 | Researchmoz.us

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=556458

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=556458

http://www.researchmoz.us/

http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG

Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "EpiCast Report: Chronic Hepatitis B - Epidemiology Forecast to 2024" to its huge collection of research reports.The Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) can cause both acute and chronic liver disease. HBV is typically transmitted through contact with infectious blood or bodily fluid, including vertical transmission from mother to child at birth and transmission via sexual intercourse. Risk factors of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) include unprotected sex with an infected partner, men who have sex with men (MSM), intravenous drug injection (IDU), and a previous history of a sexually transmitted disease (STD). CHB has a well-established comorbidity association with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, hepatitis D virus (HDV) infection, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, and alcohol abuse. The disease often starts as asymptomatic in the acute infection phase, with symptoms beginning to present 30 to 180 days from infection. When symptoms develop, they present as nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, flu-like symptoms, and jaundice. Severe cases of HBV infection increase the risk of developing liver cancer and cirrhosis.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @GlobalData epidemiologists forecast an increase in the diagnosed prevalent cases of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) in the 8MM, from 10,557,407 cases in 2014 to 10,861,653 cases in 2024, at an Annual Growth Rate (AGR) of 0.29% in the forecast period. The distribution of diagnosed prevalent chronic hepatitis B cases in the 8MM was greater in men (7,379,948 cases, 69.90% in 2014) than in women (3,177,459 cases, 30.10% in 2014). This skew towards men was found to be consistent across all markets.GlobalDatas epidemiological forecast for the diagnosed prevalent cases of CHB are supported by age- and sex-specific data obtained from country-specific studies published in peer-reviewed journals, in which the study populations are representative of the general population in the respective markets. The diagnosed prevalent cases are further segmented into ALT level, HBV DNA level, HBeAg status, cirrhosis status, and co-infection with hepatitis C and HIV, thus providing a comprehensive view of the characteristics of CHB patients in the 8MM. Additionally, GlobalData epidemiologists used the same methodology across the 8MM, which allows for a meaningful comparison of the forecast diagnosed incident cases and diagnosed prevalent cases of CHB in these markets.Scope- The Chronic Hepatitis B (CHB) EpiCast Report provides an overview of the risk factors and global trends of CHB in the 8MM (US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, Japan, and China). It includes a 10-year epidemiological forecast for total and diagnosed prevalent cases of CHB segmented by sex and in these markets. The diagnosed prevalent cases of CHB are further segmented by hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA level (20,000IU/mL in the US and the 5EU, and 10,000IU/mL in Japan and China), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level (=2 upper limit of normal [ULN] 2-5ULN and >5ULN), hepatitis e surface antigen (HBeAg) status, and the liver cirrhosis status.- The CHB epidemiology report is written and developed by Masters- and PhD-level epidemiologists.- The EpiCast Report is in-depth, high quality, transparent and market-driven, providing expert analysis of disease trends in the 8MM.Reasons to buyThe CHB EpiCast report will allow you to -- Develop business strategies by understanding the trends shaping and driving the global CHB market.- Quantify patient populations in the global CHB market to improve product design, pricing, and launch plans.- Organize sales and marketing efforts by identifying the age groups and sex that present the best opportunities for CHB therapeutics in each of the markets covered.- Identify the percentage of CHB diagnosed prevalent cases by various clinical segmentations.Make an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
PAX Impresses at TRUSTECH 2016 with Android Payment Solutions

www.paxglobaltechnology.com

Shenzhen, China  5th December 2016PAX Technology (HKEx: 00327 - PAX GLOBAL), a global leader in the provision of secure electronic payment terminal solutions, exhibited in Cannes this week what many people in the global payments industry consider to be the most advanced range of secure payment terminals ever seen to date.There was phenomenal interest in the new A920 Android terminal, which for the first time offers merchants the opportunity to integrate ECR software and an even wider range of value added applications onto this secure mobile tablet device, packed with all necessary payment industry certifications.PAX also showcased its third generation MPOS model, the sleek D220 MiniPOS, as well as the worlds most advanced countertop terminal, the Q80.Mr. Andrew Wu, Vice President of PAX, said, We were delighted to hear from many acquiring banks and payment system integrators that they believe these innovative solutions from PAX will help drive new waves of growth in the rapidly changing payment industry."Mr. Jack Lu, CEO of PAX, concluded, "We would like to thank our worldwide channel partners and many customers who visited us during TRUSTECH. PAX will continue to focus on global market development and local network building to better serve clients with superior, convenient and a secure level products and services."About PAX (PAX Technology is an innovative global provider of electronic payment solutions, offering world-class, cost-effective and superior quality products. Building on its service excellence and proven leadership position, PAX is one of the fastest growing payment industry suppliers with state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, excellent R&D capabilities and a worldwide network of sales and channel partners. PAX is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange as PAX Global Technology Ltd. (0327.HK).PAX Global Technology Ltd.Portland HouseBressenden PlaceLondon SW1E 5RSUnited Kingdom
Gas Leak Detector Market Expected to be Valued US$ 3143.67 Million by the End of 2020, Globally : PMR Report

Gas Leak Detector Market, Gas Leak Detector, Gas Leak Detectors Market, Gas Leak Detectors

http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/4606

http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/gas-leak-detector-market/toc

www.persistencemarketresearch.com

The global gas leak detectors market accounted for US$ 2,312.2 Mn in 2014 and while exhibiting a CAGR of 5.3% over the forecast period. The Global Gas Leak Detector Market is expected to reach US$ 3143.67 Mn by the end of 2020, representing a CAGR of 5.29% through 2015 to 2020.Request to view Sample Report @Key driving factors, identified in the global gas leak detectors market are stringent government safety norms, growing investment in oil & gas and chemical Industries and increasing commercial and residential infrastructure development. However, lower profit margin due to intense competition, deferred investments in oil and gas might pose a challenge towards the growth of the global gas leak detector market. Some of the major trends identified in the global gas leak detector market are the use of internet of everything (IoT) and artificial neural network technology and gas leak detectors.The global gas leak detector market report is categorically split under four sections namely: market analysis by region, applications, product type and technology. The report analyses the global gas leak detector market in terms of market value (US$ Mn) and volume (Million Units).From a regional perspective, North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Western Europe together contributed 50% of the global gas leak detector market value in year 2014. Whilst Asia Pacific excluding Japan contributed total 35%, making it the largest geographical segment in the global gas leak detector market. The Middle East and Africa gas leak detector market is projected to grow at promising CAGR of 6.27% through the forecast period.From the product type perspective, Portable type gas leak detectors accounted a leading share in the global gas leak detector market value in 2014, which is projected to remain dominant throughout the forecast period. The fixed type gas leak detector market is projected to exhibit CAGR of approximately 3.8% for the year 2015 to 2020.On the basis of technology type, the electrochemical based gas leak detector is the predominant segment with total share of about 38%, whilst the ultrasonic, semiconductor and infrared based gas leak detector cumulatively accounted for 46.6% % in the global gas leak detector market value in 2014. When compared with other remaining technology segment the infrared based gas leak detectors is projected to grow at higher CAGR of 6.30% over the forecast period.From an application perspective, the Industrial application segment of the gas leak detector is the largest segment of the global gas leak detector market in 2014. Out of the sub-segment oil & gas is the major segment, holding the largest market share as compared with other remaining sub-segment. On the other hand, the market value accounted in year 2014 by commercial establishment application segment is approximately 2.5X of the value registered by the residential segment. Others application segment is expected to grow with a CAGR of 7.1% from 2015 to 2020.Request to view Table of Content @Key market participants covered in the report include MSA Safety Inc., Honeywell International Inc., TycoInternational plc, Dragerwerk AG & Co. KgaA, Emerson Electric Company and other players.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated research, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Consumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMRs engagement models are highly flexible without compromising on its deep-seated research values.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
4G mobile calls still open to eavesdroppers

https://www.armourcomms.com/imsi-catchers-and-why-you-need-secure-communications/

www.armourcomms.com

https://www.armourcomms.com/

Newest mobile network fails to solve 2G and 3G security issueLondon, UK, December 07, 2016 - Armour Communications, a provider of specialist, secure communications platforms explains in a paper published today entitled, Is someone listening in on your confidential calls?, how the latest 4G network fails to solve the problem of electronic eavesdropping. Firms intellectual property (IP) and commercially sensitive information can still be listened into by perpetrators using an IMSI catcher, despite new security measures and stronger encryption used by the 4G network. This type of hack can be set up with equipment that is highly portable and costs less than 1000.A rogue base station attracts mobiles by offering a stronger signal, and once connected forces the mobile back to 2G technology, where encryption is negligible and easily bypassed. This attack was demonstrated recently at the Ruxcon Security Conference, in Melbourne.Andy Lilly, director and co-founder of Armour Communications commented; Given the many years of experience and the huge investment in time to develop the specification for the 4G network, it has been assumed that it would be much better at protecting privacy. While it is to some degree, it does not solve the issue of potential IMSI catcher style attacks leaving commercial and public sector/government organisations vulnerable.4G enforces mutual authentication between handset and network base station, unlike 2G/GSM, but it still requires the mobile to transmit its International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) at least once in order to connect. Also, because 4G coverage is not ubiquitous, a fraudulent base station can trick handsets into downgrading to 2G, meaning any communication, voice, text or attachment can be compromised.Andy Lilly added; There is currently a proliferation of free apps and services that claim to be secure and encrypted, however, organisations should be careful about using such services. These services are not explicit about exactly what is encrypted and therefore there can be gaps that the user is unaware of. Furthermore, companies should not rely on services over which they have no control  for example the carrier service in some countries  in order to protect commercially sensitive information on which the success of their business depends.To read a copy of the article Is someone listening to your confidential calls? please visit:NOTES TO EDITORSAbout Armour CommsArmour Communications Limited is a UK based company supplying market leading technology for secure communication via 3G, LTE (4G), WiFi and satellite for voice, video, messaging and data on Android or iOS platforms. Armour Mobile also features in-built secure conferencing (audio or video) between multiple callers.Armour Mobile is available as a Cloud or an On-Premise solution, and by using the optional Armour Connect Gateway, integration to a customers PBX and standard office desk phones is possible.All solutions are FIPS, NATO and CPA approved up to OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE, with additional security layers to mitigate threats up to SECRET.For more information please visit:Editors Contacts:David HolmanArmour Comms+44 (0)203 637 3801David.holman@armourcomms.comAndreina WestPR Artistry+44 (0) 1491 639500andreina@pra-ltd.co.ukAll solutions are FIPS, NATO and CPA approved up to OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE, with additional security layers to mitigate threats up to SECRET.Press Contact:Andreina WestPR Artistry LtdLower Woodend Barns Fawley Henley-on-Thames OXON RG9 6JF44 1491 639 500andreina@pra-ltd.co.uk
Author Fiola Faelan Promotes Her Contemporary Romance Novel Holiday Hearts Awakening

Holiday Hearts Awakening

https://fiolafaelan.com/

http://www.twitter.com/FiolaFaelan

https://www.facebook.com/FiolaFaelan/

http://bookbuzz.net/blog/contemporary-romance-holiday-hearts-awakening/

Author Fiola Faelan Promotes Her Contemporary Romance Novel Holiday Hearts AwakeningAuthor Fiola Faelan is pleased to announce the promotion of her contemporary romance novel, Holiday Hearts Awakening just in time for the holiday season.The last thing Natalie needs in her life is a handsome-as-sin single father living right next door. What she wants to do is shun the world and embrace her broken heart. She regrets snapping at his little girl over something as silly as Christmas lights, but nothing in the world will change her mind about taking part in holiday hoopla or letting a cherub, or her sexy father, into her life.Zach's decision to ignore his snarky, smoking-hot new neighbor is an easy one, even if he feels a tug of regret he wont get to know her better. He wants nothing to do with a woman who would snap at his little girl over something as trivial as decorating for the holiday.Neither are prepared for hearts tripping and emotional barriers falling when Zach snatches her from the flames engulfing her home and ends up tucking her into his spare bedroom. Little does he know his ability to play nothing more than caretaker until she's back on her feet is nothing more than smoke and mirrors.Will holiday hearts awaken to passion and new love, or will Zach and Natalie let this chance at new love pass them by?Book Details:Holiday Hearts AwakeningBy Fiola FaelanPublisher: Quicksilver GarouISBN: 978-0986327308ASIN: B00QPCN4B4Page: 101Genre: Contemporary RomanceAbout the Author:Fiola has always loved to read and cut her teeth on page-turners such as The Forest of Mystery, Robin Hood and Nancy Drew. She grew up a devout tomboy, playing with cowgirl action figures, and getting into mischief back when Silicon Valley wasn't even a gleam in San Jose's eyes.She loves to live life to its fullest, from riding hell-bent-for-leather on her Appaloosa in gymkhanas to surf-fishing in Hawaii, jumping boulders on the breakwater in Morro Bay to walking barefoot on the beach and dreaming of romance.Many of her story ideas were found during her travels far and wide, from Corpus Christi TX, where her ancestors are buried in the Pioneer Cemetery to Pendleton OR. From Tucson AZ to Seattle WA to Vancouver BC. She's always on the lookout for that next story, that next place to bury the body. Or lock-lips with a hot guy.She kicks-ass and take names in beautiful but weird Portland, Oregon with her amazingly talented son and daughter-in-law and their most affectionate cat Nudge.For review copies, author interviews, or more information please contact:Fiola FaelanWebsite:Twitter:Facebook:Promo Link:Fiola has always loved to read and cut her teeth on page-turners such as The Forest of Mystery, Robin Hood and Nancy Drew. She grew up a devout tomboy, playing with cowgirl action figures, and getting into mischief back when Silicon Valley wasn't even a gleam in San Jose's eyes.She loves to live life to its fullest, from riding hell-bent-for-leather on her Appaloosa in gymkhanas to surf-fishing in Hawaii, jumping boulders on the breakwater in Morro Bay to walking barefoot on the beach and dreaming of romance.Many of her story ideas were found during her travels far and wide, from Corpus Christi TX, where her ancestors are buried in the Pioneer Cemetery to Pendleton OR. From Tucson AZ to Seattle WA to Vancouver BC. She's always on the lookout for that next story, that next place to bury the body. Or lock-lips with a hot guy.She kicks-ass and take names in beautiful but weird Portland, Oregon with her amazingly talented son and daughter-in-law and their most affectionate cat Nudge.BookBuzz.net59A Heritage Way DriveRome, GA 30165
Synthetic Rubber Market to Reach US$ 45 Billion by 2023

http://www.marketresearchengine.com/reportdetails/synthetic-rubber-market-report

http://www.marketresearchengine.com/requestsample/synthetic-rubber-market-report

http://www.marketresearchengine.com/

New York, December 08: Market Research Engine has published a new report titled as Synthetic Rubber Market by Product Type (Nitrile Butadiene Rubber, Ethylenean Propylene, Polybutadiene, Styrene Butadiene Rubber), by End-Users and by Geography - Global Industry Analysis and Forecast 2015 - 2023How Big is the Global Synthetic Rubber Market?The global synthetic rubber market is expected to exceed more than US$ 45 Billion by 2023; Growing at a CAGR of more than 5% in the given forecast period.Browse Full Report:Synthetic rubber is any of various products which include nitrile rubber, butyl rubber, neoprene and GR-S. These resemble natural rubber more closely or less closely particular in physical properties. And having skill to be processed that is created typically by polymerization of butadiene, isoprene and related unsaturated hydrocarbons. It also has property of copolymerization of such hydrocarbons with acrylonitrile, isobutylene, styrene or other polymerizable compounds. These have uses similar to that of natural rubber however are superior for few applications and inferior for others and are usually utilized in combination with natural rubber.The major driving factors of synthetic rubber market are as follows:Growing demand in automotive industry expected to drive synthetic rubber market.Rising footwear market likely to drive global synthetic rubber market.The restraining factors of synthetic rubber market are as follows:Oversupply due to consistent capability additions projected to restrain the growth of synthetic rubber market.Growing replacement of synthetic rubber by natural rubber.Download Free Sample Report:The synthetic rubber market is segmented on the lines of its product segment, end user and regional. Based on product segmentation it covers nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR), ethylenean propylene (EPDM), polybutadiene (BR), styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) and others. Under end user segmentation the synthetic rubber market covers footwear, industrial goods, tires and others such as adhesives, asphalt overlay, etc. The synthetic rubber marketis geographic segmentation covers various regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. Each geographic market is further segmented to provide market revenue for select countries such as the U.S., Canada, U.K. Germany, China, Japan, India, Brazil, and GCC countries.This report provides:1) An overview of the global market for synthetic rubber and related technologies.2) Analyses of global market trends, with data from 2013, estimates for 2014 and 2015, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2023.3) Identifications of new market opportunities and targeted promotional plans for synthetic rubber.4) Discussion of research and development, and the demand for new products and new applications.5) Comprehensive company profiles of major players in the industry.REPORT SCOPE:The scope of the report includes a detailed study of global and regional markets for synthetic rubber with the reasons given for variations in the growth of the industry in certain regions.The report covers detailed competitive outlook including the market share and company profiles of the key participants operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include LANXESS AG, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec Corporation), China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), KUMHO PETROCHEMICAL, TSRC Corporation, Asahi Kasei Corporation DuPont, Dynasol Elastomers, Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd., , Exxon Mobil Corporation (ExxonMobil),The Dow Chemical Company, and Versalis S.p.A. Company profile includes assign such as company summary, financial summary,business strategy and planning, SWOT analysis and current developments.The Top Companies Report is intended to provide our buyers with a snapshot of the industrys most influential players.The Synthetic Rubber Market has been segmented as below:By Product Segment AnalysisNitrile butadiene rubber (NBR)Ethylenean propylene (EPDM)Polybutadiene (BR)Styrene butadiene rubber (SBR)OthersBy End-user AnalysisFootwearIndustrial goodsTiresOthers (adhesives, asphalt overlay, etc)By Regional AnalysisNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificRest of the WorldAbout MarketResearchEngine.comMarket Research Engine is a global market research and consulting organization. We provide market intelligence in emerging, niche technologies and markets. Our market analysis powered by rigorous methodology and quality metrics provide information and forecasts across emerging markets, emerging technologies and emerging business models. Our deep focus on industry verticals and country reports help our clients to identify opportunities and develop business strategies.Media ContactCompany Name: Market Research EngineContact Person: John BayEmail: john@marketresearchengine.comPhone: +1-855-984-1862, +91-860-565-7204Country: United StatesWebsite:Address: 3422 SW 15 Street, Suite #8942, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442, United States
Global Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) Market 2016 - Celanese, Dow, Dairen Chemical Corporation, ShowaDenko, Japan VAM & POVAL, Kuraray, Lyondell Basell

http://www.fiormarkets.com/report-detail/13559/request-sample

http://www.fiormarkets.com/report/global-vinyl-acetate-monomer-vam-market-outlook-2016-2021-13559.html

www.fiormarkets.com

www.9dimenreports.com

Vinyl acetate is an organic compound with the formula CH3CO2CHCH2. A colorless liquid with a pungent odor, it is the precursor to polyvinyl acetate, an important polymer in industry. Unlike many other acetate esters, the odor of vinyl acetate is thoroughly disagreeable and is not used to any substantial degree as an odorant.Request for sample report atThis report provides detailed analysis of worldwide markets for Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) from 2011-2015 and provides extensive market forecasts 2016-2021 by region/country and subsectors. It covers the key technological and market trends in the Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) market and further lays out an analysis of the factors influencing the supply/demand for Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM), and the opportunities/challenges faced by industry participants. It also acts as an essential tool to companies active across the value chain and to the new entrants by enabling them to capitalize the opportunities and develop business strategies.Global Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) Market Outlook 2016-2021, has been prepared based on the synthesis, analysis, and interpretation of information about the global Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) market collected from specialized sources. The report covers key technological developments in the recent times and profiles leading players in the market and analyzes their key strategies.Access full report atThe competitive landscape section of the report provides a clear insight into the market share analysis of key industry players. The major players in the global Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) market are Celanese (USA), Dow (USA), Dairen Chemical Corporation (Japan), ShowaDenko (Japan), Japan VAM & POVAL (Japan), Kuraray (Japan), Lyondell Basell (USA), Sipchem (Saudi Arabia), Wacker (Germany), Sinopec (China), Ningxia Yinglite (China), among others.The report provides separate comprehensive analytics for the North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa and Rest of World. In this sector, global competitive landscape and supply/demand pattern of Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) industry has been provided.Fior Markets is a leading market intelligence company that sells reports of top publishers in the technology industry.Our extensive research reports cover detailed market assessments that include major technological improvements in the industry. Fior Markets also specializes in analyzing hi-tech systems and current processing systems in its expertise.We have a team of experts that compile precise research reports and actively advise top companies to improve their existing processes. Our experts have extensive experience in the topics that they cover.Fior Markets provides you the full spectrum of services related to market research, and corroborate with the clients to increase the revenue stream, and address process gaps.Contact UsMark StoneSales Manager2566, Lincoln StreetPrinceton,New Jersey 08540USAPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
SPOOKY, SCARY SPOOKY, SCARY  Neighborhoods in Orchard Park are more than ready for Halloween. In the top photo, at a house at the corner of Orchard Hill Drive and Briar Hill...

Bremer finds seven residential lots storing items on town property Thanks to a new property-line shot by the Engineering Department, Building Inspector Steve Bremer was able to identify seven residential lots near Highmark Stadium that were placing all sorts of...

Highway Department receiving number of calls on dying ash trees Highway Superintendent Andrew Slotman warned in the spring that the ash tree population in Orchard Park would soon dwindle to zero due to the presence of the emerald ash borer....
The auto sector rejoiced last week as U.S. sales figures finally improved after falling for three months. Even China sales figures of Ford Motor Co. F and General Motors Company GM set new records.

Meanwhile, AutoZone, Inc. AZO reported a year-over-year increase in earnings and revenues. While earnings were in line with estimates, revenues missed.

Among other noteworthy developments, Penske Automotive Group, Inc. PAG announced an acquisition, while Honda Motor Co., Ltd. HMC announced that it will construct a new plant in China.

(Read the previous roundup here: Auto Stock Roundup for Dec 1, 2016)

Recap of the Weeks Most Important Stories

1. U.S. light-vehicle sales rebounded with a 3.6% year-over-year increase to 1.38 million units in Nov 2016, following three months of decline. This is a new November high, which surpassed the previous record of 1.33 million units in Nov 2001. However, sales on a seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) basis fell to 17.83 million units in the month from 18.07 million units in Nov 2015. Also, SAAR for November was lower than 17.98 million units in Oct 2016 (read more: Sweet November for US Auto Sales, 2016 Fate Hangs in Balance).

2. AutoZone reported a 13% year-over-year surge in earnings per share to $9.36 for the first quarter (ended Nov 19, 2016) of fiscal 2017 from $8.29 recorded in the year-ago quarter. Earnings were in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

Quarterly revenues improved 3.4% year over year to $2.47 billion in the reported quarter. However, the figure lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.49 billion (read more: AutoZone Meets Q1 Earnings Estimates; Revenues Lag).

Currently, AutoZone has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

3. Ford and General Motors posted record high China sales figures for November. Ford and its joint ventures China sales (including Lincoln) improved 17% year over year to a November record of 124,113 units. Sales increased 10.7% to 1.1 million units in the first 11 months of 2016.

Story continues

General Motors and its joint ventures in China reported a 7% year-over-year increase in sales to a November high of 371,740 vehicles. This takes the retail sales for the first 11 months of 2016 to a record 3.44 million units.

While Ford carries a Zacks Rank #3, General Motors has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

4. Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co., Ltd., one of Hondas joint ventures in China, announced that it will construct a new automobile manufacturing plant with annual production capacity of 120,000 units. The company will invest 3 billion RMB ($435.4 million) in the plant, which will begin operations from the first half of 2019. This will be Dongfengs third automobile production plant.

Honda currently carries a Zacks Rank #3.

5. Penske Automotive has signed a deal to acquire CarSense, a stand-alone specialty retailer of used vehicles in the U.S. The company expects this acquisition to generate annual revenues of around $350 million along with earnings accretion of around 7 cents to 9 cents per share annually. The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017, subject to customary conditions (read more: Penske Automotive Inks Agreement to Buy CarSense).

Penske Automotive currently carries a Zacks Rank #3.

Performance

A rebound in U.S. sales and the overall strength of the equity market pulled up all auto stocks over the last week. Ford was leading with an impressive 9.2% gain. Meanwhile, Harley-Davidson, Inc. HOG gained the most over the last six months, while Tesla Motors, Inc. TSLA posted the maximum loss among the stocks listed below.

Company Last 1-Week Period Last 6 Months GM +5.1% +22.8% F +9.2% -2.3% TSLA +2.0% -18.0% TM +2.5% +15.0% HMC +0.9% +9.8% HOG +1.3% +33.0% AAP +4.2% +15.2% AZO +3.4% +6.5%

Auto-Tires-Trucks Sector Price Index

Auto-Tires-Trucks Sector Price Index

Whats Next in the Auto Space?

Following the U.S. and China dales reports, a few automakers will report their Europe sales for November in the coming week.

Where Do Zacks' Investment Ideas Come From?

You are welcome to download the full, up-to-the-minute list of 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buy" stocks free of charge. There is no better place to start your own stock search. Plus you can access the full list of must-avoid Zacks Rank #5 "Strong Sells" and other private research. See the stocks free >>



Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report



PENSKE AUTO GRP (PAG): Free Stock Analysis Report



FORD MOTOR CO (F): Free Stock Analysis Report



TESLA MOTORS (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report



HONDA MOTOR (HMC): Free Stock Analysis Report



AUTOZONE INC (AZO): Free Stock Analysis Report



HARLEY-DAVIDSON (HOG): Free Stock Analysis Report



GENERAL MOTORS (GM): Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
Scott Pruitt

Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma Attorney General, is Donald Trump's expected nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

(Sue Ogrocki)

U.S. Rep Suzanne Bonamici and U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley blasted Donald Trump's pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency as a "deeply concerning" and "dangerous" move.

President-elect Trump is expected to nominate Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA. Pruitt is a noted opponent of the federal agency, a climate change denier and an ally of the fossil fuel industry who is involved in a 28-state effort to halt President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan, the outgoing leader's signature climate change program.

The Oregon Democrats were just two of many voices Wednesday who decried the expected nomination.

"Environmental protection, economic development, and job creation can go hand in hand, but instead of finding ways to invest in the development of renewable and sustainable resources, Mr. Pruitt continues to support fossil fuel industries," said Bonamici, who sits on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.

Merkley, who is a member of the Senate committee on the Environment and Public Works, had a more explosive reaction to the Oklahoma attorney's expected nomination. "Pruitt has demonstrated time and again that his main interest is protecting polluters," Merkley said in a statement.

"He is a dangerous and unacceptable choice to lead the agency tasked with leading our climate efforts and protecting clean air and clean water for all Americans."

The nomination could have ramifications for the Portland metro area. This summer, federal officials pegged cleanup costs for the more than 167-acres of contaminated Willamette River sediment at upwards of $746 million.



-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen
We spent 18 months digging into the National Guard's toxic armories. Here's what we learned:

1. Military leaders knew about the problem but didn't act, putting people at risk.



The National Guard was explicitly warned in 1998 by the Defense Department's inspector general that lead was spreading from indoor firing ranges to public areas where children frequently visited. The Guard agreed to fix the problem by 2010 but didn't follow through.



2. Hundreds of armories have been contaminated -- that we know about.



We built a database from scratch showing the locations of 1,304 current and former armories. It offers the nation's most comprehensive accounting of toxic armories. Inspectors found lead in 424 armories in the past four years, or nearly 90 percent of the places for which results are available. In 192 of those contaminated buildings, inspectors found the toxic material outside the firing range. Check out our map of contaminated armories here. The number of toxic armories could be higher. Eight states didn't release records. Most of the 1,300 armories we know about were not inspected in more than four years.



3. Inspectors issued warnings that National Guard officials ignored.



Inspectors frequently found lead spreading in armories during routine surveys. Had the National Guard heeded their warnings, kids could've been kept out of contaminated buildings. Yet they weren't. In Oregon, elementary school children held annual slumber parties on floors where lead was repeatedly found during surveys. The last sleepover happened in Coos Bay in May 2015, weeks after the Oregon Guard's top official had been told the armory was the state's second dirtiest.





Toxic Armories

Every time a soldier pulled the trigger inside a National Guard gun range, a bullet cast off bits of lead. The Guard's neglect allowed the toxic dust to spread outside the range, endangering families who attended weddings, school sleepovers and Cub Scout meetings in America's armories.

READ THE SERIES

4. Lead reached nearly every surface imaginable in armories.



Inspectors have found lead dust at alarming levels in armory gyms, drill halls, conference rooms, hallways, stairwells, kitchens, pantries, offices, bathrooms and a day care center, records and interviews show. In one Wisconsin armory, the poisonous powder coated a desktop in a classroom where pregnant women and nursing mothers learned about nutrition. In Oregon, it coated floors in buildings where infants crawled.



5. Some people who worked in armories wound up with lead in their blood.



Samples of Mary Ann Dunwell's blood were still high a year after the Montana Department of Environmental Quality evacuated its employees from a former armory in Helena after discovering the toxic metal inside. Two other colleagues had above-average blood lead levels. At the lead levels found in Dunwell's blood, a child would lose an average of six IQ points, studies have shown.



6. The nation's legacy of toxic armories will linger as long as the buildings stand.



The National Guard in September 2015 ordered states to inventory their armories with firing ranges. The Guard instructed states to inspect every armory for lead and keep the public out of buildings that tested high. But the Guard did not set a deadline or announce any financial commitment. Even if Guard officials find the money to pay for all the work, they will need to recheck the armories -- every year, unless the buildings are torn down -- to ensure lead doesn't re-emerge, as it has in cleaning after cleaning.

-- Rob Davis

rdavis@oregonian.com

503.294.7657
1march.JPG

In this Jan. 22, 2016, file photo, marchers carry a banner during the March for Life 2016, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, during the annual rally on the anniversary of 1973 'Roe v. Wade' U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

By Paul Waldman

Special to The Washington Post

The Supreme Court was something of an under-the-radar issue in the 2016 campaign, extremely important to some groups (especially white evangelicals), but not discussed all that much on a national level. But now that Donald Trump has been elected, and with the success of the GOP's only-Republican-presidents-are-allowed-to-fill-vacancies strategy, it will be of tremendous importance to the country's future.

No issue will be more volatile than abortion, which raises the inevitable question: Is Roe v. Wade doomed?

That question is coming up again in the wake of the Ohio legislature's shocking decision to pass a ban on abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which is usually about six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women even know they're pregnant. Under current jurisprudence, this ban is almost certainly unconstitutional. But maybe by the time it reaches the Supreme Court, it won't be.

If you listen to some pro-choice activists, Roe is still safe, for now. As Julie Rikelman of the Center for Reproductive Rights recently told New York magazine, "We definitely need to be concerned, but we do not believe that Roe v. Wade would be overturned at this point in time."

The idea is that not only are the justices reluctant to overturn the Court's precedents, but they're also attuned to public opinion and political reality, and understand what upheaval would result if they overturned Roe. Ruth Bader Ginsburg said as much in an interview last year: "This court is highly precedent bound. And it could happen, but I think it's not a likely scenario."

I suspect that pro-choice groups may be taking that line in part to persuade the justices of just that argument. Unfortunately, it's much more likely that by the time we get to the end of Donald Trump's term, Roe will be history.

Here's where we stand right now. There are five votes to maintain Roe: the liberals Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Stephen Breyer, and the swing voter Anthony Kennedy. There are two iron-clad votes to overturn Roe: Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. Donald Trump has made it clear he'll be appointing a "pro-life" justice, and there's simply no way conservatives would let him get away with naming someone to fill Antonin Scalia's seat who wasn't guaranteed to vote against Roe .

That's three votes against Roe . Now let's imagine that at some point in the next four years, Ginsburg (age 83), Breyer (78) or Kennedy (80) leaves the Court. Their replacement would also be all but guaranteed to be a vote to overturn Roe. That's four. Which means it all comes down to John Roberts.

No one knows for sure how he'd rule. On one hand, Roberts is extremely well-attuned to the politics of the moment and reluctant to issue rulings that would cause political chaos and undermine the authority and legitimacy of the Court. He is surely well aware that in polls the idea of overturning the decision is usually opposed by at least 60 percent of the public and sometimes more.

On the other hand, Roberts was nurtured in the Reagan Justice Department, where he participated in many efforts to restrict abortion rights. While he made all the right noises about Roe being settled precedent during his confirmation hearings in 2005 (as every conservative justice does ), he has never joined the pro-choice side of a decision before the High Court.

Earlier this year, he dissented in a case that struck down a set of absurd restrictions Texas had placed on abortion clinics, a classic "TRAP law" (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers), in which the state places regulatory demands that are all but impossible to satisfy on abortion clinics as a way of driving them out of business.

That Texas law was so ridiculous that if you believed it was constitutional - as Roberts, Thomas, and Alito did - then there's essentially no restriction on abortion rights you'd find unduly burdensome. Which suggests that Roberts will be perfectly ready to discard Roe if he gets the chance.

But that case also suggests something else: the conservatives on the Court, joined by their new colleagues (if Trump gets one more appointment) could effectively overturn Roe without actually overturning Roe.

They could claim that Roe still stands while gutting the standard set out in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which said that states can't place an "undue burden" on a woman's right to choose.

They could say that "heartbeat" bans like Ohio's are fine, as are TRAP laws that make it impossible to open an abortion clinic, as are lengthy waiting periods or requirements that doctors lie to their patients and tell them that if they have an abortion they'll go mad and die from cancer.

With five anti-abortion votes, they could create the functional equivalent of a world without Roe, where abortion is all but illegal in states controlled by Republicans but legal in states controlled by Democrats.

Here's the last part of the puzzle, which leads to the possibility of an even more frightening scenario. Now that Republicans control Congress and the White House, they aren't going to be waiting around: they're likely to pass national laws on abortion, things like bans after 20 weeks, national waiting periods, and other laws meant to make abortion as difficult and cumbersome as possible for women, particularly poor women, to obtain.

When you add in the Republican Congress, you could envision a scenario even worse than Roe being overturned. Here's how it would work:

--With another retirement, the Supreme Court reaches five anti-choice votes.

This is worse because if Roe were simply overturned, each state could make its own rules, which means abortion would still be legal and available in states controlled by Democrats. But under this scenario, every state would live under the rules set by Republicans in Congress, who are almost unanimous in their desire to see abortion rights disappear completely.

Would there be a political backlash? Absolutely. That prospect might be enough to restrain Republicans from reaching for their heart's desire. But there are some very dark days ahead for reproductive rights.
Screen Shot 2016-12-08 at 9.25.29 AM.png

(Facebook/Lexi Magnusson)

One Washington woman is fighting back against homophobic statements she says her neighbor made the best way she knows how: with Christmas lights.

Lexi Magnusson, of Silverdale, was standing in her yard a few months ago when her neighbor struck up a conversation.

"Basically she told us she moved here to get her children away from the gays," Magnusson told BuzzFeed News. "She went on to tell us how horrified she was when her son got turned down for prom because the girl was already planning on going with her girlfriend."

This didn't go over well with Magnusson, who used roughly 10,000 Christmas lights to create a huge rainbow on one of the bushes in front of her home, meant to symbolize the iconic gay pride flag.

"That viewpoint hurts people," Magnusson told KIRO News. Her neighbor, she wrote on Facebook.

The neighbor, who reportedly moved to Silverdale from Oregon, declined to speak to KIRO on camera, but told a reporter that the whole thing was a misunderstanding.

Magnusson was not swayed, however, as she wrote in a Facebook post.

Magnusson told BuzzFeed that the reaction from both her neighbors and online has been overwhelmingly positive and she said the rainbow light display was not meant to start a confrontation with her neighbor.

"It's more a support of individual rights, of human rights," she told KIRO. "(It's) support for kids that might be in our neighborhood who are afraid to come out."

You can see her original post, which has been shared nearly 4,000 times, below.

Our new neighbor told us that she moved her family here because her kids were too exposed to the "gays and transgenders"... Posted by Lexi Magnusson on Thursday, December 1, 2016

-- Kale Williams

kwilliams@oregonian.com

503-294-4048
Portland's second try at having taxpayers pay for political campaigns appears to be a go -- without voters getting a say first.

The Portland City Council gave its blessing Wednesday to a system that would use public money to match private cash raised by candidates for city office who agree to limit fundraising and spending. In all, the system could cost as much as $2.4 million per election cycle.

City commissioners voted 3-1 to approve a series of administrative changes to the plan, first raised by Commissioner Amanda Fritz in September. Commissioner Dan Saltzman voted no, with Nick Fish absent to emcee former Gov. Barbara Roberts' 80th birthday party.

A final vote is now expected Dec. 14. The system would be available for candidates in 2019, in time for elections in 2020.

"It's a really good day," Fritz said. "It's going to open things up, and that's what we need."

The breakthrough marks a victory for Fritz, who rode the city's previous campaign finance system to office in 2008 and who also spent months this year pushing for a revival. It also appears to end a debate on the council on whether voters would decide on the new system before it launches.

It's also a victory for more than 30 community organizations that supported the proposal, including Common Cause Oregon, a government accountability nonprofit.

Establishing a public campaign finance system would help open elected city positions to a larger pool of candidates who otherwise wouldn't have have the funds or connections to compete, said Common Cause Executive Director Kate Titus.

Saltzman proposed an amendment on Fish's behalf to put the proposal before voters in May 2017, but the council rejected the amendment by 3-1. Saltzman, the lone yes vote, cited public votes on the city's arts tax and recently approved gas tax.

"We're better when we allow our voters to affect major changes that will affect them in their pocketbooks," Saltzman said. "I do feel it would be stronger and stand the test of time and all sorts of other challenges."

Voters narrowly rejected the city's last system in 2010, by less than a percentage point, amid concerns about public spending in a recession and a notable case in which one candidate for city council misspent her funding.

The Portland Business Alliance opposed the plan. The city faces a housing crisis and other areas that need resources, said Marion Haynes, the group's vice president of government relations and economic development.

Haynes said the business group's concerns lie with employees' interests as voters and not in maintaining corporate influence on campaigns. The group also criticized the lack of voter support.

To qualify for the new system, candidates must limit their private campaign contributions to $20,000 during the primary election and $20,000 in the general election. They must cap individual contributions at $250.

Candidates would still be encouraged to raise private funding, and make the voter contacts that come with those calls, by offering a a 6-to-1 match for the first $50 of any private contribution. That means just a $50 contribution would provide a candidate with $350.

Portland's past system provided qualifying candidates with a total of $350,000 for city commissioner races or $450,000 for mayoral races. That system also helped former Commissioner Erik Sten win re-election. Sten had touted the program as a way to inspire national campaign finance reform.

Fritz's new system would establish a Public Election Fund, which could draw up to 0.2 percent of the city's general fund.

The funds would be used primarily to finance campaigns for city office -- but they would not be limited to that use. City Council could withdraw, transfer or use money for other purposes, but would have to pay interest on the amount taken until it was returned.

The director of the Office of Neighborhood Involvement will manage the fund. An earlier version of the ordinance gave the task to the city's independently elected auditor, but Auditor Mary Hull Caballero refused, saying her office lacked the time and resources to adequately oversee the program.

Hull Caballero also said the plan would also pose a conflict of interest for the commissioner in charge of the neighborhood office. For now, that's Fritz, although that could change come January after Mayor-elect Ted Wheeler hands out bureau assignments.

The council addressed this conflict in Wednesday's amendments by requiring all administrative changes be brought before the entire City Council. The amendments also give the mayor power to assign the elections program to another commissioner in elections when the commissioner overseeing the neighborhood office is up for election.

Most changes will go before the Open and Accountable Elections Oversight Board.

Local jurisdictions across the country have adopted similar campaign finance systems, according to the ordinance.

This includes local governments in West Virginia, Vermont, Texas, Rhode Island, New Mexico, New Jersey, Minnesota, Michigan, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Hawaii, Florida, Connecticut, Colorado, California and Arizona. The City of New York has had a small donor campaign finance system since 1988.
Brad Nettles/Staff

Willie Hampton places new tires on a school bus before replacing a transmission at the South Carolina State school bus repair facility on Von Ohsen Road in Summerville on Dec. 1.
Nancy Swift possesses something that no amount of money could buy. She has a three-ring notebook with her familys history written by her mom Dorothy Tucker Crall and her sister, brothers and herself. Some fifty pages record the familys story told by those six people. Their story begins with the arrival of grandparents Edwin and Maybelle Tucker coming to Midland from Indiana in 1906. Two children were born to them in Huntington City, Indiana. Merrill, their first-born son and a baby named Ethel who died shortly after birth.

The Tucker family moved to a farm on Eastman Road where in 1907 a second son Arthur was born followed by Chester born in 1908. (In the 1930s both Arthur and Chester would play a pivotal part in establishing the union in The Dow Chemical Co.) Leon followed in 1909, Lawrence in 1911, Dorothy (who would become Nancy Swifts mother) in 1914, Albert (Dick) in 1918. A little boy named Francis was born in 1919 and died of diphtheria in 1927. And in 1921 Walter, their last child, was born. In 1937 Edwin, the patriarch of the Tucker family, died in 1937 on the family farm In Larkin Township and Maybelle, now a widow, moved into Midland on Arbury Street.

Nancys mom and dad, Dorothy Tucker and Maurice Crall, were married April 20, 1932 In the Saginaw Nazarene parsonage by Reverend Charles Hare. They returned to Midland where Maurices mom had invited friends and relatives to a chicken dinner to celebrate her sons marriage. In her diary, Dorothy commented, Uncle Jack and Aunt Susie Rockwood gave us a nice tablecloth, our only gift.

The newlyweds lived on Buttles Street until Zip Supinger and his wife moved from the apartment on Pine Street. They paid four dollars a week for the apartment. Dorothy became pregnant for their first child and was so sick she couldnt stay alone so the young couple moved out to the farm with her mom and dad until after Maurice Crall, Jr. was born on March 14, 1933. Dr. Wilbur Towsley officiated at the birth. Dorothy remembered that he laid down to rest while waiting for the babys birth since the Tucker family didnt have a phone.

When spring came, Dorothy and Maurice with their baby son moved into town, first on Buttles and then on Sayre Street where they shared the house with a family named Windover. The arrangement didnt last long as Dorothy and Maurice had company visit one day and Mr. Windover complained that they flushed the toilet too many times. Maurice and Dorothy moved back with her folks on the farm on Eastman Road and Maurice was transferred to a job in North Carolina by The Dow Chemical Company.

On Aug. 31, 1934 Darlene (Dolly) was born in a house operated by the Poraths as a hospital located near the Dow clockroom on Ellsworth Street. Dorothy remembered that the cleaning lady at the hospital was also the cook and that it rained so hard that they couldnt dry the sheets.

Shortly after Dolly was born, Maurice came back to Midland driving a semi-truck expecting Dorothy and the children to go back with him to Detroit. Dorothy hesitated because she didnt like Detroit. She eventually gave in and they lived in an apartment house just off Woodward Avenue, sharing it with four or five other families. In her diary she wrote, We all shared one bathroom. Really deluxe, huh?

Maurice lost the trucking job and found one working in a car factory for awhile. He gave that up because he hated working on an assembly line and Dorothy persuaded him to return to Midland. Back in town, Maurice was hired again at Dow Chemical and the young family tried living in a small house trailer which didnt work out because Dorothy was expecting their third child, Dale, and the heat in the small trailer was suffocating. They rented an apartment and proceeded to buy furniture, $5 for a cupboard, $15 for a gas stove. Maurice went to see Albert Asch about borrowing the $15. Albert Asch took it out of his pocket and handed it to Maurice. Later when Maurice paid it back, Albert put the $15 back in his pocket.

It was the height of the Depression and the Crall family made do with a card table, some folding chairs, an iron bedstead and a cot. When Maybelle Tucker said she would be ashamed to have anyone see her daughters apartment, Dorothy told her that she wasnt ashamed and that they would buy furniture as they had the money to pay for it. When Maurice bought an electric refrigerator for $45, Dorothy wanted to know why he did that when they had a perfectly good icebox?

Work and a place to live continued to be a major problem. Maurice lost his job at Dow again. They moved again and again and on Oct. 6, 1938 Sally Ann was born and lived just three days.

Now the Crall family moved to North Carolina where Maurice again had a job with Dow. Dorothy noted in her diary that living in North Carolina had been like the honeymoon we never had and the children played in the Atlantic Ocean and she helped with the tobacco crop.

Back in Midland once more, Nancy was born Dec. 28, 1939 and Dorothy had the family Christmas tree put up in the bedroom so she could enjoy it. And the future of the Maurice Crall family was about to inherit a windfall thanks to the National Labor Relations Board.

While the Depression years werent the only impetus for labor unions, workers were slowly becoming aware that they had rights not just to be paid for the work they performed but to have protection from corporate management and capricious layoffs. Men who were sympathetic to labor unions were threatened with losing their job regardless of how good their work record had been. The Dow Chemical Co. was battling with the C.I.O. (Congress of Industrial Organizations) coming into the workplace. Men who wore C.I.O. badges or admitted they were in sympathy with the Union were first harassed and then fired. Dorothy Crall had two brothers, Arthur and Chester Tucker, and her husband, Maurice Crall, who were let go by the Company for union activity. For two years the three men had to find work elsewhere while the testimony went on in Washington, D.C. with top superiors of The Dow Chemical Co. called upon to explain why 30 workers had been fired when they were performing their jobs satisfactorily. The Labor Relations Board fought to absolve those 30 men from those unfair labor practices. The National Labor Relations Board was successful and several years of back pay were restored to those men. A worker could now belong to a labor union without danger of losing his job.

Nancy Swift has file copies of the proceedings in Washington D.C. with Dow supervision admitting the only reason the men had been fired was their C.I.O. membership. Arthur and Chester Tucker and Maurice Crall, Sr. had been vindicated.

With the largesse of the back pay, the Crall family bought a kit home from Sears & Roebuck and moved into a new home built on Walter Street in Midland on Dec. 3, 1941.

This ends Part I. Part II will appear in two weeks.
The Dow Chemical Co.s Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris told CNBC news anchors on Wednesday that hes excited for the Trump administration, and that the country needs a better approach to tax reform and environmental regulations.

Liveris appeared on CNBCs Squawk Box morning talk program, during which news anchors interviewed CEOs of top companies, House Speaker Paul Ryan, Kellyanne Conway, Donald Trumps senior adviser and others.

Contending that the Clean Air Act and Environmental Protection Agency have been burdensome and onerous on businesses the past seven years, Liveris called for better regulations.

Frankly, its increased the cost of doing business in this country, Liveris said. You cant go far without going to what I would call EPA and greenhouse gas, the ozone laws, the utility restrictions we have on renewable standards. These are all increasing the cost of production.

They are also issues that, in time, must be addressed, he said.

But rather than using Clean Air Act to regulate us, lets get a better act, lets get a better regulation in place.  I dont think any of us are against regulations; were for smart regulations.

Co-anchor Joe Kernen chimed in, speaking on the absurdity of the EPAs designation of carbon dioxide as a pollutant.

Youre blowing out 40,000 parts per million right now, talking, Kernen said. Its essential for our planet. Thats an absurdity that it has been classified as a pollutant.

Its the most inert compound out there but youre talking to a chemical guy, Liveris said, laughing.

Liveris was also asked about tax reform and said he supported going for a 15 percent corporate tax rate, adding that former Midland Congressman Dave Camps tax reform proposal was a sensible plan. The current corporate tax rate is about 35 percent.

Fifteen might be a stretch, but lets go for it, Liveris said. I think competitiveness is what this administrations all about and Im obviously for American competitiveness.  These are the things that weve been talking about for seven years and I think can address the deficit as well.

With market access, regulatory and tax reform, we can get this GDP up to 4 percent, which is what the president-elect is talking about, Liveris said.

Thats going to do a lot. Youre talking about job creation of the right kind. Youre talking about job creation for the modern economy. Youre talking about solving some of the modern issues, like climate change. Growth forgives a lot.

Liveris said hes excited for a business engagement thats fresh, renewed and a reset.

And look, I was equally positive about the previous administration. Why? Im a global American company. Im pro USA. Ive created a lot of jobs here in this country, Ive created a lot of jobs around the world.

You were equally excited about the previous administration? Kernen asked.

I was excited about the previous ... Liveris said, before being cut off by a pressing Kernen.

Equally excited? Kernen repeated.

I wouldnt use the word equally. I would say to you that Im a business person, and Im very positive about whats going on right now, Liveris said.

And is Dows top executive on Twitter to see what the president-elect is saying?

Im absolutely not on Twitter, Liveris said. But I would tell you that I definitely see whats on Twitter. Im very plugged in. I get the Google alerts, I get everything.
Midland County police and fire department officials and retirees are upset that the state Legislature proposed a package of bills during the lame duck session that would have cut municipal retiree health care benefits.

They met with state Rep. Gary Glenn, R-Midland, Monday to air those concerns. Glenn correctly predicted the legislation would not be approved this year.

I do not like this kind of thing being dumped on us with six days left (in the session), Glenn said. I dont think that makes good law making ... If I had to guess right now, I would say this is not going to go through.

On Tuesday, House Speaker Kevin Cotter, R-Mount Pleasant, announced the legislation would not be addressed during the lame duck session. However, he also issued a warning about the need for some type of reform in the future.

If we do nothing, numerous cities, townships, villages and counties across the state will go bankrupt, House Speaker Kevin Cotter said in a statement. That will threaten our public safety, ruin local economies and possibly cause every retirement benefit our brave first responders currently have to be lost forever in bankruptcy court. Michigan needs a solution that addresses this problem, and I am proud of these representatives for stepping up to offer a starting point.

State lawmakers do have a point about the municipal health care benefits. A number of cities have underfunded plans, and the total for the state is in the billions of dollars. Doing nothing is not an option. Those cities should be doing the responsible thing and providing enough funding for their retiree health care benefits, as local first responders said the City of Midland has done. However, if struggling cities are unwilling or unable financially to solve this problem, state intervention might be necessary.

We understand the concerns of local first responders that doing anything to reduce retiree benefits will deter people from going into the fields of law enforcement and fire fighting. Locally, Midland Police Department and Midland County Sheriffs Office already are finding it difficult to recruit and retain quality new hires, in part because of benefit reductions and in part because of the current national climate toward law enforcement.

So the state House was wise to not rush into passage of this package of bills. A more deliberate process that allows for adequate feedback from first responders, retirees and municipalities next year is needed. But, as Cotter said, eventually something needs to be done to corral municipal retiree health care costs.
Chainsaw Man Season 1: The anime community is now buzzing about Chainsaw Man. Although the manga has been out for 

Read more
On the morning of Dec. 7th, servicemembers and their friends and families gathered here to remember the fatal attacks on Hickam Field in 1941.

The ceremony, which honored the 492 men and women killed and wounded on Hickam Field, came 75 years after the two waves of attacks launched by the Imperial Japanese Navy on Dec. 7, 1941.

The attack on Oahu changed the course of history for our nation and the entire world, but it is merely the first chapter in a much longer book, said 15th Wing commander Col. Kevin Gordon. This is a story of service, sacrifice, perseverance, unity and triumph.

Of the 3,000 people in attendance, 10 of them were survivors from the attack.

Among those survivors was Armando Chick Galella, a former Army Command Sergeant Major, whose presence at the ceremony was to honor those who died during the attack.

I am not a hero, he said. Im a survivor of war. Were here to honor these boys who lost their lives.

During the ceremony, Gordon shared the stories of the men who came to revisit the place they called home 75 years ago.

"Our citizens stepped up and fought back in defense of our nation, and their stories need to be told," he said.

Former Tech. Sgt. Durward Swanson, a survivor who has attended the Hickam Field ceremony for the past five years, retired the flag that flew during the attacks.

Around 9 p.m., Sergeant Swanson looked up and saw Old Glory still flying right here at this very flag pole, Gordon shared. He grabbed a buddy and they lowered the proudest symbol of our country. On a day when so much had fallen, Old Glory survived.

The men and women who were here during the attacks were honored by performances by the Pacific Air Forces Band, wreath presentations, and an F-22 flyover.

I wanted to thank everybody here from the bottom of my heart, said Galella. The ceremony was beautiful.

Following the formal ceremony, attendees posed for photos with the survivors and asked for their autographs.

Gordon reminded the men, women and children in the audience the importance of preserving the Hickam Field heritage and keeping the stories of the fateful day alive.

Because of you, the events of 7 December 1941 will not be forgotten.
DailyFX.com -

Talking Points:

- ECB meets for last time this year with several changes expected to its QE program.

- Failure to address market's 'Christmas List' of policy changes could see the Euro rally, regardless of an extension.

- See the DailyFX Economic Calendar for Thursday, December 8.

Join me today at 07:30 EDT/12:30 GMT in the DailyFX Live Trading Room for coverage of the ECB rate decision and trade setups in EUR-crosses.

The ECB meeting is expected to bring about significant changes to the ECBs bond-buying program. At a minimum, the ECB will announce a six-month extension, extending the duration of its QE operations from March to September 2017. Any downside from this announcement has already been priced-in to the Euro, by our estimates; the formal recognition of this policy adjustment itself should have little impact on the Euro.

To ensure smooth implementation of its policies, the ECB will likely make an adjustment to its deposit floor threshold or capital key allotment. As a reminder, the ECB allots its bond buying based on the capital key. What is the capital key? The capital of the ECB comes from the national central banks (NCBs) of all EU member states. According to the ECB, the NCBs shares in this capital are calculated using a key which reflects the respective countrys share in the total population and gross domestic product of the EU.

As such, it's no surprise that Germany - as the country with the largest capital key contribution - has seen the belly of its yield curve (3Y-7Y) drift into negative territory at points over the past six months, below the ECB's -0.40% deposit level - the threshold at which the ECB no longer purchases bonds in its QE program. While scarcity is not a concern now, the fear of liquidity issues down the road are significant enough that the ECB wants to act now to eliminate said speculation.

Likewise, beyond extending its QE program, the ECB will either: remove the limiting parameter of -0.40% on its bond buying; or discard the capital key variable. In the first case, German yields would like move lower the fastest; in the second, peripheral yields like in Italy and in Spain. The latter move would be particularly welcomed in Italy, where the banks are under pressure after the referendum result.

Story continues

The market's 'Christmas List' of things the ECB needs to accomplish today is steep - 1) extend QE; 2) alter implementation; 3) reassure markets taper is far away; and 4) show willingness to help Italy after the referendum result. If the ECB doesnt make changes beyond an extension, the odds of the Euro rallying will increase as markets speculate that the ECB isnt delving deeper into its extraordinary policy-loosening toolkit and moving closer to ending is crisis efforts.

Read more: December Forex Seasonality Sees US Dollar Weakness into End of Year

--- Written by Christopher Vecchio, Senior Currency Strategist

To contact Christopher Vecchio, e-mail cvecchio@dailyfx.com

Follow him on Twitter at @CVecchioFX

To be added to Christopher's e-mail distribution list, please fill out this form



original source

DailyFX provides forex news and technical analysis on the trends that influence the global currency markets.

Learn forex trading with a free practice account and trading charts from IG.
NORMAL  Two Illinois businesses are expanding to uptown Normal this winter  and one of them has already opened.

Graham Crackers Comics, a Chicago-area chain of comic book stores, and Morris retail boutique Whimsy will move into 115 W. North St. and 112 E. Beaufort St., respectively.

Graham Crackers

Graham Crackers held a grand opening celebration Saturday, but the store opened Nov. 9  shortly after the previous tenant, Acme Comics, closed after 23 years in that location.

Uptown Manager Joe Tulley said Graham Crackers "cut a deal with the landlord and took over the lease." Store manager Drake Robinson called it "a perfect storm of good timing.

I attended Illinois State University, and throughout my time here I had gone into Acme," he said. I was used to there being a comic book shop here, and it seemed like a great opportunity.

While Robinson hopes to offer what Acme did  not only comics but action figures, board games and posters  he wants customers to know if they're looking for a particular comic, Graham Crackers is the place to go.

"If we don't have it, were more than happy to help track it down, he said. I dont want people to ever feel like they cant find what theyre looking for.

While Drake and a Sunday manager are the only permanent employees of the store, he said as it grows and things start to change, well bring on more.

Tulley referred to Graham Crackers and Babbitt's Books, which took on some of Acme's inventory and expanded its business to comic books, toys and games, as "ships sailing in parallel without knowing about each other, both attempting to succeed Acme Comics.

We went from having one comic book store to two, he said. For fans of the genre, theres going to be be a lot more options in uptown Normal.

Whimsy

Whimsy owner Traci Tessone said she's not concerned about bringing another home decor shop to uptown.

People arent going to drive an hour to come to just your store. Theyll drive an hour for five or six stores. You cant make it if you dont have other good shops around you, she said. I knew my shop had a different feel than anybody elses."

Tessone, a Morris native, hopes to transplant the feel of her first store in that town to uptown, though the Normal location will be smaller  about four employees, including a manager, versus eight. She started Whimsy in 2008.

We do home decor, clothing, jewelry, accessories, antiques and vintage items, she said. I carry a ton of different companies. Some of it is handmade. Some of it is ordered. I like to get a lot of my merchandise from local artists.

Tessone will have one similar shop right next door: Fabulous Affairs, which is operating a pop-up store called Magnolia on Beaufort that's currently where Whimsy will move.

I take over the lease Jan. 15, and Im hoping to be open the first or second weekend of February, Tessone said. "Hopefully people will come out and see me even though itll be cold.

Tulley said Tessone has been looking for space in uptown Normal for more than a year. She said it was a natural fit.
NEW OPENINGS

Loving

123 min.; PG-13 (thematic elements)

True story of the an interracial couple whose challenged their anti-miscegenation arrest for their marriage in Virginia.

Miss Sloane

132 min.; R (language, sexuality)

A woman takes on the most powerful political opponent of her career and will do whatever is required to win.

Nocturnal Animals

117 min.; R (violence, menace, graphic nudity, and language)

A woman is haunted by her ex-husband's novel, a violent thriller she interprets as a veiled threat.

Office Christmas Party

105 min.; R (crude sexual content/language throughout, drug use, graphic nudity)

An epic Christmas office party is thrown to land a big client ... but gets way out of hand.

ONGOING

Allied

124 min.; R (violence, some sexuality/nudity, language, brief drug use)

In 1942, an intelligence officer and French Resistance fighter find their relationship tested by the pressures of war.

Arrival

116 min.; PG-13 (brief strong language)

A linguist is recruited by the military to assist in translating alien communications.

Bad Santa 2

92 min.; R (crude sexual content/language throughout, graphic nudity)

Drunken Willie teams up again with angry sidekick Marcus to knock off a Chicago charity on Christmas Eve.

Doctor Strange

115 min.; 2-D/3-D; PG-13 (sci-fi action-violence throughout, intense crash sequence)

A former neurosurgeon embarks on a journey of healing only to be drawn into the world of the mystic arts.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

133 min.; 2-D/3-D; PG-13 (fantasy action violence)

The adventures of a writer in New York's secret community of witches and wizards.

Hacksaw Ridge

131 min.; R (intense prolonged realistically graphic sequences of war violence, including grisly bloody images)

The story of the first conscientious objector in American history to be awarded the Medal of Honor.

Incarnate

91 min.; PG-13 (intense horror violence, terror, disturbing images, brief strong language, sensuality, thematic elements)

A scientist fights to save a young boy from the grips of a demon with powers never seen before.

Moana

113 min.; 2-D/3-D; PG (peril, scary images, brief thematic elements)

A young woman sets sail for a fabled island with her hero, the legendary demigod Maui.

Moonlight

111 min.; R (sexuality, drug use, brief violence, language throughout)

The story of a young black man in Miami, from childhood to adulthood, as he struggles to find his place in the world.

Trolls

92 min.; 2-D/3-D; PG (mild rude humor)

A troll princess and her companion, the one unhappy troll, try to rescue her friends from being eaten by their nemeses.

AT THE NORMAL

Elf

97 min.; PG (mild rude humor, language)

A man raised as an elf at the North Pole is sent in search of his true identity. (Dec. 9 and 11)

Gremlins

106 min.; PG (violence, language)

A boy's new pet unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters on a small town. (Dec. 9)

A Man Called Ove

116 min.; subtitled; PG-13 (thematic content, disturbing images, language)

An ill-tempered retiree gives up on life as an unlikely friendship develops with his new neighbors. (Dec. 10)

Remember the Night

94 min.; unrated

A shoplifter and her prosecutor fall in love over the Christmas holiday, creating tensions in their family lives. (Dec. 13)

White Christmas

120 min.; unrated

Two song-and-dance men come to the aid of a snow-challenged Vermont ski lodge run by their old commanding officer. (Dec. 14)
NORMAL  Put these seven swinging grandmas in one room and what happens?

Choose one:

a.) instant coffee klatch;

b.) impromptu knitting circle;

c.) spontaneous coupon clipping;

d.) rocking jam session

If you chose d.), and you think we mean fresh homemade jam-making session at the stove, in between respites on the rocking chair, you're wrong.

If you think we mean they're an American band, and they'll help us party it down ... move to the head of the class.

Meet The Grannies U.S.

They're the plugged-in senior septet that debuted in Bloomington-Normal last summer as Yankee counterparts to one of Finland's surprise musical success stories: the Finnish Grannies, who routinely headline in some of Scandinavia's top concert halls.

Giving the Scandinavians a run for their money are Joy Schuler and Sara Woodrum on electric guitar, Karol Enright and Becky Altic on bass, Feli Sebastian and Vicki Cox on keyboards, and Nancy Steele Brokaw keeping the back-beat going on drums.

All are Twin Citians, save for Enright, who lives near El Paso, and Woodrum, who hails from Rantoul.

"It's been a trip learning a new style of playing," enthuses Cox, a 71-year-old grandma who retired from teaching and now pulls Elton John duty at the keyboard (and, hey, Elton's no spring chicken, either).

"I'm thrilled to be a part of this group," adds Altic, expecting her ninth grandchild in February but still in the workforce as an RN simulation coordinator in Illinois Wesleyan University's School of Nursing.

"I've always imagined singing/playing in a band ... my son is a professional musician who's played in bands that have done both U.S. and European tours. Since he plays bass, I thought I should, too!"

Mission accomplished.

Seventy-year-old Feli Sebastian, a retired clinical psychologist, lost both her mother and a brother within six months this year and felt that she could work through her grief with music.

Presto: another Granny ready to rock, dividing her time between keyboards and flute, ready to take up either when duty calls ("yes" to some flute in Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind," back to the keyboards for the Eagles' "Take It Easy").

"I discovered rock 'n' roll through the Grannies Band," notes Sebastian, who moved from the Philippines to the States 35 years ago. "It is different from what I was exposed to, but I'm beginning to like it."

Yeah, yeah, yeah?

Oh, yeah.

Enright, 60, joined up surreptitiously, without notifying her own kids and grand-kids of her rock star yearnings.

"Then something was posted on Facebook," and, whoops, her cover was blown sky-high, just like the school in Alice Cooper's "School's Out." "One of my daughters saw it, and it was 'Hey everybody, look at mom! She's in a rock band!'"

"I guess the secret is out, yes I AM in a rock band," Enright remembers saying, qualifying her blown cover with, "and I'm having the time of my life!"

Just ask Schuler, 65, who's traded in her apron strings for guitar strings, with no regrets whatsoever.

"It's so much fun being able to play the rock 'n' roll songs I grew up with."

Like the "soul stuff" she can shine on with The Grannies: "(We're Having a) Heat Wave," "House of the Rising Sun" and "Blowin' in the Wind."

For drummer Brokaw, perhaps best known for her prolific plays, theater reviews and opera librettos hereabouts, The Grannies has offered some long-in-coming avenging of a deprived musical education.

"When I joined the band in my grade school days long ago, I wanted to play percussion and was told that girls didn't do that ... and was given a flute instead," recalls the 66-year-old mother still patiently awaiting her first grandchild ("you can tell my grown kids that").

And now?

"We ROCK!"

They rock, by the way, through the efforts of an ISU music education professor, Kim McCord, who advertised for the band earlier this year in an issue of the local senior publication 50-Plus News & Views.

The goal: To offer a music outlet for a sector of the population often overlooked -- specifically, senior women.

They adopted a music-learning system used in Finland by a good friend named Markku Kaikkonen, who teaches music to adults with disabilities via a system called Figure Notes, which employs a system based on colors and shapes.

"As it turns out, American rock music is really a big deal over there, and a lot of the musicians with disabilities want to be rock musicians," says McCord.

The resulting learning system found its way to a support group of senior women between the ages of 65 to 84 who had lost their spouses.

Hence, the birth 10 years ago of The Finnish Grannies, who have grown from learning/support project to pop culture phenomenons who can pack the biggest concert halls in Helsinki (including a Dec. 14 concert that will join forces with The Grannies U.S; see accompanying story).

McCord decided that it would be a great experience for her ISU music education students to work with a group of senior ladies using the Figure Note system and Thomas Metcalf School facilities.

The ad was placed last June; the rest is history.

Each of the seven women answered the ad on her own, not knowing any of their soon-to-be-band-mates and not certain what instrument she would be required to learn, her prior musical training, or lack thereof notwithstanding.

The strangers became fast friends, and are now bonded in a big way, meeting Sundays and Wednesdays for rehearsing and camaraderie.

"I think a lot of women grew up listening to the Beatles, and maybe always wanted to play rock on their instrument," McCord says. "But in the '60s they weren't encouraged to do that sort of thing."

The Grannies, in both its U.S. and Finnish editions, is the dream come true for those natural urges put on hold a long time ago, in a pop culture far, far away.

"I guess it would be truthful to say it's a pretty unlikely journey for all of us," notes Brokaw. "But now we play in a rock band. And now that we're a band, we are individually and collectively determined to be the best that we can be. So we work pretty hard it."

How do they sound?

"That's all in the ears of the beholder," she says. "But since we started from zero, I think it would be fair to say we've come a long way."
BLOOMINGTON  Bond was reduced from $300,000 to $20,000 Wednesday for a Bloomington man charged with attempted aggravated robbery of a convenience store worker.

Defense lawyer Jeff Brown told Associate Judge David Butler that suspect Devan Maurer's family could post $2,035, the cash amount required for a $20,000 bond.

Before lowering the bond, the judge asked Assistant State's Attorney Lane Roberts to clarify if Maurer is accused of having a firearm during the alleged robbery Nov. 28 outside Pop's Grocery in the 900 block of West Market Street, Bloomington.

"If he had a real gun, attempted aggravated robbery wouldn't make sense," the judge told the prosecutor.

Roberts said police reports quoted a witness as saying Maurer approached an employee "holding a small black gun and demanded money."

After the bond hearing, State's Attorney Jason Chambers said: "Our concern in cases like this is public safety. Violence or the threat of violence are looked at carefully."

Brown argued that Maurer has no prior felony offenses and will stay with a family member in Bloomington, if released.

Roberts asked that the higher bond remain based on the seriousness of the charge and the fact that Maurer was on probation for an unrelated offense when the alleged robbery occurred.

In reducing the bond, the judge told Maurer that the court considers two key factors when setting bond: whether the defendant will show up for hearings and the likelihood of another criminal offense.

Maurer was cautioned by the judge that any new charges would be looked upon harshly at a future bond hearing.

Maurer is due back in court Friday for a status hearing.
EUREKA  A former nurse at Maple Lawn Healthcare in Eureka has been sentenced to two years' probation and 30 hours of community service after admitting to stealing for personal use narcotics intended for patients.

Tracy Long, 32, of Pekin, pleaded guilty to unlawful acquisition of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony, in Woodford County Circuit Court.

The Illinois State Police said Long was working at the nursing home in August and September 2015 and reported that she administered alprazolam and hydrocodone to residents on Sept. 4.

A review of surveillance video revealed that Long did not enter the residents' rooms for several hours before or after the time she claimed to have administered the medication, state police said.

When confronted by ISP Medicaid Fraud Control Bureau investigators, Long admitted to falsifying the reports and that she stole the narcotics for personal use, police said.

The misuse of opioid based prescription drugs is a serious national problem, ISP Director Leo P. Schmitz said in a statement. Educational initiatives and aggressive law enforcement efforts combined with sentences which mandate substance abuse evaluation and treatment are necessary for fighting this growing epidemic.

In addition to probation and community service, Long also was ordered to undergo a substance abuse evaluation and treatment program and was further ordered not to work in any position that gives her access to controlled substances.
NORMAL  Gail Ann Briggs, the longest-serving McLean County Unit 5 board member and one of the longest-serving in the state, is leaving her post.

After nearly 41 years of service, Briggs announced she will not be seeking reelection to the school board after her term expires in April.

It is time, albeit bittersweet, to retire from Unit 5 board membership, Briggs said Wednesday. I am buoyed by fond memories and friendships while looking forward to continuing support of the districts initiatives.

Briggs, of Towanda, was elected to the board in 1976 and has served as board president, vice president and secretary.

According to records from the Illinois Association of School Boards, Briggs is the fourth-longest serving board member in Illinois currently serving.

Briggs said the first step towards retirement began two years ago when Mark Daniel was appointed district superintendent and two new members were elected to the board. She chose to run for a shorter two-year term to support a new superintendent and new board members during continuing and increasingly stressful times.

Dr. Daniel has established his leadership in Unit 5 as evidenced by his contract extension, said Briggs. Our new and continuing board members have demonstrated their leadership and commitment to Unit 5s mission and vision. They are well-prepared to work with whomever the voters select April 4 to continue to move our district forward.

Unit 5 board president Meta Mickens-Baker has worked on the board with Briggs since 2004.

Shes a quiet leader so people may not be aware of all she brings to the table, said Mickens-Baker. We (the board) are very aware of how much we rely on her experience and knowledge in making sure were moving in the right direction.

While sad to see Briggs go, Mickens-Baker said the board is excited about the wealth of knowledge, experience and passion she will leave behind.

She knows the expectations the community has of us," said Mickens-Baker. "She has been an excellent person to work with and the community has really benefited from a board member who is very passionate about community success.

Board member John Puzauskas said when he formerly served as board president, he would turn to Briggs constantly for advice and to recall what had been done in the past.

She provided stability, said Puzauskas. She would always have information available to help us move forward.

Puzauskas, a 12-year board member, also said he will not run for reelection in April.

There comes an appropriate time when you say, OK. Ive accomplished what I wanted to accomplish. Shes at that point and so am I, said Puzauskas. The board has a very strong foundation and I have the highest hopes in the world that Unit 5 will continue on a successful path.
Tackling mental health and providing affordable housing options were among the priorities identified by candidates vying for McLean County Board seats in the three districts that encompass a majority of the town of Normal.
BLOOMINGTON  The ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor hadn't started yet, but tears already were streaming down Gail Stanek's face on Wednesday outside the McLean County Museum of History.

Stanek, who was among about 100 people at the ceremony on a sunny but chilly afternoon in Bloomington, clung to a picture of her 17-year-old uncle, Seaman 2nd Class Arthur Ray Thinnes, who was aboard the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

Struck by nine torpedoes in the Japanese surprise attack, the battleship capsized and sank in the mud along Battleship Row, taking with it the lives of 415 sailors and 14 Marines. The death toll on the Oklahoma, one of 30 ships sunk or severely damaged that day, was second only to the 1,177 lost on the USS Arizona.

I wasnt born yet when this happened, but my mom wanted to find him, desperately," Stanek said, who has a telegram saying he was missing but presumed killed.

In April 2015, the Defense Department announced plans to exhume and identify the remains of an estimated 388 still-unknown Oklahoma crew members buried in Hawaii. Stanek said she and her mother, who died five years ago, both gave DNA samples to help identify Thinnes.

I promised my mom that I would continue the search, she said. If he isnt identified before Im gone, my son has promised to continue the search.

Also sharing the emotions and memories stirred by the anniversary was Chuck Howard of Bloomington.

I was about 6 years old and living in Chicago on that day, he said. I remember there being a blackout  everybody had to turn their lights off so that enemy planes couldnt see any targets. There were search lights looking for planes.

"I was a kid, but that was scary.

Bill Morefield of Bloomington said he also was a youngster on the day the attack happened.

In the last few weeks, people have asked me about what it was like, and I think the one thing that we can compare it to is the 9/11 attacks, he said. The sense of shock, of anger, I believe were very similar.

"I dont remember much about the Pearl Harbor attacks, so most of my real knowledge is thanks to documentaries and books Ive read, he said.

Rick Ross, senior vice commander of American Legion Louis E. Davis Post 56, served as the master of ceremonies for the event.

Today, we commemorate the 75th anniversary of this day in 1941 when our Armed Forces in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, were subjected to a surprise strike by the Japanese Imperial Navy, he said. That attack killed 2,403 Americans and wounded 1,178 others and caused our nation to enter World War II.

"We resolve that our strength, our vigilance and our devotion will forever keep America the land of the free and the home of the brave. We resolve that we will keep faith in those we have loved and lost. And we resolve that we will always remember Pearl Harbor.

The American Legion Color Guard presented the colors, and American flags outlined the perimeter of the museum lawn.

A flag was donated to Pamela Bishop of Normal, whose father, Russel Dwy, a Navy veteran, died last week and will be buried at sea.

Today was a special day because receiving the flag brings me closure, she said.

Butch Ekstram, a U.S. Air Force veteran, helped organize the event.

It went very well, he said. We had a beautiful day. It was a little chilly, but it was still a nice day and we had a nice crowd.
Joaquin

On the night of July 11, 2015, Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman slipped through a hole in floor of his cell's shower and, thanks to some complex engineering and security lapses, pulled off the second jailbreak of his criminal career.

He was recaptured in early January, but the sting of the jailbreak  conducted through a mile-long tunnel dug under the noses of authorities  has lingered as an embarrassment for the Mexican government.

That embarrassment may be about to deepen.

Guzman's henchmen, digging under the Altiplano high-security prison west of Mexico City, initially came up in the wrong cell, missing their target.

Correcting that mistake, however, didn't appear to be too much trouble for Guzman's accomplices.

"It was not complicated." the Sinaloa cartel chief told interrogators of his escape after he was recaptured in a dingy lair in northwest Mexico in January, according to Mexican magazine Proceso. "The first time they wanted to get me out they got the cell wrong, but later they corrected and I left."

One of the officials who spoke with Guzman after he was recaptured told Proceso's Jesus Esquivel that Guzman held back little when speaking to authorities after they caught him.

"To the talk that his representatives got the cell wrong the first time they tried to free him, he left clear that another tunnel was constructed under the prison," the source told Proceso.

chapo guzman mexico tunnel

If the escape was as easy as Guzman supposedly described to his interrogators, "it means the network of corruption by narco trafficking in El Altiplano was larger than how the government of [current President] Enrique Pena Nieto painted it," Esquivel writes.

Story continues

Guzman's escape in July last year  the price of which likely ran into the low millions when bribes are factored in  set off a hunt for his accomplices within Mexico's prison and law-enforcement systems. As of January, more than 40 people had been arrested in connection with the escape, including eight prison staffers and 15 federal agents.

The webs of corruption and connections built by kingpins like Guzman are what allows his ilk to construct international drug-trafficking networks, often acting with impunity in parts of Mexico.

Mexico El Chapo Guzman prison transfer

These networks are also hard for the Mexican government to deconstruct, even when they capture major players like Guzman, as such efforts are often hamstrung by weaknesses in institutions and the conflicting interests of people within them.

"The fight for corruption inside the Mexican government is not very serious," Raul Benitez-Manaut, a security and armed forces professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, told USA Today at the beginning of this year.

"This is the big problem," he added. "Without this, we cannot make a real war on drugs."

According to the source who spoke with Proceso, the Sinaloa kingpin was likely forthcoming with the gritty details of his July escape for personal reasons.

"The narco trafficker cooperated in everything that he could when he was interrogated because he wanted to get it so they wouldn't put him on the path to be extradited to the United States," the source said.

It's unlikely that those admissions will earn Guzman any leniency when it comes to extradition, however.

News of a second tunnel, if accurate, will probably only deepen the sense of embarrassment brought on by the jailbreak and underscore the deep-set rot within the country's prison system  two developments likely to intensify the government's desire to ride itself of Guzman.

El Chapo Guzman fake escape story prison photo

Guzman's legal team has just about exhausted its means to slow or stop the extradition.

A high-ranking Mexican security official said the government hoped to see Guzman off by January or February 2017, and government sources cited by Esquivel said Guzman's extradition could come within weeks, despite the Mexican government's wariness over dealings with US President-elect Donald Trump.

Official concerns notwithstanding, Pena Nieto may see Guzman's extradition as a way of building better relations with Trump, a source of widespread derision in Mexico.

"'El Chapo' could be a present from Pena Nieto to Trump," Esquivel suggests.

NOW WATCH: 1 YEAR LATER: Heres what may come next for 'El Chapo' Guzman





More From Business Insider


BLOOMINGTON  A contagious bacterial illness that can be life-threatening in infants and children with chronic disease has been confirmed among six McLean County residents, prompting the county health department to issue an advisory on how people can reduce their risk.

The six county residents with whooping cough, also known as pertussis, range in age from 1 month to 21 years, the health department said Thursday.

"The individuals are being treated with antibiotics and supportive care  bed rest, fever reduction and maintaining adequate fluid intake," said Lisa Slater of the McLean County Health Department. "No one is currently hospitalized."

Slater said the health department didn't know the reason for the rise in whooping cough, but said it isn't unusual for this time of year. The most recent outbreak in McLean County was in January 2015, when eight children and adults became ill.

Whooping cough is a respiratory disease that spreads easily and can cause a high-pitched cough that comes in spasms and can last for weeks if untreated. The severity of the cough can cause vomiting and fatigue.

While the disease is not life-threatening to most healthy children, teens and adults, whooping cough can cause serious illness and death among infants and young children who are exposed to the disease before their first vaccinations at 2 months or who haven't been adequately vaccinated.

That's why the health department wants everyone around children to make sure they are up to date with their immunizations.

Whooping cough is spread by droplet or direct contact with airborne respiratory secretions  generally by coughs or sneezes. Without prompt antibiotic treatment, infected people can remain contagious for as long as two weeks after the cough begins and coughing episodes can last as long as 10 weeks. Early treatment can reduce the contagious period to five days and can reduce the duration and intensity of the illness.

Anyone with a high-pitched cough should call their doctor and stay home from school or work. People with confirmed whooping cough should stay home until they have received five days of antibiotic treatment.

The health department advises that residents make sure their children are up to date with their pertussis vaccinations, which should be given when they are infants, with a booster before kindergarten and another booster before sixth grade.

Adults who didn't get a Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis) booster as a preteen or teen and pregnant women should ask their doctor about getting a Tdap, the health department said.

Residents also can reduce their risk by avoiding getting close to anyone who has a cold or is coughing, coughing or sneezing into their sleeve, washing hands frequently with warm water and soap or using alcohol-based hand gel when water and soap aren't available.
Certain aspects of Gov. Rauners turnaround agenda should be rejected. He should not be allowed to bust the unions or reduce workers' comp awards. The way the governor defines lawsuit reform seems to give an unfair advantage to the big guy over the little guy in any kind of civil litigation. We don't need that.

But it's also time we had a budget in this state. That will necessitate some compromises. There are a few aspects of the governor's agenda that should be considered.

He proposes reforming certain revolving door provisions for senior members of the administration. He would also strengthen gift and travel restrictions. He suggests merging the offices of the Illinois comptroller and treasurer.

There are a number of proposals that deal with state pension reform. Any rational person has to believe that we cannot continue to do what we've been doing in the past. Future employees cannot be promised what we cant pay present employees.

The governor has also called for reducing the number of units of local government in Illinois. Illinois has 6,963 local government agencies. The state with the next highest number of local governments is Texas, at 5,147. Florida has 6 million more residents than Illinois, but has just 1,650 units of government.

These are just a few of the issues that our legislative leaders could deliberate. Call your legislator and tell them to make some reasonable compromises. Hey, maybe even the speaker will show up and participate in a meaningful way.

Alan Novick, Normal
We see more hypocrisy from the left with Hillary, conceding the election to Donald Trump but now joining Jill Stein in the recount scam. Left-wing Stein has done this to gain money for her campaign fund. Clinton continues to lie by saying one thing, then doing another. This is why many of us Republicans voters want Hillary prosecuted in court for her lies and endangering America. This proves Democrats and the left-wing media are sour grapes and sore losers. They have no honor.




Nose Earring (Gold)  John Baldessari, 20161, Courtesy the artist, Marian Goodman Gallery and Hauser & Wirth, Photo: Alex Delfanne

Hauser & Wirth (32 East 69th Street) launches their "Portable Art Project" on Thursday, April 20, 6 to 8 p.m., featuring wearable works by fifteen artists. Organized by Celia Forner, the exhibition includes one-of-a-kind pieces and limited editions by artists including John Baldessari, Nate Lowman, Paul McCarthy, Pipilotti Rist and Michele Oka Doner. On view until June 17. Also on the night: H&W opens an exhibition of 40 large-scale works by the late German photographer August Sander.





Via the Guggenheim

The Guggenheim (1071 5th Avenue) opens an exhibition called "Life Is Cheap" by 2016 Hugo Boss Prize winner Anicka Yi on Friday, April 21, and on view until July 25. The self-taught artist often works with scents, and the works here include several inflatable dioramas that combine samples of sweat from Asian-American women with the smell of carpenter ants. While you're in the museum, check out Doug Wheeler's "PSAD Synthetic Desert III" and Maurizio Cattelan's 18-karat-gold (functional) toilet, "America."





Via Center for Book Arts

Still arranging your books by spine color? Perhaps you"ll get some fresh ideas at The Center For Book Arts (28 West 27th Street, 3rd floor) latest exhibition, "En Masse: Books Orchestrated," opening on Friday, April 21, 6 to 9 p.m. The group show was organized by Osman Can Yerebakan and features works by over fifteen artists who "utilize book arrangement in their practice." Up until July 1.





Amy Douglas, via Jack Hanley Gallery

Jack Hanley Gallery (327 Broome Street) opens "The Unfortunate Souvenirs of Our Time" featuring reconfigured pieces of broken Staffordshire ceramics by Amy Douglas on Friday, April 21, 6 to 8 p.m. The UK artist is a noted art restorer who also collects and, for this show, brings destroyed 19th century pieces back to life "with a surreal twist." On view until May 21.





Truman Caopte, 1948 by Irving Penn, via the Metropolitan Museum

The Metropolitan Museum of Art celebrates the centennial of Irving Penn's birth with a big retrospective opening on April 24 and up until the end of July. Over 200 photos by the acclaimed American photographer are included. Look for portraits of Truman Capote, Picasso and Ingmar Bergman; as well as shots of tribesmen in New Guinea, flower studies and studies of his wife, Lisa Fonssagrives.





Julius von Bismarck via Marlborough Contemporary

Marlborough Contemporary (545 West 25th Street) opens three shows on April 19, 6 - 8 p.m.: Julius von Bismarck's "Good Weather," New York-based artist Lucas Ajemian's "A clean glitch..." and -- in their viewing room -- Betty Tompkins' "SMALL." All are up until May 20. Not sure what Tompkins is showing here, but she's known for her explicit imagery of "intimate acts."





The Public Art Fund's 40th Anniversary Spring Benefit Auction is Thursday, April 20, 6:30 p.m., at Metropolitan West (639 West 46th Street). The night will raise funds to bring more works of art to NYC with cocktails, dinner, auction and (of course) an afterparty. Also check out artist projects by Jesse Hamerman, Oliver Herring, Anna K.E., Tabor Robak and B. Wurtz. Tickets are HERE.

Also celebrating four decades supporting the arts in NYC, The Drawing Center's 40th Anniversary Spring Gala is Tuesday, April 25, 6:30 p.m., at Capitale (130 Bowery) They'll be honoring four artists: Marcel Dzama, Teresita Fernandez, Rashid Johnson and R.H. Quaytman; plus Billy Martin is the night's musical director. Tickets are HERE.





tedted via Facebook

The Hollows art space (151 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn) continues their month-long performance/studio series with the tedted group's performance of "Pressing On" at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 21; followed by Ashley Robicheaux's dance-theater piece "Mattress" at 8 and 9:15 p.m. Space is limited, please rsvp to hello@hollows.info





The Wanderer, 2016 by James Hsieh, via Parsons

The New York Academy of Art (111 Franklin Street) hosts their annual MFA Open Studios on April 21, 6 to 9 p.m. Check out over 100 artist studios. Parsons School of Design hosts their 2017 MFA Thesis Exhibition with an opening on Thursday, April 20, 6 to 8 p.m., at Westbeth (55 Bethune Street). The two-day International Studio & Curatorial Program (1040 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn) Spring Open Studios starts on Friday, April 21, 6 to 9 p.m. And SVA's MFA Photography, Video and Related Media (214 East 21st Street) program opens a show of student work on April 21, 7 to 10 p.m.

Header image by Irving Penn via the Metropolitan Museum.


Accomplished actor Tim Roth, who will soon be seen in the "Twin Peaks" revival on Showtime, has boldly admitted he's a sexual abuse survivor. The English actor reveals his past experience with an abuser who happens to be his own grandfather.

Tim Roth said that his father, who was an active member of the British Communist Party in the '70s, had a terrible childhood. He described his old man as a damaged soul due to Roth's grandfather. In turn, his grandfather also abused him.

"He was a f---ing rapist," the actor told The Guardian. He also said that no one had confronted the situation in the family. "Nobody knew what to do," Tim Roth further revealed.

Tim Roth: my father and I were abused by my grandfather https://t.co/j3kUe9zSJN  The Guardian (@guardian) December 5, 2016

This isn't the first time the Oscar-nominated actor has admitted to his harrowing experience. In 2009, the "Reservoir Dogs" star revealed the fact in an interview with Daily Mail.

At that time, Tim Roth didn't identify who his abuser was and he has always refused to tag himself as a victim. He also revealed that he has been exposed to violence as a school kid as his peers used to beat him up for being "wimpy."

It was these experiences that prompted him to do "The War Zone" in 1999. The British drama that starred Tilda Swinton, Colin Farrell, Ray Winstone, Freddie Cunliffe and Lara Belmont centered on sexual abuse and incest.

The movie would be Tim Roth's first directorial job. The actor would then receive several citations for this work, including the CICAE Panorama Award at the Berlin Film Festival, according to a Tim Roth fan site. "It was a fantastic chance for me to exorcise a lot of demons," the actor said in reference to the movie.

Tim Roth is married to Nikki Butler since 1993. They have two grown kids, Michael and Timothy. The actor has an older son, Jack, from a previous relationship.
An employee of the California Department of Education (CDE) has cast the government agency in a bad light. Someone has allegedly sent an inappropriate email using an official address. The department, however, is refusing to reveal any details.

Instead, the CDE immediately issued a statement through spokesman Bill Ainsworth to acknowledge that its officials are aware of the incident and that they are acting on the issue. Allegedly, the emails related to a "personal matter," thus the need to keep the investigations private, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Ainsworth, however, assured the public that this incident shouldn't reflect on the agency as a whole. "These emails in no way reflect the views of the California Department of Education," the spokesman said. "We expect CDE employees to conduct themselves using the highest professional standards."

We are aware that a @CADeptEd employee has been allegedly sending out inappropriate emails. We are investigating & taking immediate action.  CA Dept of Education (@CADeptEd) December 6, 2016

But in a separate report, it was revealed that the incident involved members of a San Diego State University research team and a CDE employee named Thomas Pacheco. The team emailed the agency to share the link to their report on food and housing among college students for the department's information and awareness. The only reply they apparently received from the state's Education department employee was an explicit, "Go f--- yourself," the Fresno Bee quoted.

Professor and co-study author J. Luke Wood assumed that there might not be any intent for the email sender to be inappropriate. He thought that it could have been a "horrible auto-correct," so he called up the CDE to clarify. Since he had the name of the sender, whose signature was at the bottom of the official email, the professor knew just who to look for.

But Thomas Pacheco instead accused the study authors of sending spam. When the professor tried to explain that it was a legitimate report, the CDE employee apparently hanged up on him. Further calls went directly to voice mail and Wood told the news outlet that he still has not heard anything from the department as of press time.
A day care center in the Cheshire County in Connecticut has been abruptly closed by the Office of Early Childhood (OEC). Parents were left without any advice or notice, as well as plenty of questions.

Over 50 children attended the day care before the shutdown that happened Friday, Dec. 2. According to Fox 61, when grandparent Therese Kelly arrived to pick up her 1-year-old grandkid, she found the children in tears.

The other parents were just as baffled after learning that the operator and owner, Asher Sussman, has let go of his staff. Kelly isn't sure what the problem was because the Cheshire Country Day School (CCDS) didn't have any issues as far as she knows.

Sussman initially told parents that the day care will be undergoing maintenance, hence it will be closed temporarily. Later, they were told that the center was infested with mice and the shutdown might take longer to abide with the directives of the OEC.

A father complained that because of the uncertainty, he's left with a "very serious predicament" along with other parents, NBC Connecticut reports. Effrain Torres had to take a day off from work to pick up his children that Friday when the day care closed. He's now looking for options on where to send his two kids while the adults have to attend to their other tasks.

But according to OEC, the CCDS actually received two complaints from parents and it's currently under investigation. Staffers, however, had more story to tell.

Jackie Robinson confirmed that they were apparently asked to resign from the day care several days before the shutdown. Refusing to quit their jobs, Sussman allegedly stopped paying his employee. Rental fees for October and November have also not yet been paid, the building owner told news outlets. The CCDS also received citations from the OEC back in March and April.

Finally, in an email Dec. 6, the CCDS advised parents it will permanently closed, according to My Record Journal. "We have notified the state of our intentions to close permanently," the CCDS' statement to parents read.
An emaciated 7-year-old orphan who was starved for almost seven years has made an amazing recovery after adopted by Priscilla Morse of Tennessee. At 7-year-old, Ryan Morse, had not grown or gained weight since birth and had been covered in hair because of severe malnutrition. One year after his adoption, the boy now looks a healthy, thriving little boy.

On 2015, poor pictures of baby Ryan were posted online. The picture showed a thin, pale, little and severely malnourished boy. Even though caregivers from his orphanage at Bulgaria did all their best to take care of him, the boy was almost dying. However, when Priscilla Morse from Tennessee saw the heartbreaking pictures of Ryan in 2015, she knew in her heart she had to rescue the boy.

So Morse went to Bulgaria, finalized paperwork and brought home Ryan in October 2015 at their house in Nashville, Tennessee. As soon as they got back to Nashville, the boy was rushed to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. The doctors said they had not seen anything like it before and if it happened in the United States it would be a national news as it was so shocking, to be famished for seven years.

Morse was shocked the first time she saw Ryan. She said the pictures did not do it justice. The orphan boy was smaller in real-life, more fragile and sicker. Morse even said her index finger was the same size as Ryan's thigh.

At first, the little boy suffered re-feeding syndrome, meaning he had to wait for some months before his tiny body could finally deal with a feeding tube. Fortunately, in March 2015, he began gaining weight after being altered from G-tube or gastrostomy tube to a J-tube or Jejunostomy feeding.

The little boy is now living with the Morse in their house and is making continuing improvements following adoption. He weighs 23lbs as of today according to what Daily Mail has learned. Now he is laughing, moving without any help and smiling.

"Given everything he's gone through, he is an incredibly happy guy!" Priscilla said to Little Things. She also said Ryan's progress had been nothing short of a miracle in her opinion.


A baby was born in the middle of a flight that was bound for Orlando via Southwest Airlines. The baby was named Jet but he is said to be in critical condition and is being closely monitored.

News 2 reported that the Southwest Airlines plane had to make an emergency landing in Charleston after the baby was born. The airline's Flight 556 departed from Philadelphia and was set to fly to Orlando, Florida on Sunday when the woman went into labor. A medical personnel who were on the flight helped in the delivery of the baby, who was born 14 weeks before the due date of the mother.

The baby weighs a little over two pounds. He and his family are now at the NIC-U at the Medical University of South Carolina and is being carefully monitored.

The spokeswoman for Medical University, Heather Woolwine, told News 6 that the baby's blood pressure has been stable but is still being treated for possible infection due to the environment where the baby was born. Woolwine added, "It is remarkable that he was able to go for some time without some type of respiratory support while on his way to us." No other details are available regarding the condition of the mother.

Reports claim that the name of the baby, Jet, was actually on their list of baby names even before the midflight delivery. It is unclear what other names were listed by the parents of baby Jet.

The family was traveling to the Orlando area in order to go to a baby shower. It was not clarified if they were traveling for another baby shower or if the party was supposed to be thrown for them in Orlando.

Meanwhile, the family of the baby has yet to give any statement about the matter. The Orlando-bound flight was able to arrive at their destination an hour after the schedule. None of the remaining passengers have commented on the incident.
A middle school teacher named Megan Lordos, had complained that she was restricted from using the word, "dyslexia" in school. However, she was not alone. Using the word dyslexia seem alarming to most educators and parents, thus most would refrain from using the word to label a child's learning difficulty.

As per NPR, dyslexia is considered to be the most usual and common disability of learning in the United States. Millions of schools have students that struggle from this disability. Yet, most schools restrict parents and teachers from using the word.

In IDEA which stands for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, schools must give services to the students who are suffering from this disability. But the services which

must be provided to students going through this disability, are quite pricey, and most schools lack the assets so they are not able to provide the needed curriculum.

With the term dyslexia being silenced, some parents are concerned that they child might not be able to get the help that they need. Lordos' two children had been going through dyslexia as well, she called a parent teacher meeting for the parents of the students that she saw were going through the struggle just like what her own children went through.

Lordo saw how the parents had reacted, and told her she wasn't supposed to use that word. Lordos eventually came to a conclusion by saying that the reason why they're not allowed to say this word is because there are not enough capabilities for the purpose of support of this difference in learning disabilities.

IDEA is working on the matter and the needs of schools that support and help them overcome the learning disabilities. This help might be taken locally. There are many local schools that have students with dyslexia and their budgets are added up.
This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact the Parsons Sun office at (620) 421-2000 if you have any questions
Apple is likely to move to TSMC's 10nm processors for their 2017 anniversary iPhone from the 16nm processors that are currently behind the iPhone 7. The next chip war will over 7nm chips. TSMC's CEO Mark Liu stated at their second quarter performance presentation back September that he believed that their 7nm chips will be superior to those from Samsung in PPA index that indicates Power, Performance, and Area. He noted that they're going to start on tape-out on 7-nano chips in first quarter of next year and start mass-producing in early 2018. That probably means they'll be ready for smartphones in 2019.

TSMC currently holds a 55% market share lead in the global market of advanced chips and to stay ahead of the completion they're working with the government of Taiwan to find a parcel of land in the Southern part Koahsiung so as to begin work on a new plant for their next generation of chips in the 5nm and 3nm range, according to the Nikkei Asian Review.

Although Apple will one day be able to tap into these next-gen chips, TSMC is also looking forward to developing chips for next-gen products in the areas of autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things (IoT) which will be first to adopt the technology. This was first revealed back in September.

For the record, Patently Apple posted a report over the weekend covering a letter sent by Apple to the National Highway Traffic Administration regarding policies surrounding autonomous vehicles. So Apple may still be involved in this area of technology that one day may require advanced processors from TSMC.

At present, TSMC has some 470 customers worldwide. Its biggest clients are Apple and Qualcomm, with each accounting for 16% of the company's revenue.

While TSMC will begin mass-producing 7nm chips in the first quarter of 2018, its main competitor, Intel, said it will begin making 10nm chips in the second half of 2017.

While Intel will focus their 10nm processors for the second half of 2017 mainly for PC's  it should be noted that Intel is also quickly moving into the autonomous vehicle market. In fact in July Patently Apple covered this development in a special report covering the BMW, Intel and Mobileye Announcements of their 2021 autonomous vehicle. So the race is going to get interesting in the autonomous vehicle market in the not too distant future.

As for smartphones, TSMC's move to begin a new plant in the coming year for 5 and 3nm processors ensures that Apple will be able to build on their iPhone road map well into the future.

About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus.
Tehran Says Britain Touts Iran 'Threat' To Make 'Massive' Arms Sales In Persian Gulf

12/08/16

Source: RFE/RL



Iran shot back at British Prime Minister Theresa May after she called the country a "threat" at a meeting with Arab Gulf states in Bahrain on December 7. Britain is "not in a position to accuse others of interfering in regional affairs," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi said in Tehran.



Related Article by Independent of UK (Sunday September 4, 2016):

Britain is now the second biggest arms dealer in the world



Ghassemi suggested May "wanted to please some of the Gulf states with these ill-considered remarks" with the goal of signing "new massive arms deals" involving British weapons.



May earlier told Gulf Cooperation Council representatives from Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Saudi Arabia that a nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers last year was "vitally important" to regional security because it "neutralized the possibility of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons for over a decade."



But she said she was "clear-eyed about the threat that Iran poses to the Gulf and the wider Middle East" and said she would work with Gulf nations to "counter that threat."





British Prime Minister Theresa May





"We must also work together to push back against Iran's aggressive regional actions, whether in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, or in the Gulf itself," she said.



Based on reporting by AP and dpa


Kofax Power PDF review TechRadar Pro

Kofax has a handful of multi-platform apps to help you alter and annotate PDFs. Standard is likely the one best suited for most needs, and is the software well be exploring in this review.
After more than half a decade in the making, ARM server chips should have struck gold by now, but they havent. ARM servers were projected to be approaching a double-digit server market share, but they still are virtually non-existent.

Keeping market realities in mind, Qualcomm earlier this year said it would take a wait-and-watch approach before making a splash with its ARM server chips. While ARM servers adoption has been poor, Qualcomm decided to go ahead and launch the chips.

In the making for two years, Qualcomms Centriq 2400 server chips have 48 cores and are now being sent as samples to companies. Volume shipments of the chips will start in the second half next year.

Centriq 2400 is perhaps the best ARM server chip yet and may provide a glimmer of hope for the architecture to succeed in servers. But based on the current progress of the ARM server market, Qualcomm could have a dud on its hand, much like its Mirasol e-reading screens, which were introduced with a lot of hype.

With the Centriq 2400, they go to the head of pack compared with other ARM competitors, said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst at Insight 64.

Qualcomm has the mammoth task ahead of convincing companies to switch over the hardware and software ecosystems from x86 to the ARM architecture. Moreover, the competition is fierce with market leaders Intel, AMD, IBM, and other ARM chip makers vying for market share.

Intel, which rules the server chip market, is surely watching closely, and wont sit by quietly, Brookwood said. Intel may have a strategy planned to take on Qualcomms chip if it does emerge as a threat.

An Intel spokesman didnt comment on Qualcomms chips. We operate in a highly competitive market and take all competitors seriously, the spokesman said. There has been a lot of hype about ARM in the datacenter, but very few deployments.

ARM servers still are virtually nonexistent, and Qualcomm was waiting for a number of ARM server chipmakers to leave the market before launching Centriq. The company also waited for applications to emerge but is betting the server chips could be attractive to companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon building mega data centers.

No winning applications have emerged, but software support is growing via organizations like Linaro, which develops Linux-based software packages for ARM architecture. The LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) is commonly used in the handful of ARM servers.

Large cloud companies mostly control their software destiny because they have their own software stacks. If the Qualcomm server chip and custom software ecosystem can help companies lower operating expenses, it will be adopted, said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst at Insight 64.

In the past, low-power x86 and ARM chips have been tied to low-power cloud servers. But none of them worked out, and Intels Xeon server chips  which are consuming lower power and getting faster with each new generation  still rule the market with a 90-plus percent market share. When ARM chips started emerging for cloud servers, Intel countered with low-power Atom server chips of its own, which halted ARMs momentum.

After that, ARM server chipmakers started dropping like flies. First, it was Calxeda, the pioneering company that bought ARM chips to servers, which shut its doors.

AMD, in one of its worst moves, abandoned x86 and bet its server future on ARM chips. But the company has now put ARM server chips on the backburner and will release the high-performance x86-based Zen server chips next year. Broadcoms future is uncertain, while Cavium recently started shipping server chips in volume. AppliedMicro is by far the most prolific ARM server chipmaker, but the company hasnt been successful in finding many customers.

Without a doubt, Qualcomms Centriq 2400 is the best ARM server chip because of its integrated chipset and advanced manufacturing. The chip is the first server processor made using the 10-nanometer manufacturing process, Anand Chandrasekher, senior vice president and general manager of Qualcomm Datacenter Technologies, said in a blog entry.

Centriq is targeting competition on performance per watt, a metric that helps deliver more performance while consuming less power. The chip has a distinct advantage of having its storage and network interfaces integrated, for which Intel still needs an additional southbridge bus.

But contrary to Qualcomms claims, the 10-nm may not be an advantage over Intels server chips made using 14-nanometers, analysts said. Chip manufacturing and transistor density are much more complex than looking at the nanometer count, and Intels 14-nm process may be better than the 10-nm process of the foundry where Qualcomm will have Centriq chips made.

Basically, chip manufacturers other than Intel havent gotten full benefits of shrinking chip densities at each node. Foundries like Samsung  where Qualcomm may have its Centriq chip made  havent seen true shrinks of chip size at each process node.

Brookwood said Intels 14-nm process is perhaps equal to or better than the 10-nm process of Samsung. When Intel starts making 10-nm server chips, which could be as early as next year, itll again jump a generation ahead of Qualcomms Centriq 2400.

Realistically, the 16-nm process of TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.) and the 14-nm process of Samsung and GlobalFoundries were a bit better than Intels most recent 22-nm, but not competitive with Intels current 14-nanometer, said David Kanter, an analyst for Real World Technologies.

I expect the TSMC/Samsung at 10-nm to be similar or slightly better than Intels 14-nm, Kanter said. The right way to judge this is by looking at the transistor contacted gate pitch and the minimum metal pitch. That tells you how closely things are spaced. The true advantages of manufacturing also depend on lithography and other details, he said.

While Qualcomm may not have a long-term manufacturing advantage over Intel, itll be the better than other ARM server chips, which have had trouble reaching 14-nm, Brookwood said.

Qualcomm has already gained a foothold in China for its server chips, partnering with Guizhou Province to form a US$280 million joint venture called Guizhou Huaxintong Semiconductor Technology, which will design and sell server chipsets. But Qualcomm hasnt talked about corporate customers yet, and sales will depend on the software stack that will work with its server chips.

Also, more cloud installations are maneuvering to machine-learning technology to better analyze data, and it is designed around powerful chips like IBMs Power9 and Intels Xeon combined with GPUs. However, it will become easier to attach GPUs to ARM-based server chips through emerging interconnects like Gen-Z, which is architecture agnostic.
In its latest Windows 10 Insider Preview Build, Microsoft has given you the power to shut down or restart your PC by your voice alonea convenience that also may allow pranksters of all stripes to wreak havoc.

Microsoft rolled out Preview Build 14986 of Windows 10 to insiders in the Fast ring on Wednesday, on the first day of its Windows Hardware Engineering conference (WinHEC) in Shenzhen, China. Its a rather substantial build, offering the ability to restart, lock, or shut down your PC via Cortana. It allows you more freedom to control your music via Cortana, provides better PC game support via the Windows Game Bar, includes a Windows Defender dashboard, features improved Windows Ink capabilities, and much more. The new build also ships with specific improvements for customers in Asia, including a better typing experience for Chinese keyboards.

And, even better, Microsoft has given you more control over when this new update is installed. If Windows Update cant find a good time to restart your machine, youll be asked to schedule an update or even just remind you later, which will hold off on applying the update altogether until its a good time for you.

These updates are all part of Microsofts ongoing progress toward the next major Windows 10 releaseknown as Redstone 2 or the Creators Updatesometime in spring 2017.

Why this matters: While any new Insider Build can introduce a laundry list of changes and improvementsas this doesMicrosoft has been busy adding improvements to Cortana in an attempt to help keep up with Google Assistant and Apples Siri. In May, for example, Microsoft added the ability to order Cortana to play songs from your local folders or Groove Music as part of Build 14352.

Microsoft You can now order up music by app, even with the screen locked.

Your wish is Cortanas command

With the just-launched Build 14986, Cortana can go one step further, allowing you to ask to play an artist, track, title, or genre in other apps besides Groove. You can also ask Cortana to identify a song you dont know if its playing on one of your radio apps, like the mobile app Shazam. Microsoft has made Cortana a little smarter, as she now understands what app youre talking about, automatically referring back to the last one you mentioned. You can tell Cortana to adjust the volume levels, or start and pause playback. Even better, these capabilities have been added above the lock screen, when your computer is locked, as well as when youre actively using it.

Microsoft Heres what the new full screen experience looks like when the screen is locked.

That lock screen will look a bit different, too. When your PC is locked, Cortana will stay active, though with prior builds she couldnt do too much. Now, shes much more visualask her the weather and shell show you the forecast, optimized to be seen while across the room.

Its the PC shutdown and restart commands that may be a little worrying for some, though. You used to be able to order Microsofts Xbox to turn off via your voice aloneand some people discovered that you could simply say Xbox off in a YouTube video or stream with disastrous consequences. Its not quite clear what the command is to restart your PC (Cortana, restart my PC is probably it) or whether theres an option to toggle that capability on and off. For now, if youre running this build, be a little wary.

A bit of spit and polish for Windows Ink

Microsofts inking tools, known as Windows Ink, remain a work in progressin our review of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, we noted that inking felt unfinished. Fortunately, a few features in Build 14986 help give it a bit more polish.

Microsoft You can resume an old Screen Sketch if you wish.

Probably the most important updates are general tweaks to its interface, including finer-grained control over how the ruler rotates, as well as doing away with the cursor while inking to suggest a more pen-like experience. And if you do tweak a settingsay, if you widen your pens ink or change the colora fly-out will allow you to preview before you touch the stylus to the screen.

Windows Ink also gained a bit of permanence. Now, you can resume an earlier Screen Sketch (although it will generate a new sketch by defaultyoull have to tweak this in its settings).

Gaming, Narrator, Defender, and Registry improvements

Besides those major improvements, Microsoft has also added several specific updates to some of the key areas of Windows 10:

In the Registry, Microsoft now allows you to add the familiar File Explorer keyboard navigation shortcuts to Registry Editor, so you can easily go up (Alt+ Up arrow), backwards (Alt + Left arrow), or forwards (Alt + Right arrow) in the Registry.

Tapping Win+G invokes the Game Bar, so you can easily take a screenshot or record a video in your PC games. Microsoft added 19 more popular PC gamesfrom Civilization V, Fallout 4, Dark Souls III, Overwatch, to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and moreto Game Bar support.

Microsofts Narrator assistant can now describe fonts, screen spacing, and more by tapping CAPS + F. But Microsoft changed the key to get advanced information about an item in focus from CAPS + 0 to CAPS + F.

Microsoft has added a new dashboard for Windows Defender. Though the functionality appears to be the same, the look and feel have been simplified.

Microsoft The new Windows Defender interface is, in a word, simple.

Theres one minor bug that may affect the majority of users: Windows Hello is being improved, so if you use face logins, you may need to let Windows learn your face again by rescanning it. Brightness controls may not work on your keyboard, either.

Were not going to go into the updates for the Asian market; if you live there, consult this blog post for more. Otherwise, Microsoft has fixed a ton of bugs as the company winds down for the holidays, but its still early enough that we may see one more build before the winter holiday break. If there isnt, though, look for things to pick up early in 2017.
How do mobile devices keep get faster, thinner, and more power efficient? Its thanks to the quick advances in chip manufacturing, which help churn out smaller chips packed with new features.

The next round of premium smartphones early next year could feature chips like Qualcomms Snapdragon 835, made using the latest, 10-nanometer process.

Continuing with the famous Moores Law observation, its likely that two years after that, smartphones will get even faster and smaller chips will be made using a 7-nanometer process.

On Monday, ARM, with its chip designs in most smartphones, said it is working with prominent chip manufacturer TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.) to make 7-nm chips. ARM shared intellectual property for its 7-nm designs, allowing chips to be designed for manufacturing in TSMCs factories.

The manufacturing of chips on TSMCs 7-nm process is expected to start in 2018, said Ron Moore, vice president of marketing for ARMs physical design group.

In ARMs trials, the 7-nm chips will provide a 15 to 20 percent speed boost compared to chips made using TSMCs 16-nm process. Smartphone chip makers could tweak the architecture to bring even better performance to the chips.

ARM-based chips for servers and IoT devices will also be made on the 7-nm process. Ultimately, only the chipmakers using ARM designs will be able to provide metrics on performance improvements based on the tweaks they made, Moore said.

Applications like virtual reality and machine learning are demanding more performance out of chips. The ARM manufacturing IP provided to TSMC solves some challenges around memory, power distribution, and moving data in and out of memory.

For example, many customers are planning multi-GPU configurations for servers in the cloud or for machine-learning infrastructures. The chip IP provides data path optimizations so data can travel quickly within these infrastructures and at the right power consumption levels.

Many advances are expected on the 7nm process, including EUV (extreme ultraviolet) that allows for finer details to be etched on chips. Chips designed with the ARMs IP wont require designers to have deep knowledge about the underlying manufacturing technologies, Moore said.

TSMC rival Globalfoundries is also moving to the 7nm process, and production could start in 2018. Samsung hasnt publicly talked about its 7nm plans. Intel says it has visibility of 7nm, meaning it is on the companys roadmap, but hasnt talked about when it will be implemented.

The next step beyond 7nm is the 5nm process, which will be discussed at the International Electron Devices Meeting next week in San Francisco. Participants will also discuss silicon replacement materials. Samsung will discuss the merits of silicon germanium, and participants will also examine other exotic materials.

Intel is already planning to use III-V materials, based on elements from the third and fifth columns of the periodic table, like gallium-arsenide, in forthcoming chips. Gallium arsenide is a better electricity conductor than silicon, and it could add to the power efficiency of chips.
Menifee turned a page its short history as a city this week with the seating of a new mayor who will serve a four-year term.

Conducting a grassroots campaign consisting largely of street-corner sign waving and social media outreach, Neil Winter, a retired corporate executive, defeated incumbent Mayor Scott Mann in the Nov. 8 election. Winter garnered 52.2 percent of the 32,157 votes cast, according to official election results released Tuesday, Dec. 6, by the Riverside County Registrar of Voters.

Winters victory undoubtedly was abetted by negative publicity Mann received when the California Fair Political Practices Commission announced in mid-October it was fining Mann $60,000 for violations stemming from the personal use of campaign contributions.

Mann resigned last month and was not at the swearing-in ceremony.

I think that it means a fresh start with new leadership, and City Hall can be trusted again, former City Councilwoman Darcy Kuenzi said. I think the new mayor needs to restore trust in City Hall and do whats right for people.

Doing the right thing was a catch phrase Winter emphasized in addressing council members and interested onlookers Wednesday night, Dec. 7, after City Clerk Sarah Manwaring administered the oath of office to him as well as incumbents Lesa Sobek and Greg August, both of whom ran opposed in the election.

Since Menifee became a city in October 2008, politics often have been turbulent and the council as well as staff members have been targets of residents ire, an atmosphere heightened by recent revelations concerning Mann.

My focus is on the city of Menifee and doing the right things, said Winter, adding that transparency of governance would be a priority.

I dont want anymore surprises. I want people to know that we are an open book here.

With his election, Winter became Menifees third mayor following its incorporation and only the second elected to the post. Before Mann was elected to his first of two two-year terms in 2012, the position was filled based on a consensus of council members.

The first City Council selected Wallace Edgerton as mayor, a position he kept until voters decided to chose the mayor by citywide vote starting in 2012. The mayors primary duties are to conduct council meetings and represent the city at public functions.

Edgerton was re-elected in 2012 to represent District 3 in the southeast section of the city. After his death in May 2015, a special election held the following November resulted in the election of Sobek, who beat three challengers, including Winter and Kuenzi.

August is entering his second term after being elected for the first time in 2012 to represent District 1, the citys northwestern quadrant.

In addition to electing Winter on Nov. 8, Menifee voters approved a four-year term and two-term limit for mayors, as currently applies to council members. The electorate also passed a 1 percent sales tax intended to buttress the citys budgets for public safety and infrastructure improvements.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9690 or michaelwilliams@pressenterprise.com
A cigarette fell out of a womans hand and hit the hose of a running oxygen tank in Riversides Mount Rubidoux Manor just after midnight Thursday, Dec. 8, fire officials said, setting off a fire that caused an estimated $1 million in damage but no serious injuries.

The senior high-rise apartment buildings nearly 200 residents were forced to evacuate in the chilly overnight hours amid a massive police and firefighter response. The 10th floor was rendered uninhabitable, and its 13 residents  along with a few from the floor below  have been displaced.

Two residents were hospitalized with mild smoke inhalation: the resident of the unit where the fire started, who had been smoking, and one of her neighbors. No firefighters were injured.

Capt. Ray Mendoza of the Riverside Fire Department said people who smoke and use oxygen tanks should not do both at the same time.

Battalion Chief Bruce Vanderhorst said firefighters arrived to a chaotic scene of residents on their balconies and the Riverside Police Departments helicopter circling overhead.

Officers estimated to Vanderhorst that more than 20 people were on their balconies seeking help.

The first firefighters to make it to the 10th floor encountered a woman on the hallway floor outside her burning luxury apartment, Vanderhorst said.

var _ndnq = _ndnq || []; _ndnq.push([embed]);

As the fires rolling out into the hallway, a firefighter jumped on top of the victim and covered (her) as they made fire attack and pushed the fire off, he said.

The woman was pulled out of the complex and taken to a nearby hospital with minor injuries from smoke inhalation.

Firefighters then found another victim in the adjacent unit, who was quickly pulled out of the complex and also hospitalized with minor injuries.

A total of three people were rescued, Vanderhorst said.

The 16-story building at 3993 Tenth St. has 188 residents, all of whom were successfully evacuated to the Dales Senior Center across the street for a few hours Thursday morning. The manors website says it houses low-income seniors 62 and older and people with disabilities.

The flames were out by about 1 a.m. and about four hours later, residents were being let back into their homes  except those on the 10th floor.

Basically theyre going to have to rebuild floor 10, Vanderhorst said.

The complex has a handful of vacant units where some of the displaced residents may live.

It took about 80 firefighters to finish the job, he said. All but two of Riverside Fire Departments engines responded.

Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department and Corona Fire Department helped respond to calls across the city while crews worked at Mount Rubidoux Manor.

Some Cal Fire firefighters assisted Riverside firefighters with medical aid, and Riverside police officers helped block roads and evacuate residents.

We had about the entire city on this call, he said.

This story is developing. Check back for updates.

This story is developing. Check back for updates.
The 75 years that have passed since the day Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor, have not eased the memories for John Busma.

I remember Pearl Harbor every hour of every day, said Busma, 99, who was on the USS Medusa, a repair ship, when the thunder of bombs broke the Sunday morning calm. I will never forget.

Busma, of Corona, was one of two Pearl Harbor survivors attending a remembrance ceremony Wednesday, Dec. 7, at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Norco, marking the anniversary of the 1941 attack that threw America into World War II. Roger Marron, 96, of Riverside was the other survivor.

Navy Capt. Noel J. Dahlke, commander of the Naval Weapons Station, Seal Beach, addressed the crowd of about 300 people gathered in front of the Norconian Club, part of what was once a resort on the small man-made lake here. The Norco station is a part of the Seal Beach base.

http://launch.newsinc.com/js/embed.js

var _ndnq = _ndnq || []; _ndnq.push([embed]);

On Dec. 7, 1941, the United States faced one of the greatest challenges in its existence, Dahlke said. The death of over 2,000 sailors in our Navy shocked the nation.

By the end of the resulting war, he added, much of the civilized world had been reduced to ashes and rubble.

Dahlke said Norco had played an important part not only in the war, but in handling the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. The Norconian Hotel, the centerpiece of the lakes resort, is now a prison. But in the days just prior to the Pearl Harbor attack, work had begun to convert the hotel, which was no longer in business, into a rehabilitation hospital for the Navy.

Immediately after the Pearl Harbor attack, and the declaration of war, plans were altered to turn the hotel into a full-fledged hospital. The first patients it admitted, in February 1942, were sailors injured in the Pearl Harbor attack.

It was dubbed the showcase of Navy medicine, said Linda Dixon, the Lake Norconian Club Foundation president, who also spoke at Wednesdays ceremony.

Dixon said it was staffed by doctors from the Mayo Clinic who donated their services, taking an annual salary of $1. The facility housed the Navys first neurosurgery unit and also had a wing on the opposite side of the lake that treated tuberculosis patients.

Dixon said when her group held the first Pearl Harbor ceremony here in 2007, it was meant to be a one-time event. Instead, its been held every year since.

The ceremony included a fly-over by three fighter planes in the missing-man formation, a rifle salute, musical numbers and performances by two local ROTC groups. Those in attendance also were invited to ring a ceremonial bell if they had served or were family members of those who had served.

Navy veteran Neil Thompson, 78, has attended the remembrance for the past four years. He said its important to honor the sacrifice of those who served not only at Pearl Harbor, but during war time.

I appreciate these guys that went through a hard time, because I didnt, said Thompson, who served as a machine repairman from 1956 to 1965. I feel a little guilty sometimes.

Thompson wore a Navy cap and a windbreaker with a USS Pearl Harbor emblem. The commemorative jacket was a gift from his son-in-law Kevin Carroll, who was sitting next to him. Carrolls father was a Pearl Harbor survivor, and Carroll is a member of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors.

We try to maintain these remembrances, said Carroll, 59, of Corona. We try to keep it alive.

Carrolls father, John, was stationed on an aviation fuel tanker, the USS Neosho. It was anchored at the end of battleship row at the beginning of the attack.

My dad was chief engineer, Carroll said. He was in the engine room in his office when that first bomb hit the Oklahoma and it knocked him out of his chair.

Carroll said the Japanese pilots had been directed to focus their attack on the carriers and battleships, which was a good thing for the Neosho and anything near it. It was full of fuel, he said.

It sustained minor damage during the attack, but the Japanese didnt know the Neosho would be there, so they largely ignored it.

If they would have hit that tanker, it would have blown up the whole battleship row, Carroll said.

The Medusa engaged with a submarine and the Japanese planes during the battle. The ships commander credited his crew with shooting down at least two of the Zeroes. No one on the Medusa was killed.

Pearl Harbor survivor Marron was an electrician for the Navy, based in a shop on shore. He was called to help the USS Pennsylvania and spent most of the attack below deck. But he remembers seeing the initial stages of the battle.

I didnt see a lot of people die, but I knew they were trapped, like when the Oklahoma turned over, he said. Hes attended past remembrance services on the Norco base, he said. I think about what happened and how many people were killed. Its good to keep the memory alive.

Commander Dahlke asked the crowd to do the same.

We must honor those who live with the reminders of what happened there, he said. Those courageous few who can say, I was there at Pearl Harbor. It is our charge to carry their example forward.

History demands that we remember.

Contact the writer: mmuckenfuss@scng.com or 951-368-9595

RELATED

75 years later, how museums help keep Pearl Harbor history alive

97-year-old relives how he survived Pearl Harbor attack 75 years ago

Pearl Harbor survivors fear theyre being forgotten
Students from Beaumonts Glen View High School are spreading happiness with message signs like Free Hugs, You are Beautiful and You Rock! for an hour a day to increase positivity this week with one more event Thursday, Dec. 8, on a downtown street corner .

Cesar Lopez, who teaches at the alternative high school, and the school principal have accompanied the students from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 6, and Wednesday and will be back at the same time Thursday. The corner of Sixth Street and Beaumont Avenue is a short walk from campus.

All were trying to do is increase peoples happiness. he said. Weve had community members come out and grab a sign and shake it around and motorists are honking horns and waving. He said one person stopped and said they needed the positive encouragement that the students offered.

The Sprinkling Happiness project originated in Anacortes, Wash., and has traveled to cities in the United States  including Riverside  Canada and to other countries. The events began in May 2012.
Re: City wants legal fees paid [News, Dec. 6]: The Press-Enterprise article regarding reimbursement of legal costs by Highland Fairview does a tremendous disservice to your readers by creating highly inaccurate impressions of where this issue stands.

The truth of the matter is extremely plain: There is no dispute between the city and Highland Fairview. The developer is reimbursing the citys legal costs as required by the World Logistics Center development agreement.

After paying the original deposit toward legal costs, Highland Fairview made a reasonable request for additional detail regarding ongoing litigation costs. The former interim city attorney agreed in early May 2016 to provide additional detail regarding the legal fees incurred by the city to defend this approved project. That information was provided in August 2016. Since receipt of that information, Highland Fairview has made payments to reimburse the city for legal costs and continues to do so.

Highland Fairview has established itself as a trusted partner in the growth of our city and we are grateful for their commitment to Moreno Valleys bright future.

We very much look forward to overcoming the remaining legal challenges which are needlessly delaying the arrival of long-needed jobs to our region. As you know, the City Council approved this project 16 months ago and we couldnt be more pleased that Moreno Valley was selected as the home for this landmark project.

 Yxstian A. Gutierrez,

Mayor,

Moreno Valley

It isnt about being fair

Re: Is it fair? [Letters, Dec. 1]: Recently Jerry Lassoff asked, Is it fair? that Californias presidential electors are selected by three to four times as many votes as Wyomings. Sorry Jerry, thats a condition demanded by the original 13 states which were sovereign unto themselves when they ratified our Constitution.

Pure democracies that Jerry desires are inherently dangerous because a simple majority can dictatorially deny individual and state rights for which patriots had just fought a war against England.

One can argue the efficacy of the Tenth Amendment, but its unlikely three quarters of the states, all with populations less than Californias, will ratify an amendment giving California voting parity based on population.

 Joe Boyett, Riverside
CORRECTION: The previous edition of this story incorrectly identified the reason for South Mesa Water Companys purple recycled water pipelines. A state water code requires the purple pipelines to ensure recycled water is kept separate from drinking water.

Calimesa and Yucaipa residents have been warned not to tamper with unmarked pipes recently discovered in Calimesa by utility crews, which South Mesa Water Company officials suspect were installed without notification by another water agency.

South Mesa Water officials reported that unmarked copper pipes have been found within the city, which they said could contaminate the drinking water system and pose a threat to human health and safety if tampered with.

The unmarked pipes, which are carrying recycled water, are copper despite a state water code requiring recycled water lines to be a distinctive purple color, according to South Mesa Water Company. The color difference is required to ensure recycled water is kept separate from drinking water, company officials said.

South Mesa Water officials said that their initial investigations into the unmarked pipes indicate that they were installed by the Yucaipa Valley Water District without providing South Mesa Water notice. Both districts serve separate portions of Calimesa.

Yucaipa Valley General Manager Joseph Zoba told City News Service that pipelines do run through South Mesa Waters service area, but without providing service to any of their customers. Zoba said running pipes through another agencys jurisdiction was not uncommon, provided that their lines did not service the other utilitys customers.

Zoba estimated that the pipelines, which he said transport both potable and recycled water, were around 7 to 10 years old, and that South Mesa Water officials should have been aware of them, even without direct notice from Yucaipa Valley Water District.

South Mesa Water officials said it was unclear whether these unmarked pipelines were also installed in Yucaipa, where South Mesa Water also partially provides service.

The health and safety of our customers is our priority in providing quality water service, said David A. Armstrong, South Mesa Water Company general manager. South Mesa will continue to keep customers and plumbing companies in our service area updated if more unmarked recycled water lines are discovered.

Anyone who encounters unmarked copper pipes was advised not to handle or tamper with them, and to immediately contact South Mesa Water at 909-795-2401.
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
The United States Ambassador to Ghana, Robert P. Jackson has expressed satisfaction with the level of calmness that has characterized todays presidential and parliamentary polls.



Ghana is voting to either retain incumbent president John Mahama or replace him with one of the other six candidates in the race to the Flag Staff House.



President Mahama is expected to beat the presidential nominee of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Nana Akufo-Addo to race to the Flagstaff House according a Ben Ephson polls pegging him [Mahama] at 52.4% with Akufo-Addo garnering a little over 44%.



Speaking on Wednesday, after observing how the exercise had been unfolding in some polling stations in the capital, Mr. Jaackosn said the process has been smooth. It has been transparent. People understand how they should vote and there has been no sign of intimidation. Certainly no sign of violence. We witness one polling placewhere voting machines has not arrived. It arrived an hour later and then they start immediately processing people in a very expeditious fashion.



Im very satisfied that Ghana is maintaining its reputation as a beacon of democracy.











Source: starrfmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
The US ambassador to Ghana, Robert P. Jackson, has been spotted having a closed door meeting with the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akuffo-Addo at his residence in Nima.



So far, it remains unsure what the meeting was about but reports indicate it could be related to the heated tensions in the country ahead of the declaration of results and also the possible chance Nana Addo winning the 2016 elections.



So far, the electoral commission (EC) has revealed plans to "review all party results" following claims of over-voting as the NPP also reveals that the EC is conspiring to rig the elections.









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
The vacuum created by the Electoral Commission as far as the declaration of results is concerned portends ill consequences for the peace of the country, the Chairman of the National Peace Council, Most Rev Prof Emmanuel Asante, has said.



We want to appeal to EC that when they create a vacuum, it will lead to all sorts of undesirable things, Rev Asante told journalists at a press conference.



We are not pushing EC to rush but undue delay gives room for suspicion and for people to say all sorts of things.



Its important for the EC to expedite processes. They should tell the public when they will start. It is only the EC that has the mandate to declare and anybody who tries to do that is usurping the powers of the EC.



Meanwhile, the Council has called for calm among supporters of the political parties and urged them to wait for the EC to release the results of the December 7 presidential and parliamentary polls.



At the moment, hundreds of supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have massed up at the Nima residence of the presidential candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, preparing to move to the headquarters of the EC to compel the election management body to announce the results.







Source: classfmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) is calling on the general public to stay at their respective polling stations to observe the counting of the ballot and to also verify that the correct results are reported by officers of the Electoral Commission (EC).



A few hours are a small sacrifice to make sure we dont have four more years of the mismanagement, incompetence and corruption of the Mahama-led NDC government.



Together we have come this far. Vigilance is key for change. Together, we will bring change to Ghana, Acting General Secretary of the elephant family, John Boadu noted in a statement released in Accra on Wednesday.



Commenting further, the acting national chief scribe commended the people of Ghana for voting in a peaceful and orderly manner in the December 7 presidential and parliamentary polls.



According to him, despite some incidents at the polling stations, voters turned out en masse and demonstrated to the world that Ghana wants change.









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
The general secretary of the ruling National Democratic Congress Johnson Asiedu Nketia has no doubt President John Mahama will remain at post after the 2016 election results are declared.



From the results collated so far NDC is cruising to victory. We are, however, unable to mention results, General Mosquito as he is affectionately called said at a press conference on Thursday.



According to him, supporters of the party must remain confident because if the trend we have observed continue, its likely John Mahama will remain in office for the next four years.



He has, however, condemned the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) for organising a press conference to declare themselves as winners ahead of the Electoral Commission.



Stay calm  Akufo-Addo to supporters

Meanwhile, the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Nana Akufo-Addo is optimistic he has won the 2016 elections, but has cautioned his supporters to stay calm.



Results trickling in place the three-time presidential candidate in a pole position, but the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) believe their candidate John Mahama is remaining at the Flagstaff House.



Remain calm and focused, Nana Addo told teeming supporters of the NPP who besieged his house to celebrate ahead of the official declaration.



He cautioned: Its important that we behave as Ghanaians. We have been through this before and we are likely to go through it again very soon new policies are going to be introduced to change the economy. We are going to work tirelessly to bring about prosperity for all. We have to bring about everybody no matter their political persuasion.



I'll take the opportunity to thank majority of our competitors and there is going to come a time for me to thank so many people, Nana Addo said as he paid glowing tribute to his running mate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia for the role he played during the electioneering.



He has expressed his gratitude to the other contestants who have already conceded defeat and have called him to congratulate him.









Source: starrfmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
Tim Dormer, winner of Big Brother Australias mammoth tenth edition, has come back into the headlines for what could be the cutest darn reason possible: ol mate is in love, and it just so happens to be with his bff Ash Toweel.

Dormer was famous for his fluid, flirty behaviour on BB, and his charm has gotten him pretty far in life  he was also the runner-up on Celebrity Apprentice last year, and came super close to making the grand final of Big Brother Canada, where he cryptically alluded to being in love back home to his housemates.

While that was in May, its only now that Dormer has revealed his squeeze is the Sydney-based bar manager.

Ive always been about finding the right person, Dormer told Who Magazine about Toweel, whom he met in 2014. Ive dated girls, but have always been open to dating guys.



He also said that it was his time shooting BB Canada that made him realise how much he loved Toweel, doubling down on how ~srs~ it all is by saying this is very meaningful and I want to protect it.

Dormer took to Instagram to elaborate even further on how darn happy he is, and were crying:

ACTUALLY TOO CUTE. They now live together in a shoebox apartment in Bondi, and we imagine theyre living a dream life with Dormers dream locks.

Source: Who.

Photo: Instagram / Tim Dormer.
We at PEDESTRIAN.TV are looking for one Advertising & Partnerships Executive (SYD) to come on board and work as part of our advertising sales efforts, across both media agencies and direct advertising clients. If you can cut a deal like Gordon Gekko, have the oratory skills of Don Draper and the Work ethic of Iggy Azalea, then we want to hear from you. Were looking for someone who loves people, advertising, creativity and pop-culture with one to two years experience in a similar role and a clear understanding of advertising, marketing, online publishing as well as traditional and social media. If you consider yourself an absolute talent when it comes to your selling skills, youre looking for a non-traditional sales role to work on your already rad attributes, and you wouldnt mind working for one of the fastest growing media brands in Oz *humble brag*, then get to it, get crafty and send through an exquisite af cover letter here!

OMD is one of Australias biggest media agencies with clients including Qantas, Apple, Estee Lauder, Village Roadshow and Tourism Australia just to name a few. This award-winning media agency is all about media strategy, planning and buying and is dedicated to living up to its vision of being The Best Place to Work and the Place Producing the Best Work. The lovely folk at OMD Adelaide are on the hunt for a Media Manager (ADEL) to support the team with media buying, strategy, managing of entire campaigns and tracking audience delivery. Dw, theyve got a bunch of media tools such as Asteroid, AQX and more to help ya formulate epic media executions for clients. If youve worked in the media industry for more than a year, you nerd out when creating serious strategy for clients and you wouldnt mind working in a fun office environment, then go get em.



One of Strayas fastest growing and most dynamic fash brands, The Academy Brand is after an efficient Accounts Assistant (SYD)! To be perf for this role, youll need to be comfortable doing the day to day maintenance & management of accounts, be open to assisting the management of Accounts Payable, and appreciate what The Academy Brand is all bout, A.K.A. clean, classic and accessible clothing with a commitment to craftsmanship. If you have a knack for numbers and want a fierce career in finance within the fash industry, then get applying.

CBF reading the above? Same. Check some short n sweet gigs below.

Froth over footwear? Become an Assistant Footwear Designer (here) or an E-Commerce / E-Boutique Assistant (here) for for Senso Shoes (SYD)!

Want a legit reason to use the phrase hostess with the mostest IRL? Become a Host for Glowed Up (a new weekly cluuurb night in Darlo, SYD) here.

Keen on youth culture and music? Work in Digital & Print Sales for Happy Media (SYD). Good luck.

Accurate when it comes to accounting? Become a PR Account Executive for Hill and Knowlton Strategies (SYD). Shoot through your CV.

Dig detail? GlamCorner is searching for a Seamstress & Dressmaker (SYD). You got dis.

All deets courtesy of Pedestrian Jobs.

Dont let your dream job slip you by  Love your work!

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and get yourself signed up to our Daily Job Alerts.
* Ukraine was promised visa-free regime by the European Union

* Kiev jittery about waning support in stand-off with Russia

* Ukraine minister sees 'complete impotence' in EU

By Alastair Macdonald and Pavel Polityuk

BRUSSELS/KIEV, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The European Union is putting its credibility and reputation at risk by letting internal political wrangling stall a promised easing of visa requirements for Ukraine and Georgia, the head of the European Council said.

In a letter sent to European Parliament President Martin Schulz on Tuesday and seen by Reuters, Donald Tusk urged the legislature to compromise with national governments to unblock visa liberalisation. Both former Soviet states feel aggrieved that Brussels in not making good on its promises.

"At stake here are the legitimate hopes and aspirations of the nations who are our neighbours, as well as the reputation of the European Union, which has categorically and repeatedly committed itself to the issue," the former Polish premier wrote.

"Even though all the parties in this debate have their own good arguments and undoubtedly good will, it seems we are getting close to squandering our joint efforts," he added, saying failure to deliver would be "an unforgivable mistake".

Comments by senior Ukraine officials in interviews with Reuters criticising the delay in loosening visa restrictions were unusually outspoken and cut through public displays of bonhomie shown at a Ukraine-EU summit in Brussels in November.

"While of course the Ukrainian president and his delegation tried to keep optimism publicly, I understand very well if they return to Kiev somewhat disappointed," Anders Fogh Rasmussen, an adviser to Ukraine's president,said.

"I would even use a stronger word. I think it's a kind of betrayal from the EU side, taking into account that Ukraine has carefully fulfilled all necessary criteria for visa liberalisation," the former NATO chief said.

Allowing 45 million Ukrainians and 5 million Georgians to travel into Europe's Schengen zone without applying in advance for visas was a potent incentive for people there to accept hard reforms from the governments in Kiev and Tbilisi as they sought to come closer to the EU and distance themselves from Russia.

Story continues

But the migration crisis, when over a million people from Syria and elsewhere arrived in Europe last year, alarmed EU governments under pressure from anti-immigrant parties, notably in Germany and France which both face elections next year.

National governments and the European Parliament are now at odds over a mechanism to suspend visa waivers in emergencies and further negotiations were due later on Wednesday.

(Additional reporting by Margaryta Chornokondratenko in KIEV and Gabriela Baczynska in BRUSSELS, editing by Ralph Boulton)
Its almost 2017 and you know what that means Its almost time for St. Jeromes Laneway Festival.





neer forget, thnx to pat stevenson





Back in 05 a coupla mates had a genius idea to throw a small music fest in a laneway in Melbournes CBD. The punters loved it and for the decade and a bit since, Laneway has enjoyed yuge success for its choice mix of local and international talent.

Its back again nek year, going down in seven cities across three countries (inc. Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisvegas, Fremantle, Auckland, Singapore & Sydney), between Jan 21st and Feb 5th.

Jerome and the rest of the crew behind the jamboree threw a Laneway taste tester last night on the rooftop St. Jeromes  The Hotel where guests were treated to frose, Belles Hot Chicken and Fonda, all of which will be avail on-ground at the festival.

We had a chat with Olympian Bballer Liz Cambage (whose name I spelt Elizabeth Cabbage in this snapstory, classic), music ledge Myf Warhurst, DJ Benson and Saint Jerome himself to find out what the punters are most excited to hear at Laneway this summer:

ICYMI, heres the Laneway linerrrrp in full, including the latest addition:

Young Thug (new!!)

Tame Impala***

Nick Murphy***

A.B. Original

AURORA

Baro*

Bob Moses

Camp Cope**

Car Seat Headrest

Clams Casino

Ecca Vandal*

Fascinator

Floating Points (Live)***

Flyying Colours*

Gang of Youths

GL**

Glass Animals

Jagwar Ma

Jess Kent

Julia Jacklin**

Koi Child

Luca Brasi

Mick Jenkins

Mr. Carmack

NAO

Nicholas Allbrook

Roland Tings

Sampa The Great

Tash Sultana

The Julie Ruin

Tourist

Tycho

White Lung

Whitney

*Melbourne only

**Excluding Fremantle

***No sideshows

YIIIIIIIEWWWWWWING!
A Chambersburg man has been arrested and charged after police said he fired several gunshots during a fight outside of a club in Hagerstown, Md. last month.

The U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force arrested Dexton Lavelle Brunson, 44, in the 5900 block of Gabrielle Lane at about 7 a.m. Thursday.

Brunson fired several shots from a handgun during a fight in the 300 block of North Jonathan Street, Hagerstown, the evening of Nov. 19, the U.S. Marshals Service said. No one was shot during the incident.

Detectives obtained a warrant for Brunson's arrest Nov. 21. He has been charged with first degree assault, illegal possession of a firearm and other related offenses.
A Middle Paxton Township couple were arrested and charged for using a stolen ATM card to pilfer nearly $100,000 from an elderly neighbor's bank account between July and November, police said.

Kelly Ruhl, 37, of the 700 block of Stoney Creek Drive, took the cash from the 88-year-old woman's checking account more than 30 times, according charging documents filed against the pair Nov. 29. Ruhl admitted to taking the cash and told police she gave most of the money to her husband, David Ruhl, 42, to feed his heroin addiction, court documents state.

On Nov. 14, state police were called to investigate the theft of nearly $100,000 from the victim's bank account.

The woman told police that she had recently bounced a check for home renovations, which prompted her to examine her checking account. That's when she found $99,372 of fraudulent withdrawals had been made, according to police.

The victim told police that she doesn't have a vehicle and rarely used her ATM card. She also said she still had the card, police said.

Police said they were able to obtain ATM surveillance footage take as Kelly Ruhl made more than 30 illegal withdrawals.

Kelly Ruhl's tattoos helped investigators identify her as a suspect, police said. And the victim confirmed she is her neighbor and that Kelly Ruhl stopped by her house on occasion to deliver mail to her, according to police. The woman also told police that Kelly Ruhl used her computer on occasion.

On Nov. 29, police served a search warrant at the Ruhl's home.

Police said they found drug paraphernalia inside, but no cash, during the search.

Kelly Ruhl told police all of the cash she stole from the victim was gone, according to charging documents.

She said she gave most of the money to her husband, who would use it to buy drugs in Harrisburg, police said. David Ruhl used 20 bags of heroin at a time, and the couple was unemployed, Kelly Ruhl allegedly told police.

In addition to feeding her husband's drug habit, Kelly Ruhl told investigators she used the money to pay for household expenses, including nearly $2,000 in late electric bills, court documents state. She also said she used it to pay her father-in-law/landlord $840 in rent several times, according to police.

Police said Kelly Ruhl told them she would walk into the victim's home uninvited while she was there, take her debit card from her wallet and use it for a few days before returning it. She said she learned the victim's PIN number by watching her type it into her phone, court documents state.

Kelly Ruhl allegedly told police she snuck into the woman's home 20-30 times in order to keep her family together. She said she was in a psychologically abusive relationship and that her husband manipulated her into doing things she didn't want to do, according to police.

Kelly Ruhl is charged with 100 counts of access device fraud, 34 counts of burglary and one count of theft. She was sent to Dauphin County prison in lieu of $100,000 bail.

David Ruhl is facing once count each of theft, burglary, identity theft and access device fraud. He was released on bond.

The couple's preliminary hearing is scheduled before District Judge Gregory Johnson at 10:45 a.m. on Jan. 17.
HARRISBURG--The owner of The McFarland Apartment building on Thursday filed an appeal of the city's condemnation order to Common Pleas Court, extending the legal fight over the wall collapse in Harrisburg.

The city of Harrisburg in October won a ruling by a city board that agreed city officials had properly condemned the parking garage of the apartment complex after an adjacent wall collapsed in May.

The condemnation order carried provisions designed to compel the owner of the McFarland, Isaac Dohany, of New Jersey, to begin cleaning up tons of dirt and debris that landed on a tire shop below, eventually forcing the small business to shut down.

The appeal filed Thursday by The McFarland attorney, Adam Klein, blamed PennDOT for the wall collapse "due to the well-documented repair and refurbishing work that was done to the Mulberry Street Bridge by PennDOT and its agents."

The appeal goes further and says "PennDOT and its agents are the appropriate parties to which the condemnation order and notice to correct violations should be directed."

Klein also argued in his appeal that the damage caused by the May 5 collapse doesn't constitute a "danger to life and the McFarland Building itself is not in danger of collapse...The McFarland Building is not an unsafe structure."

The city failed to prove that the McFarland Building is a public hazard, Klein wrote in his motion.

City officials will likely file a reply with the court. The judge then will review the transcript of the Oct. 27 hearing before the city's Building and Housing Code Appeals Board and make a decision.

Thursday's legal filing marks the latest step in a long, litigious march toward a resolution over the mess near the Mulberry Street Bridge. Cleanup is expected to cost millions, which is why no one has touched the debris since the day of the collapse. A car that tumbled down the hill along with part of the parking lot still rests on top of Howard Tire and Auto, which closed in October. The owner, Howard Henry, feared additional collapses from the unmitigated wall and said he could not guarantee the safety of his employees or customers.

In addition to the condemnation order, the owner of the McFarland also faces another line of action from the city to force cleanup at the site. The city cited Dohany for several code violations, which he appealed. A hearing on that matter is set for Tuesday, Dec. 13.

U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, meanwhile, has said he wants to help bring the various parties, including PennDOT, to the table for negotiations over a shared solution.

"We are continuing to pursue options," said Robert Reilly, Perry's deputy chief of staff. "Congressman Perry still believes that time is of the essence to resolve this situation and get Mr. Henry back in business - and our office continues working towards that goal."

The tire shop owner also met with the governor's staff "to discuss if there is any way we can be helpful," said Jeffrey Sheridan, the governor's spokesman. "But as you are aware, PennDOT does not have jurisdiction over the collapsed wall. Conversations are ongoing at this time."

Petition for Review by PennLive on Scribd
computer hacking pixabay.jpg

Days after it was revealed that the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office had fallen victim to a cyber attack and paid a ransom for the return of captured documents, officials are clarifying the extent and nature of the hack, as well as their decision to make that payment and what it actually cost. Photo via Pixabay.

Days after it was revealed that the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office had fallen victim to a cyber attack and paid a ransom for the return of captured documents, officials are clarifying the extent and nature of the hack, as well as their decision to make that payment and what it actually cost.

"The virus used on our office involved a portion of one server affecting a small group of employees," spokesman Mike Manko told PennLive via email on Wednesday.

"The virus was not invasive, and did not take, download or copy any documents. The virus placed a 'lock' on the portion of the server in question preventing that group of employees from being able to access reports and other types of work product."

Manko said that while the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was called in to assist, the bureau was "unable to assist us in removing the 'lock.'"

It was at that point that the decision was made to pay a ransom demanded by the hackers in exchange for their unlocking of the documents.

"The monetary demand to remove the 'lock' was nominal compared to the time that would have been required to re-generate the affected work product," Manko added.

He also clarified the amount paid, saying it was $1,400 worth of Bit Coins, not 1,400 Bit Coins which Google estimates to be worth more than one-million U.S. dollars.

The cyber attack itself first came to light on Monday, when federal authorities in Pittsburgh announced new details in the toppling of a massive and international cyber crime network known as "Avalanche."

Among the victims, officials said, were 2 businesses in western Pennsylvania and one Allegheny County government organization.

The Associated Press later identified the district attorney's office as the government organization in question.

Investigators said computers and computer users were targeted in almost every country in the world using the Avalanche network, which "hosted more than two dozen of the world's most pernicious types of malware and several money laundering campaigns."

They also estimated some 20,000 computers and computer users in the U.S. as having been impacted, and said that number is expected to rise as more victims are identified.

In some cases, criminals gained access to victims' computers through phishing emails, which appear to be legitimate requests for personal information or legitimate correspondences but aren't. This may have been the case with the Avalanche-enabled infiltration of the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office, officials said Monday without elaborating further.

During that infiltration, as Manko explained, cyber criminals using the Avalanche network were able to access the office's computers, encrypt user files and demand a ransom be paid to regain access to those files. The method is known as a ransomware attack, and was one of many methods used by criminals on the Avalanche network, authorities explained.

In an email to PennLive on Monday, Manko said no court cases were compromised as a result of the breach, and that because of that, the office considered what happened "more of a nuisance than anything else."

In his follow-up email on Wednesday, Manko said the DA's office wouldn't be commenting further on the case, citing an ongoing investigation.

He also said it wouldn't be offering more detail on what happened for that same reason.

Avalanche related arrests have been reported across Europe as a result of the law enforcement operation targeting the network. As of Monday, however, no such arrests had been reported in the U.S.
FotorCreated.jpg

(From left) Jorge Luis Aponte-Ortiz, Jacqueline Maldonado-Marte and Joseph Golembewski were charged with drug offenses by Lebanon detectives.

(submitted)

A man accused of possessing 92 bags of heroin - and the woman accused of furnishing it - are among three people recently arrested on drug charges in Lebanon.

Joseph A. Golembewski, 54, of the 800 block of Pershing Avenue, Lebanon, was accused of having 92 bags of heroin with a street value of $900, and was delivering 20 bags of heroin to a North Annville Township address when he was arrested.

He was charged with possession of heroin with intent to delivery and related charges, and was placed in Lebanon County prison in lieu of $75,000 bail. The investigation began Nov. 30.

Police also charged Jacqueline Maldonado-Marte, 39, of the 100 block of North Liberty Street, who is accused of furnishing the heroin to Golembewski. Police said they found five bags of cocaine in her home and one on her person.

She was charged with delivery of heroin, possession of cocaine and related charges, and was placed in the county prison in lieu of $500,000 bail. She had been charged with similar offenses in June and was out on $150,000 bail and wearing an ankle monitor when the new charges were filed, police said.

In an unrelated incident, Jorge Luis Aponte-Ortiz, 39, of the 300 block of Lehman Street, was accused of selling 10 bags of heroin for $100 to a drug task force informant Sept. 25 in the 700 block of Arnold Street, police said.

He was arrested Dec. 1 on charges including delivery and possession of heroin and related charges. He was placed in the county prison in lieu of $500,000 bail.
Middletown Borough Council meeting, Monday March 16

Middletown Police Chief John T. Bey has submitted his resignation to accept a position with the Pennsylvania National Guard. Daniel Zampogna, PennLive

(Daniel Zampogna, PennLive)

Middletown Borough Council has accepted the resignation of police Chief John Bey, who will step down at the end of the month to accept a position with the Pennsylvania National Guard, according to a Middletown Press and Journal report.

Council accepted Bey's resignation during its meeting Tuesday night, after he told council earlier in the day via email, the report said. His resignation is effective Dec. 30. Bey was chief of the Middletown Police Department since October, 2014.

Middletown Mayor James H. Curry III, who as mayor oversees the police department, told the Press and Journal he hopes to recommend an interim chief to council by its next meeting on Dec. 20.

Bey has accepted a full-time position with the Pennsylvania National Guard, and will be a financial management superintendent with the 193rd Special Operations Wing based at Harrisburg International Airport, according to the report.

Bey, who already is a chief master sergeant in the Air Guard on a part-time basis, will start his new job Jan. 9, the report said.
As fear exits the market, it may be high time for savvy investors to buy protection

As the CBOE Volatility Index (^VIX) falls to a four-month low, some say it's time to protect recent gains in the market.

"You might want to take advantage, just buy a few puts out there, because they're going to be relatively inexpensive, as the VIX is showing," Matt Maley, equity strategist at Miller Tabak, said Tuesday on CNBC's " Trading Nation ."

The VIX uses the prices of options on the S&P 500 (^GSPC) to gauge the amount traders expect the market to move in the next 30 days. And since options are more frequently used to hedge against downside than to speculate on upside, it generally measures the amount of investor nervousness  hence its nickname, "the market's fear gauge."

The VIX's current low level shows that investors see little need to rush out and buy protection against potential drops.

As another way of looking at this, an option that provides protection against an S&P drop of more than 10 percent between now and the end of the year costs less than a dollar on Wednesday afternoon  a mere 0.04 percent of the index level.

However, some say that the low level of anxiety implied by the VIX is justified.

"I think it's a relatively correct level of fear because the macro backdrop is actually very, very favorable. Economically, everything seems to be in expansionary mode," Boris Schlossberg, managing director of foreign exchange strategy, said Tuesday on "Trading Nation."

Barring any major "exogenous" shocks, the economy is going to likely see a fiscal stimulus, Schlossberg said, and forecasts a positive first half of the next year, the VIX reflecting this with its relatively low levels.

Some might argue that President-elect Donald Trump's recent tweets, which on Tuesday alone spurred shares of Sprint and tanked shares of Boeing , would drive some investors to buy protection. But Schlossberg said the market has become used to the high volume of political news.

"It's at this point the kind of situation where we are so used to every single day being a drama day that in fact, it actually makes the drama much less potent at this point," he said. "So I think unless the Chinese do come back at us, at this point I think things are relatively OK; nobody is taking it too seriously, and that's really what the market is communicating."







More From CNBC


The Lithuanian crypt where a child mummy was located and discovered to have the variola virus which causes smallpox is shown in a handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Kiril Cachovskij MANDATORY CREDIT
FILE- This undated photo provided by the Baltimore Police Department shows Glenn Chappell. Chappell the driver of a school bus involved in a deadly crash on Nov. 1, 2016 in Baltimore, had a history of previous crashes and had a seizure the week before, national investigators said Wednesday, Dec. 7. (Baltimore Police Department via AP, File)
On Wednesday, Starbucks (SBUX) executives gathered in New York City for the companys investor day event. During the presentation, the coffee giant unveiled plans for new stores, new products, and future changes in its rewards program.

The Starbucks rewards program of the future will probably include multiple redemption tiers, said Matt Ryan, chief strategy officer of Starbucks, at the conference. Currently, gold is the only status level beyond the basic membership. Future changes to the program will also expand how customers can acquire stars.

We finally have the ability to take stars beyond retail stores, he said. We can now put stars on products like K-Cups and were going to be piloting doing it on our ready-to-drink products as well. For K-Cups and ready-to-drink products, customers will be able to earn stars by acquiring star codes off of the packing. (As of now you could earn stars for anything you buy in the store.)

Starbucks caught some heat in April when it announced a new loyalty program, which would reward members with stars based on how much money they spent. The old program awarded stars based on number of visits. The new system had some customers promising to boycott Starbucks, but the company says it hasnt seen a change in coffee habits. In fact, the Seattle-based retailer currently has 12 million members in its rewards program, an 18% rise year over year.

The program transition is successful and complete, Ryan said. We have a 94% retention rate, which is stronger than it was prior to the switchover in the program. Its fairer and customers like the program better, unequivocally.

Tweaking the program also came with a change in the functionality of the app, making it easier for Starbucks to target offers to specific customers. In October, the company started supplying personalized one-time offers through the app. These offers give members a chance to earn points faster, and are uniquely generated based on individual customer behavior. In November, Starbucks began to roll out personalized suggestions and recommendations for purchases during checkout. This process will continue through 2017.

Story continues

One of the biggest changes for loyal Starbucks visitors is the coming introduction of a Starbucks Rewards Visa Card with Chase Bank. This prepaid debit card will be reloadable and give customers the chance to earn rewards for all purchases made wherever Visa is accepted. Rewards can only be redeemed at Starbucks. The card will launch within a year.

Brittany is a writer at Yahoo Finance.

Read more:

Starbucks raised prices  these hacks will save you money

These suitcases will charge your phone. Are they worth it?

The 9 best travel gifts for under $75
Homeland Security patrol the streets outside the Federal Courthouse Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016, in Charleston,S.C., during Dylann Roof's trial. Roof, a white man, is accused of killing nine black people at a church. (Grace Beahm/The Post And Courier via AP)
Thank you! You've reported this item as a violation of our terms of use.

This content was contributed by a user of the site. If you believe this content may be in violation of the terms of use, you may report it.
venus surface volcano sulfur lava esa

Inside a windowless concrete room in Cleveland, Ohio, scientists have built a tiny version of Hell on Earth.

Called the Glenn Extreme Environments Rig (GEER), the 14-ton steel chamber can faithfully recreate the toxic, choking, and scorching-hot conditions on the surface of Venus  a once-habitable twin of Earth gone very, very wrong.

Scientists at the NASA Glenn Research Center, where GEER is located, have been developing the project for the past 5 years and fired it up for the first time in 2014. Since then, researchers have lengthened their test runs and exposed all kinds of metals, ceramics, wires, mesh, plating, and electronics to conditions on "Venus" to see what lasts  and what dissolves into dust.

glenn extreme environments rig geer venus hell chamber nasa

"In March 2015, we spent roughly 100 days at the surface of Venus, and the longest single stretch was 42 days," Lori Arnett, NASA's facility manager for GEER, told Business Insider.

Their hope? Learn how to build spacecraft that can last months or even years on Venus instead of being destroyed almost instantly.

"One of the last probes to visit Venus was Venera 13 in [1982], and it only survived for about 2 hours and 7 minutes," said Gustavo Costa, a chemist and materials scientist who's working with GEER. "Venus is very, very corrosive."

Until a modern spacecraft drops through the planet's thick atmosphere again and explores the surface, GEER is the best way to ask what it's actually like there.

"It's like Hell on Earth," Costa said. "It's very harsh."

Venus is Earth's deadly twin

venus nasa

The second planet from the sun was, and still is, very similar to Earth.

Venus is rocky and has roughly 82% the mass and 90% the surface gravity of Earth. It also has a persistent atmosphere and orbits in the sun's "habitable zone" (where water can exist as a liquid). Some researchers think the planet once had warm, shallow oceans that were cozy to life for about 2 billion years. That could be about 1.2 billion years long enough for life to emerge and thrive, if you're using Earth as a scorecard.

Story continues

And yet its water vanished, carbon dioxide began clogging up the atmosphere, and  due to runaway global warming  the world was cooked to a crisp.

glenn extreme environments rig geer venus hell chamber inside nasa

In short, Venus today is just about the worst place imaginable to visit in the solar system, and simultaneously an important analog to better understand our own planet.

We know this thanks to nearly two dozen successful missions there, including eight orbiters and 10 landers, most of them launched by the Soviet Union.

Data beamed back by these spacecraft show Venusian surface air is nearly 97% carbon dioxide, about 100 times thicker than Earth's atmosphere, and is a blistering 864 degrees Fahrenheit (462 degrees Celsius). That's twice the temperature needed to ignite wood and hot enough to melt lead.

But what it's actually like to be on the surface, and what happens to materials and spacecraft that dare land there, hasn't been clear until GEER came along.

What the surface of Venus is like

venera 13 venus surface don p mitchell

GEER pulls together everything researchers have learned to date about surface conditions on Venus into an 800-liter chamber. A mixing machine combines the known gases on Venus and a powerful heater warms them up.

"It takes two-and-a-half days to warm up and five days to cool down," Leah Nakley, GEER's lead engineer, told Business Insider.

Costa says one thing he's come to understand by working with GEER is just how strange the atmosphere of Venus is at the planet's surface.

"It's a supercritical fluid mixture, not just a gas," Costa said.

Supercritical fluids behave like a gas and a liquid at the same time. If you drink decaffeinated coffee, you benefit from them: supercritical carbon dioxide is typically washed over coffee beans to penetrate deep inside them and dissolve away most of their caffeine.

metal wire geer venus exposure black crystals nasa business insider labeled

This same thing can happen with metals and electronics, though, which is not a good thing for spacecraft.

Normally rust-proof steel alloys dissolve, leaching out metals to form black fans of minerals, like some Gothic version of a crystal-growing kit.

Costa says walking around the surface of Venus would feel like walking through air that's as thick as a pool of water. The pressure would be equivalent to sinking 3,000 feet (914 meters) underwater, yet deadly hot.

A "breeze" of a few miles per hour would feel more like a gentle wave pushing you around at shore.

"It's difficult to imagine this. I guess it'd be like sticking yourself inside a pressure cooker," he said.

But the atmosphere of Venus also has trace amounts hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen sulfide, and sulfuric acid, which are all extremely dangerous chemicals.

"Instead of having water vapor clouds, Venus has sulfuric acid clouds," he said. "And you have to go through those to even get to the surface. That is terrifying."

The next mission to Venus

davinci venus mission descent stages

Japan is currently the only nation with a spacecraft around Venus, called Akatsuki, though it arrived 5 years late and is an orbiter, not a lander.

The US, meanwhile, hasn't launched a mission dedicated to Venus since 1989 (the Magellan orbiter) and hasn't landed anything on the world in more than 45 years.

However, NASA is currently mulling the launch of a proposed Venus probe called DAVINCI.

If NASA chooses to fully fund that mission in as part of its Discovery program  GEER is currently being upgraded in part to support researching materials for the descent probe  it would arrive sometime in 2023, parachute down through the atmosphere for 63 minutes, sample gases along the way, and take the highest-resolution images yet of the surface.

In the past, NASA researchers have also envisioned dropping shiny, nuclear-powered rovers on Venus. Such a mission might still be possible if the agency can design more efficient nuclear batteries  and overcome its ongoing shortage of plutonium-238, a rare radioactive material that's required to fuel such power sources.

NOW WATCH: NASA just completed its $8.7 billion space telescope that will replace the Hubble





More From Business Insider


Amoxicillin shortage in Michigan: What parents should know

Many Michigan pharmacy shelves are bare of amoxicillin oral powder for suspension, dispensed in liquid form most often to children, amid an RSV surge.
T&T - Venezuela gas deal on shaky ground



Rowley faced questions about whether the Venezuelan legislature had to approve the agreement signed between the two countries and whether the agreement would be jeopardised if a new government came to office in Venezuela.

CARACAS

Petroleumworld.com 12 08 2016

Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro have signed a historic gas deal which will allow this country access to gas reserves from Venezuela's Caribbean sea Dragon Fields, on the country's Paria Norte peninsula.

The agreement is related to the export of natural gas to the Caribbean island, from Dragon hydrocarbon Field, which is part of Mariscal Sucre Project located 40 km off northern coasts of Sucre state and only 17 km from the northern gas fields of Trinidad & Tobago.

The agreement's signing was made on Monday before ministerial and energy teams from both countries. "The parties the government of Venezuela and the Government of Trinidad and Tobago agree to take reasonable steps to facilitate the development of construction, operation and maintenance of one or more pipelines from the Mariscal Sucre area in the Republic of Venezuela to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, including a pipeline from the Dragon field to the Hibiscus platform, known in the agreement as the pipeline'. TT's Prime Minister explained to the press at his arrival from Venezuela on Monday.

However, Trinidad's politicians are questioning the legality of the agreement. On Tuesday at Port of Spain, PM Rowley faced several questions about whether the Venezuelan legislature had to approve the agreement signed between the two countries.

Asked by Pointe-a-Pierre MP David Lee whether the agreement was subject to approval by the Venezuelan National Assembly, Rowley said: I am Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago and I could only speak to and for Trinidad and Tobago's involvement in this matter. What goes on in Venezuela is a matter for the Venezuelans, and I cannot speak to what the assembly is required to do. Trinidad Express reported.

Caroni Central MP Bhoe Tewarie said the Congress in Venezuela is controlled by the opposing parties, and the decree powers of the President do not extend to agreements between countries. So the pertinent question is are the agreements signed between yourself and the President of Venezuela subject to approval by any entity within Venezuela? Tewarie asked, according to Trinidad Express.



The Prime Minister repeated that if there is any need for legislative input in Venezuela, that was an issue for the President of Venezuela, who is the highest executive officer who signed the agreement on behalf of the government of Venezuela.

In Venezuela, international treaties may be carried out by the Executive but must be endorsed, before implementation, by the National Assembly, Article 154 of the Constitution. According to article 151, any public interest agreement must be approved by the National Assembly. If a joint venture with T & T is necessary to develop and commercialize the gas, it must be approved by the National Assembly (Article 33 of the Hydrocarbons Law). If this agreement with T & T requires funding, it must be approved by the National Assembly, Article 311 of the Constitution.

The new agreement is supported on a memorandum of understanding signed earlier this year by both countries in which Trinidad agreed to purchase gas from Venezuela's offshore Dragon Field. The agreement was signed by former Trinidadian Energy Minister Nicole Olivierre and his Venezuelan counterpart Minister Eulogio Del Pino, also president of Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA.

The Dragon gas fields are said to have combined oil reserves of 12-13 trillion cubic feet (tcf), according to the June 2016 BP's Statistical Review of World Energy.

The Dragon field will have early production of 300 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscfd) from four wells. This production will be doubled in the future with the installation of an offshore platform. PDVSA stated last month on a press release.






U.S. oil producers begin "cat and mouse" game with OPEC - Glencore's CEO



"In some core Bakken areas, it's economical to drill in the $45-$55 WTI price," he said, referring to the North American Bakken shale formation .

LONDON/NEW YORK

Petroleumworld.com 12 08 2016

As far as one of the world's biggest commodities traders, Glencore's chief Ivan Glasenberg, is concerned, the oil market will be at the mercy of "a cat and mouse game" between OPEC and its U.S. shale rivals in the coming year.

A 16 percent price rally over the past week has delivered U.S. frackers a golden opportunity to hedge - or sell forward - their production for 2017 and beyond, to shore up their coffers against possible future price falls.

Prices for prompt Brent and WTI benchmark futures contracts have hit their highest in nearly a year and a half, but this rush by the shale industry to hedge has capped the rally in prices of oil for delivery further in the future.

This will probably mean no life-support for the higher-cost producers, at least as further-out prices remain below $60 per barrel, and OPEC knows this.

"It's going to be a cat and mouse game between OPEC and shale oil in America," Glasenberg said this week.

"OPEC members will say, 'if you (raise output), we are going to ramp up production and push oil back down to $35' ... I hope shale in America will be responsible and realise what's happened and allow the higher oil price to be sustained," he said.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed on Nov. 30 to its first production cut since 2008, whereby it will reduce output by around 1.2 million barrels per day to 32.5 million bpd from January for six months.

Crucially, Russia agreed to cut output by up to 300,000 bpd in the first half of 2017, its first joint action with OPEC since 2001, and another 300,000 bpd in cuts are to be borne by other non-OPEC producing nations.

NO FREE LUNCH FOR SHALE

The collapse in the premium of longer-dated oil futures contracts in both the Brent and U.S. crude futures markets shows how investors and producers alike are taking OPEC at its word.

The U.S. futures curve <0#CL:> has inverted so prices for delivery of oil in December 2017 are now above those for delivery a year later, reflecting the wall of producer selling that has materialised since OPEC made its announcement.

"Producers have returned very actively in the market for hedging last week after the OPEC decision," said one source with a bank active in the forward-selling market.

Brandon Elliott, executive vice president of corporate development and strategy for U.S. shale producer Northern Oil & Gas, said his company had added to its hedges.

"In some core Bakken areas, it's economical to drill in the $45-$55 WTI price," he said, referring to the North American Bakken shale formation.

"I would expect that as we lock in some of the low $50s, activity picks up a bit."

Higher prices for oil for prompt delivery compared to those for delivery in the future will guarantee OPEC countries higher cash-flow income now, rather than further down the line, when they ramp production back up again.

"OPEC knows this dynamic. As such they have been quite clever by only pledging a cut lasting six months to begin with. This tightens up the front end of the market," SEB commodities analyst Bjarne Schieldrop said.

"OPEC would prefer though not to lift forward prices further out on the curve. They don't want to offer shale oil producers a free lunch with the possibility of a guaranteed, high profitability for new projects through a high forward price."

Giving U.S. oil producers an incentive to drill more aggressively is the last thing OPEC members want, particularly since the group's decision in November 2014 to let prices fall was precisely to squeeze out higher-cost shale rivals.

Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio del Pino said on Wednesday OPEC is aiming for an oil price that is not "too high or too low," around $60-70 a barrel, while his Nigerian counterpart Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said he would like to see a price of $60 by December 2017.








What will happen to the 700 block of Chestnut, which features a nearly intact ensemble of fine, commerical buildings, including ones designed by Furness and Cret, but it is zoned for skyscrapers? Read more

Let us now mourn the death of Jewelers Row. No, the storied street of diamond and gold purveyors hasn't been leveled yet, but hopes for saving the distinctive shopping destination dimmed significantly last month, when Philadelphia's Historical Commission refused to designate three key buildings.

Technically, the commission said it was taking 90 more days to mull over the proposed designations, as though it had all the time in the world. It doesn't. Toll Bros., which had already obtained a demolition permit, promptly followed the commission's nonaction by submitting a plan to the city for a 29-story condo tower. That happens to be twice the height of the version it floated for public consumption this summer. The behemoth, which would stand at least 300 feet tall, will lord over the row's modest brick-fronted showrooms and workshops, dramatically altering the character of a block that was laid out in 1799.

So, as long as we're passing around the tissues, let us also take a few minutes to focus on what will likely be the next Jewelers Row-style preservation tragedy. Make no mistake: Many handsome, stoutly-built commercial buildings from the 19th and early 20th century will be lost in the next few years unless officials get serious about maintaining the city's architectural patrimony. These are exactly the sort of buildings that distinguish Philadelphia from the parade of homogenizing cities around the country.

Along with being America's oldest diamond district, Jewelers Row is part of the colonial-era tourist circuit that includes nearby Independence Hall. Yet, despite its rich heritage, and the many small businesses that populate the street, the row was never recognized as a valuable ensemble worthy of being named a city historic district. Only a handful of its buildings are individually landmarked, and those remain safe.

But the tragedy of Jewelers Row can't entirely be pinned on the commission; it is really the result of a perfect storm of municipal missteps.

The lack of historic protections was compounded by the fact that the block is zoned, like most of Center City's commercial streets, for skyscrapers (CMX-5). The Nutter-era Planning Commission had talked about correcting the mistake and down-zoning the block but never got around to it. In this booming real estate market, its skyscraper potential made Jewelers Row's idiosyncratic buildings more valuable as teardowns than venues of daily commerce.

It was the city's excessively generous property-tax abatement, however, that provided the match to light the fire. The five structures that Toll plans to demolish will now go from being taxpaying properties that provide affordable work space for small businesses to being buildings that provide exclusive residences for the elite and pay only minimal property tax.

Who will be the next victim?

My money is on a row of early 19th-century buildings on South Ninth Street, now owned by Wills Eye Hospital. Two (Nos. 225 and 227) have been "protected" on the historic register since 1976, yet they have been left to deteriorate in full public view. Last year, the city responded by declaring them officially dangerous. Wills Eye spokeswoman Cathy Moss told me in an email that the hospital was now "in the process of repair." But it is also no secret that Wills has plans to expand its campus onto the site of the houses.

Want to bet the Historical Commission will smooth the way?

The commission increasingly behaves as though preserving buildings were a distasteful chore. It not only procrastinated on the Jewelers Row nominations, it did the same with 4046 Chestnut St., a small, handsome Victorian apartment building in West Philadelphia. The delay opened the way for the owner to obtain a demolition permit for both 4046 and its twin next door.

Even when buildings are listed on the historic register, the commission often fails to protect them. The most notorious example was its 2015 decision to allow a developer to raze the Boyd Theater, the most intact of the city's art deco movie houses.

To be fair, the commission is grossly underfunded. With just five staff members, the agency can barely handle its caseload. It has largely stopped nominating buildings for designation, leaving that work to the Preservation Alliance, a nonprofit advocacy group, and a dedicated band of volunteer architectural historians. It was the alliance's campaign that made saving Jewelers Row a cause. (The group is still pursuing a legal appeal to stop the Toll project.)

Fearing that Jewelers Row won't be the last preservation tragedy, the alliance has compiled a list of vulnerable blocks that are over-zoned and under-protected. Most are beloved places that offer a mix of affordable retail space and upper-story apartments. Fabric Row. The Italian Market.

Perhaps the most endangered areas are the 20th-century commercial buildings that dominate both the landscape of eastern Center City and the booming stretch of North Broad near the newly renovated Divine Lorraine.

Long after the real estate boom had taken hold in Center City, its eastern half remained a bit tawdry and forgotten. No more. With the renovation of the Gallery and construction of the massive East Market project, developers are on the prowl for construction sites.

What will happen to the 700 block of Chestnut, which features a nearly intact ensemble of fine, commercial buildings, including ones designed by Furness and Cret, but is zoned for skyscrapers? The threat to Chestnut's 1500 block is much the same.

Last week, City Council introduced a bill to double the commission's staffing by imposing user fees on historic-renovation permits. Mayor Kenney campaigned on a promise to beef up preservation, and this bill is the result.

Its purpose is laudable, but the mechanism for increasing the commission's funding is somewhat unfortunate. In effect, the city will be taxing the very people who preserve old facades for the enjoyment of the public. Those folks are heroes, and the city should look for ways to give them tax incentives, not tax increases. Revising the property-tax abatement to make it more targeted would be one way to encourage preservation.

Along with such carrots, the city needs to stand up to developers when potentially historic properties are threatened. Many cities impose an automatic demolition delay to allow for an emergency designation review. Such a policy would allow Philadelphia to save buildings that haven't had a chance to go through the designation process.

Of course, the commission will never have time or money to protect everything. That's why it needs to set priorities. Right now, there is no inventory of worthy buildings or strategy for pursuing designations. A preservation master plan would provide one.

Making preservation policy effective isn't just about money. It's also about resisting the heady buzz of development and focusing on Philadelphia's existing assets. This boom will end someday. Let's hope we can still recognize our city when it's over.

Note: This column was corrected to clarify details about Toll's demolition permit and the tax abatement. Homeowners who qualify for the abatement must still pay taxes on the value of the land.
Meet the woman ready to take on Philippines' hardman Duterte on his own turf

President Rodrigo Duterte could have an unlikely opposition leader in the Philippines ' legislature: one of his own ministers.

Philippine Vice President Leni Robredo told local news outlets on Monday that she was ready to head up a new opposition party. Her comments came a day after she resigned as housing secretary, a position she was appointed to in July by Duterte himself; vice presidents are allowed to take on concurrent posts in cabinet if the president chooses, according to the constitution.

"I will continue to fight against things I do not believe in. If being an opposition leader entails that, then I will be an opposition leader," local media quoted Robredo as saying on Monday.

The 52-year-old's Liberal Party is currently allied with Duterte's PDP-Laban party in congress. But if the Liberal Party left the alliance, it could become an official opposition party, with Robredo at the helm, politician Teddy Baguilat said, according to local news.

Unlike other democracies, candidates for the presidency or vice presidency in the Philippines are elected separately so it's possible for the people in the roles to come from different parties.

The nation currently lacks a strong opposition and the prospect of more powerful resistance to Duterte comes amid fears of growing authoritarianism in his administration.

In a statement on Sunday, Robredo said she stepped down due to "major differences in principles and values" with Duterte, and that the "last straw" came on Saturday, when she received a text message from Cabinet Secretary Jun Evasco that instructed her to stop attending cabinet meetings.

"Her resignation gives us a strong sense that the president does not like to work with people who criticize him or his agenda," Jean Franco, assistant professor at the University of the Philippines, told CNBC. Franco believes Robredo will be a successful opposition leader mainly due to her untainted public image and charisma.

Robredo, a former human rights lawyer, has been a high-profile critic of the president, having called for an investigation into allegations of extrajudicial killings amid the state's five-month old war on drug trafficking. Human Rights Watch estimates the death toll at about 5,000, while police put the number of people killed by officers in self-defense at 2,400 , according to a Reuters investigation published this week.



Story continues

Robredo also objected to Duterte's decision to bury former president Ferdinand Marcos in a cemetery reserved for national heroes. Marcos committed numerous human rights abuses during his 20-year reign and thousands in Manila protested against the dictator's burial last week.



The apparent order that Robredo stay away from cabinet meetings is not the first time Duterte has sidelined a critic during his short time as leader.

In September, the senate removed Leila de Lima, a former justice secretary in the previous administration, who has also been openly critical of Duterte, from her post as head of a committee investigating the claims of extrajudicial killings. At the time, analysts said the move was a clear attempt to silence Duterte's critics in government.

A purge of senior officials who failed to express support for Duterte's agenda may now be underway, said Citi economist Jun Trinidad in a note on Monday.

But if Robredo took on the new role as opposition leader, she faces a tough task in matching the president's popularity.

"She may be the new opposition's symbol and her resignation may elicit sympathy support, but it's unlikely to elevate her to Duterte's demi-god status," Trinidad explained.

"Her popularity is best gauged by her narrow election victory (260,000 votes) against her closest rival, Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. [son of the late president Marcos]," he added.

Moreover, she may face the wrath of Duterte's propaganda machine.

"Expect broadsides highlighting her allegedly jet-setting life and her penchant for appearing in magazine coversMemes are already abound that she is busy hobnobbing with high society," warned Joseph Franco, research fellow at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.

Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook.







More From CNBC


Ballot proposals and millages STATE PROPOSALS Proposal 22-1: A proposal to amend the state constitution to require annual public financial disclosure reports by legislators...

Kiwanis welcomes Rohde as new member On Oct. 25, Cathy Rohde was welcomed to the Manistique Area Kiwanis Club by Darrell Dixson. New members are welcome...

Third Trunk or Treat on Oct. 31 MANISTIQUE  The First United Methodist Church will hold their Third Annual Trunk or Treat event on Oct. 31. The...
It's important to vary your routine. Don't stop at the same place or time to catch up on your paperwork. (Photo: iStockphoto.com)

By now we've all seen the headlines. According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, we've seen a 58% increase in officers being killed by gunfire, and a whopping 167% increase in officers being killed in ambush-style attacks for 2016. We've watched the news in horror as officers have been gunned down in Dallas, Baton Rouge, and now Iowa. Combating an ambush-style attack is difficult, but there are some simple steps you can take to put the odds in your favor.

Avoid Routine

First and foremost, avoid any type of routine. Humans are creatures of habit, and sometimes we don't even realize it. We like to do things, and be places, we are familiar with, where we feel "safe" or comfortable with our surroundings. We've all got a favorite meal break spot, a place we like to park to write reports, locations we like to run radar in, and so on.

Now think about the people you have warrants for. Where are the first places you check? Probably the places where they like to hangout: the homes of family and friends, the local bar, etc. They know we have a warrant for them, and yet they go back to the same places they always go to, sometimes at the same time every day.

We like to say there is no such thing as a routine traffic stop, and it's true. Going with that same theme, there is no such thing as "routine patrol." Get out of the rut, and avoid the routine at all costs. It's difficult because we are creatures of habit, but you have to try to break that routine.

You can start to break the routine before you even arrive at the station. Leave a few minutes early and take a different route to work to get you out of that "routine" mindset. Since some ambushes have occurred at the station, like we saw in Pennsylvania and other places, we now know that home base is no longer safe. Treat the cop shop the same as you would one of those all-night convenience stores we lovingly refer to as stop & robs.

Drive past the station and look for suspicious vehicles, people, or anything that looks out of place. Some of these attackers have "cased" the police station prior to the attack, sometimes for days. Look for anyone taking pictures or video of the station, police vehicles, or parking areas. People gathering material for their cop hating Websites like to do this, but some of those people have been involved in attacks against law enforcement too, so don't rule them out as just simple nut jobs.

Keep a Low Profile

Don't wear your uniform to and from work, and if you have a take-home car, don't park it in your driveway. Some ambush-style attacks have occurred as officers were walking into the police station, while others have occurred at an officer's home by persons who knew they were law enforcement. If you have a take-home vehicle, either park it out of sight in your garage, or down the street. There's no need to identify yourself to everyone driving by. The same holds true for taking meal breaks at home.

Some cop killers like to use the ruse of a "hot call" to get us to respond quickly to an area where they have set up an ambush for responding officers. Before getting to the location of a hot call, like a violent domestic or a shots fired call, slow down just a tad and look for something that looks out of place or looks suspicious to you. Remember, never pull up directly in front of the house where the incident is allegedly taking place.

Post Lookouts

In 2009 in Lakewood, WA, we lost four officers who were ambushed in a coffee shop. The officers "regularly" gathered at the shop to share information. If you're having an impromptu squad meeting that's taking place outside of police HQ, then you need to post a lookout. Have one officer placed in a location where he or she can observe the entrances and exits, the other officers, and have a general view of the area. This officer can be briefed later on about what took place at the meeting.

It's basic contact and cover principles. Post one officer to act as a cover officer for the other officers. The cover officer doesn't have to stand in a corner glaring at everyone who comes in the door, but he or she should be there to keep an eye on everyone and be ready to respond with force if necessary. If you do it right, the general public will think that nobody likes the cover officer.

The same holds true for meal breaks. If more than two officers are taking a meal break together, an officer needs to be posted as a lookout/cover officer. Even if there are only two of you, or even if you're eating alone, be aware of your surroundings at all times and adopt cover officer positioning. Just like when we're in the stationhouse, we tend to subconsciously lower our alertness during meal breaks and think we're "safe," when in reality we're not.

Color Coding

When it comes to feeling "safe," I want you to remember this simple color code chart. Think of a traffic light: red, yellow, and green. Green means you're good to go. You're home, the doors are locked, you know where your guns are, and your dog is taking a nap near the front door. It's a safe location.

Yellow means caution. You're heading out the front door of your house to go to work. There's no visible threat, but you're alert to your surroundings, and prepared if something should happen. It's not a state of paranoia, it's a state of alertness.

Condition red means there's an imminent threat, or the possibility of an imminent threat. An example would be a robbery alarm at your local bank. You can't see if it's an imminent threat or just another false alarm as you're driving to the location, but the possibility is always there, so your level of alertness is at its highest level. Remembering this simple color chart will help in preparing you for a possible ambush-style attack, and break you out of that routine mindset.

Rifle at the Ready

As we saw in Dallas, Baton Rouge, and now in Iowa, some of these assailants who ambushed law enforcement officers used long guns against us. We never want to be in a fair fight, we always want to have the upper hand. If the bad guy brings his fists, bring a police baton, OC, or a TASER. If he brings a knife, bring a gun. If he comes at you with a rifle, you need to have a rifle and superior training and tactics.

Every officer, regardless of rank, title, or position, needs to have a patrol rifle available to them at all times. It doesn't mean they're walking around with it slung over their shoulder 24/7, but it does mean they can get to a rifle should they need it. That means everyone from the chief on down needs to be trained and qualified to use a patrol rifle. Think back on some of these ambush attacks, or even some active shooter calls. Had the officer responded with a patrol rifle in the initial stages of the attack, would the final outcome have been different?

Just having a rifle available 24/7 is not enough. We need to have superior training and tactics. That means learning how to shoot while moving, in low light, one-man, two-man, and team moving and tactics. We're not at war with the public, but we need to be prepared and trained to go up against assailants who have some military training in their background, such as the assailant who killed five officers in Dallas.

Having a patrol rifle available to you at all times doesn't mean it's locked at the stationhouse in case you need it. It means the rifle is with you in your vehicle, in the passenger compartment, and not in the trunk of your cruiser. In other countries they keep the officer's handgun locked at police headquarters in case it's needed, and some officers have paid the ultimate price for this type of thinking in those countries, but that's not us. Keep the patrol rifle in the vehicle's passenger compartment for easy access.

Evasive Vehicle Maneuvers

In the past, and as recently as Iowa, officers have been ambushed while in their vehicles. Always leave yourself a way out when stopping at intersections, and keep your head on a swivel as this is when we're the most vulnerable. Never pull directly alongside someone, and be cautious of vehicles that pull directly alongside you. If you come under attack, and you're able to do so, hit the gas and get out of the area as quickly as possible. Getting out of the area may be something as simple as turning the corner around a building that will provide you with adequate cover.

If you come under fire while you're stuck in traffic or in a location where other cars are around you, consider ramming the other vehicles to escape to a safer location. I'm not talking about ramming innocent civilians' cars at a high rate of speed, but if you're at an intersection and need to get out, ramming a vehicle is a viable alternative to getting shot to pieces while sitting in your cruiser. You could try to exit your cruiser and use it as cover, but police cars make for very poor cover, especially against incoming rifle rounds.

Aim your vehicle toward the back trunk area, or the front engine compartment, and hit the gas. From a standing position, you can move vehicles very easily, even ones that are larger than your cruiser. Another way to think of it is to divide the car into thirds. The front engine compartment is one third. The passenger compartment is the second third, and the trunk area is the last third.

If you try to push on the center third or passenger compartment you'll be pushing against the portion that will give you the most resistance. Instead, aim for the front third (the engine compartment), or the last third (the trunk compartment).

This is similar to a PIT maneuver, where you turn into the rear quarter panel of the other vehicle and accelerate. But instead of trying to spin the other vehicle around, you're just looking to push it out of the way. Aim for the trunk or hood, keep your wheels straight as best as you can, and hit the gas. Again, this isn't something you're doing at 55 mph and should only be used in extreme emergencies.

Gain the Advantage

Combating an ambush-style attack is probably one of the hardest things to train for because they're just such random attacks where the assailant has the advantage of the element of surprise. But if you break the routine, use the color code chart to always be in condition yellow when on patrol, keep your patrol rifle handy, and train, train, train, then you can take back some of the advantage the assailant has, and put the odds in your favor.

Michael T. Rayburn has been involved in law enforcement since 1977, and is the author of five books. He is a former adjunct instructor for the Smith & Wesson Academy, and is the owner of Rayburn Law Enforcement Training. He can be reached at www.combatgunfighting.com.
Officer Collin Rose of the Wayne State University Police Department was shot and killed Nov. 22. DeAngelo Davis was charged with the murder. The charges have now been dropped and police are searching for another suspect. (Photo: Wayne State University PD)

Prosecutors dropped murder charges Wednesday against a man in the killing of a Detroit campus police officer who was shot in the head while on duty.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said charges against DeAngelo Davis, 31, of Detroit, were dropped and he is no longer a suspect at this time. Davis was accused of shooting Wayne State University officer and West Michigan native Collin Rose on Nov. 22. Davis had been jailed without bond since his arrest that night. He faced charges of first-degree murder and murder of a police officer.

Davis became a suspect in Roses shooting almost immediately. In a statement after he was charged, Worthy said Davis was riding a bicycle when Rose stopped him. Rose was shot shortly after requesting help from other officers.

NBC-affiliate WDIV-TV, citing sources close to the investigation, reports Davis was shown on video in a business at the time of the shooting.

The prosecutor would not take questions following the press conference. Officials also announced that the reward in the case has been increased to $15,000, WOOD TV reports.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig said at the time that Rose was investigating possible thefts of navigation systems from vehicles.
Officer Nicholas Smarr was killed and Officer Jody Smith was critically injured. (Photo: Georgia Bureau of Investigation)

A gunman who allegedly killed one police officer and critically injured another in Georgia is dead after a 27-hour manhunt, officials said on Thursday, reports NBC News.

Americus Police Chief Mark Scott said Minquell Kennedy Lembrick, 32, was found dead with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside a residence on Allen Street. Authorities surrounded the house after receiving a tip at 10:02 a.m. that Lembrick had holed himself up inside the home.

The manhunt for Lembrick had intensified Thursday morning with more than 200 law enforcement officers across multiple agencies joining the search.

Minquell escaped after the shooting near Georgia Southwestern State University on Wednesday morning, and was considered armed and dangerous, authorities said. Overnight, officials raised the award for Lembrick's arrest to $70,000.

Authorities said Lembrick fatally shot Americus police Officer Nicholas Ryan Smarr and wounded university police Officer Jody Smith at an apartment complex at about 9:40 a.m. ET on Wednesday near the campus in Americus, which is in Sumter County about halfway between Columbus and Albany.

Smarr, 25, was responding to a call for a domestic disturbance when he was shot, police said. Smith, who was providing backup, was flown by medical helicopter to a trauma center in Macon. As of Thursday morning, Smith was out of surgery but remained in critical condition.

Police said the two officers had been best friends since high school and went to the same police academy together.
Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Email

Print

Citing Donald Trumps Electoral College victory, Republicans in Ohio have approved what would be the most extremist anti-choice bill in the country if GOP governor and former presidential candidate John Kasich signs it into law.

The measure is being called the Heartbeat Bill as it would prohibit abortions in Ohio if a fetal heartbeat is detected, which generally happens six weeks into a womans pregnancy. As if this sole component wasnt extreme enough, the right-wing legislation would also ban abortions in instances of rape and incest.

At the last minute, Republican lawmakers attached the measure to unrelated legislation dealing with child abuse.

Classy.

In 2015, a similar measure died in the Ohio Senate as Kasich and other pro-life organizations said it was unrealistic and would likely be knocked down by federal courts. That has, indeed, happened in two states  Alabama and North Dakota  that passed similar heartbeat laws.

Republicans behind the latest anti-choice effort believe their states law will have a different fate because of the incoming administration.

One, a new President, new Supreme Court justice appointees change the dynamic, and that there was a consensus in our caucus to move forward, Keith Faber, Ohios Senate President, said after the legislation passed.

Faber added that he thinks the measure has a better chance than it did before to win the inevitable legal challenges it would face.

The only person standing in the way of the bill officially becoming law is Kasich, who has 10 days to either approve or veto it. If Kasich decides to do nothing at all, it would become law by default.

While we can and should be outraged by this extremist attack on reproductive rights, none of us should be surprised by it. Republicans have long been trying to restrict or criminalize abortion.

What makes this time different is the man who will be living in the White House starting in January 2017.

Trump has repeatedly expressed his support for overturning Roe v. Wade and has even gone as far as saying women should be punished for having abortions. If and when he appoints like-minded conservatives to the U.S. Supreme Court, its no longer a guarantee that this type of restrictive legislation would be defeated in the courts.

If Hillary Clinton was president-elect, this type of law, while still abhorrent, wouldnt be as disturbing because it would never stand in a Supreme Court shaped by her. With Trump heading to the White House next month, its no longer a certainty.

This is disturbing, and should once and for all debunk the ridiculous claim that elections dont matter.
Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Email

Print

Progressive groups are planning a wave of nationwide demonstrations and protests to convince Electoral College to dump Donald Trump. At worst, the groups hope to highlight the that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote and that Trumps victory was made possible by massive voter suppression.

Politico reported:



When the 538 individuals who make up the Electoral College descend on the 50 state capitals to formalize the results of the presidential election on Dec. 19, it wont be without fanfare: Theyll be greeted by a national wave of protests organized and supported by progressive groups.

.

We go into this with sober expectations. Barring an extraordinary event, the Electoral College will likely elect Donald Trump as president. However, we can achieve two concrete things with these protests even if Trump wins the vote, writes PCCC co-founder Adam Green in a letter to the groups members, which will circulate on Wednesday.

First, by generating media attention to the idea that Electors who support the popular vote winner, we can make it a source of mockery when Trump claims a mandate for an authoritarian, anti-worker, right-wing agenda. And when establishment Republicans in Congress claim a mandate to ram millions of dollars of corporate giveaways through Congress, Green writes. Second, these events will force the media to report that Trumps razor thin victories in battleground states were made possible in part by massive voter suppression.

For progressive and liberal activists the protest of the Electoral College is part of a broader strategy to expand the grassroots left to mobilize against the Trump agenda. For eight years activists on the left have been able to shape their efforts around the Obama White House.

On issues where the base stood with the President, they became the tip of the grassroots spear. On issues where they differed with Obama, they could target their protest efforts around the singular entity of his presidency. In the Trump years, the left is going to need to regroup and expand their efforts, because there will be pressure required on the Republican-controlled House, Senate, and White House on top the issue-based grassroots efforts that will be needed on everything from womens rights to civil rights to voting rights to protecting the ACA and Social Security.

The activist left is going to be very busy, so it is a smart move to use the Electoral College to showcase the important issue of voter suppression.

Green was correct. Flipping the Electoral College is the longest of long shots, but the fact there are going to be unprecedented nationwide protests and demonstrations suggests that Donald Trump will never be the man to bring the nation back together. Instead, he has inspired a popular resistance that will haunt his entire presidency.
Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Email

Print

This is a story so full of wtf moments that Im just going to dish it up to you straight, but you might want to put down any beverages first. File this under Ignorant Belligerence: Requirement A in Trump Administration, aka yelling at experts, What do you know?! and Putin all the time!

Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), a former outcast over his pro-Putin stance, is naturally being considered for the job of Secretary of State in the Trump administration, as he defends Russias interference in the U.S. election.

In a troubling interview with Yahoo News and Finance Anchor Bianna Golodryga, Rohrabacher didnt deny Russias interference in our election in order to benefit Donald Trump and the Republican Party, but instead suggested that interference happens all of the time, and sounding a lot like a peeved Putins chief complaint against Hillary Clinton, justified it by saying that we do it too.

Golodryga asked, How would Ronald Reagan feel about Russia directly having a role in our election system and compromising one of our two major partys emails?

Rohrabacher responded, Well, I think anybody who wants to interfere in other peoples elections, which happened all over the world, not just Russia  we interfere in other peoples electoral system as well!

Golodryga questioned, So thats fine for you?

Rohrabacher felt sorry for Russia and said its okay for them to interfere since everyone does it, No, Im just trying to (crosstalk) the bottom line is that Russia, when Russia does exactly whats going on in other countries, people like yourself are villainizing it saying how horrible it is. But its basically happening all over the world.

So thats a yes, its cool for Russia to hack a Democrats emails and interfere with a U.S. election, and it also sounds again remarkably like how diplomats describe Putins whining about Hillary Clinton.

If youre keeping score, thats defending Russia with a neener neener America is bad too. But it gets worse.

Earlier in the interview, the Republican actually denied Putins well documented human rights abuses and charged, Oh, baloney  where do you come from?

 Only to be told that Golodryga immigrated to the United States from the former Soviet republic of Moldova as a political refugee.

What was his response? Take out a Trump bingo card and cry biased!

Then the audience knows youre biased, Rohrabacher spat back in what Yahoo described as a contentious exchange.

Rohrabacher stumbled over himself to get out of that one and then, after embarrassing himself a great deal, finally settled on but China!, adding that we will only get peace by being friends with Russia (note: the ideas offered up by the Republican Congressman do not correspond with the advice of people who are actually thinking about what is best for America).

Rohrabacher also said whats so great about Donald Trump is that Donald Trump doesnt care if its right, hes the type that will take the call from Taiwan even if makes the gangsters in Beijing angry.

He had us at Donald Trump doesnt care if its right. Pssst Congressman: We know! Thats the problem!

Also, we should suck up to Russia. If its right for us to join in and cooperate and have a better relationship with Russia in order to defeat radical Islam and to pull China back a bit, well thats a good thing, and thats what this is all about its better to cooperate with them to actually take on real enemies.

Its better to cooperate (and by cooperate, the Trump people mean give Putin his top priorities because nothing says working for U.S. citizens quite like being a Putin puppet) with Russia, says the man who gets information directly from the Russian government, This summer, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher used information he received directly from the Russian government to promote one of President Vladimir Putins top priorities: removing the name of the martyred Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky from a global anti-corruption law.

It would be foolish to try to predict Donald Trumps next move, because fickle mercurial showman is fickle, but if I had to Id guess when hes done humiliating Mitt Romney, Putins boy will be our next Secretary of State.

But its enough that the guy who ran on locking up Clinton over her private email server would be seriously considering someone who gets his information from Russia.

The only question remaining is are there any patriots left in the Republican Party besides Sens. Graham and McCain.

Image: Screencap from Yahoo News video
Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Email

Print

Donald Trump thinks he is having an awfully rough time of it, having to defend himself on Twitter because he says the media that all but handed him the election is unfair to him, having to personally attack every perceived critic and imagined slight.

So when Indiana steelworker and union leader Chuck Jones called Trump a liar, the thin-skinned egomaniac who is our president-elect, took to twitter to smear the man and put his life in danger.

The mans perceived sin? He told the truth. And the truth cannot be allowed to stand in the face of Trumps 30-lie-a-day pace.

Newsweeks Kurt Eichenwald reacted probably much the same as the rest of us, tweeting,

I cannot wrap my head around the fact that the President Elect just publicly slammed an Indiana steelworker just for criticizing him. Scary.  Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 8, 2016

That simple fact is appalling enough. But awful as the idea of a president taking the time to attack an individual citizen, this attack has put that individual in danger of attacks by that presidents deranged and well-armed supporters:

Trump attacks an Indiana union leader and now Jones is getting death threats. This is not presidential; this is authoritarian bullying.  Mary Beth Schneider (@marybschneider) December 8, 2016

And not only him, but his children:

1/2 hour after Trump smeared a union guy on Twitter for calling out a lie, people were calling to threaten his kids. https://t.co/Oj36Xpa6jM  Steve Silberman (@stevesilberman) December 8, 2016

Sopan Deb tweeted some particulars:

"Donald Trump just insulted a union leader on Twitter. Then the phone started to ring."https://t.co/OetWmjyfhj pic.twitter.com/v8T2T5g8lS  Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) December 8, 2016

As John Harwood of CNBC and the NYT points out,

in last two days, President-elect has strongly attacked an individual company and an individual union leader who questioned his policies  John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) December 8, 2016

Colonel Morris Davis (ret), Gitmo chief prosecutor 2005-07, made an excellent point, one that has been made also of Trumps ability to find time to watch SNL:

Irony: @realDonaldTrump doesn't have time for NATSEC briefings on terror threats to US but time for some few tweets on union wasting time. pic.twitter.com/3nctNutt8J  Col. Morris Davis (@ColMorrisDavis) December 8, 2016

We have elected a man who has carefully built up a myth about himself. Before, he was operating on the fringes, just hovering on the edge of the spotlight and able to use bullying tactics to maintain his reputation as a tough-as-nails mogul. Now that he is the president-elect, that myth cannot survive contact with the enemy. Or as the rest of us like to think of it: reality.

This is the new America, where a man who is about to become our president will single out individual American citizens and put their lives in danger because he is so thin-skinned he cannot stand a little honest criticism.

In the end, The Guardians Hugo Rifkind gets it right when he says, No analysis of anything Trump does makes sense without first acknowledging hes just a really shabby human being.

Or, as Stephen King parses it using slightly stronger language, Trumps mental condition is open to debate, I suppose; that hes an incompetent asshat seems undeniable.

He is certainly not our president.
Still more oyster roast fundraisers this week, including Carolina Coonhound Rescue, Friends of Coastal South Carolina, St. Paul's Exchange Club, Bands of Wando and Meals on Wheels, as well as the monthly Oysters on the Point, and weekly roasts at Coast Bar & Grill and Rusty Rudder .
Emanuel AMEs former secretary is suing the church and the Rev. Norvel Goff for ending her employment after she questioned the handling of donations that poured into the church after a gunman killed nine worshippers. Read moreFormer secretary at Emanuel AME sues for unpaid wages
Though the clock is falling back, fun is still springing up all around the Lowcountry. Immerse yourself in Scottish heritage at the Charleston Scottish Games and Highland Gathering, head to Summerville for the Timrod Library's 125th birthday, or spend a night with friends celebrating Charleston Beer Week. Read moreMy Charleston Weekend: Beer, Bagpipes, and a Birthday Bash
Angie Jackson covers crime and breaking news for The Post and Courier. She previously covered the same beat for the Grand Rapids Press and MLive.com in Michigan. When shes not reporting, Angie enjoys teaching yoga and exploring the outdoors.
Andrew Knapp is editor of the Quick Response Team, which covers crime, courts and breaking news. He previously worked as a reporter and copy editor at Florida Today, Newsday and Bangor (Maine) Daily News. He enjoys golf, weather and fatherhood.
David Slade is a senior Post and Courier reporter. His work has been honored nationally by Society of Professional Journalists, American Society of Newspaper Editors, Scripps foundation and others. Reach him at 843-937-5552 or dslade@postandcourier.com
If youve been unfortunate enough to endure a flood caused by nature or human error, but fortunate enough that your home survived, its at the top of your list of worries: mold. Its why you have to act immediately to haul out all the contents, rip out carpets and even walls: to prevent the  Read moreEditorial: The simple first step to solving the insidious problem of mold in SC colleges
WINONA  Adam Turman seems to be everywhere these days. Or at least his work does.

The Twin Cities illustrator and muralist's art graces restaurants, breweries and schools across Minneapolis. His corporate clients include the Radisson Hotel, the Spam Museum in Austin, and Children's Hospital in Edina. His bold, colorful idiosyncratic take on Minnesota culture arrests passersby across the Midwest.

But for all the things he has done artistically, never has this 41-year-old artist had his work on display in a museum. That will soon change. On Thursday, the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona unveils an exhibit of Turman's work called, "Minnesota Illustrated: The Prints of Adam Turman."

"He's just kind of like the 'it' guy right now for his graphic design in Minneapolis," said the museum's curator, Jon Swanson.

For being such an out-of-the-way museum, the MMAM has made a name for itself by assembling a blockbuster collection of Monets, Picassos and Cezannes. So this exhibit will be off the beaten track for the Winona institution, in that Turman is not only very much alive, but ascending to new heights of renown and recognition.

ADVERTISEMENT

The display will be extensive, with one room devoted to more than 40 pieces of Turman's work, plus two works commissioned by the MMAM and five others that have never been seen before, Swanson said. Visitors will also get to see Turman in action as he creates a custom-designed mural within the MMAM from Dec. 8 to 10 during open hours.

Swanson said it's going to be a fun show for the museum.

"He's got an underlying love of Minnesota culture," Swanson said. "But then there's some really sneaky things in there as well. You've got to really know Minnesota well to catch him on his references."

Swanson said the idea for the show came about almost by accident. He was at a party at a friend's house in Winona when he observed some of the art on the wall. He recognized the work, but couldn't place the name. When he asked the owner, a Winona State University French professor, she told him the work was by Turman, who also happened to be her brother.

"Through her, I got to thinking about his work, and then I revisited his portfolio, thinking, 'This would be really fun to do a show with his stuff,'" Swanson said.

Turman said he had already completed some shows and was uncertain whether he wanted to commit to another one when he was approached by MMAM. But the more he talked to Swanson, the more he was persuaded how this exhibit would be different than anything he had done before. And no small consideration was the idea that his works would appear alongside the masterworks he had studied in school.

"It's gong to be a nice juxtaposition, I think, against some of the much more classical style of painting that they have in the museum versus my work," Turman said. "The quality of the museum makes my show really nice. I felt good about it."
AUSTIN  An Austin man accused of strangling a woman and threatening to "put her in a coma" has picked up several more felonies after allegedly returning to the victim's home and strangling her again.

Moss Kadaffi Paul Jealousy, 30, will take both cases to a jury in a trial set to begin Monday in Mower County District Court.

Jealousy, also known as Monday Lokang Francis, was originally charged in February with felony domestic assault by strangulation and gross misdemeanor assault. Those charges stemmed from a report by a woman who said Jealousy had come to her residence, intoxicated, and wanted the keys to her car.

When the woman refused to hand over the keys, Jealousy allegedly grabbed her by the throat and stood on her feet so she could not get away. According to the criminal complaint, as he squeezed her throat, Jealousy told her, "If you call the police, I'll put you in a coma!" The victim said the incident lasted two minutes, and she believes Jealousy stopped because she lost consciousness.

An officer located Jealousy  who appeared to be drunk  walking nearby. Jealousy told the officer that he and the victim had gotten into an argument and he had grabbed her by the neck and pushed her backward to "scare" her, the report says.

ADVERTISEMENT

He pleaded not guilty to those charges in April and was released in lieu of $20,000 bail.

On Sept. 18, Austin police were called about 5:45 a.m. to the same woman's home, where she said she'd been "choked" by Jealousy, the latest complaint says.

The woman said she came home from work and was unlocking her door when she was grabbed by the back of her neck and forced inside the house. The victim was slammed to the floor, then Jealousy grabbed her neck with both hands and choked her for about two minutes, the court document says.

He said, "You put a felony on me" as he strangled her, the report says, then released her. An officer found Jealousy in an upstairs bedroom hiding under a bundle of clothes and arrested him.

His new charges include two counts of first-degree burglary, one count of third-degree assault and one count of domestic assault by strangulation, all felonies, as well as one count of gross misdemeanor domestic assault. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

He remains free on bail.

Jealousy previously was convicted of domestic assault on July 14, 2011, in Cumberland County, Maine.
Houston County

Graham inducted to UW-La Crosse Wall of Fame

LA CRESCENT  Anna Graham, a La Crescent native, has been inducted into the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Wall of Fame. Graham was honored for her swimming career at the school.

Fillmore County

Christmas on Broadway happens Saturday

ADVERTISEMENT

SPRING VALLEY  Spring Valley will hold its annual Christmas on Historic Broadway on Saturday.

It will feature a bake sale, cookie decorating, a Frozen Feet Run/Walk, a children's play and the Root River Revelers at the Community Center. Plus there will be supper with Santa Claus at 4 p.m. and a light parade at 6 p.m.

Mower County

Hallmark store to close in January

AUSTIN  A Hallmark store on Austin's Main Street will close in January after more than 50 years of operation.

The reasons for the closure were cited as external factors, such as the rise in minimum wage, the 2008 housing crisis and need for new equipment it couldn't afford. The store will have a 30 percent off sale through the weeks until closing.

Wabasha County

Mulry re-elected to Parkway Commission

ADVERTISEMENT

WABASHA  Sheronne Mulry, of Wabasha, recently was re-elected to represent the Hastings to Iowa Border Region on the Minnesota Mississippi River Parkway Commission.

Established by Minnesota statute, the MN-MRPC's mission is to preserve, promote and enhance the scenic, historic and recreational resources of the Mississippi River, to foster economic growth in the corridor and to develop the national, scenic and historic byway known as the Great River Road.

Winona County

Skin cancer screenings offered Dec. 14

WINONA  Winona Health will offer free skin cancer screenings Dec. 14.

Appointments must be made for the screenings, which are intended for those who have not had a screening before. They will be open from 8 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. on the second floor of Winona Health.

To schedule an appointment, call 507-457-7674.

Dodge County

ADVERTISEMENT

Dodge Center approves street project

DODGE CENTER  On Nov. 28, the Dodge Center City Council approved a project to restore an alley north of Main Street between Central Avenue and First Avenue NW.

It will include sewer improvements and resurfacing. The cost to businesses along the alley is estimated at $84 per linear foot.

Goodhue County

Cannon Falls approves 8.2 percent levy increase

CANNON FALLS  The Cannon Falls City Council approved a levy increase for 2017 of $191,551, which is an 8.2 percent increase over the 2016 levy.

During the council meeting Tuesday, the city approved a new levy of $2,515,966, said city administrator Ron Johnson. The main reason for the increase, he said, was a pair of bonds  one for the library, another for street and sewer improvements on the west side of town  that hit the levy for the first time. The preliminary levy passed in September was a 9.9 percent increase.
Robin and Todd Sommer were, if not opposites, people shaped by different upbringings and experiences.

She had been raised in the city, in Bloomington, Minn.; he had grown up as a farm kid in rough-and-tumble Central Wisconsin.

Yet, on their first dates together, they hit it off. He took her to a barn party, where people mingled amid the stink of cow manure; she took him to a play at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, an experience he had never had before. The couple found that their disparate backgrounds complemented each other, mutually enriching each other.

"We learned from each other," Todd said. "We just melded right away."

They married on April, 1, 1995. The plan had been for the two to grow old together. Then, years later, Robin began her battle with cancer. On Friday, Dec. 2, 2016, Robin, 54, died peacefully in her sleep at her Rochester home from complications of her illness.

ADVERTISEMENT

"She had a presence about her," her husband, Todd, said. "She had big blue eyes, and when she walked in a room, it'd just light up. Even strangers gravitated to her."

Her adult life was spent advocating and being a champion for children, especially those with disabilities. Her degree was in recreational therapy. At Sunburst Youth Homes in Neillsville, Wis., where she and Todd met, Robin worked with emotionally troubled youth and children with disabilities. Kids flocked to her.

Her love of the outdoors and children were linked. She took children with behavioral disorders on camping trips to the Minnesota Boundary Waters. After the couple moved to Minnesota, Robin continued her advocacy for children, first working for Possibilities of Southern Minnesota, then as a developmental disabilities program manager for Olmsted County.

The outdoors was also a common thread that knitted Robin and Todd together. After they met, Todd took Robin to a hobby farm that his parents owned in Wisconsin. It had woods and a horseshoe-shaped pond, and Robin and Todd explored it together on long walks.

Over the years, Robin took special delight in a fire pit on the property that she kept in immaculate condition, Todd said. That and an outhouse that the couple spotted in Walker, Minn., and hauled in a trailer to Central Wisconsin. They varnished it, and Robin decorated it with scented candles and little pictures, making it "the best outhouse anywhere."

That same attention to detail was evident during the holidays. She brought a perfectionism to wrapping Christmas presents that no paid mall worker could match. And she greeted every major holiday by decorating her home. Even when she was sick, she maintained that festive spirit, adorning their home with Thanksgiving decorations.

She had gone through one round of treatment for cancer and rebounded well. "We had some really great months together," and then a dentist noticed a spot on her tongue. It was her second cancer in two years.

The last time the couple visited their cherished hobby farm together was in September. As they were preparing to leave, Robin wanted to sit in the back of the truck with the gate down. It allowed her to keep in view the woods and pond that she loved so much as Todd drove away up a grass lane. Todd made a point of driving slowly. And as he pulled away, Todd saw Robin scanning her surroundings as she rocked her feet back and forth.

ADVERTISEMENT

"I looked at the rearview mirror and I saw her taking it all in. It was one of those beautiful September days," he said.

On their annual fishing trip in Bemidji, Todd noticed that same attitude of taking in life's beautiful moments in his wife. The couple were on a boat together heading toward their fishing spot when sun rays streaked through the clouds and scattered the water with dancing lights. Robin looked at Todd and Todd killed the motor, so Robin could absorb the moment. Then they proceeded to their fishing spot.

"We actually got in pretty good pan fishing. She's giggling like a little kid," Todd said. "These are the things that I can hang on to."

"I'm her husband, so I got a biased opinion," Todd said. "She was an amazing woman."

Memorial services will be held noon Saturday at Ranfranz and Vine Funeral Homes in Rochester.
Mayo Clinic's leader lauded the U.S. Senate for overwhelmingly passing a bill that would boost medical research funding and streamline the process for drug and medical device approvals.

"Mayo Clinic applauds the U.S. Senate for their vote today to approve the 21st Century Cures Act. We are confident that this comprehensive legislation will help advance research and accelerate the approval and delivery of safe treatments to the benefit of patients," Mayo Clinic President and CEO John Noseworthy said in a statement.

The $6.3 billion bill  known as the 21st Century Cures Act  won large majorities in the House and Senate despite warnings from some consumer groups that industry-sought provisions to speed approval of new drugs and medical devices jeopardize patient safety. The measure now heads to President Obama's desk.

Obama, who strongly endorsed the bill, said it "could help unlock cures (for) Alzheimer's, end cancer as we know it, and help people seeking treatment for opioid addiction finally get the help they need."

The 94-4 Senate vote followed several years of lobbying by patient advocates and powerful industries, including drug manufacturers. The bill cleared the House last week by a 392-26 vote.

ADVERTISEMENT

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar backed the bill. In an interview with the Post-Bulletin, she said the measure's passage is especially good new for Rochester.

"This couldn't be a bigger day for Rochester," she said.

That is because the bill includes nearly $5 billion in additional funding for the National Institutes of Health for medical research. The bill also specifically includes money for two areas of research that Mayo Clinic is a national leader on  cancer and Alzheimer's. In 2015, Mayo Clinic received nearly $264 million from the National Institutes of Health to fund research.

Also included in the bill is $1 billion for the treatment and prevention of opioid abuse. Another provision pushed by Klobuchar made it into the bill Named the "Anna Westin Act," it requires insurance companies to cover residential treatment for people with eating disorders. The bill is named in honor of Anna Westin, of Chaska, who took her own life at the age of 21 after battling anorexia.

Anna Westin's mother, Kitty Westin, said she is thrilled to see the measure poised to become the law of the land.

"it's been this really long, arduous journey, and I have an incredible sense of pride we are this far and an incredible sense of gratitude for all the people who helped us get to this finish line," she said.

Other parts of the bill would support steps designed to strengthen the nation's mental health system by coordinating treatment research, supporting community efforts to reduce homelessness and keeping mentally ill patients out of the criminal justice system.

Advocates say substantial additional funding is needed beyond what is provided in the bill.

ADVERTISEMENT

The legislation has generated concerns among many consumer advocates, who have warned that provisions that would speed federal regulatory review of new drugs and medical devices could expose patients to new risks.

"The bill has been sold erroneously as a common sense, bipartisan compromise that enables scientific innovation and medical breakthroughs for America," said Dr. Michael Carome, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group. "But in reality, the legislation includes a grab bag of goodies for Big Pharma and medical device companies that would undermine requirements for ensuring safe and effective drugs and medical devices."

Several leading liberal lawmakers have also blasted the legislation for including what Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., last week called "corporate giveaways that will make drug companies even richer."

The White House acknowledged that it has issues with parts of the legislation, but Obama noted that the tradeoffs were worth it.

"Like all good legislation, it reflects compromise," the president said during his weekly radio address Saturday.

Hospitals and insurance companies successfully lobbied for the bill to include provisions shielding them from cuts in what the federal Medicare program pays them.

Another provision favored by industry would exempt some payments that physicians receive from drug and device makers from federal reporting requirements designed to alert patients to potential conflicts of interest.

Conservative activist group Heritage Action for America opposed the bill because it will add to federal spending.

ADVERTISEMENT

The bill's spending is offset with cuts in Medicare payments for drug therapies and medical equipment, other spending reductions and the sale of 25 million barrels of oil from the nation's strategic petroleum reserve.
RED WING  Sheldon Theatre Executive Director Bonnie Schock welcomed news that the governor and legislative leaders are working on a deal for a special legislative session before the year's end.

"Boy, that's music to my ears," Schock said.

DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and legislative leaders are in talks for a special session on or around Dec. 20. There are three items on lawmakers' to-do list. The first is to provide assistance for Minnesotans struggling with high costs health insurance costs. Next is to pass a $260 million package of tax cuts. And last on the list is passing a public works bill.

It's that last bill that Schock is watching especially closely. A $1 billion public works package failed to make it to Dayton's desk at the end of the regular 2016 legislative session. In that bill was $4.5 million for Red Wing's River Town Renaissance project. The project includes upgrades to infrastructure along the river and the renovation of the 112-year-old Sheldon Theatre.

Schock said that money is needed to help preserve the historic theater and make it accessible to individuals with disabilities. It has been 28 years since the building's last renovation.

ADVERTISEMENT

"This is a rare community asset. The Sheldon Theatre is believed to be the oldest municipally owned theater in the country. It's been remarkably well cared for and to see an irreplaceable infrastructure deteriorate is the kind of thing that is a travesty," Schock said.

There are plenty of other projects in southeast Minnesota that could be in line for millions of dollars of funding if lawmakers pass a public works bill during the special session. The stalled 2016 construction bill also had $25 million for Winona State University's Education Village, $15 million for a rail grade crossing at Sturgeon Lake Road near Red Wing, $5 million for Rochester International Airport's U.S. Customs expansion, and $1.5 million for The Dyslexia Institute of Minnesota in Rochester.

Sen. Dave Senjem, R-Rochester, said he is hopeful that lawmakers and the governor will come to agreement on a special session but cautioned it is far from a done deal. He compared special session negotiations to a frozen lake.

"The ice is thick enough to walk on, but it's also possible you might fall through," he said.

Senjem expects to play a key role in crafting a bonding bill. He is the lead Republican on the Senate Capital Investment Committee and will become that committee's chairman in January. He said he will push to keep the local projects that made it into the original bill in the final bill. He said he will also make the case that Rochester Community and Technical College's request for $20 million for demolition and renovation work be added to the bill. But Senjem acknowledged that making any changes to the bill will likely be tricky.

"There's going to be all kinds of pressure from (people) all over the state for their project  whatever it might be," Senjem said.

In the case of the RCTC project, it was ranked seventh on Minnesota State Colleges and University's priority list for funding. But lower-ranked projects leapfrogged over the Rochester college's request, making it into the public works bill.

Rep. Kim Norton, DFL-Rochester, said she wants there to be a special session to help the estimated 123,000 Minnesotans struggling to buy health insurance on the individual market who do not qualify for federal tax subsidies. As for passing the tax and public works bill, she said those could probably be done once the Jan. 3 session starts. Nonetheless, if those bills are taken up during a special session, she said she will push hard to make sure Rochester projects are part of the final package  including RCTC. But after months of failed attempts to pull a special session together, Norton remains somewhat skeptical.

ADVERTISEMENT

"Is it crying wolf again? We just don't know," she said.

Money for Rochester's airport

The stalled public works bill had $5 million to help upgrade Rochester International Airport's U.S. Customs facility. The city was able to move ahead thanks to a few factors. First, the cost of the project dropped from $15 million to $12 million. The city was also able to get a federal grant of more than $7 million to help with the cost. In addition, the city council agree to up the city's contribution by $1 million to $3.8 million

Assistant City Administrator Gary Neumann said that if lawmakers pass a public works bill, the city is hoping the state will cover the city's entire $3.8 million investment. Those dollars came from city sales tax dollars earmarked for transportation. If the state covered the city's share of the airport cost, Neumann said the $3.8 million could then be used for other needed airport or transportation upgrades.

Also eagerly watching the special session negotiations is Lanesboro's City Administrator Michele Peterson. For at least eight years, the city has been trying to get help from the state to repair its 148-year-old dam. Tucked in the public works bill that failed to become law was $3.6 million for the city to fix the dam.

Peterson said the dam project is important for many reasons. First and foremost is public safety. The dam is considered a "high-hazard dam," meaning that if it were to fail, there is the potential for loss of life and serious property damage. In addition, she said the dam is a key part of the city's history.

"It is such a historical piece of our community and just such a unique piece in that it provides hydroelectric generation that we just don't want to see that go away. We really would like to do everything we can to keep that alive," she said.

Still, Peterson said she isn't going to get her hopes up too much at this point adding, "We will not hold our breath, but we will keep positive."
Somali-American lawmaker says she was harassed by cab driver

ST. PAUL  The nation's first elected Somali-American lawmaker says she was harassed and called "ISIS" by a taxicab driver in Washington, D.C.

Minnesota Rep.-elect Ilhan Omar detailed the incident on her Facebook page on Wednesday. She said the cab driver called her ISIS, lobbed sexist taunts and threatened to remove her hijab during a brief ride on Tuesday after a White House meeting on criminal justice reform. She did not provide information about the driver.

Omar, 33, says she is troubled by growing animosity toward Muslim people. Her campaign staff did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Omar immigrated to the United States after spending part of her childhood in a Kenyan refugee camp. She won a Minnesota House seat this fall and will be sworn into office Jan. 3.

ADVERTISEMENT

With final recount done, GOP's Senate majority crystallizes

ST. PAUL  A recount in a St. Cloud-area Senate seat gave the edge to the Republican candidate on Wednesday, sealing a long-presumed outcome: The GOP will control the Minnesota Senate  and therefore the entire Legislature  next year.

Senate Republicans shocked Democrats in November's election, winning eight DFL seats while losing just two to queue up a slim, 34-33 majority for 2017. But two of those elections were well within the half a percentage point margin that triggers state-funded recounts.

After three days of hand counting nearly 40,000 ballots at an Elk River voting center, county officials determined that Republican Jerry Relph maintained his lead over Democratic candidate Dan Wolgamott. Attorneys for both candidates were on hand as judges went through ballots from three counties one-by-one, flagging ballots with issues or discrepancies for later review.

Relph's lead shrunk from 148 votes to 141, according to unofficial data from the secretary of state's office. A previous recount in a close Plymouth Senate race also held up the GOP candidate as the winner.

The state's canvassing board will certify the recount results next. Even with a handful of challenged ballots, it's unlikely the final result will change much.

Ellison says he'll resign from Congress if elected DNC chair

WASHINGTON  Rep. Keith Ellison said Wednesday he'll resign his seat in Congress if he's elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

ADVERTISEMENT

"Whoever wins the DNC chair race faces a lot of work, travel, planning and resource raising," Ellison said in a statement. "I will be 'all-in' to meet the challenge."

The liberal Minnesota congressman, an early favorite in the race to head the party, has faced vocal resistance from prominent Democrats, who have questioned his comments about Israel, his defense of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and his commitment to the Democratic Party.

Ellison is trying to put some of those worries to rest, announcing that he'd listened to the concerns of activists and DNC members and would be a chair with "only one full-time commitment."

That promise may not be enough to save his bid, which has also been complicated by increasingly vocal criticism from Jewish groups over his past comments about Israel and Farrakhan

Company overseeing Prince's estate to change

CHASKA Court documents show the trust company overseeing Prince's estate wants to resign, but the late rock superstar's siblings disagree on a replacement.

Minnesota-based Bremer Trust was named temporary special administrator after Prince died in April. The company told the judge Wednesday it never intended to keep the job beyond Jan. 2.

Prince's sister, Tyka Nelson, said in filings late Tuesday she wants New York-based Fiduciary Trust Company International named as new special administrator and eventually executor of the estate. But her lawyers say she would also accept Michigan-based Comerica Bank and Trust.

ADVERTISEMENT

The filings don't say who the other siblings want.

Since they're not unanimous, Bremer Trust attorney Laura Halferty writes, there's no need for the court to rush a decision until all the presumed heirs have been heard.
If Donald Trump really wants to help the U.S. military and make American great again, I've got a suggestion. What better way to promote both goals than by keeping Congress' promises to admit Iraqis and Afghans who helped U.S. troops?

Yes, I know the president-elect is anti-immigrant, especially when it comes to Muslims. But how can he square that with the frustration of scores of U.S. military officers who have tried for years to bring their interpreters here legally, only to be blocked by Washington bureaucracy. Meantime these Iraqis and Afghans live under death threat from militias that want to kill them for saving American lives.

Take the case of Wisam and Khalid Albaiedani, Iraqi brothers who both worked as translators for the U.S. Army. Because they helped U.S. soldiers, Khalid was shot in the face and Wisam received death threats.

It took years of security checks and Herculean efforts by Peter Farley, the U.S. officer with whom Wisam went out on daily patrols, to get the brothers to Haverhill, Mass. They came under the Special Immigrant Visa program that applies to Iraqis and Afghans who worked for the U.S. military or civilians. The program has been hobbled by woefully inadequate staffing that leads to lengthy delays.

Once here, the brothers applied to bring their parents and younger siblings, left behind, who were still under death threat. As I wrote in a previous column, the family was finally granted visas after five years of vetting. They were set to fly from Baghdad to Massachusetts at the end of August, having sold their home and all their possessions.

ADVERTISEMENT

On Aug. 30, however, as they prepared to leave for the airport, the U.S. Embassy told them to stand down because there was a new security check.

A couple of weeks ago the family's visas were rejected, no reason given, no chance to appeal. Maybe it was a clerical error  many Arabic names are similar  but there's no way to know unless a reason is given. The family is now living in total limbo with no jobs, no home and death threats hanging over their heads.

On Nov. 11, Wisam spoke at a Veterans' Day commemoration at the town hall in Marblehead, Mass., that was organized by U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), a four-tour Iraq veteran. The audience was made up of U.S. vets who had fought in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Wisam spoke about his family's case, veterans told stories of their losses and the gathering got "very emotional." Many of the vets thanked him for his service.

"Not a lot of Americans know what these vets went through," Wisam told me. "Not a lot of Americans know what we interpreters went through."

With his years of military experience in Iraq, Moulton knows a lot about both.

The Massachusetts legislator just fought a tough battle to reauthorize the SIV program for Afghans who worked with the U.S. military; its expiration would have left around 10,000 applicants in limbo.

The program used to have bipartisan support, led by veterans such as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee on which Moulton serves, did finally back it.

But in this campaign year of anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric, several Republican legislators fought against the Afghan program and pared the number of new visas down to 1,500. "Because of the new president, other Republicans were emboldened by his anti-immigrant positions," says Moulton, "and they were able to cut it down."

ADVERTISEMENT

As for the Iraqi visa program  which is much larger and broader  it is hobbled by a dire shortage of staffing by U.S. consular and contract officials. It can take months or years just to get a first interview. Then comes the security vetting process, which is already "extreme" and takes two or more years.

"We have tried to address the issue of too few interviewers with the State Department," Moulton told me by phone. "But if State under President Obama can't make the bureaucracy function appropriately, what about under Trump? There is no sympathy from him for the brave Afghans or Iraqis who risked their lives for us."

"One of my translators went with us on all our missions and slept in the same room with me, and he's been trying to get here since 2008," Moulton recounted.

It does look like Moulton's interpreter will arrive soon.

However, the understaffed, opaque process that has trapped Wisam Albaiedani's family is a disgrace. For anyone who cares about the honor and safety of the U.S. military, it should be self-evident that American must keep its promises to Iraqi and Afghan interpreters.

If Trump has no empathy for the interpreters, perhaps his choice for defense secretary, Gen. James Mattis, will press to improve the process.

After all, how can America call itself great if it betrays Iraqis and Afghans who saved U.S. military lives?

Trudy Rubin is a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Longtime Guam Waterworks Authority spokeswoman Heidi Ballendorf has recently been appointed the new chair of the Committee of the Northern Utility Chapter of the Pacific Water and Wastewater Association.

The appointment was made last week at a PWWA meeting in Australia, where a new executive board was also elected.

According to a PWWA release, the association was established in 1994 to operate in the water and wastewater sectors of all the island nations of Oceania. Currently PWWA membership is comprised of 28 Pacific Island water and wastewater utilities across 22 countries with the mission of providing or establishing "quality water related services that enhance the wellbeing of people throughout the Pacific Island region."

Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request.

Ballendorf told the Post that the committee she was recently appointed to is new and the first of its kind. She said that the PWWA divided the areas within their purview between the northern and southern hemispheres, and that Guam is part of that northern division. Until now, Ballendorf said that the Northern Utility Chapter has only been informal, but that, as of this most recent meeting, the chapter has been formally recognized.

The 22-year-old organization has long operated in the more southerly reaches of Oceania and provided assistance in areas like Tonga, Papa New Guinea and New Zealand.

"I think one of the main focuses of the PWWA is to collaborate and help each other in the utility business by bringing together the experiences of different agencies within the region," she said.

Ballendorf explained that Guam has not been an active participant in PWWA over the years but, going forward, she said she hoped Guam could play a bigger role in the region by helping out sister islands by providing parts or assistance in obtaining parts for infrastructure developments with which utilities on Guam are well acquainted.

According to Ballendorf, other islands in the area do not have reliable water utilities and operate on very limited infrastructure. She said she hoped to bring other members of the Northern Utility Chapter to Guam by April 2016 to tour Guam's facilities prior to PWWA's next meeting in 2017.

"We're just trying to progress in our relationship together as island nations," she said and explained how Guam's status as one of the largest utilities in the region uniquely marked Guam as a model for many other islands.
Gardiner Harris is the New York Timess White House reporter. His Twitter feed, where many reporters reveal themselves, shows Harris to be an unabashed cheerleader for the Democratic Party. To cite just one of many examples:

Republicans consider ending the Republic as we know it: That Supreme Court Stonewall May Not Crumble Anytime Soon https://t.co/9CG8cfeT78  Gardiner Harris (@GardinerHarris) November 4, 2016

So when Gardiner Harris asks questions of Josh Earnest in White House briefings, it is very much a conversation between friends. On Monday, Harris wondered why the Obama administration assassinates terrorists but not purveyors of the lefts current obsession, fake news:

Q Josh, this administration has made a huge priority out of responding to online threats from jihadists. You have a whole set of people at the State Department; you have them at the Pentagon; youve got people who have gone after those who posted these messages and killed them in the Middle East.

It is nice, if unusual, to see a representative of the Times approving of killing our enemies.

The administration has gone to Silicon Valley and had conversations with Twitter and social medial companies about making sure they crack down on these jihadi threats.

Here it comes: why cant you take the same measures against fake news?

You had an entire set of businesses up here on Connecticut Avenue for months getting direct death threats, and they said that nothing was done about them. Is it only a priority if these are jihadi threats? And is it not a priority for this administration if businesses and normal people are getting death threats and being terrorized for months with no action on the part of this administration? Help me understand the difference there.

Where are those drones when you really need them? Josh Earnest responds:

MR. EARNEST: Well, Gardiner, I would strongly disagree with the assessment that somehow the administration had not done anything to respond to this situation, particularly when it comes to violent threats. Ill refer you to my colleagues at the Department of Justice and the FBI for the role that they may have played in investigating those threats. Id also refer you to the Metropolitan Police Department here in Washington for a discussion of any work that they may have done to ensure that the D.C. residents who were patronizing those establishments were able to do so safely.

Threatening to kill people is illegal. More from Gardiner Harris:

Q I think everyone in this room has gotten threatening emails and threatening things on social media and the rest.

We have gotten them here at Power Line, too.

I guess what Im asking  Ive never heard you talk about what the administration is doing, even not just on a law enforcement basis but a policy basis, reaching out to these Silicon Valley companies. I mean, the President has recently been discussing the problem of fake news on Facebook. Why hasnt there been a concern  a growing concern on the part of the administration about what seems to be a growing amount of vitriol directed at a variety of people, sometimes violent vitriol, within the United States?

Fake news on Facebook! Somehow, when liberals talk about fake news, it is invariably right-leaning, and they never mention fake news from outlets like the New York Times or the Washington Post.

Josh Earnest explains:

MR. EARNEST: Well, Gardiner, I think over the course  over the last year or two, youve heard the President I think speak quite bluntly about the rhetoric that was being used in the context of this political campaign, and the impact that that could have on the broader political debate and the climate  political climate in the country. So I do think this is something that we have talked about, and its something that the President is concerned that that kind of harsh, sometimes violent, rhetoric obscures legitimate policy debates that we should be having in this country.

Perhaps Earnest is referring to repeated assertions that Donald Trump is a fascist, a Nazi, a racist, and so on. Those false and vitriolic claims might be expected to lead to assassination attempts against Trump, and they surely have led to violent assaults on his supporters, like this one. More from Mr. Earnest:

Obviously, there are some important First Amendment issues that come into play when were having this discussion. Those First Amendment issues arent prioritized in the same way when were talking about overseas terrorist organizations that dont enjoy the same kinds of protections that American citizens do.

Cool down, Gardiner! You cant kill American citizens who say things you dont like with drones. You know you are in trouble when it takes Josh Earnest to explain the First Amendment to you. Earnest explicates further:

So theyve got their own built-in interest in protecting the First Amendment rights of their users while also creating a community and a platform that people actually want to use. And yes, if you do administer a platform that is used extensively to propagate hate and to inspire acts of violence, well, I think most people are going to be less likely to use the platform. So this is the kind of balance that these technology companies are going to have to strike, and its something that I know that theyve been grappling with for some time. In some cases, I know that theyve been doing it even outside the context of politics.

I picture Harriss next question being delivered with a sneer:

Q Do you think the market just will have to police itself on that then?

God forbid! Earnest tries one more time:

MR. EARNEST: Well, look, I dont think it necessarily has to be  I think there is a  given the First Amendment questions that are raised, the role for the government to play in all of this is going to be necessarily limited by that.

Im so old, I can remember when reporters not only had heard about the First Amendment, but were in favor of it. But I guess the fake news crisis is so acute that the Left cant let such niceties get in the way.

Oh, one more thing: about that harsh, sometimes violent, rhetoric that pops up on social media. Do you think this is what the Democrats are talking about?

No, I dont either.

Via InstaPundit, with much more at the link.
Donald Trumps administration will not be an entirely orthodox conservative affair. The Carrier deal so demonstrates.

However, Trumps nomination of Scott Pruitt to head the EPA demonstrates that, in important respects, the Trump administration will likely be more conservative than that of George H.W. and George W. Bush, and more conservative than a John McCain or Mitt Romney administration probably would have been.

William Reilly was the EPA administrator under the first Bush; Christine Todd Whitman under the second. Both were, at best, center-left on environmental issues. Both, in the words of the Wall Street Journal, more or less agreed with the lefts command-and-control model of environmental regulation, and theyd pile more costs on the private economy.

Pruitt is a committed conservative. He can be expected to curb the EPAs abusive imposition of an extremist green agenda that, lacking a sound statutory basis, has caused the Agency radically to reinterpret the law. Pruitt has been a leader in challenging this regulatory overreach.

Pruitts efforts have led the mainstream media to brand him an extremist. But, as a friend who has practiced environmental law for decades, says: Lisa Jackson [who headed the EPA under Obama for four years] was at least as far left than Pruitt is right. And Pruitt will have the law on his side far more often than Jackson did, I expect.

Where is it written that Democratic presidents get to nominate leftists for key jobs like EPA head, while Republican presidents must nominate moderates? Only in the pages of most mainstream media newspapers.

The Wall Street Journal editorial board makes the case for Pruitt:

President Obama couldnt get his climate-change agenda through a Democratic Congress, so he ordered the EPA to impose it on the 50 states by diktat. The agency reinterpreted statute after ancient statute as its bureaucrats saw fit, daring the courts to stop them. Think of the Clean Power Plan to put the coal industry out of business, the carbon endangerment rule, grabbing authority to call any pond or puddle a waterway, and so much more. Mr. Pruitts first job will be restoring respect for the Constitution and cooperative federalism in EPA rule-making. He knows how to do this because he led the legal charge by the states against EPA abuses, including the victory of a Supreme Court stay on the Clean Power Plan as it moves through the appellate courts.

Pruitt is not the first key Trump cabinet nominee whose selection portends a strong  and stronger than I expected  commitment to conservative principles. But Jeff Sessions and Ben Carson were early, high-profile Trump supporters.

Scott Pruitt was a Jeb Bush supporter. His selection, and that of Tom Price for the Department of Health and Human Services, are the best evidence of the conservative orientation of the Trump administration.
One hundred and three year-old Pearl Harbor survivor Jim Downing was serving on the USS West Virginia at Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941. On CNN, Jake Tapper invited former Lieutenant Downing to discuss the Japanese attack on the American fleet on the 75th anniversary. Downing testifies: Its frozen in our minds the destruction that took place that morningSomehow that image of the attack is frozen in our minds. Downings valor and patriotism shine through this brief interview.

The anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor yesterday also occasioned Charles Keslers NRO column The good war and Kirk Kolbos Star Tribune column Pearl Harbor and the first shot Minnesotans of the USS Ward. Both Charles and Kirk are friends and both taught me things I didnt know in these excellent columns.

In the video below President Roosevelt appears before Congress on the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor (text here, first draft here). Roosevelt predicted that December 7 was a date that will live in infamy and called for a declaration of war against Japan. Im afraid today we would have to modify that to a date that should live in infamy.

Roosevelt both summoned and expressed the will of the American people: No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us. Those words echo down the corridors of our history.
Attempts to portray Senator Jeff Sessions as a racist continue to run into this problem  African-Americans who know him well arent buying in.

I wrote here about Donald Watkins, a Black attorney who attended law school with Sessions in the early 1970s. Watkins says that his interactions with Sessions back then, and throughout the years since, have convinced him that the Senator is a good man. Jeff was a conservative then, as he is now, but he was NOT a racist, Watkins wrote on his Facebook page.

Watkins has expressed regret at not coming forward to defend Sessions 30 year ago, when the racism smear was invoked against the Alabama man in judicial confirmation proceedings. Arlen Spector, who cast the decisive vote against Sessions at that time, also later expressed regret. After getting to know Sessions as a colleague on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Specter called his vote one of the biggest mistakes of his career.

Now Quinton Ross, the leader of the Democratic minority in the Alabama State Senate and an African-American, has praised Jeff Sessions. Ross says he and Sen. Sessions have worked well together and he expects Sessions to enforce the law fairly if he becomes U.S. attorney general.

Ross stated:

I have worked with Sen. Sessions on education policy and securing federal funding for our schools. Additionally, I have spent time with him at the Magic City Classic and at Heritage Barbershop in Montgomery. I know him personally and all of my encounters with him have been for the greater good of Alabama.

Ross added:

Weve spoken about everything from Civil Rights to race relations and we agree that as Christian men our hearts and minds are focused on doing right by all people. We both acknowledge that there are no perfect men, but we continue to work daily to do the right thing for all people.

The smear campaign against Jeff Sessions isnt about racism. Its partly about policy disagreements and partly about riling up the Democratic base  in others words, demagoguery.

Many decades ago, the Democrats pulled a similar stunt against Judge Clement Haynsworth, a Nixon nominee for the Supreme Court. Senate Democrats accused Haynsworth, who sat on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, of being a segregationist.

The Senate eventually rejected Haynsworth based mainly on allegations, never proven as far as I know, that he decided cases in which he had a financial interest.

A few years later, I argued a civil rights case before a panel that included Judge Haysworth. He voted against my client  the EEOC. I didnt like the ruling (2-1 in favor of the defendant-employer), but it was clear enough from the oral argument and the opinion that Haynsworth was no racist.

Nowadays, its generally accepted that Judge Haynsworth was a moderate, as indeed he seemed to me despite my disappointment in the outcome of my case.

Haynsworth liked to tell the story of a time during the confirmation fight when he was watching a network television report about his nomination. After a minute or two of hearing about himself, he exclaimed to his wife THIS MAN WILL NOT DO.

Relying on smears, the left is arguing that Jeff Sessions will not do for Attorney General. But African-Americans who know Sessions well are saying that he will.
Democrats and their many pals in the mainstream media have been able to find a hook through which to criticize nearly every nominee presented by president-elect Trump. For Sen. Jeff Sessions, its bogus allegations of bigotry. For Dr. Ben Carson, its lack of subject matter expertise and administrative experience (a fair, though not dispositive objection, I think). For Scott Pruitt, its that hes had the audacity to sue the EPA.

Now, with nothing to find fault with in Gen. John Kelly, the complaint is that Trump is selecting too many generals. In lodging this complaint, the Washington Post quotes liberal Senator Chris Murphy. He says:

Im concerned. Each of these individuals may have great merit in their own right, but what weve learned over the past 15 years is that when we view problems in the world through a military lens, we make big mistakes.

This is nonsense at two levels at least. First, Murphy assumes that there is a distinctively military lens. But there has been disagreement within the military on many of the key decisions of the past 15 years  e.g., the decision to invade Iraq, how deeply to get involved in the Syrian civil war, dont ask, dont tell, women in combat.

The three generals Trump has selected  Flynn, Mattis, and now Kelly  all have dissented from some of the views that seem to have held sway at the highest levels of the military in recent years. Admittedly, though, its not always easy to know whether a view prevails at top military levels on its merits or because the brass bends to administration pressure.

Second, what big mistakes resulted from allegedly viewing the world through a supposed military lens? Murphy probably is referring to the Iraq invasion. But this was decision pushed by Vice President Cheney and backed by a Secretary of Defense who was not a career military man. Liberals say it was foisted on the country by chicken hawks who, by definition, arent military people.

Thus, assuming that this decision was a big mistake, it wasnt the product of a military lens.

The Iraq surge was. But this was a success, not a mistake.

Leaving Iraq was a big mistake. But it was the product of a manifestly non-military lens  that of President Obama.

Our slow reaction to the rise of ISIS was a big mistake. Again, though, this was not the militarys fault. It was President Obama who thought ISIS was the jayvee. Even Obama doesnt blame the military. Hes trying to pin it on the intelligence community.

Daniel Benjamin, a former counterterrorism official at the State Department under Obama and now a professor at Dartmouth College, has also expressed concern about too many generals in top positions:

Generals as a rule believe in hierarchies and taking orders, and if the president gives them an order you have to wonder how likely they are to push back against it. Generals have one set of skills, and diplomacy is not in the top drawer of that tool kit.

This is an odd complaint. The traditional argument against generals in top civilian positions is a supposed threat to civilian control. Benjamin seems to be worrying about just the opposite.

Moreover, William Galston, a Democrat who served in President Clintons administration, believes that concerns about generals charging ahead with no regard for legal or constitutional constraints  or without a willingness to challenge the presidents decisions  are misplaced. Generals are schooled to believe that if they or any subordinates receive an unlawful order, its not to be obeyed, Galston says.

In my view, government officials  whether they are former generals or not  should obey orders from the president or else resign. Theres no good reason to think that ex-generals are less (or more) likely than other officials to follow this approach.

When it comes to advising the president, pushing back is sometimes in order. In this regard, Generals Flynn and Mattis both seem like good choices. Neither was highly deferential to the judgments of the current president.

Heres the key point, though. A president wont be receptive to pushback unless he holds the guy doing the pushing in high regard. Trump seems to have a high regard for Flynn and Kelly, and certainly does for Mattis.

Maybe hes into tough, can-do generals; maybe he respects the generals in question based on individual merit; maybe  probably  both factors are in play.

It doesnt matter. What matters is whether the three generals Trump has selected are well qualified for the job and whether Trump trusts them. Even liberals seem satisfied with the individual merit of Mattis and Kelly. Flynn, they dont get to vote on.

Finally, what about Benjamins complaint that diplomacy is not in the top drawer of most generals tool kit? The obvious answer is that neither Mattis, Kelly, nor Flynn has been tabbed for a diplomatic job.

Gen. David Petraeus reportedly is still in the running for Secretary of State. If Trump picks Petraeus for this position (I hope he doesnt), we can consider the extent of Petraeus diplomatic skills. We should not assume they are poor just because he was a general.

For readers who make it to the end of the Posts article, Galston, the Democrat, has this take:

If you asked me, would I prefer a government of generals or a government of lawyers, thats not an easy choice. Weve experimented with a government of lawyers, and that hasnt been so fantastic, has it? Maybe its time to give the generals a chance.

In my opinion, its certainly time to give James Mattis and John Kelly a chance.
Three alumni of the American University of Nigeria (AUN) will from December 9 host a photo exhibition to celebrate internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Adamawa State, North-east Nigeria.

The exhibition will take place at the Madugu Rockview Hotel, in Jimata, one of the suburbs of Yola Capital city.

Operating under the aegis of Akam Contemporary, the two-day programme tagged, The Refugee Prayer, will among other things, project human dignity through visual arts.

One of the organisers and AUN alumnus, Nelly Ating, said the human-interest photo exhibition will showcase gripping images of people displaced by insurgency; their smiles, pain, and resilience.

The photo exhibition will curate the stories of these people for historical purposes, showcasing their strength and restoring trust in humanity, Ms. Ating said.

The exhibition will be organised by Ms. Ating and Haye Okoh, both of AUN Class of 2012, and Ibrahim Ciroma of the Class of 2009.

The trio are working in collaboration with Team Bindow, the Adamawa State governors pet project, and Pulse Nigeria, an online newspaper.

The event will also honour some local groups in the state for their support and commitment to helping and ameliorating the sufferings of the IDPs.

Adamawa State governor, Muhammad Jibrila, will serve as special guest of honour at the event, which will also be attended by representatives of international aid organisations.

The Director-General of the National Emergency Agency, Mohammed Sani Sidi, is expected to give the keynote speech at the exhibition.

The exhibition will celebrate the IDPs through our lenses and will honour some of the local groups that sacrificed their comfort, food, and shelter for victims of the insurgency.

And this is the true African pride. Proceeds from the exhibition will be donated to cover medical bills of the IDPs, Ms. Ating said.
British Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, was not setting out government policy when he said Saudi Arabia and Iran were stoking proxy wars across the Middle East, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday.

Mr. Johnson told an audience in Rome recently that the absence of real leadership in the Middle East had allowed people to twist religion and stoke proxy wars.

It is the latest in a series of gaffes to plague the foreign minister, who even Ms. May has jokingly said is hard to keep on message for a full four days.

He has been criticised by some EU officials for using less-than-diplomatic language in talks on Britains decision to leave the bloc.

Ms. Mays quick response underlines the importance of Britains alliance with Saudi Arabia, which is a major customer for British defence companies.

You have got the Saudis, Iran, everybody, moving in, and puppeteering and playing proxy wars.

And it is a tragedy to watch it. There are politicians who are twisting and abusing religion and different strains of the same religion in order to further their own political objectives. That is one of the biggest political problems in the whole region, Mr. Johnson said.

It is unclear from the footage whether he specifically accused Saudi and Iran of twisting religion, though Mr. Johnson had accused Saudi Arabia of abusing Islam.

According to the spokeswoman for Ms. May, they are not the governments position on for example Saudi and its role in the region.

May, who visited the Middle East this week, met Saudi King Salman and set out very clearly the governments view on our relationship with Saudi Arabia, that it is a vital partner for the UK particularly on counter-terrorism.

We want to strengthen that relationship, she said.

Ms. May appointed Mr. Johnson, who was key in the campaign for Britain to leave the EU, in July, after he failed in a bid to become prime minister.

She cemented her appeal to other Brexit supporters in the ruling Conservative Party.

Her spokeswoman said Ms. May still supported her foreign secretary, adding that Mr. Johnson would have the opportunity to set out the way that the UK sees its relationship with Saudi Arabia during a visit to the region.

(Reuters/NAN)
The Presidential Initiative for the North East, PINE, stinks of corruption and poor accountability standards thus hindering efforts at addressing the humanitarian crisis and rebuilding infrastructure in the region, lawmakers have said.

The Senate ad-hoc committee on the north-east humanitarian crisis uncovered what appeared to be cases of corruption, including phantom projects and inflated contracts at the PINE during a hearing on Tuesday.

At the hearing, PINE could not properly account for about N2.5 billion, part of funds released for it for capital intervention.

In one case, PINES boss, Umar Gulani, claimed that the agency spent N203 million to clear taipa grass in Yobe State; but this was rebutted by the States Commissioner for Information, Mohammed Lamin.

Mr. Lamin said no taipa grass was cleared in the state by any federal government agency in Yobe State.

Mr. Gulani also claimed PINE expended N253 million on the clearing of invasive plants species around river banks in the state; and another N422.5 million to provide temporary shelter (tents) to displaced families in the state.

These were also disputed by the Yobe State representatives led by Mr. Lamin.

Also, PINEs claim of spending several millions of naira to renovate 18 schools completely destroyed by Boko Haram insurgents in Yobe State alone was also rejected by the commissioner

Only three schools have been renovated by agencies outside the state, the Commissioner said.

With the way PINEs claims were shattered, the Senate Committee chaired by Shehu Sani (APC-Kaduna State) demanded evidence, including photographs and documents of contracts claimed to have been executed by the agency.

The affected states said they were not aware of all the contracts executed by PINE; you people just decided to make money and that is why you decided to donate N50 million for a conference organised by an NGO, said a member of the committee, Theordore Orji (PDP-Abia).

As included in its statement of accounts, while PINE donated N50 million to an unnamed NGO, it spent N2 million to feed internally displaced persons who should form the central focus of any effort at addressing the north-east crisis.

The Senate had constituted the ad-hoc committee in October following a motion by Baba Garbai (APC-Borno) drawing attention to the crisis in the north-east and how funds meant for Boko Haram victims were allegedly being mismanaged.

PINE was established by President Muhammadu Buhari to fasten the pace of north-east recovery following the Boko Haram insurgency.

Also speaking on Tuesday, Ben Bruce (PDP-Bayelsa) said when the committee visited some IDP camps, many women cried out for provision of sanitary pads which he said could have been well taken care of if the N2.5 billion given to PINE out of the budgeted N5 billion was well utilised.

The situation of displaced persons in the north-east recently led to the United Nations raising alarm.

According to UNICEF, 4.5 million people are in dire need of assistance out of which 1 million are in danger of extreme malnutrition in the region.

UNICEF said over two million people were still trapped in areas controlled by Boko Haram and could not be reached for assistance due to security reasons.

However, the federal government over the weekend said the figures provided by UNICEF and other agencies were grossly exaggerated.
Gov. Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State spoke to journalists recently on a wide range of issues, notably, the deadly Kaduna South and Shiite IMN crises in the state.

The governors comments admitting to paying Fulani herdsmen who raided communities and slaughtered many in the state were earlier reported as brief quotes.

PREMIUM TIMES brings you the full transcript of what Mr. El Rufai said on the two crises bedeviling his state.

QUESTION: There have been a lot of hues and cries over the banning of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) as activists argued that their human rights have been violated. Why did the government decide to infringe on the Shiites freedom of association and the freedom to practice their religion?

Gov. El Rufai: The issue of Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) and their declaration as an unlawful society is something that we did with all sense of responsibility. Many media outlets have presented what we did in various ways which are misleading.

What we did was not to ban any organization; we have no power to ban an organisation if it exists, we cannot ban religion or religious practice. What we did is to say that the Islamic Movement in Nigeria is an unlawful society and we derived the powers to do this under the Penal Code that was passed in 1963, so it is not a new thing that we did. The governor can declare any organisation an unlawful society, if it poses a threat to the security, peace and governance of the state. And we concluded, after receiving the report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry that looked into the clashes between the IMN and the army, that the IMN poses a threat to the peace, security and good governance of Kaduna state. That is what we did.

We did not ban Shiism, we did not ban Shiites. We did not say they cannot practise their religion, because in Kaduna state, there are at least two Shiites organisations that we know. There is Al-Thaqalayn Foundation, there is Rasul Aazam Society. These are all Shiites organisations and they are not outlawed. They are not outlawed because all they do is to preach their brand of Islam and they practise their brand of Islam and they are free to do so. Both of them are registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), they recognise the constitutional order in Nigeria, they recognise President Muhammadu Buhari as president of Nigeria. They recognize Nasiru El-Rufai as governor of Kaduna state and they obey the laws of Nigeria and Kaduna state. They have no paramilitary arm, they do not carry arms, they do not block public highways, they do not occupy schools.

The IMN does not recognise the constitution of Nigeria, they do not recognize Buhari as President of Nigeria, they do not recognise me as governor of Kaduna state because they had their governor in Tudun Wada. They have their para military wing, the call them Hurras. They train them in violation of our laws. They do not accept that any law in Nigeria applies to them. They block public high ways, they occupy schools when they are doing their processions and they feel that to practice their religion, they have to infringe on the right of others. That is completely wrong!

There is also a misconception that IMN is the same as Shiites, IMN is only one out of many Shiites organisations. There is a prominent Shiite organisation with its headquarters here in Kaduna that is headed by Sheikh Hamza Lawal.

Because IMN doesnt recognise Nigerian laws, they are not registered with CAC, so they cannot be sued or held responsible. They build anywhere they want without approval. They dont even bother to acquire title to land. Their allegiance is not to Nigerian government, their allegiance is to somewhere else. I want to ask you, if you put all these facts together, what does IMN look like? IMN looks like an insurgency waiting to happen.

The report of the commission of inquiry recommended that we should proscribe IMN because they are not registered, they cant sue or be sued in their own name. The media should stop referring to the IMN as Shiites because they are just one group out of many others. I will like you to speak with other groups to hear what they think of IMN. The IMN is a political organisation. The objective of El-Zakzaky is to gather enough followers to effect an Iranian type Islamic Revolution in Nigeria and you know what that can cause! Nigeria is not 100 per cent a Muslim country that you can do Islamic Revolution, it is a recipe for crisis.

I laugh when some people that are not informed on this subject are sympathetic to him, talking about human rights. What he has in plan for you, you will not have any human rights. Anybody that tries to say Nigeria will be an Islamic country, do you know how much crisis he is trying to create? That is the agenda. So let us understand this problem.

We remain open to talk to their members like any citizen, not as IMN because they are unlawful and if you claimed to be a member of IMN, it is seven year imprisonment. That is why we are looking for Ibrahim Musa who has signed a statement as their spokesman. We are raising the reward for exposing him to N500, 000. Anyone that knows where he is should tell us so that the police can collect him, we are going to try him for signing a statement that he is a spokesman for IMN after the publication of an order outlawing the organisation.

QUESTION: The crises in Southern Kaduna have been recurrent and there seem not to be an end in sight. Recently, the Centre of Humanitarian Dialogue started a peace-building effort. Will this initiative make any difference?

Gov. El-Rufai: When we came to office, the two problems we faced in the area of security were cattle rustling in Birnin Gwari/Giwa axis and this communal killings in southern Kaduna. We were very concerned about both and we did two things. We needed to understand what was happening in southern Kaduna. We understood cattle rustling and we convened a meeting of all the north-west governors because the problem was centred around the forest ranges of Kuyambana and we felt state cooperation was necessary. We came together and launched an operation to deal with cattle rustling. We were successful because we degraded their ability to do cattle rustling, even though that created a problem of kidnapping, because they moved from cattle rustling to kidnapping we are still facing.

For southern Kaduna, we didnt understand what was going on and we decided to set up a committee under Gen. Martin Luther Agwai (rtd) to find out what was going on there. What was established was that the root of the problem has a history starting from the 2011 post-election violence. Fulani herdsmen from across Africa bring their cattle down towards middle belt and southern Nigeria. The moment the rains starts around March, April, they start moving them up to go back to their various communities and countries. Unfortunately, it was when they were moving up with their cattle across southern Kaduna that the elections of 2011 took place and the crisis trapped some of them. Some of them were from Niger, Cameroon, Chad, Mali and Senegal. Fulanis are in 14 African countries and they traverse this country with the cattle. So many of these people were killed, cattle lost and they organised themselves and came back to revenge.

So, a lot of what was happening in southern Kaduna was actually from outside Nigeria. We got a hint that the late Governor Patrick Yakowa got this information and he sent someone to go round some of these Fulani communities, but of course after he died, the whole thing stopped. That is what we inherited. But the Agwai committee established that.

We took certain steps. We got a group of people that were going round trying to trace some of these people, trying to trace some of these people in Cameroon, Niger Republic and so on to tell them that there is a new governor who is Fulani like them and has no problem paying compensations for lives lost and he is begging you to stop killing. In most of the communities, once that appeal was made to them, they said they have forgiven. There are one or two that asked for monetary compensation. They said they have forgiven the death of human beings, but want compensation for cattle. We said no problem, some we paid. As recently as two weeks ago, the team went to Niger Republic to attend one Fulani gathering that they do every year with a message from me.

So this was the problem, we knew this by August last year and we started taking steps. But what is happening now, I dont want it to be restricted to southern Kaduna. I noticed that some people are trying to bring religion or ethnicity into it. What about Zamfara State? Are there southern Kaduna people in Zamfara? That is why I considered the statement by the President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) as regrettable. Some people dont understand the burden of leadership. The same Fulani are killing Fulani in Zamfara, it is not about religion or ethnicity, this is a pure case of banditry! They are criminals, their ethnicity, their religion does not matter. Lets fight the problem, lets not bring sentiments, sensationalism and division into it. What is happening in southern Kaduna today, in my opinion, has roots in banditry, it has nothing to do with what has happened in the past to a large extent.

It was a small problem that started in Ninte village, Godogodo that could have been handled better by the local communities; but the leaders of the Fulanis and the leaders of the communities did not do it well. I was very sad, I went there. Any life lost in Kaduna state is a burden on me because as the governor, I have to defend the life of every one. As a government, we regret the loss of lives. We regret the destruction of property.

Today in Kaduna State we have arrested 400 people for kidnapping and cattle rustling and armed robbery. All except about five of them are Fulanis. I am Fulani, does it mean I should not have them arrested and prosecuted? I dont consider them Fulani, I consider them criminals. Whenever I sit with Fulani leaders I tell them that we arrested over 400 suspects and 99 per cent of them are Fulanis and they should ask themselves why is it only Fulanis that are doing this. Is that part of the culture of the Fulanis? Since when did they start carrying AK47 rifles and so on?

From a small problem in Ninte, some people found a way to add fuel to the fire, because it is politically expedient to do so not caring how many people get killed. Over time, the culture of impunity has permeated all segments of society, people think they can do anything and get away with it. There is very weak law enforcement or uneven law enforcement. If you are from this ethnic group or religion, you can do something and get away with it but the other one cannot. There is a mindset that you can take the law into your hands. This is what has been happening and escalating the problem. So it is most unfortunate, but honestly the whole challenge is that of banditry and it has to be addressed.

Secondly I think that those that preach the message that this one is a settler, he shouldnt he here or this one is of different tribe and religion, he should not live with you, are more responsible for what is happening than anything else. How can you look at somebody that has stayed in a place for 200 years and say he is a settler. How long have you lived there? We all came from somewhere.

The media should not give these kind of people the oxygen that they need to propagate this. Those that think that there is any profit to be made from this kind of narrative and division should go to Plateau State and ask. Jos is quiet, peaceful, because after years of killing each other both sides realised that it doesnt make any sense. That is why when we went to Samarun Kataf for the unveiling of the apology, we invited the Gbong Gwom Jos, His Majesty Da Buba Gyang, because he has been through it, he has seen it.

We must have peace for any progress and there is no problem in the world that you can solve through violence. Even if you go to war, the war doesnt end until you come to a table and discuss peace. Why not start with the peace?

For some of the politicians from the southern Kaduna that are trying to politicise this, they should go to Plateau State and find out or talk to former Governor Jonah Jang and find out what happens when you add fuel to the fire of this kind of division.

We are deploying more and more security to the crisis prone areas. It is costing us tons of money at a time when we dont have resources, but we have to do it because security is the foundation of everything.

There are people that are sending a message, defend yourselves, we will get them; defend yourself is hate speech. You cant defend yourself if there is a government. We are going to arrest and prosecute all those that pass that message.

The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD) has done a lot and they have been very successful in helping bring peace to Plateau State, this is why we asked them to come and help us in Kaduna. We have made a lot of progress with the Kafanchan declaration, but there are people bent on frustrating that and we know them and they are being monitored by the security agencies.
The Electoral Commission of Ghana (ECG) has called on voters to disregard a result being shared on social media showing that the opposition New Patriotic Party has scored over 54 per cent of votes cast from 80 per cent of the countrys polling stations.

In a statement posted on its Twitter handle, the ECG described the result as fake.

The commission also stated that voting has been extended in Afram Plains South constituency and is still on-going in Jaman North constituency on Thursday.

This is fake!!!! This is fake!!!! This is not from the EC. Disregard completely!!!!

Update: NO official results have been declared by the EC. No final constituency results are in. There is no declared winner yet. The EC undertook a hugely successful election yesterday. Let us trust the process for the results. We will keep you updated minute by minute.

No final results can be declared until Jaman North has had the privilege of voting today. We call upon the people of Ghana to respect the process and keep faith with the EC. Results will be out as soon as they are available.

The website of the electoral commission also crashed for some hours early on Thursday before it was restored. The commission said the website was hacked. It said that the attempted hack was an attack on its integrity and independence.

We deplore the attempt to hack the ECs website. Please respect the integrity and independence of the EC.

The commission had early announced that it may take up to 72 hours before it would release the result of the poll.

Meanwhile, supporters of both leading political parties, the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the main opposition party New Patriotic Party (NPP), are claiming early leads from results collated from unofficial sources.

A statement by the campaign organisation of incumbent President John Mahama, praised the conduct of the election as very smooth and orderly. It also commended the large turnout during the election.

The statement, signed by its spokesperson Joyce Mogtari implored supporters of the president to remain calm while they await the announcement of the result. It however stated that details from its Parallel Vote Tabulation put Mr. Mahama in a comfortable lead.
Poverty, conflict and climate change will leave 15 million people across Africas Sahel belt in need of life-saving aid next year, the UN said as it launched a record $2.7 billion humanitarian appeal for the region in 2017.

Around 40 per cent of the money (about $1 billion) will be used to help some seven million people in Nigeria affected by the jihadist group Boko Harams seven-year insurgency, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The UNs statement of about 7 million Nigerians needing help in the aftermath of the Boko Haram insurgency comes days after the Nigerian government accused the global body and other international organisations working in the north-east of exaggerating the crisis for financial reasons.

We are concerned about the blatant attempts to whip up a non-existent fear of mass starvation by some aid agencies, a type of hype that does not provide a solution to the situation on the ground but more to do with calculations for operations financing locally and abroad, Nigerias President Muhammadu Buhari said in a statement by his spokesperson.

The president highlighted what he said were contradictions in some of the claims made by different humanitarian groups about the crisis.

In a recent instance, one arm of the United Nations screamed that 100,000 people will die due to starvation next year. A different group says a million will die, he said.

Mr. Buhari was reacting to statements made by officials of international organisations including the UN highlighting the humanitarian crisis in north-east Nigeria.

The U.N. Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator, Peter Lundberg, had said in a statement last Friday that A projected 5.1 million people will face serious food shortages as the (Boko Haram) conflict and risk of unexploded improvised devices prevented farmers planting for the third year in a row, causing a major food crisis.

Unperturbed by the Nigerian presidents remarks, the UN has decided to make the appeal to raise the funds to help the millions of victims.

OCHA has increased its appeal for eight countries in the semi-arid band stretching from Senegal to Chad more than tenfold in as many years, but each year funding has fallen short.

This years $2 billion appeal has been less than half-funded to date.

The lack of funding this year has worsened the humanitarian needs of 11 million people in the Lake Chad Basin, where the crisis is most acute, the U.N.s regional humanitarian coordinator, Toby Lanzer, said.

One in six people across the Sahel are hungry, while in many communities throughout the region, a fifth of children under the age of five are malnourished, according to figures from OCHA.

In addition to violence involving militant groups, climate change is a major factor behind the growing number of vulnerable people across the region, as increasingly unpredictable rainfall patterns disrupt local food production, aid workers say.

We are adapting by equipping farmers and policymakers with climate information and early warning forecasts, and being prepared not just weeks, but months and years ahead, said Arame Tall, Africa regional coordinator of the U.N.-led Global Framework for Climate Services.

The vast number of vulnerable people, and those forced from their homes by violence across the Sahel, some 4.5 million, is fuelling migration to Europe and driving more young men to join militant groups, according to the UN.

Nigeria is the main country of origin for migrants arriving in Italy by sea this year, says the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

At least 34,000 Nigerians have crossed from Libya so far in 2016, up from 22,200 last year, IOM data shows.

Families and communities are separated and split, education is disrupted, and dreams of success dashed, said Anne Moltes, regional director of the peace building group Inter peace.

If there is no structure, young men leave to find figures of authority elsewhere, she said at the launch of the appeal.

Africas booming population, estimated by the UN to double to 2.4 billion by 2050, will only exacerbate the situation and leave more people in need of aid, Lanzer said.

The Sahel appeal was launched days after OCHA asked for a record $22.2 billion in 2017 to help almost 93 million people worldwide hit by conflicts and natural disasters.
Justice Hakeem Oshodi of the Ikeja Division of the Lagos High Court has reduced the bail conditions imposed on Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia and Godwin Obla after the duo failed to meet the conditions.

Mrs. Ofili-Ajumogobia, a federal judge, and Godwin Obla, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria are facing a 30 count charge of fraud and money laundering instituted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

Both defendants had been granted bail on November 28 on self recognition, but were required to deposit N20 million each and their passport to the chief registrar of the court pending conclusion of trial.

Unable to raise the money, the defendants filed an application for variation of the bail.

On Thursday, Mr. Oshodi replaced the N20 million with a bail bond of the same sum, to be provided within one week.

The judge, however, declined to release the defendants travel passports.

Details later.
The trial of the embattled chairman of Atlantic Energy Brass Development Limited and Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Limited, Jide Omokore, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, got underway Thursday.

The case, heard by Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja, opened with the prosecutor presenting its first witness, Andrew Yakubu, a former General Managing Director, GMD, of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.

Mr. Yakubu, formerly a co-defendant prior to the amended charge, shed light on the nature of his engagement with the NNPC, which involved the strategic direction of NNPC and all its subsidiaries, including the Port Harcourt refinery, Warri refinery, Kaduna refinery, Pipelines and Products Marketing Company Limited (PPMC), Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), Integrated Data Services Limited (IDSL) and National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS).

According to him, in 2013 to 2014, the MD of NPDC, Mr. Victor Briggs (the fourth defendant) came to me and raised some concerns in relation to assets OML 60 series in relation to the strategic alliance agreement between Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Limited and NPDC, citing inability of Atlantic Drilling to meet payment obligations. He told me that he was already looking into the issue and will get back to me. I told him to stop further lifting until the issue is reconciled. I called the Group General Manager of Crude Oil Marketing Department (COMD) and told him to stop further lifting until the issue had been resolved.

He added that, the Minister of Petroleum Resources wrote a letter to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources and I, and set up a committee to investigate the issue. The fourth defendant (Briggs) was removed from NPDC and reassigned to IDSL. Mr. Membere, who was the Director-General, Exploration and Production; Tony Madichie, the Company Secretary in charge; Acting EG, Dr. Dawa and Company Secretary, Mr. Ike, were also part of the committee that compiled the report. Before they completed, however, I was also retired from service.

Regarding the complicity of NAPIMS in meeting the funding requirements of the assets, Mr. Yakubu stated that, We got to know later that NAPIMS made a cash call but I also issued instructions for them to stop. I also made sure that whatever fund that NAPIMS had paid was refunded to the federation account by the NNPC.

At this point, the defense counsel, Rafiu Lawal-Rabana, applied for an adjournment for cross-examination and he was obliged.

The matter was consequently adjourned to January 20, 2017 and February 3, 2017 for continuation of trial.

Mr. Omokore, who was on November 21, re- arraigned alongside Victor Briggs, Abiye Membere, David Mbanefo, Atlantic Energy Brass Development Limited and Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Limited, is standing trial on a 9-count amended charge of criminal diversion of about $1.6 billion alleged to be proceeds of petroleum products belonging to the federal government.
The Senate on Thursday rescheduled the screening and confirmation of the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, to December15.

The Deputy Leader of the Senate, Bala Nallah, made this known while addressing journalists on Thursday in Abuja.

He said the postponement of the exercise from December 8 to 15 became necessary to allow for a full house to convene.

According to him, lawmakers who travelled out of Abuja for official assignments requested the postponement pending their arrival to enable them participate in the confirmation process.

The Senate is normally guided by the time frame of the work. We agreed that today will be the confirmation of the EFCC Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu.

But we received a lot of calls from senators who are away, who want to participate.

When we looked at the demand and the number we felt it will be wrong for us to proceed, disregarding those calls.

We decided to fix it for Tuesday but we were not sure if the President will declare Tuesday as Public Holiday, so we agreed to fix it for Thursday.

We have since written an official letter to the acting chairman fixing Thursday as the day for the confirmation hearing of his appointment, he said.

On why Mr. Magus confirmation had lingered for more than five months, Nallah said the senate had other matters of priority to attend to.

Anybody who is familiar with the normal procedure of governance would have known that there are certain procedures that need to be taken for candidates to be confirmed.

Whatever we do is always subject to interpretation but what is important is that a date has been fixed, he said.

The Presidency had in July written the Senate seeking the screening and confirmation of Mr. Magu as substantive chairman of the commission.

President Muhammadu Buhari had appointed Mr. Magu as acting chairman of the EFCC after the removal of Ibrahim Lamorde on November 9, 2015.

Before his appointment, Mr. Magu was the Head of Economic Governance Unit of the commission.

If confirmed, Mr. Magu will be the fourth head of the anti-graft agency, after Nuhu Ribadu, Farida Waziri and Ibrahim Lamorde.

(NAN)
The failure of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to challenge the applications for bail variation filed by Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia and Godwin Obla was a major reason a Lagos court relaxed their bail conditions, Judge Hakeem Oshodi said on Thursday.

Reading a ruling he prepared after adjourning the morning proceedings till 2 p.m., Mr. Oshodi noted that Section 123 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law, 2011, empowers the court to vary bail conditions imposed on defendants at subsequent hearings.

The prosecution did not oppose the submissions filed by the defendants, said the judge.

We must not forget that where facts and applications remain unchallenged or uncontroverted, the court is bound to accept those facts as the truth.

The defendants, Mrs. Ofili-Ajumogobia, a serving federal judge, and Godwin Obla, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, are facing a joint 30-count charge of fraud and money laundering brought by the EFCC.

Mr. Obla was a prosecutor for the EFCC.

The duo were jointly charged with a two-count charge of perverting the course of justice by the anti-graft agency.

Mr. Obla was charged with an additional two counts of offering gratification in the sum of N5 million to Mrs. Ofili-Ajumogobia, a public official during her service as a judge.

Mrs. Ofili-Ajumogobia faces a 26-count charge of unlawful enrichment, taking property by a public officer, corruption by a public officer, forgery and giving false information to an official of the EFCC.

They pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

On November 28, Mr. Oshodi granted the defendants bail on own recognisance, but added that they should deposit N20 million each and their passport to the chief registrar of the court pending conclusion of trial.

But on Thursday, the defendants brought an application for variation of the bail, saying that the conditions were too extreme.

Mrs. Ofili-Ajumogobia said the EFCC had placed a post no-debit/freezing order on all her bank accounts and, in any case, N20 million was excessive and unaffordable for her.

She also said the EFCC had collected her travel passport during the course of their investigation of the charges filed against her.

Bail granted on excessive conditions amounts to a denial of bail, Mrs. Ofili-Ajumogobia said.

In his application, Mr. Obla noted that the cumulative monetary value of the offences charged against him was N5 million.

N20 million is burdensome , the second defendant has made frantic efforts to comply with the conditions of the bail but had found it impossible, he said.

In his ruling, Mr. Oshodi replaced the N20 million condition with a bail bond of the same sum to be perfected within seven days.

As at the time of writing this ruling, the court has in its custody the international passports of the defendants, the judge said.

He also ordered the defendants to depose an affidavit of means in support of the bail bond.

The case was adjourned till January 9, 2017, for continuation of trial.
A human rights advocacy group, Access to Justice, has demanded the immediate release of Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, who has been in detention since December 2015.

In a statement on Monday, the group called on the Nigerian government to obey a federal courts decision declaring Mr. El-Zakzakys continued detention as illegal and unconstitutional.

The government had no legitimate reasons to detain El-Zakzaky in the first place and ought to have released him immediately the court decision was announced but it has not yet done so, said Joseph Otteh, Director, Access to Justice.

Any further delay in releasing El-Zakzaky will represent a direct and serious affront to the rule of law, a hardening of dictatorship behaviour in a democratic government and a dangerous abuse of power.

The groups demand came just as the Kaduna State Government released a White Paper officially labelling the IMN as an insurgent group.

Mr. El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat, have been in detention since a violent confrontation between his Shiite sect and the Nigerian Army in Kaduna in December last year.

More than 300 members of the sect and one soldier died in the violence which began after the sect members allegedly blocked the passage of the convoy of the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai.

Last Friday, an Abuja Division of the Federal High Court ordered the release of Mr. El-Zakzaky, despite the submission by the State Security Service that the Shiite leader was kept in protective custody of the SSS.

The arrest and detention of El-Zakzaky was completely absurd in the first place, said Mr. Otteh, adding that while over 259 members of the sect had been charged to court for the murder of one soldier, no soldier had been charged for the killing of over 348 IMN members.

It is a major vilification of Nigerias constitutional democracy that those who ordered and perpetrated the attacks that resulted in these killings are still in office and exercising state authority till this time.

It is also regrettable that the federal government could not be bothered to investigate the atrocities committed against the IMN group by its military forces.

On the contrary, the government proceeded to detain and imprison El-Zakzaky and his spouse since December 2015, without charge.

This irony beggars belief and greatly diminishes any claims of this government to respect for the rule of law and protection of human rights.

The group also called on the government to investigate the report by Amnesty International showing how the Nigerian army is engaging in summary and extrajudicial executions of members of the Indigenous People of Biafra.

The Buhari government is steadily emboldening a climate of impunity in governance and strengthening the hands of those who unleash brutal force against protesters, Mr. Otteh said.

We urge the Buhari administration to walk back this culture of impunity and lawlessness that is hardening in its security institutions, bring those who have whimsically killed innocent Nigerians to justice, and show more respect for the rights of the people who have voted it into power.
For allegedly raping a 12-year-old girl, Samson Akinse on Thursday appeared before Chief Magistrate B. O. Osunsanmi of an Ikeja Chief Magistrates Court in Lagos State.

The accused, an unemployed man who lives in Ajegunle, a suburb of Lagos, is being tried for alleged rape and incest.

The prosecutor, Simeon Inuoha, told the court that the offence was committed on October 28 at the accused residence.

Mr. Inuoha, a police inspector, said that the accused raped this victim who happened to be his niece.

The victim told her mother and the accused was apprehended, he said.

The offence contravenes section 259 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

The judge granted the accused to a bail of N300,000 with two sureties in like sum.

She adjourned the case to February 13 for mention.

(NAN)
The Office of the Attorney General of the Federation on Wednesday formally took over the prosecution of the case by the Nigeria police against a petitioner-turned accused in the alleged N170.3 million contract scandal involving Zinox Computers, along with four of its top officials and other allies.

The Federal Inland Revenue Service had awarded the contract in 2012 to an Ibadan-based IT firm, Citadel Oracle Concept Limited.

However, the contract was allegedly hijacked by some top officials of Zinox Technologies Limited and its subsidiary, Technology Distributions Limited (TD), and illegally executed with allies using the name of the awardee and its managing director, Joseph Benjamin.

Mr. Benjamin had petitioned the then Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, accusing top officials of Zinox Group, including the Chairman, Leonard Stanley Ekeh, and wife, Chioma, of conspiracy with the suspects to commit the fraud.

But, throughout Mr. Arases tenure none of the suspects was prosecuted, despite police investigations since 2014 establishing their culpability.

Mr. Benjamin had identified other suspects in the fraud to include the Company Secretary/Legal Adviser, Zinox Group and TD, Chris Ozims, and a director of TD, Folashade Oyebode; the chief executive of Admas Digital Technologies Limited and Pirovics Engineering Services Limited, Onny Igbokwe, along with one Princess O. Kama, and some officials of Access Bank PLC.

They were accused of conspiring to forge Mr. Benjamins signature on a fake Board resolution used to open an account No. 0059202675 with Access Bank PLC used in receiving the proceeds of the fraud.

On May 8, 2015, Mr. Benjamin had petitioned the former IGP to highlight his companys frustration in getting the police to transfer the case file to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for prosecution of the suspects.

But, curiously, on June 16, three days before the end of IGP Arases tenure, the police charged Mr. Benjamin to court, accusing him of providing false information in his petition against the suspects.

The former IGP said Mr. Benjamins allegation in his July 3, 2014 petition about the Board Resolution allegedly by Citadel Oracle company used in opening the suspected fake account in Access bank through which the FIRS paid for the contract, was false.

On July 2, Mr. Benjamin was arraigned before the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Apo, Abuja on a one-count charge of false petitioning to IGP Arase with intention of misleading him over a case of identity theft, impersonation and criminal conversion of contracts against the accused.

During the petitioners formal arraignment before Justice Peter Kekemeke of Court 14, Federal Capital Territory High Court, Apo, Abuja, the police prosecution counsel, Simon Lough, in his charge No. CR/216/16 listed all the suspects as witnesses.

At the commencement of Mr. Benjamins trial on October 5 and 6, 2016, one of the key suspects, Miss Kama, appeared in court as the principal witness.

At the resumed hearing in the case on Wednesday, a senior counsel in the office of the Attorney Generals office, Aniekan Ekong, put up a surprise appearance in court to announce his bosss directive to take over the case.

My Lord, my name is Aniekan Ekong, a senior counsel in the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation. I am appearing for the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I have the approval and directive of the Attorney General of the Federation to take over the prosecution of this case forthwith, he announced to the chagrin of the court.

The judge, Peter Kekemeke, who was surprised at the sudden appearance of the AGFs representative, put up a protest, and queried the motive behind the decision.

This is not acceptable. What is the basis of the Attorney General taking over the case? This court is not a dumping ground for cases. This court will not allow itself to be used, Justice Kekemeke said.

But, Mr. Ekong, who described the case as a peculiar one, insisted, saying pursuant to the AGFs approval and directive, he would be applying to the court to immediately forward the original case file to the AG for review.

The request to take over the case, he said, was pursuant to the provisions of Section 174 (1) of the 1999 Constitution, which empowers the AGF to take over, continue or discontinue any criminal proceedings instituted by any other authority or person.

Since the completion of investigations by the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Nigerian Police Force 2014 and a prima-facie case established against the suspects, prosecution had stalled, because the director for Public Prosecution made several unsuccessful requests to the then IGP for the release of the case file for the prosecution of the suspects.

With the takeover of the prosecution now, counsel to Mr. Benjamin, S.K. Olutekunbi, explained that the AG would be able to review the original case file to ascertain whether there was any attempt to miscarry justice.

The police has a right to prosecute under the law. But, the superior power of prosecution belongs to the Attorney Generals office. At any point the police is prosecuting, the AG can step in and take over a case, either to continue or discontinue, he said.

Consequently, the case was adjourned to February 16, 2017 for continuation of hearing.
The Nigerian Communication Commission, NCC, on Thursday advised consumers to take advantage of the 2442 short code to choose the type of messages they want to receive from telecoms operators.

The Executive Vice-Chairman of NCC, Umar Danbatta, gave the advice at the 79th Telecom Consumers Parliament help in Abuja.

He said that the parliament, with its theme: Implementation of the `Do not Disturb (DND): the journey so far, was aimed at sensitising the public to the policy.

Mr. Danbatta said that the short code would go a long way to give consumers the right to choose the messages they wanted to receive.

According to him, following the barrage of complaints on the menace of unsolicited message, the commission swayed into action by mandating the activation of 2442 short code.

The code will enable consumers to control the type of messages they receive.

I am glad that it has come into effect and I urge all consumers to take advantage of this new regime by sending stop to 2442 to avoid unsolicited messages, he said.

Mr. Danbatta said the commission was aware that for the initiative to succeed, there was need for massive public enlightenment by both regulator and the operating companies.

It is on this regard that the theme of todays parliament becomes relevant.

The objective is to place the issue on the front burner of our discourse until unsolicited messages become a thing of the past, he said.

Mr. Danbatta said the issue of consumers protection was very paramount to the commission, adding that consumers were kings in the market place.

To uphold the principle, he said the commission had put in place various programmes to inform, educate and protect the consumers of telecom service.

Presenting a paper on the theme, Ayoola Oke, a telecom consultant with NCC, called on operators to ensure full compliance with the 2442 short code.

Mr. Oke said that one major challenge of the policy was lack of awareness, hence the need for both the regulators and the telecom operators to be involved in massive publicity.

He called for effective complaint management by the operators and network management to block spam and screen out malicious mails.

Responding to questions on outright ban on unsolicited messages, Amina Shehu, Head of Legal, NCC, said complete ban was not possible because of e-commerce system.

(NAN)
In another rollout of one of the Social Investment Programmes of the Buhari administration, the National Homegrown School Feeding scheme has entered implementation stage with the feeding of primary school pupils in Anambra State Thursday.

Last month, the N-Power scheme kicked off with the selection of the first batch of 200,000 unemployed graduates, many of whom are now being deployed in the 36 states/FCT in the first batch of the planned half a million graduates to be engaged in the N-Power Volunteer Corps, NPVC.

The government says no one should have to pay any fees to benefit in the N-Power or the Homegrown School Feeding programmes, and any such imposition or request for fees is uncalled for and illegal.

Reports of such acts of extortion in some states where beneficiaries are being asked to pay a fee for registration have reached the Presidency, and firm instructions have been given that such acts should stop, Laolu Akande, spokesperson to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said in a statement Thursday.

Speaking from Awka, Anambra State capital earlier today, the Special Assistant on Homegrown School Feeding Programme in the Office of the Vice President, Dotun Adebayo, said primary school pupils in Anambra were excited as the feeding started in their schools.

Mr. Adebayo, who led a team of federal and state officials to some of the schools on day one of the Homegrown School Feeding Programme implementation, said they witnessed the feeding in three schools in Awka: Community Primary School, Awka South, Central School Ameobi, and Central School in Nibo.

The pupils were excited and enjoyed the meals, he stated, adding that the cooks in those three schools, among the total 774 already recruited and trained for the feeding programme, served Okpa a.k.a Moin-moin garnished with vegetables to the delight of the pupils who took the meals during their break time about noonday.

All together in Anambra State, an estimated 76, 690 pupils in 1050 schools would be served every day of school. The feeding programme caters to pupils from primary 1-3.

Having met the stated requirements for Federal Government funding for the Homegrown School Feeding, a sum of N53, 687, 900 had been released directly to cooks for the kick-off of the school feeding programme in Anambra, to last till the end of the current school term.

All the cooks were recruited from communities around the primary schools for the program, verified and trained to provide the catering service in the 21 LGAs in the State.

Generally, the Homegrown School Feeding programme, which is one of the Social Investment plans of the Buhari presidency, is driven through community participation where residents in the community are engaged as cooks to provide feeding services. Also the programme leverages on the agricultural produce available within the communities.

The Homegrown School Feeding programme of the Buhari administration will not only boost school enrollment and improve the nutritional status of the pupils, it would also stimulate local farming, while equally creating jobs including the 774 cooks now in gainful employment in Anambra State.

While the 2016 Budget of Change made provision for funding of the feeding programme in 18 states, a total of 17 States have concluded the designing of the School feeding models through state-level multi-sectorial capacity building workshops, based on FGs stipulated requirements. Those states will proceed in the planning and would soon get to the implementation stage.

The 17 states are Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Enugu, Sokoto, Kaduna, Borno, Zamfara, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Delta, Abia and Bauchi. Estimated figures from 15 of these states put the numbers of pupils to be feed at over 3.4 million.

Also the Federal Government has successfully conducted food safety and hygiene training for over 25,000 cooks in 9 states (out of the 17).

According to the 2016 budget, provision was made for the feeding programme in 18 states of the federation.

It is the plan of the Buhari administration to implement the feeding programme all across the country, where states meet the federal requirements for such engagement. Under the school feeding programme, there are no pre-selections, but states/FCT have to meet the stipulated requirements.

While the 2016 Budget planned for 18 states, all 36 states and FCT are eligible to participate as budgetary provisions even in the new year are being considered.
The deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Timi Frank, on Thursday asked the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to be wary of the partys leadership.

Mr. Frank said Mr. Saraki could lose support from his strongest backers if he sustained the recent moves to establish close ties with the chairman of the party, John Odigie-Oyegun, and others.

Mr. Saraki should watch his back in the latest moves so as not to lose the confidence of some Nigerians and party members who believed in him when the likes of Oyegun did not Mr. Frank said in a statement.

Mr. Franks warning came a day after Mr. Saraki visited the national headquarters of the APC for a closed-door discussion with the top officials of the party.

The meeting was aimed at resolving the protracted acrimony within the party, which had lingered for more than a year.

But Mr. Frank said Mr. Odigie-Oyegun designed the meeting as a convenient way out of the crisis he allegedly created.

It is clear that most of these crises hes personally responsible for require a new competent hand to heal the wounds before it is too late for the party.

Instead of inviting Saraki for a romance, why cant the national chairman call for a National Executive Committee meeting where all the leaders will sit at a round table and tell themselves the truth? Mr. Frank said.

A spokesman for Mr. Saraki did not immediately respond to PREMIUM TIMES request for comments Thursday night.

Mr. Oyegun could not be reached for comments.

Mr. Frank has been locked in bitter confrontation with Mr. Odigie-Oyegun since he was denied the opportunity of assuming the position of acting spokesman for the party following the appointment of Lai Mohammed as a minister.

The party finally named Bolaji Abdullahi, a former Sports Minister, as its spokesman last week.
The Network on Police Reform in Nigeria has written to the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, alleging discrimination against different sections of the presidential security guard.

The group said a discriminatory practice has left the victims with several months in unpaid salaries and allowances, a crisis it said is capable of causing disharmony amongst personnel.

NOPRIN said Mr. Monguno should intervene and ensure a just treatment and resolution of the complaints and grumblings among many State House (Presidential Vila) security staff over their suspicion of diversion and consequent non-payment of arrears of their risk caution allowance which was approved by the president for all State House security.

Mr. Monguno could not be reached for comments.

Presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, said he had no knowledge of the allegations.

NOPRIN said it received a list detailing the nine different issues the officials raised before writing the petition.

The issues are as follows:

1. That the security staff members affected are those whose primary responsibility is to cover any presidential movement within the South West, South-South and South East, including the Vice President and visiting Presidents of foreign countries.

2. That arrears of one year and three months were approved for all the State House Security Staff and payment commenced in October 2016.

3. That all the Presidential Villa security staff were given forms from the office of the NSA to fill for this allowance, and they all filled the Presidential Villa security staff personal data form in January and again in November 2016.

4. That, however, while those at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, have been receiving alerts for their paid allowance since October, their counterparts at the Lagos Unit 239, Dodan Barracks, Lagos  63 in all- are yet to receive any payment.

5. That the office of the NSA is in charge of this fund, and that the affected security staff have made representations to his office without any respite.

6. That even for those paid in Abuja, not all of them of the same rank received the same amount; for example, while some received as high as N1.67 million each, others received as low as N75,000 each.

7. That however, some of the superior officers who were initially underpaid were later paid their full allowance after they protested, but not the same for junior officers who cannot openly complain.

8. That some of the security staff also complain of being discriminated against by being labelled PDP Police.

9. That Squadron Commander PMF 24 Villa Abuja, Abdullahi Ibrahim (CSP) has threatened the affected security staff with transfer if they continued to complain.

The group, therefore, demanded an investigation into the reason behind the apparently dubious and discriminatory payment, underpayment and withholding of allowances meant for the Presidential Vila security staff.
A former Governor of Rivers State and serving Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, has charged supporters of the All Progressives Congress in the state to match their Peoples Democratic Party counterparts with force as the two parties prepare for rerun polls on Saturday.

This Is what I called elections of our lives, said Mr. Amaechi addressing supporters during APCs mega rally in Port Harcourt on Thursday.

The rally witnessed presence of APC leaders, including Chairman John Odigie-Oyegun, 12 governors and federal lawmakers.

Speaking further, Mr. Amaechi, said, I used to tell you please dont fight. But I think we will bend it a beat.

Dont kill anybody but dont be killed. My friend in the army told me if bullet is fired, the person that hears the sound is not the one that dies.

If you allow them to shoot you, you will die. Its not only them that have rights to life.

Following court rulings that invalidated 2015 National Assembly and State House elections in the oil-rich State, the Independent National Electoral Commission had earlier conducted rerun polls on March 19.

But the exercise was marred by violence, forcing INEC to suspend the elections- now to be held on Saturday.

The Saturday rerun elections will hold across three senatorial districts, eight federal constituencies and 10 state constituencies.

But the rhetoric from both APC and PDP leaders have heat up the build-up to the rescheduled elections, raising fears of electoral violence again.

Also speaking at Thursdays APC rally, various leaders of the party charged their followers to confront PDP.

Severally, they said, if they push you, push them; if they slap you slap them.

In his remarks, Mr. Odigie-Oyegun reassured APC supporters of federal might.

Other APC leaders at the rally were Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal; Kano State Governor, Umar Ganduje; former Akwa Ibom Governor, Don Etiebet; a senator, Jibrin Barau; and Ondo State Governor-elect, Rotimi Akeredolu, among others.

But in a swift reaction, PDP-controlled Rivers Government slammed APC leaders for inciting violence in the State.

In a statement, the States Commissioner for Information, Austin Tam-George, blamed the Minister for Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi for importing thugs and Boko Haram fighters, disguised as APC supporters, to cause mayhem in Rivers State.

Governor Ganduje had charged APC supporters to resort to violence during the rerun elections in Rivers State on Saturday, saying: if they shoot you, take cover and shoot them.

This is a shameful and egregious invitation to violence by the Kano State governor.

The Commissioner urged the people of Rivers State to resist any acts of electoral fraud by the police, INEC and APC before, during and after the elections on Saturday.
A former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Humphrey Asobie, on Thursday advised the anti-corruption agencies to be holistic and go for the big fishes in the fight against corruption.

Mr. Asobie, who was the chairman of the board of the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, NEITI, made this call while speaking as the guest speaker at the International Anti-Corruption Day (IACD) 2016 roundtable discussion hosted by the United States Embassy.

The discussion had the theme Corruption: an impediment to the sustainable development goals.

Mr. Asobie suggested the use of shock therapy and bing bang strategy in the fight against corruption, stressing that the most important personalities should be taken in.

Pick OBJ, IBB, (Rotimi) Amaechi, (Bola) Tinubu, Abdulsalami (Abubakar) and Raji (Fashola). They will all think you are mad when you say it, the professor of Political Science at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, said.

OBJ is the popular name for former President Olusegun Obasanjo while IBB refers to former military ruler, Ibrahim Babangida. Like others mentioned by the don, the former Nigerian leaders have been accused of corruption while in office.

Corruption is systemic in Nigeria; its not just a few certain individuals. It also includes the anti-corruption agencies, they have a problem of corruption.

It has reached a stage where we are confused as to what is wrong and right, you start to wonder whether it has affected their intellect.

After speaking at an event in 2013, the then Governor of Anambra State Mr. Peter Obi was provoked, he came to me and said, I was one of your student but Ive avoided you because you are at the left and am on the right. All of us are corrupt, Mr. Asobie said.

In his welcome remark, the U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission, David Young, said the U.S. government is committed to work with Nigeria in fighting corruption and recovering stolen funds.

Sam Saba, the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, while speaking said that the major problem the Bureau is facing in the fight against corruption is poor funding.

The essential thing here is funding, we dont receive allocation on time and when we do it comes in halves.

Some countries receive budget of five years but since Obasanjos regime, we only receive half and its a problem, Mr. Saba said.

While speaking to journalists, human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, who was also at the event, urged the U.S., Switzerland and other foreign countries who are in possession of stolen funds from Nigeria to release them immediately.

Nigeria has $458 million stashed away in the U.S., we have filed a suit in Jersey, where the money was kept but the U.S. government is claiming the money should be paid to them so as to help us manage them.

Similarly, we have $321 million in Switzerland. The Swiss government is saying they wont release it unless they are allowed to supervise its use. Our government should be prepared to adapt an aggressive ruling to these corrupt foreign agencies. The press should join in this campaign. We should not beg for our money, we should fight for it, Mr. Falana said.

The 2016 International Anti-Corruption Day marks the 13th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention against Corruption.

To commemorate the event, the U.S. Embassy hosted a roundtable discussion with various stakeholders.

The panel was moderated by Chidi Odinkalu, former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission.
The House of Representatives on Thursday passed for second reading a bill proposing that nomination for appointment of ministers should not be later than 30 days from when the president takes oath of office.

The bill also seeks to provide that nomination of commissioners shall be made not later than 30 days from the date a governor is sworn in.

Presenting the bill, Solomon Adaelu (PDP-Abia), said that the need to ensure improved efficiency in governance prompted the amendment bill which sought to alter sections 147 and 192.

According him, sections 147 and 192 of the Constitution are not explicit as to when the president or governors are to make the nominations for appointment of ministers and commissioners.

Consequently, it is feasible and practically necessary to impose a constitutional time limit for a president to present nominated ministers and their portfolios to the Senate.

Preferably, 30 days time limit after swearing in will be ideal as it provides sufficient time for the president to settle down into governance and carry out final vetting of his nominations.

And also ensure that the running of governance is not necessarily delayed or held up by the absence of ministers to run the various government departments, Mr. Adaelu said.

He emphasised that experience from other developed countries show that the president already had clear nomination list prior to swearing-in.

And this is forwarded to the parliament within a short time of inauguration.

This practice should be constitutionally mandated in Nigeria to improve the efficiency of governance upon a change in government.

The experience of 2015 whereby it took almost four months after swearing in for the president to forward nominated names to the legislature resulted in a serious setback for governance.

This adversely affected the serious handling of pressing national issues in the country; this must be prevented by constitutionally imposing time limit, Mr. Adaelu said.

He said that attaching portfolios would facilitate effective screening and deliberation by the legislature on the competence of the nominated person for the particular role he would play in government.

This will greatly reduce the fixing of round pegs in square holes which is the bane of governance in Nigeria.

The discretion of the president to assign people to whatever department he deems fit after screening by the legislature is unhealthy as the legislature will not be able to adequately assess his suitability for that role, Mr. Adaelu said.

The Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, referred the bill to special ad hoc Committee on Constitution Review. (NAN)
Abdulmumin Jibrin said on Thursday that he will not honour the invitation to appear before the House of Representatives Ethics Committee until he receives a formal invitation to that effect from the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara.

Mr. Jibrin said he had already defended all allegations of corruption against the speaker, and dismissed the fresh attempts by Ethics Committee to investigate him for corruption and official misconduct as a charade.

Nicholas Ossai, chairman of the committee, told the House during plenary on Wednesday that he was in possession of new allegations against Mr. Jibrin from his constituencies and a civic group.

Since Mr. Jibrin is already serving a one-year suspension for alleged breach of Houses ethics and privileges of members, Mr. Ossai said it was necessary to get the approval of the whole House to enable Mr. Jibrin enter the premises of the National Assembly.

Mr. Jibrin was declared a persona non-grata around the National Assembly precinct as part of the disciplinary actions lawmakers ordered against him when they decided to suspend him in September.

The offences largely stemmed from the allegations of budget padding that Mr. Jibrin raised against Mr. Dogara and other principal officers of the House.

Mr. Ossai invited Mr. Jibrin to face his committee after receiving a petition linking Mr. Jibrin to ownership of foreign accounts and another one from people of his Kiru/Bebeji Federal Constituency who alleged poor representation against him.

Aliyu Madaki, a fellow Kano lawmaker and Mr. Jibrins ally, sought to step down the invitation, saying any investigation of Mr. Jibrin while he is still serving his suspension would amount to double jeopardy. But his request was rejected by the whole House.

But in an e-mail to PREMIUM TIMES this afternoon, Mr. Jibrin said he would an issue official response to the invitation upon receipt of same from Mr. Dogaras office.

I will make a formal statement on the invitation and petitions when I receive an official communication from the Speaker or his agents, Mr. Jibrin said. But in the meantime, I wish to state categorically clear that this disgraceful action is an extension of the witch hunt launched against me by Speaker Dogara and his corrupt cabal in the House.

Mr. Dogaras spokesman, Turaki Hassan, did not immediately respond to PREMIUM TIMES request for comment Thursday evening.
A 60-year-old man was on Tuesday killed at a brothel in Maiduguri, Borno State, after a quarrel with some personnel of the Nigeria Air Force.

The fight occurred at a popular brothel located in Simari area of Maiduguri.

Witnesses said the victim, Ibrahim Bulama, was shot dead by soldiers after they clashed over a woman at the brothel.

Air Force authorities confirmed the killing, but did not clearly admit its personnel were involved in a struggle for a prostitute.

The Commander of the 105 Composite Group, Charles Ohwo, an Air Commodore, told journalists at a press briefing on Thursday that the deceased was not shot.

He said the man died when soldiers were trying to retrieve a rifle allegedly snatched from their colleague.

According to the Nigeria Air Force account, the soldier, Kamal Usman, a Lance Corporal, was on his way home from his duty post when he ran into people having an argument.

He said the armed personnel was trying to find out what happened, when his rifle was snatched.

Preliminary investigation revealed that, on Wednesday 7th December 2016, an airman, Lance Corporal Kamal Usman, left his duty post at about 10pm, and on his way home, when he came across some gathering near a hotel in Simari area; and in an attempt to find out what was wrong, the crowd got scared and took to their heels, Mr. Ohwo said.

When the airman decided to check the surroundings to find out what scared the crowd, he entered one room in the hotel and found a woman laying on a bed.

Unfortunately, the deceased old man, Bulama mobilized some people and came back to the hotel and attacked him from the back with matchets, inflicting serious injuries on his head and snatched his rifle.

On sensing danger, the lance corporal left and mobilized his fellow colleagues for assistance. Upon arrival at the scene, they descended on the old man, and beat him to death in the process of recovering their rifle.

The airman is now recuperating at the air force medical facility in Maiduguri, while his colleagues who were involved in the incident have been detained pending further investigation, Mr. Ohwo said.

Witnesses questioned the Air Forces narratives, saying it did not explain what exactly took the armed airman to a brothel, or how exactly he got to see the woman on the bed, or what he was doing with her at the time the mob mobilised to attack him.

The soldiers have to do their investigation very well, because all we heard was that a solder was attacked by angry mob after the old man was killed, said a source who asked not to be named for safety reasons.

Journalists were ushered into the military clinic at the Air Force base where the accused airman, who had deep cuts on his head, was admitted. He was cuffed by the legs.

Mr. Ohwo called for calm, promising thorough investigation into the matter.
Eighteen children displaced by the Boko Haram in north-eastern Nigeria have been given scholarships by the Borno State government.

The children, living in IDP camps in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states emerged winners of an essay competition organised by office of the Vice President.

The essay competition was coordinated under the Protective Education Advocacy Challenge (PEACH) initiative from the vice presidents office.

The Deputy Governor of Borno State, Usman Durkwa, who represented Governor Kashim Shettima at the award ceremony for finalists of the IDP students essay competition, announced the scholarship.

The deputy governor also gave N10,000 cash gift to each of the 18 winners.

The coordinator of the PEACH initiative, Maryam Marshal, said the 18 winners from the three states would also meet the vice president at a later date.

Ms. Marshal, who is the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on IDPs, said the program was designed to re-orientate children affected by insurgency in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.

It was designed to complement the Federal Governments ongoing recovery efforts in the North-East Nigeria by using education as a tactical tool to return dignity and normalcy to the affected children, she said..

She added that the PEACH initiative was also designed to engage the children in advocacy with a view to counter violent extremism using education.

The programme is an integral component of counter- radicalization project of the Office of National Security Adviser (ONSA) and disaster risk reduction of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) being coordinated by the Office of the Vice President.

She said the competition was open to all school-aged children (8 -18 years old) and a total of 3,079 entries were received from the three states. Borno had 1,337 entries, closely followed by Adamawa with 1,230, while Yobe had a total of 512 entries.

After the entries were collated, a total of 18 finalists, 6 from each states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe emerged as winners of the Essay Writing Competition after rigorous essay writing sessions and validation of submitted entries by markers and examiners.

The winners from Adamawa State are Emmanuel Andrawus and Faith Mathew in the 8-11 years category; Prince Napatali and Abba Gana-Bundi in the 12-14 years, and Grace Markus and Ali Bulama in the 15- 18 years category.

Winners from Borno State are Aisha Musty and Bukar Abdulrahman in the 8-11 years category; Abubakar Musa and Zulai Mikaila in the 12-14 years category and Hauwa Bulus and Kaka Emmnauel in the 15-18 years category.

The six finalists from Yobe State are Modu Aisami and Adamu Ibrahim in the 8-11 years category; Fatima Jinbam and Mustapha Abdullahi in the 12- 14 years category and Sadiq Abubakar and Abubakar Baba Adam in the 15-18 years category

The event was attended by the representatives of Adamawa and Yobe state governments, the women affairs minister, the Director General of NEMA and other stakeholders in the education sector.
The lecturers at the Nigerian Institute of Leather Science Technology, NILEST, on Wednesday embarked on strike to demand full implementation of polytechnics scheme and condition of service as approved by the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology.

The main entrance of the institute was blocked by the protesting lecturers, members of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP

The ASUP Chairman for the chapter, Abdulkarim Muhammad, told journalists that the strike action was the 11th in the lecturers efforts at pressing for their demand.

Mr. Muhammad argued that NILEST in Zaria, Kaduna State, awards Ordinary National and Higher National Diplomas like other polytechnics in Nigeria; therefore, its lecturers should get benefits like their colleagues elsewhere.

He appealed to Federal Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Board of Technical Education (NBTE) to hasten the process of resolving the lingering crisis especially the aspect of the migration in salary structure.

The chairman also demanded proper funding of the institute to cater for training materials and ensure high productivity.

The institute is the only leather training school in sub-Saharan Africa, Mr, Muhammad stressed.

The protesting workers locked the main entrance of the institute carrying placards with different inscriptions.

Meanwhile, the management had announced the closure of the Institute since Monday, same day students were to commence their examinations.
The Kaduna State Police Command has warned members of the proscribed Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) against any form of procession in the state.

A statement by the commands spokesman, Aliyu Usman, issued in Kaduna on Thursday also declared a group called Civilian JTF, an unlawful organisation.

It warned that any activity including the disruption of peaceful and free movement of people by the two organisations would not be tolerated.

The command, therefore, wishes to reiterate that person (s) found organising or conducting unlawful processions in any part of the state shall be dealt with in accordance with the law.

The statement advised the public to go about their lawful businesses, as adequate security measures have been put in place to guarantee their safety.

It stressed that it would deal decisively with any form of lawlessness, inciting disturbances, unlawful assembly and any other action capable of breaching the peace of the state.

It also cautioned residents to be vigilant, security conscious and report any suspicious activity during the ember period. (NAN)
The Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission, on Tuesday, arraigned the state Commissioner for Land, Faruk Bibi Faruk, in court for alleged criminal breach of trust and illegal acts.

Also arraigned were the permanent secretary, Mahmud Bari, and a director in the ministry, Ahmad Ibrahim.

The trio were arraigned on a three-count charge before Justice Nasiru Saminu of Kano High Court 22 bordering on land deal.

According to the prosecuting lawyer, Rabi Waya, the officials allegedly connived sometime in April to sell an already allocated plot of land to Baba Sharu at the cost of N5 million, an offence punishable under section 315 of the Criminal Penal Code.

They were also charged with a breach of trust thus committing an offence punishable under section 97 of the penal code.

The third charge borders on alleged issuance of two Occupancy Permits C8 and C21 at Kunya ta Inna covered by layout plan TP/KNUPDA/338 at Kumbotso in the fictitious name of one Aisha Kabeer and Maryam Ado which were sold out at cost of N300,000 each.

The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Akinola Kehinde, counsel to the accused persons, asked the court to grant them bail and also requested access to the charge sheets which would allow them defend themselves adequately.

He expressed worry that the charges which were criminal in nature could end the careers of his clients and put a permanent dent on their names forever.

Mr. Saminu granted the accused persons bail on self recognisance and adjourned the case toFebruary 9 and 10, 2017, for further hearing.

The judge also granted the request of the lawyer to have access to the charge sheets.
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia has said that if there is any group of people in Nigeria, in need of peace, it is the Igbos, who are found in all parts of the country doing business.

Mr. Ikpeazu made the remark when he received the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, who paid him a courtesy call.

If Nigeria is perpetually in trouble, it will not augur well for the Igbos, who are republican and found everywhere in the country, the governor said.

According to Mr. Ikpeazu, Igbos are desperate for peace in Nigeria.

He said the people of the state would continue to support President Muhammadu Buhari in his efforts to move the nation forward.

The governor, who donated two Hilux vehicles to support the army operation in the state, commended the military for degrading and decimating the Boko Haram terrorists in the north-east.

He also commended the army for curbing violent crimes in the state, as well as pipeline vandalism.

Earlier, Mr. Buratai informed the governor of the ongoing Exercise Python Dance in the South East, explaining that it was meant to train troops on internal security.

He further explained the exercise in addition to other exercises and operations going on across the nation were aimed ensuring security, safety and peace for the unity of the country to enable the citizenry go about their lawful businesses.

(NAN)
Three new judges were on Thursday sworn-in by Gov. Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State at a ceremony held at the Executive Council Chamber of the Governors Office at Oke Mosan in Abeokuta.

The News Agency Nigeria (NAN) reports that the newly appointed judges are John Olatokunbo, Abiodun Shobayo and Eniola Fabamwo.

Mr. Amosun urged the judges to uphold the principles of fairness and equity in the administration of justice in the state.

He added that they should see their appointments as a call to service, adding that the assignment was coming with greater dedication and commitment.

I appreciate the serving judges in the state for distancing themselves from all forms of attitude that could bring the judiciary arm of the state to disrepute.

Even in the face of overwhelming challenges confronting the arm and the nation at large, it is important to be more resolute in discharging justice to all persons without fear or favour, Mr. Amosun said.

The new judges, who expressed gratitude to the governor for their appointments, gave an assurance that they would contribute their quota toward efficient administration of justice in the state.

(NAN)
Protesters run away from tear gas during clashes with riot police following a public servants protest against austerity measures in front of the Rio de Janeiro state assembly on December 6, 2016 (AFP Photo/YASUYOSHI CHIBA) (AFP)

Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Brazilian police fired percussion grenades and rubber bullets Tuesday at protesters angry over austerity measures in cash-strapped Rio de Janeiro state.

The clash broke out when the estimated 300 demonstrators, most of them civil servants, tried to overrun the state assembly in downtown Rio.

They were dispersed by police. Streets were blocked off and traffic was diverted.

Some within the group hurled projectiles at police and the assembly building. Police fought back with the percussion grenades, rubber bullets and tear gas.

The newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo said at least two people were hurt by rubber bullets.

Last month governor Luis Fernando Pezao presented a package of unpopular spending cuts and tax increases to try to fix heavily indebted Rio state's financial woes -- just one sad chapter of the overall national economic crisis and recession. Just months ago the city of Rio hosted the Summer Olympics.

Some of those measures were passed by decree, but others need to go through the legislature. The voting began Tuesday and is scheduled to last through next Monday.

State officials forecast for this year a deficit equivalent to 5.4 billion dollars. Without the austerity measures, they say, the shortfall would balloon to three times that by the end of 2018.

The package calls for a cut in spending on social programs, an increase in what workers pay into the state pension system, a rise in public transport fares and reductions in retirement pensions.

The economic crisis has wreaked havoc in health care and public safety, and the city has endured an alarming rise in the crime rate.
The Lagos State Government on Thursday said it was ready to roll out Lake Rice on December 15 to Lagosians at N13,000 per 50 kg towards the Yuletide celebrations.

The sale will come as succour for millions of Lagosians who like their counterparts in most parts of the country have had to pay over N20,000 for a bag of rice, mostly imported.

Sanni Okanlawan, Special Adviser on Food Security to Governor Akinwumi Ambode, made the disclosure in Lagos during the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) National Agriculture Stakeholders Summit.

Mr. Okanlawan said that sales of the rice would be made at all the 57 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the state to ensure proper distribution.

Lake Rice is the acronym of both Lagos and Kebbi States joint product which will be out to the public on December 15 at the rate of N13,000 per 50kg bag as it is already subsidised by the government.

To make it more available, the rice will be sold at the 57 LGAs and LCDAs for easy accessibility and to guard against unwanted persons diverting the product.

The state government has put in place a committee that will ensure that Lagosians have the best Christmas celebration, that is why we are offering the wholesome and well packaged rice, Mr. Okanlawan said.

The special adviser also said that the state had established a Department of Agribusiness, an Agriculture Trust Fund and Commodity Exchange Market to be set up soon.

(NAN)
Dearborn is great city but its up to us to keep it that way. We have neighborhoods with beautiful tree-lined streets, world class attractions, two downtowns, diversity, culture, history and the finest police force in the country. Like a lot of you its hard to sit back and watch our neighborhoods struggle. Dearborn deserves better.

Dearborn deserves better than a poverty rate nearly double the national average, better than the sixth highest property crime rate in the state. Three out of every four public school students qualify for free or reduced lunch. You and I both know nothing will drive crime and poverty rates up and good homeowners out quicker than living next to a rundown rental operating as a drug den or used car lot.

Today 1 out of every 6 houses in Dearborn is a rental. The number has increased roughly 36 percent since 2009. Dearborn has many good landlords. I want to stress that law-abiding renters and residents are welcome in our city, but tax evaders, criminals and drug dealers are not.

Many of the irresponsible landlords in Dearborn fail to register their rental house, so who knows how many there really are. Many also fail to pay property taxes as weve seen. Some fail to screen their tenants or maintain their property. Enough is enough. I talk to Dearborn law enforcement officers all the time about this problem. Many of them would love to be in the neighborhoods cleaning them up, but their hands are tied. Its time to give the Dearborn Police Department the means to hold these problem rentals accountable to the law, while giving the 19th District Court the teeth to enforce it. We have a great police force but most police work is reactive, meaning a crime is committed and an officer responds. Why not be proactive and discourage criminal activity from the start?

Ive written a lot about the challenges facing our city. Its time we talk solutions. Something has to be done. We have to take the rose-colored glassed off and stop pretending these problems dont exists.

After a little research and some phone calls with city leaders across the country, Ive found a program I believe the City of Dearborn should adopt. Cities all across the U.S. are adopting the Crime Free Rental Housing Program and getting amazing results. Each city does it a little differently but basically its a city council resolution to amend a current ordinance or create a new one.

One such program was adopted by Saginaw, which found that poorly managed rental properties constituted a hazard to public safety and neighborhood integrity. Saginaw wanted a way to hold problem rentals accountable.

Basically the program consists of two parts  the licensing and training arm and the enforcement arm. The class certifies landlords to rent property in our city. It also teaches landlords our laws and codes and describes expectations. It teaches landlords how to reduce crime and property maintenance violations, how to screen tenants and decrease civil liability. After the class, the landlord signs a legal, binding leasing agreement with the city and receives certification. The agreement also requires that the landlord provide contact information, background check results and proof of citizenship of each tenant they lease to.

The enforcement arm of the plan is what holds the landlords accountable for leasing agreement violations. It also toughens the law and penalties for non-compliance, and increases the number of inspections and improves building and maintenance standards.

Most importantly the enforcement arm creates quality of life ordinances that cannot be violated without penalty. Each city defines quality of life violations differently, but most concern violating building, maintenance and parking codes, noise or nuisance ordinances as well as any criminal activity, drug use and other poor behavior deemed detrimental to the public safety, health and well being of the residents of Dearborn.

The city can penalize both the tenant and landlord for any violations of quality of life. Best of all, if local law enforcement can verify three quality of life violations within a 12-month period, both the tenant and landlord will be summoned to a court hearing. If the violations are upheld, the landlord will therefore have broken his or her crime-free leasing agreement with the city. This broken agreement begins the eviction process and the landlord then has 30 days to permanently remove the tenant. If the landlord refuses to serve the eviction notice, he or she may lose their right to lease property in the city forever.

And that, folks, is how you restore our neighborhoods, protect our home values and preserve the citys housing stock. One big misconception is that the Crime Free Rental Housing Program discriminates. This is false. The Federal Fair Housing Act lists seven protected classes: race, color, religion, national origin, sex, family status and disability. A persons criminal behavior is not listed as a protected class.

So in a nutshell there you have it. The benefits to cities that adopt the program are many. Many cities claim lower crime rates, higher home values, a stronger tax base and a decrease in police and fire call volume. Cities also report an increase in revenue from non-compliant rental fees. What is obvious is the free-for-all in our neighborhoods is not working. Lets give law and order a chance.

Regan Ford is a Dearborn resident and business owner, past president of the Southwest Outer Drive Neighborhood Association and is on the Rotary Club of Dearborn board of directors. He can be reached at rford@vividclean.com
ATLANTIC CITY  It can take a lot to sell a house, and most of what it takes was seen Wednesday at the Atlantic City Convention Center.

The wrong smell can turn off buyers, sometimes even before they walk in. So Michael Meade flew across the country from Washougal, Washington, to sell air-purification systems to almost 8,000 real estate pros at the Triple Play Realtors Convention & Trade Show.

Kirsten Mosher, from Home Alliance Realty in Manahawkin, was seriously thinking about buying one of Meades Triad Aer machines. One of his big selling points is that back home in Washington, where marijuana is legal, some growers use the machines he sells to keep their products smell from overwhelming their buildings.

I have two dogs, guinea pigs and an asthmatic daughter, Mosher said. So Im actually in the market myself.

Meade said his company was in Atlantic City for the first time, but theres nothing new for the town about real estate conventions.

New Jersey Realtors, the trade association, said this years convention was its 100th straight annual event in Atlantic City. The Triple Play name came in when Realtor associations in New York and Pennsylvania started cooperating on the convention almost 20 years ago. The 2016 meeting runs through Thursday, but the 320-vendor trade show ended Wednesday.

At another booth, Shannon McCarthy, of Brook Furniture Rental, was trying to sell agents on the idea that the right look in the rooms is a key to making deals.

We provide the furniture, McCarthy said. But we also do high-end staging.

Susan Lugashi, of Livingston, is a Coldwell Banker agent. She said the key places that need the right look are living rooms and master bedrooms, but she knows from experience what most sellers think about renting furniture to upgrade their appeal.

They say they cant do it, that theyre not going to put any more money into the house, the agent said. So she was considering paying for it herself, at a cost the saleswoman estimated at $250 to $500 a month for each furnished room.

Mike Bonfante was in Atlantic City to sell all things basementy for Tom Romans Quality 1st Basement Systems, based in South Cliffwood. That unusual umbrella category includes waterproofing, foundation repairs, crawl-space work and much more, said Bonfante, who knew he was in the right place for his market.

Realtor convention back in Atlantic City for 100th year ATLANTIC CITY  More than 8,000 real estate professionals from three states are scheduled to

He figures the company gets 20 percent of its business from real estate agents. And basements must be a growth industry, because the company he works for started out in a home about as big as his tiny Triple Play booth, Bonfante said. That was 10 years ago, but the company recently grew into a 30,000-square-foot building in Monmouth County, he added.

Peter Broccole was getting his business noticed with a sign at the back of the booth: Want to be a local TV celebrity? Adcorp, where Broccole is president, has been putting real estate agents faces on supermarket carts for years, but now the company can put them on video screens at the checkout counters.

Allen Belfatti, an Adcorp sales manager, said those screens should start showing up shortly in South Jersey ShopRites, among other places.

Probably 50 or 60 percent of our business is Realtors, Broccole said, adding later that it really is all about celebrity with real estate.

Linsey Rosland was offering agents a new twist on an old-fashioned way to get themselves noticed. Sign Villa, based in Chicago, has started making real estate sales signs out of plastic, instead of metal, and in a variety of shapes and sizes.

They dont rust or chip, and theyre easy to carry and install, Rosland said.

How much are homes selling for near you? Transactions are from county property records. Settlement dates are listed; deed filings may

As he walked past another sign vendor, Ed Wood, an agent with Re/Max House Values in Morris County, told a colleague he was all stocked up on that sales tool.

I have the signs, said Wood, a new agent at his first Atlantic City convention. I need properties to put them on.
Art can make us squirm. Thats the theme of Nocturnal Animals, a theme telegraphed with almost sadistic clarity as we watch, under the opening credits, a series of obese naked women shimmying in slow motion, their folds of voluminous flesh wielded like weapons.

Those videos, as it turns out, are works of art on display in the Los Angeles gallery of Susan Morrow (Amy Adams), a contemporary art dealer who, over the course of writer-director Tom Fords creepily elegant, enigmatic new film, encounters several others. They include: a hyper-realist sculpture of an animal impaled by arrows; a painting consisting of the word revenge, writ large; and a photograph of a man aiming a rifle at another man.

Message received, loud and clear: Acts of the imagination can unsettle, disgust and frighten us, even wound us  not in the flesh, but deep in the tender psyche  just as surely as actual ones. Occasionally, they also make us think. (But more on that later.)

The most disturbing artifice Susan comes across in this story  which Ford, in his first project since A Single Man, has adapted from Austin Wrights 1993 novel Tony and Susan  is a manuscript. The book is an unpublished novel by Susans ex-husband Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal), a struggling writer whom she unceremoniously dumped 19 years ago, when it became clear that his career was going nowhere. Called Nocturnal Animals, Edwards book plays out, as Susan reads it, as a film-within-a-film, one that Ford devotes more time, energy and attention to than the framing story, which comes across, in the directors signature high style, as shallow and artificial.

That world  Susan has a handsome second husband (Armie Hammer), an impossibly luxe house and fabulous friends  may look comfortable, but Susan is an insomniac, and her husband is cheating on her. By way of reassurance, a friend (Michael Sheen) reminds her that, Our world is a lot less painful than the real world  meaning the one not insulated from suffering by money and power.

His ironic line, of course is another signal of Fords intention to tell a meta story about the power of storytelling itself. In Nocturnal Animals, the plot of Edwards book  unspooling in Susans head and on the screen in front of us for much of the film  feels at once more real and, paradoxically, less so than the life that Susan leads. Adding to this sense of disorientation is a third story, told in flashback, showing Susan and Edwards history as a couple, the demise of which has left her wracked by guilt over her selfishness and impulsive behavior.

The Nocturnal Animals of Edwards novel reads, to Susan, like a nasty revenge fantasy. During a vacation road trip with his wife and teenage daughter, the novels protagonist Tony is forced off the road by a trio of sadistic thugs, who end up doing horrible things to his family. Underscoring the roman-a-clef nature of that narrative, the wife is played by Isla Fisher, who is a doppelganger for Adams. Gyllenhaal plays Tony, with Ellie Bamber as their daughter, Michael Shannon as a lawman investigating the aftermath of the crime, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson as its chief perpetrator.

What, were meant to wonder, is Edwards purpose in writing this? At times, Susan appears tortured by the vicarious anger it seems to express and also titillated by it. Or maybe, just maybe, she is happy to experience a weird catharsis at the hands of the books punitive plot, which can come across as Edwards crudely lurid and violent attempt to teach his ex-wife a lesson.

Those are less interesting questions than the ones that Nocturnal Animals raises about Fords goals, and whether he in fact achieves them. The story-inside-the-story is as hard to watch at times as those slow-motion videos that Ford opens his film with, and that can be read as fat-shaming or as critiques of fat-shaming.

Similarly, the Nocturnal Animals of Fords movie is as slippery a read as Edwards book. Its a tale bluntly told that arouses intense, evanescent emotion and then leaves you haunted, long afterward, by provocative but arguably answerable questions.
Warning: This recap contains spoilers for Episode 10 of Marvels Luke Cage. Check out our recaps for Episodes 1-9, then rejoin the party, already in progress.

We begin this weeks recap by noting that Netflix announced Sunday that Luke Cage will return for a second season. The streaming service did not set a date, but if Cage must get in line behind the other Marvel-Netflix projects that already have been announced  Iron Fist, Defenders, Punisher, a third season of Daredevil and a second season of Jessica Jones  then we may be looking at late 2018/early 2019.

Now, on to the episode at hand, in which Mariah Dillard (Alfre Woodard) attempts to convince the citizens of Harlem that the solution to an increase in police violence is convincing the police to buy more powerful bullets so they can rough up someone else, and two different people yell, Im Luke Cage!

But first, theres still the matter of Luke (Mike Colter) lying unconscious in a vat of acid, put there by Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson) and the man who gave him his powers, Dr. Noah Burstein (Michael Kostroff) in an attempt to soften Lukes diamond-hard skin enough to pierce it and remove the shrapnel from the Judas bullet he got shot with back in Episode 7.

Their gambit works, though not before Claire drops live electronic equipment into the acid bath to shock Luke out of cardiac arrest, dumps in a ton of salt and turns up the temperature, effectively boiling him alive. Isnt science fun?

Once Lukes out of the acid bath, he and Claire look through more of Revas (Parisa Fitz-Henley) old files and learn more about what went on at Seagate prison. In a series of video diaries, Lukes late prison counselor-turned-lover explains how Luke was targeted early on for Bursteins experiments, how the group therapy sessions were intended to weed out those deemed psychologically strong, while the prisons underground fight club was used to determine physical strength. Luke was the only successful test subject. The others died, believing their participation would net them time off their sentences.

Burstein attempts to defend his position, seeing Luke as a medical marvel whose abilities could lead to everything from battlefield applications to a cure for cancer. Luke, on the other hand, sees a murderer and proceeds to bust up Bursteins barn lab, vowing never to let him harm anyone again. Claire and Luke leave with Revas thumb drive, but we later learn Burstein backed up the files on a harddrive he managed to salvage from Lukes rampage.

Enter Diamondback: Luke Cage, Episode 8 Warning: This recap contains spoilers for Episode 8 of Marvels Luke Cage. Check out our r

Meanwhile, back in Harlem, Diamondback puts in motion his plan to sell Judas bullets  made with alien technology scavenged from the battle depicted in the first Avengers movie  by slipping on a magic glove and a hoodie and fatally kidney-punching an older, friendly, white police officer walking his beat, then screaming, Im Luke Cage! Because Luke Cage is a Silver Age supervillain.

And maybe he is, because our hero also yells Im Luke Cage! while destroying Bursteins stuff, prompted by the doctor calling him Carl one too many times. Maybe more people should yell their names out while doing awesome stuff or framing others for said stuff.

Anyway, Diamondbacks fatal assault turns New Yorks finest against the citizenry. Officers pour into the streets, pushing blacks and Hispanics up against fences and walls looking for information on the whereabouts of Luke Cage. Tempers peak when a black detective interrogates Lonnie Wilson (Darius Kaleb), the young boy whose mom used to hit on Luke at Pops Barber Shop. The detective assaults Lonnie, who had no information on Luke, no juvenile criminal record and no reason to be treated like a criminal.

Being the shrewd political operator she is, Mariah goes to Kinkos and blows up two large photos of Lonnies bruised face and uses them as props at a press conference announcing an anti-police-violence-and-also-Luke-Cage rally at Harlems Paradise, the nightclub formerly owned by her late cousin, Cottonmouth, whom she killed in Episode 7 and blamed on Luke.

Theres a lot of philosophical contortions going on in Mariahs speeches, both in the press conference and later at the rally. Theoretically, she has gathered together the community to demand an end to police violence. But her goal is not to lead a Black Lives Matter protest. Its to pitch Judas bullets. So instead of calling for greater police oversight or a special prosecutor, she tells the crowd the police need to properly arm themselves against the real threat: superpowered vigilantes like Luke Cage.

The Stokeses meet the Bluths: Luke Cage Episode 7 Warning: This recap contains major spoilers for Episode 7 of Marvels Luke Cage check out 

We need to arm our men and women in blue so that they can protect us, she says.

Now, if Im concerned about police violence, why would I think the solution is giving the police more powerful bullets? Whats to stop rogue officers, or any officers, really, from turning Judas on the citizenry once theyve used them on Luke Cage? Whats to stop the 2nd Amendment crowd from demanding access to the same bullets?

But no one raises these questions. Instead, the crowd chants This stops now like a Greek chorus as the major players all come together. Misty, having finally gotten a positive ID on Diamondback as both the man who attacked her and the Luke impostor who killed one of her fellow officers, arrives at the rally and heads upstairs, where D-back had been watching from the second-floor VIP area. Luke and Claire, newly returned from Georgia to discover Lukes a wanted man, arrive as well. Luke sees Misty head up the stairs and follows to cover her. Misty follows Diamondback to his office (formerly Cottonmouths office) and declares him under arrest, which he responds to by pulling out two guns and opening fire. Fortunately Luke shows up in time to shield her from the bullets.

As the crowd scatters at the sound of gunfire and a cameraman recording the rally cries out, Thats Luke Cage, hes here! Luke jumps from the second-floor balcony and lands behind the bar, still shielding Misty from the gunfire now coming from all directions.

I got you, he tells her as the episode closes. I got you.

Observations:

Burstein at one point compares the fast-healing Luke to a strand of Christmas lights  replace the broken bulb, and the whole thing lights up. Except Christmas lights havent operated that way since Clark Griswold tried to give his family the hap-hap-happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny (expletive) Kaye.

On her quest to learn more about Diamondback, Misty spends some time scrolling through microfiche till she comes upon a newspaper with the headline Son of local preacher charged with grand theft auto, in that annoying-to-journalists trope of running a headline for a plot-relevant story way bigger than it deserves. Four columns on a five-column layout, three decks, all caps, with a subhead? Come on, guys, its not even a murder.

Theres a sequence after Luke and Claire leave Bursteins lab where they go to Savannah, Georgia, to revisit Lukes fathers old church. The church is empty, abandoned, vandalized, but standing in it is enough to transport Luke back in time to the 1980s (young Carls satin jacket is a dead giveaway) so he can suddenly clearly remember that Diamondback is Lukes half-brother, the product of an affair between Lukes preacher father and the church secretary, Ms. Stryker. The scene is shot much like one of Mistys mental crime-scene re-creations, where it feels like Misty is actually there when it happens. Except Misty just last episode claimed to have an eidetic memory, whereas Luke never made such claims. The whole scene could have been shot differently and still been effective. Heck, Luke could have remembered it while dozing off in the car on the way back to Harlem.

In her speech to the crowd at Harlems Paradise, Mariah mentions that woman over in Hells Kitchen snapped a mans neck because he was mind-controlling her, a derisive reference to Jessica Jones. Thats some pretty anti-feminist victim-blaming there, Mariah, and as a fellow survivor of sexual abuse, one would think youd have more sympathy.

Im Dan Grote!  nah, doesnt have the same ring to it.
Sarah Hullihen is only 11 years old, but the Vineland resident carries herself like someone 10 years her senior.

You can tell by the way she confidently hands you her business card.

Hullihens business card serves the same purpose as that of any adult: To help her network and spread the message of her work.

She is not paid for what she does, but she has a very real job as a National Park Trust Buddy Bison Student Ambassador. Shes one of only two nationwide, so far.

Hey, look, I have more followers on Twitter, Hullihen said from her familys living room on a recent rainy day.

When stuck inside in bad weather, she focuses on the online aspect of being a Buddy Bison Ambassador, which consists of Instagram, Twitter and blog posts about her excursions to get other kids interested in outdoor activities.

The outdoor enthusiast has always preferred being outside and active to being cooped up inside. Being selected as a Buddy Bison Ambassador means Hullihen spends her free time visiting national parks and historical sites throughout New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania and spreading the word to her peers. All between classes and sports, of course.

As generations are growing up with more technology and sometimes less of a connection to wildlife, the nonprofit National Park Trust created the student ambassador program in 2015 to get more students out to explore.

An approximately 7-inch stuffed bison, always at the ready for photo opportunities, accompanies Hullihen on her travels.

On Twitter, every Wednesday I do a park chat, Hullihen said.

Hullihen answers questions and shares photos of her experiences live during the chats, which anyone can follow through the hashtag #WeGetOutside.

She also journals her experiences and tells her Twitter and blog followers to challenge themselves to take a hike using the alphabet to make note of the plants and creatures they see around them.

Exploring and journaling seem to be in her DNA.

Hullihen has the ability to look back at the travels of her grandparents in 1970, when they visited national parks throughout the country. Her grandfather recorded anecdotes from the trips in a notebook. Sarahs mother, Cheryl, wasnt born yet for the trip, so the notebook gives two generations insight into the experience 46 years later.

Flipping through her grandfathers notebook, she noted the funny comments and list of costs.

It says the Delaware Memorial Bridge cost 30 cents, she said of the expense list, laughing. Crossing the bridge today will set you back $4.

Hullihen said she was happy to be chosen as ambassador this year because it is the National Park Trusts centennial and it is celebrating its work to preserve parks for future generations.

Both ambassadors have been very active with our newsletters, with their own blogging and with their platform, said Billy Schrack, of National Park Trust. Sarah has been really stepping it up with Instagram and writing her historical pieces she likes to do.

Washington Crossing Historic Park, Independence National Historical Park and Brandywine Battlefield Park are just some of the places Hullihen has crossed off her to-do list. Competing challenges at some of these places is helping her grow a junior ranger badge collection.

And if the picture of the American flag on her business card doesnt tip you off, her blog and email names might have explained that shes into politics. Sarahhullihen4prez2044 appears in her email address, a Twitter account and as her blog name, and thats because she has a specific plan in mind for her future career path.

I want to be a mayor, governor and congresswoman for a while before becoming the first female president, Hullihen said.

With a mantle full of plaques and photos from contests shes won, she might have a good shot. And you can be sure park preservation would rank high on her presidential priority list.

Hullihens mom said she recognizes Sarah is advanced for her age in most respects. A couple years ago, Sarah was asked to write an essay about her favorite holiday. While her classmates largely chose their birthdays or Christmas, Sarah had something else in mind.

I think I knew when I read her essay saying her favorite holiday was Presidents Day she was a little advanced, Cheryl Hullihen said.

Now, due to Hullihens influence, the whole family is involved and spends most every weather-cooperating weekend outside.

As for her grandparents Big Trip Log, Hullihen said she cant wait to write about a big national park trip of her own.

I eventually want to find a way to fund my own big trip and re-create it, she said.
LONG BRANCH  For Tom Fote, of Toms River, the decline of the lobster industry in New Jersey is proof that ocean warming is having big environmental and economic effects.

I manage lobsters, and we saw what happened in the last 20 years. We had a huge population of lobster that grew in the mid-Atlantic. Now its starting to collapse, said Fote, who is one of three New Jersey commissioners on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

He told panelists at the 12th annual Future of the Ocean Symposium, focused on priorities for President-elect Donald Trumps administration and Congress at Monmouth University on Wednesday, that the water off New Jersey has become too warm for lobsters.

Fishermen need help dealing with the effects of climate change on their industry, he said.

Panelists at the symposium included former federal Environmental Protection Agency Administrator and New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and Donald E. Boesch, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science in Cambridge, Maryland.

If I were to say one thing to the incoming administration and to the president-elect, its, Listen to your daughter. Ivanka believes in climate change, Whitman said of Donald Trumps daughter and adviser. It has real everyday implications to our lives, and to national safety. It is a national security issue.

Areas of sub-Saharan Africa are experiencing severe drought, and herdsmen are moving to cities, further destabilizing countries that are already struggling, Whitman said.

Its a breeding ground for ISIS and al-Qaeda to recruit, Whitman said.

Boesch and Whitman are both members of the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative Leadership Council, a national organization working on marine policy reform.

JOCI will give the new administration a nine-point action plan for dealing with ocean issues, Boesch said.

Our climate is mostly about the ocean. It is storing most of the heat and storing most of the CO2, said Boesch.

He said the worlds emissions of carbon dioxide, a contributor to global warming, have pretty much leveled off. But the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has continued to climb.

There are those scientists ... who are very concerned that what is happening is a reduction of the ability of the oceans to take up the CO2, a nasty feedback that can make things worse, said Boesch.

Whitman said New Jersey is particularly vulnerable to sea-level rise, but all coastal states face similar circumstances.

Fifty percent of our coastline is in danger of susceptibility to high water and loss of wetlands. Forty percent of American people live along the coastline, she said.

As co-chair on an Arctic task force for the Council on Foreign Relations, Whitman has traveled to the Arctic and seen the difficulties in planning to move 31 small villages of indigenous people away from rising seas.

These are very isolated areas. They found for one village a place to move them, said Whitman. But what about roads to get to them? There are no roads, there is no infrastucture.

Infrastructure wont be a problem along the U.S. coasts, but enormous costs will be a major challenge, she said.

We cant abandon our coasts. We not going to abandon our coasts, but we need to be smart about how we develop them and how we harden them against what is happening, she said.

As serious as the loss of a lobster fishery is to New Jersey, where perhaps 30 lobster boats are based, Fote said it will be even worse when it happens in Maine, where there are about 9,000 lobster boats.

He said there already are indications that states waters are getting too warm for lobster, and boats will have to travel much farther for a good catch.

Its a huge part of Maines economy, he said.

Whitman said government needs to help retrain fishermen to do other jobs or to go after a different catch.

Livelihoods are going to have to change to a degree, she said.
VENTNOR  A 32-year-old city woman who was accused of killing her infant in January pleaded guilty Thursday in her death, officials said.

Lisa Scalia pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter. Acting Atlantic County Prosecutor Diane Ruberton said in a statement that Scalia administered methadone to her 7-month-old daughter, Olaia Marie Mejia, in January.

On the morning of Jan. 3, police and other emergency responders went to the 5700 block of Monmouth Avenue after a 911 call about an unresponsive infant.

Police performed CPR on the baby, and she was transported to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, City Campus in Atlantic City, and then to St. Christophers Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. Olaia died Jan. 8.

Scalia was arrested the day after the emergency call and charged with endangering the welfare of a child and four counts of possession of controlled dangerous substances including suboxone, oxycodone, heroin and Lyrica.

After a continued investigation, on Sept. 27 Ruberton charged Scalia with aggravated manslaughter, alleging Scalia recklessly caused Olaias death by administering methadone to her, the statement said.

The September charge was served to Scalia at the Atlantic County jail, where she had been held on $100,000 bail. Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Damon G. Tyner set bail on the new charge at $100,000, cash only.

Under the plea agreement, which went before Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Michael J. Blee, Scalia is subject to a sentence of eight years in prison and must serve six years and nine months  85 percent  of the sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
Former governors took revenue from A.C.

The N.J. League of Municipalities convention forum with four ex-governors discussed the recent takeover of Atlantic City. Donald DiFrancesco stated that the takeover should have happened in 1977, one year before Resorts opened. Interestingly, ex-Gov. Tom Kean was not there. He became governor in 1981, while the casino industry was still in its infancy and making an incredible fortune. Kean was in Atlantic City very often, setting up deals to pull a huge portion of the revenue that should have been used to revitalize the city to go up to North Jersey. He basically took over Atlantic City with his acts of plundering the revenue. Then ex-Gov. Christine Whitman (who also didnt attend the conference) borrowed heavily from pensions and unemployment and health care funds.

The state took over Atlantic City all during the 1980s and all of the 1990s from the plundering they did. Had two governors stayed out of Atlantic City, there wouldnt be the current problems. The only involvement the state should have had was prevention of the artificial devaluation of the casinos, which sealed Atlantic Citys fate.

Joe Venezia

Councilman

Estell Manor

Shift to popular vote

Before the presidential election, Donald Trump refused to say whether he would accept the results unless he won, and charged repeatedly that the elections were rigged. Now that he has won the constitutionally rigged Electoral College and lost the popular vote by over a million, his supporters are acting like the majority and calling on Trump opponents to get over it, accept democracy and stop demonstrating.

There is a problem with a system that has awarded the presidency to the recipient of fewer popular votes twice in the last five elections and in two of the last three without an incumbent. This is obviously undemocratic, but also dangerous, because it distorts what public opinion really is. Now everyone is discussing how the elitist Democrats overlooked and forgot many of those left behind by economic change.

While clearly something should be done to address such concerns, people are now forgetting more people voted for Hillary Clinton, creating the very gap between the rulers and the ruled that Trump campaigned on. While no ones fault, the country cannot continue to be run this way. The Electoral College should be abolished and presidents elected by the popular vote.

Conrad Weiler

Brigantine

Trump-Obama unity

President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump should give an unprecedented, joint address to the nation denouncing racist hate mongering and speak to the issue of police, across the country, being killed.

Want national unity? This would go a long way to correct the tone  across both political spectrums and across the nation. Leadership now!

Bob DeFeo

Estell Manor

No, youre a crybaby

Regarding the Nov. 18 letter, Trump support more than opposing PC:

Considering that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, Americans for the most part do not support Donald Trump.

Did the writer ever have to face police dogs, fire hoses and billy clubs just to attend a good school? People who havent have no idea what persecution is.

I am a longtime church attendee, and I have never been stopped from expressing my faith. I believe in the Lord, and do not place my faith in human beings, nor do I force my brand of faith on others.

I think the writer sounds like what he calls a whining crybaby liberal.

Jeff McLaughlin

Absecon
The Newly Released Feature was Created for the Company's Dallas and Los Angeles Data Centers

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / December 8, 2016 / Psychz Networks, a web hosting company, is pleased to announce the launch of a new feature called "Asia Pacific Low Latency Routes." The new dedicated server with low latency was released for the company's Dallas, Texas and Los Angeles, California data centers.

As a company spokesperson noted, the new feature is designed to target the Asian market with low latency when hosting servers in those two regions. This will allow fast content delivery for users as well as the ability for gamers to play games with low latency when connecting to Los Angeles or Dallas from Asia.

"We are the only ones that utilize this technology by incorporating it in Los Angeles and Dallas," noted the spokesperson.

In addition, for businesses that are hosting in Dallas, the low latency routes will let companies target users on the East coast in the United States as well as customers in Asia. At the Los Angeles data center, the latency reduction will benefit the businesses in Silicon Valley that want to connect to the Asian market while also offering service to the local client base on the West coast and central part of the United States.

"Once configured, we inject low latency routes to our routers which are passed to the customers in Los Angeles and Dallas. When the end user connects to the IP, the system automatically selects the path with the lowest latency," the spokesperson noted.

Many countries will benefit from low latency routes, noted the company spokesperson; these include APAC countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia and India. In general, the expectation is that the new service will offer latency drops of up to 30 percent when compared to most transit providers.

To learn more about Psychz Networks and its new Asia Pacific Low Latency Routes feature, people may visit the company website at any time.

Story continues

About Psychz Networks:

Psychz has been in the web hosting industry for 15 years and operates its own infrastructures, networks, and in-house staff. Psychz specializes in dedicated hosting, colocation, and DDoS mitigation services in their Los Angeles, Dallas and Ashburn datacenters. For more information, please visit https://www.psychz.net/

Contact:

George Becerra

george@psychz.net

626-549-2801

SOURCE: Psychz Networks
TipRanks

With the Federal Reserve holding its November FOMC meeting now, theres plenty of speculation on the central banks next move. The conventional wisdom says the Fed will hike rates again, by another 75 basis points  the fourth such hike in a row this year. But after that, no one knows. Inflation remains above 8%, so the Feds tighter monetary policies have clearly not reined in high prices  yet. According to Fundstrat, however, the Fed has moved far enough in that direction, and well start to
For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME.

Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire.

Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III.





to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever.





Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation.





View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union.

Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history.

Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words.




PUNE, India, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The report "Acrylic Processing Aid Market by Polymer Type (PVC), Fabrication Process (Extrusion, Injection Molding), End-Use Industry (Building & Construction, Packaging, Automotive, Consumer Goods) - Global Forecast to 2026", published by MarketsandMarkets, the global market size was USD 645.4 Million in 2016, and is projected to reach USD 1,173.6 Million by 2026, registering an of CAGR of 6.2% between 2016 and 2026.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 )



Browse 105 market data Tables and 59 Figures spread through 159 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Acrylic Processing Aid Market"

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/acrylic-processing-aid-market-50725911.html

Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.

The rapid growth of building & construction industry and increasing demand for various applications such as pipes, flooring, roofing, windows & doors, containers, and trimboard in the Asia-Pacific region, and growth of other industries such as packaging, automotive, and consumer goods have led to the growth of the APA market.

Polyvinylchloride (PVC) polymer type projected to be the largest market for APA between 2016 and 2026

Polyvinylchloride (PVC) is projected to be the largest polymer type of the APA market between 2016 and 2026. It provides flexibility which is helpful in making modern automotive cost-effective, safe, and of high quality. It helps in reducing the weight of vehicles owing to the lightweight of its components in comparison to other materials. PVC is also less expensive as compared to other plastics.

Download PDF Brochure @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=50725911

Extrusion to be the fastest-growing fabrication process for APA between 2016 and 2026

The fabrication process is used to process the plastic materials with APA. Some of the major fabrication processes for APA includes extrusion, injection molding, and others. Extrusion is expected to be the fastest-growing fabrication process of the APA market between 2016 and 2026. Extrusion is used to process high volume of plastics. The pellets, granules, flakes, or powders are fed into the extrusion machine and melted under high temperature (depending upon the type of plastic to be extruded).

Asia-Pacific to be the fastest-growing market for APA between 2016 and 2026

Asia-Pacific is projected to be the fastest-growing Acrylic Processing Aid Market between 2016 and 2026. The market for APA in Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at a high rate owing to investments in various industries, such as building & construction, packaging, automotive, and consumer goods. The increasing purchasing power of the middle class is also an important factor that drives the Asia-Pacific APA market. Emerging industries in developing countries of this region are creating opportunities for the APA market.

Make an Inquiry @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=50725911

Currently, the APA market is dominated by various market players such as LG Chem Ltd. (Korea), Kaneka Corporation (Japan), Arkema SA (France), The Dow Chemical Company (U.S.), and Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd. (Japan), 3M Company (U.S.), BASF SE (Germany), Shandong Ruifeng Chemical Co. Ltd (China), Akdeniz Kimya A.S. (Turkey), and Shandong Rike Chemicals Co., Ltd. (China).

Browse Related Reports:



Polymer Processing Aid Market by Polymer Type (Polyethylene (LLDPE, LDPE, HDPE), Polypropylene), Application (Blown Film & Cast Film, Extrusion Blow Molding, Wire & Cable, Pipe & Tube, Fibers & Raffia) - Global Forecast to 2021

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/polymer-processing-aid-market-262874414.html

Additive Masterbatch Market by Type (Antimicrobial, Antioxidant, Flame Retardants), Carrier Resin (PE, PP, PS), and End-use Industry (Packaging, Building & Construction, Consumer Goods, Automotive, Agriculture) - Global Trends & Forecasts to 2021

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/additive-masterbatch-market-227086700.html

Subscribe Reports from Chemicals & Materials Domain: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Knowledgestore.asp

About MarketsandMarkets

MarketsandMarkets is the largest market research firm worldwide in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors.

M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers.

We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository.



Contact:

Mr. Rohan

MarketsandMarkets

701 Pike Street

Suite 2175, Seattle,

WA 98101, United States

Tel: +1-888-600-6441

Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com

Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog @ http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/chemical

Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets

SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
AMSTERDAM, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Anti-trade rhetoric and political developments in mature markets likely to stall trade growth

After a very low pace of growth in 2015, global trade growth has slowed even further over the first half of 2016, according to Atradius Credit Insurance N.V.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150513/743985 )



Trade growth in Emerging Asia, the world's second largest trade bloc, is extremely low, as China rebalances from investment-driven growth toward a more inward-looking consumption-led growth. Lower commodity prices have also dampened investment in natural resource-rich economies around the world which has contributed to a sharp contraction of trade in Eastern Europe and slowdown in Latin America. Even the US has seen its trade growth grind to a halt, due to lower investment in the oil and gas sector, but also because of lower external demand and a strong USD which have reduced exports.

In 2016, the tempo of growth in world trade is expected to be about one-third of global GDP growth. Such a low rate of trade growth has not occurred since the global economic crisis of 2009. Anti-globalisation sentiment is rising, as is evidenced by political developments like Brexit and the election of Donald Trump as US president. Trade liberalisation efforts like TPP and TTIP are stalling, thereby threatening the outlook for trade.

Subdued global GDP growth already motivates a subdued global insolvency outlook, but muted trade growth could put upward pressure on insolvencies in countries that are dependent on trade. Brexit-related uncertainty is expected to increase corporate bankruptcies in economies with a heavy focus on exporting to the UK. Protectionist measures in the US could have the same effect on economies with high trade ties to the US, especially those in Latin America.

"Matters for trade are made far worse by political developments," said John Lorie, global chief economist at Atradius, "These are flatly trade-unfriendly, as signalled not only by the Brexit vote in the UK, but also by the stalling of the regional trade liberalization efforts. Anti-trade rhetoric by US president-elect Donald Trump make matters even worse. These developments are likely to weigh on future trade data."

Read more about the global economic environment and gain insights into prospects and risks based on the main regions in our November Atradius Economic Outlook.

About Atradius

Atradius provides trade credit insurance, surety and collections services worldwide through a strategic presence in 50 countries. Atradius has access to credit information on 200 million companies worldwide. Its credit insurance, bonding and collections products help protect companies throughout the world from payment risks associated with selling products and services on trade credit. Atradius forms part of Grupo Catalana Occidente (GCO.MC), one of the leading insurers in Spain and worldwide in credit insurance.

atradius.com

SOURCE Atradius N.V.
ASCHHEIM, Germany and KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Based on Wirecard ' s mobile payment platform and infrastructure

Users profit from new omnichannel experience

Today the Berjaya Group, who is one of Malaysia's largest conglomerates with a wide range of interests across various business sectors, announces the launch of the new reward app B Infinite. The mobile application is powered by Wirecard, one of the global leaders in internet and payment technology. Thanks to a variety of loyalty and couponing functions, B Infinite offers a multi-faceted capabilities to its users: functioning as a mobile marketing platform to find out about the latest local merchant flash deals, payment gateway and redemption service for its members.

With the new B Infinite app powered by Wirecard, users will get a detailed real-time overview of their loyalty points, balance and purchases, allowing them to have better control and convenience over their own rewarding experience. In addition to this, users have the ability to manage their own omnichannel experience through B Infinite. For example, members can personalize the app through filtering merchant offers by category of interest.

Yau Su Peng, Director of Retail and Innovation at Berjaya Corporation Berhad, said, "On the enhanced B Infinite rewards program network, there are many opportunities for merchants to communicate directly to consumers, as well as upsell and cross-sell to both consumers and the merchant's customers. As part of the network, merchants are able to collaborate with global payment brands MasterCard and Wirecard. This allows them to access tools and abilities without the need to build anything themselves. I am delighted to now offer merchants and members this enhanced rewards experience with B Infinite."

"The B Infinite launch by Berjaya Corporation marked another milestone for technological innovation. We are delighted that our mobile payment platform and infrastructure are being selected for this project. We believe that this initiative, designed for better convenience and control for members will further entrench Berjaya's engagement with their members", said Markus Eichinger, Vice President Value Added Services at Wirecard.

B Infinite builds on the success of BCARD, a member rewards program that quickly found success from its launch in 2011. To date, the program counts more than 5 million members, 80 merchants and over 4000 stores nationwide as part of its network. Wirecard Payment Solutions Malaysia Sdn Bhd, a Wirecard Group Company, has partnered with Berjaya Group's wholly-owned subsidiary BLoyalty Sdn Bhd ("BLoyalty") since March 2016.

About Wirecard:

Wirecard AG is a global technology group that supports companies in accepting electronic payments from all sales channels. As a leading independent supplier, the Wirecard Group offers outsourcing and white label solutions for electronic payments. A global platform bundles international payment acceptances and methods with supplementary fraud prevention solutions. With regard to issuing own payment instruments in the form of cards or mobile payment solutions, the Wirecard Group provides companies with an end-to-end infrastructure, including the requisite licences for card and account products. Wirecard AG is listed on the Frankfurt Securities Exchange (TecDAX, ISIN DE0007472060, WDI). For further information about Wirecard, please visit http://www.wirecard.com or follow us on twitter @wirecard.

About BLoyalty Sdn Bhd & B Infinite:

BLoyalty Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Berjaya Corporation Berhad, owns and manages a customer rewards program known as B Infinite (Formerly BCARD). Aimed at promoting customer rewards, B Infinite is Malaysia's lifestyle and brand-focused rewards program, partnering with merchants from various industries and businesses to offer their members an unparalleled value for their lifestyle choices.

B Infinite started out as BCARD and it was launched to the public in Klang Valley on 15 December 2010 and subsequently nationwide on 30 September 2011. In July 2016, BCARD was officially rebranded as B Infinite. Today, B Infinite has a network of more than 80 merchant partners, over 4,000 stores nationwide. The B Infinite mobile customer loyalty program and mobile wallet payment app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store for Android users and the ITunes App Store for IOS users. For the latest promotions from B Infinite merchant partners, follow BInfiniteRewards/ on Facebook and @binfinitereward on Twitter.



Wirecard media contact:

Wirecard AG

Jana Tilz

Tel.: +49-(0)-89-4424-1363

E-Mail: jana.tilz@wirecard.com



SOURCE Wirecard AG
OVIEDO, Spain, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

DakApp is an app that delves into the knowledge sector and high level interactive praxis in a completely new way. With it, performers, musicians or anyone interested in music can gain access to a vast catalogue of masterclasses with some of the best soloists and teachers in the world. With DakApp, an unparalleled world of knowledge can be enjoyed anytime, anywhere in the world, through the use of a mobile device. The on-site masterclass model, set at a certain time and place, has changed. DakApp exploits all the possibilities offered by new technologies as well as the massive access to them in order to bring the best of classical music to all users. No more request forms, waits, expenses and limited access to the best teachers. They will be right in your hand with DakApp.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161208/447018 )



Leonidas Kavakos, the great Greek violinist, makes his debut as a DakApp teacher with an exceptional masterclass on Felix Mendelssohn's Violin concerto No. 2. He will be joined by Pedro Barreto on violin and Ai Motohashi on piano in a luxurious exclusive for DakApp. Kavakos is one of the most remarkable and influential violinists of the last two decades, and a fascinating example of a virtuoso; an expressive artist with extraordinary communicative skills. He has been trained in violin since his childhood and his career has been established through his work under three great masters: Stelios Kafantaris, Josef Gingold and Ferenc Rados. He constantly plays for the greatest international orchestras and he is one of the most sought-after violinists by the best ensembles and conductors in the world. Kavakos has built a stunning and solid career, and he has become one of the current leading examples of musical performance.

Massive access to his contents is a priority for DakApp, as is giving new students and soloists a chance to learn from the best performers in the world. DakApp is available for any mobile device. In just one click the user will download an extensive and complete set of contents featuring all the masterclasses, as well as a series of supplementary materials (full scores, comments and analysis on the context and interpretative evolution of the piece) designed by experts on each matter. Another platform, DakAdemy, is an innovative project brought by DakApp that offers a special in-person master programme that gives musicians the chance to perfect their skills and expand their knowledge of top level performance. Through this programme, musicians can gain access to a whole world of in-person classes with great teachers and collaborations with orchestras, festivals and many other platforms that will allow for a development in their possibilities as performers.

DakApp's catalogue never stops growing and currently features a remarkable number of teachers, with Jean-Guihen Queyras, Gautier Capucon or Ning Feng among them. The available musical pieces are individually accessible through the new monthly subscription model, which allows for full access to the catalogue. DakApp is available on App Store and Google Play. You can enter the official website http://www.dakapp.com to get the latest news and details on DakApp, as well as its official Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram accounts. The best of classical music, brought by the greatest professionals, is made available for everyone by DakApp.

SOURCE DakApp
DUBLIN, Dec 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Endodontic Supplies - Global Strategic Business Report" report to their offering.

This report analyzes the worldwide markets for Endodontic Supplies in US$ Thousand. The report provides separate comprehensive analytics for the US, Canada, Japan, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Rest of World.



Annual estimates and forecasts are provided for the period 2015 through 2022. Also, a six-year historic analysis is provided for these markets. Market data and analytics are derived from primary and secondary research.



The report profiles 41 companies including many key and niche players such as



Brasseler USA (US)

(US) Coltene/Whaledent AG ( Switzerland )

) Dentsply Sirona, Inc. (US)

DiaDent (Korea)

DMG America (US)

FKG Dentaire SA ( Switzerland )

) Ivoclar Vivadent AG ( Liechtenstein )

) Kerr Corporation (US)

Laboratoire Septodont ( France )

) MICRO-MEGA SA ( France )

) Ultradent Products, Inc. (US)

VOCO GmbH ( Germany )

Key Topics Covered:



1. INDUSTRY OVERVIEW



Nanotechnology in Dental Fillings and Implants

Automation: The Ongoing Trend in Root Canal Therapy

Stem Cell Therapy

The New Name of the Game

Choosing between Endodontic Retreatment & Endodontic Surgery

Regenerative Endodontics: The Current Buzzword in the Market

Growing Prominence of Bioactive Materials in Endodontics

Using Calcium Hydroxide as Interim Intracanal Medicament

Novel Endodontic Repair Filling Materials Swarm the Market

Treatment of Residual Obturation Materials

Focus on Developing Endodontic Materials with Better Aesthetics

Select Endodontic Materials Causing Discoloration of Teeth

Dental Implants Vs Endodontics: Making a Case for Endodontics Therapy

Concerns over Use of Paraformaldehyde-Containing Materials

Bacteria in Root Canals: What's the Risk?

Risk of Mercury Contamination in Root Canals

2. DENTAL MARKET REVIEW



Demographics & Spending on Oral Care Shape Trends in the Dental Market

Growth Drivers in the Dental Market

Changing Dynamics of Dental Markets in Developed & Developing Regions

Consumables Dominate Sales of Dental Product Sales

Transforming Role of Dental Practice

Group Practices Take Precedence over Solo Dental Establishments

Spurt in Dental Tourism Offers Growth Opportunities

M&A Activity on the Rise in Dental Industry

3. PRODUCT OVERVIEW



Endodontics: An Introduction

Root Canal Therapy: An Overview

Endodontic Supplies

Instruments Used in Root Canal Treatment

Barbed Broaches

Gates Glidden Drills

Peeso Reamer Drills

NiTi (Nickel titanium) Rotary Instruments

Lentulo Spiral Filler/Rotary Paste Filler

Finger Spreader

Endodontic Plugger

Gutta Percha Points

Absorbent Paper Points

Endodontic Files

4. RECENT INDUSTRY ACTIVITY



DENTSPLY and Sirona Merge Operations

Ultradent Products Launches MTA Flow Repair Cement

FKG Dentaire Launches XP-endo Instruments

Septodont Launches BioRoot RCS

Lifco to Acquire Nordiska Dental's Endodontic Products

Kerr Announces New Identity for Dental Consumables Brands

Sirona, Dentsply & VDW Enter into Endodontics Partnership

Kerr Endodontics Launches ElementsFree Cordless Obturation System in Canada

Ultradent Products Launches Endo-Eze EVOS Endodontic Motor

Ultradent Products Unveils Endo-Eze Endodontic Hand Files and Burs

FKG Dentaire Introduces XP-endo Finisher

DENTSPLY Receives FDA Clearance for ProRoot MTA Root Repair Material in Pediatric Pulpotomies

DENTSPLY Launches Upgraded WaveOne Gold Line of Endodontic Files

5. FOCUS ON SELECT PLAYERS



6. GLOBAL MARKET PERSPECTIVE



Total Companies Profiled: 41 (including Divisions/Subsidiaries 52)



The United States (21)

(21) Japan (2)

(2) Europe (24)

(24) - France (2)

(2) - Germany (7)

(7) - The United Kingdom (3)

(3) - Italy (2)

(2) - Rest of Europe (10)

(10) Asia-Pacific (Excluding Japan) (5)

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/8wjzjv/endodontic

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Related Links

http://www.researchandmarkets.com



SOURCE Research and Markets
HAMBURG, Germany, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Today and on Friday, 50 foreign-ministers and 1,300 representatives of 57 delegations of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) member-states are meeting at the Hamburg exhibition grounds for their Ministerial Council. The event is being hosted by Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Due to its international character, Hamburg is the ideal location and will be in the international limelight for two days.

Hamburg's First Mayor Olaf Scholz welcomes the event: "The OSCE conference is an honour for our cosmopolitan city. We are currently witnessing that peace is repeatedly threatened and that wars such as the Syrian war have an impact on us all. Especially in unsettled times it is important that leading politicians get together and talk. Hamburg is well suited for this: as a trading hub it has always had an international focus. Just think of the Hanseatic League, which represented peace and security in Europe for centuries."

According to German Foreign-Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Hamburg is predestined for this due to its cosmopolitan, open-minded character and its international links. He also stressed the proverbial Hanseatic spirit that has promoted a culture of participation for centuries.

Topics of the Ministerial Council in Hamburg - which will be attended e.g. by John Kerry (USA) and Sergei Viktorovich Lavrov (Russia) - include the OSCE's commitment in the Ukraine as well as terrorism, arms control and means of strengthening the OSCE.

Next summer, the world will once again gather in Hamburg as the OSCE conference will be followed by the G20 summit on 7 and 8 July 2017. In 2017, the rotating chair will be held by Germany. Following a suggestion by Chancellor Angela Merkel, the G20 summit is scheduled to take place in Hamburg (http://www.hamburg.com).

Contact:

Hamburg-Marketing

Guido Neumann

guido.neumann@marketing.hamburg.de

Phone: +49(40)30051580

Mobile: +49(160)97298302



SOURCE Hamburg Marketing GmbH
LONDON, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Chemokine receptor family plays key role across multiple disease areas and represents an important target for drug discovery and development

Publication in Nature describes novel, intracellular allosteric binding site in CCR9 receptor

Heptares Therapeutics ("Heptares"), the wholly-owned subsidiary of Sosei Group Corporation (TSE Mothers Index: 4565), announces that its scientists have solved the high-resolution X-ray crystal structure of the CCR9 receptor, a member of the chemokine receptor family (Oswald et al, Nature). This family of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) has diverse roles in immune defence by controlling the migration, activation and survival of immune cells, hence chemokine receptors are important drug targets in a wide range of diseases. The CCR9 receptor itself is central to leukocyte (white blood cell) recruitment to the gut and represents a therapeutic target in inflammatory bowel diseases, an area of increasing interest for Heptares.

Fiona Marshall, Chief Scientific Officer at Heptares and at Sosei, commented: "The availability of a high-resolution structure of the CCR9 receptor in this conformation provides a unique opportunity to apply structure-based drug design to the discovery and optimisation of selective small molecule allosteric modulator drugs not only targeting CCR9 but potentially also other members of the chemokine receptor family. This new structural information adds to the wealth of information the Company has generated using its StaR platform on GPCRs, and is enabling the Company to apply its structure-based design platform to develop a sustainable pipeline of novel drug candidates in diverse disease areas."

The publication in Nature describes how Heptares scientists solved the X-ray structure of the CCR9 receptor bound to the selective antagonist vercirnon. The research revealed that, surprisingly, vercirnon binds to the intracellular side of the receptor and not to the normal binding site for GPCR ligands. In binding to this allosteric site on CCR9, vercirnon exerts its antagonistic effect by preventing CCR9 from interacting with signaling molecules inside the cell. This breakthrough finding has opened a new avenue for investigation across the chemokine receptor family. Heptares scientists have previously identified allosteric binding sites on other GPCRs including the glucagon receptor (Jazayeri et al, reference below).

Only two drugs that target chemokine receptors from over 50 entering clinical development have reached the market: maraviroc for HIV targeting CCR5, and plerixafor for stem-cell mobilization targeting CXCR4. The low success rate is thought to be in part due to limited understanding of the mechanisms of action of chemokine receptors, and an inability to optimise candidate compounds in the absence of structural information. Heptares believes that the new information has the potential to improve the success rate of efforts to develop small molecule therapeutics against chemokine receptors.

References

Oswald, C. et al (2016) Nature - click here

Jazayeri, A. et al (2016) Nature - click here

Notes to Editors

About Heptares Therapeutics

Heptares is a clinical-stage company creating transformative medicines targeting G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), a superfamily of 375 receptors linked to a wide range of human diseases. Heptares' proprietary StaR technology and structure-based drug design (SBDD) capabilities enable us to engineer and develop drugs for highly validated, yet historically undruggable or challenging GPCRs. Using this approach, we are building an exciting pipeline of new medicines (small molecules and biologics) with the potential to transform the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, cancer immune-oncology, migraine, addiction, metabolic disease and other indications. We have partnerships for our novel candidates and technologies with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including Allergan, AstraZeneca, Kymab, MedImmune, MorphoSys, Pfizer and Teva.

Heptares is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sosei Group Corporation. For more information, please visit http://www.heptares.com and http://www.sosei.com.

HEPTARES is a registered trademark in the EU, Switzerland, US and Japan;

StaR is a registered trademark in the EU and Japan.

About Sosei

Sosei is a biopharmaceutical company originating from Japan but with global presence. Sosei's primary business model is based on identifying novel and/or differentiated product assets or technology platforms and, through supporting these in preclinical and clinical development and establishing commercial partnerships, advancing new medicines to patients worldwide. For more information about Sosei, please visit http://www.sosei.com.

SOURCE Heptares Therapeutics
TAIPEI, Taiwan, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NEXCOM DNA 1520 network platform fills the hardware gap to a service-centric network environment. Built with the Cavium OCTEON TX 64-bit ARM-based SOC family, the DNA 1520 delivers excellent performance, bandwidth, security, and ruggedness all at once, helping telecommunications companies serve a broad range of network applications including networking, security, and storage services to industrial, transport, and enterprise clients in ubiquitous network environments.

Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20161207/8521608015

"Pushed by burgeoning IoT applications across industries, the demand for network services is springing up. As the demand varies by industry, building network services on a united network platform can save service and maintenance efforts and cost for telecommunications companies; however, a network platform suitable for all network services is hard to find. To solve this problem, the DNA 1520 taking advantage of the Cavium OCTEON TX SOCs is equipped with enhanced performance to support 10 Gigabit Ethernet connections while providing configuration flexibility and industrial grade reliability to adapt to application-specific requirements for applications including industrial firewall and VPN, IDS and IPS, SDN infrastructure, vCPE, and NAS," said Hadwin Liu, Chief Architect of NEXCOM Network and Communication Solutions Business Group.

"We are pleased to partner with NEXCOM to deliver the DNA 1520 platform. The Cavium OCTEON TX 64-bit quad-core ARM SOC family is built from ground-up for robust, enterprise class networking, security and storage applications. Its high data plane throughput, rich software ecosystem and server-class virtualization features enables DNA 1520 platform to dynamically support various network applications in the fast-growing industrial IoT networking infrastructure." said Venkat Sundaresan, Director of Product Line Marketing, Infrastructure Processor Group, Cavium, Inc.

The DNA 1520 is powered by the OCTEON TX CN80XX and CN81XX families with up to four 64-bit ARM v8.1 cores. The DNA 1520 supports 10 Gbps connections, DMZ implementation, LAN bypass, and expansion of wireless, PoE, I/O, and storage. The DNA 1520 features the extended temperature range from -20 degree Celsius to 70 degree Celsius, dual power support of 12V and 9 to 36V power supplies, fanless design, and vibration-proof connectors.

The DNA 1520 can ensure factory productivity by protecting industrial networks against unauthorized access, enhance public safety by keeping surveillance recording on public transport services, and increase client satisfaction by hosting network services in vCPE for dynamic service adjustment according to clients' needs.

Main Features

Cavium OCTEON TX ARM 64-bit CN80xx and 81xx SOC family with 64-bit ARM v8.1 cores

Onboard 1~4GB DDR4 ECC memory

Up to 2GB of onboard SLC NAND flash

802.3bz 10Gbps connections with backward compatibility with 1/2.5/5Gbps

Support 1-pair bypass feature

Support expansion of Wi-Fi/3G/LTE, 802.3at/802.3af PoE, industrial management, and storage

Dual DC power input : 9V~36V DC or 12V DC

About NEXCOM

Founded in 1992, NEXCOM integrates its capabilities and operates six global businesses, which are IoT Automation Solutions, Intelligent Digital Security, Internet of Things, Interactive Signage Platform, Mobile Computing Solutions, and Network and Communication Solutions. NEXCOM serves its customers worldwide through its subsidiaries in five major industrial countries. Under the IoT megatrend, NEXCOM expands its offerings with solutions in emerging applications including IoT, robot, connected cars, Industry 4.0, and industrial security. www.nexcom.com

Media contacts:

Liyin Lin

Marketing Director

Tel: +886 2 8226 7786 ext. 2110

Email: liyinlin@nexcom.com.tw

Related Links

http://www.nexcom.com



SOURCE Nexcom
Nokia's game-changing Passive Optical LAN delivers Gigabit speeds to each user and enables smooth evolution to 20x more capacity

LONDON, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Nokia beat back stiff competition in the local area network (LAN) market to take home the 2016 European New Product Innovation Award at Frost & Sullivan's Excellence in Best Practices Awards gala on 9 November 2016. This two-part exclusive event celebrates the success of innovators, visionaries, and leaders from a cross section of industries in Europe. Monika Maurer, COO of the Fixed Networks Business Group, became part of an exclusive list of winners when she accepted the award on behalf of Nokia at a banquet hosted at the Westin in Paris, France.

Click here for the full multimedia experience of this release - http://bit.ly/2h77PSJ

Nokia's Passive Optical LAN (POL) solution is a more cost-effective way for organisations to deploy LAN while gaining significant benefits like unlimited bandwidth, security, reliability, longevity, and energy and space savings. Nokia's POL solution can help achieve more than 50% cost savings than traditional copper-based Ethernet LAN.

POL employs Gigabit passive optical network (GPON) technology and features single centralised active equipment, a simpler network, and thin-client end-point devices that are centrally managed.

Nokia's POL solution is based on the centralised access node 7360 ISAM FX, a variety of end-user devices and advanced management systems. It delivers Gigabit speeds to each connected device and facilitates the smooth evolution to 20x capacity, reusing the same cabling and access node. Another key benefit of Nokia's POL solution is its management system, the 5571 POL Command Center (PCC), a highly intuitive tool for easy configuration, auto-activation, fault reporting, proactive network monitoring, and troubleshooting of a LAN.

"Nokia's POL solution provides military-grade security and data encryption," said Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Priya Sharma. "As optical fibres are resistant to electromagnetic interference, POL is ideal for use in sensitive environments such as hospitals, where cameras and machines can interrupt data transmission."

Nokia continues to experience strong demand for its POL solution worldwide. GPON is a field-proven and mature technology designed for simplicity and efficiency, and Nokia's successful fibre projects and partnership programs have helped it cater to companies of all sizes.

"Nokia's primary focus is not on delivering the most inexpensive solution to customers but to present value-added solutions at competitive prices," noted Sharma. "For instance, while Ethernet-based LAN lasts nearly 5 to 7 years, the POL solution lasts at least 50 years, translating to greater lifetime cost savings."

For understanding customer needs in the LAN market and for developing a novel product to address those needs, Nokia deserves the 2016 European Local Area Network New Product Innovation Award. Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has developed an innovative element in a product by leveraging leading-edge technologies. The award recognises the value-added features/benefits of the product and the higher return on investment (ROI) it offers customers, which in turn improves customer acquisition and overall market penetration potential.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognise companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.

To learn more about Nokia's POL solution, you can download their free whitepaper titled "Addressing Issues In The Local Area Network" or visit its solution page.

About Nokia

Nokia is a global leader in the technologies that connect people and things. Powered by the innovation of Nokia Bell Labs and Nokia Technologies, the company is at the forefront of creating and licensing the technologies that are increasingly at the heart of our connected lives.

With state-of-the-art software, hardware and services for any type of network, Nokia is uniquely positioned to help communication service providers, governments, and large enterprises deliver on the promise of 5G, the Cloud and the Internet of Things.

https://networks.nokia.com/

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, collaborates with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that could make or break today's market participants.

Frost & Sullivan's Growth Partnership supports clients by addressing these opportunities and incorporating 2 key elements driving visionary innovation: the Integrated Value Proposition and the Partnership Infrastructure.

The Integrated Value Proposition provides support to clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation, including research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation, and implementation.

provides support to clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation, including research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation, and implementation. The Partnership Infrastructure is entirely unique as it constructs the foundation upon which visionary innovation becomes possible, including 360 degree research, comprehensive industry coverage, and career best practices as well as Frost & Sullivan's global footprint of more than 40 offices.

For more than 50 years, Frost & Sullivan has been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector, and the investment community. Is your organisation prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics, and emerging economies?

Contact Us: Start the discussion

Join Us: Join our community

Subscribe: Newsletter on "the next big thing"

Register: Gain access to visionary innovation

Contact:

Chiara Carella

P: +44 (0) 207.343.8314

F: 210.348.1003

E: chiara.carella@frost.com

Related Links

http://www.frost.com



SOURCE Frost & Sullivan
SHANGHAI, China, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Founded in 2007, Parkopedia now provides detailed information on 50 million parking spaces in 6000 cities in 75 countries; including real-time parking space availability information in over 1000 cities in 30 countries;

Parkopedia's premium parking services now cover all the Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities in China , including Hong Kong and Macao ;

Audi switches to Parkopedia's service after comprehensive testing across major cities in China.

Telematics@China, Shanghai, China, - December 8th 2016

Parkopedia, the world's largest parking service provider, announced today that it has been selected to be the new provider of Audi China's premium in-car 'Parking Info' Audi connect service.

The Parkopedia premium parking service will be provided in partnership with Amap, China's leading provider of map data and connected vehicle services. It will include space availability information; which will allow drivers to go directly to an open spot as opposed to circling the block searching for an opening.

"Audi is a leader in innovation and quality. It is an honour to be selected as the provider of a key component of Audi's market leading connected services across all model lines in China," commented James Wang, Parkopedia's Managing Director China.

Commenting on the announcement, Parkopedia's COO Hans Puvogel said "At Parkopedia, we understand the value of the connected car and this exciting new partnership builds on our efforts to bring drivers parking information and services during every step of their journey."

The announcement was made during Telematics @ China; the leading international conference dedicated to vehicle OEM technology and innovation in China.

Notes to Editors:

Parkopedia is the world's leading parking service provider used by millions of drivers and organizations such as Apple, BMW, Coyote, Ford, Garmin, GM, Jaguar, Land Rover, Peugeot, Sygic, TomTom, Toyota, Volvo and many others.

Parkopedia provides detailed static information on 50 million parking spaces in 6000 cities in 75 countries; including real-time parking space availability information in over 1000 cities in 30 countries.

The service allows drivers to find the closest parking to their destination, tells them how much it will cost and whether the space is available. Parkopedia also allows drivers to pay for parking online, through a mobile app and in-car.



Further Enquiries:

James Wang

Managing Director China

T: +86-18621832223

E: james@parkopedia.com



Christina Onesirosan Martinez MBA MCIM

Marketing Director

Parkopedia

T: +44-(0)7980-058760

E: christina@parkopedia.com

W: http://www.parkopedia.com



SOURCE Parkopedia
China's Coal-to-Electricity event is a large-scale government-subsidized project which aims to transform the traditional method of coal-fired house-heating during the winter in rural areas of north China, using heat pumps and other more energy-saving environmental protection equipment as an alternative. Winters in northern China are generally cold and dry, and the temperature in some extreme cold areas is often under -25C.

About PHNIX's Low-Temp. Heat Pump HeatPro Series

PHNIX's HeatPro Series of heat pumps, with Enhanced Vapor Injection (EVI) technology for dedicated heat pump applications, deliver outstanding performance and reliability, both in new buildings and boiler replacements. PHNIX has now developed a complete product line for R410A, obtaining significant benefits for the heat pump system using this refrigerant, which enables the design of more efficient and more compact equipment.

Thanks to EVI technology, PHNIX's HeatPro Series features a wide operating temperature range; the unit can reach a high water temperature of 55-65C even in cold climates ranging from -20C to 43C.

Government-Subsidized Coal-to-Electricity Project in China

In order to control the haze and adjust the country's energy infrastructure, some local governments, such as Beijing Municipality, have introduced clean air policy measures to reduce coal consumption by replacing coal-fired house-heating with air source heat pump equipment in rural areas. Users have used these subsidies to purchase heat pump products worth anywhere from a few thousand to as much as tens of thousands of RMB. Related to use the heat pumps, consumers get more benefits in the form of special power subsidies, which reduce electricity prices to as low as 1 cent per kilowatt hour.

About PHNIX

PHNIX is an international enterprise that specializes in the R&D and production of heat pump products and energy-saving solutions. Nearly 50% of PHNIX products are exported to Europe, the United States and other overseas markets. Headquartered in Guangzhou, China, PHNIX has been named a China High-quality Brand and Guangzhou High-tech Enterprise. For more information about PHNIX and its products, please visit www.phnix-e.com.

John Zhu

+86-20-3906-7742

john_zhu@phnix.com

Related Links

http://www.phnix-e.com



SOURCE Guangdong PHNIX Eco-Energy Solution Ltd.
ZURICH, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Refugees, their flight, their lives in the camps. That is all the world talks about. That they are human beings, just like you and I, is all too often forgotten. With http://www.projectlifejacket.com, over 20 European NGOs shift the focus to these human beings and depict their life stories on life jackets. Those very life jackets that have become the symbol of the unnamed refugees. The project intends to catapult the refugee crisis back on the agenda of politicians, the media and the European public.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161202/444993 )

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161202/446122 )



Quick Links

Short documentary: https://youtu.be/lAt-8zW_eIc

Video, image and audio download: http://share.jvm.ch/file/7rzH5/

Currently, an estimated 60 million people globally are on the move. Human beings, stigmatised by a single word: refugee. Often associated with criminal behaviour, violence and poverty, it is all too often forgotten that these people led perfectly normal lives before they had to flee. That is why the Swiss NGO "The Voice Of Thousands", supported by over 20 European NGOs, has initiated Project Lifejacket. "We visited refugees in camps in Greece and drew the life stories of nine individuals onto life jackets", says joint initiator Michael Grossenbacher. The drawings bear witness to their lives before the war, before they had to put on a life jacket and become 'refugees'.

Nine life jackets, nine life stories

Ismail Nerabani, a 36-year-old father of two was born in Aleppo and studied French literature. "We were very happy with our life; we lacked for nothing", Nerabani remembers. On projectlifejacket.com everyone can experience the life stories of Ismail and eight other people first-hand. The initiative also provides opportunities for meaningful support with direct impact: donations of money and goods and the opportunity to get personally involved.

Media contact

Michael Grossenbacher

projectlifejacket@jvm.ch

+41-44-254-66-27



#projectlifejacket

https://www.facebook.com/ProjectLifeJacket

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXyYyUwFRxQaPWRyazY6ohg

https://twitter.com/ProLifeJacket



SOURCE Project Life Jacket
BUCHAREST, Romania, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Liviu Dragnea, leader of the Social Democratic Party of Romania (PSD), today outlined a series of budget proposals designed to raise revenues but leave more in the pockets of ordinary Romanians. The budget unveiled by Mr. Dragnea puts into concrete terms the electoral program that has spearheaded the PSD campaign of the past several months, focusing on a robust set of pro-growth fiscal measures and branded under the slogan "Dare to Believe in Romania."

Mr. Dragnea also announced a major increase in defence spending, in keeping with commitments by Nato members to spend at least 2% of GDP on military preparedness, to join just five other member states currently meeting that target. This would be a significant policy change for Romania, representing a 40% increase in expenditure.

Despite continued economic growth arising from the pre-2016 PSD government's programs, national revenues under the current caretaker government have actually declined, the first time this has occurred since 2009. In recent weeks, in the run-up to parliamentary elections this Sunday (Dec. 11), Mr. Dragnea has made a series of announcements intended to convert the country's growth into genuine benefits for Romanian citizens.

"This budget shows with clear figures that our proposals will put the economic growth into people's pockets, through higher wages and pensions as well as investments in education, health and infrastructure, so that Romanians can enjoy a better life as part of the growing middle class," Mr. Dragnea told a Bucharest press conference today.

He said the next PSD government's priorities would be higher incomes for Romanians, investments in education, health and infrastructure and lower taxes.

The plan anticipates budgetary revenues of 254 billion lei (approximately EUR 56.5 billion at current rates), an increase of about 10% from the current year. Main sources would be VAT, excise taxes, other service charges and income tax revenues. In addition, funds from the European Union are forecast to increase to 21 billion lei in 2017. The PSD has been highly critical of the current government's failures to draw down funds from the EU having failed to meet administrative requirements.

The plan released today proposes expenditures of 276 billion lei, including:

A 20% average rise in wages for the public employees.

An increase in pensions of 14.7%, with the minimum pension rising to 520 lei/month from 400 lei.

A 6.8-billion lei increase in public investment (local development, modernization and construction of medical facilities, modernization of schools, infrastructure, etc).

Mr. Dragnea proposed budget cuts for the ministries of finance, energy and communications, a 20.9% cut in the budget of the Senate and 17.9% cut in the budget of the Chamber of Deputies.

"Our priorities will be to increase spending on health, education, wages, pensions, agriculture and defense while cutting wasteful spending in Parliament administration and the government ministries," he said.

By setting defence spending at 2% of GDP, Romania will be joining the US, Greece, Poland, Estonia and the UK as the only NATO members currently meeting or exceeding member countries' commitments, agreed to at NATO's 2014 summit in Wales. "As a strategically located state, we have a responsibility to meet our obligations to our defence partners and to invest in our own security," Mr. Dragnea said.

In several pre-election announcements, Mr. Dragnea has already announced the main elements of the PSD economic plan. These include a major investment program, dramatic tax changes, steps to attract desperately needed medical professional back to Romania and a program to give bootstrap support for new businesses.

A national reindustrialization program is designed ultimately to generate 45,000 new jobs. Linchpin of the plan is a EUR 10 billion (45 billion Romanian Leu) state investment fund, the Sovereign Fund for Development and Investment or SFDI (Fondul Suveran de Dezvoltare si Investitii, or FSDI), which is to be created from the assets owned by the state in 200 companies. The fund is expected to generate revenues of over 50 billion leu in the next four years, as dividends from those companies are reinvested, and private investments are attracted.

About the Social Democratic Party of Romania

The PSD, in Romanian Partidul Social Democrat, was originally formed in 1992 as a party of the center-left and is currently the largest grouping in both lower and upper houses of the nation's parliament, while also controlling more than half of the mayoralties and over 65% of local and county councils, including the capital of Bucharest. The PSD paved the way for Romania's historic accession process into the EU in 2007, and today holds 16 of the country's 32 MEPs. Its 2012-15 government was considered one of Romania's best, leading the country's emergence from the economic crisis and achieving rapid growth, together with a sharp increase of people's living standards. Liviu Dragnea, the PSD's current president, was elected party leader in 2015 and has since led a series of reforms that have positioned the PSD to form Romania's next government. Mr. Dragnea is a former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Regional Development.

For further information: Steluta Negoita, +40 730 650 545, presa@psd.ro in Bucharest or Zhenya Harrison, +44 (0)20 3397 2825 or zhenya.harrison@belgravestrategic.com in London.

SOURCE Social Democratic Party of Romania
Ray Iglesias to Serve as Executive Chairman

NEW YORK, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ubiquity Global Services, a multinational business services organization, today announced that Matthew Nyren has been appointed the company's chief executive officer. Nyren will assume responsibilities on January 1, 2017 and will succeed Ray Iglesias, who will serve as the company's executive chairman.

Nyren, who founded Ubiquity in 2012, will continue to serve as the company's president. The company has grown significantly since its inception, expanding to more than 2,000 employees while serving over 30 clients from the United States, El Salvador, the Philippines and multiple centers in Europe.

"I'd like to thank both Ray Iglesias and our board for their confidence and support shown in asking me to serve as Ubiquity's next CEO," Nyren said. "I am both humbled and thrilled to be given the opportunity to move our company forward during its next phase of growth and global expansion."

Iglesias will continue to chair Ubiquity's board of directors and provide the company with strategic guidance as its executive chairman. "This is an exciting day for both Matthew and me as we continue to realize Ubiquity's founding vision. Our new roles will allow our continued partnership to maximize Ubiquity's value as it grows both organically and through future acquisitions."

Ubiquity board member Jonathan Weiner added, "Since the founding of Ubiquity nearly five years ago, the company has actualized its original vision of serving as the leading outsourcer for the payments industry. Ray and Matthew's new roles provide an opportunity to build upon this accomplishment while growing new and recently added market segments, along with expanding the scope of services and geographies supported."

About Ubiquity Global Services

Ubiquity Global Services, Inc. (www.ubiquitygs.com) is a multinational outsourcing organization offering a wide variety of support services designed to improve customer satisfaction while reducing operating costs. The company's offering includes live customer experience management services, interactive voice response (IVR) solutions, multi-channel correspondence servicing and risk management solutions. Ubiquity has developed a next-generation technology platform engineered for operational excellence while delivering its clients meaningful and actionable business intelligence. Headquartered in New York City, the company's expanding network includes service delivery locations in the United States, Hungary, Portugal, El Salvador and the Philippines. Together with its clients, Ubiquity is pioneering a new approach for maximizing the potential of every customer contact.

Contact:

Ubiquity Global Services

Contact: Stuart Littler

Phone: +1 646-679-4903

Email: stuart.littler@ubiquitygs.com

Related Links

http://www.ubiquitygs.com



SOURCE Ubiquity Global Services
"Food and drink consumption is the number one traveler activity," said Erik Wolf, Executive Director of the World Food Travel Association. "Our goal is to unite the food & beverage and travel & hospitality industries in order to create connections and more opportunities for food tourism  ultimately leading to economic growth and increased traveler satisfaction."

Food and drink tourism is much more than visiting restaurants and wineries. In total, 20 different sectors of the food, drink, travel and hospitality industries will be represented at the convention. The speaker line-up and topics to be discussed at this year's convention include:

Adnan Nawaz , News Presenter, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Official Emcee of FoodTrekking World

, News Presenter, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Stephen Joyce , CEO, Rezgo.com, The Next Big Thing in Tech for Food Tourism

, CEO, Rezgo.com, Gabi Logan , Travel Journalist and author of The Six-Figure Travel Writing Road Map, Building Your Food Tourism Brand Story

, Travel Journalist and author of The Six-Figure Travel Writing Road Map, Benjamin Brown , Content Strategy and Development Lead for Princess Cruises, What's Your Food Tourism Content Strategy?

, Content Strategy and Development Lead for Princess Cruises, Risa Meynarez , CEO, Consumers Everywhere, It's Time to Be Fearless: Food Tourism & Millennials

, CEO, Consumers Everywhere, Steven Shomler , Author and Speaker, Consultant and Culinary Storyteller, The Future of Social Media in Food Tourism

, Author and Speaker, Consultant and Culinary Storyteller, Chase Ramsey , Actor & Director/Host, California Dream Eater, The Road Less Traveled

, Actor & Director/Host, California Dream Eater, Erik Wolf , Executive Director, World Food Travel Association, Keynote: State of the Food Travel Industry & the Food Tourism 2025 Initiative

"It's no secret that 100% of travelers eat and drink," added Wolf. "They can return home with memories of a chain coffee and hamburger, or they can return sharing stories of unique and memorable local delicacies like authentic brioche in France, strawberry juice in Brazil or sumac in Jordan, to name a few examples. Our mission is to enhance the traveler experience through food  and create new opportunities for food & beverage and travel & hospitality operators alike."

Examples of food tourism activities are wide-ranging and can include:

Visiting local or gourmet grocery stores to browse and purchase food souvenirs

Tours of breweries, distilleries or wineries and/or meeting the brewer/distiller/winemaker

Cooking classes featuring local cuisine

Visits to farms and food/drink factories

Attending food or drink-themed events

Sharing pictures and videos of food-centric activities with friends and family

Using multiple dining smartphone apps and hard-to-find websites to dig deep to uncover locals-only foodie secrets

Walking or multi-day escorted tours of cities and regions featuring culinary highlights

The 2017 FoodTrekking World Convention and Consumer Show will include programming for industry professionals, as well as opportunities for consumers to explore the intersection of food and travel. A full event schedule follows:

Event Timeline

Saturday, April 1, 2017

Delegate arrivals and food tours of Portland

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Day: FoodTrekking Expo for consumers

Evening: Trade delegate opening reception

Monday, April 3, 2017

Day 1 of FoodTrekking World for the trade

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Day 2 of FoodTrekking World for the trade

2017 FoodTrekking Awards ceremony

The venue for all events is the Ambridge Event Center, 1333 Northeast Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard, Portland, Oregon 97232 http://ambridgeevents.com/

Registration

Registration is now open online at the FoodTrekking World website. Best pricing on both registration and exhibitor booths is available until December 31. Prices increase for both on January 1 and again on March 1 so trade professionals should register now for maximum savings. Consumers may also purchase tickets online or at the door.

ABOUT FOODTREKKING WORLD

"FoodTrekking World" is the new name of the event that the WFTA has produced since its first international conference in Victoria, BC, Canada in 2004. The event's format has evolved over the years and now features high quality business to business appointments between buyers and sellers of food, beverage, travel and hospitality products and services; 8 world-class and inspirational keynote speakers; unparalleled social and networking opportunities and the event's hallmark: a serious focus on the food and beverage of the host destination and its region. See the complete convention website, which details all activities, speakers and sessions at www.FoodTrekkingWorld.org.

ABOUT THE ASSOCIATION

The World Food Travel Association (WFTA) is a non-profit and non-governmental organization (NGO) and the world's leading authority on food tourism. The Association creates economic opportunities where food and drink meet travel and hospitality. The WFTA serves 44,000 professionals in 139 countries.

MORE INFORMATION

Press Contact Erik Wolf, Executive Director, World Food Travel Association

help@worldfoodtravel.org

(+1) 503-213-3700 (GMT  8)

FoodTrekking World

www.FoodTrekkingWorld.org

World Food Travel Association (WFTA)

www.worldfoodtravel.org

KEYWORDS

food, drink, travel, hospitality, food tourism, wine tourism, culinary tourism, food tours, restaurant, winery, brewery, World Food Travel Association, FoodTrekking World, international food travel summit, global food travel summit, online education





Related Links

http://www.worldfoodtravel.org



SOURCE World Food Travel Association
DUBLIN, Dec 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Yacht Industry - Global Strategic Business Report" report to their offering.

This report analyzes the worldwide markets for Yacht Industry in US$ Million. The report provides separate comprehensive analytics for the US, Canada, Europe, China, and Rest of World.

Annual estimates and forecasts are provided for the period 2015 through 2022. Also, a six-year historic analysis is provided for these markets. Market data and analytics are derived from primary and secondary research.



The report profiles 214 companies including many key and niche players such as



Azimut Benetti ( Italy )

) Baglietto s.p.a ( Italy )

) Bavaria Yachtbau GmbH ( Germany )

) BENETEAU ( France )

) Blohm+Voss Shipyards ( Germany )

) Brunswick Corporation (US)

Cheoy Lee Shipyards Limited ( China )

) Christensen Shipyards Ltd. (US)

Dyna Craft Ltd. ( Taiwan )

) Feadship ( The Netherlands )

) Ferretti S.p.a ( Italy )

) FIPA Group ( Italy )

) HanseYachts AG ( Germany )

) Horizon Yacht Company ( Taiwan )

) Kingship Marine Limited ( Hong Kong )

) Fr. Lurssen Werft GmbH & Co. KG ( Germany )

) Oceanco ( The Netherlands )

) Overmarine Group ( Italy )

) Perini Navi S.p.a ( Italy )

) Princess Yachts International Plc (UK)

Sanlorenzo Spa ( Italy )

) Shanghai Double Happiness Yacht Co., Ltd ( China )

) Sunbird Yacht Co., Ltd. ( China )

) Sunrise Yachts ( Turkey )

) Sunseeker International (UK)

Trinity Yachts (US)

Yantai CIMC Raffles Shipyard Limited ( China )

Key Topics Covered:



1. Industry Overview



2. Market Trends And Issues



3. Introduction To Yachts



4. Product Introductions/Innovations



5. Recent Industry Activity



6. Focus On Select Players



7. Global Market Perspective



Total Companies Profiled: 214 (including Divisions/Subsidiaries 217)



The United States (34)

(34) Canada (3)

(3) Japan (1)

(1) Europe (133)

(133) - France (14)

(14) - Germany (10)

(10) - The United Kingdom (7)

(7) - Italy (36)

(36) - Spain (4)

(4) - Rest of Europe (62)

(62) Asia-Pacific (Excluding Japan) (34)

(Excluding Japan) (34) Latin America (5)

(5) Africa (4)

(4) Middle East (3)

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/3fvx53/yacht_industry

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Related Links

http://www.researchandmarkets.com



SOURCE Research and Markets
AT&T's plan to purchase Time Warner for $85 billion would give the company far more than just a handful of popular basic cable channels  it would also include some of the most prolific television studios in the industry.

At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, senators raised concerns that the deal would let the combined company charge competing distributors more for TV content  or to cut them off completely. The planned acquisition was often compared to Comcast (CMCSA)'s 2011 acquisition of NBCUniversal, which required conditions from the Federal Communications Commission.

Time Warner (TWX)'s television studios produce far more content for channels owned by its competitors, while Comcast tends to produce content for its own channels, according to a CNBC review of media industry database Variety Insight. (CNBC is a unit of Comcast and NBCUniversal.)

A handful of studios owned by Time Warner  most importantly Warner Bros. Television and Warner Horizon Television  are responsible for more than 80 television shows, according to the Variety Insight data. About a third of those shows were made for channels owned by competitors.



Those aren't small, unknown shows. Time Warner (which does not own a broadcast network itself) has had a hand in a hit show for each of the major broadcast networks. While Comcast's NBCUniversal is a major content producer for television, the vast majority of its output is created for its own channels. An NBCUniversal spokesperson declined to comment.





Warner Bros. is the world's largest film and television studio and the biggest producer of prime-time broadcast series, bringing in about $13 billion last year, according to the company's filings.

The deal would give AT&T (NYSE:T) a strong bargaining position at two steps in the television business: The combined company would own content that is in demand on a wide variety of channels, and it would own channels that are in demand for most major distributors, including AT&T. Time Warner's TNT, TBS and CNN are among the 10 most expensive basic channels for those distributors, according to data from SNL Kagan.

Story continues

Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes and AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said on Capitol Hill that the company would not use its stronger negotiating position to raise prices or cut off competitors. Bewkes said the company's business is based on full distribution and that cutting off other distributors would impede the company's ability to sell advertising and to acquire hit shows and movies. Stephenson has previously committed to maintaining Time Warner's "wide and broad distribution."

The week after the merger announcement, AT&T said it was launching a new over-the-top TV streaming option that would provide 100 channels for $35 a month  undercutting competitors in a way that Stephenson said was only possible before the company bought DirectTV last year.



Carolyn Finger, senior vice president at Variety Insight, agreed that the revenue from selling to competing distributors is a valuable asset for the company and that it would be a bad decision to jeopardize that business.

"Aside from raising some sort of regulatory ire, if they choke off Fox for example, it may not be in their best interest," said Finger. "They can't be entirely self-dealing."

Like the NBCUniversal-Comcast merger before it, the AT&T deal will face substantial scrutiny from regulators. President-elect Donald Trump said during the recent presidential campaign that he would block the deal.





More From CNBC


JACKSON, Mich., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumers Energy has reached agreement with Entergy Corporation for early termination of its contract to purchase power from the Palisades nuclear plant. Regulatory approval of the agreement is expected to lower customer costs by as much as $172 million, as well as drive additional investment by Consumers Energy in clean energy, reliability and customer demand-reduction technologies, leading to further customer savings.

"We have a comprehensive plan to ensure ongoing reliability and affordability for our 1.8 million electric customers," said Patti Poppe, president and chief executive officer for Consumers Energy. That plan includes continued excellent power plant performance by Consumers Energy, robust waste-reducing energy efficiency programs, and adding more renewable energy and clean natural gas-fired generation to the company's portfolio.

Since the power purchase contract began in 2007 as a condition of the sale of Palisades from Consumers Energy to Entergy a number of things have changed. Entergy started to reduce its merchant footprint. At the same time, market conditions have changed and less expensive alternatives are now available to provide affordable power to the region.

Under the original 15-year power purchase agreement, Consumers Energy was scheduled to purchase almost 100 percent of the power generated by Palisades through April 2022. Consumers Energy will seek approval from the Michigan Public Service Commission for early termination of the power purchase agreement in 2018.

Entergy has announced its separate, independent decision to close its Palisades plant on October 1, 2018. Prior to that date, Consumers Energy's contract with Palisades will support electric reliability in Michigan and be available during the summer months of 2017 and 2018 when demand for electricity is higher. Separately, as part of Consumers Energy's ongoing talent recruitment efforts, it will consider potential job placements in ensuing years of up to 180 appropriately-skilled employees from Palisades into the utility's statewide workforce.

Supporting southwest Michigan during this community transition process is a key focus for Consumers Energy. Accordingly, the Consumers Energy Foundation will contribute $2 million to support economic development and community transition initiatives, consulting with the Council of Michigan Foundations and local stakeholders. Separately, Entergy is committing $8 million, for a total of $10 million by the two companies.

"We're committed to working with State and regional organizations to ensure the ongoing economic vibrancy of southwest Michigan," said Poppe.

Consumers Energy, Michigan's largest utility, is the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy (NYSE: CMS), providing natural gas and electricity to 6.7 million of the state's 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties.

Important information for investors

This news release contains "forward-looking statements." The forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause CMS Energy's and Consumers Energy's results to differ materially. All forward-looking statements should be considered in the context of the risk and other factors detailed from time to time in CMS Energy's and Consumers Energy's Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

Investors and others should note that CMS Energy routinely posts important information on its website and considers the Investor Relations section, www.cmsenergy.com/investor-relations, a channel of distribution.

Check out Consumers Energy on Social Media

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/consumersenergymichigan

Twitter: https://twitter.com/consumersenergy

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/consumersenergy

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/consumersenergy

Benefits of early termination of power purchase contract

CUSTOMER SAVINGS: Estimated at $172 million. Depending on usage, savings of between 1-1.5% per customer.

RELIABILITY: Continued strong reliability

CLEAN POWER: More investments in Michigan-based clean energy

DEMAND-REDUCTION: Technologies that reduce energy waste and save customers money

Community transition investment

PLEDGE TO SUPPORT: Committing $2 million through Consumers Energy Foundation to support community transition. Entergy is committing $8 million, for $10 million total.

WORKFORCE REVIEW: Consideration of up to 180 appropriately-skilled workers from Palisades plant to Consumers Energy over time.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160126/326177LOGO

SOURCE Consumers Energy

Related Links

http://www.consumersenergy.com


DELRAY BEACH, Fla., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- All County Pavement Management Solutions was honored to be awarded 2016 Company of the Year, in recognition of its Outstanding Commitment from the Underground Contractors Association of South Florida (UCA). The award was presented on December 7 at their Annual event in Boca Raton.

As a leading asphalt paving contractor for over 30 years, All County Paving has been developing unique solutions for clients, with projects for Fortune 500 companies, regional property management, homeowners associations, healthcare organizations and more. All County Paving gives customers an unmatched experience, using the highest quality materials and providing cost effective solutions, earning us the reputation of the premiere and most reliable paving contractors.

All County Paving will be celebrating this Saturday at their Holiday party, expected to have more than 400 employees and their families attend our Western BBQ at our Delray Beach headquarters.

Ken Goldberg, President and CEO stated, "We have experienced unprecedented growth here at All County Paving, and are honored to have been awarded 'Company of the Year' from UCA. We started as a small local company and will now be celebrating with more than 400 team members at a major company event this weekend. We take pride in our team and our work; it's a true testament to our organization."

If you would like more information, please contact Deborah Schalm at 561.455.0453 or email [email protected].

Website: www.allcountypaving.com

SOURCE All County Pavement Management Solutions

Related Links

http://www.allcountypaving.com


"This event was meaningful for both the dealers who attended the conference and built these bikes and the local children who came to pick out their special holiday gift," said Jacqueline Howard, director of corporate citizenship at Ally. "One of our goals at Ally is to spread awareness to our dealer network about the importance of giving back, not only because it has positive reputational and business impacts, but also because it's the right thing to do. We want to encourage and support dealers in their efforts to give back, and this event was a great example."

Charitable giving was a new topic for the Ally Automotive Leadership Academy conference, which was held December 5-9 in Miami. The topic was chosen because of Ally's focus on corporate citizenship and the company's belief that charitable giving can help to strengthen and enhance the reputation of a dealership in their community.

"This was such a heartwarming surprise for our kids," said Ronny Vera, director of the Boys & Girls Club of South Beach. "There is a great need in our community, and we are thankful not only for Ally's donation of bikes today, but also that the company is inspiring other businesses across the country to get involved and make a difference."

The Ally Automotive Leadership Academy launched in 2015 and aims to gather dealers from across the country for in-depth training on topics of interest to auto professionals like F&I management, leadership and compliance education.

For more information about Ally Automotive Leadership Academy, please visit: https://www.ally.com/learn/leadership/

About Ally Financial Inc.

Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY) is a leading digital financial services company and a top 25 U.S. financial holding company offering financial products for consumers, businesses, automotive dealers and corporate clients. Ally's legacy dates back to 1919, and the company was redesigned in 2009 with a distinctive brand, innovative approach and relentless focus on its customers. Ally has an award-winning online bank (Ally Bank Member FDIC), one of the largest full service auto finance operations in the country, a complementary auto-focused insurance business, a growing digital wealth management and online brokerage platform, and a trusted corporate finance business offering capital for equity sponsors and middle-market companies.

The company had approximately $157.4 billion in assets as of Sept. 30, 2016. For more information, visit the Ally press room at http://media.ally.com or follow Ally on Twitter: @AllyFinancial.

Media contact:

Sari Jensen

646-781-2539

[email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161206/446880

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161206/446881

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161206/446882

SOURCE Ally Financial

Related Links

https://www.ally.com


Mr. Paul Crisalli Jr. joins Ankura as Senior Managing Director with extensive experience managing complex financial and operational restructurings. For over 15 years, he has advised both public and private distressed and underperforming companies on business plan assessments, financial modeling, liquidity, and strategic planning alternatives. Mr. Crisalli has worked across a wide breadth of industries, including monoline insurers, chemicals, automotive, financial services, healthcare, retail, consumer products, and equipment and transportation rental. His transactional advisory experience includes due diligence, event readiness and advising clients on financing transactions. Mr. Crisalli was most recently with FTI Consulting.

"As we expand our capabilities, Ankura remains committed to building a team of talented and in-demand professionals," said Kevin Lavin, Co-President of Ankura. "We welcome Paul who holds a great deal of expertise across key industries of growth. His experience will prove an asset as we continue to help clients navigate the most challenging of situations."

About Ankura Consulting Group

Ankura Consulting Group is a business advisory and expert services firm. Its deep understanding of the opportunities and challenges clients face enables its team to provide impactful, senior-level counsel. As an independent firm built on five key principles  Integrity, Quality, Diversity, Collaboration and Longevity  Ankura's relationships extend beyond one engagement or issue. The firm empowers its industry experts to provide a high-touch, unique approach for its clients in critical times. Ankura's offering includes a wide range of services offered within its Data Analytics & Technology Services, Investigations & Accounting Advisory, Litigation & Disputes, Regulatory & Contractual Compliance, Risk, Resilience & Geopolitical, Turnaround & Restructuring groups. For more information: ankuraconsulting.com.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446515

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160424/359269LOGO

SOURCE Ankura Consulting Group

Related Links

https://ankuraconsulting.com


LONDON, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

anyoption (http://www.anyoption.com/), the world's leading binary options broker, announced this morning that it has entered into an agreement with GBG, the global leader in identity data intelligence. The agreement provides KYC automation, follow the new regulation coming out by Mifid, ESMA & Cysec, in the anyoption platform through deployment of GBG ID3global identity verification technology into anyoption platform.

As anyoption's user growth continues at a rapid pace, the solution ultimately allows the company to automate and streamline the KYC process. This equates to a shorter onboarding process, helping to improve the end user.

anyoption is also considering implementation of further GBG products and services to address fraud and risk, and to build enhanced customer and location intelligence. The industry leading GBG solutions will further strengthen anyoption's role as a leader in the binary options community by underscoring the importance of taking steps to improve safety and customer experience.

In a statement of anyoptions' founder and CEO, Mr. Shy Datika;

"Our company aspires to excel in every aspect of the business, acknowledging that compliance with the laws is the beating heart of a contemporary investment firm."

Mr. Shy Datika went on to explain that this new collaboration will help anyoption to continue its grow in European and non-European presence and to diversify its set of investment products; saying "anyoption's plan is to become more than the leader of the binary option industry, positioning itself as a boutique investment bank which offers unique investment products, including but not limited to binary options, that outweigh other options available in today's diverse marketplace."

GBG enables innovative organizations, like anyoption, to transact globally with confidence. By adding this fully scalable solution to the anyoption platform, the company will be able to further streamline its process; ultimately making anyoption not only a leader in the industry, but one of the safest brokers to work with.

About anyoption

anyoption's trading platform is operated by Ouroboros Derivatives Trading Ltd., a registered European investment firm authorized and regulated by CySEC under License number: 187/12. anyoption's license is a regulated full market maker, enabling the company to offer the highest level of financial services on par with licenses issued by the EU's regulators and is the only binary options platform recognized by South Africa's FSB.

Contact:

Public Relations

Elise Blanford,

+44-(0)20-8099-7262

[email protected]



SOURCE anyoption
EMERYVILLE, Calif., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Siegel & Strain Architects is honored to receive an AIA San Francisco Community Alliance Award, the Firm Achievement Award, given in recognition of "outstanding contributions to the community, advancement of the profession, and for producing distinguished architecture." The AIA San Francisco Community Alliance Awards celebrate the accomplishments of its awards recipients and the nonprofit community to make San Francisco and Northern California a beautiful, affordable, and resilient place for all.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161208/447043

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161208/447042

Pioneers of the architectural sustainability movement, Siegel & Strain Architects was recognized for innovative, beautiful architecture, sustainable design, and historic preservation and research, acknowledging that places designed to support and build community, can also respond to site and climate and achieve high levels of environmental stewardship.

Siegel & Strain designs many different types of projects, all with resilience and sustainability that reflect client missions and goals. The firm, founded in 1985, has consistently excelled in integrating sustainability and research into their work, setting new standards for the larger community of architects.

Specific to the Firm Achievement Award, most Siegel & Strain projects in the last decade have involved many different types of communities  towns, neighborhoods, schools, camps and parks  projects for groups of people who come together daily, weekly, annually as a community.

"We are honored to receive this award in recognition of the work we do for many different kinds of communities," commented Henry Siegel, Siegel & Strain co-founder. "I think this award is more about the breadth of Siegel & Strain community projects, and the depth of our sustainable design efforts. We have invested our resources heavily over the years in those projects that benefit communities and environments where people gather."

Siegel referred specifically to Siegel & Strain projects for towns: Portola Valley Town Center, Yountville Town Center, Orinda City Hall, Brisbane Library; other community serving designs: Bayer Park, McClellan Ranch Environmental Education Center, and the Redwoods National and State Parks Visitor Center. The firm has also left its mark in learning communities and schools, including projects such as the Bishop O'Dowd Center for Environmental Studies, the Hamlin School, Vincent Academy, the Dwight Early Childhood Development Center at UC Berkeley, UC Berkeley Hillel, and the Maritime Child Development Center. Siegel & Strain is also proud to have worked with many environmental education and camp communities including the National Environmental Science Center in Yosemite National Park, Camp Arroyo Environmental Education Camp, Camp Newman, the Wilshire Boulevard Temple Camps, and Camp Bothin.

The Community Alliance Awards recognizes individuals, firms, and organizations for their contributions to enriching the quality of life in the Bay Area through their commitment to design excellence. Now in its second year, the awards jury consisted of Shalini Agrawal, Director at CCA's Center for Art and Public Life; Michael S. Bernard, AIA, Founder of Virtual Practice Consulting; Susie Coliver, Principal at Herman Coliver Locus Architecture; and Patrick Otellini, Chief Resilience Officer at City and County of San Francisco. Recipients will be honored at a breakfast event in San Francisco on December 9, 2016.

ABOUT SIEGEL & STRAIN

Located in Emeryville, California, Siegel & Strain Architects is an innovative design firm with a commitment to sustainable design and superior client responsiveness. The firm has won more than 70 design awards, including four AIA Committee on the Environment Top Ten Green Projects awards, for projects that range from institutional and historic to residential. www.siegelstrain.com

CONTACT

Michelle Slade

Walter Communications

[email protected]

+1 415 215 1521

SOURCE Siegel & Strain Architects

Related Links

http://www.siegelstrain.com


At an opening reception held recently at the branch, more than a dozen student photographers from LaGuardia Community College were joined by friends, family, professors and administrators, as well as members of the local business community who admired the students' work.

The exhibit, which runs through April 2017, celebrates LIC's history as a hub of industrial design and manufacturing, its present day as a rapidly-developing neighborhood, and predictions of what its future may look like. LaGuardia's commercial photography students were asked to canvas the neighborhood to capture its energy, community and markers of cultural significance. It was curated by LaGuardia Community College Photography Program Director Scott Sternbach and his team.

The exhibit's theme is especially meaningful for Astoria Bank, a full-service community bank which was established in Long Island City well over a century ago, in 1888, as well as for LaGuardia Community College, which has been a prominent institution in LIC since 1971.

"Giving our students an opportunity to showcase their work in a well-trafficked local business is enormously meaningful for our photography students," said LaGuardia Community College President Gail O. Mellow. "This gives them a taste of life as a working photographer, and provides valuable learning about all it takes to curate and execute a photography exhibit from start to finish. We're enormously grateful to Astoria Bank for supporting our students in this way."

In recent months, Astoria Bank has partnered with LaGuardia Community College to fund a scholarship program for students pursuing associate's degrees in commercial photography, and is also providing financial literacy workshops to help LaGuardia students better manage their personal finances now and into the future.

"We are dedicated to making a difference in the Long Island City community and are proud of the wonderful partnership we have with LaGuardia Community College. Their students are passionate about developing their skills and careers, and we're excited to showcase their work in our branch for the community to enjoy," said Astoria Bank Executive Vice President Brian Edwards.

The public is welcome to visit the exhibit during the bank's convenient operating hours, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.

About Astoria Financial Corporation

Astoria Financial Corporation (NYSE: AF), with assets of $14.8 billion, is the holding company for Astoria Bank. Established in 1888, Astoria Bank, with deposits in New York totaling $8.9 billion, is the second largest thrift depository in New York and provides its retail and business customers and local communities it serves with quality financial products and services through 88 convenient banking branch locations, a business banking office in Manhattan, and multiple delivery channels, including its flexible mobile banking app. Astoria Bank commands a significant deposit market share in the attractive Long Island market, which includes Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk counties with a population exceeding that of 38 individual states. Astoria Bank originates multi-family and commercial real estate loans, primarily on rent controlled and rent stabilized apartment buildings, located in New York City and the surrounding metropolitan area and originates residential mortgage loans through its banking and loan production offices in New York, a broker network in four states, primarily along the East Coast, and correspondent relationships covering 13 states and the District of Columbia.

About the Commercial Photography program at LaGuardia Community College

LaGuardia is the only two-year institution in the City University of New York (CUNY) to offer an Associate in Applied Sciences degree in Photography. Students in the Commercial Photography program, administered by the Humanities Department, use professional photographic equipment and facilities, such as a state of the art black & white and color darkroom, shooting studios and digital imaging facility. Photography courses are taught by faculty members who are currently working in the field and are exhibiting artists, enabling students to gain experience from all over the photographic and arts spectrum in this quickly changing industry. Visit www.laguardia.edu/commercial-photography/ to learn more.

About LaGuardia Community College

LaGuardia Community College located in Long Island City, Queens, was founded in 1971 as a bold experiment in opening the doors of higher education to all, and we proudly carry forward that legacy today. LaGuardia educates students through over 50 degree, certificate and continuing education programs, providing an inspiring place for students to achieve their dreams. Upon graduation, LaGuardia students' lives are transformed as family income increases 17%, and students transfer to four-year colleges at three times the national average. Part of the City University of New York (CUNY), LaGuardia is a nationally recognized leader among community colleges for boundary-breaking success educating underserved students. At LaGuardia we imagine new ideas, create new curriculum and pioneer programs to make our community and our country stronger. Visit www.laguardia.edu to learn more.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161208/447280

SOURCE Astoria Bank

Related Links

http://www.astoriafederal.com


After a very low pace of growth in 2015, global trade growth has slowed even further over the first half of 2016, according to Atradius Credit Insurance N.V.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150513/743985 )



Trade growth in Emerging Asia, the world's second largest trade bloc, is extremely low, as China rebalances from investment-driven growth toward a more inward-looking consumption-led growth. Lower commodity prices have also dampened investment in natural resource-rich economies around the world which has contributed to a sharp contraction of trade in Eastern Europe and slowdown in Latin America. Even the US has seen its trade growth grind to a halt, due to lower investment in the oil and gas sector, but also because of lower external demand and a strong USD which have reduced exports.

In 2016, the tempo of growth in world trade is expected to be about one-third of global GDP growth. Such a low rate of trade growth has not occurred since the global economic crisis of 2009. Anti-globalisation sentiment is rising, as is evidenced by political developments like Brexit and the election of Donald Trump as US president. Trade liberalisation efforts like TPP and TTIP are stalling, thereby threatening the outlook for trade.

Subdued global GDP growth already motivates a subdued global insolvency outlook, but muted trade growth could put upward pressure on insolvencies in countries that are dependent on trade. Brexit-related uncertainty is expected to increase corporate bankruptcies in economies with a heavy focus on exporting to the UK. Protectionist measures in the US could have the same effect on economies with high trade ties to the US, especially those in Latin America.

"Matters for trade are made far worse by political developments," said John Lorie, global chief economist at Atradius, "These are flatly trade-unfriendly, as signalled not only by the Brexit vote in the UK, but also by the stalling of the regional trade liberalization efforts. Anti-trade rhetoric by US president-elect Donald Trump make matters even worse. These developments are likely to weigh on future trade data."

Read more about the global economic environment and gain insights into prospects and risks based on the main regions in our November Atradius Economic Outlook.

About Atradius

Atradius provides trade credit insurance, surety and collections services worldwide through a strategic presence in 50 countries. Atradius has access to credit information on 200 million companies worldwide. Its credit insurance, bonding and collections products help protect companies throughout the world from payment risks associated with selling products and services on trade credit. Atradius forms part of Grupo Catalana Occidente (GCO.MC), one of the leading insurers in Spain and worldwide in credit insurance.

atradius.com

SOURCE Atradius N.V.
SAN DIEGO, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Avelas Biosciences, Inc., a clinical stage oncology-focused company dedicated to improving cancer patient care from diagnosis through treatment, today presented clinical trial data from the company's recently completed Phase 1b study in breast cancer patients utilizing investigational drug product AVB-620, at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. Jonathan Unkart, M.D., resident physician at Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health, delivered the presentation titled "Intraoperative tumor detection using a ratiometric activatable fluorescent peptide: A first-in-human phase 1 study allows tumors to be visualized in the operating room" on behalf of himself and senior author Anne Wallace, M.D., Director of the Comprehensive Breast Health Center at Moores Cancer Center.

The study represents the first-in-human experience with investigational drug product AVB-620, an activatable fluorescent peptide which is a potential adjunct in surgery for identifying tumors in real time. Dr. Unkart provided details on the safety and early results on proof-of-concept for the use of AVB-620 in identifying breast tumors during surgery. Specifically, no drug-related adverse events were noted in the trial and AVB-620 was able to achieve separation of tumor from adjacent tissues using a fluorescent image in both primary tumors and in lymph nodes.

"This data shows the exciting promise of using a tumor's biology to improve a surgeon's precision in the operating room," said Dr. Unkart. "Knowing that a patient's breast cancer was fully removed upon first attempt will be of comfort to both patient and doctor, potentially preventing tens of thousands of reoperations each year."

"I'm delighted to share our successful Phase 1b results, an important milestone for Avelas Biosciences, at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium," said Carmine N. Stengone, president and chief executive officer of Avelas Biosciences. "Looking ahead we plan to move into a Phase 2 clinical trial of AVB-620 in breast cancer in the first half of 2017, while also pursuing expansion opportunities in additional tumor types. Our hope remains that this is a first and important step towards our company goal of creating better outcomes for cancer patients."

About Avelas Biosciences

Avelas Biosciences is a San Diego-based biotechnology company focused on developing technologies that advance a new standard-of-care for cancer surgery and therapeutic intervention. The company's lead candidate, AVB-620 has completed a Phase 1b clinical trial assessing safety, pharmacokinetics and fluorescence properties using tissue image analysis. The initiation of a Phase 2 clinical trial for AVB-620 in breast cancer is expected in the first half of 2017. Avelas was founded by Avalon Ventures on technology from Roger Y. Tsien, Ph.D., co-winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in chemistry and professor of pharmacology, chemistry and biochemistry at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, who passed away in 2016. For additional information, please visit www.avelasbio.com.

SOURCE Avelas Biosciences, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.avelasbio.com/


CHICAGO, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A new report by A.T. Kearney, "Shop or Drop: The Inevitable Path for Growth in Beauty," analyzes the M&A landscape of the beauty and personal care (BPC) market and predicts that the industry is ripe for consolidation and that M&A activity in the sector will accelerate. Survival of both large and small firms in the sector depends on making strategically smart acquisitions or being acquired. The study provides a detailed analysis of 214 BPC transactions that took place from 2010 to 2016.

The BPC industry has seen significant M&A activity in the past five years. The factors driving this intensification of inorganic growth are stagnant or slow growth in core markets and the highly concentrated nature of the industry; in both the mass and premium segments, the top three players account for 39 percent and 49 percent share respectively.

A.T. Kearney's Merger End Game methodology, which is based on the analysis of hundreds of mergers across industries, suggests that an industry is approaching a "tipping point" when the top three companies in the industry have a combined share of 45 percent or more. The beauty and personal care industry has reached this point.

Hana Ben-Shabat, A.T. Kearney partner and co-author of the report, stated, "Our analysis shows that large-sized corporations in the BPC industry cannot afford to be inactive in the acquisition game if they want to succeed."

The report provides case studies and insights on the four key drivers of M&A in the BPC sector:

Access to consumers. The most widespread strategic M&A driver is the access to consumers. BPC players are looking to expand their share of wallet with new consumer segments.

The most widespread strategic M&A driver is the access to consumers. BPC players are looking to expand their share of wallet with new consumer segments. Access to innovation. Product life cycles are shortening and the ability to scan the market for innovation becomes critical. The BPC industry is increasingly behaving like the tech industry, where leaders leverage smaller rising companies as test labs.

Product life cycles are shortening and the ability to scan the market for innovation becomes critical. The BPC industry is increasingly behaving like the tech industry, where leaders leverage smaller rising companies as test labs. Access to channels. Another driver is the access to distribution channels. A significant number of transactions were motivated by the need to strengthen or build the sales infrastructure of the acquirer especially in the online channel.

Another driver is the access to distribution channels. A significant number of transactions were motivated by the need to strengthen or build the sales infrastructure of the acquirer especially in the online channel. Access to markets. Expansion into new geographies is often a core driver of M&A plays. Acquiring or merging with local players enables rapid access to local distribution channels, bypassing the time and capital needed to build distribution from the ground up.

The analysis of the 214 BPC transactions between 2010 and 2016 also shows that companies in the sector that make acquisitions frequently (more than two transactions a year) have an enterprise value growth rate that is 26 percent higher than companies that had a lower level of transactions during the same time period.

For a copy of the report, please go to https://www.atkearney.com/consumer-products-retail.

About A.T. Kearney

A.T. Kearney is a leading global management consulting firm with offices in more than 40 countries. Since 1926, we have been trusted advisors to the world's foremost organizations. A.T. Kearney is a partner-owned firm, committed to helping clients achieve immediate impact and growing advantage on their most mission-critical issues. For more information, visit www.atkearney.com.

Contact: Jim Brown

A.T. Kearney

312-223-6220

[email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120925/CG80591LOGO

SOURCE A.T. Kearney

Related Links

http://www.atkearney.com


NEW YORK, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation today announced the award of NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Grants valued at $1.5 million to 15 scientists, who are full professors or the equivalent, conducting innovative projects in diverse areas of neurobiological and behavioral research. Recipients of the $100,000 one-year grants seek new potential targets for understanding and treating psychiatric disorders that affect one in five people, including bipolar disorder, depression, multiple types of mental illness, schizophrenia, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Recipients of the 2016 NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Grants were selected by the Foundation's Scientific Council, which is composed of 173 leading experts across disciplines in brain and behavior research, including two Nobel laureates; four former Directors of The National Institute of Mental Health and the current Director; four recipients of the National Medal of Science; 13 members of the National Academy of Sciences; 26 chairs of Psychiatry and Neuroscience Departments at leading medical institutions; and 55 members of the National Academy of Medicine.

"The Distinguished Investigator awards provide support to encourage established scientists to advance our understanding about mental illness, and brain and behavior disorders," says Foundation President and CEO Jeffrey Borenstein, M.D. "These grants fund creative research to explore new ways of preventing, diagnosing and treating psychiatric disorders."

"The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation's NARSAD grants are remarkable because they serve as seed capital for new approaches that might otherwise go unfunded," said Jack D. Barchas, M.D, Chair and Barklie McKee Henry Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, and Psychiatrist-in-Chief at Weill Cornell Medical College, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Paine Whitney Clinic, who chairs the Scientific Council's Distinguished Investigator selection committee.

"This year, we received a large number of outstanding proposals with the potential to inform several illnesses, reveal new neurobiological or behavioral targets for potential treatment, explore exciting new basic science, pursue translational scholarship and multidisciplinary collaborations, and conduct new early treatment trials that center on new approaches or ways to combine treatment."

The Recipients of the 2016 NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Grants are as follows:

Bipolar Disorder:

Roel A. Ophoff, Ph.D., of the University of California, Los Angeles, will explore how disruptions in circadian rhythms  our internal 24-hour clock  influence bipolar disorder. Dr. Ophoff has collected tissue samples from 100 patients with severe bipolar disorder as well as 100 samples from healthy individuals, and has generated cell cultures from these samples. Dr. Ophoff will use the cultures to examine the molecular regulatory mechanisms underlying the circadian clock. The goal is to use data-driven statistical tools to objectively identify genes and gene clusters that show clock-like patterns of expression. Dr. Ophoff hopes that this work will lay the foundation for systematic investigation of the involvement of the circadian clock in bipolar disorder.

Depression:

Jay M. Baraban, M.D., Ph.D., of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, will explore the role of unconventional molecular pathways in depression. Much of our current knowledge and treatments for depression are focused on a few narrow pathways. Unfortunately, many patients do not respond to current therapies, suggesting that additional pathways may contribute to depression. Dr. Baraban will focus on a group of cellular signaling molecules known as microRNAs. In previous studies, reduced levels of microRNAs have been associated with depression-like behavior in mouse models of the illness. Dr. Baraban is working to understand how the machinery that is responsible for microRNAs degradation affects behavior. His goal is to find inhibitors for this pathway that may serve as novel alternative treatments for depression.

Uwe Rudolph, M.D., of McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, will investigate the pathways that are disrupted in depression. Specifically, he will focus on the interplay between two neural signaling pathways: the GABAergic and glutamatergic systems, which, respectively, are inhibitory and excitatory. Using highly specific chemogenetic tools (genetically engineered proteins that interact with small molecules), he will explore how increasing the activity of GABA receptors affects biochemical signaling in the medial prefrontal cortex, a brain area required for decision-making and memory. Dr. Rudolph will also assess how modulation of GABA receptor function affects behavior in animal models of depression. This work will provide insight into a novel, potentially pharmacological pathway underlying depression.

Etienne L. Sibille, Ph.D., of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Canada, is working to identify new molecular targets for drug development for depression. The majority of current drugs target a single molecular pathway, that of the neurotransmitter serotonin; little is known about other pathways that may contribute to the disease. Dr. Sibille will focus on defining the role of other signals in depression, such as somatostostatin (SST)-positive GABA neurons. He has found that reduced SST expression and function is associated with depression in both humans and animal models of the illness. He will explore how deficiencies in SST-positive neurons contribute to depression and assess whether modulation of these neurons is a potential avenue for antidepressant development.

Mental IllnessMultiple:

Richard Scott Jope, Ph.D., of the University of Miami, hopes to develop a potentially revolutionary new method to alter protein levels in the hippocampus, the center of learning and memory in the brain. Dr. Jope is using a potent class of signaling molecules known as siRNAs to control gene expression. He has found that, when administered through the nose, siRNAs accumulate in the hippocampus of mice. Dr. Jope plans to use this method to modulate the levels of genes that play an important role in a range of mental illnesses. His preliminary studies will focus on genes, such as GSK3 and histone deacetylases, that have been challenging to target with traditional methods. Dr. Jope hopes that his new method will produce highly targeted treatments with limited side effects for patients suffering from a wide variety of mental illnesses.

Kwang-Soo Kim, Ph.D., of McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, will work to identify the biological mechanisms that determine how a person reacts to trauma. For example, children who are exposed to abuse are much more likely to suffer from depression and addiction as adults. Still, a fraction of these children remain resilient despite their traumatic experiences. Using rodent models, researchers have gained insight into the hormone and chemical signaling that influence these behaviors. Dr. Kim now proposes to extend these findings to humans. Dr. Kim will generate stem cells from two groups of adult patients who were abused as children. One group will have a diagnosis of depression, while the other group will not exhibit any symptoms of mental illness. The stem cells from people in each group can be coaxed to form any adult neural cell type, thus enabling Dr. Kim to attempt to define the molecular, cellular, and physiological properties that underlie biological resilience.

Andres V. Maricq, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Utah, will study how an auxiliary protein influences the function of a key neuronal receptor, called the NMDA receptor that is critical for learning and memory. This receptor has been implicated in numerous mental illnesses, including autism spectrum disorders, depression, Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia, which make it an attractive target for new therapies. Dr. Maricq is working to understand how the receptor is regulated in an effort to identify additional avenues for drug development. Dr. Maricq has identified a protein known as NRAP-1 that is required for NMDA activity. He has proposed to define how NRAP-1 biochemically interacts with the NMDA receptor to control its activity. Dr. Maricq is hopeful that this work will lead to novel pharmacological therapies for diseases like depression and schizophrenia.

Marina R. Picciotto, Ph.D., of Yale University, will examine the role of an unstudied group of neurons in anxiety and depression. The so-called ChAT-positive neurons are a rare group of inhibitory cells in the hippocampus, the center of learning and memory in the brain. Dr. Picciotto hypothesizes that these neurons form an important network that is critical for oscillations in the hippocampus that lead to an increase in anxiety- and depression-like behaviors in rodents. Using a combination of molecular genetic, pharmacological, electrophysiological, and behavioral strategies, Dr. Picciotto will determine the effect of ChAT-positive neurons on neural signaling and behavior. The results will be the first functional and behavioral evaluation of this population in the hippocampus, and will provide a novel role for these neurons in behaviors related to anxiety and depression.

Gustavo X. Turecki, M.D., Ph.D., of McGill University, Canada, will study molecular changes in the brain that occur after severe child abuse. Children who have experienced these traumatic events are more likely to suffer from mental illnesses, including severe depression and addiction. Dr. Turecki will gather rare postmortem human brain samples to robustly and specifically characterize changes in the expression of genes and in chemical changes to DNA called methylation that are specifically associated with early-life adversity. He will focus on excitatory pyramidal neurons that are largely responsible for cognition. His goal is to improve our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the impact of child abuse, and ultimately propose novel avenues for intervention.

Simon Keith Warfield, Ph.D., of Children's Hospital, Boston, will use innovative new technology to build structural maps of the connections between neurons in the developing fetal brain during pregnancy. Dr. Warfield has developed new technology that allows researchers to image the brain even while the fetus is moving. This motion-robust MRI and other imaging enables quantitative analysis of neural connections in the early brain. Using this technology, Dr. Warfield will analyze both healthy and at-risk fetal MRI cases. The at-risk population will include fetuses with identified maternal risk factors for developing mental health disorders, including those who have experienced stressful events during pregnancy or obstetric hypoxic complications. Dr. Warfield hopes motion-robust imaging will differentiate between abnormal and normal brain development, which will facilitate the identification of fetuses that are at risk for developing mental health disorders.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder:

Rachel Yehuda, Ph.D., of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, seeks to understand the neurobiological mechanisms involved in resilience to trauma and to define markers that will allow researchers to predict how a person will respond to trauma. Dr. Yehuda has identified neuroendocrine (hormonal) and molecular predictors of resilience and markers of recovery from PTSD. Now, she will examine these predictors in combination with markers of brain structure and function. Dr. Yehuda will scan 15 trauma-exposed individuals with PTSD and 15 trauma-exposed individuals without PTSD. Her goal is to identify neural circuits associated with resilience to trauma as well as neuroimaging biomarkers of treatment response to cognitive therapy in PTSD. More broadly, Dr. Yehuda hopes that improved biomarkers for a patient's response to trauma or the treatment of trauma will advance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms that underlie behavior.



Schizophrenia:

Beng-Choon Ho, M.D., of the University of Iowa, will work to develop a method to measure neuroinflammation in neuropsychiatric disorders. Dr. Ho will test a diagnostic known as advanced diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) to determine if it can serve as a marker of brain immune activation triggered by obstetric complications. The work will take advantage of a unique and highly informative Dutch birth cohort which has been evaluated from prenatal life until mid-adolescence and is still ongoing. The project holds the promise to advance our knowledge of the mechanisms that govern neuroinflammation and provide insight into how maternal infections increase schizophrenia susceptibility, which may allow for earlier intervention and the development of improved therapeutics.

Elliot Hong, M.D., of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, hopes to build a comprehensive map of the brain based on both biochemical interactions and electrical signals. Our current understanding of the brain is largely derived from discrete maps that are based on unrelated structural, functional, chemical or electrical information. Yet complex diseases, like schizophrenia, are likely caused by defects in multiple pathways at once. Using a combination of technical and conceptual advances, Dr. Hong proposes to create the first large-scale map of the brain's synchronized electro-chemical dynamics. His hope is that this integrated image of the brain will provide insight not only into how chemical signals regulate neural activity, but will also identify abnormalities and network-dysfunctions that are commonly observed in patients with schizophrenia.

Neal R. Swerdlow, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of California, San Diego, will work to test an alternative approach to treating schizophrenia. For more than 50 years, antipsychotic drugs have been the main therapy for patients with schizophrenia, but these treatments often fall short in treating various cognitive aspects of the illness. Recent research suggests that patients may benefit from so-called pharmacologically augmented cognitive therapies (PACTs), which pair targeted drugs with cognitive therapies. The dual treatment may have synergistic effects. Dr. Swerdlow will treat schizophrenia patients with range of doses of the pro-attention psychostimulant, d-amphetamine, in addition to conventional antipsychotics. The drug treatment will be paired with cognitive therapy that is specifically targeted to develop attention skills. Dr. Swerdlow hopes that this investigation will provide compelling data that expands the use of PACTs to treat schizophrenia.

Dawn I. Velligan, Ph.D., of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, will look for new biomarkers that are associated with particularly severe cases of schizophrenia. These markers will be used to assess a new treatment, known as the MOtiVation and Engagement (MOVE) Program. The method builds on existing therapies with comprehensive, home-based, multi-modal approaches, and results have been promising so far. Dr. Velligan will focus on inflammatory markers as potential biomarkers. He will examine the relationship between the amount of inflammatory markers circulating in the blood of patients and the severity of their negative symptoms. Dr. Velligan will also assess the impact of MOVE on levels of these molecules. This work has the potential to uncover novel biomarkers associated with the negative symptoms of schizophrenia, which may offer a path to more targeted, improved treatments.

For a more extensive summary of Distinguished Investigator projects, visit: http://bit.ly/2gZwurK.

About the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation

The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation is committed to alleviating the suffering of mental illness by awarding grants that will lead to advances and breakthroughs in scientific research. The Foundation funds the most innovative ideas in neuroscience and psychiatry to better understand the causes and develop new ways to treat brain and behavior disorders. These disorders include depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, borderline personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Since 1987, the Foundation has awarded more than $360 million to fund more than 5,000 grants to more than 4,000 leading scientists around the world. This has led to over $3.5 billion in additional funding for these scientists. The Foundation is also dedicated to educating the public about mental health and the importance of research, including the impact that new discoveries have on improving the lives of those with mental illness, which will ultimately enable people to live full, happy and productive lives. For more information, visit www.bbrfoundation.org.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150429/212670LOGO

SOURCE Brain & Behavior Research Foundation

Related Links

http://www.bbrfoundation.org


SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Bridge Bank today reaffirmed its commitment to providing commercial banking services, including working capital loans and lines of credit, to technology and innovation companies throughout the country through its expanding national network of business offices located in key technology hubs, including a new office in Raleigh-Durham scheduled to open in early 2017. This announcement further accentuates Bridge Bank's upward momentum in the technology banking sector as market indications suggest a de-emphasis on the narrowly served niche by several competitors in their technology lending divisions.

Highlights from Bridge Bank's technology and innovation lending activities over the past 18 months include:

Launch and expansion of two new business lines including the Equity Fund Resources group led by Michael David to serve the venture capital and private equity communities and the Life Sciences Group led by veteran banker Rob Lake to serve innovation companies in the bio-tech sector

to serve the venture capital and private equity communities and the Life Sciences Group led by veteran banker to serve innovation companies in the bio-tech sector Opening of new offices including an additional office in San Francisco plus new offices in San Diego , Menlo Park , Atlanta , and Raleigh-Durham. Bridge Bank now has ten business offices nationwide providing technology banking services

plus new offices in , , , and Raleigh-Durham. Bridge Bank now has ten business offices nationwide providing technology banking services Portfolio growth of 51 percent since June of 2015 (the close of the merger of Bridge Bank and Western Alliance Bank) including recent funding announcements to Finicity, QA Symphony, CytoSorbents, Viveve and E La Carte

Three recent Bridge client IPO announcements including Everbridge, Tabula Rasa, and The Trade Desk

Additionally, Bridge Bank has expanded its technology banking team with the hiring of key bankers including Laurence Sherman, formerly with City National Bank, Michael Bachrodt, formerly with SunEdison, Barbara Flemming, formerly with Square 1 Bank, and Justin McDonie, formerly with Oxford Finance.

"Since its launch in 2005, our technology banking division has achieved high levels of performance in terms of portfolio expansion and credit quality, and has helped to accelerate the growth of many nationally recognized brands in the innovation sector," said Daniel P. Myers, president and CEO of Bridge Bank. "The addition of our new office in Raleigh-Durham further cements Bridge Bank's commitment to helping emerging, mid- and late-stage technology companies accelerate products, grow their businesses, and take advantage of market opportunities. We are ending the year with exciting new technology clients and are looking forward to watching what they will do in 2017," he added.

"A fundamental reason for our acquisition of Bridge Bank a year ago was the strength of its brand in the technology sector," said Robert Sarver, chairman and CEO of Western Alliance Bancorporation. "During the past year, the strong performance of Bridge's technology and innovation banking division and expansion of its offerings has validated our decision. We are working closely with the entire Bridge Bank team to ensure that we have the right products, services, bankers, and offices in place to serve Bridge Bank's growing client base through 2017 and beyond."

Bridge Bank's Technology Finance Group works with venture- and non-venture backed companies from inception through beyond IPO. The team's expertise spans multiple verticals including e-commerce, digital marketing, mobile, clean- and green-tech, telecommunications and infrastructure and more.

About Bridge Bank

Bridge Bank is a division of Western Alliance Bank, Member FDIC, the go-to bank for business in its growing markets. Bridge Bank was founded in 2001 in Silicon Valley to offer a better way to bank for small-market and middle-market businesses across many industries, as well as emerging technology companies and the private equity community. Geared to serving both venture-backed and non-venture-backed companies, Bridge Bank offers a broad scope of financial solutions including growth capital, equipment and working capital credit facilities, sustainable energy project finance, venture debt, treasury management, asset-based lending, SBA and commercial real estate loans, ESOP finance and a full line of international products and services. Based in San Jose, Bridge Bank has eight offices in major markets across the country along with Western Alliance Bank's robust national platform of specialized financial services. Western Alliance Bank is the primary subsidiary of Phoenix-based Western Alliance Bancorporation. With $17 billion in assets, Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) is one of the fastest-growing bank holding companies in the U.S. and recognized as #10 on the Forbes 2016 "Best Banks in America" list. For more information, visit www.bridgebank.com.

About Western Alliance Bancorporation

With $17 billion in assets, top-performing Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) is one of the fastest-growing bank holding companies in the U.S. and recognized as #10 on the Forbes 2016 "Best Banks in America" list. Its primary subsidiary, Western Alliance Bank, is the go-to bank for business and succeeds with local teams of experienced bankers who deliver superior service and a full spectrum of deposit, lending, treasury management, international banking and online banking products and services. Western Alliance Bank operates full-service banking divisions: Alliance Bank of Arizona, Bank of Nevada, Bridge Bank, First Independent Bank and Torrey Pines Bank. The bank also serves business customers through a robust national platform of specialized financial services including Corporate Finance, Equity Fund Resources, Hotel Franchise Finance, Life Sciences Group, Mortgage Warehouse Lending, Public and Nonprofit Finance, Renewable Resource Group, Resort Finance, Technology Finance and Alliance Association Bank. For more information, visit westernalliancebancorporation.com.

Contact: Jennifer Roane, [email protected], 720-940-9077

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160316/345241LOGO

SOURCE Bridge Bank

Related Links

http://www.bridgebank.com


WINCHESTER, Ind., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ghost Hunts USA is excited to announce another year of exclusive access to public ghost hunting at the Randolph Asylum (also known as the RANDOLPH COUNTY INFIRMARY) in Winchester, Indiana. Ghost Hunts USA is proud to be a part of the preservation and restoration of this Historic Building and to support the Local Businesses of Winchester!

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161208/447179

Experienced Ghost Hunts USA Staff members introduce guests to the field of paranormal investigations through a vast array of techniques. The chilling evidence that both guests and staff have collected has everybody wanting more because it never happens the same way twice!

Ghost Hunts USA Staff and Guests interact with the cheerful spirit known as the former cook of the Randolph County Infirmary who is affectionately called "Mary". Her voice has been captured on EVPs (electronic voice phenomena) as she eagerly speaks to anyone that remembers she is still there.

But as guests communicate with Mary the cloaked figure is usually peering around doorways and creeping up behind them. This spirit is more disgruntled and often speaks through the Spirit Box (using colorful language that may not be appropriate for children). He has appeared in many photos as a full bodied apparition; he's not one for hiding!

The other Spirits of the Randolph Asylum are also eager for visitors to come and seek them out. There are stories that need to be told and questions that beg for answers. Ghost Hunts USA invite their guests to experiment with investigative techniques to try and elicit this communication.

Guests are provided the opportunity to use Ghost Hunts USA's equipment that includes: K-II Meters, Trigger Objects, Flashlights, Spirit Boxes, Recorders, Software, Phasma Balls and Scrying Mirrors. During Free Time the Ghost Hunts USA Staff will assist guests and also provide interaction rooms to make the experience more unique.

The Randolph Asylum is a sleepover event. Guests who are brave enough to close their eyes in the haunted infirmary can choose from several locations when deciding where to lay their head! Just be aware that no one is alone when sleeping on one of the wards! Many guests have had nightly visitors of the former residents. It's definitely the spirits that go "bump in the night" at the Randolph Asylum!

Ghost Hunts USA supports local businesses of Winchester and therefore provide dinner from Our Pizza House and breakfast from The Winchester Cafe. Snacks and drinks are also provided throughout the night.

From the novice to the experienced paranormal investigator, no one should miss out on the opportunity to investigate the Randolph Asylum with Ghost Hunts USA!

How to Book: GHOST HUNTS USA

Dates: December 16th & 17th and December 30th & 31st and every weekend in 2017

Times: Check-In at 8:30 pm; Check-Out at 10:30 am

Media Contact:

Reverend Dr. Leslie Hand

Director of Strategic Communications

[email protected]

866-313-4592

Related Images

image1.jpeg

image2.jpeg

image3.jpeg

image4.jpeg

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

SOURCE Ghost Hunts USA
PITTSBURGH, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ChemImage Sensor Systems (CISS) announces that its VeroVision portable shortwave infrared (SWIR) hyperspectral imaging detection system received a Platinum 2016 Technology Innovation Award from Military & Aerospace Electronics and Intelligent Aerospace publications. The Platinum award recognizes companies that offer the highest level of military, aerospace and avionics product design solutions. Selections are made based on the recommendations of an independent panel of industry judges.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446861

The VeroVision Detection System Received the Platinum 2016 Technology Innovation Award

"We are honored to receive this major award and pleased to see that the power of SWIR hyperspectral imaging for threat detection is being realized by the military and aerospace communities," said Steven Mitts, CISS Product Line Director. "The VeroVision platform has enabled the standoff detection of explosive, drug and chemical threats; we hope that this award will allow us to reach a broader base of potential applications."

"This award is a credit to the innovation of our dedicated men and women who developed the VeroVision hardware and software and are providing support for critical threat detection applications that make the world healthier and safer," stated ChemImage Chief Operating Officer John Belechak.

For more information visit www.cisensorsystems.com.

About ChemImage Sensor Systems

ChemImage Sensor Systems develops innovative standoff chemical imaging sensors that make our world healthier and safer by utilizing patented imaging capabilities and leverage current in-the-field technologies to address the ever-changing landscape of drugs, chemical, biological and explosive (CBE) threats. The company has developed a series of chemical imaging sensors for point, proximity, remote and standoff detection and identification in both fixed site and on-the-move configurations, in order to protect military troops, security personnel and citizens.

For more information, visit www.cisensorsystems.com

ChemImage Sensor Systems is a subsidiary of ChemImage Corporation, a leader in chemical imaging technology and instrumentation.

About ChemImage Corporation

ChemImage Corporation is a Pittsburgh based company committed to making the world healthier and safer through dramatic advancements in chemical imaging technology. The company combines proprietary, state-of-the-art imaging sensors, algorithms and analytical software to solve the world's most challenging health and safety issues.

ChemImage seeks to provide an Awareness of Things (AoT) to a global audience, using the company's innovation platforms to provide people with unprecedented levels of vision, information and situational knowledge about their surroundings in their everyday lives. To accomplish this goal, the firm develops technologies for chemical and biological applications across many global industries; including life sciences, bio-medical, security, threat detection, anatomic pathology, forensics and diagnostics.

For more information, visit www.chemimage.com

Media Contact:

Tifanie Tiberio

412-241-7335

[email protected]

SOURCE ChemImage Corporation

Related Links

http://www.chemimage.com


CINCINNATI, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Twenty-three percent of Cincinnati-area technology executives surveyed recently expect to expand their IT teams in the first half of 2017, according to the just-released Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Forecast and Local Trend Report. In addition, 62 percent plan to hire only for open IT roles, 11 percent plan to put hiring plans on hold, and 2 percent expect to reduce their IT staffing levels in the first six months of the year. Hiring is not all technology leaders are thinking about, as 32 percent named maintaining the security of their IT systems and safeguarding company information as their most top-of-mind concern for the first half of 2017, while upgrading existing systems for business efficiency followed with 25 percent of the response.

Top Concerns for CIOs

To further understand the priorities of Cincinnati CIOs for the upcoming year, they were asked, "In addition to recruitment, which of the following do you anticipate will be top-of-mind for you in the next six months?" Their responses:

Maintaining security of IT systems/safeguarding company information (32 percent)

(32 percent) Upgrading existing systems (25 percent)

(25 percent) Staff retention (15 percent)

(15 percent) Helping grow the business (15 percent)

(15 percent) Investing in new technologies (10 percent)

"There's a healthy amount of optimism in the market as Cincinnati CIOs await final approvals on 2017 budgets," said Jason Miller, regional vice president of Robert Half Technology in Cincinnati. "While 2016 was a year of transition with multiple acquisitions, mergers and reorganizations, now we're hearing from many local employers that they are ready to stabilize and build forward."

Miller added: "It continues to be an extremely tight candidate market  there's high demand for full stack developers, business intelligence analysts and help desk professionals, in particular. Implementations, refresh projects and migrations are driving demand for these skills, especially in the financial, managed services and manufacturing sectors."

Cincinnati IT Hiring Forecast Jan.June

2017 CIOs adding more staff to IT departments 23% CIOs planning to hire for only open IT roles 62% CIOs who plan to put IT hiring plans on hold 11% CIOs who plan to reduce their IT staff 2% Don't know future hiring plans 2%

Hiring forecasts are based on interviews with more than 2,500 CIOs from 25 major U.S. markets who were asked to provide a six-month hiring outlook.

Recruiting Challenges & Skills in Demand

Hiring challenges remain, as 58 percent of CIOs said it's somewhat or very challenging to find skilled IT professionals today. The skills in greatest demand within their organizations, according to respondents, include:

Database management (54 percent)

(54 percent) Network administration (54 percent)

(54 percent) Business intelligence/reporting services (45 percent)

(45 percent) Cybersecurity (44 percent)

(44 percent) Telecommunications support (44 percent)

About Robert Half Technology

With more than 100 locations worldwide, Robert Half Technology is a leading provider of technology professionals for initiatives ranging from web development and multiplatform systems integration to network security and technical support. Robert Half Technology offers online job search services at roberthalf.com/technology. Visitors can also request a copy of the Robert Half Technology 2017 Salary Guide, which includes a wide range of IT job descriptions.

Survey Methodology

The survey was developed by Robert Half Technology and conducted by an independent research firm. To ensure that companies from all segments were represented in the study, the sample was stratified by number of employees. Robert Half Technology has been tracking IT hiring activity in the United States since 1995.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160212/332877LOGO

SOURCE Robert Half Technology

Related Links

https://www.roberthalf.com/technology


HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif., Dec. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Dale Carnegie, the iconic global leadership training provider, today unveiled a new visual identity as part of a sweeping global brand modernization. The new visual identity includes an updated logo and style guide for all communications. A redesigned website incorporating the new branding will launch in 2017.

The massive rebrand comes as Dale Carnegie's perennial bestselling book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, celebrates its 80th anniversary. The organization (formerly known as Dale Carnegie Training  now referred to simply as Dale Carnegie) is also marking its 104th anniversary this week at its biannual International Convention in Huntington Beach, Calif.

"We are excited to use our new brand to better tell the Dale Carnegie story," says CEO Joe Hart. "Just as my first Dale Carnegie course inspired and transformed my life back in 1995, the new design and visual identity better captures the empowering effects of Dale Carnegie courses. Dale Carnegie is truly a powerful force, enabling people to make a difference in their lives, their businesses and their future opportunities."

The new Dale Carnegie visual identity features a crisp new logo. Taking the form of a "DC" monogram, the logo's resemblance to a butterfly symbolizes the transformative nature of Dale Carnegie training courses. This new visual identity  coupled with strong, professional branding and a vibrant color scheme  conveys the inner potential of every professional and the enduring nature of Dale Carnegie's values.

"Dale Carnegie believes that everyone has inherent greatness  a special spark  and this is now captured in our bright, bold new branding," adds Michelle Bonterre, Chief Brand Officer. "As our brand has evolved over the past 104 years, we have always remained focused on our core belief that Dale Carnegie can empower individuals to take risks, rise to challenges and contribute to boosting a company's performance." The work was conceived and created by renowned branding agency Carbone Smolan Agency (CSA), with foundational research and strategy from Siegel+Gale.

In 2017, Dale Carnegie will embark on updating its entire online presence  from its corporate website to local franchisee sites worldwide. Each franchisee will also receive a toolkit for implementation of the new branding across all materials.

For more information on the brand relaunch and a glimpse at the new look, click here.

About Dale Carnegie

Dale Carnegie delivers time-tested personal development and growth training that is a catalyst for individual and workforce transformation, helping people from all walks of life become fearless and giving leaders the confidence they need to get the most out of life and work. Headquartered in Hauppauge, New York, Dale Carnegie is represented in all 50 of the United States and over 90 countries. More than 2,700 trainers present Dale Carnegie programs in 30 languages every day. For over 100 years, Dale Carnegie has helped communities all over the world prosper by improving the personal and financial well-being of the people who live there, and the companies that do business there. Today, we continue to cross borders and generations, showing people how to tap into the best parts of themselves to create positive change. Over 8 million people worldwide have attended a Dale Carnegie training.

Media Contact

Chris Hamilton

Burson-Marsteller for Dale Carnegie

(518) 307-9904

[email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161205/445694LOGO

SOURCE Dale Carnegie

Related Links

http://dalecarnegiebrand.com


WALTHAM, Mass., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- DealerRater has announced that starting today it will feature its growing database of reviews on Cars.com. The move will expand the reach of DealerRater's three million consumer-submitted reviews and grow the existing Cars.com review platform to continue to help arm consumers with the tools they need to make informed decisions on what to buy, where to buy and whom to buy from.

"This is the first tangible evidence of being part of the Cars.com family, and it's a win-win for both our brands as well as the industry," said Gary Tucker, CEO of DealerRater. "DealerRater continues to actively and aggressively extend the reach of our review content across multiple platforms where consumers are shopping to provide more value to our customers. A single review will now be seen by millions of consumers on Cars.com and other frequently visited third-party automotive sites, and ultimately lead to increased walk-in traffic at the dealership. With this broadened syndication, there is no review more valuable to a dealership than a DealerRater review."

The integration of DealerRater reviews onto Cars.com will adjust dealership ratings to reflect only recent reviews posted within the last 24 months. This is beneficial to consumers because the more recent a review, the more useful it is during the car shopping process. Additionally, more recent reviews will provide dealerships with a better tool to gauge current consumer satisfaction.

"DealerRater reviews are invaluable to today's car shoppers as well as today's dealers," said Tucker. "We help connect millions of consumers with the right dealership and, more importantly, the right person at the right dealership. Dealers leverage our reviews as a tool to flag and celebrate great customer service while addressing opportunities to perform even better. It's a win-win for the industry."

For more information, visit www.dealerrater.com.

ABOUT DEALERRATER

Founded in 2002, DealerRater, a Cars.com Company, is the world's leading car dealer review website that connects consumers with the right person at the right dealership. The site offers more than 2.5 million sales and service reviews across 41,000 U.S. and Canadian dealerships, including a network of more than 5,600 Certified Dealers. More than 14 million consumers read DealerRater content across the web each month. By offering a product suite that allows qualified dealerships to manage their reputations and achieve higher SEO rankings, DealerRater supports new customer connections by growing online presence.

ABOUT CARS.COM

Cars.com is a leading online destination that helps car shoppers and owners navigate every turn of car ownership. A pioneer in automotive classifieds, the company has evolved into one of the largest digital automotive platforms, connecting consumers with local dealers across the country anytime, anywhere. Through trusted expert content, on-the-lot mobile app features, millions of new and used vehicle listings, a comprehensive set of research tools and the largest database of consumer reviews in the industry, Cars.com helps shoppers buy, sell and service their vehicles.

Cars.com companies include DealerRater, Auto.com, PickupTrucks.com and NewCars.com. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Chicago. It is owned by TEGNA, Inc.

SOURCE DealerRater

Related Links

http://www.dealerrater.com


PORTLAND, Ore., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Denver Consulting Group (DCG), the nation's leading cannabis industry consultancy, announced that its client, Bob's Morning Bear Cultivation, has been awarded an Alaska recreational marijuana growers license. DCG Northwest took the lead on the project.

DCG has been working with company owner, Brennan Norden, to craft the application, conduct site studies, develop cultivation protocols, establish business practices, and provide consultation pertaining to the legal marijuana industry and Alaska's complex cannabis regulations.

Norden, a well-known figure in Alaska, has competed in the prestigious Iditarod race, and has been business owner and river guide for over 16 years.

"I thank the team at Denver Consulting Group for their expert guidance and co-management of this project," Norden said. "They not only have a depth of expertise in the cannabis industry, but they are also great people, and I look forward to having them in my circle of advisors for years to come."

Justin Jones, Co-Founder of Denver Consulting Group and Manager of DCG Northwest, said that Alaska is new frontier for the cannabis industry. "We are pleased that we were able to help Bob's Morning Bear obtain a cultivation license, and look forward to continuing to work with them," he said. "There are many complexities to Alaska's cannabis regulations, and our team has the experience to help new cannabis businesses gain approval, operate smoothly, stay in compliance, and maximize profitability."

DCG also implemented and trained the facility on the Franwell Metrc system, which provides seed-to-sale tracking through RFID technology. Additionally, DCG's in-house design team is developing the logo and marketing for Bob's Morning Bear, building it as Alaska's premier cannabis brand.

For information on Denver Consulting Group's marijuana business services, call 720-890-7344, or visit: www.denverconsultinggroup.com.

To reach DCG Northwest - Cannabis Consultants in Portland, serving Washington, Oregon and Alaska, call: 503-862-3030

About Denver Consulting Group (DCG)

Denver Consulting Group (DCG), the nation's premier cannabis consulting service, helps marijuana businesses get established, stay compliant, and thrive. Services include license applications, location permitting, build-outs, grow optimization, training, SOPs, packaging, and compliance auditing.

DCG has offices in Denver and Portland, and serves clients nationwide.

Connect:

Facebook: Facebook.com/dankconsulting

Twitter: @dankconsulting

Blog: http://denverconsultinggroup.com/category/cannabis-consulting-blog-marijuana-industry/

Media:

Innovation Agency

310-571-5592

www.inov8.us

hello(@)inov8.us

SOURCE DENVER CONSULTING GROUP/RAH MARKETING

Related Links

http://www.denverconsultinggroup.com


BOSTON, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Digilant, a global programmatic media company that partners with agencies and brands on custom digital advertising solutions, today announced the launch of Digilant University with PepsiCo in Mexico. The custom e-learning portal is designed to provide agencies and brands with an in-depth curriculum on programmatic advertising and digital media.

As Programmatic buying continues to become a key component of the Digital Advertising Industry, our clients have come to us and asked us to partner with them to fulfill a greater education need. With Digilant University we are helping their teams understand Programmatic buying in the context of their jobs in a way that is meaningful to them.To register for Digilant University or to find how your company can purchase user licenses for this program, send us an email at [email protected] ... A self-guided, e-learning platform, Digilant University provides a robust digital marketing curriculum, comprised of several courses. "We are devoting an important part of our advertising budget to programmatic buying, and internally we need a better understanding of all the aspects of how it works, including how to extract more knowledge of our data and optimize each campaign, said Francisco Cotera, group manager of Digital Media PepsiCo, Mexico. To register for Digilant University...

Programmatic media buying continues to achieve rapid growth in LATAM  by the end of 2016, it's expected to have grown by 198 percent (source:eMarketer). This approach to digital media buying is essential to brands like PepsiCo, one of the world's leading food and beverage companies. As the organization considered its goals for 2017, it recognized that its employees need to be proficient in programmatic advertising and digital media. As a result, they turned to Digilant to partner on an e-learning solution to meet this need. Together, they developed Digilant University. The platform will be used to train their staff in Mexico, and keep them educated on new developments in the industry. Overall, it will help the company stay competitive in a market that is experiencing tremendous growth.

"We are devoting an important part of our advertising budget to programmatic buying, and internally we need a better understanding of all the aspects of how it works, including how to extract more knowledge of our data and optimize each campaign," said Francisco Cotera, group manager of Digital Media PepsiCo, Mexico.

A self-guided, e-learning platform, Digilant University provides a robust digital marketing curriculum, comprised of several courses. Soon to be released in the U.S. and other areas around the globe, this e-learning solution delivers its content in short and engaging videos, and includes a variety of testing options, along with course certifications. Overall, the platform is designed to provide an optimal e-learning solution for businesses. The custom solution designed for PepsiCo focuses primarily on an introduction to the programmatic market, and delivers content on beginner topics such as: an overview of programmatic players, all about cookies, programmatic KPI's, and what are adservers?

"Digilant is in a process of continuous innovation," said Alan Osetek, Global CEO of Digilant. "We are always looking for new ways to add value for our customers. That's how the concept of Digilant University was born. It enables us to share our knowledge with customers, facilitate their entry into all things programmatic, and deepen their knowledge of digital marketing. And it will keep them current in a very fast moving field, as the curriculum will continue to evolve and will incorporate new developments as they arise."

To boost the effectiveness of Digilant University as an e-learning solution, Digilant partnered with CoreAxis, a leader in the learning and development industry. "Programmatic digital marketing is a complex topic, and today's learners have limited time to absorb new information," said Mark Zides, President of CoreAxis Consulting. "With Digilant University, we developed an interactive and engaging solution that leverages microlearning to enable learners to absorb information quickly, in the context of their jobs, in a way that is meaningful to them. The collaboration between CoreAxis Consulting and Digilant is an exceptional example of how the innovative use of technology has a transformative impact on learning and development."

About Digilant

Digilant, a global programmatic media pioneer, partners with the world's leading agencies and brands to provide customized and scalable programmatic media solutions. Powered by insightful and actionable data science, Digilant offers display, video, mobile, and social solutions that are delivered through a world-class service offering. The company's advanced technology platform, which includes a data management platform (DMP), connects brands with relevant and unique audiences by activating first party, third party, and its own proprietary data. Headquartered in Boston, Digilant has offices in New York, Chicago and San Francisco, and across the globe in Barcelona, Bogota, Lima, London, Madrid, Mexico City, Milan, Monterrey, Santiago, and Sao Paulo. For more information, please visit www.digilant.com or follow the company on Twitter at @Digilant_US. Digilant is an ispDigital Group Company (www.ispdigital.com).

About ispDigital

ispDigital is a technology-based marketing services holding company driving innovation and solutions at the intersection of earned, owned and paid media. Together Acceso (earned), Antevenio (owned), and Digilant (paid) provide cross channel and cross device, closed loop marketing solutions. Headquartered in Boston and Barcelona, ispDigital has offices in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, France, Italy, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. ispDigital is majority owned by Inversiones y Servicios Publicitarios (ISP), an investment company fully owned by the Rodes family. For more information visit www.ispdigital.com.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446718

Video - http://origin-qps.onstreammedia.com/origin/multivu_archive/PRNA/ENR/TEASER-Digilant-University_Players-in-Programmatic-SD.mp4

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151217/297084LOGO

SOURCE Digilant

Related Links

http://www.digilant.com


RICHMOND, Va., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Recognizing that education goes beyond time in the classroom, Dominion Resources is providing more than $1 million to support children and youth enrichment programs in central Virginia.

"In-school enrichment programs and out-of-school educational activities build on the classroom experience," said Hunter A. Applewhite, president of the Dominion Foundation. "The programs will reach thousands of students, providing them with broader and more hands-on learning opportunities."

Each of the 11 projects received funding from the Dominion Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Dominion Resources, the parent company of Dominion Virginia Power. Applewhite announced the grants today at JA Finance Park with representatives of recipient organizations.

Junior Achievement of Central Virginia received $300,000 to help create a new JA Finance Park that will open in 2017 to serve all 10th graders from Richmond and Henrico, Chesterfield, Hanover, New Kent and Goochland counties. At JA Finance Park, students take financial lessons learned in the classroom and apply them to "real-life" scenarios. Students must develop and live within a personal budget by making financial decisions and paying for everything from housing to health care to food, utilities and more.

"For more than 6,000 central Virginia students each year, JA Finance Park is a real eye-opener. They leave with a deeper appreciation of what their parents experience in real life and an understanding of what is entailed in balancing priorities," said Daphne Swanson, president of Junior Achievement of Central Virginia. "Dominion's gift will go a long way toward helping us meet our goal of creating an expanded, enhanced JA Finance Park to reach even more students in years to come."

The other programs are:

Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Richmond to support implementation of a "college-ready" program for youth in grades 8-12 to be housed at a new teen center to be built in the East End.

Boy Scouts of America - Heart of Virginia Council to support its "Second Century" capital campaign, including STEM-related programming and Scouting programs in underserved urban and rural areas.

to support its "Second Century" capital campaign, including STEM-related programming and Scouting programs in underserved urban and rural areas. Children's Museum of Richmond for " Halloween Hoopla," where 2,300 children enjoy trick-or-treating, STEM experiments and autumn-themed art programs in a safe, family-friendly environment.

for " Hoopla," where 2,300 children enjoy trick-or-treating, STEM experiments and autumn-themed art programs in a safe, family-friendly environment. Latin Ballet of Virginia to support "Be Proud of Yourself to Broaden Your World," a bilingual program emphasizing the language, identity, history and culture of Hispanic countries, as well as English as a second language through dance.

NextUp to provide free, coordinated after-school programs featuring art, science, sports, life skills and more at Lucille Brown, Henderson and Boushall Middle schools in Richmond .

. Peter Paul Development Center to support out-of-school educational programming.

SPARC (School of the Performing Arts in the Richmond Community ) to sponsor the STAGES and LIVE ART programs that advance performing arts education outreach to ensure that all children have access to arts education regardless of their socio-economic background or developmental ability.

) to sponsor the STAGES and LIVE ART programs that advance performing arts education outreach to ensure that all children have access to arts education regardless of their socio-economic background or developmental ability. The Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation to sponsor its "Passport to Education," a bilingual leadership training program for 100 Hispanic students in Richmond and Chesterfield public schools.

and public schools. Visual Arts Center of Richmond to support three youth outreach initiatives: Art After School, Engage, and Make Space. Each program uses hands-on arts education to foster self-confidence, curiosity and creative thinking.

to support three youth outreach initiatives: Art After School, Engage, and Make Space. Each program uses hands-on arts education to foster self-confidence, curiosity and creative thinking. YWCA Richmond to support the expansion of its preschool program, the Sprout School, which includes five classrooms at the YWCA's downtown location and two classrooms in the Children's Museum of Richmond .

About Dominion

The Dominion Foundation is dedicated to improving the physical, social and economic well-being of the communities served by Dominion companies, including Dominion Virginia Power. Dominion and the Foundation support nonprofit causes that meet basic human needs, protect the environment, support education and promote community vitality. For more information about Dominion (NYSE: D), headquartered in Richmond and one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy, visit www.dom.com.

SOURCE Dominion

Related Links

http://www.dom.com


The marriage of Botswana (then known as Bechuanaland, a British protectorate) royal family member-turned-independence leader Seretse Khama and his wife Ruth Williams Khama is little known in the U.S.. But their relationship, amid increasingly hateful official racism in neighboring South Africa and the burgeoning African Independence movements that would ultimately see European colonial governments ousted from the continent, proved to be one of the most historically significant of the 20th century. The Amma Asante-directed drama A United Kingdom, starring David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike, aims to shine a light on their remarkable story. A new trailer has been released which you can watch above now.

Khama and Williams met while he was studying in London and married in 1948. An intense international uproar followed their marriage however, and thanks to pressure from South Africa and cowardice in the UK Parliament, the couple were exiled from Bechuanaland for 5 years. Eventually allowed to return in 1956, Khama emerged as a crucial leader of the countrys independence movement, becoming the countrys Prime Minister in 1965 and, upon independence in 1966, Botswanas first President, serving until his death from cancer in 1980.

Written by Guy Hibbert, A United Kingdom also stars Terry Pheto, Jack Davenport, Tom Felton, Abena Ayivor, and Vusi Kunene. It will screen in select theaters starting February 17.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKPDNKdpys8&w=605&h=340]

Related stories

David Oyelowo On Diversity: "If You're Not Part Of The Solution, You're Part Of The Problem"

Fox Searchlight Bringing 'A United Kingdom' To North America

'Queen Of Katwe' Review: Disney Family Movie Makes All The Right Moves
"Scott has earned an astounding reputation in the real estate industry, and we couldn't be more thrilled to welcome him back into the Elliman family of brokers," said Dottie Herman, president and CEO of Douglas Elliman. "His expertise and knowledge in the marketplace will be vital as we continue to expand our business and reach throughout the West Coast."

Segall launched his career in commercial real estate in 1993 and transitioned into residential real estate more than 15 years ago. His experience spans a number of Los Angeles' most sought-after neighborhoods, working extensively with buyers and sellers in West Hollywood, the Sunset Strip and Beverly Hills. A well-known and successful real estate agent, Segall returns to Elliman from Compass' Beverly Hills office. His current focus is mid-market luxury homes throughout Los Angeles ranging from $1 million to $10 million.

"Scott is no stranger to Elliman, he was part of our team when we officially opened our doors in the Western Region two years ago, and we're happy to see him return," said Stephen Kotler, chief revenue officer of Douglas Elliman. "Scott's experience in the LA market, combined with his tremendous work ethic, truly exemplifies Elliman's core values."

"Douglas Elliman is a powerful brand that has created an environment pulsating with innovation, cutting-edge technology and global connectivity," added Segall. "I am excited to use Elliman's extensive resources to the ultimate benefit of my clients, while working alongside the world's finest agents."

Segall graduated from University of California, Irvine with a degree in psychology. As an active member of Home for A Home, Segall donates a portion of his commission to support home building in impoverished communities of Guatemala. An avid art aficionado, he is involved with several contemporary art events in Los Angeles. Segall is also a seasoned traveler and CrossFit enthusiast.

About Douglas Elliman Real Estate

Established in 1911, Douglas Elliman Real Estate is the largest brokerage in the New York Metropolitan area and the fourth largest residential real estate company nationwide. With more than 6,000 agents, the company operates approximately 85 offices in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, New Jersey, Long Island, the Hamptons & North Fork, Westchester, Greenwich, South Florida, Colorado and Beverly Hills. Moreover, Douglas Elliman has a strategic global alliance with London-based Knight Frank Residential for business in the worldwide luxury markets spanning 59 countries and six continents. The company also controls a portfolio of real estate services including Douglas Elliman Development Marketing; Manhattan's largest residential property manager, Douglas Elliman Property Management with over 250 buildings; and DE Commercial. For more information on Douglas Elliman as well as expert commentary on emerging trends in the real estate industry, please visit www.elliman.com.

CONTACT: Samantha Feld Priyanka Banerjee

Douglas Elliman The Hoyt Organization

(212) 891-7735 (310) 373-0103

[email protected] [email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446684

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160916/408761LOGO

SOURCE Douglas Elliman Real Estate

Related Links

http://www.elliman.com


DETROIT, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The DTE Energy Board of Directors today announced that its 2017 Annual Meeting of Common Stock Shareholders will be Thursday, May 4.

Shareholders of record at the close of business March 7, 2017 are eligible to vote at the meeting. Shareholders interested in proposing business from the floor or nominating a person for the position of director from the floor must give notice and certain information to the DTE Energy corporate secretary by the close of business on Jan. 5, 2017.
Responding to a burgeoning economic vitality in digital health, Ben Franklin, IHG through a subsidiary, and Safeguard each intend to pledge $2 million to launch the funding initiative and will identify, vet, and allocate funds to augment the Philadelphia region's continued growth and development in digital health. In addition, each will source new opportunities, extend guidance and support to the emerging seed-stage companies as they grow, and maximize the impact of the capital committed to the companies and their communities. Startup companies will receive funds based upon the quality of their business model, the technology's viability, and a strong vision from the management team. Ben Franklin will lead the due diligence process and day-to-day fund management on potential opportunities.

"Joining with these leaders who bring domain knowledge and expertise strengthens Greater Philadelphia's position to support one of its most thriving technology sectors. Such a collaboration enhances and multiplies the quality of assessment, feedback and opportunity available to the region's digital health entrepreneurial talent, promoting development of solutions to benefit our community while offering companies even more resources to start, stay and grow here," said Ben Franklin President and CEO, RoseAnn B. Rosenthal.

"Independence Health Group is committed to developing and supporting the next generation of digital health entrepreneurs and helping our region become a global center for health care innovation," said Daniel J. Hilferty, President and CEO of IHG. "At our core is the belief that innovation is always knocking at the door. We want to champion healthcare entrepreneurship in our region and could not have found better partners for turning game-changing ideas into real world applications that will improve our members' well-being."

"Founded more than 60 years ago, Safeguard has helped hundreds of companies reach their potential in several strategic verticals over the decades," said Safeguard's President and CEO, Steve Zarrilli. "Our pragmatic approach has put Philadelphia on the map for entrepreneurs seeking capital. While we will always focus on our traditional 'sweet spot' of Series A and Series B financings, we believe that it's also important to put a stake in the ground and allocate resources to a broader spectrum of opportunities to support the full ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship. Safeguard recognizes an opportunity to spur growth in the Philadelphia region, and this seed capital will ultimately build a pipeline of opportunities potentially suitable for future rounds of financing from Safeguard."

Ben Franklin, IHG and Safeguard have demonstrated a clear commitment to healthcare innovation in the Philadelphia area, having previously announced their respective involvement in the Health Care Innovation Collaborative, which was initiated in 2015 by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce's CEO Council for Growth.

About Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania

Ben Franklin is the most active early stage capital provider for the region's technology sectors. Ben Franklin combines best practices of venture capital with a public-spirited purpose: leading the region's technology community to new heights, creating jobs and changing lives for the better. Ben Franklin is an initiative of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and is funded by the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority. www.sep.benfranklin.org

About Independence Health Group

Independence Health Group, through its subsidiaries, serves nearly 10 million people in 27 states and the District of Columbia, including 2.5 million in southeastern Pennsylvania. In addition to a growing consumer business, Independence Health Group serves employer groups ranging from small businesses to national corporations. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Independence Health Group is a diversified company offering a wide range of services including commercial, Medicare and Medicaid medical coverage, third-party benefits administration, pharmacy benefits management, and workers' compensation. Independence Health Group and Independence Blue Cross are independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. To learn more, visit www.ibx.com. Connect with us on Facebook at ibx.com/facebook and on Twitter at @ibx.

About Safeguard Scientifics

Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE:SFE) provides capital and relevant expertise to fuel the growth of technology-driven businesses in healthcare, financial services and digital media. Safeguard targets companies that are capitalizing on the next wave of enabling technologies with a particular focus on the Internet of Everything, enhanced security and artificial intelligence, which includes predictive analytics and machine learning. Safeguard typically deploys between $5 million and $25 million over the course of its partnership with a company, initially investing in a Series A or B Round and opportunistically in a Seed Round. Safeguard has a distinguished track record of fostering innovation and building market leaders that spans more than six decades. For more information, please visit www.safeguard.com or follow us on Twitter @safeguard.

Forward-looking Statements

Except for the historical information and discussions contained herein, statements contained in this release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Our forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. The risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially include, among others, our ability to make good decisions about the deployment of capital, the fact that our partner companies may vary from period to period, our substantial capital requirements and absence of liquidity from our partner company holdings, fluctuations in the market prices of our publicly traded partner company holdings, competition, our inability to obtain maximum value for our partner company holdings, our ability to attract and retain qualified employees, market valuations in sectors in which our partner companies operate, our inability to control our partner companies, our need to manage our assets to avoid registration under the Investment Company Act of 1940, and risks associated with our partner companies, including the fact that most of our partner companies have a limited history and a history of operating losses, face intense competition and may never be profitable, the effect of economic conditions in the business sectors in which Safeguard's partner companies operate, and other uncertainties described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Many of these factors are beyond the Company's ability to predict or control. As a result of these and other factors, the Company's past financial performance should not be relied on as an indication of future performance. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements or other information contained in this press release.

MEDIA CONTACTS

For Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania

Jason Bannon

Director, Marketing and Communications

215-972-6700 x3214

[email protected]

For Independence Blue Cross

Ruth Stoolman

Public Relations Manager, Corporate Communications

215-241-4807

[email protected]

For Safeguard Scientifics

Heather Hunter

Vice President, Corporate Communications

610-975-4923

[email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446734LOGO

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446733LOGO

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150824/260753LOGO



SOURCE Safeguard Scientifics, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.safeguard.com


CHICAGO, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Easterseals, the indispensable resource for people facing disabilities, announced a $23.6 million grant from the US Department of Labor for the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP). In 2015, over 33 million older adults aged 55 and older were unemployed (BLS) and by 2020, it's estimated this valuable population will make up a quarter of the U.S. civilian labor force. Easterseals will continue to assist many more mature workers through SCSEP.

SCSEP is a federal employment program for adults over the age of 55 with family incomes under 125% of the federal poverty income guidelines. This program provides paid training and employment assistance through community service projects at nonprofit and public organizations.

"As a SCSEP Employment Program Trainee, I have learned that I am not facing these barriers alone and have been given the opportunity to contribute my existing skills and to acquire new and current skills," said Wanda Malone, Easterseals SCSEP client. "Easterseals SCSEP has allowed me to approach each day with a renewed level of confidence and determination."

"Easterseals and the SCSEP program were there for me when I needed them." said Phyllis Buchanan, SCSEP participant. "And then after the complete training I received they found me my dream job. Now I get to connect people to the services and resources they need, hear the joy in their voices and see the relief on their faces, much like I experienced when I first learned about Easterseals and SCSEP, what could be better?"

To date, Easterseals has supported over 38,000 older adults helping them gain viable employment, achieve economic independence, and have confidence in their futures.

"SCSEP benefits not only the older adults involved, but also the organizations gaining hardworking, qualified new employees" said Randy Rutta, President and CEO, Easterseals. "This population has so much to offer in skills, perspective, and enthusiasm. We are thrilled to receive this grant, and look forward to building off nearly 15 years of furthering the contributions of older adults in the workforce and our communities."

The grant was allocated across ten Easterseals locations:

Easterseals Oregon

Easterseals New Jersey

Easterseals New York

Easterseals Central Alabama

Easterseals-Goodwill Miami Valley

Easterseals-Goodwill Northern Rocky Mountain

Easterseals-Goodwill of the Gulf Coast

Easterseals Oklahoma

Easterseals Southwest Human Development

Easterseals Cook County, IL

About Easterseals

For nearly 100 years Easterseals has been the indispensable resource for people and families challenged by disabilities. Now, as America faces a broad range of new issues, we make a major, positive, life-changing difference in the lives of people and families facing today's disabilities. The work we do every day is redefining disabilities for the 21st century. For more information, please visit easterseals.com.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160502/362650LOGO

SOURCE Easterseals

Related Links

http://www.easterseals.com


James, a Georgetown University law graduate, fashion designer, scholar of Danish West Indies history, and art collector, is also no stranger to controversy: In June of 2016, he waived extradition and was returned to the U.S. Virgin Islands from Italy in August to face Federal criminal charges for alleged "fiscal inconsistencies" during his 2009 - 2011 senate term. James was indicted under seal in October of 2015 and first became aware of the charges eight months later, in June of 2016. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges but was declared a "flight risk" and denied bail until October 7, 2016, when he posted bail and was released under 24/7 lockdown "home incarceration" pending the trial. The trial is scheduled for February 2017.

Besides refreshingly covering conventional etiquette-book topics such as table manners, men's grooming and hygiene, receiving lines, how to hold a glass of red wine versus a glass of white, and how to conduct oneself at an Audience with the pope, Manly Manners also delves into subjects once regarded as taboo or unthinkable for gentlemanly-types: what to do when detained by law enforcement officers; the etiquette of gay saunas, gloryholes, and fetish parties; how to "shop while ethnic"; how to survive prison; the etiquette of os impurum, irrumatio, anilingus, and cunnilingus; how to avoid being shot on a front porch while seeking emergency assistance in the middle of the night; delicate ways of suggesting an enema to a sex-partner prior to engaging in anal sex; and how to masturbatecorrectlyso as to avoid contracting Peyronie's Disease. The book, its Foreword written by Finland's and Sweden's Baron Peter von Troil, also has a substantial chapter titled "International Customs and Influences," which discusses everything from what to do if invited to a wedding in India or Iran, a Bar Mitzvah in Argentina, a funeral in Japan, a business meeting in China, or a dinner in Dubai, to the protocol of a coffee ceremony in Ethiopia. Then there is a 200-page chapterpractically a book in itselfon how to plan a same-sex wedding from A to Z.

Volume two, Manly Manners: The Cultivation of the Inner, Spiritual Gentleman, will be released in June of 2017; and volume three, Manly Manners: The Masculine Luxuries, will be published in October of 2017.

James, dubbed "The 'Bad Boy' of Good Manners," will announce his book-tour and lecture schedules after the February trial. "Since June of 2016, I have been in four prisons and have seen and experienced a segment of the male population that has given me a more complete outlook on what it is to be a man in the 21st century," James said. "My recent experiences, when put into the context of my eventful life, have made me especially qualified to speak to men from all walks of lifefrom the noble to the notoriouson matters pertaining to modern men's lifestyle. I also have a thing or two to say about the 'Presumption of Innocence' and prison reform! Many a grown man would have succumbed under similar circumstances. But this is all a testament to one of my primary outlooks on life: 'As you surmount the various obstacles on your road to success, you get a clearer view of your final destination.' Besides, now I can truly say that I have friends in highand lowplaces. And now I can speak about it all in a more Zen way," James concluded.

Manly Manners: Lifestyle & Modern Etiquette for the Young Man of the 21st Century (ISBN: 978-1-4917-9427-2), distributed by Ingram Books, the world's largest distributor of books, is available in hardcover, paperback, and eBook formats online at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com, and iUniverse.com as linked below,

https://www.amazon.com/Manly-Manners-Lifestyle-Etiquette-Century/dp/1491794275/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481044810&sr=1-1&keywords=manly+manners,

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/manly-manners-wayne-james/1125187837?ean=9781491794272, and

http://bookstore.iuniverse.com/Products/SKU-000728847/Manly-Manners.aspx,

as well as bookstores worldwide and at other online booksellers.

Media Contact:

Wayne A. G. James

[email protected]

(340) 778-8016

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446859

SOURCE Wayne James
NEW YORK, Dec. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- It's official, enso replaces onestyling and will focus on the high-end professional market. It is live at enso4stylists.com.

DAVID KIM, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT ANNOUNCEMENT

"In just a few years, the company onestyling has advanced to the forefront of the industry with one clear objective: raising the bar in the hairstyling profession. Today, we are proud to introduce the enso brand as the ultimate symbol of our commitment to our shared passion for the Art of Styling. More than ever, enso will pioneer new technologies that will unleash new creative possibilities for stylists. enso is the quintessential professional tool for Stylists, both empowering and inspiring."

THE enso ("circle") AS THE BRAND SYMBOL

"A freehand brushstroke circle symbolizes the "perfect" moment when the mind is free and lets the body create. Master calligraphers begin their day by drawing an enso, each and every day practicing perfecting their Art. This dedication inspires us as a company and drives our continuous pursuit for excellence, our sincere appreciation for beauty in its utmost details, and our passion for empowering Master Stylists with the best tools possible. Free of any constraints or limitations, they can create. We have re-designed our entire marketing (lines, packaging, website, store...) to communicate exactly that." - David Kim

PIONEERING HAIR BEAUTY

The company reinforces its commitment to develop game changing technologies. These will soon be distributed under the name "enso exclusives". The very successful "epic " line remains as it has become synonymous with "performance". The"cool"line replaces "verge" and is dedicated to Fashion trends. Finally, "curated by enso" will regroup all the best tools developed by or with like-minded partners whose passion for innovation and quality match enso standards and mission.

NOT A LINE, BUT A MODUS OPERANDI "BY HAIRSTYLISTS FOR HAIRSTYLISTS"

This philosophy is what has always made the company fundamentally different, and is the reason why enso is able to pioneer the next generations of hair beauty tools that make a real impact in the practice of hairstylists.

More than ever, enso will empower its Master Brand Ambassadors to lead our R&D process. enso is the only brand that gives stylists the opportunity to design their own tools for their individualized needs, not just to test products that engineers have developed.

enso is igniting a very dynamic and powerful Brand Ambassador Program. Check out how you can collaborate at enso4stylists.com. There is an opportunity for everyone: Master, Brand Ambassador, Student, Blogger or Fan.

enso club

Professional Hairstylists can register to the enso club and take advantage of amazing Monthly Must-Haves Deals designed for them, and to grow their Salon's business.

Discover the enso club at enso4stylists.com

enso academy

The enso academy is a program dedicated to promoting Higher Hairstyling Education. We believe that true Art can only be passed on from Master to Student. We offer classes that replicate the apprenticeship dynamic. An enso Brand Ambassador leads a program and teaches. A body of students, carefully selected, learn from the Master through listening, observing and practicing again and again. The very first enso academy will be led by Amit Abraham, enso Head of Education, and Master Session Artist for L'Oreal Professional. November 20th and 21st in Atlanta Georgia. The enso academy schedule will be posted on the enso website: enso4stylists.com

enso INFO

www.enso4stylists.com

Store: www.enso4stylists.com/store

FB: enso4stylists

Instragram: enso4stylists

Twitter: enso4stylists

CONTACT: Veronique Gautier - [email protected] - +1 917 434 6149

This press release was issued through 24-7PressRelease.com. For further information, visit http://www.24-7pressrelease.com.

SOURCE enso

Related Links

http://www.enso4stylists.com


MALABO, Equatorial Guinea, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Republic of Equatorial Guinea has expressed its satisfaction with the ruling by International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague that recognizes the diplomatic nature of a building that had been seized in Paris by French authorities.

It also expressed its disappointment that the high court said it lacked jurisdiction in the case against the Vice President, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue. Equatorial Guinea also called on France to withdraw the charges against the Vice President.

In an official statement, Equatorial Guinea said, "On demonstrating that the building is not "dishonestly acquired goods", the French party should have finally withdrawn the accusationas it was unsupported by the basis of the main accusation, and thus recognize unambiguously the immunity of [the Vice President]."

The Vice President, who is accused of money laundering in France, has denied any wrongdoing and says that his wealth was acquired legitimately.

Equatorial Guinea had previously lodged a formal complaint against France before the ICJ to halt the case against the Vice President on grounds of diplomatic immunity. The denial of this request by the ICJ allows France to pursue the case, which has already led to the seizure of assets in Switzerland, while the recognition of the property in Paris is binding under international law.

Equatorial Guinea stressed its commitment to pursue the case through the appropriate legal avenues of international justice and diplomacy between states, as advocated by the United Nations.

SOURCE Republic of Equatorial Guinea
DALLAS, Dec. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ES Xplore, LLC, a unique company that has developed a proprietary method for direct hydrocarbon indication at seismic resolution, announced a $12 million funding round led by Dallas based investors Sovereign Resources LLC and Unity Hunt, Inc. With this funding, ES Xplore has spun-out of Hunt Energy Enterprises and will independently grow its commercialization efforts.

As a direct hydrocarbon indicator, the ES Xplore process provides further enhancement of the geoscientist's repertoire of tools needed to execute a successful exploration program. "There is already a great deal of interest in using the risk-reducing technology. We expect it to increase significantly as oil and gas companies become familiar with the technology," said Don Robillard, chairman, president and chief executive officer of ES Xplore.

"The journey developing the ES Xplore venture at Hunt Energy Enterprises has been immensely meaningful," said Victor Liu, president of Hunt Energy Enterprises. "With the venture's unique ability to passively and directly detect hydrocarbons, we are excited about the prospect of benefiting the industry as a whole in exploring for low cost hydrocarbon resources."

"We as a family are excited to join this industry leading investment group in funding ES Xplore. Through a subsidiary, we have firsthand experience in using this cutting edge technology," said Dan Hunt, stakeholder at Unity Hunt. "Given our experience in the process, we believe this will be a revolutionary tool in the oil and gas industry."

"Having seen innumerable 'black-box technologies' in my career, I was initially skeptical of ES Xplore; however, personally utilizing and validating the technology on an actual Sovereign project dramatically changed my perspective," said Fred Sewell, president and CEO of Sovereign Resources LLC. "I'm pleased we were able to participate in funding this new venture, but equally important, Sovereign now has a dynamic, risk-reducing tool which we are using to wholly direct our future exploration activities."

For more information, please visit www.esxplore.com

About ES Xplore

ES Xplore was formed within the Hunt Energy Enterprises LLC, a venture startup incubator within Hunt Consolidated, Inc., to directly detect hydrocarbon resources subsurface. ES Xplore has been issued 11 current patents with several more still pending.

About Hunt Energy Enterprises

Hunt Energy Enterprises is the corporate energy technology venture group within Hunt Consolidated, Inc. As such, Hunt Energy Enterprises has incubated several technologies that leverage its operations and knowledge to create new energy companies and partnerships with entrepreneurs in both the conventional petroleum business and cleantech power. For more information, please visit www.huntenergyenterprises.com.

About Sovereign Resources

Sovereign Resources is an oil & gas exploration, production and investment company based in Dallas, TX with interests in Texas, Louisiana and California. For more information, please visit www.sovres.net.

About Unity Hunt, Inc.

Unity Hunt is a privately held wealth management company that was established to oversee the holdings of the Lamar Hunt family. For more information, please contact Steve Caple at [email protected].

Contact:

Don Robillard (214) 978-8694

Chairman, President & CEO

[email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446526LOGO

SOURCE ES Xplore

Related Links

http://www.esxplore.com


HAMBURG, Germany, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Today and on Friday, 50 foreign-ministers and 1,300 representatives of 57 delegations of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) member-states are meeting at the Hamburg exhibition grounds for their Ministerial Council. The event is being hosted by Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Due to its international character, Hamburg is the ideal location and will be in the international limelight for two days.

Hamburg's First Mayor Olaf Scholz welcomes the event: "The OSCE conference is an honour for our cosmopolitan city. We are currently witnessing that peace is repeatedly threatened and that wars such as the Syrian war have an impact on us all. Especially in unsettled times it is important that leading politicians get together and talk. Hamburg is well suited for this: as a trading hub it has always had an international focus. Just think of the Hanseatic League, which represented peace and security in Europe for centuries."

According to German Foreign-Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Hamburg is predestined for this due to its cosmopolitan, open-minded character and its international links. He also stressed the proverbial Hanseatic spirit that has promoted a culture of participation for centuries.

Topics of the Ministerial Council in Hamburg - which will be attended e.g. by John Kerry (USA) and Sergei Viktorovich Lavrov (Russia) - include the OSCE's commitment in the Ukraine as well as terrorism, arms control and means of strengthening the OSCE.

Next summer, the world will once again gather in Hamburg as the OSCE conference will be followed by the G20 summit on 7 and 8 July 2017. In 2017, the rotating chair will be held by Germany. Following a suggestion by Chancellor Angela Merkel, the G20 summit is scheduled to take place in Hamburg (http://www.hamburg.com).

Contact:

Hamburg-Marketing

Guido Neumann

[email protected]

Phone: +49(40)30051580

Mobile: +49(160)97298302



SOURCE Hamburg Marketing GmbH
WOODLAND HILLS, Calif., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Throughout November and December of 2016, Farmers Insurance has been surprising teachers across the country with the news that they were awarded $100,000 to help transform their schools and communities and provide opportunities to help students succeed.

In October, each of the six winners competed for votes from the American public to be crowned winners of the Farmers Insurance Dream Big Teacher Challenge. The six winners will use the awarded $100,000 to bring their individual proposals to life and make their schools better places to learn and grow.

The winning teachers are:

Mrs. Paula Hase of Wausau East High School in Wausau, Wisconsin ; Sponsored by Farmers Insurance Agent Mark Larson

of Wausau East High School in ; Sponsored by Farmers Insurance Agent Mrs. Kristen Swaggart of Pendleton High School in Pendleton, Oregon ; Sponsored by Farmers Insurance Agent Craig Christenson

of in ; Sponsored by Farmers Insurance Agent Mr. Seth Brady of Naperville Central High School in Naperville, Illinois ; Sponsored by Farmers Insurance Agent Mary Wlodarsk

of Naperville Central High School in ; Sponsored by Farmers Insurance Agent Mrs. Cheryl Burchett of Beaumont Magnet Academy in Knoxville, Tennessee ; Sponsored by Farmers Insurance Agent Shannon McCullock

of Beaumont Magnet Academy in ; Sponsored by Farmers Insurance Agent Mrs. Melissa Toohey of KIPP Ignite Academy in Los Angeles, California ; Sponsored by Farmers Insurance Agent Michael Ruiz

of KIPP Ignite Academy in ; Sponsored by Farmers Insurance Agent Mr. Rob Webb of Pequea Valley High School in Kinzers, Pennsylvania ; Sponsored by Farmers Insurance Agent Trudy Grove

"It was an honor to surprise these deserving educators with the funds to make their dreams a reality and witness the excitement of the students and members of the community," said Kelly Weiser, managing lead of Thank America's Teachers for Farmers Insurance. "Their stories truly inspired us and the public who voted for their proposals, and we know that the grants will help promote endless opportunities for current and future students."

Through Thank America's Teachers, Farmers has given away more than $1,000,000 to educators in 2016 and the public helps determine who receives the grants at www.ThankAmericasTeachers.com. Farmers awards 180 grants valued at $2,500 throughout the year, in addition to the six $100,000 Dream Big Teacher Challenge grants. Farmers will start accepting $100,000 and $2,500 proposals for the 2017 contest in mid-January.

About Farmers Insurance

"Farmers Insurance" and "Farmers" are tradenames for a group of affiliated insurers providing insurance for automobiles, homes and small businesses and a wide range of other insurance and financial services and products. Farmers Insurance is proud to serve more than 10 million households with over 19 million individual policies, across all 50 states, through the efforts of more than 48,000 exclusive and independent agents and approximately 21,000 employees. Farmers Insurance Exchange, the largest of the three primary insurance insurers that make up Farmers Insurance, is recognized as one of the largest U.S. companies on the 2016 Fortune 500 list.

For more information about Farmers Insurance, visit Farmers.com, Twitter and Instagram, @WeAreFarmers, or Facebook.com/FarmersInsurance.

Contacts: Farmers Insurance

Media Relations

818-965-0007

[email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161208/447298LOGO

SOURCE Farmers Insurance

Related Links

http://www.farmersinsurance.com


We issued an updated research report on Universal Forest Products Inc. UFPI on Dec 6, 2016. The company engineers, manufactures, treats, distributes and installs lumber, composite wood, plastic and other building products. It currently has a market capitalization of approximately $2.1 billion.



After the release of third-quarter 2016 results on Oct 18, shares of Universal Forest Products yielded a return of 7.2%, outperforming the return of 2.5% by the Zacks categorized Building Products Wood industry.

We believe that Universal Forest is working diligently to improve its products and services to tap new market opportunities. In the nine months ended Sep 2016, the companys new product sales grew 16% year over year while in the years ahead, the company anticipates healthy sales growth from its newly introduced decorators products.



Regarding inorganic growth, Universal Forest is set to leverage benefits from its acquired assets of Idaho Western, Inc. (Jun 2016). In Sep 2016, the company acquired a custom merchandising solutions provider, idX Corp. While the company does not expect any significant impact of idX Corp. acquisition on its 2016 results, it predicts the acquired assets to generate approximately $25$28 million in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization and incur roughly $6 million in depreciation and amortization expenses in 2017.



Recently, Universal Forest acquired all the outstanding shares of the Australian wood packaging and alternative material products manufacturer, The UBEECO Group Pty. Ltd. This acquisition will boost the companys existing industrial packaging businesses in the country. Earlier in 2015, the company acquired Australia-based Integra Packaging Proprietary, Ltd., a wood speciality packaging products manufacturer and provider of on-site packaging services.



In addition, we believe Universal Forest is well positioned to reap benefits from the strengthening demand in the U.S. construction market. For 2016, the company expects an improvement in the top line, backed by addition of customers and products to its portfolio. Also, enhancement of operating margin remains the companys primary area of focus.



Despite the solid near- and long-term growth potential, Universal Forest is exposed to risks arising from near-term headwinds including adverse foreign currency movements, geopolitical issues and stiff competition. Also, rising expenses have been a major issue for the company. It has no control over the costs and selling prices of lumber products, which are dependent on factors like government policies, environmental regulations, weather conditions, economic conditions and natural disasters. In the first nine months of 2016, the companys costs of goods sold increased 5.1% while operating expenses grew 12.6% year over year.



Universal Forest Products currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the industry include Norbord, Inc. OSB, Rayonier Inc. RYN and Trex Company, Inc. TREX. While Norbord and Rayonier sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Trex Company carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.



Norbord has an average positive earnings surprise of 99.98% for the last four quarters. Its earnings estimates for 2016 and 2017 have been revised upward over the last 60 days.



Rayonier reported better-than-expected results in the last four quarters, with a positive average earnings surprise of 83.78%. Also, bottom-line expectations for 2016 have improved over the past 60 days.



Trex Company earnings estimates for 2016 and 2017 have been revised upward over the last 60 days. Average earnings surprise for the last four quarters is a positive 13.13%.



Confidential from Zacks

Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>>



Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report



TREX COMPANY (TREX): Free Stock Analysis Report



UNIVL FST PRODS (UFPI): Free Stock Analysis Report



RAYONIER INC (RYN): Free Stock Analysis Report



NORBORD INC (OSB): Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
ST. LOUIS, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) issued a final reminder today regarding its previously announced annual Investor Day. The Company plans to release its 2017 guidance in advance of the event, which will be held on Friday, December 16, 2016, at the Pierre Hotel on East 61st Street in New York City. The meeting, which also will be webcast live, will begin promptly at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time and end approximately at noon Eastern Time, with breakfast and registration beginning at 7:30 a.m. At the meeting, Centene's senior management team is expected to make remarks regarding the Company's performance and future prospects.

Institutional investors and analysts who have not already registered and are still interested in attending the investor meeting can respond to Libby Abelt in Centene's Investor Relations department either via telephone at 1-212-759-5665 or e-mail at: [email protected].

Institutional investors and analysts unable to attend in person are invited to listen to the investor meeting via a live audio webcast on the Company's website at www.centene.com, under the Investors section.

A webcast replay will be available for on-demand listening shortly after the completion of the event for the next twelve months or until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, December 15, 2017, at the aforementioned section, also at www.centene.com.

About Centene Corporation

Centene Corporation, a Fortune 500 company, is a diversified, multi-national healthcare enterprise that provides a portfolio of services to government sponsored healthcare programs, focusing on under-insured and uninsured individuals. Many receive benefits provided under Medicaid, including the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), as well as Aged, Blind or Disabled (ABD), Foster Care and Long Term Care (LTC), in addition to other state-sponsored programs, Medicare (including the Medicare prescription drug benefit commonly known as "Part D"), as well as programs with the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Centene operates local health plans and offers a range of health insurance solutions. It also contracts with other healthcare and commercial organizations to provide specialty services including behavioral health management, care management software, correctional healthcare services, dental benefits management, in-home health services, life and health management, managed vision, pharmacy benefits management, specialty pharmacy and telehealth services.

Centene uses its investor relations website to publish important information about the Company, including information that may be deemed material to investors. Financial and other information about Centene is routinely posted and is accessible on Centene's investor relations website, http://www.centene.com/investors.

SOURCE Centene Corporation

Related Links

http://www.centene.com


"We take great pride in being a part of the communities we serve," said FirstCare President/CEO Darnell Dent. "One of our core beliefs as a company is that all Texans and our communities should be healthyand the United Way helps by providing resources to Texans in need. So when we can extend our support to an organization like the United Way, we're standing behind our belief structure and corporate mission."

This year, FirstCare's offices in Lubbock and the corporate headquarters in Austin teamed up to raise these fundssurpassing internal goals and eclipsing last year's fundraising efforts.

"I'm proud of the efforts our employees have put forth for this cause," said Dent. "It's this sense of community that sets FirstCare apart from other health plans in Texas. We are here, we are a part of the community and we're already looking forward to how we can contribute in 2017."

About FirstCare Health Plans

Our mission is to provide access to high quality, affordable health care through strong partnerships in the communities we serve. Since 1985, we've been serving the health care needs of members across North, West, and Central Texas. Today, our service area includes 108 counties, with local offices in Abilene, Amarillo, Lubbock, and corporate offices in Austin, Texas. We offer a wide range of HMO, PPO, HSA, and ASO products through a variety of programs, including small and large employer plans; state, federal and teacher plans; government programs; and the Health Insurance Marketplace. With the support of our owners, Covenant Health in Lubbock and Hendrick Health System in Abilene, we serve over 188,000 members. For more information, please visit www.firstcare.com.

Photo- http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161206/446438

SOURCE FirstCare Health Plans

Related Links

http://www.firstcare.com


LINDON, Utah, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

ForeverGreen Worldwide Corporation (FVRG), a leading direct marketing company and provider of health-centered products, announced today the appointment of Chris Patterson as COO.

Patterson brings over 15 years of successful Direct Selling industry experience, previously working in progressive executive positions such as In-House Legal Counsel, Vice President of Strategic Development, General Counsel for three different companies, Chief Operating Officer, and President. He returns to ForeverGreen after most recently spending four years in the high-tech Aerospace Industry. "I am delighted to rejoin ForeverGreen at this time. Even when I was employed at different companies, I strived to live a ForeverGreen way of life and I cherish my ongoing relationships with ForeverGreen employees and distributors," commented Patterson.

"We are thrilled with the return of Chris to our team. We missed him during his absence. His expertise and breadth of industry and international experience will benefit our ForeverGreen family immensely," commented CEO and Founder Ron Williams.

Along with his experience in direct selling, Chris is retired from the United States Army Reserves with over 20 years' service with assignments in Operations, Public Affairs, and Signals Intelligence. He also holds a Juris Doctor degree from Washburn University School of Law. He is a member of the Utah State bar and fluent in Portuguese.

For more information on ForeverGreen's products, visit http://www.forevergreen.org.

ForeverGreen Worldwide Corporation develops, manufactures and distributes an expansive line of all natural whole foods and products to North America, Australia, Europe, Asia, Africa and South America, including their new global Xpress offering Prodigy-5. Additional products include PowerStrips, SolarStrips and BeautyStrips. They also offer their North America weight-management line Ketopia, along with FrequenSea, a whole-food beverage with industry exclusive marine phytoplankton, immune support and weight management products, and Pulse-8 powdered L-arginine formula.

Forward-Looking Statement

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that certain statements in this release are "forward-looking statements" and involve both known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Such uncertainties include, among others, certain risks associated with the operation of the company described above. The company's actual results could differ materially from expected results.

Contact:

ForeverGreen Worldwide Corporation

Craig Smith, +1-801-655-5500

[email protected]

or

Brokers and Analysts:

Chesapeake Group

+1-410-825-3930

[email protected]

SOURCE ForeverGreen Worldwide Corporation
AUSTIN, Texas, Dec. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Forte Foundation announced its new Men As Allies Initiative to help male students benefit from, and get involved in, enhancing gender equity on business school campuses and to take that experience back to the business world.

The new initiative leverages insights from male ally programs started on 10 business schools campuses -- including Harvard Business School, The Wharton School, and Columbia Business School -- and is part of a growing movement in recent years to enhance gender equity in business and society, including the United Nations' HeForShe initiative, Catalyst's Men Advocating Real Change (MARC), and the White House's Let Girls Learn.

"Over the past few years, we've seen a surge of interest from men in getting involved in issues of gender equality on business school campuses," said Elissa Sangster, Executive Director, Forte Foundation, a non-profit consortium of leading multinational companies and top business schools working together to launch women into fulfilling, significant careers through access to business education, opportunities, and a community of successful women. "Many men have felt like outsiders and did not know how to get involved. Our initiative sheds light on what male MBA students can do to enhance diversity on campus, which will create a positive ripple effect both at school and when they return to the business world."

Sangster added, "We may have reached a tipping point as more women are pursuing an MBA and more men are interested in supporting gender equity. While we are making great progress, and getting closer to 40 percent women's enrollment at our member business schools, initiatives like this one that foster inclusiveness, will help us get to gender parity faster."

The initiative, designed to foster the creation of male-led gender equity groups on campus, includes a new "Men as Allies" website, which contains a toolkit for male students at business schools interested in creating their own initiatives on campus to enhance gender equity, but who need more information to move forward. The toolkit includes insight on reasons to start a group and how to do it, what activities and events are successful, and how to adopt gender-supportive behaviors and work effectively with the Women in Business club on campus.

The website also features insights and podcasts of recent MBA graduates who played a leadership role in the male ally group at pioneering business schools that have walked this road and can share best practices and stumbling blocks. The podcasts feature male allies discussing why they wanted to get involved, what they've learned, and what they took back to the workforce. In addition, the site contains valuable research that provides ample evidence of the positive impact of gender diversity in business.

The Forte Foundation initiative launched with help from its business school members and diversity experts, including Anne Weisberg and Lisa Levey, and thanks to generous financial support from Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper School of Business), Cornell University (Johnson School of Management), and Georgetown University (McDonough School of Business).

The initiative leverages the momentum and insights of business schools that have created programs to engage men as champions of gender equity, known as "Manbassadors" programs at some schools. These 10 business schools include:

London Business School  ManBassadors, started in 2016

 ManBassadors, started in 2016 Columbia Business School  Manbassadors program, started in 2015

 Manbassadors program, started in 2015 New York University (Stern School of Business)  Male Allies, started in 2015

(Stern School of Business)  Male Allies, started in 2015 University of California  Los Angeles ( Anderson School of Management)  Manbassadors, started in 2014

 ( of Management)  Manbassadors, started in 2014 University of Michigan ( Ross School of Business)  MBW Allies, started in 2014

( of Business)  MBW Allies, started in 2014 University of Pennsylvania (The Wharton School)  22's, started in 2014

(The Wharton School)  22's, started in 2014 Stanford Business School  WiMEN, started in 2014

Duke University (The Fuqua School of Business)  Male Ambassador Program, started in 2013

(The Fuqua School of Business)  Male Ambassador Program, started in 2013 Harvard Business School  Manbassadors program, started in 2013

 Manbassadors program, started in 2013 Northwestern University (Kellogg School of Management)  Male Allies, started in 2013

"There are multiple benefits to men who join the movement to create greater gender equity," said Sangster. "Understanding gender equity positions men ahead of the curve in school and in business. This increased awareness gives them an edge in providing support to female colleagues, and retaining them in the workplace. It also leads to greater organizational health, financial success, and life satisfaction for both men and women."

ABOUT FORTE FOUNDATION

Forte Foundation is a non-profit consortium of leading multinational corporations, top business schools in the US and abroad, and the Graduate Management Admission Council. Its mission is to launch women into fulfilling, significant careers through access to business education, opportunities and a community of successful women. Forte is the leading organization that provides a national infrastructure for women at all stages of the career continuum to access the information, scholarship support and networking connections they need to succeed in business careers. Additional information about the Forte Foundation is available online at www.fortefoundation.org.

FORTE SPONSORS

Forte Sponsor Companies: A.T. Kearney; Amazon; American Airlines; Associated Bank; AT&T; Bank of America Merrill Lynch; Barclays; Boston Consulting Group; Bloomberg; Capital Group; Chevron; Citi; Citizens Financial Group; Cognizant; Credit Suisse; Cummins; Danaher; DaVita; Deloitte; Deutsche Bank; Dimensional Fund Advisors; Dow; DTCC; Eli Lilly and Company; Evercore; ExxonMobil; EY; General Motors; Goldman Sachs; Hines; IBM Global Business Services; JP Morgan; Liberty Mutual; M&T Bank; Macquarie Group; McKinsey & Company; New York Life; PIMCO; The PNC Financial Services Group; UGI Corporation; USAA; Wellington; Wells Fargo; Whirlpool Corporation

Forte Nonprofit Sponsors: 100 Women in Hedge Funds; Certified Financial Planner Board; Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC)

Forte Business School Sponsors: Alliance Manchester Business School; Arizona State University W.P. Carey School of Business; Babson College (F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business); Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper School of Business); Columbia Business School; Cornell University (Johnson School of Management); Dartmouth College (Tuck School of Business); Duke University (The Fuqua School of Business); Emory University (Goizueta Business School); Georgetown University (McDonough School of Business); George Washington University School of Business; Georgia Tech (Scheller College of Business); Harvard Business School; HEC-Paris; IE Business School; IESE Business School; Imperial College Business School; Indiana University - Bloomington (Kelley School of Business); INSEAD; London Business School; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan); Michigan State University (Broad College of Business); Mills College (Lorry I. Lokey Graduate School of Business); Northwestern University (Kellogg School of Management); New York University (Stern School of Business); Ohio State University Fisher College of Business; Queen's School of Business; Rice University Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business; Simmons School of Management; Southern Methodist University (Cox School of Business); University of California - Berkeley (Haas School of Business); University of California - Los Angeles (Anderson School of Management); University of Chicago (Booth School of Business); University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (College of Business); University of Maryland Smith School of Business; University of Michigan (Ross School of Business); University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (Carlson School of Management); University of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler Business School); University of Notre Dame (Mendoza College of Business); University of Oxford (Said Business School); University of Pennsylvania (The Wharton School); University of Rochester (Simon School of Business); University of Southern California (Marshall School of Business); University of Texas at Austin (McCombs School of Business); University of Toronto (Rotman School of Management); University of Virginia (Darden School of Business); University of Washington (Foster School of Business); Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management; Washington University in St. Louis (Olin Business School); Yale School of Management; York University (Schulich School of Business)

SOURCE Forte Foundation

Related Links

http://www.fortefoundation.org


WOBURN, Massachusetts and OXFORD, England, December 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Replimune Ltd announced today that Dr Robert Coffin, Ph.D., its founder and CEO, has been honored with the 43rd Annual Inventor of the Year Award by the IPO Education Foundation. Dr. Coffin received the award in Washington DC . Dr. Coffin's invention, now Amgen's IMLYGIC, is the first in the class of oncolytic immunotherapy drugs to receive marketing approval anywhere in the world. IMLYGIC is designed to replicate in cancer cells leading to oncolysis, whereby the release of tumor derived antigens, virally derived GM-CSF, and replicated IMLYGIC produce potent antitumor immune responses. As such, IMLYGIC is potentially broadly applicable to solid tumors even though it is currently only approved in melanoma.

Dr. Coffin is a pioneer in the fields of oncolytic viral therapy and cancer immunotherapy having spent more than15 years conceiving and developing IMLYGIC and related products. This award recognizes the dedication required of Dr Coffin and the many dedicated professionals involved in the entire innovation and drug development process through to the ultimate commercialization of life saving treatments. This year, the Foundation chose to honor the inventors of six drugs in the field of cancer immunotherapy, which in addition to IMLYGIC were BLINCYTO (Amgen), YERVOY (BMS), NIVOLUMAB (BMS), KEYTRUDA (Merck) & TECENTRIQ (Roche).

Dr. Coffin invented and developed IMLYGIC while at Biovex Inc. Biovex, also founded by Dr Coffin, originally spun out of his research group at University College London in 1999 before being acquired by Amgen in 2011. Since the Biovex acquisition, Dr. Coffin has remained active in the cancer immunotherapy field and recently founded Replimune Ltd. a company developing next generation oncolytic immunotherapy products.

"On behalf of all of Replimune's investors, we congratulate Rob for his achievement and this recognition of his pioneering role in the field of immuno-oncology," said Jason Rhodes, partner at Atlas Venture. "We are excited to be working with Rob as he and the Replimune team create transformational oncolytic immunotherapies that will greatly advance patient care."

About Replimune Ltd

Replimune, headquartered in Oxford UK and with offices in the UK and MA, was founded in April 2015 to develop the next generation of 'oncolytic immunotherapies' for the treatment of cancer. Replimune is developing novel, proprietary products intended to improve both the direct anti-tumor effects of selective virus replication and the potency of the immune response to the tumor antigens released. Replimune intends to progress these therapies rapidly through clinical trials and to combine these with other immuno-oncology products with complementary mechanisms of action at an early stage.

About Oncolytic Therapy

Oncolytic immunotherapy is an emerging class of cancer therapeutics which exploit the ability of viruses to selectively replicate in and kill tumor tissue, while at the same time induce a potent, patient-specific, anti-tumor immune response. Oncolytic viruses have the unique ability to generate an autologous vaccine to the patient's particular complement of tumor antigens, including neoantigens, in situ in the patient with a truly off-the-shelf approach. While clear single agent clinical activity has been achieved with oncolytic immunotherapy, it is anticipated that particular synergy may be observed in combination with immune checkpoint blockade and other immune-modulatory approaches.

SOURCE Replimune Ltd
More than 200 highly skilled engineers, designers and planners work on this contract. Since 1987, Bath Iron Works has provided design and technical assistance for design upgrades and major changes for DDG 51-class destroyers.

The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer is a multi-mission combatant that offers defense against a wide range of threats, including ballistic missiles. It operates in support of carrier battle groups, surface action groups, amphibious groups and replenishment groups, providing a complete array of anti-submarine, anti-air and anti-surface capabilities. Arleigh Burke-class destroyers combine the AEGIS combat system, the Vertical Launching System, an advanced ASW system, two embarked SH-60 helicopters, advanced anti-aircraft missiles and Tomahawk anti-ship and land-attack missiles. Designed for survivability, the ships incorporate all-steel construction and gas turbine propulsion.

More information about General Dynamics Bath Iron Works can be found at www.gdbiw.com. Information about General Dynamics is available at www.generaldynamics.com.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140428/81320

SOURCE General Dynamics Bath Iron Works

Related Links

http://www.gdbiw.com


DENVER, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A confluence of market factors will dramatically reshape the U.S. grain and farm supply industries between 2017  19, according to a new report from CoBank. Continued low commodity prices, increased foreign competition and the strong U.S. dollar will stress U.S. crop and animal supply chains leading to more industry consolidation, which will introduce the next phase in the evolution of the agricultural industry.

Prices across the crops sector will continue to remain low as a result of a significant global oversupply. While low commodity prices are also boosting consumption and overall global demand, strong production will continue to outpace demand over the next three years, barring a severe weather event in a major agricultural producing country.

"The U.S. grain and farm supply industries have reached another historic inflection point that will be good news for some and bad news for others," said Tanner Ehmke, CoBank senior economist and author of the new report. "The co-ops that thrive through this cycle will be those that offer innovative products and services to their farmer customers, are earnest and unrelenting in controlling costs, are properly aligned in the industry chain, and focused on risk management. These co-ops ultimately end up well positioned as the industry realigns."

Adding to the list of market challenges is the increased competitiveness of foreign producers  particularly countries such as Argentina, Brazil and Russia  which have expanded production to take advantage of the export opportunities created by their weaker currencies. Ehmke notes that a strong dollar will continue to impede U.S. exports and is causing many producers to reconsider their crop rotations, switching from wheat to more profitable and higher performing crops, such as corn and soybeans.

These conditions are expected to exert additional pressures across the U.S. agricultural spectrum  from producers, to farm suppliers and to retailers  which will drive a continuing trend of consolidation. Farm size is expected to increase as farmers acquire acreage outside their existing territory, which will exert consolidation pressure on the retailers that serve them. In addition to consolidation within the respective retail and wholesale categories, some wholesalers are expected to merge with retailers resulting in compression of the supply chain.

"This trend is expected not only to continue, but to accelerate as agribusinesses adjust to a climate of low prices and thinning margins," said Ehmke.

Disrupting factors such as severe weather or sudden changes in foreign exchange rates could prompt a deviation from the current cycle. However, given the current environment for low commodity prices, a strong dollar and increased competition, a sustained recovery over the next three years is unlikely.

A synopsis of the report, "What's Ahead for the Grain Markets and Farm Supply in 2017-2019" is available at CoBank.com. The full report is available to media upon request.

About CoBank

CoBank is a $120 billion cooperative bank serving vital industries across rural America. The bank provides loans, leases, export financing and other financial services to agribusinesses and rural power, water and communications providers in all 50 states. The bank also provides wholesale loans and other financial services to affiliated Farm Credit associations serving more than 75,000 farmers, ranchers and other rural borrowers in 23 states around the country.

CoBank is a member of the Farm Credit System, a nationwide network of banks and retail lending associations chartered to support the borrowing needs of U.S. agriculture, rural infrastructure and rural communities. Headquartered outside Denver, Colorado, CoBank serves customers from regional banking

For more information about CoBank, visit the bank's web site at www.cobank.com.

SOURCE CoBank

Related Links

http://www.cobank.com


LONDON, Dec. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --



The global osteoporosis drugs market was worth $8,835.4 million in 2015 and it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.8% during 2016-2022. Among the various drug classes, the rank ligand inhibitors segment is expected to witness the fastest growth, a CAGR of 4.3% during the forecast period.



Osteoporosis disease is the most common bone disease occurring due to reduced bone mineral density, thus increasing risk of fractures and fragile bones. It leads to abnormally porous bones such as sponge, which facilitates weakening of bones and painful fracture. Bone mineral density decreases naturally with age, and hence aging population face high risks of osteoporosis. The decline in bone strength is only visible after the bone gets fractured. Most of the spine, hip, shoulder and forearm fractures occur in aged people of 65 years and above. One of the major procedures to build stronger muscle and bones is exercising regularly during the teenage years, which in turn leads to a lower risk of osteoporosis disease. The increasing trend of inactive lifestyle and obesity leads to growing prevalence of osteoporosis disease.



Some of the signs and symptoms of the osteoporosis are falling risk and fractures. Diagnostic tests of osteoporosis include X-Ray test and traditional radiography tests, which is further confirmed with the help of bone density test. Osteoporosis disease can be managed by nutrition emphasis, lifestyle management and medicines. According to National Osteoporosis Foundation, by 2025 osteoporosis would lead to approximately three million fractures.



Based on drug class, the global osteoporosis drugs market has been segmented as bisphosphonates, parathyroid hormone therapy, SERM's, rank ligand inhibitor, calcitonin, and others. The bisphosphonates segment dominated the global market in 2015.



The global osteoporosis drugs market is growing due to growing geriatric population, increasing prevalence of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women and increasing healthcare expenditure. The increasing focus on research & development of new drugs for treatment of osteoporosis and increasing awareness of osteoporosis are also driving the growth of the global osteoporosis drugs market.



The restraints for the growth of the global osteoporosis drugs market include strict regulatory requirements for the approval of drugs and patent expiry of blockbuster drugs. The side-effects and complications associated with administration of osteoporosis drugs such as nausea, ulcer in stomach and irritable bowel syndrome are also hindering the growth of the global market.



Geographically, North America is expected to continue being the largest market for osteoporosis drugs globally, during 2016-2022. It is due to growing geriatric population and increasing awareness of osteoporosis. The European osteoporosis drugs market is growing at a significant rate mainly due to growing aging population, increasing prevalence of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women and increasing awareness of osteoporosis. However, the Asia-Pacific market of osteoporosis drugs is expected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period. This is due the growing geriatric population, increasing healthcare expenditure, large pool of patients, modifying lifestyle and increasing awareness of osteoporosis in the region.



Some of the key companies operating in the global osteoporosis drugs market include Eli Lilly and Company, Pfizer Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Novartis International AG, Merck & Co. Inc., and Amgen Inc.

Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4402297/



About Reportbuyer

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

http://www.reportbuyer.com



For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 208 816 85 48

Website: www.reportbuyer.com

SOURCE ReportBuyer

Related Links

http://www.reportbuyer.com


BALTIMORE, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new report by the Greater Baltimore Committee outlines specific initiatives that public and private sector employers and elected leaders can take to remove barriers to employment and expand job opportunities for men and women returning to society after incarceration.

A key benefit to expanding job opportunities for these returning citizens: Prevent them from falling back into crime, a long-standing issue for Baltimore.



As noted in the GBC report, Opening Doors to a Second Chance: Removing barriers and cultivating job opportunities for returning citizens and job seekers with a criminal background, thousands of people released from incarceration come to the city each year, presenting a significant potential pool of workers who need and want employment.

Matching more of these job seekers with employment would save Maryland on some of its $1 billion in annual prison expenses and help alleviate the significant financial and emotional burden imprisonment has on families, especially the children of incarcerated men and women, the report notes.

"Virtually every expert and study on reducing recidivism agrees that a linchpin for returning citizens to break this cycle is obtaining stable employment as quickly as possible," notes the GBC's report.

The report was developed over the past year by the Coalition for a Second Chance, a group of 24 experts from the public and private sectors convened by the Greater Baltimore Committee to examine barriers to employment for ex-offenders and public policy and other initiatives that could remove or help overcome them.

Organizations that worked with the GBC on the report include the Job Opportunities Task Force, Abell Foundation, and Living Classrooms Foundation. The Coalition's work included considerable research and meeting with human resources experts at 16 companies in the Baltimore area. The report is meant to serve as a blueprint for strategies to improve the life of returning citizens.



The coalition is lead by Donald C. Fry, President and CEO for the GBC, and Shaina Hernandez, Director of Local Government Affairs and Strategic Initiatives for the GBC.

"Many returning citizens earnestly want a job. They just need someone to open the door so they can have a second chance and move in a new positive direction," said Fry.

"As this report underscores, employers in the Baltimore region could be doing more  and are willing to do more - to provide that second chance. They just need the education and guidance to make it happen. Meanwhile, many of these returning citizens can bring dedication and hard work to employers," Fry said.



Removing employment barriers and creating job opportunities for more returning citizens would help improve the overall business climate and economy in Baltimore City and the region," Fry said.

"This can be a win for returning citizens, a win for employers and a win for the overall economic health of the city," Fry said.

Along with a background that includes a criminal record, returning citizens also face seemingly insurmountable hurdles that make it difficult to gain employment, the report notes.

These barriers include employer reluctance, discriminatory or unfair hiring practices, and difficulty with housing and transportation to major job hubs. In addition some individuals returning from incarceration are not aware of services available to help overcome hurdles and find employment.

Those who are awaiting trial and are unable to meet onerous bail demands also face tough odds with jobs and family obligations, the report notes.



Many employers are not aware of the "positive outcomes and benefits associated with hiring individuals with a criminal background," the report states.



Despite these and other barriers, the GBC report found that many employers in Baltimore are receptive to hiring those with a criminal background. These employers also were open to having managers and other employees educated about the many benefits of hiring such employees and reviewing data on how successful they are for an organization and advancing their skills.

To ensure more employers in the public and private sector are receptive to considering and hiring job applicants with criminal backgrounds, the GBC's report includes recommendations to improve the chances of successful re-entry to society, better coordination of public services for returning citizens, and expanding job opportunities in the public and private sectors.

Among some of the key recommendations:

Designate a state-wide Office of Reentry within the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.



Create a Reentry Peer Recovery Network.



Create an umbrella network to pool state, local, and nonprofit resources.



Increase the focus on hiring individuals with a criminal background in state and local government positions.



Provide procurement preferences for businesses seeking state contracts to encourage them to hire individuals with a criminal background.

Align workforce training with employer needs.

Encourage companies to sign the Fair Chance Pledge, which includes ensuring that criminal records are considered in a proper context during hiring decisions.



Improve the inventory of programs that provide job training for returning citizens.



The GBC plans a long-term commitment to working on the issue, Fry said. Initially the GBC will establish a group of experts from the public and private sectors to oversee implementation of the Coalition's recommendations.

As the GBC report highlights, the issue is a long-term problem that requires a long-term commitment, Fry said.

The GBC - with its independent voice, influential connections in the private sector and ability to work on tough projects long-term - is well positioned to ensure we see lasting change on this issue, said Fry. "I'm confident our work will help the tough challenges of those looking for a second chance, while also helping employers in the city find and hire loyal, hard-working employees from this valuable pool of returning citizens."

Read the entire report

https://gbc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/GBC-Coalition-for-a-Second-Chance-report.pdf

About the Greater Baltimore Committee

The Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC) is a regional organization of business and civic leaders that includes businesses, nonprofit organizations and educational and civic institutions. It is the leading voice for the private sector in the Baltimore region on issues relating to economic growth, job creation, workforce development, transportation, the business climate and quality of life. The GBC has approximately 500 member organizations, which include small businesses, mid-size companies, nonprofits and the largest corporations in the Greater Baltimore region.

SOURCE Greater Baltimore Committee

Related Links

http://www.gbc.org


TAMPA, Fla., Dec. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Business owners across the country are shaking their heads and wondering how the results of the presidential election will affect Obamacare and their current employee health benefits plans. Individuals are asking the same questions. Rob Pariseau, CEBS, executive vice president and employee benefit practice leader at Lykes Insurance, shares his thoughts and advice.

"When I think of the millions of hours spent learning and implementing Obamacare, I can't help but identify with John Belushi as Bluto in Animal House after being expelled from college," says Pariseau. "Do you remember what he said? 'Seven years down the drain.' No one knows what will become of Obamacare, and no one is suggesting that employers cease complying, but here are a few things we do know."

Repeal and Replace

President-elect Trump ran on the concept of repealing and replacing the law. The Republican replacement, their "Better Way" plan, adds medical tort reform and allows interstate health insurance sales to increase competition. It keeps the ban on pre-existing condition limitations and parental coverage to age 26 from Obamacare as well as tax deductibility of employer provided coverage, to a limit. It adds a health insurance tax credit for those self-employed and others with no access to employer coverage, which requires funding.

Repeal is easy. Replacing is much more difficult and here's why. Obamacare was passed by and can be repealed in the Senate by reconciliation, a rarely used legislative tool that bypasses the self-imposed filibuster requiring 60 votes to act. Reconciliation only requires 51 votes, and the Republicans have 52, so Republicans could repeal Obamacare in the first 30 days of a Trump presidency. Republicans now are debating whether that's their preferred course of action.

Not so fast. Repealing Obamacare would leave nearly 20 million Americans with much more expensive, if not unaffordable health premiums, and in some cases no health insurance -- and no one wants that. According to Senate rules, reconciliation cannot be used on legislation that requires additional funding and replacing Obamacare with the Better Way plan certainly would, so reconciliation is out. Republicans would then need 60 votes to act, which means they need Democrat votes.

Compromise Possible in 2017?

Republicans are vulnerable in 2017 because if they repeal Obamacare and can't get the needed Democrat votes to replace it, they face the 2018 midterm elections with up to 20 million Americans without health coverage. Not pretty. They may need to compromise to get something passed.

Democrats need to defend 25 Senate seats in 2018. As recently as 2014, Democrats had to defend 21 seats and lost nine. Similar results in 2018 would give Republicans a filibuster-proof majority and carte blanche, so it may be in the Democrats' best interests to compromise in 2017.

And in the meantime, you need to keep going as is. Check in with your employee benefits advisor to be sure.

But before you get too hopeful, do you remember what became of Bluto? He became Senator John Blutarsky, Washington D.C.!

MEDIA CONTACT:

Suzie Boland

RFB Communications Group

[email protected]

Office 813-259-0345

Mobile 813-786-1019

SOURCE Lykes Insurance
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. and WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- HealthSouth Corporation (NYSE: HLS) and Novant Health, Inc., have received a Certificate of Need (CON) to build a 68-bed, freestanding inpatient rehabilitation hospital in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The joint venture will relocate the rehabilitation unit at the Novant Health Rehabilitation Center at 3333 Silas Creek Parkway in Winston-Salem to the newly constructed hospital, once complete.

Construction on the new hospital is expected to begin in the summer of 2017. The new hospital will provide comprehensive, inpatient physical rehabilitation to patients who have experienced stroke, trauma, brain injury, complex orthopedic conditions as well as other major illnesses or injuries.

"Novant Health has a long history of providing exceptional care. This joint venture combines the strengths of a high quality provider with the operating platforms and clinical resources of our national network to further advance the already strong rehabilitative care Novant provides," said Ed Mowen, president of HealthSouth's MidAtlantic region. "We look forward to working together with Novant to provide inpatient rehabilitative treatment with state-of-the-art technology and clinical programs through HealthSouth's first hospital in North Carolina."

"We are very excited that the CON has been approved and are now able to move forward on this much needed project. There is a growing demand for rehabilitative care in this community and together with HealthSouth we can assure our patients have state-of-the-art facilities, services and technology," said Stephen Motew, M.D., president of Novant Health Winston-Salem market. "This aligns with our mission, vision and core values, and most importantly with our commitment to provide remarkable care to our patients. We look forward to launching the project immediately."

About Novant Health

Novant Health is an integrated network of physician clinics, outpatient facilities and hospitals that delivers a seamless and convenient healthcare experience to our communities. Named in 2016 by Becker's Hospital Review as one of the nation's 150 best places to work in healthcare, Novant Health consists of more than 1,380 physicians and nearly 24,000 employees and provides care at 530 locations, including 14 medical centers and hundreds of outpatient facilities and physician clinics. Novant Health, headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is committed to making healthcare remarkable for patients and communities, serving more than 4 million patients annually. In 2015, the health system provided more than $706 million in community benefit, including charity care and services. IMS Health named Novant Health as one of the nation's top 20 integrated delivery networks while Diversity MBA also recognized the organization as one of the 50 best places for women and managers of diverse background to work. For more information, please visit our website at NovantHealth.org. You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

About HealthSouth

HealthSouth is one of the nation's largest providers of post-acute healthcare services, offering both facility-based and home-based post-acute services in 34 states and Puerto Rico through its network of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, home health agencies, and hospice agencies. HealthSouth can be found on the web at www.healthsouth.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements contained in this press release which are not historical facts, such as those relating to the likelihood, timing and effects of the finalization of this joint venture project, are forward-looking statements. In addition, HealthSouth may from time to time make forward-looking public statements concerning the matters described herein. All such estimates, projections, and forward-looking information speak only as of the date hereof, and HealthSouth undertakes no duty to publicly update or revise such forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Such forward-looking statements are necessarily estimates based upon current information and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. HealthSouth's actual results or events may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors. While it is impossible to identify all such factors, factors which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated include, but are not limited to, the regulatory review and approval process; any adverse outcome of various lawsuits, claims, and legal or regulatory proceedings that may be brought by or against HealthSouth or this joint venture; the possibility this project will experience unexpected delays; the ability to successfully complete and integrate this project consistent with HealthSouth's growth strategy, including realization of anticipated revenues, cost savings, and productivity improvements arising from the related operations and avoidance of unforeseen exposure to liabilities; changes in the regulation of the healthcare industry at either or both of the federal and state levels; competitive pressures in the healthcare industry and HealthSouth's or this joint venture's response thereto; this joint venture's ability to maintain proper local, state and federal licensing; potential disruptions, breaches, or other incidents affecting the proper operation, availability, or security of the hospitals' or either partner's information systems; the ability to attract and retain nurses, therapists, and other healthcare professionals in a highly competitive environment with often severe staffing shortages and the impact on labor expenses from potential union activity and staffing shortages; changes, delays in (including in connection with resolution of Medicare payment reviews or appeals), or suspension of reimbursement for services by governmental or private payors; general conditions in the economy and capital markets; and other factors which may be identified from time to time in HealthSouth's SEC filings and other public announcements, including HealthSouth's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 and Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2016, June 30, 2016 and September 30, 2016.

HEALTHSOUTH CONTACTS:

Media: Casey Lassiter, 205 641-1118

[email protected]

Investor Relations: Crissy Carlisle, 205 970-5860

[email protected]

NOVANT HEALTH CONTACT:

Media: Patti Friend, 336 277-4027

[email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150224/177409LOGO

SOURCE HealthSouth Corporation

Related Links

http://www.healthsouth.com


HOUSTON, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Twenty-one percent of Houston-area technology executives surveyed recently expect to expand their IT teams in the first half of 2017, according to the just-released Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Forecast and Local Trend Report. In addition, 57 percent plan to hire only for open IT roles, 19 percent plan to put hiring plans on hold, and 2 percent expect to reduce their IT staffing levels in the first six months of the year. Hiring is not all technology leaders are thinking about, as 28 percent named maintaining the security of their IT systems and safeguarding company information as their most top-of-mind concern for the first half of 2017, while upgrading existing systems for business efficiency followed closely with 23 percent of the response.

Top Concerns for CIOs

To further understand the priorities of Houston CIOs for the upcoming year, they were asked, "In addition to recruitment, which of the following do you anticipate will be top-of-mind for you in the next six months?" Their responses:

Maintaining security of IT systems/safeguarding company information (28 percent)

(28 percent) Upgrading existing systems (23 percent)

(23 percent) Investing in new technologies (18 percent)

(18 percent) Staff retention (16 percent)

(16 percent) Helping grow the business (15 percent)

"Overall, we're seeing companies looking to add a mix of full-time staff, and contract professionals who can assist with project implementation needs," said Robert Vaughn, metro market manager for Robert Half Technology in Houston. "There's especially high demand for senior programmers who can develop applications and infrastructure specialists who can assist with performing Windows 10 upgrades. Also, security concerns are high, so network security professionals and those who can decrease vulnerability to cyber threats are in high demand."

Houston IT Hiring Forecast* Jan.June 2017 CIOs adding more staff to IT departments 21% CIOs planning to hire only for open IT roles 57% CIOs who plan to put IT hiring plans on hold 19% CIOs who plan to reduce their IT staff 2% Don't know future hiring plans 0%

*Numbers do not equal 100 due to rounding

Hiring forecasts are based on interviews with more than 2,500 CIOs from 25 major U.S. markets who were asked to provide a six-month hiring outlook.

Recruiting Challenges & Skills in Demand

Hiring challenges remain, as 63 percent of CIOs said it's somewhat or very challenging to find skilled IT professionals today. The skills in greatest demand within their organizations, according to respondents, include:

Desktop support (41 percent)

(41 percent) Network administration (40 percent)

(40 percent) Database management (40 percent)

About Robert Half Technology

With more than 100 locations worldwide, Robert Half Technology is a leading provider of technology professionals for initiatives ranging from web development and multiplatform systems integration to network security and technical support. Robert Half Technology offers online job search services at roberthalf.com/technology. Visitors can also request a copy of the Robert Half Technology 2017 Salary Guide, which includes a wide range of IT job descriptions.

Survey Methodology

The survey was developed by Robert Half Technology and conducted by an independent research firm. To ensure that companies from all segments were represented in the study, the sample was stratified by number of employees. Robert Half Technology has been tracking IT hiring activity in the United States since 1995.

SOURCE Robert Half Technology
DALLAS, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Humach (humans + machines), a global BPO and tech innovator that combines the creativity and experience of humans with the computational power, analytics and automation of machines, is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its Oelwein center.

On December 7th, Oelwein employees took to the streets as part of the Random Acts of Humach Foundation, a 501(c)3 organization committed to Pledge 1%. To commemorate the occasion, staff members chipped in with generous gestures all over town, including giving out gift cards at local businesses, paying for people's meals and car repairs, and helping shoppers afford their perfect Christmas gifts.

Humach is considered one of the major employers in the city by the local Chamber of Commerce. Over the course of 25 years, Humach has paid out over $50 million in payroll to Oelwein and the surrounding communities, directly impacting the citizens and their town.

In addition to giving back financially, the customer experience provider has given their time to various service groups to benefit their city. Employees have organized events such as a Relay for Life, school supply drives, food drives for the local Community Cupboard, gathering donations for local animal shelters and performed Random Acts of Kindness.

"We'd like to thank all of our customers for trusting us with their business; without your loyalty, we wouldn't be here today. Most importantly, thank you to the employees who have helped us keep our Oelwein center going for 25 awesome years," said CEO Tim Houlne. "Without the people, this center would just be a building. But for 25 years, it's been home."

Moving forward, Humach will continue to be a driving force for change in the customer experience industry from its offices in Oelwein, Mason City, Dubuque, IA, Fargo, ND, and from its headquarters in Plano, TX.

ABOUT HUMACH

Humach helps its clients find more innovative ways to engage, acquire and support their customers. By combining business intelligence, experienced agents and machine automation, they offer best-in-class multi-channel contact center services. Leveraging numerous patents spanning cloud-based, scalable infrastructure, Humach provides contact center services to some of the world's largest brands. Learn more at www.humach.com

Contact:

Alithia Gallegos

(972) 694-0603

[email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160114/322287LOGO

SOURCE Humach

Related Links

http://www.humach.com


NEW YORK, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Synopsis

The report provides a detailed look into the infrastructure sector in Chile, including analysis of the state of the current infrastructure, the regulatory and financing landscapes, and the major projects in the construction pipeline.



The report covers all key infrastructure sectors: roads, railways, electricity and power, water and sewerage, communication, and airports and ports.



Summary

Expenditure on infrastructure construction in Chile is set to grow rapidly over the forecast period (20162020).



According to Timetric's Infrastructure Intelligence Center (IIC), the infrastructure construction market's value rose from US$10.9 billion in 2010 to US$13.4 billion in 2015 and it is anticipated to reach US$17.7 billion by 2020 (in nominal value terms).



This growth is based on the assumption that a number of large-scale infrastructure projects move ahead as planned. These include the Costanera Central Highway, Santiago Metro Line 7, Maria Elena Thermo Solar Park, Acueducto de Aquatacama, Punilla Water Reservoir, the Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport Expansion, and the Puerto de Gran Escala (PGE) San Antonio Development.



Scope

A concise analysis of the administrative, economic and political context for infrastructure in Chile



An in-depth assessment of the current state of infrastructure in Chile, including roads, railways, electricity and power, water and sewerage, communications, airports and ports



A focus on main political and financial institutions involved in the infrastructure market, as well as the competitive and regulatory environment



For each infrastructure sector, an explanation of the key drivers of growth in new investment and an analysis of the project pipeline, with a detailed look at the prospects for major projects and the companies that have secured contracts





Reasons To Buy

- Assess the current state of Chile infrastructure, and the main drivers of investment, including the key institutions and financing methods.



- Investigate forecasts and gain an understanding of key trends in each of the main infrastructure sectors.



- Analyze the main project participants operating in each sector, to better understand the competitive environment.



- Identify top projects by sector, development stage and start date, to inform expansion strategy.





Key Highlights

Timetric is currently tracking 350 large-scale infrastructure construction projects in Chile, at all stages of development from announcement to execution. These projects have a total investment value of US$140 billion.



The electricity and power sector accounts for the largest share of the project pipeline, with a total project value of US$91.4 billion. This is followed by water and sewerage infrastructure projects, with a pipeline of US$21.3 billion. The pipeline for airports and other infrastructure projects amounts to US$11.4 billion, and for roads it stands at US$9.7 billion. For railway infrastructure construction projects, the total work pipeline stands at US$6.9 billion.



When compared to other regional peers (Mexico, Brazil and Argentina) through the 2015-2016 World Economic Forum's Global Competitive Report, Chile scores 4.6 points higher in terms of overall quality of infrastructure.



In July 2014, the administration of President Michelle Bachelet launched the Infrastructure, Development and Inclusion Agenda  Chile 30-30, to invest nearly US$28 billion in public and private infrastructure projects over 20142021. The agenda, which constitutes a long-term plan to reach 2030 with an average per capita income of US$30,000, aims to increase investments in public infrastructure from 2.5% to 3.5% of gross domestic product (GDP). The plan entails two main areas of investment, including an estimated US$9.9 billion in new concession projects until 2020, and US$18 billion in a range of public infrastructure projects and programs until 2021.



Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04432569-summary/view-report.html



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



http://www.reportlinker.com





__________________________

Contact Clare: [email protected]

US: (339)-368-6001

Intl: +1 339-368-6001

SOURCE Reportlinker

Related Links

http://www.reportlinker.com


PROVIDENCIALES, Turks & Caicos Islands, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- interCaribbean Airways is pleased to announce a new nonstop weekly service from Providenciales to Montego Bay.

These new flights will commence operating on December 18th, 2016 every Sunday and return every Monday. The service is initially offered on a once weekly basis on the following schedule. This new flight increases the flights to 8 weekly flights in each direction between Jamaica and the Turks and Caicos Islands with a faster flight and improved connections from San Juan -Puerto Rico, Nassau - Bahamas and Santo Domingo -Dominican Republic. These flights offer the fastest way around the Caribbean.

Jamaica's Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, welcomed the announcement by interCaribbean Airways of the new nonstop weekly service from Providenciales to the island's tourism capital and second city.

Minister Bartlett said "intra-regional travel has a critical role to play in Jamaica's efforts to grow visitor arrivals over the current growth rate of five percent. Cooperation between our sister islands will assist in establishing multi-destination marketing arrangements that give us access to new markets. This is exciting news for us and we are happy to have interCaribbean Airways on board."

SCHEDULE





Depart Providenciales every Sunday 4:15pm Arrive Montego Bay 5:05pm Depart Montego Bay every Monday 8:15am Arrive Providenciales 11:05am

Dr. Rafael Echevarne, Chief Executive Officer of MBJ Airports Limited said we are very pleased with the new non-stop service to Providenciales. Montego Bay not only gains a new destination, but having direct access to interCaribbean's hub opens up a wealth of much needed connectivity to the Caribbean.

Trevor Sadler, interCaribbean Chief Executive Officer said the steady increase in demand to Montego Bay warrants the introduction of this new service. We are pleased to continue to respond to the need of the Caribbean Traveler with this service. With significant ties between the two Caribbean nations we look forward to building on this initial once per week service.

About interCaribbean Airways:

interCaribbean Airways is based in the Turks & Caicos Islands, and was founded 25 years ago, to connect you and the Caribbean. The company operates a fleet of EMB 120, Twin Otter, BE99 aircraft connecting the Turks & Caicos to Antigua, Tortola, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, the Bahamas and Cuba; Domestic flights in Jamaica between Kingston and Montego Bay, are also offered.

SOURCE interCaribbean Airways
LONDON, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Crisis & Litigation Communicators' Alliance ('CLCA') is delighted to announce LEVICK, the leading crisis, litigation and public affairs communications firm in North America, as its newest member firm in the United States.

The CLCA is an international network of independent, owner-managed PR firms specialising in crisis and high-stakes litigation PR advice.

Within the crisis and litigation space, LEVICK has an unrivalled pedigree and employs nearly 50 professionals in Washington DC, New York, Chicago, and Toronto. Representing countries and companies, the firm has worked on many of the highest-profile matters globally, including Guantanamo Bay, Dubai Ports, #BringBackOurGirls, the Catholic Church crisis, AIG, the Gulf oil spill, the largest data-security breaches in US history, hundreds of front-page product recalls, and dozens of major anticorruption matters. Richard Levick has written four books including two on crisis and litigation communications and is a regular commentator in the print and broadcast media.

CLCA Chairperson Louise Beeson of Bell Yard Communications, CLCA's co-founding agency in London, comments:

"LEVICK's addition to our roster is excellent news for the CLCA. Our members wanted a strong partner firm in the US, the original home of litigation PR, not least because international disputes often involve a US dimension. LEVICK has an outstanding reputation and a rich experience of crisis and legal disputes ranging from criminal or regulatory matters on Wall Street to multi-party action following environmental disasters. We are excited to have them on board to share their know-how and expertise."

Richard Levick, Chairman and CEO of LEVICK, comments:

"Membership in the CLCA means we can call on trusted, expert partners overseas when we need them. We have already worked hand-in-hand with several CLCA colleagues very effectively on a multi-million dollar litigation case introduced to us by the Alliance and we look forward to continuing this positive collaboration with all member firms whose calibre and expertise in their domestic markets is self-evidently impressive."

About the CLCA:

The Crisis & Litigation Communicators' Alliance (CLCA) is an international Alliance of specialist PR firms who are experts in crisis and litigation communications counsel in their respective jurisdictions. Member firms include:

The CLCA continues to look for new members in non-represented jurisdictions. For further information, please visit www.clc-alliance.com.

SOURCE Crisis & Litigation Communicators' Alliance (CLCA)

Related Links

http://www.clc-alliance.com


The J Bubble Room brings together two accomplished artists  Winemaker Nicole Hitchcock and Chef Carl Shelton  to create refined and distinct compositions on every plate. With each course, food and wine are married to compliment flavors, textures and aromas meant to provide an unparalleled wine country experience. The J Bubble Room is an entirely unique gastronomical journeyled in tandem by both Chef and Winemaker. The staff takes great care to make each guest's visit a perfectly orchestrated and thought-provoking experience.

"At J, we are one of the only wineries in California to devote equal energy to both our sparkling and varietal wines," said J Winemaker Nicole Hitchcock. "The breadth of our portfolio lends itself to a wide array of cuisines, which allows Chef Carl to create stimulating flavor combinations."

The J Bubble Room menu tells a new and compelling edible story every six weeks. Each menu is a reflection of the time of year, the fresh produce which is available, and other inspirations provided to Chef by Sonoma County. With each menu, the J Bubble Room staff strives to bring these stories to life.

"With each menu, we try to create an unforgettable experience that inspires guests to explore new boundaries to the possibilities of pairing wine with food," J Executive Chef Carl Shelton said. "I'm lucky. I'm a chef by trade, but it's also my passion. I'm always thinking about ingredients. When I discover something special  whether at a local farm or even a subtle nuance in Nicole's wine  I want to share it with anyone who comes to see us at the J Bubble Room."

The current menu entitled "Let the Bubbles Flow," was introduced on December 1. The renovated J Bubble Room hosts up to 54 guests per seating and up to 10 guests in the private dining room.

The Bubble Room at J Vineyards & Winery is open Thursday  Sunday with seatings at 11am, 12pm, 2pm, and 3pm. In addition to the Bubble Room, J also offers tastings daily at the Signature Bar, Legacy Lounge and Terrace outdoors when the weather permits. Click here, call (707) 431-5430, or find us on Open Table to make a reservation.

About J Vineyards & Winery

Since 1986, J Vineyards & Winery has developed a reputation as one of the top sparkling and varietal wine producers in California. J has come to be known for its celebrated estate vineyards, broad portfolio and world-class hospitality. Winemaker Nicole Hitchcock showcases her expertise and diversity through a portfolio of high quality varietal and sparkling wines of distinction. Visit the renowned hospitality center in the heart of the Russian River Valley to enjoy one of the many tasting experiences, including the vibrant Signature Bar, the sunny and serene Terrace, or the delicious pairings prepared by Executive Chef Carl Shelton in the J Bubble Room.

www.jwine.com | www.facebook.com/jwine | Instagram: @jwine

California Table and Sparkling Wine, 2016 J Vineyards & Winery, Healdsburg, CA. All rights reserved.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161208/446983

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161208/446982

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161208/446984

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160922/411026LOGO

SOURCE J Vineyards & Winery

Related Links

http://www.jwine.com


Although based in Charlotte, her responsibilities will include the growth and development of the North Carolina and South Carolina markets with a specific focus on growing Woodforest's corporate and middle market banking presence through the acquisition of new clients.

Dargani earned her B.A. in Marketing Communications from the University of Houston in Houston, Texas and her International Business Law degree from King's College in London, England. She most recently worked for Fifth Third Bank as a Senior Middle Market Relationship Manager in Charlotte.

William (Bill) Peele, Regional President of Woodforest National Bank, stated, "We are pleased to welcome Julie to our Commercial Banking team in Charlotte. Her many years of experience and commitment will be instrumental in helping expand our commercial banking operations in Charlotte."

Dargani is committed to the local community and serves on several non-profit boards and committees including Girls Scouts Hornets' Nest Council's Advancement Committee, Young Athletes Special Olympics of North Carolina volunteer, LIFESPAN board member (an organization that serves the special needs community), and she was recently named to the British American Business Council as a board member. She is also an active member of the Association of Corporate Growth  Charlotte Chapter and the Charlotte Economics Club.



Personally, she is a native Houstonian and resides in Concord with her husband, Johnny. Together they have 2 elementary aged children and 2 spoiled rotten dachshunds.

About Woodforest

Celebrating over 35 years of community banking service, Woodforest National Bank has successfully stood among the strongest community banks in the nation, proudly offering unsurpassed quality customer service since 1980. Woodforest currently operates 746 branches in 17 states across the United States. For more information about Woodforest national Bank, visit www.woodforest.com

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161208/447324

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160822/400197LOGO

SOURCE Woodforest National Bank

Related Links

http://www.woodforest.com


"We were excited to partner with Kathy and her exceptionally talented team at kiWW three years ago to design the kathy ireland Loved Ones collection. We are even more thrilled to extend our partnership," says Mr. Fick. "Kathy's design and business savvy paired with her unique understanding of her loyal customer base' needs produced one of our bestselling lines that is loved, cherished and appreciated by all our customers, including and especially the four-legged ones," he adds.

"Kevin Fick and the incredible team at Worldwise share our passion for pets being protected by their guardians as more families embrace having a pet. They realize these precious Loved Ones are vital members of our family," says Kathy, kiWW's CEO and Chief Designer. "Our partnership is supporting nonprofit initiatives and bringing extraordinary value as well as tremendous beauty in home decor-inspired items for pets and the families who love them. We are very pleased that this relationship will continue in such a powerful way."

kathy ireland Loved Ones pet product collection includes a wide range of products including dog and cat bedding, cat scratchers, toys for cats and dogs, and much more. New items from the collection will debut throughout 2017 and are available at pet specialty, mass market and online retailers nationwide.

About Worldwise

Worldwise, Inc. believes that sustainable living is easier when it's a natural choice. Brands such as SmartyKat, TrustyPup, Petlinks, goDog, Hear Doggy!, SHERPA, Guaranteed On Board and kathy ireland Loved Ones have been constantly evolving through innovative, solution-based and proprietary product designs that make it easy and affordable for you to satisfy your pet's most important needs. http://www.worldwise.com

About kathy ireland Worldwide

Founded in 1993, the kathy ireland Worldwide brand celebrates a lifestyle. The missions of "...solutions for families, especially busy moms," "...solutions for people in love," and "...solutions for people in business," translate to all kiWW collections, including: fashion, fine jewelry, intimate apparel, skincare, accessories, weddings, home, office and more. kiWW's unique capability to design and translate fashion trends for all markets and price points allows it to develop product for a wide variety of customer tastes.

Listed as the 25th most powerful brand globally by License Global Magazine, with annual merchandise sales of $2.6 billion, according to Forbes Magazine, the success of kathy ireland Worldwide is the result of teamwork and dedication. Kathy has graced the cover of Forbes Magazine twice (2012, 2016) and according to Fairchild Publications, Kathy Ireland is one of the 50 most influential people in fashion. Kathy and kiWW support many non-profits including: YWCA Greater Los Angeles for which she is an Ambassador, Dream Foundation, Providence Educational Foundation, 911 for Kids/AEF, and the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Kathy was recently named an Ambassador for the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446898

SOURCE Worldwise(R)

Related Links

http://www.worldwise.com


NEW YORK, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/-- Today, Ketchum, one of the world's leading communications firms, and Daggerwing Group, a management consultancy, announced the merger of Ketchum's leadership and change management unit, Ketchum Change, with Daggerwing Group. Both agencies are part of Omnicom Group's DAS Group of Companies. The merger is effective Jan. 1, 2017 and the integrated entity will be known as Daggerwing Group.

The merger brings together Daggerwing Group's and Ketchum Change's complementary core capabilities to provide a more competitive end-to-end offering for clients.

"Management consulting at the C-suite level is a lynchpin in our holistic offering for clients, especially at this time of heightened complexity in the marketing and communications industry," said Dale Adams, chairman and CEO, the DAS Group of Companies. "We're pleased to see Daggerwing Group and Ketchum formalize their connection through this merger, creating a simple yet robust offering for clients that combines the strengths and capabilities of both firms."

Rob Flaherty, partner, chairman and CEO of Ketchum, said, "This merger will tremendously deepen and broaden the capabilities of Daggerwing Group and Ketchum Change. Daggerwing Group specializes in C-suite-level consulting, and they have built a solid business around helping clients gain executive alignment on their corporate vision and priorities. They then help those clients manage the organizational, cultural and operational change that occurs with that alignment. That expertise is perfectly complementary to Ketchum Change, which also provides change consulting and then drives the solution through execution of internal communications and employee engagement programs."

Daggerwing Group CEO Ewan Main will lead the integrated firm. He will be joined by a leadership team from both Daggerwing Group and Ketchum Change that includes President Cheryl Ferguson; COO Matt Sinacori; Paul Teuton, partner and EMEA managing director; Michelle Mahony, SVP and North America director; Gretchen Huestis, SVP and Asia Pacific director; and Rich Pacheco, VP and director of finance.

"The value of this integration for Daggerwing Group's clients will be real and immediate, as they will benefit greatly from the depth and breadth of Ketchum's network of services," said Main. "At the same time, we bring to the table a unique skill set that further strengthens Ketchum Change's offering, particularly with our experience developing corporate strategy at the executive level. As an integrated firm we are uniquely positioned to help clients accelerate growth by optimizing the intersection of business goals, customer needs and employee engagement."

Daggerwing will continue to be based in New York, Toronto, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, London, Dubai and Singapore.

About Ketchum

Ketchum is a leading global communications firm with operations in more than 70 countries across six continents. The winner of 19 Cannes Lions and an unprecedented five PRWeek Campaign of the Year Awards, Ketchum partners with clients to deliver strategic programming, game-changing creative and measurable results that build brands and reputations. For more information on Ketchum, a part of Omnicom Public Relations Group, visit www.ketchum.com.

About Omnicom Public Relations Group

Omnicom Public Relations Group is a global collective of three of the top global public relations agencies worldwide and specialist agencies in areas including public affairs, marketing to women, fashion, global health strategy and corporate social responsibility. It encompasses more than 6,000 public relations professionals in more than 330 offices worldwide who provide their expertise to companies, government agencies, NGOs and nonprofits across a wide range of industries. Omnicom Public Relations Group is part of the DAS Group of Companies, a division of Omnicom Group Inc. that includes more than 200 companies in a wide range of marketing disciplines including advertising, public relations, healthcare, customer relationship management, events, promotional marketing, branding and research.

About the DAS Group of Companies

The DAS Group of Companies, a division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) (www.omnicomgroup.com), is a global group of marketing services companies. DAS includes over 200 companies in the following marketing disciplines: specialty, PR, healthcare, CRM, events, promotional marketing, branding and research. Operating through a combination of networks and regional organizations, DAS serves international, regional, national and local clients through more than 700 offices in 71 countries.

SOURCE Ketchum

Related Links

http://www.ketchum.com


HOUSTON, Dec. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- As previously disclosed, on October 24, 2016, Key Energy Services, Inc. (OTC-PINK: KEGXQ) ("Key" or the "Company") and certain of its domestic subsidiaries (collectively, the "Filing Subsidiaries" and, together with the Company, the "Debtors") filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (the "Bankruptcy Court"), pursuant to the terms of a plan support agreement, dated August 24, 2016, by and among the Debtors and certain of their lenders and noteholders, that contemplates the reorganization of the Debtors pursuant to a prepackaged plan of reorganization (the "Plan"). The Debtors have obtained joint administration of their chapter 11 cases under the caption In re: Key Energy Services, Inc, et al., Case No. 16-12306. The subsidiary Debtors in these chapter 11 cases are Misr Key Energy Investments, LLC, Key Energy Services, LLC, and Misr Key Energy Services, LLC.

On December 6, 2016, the Plan was confirmed by the Bankruptcy Court. This confirmation, which comes less than two months after the Debtors filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, provides for Key to emerge from bankruptcy, likely by the end of December.

Robert Drummond, Key's President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "The confirmation of our Plan is a critical milestone in the process to position Key to emerge from bankruptcy in short-order to take advantage of a recovering U.S. oil and gas market. The brevity and success thus far of our reorganization process would not have been possible without the strong support of Key's creditors and is a testament to Key's prospects for long-term value creation."

Key's restructuring will reduce the company's debt by approximately $725 million upon emergence. Key expects to exit bankruptcy with at least $80 million in cash on the balance sheet.

With strong support from all creditors entitled to vote on the Plan, Key will emerge from bankruptcy with a shareholder base composed of strong institutional investors, including Platinum Equity as the largest holder, and a significantly de-levered capital structure that will position the company to focus on the opportunities unfolding as commodity prices recover. The confirmed Plan requires no material changes in the ordinary course of business to Key's wages and salaries, benefits, vendors or trade creditors. Upon emergence, Key will remain a publicly traded company and Key will begin the process of re-listing on a major exchange.

"Key's restructuring will not change our fundamental operating strategy," Drummond said. "With an unwavering commitment to our customers, we will continue to improve safety, efficiency and operational flexibility. We continue to reduce costs across the organization and will take additional steps, as needed, to achieve profitability as activity improves while continuing to deliver the superior services our customers have come to expect from Key. In addition, we anticipate that through our relationship with Platinum Equity and our de-levered capital structure, we will be uniquely positioned to make investments in Key's business that will help enable profitable growth and to create value for all of our stakeholders."

Platinum Equity Partner Jacob Kotzubei said he is pleased that Key Energy successfully received confirmation of its Plan.

"This is another important step in Key's proposed restructuring that will allow the company to emerge as a stable, well-capitalized business," said Mr. Kotzubei. "We believe Key is poised for significant growth as the market recovers, and we are excited about the opportunities ahead."

Cautionary Note regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements that are not historical in nature or that relate to future events and conditions are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. These statements are only predictions and are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of performance. Future actions, events and conditions and future results of operations may differ materially from those expressed in these statements.

Important factors that may affect Key's expectations, estimates or projections include, but are not limited to, the following: risks associated with Key's reorganization; the ability of Key to meet all of the conditions precedent necessary to effectuate the Plan; conditions in the oil and natural gas industry, especially oil and natural gas prices and capital expenditures by oil and natural gas companies; volatility in oil and natural gas prices; Key's ability to implement price increases or maintain pricing on its core services; industry capacity; increased labor costs or unavailability of skilled workers; asset impairments or other charges; the periodic low demand for Key's services and resulting operating losses and negative cash flows; Key's highly competitive industry as well as operating risks, which are primarily self-insured, and the possibility that its insurance may not be adequate to cover all of its losses or liabilities; the economic, political and social instability and risks of doing business in certain foreign countries; significant costs and potential liabilities resulting from compliance with applicable laws; Key's historically high employee turnover rate and its ability to replace or add workers, including executive officers; Key's ability to incur debt or long- term lease obligations; Key's ability to implement technological developments and enhancements; significant costs and liabilities resulting from environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, including those relating to hydraulic fracturing; severe weather impacts on Key's business; Key's ability to successfully identify, make and integrate acquisitions and its ability to finance future growth of its operations or future acquisitions; the loss of one or more of Key's larger customers; the impact of compliance with climate change legislation or initiatives; Key's ability to generate sufficient cash flow to meet debt service obligations; the amount of Key's debt and the limitations imposed by the covenants in the agreements governing its debt, including its ability to comply with covenants under its current debt agreements; an increase in Key's debt service obligations due to variable rate indebtedness; Key's inability to achieve its financial, capital expenditure and operational projections, including quarterly and annual projections of revenue and/or operating income and its inaccurate assessment of future activity levels, customer demand, and pricing stability which may not materialize (whether for Key as a whole or for geographic regions and/or business segments individually); Key's ability to execute its plans to withdraw from international markets outside North America; Key's ability to achieve the benefits expected from acquisition and disposition transactions; Key's ability to respond to changing or declining market conditions, including Key's ability to reduce the costs of labor, fuel, equipment and supplies employed and used in its businesses; Key's ability to maintain sufficient liquidity; adverse impact of litigation; and other factors affecting Key's business described in "Item 1A. Risk Factors" in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 and its other filings with the SEC and in Article XI of the Disclosure Statement.

About Key Energy Services

Key Energy Services is the largest onshore, rig-based well servicing contractor based on the number of rigs owned. Key provides a complete range of well intervention services and has operations in all major onshore oil and gas producing regions of the continental United States and internationally in Russia.

Contact:

West Gotcher, Investor Relations

713-757-5539

SOURCE Key Energy Services, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.keyenergy.com


TEANECK, N.J., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Thousands of additional parents in the MetroWest region of Massachusetts will now have access to an individualized learning program for their preschool to high school aged children. Kumon, the world's largest after-school education franchise, is expanding in the region with the opening of its first math and reading learning center in Ashland.

There are currently 46 Kumon Math and Reading Centers in Massachusetts, including 11 in the MetroWest.

"The MetroWest region has been nicknamed the 'Arc of Innovation' because it is home to many of Massachusetts' largest and fastest growing companies," said Larry Lambert, vice president of franchise recruitment at Kumon North America. "The emphasis placed on education in the region make it an ideal location for Kumon's expansion."

Kumon's Presence in Massachusetts

7,680 subject enrollments at 46 centers

First center opened in 1987

The Kumon Method empowers children to become self-learners and is designed to advance math and reading skills while fostering a love for learning. Kumon sparks critical thinking, establishes a pattern of success and builds confidence that can lead to accelerated learning throughout life.

To learn more about the Kumon franchise opportunity, visit kumonfranchise.com.

About Kumon Math & Reading Centers:

Kumon is an after-school math and reading enrichment program that unlocks the potential of children in preschool through high school, so they can achieve more on their own. The learning method uses an individualized approach that helps children develop a solid command of math and reading skills. Visit kumon.com to learn more.

About the Kumon Franchise Business

Kumon is an ideal small business for professionals. Kumon Franchisees must have a four-year college degree, be proficient in math and reading and have investment capital of $70,000 and a net worth of at least $150,000. Founded in 1958, Kumon has four million students enrolled in 26,000 learning centers in 49 countries and regions. Kumon North America is headquartered in Teaneck, NJ.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160113/321904LOGO

SOURCE Kumon

Related Links

http://kumon.com


TEANECK, N.J., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Thousands of additional parents in Anaheim Hills will now have access to an individualized learning program for their preschool to high school aged children. Kumon, the world's largest after-school education franchise, is expanding in the region with the opening of Kumon Math and Reading Center of Anaheim Hills-Weir Canyon.

There are currently four Kumon Math and Reading Centers in Anaheim, including three in the Anaheim Hills area. Anaheim Hills is home to some of the highest performing schools in Orange County with most of them being recognized as California Distinguished Schools.

"Kumon has experienced a great deal of success in Anaheim for more than 20 years now," said Larry Lambert, vice president of franchise recruitment at Kumon North America. "Due to the emphasis placed on education, we continue to see a demand for additional learning centers, so we are excited to give even more children access to the Kumon Math and Reading Program in Anaheim Hills."

Kumon's Presence in Orange County

7,960 subject enrollments at 43 centers in Orange County

First center opened in 1988

59 percent increase in subject enrollments in last 10 years

The Kumon Method empowers children to become self-learners and is designed to advance math and reading skills while fostering a love for learning. Kumon sparks critical thinking, establishes a pattern of success and builds confidence that can lead to accelerated learning throughout life.

To learn more about the Kumon franchise opportunity, visit kumonfranchise.com.

About Kumon Math & Reading Centers:

Kumon is an after-school math and reading enrichment program that unlocks the potential of children in preschool through high school, so they can achieve more on their own. The learning method uses an individualized approach that helps children develop a solid command of math and reading skills. Visit www.kumon.com to learn more.

About the Kumon Franchise Business

Kumon is an ideal small business for professionals. Kumon Franchisees must have a four-year college degree, be proficient in math and reading and have investment capital of $70,000 and a net worth of at least $150,000. Founded in 1958, Kumon has four million students enrolled in 26,000 learning centers in 49 countries and regions.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160113/321904LOGO

SOURCE Kumon

Related Links

http://www.kumon.com


HELSINKI, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Kuuhubb OY, a Finland based company specializing in boosting Asian distribution and brand/IP collaborations of mobile app and VR vendors, has acquired Kemojo Studios. Kemojo is a mobile game developer based in Vancouver, currently with 22 employees. It was founded in 2010 and it focuses on two promising mobile game niches - action shooter and idle RPG. Kemojo Kuuhubb Studios, as it will be known after the acquisition, is gearing to launch several major titles in 2017 in these genres.

Kemojo has worked with Kongregate, Fox, Jagex, Big Fish Games, EA Popcap and Rovio Stars. The core team has launched over 20 mobile games and amassed over 100 million downloads worldwide. Key titles include Tap Cats: Idle Warfare and Drone: Shadow Strike. Studio leadership includes grizzled game industry veterans Sean Megaw, Eva Toker Neil Martin and Steve Hart. Kemojo's particular strength lies in lavish, detailed graphics and a distinctive look of its games.

Kuuhubb was established in the summer of 2016. Cofounders include CEO Jouni Keranen, Director Christian Kolster and Chief Strategist Tero Kuittinen. Mr. Keranen is known best for building the Sulake business in China and helping to grow Habbo Hotel, the virtual world that has garnered 270 Million registered avatars. Mr Kolster is an experienced investor in the Nordic VC/PE funding scene. Mr Kuittinen worked as the only Finnish sell-side telecom analyst on Wall Street in 2003-2011, starting his US equity research career at Sanford C Bernstein.

Commenting on the acquisition, Kuuhubb CEO Jouni Keranen points out that "Kuuhubb will have a tight focus on app vendors that specialize in underappreciated, strongly growing niches, just outside the mobile app mainstream. We seek studios that have an eclectic vision and deep passion of turning slightly offbeat niches into major genres of tomorrow. We have high hopes for Asian growth prospects of upcoming Kemojo titles, as well as certain compelling licensing projects."

About Kuuhubb

Kuuhubb mission is to build app vendors with strong Asian distribution and marketing, as well as robust IP partnerships with leading Western brands and media properties. Kuuhubb provides growth funding and go-to market support for mobile application vendors and VR/AR companies. Too many app industry resources are spent on copying old formulas - too little is invested in nurturing new engines of growth; product segments that demonstrate strong early revenue growth and robust engagement. Kuuhubb has a particular interest in identifying nascent, under the radar genres with evident momentum. The goal is to invest in growth areas of the future, via specialist studios with profound understanding of their particular segments. Kuuhubb studios will possess skills and passion to iterate successive generations of products in these select niches. Kuuhubb is based in Helsinki, Finland, with operations in New York and Hong Kong.



SOURCE Kuuhubb OY
TORONTO, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- KWizCom, a leading developer of SharePoint Forms & Mobile Solution, as well as multiple other powerful SharePoint web parts, add-ons and apps for Office 365 (SharePoint Online) announced a new version release of KWizCom Forms. This new major release of the add-on is now equipped with additional enhancement allowing customers to easily implement "live", read-only calculated fields that are displayed in the New and Edit forms.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446796

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446795LOGO

It's also great to see the company has setup a video to demonstrate in action how one can configure a R/O calculated field that equals [Price]X[Quantity] and reloads automatically when changing one of the fields.

KWizCom Forms is specifically designed for non-technical business users. It is a SharePoint add-on that turns existing SharePoint list forms into rich, enhanced web & mobile forms. With KWizCom Forms users can easily create custom forms by rapidly enhancing existing list forms. KWizCom Forms is 100% SharePoint-Native which means there is no need to deploy and learn new, external form tools.

For more information on KWizCom Forms and to get familiarized with its complete list of key features and benefits, please visit the product's webpage. If you are interested in finding out first-hand what the software is like, KWizCom Corporation offers a no-cost 30-day trial version of KWizCom Forms.

Follow KWizCom on Twitter https://www.twitter.com/KWizCom

Become a fan of KWizCom on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KWizCom

Join KWizCom on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/KWizCom

Contact a KWizCom Account Specialist at +1-905-370-0333/+1-855-KWIZCOM or [email protected]

About KWizCom Corporation

Since 2005, KWizCom has provided innovative solutions and services to make SharePoint even better for over 7,000 companies worldwide. KWizCom's solutions and services expand Microsoft SharePoint out-of-the-box capabilities, streamline workflow, maximize efficiency and enhance over-all productivity for hundreds of thousands of users. KWizCom, a Gold Certified Microsoft Partner, is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Please visit www.kwizcom.com to find out more about KWizCom's clients, people, partners and solutions.

PR Contact:

Sara Jhangiryan

tel.: +1-905-370-0333 / +1-855-KWIZCOM (594 9266)

Fax: +1-905-784-1153

[email protected]

SOURCE KWizCom
LONDON, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The Economist Events' second annual War on Cancer 2016, held in London on Tuesday, was host to some of the highest profile leaders in oncology from across the field and around Europe. Discussions at the summit explored innovative approaches to cancer prevention and treatment, solutions to overcome shortcomings in delivery and examples of best practice and opportunities for cross-sectoral collaboration.

The event gathered over 150 global influencers, government ministers, private sector CEOs, academia, healthcare professionals and high-level national and international media from around Europe.

Andreas Penk, regional president oncology, international developed markets, Pfizer commented: "We see more and more possibilities on the horizon to cure specific cancers. Personalized medicine and immuno-oncology will lead the way and bridge until the next generation of medicine is ready. Curing is a game changer. All involved parties should start to work together on innovative solutions in care, contracting, pricing, and regulatory to make sure we translate the possible into reality."

Mahiben Maruthappu, co-founder, NHS Innovation Accelerator, said: " Whilst great technological advancements have already been made in the war against cancer, it is of great importance that research and development continues in order to continue to deliver innovative new treatments.This event provides a platform for global leaders from across the industry to discuss what the future might hold and ensure health care systems are prepared."

Speakers offered contrasting and thought-provoking commentary on how to deal with the most pressing of sector trends leading to lively debate amongst the delegates. Topics covered included optimising national cancer control plans, cancer in the context of health care systems, the promise and peril of health-tech convergence and mobilising action and inspiring change.

Key speakers at the summit included:

Matti Aapro , b oard m ember, European Cancer Organisation

Cary Adams , c hief e xecutive o fficer, Union for International Cancer Control

Tit Albreht, c oordinator, Cancer Control Joint Action (CanCon); h ead, National Institute of Public Health of Slovenia

Kathi Apostolidis , v ice-president, European Cancer Patient Coalition (ECPC); p resident of Executive Committee, Hellenic Cancer Federation - ELL.O.K

Frauke Becker , r esearch a ssociate, Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University

John Bell , r egius p rofessor of m edicine, University of Oxford ; c hairman, Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research (OSCHR)

Jurgi Camblong, c hief e xecutive o fficer and c o-founder, Sophia Genetics

Josep Figueras , d irector, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies; h ead, World Health Organization European Centre on Health Policy

George Freeman , m ember o p arliament for Mid Norfolk and c hair, Prime Minister ' s Policy Board

David Khayat , h ead of the d epartment of Oncolog y, Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital and p rofessor of Oncology, University Pierre and Marie Curie

Bryony Kimmings, c reator of the musical ' A Pacifist ' s Guide to the War on Cancer '

Jane Maher , c hief m edical o fficer, Macmillan Cancer Support

Lydia Makaroff , d irector, European Cancer Patient Coalition

Mahiben Maruthappu, c o-founder, NHS Innovation Accelerator

Maya Martinez - Davis, s enior v ice-president, Global Head of Oncology Franchise, Merck KGaA

Vivek Muthu , c hair, Economist Intelligence Unit Healthcare

Annie Pannelay , h ealthcare p rincipal, Economist Intelligence Unit

Terje Peetso , p olicy o fficer, d irectorate- g eneral c ommunications n etworks, c ontent and t echnology, European Commission

Andreas Penk, r egional p resident o ncology, i nternational d eveloped m arkets, Pfizer

Jem Rashbass, n ational d irector for d isease r egistration, Public Health England

Gunnar Saeter , p rofessor and h ead of i nstitute, Institute for Cancer Research - Olso University Hospital

Katherine Smith , r eader- g lobal p ublic h ealth u nit, University of Edinburgh

Zhen Su , v ice-president, US Oncology Medical Affairs, EMD Serono

Richard Sullivan , p rofessor of c ancer and g lobal h ealth, King ' s College London; Director, Institute of Cancer Policy

Frans van Houten , c hief e xecutive and c hairman, Philips

Paul Workman ,chief executive officer and president, The Institute of Cancer Research London; Harrap Professor of Pharmacology and Therapeutics

Tweet via @EconomistEvents #WaronCancer

Press enquiries

Lindsey Neville

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 (0)20 3709 5700



-ENDS-



For general queries or further information about the event please call +44 (0) 207 576 8118 or e-mail [email protected]



Want more from The Economist Events?

Join us on Twitter: @EconomistEvents



About The Economist Events

The Economist Events' philosophy is to tackle issues with a forward-looking, uniquely global perspective. We aim to create events for the intellectually curious: people who enjoy ideas and who are passionate about the issues that define our world.



Attend our events: http://www.economist.com/events-conferences/emea



Founding sponsor: Bristol-Myers Squibb

Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. We are committed to changing survival expectations in hard-to-treat cancers and the way patients live with cancer through our pioneering, comprehensive Immuno-Oncology portfolio and clinical program as well as research collaborations with academia and biotech companies.



Founding sponsor: Merck

Merck discovers, develops, manufactures and markets prescription medicines of both chemical and biological origin in specialist indications. We have an enduring commitment to deliver novel therapies in our core focus areas including oncology and immuno-oncology; supporting patients with cancer. Merck has a robust pipeline of potential therapies in oncology, immuno-oncology and immunology.



Gold sponsor: Pfizer Oncology

Pfizer Oncology is focused on helping to redefine life with cancer. By maximizing our internal scientific resources and collaborating with other companies, government and academic institutions, we bring together the brightest and most enterprising minds to take on the toughest cancers, helping speed breakthrough treatments to patients around the world.



Silver Sponsor: Novartis

Novartis Oncology is a global leader in providing a broad range of innovative therapies to help improve the lives of cancer patients.



Silver Sponsor: Varian Medical Systems

Global manufacturer of medical devices and software for treating cancer with radiotherapy, radiosurgery, proton therapy and brachytherapy.



About Consilium Strategic Communications

Consilium Strategic Communications is a global leader in providing trusted, healthcare-focused strategic IR and financial PR counsel to corporations, Boards, senior decision makers and executives. From offices in Europe and USA, Consilium Strategic Communications' senior team provides cross-border comprehensive financial and corporate healthcare communications advice to some of the world's most prominent corporations around-the-clock. For more information, please visit our website at http://www.consilium-comms.com

SOURCE Consilium Strategic Communications
TAMPA, Fla., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Adding to what's already been an award-winning year, Leverage Digital was honored with three Awards of Excellence from the Tampa Bay Builders Association. The Tampa digital marketing agency received awards for "Best Website," "Best Mobile Website," and "Best Billboard" for its work with a multi-family developer, in branding their newest luxury apartment community, [email protected] in St. Petersburg, FL.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161208/447275

The Awards of Excellence are presented by the Sales and Marketing Council of the Tampa Bay Builders Association, and honor the best work of marketing, design and sales professionals in Tampa Bay's building industry. Awards were given at a stunning and festive ceremony in front of an audience of over 360 guests, held at the Renaissance Tampa International Plaza Hotel.

"We are very proud of the work that we've done for [email protected], and are honored to receive these awards from the Tampa Bay Builders Association," said Jay Taylor, Managing Director at Leverage Digital. "Our team works tirelessly on every project and campaign to ensure that we exceed our clients' expectations, and it's wonderful when great organizations like the Tampa Bay Builders Association recognize our efforts."

About the Tampa Bay Builders Association

The Tampa Bay Builders Association is a trade organization affiliated with the Florida Home Builders Association and the National Association of Home Builders, which works diligently to fulfill its mission by providing important services to enhance the building industry in Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties. The TBBA is comprised of volunteers from a number of professions, including builders, developers, trade contractors, suppliers, lending institutions, title companies, engineers, attorneys and other types of businesses that have a relationship to the building industry.

For more information, please visit http://www.tbba.net/.

About Leverage Digital

Leverage Digital is an award-winning branding and digital marketing agency that partners with brands to successfully engage their audiences and achieve measurable results. Its team of digital marketing experts, UI/UX designers, developers and content specialists, create intelligent campaigns that capture the minds of consumers. The agency is a Certified Google Partner, and its work has garnered numerous industry accolades over the years, receiving honors from the International Davey Awards, Hermes Awards, W3 Awards, and Communicator Awards. In 2016, Leverage Digital was named the 14th fastest growing company owned or led by a University of South Florida alumnus. To learn more about Leverage Digital, please visit http://www.leveragedigital.com/.

Contact

Johnny Crosskey

Leverage Digital

813-489-4494

[email protected]

Related Images

image1.jpg

image2.jpg

image3.jpg

Related Links

Leverage Digital

Leverage Digital Facebook

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

SOURCE Leverage Digital

Related Links

http://www.leveragedigital.com


Glassdoor hosts an impressive and ever-growing database of company reviews and CEO approval ratings contributed by employees. Its Employees' Choice awards are based solely on the input of employees collected through voluntary feedback shared on the site over the past year. The company leverages a proprietary algorithm that takes account quantity, quality and consistency of reviews to determine which companies across the U.S. will be recognized with this award.

"Liaison has always been driven by service. This award is especially touching to me because it's our employees recognizing our commitment to serving both external and internal stakeholders," said George Haddad, founder and CEO of Liaison. "What sets us apart in the tech industry is that we know corporate culture cannot be sacrificed for company growth." The company's Employees' Choice recognition isn't all that Mr. Haddad has to celebrate this year: His CEO approval rating on Glassdoor has steadily increased over the last two years, reaching 100% in early 2016.

"The list of tech companies that have chosen Boston and Cambridge for their talent base and its surrounding areas for their headquarters is impressive and keeps increasing," added Christopher D'Arcy, vice president of human resources at Liaison. "We're proud to contribute to Boston's innovative tech environment while providing an award-winning employee experience."

To learn more about Liaison and its open career opportunities, visit http://www.liaisonedu.com/about/careers/.

About Liaison International

For over two decades, Liaison International has streamlined the process by which higher education institutions identify, recruit and enroll best-fit students. More than 5,000 programs on over 800 campuses nationwide reach prospective students, outsource administrative tasks and create exceptional experiences for applicants across the full enrollment cycle  from first interest to first day on campus  through our admissions management and enrollment marketing solutions.

Liaison is a Glassdoor OpenCompany, a program designed to recognize companies that embrace transparency.

For more information, please visit www.liaisonedu.com or follow the company on Twitter at @LiaisonEDU.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446860

SOURCE Liaison International

Related Links

http://www.liaisonedu.com


FINEST KIND CLINIC AND FISHMARKET.... Discussing medicine, culture, and the joys of cooking Pansit.
"Madison Avenue defines luxury and style in New York, so it made sense for us to open our first US location in this neighborhood," said Marina Kissam, Vice President of Customer Experience at Luxury Card. "LUXURY LOUNGE NY truly captures our mission of providing members with a customer-centric, luxury experience."

LUXURY LOUNGE NY Madison Avenue is open Monday through Saturday from 10am to 7pm and from 12pm to 6pm on Sundays. The location will include a curated selection of the most sought-after products across the art, fashion and design categories, especially suited to the Luxury Card member. Cardmembers are invited to visit the Lounge whenever they are seeking respite from the busy streets of Manhattan.

The Space

The intimate location is inviting, sleek, and stylishly appointed. The Lounge will feature art from renowned artists including Kelsey Brookes, Damien Hirst and Ran Ortner. Digital screens showcasing Luxury Card branding will be also displayed in the front windows and throughout the Lounge.

The Amenities

In addition to complimentary beverages, wi-fi and other expected amenities, LUXURY LOUNGE NY will showcase elements included in the latest issue of LUXURY MAGAZINE. From private concerts and art installations to exclusive wine tastings and trunk shows, LUXURY LOUNGE NY will provide exclusive experiences unlike any other lounge.

The Concierge Service

Cardmembers are invited to seek assistance in securing reservations or tickets to the most sought-after New York-area events with the help of Luxury Card Concierge service.

About Luxury Card

Luxury Card is a global services company offering access to three world-class, premium credit cardsMasterCard Titanium Card, MasterCard Black Card , and MasterCard Gold Cardeach with a distinctive, patented metal design and construction.

Luxury Card caters to busy individuals and active travelers who want to get the most out of their purchases. With Luxury Card's Industry-Leading Rewards Program, Cardmembers earn points with every purchase, which can be redeemed for a variety of benets such as DOUBLE POINTS value for airfare and up to 2% value for cash back.

Cardmembers enjoy the convenience of Luxury Card Concierge, available 24/7 to help fulll every requestallowing members to focus on what's truly important. Serving the frequent traveler, the Luxury Card VIP Hotel & Travel Program offers exclusive amenities and benets at over 3,000 properties around the world. Cardmembers also enjoy up to $200 in annual travel credits as well as access to more than 900 airport lounges worldwide.

Accepted at over eight million domestic retailers and in 210 countries globally, Luxury Card offers access to unmatched value, rewards and benets. With reliability at home and abroad, Cardmembers shop and travel with condence and peace of mind knowing Luxury Card TM is committed to protecting and accommodating their lifestyle.

Media Contact:

Zachary Anderson

[email protected]

(212) 601 8356

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446856

SOURCE Luxury Card
DALLAS, Dec. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Expert real estate developer and Founder of Western Rim Property Services, Marcus Hiles believes that education is truly the foundation for one's success in all aspects of life. Hiles strongly suggests suburban living for families in pursuit of the best educational opportunities available. Year after year, suburban schools continue to outpace the performance of urban schools, especially in regards to test scores and graduation rates. A study conducted by America's Promise and cited by the New York Times concluded that "the average high school graduation rate in the nation's 50 largest cities was 53 percent, compared with 71 percent in the suburbs."

While school choices continue to increase across the country, a school's environment and surroundings remain closely linked to the quality of education offered. School systems based in suburban areas typically spend more money per student than urban schools, leading to better facilities, resources, and teacher quality. The result is an optimal learning environment for students, that has a profound effect on their overall education experience -- with a greater and far-reaching effect on their lives. Marcus Hiles recognizes the quality of life that a suburban community offers, as he continues to build and develop communities in both established and expanding suburbs that are situated near the state's largest urban hubs. Access to the state's top-rated schools is always a priority, and easily found in these suburban developments.

Marcus Hiles is Chairman and CEO of Western Rim Property Services, a real estate development company managing upscale residential units throughout Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, and New Braunfels. A graduate of Pepperdine and Rice Universities, Hiles is a steadfast believer that all students have the right to a quality education that equips them with the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in life. The success of his own business ventures has allowed Hiles to give more than $2.5 million to public and private K-12 initiatives, after school programs, university career services, and job placement programs.

Marcus Hiles - Chairman & CEO of Western Rim Property Services: http://www.MarcusHiles-News.com

Western Rim Property Services- Marcus Hiles - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Western-Rim-Property-Services-Marcus-Hiles-1013270532051763/

Marcus Hiles (@marcus_hiles) - Twitter: https://twitter.com/marcus_hiles

Marcus Hiles - New Luxury Apartments in Frisco, TX - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmsJNbfOh-g

SOURCE Marcus Hiles

Related Links

http://www.controlpronline.com


"We are very pleased that Mederi products are now available in China. Our technology, especially Stretta for GERD, is experiencing dramatic growth worldwide. Driving this growth, are the key benefits of clinical safety and effectiveness, as well as the versatility and lower cost of Stretta compared to other GERD treatments. Stretta is a non-surgical technology, that is delivered transorally and reduces symptoms of GERD by improving lower esophageal sphincter (LES) function. It is an ideal alternative to medications and surgery for chronic GERD," stated Mederi CEO Bob Knarr. "It is very exciting to launch in China, where we are privileged to have an excellent distribution partner, Beijing Kanglian Medical ."

Stretta procedures were recently performed and broadcast live during the Chinese Congress of Digestive Endoscopy, by Professor Jun Liu, Director of Endoscopy at Wuhan Union Hospital, and Stretta was also performed at Beijing General Army Hospital (301 hospital). Dr. Enqiang Linghu, Chief of Gastroenterology at Beijing General Army Hospital is very pleased to offer Stretta to his patients dealing with GERD. "This is a proven solution for patients who still have GERD symptoms despite taking medications and want to avoid surgery. Stretta will be an important offering for our patient base as we see a lot these patients in our hospital," he noted.

Wuman Zhang, principal of Kanglian Medical, agrees. "Stretta is positioned to help many kinds of chronic GERD patients, including those who have incomplete relief from medications, have extra-esophageal symptoms of GERD or have GERD after bariatric or anti-reflux surgery. Surgeons and gastroenterologists throughout China are eager to offer Stretta to their patients."

Studies show that the prevalence of GERD as well as obesity, are on the rise in China. In 2014, The Lancet reported that China has the second highest obesity rate in the world, behind the United States. In addition to other more serious co-morbidities such as heart disease and diabetes, GERD is present in a much higher percentage of the obese population, at an average rate of 60-70 percent, versus 10-20 percent of the average population.

In addition to China, other recent international regulatory approvals for Mederi products include: India, Brazil, Egypt, South Korea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Costa Rica and Panama.

ABOUT MEDERI AND STRETTA

Mederi manufactures innovative medical devices that use non-ablative radiofrequency (RF) energy to treat digestive diseases. Stretta Therapy for GERD, has been proven safe and effective for the treatment of GERD in more than 40 studies. Long-term follow up shows 10 years of durable symptom relief. More than 25,000 Stretta procedures have been performed worldwide.

For more information go to: www.stretta-therapy.com, or in the U.S. call 855-855-3639.

Contact: Kara Stephens

407.765.1185

[email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446903

SOURCE Mederi Therapeutics Inc.

Related Links

http://www.mederitherapeutics.com


SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Metromile, the pioneer in pay-per-mile car insurance, has been honored with a Glassdoor Employees' Choice Award, recognizing the Best Places to Work in 2017. Metromile is number six on the list in the SMB category and is the only car insurance company represented. The Employees' Choice Awards program, now in its ninth year, relies solely on the input of employees, who elect to provide feedback on their jobs, work environments and companies via Glassdoor.

Metromile rates highly on Glassdoor with 4.7 out of 5 stars from more than 40 reviews. Ninety-four percent of people would recommend working for Metromile, 99 percent have a positive business outlook and 100 percent approve of CEO Dan Preston. Reviews cite smart and motivated colleagues, transparent leadership, unique and groundbreaking products as well as benefits as reasons they rank Metromile so positively.

"Company culture is the foundation to our success. This award is a testament to our efforts and an incredible achievement that will certainly help Metromile stand out to job seekers," said Dan Preston, CEO at Metromile. "We are humbled to be recognized as one of the Best Places to Work in 2017 and feel so grateful that this was determined by those that know us best, our employees."

Metromile has headquarters in San Francisco and offices in Boston and Tempe, Ariz. The company is actively hiring in all areas including engineering, data science and product.

The Best Places to Work are determined using company reviews shared by U.S. based employees between November 2, 2015 and October 30, 2016. To be considered for the U.S. SMB category, a company must have less than 1,000 employees and have received at least 25 company reviews from U.S.-based employees during the period of eligibility. The final list is compiled based on Glassdoor's proprietary algorithm, and takes into account quantity, quality and consistency of reviews. To determine the winners, Glassdoor evaluates all company reviews shared by U.S.-based employees between November 2015 and November 2016, which ultimately drove this award.

Metromile is the leader in pay-per-mile car insurance in the United States, saving low mileage drivers $500 on average each year. Additionally, Metromile's smart driving app and in-car telematics device help customers pinpoint their car's exact location via the vehicle locator, track detailed information on every trip they take using trip tracking, keep their car in tip top shape with vehicle diagnostics and car health, as well as avoid parking tickets via the app's street sweeping alerts feature (in select cities).

To see the complete list of the Glassdoor Best Places to Work in 2017 visit http://www.glassdoor.com/Best-Places-to-Work-LST_KQ0,19.htm.

Interested in working for Metromile? Visit www.metromile.com/jobs. For more information about Metromile, visit metromile.com, call 888-761-906, or follow Metromile on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

About Metromile

Metromile is revolutionizing car insurance through technology with its pay-per-mile insurance model. By offering affordable car insurance, transparent pricing based on the miles you actually drive, data to optimize how you use your car, and instant access to detailed vehicle diagnostics via the driving app, Metromile is transforming car insurance  and car ownership  to be more intelligent, seamless, and accessible than ever before. Metromile is expanding across the US, and currently empowering drivers in California, Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington. For more information, visit metromile.com.

About Glassdoor

Glassdoor is the world's most transparent jobs and recruiting marketplace that is changing how people search for jobs and how companies recruit top talent. Glassdoor combines job listings with anonymous reviews, ratings and salary data to help people find a job and company they love. This level of transparency, in turn, helps employers attract the right candidates for their company and culture at a fraction of the cost of other channels. Glassdoor offers employers job advertising,job posting and employer branding solutions in addition to robust talent analytics. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor has job listings and data for more than 600,000 employers in 190 countries and is available on iOS and Android platforms. For labor market trends and analysis, visit Glassdoor Economic Research. For career advice and job-related news and tips, visit the Glassdoor Blog.

Glassdoor is a registered trademark of Glassdoor, Inc.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150331/195730LOGO

SOURCE Metromile

Related Links

http://metromile.com


AUSTIN, Texas, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Caravan Health, a pioneer of delivering turn-key solutions to empower both providers and patients to achieve better lives, has added Mr. Michael L. Sanderson, co-Founder of RemitDATA, Inc., to their executive team effective immediately.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161208/447035LOGO

"Michael brings a deep passion and expertise for driving growth in innovative solutions to the chaotic landscape of healthcare," said Lynn Barr, CEO of Caravan Health. "We are excited to add Michael to our incredible team of executives as we travel together with provider communities towards better care."

Sanderson joins the team with over 25 years of experience in creating new solutions, expanding into new markets, and rapidly accelerating top-line growth. Prior to joining Caravan Health, Sanderson served as Co-Founder, President of RemitDATA, a pioneer of comparative analytics technology focused on 360-degree data transparency, which exploded from a handful of passionate clients to a solution now supporting hundreds of thousands of providers across the U.S.

"After my amazing adventure at RemitDATA, I'm blessed to find another disruptive solution of which people in the HCIT community are aware. You may not have heard of Caravan Health, and the transformative way in which we are changing the lives of providers and patients across hundreds of communities, but you will soon! I'm so excited that Lynn invited me to join her incredible team on what I feel will be one of the next big success stories in our industry. Lynn is a visionary who can translate the massively complex regulatory 'intent' of CMS into real-world solutions that work."

Prior to RemitDATA, Sanderson served as an executive of publicly-traded QuadraMed, a leading health-information management company. At QuadraMed, Sanderson participated in numerous acquisitions and eventually a spin-out (private LBO by Warburg Pincus) of ChartONE, a web-based medical management firm which he joined as Chief Sales and Marketing Officer. Under Sanderson's leadership, ChartONE doubled from $40M to $80M in revenue and then later sold to HealthPort, a top 25 Health IT company. Sanderson also served on the board of MediConnect, a leader in healthcare IT solutions, which was later sold to Verisk Health.

Sanderson graduated with honors from Abilene Christian University and serves as an Elder at Preston Road Church and on the board of trustees for ChristianWorks for Children. Michael resides in Dallas with his wife and 3 children.

CONTACT:

Bryan Hagar

Communications Director

Caravan Health

916 542 4583

[email protected]

SOURCE Caravan Health
SEATTLE, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Milliman, Inc., a premier global consulting and actuarial firm, today announced that it has been selected by Risk.net as the best tech vendor for actuarial modelling. For the second time in three years, Milliman is being recognized for its software solution Integrate, which provides an innovative approach to support fully automated, end-to-end financial and risk modelling.

Integrate, which runs on the Microsoft Azure cloud, provides clients with best-in-class software for managing data input and complex modelling flows on the front-end, as well as robust business intelligence analytics and reporting capabilities of output with the recent addition of Microsoft Power BI Embedded. Additionally, Integrate provides a collaborative and governed process to support the model change process.

Pat Renzi, principal at Milliman, says, "We are honored to have received this award as a recognition of Milliman's innovative approach to client work, one that focuses on collaboration between experts in technology, actuarial, and risk solutions, and that drives value for not only the organization, but the policyholders, shareholders, and employees as well. "

For more information on this year's award, go to http://www.risk.net/risk/analysis/2478741/best-tech-vendor-for-actuarial-modelling-milliman. Integrate is a trademark of Milliman, Inc., registered in the U.S., U.K. and France. For more information about Integrate, go to http://www.integrate-solutions.com/.

About Integrate

Integrate is a single technology platform that enables a holistic approach to the actuarial modeling and financial reporting process  offering a streamlined solution in one actuarial system that balances flexibility and control. Leveraging a fundamentally different approach to people, process, and technology, Integrate frees actuaries' time to focus on strategic, high value problem solving.

About Milliman

Milliman is among the world's largest providers of actuarial and related products and services. The firm has consulting practices in healthcare, property & casualty insurance, life insurance and financial services, and employee benefits. Milliman is a global firm of more than 3,200 employees, with over 60 total offices operating in all major markets across Africa, Asia, Australia, the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East. For more than 60 years, an attention to rigorous standards of professional excellence, peer review, and objectivity has made Milliman the leading independent actuarial firm. For further information, visit www.milliman.com.

SOURCE Milliman, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.milliman.com


MOUNT VERNON, Wash., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- MIN-NS, a leading provider of integrated patient records and healthcare IT managed services, that forms a community record of care in their region, announced a new multi-year partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense will create and support a common community source of patient data portal that will be accessible in any clinic or hospital within the DoD system regardless of location within, the U.S. or around the globe.

Says Mark Quenneville, CEO at MIN-NS, "We are very excited to support and work with the DoD on this mission critical solution. Time and again, it's been proven that when patient data is readily accessible by the clinician, at the point of care, then the clinician will be able to make better, more well-informed decisions for the patient. As many of our service men and women are deployed around the globe these days. MIN-NS provides a bridge that enable the patient's care record to virtually follow any member of the armed forces, and contractors, from their home base to any deployed location around the globe."

The DoD's patient records currently exist on multiple electronic platforms and systems. The Department is investing in moving to a common Electronic Health Record worldwide. Bases in Washington State are the first adopters and pilots of the upgrade program. MIN-NS is excited to provide portal access to military providers now with integration into their new EHR to follow. One connection to MIN-NS gives DoD providers located locally, regionally or internationally seamless, secure access to care records from multiple civilian healthcare providers on many different record systems.

MIN-NS has connected local civilian providers for over five years, making patient records available regardless of where in the area the care was delivered and recorded. During a six month period of 2016, over 5,000 TRICARE patients were seen one or more times by clinicians. MINS-NS will enable their records of civilian care to be available to their military providers when the patients visit Emergency Departments or specialists using the MINS-NS network. Conversely, civilian providers will have immediate access to detailed records of care by military providers, aiding in the delivery of the best and most informed care off-base.

About MIN-NS (www.min-ns.org), Medical Information Network  North Sound (MIN-NS) is dedicated to supporting integrated community records of care solutions. Based in Mount Vernon, Washington, MIN-NS was founded in 2010 as a 501(c)3 non-profit by local public hospital districts. Community based health information exchanges such as MIN-NS are the solid foundation needed by State and National exchanges to fulfill their function and promise for improved healthcare at lower costs. MIN-NS' secure connections with statewide and nationwide HIEs and local Skilled Nursing Facilities.

SOURCE MIN-NS

Related Links

http://min-ns.org


CAMAS, Wash., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A new 401(k) survey released today by Fisher Investments 401(k) Solutions, suggests a startling knowledge gap among Americans, when it comes to the 401(k) plans offered by their employer. While most people may think they understand their 401(k), 71 percent of respondents failed Fisher's 401(k) IQ in the Workplace Quiz, missing at least three of the nine basic questions.

Most Americans (88%) understand topics like 401(k) matching, but they struggled on the quiz when asked about additional topics that are critical to making 401(k) decisions. For example, only 24 percent of respondents could define a mutual fund and only 43 percent knew the percentage of their salary they should save for a comfortable retirement.

"These results point to a larger issue that I see regularly with clients," said Nathan Fisher, Managing Director and head of Fisher Investments 401(k) Solutions. "People tend to understand the big picture value of 401(k) plans, but when you start to get more specific they quickly struggle, which is a huge problem. If you don't have a complete understanding of your 401(k) you might not select the best investments for your unique retirement needs. If you are not confident in your ability to pick investments, you might not save enough."

This sentiment was reflected in the data: while 4 out of 5 Americans say they prefer to work for companies that offer a 401(k) plan, a majority (66%) are not confident in choosing 401(k) investment options. Moreover, one in four Americans claim they were not involved or can't recall how they picked their 401(k) assets, and over 40 percent are not confident that they will reach their retirement goals.

"Support is the key to addressing these gaps. I find it startling that half of the respondents in our survey said that they do not currently receive any one-on-one help from their 401(k) provider, but an overwhelming majority wished they did." Fisher continued, "Unfortunately, it can be easy for employers to get hung up on evaluating providers based only on fees and/or costs. While this is an important factor, criteria like support are equally important and can have a direct and lasting impact on your employees' financial future."

Employees at small businesses (those with between 5-200 employees) tend to be even less confident about their 401(k). This group had a larger fail rate in the Fisher's 401(k) IQ in the Workplace Quiz, with nearly four out of five respondents failing. This group was also more likely to say that their provider does not make them feel in control of their financial future and that they wish their 401(k) plan was easier to understand.

"Small businesses owners want to provide the best possible benefits to their employees, but they often lack the time or resources to assess benefits like 401(k) plans," concluded Nathan Fisher. "However, it doesn't have to be daunting. This survey can provide a roadmap for small business owners to evaluate and select 401(k) plans that will help address the gaps."

Additional findings from the survey include:

Americans don't trust their 401(k) providers: Trust is an important aspect of retirement planning  both trusting your employer and your advisers. Unfortunately, the survey found one out of four Americans does not trust their 401(k) provider. Interestingly, a third of respondents said that they look to friends or family members for information and guidance on 401(k)s. This number was much higher among millennials, with 41 percent saying they look to friends and family members for information.

Trust is an important aspect of retirement planning  both trusting your employer and your advisers. Unfortunately, the survey found one out of four Americans does not trust their 401(k) provider. Interestingly, a third of respondents said that they look to friends or family members for information and guidance on 401(k)s. This number was much higher among millennials, with 41 percent saying they look to friends and family members for information. Women are less confident when it comes to 401(k)s: Though academic and industry research shows women tend to make more thoughtful investment decisions, when it comes to monitoring the progress of 401(k) accounts, only 1 in 5 women make it a priority. Moreover, women were less likely to say they know how to pick investments in their 401(k)s.

About Fisher's 401(k) Wellness in the Workplace Survey

Fisher's 401(k) Wellness in the Workplace Survey was conducted by KRC Research, on behalf of Fisher Investments, to explore 401(k) plan knowledge, information access and service satisfaction in employees working for small, medium and large businesses. The survey also included a nine question 401(k) IQ in the Workplace Quiz, to test basic 401(k) knowledge.

KRC Research surveyed 1,013 American employees working for companies that offer 401(k) plans. Research was conducted via 10 minute online survey from October 7-11, 2016 amongst respondents from an even mix of demographics and company sizes.

About Fisher Investments

Fisher Investments 401(k) Solutions is dedicated to bringing superior retirement plan services to small and mid-sized businesses and their employees. Fisher's unique service offering is built on 35+ years of successful wealth management experience and includes our flexible investing platform with actively-managed funds. Business owners will experience the benefit of ongoing support from a dedicated Retirement Counselor whose focus is making the management of a 401(k) retirement plan easier, while helping employees plan for a comfortable retirement. For more information, visit http://www.fisher401k.com/.

Contact:

Michael Boonshoft

(212)-537-8736

[email protected]

SOURCE Fisher Investments

Related Links

http://www.fisher401k.com


CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- TriNetX, the health research network, announced today that Nationwide Children's Hospital signed a membership agreement to join the network to enhance and accelerate the development of new cures.

The TriNetX network is comprised of healthcare organizations representing over 57 million patients globally, biopharmaceutical companies and contract research organizations (CROs) who are working together to improve protocol design, site selection, patient recruitment, and collaborative research across a range of therapeutic areas and development stages.

Users of the TriNetX network can analyze patient populations with search criteria across multiple longitudinal data points, and TriNetX's advanced analytics modules provide intelligence on which criteria have the most impact as well as the rate at which new patients present. Each data point in the TriNetX network can be traced to healthcare organizations who have the ability to identify individual patients, allowing clinical researchers to develop virtual patient cohorts that can be found in real-world clinical trial settings. Patients can be discovered for industry-sponsored and investigator-initiated studies, as well as for collaboration with peer research institutions. Data in the TriNetX network is fully de-identified to the user.

"Nationwide Children's is now a member of a rapidly expanding and first-of-its-kind network of pediatric hospitals, general medicine health systems, cancer centers, biopharma and CROs who are all leveraging TriNetX in ways that foster better collaboration and efficiency in clinical research," said Gadi Lachman, CEO, TriNetX.

About Nationwide Children's Hospital

Named to the Top 10 Honor Roll on U.S. News & World Report's 2016-17 list of "America's Best Children's Hospitals," Nationwide Children's Hospital is one of America's largest not-for-profit freestanding pediatric healthcare systems providing wellness, preventive, diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitative care for infants, children and adolescents, as well as adult patients with congenital disease. Nationwide Children's has a staff of more than 11,000 providing state-of-the-art pediatric care during more than 1.2 million patient visits annually. As home to the Department of Pediatrics of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Nationwide Children's physicians train the next generation of pediatricians and pediatric specialists. The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital is one of the Top 10 National Institutes of Health-funded freestanding pediatric research facilities. Nationwide Children's remains true to the original mission since its founding in 1892 of providing care regardless of a family's ability to pay. More information is available at NationwideChildrens.org.

The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital receives support from the Clinical and Translational Science Awards Program of the National Institutes of Health through The Ohio State University Center for Clinical and Translational Science.

About TriNetX

TriNetX is the worldwide health research network of healthcare organizations, biopharmaceutical companies and contract research organizations (CROs) used to enhance clinical trial design and accelerate patient recruitment. TriNetX enables researchers to find the right patients at the right sites for clinical trials. For more information, visit http://www.trinetx.com.

Contact

Bill Stetson

Marketing, TriNetX

+1 (857) 285-6038

[email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/340354LOGO

SOURCE TriNetX

Related Links

http://www.trinetx.com


SAN DIEGO, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Biotheranostics today announced that new data will be presented demonstrating the role of the Breast Cancer Index (BCI) in identifying which patients with early stage, ER+ breast cancer are most at-risk for disease recurrence and might benefit from extended anti-estrogen therapy. Data include results from three studies advancing the understanding of the value of BCI to provide information related to tumor biology and inform decisions related to patient treatment. These data will be presented at the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) in San Antonio, Texas. BCI is developed and marketed by Biotheranostics, Inc., a pioneer in molecular diagnostics for cancer.

"The growing body of evidence supporting Breast Cancer Index is transforming how doctors assess the long-term needs of their patients with ER+ breast cancer," said Tara Sanft, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine Medical Oncology; Medical Director of Adult Survivorship for the Yale Cancer Center Survivorship Clinic. "This novel technology helps provide needed clarity in creating precise treatment protocols for patients. With BCI, doctors can help identify those patients at highest risk of relapse and likelihood of benefit from treatment and adjust treatment plans accordingly. These data are important for not only the doctor, but also for the patient to help them achieve optimal health."

Key Data Highlights:

In the multi-institutional, Prospective Study of Incorporating Breast Cancer Index as a Tool for Decision-making Regarding Extension of Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy, poster presented by Tara Sanft, MD, Yale Cancer Center, 141 women diagnosed with early-stage ER+ breast cancer, and their physicians completed pre- and post-BCI questionnaires related to treatment preferences and recommendations, comfort of decision making and satisfaction.

Incorporation of BCI results led to treatment decision changes in 30 percent of patients, and significantly improved patient satisfaction with decisions about whether to extend endocrine therapy to 10 years. Following BCI testing, patient satisfaction increased and patients experienced a significant reduction in overall anxiety level. In addition, 81% percent of patients reported that knowing BCI results made them more likely to comply with their extended endocrine therapy regimen.

The poster "Impact of treatment history on prognostic ability of Breast Cancer Index (BCI): subset analysis from a validation study of patients with hormone receptor-positive (HR+) breast cancer with 1-3 positive nodes," presented by Yi Zhang, Ph.D., Biotheranostics, showcased strong performance from a new model integrating tumor size and grade into BCI (BCIN+) for identifying patients with 1-3 positive lymph nodes at significantly low risk for disease recurrence and who may be adequately treated with adjuvant endocrine therapy alone. The validation cohort included 402 ER+, N1 (1-3 positive nodes) with at least five years of follow up and treated with either tamoxifen alone (n=191) or an aromatase inhibitor only or a sequence of tamoxifen and an aromatase inhibitor (n=211). In the analysis, BCIN+ identified a significant proportion of women with N1 disease with a low risk of late recurrence over 15 years of follow up with similar performance in both tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitor-treated patients.

The poster "Correlation of Breast Cancer Index (BCI) risk classification with tumor grade and Ki-67 in a large series of patients with early-stage, ER+ breast cancer" was presented by Hatem Soliman, M.D., Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL. In this retrospective study, consecutive cases (n=1359) from node-negative early-stage breast cancer patients submitted for clinical testing with BCI were analyzed. BCI restratified 18% and 28% respectively of high grade/high Ki-67 patients as low risk, demonstrating that BCI captures distinct information and provides molecular resolution related to tumor proliferation status compared to tumor grade and Ki-67.

About Breast Cancer Index(SM)

BCI is a molecular, gene expression-based test uniquely positioned to help identify patients best suited for extended endocrine treatment. It is the only validated, commercially available test with data demonstrating prognostic risk of recurrence out to 15 years, as well as prediction of likelihood of benefit from extended endocrine therapy (treatment in years 5-10). The breakthrough test helps oncologists and patients navigate the difficult trade-off between wanting to take steps to prevent recurrence of their disease and facing significant side effects and safety challenges related to extended endocrine therapy. For more information, visit www.breastcancerindex.com.

About Biotheranostics

Biotheranostics, Inc., is a leader in helping physicians improve the care of cancer patients, offering a suite of proprietary genomics-based molecular diagnostics that allow treatment to be tailored to individual patients. The company's Breast Cancer Index and CancerTYPE ID tests address a variety of unmet medical needs in the management of cancer patients, and extensive clinical studies have confirmed the accuracy, clinical validity, clinical utility, and cost-effectiveness of the tests. Biotheranostics operates a CLIA-certified, CAP-accredited diagnostic laboratory in San Diego. Learn more at biotheranostics.com.

SOURCE Biotheranostics

Related Links

http://www.biotheranostics.com


Dr. Darge has served as Chief of the Division of Body Imaging in the Department of Radiology at CHOP and a Professor of Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine since 2006. He currently holds the John W. Hope Endowed Chair for Radiology Faculty Development at CHOP. He is also an Honorary Professor of Radiology in the Department of Radiology at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. Dr. Darge is an internationally renowned pediatric radiologist actively involved in all major radiologic and pediatric radiologic societies.

"We are delighted to have Dr. Darge serve as our Radiologist-in-Chief," said Chad Hough, Senior Vice President, Support Services at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "Dr. Darge is a highly accomplished researcher, educator, and scholar in radiology who will help lead CHOP's strategy and future as we continue to find better ways to provide exceptional patient care and research discoveries for children."

Prior to coming to CHOP, Dr. Darge served as the Chair of the Department of Pediatric Radiology at the University of Wuerzburg in Germany. He has an extensive research portfolio encompassing 28 years with over 200 publications and multiple grants. His research focus is on innovative and advanced body imaging methods particularly in magnetic resonance and ultrasound modalities.

Dr. Darge received his medical degree from Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia and the University of Heidelberg in Germany. He completed his residency in radiology and fellowship in pediatric radiology at the University of Heidelberg. In addition, he completed a research fellowship with the World Health Organization in Tropical Medicine at the Bernhard Nocht-Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, Germany where he practiced tropical medicine and conducted research in the institution's outposts in West Africa.

About Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was founded in 1855 as the nation's first pediatric hospital. Through its long-standing commitment to providing exceptional patient care, training new generations of pediatric healthcare professionals and pioneering major research initiatives, Children's Hospital has fostered many discoveries that have benefited children worldwide. Its pediatric research program is among the largest in the country. In addition, its unique family-centered care and public service programs have brought the 535-bed hospital recognition as a leading advocate for children and adolescents. For more information, visit http://www.chop.edu.

Media Contact

Natalie Virgilio

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

267-426-6246

[email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161208/447138

SOURCE The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Related Links

http://www.chop.edu


BEIJING, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A research report recently conducted using the Vive VR platform has found that VR-based education delivers rewarding outcomes in the classroom, offering substantial evidence to encourage the development of the technology in the academic field. "The Impact of VR on Academic Performance", published in November 2016, was jointly carried out by Beijing Bluefocus E-Commerce Co., Ltd. and Beijing iBokan Wisdom Mobile Internet Technology Training at select high schools in Beijing. Not only was VR-based education shown to improve student test scores and knowledge retention compared with traditional classroom education, but the study also provided clear confirmation that children who had tested below average in the pre-study test were able to outperform the test's top scorers after having undergone a VR-enhanced curriculum.

"Every child has the potential to be a genius, but today's teaching models have failed to realize this truth. VR unleashes children's potential by letting them learn new concepts using a multi-modal model, thereby enabling the brain to grasp new concepts in the way that's most natural to them. VR can be the best tool and platform to improve educational results, and I hope these amazing findings will encourage more academic institutions to deploy VR-based teaching methods broadly," said Alvin W. Graylin, China Regional President of Vive, HTC.

The research was performed with a pool of 40 high school students evenly distributed to account for gender and prior academic achievement (above average, average, and below average) among the VR group and the traditional education group (the control group). The classes were taught by the same teacher to control for all factors, and the VR portion of the study was conducted using HTC Vive devices and Universe Sandbox content. The study uncovered strong evidence of improved performance when VR-based teaching methods were used to supplement the classroom experience. VR content was shown to significantly boost student learning and test scores, with those who had participated in the VR-based curriculum achieving average scores of 93% on the final test versus the average 73% achieved by those who had not.

The VR-enhanced curriculum was also found to improve learning comprehension and retention. A test was given two weeks after the end of the curriculum to measure knowledge retention, and the results clearly demonstrated that students in the VR group outperformed those in the traditional learning group. Students in the VR group scored an average of 90% while those in the traditional education group scored an average of only 68%. Students in the VR group saw their scores decrease by far fewer percentage points than those in the control group, signaling that VR-based education allowed students to achieve higher learning retention.

Furthermore, VR-based students who had tested "below average" on pre-curriculum tests achieved an average score of 88% on the final test, considerably outperforming the "above average" pre-test students in the traditional learning group, who scored an average of 76% on the final test. This result offers robust evidence that traditional education models and scoring methods do not allow all children to flourish during their development years, and that their test performance may not be representative of the true potential and intelligence of each child. All children are geniuses; by giving them an opportunity to learn using all their senses and through the VR experience, children are able to learn in a more natural and experiential manner that unleashes the potential within them.

A student participant said, "I feel like I am in the middle of the universe. It's so beautiful. I hope that VR can be available in my school as soon as possible  I will be extremely interested in the VR-based subjects."

A parent of a participating student said, "Traditional ways of teaching lags behind in igniting the desire to learn among students. However, VR-based teaching inspires students to learn and presents to students the abstract content that occurs in the learning process in a vivid way, making it easier for students to understand and retain complex concepts."

To learn more about the research and the findings, please click to read the full report here.

HTC has been consistently active in promoting the robust development of the VR industry, with its global team announcing in April the landmark Vive X accelerator program. The accelerator kicked off in August of this year in Taipei, San Francisco, Beijing and Shenzhen; applications for the second round will open on December 1st. All interested teams are invited to apply on www.vivex.com.

About the Vive Virtual Reality System

Vive is a first-of-its-kind virtual reality system developed in partnership by HTC and Valve. Designed from the ground up for room-scale VR, Vive allows true-to-life interactions and experiences thanks to an adjustable headset displaying stunning graphics, two wireless controllers with HD haptic feedback and 360 absolute motion tracking. For a convenient and safe experience, Vive incorporates essential functionality from your phone and features a front facing camera that blends physical elements into the virtual world. Working in concert, this system immerses you visually, physically and emotionally in the virtual world. For more information on Vive, please visit www.vive.com.

About HTC

HTC Corporation aims to bring brilliance to life. As a global innovator in smart mobile and virtual reality devices and technology, HTC has produced award-winning products and industry firsts since its inception in 1997, including the critically acclaimed HTC One and HTC Desire lines of smartphones, and is now leading the VR industry with the Vive line of products. The pursuit of brilliance is at the heart of everything we do, inspiring best-in-class design and game-changing mobile and virtual reality experiences for consumers around the world. HTC is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE: 2498). www.htc.com.

SOURCE HTC Vive

Related Links

http://www.vive.com


BERLIN, Dec. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Freudenberg Sealing Technologies is presenting a new generation of low-friction transmission seals at the 15th International CTI Symposium, the meeting place for transmission experts.

Levitas seal rings are suited for installation in all forms of automated transmissions. A special seal design produces a hydrodynamic oil film between the seal ring and its dynamic counter surface, which reduces friction to the point that merely replacing conventional transmission seals in an automatic transmission reduces the vehicle's CO 2 emissions by 0.8 grams per kilometer. If a million new vehicles were equipped with Levitas seals, the total emissions over their entire operating life would decline by 192,000 tons.

Whether it's automatic, double-clutch or continuously variable, the transmission is one main determinant of the efficiency of a vehicle's powertrain. That's why every transmission manufacturer is working on minimizing frictional losses. Seals are responsible for about one-quarter of all the lost mechanical energy in automatic transmissions, as they keep the oil pressure in the transmission at the prescribed level, making it possible to shift gears perfectly. The key is to keep the amount of oil that flows past the seal very low.

"Today, low leakage and minimal friction are the most important target conflicts in the development of new seals," said Hikaru Tadano of Freudenberg Sealing Technologies' Advanced Development. "Up until now, the problem has been handled by giving the sealing rings a T-shaped profile. The reduced contact surface between a shaft that is rotating and the stationary seal rings already decreases friction significantly. This solution has proven to be successful but it is no longer possible to further reduce friction by even smaller contact surfaces."

With Levitas, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies is now pursuing a completely new approach: during operation, the seal floats on a hydrodynamic oil film that it generates itself. Small pockets are incorporated across the entire circumference of the ring seal. When the shaft begins to rotate, the dynamic pressure in the pockets generate axial forces, creating the oil film.

As no physical contact remains between the shaft and the seal ring, only fluid friction remains, causing torque levels to decline by up to 70 percent, depending on the applications conditions. Since the pockets are bi-directional, the effect occurs irrespective of the shaft's rotational direction. This makes installation easier and more secure for the transmission manufacturer.

Volume production of the Levitas transmission seals is beginning in 2017.

"The technology also appeals to European car and transmission manufacturers due to increasingly strict CO 2 limits," said Dr. Eberhard Bock, Director of Strategic Product Development at Freudenberg Sealing Technologies. "With the combination of Levitas and the friction-free Levitex seals for internal combustion engines, we are demonstrating the potential for further CO 2 reduction in conventional powertrains."

Levitex seals for engines operate on a similar principle, but ambient air functions as the "lubricant" instead of oil. This nearly reduces frictional torque to zero. The production of Levitex engine seals for a European customer is also due to begin in 2017.

Both Levitas and Levitex are products of Freudenberg Sealing Technologies' "LESS" initiative. The acronym stands for "Low Emission Sealing Solutions" and thus for sustainability and environmentally friendly mobility: in engines, transmissions, auxiliary equipment and alternative powertrain concepts such as electric mobility. http://less.fst.com

About Freudenberg Sealing Technologies

As the leading specialist in sealing applications and their markets, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies is a supplier as well as a development and service partner serving customers in a wide variety of sectors including the automotive industry, civil aviation, mechanical engineering, shipbuilding, the food and pharmaceuticals industries, and agricultural and construction machinery. In 2015, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies generated sales of about 2.3 billion and employed more than 15,000 people. More information at www.fst.com

The company is part to the global Freudenberg Group which, with its Business Areas Seals and Vibration Control Technology, Nonwovens and Filtration, Household Products as well as Specialties and Others. In 2015, the Group generated sales of more than 7.5 billion in and employed approximately 40,000 associates in around 60 countries. More information is available at www.freudenberg.com.

SOURCE Freudenberg Sealing Technologies

Related Links

http://www.freudenberg.com


NEW YORK, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Seventeen percent of New York City-area technology executives surveyed recently expect to expand their IT teams in the first half of 2017, according to the just-released Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Forecast and Local Trend Report. In addition, 66 percent plan to hire only for open IT roles, 16 percent plan to put hiring plans on hold, and 2 percent expect to reduce their IT staffing levels in the first six months of the year. Hiring is not all technology leaders are thinking about, as 30 percent named maintaining the security of their IT systems and safeguarding company information as their most top-of-mind concern for the first half of 2017, while helping grow the business followed with 20 percent of the response.

Top Concerns for CIOs

To further understand the priorities of New York City CIOs for the upcoming year, they were asked, "In addition to recruitment, which of the following do you anticipate will be top of mind for you in the next six months?" Their responses:

Maintaining security of IT systems/safeguarding company information (30 percent)

(30 percent) Helping grow the business (20 percent)

(20 percent) Upgrading existing systems (18 percent)

(18 percent) Investing in new technologies (17 percent)

(17 percent) Staff retention (15 percent)

"IT hiring activity is particularly strong in New York's finance, healthcare and media industries as we head into 2017," said Ryan Sutton, district president for Robert Half Technology in New York. "The demand for professionals in quality assurance, web development and desktop support is so strong that the professionals in these specialties are often receiving multiple job offers. Local companies are seeking tech talent in the first half of the year to assist in operational support, migration projects and the onboarding of new hires."

New York City IT Hiring Forecast* Jan.June 2017 CIOs adding more staff to IT departments 17% CIOs planning to hire only for open IT roles 66% CIOs who plan to put IT hiring plans on hold 16% CIOs who plan to reduce their IT staff 2% Don't know future hiring plans 0%

*Numbers do not equal 100 due to rounding

Hiring forecasts are based on interviews with more than 2,500 CIOs from 25 major U.S. markets who were asked to provide a six-month hiring outlook.

Recruiting Challenges & Skills in Demand

Hiring challenges remain, as 60 percent of CIOs said it's somewhat or very challenging to find skilled IT professionals today. The skills in greatest demand within their organizations, according to respondents, include:

Desktop support (47 percent)

(47 percent) Database management (46 percent)

(46 percent) Web development/website design (45 percent)

(45 percent) Windows administration (43 percent)

(43 percent) Cybersecurity (42 percent)

About Robert Half Technology

With more than 100 locations worldwide, Robert Half Technology is a leading provider of technology professionals for initiatives ranging from web development and multiplatform systems integration to network security and technical support. Robert Half Technology offers online job search services at roberthalf.com/technology. Visitors can also request a copy of the Robert Half Technology 2017 Salary Guide, which includes a wide range of IT job descriptions.

Survey Methodology

The survey was developed by Robert Half Technology and conducted by an independent research firm. To ensure that companies from all segments were represented in the study, the sample was stratified by number of employees. Robert Half Technology has been tracking IT hiring activity in the United States since 1995.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160212/332877LOGO

SOURCE Robert Half Technology

Related Links

http://www.roberthalf.com/technology


Housed at the Urban Future Lab (UFL) at NYU Tandon, the internationally recognized ACRE is a cleantech incubator that supports startup ventures with innovative technologies and new business models for a greener, smarter, and more connected world. ACRE is uniquely poised to engage the next generation of engineers in developing solutions for one of the most pressing problems of the 21st century, climate change.

"This grant will help the ACRE to support early-stage business ventures and to continue providing the services young businesses need to scale up and find solutions to issues of sustainability," said

Pat Sapinsley, managing director of cleantech initiatives at the UFL. "We're honored to have Wells Fargo supporting our program and to count them among a growing number of our private and public supporters dedicated to making a difference in climate change. Such collaboration is essential if we're going to create, innovate, and solve the world's pressing energy challenges."

Since 2007, Wells Fargo has provided more than $27 billion in financing for environmentally sustainable businesses, including $4 billion in solar and wind project investments and $9 billion to support LEED-certified and other green buildings. The company is also an active industry participant and sponsor of several cleantech initiatives, including a $10 million environmental grant program for clean technology startups called the Innovation Incubator.

"Wells Fargo is proud to provide financial support and industry expertise to the NYU  ACRE program supporting clean technology entrepreneurs," said Ashley Grosh, vice president, Wells Fargo Environmental Affairs. "We are dedicated to supporting organizations like the ACRE and the Urban Future Lab that are redefining what's possible in the cleantech sector. We're confident the impact of this grant on New York's cleantech economy and beyond will multiply through of our collaboration."

The UFL is a part of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering Future Labs ecosystem, which also includes the Data Future Lab in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood, as well as the Digital Future Lab and a veterans' entrepreneurial support program, both in Brooklyn's DUMBO neighborhood. The Future Labs were the first university-public-private incubator partnership with New York City and are tasked with creating a sustainable program that helps new ventures succeed and generate positive economic impact.

Since launching in 2009, the Future Labs at NYU Tandon have helped companies create more than 1,250 jobs, raise more than $245 million in capital, and generate a local economic impact of

$352 million. Named among the Top 10 Idea Labs in the United States by Worth magazine, the Future Labs are counted among the many ways the NYU Tandon School of Engineering supports technology in service to society.

About the NYU Tandon School of Engineering

The NYU Tandon School of Engineering dates to 1854, when the New York University School of Civil Engineering and Architecture as well as the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute (widely known as Brooklyn Poly) were founded. Their successor institutions merged in January 2014 to create a comprehensive school of education and research in engineering and applied sciences, rooted in a tradition of invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship and dedicated to furthering technology in service to society. In addition to its main location in Brooklyn, NYU Tandon collaborates with other schools within the country's largest private research university and is closely connected to engineering programs in NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai. It operates business incubators in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn and an award-winning online graduate program. For more information, visit http://engineering.nyu.edu. www.facebook.com/nyutandon. @nyupoly

About the NYU Urban Future Lab and ACRE

The Urban Future Lab (UFL) at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering is New York City's premier innovation hub for smart cities, the smart grid, and clean energy. The UFL is home to programs focused on policy, education, and market solutions for the green economy. ACRE, the UFL's flagship program, is a business incubator that supports the growth of high-impact early-stage venture companies addressing climate change. ACRE incubator companies receive 24/7 access to desk space and conference rooms at an office in Downtown Brooklyn, in addition to professional business advisory and support services (legal, accounting, design) and introductions to ACRE's network of market partners, investors, mentors, and startup resources. The UFL and all its programs are supported by New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), National Grid, Cushman & Wakefield, and Lowenstein Sandler. More at ufl.nyc.

About Wells Fargo CleanTech Group

Since 2005, Wells Fargo has provided more than $52 billion in environmental finance, supporting sustainable buildings and renewable energy projects nationwide. This includes investments in more than 300 solar projects and 47 wind projects that generate enough clean, renewable energy to power hundreds of thousands of American homes each year. For more information, please visit www.wellsfargo.com/about/csr and the Wells Fargo Environmental Forum.

About Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.9 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 8,600 locations, 13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 42 countries and territories to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 269,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 27 on Fortune's 2016 rankings of America's largest corporations. Wells Fargo's vision is to satisfy our customers' financial needs and help them succeed financially. News, insights and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories.

Images available at http://dam.poly.edu/?c=1865&k=360f0c483c

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446900

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151013/276541LOGO

SOURCE NYU Tandon School of Engineering

Related Links

http://www.poly.edu


"NovoEd has been a fantastic partner as we grow our online learning programs," said Suzanne Gibbs Howard, the Dean and Managing Director of IDEO U, IDEO's online school for Creative Confidence. "We are delighted to be a strategic partner early in the process. It's clear that NovoEd is designing with today's learner in mind."

IDEO is joined by both higher education and commercial customers, including Stanford, Wharton, Comcast and ING Bank, who are expanding their capacity to meet the learning and training demands of busy professionals and a growing millennial workforce.

"The changing composition of the workforce is forcing businesses to adapt how they develop their workers," explained Jeanne Meister, Founding Partner of Future Workplace and co-author of The Future Workplace Experience: 10 Rules For Mastering Disruption In Recruiting and Engaging Employees.

"Millennials and Gen Z will be over 60% of the workforce by 2025; freelance workers already make up 35%. The mandate is clear: workplace learning and development must meet these workers where they are. NovoEd and its customers are leading the charge to drive this transformation in business and learning."

Learners can easily stay on track with the new consolidated dashboard, which centralizes tasks and activities across all courses. Participants have access to the full functionality of the platform from their mobile device and can submit video assignments directly. In addition, they can collaborate with peers and join community discussions anytime, anywhere.

"Today's learners expect their learning platform to be as modern as their daily apps," said NovoEd CEO, Ed Miller. "NovoEd delivers an experience that is immediately familiar, with social feeds, embedded commenting, and navigation with swipes. Our new release is built for mobile from the ground up."

About NovoEd

NovoEd offers the online platform for the modern learner. Its social, collaboration, and mobile capabilities power more engaging and effective learning experiences. NovoEd enables customers to more productively train their employees, customers, and students. Learn more at novoed.com.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161206/446369

SOURCE NovoEd

Related Links

http://www.novoed.com


SINGAPORE, BEIJING, and SAN DIEGO, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Novogene, a leading commercial provider of genomic services and solutions with cutting edge next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics expertise; AITbiotech Pte Ltd, a Singapore biotechnology company; and the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) announced today that NovogeneAIT Genomics Singapore (NovogeneAIT)  a new joint venture between Novogene and AITbiotech  will establish a joint whole genome sequencing (WGS) centre at Biopolis, Singapore.

The new centre will provide Illumina HiSeq X based whole genome sequencing and bioinformatics analysis of human, plant and animal samples for biomedical and agricultural researchers. The centre will devote a major portion of its sequencing capability to support public research projects and empower super scale sequencing initiatives in Singapore and the region. In addition, NovogeneAIT will collaborate with GIS to develop new applications of next-generation sequencing, such as WGS solutions for cancer diagnosis and stratified cancer treatment.

"I am very excited and pleased to announce this significant new initiative with the Genome Institute of Singapore," stated Dr. Ruiqiang Li, CEO of Novogene. "The centre is the first major project for NovogeneAIT and is an important milestone for our company. We look forward to providing high-quality sequencing services in Singapore and to advancing important research initiatives that can benefit humanity."

"We are delighted to work with a local biotech company," said Prof. Ng Huck Hui, Executive Director of GIS. "Such public-private partnerships will prove to be highly beneficial as it leverages the strengths of both parties to advance genomic science and medicine in Singapore, as well as to create successful local biotech companies."

About Novogene Corporation

Novogene is a leading provider of genomic services and solutions with cutting edge NGS and bioinformatics expertise and one of the largest sequencing capacities in the world. Novogene utilizes scientific excellence, a commitment to customer service and unsurpassed data quality to help our clients realize their research goals in the rapidly evolving world of genomics. With 1,300 employees, multiple locations around the world, 43 NGS related patents, and over 200 publications in top tier journal such as Nature and Science, the company has rapidly become a world-leader in NGS services. For more information, visit http://en.novogene.com.

NovogeneAIT, a newly formed joint venture between Novogene and AITbiotech announced in September 2016, provides Illumina HiSeq X based NGS services to the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) and other Asian regions.

About AITbiotech

AITbiotech is a leading Genomic Services and MDx company based in Singapore. Founded by Alex Thian in 2008, it has a core molecular services and R&D laboratory in Singapore managed by a team of experienced biotechnologists. It provides a complete suite of Genomic Services including Capillary Sequencing, Next-generation Sequencing Services, Bioinformatics Services and customized molecular services to the research, healthcare and biomedical industries in Singapore and Asia. AITbiotech is also an ISO 13485 certified company which manufactures and distributes its own line of real-time PCR pathogen detection assays branded as abTESTM in the Asian and European markets. For more information, please visit our website: www.aitbiotech.com.

About A*STAR's Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS)

The Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) is an institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). It has a global vision that seeks to use genomic sciences to achieve extraordinary improvements in human health and public prosperity. Established in 2000 as a centre for genomic discovery, the GIS will pursue the integration of technology, genetics and biology towards academic, economic and societal impact.

The key research areas at the GIS include Human Genetics, Infectious Diseases, Cancer Therapeutics and Stratified Oncology, Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Cancer Stem Cell Biology, Computational and Systems Biology, and Translational Research.

The genomics infrastructure at the GIS is utilised to train new scientific talent, to function as a bridge for academic and industrial research, and to explore scientific questions of high impact.

For more information about GIS, please visit www.gis.a-star.edu.sg

Media contacts:

Mr Alex Thian

AITbiotech

+65 6778 6822

[email protected]

www.aitbiotech.com

Joyce Peng, Ph.D.

Global Marketing Director and General Manager

Novogene Corporation

+1-626-222-5584

[email protected]

Joyce Ang

Senior Officer, Office of Corporate Communications

Genome Institute of Singapore, A*STAR

+65 6808 8101

[email protected]

SOURCE Novogene Corporation

Related Links

http://en.novogene.com


All voyages will fully comply with existing U.S. Federal Regulations and the most recent pronouncements from the Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The voyages will provide guests with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to discover not only the rich culture, history and natural beauty found throughout Cuba, but more importantly experience the warmth and hospitality of its people.

"We are tremendously excited to have received approval by Cuban authorities to offer cruises to Cuba from the United States aboard our acclaimed Marina. I believe there is no better way to experience the unique culture, beauty and diversity of Cuba than by cruise," stated Frank Del Rio, president and chief executive officer of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd, the parent company of Oceania Cruises. "As a Cuban-American and founder of Oceania Cruises, I am incredibly proud that Marina will be the first in our fleet to cruise to Cuba. Not only was Marina the first ship to be purpose-built for the Oceania Cruises brand, she showcases millions of dollars' worth of Cuban-American art, making our inaugural voyages to Cuba even more special."

In Havana, guests will have a selection of expertly crafted shore excursions to choose from, all of which offer an authentic Cuban experience that explores the people, music, art, history and culture of the island in compliance with OFAC regulations. To provide guests with even greater insights into Cuba and its people, guest scholars and expert lecturers on board the ship will deliver compelling presentations about Cuba's past, present and future.

March 7, 2017 | 14 Days

Miami | Key West | Havana | Cozumel | Costa Maya | Harvest Caye | Puerto Limon | Colon | Cartagena | George Town | Miami

March 21, 2017 | 10 Days

Miami | Havana (2 Days) | Santo Tomas | Harvest Caye | Costa Maya | George Town | Miami

March 31, 2017 | 10 Days

Miami | Costa Maya | Harvest Caye | Roatan | Havana (2 Days) | Nassau | Miami

Day-by-day itineraries are online for viewing at OceaniaCruises.com and these three voyages are currently open for sale. For more information about Oceania Cruises, call 855-OCEANIA (855-623-2642) or contact a professional travel agent.

About Oceania Cruises

Featuring a fleet of intimately luxurious ships, Oceania Cruises offers an unrivaled vacation experience renowned for the finest cuisine at sea and destination-rich itineraries spanning the globe. Seasoned world travelers are drawn to Oceania Cruises' expertly crafted voyages, which call on more than 370 ports across Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific and the Americas. Spacious and elegant accommodations aboard the 684-guest Regatta, Insignia, Nautica, and Sirena and the 1,250-guest Marina and Riviera invite guests to explore the world in unparalleled comfort and style.

CONTACT:

Tim Rubacky

Oceania Cruises

305-436-4695

[email protected]

Nabeela Aysen

Spring O'Brien

212-620-7100

Na[email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446820

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446895LOGO

SOURCE Oceania Cruises
NEW YORK, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Health insurance startup Oscar today announced the opening of the Oscar Center in Downtown Brooklyn, New York, which provides health and wellness services and access to a primary care practice operated in partnership with Mount Sinai Health System. Available exclusively to Oscar members, the Center hosts walk-in appointments, basic mental health services, and wellness services and classes.

"The Oscar Center is a pivotal step towards our vision of creating a seamless end-to-end healthcare experience for our members," said Mario Schlosser, Oscar's CEO and Co-Founder. "Linking our powerful systems and simple tools with a practice run in partnership with a first-rate provider system like Mount Sinai allows us to bring even greater accessibility and affordability to our members' care. These connections empower doctors with richer patient data and analytics to improve patient health outcomes over time."

"The Oscar Center underscores the commitment of both Mount Sinai Health System and Oscar to optimizing our patients' health outcomes," said Niyum Gandhi, Chief Population Health Officer at Mount Sinai. "By combining our clinical expertise with Oscar's innovative technologies, we can collectively deliver exceptional care and a seamless experience to the people we serve and, in doing so, raise the bar for what consumers expect out of their healthcare."

The 6,000-square foot facility has five exam rooms, three consult rooms, a lounge, a laboratory, and a multipurpose room to host wellness classes and events. Fully scaled, the practice can host up to six physicians, and will also include a behavioral health specialist and several mid-level providers. The facility will be managed by Dr. Harry Ritter, Oscar's VP of Care Delivery.

Because the space will be fully integrated with Oscar's technologies, members will be able to instantly book appointments at the center through a care search in Oscar's app. The physicians will also be fully connected to Oscar's systems, enabling them to see a member's full health history and receive referrals directly from Oscar's free telemedicine feature or a member's Concierge Team, the designated team responsible for a member's needs when they contact the insurer.

About Oscar Health Insurance

Oscar is a health insurance company formed in 2012 to provide smart, simple, and personal healthcare to its members. For more information, visit www.hioscar.com.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446873LOGO

SOURCE Oscar

Related Links

http://www.hioscar.com


PHOENIX, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Fourteen percent of Phoenix-area technology executives surveyed recently expect to expand their IT teams in the first half of 2017, according to the just-released Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Forecast and Local Trend Report. In addition, 72 percent plan to hire only for open IT roles, 11 percent plan to put hiring plans on hold, and 2 percent expect to reduce their IT staffing levels in the first six months of the year. Hiring is not all technology leaders are thinking about, as 34 percent named maintaining the security of their IT systems and safeguarding company information as their most top-of-mind concern for the first half of 2017, while upgrading existing systems for business efficiency followed with 21 percent of the response.

Top Concerns for CIOs

To further understand the priorities of Phoenix CIOs for the upcoming year, they were asked, "In addition to recruitment, which of the following do you anticipate will be top-of-mind for you in the next six months?" Their responses:

Maintaining security of IT systems/safeguarding company information (34 percent)

(34 percent) Upgrading existing systems (21 percent)

(21 percent) Investing in new technologies (19 percent)

(19 percent) Staff retention (14 percent)

(14 percent) Helping grow the business (12 percent)

"Unemployment rates for highly skilled tech professionals are at a historic low, and with more companies either opening up or moving to the valley, the market for talent is getting tighter," said Andrew Pena, branch manager for Robert Half Technology in Phoenix. "Technology professionals are not only seeing an increase in salary, but also receiving multiple job offers. Companies also are making their job offers stronger by including better benefits, upgraded technology and flexible work schedules."

Phoenix IT Hiring Forecast* Jan.June 2017 CIOs adding more staff to IT departments 14% CIOs planning to hire for only open IT roles 72% CIOs who plan to put IT hiring plans on hold 11% CIOs who plan to reduce their IT staff 2% Don't know future hiring plans 0%

*Numbers do not add up to 100 due to rounding

Hiring forecasts are based on interviews with more than 2,500 CIOs from 25 major U.S. markets who were asked to provide a six-month hiring outlook.

Recruiting Challenges & Skills in Demand

Hiring challenges remain, as 54 percent of CIOs said it's somewhat or very challenging to find skilled IT professionals today. The skills in greatest demand within their organizations, according to respondents, include:

Network administration (45 percent)

(45 percent) Cybersecurity (43 percent)

(43 percent) Windows administration (43 percent)

About Robert Half Technology

With more than 100 locations worldwide, Robert Half Technology is a leading provider of technology professionals for initiatives ranging from web development and multiplatform systems integration to network security and technical support. Robert Half Technology offers online job search services at roberthalf.com/technology. Visitors can also request a copy of the Robert Half Technology 2017 Salary Guide, which includes a wide range of IT job descriptions.

Survey Methodology

The survey was developed by Robert Half Technology and conducted by an independent research firm. To ensure that companies from all segments were represented in the study, the sample was stratified by number of employees. Robert Half Technology has been tracking IT hiring activity in the United States since 1995.

SOURCE Robert Half Technology
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Augmedix, the nation's leading smartglass-based physician productivity platform, today announced that it has closed a $23 million strategic round of funding from new investors McKesson Ventures and OrbiMed. The company seeks to rehumanize the physician patient relationship by eliminating the time physicians spend on mandated EHR documentation. The Augmedix core offering is a Google Glass-powered remote scribe service that frees doctors from 3 hours of mandated charting and documentation each day so they can spend more time with each patient and see up to 25% more patients each week.

McKesson Ventures and OrbiMed are joined in this round by the company's existing institutional investors, Redmile Group, Emergence Capital and DCM Ventures. Augmedix has received more than $60 million in venture funding since the company was founded in 2012. Among its investors are a broad coalition of the company's national health system customers, including Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI), Dignity Health, Sutter Health, and TriHealth.

"Augmedix has brought together an impressive coalition of the nation's leading health systems as its customers, and their physicians and health system executives have a strong passion for Augmedix," said Steven Yecies, Venture Partner at OrbiMed. "Across the country, Augmedix has delivered consistent and considerable improvements to physician productivity and satisfaction for the health systems they serve. We look forward to supporting their continued growth with our deep healthcare relationships, international presence and extensive experience scaling operationally complex companies to IPO and beyond."

The company will use this strategic round to further scale its service nationwide, build out its platform with tools and services that continue to drive improvements in physician productivity and patient care.

A Focus on Patient Care and not the EHR

Using Augmedix and Google Glass, physicians retrieve patient medical history and document the patient visit without having to interact with a computer. The chart note is created in real time by remote scribes based in highly secure HIPAA-compliant facilities. The physician is then able to review the note and a summary of the visit can be provided to the patient with care instructions.

"Augmedix is uniquely able to improve doctors' quality of life by allowing them to concentrate on their patients rather than on data entry," said Tom Rodgers, SVP and Managing Director of McKesson Ventures. "This makes their technology invaluable for settings like our U.S. Oncology clinics. We are excited to bring McKesson's experience and ubiquitous market presence to help them scale to doctors across the country in the coming few years."

Rapid Growth at Health Systems

Augmedix has pioneered the first and largest remote scribe service in the world and built-out a robust and HIPAA-secure enterprise platform that is used by physicians in some of the largest, most innovative health systems in the U.S. The company's remote scribe service is complemented by additional enterprise support services, assisting health systems with staffing, quality assurance, network and technical support, analytics and business process improvement.

Today, hundreds of primary care doctors, specialists and surgeons use its service across most of the 50 states to serve thousands of patients each day. Adoption will continue to accelerate over the coming years as the company's health system customers begin to mainstream its use across a growing number of regions.

As adoption has ramped, so has the company, which now includes nearly 1000 team members around the globe. In 2016 it was named the Number One Most Innovative Healthcare Company by Fast Company. Augmedix growth plans for the next year call for significant expansion in the number of professional scribes it employs and the opening of additional offices overseas.

About Augmedix

Augmedix is the nation's first and largest smartglass-based physician productivity platform. The company's core offering is a real time remote scribe service that frees physicians from mandated charting, allowing them to focus instead on patient needs and quality care. The company also offers additional productivity and care quality tools to help its physicians further utilize the Augmedix smartglass platform. Rapidly expanding at a number of the nation's largest health systems, the Augmedix service is HIPAA-compliant, works with all EHRs and increases doctor productivity by more than 30 percent. For more information, connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, or visit Augmedix.com.

About OrbiMed

OrbiMed is a leading investment firm dedicated exclusively to the healthcare sector, with over $14 billion in assets under management. OrbiMed invests globally across the spectrum of healthcare companies, from venture capital start-ups to large multinational companies. OrbiMed's team of more than 90 employees manages a series of private equity funds, public equity funds, royalty/debt funds and other investment vehicles. OrbiMed maintains its headquarters in New York City, with additional offices in San Francisco, Mumbai, Shanghai, and Herzliya.

About McKesson Ventures

McKesson Ventures is the venture capital arm of McKesson Corporation specializing in early and growth stage companies. McKesson Ventures targets companies that both catalyze and benefit from the key changes taking place in the U.S. healthcare landscape. McKesson Corporation, currently ranked 5th on the FORTUNE 500, is a health care services and information technology company dedicated to making the business of healthcare run better. We work with payers, hospitals, physician offices, pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies, and others across the spectrum of care to build healthier organizations that help deliver better care to patients in every setting. Visit http://ventures.mckesson.com/ to learn more.

Media Contacts:

David Templeton

DBT Communications

[email protected]

1 (203) 530-0458

Carleen LeVasseur

DBT Communications

[email protected]

1 (408) 264-6767

SOURCE Augmedix

Related Links

http://www.augmedix.com/


PITTSBURGH, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors of the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse (PLSG), Western Pennsylvania's only pure life sciences investment firm, today announced a change in leadership. In accordance with the succession plan developed by the Nominating and Governance Committee over the past several years, effective today, James (Jim) F. Jordan is selected to serve as President and Chief Executive Officer, succeeding John W. Manzetti, who is elected to the position of Executive Chairman of the PLSG. Both Jordan and Manzetti will continue to serve in their current positions within the Accelerator Fund LLC, the PLSG's for-profit venture capital fund, as Managing Director and Founder and Managing Director respectively.

During his tenure at PLSG, Jordan has managed the majority of the PLSG's 200+ direct investments in nearly 80 companies for over $22M. He credits Manzetti's presence in the Company as a catalyst to his success within the PLSG.

"I relocated to Pittsburgh from the Greater Boston area twelve years ago because I was seeking a region committed to startup ventures and brimming with academic institutions that attract billions of research dollars," said Jordan. "What I found was that, and more: a vibrant and ever-evolving town I am proud to call my chosen home. As an Executive-in-Residence, my initial goal was to spinout a company. However, when John Manzetti joined the PLSG as President and CEO in 2006, his vision and enthusiasm for the PLSG was infectious and I realized my contribution could benefit more than one company."

Manzetti, whose leadership of the PLSG over the past 10 years has resulted in significant regional economic development growth in the life sciences category, is confident Mr. Jordan will keep the PLSG on a positive path for the future.

"There isn't a person I know who has more depth of knowledge in the life sciences industry and overall healthcare system than Jim Jordan," said Manzetti. "He has effectively provided his deep domain expertise to more than 450 regional life sciences companies and his performance and credentials make him the perfect selection to lead PLSG into the future. I am looking forward to my new role and increased focus on the Accelerator Fund while providing guidance to PLSG as Executive Chairman, as needed."

In addition to his role as Executive Chairman of the PLSG, Manzetti, who founded the Accelerator Fund in 2010, will continue to be responsible for the management of Fund I and II investments and exploring potential follow-on funds. He will also participate in PLSG fundraising and strategic planning.

"The PLSG has contributed significantly to the economic growth of the region, forming dozens of companies and creating thousands of jobs as originally intended," said Dennis Yablonsky, founding CEO of the PLSG, current CEO of the Allegheny Conference, and PLSG Board member. "John and Jim have partnered to achieve many successes over the past 10 years and they will continue to drive the PLSG mission in their new roles."

For more information about the PLSG, visit http://www.plsg.com or call 412-201-7370.

About Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse (PLSG) (www.plsg.com)

The PLSG invests in and supports the growth of biosciences companies in Western Pennsylvania. PLSG has a track record of excellence when it comes to attracting and growing life sciences companies in the region. Since its inception in 2002, PLSG has assisted more than 450 life sciences companies and has helped create more than 2,300 jobs and has affected another 14,300 jobs in Western Pennsylvania. Forty companies have been provided with office or laboratory space and now 14 companies and 15 C-level executives have been relocated to Pittsburgh from outside of region. In addition, the PLSG has invested directly and indirectly more than $22 million in nearly 80 companies, which has leveraged nearly $1.5 billion in additional capital to the region.

CONTACT:

Paige Blawas

Gatesman

412-339-5189

[email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161208/447273LOGO

SOURCE Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse

Related Links

http://www.plsg.com


FREMONT, Calif., Dec. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Procera Networks, Inc., the global subscriber experience company, today announced its agreement with Arrow Systems Integration to provide bundled analytics and network intelligence technology to the virtualization market. Arrow Systems Integration will be joining Procera's Premier Partner program as the company's exclusive partner for North America. Procera's PacketLogic/V products will also be available as either bundled solutions or standalone software from Arrow.

"Arrow's turnkey hardware/software solutions will dramatically speed up Procera's ability to support deployments in developing markets as part of the company's continued global expansion," said Jon Grady, Director of Business Development at Procera Networks. "Arrow's expertise in analytics and network management, together with its large enterprise customer base of multinational organizations and service providers, is exactly the kind of partner our Premier Partner Program was designed to attract."

Arrow Systems Integration, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Arrow Electronics, Inc., is a total solutions provider specializing in unified communications, voice, and data technologies, and also contact center and network security, all while providing customers with service and support. Procera's PacketLogic/V and eVolution Virtual Network Function software will be integrated into Arrow Systems Integration's analytics and network management and monitoring solutions, targeting service providers, MVNOs, and enterprise clients.

The Premier Partner program is designed to offer extensive backing to a limited number of highly capable, value-added partners that can deliver advanced professional services in addition to basic product sales and support. It's an exclusive program that offers qualified partners a range of differentiated benefits and access to Procera's latest offerings, including:

Exclusivity of the 'premier' designation for a target geography and vertical market

Extensive investment from Procera in terms of resources, deal support, and financial model

Extensive co-marketing opportunities

Integrated support model for end user customers

Advanced professional services training and service delivery opportunities

The agreement with Arrow Systems Integration marks the fourth major Premier Partner signing for Procera networks. For more information, please visit the partner portal at: https://www.proceranetworks.com/partners/premier

About Procera Networks, Inc.

Since its inception in 2002, Procera Networks has become a DPI provider that's leading the virtualized space. The continued development of its award-winning ScoreCard and eVolution technologies, in addition to the benefits its solutions hold for network operators around data insights, traffic management, and policy control, means Procera is capable of meeting the ever-changing needs of service providers both today and in the future.

For more information, visit http://www.proceranetworks.com or follow Procera on Twitter @ProceraNetworks.

Press contact

Andy Eldridge

EarlyWMC for Procera Networks

[email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160217/334055LOGO

SOURCE Procera Networks, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.proceranetworks.com


ANN ARBOR, Mich., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ProQuest has been named an honoree of a 2017 CSO50 Award from IDG's CSO. This prestigious award salutes 50 select organizations whose security initiatives contribute to outstanding business value and thought leadership. CSO is a renowned source of news, analysis and research on a broad range of security and risk-management topics.

ProQuest's entry in the competition, SIFT Fraud Detection, "enables the company to more accurately detect and deter fraudulent attempts to access copyrighted content stored within our systems," according to Daniel Ayala, Director of Global Information Security at ProQuest.

"The content we provide is valuable to researchers, authors and publishers alike," Ayala said, "and we have an obligation to protect it and ensure it is continuously available to all our customers. It's a great honor to be recognized for our efforts to connect security initiatives to business value."

"I am very proud of the recognition we've received from CSO for our innovative SIFT Fraud Detection system," said Richard Belanger, Chief Information Officer at ProQuest. "ProQuest is committed to supporting our 20,000+ global publishing partners by protecting their content. By developing our own algorithms we can fine-tune our protection to minimize the impact on the 70 million people annually who rely on ProQuest for academic research."

"The stakes have never been higher when it comes to protecting an organization's sensitive data from criminals and breach," said Joan Goodchild, editor-in-chief of CSO. "Security leaders are expected to not only deliver protection, but also to drive business initiatives. Our annual CSO50 awards recognize security projects that not only enhance defense, but that also deliver ROI."

ProQuest will accept its award at the CSO50 Conference + Awards held on May 1-3, 2017, at the Scottsdale Resort at McCormick Ranch, Scottsdale, Arizona.

About the CSO50 Awards

Launched in 2013, the CSO50 Awards recognizes 50 organizations for security projects and initiatives that demonstrate outstanding business value and thought leadership. The CSO50 Awards are scored according to a uniform set of criteria by a panel of judges that includes security leaders, industry experts, and academics. The 2017 awards will be presented at the CSO50 Conference + Awards, May 1-3, 2017, at the Scottsdale Resort at McCormick Ranch, Scottsdale, Arizona.

About CSO

CSO is the premier content and community resource for security decision-makers leading "business risk management" efforts within their organization. For more than a decade, CSO's award-winning web site (CSOonline.com), executive conferences, strategic marketing services and research have equipped security decision-makers to mitigate both IT and corporate/physical risk for their organizations and provided opportunities for security vendors looking to reach this audience. To assist CSOs in educating their organizations' employees on corporate and personal security practices, CSO also produces the quarterly newsletter Security Smart. CSO is published by IDG Enterprise, a subsidiary of IDG. Company information is available at www.idgenterprise.com.

About ProQuest (http://www.proquest.com)

ProQuest connects people with vetted, reliable information. Key to serious research, the company's products are a gateway to the world's knowledge including dissertations, governmental and cultural archives, news, historical collections and ebooks. ProQuest technologies serve users across the critical points in research, helping them discover, access, share, create and manage information.

The company's cloud-based technologies offer flexible solutions for librarians, students and researchers through the ProQuest, Alexander Street, Bowker, Dialog, Ex Libris and SIPX businesses  and notable research tools such as the RefWorks citation and reference management platform, the Pivot research development tool and the Ebook Central, ebrary, EBL and MyiLibrary ebook platforms. The company is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with offices around the world.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120620/DE27948LOGO-a

SOURCE ProQuest

Related Links

http://www.proquest.com


According to TechSci Research report "Qatar Sanitary Ware Market By Product Type, By Application, By Organized Vs. Unorganized, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021", the sanitary ware market in Qatar is forecast to grow at a CAGR of over 9% during 2016 - 2021. Growth in the market is anticipated on account of increasing hygiene consciousness, growing hospitality sector, rising disposable income, high urbanization rate and booming commercial sector. Moreover, introduction of technologically advanced sanitary ware, increasing construction in the wake of FIFA 2022 and the government's vision to develop the country by 2030 are expected to boost the demand for sanitary ware in Qatar through 2021.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140117/663730 )



Browse 20 market data Tables and 27 Figures spread through 100 Pages and an in-depth TOC on

"Qatar Sanitary Ware Market"

https://www.techsciresearch.com/report/qatar-sanitary-ware-market-by-product-type-water-closets-cisterns-basins-urinals-bathtubs-others-by-application-residential-vs-commercial-by-organized-vs-unorganized-competition-forecast-and-opportunities/858.html

On the basis of product type, Qatar sanitary ware market has been broadly segmented into five categories, namely, Water Closets & Cisterns, Basins, Urinals, Bathtubs & Others. Among these categories, Water Closets & Cisterns dominated the country's sanitary ware market in 2015, and the same trend is expected to continue over the next five years as well. Region-wise, eastern region dominated the country's sanitary ware market in 2015, followed by central and west regions. Few of the leading players operating in the country's sanitary ware market include RAK Ceramics, Toto Ltd., Kludi GmbH & Co. KG, Jaquar and HEWI, among others.

Download Sample Report

@ https://www.techsciresearch.com/sample-report.aspx?cid=858

Customers can also request for 10% free customization on this report.

"Qatar National Vision 2030 was officially launched in October 2008 with an objective to transform the nation into a developed country. Under this mission, the government has set various goals including expansion of the country's infrastructure. Consequently, the Government of Qatar has undertaken various projects related to new international airport, new cities, schools, hospitals and electric substations in the country. All these government projects are expected to significantly boost the demand for sanitary ware in the country over the next five years.", said Mr. Karan Chechi, Research Director with TechSci Research, a research based global management consulting firm.

"Qatar Sanitary Ware Market By Product Type, By Application, By Organized Vs. Unorganized, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021" has evaluated the future growth potential of Qatar sanitary ware market and provides statistics and information on market size, structure and future market growth. The report intends to provide cutting-edge market intelligence and help decision makers take sound investment evaluation. Besides, the report also identifies and analyses the emerging trends along with essential drivers, challenges and opportunities in Qatar sanitary ware market.

Browse Related Reports

India Teleshopping Market By Operation Type (Dedicated Channels & Infomercials), By Product Type, By Payment Method (COD, Net Banking, Mobile Wallet, Debit/Credit Card) Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2011-2021

https://www.techsciresearch.com/report/india-teleshopping-market-by-operation-type-dedicated-channels-infomercials-by-product-type-by-payment-method-cod-net-banking-mobile-wallet-debit-credit-card-competition-forecast-opportunities-2011-2021/698.html

Saudi Arabia Air Purifiers Market, By Filter Type (HEPA and Activated Carbon; HEPA, Activated Carbon and Ion Ozone Generator; etc.), By End User (Residential, Commercial & Industrial), Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021

https://www.techsciresearch.com/report/saudi-arabia-air-purifiers-market-by-filter-type-hepa-and-activated-carbon-hepa-activated-carbon-and-ion-ozone-generator-etc-by-end-user-residential-commercial-industrial-competition-forecast-and-opportunities-2011-2021/759.html

UAE Gems and Jewelry Market By Type (Gold, Diamond in Gold, Gemstones, Diamond, etc.), By Point of Sale (Exclusive Showrooms, Multi Branded Jewellery, Showrooms, etc.), By Organized vs Unorganized, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2011 - 2021

https://www.techsciresearch.com/report/uae-gems-and-jewelry-market-by-type-gold-diamond-in-gold-gemstones-diamond-etc-by-point-of-sale-exclusive-showrooms-multi-branded-jewellery-showrooms-etc-by-organized-vs-unorganized-competition-forecast-opportunities-2011-2021/748.html

India Built-in Kitchen Appliances Market By Product Type (Ovens, Hobs, Hoods, Refrigerators, Dishwashers and Others), Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021

https://www.techsciresearch.com/report/india-built-in-kitchen-appliances-market-by-product-type-ovens-hobs-hoods-refrigerators-dishwashers-and-others-competition-forecast-and-opportunities-2011-2021/738.html

About TechSci Research

TechSci Research is a leading global market research firm publishing premium market research reports. Serving 700 global clients with more than 600 premium market research studies, TechSci Research is serving clients across 11 different industrial verticals. TechSci Research specializes in research based consulting assignments in high growth and emerging markets, leading technologies and niche applications. Our workforce of more than 100 fulltime Analysts and Consultants employing innovative research solutions and tracking global and country specific high growth markets helps TechSci clients to lead rather than follow market trends.

Contact

Mr. Ken Mathews

708 Third Avenue,

Manhattan, NY,

New York - 10017

Tel: +1-646-360-1656

Email: [email protected]



Connect with us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/TechSciResearch

Connect with us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/techsci-research

SOURCE TechSci Research
A group of three Rendina medical office buildings (MOBs) were selected as the winner of the "Best Renovated or Repurposed Healthcare Facility" award. Located on the campus of Clara Maass Medical Center (CMMC) in Clara Maass, New Jersey, the three MOBs total 128,006 square feet. CMMC, an RWJBarnabas Health campus, looked to Rendina for a solution that would free up capital for the hospital, enhance the campus and community, and improve overall patient and physician satisfaction.

After purchasing the MOBs from the hospital, Rendina transformed the dated facilities to modern healing environments by completely renovating all building common areas, including new lighting, flooring, paint and ceiling tiles, along with new suite doors and building entry systems. Other interior improvements consisted of new signage and directories to improve wayfinding, as well as artwork and furniture to further improve the patient experience. Rendina also enhanced building systems, including new HVAC, roof replacements, and elevator cab modernization and mechanical upgrades. Improved handicap access via new ramps and parking also increased accessibility for patients.

Since taking ownership of the MOBs, occupancy has increased nearly 10 percent and many physician groups have shifted from short-term commitments to long-term leases on the campus. This long-term loyalty to the campus is a benefit to the hospital, and the improved conditions on campus are the driving force behind these new physician commitments. Tenant ratings of "overall satisfaction" have increased 7 percent across the portfolio, according to a 2015 Kingsley Associates survey.

Richard Rendina, chairman and CEO of Rendina Healthcare Real Estate, is honored to receive another HREI award. "Our team at Rendina, in addition to RWJBarnabas and their physicians, are what made this possible," said Rendina. "We are proud to provide the Clara Maass community with improved healing environments, and this collaborative effort being awarded by HREI is a testament to the hard work of everyone involved."

About Rendina Healthcare Real Estate

Rendina is a trusted national leader in healthcare real estate, providing a full-service platform that includes the design, development, acquisition, leasing and management of healthcare real estate. For more information visit our website at rendina.com.

Media Contact: Steve Barry, 561.630.5055, [email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161208/447083

SOURCE Rendina Healthcare Real Estate

Related Links

http://www.rendina.com


ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hotel booking platform Reservations.com, today announces the launch of its Customer Success Center to offer customers 24/7 access to live customer service agents. The center will support all of Reservations.com's current offerings, which include hotel, car rental, tour and activity planning and travel insurance.

According to TalkDesk, 61% of customers prefer phone calls as the best means to reach customer service, yet 75% feel that they do not speak to a live agent in a timely manner. Reservations.com's Customer Success Center is responding to these customer needs by directly connecting travelers with live support agents to quickly and efficiently assist with questions and provide guidance during the planning process.

"Our customers are our top priority," said Reservations.com Co-Founder Yatin Patel. "We are committed to investing our time and effort into the Customer Success Center to provide an elite level of service dedicated to improving customer satisfaction and confidence during their booking and trip planning experience."

Patel's partner, Mahesh Chaddah continues, "Our highly trained support staff is prepared to guide customers through the travel booking process and provide them with the support they need when planning a trip. By offering our customers a more traditional travel agent experience with live support, we are offering them a level of service that is impossible to match with an automated support center."

"Instead of letting our customers waste time waiting for email responses or leaving them to comb through FAQ sections, we have dedicated this center to help our customers avoid unnecessary frustration and give them the opportunity to speak to an agent directly, to answer any questions at anytime via telephone," added Patel.

Customers can reach the Customer Success Center by calling 1-800-916-4339. For more information on the Customer Success Center or for securing tours and activities, travel insurance, booking hotel accommodations or reserving a rental car, please visit Reservations.com.

About Reservations.com

Reservations.com is a leading online hotel booking platform. Headquartered in Central Florida, the website is dedicated to helping travelers make the best decisions possible for their upcoming hotel selections. Reservations.com offers a user-friendly design, with features including descriptions, deals, pricing information, reviews and instant booking confirmation. Founded in 2014 with a mission to help create memorable experiences, the site has seen rapid growth, with more than 150,000 hotel partners worldwide and more than two million room nights booked since inception. Reservations.com plans to continue expanding to offer its customers the opportunity to make reservations for various other experiences across the globe. For more information, visit www.reservations.com

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160803/395532LOGO

SOURCE Reservations.com

Related Links

http://www.reservations.com


LONDON and CHICAGO, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Rival Systems (Rival), a leading provider of trading and risk management software, has just won the 2016 award for Best New Technology Product  Risk Management at the annual FOW International Awards. FOW Magazine officials presented the award last night to Rival CEO Robert D'Arco for the firm's Rival Risk platform at a dinner and ceremony following the FOW Derivatives World London conference.

The FOW honor is the second award Rival has earned in the past month. In November, the firm's Rival Trader and Rival API offerings won the Buy-Side Technology 2016 award for Best Buy-Side Commodities Trading Platform.

Launched last fall, Rival Risk is the first real-time, fully hosted, HTML-5 based risk platform to bring enterprise risk management capabilities across trading platforms and clearing firms.

Will Mitting, publisher of FOW Magazine, said: "The risk management award is always one of the most hotly contested, and Rival Risk won the judges' plaudits this year. Requirements for risk systems vary significantly for different market participants, and Rival has brought an innovative product to market that solves the problem of calculating risk exposure for illiquid products, among other new initiatives."

Rival Systems CEO Robert D'Arco said: "We're truly honored to win this prestigious FOW award. In today's regulatory and business environment, it's critical for firms to have an accurate view of their performance and risk at all times. Rival Risk makes it easy  with auto-reconciliation, real-time drop copies, advanced algos to accurately price illiquid assets, end-of-day reports and instant email alerts  all built on our custom HTML5 engine so clients can monitor their business from anywhere. It's been a great first year, and we're driven to continue developing valuable enterprise level solutions for our clients."

The platform's innovative algorithms automatically calculate a reliable synthetic price when there is no current market available or the bid/ask spread is very wide, giving risk managers an accurate view into the profit-and-loss (P&L) and risk across all of their trading accounts. When monitoring the performance of futures spread trades, P&L depends on the price accuracy of all the legs, but if a back month is illiquid, risk managers typically have had to just live with uncertainty. By automatically calculating a synthetic price for illiquid futures, Rival Risk eliminates the uncertainty so users can focus on what really matters. Rival Risk also calculates real-time prices and greeks for any option without users having to set volatility curves.

Most risk management software can view the activity of only one group or clearing firm at a time, presenting a significant challenge when firms have multiple trading groups with separate P&Ls or when they clear through multiple firms. Rival Risk auto-reconciles positions to clearing firm statements at the start of the trading session, and connects to real-time drop copies from clearing firms and exchanges to provide a centralized repository for all trades and positions. Users receive end-of-day P&L reports based on preliminary and final settlement prices so they know where they stand well before they receive clearing firm statements the next morning. Users can also run custom price or volatility scenarios and run option expiration reports across the entire firm.

D'Arco said that Rival's custom HTML-5 engine and interoperable architecture provide a solid foundation for the firm to continue building innovative features for its clients in the years to come.

FOW is the leading news and data service for the international futures and options industry. The magazine said it received a record number of entries for its awards this year.

About Rival

Launched in 2015, Chicago-based Rival Systems (www.rivalsystems.com) empowers professional traders with the technology and resources required to compete in today's markets. Rival provides a comprehensive technology solution with award-winning platforms, including: Rival Trader, a sophisticated, ultra-low latency derivatives trading system; Rival API, an algorithmic strategy development framework; and Rival Risk, a fully hosted enterprise risk management platform; as well as extensive training and support. Rival Systems has distinguished itself in the industry through its premier service, exceptional speed and advanced features designed to help users gain an edge in the market.

RIVAL PRESS CONTACT:

Sara Goodman

Director of Marketing

Rival Systems

312-244-5903

[email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160823/400583LOGO

SOURCE Rival Systems
CHICAGO and LONDON, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Chicago-based R.J. O'Brien & Associates (RJO), the oldest and largest independent futures brokerage and clearing firm in the United States, last night won the FOW International Award for 2016 Best Non-Bank Futures Commission Merchant (FCM). FOW Magazine presented the award at a dinner ceremony following the FOW Derivatives World London conference.

A panel of independent judges selected RJO for the award following a survey of market participants and exchanges in which respondents were asked which non-bank FCM has had the biggest impact in 2016.

FOW Publisher Will Mitting said: "At a time when some banks are pulling back from the market, non-bank FCMs need to step up to fill the void. R.J. O'Brien has certainly stepped up, opening its doors to new business and taking on an LME membership as well as making a number of key hires during the year. The acquisition of Kyte Group has enabled it to better serve the European market, and it has continued to expand in its home market."

Gerald Corcoran, RJO Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said: "We are greatly honored to win this award from FOW and especially gratified that market participants singled us out for our impact on the industry and our clients. That is a true testament to our amazing employees who do an outstanding job every day on behalf of the clients we are so proud to serve. We're looking forward to building further on our talented sales teams and client base in the U.S., Europe and Asia throughout 2017."

Last year, RJO's London-based UK affiliate won the magazine's prestigious Editor's Choice Award at the 2015 FOW International Awards, based on factors including growth prospects, company achievements and successful collaborations and acquisitions.

FOW is the leading news and data service for the international futures and options industry.

About R.J. O'Brien

Founded in 1914, R.J. O'Brien & Associates is the largest independent futures brokerage firm in the United States, serving institutional, commercial and individual clients globally, in addition to a network of 400 introducing brokers (IBs). Clearing more than 80,000 client accounts, RJO services the industry's most expansive global network of IBs, a vast array of middle market firms and many of the world's largest financial, industrial and agricultural institutions. The firm offers state-of-the-art electronic trading and 24-hour trade execution on every major futures exchange worldwide.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130114/CL41946LOGO

SOURCE R.J. O'Brien & Associates

Related Links

http://www.rjobrien.com


PLANO, Texas, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Epsilon, an Alliance Data (NYSE: ADS) company, today announced that Road Scholar, a not-for-profit educational organization providing adults with experiential learning opportunities around the globe, has signed an expanded agreement for personalized digital advertising services with Epsilon's Conversant business. Epsilon has been providing consumer database marketing services to Road Scholar since 2012.

Road Scholar offers 5,500 learning adventures in 150 countries and all 50 domestic states, serving more than 100,000 participants per year. At any given time, 2,000 Road Scholars are experiencing the world on learning adventures. Founded in 1975, the educational travel organization provides scholarships, research resources and experiential learning opportunities featuring a range of topics, formats and locations. Road Scholar employs 320 staff members and leverages a massive global network of lecturers, experts and scientists to provide life-changing learning travel adventures.

With the new agreement, Conversant will provide digital advertising services developed to micro-target adult students across all digital and web devices. Conversant will enable Road Scholar to reach consumers across their devices by delivering personalized advertising to prospective customers and existing alumni across the United States. Conversant's approach will provide Road Scholar with highly accurate, consistent views of their participants as they move between desktops, smartphones and tablets, enabling the brand to connect with customers in unique and relevant ways that drive website visits and travel bookings.

"Epsilon has made a tremendous impact on Road Scholar's contact strategy since we initially partnered with them four years ago," said Kristin Moore, SVP of Marketing at Road Scholar. "Through a robust database marketing strategy, we've developed deep customer relationships with both our alumni and potential Road Scholars. I'm confident the addition of Conversant's digital capabilities will enhance our current marketing strategy and inspire many older adults to further engage with our educational programs."

"Road Scholar is a wonderful organization founded on community, camaraderie and delivering unsurpassed educational travel experiences," said Bryan Kennedy, chief executive officer at Epsilon/Conversant. "Epsilon's approach in database marketing has allowed for authentic, meaningful conversations that line up with Road Scholar's mission and story. Their decision to partner with Conversant for digital advertising capabilities will bring the learning movement to many new travelers."

About Road Scholar

Road Scholar is the nation's largest educational travel organization for adults  a true university of the world. This not-for-profit educational organization offers 5,500 extraordinary learning adventures in 150 countries and 50 states. Road Scholars are immersed in a variety of educational activities, enlisting renowned faculty and experts who offer insider access not available to most individuals. Dedicated to making educational travel available to everyone, Road Scholar offers financial aid for those who otherwise could not participate in its programs.

Road Scholar educational adventures are created by Elderhostel, the not-for-profit world leader in educational travel for adults since 1975. To learn more, please visit our website at www.roadscholar.org/press.

About Epsilon

Epsilon is a global leader in creating connections between people and brands. An all-encompassing global marketing company, we harness the power of rich data, groundbreaking technologies, engaging creative and transformative ideas to get the results our clients require. Recognized by Ad Age as the #1 World's Largest CRM/Direct Marketing Network, #1 Largest U.S. Agency from All Disciplines and #1 Largest U.S. Mobile Marketing Agency, Epsilon employs over 7,000 associates in 70 offices worldwide. Epsilon is an Alliance Data company. For more information, visit www.epsilon.com, follow us on Twitter @EpsilonMktg or call 1.800.309.0505.

About Conversant

Conversant is a leader in personalized digital marketing. Conversant helps the world's biggest companies grow by creating personalized experiences that deliver higher returns for brands and greater satisfaction for people. We offer a fully integrated personalization platform, personalized media programs and one of the world's largest affiliate marketing networksall fueled by a deep understanding of what motivates people to engage, connect and buy. For more information, please visit www.conversantmedia.com.

About Alliance Data

Alliance Data (NYSE: ADS) is a leading global provider of data-driven marketing and loyalty solutions serving large, consumer-based industries. The Company creates and deploys customized solutions, enhancing the critical customer marketing experience; the result is measurably changing consumer behavior while driving business growth and profitability for some of today's most recognizable brands. Alliance Data helps its clients create and increase customer loyalty through solutions that engage millions of customers each day across multiple touch points using traditional, digital, mobile and emerging technologies. An S&P 500 and Fortune 500 company headquartered in Plano, Texas, Alliance Data consists of three businesses that together employ more than 16,000 associates at approximately 100 locations worldwide.

Alliance Data's card services business is a leading provider of marketing-driven branded credit card programs. Epsilon is a leading provider of multichannel, data-driven technologies and marketing services, and also includes Conversant, a leader in personalized digital marketing. LoyaltyOne owns and operates the AIR MILES Reward Program, Canada's premier coalition loyalty program, and Netherlands-based BrandLoyalty, a global provider of tailor-made loyalty programs for grocers.

Follow Alliance Data on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Forward Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements give our expectations or forecasts of future events and can generally be identified by the use of words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "project," "plan," "likely," "may," "should" or other words or phrases of similar import. Similarly, statements that describe our business strategy, outlook, objectives, plans, intentions or goals also are forward-looking statements.

We believe that our expectations are based on reasonable assumptions. Forward-looking statements, however, are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the projections, anticipated results or other expectations expressed in this release, and no assurances can be given that our expectations will prove to have been correct. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, factors set forth in the Risk Factors section in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year, which may be updated in Item 1A of, or elsewhere in, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed for periods subsequent to such Form 10-K.

Our forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made, and we undertake no obligation, other than as required by applicable law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, subsequent events, anticipated or unanticipated circumstances or otherwise.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20051024/ADSLOGO

SOURCE Alliance Data Systems Corporation

Related Links

http://www.alliancedata.com


TEL AVIV, Israel, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

SafeDK, the world leader for mobile SDKs management solutions, has released today the latest edition of the Mobile SDKs Trends report. The report is based on an analysis of over 100,000 free Android apps, including apps that are featured in Google Play's top charts, and hundreds of SDKs that are implemented in those apps, including all the top players in the industry.

The report examines October 2016 data, analyzes the SDKs that are integrated and activated among the examined apps. The fresh data is then compared with the data presented in the 1st report edition that was released in April 2016.

Some of the key trends covered in the report (please find a link to the full report here):

The number of SDKs that are integrated in a single mobile app, on average, and how this number has grown significantly over the past six months. Click here to view the chart.

For the first time, mobile games are no longer in the lead when it comes to the number of average integrated SDKs. The absolute winners are apps that belong to the "news" category. Click here to view the chart

Google, Facebook, Crashlytics, Flurry and Chartboost are the most popular Android SDKs, across the board. Click here to view the chart (with the accurate market share %).

The most popular SDK categories, by this order, are: Analytics, Advertising, Social, Payment, Location, Crash Reporting, Rewarded Video, Attribution, and Marketing Automation. Click here to view the chart.

** The full report includes a deeper analysis of the above numbers per app category and per app publisher geo.

Important notes and key insights:

App developers integrate more SDKs today compared to 6 months ago; the industry continues to grow and offers an opportunity for both SDK players and investors.

Mobile payment SDK category is rapidly growing, as more apps in the Android ecosystem put effort on monetization.

Apps from new categories, introduced recently, are analyzed as well as you can see in the full report.

Google's latest addition to its Play Services SDK, Firebase, is getting traction and is entering otherwise uncharted waters, making itself one of the hottest trends of the past few months.

The exact market share % are stated in the full report.

The complete updated report includes an additional analysis of:

The market share of top SDK companies: in general, by SDK category, and per app publisher geo.

SDK Implementation trends among apps of all scales including the biggest apps worldwide.

An analysis of market share winners in each SDK category.

"We are extremely happy to continue our contribution to the industry and release our 2nd analysis of the most important mobile SDKs trends, this time with an interesting comparison to last April's report. Though mobile SDKs trends and benchmarks are crucial for app publishers, industry players and investors, they were extremely hard to find until recently. We are happy to be changing this, and to help people in the industry make educated decisions based on real data. Our goal continues to be focused on creating a new standard of transparency, by making data accessible and public, just as we do with our In-App Protection solution and our SDKs Marketplace.", says SafeDK CEO, Orly Shoavi.



About SafeDK

SafeDK is a complete mobile SDKs management platform which enables app publishers to build better and safer apps. SafeDK covers the entire span of the app development cycle, from finding the top-rated SDKs in the SafeDK Marketplace, to ongoing monitoring and real-time control of SDKs. SafeDK was founded in September 2014 by Orly Shoavi and Ronnie Sternberg, and has it's headquartered in Herzelia, Israel. The company is funded by Samsung Next Tel Aviv, Marius Nacht, StageOne Ventures and top strategic Angel investors, including Leon Waisbein and Kaedan Capital.

SOURCE SafeDK
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the Customer Success Platform and world's #1 CRM company, today announced that Parker Harris, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, will participate in a Pacific Crest Securities hosted investor meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016 at 1:00 p.m. (PT) / 4:00 p.m. (ET) in San Francisco, CA.

An audiocast will be available on Salesforce's website at www.salesforce.com/investor.

About Salesforce

Salesforce, the Customer Success Platform and world's #1 CRM company, empowers companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way. Salesforce has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CRM." For more information about Salesforce, visit: www.salesforce.com.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130612/SF30598LOGO

SOURCE Salesforce

Related Links

http://www.salesforce.com


RACINE, Wisconsin, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ -- SC Johnson, maker of trusted brands like Glade, Raid and Mr Muscolo, today announced its manufacturing facility in Manaus, Brazil has been recognized as a 2016 Best Workplace by the Great Place to Work Institute. This is the first time Manaus has been recognized on the list and joins Latin American colleagues at SC Johnson Argentina, Brazil and Rio de Janeiro who were honored earlier this year.

"It is an honor to receive Best Workplace recognition for the first time in Manaus," said Fisk Johnson, Chairman and CEO of SC Johnson. "The Manaus team produced OFF! personal insect repellent 24/7 in response to the Zika outbreak, working tirelessly to meet the surge in demand for pest control products. Being named Best Workplace is well deserved recognition for their hard work and dedication."

Manaus ranked number one on the Institute's list of Best Companies in the Amazon region. The facility joins SC Johnson Italy, Germany, Venezuela, Poland, Central America, Mexico, U.K., Nigeria and Latin America which have also been named 2016 Best Workplaces by the Great Place to Work Institute.

The Best Workplaces list is the world's largest annual study of workplace excellence. The ranking is determined by the results of an employee opinion survey and information provided about company culture, programs and policies.

SC Johnson was recently included in Working Mother magazine's list of the "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers" for the 28th time, and recently received a perfect score of 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index.

About SC Johnson

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

Related Links

http://www.scjohnson.com



SOURCE SC Johnson
RESTON, Va., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Home fires typically increase this time of year from Christmas trees, candles, electrical cords, space heaters, etc. Fire chiefs are also seeing an increase in home fires resulting from the combination of increased insulation and certain types of exterior wall cladding.

A November 21 NBC News Washington story examines a Loudoun County, Virginia house that caught fire when a cigarette left on the deck ignited the vinyl siding and foam board insulation. The fire reached the home's attic in less than 10 minutes and spread so rapidly it trapped three firefighters on the second floor of the home.

The story references a two-year million-dollar study by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) that compares how fast an outdoor fire can turn into a dangerous attic fire among common exterior house sidings. In UL's study, the combination of vinyl siding and foam board insulation became a fully engulfed attic fire in less than two minutes. Cedar shingles and cement board siding took 20 minutes to reach the attic. Steve Kerber, the director of the Firefighter Safety Research Institute at Underwriters Laboratories said brick and stone don't catch fire.

"You could put a fire on brick or stone all day long and you're not going to burn a house down through brick," said Kerber.

"We are not surprised with the findings of the Underwriters Laboratories Study," said Ray Leonhard, president and CEO of the Brick Industry Association (BIA). "In laboratory tests and in actual situations, brick provides superior fire protection. In fact, the level of safety that brick provides is a key reason why cities and citizens have chosen time and again to rebuild with brick after major fire events. There is no exterior cladding material safer than genuine clay brick."

The NBC News story is consistent with BIA's fire testing conducted at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. These tests show that vinyl siding burned after only eight minutes, fiber cement siding burned within one hour and brick withstood the flames past one hour.

Founded in 1934, BIA at www.gobrick.com is the nationally recognized authority on clay brick construction representing the nation's distributors and manufacturers of clay brick and suppliers of related products. Twitter: @BrickIndustry https://twitter.com/BrickIndustry. YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/BrickIndustry Telephone: 703-620-0010.

SOURCE Brick Industry Association (BIA)

Related Links

http://www.gobrick.com


NEW YORK, Dec. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- "Seeds market projected to grow at a CAGR of 9.9% from 2017 to 2022"

The seeds market is projected to reach USD 113.28 billion by 2022 at a CAGR of 9.9% from 2017. The market is driven by factors such as necessity to increase food production, increasing acceptance and area under cultivation of GM crops, improvement in Seed Replacement Rate (SRR), and change in science and technology advancements. Diminishing increase in growth of biofuel production and expected maturity in population growth rates and resultant impact on food demand are the restraining factors for seeds product manufacturers and service providers.



"GM seeds accounted for the largest market share in 2016."

The GM seeds segment is projected to grow with the highest CAGR from 2017 to 2022. The demand for GM seeds is increasing due to their resistance to insects, pests, and diseases, and high yielding property. These seeds are environment-friendly, as they do not involve other chemicals. Due to its high yielding capability, these seeds are grown substantially in less arable lands. Some of the European countries, such as Germany, France, Scotland, Italy, Austria, Greece, Poland, and Belgium, have banned the use of GM crops.



"Insecticide resistant segment projected to lead the market by 2022."

Insecticide-resistance is a genetic decline in a pest inhabitant's exposure to a pesticide, the inheritances are transferred from one generation to other generation. Crops that have been genetically engineered for Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) resistance could significantly lower production costs and grant farmers with new insect control ways within the upcoming years. The success of commercialization depends on several factors, including patent issues, regulatory climate, and the capability of scientists to deal with targeted insects.



"Asia-Pacific market projected to grow at the highest CAGR between 2017 and 2022."

Being the world's largest as well as most populous continent, the Asia-Pacific region is one of the key markets for the seed coating industry. Some of the main reasons for this extraordinary growth are continuous increase in the population and the support from governments as well as national and international associations to increase the agricultural production of oil, grains, fruits, and vegetables to meet the need for food products in the region. China, India, Japan, and Australia are the key seed markets in this region and are expected to grow rapidly in the near future.



The breakdown of primaries on the basis of company, designation, and region, conducted during the research study is given below.



By Company Type: Tier 1  20%, Tier 2  45%, and Tier 3  35%

By Designation: Director Level  22%, C Level  28%, and Others  50%

By Region: North America  18%, Europe  25%, Asia-Pacific  45%, and RoW  12%



Key players are as follows:

- Bayer CropScience AG (Germany)

- E. I. Du Pont De Nemours and Company (U.S.)

- Monsanto Company (U.S.)

- Syngenta AG (Switzerland)

- The Dow Chemical Company (U.S.)



These companies collectively accounted for the largest portion of the seeds market in 2016.



Other players with a strong presence in this market are as follows:

- KWS SAAT SA (Germany)

- Groupe Limagrain (France)

- Sakata Seed Corporation (Japan)

- Rallis India Limited (India)

- Land O'Lakes, Inc. (U.S.)





Research Coverage

This research report categorizes the seeds market based on type, crop type, seed treatment, trait, and region. Based on type, the market has been segmented into conventional seeds and GM seeds. Based on crop type, the market has been segmented into cereals & grains, fruits & vegetables, oilseeds, and others. Based on trait, the market has been segmented into herbicide-tolerant, insecticide resistant, and other stacked seeds. In terms of seed treatment, the market has been segmented into treated and non-treated. Regional segmentation of the market includes North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and RoW (Rest of the World).



Reasons to buy this report

From an insight perspective, this research report has focused on various levels of analysesindustry analysis (industry trends), and company profiles, which together comprise and discuss the basic views on the competitive landscapeemerging and high-growth segments of the global seeds market; high-growth regions; and market drivers, restraints, and opportunities.



The report provides insights on the following:

- Market Penetration: Comprehensive information on seeds products offered by top players in the global market

- Product Development/Innovation: Detailed insights on upcoming seeds techniques, research & development activities, and new product launches in the seeds market

- Market Development: Comprehensive information about lucrative emerging markets

- Market Diversification: Exhaustive information about new products, untapped regions, recent developments, and investments in the global seeds market

- Competitive Assessment: In-depth assessment of market share, strategies, products, and manufacturing capabilities of leading players in the global seeds market



Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04436644-summary/view-report.html



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



http://www.reportlinker.com





__________________________

Contact Clare: [email protected]

US: (339)-368-6001

Intl: +1 339-368-6001

SOURCE Reportlinker

Related Links

http://www.reportlinker.com


DETROIT, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Individuals who want to be certain they have health coverage starting on New Year's Day must enroll in a health plan by Thursday, Dec. 15, 2016 under guidelines of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

"Consumers should be proactive as they plan for health coverage for the coming year," said Claudia Swink, director of individual business for Health Alliance Plan (HAP). "Right now is the critical time for consumers to learn about plan options and choose a plan that works for their specific needs, helping them gain better control of their own health and wellness."

Renewals

If you enrolled via the Marketplace last year you will need to visit the Marketplace again to make modifications. You cannot go to an insurance carrier or an agent and ask them to change your plan on the Marketplace. They can assist you in the process, but they can't change it for you.

If you are currently in a health plan, you should have received a letter from your insurance carrier notifying you that it's time to renew and alerting of any actions you need to take. Before you make these changes consider the following:

If you are already in a Qualified Health Plan (QHP) plan and it is being offered in 2017 and you want to stay in it, you don't need to do anything.

If a new plan has been selected for you and you like it, you don't need to do anything.

If you purchased a Marketplace Plan last year and your circumstances have changed, you may qualify for a subsidy. Visit the Marketplace or your health insurance carrier to check your eligibility.

If you purchased a Marketplace Plan last year and qualified for federal assistance, you need to double-check that your income has been verified so that you can continue to receive federal assistance. Loss of eligibility can result in a significant out of pocket price increase.

Consumers who purchased a "catastrophic" plan (one that covers the minimum required benefits) directly through the Marketplace should confirm that they meet eligibility guidelines to enroll in that plan in 2017.

"People who decide to change plans must be certain to enroll in the new plan first and confirm the date their coverage takes effect before cancelling their current plan," Swink said. "HAP has experts available to assist customers in determining the best plan to meet their needs and that of their family whether they are purchasing an on-Marketplace plan or one that is sold directly by the carrier."

First-time buyers

Buying health insurance for the first time can be an intimidating process. Start by asking yourself:

How much will this plan really cost me? Remember to factor in your deductibles, co-pays and other out-of-pocket costs.

Is my doctor in the network?

If I don't currently have a primary care doctor, am I picking a plan in which the doctors and hospitals are geographically convenient for me?

Do I anticipate any specific health care services for me or my family in the coming year? If so, how much of those costs will be covered by my plan?

Are office visits covered from day one, or do I need to meet a high deductible first?

Find out if your prescriptions will be covered on the plan you intend to purchase.

HealthPlus is Now HAP

As a result of the merger between HAP and HealthPlus earlier this year, HealthPlus members will be enrolled into a comparable HAP plan and were notified by mail earlier this year about new plan details. However, former HealthPlus members may call (855) WITH HAP with questions, for help or learn about other options for 2017. As a HAP member, they will have access to an expanded network of providers that includes some of the finest facilities in Michigan.

Contacting HAP

Knowledgeable HAP Personal Alliance representatives are available by phone at (855) WITH HAP or (855) 948-4427 to answer questions whether you are interested in purchasing directly through HAP or enrolling in a Marketplace plan. You can also enroll online by visiting HAP.org and can get answers to your questions by email or through live chat.

Or you can meet with HAP representatives face to face at the following locations:

Detroit office located at 2850 W. Grand Boulevard

office located at 2850 W. Grand Boulevard Southfield office located at 21700 Northwestern Highway

office located at 21700 Northwestern Highway Flint office located at 2050 S. Linden Road

About Health Alliance Plan

Health Alliance Plan (HAP) is a Michigan-based, nonprofit health plan that provides health coverage to more than 675,000 members and companies of all sizes. For more than 50 years, HAP has partnered with leading doctors and hospitals, employers and community organizations to enhance the health and well-being of the lives we touch. HAP offers a product portfolio with six distinct product lines: Group Insured Commercial, Individual, Medicare, Medicaid, Self-Funded and Network Leasing. HAP excels in delivering award-winning preventive services, disease management and wellness programs, and personalized customer service. For more information, visit hap.org.

Contacts: Ebony Dooley Rich Donley

Health Alliance Plan MCCI on behalf of HAP

248-443-7847 248-417-8498

[email protected] [email protected]

SOURCE Health Alliance Plan (HAP)

Related Links

http://www.hap.org


GAITHERSBURG, Md., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Sodexo, world leader in Quality of Life services, and the American Red Cross in New Hampshire and Vermont have entered into a partnership to provide disaster clients of the Red Cross in that region with meals during times of disaster response. This partnership will primarily be carried out through the facilities that Sodexo has at area colleges and universities.

Seven locations in New Hampshire and nine locations in Vermont will support disaster events through their ability to supply nourishment to clients who are displaced and will need meals through Red Cross Disaster Services. The combined capacity of these sites can produce over 13,000 meals per day across the New Hampshire / Vermont Red Cross Region. Those locations include:

World Learning Center  Brattleboro, VT

Keene State College  Keene, NH

 Franklin Pierce University  Rindge, NH

Rivier University  Nashua, NH

Daniel Webster College  Nashua, NH

 Southern New Hampshire University  Manchester, NH

 Plymouth State University  Plymouth, NH

Colby Sawyer College  New London, NH

 Lyndon State College  Lyndonville, VT

 Castleton University  Castleton, VT

University  Vermont Technical College  Randolph, VT

 Johnson State College  Johnson, VT

 Champlain College  Burlington, VT

 St. Michaels College  Colchester, VT

College  Norwich University  Northfield, VT

 University of Vermont  Burlington, VT

"Last year the American Red Cross in New Hampshire and Vermont responded to 355 local disasters, providing shelter, food and comfort to 862 families in need. It's an enormous responsibility that covers 24 counties and nearly 2 million people," said Sodexo Universities East CEO, North America, Jim Jenkins. "Sodexo's culinary experience, logistical acumen and presence in the region at 16 sites is a perfect complement to the impressive efforts led by the American Red Cross.

Both Sodexo and the Red Cross see this partnership as crucial to providing emergency services during a disaster response, and will continue to develop local relationships that will come into play during times of disaster.

GIVE WHAT FIRE TAKES CAMPAIGN

On average, Red Cross volunteers assist a family that has been displaced by a disaster, usually a home fire, every 17 hours in New Hampshire and Vermont. All gifts made to Home Fire Relief through the "Give What Fire Takes" campaign will enable the Red Cross to provide critical services to people impacted by home fires, along with lifesaving tools and information to support home fire prevention efforts.

For more information about home fire relief and prevention efforts in the New Hampshire / Vermont Region, please visit http://www.redcross.org/local/new-hampshire-vermont/home-fire-campaign. Learn more about Sodexo at its corporate blog, Sodexo Insights.

Sodexo delivers more than 100 services across North America that enhance organizational performance, contribute to local communities and improve quality of life. The Fortune Global 500 company is a leader in delivering sustainable, integrated facilities management and foodservice operations.

About the American Red Cross:

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit www.redcross.org.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160330/349448LOGO

SOURCE Sodexo

Related Links

http://www.sodexoUSA.com


TROY, Mich., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- solidThinking has signed a new partner agreement with Soothsayer Analytics to expand the reach of Envision's cloud-based business intelligence solution. Soothsayer Analytics' experience and knowledge of cross-industry best practices, combined with Envision's intuitive and collaborative environment, will enable users to visualize and analyze data with greater efficiency and derive better insight.

"We are very happy to add Soothsayer Analytics to our partner community," said Jim Hassberger, president of solidThinking. "Soothsayer is a highly versatile, progressive and innovative company with a bright future. This collaboration will empower our global user community with broader data analytics capabilities."

Envision is a zero-foot print technology, built around a rich user interface with advanced data visualization functionalities, delivered through a disruptive licensing model for an optimized investment. It is trusted, fast, easy to use and fully collaborative. Integrated with Soothsayer Analytics, Envision will help businesses succeed through data exploration and predictive analytics to identify opportunities and optimize outcomes.

"Recognizing that the future of Data Science requires a synthesis of high performance computing, sophisticated algorithms and rich visualizations, Soothsayer cannot imagine a better partner than solidThinking. Combining the flexible architecture and unparalleled self-service user experience of solidThinking's Envision product with our highly unique abilities in advanced analytics and artificial intelligence will enable us both to provide an unparalleled offering to companies looking for a competitive edge. We look forward to collaborating with solidThinking, and together, building world-class solutions to complex and meaningful problems," said Gaurav Agrawal, CEO, Soothsayer Analytics.

For more information, product news and details of upcoming events visit http://envisionbi.com or connect with us through LinkedIn and Twitter.

About solidThinking

solidThinking employs a relentless focus on delivering innovative technology with a streamlined user experience. Its tools empower users and organizations to make informed decisions and design, engineer, manufacture, and deliver amazing products to market faster than ever before. solidThinking's tools are sold and supported through a global network of industry and domain experts. solidThinking is a wholly owned subsidiary of Altair where its products are also available through the Altair HyperWorks suite.

About Altair

Founded in 1985, Altair is focused on the development and application of simulation technology to synthesize and optimize designs, processes and decisions for improved business performance. Privately held with more than 2,600 employees, Altair is headquartered in Troy, Michigan, USA with more than 45 offices throughout 20 countries, and serves more than 5,000 corporate clients across broad industry segments. To learn more, please visit www.altair.com.

About Soothsayer Analytics

Soothsayer Analytics helps companies leverage Data Science to explain the unknown, optimize their business, and predict the future. We build custom algorithms and analytics tools, engage in cutting-edge R&D, and design Analytics Centers of Excellence. Our Data Scientists come from diverse backgrounds such as Rocket Science, Physics, and Engineering, and our client base spans a wide array of industries. Whether you are newly endeavoring into analytics or looking to develop pioneering IP, Soothsayer can help. Our deep experience and understanding of best practices enables us to provide actionable insight and demonstrable ROI. To learn more, please visit www.SoothsayerAnalytics.com.

Media Contacts:

Altair Corporate/Americas

Biba A. Bedi

+1-757-224-0548 x 406

[email protected]

Altair Europe, the Middle East and Africa

Evelyn Gebhardt

+49-6421-9684351

[email protected]

Soothsayer Analytics

Christopher Dole

+1-614-902-0294

[email protected]

SOURCE solidThinking

Related Links

http://www.solidthinking.com


ZURICH, December 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Solway Investment Group today announced its inaugural partnership with the Salzburg Festival: the Group will sponsor Mozart's opera production, "La Clemenza di Tito" directed by Peter Sellars and conducted by Teodor Currentzis.

This will be the first time Solway joins the list of honored Swiss festival supporters like Nestle and Roche, who have been involved with the Salzburg Festival for decades.

Solway will use the cooperation to deepen its commitment to providing talented young people access to the arts through its specifically developed Fellowship Program http://solwaygroup.com/musiccamp/ . The partnership will give young talents from economically challenged regions where the Group operates a chance to experience the World's most renowned classic festival through participating in the Salzburg Music Camp for Children and Youth. Already, work is underway to promote the benefits that talented, young people could experience by being a part of an international music event, via applying to the 8 months Fellowship Program. Solway offers an educational program designed to integrate creatives from the local communities into modern life through experiencing arts and adapting their cultural traditions to the realities of the new world. The Solway fellowship is offered to young members of the Group's employees families in Ukraine, Macedonia and Guatemala. The most involved fellow talents will experience the Music Camp's international environment in Salzburg in August 2017.

"The Salzburg Festival partnership particularly appealed to us because it brings together our appetite for innovation and focus on business sustainability and new generation development with a commitment to widening talents' access to the international art scene. Art is the perfect tool to unite diverse communities and cultures. The newly announced relationship will allow the Festival to stage an innovative performance, combining tradition and courage to blaze new trails whilst adhering to the highest quality which Salzburg Festival is renowned for." says Dan Bronstein, Solway's Chairman of the Board.

Festival President Helga Rabl-Stadler commented: "We are delighted with this new partnership with yet another Swiss company, Solway Investment Group. Now that they are on board we are looking forward to working closely with them. Opera is a key feature of the Festival and "La Clemenza di Tito" staged by Peter Sellars and Teodor Currentzis is such a revitalized and high quality production. It is a perfect match for Solway Investment Group."

The Festival http://www.salzburgerfestspiele.at/ is now in its 97th year and is staging 7 operas as well as a variety of concerts, dramas and performances for children. This year's work will be united by one theme - the destructive force of power and the conflicts that it generates resultant in the destruction of human relationships and the loss of one's place in the fabric of society.

For further information please contact Solway Investment Group press office by phone +436642545115 or email: [email protected]

SOURCE Solway Investment Group
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- State Farm, the nation's largest insurance company, has filed two lawsuits seeking to overturn an order by the Insurance Commissioner that the company cut its home condo and renters insurance rates by 7%  which would save customers $156 million per year as compared to the rates requested by State Farm  and repay its policyholders more than $100 million for overcharges dating back to July 2015.

At a hearing this morning in San Diego Superior Court, State Farm asked the court to block the refunds and reductions from taking effect this December. The judge set a hearing next week, Friday, December 16, to consider the issue.

Buried in State Farm's lawsuits are challenges to consumer protections that have barred insurance companies from charging excessive rates, enacted under the landmark voter-approved insurance reform Proposition 103 and that have been upheld by the California Supreme Court. A similar challenge by Mercury and insurance trade groups, funded by State Farm and other insurance companies is underway in the courts in Sacramento.

"State Farm is not only trying to evade accountability for overcharging its customers; it's trying to get the courts to rewrite the rules that have protected Californians against unfair auto, home, and business insurance rates and premiums for nearly thirty years," said Harvey Rosenfield, the author of Proposition 103 and one of Consumer Watchdog's lawyers in the case.

State Farm Pleads Poverty, Constitutional Rights

In December 2014, State Farm requested a 6.9% overall rate hike for its home, condo and renter insurance. After a lengthy public hearing, requested by Consumer Watchdog and the Consumer Federation of California, an Administrative Law Judge issued a 83-page proposed decision that State Farm had failed to justify its rate hikes. Commissioner Jones adopted the decision on November 7, and under the authority granted by Proposition 103, ordered State Farm to:

Issue refunds with interest, currently totaling over $100 million , for the excess homeowners insurance premiums State Farm had collected from its customers since July 15, 2015 .

Decrease homeowners, condo owners, and renters insurance rates by an average of 7.0%, or about $78.6 million per year. Since State Farm had requested rate increases of about $77.4 million per year, policyholders were protected from a total of $156 million per year in future overcharges.

Open its books and disclose, as required by Proposition 103, information about the company's profits and expenses needed to determine what rates State Farm could fairly charge.

The 7% overall rate reduction ordered is comprised of a 5.37% overall reduction ordered on State Farm's homeowners insurance rates, a 20.39% overall reduction to its renters insurance rates, and an 13.81% overall reduction in the insurance rates paid by condo owners.

State Farm's two lawsuits claim:

The Commissioner does not have the legal authority to order State Farm to repay consumers when it overcharges them.

Ordering State Farm to cut its rates violates its constitutional right to a fair profit because not all of State Farm's investment income should be counted.

The system set up by the voters to review rates, hold public hearings and prevent companies like State Farm from overcharging Californians violates State Farm's constitutional rights.

State Farm had made these same arguments to the Administrative Law Judge. In response, the consumer groups noted that State Farm had collected $12.22 billion in after-tax profits nationwide between 2010 and 2014  in 2014 alone, State Farm raked in $4.6 billion in after-tax profits  proof that cutting rates would impose no financial hardship. The groups also noted that State Farm had improperly excluded about $105 million in investment returns made by the entire State Farm enterprise and was asking California policyholders to make up this difference by paying higher rates.

State Farm Tries to Hide Evidence from the Public

State Farm's lawsuits also complain that forcing State Farm to open its books and disclose to the public its financial information violates its right to protect its "trade secrets." One of Proposition 103's core reforms requires insurance companies to disclose to the public all the information submitted in support of an application to change their rates. Flouting this requirement, State Farm proposed to conceal from public scrutiny evidence concerning its finances. However, the decision rejected State Farm's argument and found that Proposition 103's sunshine provision guaranteed the public's right to access to documents that support of a rate change. "[I]f cost and pricing information were required to be kept confidential as a trade secret," the decision says, "little actuarial data in rate hearings would be left for the public to inspect. Such a result would undermine Proposition 103."

Insurance Companies Target Reforms That Have Saved California Motorists Over $100 Billion

Under Proposition 103, insurance companies are barred from charging excessive auto, home and business rates. Companies are required to apply for and justify any rate changes before they take effect. The measure also authorizes consumers to request hearings to challenge illegal rates and other insurance practices, as Consumer Watchdog did here.

Insurance companies were required to refund over $1.4 billion to consumers after voters passed Proposition 103 and it was upheld against more than 100 court challenges brought by the insurance industry. The Consumer Federation of America has declared Prop 103 the most pro-consumer insurance law in the nation, estimating it has saved California motorists alone over $100 billion since it took effect in 1989.

Since 2003, insurance policyholders have saved over $3 billion since 2003 as a result of Consumer Watchdog's challenges to excessive rates.

State Farm's legal challenge is the latest in a series brought by insurance companies asking courts to overturn the Commissioner's decisions. A lawsuit by Mercury Insurance challenging a reduction in its homeowners rates in 2009 turned into a full-fledged attack on Proposition 103 when a Sacramento insurance trade association funded by State Farm and other big insurance companies joined Mercury's case. Arguments similar to some of those made by State Farm in its current challenge were also made in that case in Sacramento Superior Court. The companies lost; the Third District California Court of Appeal will hear their appeal next month.

Read the Insurance Commissioner's November, 7, 2016, decision ordering State Farm to decrease overall rates and issue refunds: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/state_farm_-_order_adopting__revised_pd.pdf

Read Consumer Watchdog's April 11, 2016 brief in support of rate refunds and decreases for State Farm's customers: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/4-11-16cwdopeningbriefpublic.pdf

Read State Farm's two lawsuits at the below links:

http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/2016-11-23_1_confidentiality_writ_petition_with_exhibits.pdf

http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/liaw-2016-00008_state_farm_general_insurance_company_v_dave_jones.pdf

Read the Insurance Commissioner's brief opposing the stay: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/opposition_to_ex_parte.pdf

Read more about Proposition 103: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/focusarea/prop-103-california-insurance-reform

Consumer Watchdog is a non-profit non-partisan organization. It has invoked the public participation process under Proposition 103 to save auto, home and medical malpractice insurance policyholders over $3 billion since 2003.

SOURCE Consumer Watchdog

Related Links

http://www.consumerwatchdog.org


SOUTH HILL, Va., Dec. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CCB Bankshares, Inc., (OTC Pink CZYB) welcomes Dan F. Stewart as Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer. Stewart's primary focus will be leading CCB's credit administration team to ensure strong asset quality and to assist loan officers with growing the Bank's loan portfolio in a sound manner. After spending the past five years as a team leader for Credit Risk Management, LLC, Dan is excited to return to a community bank where he can play a key role in the success of the Bank, its customers and its shareholders.

Dan graduated with an MBA from Wake Forest University's Babcock Graduate School of Management and also has a business administration degree from Wake Forest University. The majority of Dan's community banking experience was earned in Hickory, NC, where he served as a senior lender for Bank of Granite and market president for Community One Bank. Dan's experience in business development, portfolio management and credit analysis provides a broad range of skills that will be applied for CCB's credit oversight.

President and CEO James R. Black commented, "The team and I are truly excited to have Dan onboard. His valuable experience and professional skill sets fit hand in glove as we continue to build our Bank and loan portfolio."

Dan currently resides in Raleigh, North Carolina with his wife, Leslie. While in Hickory, Dan was active in the Catawba County Chamber of Commerce and served as a board member of the Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club and Hospitality House. He represented Community One Bank as a member of the Lenoir Rhyne Business Council and the Catawba County Economic Development Corporation. He was named 2007 Rotarian of the year by Hickory Rotary Club and featured in a 2011 Wake Forest Magazine article on former varsity athletes, "Where Are They Now?"

CCB Bankshares, Inc. is a Virginia state chartered bank holding company headquartered in South Hill, Virginia and parent company to Citizens Community Bank. It operates six branches, three in south central Virginia and three in northern North Carolina. For more information and additional financial data, please visit www.myccb.bank.

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" that concern future events which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Any such statements are based on certain assumptions and analyses by the Company and other factors it believes are appropriate in the circumstances and at the time at which such statements are made. The Company's actual results, events and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by any forward-looking statement. The Company has no responsibility to update such forward-looking statements.

SOURCE CCB Bankshares, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.myccb.bank


SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Thanx, which empowers merchants to grow their business through deeper customer loyalty, today announced a $17.1M Series B financing led by Icon Ventures and Series A investor Sequoia Capital, with participation from Javelin Venture Partners. Thanx will use the capital to grow its sales and engineering teams and deliver its personalization and retention tools to national retailers.

Unique in the retail IT market, Thanx eliminates the technical burden of hardware or on-site integrations which have previously made it difficult for brick-and-mortar merchants to access and act on customer purchase data. Through direct data partnerships with Visa, Mastercard and American Express, Thanx delivers world-class retention marketing and engagement campaigns with demonstrable return on investment as high as 4000%. Thanx now also ingests item-level purchase data from almost any point-of-sale. Currently in pilot, the enhancement will be rolled out to enterprise customers throughout 2017.

"The top quartile of customers often drive as much as 70 percent of a merchant's revenue. Identifying, engaging and retaining these loyalists is fundamental to growth," said Zach Goldstein, Founder and CEO of Thanx. "Thanx is, on the one hand, the easiest way to acquire this data. On the other hand, it's a robust suite of automated, revenue-generating marketing tools that act on that data."

"Thanx's ability to move merchants away from blanket, untargeted discounting to mass personalization is really impressive," said Joe Horowitz, Managing General Partner at Icon Ventures, who joined the board of directors. "Thanx offers, without question, the most elegant and seamless solution we have seen for collecting and using customer data to drive real revenue."

Of the three billion loyalty memberships in the United States, only 40% were active in the last year. By comparison, 98% of Thanx members remain active. The markedly-better retention rate can be attributed to a seamless consumer experience, as simple as paying with any credit card.

Mixt, a health-focused fast-casual restaurant chain, has doubled its location count since launching as an early Thanx customer. "Of all our marketing channels, Thanx is most directly tied to measurable increases in revenue and customer satisfaction," said co-founder David Silverglide. "Our Thanx customers are happier and visit 25% more often."

"Investment in online marketing has grown dramatically due, in part, to directly attributable results. Thanx brings this ROI focus to brick-and-mortar marketing and has already demonstrated meaningful revenue increases for customers," said Thanx board member and Sequoia partner, Bryan Schreier. "In this massive market, the best product and results will ultimately win."

About Thanx

Thanx helps merchants drive increased revenue from top customers through automated loyalty, feedback, and marketing tools and eliminates the integration hassles of traditional programs. Thanx is financed by Sequoia Capital and other elite Silicon Valley investors. Interested merchants can visit thanx.com/merchants to learn more.

Contact: Michelle Wohl, VP of Marketing, Thanx

Phone: 415.290.3707

Email: [email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161201/444750LOGO

SOURCE Thanx

Related Links

http://www.thanx.com


ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- During the busy holiday season, winter weather is not always the first thing on a traveler's mind. Unfortunately, those who wait until a winter storm is forecasted to affect their trip may be too late to get travel insurance, says leading travel insurance comparison site Squaremouth.

Travel insurance can help travelers when a winter storm causes delays  or worse, prevents them from taking their trip altogether. However, once a winter storm is named, it is too late to buy a policy with coverage for that storm, including delays.

"Travelers may not anticipate bad weather at their home or destination, but winter storms can cause a domino effect, especially during the holidays when flights are at capacity," said Squaremouth spokesperson Rachael Taft. "According to reports from Squaremouth's travel insurance providers, inclement weather accounted for a quarter of claims last winter."

Too Late to Get Travel Insurance for Winter Storm Caly

Winter Storm Caly, which became this winter's third named storm on Dec. 7, is expected to affect much of the country over the next week.

"While it is now too late to get coverage for Winter Storm Caly, fortunately most holiday travelers aren't scheduled to depart for a couple more weeks," said Taft. "There is still time for travelers to get coverage for future winter storms."

Those who purchased a policy in advance can be covered for their additional expenses, such as meals and accommodations, during a travel delay due to the storm. Policies can also reimburse their unused, prepaid expenses if the storm prevents them from going on part or all of their trip.

Squaremouth established the Winter Storm Caly and Travel Insurance Information Center to explain coverage for the winter storm. The resource contains FAQs and official provider position statements for the storm.

ABOUT SQUAREMOUTH

Squaremouth compares travel insurance policies from every major travel insurance provider in the United States. Using Squaremouth's comparison engine and third-party customer reviews, travelers can research and compare insurance products side-by-side. More information can be found at www.squaremouth.com.

Available Topic Expert:

Rachael Taft

[email protected]

(727) 264-5174

SOURCE Squaremouth

Related Links

http://www.squaremouth.com


LEXINGTON, Mass., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Carlsbad Municipal School District has partnered with Springboard Education in America to provide after school care in Ocotillo Elementary, Sunset Elementary, Monterrey Elementary, Craft Elementary, Desert Willow Elementary, Joe Stanley Smith Elementary, and Carlsbad 6th Grade Academy at Alta Vista.

Springboard is a leading provider of extended day learning programs for children at elementary and middle schools across the country. With a focus on experiential learning of academic skills, Springboard utilizes research-based programming to reinforce classroom learning with compelling activities that also target social and emotional development, physical well-being, and foster teamwork.

Joseph Olchefske, CEO Springboard Education, states that, "Families all over the country are in need of supervised after school care for their children. Springboard partners with schools to provide a safe and fun environment where academic learning is the center of our model. It's because of our close ties to the school and the community that we are able to provide care that meets and exceeds the needs of both the school administration and the families we service. I'm very proud to say that we often hear feedback from parents regarding their child's improved academic and social skills after attending our programs."

The Springboard after school care in the Carlsbad School District will be managed by Area Director, Kelly Kinnibrugh-Chandler. Kelly holds a Bachelor of Science degree in education, and a Master of Education degree in Instructional Leadership. She has extensive experience as an educator, including a decade-long career as a secondary English teacher in New Mexico where she is certified.

Springboard accepts state funded child care vouchers for families who qualify under the New Mexico program.

To learn more about Springboard Education in America visit, www.springboardkids.com or call customer care at 800.341.3177.

More about Springboard: Headquartered in Lexington, MA, Springboard's before-school, after-school and summer programs are led by experienced educators at over 80 schools in 11 states. Springboard continuously strives to deliver exciting, motivating and fun activities for children that extend their learning into the out-of-school environment.

SOURCE Springboard Education in America

Related Links

http://www.springboardkids.com


RANCHO DOMINGUEZ, Calif., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The UNCLE BEN'S Brand, the number-one global rice brand, is excited to announce the five winners in the national Ben's Beginners Cooking Contest. Now in its fifth year, the contest has inspired parents and kids to cook together, with families submitting photos showing a finished rice-based dish they prepared for a chance to win. The following five grand prize winners will each receive a $15,000 cash prize for their family, a $30,000 cafeteria makeover for their school and a hometown celebration:

Roslyn and Samuel Davis of Shreveport, La.

of Shelia and Nathan Davis of Charlevoix, Mich.

of Tommy and Jesse Gunn of New York City , N.Y.

of , N.Y. Wes and Georgia Holloman of Pearland, Texas

of Trisha and Cinnamon Lee of Kaneohe, Hawaii

The five 2016 winners were selected following public voting on the top 25 finalists, who were chosen out of nearly 2,000 photo submissions featuring kids in Kindergarten to eighth grade from across the U.S. To qualify for the Ben's Beginners Cooking Contest, entrants had to submit a photo capturing themselves cooking a rice-based dish while showcasing their enthusiasm for cooking together as a family. New to this year's contest, the UNCLE BEN'S Brand offered interactive cooking lessons and family-friendly recipes at beginners.unclebens.com to increase kitchen confidence and encourage families to cook together more often.

"This year Ben's Beginners inspired more families to cook together and gather around the dinner table together," said Andrew Cops, Vice President of Marketing, Mars Food North America, the parent company of Uncle Ben's. "We're thrilled to celebrate our five winners. Each of these families embody the spirit of Ben's Beginners and they all helped raise awareness and show their communities about the value that comes from cooking and eating together."

Starting on November 28, the UNCLE BEN'S Brand honored each of the five winners by celebrating their culinary achievement in their hometown. At all of the five hometown celebrations, representatives from the UNCLE BEN'S Brand and supporters from their communities surprised the winners and their schools with a celebration fit for any budding young chef. The celebration included cooking the winning recipe and a large check presentation of the $30,000 grand prize for the school cafeteria makeover.

For more information on the Ben's Beginners Cooking Contest, kid-friendly cooking tips and the winning recipes, visit beginners.unclebens.com.

About the UNCLE BEN'S Brand

The UNCLE BEN'S Brand, the number one global rice brand, is proud to offer a wide range of rice dishes with flavors and textures that will help bring more to your meals, both for savory main courses and convenient side dishes. The UNCLE BEN'S Brand offers a wide variety of white, whole grain brown, and flavored rices in cook times ranging from 30 minutes to 90 seconds, as well as rice for food service operations such as restaurants, schools and hospitals. The first mass-produced parboiled rice, UNCLE BEN'S Brand products can be found in more than 100 countries worldwide. The UNCLE BEN'S Brand products are manufactured by Mars Food, part of Mars, Incorporated. For more information, visit unclebens.com.

SOURCE UNCLE BENS Brand

Related Links

http://www.unclebens.com


If these are the only gifts we give, we create a social stereotype that leads to future prejudice, such as the woman's place is in the home, or the man must know how to drill a hole or drive the better car. Also, it often limits professional choices, which is why we see fewer women in the exact sciences such as engineering, for example.

Seeking to fight these labels, the White Flags NGO, which recently received a number of film and advertising awards at Brazilian and international festivals, created a spin-off derived from its last campaign, "Letter to Jack". In "Dear Santa Claus", Laura narrates her frustrations with the old man, as in recent years all she has gotten for Christmas is makeup, doll-houses and play-stoves. She tries to explain to him that she would like her toys to have more adventure when she plays.

This effort is based on day-to-day situations and aims to encourage parents, stepparents, godparents, aunts and uncles to choose other types of gifts this Holiday Season to break the stereotypes. According to the White Flags NGO, the campaign follows on the heels of "Letter to Jack", with English audio and Portuguese sub-titles as the problem is universal. Check it out at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGqnxU8jXCE

According to the NGO, the idea is to create a number of situations experienced and told through the eyes of a child to fight stereotyping and prejudice and change the attitudes of society.

White Flags is a non-profit movement that uses creative communication to disseminate peace. It has already created 10 campaigns that have appeared in magazines, school books, expositions, festivals and movies around the world. It is the winner of over 20 domestic and international communication awards.

Learn more about it at: www.bandeirasbrancas.com.br

[email protected]

55.11.96881.2642

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161208/447177

SOURCE ONG Bandeiras Brancas

Related Links

http://www.bandeirasbrancas.com.br


LONDON, Dec. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The report estimates and forecasts the theater linen market for healthcare application on the global, regional, and country level. The study provides forecast between 2016 and 2024 based on revenue (US$ Mn) with 2015 as the base year. The report comprises an exhaustive value chain analysis for each of the material segments. It provides comprehensive view of the market. Value chain analysis also offers detailed information about value addition at each stage. The study includes drivers and restraints of the theater linen market for healthcare application along with their impact on demand during the forecast period. The study also provides key market indicators affecting market growth. The report analyzes opportunities in the theater linen market on the global and regional level. Drivers, restraints, and opportunities mentioned in the report are justified through quantitative and qualitative data. These have been verified through primary and secondary resources. Furthermore, the report analyzes substitutes of theater linen.



The report includes Porter's Five Forces Model to determine the degree of competition in the theater linen market. The report comprises qualitative write-up on market attractiveness analysis, wherein end-users and countries have been analyzed based on attractiveness for each region. Growth rate, market size, raw material availability, profit margin, impact strength, technology, competition, and other factors (such as environmental and legal) have been evaluated in order to derive the general attractiveness of the market.



Global Theater Linen Market for Healthcare Application: Segmentation



The study provides comprehensive view of the theater linen market by dividing it into material segment and geography. The theater linen market has been segmented into traditional cotton/polyester/cotton, disposable/single use, and microfiber. Material segments have been analyzed based on historic, present, and future trends, and the market has been estimated in terms of revenue (US$ Mn) between 2016 and 2024.



Global Theater Linen Market for Healthcare Application: Geographical and Competitive Dynamics



Regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for theater linen in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa (MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA). Key countries such as the U.S., Germany, France, the U.K., Italy, India, China, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, and Brazil have been included in the study.



The report covers detailed competitive outlook that includes market share and profiles of key players operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include Angelica Corporation, Crothall Healthcare Inc., and Synergy Health PLC. Company profiles include attributes such as company overview, number of employees, brand overview, key competitors, business overview, business strategies, recent/key developments, acquisitions, and financial overview (wherever applicable).



Global Theater Linen Market for Healthcare Application: Research Methodology



Secondary research sources that were typically referred to include, but were not limited to company websites, financial reports, annual reports, investor presentations, broker reports, and SEC filings. Other sources such as internal and external proprietary databases, statistical databases and market reports, news articles, national government documents, and webcasts specific to companies operating in the market have also been referred for the report.



In-depth interviews and discussions with wide range of key opinion leaders and industry participants were conducted to compile this research report. Primary research represents the bulk of research efforts, supplemented by extensive secondary research. Key players' product literature, annual reports, press releases, and relevant documents were reviewed for competitive analysis and market understanding. This helped in validating and strengthening secondary research findings. Primary research further helped in developing the analysis team's expertise and market understanding.



The theater linen market has been divided into the following segments:



Theater Linen Market  Material Type Analysis



Traditional Cotton or Polyester/Cotton

Disposable/Single Use

Microfiber



Theater Linen Market  Regional Analysis



North America

U.S.

Canada

Europe

Germany

France

U.K.

Italy

Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific

China

India

Indonesia

Rest of APAC

Middle East & Africa

South Africa

Egypt

Saudi Arabia

Oman

Rest of Middle East & Africa

Latin America

Brazil

Argentina

Rest of Latin America

Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4415255/



About Reportbuyer

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

http://www.reportbuyer.com



For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 208 816 85 48

Website: www.reportbuyer.com

SOURCE ReportBuyer

Related Links

http://www.reportbuyer.com


ALLENTOWN, Pa., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Creditsafe, the global business intelligence experts, today released intriguing data assessing the impact to company credit ratings across the fifty states since the 2016 Presidential Election. In the 30 day period since the November 8th election, companies across the United States have experienced a .75% increase in their average overall credit ratings. In addition, companies in states that voted Republican saw an increase of more than 1%, while those in states voting Democratic experienced growth of only .44%.

"The fact companies across the US experienced an increase in their credit rating in the thirty days since the presidential election was a bit surprising, especially given the massive public outcry we've seen in places like Portland and New York City," said Matthew Debbage, CEO of Creditsafe USA and Asia. "What's even more amazing is the fact that companies in states that voted Republican experienced a significantly higher jump in their credit rating than those located in Democratic states. It was more than twice the increase"

Highlights of the Creditsafe Report include:

**States that voted Republican saw an average increase of 1.01%

**States that voted Democratic saw an average increase of 0.44%

**Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut were the only states where the average company credit rating dropped  these states all voted democratic

**Of the ten states with the largest increases in company credit ratings, eight of them voted Republican

**Of the ten states with the slowest growth in company credit ratings, seven of them voted Democratic

"It is interesting to see what has happened in the time since the election. We are fascinated to see how things progress after President-elect Trump is sworn into office. The challenge is that it is impossible to attribute any change in company credit ratings to a single event. There are many other factors both on the macro and micro levels that go into determining a company's credit rating. These variables include: geography, industry, company size and, most importantly, how timely a company pays its suppliers," explained Debbage. "From our perspective, an increase of nearly 1% in company credit ratings within the first thirty days of the election is a strong indicator the business community is optimistic about the future. It points to renewed confidence in our economy both now and over the long term."

The data for The Trump Effect Report was mined from Creditsafe's global database. Currently, it the largest wholly owned database of its kind in the world, as well as one of the most comprehensive. Each day over 200,000 users around the world leverage the company's database to access strategic global business intelligence. Updated over a million times a day, Creditsafe's databased is packed with information gathered from thousands of sources. In 99.9% of the cases, reports requested by customers are delivered instantly. Over forty percent of Creditsafe's customers, leverage the company's international reporting capabilities.

About Creditsafe:

Creditsafe is the world's most used supplier of company business intelligence with ten Creditsafe Group reports downloaded every second. Privately owned and independently minded, Creditsafe is looking to change the way business information is used by providing high quality data in an easy to use format that everyone in an organization can benefit from.

Founded in Norway in 1997, Creditsafe has offices in countries all over the world including: the UK, Germany, France, Sweden, Ireland, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United States. Globally, The Creditsafe Group employs over 1,000 people and has more than 80,000 subscription customers. Three years ago, The Creditsafe Group opened offices in the US under the name Creditsafe USA, Inc. Its U.S. operations are headquartered in Allentown, PA with another office in Phoenix, AZ. Nearly 5,000 companies in the U.S. use its credit reports, ranging from small businesses to large, global concerns like Staples, Ryder and Nestle. For more information about Creditsafe, please visit www.creditsafe.com.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160902/403891LOGO

SOURCE Creditsafe

Related Links

http://www.creditsafe.com


Ray Iglesias to Serve as Executive Chairman

NEW YORK, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ubiquity Global Services, a multinational business services organization, today announced that Matthew Nyren has been appointed the company's chief executive officer. Nyren will assume responsibilities on January 1, 2017 and will succeed Ray Iglesias, who will serve as the company's executive chairman.

Nyren, who founded Ubiquity in 2012, will continue to serve as the company's president. The company has grown significantly since its inception, expanding to more than 2,000 employees while serving over 30 clients from the United States, El Salvador, the Philippines and multiple centers in Europe.

"I'd like to thank both Ray Iglesias and our board for their confidence and support shown in asking me to serve as Ubiquity's next CEO," Nyren said. "I am both humbled and thrilled to be given the opportunity to move our company forward during its next phase of growth and global expansion."

Iglesias will continue to chair Ubiquity's board of directors and provide the company with strategic guidance as its executive chairman. "This is an exciting day for both Matthew and me as we continue to realize Ubiquity's founding vision. Our new roles will allow our continued partnership to maximize Ubiquity's value as it grows both organically and through future acquisitions."

Ubiquity board member Jonathan Weiner added, "Since the founding of Ubiquity nearly five years ago, the company has actualized its original vision of serving as the leading outsourcer for the payments industry. Ray and Matthew's new roles provide an opportunity to build upon this accomplishment while growing new and recently added market segments, along with expanding the scope of services and geographies supported."

About Ubiquity Global Services

Ubiquity Global Services, Inc. (www.ubiquitygs.com) is a multinational outsourcing organization offering a wide variety of support services designed to improve customer satisfaction while reducing operating costs. The company's offering includes live customer experience management services, interactive voice response (IVR) solutions, multi-channel correspondence servicing and risk management solutions. Ubiquity has developed a next-generation technology platform engineered for operational excellence while delivering its clients meaningful and actionable business intelligence. Headquartered in New York City, the company's expanding network includes service delivery locations in the United States, Hungary, Portugal, El Salvador and the Philippines. Together with its clients, Ubiquity is pioneering a new approach for maximizing the potential of every customer contact.

Contact:

Ubiquity Global Services

Contact: Stuart Littler

Phone: +1 646-679-4903

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Ubiquity Global Services

Related Links

http://www.ubiquitygs.com


"With each product, we try to push the limits of the possible, asking ourselves, 'What rules have we not broken yet?' Here, we started with the question: What happens when you ask the design team to imagine a light that is almost invisible?" said Scott Yu, principal and chief creative officer of Vode Lighting. "The result is ZipThree, an impossibly thin blade of light that seemingly floats on a wall."

ZipThree | Wall Mount | 707 integrates Vode's constant current LED technology, delivering up to 2691 lm/ft (8826 lm/m) and 137 lm/W at 84 CRI while maintaining a minimal design aesthetic. It is compatible with industry standard dimming protocols and available in 2700K, 3000K, 3500K and 4000K color temperatures.

As a bi-directional fixture, the ceiling wash and wall graze channels can be independently controlled and dimmed, allowing designers to light a space in a variety of ways from a single fixture. Alternatively, ZipThree can also be installed as a ceiling-wash-only or wall-graze-only fixture.

"ZipThree is a line in space. It embodies our ethos of adaptive architectural lighting solutions," said Tom Warton, chief executive officer and co-founder of Vode Lighting. "We are continually looking for new ways to bring designers more options. The ZipThree has been heavily-engineered to use minimal material and create minimal waste, enabling endless opportunities to creatively light a space."

Lighting designers and energy managers are rapidly adapting LED technology as efficiency continues to improve. Additionally, LEDs have a longer lifespan and provide designers with greater color versatility as compared to conventional fluorescent bulbs. The ZipThree, like all of Vode's lighting solutions, is designed with this spirit in mind  doing more with less.

"We want our products to highlight the design of a space without stealing the spotlight," continued Yu. "The ZipThree throws more light into the room and further minimizes the visual mass by cheating the eyes. With this light, we wanted to push the bounds and create a little sparkle  and I believe we did."

ZipThree is an ultra-thin, bi-directional ceiling wash, wall graze fixture with independent control channels for maximum adaptability. ZipThree can be specified uplight only, downlight only, or both up and down.

Special features of the ZipThree include:

A Line of Light - The fixture features a rectangular profile of only 0.27" (7mm) x 3.78" (96mm).

- The fixture features a rectangular profile of only 0.27" (7mm) x 3.78" (96mm). Superior Light Quality & Performance - Up to 137 Im/W, 2691 Im/ft (8826 Im/m) at 80+ CRI. 90CRI available.

- Up to 137 Im/W, 2691 Im/ft (8826 Im/m) at 80+ CRI. 90CRI available. Remote Power with Independent Channel Control - Vode drivers may be remotely located up to 72' (21.95m) with independent control on ceiling wash and wall graze for ZipThree as standard.

- Vode drivers may be remotely located up to 72' (21.95m) with independent control on ceiling wash and wall graze for ZipThree as standard. ZeroMount - Mounting options include a very low profile wall bracket or ZeroMount, a highly-engineered mud-in wall bracket with zero detail where it interfaces with drywall.

- Mounting options include a very low profile wall bracket or ZeroMount, a highly-engineered mud-in wall bracket with zero detail where it interfaces with drywall. EdgeGlow - ZipThree features optional EdgeGlow, the luminous leading edge that is designed to minimize the visual mass of the already incredibly thin fixture.

For details about Vode's ZipThree and all of our products, check out our website. Specification sheets are downloadable here.

About Vode

In 2005, industrial designer Scott Yu yearned to use his design talent to create enduring and environmentally mindful products. He saw an opportunity to apply design thinking to the lighting arena that looked ready for profound changes  as well as growing awareness of environmental impacts of lighting in energy consumption. Scott was so inspired that he began hosting meetings with designers, technology and business thinkers to hatch a plan to create the perfect architectural lighting company. At the same time, Northern California native Tom Warton, a lighting industry entrepreneur, imagined better ways to think about linear lighting and a more principled way to run a lighting company.

In early 2005, Scott invited Tom to attend one of his meetings and ideas sparked. Over the next nine months a plan evolved to create minimalistic and customizable lighting systems that had never before existed. Their research revealed that commercial architectural lighting systems could have the greatest impact. To round out the team, George Mieling, a Boston-based, international business executive in the food pharmaceuticals industry, joined to run finance and sales. So in early 2006, three people of diverse cultures, industries and talents launched a company based on three converging factors: environmental responsibility, design insight and new lighting technology. The goal: to build a linear lighting systems company that substantially contributed, not only the betterment of our blue planet but, to the well-being of all people involved. Visit vode.com for more information

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446901

SOURCE Vode Lighting

Related Links

http://www.vode.com


CHICAGO, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Five collaborations between artists of color and cultural organizations in Chicago, Cleveland and the Twin Cities have each won $50,000 from annual Joyce Awards competition, a region-wide program dedicated to supporting artists of color in major Great Lakes cities.

A distinctive feature of the Joyce Foundation's annual awards is the call for commissioned artists and host institutions to include community engagement as a core feature of the project. And appropriately at a time of social, economic and political change, the winning projects for 2017 address themes such as voting rights, immigration, and the impact of women's labor on the global economy.

Including the $250,000 for this year's winners, the Chicago-based foundation has awarded nearly $3 million to commission 55 new works since the competition started in 2003.

Joyce President Ellen Alberding commended this year's group of winners for intensifying the competition's emphasis on community inclusion.

"It is exciting to see such a powerful focus not only on the creative aspects of these works, but also on how the artists plan to involve diverse communities in their development and presentation," said Alberding. "We are confident these productions will do a great job of telling stories that can foster civic participation and cross-cultural understanding, and we are proud to support them and showcase the artistic talent of the Great Lakes region."

The goal of the Joyce Awards is to elevate the visibility and recognition of artists of color by providing meaningful support to organizations in the Great Lakes region that see as central to their mission the commissioning and presenting of outstanding new works by such artists.

The 2017 Joyce Awards winners include:

Free Street Theater and Ricardo Gamboa

Free Street Theater will commission renowned artist and activist Ricardo Gamboa to work with a team that includes visual artists, poets, and storytellers to research the history of Mexican migration to Chicago, capture the oral histories of local residents, and engage in interactive community installations. The completed work will be presented in programs held in the Little Village and Pilsen neighborhoods next summer, and featured in the 2017 Mexican Independence Day celebrations scheduled next September.

"At Free Street, we are fundamentally committed to self-representation, to making theater by, for, with, about and in Chicago's diverse communities," said Coya Paz, artistic director of Free Street Theater. "We are thrilled to have this support for making Meet Juan(ito) Doe, a project conceived by Ricardo Gamboa that uses a grassroots and ensemble process to center the stories and contributions of Chicago's Mexican-American community."

Old Town School of Folk Music and Ernest Dawkins and Rahul Sharma

Renowned artists and educators Ernest Dawkins and Rahul Sharma will partner in creating a new work designed to engage up to 1,000 young musicians in an exploration of rich musical heritage of Chicago's Englewood neighborhood. Dawkins and Sharma will compose a new piece that examines and celebrates Englewood's dynamic history, and work with groups of musicians at all levels of experience to produce a culminating performance of the piece in 2017.

"We're thrilled to have this opportunity to work with such exemplary artists in a celebration of the musical heritage of a section of our city that is more often cited for challenges rather than artistic achievements," said Bau Graves, executive director of Old Town School of Folk Music. "The Joyce Award will set free voices that have long gone unheard."

Terence Blanchard and Cuyahoga Community College Foundation

As part of a two-year artist residency at Cuyahoga Community College, award-winning trumpeter Terence Blanchard will create a new work inspired by the Voting Rights Act of 1965 entitled, OUR VOICES: DEMOCRACY RE:visited. Blanchard will work with students, churches, voting rights advocates, and local musicians in a series of voting rights forums, formal and improvised musical performances, and workshops to develop his composition. The preliminary work will be presented at Tri-C JazzFest 2017, with the world premiere of the final composition in April 2018.

"The work reflects upon the core values of Cuyahoga Community College, which represent integrity, respect, responsibility, fairness and diversity. We are excited about this renewed partnership with the Joyce Foundation and look forward to seeing a preview of the work at Tri-C JazzFest in 2017," said Rick Chiricosta, chairperson of the Tri-C Foundation.

Minnesota Center for Book Arts and Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.

Lauded Detroit-based printer Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. will lead a series of free, community work sessions at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts in Minneapolis, where participants whose involvement is generally under-represented in the institution's offerings will learn to print placards, posters and broadsheets on the Center's printing presses. The resulting works will become an exhibition designed to take over the 55,000-square-foot facility during the center's biennial celebration in summer 2017.

"We are eager to partner with Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. on this project that will re-imagine how we create, shape and share art through personal and community narratives," said Jeff Rathermel, executive director of Minnesota Center for Book Arts. "This commission is an opportunity for Kennedy to create in a highly collaborative environment, while responding to the voices of our rich and diverse community."

The O'Shaughnessy with Ananya Dance Company

The O'Shaughnessy, at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, will commission the Minneapolis-based Ananya Dance Company and its artistic director, Ananya Chatterjea, to develop and stage a new production called "Shaatranga." Meaning "seven-colored" in Chatterjea's native Benjali, the work will address women's roles, work and global commerce through the metaphor of blue jean processing. The 18-month collaboration will bring together St. Kate's students and staff and refugees living in the Twin Cities.

"This support will broaden the collaboration that The O'Shaughnessy and Ananya Dance Theatre began in 2012 to share women's stories through performance and inspire passion for justice around the globe," says Kathleen Spehar, executive director of The O'Shaughnessy.

For images and more information, please visit the Joyce Awards web page here.

The 2017 Joyce Awards were recently approved by the foundation's board of directors at the recommendation of Joyce staff, including new Culture Program Director Tracie D. Hall. Hall joined the foundation last month after three years as deputy commissioner of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.

About The Joyce Foundation

The Joyce Foundation works with grantee partners to improve quality of life, promote community vitality, and achieve a fair society. We focus grant making primarily on the Great Lakes region, and also have national impact through our program areas  Education, Employment, Environment, Gun Violence Prevention, Democracy and Culture. Our Culture program focuses on strengthening and diversifying arts organizations, building capacity within the arts sector and investing in the creative capital of artists of color. For more information, please visit our website or follow us on Twitter @JoyceFdn.

Contact: Kelsey Moorhouse | [email protected] | 773-564-9564

SOURCE The Joyce Foundation

Related Links

http://www.joycefdn.org


RALEIGH, N.C., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- WebAssign, a leading online instructional solution for faculty and students, today announced the addition of over 30 new titles supported by WebAssign available for the Fall 2017 semester. This latest offering represents content across several mathematics disciplines from Cengage, W.H. Freeman, Kendall Hunt, and OpenStax. The majority of the new content is supplemented with eBooks and student support features such as tutorials and videos.

"We are pleased to offer an expanded selection of high-quality content as a result of Cengage's acquisition of WebAssign," said Katie Droskiewicz, WebAssign mathematics product manager. "Our wide range of content choice provides teachers and students with an enriched online learning environment that fully complements the classroom teaching experience."

Sample assignments are now available for a number of these newest titles, which span algebra, trigonometry, calculus and linear algebra disciplines. Featured titles from this new collection include:

More titles will be added in the next few months for Fall 2017 adoption, including Calculus 11th edition by Ron Larson and Precalculus with Limits 4th edition by Ron Larson.

Find more information about these textbooks in WebAssign's New Textbooks collection or view the complete catalog of math titles. The WebAssign team will also showcase this new textbook offering at the 2017 Joint Mathematics Meetings from January 4-7, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia. Visit WebAssign at booth 149.

About Cengage and WebAssign

Cengage is the education and technology company built for learners. The company serves the higher education, K-12, professional, library and workforce training markets worldwide. WebAssign is a flexible and fully customizable online instructional solution that puts powerful tools in the hands of teachers, enabling them to deploy assignments, instantly assess individual student performance and realize their teaching goals. More than nine million students have used WebAssign to submit over 1.9 billion answers to homework assignments, tests and assessments. For more information, visit www.cengage.com or www.webassign.com.

Media Contact:

Lindsay Stanley

Cengage Learning

203--965-8634

[email protected]

SOURCE Cengage Learning

Related Links

http://www.cengage.com


DENVER, Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Businesses who wonder why good clients leave, with no explanation, should do the one thing most businesses are afraid of doing: ask the client "what happened?"

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161208/447028

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161208/447029



Author Ellen Naylor says all businesses should ask four questions that will help them compete in today's competitive market:

When I lose business, why do I?

When I get new customers, why do I?

When customers abandon us, why do they?

When customers choose us again, why do they?

With the guidance of her new competitive intelligence book, "Win/Loss Analysis: How to Capture and Keep the Business You Want" you will discover how to remove the guesswork, and gain more business by conducting interviews with your customers and those who chose a competitor.

"I wrote this book because every time I conclude a Win/Loss project, and my client acts on what they learn, they make more money," Naylor said. "Sometimes they can get up to 10% more business."

For over two decades, Naylor has guided executives and managers to world-class results with her unique 12-step Win/Loss process. Woven throughout are steps to gather and use competitive intelligence and customer insight. This analysis helps companies identify the ideal buyers, or buyer personas, that every marketer and business must know to win more business.

The book includes two bonus sections:

How to improve your conversational skills to be a better interviewer.

The pros and cons of hiring a consultant to ask the tough questions which uncover more information.

Naylor is one of America's pioneers in competitive intelligence and Win/Loss analysis. Her passion stems from her extensive sales experience where she learned that customers were the best source of competitive intelligence. She is the founder of The Business Intelligence Source, which for more than 20 years has delivered research that consistently helps companies beat the competition and make smarter strategic decisions. A frequent international speaker, Naylor is widely quoted in numerous business publications. She won the Catalyst and Fellow awards from the Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals, and served as a board member. She earned a BA from the University of Notre Dame, and an MBA from the Darden Graduate School of Business. (University of Virginia)

7 Tips to Jumpstart Your Win/Loss Program

Naylor offers seven tips to insure the success of your program.

Have specific goals for your program.

Don't just aimlessly interview customers because the company says you must. Resist the Temptation to only interview business you've lost.

Your customers will often tell you more about your competitors than you'll ever learn from business you have lost. They will tell you how your company did with implementation, customer service and technical supportthings you can't learn from companies whose business you didn't get. Make Win/Loss a collaborative venture with your sales force.

Don't let anyone on the sales team do the interviews, but do let them suggest questions to ask and make their input mandatory. The goal is to win and retain more business, not to critique sales people. Make sure the time is right to talk to customers or former prospects.

Always check with the sales team first because you don't want to interrupt a possible sale. Win/Loss interviews are not surveys.

They are a conversation. Listen for cues to probe more deeply in areas where you sense the customer knows more. Know exactly who you are calling and do your research.

Don't waste valuable interview time asking questions whose answers you should already know. Research people online and from your own sales and marketing team. Make changes based on what you learn.

If you don't, you're wasting time and losing more business.

For the 12-Step Win/Loss analysis cheat sheet and 7 essential tips, go to http://EllenNaylor.com.

About the Author:

Naylor works with companies to develop competitive intelligence programs, Win/Loss analysis, market opportunity analysis, and elicitation collection. She has written hundreds of articles, and has given workshops and presentations to international audiences on these topics for 25 years.

She was born and raised in Yokohama, Japan, and lives in Denver, Colorado with her artist husband, Rodgers.

About the Book:

"Win/Loss Analysis: How to Capture and Keep the Business You Want" (Park Hill Press, 2016, ISBN 9780997272208-hardcover, $29.95; ISBN 9780997272215-paperback, $24.95; ISBN 978099727222-ebook, $9.99.) Available on Amazon.

For a personally signed copy, or bulk orders, contact Ellen Naylor.

Text/Mobile: 720-480-9499; Email: [email protected]; Twitter: @EllenNaylor

Review Copies and Media Interviews:

For a review copy of "Win/Loss Analysis" or an interview, contact Ellen Naylor at [email protected]; Twitter @EllenNaylor; or text/phone 720-480-9499 (U.S.). For print books, provide a shipping address. For ebooks, provide an email address. If you would like to receive this information as a Word document, please let us know.

Contact:

Ellen Naylor

[email protected]

720-480-9499

SOURCE Ellen Naylor

Related Links

http://ellennaylor.com


ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Dec. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- WOW! Business, a leading broadband and communications service provider, today announced a partnership with the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce to provide more than 1,600 Chamber of Commerce members "Member Program Discounts" on high-speed Internet and data, video programming and business phone services. The partnership, WOW! Business' first-ever affinity deal in Charleston, is part of a joint effort to support the local businesses that drive and shape Charleston's growing economy.

As part of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce's "Member Discount Program," WOW! Business is offering up to 45 percent off high-speed Internet services at speeds up to 600Mbps, 35 percent off high-speed data up to 10Gbps, 20 percent off basic and fully-featured business voice lines and up to 60 percent off digital and HD video programming. By leveraging group buying power, Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce members can save big where it matters most.

WOW! Business will offer affordable, reliable and tailored business solutions to help Chamber members focus on their customers, not their telecommunications systems. With local sales and support, plus a 24/7 dedicated support team, a WOW! experience is never far away. WOW!'s commitment to the Charleston community will help companies run more efficiently while improving their bottom line, all while providing exceptional customer service, which is why WOW! Customer satisfaction ranks 44 percent higher than the competition.

"WOW! has been committed to the Charleston community since our arrival in 2012 with the acquisition of Knology, an organization that was focused on helping local Charleston businesses grow and thrive since 1998," says Wade Lescord, WOW! Director, Charleston. "The Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce has protected and strengthened the business community for over 240 years and WOW! is committed to continuing that mission by offering the best products and services to chamber members."

Established in 1773, the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce is distinguished as the first municipal Chamber of Commerce in the United States with more than 1,600 current active members, including Microsoft, Boeing, Walmart and PNC. The Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce's "Member Discount Program" offers discounts and group purchasing opportunities on the products and services that matter most. Chamber of Commerce members can also receive discounts from Staples and UPS as well as gain access to a vast network of healthcare resources through BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina.

"The Charleston Metro Chamber is excited to add WOW! Business to our suite of Member Discount offerings," said Bryan Derreberry, President and CEO of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce. "This partnership provides our members the opportunity to significantly cut costs on essential products and services, helping them run their businesses more efficiently while improving their bottom line."

WOW! Business will offer "Member Program Discounts" to chamber members during a six-month trial period before the three-year agreement takes effect. To learn more about WOW! Business discounts for the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, please visit wowforbusiness.com/affinitycharleston.

About WOW! Internet, Cable & Phone

WOW! is one of the nation's leading broadband providers, with a service area that passes over three million residential, business and wholesale consumers. WOW! provides service in 20 markets, primarily in the Midwest and Southeast, including Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kansas, Maryland, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia. With an expansive portfolio of advanced services including high-speed Internet services, cable TV, phone, business data, voice, and cloud services, the company is dedicated to provide outstanding customer service at affordable prices. Visit wowforbusiness.com for more information.

About the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce

With more than 1,600 member organizations representing 125,000 professionals, the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce serves as the collective voice of the business community and a catalyst for advancing the region's economy and enhancing members' success through Advocacy, Innovation, Talent and Business Advancement. Visit charlestonchamber.net.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160808/396482LOGO

SOURCE WOW! Internet, Cable & Phone

Related Links

https://www.wowforbusiness.com


Presented by the Department of Culture of Guangdong Province and organized by the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra and Xinghai Concert Hall, the event will culminate in a concert on January 17 th with a concert by the YMCG Orchestra and Yo-Yo Ma.

For more information, visit www.gso.org.cn/en/2017ymcg.

"Cultural Citizenship"

YMCG is open to musicians and students between the ages of 18 and 35 from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. The program is designed not only to promote virtuosity and musicality, but also to foster cultural awareness and personal artistic development within the context of a broader society. Says Yo-Yo Ma, "I believe that any musician or artist should not only be technically proficient, but also be mindful of the power of their art and the need for it in the world."

Students will have the opportunity to experience a series of concerts, presentations, master classes, improvisation workshops, and cultural exchange events. All students selected will receive a full-tuition scholarship with expenses covered for the duration of the program.

About the Faculty

Yo-Yo Ma has distinguished himself over the last three decades as a leading face of classical music. In 2011 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and his collaborations with virtually every major classical artist have won him 18 Grammy Awards.

YMCG will be led by team of all-star performers and educators from around the globe, each hand-selected by Yo-Yo Ma himself. Maestro Michael Stern of the Kansas City Symphony will serve as conductor and Music Director. Other faculty include members of top symphony orchestras and members of Yo-Yo Ma's Grammy-nominated Silk Road Ensemble.

YMCG follows a tradition of superior musical training in the province of Guangdong in recent years, including the Canton International Summer Music Academy and the Canton Asian Music Festival. The program this season will include Beethoven's Eighth Symphony and Stravinsky's Firebird Suite. Tickets will be available at a low cost to the public, with certain performances offered free of charge.

Media Contact:

Patricia Price

+1.509.995.5546

[email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161207/446717

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





Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here
Washington, Dec 3 : Pakistan has decided to send the Prime Ministers special assistant for foreign affairs to the US to meet officials of the Trump transition team.

"Besides meeting members of the transition team, Tariq Fatemi, the special assistant, will meet officials of the outgoing Obama administration," said Pakistan's Ambassador Jalil Abbas Jilani.

President-elect Donald Trump is scheduled to take the oath on January 20 but he has already set up a provisional team, encouraging foreign leaders and officials to visit his headquarters in New York for familiarisation meetings.

Fatemi, who is coming on a two-week official visit, is also expected to meet some members of this team and in Washington, "he will also meet new US lawmakers elected last month," Jilani told a news briefing at the embassy.

"This is a very important visit as much has happened in Washington since the November 8 elections," Jilani said.

The visit follows a telephone conversation between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Trump on Wednesday during which the US leader expressed his desire to continue a productive relationship with Pakistan.

The Trump-Sharif conversation has generated much interest in the US capital where the opposition Democrats and the media were both criticising the president-elect for "talking to foreign leaders... without consulting US officials".
Amritsar, Dec 3 : An elderly couple, whose son is lodged in a Pakistani prison despite completing his jail term, is seeking "justice" from Pakistan's visiting foreign policy adviser to get him released.

The Mumbai-based couple are camping in Amritsar, bordering Pakistan, with a hope and an appeal.

Pakistan Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz is visiting Amritsar to participate in the ministerial deliberations of Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process on Sunday.

Eight foreign ministers and dignitaries of 14 participating countries are attending the summit that would also see the attendance of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani.

"We are here just to get justice for our son who has been languishing in the central jail in Peshawar," Fauzia Ansari, mother of a 32-year-old Indian national Hamid Ansari, told IANS.

She said Ansari was sentenced to three years in prison that he completed one year ago.

Carrying placards pleading for mercy for her younger son, she said she would display the placards on Aziz's arrival at the Heart of Asia conference, along with her husband Nehal Ansari.

An emotional Fauzia said she had sent a number of petitions to Aziz, seeking an appointment to get her son released early but failed to get any reply.

Her son, an engineer and business professional, had gone to Kabul in Afghanistan on November 4, 2012 on a tourist visa for a job in aviation. He entered Pakistan on November 12.

From his e-mail accounts, it was revealed that he was in touch with a Pakistani girl on Facebook and had gone to Pakistan, where he was arrested and sentenced to three years in jail.

The couple reached Amritsar on Friday.

"I would again appeal to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Sartaj Aziz to release our son on compassionate grounds as he has suffered a lot," Nehal said.

He said lawyer Qazi Muhammad Anwar of Pakistan was contesting his son's case without charging any fees.

A habeas corpus was moved in a court in Peshawar. On January 13, the court declared the deputy attorney general of Pakistan had submitted a report saying Hamid was in custody of the army, tried by court and awarded a three-year jail sentence.

Nehal said his son was neither given consular access nor allowed to talk to his family in Mumbai.

"Even we have not been given a visa to visit Pakistan to meet him and extend legal help to him," an emotional Nehal said with wet eyes.

"From the day of his arrest till date, he has completed four years in jail. He was assaulted several times," the victim's mother added.

For the elderly couple, Aziz is the only hope for a reprieve for their son.
Panaji, Dec 5 : Voters in Goa will now be able to visually verify their vote, thanks to Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) to be introduced in upcoming state legislative assembly elections, a senior poll official said on Monday.

According to Siva Raman, nodal officer for computer sessions for the Election Commission of India, the VVPAT is a "completely independent vote verification system", which is attached to an electronic voting machine like a printer and allows the voter to know whether the vote has been cast correctly or not.

"Once the button of his choice is pressed by the voter on the EVM, a printed paper will appear containing the name of the candidate and poll symbol, so the voter can verify and visually ensure the vote has been cast correctly," Raman said.

"After the voter views the receipt, it goes inside a container linked to the EVM, which can be accessed only by the polling officers," Raman said at a meeting of poll officials with representatives of district administration and political parties in Panaji.

"This latest system is another step further towards prevention of electoral fraud," he said, adding that the VVPAT could help virtually eliminate manipulation of poll results. Elections to the state legislative assembly are likely to be held in Goa early next year.
Patna, Dec 5 : Chandeshwar Prasad and Mahesh Yadav, both migrant workers from Bihar, are on unscheduled visit to their homes, as the factory owners told them to take a break and visit their families, after production was hit badly in the wake of demonetisation.

"This 'notebandi' (demonetisation) has created cash crunch that led owners of big, medium and small production units to cut working days and hours. That rendered people like us jobless and we are now back home," said Prasad.

Some had returned home in the last week of November and more are likely in the coming days, said Prasad, in his mid 30s, and Yadav, in his late 40s, soon after reaching Patna Railway Station on Monday by Sealdah-Amritsar Express.

Prasad and Yadav, both from Vaishali district, work in an ancillary unit which makes parts for bicycles in Ludhiana in Punjab.

"We never expected to visit home in winter (December). The situation created by notebandi forced us to return to Bihar. Our factory owners promised to call us back when the demand for production picks up," they said.

Prasad said thousands of migrant workers from Bihar working in Ludhiana, particularly in ancillary units and hosiery or garment factories, have been badly hit by notebandi.

"After the demand for bicycles, hosiery or other garments went down in the market, workers were told that they would get less hours of work and no overtime. We used to earn Rs 18,000 to Rs 25,000 every month, depending on overtime," Yadav said.

Like Prasad and Yadav, hundreds of migrant workers have returned to their villages and small towns across Bihar in the past 10 days, while many more are on their way back.

Janardhan Singh, another migrant worker in his early 50s who returned recently, said workers like him were told by the factory owner that as the production has slipped to almost half since demonetisation, he cannot provide work to all.

"Owner of the factory told half the workforce to return home until asked to rejoin," Singh, who works in a tool manufacturing unit in Haryana, said as he deboarded from Magadh Express train.

Singh, hailing from neighbouring Jehanabad district, said now he will have to stay at home. "I will lose Rs 20,000 income every month. It's difficult for people like us to get fresh jobs, as the entire manufacturing sector is without demands."

Mainsh Kumar Sharma and Sushil Choudhary, residents of Tajpur in Samastipur district, reached here by Surat-Bhagalpur Express. They said notebandi has badly hit the diamond industry in Surat and hundreds of workers like them have been asked to proceed on holiday.

"We work in a small diamond cutting and polishing unit. Our owner advised us to return home due to slowdown in demand. Diamond cutting and polishing units are connected with the jewellery business that was hit by cash crunch despite ongoing marriages and the coming Christmas season," Sharma, in his late 20s, said.

Surat is the world's diamond hub, which for decades has been one of the dream destinations of migrant workers from Bihar.

More or less similar story was told by Jamal Ansari and Mansoor Alam, both migrant workers returning from Tirupur in Tamil Nadu.

"We were working in textile industry in Triupur and were paid weekly in cash, while some workers were paid daily in cash. But after the cash crunch and low production, nearly half the workers have been told to return until the situation normalises," said Ansari, a resident of Bhojpur district.

That is not all. Hundreds of workers employed in the farmlands of Punjab, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Assam have also been returning Bihar these days.

"Just see, how badly crowded are the general bogies of the express trains...Most of the passengers are workers engaged in agriculture fields...they have lost their jobs," said Satyam Paswan.

A resident of Patna district, who reached here by Ernakulam Express train, Paswan said: "I, along with half a dozen co-villagers, working in agriculture sector in Kerala's Kottayam were asked by the farm owner to take rest for few weeks."

Another farm labourer, Kamlesh Manjhi, who reached here from Bhatinnda in Punjab, said after wheat sowing was badly hit by cash crunch, farm owner refused to pay us. "We decided to return because without daily earning in cash, we cannot survive..."

Manjhi had left his village early last month after Chhath, the most popular festival of Bihar, for Punjab to work in an agriculture field during the rabi season. But he returned disappointed. "Now I have to look for work locally to earn a livelihood," Manjhi said.

Annually, hundreds of thousands of migrants from Bihar return home to celebrate Chhath festival with their families and relatives. Some also visit during Holi, the festival of colours in March, and during the traditional marriage season in the summer.

But this is first time that migrant workers in such large numbers are returning to Bihar during the winter, an unseasonal time for them to get back home in their villages or small towns.

(Imran Khan can be contacted at imran.k@ians.in)
New Delhi, Dec 7 : Lok Sabha members on Wednesday urged Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to declare December 12 a holiday as December 13 is a holiday on account of Prophet Muhammad's birthday and December 10 and 11 are the weekend.

The issue was raised by Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sudip Bandopadhyay who said December 13 is the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad, which is a Tuesday, and requested the Speaker to declare Monday, December 12, a holiday as well.

"We appeal that December 12 be declared a holiday. We can come again on Wednesday," Bandopadhyay said.

He was supported by Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge.

"I think the entire house will agree," he said.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said it can be discussed in the Business Advisory Committee meeting.

"We have great regard for Prophet Muhammad Paigambar Sahab and a holiday has been announced for that day. It can be discussed in the BAC," he said.
Jerusalem, Dec 8 : Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday talked over the phone with France's President Francois Hollande, declining his invitation to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris in December.

A statement released by the Prime Minister's Office said Netanyahu agrees to meet Abbas but not in the framework of the international peace conference that France tries to advance, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Netanyahu told Hollande that if there was no international conference in Paris, he would meet Abbas for direct talks without preconditions," the statement read.

"Israel will not participate in the international conference, which would not contribute to achieving peace," the statement added.

Israel has repeatedly rejected the French initiative, calling instead for direct talks.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Palestinian presidency announced that it has not received an official invitation for a trilateral meeting.
Ramadi, Dec 8 : At least 12 terrorists affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) group and nine civilians were killed on Wednesday in airstrikes in an IS-held town near Iraq's western border with Syria, security and medical sources said.

An airstrike, believed to be conducted by the US-led coalition aircraft, bombed two IS positions in the town of al-Qaim in Iraq's western province of Anbar, destroying the positions and leaving 12 terrorists killed and five others wounded, a source from Anbar's provincial Operations Command told Xinhua.

Another airstrike occurred at night and struck a residential building in the central town, killing nine people and wounding 20 others, a medical source from the provincial health department said.

The attacks come as the Iraqi security forces backed by anti-IS international coalition are carrying out a major offensive to drive out the IS terrorists from its last major stronghold in and around Mosul.
New Delhi : Title: Lost in Translation; Author: Elle Frances Sanders; Publisher: Square Peg/Random House India; Pages: 112; Price: Rs 450 Supposing you were hosting a party and repeatedly went out to check if anyone was coming. Is this anxiety or anticipation, or is there a specific word capturing the mix of excitement and impatience you may be feeling? Is there any particular word for sunlight filtering through tree leaves, the shimmering "road" on water created by the moon's reflection, or the time taken to eat a banana?

Languages take our communication to a higher level, allowing us to describe any situation, any feeling or anything we may see -- but not always with a specific word. Though Ancient Greek had a word for everything, it was circumscribed by its time, but even some modern languages, especially English, which have vast vocabularies due to their readiness to freely take words from anywhere, would too be stumped for these.

For there are words for all these feelings and sights, but they come from the languages of the Arctic-dwelling Inuit, the Japanese, the Swedish and the Malaysians. "Iktsuarpok", "Komerobi", "Mangata", and "Pisan Zapra" respectively are among the 52 surprising and evocative words collated in this small but invaluable book, enlivened with simple but delightful illustrations by the author.

"In our highly connected and communicative world, we have more ways than ever to express ourselves, to tell others how we feel, and explain the importance or insignificance of our days," says writer-illustrator Sanders.

On the other hand, the exchanges' speed and frequency "leave just enough room for misunderstandings, though, and now perhaps more than ever before, what we actually mean to say gets lost in translation", she says.

And it is to span this gap between meaning and interpretation which hasn't been eradicated by our ability to communicate frequently and faster, Sanders offers this collection with words that "may be answers to questions you didn't even know how to ask, and perhaps some you did", which "may pinpoint emotions and experiences that seemed elusive and indescribable", or lead you to remember persons long forgotten.

This could be, in the same order, a Korean word for the "subtle, often unnoticed art of listening and gauging another's mood" or the German word to unforgettably describe what happens to the cables of electronic devices when many of them are being charged from the same point, the Japanese word for gazing into the distance without any specific thought, or splendid sounding words from Yiddish, which can be most perjorative, for people who don't seem to be all there, or are too unlucky.

But Sanders has been most thorough in her gleaning -- apart from well-known tongues, there are words from the India's Tulu language, the nearly-extinct Wagiman of Australian aboriginals, from Hawaiian for those who can't understand directions no matter how well explained, Bantu and Yaghan, spoken in Tierra del Fuego on the very edge of South America, but capable of expressing unspoken understanding between two people to do something, though neither of them wants to take the first step.

India also marks its presence with "jugaad", which is rather Urdu and not Hindi as rendered, joining two more evocative Urdu words and one from Sanskrit.

And some entrees are both entertaining, edifying or frequently both like the Icelandic "Tima" -- which needs to be known more widely in our consumerist but busy lives, the Tagalog word for the first stirrings of the real romantic, and a Welsh word that seems to be the epitome of nostalgia.

There is much to learn here -- and not only to expand vocabularies or serve as "some brilliant conversation starters" as per Sanders, but a vivid and enduring realisation of language's capacity to shape us, our lives, and our societies, and also that none of them is comprehensive in itself and thus supreme -- despite what their adherents may say.

(Vikas Datta can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in )
New Delhi, Dec 8 : Supermodel Naomi Campbell will be seen as one of the three jugdes for fashion reality TV series "The Face" on the lifestyle channel FOX Life.

FOX Life will roll out the entire dynamic series of 'The Face' which has travelled across the US, Britain and Australia.

Along with Campbell, the show also features models like Nicole Trunfio and Cheyenne Tozzi as mentors to a team of four aspiring models who battle it out to become 'The Face'.

The models are tested through on site challenges as well as real campaigns for some of the biggest names in the fashion industry.

With every challenge the tension builds up as each mentor pushes her reputation on line to support their favourites.

"This is sure to get the viewers hooked on. The show is also a reiteration of our promise to experiment with different show formats and bring about more popular and entertaining content to Indian audiences," said Aparna Deshmukh, Vice President (Content and Communication), FOX Network Groups India.
Kuwait City, Dec 8 : In a rare gesture, the Kuwait government has stated it would not imprison or penalise over 24,000 illegal Indian workers if they report to the Interior Ministry for deportation or transfer of job visas.

"We are lenient towards Indian workers but have asked them to strictly follow the rules and regulations. The Immigration Department is ready to help them in the deportation process," Maj General Talal Ibrahim Marafie, who heads the department, told a group of Indian journalists, adding this was being done "in view of good and strong ties with India".

There are around one million Indian workers in Kuwait, who contribute immensely to the development of the country.

Marafie said there were multiple reasons for the overstays. In most cases, workers leave their sponsors and work for other companies for financial benefits. There are also cases where the sponsor is abroad and when visas expire there is no one to help the workers get their travel documents legalised. Some sponsors retain the passports of workers. Such workers leave their sponsors for monetary benefits and better jobs.

Marafie said the government is keen to help illegal workers if they report to "us".

The Immigration Department will make necessary arrangements for their deportation. The workers have to pay a small amount as a penalty, but in most cases, this has been waived. However, Marafie made it clear that if any of the workers had indulged in malpractices, they would not be spared.

He said that 2,018 illegal Indian workers had already been helped to leave the country without any penalty.

As for the non-payment of dues to the workers, he said the government attached great importance to this critical issue.

Senior Interior Ministry official Mohammed Ajami stated that thousands of such cases had been resolved. The ministry also offers legal assistance to workers to fight their cases in court. The verdict has to be given within one month's time so that the workers don't suffer any delay. The government has also formed a committee of lawyers to help foreign workers in settling their dues.

Ajami He said the government has proposed certain changes in the labour laws under which workers will have the right to retain their passports and travel documents. Moreover, sponsors will be made responsible to pay dues within a one-month period or face legal action.

On the drop in oil revenue, Marafie said this has not impacted on recruitment. More than 50,000 Indians have been recruited this year, he noted.

(Sheikh Manzoor is in Kuwait at the invitation of the Kuwait government. He can be contacted at ahmedsmanzoor@gmail.com )
New Delhi, Dec 8 : Expressing strong displeasure over the continued logjam in Parliament, President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday said "disruption is totally unacceptable in Parliament".

Delivering the Defence Estate Day Lecture 2016 here on "Reforms for a stronger Democracy", the President said people send their representatives to Parliament to work for the country and not to agitate.

He expressed concern that disruption of parliamentary work has become a "practice".

"Do your job," he told the MPs.

"Dharnas can be organised anywhere else," he said asking all concerned to debate and discuss issues of public importance in the House.
Kolkata, Dec 8 : Chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers and member of the GST Council Amit Mitra on Thursday said the postponement of the Goods and Services Tax regime could be "an option" to stabilise the economy as it was badly hit due to demonetisation.

"Demonetisation already hit the economy. Can the economy take two hits? Can the companies restructure themselves and can the governments restructure themselves? These are the big questions of the day," he said.

"Should we rethink of stabilising the economy from this big hit resulting from demonetisation and then go for GST?"

"This is an option," the West Bengal Finance Minister said.

He said all the decisions were taken before November 8 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the ban on high-value currency notes.

"All the decisions were taken on the basis of a crisis situation that the country will face for a good cause. Nobody knew at that time the country will face an economic destabilisation resulting from demonetisation. A tsunami has hit the country's economy," he said.

Mitra said that the council had decided that states would not take the compensation from the consolidated fund of India and a special fund would be created for the purpose.

The council had decided that the base year for calculating the revenue of a state would be 2015-16 and secular growth of 14 per cent would be taken for calculating the likely revenue of each state in the first five years.

"Due to demonetisation, every state will be under 14 per cent (revenue growth) because of the destabilisation in the economy. Thus, Rs 50,000 crore fund will not be enough. What will happen to states' resources?"
New Delhi, Dec 8 : Parliament failed to function and transact any meaningful business yet again on Thursday as the government failed to find a common ground with the opposition protesting in both the houses.

Both opposition and the government continued to blame each other for the parliamentary stalemate even as an anguished President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday advised the MPs to "do their job" instead of indulging in sloganeering and protests.

In the Lok Sabha, miffed at unrelenting sloganeering by some members, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan warned of "harsh steps".

The opposition members were on their feet as soon as the house met at 11 a.m. and gathered near the Speaker's chair while shouting slogans. In the din, Mahajan carried out the Question Hour for about half an hour, repeatedly warning the protesting members.

But the ruckus only got acute and the house was adjourned until noon.

When the house met at noon, the Speaker warned of action if the opposition members did not stop protesting and disrupting those speaking.

"It is not proper to come in front of a member and disturb them but it is happening here," Mahajan said as opposition members raised slogans near her podium.

"I would like members to keep this in mind, so that we do not have to take any harsh steps. Any member speaking is an elected member and has the right to speak," she said.

Mahajan then continued with the Zero Hour amid sloganeering before adjourning the house till 2 p.m.

When the house re-assembled, the Speaker took up the Supplementary Demands for Grants, but Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge was stood up to ask for permission to speak.

Mahajan, however, sought an assurance that the opposition would let the house function if she allowed him.

With the opposition not giving any assurance, the Supplementary Demands for Grants were passed by voice vote amid the din.

The house was then adjourned for the day.

In the Rajya Sabha, Chairman Hamid Ansari adjourned the house for the day amid ruckus by the opposition and treasury benches soon after it was reconvened post-lunch at 2 p.m.

Earlier, when the house met at 11 a.m., Ansari asked members to resume the debate on demonetisation but opposition members raised slogans, which were countered by some members from the treasury benches who also trooped into the aisle.

Ansari then adjourned the house for the day.

Earlier, when the upper house met for the day, opposition members alleged that more than 100 people have died since demonetisationwas announced on November 8.

Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said the opposition was making it a usual practice to raise the issue, even as a structured debate has already been initiated.

He said: "November 8 will remain a historic day in India."

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad called those who died after the November 8 demonetisation as "martyrs" and said the government was not ready to offer condolences over these deaths was a "height of shamelessness".

"People are dying and you are saying everything is alright. Besharmi ki bhi hadd hoti hai (There a limit even to shamelessness)," Azad said.

Members from the treasury benches taunted Azad, saying the opposition levels allegations against the government but does not listen when the government tries to respond.

Ansari told them it was an established practice that the Leader of House or the Leader of Opposition was allowed to speak whenever they wanted.

The house was adjourned till noon after Ansari's intervention went unheeded.

When the house re-assembled at noon, opposition members began raising slogans against the demonetisation of Rs 500 and 1,000 notes that has led to a nationwide cash crunch.

Ansari then adjourned the upper house till 2 p.m.
New Delhi, Dec 8 : With foreign missions here expressing difficulties in running their day-to-day affairs due to the government's demonetisation move, the Finance Ministry has been asked to direct banks to allow diplomats to withdraw money on a priority basis, a senior official said on Thursday.

"The Ministry of External Affairs has received communications from some embassies about the problems they face in the context of the demonetisation of high value notes," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in his weekly media briefing here.

"With a view to avoid inconveniencing their operations, the ministry has been in discussion with concerned authorities in the government on this matter," he stated.

"The Finance Ministry, as a consequence, is being asked to issue directives to banks to allow embassy officials with identity cards to withdraw money on a priority basis."

On Wednesday, Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in India and Ambassador of the Dominican Republic Frank Castellanos said that Rs 50,000 cap a week for the operation of an embassy was not enough.

Citing the Vienna Convention, he said that diplomats could not be stopped from accessing their funds and a solution to this was needed soon.

Last week, Russian Ambassador to India Alexander Kadakin wrote to the Ministry of External Affairs complaining about inadequate funds.

On Thursday, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar met Castellanos and discussed the issues raised by foreign missions and how best to address them.

"We appreciate learning from the Dean that the vast majority of foreign missions understand that the demonetisation exercise is being conducted to combat the menace of black money and tax avoidance," Swarup said.

"We are confident that the missions would bear with the temporary difficulties that arise in that process, even as we seek to address their concerns."

On the cap of Rs 50,000 withdrawal per week, the spokesperson said that the External Affairs Ministry has agreed to look into the issue and take it up with the Finance Ministry.

As for Catellanos citing the Vienna Convention, he said that the convention "clearly says that foreign diplomatic missions are to be allowed uninterrupted facilities for their work".

"We have given him a very sympathetic hearing to him today. The meeting (between Jaishankar and Castellanos) was very constructive, very cordial and we have agreed to refer his concerns to the concerned quarters," Swarup stated.
New Delhi, Dec 8 : Calling demonetisation "a big magnum-sized tsunami", West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra on Thursday said India's gross domestic product (GDP) in the current fiscal (2016-17) will take a huge hit on account of demonestisation.

"In the best case scenario, the GDP for the current fiscal could go down to 5.5 per cent from the 7.5 per cent it had touched in 2015-16," Mitra told India Today news channel.

"From an estimate that I have, the growth rate in aggregate will fall over 3 per cent and arrive at 4.3 per cent," he said.

"This means a loss of Rs 4.7 lakh crore of GDP, this will be extinguished. This is in the worst case scenario...the best case scenario is loss of Rs 3 lakh crore," Mitra added.
New Delhi, Dec 8 : Tajikistan's President Emomali Rahmon will be on a state visit to India December 14-18, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.

This will be the sixth visit of President Rahmon to India. During his last visit to India in 2012, the two countries elevated their bilateral relations to the level of a long-term strategic partnership. Bilateral relations span cooperation in a wide spectrum of areas - political, economic, health, human resources development, defence, counter-terrorism, science and technology, culture and tourism.

President Rahmon will arrive in New Delhi on December 16 after visiting Kerala. His official engagements would be on December 17 in New Delhi, when he will meet the Indian leadership including President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The President will host a banquet on December 27 for his visiting Tajik counterpart, said a ministry statement.
New Delhi, Dec 8 : Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan, who is gearing up for the release of his upcoming film "Dangal", says he doesn't have monetary expectations from his films but "hopes".

Aamirs' previous films like "PK" and "3 Idiots" have crossed the Rs 100 crore benchmark.

Asked what figures is he expecting for "Dangal", Aamir told IANS in a group interaction: "I never have monetary expectations. More than expectations, I have hopes."

The actor, who was here to promote "Dangal", said that he hopes the audience love the film.

"I hope the people love the films and the script that Nitesh (Tiwari) has written and directed... the way the film has turned out...I hope that the same joy we had in making it and being a part of it is the same joy people watch it with. That's what I hope," he added.

Shot extensively in Haryana, Punjab and Delhi, "Dangal" which is helmed by Nitesh Tiwari, will be releasing on December 23.

Based on the life of former wrestler Mahavir Phogat, it also stars Sakshi Tanwar.
New Delhi, Dec 8 : Delhi BJP leader Manoj Tiwari on Thursday said the decision of demonetisation is a well considered step of the central government and its objective is to create a clean economic system by ending black money.

During a meeting with representatives of various traders' organisations, the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unit chief told reporters here: "Since coming to power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has been working for providing a clean atmosphere in the country."

While interacting with the traders, Tiwari elaborated that the government has from time to time implemented new laws and rules since the announcement of demonetisation. "But the steps it has taken will ultimately provide long-term solutions to the problems being faced by the traders and the industrialists."

"The government under the NITI Aayog officers has formed a committee of six departments, including Finance and Commerce departments and a committee of the Chief Ministers, which will soon give suggestions on a cashless and trader-friendly economic system," Tiwari said.

Highlighting the achievements of the BJP-led government, Tiwari said, "The Modi government increased the exemption limit of Income Tax and got the GST Bill passed in Parliament by persuading all parties to provide relief to the traders facing harassment in paying various central and local taxes."

He also said that under the previous governments, Income Tax raids were common during the festive season, including Navratras and Diwali, but the Modi government has put a brake on this.

The traders leaders accused bank employees of creating chaos in trade circles post demonetisation.

Satish Garg, a prominent leader of a trader organisation, said the traders feel that the "bank employees are responsible for the chaos in trade circles because they are facing difficulties in drawing money from their current and savings accounts".

The large numbers of new notes circulating in the market point towards some manipulation by the banks, he added.

Another trader organisation leader Praveen Khandelwal said that traders of the national capital are fully supporting demonetisation.

Khandelwal also said that if the government departments and the banks remain free from corruption, then the traders will be the first ones to adopt e-commerce.

On November 8, Modi announced demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes to curb "black money and corruption". Serpentine lines have been seen ever since outside banks and ATMs to withdraw cash.
New Delhi, Dec 8 : Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit on Thursday said his country did not want "perpetual hostility" with India, but stressed that Kashmir is the "core issue" between the two countries.

He was speaking at a discussion on India-Pakistan relations organised by think tank Centre for Peace and Progress here.

However, former Union Minister and Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar pointed out that for India, the core issue remains terrorism from Pakistani soil.

Basit stressed on the need for uninterrupted dialogue.

"The two countries need an uninterrupted dialogue process. We need to move from conflict management to conflict resolution that cannot happen until we talk to each other with the seriousness and sincerity of purpose.

"Pakistan does not wish to live in perpetual hostility with India. We remain positive and constructive but it takes two to tango. There are serious problems between our two countries but if we engage in purposeful diplomacy I think we can realise results to our mutual satisfaction and make a good beginning," he said.

"I think we have wasted 70 years of our existence. I think time has come to make up our mind to what we want. Whether we would like to continue with status quo or we would like to make new beginning in our relationship," he added.

Basit however said that New Delhi did not show much desire to engage in dialogue at present, but his country was "patient" and would wait to "see how things unfold in the months ahead"

"But as far as Pakistan is concerned, we remain positive and constructive in our attitude and whenever there is any desire on the part of New Delhi to engage with us Pakistan would respond positively and constructively provided our engagement is meaningful and does lead to resolving the core issue that is Kashmir," he said.

He said the developments since July 8 in Jammu and Kashmir - referring to the protests after killing of militant Burhan Wani that brought life in the Kashmir Valley to a near standstill - "again very clearly show that Jammu and Kashmir is the dispute between our two countries".

"In Islamabad the view is unless we move towards finding a just and fair solution to this problem, it will continue to be very very difficult for our two countries to bridge the trust deficit," he said.

Aiyar meanwhile pointed out that terrorism is the core issue for India when it comes to a dialogue with Pakistan, but also stressed on the need for dialogue.

"The only way of stopping terror is to talk," he said.

Bilateral relations took a nosedive following the Pathankot attack in January 2016 and the attack at an Army camp in Uri on September 18, which left 19 soldiers dead, with India launching a surgical strike at terror launch pads across the border in the intervening night of September 28-29. Since then, other attacks, infiltration bids and ceasefire violations have increased tensions further.

Basit also said that the SAARC summit that was to be held in Pakistan was cancelled because of differences between India and Pakistan.

"We saw what happened to SAARC summit, it could not take place primarily because of differences between our two countries. Peace is not only in our mutual and bilateral interest but also in interest of the region. If we want to exploit the opportunities unleashed by globalisation and move towards regional integration, connectivity, cooperation I think it is essential our two countries must overcome our problems, our differences," he said, adding diplomacy "must be given a fair chance to deliver".

The 19th Saarc Summit which was to be held in Islamabad in November this year was cancelled after several member nations pulled out after India decided not to participate.
Bhubaneswar, Dec 8 : Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday said the overall law and order situation in the state has remained by and large peaceful while the Maoist violence has come down.

"Intensity of overall Maoist violence has come down in the state during the year 2015 and 2016 so far. There is significant reduction of Maoists' strength in the state," he told the assembly during the discussion of demands on Home and General Administration departments.

Patnaik said 48 Maoists including state committee members have been neutralised while 88 ultras members have been arrested and 95 have surrendered in the state during the2015 and 2016 (till November 30).

Besides, a large number of pro-Maoist militias and sympathizers have publicly announced the withdrawal of their support from the Maoists in Malkangiri district, which is a very encouraging development, he added.

"Attempts by Maoists to intensify their activities in Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Boudh and Nayagarh districts have been contained due to pro-active police action," said the Chief Minister.

In order to increase the mobile telephone connectivity in affected areas, 248 towers have been operationalised and proposal for installation of 518 more towers covering the districts has been sent to the centre for approval, said Patnaik.

Speaking of crime against women, he said the government has created several institutional mechanisms like Integrated Anti-Human Trafficking Units, Investigation Units for Crime against Women and Mahila and Sishu Desks with commensurate manpower.

"All women related heinous crimes are regularly monitored and Special Public Prosecutors are engaged. In order to augment the capacity of the police force, 238 new posts in different ranks have been created during 2016," he said.

He said the vigilance has registered 496 criminal cases this year against 1004 accused persons including 135 class-I officers, 79 class-II officers, 511 class-III employees and others.

During this period, 315 have been arrested including 32 class-I officers, he added.
Winners of 2016 CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards Announced

The Council of Graduate Schools/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards were presented to Scott Cushing and Michael Muthukrishna at the Councils 56th Annual Meeting.

WASHINGTON, DC, December 8, 2016  The Council of Graduate Schools / ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards, the nations most prestigious honors for doctoral dissertations, were presented to Scott Cushing and Michael Muthukrishna at an awards ceremony during the Councils 56th Annual Meeting. Dr. Cushing completed his PhD in 2015 at West Virginia University in Physics, and Dr. Muthukrishna received his PhD in 2015 from the University of British Columbia in Psychology.

Bestowed annually since 1982, the awards recognize recent doctoral recipients who have already made unusually significant and original contributions to their fields. ProQuest, an international leader in dissertation archiving, discovery, and access, sponsors the awards and an independent committee from the Council of Graduate Schools selects the winners. Two awards are given each year, rotating among four general areas of scholarship. The winners receive a certificate, a $2,000 honorarium, and funds for travel to the awards ceremony.

The Distinguished Dissertation Awards demonstrate the dramatic impact young scholars have on their fields, said CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega. Its a testament to the vitality and value of graduate education when recently minted PhDs contribute and expand upon knowledge to raise the level of understanding in their fields.

Austin McLean, Director, ProQuest Scholarly Communication and Dissertations Publishing said, ProQuest is passionate about the impact dissertations make in advancing both research and learning through their fresh insights and innovative thinking. Dr. Cushing and Dr. Muthukrishna have produced works that will be of tremendous value for generations to come. Were very proud to partner with CGS in honoring them.

The 2016 Award in Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering was presented to Dr. Cushing for his dissertation, Plasmonic Enhancement Mechanisms in Solar Energy Harvesting. Plasmonics, the study of the interaction between electromagnetic field and free electrons in a metal, appear to offer advancement in the efficiencies of solar energy conversion. Cushings thesis investigates why plasmonics rarely appear in top performing solar architectures given their potential. Using his findings, Cushing developed a theoretical framework to optimize the application of plasmonics in solar energy conversion. Cushing notes that, Based on this framework, several top performing solar-to-fuel devices were created which use sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Additionally, the developed plasmonics technology is being incorporated into a commercial photovoltaic panel for turning sunlight into electricity. Dr. Cushing is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Leone Group at the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Muthukrishna received the 2016 Award in Social Sciences for his dissertation, The Cultural Brain Hypothesis and the Transmission and Evolution of Culture. His project introduced two theories: the Cultural Brain Hypothesis and the Cumulative Cultural Brain Hypothesis. The first theory explains the increase in brain size across taxonomic groups. In doing so, the theory makes predications about the relationships between brain size, knowledge, group size, social learning, and the length of the juvenile period, which are consistent with existing empirical literature. The second theory, Cumulative Cultural Brain Hypothesis, makes predications about the conditions under which these evolutionary processes lead to a positive feedback loop between brain size and knowledge. Muthukrishna argues that these conditions are the key to what makes the human pathway unique and explains various aspects of our psychology and our large brains. Dr. Muthukrishna is currently an assistant professor of economic psychology at the London School of Economics.

More information about the CGS / ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award is available at www.proquest.com/go/scholars or at www.cgsnet.org.

About the Council of Graduate Schools (www.cgsnet.org)

The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) is an organization of approximately 500 institutions of higher education in the United States and Canada engaged in graduate education, research, and the preparation of candidates for advanced degrees. The organizations mission is to improve and advance graduate education, which it accomplishes through advocacy in the federal policy arena, research, and the development and dissemination of best practices.

About ProQuest (http://www.proquest.com)

ProQuest connects people with vetted, reliable information. Key to serious research, the companys products are a gateway to the worlds knowledge including dissertations, governmental and cultural archives, news, historical collections and ebooks. ProQuest technologies serve users across the critical points in research, helping them discover, access, share, create and manage information.

The companys cloud-based technologies offer flexible solutions for librarians, students and researchers through the ProQuest, Alexander Street, Bowker, Dialog, Ex Libris and SIPX businesses  and notable research tools such as the RefWorks citation and reference management platform, the Pivot research development tool and the Ebook Central, ebrary, EBL and MyiLibrary ebook platforms. The company is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with offices around the world.
Dynacraft Wheels Launches first B2C Offering on Magento We realized that we must change and adapt our digital presence in order to move our business into the B2C model.

Human Element is pleased to announce the launch of DynacraftWheels.com on the Magento 2 platform. This project is a milestone for the 30-year-old wholesale-only company.

Founded in 1984, Dynacraft Wheels designs and manufactures adult and kids bikes along with scooters and ride-ons. The company's primary business has been distributing to retailers like ToysRUs, Target, Walmart and other well-known brick-and-mortar stores. This Magento 2 project features a new modern look for their web presence, a custom Netsuite integration, a Fit My Ride Tool, and a Where To Buy feature powered by ChannelAdvisor that supports their strong ongoing B2B partnerships online.

"Through the methodical process of rebranding three years ago, we as a company recognized the added opportunity of establishing a digital footprint in the marketplace. We realized that we must change and adapt our digital presence in order to move our business into the B2C model. In short, the consumer experience had to differ from the very successful B2B model we have been operating under," said Dynacraft Managing Director John Bisges. "Having said that, the need for a good reputation and relationship with consumers and suppliers, on and offline will never change. Dynacraft is committed to finding that balance in this ever-evolving digital environment."

B2C CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Human Element and Dynacraft worked together to define and develop solutions to meet the challenges of a B2C site launch for a company that's never sold directly to consumers. Their previous website did not allow consumers to checkout with products, but instead redirected them to retail partner websites for purchases. Dynacraft wanted to make sure those wholesale partners would continue to benefit from their web presence, while also opening up the opportunity to make their brand known to consumers.

With this launch, Dynacraft worked to resolve many of those B2C challenges, including identifying new processes and developing new standard operating procedures for functions like RMA and inventory control, which theyve never needed to do in this way before. Dynacraft prepared their IT team and internal systems for more granular customer data accounting specific to the B2C world, and they also tackled Black Friday and Cyber Monday in ways they never have before.

In designing this new store, Human Element and Dynacraft also focused on the new opportunities for growth, including increased profit margin from direct sales as consumers discover the brand, and helping Dynacraft achieve their goal of becoming a well-known consumer brand. With the power and flexibility of the Magento 2 platform and their custom connection to Netsuite, Dynacraft is well-positioned for this growth and to build additional features as they discover more about their new B2C customers.

"This has been a really exciting project, and we value the partnership Human Element has developed with the Dynacraft team, said Andrea Evans, the Director of Project Management at Human Element, and the Business Analyst for the Dynacraft project. We are looking forward to seeing Dynacrafts success in this new market as they discover how their customers shop and buy online, and to building and designing new Magento features to support that growth in the future."

ABOUT HUMAN ELEMENT

Located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Human Element works to develop eCommerce solutions for high transaction websites using the Magento and BigCommerce platforms. Human Element is one of the fastest growing custom application development agencies in Michigan, and is a Magento-certified Professional Partner. The Human Element team has explored the vast functionality of the Magento ecosystem, acquiring a broad range of experience developing custom extensions. Custom development work has included eCommerce integrations with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, (ESP) email service providers, payment gateways, and other data systems. Visit http://www.human-element.com or call 734.545.8017 to learn more.
Kim Jones "When someone receives a brain injury, it is time to mourn that person and welcome a new person to the relationship. The person you once knew is gone in most cases. In their place is a new individual with a different personality, different goals."

Proving it is never too late to transform a life, Kim Summerall Jones, an Arizona mom and advocate for caregivers nationwide has captured the 2017 Ms. U.S. Woman of Achievement title at the pageant held on November 6th on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA. Appearing fit and elegant, with her new husband by her side, Kim admitted the years leading up to winning the pageant could hardly be deemed "easy." When asked about what she had overcome, Jones disclosed that life handed her its first big surprise when she was told she would not be able to conceive children. Not deterred, she looked into adoption and was able to adopt both of her children as infants. For several years, Jones enjoyed life as a wife and mom but just when her children hit 12 and 15, her husband was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. In just 14 months, he passed away. "I remember contacting the funeral home the next day and being told they did not take credit cards. I sold a small tractor we had for $9,000 to pay for my husband's funeral that same week. As a single working mother, I realized I was now the sole provider for my children."

To downsize, Jones put her house on the market and 10 months after losing her spouse, she received the call no mother wants to receive. Both children had been involved in a catastrophic car accident and her son had suffered a traumatic brain injury. During her son's 40 day coma, she was told her son would never be able to finish school, live on his own or have his own life. He has since gone on to finish high school and is now enrolled in college. While she was overjoyed at his progress and recovery, in her Woman of Achievement speech Jones shared that, in many ways, her son had become a stranger after his accident.

"When someone receives a brain injury, it is time to mourn that person and welcome a new person to the relationship. The person you once knew is gone in most cases. In their place is a new individual with a different personality, different goals, and unique abilities," Kim stated.

Within 3 years of her son's accident, Jones was diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety. Her worries had also resulted in weight gain, poor job performance and dangerously high cholesterol. The marching orders from her doctor were simple: "Get this under control because your son has no one to care for him." She immediately signed up with a trainer, kicked the drive-through food habit and began to see big results in her physique and attitude. At one point, she even signed up for a body-building competition.

Now, a sought-after speaker, Kim currently travels throughout Arizona and other parts of the country to speak on such topics as: "Fit after 40" "Women's Inspiration" and "Care for the Caregiver." Her award-winning platform issue in Woman of Achievement was focusing on caregiver resources.

"The good news is that because there are over 5.3 million sufferers of Traumatic Brain Injury ("TBI"), there are resources available for the victim. Unfortunately, there is little support for the caregiver. This is where we come in. "TBI: Survive and Thrive!" provides a community of resources, ideas, and practical tips for caregivers of TBI survivors." Kim is looking forward to her year of service as Ms. Elite U.S. Woman of Achievement speaking on overcoming the odds and identifying the resources to overcome any challenge.

For more information on the Woman of Achievement National Program or Kim Summerall Jones, please contact http://www.womanofachievement.org.
eMDI Medication

H&T Presspart and Cohero Health have today launched the first market-ready, intuitive, fully-embedded and connected metered dose inhaler (eMDI) aimed at improving adherence and enabling continually optimized care of patients with asthma and COPD. It is the only eMDI integrated seamlessly with BreatheSmart from Cohero Health, a comprehensive respiratory disease management platform that uniquely enables tracking of both controller and rescue medications, along with clinically accurate lung function measurement, in real-time.

Adherence to preventer (controller) inhalers is vital to improve quality of life, control symptoms and prevent attacks, which are responsible for 3.25 million deaths globally every year, and represent a significant burden for healthcare systems. Yet fewer than 50% of patients take their preventer medication as prescribed, leading to poor symptom management, hospitalizations, avoidable deaths and spiraling healthcare costs.

The H&T Presspart eMDI is the result of a multi-year development between H&T Presspart, the worlds leading manufacturer of MDI devices, and Cohero Health, a digital health company that has established leading connected health tools and technologies to empower respiratory patients and improve care through smart mobile devices. It is an evolution of existing inhaler technology, and closely mirrors the design and compact size of existing MDI devices, making it as easy as possible for patients to adopt, and minimizing scale-up costs and time to market for pharmaceutical manufacturers.

We already have effective medicines for asthma and COPD. But we can only improve and save lives in the face of rising healthcare costs if we find new ways to ensure that patients get the right dose at the right time every time, said Dr Caralee Caplan-Shaw, Assistant Professor, Co-Director of a New York City Pulmonary Clinic.

By tracking, recording and sharing data on the use of both preventer (controller) and reliever (rescue) medications, the eMDI will engage and empower patients in their self-care, leading to improved adherence, whilst enabling real-time monitoring of medication use and symptom flare-ups by caregivers and the healthcare community. Medication utilization data from the eMDI can be merged in real-time with lung function data from Cohero Healths mSpirometer - a clinical grade handheld wireless spirometer that precisely measures critical lung function metrics. This allows, for the first time, for the effects of preventer and rescue medication use on lung function to be tracked and analyzed.

"In designing the eMDI, our mission was to help pharmaceutical companies bring the best possible care to patients in an intuitive device in the fastest time and most cost-efficient way, said Peter Schmelzer, CEO of H&T Presspart. We have thus combined the design of the worlds most widely used and established inhaler technology with the only respiratory platform that gives a complete and objective picture of how a patient is responding to treatment between reviews, said Mellissa Manice, Co-Founder and CEO of Cohero Health.

eMDI Functionality

Sensors embedded within the inhaler track the date and time of medication use as well as the quality of delivery, which is both recorded in onboard memory and shared wirelessly Bluetooth, syncing seamlessly with the BreatheSmart app, which can provide customized reminders, real-time alerts and updates on medication usage, as well as weekly and monthly summary reports.

Patients can opt to share their data with family, caregivers and/or healthcare providers, with access via a web app on a secure, dedicated, HIPPA-compliant server. The technology supports EMR integration, allowing patient data to be transferred automatically and securely directly into a patients medical record.

The H&T Presspart eMDI incorporates an FDA approved mechanical dose counter allowing pharmaceutical companies to transition current products to connected devices more easily and in a step-wise manner. Additional sensors and electronic displays can be incorporated for additional data monitoring and messaging.

Unique features include:



Fully embedded device to promote adoption and repeated use to generate unadulterated data

Seamless integration into the BreatheSmart connected respiratory care platform from Cohero Health

Embedded sensors to detect medication use and quality of medication administration (detection of proper inhaler actuation)

Embedded mechanical or electronic dose counting and display

Intuitive and discrete design, operation consistent with standard pMDI operation

No disruption to medication delivery pathway, reducing regulatory hurdles and expediting time to market

Compatibility with any valve or canister

Battery life consistent with product shelf life  no replacement parts, no recharging or battery changes

Modular design enabling sensing and communication capabilities to be applied to a range of MDI, DPI and other drug delivery devices

H&T Presspart and Cohero Health are currently collaborating with pharmaceutical manufacturers who are leveraging the technology for pipeline development and value-added product differentiation.

About H&T Presspart

H&T Presspart offers pharmaceutical customers high-precision injection moulded plastic components and deep drawn metal cans for respiratory drug delivery systems, with more than 40 years' experience and a worldwide reputation for competence, quality and innovation in pharmaceutical and industrial sectors. H&T Presspart Inhalation Product Technology Centre (IPTC) supports new product developments and strategic initiatives with its customers. Founded in 1970 and acquired by the Heitkamp and Thumann group in 2002, H&T Presspart has 3 European manufacturing sites in Germany, Spain and the UK, with Sales offices in China, India, South America and the USA.

presspart.com | eMDI@presspart.com | @presspart

About Cohero Health, Inc.

Cohero Health is a digital health company developing innovative tools and technologies to improve respiratory care, reduce avoidable costs, and optimize medication utilization. The companys connected devices and mobile applications actively engage and empower respiratory patients by measuring lung function and tracking adherence. Based in New York City, the company is a member of StartUp Health, Springboard Enterprises, and Grand Central Tech. The companys platform has been used by pulmonary patients in over 25 commercial deployments reaching over 1 million covered lives.

coherohealth.com| info@coherohealth.com | @coherohealth
PrizeLogic today officially announced the launch of KAST MobilePowered by PrizeLogic. The new product offering was built as an in-house extension of the core promotion platform Fortune 100 clients and agency partners have come to rely on for scaled executions. Dozens of executions have already been implemented and with the ubiquity of SMS and MMS and the reported 200 million mobile devices in the United States the time was ripe to build a proprietary solution.

Our clients want a full service partnerwho with one call can provide end-to-end solutions and eliminate the need to engage multiple third parties, said Keith Simmons, CEO of PrizeLogic. Striving for products that complement our existing core has come naturally for us after years of continued focus on releasing innovative new products and technology to ensure we can provide a true, all-inclusive service offering as our industry evolves rapidly as ever.

KAST Mobile provides SMS/MMS solutions to support code-based Loyalty programs, UGCs, Watch & Wins, Voting & Polls, Offers, Customer Service, Point of Sale Activations, and of course Sweepstakes and Instant Win initiatives. Programs can stand-alone or provide a means of alternative entry to other web based initiatives. Kast was born out of a vision to offer the worlds most esteemed brands and agencies full service with one call, including mobile marketing.

Finding the right partner to support servicing our clients needs in SMS/MMS was a challenge so we decided to build it ourselves, delivering on the goal of eliminating 3rd parties from the equation, said Tim Welch, CIO of PrizeLogic.

Welch added, KAST is a new hybrid model, offering custom solutions, led by experienced specialists, that utilize the PrizeLogic rock-solid, secure platform. For more visit http://www.KastMobile.com

This past year, Inc. Magazine ranked PrizeLogic on its 35th annual Inc. 5000 for the 5th consecutive year, an exclusive ranking of the nations fastest-growing private companies. Also, Chief!Marketer also recognized PrizeLogic, adding the promotions expert to its prestigious list of Promo Top Shops for 2017. Specifically, honored as a result of achievements with consumer packaged goods (CPG) and trade promotions as well as the companys uncanny expertise in loyalty and retention marketing. Crains Detroit recognized PrizeLogic in 2016 on its Fast 50 ranking, highlighting Michigans largest corporate growth stories.

About PrizeLogic

Founded in 2008, PrizeLogic is the most trusted digital partner for results-driven promotions. Millions of consumers have participated in more than 5,000 promotions launched by PrizeLogic since inception. PrizeLogics in-house experts provide services ranging from technology and security to legal and fulfillment, ensuring efficient and timely execution while maintaining creative excellence. The Company consistently innovates in order to keep brands relevant in an evolving digital world. PrizeLogic is proudly overseen by its original C-level management team in partnership with North Carolina-based partner Pamlico Capital, which is focused on aiding in the companys continued business growth and development. PrizeLogic offices are located in Southfield, MI (HQ), Scottsdale, AZ, New York, NY, Chicago, IL, Los Angeles, CA and Atlanta, GA. For additional information, please visit http://www.prizelogic.com.
Bauman Associates is proud to announce new certifications for two of our team members. Comprised of many seasoned and talented individuals who play critical roles in serving clients, our firm continues to grow their depth of service by supporting our CPAs in their endeavors to obtain advanced certifications.

Nathan K. Kalepp, CPA & Principal at Bauman Associates recently received the Advanced Defined Contribution Plans Audit, Advanced Health and Welfare Plans Audit and Advanced Defined Benefit Plans Audit certifications from the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA). Nathan and Bauman Associates are among only a handful of CPAs and firms in the area to receive these certifications. These recognitions demonstrate Nathans commitment to performing the highest quality employee benefit plan audits. In addition to these advanced certifications Nathan also holds the Fraud Examiner certification. Read more about Nathan and Bauman Associates here.

Joshua Schroeder, CPA & Manager at Bauman Associates obtained the Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) designation by the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NAVCA). The CVA designation is an indication to the business, professional, and legal communities that recipients have met the rigorous standards of professionalism, expertise, objectivity, and integrity in the field of business valuation, financial consulting and litigation, and related consulting disciplines. Josh confidently provides valuation services for businesses during buy/sell situations and tax, gift and estate sale issues. Read more about Joshua and Bauman Associates here.

Both Nathan and Joshua spend a great deal of time speaking and educating around these specialty fields. Their commitment to local businesses of the Eau Claire, Hudson and River Falls areas of Wisconsin will be on display at Bauman Associates annual event, Protecting Your Business. To learn more about Business Valuations, Exit Strategies and Fraud, please register to attend.

About Bauman Associates, Ltd

Bauman Associates was founded in 1947 as a certified public accounting firm and has offices in Eau Claire and Hudson, Wisconsin. The firm provides multi-discipline professional services to businesses and individuals including business consulting; technology training; human resource consulting; tax strategy, planning and preparation; accounting and auditing services; and estate, trust and retirement planning. For more information, visit http://www.baumancpa.com or call 8889522866.
The online version of Conejito is the first of over 20 August House picture books that will be offered on the Reading Rainbow site in the coming months.

August House is excited to announce that Conejito, the award-winning LittleFolk picture book, will be released just in time for the holiday season on the new Reading Rainbow Skybrary app and website, readingrainbow.com. The online version of Conejito is the first of over 20 August House picture books that will be offered on the Reading Rainbow site in the coming months.

Reading Rainbow host and founder of RRKidz, LeVar Burton, will narrate Conejito: A Folktale From Panama, from the popular, award-winning creative team of author Margaret Read MacDonald and illustrated by Geraldo Valerio. Skybrary is a carefully curated, interactive online library of digital picture books and videos designed to engage young readers and foster a love of learning.

Conejito: A Folktale From Panama tells the story of a mischevious young rabbit. On his way to visit his auntie Tia Monica for cakes and cookies, Conejito runs into some dubious characters who are also hungry! With the help of his auntie Tia Monica, Conejito outwits Mr. Fox, Mr. Tiger, and Mr. Lion to return home safely to his beloved mama.

In her humorous retelling of this classic Panamanian folktale, Margaret Read MacDonald seamlessly blends Spanish and English to compose a delightful, rhythmic adventure. Likewise, Geraldo Valerio makes these loveable characters come alive and dance with his vivid illustrations. Together, MacDonald and Valerio offer a whimsical, entertaining story that highlights the importance of courage and resourcefulness.

Reading Rainbow has been a trusted source of programming for children from PBSKIDS since 1983. The TV series hosted by actor/director LeVar Burton, sought to encourage reading among young viewers. It eventually became the third longest running childrens TV series in US history. The beloved program received 26 Emmys, the Peabody Award along with various broadcast awards. Then in 2011, LeVar teamed up with business partner, Mark Wolfe, to reinvent Reading Rainbow on the web and continue to inspire a love of learning in young children. RRKidz allows children at home or in the classroom to access digital libraries, videos, and other learning resources through the website or through the app for mobile devices.

August House, Inc. is a highly acclaimed and award-winning multimedia publisher of childrens stories, folktale anthologies, and resource books. Located in Atlanta, GA, August House has developed one of the most highly respected collections of folktales from the worlds great oral traditions. You can find more information about August House at http://www.augusthouse.com or on Facebook.

Contact: Steve Floyd

404-442-4425
The Cardiac & Vascular Institute Research Foundation (TCAVIRF) has been named a participating clinical site for the second Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy (TACT2). TACT2 will examine the use of intravenous chelation treatments in combination with oral vitamins in diabetic patients with a prior heart attack to determine if they reduce recurrent heart episodes, such as heart attacks, stroke, death, and others, by removing toxins from the blood.

Funding for TACT2 was announced in September of 2016 when The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded $37M to initiate the trial. The trial is also co-funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Chelation is a process by which a medication, such as edetate disodium (Na2EDTA), can grab and remove toxic metal pollutants - like lead or cadmium - which are present in most individuals.

TACT2 follows up on the positive results of TACT, an NIH-sponsored multicenter, double-blind safety and efficacy study, which took place from 2002- 2012 and was conducted in 134 sites across the United States and Canada. During TACT, 1,708 heart attack patients were randomly assigned to receive 40 infusions of an edetate disodium-based chelation solution or a placebo (inactive) infusion. Patients also received an oral vitamin and mineral regimen, or an oral placebo.

TACT demonstrated an 18% reduction in recurrent heart events by chelation in patients who already had sustained a heart attack. Recurrent heart events measured in the study were death, heart attack, stroke, heart bypass or stent, and hospitalization for angina (chest pains). In 633 diabetic patients, there was an even larger benefit with a 41% reduction in recurrent heart events and a 43% reduction in deaths. Based on these results, the Mount Sinai and Duke scientists who conducted the trial felt that a repeat study was important to carry out.

TACT2 will narrow its focus to the group with the greatest benefit in the original study - diabetic patients 50- years of age or older who have survived a prior heart attack.

The original TACT clinical results were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2013, Circulation: Quality and Outcomes in 2014, and the American Heart Journal in 2014.

If TACT2 is positive, it will forever change the way we treat heart attack patients and view toxic metals in the environment, said Gervasio Lamas, M.D., study chairman and chief of the Columbia Division of Cardiology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Florida. Therefore, with NIH support and in collaboration with the Duke Clinical Research Institute, Columbia University, New York University, Mount Sinai (NYC), and hundreds of physicians and nurses throughout the U.S. and Canada, we are moving forward with TACT2.

"The results of the initial TACT study were very impressive in the diabetic population, in fact, better than many other recommended medications, said Michael Dillon, M.D., cardiologist at The Cardiac & Vascular Institute. This certainly raises important questions about management of CAD in diabetics. I am very excited about the opportunity to see if the results of the initial trial can be confirmed in TACT 2."

Although not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treating heart disease, some practitioners have used chelation therapy for nearly 60 years in the absence of clinical trial data supporting its use. Because of the lack of data, it has generally been believed by conventional medical practitioners and cardiologists to be without value, although TACT results suggest otherwise. A definitive answer on chelation therapy in diabetic patients that will be embraced by the cardiology community will require positive results from TACT2.

The Cardiac & Vascular Institute Research Foundation is currently recruiting patients for participation in the study. Candidates must be 50 years of age or older, have diabetes and experienced a prior heart attack. Patients interesting in participating may contact the study team through http://www.tact2.org, or by calling TCAVIRF at 352-244-0208.

This work is supported by the following grants: R01AT009273 and UH3AT009149. Oral vitamins are provided by Xymogen (Orlando FL).
Convergence, Inc.

Its a great honor to select Convergence, Inc. in our annual ranking list among the top 20 companies, said Jeevan George, Managing Editor of CIOReview. Convergence, Inc. provides original insights into the business operations of the entire registered investment advisor universe with over 100 years of experience in the market place.

Convergence has created an entirely new platform comprising of research, surveillance and analytical products, all providing transparency into the infrastructure of the alternative asset management industry. It acquires, structures and enriches 2000+ artifacts sourced from daily SEC filings and other data sources. Convergence manufactures original content and analytics on 17,000+ registered investment advisors (RIAs), 58,000+ alternative funds and 6,000+ service providers. Over 10,000 State only filers are being added in Q1 2017.

For more information, the full article can be accessed through Convergence's website.

About Convergence, Inc.

Founded in 2013, Convergence is a leading emerging growth financial technology company  Focused on the alternative asset management industry analyzing the business model and infrastructure and providing transparency to an industry that has gone mainstream. It is the only firm contrasting and benchmarking advisor practices across the entire industry worldwide. For more info, visit: http://convergenceinc.com/

About CIOReview

Published from Fremont, California, CIOReview is a print magazine that explores and understands the plethora of ways adopted by firms to execute the smooth functioning of their businesses. A distinguished panel comprising of CEOs, CIOs, IT VPs including CIOReview editorial board finalized the 20 Most Promising Data Integration Solution Providers 2016 in the U.S. and shortlisted the best vendors and consultants. For more info: http://www.cioreview.com/
Reichert4SPR

In addition to displaying the Reichert4SPR, a new 4-channel surface plasmon resonance instrument, Reichert will present A Preliminary Investigation of Phage Antibody Enrichment Using Reichert SPR Systems a scientific poster session on Monday, the 12th from 1pm to 3pm. Dr. Mark Sullivan from the University of Rochester conducted the research for this poster.

The poster outlines how utilizing a Reichert SPR system improves the efficiency of phage antibody isolation and characterization. The idea of using an SPR instrument to function as both a lab-on a chip, to permit semi-automated manipulation of phage preparations, as well as providing the SPR signal as a window on the binding and enrichment of high affinity variants of scFvs or Fabs (or other scaffolds) is appealing, and could lead to a significant competitive advantage in the expanding market for therapeutic antibodies. The goal is to demonstrate a novel use of the Reichert SPR instrument to perform enrichment of phage antibodies using the fluidics system of the instrument.

Why is this important? If successfully applied, this new approach would dramatically reduce the time for enrichment cycles, enable multiple enrichments to be performed in parallel, and improve control and repeatability of the process. Throughput could be increased by as much as 6x vs traditional approaches.

Visitors should stop by booth #216 to learn more.

About Reicherts Full Line of SPR Systems

Reichert's SPR systems provide the diverse interests of academia and industry with the most cost-effective, sensitive and flexible platforms in today's marketplace. These systems supply a comprehensive characterization of molecular interactions that are important to researchers in numerous scientific disciplines, including drug discovery. These interactions include but are not limited to proteinprotein, proteinpeptide, proteinnucleic acid and proteinsmall molecule.

Reichert systems generate information-rich data to determine such key parameters as binding association and dissociation rate constants (kinetics), equilibrium (affinity) constants, thermodynamics and concentration. The systems give invaluable insight into the dynamics of protein-binding assays that govern chemical and biological processes. The new four-channel Reichert4SPR systems leading technology delivers lower baseline drift and improved sensitivity.

About Antibody Engineering and Therapeutics Summit

The Antibody Engineering & Therapeutics program is designed in collaboration with the most respected scientists in the field. Its the largest meeting bringing you the latest science, technologies and partners needed to accelerate next generation antibodies towards commercial success.

About Dr. Mark Sullivan

Dr. Sullivan, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology. Director, Biomolecular Interaction Laboratory, University of Rochester. The ability to rapidly isolate human antibodies using phage display has opened up new approaches to understanding protein function. Research in my laboratory is focused on the manipulation of immunoglobulin molecules to develop novel reagents for characterization of protein expression and structure. We are using phage antibody technology in several areas of proteomics research to develop improved reagents for protein characterization as well as novel inhibitors of protein function that will aid in defining the roles of the many new proteins discovered through genomic sequencing. Major efforts are aimed at dissecting the saliva proteome and developing panels of antibodies for incorporation into new diagnostic platforms using protein microarrays.

A second initiative is to derive antibodies useful for solving the structure of proteins by X-ray crystallography. Additional studies focus on the therapeutic potential of single-chain antibodies to reduce protein aggregation and misfolding, a process that characterizes a variety of neurodegenerative diseases.

About Reichert Life Sciences

Reichert Life Sciences entry into the design and manufacturing of Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) instrumentation began in 1997 with efforts to incorporate bio-sensing technology into Reichert's core critical angle refractometer products. This technology built upon a key Reichert patent (US Patent #4,640,616) describing a digital reflected light refractometer incorporating a charge-coupled device to sense reflected light intensity over a range of angles covering a refractive index range from 1.33 to 1.52. Since then, Reichert has utilized its applications knowledge to develop a full line of SPR systems that push the limits of detection and sensitivity in label-free interaction analysis with technology that drives research from discovery to development to production. Since Reicherts first SPR device was sold in 2000, the companys equipment has been used in hundreds of published studies.

About Reichert Technologies

With more than 150 years of history, Reichert Technologies of Buffalo, New York, is a global leader in the design, development, manufacture and sale of analytical and life science instruments, ophthalmic, and medical devices. Reichert also offers laboratory and portable/field refractometers for the automotive, food and beverage, chemical and industrial markets as well as clinical instrumentation for the healthcare market.

About AMETEK, Inc.

Reichert Technologies is a unit of AMETEK Ultra Precision Technologies, a division of AMETEK, Inc., is a global leader in electronic instruments and electromechanical devices.
What's holding you back? Its a crawl, walk, run strategy that starts with EDDM which we allow printers to access for free

TEC Mailing Solutions launches a new business booster program aimed at the quick print market; allowing users to access its MailPreparer portal at http://www.mailpreparer.com free of charge for EDDM mailings. The system generates all the facing slips, postal documentation and counts for designated carrier route(s). The portal also allows users to produce traditional direct mailings that require address hygiene and presort processing.

The business challenge for quick printers is well documented; with 50% of printed matter ending up in the mail stream its much harder to grow your business without a mailing strategy. Compliance issues, expensive software and lack of experience pose significant burdens to overcome and are a barrier to entry.

TEC Mailings booster program provides a clear path for quick printers to succeed with a proven mailing strategy that removes both financial and compliance barriers that exist with the USPS. Its a crawl, walk, run strategy that starts with EDDM which we allow printers to access for free.  Explained Brian Euclide president of TEC Mailing Solutions, many printers new to mail stopped actively selling EDDM since nobody wants to fill out 100 facing slips by hand. We noticed once we removed these barriers, sales increase as employees become more knowledgeable about mail and client engagement improves.

The correlation between client engagement and growth is extremely strong according to a recent IDEAllliace study, mail is a natural way to drive engagement, once this happens growth is inevitable.

Its no secret that direct mail is enjoying a resurgence; improved targeting and personalization with variable digital printing are driving higher response rates and better engagement with a printers clientele. While EDDM has its place, the true promise land is traditional direct mail which allows printers and small business mailers to have a greater connection with their clients. Once a printer becomes comfortable with EDDM, taking the next steps to producing targeted direct mail through the MailPreparer portal is extremely easy.

Whats more, MailPreparer is so advanced it gives users a competitive advantage over printers who have had a this is the way weve always been doing it mindset. Old school mailers typically use traditional software solutions that are expensive, hard to use and need constant updating versus affordable hosted alternatives like MailPreparer, which never needs updating, and is so easy virtually anyone can run a mailing job. To learn more about TECs EDDM program visit: http://www.tecmailing.com/get-started

More about MailPreparer:

MailPreparer is the industrys premiere web based alternative to desktop postal applications. Features include EDDM, CASS, NCOA, De-duplication, Presort, full service/basic IMb, palletization, dynamic drop shipping, and Mail.dat. Supports First Class, Standard, Periodicals, and Package Services. Payment options include pay as you go and unlimited use subscriptions starting at $1195 with all the features mentioned. Additional data services in include DSF2 and mail piece tracking.

About TEC Mailing Solutions: TEC Mailing Solutions LLC, is a Software as a Service (SaaS) provider of name, address hygiene and bulk mail sortation services for web-to-print, CRM, ERP, and variable digital printing solutions. TEC's services are consumed as embedded functions in applications to improve workflow or standalone web portals: MailListCleaner, MailPreparer and MailPieceTracker; available direct or through a network of resell/referral partners and VARs. Privately held, the corporate office is located in Sun Prairie Wisconsin with locations in Illinois and Virginia. More information can be found at: http://www.tecmailing.com/ or call 866-379-9437.
This award is particularly meaningful to me because my father, Daniel E. Straus, received the honor in 2007, CareOne EVP Elizabeth Straus

CareOne Executive Vice President Elizabeth Straus received the Community Resource Council of Northern New Jerseys Harry Brandeis Award in recognition of her leadership and dedication to community service and philanthropy. The award was presented to Ms. Straus by her father, Daniel E. Straus, and New York Giants Defensive End Jason Pierre Paul at a ceremony that took place on December 1st at Seasons Restaurant in Washington Township, NJ. The event attracted more than 200 attendees, including Emily Holliman, CEO, Hackensack UMC at Pascack Valley and Westwood Mayor John Birkner, Jr., who was also honored at the event. The Community Resource Council is proud to congratulate Elizabeth Straus for her outstanding contributions to the health care community, said Community Resource Council of Northern New Jersey Executive Director Diana DiGirolamo. Her humanistic and philanthropic efforts have made a significant impact on the lives of so many people. We applaud and appreciate her efforts. Over the past four years, CareOne has raised more than $4 million for a variety of charitable causes under the leadership of Ms. Straus. This award is particularly meaningful to me because my father, Daniel E. Straus, received the honor in 2007, said Ms. Straus. My father instilled the value of philanthropy in our family and it has also become one of the core values of our company.

About CareOne

With services that include post-hospital care, rehabilitation, assisted living, long-term care and a variety of clinical specialty programs, CareOne offers compassionate care in gracious, professionally managed centers and communities. CareOne serves thousands of patients every day and admits/discharges more than 20,000 patients every year. With more than 30 community options, CareOnes outstanding programs and services are conveniently located throughout New Jersey. For more information about CareOne, please visit http://www.care-one.com. Follow us on Twitter at @CareOneMgt, on Instagram at @careonemgt, on Facebook at CareOne Management, LLC, and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/careone-management-llc
Essential Systems Solutions (Essential), celebrates its 5 year anniversary as an industry leader in Point of Sale restaurant & retail technology and professional services.

Essential was founded on December 5, 2011 by President Jason Thompson and VP, Customer Relations Michael L. Tash. The co-founders noticed that the changes in the POS industry created a need for trusted technology advisors for small business owners and not just a POS sales team. Clients found that partnering with Essential Systems Solutions meant they were getting a team of POS industry experts that provided innovative solutions and an easy way to reduce costs, experience savings and increase revenue.

Essential is proud of its five-year track record of growth and sustained profitability while delivering superb technology solutions, said Tash. At the same time, we are forward-focused on this next five years and have significant plans to deliver substantial additional value to our clients.

In anticipation of hitting this business milestone, Essential unveiled a new corporate Website and Blog (http://www.esspos.com, blog.esspos.com) in June of this year that reflects the companys future strategic direction, mission, and goals. Essential will also be executing several promotional and informational initiatives throughout this month in support of the fifth anniversary.

About Essential Systems Solutions

Founded in 2011, Essential Systems Solutions is a single-source technology provider of traditional, mobile, and cloud-based Point of Sale solutions for restaurants, hospitality, and retail establishments throughout the United States. Essential also offers a vast selection of hardware equipment to meet a wide variety of business needs. Known for outstanding and professional service, Essentials expert technicians are available to fix any kind of POS equipment. For more information about Essential Systems Solutions call 301-732-5000 or visit http://www.esspos.com. Follow @ESSisEssential on Twitter.
While our company has certainly grown over the past 30 years, our commitment to our clients and our franchisees has never wavered.

U.S. Lawns, a commercial landscape maintenance company, is getting ready to wrap up their 30th year in business. Having started with one franchise location, the company has since expanded to include over 250 locations in 42 states. They also run a program that helps returning service members access franchise opportunities, through training, financial assistance and industry support.

While our company has certainly grown over the past 30 years, our commitment to our clients and our franchisees has never wavered, said Ken Hutcheson, President of U.S. Lawns. I am proud of the service we deliver, the team we have built, and the milestones we have hit. I am excited about our companys future and honored to work alongside such fine people.

Franchisees received anniversary gifts at the beginning of the year, and the anniversary was a recurring topic at the companys annual conference.

About U.S. Lawns

Founded in 1986, U.S. Lawns services commercial landscape customers through a network of over 250 locally owned franchise locations nationwide, providing customized landscape management and snow & ice management services to corporate campuses, retail centers, industrial parks, multi-family residential communities and other commercial customers. For more information, visit http://www.USLawns.com and http://www.USLawnsFranchise.com.
Vubiz, CFIB, M is for Money partner to offer financial elearning experience to kids.

Vubiz Ltd. has partnered with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) and Teresa Cascioli, award-winning entrepreneur and author of the M is for Money books, to launch a groundbreaking series of elearning courses focused on financial literacy and business skills for kids.

Lessons are designed to capture a childs attention with learning that is visual, fun and engaging. We are proud to be part of this exciting project, said Vubiz President, Jim Rapino. Business teaches kids valuable life skills and encourages entrepreneurship, a key driver of our economy. We believe it is important to leverage our expertise in elearning to help kids understand money, finance and business.

CFIB works to build prosperous communities by promoting the benefits of a strong entrepreneurial culture. We are pleased to provide CFIB members with access to these valuable online lessons for their own families, and we strongly believe that this kind of financial and business learning should be introduced at an early age," said Dan Kelly, CFIB President. Vubiz has offered our members unparalleled educational selections for the past decade, and elearning for kids adds a whole new level of learning.

M is for Money is a kids guide to financial literacy, added M is for Money creator and author Teresa Cascioli. The nine books in the series grew out of my conviction that financial literacy is a fundamental life skill and is as important as reading and writing. I am delighted to be part of this exciting development that will bring M is for Money to an even wider audience in digitized format.

Ms. Cascioli, Mr. Kelly and Mr. Rapino have created a few videos explaining the importance of financial literacy for young people today. These videos also explain the benefits of the VuKidz series of financial literacy courses to CFIB members, as well as the other types of courses within the VuKidz offering.

About Vubiz

Vubiz is an award-winning eLearning company with cost effective, quality online courses and outstanding customer service. Vubiz has built an excellent reputation over the past decade, offering outstanding value with comprehensive services from a large, impressive online library to content creation to self-authoring tools and a LMS.

About CFIB

CFIB is Canadas largest association of small- and medium-sized businesses with 109,000 members across every sector and region.

About M is for Money  a kids guide to financial literacy

The M is for Money book series teaches children important money concepts in a fun and creative way. The 9 books have been awarded the prestigious Parent Tested Parent Approved seal and include The Little Piggybank, The Little Lemonade Stand, The Little Trip to the Bank, The Little Wallet Named Pouch, A Little Loan for Benji, Under the Couch we found Money, Counting Comes First, The Payback and Giving is Great.
Brad Bjelke, CEO of UtahRealEstate.com was recently elected to serve on the Board of Directors of the Council of Multiple Listing Services (CMLS), the largest organization of Multiple Listing Services in North America whose members provide services to more than 1 million real estate professionals. Brad was selected by his peer executives and MLSs from around the United States to assist in the direction and governance of CMLS. He will assume his role in January of 2017 and will serve a three-year term.

Asked about his election, Brad stated, I am very honored to serve as a director for CMLS. Knowing that my peers in the MLS industry trust my leadership skills is humbling, and Im so very proud of the relationships I have built over the years. Im excited for the future of real estate and the MLS industry, and I look forward to working with CMLS.

We are very excited to have Brad join our Board of Directors, said Denee Evans, CEO of CMLS. Brad is very well respected because he continues to be involved in some of the most progressive MLS initiatives to advance the real estate industry and cares deeply about raising MLS standards in order to build a better marketplace. This is an exciting time to be part of CMLS and we are grateful he is among those leaders who have stepped up to lend their experience and expertise.

UtahRealEstate.com is one of the largest regional multiple listing services (MLSs) in the nation. Its service extends to all counties and cities in Utah and over 94% of all REALTORS in the state. UtahRealEstate.com also serves south-eastern Idaho and parts of Wyoming.

Brad has been leading UtahRealEstate.com as President and CEO since 2015 and is well known for championing the relationship between the MLS and brokerage community. Prior to joining UtahRealEstate.com, Brad served as Vice President and General Counsel for California Regional Multiple Listing Service, Inc., the largest MLS in the United States, and as the Executive Vice President for one of the largest software vendors in the MLS Industry. He is recognized nationally for his MLS and legal expertise and is a strong voice in national MLS initiatives.

About UtahRealEstate.com

Founded in 1994, UtahRealEstate.com is the leading provider of real estate technology in Utah. UtahRealEstate.com is the top-ranked real estate website in Utah and serves over 13,000 REALTORS, more than 1,600 Brokers, and over 12 million consumers every year.

About Council of Multiple Listing Services

The Council of Multiple Listing Services (CMLS) is the professional trade organization that serves to advance the MLS industry in North America through unified leadership, collaboration, and education across the real estate industry. It was formed as a premier forum, advocate and resource in 1957 and has since evolved into a volunteer-led organization that is responsible for the advancement of MLS through education, innovation, and the implementation of best practices, industry standards, and next generation solutions in support of MLS providers with over one million subscribers.
Chef Florian Wins "Chopped" We are excited to offer guests a new way to experience Chef Florian's dishes and see why hes one of the best chefs in New York City with the Chopped dinner package at Triomphe.

Chef Florian Wehrli has won an episode of Food Networks Chopped. Chopped pits four chefs against each other to see who can create the best appetizer, entree, and dessert in less than thirty minutes, using a basket of mystery ingredients. Chef Florian won in part thanks to his expertise in skinning the Dover Sole, a fish he often cooked with while working in French restaurants in Switzerland and America. As the Executive Chef at Triomphe, The Iroquois New Yorks in-house French restaurant, Chef Florian is an expert in classic French cuisine.

To celebrate their Executive Chefs victory, The Iroquois New York is offering guests a special dinner package. Visitors who reserve the Chopped Package will receive overnight accommodations, daily continental breakfast, and a three course prix-fix dinner with a wine pairing at Triomphe, The Iroquois own French restaurant. The three course dinner menu will showcase Chef Florian Wehrlis unique twists on classic French cuisine.

We are proud to have such a talented chef in charge of our French restaurant, Triomphe, said Breandan Gallagher, General Manager at The Iroquois New York. His passion for great cooking comes out in every meal he prepares. We are excited to offer guests a new way to experience his dishes and see why hes one of the best chefs in New York City with the Chopped dinner package at Triomphe.

Travelers can reserve The Iroquois New Yorks Chopped Package at iroquoisny.com/offers/chopped-package. Reservations for The Iroquois New Yorks Chopped Package must be guaranteed to a valid credit card. Cancellations must be made by 3pm Eastern Time on the day prior to arrival to avoid a one night charge of room and taxes.

Learn more about The Iroquois New York and its luxury New York City accommodations at iroquoisny.com. Those interested in menus, private dining, and reservations at Triomphe can visit iroquoisny.com/triomphe for more information.

About The Iroquois

The Iroquois New York is a boutique luxury hotel in Midtown Manhattan on 44th Street. The historic hotel has hosted celebrities including James Dean and The Clash. With a nostalgic Old New York feel, the hotel has welcomed visitors to New York City for decades. Accommodations feature floor-to-ceiling marble in the bathrooms, Frette towels and robes, and nightly turndown service with Le Belge chocolates. Rooms range from Superior King Bedrooms to spacious, luxury suites. Their cocktail bar, Lanterns Keep, takes inspiration from the speakeasies in 1920s Paris. Their restaurant, Triomphe, serves classic French cuisine. The Iroquois New York is part of Triumph Hotels, a collection of seven unique, boutique hotels in Manhattan.
Since joining the Board of Directors, Mr. Bichsel has played a key leadership role in the unprecedented successes our brand has achieved, said Best Western Hotels & Resorts President and CEO David Kong.

Best Western Hotels & Resorts announced that its Board of Directors has elected Terry Bichsel as Board Chairman for 2017. Bichsel brings more than 40 years of experience in the hospitality industry, having held executive management positions at several notable companies. His background and expertise will be instrumental in guiding the brand as Best Western builds off of recent accomplishments including record-setting RevPAR growth, the creation of a new and innovative white label brand, and the launch of a new digital platform.

Since joining the Board of Directors, Mr. Bichsel has played a key leadership role in the unprecedented successes our brand has achieved, said Best Western Hotels & Resorts President and CEO David Kong. With his strategic and thoughtful approach to our industry and company, I am confident that 2017 will be another groundbreaking year for our timeless brand.

Bichsel was elected to the Best Western Hotels & Resorts Board of Directors in 2014 to represent the interest of Best Western hotels owners in seven western states including Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota, and Canadas western provinces. Bichsel previously served as the Secretary-Treasurer in 2015 and Vice-Chairman in 2016.

Im truly honored to have the opportunity to serve as Chairman of the Board for this industry-leading brand, said Board Chairman for Best Western Hotels & Resorts Terry Bichsel. In the year ahead, we will build on our brands exceptional momentum which has positioned Best Western as an innovative company exceeding the expectations of both today and tomorrows travelers around the world.

Bichsel, a certified hotel administrator, started his hospitality career at an early age and became a general manager at 22 years old. He has worked throughout the United States serving as general manager of several hotels and regional vice president for multiple branded hotels. He has held senior-level executive management positions for industry leaders including John Q. Hammons Hotels, Inc. (Springfield, Missouri), the Parks & Resorts Division for ARAMARK Corporation (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), and all tours and land-based operations for Holland America Cruise Line (Seattle, Washington). Bichsel launched his own company in 2002.

About Best Western Hotels & Resorts:

Best Western Hotels & Resorts headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, is a privately held hotel brand with a global network of 4,200* hotels in more than 100* countries and territories worldwide. Best Western offers seven hotel brands to suit the needs of developers and guests in every market: Best Western, Best Western Plus, Best Western Premier, Executive Residency by Best Western, Vib, BW Premier Collection and GLoSM. Now celebrating more than 70 years of hospitality, Best Western provides its hoteliers with global operational, sales and marketing support, and award-winning online and mobile booking capabilities. Best Western continues to set industry records regarding awards and accolades, including nearly sixty percent of the brands North American hotels earning a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence award in 2016, Business Travel News ranking Best Western Plus and Best Western in the top three upper-mid-price and mid-price hotel brands for three years in a row, and Best Western receiving five consecutive Dynatrace Best of the Web gold awards for best hotel website. Best Western has also won eight AAA/CAA Lodging Partner of the Year awards, recognizing the brands commitment to providing exceptional service and great value to AAAs 56 million members in the U.S. and Canada. Nearly 30 million travelers are members of the brands award-winning loyalty program Best Western Rewards, one of the few programs in which members earn points that never expire and can be redeemed at any Best Western hotel worldwide. Best Westerns partnerships with AAA/CAA and Harley-Davidson provide travelers with exciting ways to interact with the brand. Through its partnership with Google Street View, Best Western is the first major company of its size and scale to launch a virtual reality experience for customers, setting a new industry standard and reinventing how guests view hotels.



Numbers are approximate, may fluctuate, and include hotels currently in the development pipeline.

# # #
Cielo Hair Salon interior

Cielo Hair Salon and Spa continues to be recognized in the North County area as an icon and innovator in the world of hair care, recently adding the legendary Bumble and Bumble hair products to the shelves of the Encinitas salon.

Chosen for its superior quality and world-wide brand recognition, the full line of products now grace the shelves of the North Coast Highway location, from high-performance styling products, treatments, shampoos, conditioners to hair masks. Bumble and Bumble was founded in 1977 as a New York City salon known for its inventive cuts and connection to the fashion and editorial world. Today, the company includes a complete hair care line with a full range of shampoos, conditioners, styling and treatment products. Products are coveted by beauty and fashion insiders, and editorial stylists around the world and sold in 3000 salons worldwide and are also available at select prestige and specialty retailers, now including Cielo Hair Salon and Spa - located at 466 N. Coast Highway 101 in the Gold Coast Plaza.

Owners Rebecca and Angelina recently celebrated 6 years of business since opening the salon in June of 2010. With business better than ever, they rejoice in re-investing in their Encinitas salon. Rebecca and Angelina met in cosmetology school where they studied the art of hair dressing and dreamed of one day owning their own salon together. In 2010, with the support of faithful clients, friends and family, they opened their first salon in the Leucadia neighborhood of Encinitas. The vision for the salon is to provide a truly exceptional salon experience for the whole family. Not only do clients receive the best quality in cuts and services, they also receive superior service from the moment they walk through the doors of the salon. Men, women and children are all welcome, and everyone is treated like family and welcomed with a genuine smile. With these values in mind its not surprising that only the very best hair care products would be found on the shelves in this salon, alongside the full line of Bumble and Bumble products are shampoos, conditioners and much more from Davines, Eurfora and No. 4.

Cielo Hair Salon and Spa is committed to customer service and great style, hiring only the best of the best and boasting a dedicated team of professional hair stylists, makeup artists, and estheticians. The well trained staff offers in the latest techniques and trends for cuts, highlights, hair painting, extensions, and special occasion hair styling for weddings and much more. Guests find that the team-based atmosphere adds an additional layer of care and hospitality.

The Spa is renown for all-natural luxury facials, waxing and eyelash extensions. Only the organic skin care line Eminence imported from Hungary is used in the custom luxury facials and peels.
It was a fun experience and I am glad the show captured my knowledge in the field as well as the relationships I build and maintain with my clients well after the deal is done.

Praveen Mathew, a reputable Chicagoland realtor, was recently featured on HGTVs highly acclaimed reality show House Hunters. The India-born real estate broker was part of the episode titled Million-Dollar Compromise that aired on December 2, 2016. Praveen is an extremely customer-focused real estate professional known for his wealth of experience and negotiating power.

The show House Hunters highlights individuals, couples, or families looking to purchase a home with the help of a real estate broker. In each episode, the participating buyers are required to choose between three different properties before the end of the episode. The episode which featured Praveen was about a young professional couple with a $1 million budget debating over a modern newer construction in the city, a larger vintage charmer or a new construction in the Chicagoland suburbs. Praveen Mathew was featured on the episode as a young, energetic, and extremely customer-centric real estate broker.

Praveen was born in India and immigrated to the United States with his parents at the age of four. He began working with his parents family business at a very early age. This is where he developed his skills in sales and marketing. Real estate was an easy transition he made later in his career. He is presently associated with @properties, the largest independent real estate brokerage firm in the state of Illinois. Praveen is recommended by all of his clients, and is highly rated on many social media sites such as Yelp and Facebook.

Praveens rapid progress in a highly competitive industry can be attributed to his negotiating skills. He is able to give his clients the edge by anticipating all scenarios and providing them with great advice in order to make the best decision. Clients also recommend Praveen for his ability to conduct solid research, organise the information, and present it in a way that is easy to understand. Praveen says buying and selling homes can be an overwhelming experience, and his role is to be the bridge for his clients to make an easy, well-informed transaction.

Discussing his experience on filming House Hunters, Praveen said, It was a fun experience and I am glad the show captured my knowledge in the field as well as the relationships I build and maintain with my clients well after the deal is done.

To find out more about Praveen, please visit https://www.facebook.com/PraveenMathewRealtor/ or https://www.atproperties.com/agents/3557/praveen-mathew

About Praveen Mathew: Praveen Mathew is a real estate broker with @properties specializing in the North Shore and Chicagoland areas. His passion for real estate started when he purchased his first home. Praveens interest piqued as he watched the market fluctuate, and he developed a deep understanding of the decisions that a home owner must make. The intensity and volatility of the real estate market challenged Praveens abilities, and he grew an enthusiasm to help others in the critical parts of home buying and selling.
Lucas Group The longevity of our employees tenure is a testament to Lucas Groups commitment to retaining employees through our outstanding culture, ongoing support and education and clear career path guidance

National executive recruiting firm Lucas Group recently recognized a number of employees for their long-standing tenure with the organization. The twenty-eight Associates were acknowledged for their outstanding duration of employment with Lucas Group, ranging from 10 years to 25 years, at its 2016 sales meeting in Dallas. The Associates are representative of all seven of the companys practice groups, ranging from Accounting & Finance to Human Resources and Military Transition as well as the organizations Corporate Team.

The longevity of our employees tenure is a testament to Lucas Groups commitment to retaining employees through our outstanding culture, ongoing support and education and clear career path guidance, said Andi Jennings, President and CEO of Lucas Group. We consider Lucas Group not just a place of employment, but a collegial and familial atmosphere where careers can grow and thrive. We commend these Associates for their ongoing dedication to the Lucas Group team, and we look forward to celebrating many more milestones with them in the future.

The following Lucas Group Associates were recently recognized for their years of service noted below:

25 Years with Lucas Group:



Michael MercierMilitary Transition; Irvine

Jim O'NealManufacturing; Atlanta

Mercy RockLegal; Baltimore

20 Years with Lucas Group:



Lisa AustinMilitary Transition; Irvine

Mike ChristMilitary Transition; Washington, DC

Raymond GarciaAccounting & Finance; Houston

Barbara KosmerlAccounting & Finance; Houston

Lois MeyerAccounting & Finance; Houston

Tom WilliamsonLegal; Baltimore

15 Years with Lucas Group:



Paul BleersAccounting & Finance; Chicago

Ned HansenSales & Marketing; Atlanta

Kathy HewettMilitary Transition; Irvine

David LevyAccounting & Finance; Chicago

John LutkenhouseMilitary Transition; Irvine

Jim PalumboMilitary Transition; San Diego

Carl WhiteAccounting & Finance; Washington, DC

Charlie WilgusManufacturing; Atlanta

10 Years with Lucas Group:



Jeff BloomLegal; Houston

Linda BrodyAccounting & Finance; Las Vegas

Dan ChangManufacturing; Irvine

Eddie CommenderMilitary Transition; Dallas

Jason HendersonCorporate Information Technology; Atlanta

Chris KehlMilitary Transition; Atlanta

Sara LutherHuman Resources; Cincinnati

Brook MonticelloManufacturing; Atlanta

Serena SmithMilitary Transition; Dallas

Curt WebbAccounting & Finance; Phoenix

Lindsay WillsAccounting & Finance; Chicago

For more than 40 years, Lucas Group has groomed invaluable Associates into top-performing leaders, Jennings said. Each Associate provides unique expertise and contributes to the success of Lucas Group. As the North American leader in executive search, developing talented Associates is essential to our growth.

Lucas Group recruiters work across all functionalities through seven practice groupsAccounting & Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology, Legal, Manufacturing, Military Transition and Sales & Marketing. Working in 15 offices throughout the U.S., Lucas Group offers broad, national reach together with localized, expert search to form strategic matches between leading employers and top talent. Using sophisticated and innovative search methods, Lucas Group Associates work to fill complex positions with hard-to-find talent.

About Lucas Group

Lucas Group is North Americas premier executive search firm. Since 1970, our culture and methodologies have driven superior results. We assist clients ranging in size from small to medium-sized businesses to Fortune 500 companies find transcendent, executive talent; candidates fully realize their ambitions; and associates find professional success. To learn more, please visit Lucas Group at http://www.lucasgroup.com and connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
Entomos best-in-class software to manage channel marketing programs provides a perfect complement to our solutions.

Entomo Inc., a leading provider of channel revenue management software and services, today announced its joint marketing and reseller partnership with MTC Performance (MTC), a leading provider of sales incentive management solutions. Customers will now have access to best-in-class cloud applications spanning from channel data management through incentive program payments, with associated analytics and dashboards to gauge program performance and ROI.

Global customers come to us for our enterprise-class toolset for creating and managing sales channel incentive programs, for both partner companies and individual sales reps, said George Kriza, founder and CEO of MTC Performance. We manage their SPIFF and loyalty programs, but they also need MDF and Rebate programs. Entomos best-in-class capabilities in managing marketing programs and the overall robustness of their channel revenue management platform provides a perfect complement to our solutions.

Many of our customers need sales incentive management solutions for channel sales reps, said Sanjoy Chatterji, founder and CEO, Entomo. MTC is a well-known leader in this space. Were thrilled to partner with them to offer a best-in-class comprehensive channel revenue management solution to a much wider audience.

The result of the partnership is a uniquely transparent solution that consolidates the collaborative, transactional, accrual, payment and business intelligence aspects of channel revenue management in one seamless offering.

Specific business benefits and capabilities include:



A full sales incentive toolkit that allows for rapid program deployment for a wide variety of promotional structures.

Highly flexible rebate program definition - Over 5,000 out-of-the-box program templates based on decades of industry expertise. Additional configurations can be based on program parameters such as direct / indirect customers, products, families, region, tiered, minimum thresholds, earnings caps, etc.

Top-down and bottoms-up channel incentive program planning and budgeting

Partner Collaboration and Engagement: Communicate promotions, programs and earnings; streamline partner claims validation and disputes.

Automated rewards / earnings calculations and accruals based on cleansed and normalized data from the channel, ERP or other sources

Drill down to transaction-level details; audit trails for any manual overrides.

Multiple incentive payment options including credit memos, ACH, pre-loaded reward cards and reward catalogs.

Integration with numerous ERP and CRM systems, including SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, NetSuite, Salesforce, SAP's C4C and Microsoft Dynamics.

About MTC Performance

MTC Performance is a leading innovator of sales incentive management solutions for top Fortune 500 and growing middle market companies to more efficiently deliver exciting, effective programs that inspire success and reward results. We combine our high tech products with our high touch service to guide our clients, manage their programs and achieve their goals. Global customers include Eaton, Epson, ESAB, Ingram Micro, Kaspersky Lab and WatchGuard.

About Entomo

Entomo is a leading provider of cloud-based channel management software and services. We help businesses effectively manage distribution channel complexity to capture unrealized revenue, reduce costs, improve partner performance and collaboration and ensure compliance at all levels. Entomos SmartHub is the industrys most flexible, scalable, and comprehensive enterprise channel management platform, enabling automation and simplification of all channel-related workflows, processes and financial activities. Entomo supports the channel management activities for global enterprises including Brother International, Broadcom, Dolby Labs, Elo Touch Solutions, Keysight Technologies, Kingston Technology, Microsemi Corporation, Qorvo Inc., Sling Media/EchoStar, and United Technologies. Entomo is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, with offices in the Silicon Valley, Asia, and Europe.
Quack Gives Back: Russ DiGilio (right), Duck Donuts Franchising Company owner and Gary McAneney, COO, present a check to Christina Warner to aid in her battle with breast cancer. This was our first franchise-wide Quack Gives Back initiative, and we were very pleased with the participation. Encouraging our franchisees to choose their own local breast cancer organizations to support made the cause personal for everyone. Past News Releases RSS Duck Donuts Announces New Franchise...

Duck Donuts Franchising Company...

Duck Donuts Franchising Company...

Russ DiGilio, founder and owner of Duck Donuts Franchising Company LLC, announced the first national #QuackGivesBack campaign which supported local breast cancer organizations during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October.

This was our first franchise-wide Quack Gives Back initiative, and were very pleased with the participation in every franchisees community, says DiGilio. Breast cancer is no respecter of month, and we were excited to not only raise our own awareness on the research and early treatments of this disease but to help continue the conversation all year long.

Encouraging our franchisees to choose their own local breast cancer organizations to support made the cause personal for everyone. We consider our company like a family and encouraged each store to invest in an organization, foundation, or individual in their own community. In our Mechanicsburg Duck Donuts store, we rallied in support of an employees mother, Christina Warner, who is battling breast cancer. We were able to donate $2,000 toward her fight, but more importantly, all of us joined in support of Christina and her family, says Marissa DiGilio, Training & Operations. Championing breast cancer awareness is critical to finding a cure. An estimated one in eight U.S. women will develop the disease over the course of her lifetime.

Raising awareness is part of the fight against breast cancer, says Ms. DiGilio. Franchise-wide, Duck Donuts stores offered pink ribbon sprinkles and pink ribbon donut assortments. Customers who purchased pink ribbon assortments received exclusive coupons.

The Duck Donuts corporate team supplied each store with pink breast cancer hero t-shirts for employees to wear to show their corporate commitment on a health care issue that kills more U.S. women than any other cancer, besides lung cancer, according to the American Cancer Association.

The team at our Cary and Raleigh, North Carolina stores donated $1 of every single pink ribbon donut purchased and $4 of every pink ribbon donut assortment purchased to the Triangles Pretty in Pink Foundation to raise over $1,100 combined, says Ms. DiGilio. At the Newark, Delaware location, the Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition received a percentage of Octobers sales. Our Charlotte store donated to the Carolina Health Care System-Levine Cancer Institute as well as supported the medical expenses of store employees.

In 2016, an estimated 246,660 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women in the United States. About 2,600 new cases will occur in men as well. Over 40,450 women are expected to die from the disease in 2016 alone.

Duck Donuts emphasizes the importance of giving back to the local community through their #QuackGivesBack initiatives every month. Our mission is twofold, says Russ DiGilio, to serve the most amazing warm, delicious & made-to-order donuts, and to contribute to the communities we call home.

Visit our Facebook Page for updates and connect with us on the web at DuckDonuts.com.

ABOUT DUCK DONUTS

Duck Donuts was founded in 2006 by Russ DiGilio in Duck, North Carolina. His intention? To solve a family vacation problem: Our family wanted a place to buy warm, delicious, made-to-order!TM donuts, and when we couldnt find one, we decided to start our own.

By 2011, Duck Donuts had expanded to four Outer Banks locations and the donut business was so successful that DiGilio was continuously approached about franchise opportunities and by fans who begged for a Duck Donuts in their communities. The first franchise opened in Williamsburg, VA, in 2013, and there are now 29 open franchise locations and 126 signed contracts.

Duck Donuts store openings are scheduled for:

Columbus/Westerville OH  December 2016

Gaithersburg, MD  December 2016

Knoxville, TN  January 2017

Greensboro, NC  January 2017

Fredericksburg, VA  January 2017

Hilton Head, SC  February 2017

Jacksonville, NC  February 2017

Stafford, VA  February 2017

Alexandria, VA  March 2017

Hershey, PA  March 2017

The Duck Donuts Experience

We discovered that the most powerful marketing advantage we have is the aroma of warm donuts wafting from every store. Our light vanilla cake donut is a little crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, made fresh right in front of you, hand-dipped in hot icing, and sprinkled with your choice of delicious toppings and drizzles. Its that simple.

Children love to stand on the strategically placed step in the waiting area, allowing them to see the entire process, as the donut machine cooks and carries their donuts down the line, where they are dipped, topped, packaged, and served warm in the box. Duck Donuts serves its own signature coffee blendsRiptide Roast, Light House Blend, and Sunset Pier Decaf with new special seasonal flavors changing throughout the yearand offers breakfast options, as well as catering services. Indoor and outdoor seating is available at most locations.

To learn more or to share your Duck Donuts experience, Like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, or send us a Tweet.

###
Elite Partners such as Scorpion have proven that they have the expertise, technology, and qualified professionals needed to create and manage successful Bing Ads campaigns for businesses.

Bing has selected a group of companies from its partnership program and identified them as Bing Elite Partners. Internet marketing company Scorpion is excited to announce that it has been named among those Elite partners. This status gives Scorpion a higher level of benefit from Bing, which it leverages to help its clients improve their online visibility and grow their businesses. View Scorpions Bing Elite Partner profile.

Bings new partnership structure is divided into three tiers: Elite, Select, and Partners. As a certified Elite Partner, Scorpion has greater access to training and collaboration opportunities with Bing Ads and its industry leaders, compared to the lower partnership tiers.

Elite Partners such as Scorpion have proven that they have the expertise, technology, and qualified professionals needed to create and manage successful Bing Ads campaigns for businesses, said Steve Sirich, General Manager of Bing Ads Marketing.

Michael Bunn, Vice President of Strategic Marketing at Scorpion, says the best part of being a Bing Elite Partner is the benefit that it provides for clients.

We are honored to have been invited to the Bing Elite Partner program, Bunn said. Working directly with Bings dedicated account management and support teams, as well as being able to communicate the needs of our clients directly to their product teams, allows us to get businesses small and large in front of their ideal customers in a more efficient way. We pride ourselves on getting the best results for our clients, and this partnership is only going to improve those results over time.

Corey Quinn, Chief Marketing Officer at Scorpion, added that the Elite partnership is just part of Scorpions ongoing effort to raise the standard of service for its clients.

Scorpion is always staying ahead of the curve on the latest industry trends and innovations in order to better serve our clients, Quinn said. Our Elite partnership with Bing is just one of the many ways that we connect our clients with the best resources and insights available within our industry.

Click here to learn more about Bings changes to its partnership program.

Scorpion has been providing businesses throughout North America with expert digital marketing services for 15 years. The company uses its own proprietary technology to create more targeted ads and streamline the campaign management process so clients can achieve the best results at the lowest cost possible. Scorpion clients also receive unparalleled customer service that is focused on helping businesses meet and exceed their goals for growth.

About Scorpion

Scorpion is a full-service digital marketing company that helps businesses get found on the Internet and attract more customers. The companys services include website design, paid search advertising, video advertising, social media advertising, search engine optimization, online reputation monitoring, and more. Scorpion is a Bing Elite Partner, a Google Premier Partner, and one of Americas fastest-growing private companies, as named on the Inc. 5000 list six years in a row. Scorpion was also named to Deloittes Fast Technology 500 for 2016 as one of North Americas fastest-growing tech companies. To learn more, visit http://www.Scorpion.co or call (886) 622-5648.
With 31 years of expertise in direct, digital and database marketing, Anderson Direct & Digital inspires your target audience to take action and deepen their relationship with your brand. The passion, proactiveness, and humble expertise of the Anderson team is evident, as they are the ones who foster our culture of commitment, transparency and collaboration.

Anderson Direct & Digital (Anderson) has been selected as one of the Union Tribunes Top Workplaces in San Diego. Every year, employees at companies across San Diego are surveyed and asked to rate their employer on a variety of work-related issues, and a list of top-ranking companies is compiled from these results. Anderson has ranked as a top workplace for three years now, demonstrating the company commitment to supporting our employees and giving them the resources they need to grow.

Whats great about Anderson is that everyone that works here truly cares about delivering exceptional customer service, whether its internally or externally. Theres always someone willing to lend a helping hand. The passion, proactiveness, and humble expertise of the Anderson team is evident, as they are the ones who foster our culture of commitment, transparency and collaboration, says Executive Vice President Scott Hopkins.

This honor from the Union Tribune affirms Andersons dedication to the community of San Diego. Anderson strives to offer an innovative, supportive, and open workspace where employees can thrive. As a testament to this dedication, a great deal of the Anderson team have been with the company for over five years, with many employees having been with the company for decades. As a result, Anderson offers a strategic mix of industry veterans and newcomers, allowing us to innovate while adhering to industry best practices.

With decades of expertise in direct, digital and database marketing, Anderson Direct & Digital inspires your target audience to take action and deepen their relationship with your brand, while delivering a strong and measureable lifetime value. Services include marketing strategy, creative services, data intelligence, digital marketing and media planning, as well as direct and production services. Anderson is ranked as one of the top 20 DM agencies in the country by DM News. In 2013, 2014 and 2016, Anderson was voted a Union-Tribune Top Workplace.
Showcasing our new products at the worlds largest power generation event, where industry innovators gather to display their latest and greatest is exciting.

During POWER-GEN International, Miami Switchgear, a provider of power generation parts and services, will expand its product line by announcing two new products at booth #3433:



Medium Voltage Switchgear with technology licensed by Siemens, is designed for services in all standardized medium voltages up to 17.5KV 40 KA IEC

Two-pole Automatic Transfer Switch up to 200 amps manufactured with controller embedded in the switch

We always look to provide our customers with the highest quality products and services at competitive prices, and this expansion allows us to continue doing just that, said Federico Anselmetti, president and founder of Miami Switchgear. Showcasing our new products at the worlds largest power generation event, where industry innovators gather to display their latest and greatest is exciting.

POWER-GEN International will be held December 13  15 in Orlando, Florida and attracts more than 20,000 industry leaders from around the world. Attendees use this time to discuss trends, technologies and issues facing the power generation sector.

With 16 years of experience in the power generation industry, Miami Switchgears expertise spans the design and construction of generation power plants, low and medium voltage switchgears, retrofit of steam and gas turbines, automatic transfer switches and reciprocating engines.

Explore the capabilities of Miami Switchgears new products at booth #3433.

To schedule a meeting with Miami Switchgear during the show, email Margarita Reyes at MReyes(at)MiamiSwitchgear.com. To learn more about the new products, visit http://www.miamiswitchgear.com.

---

About Miami Switchgear

Miami Switchgear is an American corporation with 16 years of experience in electrical contracts in the United States, Caribbean, Central and South America. We focus on providing personalized services with rapid response times, and we specialize in applying expert technical knowledge and logistics for the most streamlined and cost-effective management of a project.

To learn more about Miami Switchgear, visit http://www.miamiswitchgear.com.
The American Insurance Association (AIA) will advocate at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Fall 2016 National Meeting for the Big Data (D) Working Group to take a balanced approach in its examination of usage of data. AIA will also be presenting on the development of a group capital calculation tool by the NAIC Group Capital Calculation Working Group and participating in a discussion during the NAIC/Industry Liaison Meeting on work products that are incorporated by reference into state law. The NAIC Fall 2016 National Meeting will be held on December 10-13 in Miami, Florida.

The Big Data (D) Working Group will discuss its charges and work stream for 2017. For next year, we would encourage Working Group members to examine how data can be used to foster innovation while protecting consumers privacy. Insurers use data to understand and manage risks and it is essential to use this technology in a way that benefits both consumers and the industry. We look forward to the dialogue at the NAIC Center for Insurance Policy and Research (CIPR) forum which will cover many of the same themes, including regulatory efforts to encourage innovation. said Adam Kerns, AIA assistant general counsel.

On December 10, The Group Capital Calculation (E) Working Group (GCCWG) will continue its discussions on the development of a group capital calculation tool. AIA remains engaged with the Working Group and NAIC leadership to ensure that any group capital calculation will not conflict with capital assessment approaches that are being developed by the Federal Reserve Board and the International Association of Insurance Supervisors. AIA supports an aggregation and calibration (A&C) approach for the group capital calculation tool -- and this approach is reflected in the GCCWGs inventory method proposal. Regarding this proposal, AIA will comment on two NAIC suggestions for scaling capital requirements from different solvency regimes. The purpose of scalars is to address compatibility across jurisdictions. The treatment of non-insurance entities within a related group of insurance companies will also be discussed with the GCCWG.

We look forward to having a fuller discussion with the Working Group on several unanswered questions regarding its approach to a group capital calculation, such as the scope of the entities that should be included within the calculation, said Phillip Carson, AIA associate general counsel and director of financial regulatory policy.

During the December 12 NAIC/Industry Liaison Meeting, AIA will participate in a discussion regarding NAIC work products that are incorporated by reference into state law. Our comments will convey support for additional procedural protections to enhance the credibility of policy decisions as NAIC work products like these assume a larger role in NAICs modernization efforts. The presentation will be a follow-up to AIAs comment letter to the Governance (Ex) Task Force, making the case that additional administrative due process procedures are needed.

AIA will advocate that NAIC processes for adoption and modification of its handbooks and manuals should be more closely aligned with state Administrative Procedures Act requirements, said Kerns. Additionally, well present suggestions for such procedures. These suggestions aim to protect the current environment of collaboration among all stakeholders.
Left to right: Rabbitt, Sexton, Glass, Crowleys Terpenning, Evans, Terselic, and Lt. Cmdr. Ian Jones of USMMA.

Crowley Maritime Corporation awarded six U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) cadets with Thomas B. Crowley Memorial scholarships during this week's Containerization and Intermodal Institutes Connie Awards luncheon in Newark, N.J. Crowleys Jenny Terpenning, supervisor, marine recruiting, presented the scholarships to Midshipmen (MIDN) Stacee Glass, Connor Sexton, John Terselic, Tanner Evans, Dylan Rabbitt, and Chandler Chiappe, all of whom were chosen based on their academic performance, financial need and interest in pursuing a career at sea after graduation.

Glass, from Johnstown, Pa., is midshipman first class studying maritime logistics and security. She previously served as the first rotation regimental commander and is the current Regimental Honor Board vice chairman of education. Glass was awarded accolades from the International Institute for Humanitarian Law in Sanremo, Italy, and the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs in New York City for her thesis on rules of engagement. Glass sailed aboard the Crowley-managed M/V National Glory during her sea term.

Sexton, a midshipman first class from Vermilion, Ohio, is majoring in marine transportation. During his time at USMMA, he has been an integral member of the offshore sailing team, and has participated in major sailing events such as the Newport-Bermuda Race and the Marblehead-Halifax Race. During his senior year, Sexton has held various leadership roles within the regiment of midshipmen, including Regimental Waterfront Officer. After graduation, he hopes to sail as third mate aboard coastwise tankers as he advances his maritime career.

Terselic, a midshipman first class originally from Tijeras, New Mexico, completed his at-sea semester aboard the Crowley-managed M/V Ocean Giant, as an engine cadet, where he furthered his maritime knowledge beyond any other vessel he sailed on. He is a four-year varsity athlete and captain of the mens swim team.

Evans, a USMMA midshipman first class from Anchorage, Alaska, is studying marine transportation. He served as the regimental executive officer and president/founder of the Climbing and Outdoor Recreation Club. After he graduates in June, he plans to begin a maritime career with a third mates license.

Rabbitt, from Easton, Md., is a midshipman second class majoring in maritime logistics and security. He served as a cadet onboard various commercial and U.S. military vessels that were providing the U.S. Air Force with prepositioned ammunition stocks, conducting underway replenishments and providing support for the 6th Fleet Command in the Mediterranean Sea. After graduating, Rabbitt wants to earn a commission as a pilot in the U.S. Navy.

Chiappe, a midshipman second class from Granbury, Texas, is studying marine transportation. He is a snare drummer in the Band Company and wrote and organized the program, drill, visual effects, and drum feature for the Regimental Bands Beat Retreat Ceremony. This past summer, he completed a two-week internship with U.S. Navy Training Squadron VT-21, totaling more than 20 hours of flight time in T-45 Goshawks. Upon graduation, Chiappe hopes to serve as a Navy pilot before joining a commercial maritime fleet.

Since 1984, Crowley has provided more than $3 million dollars in scholarship funding for more than 1,000 students. The company has also donated more than $2 million over the years to support other educational programs. In 1994, Chairman and CEO Tom Crowley Jr. established the Thomas B. Crowley Sr. Memorial Scholarship Program in honor of his father who led the company to extraordinary heights before passing away in 1994. The company continues to give scholarship dollars to deserving students in the U.S., Alaska and Puerto Rico. In 2006, the program was expanded to Central America, and to date has provided financial assistance to more than 20 students in that region. To learn more about the Crowley scholarship program, visit http://www.crowley.com/scholarships.

To learn more about Jacksonville-based Crowley Maritime Corp., a 124-year-old privately held company that provides marine solutions, energy and logistics services around the world, visit http://www.crowley.com.
In Piscataway, NJ, the employees of S.S. White Technologies and its subsidiary, Shukla Medical, went home happy yesterday. In todays tough economy, most small to medium sized manufacturing companies in New Jersey are struggling to make ends meet. Many do not make much in profit to offer raises, let alone provide a Christmas bonus. At S.S. White, the CEO, Rahul Shukla, summoned all 122 employees to a short meeting and said In this tough economy, our company is doing well. It would be only right to appreciate the employees with tangible gifts, not just in words. He went on to say, at the conclusion of his speech, the HR department will hand out a bonus check of $1,000 to each of the 123 employees.

There was a thunderous applause in the meeting room. The employees had smiles from ear to ear and some even became misty eyed. This company has always treated us like a family, said Bob Hurst, Manager of Shipping Department. The money will help, said Terence Chapman, who works in the shipping department as well, but for the owner to reach into his pocket and give this bonus to every worker is unbelievable. He will be blessed for this. Mary Snyder, an assembly operator said, Ive been here 26 years; hes been good to us but this just went over the top, and everybody was completely shocked. Cecilia Chi, HR Manager said, As a company, our biggest asset is our people. Their hard work and dedication is the main reason behind our success. To give such a gift is unprecedented, but is just one of many ways to share our success with the people who contribute to it.

The owner, Rahul Shukla, said in his speech that he has always considered his employees to be his family; therefore, he wanted to show his appreciation to them for their hard work and loyalty. He said, Many companies offer bonuses to their top managers. We wanted to make a statement that every employee, from an assembly operator to the VP of Sales is important to us.

S.S. White Technologies is one of the oldest manufacturing companies in the USA, founded in 1844. In the Piscataway Plant, they make highly engineered products such as the flexible shaft assemblies. They proudly state that 98% of all the aeroplanes made in the world have at least one S.S. White part on them. Their subsidiary, Shukla Medical, also located in Piscataway, makes orthopedic surgical tools designed to extract worn or broken implants. S.S. White has subsidiaries in UK and India. The headquarters in Piscataway employs 123 people.

The event took place on December 7th.

For additional information or picture, please contact Cecilia Chi at 732-474-1747 ,

or Rahul Shukla at Day: 732-474-1739, Night: 908-268-1452
Were planning on hosting the contest again next year, so keep an eye out for the next announcement.

The Land Trust Alliance, a national land conservation organization working to save the places people need and love by strengthening land conservation across America, today announced winners of a video contest supporting local land conservation.

First place in the Land is My video contest goes to Stephen Ramirez of San Marcos, Texas. His video, Land is My Life, is a poetic montage of the many ways he experiences the land. Ramirez will be awarded $4,000 for his entry, which judges hailed for its originality, quality and compelling nature. Ramirez plans to donate the prize money to the San Marcos River Foundation in Texas.

Participating in the Land is My video contest has been a rewarding opportunity to reflect on my own connection with land and share that passion with my community, Ramirez said. A big thank you to the Land Trust Alliance and everyone who liked, shared and voted for my video.

As part of winning the contest, Ramirez additionally was allowed to designate a land trust to receive $10,000 directly from the Land Trust Alliance. He chose the accredited Texas Land Conservancy, where he works as stewardship director.

Texas Land Conservancy would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to the Land Trust Alliance for creating the Land is My video contest and to Stephen Ramirez for inspiring us with his video, which highlights just a few of the ways he enjoys our beautiful Texas lands, said Mark Steinbach, the conservancys executive director. We plan to use this prize money to continue our community conservation efforts, connecting kids and adults to the beauty of the natural world and to each other.

Hosted at http://www.landismy.org and promoted through the hashtag #LandIsMy, the contest gave United States residents age 13 or older the opportunity to showcase an outdoor space that is meaningful to them. Finalists among the 75 submitted videos were judged on their originality, demonstration of how the subject is connected to the land, compelling nature and overall quality.

Second place and $2,000 goes to Caleb Howard of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for his video, Land is My Soul. Third place and $1,000 goes to Curt Johnsen of Rockford, Illinois, for his video, Land is My Sustenance. Each of the winning videos can be viewed at http://www.landismy.org.

Rob Aldrich, the Alliances community conservation director, said the contest helped affirm that when communities support their land trusts, everyone wins.

We had lots of fun with this contest and know that our member land trusts did, too, he said. Were planning on hosting the contest again next year, so keep an eye out for the next announcement.

About the Land Trust Alliance

Founded in 1982, the Land Trust Alliance is a national land conservation organization that works to save the places people need and love by strengthening land conservation across America. The Alliance represents 1,000 member land trusts supported by more than 200,000 volunteers and 4.6 million members nationwide. The Alliance is based in Washington, D.C., and operates several regional offices. More information about the Alliance is available at http://www.landtrustalliance.org.

# # #
Pianist Jason Solounias and Muse Sarah Leonard in Spey Tartan The tartan marks the first time Spey has expanded beyond their craftsman collection of fine pearl jewelry.

Spey Co. announces the launch of the Spey tartan, a traditional check celebrating the signature craftsmanship of the company. The bespoke tartan pays homage to the pastoral country estates dotted throughout Speyside and along the River Spey  the companys namesake  wherein resides a critically endangered species of Scottish freshwater pearl mussel. Proceeds from the sale of each tartan benefit this threatened environment.

The first release of the Spey tartan has been handwoven by artisan weavers in Scotland in two expressions: a classic silk scarf and a traditional shepherds plaid in wool. The scarf is made of the purest silk in a dense twill weave with a lusciously smooth touch that is ideal for draping. The scarf is finished at either end with a combed fringe, blending impeccably well with both elegant and casual tailoring.

The 100 percent wool expression takes as its muse the traditional shepherds plaid, which offered Scottish hill farmers protection from the elements and helped them carry lost lambs back to the fold. Culminating in a purled fringe at either end, the length of the substantial 12-foot wrap is finished with a distinctive 'natural' no-hem selvedge from wool yarns that are never cut.

The tartan marks the first time Spey has expanded beyond their craftsman collection of fine pearl jewelry. The company, which has a cult following among Washingtons diplomats and Society belles, also has the makings of a luxury goods empire; heirloom quality leather accessories and a signature fragrance are in the pipeline for release in 2017.

We are thrilled to add our name to the Scottish Register of Tartans and to bring a decadent new textile to market, says Spey founding chief executive Paul Ashe. Our customer has always been a confident, elegant woman. Dorothy Parker famously quipped, When I'm cold, I just put another rope of pearls on. Now to keep warm, the Spey woman may enjoy another rope of pearls and an exquisite wrap, too.

Heres to a lustrously cozy holiday season.

The Campaign

Spey tapped acclaimed pianist Jason Solounias to bring the Spey tartan to life. Shot on-location at The Hay-Adams historic property and hotel by photographer Andrew Noh, the campaign captures the artistic patronage and stylish heritage iconic of the Spey brand. Mr. Solounias, a distinguished and multidimensional musician, performs across the United States and Europe, from the Kennedy Center to Southwark Cathedral.

The River Spey

Spey takes its name from the River Spey that courses through the Scottish Highlands. In homage to this inheritance, Spey supports campaigns that educate and empower local Scots to care for the river  home to a perilously threatened species of freshwater pearl mussel. Conservationists suggest that over the last decade, mussel populations within the river have halved. The mussel, a UK Biodiversity Action Plan priority species, is a valuable indicator of water quality and river health.

Spey Co.

Spey is a matter of both style and State, festooning the most powerful women in the world in spectacular pieces of fine pearl jewelry. As a DC-based luxury goods company, Spey takes pride not only in the craftsmanship of American design, but also in a commitment to the arts and environment. Each pearl purchased supports a better and more beautiful Washington, DC. That is the Spey legacy of life with luster.

For custom designs or to shop the collection: http://www.spey.com.
Winter Solstice Festival on Wednesday, December 21 at 6 p.m.

Museum Open Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

10 a.m.  5 p.m.

The enormously popular National Museum of Mathematics (MoMath), which has attracted more than half a million New Yorkers and visitors from around the world, will be celebrating the fourth anniversary of its opening with a month of special programs, events, contests, and activities for schools, guests, and families.

Keeping up a four-year tradition, the Museum will celebrate its anniversary (and the winter solstice) by partnering with the Flatiron/23rdStreet Partnership with a free public event on Wednesday, December 21 at 6 p.m. at the Flatiron Plaza on East 23rd Street between Broadway and Fifth Avenue. There will be free hot chocolate provided by La Pecora Bianca, a chance to spin the Flatiron prize wheel to win prizes from local businesses, and a food drive for the Food Bank For New York City. And on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the Museum will keep its doors open throughout the day from 10 a.m.  5 p.m, with special new tours and uniquely engaging math sessions available on both days.

Launched on December 12, 2012, MoMath has been welcomed by New Yorkers, tourists, and critics with open arms and rave reviews. As the only mathematics museum in North America, MoMath has grown from a national traveling math exhibit  Math Midway  to a landmark cultural and educational institution beside Manhattans Madison Square Park with more than three dozen state-of-the-art interactive exhibits.

During the month of December, MoMath will be celebrating the holidays with the following events and activities:

Math Encounters: "How to Bake Pi: Making Abstract Mathematics Palatable"

with Eugenia Cheng

Wednesday, December 7, 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm

Through unexpectedly connected examples from music, juggling, and baking, Eugenia Cheng, Scientist in Residence from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, combines hands-on activities, humorous anecdotes, and everyday life with a dash of surprisingly high-level mathematics and a distinct emphasis on edible examples. Special introduction by Bedtime Math founder and author Laura Overdeck. Learn more and register at mathencounters.org.



Tween Primes, the MoMath book club for tweens and teens: Ruby Redfort Look Into My Eyes by Lauren Child

Friday, December 9, 4:30 pm

Tween Primes returns with Ruby Redfort Look Into My Eyes. Thirteen-year old Ruby Redfort is a genius code-breaker with Sherlock Holmes-like observational skills. Shes a prodigy: brilliant, tenacious, and observant. Ruby and her best friend, Clancy Crew, dash about following hunches; they're drawn into a whirl of comedy and menace, espionage and cryptograms, and naive townspeople and baleful baddies. The story moves with a swift pace, clever dialogue, and many codes and puzzles scattered throughout. Pizza and ice cream to be served. Learn more and register at tweenprimes.momath.org.



Summations: homeschool exploration days at MoMath

Wednesday, December 14, 2:00 pm

Homeschool students are invited to experience the excitement of a MoMath field trip with the Summations program. Participants will spend the afternoon perusing MoMaths engaging interactive exhibits along with other homeschool families. Registration includes admission to an exploratory, hands-on classroom experience led by one of MoMath's specially-trained educators, with workshops available for all grades. Learn more and register at summations.momath.org.

Volumes, the MoMath book club: Finding Zero by Amir Aczel

Thursday, December 15, 6:00 pm

In Finding Zero, readers follow Aczels quest doggedly crisscrossing the ancient world, scouring dusty, moldy texts, cross-examining so-called scholars who offer wildly differing sets of facts, and ultimately penetrating deep into a Cambodian jungle. While on this odyssey, Aczel meets a host of fascinating characters: academics in search of truth, jungle trekkers looking for adventure, surprisingly honest politicians, shameless smugglers, and treacherous archaeological thieveswho finally reveal where our numbers come from. Along the way, readers enrich their knowledge and experience of math, philosophy, religion, and the human condition. Learn more and register at volumes.momath.org.



MathHappening: Puzzle on the Plaza

Wednesday, December 21, 6:00 pm at the Flatiron Plaza (E. 23rd St, btw Broadway & 5th)

MoMath and the Flatiron Partnership will celebrate the winter solstice by inviting guests to participate in Math Happening: Puzzle on the Plaza and by solving a giant mathematical puzzle. The first 300 people onsite will have the opportunity to help construct an oversized mathematical tiling that contains a secret message hidden within. Guests are welcome to enjoy free hot chocolate on the plaza and mingle with others as the hidden message is revealed. Learn more and register at solstice2016.momath.org.

Math Exploration sessions

Saturday, December 24 through Saturday, December 31

MoMaths Math Exploration sessions, previously exclusive to school field trips, are now open to the public! Join one of MoMaths specially-trained educators in an exploratory, hands-on classroom experience to discover the wonder of mathematics. Educator sessions are appropriate for the whole family. Learn more and register at exploration.momath.org.

Four Years of MoMath Photo Contest

In celebration of its fourth anniversary, MoMath is launching a photo contest inviting guests (past and present) to submit digital images from a visit to the Museum. Participants are requested to share photos and a short comment at MoMath(at)momath(dot)org with the subject line Anniversary Photos. Photos must be submitted via email to be considered for the contest. Selected submissions will be posted in a new online photo gallery in the Museum in time for the anniversary on Monday, December 12.

MoMaths Derivatives Tour Program

Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays

Announcing the newest way to enjoy MoMath: The MoMath Derivatives tour program. Visitors are able to enjoy a new perspective on MoMath in a small group setting as they wander the Museum with an expert tour guide leading the way. Choose from the following two tours available each day on Friday, Saturday on Sunday throughout December. Learn more and register at derivatives.momath.org.

Colorful Characters

What kinds of people do mathematics? Learn about some of the interesting folks who have shaped the way mathematicians and the public think about mathematics, the work they did, and how their stories tie in with MoMaths exhibits.

Hidden Math

Think youve seen all of MoMath? Think again! This tour tracks the many mathematical easter eggs (hidden secrets) scattered throughout the Museum.

Seeing Math Photo Contest

MoMath is hosting a photo contest about how an individual sees math in the world around him/her. Participates can submit their photos via Facebook, Twitter, or email. Winning photos will be displayed on the large screen in the Museum as part of this visual tour of the mathematical world around us. Visit seeingmath.momath.org for details.

CONTACT: Lisa Sherman-Cohen I lisa(at)gzandassociates(dot)com I 646-603-6869

Beatrix Maes|beatrix(at)gzandassociates(dot)com |646-603-6869

About the National Museum of Mathematics

The only math museum in North America, the National Museum of Mathematics (MoMath) strives to enhance public understanding and perception of mathematics in daily life. Since it opened in December 2012, more than 500,000 New Yorkers and visitors from around the world have come to the Museum. Another 500,000 have experienced MoMath exhibitions and content in seven countries, including the United States, Singapore, Brazil, Germany, Russia, Spain, and Sweden.

MoMath fulfills an incredible demand for hands-on math programming, creating a space where those who are math-challenged  as well as math enthusiasts of all backgrounds and levels of understanding  can revel in their own personal realm of the infinite world of mathematics through more than 37 state-of-the-art, one-of-a-kind, interactive exhibits. MoMath was awarded the bronze 2013 MUSE Award for Education and Outreach by the American Alliance of Museums.

Location

MoMath is located at 11 E. 26th on the north side of popular Madison Square Park in Manhattan.

Hours

Open seven days a week, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. For more information, visit momath.org.
Brooklyn Colleges Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema announced two new programs aimed at preparing its diverse student body for innovative new roles in the film and television industries  a redesigned MA in Screen Studies, formerly called Cinema Studies, and an MFA in Digital Animation & Visual Effects (DAVE).

The new programs complement Feirsteins state-of-the-art facilities on the Steiner Studios lot in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, making it the only college in the United States to offer graduate students the opportunity to learn within a working film lot.

DAVE is an opportunity for Feirstein students to develop professional skills in an area of the industry that is exploding and where there is a significant shortage of talent, especially in NYC, explained Jonathan Wacks, Founding Director of Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema. Our newly reenvisioned Screen Studies program is an opportunity for students to situate their research and scholarly pursuits in a context and in a place where moving image production is actively taking place on a daily basis.

The two-year MA in Screen Studies was redesigned from the Cinema Studies program to be current and relevant to diverse aspects of media and have a greater focus on a connection to production. The program offers an exciting and diverse examination of the past, present, and future of film and other screen-based media in New York City. The coursework incorporates a broad definition of screen studies, looking at more conventional narrative feature filmmaking and the latest in web-based media, and prepares students for a variety of professions connected to todays multiplicity of screens: teaching, curating, working with archives, festivals, writing, as well as preparation for PhD programs in related fields.

Students in this program benefit from interacting with MFA students in shared classes with state-of-the-art resources on the distinctive Steiner Studio lot location.

Beginning in fall of 2017, an MFA in Digital Animation & Visual Effects (DAVE), offers cutting-edge training in the digital technologies that have transformed the media and cinematic landscapes. With an emphasis on experimentation and imagination and a foundation in narrative structure, the program bridges the worlds of technology-based innovation and cinematic storytelling. Courses and workshops are taught by industry professionals culminating in the completion of a portfolio of personal and collaborative work in visual effects and animation. In addition to an intensive engagement in creative production, the program offers opportunities for professional internships and networking to facilitate the transition into the industry.

These two new programs, combined with Feirsteins ongoing efforts to elevate diverse voices in the film and television industries, are quickly raising the colleges place among the top choices for graduate film studies in the country.

About Feirstein

Founded in 2015, Brooklyn Colleges Barry R. Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema is committed to cultivating diverse new voices in cinema and providing students a pipeline to the industry. Feirstein is backed by a star-studded advisory council, which includes producer Steven Soderbergh, director Darren Aronofsky, producer Celia Costas and actor Ethan Hawke. The school offers specialized programs in: Screenwriting, Directing, Producing, Cinematography, Post Production, Media Scoring, Sonic Arts, and recently announced the addition of a program in Digital Animation & Visual Effects starting next fall. The school currently has 170 students enrolled, of which 50% are women and 45% are from underrepresented groups. Another 130 students are expected to enroll in fall 2017 with the first class graduating in 2018.

###

Media Inquiries and Interviews

Jes Siart | jes(at)gzandassociates(dot)com | 603-289-8707
Newton County Sheriffs Deputy Justin White & Family We thank you for joining us in support of Mr. Whites family.

In the early morning of October 30, Newton County Sheriffs Deputy Justin White was en route to respond to an emergency medical call when he lost control of his patrol car. The vehicle overturned into an embankment, causing White to sustain critical injuries. After being extricated from his vehicle, he was transported to Atlanta Medical Center, where he later succumbed to his injuries. Justin White leaves behind his wife, Morgan White, and their two-year-old daughter.

In deepest sympathy, The Law Offices of Nathaniel F. Hansford, LLC is holding a holiday drive to support Whites surviving family during this difficult time. Now through the week of Christmas, the firm will be accepting donations of clothing, toys, and food. All donations can be dropped off at the firm, located at 1447 Peachtree Street NE, Suite 570, in Atlanta, GA. Any and all contributions are greatly appreciated.

A GoFundMe account has also been created to help offset the familys medical expenses. To make a donation, please visit https://www.gofundme.com/2wsscic.

Thank you for joining The Law Offices of Nathaniel F. Hansford, LLC in support of Mr. Whites family.

The Law Offices of Nathaniel F. Hansford, LLC is a workers compensation law firm located in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information, please call (770) 629-9321.
Elmore Green newsletter for user who identified as solidly liberal Elmore Green is like a multi-vitamin for your worldview

The rise of Donald Trump and the Brexit result were a shock to many; mass surprises caused by the echo chamber effect a mixture of algorithms and human habit that shelters people from what is occurring in the world around them.

Launching today is Elmore Green a newsletter that helps people break out of their echo chambers. Each day the service emails subscribers ten links to articles from publishers they would never usually read.

An early tester described Elmore Green as being like a multi-vitamin for your worldview.

Elmore Green uses an algorithm that does the reverse of those powering filters like the Facebook news feed. Rather than finding articles people like or agree with, Elmore Green seeks out articles an individual is unlikely to read.

For example, if a reader likes the New York Times, Mother Jones and listens to NPR, Elmore Green may find links to articles from the National Post. The reverse is also true if a person tends to read Breitbart, The Drudge Report and watches Fox News, Elmore Green will send would find articles from sites like The Daily Kos or The Washington Post.

Richard Shaw, the creator of Elmore Green, says he hopes that the service "helps people better understand what is going on around them and encourages the building of a few bridges instead reinforcing our self-imposed walls."
Mike Bober, Chief Executive Officer and President of the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council(PIJAC) ....Bober has been tasked with tackling one of the most detrimental  and misrepresented - issues ever facing the pet industry: a nationwide assault on access to responsibly raised and collected companion animals of all types.

The Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council (PIJAC) announces that President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Bober has been chosen by independent judges to receive the prestigious Pet Age Forty Under 40 Award for 2016. As one of the leading pet industry trade publications, Pet Age honors the new generation of men and women making headlines in their fields and shaping the future of the industry.

The entire PIJAC board is so delighted to see our President, Mike Bober, receive this very well-deserved award, said Laura Peach Reid, PIJAC Chair. We are fortunate to have his unique skill set and leadership - working tirelessly with his outstanding team - to protect and promote the responsible and professional pet industry.

In 2013, Bober joined PIJAC as the Vice President of Government of Affairs, which oversaw the Councils legislative and regulatory efforts. In the beginning of 2016, he was promoted to President and Chief Executive Officer.

I am truly honored to receive such a prestigious award and look forward to a successful and impactful 2017, said Bober.

Along with thousands of pieces of legislation affecting every aspect of the industry including taxes, restrictions and fees, Bober has been tasked with tackling one of the most detrimental  and misrepresented - issues ever facing the pet industry: a nationwide assault on access to responsibly raised and collected companion animals of all types.

Bober also played a significant role in bringing together APPA, PIDA and PIJAC to create the inaugural Pet Industry Leadership Conference held for the first time this year in Tucson, AZ. This new conference combines world-class speakers with breakout sessions that explore best practices and emerging trends. It brings all stakeholders  manufacturers, distributors, livestock breeding and wholesale and retailers  together to address the critical issues facing everyones business. It is a much-needed event that will make an important positive difference for the industry for years to come. The second annual event takes place Jan. 30-Feb. 2 in Laguna Beach, California.

For media inquiries, please contact Jamie Baxter at jamie(at)theimpetusagency.com or (775) 322-4022.

###

Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council (PIJAC) for over 40 years, has been protecting pets and the pet industry. Companion animals are the backbone of our industry, and keeping pets available is PIJACs top priority. PIJAC promotes responsible pet ownership and animal welfare, fosters environmental stewardship, and ensures the availability of pets. It is a nonprofit, service-oriented organization comprised of members who care about pets and the pet industry. http://www.pijac.org.
Salve Regina University Selects Portfolium to Showcase Career-Ready Skills As a university dedicated to connecting passion with profession, it was good time to consider co-curricular portfolios, said Dr. Barbara LoMonaco, VP for Student Affairs

Portfolium, a cloud-based platform empowering students with lifelong opportunities to capture, curate, and convert skills into job offers, announced today that Salve Regina University, a liberal arts foundation of over 2,700 students located in Newport, Rhode Island, has selected Portfolium to power ePortfolios for students campus-wide.

Understanding that professional skills are acquired not just in the classroom but also through co-curricular activities, Salve Regina University encourages students to develop a variety of skill sets that may not be tapped into in the traditional classroom setting. The partnership with Portfolium aims to provide digital evidence of skills demonstrated on Co-Curricular Transcripts (CCTs), with the ultimate goal of maximizing students potential in the job market.

As a university dedicated to connecting passion with profession, it was good time to consider co-curricular portfolios, said Dr. Barbara LoMonaco, Vice President for Student Affairs at Salve Regina University. Portfolium is the ePortfolio platform that resonates with the needs of higher education in a post-2008 world.

Portfolium is driven by a mission to connect learning with opportunity, said Troy Markowitz, VP University Partnerships. Salve Regina University brings together a remarkable academic experience, co-curricular skills, and a focus on career preparedness with CCTs. We are thrilled to advance the way Salve Regina students market themselves to employers, reflect on their skills, and connect with alumni.

Salve Regina University boasts a Portfolium adoption rate of 85% for all first-year students with a broader objective to arm every undergraduate student at Salve Regina with a Portfolium. The university also seeks to leverage Portfolium in attaching competencies for their Navigator Leadership Program to the particular programs required for completion certificates.

ABOUT SALVE REGINA UNIVERSITY: Through teaching and research, Salve Regina University prepares men and women for responsible lives by imparting and expanding knowledge, developing skills and cultivating enduring values. Students develop their abilities for thinking clearly and creatively, enhance their capacity for sound judgment and prepare for the challenge of learning throughout their lives. Salve Regina University is located in Rhode Island.

ABOUT PORTFOLIUM: Portfolium partners with colleges & universities to help students transform learning into opportunity. Our ePortfolio network helps millions of students and alumni from over 150 partner institutions manage their skills and launch their careers. Portfoliums cloud-based platform empowers students with lifelong opportunities to capture, curate, and convert skills into job offers, while giving learning institutions and employers the tools they need to assess competencies and recruit talent.

Media Contact:

Sarah Pease or Edgar Rodriguez

Portfolium

917.974.4729 or 951-256-7301

Press(at)portfolium(dot)com
Construct-A-Lead is an online construction lead service that helps contractors, service providers, manufacturers and suppliers gain information on all large scale construction projects. The service features apartment construction, hotel construction, retail construction, medical construction, school renovations & more, including those hard-to-find private project leads, to help bid on construction, from planning stage- completion.

Construct-A-Lead, the Construction Industrys most comprehensive construction lead service, reports the following hotel construction projects will have the necessary approvals and will go forward. Businesses will have ample opportunities to provide construction bids and other services relative to these projects

Interested parties are invited to visit construct-a-lead.com and sign up for a test drive. This a no obligation, no credit card necessary sampling allowing customers 5 live construction reports over a 3 day period. Users are encouraged to view and track projects, online, an example of which is listed below. Reference the Project ID to utilize the site features and to obtain direct contact information for each construction lead:

Sacramento, CA  Hyatt Centric - Plans call for the renovation and conversion of the former Hotel Marshall into a 12 story, 169 room hotel with restaurants and retail. The hotel will be brand new inside, but the historic facade will be preserved. Construction start: Q1, Q2, 2017, 2017, $15,000,000. Project ID: 1381749

Orlando, FL - Swan & Dolphin Resort  Plans call for a lobby renovation at the Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Resort. Construction start: Spring, 2017. $12,000,000 Project ID: 1381810

Austin, TX  The Spicewood Hotel- Plans call for a new hotel called The Spicewood. 11 story. 120 rooms. Construction start: Q3, Q4, 2017. $20,000,000 Project ID: 1381816

Kansas City, MO  Adams Mark  Plans call for the renovation and upgrade to the 359 guestrooms and public areas of the hotel. Construction start: Q1, Q2, 2017. $5,000,000. Project ID: 1381820

Central Valley, NY - Comfort Suites Woodbury  Plans call for the new construction of a three story, 85 room hotel, with parking stalls. Construction start: Q1, Q2, 2017 $10,000,000. Project ID: 1381831

Auburn, WA - Holiday Inn Express & Suites  Plans call for building a new five-story, 69,180-square-foot hotel with 120 rooms. Construction start: Q1, 2017 $14,000,000. Project ID: 1381702

Construct-A-Lead.com is an online construction projects database, helping contractors, service providers, manufacturers, distributors, suppliers and businesses in related industries gain information on all large scale commercial construction projects.

The service features hotel construction, office buildings, retail construction, medical facilities, school renovations and much more, to help bid on construction including those hard-to-find private project leads, from planning stage through completion. Construct-A-Leads daily updates of commercial construction project leads are an ideal solution for those who want to put their product or service into commercial, government and religious structures.

For more information, visit Construct-A-Lead.com online or call 855-874-1491.
David J. Dykeman, Ginger Pigott, and J. Rick Tache, shareholders with global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, will speak at DeviceTalks West, Dec. 12, 2016, at the Fairmont Newport Beach in California. Greenberg Traurig is a founding sponsor of the DeviceTalks series, and attorneys from the firms global Life Sciences & Medical Technology Group have been featured speakers at every DeviceTalks conference since 2011.

From 4:45  6:15 p.m., Dykeman, patent attorney, co-chair of Greenberg Traurigs global Life Sciences & Medical Technology Group, and co-chair of the firms Intellectual Property (IP) Group in Boston, will moderate the Leadership Track panel discussion, Hot Topics: M&A, IP, Financing and Products Liability Trends Impacting MedTech Companies. Pigott, Greenberg Traurig shareholder and vice-chair of the firms Pharmaceutical, Medical Device & Health Care Litigation Group in Los Angeles, and Tache, patent attorney, Orange County co-managing shareholder, co-chair of the Global Patent Litigation Group, and chair of the Orange County IP & Technology Group, will serve as panelists. They will be joined by medtech leaders, Eric P. Geismar, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Caldera Medical Group; Stewart Davis, MD, Senior Vice President, Locust Walk; and Kleanthis G. Xanthopoulos, Ph.D., Managing General Partner, Cerus DMCC, and Executive Chairman, IRRAS AB.

Specific topics include:



M&A trends from the perspective of both acquirer and seller

IP protection is key to a successful exit

Financing best practices from early stage to exit

Products liability litigation - what every medtech company needs to know

Hosted by online journal MassDevice.com, DeviceTalks is a conversation among leaders. Its an evening for an exchange of ideas, insight, and contacts among the pioneers of the medical technology industry. Formerly known as the Big 100, this event is held annually in Boston, Orange County, Raleigh, and the Twin Cities.

About Greenberg Traurigs Life Sciences & Medical Technology Group

Greenberg Traurigs Life Sciences & Medical Technology Group advises clients ranging from startups to large multinational public companies to leading research institutions. The groups attorneys work closely with clients, providing innovative legal counsel to help them achieve their objectives  from discovery through commercialization and product marketing.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Greenberg Traurig, LLP is an international, multi-practice law firm with approximately 2,000 attorneys serving clients from 38 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The firm is No. 1 on the 2015 Law360 Most Charitable Firms list, third largest in the U.S. on the 2016 Law360 400, Top 20 on the 2015 Am Law Global 100, and among the 2016 BTI Brand Elite. More information at: http://www.gtlaw.com.
Californias experience differed from most of the other 17 states we studied since in many states, medical payments per claim grew from 2012 to 2014. The decrease in medical payments per claim in California likely reflects the impact of SB 863 provisions.

California Senate Bill (SB) 863, signed into law in 2012, may have contributed to decreases in medical payments per workers compensation claim in 2013 and 2014, according to CompScope Medical Benchmarks for California, 17th Edition, a study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI).

According to the study, medical payments per claim in California decreased 4 percent in 2013 and then 3 percent in 2014 for claims with more than seven days of lost time at 12 months of experience, mainly driven by decreases in payments per claim for nonhospital services.

Californias experience differed from most of the other 17 states WCRI studied since in many states, medical payments per claim grew from 2012 to 2014, said Ramona Tanabe, WCRIs executive vice president and counsel. The decrease in medical payments per claim in California likely reflects the impact of SB 863 provisions.

Effective January 2013, SB 863 reduced the fee schedule rates for services at ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). Following this policy change, the average ASC facility payment per claim decreased 27 percent from 2012 to 2014, according to the study. Future WCRI studies will continue to monitor the full impact of SB 863.

Starting in 2014, the law began phasing in the use of a fee schedule based on Medicare's resource-based relative value scale (RBRVS) for professional services over a four-year period. WCRI reported that prices paid for primary care services increased while prices paid for specialty care decreased in 2014 and 2015. These changes are consistent with the policy goal.

Other reform provisions that may have contributed to decreases in medical payments per claim include eliminating separate reimbursement for implantable medical devices, hardware, and instruments for spinal surgeries; requiring a $150 fee to file liens against an employee's workers' compensation benefits and a $100 activation fee for liens already filed; and establishing an independent medical review (IMR) process.

Among other study findings:



California had higher medical payments per claim compared with many other study states.

Payments per claim for hospital services remained stable from 2009 to 2014 in California.

WCRI studied medical payments, prices, and utilization in 18 states, including California, looking at claim experience through 2015 on injuries that occurred mainly in 2009 to 2014. WCRIs CompScope Medical Benchmark studies compare payments from state to state and across time. Copies of this report can be ordered from the WCRI web site: http://www.wcrinet.org/studies/public/books/csmed17_CA_book.html.

The Cambridge-based WCRI is recognized as a leader in providing high-quality, objective information about public policy issues involving workers' compensation systems.

ABOUT WCRI:

The Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) is an independent, not-for-profit research organization based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1983, WCRI has been a catalyst for significant improvements in workers' compensation systems with its objective, credible, and high-quality research. WCRI's members include employers; insurers; governmental entities; managed care companies; health care providers; insurance regulators; state labor organizations; and state administrative agencies in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Experts from the American Institutes for Research (AIR) played an integral role in the production of the Digest of Education Statistics: 2015, the 51st in a series released by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

The Digest is a broad compendium of data on American education from prekindergarten through graduate school. It contains both new data and data on historical trends and covers all aspects of education in the United States as well as international comparisons.

AIR analysts and editorial staff worked with data from complex survey designs and conducted statistical analyses and tests in order to create many of the 600 statistical tables, as well as develop statistical graphs and descriptive text for the volume.

AIR has provided key support to the Digest since 2004 and has contributed to it since 1999. The Digest was first released in 1962.

This years key findings include:



Between 1990 and 2014, the percentage of 16- to 24-year-olds who were high school dropoutsknown as the status dropout ratedeclined from 12.1 percent to 6.5 percent. While the status dropout rate declined for blacks and Hispanics during this period, their rates (7.4 percent and 10.6 percent, respectively) remained higher than the rate for whites (5.2 percent) in 2014.

In fall 2015, public schools enrolled 35.3 million elementary students and 15.0 million secondary students, according to projections. Public elementary enrollment is expected to increase 2 percent between 2015 and 2025, while public secondary enrollment is expected to increase 3 percent during the same period.

From 1976 to 2014, the percentage of college students who were Hispanic rose from 4 percent to 17 percent and the percentage who were black rose from 10 percent to 14 percent.

The full report is available on NCES website.

About AIR

Established in 1946, with headquarters in Washington, D.C., the American Institutes for Research (AIR) is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization that conducts behavioral and social science research and delivers technical assistance both domestically and internationally in the areas of health, education and workforce productivity. For more information, visit http://www.air.org
After a very rigorous review, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), has reaffirmed Liberty Universitys full accreditation for the next 10 years. This accreditation affects almost every area of the university.

Dr. Ron Hawkins, provost, said the report process is extremely vigorous: Its impossible to really describe how complex that report is. Its thousands of pages and appendices that look like the IRS code. Weve been seriously engaged in this report for the last two years.

And practically everything rides on getting it right.

Its the Super Bowl, Hawkins said. The night before our meeting with the agency, I could feel the butterflies starting to rise in my stomach. I thought, Oh my goodness. This is really happening. This is for all the marbles!

Now, Hawkins, and the entire administration at Liberty, is breathing a big sigh of relief, while celebrating the impressive results.

Jerry Falwell, Libertys President, informed the campus of the continuing accreditation at Wednesdays Convocation. He called it a monumental achievement.

Im so grateful for the hard work everyone put into this, from the faculty to the Provosts Office, Falwell said. To have full accreditation from SACS, no sanctions, for the next 10 years, thats going to allow us to focus fully on our very big plans for the future. This reaffirms that we are doing things the right way and meeting the highest standards required of universities.

Also at Convocation, Kevin Corsini, vice provost for academic operations, told the students: This news benefits you, the university, and each class subsequent for the next 10 years. We could not have gotten a better report from SACS. We got an A-plus. God really prioritized this in our lives and made it a successful venture.

Liberty University was first accredited by SACSCOC in 1980. In 2009, Liberty received Level VI accreditation, the highest classification from SACS reserved for colleges and universities that offer four or more doctoral degrees. SACS requires a more rigorous self-study report every 10 years. It includes responses to 96 standards. Schools must also complete a report every five years.

Read more about Libertys Institutional Accreditation.

About Liberty University

Liberty University, founded in 1971, is the largest private, nonprofit university in the nation, the largest university in Virginia, and the largest Christian university in the world. Located near the Blue Ridge Mountains on more than 7,000 acres in Lynchburg, Va., Liberty offers more than 500 unique programs of study from the certificate to the doctoral level. More than 250 programs are offered online. Libertys mission is to train Champions for Christ with the values, knowledge, and skills essential for impacting tomorrows world.
airberlin offers more European connections



More flights all year round from Berlin-Tegel to Warsaw and Krakow

Paris: four times daily from Berlin-Tegel to Charles-de-Gaulle

Twice a day from Berlin-Tegel to Tel Aviv all year round coming soon

airberlin is increasing its services on major European routes for the upcoming summer schedule, thereby strengthening its realignment as a network carrier. The additional flights to and from Paris, Warsaw, Krakow and Tel Aviv will be connected to all airberlin's flights between Berlin and the US as well as with all domestic and European destinations. airberlin currently operates nonstop flights from Chicago, Miami, New York and - as of May 2017 - San Francisco and Los Angeles to Berlin.

"As part of our realignment as a network carrier, we're optimizing our European route network, improving connectivity and thereby reinforcing our hubs by means of increased connecting flights. These additional services not only mean more flights, but also new connections and shorter transfer times, which are particularly important for business travellers", said Stefan Pichler, Chief Executive Officer airberlin.

More flights from Berlin-Tegel to Warsaw and Krakow

With an additional daily service, there will be four flights a day from Berlin-Tegel to Warsaw and Krakow as of March 26, 2017. With the new flight, passengers will be able to benefit from a new daily connection between Berlin and Los Angeles (three times a week) and Berlin and San Francisco (four times a week) which airberlin will offer from May 2017 to both Warsaw and Krakow. Ten weekly services will be available between the two Polish cities and New York.

Twice a day from Berlin-Tegel to Tel Aviv

The flight program from Berlin to Tel Aviv will be supplemented by an additional daily flight. From March 26, 2017, airberlin will operate two daily services Monday to Sunday all year round. Services to and from San Francisco in particular will benefit from this new flight but all the other four destinations in the US served via Berlin can also be booked as an onward flight with a stop in Berlin.

Four times a day from Berlin-Tegel to Paris Charles-de-Gaulle

From March 26, 2017 airberlin increases its service of two flights from Berlin-Tegel to Paris to four daily connections with improved departure times from Berlin-Tegel to Paris Charles-de-Gaulle.

From the US, there will be up to two connecting flights per day via Berlin to Paris from Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York (JFK) and San Francisco.

The flights can be booked with immediate effect online at http://www.airberlin.com, via travel agents or by calling the airberlin Service Center at (917) 261-3165 (local rates apply).

About airberlin

As one of the largest European network airlines, airberlin focuses on high frequency flights throughout Germany and connections from many leading European cities to its hubs Berlin-Tegel and Dusseldorf. From its hubs airberlin also operates long-haul routes to the USA, the Caribbean and the Middle East. The airline flew more than 30.2 million passengers in 2015 and operates one of Europe's most modern and eco-efficient fleets. airberlin is part of the oneworld airline alliance, a founding member of Etihad Airways Partners and a strategic partner of Etihad Airways, which holds 29.21 per cent of airberlins shares. More than four million travellers are member of airberlins topbonus loyalty programme.

Press contact

Janina Mollenhauer

Press Officer

Tel: +49 30 3434 1500

E-mail: janina.mollenhauer(at)airberlin(dot)com

http://www.airberlin.com

On behalf of airberlin

Madeleine Vogelsang

Media Relations Representative USA & Canada

Phone: 1-917-971-6213

Email: mvogelsang(at)zcomgroup(dot)org
Volunteers from the Sanofi US Employee Resource Group for Caregivers, CareGIVE, selected the VNA of Somerset Hills for a community service project.

The Visiting Nurse Association of Somerset Hills (VNA), a New Jersey nonprofit providing home health, hospice, and community wellness services, has received a $10,000 donation from the Sanofi in Our Communities, Celebrating Diversity (SOCCD) program. Funds will be used to support hospice care for patients with life-limiting illnesses, and art and music therapy programs at the Adult Day Center. The VNA is also honored to have been chosen by the Sanofi US Employee Resource Group for Caregivers, CareGIVE, as a benefiting organization for an employee community service project.

We thank the Sanofi Foundation for North America, along with all Sanofi employees involved with the Sanofi in Our Communities, Celebrating Diversity program, who participated in the volunteer activities at the VNA headquarters and Adult Day Center, for their generous support of our programs and mission, said Daniel Powell, President and CEO of the VNA of Somerset Hills. Their commitment to community, inclusion, and social services is a model for all civic-minded businesses.

During their community service day at the agency, Sanofi employee volunteers assembled care packages for hospice patients. The large totes contained a variety of personal care products and other items, all generously donated by the Employee Resource Group. At the Adult Day Center, the volunteers assisted with a planting activity, and played games while socializing with members.

Through the VNA of Somerset Hills Hospice Care program, patients with life-limiting illness live as fully and comfortably as possible through pain and symptom management. A specially trained Hospice Care team supports the medical, emotional, and spiritual needs of patients and their family members.

The Adult Day Center provides a warm and welcoming setting that enhances the quality of life for people who will benefit from companionship during the day, including those with Alzheimers, moderate dementia, or functional impairments due to stroke or chronic illnesses. Caregivers also receive a much-needed break from their stressful daily routine, allowing time for work and other non-caregiving responsibilities while feeling confident while their loved one is safe and not lonely. The care provided at the Center may help delay need for placing a loved one in an assisted living or nursing facility.

Led by Sanofi North America Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the Sanofi Foundation of North America, SOCCD is an opportunity to commend the positive impact generated by select New Jersey-based non-profit organizations and to acknowledge the important work of the companys Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). Sanofi is a global life sciences company committed to improving access to healthcare and supporting the people we serve throughout the continuum of care.

About VNA of Somerset Hills

The Visiting Nurse Association of Somerset Hills and its subsidiaries provide individuals and families with comprehensive, high quality, cost-effective home and community healthcare services, regardless of ability to pay, using partnerships where appropriate. The VNA is a charitable, tax-exempt home health agency and hospice certified by Medicare, accredited by the Community Health Accreditation Program and licensed by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services.

For more information about the organization:

Web: http://www.visitingnurse.org

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/VNAofsomersethills

Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/company/vna-of-somerset-hills

Twitter: https://twitter.com/VNASomHills
2nd Family, winner of the 2017 SeniorAdvisor.com Best of In - Home Care Award Our family had an excellent experience with 2nd Family!

2nd Family is proud to announce that they have been selected as a 2017 Best of In Home Care Award Winner on SeniorAdvisor.com, the largest ratings and reviews site for senior care and services in North America. This marks the second consecutive year for 2nd Family to receive this prestigious award.

SeniorAdvisor.coms Best of 2017 Award winners represent the best of the best of senior in-home care, assisted living, and other senior living providers, based on the online reviews written by seniors and their families. This exclusive designation honors the top one percent of senior care providers across the country. The annual SeniorAdvisor.com Best of Awards tabulates over 130,000 family created reviews to find the best quality care providers for this honor. Of the nearly 200,000 communities currently listed on SeniorAdvisor.com, just over 1,400 were recognized with this prestigious award.

2nd Family is one of the few award recipients for senior in-home care in Maryland, and regularly receives highly positive reviews from their families like this one: We cant thank 2nd Family enough for the excellent care they took of our mother after her surgery. They arrived each morning with a warm and welcoming smile. The girls helped her shower, get dressed, prepared her breakfast and helped with tidying up her personal things. Most importantly, they made her look and feel beautiful to face they day. We could all rest assured that mom was in the best of hands and was truly being cared for by her 2nd Family.

To qualify for inclusion in the Best of 2017 Awards, providers must have maintained an average overall rating of at least 4.5 stars while receiving three or more new reviews in 2016. "Families are increasingly looking to online reviews to find out who truly delivers great care for our seniors, not just who claims to deliver great care," said Eric Seifert, President of SeniorAdvisor.com. "Our SeniorAdvisor.com Awards program is all about celebrating the exceptional people who do just that. We're honored to spread the word about these organizations whom families can entrust with the care of their senior loved ones."

About 2nd Family  A family-owned business, 2nd Family began as a result of a personal experience in searching for in-home care for a loved one  the founders' grandmother. They discovered first-hand that there was a huge void between the level of care available and the level of care that they wanted for their own loved one. It was frustrating and emotionally draining. Having gone through the process of trying to find someone to care for their loved one, founders Chad Tracey and Joshua Markland immediately felt compelled to fill that void and help others dealing with similar senior in-home care situations. For a second consecutive year, 2nd Family is happy to win this award, and even more grateful to know that their hard work is helping improve the lives of families all across central Maryland. More information about 2nd Family and senior home care services in Maryland can be found online at 2ndFamily.com.

SeniorAdvisor.com is the largest consumer ratings and reviews site for senior living communities and home care providers across the United States and Canada. The innovative website provides easy access to the information families need when making a senior care decision, and features trusted reviews and advice from local residents and their loved ones.
Working with Viscira to produce this animation has been a great experience, and [the video] really helped attendees at the Congress to visualize how IPF progresses in the lungs

Viscira, a leading provider of digital marketing solutions and software products for the life sciences industry, today announced that the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts has selected Viscira as a Silver winner for the companys 3D animation video program about idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The award was given in the area of video/film in pharmaceuticals within the specialty category of animation use. With more than 4,000 entries from across the US and around the world, the Davey Awards honor the finest creative work from the best small firms, agencies and companies worldwide.

IPF is a chronic and ultimately fatal respiratory disease characterized by a progressive decline in lung function. The primary objective of the animation video program developed for Roche was to educate healthcare professionals on the mechanism of disease (MOD) and to highlight the human impact of the condition on patients with IPF. The video was initially deployed at the ERS (European Respiratory Society) International Conference in September 2015 in Amsterdam.

This interactive MOD animation highlights the pathological features of IPF and includes high-quality character animation. The piece was highly cinematic, creatively unique and scientifically accurate. Hagop (Kane) Kaneboughazian, VP of Animation at Viscira, described the video in short as Toy Story meets pharma.

The Davey Awards is in its 12th season and is overseen and sanctioned by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts, an invitation-only body consisting of top-tier professionals from a Whos Who of acclaimed media, communications, advertising, creative and marketing firms. AIVA members include executives from organizations such as Conde Nast, Disney, GE, Keller Crescent, Microsoft, Monster.com, MTV, Push, Publicis, Sesame Workshops, The Marketing Store, Worktank and Yahoo!

James Rouse, Roches International Product Manager - IPF, commented on the animation video. Working with Viscira to produce this animation has been a great experience, and [the video] really helped attendees at the Congress to visualize how IPF progresses in the lungs.

About Viscira

Viscira is dedicated to the design and development of digital marketing solutions and interactive software applications for the life sciences industry. Viscira provides a suite of programs that integrates best-in-class technology to deliver engaging and memorable content via various electronic channels. Viscira is part of the Sudler & Hennessey Group, a leading global healthcare communications network. For more information, please visit the companys website at http://www.viscira.com or contact Nol Ashekian at (617) 429-0834.

Press Contact

Nol Ashekian

Marketing Communications Manager - Viscira

Phone: (617) 429-0834

Email: nashekian(at)viscira(dot)com
Laura Gurney (center), assistant professor of webmedia at Husson Universitys New England School of Communications will be leading the Hour of Code initiative. Hour of Code makes computer programming fun and approachable. Introducing technology to students early is the best way to get them interested in it.

Hermon High School students will be visiting Husson University on Thursday, December 8 to talk about technology career options and learn how to code as part of an international program called Hour of Code. This program is designed to give students hands-on experience in computer programming.

Laura Gurney, assistant professor of webmedia at Husson Universitys New England School of Communications will be leading the Hour of Code initiative. Hour of Code makes computer programming fun and approachable, said Gurney. Introducing technology to students early is the best way to get them interested in it.

The students from Hermon High School are scheduled to arrive at 9:30 a.m. and go to Peabody Hall Room 220, one of Husson Universitys computer labs.

The day will begin with a discussion of technology degrees and the different career opportunities available to students after they complete their college degrees. Immediately following that, Husson University students will work with the Hermon High School students on a variety of coding activities.

At 10:30 a.m., the Hermon High students will go on a campus tour followed by lunch at Husson Universitys Dickerman Dining Center. They will depart to return to Hermon High School at noon.

Hour of Code started as a one-hour introduction to coding, in an effort to show that anybody can learn the basics and broaden their participation in the field of computer science. It has since become a worldwide effort to celebrate computer science, starting with one-hour coding activities, and expanding to all sorts of community efforts. Over 400 partners and 200,000 educators worldwide support this years grassroots campaign. Hour of Code takes place each year during Computer Science Education Week, December 5 - December 11, 2016.

For more than 100 years, Husson University has prepared future leaders to handle the challenges of tomorrow through innovative undergraduate and graduate degrees. With a commitment to delivering affordable classroom, online and experiential learning opportunities, Husson University has come to represent superior value in higher education. Our Bangor campus and off-campus satellite education centers in Southern Maine, Wells, and Northern Maine provide advanced knowledge in business; health and education; pharmacy studies; science and humanities; as well as communication. In addition, Husson University has a robust adult learning program. For more information about educational opportunities that can lead to personal and professional success, visit Husson.edu.
"These recognitions, set against established standards for hospitals across the United States, demonstrate the remarkable quality of the patient-focused care we provide on a daily basis," Dr. Messina said.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y., Nov. 24, 2016  Richmond University Medical Center has been recognized for adherence to the highest standards of trauma, maternity, cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) services from three prominent medical accreditation organizations, announced the center's president and CEO, Dr. Daniel Messina.

Among the recognitions, the American College of Surgeons' (ACS) named the hospital's trauma center as the only fully-accredited Level I Adult and Level II Pediatric facility in New York City.

The hospital also received a perinatal care certification from The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (TJC), one of only two New York City institutions and the only one on Staten Island to do so. TJC also acknowledged exceptional care immediately before and after childbirth.

A third recognition involves accreditation by the Commission on Cancer for the medical center's cancer care services. This final accolade is from TJC for the facility's COPD treatment program that meets national benchmarks for staff and patient education, risk factor reduction, smoking cessation and care coordination.

"These recognitions, set against established standards for hospitals across the United States, demonstrate the remarkable quality of the patient-focused care we provide on a daily basis," Dr. Messina said. "It is a testament to the hard work of our clinical support staff, along with the management teams, that we continue to receive these honors."

In May, the institution gained national recognition through a Gold Plus Achievement Award from the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association. It also recently received TJC's Gold Seal of Approval for quality and patient safety.

The 470-bed teaching hospital is affiliated with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, Manhattan. The hospital has more than 2,500 clinical and administrative staff, making it one of Staten Island's largest employers.

Richmond University Medical Center is located at 355 Bard Ave., Staten Island, N.Y. 10310. The Center can be contacted at 718-818-1234, or online at http://www.rumcsi.org.

Serving nearly a half million residents of Staten Island, N.Y., Richmond University Medical Center is among the region's leading teaching hospitals and healthcare institutions. It provides acute medical and surgical care in nearly all disciplines and features the latest technological and therapeutic advances including robotic surgery, hyperbaric medicine and on-site sleep disorder treatment. It is also the only institution in the borough to offer inpatient psychiatric care for adolescents.
If you are new to iQ you can schedule a demo and learn more about this opportunity.

PSFK iQ - Where Innovators Turn for Research. Our professional-grade research platform is designed specifically for Retail and CX leaders who want to know whats next. Whether youre staying current on trends or need a real-time research partner to help you get ahead, count on PSFK iQ to deliver the info you need to make your next move.
IOA polls: SC allows circulation of draft constitution among members ahead of general body meeting on Nov 10.
Welcome Guest! You Are Here:
News

From Bulgaria

Nuclear Decommissioning Congress Kicks Off in Sofia Today

Central & Eastern Europe Nuclear Decommissioning and Waste Management Congress 2016 is organized by SZW Group, with Publics.bg as a media partner

AUTHOR: publics.bg





Nuclear developments and decommissioning, and the future of the nuclear sector in the aftermath of the Fukushima Disaster are at the center of the Central & Eastern Europe Nuclear Decommissioning and Waste Management Congress 2016 which kicked off today in Sofia Bulgaria. The event is organized by SZW Group, with Publics.bg as a media partner.

The congress opened with Mr. Gianfranco Brunettis presentation on the closing of multiple power plants in Europe. He highlighted that a total of 89reactors have been shut down in Europe as a result of political decisions after Fukushima, with 50 more to follow by 2025. What is more, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Slovakia have made moves to close their old reactors as part of their commitments with the EU, and have received EU funding for this. Between 1999 and 2013, the EU has pledged to provide financial assistance totaling EUR 2.85 billion to Bulgaria, Lithuania and Slovakia, Mr. Brunetti said.

Ms. Magda Periklieva-Gueho from the Bulgarian Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NRA) presented the regulatory requirements for licensing of nuclear sites and the safety requirements for their operation in Bulgaria.

Mr. Juraj Homola of the Slovak Nuclear Regulatory Agency talked about the nuclear installations in Slovakia, highlighting the national regulations on licensing in Slovakia.

Mr. Vince Novak, director of the Nuclear Safety department at the EBRD, talked about the decommissioning projects in Bulgaria, Lithuania and Slovakia, as the EBRD manages seven donor funds providing support to increase nuclear safety and security in Eastern Europe.

Pekka Ulander of the European Court of Auditors (ECA) presented the results of a recently released report on the decommissioning process in Bulgaria, Lithuania and Slovakia. It shows that at least EUR 5.7 bn will be needed for the three countries, while this number would double, if the final burying of the nuclear waste is included in the bill.

The Central & Eastern Europe Nuclear Decommissioning and Waste Management Congress 2016 also continues on December 9.
The second annual Global Kids Connect conference, organized by Publishers Weekly and the Bologna Childrens Book Fair, surveyed a fast-growing market for picture books in China, examined renewed foreign rights sales in Spain and Latin America, and looked at challenges to the rights marketplace due to currency exchange issues in the wake of Brexit.

The children's book market in China is booming, growing at the rate 10% to 15% a year, according to Renee Huang, founder and publisher of Everafter Books, part of Trustbridge Publishing. In a detailed presentation called Finding Success in China Today, Huang outlined a Chinese childrens book market led by the growth of picture books and English-learning titles, and bursting with opportunities for online sales of titles through popular Chinese social media channels like WeChat. According to Huang, 70% to 80% of online sales are via mobile devices.

Huang noted the growth of private publishing ventures, including international publishers, in a Chinese book marketplace dominated by state-owned publishing entities. Out of the 582 state publishers, only about 30 are focused on children's publishing.

Auction-driven advances for picture books are skyrocketing and unreasonably high, Huang reported (the average advance, she said, has grown from about $3,000 to about $20,000). She said the Chinese prose market is focused on middle-grade novels (the YA category doesnt really exist in China), and is dominated by big-name Chinese authors along with sporadic appearance of some popular Western franchises. Childrens books, Huang said, represent about 44% of revenue generated by Chinese physical bookstores and about 32% of book sales at online booksellers.

Literary agent Ginger Clark led a lively discussion on Sales and Acquisitions in an Unpredictable Marketplace, with a panel of scouts and rights directors that included Kelly Farber, Rachel Hecht and Allison Hellegers. Farber confirmed the booming market for picture books in China, saying they want a sample of every single picture book sent to them. The group pointed to a renewed rights sales in Brazil, Spain and Latin America in general.

And while German advances for childrens properties were characterized as stable, there was much discussion of the weakness of the British pound, which has lost about 1/6 of its value since the vote to leave the European Union. In U.S. deals, U.K. author advances are going to be higher, Hellegers said.

Farber explained that while the weak pound makes U.K. books cheaper to buy and very competitive with U.S. rights, she cautioned British publishers to be wary of over-confidence, based on a currency advantage she said was likely unsustainable. Clark also warned that the currency exchange issue made U.K. subsidiaries with German and American parent companies appear less profitable to their owners.

The panel also touched on the exciting growth in in-house I.P. as part of the foreign rights marketplace, which is a trend toward English-language publishers creating foreign language projects in conjunction with foreign partners, and then selling it back into the U.S. market.

Rounding out the GKC morning session were panels on foreign translations of kids books, managing the online relationship between fans on social media and popular global kids brands they love, licensing issues and issues of diversity and technology in children's publishing.

Click here for more coverage of the event, held December 7 in New York City.
Chronicle Books has announced that Tyrrell Mahoney, currently v-p of sales and marketing, will take over as president of the publisher on January 3. Mahoney joined Chronicle in 1996 and has been in her current position since 2007.

Chronicles current president, Jack Jensen, will assume more responsibilities in his current role as president of McEvoy Group LLC, a position he has held since 2005. That position includes overseeing McEvoy Groups holdings, which, in addition to Chronicle Books, include Galison/Mudpuppy, Princeton Architectural Press, and ISeeMe!. Jensen said in his new role he will be able to devote more time to McEvoy's international operations in Japan and the U.K., in addition to overseeing all its domestic operations.

Jensen, who joined Chronicle in 1977 as a sales rep, has helped transform the company from a regional press with five employees to an award-winning international publisher. He is also credited with establishing the companys distribution business, which handles management for eight publisher clients.

Jensen said that Mahoney is respected throughout the industry, among her colleagues in the publishing business as well as customers both here and around the world. She has a great instinct for the market and for publishing in general and she is a charismatic and highly respected leader. 

On leaving his storied legacy as president of Chronicle, Jensen said, Ive always felt there was no better job than being president of Chronicle Books. Im assuming I will feel the same way about assuming this expanded role as president of McEvoy Group.
After 17 years as the associate publisher of childrens publishing house Annick Press, Colleen MacMillan will retire on February 3, 2017. The move means that Annick Press, which has its main office in Toronto, will permanently close its Vancouver outpost at the end of December.

MacMillan has been in Canadian publishing for nearly 40 years. Before joining Annick in 1999, MacMillan worked for nearly 10 years as editorial director and then acting publishing director at Western Producer Prairie Books in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She then spent nearly another decade as publisher of Whitecap Books in Vancouver, B.C. She joined Annick after receiving a call from Annick cofounder Anne Millyard, who put MacMillan in touch with Annick cofounder (and current director) Rick Wilks. She took over MacMIllan's role following her retirement.

Wilks didnt know MacMillan personally back then, but he knew her reputation. We shared a vision of publishing and where we saw Annick going, says Wilks. It was a great meeting. I really felt excited about being compatible with her, so I said, Sure, lets do this. 

Since that time, MacMillan has acquired many books for the publishing house, working with authors such as Tanya Lloyd Kyi (The Blue Jean Book), Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton (A Stranger at Home), Bill Richardson (But If They Do), and Marilee Peters (Making It Right: Building Peace, Settling Conflict).

Upon retirement, MacMillan, now 66, says she will spend some of her time volunteering for the North Vancouver District Public Library Board and the Special Olympics.

Although Annicks Vancouver office will close, its main Toronto headquarters will stay put, and the number of books published will remain the same. at about 25 to 30 annually. The companys two permanent B.C.-based employees, associate editors and project managers Toni Banyard and Paula Ayer, will continue to work for Annick.

Managing editor Katie Hearn, who has been with Annick for eight years, will be promoted to an associate publisher-type role, though the title has not yet been determined. Hearn will also accompany MacMillan to next Aprils Bologna Book Fair, to be introduced to her foreign rights network. Replacing Hearn as managing editor will be new hire Kaela Cadieux, who started this week, and who comes from Penguin Random House Canada, where she worked as a paperback publishing assistant.
We value your privacy.

Focus Taiwan (CNA) uses tracking technologies to provide better reading experiences, but it also respects readers' privacy. Click here to find out more about Focus Taiwan's privacy policy. When you close this window, it means you agree with this policy.
PEORIA (TNS) -- While concerned about some of President-elect Donald Trump's "rhetoric" on trade policy, Caterpillar chief executive Doug Oberhelman said Tuesday that he thinks those in the new president's administration "will use every tool they can get" to promote growth.

Oberhelman, who chairs the Business Roundtable, said he thinks the business leaders Trump is bringing into his administration shows a focus on business that he hasn't seen in a "long, long time" and likely lifted the forecast CEOs have for their businesses during the next six months.

In the roundtable's most recent CEO Economic Outlook Survey, conducted Oct. 26-Nov. 16, CEOs said they are expecting a modest increase in sales and their plans to hire jumped notably, said Oberhelman.

Still, the economy isn't expected to break out of its lackluster performance. During the next year, the CEOs are expecting only 2 percent growth.

The Business Roundtable is an association of chief executive officers working to promote public policy related to business interests. Member companies have combined sales of $6 trillion, almost a quarter of the total U.S. stock market.

The quarterly survey's index, at 74.2, remains below its historical average of 79.6. Plans by companies to spend on a key ingredient needed by the economy -- capital expenditures -- fell by 5.4 points relative to the last quarter.

"With 2 percent growth (in the economy) it is hard for any of us to justify capital expenditures," said Oberhelman. "Hiring is a more short-term focus," so companies are willing to do it. Capital spending, he said, won't increase until companies experience more growth.

He is optimistic that Trump policies on lowering corporate tax rates, cutting back regulation and spending more on infrastructure will help. He said the economy needs schools to better educate students for the needs of business. Businesses are experiencing some limitations in finding the workers they need, he said, depending on the type of work and company.

Oberhelman also said he is concerned about trade policy causing angry countries to retaliate against U.S. businesses. He said doing business with countries such as Brazil, India and China is crucial for large businesses such as Caterpillar, and he worried that we "are looking at being held out of a lot of the markets."
Rock Islands new economic development director Chandler Poole has a tough task: helping lead a new development strategy for a city without a long-anticipated WalMart.

Fortunately, the former director of development for West LaFayette, Ind., began the job here on Dec. 1 having done his homework and with an optimism we share for the future of Rock Island. Thats in spite of the retail giants disappointing decision earlier this year not to reward taxpayers significant investment in preparing its planned 11th Street Watchtower Plaza site. Unlocking the citys potential is the key.

As he puts his 25 years of community development experience to work for Rock Island, Mr. Poole told reporter Stephen Elliott he believes the pieces are in place for doing so.

He replaces Jeff Eder, who left the city months ago to become East Peoria city administrator. Complicating Mr. Pooles job further is that there could be significant changes in city leadership after the April municipal elections. In addition to four candidates seeking to replace Mayor Dennis Pauley who opted not to seek reelection, there are competitive races for all the aldermanic seats up for election, including the one now held by Ald. Kate Hotle who also declined to run again.

Mr. Poole, who was chosen by Rock Island from among six finalists after Skype and in-person interviews, said he also interviewed in Kansas, Washington and Michigan. He chose Rock Island to be closer to his family in Madison, Wis., but also because of the communitys potential.

I spent some time here by myself, without anybody knowing, to see how the city moved, he said. I met a number of individuals, and I was very impressed that everybody wants the community to do well.

So I see it as all of the pieces are here in Rock Island, Mr. Poole said. They have to be put together. Whats the magic? The configuration? I dont know yet. Theres talented staff here.

A career-long focus on improving neighborhoods and parks and his advocacy of citizen involvement also appear to make him a good fit for Rock Island.

You have to be engaged with the community -- the chamber, church groups, neighborhood and business groups, university organizations and the schools as well, he told Mr. Elliott. Were all part of Rock Island.

Collaboration pays dividends. In West Lafayette, for example, Mr. Poole worked with University of Purdue to annex parts of the campus into the city, even though many argued it couldnt be done.

When I left eight years later, we had done almost a billion dollars of economic development in the city, he said. The city and the university worked together. We built spec buildings and put stuff together to make things happen.

That kind of experience is useful in his new community, which is home to Augustana College.

Among those high on his eight years at West Lafayette is Mayor John Dennis. He told the Lafayette Journal & Courier in April, Suffice it to say, when (Mr. Poole) started with us in West Lafayette, the city was a drive-through to get either to Lafayette or Purdue. Now its a destination point to people from all over the world.

As Rock Island gets ready to write a new script for economic development, thats what were hungry for. We wish Mr. Poole luck as he seeks to deliver on Rock Islands considerable potential.
You may like cross-dressing Shakespeare comedy

Prenzie Players returns tonight with a new production of "As You Like It," running two weekends at QC Theatre Workshop, 1730 Wilkes Ave., Davenport.

Family, politics, gender roles, and romance all intersect in this classic comedy by William Shakespeare, according to a news release. After being banished from her uncle's court, Rosalind  played by Liz Ann Terry, pictured  disguises herself as a man and embarks on a journey into the forest. There, she encounters antic fools, witty rustics and her true love, according to the show's synopsis.

Performances are at 8 p.m. tonight, Friday and Saturday, plus Dec. 15-17; and this Sunday at 3 p.m. Directed by Kitty Israel, the cast includes Payton Brasher as Orlando, and Prenzie newcomers Carmen Bizarri, Mattie Gelaude, Justin Hager and Tyler Henning.

Tickets are $11.34 Thursdays and Sunday, and $16.52 Fridays and Saturdays, available at prenzieplayers.com.

Country/pop star to play Waterfront

In 1998, close to the peak of her popularity, country-pop star Deana Carter opened for Alan Jackson at the iWireless Center. Now, she's playing Friday at 7:30 p.m., at the Waterfront Convention Center, 2021 State St., Bettendorf.

Anchored by the hit Strawberry Wine, Ms. Carter showed her own blend of country and retro-rock on her 1996 debut album, "Did I Shave My Legs For This?" It hit the top of the country and pop charts, achieving multi-platinum status.

Honoring her roots and her fathers label Nugget Records, that presented some of country's best 40 years ago, Ms. Carter opened her own label, Little Nugget Records, on which her latest album, "Southern Way of Life," was released in 2014.

Tickets for Friday's show are $20, $25 for VIP, with discounts for fan club members, available at 800-724-5825 or deana.com/upcoming-shows.

Radish Winter Wellness Fest returns Saturday

From holiday stress to colds and flu, theres no question winter brings health challenges. Saturday, from 1 to 4 p.m., Radish magazine will host a free wellness festival to help deal with those challenges.

The third annual Radish Winter Wellness Festival, presented by Genesis Physical Therapy and Wellness, Bettendorf, will take place in a heated tent at Genesis Physical Therapy and Wellness, 4017 Devils Glen Road.

The event features more than 40 area businesses, organizations and health professionals offering information, demonstrations and products. The first 100 festival attendees will receive a free gift. There also will be workshops about local gift ideas and recipes using local foods. The first 25 people to attend each workshop will get a free gift too, while supplies last.

Radish is a monthly magazine dedicated to healthy living published by The Moline Dispatch Publishing Co. For more information, visit radishmagazine.com.

Be uplifted with hip-hop, dance

If you need hope and uplift, better get to Bettendorf Saturday at 4 p.m. for a show sponsored by QC United and produced by East Moline's Curtis Bell and Juan Valtierra, the hip-hop dance duo of RE-FL3X.

It aims to "offer hope and encouragement to youth and families and to empower them to be the positive change in their own lives and in their communities," according to a news release.

The show reflects some of their struggles, told through music, dance, and the spoken word, and includes a diverse group of young people  plus an appearance by Marcus Joyner, an internationally known performer who was featured in the film, "Drumline."

Tickets are $10 at the door at the Bettendorf High Performing Arts Center, 3333 18th St. There also will be a raffle drawing in which a total of $1,000 will be given away. Call 563-349-1760 for raffle chances, or purchase them Saturday for $2 each, or $10 for 10 chances. Proceeds will go to Pete the Purple Bull anti-bullying programs.
According to The News-Gazette in Champaign, 18-year-old Cedric Cooper of Champaign pleaded guilty Wednesday to aggravated battery in the Sept. 25 beating of Edwin McCraney. A 16-year-old boy pleaded guilty to the same count Monday.

Cooper and the boy are scheduled to be sentenced at later dates. They are among seven people arrested in the beating.

Police have said a friend of McCraney sought revenge for the beating, which happened outside a party near campus. Four bystanders were shot. One, 22-year-old George Korchev of Mundelein, died.

Eighteen-year-old Robbie Patton of Champaign has been charged with murder. He has not entered a plea.
In a news release, Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office says that Tale Aburukbeh of Chicago was also ordered to pay $392,160 in restitution after pleading guilty to filing fraudulent sales tax returns.

The 37-year-old Aburukbeh was charged last year while he was the manager of a Glendale Heights tobacco shop called Valentina #1, which also operated as Valentine Tobacco shop. Madigan's office says that

DuPage County between August 2011 and July 2014 underreported millions of dollars in sales in his state sales tax returns.
MOLINE  Benjamin Schnurman has agreed to voluntarily relinquish his Illinois physician and surgeon license after allegations of inappropriate sexual contact with a former special needs patient.

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation reported Wednesday that Mr. Shnurman agreed to relinquish his license as a reportable, formal discipline rather than going to a formal hearing. The license was no longer valid as of Wednesday, IDFPR spokesman Terry Horstman said via email.

Under the consent order, Mr. Shnurman neither admitted nor denied the allegations, but he acknowledged that, should the matter proceed to a contested hearing, the Illinois Medical Disciplinary Board could find a violation of the Medical Practice Act that constitute grounds for suspending or revoking his license.

According to the complaint, the alleged female victim suffers from mild to moderate mental retardation. She initially filed a report with Moline Police in 2014. No criminal charges were filed against Mr. Shnurman.

The complaint indicated IDFPR's chief of medical prosecutions, Laura E. Forester, was seeking medical license revocation, suspension or other discipline against Mr. Shnurman. The IDFPR filed a complaint in March against Mr. Shnurman. In April, Mr. Shnurman denied the allegations.

Mr. Shnurman could not be reached for comment Wednesday. A voice message at his office said the practice was closed because of his retirement.
EAST MOLINE  A late morning fire in an Avenue of the Cities home left a family's dog dead, but no people were reported injured.

Around 10:17 a.m., a passerby told firefighters at the fire station at 901 Avenue of the Cities that there might be a fire across the street at the house at 742 Avenue of the Cities, East Moline fire Chief Rob DeFrance said. When the firefighters arrived, they found fire on the first floor of the building.

Only the dog was in the home at the time, but three people live there, Chief DeFrance said.

"Captain America," Craig Vervaecke, the home's owner, said when asked the dog's name. "We call him 'Cap.'"

The black lab belonged to his son, Daniel, Mr. Vervaecke said. His son and wife, Constance, also live in the home.

Neither Mr. Vervaecke nor Chief DeFrance had been inside the building at the time they were interviewed, and did not know the extent of the damage.

Firefighters had torn away a portion of the single-story home's eastern wall, looking for fire, and some of the windows on that side had been knocked out. Otherwise, there was no obvious damage to the exterior of the home.

The chief said the cause and origin were still under investigation.

The family would not be able stay in the home at least for the time being, Chief DeFrance said. Living arrangements were still being determined Thursday morning.
PORT BYRON  Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, in a ceremony in Riverdale High School's gymnasium Wednesday, signed the Future Energy Jobs Bill, designed to keep the Cordova Nuclear Generating Station in operation for an additional 10 years.

About 1,200 people  students, teachers and community leaders, along with Exelon representatives and nuclear plant employees  watched and cheered as the governor signed the measure passed last Thursday. He then moved on to Clinton, Ill., site of another Exelon nuclear plant, for a similar rally and signing.

The governor said the Future Energy Jobs Act will protect thousands of jobs for at least a decade, jobs that would have been lost if Exelon closed what the utility says are unprofitable generating stations at Cordova and Clinton.

"This shows what we can do when we come together on a bipartisan basis," Gov. Rauner said. "These things are hard. Taking on big challenges are difficult. This shows what we can do when we put our partisan differences aside and do the right thing for the long term."

Gov. Rauner said the bill is a start to bringing more jobs to the state. "It's a new day in Illinois," the governor said to applause. "We want you to have a better future. That's what we're fighting for  to get bipartisan compromise and restore the competitiveness of Illinois."

The governor told the crowd he is, "a free-market guy. And, I don't want the government into things, but you know what, I refuse to gamble on thousands of good-paying jobs. I refuse to gamble on the future of the communities in the Quad-Cities and central Illinois, and I refuse to gamble on energy diversity and options for the people of Illinois.

"That's why I fought to make this bill happen."

Dave Kolata, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board (CUB), called the bill a big win for consumers.

"Make no mistake, the bill we ended up with is good for consumers, the environment, jobs and the people of the state of Illinois," Mr. Kolata said, adding the bill will make Illinois a national leader in the clean energy economy.

Thanks went to Illinois Sen. Neil Anderson, R-Rock Island, who promptly thanked Exelon communications manager Bill Stoermer, who received a standing ovation from the crowd for his work in getting the bill passed.

An emotional Mr. Stoermer embraced the governor.

The governor also thanked organized labor for help in getting the bill passed to keep the roughly 900 jobs at the Quad Cities' station.

Exelon CEO Chris Crane echoed those sentiments. "Organized labor was a huge part of this in helping to bring it to fruition," Mr. Crane said.

Among the audience members was Marcia Smith, the mayor of Erie.

"This is a very happy day," Ms. Smith said before the program started. "This has been a black cloud hanging over our heads. The village doesn't get direct taxes from Exelon, but indirectly, obviously, it affects us.

"Many people live in Erie that work at Exelon. Of course, the school systems get a lot of their money from Exelon."

Riverdale Supt. Ron Jacobs told the crowd, "this piece of legislation is about families, families that live in our community, work in this community, but most importantly, give back to this community."

Exelon employee and district resident Shane Friant entered the gymnasium with other Exelon employees before the bill signing began.

"Both my boys go to school here  middle school and high school," Mr. Friant said. "It would have been a total life changer if it (Exelon) went down."

High school band members, including senior Sam Barber, guitar, and sophomore Andrew Boyer, percussion, helped make for a festive atmosphere. Band members received applause from the governor and the crowd as they played a number of pop songs.

Asked if there was a lot of practice involved, Mr. Boyer said, "definitely."
ROCK ISLAND  Bridges Catering took the top prize at the Hard Hat awards Wednesday night for bringing their catering business and 117 jobs to the city.

The 28th annual Hard Hat Awards Presentation was held at The Stern Center, 1713 3rd Ave.

Bridges Catering co-owner Bill Healy Jr. accepted the Mayor & City Council Trophy for most strategic investment for purchasing the Stern Center in April and moving their business there from Princeton, Iowa. Mr. Healy Jr. said he and his father knew they wanted their company to be in the area.

"I'm from Rock Island, my grandparents are from Rock Island and my parents are from Rock Island," Mr. Healy Jr. said. "I think when we tallied it up between our families we had over 300 years just in the city of Rock Island."

He said on Wednesday alone Bridges catered for 1,500 guests at various events through the area and that business is "taking off" for 2017 and 2018. He noted the facility has even been filling the schedule with wedding events on Fridays, a non-typical day for wedding receptions.

Echo Sutton-Downs, who won the Mo Payton Award for Outstanding Volunteerism, passed away on Sept. 12 in a motorcycle accident. The award was given for dedicating more than 10 years of her life to assisting The District with set up of Gumbo Ya Ya and Ya Maka My Weekend events.

Her daughter, Colette Sutton, of Moline, accepted the award for her. She was emotional afterwards, saying it was "bittersweet" accepting her mother's award.

"I'm glad that all of her hard work is recognized," Ms. Sutton said. "I know she would be really happy to have it."

Ms. Sutton said she has been helping her mother with the set up all her life and that she plans to continue volunteering herself to carry on the tradition.

Before the event, Mayor Dennis Pauley said he was proud of the accomplishments the city has achieved during his tenure, even though the city did not achieve every project they set out for. He said he was most proud of the completion of the new Rock Island Police Station, relocation and expansion of Hill and Valley Bakery, and the city being able to retain UnityPoint Health-Trinity Rock Island.

"This has always been a great event, and this is an opportunity to bring everybody together to show just how great things are in Rock Island," Mayor Pauley said. "Of course we would have liked to have had Wal-Mart. That didn't work out, so what's the next project?"
Today is Thursday, Dec. 8, the 343rd day of 2016. There are 23 days left in the year.

1866  150 years ago: The Rock Island Oil and Mining Co. is located in Davenport.

1891  125 years ago: Albert Timberlake was injured when an article of furniture fell on him as he helped a neighbor move.

1916  100 years ago: Wallace Treichler was appointed as a delegate to the Northwestern Road Congress at Chicago.

1941  75 years ago: Floyd Shetter began a term as County Superintendent of Schools.

1966  50 years ago: Commissioners of the Metropolitan Airport Authority this morning were given the results of a planning study for Quad City Airport which said facilities must be enlarge to accommodate three to five times the present passenger and general aviation activity by 1975.

1991  25 years ago: With the mounting of a 20-foot-tall numeral one atop its downtown Moline building. First National Bank is near the end of more than $482,000 in exterior renovation work.
The quake occurred about 100 miles off the coast of Eureka, near the Oregon border, around 6:50 a.m. local time. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The depth of the quake was about 6.2 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which issued no tsunami warnings in connection with the temblor.

The morning jolt was followed by a quake. The magnitude 5.0 quake was about 108 miles just west of Ferndale. The quake occurred at 8:32 a.m.

So far, there have been no reports of damage in the communities of Fortuna or Ferndale, Fortuna Police Lt. Matthew Eberhardt told the Los Angeles Times. Patrol officers, he said, will be looking for any damage.

The radio is quiet, he said.

Eberhardt said he felt the quake while getting ready for his shift Thursday morning.

It kind of felt like a rolling, he said.

The quake off Eureka was felt from southern Oregon south into the Bay Area. It was also felt inland in the Sacramento Valley, the USGS said.

As of 8 a.m., nearly 2,000 people reported feeling the quake with light shaking, according to the USGS Did You Feel It? map.

Soon after the quake, Bay Area residents took to social media to report the shaking. Some residents said they were rattled from their sleep.

Bay Area Rapid Transit trains ran 10 minutes slower and at reduced speeds in San Francisco due to seismic activity.

The north coast of California is one of the states most seismically active areas, regularly producing major earthquakes. There had been other smaller quakes in the area in recent days.

A 6.5 quake hit the area in January 2010, snapping power lines, toppling chimneys, knocking down traffic signals, shattering windows and prompting the evacuation of at least one apartment building.

But a 6.9 earthquake in the same area, which like Thursdays temblor was centered in the ocean, did little damage.

The north coast sits along the Mendocino Triple Junction, where the Pacific, North American and Juan de Fuca tectonic plates collide.

Seismologist Lucy Jones said the earthquake was on the Pacific-Gorda plate on the end of the San Andreas Fault.

In 2005, a magnitude 7.2 quake struck off the north coast.

Generally, seismologists say a major quake like this will be followed by numerous smaller aftershocks.
WASHINGTON  Donald Trump has picked Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, who proved a loyal and unflinching surrogate in the presidential race, to be the ambassador to China, the transition team said Wednesday.

The choice of Branstad is likely to reassure Beijing, which has been rattled by Trumps rhetoric about China and his breaking decades of protocol with his outreach to Taiwan.

Branstad has deep ties to China and a personal friendship with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Xi was in the Quad-Cities Feb. 15, 2012, before visiting with Muscatine families he met during a 1985 trip to Iowa.

Trump transition spokesman Jason Miller said Branstad is someone who has a lot of experience and a great grasp of trade issues, agriculture issues, a tremendous understanding of China and Chinese people, and is someone who very much impressed the president elect not just in their meetings on the campaign trail but also in meetings after election.

The Chinese government reacted favorably to the pick. Mr. Branstad is an old friend of the Chinese people, and we welcome his greater contribution to the development of China-U.S. relations, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang, during a press briefing in China.

The choice signals to China that Trump is not looking to escalate tensions, despite an antagonistic tone toward the country that has endured beyond the campaign and into his transition. Trump warns of slapping massive tariffs onto Chinese imports if trade terms are not renegotiated to be more favorable to the United States and he accuses the country of manipulating its currency. Trump further alarmed Beijing when he accepted a congratulatory phone call last Friday from Tsai Ing-wen, the leader of Taiwan, an island nation China regards as a renegade province.

After a campaign in which China was often the target of Trumps ire, the choice of Branstad is the first big move Trump has made to tone down the friction.

Branstad was one of the more visible establishment Republican leaders on the campaign trail with Trump. His son, Eric, ran Trumps general election campaign in Iowa. When a videotape surfaced in October in which Trump boasted of his uninvited sexual advances, Branstad did not join other Republicans in distancing himself from the campaign. He said he accepted Trumps apology and warned Iowans that only Trump could protect the country from Islamic extremists. Branstad is on his sixth term as governor of Iowa. He is the longest-serving governor in American history.

The China post could prove to be Branstads toughest assignment yet. Trump has repeatedly vowed that he would drive a hard bargain with China, a position that is popular with the displaced factory workers who fueled Trumps victory but risks touching off a trade war that could prove damaging to the American economy.

Branstads relationship with Xi stretches back to 1985, when the now-Chinese president visited the United States while working as an agricultural officer. In 2012, Branstad hosted a dinner in Iowa that Xi attended while serving as the Chinese vice president.
Susan Graver Stretch Peachskin Button Front Big Shirt is rated 4.2 out of 5 by 70 .

Rated 5 out of 5 by Nellieevelyn from great shirt love my shirt you do not have my size any more please bring it back thanks

Rated 5 out of 5 by MBART from Classic Look This shirt is great on its own or under a sweater. The fabric is silky and carefree. It comes out of the washer and dryer wrinkle free and stays that way.

Rated 5 out of 5 by sta24 from Great quality, very professional This top in the cream (or whatever the color is) is an amazing quality. Looks wonderful under jackets and cardigans. Really classy and professional looking. It is called a "big" shirt, but it works great for me layered under or over other items. The cream is a must have piece for fall and winter!

Rated 5 out of 5 by lucy39 from My favorite shirt I love this shirt. It looks great on, it washes & dries in the machine and the colors are beautiful. And, it doesnt wrinkle. I have 3 of these and have just ordered 2 more. Please offer these again. I tried the one offered now without the pockets and it just doesnt look as good!

Rated 4 out of 5 by HEINS from Love, Love! I had ordered two summer weight, similar tops and loved them. Received this item today, fit in size 12 is spot on for wearing alone or layering. The on line picture shows it a lighter color than it actually is-it is truly a darker vanilla than depicted on line. Do get tired of more casual tops and this will be nice to layer with my irish sweaters this fall and winter! Came back and order the red which was not previously available! Susan, the sizing on this is perfect; please have more manufactured in exact measurements. Have been on the fence ordering from you lately as your sizing is no longer consistent as in the past-especially in pants! A few years ago I ordered # A255910 in four colors and they have been my daily go to three seasons of the year. Since then only one pair of dressier pants have been ordered. Still have many items going back to when you first started on the Q! So thank you!!

Rated 3 out of 5 by Libbee from Not Good Color The reason I am giving a low star rating is because the color of the French Vanilla is so terrible. It looks very pretty on screen and online, but in actuality it is not a pretty shade of ivory at all. I have never seen this color before. Overall it is very disappointing. I would recommend a different color.

Rated 5 out of 5 by jamjar from Might want to size down.....beautiful shirt! As usual, Susan Graver makes a beautiful shirt.....the peachskin is dreamy!!...and the shirt is very well made. I ordered the jade and the color is gorgeous. I am usually a size 6 or 8 and ordered the 6. I realize it is a big shirt, but might have taken it in a size smaller if I tried the two sizes on. It covers a multitude of sins...and I will love it for that reason alone around the holidays!!! Definitely keeping it and highly recommend.
G'day! It's Murray here. I've put together a little quiz to test your musical knowledge. Think you can score top marks in Murray's Magic Music Quiz? Give it a go now!
The HarrisX  Ragan CEO/Communicators Perceptions Survey needs CEOs, CCOs and senior-level communicators to share their opinions on variety of topics including ESG, CSR and purpose, DE&I, and whether organizations should take a stand on political and social issues. Well share the preliminary findings, including how CEOs and communicators differed in their responses, during Ragans communications Week, Nov. 1-7. Full results will be shared in a special report this winter.

Take the survey here.

For those who take the time to share their insights and who provide us their email, we will send a copy of the final, aggregated findings and executive report.

Your views are important to us and your answers will be kept anonymous.
The investigation into Trenitalia aims to verify whether it is correctly displaying all fares when searching its ticketing database. According to claims made by individuals and consumer associations, passengers may be purchasing more expensive tickets than advertised because not all results are displayed.

Agcom is also investigating how NTV handles telephone customer service enquiries. Customers dial an urban number subject to a specified extra charge, and then have long waits and frequent call breaks which contribute to unexpected costs for passengers.

Both companies have already been inspected by a special antitrust team from the Financial Police.
When Herbert Hoover was President and Republicans controlled the White House and both congressional chambers, there was produced the 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariff boosting import duties to record levels, sparking a global trade war and contributing to the depth and length of the Great Depression.

Welcome 2017, when Republicans again control the executive and legislative branches and are cozying to President-elect Trumps retrenchment from globalism.

U.S. railroads can ill-afford a collapse in world tradealready weakening for two yearson top of coals decline owing to generation plant retirements, low natural gas prices and environmental regulations (whose scrapping will not counter adverse market economics). Dreaded also are foreign buyers shopping elsewhere, should the U.S. withdraw from international climate accords. Even crude oil by rail faces headwinds over safety concerns and more pipelines.

Yet there are reasons for railroad optimisminfrastructure investment, tax reform, regulatory rollbacks and a defanging of labor by the Trump Administration.

Amtrak, howeverbut not private sector entrants to the passenger marketis the cooked holiday goose and may be sold to Yankee Candle Co. for a new fragrance, Burned Money. Why? Consider two Trump transportation team advisersShirley Ybarra, formerly associated with the libertarian Reason Foundation, which characterizes Amtrak as a failed national experiment; and retired Heritage Foundation economist Ron Utt, among whose favorite pinatas was Amtrak public subsidies.

Ybarra is warm to the concept of private-sector competition on Amtrak state-supported and long-distance routes. There also is emerging bipartisan interest in AIRNet-21s bid to lease, maintain, renew and dispatch, through a public-private partnership, the Northeast Corridor, while opening it to competition by private-sector operators.

Congressional leadership should remain unaltered. However, Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) succeeds retiring Harry Reid (D-Nev.) as Senate Minority Leadersignificant because Schumer and Trump, different in so many ways, notwithstanding both being New Yorkers, are conjoined in support of increased infrastructure spending.

Improbable as that relationship seems, history records that two other improbably linked politicos, former House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.), the current chairmans father, and the then-senior committee Democrat, the late Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.), found just such middle ground in crafting multimodal transportation bills.

Additionally, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) favors infrastructure spending that Republicans rejected with Obama in the White Housethe difference being a Republican linkage to tax reform and tax credits. Expect Democrats, out of political necessity, to climb aboard with Schumer in the lead.

While most railroads pay considerably lower effective tax rates than the 35% statutory rate, tax reform is an agenda item that could spawn new public-private partnerships to double- or triple-track main lines, accelerate short line capital spending and construct improved highways linking ports and expanded rail intermodal terminals.

Most crucial to railroads are regulatory decisions of the five-member Surface Transportation Board, where Trump will name a permanent Republican chairman and nominate at least two new Republicans to unfilled seats created by the 2015 STB Reauthorization Act.

With Norfolk Southern Vice President Robert Martinez on the Trump transportation transition team advising on STB nominees, railroads are in the catbird seat, suggesting the captive shipper agenda has gone from improbable to impossible. The Republican majority will decide on captive shipper petitions for open access, and if to revise the Stand Alone Cost (SAC) test and the formula for determining revenue adequacy.

Expect a new Federal Railroad Administrator with a solid rail safety background, supportive of public-private partnerships, less demanding on installation of Positive Train Control, skeptical of electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes, and open to one-person train crews.

At the National Mediation Board, the terms of the two Democrats and one Republican have expired. Republican Nicolas Geale, who previously worked with Republican Labor Secretary (and Trump DOT Secretary nominee) Elaine Chao, wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), is ripe for a bump-up elsewhere, allowing Trump (with airline and railroad input) to name two new Republicans and a new Democrat. Rail labor, engaged in national wage negotiations, should fear a Trump-named Presidential Emergency Board should contract talks break down.
Sunday, Dec. 11, 2016 is the opening of one of the worlds engineering marvels: the Gotthard Base Tunnel under the Swiss Alps, the worlds longest and deepest railway tunnel.

The 35.3-mile-long (57 km) double-track tunnel will enable passengers to speed under the Alps in some 17 minutes, bringing northern and southern Switzerland closer together, reducing travel time by 30 to 40 minutes between German-language and Italian-language Switzerland. It is 7,546 feet (2,300 meters) beneath the Gotthard massif at its deepest point. The Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) has now finished exhaustive safety and technical tests.

Why construct the Gotthard Base Tunnel? The mobility requirements of Switzerlands growing population have increased greatly over the past 100 years, say officials. Current forecasts indicate that the countrys transport sector will continue to expand. In addition, Switzerlands strategic location at the crossroads of the continent makes it a highly important hub for European goods traffic. Swiss government policy is to ensure sustained mobility by increasing the public transport share of overall traffic and providing reliable basic services nationwide. Within this long-term program, protection of the environment and the population has been accorded high priority.

The NRLA (New Railway Link through the Alps) is one of four ambitious projects undertaken by the government, of which the Gotthard Base Tunnel is the flagship focal point. As a level transalpine railway link with few gradients, the tunnel complements Switzerlands existing mountain rail routes. It will also enable higher traveling speeds and permit the use of heavy freight trains.

Construction of the Gotthard Base Tunnel was financed initially through a nationwide vote in 1998, when the Swiss electorate approved funding for the construction of the NRLA. Voters backed the FinoV program for the long-term funding of public transport, through revenues generated by Value Added Tax (VAT), a performance-linked levy on heavy traffic, and a mineral oil tax.

Wholly owned SBB subsidiary Alp Transit Gotthard constructed the Gotthard segment of NRLA. A general contractor was tasked with installing the railway systems and above-ground sections. The Transtec Gotthard Consortium (Alpiq, Alcatel-Lucent/Thales, Renaissance and Balfour Beatty Rail) handled planning, installation and commissioning of the railway systems. The construction work and installation of the railway infrastructure were completed by early June 2016. Alp Transit Gotthard then handed over the tunnel to the government and to operator SBB for final test runs.

It has taken 23 years to construct the Gotthard Base Tunnel. The first examination of the geological fault zone in the Gotthard Massif was carried out in 1993 with the construction of an exploratory tunnel. The second NRLA construction site was opened three years later. The first drill-and-blast operation was undertaken in 1999. The first breakthrough in one of the tunnels was in October 2010, and 2011 saw excavation completed. Work on the infrastructure (including track, catenary, electricity supply, telecommunications and safety systems) ended with the handover to SBB on June 1, 2016 for the operational testing phase.

With the construction of the Gotthard Base Tunnel, Switzerland implemented one of Europes most ambitious environmental protection projects. From concept to completion, construction was carried out as environmentally compatible as possible. Measures were taken to reduce the impact on people, wildlife, water and air. Alp Transit Gotthard said it was in constant dialogue with environmental authorities in finding workable solutions. Measures included environmentally compatible material transport to ensure clean air, strict guidelines concerning waste water, dust and noise protection, protection of flora and fauna as well as sustainable use of the stone extracted from the mountain.

The Gotthard Base Tunnels top priority is passenger safety, necessitating implementation of a modern safety concept, official said. The tunnel system consists of two directionally separated single-track tubes connected by cross passages located every 1,066 feet (32 meters). In an emergency these would serve as rapidly accessible evacuation routes into the other tube. At the one-third-way points of the tunnel at Faido and Sedrun, emergency-stop stations in both tubes are connected to the parallel tube through six connection tunnels. The way to these tunnels is indicated by signs, emergency lights, and handrails. In the event of evacuation, trained railway personnel will provide assistance. Overpressure ensures that the air remains smoke free. Fans provide fresh air in the emergency stop stations; hot fumes are sucked out through extraction openings. Travelers can then be collected in the opposite tube by an evacuation train.

The Gotthard Base Tunnel reduces travel times by 30 to 40 minutes, compared to the existing Alpine railway link over the Gotthard. Travel between Milan and Zurich, for example, is reduced from 4 hours, 3 minutes to 3 hours, 33 minutes. The existing Alpine railway link with its numerous bridges, loop tunnels and summit tunnel (built in 1882) will continue in service, but reduced to an hourly schedule, with a RegioExpress connecting with intercity trains in Erstfeld, Bellinzona and Lugano.

The other piece of the NRLA is the Lotschberg Base Tunnel, which became operational in December 2007. Today, some 50 passenger trains and up to 60 freight trains operate through the Lotschberg tunnel each day. By comparison, figures for the Gotthard Base Tunnel are up to 160 freight trains and 50 passenger trains daily.

Several fact sheets on the Gotthard Base Tunnel can be downloaded from the links below.
"I think its one of the first times that Amtrak, PennDOT and Norfolk Southern were all at the same table answering questions from legislators on this issue, says Lucinda Beattie, Vice President of Transportation for the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, a business advocacy group focused on the revitalization of Pittsburgh, Pa.

Beattie refers to the Aug. 23, 2016 hearing at Pennsylvanias House Transportation Committee, on one of Pittsburghs developing transportation issues: restoring passenger rail service to western Pennsylvania.

Until 1969, 12 daily Pennsylvania Railroad (after 1968, Penn Central) intercity trains connected Pittsburgh eastward. By 2005, service had been reduced to one daily train: Amtraks current Pennsylvanian, created in April 1980, with current average speeds of 45 mph.

Following the Great Recession of 2008, Pittsburgh risked losing its one daily passenger rail connection to eastern Pennsylvania. We had to speak up about that, Beattie recalls. Those discussions spurred the transportation focus within the Pittsburgh business communitys Downtown Partnership. It really helped many of us to gather and realize how important transportation issues are to the success of a business community, she says. Now, discussions focus on increasing frequency to three daily trips, over the freight-dense Norfolk Southern (former PRR, then Penn Central, and then Conrail, prior to the latters acquisition by NS and CSX in 1999) main line that connects Harrisburg to Pittsburgh.

In 2014, the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership produced a report advocating to increase rail service, entitled On Track to Accessibility, emboldened by the fact that Pennsylvanian ridership increased 14% between FY 2010 and FY 2015. The report estimates the additional service would cost between $10 million to $13 million per year. On Feb. 26, 2015, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), responsible for funding the service under section 403 (b) of the Rail Passenger Act of 1970, wrote to Amtrak:

AS WE CONTINUE to get comments submitted on the Keystone West, wed like to have Amtrak provide PennDOT with a high-level cost estimate for the addition of one to two trains a day to/from Harrisburg. This estimate should include operating and capital costs.

We know that, ultimately, in order to make this happen, we would need to work with Norfolk Southern and Amtrak to identify timing for the potential trains, get trainsets ordered, and work through proposed labor to run the trains.

At this time  we only need a high-level estimate. Before we take on any of those bigger picture steps, we need an order of magnitude cost of what it would take to fund an additional one to two trains a day on the Pennsylvanian.

Could you let us know how quickly Amtrak could get us this estimate?

To date, there has been no answer to this February 2015 request, says PennDOT.

Its really become now a question of democracy, Beattie explains. Are we being listened to on these transportation issues?

At the Aug. 23 hearing, Norfolk Southern Vice President Government Relations Rudy Husband referred to the 204-mile main line between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh as a premiere corridor for rail freight between the East Coast and Midwest: We will coordinate the operational feasibility study. We will provide estimated costs to the sponsoring public agency, but these studies, theyre not cheap, and they take time, at least a year or probably more.

Over two dozen civic groups submitted letters of support for increasing the frequency of Pennsylvanian service:

From Allegheny Countys Congress of Neighboring Communities: Our residents now have fewer transportation options within a 500-mile radius than they have had in the past 40 years.

From Pittsburghs Green Building Alliance: Increased passenger rail service has the potential to eliminate nearly 73,000 automobile trips and more than 16 million vehicle-miles from Pennsylvania , which directly reduces CO2 emissions, criteria air pollutants, and non-source point pollution.

From Henry Pyatt, Pittsburghs Small Business and Redevelopment Manager: The American Lung Association currently rates Johnstown, Altoona, and Pittsburgh as among the worst 25 metropolitan areas for year-round airborne particulate matter of the 430 metropolitan areas in the nation. Increased passenger rail service cannot only reduce emissions per passenger-mile, but it can induce activities in urban cores.

From AARP Pennsylvania: Passenger rail is a mobility option for midlife and older people who travel both within congested regional corridors and between cities separated by longer distances.

From the Greater Pittsburgh Hotel Association: This investment will provide huge benefits to the region, with more people visiting and exploring our city.

From Sue Etters, PA Committee for People with Disabilities: I and other members of the disabled community use the Amtrak train as our number one means of transportation to Harrisburg. We want to continue to build and improve the communities in which we live.

From the Oakland Planning and Development Corp.: Educational and medical institutions are some of the main drivers of Pittsburghs new economy. They make Oakland a regional and national destination. Improving passenger rail service  will provide  the necessary connections to continue to thrive as an economic hub going forward.

From Visit Pittsburgh: Traveling by train has become increasingly more popular to younger generations, including millennials.

From Sustainable Pittsburgh: Increased service for western Pennsylvania will bring material benefits serving the social, economic and environmental needs here and for the Commonwealth as a whole.

From the Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group: Adding two more trains to the highly efficient Pennsylvanian route has practically no downside.

Joining in the support: commissioners from Allegheny, Westmoreland, Cambria and Mifflin counties; and the mayors of Johnstown and Pittsburgh.

No letters were submitted in opposition, says Eric Bugaile, Executive Director of Pennsylvanias House of Representatives Majority Transportation Committee. The people of western Pennsylvania have built momentum for this and are voicing their support.

Were trying to find the middle ground with Amtrak and Norfolk Southern, says Mark Spada, board member of Western Pennsylvanians for Passenger Rail. We believe a large number of passengers are not being served.

Pennsylvanias House Transportation Committee adopted Resolution 1103 on Oct. 24, 2016: To conduct a study of the feasibility of providing two additional passenger rail trips daily between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg and its impact on existing freight rail service Resolved, that the committee issue its report to the Speaker of the House of Representatives within nine months from the date of adoption of this resolution.

The people of Pittsburgh wait for the resolution to be revisited at the start of the 2017 legislative session, in their city with a history museum named after their late Senator John Heinz. Engraved on a museum wall, one of his principles: What makes a society thrive are citizens determined to see shared ideals realizedrealized not just for the select few, but as our pledge says, for all.

From the December 2016 issue of Railway Age
President Obama on Dec. 7 nominated Ann Begeman to another five-year term on the Surface Transportation Board. She was approved by voice vote in an Executive Session of the Senate Commerce Committee within hours of Obamas nomination reaching the Committee, and then quickly confirmed by the full Senate on Dec. 9.

As a long-time former senior legislative aide to Commerce Committee Republicans, and a South Dakota native as is Committee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.), there was never a doubt that the Committee would move her nomination to the Senate floor once it was received from the White House.

Begemans new five-year term will run through Dec. 31, 2020. (Begemans term expired Dec. 31, 2015, and she has since been in a holdover year.)

Since Begeman, now the STBs lone Republican, was confirmed by the Senate as expected, the STB in 2017 will look precisely as it did in 2016, except that Begeman likely will be named Chairman by President-elect Trump following his inauguration Jan. 20, observes Frank N. Wilner, Railway Ages Capitol Hill Contributing Editor and a former White House-appointed chief of staff at the STB. Until then, Democrat Dan Elliott remains Chairman. Elliotts term expires Dec. 31, 2018, and Democrat Deb Millers on Dec. 31, 2017. By statute, STB members may remain in office for a maximum of 12 months beyond the expiration of their term, or until a successor is nominated and confirmed by the Senate.

While the Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act of 2015 created two new STB seats, President Obama declined to make nominations. It will be up to Trump to make those nominations, but it is unlikely he will do so until Congress passes a Fiscal Year 2017 budget expected to include an increase in STB funding to cover the cost of two new STB members and their staff. A Fiscal Year 2017 budget has been stalled since mid-2016, with Congress having voted extensions of the Fiscal Year 2016 budget to keep the federal government in operation. The latest extension is to run to April 2017.

Thus, a budget bump-up for the STB is unlikely before April or May, which likely will delay nomination to the two 2015-created and still vacant seats until then. Given that Elliott and Miller are Democrats, and the statute provides an STB membership majority from the political party controlling the White House, the two new nominations to the five-member STB will be Republicans.

Issues of railroad importance before the STB in 2017 include captive-shipper petitions for open access, whether to revise the Stand Alone Cost (SAC) test for rate reasonableness, and the formula for determining revenue adequacy. In the past, Begeman has shown significantly more interest in captive-shipper arguments than her Republican predecessors on the STB, and has been a perennial criticas has Millerof Elliotts leadership and alleged lack of collegiality and transparency.

Begemans level of frustration with Elliott is manifest in her record number of progressively penetrating dissents, while Miller increasingly has withheld a necessary second vote until Elliott makes revisions to his draft decisions, Wilner wrote in his September 2016 Watching Washington column. The squabbling promotes regulatory delay. A five-year Elliott-led torment to produce a decision on forced competitive access by a second railroad at certain one-railroad served points resulted in Miller holding out for further stakeholder input and a better grasp of the long-term financial impact. Begeman still dissented, irritable that the decision failed to identify which shippers will use the access, how and at what cost, and the impact on rail network fluidity. It will be 2017 or laterwith voting by up to three new STB membersbefore a final decision.

Earlier, Wilner characterized Begeman as STBs analytic owl who is no milquetoast. For sure, Begemans written disagreements are rarely dull, typically intellectually fascinating, frequently pithy, largely non-political, and so numerous as to soon make her the agencys dissenter-in-chief. While those dissents suggest a nightmare of waking hours, her reasons appear less a different theory of regulation than held by other Board members and more a prickly impatience with an agency culture that preserves the status quo to maximize chances of prevailing on appellate court review.

Following her Senate confirmation, Begeman received widespread praise:

 Her input on controversial cases has been solid, aggressive and on target. She is a good choice and I hope is made chairperson.Ray Chambers, President, Association of Independent Passenger Rail Operators.

 Ann Begemans reconfirmation helps ensure the continuity of efforts at the Surface Transportation Board to implement the first-ever reforms approved by Congress in the agencys two-decade history. Ann is a trusted leader and her rapid reconfirmation by the Senate after we received her nomination from the White House speaks volumes about her respected work on the Board, as a former member of the Senate Commerce Committee staff, and as a proud South Dakotan.Sen. John Thune (R-S.Dak.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has seized 5,000 pirated IPTV decoders in a series of raids in Johor Baru, a city connected to Singapore by a causeway.





We received a report from MYTV Broadcasting Sdn Bhd about the selling of IPTV decoders, which do not meet the stipulated standards in the market.Five individuals, including a woman, will be called soon to assist in the investigations, Zulkarnain Mohd Yasin, chief executive, MCMC Network Security and Enforcement Sector, told news agency Bernama.The three raids, at a supermarket, a house and a warehouse, were carried out with cooperation from the police.Those who sell decoders which do not meet the Communications and Multimedia (Technical Standards) Regulations 2000 under Malaysias Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 would commit a digital piracy offence, said Zulkarnian.The decoders should also be approved by SIRIM to ensure that the device is useable and that its safety and quality are guaranteed, he added.
Sberbank Factoring seeks $7 mln from troubled Internet retailer Ulmart

MOSCOW, December 8 (RAPSI)  Sberbank Factoring has filed a suit with the Moscow Commercial Court against NAO Ulmart within Ulmart group of companies seeking 435.3 million rubles (up to $7 million) in debt, according to court records.

Earlier, Sberbank Factoring has turned to a commercial court demanding pre-action remedies to be introduced with regard to the company saying it was planning to recover from it 1.5 billion rubles (almost $24 million) and was ready to file the respective claim before December 15. However, the court dismissed the petition for remedies.

Moreover, yet on December 5 Sberbank of Russia filed a claim seeking to recover 1.007 billion rubles (almost $16 million) from four firms within Ulmart group of companies with the Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region.

Several other claims to Ulmart group of companies are currently reviewed by courts. Thus, the Baltiyskaya Electronic Trading Platform turned to the Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region seeking a Ulmarts structure Ulmart Regional Sales Company bankruptcy. The hearings are set to begin on December 20. As an injunctive relief in these bankruptcy proceedings, the court prohibited nine banks to carry out automatic transfers from a number of the debtors accounts.

Besides, yet in November a Russian businessman lodged with the Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region a bankruptcy claim against another firm within Ulmart group of companies, which is to be examined on December 15.

The group of companies Ulmart is the largest Russian private Internet holding focusing on e-commerce segment. The companys distribution network consists of over 400 sales outlets across more than 240 Russian cities and towns.
Prosecutors seek 5-year prison sentence for student accused of trying to join ISIS

MOSCOW, December 8 (RAPSI, Yevgeniya Sokolova)  Prosecutors are seeking five-year jail sentence for Varvara Karaulova, a student of the Moscow State University, who stands charged with attempting to join the Islamic State militants in Syria, RAPSI reports from the Moscow District Military Court on Thursday.

During the hearings taking place on October 31, it was revealed that Karaulova suffers from mental illness.

The student went on trial on October 5. Her parents, friends as well as teachers of the Moscow State University have been already questioned.

The second-year student of the Moscow State Universitys Faculty of Philosophy allegedly decided to join the Islamic State terrorist group, also called ISIS, an organization banned in Russia, and secretly started off for Istanbul on May 27, RAPSI previously reported.

Karaulova was arrested on June 4 near Turkey's border with Syria along with 13 other Russian citizens when attempting to cross into the territory occupied by Islamic State terrorists.

After being escorted to Russia in October, Karaulova was put in jail.

She pleaded not guilty.
Defendants in Russian Border Agency embezzlement case to stay in detention

MOSCOW, December 8 (RAPSI, Diana Gutsul)  The Moscow City Court has upheld a ruling to extend detention of defendants in criminal case over embezzlement at the Federal Border Development Agency, RAPSI learned in the court on Thursday.

On December 1, the Agencys ex-head Dmitry Bezdelov has pleaded not guilty to embezzlement of money allocated for the construction of a border checkpoint.

According to Boris Kozhemyakin, lawyer of Bezdelov, his client has filed a motion seeking to join his case and a case against other employees of the Federal Border Development Agency which is also being considered by the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow. The lawyer believes that if the cases are consolidated, some disappeared documents confirming Bezdelovs innocence would be found.

Earlier, Bezdelov refused to seek asylum in Italy and intended to prove his innocence in a Russian court, the attorney added.

Bezdelov stands charged with embezzlement and organizing a criminal gang. The Meshchansky District Court began preliminary hearings in the case against the Federal Border Development Agencys ex-head on Thursday.

Investigators claim that in 2009, Bezdelov, then head of the Federal Border Development Agency, conspired with a range of people to embezzle public funds allocated for the construction of checkpoints on the state border. From September 2009 to May 2013, they stole and laundered budget funds valued at 490 million rubles ($7.5 million).

Bezdelov resigned from his post in October 2013 after a probe had revealed inappropriate use of budget funds by the agency. He was arrested in Rome in October 2014 after he had been put on the international wanted list. Italy's court of appeals upheld the decision to extradite Bezdelov to Russia in October 2015. The Supreme Court left the judgment intact.

A criminal case against Bezdelovs seven alleged accomplices is presently being considered by court. Two other defendants have been already sentenced to long prison terms. One more defendant absconded during the trial and was put on the federal wanted list.
Russian tycoon Polonsky denies guilt in embezzlement case

MOSCOW, December 8 (RAPSI, Oleg Sivozhelezov)  Russian developer Sergei Polonsky charged with large-scale embezzlement relating to the construction of premium residential real estate denied his guilt, RAPSI learnt in the Presnensky District Court on Thursday.

After a prosecutor had read the closing indictment, Polonsky emphatically denied the charges of serious fraud brought against him.

On November 7, the court extended the detention of Polonsky charged with embezzlement of 2.6 billion rubles ($41 million) for six months.

According to investigators, Polonsky, aided by Alexander Paperno, Head of the Mirax Group Finance Department and Alexei Pronyakin, CEO of Avanta company, have defrauded participants of shared construction apartment projects of 2.6 billion rubles ($41.2 million), thus committing a serious crime.

Polonsky, who is the founder of Potok (formerly Mirax Group), a diversified corporation that has been involved in several large development projects, is deemed to cause damages in amount of 2.4 billion rubles (around $38 million) regarding Kutuzov Mile and 256 million rubles (around $4 million) with regard to Rublyovskaya Riviera development projects.

Other projects Polonsky has been involved in include Federation Tower in the Moscow International Business Center, office buildings Mirax Plaza, Poklonnaya 11 and Admiral, condominium developments Mirax Park, Golden Keys 1 and 2, and the Well House.

In May 2015, the Cambodian authorities, where Polonsky had been avoiding Russian prosecution, extradited him to Russia.

If convicted, Polonsky could face up to ten years in prison. Polonsky has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors demand 22 years behind bars for Russias top anti-corruption official

MOSCOW, December 8 (RAPSI, Yevgeniya Sokolova)  The prosecutor in the case of Lieutenant General Denis Sugrobov, the former head of the Interior Ministry's Economic Security and Anti-corruption Department who stands charged with organizing a criminal group, asked to sentence him to 22 years in high-security prison, RAPSI learnt in the Moscow City Court on Thursday.

A lawyer representing another defendant in the case told RAPSI that the prosecutor asked the court to sentence other officers on trial to 1721 years of close confinement.

According to the lawyer, prosecutors asked the court to unfreeze the assets owned by the defendants, which had been earlier sized by a lower court, as they failed to establish corruption as a driving motive behind the actions of the accused.

This Monday the court started to hear the pleadings of the parties in camera.

According to investigators, Sugrobov and his deputy Boris Kolesnikov tried to provoke a Federal Security Service (FSB) officer by offering him $10,000 a month for his protection. Sugrobov was charged with organizing a criminal group, abuse of power and bribery last May.

Kolesnikov was arrested in February 2014. In June, he jumped out of a window during questioning at the Investigative Committee. Later the Basmanny District Court said no evidence was found of assisted suicide.

Sugrobov, 39, is one of the youngest police generals. Kolesnikov was 36 when he was promoted to general.

Altogether, 10 defendants are involved in this case with case materials making 400 volumes. Thirty persons are recognized as aggrieved parties, thirteen of whom seek to recover in total 218 million rubles (about $3.5 million) from the defendants.
The Roman Catholic Church will allow priests all over the world to grant forgiveness for abortion. This announcement came from Pope Francis at the end of the Jubilee of Mercy  a holy year dedicated to forgiveness.

When the holy year concluded on Nov. 20, Pope Francis made permanent the permission that he had provisionally given priests to forgive the sin of procuring abortion through the sacrament of reconciliation, more commonly known as confession.

Numerous questions were raised following the popes decision: Could priests not forgive abortions already? Or, is the pope softening the Churchs stance on abortion?

As a Catholic academic who studies the diversity of global Catholicism, I believe the popes actions are significant: The pope is ratifying a practice that is already in place in much of the Catholic world; he is also broadening the possibilities for Catholic priests to show care for the laity under their charge.

Abortion in Catholic canon law

The first thing to appreciate is that abortion has a complex place not just in broader Catholic understandings of sin, but in the Churchs complex legal codes.

It is also important to understand that in context of abortion the sin is procuring abortion  not just abortion. It includes, potentially, not just the one who carries out the abortion, but also the woman who obtains the abortion (if she does so as a conscious act, freely, knowing that it is wrong or sinful) and others who aid and abet the process.

Throughout Catholic history there has been periodic debate over when ensoulment of the fetus occurs. For example, and most famously, St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the foremost shapers of Catholic doctrine in the period following the Middle Ages, argued that ensoulment actually occurs for boys at 40 days after conception, and at 80 days for girls.

Nonetheless, abortion itself has been routinely condemned, from early Christian councils in A.D. 305 to the present day. In 1588 Pope Sixtus V attached the penalty of excommunication to abortion in his Papal Bull, an official letter from the pope. Pope St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis have also all emphasized abortion as among the gravest of sins.

AP Photo/Andres Kudacki

When the pope extended the authority of priests to forgive the sin of procuring an abortion, he was addressing a crucial distinction in the law of the Roman Catholic Church. Canon law, the official law or canons of the Catholic Church, makes a distinction between a sin and a crime.

A sin is an act committed with full knowledge and consent that goes against Gods will: Sins, particularly mortal sins which endanger a persons salvation, such as murder, theft and adultery, are normally absolved or forgiven when a person confesses his or her sins to a priest. This, in the Catholic Church, is the sacrament of reconciliation.

A crime is a transgression of law that carries with it a particular canonical, or legal, sanction. For example, in addition to procuring abortion, attacking the pope, ordaining women to the priesthood and violating the confidentiality of the confessional would be considered crimes according to Catholic canon law.

Abortion  both sin and crime

So, from a Catholic legal perspective, not all sins are crimes, but all crimes are sins.

Procuring abortion, as canon lawyer Edwin Peters makes clear, is treated as both a sin and a crime under Catholic legal codes. As a sin, procuring an abortion must be confessed to a priest.

But as a crime, procured abortion carries with it the penalty of latae sententiae excommunication: that is, automatic expulsion from the Catholic Church. Only sins that are also crimes incur automatic excommunication, although one can be excommunicated through a formal process for other reasons  something that is very rarely done nowadays.

The fact that procuring an abortion is both a sin and a crime places those wanting to confess in a peculiar bind: They cannot be absolved of the sin without confessing before a priest. However, since they have been automatically excommunicated, they are denied access to the absolution of sins granted in the confessional.

Normally, it is only within the power of the bishop to remove the penalty of excommunication. So someone wishing to be absolved of the sin of procuring an abortion would first need to have the penalty of excommunication lifted by the bishop before confessing to a priest.

In 2009, for example, the family of a nine-year-old girl in Brazil who had an abortion after having been raped by her stepfather was excommunicated by the local bishop, as were the doctors who performed the procedure. While the bishops decision brought a huge backlash among rank-and-file Catholics, it was formally consistent with the letter  if not the spirit  of Church law.

What will change?

What Pope Francis is doing is allowing priests to simultaneously lift the penalty of excommunication and absolving someone who confesses to procuring an abortion. In other words, the intervention of the local bishop is no longer necessary.

In many parts of the Catholic world, the popes decision actually does not change anything. For example, in most American dioceses priests already have the permission to do exactly what Pope Francis is allowing: to lift the penalty of excommunication and absolve the sin of procuring abortion.

So, perhaps the most relevant questions are, Why is Pope Francis doing this now and what difference does it make?

On one level, Pope Francis is extending a practice that has now become common in many places and making it universal throughout the Catholic Church: not all Catholic dioceses or bishops allow their priests to lift excommunication along with absolving the sin of procured abortion. As the 2009 Brazilian case makes clear, that authority is not in place in many dioceses.

L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP

But on another level, Pope Franciss act is encouraging priests to be more sensitive to context of their parishioners lives, as in the case of the nine-year-old girl, and to rely less upon legalistic formulas and definitions when it comes to dealing with the complex realities of human life.

In the United States, for example, Catholic women tend to obtain abortions at a greater rate than Protestant women. In 2014, 24 percent of U.S. abortion patients identified as Catholic.

Given the strong prohibition against abortion in the Catholic Church, it is clear that a significant number of Catholic women in the United States believe that an abortion is a personal decision that reflects their own assessment of what is not only in their best interest but also in the best interests of their families.

A path for the church to be more merciful

While Pope Francis decision in relation to abortion is not surprising in and of itself, it is part of an overall approach to Catholic teaching and practice that seeks to make it more humane, more merciful and more easily adaptable to the vicissitudes of everyday human life.

And just as this approach has many supporters who value flexibility and sensitivity, it also has detractors who value the clarity and cogency of timeless truths that allow no variation in their application and enforcement.
In 1935, the writer Carlo Levi was arrested by Benito Mussolinis Fascist police for anti-government activity, condemned to internal exile and packed off to Aliano, a primitive village buried in the remote fastness of the countrys southern half, known colloquially as the Mezzogiorno. For northern Italians, there were few fates worse. In his classic memoir of this experience, Christ Stopped at Eboli, Levi describes a world as distant from Rome as Rome was from the sun. As the villagers told Levi, even Christ stopped at Eboli, a village just north of Aliano. No one has come to this land except as an enemy, a conqueror or a visitor devoid of understandingno message, human or divine, has reached this stubborn poverty.

Published slightly more than 70 years ago, Levis account nevertheless serves as a guide to last weekends referendum vote in Italy. Commentators have offered an array of reasons for the overwhelming defeat of the proposed changes to the Italian constitution. Some interpret it as a slap at the referendums author, Matteo Renzi, the now-former prime minister whose political adroitness was not compensation enough for his personal arrogance. A sharp observer of Italian politics, Alessandro Carrera at the University of Houston, echoes a Jacques Lacan remark to describe Renzi: There are two kinds of madmen: those who are mad and think they are king, and those who are king and think they are king. Others see it as a slap at the European Union, which had supported Renzis effort to simplify a constitutional machine made deliberately complicated to prevent the rise of another Mussolini. Still others see it as a slap at the winds of globalization and immigration that threaten to erase the nations boundaries and identity.

No doubt all these motives played their roles at the voting booth. The victory of the No camp, Mario Calabria wrote in La Repubblica, has many fathers. But an important source of paternity has mostly been overlooked: the arid and austere Mezzogiorno. When Levi was deported to Aliano, the region was devastated by malaria and cholera, despoiled by clientelism and corruption, and deprived of basic needs such as medical care and infrastructure. Most of the villagers teetered between survival and starvation, while a small elite drained government monies into their private coffers. For the villagers, Levi writes, the State was at best indifferent, at worst inimical to their interests. Everyone knows, he was told, that the fellows in Rome dont want us to live like human beings. There are hailstorms, landslides, drought and.the State.

In one of the absurd juxtapositions between the worlds of southern and northern Italy, Levi describes his encounter with a strange monument in the village squarea public toilet that Rome, for mysterious reasons, had delivered to Aliano. A massive and meticulously appointed structure, which had landed like a meteorite in a village hundreds of miles from a water and sewer system, the toilet was used only by children, who floated paper boats on the stagnant water in the basins. Levi notes that, on one side of the wall, the manufacturers name was inscribed: Renzi & Co.

This is, of course, a coincidence, but it nevertheless underscores the many continuities between the 1930s and today. In a 2015 paper published by the research institution Svimez, there was an unrelievedly grim account of a region that has been called the Greece of Italy. If only it were the Greece of Italy, though. Between 2000 and 2013, Svimez notes, the regional economy grew by 13 percent -- a figure dwarfed even by Greece, whose economy grew 24 percent over the same period. The head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, in a speech devoted to what Italians refer to as the southern question, identified the Mezzogiorno as the largest and most populous backward territory of the Euro zone.

Statistics underscore how dramatic this backwardness is. The Mezzogiornos per-capita gross domestic product is less than half that of northern Italy, while the regions level of unemployment among the young -- rising to nearly 65 percent among women -- outstrips the already desultory figures from the north. Not surprisingly, more than half of those Italians who fall below the poverty threshold are from the Mezzogiorno, while another quarter report they face serious financial deprivation. A recent report from UNICEF revealed that nearly two million children live below the poverty line in Italy -- the highest percentage among EU member states -- with the greatest concentrations of poverty rooted in the south. Of the poorest of the poor -- those for whom basic needs are not met -- 42 percent live in Sicily, 32 percent in Campania and 31 percent are from Basilicata, the same region where Levi encountered children with the wizened faces of old men, their bodies reduced by starvation almost to skeletons.

While Levis villagers accepted their lot with Stoic apathy, this is not the case for their descendants. The electoral map based on Sundays vote strikingly reveals this change in regional mentality: The yes vote came mostly from provinces in the traditionally leftist strongholds of Emilia Romagna and Tuscany, as well as urban areas in the northern regions, apart from those areas dominated by the extreme right-wing Northern League. Importantly, as Carrera points out, the autonomous northern regions would have been weakened by the proposed constitutional change. The bottom half of Italy, on the other hand, voted overwhelmingly against the referendum. A popular writer of police thrillers, the Neapolitan Maurizio de Giovanni, had predicted this outcome. The referendum, for his fellow southerners, was not limited to technical matters. If you ask voters for their position on a constitutional question, they have the right to apply that question to the insidious problems they confront on a daily basis. They expressed, he continued, their rejection and dissatisfaction with a social and even existential situation which, in principle, was not the referendums subject.

Having spent a year in Aliono, Levi grasped that the villagers, while illiterate, nevertheless had a firm sense of justice. It was, he wrote, a spontaneous understanding of what the Government and the State should be, namely the will of the people expressed in terms of law. In the days leading up to the referendum, as they gazed at the Renzi government, composed of ministers who mostly hailed from the north, the men and women of the Mezzogiorno, now literate but still discriminated against, expressed once again their spontaneous understanding of justice. It remains for Rome to respond.
Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale

Buy real estate. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale in US and Canada.

Search Real Estate
,



We're sorry, this article is not currently available
The Kardashian sisters reportedly want to stop Blac Chyna from using their famous last name.

ADVERTISEMENT

TMZ reports that Kourtney, Kim and Khloe Kardashian are opposing Blac Chyna 's request to trademark "Angela Renee Kardashian."

Blac Chyna, born Angela Renee White, is engaged to and shares a daughter with the siblings' brother, Rob Kardashian.

Kourtney, Kim and Khloe's companies claim that Blac Chyna's trademark would cause them to "suffer damage including irreparable reputation and goodwill."

They also say the model is "deliberately seeking to profit from the goodwill and popularity" of the Kardashian name.

Blac Chyna and Rob got engaged in April after three months of dating and welcomed daughter Dream in October.

Rob's family was initially skeptical of the match, but sources told E! News the trademark conflict is "just business."

"Their trademark attorneys automatically oppose anyone trying to trademark 'Kardashian,'" an insider said. "Everyone loves each other."

FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS!

Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source!

Part of the Kardashians sisters' past hesitation about Blac Chyna was due to her previous relationship with Tyga , who is dating their half-sister Kylie Jenner

Blac Chyna, who shares 4-year-old son King Cairo with Tyga, denied lingering rumors of a feud in the September issue of People.

"We've all talked, I've met up with Kylie," she said at the time. "Everybody is mature. We're not holding onto grudges. We've moved on."
Florida, known for its beautiful beaches, alligators, and seasonal snowbirds, is also home to a hidden training complex known as Big 3 East Tactical Training Center. Tucked into the woods off an unmarked road, minutes away from Daytona Beach, Big 3 East sits on 80 acres (with access to 1,000 acres), and features 1,000 and 100-yard rifle ranges, a 50-yard pistol range, a 14-bed bunk house, and a 4,300 square foot classroom structure.

Twice a year, the veteran-operated training complex hosts a media and content creator event known simply as Big 3 East. Manufacturers, large and small, are invited to demonstrate their product to hungry reporters, bloggers, and photographers who also go hands on to evaluate and to just plain have a little fun. The Spring event played host to notable companies like Colt, FN America, and Spikes Tactical, as well as a multitude of smaller operations including Navy SEAL-founded Triumph Systems and veteran-owned Head Down Products.

The 4-day event was a celebration of the 2nd Amendment and free America with no shortage of SBRs, suppressors, and machine guns. Of particular interest were the number of quick takedown/assembly AR15s from MGI, Frontier Arms, and Pantheon Arms. Imagine the capability of breaking down an AR and fitting it into an ammo can. For militaria enthusiasts, FN America presented their Military Collector series which includes semi-auto (but full-auto marked) versions of the military M4, M16, and M249 SAW, while Colt brought out their Combat Unit 1911 pistol designed with retired SFOD-D Sergeant Major Daryl Holland, and the legendary Ken Hackathorn.

From precision bolt action rifles, to subcompact Derringers and prescription shooting glasses, there was a little something for every facet of the firearms community. As the grand finale, each gun on site was put to the test punching holes in cars laced with explosive targets by USA Chemical Supply.

Here's a look at some more of it.

About the Author: Quoc Ha is the Founder and President of Q Concepts Design and Photography. A former volunteer with his local disaster assistance response team, he went on to donate time and expertise to his local police department. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science from UCLA and shoots as well as well with a rifle as he does with a camera  and that's saying something. Breaking from the tradition of entering the Doctor/Lawyer/Engineering professions, Q took a leap of faith and followed his creative passions and taught himself how to push buttons on a camera. He's been responsible for not only the photography in several issues of RECOIL, OFFGRID, and CONCEALMENT, but has also done design and photography work for numerous manufacturers and training organizations in the firearms/tactical industry. Go further back and you'll find his talents have been applied to some extremely interesting other projects, like G.I. Joe action figures with Sideshow Collectibles. Learn more about him here or find Q Concepts online here.

Q and RECOILweb editor David Reeder on assignment in Amman, Jordan, at the King Abdullah Special Operations Training Center.
MASTER THE PULL-UP IN NO TIME

WARNING!

The exercises and content expressed in this column are for illustrative purposes only. Consult your physician before trying any physical activity or nutritional plan. RECOIL and its contributors are not responsible for any harm or injuries sustained while attempting these techniques.

Athletes and beefcakes alike can sometimes fall into the trap of developing only mirror muscles, the ones guys look at when they pose in the mirror (e.g. chest, biceps, etc.). This means neglecting one of the most important components of one's physique: the back. This could lead to poor performance at the least and possible catastrophic failures at the worst, such as the inability to climb over an obstacle or to carry a downed partner. Enter the pull-up.

WHY IS THE PULL-UP IMPORTANT?

Few exercises command as much respect as the pull-up. It's a true test of body weight mastery and one of the most functional exercises you can do. There's a reason why Navy SEAL and Marine Corps physical fitness tests require them  because they're that important! Aside from it just being one of those exercises that everyone wants to be able to do, pull-ups can be great for back development and shoulder health. If you happen to be someone who's primarily focused on bench presses and biceps curls, then evening out some of that pressing with pull-ups can do great things for your shoulders and posture. You wouldn't want to be walking around with the posture of a jumbo shrimp.

Pull-ups also build the lat muscles, which run basically from your armpit to your lower back. It should be pretty apparent by the area this muscle covers that it's a key player in your upper body. It can play a significant role in stabilizing your shoulders, which can correlate to better groupings at the range, throwing a punch, or successfully bringing down an attacker.

WHAT DOES A GOOD PULL-UP LOOK LIKE?

We can't really talk about pull-up training without first discussing how to do one properly. First, there should be no kipping or anything else resembling a dry heave hanging from the bar. That's the perfect recipe for shoulder problems. The pull-up should be done under control as to not cause injury. Slowing the movement down also happens to fix many of the common problems that occur with this exercise.

To do a great pull-up:

Begin in a dead hang position with your shoulder blades pulled down like you're doing the opposite of a shrug.

Grip the bar hard, and brace like you're going to take a punch to the stomach. This may not seem like much, but this technique alone can improve your pull-up numbers and quality.

Keeping your chin tucked back, drive your elbows to your sides and squeeze your shoulder blades down and back. Don't let your elbows travel behind your torso.

Pause briefly, then slowly lower yourself. Stop just short of the very bottom.

The pull-up requires a heavy emphasis on strength. It's considered a foundational quality because strength is a huge factor in most other fitness qualities. Strength will obviously need to be adequate to complete a few repetitions, but it also plays a significant role in increasing that number. The stronger you are, the less relative effort it's going to take to complete a pull-up, making repetitions easier.

Grip strength and endurance also play a huge role in pull-ups. We need to be able to hold on to a bar or ledge firmly for all of the repetitions you complete. If 20 pull-ups is the goal, that's quite a bit of time to be hanging on.

SAMPLE PROGRAMMING

If completing one pull-up is a challenge, we have you covered. Getting that first pull-up can be the most rewarding, but also the most frustrating if it's been a while and you haven't achieved it. We'll first look at what a program would look like for someone who is unable to complete his or her first pull-up. Here, we're going to break down a muscle contraction, and focus on two of the three parts: an isometric and eccentric contraction. What this means is that you'll get a boost to the top position, hold yourself there for five seconds (isometric), then slowly lower yourself to the bottom position in five seconds (eccentric). Once you can complete five repetitions in a row, you should be able to do one full pull-up. Here's what that would look like:

HOLD PLUS LOWERING SETS REPS REST (SEC) Week 1 3 3 90 Week 2 3 4 90 Week 3 4 4 90 Week 4 4 4 90 Week 5 2 5 90

Straight sets are the most common way to program for any type of goal. This entails simply completing, for example, three sets of eight repetitions. You would do one set of eight, rest, complete another set of eight, rest, and finally complete the last set. This is one of the best methods to strength train, and should be the bulk of your program. The one thing to keep in mind is to vary your training stress (called periodization) to make sure you're able to continue seeing progress and ensure you're not always going balls to the wall in your training. That would surely impede your progress in the gym. Here's what a sample might look like:

STRAIGHT SETS SETS REPS REST (SEC) Week 1 4 5 90 Week 2 4 5 90 Week 3 5 5 90 Week 4 3 5 90

Cluster sets are something a little different that can be beneficial in building strength and switching up some of the training if your performance has plateaued. Cluster sets are basically just like doing a set within a set within a set. So, for example, you would do a set of two reps, rest 10 seconds, do another set, rest 10 seconds, do another set, rest 10 seconds, and finally do your last set. This constitutes one full set.

This is great because it allows you to take a weight you'd normally only be able to lift a few times, such as a pull-up plus 25 pounds, and increases that number all within a single set. More repetitions with a heavy weight equates to increased strength. Here's what a program might look like using cluster sets:

CLUSTER SETS CLUSTERS SETS REPS REST BETWEEN CLUSTERS (SEC) REST (MIN) Week 1 4 4 2 10 2 Week 2 4 4 2 10 2 Week 3 4 4 2 10 2 Week 4 3 3 2 10 2

Grip strength can be a key player in pull-ups, and can be one of the main reasons why you can only do a few. This gets even more important the more repetitions you are able to do. Luckily, training the grip is pretty simple. We'll use two exercises to focus on the grip, farmer's carries and dead hangs from a bar. For the farmer's carry, just grab two heavy weights and go for a walk.

WEEK 1 WEEK 2 WEEK 3 WEEK 4 GRIP STRENGTH

SETS REPS SETS REPS SETS REPS SETS REPS REST Farmer's Carry 3 40 yds 3 40 yds 3 40 yds 2 40 yds 60 sec Dead Hang 3 20 sec 3 25 sec 3 25 sec 2 30 sec 60 sec

The dead hang is exactly what it sounds like: hanging from a bar in the correct position outlined above.

Here's an example of how you would program for those two exercises. You'll complete the farmer's carry for three sets before moving to the dead hang.

CONCLUSION

It may seem daunting to get your first bodyweight pull-up, or maybe it's getting to double-digits that seems out of reach. More often than not, if you haven't been successful in getting more pull-ups, you need to prioritize them more in your training. Using the aforementioned techniques should push you up to that next level.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ryne Gioviano is a frequent contributor to our sister publication RECOIL OFFGRID magazine and the co-owner of Welligee Personal Training & Lifestyle located in Naperville, Illinois. He holds a master's degree in exercise physiology and is certified through the National Strength and Conditioning Association. You can find more information at www.welligee.com.
With vivacious curves and seductive rings, karambits are like the sexy foreign exchange student you know nothing about, but would love to get your hands on. Originally used as a utility tool by farmers and fishermen in Indonesia, this ancient knife (also spelled kerambit) was patterned after a tiger's claw and eventually morphed into a self-defense weapon. It's become all the rage in recent years among Western knife nuts.

The karambit has haters, though. Some complain the curvature makes it a horrible everyday-carry (EDC) knife, while the lack of a straight tip makes it a poor fighting knife.

But those who practice Indonesian silat, Filipino kali, and other Southeast Asian systems know better. A karambit is brutally effective at ripping tendons, redirecting limbs, leveraging takedowns, and (cue the groans) disemboweling. It's not without a specific purpose.

And, no, the ring in the handle is not for spinning it around like a cowboy's six-shooter. Sure, some twirling techniques do exist, but the ring has two primary functions: striking and retentioneven if covered in mud or blood. With your index finger inside the ring with a reverse grip (the most common position), it's next to impossible for a bad guy to disarm you.

This exotic genre has only gotten more popular since we featured it back in Issue 6, so here are just a few of the latest Asian (inspired) models you'll want to fondle today. Also check elsewhere in this issue for Steve Tarani's article on the history of the karambit to learn more about why its effectiveness is a key to its longevity.

Pinkerton KnivesARK (Active Response Karambit)5.46 inches1.6 inches154CM stainless steel1.2 ounces$80

Combative EdgeDragon's Tail7 inches2.5 inchesD2 tool steel3.69 ounces$170

Boker PlusWildcat7.38 inches2.88 inchesD2 tool steel4.6 ounces$120

Ontario Knife CompanyRanger Kerambit EOD7.5 inches3.6 inches5160 carbon steel8.8 ounces$237

Fox Knives479KN Neptune Kryptek G10 Folding Karambit7.6 inches3 inchesN690Co stainless steel4.6 ounces$150

Emerson KnivesSuper Karambit8 inches3 inches154CM stainless steel5.6 ounces$308

Interrogating the Suspects

TOPS KnivesTAC-TOPS Karambit11.25 inches7.13 inches1095 carbon steel10 ounces$210

After fielding a request from a U.S. contractor in Afghanistan, Dirk Pinkerton devised (with input from Chad McBroom of Comprehensive Fighting System) this backup blade to stay in your hand even while you're shooting, reloading, or hauling gear. (Note: We reviewed a prototype. The production version will reportedly have a tumble-blast finish and chamfers at the corners for more comfort.) Made in the USA.

Pros:

Reminiscent of the Max Venom Karambite, the ARK's extended tang above the ring provides tension that keeps the knife in hand even if you hold it palm down.

154CM is one of our favorite blade steels.

Quality Kydex sheath can be worn around the neck or affixed to a belt or pack.

Cons:

Placement of the ring (for the middle finger) offsets our grip by several millimetersjust enough to make it feel a little awkward.

Not for tactical mall ninjas: If you plan to use the ARK while shooting, lots of mindful training will be needed beforehand to prevent accidental cuts.

Designed by two martial artists (Rob Walker of Combative Edge and C. Despins of Max Venom Product Group), the Dragon's Tail combines a karambit handle with a spear-point blade in a slim package. This hybrid design provides the benefits of a karambit (retention ring, concealability, etc.) with a wider range of utility due to its versatile blade profile. Comes with a well-built custom Kydex sheath. Made in the USA.

Pros:

Blade shape suitable for combat and most EDC tasks.

Despite the anorexic look, it's the most comfortable knife in this buyer's guide to hold, whether in reverse or forward grip.

Compact, slim, and concealable

Pointed pommel on ring for striking

Cons:

D2 is a good tool steel, but for the price we would prefer a premium stainless.

Due to its curve, the Dragon's Tail is a tad difficult to place smoothly into the sheath.

Boker's blade-smithing lineage goes back almost 200 years, so its reputation for manufacturing quality swords, knives, tools, and other edged implements is well deserved. The company's Boker Plus line aims to offer gear at affordable prices by manufacturing in China or Taiwan. The Wildcat is one such specimen, combining Chinese manufacturing with German engineering based on an Indonesian concept.

Pros:

Sleek hybrid aesthetics

Smooth flipper opening

Durable yet comfortable G-10 scales

Reversible pocket clip for right- and wrong-handed users.

Cons:

This made-in-China knife retails for 120 clams?!

Recurve blade diminishes some of the karambit's greatest attributes: ripping and hooking.

In forward grip, we had to keep our pinky outside of the ring, which splayed our digit if looped inside.

Ontario Knife Company (OKC) has operated out of New York for more than 125 years, with a long history of making tools for the U.S. military. So it's no surprise that OKC's Ranger lineup consists of edged weapons meant for combat in the harshest terrain. Designed by U.S. special operations veteran Justin Gingrich, this model was made specifically for the U.S. Marine Corps EODhence the name. Made in the USA.

Pros:

The 0.25-inch-thick blade is made of tough 5160 carbon steel to stand up to abuse.

Though not stainless, the steel is powdercoated to help fight off corrosion.

Thick-ass Micarta scales ideal for heavy-duty use and those with sausage fingers or gloves

Cons:

Bust out the sharpener; edge came kinda dull out of the box.

One of the worst designed sheaths we've seen in a while. It's ill-fitting with limited mounting options.

This top-tier folder has three opening methods: flipper tab, tear-drop thumb hole, and Emerson Knives' patented wave-shaped feature (which opens the blade as you draw by snagging on your pocket). Offered exclusively at www.karambit.com , this version has handle scales with Neptune Kryptek camo. Also available in Typhon Kryptek (a blackish pattern) and Highlander Kryptek (more desert-y colors). Made in Italy.

Pros:

The N690Co blade cuts and stabs like a laser.

The G-10 scales (our favorite handle material) is smooth without being slippery.

Love having multiple opening methods

Reversible pocket clip

Cons:

In forward grip, the position of the ring is too far rearward, forcing our pinky to sit uncomfortably inside of it.

It's impossible to talk about karambits without mentioning Emerson Knives; naturally we included one from this California company. The Super Karambit is Ernest Emerson's modern interpretation of a large-ish karambit, and the results are first-class. (Watch for a future review of his karambit flipper model, which we got to play with briefly, but was still being tweaked at press time.) Made in the USA.

Pros:

Wave-shaped feature on the blade's spine allows for lightning-fast draws from one's pocket.

The 154CM blade features a chisel grind, making it razor sharp.

Superb construction and craftsmanship

Incredibly durable (and reversible) pocket clipsomething lacking in many production folders.

Cons:

The roughness of the G-10 scales acts as sandpaper on our pants.

In forward grip, the retention ring forces an awkward pinky position.

Knife noobs, this is not the karambit you seek. Designed by C. Despins (there's that name again), this bad boy is meant for advanced users. Born out of a request from an elite military operator who needed a deadly tool he could carry while wearing gloves, this innovative chimera combines the Indonesian blueprint with a kukri's reach and quality American manufacturing. Made in the USA.

Pros:

Inventive design meets battlefield lethality

Pointed pommel on the ring is skull-crushingly crafted without being too obtrusive.

Though almost a foot long, it weighs only 10 ounces.

Because 1095 carbon steel rusts easily, this monster features a black traction coating to help prevent corrosion.

Cons:

Length precludes it from being a practical EDC tool, unless you're a doorkicker  or want to draw plenty of unwanted attention.

Will require knife-fighting experience and/or training

MORE OF THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS AND OTHER KNIVES
In 2015, the internet gave birth to "Netflix and Chill" and the revelation that any misfortune  no matter how minute  calls for a healthy dose of Michael Jordan tears

Memes continued to reign supreme in 2016, but with a somewhat newsier twist. After all, its not every year America sees a presidential election, the Olympics and a "Gilmore Girls" remake.

Here are 10 of the biggest meme themes of the year. #NeverForget.

Politics as usual. The World Wide Web sees some of its brightest and darkest moments during presidential election years (R.I.P., legitimate news), but you cant argue that they don't make for great meme-age. Between Trumps hair and Hillary Clintons inbox, political memes were ripe for the picking.

A photo posted by Tank.Sinatra (@tank.sinatra) on Sep 26, 2016 at 6:26pm PDT

More specifically, Joe Biden. Americas uncle-in-chief  as the interwebs dubbed him  was arguably the biggest thing to happen to memes since Drake's Americas uncle-in-chief  as the interwebs dubbed him  was arguably the biggest thing to happen to memes since Drake's Hotline Bling music video. As the election progressed, Biden memes came in hot, painting him as Obamas fun-loving, practical jokester BFF (complete with friendship bracelets ).

A photo posted by Obama Biden (@obama.biden) on Nov 12, 2016 at 6:54pm PST

Animals that look like food. Who knew that a piece of fried chicken could look so much like a labradoodle puppy? Or that sloths so closely resemble croissants? Or that the Chihuahua-blueberry muffin likeness is uncanny. Who cares, the world is a better place for it.

labradoodle or fried chicken ? pic.twitter.com/wn5bdjdtDf  karen zack (@teenybiscuit) March 3, 2016

Lethargy. When the current meme generation is old and gray, they'll look back fondly on 2016 as the year they decided to stay at home, binge watch Netflix, hibernate and generally be as antisocial as possible. The "Gilmore Girls" reboot surely did not help this year's social scene.

Advertisement

A photo posted by Memes.com (@memes) on Nov 6, 2016 at 7:06am PST

Harambe. First the internet was furious about the Cincinnati Zoo's decision to shoot Harambe  a 17-year-old male gorilla  after a boy fell into his enclosure. Then they spent a few days calling for the boy's mother to be arrested and charged with child endangerment. And on the seventh day, they made memes.

You either die a hero, or live along enough to see yourself become the villain pic.twitter.com/lK0dFb6yY3  C.j. (@CScsavnickii) September 26, 2016

Evil Kermit. Originating from the 2014 "Muppets Most Wanted" film, Evil Kermit is 2016's version of having a devil on one shoulder, an angel on the other. The formula follows your standard internal struggle, except with more dogs and shopping.

Advertisement

A photo posted by Tank.Sinatra (@tank.sinatra) on Nov 26, 2016 at 11:20am PST

Michael Phelps. McKayla Maroney's McKayla Maroney's unimpressed smirk is so 2012. While Michael Phelps listened to Future and unleashed the death stare to end all death stares at the Summer Olympics, America watched on in horror  and then promptly turned him into a meme.

When you're told to insert your card after you already swiped it. pic.twitter.com/lfKDoWBbyN  A.J. Voelpel (@AJVoelpelCG) August 9, 2016

Stock art. While perhaps most relevant to anyone who works with stock art on a daily basis, everyone can get a chuckle out of a sarcastic caption pasted below an impossibly clean-cut guy at a desk. Most stock art memes target job interviews, hating your job, quitting your job or being generally jobless.

A photo posted by random ape (@random.ape) on Oct 15, 2016 at 1:38pm PDT

Dogs acting like people. Animal memes have stood the test of time, and 2016 brought a playful new approach: Animals acting like people. Or dressed like people. Or glaring at their people.

A photo posted by DogsBeingBasic (@dogsbeingbasic) on Sep 19, 2016 at 12:14pm PDT

2016. Memes mocking the sheer ridiculousness of 2016 (mostly election-related, if we're being honest) is the internet's way of laughing at itself. Here's to the madness that was this year and the many memes that got us through. R.I.P., 2016.
"I never wanted fame, I just became a Kennedy."

In the week following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy grapples with the pain of losing her husband, her status as first lady of the U.S. and the life to which she had become accustomed. In the aftermath of the events of that week in 1963, Jackie comes to that conclusion about herself while meeting with her priest, a moment that brings the entire struggle of "Jackie," directed by Pablo Larrain, to a head.

Advertisement

That conflict comes from Natalie Portman's performance, which is equal parts riveting and heartbreaking, as the former first lady navigating her private grief while striving to uphold the dignity of her late husband's presidency. Portman's Jackie springs into action, defying her public image of a refined debutante behind closed doors, while working to create a legacy out of her husband's short time in office with the spectacle of his funeral.

"Jackie" focuses less on the historical aspects of the week following Kennedy's assassinationthough Lorrain does incorporate footage from old newscasts as often as possibleand more on analyzing the fabric of Jackie's character. Portman expertly mines the tension and awkwardness between the public and private perception of Jackie while relaying the events of the week to journalist Theodore White (Billy Crudup).

Advertisement

While Portman remains consistent in her performance, the timing of the film, meant to highlight the uncertainty of Jackie's life following her husband's death, gives the audience pause in piecing together the events of the week. This would have been more effective if the startling confrontations and reflections on her husband's death were more evenly interspersed with Jackie's quiet moments of contemplation.

As she retells the story of her first week as a widow to White, the audience sees Jackie's metamorphosis in different situations, whether she's with her husband's equally ill-fated brother, Bobby (Peter Saarsgard), her personal aide, Nancy (Greta Gerwig), or her priest (John Hurt) to whom she makes her grand confession, and Portman shines as she embodies each of these different iterations of her character.

Portman reconciles the indulgent and extravagant aspects of Jackie's character with the strong-willed first lady looking to create something for the American people out of a nationwide tragedy. Crudup's character puts it best in comparing JFK's death with America losing its father, and Jackie stepping in to be the country's mother. Maternal comparisons aside, Jackie controls the narrative of her conversation with White, alternating between being truly transparent and heartbroken with being sardonic and biting, before historically comparing her late husband's presidency to the Arthurian legend of "one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot."

Though the film is essentially a look into the private life of Jackie directly following the assassination of JFK, Portman's portrayal is no weak widow overcome by grief. There are some tearjerking moments, yes, but ultimately the film is about Jackie's attempt to justify her extravagance by creating something grand out of her sudden perceived devolution into nothing. "There won't be another Camelot," she insists.

3.5 stars (out of 4)

@shelbielbostedt | sbostedt@redeyechicago.com
Pedestrians walk around Northwestern University's main campus, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016, in Evanston. The university administration recently rejected a petition presented by students, that asked for the university to be designated as a sanctuary campus. (Alyssa Pointer / Chicago Tribune)

Adopting a "sanctuary campus" label has been a pressing issue for college students and faculty across the state.

But Illinois universities are stopping short of adopting that label, even though they intend to continue to protect undocumented students in other ways.

Advertisement

The sanctuary campus idea is modeled after so-called sanctuary cities, which don't take proactive steps to identify and report people living in the country illegally. Donald Trump pledged increase deportations during his campaign, and the effort might gain traction now that he will be inaugurated as president on Jan. 20.

The University of Illinois is the latest university to reject the call to label itself a sanctuary campus because of the unclear legal implications of doing so, even after thousands signed a petition asking school officials to adopt the label.

Advertisement

Northwestern University rejected a similar petition, but said it has no intention of rescinding its support for undocumented students. The University of Chicago and DePaul University are among other Illinois schools who have pledged their support without adopting the label.

Schools that have declared themselves sanctuary campuses indicate their willingness to defy local and federal immigration authorities, vowing not to facilitate the questioning, detainment or deportation of undocumented students on their campuses, according to the Tribune.

For information, check out the Tribune's report.

@RianneCoale | rcoale@redeyechicago.com
Holiday markets galore, a cocktail class and more things to do in Chicago this weekend, Dec. 9-11.

EAT

Gift Galleria & Food Truck Extravaganza (Free!)

Advertisement

Newcity

1457 N. Halsted St. 312-248-8569

Advertisement

The Lincoln Park mall livens up your holiday shopping by hosting live music, food trucks and vendors in their plaza including Gotta B Crepes, Black Garlic North America and The Bleu Olive. 2-8 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday. Free.

DRINK

Holiday Cocktail Class 101

Billy Sunday

3143 W. Logan Blvd. 773-661-2485

Learn how to make mulled wine, eggnog, flips and other drinks and pick up tips for hosting. You'll also take home some recipes. 1 p.m. Sunday. $50. Tickets: brownpapertickets.com

More Than a Day Job Opening Party (Free!)

Logan Square Tattoo

2352 N. Milwaukee Ave. 414-758-0192

Enjoy drinks from Pipeworks Brewing Co., Leatherbee Distillery, Suerte Tequila and Seasons Soda while you view works made by more than 40 professional tattoo artists from around the country using other mediums. 6-10 p.m. Friday. Free.

DO

Live Movie Riffing with the Mads

The Logan Theater

Advertisement

2646 N. Milwaukee Ave. 773-697-3563

Frank Conniff and Trace Beaulieu of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" screen and mock two different bad movies. 7 and 10 p.m. Friday. $35. Tickets: themadsdec9.brownpapertickets.com

Handmade Market Chicago (Free!)

The Empty Bottle

1035 N. Western Ave. 773-276-3600

Shop for jewelry, handbags, clothing, hot sauce, candles and more from nearly 30 vendors at the monthly market. Noon-4 p.m. Saturday. Free.

Randolph Street's Holiday Market

Beaux Arts Plumber's Hall

Advertisement

Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. >

1340 W. Washington St. 312-666-1200

Get all your gifts from the 125-plus vendors selling furniture, accessories and art that you can get wrapped for no extra cost. Chef Paul Virant makes an appearance from noon-3 p.m. Sunday to show off his new line of pickled and preserved products and offer suggestions for using them in cocktails and food. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. $5-$10. Tickets: randolphstreetmarket.com

One Act Festival: Yuletide Genocide (Jerry A. Schulman )

One Act Festival: Yuletide Genocide

Stage 773

1225 W. Belmont Ave. 773-327-5252

Six Chicago area theater companies each present their own spin on a holiday classic including "Love Actually" and "The Gift of the Magi." 8:15 p.m. Friday. $15. Tickets: stage773.com

Holiday Remix (Free!)

Broadway Armory Park

Advertisement

5917 N. Broadway 773-433-8048

More than 80 vendors sell recycled and sustainable arts and crafts including clothing, jewelry and home decor. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. Free.

HAPPY HOUR OF THE DAY
'To attack the cash part of black money, I can't think of anything else but demonetisation.'

'There is a cost to be paid and it is fine if it doesn't extend beyond this quarter.'

Dr Krishnamurthy Subramanian, an associate professor of finance at the Indian School of Business, is a member of the Reserve Bank of India's expert committee on governance of banks.

A member of SEBI's Standing Committee on Alternative Investment Policy headed by Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy, he also serves on the board of Bandhan Bank, the first bank to be licensed after Independence in eastern India.

Dr Subramanian, below, left, spoke to Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier on demonetisation and its aftermath.

The general feeling is that as an idea, demonetisation is good, but in terms of implementation, the government has failed miserably. Do you feel so?

No, I don't feel that way. If demonetisation has to be effective, it has to be a complete surprise.

If it has to be a surprise, only a small number of people have to be taken into confidence.

If you have to plan in advance, you have to inform people in advance and that would have defeated the purpose of an effective demonetisation.

Even the chairmen of various banks had no idea about demonetisation till the prime minister announced it on television.

I feel the finance minister or others in the know of things might not have known that the ATMs had to be recalibrated for Rs 2,000 notes.

But if you wanted a perfectly planned demonetisation move, a lot of people would have to be brought into the loop and the surprise element would have gone.

How could they have avoided the inconvenience caused to the public who are forced to stand in queues for hours at ATMs and banks?

I have written about this for the Mint newspaper. I got data from the National Sample Survey and based on that what I have concluded is that a large number of people who are standing in the queue are basically agents trying to convert others' black money into white.

If you look at the earnings of the population in India, the average weekly earnings of 50 per cent of the working population is around Rs 1,100 to Rs 1,200.

People in the bottom half generally have a hand to mouth existence and let's assume that these people have kept a savings of three weeks, these people would not have had more than Rs 4,000 to exchange.

Secondly, after the banks started putting indelible ink, the queues have come down significantly.

If you put together both these evidences, it is highly unlikely that the poor standing in the queues are doing so for themselves.

I am not convinced that these lines consist of only poor people. These lines are comprised of two sets of people -- one set are those who have legitimately earned their money and I don't deny that they are getting troubled. But they belong to the middle crust of the population.

The second set of people are standing in the queue to convert other people's money and they are getting paid for it. They would not have stood in line if they were not adequately paid.

Another point of view is that only 6% of black money exists in cash and that the government should have attacked black money that exists in real estate, gold, participatory notes, stock market etc first before demonetising currency.

I am not disputing that the government should attack all forms of black money. But I don't know from where this information that only 6% of black money is in cash came from.

My estimate is the amount of currency in Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes is around Rs 15 lakh crore.

Our GDP is about Rs 150 lakh crore. The World Bank estimate says that around 25 to 30 to 40 per cent of the Indian economy could be in the black economy.

If we assume 25% of our economy is black, it translates into Rs 40 lakh crore and if one quarter of that is in cash, you are talking about Rs 10 lakh crore.

Even if it's 1/8th, it is about Rs 5 lakh crore.

So, out of the Rs 15 lakh crore of banned notes, at least 40 to 50 per cent of that will be black money.

In that case, you are talking about Rs 6 lakh crore of black money in cash!

Those who pay legitimate tax and also the poor do not keep big notes at home. Why I am saying that the cash part is not unimportant.

Our tax revenue last year was Rs 15 lakh crore and if you can bring in Rs 5 lakh crore through this, it amounts one third of last year's tax revenue which is not trivial.

The other areas where black money exists are also as important to attack, and if you see there have been a sequence of events, right from tax treaties signed with various international governments to asking people to disclose information of gold, real estate, etc to the tax amnesty scheme, there was an effort to unearth black money in other areas.

But it is harder to unearth black money in real estate, hawala, etc.

In 1978, when the last demonetisation happened, the black money they were looking at was Rs 80 crore. But after 1978, no government has tried to do anything on the cash part.

I am happy that at least this government is doing something on the cash part of black money.

It has to be a continued effort to unearth black money from other sources.

Yes, the cash part is the lower hanging fruit compared to the other sources which will be harder to attack.

To attack the cash part of black money, I can't think of anything else but demonetisation.

Prime Minister Modi's critics say since the cash part involves so many people, the government should have tackled it last...

I am not denying there is some truth to it. At the same time, when you think from the prime minister's perspective, he may prefer to give short-term pain now rather than later.

The benefits of the action will be visible say after two years, closer to the elections.

According to me, in terms of timing, it is better now than doing much later.

After demonetising the higher currencies, what is the rationale for the Rs 2,000 notes?

A day after demonetisation, the finance minister also ducked that question.

To be honest, I don't have an answer to that question. I don't know why they introduced the Rs 2,000 note.

The Rs 2,000 notes are causing a lot of inconvenience to ordinary people...

That is undeniable. My guess is they might have felt that if they introduced the same denomination, it might have caused some confusion.

And it is not easy replacing them (higher currency notes) with small denomination like Rs 100 notes.

One thing I can say is the incentive to store black money reduces significantly now.

By not paying taxes, a person might have saved say, 30%. Suppose he hoards money in Rs 2,000 and it is demonetised, he will lose 100%.

If there is a 30% chance of demonetising Rs 2,000 notes, it does not make sense to convert it into black money now and lose everything. So, it is better to pay 30% tax and save the rest.

There is a 6% chance of him getting harassed by tax officials too.

After the shock, people have become scared to spend money. Will this result in negative growth at least in this quarter?

It is quite possible that there may be negative growth this quarter.

There will be a deceleration of growth this quarter. But it is okay in my opinion.

There is a cost to be paid and it is fine if it doesn't extend beyond this quarter, and there are reasons why it may not.

The deposits that have come in will ease bank lending.

The Reserve Bank surplus will go up significantly and they may pay a dividend to the government which the government may use to capitalise the public sector banks which are under duress right now.

When lending picks up, growth will happen.

A lot of money that was floating in the informal financial system will be forced to come into the formal financial system now.

And the benefits from this in the long run will be high.
In the second of a four-part series, Shashikant Trivedi/Business Standard checks out the currency press in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh, to find target-based allowances have increased the monthly salary of employees from Rs 10,000 to Rs 30,000, at a time when currency notes are being printed 24x7.

Part 1: When did printing of Rs 2,000 notes actually begin?



The Dewas mint is looking at a target of at least 18 million pieces of the new 500 denomination notes per day soon. Photograph: PTI Photo.



Like most others, workers of Bank Note Press Dewas (BNP Dewas) have been coping with banks and automated teller machines running out of cash, after demonetisation. In this case, its ironical because an ATM located inside the BNP Dewas complex has also failed to give out cash to the people busy printing currency notes through three round-the-clock shifts.

Dewas, an ancient town in Madhya Pradesh (MP), 35 km from Indore, is abuzz with daily unconfirmed updates on the number of pieces of currency notes being printed at the press. Sources said the current situation is so demanding that the management has asked workers to motivate retired employees to rejoin BNP, so that government targets of printing sufficient currency notes are met.

A technician at the currency press pointed out that his take-home has touched Rs 70,000 a month now. Productivity-linked allowances are adding at least Rs 10,000-15,000 to the monthly pay package of workers, and Rs 20,000-30,000 to supervisors, managers and other seniors.

It requires special skill, and fresh recruitments will not be a good idea at this crucial hour. So, BNP needs the retired workers, said sources in Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India (SPMCIL), the parent company of BNP Dewas.

BNP General Manager M C Velappa, when contacted, refused to divulge any detail.

There are around 400 retired workers in Dewas and the vicinity. We can gladly motivate them for a come-back but only under 63-years could be redeployed. As a result, only 10-15 might have applied and have rejoined, said L N Maru, district secretary of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh. In fact, SPMCIL top officials are learnt to have held talks with the local workers a few days ago on how to cope with the current situation.

The management here is looking at a target of at least 18 million pieces of 500 denomination currency per day soon, up from the current figure of 12 million pieces a day. While the earlier commitment given in September was to print 1,000 million pieces of Rs 500 notes by December, the authorities have more than doubled the numbers now. The new targets could be 2,600 million pieces by year-end.

The printed currency is airlifted through air force planes, so that more than 4,000 currency chests across India can be replenished. Typically, airlifting happens from Indore, the commercial capital of MP.

Incentives are being given to workers for printing 12 million pieces of Rs 500 denomination a day, which is seen as a record. While the daily allowance is pegged at Rs 250, theres a target allowance too -- beginning at Rs 50 per million pieces and then the amount goes up with the altering threshold. For instance, it would be Rs 150 per million, if more than 360 million pieces are printed.

Along with target incentives and allowances, the minimum that an employee is getting is Rs 40,000 a month. Retired workers, if they join, will get around Rs 50,000 per month.

A technician at the currency press called it a national emergency, and pointed out that his take-home has touched Rs 70,000 a month now. Productivity-linked allowances are adding at least Rs 10,000-15,000 to the monthly pay package of workers, and Rs 20,000-30,000 to supervisors, managers and other seniors.

The BNP was corporatised in 2006 and two years later, a special voluntary retirement scheme was introduced. As many as 400 workers opted for it and an equal number absorbed in other government jobs.

Only 1,175 were left. Little did we know wed become important overnight, Maru quipped.

Meanwhile, the locals say the town should be given priority in cash exchange. Ironical that a town that prints currency does not have enough to pay its daily-wagers, said Ashok Khandelia, president, Dewas Industries Association.

Previous: Salboni, West Bengal
With 41 stitching patterns under their belt, the Lambani women have not only earned a GI tag for Sandur, their art has also travelled to the London Fashion Week and that Fabindia store near you.

Nikita Puri meets the women who preserve the Lambani heritage.

IMAGE: Fine needle and patch-work that was for a long time seen only on the everyday clothes of the Lambani women, have now become a staple in wall hangings, accessories, kurtas, sarees, cushion covers and dupattas designed for urban markets. Photograph: Kind courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Every morning in Sandur, in Karnataka's Bellary district, Thippavva sits down with a heap of cowrie shells.

One by one, she cracks every shell just enough for a needle to pass through. If it's not cowrie shells, her hands are busy with strips of coloured thread that she uses to make tassels.

Some believe Thippavva is 85, others say she is 90.

Either way, as one of the oldest women in her village, Thippavva doesn't need to come in every day to the work sheds run by a non-profit organisation called the Sandur Kushala Kala Kendra.

But she does because it gives her a chance to sit with the other women. It also keeps her occupied doing what her mother and her grandmother taught her to do: Work with needles, cowrie shells and mirrors

The hair on either side of her face is bunched together with silver ornaments, much like many of the women of her tribe.

These jhumka-like hair ornaments are one of the many distinctive features of the Lambani women who are often referred to as banjaras (nomads). Their needlework is particularly reputable, and with good reason.

Perhaps it was their traditionally nomadic lifestyles that have helped the Lambani women attain the skills they have: making use of scrap cloth to craft jewellery, accessories and clothes.

Fine needle and patchwork that was for a long time seen only on their everyday clothes (their lehangas, cholis and odhni)s, have now become a staple in wall hangings, accessories, kurtas, sarees, cushion covers and dupattas designed for urban markets.

While some of their brethren can be spotted across India as they navigate through cities selling their craft on the streets, the Sandur Lambanis have found a place across a handful of stores in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai; they also regularly embroider for Fabindia.

Though the Sandur Kushala Kala Kendra was established in 1984 under M Y Ghorpade, the son of the last Maharaja of Sandur, it's largely over the last two decades that Lambani craftsmanship has been recognised for its vibrancy and distinctiveness.

Once best associated with its iron ore and manganese mines, Sandur has now developed a reputation for fine craftsmanship with 350 to 400 Lambani women on board.

The singing never ceases in Sandur.

The foundation for their language, the 'Goar boli' may have had roots in Afghanistan and Rajasthan, but now there's a smattering of many native languages.

As the women work with coloured thread and cloth, they sing of everything and anything.

They sing of the ring on a passer-by's finger, they sing of how stitches swim through cloth.

And when a friend like Roohi Azam comes along, they slip in her name into their songs and sing on.

Originally from Sandur, Azam recalls being fascinated by the Lambani women.

"Watching them work was a hobby of mine," Azam says. She grew up to study design and now works as a consultant with the Sandur Kushala Kala Kendra.

Sitting in their standalone studio on Bowring Hospital Road in Bengaluru, Azam is surrounded by key chains, neckpieces, sarees, linens and more: Each of these is as vibrant and bold as the other, a reflection of the women who crafted them in sheds about 300 km from Bengaluru.

Prices here range from Rs 60 for a keychain to close to Rs 4,000 for an embroidered saree.

One of the most popular forms of needlework here is kasuti.

Practised by the Lambanis, the design is native to north Karnataka and is characterised by the beginning and closing stitches meeting without a break at the same point.

It's simple enough if you know how to count threads on weft and waft, but it does require dexterity.

With 41 stitching patterns under their belt, the Lambani women earned a Geographical Indicator tag for Sandur in 2010.

Besides a seal of authenticity, this also gives them the rights to protect their brand name.

Much of the Lambani work is done on cotton coloured with natural dyes: The yellows come from pomegranate peels, the reds from a flower called Ratan Joth, khakhi from the bark of the Sappan tree and so on.

Coins of smaller denominations, like 10 paise, would often be stitched on to the clothes, but this practice has largely faded away.

IMAGE: Gowri Bai at the Folk Art Market in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2009. She had also showcased the art of her tribe at the London Fashion Week eight years ago. Photograph: Kind courtesy Denise Womack-Avila/Flickr.com

On most days, as the Lambani women sing and work, Shanti Bai oversees the work. But for the next few days, Shanti Bai, or Shanta as she is fondly called, is engaged elsewhere.

A bunch of students from Bengaluru's National Institute of Fashion Technology are in Sandur to interact with the town's master craftsperson, Shanta in this case.

"I'm teaching them how we do embroidery and patchwork. They are picking up fast," she says.

"China, Switzerland, Barcelona, America, Sweden...," Shanta excitedly rattles off a list of the places her work has taken her to.

"I'm a national awardee, you know. President Kalam gave me the award."

In 2002, Shanta was the youngest-ever recipient of a national award given for handicraft.

The idea behind craftswomen such as Shanta visiting such fairs, shares Azam, is to expose them to newer designs.

"Besides, they should also realise how much their craft is appreciated outside their community," she says.

Azam recalls the time that Gowri Bai, a craftswoman in her 50s, was basking in the attention showered on her during the London Fashion Week about eight years ago.

Dressed in all her finery with a heavy mirror-work odhni, choli and lehenga with intricate embroidery and cowrie shells, Gowri bai's traditional attire was a real conversation starter.

But for her part, Gowri Bai thoroughly relished the assortment of drinks available there. This is yet another hallmark of the Lambani way of life.

But as the educated younger generation moves towards alternative lifestyles and better-paying jobs, there are but glimpses left of the Lambani lifestyle.

Though Shanta, too, leans towards 'regular' sarees unless it's a special occasion, she knows that one way to preserve their distinctive art is to share and celebrate it with the world
Suspected militants on Thursday looted a bank branch in Pulwama district of south Kashmir and fired several rounds before fleeing with cash, police said in Srinagar.

This is second incident of looting of a bank in Kashmir in a month.

Four masked gunmen barged into the Jammu and Kashmir Bank branch at Arihal in Pulwama district and took away cash at gunpoint, a police official said.

The gunmen fired five to six rounds before escaping from the spot, he said, adding, bank officials were counting the cash to determine the amount of money the gunmen have taken.

Preliminary estimates have revealed that the gunmen managed to take away nearly Rs 10 lakh from the bank, he said.

On November 21, militants had decamped with Rs 13 lakh from a bank branch in Charar-e-Sharief area of central Kashmir Budgam district.

IMAGES: Armymen and personnel of Jammu and Kashmir polices Special Operation Group examine the spot after unknown gunmen looted a branch of J&K Bank at Arihal in Pulwama district. Photographs: Umar Ganie/ Rediff.com
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and outgoing United States Defence Secretary Ashton Carter on Thursday finalised the "major defence partner" status to India which will fast-track cooperation and sharing of high-end American defence technology.

Both sides also vowed to expand the bilateral defence cooperation as Carter met Parrikar in New Delhi for the record breaking seventh time.

"Today we finalised India's designation as a 'Major Defence Partner' of the US. The designation as a Major Defence Partner is a status unique to India and institutionalises the progress made to facilitate defence trade and technology sharing with India to a level at par with that of the US's closest allies and partners, and ensures enduring cooperation in the future," a joint statement after the meeting said.

Carter also called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Officials explained that details regarding US licensing rules among other have been finalised.

The statement added that both sides exchanged views on regional security issues including threat posed by terrorism.

"They agreed to continue further strengthening the bilateral counter terrorism cooperation and underlined the need to ensure that terror groups receive no patronage from any State," it said.

Citing common values and shared desire for peace and prosperity in Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean Region, the two leaders reflected on the convergence of interests that have driven the strategic and technological "handshakes" between both nations and led to historic progress in bilateral ties, the statement added.

It said that bilateral defence ties have in the recent years moved along a "remarkable upward trajectory".

"Thank you my friend," Carter told Parrikar as both met at the South Block in New Delhi.

Carter said that this is the seventh meeting that he was having with Parrikar. "He is the Defence Minister with whom I have met for the maximum number of times," he said emphasising the importance that US puts on its ties with India.

During the meeting, which was more of a thanksgiving one, Carter said, "Today our defence relationship takes a major step as we designate India as a major defence partner.

It now needs to be formally passed by the two chambers of the Congress -- the House of Representatives and Senate -- before US President Barack Obama can sign it into law.

Marked progress on agreements, including the signing of a Defence Framework Agreement in 2015, have laid a blueprint for collaboration between our defence establishments and enabled deeper cooperation, the statement said.

Parrikar and Carter applauded the deepened scope of India-US military-to-military ties, which includes a dramatic increase in defence trade.

With regard to technology, both sides welcomed the tremendous progress achieved under the Defense Technology and Trade Initiative and committed to explore new proposals and other innovative opportunities for co-production and co-development.

The emergence of DTTI as an integral and enduring component of India-US security cooperation is a sign that the relationship has matured to a level of strategic importance, the statement said.

DTTI will strengthen India's 'Make in India' initiative and both sides committed to convening all new DTTI working groups prior to the next DTTI Group meeting anticipated for February, 2017.

Parrikar and Carter agreed that the strong partnership between our countries is lasting and will thrive and grow for decades to come.

Meanwhile, Parrikar said he appreciated Carter's strong commitment to defence partnership.

"It is not an exaggeration that our defence relations are a major driver in our bilateral relations," he said adding Carter's conceptualisation of DTTI shows his interest in bilateral defence cooperation.

Parrikar said he was happy to see conclusion of discussion on major defence partnership.

"During our meeting over the last few years, we have agreed on practical exchanges such as LMEOA," the defence minister said.

He added, "I am confident that the defence cooperation will expand on the foundation you have built".

Carter replied saying that both countries have more to do in the years ahead.

"I am proud of what we have achieved my friend," he said.

US President-elect Donald Trump has nominated James Mattis, a retired 4-star Marine Corps general, for the post of the US Defence Secretary.

IMAGE: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar shakes hand with US Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter Defence in New Delhi. Photograph: PIB
Thousands observed a moment of silence and watched jets streak across the clear blue sky at a ceremony at Pearl Harbor marking the 75th anniversary of the attack that plunged the United States into World War II and left more than 2,400 service people dead.

Japan's devastating attack on December 7, 1941 caught America off guard, sinking or heavily damaging eight US battleships. The bombing took place at 7:55 am Honolulu time on December 7, 1941, famously dubbed "a date which will live in infamy" by US President Franklin D Roosevelt.

In the words of US President Barack Obama, "Seventy-five years ago today, a sudden and unprovoked attack turned a tranquil harbour into a sea of flames. Over 2,400 American patriots lost their lives -- military and civilian, men, women and children."

"Their sacrifice galvanised millions of GIs and Rosie the Riveters who answered the call to defend liberty at its moment of maximum peril. In the hours after the attack, President Roosevelt promised that 'the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory'. Thanks to the heroism of a generation, we did, Obama said.

Fewer than 200 survivors of the attacks there and on other military bases in Hawaii are alive. And they gathered at a pier overlooking the memorial to the sunken Arizona, which lies at the bottom of Pearl Harbour.

Here are some sombre moments from the commemoration:



Pearl Harbour survivor Dalton Walling sits with other survivors before the start of a ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor at Kilo Pier on December 7, 2016 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Photograph: Kent Nishimura/Getty Images



Ray Chavez, 104, the oldest living Pearl Harbour survivor, rings the Freedom Bell during the Freedom Bell Opening Ceremony and Bell Ringing at the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park on Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, US. Photograph: Cpl Wesley Timm/US Marine Corps/Reuters



Planes from the 199th Fighter Squadron, Hawaii Air National Guard and the 19th Fighter Squadron, US Air Force perform a missing man fly over, over the USS Arizona Memorial at Kilo Pier on December 07, 2016 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Photograph: Kent Nishimura/Getty Images



The USS Halsey performs a Pass-in-Review. Photograph: Kent Nishimura/Getty Images



Charlene Miranda-Wood, left, holds back tears during the rifle salute as she remembers her father, Vic Miranda, a Pearl Harbour survivor who passed away last year. Photograph: Craig T Kojima/Getty Images



A US Marine Corps unit fires a rifle salute during the ceremony at Kilo Pier. Photograph: Kent Nishimura/Getty Images



Pearl Harbour survivors Delton Walling (centre), Gilbert Meyer (right) and US Navy Admiral Margaret Kibben salute during a ceremony honouring the sailors of the USS Utah at the memorial on Ford Island. Photograph: Hugh Gentry/Reuters



Pearl Harbour survivor Robert Coles salutes active US service members after the ceremonies honouring the 75th anniversary of the attack at Kilo Pier on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. Photograph: Hugh Gentry/Reuters
The political stability that Tamil Nadu saw under Chief Minister Jayalalithaa may be a thing of the past, as the new administration struggles to find its feel, says R Rajagopalan.

A political scenario is fast emerging in Tamil Nadu which will be a replica of an earlier, federal era, like what prevailed during the Chaudhary Charan Singh and Chandra Shekhar-Inder Gujral governments, when uncertainty prevailed in the air and the governments did not last long, say political observers.

Which is surprising, because in the state assembly elections held in May this year, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam emerged with 135 seats out of 232 (elections from two seats were countermanded), riding on its leader Jayalalithaas unmatched charisma. The party won all the three byelections from the state last month, pushing its tally to 137 (one of the bypolls was caused by the death of its MLA). Now post Jayalalithaas death, it has a healthy 136 seats in the House, but its problems may have just begun.

The party may have tided over the immediate crisis with O Panneerselvams election as chief minister shortly after Jayalalithaas death was announced late on Monday night, but the question still remains: Can Sasikala control the Thevar caste dominated AIADMK which also has a strong presence of other OBC communities like Nadars and Gounders?

Jayalalalithaas unmatched stature united almost all castes and communities in Tamil Nadu, but with her passing away district- and panchayat-level political parties will once again try and arouse castiest feelings and weaken the AIADMKs hold.

Given this, while Panneerselvam will be presiding over a seemingly stable administration, he will need to be prepared for turbulence any time, at least for the first six months.



What makes things difficult for the AIADMK is the strong presence of its rival, the DMK which, along with ally Congresss 8 seats, has 96 seats, just 20 short of majority. More to the point, the DMK cadre is intact, and firmly behind its leadership. Further, while the AIADMK right now lacks a charismatic leader, the DMK clearly has one in M K Stalin.

Is there a possibility of national parties the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress trying to cash in, in the event of AIADMK cadres trying to get closer to district level parties and whereby the state government gets weakened?

Due to the tough stand taken by both the national parties over the Cauvery water dispute, which went against Tamil sentiments, there is no chance of either party taking root in Tamil Nadu.

The Congress, which lost power in the state in 1967, has been nowhere in the reckoning, and its state unit is faction-ridden. And the BJP may make some noises but it is perceived as an upper caste, north-based party, though it has made some inroads into the state thanks to the 2014 Narendra Modi wave.

Jayalalithas passing has thus exposed the vulnerabilities the states polity which seems stable from the outside but is vulnerable to external shocks. She did not ensure a second line of leadership in the AIADMK, and the vacuum cannot be filled overnight.

She was lauded for the strong stance she took on the control of militancy and terrorism, as well as boosting the infrastructure development and economic growth of Tamil Nadu which, it is feared, may suffer a setback till the new dispensation finds its feet.

She had a vision for Tamil Nadu and projected it as a document for the year 2023. At the same time, she fought aggressively for enforcing the states rights in the Cauvery water dispute. In fact, her last letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on the Cauvery. She also fought with the BJP government at the Centre on GST. She had the courage to call a spade a spade.



To carry on the good work done by her, what the state needs is a strong administration, one that makes no compromises on law and order. Will OPS measure up? Only time will tell.

Image: Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaas supporters paying tribute at her burial place in Chennai on December 7, 2016. Photo: R Senthil Kumar/PTI Photo.

R Rajagopalan is a senior journalist and a commentator on southern politics.
The government didn't call a meeting of the selection committee deliberately to facilitate the appointment of a junior officer to the post, the committee's Congress member told the PM.

Amit Agnihotri/Business Standard reports.

The Congress has attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Rakesh Asthana's appointment as interim director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, saying the PM wanted to rule by stealth, deception and pressure.

"PM Modi is for rule by stealth, deception and pressure. He wants to keep everyone on tenterhooks so the officers do the government's bidding. He wants to keep a sword hanging over their heads," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.

The remarks came after Mallikarjun Kharge, the Congress Leader in the Lok Sabha, wrote a strongly worded letter to Modi against Asthana's appointment.

Lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan has already taken the matter to the Supreme Court.

Terming the appointment, "Constitutionally, legally and morally wrong," Singhvi said, "rules were thrown to the wind."

Kharge, who is the part of the panel which selects the CBI director in his capacity as leader of the largest Opposition party in the Lok Sabha, urged the PM in his letter dated December 5 to convene the meeting of the committee at the earliest to finalise a permanent CBI chief.

Kharge charged the government did not call the meeting of the selection committee headed by the PM deliberately to facilitate the appointment of a junior officer to the post.

'The entire process has been vitiated and being manipulated to pre-empt the decision to be arrived at in the meeting of the selection committee,' Kharge said in his letter to the PM.

Besides the PM and Kharge, Chief Justice of India T S Thakur is a member of the panel.

Asthana is a 1984 batch Indian Police Service officer and has replaced Anil Sinha who retired as CBI director on November 30.

Kharge pointed out that the selection panel should have met in time to avoid any delay in the matter.

He also referred to the sudden transfer of R K Dutta, who was in the line of succession to be the next CBI chief just three days before Sinha retired.

Sources said Dutta, who has been moved to the home ministry as special secretary, was looking after two high profile corruption cases related to allocation of coal mines and 2G Spectrum during the previous government.

The Supreme Court, the sources pointed out, had ordered that no officers connected with the two cases should be removed.

"All this has been done to make the CBI even a more pliant tool in the hands of the government," said Singhvi.

According to the Congress spokesperson, also a senior Supreme Court lawyer, "similar tactics were adopted by Prime Minister Modi earlier in the appointment of the ED (Enforcement Directorate) director."

In October 2015, the Centre appointed Girish Chandra Murmu as the director of the Enforcement Directorate.

A 1985 batch IAS officer, Murmu replaced the 1984 batch IPS officer Karnal Singh who was holding additional charge as ED director after the 1979 batch IAS officer Ranjan Katoch was removed from the post in August.

In August 2015, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had urged Modi to appoint a full-time ED director alleging that the agency had given a clean chit to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Vice president Rahul Gandhi in a money laundering case related to now defunct newspaper National Herald.
'General J S Aurora, the commander of the Indian forces in the East, asked General Sagat Singh to withdraw his troops who were on the move to Dacca -- but he refused.'

'He said, "Jaggi, over my dead body".'

'Therefore, I say the creator of Bangladesh was General Sagat Singh.'

Lieutenant General O P Kaushik salutes the incredible soldiers who turned the tide in the 1971 War.

Some of the best stories are told by soldiers.

They will tell you of hard fought battles that have become the stuff of legend.

They will remember each and every name -- of the men they fought alongside and of the places they conquered.

They will reminisce about men who displayed exemplary courage that will give you goose bumps; and they will speak with pride of the jawans they trusted with their lives.

As India marks 45 years of the 1971 War, Lieutenant General O P Kaushik, (retd), who fought in the campaign in the Eastern Theatre, shared some such memories with Rediff.com's Archana Masih.

These are real stories about men from the 61 Brigade who fought hard to outwit and vanquish the Pakistan army.

Of brilliant military manouvers under the leadership of an outstanding field commander -- and their incredible march to Dhaka.

Of men who remained calm even when outnumbered by the enemy.

Of officers who defied their superiors when surrounded by the enemy, but went on to save the day.

This is Part 2 of Rediff.com's Oral History project on the 1971 War.

Stories that need to be read and passed on.

Part 1 in the series: The Men Who Made History

IMAGE: Lieutenant General Sagat Singh addresses the troops. He was known for his innovative military tactics. Photograph: Kind courtesy Bharat Rakshak

From Mizoram to Silchar, the troops move for war

When war was building up I was posted with the 61 Brigade tasked to control the rebellion in the Mizo hills.

The Mizo rebellion for an independent country had started in 1966. The rebels were being assisted by both China and Pakistan. (Mizoram became a Union Territory in 1972 and was granted statehood in 1987.)

We moved to Silchar about 6 months before the war and were tasked to train the Mukti Bahini, highly committed college students who had revolted against the excesses of the Pakistan army.

In each training camp there were about 1,500 students. The boys were a big asset; they knew the exact location of the Pakistani forces, their strength, terrain, routes and roads.

Units of the Pakistan army's East Bengal Rifles Regiment -- which comprised only Bengalis from East Pakistan -- had also revolted and established camps in India.

It was decided that we would go to war after the monsoon because East Pakistan was like an open sea in the rains. The flooded paddy fields in the countryside would make military manouevers difficult. Hence, December was chosen.

Just before the start of the war, the border (with Pakistan) which is held by the Border Security Force and is under the home ministry was placed under the army.

We used BSF units in Agartala and Tripura to gather intelligence about Pakistan.

The Indian Army had committed three corps for the war. One corps has 80,000 to 90,000 troops.

We were part of the Tezpur-based 4 Corps, primarily responsible for the China border in Arunachal Pradesh. We were giving the task of attacking from the east and capturing territory up to the Meghna river -- we were not to cross the Meghna.

Meghna is a tributary of the Brahmaputra. It is a big river. In the monsoon you can't see from one bank to the other.

2 Corps was launched from the west in Calcutta and tasked to liberate territory up to the Ganga river.

33 Corps from the north was ordered to liberate territory up to the Padma river.

Dacca was not the objective. The aim was that India would announce the formation of the Bangladesh government in one of these three enclaves.

IMAGE: Lieutenant General O P Kaushik was brigade major in the 1971 war. He has fought in the 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars. Photograph: Archana Masih/Rediff.com

The assault on formidable Comilla

I was a brigade major of the 61 Brigade and in our task of liberating territory up to the east bank of the Meghna river, we had to move towards a major Pakistan army cantonment called Comilla.

It was a hill feature about 14 km long which had been developed into a beautiful cantonment. Pakistan had prepared their defences in those hills. They thought since the terrain was riverine, India would take the road and hence they were primarily guarding the road access.

But it was decided that the initial advance into East Pakistan would be cross country.

We were told to go on foot through 24 kilometres of paddy fields and cut off the highway from Dacca to Chittagong which passed through Comilla. Chittagong was a major port.

Since the border was held by small pockets of Pakistni troops, we needed some place to infiltrate without Pakistan knowing it.

So we attacked 14 kms away on their left edge with 14 tanks and one infantry battalion of 1,000 soldiers. A massive battle took place for 3 days, south of Comilla. The Pakistanis thought that the attack had come, but this was not our main attack.

The main assault was yet to come.

How Indian troops broke through a heavily fortified Pakistani cantonment

The panic-stricken Pakistan army withdrew its forces north of Comilla. We received this information at midnight from the Mukti Bahini and BSF -- and 12 Kumaon launched an attack.

The Maynamati hill (where Comilla was situated) was attacked from the north because Pakistan had already vacated that area in panic. They were taken by surprise and realised that the attack from the south was not the real one.

The attack was so severe from both north and south that in spite of holding this feature on a low hill with a full brigade -- the Pakistanis thought that a division of the Indian Army had attacked! (3 to 4 units make a brigade; 3 to 4 brigades make a division.)

But the reality was that we had attacked with only one brigade!

'Sir, the Pakistanis have come'

So Pakistan's 53 Brigade was ordered to reinforce them.

While they knew we had attacked their formidable defences at Comilla, they did not know the exact position of our three battalions.

We sent a patrol from 12 Kumaon located at Chandina (on the strategic Comilla-Daudkhandi-Dacca axis). The patrol of 12 men was commanded by young Lieutenant Sinha. When night fell, the patrol rested in a field.

Now Pakistan's 53 Brigade (which was moving to reinforce Comilla cantonment) also rested in the same area.

When day broke, our patrol of 12 saw thousands of Pakistani soldiers!

The Pakistanis also saw them and thought there was a huge Indian Army battalion. In truth our patrol was only 12 people.

Our boys opened fire at them -- what an encounter!

12 soldiers faced by a strength of nearly 3,000.

The Pakistanis panicked because they had received the message that a division of the Indian Army had attacked them. They retreated and decided to go cross country.

When they reached the base of the hill, they converged on our Brigade HQ which had about 100 people -- mostly signal and clerical staff.

I was in a small tent. The officer commanding the Signals Regiment came running and said, 'Sir, the Pakistanis have come.' He asked whether he should destroy the top secret documents. I told him not to panic.

I went outside and saw the Pakistanis were 1,000 to 1,500 yards away and sent a Gorkha platoon defending the brigade HQ to go forward and open fire.

The Pakistanis did not come in thinking it was a heavily guarded place, when we had nothing!

They could have totally liquidated us, but we did not panic and held on.

IMAGE: A soldier in action in then East Pakistan. Photograph: Getty Images.

1,600 soldiers with two colonels and 1,188 rifles surrendered!

Pakistan's beleaguered 53 Brigade took a full circle and reached the same place where they had halted for the night.

Here they came face-to-face with Lieutenant Sinha again, who was still holding that position. The Indian platoon fired at them.

The Pakistanis thought they were surrounded whereas we were not more than 20 soldiers at any place -- first engaged by a patrol of 12, then by the administrative element of a battalion, then by a platoon of 20 in a brigade HQ and then again by that first platoon of 12!

Sensing defeat, they raised a white flag and conveyed to Lieutenant Sinha that they wanted to surrender.

Lieutenant Sinha was faced with a situation where he just had 12 men but in front of him were thousands of Pakistani soldiers ready to surrender.

He passed the message to the Brigade HQ. We analysed the situation. The brigade commander Brigadier K P Pande asked me to remove his badge and put a major general's badge. I accompanied him to Lieutenant Sinha's location.

The commanding officer of 31 Baluch came forward. Brigadier Pande told him to pile their weapons and equipment on one side and the men on the other.

1,600 soldiers with two full colonels and 1,188 rifles surrendered!

Nowhere did they have to face more than 30 Indian soldiers, yet they were so panic-stricken and were left with no morale to fight.

This was the first group of prisoners of war that India captured.

'I am commanding this company and I am not leaving my position till I die'

Another attack on the Mynamati hills which merits recognition was when our troops captured a little area in the centre of the hill without realising that the whole feature was held by one Pakistani brigade.

We thought it was held by just a company and early in the morning 7 Rajputana Rifles discovered that they were surrounded by Pakistani soldiers and tanks. They had advanced on foot and our tanks had not moved in.

The commanding officer said he needed air support. I had sent a demand for air support a day earlier, but it did not materialise because the entire air force was busy with Dacca.

7 Rajputana Rifles had suffered 38 battle casualties and the colonel commanding Raj Rif asked our permission to withdraw since no air support was coming.

The brigade commander spoke to the Corps Commander General Sagat Singh telling him that 7 Raj Rif were surrounded by Pakistanis troops and tanks.

The corps commander said 'withdraw'; brigade commander Brigadier Pande said 'withdraw'; Commanding Officer Colonel Brar then ordered Major Shyam Singh Bhatti, the officer in the thick of battle, to 'withdraw' -- he said no!

Major Bhatti said, 'The moment I leave these captured trenches everyone of us will be killed. The tanks are 200 yards ahead of me, but haven't come on me. I am firing at the tanks with my platoon anti-tank weapons, but the moment I leave my trenches everyone of us will be killed. I am not leaving.'

Colonel Brar said, 'I will hold you responsible,' and Major Bhatti replied, 'yes hold me responsible. So long as I am commanding this company I am not leaving this position till I die.'

I was listening to this conversation. Tears came into my eyes.

It turned out that the only man whose decision was correct that day was Major Shyam Singh Bhatti.

In the meantime four IAF aircraft emerged from Dacca.

We got in touch with them on the radio and asked if they could support us. They said they had unloaded all their ammunition in Dacca.

I said, 'Can you just fly low?' Maybe the Pakistani tanks will disappear.' They first declined, but agreed on my persuasion.

They asked us to identify the target and flew low. It was a daring act by these pilots because they were flying without any ammunition.

They came, took one round, dove and the Pakistan attack disappeared!

In the meantime, we moved our tanks and the situation over the Myanamati hills was saved.

Major Bhatti survived, but unfortunately did not get recognised.

IMAGE: Army Chief then General Sam Manekshaw addresses Indian troops after the surrender ceremony. Lieutenant General Sagat Singh is on his right. Photograph: Kind courtesy Bharat Rakshak

'General Sagat Singh was the best field leader the Indian Army has produced'

Another revealing incident of the war was that because we had to move cross-country, we were given two companies of mules to carry our rations and reserved ammunition.

The plan was once we had infiltrated on foot, village tracks would be prepared to make way for the jeeps.

We were harnessing two companies of mules and jeeps -- nearly 300 mules and 300 jeeps! It was chaotic.

We were living in tents when in all this mess, a helicopter arrived.

It was the Corps Commander, Lieutenant General Sagat Singh. He had flown over and seen the chaos.

General Sagat was 6 feet tall, well built -- and the best field leader the Indian Army has produced.

I was sure he would pull me up for the chaos, but he didn't say a word. He asked, 'Everything under control?' I said, 'Yes sir.' That was all. 'Where will you be tomorrow?' he asked. Burichang, I said -- and he said he would have breakfast with us.

One learns a lot from such an attitude of a senior officer -- it shows that one must not panic in a disturbed situation and trust men under your command to handle situations.

'Jaggi, over my dead body'

With no opposition 4 Corps had already achieved the objective of reaching the Meghna river and instead of waiting on the East bank (as per the plan), General Sagat Singh ordered the troops to cross the river and carry on.

We had Mi4 helicopters that could take only 6 people at a time. We created night lamps, artificial helipads to go across the river.

When the Eastern Army Commander in Calcutta Lieutenant General J S Aurora discovered 4 Corps had crossed the Meghna, he asked General Sagat Singh why he had crossed the river when his task was to liberate territory only till the east bank.

I could hear General Sagat Singh's reply because I handed over the radio set to him. He used to call General Aurora 'Jaggi' and he said, "Jaggi, I have given you A+."

He told him he was the commander on the ground and was expected to exploit an opportunity. He took that opportunity and now was on his way to Dacca.

General Aurora asked him to withdraw his troops, but General Sagat Singh refused. 'Jaggi, over my dead body,' he said.

This action by General Sagat Singh created the situation for the Indian Army to plan the capture of Dacca.

The army's plan was to create three enclaves:

1. Up to the east bank of the Meghna.

2. Up to the west bank of the Ganga.

3. Up to the north bank of the Padma.

After creating these enclaves, the Bangladesh government in exile was to be established and that would be the end of the war.

Dacca was not our objective.

Therefore, I say that the creator of Bangladesh was Lieutenant General Sagat Singh. But he did not get his due.

IMAGE: Lieutenant General J S Aurora looks at a photograph of the surrender. He passed away in 2005. Photograph: Reuters.

'If I didn't die today I will not die in this war'

Then we were told to go to Daudkandi from where ferries use to leave for Dacca.

There was a single road leading up to it which had been dug up by the Pakistanis and laid with mines.

The Mukti Bahini mustered 200 to 300 rickshaws and we moved cross country, village to village by avoiding the roads up to Daudkandi and then moved on to Dacca.

By then, Pakistan had decided to surrender.

I remember another incident where Brigadier Pande and me were standing and a 120 mm bomb landed between us.

The bomb is of such precision that 1 in a million may just not explode. It is lethal and kills everything within 100 yards -- but that bomb did not explode! But its impact was so high that I lost my voice for a while.

We walked away and Brigadier Pande said to me, 'If I didn't die today I will not die in this war.'

He was with his troops everywhere during the attacks when a brigade commander doesn't need to.

It created a psychological impact on him that he was not going to die and he passed it down the chain.

A potent situation in a war is not to panic. Even in reverses a soldier needs to maintain his calm.

From junior level subedars and havaldars to young officers, the Indian Army is replete with many such examples in the face of battle.

What happened to these incredibly brave men after the war:

Lieutenant General Sagat Singh: Known for his innovative battle strategy, the general -- one of India's greatest military leaders -- is a rare army officer to be awarded the Padma Bhushan. He passed away in 2001.

Brigadier Kailash Prasad 'Tom' Pande: Was awarded the Mahavir Chakra for the 1971 War and participated in every battle India had fought up to that year. He lost 95 personnel at Mynamati and 45 at Dhalai.

He was wounded and fought for a week with his leg dangling, he told told UNI nearly 10 years ago. The battle of Dhalai was one of the hardest fought battles in the 1971 War.

He passed away in 2010.

Major Shyam Singh Bhatti: Retired from the Indian Army and lives in Jodhpur.

Lieutenant Sinha: Lives in Dehradun and looks after the Rapahel Home for the disabled.

Lieutenant General O P Kaushik: Fought in the 1962 War with China, the 1965 and 1971 Wars.

As a major general, on deputation to the home ministry, he raised the Black Cat commandos.

He has served on the Siachen Glacier, in Mizoram, Nagaland and Kashmir. His son is a brigadier in the Indian Army.
According to convention, Lieutenant General Praveen Bakshi should be named as General Dalbir Singh Suhag's successor as army chief, says Ajai Shukla/Business Standard.

If the government had followed tradition, Lieutenant General Praveen Bakshi, currently commanding the Eastern Army from Fort William in Kolkata, would have been named two months ago to succeed the present army chief, General Dalbir Singh Suhag, who is scheduled to retire on December 31.

General Bakshi is the senior-most amongst the qualified generals; and the government has traditionally named its incoming army, navy and air force three months ahead of time, to facilitate a smooth handover.

But with just 23 days to go for General Suhag's retirement, and no successor named, the New Delhi grapevine is abuzz with speculation that the government is finalising the appointment of a tri-service chief, along with the next army chief.

The four-star or five-star tri-service commander would be over and above existing army, navy and air force chiefs of four-star rank --- general, admiral and air chief marshal respectively.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar have both earlier pledged to create a tri-service chief.

There would be both political and functional benefit from such an appointment, with the Bharatiya Janata Party reinforcing its claim to being strong on national security.

However, the degree to which creating a tri-service chief would transform the military's functioning would depend on the structures around the appointment.

There are three ways this could be done.

The least disruptive measure, and therefore the least transformative, would be creating a four-star 'permanent chairman chiefs of staff' (PCCOS), as proposed in 2013 by the Naresh Chandra Committee.

This would leave the operational command of field forces with the army, navy and air force chiefs, as at present, while the tri-service chief would handle strategic and perspective planning, long-term equipment and manpower structuring; while also rendering military advice to the political leadership.

In effect, the new PCCOS would only be an upgraded version of the three-star officer who currently heads the Integrated Defence Staff --- set up in 2001 as a gesture to jointmanship.

While the PCCOS is spoken of as 'the first amongst equals,' the untrammelled power of the three service chiefs over their respective fiefdoms would render the PCCOS a nominal tri-service chief.

The government's second option is to appoint a five-star rank commander termed the 'chief of defence staff' (CDS), who would be the direct boss of all three service chiefs and the single point military advisor to the political leadership.

In 2001, a Group of Ministers had recommended a five-star CDS, echoing the recommendations of the Kargil Review Committee, which had criticised the lack of tri-service coordination during the 1999 Kargil conflict.

The CDS appointment could be rotated between the army, navy and air force; or handpicked by the political leadership from any of the three services.

Smaller services like the air force and the navy worry that the army, being the largest service, would predominate in CDS appointments, which in turn might bring it disproportionate funding and equipment allocations.

The IAF has publicly opposed having a five-star CDS exercising control over the air force chief.

The bureaucracy, especially the Indian Administrative Service, also opposes a five-state CDS, apprehending that he would be senior to the top bureaucrat --- the Cabinet secretary.

The third option, which would be the most transformative, is a root-and-branch restructuring of the entire military command structure, to impose tri-service jointmanship not just at the apex of the hierarchy, but also on the combat force --- the so-called theatre commands.

The US military enforced this in 1986 through the Goldwater-Nichols Act, which placed American combat forces from all four services (including the Marine Corps) under geographic theatre commanders -- Pacific Command, Central Command, etc.

A similar exercise would merge our 17 single-service commands, into 5 or 6 tri-service commands, organised geographically, each under a commander with full authority over all the army, navy and air force assets in his theatre.

Every theatre commander would report to the defence minister, including for combat operations in his theatre.

Meanwhile, the five-star CDS, without the burden of operational command responsibility, would be an advisor to the political leadership on military affairs.

Meanwhile, the army, navy and air force chiefs, also relieved of operational command, would focus on manpower, training and equipment of their respective services, ensuring that the soldiers, sailors and airmen they send into the field are suitably selected, kitted and trained for combat.

This is the trend globally. In February, China's People's Liberation Army transformed from a single-service to a tri-service structure, with its 7 'military regions' reorganised into 5 tri-service theatre commands.

Each of these so-called 'battle zones' incorporates units from the PLA navy and PLA air force.

It remains unclear who would be the first tri-service commander.

In the options being spoken of, the first involves elevating General Suhag to that job, while promoting General Bakshi to army chief.

The second option is appointing General Bakshi to one of the jobs, while promoting the army's current vice-chief, Lieutenant General Bipin Rawat, to the other.

Last December, addressing the military's top commanders, the prime minister declared: 'Jointness at the top is a need that is long overdue. We also need reforms in senior defence management... This is an area of priority for me.'

Now, the government has just three weeks to decide whether to deliver.

The three service chiefs at the Amar Jawan Jyoti on Navy Day. Photograph: Press Information Bureau
Taipei, Dec. 8 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen () will attend the opening on Friday of an exhibition to mark the 70th anniversary of the recovery of the Republic of China's control over Taiping Island in the South China Sea, during which she will also videoconference with the commander on the island.
To activate the text-to-speech service, please first agree to the privacy policy below.

Taipei, Dec. 8 (CNA) The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said Thursday that it will launch a campaign to encourage people to flush used toilet paper, instead of depositing it in trash cans as is the custom in Taiwan, as part of an effort to improve bathroom hygiene.
Disclaimer

This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Belarus: State blocks parish priest nomination

Publisher Forum 18 Author Olga Glace Publication Date 7 December 2016 Cite as Forum 18, Belarus: State blocks parish priest nomination, 7 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58495ef44.html [accessed 3 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Senior state religious affairs official Leonid Gulyako rejects Catholic Bishop's request for Russian priest Fr Klemens Werth to serve in Vitebsk parish, the latest foreign priest refused state permission. Bobruisk officials warn Baptists if further foreigners participate in worship their church will be liquidated.
UN launches $2.66 billion appeal for emergency assistance in Sahel region

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 7 December 2016 Cite as UN News Service, UN launches $2.66 billion appeal for emergency assistance in Sahel region, 7 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5849688a40c.html [accessed 3 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

7 December 2016 - The United Nations and its partner non-governmental organizations today launched an appeal for $2.66 billion to provide emergency assistance across eight countries in the Sahel region, where millions of people still live in conditions of deplorable human suffering.

The Sahel faces considerable challenges and will remain the site of one of the world's major humanitarian operations in 2017, stated UN Regional Humanitarian Coordinator Toby Lanzer, in a news release on the appeal, which aims to cover the needs of 15 million people across Africa's Sahel region, which includes Chad, Mali, Niger, Cameroon, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Senegal.

He said the lives and livelihoods of millions of suffering people in the region will be at stake unless the humanitarian community, governments and donors renew their engagement to assist and protect those in urgent need and help these communities become less vulnerable to shocks.

The UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that 4.9 million people in Sahel have fled from their homes, while one in every five families remains extremely vulnerable. In addition, Chad and parts of north-east Nigeria are experiencing critical levels of malnutrition, as high as 30 per cent, which is double the 'emergency' threshold.

Mr. Lanzer also stressed that nearly 11 million people in the Lake Chad basin area require emergency assistance and financial needs have almost tripled since year, adding that there is also half a million severely malnourished children in need of urgent help. He also highlighted a stable but worrying situation in Mali due to insecurity.

The Regional Humanitarian Coordinator stressed the commitment of UN agencies and their partners to providing urgent assistance to affected individuals, their families and communities, while also promising to continue strong collaboration with governments, development and stabilization actors.

And we must, more than ever, shift 'from providing aid to ending needs' because extreme vulnerability in the Sahel is the most visible symptom of the triple crisis of governance, insecurity and climate change that affects this region. The demographic explosion, which will see the region's population double in the next twenty years, exacerbates the situation still further, Mr. Lanzer underscored.

The Sahel regional appeal is part of the larger $22.2 billion funding request for 2017 launched by the United Nations Monday in Geneva, Switzerland.
New UN report urges action to end 'unimaginable suffering' for separated families on Korean peninsula

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 7 December 2016 Related Document(s) Torn Apart - The Human Rights Dimension of the Involuntary Sepertation of Korean Families Cite as UN News Service, New UN report urges action to end 'unimaginable suffering' for separated families on Korean peninsula, 7 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/584968aa40c.html [accessed 3 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

7 December 2016 - A new report from the United Nations human rights wing calls attention to more than 60 years of separation between families on the Korean peninsula, and urges action in order to alleviate the suffering of families.

The emotional, psychological, social, and economic toll of involuntary separation persists to this day, as people continue to search for the truth and for contact with their loved ones, said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein.

The report, published today by the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR), documents the experiences of families who have been separated since the 1950-1953 Korean War through displacement, forced disappearance and abductions, and as a result of those fleeing the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

This report looks at past and present-day forms of involuntary separation and outlines a practical and humane approach to family reunification. These people are not just statistics; they are not a faceless mass of victims caught up in the sweep of history. They are individuals with their own, unimaginable, stories of suffering  a suffering that remains as acute as ever despite the passing of years, the High Commissioner explained.

Through interviews and research, the report finds that involuntary separation has not only been through the inevitable consequences of war, but also due to structural forms of exclusion and impunity. Women, in particular, have suffered long-lasting prejudice.

For example, Park Dong-yeol [name changed], now 85, fled North Korea in 1950. She was denied access to a boat leaving for the Republic of Korea due to a superstition about having women aboard. When she finally reached South Korea via foot, she was kept under close surveillance. Authorities were suspicious of a single woman, prompting her to marry once she lost hope of being reunited with her family who had remained in the DPRK.

While occasional but tightly controlled reunions for some 100 families on both sides of the peninsula began in 2000, such meetings often bring about more stress than reconciliation, sayd the report.

In 2015, Ji Eungyeong [name changed] met with her daughter who she left behind in North Korea 64 years ago.

We could barely talk in the hall, she shared. There were journalists on one side and [guards] on the other. Then we had two hours of private time. Only then was my daughter able to cry.

The report also shares the experiences of people in Republic of Korea whose family members were abducted. In 1950, Jeong Sun-ui's father disappeared, leading the rest of the family to be treated with suspicion, fearing that they might be spies.

There was always a sense of guilt by association, he said.

Since 2008, due to more stringent border controls, the number of people who have escaped from DPRK to ROK has decreased. Those who do risk their lives  frequently women  are exposed to brutal treatment including labour sentences if caught. If they escape, their families are at risk for acts of retaliation and harassment by the authorities.

The report calls for unhindered contact for people in both countries, public and complete lists of all individuals who have been missing since the war and determining their whereabouts, and protecting those who leave DPRK.

OHCHR acknowledges that increases in political and military tensions in the region have generated extremely difficult obstacles, but nonetheless advocates action from DPRK in order to locate and return those who have been abducted, as well as removing restrictions that prevent citizens from travelling and communicating with the outside world.
Gains made in Haiti cholera fight show additional resources can ensure 'cholera will go'  UN Adviser

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 7 December 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Gains made in Haiti cholera fight show additional resources can ensure 'cholera will go'  UN Adviser, 7 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/584969b740e.html [accessed 3 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

7 December 2016 - A senior United Nations official has stressed that that recent successes in the fight against cholera in Haiti demonstrate that when the UN and Haitian authorities receive the necessary funds, real progress can be made, and that eventually, "cholera will go."

In an interview with the UN News Service, Dr. David Nabarro, a UN Special Advisor, highlighted the recent massive recent vaccination campaign, backed by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/ UN World Health Organization (WHO), that reached 729,000 vulnerable Haitians and the increase in 'rapid response' teams, which has had a positive impact in stopping outbreaks of the disease in its tracks.

I want enough cash in the bank so that we can be sure of being able to have this response capacity right through into 2018. Then, we can really get this outbreak right down, numbers really small, and then if we combine it [efforts to improve] water supplies and sanitation for every Haitian, cholera will go, he underscored.

Dr. Nabarro noted that in August of this year, it became clear that the number of people with cholera in Haiti was actually larger than it had been last year. Because of shortages of funding, the number of teams that could respond rapidly when individuals were reported to have cholera-type symptoms had really dropped from about 70 to around 30.

With a situation like that, where you can't respond quickly to a person who is sick, you get more people in the vicinity of the sick person also being ill with diarrhoeal disease and probably with cholera, he said.

The UN borrowed resources internally to increase the number of rapid response teams. As a result, the number increased from 32 in April to 88 today and the majority of people, who were reported as being sick with watery diarrhoea and suspected cholera, can now get treated within 48 hours of their illness being reported.
Saudi Arabia: Mass death sentences in 'spy trial' a travesty of justice

Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 6 December 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Saudi Arabia: Mass death sentences in 'spy trial' a travesty of justice, 6 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/584969d340c.html [accessed 3 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

The condemning of 15 people to death by the Specialized Criminal Court today after a grossly unfair trial is a travesty of justice and a serious violation of human rights, said Amnesty International.

The men were among 32 people arrested across Saudi Arabia in 2013 and 2014 who were accused of spying for Iran. Fifteen others were sentenced to prison terms ranging from six months to 25 years and two were acquitted.

The men were charged with a series of offences including "high treason" with some facing several other ludicrous charges which should not be considered criminal offences such as "supporting protests", "spreading the Shi'a faith" and "possessing banned books and videos".

"Sentencing 15 people to death after a farcical trial which flouted basic fair trial standards is a slap in the face for justice. Time and again, Saudi Arabia's justice system has been proven to be incapable of ensuring fairness and justice," said Samah Hadid, Deputy Director for Campaigns at Amnesty International's Beirut regional office.

"The death penalty is cruel, inhuman and degrading in any circumstances but it is even more shocking when people are sentenced to death after blatantly unfair trials. These death sentences must be immediately quashed and the accused must either be re-tried in line with international standards without resorting to the death penalty, or released."

Those convicted were all Saudi Arabian nationals except for one Iranian national who was sentenced to four years in prison. An Afghan national was one of the two men acquitted.

According to Taha al-Hajji, one of the lawyers who represented most of the accused, all 32 men arrested were detained without an arrest warrant and held for almost three months in incommunicado detention where they were repeatedly interrogated without a lawyer, heightening the risk that they could face torture and other ill-treatment. In many cases they only discovered the reason for their arrest during their interrogations.

Some told the court that they were threatened with solitary confinement and that they would be banned from having any contact with their families if they did not sign "confession" documents. They said they were told that if they refused to sign these "confessions" that their families would be imprisoned and locked in cells next to them.

After almost three years in detention without charge or trial the defendants were suddenly brought before the Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh -

Saudi Arabia's secretive security and counter-terrorism court in February 2016. Most of them attended their first session without any lawyers and the rest met their lawyers briefly for the first time in court. Some of the defendants had to prepare their defence themselves.

"The entire legal proceedings in this case have made a mockery of justice. The fact that the men were held incommunicado for three months, denied access to a lawyer during the interrogations, and that the court failed to adequately investigate the men's claims that they were coerced to 'confess' makes this little more than a sham trial," said Samah Hadid.

While the General Prosecutor had almost three years to build the case against the 32 defendants, their lawyers were given less than a month to prepare their defence after the first hearing and were denied crucial information to enable them to prepare a proper case.

The lawyers complained saying they needed more time since it was a very complex case with 32 defendants involved, however, the request was ignored by the judge. They were initially denied access to court documents and key evidence relied upon for the convictions, including the forced "confessions" of the men.

During the first session in February 2016, the 32 defendants were handed a list of charges that was nearly 100 pages long. Most of the defendants were accused of offences such as "high treason" for either setting up or joining a spy cell or meeting with Iranian intelligence and sharing military and security information with them.

However, some of the other charges listed against the men are not recognizably criminal offences under international standards. These include "supporting protests", "spreading the Shi'a faith" for example by setting up a Shi'a centre in Mecca, "possessing banned books and videos", "inciting the public to break allegiance to the ruler and harm his reputation and the reputation of the royal family" among other charges.

One defendant, who is among those sentenced to death, even faced charges for possessing articles written by Mikhlif al-Shammari a prominent human rights defender and advocate for Saudi Arabia's Shi'a Muslim community who was sentenced to prison and 200 lashes for his activism.

It is not the first time a Saudi Arabian court has issued death sentences after an unfair mass trial. On 1 June 2016, 14 Shi'a Muslim men were sentenced to death by the Specialized Criminal Court after a trial which relied on "confessions" extracted through torture for a series of offences including among other things, taking part in violent protests in the Eastern Provinces in 2012.

Trials before the Specialized Criminal Court are shrouded in secrecy. Given the opaque procedures at these courts, in some cases simply being brought to trial appears to be enough grounds for judges to find the accused guilty.

In a letter submitted to the Specialized Criminal Court at the second session several of the lawyers said they would boycott the trial in protest the manner in which the trial was being conducted including the fact that they were not allowed to visit their clients, view evidence and prepare their defence adequately. The lawyers also objected to the "media war" waged against the defendants. The Saudi Arabian authorities do not allow any critical or independent media to operate in the Kingdom.

Copyright notice:  Copyright Amnesty International
'Dangerous funding gap' may lead to more cuts in food rations for refugees in Kenya - UN

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 7 December 2016 Cite as UN News Service, 'Dangerous funding gap' may lead to more cuts in food rations for refugees in Kenya - UN, 7 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58496aa040e.html [accessed 3 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

7 December 2016 - Forced to make a new round of cuts in food rations for refugees in Kenya, the World Food Programme (WFP) has appealed urgently for nearly $14 million to feed the 434,000 refugees living in Kenya's Dadaab and Kakuma camps and in the new Kalobeyei settlement.

We are appealing to donors to quickly come to the aid of the refugees, who rely on WFP food assistance for survival, Annalisa Conte, WFP's Representative and Country Director for Kenya, said in a news release.

WFP currently provides food relief to refugees in Kenya's Dadaab and Kakuma camps, as well as the newly established Kalobeyei settlement. This assistance comes as cash transfers and food distributions. For those most vulnerable, the agency also offers specialized fortified foods to prevent malnutrition.

WFP immediately requires $13.7 million to cover the food and cash needs for the refugees between December and April, stressed Ms. Conte.

Beginning this month, the UN agency was forced to reduce food ration by half for the refugees' monthly entitlement, which will only last until the end of February if no further funding received.

While cash transfers have not yet been cut, they are due to be exhausted by the end of January. If the agency is forced to discontinue the cash transfers, however, it will specifically affect 7,500 refugees in the recently launched Kalobeyei settlement, as the only form of food assistance they receive is cash.

A generous and critically important $22 million shipment of food from the United States is en route to Dadaab and Kakuma and should be available for distribution by May, Ms. Conte said, while warning: But we have a dangerous gap in funding until then.

She further reiterated that without an urgent response from other donors, WFP will completely run out of food for more than 400,000 people in Dadaab and Kakuma at the end of February.
Ban urges peaceful resolution of impasse in DR Congo

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 7 December 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Ban urges peaceful resolution of impasse in DR Congo, 7 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58496ae740c.html [accessed 3 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

7 December 2016 - Welcoming the announcement of the continuation of the mediation led by the Conference episcopale des eglises du Congo (Catholic Church - CENCO) to achieve a more inclusive consensus on the upcoming elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on all political actors in the country to recommit themselves to this dialogue.

According to a statement issued by his office, Mr. Ban underlined the need to pursue, in earnest, this Congolese-owned process to reach a consensual and peaceful solution to the current impasse.

Further in the statement, Mr. Ban took note of President Joseph Kabila's expressed support and encouragement to the CENCO mediation as well as the stated readiness of The Rassemblement opposition platform to remain engaged in dialogue.

The UN chief also expressed his own his support for the CENCO-led mediation.

President Kabila's second and final term in office ends in less than two weeks.

Earlier this week, the UN Security Council had also welcomed the ongoing mediation efforts by the CENCO and had called on all stakeholders to ensure that the polls are conducted in a free, fair, credible, inclusive and transparent environment.
Recent violence in Central African Republic spotlights subregion's volatility, Security Council told

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 7 December 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Recent violence in Central African Republic spotlights subregion's volatility, Security Council told, 7 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58496b0d40c.html [accessed 3 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

7 December 2016 - Despite a peaceful and successful transition in the Central African Republic (CAR) earlier in 2016, the recent outbreak of violence there had demonstrated the extremely fragile situation in the country, the Secretary-General's Acting Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), told the Security Council today.

Francois Lounceny Fall noted that the violence, which resulted in high numbers of casualties, had occurred as CAR has embarked on recovery and efforts to consolidate peace. The eruption of fighting also demonstrated the threat that the continued presence of armed groups in the country posed to the entire subregion.

He went on to state that the Secretary-General's report presented the main threats to peace and security in Central Africa, as well as an update on UNOCA's activities in the last six months. Despite those challenges, however, the Government had made progress by engaging with armed groups and by adopting a national strategy on disarmament, demobilization, reintegration and repatriation which most of them supported.

However, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) remains a threat to regional security, he said, adding that its attacks caused unspeakable suffering to civilians. The group was also linked to poaching and trafficking in wildlife. UNOCA, in cooperation with the African Union, would organize the next semi-annual meeting of focal points on the LRA, to be held in Entebbe, Uganda later this month.

He recalled that in August 2015, a team comprising UNOCA, as well as the African Union, UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) and the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) had visited the CAR to assess the LRA threat. In October 2015, a joint UNOCA-African Union mission had also visited the country to discuss measures to counter the group with civilian and military partners.

Francois Louceny Fall, Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Acting Head of the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa, briefs the Security Council. UN Photo/Manuel Elias

However, the United Nations is concerned about Uganda's intention, announced on 31 December, to withdraw its troops from the African Union regional task force, he said, cautioning that such an action would lead to a security void that the LRA could exploit to attack populations, he explained.

Further afield, Mr. Fall said that collective efforts by the Lake Chad basin countries had met with success in the fight against terrorism, while noting that Boko Haram remained a serious threat to regional stability as its asymmetric attacks targeted mainly civilians. Its activities had greatly undermined development and exacerbated economic hardship.

The situation of refugees and the internally displaced, particularly women and children, remains a cause of serious concern as Boko Haram's activities continued to hinder humanitarian access to affected areas.

He went on to point out that the resources available to the Lake Chad basin countries were not enough to finance operations of the Multinational Joint Task Force, emphasizing the urgent need to ensure funding for early recovery and development in liberated areas, including through measures to reintegrate defectors and their families.

He voiced hope that the planned Joint Summit of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Boko Haram would develop a regional strategy to address political, security, humanitarian and development challenges, underling the readiness of the United Nations to support the region in that endeavour.
Egypt: Prominent women's rights activist arrested in worrying escalation

Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 7 December 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Egypt: Prominent women's rights activist arrested in worrying escalation, 7 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58496c704.html [accessed 3 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

The arrest today of Azza Soliman, the founder of the Center for Egyptian Women's Legal Assistance, an NGO which works to prevent violence against women, is a clear sign that Egyptian authorities are intensifying the crackdown on human rights activists, said Amnesty International.

Police officers arrived at Azza Soliman's home this morning, presented an arrest warrant and took her to Masr el Gedida police station on the outskirts of Cairo, before taking her to an investigative judge's office in New Cairo for questioning.

"Azza Soliman's arrest is the latest chilling example of the Egyptian authorities' systematic persecution of independent human rights defenders. We believe she has been arrested for her legitimate human rights work and must be released immediately and unconditionally. The intimidation and harassment of human rights activists has to stop," said Najia Bounaim, Deputy Director for Campaigns at Amnesty International's Tunis Regional office.

The arrest comes around three weeks after the authorities froze Azza Soliman's personal and organizational assets, without a court hearing, and on 19 November prevented her from travelling to Jordan to participate in a training session on women's rights in Islam on the basis of a judicial order.

Her arrest warrant was signed by one of the judges overseeing the investigation into Egyptian human rights NGOs (known as Case 173 of 2011). She will be questioned by the investigative judge who will either order her detention or release her on bail.

"Azza Soliman, along with several other Egyptian human rights defenders, is already subject to an arbitrary travel ban and an asset freeze. Her arrest marks an escalation in the use of a string of repressive tactics designed to intimidate her and other critical voices into silence," said Najia Bounaim.

"There is a real risk that her arrest could signal an accelerating crackdown with many other human rights defenders subject to the same inquiry facing the risk of imminent arrest."

In June 2014, 43 foreign and Egyptian NGO workers were sentenced to prison terms of between one and five years and a series of international NGOs were shut down, including Freedom House and the International Center for Journalists, in relation to Case 173.

In the past year, investigative judges have ramped up pressure on human rights groups, using arbitrary travel bans and assets freezes to muzzle freedom of expression, association and assembly in orchestrated efforts to dismantle the country's human rights movement and crush the slightest signs of dissent.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is also posed to sign a draconian new law on associations which would give the government and security apparatus extraordinary power over NGOs.

Azza Soliman was also among 17 witnesses who were arrested after coming forward to give evidence about the killing of Shaimaa al-Sabbagh, an activist who was shot dead during the dispersal of a peaceful march in January 2015. She was charged with protesting without notifying the authorities and disturbing public order but was finally acquitted in May 2015 and upon appeal in October 2015.

Copyright notice:  Copyright Amnesty International
Egypt: Free journalist detained for over three years for taking photos

Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 8 December 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Egypt: Free journalist detained for over three years for taking photos, 8 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58496d2b4.html [accessed 3 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Egyptian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release photojournalist Mohammed Abu Zeid, popularly known as Shawkan, who has spent more than three years in detention and whose court hearing takes place on Saturday 10 December, Amnesty International said today. The authorities must also drop all charges against him.

"Mohammed Abu Zeid was simply doing his job when he was arrested, taking photographs of the violent dispersal by security forces of a sit-in at the Rabaa al-Adaweya Square in Cairo in 2013 that led to horrific mass killings. His detention by the Egyptian authorities is clearly politically motivated and he should not be held for another day - taking pictures is not a crime," said Najia Bounaim, Deputy Director for Campaigns at Amnesty International's Tunis Regional office.

"The list of injustices perpetrated against Mohammed Abu Zeid are numerous. He has suffered torture and beatings in police custody, he was questioned by a prosecutor without a lawyer, and his lawyers were denied access to key documents related to the case, undermining their ability to prepare his defence. During his time in prison, he has received only sporadic medication for the Hepatitis C from which he suffers."

An Egyptian court referred Mohammed Abu Zeid to a criminal court in August 2015 and extended his pre-trial detention, a breach of both Egyptian and international law.

Mohammed Abu Zeid features in Amnesty International's annual Write for Rights Campaign. The organization considers him a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression, and is calling on the Egyptian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release him and drop all charges against him.

Background

Under Egyptian law, if detainees have not been sentenced within two years of pre-trial detention they must be released. International law and standards stress that detention before trial must be exceptional and may only be applied when required in specific circumstances, such as when it is established that there is a substantial risk of flight, harm to others or interference with the evidence or investigation that cannot be mitigated by other means.

Copyright notice:  Copyright Amnesty International
Gambia: Another 11 peaceful protesters released on bail

Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 8 December 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Gambia: Another 11 peaceful protesters released on bail, 8 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58496e224.html [accessed 3 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Following a decision by the Appeal Court this morning to release on bail a further 11 opposition supporters arrested in Banjul for participating in a peaceful gathering in April, Sabrina Mahtani, Amnesty International's West Africa Researcher said:

"The release on bail of these 11 individuals means that all those arrested in April and May's peaceful protests are now free and able to return home to their families - which is exactly where they should be as they committed no crime. This is another step forward for justice, and we hope they will all be acquitted in the very near future."

"Now we must not forget the others who continue to languish in jail simply for having expressed their opinion. There are still journalists, Imams and other perceived opponents waiting to be released, and we call on the Gambian authorities to free them without delay."

Background

So far, 42 people arrested during a crackdown on peaceful protests in April and May have been freed on bail this week, following the presidential election on 1 December.

On Monday, 19 opposition members, including UDP leader Ousainou Darboe, were freed on bail pending appeal. They had previously been sentenced to three years of imprisonment for their participation in a peaceful protest on 16 April.

On Tuesday, 12 people were released on bail by the High Court following their arrest and detention for involvement in peaceful protests on 9 May.

The 11 people released today had been arrested for their participation in peaceful protests for electoral reform on 14 April. One man arrested with them, Solo Sandeng, was tortured to death in custody and his body has never been returned to his family. In July the 11 individuals were convicted and sentenced to three years of imprisonment.

President-elect Adama Barrow has promised to free all political prisoners, as well as repeal Gambia's repressive laws and re-join the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Copyright notice:  Copyright Amnesty International
Russia: Government vs. Rights Groups

Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 7 December 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Russia: Government vs. Rights Groups, 7 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/584973664.html [accessed 3 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

For the past four years, the Kremlin has sought to stigmatize criticism or alternative views of government policy as disloyal, foreign-sponsored, or even traitorous. It is part of a sweeping crackdown to silence critical voices that has included new legal restrictions on the internet, on freedom of expression, on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, and on other fundamental freedoms.

Association of NGOs in Defense of Voters' Rights "Golos" (Moscow)  June 5, 2014 Regional Public Association in Defense of Democratic Rights and Freedoms "Golos" (Moscow)  June 5, 2014 Center for Social Policy and Gender Studies (Saratov)  June 5, 2014 (the organization was shut down  May 22, 2015) Women of Don (Rostov region)  June 5, 2014 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  February 29, 2016) Kostroma Center for Support of Public Initiatives (Kostroma)  June 5, 2014 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  June 19, 2015) Interregional Human Rights Association "Agora" (Kazan)  July 21, 2014 Regional public organization "Ecozaschita!  Womens' Council" (Kaliningrad)  July 21, 2014 Public Verdict Foundation (Moscow)  July 21, 2014 Human Rights Center "Memorial" (Moscow)  July 21, 2014 Lawyers for Constitutional Rights and Freedoms / JURIX (Moscow)  July 21, 2014 (the organization was shut down  May 26, 2015) Soldiers' Mothers (Saint Petersburg)  August 28, 2014 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  October 23, 2015) Freedom of Information Foundation / Institute for Information Freedom Development  August 28, 2014 PIR Center  September 3, 2014 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  February 24, 2016) Association "Partnership for Development" (Saratov)  October 2, 2014 (the organization was shut down  November 6, 2015) "News Agency MEMO.RU" (Moscow)  November 20, 2014 Regional Press Institute (St. Petersburg)  November 20, 2014 Moscow School of Civic Education  December 9, 2014 Rakurs, Arkhangelsk regional non-governmental LGBT organization  December 15, 2014 All-Russian movement "For Human Rights"  December 22, 2014 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  December 30, 2015) Human Rights Center (Kaliningrad)  December 25, 2014 Krasnodar Regional Social Organization of University Alumni  December 25, 2014 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  April 22, 2016) Regional social organization "Public Commission for Academic Sakharov's Heritage Preservation"  December 25, 2014 Resource Human Rights Center (St. Petersburg)  December 30, 2014 (the organization was shut down  November 3, 2015) Regional Public Organization "Man and the Law" (Republic of Mari El)  December 30, 2014 Center for Social Development "Vozrozhdeniye" (Pskov)  December 30, 2014 Public Human Rights Organization "Civil Control" (St. Petersburg)  December 30, 2014 The League of Women Voters (St. Petersburg)  December 30, 2014 (the organization was shut down  May 22, 2015) Free Press Support Foundation  December 30, 2014 Interregional Non-Governmental Organization "The Committee Against Torture"  January 16, 2015 (the organization was shut down  September 13, 2016) Educational Center "Memorial" (Sverdlov region)  January 16, 2015 Autonomous non-profit human rights organization "Youth Center for Consulting and Training"  January 20, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  July 22, 2015) "Information Bureau of the Nordic Council of Ministers in St. Petersburg"  January 20, 2015 Jewish regional branch of the Russian public organization "Municipal Academy" January 26, 2015 (the organization was shut down  May 22, 2015) The noncommercial partnership "Press Development Institute - Siberia"  January 30, 2015 Center for social, psychological and legal help to victims of discrimination and homophobia "Maximum" (Murmansk)  February 4, 2015 (the organization was shut down  October 28, 2015) Interregional public fund for civil society development "Golos-Povolzhye" (Samara)  February 6, 2015 Interregional charity organization "Siberian Environmental Center" (Novosibirsk)  February 12, 2015 Center for Civic Analysis and Independent Research / GRANI (Perm)  February 13, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  June 19, 2015) Municipal public organization "Samara Center for Gender Studies" (Samara)  February 16, 2015 Regional Fund "Center for Defense of Mass Media Rights" (Voronezh)  February 26, 2015 Regional Charitable Social Foundation "For nature" (Chelyabinsk)  March 6, 2015 Regional Ecological Social Movement "For nature" (Chelyabinsk)  March 6, 2015 Humanist Youth Movement (Murmansk)  March 13, 2015 (the organization was shut down  August 25, 2015) Regional Social Organization for Contribution to Harmonization of Interethnic Relations "Azerbaijan"  March 13, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  July 22, 2016) Regional Social Environmental Organization "Bellona-Murmansk"  March 19, 2015 (the organization was shut down  October 16, 2015) "Educational Center for Environment and Security" (Samara)  March 20, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  October 8, 2015) Foundation "Migration XXI Century"  March 27, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  November 25, 2016) Eco-logika (Rostov)  April 3, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  March 30, 2016) Transparency International Russia - April 7, 2015 Social Environmental Organization "Planeta Nadezhd"  April 15, 2015 Foundation for Consumers' Rights Defense (Novosibirsk)  April 17, 2015 (the organization was shut down  May 12, 2016) Civil Assistance Committee  April 20, 2015 Foundation 19/29 - Foundation for Support of Investigative Journalism  April 24, 2015 Commemorative Centre of History of Political Repressions "Perm - 36"  April 29, 2015 (the organization was shut down  August 18, 2016) Women's League (Kaliningrad )  April 29, 2015 (the organization was shut down  December 16, 2015) Legal Expert Partnership "Soyuz "  May 7, 2015 (the organization was shut down  25 August 2015) Center for Development of Non-Commerical Organizations  May 13, 2015 Club of Accountants and Auditors of Non-Commercial Organizations  May 13, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  March 30, 2016) Informational Bureau of the Council of Ministers of Northern Countries (Kaliningrad)  May 13, 2015 Sutyajnik (Yekaterinburg)  May 15, 2015 Human Rights Academy (Yekaterinburg)  May 15, 2015 Ecological Center "Dront" (Nizhny Novgorod)  May 22, 2015 The non-profit organization "Liberal Mission" Scientific Foundation of Theoretical and Applied Research  May 25, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  September 11, 2015) The non-profit Dynasty Foundation  May 25, 2015 Union of Employers (Tula region)  May 28, 2015 Youth organization "Nuori Karjala/Young Karelia"  June 19, 2015 (the organization was shut down  March 25, 2016) Siberian Center for Support of Social Initiatives  June 19, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  September 21, 2016) Interregional Social Foundation for Peace in the South and in the Northern Caucasus  June 19, 2015 Informational Center "Free Inform"  June 22, 2015 (the organization was shut down  June 21, 2016) Center for Independent Sociological Studies (St. Petersburg)  June 22, 2015 Regional Organization for Population and Development  June 23, 2015 Geblerov Ecological Societ (Barnaul)  June 23, 2015 Association "Legal Basis" (Yekaterinburg)  July 3, 2015 Interregional Non-governmental Organization "Northern Environmental Coalition" (Petrozavodsk)  July 8, 2015 (the organization was shut down  December 1, 2015) Komi Human Rights Commission "Memorial" (Syktyvkar)  July 21, 2015 Altai Regional Public Fund for 21st Century Altai (Barnaul)  July 22, 2015 (the organization was shut down  March 28, 2016) Interregional Public Foundation for Civil Society Development "GOLOS-Ural" (Chelyabinsk region)  July 22, 2015 SREDA Foundation  July 28, 2015 Non-governmental environmental organization "Green World" (Nizhny Novgorod)  July 29, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  October 28, 2016) Civic Action Foundation (Perm)  August 5, 2015 Alliance of Funds of Local Communities of the Perm territory  August 11, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  October 26, 2016) Kabardino-Balkaria Human Rights Center  regional branch of the "For Human Rights" All-Russian movement (Nalchik)  August 18, 2015 (the organization was shut down  November 6, 2015) The Human Rights Center of the Chechen Republic (Grozny)  August 21, 2015 Interregional Social Ecological Foundation "ISAR-Siberia" (Novosibirsk)  August 26, 2015 Perm Regional Human Rights Center (Perm)  September 3, 2015 Siberia's lifeline (Novosibirsk)  September 3, 2015 Golos Foundation in Support of Democracy  September 4, 2015 (the organization was shut down  June 21, 2016) Jewish Cultural Center "Hesed-Teshuva" (Ryazan)  September 4, 2015 Sakhalin Environment Watch (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk)  September 18, 2015 Yasavey Manzara Information and Research Center (Naryan-Mar)  September 23, 2015 (the organization was shut down  June 15, 2016) Consumer Rights and Environment Protection Association "Princip" (Moscow region)  October 5, 2015 Far East Center for the Development of Civil Initiatives and Social Partnership (Vladivostok) October 13, 2015 Russian Research Center for Human Rights  October 20, 2015 Women of the Don (Rostov region)  October 27, 2015 Friends of the Siberian Forests (Krasnoyarsk)  October 28, 2015 (the organization was shut down  December 6, 2016) Photography Club "Sobytiye" (Omsk)  October 28, 2015 (the organization was shut down  December 16, 2015) Research and Information Center "Memorial" (St. Petersburg)  November 6, 2015 Baikal Environmental Wave (Irkutsk)  November 10, 2015 (the organization was shut down  August 1, 2016) Glasnost Defense Foundation  November 19, 2015 Human Rights Institute  November 20, 2015 Center for Support of Indigenous Peoples of the North  November 27, 2015 Green World (Leningrad region)  December 2, 2015 Mashr (Republic of Ingushetia)  December 8, 2015 Woman's World (Kaliningrad)  December 11, 2015 Panorama Information and Research Center (Moscow)  December 18, 2015 Dauria Ecological Center (Chita)  December 30, 2015 (the organization was shut down  September 1, 2016) Yekaterinburg Memorial Society (Yekaterinburg)  December 30, 2015 Bureau of Public Investigations (Nizhny Novgorod)  January 14, 2016 Committee for the Prevention of Torture (Orenburg)  January 14, 2016 Institute of Forecasting and Resolving of Political Conflicts (Nizhny Novgorod)  January 22, 2016 Ryazan Historical, Educational and Human Rights Center "Memorial" (Ryazan)  February 1, 2016 Society of Assistance to Social Protection of Citizens "Peterburgskaya EGIDA" (Saint Petersburg)  February 2, 2016 (the organization was shut down  April 26, 2016) Center for Health and Social Support "SIBALT" (Omsk)  February 15, 2016 Chelyabinsk Regional Organ of Public Independent Action "Ural Human Rights Group" (Chelyabinsk)  February 15, 2016 Women of Eurasia (Chelyabinsk)  February 15, 2016 Ural Democratic Foundation (Chelyabinsk)  February 15, 2016 Legal and Social Support Charitable Foundation "Sphere" (Saint Petersburg)  March 1, 2016 Centre for Civic Education and Human Rights (Perm)  March 3, 2016 The International Development Fund for Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation "Batani" (Moscow)  March 11, 2016 Center for Social and Labor Rights (Moscow)  March 21, 2016 Arkhar (Gorno-Altaysk)  April 5, 2016 (the organization was shut down  October 6, 2016) Publishing House "Valentin Manuylov"  April 15, 2016 Tengri School of Soul ecology (Altay) - May 17, 2016 Hanse Buero / Information Bureau of Schleswig-Holstein in Kaliningrad (Kaliningrad) - May 24, 2016 Krasnoyarsk Regional Public Organization Agency of public initiatives (Krasnoyarsk) - May 27, 2016 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  September 21, 2016) Saratov Regional Public Organization "Socium" (Engels) - May 30, 2016 Perm regional non-governmental organization "Perm Civil Chamber" (Perm) - June 9, 2016 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  September 21, 2016) Regional non-governmental organization Integration center "Migration and Law" (Moscow) - June 16, 2016 Non-Profit Partnership "ESVERO" (Moscow) - June 22, 2016 Andrey Rylkov Foundation for Health and Social Justice (Moscow) - June 29, 2016 Altai regional sport and patriotic youth public organization "Arctica" (Biysk) - July 6, 2016 Autonomous non-governmental organization "Free Word" (Pskov) - July 13, 2016 The Institute of Economic Analysis (Moscow) - July 22, 2016 Penza regional youth civic organization for prevention of negative phenomena among youth "Panacea" (Kuznetsk) - August 15, 2016 Samara regional, civic organization "American alumni club" (Samara) - August 26, 2016 Autonomous non-for-profit organization "Publishing house 'Park Gagarina'" (Samara) - August 31, 2016 Levada Analytical Center (Moscow) - September 5, 2016 Environmental Watch on North Caucasus (Maikop) - September 13, 2016 Autonomous non-for-profit human rights organization "Draftee's school" (Chelyabinsk) - September 21, 2016 Foundation for support of civil freedoms "Legal mission" (Chelyabinsk) - September 21, 2016 International Historical, Educational, Human Rights And Charitable Society Memorial (Moscow) - October 4, 2016 Sverdlovsk regional non-profit foundation "Health Era" (Ekaterinburg) - October 11, 2016 Chapaevsk non-profit organization "Chapaevsk city medical personnel association" (Chapaevsk) - October 21, 2016 Regional charity foundation "Samarskaya gubernia" (Samara) - November 2, 2016

And the four NGOs which registered voluntarily:

Non-commercial Partnership "Supporting Competition in the CIS Countries"  June 27, 2013 "The Union of Young Political Scientists", KarachayCherkess Republican Youth Social Organization  December 15, 2014 Regional Social Movement "Novgorod Women's Parliament" (Veliky Novgorod)  March 6, 2015 Center of Independent Researchers of the Altai Republic  June 10, 2015

Leader of at least 1 NGO faces criminal charges personally:

Women of Don (Rostov region) - criminal proceeding is in process. Chair Valentina Cherevatenko faces up to two years in prison for "malicious evasion of the duty to file the documents required for inclusion in the register of nonprofit organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent."

Copyright notice:  Copyright, Human Rights Watch
Yemen: US-Made Bombs Used in Unlawful Airstrikes

Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 8 December 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Yemen: US-Made Bombs Used in Unlawful Airstrikes, 8 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5849a7314.html [accessed 3 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

The Saudi Arabia-led coalition killed several dozen civilians in three apparently unlawful airstrikes in September and October 2016, Human Rights Watch said today. The coalition's use of United States-supplied weapons in two of the strikes, including a bomb delivered to Saudi Arabia well into the conflict, puts the US at risk of complicity in unlawful attacks.

The attacks underscore the urgent need for foreign governments to suspend all arms sales to Saudi Arabia and for the United Nations human rights office to send additional investigators to Yemen to carry out credible investigations of alleged abuses by the coalition, the Houthis and their allies, and all other parties to the conflict, Human Rights Watch said.

"Saudi-led forces are bombing civilians in Yemen with newly supplied US weapons," said Priyanka Motaparthy, senior emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The Obama administration is running out of time to completely suspend US arms sales to Saudi Arabia or be forever linked to Yemen wartime atrocities."

Since the beginning of the Saudi-led campaign in March 2015, Human Rights Watch has found remnants of US-supplied weapons at the site of 23 apparently unlawful coalition airstrikes, including more than a dozen attacks involving US-made cluster munitions. Researchers did not find identifiable remnants in every attack documented. The US approved more than US$20 billion in military sales to Saudi Arabia in 2015 alone. Three US arms sales in 2015 and 2016, worth nearly US$3 billion, involved replenishing Saudi weaponry used in Yemen.

Human Rights Watch located remnants of US-made weapons at the site of coalition airstrikes in Arhab in Sanaa governorate and in the Hodeida governorate. A September 10 attack on a drilling site for water in Arhab killed at least 31 civilians, including three children.

Human Rights Watch researchers found remnants of two US-made GBU-12 Paveway II laser guided 500-pound bombs. One Paveway II laser guidance system had markings indicating it was manufactured by Raytheon, Inc., a US arms manufacturer, dated October 2015  seven months after the start of the war. The other weapon was manufactured at an undetermined date in 2015. By October 2015, the UN as well as Human Rights Watch and others had already reported numerous unlawful attacks by coalition forces.

A coalition airstrike on October 29 struck the al-Zaydiya security administration building north of the city of Hodeida. Many of the about 100 people who were being detained in the facility died in the bombing. The Houthis and allied forces stationed military personnel and trucks mounted with machine guns at the site.

But even if a strike was on a military target, it may have unlawfully caused disproportionate civilian casualties. Human Rights Watch researchers found remnants consistent with a US-made JDAM satellite-guided bomb at the site.

A coalition airstrike on Souq al-Hinood, a densely populated neighborhood in Hodeida, on September 21 killed at least 28 civilians, including eight children, and wounded 32 others. The only known military target in the vicinity was the city's Presidential Palace, about 450 to 500 meters away, which was bombed earlier that day.

Between March 2015 and October 2016, at least 4,125 civilians were killed and 7,207 wounded in Yemen, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the majority by coalition airstrikes. OHCHR reported in August that airstrikes had been the "single largest cause of casualties" over the past year. The Houthis and their allies, including forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, have also committed numerous serious abuses.

The Saudi-led coalition has repeatedly used US-produced weapons in unlawful attacks. US-produced weapons were used in two of the war's deadliest incidents so far: the March 15 attack on Mastaba market, which killed at least 97 civilians, and the October 8 attack on a funeral hall in Sanaa, the capital, which killed at least 100 people and wounded more than 500. Both attacks appear to have been war crimes.

The continued transfer of arms by the United States to Saudi Arabia, despite evidence of their repeated use in unlawful attacks, may make the US complicit in some of the coalition's violations in Yemen. The US is also party to the conflict in Yemen, providing targeting intelligence and refueling planes during bombing raids, but the US has not announced any independent investigation into its actions in the Yemen war. According to a Reuters investigation, US officials debated internally whether US support to the coalition could make US personnel criminally liable for war crimes in Yemen.

In May, the US suspended transfers of cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia. However, President Barack Obama, before he leaves office, should halt all arms transfers to Saudi Arabia and make the cluster munition ban permanent and extend it to all other countries, Human Rights Watch said.

Immediately following the October 8 funeral hall attack, the US National Security Council announced the US had "initiated an immediate review of our already significantly reduced support" to the coalition and was "prepared to adjust our support." The US has made no further announcements regarding how it planned to alter support for the war in Yemen nor released any findings from the review. President Obama should ensure that the review examines whether US forces participated in any unlawful coalition attacks in Yemen, and release the review findings before leaving office, Human Rights Watch said.

The government of the United Kingdom also sells arms to Saudi Arabia, despite growing parliamentary pressure over its support for Saudi Arabia's military campaign in Yemen and evidence of the use of British-made weapons in Yemen. Human Rights Watch has documented the use of UK-made weapons in three apparently unlawful coalition attacks in Yemen. Since March 2015, the UK has approved 3.3 billion in military sales to Saudi Arabia, according to the London-based Campaign Against Arms Trade.

On November 15, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office concluded, despite considerable evidence to the contrary, that there was no clear risk of serious Saudi breaches of international humanitarian law in Yemen. The ministry had previously issued six corrections to statements, walking back its initial denial of coalition laws-of-war violations in Yemen. But it noted that, "UK Defence personnel are unable to form a complete understanding of the coalition's regard for international humanitarian law in Yemen as they do not have access to all the information required to do so."

Neither the Saudi-led coalition's Joint Investigation Assessment Team (JIAT) nor the Yemeni-led National Commission has announced investigations into the three airstrikes. JIAT, after releasing initial investigation results into eight airstrikes on August 4 that largely absolved the coalition of responsibility, has only published initial results of one additional investigation, the October 8 funeral hall airstrike, after the strike received widespread international condemnation. JIAT's published investigations have failed to meet international standards for credible and transparent investigations into laws of war violations, Human Rights Watch said.

In September, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution mandating the UN human rights office to deploy additional human rights experts to investigate abuses by all sides, and report publicly on its findings. These three attacks highlight the need for the warring parties and concerned governments to fully support the office's expanded investigative mandate, Human Rights Watch said.

"Governments selling weapons to Saudi Arabia cannot with any credibility rely on either coalition or Yemeni-led investigations to determine whether these weapons are being used against civilians," Motaparthy said. "The US, UK, and others selling weapons to Saudi Arabia should suspend these sales until unlawful attacks are curtailed and properly investigated."

Arhab Water Drilling Site, September 10, 2016

Casualties: At least 31 civilians killed, including three children, and 42 injured.

Munitions Identified: Two GBU-12 Paveway II laser guided 500-pound bombs. One bomb wing assembly produced by Raytheon in the US in October 2015. Second bomb wing assembly produced in the US in 2015, exact manufacture date unknown.

Before dawn on September 10, coalition aircraft struck the site of a water drilling rig near Beit Saadan village in the Arhab district, 30 kilometers north of Sanaa. The drill rig was in an unpopulated area reachable only by dirt road, about two kilometers from the nearest village. Multiple strikes over the course of the morning killed at least 31 civilians and wounded 42 more, according to OHCHR.

The first strike hit near a workers' shelter occupied by nearly a dozen workers and managers, killing six and wounding five others. At about 9 a.m., after several dozen villagers came to remove the bodies of those killed and examine the site, three planes returned and proceeded to bomb the vicinity at least 12 more times, about 15 minutes apart, witnesses said. The strikes lasted until about noon, killing at least 15 civilians, and wounding dozens more. Human Rights Watch independently confirmed the names and ages of 21 people who died in the attack, including three boys ages 12, 14, and 15.

Yehia Abdullah, a 34-year-old teacher, said he spent the evening with his brother Muhammed and other workers at the site. His brother died in the first strike. Abdullah, who had left the site 20 minutes earlier, was on his way back when he heard the bombing:

I saw the light of a bomb on the site of the drill rig. I tried to reach them by phone, but no one answered.  I arrived while the drill machine was operating and saw scattered and charred bodies. Everyone was in his place where he had been working or sitting. I saw five bodies including my brother Muhamad. First I found my brother's severed leg outside the [workers' shelter], about six meters, his arm on the door  and half his body buried in the ruins. Salim al-Sadani, a local farmer, said that when he learned that his uncle Mahdi al-Sadani had died in the airstrike, he went to the site, arriving at about 8 a.m. About 300 people, including the dead's relatives, [were there] to remove the bodies.  I saw two warplanes arriving from the south. Between 8 and 9 a.m., I saw the missile coming down to ground as I was [here] next to my uncle's body.

Sadani said he lost consciousness briefly when the strike threw him to the ground:

I saw myself full of blood and ran away. I just saw smoke and flame. I saw a body of an old man in front of me, he is from [Thinah], the neighboring village. He was dead. I was taken to [the] hospital. I was injured by [fragments] in the left hand  as well as [fragments] in my back.

Several witnesses said that three coalition planes circled overhead, striking the area in widening circles as those gathered attempted to escape. People ran in all directions to escape the bombing, they said.

Human Rights Watch visited the site on November 10, and examined the rubble of the workers' shelter, as well as the burned wreckage of a fuel tanker truck. There were at least 11 bomb craters or impact sites in the immediate area. Footage of the site taken the day of the strikes shows many burned and mutilated bodies.

Human Rights Watch examined and photographed remnants of a US-made GBU-12 Paveway II laser guided 500-pound bomb. A part of the guidance system (wing assembly) was produced by Raytheon in the US in October 2015, according to markings on the remnants.

Residents of Beit Saadan said that they had pooled together 22 million Yemeni Rials (US$88,000) of their personal funds to pay to drill the well to supply drinking water to their village. The bombing occurred on the last day of planned drilling, after the villagers had struck water, a local farmer said. Several witnesses said that no Houthi fighters or military equipment were stationed in the area before the strikes.

When Agence France Presse questioned a coalition spokesman, Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri, about the attack, he replied, "All our strikes in that area target Houthi positions." The coalition has not announced an investigation into the attack.

Deliberate or indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure are a serious violation of the laws of war, and if carried out intentionally or recklessly are war crimes.

Al-Zaydiya Security Administration, October 29, 2016

Casualties: 63 Houthi personnel and civilians killed and 67 wounded.

Weapons Identified: US-made JDAM satellite guidance system.

Between 8 and 9 p.m. on October 29, three airstrikes hit the al-Zaydiya security administration, 60 kilometers north of the city of Hodaida, in the Hodaida governorate. Beyond using the building as a jail, the Houthis and allied forces based military personnel and trucks mounted with machine guns at the facility, making it a legitimate military target. Human Rights Watch could not determine whether these personnel and vehicles were there at the time of the attack.

The strikes killed at least 63 people and injured 67, according to OHCHR. Many of the casualties were alleged criminal and security detainees held at the facility without charge, including at least two children. The Sanaa-based Foreign Affairs Ministry wrote on December 1, in response to a Human Rights Watch letter, that there were about 126 people, including both prisoners and staff, at the detention facility at the time of the attack. The ministry wrote that 62 people were killed, including 30 prisoners. Human Rights Watch could not confirm how many of those killed or injured were prisoners and how many were security administration officials.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry's letter explained that the security administration had two sets of wards, the first housing 84 criminal suspects and the second, the former women's section, housing 22 men accused of "terrorism," working with the coalition or working to undermine state security. A guard and former detainee confirmed to Human Rights Watch that the detention facility held about 60 criminal suspects and about 30 alleged security detainees. Human Rights Watch interviewed former detainees held in both buildings.

Six former detainees said that they had been held between several months and several years on suspicion of common crimes. Most had no access to legal counsel or judicial review throughout their detention. The ministry said all the detainees were under investigation or had charges brought against them. "Saeed," a prisoner in Al-Zaydiya, told Human Rights Watch that he had been held in the former women's section for at least four months, based on Houthi accusations that he was in the armed opposition. He said:

I'm not a soldier and I've never been a soldier. They took me and covered my eyes and put me here. They interrogated me a few times while my eyes were covered. No one was allowed to visit me, and they never took me to the prosecutor or the court.

A source from Al-Zaydiya familiar with the security administration said that the Houthis used the facility as a base for military operations in the area, an allegation that the Foreign Affairs Ministry denied in its letter to Human Rights Watch. However, members of Houthi popular committees, which the ministry described as "undertake[ing] and administer[ing] security activities [to] assist the concerned security entities in fulfilling their duty to maintain security and stability during the Saudi aggression," oversaw the security detainees, the letter said. Members of popular committees who are full-time fighters are subject to attack.

The airstrikes hit the roof of the administration building; one of two cells holding male suspects; and the facility's women's cell, the separate building used to house security detainees.

"Ahmed," who had been detained in the facility's main section, said that when the first strike hit:

[We] ran to the door and tried to get out, [we were] asking to be let out.  Then the second missile hit, and then the third on my ward. All the prisoners were at the door when it hit.

Ahmed said he lost consciousness after the third strike. He suffered burns on more than 40 percent of his body as a result of the strike.

"Abdullah," another detainee, said:

I was injured in my leg in the first strike. I tried to protect [myself by lying] on the ground after the first bomb. The third bomb came into my cell. After it finished, I saw that most of the prisoners were dead. I saw a hole in the wall so I went out, then I was in the street. Two people with a motorbike took me to [the hospital].

A guard at the facility said:

I [had gone] home to eat dinner. I was 200 meters from here[when] I heard the bombing. It shook the home. I ran outside to see what was happening, then there were more strikes. I was scared and ran away. The prison workers made an opening so they [the prisoners] could leave. I didn't have time to get the key, I feel ashamed about that. I was scared and far away. Some people [prisoners] ran away through the opening in the wall.

Human Rights Watch visited the facility on November 6. The attack had significantly damaged the jail's reception area and destroyed one of two large cells holding male detainees, as well as the main hallway of the men's detention center.

Human Rights Watch examined and photographed remnants of the munitions used in the attacks and determined they were consistent with a US-made JDAM satellite-guided bomb.

By deploying military forces at a civilian detention facility, the Houthis failed to take all feasible precautions to minimize the risk to the detainees.

At the same time, the coalition airstrike on the detention facility appears to be an unlawfully disproportionate attack under the laws of war, and a possible war crime. An attack is disproportionate if the expected civilian harm incurred from the attack is greater than the attack's anticipated military advantage. In this incident, any military gain from the attack would appear small compared with the expected high loss of civilian life in the detention facility.

Souq al-Hinood Neighborhood, September 21, 2016

Casualties: At least 28 civilians killed, including 8 children, and 32 wounded.

Munitions Identified: No remnants found at the site.

At about 7:15 p.m. on September 21, coalition aircraft attacked the Presidential Palace in Hodeida, which was still being used by local authorities. About an hour later, an airstrike hit a home in the densely populated residential neighborhood of Souq al-Hinood, about 500 meters from the palace. The strike killed at least 28 civilians, including eight children, and wounded 32, according to OHCHR. Human Rights Watch confirmed the names and ages of 24 of those killed, including six children.

Mohammed Ahmad Abduljalil, a local resident, said that on the night of the bombing, he was holding a funeral for his wife. At least 50 people had gathered on the street in front of his house, where the family had set up a tent for mourners, with separate sections for women and men. The strike hit approximately 30 meters from the funeral site. He said:

When the strike came, [the guests] ran in all directions. I was sitting in the men's funeral [section]. I and my [granddaughter], she is only 4-years-old, flew in the air. We were thrown [from the street] to the back of the house. She was injured in the head. My 23-year-old son was cut on his neck and face, his jaw detached. He also had [fragments] lodged in his leg.

Abduljalil's son-in-law and his grandson were killed.

Muhammad Ghareib, 41, a shop owner whose store is about 150 meters from the strike location, said:

I was inside my shop [when] I heard a very loud explosion. All the glass in my shop shattered, the dust filled the shop. I went outside and saw people running away: men, women, and children, some of them were falling on the ground, some covered with dust and some with blood. The airstrike directly hit the three-story building in the middle of [the building]. All the bricks and one balcony fell over the funeral and [those attending]. About 12 houses were damaged.

None of the witnesses described any military target in the area other than perhaps the Presidential Palace, which had at times been used to host meetings with high-level Houthi officials involved in military operations. The palace was located 450 to 500 meters away from the neighborhood. The house of the Houthi-affiliated deputy governor, was about 20 meters away, a neighborhood resident said. Armed men in military trucks used to visit the deputy governor's house, but the resident was uncertain whether any were there at the time of the strike.

Human Rights Watch visited the site on November 7. There was no evidence of a possible military target in the area other than the Presidential Palace.

The attack on Souq al-Hinood may have been intended as part of the attack on the Presidential Palace, but it was apparently unlawfully indiscriminate as it did not distinguish between civilians and a military objective. Indiscriminate attacks carried out recklessly are war crimes. The coalition has not announced if it will investigate the attack.

Copyright notice:  Copyright, Human Rights Watch
The results are now available online in Mongolian and English on the MOM Mongolia website and provide transparency about who controls Mongolian news media: http://mongolia.mom-rsf.org/.





"The MOM project clearly shows that transparency obligations for media owners are deficient in Mongolia", said Munkhmandakh Myagmar, Executive Director of the Press Institute of Mongolia. "But transparency of ownership structures is the basis for the credibility of the information the public can get. All media outlets should be accountable to their audience, to ensure plurality of content and to serve the interests of Mongolian people."





President of the Board of Reporters Without Borders Germany, Michael Rediske, adds: "MOM results show, that 89 % of the media in Mongolia is not actively transparent about its owners. And for almost half of media companies data on their ownership and finance structure is completely unavailable. This is a worrying sign for the East Asian country. " Consequently, with insufficient laws to prevent political control over media ownership, Mongolia's media market is penetrated by political affiliations.





The high rate of 74 % of media outlets having political affiliations can endanger not only the freedom and plurality of information of citizens, but also opens doors to manipulate information in this important market. Media is different from any other industry. It presents facts and views that are then subjects of public debates, which in turn shape public opinion. So a high influence of the political world on media and journalists can damage democratic processes and the development of a pluralistic society as a whole.





The ownership of a media outlet can be disguised too easily by legal means. Also, in Mongolia there are no regulatory safeguards in place to prevent media concentration and monopolies. Even if media freedom is guaranteed by law, it is not fully implemented. All licensing and registration authorities belong to the government. And the entire State advertisement budget, essential for financing media outlets, is distributed without any rules and regulations.





MOM research and interviews with media outlets, media companies and journalists also reveal that journalists face mounting pressures. "When media are used as political or economic instruments by their owners, it puts them in the position of serving the owner's interests rather than the public", Munkhmandakh said. These dependencies can also prevent journalists from being neutral and open doors to self-censorship.





In addition, Mongolian journalists are generally overworked and underpaid. So it is very common that reporters depend on an extra income and put their profession on sale, producing "Paid Content" as outlined in MOM features "Politics & Friends" and "Big Business & Washed News" on the MOM website. The results also highlight corruption as the biggest problem between politics, business and the media in Mongolia. As a result, editorial independence is limited.

"Media laws need to be amended and properly implemented to ensure that professional journalism is really working as the fourth pillar of democracy," said Rediske. Munkhmandakh added: "Hopefully, there is light at the end of the tunnel with a new generation of journalists and media owners."





"Trust is the currency of media," she said. "How could journalists and the media check the people in power when they themselves are owned and financed by party people in power ?"





Today's press conference was followed by a panel discussion on the results of MOM Mongolia and the next steps forward, including an Expert input on the topic of "Media Literacy" by Ljiljana Zurovac, Executive Director of the Press Council of Bosnia-Herzegovina.





****

The Media Ownership Monitor Mongolia was carried out by Reporters Without Borders in partnership with the Press Institute of Mongolia between September and December 2016. The project studied the legal environment, media concentration and ownership structures of the country's 39 most popular national media outlets.





The Press Institute of Mongolia (PIM) is a well-established non-governmental organization which has been working towards the development of a professional and independent media in Mongolia since its establishment in 1996. Based in Ulaanbaatar, PIM focuses its activities on media training, media research and the provision of information services for the public and media. PIMs research team has implemented more than 70 short and long term research projects on media related issues in Mongolia.





MOM is an international project launched by the international press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders. It has been carried out in eight countries worldwide, including Turkey, Tunisia, Colombia and Cambodia. It applies a generic methodology for all countries as it looks at ownership and media concentration of the most relevant audio-visual, print and online outlets, which are selected based on audience share. The Project is funded by the German Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ).





Media Contact:

Reporters Without Borders Germany

Ulrike Gruska / Christoph Dreyer / Anne Renzenbrink, media relations officers

[email protected]

Tel.: +49 30 60 98 95 33-55

Media Contact: Press Institute of Mongolia, Ms. Gunjidmaa Gongor, Head of Research

Mobile: 8800 87 87

Email: [email protected]
Islamic Republic World leader in impunity for murders of journalist

Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 8 December 2016 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Islamic Republic World leader in impunity for murders of journalist, 8 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5849ab4b4.html [accessed 3 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

On the 18th anniversary of a wave of murders of journalists, intellectuals and other free speech advocates in Iran in the latter part of 1998, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for the prosecution of both the perpetrators and instigators of these crimes, some of whom today hold senior government positions.

Suppressing memory

The Association of Iranian Writers* and relatives of the victims tried to hold a demonstration to mark the anniversary on 2 December but, as in previous years, it was dispersed by intelligence officials. Force was used to arrest several participants including Nasser Zarafshan, a lawyer who represents the families. They were freed a few hours later.

The many journalists and intellectuals murdered in 1998 included Darioush Forouhar and his wife Parvaneh, both emblematic members of the liberal opposition, who were found stabbed to death in their Tehran home on 11 December 1998.

They also included the journalists and writers Majid Charif, Mohamad Mokhtari and Mohammad Jafar Pouyandeh, who disappeared one by one from 25 November to 11 December 1998. Their bodies were found a few days later in a Tehran suburb. They were preceded by Pirouz Davani, the editor of the newspaper Pirouz, who disappeared in August 1998. His body was never found.

The wave of murders triggered an outcry in Iran's reformist media and widespread international condemnation, as a result of which the Iranian authorities set up a commission of enquiry into the deaths. In January 1999, the intelligence ministry formally acknowledged the involvement of some of its operatives and announced the arrest of dozens of suspects.

Fifteen intelligence ministry agents were convicted in January 2001 for the murder of the Forouhars. Three were sentenced to death. The other 12 received prison sentences. Three other suspects were acquitted. The supreme court upheld the verdicts but in the end the maximum sentence, imposed on two of the defendants, was 15 years in prison.

The families of the victims denounced the inadequacies of the investigation, which never named any instigators, and referred the affair to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in November 2002.

Protecting the instigators

Although the involvement of high-level figures has been demonstrated, there has never been any political will to bring them to justice. The suspects include Mostafa Pourmohamadi (the current justice minister), Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei (the judicial system's current spokesman) and Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi (the intelligence minister at the time of the murders and public prosecutor), but none has ever been questioned or arrested.

Only around 15 intelligence ministry operatives were convicted and given sentences ranging from three to 12 years in prison. All are now free.

The impunity prevents the human rights lawyers who represent the families from doing their job. In fact, the lawyers themselves have been persecuted. Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi had to leave the country. Mohammad Seifzadeh served a jail term. Abdolfatah Soltani is still serving one.

One of the most emblematic of the lawyers, Nasser Zarafshan, who himself spent five years in jail from 2002 to 2006 on a charge of divulging evidence from a judicial investigation, told RSF he regarded the investigation into the 1998 murders as far from concluded.

"This investigation has never been taken to its conclusion and important evidence has disappeared from the files during the proceedings in order to protect senior officials," he said. "Journalists and writers needs security to do their work (...) These murders sent a clear message that they should shut up. The impunity for these murders is now the continuation of this message."

Parastou Forouhar, the artist and writer daughter of Darioush and Parvaneh Forouhar, has been hounded, subjected to judicial interrogations and psychological threats, and now lives in Germany. But she returns to Tehran every year to organize a commemorating event in her parents' house, an event that the authorities always prevent from taking place.

"Justice has not been rendered for all the victims of politically-motivated murders and all those who were killed because of their opinions, so these are dead people who have not been buried," she said. "At the same time, there is no statute of limitations on these crimes."

Forouhar still expects a great deal from the Office of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights, which for the time being has just referred the families to the Iranian judicial system.

There have been many other murders of journalists in Iran in which neither the perpetrators nor the instigators were ever questioned or arrested.

The victims include Ebrahim Zalzadeh, who disappeared in March 1996 and whose body was found a month later with 15 stab wounds, Zahra Kazemi, a photographer who died in detention in 2003, Ayfer Serce, a Kurdish reporter for the Firat news agency killed in 2006, Omidreza Mirsayafi, a young blogger who died in detention in 2009, journalist Alireza Eftekhari, who died on 15 June 2009 from a cerebral attack after being beaten, Haleh Sahabi, a journalist and women's rights activist killed in June 2011, Hoda Saber, an Iran-e-Farda journalist who died in detention the same month, and Sattar Beheshti, a blogger who died in detention in 2012.

Iran is ranked 169th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2016 World Press Freedom Index.